China balancing COVID-19 control, economic growth

Xinhua) 08:15, March 31, 2022

* President Xi Jinping is directing China's latest COVID-19 response with a people-centered philosophy and science-based and targeted approaches. The aim is to rein in the outbreak quickly, while keeping the economy steady and sound.

* More effective measures should be taken to achieve maximum effect in prevention and control with minimum cost, and to reduce the impact on economic and social development as much as possible, Xi said.

* The broader economy registered a sound recovery in the first two months of this year, with upbeat readings in major indicators, including industrial output and retail sales.

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- As the Omicron variant has caused COVID-19 resurgences in many parts of China, the country is meeting the challenge with swift and solid action.

President Xi Jinping is directing the latest COVID-19 response with a people-centered philosophy and science-based and targeted approaches. The aim is to rein in the outbreak quickly, while keeping the economy steady and sound.

PEOPLE-CENTERED, TARGETED CONTROL

In the face of the recent flare-ups, the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee convened a meeting on March 17 to arrange for better epidemic control.

All local authorities and government departments should "always put people and their lives first, adhere to the dynamic zero-COVID approach with science-based and targeted measures, and contain the spread of the virus as soon as possible," Xi, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, said at the meeting.

China has made people's lives a top priority and kept its COVID-19 infections, severe cases and deaths at a comparatively low level.

Aerial photo taken on March 15, 2022 shows the interior of a makeshift hospital for COVID-19 patients in Changchun, capital of northeast China's Jilin Province. (Xinhua)

Adopting "targeted measures" in COVID-19 control, a requirement laid down by Xi as early as in January 2020, is a key element in China's effective anti-epidemic efforts.

To stop the spread of the virus at the border, the country has adopted differentiated measures from port to port, which include setting up buffer zones and conducting non-contact cargo delivery.

Research and development of vaccines, rapid-testing reagents and medicines advanced steadily. So far, 29 vaccines have entered clinical trials, accounting for 19 percent of the world's total.

A "Great Wall of Immunity" has been built. By March 24, around 1.24 billion people, or nearly 90 percent of the country's total population, had been fully vaccinated in a mass rollout larger and faster than any other country in the world.

To cut transmission chains fast, every provincial-level region is required to have two or three makeshift hospitals that can be erected and put into service in two days.

From diagnosis and treatment protocols to nucleic acid tests, China's response is constantly adjusted to new situations.

A resident receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a hospital in Xingye County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Jan. 18, 2022. (Xinhua/Cao Yiming)

The hard efforts make China's dynamic zero-COVID approach, which features "early detection, reporting, quarantine and treatment," possible and effective.

"With early detection and action, we can nip the epidemic in the bud," said Liang Wannian, head of the COVID-19 response expert panel under the National Health Commission.

A BALANCING ACT

Frequent COVID-19 infection clusters have complicated the environment of the Chinese economy, which is already under the triple pressure of shrinking demand, supply impact and weakening expectations.

While presiding over the meeting on March 17, Xi said more effective measures should be taken to achieve maximum effect in prevention and control with minimum cost, and to reduce the impact on economic and social development as much as possible.

To complete the task, coordinated efforts on multiple economic fronts from farmland to factories are needed.

The central government has granted farmers 20 billion yuan (about 3.14 billion U.S. dollars) of subsidies and unleashed 1 million tonnes of potash fertilizer reserves to reduce the impact of the epidemic on spring farming.

"Food security is among a country's most fundamental interests," Xi said in March at the annual "two sessions," vowing to keep the annual grain output above 650 million tonnes this year.

Aerial photo taken on Feb. 12, 2022 shows farmers fertilizing the farmland in Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County in southwest China's Chongqing. (Photo by Qiu Hongbin/Xinhua)

Local authorities have rolled out measures to reduce the burdens on businesses and guarantee disruption-free supply chains to bolster the industrial recovery.

In Suzhou, an east China manufacturing hub with over 12 million people, more than 99 percent of major industrial enterprises have resumed operations amid ongoing epidemic control measures, an example of striking a balance between containing the virus and supporting the economy.

The broader economy registered a sound recovery in the first two months of this year, with upbeat readings in major indicators, including industrial output and retail sales.

As the economic outlook stabilizes, foreign businesses remain optimistic. Shanghai, a city with over 60,000 foreign-funded firms, reported a faster pace in attracting exhibitors for the fifth China International Import Expo (CIIE) this year.

While some traditional sectors have been hit hard by COVID-19, innovation-powered industries are burgeoning.

In the first two months, the value-added industrial output of the high-tech manufacturing sector jumped 14.4 percent year on year, 6.9 percentage points faster than the average for all industries.

Smart robots work at a monocrystalline silicon solar cell factory of LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, March 25, 2022. (Xinhua/Shao Rui)

Two years ago, during an inspection tour in east China's Zhejiang Province, Xi encouraged enterprises to actively seize the opportunity for technological innovation and industrial upgrading.

"The COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis but it also, in a way, breeds new opportunities," Xi said at a meeting with national political advisors from the economic sector during the "two sessions" in 2020.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
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It was as if April Fools Day had come early. At a gala staged for the press last Wednesday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Denvers three-term Mayor Michael Hancock met publicly to herald a special occasion  the licensing of the countrys first cannabis consumption lounge.
John Adams, U.S. Army brigadier general (retired), is president of Guardian Six Consulting and a former deputy U.S. military representative to NATOs Military Committee.
Another candidate has tossed her hat in the ring for the soon-to-be-vacant supervisor seat in Cerro Gordo County.

The newest candidate who will contend for the Democratic nomination in county District 3, is Lori Meacham Ginapp.

Meacham Ginapp is a native of Plymouth who spent 16 years working in the Cerro Gordo County Auditor's Office, in addition to spending five years on the Central Springs School Board.

Meacham Ginapp announced her candidacy because she believes that her more than a decade of experience working for the county gives her "a useful understanding of the workings of county government." If elected, Meacham Ginapp would "approach it as a full-time position with an increased availability to constituents."

If elected, Meacham Ginapp would be the first woman supervisor in Cerro Gordo County.

The Democratic Party nomination in the county's third District is already being contested by one other candidate, Mason City Council member Paul Adams, who announced his run in February.

Mason City council member Paul Adams to seek election as CG County Supervisor Mason City mayor pro tem and at-large city council member Paul Adams announced he would be s

On the Republican side, Don O'Connor is the only candidate seeking nomination for the District 3 seat.

Don O'Connor to seek election as Cerro Gordo County Supervisor The impromptu race for Cerro Gordo County Supervisor is beginning to heat up.

The opportunity for Meacham Ginapp and Adams to run for the supervisor seat came about because of the redistricting of Cerro Gordo County, requiring new elections to be held for all three supervisor seats.

Currently, districts 1 and 3 both cover parts of Mason City  District 1, the western portion, and 3, the eastern portion. District 1 also contains Bath Township and small portions of the Lime Creek and Lake townships, while District 3 contains the Portland, Owen and Dougherty townships.

District 2 contains the remaining 11 townships, as well as the entirety of Clear Lake.

The revised districts are a significant change from the current ones.

District 1 will be an entirely urban district covering the southern, western and southeastern portions of Mason City, while District 3 will cover the northern and northeastern portions of Mason City, as well as the Lime Creek and Falls townships.

District 2 will cover the remaining townships and Clear Lake.

Chris Watts, who represents District 3, was moved to District 1 in the new county districts, leaving an opening for a new supervisor in District 3.

Watts is now required to run in a primary against fellow supervisor Tim Latham in District 1. Both are two years into their four-year terms.

The third supervisor, Casey Callanan, is seeking reelection in District 2 and is currently the only candidate in that district to announce a bid for the seat.

The county supervisor primaries, where either Adams or Meacham Ginapp will be nominated, will be held on Tuesday, June 7. The following general election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 8.

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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ayushverma

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Emergency repairs were ordered after a tractor-trailer crash damaged railings of a U.S. 58 bridge last week over Sandy Creek in Pittsylvania County.

The crash happened shortly after 8:30 p.m. March 25, Virginia State Police spokesperson Sgt. Richard Garletts told the Register & Bee.

The big rig  operated by 55-year-old Negash Yosef, of Richmond  was traveling east on U.S. 58 when it ran off the right side of the road, hit a guardrail and then struck the bridge, Garletts reported. After crossing the bridge, it ran through the median and crossed the westbound travel lanes and hit a tree.

Yosef, who was wearing a seat belt, wasnt injured. State police have charged him with failure to maintain lane.

The Virginia Department of Transportation has installed a temporary traffic barrier along the left side of the bridge, VDOT spokesperson Len Stevens told the Register & Bee. Traffic is restricted to the right line.

An inspector deemed to damage to the railing on the passing lane as an emergency repair. Stevens stressed the decking of the bridge was not damaged.

The repairs will not close the whole bridge, Stevens said. This is the same area that suffered damage from Tropical Storm Michael in 2018.

Thats when torrential rain from the tropical system triggered intense flash flooding and washed away the road near the bridge on both sides of the highway. The eastbound bridge  the same one currently damaged  was repaired first and handled all traffic for months while the other side of the road was properly fixed.

On Wednesday, workers were observed starting the repair process. Stevens didnt immediately know how long it would take to make the repairs, but a VDOT alert online suggests the delays will last through at least 5 p.m. Friday.

A financial estimate on the damage also wasnt available.

Get local news delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to our Daily Headlines newsletter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
President Joe Biden set off international alarms over the weekend when he committed the United States to the goal of regime change in Russia.

For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power, Biden said of Russian leader Vladimir Putin during a speech in Poland. The last time the United States set itself to removing a foreign leader, in Iraq in 2003, the American plan turned into a long-running disaster. Now, with war raging in Ukraine, it would seem a terrible idea for the president to announce that the goal of U.S. forces is to remove Putin from his position atop the Russian government.

The White House was quick to explain that it was all a mistake  Bidens mistake. Worried aides put out word that Bidens statement was not in his prepared remarks. They made clear that no, no, no, United States policy was not regime change in Russia. He was not discussing Putins power in Russia, or regime change, a freaked-out White House official told Fox News. 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. So when Biden said Putin cannot remain in power, he meant that Putin cannot remain in power over his neighbors.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken performed the formal cleanup Sunday during a news conference in Jerusalem. Unbidden, he said, As you know, and as youve heard us say repeatedly, we do not have a strategy of regime change in Russia or anywhere else. Blinken said any regime change in Russia would be up to the Russian people.

Finally, Biden, back home, said flatly, Im not walking anything back. Asked what he meant when he said Putin cannot remain in power, Biden explained, I was expressing the moral outrage I felt towards this man.

Indeed, some of the administrations most fervent supporters argued that the president was right to say what he did. The pro-Biden Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote that Biden reminds us how fortunate we are to have an experienced diplomat and energetic proponent of our democratic alliances rather than Putins poodle, by which she meant former President Donald Trump.

Democratic fundraiser Bill Kristol, who as a Republican was one of the loudest and most influential proponents of regime change in Iraq in 2003, compared Bidens retracted cannot remain in power statement to President Ronald Reagans famous declaration at the Berlin Wall in 1987: Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

It was a laughable comparison. For one thing, Reagans line was not a gaffe. In the weeks leading up to the Berlin speech, some in the Reagan administration opposed the proposed tear down this wall declaration. The president favored it, and thus it stayed in the speech. In an article on the National Archives website, Peter Robinson, the Reagan speechwriter who penned the speech, included an image of the page of Reagans speech that contained the declaration. There it was, in black and white. So Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall was not a gaffe. It was a planned remark.

Second, the Reagan White House and administration did not rush to disavow the presidents words. The tear down this wall passage became the most famous of the speech, and one of the most famous of Reagans presidency, because it dramatically expressed Ronald Reagans feelings and policy toward Communism. In the days that followed, the president did not run away from his own words.

Third, Reagan called for Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader, to allow freedom in his country and the nations under Soviet control. Reagan did not call for the removal of Gorbachev. Perhaps if Biden had said, in todays circumstances, Mr. Putin, end this war, there would have been some analogy. But that is not what Biden said.

After Bidens gaffe, there emerged a debate over whether it was really a gaffe  whether Biden said exactly what he intended to say and then allowed his staff to back away from it to avoid the charge that the U.S. is trying to remove Putin, even though, in fact, the U.S. is trying to.

Just a week earlier, the historian Niall Ferguson argued that the Biden administration had decided to make Russian regime change its goal in the Ukraine war  in other words, to use the war to try to bring Putin down, rather than to seek a quick and peaceful resolution to stop the killing.

After Biden delivered his speech, Ferguson tweeted: As I said last week, the Biden administration has apparently decided to instrumentalize the war in Ukraine to bring about regime change in Russia, rather than trying to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible. Biden just said it out loud. This is a highly risky strategy. Instead, Ferguson wrote, the U.S. should be doing everything in its (considerable) power to broker a ceasefire and compromise peace.

Now, after Bidens cannot remain in power gaffe, or non-gaffe, the U.S. strategy is not clear. If it was a gaffe, it was a sign of a disturbing trend. As Glenn Greenwald noted, This episode marked at least the third time in the past couple weeks that White House officials had to walk back Bidens comments, following his clear decree that U.S. troops would soon be back in Ukraine and his prior warning that the U.S. would use chemical weapons against Russia if they used them first. If it was not a gaffe, it was perhaps even more disturbing.

So if it was a gaffe, it was bad. If it was not a gaffe, it was worse. What it was not was the reincarnation of Reagans tear down this wall declaration. Of that, everyone can be sure.

Byron York is a political correspondent.
Chris Pine slips into his best spy-wear for Tarik Salehs The Contractor, a character study (cloaked as a thriller) of a U.S. Army Ranger who tries his hand in the murky world of private security.

Written by J.P. Davis, The Contractor paints a deeply cynical picture of life after service for American military heroes, having destroyed their bodies on the battlefield and left to fend for themselves and their families in an increasingly brutal world.

Davis orderly script proceeds almost like clockwork through its acts, setting up our main character, James (Pine) and his situation at home, struggling to support his family after hes honorably discharged from the Army for using banned substances to treat his lingering injuries. Hes promised his wife (Gillian Jacobs) hell stay out of private security contracting gigs, but the temptation of big money promised by an old war buddy, Mike (Ben Foster), and Rusty (Kiefer Sutherland), the proprietor of a security company known as The Ranch, proves too tempting to pass up.

Its a seductive sell, with cash up front and Rustys folksy charm; he tends tomato plants while talking of safe, honorable money, nothing like Erik Prince (of Blackwater notoriety).

When James lands in Berlin, The Contractor transforms from an American family drama into a Euro spy thriller. Hes tasked with trailing a scientist working on viral pathologies, and told he has ties to terrorist organizations with designs on releasing a bioweapon, so James doesnt blink when he, Mike and their crew break into the lab to steal research. Its a well-oiled mission, executed in low voices and quiet movements, but as the mission changes, and the scientist begs for his life and family, James eyes start darting around behind his balaclava, doubt creeping in.

Soon enough, he has to go rogue, on the run in Germany, Jason Bourne-style, though its not his government chasing him, but a shadowy private American company.

There is a bleak poetry to Davis script, as the men of this world reckon with the things theyve done as lifelong warriors. Theres no pontificating, far from it, just a few choice words and details that add nuance to a story, or flip it on its back. But the spare resonance is so restrained as to be even a bit underwritten.

Unlike most films, The Contractor could have used a hair more exposition, or at least more clearly defined motivations beyond family, which becomes a catch-all for why these men do what they do. Does James have a greater sense of justice and empathy? How evil are the people pulling the strings? For a situation this messy, the story is almost a little too clean.

What elevates The Contractor is the incredible cast. Pine is excellent, whether hes in motion  swiftly executing the technical skills he knows so well  or in repose, often in physical or mental anguish. But Pine is never better than when hes opposite magnetic character actor Foster. The two played brothers in Taylor Sheridans heist film Hell or High Water, and as soon as Foster rolls in, The Contractor instantly becomes a better, and more complex film.

Every moment Foster is on screen as the unpredictable Mike is electrifying, and the chemistry Pine and Foster create in their wounded, yet loyal brotherhood is undeniable.

But The Contractor is decidedly Pines film. His performance is as efficient as the script, which Saleh in turn mirrors with a crisp, smooth aesthetic. Theres nothing particularly showy about the style, but it serves the story of this professional warrior working his way through an unfamiliar place, on the run.

When it starts to get a bit grittier, the handheld camera comes in, as Pine has to muck about in the mud and literally go underground to find the truth. What he extracts isnt triumph, but rather, a cautionary tale, a dark fable about what faces veterans after serving their country.
The Big Hair Ball will be at 7 p.m. April 2 at the Special Events Center at Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd. in Greensboro.

The Guild and Junior Guild of Family Service of Greensboro will host the fundraiser, which includes a cocktail reception and a runway show with huge hairdos and crazy outfits created by local designers.

This 10th annual event will benefit Family Service of Greensboro.

Tickets are $115 at ticketmaster.com.

Circus

Paranormal Cirque will set up its tent in the parking lot at Four Season Town Centre, 410 Four Season Town Centre in Greensboro.

The show features acrobats, illusionists, freaks, mysterious creatures and more.

Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. March 31 and April 1, 6:30 p.m. April 2, 9:30 p.m. April 2, 5:30 p.m. April 3 and 8:30 p.m. April 3.

Tickets are $10-$50 at black.cirqueitalia.com.

Performances are restricted for those 13 and older. Those 13 to 17 must be accompanied by a parent or adult guardian 21 or older with photo ID.

First Friday

First Friday is back from 6 to 9 p.m. April 1 at Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N. Davie St. in Greensboro.

The event will feature live performances, open galleries and creative activities.

New plays

Creative Greensboro presents Evening of Short Plays No. 40 at 7 p.m. March 31 and April 1-2 and 2 p.m. April 3 at Stephen D. Hyers Theatre at Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N. Davie St.

Saturday nights performance will feature a moderated talk with the playwrights and directors.

The event will feature eight new short plays, each written by a member of Greensboro Playwrights Forum. The program, now in its 26th year, provides playwrights the opportunity to see their work go from page to stage.

This years lineup is:

The Last Chance Masquerade by Mike Brannon and directed by Susan Proctor

Talismans by Debra Kaufman and directed by Shelley Segal

Someday by Louis Panzer and directed by Carl Grasso

Simon and Garfunkle and Taphophobia by Brian Bornstein and directed by Mike Brannon

Pair of Aces by Randy Morris and directed by Sawyer Shafer

Homecoming by Cari A. Hopson and directed by Camille Wright

Game of Chance by Bill Cissna and directed by Andy Ralston Asumendi

These Kids and their Equipage by Carl Grasso and directed by Evan Wade

Admission is free with a suggested donation of $10 at the door.

Concert

Fiddle & Bow Society is back with The Tannahill Weavers at 7:30 p.m. April 1 at Old Salem Visitor Center, 900 Old Salem Road in Winston-Salem.

Fiddle & Bow Society, the Triads Folk Music Society, returns to live concerts with a performance by one of Scotlands premier traditional bands, offering a diverse repertoire that spans the centuries with fire-driven instrumentals, topical songs and original ballads and lullabies.

Tickets are $22 for adults in advance or $20 for members at fiddleandbow.org/events/tannahill-weavers, or $25 the day of the show.

Symphony change

Greensboro Symphony will present a revised Chamber Series performance at 4 p.m. April 3 at Tew Recital Hall at UNCGs School of Music, 100 McIver St. in Greensboro.

Maestro Dmitry Sitkovetsky, having contracted COVID-19 while in his hometown of London, will not join the symphony for this performance. Instead, a new program by concertmaster Marjorie Bagley will be presented. The former Devil, Soldier and Violin program is postponed to a later date, with more information to follow.

The revised program will be:

Polonaise de concert, Op. 4  Henryk Wieniawski; Elzbieta Tokarska, violin; and Katya Lapin, piano

Fantasiestucke, Op. 73  Robert Schumann; Alex Ezerman, cello; and Katya Lapin, piano

8 Pieces, Op. 39  Reinhold Gliere; Stephanie Ezerman, violin; and Alex Ezerman, cello

Violin Sonata No. 1, Op. 13  Gabriel Faure and Marjorie Bagley, violin; and Katya Lapin, piano.

Tickets are $35 at 336-335-5456, Ext. 224, or ticketmaster.com. Student tickets are $9 with student ID.

College play

UNCG School of Theatre will present Sweat, a play by Lynn Nottage at 7:30 p.m. April 1-2, 2 p.m. April 3 and 7:30 p.m. April 6-9.

Sweat looks at the lives of factory workers in Reading, Pa., as they grapple with issues of economic insecurity, relationships, workers rights and race.

Tickets are $15 for adults and $5 for students and children at 336-334-4392 or uncgtheatre.com.

Masks are required. The plays rating is PG-13.

Concert

New Edition with Charlie Wilson and special guest Jodeci will bring The Culture Tour to Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W Gate City Blvd. in Greensboro, at 8 p.m. April 2.

Tickets are $59.50-$129.50 at ticketmaster.com.

Rescheduled concert

Justin Bieber will perform at 7:30 p.m. April 5 at Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd. in Greensboro.

The Justice World Tour will also feature Jaden, Eddie Benjamin and Teo.

The concert was rescheduled because of the pandemic. Tickets already bought will be honored.

Play reading





Creative Greensboro Playwrights Forum will present a staged reading of Sally Kinkas play Power, Money and Sex ... Oh Yeah, and Love at 7 p.m. April 6 at Stephen D. Hyers Theatre at Greensboro Cultural Center, 200 N. Davie St. in Greensboro.

The play is a dark musical comedy that takes place in the Gilded Age and features characters who are compilations of some of the worst industrial titans of the 19th century, an era in which the wealth inequality gap grew by leaps and bounds.

A feedback session is planned after the reading.

Admission is free.

Tanger events





Tanger Center, at 300 N. Elm St. in Greensboro, has several events coming up, including:

8 p.m. April 1: Bob Dylans Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour. Starting at $87. bobdylan.com.

April 6-24: Hamilton North American Tour. Start at $49. hamiltonmusical.com.

Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com.

Rap concert





Spring Fling with Rod Wave and Friends will be at Greensboro Coliseum, 1921 W. Gate City Blvd. in Greensboro, at 7:30 p.m. March 31 to perform a rap show.

Other performers will include DaBaby, Boosie, No Cap, DJ Lowkey, DJ High Demand, Lil Bob, Blacc Zacc and Tokyo Jetz.

Tickets start at $40 at ticketmaster.com.

Artwork needed





Piedmont Triad Airport Authority is looking for art to feature from N.C. and southern Virginia artists, including two-dimensional paintings, photographs, mixed media and three-dimensional sculpture for inside and outside.

The artwork will be on loan to the PTAA for one year. An agreed-upon fee will be paid for installation time.

Visit flyfrompti.com/art-walking-tour to see current artwork on display or flyfrompti.com/2022-call-to-artists for art submission details.

Art exhibit





A new exhibit called Lorraine OGrady: Both/And will run through April 30 at Weatherspoon Art Museum, 500 Tate St. in Greensboro. The exhibit is on loan from Brooklyn Museum in New York. Its the first comprehensive overview of the work of Lorraine OGrady (born in Boston in 1934), one of the most significant figures in contemporary performance, conceptual and feminist art.

Her work also includes video, photomontage, concrete poetry, cultural criticism and public art.

Raised in Boston by middle-class Jamaican immigrant parents and educated at Wellesley College, OGrady spent years working as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. government, as a translator, and as a rock music critic before beginning her career as a visual artist in the late 1970s at the age of 45.

OGrady calls attention to the segregated nature of the art world.

Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday-Saturday and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday.

 Staff reports
NEW BERN  Lauren Banks didnt expect to give birth in the front seat of a car outside of a convenience store.

But after she said she was turned away from her local hospital, thats exactly where it happened.

Its still weird telling the story, she said. When I tell it, it gives me so much anxiety.

Last week, Banks said she went into CarolinaEast Medical Center in New Bern with painful contractions. According to doctors, her cervix had dilated just 4 centimeters and that she would need to be dilated 5 centimeters to be considered in active labor.

As the pain of her contractions increased, Banks said the doctor told her the hospital was full and she wouldnt be able to stay.

He said he was sorry I was in pain, but I was giving him no medical reason to keep me, she said. He said, Your blood pressures fine. I cant keep you due to pain. At this point I am bawling my eyes out on all fours on the bed. If I wasnt in labor then I was dying.

A spokesperson for CarolinaEast Medical Center said in a statement that the hospital could not comment because of patient privacy laws, but that hospital staff would never turn a patient away.

CarolinaEast absolutely did not and would not turn anyone away from the hospital, the statement said.

But Banks said she and her husband were sent home, and when they made it back to their house, she told him theyd need to turn around.

I said: I have to go back. Im not going to make it through the night.

They decided to try driving to a different hospital when her water broke, she recalled. The couple called their neighbors to come watch their two daughters and hopped in the car to drive through a storm to the hospital.

As her contractions got worse, Banks said she screamed for her husband to call 911 when she realized the babys head was starting to emerge. The couple pulled into the parking lot of a convenience store in Bridgeton, a Craven County town on the coast.

Her husband had a 911 dispatcher on the phone as he tried to help his wife deliver from the front seat of their SUV. He couldnt get the passenger seat to recline because of a baby carrier blocking it from the back seat, so Banks delivered the baby sitting up, she said.

When EMTs arrived, they helped her and her baby into an ambulance and brought her back to the hospital that allegedly had turned her away hours earlier.

When we got there, one of the nurses looked at me and it looked like shed seen a ghost, Banks said.

In its statement, the hospital said that obstetrics patients must meet certain pregnancy thresholds before they can be admitted to deliver their babies. It said every pregnant patient with a labor concern is immediately evaluated for their well-being and that of the baby.

Unfortunately babies dont always cooperate with expectations, the hospital said.

Overall, Banks said she and her husband are just glad that she and their newborn, Truett, are safe. Other than a little bit of jaundice, the baby is healthy.

Its scary, though, to think of what could have gone wrong, she said.

My baby deserved better than that, she said. So many things couldve happened.

Banks said she isnt sure if her family will take legal action against the hospital, but mostly she just wants an apology and assurance that her medical bills for the post-delivery visit will be covered.

I just hope that they do better for the next mama, she said.
" " Bruce Willis' family announced March 30, 2022, he has aphasia and is stepping away from acting. Here Willis is attending the 'Glass' European Premiere in London in January 2019. Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images

Actor Bruce Willis, 67, is "stepping away" from his career in film and TV after being diagnosed with aphasia, his family announced March 30, 2022.

In a message posted on Instagram, his daughter, Rumer Willis, said that the condition was "impacting his cognitive abilities."

Swathi Kiran, director of the Aphasia Research Laboratory at Boston University, explains what aphasia is and how it impairs the communication of those with the condition.

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What Is Aphasia?

Aphasia is a communication disorder that affects someone's ability to speak or understand speech. It also impacts how they understand written words and their ability to read and to write.

It is important to note that aphasia can take different forms. Some people with aphasia only have difficulty understanding language  a result of damage to the temporal lobe, which governs how sound and language are processed in the brain. Others have only difficulty with speaking  indicating damage to the frontal lobe. A loss of both speaking and comprehension of language would suggest damage to both the large temporal lobe and frontal lobe.

Almost everyone with aphasia struggles when trying to come up with the names of things they know, but can't find the name for. And because of that, they have trouble using words in sentences. It also affects the ability of those with the condition to read and write.

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What Causes Aphasia?

In most cases, aphasia results from a stroke or hemorrhage in the brain. It can also be caused by damage to the brain from impact injury such as a car accident. Brain tumors can also result in aphasia.

There is also a separate form of the condition called primary progressive aphasia. This starts off with mild symptoms but gets worse over time. The medical community doesn't know what causes primary progressive aphasia. We know that it affects the same brain regions as in cases where aphasia results from a stroke or hemorrhage, but the onset of symptoms follow a different trajectory.

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How Many People Does It Affect?

Aphasia is unfortunately quite common. Approximately one-third of all stroke survivors have it. In the U.S., around 2 million people have aphasia and around 225,000 Americans are diagnosed every year. Right now, we don't know what proportion of people with aphasia have the primary progressive form of the condition.

There is no gender difference in terms of who has aphasia. But people at higher risk of stroke  so those with cardiovascular disabilities and diabetes  are more at risk. This also means that minority groups are more at risk, simply because of the existing health disparities in the U.S.

Aphasia can occur at any age; however, it usually impacts people over the age of 65 simply because they are at a higher risk of stroke. But young people and even babies can develop the condition.

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How Is It Diagnosed?

When someone has aphasia after stroke or hemorrhage, the diagnosis is made by a neurologist. In these cases, patients will have displayed a sudden onset of the disorder  there will be a huge drop in their ability to speak or communicate.

With primary progressive aphasia, it is harder to diagnose. Unlike in cases of stroke, the onset will be very mild at first  people will slowly forget the names of people or of objects. Similarly, difficulty in understanding what people are saying will be gradual. But it is these changes that trigger a diagnosis.

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What Is the Prognosis in Both Forms of Aphasia?

People with aphasia resulting from stroke or hemorrhage will recover over time. How fast and how much depends on the extent of damage to the brain, and what therapy they receive.

Primary progressive aphasia is degenerative  meaning the patient will deteriorate over time, although the rate of deterioration can be slowed.

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Are There Any Treatments?

The encouraging thing is that aphasia is treatable. In the non-progressive form, consistent therapy will result in recovery of speech and understanding. One-on-one repetition exercises can help those with the condition regain speech. But the road can be long, and it depends on the extent of damage to the brain.

With primary progressive aphasia, symptoms of speech and language decline will get worse over time.

But the clinical evidence is unambiguous: Rehabilitation can help stroke survivors regain speech and the understanding of language and can slow symptoms in cases of primary progressive aphasia.

Clinical trials of certain types of drugs are underway but are in the early stages. There do not appear to be any miracle drugs. But for now, speech rehabilitation therapy is the most common treatment.

Swathi Kiran is a professor of neurorehabilitation at Boston University. She is an expert in bilingual aphasia, aphasia rehabilitation, functional neuroimaging, language recovery and impairments in naming, reading, writing.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. You can find the original article here.
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MANHATTAN, Mont.  With the microscopic image projected onto a screen, Carolyn Nistler quickly tallied up age rings resembling the contoured elevation lines of a topo map, arriving at the age of 14 for this northern European lynx.

If they all looked like this, our jobs would be so much easier, she said. Thats just gorgeous growth, you couldnt ask for a better example.

Nistler owns Matsons Laboratory in Manhattan, which specializes in cementum age analysis of wildlife teeth. As a tooth grows, tissue called cementum forms on the outer layer of the root. Much like the growth rings on a tree, environmental stressors cause dark layers of cementum, forming rings called annuli. Under a microscope and using the body of knowledge about how species or regional animal populations grow and when certain teeth erupt" from the gumline, Matsons cementum age analysis provides accurate data used to track wildlife populations or learn more about individual animals.

In 1969 Gary Matson opened Matsons Laboratory in Milltown, developing many of the techniques still used today. Nistler, who holds a masters degree from Montana State University, was running a wildlife consulting business when she met Matson at an aviation conference in 2013  they are both pilots.

From that meeting Nistler would learn techniques from Matson and buy the lab in 2015, moving it to the Manhattan location just off Interstate 90. There she has cultivated an atmosphere that feels more storefront than laboratory  staff wear no lab coats, and the quiet beat of 90s hip-hop thumps on speakers  but here some of the foundational work of wildlife management and research is taking place.

We want people to come, we want to share what we do with them, because its so important to the wildlife in our state and the wildlife everywhere, Nistler said. We really believe in what we do and why the data is important.

The bulk of Matsons teeth come from wildlife managers or research projects. Biologists use age data to monitor or study wildlife populations, removing a tooth from sedated animals or hunter harvests. The information may be used to justify hunting seasons, adjust quotas or learn more about age structure or reproduction.

Teeth arrive at the lab in envelopes  beluga whales from Canada, brown bears from Croatia, whitetail deer and black bears from across the United States  where technicians begin the weeks-long process. Teeth are sorted, cleaned and decalcified in a partially proprietary process, emerging in a rubbery state that allows razor-thin cross sections to be cut. These cross sections are placed on slides, stained and receive a cover slip before going under expert eyes for aging.

Its very niche, but its very cool because  even though it is so specific and particular  it gives us a chance to be involved in wildlife research and conservation throughout the world right here from our little lab in Manhattan, Nistler said.

The lab processes about 400 teeth a day and 110,000 each year. Matson's is also closing in on a 3 million-tooth milestone since Gary Matson opened the lab, expected to be eclipsed this year.

Matsons has continued to improve its process and build species profiles to aid in aging. That includes updates on technology, usually in the form of incorporating automation for certain steps in the process such as placing cover slips on the slides.

(Technologys) been helpful, but one of the things weve learned thats really important is that theres a lot of this stuff machines cant do, Nistler said. "You still need a human to check because each species takes up the stain a little bit differently.

Nistler removed the slide from the 14-year-old lynx and replaced it with a new slide. Unlike the first cat, this specimen was far more ambiguous and took her bulk of knowledge of the species to arrive at an age range of 2-3. When an exact age is not definitive, Matsons assigns an age range as its best determination.

Sometimes we can tell in a split second, she said. And sometimes I spend five or 10 minutes on a sample trying to assign the correct age because thats just the nuance.

Nistler counts river otters and mountain lions among the more difficult wildlife teeth to analyze. Knowing not only the typical characteristics of a species, but also differences in range, is a major part of arriving at an accurate age. In Texas whitetail deer for example, the annuli are less distinguishable, while deer living through the harsh winters of northern latitudes display clearer growth rings.

Sexes can also vary, and females may display differences in years where they produce young. Nistler suspects either hormones or the sapping of the mothers resources accounts for those distinctions.

Most teeth come from state wildlife agencies, but Matsons has seen a surge in teeth provided by individual hunters in recent years who simply want to learn about the animals they pursue. Matsons offers detailed instructions for how to remove a tooth and submit it for aging and charges $75 for up to five animals.

Were hunters, we believe in hunting as a conservation tool, Nistler said. Hunters are definitely wanting to become more informed of the role they play, and age is part of that.

Shannon Bell is an avid hunter from Helena and a Matsons customer. He recalled shooting an older mule deer buck in Montana and a massive bull moose in Alaska that had him wondering about age  Matsons put the buck at 7 and the moose at 12. Hunters often look at physical characteristics of animals such as body size to estimate age, but having those assumptions verified helps him better understand what he is seeing in the field.

Just as a hunter, its very interesting to understand more about your quarry, he said. You think about how many winters he made it through  and I think it just educates the hunter. Were stewards of the animals and, to be honest, its also super cool and was just really fun.

While cementum aging is Matsons primary work, Nistler also offers several other services, including ovary analysis, which can estimate size of litter and timing of pregnancy, and tetracycline biomarker screening used in rabies vaccine tests for racoons and mark-and-recapture studies for black bears.

The lab also provides skeletochronology preparation, primarily for amphibians, which cross-sections toe bones found to have growth rings. Matson's is using skeletochronology to analyze python and black bear rib bones as well.

Every living animal has some part of their body thats influenced by annual growth cycles, its just figuring out where it is, Nistler said.

Tom Kuglin is the deputy editor for the Lee Newspapers State Bureau. His coverage focuses on outdoors, recreation and natural resources.

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BRISTOL, Tenn.  In order to meet the ongoing staffing issues due to the COVID pandemic and resulting labor shortages at schools in Tennessee, the Tennessee Senate recently passed legislation that removes the current 120-day reemployment limit for retired K-12 faculty and will allow them to work without losing their state retirement benefits.

Annette Tudor, the Bristol, Tennessee director of schools, explained what this means to the Bristol Tennessee City Schools system, which currently relies heavily on a community of retired teachers and faculty to meet the needs of the students.

With staffing shortages the way that they have been, its a tremendous help to be able to employ retired teachers who obviously dont want to lose that [retirement] benefit but who are willing to work for us, Tudor said. This allows us much more flexibility and opportunity for them to do that. So its very helpful.

Retired faculty who are reemployed will not lose or have their Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS) benefits suspended. However, during the time that they choose to return to work, their benefits will be reduced to 70% of their retirement allowance.

For retired faculty to participate, they must be at least 60 days past their retirement date.

The legislation will become active on July 1 and remain in effect until June 30, 2025.

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A Taylorsville woman who earlier this year pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $15 million has signaled she is willing to begin making restitution payments ahead of her sentencing.

This week, Judge Kenneth Bell signed off on an agreement between Donna Steele and federal prosecutors for early prepayment.

Steele plans to liquidate some of her assets to make the payments. The federal government would hold any payments before they are disbursed to the defrauded party.

The defrauded party in this case is TIGRA USA, a German-based company with a location in Hickory where Steele worked for more than 20 years and served at one time as CEO.

She admitted diverting more than $15 million of company money, funds that were used for lavish purchases and to support her clothing company Opulence by Steele.

TIGRA is seeking restitution in excess of $16 million. A judge will decide the total restitution.

Steele faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

It is not clear how much Steele has paid or intends to pay early or what assets she will sell to make those payments. Neither Steeles attorney nor a federal prosecutor involved in the case had returned a call asking for more details on the prepayment as of noon on Thursday.

In January, Steele sold the Taylorsville property she used for a wedding venue known as The Nest for $1.5 million.

Kevin Griffin is the city of Hickory reporter at the Hickory Daily Record .

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A North Carolina man is going to prison for 30 years for child pornography that showed abuse of an infant, federal authorities said on Thursday.

Jonathan Leslie Carver, 27, of Nebo, was sentenced to 360 months in federal prison Thursday for the production of child pornography, announced Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.

Carvers prison sentence will be followed by a lifetime of supervised release, and he will also be required to register as a sex offender.

Ronnie Martinez, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in North and South Carolina, and Sheriff Ricky T. Buchanan of the McDowell County Sheriffs Office joined King in making the announcement.

Carver harmed a child for his sexual gratification and shared the abuse online, said King. I commend our law enforcement partners for their thorough investigation of this case. The evidence gathered helped put this predator behind bars where he belongs.

On Sept. 1, 2021, Carver pleaded guilty to using a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing a visual depiction of the conduct.

According to court records, in November 2020, Homeland Security was notified that an individual with the screen name Johnnybegood115, later identified as Carver, was using the Kik social media messaging application to create and distribute child pornography.

In December 2020, law enforcement issued a search warrant for Carvers Kik account. A forensic analysis of the information obtained revealed that Carver had produced images and videos of himself sexually abusing an infant and used his Kik account to distribute the child pornography online.

The case was investigated by Homeland Security and the McDowell County Sheriffs Office.
" " Genghis Khan is said to have killed 1,748,000 people in a single hour. Did he really? Amazing fact: no. Francesco Vaninetti Photo / Getty Images

The 1,748,000 refers to the estimated population in April 1221 of a Persian city called Nishapur [source: Hinson]. This city, located in what is now Iran, was a bustling cultural center during Khan's time. And during his campaign to the West, following his successful subduing of China, Nishapur was one of the cities his troops sacked.

Genghis Khan (whose adopted name means "Universal Ruler" in Altaic, his native tongue) was something of a populist conqueror. He generally followed a self-imposed rule that those who surrendered to him were allowed to live. Common folk were often spared, while their rulers usually were put to death. The same fate met anyone else who dared resist.

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In Nishapur, Khan's favorite son-in-law, Toquchar, was killed by an arrow shot by a Nishapuran. It's not entirely clear whether a revolt broke out after Khan's troops had already overtaken the city, or if the fateful event took place during an initial siege. Either way, this proved to be the death warrant for the inhabitants of the city [source: Lange].

Khan's daughter was heartbroken at the news of her husband's death and requested that every last person in Nishapur be killed. Khan's troops, led by his youngest son Tolui undertook the gruesome task. Women, children, infants, and even dogs and cats were all murdered. Worried that some of the inhabitants were wounded but still alive, Khan's daughter allegedly asked that each Nishapuran be beheaded, their skulls piled in pyramids. Ten days later, the pyramids were complete [source: Gabriel].

Exactly how many died at Nishapur during the siege is questionable, but it does appear that a great many people were killed and beheaded. There is no evidence that Genghis Khan was at the city when the massacre took place, however.

It's unclear why the legends say these events transpired in just one hour. And when the 1.75 million deaths became attributed directly to Khan is equally murky. Even more difficult to understand is how the idea made it on so many lists of amazing statistics. Regardless, a great many people died at the hands of Genghis Khan or his men. But in a strange, roundabout way, he put back more than he took. Thanks to his far-flung travels and his appetite for women, a 2003 study found that as many as 16 million people alive today  or about 0.5 percent of the global population  are descendants of Khan [source: Zerjal, et al.].

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Originally Published: Jan 14, 2008
Just like with human babies, growing young calves well is critical for their continued development and how they will perform as adults. How those needs are met, though, can be achieved in a variety of ways, and three New York dairy farmers who take different approaches to calf feeding shared their insights and experiences during the Northeast Dairy Management Conference.

All three panelists stressed the importance of consistency and cleanliness in their calf program. For Hanehan Family Dairy, consistency takes the form of feeding milk replacer twice each day to their 125 calves on milk that are housed in individual pens in a few different buildings. We never had enough waste milk when we tried that, noted Rachel Hanehan. The replacer is mixed in a 100-gallon barrel with a drill and delivered at a final temperature of around 110F.

A regular routine also keeps calves on the right track. Hanehan explained that their stepped-up feeding takes calves from 2 to 3 to 4 quarts of milk by the time they are 10 days old, and at 8 weeks, they begin the stepped down weaning program to be weaned by 9 weeks. Colored bands mark pens so everyone knows what level of milk calves should receive.

Weaning occurs at 10 weeks at Atwater Farms, and Seth Atwater believes the extra time on milk is worth it to graduate bigger calves since the farm has enough waste milk to do it. The waste milk is pasteurized, and then a balancer is added so calves receive milk with 15% solids. This allows the farm to feed less milk and have healthier calves, with no drop in average daily gain even in the winter. That inconsistency in manure is gone, and theyre more aggressive with a better appetite, Atwater said of adding the balancer.

After birth, calves are moved to a room before their individual pen in a barn that is 300 feet long and 24 feet wide. Atwater finds this setup more labor efficient than outdoor hutches since a milk tank can be driven down the barn aisles to deliver each calfs meal. Buckets are cleaned using a motorized brush after every feeding.

Labor efficiency is also key at Half Full Dairy, which uses three automatic feeders for its calves. Its a talent to manage the machines, says Jeanne Wormuth, and this can lead to some labor turnover. However, the machines allow more freedom for feeding, of course, and offer detailed data on each calfs behavior. Wormuth said that the most important metric they monitor is drinking speed, which can be a good indicator of illness and often supports what the calf manager may have already observed.

The robots also allow the stepped up and stepped down feeding system used at Half Full to go smoothly, with Wormuth noting that weaning has become a lot less stressful for the calves. Calves are weaned at 57 days old, but for four weeks before beginning weaning, they are allowed all the milk they want. Expanding on that philosophy, Wormuth pointed out that in a group setting, you are not feeding for the top performers  youre feeding for the poorest calves to ensure everyone gets enough.

To comment, email your remarks to intel@hoards.com.

(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2022

March 28, 2022
To mark International Womens Day 2022, Information Age is publishing a special series, Women in IT Leadership. We speak with 15 women in various tech roles across Australia about how they got their start in the IT industry, their approach to leadership, and how to encourage more females into technology careers.





Today we speak with Jo Stewart-Rattray, Director of Technology and Security Assurance at BRM Advisory.

#iwd2022 #breakthebias

**

Jo Stewart-Rattray said she always fancied a career in IT. She began working in radio before progressing into the logistics area for live shows and bands.

I was moving around from sound engineering to lighting shows; they all had some level of technology. I realised then that I really fancied working in this environment.

The tech bug hit when she moved to Europe and began working for an airline in Germany.

From that point forward, my career in IT took off. I started in the infrastructure area where I was literally crawling around in data centers and connecting things. The airline industry is full of technology and while working, it really hit home: this is what I love doing.

Since then, Jo has amassed 25 years in the industry, combining her information technology and security background with her qualifications in education and management.

Her speciality is consulting in risk and technology issues, with a particular emphasis on governance and security in both the commercial and operational areas of businesses.

Today, she is head of technology and security practice of consulting firm BRM Advisory and is currently on a long-term assignment with national healthcare services provider Silver Chain Group.

What I love most is assisting organisations to be more secure and to imbue those companies with a culture of security. This is very rewarding.

The everyday challenges she said are providing the best frameworks for a security in an organisation, particularly in a transformational setting where security has to be factored in from ideation to implementation and beyond.

She wants to see more women in management and in the security professions and the tech workforce.

We are still sorely under-represented in the sector globally. I am involved in a number of ongoing activities to attract and retain women to tech and security. This is a continuing challenge which is fraught with bias, inequity and inclusion issues.

Walking the talk

Jo has served on an international professional association ISACA, which is focused on IT governance. She was elected director on its international board of directors for seven years and was the volunteer founder of its global womens leadership initiative, SheLeadsTech.

A great leader is one who is empathic but can make the hard decisions, she says. One who listens in order to break down barriers and who frames strategy and then puts it into action. Most importantly one who is authentic, honest and transparent.

I hope my legacy will be an increased number of women at the top of the tech and security tree, more diversity, equality and inclusion across the sector. 

She was selected from a very competitive and large candidate base to be one of only two civil society women representing the Australian Federal Government Delegation to the UNs Commission on the Status of Women.

I have since returned to the UN as part of the broader Australian contingent representing the National Rural Womens Coalition (NRWC) and SheLeadsTech. I will again speak with my NRWC colleagues at a UN virtual event next month.

Jo has had an annual award established in her honor to recognise her outstanding leadership and commitment to increasing the representation of women in technology leadership and the tech workforce more broadly, the inaugural ISACA Oceania Jo Stewart-Rattray Award.

As for the future, Jo is excited by a challenge. I see the future of tech and security as being just that. I see them both being more entwined; part of the fabric of our personal and professional lives and, the challenge of keeping us safe and secure as it happens. This excites me!

Away from the tech world, Jo unleashes her creative side. I have two side hustles," she says. "One is a little business that makes jams, jellies, mustards and spice mixes. These are sold through a number of cellar door outlets in the beautiful Clare Valley in South Australia.

Her other passion has grown out of a love of beautiful silks and beads. I make necklaces and earrings from sustainable and recycled materials including paper beads from Uganda.

Jo Stewart-Rattray is Vice President, Communities, at ACS, and holds a FACS CP (Cyber) accreditation.
Speakers at the Queensland Tech Summit take to the stage. From [L] to [R]: Jo Stewart-Rattray, Chief Security Officer, Silver Chain and ACS Vice President  Communities Boards; Steve Denham, Associate Director  Customer Success, Northern Region, Datacom; Paul Mangano, Managing Director, Mangano IT; Jamie Wilson, Founder, Cryptoloc; Sarah-Jane Peterschlingmann, Managing Director, ATech; Johnny Serrano, CIO, Groundprobe, ACS Queensland Branch Executive Committee Member, and Member  ACS Diversity and Inclusion Committee

ACS inaugural Queensland State Tech Summit took place last Friday at Fortitude Valleys Cloudland, featuring some of the states recent technology success stories and industry leaders.

During the all-day event, speakers and panellists discussed the different generations perspectives of IT careers, how Queensland can attract more digital talent, leadership challenges raised by new technologies, and the direction of cyber security in the current global political climate.

Speakers at the event included Jamie Wilson, founder of Brisbane based Cryptoloc, named as one the worlds top cybersecurity startups to watch in 2020 by Forbes Magazine. The companys global operations now boasts clients in twenty countries with offices in US, Japan, the UK and South Africa.

Another Queensland success story was Bob Tisdall, Executive Director of the Dialog Group, acquired this year by Singtels NCS for $325 million.

Originally founded as a mining technology services consultancy in 1979, the Queensland-based business now employs over 1,200 information technology specialists across operations in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Darwin.

The keynote speaker was Queensland technology leader and communications entrepreneur Bevan Slattery who gave an update on the Hyperone Project, described as the largest private digital infrastructure project in Australias history, and what it will mean for regional jobs and connectivity.

Hyperone, founded by Slattery who was previously behind PIPE Networks and the NextDC data centres, is a national fibre project which will boost the national communications capacity by a factor of ten and connect over 2,000 regional communities to high-speed Internet access.

Its an amazing opportunity, Slattery told the audience. If we miss this, weve lost it forever.

Slatterys focus on Hyperones regional aspects highlighted the importance of connectivity to communities outside Australias capital cities, a focus of ACS Federal Election platform and the upcoming Queensland regional Digital Transformation roadshow.

Held in partnership with NBN Co, the Digital Transformation Regional Roadshow will feature local technology success stories in industries ranging across agriculture, medical software and IT managed services with panellists sharing their respective tech journeys.

Along with todays successes, the roadshow will highlight opportunities for regional communities, workers, students and businesses in the technology sector.

The roadshow kicks off in Bundaberg today, followed by events in Townsville, Rockhampton, Toowoomba and Cairns before finishing in Brisbane in December.

Technology is embedded into all of todays regional industries, said ACS Queensland chair Beau Tydd. The roadshow will showcase some of regional Queenslands leading lights in technology, the sectors career opportunities and how digital transformation is reshaping regional industries such as agriculture, education, transport and tourism.
The Kannapolis Police Department is once again partnering with NCDOT and the Watch for Me NC Program.

This is the fourth year the Kannapolis Police Department has participated in the program. The city is one of 22 cities in the state that will benefit from the comprehensive pedestrian and bicycle safety program.

As the Kannapolis population, especially in downtown Kannapolis, grows, it is important for police officers to educate pedestrians and motorists on how to safely share the roads. Everyone needs to be aware of each other when driving, walking, running, biking and so forth. Education about the proper rules for driving, using crosswalks, bicycle paths, and more are all part of the Watch for Me NC Program. Last year, the department also received a grant for childrens bicycle helmets that were distributed to the public.

Twenty-two communities will soon benefit from participation in Watch for Me NC, a comprehensive pedestrian and bicycle safety program aimed at reducing bicycle and pedestrian crashes and fatalities in North Carolina.

Now in its ninth year, the Watch for Me NC program provides training for law enforcement officers on ways to improve safety for road users in their areas. Groups also will receive technical assistance, materials and purchased media promotion such as radio advertisements to bring attention to driver awareness and pedestrian and bicycle safety.

Were pleased to have these 22 communities working with us to keep cyclists, pedestrians and drivers safe in North Carolina, said Mark Ezzell, director of the Governors Highway Safety Program. The Watch for Me NC program equips these communities with valuable training, partnerships and resources that can be tailored to their unique needs and audiences.

The program leverages the strengths of law enforcement and public education to encourage safe and secure places to walk and bike.

The 2022 partner communities and counties are:

Apex (Wake)

Beaufort (Carteret)

Bogue Banks Coalition (Carteret)

Carrboro (Orange)

Chapel Hill (Orange)

Cornelius (Mecklenburg)

Creedmoor (Granville)

Davidson (Mecklenburg)

East Carolina University (Pitt)

Elizabeth City (Pasquotank)

Forest City (Rutherford)

Fuquay-Varina (Wake)

Greensboro (Guilford)

Greenville (Pitt)

Kannapolis (Cabarrus)

Kinston (Lenoir)

Kill Devil Hills (Dare)

Morrisville (Wake)

Murphy (Cherokee)

Shelby (Cleveland)

Sparta (Alleghany)

Wendell (Wake)

This years program is supported by the North Carolina Governors Highway Safety Program. The UNC Highway Safety Research Center provides technical support with program implementation and evaluation.
Cheerwine and the city of Salisbury invite fans to vote on the design that will be featured on the 2022 Cheerwine Festival T-shirt that will be worn by thousands of attendees.

Cheerwine challenged middle- and high-school students across North Carolina to submit their best original Cheerwine brand-inspired artwork that showcases their Carolina pride.

From now through Monday, April 4, the top 10 entries are available for public voting at cheerwine.com/festival-contest/. The winner and two runners-up will be announced in mid-April.

In 2022, we evolved The Cheerwine Festival T-shirt design contest to be a celebration of our states up-and-coming artists, says Joy Ritchie Harper, vice president of marketing for Cheerwine and fifth-generation founding family member. We were ecstatic to receive so many wonderful, unique entries from talented students across North Carolina, and we cant wait to see which design is chosen for this years festival.

The contest winner will receive a $500 gift card, a plaque from the mayor of Salisbury and more, and the winning students teacher will receive a $1,000 check to use toward new art supplies. Additionally, the two runners-up will receive Cheerwine Festival gift baskets, plaques from the mayor and more.

With about 100 entries, the top 10 submissions were selected by a panel of judges, including well-known Charlotte-based artist Monique Luck, Salisbury Mayor Karen Alexander, city of Salisbury Events Coordinator Vivian Koontz, city of Salisbury Communications Director Linda McElroy, Rowan Museum Director Aaron Kepley and Harper.

The finalists are:

Keely MacDonald/Concord High School (Grade 12)

Grant Martin/Concord High School (Grade 12)

Meredith Mills/Concord High School (Grade 12)

Tatum James/East Rowan High School (Grade 11)

Jiromi Pina-Mejia/Jesse C. Carson High School (Grade 11)

Spencer (Tyler) Szabo/Jesse C. Carson High School (Grade 11)

Scarlett Houser/North Iredell High School (Grade 10)

Brandon Parker/Rocky River High School (Grade 10)

Jaira Pyrant/South Iredell High School (Grade 9)

Aida Saake/South Iredell High School (Grade 9)

This years outdoor celebration is scheduled for Saturday, May 21, from noon to 10 p.m., against the backdrop of Salisburys historic downtown.

The festival will feature free concerts, including The Spin Doctors and Blues Traveler.

For more information, visit https://cheerwinefest.com. Fans can also find details by visiting the Cheerwine Festival Facebook event page and searching the hashtag #CheerwineFest on social media.
Ann Street United Methodist Church

335 Ann St., Concord. Pastor: Rev. Randy L. Wall. In person and Facebook Live worship at 11 a.m. at Ann Street Church. Sermon: Lessons in Prayer: Simeon and Anna. Scripture: Luke 2:22-39.

Bethpage United Methodist Church

109 Fellowship Ave. at West C St., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Gary MacDonald. Christian education at 9 a.m. Worship at 10 a.m. As an act of caring for yourselves and others, you may choose to wear a mask during indoor worship. However, at this time, mask wearing is not required.

Bogers Chapel United Methodist Church

1775 Flowes Store Road E., Concord. Pastor: Pastor Eric Shaver. Worship service is at 10 a.m. in-person or Facebook. Masks are optional. Sermon: Coming Together For New Beginnings. Scripture: John 12:1-8; Philippians 3:4-14. Childrens poem: What is Easter, unknown author.

Crossroads Church

220 George W. Liles Parkway, Concord. Pastor: Lowell McNaney. Live worship streamed on Facebook, Crossroads Concord Church app or mycrossroads.co website at 9:30 a.m. and 11:11 a.m.

Eastside Missionary Baptist Church

199 Elgin Drive, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Stephen Burrow. In person services: Sunday school 9:30 a.m. Worship services 10:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Recorded worship services and other information at EastsideMissionaryBaptist.org. You will be welcomed. Practice social distancing.

Epworth United Methodist Church

1030 Burrage Road NE, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Bill Roberts. Church has reopened its 10 a.m. worship service for attendance. Epworth UMC continues to follow the appropriate COVID-19 social distancing guidelines as outlined by the N.C. governor and the CDC. We welcome you to join us in worship! Sermon: The Surpassing Value. Scripture: Philippians 3:4b-14.

Forest Hill United Methodist Church

265 Union St. N., Concord. Senior Pastor: Rev. Mandy Jones. Associate Pastor: Rev. Wes Judy. We are open for in-person worship. Contemporary worship, 9 a.m. Sunday school/small groups10 a.m. Traditional worship11 a.m. Both the contemporary and the traditional worship services will also be livestreamed at foresthillumc.org or facebook.com/foresthillumc, in case you dont feel like being here in person.

Harmony United Methodist Church

101 White St., NW, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Thad Brown. Service is held in the sanctuary at 11 a.m. Sermon: Yes, In Christ. Scripture: II Chronicles 7:12-14; II Corinthians 1:17, II Corinthians 1:18-2, Philippians 1:4-6; Matthew 26:42-46; Revelation 1:5b-7. We welcome you to join us in worship! Service is live on Facebook.com/HarmonyUnitedMethodistChurch and we welcome all who are unable to join us in person to worship with us online. For more information, you can call the pastor at 704-791-2883 or the church at 704-782-8237.

Jackson Park United Methodist Church

715 Mable Ave., Kannapolis. Pastor Laurie Knoespel. Adult Sunday school 9:30 a.m. In-person worship service 10:30 a.m. Nursery will be provided during worship service. Replay on Facebook Monday at 5 p.m. Sermon: Grace We are called to a no-holds-barred kind of love. Scripture: Isaiah 43:16-21; John 12:1-11. Holy Communion.

McGill Baptist Church

5300 Poplar Tent Road, Concord, in-person services. Pastor: Rev. Steve Ayers. If you have not taken the COVID-19 vaccine, please wear a mask. McGill will stream a worship service Sunday at 10 a.m. on www.facebook.com/mcgillbaptistchurch/ and on YouTube. The services will be live and also available on recording afterward. Sermon: Press On!! Scripture: Isaiah 43:16-21; Philippians 3:4b-14; John 12:1-8.

Midway United Methodist Church

108 Bethpage Road, Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Craig Allen. Come join us on Sunday morning at 9 a.m. for Sunday school and 10:30 a.m. for worship. At this time masks are required and congregants are asked to social distance in the pews as COVID-19 precautions are in place. Our service is also livestreamed on the web at midwayunitedmethodistchurch.org or facebook.com/midwayUMC.

Mt. Mitchell United Methodist Church

6001 Old Salisbury-Concord Road, Kannapolis. Pastor: Joel Locklear. Sunday school at 10 a.m. (adult and children classes.) Worship at 11 a.m. in person or Facebook. Masks are optional. If you have not taken the COVID vaccine, wear a mask. Sermon: Giving God Our Best. Scripture: John 12:1-8.

Multiply Church Concord

150 Warren C. Coleman Blvd. N, Concord. Pastor: Rev. Douglas Witherup. 8:30 a.m. service held at 280 Concord Parkway S, Suite 15, Concord. Services at 150 Warren C Coleman Blvd. N, are worship and sermon at 9:30 a.m. and worship and sermon at 11:15 a.m.

New Gilead Reformed Church

2400 Old Salisbury-Concord Road. 9:40 a.m. Bible study. Childrens Bible school at 10 a.m. 11 a.m. Inside worship, Facebook worship, drive-in worship at 1600 AM radio.

Oak Grove Baptist Church

200 Sims Parkway, Harrisburg. Pastor: Rev. Franklin D. Watkins. 10 a.m. In-person worship service and Facebook Live. Sermon: I Am Sold Out For Jesus. Scripture: Luke 18:19-30 (NIV).

Second Presbyterian Church

1578 Dale Earnhardt Blvd., Kannapolis. Pastor: Pastor Sue Black. Assistant Minister: Rev. Aaron Price. Worship : 11 a.m. in sanctuary and on Facebook live. Second Presbyterian welcomes Pastor Sue Black as the new pastor. Sermon: Jesus Is Our Shepherd. Scripture: John 10:1-18.

St. Johns Reformed Church

901 N. Main St., Kannapolis. Pastor: Rev. Chris King. 9:30 a.m.Sunday school for all ages. 10:30 a.m.Worship service. 4 p.m.Adult Bible study. Sermon: Lessons from Judges Part FiveGideon. Scripture: Judges 6-8.

Information for Sermon topics must be submitted by 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Email your topic to jstamey@independenttribune.com
PJSC Ukrhydroenergo has lost one unit at the Kakhovska hydroelectric power plant (HPP) occupied by Russian invaders on February 25, the company's CEO Ihor Syrota has said.

"We lost one unit in Kakhovka. We will tell you more about how and why this happened after the war," he said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

At the same time, he said that the loss of the unit does not affect the safety of the HPP, despite the spring flood season.

"Safety is not affected, given that the flood is below average, we pass water through those that are," Syrota said.

At the same time, the CEO of Ukrhydroenergo said that careful preparation for the flood allows it to pass "in accordance with the technical regulations, as planned."

"Of course, we were preparing for it, although after February 24 we had only three or four days to reorganize to work in war conditions. As a result, all plant units and services are working. All flood control measures have been worked out. No flood. We don't see any threats to its passage, any flooding," he said.

As for the overall operation of the Kakhovska HPP under the conditions of occupation, the head of Ukrhydroenergo said that the plant is technically controlled by the company, and it is possible to rotate operational personnel. Also at the plant, according to him, there are no representatives of the hydropower industry of the aggressor country.

"...We managed to convince the occupiers to let the operational personnel controlling the units work. We managed to explain that when there is a flood. Water needs to be drawn off so that the reservoir does not accumulate more and so that the dam does not break or other accidents do not occur. Therefore, the personnel remained. It performs all our tasks, purely technically, we are managing the HPP, but not physically," Syrota said.
Ubiquiti, a maker of wireless LAN and WiFi routers and access points, has filed a case against former Washington Post employee Brian Krebs, who publishes a security blog, alleging that he falsely accused the company of "covering up" a cyberattack by intentionally misleading customers about "a so-called data breach and subsequent blackmail attempt in violation of US federal law and SEC regulations".

The San Jose, California company sought a trial by jury to decide the charges which were filed by the law firm Clare Locke LLP. [corrected].

The case against Krebs was filed in the US District Court for the eastern District of Virginia, Alexandria Division, on Tuesday.

Krebs wrote a story in March last year  which he later updated  which was fed to him by an ex-employee of Ubiquiti who was himself involved in the data theft and extortion bid, while he masqueraded as a whistleblower and anonymous attacker. The ex-worker, Nickolas Sharpe, was indicted by the US Department of Justice in December last year.

In its complaint, Ubiquiti said contrary to what Krebs had reported, the company had promptly notified its clients about the attack and instructed them to take additional security precautions to protect their information.

"Ubiquiti then notified the public in the next filing it made with the SEC. But Krebs intentionally disregarded these facts to target Ubiquiti and increase ad revenue by driving traffic to his website, www.KrebsOnSecurity.com," the complaint alleged.

It said there was no evidence to support Krebs' claims and only one source, Nickolas Sharp.

The Ubiquiti complaint said when the DoJ issued a media release about Sharp's indictment, Krebs did not change his story in any way. "Krebs reviewed the press release and he knew that his sole source had been indicted for his criminal involvement in the cyberattack," it claimed.

"Despite these damming facts, Krebs published a story on his blog the next day doubling down on his false accusations against Ubiquiti and intentionally misleading his readers into believing that his earlier reporting was not sourced by Sharp, the hacker behind the attack.

"Instead of acknowledging that the source from his previous story was indicted by federal prosecutors for his crimes against Ubiquiti, Krebs calls Sharp 'a Ubiquiti employee' when referencing Sharps contributions to his reporting.

"But in the very next sentence, Krebs describes Sharp as 'a former Ubiquiti developer' who 'was arrested and charged with stealing data and trying to extort his employer while pretending to be a whistleblower'.

According to the indictment issued by the DoJ against Sharp in December 2021, after publication of the articles in question on 30 and 31 March, Ubiquiti's stock price fell by about 20% and the company lost more than US$4 billion (A$5.32 billion) in market capitalisation.

The DoJ did not mention Sharp's employer, but Sergiu Gatlan, a reporter with the website Bleeping Computer, wrote that the details around the incident perfectly matched existing information on the Ubiquiti breach and also on Sharp's LinkedIn account.

The Krebs' report appeared to have been the original with four others  in the Washington Post, Cybereason, Apple Insider and ZDNet  citing Krebs' report as the source in their reports, all of which appeared on or around 30 March.

The complaint charged that while the DoJ indictment was central to a follow-up story that Krebs published in December [screenshot above, right], he continued to repeat the false assertion that [i]n March, a Ubiquiti employee warned that the company had drastically understated the scope of the incident, and that the third-party cloud provider claim was a fabrication".

The complaint alleged Krebs had intentionally misrepresented the truth because he had a financial incentive to do so, adding, "His entire business model is premised on publishing stories that conform to this narrative. Despite overwhelming facts showing that his reporting is pure fiction, Krebs has refused to retract or correct his disinformation campaign against Ubiquiti".

The complaint detailed the incident that led to the first story, saying that it had found suspicious activity on its cloud infrastructure on 28 December 2020 and then put together a team, which included Sharp, to investigate.

"A short time after Ubiquiti discovered the attack, the unknown 'hacker' sent an anonymous ransom note via the platform Keybase," the complaint said. "The 'hacker' claimed that he accessed Ubiquitis systems as an outsider and [had] taken information from Ubiquiti (including elements of its source code).

"The 'hacker' also demanded 25 bitcoin from Ubiquiti for the return of the data and the hackers silence and an additional 25 bitcoin for the hacker to reveal the location of a second 'backdoor' access point in Ubiquitis system. At the time, 50 bitcoin was worth approximately US$2 million." (A$2.66 million)

The second backdoor was identified by the investigators, hence Ubiquiti said it refused to pay any ransom and informed its customers about the incident, advising that they take steps to ensure they were safe.

The complaint said the company also informed investors and the public about the ransom note, and law enforcement as well. As Ubiquiti continued to investigate the ransom note and the suspicious activity on its cloud infrastructure, it said many factors led it to believe the attack was an inside job and that Sharp was behind the blackmail scheme.

"Through its investigation, Ubiquiti learned that Sharp had used his administrative access codes (which Ubiquiti provided to him as part of his employment) to download gigabytes of data. Sharp used a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to mask his online activity, and he also altered log retention policies and related files to conceal his wrongful actions," the complaint alleged.

"Ubiquiti shared this information with federal authorities and the company assisted the FBIs investigation into Sharps blackmail attempt. The federal investigation culminated with the FBI executing a search warrant on Sharps home on 24 March 2021."

The complaint then went into detail about how Sharp contacted Krebs and how the story came to be published.

Krebs was accused of two counts of defamation, with Ubiquiti seeking a jury trial and asking for a judgment against him that awarded compensatory damages of more than US$75,000, punitive damages of US$350,000, all expenses and costs including lawyers' fees and any further relief deemed appropriate by the court.

iTWire has contacted Krebs and the law firm Clare Locke LLP for comment.
MATTOON  The 75-year-old woman who died in a two-vehicle crash early Friday at the intersection of Illinois 16 and Miller Road was identified as Tison Erma of Mattoon.

Champaign County Coroner Duane E. Northrup said Erma was pronounced dead at 9:01 a.m. Friday in the emergency department of Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana.

Erma died from injuries she received in the crash but since they are waiting to receive police reports and medical records an autopsy has not been performed, Northrup said.

The investigation is ongoing.

According to Mattoon Police Chief Sam Gaines, units responded to reports of a fatal car crash at 5:54 a.m. where a 2008 Buick LaCrosse passenger car hit the back wheels of a semitruck trailer.

Gaines said the 2007 Freightliner semitruck was traveling northbound on Miller Road and stopped at the intersection of Illinois 16 before turning left onto the westbound lane.

The passenger car  which was driven by Erma  was traveling eastbound on Illinois 16 and crashed into the rear, driver side of the semitruck where the wheels of the trailer were located, Gaines said.

She was transported to Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center before being airlifted to Carle Foundation Hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Gaines said the driver of the semitruck was cited for failing to yield to oncoming traffic resulting in the collision.

Illinois State Police units from District 10 and 12 were also on scene to assist the Mattoon Police Department in their inspection and investigation.

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A Walkertown man is facing 17 additional charges connected to allegations that he performed sexual acts on dogs, the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office said in a news release Wednesday. A King woman was also charged with two counts related to similar allegations.

Timothy Lewis Blackmon, 42, of Cain Forest Drive was initially arrested March 24 and charged with two counts of felony crime against nature. He now faces a total of 19 counts of felony crime against nature after the sheriffs office filed additional charges.

Tracy Lynn Abbott, 43, of King, was charged with two counts of felony crime against nature.

The sheriffs office said investigators received a tip on March 21 that a Forsyth County resident was using a phone messaging application to sell videos of himself participating in sexual acts with dogs.

Deputies executed a search warrant on Blackmons house on March 24. Deputies with the animal control division seized two dogs and placed them into protective custody. The sheriffs office has said the two dogs are safe and are in the custody of the Forsyth Humane Society.

Arrest warrants allege that Blackmon committed these sexual acts on large black male dogs and a large black and white female dog on different days over the past three months. One arrest warrant alleges sexual acts between Jan. 22 and Feb. 15.

Several arrest warrants allege sexual acts between Feb. 22 and Feb. 23. Another arrest warrant says a sexual act occurred on March 17.

Arrest warrants allege that Abbott performed a sexual act on a large black male dog on March 17.

The sheriffs office did not provide any details on the connection between Blackmon and Abbott. The search warrant executed on March 24 has not been returned to the Forsyth County clerks office.

Abbott, who was arrested by the Stokes County Sheriffs Office, appeared before a magistrate and received a $35,000 bond. She is currently in the Stokes County Jail and is scheduled to appear in Forsyth District Court on April 7.

Blackmon was brought before a magistrate again on the new charges and was given a bond of $750,000. He is being held in the Forsyth County Jail and is scheduled to appear in Forsyth District Court on Thursday.

Anyone with information on the investigation is asked to contact the Forsyth County Sheriffs Office at 336-727-2112; text information, photos or videos via Text-A-Tip at 336-920-8477 or call Crime Stoppers at 336-727-2800. Spanish speakers can contact Crime Stoppers at 336-728-3904.

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Jule Spach, a native of Winston-Salem, survived being shot down as an American bomber pilot over the Mediterranean Sea in 1944.

The plane began to fall, and at the last moment it became very clear we were not going to make it, so I gave the order for us to bail out, Spach told the Winston-Salem Journal in March 2018. When I hit the water, the shells came pouring in all around us, and I really thought I was going to die.

Spach survived that ordeal but was eventually taken prisoner by German soldiers and sent to a German prisoner of war camp in Poland. In January 1945, the U.S. Army liberated Spach and other Allied prisoners of war in Moosburg, Germany.

Spach and the other Allied prisoners had been taken by their German captors to Moosburg after Russian forces overran Poland.

Jule Christian Spach died March 26 of natural causes at the Reynolds Hospice Home in Winston-Salem, said his son, Robert Spach. Jule Spach was 98.

Both of our parents were fabulous, said Robert Spach referring to Jule and Nancy Spach.

Jule Spach was consistently loving and generous, he said, and treated his son and four daughters equally.

He was a good listener when we brought things to him that we wanted to discuss, Robert Spach said.

Jule Spach graduated from Reynolds High School in 1942, according to his obituary. He entered Virginia Military Institute but soon joined the Air Force at age 18 to serve in World War II.

After the war, he received a bachelors degree in chemical engineering at Georgia Tech in 1949. Spach also studied at Duke University, UNC Greensboro and Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va.

In 1951, Spach began his work as an educational missionary in the Presbyterian Church and spent the next 25 years in Brazil. Spach and his wife started a literacy program for families in need, built a school and taught children, the Journal previously reported.

In 1976, Spach returned to Winston-Salem, where he became one of the instrumental players in the construction of the Arbor Acres Retirement Community. Spach was the first executive director of Arbor Acres.

Spach also participated on the Winston-Salem Council for the Homeless, and served two years as the president of Senior Services Inc. of Winston-Salem.

Spach wrote a book about his life, Every Road Leads Home, which was published in January 1996.

Spach and his wife delivered Meals on Wheels as volunteers for 25 years, said Joel McIver, the vice president for community engagement for Senior Services.

It obviously meant the world to us, McIver said. He dedicated so much time to Senior Services and the Meals on Wheels program.

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Three weeks after Roberto Silva Jr. said he wanted to be executed  and three weeks after he pleaded guilty to killing two Sonic restaurant employees and wounding two others  his attorneys have filed a motion to determine his mental competency.

That the motion didnt occur in the three months prior to his guilty pleas struck some court observers as odd. In cases where theres even a suggestion of a competency issue, attorneys will have the defendant evaluated before he enters into any plea decisions.

Also unusual: The attorneys in this case filed the motion to determine competency under seal. Douglas County Public Defender Tom Strigenz, whose office is representing Silva, said his office filed the motion under seal in the best interest of Silva.

It is extremely rare for judges to allow sealed motions in any criminal case  it is almost unheard of in capital murder cases where the defendant faces the possibility of execution.

Asked why the competency motion wasnt filed before Silvas guilty pleas, Strigenz said Wednesday: I would say Ill be honest with you  if we didnt file it, it was because we didnt have a concern prior to that (plea). ... All appropriate motions were filed on behalf of our client.

At this point, the motion to determine competency is simply to determine whether Silva is capable of understanding the court process and is capable of assisting his defense attorneys through the death-penalty phase of this case. It is different from an insanity defense, in which a defendant claims he was incapable of distinguishing right from wrong when he committed his crime.

And at this point, Silva is not seeking to withdraw his plea.

Asked if Silva would attempt to, Strigenz said: All options are on the table. Itll be up to Roberto to make a knowing and intelligent and voluntary decision with regard to how this case proceeds.

Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said the new motion to determine competency does not mean that Silva was incompetent when he entered his guilty pleas on March 7. Silva, 24, pleaded guilty to all 15 charges for the Nov. 21, 2020, killings of Nathan Pastrana, 22, and Ryan Helbert, 28, and the critical injuries suffered by Zoey Lujan, then 18, and Kenneth Gerner, then 25. Silva was mad after he was caught stealing from the Bellevue Sonic restaurant three days before.

He pleaded guilty against the advice of the Sarpy County Public Defenders Office, including Christopher Lathrop, his lead attorney. Silva also gave up a motion to dismiss the death-penalty filing  a motion that had a decent chance of succeeding  because it was filed too late.

During the March 7 plea hearing, Polikov said, Sarpy County District Judge Nathan Cox inquired about Silvas competency. Silva assured he was of sound mind and wanted to proceed. Prosecutor Gage Cobb read from a letter in which Silva said he wanted to be executed and explained his rationale for his rampage of the restaurant at 1307 Cornhusker Road. Silva was angry because he had been detained by police three days earlier for using another persons Sonic app to purchase $57 worth of food at the restaurant.

My intention and motive was to kill the witnesses involved in (the identity theft case) to conceal the commission of that crime, Silva wrote, according to Cobb.

The death-penalty phase no doubt will be delayed. If the latest motion is granted, Silva likely will have to wait to be evaluated at the Lincoln Regional Center. In the meantime, a three-judge panel has been appointed to oversee the death-penalty phase.

Cox will serve as the lead judge, joined by Judge Bryan Meismer of northeast Nebraska and Judge Michael Piccolo of western Nebraska. The judges must be unanimous in imposing death.

Polikov said he wasnt sure why the motion to determine competency was filed under seal.

In another case where competency was an obvious issue, killer Nikko Jenkins had a motion to determine his competency before he pleaded no contest to four killings. He also had motions to determine his competency after he pleaded. All of those were public filings, handled in a public courtroom.

In November, Strigenzs office attempted to obtain a gag order  restraining press coverage and attorney comments  in another Bellevue murder case involving Adam Price, who is accused of killing his two children. Judge George Thompson rejected Strigenzs motions, ruling that any prior restraint on the press or attorneys is presumptively unconstitutional.

In more than two decades as county attorney, Polikov said he has opposed any attempts at secrecy in court. Open courts are a basic principle with me, Polikov said.

Polikov said he expects that the sentencing phase of the case may involve outside groups opposed to the death penalty  folks not even representing (Silva), just fighting capital punishment.

Theres the possibility of a circus developing, but well see, Polikov said. I think its a clear-cut death-penalty case. Thats why were presenting it.

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A study examining AltEns impact on Mead and the surrounding area got a boost from the Legislature after it was left out of several budget packages approved earlier this year.

On Thursday, Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue found support for an amendment providing $1 million to the University of Nebraska to continue research into the potential adverse effects the ethanol plant has had on human health and the environment.

The amendment, which comes on Day 52 of the 60-day legislative session, adds the funding to a bill (LB1068) from Sen. John Stinner of Gering expanding internship and practicum opportunities for aspiring behavioral health practitioners across the state.

AltEn used pesticide-treated seed to produce ethanol, leaving behind waste products highly contaminated with insecticides and fungicides until it was forced to close by the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy in 2021.

Shortly after, researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University began tracking the spread of pesticides through the environment, funded through private donations.

Blood introduced a bill (LB1048) appropriating $10 million  more than the $7.8 million the research team estimated it needed  to continue the study, but that proposal failed to get out of committee.

With the legislative session winding down, Blood worked with Stinner, the Appropriations Committee chair, and Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard, whose legislative district includes Mead, on the amendment.

Its about the science, friends, Blood said in introducing her amendment Thursday. Its about the research.

Several senators voiced support for continuing the study, including Omaha Sen. John Cavanaugh, who said the research would provide critical health information to residents of Mead who may be impacted in the years to come.

How they voted Senators voted 31-6 on Thursday to allow an amendment to provide $1 million in funding for research studying AltEn's impact on the community of Mead to be attached to another bill (LB1068). Yes (31): Aguilar, Blood, Bostar, Bostelman, Brandt, Brewer, J. Cavanaugh, M. Cavanaugh, Day, DeBoer, Dorn, Flood, Gragert, M. Hansen, Hilkemann, Hunt, Kolterman, Lathrop, McCollister, McDonnell, McKinney, Morfeld, Moser, Pansing Brooks, Sanders, Stinner, Vargas, Walz, Wayne, Williams, Wishart. No (6): Albrecht, Clements, Erdman, Friesen, Hughes, Linehan. Present, not voting (6): Arch, Halloran, B. Hansen, Jacobson, Lowe, Murman. Excused, not voting (5): Briese, Geist, Lindstrom, Pahls, Slama. Absent, not voting (1): Hilgers.

Unlike other studies, which take place after the fact, Cavanaugh said Nebraska has an opportunity to monitor the potential outcomes as they happen.

Many, including Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont, who was among a dozen or so state senators who were present at a town hall in Mead last summer, said the stories of several residents who had been impacted left an impression.

If it was happening in your community, you may have a different view on things, Walz said.

Other senators, including Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, said they were skeptical the study was needed. Sen. Steve Erdman argued he did not think the Legislature needed to appropriate additional money to NU.

The Bayard lawmaker later challenged the amendments germaneness to the underlying bill, saying they dealt with two different issues and couldnt be considered together.

Stinners bill appropriated money to expand opportunities for behavioral health practitioners, Erdman said, while Bloods amendment provided funding for environmental research.

Therefore, they are not the same, he said.

Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango, sitting in the presiding officers chair, ruled the amendment was not germane to Stinners bill.

Blood challenged Hughes ruling, telling senators she had spent hours looking for a bill that could serve as an appropriate vehicle for the amendment, and found a partner in Stinner and Bostelman.

For nearly an hour, senators weighed in on the germaneness issue.

Bostelman said he supported Bloods amendment and effort to overrule the chair, saying the people of Mead deserve to have their concerns heard by the Legislature.

I work with them, I talk with them, he said. There is a part of this, I think, will be with them a long time.

Blood, who introduced several bills in response to the AltEn crisis, called it the Legislatures last opportunity to help Mead.

If youre on the fence at all, lean yes, she said. Lets show compassion, and that policy is not just about numbers.

After several delays waiting for senators to return to the legislative chamber, the amendment was adopted on a 31-6 vote.

The bill, with Bloods amendment attached, then advanced to second-round consideration on a 33-4 vote.

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

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GRAND ISLAND -- Its been a rough couple of weeks for the horsemen in Barn R at Fonner Park.

The outbreak of equine herpes that hit that barn led to two horses being euthanized and several others becoming sick, and put the entire barn of 100 horses under quarantine.

Veteran trainer Larry Donlin, a Nebraska Racing Hall of Fame member, had a sick horse of his own, but he said the treatment provided by Anicell Biotech seems to be working.

Although Donlin isnt sure if the horse will race again, he is optimistic that the treatment will be effective.

That said, there was another recent positive test from a horse in Barn R that could extend the quarantine.

No decision on extending the quarantine has been made.

Brandon Ames, founder and CEO of Arizona-based Anicell Biotech, said hes encouraged by the results so far.

Veterinarian Tammi Epp was equally encouraged.

The two horses that were isolated and neurologic upon our arrival have shown significant improvement in neurologic signs and are nearly recovered, Epp said. Only one new neurologic case has been discovered since the baseline, but that horse is showing a mild case at this point. All horses in Barn R have been treated twice with our two-dose protocol.

As many as 23 horses were identified as positive in initial baseline tests.

Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak understands the economic effect the quarantine is having on those trainers and owners in Barn R, but there have been donations to help those affected by the virus.

Its awful that the horses and their trainers and owners have been completely halted, Kotulak said. Plus its frustrating that the affected horses were current in their certificates and vaccinations. I appreciate the donations from the community to help those quarantined in Barn R.

In the meantime, Donlin and his fellow trainers are just trying to move forward.

Its just going to be however long it is with no profit whatsoever, Donlin said. Youre going to be trying to break even. Its almost impossible.

But the trainers may not be the ones hurt the most. They still get some money from owners for daily care of the horses. The owners dont have any way to offset the loss of potential purse money.

Theyre losing a lot, Donlin said. If this (treatment) works and they can prove it works, that will be big.

Trainer Jesse Compton is one of the lucky ones who hasnt had his horses quarantined. But he certainly feels for those in Barn R.

As a trainer you feel helpless, Compton said. Most trainers feel a special bond with their horses and dont want to lose any. And theyre missing out on racing opportunities. Its hard to recoup those losses.

Fonner Park also had an outbreak of equine herpes in 2016 that put about 200 horses in the Big Red Barn under quarantine. Neither Donlin nor Compton were involved.

Weve been lucky, Compton said. I feel for the trainers affected and the horses and the owners. I just hope it gets cleared up."

Donlin said the donations from the community are greatly appreciated. So are those thoughts and prayers.

We have a lot of people around the country praying for us, Donlin said.

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RACINE  At least one person was shot during a shootout between occupants of two vehicles on Wednesday afternoon near the corner of Ohio Street and Byrd Avenue, the Racine Police Department reported.

Police said they responded to the scene after receiving multiple 911 calls beginning at 4:36 p.m. Wednesday.

According to an email from RPD Lt. Chad Melby: During the investigation officers learned that the occupants of two vehicles fired numerous shots towards each other near the intersection before driving away.

While officers were still on scene, an adult male who had suffered multiple non-life-threatening gunshot wounds arrived at an area hospital.

More information is expected to be released today.
RACINE  Expect to see construction related to the remaking of Downtown Racines streets ramp up next month.

As part of a plan that includes having Highway 32 no longer coincide with Main Street through Downtown Racine, work to convert Wisconsin Avenue from a one-way street to two-way is expected to begin in April and be completed by the end of May, the City of Racine announced late Wednesday afternoon.

Our overall goal is to activate more of the downtown while also making it more accessible and pedestrian friendly. Converting the one-way streets is a good first step, Mayor Cory Mason said in a statement.

The work is to begin with adding more traffic signals at Wisconsin Avenues intersections with Sixth, Seventh and 14th streets. The traffic impact throughout that first phase is expected to be minor temporary lane closures and traffic moving in all of the current directions, the city said in a release.

The second phase of construction is expected to be more substantial. From State Street to 16th Street, the eastern half of Wisconsin Avenue will be closed, while southbound traffic can still travel on the western half of the road. All road crossings are expected to remain open.

Along Fifth and Sixth streets, angle parking stalls are expected to be put in along with the construction. Some parking meters may also be replaced with signs directing to a phone app to facilitate paying for street parking.

During this second phase of construction, the city said the ramp from State Street down to Wisconsin Avenue will be closed.

During the third and final phase of construction, the west side of Wisconsin Avenue will be closed while northbound traffic will be able to travel for the first time on the east side of the avenue. Traffic that would have been southbound on Wisconsin Avenue will be detoured to Main Street.

A long-term detour is expected to be in place around Hotel Verdant (the former Zahns building on Monument Square) as construction continues. That detour, which will divert westbound Sixth Street traffic north toward College Avenue, is expected to be in place until spring 2023, when Hotel Verdant is expected to open.

After the completion of construction on Wisconsin Avenue, the next phase of changes to Downtown Racines streets will be the conversion of Lake Avenue from a one-way to a two-way between 10th Street and Gaslight Drive.

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WATERFORD  A failed incorporation effort by the Town of Waterford is fueling debate among candidates in the April 5 election for two seats on the Town Board.

Incumbent board members are defending their push to incorporate the town as a village, while challengers in the election are criticizing it as having been a waste of time and money.

The town spent about $100,000 over two years before the state ruled last October against converting the town into the Village of Tichigan as a way of blocking annexation of territory by the neighboring Village of Waterford.

Two board members involved in the failed incorporation are seeking re-election April 5 in a campaign that has brought two would-be newcomers into the race, aiming to unseat the incumbents.

At a candidate forum Tuesday night in the Waterford Public Library, incumbents Tim Szeklinski and Teri Jendusa Nicolai acknowledged that the two-year drive to become a village did not end well. Both, however, defended the effort.

Im not going to back down from what I did, Szeklinski said. I felt there was a need for it.

Jendusa Nicolai said attempts at negotiating with the Village of Waterford had broken down, and the Town Board decided to try something new.

We were at the point where it was something we needed to do, she said.

Challengers Jeff Klyzub and Robert Ulander disagreed, saying that town officials knew, or should have known, that they were leading the community down a dead-end path.

Klyzub said the bid to create a new village was doomed from the start. Klyzub also questioned how significant the annexation threat was from the Village of Waterford before the town spent $100,000 trying to stop it.

I dont think it was money well spent, he said.

Ulander said the town missed an opportunity to keep property taxes under control by wasting money on the incorporation. Town Board members embarked on the failed incorporation, he added, without telling townsfolk why they were pursuing forming the Village of Tichigan.

There was just no communication, he said, explaining to us why this was a good deal.

Town leaders initiated the process of seeking village status in July 2019, citing a desire to stop annexation by the Village of Waterford. State law gives villages more authority than towns in blocking such annexation moves.

After two years of debate and deliberation, the Wisconsin Incorporation Review Board rejected the proposal last October, ruling that the Racine County town of about 6,500 people failed to meet nearly all of the states standards for creating a new village.

In the aftermath of the defeat, many in the community have called for repairing relations with the village and settling past differences.

The village has made no new public attempt to annex territory in the town.

In the April 5 election, voters in the town will choose two candidates, and the top two finishers will each win a two-year term on the five-member Town Board at a salary of $7,750 a year.

Szeklinski, who is seeking his seventh term on the board, said the Village of Waterford is carrying long-term debt, so any town resident annexed into the village can expect to become responsible for helping to pay off those debts.

Szeklinski said he favors trying to work with the village as neighbors. But, he added, Its just got to be smart growth, and working together.

In response to Ulanders comment about a lack of communication, Jendusa Nicolai said she circulated information about the incorporation, until a town attorney urged her to pull back such disclosures while the matter was being litigated.

Jendusa Nicolai, seeking her third term, also addressed the $100,000 expense, pointing out that it translates into about $29 per household in the town.

Sometimes you need to spend money to kind of stop the leak, she said.

The town operates on a yearly budget of about $3.5 million, which includes $2 million in property tax collections.

Ulander said town officials have taken no steps to address the shortcomings cited in the incorporation boards ruling. With two years spent trying to incorporate, officials have done nothing to improve the chances of someday creating a new village, he said.

Were not anywhere closer to it today, he said.

Both challengers said Town Board members do not listen enough to town residents.

Klyzub noted that Town Board meetings do not include a regular opportunity for the general public to air concerns or questions about town government. Unless it pertains to an issue already on the agenda, no public comments are permitted.

Other local governments make a point of opening up the floor for any public input, Klyzub said.

We dont have that, he said. We need that.

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A woman who was caring for a 4-month-old was arrested Thursday for neglecting the baby, which police say caused the child's death, the Mineral Point Police Department said.

The baby died from injuries caused by physical abuse, medical staff at the American Family Children's Hospital in Madison determined. The woman, Joanna Ford, was the baby's daycare provider on the day the injuries occurred, according to the Police Department.

The 4-month-old died at the hospital March 1, four days after the alleged abuse happened, Mineral Point police said.

Ford has been tentatively charged with "neglecting a child with death as a consequence," police said.

Mineral Point police are asking anyone with information on how Ford has cared for children in the past to call the Police Department at 608-987-2313.

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Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a Republican bill Thursday that would have created mandatory minimum sentences for people participating in riots.

Evers said the bill, which would have defined riot and enforced penalties for participating in them, would have infringed on Wisconsinites First Amendment rights.

This bill inadvertently creates ambiguity, inconsistency, and contradictions in practical application that could be used to infringe on rights guaranteed under the First Amendment, he said.

The bill, SB 296, defined a riot as gatherings of at least three people with a clear danger toward property or people where somebody commits or threatens to commit an act of violence. Under the bill, intentionally attending a riot would have carried a 30-day jail sentence and knowingly participating in a riot resulting in injury or property damage would have carried a 45-day jail sentence.

Several law enforcement organizations backed the bill, while activist groups and the city of Milwaukee opposed the bill as likely to infringe on protesters free speech and assembly rights.

The bill was also opposed by the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, which said in a statement: AFP fears this well-intended legislation would have a chilling effect on the lawful exercise of free expression and could be inappropriately applied by government officials in a partisan or otherwise biased manner.

The bill passed the Senate on a voice vote and the Assembly on a 59-34 party-line vote.

School vouchers

Evers also vetoed a measure, SB 597, that would have allowed schools participating in voucher programs to adopt an early admission policy for 4-year-old kindergarten, 5-year-old kindergarten and first grade.

Evers vetoed the bill because he didnt want to create a scenario that would likely increase property taxes, which fund the programs, he said.

In a statement, Sen. Van Wanggaard, R-Racine, called Evers veto particularly cruel and disingenuous, and argued that it wouldnt have increased property taxes.

This bill impacts the academically gifted kids that are already in choice schools, he said. These kids arent Republican or Democrat  they are (students) looking for equal opportunity. And by vetoing this bill, he is holding them back and capping their academic performance.

The measure passed the Senate 21-12 along party lines in January and the Assembly one month later on a voice vote.

Evers has yet to take action on other Republican bills seeking to bolster the states school voucher program, eliminate classes on racism and diversity, and give parents more control over their students education. He will almost certainly veto all of the measures.

In February, Evers spokesperson Britt Cudaback said, Gov. Evers will continue to do whats best for our kids and supporting Republicans agenda to radicalize our classrooms isnt it.

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MILWAUKEE  A man accused of killing six people and injuring dozens more when he allegedly drove his SUV through a Christmas parade in Waukesha says he doesn't feel safe in jail.

Darrell Brooks sent a letter to his mother saying that guards paid inmates to spit in his food. Brooks, who is Black, also accused guards and inmates of using racial slurs against him and threatening him with violence, WITI-TV reported. He quoted a guard as saying "I hope they give this stupid (racial slur) life in prison. They are going to kill him in prison."

Brooks wrote that he needs to find a way out before something happens to him and guards "sweep it under the rug."

A spokesperson for the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department said Brooks filed a grievance with the jail over his treatment. The agency reviewed his complaints and is satisfied that he's being treated appropriately, and jail staff will continue to monitor his care. WITI-TV did not identify the spokesperson.

Brooks' attorneys, Anna Kees and Jeremy Perri, had not responded to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment and a copy of the letter. The sheriff's spokesperson, Lt. Nicholas Ollinger, hadn't responded to a voicemail seeking comment.

Prosecutors have charged Brooks with more than 70 counts, including six homicide counts, in connection with the Nov. 21 incident. He's due back in court Monday for a motion hearing.

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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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China-EU leaders' meeting provides strategic leadership in China-EU ties

Xinhua) 08:16, March 31, 2022

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The China-EU leaders' meeting has taken place successfully 22 times, playing a vital strategic guiding role in the development of China-EU relations and dialogue and cooperation, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Wednesday.

Spokesperson Wang Wenbin made the remarks at a daily news briefing when asked to introduce arrangements for the meeting.

Wang said that, during this meeting, Chinese President Xi Jinping would meet with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen via video link.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will co-chair the leaders' meeting with Michel and von der Leyen via video link, said the spokesperson.

China and the EU are two significant forces in maintaining world peace, two important markets to promote common development, and two civilizations to advance the cause of human progress, said Wang.

Wang noted that the current international situation is volatile with rising uncertainties. He said the two sides should strengthen strategic communication, enhance mutual trust, build consensus, and conduct dialogue and cooperation based on mutual respect and benefit. He added the two sides should also promote sustained and sound development of China-EU relations to inject stability and positive energy into the international situation.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
KEARNEY  Bailey Bolte always dreamed of being a wedding planner. Now she has achieved that dream.

On Dec. 1, Bolte and her husband Cody opened Legacy on the Bricks at 16 W. 21st St. Its a venue for weddings, receptions, anniversaries, graduations, quinceaneras, birthdays, bridal and baby showers and more.

It can seat up to 450 people. Its large windows allow sunlight to warm and brighten the dining room. Its walls are white and the floor is gray so clients can decorate in any color scheme they choose. They can choose from black, white or gray table linens.

Legacy on the Bricks has been three years in the making.

Bolte was a paramedic with CHI Health Good Samaritan for five years until she married Cody in the summer of 2019.

Then, seeking more conventional working hours, she opened The Wedding Sisters in June 2020. She runs that business out of her home with the assistance of her sisters Brianna Paxton; Kimberly White and her husband Mahlon, and sister-in-law Chelsey Petersen, who lives in Minden. They rent linens, custom centerpieces, aisle runners, tables, chairs and other items for weddings and other celebrations.

She loved that venture, but she and Cody still dreamed of owning a wedding event venue. They scouted the region for a location, but came up empty. We started planning back in 2019, but then COVID hit, and that stalled everything, Bolte, a Minden native, said.

One morning, not long after Bolte delivered son Ryker in October 2020, she happened to drive by the building at 16 W. 21st and noticed that the east end, the former home of Jacobi CarpetOne Floor & Home, was empty. Jacobi had relocated to a new site on Kearneys north end.

I was driving with my little newborn and I saw the for lease sign. We looked at it that afternoon and ended up buying the whole building, she said.

The purchase was final in June 2021. They spent the next six months renovating the 8,000 square feet they use for Legacy on the Bricks. Fitness 101, a 13-year-old business, remains in the buildings other half.

The Boltes tore out everything except the support beams. They put in new plumbing, heating and air conditioning. They painted, installed carpeting and put in a state-of-the-art speaker system, along with seven 70-inch television screens, a sound system, six chandeliers and lights to change the color of the room.

They also put in tables and New York-style venue high-end chairs rather than standard banquet chairs. While the venue can seat up to 450 people, Bolte said tables and chairs can be arranged for groups of any size. We can get creative, she said.

So far, business is off and running. Bolte has planned 23 events for 2022, including birthday parties, anniversaries, quinceaneras, weddings, preschool programs and quilting shows. The entire month of June 2023 is booked, and July 2023 isnt far behind. We still have available dates for 2022, and a few open weekends, but the community has embraced us. Its been awesome, she said.

She and her husband run the business by themselves. They expect their second child, a daughter, on March 15.

Bolte knows how critical wedding planning can be. She and Cody were to get married at the Younes Conference Center on Aug. 3, 2019, but when floods tore through that structure on July 9, those plans suddenly changed.

I was working that day helping move guests out of hotels, and I knew right away our wedding wasnt going to happen there, she said. But they couldnt find another available venue that would hold their 600 guests.

Then Barb Petersen, Boltes mother, called the Kearney County Fairgrounds in Minden. The fairgrounds were to be closed that day in preparation for the county fair, which was to start the day after the wedding. But I prayed about it, Petersen said. The next morning, the fairgrounds called. They said they would let us rent it if we had it cleaned up before Sunday morning.

Peterson, who owns her own design business, Classic Interiors, led 80 friends and relatives in transforming the fairgrounds into a beautiful wedding venue.

We put lights on the ceiling. Friends steamed all the tablecloths. It was so special. So many helping hands showed up. Neighbors, the community of Minden and our family really came to our rescue, Bolte said. True to their word, they had it all cleaned up by 4:30 a.m. Sunday.

Thats partly why Legacy on the Bricks can accommodate 450 guests. Few event sites in Kearney can hold large crowds.

Bolte also did last-minute wedding planning for her sister Briannas wedding in May 2020. The ceremony was to happen in Minden, but Briannas fiance was in the U.S. Air Force, and when COVID-19 hit, he was not allowed to leave Georgia.

We all loaded up in a 49-foot motor home pulling a 14-foot trailer, Petersen said. I sent blueprints to a landscaper in Georgia, and he built a stamped concrete patio and a pergola. We transformed her backyard in just three days, even staining the fence and doing landscaping.

Bolte added, It was an intimate wedding, with fewer than 20 people, but we made it beautiful. We love thinking on our feet. Weve probably been through any situation people might bring us.

She and Cody named their business Legacy on the Bricks because both lost a beloved grandparent in May. We started talking a lot about legacy, and we realized people can start their legacies in our venue. We like to say, Your legacy starts here, she said.
KEARNEY  Kearney Catholic High School is a family tradition for Sara Homan.

Her husband, Ben, and his four siblings are KCHS alumni. The couples oldest son, Ben, graduated from the school in 2020, and their three younger children currently attend KCHS. Sara has been heavily involved at Kearney Catholic as a volunteer and school board member. On Friday, she will take on a new position as the KCHS Foundation director of advancement.

Cindi Richter served as the director of development for 15 years before leaving the position in December. The KCHS Foundation Board did extensive restructuring of the position to redefine the role before moving forward, explained KCHS Foundation Board President Cory Kruse.

We took a look at all the responsibilities and duties of the foundation and what it was going to need to meet the needs of the school moving forward. We went out and built a new job description and used it to advertise the position, Kruse added.

The director of advancement will focus on fundraising for the school and working closely with school administration and the school board to meet the needs of KCHS.

The director of operations will focus on day-to-day operations and oversight of fundraising events. The interview process has started for the director of operations position.

Homan grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, and she received her bachelors degree in secondary education from DePaul University in Chicago. She taught high school for five years in Chicago before moving to her husbands hometown of Kearney. She received her masters degree in education from the University of Nebraska at Kearney and worked at UNK. Homan took a hiatus from her professional career to focus on her young family and to volunteer in the community.

She recalls one of her first volunteer experiences in Kearney was with the KCHS GOLD Auction and Dinner. She has served as the president of the Kearney Community Theatre board and is a member of the Goodfellows of Buffalo County board. She previously served on the Kearney YMCA board and the Kearney Public Library Foundation board. She has volunteered at KCHS, Windy Hills Elementary and teaches religious education at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, where she is a member.

I joined the Kearney Catholic High School board back in August. That really reinvigorated my passion for education. It heightened my awareness and desire to be as supportive as I could of the staff and students at Kearney Catholic, Homan said.

The school board began a strategic planning process for the school, and Homan knew someone would need to raise the financial support to carry out the schools vision for its strategic plan.

That set the wheels in motion. Who is going to do that? Could I do that? I have never been a fundraiser. I dont have a background in advancement. I love connecting with people. I love problem solving. I love facilitating effective communication, and I have a passion for Kearney Catholic. I just felt like I was being called to that job, she said.

Kruse is excited for Homan to take on the new role and for the passion and enthusiasm she will bring to the foundation.

We are super excited about her passion, skill set, and think she will be an outstanding asset for the foundation, he said. (She will) continue the work Cindi started during her 15-year tenure and work to continue to develop the works between the foundation and the school board to further advance the school.

Homan wants to continue the legacy of those who came before her and feels honored to be part of what makes KCHS special.

Im most excited to honor what feels like a calling to connect my passion for what is happening at Kearney Catholic High School with other KCHS supporters. I feel honored to build upon the legacy of past foundation leaders to carry forward the vision and mission of Kearney Catholic, she said.
KEARNEY  The Community Action Partnership of Mid-Nebraska continues to offer the WIC program, the nations most successful and cost-effective public health nutrition program.

It provides wholesome foods, nutrition education and community support for income-eligible women who are pregnant or postpartum, or have infants and children up to age five.

WIC offers support to anyone who cares for a child  mothers, fathers, grandparents, foster parents, stepparents and guardians. At this time, due to COVID-19, all appointments are completed over the phone.

To receive assistance, participants must live in Nebraska, be pregnant, postpartum or breastfeeding, have a child under the age of five and be income-eligible. Those who receive Medicaid, SNAP, ADC or Kids Connections automatically qualify.

For household and income guidelines, visit dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/WIC-About.aspx

This program covers Adams, Buffalo, Clay, Dawson, Furnas, Harlan, Kearney, Nuckolls, Phelps and Webster counties. To find a WIC clinic near you, visit signupwic.com, or call 308-865-5675.
Bad Axe River Watershed Council member Travis Klinkner reported that at the groups March 3 meeting, they recapped the last meeting.

Members that attended the Tainter Creek Farmer-Led Watershed Council meeting on Wednesday night reported it was very informative listening to the farmers from Buffalo-Trempealeau Watershed group on various practices they have implemented, Klinkner said.

Klinkner reported that committees of Finance, Cover crops, Events and Promotion reported. He said that the Finance Committee took steps to focus demonstration plots on maintenance and repair of multiple water control structures versus focusing on construction of two separate new structures. He reports they are also looking for a Farm Coordinator to serve the watershed council as lead event planner.

The Cover Crops Committee is beginning to accept and record farmers plans to plant cover crops or alternative forages in the watershed.

The Events Committee is waiting to see what demonstrations and speakers the group wants in order to create a schedule.

The Promotion Committee is going to ask local high school students, through the respective art programs, to develop a logo for the watershed. A winner will be selected, and given a cash prize.

The next meeting of the group will take place on Thursday, April 21, at John Pedrettis Tasting Room, S3426 Peterson Lane, Viroqua. The meeting will start with a tour of a dam that has recently been cleaned out at 6:30 p.m. Committee meetings will take place at 7 p.m., with the regular meeting to follow at 7:30 p.m.

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One person is dead after single-vehicle crash Thursday in Holmen.

According to the Holmen Police Department, the vehicle was traveling north on Hwy. 53 shortly after midnight when it left the roadway north of Hwy. OT.

The vehicle struck a large road sign and came to rest against a tree. The vehicle had one occupant, who was dead when emergency personnel arrived.

Authorities havent released the name of the victim.

The La Crosse County Sheriffs Office, Wisconsin State Patrol, Gundersen Health System Ambulance, Holmen and Onalaska fire departments and La Crosse County medical examiner assisted Holmen police at the scene.

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Dan Fedorenko spent the first 16 years of his life in Ukraine. Many of his friends and family still live there.

To him, the war between Ukraine and Russia is much more than a distant news story unfolding over TV and social media  it has affected him in powerful and personal ways.

The first four or five days, I couldnt sleep for more than a few hours each night, says Fedorenko, a junior at UW-L majoring in computer science. Since the war broke out, he starts each morning by checking the news and contacting his loved ones, to see if theyre still alive. Knowing whats happening and whos still over there, feeling like theres nothing I can do  its been really hard.

Initially, Fedorenko wanted to drop everything, fly to Ukraine and do whatever he could to help his friends and family. His family in the U.S. advised against it.

So, Fedorenko thought of another way to make a difference. With the help of classmates, faculty and the Archaeology & Anthropology Club, he is launching a fundraiser supporting those affected by the conflict.

The week of April 4-8, the group will run a table on the first floor of the Student Union, where they are selling buttons with student-made artwork. Proceeds will benefit Razom, a nonprofit organization supporting the people Ukraine in their pursuit of a democratic society with dignity, justice and human and civil rights for all.

People need to know that war is not as glorious as its shown on TV, Fedorenko says. People are suffering, and how can you be OK with that? They need our help.

Fedorenko is from Kharkiv, a city of 1.4 million people about 25 miles from the Russian border. He and his immediate family moved to the Netherlands when he was 16, and came to the United States a year later.

During Fedorenkos time in Ukraine, Russia posed a constant threat to his home countrys safety and independence. This threat intensified with Russias annexation of Crimea in 2014.

But to Fedorenko, the possibility of war never seemed real until Russian troops invaded in late February.

Were all surprised its escalated to the point that it has, he says. Nobody believed anything like this would happen.

While some of his loved ones have escaped to Poland, others remain in harms way.

The anxiety he feels each morning, waiting to hear about the status of loved ones, is a feeling shared by the millions of people around the world with ties to Ukraine.

Fedorenkos friends and classmates feel some of that weight, too.

Being friends with Dan really pulled me into it, to the point where Ukraine almost feels like my second home, notes Jamie Schoen, a junior majoring in geography. When youre exposed to someone who has lived there and had those experiences, it really puts you in that persons shoes.

As someone who previously knew very little about Ukraine and its relationship with Russia, Schoen says Americans should follow reliable news sources, seek out firsthand accounts from those living in Ukraine, and exercise compassion.

As for how the war may end, Fedorenko doesnt see either side giving in easily.

He hopes Ukrainian allies will pass stricter sanctions on Russia, and that the Russian people will come together and overthrow their government.

Short of that, Fedorenko worries that the human toll will continue to mount.

Ukraine has a history of being attacked by so many different people over the years, and we always come back. I know my people will never surrender, he says. But as much as I want Ukraine to win, I know it will come at the cost of normal people having to do dangerous and heroic things.

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A Janesville man and his passenger were arrested after a head-on crash with a Rock County squad car during a police pursuit on Tuesday night, authorities reported.

At about 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Janesville police were investigating a suspicious vehicle in the 1500 block of Parker Court and found it at Lions Quick Mart, 2615 Milton Ave., Janesville police Sgt. Rob Perkins said in a statement.

Officers saw drug paraphernalia in the vehicle and attempted to take the driver and passenger into custody, but they fled in the vehicle, starting a pursuit that was terminated at Highway 14 and Highway 26 after the driver made several evasive maneuvers, Perkins said.

Rock County Sheriffs Office Sgt. Clint Rowley said a deputy saw the driver, whose identity was known, go around their squad northbound in the southbound lanes of Highway 26

The deputy attempted to stop the suspect and when the suspect continued in the wrong direction on Highway 26 the deputy continued northbound on the northbound side while the suspect vehicle continued northbound on the southbound side. The suspect vehicle then turned south and headed southbound on the north side of Highway 26, so the deputy activated their squads emergency lights to warn the traffic behind them of the danger, Rowley said.

The suspect then caused a head-on collision with the deputys squad, with no other vehicles involved. After the collision, the driver, Jesse Seales, 38, of Janesville, fled on foot, but was later taken into custody by deputies and Janesville police in the 3500 block of Voda Drive, Rowley and Perkins said.

The deputy, who was not identified, was taken by ambulance to a hospital, treated and released, Rowley said.

The Wisconsin State Patrol will be investigating the crash, Rowley said.

Seales currently is out on bond for disorderly conduct/domestic violence, possession with intent to distribute amphetamine, possession of a narcotic drug, possession of THC, possession of drug paraphernalia, resisting an officer, misdemeanor bail jumping, and felony bail jumping, and now faces tentative charges of fleeing an officer, possession of THC, possession of amphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, and trespass to dwelling, Perkins said.

Passenger Ryan Schultz, 35, was arrested on a probation violation, and faces tentative charges of possession of THC, possession of amphetamine, and possession of drug paraphernalia, Perkins said.

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BEIJING, March 31 -- "Taiwan belongs to China and has nothing to do with Japan. Its no good for the Japanese side to stretch its hands too long. The Taiwan question is fully and completely an internal affair of China, fundamentally different from the Ukraine issue," a Chinese defense spokesperson said at a regular press conference on Thursday.

Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks when asked to comment on Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's recent remarks about Taiwan-related topics.

Snr. Col. Wu stated that, for some time, individual political forces in Japan have always sought various ways to create excuses to break through the post-war international order, and engage in military expansion.

Lately, there have been repeated dangerous calls in Japan that contravene the "three non-nuclear principles", which give its Asian neighbors and the international community strong reasons to be on high alert. Japan, as a non-nuclear-weapon state party to the NPT, should earnestly fulfill its non-proliferation obligations, added Snr. Col. Wu.

"China always opposes the deployment of nuclear weapons by nuclear-weapon states on other countries' territories. China urges Japan to deeply reflect on its history, respect the security concerns of its Asian neighbors, and stay committed to the path of peaceful development, not the other way around," stressed Snr. Col. Wu.
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C&B Creative: Black Women-Owned Business Specializes in Creating Unforgettable Moments

Los Angeles inspired showroom conglomerate, C&B Creative, is a Black women-owned brand. They recently relocated their L.A.-based office to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Kayla Green and Jazmine Holifield are setting the tone and capturing unique energy within their projects. As creative engineers, Green and Holifield shared the details in constructing their business values to reflect the community needs.

As a conglomerate business, C&B Creative provides services that speak to the art of the collective community. As prom season approaches, Green and Holifield hosted a prom pop-up shop. They assisted with styling young women that were preparing for one of the most memorable nights of their life. This is in an example of the reason behind C&B Creative  to cater to special moments.

Weve been doing this since 2012, Green recounted about the incubation of this business. Together, the two women began to oversee brands, and manage various creatives. Thats what developed us into being who we are todaythats what set the foundation of what we wanted to do and what we knew how to do, she said. After the direction was set, they let their instinct and guide them to incorporate a new level of care and sustainability.

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Holifield shared the pride in their one-of-a-kind business by stating, We really wanted to make it a different approach and we pride ourselves on being sustainable  making it a community thing, making purpose-driven fashion. I know, fashion is fashion, but its not always frivolous. Holifield and Green hold vetted experience in communication, marketing, and PR business.

Reflecting on the challenges as a women-owned brand, Green and Holifield shared their biggest obstacle in managing their business. Holifield stated, Knowing when and what to delegate  you must be comfortable with trusting.

But also, theres a certain thing that only we can do at this stage. I think its very important for us to protect the integrity and the core of our brand.

Sharing her thoughts on what she views as a challenge within the business, Green stated, I think thats a challenge across all industries as far as finding quality people, especially when you have your own business and this is your baby.

I think, for me, the hardest thing has been the certain connections where there may be a lack of integrity, she noted.

As Black women, Holifield and Green must prove themselves constantly. The two business partners admitted that there werent many prejudices within their line of work, except for the feeling that they are being overlooked or not taken seriously because theyre women.

Holifield observed, People may not take us seriously until after the fact or they approach the situation assuming that we dont know what were doing.

Green stated, We had to advocate for ourselves a long time ago and it wasnt necessarily by choice, it was because we had to. We were put in positions where we had to learn how to speak up for ourselves.

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After overcoming the common perception, Green and Holifield reflected on what they were most proud of in this business. Im most proud of the network and the tribe that we built or that we attracted, and now I have a tribe of people that I can reflect back on  that have grown with me, seen me, and recognize me for who I am and where I am at, said Green.

Holifield added, Im proud of the name that we made for ourselves and the reputation that we have. She elaborated on the loyalty reflected on in the bonds they have made over the years.

A pillar in C&B Creative is the giving back to the community, they recently hosted a prom pop up shop that was a complete success. The two women partnered with a new multi-purpose community center located on the north side of Milwaukee called Charquise Boutique Hall.

Owners of C&B Creative released the following statement about the experience of the event, We collaborated to create a curated experience for girls to shop affordable and stylish pieces in an intimate setting.

We have been accepting donations and consignment opportunities to add to our inventory. FKShoppe is also contributing dresses, accessories and shoes!

FKShoppe is the retail portion that lives under the C&B Creative umbrella.

The released statement also said, We will be hosting pop ups throughout the 2022 Prom Season. Including a virtual live for people who are not local to be involved. Items will be posted to our website for purchase as well. The C&B hosted prom pop up shop will be posted at their studio on Sunday, April 3, from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Closing with final thoughts, the successful business owners said, Were so grateful to be able to show up for girls in this way. Especially after hearing and knowing from personal experience the challenge that comes with finding the right look for this memorable occasion.
Council District 8 and StreetsLA Begin Cool Pavement & Tree Plantings in South Los Angeles Neighborhood

Next Phase Urban Cooling Program Continues

As part of the citys efforts to continue to mitigate climate change and reduce urban heat, Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson and StreetsLA announced today the start of cool pavement work and tree plantings in a South Los Angeles neighborhood of Council District 8 as the Next Phase Urban Cooling Program continues.

Led by StreetsLA, the program is installing cool pavement and planting trees to shade 200 city blocks in eight neighborhoods with this being the fifth one. These neighborhoods were selected using multiple data sets and tools, including the Trust for Public Land Climate Smart cities Tool, the Google Environmental Insights Explorer tree canopy map, and Cal Enviro-Screen.

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This project is an excellent example of innovation and collaboration, said Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Councilmember of the Eighth District. And a tool we can use to provide relief to some of the hottest neighborhoods in the city while we address climate change.



The Mayors L.A Green New Deal Plan, released in 2019, has a goal to reduce urban/rural temperature differential by at least 1.7 degrees by 2025; and 3 degrees by 2035.

These types of programs are critical as we deal with heat, especially in areas where its most prevalent said Board of Public Works President Pro Tempore Mike Davis. We thank StreetsLA for this work that, with other sustainability efforts by Public Works, will enable us to continue to tackle climate change head on.

This innovative program is a great example of how the City and StreetsLA can reduce the urban heat island effect in Los Angeles, using a holistic approach that integrates new pavement technology, greening that broadens the tree canopy overhead, and more bus shelters and shade structures, said StreetsLA Executive Director Keith Mozee.

For information on the Next Phase Cooling Program or LA City Department of Public Works visit: http://bpw.lacity.org.
Councilmember Price Leads Effort to Build New Park in South L.A

L.A. City Councilmember Curren Price, president of the Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners Cynthia McClain-Hill, Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks (RAP) General Manager Mike Shull, and members of the community joined together on March 26 to celebrate the groundbreaking of the future Sen. Bill Greene Memorial Park on the corner of Figueroa Street and Slauson Avenue in South Los Angeles.

The newest park in District 9 will have walking trails, an outdoor amphitheatre, outdoor fitness equipment, drought-tolerant landscaping and trees, and will feature a mural and various art installation projects. Since 2013, Councilmember Price has delivered more than $60 million in improvements across every park and recreation center in the District.

It is important to me that our families have clean streets, beautiful parks, and green space, said Price. Thats why Im thrilled that this year alone, we will be breaking ground on three new parks. Sen. Bill Greene Memorial Park will have something for everyone to appreciate and enjoy!

Under a Memorandum of Understanding between LADWP and Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, in consultation with Council District 9, the approximately 20,000 square-foot vacant lot will be transformed to provide new recreational opportunities for youth and families.

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With this partnership we are bringing much-needed green space to the heart of Los Angeles, added McClain-Hill.

This park rightly honors the legacy and service of the late Sen. Bill Greene who fought for civil rights, and will provide an important community benefit to nearby residents that can be enjoyed for years to come.

For decades, Bill Greene served as a Democratic member of the California State Assembly and the California State Senate representing South Los Angeles. His role as a labor union advocate and a civil rights Freedom Rider propelled him into a political career.

Greene was best known for his work authoring legislation, which transformed the welfare system within the State of California that became a model for the nationwide Congressional welfare-to-work program.

The Department of Recreation and Parks is thrilled to be partnering with LADWP and Councilmember Price on this new park project, Shull said.

This opportunity is part of our goal and commitment to increasing walkable park access in communities with the greatest need. We look forward to celebrating the opening of Sen. Bill Greene Memorial Park soon.

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Construction of the park is estimated to be completed in late 2022, early 2023.
Deadline for Business Property Statements Fast Approaching

From the Assessors Office

Theres a deadline fast approaching that oftentimes is overlooked but is significant nevertheless  the Business Property Statements. And the deadline is here.

Each year Business Property Statements, which provide a basis for determining property tax assessments for business equipment and related fixtures, are mailed by my office to most commercial, industrial and professional firms.

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Businesses with personal property with an aggregate cost of $100,000 or more must file a Business Property Statement each year by April 1. This is required by state law. However, you have until May 7 to file. After that a 10% penalty will be applied. Business inventory is exempt from taxation.

Generally, businesses with total personal property that cost less than $100,000 are not required to file a Business Property Statement annually. Instead, a value may be established based on an initial Business Property Statement filing or by an on-site appraisal. That value may be adjusted by subsequent annual on-site appraisals. Please note that if my office mails you a form, you are required by law to return the form regardless of the amount of personal property.

Business Personal Property is typically all property owned or leased by a business except Real Property and Inventory items.

Business Personal Property includes, but is not limited to:

Machinery

Computers

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Office Equipment (e.g. FAX machines, photocopiers)

Telephones

Furniture (e.g. desks, chairs, bookcases)

Supplies

Its important to remember that Business Personal Property is valued annually as of January 1. If you were in business or owned personal property on that day and have the required amount of property, you are required to file, even if the Assessor does not mail one to you. Business Property Statements are private documents and are held confidential by my office.

Having said that, I understand this has been a very difficult year for many businesses and I am inviting you to provide me with information about your business equipment for the possibility of some relief. The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions have had a negative impact on the value of many business assets, such as gyms, hotels and movie theaters, while others not so much. Businesses that were operating on Jan. 1 but then regrettably had to shutter are going to be considered. Make no mistake about this, I intend to be proactive about these reductions. As an example, our office proactively reduced Business Personal Property for about 47,000 businesses countywide last year.

Property taxes are based on the assessed value of your property. I also think its important to note that the very reason for our property taxes is to support vital public services provided to all of us, including law enforcement, fire protection, education, parks and recreation, as well as roads.

Property tax bills show land and improvement values. Improvements include all assessable buildings and structures on the land. In general, properties that are owned and used by educational, charitable, religious or government organizations may be exempt from certain property taxes. You may also qualify for certain exemptions.

The bureaucratic name for the Business Personal Property form is the 571-L and as I mentioned it must be filed no later than May 7 to avoid a penalty. However, May 7 falls on a weekend this year so the deadline is actually May 9. To file the form online or just to learn more about this go to https://assessor.lacounty.gov/businessowners/business-prop-statement-filing.

Finally, if you want to contact us by phone, please call (213) 974-3211 or (888) 807-2111 toll-free.

Los Angeles County Assessor Jeff Prang has been in office since 2014. Upon taking office, Prang implemented sweeping reforms to ensure that the strictest ethical guidelines rooted in fairness, accuracy and integrity would be adhered to in his office, which is the largest office of its kind in the nation with 1,400 employees and provides the foundation for a property tax system that generates $17 billion annually.
Derrick Skye Brings Artificial Intelligence to the Stage with, Where Can We Go, From Here?

On Saturday, April 2, the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater (REDCAT) presents Derrick Skye with his program, Where can we go, from here?

Skye, a composer, conductor and musician based in Los Angeles, is bringing a team of dancers, instrumentalists, vocalists, and artists all led by him and writer, speaker, and musician, K Allado-McDowell.

Earlier this year, Skye was asked by CalArts if he would like to curate a concert at Redcat featuring his works. He says he was thrilled to have this opportunity and wanted to use this platform to give people insight into the complex yet incredibly rewarding process of integrating multiple disciplines and mediums into my work.

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The title of the program alone stands out itself. When asked about the inspiration behind the title, Derrick explained how there is an influx of innovation happening in many different mediums currently. He goes on to tell the Sentinel that one area thats seeing a lot of changes is classical music.

The inspiration behind the title comes from the desire to foster more connections between music makers of different genres and disciplines. How can we bring what are perceived as different areas of study closer together, and show their connections, the musician explains.

Having the desire to cultivate more connections, Derrick commonly intertwines different music practices from different cultural traditions into his work with the classical music communities. He describes one significant difference between Where can we go, from here? and others is how the music of different cultures is presented.

Each piece is tethered together by an overall belief that every represented musical language adds something rich to the overall language of music-making. When these languages are interwoven, this can also have a meaningful effect on our communities by bringing people of different backgrounds together in collaboration, Skye states.

When you walk through the doors or tune in online, expect to witness jaw-dropping performances as Skye and his team worked long hours to put this program together.

People can expect to see a show that brings people together from multiple disciplines (neuroscience, music, dance) and highlights the beginnings of another approach to the way music and performance can connect to us all, Derrick emphasizes.

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The program has two parts and will feature a number of musical and dance performances. To top it off, attendees will also witness artificial intelligence (AI) live on stage. The program will conclude with Song of the Ambassadors,  an interdisciplinary work that is part of an opera being developed and includes a live neuroscience study on the effects of the composition  with music written by Skye and a libretto by Allado-McDowell which will use the AI language model GPT-3. Skye says this is the largest piece and has been in development since February of 2021 with producer Kenric Allado-McDowell and Lincoln Center.

It involved work with many different organizations, including the neuroscience Lab at UCSD. Rehearsals for this show have had many different layers of preparation as they involve people from so many disciplines and musical genres. Its been the most terrifying, yet exhilarating process Ive ever gone through, he explains.

Derrick is most excited about the electro-acoustic aspect of the show. It has been a dream of his to include the sciences, music of many genres, and dance all in the same show.

Derrick Skye: Where can we go, from here? will take place Saturday, April 2, at the Roy and Edna Disney/CalArts Theater located inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles at 8:30 p.m. The show can be viewed both in person and virtual.

Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.redcat.org/event/derrick-skye-where-can-we-go-here

For more information on Derrick Skye, visit his website at: http://www.derrickskye.com/
EECI and AltaSea Unite to Bring Blue Jobs to Watts Community

Careers in the blue or ocean economy will become more accessible for South Los Angeles residents, thanks to collaboration between the Entrepreneur Educational Center Inc. (EECI) and AltaSea at the Port of Los Angeles.

During a brief ceremony on March 25, Barbara Stanton, CEO of Watts-based EECI; and Jenny Krusoe, AltaSea founding executive director signed a formal Memorandum of Understanding to partner in establishing employment opportunities in emerging blue sectors such as underwater robotics, aquaculture farming, and ecosystem health analysis.

The agreement also emphasizes bringing small businesses and equity to the local area, which will benefit residents in Black and Indigenous People of Color communities.

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Elected officials, community leaders and executives from both organizations gathered at the Watts home of Ozie B. Gonzaque, a legendary volunteer activist. She served 18 years as a commissioner for Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA), advised politicians such as Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Assemblymember Mike Gipson and Councilmember Curren Price. Stanton, Gonzaques daughter, recruited her mom to cook and serve her famous Gumbo for the occasion.

My mom dedicated 50 years to the city, county and state. She built two public housing developments [as chair of HACLA]  one is Aliso Village and one in Harbor City  the first one in the nation where you could buy a house or rent an apartment. She volunteered all of her time. She also served as a hearing officer for LAPD. Shes a hard worker and we all got that from her, said Stanton, a lifelong Watts resident who was raised in the home that her grandparents first bought the home in 1944 and her mother lives in today.

I see a lot of wonderful friends out here. Thank you so much for coming. Welcome to my home. I hope well have a good time working together in the future, Gonzaque said.

Referring to the MOU, Stanton said, We are people living in the Alameda corridor and we need jobs and we need small businesses. By pooling together, we have put a blue program in Watts. Thats incredible to me. To have a program that trains Black and Brown young people for jobs at the Port  thats how we have to work it to keep this area from being underserviced.

Krusoe offered comparable sentiments, expressing her appreciation for the joint effort with EECI. The two nonprofits  EECI and AltaSea  are members of a coalition with the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation that are finalists in the $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge issued by the U.S. Economic Development Administration.

We are so proud at AltaSea of our partnership and deepening relationship with EECI. We really want to build the emerging blue economy and all the sectors that will mitigate climate change with the core value of inclusion and I am grateful for EECI joining us, said Kruse.

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We are projecting that there will be 1,000+ new jobs and 100+ new small businesses started in the next five years with this partnership.

Price, who represents City Council District 9, and State Senator Steve Bradford were also on hand to support the MOU signing. Bradford was credited with securing funding to construct a new facility at AltaSea.

Highlighting the significance of blue economy jobs, LAEDC estimates that the industry will generate more than 126,000 direct jobs in L.A. County, paying $37.7 billion in wages by 2030.

To learn more, visit www.entrepreneureducationalcenter.org or altasea.org.
House Passes CROWN Act Supporting Natural Black Hairstyles

Connecticut Democratic Rep. Jahana Hayes sounded off to critics of legislation that would allow individuals freedom to express themselves by how they wear their hair.

Natural hair should be worn without fear of discrimination, Hayes asserted moments after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the CROWN Act, banning hair-related discrimination. The measure passed in a vote of 235-189 along party lines.

Introduced by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-New Jersey), the acronym CROWN stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair. The measure outlaws discrimination based on an individuals texture or style of hair.

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The bill will, which now heads to the Senate, states that routinely, people of African descent are deprived of educational and employment opportunities for wearing their hair in natural or protective hairstyles such as locs, cornrows, twists, braids, Bantu knots, or Afros.

Republicans strongly opposed the measure, and some used race-baiting words in expressing their opposition. No to the nappy hair act, Georgia Republican Marjorie Taylor Green railed.

Civil rights groups applauded the passage of the measure.

Passage of the CROWN Act by the House of Representatives moves our nation one step closer to federal protection for Black women, men, and children from discrimination across the country simply because of their natural hair or hairstyle, stated Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

We urge the Senate to quickly take up this important legislation, which would ensure that Black students are not prohibited from attending or participating in school events because of their natural hair, that Black employees are not subject to pretextual firing or negative employment actions because of their hair texture or style, and that Black people are accorded dignity and respect in choosing to embrace a natural hairstyle.

In a statement, Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty (D-Ohio) said Black women and girls face discrimination because of their natural hair each day at their workplaces and schools.

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So today, I proudly voted yes on the CROWN Act to finally end race-based hair discrimination once and for all, Beatty insisted.

Its simple  discrimination against Black hair is discrimination based on race. I look forward to swift passage of this critical legislation in the Senate and standing with President Biden as he signs it into law.

Rep. Beatty then delivered a message to Black youth. To every young Black girl and boy, I say to you, your hair  from your kinks to your curls, from your fros to your fades, from your locs to your braids  is a crown, she asserted. Be proud of your hair and know the Congressional Black Caucus is fighting for you.
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Deserves to be Appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court  Right Now!

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first Black woman to be nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court and after a grueling three days of questioning  and in some cases, badgering  by Republicans, she has finally cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee and appears to be headed towards confirmation as a justice with support from a united Democratic Party, and she even managed to pull a small group of Republicans in along the way.

Throughout the three days of questioning and in some cases out right rudeness by Texas Senator Ted Cruz and other Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jackson remained calm, collective and poised.

During her testimony, Jackson told the committee, In my capacity as a justice, I would do what Ive done for the past decade, which is to rule from a position of neutrality, to look carefully at the facts and  to render rulings that I believe and that I hope that people would have confidence in.

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey excited everyone watching from both the gallery and throughout the nation at the close of the hearings with an emotional and dramatic closing argument, reflecting on the historic nature of Ketanji Brown Jacksons nomination, which brought Jackson Brown herself to tears.

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You did not get there because of some left-wing agenda. You didnt get here because of some dark money groups. You got here how every Black woman in America who has gotten anywhere has done, Booker said. You are worthy. You are a great American.

After the three days of hearings, what we do know about SCOTUS nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson is that she is cool under fire. This was demonstrated by the fact that last Tuesday under serious opposition from Republicans, she returned on Wednesday to be questioned again and was more confident and more dynamic than ever despite the fact that she under what many onlookers considered as a grueling, abusive, and overtly critical hearing.

Republican Sen. Cruz was one of those who appeared to be overly critical and overtly discriminatory toward Judge Jackson. Following his lengthy questioning regarding the sentences that she handed down in child pornography cases, the judge boldly responded, I have spoken at length throughout this hearing about these cases. I have said what Im going to say.

Joining into the fracas with Cruz was January 6 insurrection supporter Sen. Josh Hawley, who continuously pushed and attempted to connect Judge Brown Jackson as a jurist that endangered children by letting child porn offenders off the hook.

My question is, do you regret it or not? asked Hawley about a case where the offender was sentenced to three months behind bars.

Senator, what I regret is that in a hearing about my qualifications to be a justice on the Supreme Court, weve spent a lot of time focusing on this small subset of my sentences, Jackson fired back.

The Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee seemed to be aiming at discrediting the Supreme Court nominee by questioning why the sentences she made regarding child pornography cases and child pornography offenders were less than the federal guidelines and below what prosecutors had recommended.

It seems as though youre a very kind person and theres at least a level of empathy that enters into your treatment of a defendant that some could view as  maybe beyond what some of us would be comfortable with respect to administering justice, said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.

Jackson replied that Congress had tasked judges with delivering punishments aimed at rehabilitation, not just retribution and punishment, and considering a multitude of factors beyond federal guidelines. (A Supreme Court decision authored by the late Justice Antonin Scalia said the guidelines could not be made mandatory, she noted.)

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My attempts to communicate directly with defendants is about public safety, because most of the people who are incarcerated via the federal system will come out, will be a part of our communities again, she said.

Sen. Lindsey Graham attacked Jackson for coupling prison sentences for child porn offenders with substantial supervision after release.

You think it is a bigger deterrent to take somebody whos on a computer looking at sexual images of children, in the disgusting way, is to supervise their computer habits versus putting em in jail? he asked.

No, senator. I didnt say versus, Jackson shot back.

Judge Jackson also informed the Senate Judiciary Committee that as of now, if confirmed, she intends to recuse herself from hearing one of the first cases that would come before the Supreme Court following her confirmation. The case deals with a challenge to Harvard Universitys use of race in college admissions.

That is my plan, she told fellow Harvard graduate, Ted Cruz, during the confirmation questioning.

Jackson, who is a double Harvard graduate, currently sits on Harvards Board of Overseers, which provides counsel to the Universitys leadership on priorities, plans, and strategic initiatives according to its website.

Jacksons six-year term concludes on May 26, a school spokesperson said. Supreme Court oral arguments in the schools case would be heard several months later.

Federal law stipulates that federal judges must recuse themselves from cases whenever their impartiality might reasonably be questioned or when the judge has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, or personal knowledge of disputed evidentiary facts concerning the proceeding.

Enforcement of the rules on the Supreme Court is by honor system, leaving it to each justice individually to decide when its appropriate to recuse from a case. Several independent ethics watchdogs have said it would be prudent for Jackson to step aside from the case if shes on the bench.

While Republican Sens. Cruz, Graham, Hawley, and Cotton garnered most of the media attention with discouraging and attacking remarks, several other Republicans offered more thoughtful and considerate questioning of Jacksons record, including praise for her after their questions had ended.

Youre going to be a hero. You are already a hero to lots and lots of kids, Sen. Ben Sasse told the nominee.

I believe we still havent heard the judicial philosophy, and I wish Id made more progress with you on that, Sasse said, but I want to thank you  for what you have endured and for spending time with us.

Tillis, one of the few GOP members of the committee who sat in the chamber for nearly the entirety of the 19 hours of questions, also had notably warm words for the nominee.

I thought youve done a great job over the last two days, Tillis told Jackson. I thought that you presented yourself well. There was a lot of pressure. And that demonstrates a certain temperament or poise.

I just want to commend you, your family, your daughter, who has been glowing every time you talk, and I appreciate your service, he said.

Neither Sasse nor Tillis has said whether they would vote in favor of Jackson. Both opposed her elevation to the federal appeals court last year.
King Shares Insight on Voting Rights at Drew University Breakfast

Author and activist Shaun King offered unfiltered commentary on the state of voting rights and redistricting during the 7thannual Presidents Breakfast hosted by Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU).

Dr. David Carlisle, CDU chief executive officer, moderated the virtual event on March 22 and scores of people tuned in to the universitys YouTube channel for the enlightening conversation entitled Voting Rights and Redistricting: Whats at Stake.

King has gained national stature for expertise in using social media to promote social justice causes. A notable player in the Black Lives Matter movement, he is also the host of two podcasts, creator of popular The North Star website and writer-in-residence at Harvard Law Schools Fair Punishment Project.

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Introducing the gathering as an opportunity to discuss topics of great importance, Carlisle said a focus on voting rights and redistricting was both timely and essential with so much on the line in our society. Every great change you can see starts with an election. Its how democracy is supposed to work.

But considering the divisiveness gripping the nation, Carlisle asked, Is redistricting a tool or a threat? What happens when instead of the voters choosing their representatives, the representatives choose their voters?

Following that question, the president and activist delved into the topic, providing historical perspectives, current strategies of determining electoral boundaries and potential impacts on African American and communities of color.

King explained how growing up in a small town in Kentucky inspired his attraction to social justice causes. Had I not experienced so much discrimination firsthand from not just from racist students but also administrators, I dont know if I would have ended up on this path. In a lot of ways, it was forced on me to fight for myself and those around me, said the Morehouse College graduate.

Morehouse was an incubator and hospital for me. We got there with our own issues, but became a part of fighting for human and civil rights. I knew it would be a part of me for the rest of my life, he said.

Responding to Carlisles inquiry about whether any change has occurred since Kings exposure to bigotry as a youth, the author replied, We like to think of history as a cyclical trajectory were things are getting better and better and better  not just in the South, but in this country. But, it depends on what youre measuring it by.

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If were measuring [progress] by mass incarceration, we know that there are many more incarcerated in 2022 than in 1952. If were measuring by the number of people killed by police, in 1962 it was 150 and last year, it was 1200, King noted.

There are no doubt amazing victories, but it depends on our measurement. Some things are significantly better and some things are painfully worse. But, we have to ask ourselves what our metrics are and how do we measure the progress that were fighting for, he said.

If were not constantly evaluating those metrics, we can sometimes assume that were better off than were actually are. So, we have to constantly gauge are we getting better and how do we measure that, concluded King.

More reflections on the subject were shared by the panelists, who consisted of Crystal Crawford, executive director of the Western Center on Law and Poverty; John Yang, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice; Thomas A. Saenz, president and general counsel for Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, and Shakari Byerly, partner and principal researcher at Evitarus.

The entire event can be viewed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdBN-86JtlI.
Padilla Optimistic About Judge Jacksons Significant Moment in American History

Californias junior United States Sen. Alex Padilla says he is as excited as he is honored to be serving on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary as he and his colleagues conduct hearings to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman nominated to the United States Supreme Court in the judicial branchs 233-year history.

On Feb. 25, President Joe Biden nominated Jackson, a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, to become the 116th Justice on the highest court in the nation.

If Jackson is confirmed, she will replace Justice Stephen Breyer, one of her mentors, who announced his retirement in January.

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Im honored to be sharing in this historic and significant moment in our nations history, Padilla told California Black Media (CBM) in a telephone interview.

The first Latino to represent California in the upper house of the United States Congress, Padilla spoke with CBM while taking a short break from a daylong hearing March 23. During that session, lawmakers, Democrats and Republicans, cross examined Jackson.

I am optimistic about Judge Jacksons confirmation process. She is an outstanding nominee. She has the qualifications, and she has the experience, Padilla continued. If she is confirmed, she will bring a much-needed perspective to the Supreme Court.

In January 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom nominated Padilla to replace current Vice President Kamala Harris in the United States Senate. Before that, he served as Secretary of State of California for six years.

Jackson met with Padilla at his office at the U.S. Capitol prior to her confirmation hearings last week.

Im impressed by Judge Jacksons commitment to the rule of law, her long record of public service, and her clear understanding of how the law affects peoples everyday lives, Padilla said after that meeting.

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Because of the even 50-50 split of Democrats and Republicans currently elected to the United States Senate, no one party has a majority of members on any committee. So, there are six members from both parties serving on the Committee on the Judiciary.

Padilla says the upcoming vote on Jackson presents an opportunity for members of the Committee on the Judiciary  and the Senate, more broadly  to put the extreme partisanship and rancor that has characterized the U.S. Congress in recent years behind them.

Californias senior Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also a Democrat, serves on the committee as well.

Last week, some Republican members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary were questioned in the media about the truthfulness of some of their claims about Jackson and the overall nature and tenor of their questioning during the hearings.

For example, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) portrayed Jackson as soft on sex offenders, calling up sentences she handed down in seven cases.

Judge Jacksons views on this matter are not only mainstream; they are correct in my view. Undoubtedly, Jackson  a progressive who worked as a criminal-defense lawyer  is more sympathetic to criminals than I am, wrote Andrew McCarthy, a senior fellow at the conservative National Review Institute, disagreeing with Hawleys assertion.

If I were a judge, Im sure Id impose at least marginally more severe sentences than she has. (Contrary to Hawleys suggestion, however, she appears to have followed the guidelines, at the low end of the sentencing range, as most judges do.), McCarthy continued.

Charlie Savage, the New York Times Legal Policy and National Security correspondent wrote, Senator Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, ripped into Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson on Monday during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, tying the nominee to a wide range of conservative grievances. But the lawmakers accusations appeared to often be based on quotes taken out of context.

Savage examined statements and accusations Blackburn made about Jackson on a range of issues, including parental rights, critical race theory, transgender athletes and criminal sentencing.

Before serving on the U.S. Court of Appeals, Jackson was a federal judge on the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia and Vice Chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission. She has also worked in private practice and as a clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court.

An alum of Harvard College, where she studied government, and Harvard Law School, where she was an editor of the Harvard Law Review, Jackson graduated from Palmetto Senior High School before that in Floridas Miami-Dade County, where she grew up.

Jackson is close to her parents, Johnny and Ellery Brown and her brother, Ketajh Brown, a former Baltimore City police officer and soldier in the United States Army. All three of them attended Jacksons confirmation hearings last week.

Both of her parents, HBCU graduates, are educators (her dad is an attorney, too).

Jackson is married to surgeon Patrick Graves Jackson, who she met in college. The couple has two daughters. One of them, attending her moms hearings last week, was captured in photos watching the proceedings in rapt attention, beaming with pride.

We know that progress doesnt come easily.

Breaking barriers and being the first means not just significant opportunity, but also tremendous responsibility, said Padilla in his opening statement last week when the hearings began.

But Judge Jackson, I also know that you are equipped with a tremendous record of experience and accomplishment, and you are ready to blaze this trail, Padilla continued. Judge Jackson, even before your next opinion or dissent, your appearance before us today already begins a new chapter in our nations history.
Retirement Celebration Planned for Pastor William Turner

The spiritual shepherd of New Revelation Missionary Baptist Church in Pasadena steps down after 54 years of pastoral service

More than a half-century of dedicated Christian and community service as the spiritual shepherd of New Revelation Missionary Baptist Church in Pasadena comes to a close for the Rev. William Turner Jr., as he prepares to retire as pastor.

However, hes not going quietly off into the evening, but instead, the New Revelation congregation is planning a gala celebration to salute Turners 54 years of pastoral ministry along with six decades of civic involvement.

The observance is set for Friday, April 8, at 5 p.m., at the City Club, located at 555 Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles. Tickets can be obtained at eventbrite.com for $150 donation. Also sponsorship opportunities are available by emailing [email protected]

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A native of Louisiana, Pastor Turner relocated to Pasadena in 1962 and united in fellowship with New Revelation where he was ordained as a deacon. The following year, he responded to the anointed call of God to spread the Gospel.

Recalling the divine encounter, Turner said, One Sunday morning after I finished singing in the choir, the Spirit of God led me to the Chevy Chase Ridge. I was commanded by God to stop my vehicle at the peak of the ridge.

I got out of my car and stood with my face overlooking the city of Pasadena. Then, I heard the voice of God commanding me to preach. As I closed my eyes, I saw men in a deep ravine, standing with their hands raised. They were crying out saying, Help us! From that vision, the Spirit of God showed me that He was calling me to preach to this city, he remembered.

Turner was ordained in 1964 and three years later, he was installed as the pastor of New Revelation, where he has consistently demonstrated his deep love of God and His people. In fact, his tenure has been marked by a series of memorable milestones.

Some of the highlights of Rev. Turners ministry include leading the then-membership of 47 in 1969 in completing the first phase of the New Revelation building project in a record six months, all without signing for a loan.

Also, over the next 10 years  from 1970 to 1979  he rallied the congregation to complete construction of phase 2, which included a full-size gymnasium, commercial kitchen, and classrooms for education. Significantly, funding for the project was the result of a $450,000 loan from Prudential Insurance Company  the first time in American history that an African American organization received such a substantial loan from the firm.

Turner and New Revelation members continued to do great works for the cause of Christ over the next few decades and the congregation grew spiritually and numerically. The church also opened a preschool, infant care program, an elementary school, and a full court gymnasium that the community uses on a full-time basis. In the 1980s, New Revelation launched a homeless shelter for men and women along with securing certification and license to operate a drug rehabilitation program.

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During the 21st century, Pastor Turner spearheaded the development of a supportive housing program to assist chronically homeless individuals and instituted a Love and Care Ministry targeting homeless disabled veterans this was a first in Pasadena to be sponsored by a church.

He headed equally impressive programs to assist the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a partnership with World Central Kitchen, more than 100,000 hot restaurant prepared meals have been served to essential workers in law enforcement, the fire department, U.S. Postal Service and the healthcare field as well as to senior citizens and others less fortunate.

Pastor Turner previously served three consecutive terms as president of the Western State Baptist Convention and currently holds the office of vice president in the Baptist Ministers Conference of Greater Los Angeles. In the civic arena, he has been appointed countless times to several boards and commissions in Pasadena and has received a multitude of commendations for his volunteer service.

According to one member, Pastor Turner has been a voice at Pasadena City Hall for affordable housing and jobs in our city. He has stood in the gap for city employees, contractors and citizens of Pasadena and been involved in the development of faith-based programs for both the local and national community.

Pastor Turners longevity and contributions are attributed to his commitment to preaching the authentic gospel. He will continue to counsel and advise young pastors and continue to proclaim the unchanged Word of God, preparing the masses for Kingdom citizenship.

To learn more about the retirement celebration for Pastor William Turner, email New Revelation M.B. Church at [email protected]
Sole Folks Partners with Black Co-Op to Bring Farmers Market to Leimert Park

Leimert Park is not just a residential area filled with homes and apartment complexes, but a community enriched with flourishing Black businesses, family friendly and cultural events, and more.

People living in or around Leimert have grown accustomed to the sounds of music filling the streets or the smells of savory food from street vendors and surrounding restaurants.

Over the course of 10 years, residents have watched Leimert transform tremendously. From the Coronavirus pandemic almost shutting down small businesses to the building of the Metro rail station to the growing concern of gentrification, the community has been through a lot.

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With all they have endured, the Leimert Village merchants are still able to bring smiles to the faces of many each day with their culturally driven events along with their positive and welcoming attitudes.

When you visit Leimert, you can feel the love that the community has for one another and you want your family to not only feel love, but be safe and healthy as well. Thomas Mitchell, a 30+-year resident of Leimert, can agree.

My mom has lupus and healthy food options arent readily available in our neighborhood. We have to travel 20-minutes to more gentrified neighborhoods for better quality, he said.

While Leimert Park and the surrounding neighborhoods do have plenty of fast food choices, there is not a grocery store within walking distance  let alone many healthy options.

Thomas, and other Leimert residents will soon not have to drive or walk miles to get access to viable food. Sole Folks, a retail based co-op in Leimert, has partnered with Black-owned farms to bring fresh produce to the community.

Founder of Sole Folks, Akil West, plans to take the initiative to resolve this growing problem by bringing Black Arts District Farmers Market to provide fresh food and a nearby location to obtain healthy produce. West is aware of the needs of the community.

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We are currently in a nutritional food desert. With the closing of the Ralphs during the pandemic and the upcoming closure of Albertsons on Crenshaw, we are getting further and further away from viable sources for healthy food, he said.

Word of a farmers market in the area definitely brought on a lot of excitement. When West and his team put out a call for vendors, they received hundreds of submissions. The vendors, West states, are Black and Brown people from this community or those who have put in some sweat equity into sustaining the vendor culture of this community.

A percentage of the vendor slots have also been saved for members of the Leimert Park Village Vendors Association. This was done to make sure that those who have been vending in this community and who want to be a part of the market also have the opportunity to participate.

However, before opening and selling food to the public, West explained that a lot of calls must be made, permits be reviewed and accepted, and other timely logistics to get in order. The team at Sole Folks has been putting in extra man-hours to provide the best quality food and experience for the community.

In general, we do not believe in waiting for governments or corporations to solve our problems, so when it comes to the issue of food insecurity, its no different. We want to reimagine the resources we have at our disposal such as public space (parking lots, side walks, etc.) to come up with community led solutions, West said, adding that they want to make sure everything they do has a positive impact.

As we plan this market, we want to make sure that the vendors, merchants and unhoused community members are not being negatively impacted by the usage of public space as we move forward.

Sole Folks is not just a retail store that sells clothes and sneakers, but serves as a community hub as we produce workshops, events and offer programming that are culturally significant and provide information and resources, West emphasized.

Our pillars are ownership/creative entrepreneurship, health and wellness and mental health awareness. The programs we have had at Sole folks range from weekly organic food giveaways to sewing classes to live music and dance workshops, West added.

While the opening date for the farmers market is still being planned, West feels optimistic for its future.

I think the farmers market can serve as a bridge between the members of this community who come from a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds. It will encourage folks who live in the hills to stay in their own community to do their shopping and it will make it more accessible for those who dont have the means to travel however many miles to get fresh foods.

For more information on Black Arts District Farmers Market, visit: https://linktr.ee/solefolks or reach out via Instagram: https://instagram.com/solefolks
Southwest Carpenters Host Combine at LA Trade

Focus Group Aims to Produce More Black Carpenters

Prospective carpenters and hiring contractors gathered in downtown Los Angeles on March 26, at 6 a.m., as the Southwest Carpenters held their first post-pandemic Carpenters Combine Day at L.A. Trade Technical College.

The event was open to the public for anyone interested in a career in construction as a union carpenter and for members of Southwest Carpenters who are in need of work. More than 1,000 people showed up to test their skills in front of 100-plus contractors, who were hiring for top projects in L.A. and beyond.

Contractors in attendance included Skanska, Hathaway Dinwiddie, PCL, Penta Building Group, and Largo Concrete, who evaluated candidates as they tested in an eight-station skills camp. The skills camp stations included 44 carrying, scaffold assembly, drywall etching, tape measure, screw off, hammering, plywood carry, and corbel mounting.

With increasing real estate developments across Southern California and the Olympics coming to Los Angeles, there is a high need for trained union carpenters, which is a great opportunity for people looking to start or restart a career with solid wages, strong benefits, health care, vacation pay, including a pension.

Despite all the ups to the field, according to Corey Crockerham, Southwest Carpenters representative and chair of the African American Task Force, there is a low number of African Americans involved in the industry.

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To balance the scales, the African American Task Force and the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, in partnership with the Training Fund, offers the Brothers Keeper program, a free four-week carpentry pre-apprenticeship program serving disadvantaged men and women in Los Angeles County, which offers a pathway to a career in carpentry.

The program is open to people from all types of backgrounds. In fact, many Brothers Keepers graduates were formerly incarcerated and were unable to find steady employment after leaving prison.

What we do is keep our African American carpenters engaged and mentor them, give them the skills that help them get to the next level, Crockerham said.

Highlighting the disconnect between opportunity and exposure, he said, The jobs and opportunities are out there; our mission is to increase the number of African Americans interested and participating in the Carpenters Union.

Wesley Crunk, mentor-in-chief / instructor for the Brothers Keeper program, trains the candidates at the combine. He was frustrated by the lack of African Americans in attendance.

There is a great opportunity in this field but our people are not taking advantage of it, he said. Wesley feels part of the challenge is that African Americans have had little exposure to the carpentry field.

Crunk, who served time in the penitentiary and found himself looking for a new life when he was paroled, found carpentry. My dad was not a carpenter. I didnt know what carpentry was when I got into this, but now that I know, I want to spread the word. We have support from our leadership, from our executive board to bring people in the industry who look like us, he said.

Wesley added that he wants to change the narrative. We know the numbers are low now but we want to see a progressive change, five, 20, 30 years from now.

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According to Crockerham, participants can come into the apprentice program with little to no experience but must commit to a rigorous four-year program. For those who finish, he said the rewards are high.

The average income for our journeymen carpenters is about $100,000 with great benefits and retirement, he said.

Second stage apprentice carpenter Nicholas Vasquez said half the battle is just showing up. Its hard work, but its rewarding. When I leave the job site and complete a project within the job site, I am proud of my work. I write my name on a stud or drywall, so they know it was me, he said.

But more importantly, as a younger man with a bright future, Vasquez feels he has something much bigger than a job. Not only am I immersed in a strong brotherhood and sisterhood, but to be able to have a roof over my head, groceries in the refrigerator, and to help provide for my family by doing carpentry, is proof that hard work pays off, he said. This is a lifestyle.

Brothers Keeper meets regularly and councils up-and-coming carpenters, giving them the tools and resources to continue in the four-year apprentice program. To learn more about opportunities in carpentry, visit www.swcarpenters.org
The Liberating Mission of Dr. Martin L. King: Living a Legacy of Service, Struggle and Sacrifice  Part 1.

On the day of April 4th, this Day of Sacrifice, this day of the martyrdom and assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we gather together to raise up and pay rightful homage to him, his life and legacy. And we call April 4th his Day of Sacrifice and of martyrdom, for we wish to focus on him, his life and legacy rather than simply his assassination and death on this day.

Indeed, as we continuously point out, we do acknowledge the gross evil and great loss his assassination represents. But, we self-consciously shift the emphasis from what his assassins and the enemies of African and human freedom did to him, to his self-conscious choice to risk and ultimately offer his life in the cause of African and human freedom, justice and equality in this country and the world.

And in this audacious and uncompromising choice, he left us a legacy and lessons of morally compelling service, ultimate sacrifice, and courageous and uncompromising struggle. Thus, he tells us that Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable . . . Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concerns of dedicated individuals.

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It is how he conceived and carried out his mission to bring a great shared good in the world in the tradition of our ancestors that he taught us a liberating and uplifting mission and morality of what he defined as sacrifice, suffering and struggle in the interest of an expanded realm of freedom in this country and the world which included us and all others.

He tells us that to achieve freedom, enjoy justice and experience real equality, we must be willing to serve, sacrifice, suffer and struggle to achieve these shared goods.

He affirms and reaffirms that weve got to give ourselves to the struggle to the end. Here he suggests the Kawaida conception of sacrifice in its most expansive form of self-giving. As self-conscious self-giving, it requires giving of our heart and mind, our time, our efforts, our material and financial goods, and ultimately, if we truly believe and are committed, the wholeness of ourselves. Now giving the wholeness of ourselves can mean giving our lives to the struggle or also choosing to offer both our life and death to the struggle.

Nana Martin and Nana Malcolm and others made this last and ultimate sacrifice. But also, Nana Harriet Tubman and Nana Fannie Lou Hamer gave the wholeness of themselves and their lives to the liberation struggle and self-consciously lived with the daily risk of death without backing down or reducing their commitment to our righteous and relentless struggle.

Indeed, it is Nana Harriet who told us that I had reasoned in my mind there were one of two things I had the right to: liberty or death; (and) if I could not have one, I would have the other. And Nana Fannie Lou Hamer told us sometimes it seems like to tell the truth today is to run the risk of being killed. But if I fall, Ill fall five feet four inches forward in the fight for freedom. Im not backing off.

Now most of us will not be called to make such an ultimate sacrifice, but all of us can and must be ready to give our hearts and minds, our time and efforts, our material and financial goods. Dr. King stresses these in his emphasis on service, sacrifice and struggle, but also shared with us and shows us we too must be ready to offer the ultimate in what he calls this bitter but beautiful struggle.

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It is this larger conception of Nana Kings mission and meaning, placed in the context of the African American culture of struggle and our peoples moral commitment to shared good in the world, that we do honor to him. And we also thereby do honor to his people who brought him into being and chose and supported him as a righteous witness to the world for them and a sign of a new world a-coming, being born in the resurrecting and radically reordering womb, water and fire of struggle.

Nana King, rooted in the African American culture of righteous and relentless struggle, urges us to demonstrate in practice a divine dissatisfaction and dangerous unselfishness in this society and struggle. He wants to keep the faith, hold the line and continue the struggle, regardless of hardships, temporary setbacks, understandable apprehensions and routinely offered seductions and suppression of a society sick with racism, materialism and militarism often masked as a humanitarian initiative.

Indeed, he calls on us to be those whom history will judge as a great people, a Black people, who through their struggle, injected a new meaning and morality in the veins of civilization. And he says, This is our challenge and overwhelming responsibility. It is in its essence a call to reaffirm our historical and ongoing role as a moral and social vanguard in this country and world through our moral sensitivities and choices, our thought and transformative practice.

The centering focus of Kings mission in his community, in society and in the world is the principle and practice of service. He sees service morally informed by the position that Lifes most persistent and urgent question is what are we doing for others? In other words, what good are we bringing and sustaining in the world? It is of vital importance, as our ancestors taught us, to ask and to answer this question in self-conscious and committed ways.

And the fundamental focus of this service, this good-doing, these acts of loving-kindness, sharing good and other-directedness must be, Dr. King says, for the suffering, the helpless, the outcast, indeed for the weak, for the voiceless, for the victims of our nation  internally and externally.

It is in this spirit of service, this commitment to the shared good of all that Dr. King defines himself, above all, as a servant of the people, especially a servant of the least among us, the vulnerable, the poor, the downtrodden, the disempowered, the oppressed, and those marginalized and maimed in a variety of ways. Thus, he states, that in his eulogy, he wants the speaker to say that he tried to give his life serving others.

And he enumerates the ways he tried to serve, saying that we should say of him, he tried to love somebody, be on the right side on the war question, to feed the hungry, to clothe those who were naked, to visit those who were in prison and to love and serve humanity.

It is important to state that Dr. King is building here on the Black religious tradition and particularly on the Black Christian tradition he was born and nurtured in, embraced, expanded his education in and used to become a noble witness to the world for his people. I make this point again because too often there is a tendency to separate Dr. King from his people and the rich spiritual and ethical culture they have created in life, work and struggle.

And in doing so, people miss the central source and indispensable anchor of his moral and spiritual sensitivities and thought and his social practice. The focus on service as the indispensable, liberating and uplifting practice of being Black and being Christian is a legacy already bequeathed and left for Dr. King to embrace, deepen his understanding of and use to formulate and pursue his own thought and activist initiatives.

And of course, the legacy extends from deep thinkers like Nanas David Walker, Maria Stewart, Martin Delaney, Anna Julia Cooper, Alexander Crummell, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, W.E.B. DuBois, Mary McLeod Bethune, Howard Thurman, Mordecai Johnson, Benjamin Mays, A. Philip Randolph, Dorothy Height, Vernon Johns and others, through his peers Nanas Ella Baker, Bayard Rustin, Malcolm X, Coretta Scott King, Fannie Lou Hamer, Joseph Lowery, C.T. Vivian, James Lawson and others.

It is they and so many others who gave Dr. King philosophical foundations and offered creative challenge to think in deep, diverse and expansive ways. He was thus a recipient of a rich heritage and one of the towering figures in a generation of great leaders who complemented, creatively challenged, and strengthened each other in the shared and awesome movement of our people through the oppositions and affirmations of history toward a new, just and good world.

Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chair of Africana Studies, California State University-Long Beach; Executive Director, African American Cultural Center (Us); Creator of Kwanzaa; and author of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture and Essays on Struggle: Position and Analysis, www.AfricanAmericanCulturalCenter-LA.org; www.OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org; www.MaulanaKarenga.org.
USPS Exhibits Edmonia Lewis Black Heritage Stamp at MAAA

The Museum of African American Art recently held its first public event since closing at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a return that was much anticipated and warmly welcomed by community members.

The two-part virtual event on March 18, featured the unveiling and dedication ceremony for the U.S. Postal Services 45thBlack Heritage Forever Stamp recognizing renowned sculptor, Edmonia Lewis. The event, which also saluted Womens History Month, paid tribute to MAAAs 45th year of operation.

Sean Andrews, plant manager for the USPS Los Angeles Network Distribution Center, along with the MAAA Executive Director Keasha Dumas Heath, participated in the ceremony. Before unveiling the stamp, Andrews shared stories about Lewis amazing life with the virtual audience.

Edmonia Lewis was celebrated in her lifetime, but its fair to say that many Americans of today do not know about this brilliant 19th-century sculptor. We hope today that will change, said Andrews.

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Following the ceremony, Dr. Lizzetta LeFalle-Collins, curator and art historian, gave an educational presentation covering the life and art of Lewis.

I first learned about Edmonia Lewis works in Dr. Samella Lewis and Ruth Waddys book, Black Artists on Art (1969), as an undergraduate at UC Santa Barbara, and from Dr. Samella Lewis, Art: African American in 1978, said LeFalle-Collins.

MAAA member Rose White called the virtual event, very worthwhile and enjoyable.

On March 19, the MAAA opened its main gallery for an in-person event where community members had the opportunity to purchase the newly-issued Edmonia Lewis stamp, other postage stamps in the Black Heritage series, and related USPS memorabilia.

Visitors also previewed the museums new exhibit of 40 oil paintings by unhoused artist, Leon Washington, who is seeking to use his artwork to help improve his circumstances and secure permanent housing.

During the museums events honoring Lewis, attendees were introduced to the new chairman of the MAAA Board of Directors, NAACP Image Award-winning artist David G. Brown. An accomplished artist, educator, publisher, and producer of political cartoons, graphic novels, and comic books, Brown is a longtime member of the MAAA board and previously served on the board of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

We were thrilled to open our doors to the public at our first in-person event since the pandemic, said Brown.

In December, the MAAA marked its 45th year educating visitors of all ages and identities about the arts under the founding principle that art can and should be part of our everyday lives. The museum will commemorate this milestone with a retrospective exhibit highlighting its legacy within the community later this year.

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As a nonprofit museum, we have been truly energized by the communitys response to our 45th-anniversary membership campaign, said Executive Director Heath. We are here because our community believes we should be  and thats powerful.

The Museum of African American Art plans to reopen its main gallery soon for regular in-person hours. The gift shop and event hall will remain closed while the museum completes special projects and upgrades to its facilities. For now, the museum will continue hosting special events and will schedule tours of the main gallery by appointment.

For more information about MAAAs featured artists or to subscribe to the museums email updates, visit www.maaala.org.
Researchers around the world are trying to find out how much and where COVID-19 is spreading in the wild.

For researcher Todd Kautz and his team that means giving COVID tests to animals like bears, moose, deer and wolves. They are doing their research on a Native American reservation in the north woods of Grand Portage, Minnesota, close to Canada.

Scientists are concerned that the virus could change within animal populations. That could possibly create dangerous new viral mutations that could jump back to humans and spread among people.

The pandemic has shown that the health of humans and animals is closely related. Exactly how the virus started has never been proven. But many scientists say it likely jumped from bats to humans. It could also have jumped to humans directly or through another animal that was being sold live in Wuhan, China.

Now the virus has been confirmed in wildlife in 24 states in the United States, including Minnesota. Recently, a Canadian study showed someone in nearby Ontario likely got a highly mutated form of the virus from a deer.

If the virus can establish itself in a wild animal reservoir, it will always be out there with the threat to spill back into the human population, said Matthew Aliota. He is a researcher with the University of Minnesota working with the Grand Portage Reservation team.

E.J. Isaac is a fish and wildlife scientist. He said the risk of the virus mutating grows with the start of spring, when bears wake from hibernation and deer and wolves move to different areas. He said more movement among animals increases the chance of transmission.

Into the wild

The teams research carries its own set of risks.

Sometimes they must capture animals from the air, using a helicopter. They target animals like deer and moose from the air with a net gun. Researchers then test the animals nose for COVID, and put a tracking device on it.

Another time, Kautz had to enter a bears den while it was hibernating in order to test it.

After testing the bear, Kautz sent the samples to a lab. He hopes to learn not just which animals are getting infected, but also whether certain animals are more likely to spread the virus to other species.

Looking for mutants

Close contact between humans and animals has permitted the virus to defeat barriers to spread between species.

To infect any living thing, the virus must get into its cells, which is not always easy. Virus expert David OConnor compares the process to opening a "lock with the virus spike protein key.

Different species have different-looking locks, and some of those locks are not going to be openable by the key, the University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist said.

But other locks are similar enough for the virus to enter an animals cells and make copies of itself. As it does, it can mutate and still have a key that fits in the human lock. That permits it to go back to humans through close contact with live animals, scientists believe.

It is rare for a virus to spread from animals to humans. But it only takes one person to bring a mutated virus to the world of humans. Some scientists think the Omicron variant of the coronavirus came from an animal rather than a human.

What scientists are mostly concerned about is variants spreading widely within a species that comes in contact with humans, like deer.

Scientists found the coronavirus in a third of deer tested in Iowa between September 2020 and January 2021. Other studies found virus antibodies in a third of deer tested in Illinois, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania.

Im Dan Novak.

Dan Novak adapted this story for VOA Learning English based on reporting from The Associated Press.

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Words in This Story

mutation  n. a change in the genes of a plant or animal that causes physical characteristics that are different from what is normal

reservoir  n. an extra supply of something

hibernation  n. to spend the winter sleeping or resting

transmission  n. the act or process by which something is spread or passed from one person or thing to another

track  v. to follow and try to find (an animal) by looking for its tracks and other signs that show where it has gone

den  n. the home of some kinds of wild animals

spike protein  n. part of the virus that attaches to human cells

species n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants

antibody n. a substance produced by the body to fight disease
The Azores, the Portuguese group of islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, has seen seismic activity since March 19th. More than 14,000 small earthquakes have hit the island.

The dairy farmers on the volcanic island of Sao Jorge are worried.

Sao Jorge has fertile, green farmland that is used by the many cows that move around the island eating grass. The cows produce fresh milk that is used for traditional cheese, the main source of money for many families. Milk production is 70 percent to 80 percent of the islands economy.

The small earthquakes, called tremors, have increased in strength to a magnitude of 3.3 over the past few days. The tremors could signal a greater earthquake or even a volcanic eruption. CIVISA watches for earthquake and volcanic activity. They increased the volcanic activity level to Level 4, the second highest.

This means that there is a strong chance that the island could see its first eruption since 1808.

Despite the tremors, farmers continue to milk over 200 cows every day. Rui Bettencourt is a 47-year-old farmer. He says that he does not have time to think about the earthquakes.

There are earthquakes but we have to go out every day. We can't abandon the animals," says Bettencourt.

Antonio Aguiar is the president of the factory where Bettencourt sells his milk. He says that the farmers will be the last to leave the island if a natural disaster happens.

"They (farmers) continue to work because this is where they earn their income," said Aguiar.

Some people of the island have already left because they are afraid of a possible eruption. This has led to shortages of workers in all three of Sao Jorges cheese factories.

If there are not enough workers to process the milk, farmers will make less money. The agricultural leader of the government said they would help with financial support for farmers who cannot sell their milk.

Aguiar says that farmers here and around the world are already struggling with rising fuel and animal feed prices due to the Russian war in Ukraine. A natural disaster would make the situation more difficult.

There is also a concern over volcanic ash and its effect on farmland. And lastly, the cows are showing signs of stress due to the tremors, says Aguiar. The government of the Azores said it would help move the animals to safe places if there is more activity.

Antonio Jorge is another dairy farmer in his 40s. He says that he is scared, but he has no plans right now to leave the island.

" I'm not going to turn my back on what I have here and walk off the island," he said.

Im Faith Pirlo.

Catarina Demony and Guillermo Martinez reported this story for Reuters. Faith Pirlo adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

seismic  adj. describing the waves or vibrations that move through the earth during earthquakes

magnitude  n. a great amount or size

eruption  n. the process of bursting or exploding

abandon v. to leave something or something behind without care

income  n. money typically made from working

ash  n. leftover material or particles from a volcanic eruption that fall from the sky and settle on the ground

stress adj. mental pressure or anxiety

What do you think of the earthquake activity in the Azores? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.
Imagine you want to talk about your life. Perhaps you are talking to a friend, presenting to an English class, or writing about your childhood.

You might start with where your life began  in other words, where and when you were born.

In todays Everyday Grammar, we will explore how one famous writer wrote about the place and time of a birth.

You will learn about some of the grammar behind the opening lines of one of the 20th centurys most famous works of literature: Midnights Children by Salman Rushdie.

Opening lines

The opening lines from Midnights Children set up an important idea that runs through the book: that is, the words link the life and times of the main character to the history of India.

Notice how the sentences jump between past and present  a clear suggestion that the narrator is in the process of writing about his life.

I was born in the city of Bombay  once upon a time. No, that wont do, theres no getting away from the date: I was born in Doctor Narlikars Nursing Home on August 15th, 1947.

Note that the first sentence uses the simple past  I was. The adjective born follows the BE verb: I was born in the city of Bombay....

But then there is an expression that ends the sentence. It is once upon a time. This is a common structure used in fairy tales or folk tales.

The next sentence introduces the present tense, suggesting the narrator is talking to himself. Then it switches back to a more exact time during the past.

No, that wont do, theres no getting away from the date: I was born in Doctor Narlikars Nursing Home on August 15th, 1947.

Having described where he was born, the narrator then describes when he was born.

And the time? The time matters, too. Well then: at night. No, its important to be more  On the stroke of midnight, as a matter of fact.

Note that Rushdie used some incomplete sentences  sentences without a verb. Examples include And the time?, Well then: at night, and On the stroke of midnight, as a matter of fact.

All of these statements bring an everyday, conversational quality to the story.

But then Rushdie presents a beautiful image to the reader  one that changes back to the simple past.

Clock-hands joined palms in respectful greeting as I came. Oh, spell it out, spell it out: at the precise instant of Indias arrival at independence, I tumbled forth into the world.

The verb tumble means to move in a fast, confused, or uncontrolled way. It is often followed by an adverb, in this case forth, which means out into notice or view.

I tumbled forth into the world is a poetic way of saying I was born.

General to specific

Notice that Rushdies opening lines follow a very clear structure. These lines start with a general statement and then get increasingly specific.

The very general statement is: I was born in the city of Bombay.

The more specific statement is: I was born in Doctor Narlikars Nursing Home on August 15th, 1947.

You can use the idea of moving from general information to specific information in almost any situation  describing an event, writing a story, giving a presentation, and so on.

Homework

Lets end this report with a homework assignment. In 5-8 sentences, write about the place or time of a birth. It can be either true or fictional. Try to use ideas that you have learned about in todays report.

Send your writing to our email address: learningenglish@voanews.com

We will select one piece of writing and provide feedback and suggestions on next weeks report.

Im John Russell.

John Russell wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.

__________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

character  n. a person who appears in a story, book, play, movie, or television show

narrator  n. the person who describes what is being seen

on the stroke of  expression exactly at a specific time (often on the hour)

palm  n. the inside part of the hand between the wrist and the fingers

specific  adj. precise or exact
Some Middle Eastern leaders say Western countries use one set of rules for the conflict in Ukraine and another for conflicts in the Middle East.

They say that, within days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Western countries punished Russia and supported Ukraine.

Russia quickly faced sanctions from individual countries and groups like the European Union. That means they placed financial and trade restrictions on Russia meant to punish the country for its actions.

Many countries also welcomed Ukrainian refugees, and sent supportive messages to Ukraines armed resistance.

But the actions in support of Ukraine have angered people across the Middle East. Many there see a double standard in how Western countries deal with international conflicts. A double standard is when a set of rules is enforced differently for one group than for another.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki spoke about this feeling to a security meeting in Turkey earlier this month. He said: We have seen every means we were told could not be activated for over 70 years deployed in less than seven days.

He called this: Amazing hypocrisy.

Middle East conflicts

The U.S.-led war in Iraq began in 2003. At the time, people in some nations considered the action an unlawful invasion of one state by another. Iraqis who fought the Americans were called terrorists in the news media. Refugees seeking to flee to the West were often turned away and treated as possible security threats.

Russia intervened in Syrias civil war to help Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in 2015. The move was denounced by many Western nations but there was little action. With Russias help, Syrias forces destroyed cities leading to hunger and death.

Many thousands of Syrian refugees fled to Europe. Some died at sea or were turned back as nations struggled to deal with the mass migration. Some considered the migrants security threats.

In Yemen, a Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Houthi rebels supported by Iran since 2015. The conflict has left 13 million people at risk of starvation. But stories of children starving have not brought continued international attention to that conflict.

Bruce Riedel formerly worked for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. National Security Council. He is now a member at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. He said that it was understandable that many in the Middle East see a double standard by the West.

Riedel said: The United States and the United Kingdom have supported Saudi Arabias seven-years-old war in Yemen, which created the worlds worst humanitarian catastrophe in decades.

People around the world have sent Ukrainians supportive messages on social media. The have praised those who take up arms against an occupying army. But critics say that when Palestinians and Iraqis do what appears to be the same thing, they are called terrorists.

Aaron David Miller is with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He said Middle East conflicts are complex. Ukraines conflict is much clearer. There is a sense of wrongdoing. Russia is widely considered to have launched an aggressive war against its neighbor.

A similar situation happened in the Middle East when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. The U.S. answered by bringing together a military coalition including Arab states that drove out the Iraqi forces.

Elliott Abrams is with the Council on Foreign Relations. He was an advisor to former President George W. Bush when a U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq a second time in 2003. He said there is a difference between Ukrainians battling Russian invaders and rebels in Iraq who fought Americans.

Iraqis who fought U.S. troops on behalf of Iran or ISIS were not freedom fighters, he said, talking about the Islamic State group. Making these moral distinctions is not an act of hypocrisy.

But many in the Middle East saw hard treatment of Arab and Muslim migrants as unfair. They considered it proof that Western nations do not support human rights and values when it comes to their culture.

Many feel their suffering is taken less seriously because of the idea that the Middle East has always had violence. They believe that Western nations ignore their part in starting and continuing the Middle Easts many long-term conflicts.

Ines Abdel Razek is a director for the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy. She said, Theres this expectation, drawn from colonialism, that its more normal for us to be killed, to grieve our families, than it is for the West.

Im Gregory Stachel.

Joseph Krauss reported this story for the Associated Press. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English.

__________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

amaze  v. to surprise and sometimes confuse (someone) very much

hypocrisy  n. the behavior of people who do things that they tell other people not to do; behavior that does not agree with what someone claims to believe or feel

humanitarian  adj. connected with helping people who are suffering and improving the conditions that they are living in

catastrophe  n. a terrible disaster

decades  n. a period of 10 years

distinction  n. a noticeable difference between things or people

grieve  v. to feel or show grief or sadness

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An intergovernmental agency is launching a study of how Linn and Benton counties are reporting bias crimes and serving its diverse communities.

On Thursday, March 31, the Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments  a consortium of local governments in Linn, Benton and Lincoln counties that manages a variety of local, state and federal programs  announced the study will research the merits of creating a regional bias response system for the tri-counties.

The study, in partnership with Colorado consulting firm Zilo International Group LLC, will catalog existing state and local anti-bias resources to find resource gaps.

Focus groups and local community members will contribute to the study and brainstorm ideas of how a bias response system could better serve them.

Bias crimes in Linn and Benton counties can be reported to police departments and sheriff's offices, the FBI, the Oregon State Police and through the Oregon Department of Justice's bias crime hotline.

A bias response system could include a list of resources for reporting bias crimes, a database for tracking systematic biases and training resources for public and private organizations.

Local diversity

In 2020, U.S. Census Bureau data show 84.3% of Linn County residents were white, 9.5% were Hispanic or Latino, 3.6% were two or more races, 1.8% were American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.3% were Asian and 0.8% were Black.

Based on those figures, racial minorities in Linn County saw an overall decline in 2020 compared to 2010, when 82.8% of Linn County residents were white, according to U.S. Census Bureau data.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Lebanon Express.

In 2020, 79.8% of Benton County residents were white, 7.8% were Hispanic or Latino, 7% were Asian, 4.1% were two or more races and 1.2% were Black, the U.S. Census Bureau reported.

Compared to 2010, when 80.7% of Benton County residents were white based on census data, people of color increased in 2020.

Linn and Benton counties are both home to fewer people of color than the state as a whole. In 2020, 75.1% of Oregonians were white, 13.4% were Hispanic or Latino, 4.9% were Asian, 4% were two or more races and 2.2% Black, census data shows.

Local bias crimes

Bias crimes have risen in Linn and Benton Counties in the past two years, Oregon state police data show.

Linn County saw 20 bias crimes reported in 2020, which included two against Asians. That figure rose to 24 bias crimes in 2021, 13 of which were directed against Black people.

In 2020, Benton County reported three bias crimes, two of which were against Asians and one of which concerned political affiliation. By 2021, Benton County saw 15 bias crimes, three of which were anti-Black.

Linn County commissioners voiced support for the study at their Tuesday, March 22 meeting, during which they spoke with Jenny Glass, community and economic director at Oregon Cascades West.

But at the same time, Linn County Commissioner Sherrie Sprenger wanted to make sure each entity could maintain its own system of handling bias crimes.

"Not every local government is in the same place as Corvallis, for instance," Sprenger said at the meeting. "We want to make sure that there are no expectations that one city maybe has put upon other cities that probably haven't linked arms to address the issue of concern in the same way."

The Oregon Cascades West study is set to begin in April with a release of findings by this October. It is funded by the city of Corvallis. The contract is $70,000 total a $60,000 flat fee and estimated $10,000 for any additional costs, including stakeholders compensation and/or incentives, translators and other costs.

According to Alicia Lucke, program manager of Community Services Program at Oregon Cascades West, the agency will meet with Zilo next week to kickstart the project.

Tim Gruver covers the city of Albany and Linn County. He can be contacted at 541-812-6114 or Tim.Gruver@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter via @T_TimeForce.

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A study examining AltEns impact on Mead and the surrounding area got a boost from the Legislature after it was left out of several budget packages approved earlier this year.

On Thursday, Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue found support for an amendment providing $1 million to the University of Nebraska to continue research into the potential adverse effects the ethanol plant has had on human health and the environment.

The amendment, which comes on Day 52 of the 60-day legislative session, adds the funding to a bill (LB1068) from Sen. John Stinner of Gering expanding internship and practicum opportunities for aspiring behavioral health practitioners across the state.

AltEn used pesticide-treated seeds to produce ethanol, leaving behind waste products highly contaminated with insecticides and fungicides until it was forced to close by the Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy in 2021.

Shortly after, researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Nebraska Medical Center and Creighton University began tracking the spread of pesticides through the environment, funded through private donations.

Blood introduced a bill (LB1048) appropriating $10 million  more than the $7.8 million the research team estimated it needed  to continue the study, but that proposal failed to get out of committee.

With the legislative session winding down, Blood worked with Stinner, the Appropriations Committee chair, and Sen. Bruce Bostelman of Brainard, whose legislative district includes Mead, on the amendment.

Its about the science, friends, Blood said in introducing her amendment on Thursday. Its about the research.

Several senators voiced support for continuing the study, including Omaha Sen. John Cavanaugh, who said the research would provide critical health information to residents of Mead who may be impacted in the years to come.

How they voted Senators voted 31-6 on Thursday to allow an amendment to provide $1 million in funding for research studying AltEn's impact on the community of Mead to be attached to another bill (LB1068). Yes (31)  Aguilar, Blood, Bostar, Bostelman, Brandt, Brewer, J. Cavanaugh, M. Cavanaugh, Day, DeBoer, Dorn, Flood, Gragert, M. Hansen, Hilkemann, Hunt, Kolterman, Lathrop, McCollister, McDonnell, McKinney, Morfeld, Moser, Pansing Brooks, Sanders, Stinner, Vargas, Walz, Wayne, Williams, Wishart No (6)  Albrecht, Clements, Erdman, Friesen, Hughes, Linehan Present, not voting (6)  Arch, Halloran, B. Hansen, Jacobson, Lowe, Murman Excused, not voting (5)  Briese, Geist, Lindstrom, Pahls, Slama Absent, not voting (1)  Hilgers

Unlike other studies, which take place after the fact, Cavanaugh said Nebraska has an opportunity to monitor the potential outcomes as they happen.

Many, including Sen. Lynne Walz of Fremont, who was among a dozen or so state senators who were present at a town hall in Mead last summer, said the stories of several residents who had been impacted left an impression.

If it was happening in your community, you may have a different view on things, Walz said.

Other senators, including Sen. Joni Albrecht of Thurston, said they were skeptical the study was needed. Sen. Steve Erdman argued he did not think the Legislature needed to appropriate additional money to NU.

The Bayard lawmaker later challenged the amendments germaneness to the underlying bill, saying they dealt with two different issues and couldnt be considered together.

Stinners bill appropriated money to expand opportunities for behavioral health practitioners, Erdman said, while Bloods amendment provided funding for environmental research.

Therefore, they are not the same, he said.

Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango, sitting in the presiding officers chair, ruled the amendment was not germane to Stinners bill.

Blood challenged Hughes ruling, telling senators she had spent hours looking for a bill that could serve as an appropriate vehicle for the amendment, and found a partner in Stinner and Bostelman.

For nearly an hour, senators weighed in on the germaneness issue.

Bostelman said he supported Bloods amendment and effort to overrule the chair, saying the people of Mead deserve to have their concerns heard by the Legislature.

I work with them, I talk with them, he said. There is a part of this, I think, will be with them a long time.

Blood, who introduced several bills in response to the AltEn crisis, called it the Legislatures last opportunity to help Mead.

If youre on the fence at all, lean yes, she said. Lets show compassion, and that policy is not just about numbers.

After several delays waiting for senators to return to the legislative chamber, the amendment was adopted on a 31-6 vote.

The bill, with Bloods amendment attached, then advanced to second-round consideration on a 33-4 vote.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7120 or cdunker@journalstar.com. On Twitter @ChrisDunkerLJS
Petra is a famous archaeological site in Jordan dating to about 300 B.C. that in 2007 was named one of the new seven wonders of the world.

Mohammad Albeiks Petra Bakery & Restaurant on Odana Road on Madisons West Side is a wonder in its own right, with an interesting and casual menu, fantastic food, great service and reasonable prices.

No amount of hyperbole can describe the chicken shawarma tacos ($7.99). Theyre on the menu under fusion, where it says theyre only available on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but now theyre available all the time, Albeik said.

My server, working the large, almost empty room by herself at lunchtime on a Friday, brought out two plates, each with two tacos in a metal holder. These, a Mediterranean twist on tacos, had a thin, soft, tender pita shell bursting with roasted, minced chicken, pickles, tomatoes, garlic sauce, parsley and sumac. The combination was unbeatable.

Equally stunning was the golden, elongated beef/sfeeha pie ($3.50), a Lebanese meat pie filled with ground beef and lamb sauteed in olive oil with onion and Roma tomato paste, giving it a touch of sweetness. The Arabic white cheese ($2.50) version couldnt touch it.

My 16-year-old daughter was overjoyed with the stuffed falafel ($1.50 per piece). The crisp, deep-fried chickpea ball was stuffed with onions, chili paste and sumac and coated with sesame seeds. It will be hard for either of us to go back to eating plain falafel, which Petra also serves.

The thick lentil soup ($3.50 for a cup) was another highlight with red lentils, curry, onions and cumin.

The mixed appetizer plate ($9.99), a beautiful, expansive platter, held hummus, baba ghanoush, and muthawama, served with three fresh pitas. The baba ghanoush was the only weak link. The eggplant was mashed rather than pureed and didnt have a lot of flavor, beyond the garlic sauce drizzled on top. But eating bites of it with the other two elements made it work. The homemade hummus was excellent, topped with chickpeas and olive oil, and so was the muthawama, a Lebanese yogurt sauce with mayonnaise and garlic.

The hot saj, a thin flatbread, ordered with Arabic white cheese and black olives ($5.50) was cut into eight slices, prepared like those irresistible rollups popular at potlucks. The cheese was understated, so the olives dominated. Next time, Id go with one of the five other versions. As my daughter said, the black olives made it taste too much like pizza.

The outstanding Jerusalem salad ($6.99 for the small) was a large, liquidy bowl of tahini, a somewhat bitter sesame condiment, with diced cucumbers, tomatoes, lots of parsley, lemon and onions with pools of olive oil on top.

Petra has bakery in its name before restaurant, and almost everything in the bakery cases is tantalizing. Theres also a whole rack of Petras pitas packaged to go. Some bakery items are help yourself and you have to delicately pull back the plastic wrap and use tongs to extract what you want.

The bakery turns out three kinds of baklava. I had two small cubes ($2 each) of the walnut and pistachio, and it was simply the best youll find in Madison, with flaky phyllo and a sweet, nutty filling. Cashew is the third option.

The big, crisp sesame cookie ($1) was also a treat. Less successful, but still good, were the santarosas, or date bars, that come in plain and sesame.

The main thing to go for is the chocolate-pistachio Turkish delight, ($7.99) a sweet, starchy confection Albeik gets from Jordan every week. There are usually eight varieties, he said.

The traditional yogurt drink ($3.99), made with savory yogurt, not sweet, was worthwhile, and available in jugs in the small grocery area in front. The restaurants signature drink, my server said, is its sweet-tart frozen mint lemonade ($4.99). Its a nonalcoholic cant-miss item for people who like mojitos.

Petra also serves Middle Eastern breakfasts and plays up that its alcohol-free and 100% halal, or permissible under Islamic law. After my meal, when I asked to talk to Albeik, my server said he had gone to pray and would be back in 30 minutes.

When he returned, I was surprised to meet such a young man. Albeik, 23, moved from Jordan to Milwaukee in 2018 after studying in Russia for two years.

On March 1, 2021, he bought the former Nile restaurant with a friend, Mohammad Jaradeh, after learning online that it was for sale. They tweaked the name and made it Nile Bakery and Restaurant.

The dining room is spacious and comfortable. Some of the new booths have odd slanted backs and the blend of mismatched wallpaper, leftover from the Nile, has a unique charm. The napkins are white linen, and the Middle Eastern music played at an appropriately low volume.

Albeik was living in Milwaukee, where he worked in a bakery, until last June, when he bought out his partner and moved to Madison. He changed the name to Petra Bakery & Restaurant at the beginning of this year.

He owns Petra with his father, Mahmoud Albeik, who comes to town every six months from Jordan for an extended stay to make sure everything is running smoothly. Albeiks cousins work in the kitchen.

Albeik said he learned to cook from his parents, who owned a little shop in Jordan where for a year they made fresh hummus, baba ghanoush and falafel, among other items. After they closed their store, they bought a farm and raised animals, producing only organic meat and vegetables. His father is now in the construction business, Albeik said.

At Petra, everything is also organic. Eating organic is something thats important to my daughter, and even without knowing that about Petra, when she tried the stuffed falafel she said, This is the best thing Ive ever eaten.

Diners' scorecard Restaurant: Petra Bakery & Restaurant Location: 6119 Odana Road Phone: 608-274-1788 Website: petrabakeryrestaurant.com Hours: Monday through Thursday 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Prices: Flat bread $2 to $5.50, appetizers $1.50 to $12.99, soup $3.50 and $5.99, salads $4.99 to $15.99, sandwiches $6.99 to $12.99, grill specials $10.99 to $22.99, kids $5.59 to $7.99. Noise level: Low Credit cards: Accepted Accessibility: Yes Outdoor dining: No Delivery: Through third-party apps Drinks: No alcohol Gluten-free: Lots of options Vegetarian offerings: Many Kids menu: Yes Reservations: Yes Parking: Lot Service: Excellent Bottom line: Don't miss the chicken shawarma tacos, the beef/sfeeha pie, the stuffed falafel and the lentil soup.

Read restaurant news at go.madison.com/restaurantnews.

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One City Schools will receive nearly $2 million in multiyear grants to support the opening of its middle and high schools from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the Colorado-based Charter School Growth fund.

The funds will support One City Preparatory Academy, One City Schools early college and career high school, which is scheduled to open in September to a maximum of 264 students in grades 6, 9 and 10. Enrollment for the school is scheduled to begin April 4 and end April 22.

The Charter School Growth fund, a nonprofit, philanthropic venture capital fund, will contribute $850,000 over the next two years to One City. That along with a recently awarded $900,000 grant to the school from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction through a federally funded program, will total $1.75 million in funds for the opening of the academy over the course of the next two years.

One Citys transformational schools would not exist without the extraordinary giving of our local and national philanthropic communities, Kaleem Caire, the founder of the school, said in a statement. Academic achievement and opportunity gaps have persisted between students of color and their white peers for a long time. One Citys schools are focused on eliminating this gap.

A contract, signed in February with the UW System, greenlit Caires 33-year dream of growing One City Schools from early childhood education and elementary to include students through grade 12, roughly a decade after the Madison School Board rejected a similar proposal for a charter school overseen by the Madison School District that would have been called Madison Preparatory Academy.

Students in grades 4K through 4 are currently learning on the third floor of the schools new facility, purchased by One City Schools in March 2021 through a $14 million donation from American Girl founder and philanthropist Pleasant Rowland. Caire said his plan for the 157,000-square-foot office building, on the campus of WPS Health Solutions in Monona adjacent to South Madison, is to build a full K-12 charter school with an enrollment of nearly 1,000 students by the 2024-25 school year.

One City Schools also plans to partner with Madison Area Technical College, UW-Oshkosh and UW-Madisons School of Education to offer higher education opportunities to its high school students.

A blind admissions lottery is planned for the week of April 25 if the school receives more than 264 applications. Students who enroll after the deadline will be placed on a waiting list or will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis if there are still enrollment slots to be filled in their grade level.

Students enrolling after the April 22 deadline will also be placed on a waiting list if the grade level they have applied to has more applicants than there are available seats. However, if there are still seats available in a grade level after the enrollment deadline, students will be accepted into that grade level on a first-come, first-served basis.

One City Schools first opened as a preschool serving six students in South Madison in September 2015. Its Fisher Street location will remain open to serve students in early childhood education, who may later attend the K-12 school.

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A Dane County Circuit judge held Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in contempt of court Wednesday for failing to provide requested public documents related to the ongoing GOP-ordered review of the 2020 election.

Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihns ruling followed her previous order that Vos, R-Rochester, and the Assembly produce the records, which were requested last year by liberal watchdog group American Oversight. The requested documents include records created by contractors, including former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who is leading the review.

Robin Vos had delegated the search for contractors records to an employee who did nothing more than send one vague email to one contractor, Bailey-Rihn wrote. Putting aside for the moment the impropriety of making a contractor responsible for a records request  Robin Vos did not tell that contractor which records to produce, did not ask any of the other contractors to produce records, and did not even review the records ultimately received. Still worse, the Assembly did nothing at all.

Bailey-Rihn concluded that Vos and the Assembly, after hearing and notice, have chosen to willfully violate a court order and are held in contempt.

Vos and the Assembly have been ordered to pay American Oversights legal fees related to the contempt motion. Vos has 14 days to comply with the judges order or begin paying a $1,000 daily forfeiture. If Vos and the Assembly provide proof they have complied with the states public records law, the contempt ruling will be lifted.

Because of the uncontroverted evidence that the Respondents failed to instruct contractors to preserve records, each Respondent shall submit evidentiary proof of reasonable efforts to search for deleted, lost, missing, or otherwise unavailable records, or provide an explanation of why such a search would not be reasonable, Bailey-Rihn added.

Approached by a reporter following a pair of town halls in western Racine County Wednesday afternoon, during which Vos repeatedly told listeners that the 2020 election could not be decertified, Vos responded to being found in contempt of court.

Its a liberal judge in Dane County trying to make us look bad. I dont know about you, but when you have deleted emails, how do you get deleted emails back if theyre from Gmail? We already have an expert saying they cant be done. You have a judge whos focused on making a name for herself, and thats all shes doing, Vos said.

We have followed the law. There is no problem with what were doing. Its really them trying to stop our investigation. This all focuses on them not wanting to get to the truth of what happened in 2020.  You cant produce emails that you dont have, he said.

When asked how he would legally be responding to being found in contempt of court, Vos said he would have to consult with our attorneys.

Speaker Vos and the Assembly have had ample opportunity to comply with the courts order and produce records, American Oversight senior adviser Melanie Sloan said in a statement. Maybe the threat of a $1,000/day fine until the records are produced will finally encourage compliance and give the people of Wisconsin the answers they deserve.

Bailey-Rihn did not seek sanctions against Assembly Chief Clerk Ted Blazel, who is also named in the lawsuit. Bailey-Rihn determined that the Assembly, and not Blazel, is primarily responsible for the requested records.

The case is one of three records-related lawsuits filed by American Oversight against Vos, the Assembly and Gableman, who was hired by Vos last year to review the election at a cost of $676,000 to taxpayers.

In a separate American Oversight case, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Frank Remington earlier this month ordered the release of hundreds of pages of documents related to Gablemans review. Remington described the records as much to-do about nothing.

Remington ordered Vos, Gableman and the Assembly to each pay $1,000 in damages to American Oversight and cover the groups legal fees  costs that could fall to taxpayers.

Vos has extended Gablemans contract through the end of April. The new contract maintains Gablemans existing budget, but does allow for the possibility of added funds to cover the costs of multiple lawsuits related to the probe.

In addition, Vos said earlier this month he might rescind subpoenas issued to mayors and election officials as part of Gablemans review, but only so that a Republican attorney general elected in November could file criminal charges. Vos has not provided specifics on what criminal charges could be pursued.

(Racine) Journal Times reporter Scott Williams contributed to this report.

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Former Gov. Tommy Thompson met with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago Thursday as he mulls whether to run for governor, multiple media outlets reported.

Thompson, who served as governor from 1987 to 2001, has said he would decide in April whether to run for a fifth term.

"The primary topic was Wisconsin politics," said Bill McCoshen, a former chief of staff to Thompson when he served as governor. "They talked about the gubernatorial race, the Senate race and what it will take to win in Wisconsin. The topic of running for governor may have come up, but the purpose was to talk about Wisconsin politics more broadly."

Two Republican strategists speaking on background confirmed to the Wisconsin State Journal that Thompson planned to meet with the former president, whose endorsement  if he gives one  could be pivotal in the race. Conservative website Wisconsin Right Now was the first outlet to report that the meeting took place, and sources confirmed to TMJ4 News and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the two were meeting Thursday.

When told about the meeting in an interview with the State Journal, Dale Schultz  a former Republican state Senate majority leader who has bucked his party on various issues in the past  said he understands why Thompson would meet with Trump but said he wouldn't consider it a plus for the former governor to walk away with Trump's endorsement.

Schultz said the Republican Party's leadership has been either "absent or abysmal," but Thompson could improve the party's reputation in Wisconsin. He said he would support Thompson if he runs for governor, but otherwise he would probably vote for Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.

That's especially so with other Republicans' focus on limiting voter participation, Schultz said.

"We cannot, with all the problems in our society, spend all of our time figuring out how we can prevent people from voting," Schultz said, referring to ongoing Republican reviews of the 2020 election and attempts to limit early voting and the use of ballot drop boxes.

Announced candidates include former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Kevin Nicholson and state Rep. Timothy Ramthun, R-Campbellsport.

Trump has not formally endorsed any of the Republicans currently in the race, although he did call on retired U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy to run for governor last October, which the former lumberjack athlete later declined.

Ramthun, who has falsely claimed that Trump won Wisconsin's 2020 election, has drawn praise from the former president, who called the state lawmaker in early December to thank him for his efforts to overturn the election, Rolling Stone reported last month.

Trump has continued to falsely claim he won the 2020 election, despite recounts, audits and court decisions affirming that President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Wisconsin by almost 21,000 votes.

Trump has previously met with Kleefisch, who has picked up support from former Gov. Scott Walker, with whom she served for eight years; Trump's former White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders; and groups including Wisconsin Right to Life and the Milwaukee Police Association.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, the state's largest business organization, endorsed Kleefisch in January  the first time the group endorsed a gubernatorial candidate before the primary since 2010, when it backed Walker.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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An enormous amount of effort and planning went into crafting a single coherent message, and in one instant it was all for naught. Im not talking about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock during Sunday nights Oscars, but President Bidens similarly unscripted call for regime change in Russia.

In Warsaw on Saturday, Biden delivered a speech intended to underscore NATOs resolve and Americas leadership in the Ukraine crisis. When he was done, Biden ad-libbed nine words that sent allied governments  and White House aides  into a frenzy: For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power.

In one sense, Im sympathetic. Everyone, especially Ukrainians and Russians, would be better off if Russian President Vladimir Putin wasnt in power. Hes a force for evil and hostile to America and our values. Graded morally and emotionally, Bidens outburst was a classic Kinsley gaffe  named after Michael Kinsley, who said, A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth  some obvious truth he isnt supposed to say.

But because Bidens heart was in the right place, a lot of people are denying that his mouth wasnt.

Much of it has to do with Americas Trump hangover. For instance, the Washington Posts Max Boot rushed to Bidens defense, writing that Bidens speech was pitch-perfect while Donald Trumps 2017 Warsaw speech was a horror. He acknowledges that Bidens nine words were a gaffe, but thinks history might vindicate the president the way it vindicated Ronald Reagans attack on the Soviet Union as an evil empire in 1983. Boot concludes, I would rather have a president who is fearless in calling out Putins war crimes than one who toadies to the Russian tyrant.

Unfortunately, none of this is really a defense. What about Trump? is no more a defense of Bidens mistakes than What about Obama? was a defense of Trumps. If two wrongs dont make a right, neither do Trumps (myriad) mistakes make Bidens gaffe savvy.

Similarly, the whole point of his prepared remarks, no doubt crafted in consultation with allies, was to signal not just NATOs unified resolve but Bidens surefootedness in this crisis. The ad-libbed bit contradicted or overshadowed the allegedly perfect pitch  by unsettling allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and bolstering Russian propaganda. How fearless can Bidens remarks be if they were walked back for fear people took him literally?

Simply put, this wasnt a Kinsley gaffe in the way that matters most: It wasnt policy. When Reagan said the U.S.S.R. was an evil empire, it was a deliberate statement. The opposite is true here.

The more fundamental problem isnt one gaffe but rather a whole pattern. Biden told the 82nd Airborne forces stationed in Poland that theyd see the devastation in Ukraine when youre there. Aides had to clarify that U.S. troops would not, in fact, be going to Ukraine. Biden also said in Warsaw that we would respond in kind if Russia used chemical weapons. Nope, clarified national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

Biden long ago acknowledged he was a gaffe machine, and throughout his presidency the White House has had to correct the plain meaning of his utterances. Asked about an incident when activists chased Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Arizona, into a bathroom, Biden said, I dont think theyre appropriate tactics, but it happens to everybody. ... Its part of the process. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki subsequently tried to convince the press his real position was that he believes that what happened to her crossed the line and was absolutely unacceptable and flat out wrong to violate someones personal space in a bathroom.

From suggesting the 2022 midterm election results would be illegitimate if his election reforms failed to pass, to implying that a minor incursion into Ukraine by Russia wouldnt be that big a deal, there are now dozens of examples of the administration retconning Bidens verbal stumbles. This pattern hit a new low Monday, when Biden  using prepared talking points captured by photographers  insisted, Im not walking anything back. Which made his aides various walk-backs seem even odder.

But whats more worrisome than denying the reality of Bidens verbal mistakes is making his verbal mistakes reality.

For instance, initially the White House was rightly careful to not call Putin a war criminal, not because he isnt one  he obviously is  but because saying so has profound policy implications. The policy suddenly changed when Biden responded off the cuff to a shouted question from a reporter, saying, I think he is a war criminal.

At first, Psaki said Biden was merely speaking from his heart. But soon it became the administrations official position.

Im open to that position, but on this and many other issues, Id like Americas policies to be informed by something more deliberate and considered than a gaffe.

Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch: @JonahDispatch.
Anyone who doubts that secrecy in government breeds poor public policy should take a look at the Business Court Pilot Project launched by our Wisconsin Supreme Court.

For the last five years, the project has granted large commercial interests outsized influence over our court systems handling of their cases, exactly as intended. The business court pilot debuted in 2017 in Waukesha County and the 8th judicial district (encompassing Brown, Marinette, Kewaunee, Oconto, Door, Outagamie and Waupaca counties). It was expanded to other districts and, in a surprise move, to Dane County in 2020.

Heres how it works: the chief justice, currently Annette Ziegler, receives recommendations from big business and selects a limited number of business court judges. These hand-picked judges then receive out-of-state training from special interests aligned with big business. They follow court procedures drafted by big business lawyers.

The process largely bypasses the voter-controlled and otherwise random judicial assignment of cases. It creates a two-tiered court system  one controlled by business interests and one for everybody else.

It began in September 2016, when then-Chief Justice Patience Roggensack formed the Business Court Advisory Committee to develop a specialty court proposed by big business, for big business. Ignoring the state Supreme Courts own internal operating procedures designed to promote transparency and diversity of opinion in appointing court committees, the chief justice stacked the committee with lawyers representing business interests.

The committee included no labor or consumer advocates, no one representing the views of the public, and no one speaking for other stakeholders in our circuit court system.

Working privately, the advisory committee soon hatched a petition to establish and control the business court, which it filed with the Supreme Court on Oct. 26, 2016. Less than two weeks later, the court adopted the petition by a 5-2 vote, with no public hearing, no opportunity for public comment, and no public notice that the petition was even scheduled for a vote.

Thus, out of public view, our Supreme Court rapidly and fundamentally changed our circuit courts democratic structure for handling big business commercial litigation, simultaneously degrading judicial independence and corrupting a cardinal principle underpinning our court system  that everyone should be treated equally when he or she comes before the court.

The business court model was forced onto the Dane County circuit court system beginning in July 2020. The Supreme Court is now weighing a petition to extend the pilot program, set to expire on June 30, 2022, for another two years.

The big business takeover of circuit court commercial litigation wasnt the first time our Supreme Court displayed a penchant for secrecy.

For example, in 2012, the Supreme Court majority voted to close administrative rules conferences to the public, reversing an open meetings policy that had informed Wisconsin voters on important court matters for years. To sit out here in public and philosophize, said then-Justice Roggensack, is really not the best use of our time.

A more transparent approach might have led to a different outcome on the Business Court pilot project. But its not too late to comment on the request to expand the project for another two years. Written comments can be submitted to Attorney Laura Brenner at lbrenner@reinhartlaw.com, and should be received by 4:30 p.m. on April 8.

This time, transparency may produce a better result  a return to normalcy for our courts.

Niess is an attorney who served as a Dane County Circuit Court judge from 2004 to 2020, including 13 years as presiding judge of the civil division. Your Right to Know is a monthly column distributed by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council: wisfoic.org.
Tater Tots will soon forge closer ties to the Idaho side of Ore-Ida.

The iconic potato pellets created in Oregon by two brothers raised in Idaho will soon be produced by Idahos leading potato company.

Food conglomerate Kraft Heinz Co., co-headquartered in Chicago and Pittsburgh, has agreed to sell its potato processing plant in Ontario to Boises J.R. Simplot Co.

The Ore-Ida brand is well-known and loved in the frozen potato industry, and combining this brand with Simplots experience in processing and distribution will benefit all parties involved, Josh Jordan, a Simplot spokesperson, said by email.

Its exciting for us to connect the Ore back with the Ida. Heinz, which bought Ore-Ida from brothers Nephi and Golden Grigg for $30 million in 1965, will retain ownership of the Ore-Ida brand. Ore-Ida products will be produced under an exclusive contract with Simplot.

Ore-Ida is an iconic part of the Kraft Heinz portfolio, and we believe this strategic agreement will help us continue to grow the brand while also bringing new innovation in frozen potatoes to the market, Kraft Heinz spokesperson Stephanie Peterson said by email. This strategic agreement will not change Ore-Ida products. Consumers can expect to get the same high-quality, great-tasting potato products that theyve always enjoyed.

Terms of the deal were not announced, and Ore-Ida did not explain its reasons for selling the plant, other than to say Simplot could provide greater efficiency by supplying potatoes and introducing better technology and innovation.

That would seem to suggest Simplot is better positioned to boost sales.

Three years ago, CNBC reported that Kraft Heinz was considering selling the Ore-Ida brand. Boise-based Lamb Weston and food giant Conagra were identified as potential suitors, but no deal was ever struck.

Kraft Heinz said Ore-Ida provides about $500 million in annual sales.

We believe theres still a lot of untapped growth, Renee Peets, a Kraft Heinz senior vice president, said in a news release.

Simplot is going through a due-diligence process, and both companies hope Simplot will take over operation of the plant toward the end of June.

The Ontario plant employs about 600 workers. Simplot has not finalized its plans for them. Jordan said we hope to bring as many people as possible onto the Simplot team.

As a private company, Simplot said it wont publicly disclose salaries for its workers. The company, Jordan said, is committed to its employees, and its salary and benefits are competitive in the areas it operates.

A joint news release from Simplot and Ore-Ida said Simplot would pay wages and salaries similar to what it provides to similarly situated Simplot employees.

A complete and experienced employee base is vital to achieving our goals, and were thrilled to welcome them and look forward to gaining from their knowledge and dedication, Jordan said.

Ore-Idas headquarters was in Boise until 1999, when it moved to Pittsburgh, the home of H.J. Heinz Co. Kraft bought Heinz Co. in 2015.

ORE-IDA FOUNDERS WERE FARM BOYS REARED IN NAMPA AND VALE

After getting married, Nephi Grigg went to work at the Boise Cascade sawmill in Emmett. A few years later, back in Vale, he and his brother formed Grigg Brothers Produce. Among their customers for fresh sweet corn was Joe Albertson, who was managing a Safeway store in Emmett.

They took over a cold-storage locker in Ontario in 1950 after the California produce company that operated it went bankrupt. They began selling frozen french fries, a process perfected by the Simplot company in 1946. Previous attempts to freeze potatoes had turned them black or left them as mush.

Ore-Ida was founded in 1952, a year before Tater Tots were invented to find a use for french fry scraps, which until then had been given away as animal feed. Tater Tots were originally made by pushing potato scraps mixed with flour and seasonings through holes cut in plywood.

The product had its coming-out party in 1954, at the National Potato Convention held at a swanky Miami Beach hotel, The Fountainbleu. Before breakfast one morning, Nephi Grigg carried a 15-pound bag of frozen Tater Tots into the hotels kitchen. He talked the head chef into cooking them, arranging them on small saucers and placing them on each of the white linen-dressed tables.

These were all gobbled up faster than a dead cat could wag its tail, Grigg wrote 35 years later.

SIMPLOT TO PROVIDE ORE-IDA WITH SEVERAL POTATO PRODUCTS

Under its deal with Ore-Ida, Simplot will exclusively supply the company with Tater Tots, various cuts of french fries, hash browns and other Ore-Ida products, Jordan said. The agreement expands Simplots processing and distribution capabilities and adds a number of job opportunities at the Ontario plant, which is close to one of Simplots largest potato processing plants in Caldwell and its headquarters in Boise.

Simplot will also supply potatoes for Ore-Ida products beginning with the 2023-24 growing seasons, the companies said.

Simplot will continue to produce Tater Gems, its answer to the Tater Tot. Theyre sold almost exclusively to restaurants, schools and other institutional food service operations, although they were once sold to the public in unmarked bags when Simplot operated a small store at its former Swiss Village cheese factory in Nampa.

This facility only increases our production and distribution capabilities and enables us to bring our processing expertise to a well-known retail brand while furthering our offerings to regional growers and customers, Jordan said.

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Learn how to hunt wild turkey from the experts.

Interested in turkey hunting this spring, but not sure how to do it? Youre in luck! Idaho Fish and Game, in partnership with the Idaho Chapters of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and National Wild Turkey Federation will host a Turkey Hunting 101 webinar on Thursday, April 7 at 6:30 p.m. Mountain Time. A one-hour presentation will be provided, followed by a 30-minute Q&A.

Those wishing to watch the virtual presentation must register (for free) before the event. Register at: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_T6DU4tq_ST6tUwBFlnDzDQ

Participants can join the webinar during the above start time here: https://zoom.us/j/96805664863

An expert panel of presenters will provide information to help new or aspiring turkey hunters with the information for success.

Topics covered will include:

Scouting and finding wild turkeys

Strategies for hunting

Calling

Equipment

Field care

Ethics and safety

Seasons & rules

Presenters will be Don Jenkins, Natural Resource Program Manager for Idaho Fish and Game and co-lead for the development of the states Turkey Management Plan. He is a current board member and past president for the Idaho Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation. Jenkins was born and raised in Idaho, and has been hunting wild turkey for 29 years.

Kurtis Brooks is the current Boise Chapter President, and state board member, for the National Wild Turkey Federation. Brooks was born and raised in Idaho, and has been hunting wild turkey for 26 years.

Ian Malepeai will moderate the panel and works in the Communication Bureau at Idaho Fish and Game. He was a past state co-chair for Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and is a passionate hunter and angler. Ian was born and raised in Idaho, and has been hunting turkey for 10 years.

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RUPERT  No one would have guessed that the veterans honored on March 29 had served during the time of the most unpopular war in the history of the United States. Smiles, camaraderie, and good will abounded at the special dinner held at the Minidoka Senior Center in Rupert.

The dinner was hosted by the Mini-Cassia Chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America on Vietnam Veteran Recognition Day.

The Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter President Chuck Driscoll told the assembled group: It doesnt matter if you actually served in Vietnam during the war. It is enough that you willingly put on the uniform, were prepared to defend your country, and were willing to go wherever the military chose to send you during the time of the war.

Approximately, 54 veterans and their partners attended the dinner. Representatives from US Senators Mike Crapo and Jim Rischs offices were present and addressed the group telling them of current legislation the senators were trying to get through to benefit veterans. They stayed after the event to answer any questions or provide any help they could to individual Veterans.

Senator, Kelly Anthon, R-Rupert gave a stirring speech about some of the Vietnam veterans he knew growing up and the impact they had on his life today. Anthon and his wife personally presented each veteran with a special coin and a certificate for a free car wash making them know how appreciated he or she was for their service to their country at such a difficult time.

There was a drawing for several door prizes ranging from Vietnam veteran pins to other memorabilia of the Vietnam War. The grand prize was a DeWalt drill donated by Ron Lynch, who is a Vietnam veteran.

When the event was over several veterans stayed to talk and mingle with each other. I think we made a lot of Veterans happy today, Driscoll said.

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Saudi Arabia has deposited $5 billion at the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), the kingdoms press agency SPA has announced.

As part of historical solid bonds and close cooperation relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Arab Republic of Egypt, and as a gesture of confirmation of deep-rooted relations between the two countries and peoples, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in implementation of directives by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and HRH the Crown Prince, has deposited USD 5 billion at the Central Bank of Egypt, the agency noted.

The step stresses the bilateral solid relations between the two countries and peoples in all fields and at all levels, and represents the Kingdom of Saudi Arabias ongoing efforts, as part of its continuous leading role, in supporting the Arab Republic of Egypt, SPA added.

In a separate report, the Gulf countrys Public Investment Fund (PIF) will mobilize $10 billion in investment to Egypt. The Egyptian government Wednesday greenlit a draft agreement regulating PIFs investments in Egypt. Both governments this month agreed that PIF will set up a local fund in the most populated Arab country.

This comes as Qatar also announced Tuesday plans to invest $5 billion in multiple projects in Egypt.
Following the improvement of relations between Morocco and Spain and the end of the months-long diplomatic crisis between the two countries, King Mohammed VI and the Head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sanchez, had a phone talk Thursday, during which the Sovereign officially invited Mr. Sanchez to pay a visit to Morocco.

In the phone call, King Mohammed VI expressed appreciation for the message he received from Sanchez on March 14 and in which he said Spain supports the autonomy plan as the most serious, credible and realistic basis for settling the dispute over the Sahara.

King Mohammed VI reiterated his high appreciation for the content of the message sent to him on March 14 by the President of the Spanish Government, a message that responds to the Sovereigns earlier call to inaugurate an unprecedented stage in relations between the two countries, said the Royal Office in a statement.

The Sovereign officially invited the Head of the Spanish Government to pay a visit to Morocco in the very next few days, the statement added, noting that the Prime Ministers message to the Sovereign falls in line with the royal speech of August 20, 2021 and responds to the Sovereigns call to inaugurate an unprecedented stage in the relations between the two countries.

Thus, the partnership between the two countries is now entering a new stage, based on mutual respect, reciprocal trust, permanent consultation and frank and loyal cooperation, the statement pointed out, adding that in this context, the various Ministers and officials of both countries are called upon to implement concrete actions as part of an ambitious roadmap covering all areas of the partnership, integrating all issues of common interest.
Zimbabwe has begun redistributing unused land that was given to black farmers during President Mugabes bloody land reforms of the early 2000s, Agriculture Minister Anxious Masuka said Wednesday.

Those who own several farms, or those whose farms have been abandoned, will face expropriation, he announced. The land released will be redistributed to novice farmers, who are on a waiting list established since the last reforms, he added.

Zimbabwe does not have unlimited arable land, he argued. 99% of the land is already occupied, and the land we are distributing to farmers on the waiting list is being taken from blacks, to be redistributed to blacks. In 2000, former President Robert Mugabe forcibly expropriated the countrys white farmers in order to redistribute their land to black farmers. This decision was intended to redress inequalities resulting from British colonization, but in fact, those close to the government benefited greatly from this redistribution.

The new owners, poorly trained and ill-equipped, left large tracts of arable land uncultivated and the country is now suffering from chronic food shortages. After the fall of Robert Mugabe in 2017, his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, adopted a reformist stance and promised to heal the wounds of the land reforms and even to compensate expropriated farmers. Some white farmers have already been allowed to reclaim land through local partnerships, Musaka said.

According to the Famine Early Warning Network, about 10 million Zimbabweans, or two-thirds of the population, are at risk of hunger after a disappointing rainy season. Zimbabwe relies heavily on donors for its food supplies.
On Monday, Alphonse Charles Wright, the prosecutor of the Conakry Court of Appeal, gave a press conference to denounce a series of dysfunctions. In a dry tone, he accused Balla Samoura, the High Commander of the Gendarmerie, of interfering in judicial matters that do not fall within his jurisdiction.

As a reminder, Balla Samoura is one of the influential men of the ruling CNRD. The prosecutor accuses him of having arrested and sequestered former senior politicians loyal to Alpha Conde, such as Kalil Kaba, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, who, according to his lawyers, spent two days in the premises of the Directorate of Military Justice without having been officially summoned and especially without having access to his counsel.

The magistrate then reiterated these accusations on a prime-time television program on Tuesday morning: We do not attribute prerogatives to ourselves, it is the law that does so. We can negotiate anything but the law.

In the evening, a terse decree from the Minister of Justice announced the immediate suspension of Alphonse Charles Wright for disciplinary misconduct.

In the same breath, Balla Samoura was also suspended. This time, the sanction comes from the junta. Late in the evening, Sidiki Camara, the Minister Delegate to the Presidency in charge of National Defense, read a decree on national television. In it, he announced the suspension of Balla Samoura for failure to comply with instructions regarding public speaking.

In short, he was accused of having responded to the magistrates accusations in the press. Balla Samoura had justified himself to the local media, explaining that his status allowed him, according to him, to act as a judicial police officer.
The National Communication Council (CNC) had suspended the broadcasting on May 4, 2018, of the BBC and the American radio station VOA for breaches of the law governing the press and ethics. The body had then withdrawn in March 2019 its operating license to the BBC. VOA has not seen its suspension lifted since then.

We have come to the decision to reopen BBC radio from today, CNC President Vestine Mbundagu announced in a statement in French to the press. The CNC had suspended BBC Radio for professional misconduct, and then () His Excellency the President of the Republic recommended that the CNC sit down with the media under sanctions so that it could settle the problems definitively, she explained. We followed suit, () and finally, the conditionality that had been imposed on BBC Radio was honored, she added.

The CNC had withdrawn the BBCs operating license in 2019, saying the station had not respected its promise to respect () the principles of balanced information and rigorous verification of sources and then broadcast a documentary that turned out to be a mendacious, slanderous and damning montage for Burundi.

The institution was referring to the documentary Inside a Torture Site in Burundi, broadcast by the BBC in December 2018, referring to secret torture and detention sites to silence opponents  which was categorically denied by the power led at the time by Pierre Nkurunziza. His successor, Evariste Ndayishimiye, had called on the CNC in January 2021 to settle its differences with media outlets sanctioned following the crisis that arose in April 2015 from Pierre Nkurunzizas decision to run for a contested third term.
Ministers and heads of delegations of member countries of the Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), attending the 21st session of the Executive Council of this regional grouping, praised the decisive role played by King Mohammed VI in favor of the people of the CEN-SAD bloc.

At the end of the session convened in Rabat March 28 to 30 the participating delegations reiterated their infinite gratitude to King Mohammed VI for his decisive role and his constant efforts to enable CEN-SAD to continue its actions in favor of its populations. They praised the personal involvement of the Sovereign for his actions to restore peace and stability in the Member States affected by the scourge of terrorism.

The participants expressed to the King their deep gratitude and sincere thanks for his personal involvement in ensuring that the meeting takes place in excellent conditions in the best interest of all CEN-SAD Member States.

They also reiterated their commitment to achieve the objectives of the Community and to ensure the implementation of the recommendations of this Executive Council, in order to consolidate the achievements of our collective fight against terrorism, through solidarity and development actions.
The position of the Spanish government in support of the Moroccan autonomy plan, as being the most serious, realistic and credible basis for resolving the dispute over the Moroccan Sahara, stems from Spains genuine desire to contribute actively to the settlement of this conflict which has lasted too long, said Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday.

Spain has taken this decision with the full will to take a step forward towards the settlement of this dispute, Mr. Sanchez told the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

On March 18, Spain officially endorsed, in a letter by the head of the Spanish Government Pedro Sanchez to King Mohammed VI, Moroccos Autonomy Plan as the most serious and credible solution to end the decades-long dispute.

The decision we have taken on the Sahara is a further step on the path that began 14 years ago when the Spanish government welcomed the autonomy plan presented by Morocco as a valuable contribution to the solution of a deadlocked conflict, he pointed out.

We are determined to help settle a conflict that has lasted half a century, he said.

Spain has reaffirmed and deepened its position because there is now a new opportunity to resume negotiations after the appointment of the personal envoy of the UN Secretary General, Staffan de Mistura, he stated further.

After many years of conflict and status quo in the negotiation process, the Spanish government considers that the autonomy proposed by Morocco is the basis on which there are more possibilities to build a solution to the Sahara issue, stressed Sanchez, noting that his country logically recognizes the efforts made by Morocco in this direction.

Spains position on the Sahara issue is in line with that of its European partners and many other countries, he recalled, noting that the European Commission and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs supported Madrids decision.

In this connection, the President of the Spanish government recalled the support voiced by France to Moroccos proposal for years, in addition to the recent support expressed by Germany to the Moroccan initiative, and the United States continuous support for the approach adopted by the North African Kingdom.

Moreover, all the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council since 2007 have welcomed the autonomy plan and the serious and credible efforts made by Morocco, he underlined.

In his address to the Congress of Deputies, Pedro Sanchez made it clear that relations with Morocco, a neighbor and strategic partner, are an affair of State that requires a State policy..

The government is firmly committed to opening a new stage in relations between the two countries, with a clear and ambitious roadmap, Sanchez stressed.

Morocco is a neighbor and an indispensable strategic partnerThroughout history, the two countries have established human ties, agreements and relationships that have forged common interests.

Thus, said Sanchez, the will of Spain is to establish with Morocco relations that correspond to two neighboring countries with strategic importance in the areas of migration control, economic and trade relations and the fight against terrorism.

By opening a new page with Morocco, we have taken the path of realpolitik to meet the challenges of the State, including stability, prosperity and security, Sanchez said.

The Prime Ministers statements reflect the position expressed by many Spanish officials and politicians who underlined that by backing the Moroccan autonomy initiative Spain wants to contribute to resolving this issue that has lasted too long.
King Mohammed VI had a phone call on Thursday with the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sanchez, a call that heralds a new dawn in Moroccan-Spanish relations and marks a positive outcome of the month-long diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

During the phone call, King Mohammed VI reiterated his high appreciation for the content of the message sent to him on March 14 by the President of the Spanish Government, a message that responds to the Sovereigns earlier call to inaugurate an unprecedented stage in relations between the two countries, said the Royal Office in a statement.

The Sovereign officially invited the Head of the Spanish Government to pay a visit to Morocco in the very next few days, the statement added, noting that the Prime Ministers message to the Sovereign falls in line with the royal speech of August 20, 2021 and responds to the Sovereigns call to inaugurate an unprecedented stage in the relations between the two countries.

Thus, the partnership between the two countries is now entering a new stage, based on mutual respect, reciprocal trust, permanent consultation and frank and loyal cooperation, the statement pointed out, adding that in this context, the various Ministers and officials of both countries are called upon to implement concrete actions as part of an ambitious roadmap covering all areas of the partnership, integrating all issues of common interest.
A noninvasive ultrasound technique is capable of quickly pulverizing kidney stones, an early study showsin what researchers call a first step toward a simpler, anesthesia-free treatment for the painful problem.

The study reports on the first 19 patients who've had kidney stones treated with the ultrasound "bursts." So far, it's been able to completely, or nearly completely, break up stones within 10 minutes.

Much more research lies ahead, but experts not involved in the study called the early results "exciting." If it pans out, they said, the ultrasound technique could make noninvasive treatment for kidney stones more readily available to patients.

Kidney stones are common, affecting about 10% of people at some point, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

Often, a stone can be passed in the urine without too much agony. In other casessuch as when a larger stone is causing a blockage or unbearable paintreatment is necessary.

Right now, many kidney stones can be treated with a procedure called shock wave lithotripsy. It delivers high-energy sound waves through the skin to break the stone into tiny fragments that can then be passed.

But there are downsides, said Dr. Mathew Sorenson, of the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, one of the researchers on the new work.

Shock wave therapy can be painful, so it's typically done in the operating room, with patients under anesthesia, in the United States.

Sorenson and his colleagues have been developing an alternative approach called burst wave lithotripsy. They say it has the potential to blast kidney stones in a shorter amount of time, and possibly without anesthesia.

The ultimate goal, the researchers said, is to perform the procedure on fully awake patients, during an office visit with a urologistor even in the emergency room when patients arrive in severe pain.

Unlike shock wave therapy, the burst wave approach uses "short harmonic bursts" of ultrasound energy, according to the research team. Previous research has suggested it can break up stones more quickly, and with less pain, than shock waves.

In the new study, the researchers tested the burst wave technique in 19 patients who were undergoing kidney stone treatment with a procedure called ureteroscopy. It involves threading a thin scope through the urethra, up to the location of the kidney stone; instruments are used to either snare the stone or break it into fragments that can be removed.

Because ureteroscopy requires anesthesia, the study patients were under when the ultrasound bursts were applied, for up to 10 minutes.

Overall, the researchers found, that was enough to fragment 21 of 23 stones. Half of the stones had at least 90% of their volume pulverized to pieces of no more than 2 millimeters (mm). And nine stones (39%) were completely broken down to that degree.

The findings were published recently in The Journal of Urology.

Two urologists who were not involved in the study called that effectiveness impressive, considering the short duration of treatment (which was chosen to limit patients' time under anesthesia).

Kidney stones broken down to 2 mm or less should be relatively easy to pass, said Dr. Mantu Gupta, director of the Kidney Stone Center at Mount Sinai, in New York City.

Gupta noted that the study did not actually test the hoped-for, real-world scenario: Using the technique without anesthesia. But previous work by the team has indicated patients can tolerate it.

"This is very exciting," Gupta said, adding that the safety data so far looks good, too.

Some patients showed mild bleeding, with small amounts of blood in the urine.

Dr. William Roberts, a professor of urology at the University of Michigan, also described the work as exciting.

"This certainly looks as safe, or safer than, shock wave lithotripsy," he said.

Whether burst waves could be more effective is unclear, but Roberts said that if the procedure can, in fact, be done in the urologist's office, that would be a big advantage.

None of that means the technology would help everyone with kidney stones. Roberts noted that while 19 patients were treated, a similar number entered the study but could not receive the ultrasound treatment: Some had stones that were too deep, for instance, or were obstructed by a rib or the bowel.

Still, Roberts said, even if only certain patients could have the procedure, its potential to be "more accessible" would be a boon.

But Dr. Joseph Vassalotti, chief medical officer of the National Kidney Foundation, said that while the procedure is "promising," most of the study patients were of normal body mass index (BMI), which makes breaking up stones with shock wave therapy easier.

"Low enrollment of obese patients is important not only because obesity is common in the U.S., but also because obesity is a technical limitation to performance of [ultrasound burst and shock wave therapy]," Vassalotti said.

Since earlier work suggests the burst wave approach is tolerable, patients might not need pain medication afterward to deal with the procedure itself, Roberts saidthough they might need a pain reliever like acetaminophen (Tylenol) if passing the fragments proves uncomfortable.

The study team said it has begun studies to test the approach in patients who arrive in the emergency department with kidney stone pain. The technology has also been licensed to SonoMotion Inc., which is developing a commercial version and conducting its own clinical trials.

Explore further First human study using sound waves to break up kidney stones shows promising results

More information: The Urology Care Foundation has a patient guide on Journal information: Journal of Urology The Urology Care Foundation has a patient guide on kidney stones.

Copyright  2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Inferences drawn from a narrowing gap between cancer profiles highlights converging cancer trends, and how China could reduce its disease burden. Credit: Chinese Medical Journal

The overall burden of cancer has gradually increased in China in recent years. By comprehensively examining data from multiple large databases, researchers have elucidated the similarities and differences between cancer epidemiology in China and the USA. Their findings reveal that cancer profiles in these two countries are converging. Hence, cancer screening and prevention strategies adopted by the USA could also help China actively control its cancer burden.

Cancer is currently the most common cause of death in most developed countries around the world. In the USA, comprehensive progress in cancer research, prevention, and care has resulted in reduced rates of cancer since the 1990s, indicating that these strategies could also benefit other countries, such as China, where the cancer burden is steadily increasing. However, the effectiveness of cancer prevention strategies is highly dependent on cancer epidemiology (i.e., the trends in the incidence, distribution, causative factors, etc. of these diseases)which can vary from country to country. Hence, a comparative analysis of long-term trends in cancer incidence and mortality is warranted before their adoption.

To provide some answers, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College performed a large-scale comparative study of cancer trends in China and the USA, using open-source data. Their study, which was made available online on 9 February 2022, in the Chinese Medical Journal, provides an updated insight into cancer epidemiology in China and the USA. First, the researchers calculated the possible number of cancer cases and deaths in 2022, based on cancer estimates from GLOBOCAN 2020 and population estimates from the United Nations. Trends in cancer incidence and mortality in the USA were analyzed based on information from the SEER and National Center for Health Statistics databases, while data on Chinese patients was obtained from cancer registry reports.

The results collated by the research group point to changing trends of cancer in China. According to estimates, China will witness 4.82 million new cases of cancer and 3.21 million cancer deaths in 2022.

In terms of cancer types, lung cancer is the most common in China, and breast cancer in the USA. The overall findings also showed intriguingly inverse epidemiologic trends in cancer rates amongst these countries. While the incidence and mortality of liver, stomach and esophageal cancer has reduced in China, that of liver cancer has significantly risen in the USA. Conversely, the incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer has risen in China, while that of lung and colorectal cancer has dropped in the USA.

A gender-related disparity was also seen, with lung cancer in China and prostate cancer in the USA being the most commonly diagnosed cancers among men; and breast cancer being the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in both countries. In both these countries, however, lung cancer continues to be the leading cause of death.

To further understand the specific factors influencing the burden of cancer deaths in China and the USA, the researchers analyzed data from the Global Burden of Disease 2019. Incremental cancer deaths from 1991 to 2019 were analyzed and attributed to four major factors: population aging, population size, age-specific cancer incidence, and the mortalitytoincidence ratio from a particular type of cancer (or its case-fatality rate).

The increase in the 25-year-old population appeared to be the primary contributor to rising cancer deaths, while aging may become the most important determinant of cancer disease burden in the future. The case-fatality rate was found to be reducing in both countries, especially in the recent years in China.

The primary contributors to reduced cancer mortality in the USA over the last 30 years have been improved cancer screening methods and newly developed cancer treatments. The appreciable dip in the number of smokers, too, continues to reduce the burden of lung cancer and other tobacco-related cancers in the USA. Further, diagnostic advances and more sophisticated chemotherapeutic, surgical, and targeted treatment strategies have significantly reduced cancer burden in the country.

The findings from this study paint a picture of converging cancer trends in China and the USA, demonstrating that cancer profiles in China are becoming more like those in the USA. China could, therefore, initiate certain cancer prevention and screening strategieslike efforts towards cancer research, smoking control, early diagnosis, and early treatmentalong with a focus on healthy aging. These strategies, which have proven effective in reducing the disease burden elsewhere, might prove effective in China as well. Therefore, China should adopt indoor smoking policies, vaccinate girls aged 914 against the human papilloma virus, and provide cancer screening and early treatment services for high-risk groups. The promotion of policies for healthy population agingan important driver of growthcould also benefit China's fight against cancer.

Explore further Mapping the paradigm shift of China's cancer burden for designing prevention strategies

More information: Changfa Xia et al, Cancer statistics in China and United States, 2022: profiles, trends, and determinants, Chinese Medical Journal (2022). Changfa Xia et al, Cancer statistics in China and United States, 2022: profiles, trends, and determinants,(2022). DOI: 10.1097/CM9.0000000000002108

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The relationships between the main thematic categories and subcategories. Credit: Psychology of Music (2021). DOI: 10.1177/0305735620988596

The positive effects and satisfaction created by listening to music are often highlighted in people's everyday experiences as well as in music psychology research. However, not all of the feelings aroused by music are pleasant ones. A collaborative study between researchers from the universities of Jyvaskyla and Oslo examined listening to aversive music. To date, only a few studies have addressed this topic.

The recent study published in the journal Psychology of Music looks at people's reported experiences of listening to aversive music. The study involved 102 volunteers between the ages of 18 and 65. The respondents included both musicians and non-musicians.

An analysis of the open-ended descriptions revealed two types of listeners: those with a strong negative attitude toward unpleasant music and those with a more neutral attitude. The data show that the strong negative attitude resulted from unpleasant feelings and bodily reactions triggered by the music, the listener's autobiographical aspects related to identity, social values, and aesthetic preferences, as well as the context of listening.

For some persons, hearing aversive music might even arouse outright hatred and aggressive behavior, which, at their worst, are directed at other people, or alternatively such music evoked a fight-or-flight reaction to the situation where it was playing.

"Although research indicates an indisputable positive potential for music, we have rather poor knowledge of its negative impacts," states the study's lead researcher Assistant Professor in Musicology Henna-Riikka Peltola from the University of Jyvaskyla.

"Indeed, for some listeners music can trigger a quite primitive fight-or-flight reaction," Peltola says. "The most interesting results of our study included, alongside the negative feelings, the connections of such feelings to people's behavior. Many respondents also reported being slightly ashamed of their strong reactions to such a seemingly harmless thing as music.

"This may indicate that in our society music is automatically seen as something that is entertaining and pleasant, and thus other kinds of experiences can be regarded as exceptional or somehow wrong."

According to the researchers, the possible negative effects of music listening should therefore be explored more extensively in future research. Positive emotional experiences and the beneficial potential of music are based on one's own choice of listening and the listener's own aesthetic preferences. Similar benefits cannot be achieved by listening to whatever music is available, as the effects can be totally opposite.

"Exposure to music in public spaces, for instance," says Peltola, "can arouse truly strong aversion and stress reactions in some people, which does not increase their wellbeing in any way."

Explore further Music evokes powerful positive emotions through personal memories

More information: Henna-Riikka Peltola et al, "I hate this part right here": Embodied, subjective experiences of listening to aversive music, Psychology of Music (2021). Henna-Riikka Peltola et al, "I hate this part right here": Embodied, subjective experiences of listening to aversive music,(2021). DOI: 10.1177/0305735620988596
When the researchers compared centromeric regions of 1,600 people from around the world, they found that those without recent African ancestry mostly had two types of sequence variations. The proportions of these two variations are represented by the black and light gray wedges within the circles, which are placed on the map near the location where each group of individuals was sampled. Those from Africa or other areas with a large proportion of people with recent African ancestry, like the Caribbean, had much more centromeric sequence variation, represented by the multi-colored wedges. Such variations could help track how centromeric regions evolve, as well as how these genetic variants are related to health and disease. Credit: Nicolas Altemose, UC Berkeley

When scientists announced the complete sequence of the human genome in 2003, they were fudging a bit.

In fact, nearly 20 years later, about 8% of the genome has never been fully sequenced, largely because it consists of highly repetitive chunks of DNA that are hard to align with the rest.

But a three-year-old consortium has finally filled in that remaining DNA, providing the first complete, gapless genome sequence for scientists and physicians to refer to.

The newly completed genome, dubbed T2T-CHM13, represents a major upgrade from the current reference genome, called GRCh38, which is used by doctors when searching for mutations linked to disease, as well as by scientists looking at the evolution of human genetic variation.

Among other things, the new DNA sequences reveal never-before-seen detail about the region around the centromere, which is where chromosomes are grabbed and pulled apart when cells divide, ensuring that each "daughter" cell inherits the correct number of chromosomes. Variability within this region may also provide new evidence of how our human ancestors evolved in Africa.

"Uncovering the complete sequence of these formerly missing regions of the genome told us so much about how they're organized, which was totally unknown for many chromosomes," said Nicolas Altemose, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, and a co-author of four new papers about the completed genome. "Before, we just had the blurriest picture of what was there, and now it's crystal clear down to single base pair resolution."

Altemose is first author of one paper that describes the base pair sequences around the centromere. A paper explaining how the sequencing was done will appear in the April 1 print edition of the journal Science, while Altemose's centromere paper and four others describing what the new sequences tell us are summarized in the journal with the full papers posted online. Four companion papers, including one for which Altemose is co-first author, also will appear online April 1 in the journal Nature Methods.

The sequencing and analysis were performed by a team of more than 100 people, the so-called Telemere-to-Telomere Consortium, or T2T, named for the telomeres that cap the ends of all chromosomes. The consortium's gapless version of all 22 autosomes and the X sex chromosome is composed of 3.055 billion base pairs, the units from which chromosomes and our genes are built, and 19,969 protein-coding genes. Of the protein-coding genes, the T2T team found about 2,000 new ones, most of them disabled, but 115 of which may still be expressed. They also found about 2 million additional variants in the human genome, 622 of which occur in medically relevant genes.

"In the future, when someone has their genome sequenced, we will be able to identify all of the variants in their DNA and use that information to better guide their health care," said Adam Phillippy, one of the leaders of T2T and a senior investigator at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) of the National Institutes of Health. "Truly finishing the human genome sequence was like putting on a new pair of glasses. Now that we can clearly see everything, we are one step closer to understanding what it all means."

The evolving centromere

The new DNA sequences in and around the centromere total about 6.2% of the entire genome, or nearly 190 million base pairs, or nucleotides. Of the remaining newly added sequences, most are found around the telomeres at the end of each chromosome and in the regions surrounding ribosomal genes. The entire genome is made of just four types of nucleotides, which, in groups of three, code for the amino acids used to build proteins. Altemose's main research involves finding and exploring areas of the chromosomes where proteins interact with DNA.

"Without proteins, DNA is nothing," said Altemose, who earned a Ph.D. in bioengineering jointly from UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco in 2021 after having received a D.Phil. in statistics from Oxford University. "DNA is a set of instructions with no one to read it if it doesn't have proteins around to organize it, regulate it, repair it when it's damaged and replicate it. Protein-DNA interactions are really where all the action is happening for genome regulation, and being able to map where certain proteins bind to the genome is really important for understanding their function."

After the T2T consortium sequenced the missing DNA, Altemose and his team used new techniques to find the place within the centromere where a big protein complex called the kinetochore solidly grips the chromosome so that other machines inside the nucleus can pull chromosome pairs apart.

"When this goes wrong, you end up with missegregated chromosomes, and that leads to all kinds of problems," he said. "If that happens in meiosis, that means you can have chromosomal anomalies leading to spontaneous miscarriage or congenital diseases. If it happens in somatic cells, you can end up with cancerbasically, cells that have massive misregulation."

The spindles (green) that pull chromosomes apart during cell division are attached to a protein complex called the kinetochore, which latches onto the chromosome at a place called the centromere  a region containing highly repetitive DNA sequences. Comparing the sequences of these repeats revealed where mutations have accumulated over millions of years, reflecting the relative age of each repeat. Repeats in the active centromere tend to be the youngest and most recently duplicated sequences in the region, and they have strikingly low DNA methylation. Surrounding the active centromere on both sides are older repeats, probably the relics of former centromeres, with the oldest ones farthest from the active centromere. The researchers hope that new experimental methods will help reveal why centromeres evolve from the middle, as well as why this pattern is so closely associated with binding by the kinetochore and with low DNA methylation. Credit: Nicolas Altemose, UC Berkeley

What they found in and around the centromeres were layers of new sequences overlaying layers of older sequences, as if through evolution new centromere regions have been laid down repeatedly to bind to the kinetochore. The older regions are characterized by more random mutations and deletions, indicating they're no longer used by the cell. The newer sequences where the kinetochore binds are much less variable, and also less methylated. The addition of a methyl group is an epigenetic tag that tends to silence genes.

All of the layers in and around the centromere are composed of repetitive lengths of DNA, based on a unit about 171 base pairs long, which is roughly the length of DNA that wraps around a group of proteins to form a nucleosome, keeping the DNA packaged and compact. These 171 base pair units form even larger repeat structures that are duplicated many times in tandem, building up a large region of repetitive sequences around the centromere.

The T2T team focused on only one human genome, obtained from a non-cancerous tumor called a hydatidiform mole, which is essentially a human embryo that rejected the maternal DNA and duplicated its paternal DNA instead. Such embryos die and transform into tumors. But the fact that this mole had two identical copies of the paternal DNAboth with the father's X chromosome, instead of different DNA from both mother and fathermade it easier to sequence.

The researchers also released this week the complete sequence of a Y chromosome from a different source, which took nearly as long to assemble as the rest of the genome combined, Altemose said. The analysis of this new Y chromosome sequence will appear in a future publication.

Altemose and his team, which included UC Berkeley project scientist Sasha Langley, also used the new reference genome as a scaffold to compare the centromeric DNA of 1,600 individuals from around the world, revealing major differences in both the sequence and copy number of repetitive DNA around the centromere. Previous studies have shown that when groups of ancient humans migrated out of Africa to the rest of the world, they took only a small sample of genetic variants with them. Altemose and his team confirmed that this pattern extends into centromeres.

"What we found is that in individuals with recent ancestry outside the African continent, their centromeres, at least on chromosome X, tend to fall into two big clusters, while most of the interesting variation is in individuals who have recent African ancestry," Altemose said. "This isn't entirely a surprise, given what we know about the rest of the genome. But what it suggests is that if we want to look at the interesting variation in these centromeric regions, we really need to have a focused effort to sequence more African genomes and do complete telomere-to-telomere sequence assembly."

DNA sequences around the centromere could also be used to trace human lineages back to our common ape ancestors, he noted.

"As you move away from the site of the active centromere, you get more and more degraded sequence, to the point where if you go out to the furthest shores of this sea of repetitive sequences, you start to see the ancient centromere that, perhaps, our distant primate ancestors used to bind to the kinetochore," Altemose said. "It's almost like layers of fossils."

Long-read sequencing a game changer

The T2T's success is due to improved techniques for sequencing long stretches of DNA at once, which helps when determining the order of highly repetitive stretches of DNA. Among these are PacBio's HiFi sequencing, which can read lengths of more than 20,000 base pairs with high accuracy. Technology developed by Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd., on the other hand, can read up to several million base pairs in sequence, though with less fidelity. For comparison, so-called next-generation sequencing by Illumina Inc. is limited to hundreds of base pairs.

"These new long-read DNA sequencing technologies are just incredible; they're such game changers, not only for this repetitive DNA world, but because they allow you to sequence single long molecules of DNA," Altemose said. "You can begin to ask questions at a level of resolution that just wasn't possible before, not even with short-read sequencing methods."

Altemose plans to explore the centromeric regions further, using an improved technique he and colleagues at Stanford developed to pinpoint the sites on the chromosome that are bound by proteins, similar to how the kinetochore binds to the centromere. This technique, too, uses long-read sequencing technology. He and his group described the technique, called Directed Methylation with Long-read sequencing (DiMeLo-seq), in a paper that appeared this week in the journal Nature Methods.

Meanwhile, the T2T consortium is partnering with the Human PanGenome Reference Consortium to work toward a reference genome that represents all of humanity.

"Instead of just having one reference from one human individual or one hydatidiform mole, which isn't even a real human individual, we should have a reference that represents everybody," Altemose said. "There are various ideas about how to accomplish that. But what we need first is a grasp of what that variation looks like, and we need lots of high-quality individual genome sequences to accomplish that."

His work on the centromeric regions, which he called "a passion project," was funded by postdoctoral fellowships. The leaders of the T2T project were Karen Miga of UC Santa Cruz, Evan Eichler of the University of Washington, and Adam Phillippy of NHGRI, which provided much of the funding. Other UC Berkeley co-authors of the centromere paper are Aaron Streets, assistant professor of bioengineering; Abby Dernburg and Gary Karpen, professors of molecular and cell biology; project scientist Sasha Langley; and former postdoctoral fellow Gina Caldas.

Explore further New human reference genome opens unexplored regions

More information: Nicolas Altemose et al, Complete genomic and epigenetic maps of human centromeres, Science (2022). www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abl4178 Journal information: Science , Nature Methods Nicolas Altemose et al, Complete genomic and epigenetic maps of human centromeres,(2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abl4178
Use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) is associated with increased risks for gallbladder or biliary diseases, with a higher risk for GLP-1 RA use in weight loss, according to a review published online March 28 in JAMA Internal Medicine.

Liyun He, from the Peking Union Medical College Hospital in China, and colleagues conducted a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the use of GLP-1 RA drugs with placebo or with non-GLP-1 RA drugs in adults to examine the association with gallbladder and biliary diseases. Data from 76 RCTs with 103,371 patients were included in the meta-analysis.

The researchers found that randomization to GLP-1 RA treatment among all included trials was associated with increased risks for gallbladder or biliary diseases (pooled relative risk [RR], 1.37), specifically cholelithiasis, cholecystitis, and biliary disease (RRs, 1.27, 1.36, and 1.55, respectively). GLP-1 RA use was associated with an elevated risk for gallbladder or biliary diseases in trials for weight loss (13 trials; RR, 2.29) and for type 2 diabetes and other diseases (63 trials; RR, 1.27). For all included trials, the risks for gallbladder or biliary diseases were higher with higher doses of GLP-1 RA use versus lower doses and for longer versus shorter duration of use.

"Physicians should be concerned about the increased risk of gallbladder or biliary disease associated with GLP-1 RA use, especially at the higher doses recommended for weight loss," the authors write.

Explore further Liraglutide ups risk for gallbladder, biliary tract events

More information: Liyun He et al, Association of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Use With Risk of Gallbladder and Biliary Diseases, JAMA Internal Medicine (2022). Liyun He et al, Association of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Use With Risk of Gallbladder and Biliary Diseases,(2022). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.0338 Shanzay Haider et al, Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor AgonistsHow Safe Are They?, JAMA Internal Medicine (2022). DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2022.0335 Journal information: JAMA Internal Medicine

 2022 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

Hypertension is a disease. However, in the majority of cases, there is no clear medical explanation, referred to as "essential hypertension". Could psychological factors play a role? In this context, Konstanz biological health psychologists Alisa Auer and Professor Petra Wirtz conducted a study in male participants over several years together with colleagues from Konstanz (Germany) and Switzerland. The researchers wanted to better understand the psychobiosocial mechanisms in hypertension, since previous work in this area has left many questions open.

In an article published in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine on 22nd March 2022, they show that compared to a healthy control group, men with essential hypertension more often recognized angry expressions when they looked into the faces of others. In addition, this anger recognition bias seems to contribute to blood pressure increases over time if someone tends to frequently and intensively experience anger. This tendency is called "trait anger".

Recognition of mixed emotions

In their study in 145 hypertensive and normotensive men, researchers presented different pictures of people who were angry. However, the pictures did not just display anger alone, but combined anger with one of three other emotions: fear, happiness, and sadness. The background for this approach is that, in everyday life, people's faces rarely show just one emotion. Mixed emotions are more prevalent. Each of the computer-morphed pictures showed two emotions with varying affect intensities. Participants were asked which emotion they saw in the pictures.

"Hypertensive men recognized anger more often than any other emotion," Alisa Auer says. "So, they overrated anger displayed in other people's faces as compared to our healthy control group." Petra Wirtz adds: "Overrating anger displayed by other persons seems to affect whether high 'trait anger' contributes to blood pressure increases over time." Hence, interpersonal factors seem to play a role in essential hypertension. The expectation of associations between hypertension and social aspects was one of the reasons why the study was supported by the Cluster of Excellence "Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour".

Improving treatment of essential hypertension

Auer and Wirtz hope that their results will be examined and confirmed by other researchers. "Then, a next step would be to offer people with essential hypertension a more targeted support," says Alisa Auer, who is currently completing her doctorate in Psychology. Auer is thinking of "therapeutic treatments that address a person's perception of social environments in order to protect them from other peoples anger."

Such therapeutic interventions would be important, because blood pressure lowering medication only treats the consequences of hypertension, but does not address potential causes. In addition, hypertension is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In 2020, as in previous years, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) listed cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death in Germany. "338,001 deaths, or more than one third of all deaths (34%), can be attributed to cardiovascular disease," Destatis reports in a press release. Cardiovascular disease is especially deadly for older people: 93% of those who died of cardiovascular disease were 65 years or older.

What about women? The researchers hope that future studies will include women. Since women may possibly differ in their emotion recognition from men and as fewer women suffer from hypertension, the study initially focused on men.

More information: Alisa Auer et al, Do Hypertensive Men Spy With an Angry Little Eye? Anger Recognition in Men With Essential Hypertension - Cross-sectional and Prospective Findings, Annals of Behavioral Medicine (2022). Journal information: Annals of Behavioral Medicine Alisa Auer et al, Do Hypertensive Men Spy With an Angry Little Eye? Anger Recognition in Men With Essential Hypertension - Cross-sectional and Prospective Findings,(2022). DOI: 10.1093/abm/kaab108
Nadia German, Ph.D., (right) and collaborator Constantinos Mikelis, Ph.D., have received a U.S. patent for a chemical that targets the brain's dopamine transporter. Credit: TTUHSC

Many brain diseases and disorders lead to neuroinflammation, a swelling of brain tissue that is increasingly recognized as one ofthe telltale signs and disease progression factors of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Neuroinflammation can limit blood flow to areas in the brain, which can lead to the inhibition of the body's natural disease fighting mechanisms.

Traumatic brain injuries also cause significant neuroinflammation. In fact, unresolved and severe brain edema (swelling caused by trapped fluid) is the leading cause of death for traumatic brain injury patients within the first few days of injury.

Because neuroinflammation has been linked to dopaminergic signaling, Nadia German, Ph.D., director of the Medicinal Chemistry program at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center (TTUHSC) Jerry H. Hodge School of Pharmacy, said there is increasing interest in determining whether the modulation of dopamine levels at the inflammation site can stop or even reverse neurodegeneration.

To help make that determination, German and collaborator Constantinos Mikelis, Ph.D., adjunct associate professor in the TTUHSC Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, have received a U.S. patent for a chemical that targets the brain's dopamine transporter. Affecting the dopamine transporter is one of the ways by which dopamine levels in the brain can be controlled.

In addition to Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and traumatic brain injuries, German said there are other central nervous system disorders, such as glioblastomas (brain tumors) and multiple sclerosis, that also exhibit dopamine-related neuroinflammation, and that could potentially benefit from the newly patented chemical probe.

"Low levels of dopamine can result in neuroinflammation, neuron death and other non-pleasant effects," German said. "At the same time, neuroinflammation causes reduction in the expression of dopamine neurons, creating a vicious cycle of cause and effect. By controlling the dopamine levels, we can try to stop this cycle.

"The specific component we have patented has really great selectivity for the dopamine transporter. It does have some activity at another transporter that regulates the neurotransmitter serotonin, but its affinity to the dopamine transporter is higherby one hundred-foldso it's really, really selective."

The Mikelis lab evaluated the different activities displayed by the patented molecule in relation to the various receptors. He also investigated the pharmacokinetic profile of the molecule to ensure it actually reaches the brain at levels that are beneficial to the patient.

"We used in vitro (outside a living organism; e.g., test tube, culture dish) and in vivo (in a living organism) models, and we tested different molecules to identify the best possible parameters and to select the molecule that we finally patented," Mikelis added.

German and Mikelis patented the molecule as a chemical scaffold, a process that adds desired bioactive properties to the core structure of the molecule.

Graphical abstract. Credit: ACS Chemical Neuroscience (2022). DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.1c00647

"Together with our very supportive collaborators Dr. Volker Neugebauer and Dr. Mirla Avila, we just recently published a paper in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience where we talk about this," German said. "To our best knowledge, we are the first to show that dopamine transporter inhibitors reduce levels of neuroinflammation in multiple sclerosis models (mice) at the same level or better than the corticosteroids that we use now."

Though the testing and evaluation that led to the patent demonstrated that the specific activity of the molecule has a strong therapeutic potential, it still must pass through several stages of development and approvals before it can become a market-ready drug.

"It will take some time, I'm sure, but in the end, I'm also sure we will be able to get a molecule with a good drug-likeness profile," German said. "The gold standard, of course, is oral dosing, but if not, there are many systems we can use for the delivery of the drug."

German and Mikelis partnered early on with the university's Office of Research Commercialization, disclosing their invention in June 2017. With the issuance of the patent, the Office of Research Commercialization is actively seeking strategic partners in the pharmaceutical industry interested in the further development and ultimate commercialization of these novel compounds for treating neurological disorders.

Explore further Researchers uncover how dopamine transports within the brain

More information: Md Ashraf-Uz-Zaman et al, Evaluation of Urea-Based Inhibitors of the Dopamine Transporter Using the Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Model of Multiple Sclerosis, ACS Chemical Neuroscience (2022). Journal information: ACS Chemical Neuroscience Md Ashraf-Uz-Zaman et al, Evaluation of Urea-Based Inhibitors of the Dopamine Transporter Using the Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Model of Multiple Sclerosis,(2022). DOI: 10.1021/acschemneuro.1c00647
Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain

From the classroom where she taught high school English, Margie Satterwhite Brown watched parents and their children lining up across the street in the parking lot of Bradford Regional Medical Center, in northern Pennsylvania.

The first vaccine against the most common cause of cervical cancer was approved in 2006, and in the years that followed, parents were eager to get their daughters protected.

More than a decade later, that kind of anticipation for a vaccine would be hard to imagine. Two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer than half of McKean County residents were fully inoculated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and just 38% had received a booster shot by early Marchamong the lowest rates in Pennsylvania.

This rural Central Pennsylvania county is hardly an outlier: Among adults in the U.S., only about 4 in 10, or 42%, had gotten a booster as of January, according to an ongoing study by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Two years of a pandemic tearing a path of sickness and death through the U.S.surging, ebbing, then surging againeroded trust in medicine along the way, doctors and others say.

Low U.S. rates for booster shots are a reflection of that wariness.

The numbers are not much better in urban Allegheny County. Fewer than half of those eligible46.7%had gotten a COVID-19 booster shot by the end of February. That's a month shy of the two-year anniversary of Gov. Tom Wolf's closure of schools statewide because of the pandemic, keeping more than 1.7 million kids out of the classroom.

Doctors are pushing back against the distrust, as they have always done, with candor and science, but also by building trust one patient at a time through new professional relationships with patients. Discouraged by health insurers' growing control of medical care, a group of Pittsburgh-area doctors has created a new model for the patient-doctor relationship, one they say is the future of medicine.

In the mid-20th century, the response to medical advances was different.

The peak of the polio outbreak in the U.S. came in 1952, when about 58,000 cases were reported. Children with parents' permission packed school auditoriums to get polio shots in 1955and vaccinations against measles, mumps, rubella and HPV in the decades that followed.

But in early 2020, as a new disease quickly spread around the world, so did the rumors and sometimes contradictory information about what to do about it. Individual interpretations of scientific evidence became the norm, and distrust of medicine roseeven as COVID-19 became the third leading cause of death in the U.S. that year with 350,831 recorded fatalities, trailing only heart disease and cancer.

A pre-existing distrust of science was "exacerbated by conflicting messages, questionable treatments reported in research publications, concerns about political interference in public health recommendations and decisions regarding the efficacy of therapeutics, and pseudoscience and conspiracy theories," a 2020 column in the Journal of the American Medical Association noted.

Among the confusing issues:

 Face masks were discouraged to save supplies, then recommended for everyone, then later sometimes mandated.

 Officials said COVID-19 was spread by close contact, then it turned out getting infected didn't have to mean close contact at all.

 Even after vaccines were made available, people who were fully vaccinated sometimes died, feeding an alternative narrative about the shots.

And the situation grew worse as the pandemic wore on. A Pew Research Center study in February found 60% of U.S. adults said they have felt confused by changing public health recommendations on how to curb COVID-19 cases, up 7 percentage points from August.

"Everybody feels really lied to," said the 53-year-old Brown, who lives in Elk County and who recalled a time when people seemed more confident in their doctors. The office of her physician grandfather was attached to his house into the 1970s, a time when trust in doctors was high.

The shift began before COVID.

In a 1966 survey of adults in the U.S., 73% said they had great confidence in the leaders of the medical profession, according to a Journal of American Medical Association column in 2020. A survey done in 2012 found only 34% expressing such confidence.

The fall from embracing science to "pseudoscience and conspiracy theories" was steep.

"We had problems with people using too many antibiotics," Brown said. "Now they turn to essential oils. We have essential oils and this YouTube guy. These are societal failures."

Through February, the COVID-19 pandemic had taken 824,708 lives in the U.S., including 42,247 Pennsylvanians, according to a new survey by Kaiser Health News and PolitiFact.

The start of the pandemic in the U.S. brought with it an "historic level of disregard of scientific advice" about the disease, Naomi Oreskes, professor of the history of science at Harvard University, wrote in Scientific American magazine in 2020. That made the outbreak "worse in the U.S. than in many other countries."

She compared the message that presented use of face masks as an issue of personal freedoms to Big Tobacco's longtime marketing of cigarettes.

Brown, for her part, blames the distrust of medicine on the opioid epidemic, which took the lives of many of her friends and former students. Trust in medicine and corporate America was easier before the overdose deaths began piling up, she said.

The opioid epidemic began in the 1990s with doctors writing more prescriptions for the medicine, having been given assurances of safety from the drug industry. But overdoses began spiking by 1999, leading to the declaration of a public health emergency in 2017. In 2021, U.S. overdose deaths topped 100,000 for the first time.

Hampton family physician Kirsten Lin says the distrust of medicine was there all alongthe pandemic just brought it to light.

In 2016, for the first time, fewer than half of practicing physicians had an ownership stake in their practice as health systems snapped up medical practices, turning doctors into employees. The shift meant pumped-up patient volume requirements for doctors as health systems sought to juice revenue.

The result was shorter office visits and a deterioration in the doctor-patient relationship.

"People are more easily able to access information on the internet than from their physician," Dr. Lin said. "Trust is really the issue."

The shift helped prompt Dr. Lin and family practice partner Natalie Gentile in 2017 to form Direct Primary Care Physicians, which operates outside the traditional health care system by eliminating barriers to patient care they say health insurers can create.

Direct Primary Care offers patients office visits that can last 45 minutes rather than the standard 10- to 15-minute increments. The doctors make house calls. The practice doesn't accept Medicare, Medicaid or commercial insurance, so the service may not be for everyone.

The concept has been around for about 10 years but has been getting traction recently. There are 22 independent direct primary care offices in the state, according to the Pennsylvania Direct Primary Care Association.

Drs. Lin and Gentile say they've counseled people who distrusted the COVID vaccines.

Whatever the reasons, recent studies showing booster shots provide the best protection against infection did not seem to resonate among those who were already warysome of whom had to be convinced earlier to get the first two rounds of COVID vaccinations.

Only 1% of those eligible in January said they would get a booster "as soon as possible," down sharply from 34% who said they would in December 2020 before the sense of urgency about the virus waned, according to the Kaiser study. About 34% of adults had received two shots, but not a third.

Only 10 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties exceeded 50% for residents getting boosted, including Beaver County with 50.6%the highest in Western Pennsylvania, according to CDC data from early March.

In four Pennsylvania counties, the booster rate was under 40%.

The issue is bigger than Western Pennsylvania. A New York Times analysis in January found that the U.S. lagged well behind Belgium, Britain, Germany and five other countries for share of the population getting booster shots, pushing up death rates in the U.S. from COVID-19.

The digital era has supercharged the speed at which informationand disinformationspreads, feeding the belief that science is a matter of personal opinion, said Kenneth Behrend, a Downtown lawyer who has represented students at North Allegheny and other school districts in court who challenged the lifting of mask mandates in schools.

Recently, a man asked Behrend to represent him in a case fighting mask use before realizing that Behrend very much believes in the value of face masks in curbing the spread of COVID-19.

"Well, you have your science," the man told Behrend, who remembers standing in line as a child for sugar cubes containing the polio vaccine. "And I have mine."

Meanwhile, on a recent weekday, Direct Primary Care Physicians of Pittsburgh co-founder Dr. Gentile drove to the O'Hara home of Megan and Greg Hilkert, both 35, to see their son, 2-month-old Owen. It was a well-baby visit, where he would be weighed, measuredand get four vaccines.

Dr. Gentile, 33, reassured Hilkert about a light rash on the infant's scalp and marveled at the child's size, tugging at his foot on a long measuring tape to get a reading.

Later, the doctor said she believes she can build a trusting relationship with patients minus the treatment limitations health insurers can impose. Personal trust fosters trust in science and medicine.

"The dissolution of trust in the health care systemwhere are you going to go for answers?" Dr. Gentile said. "How are you going to expect them to trust you when you recommend a vaccine?"

Explore further Second booster approved as option for additional protection against COVID-19

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You've heard about the dangers of secondhand cigarette smoke, but what about secondhand bong smoke?

The haze after a bubbly bong hit may appear harmless, but a new study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open found bystanders may be inhaling air pollutants at concentrations more than twice federal air quality limits.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, measured fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in a real-world setting where a group of young adults socially smoked cannabis with a bong for two hours in an ordinary household living room. An aerosol monitor was placed where a nonsmoker might sit, recording PM2.5 levels before, during and after eight sessions.

They found home cannabis bong smoking significantly increased PM2.5 from background levels by at least 100-fold. Within the first 15 minutes of smoking, PM2.5 concentrations surpassed air quality levels deemed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.

"There's negative attitudes to secondhand tobacco smoke but not really to secondhand cannabis smoke," said lead study author Patton Nguyen, an industrial hygienist and a graduate of UC Berkeley School of Public Health. "What we want this study to do is really elucidate and help people understand that there are public health concerns."

Fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, are tiny particles in the air that can travel deep into the respiratory tract, reaching the lungs and impacting their function. Some studies suggest long term exposure to PM2.5 may be linked to lung and heart diseases.

Study authors said PM2.5 concentrations from cannabis bong smoking were at least four times greater than concentrations from secondhand tobacco smoke from cigarettes or hookah found in previous studies.

Although health experts say the findings are noteworthy, more research is needed before conclusions can be made about smoking marijuana with a bong versus smoking tobacco as researchers did not control how much pot was smoked in the study.

"There's very little research in this area," said Dr. Silvia Martins, professor of epidemiology and director of the Substance Use Epidemiology Unit at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. "This (study) is one of the first in a controlled environment."

Researchers note PM2.5 concentrations also took a long time to return to pre-smoking levels. In one session, levels remained at more than 10 times the original concentration 12 hours after the group stopped smoking.

This suggests people entering a home hours after a bong session could still be affected by secondhand smoke.

"It can actually affect the health of children who are nearby or other people in pretty serious ways," said corresponding author Katharine Hammond, a professor at UC Berkeley School of Public Health. "We need to wake up to that."

Although recreational cannabis use is perceived by some as a harmless past time, Hammond and Nguyen say no level of toxins and air pollutants in cannabis smoke is considered safe.

"There are potential exposures to high concentrations of toxins and these toxins are associated with negative or adverse health effects," Nguyen said. "We really need to be mindful that nonsmokers present can be exposed."

Windows and doors were closed throughout the study but he says future research will look at how ventilation plays a role in PM2.5 exposure from cannabis smoke.

He also plans to publish additional data from the same study that measured other harmful chemicals and carcinogens from secondhand bong smoke.

"Our job as scientists really is to release this unbiased information to help inform the public," Nguyen said. "The big take-home message is secondhand cannabis smoke is not safe and people's public perceptions should be addressed."

More information: Patton Khuu Nguyen et al, Fine Particulate Matter Exposure From Secondhand Cannabis Bong Smoking, JAMA Network Open (2022). Journal information: JAMA Network Open Patton Khuu Nguyen et al, Fine Particulate Matter Exposure From Secondhand Cannabis Bong Smoking,(2022). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.4744

(c)2022 USA Today

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The U.S. Fire Administrator made a visit to Missoula Rural Fires new station in Bonner on Wednesday afternoon, emphasizing the importance of their presence in the West.

Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell was appointed by President Joe Biden last October. During her tour of the new station, Moore-Merrell listened to local firefighters share whats been going well in their district, along with concerns about funding and resources.

I think these rural areas are really underestimated, she said. We have an equity issue in this country. A lot of the risk we believe all resides in the metropolitan areas or suburbs. But theres a lot of risk out here.

Rural firefighters are essential for combating wildfires, because there often arent enough federal firefighters available, she added. Recognizing that level of risk in rural areas is vital, because evaluating risk is a big factor in awarding Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grants.

A lot of people think fires in this country are down, Moore-Merrell said. I will tell you they are not.

This is a huge wildland interface, she said of Missoula Rural Fires district, which spans about 90 square miles and includes five stations.

Because of climate change, the interface is becoming progressively more risk-prone, she explained. If people continue to build in rural areas, precautions (such as building and landscape materials, structure spacing and fencing) need to be put in place to protect structures from fires.

The fire department is critical to that, she said. These guys know the science behind the risks that are in those decisions.

Moore-Merrells visit was fantastic, Missoula Rural Fire District Chief Chris Newman said. He noted sometimes theres a sense state and federal officials are out of touch with rural fire departments  Moore-Merrells visit helped mitigate that.

To have Dr. Merrell here, listening to our concerns, is a big thing for us, Newman said.

Data plays a significant role in assessing risk factors for fires, Moore-Merrell said. Demographic statistics drive the decisions at the federal level to deploy resources that match capabilities of local departments to respond to risks. That decision process needs streamlining so firefighters can adequately respond.

How do I match resources to the risk environment?" Moore-Merrell said. "If we dont match those things well, then were much more vulnerable to firefighter and civilian injury and death (as well as) property loss.

Montana State Council of Professional Firefighters President George Richards stressed the importance of stations having proper technology to identify where resources are needed.

Fires arent going down  they arent being reported, he said.

Moore-Merrell said she was extremely impressed with the thoroughness and infrastructure of Missoula rural fires new station. Now at 8511 Bonner Mill Road, the new station boasts a fitness room, massive bays filled with equipment and a comprehensive wash area for gear to keep staff safe.

Everything they have thought through," she said. "They have hit every single point for this being a state-of-the-art fire station."

During her visit, Moore-Merrell also spoke at the International Association of Fire Fighters 7th District Executive Leadership Series graduation ceremony Wednesday evening.

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Two former Montana governors and three retired state Supreme Court justices are among a long list of attorneys urging the U.S. Senate to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksons nomination to the U.S. Supreme court.

Former governors Marc Racicot, a Republican and Democrat Steve Bullock, are among 85 attorneys to write Senate leadership encouraging Jacksons confirmation. Both former governors also served as Montana attorneys general.

Former state Supreme Court justices Patricia Cotter, James Nelson, James Regnier, signed onto the letter as well, as did former Montana U.S. Attorney Michael Cotter.

The bipartisan endorsement from red state Montana comes as Jacksons Senate support appears increasingly partisan. Only one Republican Senator, Susan Collins, of Maine, has indicated she will vote to confirm.

Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester announced his support after meeting with Jackson. Republican Sen. Steve Daines intended to meet with Jackson this week, though in February he called Jacksons nomination an appeal to the far-left base. Wednesday, Daines said the his meeting with Jackson had been cancelled by the Biden administration, which then asked if Daines could meet next week after nomination votes began.

Its very disappointing that Bidens White House cancelled the meeting between myself and Judge Jackson this week, taking away the opportunity to ask the Supreme Court nominee important questions about her record ahead of the first votes on her nomination," Daines said in a press release. "I planned to meet with Judge Jackson to give her a chance to address my concerns on behalf of Montanans, like her views on the limited role of the judiciary and separation of powers, her willingness to uphold the Constitution and not serve as a political arm of Bidens woke White House, her stance on the Second Amendment, and her record of being soft on crime. Its clear that the Biden administration is not looking to build a more robust bipartisan consensus for this nomination, and its inexcusable that they would not allow the voices of all Montanans to be heard. I will be voting no on Judge Jacksons nomination.

Asked about the Daines meeting, the White House said that Daines had agreed Tuesday to reschedule, and confirmed a meeting for April 5 at 4:30 p.m.

This is false. Senator Daines meeting was rescheduled - not cancelled - and his office had already agreed to a new time on Tuesday," said White House Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates. "Weve offered the opportunity for any Senator who would like to meet the judge to do so and she has had numerous sit-downs every day that the Senate is in session. Before her hearing, she met with all members of the Judiciary Committee. And both before and after, has met with any Senator who is interested, honoring the Senates advice and consent role. Because of volume and coordination, at times meetings need to be adjusted.

In the letter, Montana attorneys describe Jackson as someone with boots-on-the-ground experience who has spent more time as a judge, nine years, than the combined experience of four current Supreme Court justices at their time of appointment. Jackson is currently a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The attorneys also emphasized Jacksons work as a criminal defense attorney.

This work shows not only Judge Jacksons commitment to the Constitution, but also her courage: criminal defense attorneys must stand up for their clients constitutional rights when it is least popular, the attorneys wrote.

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Alaska voters will use a new system to choose their representative to Congress in a special election that will draw national attention not just for how it might affect the balance of power in Washington but also how it could reshape American elections.

The Last Frontier is pioneering a nonpartisan primary election that will send the top four vote-getters in the initial contest to a ranked-choice special election that will determine who will finish the term of GOP Rep. Don Young, the longest-serving House Republican who died this month.

It will be the first time a member of Congress will be elected using both the final-four primary and ranked-choice voting.

Advocates for changing elections systems think Alaska could be a proving ground for electing members of Congress using a system that already is being embraced more and more in state and local elections.

Lying in State: Congress honors Alaska's Rep. Don Young

They hope the new system can lower the temperature in heated partisan primaries that encourage candidates to embrace the extreme ends of their party and produce candidates who better represent the overall electorate.

In its biggest test so far, New York City used ranked-choice voting to pick its new mayor last year. Maine became the first state to use ranked-choice voting to send representatives to Congress in 2018, but it still uses a traditional partisan primary.

Ranked-choice voting took a hit last year when New York election officials acknowledged that 135,000 test votes that were entered into its system for its mayoral election were included in partial results. The error was later corrected.

When youre doing the new system, image matters," said Rob Richie, CEO of FairVote, a nonprofit advocate for ranked-choice voting.

Ranked-choice voting: 135,000 'test' ballots mistakenly added: How NYC's election board got the results so wrong

Some states already have used ranked-choice voting in presidential primary elections as well.

Story continues

Last year, legislatures in 30 states considered bills with ranked-choice voting provisions, and four states adopted new laws related to ranked-choice voting, according to FairVote.

Groups in Missouri and Nevada now are pursuing ballot issues to adopt systems similar to the one Alaska will use this year.

I think that once voters see how well this system works, theyre much more likely to want to adopt it for where they live," said Joshua Graham Lynn, chief executive at RepresentUs, an advocate for election reform that helped pass Alaska's reforms in 2020 via ballot measure.

Rep. Don Young, an Alaska Republican pictured on Aug. 26, 2020, during a ceremony in Anchorage, Alaska, died in March. That triggered a special election to finish his term, accelerating Alaska's timeline for implementing a new non-partisan final-four primary and ranked-choice special election.

Alaska's new election system

In 2020, Alaska voters narrowly approved changes to its election system.

Under the new system, congressional candidates will run in an open field that sends the top four candidates  regardless of party affiliation  to the general election rather than running in traditional party-nominating primaries.

In the general election, voters will rank the four candidates in order of preference to determine who goes to Congress.

If any of the candidates receives a majority of first-place votes, they win the election. If no candidate has a majority, the counting restarts by dropping the candidate in last place and redistributing those votes to the candidate ranked second on their ballots. The counting process continues until one candidate has a majority of votes.

Primaries matter: Think Congress is too partisan now? Primaries could magnify division as the number of swing districts shrinks

In this case, you ensure that with different kinds of choices on the ballot, you get the candidate who has the most widespread support among the populous," Lynn said.

The 2022 election was supposed to be the first time Alaska used its new system. Its 2022 primary was scheduled for August before the November general election.

Last month, though, Young's death triggered the need for a special election that accelerated Alaska's timeline for implementing the new system. Alaskans will vote twice on their representative to Congress in 2022: once in the special election to finish Young's term, and again for the term that starts in 2023.

In a press conference announcing the timeline for the special election, Lt. Gov. Kevin Meyer likened it to "pulling a rabbit out of a hat" for election officials. The special primary is scheduled for June, and the special general election will run on the same ballot as the state's 2022 scheduled primary in August.

The accelerated timeline is forcing Alaska election officials to hasten education efforts for voters who will use the system for the first time.

This does a pose a challenge. We were not prepared to do this until November. However, we have been getting word out," state elections director Gail Fenumiai said at a press conference in March.

Momentum for ranked-choice voting

Advocates for ranked-choice voting are hopeful that Alaska will put some wind in their sails nationally. The state is seen as fertile ground to test the system because of its history of independent, third-party and write-in candidates.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, for instance, has won in the state as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary. This year, she faces a challenge under the new election system from several opponents, including one backed by former President Donald Trump.

Its a little easier ask to implement these reforms in a place where there already seems to be an unsettling of the traditional two-party politics," said Barry Burden, director of the Election Research Center at the University of Wisconsin.

Top primaries to watch: Yes, the midterms have begun. Primary voting starts today in Texas. Here are ten House races to watch in 2022

While state and local elections have been faster to embrace ranked-choice voting, it has been slow-moving in federal elections.

Burden said major parties have been resistant to nonpartisan open primary elections because it takes away some of their control of the nomination process.

Maine voters approved ranked-choice voting in 2016, but the state kept partisan primaries. That is a key difference in what Alaska will do for the first time this year.

Alaska's elections could factor into how voters receive ballot issues being pursued in Missouri and Nevada this year. Groups in both states are gathering signatures to add ballot questions that would change their respective state constitutions to adopt similar systems to Alaska.

Its definitely going to impact us. I was glad to see it because I thought 'oh great we can show people this is what were talking about,'" said Sondra Cosgrove, executive director of Vote Nevada, a nonprofit that is part of a coalition pursuing reforms.

Ranked-choice: NYC mayoral race thrown into disarray after 'test' ballots counted; 'foolishness' blamed on election board

Ballot issues are probably the easier road to adopting the combination of changes Alaska will have this year, Richie said. It is a stickier issue in legislatures, where he said lawmakers have been more cautious in adopting election reforms.

Last year, four states adopted provisions of ranked-choice voting out of 30 legislatures that considered them, according to FairVote. Florida lawmakers recently adopted a ban against ranked-choice voting.

Richie said he sees a path for ranked-choice voting adoption in federal elections similar to the one it has followed in municipal races. He pointed to Utah, where ranked-choice voting started in a few municipalities before spreading to others throughout the state.

"It just took a little tire kicking, observation that it could work," he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Alaska voting reform could pave way for other states to follow
On Wednesday, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who represents western North Carolina's 11th District in the U.S. House, walked back blockbuster drugs-and-sex claims about fellow lawmakers in a brutal tongue-lashing from GOP leaders.

Cawthorn admitted to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that he made up claims that he saw lawmakers doing cocaine and that they invited him to orgies.

He changes what he tells, and thats not becoming of a congressman, McCarthy said. He did not tell the truth (and) thats unacceptable

Cawthorn, a firebrand supporter of former President Trump, did not immediately comment after the 30-minute dressing-down from McCarthy, R-Calif., and No. 2 GOP leader Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La.

McCarthy said Cawthorn could face further disciplinary action.

Hes lost my trust is gonna have to earn it back,McCarthy told reporters. And I laid out to everything that I find is unbecoming.

Cawthorn is in hot water because he made the claims without naming names. That left fellow lawmakers facing questions from constituents about whether they could be the culprits.

He even suffered rare murmurs of discontent within the far-right-wing Freedom Caucus, of which he is a stalwart member.

I think it is important, if youre going to say something like that, to name names, Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., the chair of the Freedom Caucus, told Politico.

McCarthy took action after he was bombarded with unwanted questions about Cawthorn at Tuesdays GOP caucus meeting.

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., a straight-laced and usually not outspoken GOP lawmaker, said it was wrong for Cawthorn to paint them with a broad brush.

The intramural GOP tumult is notable because Republican leaders have stubbornly resisted pressure to take a stand against fellow lawmakers who have glorified violence against Democrats and spewed Islamophobic hate.

Cawthorns remarks were particularly damaging because they clearly refer to conservative Republicans, not Democrats, whom some GOP lawmakers regularly deride as degenerates.

I look at all these people, a lot of them that Ive looked up to through my life, Cawthorn said in a podcast interview. Then all of a sudden, you get invited to ... kind of a sexual get-together at one of our homes.

And then you realize they are asking you to come to an orgy, he added.

Cawthorn, 26, is the youngest member of Congress and is among the most outspoken supporters of former President Trump in Congress.

He won election in 2020 in a red-leaning western North Carolina district previously held by Mark Meadows until Meadows quit to become former President Trumps chief of staff.

Cawthorn had planned to seek reelection in a neighboring district amid a feud with more mainstream GOP leaders in the Tarheel State. But he has since decided to stick to his current Asheville-based district.

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A man accused of fatally stabbing his girlfriend in a house on Grand Avenue in Butte last June pleaded guilty to deliberate homicide on Thursday.

District Judge Kurt Krueger accepted the guilty plea from 47-year-old Ronald Walter Roberts and ordered a presentence investigation with a sentencing date to be set later. The crime carries a possible punishment of up to life in prison.

Roberts has been jailed since the stabbing in the 1800 block of Grand Avenue on June 12, 2021 but was escorted by officers to Kruegers courtroom Thursday for the change-of-plea hearing. He had previously pleaded not guilty.

He came to the podium dressed in orange jail garb with his hands cuffed in front of him and admitted killing 38-year-old Carmen Edwards. With public defender Jessica Polan by his side, he answered a series of questions from the judge before changing his plea.

Police say when they got to the house that day, Roberts had blood all over his face and arms, said he was the devil and told officers to shoot him.

Police say he and Edwards had come to Butte from Salida, Colorado, about two weeks prior and that Edwards was stabbed repeatedly with a knife.

Officers say he admitted to the stabbing but police and prosecutors have not said why he did it or what led to the crime. But Roberts father called police at noon that day saying his son had just killed his girlfriend and he wanted the police. He also said they were in the yard of the residence.

Police found nobody in the yard and nobody inside responded initially when an officer yelled. They heard someone upstairs, however, and when walking up the stairs a male began yelling, Im the devil, you have to kill me, according to charging documents.

Roberts had blood all over his face and arms but no apparent wounds, and after running past officers toward an alley, they caught and detained him.

Police then found Edwards lying on her back with no clothing and blood all over her face, neck and head areas. The blood around her head appeared to be coagulating and there appeared to be wounds on her neck, prosecutors say.

Roberts mother arrived at the residence and told police she had picked up her son and Edwards in Bozeman and brought them to Butte. But she said she had no other information on Edwards.

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A New Mexico woman who pleaded guilty in federal court in December to phoning in a bomb threat last year to a Montana Trappers Association banquet in Dillon was sentenced Wednesday to two years of probation and fined $1,000.

Dora Sandra Gomez, 64, of Albuquerque, had pleaded guilty to felony interstate communication of a threat. She could have faced five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.

A fractured relationship with a man the defendant considered an irresponsible trapper apparently motivated the threatening call.

U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen accepted a plea agreement in the case. Gomezs attorney said she has no prior criminal history.

In court documents, the government reported that on May 8 the Montana Trappers Association hosted a fundraising banquet, attended by about 130 people, at the Frontier Event Center in Dillon.

At about 7:35 p.m., a secretary at the events hall received a phone call from a masked phone number.

The caller said she and her boyfriend were aware of the MTA banquet and that they didnt like the trappers organization. According to the secretary, the caller said a bomb was placed inside the banquet hall and that it could be triggered by a cell phone.

The secretary immediately notified the Dillon Police Department. Officers evacuated the building and notified the FBI, which sent a team from Helena to search the building with a bomb-sniffing dog. No explosives were found.

The FBI determined the call was made from a cellular phone belonging to Gomez and the caller had dialed *67 prior to calling the facility in Dillon to mask the number from appearing on caller ID.

Although Gomez admitted to saying words to the effect of people who hate trappers are coming and someone will get hurt, she denied using the word bomb or referencing an explosive device. The parties agreed Gomez intended to communicate a threat with the statement, people who hate trappers are coming and someone will get hurt.

A sentencing memorandum filed March 22 by an attorney representing Gomez describes a relationship between her and a man living in Silver Bow County that had begun online in December 2018 but had soured before the banquet event. He is described as an avid trapper and member of the Montana Trappers Association.

The memorandum reports Gomez and the estranged male had participated in multiple phone calls that left her upset during the weekend of the banquet.

She gave in to an urge to retaliate, the document reports. Doras actions the night she placed the phone call in this case have caused her the greatest shame and embarrassment she has ever known.

The Montana Trappers Association issued a statement the day after the bomb threat, saying the organization would not be intimidated by such a threat. The association characterized the act that shut down the banquet that night as "domestic terrorism."

The phoned threat did not go directly to the Dillon Police Department, but once police were advised of the call around 8 p.m., officers responded to the banquet and evacuated the hall, said Dillon Police Chief Don Guiberson at the time.

No one was hurt. Hours later, a bomb-sniffing dog found no evidence of explosives.

The banquet, held at the Frontier Event Center, also included members of Furbearers Unlimited. Both groups support trapping for animals that range from beavers to wolves, a stance that can provoke opposition in the West.

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23 countries yet to fully reopen schools after COVID-19 closings: UNICEF

Xinhua) 08:28, March 31, 2022

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends the unveiling of the installation "Pandemic Classroom," a model classroom made up of 168 empty desks, at the UN headquarters in New York on March 2, 2021, to call attention to the need for governments to prioritize the reopening of schools. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

Over the past two years, nearly 147 million children missed more than half of their in-person schooling, amounting to 2 trillion hours of lost learning, UNICEF said in a report.

UNITED NATIONS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, 23 countries - home to around 405 million schoolchildren - are yet to fully reopen schools, with many schoolchildren at risk of dropping out, said the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday.

Over the past two years, nearly 147 million children missed more than half of their in-person schooling, amounting to 2 trillion hours of lost learning, UNICEF said in a report called "Are children really learning?"

"When children are not able to interact with their teachers and their peers directly, their learning suffers. When they are not able to interact with their teachers and peers at all, their learning loss may become permanent," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in a press release.

"This rising inequality in access to learning means that education risks becoming the greatest divider, not the greatest equalizer. When the world fails to educate its children, we all suffer."

In addition to data on learning loss, the report points to emerging evidence that shows many children did not return to school when their classrooms reopened.

Students attend an airing lesson in Kampala, Uganda, on Aug. 16, 2021. (Photo by Nicholas Kajoba/Xinhua)

Data from Liberia show 43 percent of students in public schools did not return when schools reopened in December 2020. The number of out-of-school children in South Africa tripled from 250,000 to 750,000 between March 2020 and July 2021. In Uganda, around 1 in 10 schoolchildren did not report back to school in January 2022 after schools were closed for two years. In Malawi, the dropout rate among girls in secondary education increased by 48 percent between 2020 and 2021. In Kenya, a survey of 4,000 adolescents aged 10-19 years found that 16 percent of girls and 8 percent of boys did not return when schools reopened.

Out-of-school children are some of the most vulnerable and marginalized children in society. They are the least likely to be able to read, write or do basic math, and are cut off from the safety net that schools provide, which puts them at an increased risk of exploitation and a lifetime of poverty and deprivation, says the report.

The report highlights that while out-of-school children suffer the most significant loss, pre-pandemic data from 32 countries and territories show a desperately poor level of learning, a situation likely exacerbated by the scale of learning lost to the pandemic.

In the countries analyzed, the current pace of learning is so slow that it would take seven years for most schoolchildren to learn foundational reading skills that should have been grasped in two years, and 11 years to learn foundational numeracy skills, says the report.

A teacher gives a live-streamed lesson via an online class system at Suraomai school amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 10, 2021. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

In many cases, there is no guarantee that schoolchildren learned the basics at all. In the 32 countries and territories examined, a quarter of Grade-8 schoolchildren did not have foundational reading skills and more than half did not have numeracy skills expected of a Grade-2 student, it says.

"Even before the pandemic, the most marginalized children were being left behind. As the pandemic enters its third year, we can't afford to go back to 'normal.' We need a new normal: getting children into classrooms, assessing where they are in their learning, providing them with the intensive support they need to recover what they've missed, and ensuring that teachers have the training and learning resources they need. The stakes are too high to do anything less," said Russell.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
MUSCATINE  There was a spirit of working together for the common good as the Muscatine City Council, Muscatine County Board of Supervisors and the Muscatine School Board met in the top floor ballroom of the Merrill Hotel Wednesday to discuss the present and the future.

The joint meeting included discussions of tax levies, use of federal rescue funds and community development. Muscatine County Supervisor Jeff Sorensen opened the meeting with a discussion of the tax levy, including some misinformation that has been going around.

I looked at my own property  I actually live in the city of Muscatine  and in the last five years my taxes have gone up 3.2 percent, Sorensen said. My valuation, on the other hand, is up about 70 percent.

He explained the 2022 assessments of property in Muscatine County were recently released and many showed a significant increase in assessed valuation. He stressed it was an assessed value and not a tax bill. Sorensen said Iowa has a complex taxation system and he is concerned the public doesnt know how it works with several issues such as rollbacks. He said the 2022 assessed valuation will not be applicable until the 2023-24 taxes.

In doing research on taxes, Sorensen found the Iowa average for taxes is around $33 per $1,000 of taxable valuation. In the city of Muscatine taxes are about that. He said in Muscatine County overall, the county is one in nine counties in the state that saw less than a 1% increase in taxes over five years, while the state average is 4%. He added Iowa school districts make up about 41% of taxes.

I think the boards have been pretty responsible to their taxpayers, he said. I think there has been a lot of misinformation from a lack of knowledge about the taxes.

The three groups discussed the possibility of putting out some kind of communication to inform the public about taxation. Muscatine Mayor Brad Bark said the city is working on an infographic to explain in a simple manner how taxes are determined and what funding is used for.

There was also a discussion on how federal rescue funding is going to be used. The funding will be spent during the 2022-23 budget, just approved by all the groups, and this was one of the first chances to discuss what the money is being used for.

While the city and county are getting money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) the school district funding is called Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER).

Supervisor Santos Saucedo said the county had received $8.2 million in ARPA funding and that $4.1 million was allocated to be used over the next year. Uses will include transferring auditor records to imaging, an auditor upgrade in infrastructure, assistance in legal services, upgrade of the jail service, and healthcare. He said $875,000 was allocated for the new health clinic being built at the UnityPoint campus. Also, reconstruction of the Mulberry corridor was done at the cost of $875,000. He said there were also smaller projects being done, such as rural fiber and the hardening of the levy.

Muscatine City council member Peggy Gordon said the city had received $3.5 million from ARPA and half was allocated this year, with the other half to be allocated next year. Some of the funding was used to balance this years budget. There will also be $350,000 in technology improvement to the city, specifically security software and cameras. She said $300,000 is being used for community development and $250,000 each for neighborhood initiatives and business initiatives.

Muscatine School Superintendent Clint Christopher said the district is receiving a little over $12 million in three phases. The focus of the money will be on additional technology and internet resources to make sure students have access to learning even if off-site. There will also be money used for safety. The district will address HVAC needs and additional summer programs will be offered. Staff pay for additional duties will also be considered.

Everything we do with those dollars, we first have to submit to the state for approval, he said. All that has to follow the guidelines we received in how to use it.

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A former Eskom financial controller and service provider were sentenced to 20 years imprisonment by the Palm Ridge Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday, 29 March 2022.

The sentencing comes after the pair, Barnard Moraka and Victor Vilosi Tshabalala, were found guilty of 53 counts of fraud and theft that cost Eskom R35 million.

The pair were immediately taken into custody on Tuesday to begin their sentence.

The court also ordered that both thieves forfeit their properties to the state.

The properties were placed under a preservation order in November 2021 and will now be sold, with the proceeds from the sale going directly to Eskom.

The thieves initial arrest in October 2019 was a direct result of an investigation initiated by Eskoms audit and forensics department.

Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter welcomed the sentences as a milestone in the utilitys efforts to weed out corruption within its ranks.

What is most pleasing about this judgement is that the taxpayers will recover some of the stolen funds through the sale of the ill-gotten property belonging to the convicts, De Ruyter said.

While the sums involved in this particular case are relatively modest, the conviction and sentencing of these criminals should send a strong message to all Eskom employees that corrupt elements have no place in the organisation.

Disneyland trips

The court found that the pair had stolen just under R35 million from Eskom in a corruption scam between January 2016 and September 2018.

It was perpetrated by creating fake invoices and payments for services not rendered to Meagra Transportation, a company owned by Tshabalala.

Moraka was convicted for fraudulently creating 53 invoices and then paying Meagra Transportation.

The proceeds of the crime were squandered on expensive overseas travel  including holiday trips to places like Disneyland in the US and France  and buying luxury cars and other properties.

In his sentencing, magistrate Emmanuel Magampa said the pair were motivated by greed and that he had no choice but to impose the guaranteed 20 years imprisonment for the convictions.

He added the crime of fraud at state-owned companies drained the countrys resources through the billions in cash bailouts that the government must keep offering to struggling parastatals.

As an Eskom employee, Moraka was in a position of trust, which placed in him the duty not only to be vigilant and diligent in dealing with Eskoms resources but also to be very protective and to jealously safeguard against theft, said Magampa.

De Ruyter added that this was only one of many corruption cases involving staff Eskom was pursuing.

The sentencing follows a warrant of arrest for former Eskom executive France Hlakudi, who failed to appear in the same court on corruption charges.

Hlakudi, fellow former Eskom executive Abram Masango, businessman Maphoko Kgomoeswana, Tubular Constructions chief executive Antonio Trindade, and seven companies are accused of defrauding the state power utility of hundreds of millions of rands.

That includes R745 million involving projects at the troubled Kusile power plant.

Now read: How much you can save on electricity by switching to solar
American Canyon recently dealt with a situation that had the ring of familiarity for city officials  a Pacific Gas and Electric subcontractor set up a temporary staging yard without a permit.

A Public Works Department worker last summer noticed dirt and mud tracked onto Green Island Road in the citys industrial area. The trail led to a Core Tree Care staging yard that didn't have a city permit, and left after being notified of the issue.

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Core work crews trim trees and vegetation near PG&E power lines in Napa Valley, surrounding mountains and the Vallejo and Benicia areas. The goal is to keep branches from falling on lines and sparking wildfires.

Last week, the Planning Commission granted a 24-month permit for Core to use 352 Green Island Road as a staging yard. The Corona-based company is leasing four acres and can park up to 101 trucks and 46 employee vehicles. Trucks leave in the morning and return in the evening.

The case echoed a previous matter before the Planning Commission.

Commissioner Andrew Goff remembered that Source Power in 2019 established a staging area on Watson Lane and retroactively sought a permit. Source Power was a PG&E subcontractor working on power lines in the region.

Its concerning to me, Goff said after taking a deep breath. The second subcontractor from PG&E to really do the exact same process within this city, without any notification.

Commissioner Tammy Wong asked Chris Hernandez of Core why he didnt get a permit prior to opening the temporary yard. A permit requirement must be common in other cities, she said.

The process has never happened anywhere with any piece of property Ive ever rented to park my trucks, Hernandez answered.

American Canyon Community Development Director Brent Cooper said that, to his knowledge, city regulations are fairly typical for California.

With that, the Planning Commission let the matter be. Why American Canyon has been a mini-hot spot for unpermitted PG&E subcontractor staging yards remained a mystery.

Wong asked where Core has kept its trucks since leaving the American Canyon site pending a permit.

Hernandez said Core is using a property in the city of Napa along Soscol Avenue. But, he said, time is running out there because the property will be developed.

"I happen to have some people there who are very friendly to us for the fact we do provide a service there that helps the whole entire valley," he said.

The Napa Valley Register asked Napa officials whether that city requires a permit for temporary maintenance yards. Senior Planner Michael Walker said by email that the city issued one at the staff level in 2020 for a temporary PG&E yard.

However, the site being used by Core is another matter. Walker said this is in the Gasser mixed-use zoning district which allows outdoor storage without a use permit.

In 2019, Source Power eventually withdrew its request for an American Canyon permit and left town. Some neighbors had objected to that staging yard and Source Power had trouble providing its PG&E agreement and other information the city wanted by a deadline.

The Core Tree Care yard had no public opposition and was a one-meeting issue for the Planning Commission.

Well be good stewards of the city and comply with all the stormwater protection plans, all of that is in place, Hernandez of Core told the commission.

Commissioner Tyrone Navarro noted the city was being asked to waive some standards, such as the parking lot being paved. He asked what would happen if the commission turned Core down.

"I've wasted a lot of money," said Hernandez, whose company has a two-year lease for the land.

The American Canyon Planning Commission approved the permit by a 4-1 vote. Commissioners Goff, Eric Altman, Wong and Crystal Mallare voted "yes" and Navarro voted "no."

You can reach Barry Eberling at 256-2253 or beberling@napanews.com.

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The Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District carried out a homeless encampment cleanup on a small island in the Napa River, located behind the Napa Yacht Club, over the course of several days last week.

The cleanup displaced one year-round homeless resident of the island, according to Richard Thomasser, manager of the flood district. That person was offered shelter, Thomasser said, but declined it. Molly Rattigan, the city of Napas point-person on homelessness, said in an email another known resident of the island wasnt present during the cleanup and generally stays elsewhere during the winter.

The flood district is now planning to remove excessive vegetation from the island, mostly focusing on the giant reed plants  arundo donax  present there.

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Its an invasive plant that we commonly deal with on the river and wherever possible we remove it, with the property owners permission, because its invasive and its not a great plant, Thomasser said. It can be a fire hazard, it does spread quickly, it sometimes becomes a flood control hazard if theres too much of it. We figure that if we manage the vegetation a little bit in the area it may be less attractive for people to be using.

Rattigan said the city had received a significant number of complaints about the homeless presence on the island from businesses in the nearby Tannery Row area and the Napa Yacht Club.

Stan Blough, commodore of the yacht club, said the club over the past few years has dealt with numerous incidents  vandalism, trespassing, unpermitted boat-tie ups at the club dock and parked vehicles in the parking lot, use of the clubs electricity and water  that they believe are connected to unsheltered people living in the area.

Thats caused the club to lose business, he said. For example, a man Blough said he believes to be homeless smashed up his car on a boat ramp adjacent to the club early in the morning in July 2021. A couple that was planning to dock their boat at the club over the weekend left early as a result. The club refunded the couples $200 deposit.

Blough added that hes also worried about the environmental impact of the encampments up and down the Napa River  including encampments on the shore of Kennedy Park and under the Imola Bridge  are having on the river.

During a February Napa City Council meeting, Rattigan told the council the process of figuring out how to approach the island issue was complicated, because it was unclear which governmental agency had responsibility. In part, she said in an email, thats because the island isn't a permanent landmass, it's mostly an outgrowth of vegetation that might generally be underwater.

Rattigan said she talked with representatives from the Flood Control District, Napa County, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and determined that the city and flood control district share responsibility for the island, and Flood Control took the lead in the cleanup.

As a result, the city will split the cost of the contractor hired by flood control that physically carried out the cleanup, Rattigan said. And the Fish and Wildlife department is looking into placing No Trespassing signage on the island.

The agencies decided the island should be cleaned and closed because of the potential for safety hazards and environmental impact from encampment debris falling into the water, Rattigan said.

Thomasser added the flood district wanted to avoid a scenario where the island flooded and the encampment was flushed down the river.

We dont criminalize homelessness, Thomasser said. Other people, not myself, but other people were collaborating with have the job of trying to assist people who want assistance. Not everybody really wants assistance, sometimes people want to do their own thing. And whats challenging is when what they want to do is a counter to keeping an area safe for the rest of the public and safe for them, too.

The flood district and the city also recently partnered for the closure of a major south Napa encampment known as The Bowl in November 2021. That effort involved reserving shelter beds for the 30 residents of that encampment, and about one-third accepted that offer of shelter. Another third found a housing option with family or elsewhere, and the final third relocated somewhere else in the city, with most moving to Kennedy Park, Rattigan said at the February council meeting.

The city is continuing to focus on removing fire and safety hazards from the Kennedy Park area, according to Rattigan, and no closure of the encampment there has yet been planned.

You can reach Edward Booth at (707) 256-2213.

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The first spades of earth at Napa Valley Colleges housing complex may be turned this summer, and students could start moving in within two years.

Officials at the two-year community college recently announced plans for a June groundbreaking at the site of River Trail Village, a mix of apartments and residence halls that will house hundreds students at the north end of NVCs main campus off Highway 221. The timing for the start of construction, previously announced for last fall, will depend on the final state approval of the project.

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Completion and opening of the three-building complex on Magnolia Drive, the main entryway into the Napa campus, are planned for the fall semester in 2024, project planners and NVC officials said during a public forum last week.

Napa Valley College, which approved the development in January 2020, would join a small but growing number of community colleges in California to offer housing on their premises, which advocates have said can boost the chances of academic success for low-income students in communities with historically scarce and costly housing.

Eleven of Californias 116 two-year schools feature housing complexes, and Santa Rosa Junior College is scheduled to open a residential complex in 2023. The states Department of Finance also has recommended that four community colleges receive tens of millions in funding to create more affordable housing for its students  Sierra College in the Sacramento suburb of Rocklin, Fresno City College, Ventura College, and College of the Siskiyous in Weed near the Oregon border.

During a March 24 campus forum to highlight plans for the housing complex, a consultant to NVC emphasized the need to remove housing costs as one of the roadblocks to starting and finishing a college education  both for Napa County natives and those from elsewhere.

We can draw students from all over the world; think of the diversity of the experience and the learning from each other that takes place, said Ann Volz, senior project executive of the Scion Group, which worked with NVC on surveys to gauge student demand for the project. But its challenged right now because even if you could afford housing, its very hard to find it, and the pandemic even made it (harder).

Theres a lot of job opportunity in Napa, but the students cant afford to live here to access the job opportunities. What they shared with us was, Wed be able to take more classes and have a higher income if campus housing was available at Napa Valley.

A Scion survey of 679 NVC students found that 53% of single people and 73% of married people would consider on-campus housing. In addition, 41% of the 314 surveyed people studying part-time said a housing development would encourage them to take on a full schedule of courses. Earlier, NVC leaders in 2017 estimated that a third of its students lacked a fixed address and were required to move frequently.

Enrollment has dropped during the two years when the COVID-19 pandemic forced a switch to mostly online instruction. Even before the pandemic, NVCs student count had dropped more than 10% since 2017, according to an October letter from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, which certifies two-year schools in California.

Residents at River Trail Village, which is estimated to cost more than $83 million, will occupy a trio of four-story buildings with a choice of dormitory-style rooms or apartments, which can be bare or furnished.

The residence hall will include 212 beds in single or double rooms with communal bathrooms and kitchens, while furnished apartments will accommodate 200 more. Ninety unfurnished apartments will be available for those  expected to be mainly older students with families  intending to bring in their own furniture.

Students with children are a key target of NVCs housing plan, according to Sara Parker, the schools assistant superintendent for academic affairs, who said 46% of people attending California community colleges are parents  compared to 20% of the states total college population.

NVC officials did not announce River Trail Village rents at last weeks forum, but said the college seeks to strike a balance between affordability and generating the revenue needed to cover construction costs.

Estimated monthly rents released in early 2020  before the pandemic  ranged from $840 to $1,103 per bed in dorm-style quarters to $1,210 to $1,313 per bed in furnished student apartments, and $2,475 to $3,080 in unfurnished family units.

Work on the NVC housing complex is advancing as the school faces turmoil on several fronts. Earlier this month, two groups representing professors and other workers passed no-confidence votes against NVCs board of trustees and its interim president Rob Frost, alleging that leaders failed to stop years of deficit spending that eventually opened a $2.5 million hole in this years budget and led to increased monitoring by accreditors.

The day before the housing forum, NVC announced its former president Ron Kraft had been removed from his post in November for allegedly holding back financial information from the college board, contributing to its budget crisis.

Some employees speaking out against the board earlier this month urged NVC not to go ahead with its housing plans because of its budget crisis, which led the college to suspend its law enforcement training academy for at least a year and decline to renew contracts for up to 28 department leaders and managers. The school also is offering incentive payments to older employees who retire at the end of the semester.

Project planners last week noted that NVCs housing complex will not be paid for out of the colleges regular budget but from the sale of tax-exempt bonds, to be issued by a not-for-profit organization that will enter into a 40-year ground lease for the property, according to Volz. The project would revert to NVC ownership after all bonds are paid off.

Projects in Napa and elsewhere remain only a small step toward closing a housing shortage at community colleges, where about 20% of Californias two-year students have reported being homeless or lacking stable housing.

From all of our research, the two biggest factors that impact student success are housing and transportation. Students cant overcome if they dont have those, said Sierra College president Willy Duncan, who noted that on-campus housing solves both of those problems by eliminating the need for a commute.

Obviously Im very happy that we are one of the colleges being recommended for this, but I would advocate very heavily that more community colleges should be funded for this, he added. Our population, our students really need affordable housing.

Information from EdSource was used in this report.

You can reach Howard Yune at 530-763-2266 or hyune@napanews.com

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SAN LUIS OBISPO  A judge on Wednesday ordered the Kristin Smart murder trial moved out of San Luis Obispo County in central California, saying he doubted a fair trial could take place there for two men charged in the 1996 killing of the college student, whose body was never found.

Judge Craig Van Rooyen granted a change-of-venue motion for Paul Flores and his father, noting extensive news coverage of the case and a volume of speculation on social media that he said would make it hard to find an unbiased jury.

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He said that while the case had received national attention, especially since the two men were arrested last year, it has been under scrutiny for decades in the relatively small coastal county of 283,000 people.

I dont think this case is discussed around dinner tables in other counties like it is in this county, van Rooyen said.

The prosecution opposed a change of venue, arguing that simply hearing about the case through widespread news coverage wouldn't necessarily mean potential jurors were biased.

The trial was scheduled to start on April 25 but is expected to be postponed while a new location is found. A status conference is scheduled for April 4.

Flores, 45, is charged with the murder of Smart, who vanished 25 years ago.

Although Smart graduated from high school in Stockton, she attended Vintage High School in Napa for her junior year, according to relatives. Her father, Stan Smart, was the Vintage principal at the time his daughter disappeared.

Flores was the last person seen with a very intoxicated Smart on May 25, 1996, as he helped walk her to her dorm at California Polytechnic State University after a party, witnesses said. Prosecutors said he killed Smart while trying to rape her in his dorm room.

His father, Ruben Flores, 80, is charged with helping dispose of her body.

Both were arrested last April and have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Prosecutors have presented evidence that Smarts body was once buried under a deck shielded by lattice behind Ruben Flores home. They say the body was later moved, and its never been located.
Every day, major pundits and others  mostly on the liberal Democratic side of the ledger  bewail the threat to democracy in new laws adopted by several Republican-controlled states that appear to restrict minority voting rights.

Theyre mostly correct. With no proof, backers of those new laws assume every person living in this country legally has the government documents the new laws require before many voters can vote by mail, vote early or even go to an ordinary polling place.

But theres a far bigger threat waiting in the weeds, one that could threaten not only voting rights, but many others assured by the federal and state constitutions, from abortion on demand to emergency room health care and much more.

This threat goes by the name of Convention of the States Action. It is the work of far-right activists who claim they mean no harm to anyone, but want a new constitutional convention similar to the one conducted in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, several years after the Revolutionary War.

This putative new convention is authorized by Article V of the existing Constitution and would have the authority to change almost everything in that most hallowed blueprint of American democracy, so long as 38 state legislatures agree.

Right now, that seems like an impossible number. But only 34 legislatures need to vote for a convention for it to happen, and 18 have already approved, most recently West Virginia, whose state House and Senate okayed the convention on just one day in February. One legislative chamber in each of eight other states has also approved.

So a new constitutional convention is now more than halfway to reality, with no time limit on when other states can join the effort and no time limit on when the other halves of partially-approving states can vote.

So far, the effort looks like a purely GOP thing, with approving states including Florida, Texas, Alabama and more than a dozen other GOP-controlled states. No Democratically-run state is on the list.

Individual backers include Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Donald Trump cabinet member Ben Carson, former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and ex-Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. Thats essentially a list of conservative Republican luminaries.

Sponsors of the potential convention say it would be strictly limited to discussing Constitutional amendments that limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, impose fiscal restraints and place term limits on federal officials.

But there is nothing in Article V limiting what a new convention could pass.

How many Americans today believe the current Bill of Rights, with its freedoms of speech, press and assembly, plus its ban on formal connections between church and state would survive in a convention dominated by Republicans loyal to ex-President Trump?

Even if the convention were to observe the limits its sponsors suggest, its plain that health care, freedom of movement between states, allowing states to make almost all land use decisions within their borders and the basic rights guaranteed today have fiscal implications. A convention could pass an amendment banning abortions that would supersede state laws like those assuring the procedures would continue in California even if the Supreme Court negates the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.

It could also end birthright citizenship, under which anyone born here is automatically a citizen, wherever their parents hailed from. That could be done in the name of ending immigration by pregnant women, the rationale being that schooling their children here is a public expense.

So in reality, there would be no limits on such a convention and its products, if 38 states ratify them. Article V sets no time limit for ratification, so these things could be voted on in various states years or decades down the line, when political leanings in many places may have changed.

Theres a reason why no constitutional convention has been held since the original one: A general sense of the danger in letting anyone tinker with or reverse basic American principles. Thats exactly what a convention of the states could bring, and thats why its such a dangerous possibility.

Thomas D. Elias writes the syndicated California Focus column. He is author of the book, The Burzynski Breakthrough: The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Governments Campaign to Squelch It. Readers may reach him at tdelias@aol.com.
Campania, located in the south of Italy, is famous for attractions such as the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Positano, Ravello, Ischia, Capri, Naples, Vesuvius, as well as Pompeii and Herculaneum. But in addition to the historical archeological sites, the beaches and the food (especially the pizza), Campania is a region with delicious wines to discover.

Wine production is spread across Campania with three main provinces, Avellino, Benevento and Caserta. While I did not visit the wine region of Sannio in the province of Benevento when I was in Campania, I recently enjoyed a virtual visit to Sannio.

Sannio, which received DOC status in 1997, is a hilly area located 30 miles north of Naples. The rolling hillsides and altitudes, as well as the clay and limestone soils, make Sannio an ideal location for grape growing. Two of the grapes that shine in this region are the white grape Falanghina and the red grape Aglianico.

Falanghina is an ancient white grape variety grown in Campania. Sannio is one of the best production zones for it and is where the majority of Falanghina is planted in Campania. Falanghina del Sannio DOC includes Falanghina made as white wine, a sparkling wine, a late harvest wine and a passito wine. Falanghina produces wines that are fresh with floral, stone fruit and almond notes. This was exemplified in the three wines I tasted.

Corte Normanna Falanghina del Sannio Brut ($12): Brothers Gaetano and Alfredo Falluto released their first labeled bottles in 1997 and make two sparkling wines with Falanghinan. The Corte Normanna Falanghina del Sannio is a brut wine made in the Charmat method (tank method). The wine spends 10 months on the lees in what they call Charmat Lungo (long Charmat method). With floral and citrus notes, the wine is bright and fresh with very delicate bubbles. Acidity is high and there is a bitter almond note on the finish, a common marker of Falanghina.

La Guardiense 'Janare' Falanghina del Sannio 2020 ($11): Made up of 1000 members, La Guardiense is a cooperative in the Campania region. Janare is one of the brands produced by the cooperative and focuses on local grape varieties, especially Falanghina and Aglianico. The Falanghina comes from the best vineyards of the cooperative. The grapes are softly pressed and fermented in stainless steel tanks before bottling. Pink grapefruit, peach, melon, and mango notes are reinforced by fresh acidity and minerality.

Terre Stregate 'Svelato' Falanghina del Sannio 2020 ($23): The Lacobucci family of Terre Stregate Winey have produced Falanghina since 1898. This Falanghina has received the Gambero Rosso Tre Bicchieri Award seven years in a row. The Falanghina has a beautiful floral nose that is captivating. Additional aromas of citrus, apple, pineapple, and aromatic herbs give way to a fresh and savory wine with a velvety texture.

Aglianico, often referred to as the king of the south, is native to southern Italy where it is found in Campania and Basilicata. In Campania, there are two DOCGs for Aglianico. Taurasi DOCG is located east of Naples and Aglianico del Taburno DOCG is in the north in the province of Benevento. The grapes are grown around Mount Taburno in calcareous clay soil. Aglianico del Taburno DOCG is red wine and can also be made as a reserve wine or a rosato. Typical descriptors include cherry, blackberry, currant, violets, dried rose petals, vanilla, black pepper, cloves and leather.

Fattoria La Rivolta Aglianico del Taburno 2018 ($23): The Cotroneo family has been farming in Benevento for several generations. In 1997 brothers Mario and Paolo Cotroneo launched Fattoria La Rivolta and farm 29 hectares without the use of chemicals. The Aglianico del Taburno is 100 percent Aglianico fermented with natural yeasts in stainless steel and then aged for 18 months in neutral barrels. With intense yet balanced tannins and acidity, the wine is a bold and complex wine with notes of dark red cherry, plum, violets, licorice, and leather.

After being introduced to these wines from Sannio, I look forward to my next trip to Campania where I will delve further into these wines.

Allison Levine is owner of Please The Palate, a marketing and event-planning agency. A freelance writer, she contributes to numerous publications while eating and drinking her way around the world. Allison is also the host of the wine podcast Wine Soundtrack USA and a co-host of Crush On This videos on YouTube. Contact her at allison@pleasethepalate.com.
The undeniable drought in effect is impacting all aspects of our daily life, from more thoughtful lawn-watering to ditching lawns altogether and opting for rocks and succulents to skipped car washes and shorter showers.

In the agricultural world, there are a number of arguments made for and against crops like almonds, which require a higher water intake but are a California staple.

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In the case of vineyards, there are decisions that pertain to growing grapes, whether the landowner is in Napa Valley, Central Valley, or on the coast. With a potential new site, a number of criteria can be and should be considered -- the soil type that works best for certain varieties, sun exposure and orientation, altitude and moisture content, amongst others.

Planning and execution is also driven by the varietal and clone selected and ultimately the desired outcome, whether this is for volume or smaller production with a quality-driven mindset. From there the options are vast, including vine training and row exposure. If we are focusing on quality over quantity farming, the most common styles are cordon training, guyot training and its perspective doubles, which is labor-intensive but yields rewarding results. Other examples include head-trained vines, which allow for a more hands-off approach and create gnarly vines when they achieve longevity, a style seen with older plantings across the state.

All of these details affect the final product in the glass at great lengths, but dry farming might be one of the most impactful choices.

On a recent excursion through the Willamette Valley in Oregon, I was able to meet John Paul at Cameron Winery. John Paul is one of the earliest pioneers in the region and a hero in the dry-farmed movement. After earning a Ph.D. in marine biochemistry, he stumbled across farming and winemaking.

Paul honed his skills across the world before settling in the Willamette Valley in the early 1980s where he champions sustainability and dry farming.

His position, expressed with the Deep Roots Coalition (DRC), which he co-founded, is simple and backed up by plenty of research from the last few decades.

Over a bottle of 2010 Cameron Winery Clos Electrique Chardonnay from his Estate Vineyard he made an argument for dry-farming.

There couldnt have been a better wine to sip over this conversation; its tension and the savory and citrus-driven notes on this wine made it clear to all of us.

He explained why dry-farmed vines are driven by terroir because the roots dig deeper in the soil looking for water and nourishment; this, at the same time, protects the plant from disease and infections that lie closer to the surface.

Dry farming can be practiced anywhere; there are plenty of examples around the world that support that theory. Arid areas of Spain, rocky steep slopes in the Rhone and even the Canary Islands vineyards thrive without irrigation, and they produce breathtaking wines.

It is not easy to transition a vineyard from irrigated to dry but completely possible and even cost-effective in the long run Jonah Beer, expert on the subject and fervent ambassador of dry farming, explained.

It turns out that the longevity of the vine skyrockets in dry-farmed vineyards, due to the deeper roots and independence of the plant.

What about in the glass, you might ask yourself. There are dramatic characteristics with dry-farmed wines: Complexity, concentration and lower alcohol levels are generally the case, depending on the varietal.

On the other side farmers that irrigate enjoy having the control over-ripeness and volume of the crop but they struggle with water sources as the drought takes its ravaging toll.
A new list  The California List  has been created through a collaboration between a promotional organization called the California Wine Institute UK and a collection of British wine experts.

No tasting was involved in creating the list. Instead, according to a press release, the criteria assessed were from the judges past experience and in-depth knowledge of the Californian wine market.

Quality journalism doesn't happen without your help. Subscribe today! Support local news coverage and the people who report it by subscribing to the Napa Valley Register.

The 51 producers included were assessed on wine quality, availability to the British market and the wineries impact.

Why was the list created?

The average British wine drinker is not that well informed about California wine, said Jancis Robinson, the best-known wine expert involved, which is why its particularly useful to develop this classification to help steer them in this new and changing landscape.

The list was inspired by the 1855 Classification of Bordeaux and hints at being a reflection of the Grand Cru system in Bordeaux, France, where wineries are organized into levels of quality.

Does this new list matter? Before answering that question a little history and context are important.

The idea of terroir is at the center of a system of quality recognition in France. Derived from the French word terre (land or earth), terroir is often defined as the characteristic flavors and aromas imparted by the environment to a particular food (or wine) product.

In the 12th century, the Benedictine and Cistercian orders of monks cultivated grapes throughout the churchs vast landholdings in Burgundy, conducting large-scale studies to determine the influence of various parcels of land on the wines they produced. They found that certain vineyards consistently produced the highest-quality wines.

This national interest in a locations specificity wasnt limited only to wines. In 1411, after the people of the small village of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon argued that other villages were making lower-quality cheeses and calling them Roquefort, Charles VI made it a crime to produce Roquefort cheese anywhere else.

About that same time, seeing that official recognition led to stature and also to higher prices and less competition, other French producers and farmers clamored for their own official acknowledgment to highlight their specialness while also attempting to hinder copycats from elbowing in on their turf.

By 1855 Emperor Napoleon III had ordered the ranking of Bordeaux wines based on the winerys reputation and the price of their wines. The result was the Grand Cru system, an idea that eventually spread to other regions throughout France. And because of the growing complexity of such distinctions, by the early 20th century France had adopted the appellation d'origine controlee (AOC) run by the Institut national de l'origine et de la qualite (INAO) to certify the authenticity of products that included wines, cheeses and butter.

Other countries soon noticed that consumers seemed to value the authoritative policing and validation of a regions products. By the 1980s the U.S. Congress unanimously passed the Blunt-Merkley Resolution that recognized American Viticultural Areas (AVAs) as distinct wine-grape-growing regions with distinct geographic features as defined by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).

The first AVA was awarded to Augusta, Missouri, on June 20, 1980, with the Napa Valley being the second soon after. Today there are more than 260 AVAs in 34 states, with over half of them in California.

Moving from qualitative to quantitative metrics

Today nearly every wine-growing region around the world has its own finer and finer distinctions as a means to signal quality or specialness. As a result, consumers are often confused by all the different classifications, awards, scores and lists. They wonder what these might mean and which are derived objectively (through blind tasting or price per bottle, for example) or through more subjective means, such as through opinion or popular vote.

As a consequence of the confusion, some list-makers of today have turned to the almighty dollar as the objective determination of a wines quality. For example, Liv-ex, a London firm that tracks the fine-wine market, has created an index of California wines like a stock index.

Tracking the performance of the 10 most recently available vintages on the secondary market they report the daily fluctuations of the buying and selling of wine in indexes such as The California 50, the Bordeaux 500, Fine Wine 50, Burgundy 150 and Italy 100. Their California list includes Screaming Eagle, Opus One, Dominus, Harlan Estate and Ridge Monte Bello, all Napa Valley based-wines except Ridge.

A new investment company called VinoVest is beginning to trade the wines on many of these lists, allowing its customers to buy and trade wines as if they were stocks on Wall Street.

The California List

Of the 51 wineries listed, 33 are in the Napa Valley and 11 are from Sonoma County. Of Californias other 27 wine regions only three are represented  five wines from Santa Barbara and one each from Paso Robles and Santa Cruz Mountains. Wines from the Sierra foothills, inland valleys and Southern California were not included.

All the wines on the Liv-ex 50 list are included, with other Napa Valley wineries on the list being Bond, Heitz, Robert Mondavi, Cain, Hyde de Villaine, Cardinale, Inglenook, Schramsberg, Caymus, Joseph Phelps, Chateau Montelena, Kongsgaard, Colgin, Silver Oak, Corison, Dalla Valle, Matthiasson, Spottswoode, Diamond Creek, Mayacamas, Staglin, Stags Leap Wine Cellars, Dunn, Turley, Eisele Vineyard and Frogs Leap.

I agree that this is an impressive list. I absolutely love that Matthiasson and Frogs Leap were included because of their dedication to environmental practices, but I am shocked that producers such as Morlet and Aubert did not make the list. And then there are those cutting-edge wineries outside of the Napa Valley that were completely overlooked, such as Cattleya and Scribe, to name just a couple in Sonoma.

The makers of this new list say theyll be updating it every two years, so perhaps they will eventually shy away from the few big corporate wines included and lean toward wineries that better represent the artisan, family-owned wine producers who have made California wines what they are today.

So, is the new list valuable? Well, that depends on your point of view. If you are a producer on the list, its a nice bit of validation and a suggestion that youll be selling more wine in the United Kingdom. And if you sell wine in Britain, then this list is a good baseline to give you a selling point for those on the list. The list will give consumers in Britain a reason to try some examples of California wines, and after having done so they might try others.

And, of course, for the California Wine Institute UK itself, this list will provide an incentive for other California wineries to seek their representation.

Outside of these ranks, I imagine few will notice the list, which is much more of a reminiscence than a statement of some future purpose. And in the true iconoclastic spirit of California itself  a state known for its innovation and independence  many will chafe at the idea that the wines of California need some Grand Cru ranking system, especially if it attempts to favor the past over the future.
The European Union hosted a meeting of high-level officials from Armenia and Azerbaijan in Brussels today to advance joint efforts to find solutions to a range of issues between both countries, informed the European Union External Action in a statement.

In particular, discussions focused on preparations for the upcoming meeting between President Charles Michel of the European Council, President Ilham Aliyev of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of the Republic of Armenia in Brussels on 6 April 2022.

The meeting between Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, and Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Hikmet Hajiyev, was facilitated by EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar.

During substantive discussions, which also included a separate bilateral conversation between Mr Hajiyev and Mr Grigoryan, the participants reviewed the political and security situation and the full spectrum of issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan as a follow-up to the understandings reached during the meeting of leaders of both countries and President Michel, held in Brussels on 14 December 2021.

The participants agreed to meet again over the coming weeks in order to continue discussions, among others on issues raised during the leaders meeting of 14 December 2021. Armenia and Azerbaijan will also address issues related to prospects for a peace agreement between them.

The European Union remains committed to continue its engagement towards sustainable peace and stability in the South Caucasus, the statement added.

To note, information was posted on the website of the European Council that a joint meeting of the President of the European Council Charles Michel with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan is scheduled for April 6 in Brussels.
Dollar, euro continue rising significantly in Armenia

Swiss police seize more than 500kg of cocaine from cargo for Nespresso factory

Karabakh official: Azerbaijani truck committed deliberate crime in Artsakh

Committee to Protect Journalists: Armenia law enforcement obstruct journalists covering Yerevan protests

Armenia ruling force MP calls on police to inspect opposition 'shelters' where drugs may be kept

Artsakh Police investigating Armenian car crash caused by Azerbaijani convoy

Situation gets tense on Marshal Baghramyan Avenue in Yerevan, ex-president Kocharyans son also there

Police apprehend 48 people during civil disobedience actions in Yerevan

Police special forces forcibly remove Armenia ex-Police chief from opposition march in Yerevan

Situation gets tense during opposition march in Yerevan

Ararat Mirzoyan briefs US Senator McConnell on details of Armenia-Turkey normalization process

Azerbaijan holding international regatta in occupied Armenian Mataghis town of Karabakh

Many members of US Congress give green light for F-16s to Turkey

Law amendments propose that Armenia councils of elders members will also be able to be elected community leaders

Resistance Movement holding marches in Yerevan in 4 directions

Armenia parliament holding special sitting

Copper prices falling

Armenia FM Mirzoyan, US Senator Menendez stress inadmissibility of provoking tension by Azerbaijan

Oil rises in price

Bishkek reports that Uzbekistan border guards shoot, kill 3 Kyrgyzstan citizens at border

Azerbaijani military convoy throws Armenian taxi into gorge in Artsakh (PHOTOS)

Armenia Police: All roads open in Yerevan, provinces

Armenia FM in US, meets with International Republican Institute Eurasia regional director

US Strategic Command chief warns of deterrence crisis against Russia, China

Armenia ex-Prosecutor General, Investigative Committee former chief to remain in custody

Newspaper: Armenia President reacts to oppositions struggle

Mississippi becomes last US state to recognize Armenian Genocide

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
Lilit Makunts, the Ambassador of Armenia to the US, on Wednesday met with Congressman David Price (D-NC), who is also Chairman of the House Democracy Partnership (HDP), Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned from the Facebook page of the Armenian embassy in Washington D.C.

Ambassador Makunts emphasized the membership of National Assembly of Armenia as a partner to HDP and highly assessed the effective cooperation between two legislative bodies.

Ambassador Makunts briefed about the security environment around Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), and stressed the need for active engagement by the US and the other Co-Chairs of Minsk Group to restrain the further escalation by Azerbaijan in the region.

During the meeting, Ambassador Makunts handedby the order of the President of the National Assembly of Armeniato Congressman Price the Medal of Honor for his significant contribution to the development and strengthening of the Armenian-American interparliamentary friendly relations.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed decrees recalling Ukraine's ambassadors to Georgia and Morocco. He informed this in a video message on the results of the 35th day of the war with Russia, UNIAN reports.

"There are those who work together with everyone for the defense of the state so that Ukraine can capture its future. We appreciate the work of each such person. But there are those who waste their time and work only to stay in office. Today I signed the first decree on the recall of such a person. Such an ambassador of Ukraine to Morocco. The ambassador to Georgia also has been returned. With all due respect, but there will be no weapons, there will be no sanctions, there will be no restrictions for Russian business. Please look for another job," said the president of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy added that he expects concrete results in the coming days from the work of Ukraine's representatives in Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and African countries.

"I am expecting results also from the military attaches in the coming days. The diplomatic front is one of the key fronts. And everyone there must work as effectively as possible to win and help the armyas each of our defenders on the battlefield, as well as each on the diplomatic front," said Zelenskyy.
The key components of conducting an effective foreign policy, of course, are professionalism and patriotism. Professionalism and patriotism are forged by appropriate upbringing and education. It is a continuous, never-ending process. Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Foreign Minister David Babayan wrote this on his Facebook page. He added as follows:

In this context, it is of particular importance to study the history of diplomacy, including national one, know key events and actors, pride in them and their achievements. Here, the Armenian diplomacy, especially its Artsakh segment, has truly fundamental achievements.

The 13th century was especially important for achievements, a truly fateful period of our history. Then the Mongol conquests began, which radically changed the geopolitical landscape of the world and the history of mankind.

Mongolian conquests destroyed many countries, killed millions of people. Among the regions most affected by their invasions and the military-political battles taking place there were the Caucasus, Near and Middle East. In these difficult conditions, Artsakh diplomacy, without exaggeration, managed to save the Armenian people from terrible and, perhaps, irreparable losses. This was done under the leadership of one of the greatest representatives of the Armenian people, statehood and diplomacy Hasan-Jalal - the Great Duke of Khachen and King of Artsakh. Thanks to his multi-layered policy, visits to the capital of Mongolia, Karakorum, meetings and negotiations with the Great Mongol Khan, not only Artsakh, but all of Eastern Armenia and part of Western Armenia escaped the Mongol invasions. Moreover, the Mongols began to help the Armenians in the fight against other enemies.

Cilicia and other segments of Western Armenia were saved from the Mongol invasions by the king of the Cilician Armenian Kingdom Hetum I, who was a representative of the Artsakh princely family. He also visited the capital of the Mongol Empire, negotiated with the Great Khan of the Mongols. By the way, it was Hasan-Jalal who helped him in this undertaking.

Thanks to these outstanding diplomats and statesmen, Artsakh and Armenia have survived to this day.

Let's remember these great people. We have so much to learn and be proud of.
I am sure you are familiar with the March 28, 2022 statement of the Security Council. That statement by the enlarged Security Council stressed that Azerbaijan intends to launch new provocations and attack in the direction of Nagorno-Karabakh [(Artsakh)]. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at Thursdays Cabinet meeting of the government of Armenia.

"We had registered that there is a high probability of such developments on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border as well. This statement naturally has raised additional questions, and I would like to make a number of clarifications and justifications so that the situation confirmed in the region can be clearer for both the Armenian and the international community.

As before, during and after the 44-day war in 2020, Azerbaijan pursues a policy of substantiating the speech justifying the military attack on Armenia and Karabakh. It first throws theories, proposals or comments on the diplomatic or public platform, then accuses Armenia of not responding to them or reacting in a destructive way or rejecting them, then attributes some promises, weaves some arrangements to Armenia.

Then in the context of that speech, it attributes to Armenia a practice of destructiveness, denial, failure to fulfill promises, non-fulfillment of agreements. It builds aggressive rhetoric on this accusation, which is followed by aggressive actions which are already justified by the above-described speech and resolutions," Pashinyan said.

According to him, this practice, which has been repeated many times, continues even now, and it is obvious that Azerbaijan is attempting to form legitimacy for a large-scale attack on Artsakh and Armenia.

"The purpose of my address today is to show that this speech is baseless and illegitimate," the Armenian PM emphasized.
YEREVAN.  OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Zbigniew Rau will pay a working visit to Yerevan, from Thursday to Friday.

The meeting of Armenias Foreign Minister and the OSCE Chairman-in-Office will take place Friday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the latter informed Armenian News-NEWS.am. Subsequently, they will make statements for the press

Within the framework of the visit, Rau is scheduled to meet also with the President as well as the Prime Minister of Armenia.
False information circulated by Azerbaijani sources is now widely circulated in the Western world that Armenia allegedly provided its four Su-30SM multifunctional aircrafts to Russia for use in Ukraine. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated this at Thursdays Cabinet meeting of the government of Armenia.

"Of course, this is outrageous information. The SUs have never left the borders of Armenia since the day they were imported to Armenia. The false news that mercenary terrorists are being transferred to Ukraine through Armenia is also presented as true. Anyone who is more or less aware knows that Armenia, which itself suffered from the involvement of mercenary terrorists against it in the war, can never contribute to their involvement elsewhere. This is completely absurd information," the Armenian PM stressed.
The Turkish foreign minister spoke on TV about regional issues, including the normalization of relations with Armenia.

According to Haber7, Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey will not take any steps on crucial issues in the negotiations with Armenia without the consent of Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijan has proposed a comprehensive peace agreement to Armenia, which Armenia must accept. There are political contacts with Armenia, the first meeting was positive. I wanted the meeting to be tripartite, with the participation of Azerbaijan, but it did not work out in [the recent] Antalya [Diplomacy Forum]. I do not see a problem on the Azerbaijani side. Armenia is the reason for the delay. We will continue to fulfill the obligation taken on us," said Cavusoglu.
We condemn the systematic violations of human rights, military attacks, and the destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh). Alvise Maniero, a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Italian Parliament, stated this, the Embassy of Armenia in Italy reported.

"While international attention is focused on the conflict in Ukraine, hostilities have resumed in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), the side with more military means is allowing abuse against those with less means.

And while people in Italy and Europe are justifiably worried about [natural] gas supplies, the Azerbaijanis blew up the [natural] gas pipeline supplying Artsakhleaving the people of Artsakh without heating and hot water, depriving them of the opportunity to cook hot food, whereas the temperature outside is -8 degrees [Celsius].

Let's not forget the many ongoing conflicts that do not make an audience," the Italian MP added.
One of the most impressive meetings was with Mr. Frank Pallone Jr., a member of the US House of Representatives and Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, Taguhi Tovmasyan wrote on Facebook.

I made a visit to the United States to participate in the "Role of the Legislature in the U.S. Open World Leadership Center in Washington. Taguhi Tovmasyan, an MP of the opposition "With Honor" Faction in the National Assembly (NA) of Armenia and Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs, on Thursday wrote this on Facebook.

Within the framework of the Program, we hold various meetings with the leaders in government, business and society of the United States.

One of the most impressive meetings was with Mr. Frank Pallone Jr., a member of the US House of Representatives and Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues. Mr. Pallone is one of the unique congressmen who, despite the threats made by Azerbaijan, visited the Republic of Artsakh [(Nagorno-Karabakh)].

We had a long discussion on the Artsakh issue. I stated that today the people of Artsakh live in the conditions of a humanitarian crisis, their rights to live a peaceful and secure life in their homeland, the rights to free movement, property are being grossly violated as a result of the criminal actions by Azerbaijan. For example, as a consequence of the recent Azerbaijani offensive operations, the normal life of Khramort and Parukh communities of Artsakh was disrupted, and the rights of more than 400 people, including women, children and the elderly were violated.

I noted that while the world's attention is focused on the situation around Ukraine, Azerbaijan is resorting to provocations in the conditions of the ceasefire, trying to open a new front for Russian peacekeepers in Artsakh, thus violating the provisions of the Trilateral Statement from November 9, 2020. The goal of such ongoing criminal acts by Azerbaijan is the ethnic cleansing of the Armenians, the implementation of Azerbaijans state policy of genocide.

I drew Mr. Pallone's attention to the fact that Azerbaijan invaded the sovereign territory of the Republic of Armenia and settled there, blatantly violating the provisions of the UN Charter, the fundamental human rights of the residents of the border settlements of the Republic of Armenia.

During the meeting I also conveyed to Mr. Pallone several reports by the Human Rights Defender of Artsakh on the war crimes by Azerbaijan, the destruction of Artsakh's cultural heritage, and the propaganda of Azeri hate speech. I underlined the importance of the visits by the congressmen to the border communities of Armenia and Artsakh, especially at this stage, to see the state of the people, thousands of dislocated people of Artsakh on the spot, to monitor the border situation and to provide appropriate assistance.

I specially emphasized the necessity of taking active measures to prevent Azerbaijan's policy of armenocide.

With a group of 5 deputies we thanked Mr. Pallone for his work and efforts, for visiting the Republic of Artsakh regardless of the threats made by Azerbaijan, and for greeting us warmly, the Armenian MP added.
South Ossetia intends to become a part of Russia as a subject, then the authorities consider it necessary to initiate the procedure of unification with North Ossetia, South Ossetian President Anatoly Bibilov said on Thursday, TASS reported.

He said Wednesday that the country will take legal steps to become part of Russia in the near future.

"At present South Ossetia can become a part of Russia as a subject of Russia. I think that unification of Ossetia is necessary", said Bibilov.

He noted that becoming part of Russia will increase the security of the republic many times, which plays an important role for society. "The new Constitution of Russia stipulates that it will in no case give the territories that are in Russia to anyone. This multiplies the security of the population of the Republic of South Ossetia," Bibilov said.

According to him, the republic will have more opportunities for economic development as a part of Russia. So, opportunities for socio-economic development will increase many times over. "You know very well that today's program, which is aimed at the development of infrastructure, social facilities. As of today we have worked with Russia on the budget of the program of socio-economic development, this program is for three years and financially it is about 4 billion rubles", Bibilov said.

The Republic of South Ossetia is holding consultations with Russia on the issue of holding a referendum on its joining, said the President.

"The most important thing is that consultations are already taking place with our Russian colleagues. And legal actions - they should be primarily based on international law. There is a basis for this. South Ossetia is an independent state, and it can make those decisions that it considers vital for itself. This decision is in fact vital for the people of South Ossetia", he said.

Russia recognized the sovereignty of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on August 26, 2008 after an armed aggression of Georgia against Tskhinval. Russian leaders have repeatedly stated that recognition of the independence of the two former Georgian autonomies reflects current realities and is not subject to revision. However, Tbilisi has refused to recognize the independence of the republics.

On March 15, the South Ossetian Central Electoral Commission completed registration of presidential candidates. On April 10 Bibilov, deputy parliament speaker Alexander Pliev, leader of political party "Nykhas" Alan Gagloev, deputy Garry Muldarov and former deputy Dmitry Tasoev would compete for the highest state post. Bibilov was elected president in April 2017, and has served as chairman of the parliament of the republic since June 2014.
The foreign minister of Azerbaijan said he observed "some positive messages" from Armenia.

Jeyhun Bayramov told a joint news conference Thursday with OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Zbigniew Rau, that response was given yet from Armenia to Azerbaijan's calls to open regional transport communications and start the border delimitation process, Azerbaijani media reported.

He reminded that Azerbaijan had made a new proposal a month ago on the process of normalization of relations with Armenia, and introduced five respective basic principles.

"We are still waiting for a concrete answer. We have observed some positive messages from Armenia. I want to assume that this is a manifestation of Armenia's serious approach to this issue. In this case, we are ready; it is time to take real steps. We hope that the results will be visible in the near future," Bayramov said.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev hopes that the upcoming meeting with Armenian Prime Minister Pashinyan, with the participation of European Council President Charles Michel, will be productive, he said on Thursday at a meeting with OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, Turan news agency reported.

We must move forward towards peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, a peace treaty must be signed as soon as possible, Aliyev said.

According to him, the Armenian side declares that it accepts Baku's proposals and this is a good sign.

This is very good, and I hope that the situation will be clarified in Brussels, Aliyev added.

In turn, Rau expressed hope for a speedy settlement of the conflict, calling the current situation promising.
The FUTURE ARMENIAN Initiative addressed an open letter to the President of the Republic of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, the Catolicos of Cilicia Aram I, the President of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) Arayik Harutyunyan, the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Alen Simonyan, and all elected and appointed leaders across Armenia and Diaspora, the initiative informed. The open letter reads as follows:

ITS NOT TOO LATE TO COME TOGETHER TO SAVE OUR FUTURE

Open letter to the President of the Republic of Armenia Vahagn Khachaturyan, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan, the Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, the Catholicos of Cilicia Aram I, the President of the Republic of Artsakh Arayik Harutyunyan, the President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Alen Simonyan, and all elected and appointed leaders across Armenia and Diaspora:

The Armenian nation is in the midst of one of the most difficult periods in more than a century. The whole world is undergoing shocks and massive transformations. One hundred years after the Armenian Genocide, the regional and global upheavals have once again magnified the existential threats against our homeland.

It is time for us to unite and urgently protect the present to save our future. As descendants of genocide survivors, we owe this to our ancestors. We owe this to our children, to our grandchildren, and to our culture and history.

Challenges facing our nation and homeland are multifaceted:

Artsakh is endangered, and its population faces daily threats against its physical and social security without any certainty of its future.

Turkey and Azerbaijan, in alignment, continue their policy of imposing maximum losses on Armenia. The ongoing negotiations with them may result in forced agreements that further jeopardize our ability to build an enduring state on our homeland.

Economic development in Armenia has been lacking and inadequate to provide for our national security. Worse yet, we now face extreme geopolitical threats, wars, pandemic, and risks of sanctions. Armenia and its Diaspora have not found ways to effectively partner during the 30 years since Armenias independence. Our global networks and expertise remain largely detached from the urgent needs of our homeland.

The elected government of Armenia is responsible for the present state of Armenia. However, the actions it takes now  or fails to take  will impact the future of not only the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh, but the whole nation. At this historic moment, all elected and appointed leaders must accept broader responsibility, leverage the potential of the whole nation and be accountable to Armenians at home and abroad for steering our course to a bright and prosperous future.

Today, we should say NO to the status quo thinking, NO to underestimating the real threats to our existence, NO to indifference and inaction.

Facing these current realities, we are in desperate need of leadership and leaders who will communicate but also listen, engage and unite the nation, combine resources and act together, understanding that no single group or political party should make decisions alone.

The Future Armenian initiative accepts this historic responsibility and stands ready to contribute in every possible way.

Its not too late to come together. We are a nation of survivors, not spectators. It is high time to engage in the struggle to save our collective future.

The FUTURE ARMENIAN is a public initiative by the Armenians and the friends of Armenia worldwide which aims to work towards ensuring the future of Armenia and Armenians collectively. The FUTURE ARMENIAN initiative was founded by six Co-Initiators: Noubar Afeyan, Artur Alaverdyan, Richard Azarnia, Aram Bekchyan, David Tavadyan and Ruben Vardanyan. The initiative has developed 15 goals that will serve as pillars for the development of Armenia and the Armenian nation. The FUTURE ARMENIAN initiative was launched in April 2020 and currently is supported by over 109,000 signatories from 108 countries.

Since February 21, The FUTURE ARMENIAN Development Foundation has been created to organize the public initiative. The Executive Director of the Foundation is Artak Apitonian.
A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy should be preceded by the finalization of the text of the agreement between the two countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

A spokesman for the head of state noted that there is no clear time frame for a possible meeting of the presidents

Earlier, the head of the Russian delegation Vladimir Medinsky said that it would be possible to talk about a meeting of the heads of state only when Moscow and Kiev prepare and approve an agreement.
Turkey is ready to become one of the guarantor states of Ukraine, Turkish President Erdogan said, Anadolu reported.

According to him, Ankara welcomes the initiative, but a detailed analysis is required. He said Ankara expects the bloodshed and war to stop as soon as possible, adding that a temporary ceasefire is also important

At the same time, Erdogan expressed skepticism about Ukraine's acceptance into the European Union.

"Because many EU countries, with the exception of a number of countries, should take this process [Kiev's application] more seriously. At the same time, according to reports, the Russian president perceived the topic of Ukraine's membership in the EU positively. During my conversation with Putin, I will try to hear it from him personally, which will allow for a clearer analysis," Erdogan said.

He complained that the application for EU membership has been pending in Brussels since 1963. "All the EU is doing is delaying dialogue with Ankara on this issue," Erdogan said.
EU antitrust authorities raided the offices of several companies in Germany involved in the supply, transportation and storage of natural gas, amid fears of a sharp rise in prices in Europe, AP reported.

The European Commission, which is responsible for EU competition policy, did not name the companies that were the targets of the March 29 surprise inspections. But antitrust authorities are scrutinizing the actions of Russian energy giant Gazprom, which has offices in Germany, in the European market.

The EC suspects that the companies violated EU competition rules prohibiting the abuse of dominant position in the market.

Russia is the largest exporter of oil, natural gas and coal to the 27 EU countries. About 40% of the gas imported by the bloc comes from Russia.

In January, the head of the International Energy Agency blamed Russia for Europe's natural gas crisis, saying high prices and low storage levels were largely due to Gazprom's suspension of supplies.
YEREVAN.  During his visit to the United Arab Emirates, Armenian Deputy Prime Minister Hambardzum Matevosyan on Wednesday met with Jordanian Minister of Investment Khairy Amr .

The interlocutors presented the peculiarities of the investment climate in Jordan and Armenia, including the wide range of incentive mechanisms, the government of Armenia informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

The Jordanian official noted that the Armenia-Jordan business forum held in Yerevan in 2020 had aroused great interest among Jordanian investors. Also, Amr lauded the role of the Armenian community in Jordan in the development of the country.

The parties agreed to continue active cooperation in order to ensure the desired level of cooperation dynamics.

The Jordanian minister of investment announced his intention to visit Armenia in the near futureand with interested representatives of the business community.

Both sides highlighted such active cooperation.
British banks have warned the government that its plan to ban all Russians from holding more than 50,000 ($65,430) in their accounts is illegal and unworkable, Reuters reported, citing sources.

The government said all Russians would be banned from holding large deposits in British banks, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it was part of a strategy to isolate Moscow.

More than 70,000 Russian citizens currently live in the UK, according to government estimates, and London has long been one of the top destinations for Russian money in Europe.

Banking sources told Reuters they fear British offers for Russian deposits would violate equality laws that prohibit discrimination based on nationality.

The UK is imposing what the government has called the largest ever sanctions against Russia, including an asset freeze and a travel ban on hundreds of individuals and businesses it has accused of supporting President Vladimir Putin.

The bank deposit plan is the only measure that targets all Russians in Britain, not just those directly sanctioned.

Bank sources said they asked for assurances that they would not be sued if they imposed restrictions.

Such assurances, however, may not be possible without a change in the law, and more than a month after the restrictions were proposed, there have been no announcements about how they would work, including whether dual nationals would be affected. .
Armenian News - NEWS.am presents the daily digest of top news as of 31.03.22:

The meeting will be held with the participation of the President of the European Council Charles Michel, the website of the European Council reported.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan hopes to discuss all matters of peace agreement at the Brussels meeting with the Azerbaijani president.

He noted that Armenia is ready for the immediate start of peace talks.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, in turn, said he hopes that the upcoming meeting with Pashinyan will be productive.

According to him, its a good sign that the Armenian side declares it accepts Baku's proposals.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Karabakh with the Armenian PM and Azerbaijani President, the Kremlin press service reported.

The development of the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh was discussed, with an emphasis on solving practical problems to ensure security and stability in the region.

Charges have been brought against the Minister of Emergency Situations of Armenia, and a motion to arrest him has been submitted to the court, announced the Anti-Corruption Committee.

The respective statement said that the investigation into a criminal case revealed facts of bribery, aiding and abetting to it, abuse of office, embezzlement, as well as getting and giving illegal payment, and other abuses by some officials of the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Minister of Emergency Situations Andranik Piloyan, his adviser, as well as more than 10 employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are included in this criminal case.

Piloyan was charged and detained on Wednesday. On the same day, a motion was submitted to the court to remand him in custody.

Another 8 people have been charged, and it was decided to remand five of them in custody.

Another 10 employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations are suspects along the lines of this criminal case, and a signature bond not to leave Armenia has been selected as their pretrial measure.

The criminal investigation continues.

From Wednesday night to 10am Thursday, the operative-tactical situation along the entire frontline of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) did not change, remaining tense, the Artsakh Information Center reported.

The Artsakh authorities continue to exert all efforts to withdraw the Azerbaijani armed forces from the eastern direction of the line of contact to their original positions.

During Thursday's government meeting, Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan said that Azerbaijan is attempting to form legitimacy for large-scale attacks on Karabakh and Armenia.

According to a Security Council statement, Azerbaijan intends to launch new provocations and attack in the direction of Nagorno-Karabakh.

However, the PM noted that there is a high probability of such developments on the Armenia-Azerbaijan border as well.

The PM also added that Azerbaijan claimed that the tripartite statement of November 9 allegedly recorded an obligation to withdraw the Defense Army from Nagorno-Karabakh.

However, Pashinyan explained that the statement clearly states where the military units should leave from and where they should stay.

Nikol Pashinyan also noted that the parallels between Nagorno-Karabakh and Nakhichevan are strange for several reasons: Nakhichevan has a land connection with Azerbaijan through Iran and Turkey and an air connection through Iran, Turkey and Armenia. Nagorno-Karabakh has only one land connection with Armenia  through Lachin corridor, and turning it into a territory controlled by Azerbaijan in any way means eviction of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh.

Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Turkey will not take any steps on crucial issues in the talks with Armenia without the consent of Azerbaijan.

"Azerbaijan has proposed a comprehensive peace agreement to Armenia, which Armenia must accept. There are political contacts with Armenia, the first meeting was positive," said Cavusoglu.

Tigran Avinyan will already head our electoral list in the next elections, said MP Vahagn Aleksanyan.

Yerevan Council of Elders elections will be held next year.

Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Kazakhstan signed a quadripartite declaration on the Trans-Caspian East-West corridor, the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia said.

The declaration highlights the role of the development of transport corridors and increase of transit potential, integration of "Trans-Caspian East-West Corridor" into the international transport system and strengthening of cooperation of the parties.

"The document also notes the important role of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line in the development of competitive transport between Europe and Asia, and emphasizes the importance of completing construction work to improve the capacity of the railway line. The declaration also underscored the significant need for infrastructure investments to improve the quality of transport operations along this route," the ministry said.

The Russian defense ministry announced a local ceasefire Thursday to allow civilians to be evacuated from Ukraine's besieged port city of Mariupol.

A humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, opened from 10am (07:00 GMT), the ministry said Wednesday.

A convoy of Ukrainian buses set out for the southern port city of Mariupol on Thursday to try to reach trapped civilians, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

She said the International Committee of the Red Cross had confirmed that Russia had agreed to open a humanitarian corridor to the besieged city where tens of thousands of civilians remain after weeks of Russian bombardment.

The city mayor said this week that up to 170,000 residents were trapped in Mariupol with no power and dwindling supplies.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his nightly video address to the nation on Wednesday, said Ukraine is at a turning point in the five-week war with Russia and again urged Western nations to send more weapons.

In his address, Zelenskyy referred to Russian troop movements away from Kyiv and Chernihiv, saying that was not a withdrawal but the consequence of our defenders work.

Ukraine is seeing a build-up of Russian forces for new attacks on the Donbas and we are preparing for that, he said.

Zelenskyy told Australia's parliament on Thursday that Russia must be held accountable for past wrongs, warning that a failure to punish Moscow may encourage other countries to wage war against their neighbors.

He called for new and tougher sanctions to retaliate against Russia's invasion of Ukraine and suggested that years of failure to rein in the global power had emboldened Moscow.

Russia and Ukraine will resume their peace talks online on April 1, a senior Ukrainian official said on Wednesday after the latest round of negotiations had ended in Turkey.

Ukrainian negotiator David Arakhamia said in an online post that Ukraine had proposed the countries' two leaders should meet, but Russia responded by saying more work needed to be done on a draft treaty.

A meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy should be preceded by the finalization of the text of the agreement between the two countries, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

A spokesman for the head of state noted that there is no clear time frame for a possible meeting of the presidents.

Meanwhile, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said he wants to hold talks with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts to discuss the organization of their possible meeting.

The breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia will seek to join Russia, potentially leading to a new escalation in the Kremlins conflict with the West.

The self-declared republic of about 50,000 will start the legal process to become part of Russia, South Ossetias President Anatoly Bibilov said in a statement posted on the website of Russias ruling party.

United Russia Senator Andrei Klimov, deputy chair of the foreign affairs committee of the Federation Council, told state-run Tass news service that Russia is ready to absorb the territory as long as the people of South Ossetia pass a referendum supporting the move.
Dollar, euro continue rising significantly in Armenia

Swiss police seize more than 500kg of cocaine from cargo for Nespresso factory

Karabakh official: Azerbaijani truck committed deliberate crime in Artsakh

Committee to Protect Journalists: Armenia law enforcement obstruct journalists covering Yerevan protests

Armenia ruling force MP calls on police to inspect opposition 'shelters' where drugs may be kept

Artsakh Police investigating Armenian car crash caused by Azerbaijani convoy

Situation gets tense on Marshal Baghramyan Avenue in Yerevan, ex-president Kocharyans son also there

Police apprehend 48 people during civil disobedience actions in Yerevan

Police special forces forcibly remove Armenia ex-Police chief from opposition march in Yerevan

Situation gets tense during opposition march in Yerevan

Ararat Mirzoyan briefs US Senator McConnell on details of Armenia-Turkey normalization process

Azerbaijan holding international regatta in occupied Armenian Mataghis town of Karabakh

Many members of US Congress give green light for F-16s to Turkey

Law amendments propose that Armenia councils of elders members will also be able to be elected community leaders

Resistance Movement holding marches in Yerevan in 4 directions

Armenia parliament holding special sitting

Copper prices falling

Armenia FM Mirzoyan, US Senator Menendez stress inadmissibility of provoking tension by Azerbaijan

Oil rises in price

Bishkek reports that Uzbekistan border guards shoot, kill 3 Kyrgyzstan citizens at border

Azerbaijani military convoy throws Armenian taxi into gorge in Artsakh (PHOTOS)

Armenia Police: All roads open in Yerevan, provinces

Armenia FM in US, meets with International Republican Institute Eurasia regional director

US Strategic Command chief warns of deterrence crisis against Russia, China

Armenia ex-Prosecutor General, Investigative Committee former chief to remain in custody

Newspaper: Armenia President reacts to oppositions struggle

Mississippi becomes last US state to recognize Armenian Genocide

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
Like clockwork, most United States residents have grown accustomed to toggling their timepieces back and forth in the fall and spring seasons to adjust to standard and daylight saving time.

On March 15, the Sunshine Protection Act, a proposed federal law that would make U.S. Daylight Saving Time permanent and end setting clocks back an hour in the fall was unanimously passed by the U.S. Senate on a voice vote. Though the bills passage in the U.S. House is uncertain, University of Miami experts share their views as its outcome hangs in the balance.

Sleep expert Girardin Jean-Louis, founder and director of the Translational Sleep and Circadian Sciences Center the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, is firm on his stance that if residents want a permanent change, perpetual standard time would be most desirable for our health.

Jean-Louis said that under standard timewhen mornings are brighterour superchiasmatic nucleus, or circadian clock, is easier to be controlled. With daylight saving time, its more difficult for the human body to regulate, simply because of our biology makeup.

When you are switching between standard and daylight saving time, there are problems in terms of mental health, as well a physical health issues, said Jean-Louis, noting that losing an hour of sleep may not seem like a big deal but the back and forth switching takes a toll on our overall sleep health and bodies.

Brian McNoldy, senior research associate and tropical cyclone expert at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, wants everyone to know that daylight saving time doesnt increase the amount of daylight in a day.

Even the name of the bill, Sunshine Protection Act, is faulty and misleading because nothing about it protects sunshine or daylight and the Earth will still keep rotating at the same speed, he explained.

McNoldy charted sunrise and sunset times on his Twitter account, noting that if daylight saving time is year-round, sunrise in mid-January in Miami would occur at 8:09 a.m. He tweeted that long dark mornings are the worst for mental health.

Many supporters of the bill, including Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, believe that the change would give children the opportunity to play outdoors later and reduce seasonal depression.

Are we saving money, the answer is yes, said Jean-Louis. But some of us as health care professionals are concerned about the health aspects. There has been a slew of research and evidence that shows people are more prone to heart attacks and other adverse outcomes in terms of physical and mental health.

The sleep expert explained how seasonal depression in many ways has to do with light exposure and melatonin secretion. The deeper we move into winter, our exposure to sunlight diminishes because we dont spend as much time outdoors because its coldof course, here in Florida its bit different.

As you get exposed to less light, theres more melatonin being secreted, and the more melatonin you have, the more likely you are to have seasonal depression or symptoms of sadness, said Jean-Louis. Both men and women experience it, he added, but its more prevalent in women.

According to research at the Translational Sleep and Circadian Sciences Center, members in the Black and brown communities are routinely getting less sleep because of environmental and socioeconomic matters. In turn, this has led to increased risks for cardiometabolic conditions and early death.

To start, Black people are sleeping about 30 minutes less, said Jean-Louis. So, we talk about America as a whole suffering, thats true. But Black folks are suffering even more and are more at risk of those metabolic problems, cardiac defects, mental health issues, and the likelihood of accidentsall those things are even more prevalent and more problematic for Black folks.

To combat this disparity, Judite Blanc, research assistant professor for the center, and other team members, visit churches, hair salons, barbershops, parks, and other areas to spread the word about healthy sleep hygiene.

Some of Jean-Louis and Blancs suggestions include waking up an hour earlier and taking a walk facing east so that you have exposure to the sun as it rises, staying physically active throughout the day, and getting seven to eight hours of sleep to help reduce risk of cognitive decline.
Pritzlaff, Dunn named 2022-23 SGA president and vice president

Media Contact: Jordan Bishop | Editor, Department of Brand Management | 405-744-9782 | jordan.bishop@okstate.edu

Oklahoma State University students named Riley Pritzlaff and Maddie Dunn the 2022-23 Student Government Association president and vice president late last week.

Pritzlaff and Dunn ran on the platform of THRIVE: Teamwork, Health, Resources, Innovation, Visionary and Equity. They hope to expand accessibility of basic needs resources on campus.

Pritzlaff, who will be a senior next year and is majoring in political science, said he was looking forward to representing the OSU student body.

"I am super excited to be in a position to listen and be an advocate for anyone on campus who has concerns that need to be addressed," said Pritzlaff, a Tulsa native.

Dunn, who is from Yukon, Oklahoma, said she hopes to inspire her fellow students to give back to the Stillwater community.

"I am excited to start serving the OSU community by giving them better access to resources across campus and encouraging the students to serve in our community!" said Dunn, who will be an elementary education senior next year.

Pritzlaff and Dunn will take over for current SGA president Jack Edwards and vice president Alexandria Bias.
Flight from London first to arrive as Covid ban lifts

Hong Kong will lift a months-long flight ban on April 1. Image: Shutterstock

About a dozen passenger flights coming from the nine previously banned countries will land in Hong Kong on Friday following the lifting of the restriction, according to the Airport Authority.



Ten direct flights will arrive from London, Manila, Cebu, Kathmandu and Sydney, with those departing from the Philippine capital accounting for 40 percent of the total.



Among the 10 flights, the first to arrive will be Cathay Pacifics CX2252 from Heathrow, which is expected to land at the airport at 2.40am.



There are also two indirect flights from Canada and Australia.



An inbound flight ban was imposed in January to fend off imported Covid-19 cases, but the government announced earlier this month that the restriction will be scrapped on April 1, with the quarantine period for returning, vaccinated Hong Kong residents reduced to a minimum of seven days.



Officials also said flights from specific airlines will only be suspended for a week, instead of two, when three or more passengers on a flight test positive for Covid on arrival or when an airline is found to have breached other rules.



Meanwhile, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said according to the information given to her earlier, it's expected that around 2,000 passengers, excluding transit travellers, will arrive in the territory from the countries.



She said an inter-departmental meeting was held on Wednesday to make sure the test-and-hold arrangement after arrival and the transportation to designated quarantine hotels will run smoothly.



"We have made full preparations for them and I hope that they will have a pleasant trip back to Hong Kong," she said.



Lam also said anti-epidemic packs, which includes rapid antigen test kits, will also be distributed to the arrivals at hotels so that people can test themselves on day six and day seven of their quarantine.
Eden Woon to head AmCham from September

Eden Woon will serve as Am Cham's president from September 1. Photo courtesy: AmCham HK
The Heising-Simons Foundation has awarded 51 Pegasi b Fellowships to Brittany Miles and Paul Dalba to support their postdoctoral research in planetary astronomy.

Miles is currently a Ph.D. candidate in astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and will conduct her postdoctoral research at the University of Arizona. Dalba is currently at UC Riverside and will begin his postdoctoral fellowship at UC Santa Cruz in fall 2022.

The 51 Pegasi b Fellowships provide exceptional postdoctoral scientists with the opportunity to conduct theoretical, observational, and experimental research in planetary astronomy.

Brittany Miles

As a UCSC graduate student, Miles has been working with Andrew Skemer, associate professor of astronomy and astrophysics, to conduct mid-infrared observations of brown dwarfsastronomical objects that share properties with both planets and stars. By placing unique constraints on the atmospheric structures of these cold objects, her work provides a template for predicting and interpreting future direct images of cooler exoplanets. Her brown dwarf observations also inform instrumentation projects in which she retrofits and tests detector capabilities to support more precise characterization of exoplanets.

In her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona, Miles will continue her observations of brown dwarf atmospheres to obtain data on cloud composition and behavior. As co-principal investigator on a James Webb Space Telescope proposal, she will explore the coldest known brown dwarf to inspect possible water clouds and water vapor and infer how such features may behave on gas giant exoplanets. Miles also plans to enhance the sensitivity of ground-based instruments to capture images of more Earth-like planets. Her work will be instrumental to the field as more large telescopes come online in the years ahead.

Id like to continue getting high-quality data on single targets to understand what gases are in the atmospheres of brown dwarfs, and answer bigger questions about how planets form and what their atmospheres look like, Miles said. No matter what my project results are, I think they will provide the community with a useful data set on what brown dwarfs and directly imaged exoplanets look like.

Paul Dalba

Dalba works at the overlap of theory and observation, studying exoplanets akin to Jupiter and Saturn that orbit their host stars over long time periods. He leads the Giant Outer Transiting Exoplanet Mass Survey (GOT EM), a program at the W. M. Keck Observatory and UCs Lick Observatory to determine the masses of his targets. He also coordinates intercontinental campaigns that enlist community scientists in days-long observations of exoplanets slowly passing in front of their host stars. Dalbas efforts to characterize relatively unexplored worlds expand the boundaries of observable objects and place our solar system in sharper perspective.

In his fellowship at UC Santa Cruz, Dalba will advance his GOT EM findings to characterize a valuable set of giant exoplanets. After calculating the mass of each planet, he will investigate their metal compositions to tell a complete story about their interiors and atmospheres. This work will help answer essential questions about how planetary systems come to be and prepare a selection for examination with the James Webb Space Telescope. Dalba will also work with the SETI Institute to conduct exoplanet observations with the global Unistellar Network of community scientists.

Its important to understand exactly what giant planets are doing because they effectively control the rest of their environment, he said. If you can deduce the characteristics of these objects, that provides a full picture of the entire planetary system.

Dalba earned his Ph.D. in astronomy at Boston University in fall 2018 and is currently working as an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Riverside.

The 51 Pegasi b Fellowship was established in 2017 by the Heising-Simons Foundation, and named for the first exoplanet discovered orbiting a Sun-like star. Miles and Dalba are among eight awardees to receive 2022 fellowships, which provide up to $385,000 of support for independent research over three years.

The growing field of planetary astronomy studies objects both within and beyond our solar system, bridging planetary science and astronomy. From improving our understanding of planetary system formation and evolution, to advancing new technologies for detecting other worlds, 51 Pegasi b Fellows make a unique contribution to the field.
A total of 16,831 Indians have visited Pakistan on pilgrimage in the last five years while 2,119 Pakisatnis have come to India during this period, the Parliament was told on Thursday. Visits of pilgrims between India and Pakistan are covered under the 'Bilateral Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines, 1974' wherein pilgrimages to 15 shrines in Pakistan and six shrines in India are facilitated Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply. In 2017,as many as 2,211 Indians visited Pakistan while 984 Pakistani nationals came to India, while 3,812 and 574, respectively, did in 2018, 4,273 and 242 did in 2019, 1,330 and 248 did in 2020, 5,425 and 70 did in 2021 while no pilgrim from either side visited in 2022 so far. Muraleedharan also said that India regularly liaises with Pakistan authorities to facilitate pilgrimages including arrangement for transportation, security, accommodation, medical facility etc for the pilgrims during their visits under the above Protocol. In addition to this, India and Pakistan signed an agreement on October 24, 2019 for the facilitation of pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan. The agreement, inter alia, provides for visa-free travel of Indian pilgrims as well as Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders, from India to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on a daily basis, throughout the year. The Minister also said that some Pakistani nationals belonging to minority communities, mainly Hindus and Sikhs, who came to India on Group Pilgrim Visas have not returned to Pakistan because of "religious persecution". --IANS ams/vd ( 277 Words) 2022-03-31-21:08:03 (IANS)
New Delhi [India], March 30 (ANI/PR Newswire): A book that gives a credible, detailed, and accessible account of Chinese intelligence agencies, about which next to nothing is known. Non-fiction/ Paperback// INR 699Releasing on April 1, 2022 | Pre-order here: https://amzn.to/3JO4xQH "There is enough mystery, intrigue, and history in this book to make it one of the most fascinating narratives of Chinese history from the days of Mao to the present administration, and the contribution of intelligence services to China's growth and national ambition during the period."-Vikram Sood, Former Chief, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) ABOUT THE BOOK In 1920s Shanghai, Zhou Enlai founded the first Chinese communist spy network, operating in the shadows against nationalists, Western powers, and the Japanese. The story of Chinese spies has been a global one from the start. Using previously unseen papers and interviewing countless insiders, Roger Faligot's astonishing account reveals nothing less than a century of world events shaped by Chinese spies. Working as scientists, journalists, diplomats, foreign students and businessmen, they have been everywhere, from Stalin's purges to 9/11. This murky world has swept up Ho Chi Minh, the Clintons and everyone in between, with the action moving from Cambodia to Cambridge, and from the Australian outback to the centres of Western power. In the twenty-first century, the Chinese intelligence services, an umbrella term that includes several organizations, rival the largest in the world: the American CIA, the Israeli Mossad, the Indian R&AW, the French DGSE, Britain's MI6, and of course the other intelligence services in the region, such as the Taiwanese MJIB and the Japanese Naicho. This fascinating narrative exposes the sprawling tentacles of the world's largest intelligence service, from the very birth of communist China to Xi Jinping's absolute rule today. Author Roger Faligot says, "Over the last forty years, as an investigative reporter, I have researched information on China and her intelligence services. Travelling extensively in Asia and elsewhere, I have been able to obtain numerous testimonies and confidential documents showing how, after the fall of the USSR, Chinese spies have been broadening their scope from a regional to a worldwide focus. Under Xi Jinping, the Ministry of State Security (Guoanbu) and People's Liberation Army secret services have become as active as the CIA, the MI6, the R&AW or the Russian GRU and SVR. I am glad to know that a wide readership in India will get a chance to read these facts in my book, Chinese Spies. The more so because, from the point of view of the Beijing spy chiefs, India is one of their most important targets". Swati Chopra, Executive Editor, HarperCollins India, says, "At a time when several books have been written about China and its relationship with India, virtually nothing is known about Chinese espionage agencies. Roger Faligot's monumental book, Chinese Spies, amply fills this lacuna with a comprehensive examination of a hundred years of Chinese espionage, covering all major events from the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 to the COVID pandemic of 2020. No other book comes close to the range and depth of Faligot's brilliant investigation into the shadow world of Chinese spies, and we at HarperCollins are delighted to bring it to Indian readers." ABOUT THE AUTHOR Roger Faligot is an investigative journalist and author of many books on European and Asian intelligence, including The Chinese Mafiain Europe and La Piscine, the first history of France's secret services. He has been a correspondent for The European, and Far East correspondent for Intelligence Online (1993-2018). For reviews, interviews, excerpts, and more information, please contact Vandana Rathore at vandana.rathore@harpercollins-india.com HarperCollins India publishes some of the finest writers from the Indian Subcontinent and around the world, publishing approximately 200 new books every year, with a print and digital catalogue of more than 2,000 titles across 10 imprints. Its authors have won almost every major literary award including the Man Booker Prize, JCB Prize, DSC Prize, New India Foundation Award, Atta Galatta Prize, Shakti Bhatt Prize, Gourmand Cookbook Award, Publishing Next Award, Tata Literature Live! Award, Gaja Capital Business Book Prize, BICW Award, Sushila Devi Award, Sahitya Akademi Award and Crossword Book Award. HarperCollins India also represents some of the finest publishers in the world including Harvard University Press, Gallup Press, Oneworld, Bonnier Zaffre, Usborne, Dover and Lonely Planet. HarperCollins India is now the recipient of five Publisher of the Year Awards - In 2021 and 2015 at the Publishing Next Industry Awards, and in 2021, 2018 and 2016 at Tata Literature Live. HarperCollins India is a subsidiary of HarperCollins Publishers. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1249409/HarperCollins_Publishers_India_Logo.jpg This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PR Newswire)
Guangzhou [China], March 31 (ANI/PR Newswire): Canton Fair's Intellectual Property Administration announced that this year the Fair will underline cloud-based IPR protection to provide exhibitors with more convenient online instructions and IPR protection services. The 131st Canton Fair is coming, and the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) services are in progress. The Canton Fair witnessed the birth of IPR protection in China. With raising awareness of IPR protection in the 1990s, complaints of patent infringement at the Canton Fair have risen rapidly. "Many Chinese exhibitors had weak IPR awareness at that time," said Junhong Cui, former Deputy Director-General of China Foreign Trade Centre (CFTC). The exhibitors and the Fair suffered many negative impacts. To protect the legal rights and interests of all exhibitors, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation issued the Notice of Trademark Inspection at the 71st Canton Fair in 1992. The first special campaign was also organized at the Canton Fair, marking the start of IPR protection. In 1999, the 85th Canton Fair set up a Complaint Station and issued the Regulations on Handling Complaints during the Canton Fair. In 2002, the 91st Canton Fair firstly took the principle of "reverse onus" to increase the efforts to combat infringement cases, and achieved remarkable results. At the 92nd Canton Fair, the Interim Provisions on IPR Protection Management was amended as the Measures on Complaints of Suspected IPR Infringement and Handling. The "good practice of Canton Fair" has been recognized by the Chinese government and China's convention & exhibition sector. In 2021, the 130th Canton Fair IPR complaint module was launched on the official website to protect the IPR. "Only when IPR is protected can exhibitors feel more secure in showing their innovative products at the Canton Fair, and can we do justice better to the Intelligent Manufacturing in China", said Maggie Pu, Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Office of Canton Fair. Through two decades of efforts, the Canton Fair has harvested increasing experience and developed a maturing mechanism in IPR protection. Canton Fair now serves as a model for IPR protection in the sector to guide independent innovation, create new competitive advantages, and promote high-quality development for Chinese enterprises. Even though IPR protection still has a long way to go, the Canton Fair will march on resolutely. Visit https://www.cantonfair.org.cn/en-US/register/index#/foreign-email for more opportunities. This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PR Newswire)
New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI/SRV): Keventers, the iconic 97-year-old dairy brand opens the first ever, 'Keventers Cafe' at Zirakpur, Mohali district, Punjab. An experience zone spread across an area of 911 sq ft., at Keventers Cafe customers can dine in and enjoy the iconic Keventers milkshakes, cold coffees with light bites. The launch of Keventers Cafe marks a shift in the brand's retail strategy as it moves from the conventional take-away and QSR formats to enter a larger dining space. This is a part of the brand's shift to create more engaging consumer experiences with rising market demand. The Keventers Cafe has an exceptional ambience to cater to visitors across a varied demographic, from families, to millennials and Gen Z with the right balance of Vintage-Modern and Retro aesthetics. The experiential cafe offers its patrons a fun experience with a menu that offers all the iconic Keventers milkshakes, desserts, ice creams, newly launched cold coffees, as well as a brand new food menu. The new food menu offers a variety of munchies and yummy vegetarian dishes like Aloo Samosa, Hot Jalapeno Nachos, Peri Peri Fries, Toasties, Hot stir-fried Maggi, and also serves non vegetarian items like Butter Chicken Samosa, Sandwiches and Wraps. The patrons can sit with their friends and families and enjoy board games like Scrabble, Plot 4, Jenga, Chess, Ludo, Tumbling Monkeys, keeping them entertained as they wait for their food and coffee order. Free unlimited Wi-Fi has also been provided at the store so that the customers have an option to work from there while enjoying their coffee. The ambience of the cafe is light, bright, and pastel in the shade which brings out the upbeat, happy, and lively vibes. The layout is clean and functional, designed keeping in mind groups of people who can celebrate birthdays; working professionals to attend hectic meetings with their favorite cold coffees and for couples who want tofeel nostalgic with the taste that made history. Speaking about the new launch of Keventers first cafe in India, Agastya Dalmia, Founder and CEO, Keventers said, "Keventers has had a high growth trajectory in the past years, allowing it to grow from a pan-India brand to a multi-national brand. The Keventers Cafe is a step in the right direction for us as we wanted to set up a more experiential offering for our loyal customers. The space and 'To-Eat' menu have been designed to provide an environment for customers to relax, work, use the free Wi-Fi and charge points on every table, eat and drink great food, hang-out with friends and capture fun Instagrammable memories. Zirakpur is one of the fastest developing places in the Tri-City area of Chandigarh-Panchkula and we are confident of it being well received here." Zirakpur has become a focal point for a number of world-class residential and commercial projects, the economy is booming, and it's well connected to the capital. Also, the cafe is not just catering to the Zirakpur customers but also to Chandigarh and Panchkula. The company plans to move to more locations eventually but Zirakpur looks very promising right now for their first step towards establishing cafe outlets. The brand is also launching an Inaugural Offer at the Zirakpur store. The first 20 daily customers that drop by the store between 1st to 7th April get 15 Free milkshakes/Scoops from Keventers for the next 15 days. The store timings are between 10am to 11pm. Keventers, creator of the iconic milkshake is India's first very own 'Made in India' brand. Established in 1925 by Edward Keventer, Keventers then became famed for its milkshakes. Acquired by Ram Krishna Dalmia in 1940, it underwent great changes through the course of history. From supplying to the Indian army to becoming the preferred choice for Delhiites walking around Connaught Place. The brand was then revived in 2015 by Agastya Dalmia, Aman Arora and Sohrab Sitaram. Keeping the vintage tone alive with its signature glass bottles, the trio has completely revamped the brand in a way that makes it strike a chord with modern-day consumers. Presently, Keventers has brand presence across India, Nepal, UAE, Oman and Kenya. This story is provided by SRV Media. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/SRV)
Singapore [Singapore], March 31 (ANI/PR Newswire): American Standard, one of the most iconic brands in sanitary ware and part of LIXIL, maker of pioneering water and housing products, brought together thought leaders in Architecture and Design around the Asia Pacific region to share practical insights, current trends, and thoughtful ideas with their inaugural webinar series, the American StandardDesign Catalyst L!VE ("ASDC") on Wednesday, March 23. The first webinar of the series was attended by nearly 1,500 industry professionals from across the region, including a strong attendance from the Philippines, Thailand, and India. The event was simultaneously streamed in English, Bahasa Indonesia, Thai and Vietnamese. Lively discussions flourished amongst the 15 expert speakers and highly engaged attendees touching on three macro trends: Health and Well-being, Sustainability, and Urbanization. The different macro trends weaved into almost parallel stories of how purposeful design can be a catalyst for richer human experiences, healthier spaces and support sustainable lifestyles. Attendees also engaged in the conversations with insightful questions that navigated how professionals within the Architecture and Design industry can inspire the design of future communities, cities, and global economies. Satoshi Konagai, Leader LIXIL Asia Pacific, stated, "We are honoured to receive such an overwhelming response to the inaugural American Standard Design Catalyst L!ve webinar. Design thinking is a key element to LIXIL and American Standard towards meeting and realizing consumers' needs and aspirations to make better homes a reality for everyone, everywhere. As a group, we develop over 100 new water and housing products each year at our 5 design centres in Japan, the US, Europe and Asia." Konagai added, "Through the ASDC, we wanted to share our experiences alongside industry leaders, to catalyze design thinking with architects and designers across the region on the macro trends of Health and Well-being, Sustainability and Urbanization. LIXIL and American Standard will continue to create opportunities for engaging conversations with industry experts to address these real-life macro trends and related challenges." Health & Wellbeing The discussion kicked off with Health & Wellbeing in the hospitality industry with Hayley Mitchell from Mitchell & Eades ("M&E") in Australia and Ivy Almario of Atelier Almario in the Philippines. Ivy described the evolving design and technology of bathrooms over the last two decades as fundamentally changing the user experience and heightening expectations. "Hotels are seen as a laboratory for delivering multisensory delights and influencing consumers," Ivy explained. The audience was transported by Hayley to exotic destinations in India, Dubai and China to uncover M&E projects that combined well-being with design excellence. Hayley showcased how purposeful design blends the use of light, space, temperature and water with the human senses of sight, sound, touch, and even natural circadian rhythms that affect alertness. Sustainability With over 60 per cent of the attendees highly anticipating the topic, Sustainability offered many thought-provoking insights. With the global wellness economy valued at USD 4.4 trillion, Jojo Tolentino from AIDEA in the Philippines shared that "an individual's wellness is intrinsically linked to the wellness of their environment". Most of our waking hours are spent within buildings; hence it is natural that building developers and designers are stepping up to their game with intelligent design responses to enhance human wellbeing. Ary Indrajanto from Aboday in Indonesia spoke on the importance of inspiring the next generation of designers. Ary shared his personal and professional journey that led him to redefine architecture and how broadening his audience into community-led projects could be of similar benefit and impact for younger designers. "As long as there is a passion for the community, architecture can be a generator and connector to bring prosperity to the community," he explained. Urbanization The final topic started on how smaller spaces can offer many opportunities. Rahul Kadri, from IMK Architects in India, used examples from India's rapid urbanization and high urban population density as starting points for discussing how designers and architects can catalyse design for high-density buildings to uplift living and hygiene standards. With the knowledge that societies and economies will continue to evolve as they adapt to the development of shared infrastructures, services, and spaces, Rakesh Kumar of Godrej in India ended the webinar by sharing how designs for structures like micro-apartments and offices can offer solutions to urbanization. With urbanization on the rise, the discussion touched on design trends such as biophilic design, multi-use spaces, Internet of Things ("IoT") technology and how they can bring practical benefit to communities. Panelists and speakers: -Hayley Mitchell, Director, Mitchell and Eades, Australia-Ivy Almario, President & Co-founder, Atelier Almario, Philippines-Samantha Eades, Director, Mitchell and Eades, Australia-Chat Fores, Founder, Chat Fores Design Studio, Philippines-Arch. Jojo Tolentino, President & CEO, AIDEA Incorporated, Philippines-Ary Indrajanto, Founder, Aboday, Indonesia-Alan Kueh, Managing Director, AK+ Archipedia Pte Ltd, Singapore-Arch. Le Truong, Founder & CEO, TT- Associates, Vietnam-Rahul Kadri, Partner & Principal Architect, IMK Architect, India-Rakesh Kumar, Chief Design Officer, Godrej Properties Ltd, India-Hun Chansan, Principal Architect & Founder, re: edge Architecture, Cambodia-Naresh V Narasimhan, Managing Partner, Venkataraman Associates, India-Satoshi Konagai, Leader, LWT APAC, LIXIL-Priyanka Tanwar, Leader, Communications & Corporate Responsibility, Asia, LIXIL-Antoine Besseyre Des Horts, Leader, Global Design, Asia, LIXIL The ASDC webinar is available for viewing now at www.americanstandard-apac.com/asdc. More information on upcoming Design Catalyst L!VE sessions can be found at the American Standard Design Catalyst website and LinkedIn pages. As one of the most iconic brands in sanitary ware, American Standard has earned the trust of its customers by constantly delivering style, quality, and reliability to their bathrooms. Today, backed by more than 140 years of pioneering legacy, American Standard continues to raise the bar in delivering dependable bathroom solutions that combine thoughtful designs and innovative technologies to create inviting bathroom spaces offering ultimate hygiene, comfort, and convenience. For more information, kindly visit www.americanstandard-apac.com. LIXIL makes pioneering water and housing products that solve everyday, real-life challenges, making better homes a reality for everyone, everywhere. Drawing on our Japanese heritage, we create world-leading technology and innovate to make high-quality products that transform homes. But the LIXIL difference is how we do this; through meaningful design, an entrepreneurial spirit, a dedication to improving accessibility for all, and responsible business growth. Our approach comes to life through industry-leading brands, including LIXIL, GROHE, American Standard, INAX, and TOSTEM. Over 70,000 colleagues operating in 150 countries are proud to make products that touch the lives of more than a billion people every day. Copyright (c) 2022 LIXIL Group Corporation. All rights reserved. This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PR Newswire)
Disruptions caused by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict is likely to lead to a supply shortfall of at least 4-6 lakh tonne of crude sunflower oil for India during the financial year beginning April 1, according to CRISIL Ratings estimate released on Thursday. "This, in turn, will have a bearing on the production planning of domestic edible oil processors," CRISIL said in a report. "A protracted trade disruption will push edible oil processors to source more crude sunflower oil from Argentina. This, however, will not be enough to offset the material shortfall in volume from Ukraine and Russia. To reduce the resultant idle capacity, the processors may choose to refine other edible oils," said Nitin Kansal, Director, CRISIL Ratings. Refined sunflower oil constitutes around 10 per cent of India's consumption of 230-240 lakh tonnes of edible oils (all types) annually. The country imports nearly 60 per cent of its edible oil requirement, which makes it extremely vulnerable to adverse developments in global trade as well as oilseed production and regulatory changes in key import centres. What's worse, as much as 90 per cent of India's annual crude sunflower oil requirement of 22-23 lakh tonnes comes from Ukraine (70 per cent) and Russia (20 per cent), and the rest from Argentina and other countries. Cumulatively, Ukraine and Russia export nearly 100 lakh tonnes of crude sunflower oil annually, with Argentina in third place with 7 lakh tonnes. Russia's major banks have been severed from the SWIFT system following sanctions imposed by the US and European nations. Although trading of food products with Russia has not been prohibited, trade settlement has become difficult, leading to supply disruption. Domestic edible oil processors typically maintain raw material inventory of 30-45 days, which should help them tide over the supply shock in the immediate term. However, supply and prices will start hurting if the conflict -- and the attendant trade disruption -- prolongs. The supply disruption in crude sunflower oil comes on the back of a 25 per cent increase in the average price of refined edible oils this fiscal. Prices of crude edible oils have run up this fiscal because of supply-side factors. For example, crude soybean oil has soared following a bad crop in Brazil, while crude palm oil flared up because of weak output in Indonesia and Malaysia, the world's top producers. Soybean oil and crude palm oil constitute more than 75 per cent of India's edible oil imports. (ANI)
New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI/Mediawire): Woxsen University collaborates with Schindler India under Corporate Partnership with a joint vision of strengthening industry-academia interface for students, faculty & research. Schindler is a global leader in sustainable, safe, and smart urban mobility and is one of the world's largest providers of elevators, escalators, moving walkways and more. The corporate partnership has been established to fulfil various covenants of the university, one of them is to provide students with exposure to industry movers-and-shakers such as Schindler, that is spearheading innovation and is driven by strong ideologies towards social impact. The Woxsen-Schindler collaboration has been strategically designed to ensure maximum exposure for key areas such as: * Student Mentorship* Capstone Projects* Internships and Live Projects* Leadership Sessions * Management Development Programs (MDPs)* Faculty Development Programs (FDPs)* Research Collaboration* Joint Conferences "Woxsen University is one of the Top 3 best campuses in India, the infrastructure is really amazing, one can really see how the future of India is being built, who is building it and how are they making it very effective. It is a great place to learn and make a great career. I hope to be back to campus with a lot of things to do and make a greater impact." said Ashok Ramachandran - CEO & President, Schindler India. His visit to the campus was towards an interactive session with students currently pursuing MBA in the fields of general management, business analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and financial services. Ashok will be returning to Woxsen University soon, this time as the Chief Guest at the Global Impact Summit 2022, one of the university's flagship events, to be held from April 10 -14, 2022. The event aimed at providing a one-of-a-kind platform to discuss higher education and the opportunities that can be created around it, will feature a slew of industry leaders, entrepreneurs, academicians & researchers, government officials, and regulatory bodies from around the world along with Woxsen's international partner universities Woxsen University, located in Hyderabad, is one of the first private universities of the state of Telangana and is Ranked #13, All India Top 150 B-Schools by Times B-School Ranking 2022 and Rank #16, All India Top Pvt. B-School, BusinessWorld 2021. Renowned for its 200-acre state-of-the-art campus and infrastructure, Woxsen University provides new-age, disruptive programs in the fields of Business, Technology, Arts & Design, Architecture, Liberal Arts & Humanities. With 60+ Global Partner Universities and Strong Industry Connect, Woxsen is reckoned as one of the top universities for Academic Excellence and Global Edge. Ashok Ramachandran Talks About Woxsen Watch Ashok Ramachandran - CEO & President, Schindler India, talk about the Campus, Infrastructural Facilities and his overall experience at WoxsenUnive... Youtube link to be embedded https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN0ShRwZKg8 Disclaimer: Content produced by Woxen University. This story is provided by Mediawire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/Mediawire)
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 31 (ANI/PNN): In a world of WhatsApp forward and Snapchat streaks, Email remains to be the classic and essential tool for businesses to grow and prosper. Using just any mail for your business doesn't show your audience how authentic the business is or how serious you are to your clients. Hop on the bandwagon, or more say a queued line of professional etiquette and get an email that reads your brand's name and is hassle-free. "Mails can be annoying, but they won't be anymore," says the folks at one of India's premier cloud Email hosting companies, Tizzy. Tizzy Cloud Computing Private Limited is a Premier Cloud Email hosting company that your business needs to get everything in order. It was incorporated on April 12, 2018, and has been having a successful run since then. These many years of tested and proven track record of Tizzy Mail are, in itself, its best testimony. They offer all sorts of services, from sorting your mail to making sure you receive your mail, keeping your inbox free from spam and phishing scams, sending Emails faster than any other service, and having the fastest IMAP mail sync even for 25 GB+ mailboxes--all of this at dirt cheap prices. Tizzy has the lowest price in the history of the Cloud Business Email Hosting Industry. You can get Tizzy Mail at just Rs.100/user/year for 5 GB Mailbox. It has a super easy and quick activation, setup, and easy migration too. So, if you're afraid that you already have an outdated one, no worries, you can transfer to the new Tizzy one without any hassle with the guarantee of losing no emails in the process. There are already so many businesses and clients using Tizzy and have almost zero complaints. With Tizzy, you are ensured, no fuss, no negligence, no-nonsense. Their setup is so easy. Even a baby could do it. We could sing volumes of praises about the facilities they have. Beginning with their massive storage of up to 50 GB of mail and up to 50GB of attachments. They also have a convenient 30-day backup facility. Now with Tizzy, you won't have to get annoyed anymore. You can wave goodbye to DNS warnings and enjoy a smooth experience. It is a company you can trust with your information and mail. Their cloud email service proves to be the best in the market. They have their data centre located in Mumbai and are ready to help you with anything anytime, but they pride themselves that it won't come to that since their cloud email service has run so smoothly throughout. They guarantee better performance than others because they don't use an on-site server for the same work. Your business can become and present itself to be legit now by just using their email cloud. Let the cloud take the brunt of the emails while you busy yourself with actual important tasks. Get Tizzy now! To know more, Visit: https://www.Tizzycloud.com 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 31 (ANI/NewsVoir): The Convocation for the 3rd and 4th Batch of ISDM, which was initially postponed due to COVID-19, finally took place on March 27, 2022 at the beautiful and sprawling TERI-Gram campus in Gurgaon. The bright ethnic hues of the graduates' apparel played beautifully against the lush green backdrop of the campus, which provided for a very jovial and picturesque ceremony. This was the most anticipated event in ISDM's history for a few reasons. One was that Batch 3 had been forced to leave campus, and abruptly start taking classes online due to the outbreak of COVID-19. This was the first time that they would be able to all meet again. Some students from Batch 4, fondly referred to as the 'COVID Batch', had never even met their classmates in person! However, it was apparent from the get-go that online classes did not deter these students from forming long-lasting bonds as the grounds were bustling with the energy of alums gleefully reconnecting and fondly rekindling past memories. The Guest of Honour was the respectable Bibek Debroy, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. During the Keynote Address, Debroy spoke at length about how authentic Development Professionals can lead for change in India. Founder and Director, Ravi Sreedharan, spoke about how the landscape of the Social Sector has changed in recent years, and how Development Sector Professionals like the alums of ISDM have been impacting change at scale. Associate Program Director, Naghma Abidi, who has seen ISDM students come and go, talked about some of the precious memories she shared with both the batches. The ceremony was followed by a few alums giving a vote of thanks and quipping about their experiences while studying at ISDM. Before the official Convocation ceremony, many of the alums and Founders of ISDM also had a chance to have an informal heart-to-heart discussion during the 'Guftagu' session. Many alums candidly spoke about their experiences in the social sector. Among these, Mahima Goel, who is currently working at Pravah as an Associate Coordinator, shared that ISDM gave her the confidence she needed to excel in her role. Isha Sharma, who is currently working at CSRBox as a Senior Communication Associate, expressed that it was the different people and diversity of experiences at ISDM that allowed her to learn and grow. For Abhishek Paluri, Co-founder and CEO of HUmanity Uplifting, ISDM was the one place that helped him learn everything that he needed to run his own organization. Overall, the weekend was full of laughter, bittersweet nostalgia, and the re-strengthening of bonds that were forged not too long ago on mutual human values and the desire to do more. ISDM is proud to have these individuals as its ambassadors; individuals who will surely be the future leaders of sustainable, impactful change in the social sector. This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/NewsVoir)
New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI/Mediawire): The Government of India is highly focused on infrastructure development in the country to boost economic growth. With the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns pushing back the growth by several years, work on housing, transport infrastructure, and power is back in full force. Due to the usage of cement in such efforts, India is only second to China in being the largest producer of cement in the world. Since the pandemic, India and the world are now pushing harder than ever to meet climate goals. Moreover, for India, the need and importance to cut down on emissions is double; to target climate change and to reduce the current dangerous levels of air pollution. However, it is also a fact that cement, a key component of concrete, is a major contributor to CO2 emissions. Studies show that the cement industry's worldwide yearly production of 4.2 billion tons contributes about 7 per cent of worldwide carbon dioxide's yearly emissions. The usage and demand for cement are only going to increase due to the burgeoning population and the need for housing and infrastructure. India, along with the world, needs to fast-track the journey to zero-carbon. In the cement industry, the problems of emission in the manufacturing of cement. The energy used to heat the kilns that produce the clinker and the chemical processes that convert limestone into calcium oxide are the major causes of these emissions. However, the Indian cement sector has been at the forefront in responding to climate change. Many large cement companies have done huge emission reductions by using supplementary cementitious materials, improving energy efficiency, substituting the fossil fuel with alternative fuels, using waste heat to generate electricity, and scientifically trying new production techniques and process improvements. Technologies like Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) power generation systems, reducing or ceasing the use of fossil fuels, using solar energy, as well as converting current fossil-fuel based facilities into renewable biomass fuel-based units, are being used by various companies to reduce the emissions during cement production. As the need for energy is paramount in the cement industry, the solution to its emission issues lies in finding renewable electricity that can produce clean, safe, affordable, and infinite energy. Across the globe and in India, companies are in the process of changing their manufacturing techniques to transition to clean energy and reduce their carbon footprint. JSW Cement uses Blast-furnace Slag, a by-product that is produced during iron-making process in Integrated Steel plants to produce low-carbon green cement. Highly effective in chemical resistance, slag increases durability and late strength of the concrete. Slag Cement can substitute 70-80 per cent of OPC in various grades of concrete mixtures, while it can be used 100 per cent in massive mass concrete projects and other Industrial Structures. Three of JSW's products - Portland Slag Cement (PSC), Composite Cement (CC) and Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBS) - are GreenPro certified and have made JSW Cement the country's first-ever cement manufacturer to receive the prominent GreenPro Certification for Portland Slag Cement (PSC) from the CII-IGBC (Confederation of Indian Industry - Indian Green Building Council). JSW also has required EPDs for its products PSC and GGBS which help in getting certification from USGBC. The initiatives of JSW Cement which received the GreenPro Certification are reduction in CO2 emissions, use of alternate raw material, enhancement of mines life, conservation of limestone, efficient water management, restoration of mines, green belt development, and biodiversity. As per the Life Cycle Assessment and EPD certification of JSW's PSC product, JSW PSC has been conclusively proven to have less ecological footprint than OPC under parameters such as least global warming potential, maximum usage of secondary materials, less acidification & eutrophication potential, and minimal non-renewable primary energy usage. As far as consumer and contractor point of view is considered, shifting to green cement is the best way to help reduce the carbon footprint. Green cement is essentially cement produced by companies through various manufacturing techniques that reduce carbon emissions. Compared to OPC, green cement consumes about 60 per cent less thermal energy and the carbon emission intensity of green cement is also 60 per cent less. As per the market predictions, the green cement market was registered at US $ 609.3 million in 2019 and is anticipated to cross the US $ 678.2 billion by 2026. Between the period 2020-2026, the market is expected to register a CAGR of 4.8 per cent. The governments of the United Kingdom (UK), India, Germany, the United Arab Emirates and Canada, under the new Industrial Deep Decarbonization Initiative (IDDI), announced a pledge in November 2021 that sends a clear message to heavy industry - "If you make low-carbon steel and concrete, we will buy it". The group of countries announced its intention to buy low-carbon steel and concrete at the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, with specific interim targets by 2030 expected to be revealed at the next meeting of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CEM) by mid-2022. Right now, the public procurement of steel and cement in the five countries represents 25 to 40 per cent of the domestic market for such materials. While the cement industry is trying to get to Net Zero with green cement, this relatively new product has a negligible overall market share in India. Among the many challenges in making it a dominant product, awareness, and cost to the consumer, top the list. These two challenges are also symbiotic in the sense that improving consumer awareness will increase the demand and thereby scale its production, leading to a better price for the consumer. Being the second-largest producer of cement in the world, India's global share in cement is about 9 per cent. This means that a shift in consumer preference in India would significantly affect the global climate change war. Government can really drive the change in commercial structures and individual housing by mandating a minimum green cement component while emphasizing investments. India is already among the top countries in the world trying to create a sustainable future with clean energy. Manufacturing and usage of green cement can significantly boost the cement industry's efforts toward a greener and cleaner future. All our marketing efforts are focussed towards pushing the message and importance of using green and sustainable products, as portrayed in our National TVC's and other efforts. It comes as a surprise to many that cement can be green and sustainable too. Gurminder Singh, Head- Branding https://youtu.be/MDBY5A7cc-o "JSW Cement has a disruptive business model in the building materials space. Though we face headwinds and resistance in selling innovative low-carbon products, JSW management is committed to promote its sustainable product mix in the larger good for people of India. We are hopeful that in near future public procurement shall embrace low carbon products and lead by example." Manoj Rustagi - EVP - Sustainability & Innovation, Capex Projects. To know more: https://www.jswcement.in/low-carbon-footprint This story is provided by Mediawire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/Mediawire)
The currency surpassed the Rs 183-mark for the first time in the history of Pakistan, shedding over Rs 25 since the start of the ongoing fiscal (2021-22).

The rupee closed at Rs 183.48 against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday.

In March, the rupee has depreciated by 3.38 per cent (or Rs 6.07) against the US currency.

Meanwhile, as the Opposition's number game gets stronger, Prime Minister Imran Khan has offered to dissolve the assembly if the no-confidence motion against him is withdrawn, Geo News reported.

According to the sources, an "important personality" has given a message of Imran Khan to the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif.

This was revealed during the meeting of the Opposition leaders on Thursday ahead of the crucial National Assembly session for the debate on the no-confidence motion.

It was shared that the premier has asked for a "safe passage" amid a deepening political crisis.

Sources further added that Imran Khan has said that if the Opposition doesn't agree to his suggestion, he is ready to face any situation, Geo News reported.

--IANS san/arm

( 240 Words)

2022-03-31-20:26:05 (IANS)
Appears like Oscars 2022 slap controversy is not over yet. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday began disciplinary proceedings against actor Will Smith for misbehaving at the 94th Academy Awards held on Sunday. For a recap, while presenting the best documentary feature at the Oscars, comedian Chris Rock made a joke about Will Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head. Rock said he couldn't wait to see Pinkett Smith, who has alopecia, star in 'G.I. Jane 2' which led Smith to go up on stage and slap Rock. Smith returned to his seat and shouted, "Keep my wife's name out of your fu**ing mouth!" After the incident, Smith who was announced Best Actor at the Oscars, was asked to leave the show but refused to do so; The Hollywood Reporter reported. The actor's actions were in violation of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, "including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy," The Hollywood Reporter quoted the statement released after a Board of Governors meeting. The statement revealed that Smith could face suspension, expulsion or other sanctions if the board chooses to take action at the next scheduled meeting on April 18. Additionally, Smith will receive 15 days' notice of a vote as well as an opportunity to be heard by written response beforehand. "Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated. While we would like to clarify that Mr Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently," The Hollywood Reporter quoted Academy. The Academy also apologised directly to Rock in the statement, as well as nominees, guests and viewers. For the unversed, while accepting his first-ever Oscar for best actor (leading role) in 'King Richard', Smith apologised to the Academy and fellow nominees, but did not mention Rock. The Hollywood Reporter reported that the officers of the organisation's Board of Governors had an emergency meeting a day later, and the full board met on Wednesday to discuss the incident. One board of governor said there was broad support for Smith to be suspended or expelled from the Academy. "I think everyone unanimously feels what he did was out of control," the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "People want real consequence. Every member of every branch is reaching out to all their governors. It was an assault -- and not only a physical assault, but an assault on the community," told the source to The Hollywood Reporter. The source added that "images of Smith and his family celebrating and dancing at the post-Oscar Vanity Fair party as if nothing had happened was an additional insult." Following a rage of backlash over social media, including from the Academy, Smith took to Instagram on Monday to apologise to Rock. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that Rock declined to press charges against what happened at the Oscars 2022 ceremony. (ANI)
On Thursday morning, SRK was spotted at the Mumbai airport along with his manager Pooja Dadlani.

Several pictures and videos have been doing the rounds on the internet in which King Khan can be seen sporting a white tee, a pair of blue denim jeans and a black cap. He also wore a mask and had his shoulder-length hair tied in a ponytail.

Before moving into his car, Shah Rukh greeted his staff, hugged them, and then he settled inside.

His airport look has left his fans in awe of him.

"SRK slaying," a social media user commented.

"He is looking so hot in a white T-shirt," another one wrote.

A few days ago, he surprised everyone with his BTS picture from the shooting schedule in which he flaunted his eight-pack abs and long hair look.

For the unversed, SRK's 'Pathaan' will hit theatres on January 25, 2023. The film also features Deepika Padukone and John Abraham. (ANI)
A dreamy love song with a punchy chorus, 'When You're Gone' is his first release since 'It'll Be Okay', which dropped in December 2021.

As per Billboard, Mendes' long-time collaborator, Jay Martin shot the official music video, filmed across several days of recording, rehearsing in Toronto, Canada. The visual builds to Mendes' live debut of the song at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

Mendes also announced the release of the song on his Instagram handle by posting a clip of the music video.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CbwRZf1KhRS/

Fans flooded the post with love-filled comments.

"I absolutely love it, your music truly makes me feel every emotion and I fall in love with your songs every time," a fan wrote.

"Te amo," another added.

'When You're Gone' is produced by the Canadian heartthrob and Jonah Shy, and co-written by Mendes, Jonah Shy, and Scott Harris.

Mendes will perform 'When You're Gone' and his bank of hits when he returns to the road for 'Wonder: The World Tour', his biggest tour yet. The North America leg kicks off on June 27 in Portland, Oregon and wraps on October 26 in Newark, New Jersey. (ANI)
Excited about the shoot, Nushrratt said, "I am super excited to be a part of the Selfiee cast and looking forward to working on one more film with Akshay sir.. And that too right after Ram Setu, which makes it even more special!"

'Selfiee', which also features Akshay Kumar, Emraan Hashmi and Diana Penty, is being helmed by Raj Mehta.

"Ofcourse my director Raj Mehta, who I have last done Ajeeb Datsaans with, he is one crazy fun director! And him and Akshay sir on set, it will definitely be a laugh riot all day everyday! Selfiee is going to be one mad fun ride. I'm also really looking forward to working with Emraan sir and Diana. I've enjoyed watching their movies and excited to be working with them on Selfiee," she added.

Nushrratt also took to her social media to share a glimpse of the warm welcome she received on the sets from the production house.

Meanwhile, Nushrratt is also waiting for the release of her film 'Hurdang'. (ANI)
Filmmaker Ashwiy Iyer Tiwari has finished shooting for 'Faadu'. On Thursday, Ashwiny took to Instagram and shared the update with her followers. "Wrapped #Faadu and wrapped a piece of my heart for every beautiful human who has passionately worked on this story. living and breathing every character through 8 months of prep and shoot. There is no greater joy for a storyteller to see the symphony of a scene slowly taking shape with each note of love and commitment from crew members of every department whose eyes speak volumes of passion for their craft," she wrote. The SonyLIV original series is being described as an intense poetic love story between two different-thinking characters. Talking more about the series, she added, "Filmmaking is not an easy process. It is not about instant gratification. It is definitely about being patient outward and inward at various milestones. Its like a long bridge where every nut and bolt is holding for the journey to keep moving. When one breaks down the others can hardly manage. And it cannot be left unfinished. Thank-you to each and everyone who has been with me in this journey of triumphs and adversity. Of moments of breakdown. Of trust and friendship." 'Faadu' stars Saiyami Kher, Pavail Gulati and Abhilash Thapliyal in the lead roles. Thanking her team, Ashwiny continued, "Thank-you Danish, Saumya Joshi, Indranil, Nirav for trusting me with this gem and narrating a beautiful scene of two individuals one afternoon in Jan 2020 It's indeed been a journey of exploration and learning about oneself in the emotions of characters that makes Faadu indeed Faadu. Thank-you @pavailgulati , @saiyami , @abhilashthapliyal and my entire diverse cast, some very senior actors from various parts of our country who made their presence felt even for a small scene. I only have immense gratitude that I sailed through the unexpectedness in an pandemic age." The screenplay of 'Faadu' is written by poet, theatre writer and director Saumya Joshi. (ANI)
Researchers from the University of Sydney, Australia suggested that a combination of physiotherapy alongside psychological interventions are more effective for improving physical function and pain intensity. The clinical study published in BMJ can help improve the clarity of guideline recommendations to better support patients and clinicians in treatment decision making. Adults with chronic low back pain (lasting for more than 12 weeks) not only experience physical disability but can also suffer psychological distress in the form of anxiety, depression and fear avoidance (avoiding movement for fear of pain). Clinical guidelines therefore consistently recommend a combination of exercise and psychosocial therapies for managing chronic low back pain. But not much is known about the different types of psychological therapies available and their effectiveness, leaving doctors and patients often unclear about the best choice of treatment. To address this uncertainty, researchers based in Australia and Canada set out to investigate the comparative effectiveness and safety of common psychological interventions on physical function and pain intensity in adults with chronic low back pain. They trawled research databases for randomised controlled trials comparing psychological interventions with any comparison intervention in adults with chronic, non-specific low back pain. Psychological interventions were clustered into six nodes: behavioural interventions, cognitive behavioural therapies (often called 'talking treatments'), mindfulness, counselling, pain education programmes, and two or more combined psychological approaches (eg. pain education delivered with behavioural therapy). Comparison interventions were classified as physiotherapy care, general practitioner care, advice, no intervention, and usual care. A total of 97 randomised controlled trials involving 13,136 participants and 17 treatment approaches were included, most of which were published between 2011 and 2021 and were conducted in Europe. Overall, the researchers found that compared with physiotherapy care alone, physiotherapy delivered with psychological interventions were more effective for improving physical function and pain intensity. Compared with physiotherapy care alone, the results show that both cognitive behavioural therapy and pain education delivered with physiotherapy care led to clinically important improvements in physical function up to 2 months after treatment. However, the clinical benefits of pain education on physical function was more sustainable, lasting up to 6 months after treatment. For pain intensity, behavioural therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, and pain education delivered with physiotherapy care led to clinically important effects up to 2 months after treatment. However, only behavioural therapy delivered with physiotherapy care maintained these clinically important effects on pain intensity up to 12 months after treatment. And while cognitive behavioural therapy delivered with physiotherapy was the most effective intervention for reducing fear avoidance up to 2 months after treatment, the most sustainable effects for fear avoidance were achieved with pain education programs delivered with physiotherapy care. Finally, of the 20 studies that provided enough information about adverse effects, 12 (60%) clearly reported that no adverse events occurred in any intervention group. However, the researchers raise some concerns about the poor quality of safety data reporting. This was a well-designed review that captured a broad range of common psychological interventions and investigated outcomes that are meaningful to patients and clinicians. But the researchers do acknowledge some limitations, including differences in trial design and quality that may have influenced their results. Nevertheless, they write: "For people with chronic, non-specific low back pain, psychological interventions are most effective when delivered in conjunction with physiotherapy care (mainly structured exercise). Pain education programmes and behavioural therapy result in the most sustainable effects of treatment; however, uncertainty remains as to their long term effectiveness." "Findings from our study can be used to inform clearer guideline recommendations regarding the use of specific psychological interventions for managing chronic, non-specific low back pain and support decision making for patients and clinicians," the concluded. (ANI)
After the murder of a trader in Patna for Rs 1,000, a cashier of a private firm was shot dad in Bihar's Darbhanga district on Wednesday as he resisted a robbery bid, police said. The incident occurred at Friends Colony under Laheriasarai police station around 1 p.m. as the Jata Shankar Chaudhary, the cashier of Redient India Pvt Ltd, was on his way to the bank to deposit Rs 12 lakh cash. "The robbers intercepted him on the way to the bank and tried to snatch the bag containing the money but Chaudhary put up stiff resistance. Eventually, one of the robbers pulled out a gun and shot him at close range," Laheriasarai SHO Hari Narayan Singh said. After committing the crime, the accused fled towards adjoining Samastipur district. In another incident of loot, a group of armed men robbed Rs 15 lakh at gun point in Rohtas district on Wednesday afternoon. Upendra Singh, a cashier of Karwandia fuel station under the Mofussil police station on NH 19 Grand Trunk road, was on the way to the bank to deposit money. Rohtas' SDPO, Sadar, Santosh Kumar Rai, said: "Two bike-borne assailants, who were waiting outside the bank, executed the snatching on the gun point. They easily took the bag and fled from the spot without facing any resistance." In these cases, the robbers gauged that with banks in Bihar closed for the last couple of days due to employees' strike, various businesses would seen a large amount of cash collected in the last two days and employees would go to banks to deposit it. --IANS ajk/vd ( 278 Words) 2022-03-30-21:34:04 (IANS)
The official said that they received a PCR call at 5 pm regarding two persons working in a sewage treatment plant in Dallupura who had fallen in a pit.

"As the police reached the spot, they found two persons had fallen into a sewage pit in Kondli," Deputy Commissioner of Police Priyanka Kashyap said. The fire department officials also reached the spot.

Both the victims were then taken out of the pit by the police and fire department officials. The deceased have been identified as Nitesh (25), a resident of Khaspur Bulandshar, and Yashdev (35), a resident of Tigri Rathol.

A fire department official told IANS that they had gone inside the sewage pit to repair a motor, and they were probably killed by poisonous gas.

The incident took place just a day after four people lost their lives after falling into a sewage pit in Delhi's Rohini area on Tuesday evening.

The National Human Rights Commission has taken suo-motu cognisance of the incident in Rohini and sought a detailed report in the matter within four weeks from the concerned authorities.

--IANS uj/arm

( 216 Words)

2022-03-30-21:44:04 (IANS)
Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme, also known as the Bharat NCAP, has already been notified by his Ministry. Responding to the question by Congress MP KTS Tulsi about the safety norms in vehicle manufacturing, as the deaths in vehicle accidents have gone up in the country, Gadkari said that all over the world, the major car manufacturing companies have the safety standards and this is also need of the hour in India. "Every year, over five lakh of accidents happen in India, reporting over 1.5 lakh deaths in these accidents, therefore, we took a decision and made six airbags mandatory for all cars," he said. The Minister also said that compulsory airbags are very important from a road safety point of view and that is why we made them mandatory for all cars including in the economic models too. Citing the figure of the road accidents, he said that in the year 2020, a total of 25,289 accidents happened out of which 30 per cent of lives could have been saved with by the airbags in case of front collision while 31 per cent of lives could have been saved in side collision by the use of side airbags. He also said that under the Bharat NCAP, the structural safety of the vehicle, adult occupants, stiffness of the vehicle structure, crash tests safety of child occupants, assessment of the car from the pedestrian's safety point of view and the bonnet design, active safety assistance technology, six airbags norms, 3.5 seat belts and seat belt alert system, have been included as the new features. "We want to protect the lives of the people and this is the reason, we are also going to start the 'rating system' for the manufacturing companies. This will create more employment opportunities in the vehicle manufacturing sector and boost exports as well," Gadkari said. The Bharat NCAP will envisage the cars sold in the country will be assigned by star ratings based on their safety performance. It will be implemented in phases, according to the plans being drawn up by the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project. --IANS ams/pgh ( 383 Words) 2022-03-30-22:10:03 (IANS)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Wednesday asked the Collector and Superintendent of Police (SP) of Rewa district "when these bulldozers be used" while referring to a rape case that occurred in Raj Niwas, a government-run guesthouse in the district, in which spiritual leader Vedanti Maharaj's grandson-cum-disciple Mahant Sitaram Das is one of the accused. The Chief Minister was in Rewa on Wednesday to attend a 'Rojgar Divas' programme organised by the district administration, and to inaugurate a Vaatsalya Hospital in the district. While addressing the gathering, Chouhan said, "I have read about the rape incident in Raj Niwas. The District Collector and SP, I am telling you to take strict action against those involved in the matter. When these bulldozers be used?" The Chief Minister said his government will not spare those involved in rape and atrocities against the poor, no matter who is he. "Use bulldozers to demolish the house of those involved in the rape case. I am giving you the instruction," Chouhan said. Since the rape incident at Raj Niwas came to light, local Congress workers and social activists have been protesting at different places of the district, including outside the Raj Niwas and the district police headquarters. A group of Congress workers, who were heading to Raj Niwas to protest, were detained by the police before the Chief Minister's helicopter landed in Rewa on Wednesday. Mahant Sitaram Das has been in Rewa for the last couple of weeks to oversee the preparation of a week-long 'Hanuman Katha' which was scheduled to start from April 1 but has been cancelled after the incident. Few days back, Mahant Sitaram Das aka Samarth Tripathi, who has strong connections with several local politicians, was seen greeting Rewa district SP Navneet Bhaseen on the occasion of Holi. Rewa is the birthplace of Mahant Sitaram's grandfather Ram Vilas Vedanti, who is now popularly known as Vedanti Maharaj. A 17-year-old girl was raped at the Raj Niwas on March 28. So far, one person has been arrested in connection with the case -- Vinod Pandey, a history-sheeter who has more than 30 cases against him. Pandey also has strong connections with local politicians. --IANS pd/arm ( 380 Words) 2022-03-30-22:52:02 (IANS)
A memorandum of Agreement (MoA) to this effect was signed among the departments of Scheduled Tribe, Scheduled Caste and Minorities Development, Mission Shakti, and RYSS of Andhra Pradesh in presence of Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra.

The agreement was signed by T Vijaya Kumar, Advisor to Government of Andhra Pradesh on agriculture and cooperation, and Executive Vice-Chairman of RYSS; Principal Secretary ST-SC and Minority Dev Ranjana Chopra; and, Sujata Karthikeyan Secretary Mission Shakti, Odisha.

Emphasizing on the inevitability of natural farming for eco-biology and a sustainable future, Chief Secretary Mahapatra directed concerned departments to have robust "field level convergence for successful implementation of the programme".

"Natural farming will get popular acceptance among the people, more particularly in tribal-dominated districts of Odisha as the method is quite compatible with the traditional patterns. The method while reducing the cost of production will also usher in production of safe and nutritious food items," he said.

Development Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena said that natural farming will lead to "transformational change towards sustainability".

"As the popularity of non-toxic food items is in high demand, natural farming will fetch more income to WSHGs," Jena said.

MoA was signed to start the programme in tribal-dominated areas in collaboration with RYSS of Andhra Pardesh who would provide knowledge support with its rich experience from Andhra Pradesh.

Outlining the basic objectives of the programme, Principal Secretary Ranjana Chopra said, "Natural farming transition programme will be implemented in tribal-dominated areas of 5 districts namely Sundargarh, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Rayagada and Koraput".

The project would be rolled out in the operational area from the Financial Year of 2022-23. (ANI)
Union Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday launched over 1 lakh internship opportunities for the youth through the All India Council For Technical Education internship portal and said there should be an aim to provide 100 million internship opportunities in the next three years "for boosting the employability of youth". "As we prepare the roadmap for India @ 2047, the year India will complete 100 years of independence, we must work together and aim to provide 100 million internship opportunities in the next 2-3 years for boosting employability of youth and building a more productive economy," Pradhan tweeted. Calling the step a "welcome beginning", the Minister said that the industry should "aim to provide internship opportunities to all". "NEP 2020 emphasises linking industry with academic institutions to make youth future-ready. 1 lakh plus internship opportunities is a welcome beginning but our academic institutions & industry should aim for providing internship opportunities to all," Pradhan tweeted. The Minister encouraged the industry to diversify the internship opportunities. "I am happy that the industry today is recognising the need for apprenticeship, skilling and re-skilling. I also encourage the companies present here and the industry to diversify internship opportunities, including in humanities and new emerging technologies," he tweeted. (ANI)
Speaking to ANI on Gandhi's visit to the state, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that he will be meeting senior leaders and will be looking to strengthen the party for the upcoming polls.

"He will be meeting senior leaders, frontal organisation, party executive committee. He will also visit the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office," Kharge said.

On Thursday, Gandhi is likely to visit Sree Siddaganga Math in Tumkur at around 4 pm by road. He is likely to pay respects to Dr Shri Shivakumara Swami on the occasion of his Jayanti. The Congress leader is scheduled to hold a meeting with the Bengaluru leaders.

On Friday, the Congress leader will visit the KPCC office and attend the executive meeting with the frontals. (ANI)
With the onset of summer, Akila, the temple elephant, in Trichy city is being given a mud bath to ward off insect bites as well as help the mammal to regulate the normal body temperature. The giant mammal is seen splashing and rolling in a mud pool, rejoicing at the luxury to play around amid soaring temperatures. The mud bath will serve as a layer over the skin of Akila which will help the mammal avoid sub burn. Akila is being provided with an exclusive pool to enjoy the mud bath. Akila, 17-year-old, is one of the biggest attractions at Arulmigu Jambukeswarar temple in Thiruvanaikoil in Trichy city. The devotees throng Akila at the temple. The mammal performs daily duties diligently. The elephant leads temple procession around the city, getting dressed in special outfits for ceremonies, and also blesses devotees. Akila fetches water for the sacred idols of the deity for the ritual bath. With a huge fan-following and personal accounts on social media, temple devotees take selfies with Akila. Akila, once a year, is given a rejuvenation camp with other elephants, where they are pampered and cared for by their caretakers. Punita, a devotee from Trichy, said, "Elephants are very fond of playing in the mud. We have come here to see Akila; my son is excited to see the mammal. Akila has been given a new ground for mud bath. It will protect skin of the elephant from sunburns and keep it cool. Elephants' skin is very sensitive." Akila takes bath in a 1500-square-foot wallowing ground which has a mix of clay and red soil. The temple authorities said it is first of its kind walloping ground facility created in Tamil Nadu. It was set up at a cost of Rs 1 lakh, contributed by the donors. (ANI)
In a heartfelt farewell to 72 members of the House, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday lauded the retiring "pool of performers", and said that it is not often that a good number of strong Parliamentarians are retiring in one go. In his farewell speech, Naidu said, "A vast pool of considerable legislative experience, domain knowledge, Parliamentary skills and proven performance in the House is retiring. It is not often that such a pool of performers retires in one go." The Rajya Sabha Chairman also urged that the legislators across the country be propelled by "passion, performance and procedural integrity" and desist from disrupting the law-making bodies, while also upholding the honour and privilege bestowed on them by the people. Recounting the contributions of some veterans and the first-time members by name to the proceedings of the House and making the best use of available opportunities, Naidu referred to most of the retiring members who had kept themselves away from the tendency to disrupt the House. Referring to "unjustifiable disruptions" in legislatures in the country, Naidu said: "It is disturbing to note that during the past four years, this august House has lost over 35 per cent of its valuable functional time due to disruptions. This needs to be curbed before it is too late." Further, Naidu referred to the performances of retiring members and said that the 84-year-old SR Balasubramoniyan is the lone Member who has attended all the 234 sittings of the House during the 12 sessions from the 244th session in 2017 till the winter session last year (the 255th session) demonstrating passion and sincerity, defying the age. Naidu appreciated the performance of several first-time Members retiring and the promises shown by them as typified by Dr Sasmit Patra by quickly adapting to the nuances of the functioning of the House. He also referred to the contributions of TG Venkatesh, V Vijayasai Reddy, and Vinay P Sabhasrabuddhe for substantially improving the working of departmental committees chaired by them despite being first time Members of the House. The retiring members have a total Parliamentary experience of 181 terms, including 143 terms in Rajya Sabha and 38 in Lok Sabha earlier. Of the 72 retiring members, 27 have been for two or more terms in the Rajya Sabha. Four Ministers -- Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, and Ram Chandra Prasad -- are completing their tenures during this period. Chairmen of five of the eight Department Related Standing Committees of Rajya Sabha and floor leaders of four parties are also in the retiring list. Another 45 members are retiring after serving one term in the Upper House. The 72 retiring members include AK Anthony, Ambika Soni, P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Suresh Prabhu, Praful Patel, Dr Subramonian Swamy, Prasanna Acharya, Sanjay Raut, Naresh Gujral, Satish Chandra Mishra, MC Mary Kom, Swapan Dasgupta, and Narendra Jadhav. The 65 retiring Members represented 19 states while seven are nominated members. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to entertain a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking 'Bharat Ratna' to Indian business tycoon Ratan Tata for his service to the nation. The bench of Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Nahin Chawla on Thursday questioned "what kind of petition is this, is it court to direct to grant Bharat Ratna, where is the question of the court to step in?" After court observation, the petitioner's counsel withdrew the petition and which was also allowed by the court. The plea stated that "Ratan Tata has dedicated his whole life for the welfare of nation without any interest and he has promoted the industry to a high level and his contribution to the Nation is unforgettable." The plea stated that Ratan Tata deserves the pride of India and he should be awarded the Bharat Ratan as he is still serving the Nation and he has unblemished life. Petitioner Rakesh, a social worker through Lawyers AK Dubey and Pawan Kumar states that till now 48 people have been awarded with this award for their service for the Nation by the Government of India. And there is a long time demand to grant the Bharat Ratan award to Ratan Tata, who is the Indian business magnate and Tata Group chairman emeritus, Ratan Tata, who is known for his generosity. It was also stated that Ratan Tata has led an exemplary life inspiring millions of career aspirants around the globe and he was born with a golden spoon, Ratan Tata proved himself to be an excellent leader and a business owner. The plea further stated that, in March 2020, Ratan Tata had pledged Rs.500 crore from Tata Trusts, the parent company of Tata Motors, to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. M/s Tata Sons also announced an additional support of Rs.1,000 crore, taking the total commitment to Rs.1,500 crore and the funds will be used for personal protective equipment for medical personnel, respiratory systems, testing kits and setting up modular treatment facilities for patients, among others. Ratan Tata is a great Businessman and under his leadership, the business focused on global expansion. Tata Group acquired UK's Tetley Tea for $431.2 million back in 2000 and acquired the truck-manufacturing operations of South Korea's Daewoo Motors for $102 million in 2004. In 2008, Tata Motors acquired British car brands Jaguar and Land Rover from the Ford Motor Company in the $2.3billion deal that marked the biggest-ever buyout by an Indian automaker, stated the plea. Ratan Tata had already received the Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan in 2000 and 2008 respectively. Among other notable recognitions conferred on Ratan Tata included the UK's Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2009 and similar awards by the Governments of Italy, Japan, and France, plea read. (ANI)
Speaking to ANI on Gandhi's visit to the state, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that he will be meeting senior leaders and will be looking to strengthen the party for the upcoming polls.

"He will be meeting senior leaders, frontal organisation, party executive committee. He will also visit the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office," Kharge said.

Gandhi is likely to visit Sree Siddaganga Math in Tumkur at around 4 pm today. He is likely to pay respects to Dr Shri Shivakumara Swami on the occasion of his Jayanti. The Congress leader is scheduled to hold a meeting with the Bengaluru leaders.

On Friday, the Congress leader will visit the KPCC office and attend the executive meeting with the frontals.

Rahul's visit comes at a time when the state is debating issues like Hijab ban, restriction on Non-Hindu traders conducting business inside temple premises and Halal meat row. (ANI)
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday welcomed the Centre's decision to reduce disturbed areas in Assam under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) saying that around 60 per cent of state's area will now be free from AFSPA's purview. "I whole-heartedly welcome the decision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to withdraw AFSPA from all areas of Assam barring nine districts and one sub-division. I also convey our deep gratitude to HM Shah for this bold decision. Now around 60 per cent of the State's area will be free from AFSPA's purview," said Sarma. The Chief Minister said that AFSPA has been in force since 1990 and this move marks the beginning of a new chapter in Assam's future. "It is a testimony to the significant improvement in law and order in the State. With peace getting primacy, North East is now on a new trajectory of growth and development," he said. He further said that due to PM Modi's visionary leadership, the region is all set to become the new engine of India's growth "Ashta Lakshmi". "I also compliment the people of Assam, who have believed in peace," he added. Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced that the Central government has decided to reduce disturbed areas under the AFSPA in the states of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur after decades. Meanwhile, officials in the Ministry of Home Affairs clarified that the Centre's decision will considerably reduce areas under AFSPA with effect from April 1. However, the officials also made it clear that AFSPA has not been completely removed. Disturbed area notification is in force in the whole of Assam since 1990. With the step, the officials said, 23 districts of Assam are now being removed completely and one district partially from the effect of AFSPA with effect from April 1. The AFSPA empowers security forces to conduct operations anywhere and arrest anyone without any prior warrant. In 2005, the Justice Jeevan Reddy Committee had recommended the repeal of AFSPA and suggested an amendment to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967 by inserting a new Chapter with respect to the North-Eastern states. (ANI)
Amid much outrage over the Birbhum violence in which eight people were charred to death, West Bengal BJP chief Sukanta Majumdar on Thursday called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah and submitted the report of the five-member fact-finding committee of the party. The committee submitted its report to party chief JP Nadda on Wednesday. Nadda had formed a five-member fact-finding committee comprising West Bengal state BJP president Sukanta Majumdar, Rajya Sabha MP and former Uttar Pradesh DGP Brajlal, Lok Sabha MP and former Mumbai Police Commissioner Satya Pal Singh, Rajya Sabha MP and former IPS KC Ramamurty and BJP spokesperson and former IPS Bharati Ghosh. State BJP Chief Whip Manoj Tigga also attended the meeting and apprised Amit Shah about the unruly scenes witnessed in the state Assembly over the recent killings in the Birbhum district following which 5 BJP MLAs, including Suvendu Adhikari were suspended from the Assembly, until further notice. Speaking to ANI, Majumdar said, "The situation in West Bengal is very bad. Around 400 bombs were recovered in the last four days only from the district of Birbhum. We are sitting on the pile of explosives. Soon, we will also have a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the situation." "The manner in which Mamata Banerjee is making statements clearly shows that her mental state is not well. The way she made comments on Ukraine-Russia, it raises questions about her mental state," he said. Notably, Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari shared a video of Banerjee on Twitter where she purportedly blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the war in Ukraine in a gathering. "TMC district president Anubrata Mondal tried to supress the Birbhum case. Earlier he said that the arson was caused by a short circuit and blast of a television set. Even, the victims' families spoke about Mondal. They run a syndicate and the money is sent to Mondal. It is very shocking that Anubrata Mondal is roaming free. The SIT should have arrested him," added Majumdar. BJP national vice president Dilip Ghosh said that Mamata Banerjee has failed as a chief minister. "Mamata Banerjee has failed as CM. She did not even once express her apology or grief over the Birbhum incident. The police did not take any action for three days which proves that her party men are also involved in this incident. The extent to which these leaders are connected should also be known," Ghosh told ANI. Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday slammed the BJP for its fact-finding report on Birbhum violence in which eight people were charred to death, and said that the "interference" of the party amid the ongoing investigation is an "abuse and misuse of power". "I condemn this type of attitude. When an investigation is on, there should not be any interference from any side. The probe must be free and fair. Party interference at this moment is misuse and abuse of power," Mamata said. The Chief Minister alleged that the report has the name of her district president and said that the "biased attitude" of the BJP shows that "it wants to get him arrested." "They have mentioned my district president's name. How they can mention his name without any probe? It shows they want him to get arrested. This is a biased and vindictive attitude. They want to arrest all those who are opposing BJP," the Chief Minister said. As many as eight people were killed in the Rampurhat area of West Bengal's Birbhum on March 22 after a mob allegedly set houses on fire following the killing of TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe of the Birbhum violence case following the Calcutta High Court order. Meanwhile, CBI named 22 accused under Section 147, 148, 149 and other Sections in FIR on suspected offence of armed rioting. Last week, Director-General of Police (DGP) West Bengal, Manoj Malviya had informed that 11 arrests were made in the case. On Friday, the Calcutta High Court had 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. (ANI)
S. Subbiah is from Kilpauk Medical College and Hospital and was earlier suspended for indulging in political activities.

The High Court also directed the State Government to complete a departmental inquiry within 12 weeks.

Earlier Chennai Police arrested the former national president of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) Dr Subbiah Shanmugam in Chennai for allegedly harassing a neighbouring woman.

Adambakkam police had lodged the complaint under Sections 271 (Disobedience to quarantine rule) and 427 (Mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Tamil Nadu prevention of women harassment act on the basis of the victim's complaint. (ANI)
The SIT probing the case had sought 90 days of extension in filing a charge sheet. Today was the last day to file the charge sheet.

Earlier in December, the Bombay High Court relieved Aryan Khan, who was arrested in the drugs-on-cruise case, from appearing before Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) every week.

However, the court had directed him to appear before Delhi's Special Investigation Team (SIT) whenever summoned.

The SIT took over the investigation of the case in November last year after allegations of pay-offs were levelled against Mumbai Zonal officer of the NCB Sameer Wankhede by Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik and he was dismissed from further probing the case.

Aryan Khan, along with other accused Arbaaz Merchant and Munmun Dhamecha, was granted bail by the High Court on October 28 in the drugs-on-cruise case.

An NCB team had busted an alleged drugs party on the Cordelia Cruise ship which was on its way to Goa at mid-sea on October 2 night. Eight persons were detained for questioning by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) in connection with the case.

Eight people were later arrested on October 3 including, Aryan Khan, Arbaaz Merchant, and Munmun Dhamecha. Later, a total of 20 people were arrested in connection with the case. (ANI)
Appointments are being made to commissions, boards and committees in Maharashtra, but Congress leaders are not being appointed to them, said Rai's letter to Gandhi.

Accusing Sena and NCP of conspiring against Congress, Rai said, "I have been constantly writing to party president about the damage Congress is facing due to the conspiracy of partners in the alliance."

"Till when can we comprise in a bid to keep secular parties together? We are bearing the insult from our alliance partners," said Rai.

Rai also slammed his state party leadership for remaining spectators "for 2.5 years while the alliance partners were damaging the party like termites."

"It's shocking that Maharashtra Congress in-charge remains unaware of the discontent inside the party and then fails to address such issues when they come to the fore," reads the letter.

He further alleged that Congress MLAs and workers are not happy with Ministers of their party inducted into the Maharashtra government.

He requested Sonia Gandhi to look into the matter. (ANI)
The Delhi High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Centre and Delhi government on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction for repairs, operations, and maintenance of elevators and escalators across foot over bridges in the national capital. This callous approach of authorities has left persons with disabilities and senior citizens unable to access such basic public infrastructure, the PIL stated. The bench headed by acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi issued notice to the Centre, Delhi Government, Public Works Department (PWD) and Chief Commissioner for the persons with disabilities on the PIL moved by Advocate Pankaj Mehta. The bench has directed the Delhi Government and PWD to file a status report on the petition. The Court asked the Centre to file a compliance report with regard to directions issued in the Nipun Malhotra case earlier. The petition has been listed for September 6, 2022, for further hearing. The petitioner Pankaj Mehta argued that the government spent a considerable amount of taxpayers' money on the construction of foot over bridges across the NCT of Delhi and on the installation of elevators and escalators in the said foot over bridges. He also argued that almost all such elevators and escalators installed in the said foot overbridges are inoperable for several years. This callous approach of authorities has left persons with disabilities and senior citizens unable to access such basic public infrastructure which is a prima facie violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. The PIL stated that the petitioner filed several RTIs with the authorities concerned but the same was transferred from one department to another without any substantial response to the queries raised by the applicant. He also sent a representation letter to Respondents on February 28, 2022, bringing their attention towards the state of the public infrastructure in Delhi. However, the Respondents turned a blind eye to the same and refused to respond even to this day. (ANI)
"We will withdraw all the COVID-19 related restrictions from the state from Gudi Padwa. The decision has been taken today in the cabinet meeting. An order will be issued for the same. We will withdraw the order which made it mandatory to wear a mask," said Health Minister Rajesh Tope after the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Chief Minister Thackeray said that the Gudi Padwa festival marks the new year.

"All COVID restrictions in Maharashtra will be lifted, as we bring in the new year this Gudi Padwa!" tweeted the Chief Minister.

The Disaster Management Act as well as the Infectious Diseases Prevention Act which were invoked with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic will be withdrawn.

"Restrictions like 50 per cent capacity in buses, restaurants and cinema theatres, double vaccination compulsion in travel and buses will be withdrawn," said Tope.

However, the Health Minister advised the citizens to adhere to COVID appropriate behaviour.

The Health Minister cited the decline in daily COVID-19 cases and positivity rate as the reason behind withdrawing the restrictions.

Maharashtra on Thursday reported 183 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the number of active cases to 902.

One fatality was reported in the last 24 hours, as per the bulletin released on Thursday.

Meanwhile, India logged 1,233 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours, Union Health Ministry informed on Wednesday.

In the last 24 hours, as per the Ministry, 1,876 recoveries were also reported. With total recoveries since the beginning of the COVID pandemic at 4,24,87,410, the recovery rate of India presently stands at 98.75 per cent. (ANI)
Hours after the Congress lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) citing a violation of rules by the BJP legislators during voting for the Rajya Sabha elections in Assam on Thursday, the counting for the same is going to begin shortly. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Krishnendu Paul told ANI that, it is expected that, the counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha biennial election for two seats in Assam is likely to start within the next 30-40 minutes. He also claimed that both the candidates of the BJP and its ally party United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) will win in the Rajya Sabha poll. "Our both candidates will win with a huge margin," Krishnendu Paul said. It is expected that the result of the Rajya Sabha biennial election would likely be announced by 10 pm tonight. On the other hand, the Opposition Congress has suspended its one MLA Siddique Ahmed from the primary membership of the party after Ahmed deliberately disobeyed the Three-line whip issued by the party for the Rajya Sabha poll. Bhupen Kumar Borah, President of Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) told ANI that - "We have suspended Siddique Ahmed from the primary membership of our party after he deliberately disobeyed the Three-line whip issued by the party." The ruling BJP has nominated Pabitra Margherita as its candidate for one seat while its ally United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) has fielded Rwngwra Narzary for the second seat. On the other hand, opposition political parties Congress, AIUDF, CPI (M), and Raijor Dal have fielded Ripun Bora as their common candidate for one seat. (ANI)
The court made it clear that it will pronounce the verdict within one week. This is in regard to the petition filed by Dileep, seeking to quash the FIR of the case.

The prosecution has undertaken not to file the final report in this case before that.

Single Bench of Justice Ziyad Rahman AA heard the arguments of both prosecution and the petitioner for three days.

Crime Branch of Kerala Police had registered the case against Dileep and five others on January 9.

The case was registered after some audio clips of Dileep and other accused surfaced in which Dileep and others allegedly threatened the investigating officials. Film director, Balachandra Kumar has also given his statement against Dileep in the matter.

The case was registered under Sections 116 (abetment), 118 (concealing design to commit offence), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) r/w Section 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Earlier in November, Balachandra Kumar had leveled a series of allegations against Dileep in connection to the case. He had shared audio recordings which led to new conspiracies in the case against actor Dileep.

Dileep was also accused of conspiring with others to murder the police officials who have been investigating the actor assault case.

The actress, who worked in Tamil and Telugu films, was allegedly abducted and molested inside her car by a group of men, who had forced their way into the vehicle on the night of February 17, 2017. (ANI)
Journalist Rana Ayyub on Thursday moved the Delhi High Court challenging the Enforcement Directorate's decision of not allowing her to travel abroad and being stopped at the airport on her way to London. The journalist sought directions from the court to enable her to travel out of India. She also sought quashing of lookout circular issued against her, if any. Rana Ayyub's lawyer mentions the matter on Thursday before the bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi stated that She was stopped at the Airport from flying to London as she is accused in an alleged money laundering case, which is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The matter is likely to come up for hearing on Friday (tomorrow). The plea states that, on March 29, 2022, the petitioner arrived at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport to board an Air India flight to London, Heathrow, scheduled to depart at 14:25 hours, to attend events about the global problem of cyber attacks on women journalists, as well as to deliver a keynote speech on the status of journalism in India. However, at around 12 noon, the Petitioner was detained in a room adjacent to the immigration counter, and she was informed that the immigration officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs were seeking clarifications regarding some "remark" on the Petitioner's file. The petitioner was then informed, over the course of the next hour, that the officers of MHA have instructions from the Enforcement Directorate to not allow the Petitioner to board her flight to London, and the immigration stamp on her passport was stamped as "Cancelled", plea alleges. Petitioner Journalist alleges that she has been harassed, humiliated, and insulted by the mala fide action of the Respondents, and the organisers of the journalist events in London and Italy have also suffered losses and experienced grave inconvenience and disturbance due to the arbitrary detention of the Petitioner at the airport on March 29, 2022. The petitioner is required professionally to frequently travel across the globe, and unreasonable, arbitrary, and mala fide restrictions on such travel is a direct violation of the Petitioner's right to free speech and expression, and right to practice her profession, as a member of the global and national media fraternity, plea read. (ANI)
The senior Congress leadership is brainstorming over a change in leadership in the state party unit to ensure victory in the upcoming Himachal Pradesh assembly polls scheduled to be held later this year. Lok Sabha MP from Mandi and wife of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh, Pratibha Singh told ANI that the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi will soon take a decision on the change in president of the party's Himachal unit. Dismissing reports of infighting in the party's state unit, Singh said, "Congress will stay united irrespective of who is made the president and will work under his/her leadership. "Our first priority is forming government in the state," she said. However, she added, that the president should be the one who can ensure the party's victory in the upcoming polls. "The President should be such a person who can campaign in all the 68 assembly seats of Himachal and ensure the victory of party's candidates," she said. On being asked about her intentions to be party chief of the hilly state, Singh said that she has clarified to Sonia Gandhi that she is not desirous of any post but will accept whatever responsibilities the party gives to her. She further added that there are many leaders who are aspiring for the party's top post in the state, adding that some of those aspirants are even senior to her. The state party in charge Rajiv Shukla is currently meeting party leaders to discuss the matter. Over the position of the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party in Himachal, the Congress leader said that they won't be able to repeat what they did in Punjab. AAP formed the government in Punjab in recently held assembly polls. "After Punjab, people started thinking that Aam Aadmi Party may get success in Himachal Pradesh also, but the situation in Himachal's is different. AAP is not widely accepted in Himachal," she added. Himachal Congress leaders had met Sonia Gandhi on March 22 and according to sources, Gandhi asked leaders to stay united to avoid Punjab like situation. In the meeting, the current President of Himachal Congress (Kuldeep Singh Rathore), in-charge of Himachal Congress (Rajeev Shukla), former Presidents of Himachal Congress, other officer bearers along with Anand Sharma were present. The 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly is due for polls in October this year. (ANI)
A Delhi Court declined a pre-arrest bail to Ajay Singh, Promoter and Managing Director Spicejet in an alleged cheating case registered against him. Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Vineeta Goyal on Wednesday passed the order which reads, considering the gravity of the offence and the aforementioned ratiocination held, this Court does not find sufficient ground to grant the relief sought in the application filed by the accused applicant and same is accordingly, dismissed. Court noted that the grant of anticipatory bail at the stage of investigation may frustrate the investigating agency in interrogating the accused and in collecting useful information and also the materials which might have been concealed. "Success in such interrogation would elude if the accused knows that he is protected by the order of the Court," reads the order. Earlier on March 9, the same court had granted interim protection to the accused in the matter. The court order came during the hearing of an anticipatory bail plea filed by Ajay Singh after a Non Bailable Warrant was issued against him. According to the Delhi Police, the present case was registered at Hauz Khas Police Station with the directions of the court under section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), on the complaint of Preeti Nanda, wife of Sanjiv Nanda wherein it was alleged by her that Singh defrauded her. The complaint alleged that there was a share-purchase agreement between him and the accused and she paid Rs 10 lakh for 10 lakh shares of SpiceJet. These shares, however, were not transferred leading to the filing of the police complaint against Singh. The complainant submitted that it was subsequently found that the delivery instruction slip was invalid and outdated. Delhi Police while opposing the anticipatory bail plea stated that Investigation revealed that there are four other cases that have also been registered against Ajay Singh which shows his conduct. Delhi police also earlier said, the investigation is at a very crucial stage and still very much pending in this case as the accused/ applicant can manage the witnesses in the case and can also tamper with the evidence. (ANI)
The Telangana Health Director on Thursday advised people of the state to avoid going outdoors between 12 pm and 4 pm, as the state is witnessing a continuous rise in temperature. "The India Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert as they are heatwave across the state in some days. Hyderabad and some other districts are already witnessing a rise in temperature," said G Srinivas Rao, Director of Public Health and Family Welfare. The Director announced that the state government has made elaborate arrangements for common people to help them in the fight against the heat. On Thursday, Hyderabad recorded a maximum temperature of 40.8 degrees Celsius and a minimum temperature of 24.6 degrees Celsius. "The temperature will be high during this time and there are chances of sunstroke. We have made elaborate arrangements by keeping ORS packets at all the health facilities, Anganwadi centres and schools," he said. He further informed that the Chief Secretary had a meeting with all the district collectors for making elaborate arrangements to counter the heatwave. The Director of the Health Ministry also shared the fact the state is effectively fighting against COVID-19 and it is under the control of the state. "COVID-19 is under control and we are witnessing only 30 cases per day. Except Hyderabad no other district is reporting cases more than in single digit," he added. Sharing the details of COVID-19 vaccination coverage in the state, Director said almost 100 per cent of coverage of both the dosses has been for people who are above 18 years of age. "Vaccination coverage for 15 to 18 years has around 80 per cent in both first and second dose. 64 per cent coverage done for recently started 12 to 14 years children. By the end of this week we will cover the full vaccination for 12 to 14 children of the first dose," he added. (ANI)
"During my last visit (to Sree Siddaganga Math), I met Dr Shivakumara Swami. Even though he is not here today, the path he has shown to educate the youth and help the poor are being taken forward," said Rahul Gandhi.

Rahul Gandhi offered his respects to the late Shri Shivakumara Swami on the occasion of his Jayanti celebrations at the Mutt.

Sharing the snippet on Twitter of him paying respect to Shivakumara Swami, the Congress leader said, "Known for his selfless service to humanity, the late Swamiji was instrumental in educating lakhs of poor youth and shaping their future."

Rahul Gandhi on Thursday began his two-day visit to Karnataka ahead of Assembly elections scheduled to be held in 2023.

Speaking to ANI on Gandhi's visit to the state, senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that he will be meeting senior leaders and will be looking to strengthen the party for the upcoming polls.

On Friday, the Congress leader will visit the KPCC office and attend the executive meeting with the frontals.

Rahul's visit comes at a time when the state is debating issues like the Hijab ban, restriction on Non-Hindu traders conducting business inside temple premises and the Halal meat row. (ANI)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address students and their parents on Friday for his annual Pariksha Pe Charcha interactions where he talks about examination stress and related questions. "The enthusiasm towards this year's Pariksha Pe Charcha has been phenomenal. Lakhs of people have shared their valuable insights and experiences. I thank all those students, parents and teachers who have contributed. Looking forward to the programme on 1st April," tweeted PM Modi. PM Modi also shared snippets of a series of videos on his YouTube channel from his previous interaction during Pariksha Pe Charcha. These videos cover a wide gamut of issues pertaining to student life specially related to exams. The Prime Minister will interact with the students, teachers and parents all over the world during the fifth edition of Pariksha Pe Charcha on April 1. It will be held in New Delhi in a town-hall interactive format from Talkatora Stadium at 11 am. Crores of students, teachers and parents from India and abroad will be participating, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said earlier. "Pariksha Pe Charcha is a much-awaited annual event in which the Prime Minister responds to questions related to examination stress and related areas posed by students in his uniquely engaging style in a live programme," Pradhan had said. Terming Pariksha pe Charcha, a public movement, Minister Pradhan outlined the importance of this year's Pariksha Pe Charcha (PPC) in wake of the country coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic and exams shifting back to offline mode. Underlining the importance of initiatives like PPC in building the knowledge-based economy of the 21st century, he said that PPC is becoming a formal institution through which Prime Minister interacts directly with the students. Pradhan informed that select students across the country will also visit Raj Bhawans to watch the event in the presence of the state Governors. He also expressed confidence that state governments across the country will also encourage the participation of students, teachers and parents. The Minister mentioned that PPC will be streamed, not only across India but also in other countries reaching out to the Indian diaspora. He also called for support from the media in making this program a mass movement and ensuring stress-free exams for the students. (ANI)
Superintendent of police, Birbhum, Nagendra Nath Tripathi in a conversation with ANI over the phone said, ''Three pistols, one revolver and 18 rounds of bullets were seized from Margram in Birbhum district in connection with an investigation of a murder case. ''

Earlier, West Bengal police recovered crude bombs in Sikandarpur village of Birbhum on March 27. Following the Birbhum violence incident, a drive to seize arms and ammunition has been started in different parts of the state.

A total of eight people were burnt to death in the Rampurhat area of West Bengal's Birbhum on March 21 after a mob allegedly set houses on fire following the killing of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bhadu Sheikh.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took over the probe of the Birbhum violence case following the Calcutta High Court order. Five accused have been arrested in the Birbhum violence incident. (ANI)
Hyderabad police have nabbed two drug peddlers, in two different cases and seized eight grams of DMT/changa and six LSD blots, 10 Ecstasy pills and 100 grams of Hash oil on Thursday. Four customers have also been apprehended. According to DS Chauhan, Additional Commissioner of Police, in the first case, "The sleuths of the Hyderabad Narcotic Enforcement Wing (H-NEW) along with Jubilee Hills Police apprehended one drug peddler named Sreeram and one drug consumer, Deepak Kumar Jhadav, who is expert in Processing DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) drug. Narcotic Drugs DMT/changa was recovered from the drug peddler under Jubilee Hills police station limits, Hyderabad. The police seized eight grams of DMT/changa, drug processing equipment, and two cell phones at the instance of the accused." The ACP said, "The prime accused K. Sreeram is a resident of Kondapur, Hyderabad. He started consuming drugs during his college days and later he wanted to earn easy money. For this, he learned the art of processing the drugs through the Internet and social media." "He procured all the required things through Amazon, India Mart, and laboratory shops and started processing the drug, and subsequently extracted Changa at his residence at Kondapur," added the ACP. In meantime, he used to sell the DMT/changa for Rs 8,000 per gram to the customers in the surrounding areas of Hyderabad. On a tip-off on Thursday, when the drug peddler was trying to sell the DMT/changa near Jubilee Hills, police apprehended the drug peddler and seized 8 grams of DMT/CHANGA and cell phone from his possession, shared the ACP. On inquiry, he revealed that some consumers purchase DMT/CHANGA from him for their regular consumption, out of which one Deepak has been apprehended. The accused along with seized materials were handed over to the Station House Officer (SHO), Jubilee Hills PS for further investigation. As per the ACP, in another case, on a tip-off, when a drug peddler Prem Upadhyay was trying to sell Hash Oil, LSD Blots, and Ecstasy Pills, the H-NEW along with Nallakunta police apprehended him at a vegetable market of Nallakunta area in Hyderabad and seized six LSD blots, 10 Ecstasy pills, 100 grams of Hash Oil and four cell phones from his possession. On inquiry, Upadhyay revealed about some consumers who purchase Hash oil, LSD Blots, and Ecstasy Pills from him for their regular consumption. The police have apprehended three such customers Ramakrishna, Nikhil Joshua, Jeevan Reddy. The apprehended accused and seized material has been handed over to SHO, Nallakunta police for investigation. DS Chauhan added, "In recent times we have seen that several youth and students are addicted to drugs, hash oil and are engaged in various anti-social activities. Several families have become victims of this menace." He requested the youth not to fall prey to drugs and requested the parents to keep a watch on the activities of their children and feel free to approach the police or pass information to police to curtail such anti-social activities and strive for a drug-free city. The arrests were made under the supervision of Chakravarthy Gummi, Deputy Commissioner of Police, P. Rajesh, Inspector of Police, G.S. Daniel, SI, and H-NEW staff along with M. Ravi, Inspector of Police, Nallakunta PS, and staff. (ANI)
Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal on Thursday welcomed the Centre's decision to reduce the disturbed areas under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the states of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur and said that it shows that peace has returned to the Northeast. Speaking to ANI, Sonowal said, "It is a historic decision. It is clear that peace has returned to the Northeast. Due to the peace in the Northeast, the region has succeeded in showcasing capabilities in different sectors. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this on behalf of the people of the Northeast." Soon after Union Home Minister Amit Shah made this announcement on Twitter, the Minister said that the decision will create a "conducive environment" for the fast-paced growth in the Northeast. "A very welcome decision. The leadership of PM Narendra Modi has brought a new era of peace, progress and security to the North East. Reduction in areas under AFSPA will further create a conducive environment for fast-paced growth in the region," Sonowal tweeted. Further expressing his gratitude to Prime Minister Modi and the Home Minister, the former chief minister of Northeastern state Assam said that the people of the region have "long-sought peace and progress" which has become possible today. "North East today is transforming into the growth engine of India. The people of this region have long sought peace and progress, which has been made possible today only due to the efforts of Hon'ble PM Shri @narendramodi ji. My heartfelt thanks to PM Modi ji & HM Amit Shah ji," he tweeted. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also welcomed the Centre's decision saying that around 60 per cent of the state's area will now be free from AFSPA's purview. Earlier in the day, Shah made the announcement through a series of tweets. "In a significant step, Government of India under the decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to reduce disturbed areas under Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the states of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur after decades," Shah tweeted. Reduction in areas under AFSPA was a result of the improved security situation and fast-tracked development due to the consistent efforts and several agreements to end insurgency and bring lasting peace in North East by PM Narendra Modi government, said the Home Minister. (ANI)
According to the City Fire department, the fire has been brought under control.

The incident took place around 12 am-midnight and the fire was brought under control around 1.15 am.

Meanwhile, a civilian whose hand was injured in the incident was shifted to Sassoon Hospital in the city while a fire officer who was injured during the operation was shifted to KEM Hospital. (ANI)
A total of 1,33,135 Indian students went abroad for higher studies this year, as on March 20, the Parliament was informed on Thursday. As per information received from Bureau of Immigration (BoI), the number of Indian students, who departed India for higher education in the current year, is 1,33,135 so far while there were 4,44,553 students in 2021 and 2,59,655 in 2020, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan told Rajya Sabha in a written reply. He also said that according to information received from the BoI, the top preferred countries for education in 2021 were the US, Canada, and the UK. He also said that granting visas is the sovereign right of a country and various countries have been granting visas to Indian students for studying in universities of their countries. However, if there is temporary restriction or delay in the grant of visa then the Ministry and the respective Indian Mission take it up proactively with the country concerned. Responding to a query from CPI-M member K. Soma Prasad, Muraleedharan said that the Student Module of the MADAD portal, launched on July 15, 2016 enables Indian students studying abroad or aspiring to study abroad to register voluntarily and provide information on their course, institutions, contact details, emergency contact etc. His Ministry, through its missions/posts abroad have been regularly interacting with Indian students studying abroad to register their details on the student module and also encouraging Indian student organisations and Indian community associations for the same including through social media platforms. In response to another question, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi informed the House that overall, 22,500 nationals have returned to India since February 2022 after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in February. "Around 40-50 Indian nationals are still in Ukraine, of which only a few are willing to return to India and their return is being facilitated by the Embassy." She also informed that during the global Covid-19 pandemic, the government had launched the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indian nationals and to facilitate the travel of passengers between India and other parts of the world. "Around 2.97 crore passengers (in-bound and out-bound) have been facilitated in the flights operated under the Vande Bharat Mission and Air Bubble Arrangements till date," Lekhi said Under Operation Devi Shakti, a total of 669 people were evacuated from Afghanistan. This included 448 Indian nationals, 206 Afghans (including Hindu and Sikh community members) and 15 people of other nationalities (Nepal, Lebanon and Uganda) in seven flights (six flights operated between August 16 to 25, 2021 and the last flight on December 10, 2021). All Indian nationals who had sought repatriation to India were evacuated, she added in her reply. --IANS ams/vd ( 469 Words) 2022-03-31-22:22:02 (IANS)
Police have registered a case under section 377 of IPC and under prevention of cruelty against animals.

According to Hosdurg police, the incident took place on Wednesday early morning in a hotel in Kasargod.

"Police have arrested a hotel employee for allegedly raping and killing a pregnant goat in Kasargod district. A case under section 377 of IPC and prevention of cruelty against animals has been registered," said Hosdurg Police on Thursday.

Some hotel staff found the dead goat when they rushed to the cattle shed after hearing a commotion. The goat is said to be four months pregnant.

The police arrested the accused who was identified as Senthil hailing from Tamil Nadu, on the basis of the complaint lodged by the hotel owner.

The accused is said to be working in the hotel for three months. (ANI)
Portugal's 16.6 bln euro recovery plan to boost economic cooperation with China

Xinhua) 08:32, March 31, 2022

LISBON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- New opportunities for investment and enhanced economic ties between China and Portugal are on the horizon thanks to the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), said Chinese Ambassador Zhao Bentang on Wednesday.

Discussing the PRR at a webinar organized by the Association of Chinese Enterprises in Portugal, Zhao said that Chinese-Portuguese economic relations have been steadily advancing in the last few years.

Last year in particular, there was a peak in goods trade between the two countries, which amounted to over 8.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. This represented an increase of 28.1 percent.

Meanwhile, China has become the fifth largest investor in Portugal, with cumulative investments of 10.6 billion euros.

The Ambassador said that China and Portugal share the same post-pandemic economic goals of promoting development, stabilizing jobs, guaranteeing people's livelihoods and restructuring the economy.

Zhao expressed confidence that Portugal's PRR, created by the European Union (EU) to revitalize member states' economies in the post-pandemic period, will be fully implemented after the new government swears in on Wednesday. This will bring new opportunities for Chinese-funded enterprises, both in Portugal and China, Zhao added.

Fernando Alfaiate, president of the mission for recovery in Portugal, the body responsible for the technical coordination and monitoring of the PRR, said its goal is to prepare Portugal for the future via a set of reforms and investments that will promote sustained economic growth. The plan is focused on three elements: resilience, climate transition, and digital transition.

Meanwhile, Bernardo Mendia, secretary-general of the Luso-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that economic growth is "only possible with the movement of globalization."

"Foreign investment is fundamental for Portugal. After the 2008 crisis, Portugal went through its most difficult moment, with the risk of bankruptcy."

However, he added: "Thanks to partnerships and foreign investments, we managed to recover."

The country is now seeking more investment, he said, expressing his gratitude to the Chinese companies who helped Portugal to survive the financial crisis. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars)

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
The government has allowed genome-edited plants for regulation with the exemption of Site Directed Nuclease (SDN) 1 and 2 genomes with no foreign DNA, a move that has drawn mixed reactions from academia and activists. In an office memorandum, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had on Wednesday invoked relevant sections of the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganism/ Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells Rules 1989 and claimed that it empowers the Ministry to exempt any particular micro-organism/genetically engineered organism. The OM has not just exempted SDN 1 & 2 but does so bypassing the lengthy GMO regulation as monitored by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC). The genome edited plants would be now treated as any other plants. "The process of genome-edited plants to be carried out under containment until free from exogenous introduced DNA will be regulated by the institutional BioSafety Committee following guidelines issued by the central government under information to the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation," it said. The Ministry also said that the step was taken as the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology and the Department of Agriculture, Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare had recommended that the SDN 1 and SDN 2 genome edited products, free from exogenous introduced DNA be exempted from bio safety assessment in pursuance of the relevant rules. The difference between genetically modified and genome editing is that the latter is a precise technology with unintended side effects. "Now, saying that there is no foreign DNA is a specious argument. The point is, you have introduced an aggressive intervention in a natural process," said Suman Sahay of Gene Campaign, an organisaiton that has been opposing GM/Bt seeds. Kavitha Kuruganti of the 'Coalition for a GM-Free India' said that the Coalition had pointed out earlier that categorisation of genome-edited products by risk categorisation of the end product is a wrong approach. It is contradictory to the legal definition of Generic Engineering and Gene Technology as given in the EPA 1989 Rules and also defies scientific knowledge about process-related risks and "that is exactly what they are proposing now". However, Rajeev Varshney, Agricultural/Genomics Scientist and Director, SABC, Director CC&FI, Intl Chair Agri & Food Security at the Murdoch University, Australia took to Twitter to welcome the move. "A landmark decision of government of India - 'Exemption of the genome edited plants falling under categories of SD1 and SDN2 from the provisions the Rules, 1989' i.e. not to be considered as GM plants. Many thanks." Sahay, however, said the research should continue with cautious screening and "the regulation must continue to ensure safety of technology". --IANS niv/vd A ( 457 Words) 2022-03-31-21:00:02 (IANS)
In an overnight attack on Frontier Corps (Pakistan's paramilitary forces) fort in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Tank district, three security personnel were killed and 18 injured in the exchange of fire that began late on Tuesday and continued till Wednesday morning leaving three terrorists killed. The information on this attack on FC fort in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was given by Waqar Ahmad, District Police Officer (DPO) said on Wednesday, reported Dawn. According to the DPO, the people who were injured in the attack were moved to a district hospital. Following the attack that left three Pakistani security personnel killed in the attack, an emergency in the area has been declared while more forces had been dispatched to the region, reported Dawn. In another incident, four Pakistani soldiers were killed as they foiled plans of a group of terrorists who "attempted to infiltrate" Pakistan from Afghanistan, said Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of Pakistan Armed Forces. During the combat between the Pakistani Armed Forces and the terrorists, the soldiers were killed while the terrorists fled away with severe injuries, as per the newspaper. According to the statement by ISPR, the terrorists attempted to enter Pakistan at midnight on March 23-24 in the Hassan Khel area of North Waziristan district. The four soldiers who were killed during the exchange of fire were identified as 34-year-old Lance Havaldar Wajahat Alam of Ghizer in Gilgit Baltistan, 25-year-old Sepoy Sajjid Inayat resident of Sheikhupura, 32-year-old Sepoy Maqbool Hayat, resident of Ghizer in Gilgit Baltistan, and 22-year-old Sepoy Sajjid Ali resident of Skardu.ISPR, after the incident, vowed, "The Pakistan Army is determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve," reported the Pakistani publication. (ANI)
Nearly 80 disabled children accompanied by their guardians have been transferred to Poland from Central Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in Ukraine as Russia continues to gain a stronghold in the war-torn country. In total 100 people arrived in the border town of Przemysl, Poland on Tuesday evening on the train, a spokesperson for the local Podkarpackie Voivode region, Michal Mielniczuk, told CNN on Wednesday. They were taken to a reception centre in the city of Stalowa Wola. A total of 26 children were transferred via ambulances, as per Mielniczuk. The spokesperson said that the children will be taken to Germany but they will stay for about three days in Stalowa Wola, Poland, where they will receive aid and support, as per the news channel. As Russia's war on Ukraine is set to enter its sixth week, the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine has now crossed the 4 million mark, the chief of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday. Taking to Twitter, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi wrote, "I have just arrived in Ukraine. In Lviv, I will discuss with the authorities, the UN and other partners ways to increase our support to people affected and displaced by this senseless war." According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine includes over 2,04,000 third-country nationals. IOM has been providing food, core-relief items, cash, and protection support including awareness-raising and counter-trafficking in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. More than 2.3 million Ukrainian refugees have fled to Poland, while hundreds of thousands have fled to neighbouring countries including Romania, Moldova and Hungary, reported CNN citing UN data. Grandi has previously called the exodus of refugees from Ukraine "the fastest-growing refugee crisis in Europe since World War II." Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24 in response to calls from the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics for protection against intensifying attacks by Ukrainian troops. The Russian Defense Ministry said the special operation, which targets Ukrainian military infrastructure, aims to "demilitarize and denazify" Ukraine. Moscow has said it has no plans to occupy Ukraine. Western nations have imposed numerous sanctions on Russia. (ANI)
Alex Ellis, the British High Commissioner to India on Wednesday indicated that talks between UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar may include the Russia-Ukraine crisis. "I don't want to comment on specific issues regarding Ukraine. What I would say is that the principles of UN Charter are important to us all. That is exactly what our Foreign Secretary will be talking with Jaishankar on March 31," Ellis told ANI. He made these remarks during Queen Elizabeth II's birthday party at British High Commission in Delhi. "But there are many other aspects as well - the climate change challenge, the long-term challenge of trade, of health. So, we will have to look at all of these challenges together. But together UK and India are quite a might force," said the British High Commissioner to India. He said Truss is visiting India to have "deep talks" with Jaishankar. "Our PMs (UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi) have signed a new, much deeper partnership, a strategic partnership. We want to work together to develop that, including in defence and security. That's why our Foreign Secy is coming here to have deep talks with Jaishankar," he said. Ellis said that there is much "more we can do to develop our defence and security links to deal with many issues. The issue around sovereignty, of international law, of territorial integrity - the common issues for us all to deal with." At the Queen's Birthday Party at the British High Commission, Ellis spoke in Hindi and said, "...Last year was very difficult due to COVID. Nowadays it is difficult in Ukraine due to Russia..." Moreover, Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Ayog at Queen Elizabeth II's birthday party said that, "We've had long, historic relations with Britain but we've very vibrant relations in world of trade, investment, climate change, sustainability and many areas of growth and partnership." "We have a very vibrant, dynamic and very energetic relationship that is going to grow and expand in the years to come even further," he added. Truss will pay an official visit to India on March 31 to hold talks with Jaishankar on regional and global issues of mutual interest. She would also participate in the inaugural edition of the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum, a track 1.5 Dialogue between the two countries hosted by the Indian Council of World Affairs and Policy Exchange, UK. (ANI)
"President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of Israel to express his deepest condolences following the horrific terrorist attacks that have killed 11 people in three Israeli cities," the White House said in a statement.

Biden emphasized that the "United States stands firmly and resolutely with Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats to the state of Israel", the statement said.

According to the statement, the leaders discussed the importance of regional partnerships, as exemplified by the Abraham Accords and the Negev Summit, in promoting security and improving the lives of people across the Middle East.

"The President offered all appropriate assistance to our Israeli allies as they confront threats to their citizens," the statement added.

Earlier, two people were killed and six were injured in a shooting attack by ISIS operatives on Sunday in the Israeli city of Hadera, some 31 miles north of Tel Aviv, Israeli officials said.

Meanwhile, on late Tuesday, a Palestinian gunman opened fire at passersby and vehicles outside the Israeli city Tel Aviv, killing five people in the third shooting or knife attack in a week, prompting the police to raise its alert level nationwide to "the highest possible."

The shooter was shot dead by police during the incident that took place in the city of Bnei Brak, a crowded suburb of Tel Aviv, said the police and the Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's national emergency medical service. (ANI)
Taking to Twitter, Tirumurti tweeted, "At UN Advisory Group on ClimateChange, said Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure @cdri_world in 30 countries and 7 multilateral organs. Infrastructure for Resilient Island States (IRIS) launched at #COP26 for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) by India, UK, Australia, Jamaica, Fiji & Mauritius."

He further said that the Infrastructure for the Resilient Island States (IRIS) initial corpus is USD 50 million and also highlighted the CDRI's Global Flagship Report on Disaster and Climate Resilient Infrastructure.

"I added: IRIS initial corpus is US$ 50 million Highlighted also @cdri_world's Global Flagship Report on Disaster & Climate Resilient Infrastructure, DRI Connect web-based platform, CDRI Fellowship Programme, Global Infrastructure Risk Model & Resilience Index etc," he said.

The CDRI was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the year 2019.

The Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) is a partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and knowledge institutions that aims to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development.

IRIS, a dedicated initiative, will provide technical support on the multifaceted issues posed by infrastructure systems and promote disaster and climate resilience of infrastructure assets in SIDS, and share the latest knowledge and learnings targeted to specific infrastructure sectors.

Earlier, Tirumurti attended the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday and highlighted major challenges in front of Democratic Republic of Congo authorities of providing security to civilians and supporting the stabilization and strengthening of State institutions. (ANI)
"Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar today to review regional priorities, including the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine and our shared efforts to promote a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific, in which the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all states is respected," State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

India and the United States are scheduled to hold a 2+2 dialogue in Washington on April 11.

The EAM Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will meet their counterparts Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin respectively. Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh will also have other meetings on the sidelines.

The last 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue between the two countries was held in October 2020 in New Delhi.

Moreover, as Russia's war on Ukraine is set to enter the sixth week, the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine has now crossed the four million mark, the chief of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday.

Notably, 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.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)
In the face of mounting sanctions against Russia for launching military operations in Ukraine, India in line with its old ties and friendly relations will allow Moscow to invest and borrow in the domestic market. Russia has been hit by multiple sanctions following its military operations in Ukraine. Countries around the world are imposing fresh sanctions against Russia. The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada have banned certain Russian banks from SWIFT, the high-security network that facilitates payments among 11,000 financial institutions in 200 countries. Earlier, Germany halted certification of the 'Nord Stream 2' gas pipeline, following Moscow's actions in Ukraine. Amid the sanctions, India allowed Russia to invest in Indian corporate debt funds that could help Moscow. This can be seen as a return gesture for the Russian offer of selling to India oil at a whopping 25 to 30 per cent discount. Energy-starved India has already begun to avail this facility and build enough buffer stocks. Equally important is the Indian decision, taken at the highest level, to allow Russia to pay for these investments through a Reserve Bank of India account that has existed since the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago. Funds have accumulated pending payments for defence purchases made from Moscow. There is thus an element of a quid-pro-quo. India is drawing lessons from the past dealings with Iran, another sanction-hit friend. Iranian oil imports were brought down to zero some years ago after the United States made it difficult for monetary transactions with Tehran. Among other areas, Russia will be allowed to invest in debt securities. Reports say that the Russian government officials have asked their Indian counterparts to relax India's External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) framework, which would allow Russian entities to invest in bonds of Indian companies, and pay for these investments through an account with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The RBI account has an accumulated balance of Rs 2,000 crore from pending payments for defence purchases made from Russia, according to media reports. 'Masala bonds' are rupee-denominated bonds issued overseas by Indian companies. They are debt instruments that help companies raise money in India's currency from foreign investors. Both government and private entities can issue these bonds. The proposed arrangement is a response to pressures at the economic level, when global oil prices are rising, with their imports having a negative cascading effect on the Indian economy. India abstained from United Nations votes on the Russia-Ukraine crisis, calling instead for an "immediate cessation of violence", and emphasizing dialogue as the way out of the dispute. (ANI)
Amid the ongoing political chaos in Pakistan, the second phase of polling of local government in the remaining 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is underway. The second phase election started on Thursday at 8 am and will continue till 5 pm, according to Geo TV. In the first phase of the election, the ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) suffered a major setback as the opposition parties won the clear majority, especially Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F). After the first election, JUI-F emerged victorious by winning 23 seats of tehsil chairpersons and three mayoral seats while KP's ruling party, PTI stood in the second position, Geo TV reported. Not only in a local government election, but it seems that PTI is also losing the support of the members of the National Assembly as Pakistan Prime Minister recently lost their ally, Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan. (MQM-P) MQM-P decided to join hands with the opposition to support them in the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan. After this development, the government has lost its majority in the lower house of the Pakistan parliament and even in the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, which is expected to take place on April 3, Geo TV reported. With 177 members, the Opposition has now more numbers of supporters in the national assembly and they don't need the support of disgruntled PTI MNAs. While on other hand the Pakistani government has only 164 members in the parliament. 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, but now, after MQM-P left the party, PTI is standing with 164 members in support and the Opposition has now 177 members of supporters in the national assembly and they don't need the support of disgruntled PTI MNAs. Meanwhile, Pakistan's former Finance Minister Ishaq Dar held talks with estranged PTI leader Jahangir Khan Tareen over the current political situation in the country, local media reported citing sources on Wednesday. Both the leaders also spoke about the no-confidence motion moved against Usman Buzdar in the Punjab Assembly. Buzdar has submitted his resignation to Prime Minister Imran Khan but the resignation is yet to be accepted, Geo News reported citing sources within the PML-N and Jahangir Tareen group. The no-confidence motion was submitted by the opposition parties on March 8. The opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as some allies of PTI have come out in the open against Imran Khan. (ANI)
UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss, who arrived in India on Thursday on an official visit will convey to External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar that Russia's actions on Ukraine, underlining the importance of democracies to work together to deter "aggressors" and "reduce vulnerability to coercion," the British High Commission said. The Foreign Secretary will point to the importance of all countries reducing strategic dependency on Russia at this time of heightened global insecurity, according to a statement issued by the British High Commission. Truss is in India as part of a wider diplomatic push to counter Russia's aggression in Ukraine, ahead of key NATO and G7 meetings next week. The British Foreign Secretary will hold talks with External Affairs Minister Jaishankar on regional and global issues of mutual interest, according to the British Foreign Office statement. "In a meeting with Jaishankar, the Foreign Secretary will discuss Russia's actions of Ukraine, underlining the importance of democracies working closer together to deter aggressors, reduce vulnerability to coercion and strengthen global security," the statement said. Truss said, "Deeper ties between Britain and India will boost security in the Indo-Pacific and globally, and create jobs and opportunities in both countries. "This matters even more in the context of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and underlines the need for free democracies to work closer together in areas like defence, trade and cyber security," the British Foreign Secretary said. During her trip, Truss will progress talks to develop defence-related trade, including innovative security technology, strengthening defence ties with the world's largest democracy. "India is an economic and tech powerhouse, the world's largest democracy and a great friend of Britain, and I want to build an even closer relationship between our two nations," Truss said. As per the British High Commission, Truss will also work to deepen cyber security and defence cooperation between the two countries and will announce a new joint cyber security programme. The programme will aim to protect online infrastructure in both countries from attacks. India and the UK will work together to increase cyber security and carry out joint exercises to practise combatting threats from cybercriminals and ransomware. Truss and Jaishankar will address the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum today to set out their vision for the long-term relationship between the two countries. According to the statement, the UK and India will also agree to closer maritime co-operation in the Indo-Pacific. The UK will join India's Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative and become a lead partner on maritime security issues, coordinating work with key partners in Southeast Asia. This stronger partnership on maritime security builds on the visit to India last year by HMS Queen Elizabeth and the Carrier Strike Group (CSG) - a symbol of the UK's world-leading defence capability. Strengthening ties with India has been a priority for the Foreign Secretary since taking up the role. This is her second trip to the country as Foreign Secretary following her visit last October and her third as a Secretary of State in 13 months. Since the 2030 Roadmap was agreed last year, the UK and India have launched free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations. On her trip the Foreign Secretary will also confirm 70 million pound of British International Investment (BII) funding to support renewable energy use in India. This will help build renewable energy capacity and develop solar power in the region. She will also confirm plans for a new platform to allow British investors to bid for green infrastructure, technology, and business opportunities in India, as per the statement. The British Foreign secretary's visit to India comes amidst Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov official two-day visit to the country. Lavrov is expected to meet and hold talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday. (ANI)
The Pakistan National Assembly will discuss the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan during the Lower House Session at 4 pm. The NA Secretariat issued the order on Wednesday night, with a discussion on the no-trust motion against the Pakistani PM on today's (Thursday) session's agenda, Geo TV reported. Earlier, on Monday, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif tabled the no-confidence motion against the Pakistani PM. With this move, Imran became the third Pakistani PM to face the no-confidence motion. Following the tabling of the resolution, the deputy speaker announced that the debate on the resolution would begin on March 31. "The session is adjourned until 4 pm on March 31," he said.This is a key development as the political fate of Imran Khan hangs in the balance amid the changing power equations. Deputy NA Speaker Qasim Suri, during the session, asked the members of the Parliament who are in favour of the motion, to stand up so that the total number of supporting members of the motion could be counted. After counting the members who stood in favour of the motion, the Deputy NA speaker approved the discussion on the no-confidence motion and also scheduled it for March 31, at 4 pm. However, the voting on the resolution will take place between April 1 - 4. The no-confidence motion was submitted on March 8 after the PPP's long march in Islamabad. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be successful as many PTI lawmakers have come out in the open against PM Imran Khan. Earlier today, the second phase of polling of local government in the remaining 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is underway. In the first phase of the election, the ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) suffered a major setback as the opposition parties won the clear majority, especially Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F). Meanwhile, Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P) joined hands with the opposition to support them in the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, the Pakistani government lost its majority in the lower house of the Pakistan parliament, Geo TV reported. 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, but now, after MQM-P left the party, PTI is standing with 164 members in support and the Opposition has now 177 members of supporters in the national assembly and they don't need the support of disgruntled PTI MNAs. (ANI)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for further sanctions on Russia during a virtual address to the Australian parliament on Thursday, according to media report. "The distance between our country is big," said Zelenskyy, adding "but there is no such thing as distance to Russians' brutality to our Ukrainian land." Zelenskyy warned of great implications to global security if Russia isn't stopped and also spoke about what will come after the war, calling on nations and companies to invest in the restoration of Ukraine, CNN reported. He specifically spoke about the development of ports and cities on the Black Sea and rebuilding the naval sector. Meanwhile, an evacuation corridor had been agreed with the Russians for the besieged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Ukrainian officials said Thursday. The Ukrainian side received a message through the International Committee of the Red Cross confirming Russian readiness to open a "humanitarian corridor" from Mariupol through the city of Berdiansk, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on Telegram. Earlier on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden held talks with Zelenskyy where the Ukrainian President updated his counterpart on the status of Kyiv's negotiations with Moscow. "President Biden spoke with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine today at 10:45 AM EDT to discuss US continued support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. President Biden's Call with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy was convened at 11:08 EDT. President Biden's secure call with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy was completed at 12:03 PM EDT." as per the White House Press Office. Notably, 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. 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)
China appears to be ignoring social issues in the country as birth rates are not increasing, women trafficking is spreading widely and gender disparity and discrimination against women have become deep-rooted in Beijing. According to Policy Research Group, which cited the Chinese National Statistics Bureau, the birth rate registered a fall for the sixth year in a row last year. The controversial one-child policy, which contributed to the drop in net population increase, was scrapped six years ago. Yet the scenario has not changed. Rising child care costs, ballooning school expenditure and an ageing population are pushing down new births, besides, of course, the changes that have come in the Chinese society under long years of Communist rule. China's population measures which began with the one-child policy in 1979 have always been "abusive and coercive" to the people. This highlighted a ground reality that local party members and officials of China do not put people first, and have serious problems of formalism and bureaucratism. Both Lou Hai, party chief of Fengxian, and Zheng Chunwei, head of the county government, said they had 'no knowledge of the issue (trafficking, and buying women) previously', the Xinhua News Agency quoted them as saying. This came to light a couple of days after the Chinese central government issued its annual "No.1 Document" of the year with a focus on issues concerning "safeguarding stability in China's vast villages, including cracking down on all violations of women's and children's personal rights," Policy Research Group reported. While China professes to put the interests of its population first, it actually continues to overlook the country's most important asset: its people. No surprise, the Xi Jinping regime has failed to come to grips with rampant gender disparity and discrimination. The latest human trafficking case from Xuzhou (in Fengxian county, Jiangsu Province, East China) is more than a wake-up call for the authorities and the couples interested in becoming parents. The victim was allegedly trafficked in June 1998. And the man with whom she has been found living has chained and abused her every time she had a seizure. Her plight, which has gone viral on social media, has put in focus the trafficking issue, according to the Global Times, which said, two persons have since been arrested on suspicion of abducting and trafficking women. The case revealed problems and loopholes at the grassroots level in terms of protecting women's and children's rights and helping and caring for special groups. (ANI)
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence, the ten-day long exercise focused on enhancing interoperability for developing the capability to undertake joint operations in a semi- urban environment apart from providing a platform for professional and cultural learning which in-turn broadened their cooperation aiming towards co-existence in the Indo-Pacific Region.

The themes chosen for the Joint Training Exercise were both relevant and contemporary for the planning and execution of operations based on scenarios in a Semi-Urban environment.

As per the statement, the exercise strengthened mutual confidence, inter-operability and enabled sharing of best practices between the Armed Forces.

Exercise LAMITIYE with Seychelles is crucial and significant in terms of security challenges faced by both the Nations in the backdrop of current global situation and growing security concerns in the Indian Ocean Region, it added.

The joint military exercise will enhance the level of defence co-operation between the Indian Army and Seychelles Defence Forces (SDF) and will further manifest in enhancing the bilateral relations between the two nations. (ANI)
Taking to Twitter, Fawad Chaudhry said: "Prime Minister Imran Khan will address the nation tonight".

The development comes at a time when Pakistan National Assembly is all set to take up discussion on the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government in the Lower House session which is scheduled at 4 pm today.

The National Assembly secretariat issued the order on Wednesday night for the discussion on the no-trust motion for today's (Thursday) agenda, Geo TV reported.

Earlier, on Monday, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif tabled the no-confidence motion. With this move, Imran Khan became the third Pakistani PM to face the no-confidence motion.

Meanwhile, Imran Khan in two back-to-back decisions has summoned a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting in the afternoon at his residence, Fawad Chaudhry said.

Yesterday, Imran Khan deferred his address to the nation hours after an announcement was made that he will take people into confidence about a "foreign-funded conspiracy letter" to show "evidence" of attempts to topple his government.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senator Faisal Javed Khan gave the information about the address having been postponed, reported Geo News. The Imran Khan government is facing the heat over the no-confidence motion brought by the Opposition.

"PM Imran Khan's address to the nation for today has been postponed," Javed Khan said in a tweet.

After the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government was tabled in the National Assembly with a total of 161 votes in favour, the proceedings were adjourned till March 31.

The no-confidence motion was submitted by the opposition parties on March 8. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as some allies of PTI have come out in the open against Imran Khan. (ANI)
An Uyghur woman who had escaped from a hospital in China after she was asked to terminate her pregnancy, as per China's family planning policy for ethnic minorities, has died in prison, according to a media report. Citing an Uyghur who lives in exile and a village police officer, Radio Free Asia reported that Zeynebhan Memtimin, who was ordered by Chinese authorities to abort her pregnancy in 2014 had fled the hospital in Yutian county in Hotan (Hetian) prefecture where the procedure was to take place. The RFA report said that Memtimin was taken forcefully from the Arish village to a hospital for the abortion and the sources in Xinjiang also confirmed the fact that Memtimin escaped from the hospital to save her unborn child. In 2017, the Chinese authorities arrested Memtimin and her husband, Metqurban Abdulla, who helped her in escaping from prison, in an internment camp on the charges of "disturbing the social order" and "religious extremism" for avoiding abortion, according to RFA citing Uyghur in exile. A police officer in Arish village said that both were sentenced to prison for 10 years. He said, "They were sentenced to 10 years in prison and were serving their terms in Keriye Prison." The police official further said that Memtimin was 40 years old and she died due to the illness caused by having multiple births in prison. "Since she had multiple births, it's natural that she died from illness," he said. The Uyghur source said that the contacts in the region and a former neighbour confirmed that Memtimin died in 2020. According to Uyghur source, the woman's funeral was conducted under Chinese supervision, and Chinese authorities tried to not disclose the reason for her death to her family and also did not provide any details about Memtimin's husband. Regarding this matter, the Chinese authorities in Yutian county declined to comment. In 2014, RFA's Uyghur Service reported that Abdulla agreed to pay for the fine for the fourth childbirth but Chinese authorities were determined and forced her to terminate her pregnancy. According to an Uyghur source in exile, 70 per cent of the Uyghurs in Arish village, were arrested and detained in 2017 for allegedly engaging in illegal religious activities and about 10 per cent were arrested for violating family planning policies. The Chinese authorities' implemented the population control measures for the Uyghurs as part of the crackdown that began in 2017. On one side where Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi assuring that Beijing would look after the interests of Muslim nations but in reality, the picture is completely different. Since 2017, the Chinese government has detained about 1.8 million Uyghurs and other Turkic minorities in hundreds of "re-education camps" in Xinjiang. An effort to prevent possible religious extremism and terrorism had led to "terror capitalism" - a system that justifies oppression by branding Uyghurs a security threat to generate state investment in policing and surveillance technologies to monitor and control them. (ANI)
British High Commissioner to India Alex Ellis flaunted his Hindi conversation skills at the birthday celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II at the British High Commission in Delhi on Wednesday night. British envoy Alex Ellis greeted everyone with a "namaskar" and said in Hindi that last year was very difficult due to COVID but nowadays, it is difficult in Ukraine due to Russia. He said in Hindi he is happy that all the people are here as "last year was very difficult due to Covid-19. Nowadays, it is difficult in Ukraine due to Russia. But today we are together." Later on, Ellis shifted to his native language, English, saying that he only knew this much Hindi. He said his Hindi teacher was also present at the event but couldn't come outside may be because of embarrassment. "Guruji, my apologies," the British diplomat added. The party was held ahead of the talks between UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. Ellis indicated that talks may include the Russia-Ukraine crisis. "I don't want to comment on specific issues regarding Ukraine. What I would say is that the principles of the UN Charter are important to us all. That is exactly what our Foreign Secretary will be talking with Jaishankar on March 31," Ellis told ANI. "But there are many other aspects as well-- the climate change challenge, the long-term challenge of trade, of health. So, we will have to look at all of these challenges together. But together UK and India are quite a mighty force," said the British High Commissioner to India.He said Truss is visiting India to have "deep talks" with Jaishankar. "Our PMs (UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi) have signed a new, much deeper partnership, a strategic partnership. We want to work together to develop that, including in defence and security. That's why our Foreign Secretary is coming here to have deep talks with Jaishankar," he added. Ellis said that there is much "more we can do to develop our defence and security links to deal with many issues. The issue around sovereignty, of international law, of territorial integrity -- the common issues for us all to deal with." Truss will pay an official visit to India on March 31 to hold talks with Jaishankar on regional and global issues of mutual interest. She would also participate in the inaugural edition of the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum, a track 1.5 Dialogue between the two countries hosted by the Indian Council of World Affairs and Policy Exchange, UK. (ANI)
China appears to be in hurry to recognize the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan as it is eyeing the minerals of the war-torn country which holds untapped mineral wealth and rare earth material worth USD 3 trillion. Taking advantage of the uncertain and chaotic situation, China wants to secure its frontiers, fulfill its mineral resources requirements and realize its long-held goal for the Belt and Road Initiative. Think tank also said that China, being an opportunistic country, is taking advantage of the chaotic situation and Beijing's main priority is to secure its borders with Afghanistan and keep the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), an anti-China terror group, at bay as China fears that unstable Taliban could be home to ETIM. China also has its eyes on Afghanistan's minerals as the country has untapped mineral wealth and rare earth material worth USD 3 trillion, according to an estimate. So, Taliban recognition will be actually China's profit, according to a think tank. The recent Chinese Foreign Minister's unofficial visit to Afghanistan on March 24 led to the speculation that China, which is against the international sanction on Afghanistan is trying to give legitimate recognition to the Taliban led government, US-based Think Tank, Global Strat View reported. It is worth mentioning that amid the Ukraine-Russia conflict, China is planning to host a meeting of foreign ministers of regional countries. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his counterparts from Iran, Pakistan, and Central Asian countries will attend the meeting. This was the first visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi since the Taliban-led government came into existence. According to the think tank, Yi deliberately avoided telling the people about his timing selection. As Taliban-led Afghanistan government received negative feedback from the entire world. It further states that there are reports of murders, detentions, rapes and summary executions of minorities, women, and people associated with the previous government in Afghanistan. Even the Taliban's anti-women attitudes like closing down the girls-school became the subject of discussion in the UNSC and other international platforms. But still, the Chinese Foreign Minister chose to visit this land. Not only China, but other countries like Pakistan and Qatar also made a visit to Afghanistan but their visit didn't attract much attention as the Chinese Foreign Minister grabbed. Think Tank believes that not only China but also Russia, Iran and Pakistan may also recognise the government. Citing some experts in international politics, a think tank said this scenario is the same as the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989 or it can be the way to attack the rules-based order. They say the war has brought in the open demise of rules-based order.(ANI)
Raising concerns about the security situation in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the Taliban control systems holding sensitive biometric data that Western donor governments left behind in Afghanistan in August 2021, put thousands of Afghans at risk. The New York-based rights watchdog said this digital identity and payroll systems contain Afghans' personal and biometric data, including iris scans, fingerprints, photographs, occupation, home addresses, and names of relatives. The Taliban could use them to target perceived opponents, and HRW research suggests that they may have already used the data in some cases. "Governments and organizations that helped amass vast quantities of personal data on large numbers of Afghans may be inadvertently assisting the Taliban repression," said Belkis Wille, senior crisis and conflict researcher at HRW. "Data collection's highly intrusive nature and inadequate protections could put people at heightened risk of Taliban abuse." According to HRW, foreign governments such as the United States, and international institutions, including United Nations agencies and the World Bank, funded and in some cases built or helped to build vast systems to hold the biometric and other personal data of various groups of Afghans for official purposes. In some cases, these systems were built for the former Afghan government. The HRW warned that Afghanistan currently has no data protection law. "Having such a law, even assuming it met international standards, would not have guaranteed adequate data protection, but it could have helped to ensure better practices and to reduce the potential harm to those whose data has fallen into Taliban hands," the group added. Human Rights Watch interviewed 12 Afghans with expert knowledge of the country's biometric systems, including 6 judges; 5 foreign privacy and human rights researchers documenting the potential impacts of the systems being accessed by the Taliban; 3 UN staff members working on Afghanistan; and 2 US military officers formerly based in Afghanistan. The Taliban's access to this data comes at a time when they are targeting individuals because of their past association with the former government, particularly members of the security forces, judges and prosecutors, and civil servants, including women working in these fields. The Taliban have also detained and abused people who have criticized their policies. (ANI)
On Thursday, the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) convened meeting of the advisory committee and anticipated that Pakistan may fall short of water supply from 20 pc to 27 pc for the early Kharif season while for later Kharif, the shortage is likely to be 8 pc to 10 pc, official source told The Nation.

The water crisis in the country has worsened in recent years. Pakistan is struggling with basic needs including drinking water, education and medical facilities.

The Water Accord 1991 empowered IRSA to determine water availability in the country and provincial share twice a year, once for Kharif season and the other for Rabi season.

Rabi season starts from October 1st and ends on March 31st, while Kharif starts from April 1st and continue till September 30th.

Since, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were exempted from cuts in the share and the shortage in water would be distributed between Sindh and the Punjab, reported The Nation.

Moreover, province like Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have earlier accused the federal government of providing unequal distribution of water to Punjab. (ANI)
Pakistan's National Party (NP) chief Dr Abdul Malik Baloch has said that the recently concluded Reko Diq agreement is not acceptable to his party until its details are made public. After 10 years of legal battles and negotiations, Barrick Gold Corporation and the governments of Pakistan and Balochistan earlier this month reached an agreement on a framework that provides for the reconstitution of the Reko Diq project in the country's Balochistan province. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Baloch said 'no detailed discussion with Chief Minister Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo on Reko Diq could be held as he was not in the city when the chief minister contacted him for the multiparty conference on the issue'. On the political situation in the country, the NP chief said Pakistan would now move towards clean and transparent elections, which was also the demand of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), reported Dawn. Baloch said the PDM wanted the country to be run in accordance with the Constitution. The Reko Diq project, which was suspended in 2011 due to a dispute over the legality of its licensing process, hosts one of the world's largest undeveloped open pit copper-gold porphyry deposits. The reconstituted project will be held 50 per cent by Barrick and 50 per cent by Pakistan stakeholders, comprising a 10 per cent free-carried, non-contributing share held by the government of Balochistan, an additional 15 per cent held by a special purpose company owned by the government of Balochistan and 25 per cent owned by other federal state-owned enterprises. According to an official release, a separate agreement provides for Barrick's partner Antofagasta PLC to be replaced in the project by the Pakistani parties. Barrick will be the operator of the project which will be granted a mining lease, exploration licence, surface rights and a mineral agreement stabilizing the fiscal regime applicable to the project for a specified period. (ANI)
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has reportedly offered to dissolve the assembly on the condition to withdraw the no-confidence motion against him, a local media report said on Friday. Imran Khan has said that if the Opposition doesn't agree to his suggestion, he is ready to face any situation, Geo News reported Thursday, citing sources. An "important personality" has given a message of Imran Khan to the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, the report added. Meanwhile, Imran Khan will address the nation later tonight ahead of the no-confidence motion against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government. Taking to Twitter, Federal minister Fawad Chaudhry on Thursday said: "Prime Minister Imran Khan will address the nation tonight". The development comes at a time when Pakistan National Assembly is all set to take up discussion on the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government in the Lower House session which is scheduled at 4 pm today. The Pakistan National Assembly is discussing the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan in the Lower House Session. Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif on Monday tabled the no-confidence motion. With this move, Imran Khan became the third Pakistani PM to face the no-confidence motion. Imran Khan in two back-to-back decisions has summoned a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting in the afternoon at his residence. On Thursday, Imran Khan deferred his address to the nation hours after an announcement was made that he will take people into confidence about a "foreign-funded conspiracy letter" to show "evidence" of attempts to topple his government. PTI senator Faisal Javed Khan gave the information about the address having been postponed, reported Geo News. The Imran Khan government is facing the heat over the no-confidence motion brought by the Opposition. "PM Imran Khan's address to the nation for today has been postponed," Javed Khan said in a tweet.After the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government was tabled in the National Assembly with a total of 161 votes in favour, the proceedings were adjourned till March 31. The no-confidence motion was submitted by the opposition parties on March 8. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as some allies of PTI have come out in the open against Imran Khan. (ANI)
Unknown miscreants blew up the railway track near the Kotri area of the province on Thursday, damaging a portion of the track, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Police officials in the area said a search operation has begun to catch the culprits.

They said that repair work on the track has started and the rail service will be resumed as soon as possible. Paramilitary troops, police and other law enforcement agencies arrived at the site and cordoned off the affected area.

Police officials said the bomb disposal squad was also called after the blast to determine the exact nature of the blast.

So far, no group or individual has claimed responsibility for the blast. (ANI)
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has announced 14 new sanctions on Thursday on Russian propagandists and state media who spread lies and deceit about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This includes Sergey Brilev, famous TV anchor on Russia's state-owned media Rossiya and propagandist for Russian President Vladimir Putin, UK Foreign Office said on Friday. Having previously lived in the UK, Brilev will no longer be able to access any of his UK assets or continue business dealings. The government is also directly sanctioning state media organisations, targeting the Kremlin-funded TV-Novosti which owns RT, formerly Russia Today, and Rossiya Segodnya who controls news agency Sputnik. Following Ofcom's decision to revoke RT's broadcasting licence, these sanctions will ensure RT will not be able to find its way back on UK televisions and will prevent companies and individuals operating in the UK from doing business with Russian state propaganda vehicles RT and Sputnik, and key figures in those organisations. According to UK Foreign Office, disinformation is part of the Kremlin playbook and is used by Putin's regime to obscure the truth of his unjust invasion. Other "propagandists" sanctioned today include Aleksandr Zharov, Chief Executive Officer of Gazprom-Media and former Head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor), Alexey Nikolov, Managing Director of RT and Anton Anisimov, Head of Sputnik International Broadcasting. As well as targeting Putin's propaganda machine, the UK government also sanctioned prominent Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev. "Dubbed 'the butcher of Mariupol', Mizintsev is the Chief of the National Defence Command and Control Centre, where all Russian military operations are planned and controlled worldwide. Mizintsev is known for using reprehensible tactics, including shelling civilian centres in both Aleppo in 2015-16 and now in Mariupol - where atrocities are being perpetuated against Ukrainian people," the Foreign Office said. UK Foreign Secretary said, "Putin's war on Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies. Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putin's fake news and narratives." "We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table," she added. (ANI)
The Qatari top diplomat is in China to attend the "neighbouring countries of Afghanistan plus Afghanistan" foreign ministers' dialogue.

Wang said Qatar has participated in the political settlement of a number of hotspot issues and made great contributions to international peace and cooperation. China supports countries in the Middle East to strengthen their unity and development and build a collective security structure in the region.

He called on the two sides to continue to support each other in safeguarding their core interests and strengthen the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with Qatar's development strategy. China is willing to be a long-term, reliable, and stable energy cooperation strategic partner of Qatar and actively expand cooperation in the whole industry chain.

Mohammed spoke highly of China's significant role in addressing the Afghanistan issue, lauded China's objective and fair position on Palestine, and congratulated China on the successful hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

Mohammed said Qatar attaches great importance to the Belt and Road Initiative and is willing to be an active participant. Qatar will also continue to facilitate Chinese enterprises' investment in Qatar.

Mohammed said Qatar firmly supports the one-China principle and opposes foreign interference in China's internal affairs. He added the economic and trade cooperation between Qatar and China has continued to expand.

China has become the most important energy partner of Qatar, and Qatar is willing to be China's sustainable and stable energy supplier, Mohammed said.

The two sides agreed to promote the upgrading of cooperation between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Mohammed expressed his support for the signing of a free trade agreement between China and the GCC at an early date.

The two sides also exchanged views on other topics, including the Iran nuclear issue. (ANI/Xinhua)
The proceedings of the National Assembly of Pakistan adjourned till April 3 soon after it convened on Thursday to discuss the no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Imran Khan. The crucial session for the no-confidence motion started after much delay but adjourned till Sunday 11.30 am, after members of Parliament demanded voting on the no-trust motion, Geo News reported. The session was held with more than 172 members from the Opposition benches in attendance. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has reportedly offered to dissolve the assembly on the condition to withdraw the no-confidence motion against him. Imran Khan has said that if the Opposition doesn't agree to his suggestion, he is ready to face any situation, Geo News reported Thursday, citing sources. An "important personality" has given a message of Imran Khan to the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, the report added. Meanwhile, Imran Khan will address the nation later tonight ahead of the no-confidence motion against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)-led government. Taking to Twitter, Federal minister Fawad Chaudhry on Thursday said: "Prime Minister Imran Khan will address the nation tonight". The development comes at a time when Pakistan National Assembly is all set to take up discussion on the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government in the Lower House session which is scheduled at 4 pm today. Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif on Monday tabled the no-confidence motion. With this move, Imran Khan became the third Pakistani PM to face the no-confidence motion. Imran Khan in two back-to-back decisions has summoned a National Security Committee (NSC) meeting in the afternoon at his residence. On Thursday, Imran Khan deferred his address to the nation hours after an announcement was made that he will take people into confidence about a "foreign-funded conspiracy letter" to show "evidence" of attempts to topple his government. PTI senator Faisal Javed Khan gave the information about the address having been postponed, reported Geo News. The Imran Khan government is facing the heat over the no-confidence motion brought by the Opposition. "PM Imran Khan's address to the nation for today has been postponed," Javed Khan said in a tweet. After the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government was tabled in the National Assembly with a total of 161 votes in favour, the proceedings were adjourned till March 31. The no-confidence motion was submitted by the opposition parties on March 8. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as some allies of PTI have come out in the open against Imran Khan. (ANI)
Meanwhile, the proceedings of the National Assembly of Pakistan were adjourned till April 3 soon after it was convened to discuss the no-confidence motion against Khan.

As per the Deputy Speaker, Sadiq Sanjrani, "The members were not answering the questions and the situation was also not right".

The National Assembly secretariat issued the order on Wednesday night for the discussion on the no-trust motion for today's (Thursday) agenda, Geo TV reported.

Earlier, on Monday, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif tabled the no-confidence motion. With this move, Imran Khan became the third Pakistani PM to face the no-confidence motion.

After the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government was tabled in the National Assembly with a total of 161 votes in favour, the proceedings were adjourned till March 31.

The no-confidence motion was submitted by the opposition parties on March 8. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as some allies of PTI have come out in the open against Imran Khan.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P) joined hands with the opposition to support them in the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, the Pakistani government lost its majority in the lower house of the Pakistan parliament, Geo TV reported.

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, but now, after MQM-P left the party, PTI is standing with 164 members in support and the Opposition has now 177 members of supporters in the national assembly and they don't need the support of disgruntled PTI MNAs. (ANI)
According to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Valentyn Reznichenko, two people were killed and five injured as a result of the attack, tweeted the Kyiv Independent.

Earlier, the Kharkiv region of north-eastern Ukraine has come under heavy shellfire in the past 24 hours, the region's military governor said in a statement.

The intense bombardment has prevented the opening of evacuation corridors in the region, Oleh Synyehubov, the head of the Kharkiv region military administration, said in a statement on Telegram.

Meanwhile, in heavy shelling, a school was damaged in the Ukrainian village in Kyiv Oblast. Artworks were scattered on the ground with glass shattered and debris lying on the ground.

At least 20 people were killed and 33 injured in a Russian strike on the office of the regional military governor of Ukraine's south-western Mykolaiv region on Tuesday, Ukraine's State Emergency Services said in updated figures released Thursday.

The Russian strike demolished half of the building, according to Gov. Vitalii Kim, reported to CNN.

In the latest development Dmytro Kuleba, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reached Poland to seek support against the Russian invasion and met Polish President Andrzej Duda.

"In development of their active dialogue with President @ZelenskyyUa, Polish President @AndrzejDuda received me in Warsaw today. We highly value Poland's strong support for Ukraine and hospitality towards Ukrainians. Free and strong Ukraine means free and strong Poland and Europe," tweeted Kuleba.

He also called on French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and thanked France for its humanitarian and financial support for Ukraine.

"In my call with @JY_LeDrian I thanked France for its humanitarian and financial support for Ukraine. We discussed the preparation of the 5th EU sanctions package on Russia. Russia keeps bombing Ukrainian cities and murdering civilians, therefore sanctions must further increase," tweeted Kuleba.

Meanwhile, in an update on the Russian losses in the war against Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed that Russia has lost 135 aircraft, 131 helicopters, 614 tanks, 75 fuel tanks, 83 UAV operational, 22 special equipment and 17500 personnel have been killed till Thursday (March 31).

It also reported that 1735 armoured personnel vehicles have been destroyed along with 311 artillery systems, 96 MLRS, 1,201 vehicles/cutters, 7 boats, 54 anti-aircraft warfare systems and four mobile SRBM systems. (ANI)
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday lambasted National Assembly Deputy Speaker Sadiq Sanjrani for deferring no-confidence motion against Imran Khan and adjourning the assembly till April 3. Speaking with the media outside the National Assembly with Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Sharif said, "Speeches were meant to happen in the National Assembly, and it was under Speaker to decide on no-confidence motion within 4-days. However, the Deputy Speaker of National Assembly, Sadiq Sanjrani when he saw that none of the MNAs were ready to question and were ready for the no-trust vote, Sanjarani stood up and ran inside. Everyone saw that, Bilawal and I saw it." The no-trust vote against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was deferred to April 3 on Sunday and the proceedings of the National Assembly of Pakistan were adjourned till April 3 soon after it was convened to discuss the no-confidence motion against Khan. "I asked the secretary what have you done, he said that the speech was going to happen, had already told the Speaker, whatever Sanjrani did was his will, we already had briefed him. They are not at fault. The Deputy Speaker did not follow the law and procedures," said Shehbaz. Expressing his frustration over the delay in the no-trust vote, he said, "On March 8 we tabled the motion and today it is March 31, everyone can see how law and democratic values have been demolished. The mandate of 22 crore population has been played in the Assembly. Even the judiciary is watching it, the country is surprised, asking what is happening?" Shehbaz, while hitting out at Imran Khan's tactics to delay the motion, said, "Now, do the selected PM Imran Khan have any political, lawful way is left? If, he still uses conspiracies theory to drag this motion, then it is against the constitution, even Speaker also. He has blotted his name in the history of Pakistan. We had decided that we will not use unparliamentary methods and all the 172 members were present in the Assembly for the no-confidence motion under a united Opposition against Imran Khan -- PPP, PML-N, PML-Q, MQM-P, BAP, ANP." Earlier, on Monday, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif tabled the no-confidence motion. With this move, Imran Khan became the third Pakistani PM to face the no-confidence motion. After the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government was tabled in the National Assembly with a total of 161 votes in favour, the proceedings were adjourned till March 31. Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P) joined hands with the opposition to support them in the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, the Pakistani government lost its majority in the lower house of the Pakistan parliament. Shehbaz also lambasted Khan over corruption charges and said that he and his family were involved in foreign funding case and they took money from other countries without disclosing it to the Election Commission of Pakistan as well as the State Bank of Pakistan. 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. Talking about the "threat letter", Shehbaz said that he had asked Imran Khan to bring it in the Assembly and disclose the details of it. Khan had said that a Pakistani envoy posted in a foreign country wrote the memo that he flashed on March 27 at a PTI rally and termed it "threatening", sources told Geo News. Shehbaz termed all these tricks and gimmicks of Imran Khan to save his chair, however, he added that days of him as Prime Minister is over and the writing is on the wall for him. (ANI)
The 9th India-Nepal Line Of Credit (LoC) review meeting was held in Kathmandu on 29 March 2022, a release from Indian Mission in Nepal stated. "The meeting was aimed at reviewing the progress of projects being undertaken in Nepal under the Government of India's (GoI) LoCs, ensuring better project implementation and more effective utilization of the large amount remaining under the said LoCs," the release stated. From the Indian side, the meeting was led by Sridharan Madhusudhanan, Joint Secretary (Development Partnership Administration - I), Ministry of External Affairs, and comprised of officials from the Embassy and the EXIM Bank. From the Nepal side, the meeting was led by Ishwori Prasad Aryal, Joint Secretary (International Economic Cooperation Coordination Division), Ministry of Finance, Government of Nepal (GoN) and included officials from several departments involved in the execution of projects under the Government of India's Lines of Credit. The LoC review meeting was preceded by the inauguration of substations under the Modi-Lekhnath Transmission Line and Substations Project in Laha Chowk, Kaski district, Nepal on 28 March 2022. The project, being financed under an LoC of USD 250 million (LoC II), involves the construction of a 42 km long power transmission line and its associated substations at New Modi, LahaChowk and Lekhnath in the central part of Nepal. The USD 20 million project is being executed by KPTL Ltd and ABB India. The substations package is completed while the transmission line package is likely to be completed soon. The inauguration was done by Pampha Bhusal, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation, Government of Nepal in presence of senior GoN officials, an Indian delegation and local representatives. The LoC review meeting was followed by a workshop conducted by EXIM Bank of India in Kathmandu on 30 March 2022. Joint Secretary Sridharan Madhusudhanan gave the opening remarks, which were followed by detailed discussions between LoC project contractors and representatives from GoN departments implementing the LoC projects. The workshop was aimed at familiarizing stakeholders in Nepal with India's LoC policy framework and guidelines and under Indian Development and Economic Assistance Scheme (IDEAS). The Workshop also discussed specific issues facing the GoI LOC projects in Nepal. During the Workshop, EXIM Bank of India also shared its experience of implementing projects in other countries and suggested ways toward better utilization of GoI LoCs in Nepal, the release further stated. The government of India's LoC portfolio is more than USD 30 billion, spread across more than 60 partner countries. In Nepal, it includes four LoCs worth USD 250 mn, USD 550 mn and USD 750 mn, totalling USD 1.65 billion. These LoCs are dedicated to the execution of infrastructure development projects and post-earthquake reconstruction projects as prioritized by GoN. So far, these LOCs have financed 40+ road projects, another 9 projects in hydropower, transmission lines and irrigation, and several others in housing and reconstruction. Many of these projects are already completed, including some iconic and major projects. Development of Power Transmission infrastructure has acquired particular salience in GoI LoCs in Nepal, with major projects such as Koshi Corridor (220 kV), Modi Lekhnath (132 kV), Solu Corridor (132 kV) and the Dhalkebar Bhittamod (400 kV) projects. (ANI)
Less than an hour after proceedings of the National Assembly of Pakistan adjourned on Thursday, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Imran Khan has "nowhere to run." This remark comes as proceedings of the Pakistan National Assembly were adjourned till April 3 soon after it convened on Thursday to discuss the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. The crucial session for the no-confidence motion started after much delay but adjourned till Sunday 11.30 am, after members of Parliament demanded voting on the no-trust motion, Geo News reported The session was held with more than 172 members from the Opposition benches in attendance. Addressing a press conference with other opposition leaders, Bilawal said Imran Khan again used the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Asad Qaiser to deffer the proceeding of the no-confidence motion. "Today, by producing 175 lawmakers in the Parliament we have proved that Imran Khan has nowhere to run," he said. "Now that we have the majority, there is no safe passage (for Imran Khan), there is no face-saving way and there is no backdoor," he said. In a bid to end the political crisis in the country, the PPP chairman suggested that there is only one "honourable" way out for way for Imran Khan is to resign. This comes as Pakistan's PM has seemingly lost the majority after PTI's allies decided to side with the Opposition. Imran Khan has reportedly offered to dissolve the assembly on the condition to withdraw the no-confidence motion against him. Imran Khan has said that if the Opposition doesn't agree to his suggestion, he is ready to face any situation, Geo News reported Thursday, citing sources. On Monday, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif tabled the no-confidence motion. With this move, Imran Khan became the third Pakistani PM to face the no-confidence motion. The no-confidence motion was submitted by the opposition parties on March 8. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as some allies of PTI have come out in the open against Imran Khan. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his UK counterpart Liz Truss on Thursday and talked about the growing ties between the two countries even amid 'geopolitical situations' during the delegation-level talks between the two sides. "I think the roadmap 2030 has progressed quite substantially. In all of this, we have had geopolitical situations, quite apart from COVID which had its impact earlier," Jaishankar said in the meeting referring to the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. "There is a lot that we need to talk about but there's also a lot that we need to work on. I'm particularly pleased that we are doing the Strategic Futures Forum. I think that's a good public indication of a sort of re-energised relationship," Jaishankar further said. "It's very good to be back in India for the third time in just over a year and it's great to see you again Dr Jaishankar and to be able to progress our Roadmap 2030 which is of great importance to both our countries," Truss said in her remarks at the meeting. "It's very important for the UK that we are improving our economic, security & defence relationships because we are living in a more unstable world. That's why we are strengthening our work with India," she further said. Talking about the Ukraine conflict, she said, "Of course, it's a vital time in global security in the wake of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. It's essential to respect the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and international law." Earlier today, Jaishankar had welcomed his British counterpart and said that he was looking forward to their discussion later today. "A warm welcome to UK Foreign Secretary @trussliz in New Delhi. Look forward to our discussions today. Working together to realise Roadmap 2030," Jaishankar had said. The Roadmap 2030 for India-UK future relations was launched during a virtual summit between the two countries in May last year. The Roadmap 2030 vision is for revitalised and dynamic connections between "our people, re-energised trade, investment and technological collaboration that improves the lives and livelihoods of our citizens, enhanced defence and security cooperation," according to the Ministry of External Affairs. (ANI)
Amid the Russia-Ukraine war, the present stalemate over the EU-China investment deal is a dramatic reversal of fortune. The bilateral relationship between Brussels and Beijing has deteriorated as the April 1 meeting approaches. Last week, diplomats met in Brussels to plan the agenda for the next summit: the main topic was Russia's war on Ukraine, and how to persuade China to help Ukraine, not if, but how, reported The HK Post. Another hot topic will be China's coercive measures against EU member Lithuania over the latter's decision to create a Taiwanese representative office, which has led to a World Trade Organization complaint against Beijing. "We realize we are in a delicate moment with China," EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis remarked recently, referring to the next virtual summit between Brussels and Beijing on April 1. For both sides, the meeting comes at an inconvenient and unpleasant time. The EU's 27 member states are "rethinking" their ties with Beijing in light of Russia's recent invasion of Ukraine and China's unwillingness to criticize it in a "new global environment." Ratification of the widely lauded EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) appears to be less assured than ever before and is unlikely to happen in recent times, reported The HK Post. Since the end of discussions in December 2020, the EU-China investment deal has had a bumpy road. Members of both the former Trump and new Biden administrations in the US condemned the agreement at the time, claiming that it did not go far enough to address China's use of forced labour, among other concerns. The agreement's ratification began to unravel soon after, in March 2021, when the EU sanctioned four Chinese officials implicated in Xinjiang detention facilities. Beijing retaliated by implementing a slew of punitive penalties against various EU officials and agencies, prompting Brussels to put the ratification talks on hold in May, reported The HK Post. "We cannot overlook the larger backdrop of ties between the EU and China," Dombrovskis remarked at the time. To make matters worse, the investment deal's most ardent supporter in Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has now resigned, further putting the historic EU-China investment agreement in jeopardy. Currently, the Chinese propaganda machinery is busy pumping out articles claiming "EU should not let 'external influences' derail the agreement, asking it to abandon its "cold war mentality". (ANI)
"Welcoming the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergey Lavrov as he arrives in New Delhi for an official visit," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet.

Lavrov, who arrived on Thursday on a two-day official visit, is expected to meet and hold talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Friday.

The Russian Foreign Minister reached New Delhi after his two-day visit to China.

New Delhi has seen a flurry of visits by foreign leaders over the past fortnight. China's foreign minister Wang Yi had visited India last week.

Russian Foreign Minister this week participated in two multinational meetings on Afghanistan along with representatives from Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Lavrov also held meetings with representatives from China and Pakistan and attended a separate meeting of the "Extended Troika" with special Afghan envoys from China and the US. (ANI)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in New Delhi on Thursday. It is the first high-level visit from Russia since the Ukraine crisis that triggered sanctions by western countries. Russian leaders and elites are facing western sanctions, including an asset freeze and travel ban, over the country's invasion of Ukraine last month. The US in coordination with the EU and the G7 has imposed sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin, key members of his government and members of his inner circle and over 400 Russian elites considered close to Kremlin. Over 325 members of the Duma have also been targeted with sanctions. A ban on the export of dual-use goods has been imposed against Russia by the UK, EU and US. Russian flights have been banned by US, UK, EU and Canada. The UK has also banned private jets chartered by Russians. The EU has imposed a ban on luxury goods exports to Russia and the UK too has decided to do so. The US has banned Russian oil and gas imports. The UK is planning to end Russian oil imports by the end of this year and the EU also plans to switch to alternative supplies. Western countries have frozen the assets of Russia's central bank. Russia has hit back by imposing export bans on a range of products until the end of this year. It has closed its airspace to flights from several countries. Putin is also the head of Russia's Security Council and Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, and his assets as those of Lavrov are also being frozen in the US, EU, UK and Canada. US Treasury Department targeted Putin while announcing the sanctions. "No one individual is more responsible for Russia's war against Ukraine, destabilization of Russia's neighbours, the suffering of the Ukrainian people, and years of Russian malign activities globally," the US Treasury Department had said in a release. Putin has said he will make "unfriendly" nations pay for their imports of Russian gas in roubles to push up the value of the currency. Lavrov, who is also a permanent member of Russia's Security Council, is a key Russian face in the international forums. Targeting Lavrov, the US State Department had said that as Foreign Minister he "has advanced the false narrative that Ukraine is the aggressor as he has aggressively sought to justify Russia's actions globally". Lavrov's 'step-daughter', Polina Kovaleva who reportedly owns a UKD 4 million property in London was also recently sanctioned by the UK government. Here are some other Russians against whom sanctions have been imposed by western countries. Aleksandr Bortnikov is the Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation and a permanent member of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also imposed sanctions on his son Denis Bortnikov for being associated with the Russian government. Igor Sechin is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Chairman of the Management Board, and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rosneft, one of the world's largest publicly traded oil companies. Sergei Naryshkin is the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service. Naryshkin was previously blacklisted by the Obama administration for his role in the takeover of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian forces in 2014. Dmitry Peskov is Putin's Press Secretary. The US Department of Treasury accused him of being the "lead propagandist" and spokesperson of the Russian Federation while sanctioning him. Sanctions were also imposed on three of Peskov's family members, "all of whom live luxurious lifestyles that are incongruous with Peskov's civil servant salary and are likely built on the ill-gotten wealth of Peskov's connections to Putin," according to the US Department of Treasury. The list of the sanctioned Russian high-profile individuals includes several oligarchs like Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and heads of Russia's premier banks including Sberbank CEO Herman Gref. (ANI)
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday reiterated his claims of "foreign conspiracy" and said that a foreign nation is trying to oust him over the "independent" foreign policy choices made by him. Addressing the people of Pakistan, ahead of the no-confidence motion, Imran claimed a foreign nation sent a message that Imran Khan needs to be removed else as the country will suffer consequences. "The United States", Imran Khan said in a slip of the tongue and then stated that "a foreign country" had sent a "threatening memo" which was against the Pakistani nation. "On March 8 or before that on March 7, the US sent us a...not the US but a foreign country sent us a message. The reason why I talking about this...for an independent country to receive such a message... this is against me and the country," he said. Imran Khan said the memo was against him, not against the government. "...it stated that if the no-confidence motion passes, Pakistan will be forgiven, if not, there will be consequences." Pakistan PM earlier shared the contents of a secret letter that was in news last week when he informed a public meeting that his government had received threats from abroad. Imran Khan had claimed that the threatening letter had been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Pakistan media reports said that letter is the word-for-word transcript of a conversation between the diplomats of Pakistan and another country sent to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari today said that Imran Khan has "nowhere to run" less than an hour after proceedings of the National Assembly of Pakistan was adjourned. This remark comes as proceedings of the Pakistan National Assembly were adjourned till April 3 soon after it convened on Thursday to discuss the no-confidence motion against Pakistan PM. The crucial session for the no-confidence motion started after much delay but adjourned till Sunday 11.30 am, after members of Parliament demanded voting on the no-trust motion, Geo News reported The session was held with more than 172 members from the Opposition benches in attendance. Addressing a press conference with other opposition leaders, Bilawal said Imran Khan again used the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Asad Qaiser to deffer the proceeding of the no-confidence motion. "Today, by producing 175 lawmakers in the Parliament we have proved that Imran Khan has nowhere to run," he said. "Now that we have the majority, there is no safe passage (for Imran Khan), there is no face-saving way and there is no backdoor," he said. The PPP chairman suggested that there is only one "honourable" way out for way for Imran Khan is to resign In a bid to end the political crisis in the country. Pakistan's PM has seemingly lost the majority after PTI's allies decided to side with the Opposition. Imran Khan has reportedly offered to dissolve the assembly on the condition to withdraw the no-confidence motion against him. He has said that if the Opposition doesn't agree to his suggestion, he is ready to face any situation, Geo News reported Thursday, citing sources. On Monday, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif tabled the no-confidence motion. With this move, Imran Khan became the third Pakistani PM to face the no-confidence motion. The no-confidence motion was submitted by the opposition parties on March 8. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be carried as some allies of PTI have come out in the open against Imran Khan. (ANI)
"India-Republic of Korea (RoK) Consultations on Disarmament and Non-Proliferation were held at New Delhi on 31 March 2022," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.

The two sides exchanged views on developments in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation relating to nuclear, chemical and biological domains, outer space matters, regional non-proliferation issues, conventional weapons and export control regimes.

The Indian delegation was led by Sandeep Arya, Additional Secretary (Disarmament and International Security Affairs), Ministry of External Affairs, while the RoK delegation was led by Younghyo Park, Director General for Non-proliferation and Nuclear Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (ANI)
Afghanistan's neighbouring countries have urged the US and the West to take responsibility for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and return the property of the Afghans, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. "[It is necessary] to call on the US and the West to fulfil their primary responsibility for the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan and to return to the Afghan people their property as soon as possible," Sputnik news agency quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry statement. On Thursday, the third ministerial conference of the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan was held in the Tunxi region of China. Foreign ministers from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan attended the meeting. The statement stressed the need to support the United Nations' role in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan and in coordinating assistance to the country. International financial institutions must actively inject liquidity into Afghanistan in order to support the country's development, the statement added. "We call on all parties to develop contacts and dialogue with Afghanistan, support the social and economic development of Afghanistan, resist sanctions and pressure, and oppose the politicization of humanitarian aid," the statement noted. Taliban's rise to Afghanistan in August of last year caused economic disarray and food shortages that have pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of Afghans have fled the country fearful of the Taliban, widespread violation of human rights, and the deprivation of women and girls of their freedoms. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss discussed the Ukraine conflict and its global ramifications at length during the first India-UK Strategic Futures Forum (IUSFF). The IUSFF dialogue was organised on the sidelines of the UK Foreign Secretary's India visit and was moderated by Lord Dean Godson, Director of Policy Exchange. "India had an immediate concern (over Ukraine-Russia crisis) which was we had about 22,000 students there; getting them out safely was quite a challenge and a lot of Ukraine's neighbours were extremely helpful," Jaishankar said at the dialogue. "In the last 2-3 years, COVID-19 has been a big shock, Afghanistan has been a shock, Ukraine is a new shock and to a degree, the US-China relationship has its impact," Jaishankar further said. On a question regarding India's consideration of purchasing discounted Russian oil, Truss said, "India is a sovereign nation, I am not gonna tell India what to do." Elaborating on the question of Russian oil and gas exports, Jaishankar said, "Europe bought 15 per cent more oil and gas from Russia than it did a month before. Most of the major buyers of oil and gas from Russia are in Europe. We get the bulk of our energy supplies from the Middle East, about 7.5-8 per cent from the US, maybe less than a per cent from Russia." "When oil prices go up, it's natural for countries to look for good deals for their people. But I'm pretty sure if we wait 2-3 months & look at the big buyers of Russian gas & oil, I suspect the list won't be any different than what it used to be & we won't be in the top 10," Jaishankar further said. Jaishankar also talked about the recent visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to India, saying that he discussed with him the Ukraine crisis and the troublesome bilateral relationship between India and China. "We had Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in India about a week ago, we discussed the Ukraine situation & our own relationship which is not exactly going through its best period. But the Chinese have their own analysis of what's happening in Ukraine," Jaishankar said. "The bit that we did agree on was that there is a need for an urgent ceasefire & a need to return to diplomacy & dialogue... in the British cooperation, we have logic in the relationship. There are plenty of things for us to work on," he added. Talking about the Russian invasion, UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss said that the events in Ukraine cannot be confined to Europe. "Countries across the world understand there is a fundamental problem if an aggressor gets away with invading a sovereign nation. The idea that we should only focus on Europe because of this crisis is wrong, the implications are far-reaching," she said. On Ukrainian resistance, Truss said, "The response of the Ukrainians and the brave people of Ukraine fighting for their country and the freedom to communicate is proving more effective than the Russians who were been asked to fight in a war for reasons they don't know." Truss further alleged that Russia remains a security threat and that the UK along with the US had warned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. "The integrated review of the Russia-Ukraine crisis was very clear that Russia remained the number one security threat. In fact, the United Kingdom alongside the United States was highlighting the threat that Russia pays to Ukraine," she said. The UK Foreign Secretary also talked about the bilateral relationship between India and the UK. "India and UK lead the world in areas like the number of Unicorns, the number of people involved in the tech industry. Both freedom-loving democracies will help lead the world. Free Trade deals between both countries can be completed rapidly," Truss said. "I'm very determined that we have a forward-looking relationship. We have a very strong people-to-people relationship. Our focus should be on where we want to be in the next 20 yrs. We're both democracies, we need to work together for a better future," she further said. Earlier today, Jaishankar had welcomed his British counterpart and said that he was looking forward to their discussion later today. The two leaders held a delegation-level meeting later in the day. (ANI)
The United States on Thursday rejected insinuations made by Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan regarding Washington's role in an alleged "foreign conspiracy" to oust him from power. "There is no truth to these allegations. We are closely following developments in Pakistan. We respect and support Pakistan's constitutional process and the rule of law," a US State Department spokesperson told ANI. The Pakistan Prime Minister today reiterated his claims of 'foreign conspiracy' in the country, saying that a foreign nation is trying to oust him over the "independent" foreign policy choices made by him. Addressing the people of Pakistan, ahead of the no-confidence motion, Imran claimed a foreign nation sent a message that Imran Khan needs to be removed else the country will suffer consequences. "The United States", Imran Khan said in a slip of the tongue and then stated that "a foreign country" had sent a "threatening memo" which was against the Pakistani nation. "On March 8 or before that on March 7, the US sent us a...not the US but a foreign country sent us a message. The reason why I am talking about this...for an independent country to receive such a message... this is against me and the country," he said. Imran Khan said the memo was against him, not against the government. "...it stated that if the no-confidence motion passes, Pakistan will be forgiven, if not, there will be consequences." Pakistan PM earlier shared the contents of a secret letter that was in news last week when he informed a public meeting that his government had received threats from abroad. Imran Khan had claimed that the threatening letter had been sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.Pakistan media reports said that letter is the word-for-word transcript of a conversation between the diplomats of Pakistan and another country sent to Pakistan's Foreign Ministry. Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari today said that Imran Khan has "nowhere to run" less than an hour after proceedings of the National Assembly of Pakistan were adjourned. This remark comes as proceedings of the Pakistan National Assembly were adjourned till April 3. The session was held with more than 172 members from the Opposition benches in attendance. During a press conference, Bilawal said Imran Khan again used the Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, Asad Qaiser to defer the proceedings of the no-confidence motion. "Today, by producing 175 lawmakers in the Parliament we have proved that Imran Khan has nowhere to run," he said. "Now that we have a majority, there is no safe passage (for Imran Khan), there is no face-saving way and there is no backdoor," he said. The PPP chairman suggested that there is only one "honourable" way out for Imran Khan: to resign in a bid to end the political crisis in the country. (ANI)
Targeting opposition parties who have brought a no-confidence motion against him, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday referred to the Indian subcontinent's history and compared them to Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq. In an address to the nation, Imran Khan accused the opposition parties of trying "to devastate the country" through "foreign conspiracy". "Everyone will remember how you devastated the country through foreign conspiracy. Who were Mir Jafar and Mir Sadiq? These were the people who made their countrymen slaves of the British," Khan said. Mir Sadiq was a minister of Tipu Sultan of Mysore. In the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1798-99, he betrayed Tipu Sultan during the siege of Srirangapatnam, paving the way for a British victory. Mir Jafar served as the commander of the Bengal army under Siraj ud-Daulah, the Nawab of Bengal and betrayed him during the Battle of Plassey, paving way for British rule in India. Imran Khan said that he will not bow down to such forces. "If you think that we will allow this conspiracy to be successful, let me tell you that I will fight till the end. I don't have relatives in politics, I don't have foreign factories like them (opposition). This country will not forget nor forgive." "Why are they doing this drama that I ruined the nation? Was the country ruined in 3.5 years? I challenge you that in 3.5 years what this govt has done no other govt has done. This Sunday when the votes happen, where will the votes go? which direction will this country take?" he asked. . Imran Khan at first named the US in the context of threat "message" and then changed his track saying it came from another country. "I am here today because on March 8 or 7, the United States ... not the US ... we got a message from another country. For a free country, a message like this is [not only] against its prime minister but is also against the country [itself]." He said the foreign country knew about the no-confidence motion even before it was moved and "they (the opposition) parties had links with them" He said the message was not against the Pakistan government but against Imran Khan. "They (the foreign country) make an excuse that they are against Pakistan but they say that they will not act against Pakistan if he loses the confidence vote. If he loses, we will forgive Pakistan but if he fails, Pakistan will face difficulty. Another country ....against an elected Prime Minister and this is recorded. This is official document," he said. Talking about his visit to Russia, when Russian President Vladimir Putin launched "military operations" against Ukraine, he said, "I am telling my nation today that this is our status. We are a nation of 220 million and another country. They are not giving any reason (for issuing threat). They said that Imran Khan decided to go to Russia on his own even though the Foreign Office and the military leadership was consulted," Khan said. He said that the decision to visit Russia was made after consultations with Pakistan officials. "Our ambassador told them that the decision (to visit Russia) was made after consultations" but they are denying it and saying that 'it was only because of Imran Khan and that our ties cannot be good if he stays.' What they are actually saying is that they have no issue with the people who will replace Imran Khan," he added. Imran Khan said that the foreign forces have "developed a liking for" Shehbaz Sharif, Fazlur Rehman and Asif Ali Zardari as they "know where their money and properties are" and "in their 10 years 400 drone attacks happened and they did not condemn it once." "The most disturbing thing is that they (foreign forces) have links with the people through whom the conspiracy (no trust move) happened. They are stooges, and stooges means loyal slaves," he said. Imran then addressed Shahbaz's criticism of him saying he said "absolutely not" to the United States in response to its reported demands of having military bases in Pakistan. "I only said that 'we are with you in peace but not in war' because our foreign policy is independent. I don't talk against anyone. I only say that my biggest responsibility is the 220 million Pakistanis. When did you (Shehbaz) take a stand ... you and your brother can never talk, they know where you assets are," he said. Khan then referred to the no-trust move against him, the voting on which is likely to take place this Sunday. "On Sunday, there will be a voting held and a decision will be taken on the direction of this country. Somebody suggested that I should resign. I always fight till the last ball. I want the entire nation to see on that day that who sold their conscience. There is looted money being used to buy off people, and this is happening before the entire nation. This is a transaction of their conscience, the country and its sovereignty," Khan said. Despite seeing several of his main allies side with the opposition, khan said that he still has "hope". "I tell these people who have taken the deals that this will be stamped on you. The people will neither forget nor forgive you. Neither will they forgive those who are handling you. The people will always remember that you sold your country. Through a foreign conspiracy you tried to topple a government that had an independent foreign policy." On Wednesday, the MQM-P -- the ruling PTI's main ally -- announced that it would support the joint opposition in the no-trust resolution. The MQM-P has seven seats in the National Assembly and after its decision to part ways with the government, the opposition has support of 177 MNAs, five more than the 172 required to gain a majority. (ANI)
The road ahead is going to be uphill for Pakistan amid Russia-Ukraine war more so as the country's economy has been so thoroughly mismanaged by Imran Khan that it now ranks below Bangladesh. Federico Giuliani, writing in Insideover said that the dependence on IMF bailouts has reached worrying proportions which may undo many populist measures, leading to unrest in the country. Post the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the new-found closeness that Imran Khan developed with Putin is proving to be a big diplomatic embarrassment, if not a debacle. More discomforting for him was his presence in Moscow on the day Russia had launched attack on Ukraine. He rejected advice against his Russian visit in order to please Beijing, and also to demonstrate how 'independently' he runs the country's foreign policy, reported Insideover. Pakistan claims to have taken a 'neutral' position on the Ukraine war but the zeal with which the Imran Khan government continued to blast the US has planted an impression in American minds that Pakistan stands with Russia in defiance of the overwhelming worldwide outrage against its invasion of Ukraine. Imran Khan may personally not be keen to be friends with the US or the West but his Army is unhappy with the distance he has created with the US. Though not specifically on relations with the US, Imran Khan has developed differences with the Generals--very different from the days when he used to declare that for the first time in Pakistan's history, the Pakistan Army and the prime minister are on the 'same page' on all matters, wrote Giuliani. Despite a friendly Taliban leadership taking over Afghanistan, Pakistan is unable to plan any initiative to play the role of the gateway to Central Asia it had envisaged for itself--a trump card, a point of leverage. Imran Khan had built up hopes of energy flows from Russia and Central Asia, banking on Russian aid to build a pipeline from Central Asia to his energy-starved nation. That must remain a pipe dream; Russia, withering under sanctions, is hard-pressed for cash almost as badly as the ultimate benefactor, Pakistan, said Giuliani. The hardship caused by economic factors may have a bearing on ties between Russia and Pakistan. The global sentiments against Russia can dampen these ties even as the possibilities of a patch up in the frayed US-Pakistan ties do not appear bright in the near future. (ANI)
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Thursday held bilateral consultations with his UK counterpart Liz Truss and conducted the annual strategic review of the Roadmap 2030 agreed between the Prime Ministers during the India-UK Virtual Summit 2021. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss paid an official visit to India on March 31. Jaishankar and Truss expressed satisfaction on the progress achieved so far and agreed to further intensify efforts to deliver results in priority areas of trade and investments, defence and security, migration and mobility, education, S&T, climate cooperation and green energy, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement. Both sides appreciated the substantial progress made in the India-UK FTA negotiations with two productive rounds already completed since their launch in January 2022. According to the statement, the two sides also discussed the implementation of the Migration and Mobility Partnership which has the potential to bring the people of both countries even closer. They also discussed the modalities of instituting the Strategic Tech Dialogue to enhance cooperation on new and emerging strategic technologies like 5G, AI and quantum. The two Ministers agreed to resolve legacy issues and deepen defence and security cooperation including in defence co-development and co-production, and enhance capacities to address growing threats in the cyber, space and maritime domains, the statement said. India welcomed the UK's interest in participating in its national defence manufacturing programme through Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat. They agreed to consult intensively on this, read the statement. Both the ministers emphasised the need retain strategic focus on the Indo-Pacific region and in this context, India welcomed the readiness of the UK side in undertaking activities under the Maritime Security Pillar of the Indo-Pacific Ocean's Initiative (IPOI). IPOI is an open, inclusive, non-treaty based, global initiative that was announced by Prime Minister Modi at the 14th East Asia Summit in November 2019 to promote collaborative efforts among like-minded nations to better manage, conserve, sustain and secure the Indo-Pacific maritime domain. The Ministers also had the opportunity to exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest. On Ukraine, India reiterated that the immediate cessation of violence and return to dialogue and diplomacy is the key to long term peace in the region, the statement said. The statement further said that on Afghanistan, both sides highlighted the need for Afghanistan to have unhindered access to humanitarian assistance and that Afghan territory is not used by terror outfits for destabilising the region. Iran and JCPOA also featured in the talks. They also discussed matters related to the Commonwealth and the UN Security Council. Both Ministers also participated in the inaugural edition of the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum, a new 1.5 Dialogue mechanism for expert deliberations on long term strategic links and expanding the horizons of our bilateral cooperation. During her visit, UK Foreign Secretary also met with Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance, and Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser, the statement added. (ANI)
An expert on corruption studies and Central Asia politics in a webinar on Wednesday talked about 'why London is the money laundering capital of the world' and said, "there is a lack of political will to tackle this issue..." The remarks were made by Thomas Mayne, visiting fellow at Chatham House, an independent think tank that focuses on International affairs. Mayne is part of a recent Chatham House report on, 'The UK's Kleptocracy problem,' which leads to the same broad conclusion. The Open Forum webinar was moderated by Joy Macknight, Editor of The Banker, part of the Financial Times Group, UK. London is at the centre of dirty money is quite widely accepted, but the crisis in Ukraine has once again put the issue in the spotlight, he said. Transparency International UK recently reported that such "questionable funds" could be to the value of GBP 6.7 billion. Properties in the central London areas like the City of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea form a huge part of this value. Revealing the mechanism involved, Independent UK said, "It is held by companies in Britain's Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. The secrecy provided by these offshore financial centres is often used by those seeking to hide their ownership of assets." "We have been promised since Tony Blair was Prime Minister that governments will address it. We have been promised that there will be a public register of ultimate ownership of property. It gets introduced to parliament various times then something else takes over and it's dropped. It seems it's not a priority for governments to tackle," said the director of anti-money laundering at London CDD, Darren Jones. After the Ukraine conflict, the UK passed the economic crime act in a hurry. It entailed setting up a register of overseas entities and their beneficial owners and required overseas entities who own land to register. The buck stops though at the resources and manpower required to unfold the multiple layers of a certain company to reach the actual owner, even if on the books. Reacting to the act from a practitioner's point of view Jones said, "if they don't do that then they might as well not bother passing the Act." No wonder then that economic offenders from all over the world view London as a safe haven. An audience question pointed to two such people from India: Vijay Malaya and Nirav Modi who have been in the UK by playing through the British legal system, despite swindling money in India. The panel quoted many such cases some even enjoying media attention. It's a lot about money, points out FarzanaBaduel, CEO, Curzon PR but, "sometimes we don't know who we are working for." A cultural-social-economic organisation might carry a different front while being funded by dubious sources and it's not always known. "So far for the last twenty-five years we have relied on this wealth to fund our financial services, to fund our economy and turned a blind eye to these monies and a good example of this is the golden visa problems," said Mayne which forms the part of his most recent collaborative research, 'Criminality Notwithstanding', a Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence programme report on the how and why the UK's unexplained wealth order (UWO) system has failed against kleptocracies. Mayne also informed that their investigations have found out that half of these visas have been given to individuals who could pose a "risk to security". "The UK has incredible soft power around the world, but we are resting on the laurels of our past and we are watching our integrity disintegrate. I have worked with over 18 different governments and they say to my face 'ugh' we can buy your prime ministers," said FarzanaBaduel. "The UK has to be very careful about its reputation as you can rest on our laurels for so long. After a while, they will come to haunt us. Do we really want to be perceived as a country where our governance is weak and yet we can lecture other countries on the lack of their governance? People are calling us hypocrites," she further added. Ukraine crisis has helped connect the dots between dirty money and what risk they could mean but the big question is as Thomas Mayne puts it, "Will the attack on Ukraine finally change UK's position?" (ANI)
Cairo [Egypt], April 1 (ANI/Sputnik): A contact group of Arab League ministers is planning to visit Russia next week for negotiations regarding the ongoing crisis in Ukraine, the organization said on Thursday. "An Arab ministerial-level contact group on the Ukrainian crisis will go to Moscow early next week and hold talks with the Russian side on ways to reach a solution to the crisis, whose dangerous consequences are felt by the whole world, especially in the humanitarian area," the Arab League said in a statement acquired by Sputnik. The contact group will consist of ministers from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan as well as the league's secretary general. The Council of the Arab League authorized the group to hold consultations with the interested parties in order to facilitate the search for a diplomatic settlement. According to Iraqi Foreign Fuad Hussein, the delegation is planning to visit several European countries afterwards. On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian aggression. The Russian defense ministry said the operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only. (ANI/Sputnik)
The protestors were seen holding placards saying "Gota Go Home", Colombo Page reported.

The protesters clashed with the police outside the residence of President Rajapaksa in Mirihana. The police have used tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters, according to Daily Mirror.

Security has been tightened around the Rajapaksa's residence due to the protest while army personnel have also been deployed to the location.

According to Sri Lankan media, the protest was staged over the government's failure to address the existing issues in the country.

"Police curfew imposed until further notice with immediate effect within Colombo North, Colombo South, Colombo Central and Nugegoda Police Division," said Inspector General of Police, reported Daily Mirror.

Sri Lanka's economy has been in a free fall since the COVID-19 pandemic due to the crash of the tourism sector.

Sri Lanka is presently facing a foreign exchange shortage which has led to a fuel, power and gas shortage and has sought the assistance of friendly countries for economic assistance.

Sri Lanka is witnessing atleast 10-hour daily power cuts. Sri Lanka's currency has been also devalued by almost SLR 90 against the US dollar since March 8. (ANI)
Six people were admitted to the Colombo National Hospital after sustaining injuries following clashes between protestors and police in Mirihana. Another four patients were admitted to the Colombo South Teaching Hospital in Kalubowila, Daily Mirror reported.

All the injured people were male persons and several of them were journalists, Daily Mirror reported citing hospital sources.

The protest was staged over the government's failure to address the existing issues in the island nation.

The protesters clashed with the police outside the residence of President Rajapaksa in Mirihana.

A bus attached to the Sri Lanka Army and a jeep were set on fire by protesters. Moreover, police have imposed a curfew in several areas in Colombo.

"Police curfew imposed until further notice with immediate effect within Colombo North, Colombo South, Colombo Central and Nugegoda Police Division," said Inspector General of Police, reported Daily Mirror.

Sri Lanka's economy has been in a free fall since the COVID-19 pandemic due to the crash of the tourism sector.

Sri Lanka is presently facing a foreign exchange shortage which has led to a fuel, power and gas shortage and has sought the assistance of friendly countries for economic assistance.

Sri Lanka is witnessing atleast 10-hour daily power cuts. Sri Lanka's currency has been also devalued by almost SLR 90 against the US dollar since March 8. (ANI)
Will Smith onstage at the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

As the sting of Will Smith's hand striking Chris Rock's face begins to fade, a big question remains: What, if anything, will the film academy do to punish the "King Richard" Oscar winner for his inappropriate on-camera behavior?

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Wednesday that it had asked Smith to leave the ceremony but the actor refused to do so. (Then again, maybe it didn't ask?)

The organization said its board of governors had "initiated disciplinary proceedings" against Smith for violations of its standards of conduct, a code that was updated in late 2017 by a task force that was formed in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. The code specifically prohibits "abusive or threatening behavior," which presumably includes smacking a peer in front of an audience of 15.4 million people.

"[W]e also recognize we could have handled the situation differently," the academy added in its statement.

The film academy's disciplinary measures  in addition to expulsion or suspension of membership  "may include private reprimand, public reprimand, temporary or permanent loss of privileges to attend and participate in Academy events or activities, temporary or permanent loss of eligibility to receive or hold or revocation of Academy awards or honors, temporary or permanent loss of eligibility to hold Academy service and volunteer roles, or other sanctions that the Academy in its sole discretion may deem appropriate."

Here are some punishment options the academy might choose.

Expulsion

Kicking Smith out of the academy would be a huge statement  one the organization is probably unwilling to make. Among those who have been booted from the group are Weinstein (expelled in 2017), director Roman Polanski (out in 2017), Bill Cosby (axed in 2017) and cinematographer Adam Kimmel (booted in 2021), all of whom participated in alleged sexual misconduct. There's also actor Carmine Caridi, who was kicked out in 2004 for pirating his "for your consideration" screener videos and giving them to a friend who was not a member.

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Exclusion

The "Men in Black" star could be banned from participating in academy activities, including future Oscars ceremonies. That means he would be out as a presenter as well as a guest and  in a break from tradition  he wouldn't get to present the 2023 Oscar to next year's lead actress winner.

At the end of his lead actor acceptance speech Sunday, the tearful actor thanked the academy and said he hopes "the academy invites me back," so he knows he might be on thin ice.

Cancellation

This isn't exactly the "cancel culture" everyone's been talking about in recent years, but it's close enough. Smith could be excluded from eligibility for Academy Awards in the future, under the academy's right to punish offenders with what it calls "temporary or permanent loss of eligibility to receive or hold or revocation of Academy awards or honors."

Revocation

Theoretically, the academy could take back Smith's newly earned Oscar, but it would be unprecedented. While three people  actors George C. Scott and Marlon Brando and "The Informer" screenwriter Dudley Nichols  have declined to accept their awards, only one Oscar has been taken back: The only time the academy ever revoked an Oscar is for a 1969 documentary, "Young Americans," which turned out to be ineligible for that year's honor. Weinstein and Polanski still have their trophies.

Were not going to take that Oscar from him," Whoopi Goldberg said Tuesday on "The View." The member of the academy's board of governors also predicted "big consequences" for the errant actor. Goldberg, however, is but one of 54 people on the film academy's board, and in the end it appears to be a group decision.

Suspension

This is most likely going to be part of Smith's punishment, which will be voted on at a board of governors meeting on April 18. The Oscar winner was offered 15 days to provide a written response.

"There is no place in the Academy for people who abuse their status, power or influence in a manner that violates recognized standards of decency," states the introduction to the group's code of conduct. "The Academy is categorically opposed to any form of abuse. ..." As the organization strives to be more inclusive and faces a host of new challenges, the last thing it wants is a loose-cannon member whose public misbehavior goes without consequences.

Use your imagination

A close reading of the code of conduct suggests the academy has the right to do whatever the heck it wants to do  under the umbrella of "other sanctions that the Academy in its sole discretion may deem appropriate." This is a group of creatives, after all.

No matter what the academy's governors decide, it will come soon enough and likely won't be a secret. This is also in the code of conduct: "[E]xcept with respect to a private reprimand, the Academy may make public any finding of a violation and sanctions issued."

Times staff writer Josh Rottenberg contributed to this report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
HONOLULU (AP)  A Hawaii judge has granted a couple's request for a temporary restraining order against Ezra Miller, an actor known for playing The Flash" in Justice League films.

The couple filed a petition for a temporary restraining order Tuesday, alleging that Miller burst into their bedroom and threatened them in Hilo, a small town on the Big Island. The petition also accused Miller of stealing some of their belongings, including a passport and wallet.

The judge's order, filed in court Wednesday, said it was necessary to grant the couple's petition to prevent harassment.

Days earlier, Miller allegedly harassed patrons at a karaoke bar. Late Sunday, police were called to Margarita Village in Hilo, where they said Miller yelled obscenities, grabbed a mic from a singing woman and lunged at a man playing darts.

The bar owner asked Miller to calm down several times to no avail, police said in a news release.

Miller was arrested at the bar shortly after midnight Monday and charged with disorderly conduct and harassment. Miller was released on $500 bail.

Neither Miller nor the actor's representatives could immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

Miller is ordered to appear at a court hearing for the temporary restraining order against harassment in Hilo on April 13.
Mar. 31A wind advisory issued by the U.S. National Weather Service for 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday and the threat of severe weather caused schools in the Daviess County and the surrounding areas to cancel after-school activities, while some elected to dismiss students early.

McLean County Public Schools and Muhlenberg County Schools closed early in anticipation for potential weather events along with canceling after-school activities.

MCPS dismissed all students at 1:30 p.m. while MCS dismissed elementary schools and afternoon Head Start at 1:35 p.m. The middle schools and the high school were let out at 2:45 p.m.

Tommy Burrough, superintendent of MCPS, was concerned about getting students home safely.

"Our buses do not do very good at all with high winds," he said. "They're top-heavy."

Burrough said that he spoke to other area school officials who were also following an early dismissal schedule.

Hancock County Schools canceled all activities after 5:30 p.m.

After-school activities and events for Daviess County Public Schools after 5 p.m. were canceled, while each school had the flexibility to cancel individual activities, as needed, that were scheduled prior to 5 p.m.

Jared Revlett, spokesman for Owensboro Public Schools, said that after-school activities occurring outdoors after 6 p.m. were canceled, and some of the sports teams decided to cancel practice.

Revlett noted that the district's fine arts festival at the RiverPark Center scheduled for Wednesday night was going on as scheduled.

"They assured us that in the event that the weather does turn bad ... that they do have another space for everybody there to get them to safety," Revlett said.
ProFootball Talk on NBC Sports

The Browns and Baker Mayfield may eventually need each other in 2022. Someone may be trying to blow things up before it ever gets to that point. A new article from Jake Trotter of ESPN.com throws more bituminous on the burn pile in Cleveland, highlighting how and why player and team got to the point [more]
An Australian journalist accused by the Chinese government of supplying state secrets faced a closed-door trial in Beijing court on Thursday.



Cheng Lei, a television anchor for the Chinese state-run outlet CGTN for nearly a decade, was tried in court after being detained for over 19 months.



She was originally detained in 2020 before Chinese authorities formally arrested her in February last year over state secrets charges. No other details about the arrest were released to the public.



Foreign observers, including journalists and diplomats, were barred from entering the courtroom. The trial ended in less than a day, with the court deferring its verdict.



The Australian ambassador to Beijing, Graham Fletcher, said he was told by a court official that he was not allowed in the courthouse because the trial involved state secrets.



This is deeply concerning, unsatisfactory and regrettable, Fletcher was quoted as saying. We can have no confidence in the validity of a process which is conducted in secret.



In China, trials that concern national security are usually conducted in secret and completed in one day. It is also not unusual for verdicts and sentences in such cases to follow months later.



Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne criticized the proceedings, noting that: The Australian government respects the sovereignty of Chinas legal system. However, Ms. Chengs case has lacked transparency and the Australian government has never been provided with details of the charges.



While the charges against Lei usually carry a sentence of five to 10 years imprisonment, she could receive a much longer sentence depending on how the court views the severity of the alleged crime.



Since Ms. Cheng was detained in August 2020, the Australian government has consistently stated the fundamental importance of procedural fairness, basic standards of justice and Chinas international legal obligations, Payne added.



Lei reportedly spent six months detained in residential surveillance at a designated location after her capture in 2020. At the time, Leis family sought the help of Australias Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to find clues about her status.



Payne said Australian representatives were able to meet Lei only on Monday.



Originally from China, Lei moved to Australia, where she eventually acquired citizenship and raised two children. She returned to China to pursue a television career, starting with CNBC and later as an anchor for the English-language channel CGTN.

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When 2-month-old Colton Wyatt Ellison arrived at a New Orleans hospital in 2018, the pediatric neurosurgeon who evaluated him said the baby had already been placed on life support, had IV fluids and medication and had no signs of brain activity.

In an evaluation of the child at Ochsners Childrens Hospital, Dr. Cuong Bui said, baby Colt had multiple brain bleeds or hemorrhaging in various areas in his brain and an abrasion on the back of his head.

In this particular case, Bui said, all the information we had pointed to an injury that could not have happened accidentally like (from) a fall or falling out of bed or playing with the baby too hard or dropping the baby.

The doctor also documented early signs of bruising around the babys eyes and noted the soft spot on the babys head had hardened due to a lack of oxygen and severe, widespread and catastrophic injuries to the brain.

The (babys) head must have hit something with a quite a bit of force, he said. There were clear injuries around the eyes based on the bleeding and bruising around them.

Because of the injuries coupled with extensive swelling in Coltons brain, Bui said, unfortunately, there was no surgical intervention I could do.

Bui is among others who testified on Wednesday in the capital murder trial of Byron Allen Ellison, the babys father.

The jury instructions issued Friday afternoon gave the jury the option to consider other charges during deliberations to include manslaughter.

Byron Ellison, who is accused of killing his two-month old son, leaves the courtroom during a break during his murder trial in Gulfport on Tuesday, March 29, 2022.

Autopsy confirms cause of death

Assistant district attorneys Patricia Patti Simpson and Billy Stage rested the states case Wednesday afternoon after forensic pathologist Dr. Mark LeVaughn testified, confirming the baby died of blunt impact injuries to the head.

LeVaughn performed the Oct. 22, 2018, autopsy on Colton and said it showed the baby had hemorrhages in the eyes, multiple hemorrhages in the brain, and an abrasion to the back of the head from a blunt impact injury.

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He ruled the manner of death a homicide, though defense attorney Jim Davis questioned whether the babys medical issues at birth with his esophagus could have restricted the oxygen to the babys brain, ultimately leading to the childs death. The baby spent four-to-six weeks in the hospital after his birth.

The baby had been home from the hospital for about three weeks at the time he suffered the fatal injuries.

LeVaughn said there was no sign of any issues with the babys esophagus at the time of the autopsy to suggest that the condition contributed to the childs death.

Couple, baby, lived with grandparents

Byron Ellison, and his now ex-girlfriend and mother of the child, Jessica Smith, had moved in with Ellisons parents at their then home on Calcutta Drive, south of Robinson Road in Gulfport, after the baby got out of the hospital following surgery and treatment for esophageal problems.

Harrison County sheriffs deputies initially arrested Ellison on Oct. 15, 2018, on a felony child abuse charge after paramedics found the baby unresponsive at the couples home. Investigators upgraded the charge to second-degree murder after the baby was taken off of life support and died.

The baby was an organ donor, according to the testimony.

If convicted of capital murder, Ellison could face a sentence of life in prison or death.

Sister had concerns

In defense testimony, jurors listened as an assistant from the defense attorneys office and prosecutor Simpson read a transcript from Ellisons sister, Kimberly Ellison.

Kimberly Ellison could not be in court to testify because she is currently serving time in a jail out of state for probation violations related to charges of felony fleeing, grand larceny and a drug paraphernalia charge.

In the testimony, Kimberly Ellison said she never heard her brother and the mother of the child arguing, and both she and Ellisons parents said the couple seemed to get along well.

In addition, Ellisons family said, the couple had set up a schedule so Jessica Smith could take care of the baby during the day, and Ellison could take care of him at night.

Kimberly Ellison said she didnt see either parent mistreat the child but did have concerns a few days before the alleged attack on the baby when she saw the childs mother had just taken a shower with the baby.

I said that was very alarming, that I was unaware she did not have a baby bath, Kimberly Ellison said.

Jessica Lynn Smith tears up as she testifies about her sons death during the murder trial of Byron Allen Ellison in Gulfport on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. Ellison is accused of killing his and Smiths 2-month old son, Colton Wyatt Ellison.

In other testimony, Byron Ellisons parents confirmed the couple seemed to get along and had set up a schedule to ensure someone was watching baby Colt at all times.

Byron Ellisons parents said they moved out of the Gulfport home they had been living in after Coltons death because it was too hard to stay there.

After Byron Ellisons father testified, he wheeled himself out of the courtroom without making eye contact with his son. His father is in wheelchair because he suffers from multiple sclerosis.

An admission of wrongdoing

Earlier in the murder trial, investigators testified that Byron Ellison told three different stories about what could have led to the babys fatal injuries.

Initially, Byron Ellison said he was bouncing the baby on his knee and may have hurt him then.

In another account, Byron Ellison said the babys head may have been hurt when his father pulled him to his chest and the babys head hit his collarbone. In a third scenario, Bryon Ellison suggested the baby may have fallen off a bed.

But early on in the investigation, Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson told the Sun Herald in 2018 that Byron Ellison had admitted abusing the child because he was tired and mad when the baby wouldnt stop crying.

Jessica Smith also told jurors that Ellison often got mad and called the baby a little shit when he wouldnt stop crying. Simpson recalled the events leading up to finding her baby limp and unresponsive the day of the alleged attack in earlier testimony.

Defense testimony resumes Thursday in Harrison County Circuit Court before Judge Christoper Schmidt.

Judge Chris Schmidt listens as attorneys question a witness during the murder trial of Byron Ellison in Gulfport on Tuesday, March 29, 2022.
Watch: David and Victoria Beckham left 'shaken' after burglar breaks into their London mansion

The Beckhams have been the victim of a home burglary, it has been reported.

David and Victoria Beckham's house was reportedly broken into by thieves while the couple and their daughter, Harper slept inside.

The burglary of the family's Kensington home is believed to have occurred late in the evening while the Beckhams were at home with their 10-year-old daughter on Monday, February 28.

According to reports, the break-in was not discovered until son, Cruz Beckham, 17, returned home from a night out and found a broken window and a spare bedroom which had been ransacked.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson confirmed to the PA news agency that officers had responded to reports of a burglary at a residential address on the W11 area of Kensington shortly around midnight on 1 March.

They added that a number of items were reported stolen. No arrests have yet been made and enquiries are continuing.

Read more: Mel B asks Victoria Beckham to dress her for MBE acceptance

The Beckhams have reportedly been the victim of a home burglary, pictured in December 2018. (Getty Images)

News of the Beckham's burglary comes as last year it was predicted there would be a rise in burglaries post-lockdown and will no doubt make others more aware of their own home security.

"While during the pandemic we saw a small reduction in the number of household burglaries, the fact remains that every 106 seconds a house is burgled in the UK," explains Robin Knox, CEO of home security company Boundary.

"And worryingly the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports that 58% of burglaries take place when the homeowner is at home.

"High profile examples of burglaries demonstrates that we should all take care to be vigilant and protect our homes at all times."

Read more: Victoria Beckham swears by this 7 beauty accessory to remove her make-up

What you can you do to protect your home from theft

Be social media savvy

By making sure your profile is as private as possible. If youre adamant on keeping it public Knox suggests a few things you need to make sure youre not doing including avoiding posting any group photos while youre out of the house and instead waiting until youre back home.

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"Its also worth double checking what youve already shared online when it comes to your address, and deleting anything that may point a burglar to the right place," he adds.

Know your risk times

ONS data highlighted that burglars tend to time their burglary attempts on weekdays, most likely targeting properties when homeowners are out at work or are least likely to be at home.

The Beckhams were rumoured to be at home with daughter Harper at the time of the break in. (Getty Images for YouTube)

Invest in a home security system

You may already have a typical home alarm system installed in your home, and although this can deter some potential thieves, theyll be able to spot the ones that arent as reliable.

"If youre looking to invest in a home security system, it's important that it provides all-round protection," explains Knox. "Look out for those that have motion sensors, can be controlled with ease through an app (great for if youre away on holiday), and even those which include automatic police response, which makes it more likely that your intruder will be caught red-handed."

Some smart burglar alarms allow the system to switch on lights or play music should a sensor be triggered. This can act as an additional deterrent to ward off would-be burglars.

Don't be alarm complacent

Don't be fooled that because you have a smart video alarm system that you will remain theft-free as all this really does is show that there's an intruder.

"If you can, get a police response alarm system," suggests Knox. "Burglars know which suppliers provide this service."

If you do have an alarm it is also important to remember to activate it, especially at night. "Preferably find an alarm solution that has a reminder function," Knox adds.

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Tap into your Neighbourhood Watch

If you are going away, make sure that your immediate neighbours (that you trust) know so they can regularly check in and keep an eye out for you and if your alarm sounds they can act.

"This could be as simple as asking them to remove newspapers and post from your doormat (especially if they can be seen through a glass panel), to opening and closing your curtains and turning some lights on in the evening  all of which would indicate someone was at home and ward off potential unwanted visitors," explains Knox.

Experts are concerned homeowners may have got complacent about home security. (Getty Images)

Check your deadlock is working

If youre not sure what the deadlock is and where its located, according to Knox it is typically the rectangular shaped lock found underneath the door handle.

"Its so important to check this is working properly, because if it doesnt actually go all the way into the door frame, burglars are able to get into a property without leaving a trace," he explains. "They can simply use a debit card to slide it through and open the door, so even if you think you may have locked up, it still might not be burglar proof."

Be bin savvy

It may sound simple but try not to leave bins out at the front of your house longer than you need to.

"These are sign that you could be away or out and can be used to help burglars get over your fence," Knox adds.

Additional reporting PA.
President Joe Biden is marking the Transgender Day of Visibility, which declared in order to celebrate the activism and determination that have fueled the fight for transgender equality and acknowledge the adversity and discrimination that the transgender community continues to face across our Nation and around the world  this as various Republican-led states pass laws directly targeting non-gender-conforming people, including children.

Meanwhile, Mr Biden has ordered the release of up 1 million barrels of oil per day from the strategic petroleum reserve for the next six months in a bid to control prices that have spiked since the US and its allies imposed strict sanctions on Russia.

The announcement comes after both the White House and the Pentagon said that they believe Vladimir Putin is being misinformed about progress in the war by his senior advisers and warned that Russian troops being pulled back from areas near Kyiv may just be being repositioned for futher fighting.

Mr Biden also gave a speech on the state of the coronavirus pandemic, announcing the launch of a central website for resources, before receiving his second booster shot of the Pfizer vaccine.

Key points

Biden admin ordering release of 1 million barrels of oil per day from strategic reserve

US will provide $500 million in support for Ukraines government

White House slams Trump scheme with Putin

Trump speaks out during war in Ukraine to call on Putin to release Hunter Biden dirt

Biden confirms strategic oil release

16:02 , Andrew Naughtie

Joe Biden has confirmed that 1 million barrels of oil will be released from the US strategic reserve every day for the next six months in an effort to bring down fuel prices.

Manchin opposes plan to scrap Trump-era border policy

15:53 , Andrew Naughtie

The news that the Biden administration will scrap the controversial Title 42 policy blocking asylum claims at the US border has not gone down well with all Democrats. CNNs Manu Raju reports that Joe Manchin, one of the biggest thorns in Mr Bidens side, is already dug in against the move...

Story continues

Manchin tells us that the administration should drop plans to scrap Trump-era Title 42 border policy. Asked why hes opposed to lifting Title 42. Oh my goodness. Just watch the news y'all put out every day, whats coming across.  Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 31, 2022

Trump lashes out at Biden over oil

15:15 , Andrew Naughtie

Donald Trump has begun his day with a statement claiming credit for filling up the USs oil reserves and criticising Joe Biden for reportedly planning to release a vast quantity of the stored oil to help tackle fuel prices. Mr Trump laments that Mr Biden is considering touching what we so carefully and magically built  despite the fact that this is exactly what the reserve is intended for.

Per his usual method of dissemination, heres the screenshot shared by his spokeswoman Liz Harrington on Twitter, from which the sometime president and Mar-a-Lago president is banned.

NEW!



President Donald J. Trump:



So after 50 years of being virtually empty, I built up our oil reserves during my administration, and low energy prices, to 100% full. Its called the Strategic National Reserves, and it hasnt been full for many decades. In fact, its been pic.twitter.com/zaC2MVnIqq  Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) March 31, 2022

ICYMI: Biden announces new Covid portal for Americans

14:45 , Andrew Naughtie

Along with asking Congress for more emergency funding and getting his second booster shot on camera, Joe Biden yesterday announced a new website, Covid.gov, that provides Americans with everything you need to deal with Covid. Heres his announcement:

Free vaccines and boosters. Free at-home tests. Free high-quality masks. The latest information about the level of COVID-19 spread in your community.



Its all at https://t.co/6n8TiI4gII. pic.twitter.com/bqqZJFEQ6j  President Biden (@POTUS) March 30, 2022

Read more on his remarks about the pandemic below.

Biden calls on Congress to increase Covid funding as he gets his fourth vaccine shot

Government departments to fly transgender pride flag

14:15 , Andrew Naughtie

The Department of Health and Human Services will today be marking the national day of trans visibility declared by Joe Biden with a display of solidarity from its DC flagpole.

New: A transgender pride flag will fly over the Department of Health and Human Services today for #TransDayOfVisibility. This is the 1st time the flag has flown over a federal agency, a White House official said. @cbsnews  Bo Erickson CBS (@BoKnowsNews) March 31, 2022

Among the departments senior staff is Assistand Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, the most senior openly trans person appointed to a Senate-confirmed government position to date.

Also flying the flag is the Department of Homeland Security, led by Xavier Becerra.

On this International #TransDayofVisibility, I say to our transgender communities: we see you, we stand with you, and we will be there for you. For the first time in history, the transgender flag is flying in front of a federal agency, @HHSGovs Hubert Humphrey building. pic.twitter.com/7vpYZJI4KY  Secretary Xavier Becerra (@SecBecerra) March 31, 2022

Trump advisor enraged by move to scrap Title 42

13:44 , Andrew Naughtie

Stephen Miller, the nationalist anti-immigration hardliner who crafted much of Donald Trumps border policy, has hit out at the Biden administrations move to scrap the provision known as Title 42 that blocked most asylum claims at the point of entry to the US.

Warning on Twitter that the move could unleash one of historys most spectaular travesties and open the floodgates on a biblical scale, Mr Miller was soon upbraided by those on the other side of the argument. Among his critics was Congressman Brendan Boyle, who recalled his own familys debt to a more accepting immigration policy.

75 years ago, my grandparents left Ireland for America on the SS George Washington. They would become US citizens and proudly cast their first votes for president for JFK in 1960. They were deeply patriotic, and far better Americans than the likes of Stephen Miller ever could be. https://t.co/oUPjRh7NCM  US Rep Brendan Boyle (@RepBrendanBoyle) March 31, 2022

Biden marks day of transgender visibility among nationwide backlash against trans people

13:10 , Andrew Naughtie

Joe Biden has declared 31 March the Transgender Day of Visibility, an effort to honor transgender people who are fighting for freedom, equality, dignity, and respect and celebrate the parents, teachers, coaches, doctors, and other allies who affirm the identities of their transgender children and help these young people reach their potential.

This he has done as trans people across the US face an escalating legal effort to exclude trans women from women and girls sport, restrict the therapies available to gender non-conforming children, and limit what schoolchildren can be taught about gender identity and sexuality.

You can read Mr Bidens full statement marking the day on the White House site. Heres an excerpt:

To everyone celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility, I want you to know that your President sees you. The First Lady, the Vice President, the Second Gentleman, and my entire Administration see you for who you are  made in the image of God and deserving of dignity, respect, and support. On this day and every day, we recognize the resilience, strength, and joy of transgender, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people. We celebrate the activism and determination that have fueled the fight for transgender equality. We acknowledge the adversity and discrimination that the transgender community continues to face across our Nation and around the world... Transgender people are some of the bravest Americans I know, and our Nation and the world are stronger, more vibrant, and more prosperous because of them. To transgender Americans of all ages, I want you to know that you are so brave. You belong. I have your back.

Reports that Biden administration will end key Trump-era border policy

12:40 , Andrew Naughtie

The Biden administration is reportedly planning to scrap Title 42, a contentious Trump-era border control policy invoked by the CDC at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The policy effectively suspended asylum claims at the point of entry to the US on the grounds of controlling Covid-19 transmission; the result was that as many as 1.7 million people seeking asylum were immediately expelled from the US without being able to present their cases.

Mr Bidens tenure has so far seen him decline to move fast on easing the Trump administrations sometimes draconian border policies and a surge of arrivals at the USs southern border is expected in the coming weeks and months.

Read more below.

Biden to lift Trump-era pandemic restrictions on US-Mexico border, reports say

Biden on new Covid funding: Its not partisan, its medicine"

12:06 , Andrew Naughtie

Congress recently declined to provide billions of dollars in new funding for the governments Covid-19 response effort, and Joe Biden yesterday warned that if the money isnt forthcoming soon, the consequences could be severe.

If Congress fails to act, we wont have the supply we need this fall to ensure the shots are available free, easily accessible for all Americans. Even worse, if we need a different vaccine for the future, to combat a new variant, were not going to have enough money to purchase it, he said. We cannot allow that to happen  we cant wait to find ourselves in the midst of another surge to act. Itll be too late. All of us have worked so hard to get our lives back  together, we turned an unthinkable pain into an extraordinary progress and purpose  Americans are back to living their lives again, Mr Biden said. We cant surrender that now. Congress, please act  you have to act immediately. The consequences of inaction are severe, theyll only grow with time, but it doesnt have to be that way.

Andrew Feinberg has the story.

Biden calls on Congress to increase Covid funding as he gets his fourth vaccine shot

Bidens antisemitism envoy confirmed after eight-month fight

11:33 , Andrew Naughtie

Deborah Lipstadt, the historian whose work challenging Holocaust denial made her internationally famous, has been confirmed as the Biden administrations special envoy to combat and monitor antisemitism. The vote to confirm her was introduced by a speech from Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff, himself the descendant of Jewish refugees who fled antisemitism in Eastern Europe for a new life in the US.

WATCH: Sen. @ossoff took to the Senate Floor tonight to confirm Dr. Deborah Lipstadt to be United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism. pic.twitter.com/BFSX9HYVQY  Ossoff's Office (@SenOssoff) March 31, 2022

Ms Lipstadt was nominated eight months ago, during which time various Republicans obstructed her because of her past remarks about them. Particularly angry was Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who took exception to a tweet in which Ms Lipstadt accused him of white supremacy/nationalism over the 6 January insurrection.

Ron Johnson erupts at Holocaust expert over white supremacy comments

Watch: convicted congressmans resignation read out in House chamber

11:06 , Andrew Naughtie

Republican Nebraska Congressman Jeff Fortenberry recently resigned his seat after being found guilty of lying on numerous counts of lying about an illegal foreign campaign donation. Below is the moment his resignation was formally read out on the House floor.

Fortenberrys resignation read in the House pic.twitter.com/abYo8p0qVB  Acyn (@Acyn) March 30, 2022

ICYMI: White House spokeswoman on Trump and Putin

10:32 , Andrew Naughtie

Speaking to the press at a briefing yesterday, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield

So what I would say about is this, she began. What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin and brag about his connections to Vladimir Putin? There is only one, and its Donald Trump.

"What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin?...There is only one, and it is Donald Trump."



The WH responds to Pres. Trump calling on Pres. Putin to release information about Hunter Biden. pic.twitter.com/EudBswLm7S  CBS News (@CBSNews) March 30, 2022

Biden meets with parents of American detained in Russia

10:07 , Andrew Naughtie

Joe Biden yesterday met with the parents of Trevor Reed, a 30-year-old American citizen and former marine who has been imprisoned in Russia since 2019. He was originally convicted and sentenced on charges of assaulting two Moscow police officers after a drunken party, charges that his parents and the US government claim were trumped up so Mr Reed could be used as a bargaining chip for a potential prisoner exchange.

He is now on his second hunger strike in six months, and according to his parents is possibly suffering from tuberculosis and a broken rib.

The White Houses summary of the meeting reads:

President Biden met today with Joey and Paula Reed, the parents of Trevor Reed, who is wrongfully detained in Russia. During their meeting, the President reiterated his commitment to continue to work to secure the release of Trevor, Paul Whelan, and other Americans wrongfully held in Russia and elsewhere, and to provide all possible assistance until they and others are free and returned home to their families who are advocating so passionately for their release. This is the Presidents second interaction with the Reeds. On March 8, President Biden spoke to the Reeds by phone while he was in Texas. The Presidents national security team will remain in regular contact with the Reeds, the Whelan family, and other families of Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad. We are grateful for their partnership and feedback. We will continue to work to ensure we are communicating and sharing information in a way useful to these families. Previously, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with the Reed family in a virtual group meeting and then privately in December. He expressed our commitment to bringing Trevor home. We understand the pain felt by all of Trevors families and friends enduring the nightmare of his absence, which we are committed to bringing to an end.

Mr Reeds parents were also reportedly grateful for the meeting:

Trevor Reeds family say they met with President Biden today. He listened intently to everything we had to say until we were through talking. We couldn't have asked for more," Reeds father said afterward.  Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 30, 2022

Read more below.

Parents of man jailed for years in Russia meet with Biden

Watch: Joe Biden receives his second Covid booster shot

09:35 , Andrew Naughtie

After his speech on the Covid-19 pandemic, during which he implored Congress to allocate more funds to the public health response, Joe Biden rolled up his sleeve to receive his second booster shot. The FDA recently approved the added measure for all over-50s and those considered clinically extremely vulnerable.

While being injected, Mr Biden was bombarded with questions about immigration and his call with Volodymyr Zelensky, among other things, but retained his cool.

President Joe Biden got his second COVID-19 booster shot as his administration rolled out efforts to help Americans live with the virus, including a new website and a renewed push for vaccinations and funding https://t.co/U33ybcrhZA pic.twitter.com/b55CmMIQRW  Reuters (@Reuters) March 30, 2022

Kyle Rittenhouse complains Joe Biden wont answer the phone

09:00 , Andrew Naughtie

Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenage gunman who was found not guilty on multiple charges after shooting two people dead at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, has complained that Joe Biden is declining to talk to him.

Speaking to right-wing podcast host Jenna Ellis, Mr Rittenhouse said: I reached out to Joe Biden several times  crickets, nothing, Mr Rittenhouse told Ms Ellis. He still hasnt replied. So it just shows how much of a man he is to not sit down and talk.

He has previously accused the president of defaming him via an ad that used an image of him holding his gun at the protest while warning of white supremacy. On Ms Elliss show, he referred to all the false narratives that were put out, where people called me a white supremacist, a murderer and racist, and all those other lies.

Read more below:

Kyle Rittenhouse angry that Biden wont return his calls

ICYMI: US to provide Ukraine government an additional $500m

08:30 , Maroosha Muzaffar

The United States will provide Ukraines government with an additional $500m in direct budgetary aid to support its operations as Ukrainian forces continue to fight against Russias unprovoked invasion.

Read the full story here:

US will provide $500 million in support for Ukraines government

Joe Biden might invoke Defence Production Act this week for critical minerals

08:00 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Joe Biden might invoke the Defence Production Act as soon as this week, CNN reported.

Mr Bidenss move is aimed to help the domestic production of critical minerals needed to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles and long-term storage.

Quoting a source familiar with these developments, CNN said that doing so would add critical minerals such as lithium, nickel, graphite, cobalt and manganese to the list of items covered by the 1950 Defence Production Act.

The law gives the government more control during emergencies to direct industrial production.

Joe Biden warns US will not have enough Covid vaccines this fall

06:45 , Andrew Naughtie

Joe Biden has warned that the US will not have enough Covid vaccines this fall to ensure free and easy access for all Americans if Congress fails to pass the $22.5bn in additional funding.

The US President said that the country has enough supply to ensure people eligible for fourth shots have access to them.

The CDC recommended an additional Pfizer or Moderna dose for people who are 50 years of age and above as well as those who have compromised immune systems.

Mr Biden received his fourth dose of Covid vaccine on live television on Wednesday.

Russian state TV host calls on Americans to re-elect Donald Trump

06:15 , Maroosha Muzaffar

A Russian state TV host called on Americans to re-elect former president Donald Trump.

Evgeny Popov made the statement on the controlled broadcast over in Russia.

Mr Popov has been an avid supporter of the former president and frequently speaks out on his dislike of president Joe Biden.

He told viewers that its time for the Russian people to call on Americans to change the regime in the US before its term expires.

Watch the video here:

Russian state TV host Evgeny Popov calls on Americans to re-elect Trump

Morning Joe hosts slam Trump for seeking dirt on Bidens from Russia

05:45 , Maroosha Muzaffar

Morning Joe hosts slammed Donald Trump on Wednesday for asking Vladimir Putin to release dirt about Hunter Bidens alleged business dealings in Eastern Europe, a request he made during an interview with journalist John Solomon on the Just the News television show.

Read the full story here:

Morning Joe hosts slam Trump for seeking dirt on Bidens from Russia

White House slams Trump scheme with Putin

05:15 , Oliver O'Connell

At Wednesdays White House press briefing, Communications Director Kate Bedingfield was asked about former President Donald Trump asking Putin for information on Hunter Biden.

She replied: What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin ... There is only one and its Donald Trump.

WH Comms. Director Kate Bedingfield on Trump asking Putin for information on Hunter Biden:



"What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin ... There is only 1 and it's Donald Trump." pic.twitter.com/IiQf4bKPN0  The Recount (@therecount) March 30, 2022

Biden admin weighing release of up to 1 million barrels of oil per day from strategic reserve

05:00 , Maroosha Muzaffar

President Joe Biden is preparing to order the release of up to one million barrels of oil per day from the strategic petroleum reserve in a bid to control prices that have spiked after the US and its allies imposed strict sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

A person familiar with the decision was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that the announcement could come as soon as on Thursday when the president is scheduled to give a speech on the rising energy prices.

It was reported that the duration of the release hasnt been finalised but could last for several months.

Biden calls on Congress to increase Covid funding

04:30 , Oliver O'Connell

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said the US government wont be able to afford to provide Americans with the Covid-19 booster shot he received on-camera Wednesday if Congress doesnt step up to allocate more funding for vaccines, tests, treatments, and other Covid-19 needs.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.

Biden calls on Congress to increase Covid funding as he gets his fourth vaccine shot

US to provide $500m in support for Ukraines government

04:00 , Oliver O'Connell

The United States will provide Ukraines government with an additional $500 million in direct budgetary aid to support its operations as Ukrainian forces continue to fight against Russias unprovoked invasion.

Andrew Feinberg has the latest from Washington, DC.

US will provide $500 million in support for Ukraines government

White House readout of Zelensky call

03:15 , Oliver O'Connell

President Biden spoke today with President Zelenskyy of Ukraine about the ongoing work by the United States and its allies and partners to deliver military, economic, and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and to impose severe costs on Russia for its brutal aggression against Ukraine. The leaders discussed how the United States is working around the clock to fulfill the main security assistance requests by Ukraine, the critical effects those weapons have had on the conflict, and continued efforts by the United States with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country. In addition, President Biden informed President Zelenskyy that the United States intends to provide the Ukrainian government with $500 million in direct budgetary aid. He also reviewed the additional sanctions and humanitarian assistance announced last week. President Zelenskyy updated President Biden on the status of Ukraines negotiations with Russia.

The White House - March 30 2022

Report: Biden to lift Trump-era pandemic restrictions on US-Mexico border

02:45 , Oliver O'Connell

President Joe Bidens administration is expected to lift a public health order imposed by Donald Trump that blocked most asylum seekers from the US-Mexico border during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to reports citing administration officials familiar with the situation.

Alex Woodward reports.

Biden to lift Trump-era pandemic restrictions on US-Mexico border, reports say

Biden administration recalibrating on Russia's nuclear strategy

02:30 , Oliver O'Connell

The kinetic aspect of the Ukrainian conflict has so far played out almost entirely in Ukrainian territory, but the implications for the worlds strategic balance are still huge  particularly in the nuclear realm, with Vladimir Putin putting his nuclear forces on a special regime of combat duty just two days after his army invaded the neighbouring country.

The Biden administration and other Nato governments are now trying to rework their strategy for a Russian nuclear escalation, or even an accident involving nuclear reactors or waste storage facilities damaged by the invading forces.

Jonathan Tirone has this report.

US sees Russian sabre-rattling reshaping nuclear landscape

GOP Senator: Joe Biden should stop talking

01:45 , Oliver O'Connell

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, a hardcore right-wing Republican, has laid into Joe Biden over his unscripted line declaring that Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power.

I genuinely think it would be best for all involved, to include Joe Biden, but especially for the American people, if the president would simply stop speaking publicly in an extemporaneous fashion, he said in an interview with right-wing radio host Hugh Hewitt yesterday, adding that he doesnt think the president should adlib or even take questions or do press conferences.

If we could get three years of Joe Biden speaking in deliberate fashion on words that have been carefully reviewed and vetted  that would be safer than what happened over the last five days.

Mr Cottons grandiose suggestion flies in the face of criticism from many on the right who have long tried to claim Mr Biden is overly resistant to speaking to the press or answering questions.

Read more below:

Tom Cotton calls on Biden to stop speaking extemporaneously for rest of his term

Susan Collins to vote for Ketanji Brown Jackson

01:00 , Oliver O'Connell

In a development that all but assures Joe Bidens first Supreme Court nominee will be confirmed, Maine Republican Susan Collins has said she will vote for Ketanji Brown Jackson when the vote to put her on the bench comes to the Senate floor.

Ms Brown Jackson has already secured the support of Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator who was thought the most likely to withhold his backing.

Eric Garcia has the news:

Susan Collins to vote to confirm Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court

Thursday 31 March 2022 00:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Joe Biden yesterday signed a bill that makes lynching a federal hate crime, a measure that has been waiting to pass into law for more than a century.

Named for Emmett Till, the Black teenager whose brutal 1955 murder helped galvanise the civil rights movement, the bill faced only seven no votes in the House of Representatives and passed the Senate by unanimous consent.

From the bullets in the back of Ahmaud Arbery, to countless acts of violence, countless victims both known and unknown  racial hate is not an old problem, its a persistent problem, Mr Biden said at the signing ceremony. Hate never goes away. It only hides, it hides under the rocks. Given just a little bit of oxygen it comes roaring back out, screaming. What stops it is all of us, not a few.

Alex Woodward reports:

Lynching is now a federal hate crime, after century of attempts

More Americans worried about inflation than at any time since mid-1980s

Wednesday 30 March 2022 23:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Americans concern over inflation has inflated to its highest levels in nearly 40 years.

A new Gallup poll found that close to one in five Americans, or 17 per cent, cited inflation as their biggest economic concern.

The latest survey figures from between 1 March to 18 March are up from 10 per cent in February, 8 per cent in January and the highest ever recorded by Gallup since 1985.

Justin Vallejo reports.

More Americans are worried about inflation than at any time since 1985

Wednesday 30 March 2022 23:10 , Oliver O'Connell

Free vaccines and boosters. Free at-home tests. Free high-quality masks. The latest information about the level of COVID-19 spread in your community.



Its all at https://t.co/6n8TiI4gII. pic.twitter.com/bqqZJFEQ6j  President Biden (@POTUS) March 30, 2022

Biden marks Cesar Chavez Day

Wednesday 30 March 2022 22:50 , Oliver O'Connell

President Joe Biden marked Cesar Chavez Day by hailing the champion for workers rights and social justice in a presidential proclamation.

Today we celebrate the life and legacy of Cesar Estrada Chavez, a champion for social justice and advocate for hardworking people who build and sustain our Nation. Born into poverty and raised by migrant workers, Chavez courageously dedicated his life to improving conditions for workers across the country. Chavez witnessed firsthand the inequities of an economy that only served those at the top and left millions of hardworking Americans behind. Today, as we continue to build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out and that rewards work and not just wealth, we stand on the shoulders of Cesar Chavez and carry forward his fight to advance the rights and dignity of working people and fulfill the promise of America for all Americans.

President Joseph R Biden Jr

Read the full proclamation here.

Womens soccer team wear GAY t-shirts to protest Florida anti-gay law

Wednesday 30 March 2022 22:30 , Oliver O'Connell

A professional womens soccer team in central Florida has won praise for wearing GAY t-shirts in protest of a new anti-LGBT+ law in the state.

Orlando Pride players wore the t-shirts on Monday before Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed an anti-LGBT+ bill into effect, igniting protests across Florida and beyond.

Gino Spocchia reports.

Womens soccer team wear GAY t-shirts against anti-LGBT+ bill

Kyle Rittenhouse angry that Biden wont call him back

Wednesday 30 March 2022 22:10 , Oliver O'Connell

Kyle Rittenhouse has complained that President Joe Biden wont return his calls to sit down and talk.

Appearing on the conservative podcast The Jenna Ellis Show, Mr Rittenhouse slammed Mr Biden and the media while he again rejected claims that hes a white supremacist.

Gustaf Kilander reports from Washington, DC.

Kyle Rittenhouse angry that Biden wont return his calls

Your President sees you: Biden marks Transgender Day of Visibility

Wednesday 30 March 2022 22:00 , Oliver O'Connell

President Joe Biden has issued a proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility marking the progress made by the community while acknowledging the continuing challenges still faced including discrimination, harassment, epidemic levels of violence, and the damaging impact of anti-transgender bills in states across the country.

To everyone celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility, I want you to know that your President sees you. The First Lady, the Vice President, the Second Gentleman, and my entire Administration see you for who you are -- made in the image of God and deserving of dignity, respect, and support. On this day and every day, we recognize the resilience, strength, and joy of transgender, nonbinary, and gender-nonconforming people. We celebrate the activism and determination that have fueled the fight for transgender equality. We acknowledge the adversity and discrimination that the transgender community continues to face across our Nation and around the world.

President Joseph R Biden Jr

Read the full statement here.

NBC News: Dems eyeing Chicago for 2024 election

Wednesday 30 March 2022 21:50 , Oliver O'Connell

NBC News reports that the DNC is eyeing Chicago for its 2024 National Democratic Convention.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and Senator Tammy Duckworth  who is also a DNC vice chair  have been coordinating on the possible bid along with the states Democratic Party Chair, Representative Robin Kelly, and Senator Dick Durbin.

A blue city in a blue midwestern state, once home to the popular Obamas and site of the 44th presidents currently under construction official library, makes it an attractive proposition but could highlight perceived policy failures such as crime and gun violence.

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Graham: Administration reason for not sending planes to Ukraine is bull'

Wednesday 30 March 2022 21:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Lindsey Graham spoke out after this afternoons classified briefing on Russias war in Ukraine saying the administrations justification for not sending fighter planes to Ukraine was bull.

We cannot let Putin tell us how to help Ukrainians help themselves  Were five weeks into this thing and it seems like nothing changes.

Lindsey Graham after classified briefing on Russia/Ukraine says the administrations justification for not sending planes to Ukraine was bull.



We cannot let Putin tell us how to help Ukrainians help themselvesWere five weeks into this thing & it seems like nothing changes  Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) March 30, 2022

Report: Biden to invoke Defense Production Act got electric vehicle minerals

Wednesday 30 March 2022 21:35 , Oliver O'Connell

The Hill reports that President Joe Biden is set to invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) as early as this week to step up production of minerals used in the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries, citing confirmation from a source familiar the plans.

Biden is set to issue a presidential determination to stoke domestic production of the minerals, which are used for both stationary batteries and vehicles. The person emphasized that the production will not bypass existing permitting or environmental review processes. Biden adding certain minerals, such as lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel and manganese, to the list of items covered under the law could give mining companies access to some $750 million under the DPAs Title III fund, the person told The Hill.

The Hill

Schumer and McConnell chat after Ukraine briefing

Wednesday 30 March 2022 21:30 , Oliver O'Connell

Senator Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell were seen chatting as they left a classified briefing on the war in Ukraine this afternoon.

Schumer and McConnell chatting as they leave classified briefing on Ukraine. No comment from either of them pic.twitter.com/3NVUitqtIP  Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 30, 2022

The briefing follows reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defence at every turn over the last month, as Pentagon spokesperson reiterated at todays Department of Defense press briefing.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby: 'We would concur with the conclusion that Mr. Putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defense at every turn over the last month' pic.twitter.com/0yZoQeAFAK  NowThis (@nowthisnews) March 30, 2022

Voices: How Joe Biden finds common ground with defund the police campaigners

Wednesday 30 March 2022 21:25 , Oliver O'Connell

Alternative forms of crime prevention are on the agenda, writes Eric Garcia in Washington, DC.

How Joe Biden finds common ground with defund the police campaigners

Wednesday 30 March 2022 21:10 , Oliver O'Connell

My second booster didnt hurt a bit. If youre 50 and older or immunocompromised, get your second booster as soon as youre eligible. pic.twitter.com/puLZPhMXxg  President Biden (@POTUS) March 30, 2022

White House comments on 'tension between Putin and advisers

Wednesday 30 March 2022 21:00 , Oliver O'Connell

After saying that there was tension between Vladimir Putin and his advisers over the war in Ukraine, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said: Putin is being misinformed ... because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth.

Pushed as to the reason the administration released the report on the alleged tension in the Kremlin and whether it was an effort to embarrass Mr Putin, she added: Our aim is to show that this has been a strategic blunder.

WH Comms. Director Kate Bedingfield asked about releasing the report on Putins tension with advisers:



Reporter: Im wondering if this is partially just an effort to embarrass Vladimir Putin?



Bedingfield: Our aim is to show that this has been a strategic blunder. pic.twitter.com/u0sCnsqYbE  The Recount (@therecount) March 30, 2022

Morning Joe hosts slam Trump for asking Putin for dirt on Bidens

Wednesday 30 March 2022 20:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Morning Joe hosts slammed former president Donald Trump on Wednesday for asking Vladimir Putin to release dirt about Hunter Bidens alleged business dealings in Eastern Europe, a request he made during an interview with journalist John Solomon on the Just the News television show.

Johanna Chisholm reports.

Morning Joe hosts slam Trump for seeking dirt on Bidens from Russia

White House slams Trump scheme with Putin

Wednesday 30 March 2022 20:32 , Oliver O'Connell

At todays White House press briefing, Communications Director Kate Bedingfield was asked about former President Donald Trump asking Putin for information on Hunter Biden.

She replied: What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin ... There is only one and its Donald Trump.

WH Comms. Director Kate Bedingfield on Trump asking Putin for information on Hunter Biden:



"What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin ... There is only 1 and it's Donald Trump." pic.twitter.com/IiQf4bKPN0  The Recount (@therecount) March 30, 2022

Biden calls on Congress to increase Covid funding

Wednesday 30 March 2022 20:20 , Oliver O'Connell

President Joe Biden on Wednesday said the US government wont be able to afford to provide Americans with the Covid-19 booster shot he received on-camera Wednesday if Congress doesnt step up to allocate more funding for vaccines, tests, treatments, and other Covid-19 needs.

Andrew Feinberg reports from Washington, DC.

Biden calls on Congress to increase Covid funding as he gets his fourth vaccine shot

Report: Biden to lift Trump-era pandemic restrictions on US-Mexico border

Wednesday 30 March 2022 19:55 , Oliver O'Connell

President Joe Bidens administration is expected to lift a public health order imposed by Donald Trump that blocked most asylum seekers from the US-Mexico border during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to reports citing administration officials familiar with the situation.

Alex Woodward reports.

Biden to lift Trump-era pandemic restrictions on US-Mexico border, reports say

Biden peppered with impromptu questions during booster shot

Wednesday 30 March 2022 18:58 , Oliver O'Connell

As the president received his second booster shot of the Pfizer Covid vaccine, White House correspondents peppered him with questions on a variety of topics.

He declined to comment on whether US intelligence indicates Vladimir Putin is being misadvised by his aides, and in response to Fox News Jacqui Heinrich he said a decision is coming soon on an extension to Title 42.

In another response to a question from CNNs Kaitlin Collins, Mr Biden said he is going to try to meet with the parents of Trevor Reed, the US Marine imprisoned in Russia. They are protesting in front of the White House today to bring awareness to his case and want a meeting with the president. Their son is starting another hunger strike.

Mr Biden rolled his sleeve back down after the shot and said it did not hurt a bit.

Biden gets second booster shot

Wednesday 30 March 2022 18:49 , Oliver O'Connell

Second booster shot pic.twitter.com/NKIVy5omo0  Emmanuel Touhey (@EmmanuelTouhey) March 30, 2022

Its not partisan, its medicine

Wednesday 30 March 2022 18:48 , Oliver O'Connell

Biden calls on Congress to approve more funding to help with the Covid response, warning about the impact on treatments and testing.

Its not partisan, its medicine, he says.

We are already seeing the consequences of Congresss inaction. the president says.

If we fail to invest, we leave ourselves vulnerable if another wave hits.

He calls on those who have not go their first vaccine booster shot to do so today.

Biden: 'New moment in this pandemic

Wednesday 30 March 2022 18:44 , Oliver O'Connell

Biden says we are in a new moment in this pandemic  it is not over, but it no longer controls our lives.

He is launching Covid.gov, a central resource for Covid information, treatments, vaccines, and prevention products such as masks. This is intended to put an end to the need to scour the internet.

There will also be information about local Test to Treat sites around the country including at military bases.

Live: Biden gives Covid-19 update

Wednesday 30 March 2022 18:29 , Oliver O'Connell

US to provide $500m in support for Ukraines government

Wednesday 30 March 2022 18:20 , Oliver O'Connell

The United States will provide Ukraines government with an additional $500 million in direct budgetary aid to support its operations as Ukrainian forces continue to fight against Russias unprovoked invasion.

Andrew Feinberg has the latest from Washington, DC.

US will provide $500 million in support for Ukraines government
After a two-day trial, Boise resident Ezra Smith  who has taken steps to sue police and the city  was convicted of three felonies stemming from a July 2021 incident in which he rammed a stolen van into a patrol car several times and was shot by law enforcement.

The 26-year-old was found guilty on three counts: aggravated battery upon certain law enforcement personnel, aggravated assault upon certain law enforcement personnel and a deadly weapon enhancement, according to a news release from the Ada County prosecutor.

In July, officers were called to the 7000 block of Overland Road after receiving reports of a reckless driver and a possible driving-under-the-influence situation, according to the initial release from the Boise Police Department. Police attempted to pull over the van, which they found out was stolen, but eventually ended the pursuit because of its high rate of speed, reckless driving behavior, and potential danger to surrounding vehicles.

Later that day, police spotted the van near the 10000 block of Riley Court, a residential street in West Boise. Police attempted to stop the vehicle again, and Smith rammed the van into a patrol car multiple times. This led a pair of officers, David Skube and Robert Denney, to fire their service weapons, police said.

Smith also pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal to other charges related to the incident: grand theft, eluding a police officer in a motor vehicle, driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance  all felonies, according to court records and the prosecutors office.

That deal did not include the three charges he went to trial on.

In January, Smith filed a tort claim against the city of Boise and the Boise Police Department alleging excessive force and police malpractice during the shooting, according to records obtained by the Idaho Statesman. Smith is seeking $1.27 million.

In the claim, a necessary precursor to filing suit against a city or agency, Smith alleges that police shot through his windshield and passenger window 12 times, with six of those striking him. Smith said he suffered multiple face and body fractures, and permanent nerve damage, which resulted in loss of feeling/sensation in (the) right side of face and neck. He also has post-traumatic stress disorder, night terrors and anxiety, according to the claim.

Smith is expected to be sentenced on June 7.

Thank you to the jury for their time and attention to this case, Ada County Prosecutor Jan Bennetts said in the release.
Editor's note: This article was updated to reflect that the King Ranch is considered the largest ranch in Texas.

KLEBERG COUNTY  Volunteer evacuations were ordered in Ricardo and Riviera and a part of State Highway 285 was closed for several hours as multiple agencies worked to contain fires that began at the King Ranch in Kleberg County on Wednesday.

The Borrega Fire burned through 60,000 acres and was 20% contained by Thursday morning, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service. By the afternoon, it was reduced to 46,000 acres and was 20% contained.

No damaged homes have been reported yet, Kleberg County Judge Rudy Madrid said in a statement Thursday morning.

The Borrega wildfire burns through the night of Wednesday, March 30, 2022. As of Thursday morning, the fire expanded to 60,000 acres and is 20% contained.

Madrid ordered the voluntary evacuations around 11 p.m. Wednesday. State Highway 285 between U.S. 281 in Falfurrias and U.S. 77 in Riviera was closed from about 9 p.m. Wednesday to noon Thursday.

Wind began pushing the fire southwest Wednesday night. The wildfire crossed the Brooks County line around 10 a.m. Thursday. By noon, the fire was 3 miles east of Premont.

Evacuation orders were not issued for Falfurrias, Premont or Brooks County, but officials advised those in the area to prepare.

Madrid said Kleberg County asked for a disaster declaration and is working with Gov. Greg Abbott's executive leadership team from the Texas Division of Emergency Management for additional resources.

Madrid said the county received mutual aid from multiple counties, the city of Kingsville, King Ranch, Naval Air Station Kingsville, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Area Council of Governments and a Texas A&M Forest Service task force.

Alex Mata, a firefighter with the Volunteer Fire Department, said about 150 firefighters were working the fire. Mata, also a driver with Kleberg County Human Services, fought the Borrega Fire all night and returned to work Kleberg County Thursday morning.

Mata said he expected Kingsville volunteer firefighters would be sent back out to battle the fire Thursday night.

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The King Ranch is considered the largest ranch in Texas. It spans about 825,000 acres, which makes it bigger than the state of Rhode Island. It's mostly a cattle ranch.

Kim McClure of Riviera said she noticed smoke around 4 p.m. on Wednesday while driving into Kingsville to run errands.

"I got on Facebook and read the King Ranch was on fire, and I thought it was good that it was a ranch instead of a residential area," McClure said.

By the time she got home to her hobby farm just 8 miles from the fire, smoke had begun to loom over the house and block out the sun like an ominous cloud.

This is a developing story. Check caller.com for updates.

This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: Kingsville TX fire at King Ranch grows; voluntary evacuations underway
By Gabriel Stargardter and Ricardo Brito

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Brazil's graft-fighting ex-judge Sergio Moro on Thursday dropped his presidential bid, narrowing the field in what is shaping up to be a highly polarized October election between far-right President Jair Bolsonaro and his leftist rival Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

In a day of political upheaval, with Brazil's campaign season gathering momentum, Moro left his Podemos party to join the right-wing Union Brazil.

"To enter the new party, I give up, at this moment, the presidential pre-candidacy and I will be a soldier of democracy to recover the dream of a better Brazil," Moro, who has been polling third, said in a statement posted to his Instagram.

Moro's exit will raise questions about where the roughly 8% of voters backing him will place their support.

Moro made his name leading the massive 'Car Wash' corruption probe that jailed some of Brazil's political and business elite - including Lula. He then joined Bolsonaro's government as justice minister, before quitting after falling out with the president.

Moro's reputation suffered from the fight with Bolsonaro, as well as the Supreme Court's decision to throw out Lula's graft convictions for prosecutorial bias.

Those episodes turned Moro into a divisive figure in Brazil, reviled by both the left and right. Although he retains admiration from centrists and anti-corruption advocates, his presidential campaign had struggled.

So, too, has Bolsonaro's.

The former army captain has lost public support over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is facing a tough re-election fight. Lula would get 43% of first-round votes, compared with 26% for Bolsonaro, pollster Datafolha reported last week.

POLITICAL UPHEAVAL

The questions on Moro's future came on a day of other big changes to Brazil's political landscape.

Bolsonaro on Thursday relieved 10 ministers from duty in a formality that will pave the way for them to run in the elections for seats in Congress and governorships and possibly bolster his campaign.

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The outgoing ministers include high profile names such as Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias, Infrastructure Minister Tarcisio Freitas and Defense Minister Walter Braga Netto, who is widely expected to run as Bolsonaro's vice president.

Current Vice President Hamilton Mourao is planning to run for a Senate seat.

Bolsonaro is betting the ex-ministers can drum up regional support and revitalize his campaign, which faces headwinds from high inflation, especially for fuel and food.

Their departures are part of a larger game of musical chairs in Brazil. Many of the country's leading political figures are obliged by electoral law to make crucial decisions now about their own electoral aspirations in October.

Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria, who leads Brazil's most populous and richest state, said he was maintaining his presidential bid for the centrist Brazilian Social Democratic Party that has not gained steam.

Earlier on Thursday, Sao Paulo newspapers reported that he was about to announce his withdrawal from a race in which he has trailed the main candidates.

But Doria said in a speech he was stepping down as governor, handing over to his deputy Rodrigo Garcia and would run for president to offer an alternative to Lula and Bolsonaro.

"We are going to defeat populism and corruption," he said.

(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Brad Haynes, Bill Berkrot and Rosalba O'Brien)
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain and its allies have agreed to send more lethal military aid to Ukraine to help defend it against Russia's invasion, British defence minister Ben Wallace said on Thursday.

"There'll be more lethal aid going into Ukraine as a result of today. A number of countries have come forward either with new ideas or indeed more pledges of money," Wallace told reporters after hosting over 35 international partners at the second International Defence Donor Conference for Ukraine (IDDCU).

The aid will include the provision of air and coastal defence systems, longer-range artillery and counter battery capabilities, armoured vehicles as well as wider training and logistical support.

Todays donor conference demonstrates the international communitys determination to support Ukraine in the face of President Putins illegal and unprovoked invasion by Russian forces, Wallace said in a later statement.

We are increasing our coordination to step up that military support and ensure the Armed Forces of Ukraine grow stronger as they continue to repel Russian forces.

Moscow calls the invasion it launched on Feb. 24 a "special military operation" aimed at demilitarising and "denazifying" its neighbour - which Ukraine and the West have dismissed as a baseless pretext for war.

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by William James and Mark Porter)
Mar. 31MIDDLETOWN  When it comes to baseball, tied games are generally not a part of the equation.

But perhaps after a well-played season opener between Lapel and Shenandoah, a draw was a fitting outcome.

As darkness began to envelop the diamond, the Raiders rallied for the equalizer in the bottom of the seventh when the Bulldogs were just late with an attempted game-ending double play as the teams forged a 5-5 tie at Raiders Field.

With one out in the home half of the seventh, Jasper Campbell doubled to the fence in right field and advanced to third on a ground ball single by Gabe Lowder. Lucas Mills then grounded an 0-1 pitch to Lapel shortstop Landon Bair, who flipped to second for the force, but Mills just beat the throw to first as Campbell crossed the plate.

The potential winning run advanced to third when Carson Brookbank followed with a bad-hop single that ricocheted off the cheek of Bair into shallow right field. But Kyle Shelton struck out Hunter Baker looking to end the inning and the game amid shouts of protest from fans who felt the game should have been called earlier due to darkness.

Both coaches disagreed.

"We came here to play baseball, and I'm going to play baseball until someone tells me to leave and not play baseball anymore," Lapel's Matt Campbell said. "We came to play baseball, so let's play baseball.

"It was just a bad hop. It had nothing to do with the dark," he continued, referring to Bair, who left the field with an icepack on his cheek. "It was a crazy bad hop, but he saw it all the way."

"Momentum is always going to play into a coach's decision, and that's why we have umpires," Shenandoah coach Ryan Painter said. "I trust what the umpires call. They're certified for a reason, and the two we had tonight are two of the best in the area. I'm going to trust their judgement."

The two coaches had something else in common Wednesday night in that both liked what they saw on the pitching mound.

Story continues

Lapel senior Brock Harper was nothing short of dominant. Over the first three innings, he blanked the Raiders on two hits while recording all nine outs via the strikeout. But his pitch count piled up as five of his nine strikeouts came on full counts. He threw 65 pitches over three innings and needed to come out.

"That's right around where his bullpens have been," Coach Campbell said. "He was effective, but he was not efficient."

Meanwhile, Shenandoah junior Carson Brookbank was matching Harper zero-for-zero through the first three frames. He fanned three over that stretch and allowed three hits but ran into some bad luck and a Bulldog rally in the fourth.

With one out, Brookbank hit Rylie Hudson for the second time in the game, and Hudson promptly stole second base. Brookbank then struck out the next two batters, but the second  freshman Kai Newman  reached on a dropped third strike to extend the inning.

Lapel cashed in as Jake Paska followed with a ground ball single and  following a walk on a 3-2 pitch to Kyle Shelton  Owen Imel delivered a third ground ball that found a hole for a two-run single and a 4-0 Lapel lead.

"He spotted the ball really well. He mixed up really well. He was working in and out, and his sinker was good," Painter said. "He seemed like he was keeping them off balance, and when they got their runs in the fourth, there wasn't really anything hard hit. Just little leakers."

The lead held until the Raiders rallied for three runs in the fifth and another in the sixth.

Jobe Robinson drove in the first of the night but was caught stealing one pitch later. Connor White and Dylan McDaniel then walked, with pinch runner Clay Conner scoring on a wild pitch and Lowder driving home McDaniel with a single.

Conner was injured on the play when the throw home struck him in the face. Like Bair, he experienced swelling and left the game.

Robinson drove in the tying run in the sixth on a grounder after Brookbank doubled.

Lapel retook the lead in the top of the seventh without benefit of a hit. After three walks loaded the bases, Imel scored on a wild pitch to give Lapel the 5-4 lead until the Raiders rallied in the bottom half.

McDaniel also supplied three innings of relief for the Raiders, allowing one earned run and no hits while striking out seven.

The Raiders will be home Saturday for an 11 a.m. double-header against Union County while Lapel will play at Park Tudor next Friday following a week off for spring break.

Contact Rob Hunt at

rob.hunt@heraldbulletin.com

or 765-640-4886.
By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Canadian indigenous leaders seeking an apology for the Catholic Church's role in notorious residential schools where children where abused also want to start a dialogue on the return of native artefacts held in the Vatican Museums.

"My view is that we should sit down with Church officials and begin discussions about repatriation," Phil Fontaine of the Sagkeeng First Nation and former National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN), told Reuters.

Fontaine, 77, was part of an AFN delegation that spoke to the pope privately for two hours on Thursday. They want Pope Francis to travel to Canada to make an official apology there for the schools where indigenous children were abused and their culture denied..

Fontaine and other participants said the return of artefacts also came up in three meetings with the pope this week.

In 1925, Pope Pius IX held a world exposition of indigenous artefacts, displaying more than 100,000 objects, most sent to the Vatican by Catholic missionaries from around the world.

Nearly half of them later formed a new Missionary Ethnological Museum in Rome and were transferred to the Vatican Museums in the 1970s.

One item the delegates saw is a kayak made of wood and sealskin by the Inuvialuit people of the Mackenzie Delat of the Western Arctic and believed to be between 100 and 150 years old.

While one Inuvialuit leader last year demanded its immediate return to Canada, Fontaine called for a calm, studied solution to repatriation.

"We have to decide where we want those to go and how they are going to be protected, what kind of environment they will be placed in," Fontaine told Reuters in St. Peter's Square.

"There are museums all over the world with indigenous artefacts from Canada and so this has to be a very involved discussion with many different jurisdictions," he said.

That would have to include determining if items were gifts or taken without permission, he said.

Story continues

"It isn't unique to the Catholic Church but that does not prohibit the Catholic Church and its highest authorities from beginning discussions on what to do about these artefacts and their repatriation to Canada," he said.

The Vatican Museums often lend items to other institutions and have said the kayak might go on tour after it is restored.

(Additional reporting by Antonio Denti; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
A judge says restorative justice was successfully used for one of the first times in Indiana to remediate a confrontation in which a Bloomington Black man said a group of white men assaulted him and threatened to get a noose" while at Lake Monroe more than a year ago.

The alleged assault gained national attention in July 2020 when Vauhxx Booker, a civil rights activist and former member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission, said he called 911 after five men assaulted him and pinned him to a tree at the lake just south of Bloomington. He said the men accused him of trespassing on private property and, after he tried to apologize, the situation got physical.

Booker

Update from January: Criminal case in 2020 Lake Monroe melee continued as mediation process goes on

Booker himself faced criminal charges more than a year after the confrontation that earlier led to charges against two white men accused of attacking Booker: Sean Purdy and Jerry Cox II from Hendricks County. The charges against Booker, filed by a special prosecutor in Monroe Circuit Court, were the same recommended by Indiana Department of Natural Resources investigators in a 68-page report that included 16 witness accounts and also called for Purdy and Cox to be charged.

All charges against all parties in the case were dropped after a restorative justice process concluded in March, according to court records. In the restorative justice model, the offender and victim in a case come together in a conference to discuss what happened, and the offender has the opportunity to apologize.

Johnson County Superior Court Judge Lance Hamner, who was appointed to oversee the case after Monroe County judges stepped aside, said it was the first time hes seen a criminal case resolved through restorative justice. The Center for Community Justice, based in Elkhart, facilitated the mediating discussion about the incident between Booker and those he accused of attacking him.

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Sean Purdy, left, and Caroline McCord stand outside The Criminal Defense offices in Indianapolis July 13, 2020, as Attorney David Hennessy speaks on their behalf.

Its kind of a grown-up way of just handling a case and taking it out of the court system, Hamner told WISH-TV. They explained it to me as a new and innovative way to resolve cases that achieve all the goals of the criminal justice system, but it doesnt have to go through the full judicial process.

Booker initially declined to enter into the restorative justice process. Court records indicate he decided to re-enter the process in December.

When people start to get mad, their reasoning starts to go down. Thats the source of a lot of conflict," Hamner said. "After its all had a chance to cool down and people had a chance to think about it, reasoning starts to go back up, and thats when your restorative justice can kick in because then people can start thinking with their minds instead of with their emotions."

Photo gallery from 2020 demonstration: Vauhxx Booker Demonstration

Hamner, who said he was really impressed by the remediation process, added it also spares the state justice system expenses and resources. The judge, who is currently running for Johnson County prosecutor, said thats something I want to look into even more should he get elected.

Neither Booker nor his legal counsel immediately replied to requests for comment.

Monroe County prosecutors originally charged Purdy with felony criminal confinement, battery resulting in moderate bodily injury and intimidation. Cox was charged with felony criminal confinement and battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, as well as two misdemeanors.

Last August, Booker was charged with misdemeanor trespass and felony battery for his involvement.

Booker said the men threatened to break his arms and said, get a noose, while telling his friends to leave the area. He said one of the men wore a hat decorated with a Confederate flag and that the men made statements about white power.

Witnesses who were with Booker that day said they heard racial slurs being shouted and someone said get a noose and leave the boy here, we will take care of him. Cellphone video posted on Facebook that showed part of the altercation was viewed millions of times online.

Cox and Purdy claimed Booker was trespassing and denied the allegations regarding a noose. Both maintained that Booker threatened them first, and their lawyers said the two men were victims of a smear campaign.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Charges against Booker, Purdy, Cox dropped in 2020 fight at Lake Monroe
Illinois Democrats are making a push for Chicago to host the Democratic National Committee's convention in 2024, according to Democratic sources in the state and the firm helping Chicago. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Senator Tammy Duckworth and Mayor Lori Lightfoot are all leading the pitch, those sources said..

Proponents pointed to Chicago's established ability to host large gatherings, as well as the city's and state's Democratic credentials and policies as reasons for them to host in 2024. Its place in the Midwest near battleground presidential states like Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as Iowa, is also a factor.

"As the DNC begins planning for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Chicago is considering a bid to be host city," said Tarrah Cooper Wright, Communications Strategist and CEO of Rise Strategy Group, a firm supporting a potential bid.

"Our city and statea vibrant and diverse metropolis, thriving suburbs and strong rural communitiesoffer proof that our party's policies deliver for American families, and a convention would provide a boost to the local economy," she added.

Paul Roman (L) and Warren Slaven put up a sign as they continue the setup for the Democratic National Convention at the Wells Fargo Center on July 24, 2016 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Democratic National Convention formally kicks off on Monday. / Credit: Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Chicago's interest was first reported by NBC News. Cooper Wright also said that "has a track record of successfully hosting large-scale events, and has the leadership required to make a convention a success."

Chicago last hosted a Democratic convention in 1996, but is most well-known for hosting the 1968 Democratic convention, which was marred by violence against protestors.

The DNC began the process of selecting where to host their next convention in July of 2021, when they sent letters to over 20 cities about applying to host in 2024. Since then, they have not taken any further action on selecting a city yet, such as sending requests for proposals from cities.

Other cities that are being considered include Milwaukee, Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and Denver, according to a source close to the bidding process. The DNC was slated to host their 2020 convention in Milwaukee, though that was derailed by the pandemic. In recent years conventions have been held in battleground states rather than large cities in less competitive general election states.

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Duckworth is a DNC Vice Chair who is helping lead the push, while Senator Dick Durbin, Congresswoman and Illinois Democratic Party chair Robin Kelly as well as other state party leaders, civic, business and community leaders are helping back the bid.

DNC chair Jamie Harrison met with Pritzker last September in Chicago during a finance trip, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the meeting.

Pritzker made a push for Chicago to host at that time and said it is "the ideal city" for the convention and that Illinois "is at the center of some of the key policies for the party" such as on infrastructure, broadband access and codifying Roe v. Wade.

The city's crime rate and gun violence in the past decade has also been cited by Republicans, such as former President Donald Trump, who have looked to portray Democrats as "soft" on the issue.

Republicans are down to Nashville and Milwaukee as the finalists to host their 2024 convention. A final decision is expected in the next several weeks.

Mother and son each receive Grammy nomination

NASA astronaut returns to Earth in Russian capsule

Vehicle pileup in Pennsylvania leaves 6 dead
European Union officials plan to press China's top leaders over their support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Friday during a long-delayed summit that will be dominated by discussion of the war, now in its second month.

EU leaders doubt they can convince China to condemn Moscow's actions. Nor do they believe they can force Beijing to "drastically and publicly alter their stance" towards the war, a senior EU official said.

But there are hopes that a frank discussion about the economic costs of supporting Russia may help convince Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang not to do anything to further damage already strained ties with Europe.

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.

"We want to hear from them why they have sided with the Russians. And we will try and convince them that it's not in our joint best interests, especially since we know that this war is not going to be solved by tomorrow," an EU official said.

"We're not asking them to slovenly walk behind us and say, 'yes we love the EU.' We're asking them to look into the reality and see what is going on in Ukraine, and not actively side with or provide arms to Russia," the official added.

Reflecting the low level of ambition going into the summit, there will be no joint statement, nor are many "deliverables" anticipated.

EU-China relations have been dented by bilateral sanctions, the collapse of an investment agreement and anger over Beijing's coercion of the tiny Baltic state of Lithuania over its ties with Taiwan.

These suspicions have been sharpened by Beijing's persistent support for Moscow's claims, as well as the parroting of Kremlin talking points and disinformation by Chinese state media and foreign ministry representatives.

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A meeting between the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers on Wednesday yielded a commitment to "push China-Russia relations to a higher level in the new era", an affirmation of the "no limits" partnership the countries' presidents pledged on February 4, shocking European leaders.

The subsequent invasion led to growing suspicions about China's position, in line with rising distrust of authoritarian powers. Some in Europe have begun framing the crisis as a battle between "democrats and autocrats".

China faces a "simple choice", Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said last week.

"Throw in your lot with Russia - which is waging war against Ukraine, bombing women, children, hospitals - or find a way to work with Europe with the US and with Western democracies."

Others have sought to stay away from this framing, lest it push China and Russia closer together.

Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell said it was "not in our interest to lean Russia toward China ... to create a bloc of countries that don't have a democratic system".

"I don't think what's happening with the role of Russia is going to help China a lot ... I don't think China is very happy with what's happening," he added.

"I don't think China is very happy with what's happening" in Ukraine, says European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Photo: AP alt="I don't think China is very happy with what's happening" in Ukraine, says European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. Photo: AP>

Chinese officials are "reluctant" for Ukraine to dominate the first EU-China summit for almost two years, people familiar with the planning said. But it will top the agenda at the insistence of EU member states, which have long been divided on how to deal with China.

There are still differences on exactly how hard to push Beijing, but diplomats and officials insist there is alignment on the need to make plain to China that if it continues to back Moscow, there can be no business as usual.

This sentiment was crystallised during US President Joe Biden's visit to Brussels last Thursday.

Addressing the leaders of the EU's 27 member states behind closed doors, Biden confirmed that Washington had evidence that China expressed willingness to provide military support to Russia, according to a person who was present.

"The general atmosphere was very positive with Biden. I don't think there was any tension over his China comments," said one diplomat.

China's providing of any military support would be "an inflection point", said a second, after which it "effectively becomes an accomplice in what we see as an unjustified aggression".

Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Renmin University, said the war had "greatly exacerbated disputes between China and the EU".

"If the West believes that China is providing direct or indirect support to Russia, the EU will not be kind to China," Shi said.

The result is that Borrell, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel have been given a mandate to remind Beijing that it should not take for granted a trade relationship that grew by 27.5 per cent last year.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner reflected this new reality in a speech on Tuesday. "We have to recognise that we have an enormous risk ... China doesn't respect our social model, our understanding of liberality, our recognition of international law," he said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Wednesday. Germany accounted for 28.3 per cent of EU-China trade last year. Photo: Reuters alt=German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Wednesday. Germany accounted for 28.3 per cent of EU-China trade last year. Photo: Reuters>

A shift in attitudes in Berlin, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz tore up 30 years of foreign policy in his Zetenwende ("turn of the times") speech in February, sparked concern in Beijing, given that Germany accounted for 28.3 per cent of total EU-China trade last year.

Perhaps in recognition of this, deputy foreign minister Deng Li told a delegation of German businesses including Volkswagen and Daimler on Tuesday that he hoped they would "continue to play an active role, constantly deepen China-Germany pragmatic cooperation".

"China wants to ensure that the political changes announced by [Scholz] ... including the remilitarisation of Germany, are reversed," Tim Ruhlig, a senior fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in a new report.

The geopolitical situation means issues of potential cooperation such as climate, global health, the Iran nuclear deal and biodiversity will play second fiddle during an all-day event that will see EU leaders address Li in the morning and Xi in the afternoon.

European grievances that might have taken centre stage before the war, including China's coercion of Lithuania and trade malpractice, human rights concerns in Xinjiang and Tibet, and a crackdown on political opponents in Hong Kong, will also slip down on the agenda.

However, the South China Morning Post has learned that ahead of the summit, senior EU staff met with leading figures from Hong Kong's civil society in exile, including Ted Hui Chi-fung and Nathan Law Kwun-chung.

In the same week, the bloc's Political Security Committee, a powerful group of ambassadors sanctioned by China last March, was briefed by senior officials on ways to enhance its relationship with Taiwan within the bounds of the one-China policy.

Xiang Lanxin, an international relations expert at the Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, said the shift in rhetoric in Europe was "worrisome", and suggested that discussions on Ukraine were the only prospect of reaching common ground.

"If the EU wants to force or somehow convince Chinese to say we condemn Russia, that's not going to happen, full stop, that's ridiculous," Xiang said.

"The real middle ground will be that the EU and China probably can do some serious cooperation for the purpose of mediation," he said, adding that China will be unlikely to go public with any mediation efforts, nor would it act with any urgency.

Despite the low expectations for the summit, the EU's secretary general for external affairs, Stefano Sannino, said this week that the meetings would not be "business as usual".

"I don't know if it's a one-issue summit, but certainly it will be a very political summit," he said.

"The Ukraine war will necessarily be central in the discussion, and I think this will force an open and frank discussion about what is the role China wants to have on the world stage."

Additional reporting by Laura Zhou in Beijing

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.
Mar. 30Springfield's Emmanuel Christian Academy Select Choir is the winner of the Dayton Daily News/Dayton Dragons National Anthem Contest. The troupe will sing the anthem at Day Air Ballpark on opening night, Friday, April 8, when the Dragons host the Fort Wayne TinCaps.

Amy Allen, choir director at Emmanuel Christian Academy, says the group received a "superior rating" at the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) district contest, the highest rating given, and they look forward to competing in the state contest.

"This choir regularly demonstrates diligence, dedication and creativity to produce beautiful music while helping and encouraging one another," Allen said in a release. "They all bring their own set of special talents to our choir, and then use them to help each other get better. They are quite literally a piece of my heart."

Allen also said the students were very excited to hear they had been selected as the grand prize winners.

"The students were ecstatic, jumping out of their seats, hugging each other," she said. "Our choir is able to do some really cool music because of the way they have grown. There was not a lot of opportunity with COVID, but they have worked really hard to encourage each other."

The Dayton Daily News has served as the sponsor for all 22 years of auditions. All auditions in 2022 were virtual. Total number of submitted auditions showed an increase of 38 percent over the previous average. Submissions were reviewed by the Dragons panel of judges.
"So, how was your weekend?"

That was how Chris Rock opened his first comedy show since being slapped by Will Smith onstage during the Oscars, performing to a sold-out crowd Wednesday at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston. The audience gave Rock a standing ovation that lasted about five minutes, according to attendees.

Beyond his winking acknowledgment at the outset, Rock said that he is "still processing what happened," but eventually he will talk about "that s**t." Before the show, the venue manager said that Rock was "in a great mood."

#BREAKING: Im still processing what happened. #ChrisRock starts his show in Boston with multiple standing ovations.



Dressed all in white, Rock asked the rowdy crowd, Sooooo how was your weekend?!? @NBC10Boston  Eli Rosenberg NBC10 Boston (@EliNBCBoston) March 31, 2022

'Still processing what happened:' Chris Rock tells audience at Boston comedy gig https://t.co/FmEkpkiksY pic.twitter.com/7qRNgvhTgS  New York Post (@nypost) March 31, 2022

Prices for his shows there  one at 7:30 p.m. and one at 10 p.m. on three consecutive nights  had skyrocketed to more than $1,000 apiece, after the Oscars incident. Rock had made a joke about Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, being in G.I. Jane 2, because of her bald head. But she has alopecia, which causes hair loss, and Smith didn't take kindly to Rock's words.

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Smith has since apologized to everyone involved; however, Rock's brother said Smith had yet to reach out personally to the comedian. Despite Smith's mea culpas, many continued to condemn his actions, including Oscars co-host Wanda Sykes, who called Smith's actions "sickening."

On the same day Rock returned to stand-up, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which awards the Oscars, announced that, after holding an emergency meeting on the matter, it had "initiated disciplinary proceedings" against Smith for violations of its code of conduct. His offenses were "inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior and compromising the integrity of the Academy," the group wrote in a statement, also revealing that he was asked to leave the Kodak Theatre following the altercation but declined.

Smith, who collected the Best Actor award for King Richard following the incident, was given an opportunity to respond; members will vote April 18 on whether to suspend, expel or sanction him in another way.

"Mr. Smith's actions at the 94th Oscars were a deeply shocking, traumatic event to witness in-person and on television," the Academy's statement continued. "Mr. Rock, we apologize to you for what you experienced on our stage and thank you for your resilience in that moment. We also apologize to our nominees, guests and viewers for what transpired during what should have been a celebratory event," the statement reads. "Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated. While we would like to clarify that Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently."
House Democrats reportedly held a closed-door meeting Tuesday to discuss the controversy.

Justice Clarence Thomas is currently shrouded in scrutiny from lawmakers and legal experts for refusing to recuse himself from cases related to the Jan. 6 insurrection.

As reported by NBC News, Thomas and his wife, Ginni, are feeling the heat following the exposure of her texts to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows urging him to lead efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

Justice Thomas is being questioned about whether or not he was aware of his wifes antics.

Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas sits with his wife, conservative activist Virginia Thomas on Oct. 21, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) wants Justice Thomas to resign or face impeachment for alleged ethical breaches.

Clarence Thomas should resign, she wrote on Twitter. If not, his failure to disclose income from right-wing organizations, recuse himself from matters involving his wife, and his vote to block the Jan 6th commission from key information must be investigated and could serve as grounds for impeachment.

Clarence Thomas should resign.



If not, his failure to disclose income from right-wing organizations, recuse himself from matters involving his wife, and his vote to block the Jan 6th commission from key information must be investigated and could serve as grounds for impeachment.  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 29, 2022

House Democrats reportedly held a closed-door meeting Tuesday to discuss the controversy.

Its up to an individual justice to decide to recuse himself if his wife is participating in a coup, Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the group, according to a source in the room, per NBC News.

I do think he should recuse himself, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), told reporters, according to the report. The information we know right now raises serious questions about how close Justice Thomas and his wife were to the planning and execution of the insurrection.

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He added: I think there should be some kind of code of ethics for Supreme Court justices.

As theGrio previously reported, per the Washington Post, the exchanges between Meadows and Ginni Thomas began on Nov. 10, 2020, after Democratic nominee Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election by major news outlets.

Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!! You are the leader, with him, who is standing for Americas constitutional governance at the precipice, Thomas texted him. The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History.

Per the earlier report, the dialogue continued as parties within the Trump camp vowed to contest the election results to the Supreme Court. The messages reportedly do not directly reference Justice Thomas or Americas highest court directly, but one from Mrs. Thomas mentions a conversation with my best friend just now, WaPo reported.

Following these revelations, Justice Thomas has reportedly refused to step back from cases concerning the 2020 presidential election.

Per NBC News, in a letter addressed to Justice Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts, two dozen congressional Democrats urge Thomas to promptly recuse himself from any future Supreme Court cases involving efforts to overturn the 2020 election or the January 6th attack on the Capitol.

The letter, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), also calls on Roberts to commit no later than April 28, 2022 to creating a binding Code of Conduct for the Supreme Court.

The lawmakers want this Code of Conduct to include enforceable standards for recusal, per NBC News.

Chief Justice Roberts has often spoken about the importance of the Supreme Courts credibility and legitimacy as an institution. That trust, already at all-time lows with the American public, must be earned, the lawmakers wrote.

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The post Clarence Thomas called to recuse himself from Jan. 6 cases appeared first on TheGrio.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn showed up in person for a primary challenger to one of his House GOP colleagues Wednesday night  just as fellow Republicans started suggesting hes the next incumbent under threat.

The North Carolina conservative appeared alongside other House Republicans at a fundraiser for Harriet Hageman, the Trump-backed opponent of Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). Its not clear if Cawthorn knew how conspicuous that choice was, with Republicans still seething over his claims about sexual perversion in Washington.

And Cawthorn's own GOP colleagues spent some of the fundraiser, feet away, quietly joking at his expense, according to people in the room.

The uncomfortable moment illustrates the awkward position Cawthorn now finds himself in. After riding out multiple waves of mini-controversies over past comments and behavior, he now seems doused by a political tsunami after alleging on a podcast that some of his colleagues attend orgies and use cocaine.

I'm looking at somebody who is going to best represent [Western North Carolina], and I've concluded Mr. Cawthorn is not that person," Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said in a brief interview, adding that hes endorsed an incumbents primary challenger for the first time in my political career  because I feel that strongly about it.

It's rare for Republican lawmakers, particularly from the other side of the Capitol, to repudiate a member from their own party. Tillis also issued a vocal endorsement Thursday of state Sen. Chuck Edwards as the best Republican alternative to Cawthorn. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has already chastised Cawthorn this week, raising real questions about whether the 26-year-old's own party will try to take him down.

Not everyone in the GOP is prepared to turn on Cawthorn, despite a string of recent missteps that range from charges for driving with a revoked license to describing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a "thug." Some Republican colleagues privately express sympathy for a younger man they believe is beginning to crack, citing his recent divorce and personal struggles, including the car accident that left him wheelchair-bound.

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But none of his colleagues appear willing to defend him publicly, either. The GOP consensus is that Cawthorn's behavior, no matter his age or position, remains unacceptable.

"The Constitution gives you the age when you can serve in Congress," McCarthy told reporters on Wednesday. "But when you're in Congress, you should respect the institution, and you should focus on the work that you should do."

McCarthy met with Cawthorn in his office on Wednesday morning for roughly 30 minutes, POLITICO first reported, along with House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.), who was assigned to be a mentor to Cawthorn at the start of this Congress. The sit-down followed complaints among colleagues that Cawthorn unfairly maligned the entire conference as sexual deviants after making his wild claims of witnessing cocaine use and getting orgy invitations.

Two Republicans familiar with what was discussed at the meeting, speaking candidly on condition of anonymity, said McCarthy didnt limit his dressing-down of Cawthorn to the podcast interview behind the latest controversy. Among the Cawthorn statements and decisions McCarthy took issue with in private, according to one Republican, were the freshman's false claim that McCarthy gave Cawthorn the green light to roll out his own New Contract with America legislation even as the full conference works on its own policy platform.

That Republican said McCarthy pressed Cawthorn on his allegations  saying that if he had made such statements under oath, he would have treaded into even more dangerous waters.

According to that Republican, Cawthorn clarified that multiple members were not involved in orgies but did maintain that one member of Congress invited him to a sex party with his wife. Despite McCarthy and others in the room pressing him to reveal a name, Cawthorn refused, this Republican said.

Publicly, McCarthy blasted Cawthorn to a group of reporters, citing some of the same antics that Tillis did and warning that the North Carolinian could lose his committee assignments or face other punishments, like getting moved to less-desirable panels.

If his leaders had hoped Cawthorn would calm the storm by issuing a clarification of his comments, he did the opposite on Thursday. In one email to supporters, he began: I will never bow down to the mob.

And he published a new campaign ad on Thursday, claiming: The radical left, the establishment, and the media want to take me down  I'm not going anywhere.

In this case, of course, those taking shots at him are members of his own party. But he's unbowed, with one prominent ally who insisted on anonymity saying that old party hands are seizing on Cawthorn's remarks to nudge him out.

Realistically, Tillis' endorsement of his GOP opponent aside, it is unclear if Cawthorn's notoriety will hurt him back home.

His district, which includes the western tip of the state, changed only marginally in redistricting. Former President Donald Trump still carried it by 10 points in 2020.

He has attracted a host of primary challengers, including Edwards and Michele Woodhouse, yet could prove hard to beat  he has high name ID in the district and enough grassroots support that he was able to overcome a Trump-backed opponent in 2020. Even so, last quarter he also showed a propensity to burn through campaign funds, spending more than he raised and ending with less than $300,000 cash on hand.

One North Carolina Republican, addressing the Cawthorn scandal on condition of anonymity, said it is unclear if his constituents will even see -- let alone believe -- media reports on the matter, noting that the primary is weeks away and that it will likely take money to inform district voters.

And sometimes efforts by the GOP establishment to rebuke a conservative candidate can hand that Republican a rallying cry for the party base. Though it's too early to determine if this is the case with Cawthorn, some Republicans say Trump himself is a wild card who may weigh in on the matter.

The former president and Cawthorn are close and have attended fundraisers together, though Trump has yet to offer a statement revealing his position on this latest scandal. A spokesperson for Trump, who's set for a North Carolina rally on April 9, did not return a request for comment.

Meanwhile, Democrats may be bit players in the Cawthorn drama, but they're certainly tuning in.

During a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing Thursday on qualified immunity for law enforcement, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) sought to undercut GOP attacks that Democrats support defunding the police by subtly invoking Cawthorn. Republicans have long sought to tie Democrats to that line, while most of them  aside from progressives  have kept their distance.

I cringe  when our members talk about defunding the police, said Cohen, addressing Republicans on the panel. And my cringes are no different from your cringes when your members suggest that members of Congress  and particularly on your side, the implied suggestion is [members] are engaged in sex orgies and cocaine doing.

So we got [cringes] on both sides, he concluded.

Alex Isenstadt, Ally Mutnick, Burgess Everett and Marianne LeVine contributed reporting.


As the Russian invasion of Ukraine grinds into its sixth week, experts and Western intelligence agencies are continuing to sketch out potential endgames for the conflict.

Its possible that a ceasefire could emerge, and the Russian military, facing surprisingly fierce Ukrainian resistance, would simply back off its initial war aim of regime change in Kyiv and control over the countrys future. But recent history suggests the solution wont be that simple.

Russia could also exploit its far larger military might and continue its advance into Ukraine, particularly in the east, where it now appears to be focused. Although Russian President Vladimir Putin may continue to face heavy losses, the sheer size of his army sets up the possibility of the Kremlin occupying swaths of Ukrainian territory and facing a protracted and bloody insurgence.

Insurgency is different from regular warfare in that it's usually troops that are not in a formalized military structure, Emily Harding, the deputy director and senior fellow of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, explained to Yahoo News.

An insurgence is most likely to happen, Harding believes, if Russian soldiers occupy a significant number of Ukrainian territories in the coming months or even years. But if the Ukrainian population maintains its defiance, supporting a militia effort and harassing Russian troops, Putin may not have enough forces to fully establish control there.

Ukrainian soldiers ride tanks through the town of Trostsyanets, east of Kyiv, on Monday. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

To me, that would be a really critical moment for the way this conflict goes, there's a numbers game to be played, Harding said. If you look at the required ratio [of troops] for occupying territory, it's a lot higher than you would think. And so the Russians, they just don't physically have enough Russian soldiers to try to hold much territory in Ukraine.

But in order to be successful, insurgent militias require both financial and military assistance  likely coming from both the local population and foreign governments opposed to the Russian invasion. (Similar, in fact, to how Moscow has supported an insurgence in Ukraines eastern region, furnishing the local armies with weapons and other support.) In fact, that's critical to the success of most insurgencies that you have foreign assistance pouring in, both militarily and with people and money, Harding said.

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A Ukrainian soldier stands on a destroyed Russian vehicle in Kharkiv. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

For now, Russia is not facing a significant Ukrainian insurgence because its large military has failed to conquer significant Ukrainian territory since launching the invasion last month. Ukraines largest cities have thus far repelled Russian troops, whose most significant territorial gains have been in the countrys coastal south.

We saw the Russians not only meet heavy resistance from the Ukrainians, but we also saw the Russians have real trouble with their logistical tail, Harding said. They couldn't move as quickly as they wanted to through the roadways and through the railways of Ukraine. We joked a lot about how when we were studying the Russian cyber capabilities, we really should have been studying eastern Ukrainian mud.

But the war is far from over.

I think people underestimate the extent to which the Russian government is willing to just throw people at the problem, she said. They don't care so much about the health and well-being of their troops. I think people who are assuming that there is a big win to happen here in the near term are probably assuming too much.

A Ukrainian soldier in the village of Malaya Rohan, in the Kharkiv region, which was recently liberated from Russian forces. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

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How are Ukrainian forces taking out so many Russian tanks? Use this graphic to learn about some of the weapons systems the U.S. is sending to the Ukrainian army.
MEADVILLE  Two Pennsylvania State Police troopers who exchanged gunfire with a Cambridge Township man who authorities said then took his own life during a confrontation on March 9 were justified in firing their weapons during the incident, Crawford County District Attorney Paula DiGiacomo announced Wednesday.

DiGiacomo said in a news release that, following a review of the investigative report into the incident, she found the evidence to support the belief of the two troopers that they were acting in self-defense, in defense of each other and in defense of a female victim.

Authorities have not named the two troopers. Both were placed on administrative duties after the shooting and remain there, Capt. Kirk Reese, commander of state police Troop E in Lawrence Park Township, said Wednesday.

The troopers will soon return to work as state police continue their administrative internal investigation into the incident, Reese said.

Crawford County District Attorney Paula DiGiacomo announced on March 30 that she found the actions of two Pennsylvania State Police troopers as justified when they returned fire after authorities said a man shot at them before killing himself at a Cambridge Township residence on March 9.

The shooting happened on the evening of March 9 at a residence in the 22000 block of Pendleton Drive in Cambridge Township, south of Ellis Road off Route 19.

Authorities said troopers were called to the residence on a report of a domestic incident and the two troopers who responded spoke to a female outside of the residence. One of the troopers was walking outside of the residence when a 42-year-old man inside, identified by authorities as Shawn L. Ruhl, fired on the trooper, according to DiGiacomo.

She said both troopers then returned fire toward the residence and took cover. When the troopers attempted to check on the welfare of Ruhl, he fired on troopers again and the troopers returned fire, according to DiGiacomo.

The troopers were not injured in the shooting.

State police reported after the incident that Ruhl then barricaded himself inside the residence. Members of the state police Special Emergency Response Team were called to the residence to aid in removing Ruhl from the house, and team members found Ruhl dead inside of the residence at about 5 a.m. on March 10, according to state police.

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Ruhl died of a gunshot wound to the head, Crawford County Coroner Scott Schell reported. He ruled the death a suicide.

Contact Tim Hahn at thahn@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ETNhahn.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Crawford DA says troopers' actions justified in March 9 shootout
Former president Donald Trumps recent claim that his administration built up US strategic petroleum reserves that were virtually empty for a half-century is a complete falsehood, according to US Department of Energy records.

Mr Trump, who was banned from Twitter and most social media platforms after inciting a mob of his supporters to attack the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, issued a statement on Thursday through his political action committee complaining about Biden administration plans to release oil from US reserves in a bid to alleviate high prices brought about by Russias invasion of Ukraine.

President Joe Biden on Thursday authorised the release of 1 million barrels of oil from US strategic petroleum reserves each day over the next six months as a wartime bridge to expected higher domestic production. Its part of the Biden administrations plan to combat rising energy prices as a result of Russian president Vladimir Putins unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, and the drop in supply brought on by US sanctions. Americans have felt the pain at the pump as average gas prices have surpassed $4 per gallon, which has coincided with rising prices in other sectors of the economy.

Mr Biden also slammed oil companies for refusing to increase production to make up shortfalls caused by the removal of Russian oil from US markets, saying that it should be a moment of patriotism for domestic oil producers.

Mr Trump attacked his successor, saying he built up the US oil reserves. So after 50 years of being virtually empty, I built up our oil reserves during my administration, and low energy prices, to 100% full. Its called the Strategic National Reserves, and it hasnt been full for many decades. In fact, its been mostly empty, he said.

Its supposed to be used for large-scale emergency or conflict. Now I see where Biden has just announced hes going to take what we so carefully and magically built, and what will be a futile attempt to reduce oil and gasoline prices. They will soon bring it down to empty again. It just never ends!

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As the New York Times Peter Baker noted, in January 2017, at the start of Mr Trumps term, the strategic petroleum reserve was 695 million barrels. In January 2021, when Mr Trump left office, it was 638 million barrels.

Further, Mr Trump seems to have mixed up his terms. There is no US entity known as the strategic national reserves, though there is a strategic national stockpile of medical supplies maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is one of several US national commodity reserves, and consists of four sites along the Gulf of Mexico that can hold a total of 714 million barrels of crude oil.

According to Energy Department data, it held 695 million barrels of crude on the day Mr Trump took office.

Despite Mr Trumps claims to have filled it, the reserve has never been empty, and held fewer barrels on the day he left office than on the day he was sworn in.
Victoria Scott and her Toyota Hiace. Victoria Scott

I came out as a trans woman in 2020. The next year, I traveled across America to find myself.

The desert has a particularly therapeutic quality for me. There, I recognize just how much anxiety I carry in public.

There is no transphobia in the desert. There's only me, my van, and the knowledge that anything I get myself into, I can get myself out of.

I came out as a trans woman in 2020. I traveled across America traversing the barren deserts of the West to find myself  to find Victoria, the new woman I was becoming  in 2021. Now, as I try to settle down into a normal life, one lived as myself in a normal little house with a normal desk job and normal worries, I cannot shake the feeling that I need to escape again.

I do truly love to visit the desert; it has a therapeutic quality for me. On my travels in 2021, I drove my van all across the country, sleeping in it on mountaintops, generally disappearing from the grid, and aimlessly discovering lands in national forests for fun. I was as self-sufficient as I could be, living off crates of food and gallon-jugs of water stored inside my mobile bedroom, knowing that anything I could get myself into, I could get myself out of.

Victoria Scott

I recently moved to Reno, Nevada, for the same reasons I fell in love with the desert. Two hours from my house, down the self-proclaimed Loneliest Highway in America, is one of the final respites of dark skies in the 21st century; it's a 245-mile stretch of unpreserved, unimportant land bordered by a military bombing range and dotted with some forgotten ghost towns.

Unlike most other dark sky sites remaining in the country  such as the beautiful Gila National Forest of New Mexico, or the environmentally important Big Bend National Park in Texas  this stretch of land on US 50 remains so gloriously free of light pollution simply isn't worth doing anything with.

Unlike the federally-recognized lands where the full extent of the Milky Way still shines bright, these desert plains and mountain ranges wedged between the neon-lit casinos of Reno and the Great Basin National Park are largely desolate. Traffic headed West from Utah generally takes I-80 through the Northern half of the state, and travelers from Reno to Vegas use US 95.

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US 50 is for people nowhere to go and no one to see.

Victoria Scott

The last eastward expedition I took, I drove until the highway signs threatened 57 miles until next service. I found the next turnoff, chose a dirt road, and headed north, unaware of what I would find. At first, I felt the calm of the desert at its finest. I'd picked a great road because there was nary a soul to be seen; every time I stepped out of the van and shut off the clattering diesel, the only sound in the entire world was my own breathing.

As the skies grew more and more threatening, a slight feeling of unease gnawed at me. I ignored it until I was miles deep down soft clay roads and rain pattered on the windshield.

For once in my anxious life, my worries were justified. If it poured now  as it was starting to  I'd be stuck roughly 40 miles from the highway, sunk into the clay. I hadn't passed a single soul since I left the pavement two hours before, and cell signal was nonexistent.

There were two brief moments of realization as I raced to turn my van around. One: I am such an anxious person that I cannot distinguish a valid gut feeling from the background radiation of my nervous existence. Two: I must beat the rain.

Victoria Scott

I went to the Grand Canyon last year. It's stunning beyond what photos or words can convey, and its enormity is beyond what I could process. But it never felt special like the desert does in my mind. I had an appreciation for the beauty of it, but I didn't feel the cathartic relaxation I do when I arrive at an unremarkable desert plain somewhere off of the uninhabited stretches of US 50.

As I stood there among other tourists, I felt the same surface-level anxieties I feel every day. They only abated slightly when I walked out onto a rock overhanging the cliff edge, letting myself feel a fear greater than the ever-present dread I have of other people.

That's because as long as anyone is around, whether I'm at the Grand Canyon or in the coffee shop, I'm scared to be me in the world we live in. I only realize that the fear is there at all when it finally lifts; it's omnipresent and all-consuming, because I've lived with it for what feels like my entire life.

Only out in the desert completely alone, finally free of it, can I see the burden I've been dragging around.

Victoria Scott and her 1995 Toyota Hiace. Victoria Scott

When I came out as a trans woman, I ascribed this constant dread to being early on in my transition and worrying I was failing at whatever performance of gender seemed beyond my grasp. I'm now two years in, happier with how I look and more satisfied with my life than ever before, but I'm also less certain that the dread will ever fade.

Existing as a transfemme in 2022's America, constantly defending against attacks on our personhood and our ability to exist in society as ourselves, feels like I'm doomed to constant paranoia and waiting for the other shoe to drop. When will someone decide I'm the next convenient target, and what will I do to stop them?

Of course, it's never happened. Despite the fact that you could tell the time by how frequently I've been clocked as a trans woman since moving to Reno, no one has done anything about it. I tell myself that I'm probably being melodramatic and making my own self-obsession seem like a valid concern, especially when so much violence against trans women happens to women of color.

But I've been bitten by my own self-doubt before. I drove 40 miles into a thunderstorm, writing my fears off as the manifestation of clinical anxiety, and then it rained.

If you can't tell whether the distant clouds are going to build into a storm, is it foolish to fear them? Or is it simply the safest thing to do?

Victoria Scott

Rihanna's "S&M" blasted through the speakers of my van as I raced away from the encroaching clouds, passing the ruins of some old mining town in the remote sands off of US 50 with about 10 miles to until I hit the pavement. I'd reached a moment of fight-or-flight, and I'd chosen to fight by flight. I didn't have the hubris to take on God in the shadow of His mountains under a pouring sky, but I figured I could outrun Him.

I floored it across unimproved mining roads, wet bits of clay bouncing off my van as the sky darkened, and my body had never felt so nimble. All of my fears about the worst-case scenario had come to fruition as my wipers flicked away rain, and I was booking it down roads I'd only ever seen once in my life, frantically scrambling through dried riverbeds and power-sliding my van through corners I couldn't see around. I was at the limits of what a 26-year-old woman in a 26-year-old van could accomplish.

But I was calm, humming along with Rihanna at 50 mph as I dodged eroded shoulders and wayward boulders. All my fear evaporated when one goal became clear: Go. My van, my safety, and my ability to make it out of here were suddenly between God and my right foot, and I had faith in my right foot.

Victoria Scott

There was still freedom in living in the vacuum of desolation, even when it could mean my demise; there was no transphobia in a thunderstorm. The only part of being Victoria Scott that mattered in that moment was how fast I could drive.

I want to control my destiny more than anything. I cannot stand walking to the bar down the street in fear, trying to figure out which of the group of men that just called me a slur I need to fear the most. Constantly evaluating and adapting threat models to every moment of my life feels necessary, yet I have no proof it actually is. I'm staring at clouds I can't judge yet.

Yet I'm so tired of being called brave for taking hormones and getting out of bed every day. I can do valiant things, but dealing with the base realities of my existence is not bravery. I'm not facing everyday life with courage. I just want to get my damn coffee and hang out with my friends at a bar, because "Victoria Scott" is neither a statement nor an inherently political one.

Victoria Scott. Victoria Scott

I want to engage with my fear on my terms. If people hate me, they should do it for reasons of my own making; if a rogue low-pressure zone wants to flood me into oblivion, it should be because I drove myself into its path on purpose.

I'm not sure any of this taught me a lesson or a helpful note  at least, not one that can change the landscape of the country I live in overnight. I don't know how to fix the broken political system through which we funnel hate and death; I would simply like to pass and stop thinking about my gender in the damn coffee shop. I'd like to stop throwing myself into dangerous situations, either intentionally or unwittingly, just to feel like I have control over my own life again.

Above all, I only want to be brave when I choose courage, because no one deserves a life where every day is a fight to stay alive.

Read the original article on Insider
Kent County Jail

A former Marine accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer testified on his own behalf on Thursday, repeatedly denying his role in the 2020 scheme to violently overthrow the government.

But 24-year-old Daniel Harris decision to take the stand may have just jeopardized his defense strategy, which is grounded in the argument that FBI agents and a double agent informant actually orchestrated the conspiracy and entrapped the group.

You never know what a jury is going to do, but I think it was a risky move that will blow up in the defenses face because Harris was not credible and his testimony was inconsistent with their other arguments, former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani told The Daily Beast on Thursday.

Harris was the only defendant on federal trial in Grand Rapids to take the stand, where he repeatedly answered absolutely not when asked whether he planned to kidnap the Democratic lawmaker in October 2020. Moments later, the Wolverine Watchmen member went so far as to call an FBI informant a bitch while denying his participation in the conspiracy.

Shortly after Harris testified, the defense for all four men rested their case.

Will a Double Agent Informant and FBI Mayhem Torpedo the Gretchen Whitmer Kidnapping Case?

The four defendantswhich also include Adam Fox, Barry Croft, and Brandon Casertahave pleaded not guilty to several charges, including kidnapping conspiracy, in a case that roiled the country just weeks ahead of a presidential election that was marred by fears of right-wing violence.

Prosecutors allege that after months of planning, the group of armed, far-right militiamen planned to ambush and kidnap Whitmer as part of a scheme that included detonating a bridge to prevent cops from rescuing her. They then allegedly planned to put her on trial for treason.

I didnt even know about a bridge, nobody told me, Harris said on Thursday.

Defense attorneys for the four defendants have long argued that their clients were coaxed by former FBI informants into plotting to kidnap Whitmerand that the group was simply engaging in tough talk online. (For their part, at least three FBI agents who had integral roles in the investigation were not called on the stand after a flurry of scandal, including one who was charged with domestic violence against his wife, allegedly tied to a dispute about an orgy.)

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On Thursday, Harris insisted that he never agreed or was swayed to storm the Capitol or kidnap Whitmer. He also denied a series of allegations that were previously made on the stand by FBI agents, informants, and even two of his former militia members that have testified against him. One former group member, who has since pleaded guilty, said he agreed to kidnap the governor while on a hike with a group previously described as the Three Musketeers.

Im not French. I would not call myself a Three Musketeer, Harris said on Thursday before denying again he agreed to kidnap Whitmer.

Harris told jurors he was a talented infantryman who knew how to handle grenades and joined the group to drink beer, shoot guns, and talk about girls. He also took the opportunity to bash his fellow defendants, describing Croft as a stoner pirate who was kind of a wacknut to jurors.

Later, Harris admitted to building a failed explosive device with Croft and setting it off. I was putting BBs and a little bit of gunpowder into this balloon, and we were going to blow up a stove, Harris added. We put it in a stove. We lit the fuse and we ran.

Rahmani noted that while the defenses decision to use an entrapment argument makes the most strategic senseit is now in jeopardy because Harris testimony did not seem to refute prosecutorial witness testimony and recordings that were played to jurors during the trial.

It was also inconsistent with the defenses entrapment defense. On one hand, Harris argued that he just created an explosive device to blow up a stove and did not agree to kidnap the governor, the former prosecutor noted. On the other hand, his attorneys argued that [an FBI informant] was the ringleader who encouraged Harris to agree to things he had no propensity to do.

Prosecutors also tried to point to the inconsistencies in the defenses argument and Harris testimony, eventually getting the former Marine to admit on the stand he texted about ways to assassinate Whitmer. Harris, however, insisted the texts were went as a way of calling out other members of his chat group.

You proposed doming her? Meaning, shooting her in the head, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth asked on Thursday.

Correct, Harris replied.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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John Deehan has developed a neurodegenerative disease, his family has said (Nick Potts/PA) (PA Archive)

John Deehan, the former Aston Villa, West Brom, Norwich and Ipswich striker has been battling a neurodegenerative disease for the last six years.

The 64-year-old made close to 400 top-level appearances between 1975 and 1990, but now his wife Linda has revealed his struggles with serious illness.

Linda Deehan explained how husband John still loves to talk about football, but naturally has issues with memory.

In a heartfelt statement, Linda Deehan asked for consideration for the whole family.

Now seems like the right time to inform you that for several years my husband John Deehan, former Aston Villa, WBA, Norwich City and Ipswich Town centre-forward has been battling a neurodegenerative disease, said Linda Deehan in a statement.

Johns consultant has concluded that he has Dementia, namely Alzheimers Disease. John was only 58 years old at the time.

John has good days and bad days. He endeavours to continue to live and enjoy a normal life, as best as possible, however almost every day we are confronted with a new challenge.

If you come across him at a match or elsewhere, please dont be afraid to interact with him.

Please understand that John may not be able to converse in the way he once did, but he still loves to talk about football and share a laugh.

Please be considerate if he is having a bad day and struggling. This disease plays tricks on his memory, so he may not be able to remember accurately, and he may find signing autographs a challenge.

Even though things have not ended as we had planned, we continue to live our lives as best we can.
A composite of Former Rep. Will Hurd, a Republican from Texas, and a jeep on fire after the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu. Samuel Corum/Pool/Getty Images; STR/AFP/Getty

Ex-Rep. Will Hurd says some of his former colleagues were fearful of traveling to the US-Mexico border.

Hurd said some lawmakers and top officials expected to encounter a war zone, like Mogadishu in 1993.

In reality, US border towns are often safer than similarly-sized cities elsewhere in the US.

Former Republican Rep. Will Hurd said some of his fellow lawmakers and top officials were fearful of visiting the US-Mexico border and towns in Mexico, expecting a scene that resembled a war zone.

"To correct misconceptions about the border, I brought congressional colleagues and administration officials down for tours of the border. Some were nervous when I took them into Mexico. Many were expecting the Battle of Mogadishu in 1993, with shootouts in the streets like Black Hawk Down," Hurd wrote in his new book, "American Reboot: An Idealist's Guide to Getting Big Things Done."

"Black Hawk Down" is a reference to a 1993 US raid on Mogadishu to disrupt a local warlord's operation that was attacking and killing UN peacekeeping troops. The operation went disastrously wrong. As Smithsonian Magazine recounted, an 18-hour firefight left 19 Americans and hundreds of Somalis dead. Jubilant militias paraded the bodies of Americans through the streets, images that reverberated back home and became a defining moment in both President Bill Clinton and America's foreign policy. The story of the raid inspired a book and later a movie.

These fears didn't just suddenly appear. Former President Donald Trump announced his 2016 presidential campaign by decrying Mexico for "sending people that have lots of problems," including drug traffickers and "rapists." Trump infamously concluded that "some, I assume, are good people."

As Hurd pointed out, crime rates along the border are often safer than in comparable cities elsewhere in the US.

A 2021 Axios analysis found that while violent crime rose in the US in 2020, violent crime rates in the 11 largest cities along the US-Mexico border remained below the national average.

Story continues

Hurd's retirement in 2019 shocked his House colleagues. At the time, he was the only Black Republican in the House.

The then-41-year-old represented Texas' sprawling 23rd District, a 58,000-square mile behemoth from San Antonio to the outskirts of El Paso. At times, Hurd was critical of former President Donald Trump, especially regarding the former president's racist attacks on Democratic lawmakers like Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

In his book, Hurd lamented the reoccurring struggle of both parties to overhaul the nation's immigration system. He pointed out that his bipartisan Uniting and Securing America Act was much more targeted than the massive proposals that failed during the Obama and Bush administrations. But even this more limited legislation failed to become law.

"Its failure reflects all the problems with Washingtonappealing to the fringes rather than the middle, the lack of willingness to be honest and do the right thing, the failure to get audio and video to match, and the inability to recognize how more unites us than divides us," Hurd wrote.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Mar. 30NEW LONDON  Firefighters on Wednesday afternoon battled a two-alarm blaze at the multifamily home at 28 Rogers St., at the corner of Elm Street.

The fire was reported about 12:50 p.m., and firefighters arrived to find fire already erupting from the building's windows and smoke filling the neighborhood. There were reports by neighbors of explosions inside. Firefighters were still at the scene at 1:45 p.m.

The 2 1/2 -story home appears to be in disrepair, with numerous piles of debris scattered around the front and back yards. Neighbors said they were under the impression it is vacant and has been for several years.

Stephen Thompson, manager of the neighboring home at 24 Rogers St., said the home is a frequent hangout for squatters and is an ongoing problem.

City records show the home is owned by James Robinson.

New London firefighters were joined at the scene by personnel from Waterford, whose ladder truck was in use alongside New London's.

The city fire marshal's office is investigating the cause of the fire.
Wang meets Lavrov in China, hails ties as withstanding test of changing intl situation

By Wang Qi and Xu Yelu (Global Times) 09:04, March 31, 2022

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday in Tunxi, East China's Anhui Province. Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday in Tunxi, East China's Anhui Province, highlighting the continuing efforts to strengthen strategic partnership, amid the Ukraine crisis and other ongoing crises such as Afghanistan which have been overshadowed as a result.

The in-person Wang-Lavrov meeting was held on the sidelines of the third meeting of the foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighboring countries, which was chaired by Wang. The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan or their representatives are attending the meeting from Wednesday to Thursday, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

The in-person meeting is the first between Wang and Lavrov since Russia's special military operation in Ukraine started on February 24. It comes as the US and some Western countries are hyping Beijing's "dilemma" of whether to distance itself from Moscow over Ukraine or face condemnation and potential sanctions from Washington.

However, Chinese experts said that China's posture is always consistent and balanced when dealing with ties with Russia and the US. The development of Beijing-Moscow ties, is not due to a bloc-like mentality but an inner basis of mutual benefits.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a Wednesday press briefing that China and Russia have always been committed to developing bilateral relations on the basis of the principles of non-alliance, non-confrontation and non-targeting of any third country.

The spokesperson hailed the stepped-up relations as one of "no limits to China-Russia cooperation, no limit to our pursuit of peace and maintaining security, and no limit to our opposition to hegemony."

China and Russia will continue to practice genuine multilateralism and promote a multi-polar world and democracy in international relations, the spokesperson said.

According to Russian media outlet TASS, the meeting between the two foreign ministers took place in a "traditionally trust-based and friendly atmosphere," and a number of issues were discussed, including the current state of affairs in Afghanistan, the Iranian nuclear program and the Korean Peninsula.

Citing a Russian statement, TASS said the pair agreed that Russia and China would continue to strengthen their strategic partnership and further bolster foreign policy coordination, enhance cooperation on the bilateral track as well as in various multilateral formats.

Wang pointed out that China-Russian relations have withstood new tests by changes in the international situation, maintained the right direction and demonstrated a solid development trend.

The desire of the two sides to develop bilateral relations has become even stronger, so has the confidence to promote cooperation in various directions, Wang said.

Lavrov said Russia is ready to work with China to continuously strengthen high-level strategic coordination and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas, and oppose hegemonism.

Analysts said that although the US and some Western countries are trying to use the Ukraine crisis to drive a wedge between China and Russia, the attitudes outlined in the latest ministers' meeting indicate that the solid relationship between China and Russia is unlikely to be weakened by the US and the West, or by external events such as the Ukraine crisis.

Constructive role

Just a day before the Wang-Lavrov meeting, Russian negotiators said on Tuesday that Russia will cut back operations near Ukraine's capital Kiev and the northern city of Chernihiv following "substantial" peace talks in Istanbul, which was described as "most meaningful progress" so far.

According to the Chinese Foreign Ministry's statement, Lavrov has informed the Chinese side on the progress of the peace talks, saying that Russia is committed to lowering the tension and will continue to hold peace talks with Ukraine and maintain communication with the international community.

Wang said China supports the efforts of Russia and Ukraine to overcome difficulties and continue peace talks, support the de-escalation of the situation as soon as possible, and support the efforts made by Russia and other parties to prevent a large-scale humanitarian crisis.

Cui Heng, an assistant research fellow from the Center for Russian Studies of East China Normal University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that China has actually played a constructive role in promoting the peace talks, which was not being widely covered in the West.

Chinese diplomats have been talking with Russia and Ukraine counterparts since the Ukraine crisis escalated, encouraging the two to sit down and talk about a peaceful solution, while opposing the West's fanning of the flames and immoderate sanctions against Moscow, Cui added.

The United Nations General Assembly voted on March 2 to condemn Russia for its military operation, with China abstaining. While sowing discord between China and Russia, some Western media smeared China's efforts for peace due to the abstention vote.

Despite speculation in the West that China faces the risk of secondary sanctions due to its ties with Russia, experts said China and Russia will not reduce their existing cooperation because of the risk of sanctions, which will not help the US achieve its strategic goals, because sanctions are bound to create divisions in the Western world and will also backfire on themselves.

China and Russia are building up their relations not because China wants to confront the West, but because cooperation and business between neighbors brings substantial benefits to both sides, which is the essence and basis of the ties, Cui said.

"China and Russia do not target any third party. The connection between China and Russia should not be misinterpreted by the West as political support, but as one based on development needs," he added.

There have been frequent meetings and communications between the Chinese and Russian foreign ministers in 2022. The two held a phone conversation on February 24 when they exchanged views on the Ukraine issue.

Wang met with Lavrov in Beijing on February 3. On January 10, the pair had a phone conversation. Analysts said it highlighted the close coordination and mutual trust between China and Russia on major issues, as well as the maturity and stability of bilateral relations.

Since the Wang-Lavrov meeting occurred on the sidelines of an Afghanistan-related ministerial conference, Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations at China Foreign Affairs University, believes the cooperation between China and Russia on Afghanistan is bound to move forward.

Ensuring that reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan are on track and that the Ukraine crisis winds down are two key objectives of the current diplomatic coordination between Russia and China, both of which are substantive moves that cannot be covered up by Western smears, Li said.

Although an extended meeting of the China-US-Russia consultation mechanism on the Afghan issue is expected to be held as well, analysts said Lavrov's participation in the Afghan-related conference reflects that the mode of dealing with Afghan-related issues is changing and becoming dominated by regional countries with relevant interests.

Neighboring countries and Afghanistan are in a community of a shared future, said Cui, "the stability of Afghanistan is directly related to the security and stability of its neighbors, so these countries have a great sense of responsibility and are willing to invest in it."

For now, the US has largely taken a "throwaway approach" in Afghanistan, which means there is not much room for cooperation between China, the US and Russia. So in the future, the rebuilding of Afghanistan relies on cooperation between China, Russia, Iran and other regional countries, Cui said.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
ROME (AP)  Drums pounded through the frescoed halls of the Apostolic Palace on Thursday and out into St. Peter's Square as Pope Francis welcomed a First Nations delegation seeking an apology for the Catholic Churchs role in running Canadas notorious residential schools.

Francis met privately for two hours with the representatives of the Assembly of First Nations, following his meetings earlier in the week with delegations from the Metis and Inuit communities of Canada.

I feel the pope and the church have expressed a sentiment of working toward reconciliation," said Grand Chief Mandy Gull-Masty of the Creen Nation, after the audience.

The trip was years in the making but gained momentum last year after the discovery of hundreds of unmarked graves outside some of the residential schools.

More than 150,000 native children in Canada 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. The aim was to Christianize and assimilate them into mainstream society, which previous Canadian governments considered superior.

Even before the grave sites were discovered, Canadas Truth and Reconciliation Commission specifically called for a papal apology to be delivered on Canadian soil for the churchs role in the abuses against the Indigenous.

Francis has committed to traveling to Canada, though no date for such a visit has been announced.

The Vatican said Thursdays meeting was held in a climate of listening and closeness and would be followed by Francis audience with all three groups on Friday, when he is to deliver a public address.

If you were to ask me am I optimistic leaving our discussion with the Holy Father, I am, said Phil Fontaine, who was national chief of the Assembly of First Nations in 2009 when he led an Indigenous delegation to meet with Pope Benedict XVI.

At the time, Benedict only expressed his sorrow at the anguish caused by the deplorable conduct of some members of the church. But he did not apologize.

Its 2022, Im back, for another shot at  convincing Pope Francis to apologize," Fontaine told reporters in St. Peters Square, wearing a feathered headdress. "A full apology for all that he heard today and probably heard from the Metis and Inuit delegations about the horrible experience of too many of our people that attended residential schools.

Our preference is for the Holy Father to come to Canada and apologize on Canadian soil, and do it on one of our territories," he added. "That is our hope and wish and we made that very clear to the Holy Father.
Florida Memorial University has seen a drastic dip in enrollment in recent years, prompting staff layoffs and the elimination of over a dozen degree programs

Several tenured faculty members at Florida Memorial University are threatening to take legal action against the private school after being told they would be laid off at the end of the semester.

The professors say they are being pushed out because of their age, as reported by the Miami Herald. Four of the 10 professors facing layoffs are tenured and will soon be out of a job due to what FMU said was the closure of certain programs caused by financial pressures from low enrollment.

(Adobe stock photo)

FMU has seen a drastic dip in enrollment in recent years, prompting staff layoffs and the elimination of over a dozen degree programs, according to the report.

My clients are prepared to sue not only the university but each of the Board members and the administration personally for the grossly negligent actions detailed in this letter, labor lawyer Randy Fleischer, whos representing the four academics, wrote in a Feb. 17 letter to South Floridas only HBCU, per the Miami Herald.

Sharee Gilbert, FMUs director of communications and marketing, responded to the professors allegations of discrimination in a March 14 statement emailed to the Herald.

There was no discriminatory intent, rather, all of the decisions made were legitimate, objective, and in the best interest of the University and its students, she wrote. There is no evidence of discrimination by FMU.

Ten faculty members will be laid off effective May 14, and, per Gilberts email, three are Black women (ages 64, 72, 80), two white men (ages 58, 69), two Black men (ages 68, 74), one Asian man (age 72) and two white women (ages 55, 88), per the Herald.

FMU is inviting you to attend Floridas HBCU Impact Summit 2022.



The two-day summit with the presidents of Bethune-Cookman University, Edward Waters University, and Florida A&M University will take place on Thursday, April 21 and Friday, April 22, 2022, on the FMU campus. pic.twitter.com/eM2UzWuce2  Florida Memorial University (@FLMemorialUniv) March 30, 2022

Seven programs in the School of Arts and Sciences were eliminated as well as three in the School of Business and six in the School of Education, according to the report. The university also cut 18 staff positions, including several that were vacant.

Story continues

The remaining faculty are a diverse group ranging in age from 28 to 83, Gilbert wrote, noting that FMU employs 75 faculty members and 85% of them are over 40 and nearly half of the faculty is over 60, per the report.

The staff being laid off are 55 and older.

The decision to terminate, tenured, senior faculty without cause and without legally required notice is an egregious violation of written approved policy and federal law and if the Board ignores this, they too will be violating their fiduciary duty to the institution, Fleischer wrote.

Decisions such as these are not easy to make  they are certainly decisions most businesses and organizations have had to make more recently, Gilbert wrote in her email on Tuesday, per the report. The decisions were a part of a data-driven process, which in turn created data-driven results and were not personal in any way.

FMU was put on probation for good cause last summer for failing to comply with the standards of its accreditation agency, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The sanction was the result of the schools financial difficulties and could lead to FMU having its accreditation revoked.

The SACSCOC board will reportedly make a decision on the case in June, at which time FMU will remain on probation for good cause, placed on probation for a year, or be cleared altogether.

TheGrio is now on your TV via Apple TV, Amazon Fire, Roku, and Android TV. Also, please download theGrio mobile apps today!

The post FMU, South Floridas only HBCU, being sued for discrimination appeared first on TheGrio.
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany plans to end mandatory quarantine for most people who catch COVID-19, the health ministry proposed on Thursday, as numbers isolating with the infection top four million.

Under the existing rules, people with COVID must quarantine for at least seven days.

But Health Minister Karl Lauterbach wants to change that to a voluntary five days of self-isolation with the recommendation of a COVID test at the end of that period, proposals seen by Reuters showed.

Under the plans, drawn up by his ministry and the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, health workers would still have to isolate for a five days and require a negative PCR test to end their quarantine.

The proposals, which have yet to be discussed with authorities in Germany's 16 federal states, have emerged after COVID cases soared in recent weeks, hitting staffing in hospitals and many other workplaces.

Daily numbers have fallen again in recent days, with the Institute reporting 274,901 new infections on Thursday to take total cases since the pandemic began beyond 21.1 million, with nearly 130,000 deaths.

Separately, Bild said Chancellor Olaf Scholz's government had been forced to drop plans to introduce mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for everyone aged over 18 because it could not muster a majority for it in parliament.

Instead, it was aiming to pass legislation to make vaccinations compulsory for those over 50, the newspaper said.

Asked about the report at a news conference, Scholz said his government was in the process of building a majority in parliament, without giving further details.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke and Emma Thomasson; Writing by Madeline Chambers; editing by John Stonestreet)
DETROIT  As the biggest city in China goes on lockdown, General Motors is taking extreme measures to keep new car production going, including asking workers to sleep on factory floors.

Leaders in Shanghai, China's financial epicenter, started a two-stage lockdown Monday to try to control a massive COVID-19 outbreak on the southeastern coast.

That lockdown is forcing automakers and suppliers to scramble and make tough decisions.

China has a "zero-COVID" strategy that relies on mass testing, contact tracing and other policies to control the spread of the virus. It also demands that companies use strict measures to keep factories going  or else shut down. The latter would produce production disruptions and delayed shipments at a time when consumer demand for new cars is strong. Last year, GM delivered 2.9 million vehicles in China.

A source familiar with GM's joint venture with Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor Corp. told the Detroit Free Press, a part of the USA TODAY Network, on Tuesday that it has kept production going in Shanghai by keeping employees living in the plant. The person asked to not be named because there was no authorization given to share that with the media.

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, volunteers carry daily necessities for residents in Fengxian District in eastern China's Shanghai city on March 28, 2022. China began its most extensive coronavirus lockdown in two years Monday to conduct mass testing and control a growing outbreak in Shanghai as questions are raised about the economic toll of the nation's "zero-COVID" strategy.

But the person said production in its SGM plant continues with the health measures in place, including the "closed loop" requirement.

"According to the Shanghai governments pandemic control measures, companies are required to operate either in closed loop if necessary or have the employees work from home," the person said. "Closed loop operation means that employees must stay in the plant."

More reliable power source: GM partners with utility companies to use future EVs to power homes

Opinion: 5G service is coming to more cars. What can drivers expect  and when?

The story was first reported by Reuters. It said the workers are being asked to sleep on the factory floor and that GM's joint venture got passes for trucks to continue deliveries. Reuters cited two unnamed sources.

Story continues

A man lifts his child to get a COVID-19 test at a private mobile coronavirus testing facility on March 29, 2022, in Beijing.

Closed loop is a form of quarantine. Reuters described it as a "bubble-like arrangement" where workers sleep, live and work in isolation from the outside community to prevent COVID-19 transmission.

Ford Motor Co. does not have any manufacturing plants in the Shanghai area, said Ian Thibodeau, a Ford spokesperson.

"We do have offices in the Shanghai area and employees there are working from home," Thibodeau told the Free Press Tuesday. "Fords manufacturing plants are located elsewhere in China, and they remain in operation.

Shanghai GM Norsom Phase III plant's assembly shop in China.

GM's facilities in Shanghai produce Buick, Chevrolet and Cadillac vehicles.

GM spokesman Dan Flores said GM, along with its joint ventures supply chain and engineering teams, have "developed and are continuing to execute contingency plans on a global basis with our suppliers to mitigate the uncertainty related to COVID-19."

Follow Jamie L. LaReau on Twitter: @jlareauan.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: GM keeps plants running in China having workers live in factory
You'll most likely never buy a GoPro camera for its battery life. As we mentioned in our review of the Hero 10, it has never been the brand's strong suit  in fact, the Hero 9 outlasted the Hero 10 by almost half an hour when we tested out the new model. Now, the company has launched a new grip called Volta that could extend a GoPro camera's battery life by up to three times. Combined with the GoPro's own battery, the Volta grip can deliver up to 4 hours of 5.3K recording at 30 fps. When we took the the Hero 10 for a spin, it only lasted for an hour and 15 minutes.

In addition to its built-in 4900 mAh battery, Volta also comes with integrated camera buttons to give you access to one-handed controls while the GoPro is mounted. You can even use it as a remote control for up to 98 feet away. And if you need a tripod for your shoot, you can flip out its built-in legs anytime. Volta is compatible with both Hero 10 and Hero 9, but it will also charge any USB-C device, including the GoPro MAX and older models.

Alone, the Volta grip will set you back $130, or $91 if you're a GoPro subscriber. However, it also comes bundled with the new GoPro Hero 10 Black Creator Edition. The company has put together a neat package for creators to make it easy to grab everything they need in one go. In addition to the camera itself and a Volta battery grip, the bundle comes with GoPro's Media Mod and Light Mod. Those modifications add a built-in directional microphone, 3.5mm mic and HDMI-out ports, as well LED lighting with four level of brightness up to 200 lumens to the camera.

As you can guess, the bundle is cheaper for subscribers that pay the company $50 a year. New members will even be able to get the package for $532, which represents quite a substantial discount from the $760-or-so total price of the items when purchased individually.
Google is starting "origin trials" for the Chrome Privacy Sandbox, its new system for serving targeted ads without using cookies, the company announced. The initial aim is to test ad relevance via its new Topics API, along with FLEDGE and Attribution Reporting that allows remarketing and ad click measurement without tracking behavior across sites.

Origin trials will let Google test experimental Chrome technology with a limited number of people to make sure it's ready for general use. Starting today, developers can begin testing code for Topics, FLEDGE and Attribution Reporting in the Canary Chrome beta "and we'll progress to origin trials with a limited number of Chrome Beta users as soon as possible," it wrote. Eventually, the company will expand trials to a stable version of Chrome to access a larger user subset. All the trials will be available globally, with updates available here.

Google begins trials of new Privacy Sandbox settings in Chrome

Google will be testing updated settings that allow you to control your participation in the origin trials. For example, under the "Browser-based ad personalization" section, you'll be able to remove various interests estimated by Chrome, or remove specific sites that "define your interests." You'll also be able to control how ads are measured and choose how to participate in spam and fraud reduction that helps advertisers detect bots.

Privacy Sandbox has met with significant criticism, particularly from EU and UK advertisers that claim removing cookies will hurt their ad businesses. Government also has concern that the new system will only serve to strengthen Google's stranglehold on the online ad marketplace, while putting consumer privacy at risk. Last month, however, Google agreed to a legally binding set of commitments with UK regulators to address those issues.
MSNBC

A Republican lawmaker insisted on Thursday that former President Donald Trump was just being sarcastic and tweaking the media when he brazenly called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to release dirt on President Joe Bidens son Hunter.

Donald Trump is Donald Trump, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) shrugged during an appearance on MSNBCs MTP Daily.

In an interview earlier this week with JustTheNews John Solomon, who just so happens to be the architect of Rudy Giulianis Ukraine conspiracies that led to Trumps first impeachment, the ex-president implored Americas top adversary to release damaging information about the president of the United States.

As long as Putin is not exactly a fan of our country, let him explain why did the mayor of Moscows wife give the Bidensboth of emthree and a half million dollars?! Trump exclaimed, advancing an unsubstantiated claim about the Biden family. I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it. I think we should know that answer.

Greg Gutfeld Blames Hunter Bidens Laptop for Famine Because Why Not

Speaking with Cramer on Thursday, MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd brought up the fact that Trump once again was asking for help to tarnish a political rival from a foreign governmentthis time, from a country waging an unprovoked war with an American ally.

Why would you trust propaganda from somebody who is, you know, right now based on the conversation I had earlier, President Biden called for him to be removed from power? Todd wondered. Why would you want to trust anything Putin had to say about Hunter Biden?

After Cramer said Trumps remarks were more sarcastic than it was anything else, the MTP Daily host pushed back on his characterization.

I mean, Im sorry, it comes across as almost a bit unpatriotic to ask literally the enemy of the free world right now for propaganda for a political opponent, Todd declared. I mean, it just seemed like a horrendous thing to do by the former president. No?

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The North Dakota senator deflected by claiming the media would be treating the war in Ukraine like a Boy Scout camp if Hunter Bidens name was Donald Trump Jr., prompting Todd to cut him off.

Senator, that is the laziest attack. Its not about the media, the anchor grumbled.

Its also honest, Cramer retorted.

Chuck Todd Wonders How Long NATO Can Stand By and Watch Russia Attack Ukraine

It doesnt matter about the media, Todd fired back. Is it right for the former president of the United States to ask an enemy of the free world to do this?Asserting that what an ex-president does cant be compared to the current president, Cramer ascribed the actions to merely Trump being Trump.

Donald Trump is Donald Trump, he said. He hasnt changed. Hes not going to change. Its more interesting to the Washington press corps than it is to the general public. Was it the wisest thing in the world to say? Perhaps not, but hes Donald Trump and he says these things.

Adding that he thinks Putin is a war criminal, Cramer downplayed Trumps remarks as nothing more than the former president taking the press for a ride.

Once again Donald Trump baited you all and you all took the bait. Now were having to, you know, discuss this, Cramer said.

Im not going to debate you about whether Trump gets too much coverage or not enough. But he is the leader of your party, sir, Todd pressed. At the end of the day, whether you like it or not, hes the leader of your party. Are you comfortable with the leader of your party playing footsie with Vladimir Putin?

Hannity Quotes Putins Mouthpiece in Attack on Biden

Cramer, meanwhile, dodged the question again by saying there is evidence the Democrats fed information into the White House to plant false evidence that Trump colluded with Russia, seemingly parroting misleading claims about Special Counsel John Durhams most recent filing.

How does that make what Donald Trump is doing somehow better? Todd exasperatedly asked.

Im way more concerned, and I think the American people are, with the current president and his behavior and really the lack of scrutiny compared to a former president who has a long history of saying sort of outrageous things, whether seriously or not seriously, and being taken way, way, way too seriously, frankly, by a press corps thats all too anxious to jump on an interesting personality, to say the least, Cramer deflected again. Ill add when Donald Trump was president, Russia didnt invade Ukraine.

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For a second year in a row, Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved $1,000 bonuses for Florida first responders.

He said it represents over $100 million that will go to those who protect our communities.

The Florida governor made the announcement Thursday morning during a visit to the Valley Smoke Restaurant in Ponte Vedra Beach.

First Alert Weather Day: Afternoon storms could be strong to severe

He was joined by dozens of law enforcement officers, including those from St. Johns and Putnam counties, as well as Atlantic Beach and Neptune Beach.

DeSantis said the bonuses are especially needed now, especially with inflation. He also blamed the high costs of inflation on the Biden administration.

Im approving $1,000 bonuses for all sworn law enforcement officers, all fire, all EMT in the state of Florida for the second year in a row, DeSantis said.

Action News Jax reporter Jake Stofan will have more on the governors announcement on FOX30 and CBS47 at 5.

STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories

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Watch: Royals gather to honour Prince Philip at memorial

Harry and Meghan would likely have known their decision not to attend the Duke of Edinburgh's memorial service on Tuesday 29th March would look "petulant and rude", a royal expert has claimed.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's absence from the service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey has had many wondering why the pair weren't there.

Royal expert Ingrid Seward, author of Prince Philip, also questioned the couple's silence on the special day.

Read more: Princess Charlotte's behaviour praised at Prince Philip's memorial service

Harry and Meghan weren't able to attend Price Philip's memorial at Westminster Abbey. (LightRocket via Getty Images)

"The wall of silence was as loud as if they had shouted from the abbey rafters. The normally verbose Duke and Duchess of Sussex said nothing," she told The Mirror in a no holds barred tirade.

"No spokesperson spewed out long sentences of undecipherable wordage. There were no flowers with the florists name proudly displayed.

"No comments from Archwell. Nothing. Not even a word from their supporters on various social media accounts."

After Prince Philip's death last year, which occurred on 9 April 2021 at Windsor Castle at the age of 99, Harry said in a statement, "My grandfather was a man of service, honour and great humour", describing him as "master of the barbecue, legend of banter and cheeky right til the end".

Read more: Duchess of Cambridge takes inspiration from Diana's wardrobe for thanksgiving service

Many senior royals gathered for the service of thanksgiving. (Pool via REUTERS)

On Harry and Meghan's decision not to attend the service, Seward said, "There's been a great deal of criticism about Prince Harry's absence from his grandfather's memorial service. But no reason given as to why he chose not to attend from Harry himself.

"A couple of weeks ago he instructed his spokesperson to say he wouldnt be going. That was it."

The spokesperson confirmed Harry and Meghan wouldn't be attending, but added that Harry hopes to visit the Queen as soon as possible.

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"What a missed opportunity it was not to bring Meghan and the children to join the extended royal family, European cousins and of course Archies contemporaries," added Seward.

"Their appearance would not have diverted attention away from the Queen. It was her day and no one could take that away from her not even her favourite son the Duke of York who guided her to her seat."

Read more: Duchess of Cambridge's polka dot dress: 5 affordable versions to channel the royal in

Harry's spokesperson has expressed his safety fears around bringing his family to the UK. (WireImage/Getty Images)

Harry and Meghan, who married in March 2018, currently live in California with their children Archie, two and Lilibet, nine months.

The couple stepped down as senior working royals in 2020, with Harry recently pursuing a legal challenge after being told he would no longer be given the "same degree" of personal protective security when visiting from the US, despite offering to pay it himself.

Seward dismissed their reported concerns over safety and instead suggested "the only explanation is that neither one of them wanted to go."

"Harry must have known it would look petulant and rude. And if he did not Meghan would have."

Other royals in attendance at Prince Philip's memorial included the Queen, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, and their two eldest Prince George, eight, and Princess Charlotte, six.

Watch: Cambridge children attend memorial service for Prince Philip
The House is set to pass legislation on Friday to legalize marijuana nationwide, an effort that has unprecedented levels of support in both chambers of Congress.

The bill is likely to pass the lower chamber largely along party lines, with most Republicans expected to oppose it.

Proponents argue that legalizing marijuana at the federal level will simply reflect most states existing policies that allow it in some form.

They also frame the effort as a way to end the disproportionate punishment of racial minorities and people in low-income communities for possessing and using weed.

And with an overwhelming majority of Americans  as much as 91 percent in a Pew Research Poll last year  backing marijuana legalization for at least medical purposes, Democrats believe its a winning issue for them ahead of Novembers midterms.

This landmark legislation is one of the most important criminal justice reform bills in recent history: delivering justice for those harmed by the brutal, unfair consequences of criminalization; opening the doors of opportunity for all to participate in this rapidly growing industry; and decriminalizing cannabis at the federal level so we do not repeat the grave mistakes of our past, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on the House floor on Thursday.

The bill, titled the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act, would eliminate criminal penalties associated with the drug and establish a process to expunge previous convictions from peoples criminal records.

It would further impose a federal tax on marijuana sales to fund programs meant to help communities negatively impacted by so-called war on drugs policies beginning in the 1970s.

Fridays vote will mark the second time that House Democrats have advanced legislation to decriminalize marijuana, after previously passing the measure in December 2020.

But the last effort didnt gain any traction in the Senate, which was controlled by Republicans at the time.

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But now, Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said that marijuana legalization is a top priority, and he has been working with fellow Democrats to unveil a bill this spring.

Its not yet clear, however, if enough Senate Republicans, or even all Democrats, would get on board for the bill to clear a filibuster.

Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), whose states have been ravaged by the opioid epidemic, have both expressed skepticism about broadly legalizing marijuana.

Republicans opposed to the legislation say legalization would do more harm than good.

Rep. Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), a former police officer, recalled having to make devastating visits to inform people that their family members had died in accidents resulting from drivers who were under the influence of drugs. He warned that legalizing weed could lead to an increase in people driving while high.

We can all sit here and pretend that marijuana is a harmless drug, but it is not. It clouds your judgment and inhibits your reaction time, Stauber said.

A smaller number of Republicans support legalizing marijuana.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) has introduced her own bill to legalize cannabis products. But it currently only has three GOP cosponsors: Reps. Brian Mast (Fla.), Tom McClintock (Calif.) and Peter Meijer (Mich.).

Maces proposal would set an age limit of 21 for cannabis use. It would also impose a smaller tax on marijuana sales  3 percent  than the bill Democrats are bringing to the House floor and establish a 10-year moratorium on any tax increases.

The Democratic bill would first establish a 5 percent tax that would gradually increase to 8 percent over five years.

At least 18 states, two territories and the District of Columbia allow cannabis for adult, nonmedical use, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures. More than twice as many states  37  allow pot for medical use.

Americans have made their support for cannabis legalization abundantly clear, and states across the country have taken the lead on cannabis legalization. Now it is time for Congress to take action and finally put an end to the failed policy of prohibition, said Toi Hutchinson, president and CEO of the Marijuana Policy Project, an advocacy group.

Before final passage on Friday, the House will consider amendments from two centrist Democrats, Reps. Conor Lamb (Pa.) and Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), to study the impact of marijuana legalization on workplaces and schools, as well as the methods that law enforcement can use to determine whether a driver is impaired by weed.

Another amendment up for debate from Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) would clarify that people could not be denied security clearances because of cannabis use.

While Schumer may face an uphill path to securing 60 votes for broad marijuana legalization in the Senate, proponents may have success with more narrow measures.

The Senate passed a bill by unanimous consent last week that would expand scientific and medical research on marijuana and its compounds.

The House has also passed legislation twice in the last year to allow legally operating cannabis businesses to use banking services and credit cards so that they no longer have to be cash-only.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus, predicted that the banking legislation had a shot of securing enough bipartisan support in the Senate to pass.

Unlike the MORE Act, which only won the support of five Republicans in 2020, the measure to allow cannabis businesses to access banking services passed in the House passed handily by a vote of 321-101 just under a year ago.

We have, I think, probably in the low 60s in the Senate, Blumenauer said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Since its reveal in January 2021, GM's BrightDrop electric delivery system, which aims to "decarbonize" the last mile, has been on a roll.

At the debut, GM (GM) announced FedEx (FDX) as BrightDrops launch client, and will eventually deliver 500 electric light commercial delivery vans, known as the EV600, to the FedEx delivery fleet. Verizon (VZ) and Walmart (WMT) have since become clients as well.

The BrightDrop system doesn't just include electric delivery vans. It's essentially an e-commerce delivery ecosystem that includes software, access to charging station providers, and even an electric propulsionassisted pallet that can be used in the warehouse or on the street for delivery and package pickup.

Early trials of the service by FedEx in New York and Toronto are paying off. According to BrightDrop and FedEx:

using the EP1 electric pallet increased FedEx package deliveries by 15% per hour,

FedEx was able to remove one vehicle from a delivery route per day due to efficiency gains,

FedEx cut delivery vehicle dwell time by half, and

Use of the self-propelled EP1 and cutting of dwell time reduced physical strain on FedExs couriers.

The BrightDrop ecosystem (credit: BrightDrop)

How the system works

In order to showcase how the BrightDrop system works, GM invited a group of journalists to a warehouse in Brooklyn, New York, to witness the EP1 and EV600 in action.

The first part of the demo featured the EP1 pallet. The pallet looks like a big container on wheels, which are powered by electric motors that can move the cart up to 3 miles per hour, a natural walking speed for a human. From controls on the handle, the EP1 can move in both forward and reverse depending on whether it's being pushed or pulled.

The Brightdrop EP1

The EP1 pallet can not only be used in the warehouse when loading, but also on the street for deliveries and even be left on the street or residential area for package pickup. The EP1 is loaded onto the EV600 van using a robotic lift that is integrated into the EV600 cargo area (if equipped).

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The BrightDrop EP1

The second part of the demo was a walk-around and drive of the electric EV600 delivery van. The EV600 is not a small van, even though its considered light duty, with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of under 10,000 lbs.

BrightDrop can tweak features like number of motors and battery size depending on what a customer needs, but the EV600's general specs include:

Drivetrain: All-wheel drive with two motors

Electric range: 250 miles

Battery: 20-module Ultium battery pack (likely a little over 150 kWh of usable capacity)

Charging: peak charge rate of up to 160 miles of range via 120 kW DC fast charger

The BrightDrop EV600

Driving the EV600

Hopping in the drivers seat, the first thing I notice is the visibility out of the cabin is impressive. Without a hood and gas engine in the front, the massive windshield provides an unobstructed view of the entire street, from the commanding vantage point of the raised driver's seat. The windshield and side windows envelope the cab, and I could see everything on the street in front me, on the side, and even slightly below, as the side windows drop nearly to the driver's waist.

Operating the vehicle is as simple as any other automatic vehicle, with the EV600 using electric one-pedal driving if desired, where if the driver lifts off the gas pedal, the EV600 smoothly comes to halt due to the stopping force from the regenerative braking system. The 24-foot long van is surprisingly nimble on the streets despite its height, due to its all-wheel drive system and low center of gravity from the heavy battery modules sitting at the base of the vehicle.

During my short drive, I had to swerve around double-parked cars, delivery couriers on their e-bikes, and jaywalking pedestrians. It helped that the EV600 has cameras in the front and rear, and ultrasonic sensors all around for object detection, and to aid parking.

The EV600 vans are in low-volume production now, with full production expected at GMs CAMI facility in Canada beginning at the end of 2022. Deliveries of the EV600 are occurring on an ongoing basis to clients as production scales, GM says.



Pras Subramanian is the senior autos reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on Twitter and on Instagram.

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When the Human Genome Project announced that they had completed the first human genome in 2003, it was a momentous accomplishment - for the first time, the DNA blueprint of human life was unlocked. But it came with a catch - they werent actually able to put together all the genetic information in the genome. There were gaps: unfilled, often repetitive regions that were too confusing to piece together.

With advancements in technology that could handle these repetitive sequences, scientists finally filled those gaps in May 2021, and the first end-to-end human genome was officially published on Mar. 31, 2022.

I am a genome biologist who studies repetitive DNA sequences and how they shape genomes throughout evolutionary history. I was part of the team that helped characterize the repeat sequences missing from the genome. And now, with a truly complete human genome, these uncovered repetitive regions are finally being explored in full for the first time.

The missing puzzle pieces

German botanist Hans Winkler coined the word genome in 1920, combining the word gene with the suffix -ome, meaning complete set, to describe the full DNA sequence contained within each cell. Researchers still use this word a century later to refer to the genetic material that makes up an organism.

One way to describe what a genome looks like is to compare it to a reference book. In this analogy, a genome is an anthology containing the DNA instructions for life. Its composed of a vast array of nucleotides (letters) that are packaged into chromosomes (chapters). Each chromosome contains genes (paragraphs) that are regions of DNA which code for the specific proteins that allow an organism to function.

While every living organism has a genome, the size of that genome varies from species to species. An elephant uses the same form of genetic information as the grass it eats and the bacteria in its gut. But no two genomes look exactly alike. Some are short, like the genome of the insect-dwelling bacteria Nasuia deltocephalinicola with just 137 genes across 112,000 nucleotides. Some, like the 149 billion nucleotides of the flowering plant Paris japonica, are so long that its difficult to get a sense of how many genes are contained within.

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But genes as theyve traditionally been understood  as stretches of DNA that code for proteins  are just a small part of an organisms genome. In fact, they make up less than 2% of human DNA.

The human genome contains roughly 3 billion nucleotides and just under 20,000 protein-coding genes - an estimated 1% of the genomes total length. The remaining 99% is non-coding DNA sequences that dont produce proteins. Some are regulatory components that work as a switchboard to control how other genes work. Others are pseudogenes, or genomic relics that have lost their ability to function.

And over half of the human genome is repetitive, with multiple copies of near-identical sequences.

What is repetitive DNA?

The simplest form of repetitive DNA are blocks of DNA repeated over and over in tandem called satellites. While how much satellite DNA a given genome has varies from person to person, they often cluster toward the ends of chromosomes in regions called telomeres. These regions protect chromosomes from degrading during DNA replication. Theyre also found in the centromeres of chromosomes, a region that helps keep genetic information intact when cells divide.

Researchers still lack a clear understanding of all the functions of satellite DNA. But because satellite DNA forms unique patterns in each person, forensic biologists and genealogists use this genomic fingerprint to match crime scene samples and track ancestry. Over 50 genetic disorders are linked to variations in satellite DNA, including Huntingtons disease.

Another abundant type of repetitive DNA are transposable elements, or sequences that can move around the genome.

Some scientists have described them as selfish DNA because they can insert themselves anywhere in the genome, regardless of the consequences. As the human genome evolved, many transposable sequences collected mutations repressing their ability to move to avoid harmful interruptions. But some can likely still move about. For example, transposable element insertions are linked to a number of cases of hemophilia A, a genetic bleeding disorder.

But transposable elements arent just disruptive. They can have regulatory functions that help control the expression of other DNA sequences. When theyre concentrated in centromeres, they may also help maintain the integrity of the genes fundamental to cell survival.

They can also contribute to evolution. Researchers recently found that the insertion of a transposable element into a gene important to development might be why some primates, including humans, no longer have tails. Chromosome rearrangements due to transposable elements are even linked to the genesis of new species like the gibbons of southeast Asia and the wallabies of Australia.

Completing the genomic puzzle

Until recently, many of these complex regions could be compared to the far side of the moon: known to exist, but unseen.

When the Human Genome Project first launched in 1990, technological limitations made it impossible to fully uncover repetitive regions in the genome. Available sequencing technology could only read about 500 nucleotides at a time, and these short fragments had to overlap one another in order to recreate the full sequence. Researchers used these overlapping segments to identify the next nucleotides in the sequence, incrementally extending the genome assembly one fragment at a time.

These repetitive gap regions were like putting together a 1,000-piece puzzle of an overcast sky: When every piece looks the same, how do you know where one cloud starts and another ends? With near-identical overlapping stretches in many spots, fully sequencing the genome by piecemeal became unfeasible. Millions of nucleotides remained hidden in the the first iteration of the human genome.

Since then, sequence patches have gradually filled in gaps of the human genome bit by bit. And in 2021, the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium, an international consortium of scientists working to complete a human genome assembly from end to end, announced that all remaining gaps were finally filled.

This was made possible by improved sequencing technology capable of reading longer sequences thousands of nucleotides in length. With more information to situate repetitive sequences within a larger picture, it became easier to identify their proper place in the genome. Like simplifying a 1,000-piece puzzle to a 100-piece puzzle, long-read sequences made it possible to assemble large repetitive regions for the first time.

With the increasing power of long-read DNA sequencing technology, geneticists are positioned to explore a new era of genomics, untangling complex repetitive sequences across populations and species for the first time. And a complete, gap-free human genome provides an invaluable resource for researchers to investigate repetitive regions that shape genetic structure and variation, species evolution and human health.

But one complete genome doesnt capture it all. Efforts continue to create diverse genomic references that fully represent the human population and life on Earth. With more complete, telomere-to-telomere genome references, scientists understanding of the repetitive dark matter of DNA will become more clear.

[Get fascinating science, health and technology news. Sign up for The Conversations weekly science newsletter.]

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Gabrielle Hartley, University of Connecticut.

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Gabrielle Hartley receives funding from the National Science Foundation.
By Michael Martina and David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Thursday declined to say if Taiwan would be invited to join the Biden administration's Indo-Pacific economic plan, spurring Senate criticism that excluding the island would be a missed opportunity.

Taiwan has voiced its desire to be a "full member" in the forthcoming Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), one part of the administration's effort to counter what it says is Beijing's increasing economic and military coercion in the region.

The administration says the still fledgling IPEF aims to be inclusive, but it has not publicly detailed any membership plans. IPEF is intended as a flexible economic framework that would align members on supply chain security, infrastructure, labor standards, clean energy and other issues.

Tai, testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, called Taiwan an essential partner, but that no decisions had been made on membership.

"On the point of Taiwan, we are in general in conversations with those who are interested in joining this framework," Tai said when asked by Senator Bob Menendez if the island would be invited to join the framework.

"Participation in the IPEF is still under consideration, and as far as I'm aware no decisions have been made," said Tai, the U.S.-born daughter of immigrants from Taiwan.

Menendez responded that the democratically governed island claimed by China was a key strategic and trading partner intertwined with U.S. economic security.

"I get a sense from that answer that we will not include Taiwan within the IPEF, which is missing an opportunity," he said.

The exchange followed a March 30 letter from 200 members of Congress from both parties, including Republicans Michael McCaul, Liz Cheney, and Elise Stefanik, and Democrats Ted Lieu, Ro Khanna, and Elissa Slotkin, urging Tai and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to invite Taiwan to join IPEF.

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"Taiwan's inclusion would also send a clear signal that the United States stands with its allies and partners, and will not be bullied by the PRC," the representatives said, referring to the People's Republic of China.

The letter https://sires.house.gov/sites/sires.house.gov/files/documents/Taiwan%20IPEF%20Final.pdf was posted on the official Congress website of Democratic Congressman Albio Sires, who also signed it.

Some analysts argue Taiwan's participation in the plan could make countries in the region hesitant to join for fear of angering Beijing, which opposes the idea as a tool for Washington to try to contain China's rise.

Raimondo told members of the Senate Finance Committee last week that the administration was not contemplating Taiwan's inclusion at this time, according to two sources with knowledge of the closed-door meeting where she made the remark.

"I think it speaks to a broader issue that our trade agenda is sometimes just out of whack with our foreign policy agenda," one of the sources said.

The Commerce Department referred a Reuters request for comment to the White House National Security Council, which also said no decisions had been made on membership.

Taiwan's de-facto embassy in Washington declined to comment on Raimondo's remark, but a spokesman said: "Regarding IPEF, Taiwan continues to exchange views with the U.S. through existing economic and trade mechanisms and channels."

Though it doesn't have formal ties with Washington, Taiwan is one of Asia's most vibrant democracies and economies, and is a dominant producer of semiconductors crucial to global supply chains.

(Reporting by Michael Martina and David Lawder; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
BUDAPEST, Hungary  A week before Hungarians were set to go to the polls to elect a new parliament, Peter Marki-Zay stepped up to a podium in a park in Budapest flanked by banners and signs reading Let Hungary Belong to All of Us! and The Power Belongs to the People!

That message of togetherness wasnt just campaign rhetoric, it signaled a new strategy for Hungarys long-suffering opposition parties. The mayor of a small city in southern Hungary, Marki-Zays goal is to succeed at something that more prominent politicians have failed at for 12 years: ousting incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Europes best known illiberal leader.

Marki-Zay is the lead candidate of a coalition called the United for Hungary movement, a group of six opposition parties that have banded together to better compete against Orban and his ruling Fidesz party. The challengers candidacy is the culmination of a yearslong effort to chart an electoral strategy to take on Orban  and to halt what the opposition sees as the Hungarian leaders systematic efforts to centralize power and chip away at democratic norms and institutions. Their aspirations have been bolstered by new efforts among NGOs and civil society groups, including running voter training programs, recruiting more than 20,000 election observers and working to combat Fideszs dominance on the airwaves.

It hasnt been easy. In a system of Orbans making, Marki-Zay and the opposition  vastly outspent on advertising, pummeled by the state-aligned media and disadvantaged in Hungarys electoral system  face what seems like an impossibly small margin for error. And whats more, Russias invasion of Ukraine, Hungarys next-door neighbor, has transformed the pre-election political debate in unpredictable ways.

We do have a chance, and thats great, Marki-Zay said in an interview after the event. Im 100 percent positive that there are more people who want change in Hungary. The question is: Will there be enough votes?

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On Sunday, Marki-Zay and those hoping to see an end to Orbans tenure  both within Hungary and across the West  will see whether their efforts have paid off. They may have done more than ever before to give themselves a fighting chance in the election, but the question remains: Will it be enough?



In the 12 years hes led the country, Orban has worked to transform Hungary into what the leader himself famously referred to as an illiberal democracy. Whether it was moving to eradicate independent media, demonizing groups ranging from refugees to the LGBTQ community or undermining academic freedom at Hungarian universities, Orban has served as a model for similarly minded parties and autocratic politicians across the West. And as right-wing populist and nationalist parties gained support across Europe in recent years, many saw Orban as a warning sign of what could come if those populist leaders took power elsewhere.

Orbans election reforms have skewed elections in his partys favor, which is why its been so difficult to mount a significant electoral challenge in the past. After entering office with a parliamentary supermajority in 2010, which allowed him to change the Hungarian constitution, Orban overhauled the countrys electoral system. He redrew the parliamentary districts to heavily favor Fidesz, and scrapped a two-round election system in favor of just one round in which the top vote-getter  in the past, with a fractured political opposition, usually Fidesz  automatically wins the seat. Whats more, he opened up citizenship and voting rights to 2 million ethnic Hungarians living in neighboring countries, who in turn have voted overwhelmingly for Orban.

(Those close to Orban dispute the idea that Hungary has a democracy problem: Government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs said in a phone interview that Hungary doesnt need Western leaders giving us lectures on how democracy works. The election is open, as it has always been for the past three consecutive cases, he said. Its the electorate, and that is, the Hungarian voter, who is going to decide and tell who is going to govern the country.)

As a result of those electoral changes, which handed Fidesz supermajorities in 2014 and 2018, Marki-Zay and leaders of the major opposition parties came to the conclusion that the only way to pose a real challenge to Orban was to team up. Despite the structural challenges, six opposition parties from across the ideological spectrum  the Democratic Coalition, right-wing Jobbik, the green LMP (Politics Can Be Different), Momentum, the Hungarian Socialist Party and Dialogue for Hungary  first agreed to join forces and recruit joint candidates in Hungarys 2019 local elections. Their gamble paid off, and opposition candidates won mayorships and city council seats across the country, including the capital city, Budapest.

In preparation for Sundays vote, they held their first-ever national primary this fall, electing the unaffiliated conservative politician Marki-Zay as their top candidate and choosing unified candidates in each of Hungarys 106 parliamentary districts. Hundreds of thousands turned out to cast their votes in what supporters say was a remarkable show of grassroots excitement. For the first time, there was a palpable sense that Orbans days in office might be numbered. That Marki-Zay became the candidate was symbolic in a way: His mayoral election in the city of Hodmezovasarhely in 2018, in which opposition parties backed his bid to help him defeat the Fidesz candidate, was an early inspiration for the strategy of teaming up.

The primaries were a huge boost for us, and they created a lot of enthusiasm, David Dorosz, a parliamentary candidate from the Dialogue for Hungary party, said in an interview. Those efforts, he added, along with developing the oppositions joint campaign platform, were important not just for the campaign but for the long-term political culture of this country.

In the intervening months, however, many I spoke with told me the excitement and momentum for the opposition had begun to wane, in part due to internal tensions and growing pains within the opposition movement and in part due to the inherent disadvantages of facing Orban. Public election polling puts Fidesz several percentage points ahead of the opposition: POLITICOs Poll of Polls currently has Fidesz at 50 percent, compared with 45 percent for the joint opposition.



Then came the war in Ukraine, which shares a border with Hungary. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his invasion last month, a half million Ukrainian refugees have streamed into Hungary. For that reason and others, the war has proven an unpredictable factor in the campaign, overshadowing domestic politics and putting Orban on the defensive over his ties to Putin.

This is the first election where Orban doesnt have full control of the agenda, said Zselyke Csaky, the research director for Europe, media and democracy at the pro-democracy organization Freedom House. Hes in reaction mode instead of actively shaping things however he wants.

Still, Orban has used the war to bolster his image as a strong, secure leader. Government billboards plastered on the streets, in subways and along highways show a pensive Orban with the message, Let Us Preserve the Peace and Security of Hungary! He has sought to find an uneasy balance between Putin and Western leaders, accepting European Union sanctions on Russia but forbidding the transport of weapons to Ukraine via Hungary and publicly clashing with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He has also repeatedly accused the opposition of wanting to send Hungarian soldiers into war: The left has lost its sense of reality and would sleepwalk its way into a cruel, protracted and bloody war, Orban said in a speech on Hungarys national holiday earlier this month. We shall not permit this  we will not allow the left to drag Hungary into this war.

Opposition leaders, meanwhile, have sought to highlight Orbans long-standing ties to Moscow and his increasingly isolated position within the EU and among fellow NATO members. They say the election offers a stark choice between Orban, who stands with Putin, and them, with a focus on strengthening ties with the EU and the West. They also say it demonstrates the high stakes of defending democracy in Europe.

This is maybe the ideal moment to reflect on the general direction for the country Which way are we going in the future? Katalin Cseh, a member of the European Parliament for the Momentum party, said in a recent interview in her partys campaign offices. This is a very clear choice, and I really hope that the Hungarian voters will realize that the strategy of appeasing autocrats and war criminals does not fit anywhere.

But with war on Hungarys doorstep and thousands more refugees arriving every day, it also means the campaign feels far more muted than the all-encompassing battle over the future of Hungarian democracy most had anticipated. Marta Pardavi, who heads the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, said she and her team had prepared for what they expected to be an intense focus on the election on top of their other work as one of Hungarys key civil society organizations. But when the war broke out, they immediately got to work helping the many refugees coming to Hungary. Peoples attention really shifted away from the election campaign, she said. I feel this in myself: When I wake up, I check the news  not about whats going on with the Hungarian elections and who said what, but rather what happened in Ukraine.



In the final days of the campaign, no one seemed to have a clear handle on what the outcome would be on April 3. Many in the opposition were skeptical they would be able to pull off a victory, though they didnt discount the possibility that the Hungarian electorate would come through and surprise them.

On a Saturday shortly before the election, Rita Bolla walked through the streets of Fehervarcsurgo, a small village about 40 miles west of Budapest, slipping thin black-and-white folded papers into each mailbox she passed. The papers are a free weekly newsletter called Nyomtass Te Is (You Should Print, Too!), founded nearly five years ago to combat the near-total domination of Orban-friendly media in Hungary in rural areas.

Bolla got involved with Nyomtass Te Is after spending Election Day 2018 as a poll worker in the countryside. After interacting with so many friendly voters, she was optimistic the opposition parties could make real gains  but when she counted the votes at the end of the day, nearly all the villagers had voted for Fidesz. I thought, whats happening with these people? We all live in the same country, she told me as we drove toward Fehervarcsurgo, stacks of newsletters nestled next to me in the back seat. The difference between her and them, she deduced, was in their lack of independent information.

Nyomtass Te Is isnt formally affiliated with the opposition, but in recent years theyve had similar aims: Their efforts are one small but potent way Hungarians are trying to push back against Orbans regime and his near-total domination of the media landscape here. Still, even with thousands of volunteers distributing newsletters in villages and towns across Hungary every week, their efforts can sometimes feel like a drop in the bucket compared with the sheer dominance of pro-government media.

Kornel Klopfstein-Laszlo, one of Nyomtass Te Iss co-founders, likened it to screaming in front of a thousand loudspeakers: Youre trying to deliver your message, youre hoping someone will hear you  but youre surrounded by speakers which are telling a whole different story, he told me.

That description sounded like the oppositions challenge overall: Marki-Zay getting a mere five minutes to present his platform on public television, and his campaign posters drowned in a sea of billboards featuring Orbans pensive face and election appeals. Even outside of party politics, organizations like Nyomtass Te Is  or Pardavis Hungarian Helsinki Committee, or 20k22, which has recruited nearly 28,000 volunteers to serve as election observers for the opposition, or the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, which offers voter trainings and a hotline to answer questions and report electoral abuses  are all part of the effort to ensure a fair election in which the opposition has a real shot. But against a leader like Orban, theres virtually no room for error  and even then, it still might not be enough.

Marki-Zay acknowledged the tough odds his movement faces, even as he said he was hopeful the voters would come through for him and his movement. Obviously, theres no level playing field for the two sides, he told me after his campaign speech. Its very difficult to win under such circumstances, when peoples hearts are poisoned.
(Reuters) -The head of Ukraine's state nuclear company urged the U.N. nuclear watchdog on Thursday to help ensure Russian nuclear officials do not interfere in the operation of nuclear power plants occupied by Russian forces.

Since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian troops have occupied Europe's largest nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia and the now defunct plant at Chernobyl, scene of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986.

Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin said earlier this month that Russia's state nuclear company Rosatom had sent officials to the Zaporizhzhia plant to try to take control of it. Rosatom said a "limited number" of its officials were there but denied they had taken operational control.

Calling on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to prevent what Ukraine regards as interference by Russian nuclear officials, Kotin said: "(The IAEA) can influence this and they must influence this, and this question will be discussed."

Kotin was speaking following a meeting in Ukraine on Wednesday with visiting IAEA chief Rafael Grossi.

The IAEA has agreed to establish online monitoring missions to Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia, Kostin said.

Grossi arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday to start providing assistance, including experts and equipment aimed at keeping nuclear facilities there safe.

Since Russia's invasion, Grossi has called on both countries to urgently agree a framework to ensure nuclear facilities are safe and secure.

Ukraine has repeatedly expressed safety concerns about Chernobyl and demanded Russian forces occupying the plant pull out of the area.

The Russian military said after capturing the plant that radiation was within normal levels and their actions prevented possible "nuclear provocations" by Ukrainian nationalists. Russia has denied that its forces have put nuclear facilities inside Ukraine at risk.

(Reporting by Natalia Zinets, writing by Max Hunder, editing by Timothy Heritage)
JERUSALEM (AP)  Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, setting off a gunbattle in which two Palestinians were killed and 15 were wounded, as Israel targeted what it said were militant networks after a series of deadly attacks.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian stabbed a 28-year-old Israeli man on a bus in the West Bank before being killed by a bystander, the military said. The Magen David Adom emergency service said the stabbing victim was treated and taken to a hospital.

Videos circulated online showing smoke rising from the center of the Jenin refugee camp as gunfire echoed in the background. Others appeared to show Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen moving through the narrow streets.

The raid came two days after a Palestinian from a village near Jenin shot and killed five people in central Israel, part of a wave of attacks in recent days that have left a total of 11 people dead.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 17-year-old Sanad Abu Atiyeh and 23-year-old Yazid al-Saadi were killed on Thursday. It said 30-year-old Nidal Jaafara was shot and killed near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, apparently referring to the stabbing incident.

The Israeli military said troops came under fire after entering Jenin to arrest three suspects linked to Tuesday's attack. It said one soldier was wounded and evacuated to a hospital for treatment. The army said it has arrested a total of 31 suspects in recent West Bank raids aimed at preventing more attacks.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office later Thursday announced it was spending about $56 million in emergency funding for more police officers and equipment.

A strong police equals a strong Israel," Bennett said in a statement. "We are operating all means and on all fronts to restore security and a feeling of safety to the people of Israel.

The Jenin refugee camp was the scene of one of the deadliest battles of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising. In April 2002, Israeli forces fought Palestinian militants in the camp for nearly three weeks. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers and at least 52 Palestinians, including civilians, were killed, according to the U.N.

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The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and coordinates with Israel on security matters, appears to have had little control over Jenin in recent years. Israeli forces operating in and around the city and refugee camp often come under fire.

The Islamic Jihad militant group announced a general mobilization of its fighters after Thursday's raid.

In Tuesdays attack, a 27-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank village of Yabad, near Jenin, methodically gunned down victims, killing five. On Sunday night, two Islamic State group sympathizers shot and killed two police officers in the central city of Hadera. Last week, a combined car-ramming and stabbing attack in the southern city of Beersheba  also by an IS-inspired attacker  killed four. The two attacks claimed by IS were carried out by Arab citizens of Israel.

President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday to express his condolences, saying the U.S. stands firmly and resolutely with Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats, according to the White House.

The recent wave of violence has brought the conflict with the Palestinians back to the fore at a time when Israel is focused on building alliances with Arab states against Iran. There have been no serious Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in more than a decade, and Bennett is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leaders have held a flurry of meetings in recent weeks, and Israel has announced a series of goodwill gestures, in an effort to maintain calm ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend.

They hope to avoid a repeat of last year, when clashes in Jerusalem set off an 11-day Gaza war. After a Security Cabinet meeting late Wednesday, Israel decided to carry on with plans to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally. In the West Bank, it is steadily building and expanding Jewish settlements, which most of the internationally community views as illegal.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the Palestinian militant group Hamas seized power there two years later. Since then, Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade on the territory, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.

___

Associated Press reporters Areej Hazboun and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) -Israeli forces killed at least two Palestinians on Thursday, the Palestinian health ministry said, in clashes that erupted during a raid in the occupied West Bank that followed deadly Arab attacks in Israel.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian stabbed a passenger on an Israeli bus near a Jewish settlement in the West Bank and was shot dead by another passenger, the Israeli military said.

The national ambulance service said the man who was stabbed had suffered moderate wounds.

Earlier, the Israeli military said its forces and border police entered the refugee camp in the city of Jenin to "apprehend terrorist suspects".

"During the operation, terrorists opened fire at our forces. Israeli troops returned fire that struck the gunmen. An Israeli soldier was slightly wounded," the military said in a statement.

The Palestinian health ministry said two Palestinians, aged 17 and 23, were killed in the clashes.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement that "continued raids and daily killings of our people and the daily crimes by settlers will lead the region towards more tension and escalation".

On Tuesday, a Palestinian gunman from the Jenin area shot dead five people in the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak before he was killed by police. The shooting, condemned on Tuesday by Abbas, raised to 11 the number of people killed by Arab attackers in Israel over the past week to 11.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett spoke late on Wednesday with U.S. President Joe Biden. The U.S. Embassy said Biden had expressed "his deepest condolences following the horrific terrorist attacks".

Bennett has announced a series of measures to deal with what he has described as a new wave of attacks, saying more police would be put on city streets and security would be tightened in areas bordering the West Bank.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah and Nidal al-Mughrabi in Gaza, Writing by Jeffrey HellerEditing by Gareth Jones and Raissa Kasolowsky)
By Crispian Balmer and Angelo Amante

ROME (Reuters) - Italy will only hit the NATO goal of spending 2% of GDP on defence in 2028, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Thursday, confirming it will miss an original target of 2024 after opposition from within his ruling coalition.

The government currently earmarks around 1.4% of economic output for military spending and would have had to increase its defence budget by 12 billion euros ($13.4 billion) over the next two years to reach a goal established by members of the Atlantic alliance in 2014.

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, no one had expected Italy to meet the 2024 timeline, but the conflict has piled pressure on NATO states to beef up their armed forces.

Draghi has said Italy would honour its international commitments, but the ruling 5-Star Movement had threatened to torpedo any spending splurge, saying the money would be better used to alleviate poverty.

Stepping back from a potential political bust-up, Draghi told foreign correspondents that the 2024 deadline should be seen as "an indication, not as an objective", adding that 2028 was a more achievable target.

"This is a goal which we must aim for with continuity and realism," he said.

The 5-Star said this week that spending should be increased gradually over the next eight years, and signalled that 2028 was an acceptable compromise.

"Today we can finally all agree, thanks to 5-Star, that this objective is a trend and must be spread out well beyond 2024," the party said in a statement.

Of the other heavyweights within the multi-party coalition, the centre-left Democratic Party also favoured a 2028 target date while the far-right League expressed no preference in public.

Italy was sixth from bottom in the 29-nation NATO in terms of defence spending by GDP in 2021, NATO has said. Some 60.5% of the budget went on salaries, the second highest ratio within the alliance, leaving proportionally less cash for military procurement, training, maintenance and infrastructure.

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The dispute over military spending comes as parties jostle for position ahead of elections set for next year.

The 5-Star, led by former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte but struggling in the polls, has pacifist roots and is looking to tap into strong opposition within Italy to boosting arms purchases.

An EMG opinion poll released on Tuesday showed 54% of Italians were against hiking the defence budget to 2% of GDP, while just 23% were in favour.

Draghi told reporters that the ideal would be for European Union nations to pool military spending. "If we are serious about European defence we must immediately coordinate action and understand who spends how much and for what," he said.

($1 = 0.8974 euros)

(editing by John Stonestreet)
Joe Rogan has said he would rather quit podcasting altogether than censor himself amid a push to control content being released on streaming platforms.

Neil Youngs boycott of Spotify, who is the sole distributor of Rogans The Joe Rogan Experience, triggered a larger conversation about the audio streaming companys responsibility to manage misinformation on its platform.

On 31 December 2021, over 250 doctors and scientists had, in an open letter to Spotify, pointed out that Rogans podcast has a concerning history of broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.

Consequently, Young issued an ultimatum to Spotify telling the Swedish company to delete all his music over its lucrative $100m (73.8m) exclusivity contract for Rogans content.

Youngs music has not been available on Spotify since the audio streamer refused to terminate its association with Rogan, with other musicians, including Joni Mitchell, joining Young in his demand for safety standards in streaming.

Speaking withTuesday nights (29 March) guest on The Joe Rogan Experience, mixed martial artist Josh Barnett, Rogan touched upon the backlash against his podcast over misinformation about Covid-19.

As well as featuring controversial guests who have propagated unscientific claims about the disease, such as virologist Dr Robert Malone, Rogan has promoted the antiparasitic drug Ivermectin as a cure for Covid.

Ivermectin, a veterinary drug, is used to treat human afflictions such as parasitic worms, head lice and rosacea, according to the US Food and Drug Association (FDA).

A study of hundreds of Covid-19 patients has found that ivermectin, often touted by vaccine skeptics as an alternative treatment for the disease, does not in fact provide infection against hospitalisation among those infected.

Singer Neil Young has boycotted Spotify over its association with Rogan (Joe Rogan/Youtube)

After Barnett said it didnt appear as though Rogan had let criticism against rampant misinformation deter him, the controversial podcast host responded: If I become something different because [the podcast] grew bigger, Ill quit,

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He added: If it gets to the point where I cant do it anymore, where I have to do it in some sort of weird way where I walk on eggshells and mind my ps and qs  f*** that.

At least 11m people listen to each episode of The JRE, while Rogan claimed in 2019 his show received 190 million downloads a month.

The average age of Rogans listeners is 24  individuals who erroneously believe they are impervious to the detrimental and potentially long-term consequences of this disease, psychiatry research fellow at Harvard Medical School Eden Maness told The Independent.
A pair of bills that seek to reform the Maryland juvenile justice system cleared the House of Delegates on Thursday, marking their approval by state lawmakers and sending them to the governors desk.

Supporters of the two pieces of legislation call them a way of protecting children and recognizing that they should be treated differently than adults when facing criminal accusations.

Both bills will go to Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, who has not signaled whether he intends to sign or veto the bills. A spokesman for his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Senate Bill 691, the so-called omnibus bill, would establish new sentencing rules for youth, including a ban on incarceration for minor offenses. It would also set a minimum age for criminal charges, expand access to diversion initiatives and create time limits for probation terms.

That legislation is the result of years of research and discussion, and advocates hope it will help the Department of Juvenile Services focus more resources on the most at-risk children. Opponents argue it goes too far in allowing children to avoid charges or detention even for some serious crimes.

The other bill, Senate Bill 53, would add requirements prior to a police interrogation of a child: An officer would have to tell a parent or guardian beforehand and wouldnt be allowed to do an interrogation until the child consulted with an attorney.

Critics of the legislation, including some prosecutors, say the mandate for counsel consultation could create a roadblock for investigations. But supporters argue its a way of ensuring due process for children and making sure they understand their rights.
Mar. 30A 66-year-old man was shot Wednesday morning by a Brecknock Township police officer responding to a mental health call, according to Berks County detectives.

The district attorney's office issued a statement with the following information from county detectives:

Police and emergency crews rushed to the first block of Butlers Lane in Brecknock in response to reports that a 66-year-old man was having a mental health crisis.

The 9-1-1 call was placed shortly after 7:45 a.m., and emergency medical crews and police arrived within a few minutes to find a man holding a large knife.

The man was ordered to drop the knife, but he ignored the commands and advanced toward the officer.

The officer then deployed a Taser, which was ineffective, and issued additional commands to drop the knife.

Subsequently, the officer fired one shot, striking the man in the torso. Emergency medical reports specified a chest wound.

First aid and lifesaving measures were immediately administered by ambulance personnel, and the man was transported to a hospital, where he is in stable condition, detectives said.

Detectives noted that no officers were injured. They stressed that the incident was isolated and there is no further threat to the community.

An investigation is ongoing.

If anyone has any information, they are urged to contact Berks County detectives at 610-478-7171.

Emergency reports indicated that at least five minutes elapsed from the time crews arrived until the shooting as personnel attempted to speak with the man.

Further details were unavailable.
Russia on Thursday rejected claims by U.S. intelligence that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misled about Russias military failures in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters at a press briefing on Thursday that It turns out that neither the State Department nor the Pentagon have real information about what is happening in the Kremlin, The New York Times reported.

They do not understand President Putin, they do not understand the decision-making mechanism and they do not understand the efforts of our work, Russian newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta quoted Peskov as saying.

He added that the Kremlin was concerned about this complete misunderstanding.

Peskovs response comes a day after White House communications director Kate Bedingfield detailed the declassified intelligence, saying, We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership.

We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth, she added.

A U.S. official told The Hill that there is persistent tension between Putin and the Russian Ministry of Defense stemming from Putins mistrust of its leadership.

The Times also noted that this comes weeks after Peskov said that Russian defense officials had disobeyed Putins instructions not to send conscripts into battle in Ukraine

The Russian government published a decree signed by Putin on Monday that stated 134,650 Russians who are not already in the military or reserves will be drafted, as its invasion of Ukraine has not been the success the Kremlin had hoped for.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Mar. 30Promoters are optimistic that a tattoo show set for this week will become an annual event.

Kulture Kings First Annual Hustlers Ball Tattoo Convention is set Friday, Saturday and Sunday, April 1-3, at the Southeast Expo Center in McAlester.

Nolan Menefee said he and Doug Crane are bringing the event to the Expo Center. It's an opportunity for those attending the convention to perhaps get a tattoo, or to watch other people getting theirs.

"We've invited tattoo artists from all over," Menefee said. "They will be tattooing live in their booths."

Nearly 40 tattoo artists have already confirmed they plan to participate. "As of right now, we have 37," said Menefee at midweek. Worldwide Ink magazine will also have its pro-sponsored team at the convention, he said.

Some artists are already booked up to administer tattoos during the event, but Menefee said those attending are free to approach any of the tattoo artists at the convention and see if they have a booking available.

He said prices for tattoos vary, with some tattoo artists charging by how much work it takes and others by the type of tattoo selected. Size of a tattoo and whether color is involved are also factors.

"Just come to the event," Menefee suggested.

Expo Center Manager Krystal Bess expressed optimism about the Hustlers Ball Tattoo Convention returning to McAlester in the future. It is expected to draw not only local attendees, but also those from out-of-town.

"We're really excited to have the first annual event, to bring so much to the community and our restaurants and hotels," Bess said. "We want everyone to see what a great community we have."

Admission to the convention is $15, with children under 12 admitted free. Menefee said it will be "kid-friendly."

As an alternative to the $15 general admission fee, VIP packages are available for $50, which includes a T-shirt and catered meal at a Saturday night after-party event.

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While many tattoos are expected to be administered in public, arrangements can be made for those who are seeking a tattoo in an area they plan to keep more discreet.

"If it's a private area, we have drapes," said Meneffee.

Doors at the Expo Center are to open at 10 a.m. on all three days of the convention. Friday's schedule is 10 a.m. until 10 p.m. Saturday's regular schedule is also from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m, but the after-party is set to continue until 2 a.m., Menefee said. Sunday's schedule is from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Those attending the tattoo convention will also have an opportunity to enter a tattoo competition, which requires a $10 entry fee. Prizes will be awarded to the winners, Menefee said. Tattoos administered at the site as well as those already obtained elsewhere will be available for entry, he said,

Contest categories will change each day.

On Friday, categories include Job Stopper, Best Lettering, Color Infused B&G, or black and grey, and Best Geo, or geometric tattoo.

Saturday contest categories are B&G, S M, L; Color S, M, L; Best Portrait and Best Floral.

Contest categories Sunday include Best Arm, Best Leg, Best Back, Best Chest and Best Cover-Up  a reference to a previous, but no longer wanted tattoo that is covered by a new one, either by incorporating it into a new tattoo or rendering it no longer visible because of the newer one.

Winners will receive a trophy or a plaque. "The Best of Show will win a photo shoot and an article in Worldwide Ink magazine," Menefee said,

Menefee said he and Crane got involved in promoting the tattoo convention because they wanted to do something local. He said they both recently served as judges at a tattoo event in Oklahoma City.

Bess is hopeful the Kulture Kings First Annual Hustlers Ball Tattoo Convention will be a hit among visitors and locals alike.

"We hope our community will welcome them for years to come," said Bess.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.
By Andrius Sytas

VILNIUS (Reuters) - Latvia's parliament on Thursday voted to ban public displays of the letter "Z," saying it was a symbol that was used to glorify the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russian military vehicles in Ukraine are prominently marked with the letter, and it has started appearing on social media and on clothing elsewhere in support of the war.

Latvia's parliament said the display of the letter with intent to justify military aggression and war crimes would be punished under the new rules with fines of up to 350 euros ($388) for individuals and up to 2,900 euros ($3,214) for companies.

Once it becomes law, the new legislation will also apply to the letter "V," also used by the Russian defence ministry in connection with the war.

"Condemning Russia's hostilities in Ukraine, we must take a firm stand that symbols glorifying Russian military aggression, such as the letters 'Z', 'V' or other symbols used for this purpose, have no place in public events," said the chair of parliamentary Human Rights committee Artuss Kaimins.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his troops into Ukraine on what he calls a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" Ukraine. Ukraine and the West say Putin launched an unprovoked war of aggression.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday called for a universal ban of the political use of the letter "Z," saying it signified "Russian war crimes, bombed out cities, thousands of murdered Ukrainians."

The Russian defence ministry has posted on social media that "Z" stands for a phrase meaning "for victory" and "V" for the phrases "truth is strength" or "task will be completed".

Neither letter exists in the Russian alphabet.

In a move designed to affect the annual marches in Latvian capitol Riga on May 9, when Russia celebrates victory in World War Two, the Latvian parliament also voted on Thursday to ban public events within 200 meters of Soviet war memorials.

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Tens of thousands flock each year to a 79-meter (259-foot) high Soviet-built obelisk in the capital Riga for events attended by Russia's ambassador but shunned by Latvia's top leadership. Around a quarter of Latvia's population is ethnically Russian.

Latvia, together with neighbours Estonia and Lithuania, maintains Russia used the victory over Nazi Germany to forcefully incorporate the region into Soviet Union.

"May 9 is a festivity in the aggressor country Russia. This is not a Latvian festivity. Marking it means supporting international crime", President Eglis Levits tweeted last week.

($1 = 0.9024 euros)

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
State lawmakers will head back to Richmond on Monday to finish outstanding matters from the recent legislative session  most notably the state budget.

Del. Barry Knight, a member of the budget conference committee, told The Virginian-Pilot he expects a lengthy process.

We are in no big rush, said the Virginia Beach Republican. We would rather get it right than rush it along.

Despite unresolved issues, the legislative session ended March 12. Gov. Glenn Younkin announced last week that the General Assembly would convene for a special session April 4 to hash out remaining differences.

The House and Senates proposed budgets were nearly $3 billion apart at the end of the session  primarily due to differences over tax relief, with the GOP-controlled House favoring more extensive cuts.

Knight said the House and Senate are still a little bit at odds over tax cuts. But he pointed out that the General Assembly once took until mid-June to reach a budget agreement.

We were able to make that work, so we just need it before July 1, he said. (But) it would be helpful to have earlier than that because some of the localities are putting their budgets together and they want to know what kind of resources they are getting from the state.

Del. Marcia Cia Price, D-Newport News, said it should be expected that some extra time would be needed to work out differences.

This is the process; it doesnt start getting dangerous until we start getting closer to the summer, she said. We will let the process work, and I am super hopeful that we will have an even better document before us when it comes time to vote.

Price added that shes preparing for the session by speaking with budget conferees and studying the analysis and comparisons from the Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis.

This week, the governor said he had faith a compromise will be reached.

I am confident that next week theyre going to do the work, the governor said Wednesday, according to his press secretary ... We have senior leadership on both sides of the Senate and the House (working on this) and Im confident based on their experience, that theyre going to bring me a budget.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com, 757-835-1487
The state of North Carolina is looking to fill positions in a variety of departments  and some jobs pay much more than what the average resident earns.

Most state employees are eligible for benefits, which include health insurance, paid parental leave, wellness and retirement.

Here are some of the highest-paying state jobs in the Charlotte area. The top salary levels for these positions are at least twice the average individual income in North Carolina ($31,993), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

IT Support Specialist | Permanent full-time

Location: Mecklenburg County

Department: Administrative Office of the Courts

Salary: $63,392 to $104,719 annually

The IT support specialist provides support for production information technology for judicial staff in Mecklenburg County. A bachelors degree in computer science and one year of IT experience is required.

The filing deadline is April 7.

Assistant Regional Engineer I | Permanent full-time

Location: Iredell County

Department: Environmental Quality

Salary: $48,051 to $86,431 annually

The assistant regional engineer performs reviews of erosion and sediment control applications, and conducts inspections of Department of Energy, Mineral & Land Resources sites. A bachelors degree in engineering is required.

The filing deadline is April 7.

Assistant District Attorney | Permanent full-time

Location: Lincoln County

Department: District Attorney

Salary: $49,000 to $84,658 annually

The assistant district attorneys role is to prosecute criminal cases. Duties include screening incoming cases to identify the strengths and weaknesses of case facts and preparing cases for trial. A J.D. from an accredited law school is required.

The filing deadline is April 5.

The state also is seeking an assistant district attorney for Iredell County. The filing deadline is April 4.

Licensed Mental Health Professional | Permanent full-time

Location: Cabarrus County

Department: Public Safety

Salary: $46,203 to $78,218 annually

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The primary purpose of this position is to provide mental health services for juveniles assigned to a youth development center. A masters degree in clinical social work, marriage and family therapy, clinical counseling or another human services related field is required.

The filing deadline is April 24.

Elevator Inspector | Permanent full-time

Location: Mecklenburg County

Department: Labor

Salary: $46,203 to $78,218 annually

Elevator inspector inspects a variety of passenger-carrying devices to determine safe operating conditions and detect potential hazards or mechanical failures. A high school diploma or GED and five years of experience are required. Candidates who have never worked for the state may be eligible for a $3,000 sign-on bonus.

The filing deadline is April 6.

Job seekers can explore all the state openings at governmentjobs.com/careers.

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Enrique Cuvillier, right, is escorted out of the 364th District Court in Lubbock during a break in his trial. He was sentenced to 70 years in prison for killing Evelyn Denise Rarden in 2015.

A Lubbock judge told a 36-year-old man he deserved the 70-year prison sentence he handed down for his "awful" actions when he strangled his girlfriend to death in 2015.

Judge William Eichman told Enrique Cuvillier on Wednesday that while he acknowledged that he took responsibility for his actions, he couldn't get past his statements to investigators about how he killed Evelyn Denise Rarden on Dec. 29, 2015 in their trailer home in Shallowater.

"That's just awful behavior -- there's just no way else to put it," Eichman told Cuvillier. "And you ruined a lot of lives."

Cuvillier, who has been held at the Lubbock County Detention Center since his Dec. 30, 2015 arrest, pleaded guilty on March 30 to a count of murder in the 364th District Court.

Previously: Suspect in girlfriend's 2015 strangling death pleads guilty to murder

However, his plea was not part of a deal with the Lubbock County District Attorney's Office. Instead, he entered what is referred to as an open plea and left the court to decide his punishment.

The sentence Eichman handed down came after a punishment bench trial that began Monday.

Prosecutors asked the court to send Cuvillier to prison for life, saying the gravity of his actions amount to the maximum punishment.

Defense attorney Rusty Gunter argued to the court that a sentence in the 30-40 year range satisfies justice and acknowledges his client's acceptance of responsibility and the efforts he's taken while in jail to improve his life and understand what compelled his actions that night and not repeat them.

'Something didn't seem right'

Cuvillier's charge stems from a Lubbock County Sheriff's Office investigation that came after Rarden's daughter found her dead in her trailer home close to midnight on Dec. 29, 2015 in the 7300 block of County Road 6100.

A responding deputy told the court he found no evidence of foul play at the scene where he learned that before Rarden died, she was in the middle of cooking dinner at the home she shared with her daughter, son-in-law and his brother Cuvillier.

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"(The home) wasn't in disarray," he said.

The deputy told the court that there were a few things that didn't add up, such as the food still cooking when Rarden died, her body being found on the floor of the bedroom instead of the bed and her glasses being placed on a pair of sneakers.

"Something didn't seem right," he said.

No strangling injuries could be seen on Rarden's neck, which was common in about 50 percent of strangling cases, a deputy medical examiner with the Tarrant County Medical Examiners office told the court.

Meanwhile, the deputy said Cuvillier arrived at the home asking about what happened. He said Cuvillier said he had an argument with Rarden, saying he suspected her of cheating on him but said he didn't harm her.

The deputy said Cuvillier appeared to be under the influence of drugs and was moving around a lot.

"He seemed angry," he said.

What he didn't know was that shortly before the 911 call after Rarden was found, Audra Barboza told the court that Cuvillier entered the bedroom she shared with her husband, saying he believed he'd just killed Rarden.

She said she rushed to her mother's room and started chest compressions on her. Her frantic call to 911 was played to the court.

Barboza told the court, Cuvillier left the trailer before deputies arrived and returned as her mother's body was being taken away. She said Cuvillier acted like he didn't know what happened.

She said she didn't immediately tell deputies that Cuvillier admitted to killing her mother, saying she was afraid that her husband, Cuvillier's brother, was on parole and didn't want him to get in trouble.

"I was in shock," she said. "I didnt know what to do I was just trying to save my mom."

However, the deputy learned that Rarden was heard arguing with her boyfriend, later identified as Cuvillier, earlier that evening.

Barboza told the court that the argument wasn't actually the first time Cuvillier tried strangling her mother that day.

She said she and her husband were in their room when they heard noise from the living room. She said they came out to see Cuvillier strangling her mother on the couch.

Barboza said her husband pried Cuviller off her mother.

Abundio Barboza told the court that his brother appeared to be under the influence of methamphetamine, his brother's drug of choice, and said he believed Rarden was part of a plot to ruin their family.

He said his brother has struggled with addiction most of his life and becomes paranoid while on drugs, often talking about people trying to kill him.

Audra Barboza described Cuvillier, who often used drugs, as a physically abusive boyfriend, saying her mother would tell her that he would hit her during their seven- to eight-month-long relationship.

She said as her mother's body was being loaded in an ambulance, her husband spoke to Cuviller and convinced him to surrender to law enforcement and admit to killing her mother.

About 4 a.m. the next day, deputies were dispatched to a white pickup truck parked in front of the Sheriff's Office. In the vehicle, deputies found Audra and Abundio Barboza and Cuvillier, who the report states was on drugs and needed medical attention.

While waiting for medics, Cuvillier admitted to killing Rarden and was immediately arrested.

Investigators met with Cuvillier after he was free of the effects of the drugs and admitted again to killing Rarden by strangling her because he was upset with her for cheating on him.

Cuvillier's interview with investigators was played to the court.

During the interview, Cuvillier told investigators that he strangled Rarden in the kitchen sideways so he didn't have to look at her. He expressed frustration, saying he had to strangle Rarden multiple times because she "kept trying to come back to life."

After strangling Rarden, Cuvillier said he picked her up like a suitcase and carried her to the bedroom where he dropped her on the floor.

The court also heard evidence that about five months before her death, Rarden called 911 complaining that Cuvillier was calling her with threats on her life.

A deputy who met with Rarden told the court that Cuvillier called Rarden in his presence and began threatening to kill and dismember her. He said he heard Cuvillier tell Rarden that law enforcement wouldn't protect her and he would take as many officers with him as he could.

"He was referencing taking her life and taking her to the after-life party" the deputy said.

However, the deputy said no charges were filed against Cuvillier for the threats. He said an investigators report indicated that Rarden did not want to cooperate with the investigation.

Meanwhile, Cuvillier was arrested that day on an unrelated case in Abernathy that involved him breaking into his family's home.

A deputy at the Lubbock County Detention Center told the court about an incident in 2016, while in jail on the murder charge, Cuvillier was taken to the hospital after he ingested methamphetamine.

The deputy said Cuvillier refused to say where he got the drugs.

Gunter told the court in his closing arguments that the evidence showed that his client's actions that night were fueled by the drug-induced paranoia. Saying absent the drugs, he wouldn't have killed Rarden.

He said his client has gone through the Step Up program three times and is going through the program a fourth time. He said his client is trying to become a person "who doesn't do what he did that night.

However, prosecutors Barron Slack argued that Cuvillier's actions the day he killed Rarden were unacceptable. He said that in this situation, Cuvillier's actions to better himself after killing Rarden was irrelevant.

"It doesn't matter what you do after that," he said.

Eichman told Cuvillier that while he believed he struggled with drug addiction and said he was not handing down a life sentence because he accepted responsibility for his actions.

However, the evidence showed that his actions were premeditated.

"I just can't get by that kind of stuff," Eichman told Cuvillier.

Slack said after the hearing that the sentence Eichman handed down was effectively a life sentence.

"(It is) well into the numbers that are unsurvivable which we believe is just considering the loss of life," he said.

Rarden's family spoke to Cuvillier after the sentence telling them that his actions shattered their family.

Audra Barboza described her mother as fun person who would do anything for anyone. She said she was pregnant when Cuvillier killed her mother, robbing her the opportunity to meet her granddaughter.

"She was the sweetest lady ever. she was my best friend She didnt deserve what he did to her.

Bethany Blandenburg said she was Rarden's first child but was given up for adoption when she was an infant. She spent years asking about her biological mother and met Rarden two years ago.

"I had two years with my sweet mama and you took her from me," she told Cuvillier. "She was the best person on this planet and she loved with all her heart... All I want to do is hear my mom's voice again and give her a hug and that's never going to happen."

Crystal Herrera, Rarden's niece said she grew up around her aunt who supported her through nursing school.

She said appreciated the efforts he's taken to be sober and hoped that he maintains his his sobriety.

"I want you to be clean every minute you spend in prison," she said. "So you can think of her and think of us and what you've taken away from my family.

Betty Torres said her family has waited six years for justice saying the loss of her sister has been unbearable.

"She was a human being and she did not deserve to lose her life in this way," she said.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Man sentenced to 70 years for killing girlfriend
A man in his 30s was walking outside the Dane County Jail in downtown Madison late Wednesday afternoon when he was shot multiple times and later died, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes said during a press briefing.

It was Madison's first homicide of 2022.

"It is very brazen," Barnes said. "It's something that's very concerning to me and it should be concerning to everyone that someone would do this in daytime in between the sheriff's department and the police department."

Nearby officers "gave immediate aid" to the victim, who was transported to a hospital, where he died.

The police department has two people of interest who are being interviewed by detectives, Barnes said. A motive has not yet been determined.

"We're still actively working to determine if this was a targeted incident," Barnes said.

City employees were notified of the incident and patrol in the area has been increased, he said.

The victim's name will be released later by the Dane County Medical Examiner.

"Our thoughts and my prayers go out to the victim and his family members as well," Barnes said. "Their life was forever changed today by an act of gun violence."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Madison Area Crime Stoppers at 608-266-6014.

Contact Hannah Kirby at hannah.kirby@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @HannahHopeKirby.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Man dies after being shot outside Madison's Dane County Jail
MILAN  Matteo Marzotto believes beauty will save the world.

In his efforts to protect a number of Italian manufacturers that help create apparel and accessories for leading global luxury brands, the entrepreneur is investing in a new project, a holding company called Minerva Hub.

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The group was presented on Thursday by Marzotto and his partners  Franco Prestigiacomo, chief executive officer and founding partner of Xenon Private Equity, and Gianfranco Piras, president of XPP Seven.

Minerva Hub stems from the fusion of XPP Seven and Ambria Holding, which Marzotto formed last year, as reported, taking majority stakes in Italian companies Zeta Catene and Galvanica Formelli, both located in the Arezzo, Tuscany area. Zeta Catene produces more than 2,000 types of chains of different shapes, sizes and materials, such as brass and silver, as accessories for bags and shoes. Galvanica Formelli offers metal details, components and galvanic treatments for fashion accessories.

XPP Seven was founded in 2019, and grew to comprise Koverlux (based outside Bergamo); Quake (near Vicenza); Sp Plast Creating (Fermo), and Zuma Pelli Pregiate (Pisa). Koverlux is a leader in surface finishing for the fashion and accessories business, touted by Marzotto as the only company able to apply multiple finishes, from lacquering to flocking or engraving, to a single object. Quake is a specialist in automatic embroideries; SP Plast deals with the transformation of plastic materials, mold design and construction and product engineering, and Zuma is a tannery specialized in precious hides.

Xenon, which Marzotto praised for having an industrial vision, was the catalyst, he said, and will have a majority stake in the holding, headquartered in Milan.

This is the first time a brand is set up to offer its service to the best Italian know how and creativity, in an effort to avoid the dispersion of the skills built over generations that, on the contrary, we want to enhance and consolidate for the future, contended Marzotto proudly.

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Aggregating the activities of the above mentioned six companies, Minerva Hub has sales of more than 101 million euros, a portfolio of around 1,000 clients and 434 direct employees.

The first goal is to coordinate, integrate and strengthen the activities of these companies to supply top quality products and excellent service, explained Marzotto.

This is a clear industrial project, to offer a platform that delivers strong artisanal and technological skills integrated with more efficient and flexible production processes, becoming an acceleration of an expansive and modern network of integrated companies.

The companies under the Minerva Hub umbrella mainly work with the fashion and luxury industries, but also with the design, sportswear, cosmetics, jewelry and automotive sectors.

Prestigiacomo said three potential additional acquisitions are in the pipeline to be completed by the end of the year. While he declined to provide a figure for the initial investment in forming Minerva Hub, he said it was almost equivalent to the holdings sales. He also underscored that Xenon, conversely to most private equity funds, operates within an extremely long time frame and exit strategy. We will continue to invest until we can grow the industrial project.

Italy has missed the opportunity to consolidate the luxury brands in fashion poles, but its know how has remained unparalleled and Italian artisans and manufacturers find the best solutions to the creative ideas of the brands designers. We are here to support the artisans with a more solid, structured and sophisticated organization, continued Prestigiacomo. He noted that the founders of the companies aggregated under the Minerva Hub umbrella all reinvested in the holding, becoming partners. They realized we could offer more prospects, more focus and more managerial skills.

Marzotto said investments will be made to support the artisans in ESG projects to become more sustainable, to trademark new products and to buy new machines, concretely responding to the current challenges in terms of innovation, production efficiency and competitiveness. Minerva Hub has also initiated a training project, he revealed. We are investing in the protection of the skills that need to be passed on to the new generations. We have started an academy within three of the six companies and we will extend the project to all of them. We need to give continuity and this will be done through the help of the artisans with the most experience and outside consultants.

Piras said a first meeting with Marzotto to propose a deal was held at the Hotel Minerva in Arezzo, hence the name of the holding, but also because Minerva was the goddess of handicrafts, the professions and the arts in ancient Rome. We reached out to see if there was an interest in joining forces to become problem solvers for the brands, he said. He touted the uniqueness of the holding, as he contended that other groups that have been formed to support the Italian pipeline did so by vertically integrating, while Minerva Hub cross-pollinates across the board, responding to requests from different sectors.

He said Minerva Hub will leverage the expertise of Marzotto, named president, as well as that of Marco Casone, who is taking on the role of chief executive officer. Marzotto and Casoni, a former Dondup and Marni executive, have worked together for years, first at Valentino and then at Vionnet. Marzotto is a former investor in Vionnet and Dondup and, before that, he was chairman of Valentino.

There has been brisk M&A activity in Italys supply chain, further triggered by the impact of COVID-19, and much of it meant to support the know-how and craftsmanship of the countrys fashion pipeline.

Earlier this month Brunello Cucinelli bought a 43 percent stake of Cariaggi Lanificio SpA, its longtime cashmere supplier.

Last year, the Prada and Ermenegildo Zegna groups joined forces to acquire a majority stake in Filati Biagioli Modesto SpA, which specializes in the production of cashmere and other precious yarns, sharing the goal to ensure continuity of the excellence of the company and to develop their own Made in Italy production chain.

It is similar to the rationale behind Gruppo Florence, the luxury production pole established in 2020 by industry veteran Francesco Trapani through private equity fund VAM Investments together with Fondo Italiano dInvestimento and Italmobiliare. The goal is to supply high-quality Made in Italy products to major luxury fashion brands by acquiring family-owned Italian SMEs.
Hollis Johnson/Business Insider

McDonald's is bringing Szechuan sauce back to menus for a limited time.

Five workers told Insider how they're preparing for eager customers.

Customers showed a huge demand for the sauce last time it was available in 2017 and 2018.

McDonald's is bringing back its Szechuan sauce for a limited time on March 31, but not everyone is excited.

Five McDonald's workers in five states told Insider that they're anticipating a busy launch day with potentially demanding customers. They remain anonymous to protect their employment, but their identities are known to Insider.

The dipping sauce famously appeared in an episode of "Rick and Morty" and drew in crowds of fans last time it was available in 2017 and 2018, leading to long lines, crowds, and angry customers who weren't able to try it thanks to a limited supply.

This time around, workers aim to be ready.

"I hope to be prepared for these die hard 'Rick and Morty' fans," a cashier in North Carolina told Insider. He learned from the popularity of the BTS meal that fans rush in for the offerings "like the sauce heals the sick," he told Insider.

Another McDonald's worker in Florida said that he expects launch day to be busy, but less extreme than previous releases.

"I expect some bad apples and 'Rick and Morty' zealots," he told Insider. He expects the sauce's launch to bring heavier Friday traffic on a Thursday, but he believes his crew can handle it.

Workers in Pennsylvania and Virginia each told Insider that their stores were receiving just a few boxes of the sauce, which they worried might not last.

"They could be gone in a single shift," the Pennsylvania worker said.

In some locations, employees take the sauce very seriously.

"The Szechuan sauce packets are locked in a closet that only I and my general manager can access," one California shift manager told Insider. The North Carolina worker says he and his coworkers plan to keep close tabs on remaining stocks of Szechuan sauce, and remain strict about the order limits imposed by McDonald's.

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McDonald's says it limited the number of sauce packets each customer can buy and provided additional training to workers ahead of the launch.

The Szechuan sauce will be available exclusively through the McDonald's app, where customers can purchase up to five a la carte containers, the chain said in a statement. The sauce is the latest example of McDonald's pandemic-era strategy to draw customers in with limited-time promotions that don't add complexity to the supply chain or workers' jobs.

Do you have a story to share about a retail or restaurant chain? Email this reporter at mmeisenzahl@businessinsider.com.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell at a press conference on Capitol Hill on March 22, 2022. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

McConnell said the GOP could "screw this up" in the 2022 midterms if they don't have "electable nominees."

"How you feel about former President Trump is irrelevant," the Senate Minority Leader said.

McConnell and Trump haven't spoken since December 2020, and Trump has made several questionable endorsements.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Thursday that potential GOP Senate candidates' views about former President Donald Trump are "irrelevant" to him, the latest indication that the top Republican does not view Trump as essential for the party to win this year's upcoming midterm elections.

Speaking at an event with Punchbowl News on Thursday morning, McConnell said he feels confident about the political prospects for Republicans, given President Joe Biden's relatively low approval ratings.

"How do you screw this up?" McConnell asked rhetorically. "I'm gonna mention four names, some of which you may actually remember: Christine O'Donnell, Sharron Angle, Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock."

McConnell was referring to four Republicans who lost their Senate races in recent decades and sparked controversies during their campaigns.

"What's the point I'm making? You have to have electable nominees," said McConnell, adding that he's "optimistic" that the Republican Party will have a "fully electable nominee" in each competitive state this year.

O'Donnell had run three times for a Senate seat in Delaware. In her last run in 2010, she had just pulled off a primary upset, was riding the Tea Party wave, and sitting on a large sum of campaign cash. But ultimately her opponent, Chris Coons, handily defeated her by 17 percentage points. O'Donnell faced scrutiny over past statements she made about masturbation and dabbling in witchcraft. She ran a campaign ad in which she tried to cast herself as an ordinary person, but the attempt backfired.

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Also in 2010, Angle lost her Senate run in Nevada. During the campaign, she was criticized over her inflammatory comments about Muslims and was targeted over her alleged affiliations with Scientology, which Angle denied being a part of. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Harry Reid beat Angle by 6 percentage points.

Akin lost to his Democratic rival Sen. Claire McCaskill in Missouri in 2012 by 16 percentage points. His campaign largely tanked after he claimed, while discussing abortion, that victims of "legitimate rape" rarely become pregnant. Critics widely decried his comments as untrue and misogynistic.

Mourdock, for his part, lost his Indiana Senate run in 2012 to Joe Donnelly. Mourdock likewise gained attention over controversial remarks he made on abortion, claiming in a debate that "life" is a "gift from God" and that rape is "something that God intended to happen." His comments did not face as much condemnation as Akin's, The Washington Post reported at the time, but seemed just enough to tilt the race in favor of Donnelly, who won by 6 percentage points.

"You better nominate a totally capable, credible nominee or you're in trouble," McConnell said.

But McConnell demurred when asked whether he planned to intervene in any Republican primary races on behalf of one candidate or another.

"I might, and I might not," he said. "It depends."

He then took the opportunity to make a dig at the former president by name.

"I don't have an ideological test. For example, how you feel about former President Trump is irrelevant," McConnell said. "There are ways of measuring a credible candidate, and that's what I want. This is not an ideological litmus test, or how you feel about the former president, it's 'can you win in November?'"

"Could I get involved? Yeah, I could," he added.

McConnell has tried to distance himself from Trump since he left office. The last time the two spoke, according to McConnell, was in December 2020, after the Kentucky Republican publicly congratulated President Joe Biden on his victory in the 2020 election.

Still, Trump has maintained strong support within the Republican party, and has played a major role in the midterm elections through his regular endorsements of GOP candidates and his fundraising events at Mar-a-Lago for candidates.

Trump has endorsed nearly 130 people for the midterms, though some candidates have already been mired in controversy. One of his endorsements, Sean Parnell for Pennsylvania's Senate seat, suspended his campaign after a judge awarded his wife sole legal custody of the couple's three children.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The woman at the center of an after school brawl is out of the hospital after being shot in the hand by an Atlanta Public School resource officer on Wednesday.

Tierra Vachon, 30, now faces criminal charges after brandishing a gun, waving it at Booker T. Washington High School employees and an Atlanta Public Schools Police Officer.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

The officer ordered her to drop the weapon.

She refused and the officer fired one shot, striking Vachon in the hand, district officials said.

TRENDING STORIES:

The brawl began at the school and spilled into the yard near the school.

They were fighting in my yard, jumping children, the mother of one of the girls involved said, asking not to be identified.

Vachon is the mother of another one of the girls involved in the fight.

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Thats the dumbest thing you could do, is to pull up in a kids fight, pull out a gun and get shot, the mother said.

Students returned to school on Thursday to a heightened police presence while looking to get back into their normal routine.

Vachon now faces charges of obstruction, carrying a weapon on school property and disrupting public school.
COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - NATO has requested Denmark to send a battalion of 800 soldiers to Latvia to bolster the military alliance's eastern flank, the Danish defence ministry said on Thursday.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said this week that Denmark was ready to send a battalion to the Baltic states on NATO's request, although such a request would still require parliamentary approval.

(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Gareth Jones)
NBA Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

NBA games are reportedly back on the air in China after an executive's Hong Kong tweet sparked an extended blackout.

China's state-run network China Central Television is broadcasting NBA games again as of this week, The New York Times and the Global Times reported. The Times noted that with one exception in 2020, the league's games have not aired on Chinese state TV since 2019. They've been broadcast on the streaming platform Tencent since then, but their return to state TV suggested the "rift" between China and the NBA "appears to be coming to an end," the Times wrote.

The NBA blackout came after Daryl Morey, who at the time was the Houston Rockets' general manager, shared a tweet in 2019 expressing support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. The tweet sparked outrage in China, and CCTV said it would "immediately halt" the broadcast of NBA games. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Chinese officials wanted Morey to be fired over the tweet but that "there's no chance that's happening."

"We believe broadcasting games to our fans in China and more than 200 other countries and territories is consistent with our mission to inspire and connect people everywhere through the game of basketball," an NBA spokesperson told the Times.

The Global Times also reported that the NBA games are now expected to make a "full return" to Chinese state TV, though NBA reporter Li Shuangfu said "the number of games broadcast will not be as many as before, and no more outside guest commentators will be invited."

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UC San Diego students move between classes at the center of campus on May 15, 2019. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune)

As if remote learning, quarantines and sick family members were not enough, hundreds of thousands of Californias most financially vulnerable college students now face an additional challenge: surprise debts owed to their community colleges and public universities.

When growing numbers of low-income students left college in the middle of the school year during the pandemic, their financial aid awards became institutional debts owed and due for payment to their schools effective immediately.

Some California community colleges and Cal State universities wisely canceled these institutional debts. But most, including University of California campuses, publicly report that students with institutional debts can be barred from re-enrolling until their unexpected debt is paid, and some schools have even sent debt collectors after these students.

If this sounds crazy, thats because it is. California lawmakers and the leaders of public colleges and universities should take action to cancel these debts and fix the financial aid policies that created this problem.

Here is how it works. Most low-income students receive a federal grant to help cover the cost of college. Federal Pell Grants are generally awarded to students whose families make $30,000 a year or less. In California, Pell Grants are commonly disbursed as cash to students for room and board, after state financial aid pays for tuition. If a low-income student is forced to withdraw from school after a month of classes, the students college has historically been expected to repay a prorated amount of the Pell Grant to the federal government for the time the student is no longer enrolled.

Schools then typically bill the student for that amount. Students are expected to repay this debt immediately, even if, for instance, they have already used all of their Pell Grant funds to pay for housing for the semester.

These institutional debts can arise in other ways, too. Overdue library book fines, parking tickets, the cost of room and board all could generate institutional debts.

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Our research, with Dalie Jimenez of the UC Irvine School of Law, has found that reversed financial aid awards have been the biggest source of institutional debts during the pandemic.

Students have incurred institutional debts in all states, but the scale is particularly alarming in California. We estimate that 750,000 students in community colleges, Cal State universities and the University of California will have incurred institutional student debts worth about $390 million from July 2020 through June 2022. This is nearly 15% of all student enrollments during this period.

Because these debts are owed to the schools, they are not federal student loans and do not come with the flexible repayment options of federal loans. These debts are also excluded from the current pause in federal student loan interest accrual and repayment obligations.

Whatever the basis of institutional student debts, they undermine the states goal of promoting college accessibility and student success. Prohibiting students from registering for classes if they have unpaid institutional debts means a student cannot resume their interrupted education.

In addition to barring students from re-enrolling, schools typically send debt collectors after them to recover unpaid balances. Schools can also use a state program to seize students future tax refunds, including funds from the states anti-poverty California Earned Income Tax Credit and Young Child Tax Credit.

Rather than attempt to collect on institutional debts, seven Cal States and a handful of community colleges canceled these debts, using federal funds distributed by Congress as pandemic relief. The Peralta Community College District wiped out $2.8 million this way. Like Peralta, however, most schools that canceled institutional debts only did so for the 2020 and 2021 academic years, before the disruptions from the Omicron wave.

California lawmakers should act to cancel all institutional student debts incurred during the pandemic. One-time funds should be provided to community colleges, Cal States and UCs to pay off institutional debts accrued between July 2020 and June 2022. The Legislature should also compensate the handful of schools that have already canceled a portion of this student debt so that they arent penalized for having acted early.

Colleges and universities will stand to benefit. Since only a fraction of indebted students are able to repay their institutional debts, the state fully funding the cancellation of these debts means that colleges and universities will get $1 for each $1 of debt.

This $390-million expenditure is a necessary, onetime fix. To prevent a recurrence of institutional debts, California lawmakers should lobby the Department of Education to eliminate its policy requiring institutions to pay back Pell grants. State lawmakers should also prohibit colleges and universities from preventing students with debts from re-enrolling, turning debt collectors loose on students or intercepting tax refunds to recover these debts.

Institutional debts have compounded the pain of the pandemic on lower-income students. The Legislature should act now to lift the unfair burden.

Charlie Eaton is an assistant professor of sociology at UC Merced @charlieeatonPhD. Jonathan Glater is a professor of law at UC Berkeley. Laura Hamilton is a professor of sociology at UC Merced.





This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
By Jason Xue and Xie Yu

SHANGHAI/Hong Kong (Reuters) - China's securities regulator said on Thursday both China and the United States have a willingness to solve their audit disputes, and the outcome depends on the wisdom of both parties.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said whether Chinese companies listed in the United States are delisted in the future depends on the progress and results of the audit and regulatory cooperation between the two countries.

This came as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday added five companies, including iQIYI Inc and Baidu Inc, into the latest batch of stocks facing delisting risks from the United States.

Baidu and its streaming affiliate iQIYI said on Thursday they have been actively exploring possible solutions, and they will continue to comply with applicable laws and regulations in both China and the United States.

The CSRC chairman Yi Huiman and his counterpart, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair Gary Gensler, have held three virtual meetings since last August to discuss a resolution for the legacy issues in coordinated audit of companies, said a statement issued on CSRC's website.

China has also held multiple rounds of frank, professional and productive meetings with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, the statement said.

The process is smooth in general and will continue. Both sides are willing to solve the disagreements and problems. "But the outcome will depend on wisdom and the original will of both sides," it said.

The statement came after Gensler pushed back speculation of an imminent deal to be reached between the two sides that would avoid any trading suspension of around 200 Chinese companies listed in the United States.

Gensler said U.S. law gives him little room for compromise, during an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, and said the result of the negotiations is "up to the Chinese authorities".

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The long-running Sino-U.S. audit stand-off has put hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. investments in Chinese companies at stake.

Washington is demanding complete access to the audit papers for U.S.-listed Chinese companies but Beijing bars foreign inspection of local accounting firms work.

In December, the U.S. SEC finalised rules to delist Chinese companies under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA), and said it had identified 273 companies that were at risk, without naming them.

By Thursday, 11 U.S. listed Chinese companies had been identified by the U.S. regulator as carrying risks under the HFCAA.

"The U.S. side has made a case that it is treating everybody equally with its Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act. And it is becoming increasingly clear that China is unlikely to ask for an exception," said Shen Meng, a director at Beijing-based boutique investment bank Chanson & Co.

Hong Kong shares of Baidu closed down 3.2% on Thursday, while the Hang Seng Tech Index lost 1.4%.

(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
PANAMA CITY BEACH  One person has been hospitalized after a shooting on Thursday morning in Panama City Beach.

According to the Bay County Sheriff's Office, the shooting occurred at the Executive Inn at 9424 Front Beach Road.

BCSO dispatchers received a call for help and responded to the shooting at about 12:50 a.m.

"Deputies arrived to discover one person had been shot," a BCSO release reads. "The victim is currently in a local hospital, expected to recover. The investigation is ongoing, but investigators believe the incident is specific to those involved and domestic in nature."

Spring breakers bring chaos to PCB: One injured in Front Beach shooting, many guns seized

Panama City Beach spring break crime: Social media alerted police to pending madness

No arrests had been made as of about noon Thursday. Law enforcement officials were still waiting to get a statement from the unnamed victim, who was in intensive care, BCSO officials said.

This is the second shooting to occur since Sunday off Front Beach Road in Panama City Beach.

This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Shooting on Front Beach Road, Panama City, leaves one hospitalized
A pastor is accused of a years-long pattern of abuse by using religious scripture to pressure female churchgoers into having sex with him in Delaware, law enforcement officials say.

Major Foster, of Lincoln, is facing additional charges after a grand jury indicted him for unlawful sexual contact in November. Officials are calling for any additional potential victims to come forward, according to the Delaware Department of Justice.

The alleged abuse occurred between 2013 and 2020 while Foster was a pastor at the Philadelphia Pentecostal Holiness Church in Ellendale, Delawares government said in a March 31 news release.

Hes also accused of making inappropriate comments and instigating prolonged hugs during which he made inappropriate sexual contact with his victims, the release said.

The November indictment provided to McClatchy News identified three women Foster is accused of having sexual contact with while he knew the contact was offensive to the person or occurred without their consent, it said.

A victims husband once confronted Foster, who then pushed him in response, according to prosecutors. He was charged with offensive touching.

The churchs Facebook page identified Foster as a bishop and shared videos of him preaching in 2019. The pages most recent post was in November 2020.

We have reason to believe that Fosters alleged years-long pattern of abuse includes as yet unreported, additional instances, state Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in a statement.

We ask that any additional victims or witnesses with information come forward. We will be there to support you.

Any victims should contact Delaware State Police, the release said. Anyone with additional information can reach out to state police Det. L. Coleman at (302) 752-3813.

McClatchy News reached out to the church for comment on March 31 and was awaiting a response.

Priest, nun sexually abused boy living at home for troubled kids in the 70s, suit says

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Boy rescued from house where youth pastor made child porn, Georgia cops say

Former pastor in Georgia accused of sexually assaulting girl on Africa trip, feds say

Cheer coach accused of sexually abusing teens dating back to 2013, Florida police say
The paternity lawsuit against Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has been unsealed and outlines accusations by Alexandra Davis that Jones is her biological father and has tried to keep her quiet about it.

The case is set for a non-jury trial on Nov. 7, according to a court order scheduling the trial.

The lawsuit seeks an advisory opinion saying that Davis is not bound by a deal Davis lawyers say her mother signed for financial support in exchange for a promise to never disclose Jones. The agreement, the lawsuit claims, requires Davis and her mother to never reveal that Jones is her father.

Davis, a 25-year-old aide to U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Amarillo), says she has only ever revealed Jones as her father during an FBI security clearance check to work in former President Donald Trumps White House, saying she was under oath during an interview with the FBI and had not choice but to identify Jones.

On all forms during her life that have required her to identify her father she has consistently and sadly written, N/A,  the lawsuit claims.

The lawsuit mentions health concerns for Davis mother and says that she has feared losing financial support from Jones if she ever told anybody who her father is.

Jerry Jones lawyers respond

Jones lawyers claim in a legal response submitted to the court that all the allegations in the lawsuit are false and that the court does not have the power to release Davis from the settlement because it doesnt exist. His attorneys demanded strict proof of every one of Davis claims.

His attorneys say in the legal response that the lawsuit is submersed in hypothetical and contingent scenarios that are not justiciable because they have not occurred.

Jones attorneys say in their legal response that Davis delivered a draft of her lawsuit to Defendant [Jones] and, to borrow her phrase, asked whether he would like to make a deal to assure that he would not be publicly or privately identified and/or declared as Plaintiffs father. 

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His attorneys say in the response the lawsuit was filed when Jones said he wouldnt pay and that Davis is not entitled to the relief she requests, and the court does not have jurisdiction to grant it.

Jones lawyers said the lawsuit was filed after Davis attempted to extort money from the Cowboys owner.

What does the lawsuit say?

Alexandra Davis says in the lawsuit she was born after her mother, Cynthia Davis Spencer, had an affair with Jones while working for American Airlines at the airport in Little Rock, Arkansas. Spencer was pursued romantically by Jones and had a relationship, Davis claims in the lawsuit.

During divorce proceedings, Spencers then-husband had a court-ordered paternity test conducted and found that Davis was not his biological child. In 1998 when the divorce was finalized, it included a finding that Spencers ex-husband was not Davis biological or legal father, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that as soon as Spencer found out that her ex-husband was not Davis father, she told Jones he was the father. Jones told her he was not biologically capable of impregnating a female, according to the suit.

Spencer and Jones negotiated a settlement, which the lawsuit describes as hush money, in which Jones agreed to pay about $27,000 to Spencer to resolve the divorce. Another $30,000 was paid to continue negotiations in good faith.

When the settlement was finalized, Jones agreed to pay a lump sum of $375,000 for confidentiality and set up two trusts funded by Jones for Alexandra Davis, according to the lawsuit. Davis would receive certain monthly, annual and special funding from the trusts until she turned 21, after which she would receive annual lump sums at 24, 26 and 28 years old, according to the suit.

The suit says the trust was established under the name of Jones attorney and friend, Donald Jack, to hide Jones identity. The settlement included a requirement that then-1-year-old Davis and her mother never claim or mention that Jones was Davis father and prohibited both Spencer and Davis from suing Jones under the threat that the money would be cut off.

The primary purpose of the arrangement was designed for Defendant Jones to maintain leverage and intimidation over Cynthia [Davis Spencer] to not only not disclose his identity, but to compel Cynthia to train Plaintiff from ever disclosing and/or identifying who her father was, Davis attorneys wrote in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit seeks to end the requirement for Davis to keep quiet about the identity of her father.

Specifically, Davis attorneys are asking the court to void a paragraph in the agreement that says if Spencer, Davis or any person on behalf of child, tries to initiate a legal proceeding to establish Jones as Davis parent he can, in his sole discretion, end the agreement and any financial support or payments.

The suit argues the law does not allow Spencer to make this agreement for silence on the behalf of then-1-year-old Davis. She wants the court to declare she is not bound by this provision.

Davis also claims in the suit that she and Jones have never met.

Sides dispute motivations for lawsuit

Davis attorneys told ESPN in a statement March 10 that she isnt looking for fame or fortune.

Surely, anyone can understand this need of a child no matter what age to have the ability to say they have a father without the fear of reprisal, Andrew Bergman and Jay K. Gray told ESPN in the joint statement.

Her attorneys said in the lawsuit that Jones only role in Davis life has been to shun and coerce her from ever disclosing her identity.

To add incredible insult to injury, Plaintiff has had to spend her entire life hiding and concealing who her real father is, the lawsuit says.

Jones attorneys dispute in his response submitted to the court the claim that Davis isnt looking for money and accuse her of attempting to extort Jones. The response says the alleged extortion attempts will be the subject of other litigation which has been filed or will be instituted shortly.

Plaintiffs lets make a deal overtures were made at the same time Defendant and the Dallas Cowboys were targets of multiple monetary extortion attempts, the response says.

The lawsuit says that Davis has had to endure the endless public profiles of her father and siblings while forced to remain secret to everyone, including her closest confidants.

The lawsuit does not say when or how Davis learned Jones is her father.
Healthcare COVID-19 workers in Singapore. (Reuter file photo)

SINGAPORE  Personal visits to hospital wards and residential care homes will resume from next Monday (4 April), following a months-long suspension due to the Omicron wave in Singapore.

In the announcement by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday, MOH said such visits are only allowed for those who have been fully vaccinated, be it patients, residents, or visitors, following a drop in local COVID-19 cases.

But a concession will be made for those who are medically ineligible for the vaccines.

"Under exceptional circumstances, hospitals and homes may also exercise flexibility in their visitor policies on a case-by-case basis," MOH added.

Non-fully vaccinated visitors who are allowed under exceptional cases to visit by hospitals and homes are required to show a negative antigen rapid test (ART) result obtained within the last 24 hours of each visit.

The test must be administered or supervised by MOH-approved COVID-19 test providers and are to be self-funded by the visitor.

Fully-vaccinated or medically-ineligible visitors are also "highly encouraged" by MOH to perform a self-test prior to visiting at the hospital, MOH said.

"While there is no need to show proof of a negative test result prior to entry to the ward or home, visitors are encouraged to exercise social responsibility and not to visit their loved ones if they are feeling unwell," it added.

Visitors who are approved to stay beyond the visiting hours, such as caregivers, will need to show proof of a valid ART result done within the last 24 hours. For such fully vaccinated or medically ineligible visitors, they can perform an unsupervised self-administered ART and present a time-stamped photo of the dated ART result and photo ID for verification.

Each hospitalised patient will be allowed to register up to two visitors for each admission, but those who are critically ill will be allowed five registered visitors for each admission.

To avoid crowding in the wards, two visitors will be allowed at the bedside at any one time. All visitors approved to enter hospital wards must don face masks with good filtration capability at all times. These include surgical masks and reusable masks that are made of two layers of fabric.

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Each fully vaccinated home resident is allowed to see up to four designated fully vaccinated or medically ineligible visitors, with one designated visitor allowed per visit, and each visit capped at 30 minutes.

"Visitors should strictly adhere to prevailing safe management measures within the homes," said MOH, adding that visits may have to be suspended if a home is assessed to have active COVID-19 cases.

"We also seek the patience and understanding of visitors that some homes may require more time to put in place the necessary processes to facilitate visits and may start off with a smaller number of visitors to allow them to stabilise their operational processes before accommodating a larger number of visits," MOH added.

The hospitals and homes will continue to support alternative methods of communication such as through telephone or video calls for all patients or residents, said MOH, noting that it will also review these measures regularly.

A four-week suspension of personal visits to hospital wards and residential care homes was initially announced on 24 January to last through to 20 February, but it was later extended twice to 3 April.

"We understand the past months have been difficult for patients or residents, and their family members and loved ones as in-person visits were suspended, and thank everyone for their understanding," said MOH.

(TABLE: MOH)

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore
Machine Guy Kelly and Pete Davidson in March 2020 (Getty Images)

Machine Gun Kelly has stated that Pete Davidson will absolutely be standing by his side during his wedding to Megan Fox.

While a date for the nuptials between the couple has not yet been confirmed, the musician spoke about the big day and his friendship with Davidson during SiriusXMs The Howard Stern Show on Wednesday.

When Stern asked if Kelly was planning to make Davidson his best man, the 31-year-old laughed and said that his side was going to be an army of people.

I have so many close and best friends that have been with me through all these years, he said. But yeah, I think Pete's absolutely gonna be standing there with me.

We should just mic him for commentary anyway, he added of the Saturday Night Live star.

It's a bromance. It's unbelievable, Stern then said of Kelly's relationship with the 28-year-old comedian.

It is, replied Kelly. I was blessed. We both came into each other's life at the right time.

Kelly, whose real name is Colson Baker, was also asked for his take on Davidsons high-profile relationship with Kim Kardashian.

Im so happy for him, he said.

Stern also asked whether he supported Davidson following recent controversy surrounding Kardashians ex-husband Kanye West, to which he replied, totally.

I got thrown into that too, oddly enough. At the end of the day, man, we're young men trying to find our place in the world and figure it out, and it doesn't really help that you have a million voices ripping you apart, he said.

We love everybody, man, he continued.

We have so much love. It's almost like, if we need to be the vessels for someone's anger, then so be it. That must be why we're here. I do hope that they can feel our spirit and see that we love you.

Kelly and Fox announced their engagement in January this year, an event in which they claimed to have drunk each others blood.

The 35-year-old actor shared the news with a video to her Instagram profile which showed Kelly going down on one knee and proposing to her under a banyan tree.

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In July of 2020 we sat under this banyan tree. We asked for magic, she wrote in the caption.

We were oblivious to the pain we would face together in such a short, frenetic period of time. Unaware of the work and sacrifices the relationship would require from us but intoxicated off of the love. And the karma.

She continued: Somehow a year and a half later, having walked through hell together, and having laughed more than I ever imagined possible, he asked me to marry him.

And just as in every lifetime before this one, and as in every lifetime that will follow it, I said yes. and then we drank each others blood 1.11.22.
A Missouri man faces federal felony charges in connection with the Capitol riot, accused of struggling with officers and taking a police baton during the melee outside the building.

Cale Douglas Clayton, of Drexel, is the 20th Missouri resident to be charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection. The charges were unsealed when he was arrested Thursday.

According to court documents, the FBI received an online tip on Jan. 7, 2021, saying that Clayton was involved in the riot. Agents interviewed him on March 15, 2021, at his home in Drexel, which is south of Kansas City in Cass and Bates counties along the state line.

Clayton told them he had gone to Washington, D.C., to attend the pro-Trump Stop the Steal rally and walked to the Capitol grounds afterward, the charging document says. He told agents that he was arrested while attempting to return a police baton to the police.

Clayton said he was released on the day of the Capitol insurrection without charges being filed and that he did not riot, engage in violence, or commit any acts of vandalism, the document says.

The FBI then identified Clayton from body-worn camera video from the Metropolitan Police Department. In the video, the document says, Clayton is wearing a red baseball cap, a red Kansas City Chiefs sweatshirt, khaki vest, blue jeans and dark boots and can be heard shouting at officers on the front lines outside the Capitol.

Clayton was observed pointing his finger at officers and shouting, We are going to win. You dont have enough for all of us. You might hit me once or twice. You might spray me with pepper spray. I dont give a f---. There aint enough for millions of people here and you know it.

From 3:20 to 3:25 p.m. that afternoon, the document says, the video shows Clayton underneath scaffolding outside the Capitol yelling and pointing at law enforcement officers. Among the things he shouts, it says: Get that pepper spray outnot enough, You guys realize your President told us to be here. Your President! Hey, how does that make you feel? Youre defying your own f------ country!...Are you a Patriot? Or are you a f------ yes man? And think about it. (Inaudible) the revolution. You aint gonna stop it. Its already happeningYou guys are just gonna be a little speed bump along the way.

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At 4:23 p.m., the document says, video from a Montgomery County Police Department body-worn camera shows Clayton grabbing a police shield on two occasions and taking a police baton that had been dropped by a law enforcement officer.

The FBI also found video footage showing Clayton grabbing an Arlington County Police Department officers shield. About 4:30 p.m., Capitol surveillance footage shows police trying to recover the baton from Clayton, whose right hand makes contact with one of the officers.

At approximately 4:30 p.m., MCPD attempted to take Clayton into custody, but Clayton resisted and grabbed the face shield of an MCPD officers helmet and pushed the officer backward, the document says. He was taken into custody a few minutes later, transported to a police station and later released without charges, it says.

Clayton was charged Monday in U.S. District Court with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; civil disorder; theft of government property; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds; and disorderly conduct in the grounds or a Capitol building.
Andy Warhol with some of his works on 15 December 1980 (Getty Images/Susan Greenwood/Liaison Agency)

One day in 1981, Prince Rogers Nelson, wearing a high-collared white button-down shirt, black pants, and suspenders, gazed straight into the lens of Lynn Goldsmiths camera. He was on his way to superstardom, three years away from the colossal success of Purple Rain. Goldsmith, a court filing would later state, was on assignment for Newsweek. She worked with the lighting to emphasize the artists bone structure. She applied eyeshadow and lip gloss on him. She aimed to capture his willing[ness] to bust through what must be [his] immense fears to make the work that [he] wanted to [make]. She took a series of black-and-white shots using a Nikon 35-mm camera.

Prince, Goldsmith would later recall, seemed nervous and uncomfortable, and left the shoot before she could take additional photos. She came out of the session with 23 images  11 in color and 12 in black and white. Among the black-and-white photos was the image which, 40 years later, would become the center of a lengthy legal battle, rising all the way to the Supreme Court.

Back in the Eighties, Andy Warhol used the photo in several artworks, transforming it similarly to images Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Mao Zedong he used in other works. It was Andy Warhols estate, not Goldsmith, who first took legal action by suing the photographer in April 2017. The suit, filed in New York, asked a court to declare that Warhols Prince artworks are protected from litigation and that they do not infringe upon Goldsmiths copyright. It made its way through the lower courts, first in the Southern District of New York, and then in the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

On Monday (28 March), the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. It will determine whether Warhol infringed Goldsmiths copyright when using her photo, or whether he transformed the image to such a degree that its essentially immune from copyright claims.

Goldsmith is a prominent photographer whose subjects have included some of the worlds most famous musicians. Her work has been featured on more than 100 album covers. (The ethereal photo on the cover of Patti Smiths Easter? That was her.) Bob Marley, Kiss, Miles Davis, and many, many more have graced her catalog. According to the appeals court, she first licensed her photo of Prince to Vanity Fair in 1984 through an agency.

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The license permitted Vanity Fair to publish an illustration based on [the photograph in question] in its November 1984 issue, once as a full page and once as a quarter page, the court of appeals wrote. The license further required that the illustration be accompanied by an attribution to Goldsmith. Goldsmith was unaware of the license at the time and played no role in selecting the Goldsmith Photograph for submission to Vanity Fair.

Vanity Fair commissioned Warhol to create an artwork for a piece on Prince. It ran in November 1984 with the headline Purple Fame and an attribution to Goldsmith, per the appeals court. Warhols artwork for Vanity Fair used Goldsmiths photo, adding color to it and transforming it in several ways.

Warhol created several more artworks based on Goldsmiths photo, producing 16 images in total. These have become collectively known as the Prince Series.

According to the court of appeals, Goldsmith didnt know about the Prince Series until 2016. Following Princes death that year, CondeI Nast, the media company behind Vanity Fair, put together a special commemorative magazine using an image from the Prince Series on its cover. It was at this point that Goldsmith first became aware of the Prince Series, the court of appeals wrote. In late July 2016, Goldsmith contacted [the Andy Warhol Foundation] to advise it of the perceived infringement of her copyright. (The foundation argued in its own, original filing that the Prince Series had been widely published throughout the United States.)

Andy Warhols screen print collection Marilyn Monroe (1967) at Andy Warhols museum in the eastern Slovak town of Medzilaborce on 15 July 2008 (JOE KLAMAR/AFP via Getty Images)

The Andy Warhol Foundation filed its lawsuit against Goldsmith on 7 April 2017, asking for a declaratory judgment that the Prince Series doesnt violate the photographers copyright, or that it is protected by a doctrine known as fair use. (Fair use, per the US Copyright Office, promotes freedom of expression by permitting the unlicensed use of copyright-protected works in certain circumstances.) According to the court of appeals, Goldsmith countersued for alleged copyright infringement.

In July 2019, the district court ruled in favor of the Andy Warhol Foundation. It argued in part that the Prince Series was transformative, a key concept when trying to argue fair use. Per the US Copyright Office, transformative uses  which add something new, with a further purpose or different character, and do not substitute for the original use of the work are more likely to be considered fair. For the district court, Goldsmiths photo portrayed Prince as a vulnerable human being and not a comfortable person, while Warhols work can reasonably be perceived to reflect the opposite, presenting him as an iconic, larger-than-life figure.

Out of the four factors typically weighed to judge whether fair use should apply to a dispute, the district court that three were in favor of the Andy Warhol Foundation, and one was neutral. It therefore granted the foundations request for a summary judgment.

Andy Warhols Mao is displayed at Christies on 4 February 2008 in London (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

But the court of appeals disagreed. On 26 March 2021, it reversed the district courts decision and remanded the case for further proceedings. While it admitted that it may well have been Goldsmiths subjective intent to portray Prince as a vulnerable human being and Warhols to strip Prince of that humanity and instead display him as a popular icon, it found that whether a work is transformative shouldnt be judged on the perceived intent behind that work.

The district judge should not assume the role of art critic and seek to ascertain the intent behind or meaning of the works at issue, it added. That is so both because judges are typically unsuited to make aesthetic judgments and because such perceptions are inherently subjective.

On Monday (28 March), the Supreme Court announced it had agreed to hear the case. Its a relatively rare decision: the court generally doesnt have an obligation to hear a case, and according to its own numbers, it usually takes on between 100 and 150 of the more than 7,000 cases it is asked to review each year.

Roman Martinez, an attorney for the Andy Warhol Foundation, told Reuters he welcomed the Supreme Courts decision to hear the case and hopes it will recognize that Andy Warhols transformative works of art are fully protected by law.

Goldsmith celebrated the Supreme Courts decision in an Instagram post which read in part: I fought [the Andy Warhol Foundations suit] to protect not only my own rights, but the rights of all photographers and visual artists to make a living by licensing their creative work  and also to decide when, how, and even whether to exploit their creative works or license others to do so. I look forward to continuing that fight in the Supreme Court.

In a follow-up post, she added: Photographers work very hard, often with great physical and material cost to create imagery. They should have the right to determine if others can use what they create for their own purposes or to change it in any way. Permission should be asked.
File photo.

FISHERSVILLE  An investigation that started in Fishersville ended in a vehicle crash in Stuarts Draft, according to a release from the Augusta County Sheriff's Office.

Wednesday, March 30, the Skyline Drug Task Force, with the assistance of the Augusta County Sheriff's Office, was conducting an ongoing criminal investigation and had encountered a 37-year-old Waynesboro man, the release said. That man ended up driving his 2011 Ford Fusion off around 7:42 p.m. out of the hotel parking lot on Foursquare Lane in Fishersville.

The man refused to stop his vehicle, which ended up with authorities pursuing him. That pursuit ended with the Ford Fusion hit a 2016 Dodge truck that was turning into a restaurant parking lot on Draft Avenue in Stuarts Draft, the release said.

The Ford Fusion then struck a telephone pole and overturned. The utility pole was knocked down and struck an unoccupied GMC SUV parked in the lot.

The Waynesboro man driving the Ford Fusion was taken to the University of Virginia Medical Center, and is still being treated for serious injuries, authorities said. A female passenger was treated and released from Augusta Health.

The driver of the Dodge truck was not injured in the crash.

The crash is being investigated by the Virginia State Police at the request of the Augusta County Sheriffs Office and remains under investigation.

Multiple charges are pending against the Ford Fusions driver, the release said.

The task force investigation remains ongoing at this time.

The Skyline Drug Task Force is composed of investigators from the Staunton Police Department, Augusta County Sheriff's Department and Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Appomattox Field Office.

Your support helps keep the lights on at The News Leader. Stay connected with our stories, enterprise reporting and more by clicking "Subscribe" at the top of the page.

More: You can add your COVID vaccine information to your Apple Wallet, Google Pay. Here's how.

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More: Should I get a second-dose booster? Virginia Department of Health offers guidance

More: City council was caught teasing citizen emails on hot mic last week. Parents fire back.

Laura Peters is the trending topics reporter at The News Leader. Have a news tip on local trends or businesses? Or a good feature? You can reach reporter Laura Peters (she/her) at lpeters@newsleader.com. Follow her @peterslaura. Subscribe to The News Leader at newsleader.com.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Pursuit ends in crash during criminal investigation with Augusta County Sheriff's Office
Russias Vladimir Putin is calling up another 134,500 conscripts even as more and more of his own soldiers appear to be turning on him over humiliating losses in Ukraine.

According to a decree published on a Russian government portal Thursday, the troops will be called to begin service on April 1 until July 15. The Defense Ministry promised earlier this week that they will not be sent to any hot spots, and that all those called up in last springs draft will be sent home.

But those assurances seem likely to be overshadowed by a multitude of reports that say Russias senseless war against Ukraine has been marred by lies from the top down, with Russian troops claiming they were misled into the war and Putins own advisers said to be shielding him from the extent of the devastating losses.

Even as Putin signed the decree on Thursday, Ukraines Security Service released an intercepted call said to capture a Russian soldier railing against the incompetence of his own army.

Our brigade has totally shit themselves. There are losses, many wounded, he tells his wife.

Asked if the losses are a result of someone screwing up, he offers a blunt response: The whole army with us is stupid morons.

Its unclear why we are even here, he says.

Another recording shared by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraines interior minister, captures a man identified as a Russian soldier named Maksim asking his mother what is being shown on Russian television, and if there are reports theyre saying they will change anything.

Everythings bad, almost no one among us is left. They said we will keep going until the very end, until everyone is killed, he tells his mother.

Asked if his senior officer was still with the unit, he replies: No, he dumped us yesterday. Were all dead in the water if he left.

We Are Falling Into Putins Evil Little Trap Again

The new recordings come just hours after Western officials said there was growing evidence of disarray and disillusionment among Russian troops, with Britains spy chief citing reports of troops refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

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Reporting by Meduza on Thursday largely aligned with Western assessments. Citing three sources close to the presidential administration, the news outlet reported that Russian military officials finally came to terms with the fact that they wouldnt be able to seize control of Kyiv by late March. (Just a month earlier, according to Meduza, they were all but certain that the special operation would be quick, and the biggest headache would be organizing work by the new administrations put in place by Russia).

But they decided to shift their focus to the Donbas in the countrys east after realizing the full scale of military setbacksand the damage wrought on the economy by Western sanctions.

Putin was personally presented with the reality of the sanctions only at the end of March, when officials showed him the country will not be able to live normally under such sanctions, one source was quoted telling Meduza.

The Russian leader has still not made a final decision on what hes going to do next, and plenty of those close to him are reportedly pressuring him to go full steam ahead with the onslaught against Ukraine.

But the presidential administration is said to be concerned about how a possible truce with Ukraine will hit Putins [approval] ratings.

The citizens were riled up by propaganda. Suppose a decision is made to stop at the territory of the Donbas. What about the Nazis then? Are we no longer fighting them? This word has been hammered into people so much that I cant imagine how one can stop in Donbas without losing approval ratings, one source told Meduza.

Perhaps as part of a long game, the Kremlin has now reportedly begun implementing plans to send psychologists from the FSB into Kherson, a city in the south of Ukraine where residents continue to resist the Russian forces who took over after the Feb. 24 invasion.

To implement a scenario for the creation of another pseudo-republic in the territory of the Kherson region, there is work underway by employees of the FSB, 652 groups of information and psychological operations and officers of the 12th Main Directorate of the [Russian] General Staff, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a statement Thursday.

Ukrainian officials said the FSB effort is an attempt to brainwash residents into supporting their new Russian authorities.

Russian law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and judges are also said to be on their way to occupied territories in Ukraine, with reports of Russian police officers being asked to take business trips to parts of the Donbas in Ukraines east.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin Kremlin Press Office/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened on Thursday to stop sending gas to Europe if countries Russia designated as "unfriendly" don't pay in rubles.

"If unfriendly countries do not pay in rubles from April 1, we will consider this a default on gas contracts, in which case existing contracts will be stopped," Putin said after signing a decree on Thursday, according to Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti.

The list of "unfriendly countries," which received the designation from Russia in response to widespread condemnation of its war against Ukraine, includes the US, UK, and European Union countries.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, Russia is the largest gas-exporting country in the world. Nearly half of its exports go to European countries.

President Joe Biden announced earlier in March that the US would ban Russian energy imports  which includes oil and natural gas  amid a slew of harsh economic sanctions.

Translations by Oleksandr Vynogradov.

Read the original article on Business Insider
A sign showing gas prices in Los Angeles. Mario Tama/Getty Images

President Biden could announce as early as Thursday a plan to release 1 million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for as long as 180 days, a person familiar with the matter told The New York Times late Wednesday.

The White House has been considering ways to lower gasoline prices across the nation, which skyrocketed in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine; in March, the average price of a gallon of gas hit a high of $4.17, six cents higher than the previous record set in 2008.

Biden's public schedule for Thursday states he is scheduled to deliver remarks in the afternoon on his administration's "actions to reduce the impact of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's price hike on energy prices and lower gas price at the pump for American families." The price of the American crude oil benchmark dropped about 4 percent Wednesday evening once reports began surfacing about Biden's plan.

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was created after the 1973 energy crisis, and comes into use when the United States experiences an increase in demand or low supply, the Times says. It currently holds about 550 million barrels, with a capacity of roughly 714 million barrels.

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WASHINGTON (AP)  The U.S. military needs to adjust its planning, training, targeting and use of weapons in order to better avoid widespread civilian deaths and damage such as the devastating 2017 battle to liberate the Syrian city of Raqqa from Islamic State militants, a new RAND report said Thursday.

The report requested by the Pentagon reflects criticism of the military's airstrike campaign that, according to some estimates, killed more than 1,600 civilians in Raqqa, as the U.S.-led coalition worked to destroy the Islamic State caliphate that wrested control of large swaths of Iraq and Syria.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said the report, which lays out a series of recommendations to improve military procedures and strategy, will be used as the department develops its own broader plan to reduce civlian harm.

No other military works as hard as we do to mitigate civilian harm, and yet we still cause it, said Kirby. We're going to continue to try to learn from past issues.

RAND concluded that the battle for Raqqa provided important lessons.

Michael McNerney, lead author of the RAND report, called Raqqa a cautionary tale about civilian harm in urban combat. He said it "should serve as an extra incentive to the DoD to strengthen its policies and procedures to mitigate, document and respond to civilian harm.

The RAND report noted that there has been a wide range of estimated civilian casualties during the seige, but also said it believes that 60%-80% of Raqqa was left uninhabitable by the time the city was liberated in October 2017.

Initially the U.S.-led coalition estimted that it was responsible for 38 incidents involving 240 civilian casualties  including 178 who were killed. A consortium of local Syrian and international groups, including Amnesty International and Airwars, put the number of casualties at a high estimate of 1,600, but said that about 774 of them could specifically be verified by data as the result of coalition action.

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The report makes it clear that several thousand more civilians likely died, based on the number of bodies uncovered by U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, but many were probably killed by IS or other fighters on the ground.

Our report focuses on U.S. actions in Raqqa, but the actions of the Syrian government and its Russian and Iranian partners undoubtedly contributed far more to civilian harm and suffering in Syria overall, McNerney said.

The report noted that the challenges in Raqqa were compounded by limits on the number U.S. troops that could be there, as well as where they could be positioned. U.S. troops on the ground could have provided better targeting and civilian information, including on Islamic State militants' efforts to use civilians as human shields, the report said.

RAND recommended that the U.S. military provide more extensive training and guidance on the need to avoid civilian harm, and plan and execute operations in ways to achieve those goals. Changes could include improved planning, better assessments of potential collateral damage, increased mission rehearsals, improved intelligence gathering, and more selective use of air strikes and munitions that minimize bomb fragmentation.
NORTH KINGSTOWN  A retired Superior Court judge reviewing allegations surrounding North Kingstown High Schools former boys basketball coach Aaron Thomas is soliciting comments from community members who may want to share their perspective.

The Town Council hired retired Associate Justice Susan McGuirl in November to review various ongoing investigations into Thomas practice of fat-testing students while they were undressed and alone with him  and how town departments and agencies responded.

In a letter addressed Wednesday to parents, guardians and students, McGuirl appealed to anyone with information that they feel may be helpful to me as I conclude my review.

McGuirl said she would protect everyones identity and assured parents and guardians she wouldn't speak to any students without their permission.

Previous story: Second North Kingstown school administrator resigns amid naked 'fat-testing' scandal

The Thomas affair erupted in controversy last year when several students reported incidents of naked fat-testing," followed by allegations that school officials were slow to react.

The events spun off criminal investigations by the state attorney general and the North Kingstown police, a civil-rights investigation by the U.S. Attorneys office in Rhode Island and internal reviews by the local School Committee.

McGuirl is tasked with reviewing those investigations to spare the Town Council from conducting its own.

Thomas, who has not been charged with any crime and denied any wrongdoing, resigned last year as the School Committee prepared to fire him.

The school departments superintendent and assistant superintendent resigned earlier this month in the wake of a scathing independent investigation that found administrators breached their duty to protect the students in their care from Thomas.

McGuirl said anyone wishing to contact her could email her at: jmnk2022@gmail.com or call: (401) 578-0121.

Email Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Judge: Public info on North Kingstown 'fat testing' scandal could help
PROVIDENCE  When it was over, when a Superior Court judge had, without fanfare, approved paying Paul Courteau $558,000 for his 13 years and nine days wrongfully imprisoned, the now bald and stocky man moved toward the courtroom door, where he recognized someone from those years inside.

Wearing a big smile, Courteau shook hands with Dana Smith, a court security officer, who back in the early 1990s was a corrections officer in maximum security at the Adult Correctional Institutions.

As they exchanged pleasantries, Smith saw a changed man from the one he once knew.

More:

Hes different. Hes happy, Smith said Thursday. Hes not the tough guy he used to be.

Smith also did the 64-year-old Courteau a favor. He suggested he might want to straighten his shirt collar before he went on camera.

Courteau became the first beneficiary of a new law that allows those wrongly imprisoned to petition the presiding justice of the Superior Court for redress. The law grants up to $50,000 for each year wrongly spent behind bars.

A jury convicted Courteau in 1981 of participating in the armed robbery of a North Providence jewelry showroom. Though one of the owners eventually identified Courteau from a photo lineup  on the third attempt  Courteau had no involvement with the crime.

He was paroled in 1994 and exonerated in 1999 when another man confessed to the crime.

A state prosecutor said then that it appeared Courteau had been wronged by questionable tactics of law enforcement officials  particularly those of a former postal inspector who said an "extremely reliable" informant had told him that Courteau had done the robbery.

There was no mention of those details Thursday as representatives of the attorney generals office entered no objection to Courteaus petition for restitution. Just a few minutes later, Presiding Justice Alice Gibney gave that petition her official stamp of approval.

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I wish you well, Mr. Courteau, Gibney said.

Thank you very much, your honor, said Courteau. Same to you.

Afterward, outside on the courtroom steps, Courteau, who grew up in Brockton, Massachusetts, and lives now in Taunton, said: Im grateful now, but for the years I suffered and my family suffered, and all the other people who have been wrongfully convicted, its just horrific that things like that can happen in life.

Courteau said he hoped the painful realities of wrongful convictions like his will give the justice system pause when handing out tough sentences.

With travesties of justice, you dont get anything back when they happen.

Im very happy now, said Courteau. I look forward to turning the page, leaving all this behind.

Email Tom Mooney at: tmooney@providencejournal.com.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Court awards Rhode Island man $558,000 for wrongful imprisonment
Near Kherson, Ukraine  Russian forces were still shelling areas near Ukraine's capital Thursday, two days after Moscow said it would scale back its attack there to facilitate peace talks. Ukraine's president told his people Wednesday night that the fight to repel Russia's invasion had reached a "turning point," and he asked the U.S. for more weapons and other assistance to turn the tide.

In a late-night video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy cast doubt on Russia's stated decision to "drastically reduce" attacks around Kyiv and the northeast city of Chernihiv. He said Russian forces were building up in his country's eastern Donbas regions in preparation for a major offensive there. Russia has made it clear that it will shift the focus of its "special military operation" to Donbas.

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U.S. officials believe units that Russia is pulling back from Kyiv will be refitted for use elsewhere in Ukraine, but given the damage sustained by Russian forces during the first month of Putin's war, making the equipment battle-ready again could take weeks.

A British intelligence chief said Thursday that Russian forces were suffering from shortages of both "weapons and morale," leading some to sabotage their own equipment and refuse to follow orders. He said the seemingly poorly trained and equipped troops had even accidentally shot down their own aircraft.

The assessment by Sir Jeremy Fleming, head of Britain's GCHQ intelligence agency, that Putin had "massively misjudged the situation" in Ukraine, came a day after U.S. officials said intelligence showed Putin had been misled by his own military commanders about the difficulties Russia was encountering.

Ukrainian forces have held Vladimir Putin's ground forces to a stalemate. As CBS News senior foreign correspondent Holly Williams reported from near the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, next to a burned-out Russian military vehicle, there's evidence even in Ukraine's artillery-battered south of Putin's stalled invasion.

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Williams and her team traveled Wednesday with a convoy of Ukrainian soldiers  volunteers from all walks of life  as they headed to reinforce the front line near Kherson.

Andriy Rogalski was a crane operator until he signed up earlier this month. He had just two weeks of basic training and told CBS News that he was frightened he could be killed, but that he and the others heading into battle had quashed their fears, because they know what they're fighting for.

"It's pure evil what they did," he said of Russia's relentless artillery and missile strikes. The attacks have hit hospitals, apartment buildings, schools and civilians just walking down the road. The U.S. says it's seen clear evidence that Putin's forces are committing war crimes.

The United Nations has said thousands of civilians may have been killed in the besieged port city of Mariupol alone. There was hope that more of the estimated 160,000 civilians trapped in that city would be evacuated on Thursday, with Russia agreeing to allow a humanitarian corridor and Ukraine sending about 40 buses in to take people out. But previous corridors have collapsed, with both sides blaming the other for violating ceasefires.

Russia is taking heavy losses in the face of a much tougher Ukrainian resistance than many expected. A NATO official estimated that between 7,0000 and 15,000 Russian troops have been killed in just over a month, but Moscow dismisses the tally as an attempt to demoralize Russian forces. Russian officials say the country has lost fewer than 1,400 troops in Ukraine. Crane-operator-turned soldier Andriy Rogalski said he believed Putin's war was a tragedy for both Ukrainians and Russians, and that the Russian president was behaving more like a mafia boss than a world leader.

A Ukrainian service member stands near the body of a Russian soldier on the front line near Kyiv, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, March 30, 2022. / Credit: GLEB GARANICH/REUTERS

Second Lieutenant Tatiana Chornovol has front-line experience of Russia's military capabilities. A former politician and a mother of two, Chonovol is now tasked with taking out Russian tanks. "The Russians are fighting stupidly," she told CBS News. "They don't have a strategy or tactics, they're falling into the same traps, and their commanders are just pushing them to advance."

More than 4 million people have fled from Ukraine since Russia launched its invasion on February 24, according to the United Nations. U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet says 1,189 civilian deaths have been confirmed, including 98 children, but her agency says the true toll is much higher.

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BERLIN/LONDON (Reuters) -Russian President Vladimir Putin is demanding foreign buyers pay for Russian gas in roubles from Friday or else have their supplies cut, a move European capitals rejected and which Germany said amounted to "blackmail".

Putin's decree on Thursday leaves Europe facing the prospect of losing more than a third of its gas supply. Germany, the most heavily reliant on Russia, has already activated an emergency plan that could lead to rationing in Europe's biggest economy.

Energy exports are Putin's most powerful lever as he tries to hit back against sweeping Western sanctions imposed on Russian banks, companies, businessmen and associates of the Kremlin in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Moscow calls its Ukraine action a "special military operation".

Putin said buyers of Russian gas "must open rouble accounts in Russian banks. It is from these accounts that payments will be made for gas delivered starting from tomorrow," or April 1.

"If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either - that is, existing contracts will be stopped," he said in televised remarks.

It was not immediately clear whether in practice there might be a way for foreign firms to continue payment without using roubles, which the European Union and G7 have ruled out.

Italy said it was in contact with its European partners to give a firm response to Russia, adding its own gas reserves would allow economic activity to continue even in the event of disruptions.

Meantime, Germany's energy firms said they were in close talks with Berlin about how to respond to possible supply disruptions and draw up a roadmap on what to do should Russia stop gas exports.

SEARCHING FOR ALTERNATIVES

Under the mechanism decreed by Putin, foreign buyers would use special accounts at Gazprombank to pay for the gas. Gazprombank would buy roubles on behalf of the gas buyer and transfer roubles to another account, the order said.

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A source told Reuters that payments for gas delivered in April on some contracts started in the second half of April and May for others, suggesting the taps might not be turned off immediately.

Putin's decision to enforce rouble payments has boosted the Russian currency, which fell to historic lows after the Feb. 24 invasion. The rouble has since recovered much lost ground.

"What sounded grandiose has turned into a storm in a teacup. By making it the main recipient of money for gas, it puts an extra shield against sanctions around Gazprombank," said Jack Sharples of the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.

Western companies and governments have rejected any move to change their gas supply contracts to another payment currency. Most European buyers use euros. Executives say it would take months or longer to renegotiate terms.

Payment in roubles would also blunt the impact of Western curbs on Moscow's access to its foreign exchange reserves.

Meanwhile, European states have been racing to secure alternative supplies, but with the global market already tight, they have few options. The United States has offered more of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) but not enough to replace Russia.

"It is important for us not to give a signal that we will be blackmailed by Putin," Germany Economy Minister Robert Habeck said, adding that Russia had not been able to divide Europe.

Payments would continue to be made in euros, Germany said.

French economy minister Bruno Le Maire said France and Germany were preparing for the possibility of Russian gas flows being halted. He declined to comment on technical details linked to latest Russian demands for rouble payment.

Putin said the switch to roubles would strengthen Russia's sovereignty. He said the West was using the financial system as a weapon, and it made no sense for Russia to trade in dollars and euros when assets in those currencies were being frozen.

"What is actually happening, what has already happened? We have supplied European consumers with our resources, in this case gas. They received it, paid us in euros, which they then froze themselves. In this regard, there is every reason to believe that we delivered part of the gas provided to Europe practically free of charge," he said.

"That, of course, cannot continue," Putin said, although he said Russia still valued its business reputation and would continue to meet obligations in its gas and other contracts.

STAYING UNITED

European gas prices have rocketed higher on mounting tension with Russia raising the risk of recession. Companies, including makers of steel and chemicals, have been forced to curtail production.

British and Dutch gas prices were up 4% to 5% after Putin's announcement.

European companies had little or no immediate comment on the Russian announcement or on their contracts with Gazprom, which has a monopoly on Russian gas exports by pipeline.

Poland's PGNiG said it remained in contact with Gazprom with which it has a long-term contract that expires at the end of this year, but it said it would not discuss details.

Italian energy firm Eni, another major European buyer of Russian gas, also had no comment. It bought around 22.5 bcm of Russian gas in 2020. Its contracts with Gazprom expire in 2035.

Danish energy firm Orsted, which has a long-term take-or-pay contract with Gazprom, said it was waiting to hear from the Russian firm and declined to comment further.

Uniper and EnBW's VNG, two major German buyers of Russian gas, declined to comment, while RWE did not immediately respond.

(Reporting by Reuters correspondents including Stephen Jewkes in Milan, Vera Eckert, Joseph Nasr and Tassilo Hummel in Berlin, Nina Chestney in London, Marek Strzelecki in Warsaw and Christoph Steitz and John O'Donnell in Frankfurt; Writing by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Edmund Blair and Grant McCool)
Mariupol residents walk near a destroyed apartment - ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO /REUTERS

It is unclear whether Russias 40-mile-long convoy of military vehicles to Kyiv still exists, the Pentagon has said.

"I don't even know if it still exists at this point... They never really accomplished their mission," said Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby.

The stalled convoy became a symbol of Russia's battlefield difficulties and had been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian forces during the first weeks of the more than month-long invasion.

Earlier, President Joe Biden said that Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be self-isolating in Russia and may have fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers."

He seems to be self-isolated and there's some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers," Mr Biden said without citing evidence. "But I don't want to put too much stock in that at this time."

Follow the latest updates in Friday's live blog

01:20 AM

What happened today

Longer range artillery and armoured vehicles will be sent to Ukraine in a significant ramping up of Western support, Ben Wallace announced on Thursday

Whitehall sources have expressed concern that allies including the US, France and Germany are "over-eager" to secure an early peace deal and are pushing Ukraine to "settle"

A Ministry of Defence chief suggested Britain needs a national effort to boost its nuclear weapons programme

Russian forces were said to have retreated from a Ukrainian airfield that was key to their original plan of overthrowing the government of Volodymyr Zelensky

The Pentagon said that it was not clear Russia's convoy of military vehicles to Kyiv, which once stretched some 40 miles, even existed anymore after failing to accomplish its mission

The Ukrainian state nuclear company said that most of the Russian forces that occupied the Chernobyl nuclear power station after invading Ukraine have also left

Joe Biden, the US president, said Vladimir Putin may have fired some of his advisers or put them under house arrest, and that its an open question as to whether Mr Putin is fully informed on his militarys performance in Ukraine

Putin has threatened to cut off gas supplies to western Europe on Friday unless buyers open rouble accounts in Russian banks as he scrambles to prop up his country's collapsing economy.

Story continues

12:57 AM

In pictures: Day 36 of the war in Ukraine

Anti-war demonstrators dance around a burning an effigy of the Russian President Vladimir Putin - AP

A Ukrainian serviceman takes a selfie standing on a destroyed Russian tank - AP/Vadim Ghirda

A destroyed fitness center following Russian missile strikes in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, March 2, 2022. Russia said it would press forward with its invasion of Ukraine until its goals are met, as troops were seen moving in a large convoy toward the capital, Kyiv. Photographer: Erin Trieb/Bloomberg - Bloomberg/Erin Trieb

Service members of pro-Russian troops carry an anti-tank grenade launcher during fighting - REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

12:43 AM

Biden spurs record emergency oil release in 'moment of peril' for world

President Joe Biden launched the largest release ever from the US emergency oil reserve and challenged oil companies to drill more in an attempt to bring down gasoline prices that have soared during Russia's war with Ukraine.

The announcement comes as part of a broad effort by Biden to tackle raging inflation that has hurt USconsumers and threatens Biden's fellow Democrats as they seek to maintain control of Congress in the November elections.

Starting in May, the United States will release 1 million barrels per day of crude oil for six months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, he said.

"This is a moment of consequence and peril for the world, and pain at the pump for American families, Biden said at an event at the White House.

12:15 AM

EU to push China at summit to not help Russia in Ukraine war

EU and Chinese leaders will meet for a first summit in two years on Friday with Brussels keen for assurances from Beijing that it will neither supply Russia with arms nor help Moscow circumvent Western sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine.

In uncommonly open language, EU officials close to the preparations of the summit said any help given to Russia would damage China's international reputation and jeopardise relations with its biggest trade partners -- Europe and the United States.

The presidents of the European Commission and European Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, will hold virtual talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and later President Xi Jinping.

An EU official said China's stance towards Russia would be the "million-dollar question" on Friday. Another pointed out that over a quarter of China's global trade was with the bloc and the United States last year, against just 2.4% with Russia.

12:00 AM

Latest from the UK Ministry of Defence

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 31 March 2022



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/SV5bl19zq3



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/e1x4jsAZnx  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) March 31, 2022

11:36 PM

Russian opera drops top soprano over Ukraine comments

A Russian opera has cancelled a concert by Russian superstar soprano Anna Netrebko over her comments on Moscow's military operation in Ukraine.

The 50-year-old singer who lives in the Austrian capital of Vienna on Wednesday "condemned" the operation, after she and other Russian artists in Europe and the United States came under pressure to publicly take a stance.

The Novosibirsk Opera in Siberia cancelled a concert at which she was to perform on June 2.

"Living in Europe and having the opportunity to perform in European concert halls appears to be more important (for her) than the fate of the homeland," it said in a statement.

Russian opera soprano singer Anna Netrebko - CHRISTOPH DE BARRY/AFP via Getty Images

11:13 PM

US claims has evidence that war has been a strategic disaster

The US has evidence that the war against Ukraine has been a strategic disaster for Russia, said the White House director of communications.

"We have seen incontrovertible evidence that this has been a strategic disaster for Russia," said Kate Bedingfield on Thursday.

"[Russia is] working to redefine the initial aims of their invasion, and we've seen time and again that the sanctions that have been applied are exacting extreme costs on their economy."

Ms Bedingfield added that Russia will face further sanctions over its invasion of the country.

Putin himself has said these sanctions have imposed unprecedented costs on the Russian economy, and our role is to continue to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield, she aid

10:40 PM

UK says Russia redeploying elements of forces from Georgia to Ukraine

Russia is redeploying elements of its forces from Georgia to reinforce its invasion of Ukraine, British military intelligence said on Thursday.

"Between 1,200 and 2,000 of these Russian troops are being reorganised into 3x Battalion Tactical Groups," Britain's Ministry of Defence said.

10:24 PM

Russians left Chernobyl with Ukrainian troops as hostages, says Kyiv

Russian troops are believed to have taken an unspecified number of captive Ukrainian servicemen with them as they left the Chernobyl nuclear plant, officials in Kyiv said on Thursday.

"As they ran away from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the Russian occupiers took members of the National Guard, whom they had held hostage since Feb 24, with them," the state nuclear agency Energoatom said in a statement on Telegram, citing plant workers.

It was unclear how many Ukrainian servicemen had been taken away.

Earlier in the day, a government body in charge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone said all Russian troops had left.

When leaving, Russian troops "marched in two columns towards the Ukrainian border with Belarus" and a "small number" of Russian forces remain in the station, Energoatom said

09:27 PM

Zelensky: Situation in Donbas 'very difficult'

Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said the situation in the south and the Donbas region remained extremely difficult and reiterated that Russia was building up forces near the besieged city of Mariupol.

"There will be battles ahead," Ukraine's president said in a late-night video address.

"We still need to go down a very difficult path to get everything we want."

08:56 PM

New Russian airliner will use domestic engines, given sanctions

One of Russia's flagship airliner projects, the Irkut MS-21, will use domestic engines given that sanctions mean U.S. models are no longer available, the RIA news agency cited a senior official as saying on Thursday.

The medium-range plane, also known as the MC-21, can carry more than 200 passengers and is due to enter service this year. First designed with engines from Pratt and Whitney, a unit of Raytheon Technologies, in December 2020 the plane flew for the first time with Russian-built turbofans.

RIA cited deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov as saying the plane would now only use PD-14 engines produced by the United Engine Corporation (UEC), which he said would need to expand its facilities to boost output.

The plane is built by Irkut Corporation, part of United Aircraft Corporation, which like the UEC is majority owned by Rostec, Russia's state aerospace and defence conglomerate.

08:49 PM

White House says rouble is being artificially propped up by the Russian central bank

The White House is seeing an "artificial propping up of the rouble" by the Russian central bank and by the Russian government, communications director Kate Bedingfield said on Thursday.

"They are taking artificial measures to keep the rouble propped up," she said.

Earlier in the day, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded foreign buyers pay for Russian gas in roubles from Friday or else have their supplies cut.

08:46 PM

Trudeau says no to having Putin at G20 meeting

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday joined allies in saying he does not wish to see Russian President Vladimir Putin at this year's G20 meeting, citing Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Trudeau said he had shared his view with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who is hosting the meeting of major economies in November, that Putin's attendance would be "extraordinarily difficult for us and unproductive for the G20."

"It would be a big issue for many countries, including Canada," he told reporters in Ottawa.

Mr Trudeau explained that G20 summits are about "how we manage and encourage economic growth around the world."

"Russia has with its illegal invasion of Ukraine upended economic growth for everyone around the world and can't possibly be a constructive partner in how we manage the crisis created by Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine," he added.

08:24 PM

Russians have left Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine officials say

Russian troops have left Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear power plant after weeks of occupation, officials in Kyiv said Thursday.

"There are no longer any outsiders on the territory of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant," Ukraine's state agency in charge of the Chernobyl exclusion zone said on Facebook.

08:19 PM

Italy and Germany say they agree on importance of sanctions against Russia

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed in a phone call on the importance of keeping up sanctions against Russia, which are "proving very effective," Mr Draghi's office said in a statement on Thursday.

The phone call between the two leaders comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to halt contracts supplying Europe with a third of its gas unless they are paid in Russian currency, his strongest economic riposte so far to crushing Western sanctions over his invasion of Ukraine.

Both Italy and Germany are big importers of Russian gas.

08:05 PM

Gerard Depardieu denounces Putin's 'crazy excesses' in Ukraine

Veteran actor Gerard Depardieu on Thursday denounced the "crazy, unacceptable excesses" of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine.

"The Russian people are not responsible for the crazy, unacceptable excesses of their leaders like Vladimir Putin," the film star, who has praised the Russian leader in the past, said in a statement to AFP.

Mr Depardieu, a long-time star in France before Peter Weir's 1990 "Green Card" also made him a Hollywood celebrity, left France and took up Russian nationality in 2013 to protest a proposed tax hike on the rich in his homeland.

He is also charged with raping and sexually assaulting a young French actress at his home in Paris in 2018, an accusation he has called "baseless".

Mr Depardieu, 72, had become a friend of Putin, but came out against the war in Ukraine and called for negotiations just days after the Russian invasion began last month.

g - Photo by ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP via Getty Images

07:49 PM

International Energy Agency to discuss stabilising markets on Friday

International Energy Agency member countries will convene for an extraordinary meeting on Friday to discuss stabilizing oil markets, executive director Fatih Birol told the New York Times on Thursday.

"We are going to discuss what kind of steps we can take in order to provide stability to the oil markets," Mr Birol told the newspaper in an interview on Twitter Spaces.

07:20 PM

Not clear Russian convoy to Kyiv exists anymore, Pentagon says

The Pentagon said on Thursday it was not clear that Russia's convoy of military vehicles to Kyiv, which once stretched some 40 miles, even exists anymore after failing to accomplish its mission.

"I don't even know if it still exists at this point... They never really accomplished their mission," said Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby.

The stalled convoy became a symbol of Russia's battlefield difficulties and had been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian forces during the first weeks of the more than month-long invasion.

07:15 PM

US says Russia's demand of roubles for gas is sign of 'desperation'

Russian President Vladimir Putin's demand that foreign buyers pay for Russian gas in roubles is a sign of Moscow's economic and financial "desperation" caused by Western sanctions in response to the invasion of Ukraine, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Thursday.

European nations, some of which rely heavily on Russian gas, have rejected the demand and Germany's government said it amounted to "blackmail."

06:57 PM

IAEA says it is preparing to send mission to Chernobyl after Russian pullout

The UN nuclear watchdog said on Thursday it is preparing to send a mission to the radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl after Ukraine informed it that Russian troops controlling the site had pulled out and the remainder were likely to as well.

"The IAEA is in close consultations with Ukrainian authorities on sending the Agency's first assistance and support mission to [Chernobyl] in the next few days," the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement, adding that Ukraine "presumed" the remaining Russian troops were preparing to leave.

06:50 PM

Russia says it will open humanitarian corridor from Mariupol on April 1

The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday it would open a humanitarian corridor from the besieged city of Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia on Friday, Tass news agency reported.

It quoted Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, the director of the Russian National Center for Defense Management, as saying Moscow was acting on a request that French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had made to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

06:47 PM

Berlin has supplied more than 80 million euros of arms to Kyiv, minister says

Germany has delivered more than 80 million euros ($88.62 million) worth of weapons to Ukraine so far, Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said on a visit to New York on Thursday.

"We have supplied arms for more than 80 million [euros], and more are to follow," she told reporters, responding to criticism Berlin was not delivering enough military aid to Kyiv.

06:43 PM

Pictured: Destroyed Russian armoured vehicles on outskirts of Kyiv

i - AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd

06:31 PM

US wants Ukraine's borders to be respected as before invasion, Pentagon says

The United States wants Ukraine's borders to be respected as before the invasion was launched and it seems Russia is prioritizing taking the eastern Donbass region, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday.

"We want Ukraine's sovereignty, all of their sovereignty, their borders as it was before the end of February to be respected," he told Fox News.

06:22 PM

Biden says use of oil stockpile will 'ease the pain'

President Joe Biden said Thursday that unprecedented use of US oil stockpiles would "ease the pain" of rising fuel prices for Americans as he unveiled a record release of crude from strategic reserves.

He warned the oil industry not "to sit on record profits" during the current price surge, adding that he wanted "to lay a new foundation for true and lasting American energy independence."

06:12 PM

Biden says Putin seems to be self-isolating

President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be self-isolating in Russia and may have fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers.

"He seems to be self-isolated and there's some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers," Mr Biden said without citing evidence. "But I don't want to put too much stock in that at this time."

06:11 PM

Ukraine diversifying fuel supply after Russian missile strikes on depots

Ukraine is diversifying its fuel supplies and is confident of maintaining enough resources after several Russian missile strikes on oil depots, Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko said on Thursday.

Haluschenko said in a televised interview that Ukraine suffered "intense" attacks on its oil infrastructure over the last several days.

05:58 PM

Zelensky holds phone call with Turkey's Erdogan

Had another conversation with a real friend of , President of  @RTErdogan. Noted the high level of organization of negotiations of delegations in Istanbul. Agreed on further steps towards peace. Thanked for the readiness of  to become the guarantor of security of our state!    (@ZelenskyyUa) March 31, 2022

05:56 PM

No EU countries have signalled gas security of supply issues - European Commission

Germany and Austria's declarations of an "early warning" on gas supply are a precautionary measure that increases the monitoring of supply, but no EU countries have yet signalled they are facing security of supply issues, a European Commission spokesperson said on Thursday.

"In all cases, no security of supply issues have been signalled for the present point in time," the spokesperson said, adding the "early warning" alert is the lowest level of crisis notification in the European Union rules on gas supply security.

05:47 PM

Moscow says all foreign leased aircraft will remain in Russia

All foreign leased aircraft still in Russia after the termination of Western leasing contracts will remain in Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said on Thursday.

Sanctions imposed by Western powers in response to Russia's military campaign in Ukraine forced Western firms to terminate leasing contracts with Russian airlines for over 500 aircraft. Russia has said 78 of these planes were seized while abroad, meaning that well over 400 remain.

"The entire fleet, meaning foreign aircraft, will remain in Russia," Borisov said on Russian television. "Some were impounded(abroad) as sanctions were being introduced, (but) the vast majority of Boeing and Airbus (planes) remain in Russia."

Moscow has passed a law allowing the aircraft, worth almost $10 billion, to be entered on its own register, in contravention of international rules.

Bermuda and Ireland, where most of the planes are registered, have suspended airworthiness certificates, which usually means they should be grounded.

05:39 PM

Longer conflict could be in store as Russia eyes Donbas, US official says

Russia's refocusing of its military efforts on the Donbas could herald a "longer, more prolonged conflict" as Ukrainian forces put up fierce resistance in the eastern region, a senior US defense official said Thursday.

"It's been fought over now for eight years," the official said of the heavily contested Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

"The Ukrainians know the territory very, very well," the official said. "They have a lot of forces still there and they're absolutely fighting very hard for that area."

"So just because [the Russians] are going to prioritise it and put more forces there or more energy there doesn't mean it's going to be easy for them," the official said.

"It could be a harbinger of a longer, more prolonged conflict here as the Russians try to gain some leverage, gain some progress, and perhaps gain some chips at the bargaining table."

05:24 PM

Russian councillor charged over 'false information' on troops

A Russian court said on Thursday that a local councillor in Siberia has been charged with knowingly sharing "false information" on army activity in Ukraine, national media reported.

Dmitry Petrenko, an elected Communist member of the municipal council in the city of Omsk, has a Telegram channel where he has posted critical views on Moscow's military operation in Ukraine.

The court's press service said Mr Petrenko had been charged with a crime over Telegram posts that "spread knowingly false information about the use of Russian armed forces to destroy civilian infrastructure and Ukraine's civilian population," RIA Novosti state news agency reported.

Mr Petrenko has been charged with using his official position to do this, meaning he could face up to 10 years in jail.

He has been ordered to stay at home between 10 pm and 6 am and can only use the Internet or other means of communication with written permission from the authorities until late May, pending trial, the city's Kuibyshev district court said.

05:17 PM

IAEA chief lands in Kaliningrad for talks with Russia

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has arrived in Kaliningrad for talks with senior Russian officials after a visit to Ukraine where he is seeking to ensure the safety of nuclear facilities, his agency said on Thursday.

"IAEA Director General (Grossi) just arrived in Kaliningrad, #Russia, for talks with senior Russian officials tomorrow morning," the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Twitter.

IAEA Director General @RafaelMGrossi just arrived in Kaliningrad, #Russia, for talks with senior Russian officials tomorrow morning. pic.twitter.com/nnfolJfKPZ  IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency (@iaeaorg) March 31, 2022

05:08 PM

Ukraine says one killed in Russian strike on evacuation convoy

One person was killed and four seriously wounded when Russian forces shelled an evacuation convoy outside the northern Ukrainian city of Chernigiv, officials in Kyiv said Thursday.

"Five buses came under direct fire from the enemy as they tried to get to the surrounded city to evacuate people," Ukraine's ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said on Telegram.

"There were only civilian volunteers on the buses. As a result of the shelling, one person is dead, four were gravely injured."

Ms Denisova said Russian forces were "denying any chance of evacuating peaceful citizens from besieged Chernigiv, essentially holding tens of thousands of people hostage without food, water or heat."

She said Russian troops were continuously shelling residential neighbourhoods.

04:49 PM

Listen to the latest episode of our Ukraine podcast

04:47 PM

Moscow says all foreign leased aircraft will remain in Russia

All foreign leased aircraft still in Russia after the termination of Western leasing contracts have been entered into the Russian aircraft register and will remain in Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said on Thursday.

The imposition of sanctions by Western powers in response to Russia's military campaign in Ukraine forced Western leasing firms to terminate leasing contracts with Russian airlines for more than 500 aircraft. More than 400 of these are still in Russia.

04:30 PM

Russia to give $1.2 billion to help domestic airlines and flights

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would provide domestic airlines with 100 billion roubles ($1.25 billion) in support to help them deal with the consequences of international sanctions.

In televised remarks at the end of a meeting with representatives of airlines and aircraft manufacturers, he said domestic flights would receive government subsidies in 2022.

The world's 11th largest aviation market is under severe pressure as the United States and Europe on one side and Russia on the other have each closed their airspace to the other's airlines. In addition, Russian airlines can no longer buy parts or maintenance services from Europe or the United States.

Because of the sanctions, imposed in response to Russia's decision to send its armed forces into Ukraine, Western aircraft lessors have also been forced to terminate contracts under which Russian airlines were leasing more than 500 aircraft.

Putin said he had instructed the government to work out measures to ease the burden of leasing payments on the airlines.

04:30 PM

UK adds three more firms to sanctions list

Britain added three firms to its Russia-related sanctions list on Thursday: Photon Pro LLP, Majory LLP, Djeco Group LP.

The companies, registered with a British address, would be subject to an asset freeze according to a finance ministry notice. The three firms were added to the US sanctions list earlier this month.

04:24 PM

Watch: Putin vows to cut gas supply tomorrow unless Europe pays in roubles

04:06 PM

Russia bans EU leadership after sanctions

Russia on Thursday said it will expand the list of EU figures banned from entering the country following Western sanctions over Moscow's military actions in Ukraine.

Russia has been hit with a barrage of sanctions after it launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24.

"The restrictions apply to the top leadership of the European Union including a number of European commissioners and heads of EU military structures as well as the vast majority of members of the European Parliament promoting anti-Russian policies," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Others include "high-ranking officials... as well as public figures and media workers who are personally responsible for promoting illegal anti-Russian sanctions, inciting Russophobic sentiment and infringing the rights and freedoms of the Russian-speaking population," the statement added.

The ministry said the EU delegation in Moscow had been informed, adding that "any hostile sanctions" from the EU and its members would elicit a "harsh response".

04:00 PM

Ukraine's battle fronts are shifting, interior ministry adviser says

The southern city of Mariupol and a "corridor" between two eastern towns, Izyum and Volnovakha, are becoming the key battlefronts in Ukraine, an interior ministry adviser said on Thursday.

"(Russia) is withdrawing forces in the Kyiv region, but it's too early to say that the same is happening in the Chernihiv region," adviser Vadym Denysenko said.

Russia said on Tuesday it would scale down operations in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions. Nato's chief said on Thursday this was a regrouping rather than a withdrawal.

03:53 PM

Britain and allies to send more lethal aid to Ukraine

Britain and its allies have agreed to send more lethal weapons to Ukraine to help defend it against Russia's invasion, British defence minister Ben Wallace said on Thursday.

"There'll be more lethal aid going into Ukraine as a result of today. A number of countries have come forward either with new ideas or indeed more pledges of money," Mr Wallace told reporters after hosting over 30 international partners at a conference.

He said the lethal aid included longer range artillery, ammunition, and more anti-aircraft weapons.

03:47 PM

Former US Marine, 81, goes to Lviv to teach shooting

John Strom embarked on a tortuous journey to Ukraine from his Las Vegas retirement home to teach civilians how to shoot, reports Danielle Sheridan.

John Strom had only moved to his new retirement home three months ago in Las Vegas when he became so moved by the war in Ukraine that he decided to head to eastern Europe. The 81-year-olds journey to Lviv was not for the faint-hearted. After a flight to Phoenix he flew to London Heathrow boarding another flight to Krakow, Poland,where he eventually boarded a bus to Lviv. I was reading the news and I had to come to help, Mr Strom told The Telegraph from inside Lvivs recently formed "Warrior of Self Defence" (WSD) school.

v - Paul Grover for The Telegraph

cc - Paul Grover for The Telegraph

Read the full piece here.

03:20 PM

Russia's RT claims UK sanctions are death knell for media freedom

Russia's state-funded RT television channel said on Thursday that British sanctions on Russian state media organisations showed the imminent end of media freedom and the blinkered nature of officials who thought anything Russian was wrong.

Britain on Thursday announced sanctions on 14 more Russian entities and people, including on state media organisations behind RT and Sputnik and some of their senior figures, saying it was targetting those who push out President Vladimir Putin's "fake news and narratives".

"With this action the UK government has sounded the death knell for media freedom in Britain," Anna Belkina, RT's deputy editor in chief, told Reuters.

03:10 PM

UK is not looking to pay for Russian gas in roubles, PM's spokesman says

Britain does not plan to pay for Russian gas in roubles, Prime Minister Boris Johnson's spokesman said on Thursday, adding that the government was monitoring the implications for the European market of President Vladimir Putin's demand.

Putin said he had signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from April 1, and contracts would be halted if these payments were not made.

Asked if there were any circumstances in which Britain would pay in roubles for Russian gas, the spokesman told reporters: "That is not something we will be looking to do."

02:56 PM

US targets Russia's technology sector in fresh sanctions

The United States on Thursday imposed fresh sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, targeting operators in the technology sector in an effort to prevent Moscow from evading sanctions and expanding Washington's sanctions authorities.

The US Treasury Department in a statement said it imposed sanctions on 21 entities and 13 people, including Joint Stock Company Mikron, the largest Russian manufacturer and exporter of microelectronics and Russia's largest chipmaker.

The Treasury also expanded sanctions authorities to include the aerospace, marine and electronics sectors of the Russian economy. The move allows Washington to impose sanctions on any person or entity determined to operate in those sectors, the Treasury said.

Thursday's move also targeted "malicious cyber actors," the Treasury said.

"We will continue to target Putins war machine with sanctions from every angle, until this senseless war of choice is over," Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in the statement.

02:44 PM

Russian troops start leaving Chernobyl, says Ukraine nuclear agency

Russian troops who seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on February 24 began leaving the station and other exclusion zones on Thursday, Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom said.

"This morning, the invaders announced their intentions to leave the Chernobyl nuclear power plant," Energoatom said on Telegram.

Russian troops "marched in two columns towards the Ukrainian border with Belarus" and a "small number" of Russian forces remain in the station, it said.

02:34 PM

Scholz says Russian gas payments will continue in euros or dollars

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday Western countries would continue paying for Russian gas in euros or dollars despite the Kremlin's threat to cut off supplies not paid for in rubles.

"We looked at the contracts for the gas deliveries," Mr Scholz told reporters in Berlin.

"They say that payments are made in euros, sometimes in dollars... and I made clear in my conversation with the Russian president that that will remain the case," referring to a telephone call with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

02:26 PM

France and Germany 'preparing' in case Russia stops gas deliveries

France and Germany are preparing for a cut in Russian gas deliveries, France's economy minister said Thursday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Moscow will turn off the taps for those who refuse to pay in rubles.

"There could be a situation tomorrow in which ... there is no longer any Russian gas. It's up to us to prepare for these scenarios and we are preparing," said Bruno Le Maire following talks in Berlin with his German counterpart Robert Habeck.

02:14 PM

Latvia outlaws using letter 'Z' as a symbol supporting Russia's Ukraine war

Latvia's parliament on Thursday voted to ban public displays of the letter "Z," saying it was a symbol that was used to glorify the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Russian military vehicles in Ukraine are prominently marked with the letter, and it has started appearing on social media and on clothing elsewhere in support of the war.

Latvia's parliament said the display of the letter with intent to justify military aggression and war crimes would be punished under the new rules with fines of up to 350 euros ($388) for individuals and up to 2,900 euros ($3,214) for companies.

Once it becomes law, the new legislation will also apply to the letter "V," also used by the Russian defence ministry in connection with the war.

"Condemning Russia's hostilities in Ukraine, we must take a firm stand that symbols glorifying Russian military aggression, such as the letters 'Z', 'V' or other symbols used for this purpose, have no place in public events," said the chair of parliamentary Human Rights committee Artuss Kaimins.

Cars stuck in traffic in front of a theatre building decorated with the letter Z in Moscow, Russia, 30 March 2022. - Photo by YURI KOCHETKOV/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

02:11 PM

Western sanctions on Russia likely to increase, Putin says

Western nations will try to find new grounds to sanction Russia, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday, adding that his country must aim to retain jobs and to create new ones.

In televised remarks, he also said that the United States was profiting from the global turbulence, adding that of US military complex companies were on the rise.

01:58 PM

Russia's Gazprombank is the intermediary for rouble gas payments, Putin order says

Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed on Thursday that foreign buyers of Russian gas would have to use special accounts at Gazprombank to pay for the import of Russian gas.

A foreign buyer is now obliged to transfer foreign currency to one special, so called "K", account. Gazprombank would then buy roubles on behalf of the gas buyer to transfer roubles to another special "K" account, the order said.

Gazprombank would then transfer rouble funds from a 'K' type account of the foreign gas buyer to Gazprom's rouble accounts, the order said. Gazprombank can open such accounts without a presence of a foreign buyer's representative.

01:45 PM

France and Germany reject Putin's roubles for gas demand

Germany and France on Thursday rejected demands by Russia that European countries pay for its gas in rouble as an unacceptable breach of contracts, adding that the maneuver amounted to "blackmail."

Speaking during a news conference, Germany Economy Minister Robert Habeck said he had not yet seen a new degree signed by President Valdimir Putin mandating gas payments in roubles, adding that Germany was prepared for all scenarios, including a stoppage of Russian gas flows to Europe.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said France and Germany rejected Russia's demand.

Russia's attempt to divide Western allies by requiring gas payments in roubles has failed, German economy minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday, adding that Western allies are determined to not be "blackmailed" by Russia.

01:41 PM

Ukraine sees Russia changing tactics to more long-range attacks around Kyiv, says military official

Russian forces around Kyiv have lost their offensive capacity and are changing tactics to favour long-range attacks more than direct fighting, the deputy chief of staff of Ukraine's ground forces said on Thursday.

Speaking in an online video address about the defence of the capital, Oleksandr Gruzevich said: "The enemy has almost exhausted its offensive potential, but the forces that remain around Kyiv are not small."

01:37 PM

Ukraine war spurring Nato allies to spend more, Stoltenberg says

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has created a "new sense of urgency" among Nato member states to boost defence spending, the alliance's chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday as he unveiled the organisation's 2022 annual report.

The report itself - covering expenditures before Russia launched its war in February this year - showed just eight of Nato's 30 member nations were meeting a target of spending two percent of GDP on defence.

As usual, the United States - by far the biggest military power in Nato-led spending, with 3.6 percent, around the same level as Greece.

The other six countries to exceed the two-percent "guideline" were: Poland, Britain, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

01:36 PM

Telegraph photographer reflects on a month in Ukraine

Simon Townsley reveals the stories behind some of his most impactful photographs from the conflict.

Stay safe. That was the signoff from most of the messages I received during the month I spent on the ground in Ukraine. I was part of a team of photographers and writers covering the first weeks of the conflict, following Russias invasion on February 24. None of us had any real idea how the situation would evolve or what to expect. We still dont know what lies ahead. But witnessing the war was both terrifying and extraordinary. I have covered many conflicts, but never before have I been on the ground during a war against a superpower. We had learned over the years of the size and scale of the Russian military, and expected at any minute the long-feared lightning attacks, encircling and cutting us off. Instead we became accustomed to and ignored the frequent air-aid sirens and requests to move to the shelter. Surprisingly what we are seeing now is a meat-grinder, a slow inexorable and bloody advance in some areas, and a return to trench warfare in others.

Simon Townsley/The Telegraph - Simon Townsley/The Telegraph

Read his full piece here.

01:29 PM

Putin assured his commitment to humanitarian access in Ukraine, Norway PM says

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere has said that Vladimir Putin assured him Russia would contribute to securing humanitarian access to besieged civilians in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

During a one-hour long phone call with the Russian president, Mr Stoere said he urged Putin to end the war in Ukraine, pull out Russian troops and enable humanitarian access.

"We have very limited expectations of what could be achieved, but nothing should be left untried in the situation we are now in," Mr Stoere said.

Commenting on their discussions about the need for humanitarian access to civilians in the port city of Mariupol, Mr Stoere said: "My impression is that he confirms Russia's intention to contribute to that."

Mr Stoere added, however, that only actions on the ground could tell whether Russia delivers on the promises or not.

01:23 PM

Putin says Russian gas must be paid for in roubles from Friday

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he had signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from April 1, and contracts would be halted if these payments were not made.

01:22 PM

The latest pictures from Ukraine

A police officer guards a detained marauder, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the town of Irpin, Kyiv region, Ukraine - Picture taken March 30, 2022. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak

destroyed Russian tank next to a recaptured by the Ukrainian army Trostyanets town, in Sumy region, Ukraine - Photo by ROMAN PILIPEY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

h - REUTERS/Serhii Nuzhnenko

01:13 PM

Blogger detained for treason in western Ukraine

A Ukrainian social media blogger has been detained for treason for "supporting" the Russian invasion, the country's SBU security service said on Thursday, and could face up to 15 years in jail.

"The special services have stopped the activities of a scandalous 'journalist' who was engaged in activities detriment to Ukraine's information security," the SBU's Lviv branch said on Facebook.

"Exploiting the media, the traitor supported the criminal actions of the aggressor country," it said.

It alleged that the man's material had been "successfully used by Russian media to justify criminal actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine".

Ukrainian media identified the man as 33-year-old Gleb Lyashenko, saying he had been taken into custody, with a bail of four million hryvnias (around $135,500 dollars, 122,000 euros) for his release.

12:57 PM

Zelensky says thousands have been killed in besieged Mariupol

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, said that thousands of people had been killed in Mariupol since Russian forces started laying siege to the strategic port city.

"Everyone knows there is a humanitarian catastrophe there," Mr Zelensky told Belgian lawmakers in an address via video link.

12:49 PM

Nerve-wracking footage shows Ukrainian drivers crossing over Russian landmines

12:41 PM

Death toll from strike on regional HQ in Mykolaiv rises to 20

The death toll from a rocket strike on a regional administration building in Ukraine's southern city of Mykolaiv on Tuesday has risen to 20.

"Rescuers pulled 19 bodies from under the rubble, and one person died in intensive care," the local emergency service said in a post on Facebook.

12 people were originally estimated to have died in the attack, which blasted a hole in the side of the building in central Mykolaiv.

12:25 PM

Young Russians mourn the loss of a Western lifestyle as a new iron curtain rises

As companies pull out and sanctions grip the economy, young Russians face a dramatic change in living standards, report Genevieve Holl-Allen and Tom Rees.

A daily medium cup of coffee in Moscow has turned into an unrealistic luxury for Katya, costing as much as a whole meal in a mid-range cafe. When the Russian capitals shopping centres were filled with Western brands, I regularly bought Nespresso coffee, and Ikea products, says the 21-year-old. Just one month into Putins war with Ukraine, however, the shop spaces are half-empty, Katya says. Chocolate and Coca-Cola are still currently on sale, but soon they may not be either. Uniqlo, H&M, Zara, Pull&Bear, Sephora, Jo Malone, Starbucks, Mcdonalds, Nespresso, Ikea are closed, as are many brands like Dolce & Gabanna and Gucci. As foreign companies pull out of Russia, a new iron curtain is rising between Moscow and the West. Many young Russians are mourning the loss of a lifestyle they have grown up accustomed to.

Read the full story here.

12:14 PM

Vladimir Putin is being lied to by his advisers, says UK spy chief

12:02 PM

Kremlin denies Western claims that Putin is being 'misled' over Ukraine

The Kremlin denied US and British claims that Vladimir Putin's advisers are scared of giving him a true picture of Russia's war against Ukraine.

"This shows that neither the Department of State nor the Pentagon have real information about what is happening in the Kremlin," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists. "They don't understand President Putin, they don't understand the mechanism for taking decisions and they don't understand the style of our work," he added.

11:54 AM

OPEC+ says prolonged conflict would be major blow to global economy

OPEC+ has warned that the global economy would see a major blow from a prolonged conflict in Ukraine, the oil producing group said in an internal report, seen by Reuters.

"Consumer and business sentiment is expected to decline not only in Europe, but also in the rest of the world, when only accounting for the inflationary impact the conflict has already caused," it said.

11:43 AM

Ukraine seeks UN nuclear watchdog help over occupied plants

The head of Ukraine's state nuclear company urged the UN nuclear watchdog to help ensure Russian officials do not interfere in the operation of nuclear power plants occupied by Russian forces.

Russian troops have occupied Europe's largest nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia and the now defunct plant at Chernobyl, scene of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986.

Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin said earlier this month that Russia's state nuclear company Rosatom had sent officials to the Zaporizhzhia plant to try to take control of it. Rosatom said a "limited number" of its officials were there but denied they had taken operational control.

Calling on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to prevent what Ukraine regards as interference by Russian nuclear officials, Mr Kotin said: "(The IAEA) can influence this and they must influence this, and this question will be discussed."

11:35 AM

Nato: Russian troops not withdrawing but regrouping

Russian forces in Ukraine are not withdrawing but regrouping, Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, commenting on Moscow's announcements about a scaling down of military operations around Kyiv.

"According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region," Mr Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. "At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities. So we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering."

11:20 AM

Not right time for ceasefire, says Putin in call with Italian PM

Vladimir Putin told Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi that conditions were not yet in place for a ceasefire in Ukraine, Mr Draghi told a news conference today when asked about a telephone call with the Russian President on Wednesday.

Mr Draghi also said that Putin told him that current gas contracts remained in force and that European firms will continue to pay in euros and dollars, rather than in roubles.

"What I understood, but I may be wrong, is that the conversion of the payment.... is an internal matter of the Russian Federation," Mr Draghi said.

11:18 AM

Pictured: A Ukrainian serviceman inspects a bomb crater near Kyiv

Pictured: A Ukrainian serviceman inspects a bombed area near Kyiv - STR/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

11:15 AM

Erdogan says Abramovich was part of Russian delegation at Istanbul peace talks

Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who is sanctioned by European nations over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, was part of Russia's delegation at peace negotiations in Istanbul this week, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said today.

Mr Abramovich made a surprise appearance at Tuesday's talks in Istanbul, the first in-person meeting between the sides in more than two weeks. However a presidential feed at the time showed him sat among observers rather than at the main table with the two negotiating teams.

"Abramovich participated in the negotiations as part of the Russian delegation. Rather than looking at who was at the table, we should look at on whose behalf they were there," Erdogan said.

"If Russia and Putin preferred to put Abramovich in their delegation, that means they believe and trust in him," German broadcaster NTV quoted Mr Erdogan as telling reporters on a flight returning from Uzbekistan.

11:00 AM

Russia has destroyed most of Ukraine's defence industry, says Zelensky adviser

Russia has destroyed almost all of Ukraine's defence industry, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said on Thursday in a video address where he welcomed the terms of a proposed peace deal as a win for Ukraine.

"They have practically destroyed our defence industry," Mr Arestovych said.

He said under a peace agreement discussed with Russia on Tuesday, Ukraine would be protected from future threats by international security guarantees that Russia would not be able to veto.

"This is an ideal agreement that improves our position several times over in a fundamental way," he said.

10:49 AM

Norwegian PM holds call with Putin

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere had an hour-long conversation with Vladimir Putin today in which the two discussed the invasion of Ukraine, the Norwegian prime minister's office said in a statement.

"I asked the president urgently to end the war in Ukraine, pull out Russian troops and secure humanitarian access," Mr Stoere said.

Norway, a NATO member, shares a border with Russia in the Arctic.

10:47 AM

How a British-made missile launcher helped keep Putin's army at bay

A Ukrainian serviceman fires an NLAW anti-tank weapon during an exercise in the Donetsk region - Vadim Ghirda /AP

The Anglo-Swedish next-generation light anti-tank weapon (NLAW) has achieved cult status in Ukraine, reports Dominic Nicholls.

We hit it thanks to the gifts from Her Majesty the Queen, the fighter said with a smile on his face, standing in front of a destroyed Russian vehicle, yellow tape on each arm marking him out as a Ukrainian fighter. Give us more toys like these and there will be more destroyed tanks. He finishes by saying he would like to put a Belfast-built anti-tank weapon into the hands of every civilian. Another video shows a Ukrainian fighter in heavily accented English saying the beautiful thing in his hands has just destroyed the tank behind him. I want to say a big thank you to our British comrades helping us, the man says, holding aloft the empty tube from where his missile was fired. Both men are referring to the Anglo-Swedish next-generation light anti-tank weapon (NLAW). Thousands have flowed into the country, playing a decisive role in crippling the Russian invasion.

Read the full story here.

10:40 AM

Two killed in rocket attack on military unit and fuel depot in eastern Ukraine

Russian rockets struck a military unit and a fuel depot in the Dnipro region of eastern Ukraine today, killing two people, the regional governor said.

Governor Valentyn Reznychenko said five people were also wounded in the strike.

10:36 AM

French military intelligence head steps down over failure to predict invasion

The head of France's military intelligence agency has quit over a failure to predict the war in Ukraine, reports in France have suggested today.

Eric Vidaud had led the military intelligence agency for seven months but sources told the l'Opinion newspaper and other media that the army had judged his briefings "insufficient" and he lacked "mastery of the subjects".

The chief of staff of France's armed forces, Thierry Burkhard, told Le Monde this month that French intelligence had, unlike their US counterpart, failed to predict Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"The Americans said the Russians were going to attack, they were right. Our services rather thought that invading Ukraine would have a monstrous cost and that the Russians had other options," Mr Burkhard told Le Monde.

L'Opinion said Mr Vidaud was told on Tuesday that he would have to leave his post in the summer because of the failures over Ukraine and that he decided to step down immediately

10:33 AM

Almost 30,000 Ukrainian refugees registered in Spain

Almost 30,000 Ukrainian refugees have been officially registered in Spain since the Russian invasion started, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said today.

He added that the number was likely to rise to 70,000 in the coming days.

10:13 AM

UK makes 14 additions to Russia sanctions list

The British Government said it had made 14 additions to its list of sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including media organisations and senior figures within them.

Among those sanctioned today were senior figures from media outlets including RT's managing director Alexey Nikolov, Sergey Brilev, a prominent news anchor at the state-owned Rossiya Television and Radio network, and Sputnik's Editor-in-Chief Anton Anisimov.

Russia's Chief of the National Defence Command and Control Centre Mikhail Mizinitsev was also added to the list, which stated that he had been "responsible for planning and executing the siege and bombardment of Mariupol".

09:58 AM

School destroyed as Russian troops continue bombing Kyiv despite withdrawal pledge

09:44 AM

Red Cross ready to lead Mariupol evacuations tomorrow

Teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are on their way to the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol with aid supplies and stand ready to evacuate civilians, it said today.

Ewan Watson, ICRC spokesman, said Ukraine and Russia must agree on the exact terms of the operation, which is planned for Friday, adding that "tens of thousands" of lives depend on its success.

"For logistics and security reasons, well be ready to lead the safe passage operation tomorrow, Friday, provided all the parties agree to the exact terms, including the route, the start time, and the duration," Mr Watson told Reuters in Geneva.

09:38 AM

Zelensky urges Dutch parliament to stop all trade with Russia

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, has asked the Dutch parliament for weapons, reconstruction aid and to halt all business with Russia in response to the invasion of his country.

"Stronger sanctions are needed so that Russia doesn't have a chance to pursue this war further in Europe," he told lawmakers via video link. "Stop all trade with Russia."

09:26 AM

Russian troops moving away from Chernobyl nuclear site

Areas around Kyiv are likely to see heavy fighting in the coming days, the Ukrainian Defence Ministry has warned, despite Russian forces apparently beginning to withdraw from the Chernobyl nuclear site north of the capital, reports Campbell MacDiarmid.

"Chernobyl is (an) area where they are beginning to reposition some of their troops - leaving, walking away from the Chernobyl facility and moving into Belarus," a US official told AFP. "We think that they are leaving, I can't tell you that they're all gone." It is believed to be part of a redeployment of some forces to eastern Ukraine. Yet significant troops remain around the capital. Russian forces continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv despite the withdrawal of a limited number of units, the Defence Ministry said in its Thursday intelligence report. Heavy fighting will likely take place in the suburbs of the city in the coming days. The Pentagon has characterised the movement of some Russian troops away from Kyiv as a redeployment rather than a withdrawal, saying they may be used in a fresh offensive in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. They are repositioning some of their troops away from Kyiv, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Wednesday.

09:13 AM

Pictured: Zelensky addresses Australian Parliament

Pictured: Zelensky addresses Australian Parliament - Lukas Coch /AAP

09:04 AM

Russia-backed separatists claim significant gains in Ukraine's east

Pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine have said they control almost all of the Luhansk region and more than half of the Donetsk region after Moscow made these territories its primary military goal.

The claims have not been independently verified.

Russia recognised the independence of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics shortly before sending troops into Ukraine on February 24.

"As of the morning of March 31, 2022, more than 90 per cent of the territory of the People's Republic of Luhansk has been liberated," the foreign ministry of the self-proclaimed republic said on Telegram today.

Denis Pushilin, the leader of the Donetsk separatists said yesterday that "around 55 to 60 per cent" of the region's territory was under Russian control.

Before the start of Russia's invasion, the separatists - locked in conflict with Ukraine's army since 2014 - controlled about a third of each of these regions.

08:59 AM

Japan rules out withdrawal from joint Russia gas project

Japan has no plans to withdraw from a joint Russian oil and gas project, despite joining tough sanctions on Moscow over its Ukraine invasion, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said today.

Energy resource-poor Japan is attempting to balance its need for fossil fuels with toeing a hard line on Russia, and has faced questions over its continued involvement in the Sakhalin-2 project.

After Russia launched its war in Ukraine last month, oil giant Shell said it would sell its 27.5 per cent stake in Sakhalin-2 in Russia's far east.

But Kishida said the project was helping to provide "long-term, inexpensive and stable LNG supplies" to Japan.

"It is an extremely important project in terms of our energy security," he told a parliamentary session. "Our plan is not to withdraw."

Japan's Mitsui controls a 12.5 per cent stake in the project, while Mitsubishi owns 10 per cent. It is 50 per cent controlled by Russian energy company Gazprom.

08:50 AM

Russian foreign ministry would not refuse meeting with Ukrainian counterparts

Moscow would not refuse a meeting between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba but any talks between them would need to be substantive, the Russian news agency RIA cited the Russian foreign ministry as saying today.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said earlier that Turkey was working to bring together the Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers for further talks after hosting peace negotiations in Istanbul this week.

Mr Cavusoglu said the meeting could happen within two weeks

08:43 AM

Nato has been 'defeated', says former British Army officer

General Sir Nick Parker, former commander of land forces in the British Army, said Nato has been "defeated" and called for a smaller coalition of nations to develop an offensive counter-strategy to Vladimir Putin.

Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme about Nato's response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, he said: "Slightly controversially I suppose, I mean Nato's been defeated, Nato's bluff was called. "We were unable to stop the Russians trampling all over Ukraine and now Nato is holding the line of the 2004 expansion, along the line of the Baltic states and Poland and Hungary and Romania. "And what it has to do is to defend that line, it's in what in military terms we would call a defensive position. "And I don't think it has the capacity to move on to the offensive with its 30 nations all with slightly different views. "We need to have a smaller coalition of nations who can start to develop an offensive counter-strategy to Putin."

08:37 AM

Zelensky says other countries may be emboldened if Russia not punished

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, told Australia's parliament that Russia must be held accountable for its invasion of Ukraine, warning that a failure to punish Moscow may encourage other countries to wage war against their neighbours.

"If we don't stop Russia now, if we don't hold Russia accountable, then some other countries of the world who are looking forward to a similar war against their neighbours will decide that such things are possible for them as well," Mr Zelensky said in the video address.

Mr Zelensky, seated at a desk wearing his trademark khaki t-shirt, did not specify which countries he feared would be inspired by Russia.

08:26 AM

Gazprom studies options for halting gas supplies to Europe, reports suggest

Russian energy giant Gazprom is looking at options for halting gas supplies to "unfriendly" countries, the Russian newspaper Kommersant reported.

Vladimir Putin has said Russia will soon require "unfriendly" countries to pay for fuel in roubles, raising alarm about a possible gas supply crunch in Europe.

Putin has ordered the Russian central bank and Gazprom to prepare the payment scheme by March 31 amid Western sanctions against Russia.

Countries in the European Union, where Gazprom accounts for about 40 per cent of gas supplies, have stated their refusal to pay for Russian gas in roubles.

"Gazprom ... is indeed working on an option of a complete stoppage of gas supplies to 'unfriendly countries' and is evaluating the consequences of such measures," the newspaper wrote.

08:17 AM

Pictured: Damaged Red Cross warehouse in Mariupol

Pictured: Damaged Red Cross warehouse in Mariupol - Planet Labs PBC

08:08 AM

Turkey says Abramovich 'sincerely' working to end war

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, who is sanctioned by European nations over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, was "sincerely" working to end the war.

He has been liaising between Kyiv and Moscow since the invasion began on February 24, Mr Cavusoglu said.

Mr Abramovich made a surprise appearance at Ukraine-Russia negotiations in Istanbul on Tuesday.

07:56 AM

Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers could meet within two weeks

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba could meet within two weeks for talks, Turkey said today after hosting negotiators from both sides earlier this week.

"There could be a higher-level meeting, at least at the level of foreign ministers, within about a week or two weeks," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a televised interview.

07:53 AM

Truss and Lavrov arrive in Delhi to court Indian leaders

Both the British and Russian Foreign Secretaries have arrived in Delhi to court Indian leaders, amidst the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, reports Joe Wallen in New Delhi.

Liz Truss, the British Foreign Secretary, will attempt to convince Indian leaders to reduce their historic ties to Moscow and condemn Russia's war in Ukraine but it is unlikely to be successful. So far, India has remained diplomatically neutral, abstaining on seven United Nations votes against Russia. It has also increased its imports of oil from Moscow, attracting the ire of its ally the US. Meanwhile, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Secretary, is in India for a two-day trip to discuss further trade between the two countries. On Sunday, India openly said it was considering doubling its imports of Russian coking coal and discussing the potential for a rupee-rouble trade system. "India will import more items from Russia, especially if it is at a discount," one senior Indian government official said.

07:39 AM

Gravestones depicting Putin and Lukashenko erected in city near Kyiv

Putin and Lukashenko - STR/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Gravestones depicting Vladimir Putin and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko have been erected in a small city near Kyiv, reports Tom Ough.

Putins face is depicted ghoulishly, with blood leaking from his mouth. Lukashenko is wearing, for reasons that are unclear, what appears to be naval gear. The city in which the two gravestones have appeared is Malyn, which is in Zhytomyr Oblast, about 62 miles (100km) north-west of Kyiv. It is a similar distance from Belarus, which is to the citys north. Malyn, which before war had a population of under 30,000, was badly hit by Russian bombing earlier this month.

07:24 AM

Europe must stop buying Russian oil and gas, Lithuania's president says

Europe must stop buying oil and gas from Russia and should apply new sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania's president Gitanas Nauseda said today.

"Europe must stop buying Russian gas and oil, because the Kremlin regime uses this money to finance destruction of Ukrainian cities and attacks on peaceful civilians," Nauseda told a joint news conference with the Danish prime minister. "The fifth sanction package must deliver a maximum blow to the Kremlin regime," he said.

07:12 AM

Zelensky tells Australia that more Russian sanctions needed

Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, told Australia's parliament today that new and stronger sanctions against Russia were needed to increase the pressure on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine.

Australia has supplied defence equipment and humanitarian supplies to Ukraine, as well as imposing a ban on exports of alumina and aluminium ores, including bauxite, to Russia.

It has imposed a total of 476 sanctions on 443 individuals, including businessmen close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and 33 entities, including most of Russia's banking sector and all entities responsible for the country's sovereign debt.

07:02 AM

Vladimir Putin turns on his military advisers as invasion falters

The Russian president feels misled by spy chiefs and generals over failings of the war, with several being reportedly sacked or arrested, writes Nataliya Vasilyeva.

Vladimir Putin set out to capture Kyiv and topple its government at lightning speed when he launched his invasion of Ukraine under the guise of a special operation. But five weeks into the war, there is mounting evidence that the Russian president is turning on his own spy chiefs and military advisers as his invasion falters. According to declassified US intelligence reports, Putin feels he has been misled by military leaders who have failed to inform him how poorly his campaign in Ukraine is going. A US official said on Wednesday that Putin "didnt even know his military was using and losing conscripts, which was showing a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information".

Read the full story here.

06:52 AM

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: India sitting on the fence in regard to Russian invasion

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the International Trade Secretary, said she understands why India has "chosen to sit on the fence" when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but added it is important for countries to stand up for democracy.

Ms Trevelyan told Sky News: "We understand why they've chosen to sit on the fence at the moment - they, you know, have connections in both directions. "But for us, it's really important to see all countries who believe in democracy and the rule of law, and indeed defending your own territorial borders and wanting to have that sovereignty, you know, respected by those around you, to stand up for that."

06:36 AM

Pictured: A destroyed Russian tank in Trostyanets

A destroyed Russian tank in Trostyanets - ROMAN PILIPEY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

06:26 AM

Convoy of buses trying to reach trapped civilians in Mariupol

A convoy of Ukrainian buses set out for the southern port city of Mariupol to try to reach trapped civilians, said Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister.

She said the International Committee of the Red Cross had confirmed that Russia had agreed to open a humanitarian corridor to the besieged city where tens of thousands of civilians remain after weeks of Russian bombardment.

06:14 AM

Russian troops eating dogs because they are 'sick' of ration packs

Ukraines security service intercepted an audio recording of a call from a soldier to his family, who said they were desperate for meat, reports David Millward.

Russian soldiers are eating dogs rather than the ration packs they have been given, Ukraines security service has claimed. According to a 45-second call from a serviceman to his family, soldiers are sick of the ready-to-eat meals they have been given. An audio recording of the call, which was intercepted by Ukraines security service, was posted on Twitter. The soldier is asked, Are you eating ok at least? He replies, "Not too bad. We had Alabay, (a breed of sheepdog found in Central Asia) yesterday. We wanted some meat.

Read the full story here.

06:06 AM

MoD: Ukrainian forces remain in control of centre of Mariupol

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 31 March 2022



Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/dESTQT4irj



 #StandWithUkraine  pic.twitter.com/0NUMTq8nrj  Ministry of Defence  (@DefenceHQ) March 31, 2022

05:43 AM

China warned about being 'too closely aligned' with Kremlin

The head of Britain's Government Communications Headquarters spy service has warned China not to become "too closely aligned" with the Kremlin.

Speaking at the Australian National University in Canberra, Sir Jeremy Fleming said western allies were making "deeply secret intelligence" public to get ahead of Russian president Vladimir Putin's information war, while also tackling cyber threats.

On China, he said the country's long-term interests were not well served by an alliance with a leader that "wilfully and illegally" ignores the international "rules of the road".

05:25 AM

Kremlin hunting for cyber targets, says spy chief

Sir Jeremy Fleming, who heads the GCHQ electronic spy agency, has warned that the Kremlin is hunting for cyber targets and bringing in mercenaries to shore up its stalled military campaign in Ukraine.

He praised Volodymyr Zelensky's "information operation" for being highly effective at countering Russia's massive disinformation drive spreading propaganda about the war.

While there were expectations that Russia would launch a major cyber attack as part of its military campaign, Sir Jeremy said such a move was never a central part of Moscow's standard playbook for war.

05:00 AM

Taiwan studies Ukraine's war tactics

Taiwan's defence ministry has set up a working group to study the tactics of the war in Ukraine, including how the country has been able to hold out against Russia, and has been discussing this with the United States, its minister said on Thursday.

Taiwan, claimed by China as its own territory, has raised its alert level since the Russian invasion, wary of Beijing possibly making a similar move on the island.

Taiwan's Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said they had had "contact" with foreign countries to talk about how the war was being fought.

While Taiwanese officials have seen many parallels in the Ukraine war and their own situation, including having their own giant neighbour with territorial ambitions, they have also pointed to major differences.

Taiwan has talked, for example, of the "natural barrier" of the Taiwan Strait, which would make China putting troops on the ground much more difficult than Russia just crossing over its land border with Ukraine.

Taiwan also has a large and well-equipped air force, and is developing its own formidable missile strike capability.

04:44 AM

In pictures: Another day in the life of Ukrainians at war

A man walks in front a destroyed train in the north-eastern city of Trostianets - FADEL SENNA/AFP

Elderly people talk outside their apartment building in Kharkiv - ERGEY BOBOK/AFP

Ukrainian soldiers stand next to rubble of a destroyed building in the city of Trostianets - FADEL SENNA/AFP

A resident walks in front of a destroyed building in Trostianets - FADEL SENNA/AFP

04:21 AM

US considers releasing up to 180 million barrels of oil

The Biden administration is considering releasing up to 180 million barrels of oil over several months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR), four US sources said, as the White House tries to lower fuel prices.

The move would mark the third time the US has tapped its strategic reserves in the past six months, and would be the largest release in the near 50-year history of the SPR.

The releases have not managed to lower prices as world demand has nearly reached pre-pandemic levels while supply has tightened globally.

Oil prices have surged since Russia invaded Ukraine and the US.

US President Joe Biden will deliver remarks on Thursday on his administration's actions, the White House said.

03:57 AM

Moscow announces another ceasefire

Russia's defence ministry announced a local ceasefire on Thursday to allow civilians to be evacuated from Ukraine's besieged port city of Mariupol.

It said a humanitarian corridor would be opened to Zaporizhzhia with cooperation from the UN refugee agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Locals take refuge outside an apartment building damaged in Mariupol - REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

But previous attempts to allow civilians out of the devastated town have failed, and Ukraine's deputy prime minister described the proposal as "another manipulation".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he did not trust Russian claims it would scale back military activity around the capital Kyiv and another city.

"We don't believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase," he said in a video address, adding that Russian troops were regrouping to strike the eastern Donbas region.

03:07 AM

US offers another $500m for Ukraine aid

The White House has pledged an additional $500 million (380 million) in direct aid for Ukraine as the Russian invasion grinds on.

US President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a 55-minute call that the additional aid is on its way.

Just finished an hour-long conversation with @POTUS. Shared assessment of the situation on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. Talked about specific defensive support, a new package of enhanced sanctions, macro-financial and humanitarian aid.    (@ZelenskyyUa) March 30, 2022

The leaders also reviewed security aid already delivered to Ukraine and the effects that weaponry has had on the war, according to the White House.

02:26 AM

One-quarter of humanity live in conflict areas: UN

The United Nations chief said that one-quarter of humanity - two billion people - are living in conflict areas and the world is facing the highest number of violent conflicts since 1945 when the Second World War ended.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres cited conflicts from Yemen, Syria, Myanmar and Sudan to Haiti, Africa's Sahel, "and now the war in Ukraine - a catastrophe shaking the foundations of the international order, spilling across borders and causing skyrocketing food, fuel and fertiliser prices that spell disaster for developing countries".

He told the UN Peacebuilding Commission that 84 million people were forced to leave their homes last year because of conflict, violence and human rights violations.

The Ukraine war has already seen four million people flee the country and displaced another 6.5 million within the country, according to UN agencies.

12:41 AM

Innocent Ukrainians and Russians pay for Putin's 'personal war'

Vladimir Putin's advisers are scared to tell him the truth about the progress of his Ukraine invasion but the extent of the Russian leader's "misjudgements" must be "crystal clear to the regime", the head of Britain's GCHQ spy agency said.

In a rare public address during a visit to Australia, Sir Jeremy Fleming said Putin had "massively misjudged the situation".

"It's clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people," Sir Jeremy said.

"He underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanise. He under-played the economic consequences of the sanctions regime. He over-estimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory.

"We've seen Russian soldiers - short of weapons and morale - refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

"And even though we believe Putin's advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what's going on and the extent of these misjudgements must be crystal clear to the regime."

Sir Jeremy said it had become Putin's personal war, "with the cost being paid by innocent people in Ukraine and increasingly, by ordinary Russians too".

12:30 AM

Donetsk offensive operations intensifying

The leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, said offensive operations were intensifying.

"We are well aware that the longer it takes us to liberate our territory - those settlements that are now under control of Ukraine - the more victims and destruction there will be," he said.

Donetsk includes the besieged port city of Mariupol, which has seen some of the war's heaviest fighting and bombardment and where about 170,000 people are trapped with scarce food and water.

"We cook what we find among neighbours; a bit of cabbage, a bit more of potatoes, we've found tomato paste, some beetroot," said former steel worker Viktor from Mariupol.

Metallurgist Viktor, 63, cooks food at the entrance to the basement of an apartment building in Mariupol - REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

They cook using a rudimentary barbecue and sleep in a basement, which he termed their "peaceful oasis".

Russian forces have taken half of the strategic port city, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

12:24 AM

Zelensky: Ukraine preparing for new Russian offensive

Ukrainian forces are preparing for new Russian attacks in the east of the country as Moscow builds up its troops there after suffering setbacks near the capital Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday.

Tough resistance has prevented Russia from capturing any major city, including Kyiv.

At peace talks this week in Istanbul, Russia said it would curtail operations near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv to build trust.

But Ukraine and its Western allies, including the US, dismissed Russia's pledge as a ploy to stem its losses and prepare for other attacks.

Russia said its forces were regrouping to focus on "liberating" the breakaway eastern Donbas region.

In an early morning video address on Thursday, Mr Zelensky referred to Russian troop movements away from Kyiv and Chernihiv and said that was not a withdrawal but rather "the consequence of our defenders' work".

Mr Zelensky said Ukraine is seeing "a build-up of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas and we are preparing for that".

11:41 PM

Today's top stories
TALLINN, Estonia  Each new bomb and missile that strikes Ukraine casts a long shadow across this country and the other Baltic states that share a border with Russia.

Unlike Ukraine, however, these states  Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania  are members of NATO and are close allies of the United States. For years, they have raised the alarm that Russia is their most existential threat. Yet, they feel they received little response prior to the invasion of Ukraine.

Now, unless they get further support from their allies, some worry they could be the next target of the Kremlin and the very bombs and missiles that it has used to level Ukrainian cities.

Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister Eva-Maria Liimets told NBC News on Tuesday that Russia is not a direct threat at the moment, but her nations defense and its future as a liberal democracy depend on the clear support of its allies, especially Washington.

Its very important to see U.S. military presence in Europe, and we would also welcome U.S. troops here in Estonia, in addition to the other allied presence we have at the moment: troops from the United Kingdom, from France, from Denmark, she said, later sharing her hopes that the addition of NATOs battle groups would be a permanent fixture of Estonias defense.

The Department of State and the National Security Council did not respond to requests for comment.

Liimets, who has served in her role since January 2021, emphasized that Estonia and the U.S. maintain very good relations, noting her visit to Washington in February and Secretary of State Antony Blinkens stop in Estonia in March.

Still, she said, more could be done to make that support concrete.

From our perspective, of course, it would be very important to also see a new U.S. ambassador here in Estonia, she said. The post has sat empty since James Melville Jr., the most recent U.S. ambassador to Estonia, resigned in protest in 2018 over then-President Donald Trumps comments about the European Union and NATO.

Story continues

This year is the 18th anniversary of Estonias membership in NATO, and the 100th year of diplomatic relations with the U.S. But most remarkably for Estonians, the first shells fell in Ukraine on Feb. 24  the day they celebrate their independence from the occupation of the then-Soviet Union.

Its not enough

Baltic states' officials and lawmakers see Ukraines struggle and its future as intertwined with their own security and the fate of their liberal democracies. Russias latest acts of aggression, they say, are affirmation that the Kremlin remains their greatest threat, despite close allies telling them for years that they were alarmist.

Here in Estonias capital city, which boasts a history that stretches back to the 13th century, newly built skyscrapers of glass and steel are lit up at night with the blue and yellow of Ukraine. In the old town sector  made up of towering ancient churches and castle walls  shops and restaurants display small Ukrainian flags and collection tins for Ukrainian refugees. At the Russian Embassy, the buildings entrance is protected by police barriers plastered with anti-war signs. There is often the sound of ripping duct tape as more protest posters are affixed to the fence.

High-rise buildings in the heart of Tallinn, Estonia, on Thursday morning. (Alessandro Rampazzo for NBC News)

This war is very worrisome and our society really feels it because we have accepted more than 24,000 refugees from Ukraine, Liimets said. This is a big number of refugees. Bear in mind that Estonia is a small nation of 1.3 million people.

With Russia waging war in Ukraine, Baltic leaders say there needs to be enough NATO-backed defenses in their countries to convince the Kremlin that the cost of any attack would be too high.

After a summit of world leaders in Brussels last week, NATO sent four battle groups to Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia. They did not come to any agreements on the defense of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. To further support the region, though, about 2,700 U.S. troops are already stretched unevenly across the Baltic states, and thousands of NATO troops have been deployed to further reinforce the regions protections.

We welcome these reinforcements, but its not enough  absolutely not enough, said Rihards Kols, the chair of the foreign affairs committee in the Latvian Parliament. Unfortunately at the Brussels summit, there werent concrete decisions put on the table to not only strengthen the eastern flank, but also support the Baltic states defensive posture altogether.

Kols and other leaders said that they must now prepare to make their case at NATOs June summit in Madrid, where the alliance will work to define its security threats and how to address them politically and militarily.

But many emphasized that Russias acts of aggression are happening now and, as Kols said, I dont think time is an ally.

This fear has heightened in recent days and weeks and many emphasized how immense a threat Russia is believed to be for their democracies.

In a 75-page booklet published by the Estonian Foreign Intelligence Service shortly before the war in Ukraine, titled International Security and Estonia 2022, 60 pages are dedicated to the dangers posed by Russia and Belarus. The Baltic leaders also regularly recall the history of Soviet occupation, which lasted longer than many in the West realize  Russian troops did not leave Estonia until 1994, three years after the Soviet Union dissolved.

For us, it is very important that we can continue this democratic path, which our people have chosen, and we have to protect our country, our territory, so that our people can live in peace, Liimets said.

We have seen that Russia is aggressive against its neighbors, she added. We saw it in 2008 in Georgia, in 2014 in Ukraine, and now again in Ukraine.

Russias threat felt across the region

LITHUANIA-UKRAINE-RUSSIA-CONFLICT-DEMONSTRATION (Petras Malukas / AFP via Getty Images)

That feeling is shared across the Baltic region. While Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have their own cultures and languages, the three have long warned of the threat emanating from the Kremlin, and remained steadfast in their view of Russia as their largest threat.

Unfortunately, up until Feb. 24, weve been labeled in the West as alarmist, Kols said of the Baltic states. But we are past the point of I told you so. What we are saying now is, Thank you [NATO] for recognizing that we were right, but do listen to us now.

These three small countries have since further unified their messages: Their parliaments foreign affairs committee chairs testified together before U.S. Congress about Russias threat earlier this month and, despite the dangers, the heads of those parliaments met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv last week.

The three countries have also announced that they will increase defense spending to 2.5 percent or more of their gross domestic product, beyond the 2 percent goal that NATO has set for its members. For Estonia, thats hundreds of millions of dollars in additional spending.

Those boosts to defense spending are here to stay, said Kristjan Mae, who leads the NATO and European Union department at Estonias defense ministry. Even leaders from opposition parties support the expanded military funding.

This war in Ukraine and Russias aggressive rhetoric is very convincing to everyone in our own society that we need to spend more on security in order to have the freedoms that we have here, he said, noting that they increased the funding despite the negative economic effects of the pandemic the country has faced. We are going to defend those freedoms alone and together with our allies.

Mae said that Estonia will increase its spending on Javelin missiles, which have proven to be particularly effective against Russian tanks in Ukraine. He said the country is also ensuring that its stores of munitions are well stocked and that its conscripts are well trained. The country has also stated its plans to develop its naval and armored warfare abilities, as well.

However, some Baltic leaders said that those additions to their defense, and NATOs temporary troop deployments, still fall short of pushing back against the Kremlin effectively.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said earlier this week at an Atlantic Council panel, which included the presidents of Estonia and Latvia, that his country remains vulnerable.

Even at this juncture, he said that items like selective no-fly zones shouldnt be off the table. To Russia, he said, it should be clear that all options are open.

Until NATO makes further choices regarding its defenses here, Baltic leaders are using the war in Ukraine to learn lessons about Russias military strategy and ability. Not many are impressed by Russias display of land forces beyond the sheer number of the troops it has dedicated to the invasion. Their concern is focused on those bombs and missiles, which Russia has leaned on more heavily as the war has continued.

Estonia intends to develop its air defense, but that cant happen overnight. Thats why some here hope NATO allies would fill the current vacuum  such as when the U.S. provided Poland two Patriot surface-to-air missile batteries earlier this month.

Midrange air defenses are difficult, you dont develop that capability  in a year or two  you just cant do that, Mae said. But we see that its still very necessary to not only defend our troops, but also our cities from Russias attacks.

And since it could take until 2025 to have those air defenses fully in place without further support, Estonia must for now rely on its alliance with NATO countries, particularly the U.S., to maintain its assurances.

As for that, Melville, the last Estonian ambassador, said that he shared Liimets view that the Biden administration needs to appoint someone to his old post as soon as possible. Its absence sends the wrong signals to the Kremlin and the Estonians, he said over the phone from a grocery store parking lot in North Carolina.

What does that say to the Estonians? he asked. Well get to you eventually? Its just terrible, especially now.
Ukrainian MPs Anastasia Radina (third from right) and Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze (fourth from right) met with members of Congress this week to discuss Ukraine's requests from the US. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Russia withdrew its forces near Kyiv because its troops were "kicked" out, a Ukrainian MP said, per CNN.

The troop scaleback announced by Moscow was really to "save face," said MP Anastasia Radina.

During a visit to the US, she and other Ukrainian lawmakers warned that negotiations with Russia should not be trusted.

A Ukrainian member of parliament said Russia's intention in withdrawing troops from the Kyiv region was to "save face" and that its forces had been "kicked" out, casting doubt on whether Moscow genuinely is interested in making peace.

"We feel these are not real peace talks at this point," said MP Anastasia Radina, head of the Ukrainian Parliament's anti-corruption committee, per CNN.

"We feel that what Russia is doing is trying to save face. They say they are withdrawing troops from the Kyiv region. That's not true for one simple reason: They're not withdrawing... They were kicked [out]," Radina continued.

She and another Ukrainian MP  Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze, chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Integration of Ukraine to the European Union  spoke to reporters on Wednesday while visiting Washington DC, CNN's Natasha Bertrand reported.

Klympush-Tsintsadze shared Radina's skepticism over Russia's claims that it is working to achieve peace with Ukraine, calling the recent ceasefire negotiations a "smokescreen" by Russian President Vladimir Putin to buy his forces time to regroup, according to CNN.

The lawmakers had traveled to the US to push members of Congress for more military equipment  such as fighter jets and air defense systems  and aid to be provided to Ukraine, and for more punitive economic measures to be taken against Russia, according to The Associated Press.

One of their key messages to the US was to not put faith in negotiations with Moscow, AP reported.

"Putin cannot be trusted," said Yevheniya Kravchuk, a Ukrainian MP, per the outlet.

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On Tuesday, delegations from Ukraine and Russia met in Istanbul, Turkey, for the fourth round of ceasefire negotiations.

Kyiv and Moscow were both reported to have shown a willingness to concede earlier sticking points, with Ukraine offering complete neutrality in exchange for security guarantees and Russia dropping several of its initial core demands like the "denazification" of its neighbor.

However, it remains unclear whether a genuine ceasefire can be brokered soon, with either side having downplayed the possibility of a significant breakthrough before and after the talks.

Shortly after the Istanbul meeting, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin announced that Moscow would dial down its military assaults on Kyiv and Chernihiv in northern Ukraine.

Fomin said Russia's decision aimed "to increase mutual trust and create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and achieving the ultimate goal of agreeing on the signing of the above [peace] agreement."

The Pentagon and Ukrainian military later questioned Russia's motives for its apparent scaleback, saying the Kremlin was likely repositioning troops for a push into other war fronts. Despite its claims of pulling back, Russia continued to bombard Kyiv's suburbs after the peace talks.

Klympush-Tsintsadze on Wednesday also mentioned another obstacle for the ceasefire effort: Ukraine's neutrality from NATO would need to be put to a referendum that she and her colleagues say is unlikely to pass.

"Neutrality is not an option for Ukraine," she said, per CNN. "I want everybody to understand we were non-aligned. We were a non-bloc country back in 2014. It did not preclude Putin from attacking us at that point. And it did not preclude him from grabbing part of our territory. So it will not stop him."

It has been 35 days since Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to the United Nation's latest tally, at least 1,179 Ukrainian civilians have been killed in the war, while 1,860 have been injured. However, the UN noted that the actual casualty figures are likely far higher.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Samsung will soon join Apple in allowing owners of its smartphone to make their own repairs.

On Thursday, Samsung announced it will launch a program to support owners of its Galaxy smartphones who want to fix their devices themselves.

Samsung will collaborate with online repair community iFixit on the program, which will apply to the Galaxy S20 and S21 devices as well as the Galaxy Tab S7+.

Device owners will initially be able to replace display assemblies, back glass and charging ports, then return the older parts for recycling.

"At Samsung, were creating more ways for consumers to extend the lifespan of our products with premium care experiences," Ramon Gregory, senior vice president of customer care at Samsung Electronics America, said in a statement.

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The Samsung Galaxy S21 smartphone (at left) and Galaxy S21 Ultra smartphone.

Last November, Apple introduced the Self Service Repair program for owners of the iPhone 12 or 13 who want to fix their device. However, Apple noted the program is aimed at consumers with experience repairing electronics.

"For the vast majority of customers, visiting a professional repair provider with certified technicians who use genuine Apple parts is the safest and most reliable way to get a repair," the company said.

Samsung's plan comes amid an increased effort supporting consumers' right to repair their own devices. In July, the Federal Trade Commission unanimously adopted a policy statement supporting the right to repair, including increased enforcement and potentially new regulations.

Follow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Samsung Galaxy self-repair program will let owners fix their phones
Mar. 31An arrest warrant has been issued for a Santa Fe man accused in a shooting last year that left two people hospitalized, according to an affidavit  days after he was released on bond on an unrelated charge.

Nestor Rodriguez of Santa Fe is wanted on two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, shooting at or from a motor vehicle and possession of a firearm or a destructive device by a felon, according to court records. The affidavit was filed Monday in Santa Fe County Magistrate Court.

Police were called about 2 a.m. Dec. 23 to Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center, according to the arrest warrant affidavit, after Wyatt Palmer and Sarai Palomino told staff members that a person they knew had fired at them near a McDonald's and Taco Bell on Promenade Boulevard earlier that night.

Palomino reportedly told police that Rodriguez, after meeting with Palmer in the McDonald's parking lot, opened fire on the two. Palmer was hit in the eye and Palomino in the ear.

Police later found four bullet casings near the scene, according to the affidavit.

On Dec. 28, another man in police custody told deputies that Rodriguez was selling drugs for Palmer, and the shooting stemmed from Rodriguez not paying Palmer back for drugs he allegedly sold, according to the affidavit.

Palmer and Palomino were arrested in February on suspicion of trafficking controlled substances and receiving stolen property. Palmer also was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.

Rodriguez, who also goes by Chino, according to the affidavit, was arrested March 24 by Santa Fe County Sheriff's deputies on separate burglary charges. He had his first appearance in court Friday for the burglary charges and was released on an unsecured bond, court records show.

In an interview with police, according to the affidavit, Rodriguez acknowledged that he knew Palomino and met with the pair at the parking lot where he fired two shots at their vehicle.

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He said Palmer approached his vehicle with a firearm and attempted to get into the passenger seat, then hit the window with the butt of his gun after finding out the door was locked, according to the complaint.

Rodriguez said he fled as Palmer walked behind the vehicle, then heard a single gunshot and later saw a bullet hole in his left window, the affidavit states. He said he fired back after he saw Palmer get back in his vehicle and leave, according to the affidavit.

Rodriguez said he followed the pair onto Cerrillos Road, where they leaned out of their car to shoot at him, according to the affidavit, and stopped following them when they turned toward the hospital.

He said Palmer was going to shoot him because of "jealousy" over his friendship with Palomino, according to the affidavit.
CAIRO (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia added 25 people and entities from different nationalities to its terrorism list, saying they are involved in financing Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, Saudi state media reported on Thursday.

The designations were done "unilaterally and in coordination with the U.S. Treasury Department", the Presidency of State Security said in a statement on state news agency SPA.

It said those listed were involved in facilitating financial activities of the Houthi group "with support of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps".

Riyadh, which leads a coalition that has been battling the Houthis for seven years, accuses Iran of providing arms and financial support to the movement, charges denied by Tehran.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014. The Houthis say they are fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.

(Reporting by Ahmed Tolba and Alaa Swilam, Editing by William Maclean and Grant McCool)
A congressman from South Carolina wants to be dropped from a lawsuit over his Facebook comments after the controversial arrest of an African-American man by Rock Hill police.

U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-SC, claims he has immunity from being sued because he made the Facebook posts as a member of Congress, his lawyers wrote in federal court filings.

Norman is running for re-election to South Carolinas 5th Congressional District.

Congressman Norman acted within his official capacity when posting a public statement on his official Member of Congress Facebook page regarding a matter of considerable local and national importance, his lawyers wrote.

Lawyers for Norman wrote in the filings Wednesday night that Norman posted comments about the arrest of brothers Travis and Ricky Price after the physical arrest of both men in June 2021. The arrest of both African-American men, caught on video released publicly on Facebook, sparked three days of protests in Rock Hill over the treatment of Black people by police.

During the June 23 incident, Travis Price was charged with hindering police. Those charges were later dropped by prosecutors who said Travis Price did nothing wrong. Travis Price filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Rock Hill and Norman. The suit alleges defamation and civil rights violations, among other claims.

The controversial arrest brought into question a Rock Hill police officers use of force. That officer, Jonathan Moreno, was fired two weeks after the arrest and faced criminal assault charges. A jury in January found Moreno not guilty. Moreno is now running as a Republican for York County Council.

One judge recommends Norman remain a defendant

In March, a federal magistrate judge recommended that Norman remain a defendant in the lawsuit.

But Normans lawyers say that magistrate was wrong and they want a higher judge to dismiss the congressman as a defendant.

A federal district judge will now have to rule on whether Norman remains a defendant, said Justin Bamberg, Travis Prices lawyer.

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No date has been set for U.S. District Court Judge Terry Wooten to decide if Norman remains a defendant in the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges Norman pushed the public to believe false statements from the city and police department about Travis Prices conduct.

In previous case filings, Normans lawyers said he relied on information sent out by the citys police department about the arrests. That information purported that Travis Price was belligerent and pushed police during the incident. Normans lawyers have said Norman bore no ill will toward Travis Price.

The city of Rock Hill also remains a defendant in the lawsuit. The city has blamed Travis Price for his part in the incident, court filings show.

.

One judge recommends Norman remain a defendant

Statements part of American discussion about police: Judge
The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Holocaust historian Deborah Lipstadt as a special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.

The unanimous voice vote came six months after President Biden nominated her for the role.

During the confirmation hearing, Lipstadt said the rise in antisemitism in the country is is especially alarming as it occurs less than eight decades after one out of three Jews on Earth were murdered.

Often, in their long history, Jews have felt abandoned. But then is not now, certainly not in the United States, she added.

Her nomination was delayed after her tweets criticizing Republican politicians surfaced.

Lipstadt in 2021 tweeted that comments made by Republican Sen. Ron Johnson (Wis.) about the Capitol riot were white supremacy/nationalism. Pure and simple.

Lipstadt will be in charge of how the U.S. handles antisemitism on the global stage and tracking antisemitism across the world.

She is currently a professor of modern Jewish history and Holocaust studies at Emory University.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
More than 90 Democrats in the House and Senate are calling on President Biden to extend the moratorium on federal student loan payments through the end of the year, ramping up pressure on the White House for further action just weeks before the pause is set to lapse.

Top Democrats in both chambers joined in making the request to Biden in a letter Thursday, including Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and House Majority Whip James Clyburn (S.C.). Others such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) as well as Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) also signed on to the letter.

In the letter, the lawmakers echoed calls made by other Democrats in recent days for the administration to push back the May 1 deadline, when the current suspension on student loan payments is set to expire, saying Biden should extend it until at least the end of the year. They also urged him to cancel student debt now, reiterating calls for widespread cancellation for borrowers.

The loan payments were first paused in early 2020 under a moratorium set in place by the Trump administration at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hold, which also extends to interest accrual, has been extended several times under the previous and current administration. Biden last extended the pause in December amid growing calls from Democrats to keep the moratorium in place.

Meanwhile, the lawmakers on Thursday signaled growing pressure on the president to push for broader debt cancellation. The group of lawmakers called widespread cancellation one of the most powerful ways to address racial and economic equity issues, citing data underscoring racial disparities facing Black and Latino borrowers in the student loan system.

The student loan system mirrors many of the inequalities that plague American society and widens the racial wealth gap. Black students in particular borrow more to attend college, borrow more often while they are in school, and have a harder time paying their debt off than their white peers, they wrote.

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They are more than three times as likely to go into default within four years on their federal loans as white borrowers  and face wage garnishment, tax refund withholding, and federal benefit offsets, they continued. While Latino borrowers often have lower loan balances than their white peers, they are more likely to struggle in repaying their loans, and have some of the lowest post-education earnings among all racial or ethnic groups.

Lawmakers also pointed to additional burdens borrowers face in the economy, like the skyrocketing costs for necessities like food and gas, saying restarting repayment will financially destabilize many borrowers and their families, and will cause hardship for many who could not afford repayment.

Last year, the White House said it requested a memo from Education Secretary Miguel Cardona to determine whether he had the power to unilaterally cancel student loans across the board.

In the months since, progressives have led a push calling for the memo to be released publicly as patience wears thin among borrowers awaiting the outcome.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment on Thursdays letter.

So far, the Biden administration has provided about $16 billion in loan discharges since January 2021. But that relief only extends to certain borrowers, including those with total and permanent disabilities or who attended now-defunct schools.

In their letter Thursday, lawmakers applauded such relief efforts, including targeted relief for disabled borrowers, victims of for-profit colleges, and others as well as working to fix existing programs like Public Service Loan Forgiveness. But they also noted the efforts still leave the majority of federal student loan borrowers out.

The Federal Reserve estimated last year that roughly $1.7 trillion in student loan debt had been racked up by tens of millions of borrowers nationwide.

Right now, your administration has a historic opportunity to repair the damage caused by decades of policy failures, government mismanagement, and industry abuses by extending pandemic relief and canceling student debt, the lawmakers wrote Thursday.

Given the fast-approaching deadline for borrowers to resume payments, your administration must act as quickly as possible to extend the pause and make clear to the American public your intention to cancel a meaningful amount of student debt. We look forward to supporting your administration in getting it done, they added.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.




The Senate rejected a Labor Department nominee from President Biden on Wednesday night, after three Democrats joined with Republicans to oppose the pick.

A vote to advance David Weil's nomination to lead the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division failed in a 47-53 vote, where a simple majority was needed to move forward. Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) and Mark Kelly (Ariz.) voted against the nomination.

Spokespeople for the three Democratic senators didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on their votes, though sources previously told Bloomberg that Manchin was privately raising concerns about Weil.

The Hill spotted the three senators chatting just outside the Senate chamber shortly before they dealt a fatal blow to the nomination.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the chairwoman of the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement after the setback that she was "incredibly disappointed."

"I'm incredibly disappointed to see Dr. Weil, an exceptionally qualified nominee with a long track record fighting to ensure workers get the wages they have earned, did not get the votes tonight to be confirmed as Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor," Murray said.

"Despite this outcome, I will never stop fighting for working families and for a fully staffed DOL with leaders committed to protecting workers," she added.

Weil previously led the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division during the Obama administration.

But he's faced fierce opposition from Republicans and some outside groups that urged centrist Senate Democrats to oppose his nomination.

Americans for Tax Reform, for example, previously urged Sinema and Kelly to oppose his nomination, arguing that he would be a "disaster for Arizona workers, families, and small businesses."
Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Lisa Murkowski introduced a bill Thursday that would allow the nations schools to serve free meals to all students for another year. The move comes after Republican leadership objected to extending the flexibility in a recent spending bill  a surprise move that enraged school leaders and anti-hunger advocates across the country.

Senator [Mitch] McConnell said no, Stabenow (D-Mich.) recounted in an interview. She noted that lawmakers from both sides of the aisle on the Senate Agriculture Committee, which she chairs, were surprised by the minority leaders stiff opposition in the final days of omnibus talks. That stance, which was first reported by POLITICO, led omnibus negotiators to keep the provision out of the bill that Congress passed earlier this month, which funds the government for the rest of fiscal year 2022.

Murkowski (R-Alaska) and fellow Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, however, are breaking with their partys leadership in supporting the new bill, dubbed the Support Kids Not Red Tape Act  a reflection of the mounting outrage that the failure to extend the school meal waivers has generated in both red and blue states.

Following the widespread disruptions caused by COVID, life is beginning to feel more normal for some. However, many Alaskans are still working to overcome the economic fallout from the pandemic and many schools continue to struggle with supply shortages and higher prices," Murkowski said in a statement. "Thats why Im glad to join Senator Stabenow and my Senate colleagues in a push to allow USDA to extend vital support for school nutrition programs and preventing barriers that may prevent students from receiving a healthy meal.

McConnells office declined to comment on the record, but a GOP leadership aide has said that, more than two years into the pandemic, it is no longer necessary to expand access to free school meals or provide more flexibility to administer nutrition programs. The aide blamed the Biden administration for failing to include an extension of the waivers in its formal Covid spending bill request and noted that President Joe Bidens fiscal year 2023 budget request didnt include the ask either.

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Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has said he directly asked House and Senate leaders for the extension of the waivers months earlier and was told schools would get the flexibility for one more year. The pandemic waivers had previously been extended multiple times without controversy.

An OMB official said in a statement that, "The Administration repeatedly urged lawmakers to extend this vital program for millions of children, and we remain deeply disappointed that Congress failed to act in time. We continue to urge Congress to send legislation to the Presidents desk that would reauthorize this program."

Leading Democrats in the House and Senate told POLITICO they are trying to attach the extension to the Covid spending package currently under negotiation  an extremely tall order considering the policys $11 billion price tag, which would roughly double the size of the Covid package the two parties are haggling over. If that doesnt work, Stabenow said she plans to bring the measure up as an amendment when the Senate considers the Covid bill, which could happen in the coming weeks.

The move is a last ditch attempt to extend waivers first issued at the start of the pandemic, which not only allowed schools to feed 10 million more children, but also protected schools beset with supply chain and staffing problems from falling out of compliance with the federal meals programs strict rules. Democrats want to force Republicans to vote on the issue and risk political blowback for opposing easier access to meals for vulnerable children.

Stabenow said she welcomed the chance for rank and file Republicans to publicly share their positions on school meals, a service both parties typically support.

They can show that they're supportive and support our efforts to put this into the Covid package, Stabenow said. We are looking at up to 30 million children who will see their meals disrupted.

Free school meals have historically been available to children from low-income households; the pandemic marked the first time meals have been free for all students, regardless of income. School leaders now broadly back maintaining universal free access, at least for another year, because it requires far less paperwork amid a staffing shortage. Plus they get more federal money per meal.

Its still not clear how much of a priority the extension is for Democratic leadership, writ large. Leaders of both parties in both chambers agreed earlier this month to advance a $1.5 trillion spending package without the waiver extension. The issue has been absent from Democratic talking points. But in addition to Murkowski and Collins, Stabenow  the number four Democrat in the Senate  has since won support for her proposed fix from every single Democrat in the Senate, including centrist Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and independents Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate HELP Committee, who is negotiating the Covid aid bill, is also a co-sponsor.

Local leaders and school nutrition directors are unequivocal in warning that the lack of extension is going to be disastrous for students.

"There's going to be a dramatic loss in summer meals access, starting as early as May, said Diane Pratt-Heavner, spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association, who noted that broad swathes of the nations schools start their summer break in two months.

Heidi Sipe, superintendent of the Umatilla School District in rural, northeast Oregon, said shes especially worried about how shell manage without a waiver that allows schools to get reimbursed for meals that dont include all the required nutritional components. That flexibility is still badly needed, Sipe said, because she routinely orders food that doesnt show up due to supply chain constraints.

We will have a milk truck that arrives without the full order, Sipe said. Its not that theyre doing anything wrong  they dont have the product.

Should that happen after the waivers expire on June 30, Sipe will be forced to choose between serving her students a meal that doesnt fulfill the requirements  and doesnt qualify for full reimbursement  or not serving the meal at all.

We cant afford to take that loss, but we would never leave a child hungry, Sipe said.

School officials and nutrition directors aren't alone in their fight to convince Congress to reinstate the flexibility. Members of the newly formed Mayors Alliance to End Childhood Hunger are also pressuring lawmakers to extend the waivers for another year. The bipartisan group represents nearly 100 mayors from large and midsize cities across 34 states and the District of Columbia.

John Giles, the Republican mayor of Mesa, Ariz., and the alliances vice chair, said the pandemic is not over for Americas cities and towns, and any member of Congress who insists otherwise is being arrogant.

Mayors are in the business of getting things done, and thats what well do, said Giles. The cause of feeding children is too important to let it be the victim of bureaucratic ineptitude.
By Brenda Goh and Winni Zhou

SHANGHAI (Reuters) -Shanghai is set to put the vast majority of its residents under COVID lockdown from Friday, as it expands curbs to include the western half of the city and extends restrictions in the east where people have already been forced to stay home since Monday.

The Chinese commercial hub, home to 26 million people, is on the fourth day of a 10-day lockdown that was to cover the city in two phases, with first the east and then the west entering lockdowns of five days each.

The stay-at-home measure in the financial and industrial districts in the east began on Monday and was due to lifted at 5 a.m. on Friday.

However, the city government late on Thursday said it would lift the curbs in stages instead.

Residents living in buildings where positive cases were found will remain under lockdown for 10 more days, while those in the same housing compound or neighbourhood will face shorter extensions of restricted movement.

The remaining residents who live in areas classified as low risk will be free to leave their homes, but are urged to work from home and to reduce outings and gatherings, it said.

Restaurants will only be allowed to provide take away services and non-essential businesses such as bars and libraries will remain shut, it added.

"We request the public to continue to support and cooperate with the city's epidemic control work," the Shanghai government said. "We will further optimize and adjust the prevention measures according to the epidemic situation."

Affected residents turned to social media and chat groups to discuss the new measures and many believed they were set to be locked in for longer. "Is there any neighbourhood in Pudong that has no positive cases?," quizzed one user on the Weibo platform using a term which means east of the river.

WEST BRACES FOR LOCKDOWN

The city government also said the lockdown would expand to areas west of the city's Huangpu river from Friday, prompting residents in those areas to scramble on Thursday to stock up groceries.

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In central Shanghai, vegetable sellers and butchers hawked their wares from behind barriers and on sidewalks. Restaurants hoping to cut losses advertised deep discounts through chat groups on social media.

"Lockdown super deal! 50% off on steaks", advertised a pamphlet from a high-end steak house.

Shanghai's daily tally of infections eased for the first time in about two weeks, authorities said on Thursday.

It reported 5,298 locally transmitted new asymptomatic cases and 355 symptomatic cases for Wednesday, versus corresponding figures of 5,656 and 326 the previous day.

Shanghai makes up almost 80% of local asymptomatic cases across China for Wednesday, and about 20% of those with symptoms.

"INADEQUATELY PREPARED"

The outbreak, and the curbs against it, have disrupted life for residents and businesses.

U.S. electric car maker Tesla is extending a production halt at its Shanghai factory for at least two days, following an output suspension since Monday, two sources told Reuters.

Volkswagen's Shanghai joint venture with SAIC Motor will suspend work at its factory between April 1 and 5, reversing an earlier decision to maintain some production.

Many residents have vented frustration on social media with videos and images of crowded quarantine centres, while seeking help with medical treatment and buying food.

In a letter to residents, the city government thanked them for their efforts and sacrifices, especially as some spent a long time in quarantine and lockdown. But it urged them to keep co-operating to rein in the virus.

City government official Ma Chunlei, however, acknowledged at a daily news conference that the city could have done more, adding that authorities were trying to improve distribution of food and issues with securing medical help.

"Our knowledge about the highly contagious Omicron variant has been insufficient, we were inadequately prepared for the fast-rising number of infected patients, and our control measures have not been up to speed," he said.

Still, even though some in Shanghai have questioned how practical China's strategy of "dynamic clearance" is, the approach will not be relaxed, state news agency Xinhua has said, saying it was essential to protect lives and health.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh and Winni Zhou; Additional reporting by Roxanne Liu and Zhang Yan; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Raissa Kasolowsky)
A Florida judge has rejected Gloria Williams request to cut her time in prison for kidnapping a baby from a Florida hospital, even though the girl, now 23, has advocated on her behalf.

Williams accepted a plea deal in 2008 for taking Kamiyah Mobley from her mother at UF Health Jacksonville maternity ward in 1998. She asked a judge in December to allow her to serve half of her sentence on probation because of good behavior and personal development.

Mobley told the judge she wholeheartedly supports Williams and she needs her mother home.

Gloria Williams asked a Duval County judge to reduce her 18-year sentence for kidnapping a baby girl and raising her as her own. (First Coast News Screenshot)

Williams said she takes responsibility for her actions and has become a better person during the four years shes spent in prison so far.

There are many things I have learned since coming to the Department of Corrections, but the overall lesson of my incarceration has been one of accountability, she wrote in a letter to Duval County Circuit Judge Marianne Aho. I know and understand now that there is a ripple effect, that the consequences of my actions are never mine to suffer alone.

While Aho ruled that Williams filed the motion too late, she maintained that even if it was on time, she did not find a basis to undo the original sentencing judges decision.

Williams posed as a nurse and took Mobley away from her mother five hours after she was born.

As for her state of mind at the time of the kidnapping, Williams previously told the court that she had just suffered a devastating miscarriage and was exhibiting symptoms conducive to postpartum depression, as well as experiencing extreme mental and emotional disturbance. At the time she took the child, she was not in her right state of mind.

She renamed the girl Alexis Manigo and moved to South Carolina, where she raised Mobley until she was found in 2017.

Mobley, who was 18 at the time, reportedly learned about her abduction a year and a half before Williams arrest but did not go to the authorities and tried to delay it. The now 23-year-old woman has stayed in contact with her kidnapper and still considers Williams her mom. Mobley told Aho she had a well-rounded life with Williams.

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I would like to make it very clear that she is my mother, Mobley wrote in the letter to the judge. She raised me, and not only provided for my needs, but she loved me unconditionally.

I understand none of this modifies the truth of the past, nor does it justify my moms actions in any way, she continued.

However, at the end of the day, I love my mother and I wholeheartedly support her! I ask the courts grace and mercy, as I need my mother home.

Williams told the judge she has completed character development and faith programs and wants to become a certified peer facilitator. She asked Aho to allow her to serve nine years in prison and the other nine on probation.

In the meantime, Williams said she has kept her distance from Mobley out of respect for her biological family.

Kamiyah Mobleys attachment to her abductor has caused a strain in her relationship with her biological mother, Shanara Mobley, who once asked Kamiyah to choose between the two women. Recent social media posts show the pair has worked on repairing their relationship, according to First Coast News.

What I see happening is Kamiyah is bringing her biological family to South Carolina to introduce them and to spend time with my mother (her nana), her sisters, nieces and nephews, Williams wrote in her motion. Everyone is coming together to give Kamiyah the best of both worlds and to bring her life into fulfillment.
Jurors on Thursday found a Macon woman guilty in the 2018 stabbing death of a woman after learning she and the victim were in a relationship with the same man.

Jurors deliberated for about two and a half hours before convicting Brandi Nicole Dixon, who had claimed self-defense in the slaying of 35-year-old Ebony Monique Smith, of felony murder.

Dixon was acquitted of a malice murder charge but was sentenced to life in prison, which requires her to spend at least 30 years behind bars before she can become eligible for parole.

During the three-day trial, prosecutors said Dixon confronted Smith at a late-night birthday bash being thrown for the boyfriend the two women had been seeing.

The deadly encounter happened in the 600 block of Pebble Street, which runs between Telfair and Second streets about five blocks south of the Bibb County jail.

Witnesses in court said Dixon, now 36, showed up with a knife and made remarks about looking for her boyfriend, possibly, someone he was seeing.

At some point, prosecutors said Dixon happened upon Smith and threatened her with a pink Cuisinart kitchen knife with an 8-inch blade.

Ebony Monique Smith in an undated photograph shown in court this week at the trial of her accused killer. Smith, 35, was stabbed to death July 15, 2018, at a party on Pebble Street south of downtown Macon.

Smith then reached into her car mere steps away, grabbed a pistol and fired a single shot, possibly a warning shot, according to bystanders, and was stabbed in the chest by Dixon.

Smith collapsed and died within minutes.

Dixons defense attorney argued that Dixon was acting in self-defense.

But jurors apparently did not agree with that claim, possibly deciding that because Dixon was the primary aggressor, the one who started the trouble that night, that Dixon was responsible for the bloodshed that followed.

Prosecutor Shelley Milton noted in her closing argument that it was Dixon who came to a gathering with a large kitchen knife.

Dixon, Milton said, was provoking a response, and that it was Smith who, though unsuccessful, had acted in self-defense.

A photograph of a Cuisinart knife that prosecutors showed to jurors this week at the murder trial of Brandi Nicole Dixon, accused in the July 2018 stabbing death of Ebony Monique Smith.

During sentencing, Dixon, who did not take the stand at trial, addressed the court.

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I had no intentions that night of hurting anyone, she said.

Dixon said she lived nearby on Second Street and that she carried the knife for protection.

Anywhere I go, she said, I carry a knife.

She said she wasnt a threat to anyone.

Dixon claimed that Smith shot at my head. I begged her and begged her. I said, Please, dont kill me. ... Thats when I reached down and thats when I defended myself ... and I stabbed her.

Judge Howard Z. Simms said the jury had not agreed with her version of events.

The judge also told her that fighting over a man, the apparent impetus for the slaying, had been a stupid endeavor.

Ive been a man almost 60 years, Simms said. I can promise you there aint a man in the world worth whats gonna happen (at this hearing). And there aint a man in the world worth what did happen.
Memphis Police are still looking for two men after a man was mercilessly gunned down at a carwash on September 20, 2021.

MPD said Demarico Thompson was washing his car at Super Suds Carwash on University on Sept. 20 when two people attacked him.

Surveillance video released by police shows two people jump into the carwash stall, one from the front and one from the back, and repeatedly fire shots at Thompson with Draco-style shortened rifles.

The hail of gunfire killed Thompson, police said.

Those two gunmen sped off from the carwash in a white Kia Sorento, according to police.

Memphis Police need help identifying these two men who gunned down another man at a carwash on University on Sept. 20, 2021.

April King has lived in Frayser for two decades. FOX13 showed her the video surveillance footage that captures Thompson being gunned down while washing his car.

You cant get gas, you cant go get groceries, you cant wash your car, King said. Its sad.

MPD is still trying to identify the people who shot Thompson to death that day.

If you know anything about the people responsible, Memphis Police urge you to call Crime Stoppers at 901-528-CASH.

Any information that leads to an arrest, in this case, could be worth up to $2,000.

Download the FOX13 Memphis app to receive alerts from breaking news in your neighborhood.

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A Greenville County school resource officer requested emergency backup just before 12:30 p.m. on Thursday after a student was shot, the Greenville County Sheriff's Office said.

A 12-year-old student died in the shooting at Tanglewood Middle School in Greenville Thursday afternoon, according to a man who identified himself as the child's grandfather.

Cries and screams were heard outside of the Prisma Health Greenville Memorial Hospital emergency room, where the child's grandfather cried.

'That was my man': Child killed in school shooting at Tanglewood Middle in Greenville SC

By 3 p.m. Thursday, the Greenville County Sheriff's Office had a student in custody. That student was charged with Murder, Possession of a Weapon during a Violent Crime, Possession of a Firearm on School Property and Unlawful Possession of a Weapon by a Person under the age of 18.

The student in custody was located off site from the school, Sheriff Hobart Lewis said. Students were transported to Brookwood Church at 580 Brookwood Point Place in Simpsonville, according to Greenville County Schools spokesperson Tim Waller. Parents were asked to not go to Tanglewood Middle School but instead pick up their children at Brookwood Church.

Most recent updates, families at the scene: Student in custody after shooting at Tanglewood Middle School

The student in custody is being transported to the South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice, according to the Sheriff's Office.

Law enforcement officers from multiple agencies were on scene along with Greenville County EMS personnel.

A motive is still

More: Social media reacts to news of shooting at Tanglewood Middle School in Greenville

Check back for more on this breaking story.

This article originally appeared on Greenville News: School shooting at Tanglewood Middle in Greenville SC: What we know
Guests at the JWB inter-faith Passover Seder: (From left, in pink) Mr Tan Thiam Lye (Singapore Taoist Federation chairman), Master Benjamin Tan (Singapore Taoist Federation), Nazirudin Mohd Nasir (Mufti of Singapore), Mordechai Abergel (Chief Rabbi of Singapore), Edwin Tong (Minister for Culture, Community and Youth), Nash Benjamin (Jewish Welfare Board president), Sagi Karni (ambassador of Israel to Singapore), and William Goh (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore). (PHOTO: Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth)

SINGAPORE  Singapore's Jewish community celebrated the Passover on Wednesday evening (30 March) with its first inter-faith Seder, the ritual feast that marks the beginning of the annual religious festival.

The event is part of the Jewish Welfare Board (JWB) efforts to enhance religious harmony by promoting greater inclusiveness and fostering a deeper understanding of Jewish traditions and religious rituals among Singapores multi-racial and inter-faith communities.

Among the 50-odd guests at the ceremony held at Jacob Ballas Centre were 10 other religious leaders, including Mufti Nazirudin Mohd Nasir, the Roman Catholic Church's Archbishop William Goh, and Venerable Seck Kwang Phing, president of the Singapore Buddhist Federation.

They were joined by Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, as well as Central Singapore District mayor Denise Phua and Sagi Karni, Israel's ambassador to Singapore.

Passover, which begins at sundown on 15 April and ends on the evening of 23 April this year, is one of the most celebrated and beloved of Jewish festivals. It recounts the liberation of Jews from slavery and their exodus from Egypt to become a united people.

The Seder feast involves the partaking of ritual foods, reciting of prayers and blessings and the singing of praise songs at the table. Symbolic foods such as a shank bone of lamb or chicken, eggs, herbs, nuts, and vegetables are placed on a special Seder plate.

Symbolic food being placed in special Seder plates for the Passover feast. (PHOTO: MCCY)

Rabbi guides through symbolic elements of Seder

Given the many symbolic elements involved in the ritual feast, a Rabbi guided the guests through the ceremony, explaining the customs and significance of the different foods on the table. Guests were also given a guided tour of The Jews of Singapore Museum, which is housed in the Jacob Ballas Centre.

Passover is a special time for all Jewish families. We are delighted to welcome our guests from the various faiths and communities to observe the Seder ritual with us and to share with them the larger significance of this feast in relation to our faith and spiritual identity," said JWB president Nash Benjamin.

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"Such shared experiences will help us to connect more meaningfully with each other, to affirm our ties and deepen our bonds of friendship.

Guest-of-honour Tong commended the Jewish community for its openness to share what is customarily a private and religious family ritual.

Singapores multi-racial, multi-religious society offers a unique opportunity for us to learn and understand the core tenets underlying the many diverse cultures and faiths around us," he said.

(The Jewish community's) warm hospitality tonight will serve to further strengthen the mutual trust and respect we have for all our religions and communities in Singapore.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore
SOUTH BEND  Weeks after a mistrial stemming from a homicide at the University Park Mall, criminal proceedings regarding a separate shooting at the shopping center have hit a snag after a judge rejected a plea deal for Luke Murphy.

Prosecutors charged Murphy, 25, with attempted murder and battery in June after, police say, he fired more than a dozen rounds at Shaqkil Cotton near the mall's food court following a heated argument in late May 2021.

Just before the case was scheduled to go to trial last month, the parties came to a plea agreement that would have seen Murphy admit to battery and criminal recklessness by means of a deadly weapon.

However, St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Stephanie Steele rejected the plea deal, finding that the parties did not explain why the terms of agreement were appropriate.

In this January 2015 file photo, shoppers walk into the University Park Mall food court in Mishawaka. South Bend Tribune Photo/BECKY MALEWITZ

"The court did not accept the proffered plea given the charges and the lack of adequate explanation by the attorneys," Steele wrote.

More: Jury deadlocks over Mishawaka's University Park Mall murder case, judge declares mistrial

The case is scheduled for a trial in May, though it is unclear if prosecutors will seek another plea deal before then. Also complicating matters is the fact that prosecutors last week dismissed charges against Dontrell Smith  who is Murphy's brother and alleged getaway driver during the shooting  because "the victim does not wish to pursue this case."

Shooting at the mall

When Mishawaka police officers responded to University Park Mall on May 22, 2021, it was the second time in less than a year shots were fired at the shopping center.

Court documents say Murphy and Smith were at the mall when they ran into Cotton and some of his friends near the Finish Line shoe store. "Words were exchanged" between Murphy and Cotton, as Murphy lifted his shirt to reveal his gun. Security footage shows others stepping in, and Cotton and Murphy separated and continued shopping.

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A while later, however, Murphy came at Cotton and his friends as they exited the store by the food court. Court documents say Murphy was shouting threats and began firing his gun at the group.

Cotton and his friends scattered away in different directions, but Murphy followed Cotton as he ran to hide behind a power transformer on the side of the building and kept firing. Police believe 14 shots were fired in the incident.

Witnesses identified Smith and Murphy driving away in a white Dodge SUV, which the pair abandoned less than a mile away from the mall, court documents say. Murphy was arrested in Gary in late June by U.S. Marshalls and Smith was taken into custody two weeks after that.

Plea deal rejected

In mid-February, Jeff Kimmell, Murphy's attorney, filed a plea agreement that would have seen Murphy plea guilty to criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon and battery with a deadly weapon in exchange for prosecutors dismissing the attempted murder charge.

The deal would have allowed the parties to argue sentencing terms, though the maximum possible sentence under the plea deal would have totaled 8 years in prison, while the minimum sentence for attempted murder would result in a 20-year sentence according to Indiana sentencing guidelines.

According to court documents, Steele found the conditions of the plea deal were not harsh enough given the public risk created by shooting at a crowded shopping center. Documents also show Kimmell told Steele that Murphy was shot by Cotton on a previous occasion and that Murphy acted preemptively when he shot Cotton at the mall.

Deputy prosecutors argued the plea agreement had been approved by the prosecutor's office and Cotton, court documents say.

After the plea deal was not accepted, Kimmell moved to have Steele recuse herself from the case, arguing her decision to reject the deal showed bias against Murphy.

"The court has taken the position that Mr. Murphy must plead to something harsher than the facts warrant or face trial on an attempted murder charge that the parties do not wish to conduct trial upon," Kimmell wrote.

Steele did not remove herself, writing that judges have discretion whether to accept plea deals and that the denial of a plea deal is not sufficient to show prejudice.

Murphy has been released from jail while the case continues, though he has been instructed not to have contact with people involved in the incident.

Email Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@sbtinfo.com. Follow him on Twitter: @marek_mazurek

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Indiana judge rejects plea deal in University Park Mall shooting
The parents of a 19-year-old man who was killed by Pennsylvania State Police troopers on an overpass in the Pocono Mountains have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit.

They say police video shows Christian Hall was pointing a pellet gun in the air and not at troopers when they fired the fatal shots in December 2020.

The suit was filed Wednesday in federal court.

It also names three high-ranking officials it claims took steps to conceal the details of the shooting in an attempt to protect the troopers.

A prosecutor who has said the shooting was justified says the Hall family attorneys are pushing a false narrative.

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ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP)  Federico Motka's abductors greeted him in English after he and his colleagues were kidnapped near a refugee camp on the Turkish border: Welcome to Syria, you mutt.

For the Italian aid worker, it was the beginning of 14 months of brutality at the hands of the Islamic State.

Motka testified about the ordeal Thursday at the terrorism trial of El Shafee Elsheikh, a British national charged with taking a leading role in an Islamic State kidnapping scheme that took more than 20 Westerners hostage between 2012 and 2015.

Four Americans  journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller  were among them. Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were decapitated. Mueller was forced into slavery and raped repeatedly by the Islamic States leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, before she too was killed.

Motka is the first surviving hostage to testify at Elsheikh's trial in Alexandria, Virginia.

Born in Trieste, Italy, Motka said he spent much of his childhood in the Middle East and went to boarding school in England. He was an aid worker surveying the needs of refugee camps in March 2013 when he and a colleague, Briton David Haines, were captured and taken hostage.

Motka testified that for the first month of captivity, he was only occasionally mistreated, but that mistreatment frequently came at the hands of three captors whom hostages dubbed the Beatles because of their British accents. They learned to speak surreptitiously about their captors, who wore masks and took pains to conceal their identity, since they never knew what would set them off. A dispute over bathroom hygiene prompted a particularly intense beating, he said.

They said I was a posh wanker because I went to boarding school, Motka testified. They said I was arrogant, and they were going to take me down a peg.

Motka's use of the term posh wanker set off a brief period of uncomfortable laughter in the courtroom, when the judge interrupted and asked what the phrase means, forcing Motka to explain the term's vulgar meaning of the British idiom.

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The British accents and phraseology are an important part of the case, though, as prosecutors seek to prove that Elsheikh is indeed one of the Beatles who tortured hostages, even though the Beatles took great pains to conceal their faces. Motka testified that there were at least three Britons in the group of captors, and the hostages nicknamed them John, George and Ringo.

Prosecutors have said in court that Elshiekh is the one who was nicknamed Ringo.

One way Motka distinguished the three was their preferences for inflicting punishment.

George was more into boxing, Motka testified. John, he kicked a lot. Ringo used to talk how he liked wrestling. He would put people in headlocks.

He described one instance when Ringo put James Foley in a headlock so tight that he passed out.

Motka also recounted a time in the summer of 2013 when the hostages were held in a facility they nicknamed the box. The Beatles excitedly put Motka and his cellmate David Haines in a room with Foley and British hostage John Cantlie for what they called a Royal Rumble.

They were super excited about it, Motka said of the Beatles about the tag-team style fight they imposed on the foursome. We were so weak and shattered we could barely lift our arms.

The group was told that the losers would be waterboarded. Two of the four passed out during the hour-long battle, Motka said. The Beatles deemed him the loser but never waterboarded him, inflicting a beating instead.

As they were transferred to different facilities, Motka said the hostages were sometimes separated from the Beatles for weeks at a time. Those periods were welcome, relatively speaking, because the Beatles were unique in their cruelty, he said.

When they were transferred again to a place they nicknamed the dungeon and saw that the Beatles were there, we crapped our pants," Motka said. We had just started to relax a little as the mistreatment had eased in their absence.

The box," where the Beatles were a regular presence, was one of the worst stretches of captivity. Motka said he and other hostages there endured a lengthy regime of punishment that included regular beatings and forced stress positions. George, another man named Abu Mohamed and a third nicknamed the punisher" regularly tortured them, Motka said.

They played lots of games with us, Motka said, maintaining composure as he clearly struggled with the emotions of describing his captivity. They gave us dog names. We needed to come and immediately respond to the dog name to avoid a beating.

Motka was not released until May 25, 2014. His 14 months in captivity were the longest of any hostage in the group.

Defense lawyers, though, have highlighted the difficulties that hostages have in formally identifying each of their captors, who routinely wore masks that covered all but their eyes.

In opening statements, prosecutors referenced only three British nationals  Elsheikh, his longtime friend Alexenda Kotey, and Mohammed Emwazi, who frequently carried out the role of executioner and was known as Jihadi John.

Emwazi was killed in a drone strike, and Kotey was captured alongside Elsheikh and also brought to Virginia to face trial. Kotey pleaded guilty last year in a plea bargain that calls for a life sentence.

Jurors also heard testimony Thursday from Danish hostage negotiator Jens Serup, who testified about prolonged efforts to secure the release of Daniel Rye Ottosen in exchange for 2 million euros.

The jury saw photos of huge bruises on Ottosen's arm and back after he was finally released. Serup testified that the captors told Ottosen the beating was a farewell present not to forget them."
The Timberwolves entered their recent stretch of games against playoff-caliber opponents eager to flex their newfound muscles on some of the NBAs best teams and prove their dominance.

The opposite has happened.

Minnesota was waxed 125-102 by the Raptors on Wednesday in Toronto  its fourth loss in its past five games.

Things are tough right now, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch conceded.

To say the least. Minnesota has suffered consecutive 20-plus point defeats. The Timberwolves havent won in Toronto since 2004.

The Timberwolves are now three losses behind both Denver and Utah, and the Jazz hold a tiebreaker over Minnesota. The Wolves can inch closer to the Nuggets with a win Friday in Denver, but with just five games to play, even then Minnesotas hopes would be slim. Time is running out on the Timberwolves hopes of bypassing the play-in tournament.

Frankly, of late, they look like a play-in team. Its a group with persistent issues it cant seem to overcome against quality competition.

DAngelo Russell went 3 for 15 from the field and 1 for 7 from deep Wednesday, continuing his shooting struggles without providing enough value elsewhere. Karl-Anthony Towns continues to dominate first quarters  he scored eight in the first frame Wednesday  and disappear from there, as he finished with only 16.

The Raptors, Finch noted, were physical with Towns, but thats not new. The coach said he needs to do a better job getting Towns the ball, but the all-star center also cant limit himself to just one 3-point attempt.

Towns hot start allowed Minnesota to build a 17-point advantage early in the second quarter  in spite of 11 first-quarter turnovers  but that quickly started to dissipate as the Wolves continued to show a lack of care for the ball, while Toronto started to hit shots. The Wolves committed 23 turnovers that turned into 25 Raptors points.

Theyre very physical, theyre very handsy. If you play in a crowd, theyre going to take it from you. Theyre a great defensive team, Finch said. We had a lot of turnovers that were just dumb. Just silly turnovers. Throwing the ball out of bounds off of outlet passes and stuff like that.

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Minnesotas defense continues to leak, as these high-quality opponents maneuver the ball around to find open shots. Toronto (44-32) averages fewer than 12 made 3-pointers a game yet went 18 for 36 from deep against Minnesota. Apple Valley product Gary Trent Jr. finished with 29 points on the stretch of six triples. He torched Minnesota for 30 earlier in the season.

That Minnesota (43-34) has proven capable of executing just one defensive scheme has proven costly in the latter stages of the season.

Finch said the team needs to plow through the struggles. He cited the times Minnesota has done so in the past. But many of these struggles seem to be related to an uptick in competition. A road game in Denver on Friday doesnt exactly scream get-right game.

We just gotta dig ourselves out this hole and continue to work on getting better every single day and working on ourselves. I think thats really just it. Thats gotta be the focus on worrying about April 14th and on, Towns said. We cant be worrying about anything else in life. Its gotta be basketball over everything. Just keep focusing on us. I think sometimes recently we get so focused on the opponent, we forget we gotta worry about ourselves first. We gotta be better. We just gotta be better, gotta continue using these lessons we keep getting from these games.

I dont believe in moral victories, obviously, but I definitely believe in finding a way to win a game when we lose a game. We gotta find different ways to win. Either we learn or we truly just lost the whole night. KG always said that we dont lose, we just learn in the losses. So those are wins in a way.
NEW YORK  Dont expect clarity from the Knicks on Julius Randle.

In the wake of a WFAN report that Randle demanded a trade this week, Tom Thibodeau evaded a question about Randles commitment to the team.

Yeah, as a coach, you coach the players that you have, Thibodeau said when asked, as far as he knows, if Randle wants to be with the Knicks. And you love them all. And I do. If you play for me, I love you. Its really that simple. The challenge for us is to bring the best out of each other.

It amounted to a non-answer following Randles latest display of frustration/anger Monday, when he tossed the ball and walked away from his celebrating teammates after a victory over the Bulls.

Asked directly about the report of Randle demanding a trade after Mondays game, Thibodeau said, Are you serious? Are you serious? Cmon. You know Im not going to respond to something like that anyway. Lets be real.

It seems far-fetched for Randle to demand a trade immediately following a game, but Randles clearly frustrated. He has warred with the fanbase and targeted referees all season, picking up a career-high 12 technicals.

Its a much different environment than last season, when Randle was the darling of New York while leading the Knicks to their first playoff appearance since 2013.

Look, every year is different. Youre faced with new and different challenges, Thibodeau said. There are a lot of things  this year didnt go like last year did. Hopefully we can finish up like we did last year. Things change all the time. They can change from going real good to bad quickly and they can go from being not as good as you would like to great real quick, also.

Just keep going. I think goes with the turf. Youre going to get a lot of credit. Youre going to get a lot of blame. Thats the way it works here. Stay focused, come in the next day and just keep working.

Randle didnt address the media after Sundays game. He cant be traded until after the season, but his four-year max extension, which kicks in next season, makes any potential deal complicated. Thibodeau again danced around the subject of his angry All-Star but praised the fanbase that has been hard on Randle this season.

This is the best place in the league to play and Ive been just about every place, Thibodeau said. So Im speaking from experience. This place is special. The fans are passionate, we know what basketball means to this city. Weve got to give them something to be proud of. Weve got to come out, weve gotta play hard, weve gotta play for each other, weve gotta play smart.

And if we do that, sometimes  you could lose a game and play well, the coach continued. Youve got to remember; the other teams pretty good too. Last year was different, was a different year. We never really got hit with COVID last year, we got hit with COVID this year. So theres a lot of things that go into it. But youve got to keep battling with it every day. And thats where it lies.
A homeless encampment alongside N Black Canyon Highway in Phoenix, Arizona.

John Koch walked down 27th Avenue in northwest Phoenix, a street littered with crumpled burnt foils used for smoking fentanyl. Nearby, people slumped on the curb, their nervous systems overtaken by the powerful drug. Others called out: "We got blues and shards"  street names for fentanyl-laced opioids and methamphetamines.

Carrying his backpack filled with NARCAN, a nasal spray used to treat opioid overdoses, Koch, 33, an outreach worker, was there to warn them: Take even a small amount of fentanyl and you could die.

"Fentanyl is making its way everywhere and into everything," said Nick Stavros, CEO of Community Medical Services.

About 1,000 miles away on the U.S.-Mexico border, a team of U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers huddled in a trailer and stared at rows of monitors showing images of the inside of cargo areas of semitrucks just outside. They were looking for signs of fentanyl  or any drug  being smuggled into the United States as part of a multimillion-dollar effort to upgrade technology along the border and stop fentanyl from reaching American households.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention counted more than 100,000 overdose deaths across the United States last year  the most it has ever recorded. Nearly two-thirds of those are estimated to be fentanyl-related.

The soaring death toll is once again stirring fierce debate about the best way to end the United States' decadeslong drug crisis: Continue to invest in the half-century-old war on drugs that prioritizes enforcement? Or increase focus on harm-reduction programs that emphasize clean needles and education to users?

Critics of enforcement policies argue public health approaches that punish people with substance use disorders do not make them quit. Opponents of harm reduction models say government dollars shouldnt be spent on allowing people to use drugs.

The debate has never been more urgent, with fentanyl now cheaper, more potent and more widespread than ever as Mexican cartels have become the single biggest supplier of the deadly drug.

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We are seeing a staggering amount of fentanyl in the United States, Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram told USA TODAY.

Dr. Rahul Gupta, director of the White Houses Office of National Drug Control Policy, warned the surge of fentanyl is reaching an all-time high.

"This is a very historic time, he said. We have never had the amount of death and destruction that we're seeing now.

Fentanyl fueling next wave of opioid crisis

Illicit fentanyl  produced mostly in foreign clandestine laboratories and trafficked into the United States in powder and pill form  once ravaged predominantly white suburbs as an alternative to heroin or other opioids, experts say. But increasingly the drug is showing up in urban centers, from Los Angeles to Phoenix to New York City.

People of color are dying at faster rates than white users. Overdose mortality per capita among non-Hispanic Blacks more than tripled from 2010 to 2019, compared with a 58% increase among non-Hispanic whites, according to a study published in February in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

In some cases, users experiment with cocaine or other drugs inadvertently mixed with fentanyl. Others knowingly use fentanyl for its cheap, powerful high  but are unaware of the drugs potency.

The pills, stamped with an "M" on one side and "30" on the other, are designed to look identical to legitimate prescription drugs such as Oxycontin, Percocet and Xanax  but have enough fentanyl for three people.

It's 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, said Mark Lippa, acting deputy special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in the Rio Grande Valley. Just 1 kilogram of this fentanyl can potentially kill 500,000 people.

On average, prices are $3 to $10 a pill  but in some cities across the country, people can get pills for as little as $1 each.

"All of a sudden, what used to be a $150-a-day heroin habit has become a $15-a-day habit," said Koch, director of community engagement at Community Medical Services in Phoenix. "Its a habit that can be very sustainable."

To try to push back the surge of fentanyl, DEA officials pored over CDC and FBI data and deployed agents to 34 cities across 23 states  from Oakland, California, to Miami. Launched last month, Operation Overdrive uses the data to target criminal drug networks in areas with the highest rates of drug-related violence and overdoses, Milgram said.

Fentanyls compact size and rampancy make it challenging to wipe out, she said. About 4 in 10 illicit pills today contain fentanyl, up from 2 in 10 just a few years ago, Milgram said.

It is a completely different world, a completely different threat, from plant-based drugs, such as heroin and cocaine, she said.

Alicia Bermudez, 27, adds water to her Methadone before dosing at Community Medical Services.

Empty plastic jars sit inside of the dosing area at Community Medical Services in Phoenix, Arizona on March 10, 2022.

Harm reduction can save lives

On a recent Tuesday morning on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Shantae Owens, who lost his 18-year-old son to an opioid overdose in 2019, passed out fentanyl test strips to people and talked to them about overdose prevention centers. In December, New York opened the first two clinics in the country that provide substance users a monitored place to safely inject.

For Owens, 48, things have changed a lot since he was a heroin user 15 years ago while living on the streets of New York City.

"Back then the only options we had was prison or inpatient treatment," said Owens, a harm reduction community worker with Vocal-NY, a statewide grassroots organization that advocates for low-income people directly affected by the war on drugs and mass incarceration.

More recently, the federal government, states and cities have treated substance use disorder as a public health crisis.

Laboratory technician Jack Carrasco is one of three employees that work inside of the clinical lab at Community Medical Services.

President Joe Biden has made harm reduction a key part of his fight against the opioid crisis. In his State of the Union address, Biden pointed to increased funding for prevention and harm reduction, while also pursuing drug traffickers, as solutions to the opioid crisis.

If youre suffering from addiction, know you are not alone, said Biden, whose son Hunter Biden has been treated for drug and alcohol substance use disorder. I believe in recovery, and I celebrate the 23 million Americans in recovery.

Biden's proposed budget, released this week, calls for $42.5 billion for drug control programs, a $3.2 billion increase from current funding levels. This year, a historic 57% of funds were allocated to reduction programs including evidence-based treatment, harm reduction, prevention and recovery services, according to the White House. And, for the first time ever, 10% of the $3.5 billion earmarked for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration would be set aside for recovery services, helping people who have historically been unable to access care.

The proposed budget also requests an increase of $336 million for DEA investigations, diversion control and other counterdrug efforts, as well as an increase of $293 million for CBP to stop drugs from entering the country at the border.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department has said it is evaluating other policies and has signaled it might allow the opening of more supervised safety injection sites across the country.

"The point is that we are trying to make sure that, when it comes to saving lives, your ZIP code doesn't decide whether you get to live," said Gupta, the White House drug policy czar.

A Community Medical Services patient waits for her dosage of Methadone on March 10, 2022 in Phoenix.

Community Medical Services provides three FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder: Methadone, Buprenorphine and Naltrexone.

Studies have shown that "harm reduction" approaches, which prioritize keeping people with substance use disorders safe rather than persuading them to abstain, have greater results in long-term recovery. Some measures include opening syringe exchange programs, disbursing fentanyl testing strips and increasing the availability of naloxone and medically assisted treatment.

"Harm reduction is evidence-based medicine. It is one of our most powerful public health tools, said Dr. Hansel Tookes, an infectious disease physician at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and founder of IDEA Exchange, the first legal syringe exchange program in Florida. This is science. Moral outrage does not trump science."

A key challenge faced by advocates is making harm-reduction techniques available to people of color, who have been historically disproportionately targeted and incarcerated for drug offenses.

An inordinate amount of people of color are uninsured, leaving them unable to pay out of pocket for rehabilitative services, which are as expensive as a year of college tuition. And researchers have found that Black patients are significantly less likely than white patients to receive lifesaving medications for opioid use disorder.

The primary barrier to health care among people living with substance use and mental health disorders is access, something that is exacerbated by social stigmatization, racism and policies," said Alex Kral, an epidemiologist specializing in drug use with RTI International, a North Carolina independent nonprofit research institute.

Harm reduction policies remain unpopular among many conservatives, who argue enabling users only deepens the problem.

Sens. Marco Rubio R-Fla., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., introduced a bill in February that would bar federal funding from programs that distribute items such as crack pipes or needles for illicit drugs.

We need to do more but sending drug paraphernalia to addicts is not the answer, Rubio said in a statement.

The outcry followed the announcement by the Department of Health and Human Services to spend $30 million in federal grants on harm reduction initiatives including "safe smoking kits." The kits typically include a rubber mouthpiece and disinfectant wipes intended to curb oral infections among users that share drugs.

In a letter to Biden last month, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., and 116 other Republican lawmakers blamed the White House for allowing the spread of fentanyl across the U.S.-Mexico border and urged Biden to stem the drug's spread.

Stopping fentanyl at the border

For U.S. authorities, a key tactic in the fight against fentanyl is stopping it from entering the country in the first place.

Since at least 2019, groups such as the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel have increased their supply of fentanyl to the United States while direct shipments of the drug from China to the U.S. has decreased substantially, according to the DEAs latest National Drug Threat Assessment. The fentanyl pills are increasingly referred to on the streets as Mexican Oxy or M30s, the report concluded.

Last year, Customs and Border Protection officers at eight South Texas ports of entry  from Brownsville to Del Rio  reported a 1,066% increase in fentanyl seizures. Overall, fentanyl seizures along the U.S.-Mexico border have skyrocketed, from 596 in fiscal year 2016 to 11,201 last fiscal year, according to the agency's statistics.

As cartel leaders realized fentanyl offered high profits at lower risk compared with cocaine and heroin, they amped up production, mixing the drug themselves rather than import finished fentanyl, said Ricardo Marquez Blas, a Mexico City-based security consultant. Today, the cartels produce enough fentanyl to supply the entire U.S. market, he said.

Mexican authorities have struggled to stop them because local law enforcement officials are not equipped or trained to root out small labs mixing small amounts of drugs, Marquez said. Even handing over control of border crossings and seaports to the military, which the government began doing in 2020, has not stopped the flow of precursor ingredients into Mexico, he said.

The production of fentanyl has been growing these past few years and will continue to grow because the precursor ingredients keep arriving, Marquez said.

U.S. officials have answered with a surge of money to upgrade technology at the border.

On a recent afternoon at the World Trade Bridge at the Laredo port of entry, one of the busiest overland crossings in North America, lines of trailer trucks stretched for more than a mile as they inched from Nuevo Laredo, across the bridge spanning the Rio Grande, into Laredo, Texas.

The border city is a key battlefront in the United States fentanyl fight. Last fiscal year, Customs and Border Protection officers in the Laredo sector confiscated about 588 pounds of the synthetic drug  up from just 50 pounds the year before, the agency said.

At the bridge, a handful of trucks at a time were redirected to a temporary hangar. They slowly drove through enormous scanners as seven officers inside a nearby trailer stared at rows of flat-screen monitors that showed the inside, undercarriage and roofs of the trucks. They were looking for irregularities  an out-of-place crate, a false side inside a trailer  that could point them to traffickers.

The agents were testing out multi-energy portals, a new scanning technology that allows agents to scan trailer trucks without drivers having to leave the cabs, said Albert Flores, the Customs and Border Protection port director for the Laredo Port of Entry.

If the system is approved, officials will build a 12,000-square-foot state-of-the-art control center where 24 officers will constantly scan trucks crossing the bridge. The initiative would increase the percentage of trucks being screened from 15% to 90%. The more trucks checked, the more drugs discovered, Flores said.

Its going to be huge for us, he said.

Flores conceded that the scanners have limitations, largely because drug cartels always try to find ways to circumvent new tactics.

Theyll adapt, he said. We figure it out. And then, before you know it, theyll change it on us.

Despite the efforts at the border, the drug continues to seep into the United States, raising concerns from local law enforcement departments that often have to deal with any fallout.

Overdoses in Pima County, Arizona, one of the epicenters for fentanyl overdoses of people of color, climbed from 337 in 2019 to more than 500 last year, said Tucson Police Assistant Chief Kevin Hall. The majority of those are opioid- or fentanyl-related, he said.

Investigators target large-scale, cartel-related drug rings in the region, Hall said. But most users stopped by police are given the option of medical-assisted treatment or jail in an initiative known as the Deflection Program. If an arrestee chooses treatment, charges are dropped and they dont even have to finish their full treatment, he said.

Coerced treatment doesnt work, Hall said. We realize substance abuse is a chronic relapsing disease. This allows us to go back and reengage again and again. More often than not, itll be two or three or four times.

Since launching in 2018, the program has deflected more than 2,200 people away from jail and into treatment, and about 36% of participants have completed treatment. The initiative started as a way to address a growing opioid crisis, Hall said. But these days, it consists almost entirely of fentanyl users.

Now, everything we see is fentanyl, he said.

Overdoses are soaring

The soaring number of drug deaths comes as communities have struggled with the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout.

Tera Wise, a manager at Community Medical Services in Columbus, said her clinic has noticed a worrying trend in central and northern Ohio: previously incarcerated inmates, most of them people of color, overdosing on fentanyl soon after their release.

To combat the trend, her group recently launched an initiative of medical-treatment therapy inside four state prisons in Ohio. The goal is to try to ease the inmates substance abuse problems before theyre released, Wise said. Inmates are treated with a variety of medications, including methadone and buprenorphine, while attending counseling for underlying issues.

We know there are still drugs in prison, Wise said. We really want people to be safe.

For Suzanne Plymale, a peer support specialist at the Columbus clinic, a key tactic is sharing her story with those struggling with addiction. Her struggles began with prescribed benzodiazepines and shifted to Valiums and Xanax before escalating to hydrocodone and, ultimately, injecting black-tar heroin and fentanyl -- a disorder that consumed 26 years of her life. After entering recovery in 2017, she turned her attention to helping others.

Her story helps her connect with users, Plymale said.

"You need to really listen to people who are in the trenches, be compassionate and not paint folks with a broad brush," she said. "Theres no way we can enforce our way out of this problem."

Community Medical Services employees John Koch, left, and Ryan Schroeder walk inside of the gym facility, one of many services offered at CMS.

Karla Norzagaray, a peer counselor in Tucson, Arizona, who has been in recovery for two years, said she's seeing many construction and landscaping workers struggling with opioid addiction. They are often injured on the job or suffer from chronic pain but don't have access to medical care in the first place. They go out and buy "blues" because they think they are buying medication on the black market.

As a case manager, she is responsible for closing out files of people who have sought treatment but then vanished for more than 30 days. Norzagaray said the epidemic has gotten so bad she's averaging closing 45 cases a week.

"I keep wondering, Will this be the day I call and the person is dead," Norzagaray said.

In Tucson, Imyssia Mesa and Jovan Pena are the lucky ones: They got out. The pair have been in recovery from opioid use disorder for three years.

For Pena, 35, his use began as he coped with the grief of losing his ex-fiance, who died from an accidental fentanyl overdose. Mesa, 26, a survivor of intimate partner violence from a previous relationship, began buying fentanyl on the street to treat her pain from her often broken ribs and broken bones.

They said they are fortunate to have entered medically assisted treatment right before the pandemic when Mesa became pregnant with their baby.

But the fentanyl crisis has increasingly ravaged their neighborhood, with more people falling prey to addiction. Its everywhere, Pena said, even at the bus stop, where users can be seen hunched over on the street, fentanyl seizing their systems.

Over the past year, the couple have lost four people to lethal overdoses.

"It's starting to look like one of these zombie apocalypse movies, Mesa said. It's sad.

Follow USA TODAY national correspondents @RominaAdi and @MrRJervis on Twitter.

"Fentanyl is making its way everywhere and into everything," said Nick Stavros, CEO of Community Medical Services.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: As fentanyl deaths soar, treatment versus enforcement debate heats up
By Ali Kucukgocmen

ISTANBUL (Reuters) -A Turkish prosecutor called on Thursday for the trial in Istanbul of Saudi suspects over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to be halted and transferred to Saudi authorities, a move which comes as Turkey seeks to mend ties with Riyadh.

Khashoggi's killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul four years ago triggered a global outcry and put pressure on Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

A U.S. intelligence report released a year ago said the prince had approved the operation to kill or capture Khashoggi, but the Saudi government denied any involvement by the crown prince and rejected the report's findings.

Turkish officials said they believe Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the crown prince, was killed and his body dismembered in an operation which President Tayyip Erdogan said had been ordered at the "highest levels" of the Saudi government.

The killing and subsequent accusations strained ties between the two regional powers and led to an unofficial Saudi boycott of Turkish goods, which cut Ankara's exports to Riyadh by 90%.

Erdogan now seeks better ties with states which had become bitter rivals in recent years, including Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Israeli and UAE leaders visited Ankara in recent months, but progress with Cairo and Riyadh has been slower. Erdogan said last month he hoped to take "concrete steps" with Riyadh soon.

The Istanbul court where the 26 Saudi suspects have been on trial in absentia for nearly two years said on Thursday it would ask for the Justice Ministry's opinion on the request to transfer proceedings, and set the next hearing for April 7.

In 2020, Saudi Arabia jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years for Khashoggi's murder. None of the defendants was named in what rights groups described as a sham trial.

At the time, Ankara said the verdict fell short of expectations, but has since softened its tone as part of the broader attempt to repair ties. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told broadcaster A Haber on Thursday that judicial cooperation between the two countries had improved.

Story continues

Khashoggi's fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, who attended the court session, said in a statement later she was "heartbroken" by the prosecutor's request.

"No good will come of sending the case to Saudi Arabia," she said. "We all know the authorities there will do nothing. How do we expect the killers to investigate themselves?"

SAUDIS SOUGHT TRANSFER

Last year the Turkish court rejected requests to add the U.S. intelligence assessment of Prince Mohammed's role to the case file. It then asked for details of the Riyadh trial from Saudi authorities to avoid defendants being punished twice.

The Turkish prosecutor said Saudi authorities responded by asking for the case be transferred, and pledging to evaluate the accusations against the 26 defendants.

The request should be accepted, the prosecutor said, because the defendants were foreign citizens, the arrest warrants could not be executed and their statements could not be taken, leaving the case in abeyance or suspension.

The crown prince told The Atlantic monthly in an article published this month that he felt his own rights had been violated by the accusations against him as any person should be considered innocent until proved guilty.

Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International secretary general, said that Turkey was "betraying" Khashoggi and justice.

Callamard was the former U.N. special rapporteur for extrajudicial summary or arbitary executions and carried out the investigation that found Saudi officials "planned and perpetrated" Khashoggi's killing.

"Nothing surprising though," she said on Twitter about the prosecutor's request. "Turkey is after all one of the worse jailers of journalists and cannot be counted on," Callamard said, describing the move as "spineless".

(Reporting by Ali Kucukgocmen; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, David Clarke, William Maclean and Nick Macfie)
Chinese, Pakistani FMs discuss bilateral ties, Ukraine

Xinhua) 09:07, March 31, 2022

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 30, 2022. Qureshi is here to attend the third meeting of foreign ministers of the countries neighboring Afghanistan. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

HEFEI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks on Wednesday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Qureshi is in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, to attend the third meeting of foreign ministers of the countries neighboring Afghanistan.

In the face of the complex and volatile international and regional situation, the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between China and Pakistan has withstood the test and shown strong vitality, becoming an important factor in safeguarding regional peace and stability, Wang said.

No matter how the international situation changes, China will continue to view and promote China-Pakistan relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, support Pakistan in safeguarding its national sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity, and will be Pakistan's most reliable partner and strongest backer, Wang added.

Noting that Pakistan and China have supported each other in weal and woe and have never let each other down, Qureshi said Pakistan is ready to maintain sound communication with China, with the two nations firmly supporting each other in safeguarding their core interests.

The two sides exchanged views on deepening mutually beneficial cooperation and agreed to continue to promote the high-quality development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Qureshi said Pakistan will make every effort to ensure the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel in Pakistan.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine issue.

Qureshi said that Pakistan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are deeply concerned about the multiple challenges brought by the spillover of the crisis to developing countries, and they advocate respecting international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and resolving disputes through diplomatic means.

Pakistan is willing to work with China to adopt a common position and make a unified voice, Qureshi added.

China and Pakistan, like other developing countries, adhere to the general direction of dialogue, negotiation and the restoration of peace, Wang said.

"Under the current circumstances, we should be especially vigilant against the negative spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis," Wang said. "We must not allow the Cold War mentality to resurface in Asia. We must not allow bloc confrontation to repeat in Asia. We must not allow small and medium-sized countries in the region to become tools or even victims of major-country rivalry."

He said China is ready to work with Pakistan and neighboring countries to play a constructive role in regional and world peace and stability.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
(600519):2021ESG 20220331 14:31:08  :

:   2021ESG About the Report



Organization:



This Report covers the performance of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd. (Hereinafter referred to as "Kweichow



Moutai the Company or We) and its affiliated organizations in corporate governance, economic, social

and environmental aspects.



Reporting Period:



This Report covers the period from January 1 to December 31, 2021, with part of it falling outside of the

period. In accordance with the production cycle and process requirements of the products, part of the

production data shall be calculated according to the production year (from October 1 to September 30 of



the next year).



Publication interval:



This Report is an annual report and is the first EnvironmentalSocial and Governance Report issued by



Kweichow Moutai.



Declaration:



All information and data cited in this Report are objective and authentic. Financial figures herein are

recorded in RMB, unless otherwise specified. This Report is prepared in Chinese and English, respectively. In

case of any ambiguity in the Chinese and English texts, the Chinese text shall prevail.



References:



United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Sustainability Reporting Standards by Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

Guiding Opinions on Enterprises to Better Perform Social Responsibility by State-owned Assets Supervision

and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC)

Chinese CSR Report Preparation Guide on Food Industry (CASS-CSR4.0) by Chinese Academy of Social

Sciences

Guidelines for Compilation of Corporate Social Responsibility Report by Shanghai Stock Exchange

No. 1 Guidelines for Self-discipline Supervision of Listed Companies -Standard Operation by Shanghai

Stock Exchange



Access:



Please visit the following sites for more CSR information about Kweichow Moutai or downloading the

electronic report.

Official website of Kweichow Moutai: https://www.moutaichina.com/

Official website of Shanghai Stock Exchange: http://www.sse.com.cn/









02 03

CONTENTS

About the

Report01

Message from the

Chairman of the Board

05

About Kweichow

Moutai

06

10 Corporate

Governance

12

13

14

15

Corporate governance

Risk control

Operation according to laws

Business ethics

08 Social Responsibility

Management

Social responsibility concept

Social responsibility leadership mechanism

Communication with interested parties

Key topics identification

08

08

08

09

24 Environmental

Responsibility

26

27

28

30

31

Environmental management and control

Water resource management

Energy and climate change challenges

Green supply chain

Ecological protection

16 Economic

Responsibility

Outstanding quality

Scientific and technological innovation

Smart Moutai

Industrial development

18

22

23

23

44

45

Future expectations

Appendix

34

35

36

37

41

32 Social

Responsibility

Investor rights and interests

Customer responsibility

Win-win coorperation

Employee growth

Social contribution

Company profile

Organizational structure

Corporate culture

06

07

07

45

46

Index

Feedback

03

CONTENTS

About the

Report01

Message from the

Chairman of the Board

05

About Kweichow

Moutai

06

10 Corporate

Governance

12

13

14

15

Corporate governance

Risk control

Operation according to laws

Business ethics

08 Social Responsibility

Management

Social responsibility concept

Social responsibility leadership mechanism

Communication with interested parties

Key topics identification

08

08

08

09

24 Environmental

Responsibility

26

27

28

30

31

Environmental management and control

Water resource management

Energy and climate change challenges

Green supply chain

Ecological protection

16 Economic

Responsibility

Outstanding quality

Scientific and technological innovation

Smart Moutai

Industrial development

18

22

23

23

44

45

Future expectations

Appendix

34

35

36

37

41

32 Social

Responsibility

Investor rights and interests

Customer responsibility

Win-win coorperation

Employee growth

Social contribution

Company profile

Organizational structure

Corporate culture

06

07

07

45

46

Index

Feedback



Message from the Chairman of the Board







In 2021, Kweichow Moutai adhered to the concept of innovation, coordination, greenness, openness and shared development, followed its distinctive

five-line development path and made coordinated efforts on production, operation, pandemic prevention and control, achieved remarkable

performance and proceeded its journey of high-quality development while getting the 14th Five-Year Plan period off to a good start.



We continued to optimize its corporate governance to achieve steady and efficient economicgrowth.



We made tremendous efforts to promote the construction of modern corporate system to standardize corporate governance and improve risk

prevention. We also improved investor relations management and continuously created stable return for shareholders. Moreover, Kweichow Moutai

stuck to Five Craftsmanship philosophy and built its 365 quality management system. We improved our supplier management system, purchased

quality level, quality management in production and quality assessment and monitoring system to ensure consistent delivery of excellent products

and quality services to consumers. By adhering to the technology-powered development principle, we deepened scientific and technological

innovation; intensified our efforts in the application of scientific and technological achievements; and carried out in-depth construction of "Smart

Moutai" to inject strong momentum into high-quality development. In 2021, our operating income and net profit attributable to owners of the parent

company hit RMB 106.190 billion and RMB 52.460 billion, with YOY growth of 11.88% and 12.34%, respectively.



We practiced the concept of green development so as to continuously optimize and improve the ecological environment.



We contributed to the attainment of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals by continuously improving the comprehensive ecological and

environmental protection and management. Five special projects, namely increase of ecological water utilization, improvement of air quality, soil

pollution control, protection of microorganism, and ecosystem balance, were implemented to make Moutai a benchmark brand in the baijiu industry.

In terms of climate change, we developed the implementation outline for our carbon peak & carbon neutrality plan and took five special actions

of energy conservation and carbon reduction for efficiency increase, design of green product, green transformation of industrial chain, green

technological innovation and green & low-carbon lifestyle to protect the ecology of Chishui River and the harmonious development of both humans

and the nature. In 2021, Kweichow Moutai won the reputation of 5A Ecological Brewing Company in Guizhou.



We paid back to the society and benefit more people with our high-quality developmentachievements.



We gave full play to the role of 1+10+1 assistance mode and our special strength to help Daozhen County find an industrial

development path featured by edible mushrooms and boost the integration of poverty alleviation achievement and rural

vitalization. In the meantime, we have carried out the China Moutai - National Pillars Hope Project for Dream Realization for 10

consecutive years, and other public welfare campaigns such as Laymau Love & Growth, Wang Mao star Program, Moutai Prince

-Bright Youth to help several hundred thousand students to realize their wonderful dreams. On the other hand, as a responsible

brand with a good image, we coordinated social resources and participated in pandemic prevention and flood control to ensure

the safety and security of our employees as well as the general public.



The year of 2022 is a crucial year for reform in the context of the new era of Kweichow Moutais high-quality development. In its

long journey of development, We will hold unswervingly to its distinctive five-line development path; make contributions to the

nine crucial actions in production quality, market system, project construction, financial services for three types of enterprises

(joint ventures, sino-foreign co-operative enterprises, and wholly foreign-owned enterprises), cultural and tourism development,

green transformation, digital transformation, scientific and technological innovation, and talent development; and join hands with

interested parties including investors, customers, employees, suppliers and distributors to create values for the economy, society,



and environment.



Chairman of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.









07

About Kweichow Moutai

Company responsibility profile

Organizational structure

Corporate culture

Kweichow Moutai Company Limited

Directly affiliated departments

and workshops

Branch companies and subsidiarycompanies

Digital and Information Management

Center

Kweichow Moutai Group Finance Co., Ltd.

Moutai Baijiu Customization and Marketing GuizhouCo., Ltd.

Heyixing Branch of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.

Moutai International Hotel of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.

Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Paris Trading Co., Ltd.

Tech Center

Material Supply Center

Centralized Procurement Center

Convergence Media Center

Management Office of BOS of Subsidiary

Companies

Corporate Culture Department

Business Management Department

Legal and IP Protection Department

Finance Department

Audit Department

Human Resource and Social Security

Department

Strategic Development Department

Company Office

BOD Office Public Relations DepartmentSafety Supervision DepartmentComprehensive Management and

Security DepartmentEcology and Environmental Protection

DepartmentPlanning and Construction DepartmentLife Service Assurance CenterEquipment Energy Management

DepartmentProduction Management DepartmentBlending and Storage WorkshopPackaging WorkshopElectromechanical Maintenance Support

WorkshopPower WorkshopProduction Material Distribution and

Support WorkshopTransportation Support CenterLiquor-brewing WorkshopYeast-making WorkshopQuality DepartmentMission

Brewing high-quality lifeVision

Building a world-class enterprise and brandCore value

High liquor quality, strict management of conduct and a harmonious interpersonal relationshipCorporate spirit

Devoting to Moutai, winning glory for the motherland

Quality philosophy:

Give priority to quality, keep unique process, guarantee sufficient aging liquor resources and never

offer freshly-blended baijiu

06

Guizhou Laymau Co., Ltd.

Beijing Friendship Messenger Trading Co., Ltd.

Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Import and Export Co., Ltd.

Moutai Jiang-flavor (Moutai-flavor) Baijiu Sales Co., Ltd.

Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Sales Co., Ltd.

Kweichow Moutai Co., LTD. (the Company) was founded on November 20, 1999, with China Kweichow Moutai Distillery (Group)

Co., LTD. (Moutai Group) being the main initiator and other seven entities being the joint initiators. Currently, its controlling

shareholder is Moutai Group.

The Company is based in Maotai Town, a beautiful town harbored along the picturesque Chishui River in northern Guizhou

Province. It is engaged in the production and sales of Moutai Baijiu and its series, among which Kweichow Moutai Baijiu stands out

as the hero product. It is the originator and indisputable representative of Daqu Moutai-flavor Baijiu in China. It is labeled as green

food, organic food as well as national produce marked with geographical indication (GI). Boasting lingering fragrance, it made

Chinese Baijiu known by the world.

On August 27th, 2001, the Company's shares were listed and traded on Shanghai Stock Exchange. As of June 25, 2021, the

Company's accumulated cash dividends totaled RMB 121.355 billion, 60.80 times the net funds raised from IPO. By the end of

2021, the total assets is RMB 255.168 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.58%. In 2021, the Companys operating income is RMB

106.190 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11.88%; net profit attributable to owners of the parent company is RMB 52.460 billion,

a year-on-year increase of 12.34%. Kweichow Moutai ranked 11th in the Most Valuable Global Brands list of BrandZ with a brand

value of USD 109.33 billion, making it the most valuable Baijiu brand in the world.

About Kweichow Moutai

Company responsibility profile

Organizational structure

Corporate culture

Kweichow Moutai Company Limited

Directly affiliated departments

and workshops

Branch companies and subsidiarycompanies

Digital and Information Management

Center

Kweichow Moutai Group Finance Co., Ltd.

Moutai Baijiu Customization and Marketing GuizhouCo., Ltd.

Heyixing Branch of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.

Moutai International Hotel of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.

Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Paris Trading Co., Ltd.

Tech Center

Material Supply Center

Centralized Procurement Center

Convergence Media Center

Management Office of BOS of Subsidiary

Companies

Corporate Culture Department

Business Management Department

Legal and IP Protection Department

Finance Department

Audit Department

Human Resource and Social Security

Department

Strategic Development Department

Company Office

BOD Office Public Relations DepartmentSafety Supervision DepartmentComprehensive Management and

Security DepartmentEcology and Environmental Protection

DepartmentPlanning and Construction DepartmentLife Service Assurance CenterEquipment Energy Management

DepartmentProduction Management DepartmentBlending and Storage WorkshopPackaging WorkshopElectromechanical Maintenance Support

WorkshopPower WorkshopProduction Material Distribution and

Support WorkshopTransportation Support CenterLiquor-brewing WorkshopYeast-making WorkshopQuality DepartmentMission

Brewing high-quality lifeVision

Building a world-class enterprise and brandCore value

High liquor quality, strict management of conduct and a harmonious interpersonal relationshipCorporate spirit

Devoting to Moutai, winning glory for the motherland

Quality philosophy:

Give priority to quality, keep unique process, guarantee sufficient aging liquor resources and never

offer freshly-blended baijiu

06

Guizhou Laymau Co., Ltd.

Beijing Friendship Messenger Trading Co., Ltd.

Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Import and Export Co., Ltd.

Moutai Jiang-flavor (Moutai-flavor) Baijiu Sales Co., Ltd.

Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Sales Co., Ltd.

Kweichow Moutai Co., LTD. (the Company) was founded on November 20, 1999, with China Kweichow Moutai Distillery (Group)

Co., LTD. (Moutai Group) being the main initiator and other seven entities being the joint initiators. Currently, its controlling

shareholder is Moutai Group.

The Company is based in Maotai Town, a beautiful town harbored along the picturesque Chishui River in northern Guizhou

Province. It is engaged in the production and sales of Moutai Baijiu and its series, among which Kweichow Moutai Baijiu stands out

as the hero product. It is the originator and indisputable representative of Daqu Moutai-flavor Baijiu in China. It is labeled as green

food, organic food as well as national produce marked with geographical indication (GI). Boasting lingering fragrance, it made

Chinese Baijiu known by the world.

On August 27th, 2001, the Company's shares were listed and traded on Shanghai Stock Exchange. As of June 25, 2021, the

Company's accumulated cash dividends totaled RMB 121.355 billion, 60.80 times the net funds raised from IPO. By the end of

2021, the total assets is RMB 255.168 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.58%. In 2021, the Companys operating income is RMB

106.190 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11.88%; net profit attributable to owners of the parent company is RMB 52.460 billion,

a year-on-year increase of 12.34%. Kweichow Moutai ranked 11th in the Most Valuable Global Brands list of BrandZ with a brand

value of USD 109.33 billion, making it the most valuable Baijiu brand in the world.



08 09

Social Responsibility Management

Social concept

Social responsibility leadership mechanism

Communication with interested parties

Key topics identification

Blue line Vision and blueprint with the focus on dual-doubling, dual-consolidation and

dual-construction goals of the Group.

White line Reformation, innovation and construction under a usual mind.

Purple line Development of Moutai culture by exploring cultural significance and empower

cultural promotion.

Red line Environmental protection, safety guarantee and struggle against corruption.

Green line

Green development with ecology as the priority, featuring the Five Craftsmanship

philosophy, 365 quality management system and the construction of theone

base and one benchmark.

Five-line development path

Expectations and Demand Communication and Response

Government

Observing law and regulation

Economic development

Paying taxes according to laws

Boosting employment

Managing the corporate according to laws

Achieving green and high-quality development

Paying taxes on time and in full

Promoting employment

Shareholders

Profitable return on investment

Preserving and increasing the value of assets

Normative corporate management

Compliance operation

Proactive profits distribution

Improving information disclosure

Suppliers Fair and equitable procurement

Keeping promises

Accountable procurement

Friendly cooperation

Supplier review

Community Launching public welfare projects

Promoting community development

Welfare and charity projects in communities

Investing in communities

Boosting rural vitalization

Environment

Green and environmental protection

Achieving the goals carbon peak and carbon

neutrality

Pollution control

Improving environment management system

Building Moutai as a benchmark enterprise in the

Baijiu industry

Promoting ecological conservation

Distributor Policy support

Cooperation and win-win results

Formulating scientific marketing policy andincentive policy

Conducting distributor training

Food safety

Considerate service

Product quality

Consumers health

Strengthening food safety management

Improving after-sale service

Customer follow-up visit

Promoting moderate drinking

Consumers

Protecting rights and interests

Career development

Physical and mental health

Signing the labor contract

Improving the salary and benefit system

Improving talent training system

Ensuring balance between work and life

Employees

Corporate Governance Economic Responsibility Environmental Responsibility Social Responsibility

Management of sustainable

development

Corporate Governance

Operation according to laws

Risk control

Business ethics

Product quality and safety

Responsible marketing

Scientific and technological

innovation

Digital transformation

Industrial development

Energy conservation and energy

consumption reduction

Water resource management

Packaging materials and wastes

Carbon emission management

Pollution control

Green supply chain

Ecological protection

Protection of investors rights and

interests

Protection of employees rights and

interests

Protection of partners rights andinterests

Health and safety

Pandemic control

Rural vitalization

Social welfare and charity campaigns

Kweichow Moutai actively integrates the social responsibility into its development strategy and daily operation and management, constantly

and actively practices its social responsibilities. Therefore, it has formed Moutai's characteristic concept of social responsibility -Big Brands Big

Responsibilities. Specifically, the realization of sustainable development is the foundation and premise for enterprises to undertake social responsibility,

while the undertaking of social responsibility will further promote enterprises' sustainable and high-quality development, which complement each

other. Therefore, the Company adheres to the concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and shared development, followed its distinctive

five-line development path. We strive to create values for the economy, society, and environment to serve people's demand for a better life and the

sustainable development of the enterprises.

Kweichow Moutai pays attention to integrating the requirements of fulfilling social responsibility into the whole process of production and operation.

The management of the Company promote social responsibility work as a whole, and each department deeply participates in social responsibility

work within the scope of business according to the division of functions. All affiliated enterprises earnestly fulfill their social responsibilities according

to the Company's requirements, actively promote the practice of social responsibility, and ensure the normal development of various work.

Kweichow Moutai attaches great importance to communication and exchange with the interested parties, in a bid to deeply learn about and study

their demands and expectations, and transfer them into the action goals and plans of corporate development.

Based on its development strategies, actual operation, development of social responsibilities and industries at home and abroad, Kweichow Moutai

has sorted out topics that are related to corporate business and most concerned by the interested parties, and made them the focus of social

responsibility undertakings and communications, so as to further promote its sustainable development.

Interested Parties Social Responsibility Management

Social concept

Social responsibility leadership mechanism

Communication with interested parties

Key topics identification

Blue line Vision and blueprint with the focus on dual-doubling, dual-consolidation and

dual-construction goals of the Group.

White line Reformation, innovation and construction under a usual mind.

Purple line Development of Moutai culture by exploring cultural significance and empower

cultural promotion.

Red line Environmental protection, safety guarantee and struggle against corruption.

Green line

Green development with ecology as the priority, featuring the Five Craftsmanship

philosophy, 365 quality management system and the construction of theone

base and one benchmark.

Five-line development path

Expectations and Demand Communication and Response

Government

Observing law and regulation

Economic development

Paying taxes according to laws

Boosting employment

Managing the corporate according to laws

Achieving green and high-quality development

Paying taxes on time and in full

Promoting employment

Shareholders

Profitable return on investment

Preserving and increasing the value of assets

Normative corporate management

Compliance operation

Proactive profits distribution

Improving information disclosure

Suppliers Fair and equitable procurement

Keeping promises

Accountable procurement

Friendly cooperation

Supplier review

Community Launching public welfare projects

Promoting community development

Welfare and charity projects in communities

Investing in communities

Boosting rural vitalization

Environment

Green and environmental protection

Achieving the goals carbon peak and carbon

neutrality

Pollution control

Improving environment management system

Building Moutai as a benchmark enterprise in the

Baijiu industry

Promoting ecological conservation

Distributor Policy support

Cooperation and win-win results

Formulating scientific marketing policy andincentive policy

Conducting distributor training

Food safety

Considerate service

Product quality

Consumers health

Strengthening food safety management

Improving after-sale service

Customer follow-up visit

Promoting moderate drinking

Consumers

Protecting rights and interests

Career development

Physical and mental health

Signing the labor contract

Improving the salary and benefit system

Improving talent training system

Ensuring balance between work and life

Employees

Corporate Governance Economic Responsibility Environmental Responsibility Social Responsibility

Management of sustainable

development

Corporate Governance

Operation according to laws

Risk control

Business ethics

Product quality and safety

Responsible marketing

Scientific and technological

innovation

Digital transformation

Industrial development

Energy conservation and energy

consumption reduction

Water resource management

Packaging materials and wastes

Carbon emission management

Pollution control

Green supply chain

Ecological protection

Protection of investors rights and

interests

Protection of employees rights and

interests

Protection of partners rights andinterests

Health and safety

Pandemic control

Rural vitalization

Social welfare and charity campaigns

Kweichow Moutai actively integrates the social responsibility into its development strategy and daily operation and management, constantly

and actively practices its social responsibilities. Therefore, it has formed Moutai's characteristic concept of social responsibility -Big Brands Big

Responsibilities. Specifically, the realization of sustainable development is the foundation and premise for enterprises to undertake social responsibility,

while the undertaking of social responsibility will further promote enterprises' sustainable and high-quality development, which complement each

other. Therefore, the Company adheres to the concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and shared development, followed its distinctive

five-line development path. We strive to create values for the economy, society, and environment to serve people's demand for a better life and the

sustainable development of the enterprises.

Kweichow Moutai pays attention to integrating the requirements of fulfilling social responsibility into the whole process of production and operation.

The management of the Company promote social responsibility work as a whole, and each department deeply participates in social responsibility

work within the scope of business according to the division of functions. All affiliated enterprises earnestly fulfill their social responsibilities according

to the Company's requirements, actively promote the practice of social responsibility, and ensure the normal development of various work.

Kweichow Moutai attaches great importance to communication and exchange with the interested parties, in a bid to deeply learn about and study

their demands and expectations, and transfer them into the action goals and plans of corporate development.

Based on its development strategies, actual operation, development of social responsibilities and industries at home and abroad, Kweichow Moutai

has sorted out topics that are related to corporate business and most concerned by the interested parties, and made them the focus of social

responsibility undertakings and communications, so as to further promote its sustainable development.

Interested Parties



Corporate governance

Risk control

Operation according tolaws

Business ethics

Corporate

Governance

Featuring modern enterprise systemconstruction along with practical actionsand measures, Kweichow Moutai hasimproved its corporate governancestructure, ensured effective risk control,

legal and compliance operation and

strengthened business ethics managementto promote comprehensive corporategovernance and ensure the stable, efficientand long-term sustainable development of

the Company.

Corporate governance

Risk control

Operation according tolaws

Business ethics

Corporate

Governance

Featuring modern enterprise systemconstruction along with practical actionsand measures, Kweichow Moutai hasimproved its corporate governancestructure, ensured effective risk control,

legal and compliance operation and

strengthened business ethics managementto promote comprehensive corporategovernance and ensure the stable, efficientand long-term sustainable development of

the Company.

10 11







Corporate governance Risk control





According to laws and regulations such as the Company Law of the People's Republic of China, Law of the Peoples Republic of China on Securities

and Governance Standards of Listed Companies and requirements specified in documents regarding corporate governance issued by China

Securities Regulatory Commission and Shanghai Stock Exchange, Kweichow Moutai has promoted its governance and improved its salary system

to ensure transparent and standard operation.



Governance structure



We have continuously optimized its corporate governance structure and revised its Articles of Association and Rules of Procedure for Shareholders'

Meetings, Rules of Procedure for Board of Directors, and Rules of Procedure for Board of Supervisors, in a bid to clarify the boundaries of power

and responsibilities of the Shareholders' Meetings, Board of Directors, and Board of Supervisors, and develop a separate governance mode for each



Shareholders' meetings Board of Directors Board of Supervisors

deliberative body.



'

The shareholdersmeetings are organized

strictly based on the Articles of Association,

which include procedures such as notification,

deliberation and voting. Such procedures have

ensured that all stockholders can enjoy equal

rights and effective exercise of their right to

know, participate, ask and vote. In 2021, one

annal general meeting of stockholders was

organized and eight proposals were reviewed

and approved. One interim general meeting

of stockholders was organized and seven

proposals were reviewed and approved.





The Board of Directors consists of 6 directors, including 3

independent directors and 1 employee director. The Board of

Directors consists of the Strategy Committee, the Audit Committee,

the Risk Control Committee, the Nomination Committee and the

Remuneration and Assessment Committee, all of which employ their

expertise to review and assess the proposals submitted. In 2021, the

Board of Directors organized 13 meetings and approved 46 proposals.

The committees under the Board of Directors organized 7 meetings

and approved 18 proposals. Among them, the Audit Committee, the

Strategy Committee, the Nomination Committee and the Risk Control

Committee organized 4, 1, 1 and 1 meeting(s) respectively, with 12, 1,

2 and 3 proposals approved correspondingly.





The Board of Supervisors

shall exercise supervision in

compliance with laws and

regulations to promote the



coordinated operation and



keep the balance of power

between governance bodies

of the company. In 2021,

the Board of Supervisors

organized 5 meetings and

approved 11 proposals.



13

Governance Structure of Kweichow Moutai



Strategy Committee Shareholders' meetings

General Manager

Board of Directors

Board of Supervisors

Risk Control Committee

Audit Committee

Nomination Committee

Remuneration and Assessment

Committee

Compensation system



We have established a sound and transparent salary management system. For senior management, the annual salary system based on the regulations

by State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Guizhou Province and the relevant regulations of the Company. For middle m

anagement, the annual salary system based on the nature of the post, duties and rights, risks, performances and other factors is adopted. For ge

neral employees, the job performance-based salary system is adopted along with total salary contracting system according to different manageme

nt needs. In such context, the salary of different posts will be referred to the salary amount in the labor market as well as the technique, knowledge, l

abor intensity and performance of the employee at such post.



Kweichow Moutai has been strengthening the construction of its internal control system to improve its risk-resistance capacity. We completed the

2020 internal control assessments for the Company a  About the ReportOrganization:This Report covers the performance of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd. (Hereinafter referred to as "KweichowMoutai the Company or We) and its affiliated organizations in corporate governance, economic, socialand environmental aspects.Reporting Period:This Report covers the period from January 1 to December 31, 2021, with part of it falling outside of theperiod. In accordance with the production cycle and process requirements of the products, part of theproduction data shall be calculated according to the production year (from October 1 to September 30 ofthe next year).Publication interval:This Report is an annual report and is the first EnvironmentalSocial and Governance Report issued byKweichow Moutai.Declaration:All information and data cited in this Report are objective and authentic. Financial figures herein arerecorded in RMB, unless otherwise specified. This Report is prepared in Chinese and English, respectively. Incase of any ambiguity in the Chinese and English texts, the Chinese text shall prevail.References:United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)Sustainability Reporting Standards by Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)Guiding Opinions on Enterprises to Better Perform Social Responsibility by State-owned Assets Supervisionand Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC)Chinese CSR Report Preparation Guide on Food Industry (CASS-CSR4.0) by Chinese Academy of SocialSciencesGuidelines for Compilation of Corporate Social Responsibility Report by Shanghai Stock ExchangeNo. 1 Guidelines for Self-discipline Supervision of Listed Companies -Standard Operation by ShanghaiStock ExchangeAccess:Please visit the following sites for more CSR information about Kweichow Moutai or downloading theelectronic report.Official website of Kweichow Moutai: https://www.moutaichina.com/Official website of Shanghai Stock Exchange: http://www.sse.com.cn/02 03CONTENTSAbout theReport01Message from theChairman of the Board05About KweichowMoutai0610 CorporateGovernance12131415Corporate governanceRisk controlOperation according to lawsBusiness ethics08 Social ResponsibilityManagementSocial responsibility conceptSocial responsibility leadership mechanismCommunication with interested partiesKey topics identification0808080924 EnvironmentalResponsibility2627283031Environmental management and controlWater resource managementEnergy and climate change challengesGreen supply chainEcological protection16 EconomicResponsibilityOutstanding qualityScientific and technological innovationSmart MoutaiIndustrial development182223234445Future expectationsAppendix343536374132 SocialResponsibilityInvestor rights and interestsCustomer responsibilityWin-win coorperationEmployee growthSocial contributionCompany profileOrganizational structureCorporate culture0607074546IndexFeedback03CONTENTSAbout theReport01Message from theChairman of the Board05About KweichowMoutai0610 CorporateGovernance12131415Corporate governanceRisk controlOperation according to lawsBusiness ethics08 Social ResponsibilityManagementSocial responsibility conceptSocial responsibility leadership mechanismCommunication with interested partiesKey topics identification0808080924 EnvironmentalResponsibility2627283031Environmental management and controlWater resource managementEnergy and climate change challengesGreen supply chainEcological protection16 EconomicResponsibilityOutstanding qualityScientific and technological innovationSmart MoutaiIndustrial development182223234445Future expectationsAppendix343536374132 SocialResponsibilityInvestor rights and interestsCustomer responsibilityWin-win coorperationEmployee growthSocial contributionCompany profileOrganizational structureCorporate culture0607074546IndexFeedbackMessage from the Chairman of the BoardIn 2021, Kweichow Moutai adhered to the concept of innovation, coordination, greenness, openness and shared development, followed its distinctivefive-line development path and made coordinated efforts on production, operation, pandemic prevention and control, achieved remarkableperformance and proceeded its journey of high-quality development while getting the 14th Five-Year Plan period off to a good start.We continued to optimize its corporate governance to achieve steady and efficient economicgrowth.We made tremendous efforts to promote the construction of modern corporate system to standardize corporate governance and improve riskprevention. We also improved investor relations management and continuously created stable return for shareholders. Moreover, Kweichow Moutaistuck to Five Craftsmanship philosophy and built its 365 quality management system. We improved our supplier management system, purchasedquality level, quality management in production and quality assessment and monitoring system to ensure consistent delivery of excellent productsand quality services to consumers. By adhering to the technology-powered development principle, we deepened scientific and technologicalinnovation; intensified our efforts in the application of scientific and technological achievements; and carried out in-depth construction of "SmartMoutai" to inject strong momentum into high-quality development. In 2021, our operating income and net profit attributable to owners of the parentcompany hit RMB 106.190 billion and RMB 52.460 billion, with YOY growth of 11.88% and 12.34%, respectively.We practiced the concept of green development so as to continuously optimize and improve the ecological environment.We contributed to the attainment of carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals by continuously improving the comprehensive ecological andenvironmental protection and management. Five special projects, namely increase of ecological water utilization, improvement of air quality, soilpollution control, protection of microorganism, and ecosystem balance, were implemented to make Moutai a benchmark brand in the baijiu industry.In terms of climate change, we developed the implementation outline for our carbon peak & carbon neutrality plan and took five special actionsof energy conservation and carbon reduction for efficiency increase, design of green product, green transformation of industrial chain, greentechnological innovation and green & low-carbon lifestyle to protect the ecology of Chishui River and the harmonious development of both humansand the nature. In 2021, Kweichow Moutai won the reputation of 5A Ecological Brewing Company in Guizhou.We paid back to the society and benefit more people with our high-quality developmentachievements.We gave full play to the role of 1+10+1 assistance mode and our special strength to help Daozhen County find an industrialdevelopment path featured by edible mushrooms and boost the integration of poverty alleviation achievement and ruralvitalization. In the meantime, we have carried out the China Moutai - National Pillars Hope Project for Dream Realization for 10consecutive years, and other public welfare campaigns such as Laymau Love & Growth, Wang Mao star Program, Moutai Prince-Bright Youth to help several hundred thousand students to realize their wonderful dreams. On the other hand, as a responsiblebrand with a good image, we coordinated social resources and participated in pandemic prevention and flood control to ensurethe safety and security of our employees as well as the general public.The year of 2022 is a crucial year for reform in the context of the new era of Kweichow Moutais high-quality development. In itslong journey of development, We will hold unswervingly to its distinctive five-line development path; make contributions to thenine crucial actions in production quality, market system, project construction, financial services for three types of enterprises(joint ventures, sino-foreign co-operative enterprises, and wholly foreign-owned enterprises), cultural and tourism development,green transformation, digital transformation, scientific and technological innovation, and talent development; and join hands withinterested parties including investors, customers, employees, suppliers and distributors to create values for the economy, society,and environment.Chairman of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.07About Kweichow MoutaiCompany responsibility profileOrganizational structureCorporate cultureKweichow Moutai Company LimitedDirectly affiliated departmentsand workshopsBranch companies and subsidiarycompaniesDigital and Information ManagementCenterKweichow Moutai Group Finance Co., Ltd.Moutai Baijiu Customization and Marketing GuizhouCo., Ltd.Heyixing Branch of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.Moutai International Hotel of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Paris Trading Co., Ltd.Tech CenterMaterial Supply CenterCentralized Procurement CenterConvergence Media CenterManagement Office of BOS of SubsidiaryCompaniesCorporate Culture DepartmentBusiness Management DepartmentLegal and IP Protection DepartmentFinance DepartmentAudit DepartmentHuman Resource and Social SecurityDepartmentStrategic Development DepartmentCompany OfficeBOD Office Public Relations DepartmentSafety Supervision DepartmentComprehensive Management andSecurity DepartmentEcology and Environmental ProtectionDepartmentPlanning and Construction DepartmentLife Service Assurance CenterEquipment Energy ManagementDepartmentProduction Management DepartmentBlending and Storage WorkshopPackaging WorkshopElectromechanical Maintenance SupportWorkshopPower WorkshopProduction Material Distribution andSupport WorkshopTransportation Support CenterLiquor-brewing WorkshopYeast-making WorkshopQuality DepartmentMissionBrewing high-quality lifeVisionBuilding a world-class enterprise and brandCore valueHigh liquor quality, strict management of conduct and a harmonious interpersonal relationshipCorporate spiritDevoting to Moutai, winning glory for the motherlandQuality philosophy:Give priority to quality, keep unique process, guarantee sufficient aging liquor resources and neveroffer freshly-blended baijiu06Guizhou Laymau Co., Ltd.Beijing Friendship Messenger Trading Co., Ltd.Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Import and Export Co., Ltd.Moutai Jiang-flavor (Moutai-flavor) Baijiu Sales Co., Ltd.Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Sales Co., Ltd.Kweichow Moutai Co., LTD. (the Company) was founded on November 20, 1999, with China Kweichow Moutai Distillery (Group)Co., LTD. (Moutai Group) being the main initiator and other seven entities being the joint initiators. Currently, its controllingshareholder is Moutai Group.The Company is based in Maotai Town, a beautiful town harbored along the picturesque Chishui River in northern GuizhouProvince. It is engaged in the production and sales of Moutai Baijiu and its series, among which Kweichow Moutai Baijiu stands outas the hero product. It is the originator and indisputable representative of Daqu Moutai-flavor Baijiu in China. It is labeled as greenfood, organic food as well as national produce marked with geographical indication (GI). Boasting lingering fragrance, it madeChinese Baijiu known by the world.On August 27th, 2001, the Company's shares were listed and traded on Shanghai Stock Exchange. As of June 25, 2021, theCompany's accumulated cash dividends totaled RMB 121.355 billion, 60.80 times the net funds raised from IPO. By the end of2021, the total assets is RMB 255.168 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.58%. In 2021, the Companys operating income is RMB106.190 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11.88%; net profit attributable to owners of the parent company is RMB 52.460 billion,a year-on-year increase of 12.34%. Kweichow Moutai ranked 11th in the Most Valuable Global Brands list of BrandZ with a brandvalue of USD 109.33 billion, making it the most valuable Baijiu brand in the world.About Kweichow MoutaiCompany responsibility profileOrganizational structureCorporate cultureKweichow Moutai Company LimitedDirectly affiliated departmentsand workshopsBranch companies and subsidiarycompaniesDigital and Information ManagementCenterKweichow Moutai Group Finance Co., Ltd.Moutai Baijiu Customization and Marketing GuizhouCo., Ltd.Heyixing Branch of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.Moutai International Hotel of Kweichow Moutai Co., Ltd.Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Paris Trading Co., Ltd.Tech CenterMaterial Supply CenterCentralized Procurement CenterConvergence Media CenterManagement Office of BOS of SubsidiaryCompaniesCorporate Culture DepartmentBusiness Management DepartmentLegal and IP Protection DepartmentFinance DepartmentAudit DepartmentHuman Resource and Social SecurityDepartmentStrategic Development DepartmentCompany OfficeBOD Office Public Relations DepartmentSafety Supervision DepartmentComprehensive Management andSecurity DepartmentEcology and Environmental ProtectionDepartmentPlanning and Construction DepartmentLife Service Assurance CenterEquipment Energy ManagementDepartmentProduction Management DepartmentBlending and Storage WorkshopPackaging WorkshopElectromechanical Maintenance SupportWorkshopPower WorkshopProduction Material Distribution andSupport WorkshopTransportation Support CenterLiquor-brewing WorkshopYeast-making WorkshopQuality DepartmentMissionBrewing high-quality lifeVisionBuilding a world-class enterprise and brandCore valueHigh liquor quality, strict management of conduct and a harmonious interpersonal relationshipCorporate spiritDevoting to Moutai, winning glory for the motherlandQuality philosophy:Give priority to quality, keep unique process, guarantee sufficient aging liquor resources and neveroffer freshly-blended baijiu06Guizhou Laymau Co., Ltd.Beijing Friendship Messenger Trading Co., Ltd.Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Import and Export Co., Ltd.Moutai Jiang-flavor (Moutai-flavor) Baijiu Sales Co., Ltd.Guizhou Moutai Baijiu Sales Co., Ltd.Kweichow Moutai Co., LTD. (the Company) was founded on November 20, 1999, with China Kweichow Moutai Distillery (Group)Co., LTD. (Moutai Group) being the main initiator and other seven entities being the joint initiators. Currently, its controllingshareholder is Moutai Group.The Company is based in Maotai Town, a beautiful town harbored along the picturesque Chishui River in northern GuizhouProvince. It is engaged in the production and sales of Moutai Baijiu and its series, among which Kweichow Moutai Baijiu stands outas the hero product. It is the originator and indisputable representative of Daqu Moutai-flavor Baijiu in China. It is labeled as greenfood, organic food as well as national produce marked with geographical indication (GI). Boasting lingering fragrance, it madeChinese Baijiu known by the world.On August 27th, 2001, the Company's shares were listed and traded on Shanghai Stock Exchange. As of June 25, 2021, theCompany's accumulated cash dividends totaled RMB 121.355 billion, 60.80 times the net funds raised from IPO. By the end of2021, the total assets is RMB 255.168 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.58%. In 2021, the Companys operating income is RMB106.190 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11.88%; net profit attributable to owners of the parent company is RMB 52.460 billion,a year-on-year increase of 12.34%. Kweichow Moutai ranked 11th in the Most Valuable Global Brands list of BrandZ with a brandvalue of USD 109.33 billion, making it the most valuable Baijiu brand in the world.08 09Social Responsibility ManagementSocial conceptSocial responsibility leadership mechanismCommunication with interested partiesKey topics identificationBlue line Vision and blueprint with the focus on dual-doubling, dual-consolidation anddual-construction goals of the Group.White line Reformation, innovation and construction under a usual mind.Purple line Development of Moutai culture by exploring cultural significance and empowercultural promotion.Red line Environmental protection, safety guarantee and struggle against corruption.Green lineGreen development with ecology as the priority, featuring the Five Craftsmanshipphilosophy, 365 quality management system and the construction of theonebase and one benchmark.Five-line development pathExpectations and Demand Communication and ResponseGovernmentObserving law and regulationEconomic developmentPaying taxes according to lawsBoosting employmentManaging the corporate according to lawsAchieving green and high-quality developmentPaying taxes on time and in fullPromoting employmentShareholdersProfitable return on investmentPreserving and increasing the value of assetsNormative corporate managementCompliance operationProactive profits distributionImproving information disclosureSuppliers Fair and equitable procurementKeeping promisesAccountable procurementFriendly cooperationSupplier reviewCommunity Launching public welfare projectsPromoting community developmentWelfare and charity projects in communitiesInvesting in communitiesBoosting rural vitalizationEnvironmentGreen and environmental protectionAchieving the goals carbon peak and carbonneutralityPollution controlImproving environment management systemBuilding Moutai as a benchmark enterprise in theBaijiu industryPromoting ecological conservationDistributor Policy supportCooperation and win-win resultsFormulating scientific marketing policy andincentive policyConducting distributor trainingFood safetyConsiderate serviceProduct qualityConsumers healthStrengthening food safety managementImproving after-sale serviceCustomer follow-up visitPromoting moderate drinkingConsumersProtecting rights and interestsCareer developmentPhysical and mental healthSigning the labor contractImproving the salary and benefit systemImproving talent training systemEnsuring balance between work and lifeEmployeesCorporate Governance Economic Responsibility Environmental Responsibility Social ResponsibilityManagement of sustainabledevelopmentCorporate GovernanceOperation according to lawsRisk controlBusiness ethicsProduct quality and safetyResponsible marketingScientific and technologicalinnovationDigital transformationIndustrial developmentEnergy conservation and energyconsumption reductionWater resource managementPackaging materials and wastesCarbon emission managementPollution controlGreen supply chainEcological protectionProtection of investors rights andinterestsProtection of employees rights andinterestsProtection of partners rights andinterestsHealth and safetyPandemic controlRural vitalizationSocial welfare and charity campaignsKweichow Moutai actively integrates the social responsibility into its development strategy and daily operation and management, constantlyand actively practices its social responsibilities. Therefore, it has formed Moutai's characteristic concept of social responsibility -Big Brands BigResponsibilities. Specifically, the realization of sustainable development is the foundation and premise for enterprises to undertake social responsibility,while the undertaking of social responsibility will further promote enterprises' sustainable and high-quality development, which complement eachother. Therefore, the Company adheres to the concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and shared development, followed its distinctivefive-line development path. We strive to create values for the economy, society, and environment to serve people's demand for a better life and thesustainable development of the enterprises.Kweichow Moutai pays attention to integrating the requirements of fulfilling social responsibility into the whole process of production and operation.The management of the Company promote social responsibility work as a whole, and each department deeply participates in social responsibilitywork within the scope of business according to the division of functions. All affiliated enterprises earnestly fulfill their social responsibilities accordingto the Company's requirements, actively promote the practice of social responsibility, and ensure the normal development of various work.Kweichow Moutai attaches great importance to communication and exchange with the interested parties, in a bid to deeply learn about and studytheir demands and expectations, and transfer them into the action goals and plans of corporate development.Based on its development strategies, actual operation, development of social responsibilities and industries at home and abroad, Kweichow Moutaihas sorted out topics that are related to corporate business and most concerned by the interested parties, and made them the focus of socialresponsibility undertakings and communications, so as to further promote its sustainable development.Interested Parties Social Responsibility ManagementSocial conceptSocial responsibility leadership mechanismCommunication with interested partiesKey topics identificationBlue line Vision and blueprint with the focus on dual-doubling, dual-consolidation anddual-construction goals of the Group.White line Reformation, innovation and construction under a usual mind.Purple line Development of Moutai culture by exploring cultural significance and empowercultural promotion.Red line Environmental protection, safety guarantee and struggle against corruption.Green lineGreen development with ecology as the priority, featuring the Five Craftsmanshipphilosophy, 365 quality management system and the construction of theonebase and one benchmark.Five-line development pathExpectations and Demand Communication and ResponseGovernmentObserving law and regulationEconomic developmentPaying taxes according to lawsBoosting employmentManaging the corporate according to lawsAchieving green and high-quality developmentPaying taxes on time and in fullPromoting employmentShareholdersProfitable return on investmentPreserving and increasing the value of assetsNormative corporate managementCompliance operationProactive profits distributionImproving information disclosureSuppliers Fair and equitable procurementKeeping promisesAccountable procurementFriendly cooperationSupplier reviewCommunity Launching public welfare projectsPromoting community developmentWelfare and charity projects in communitiesInvesting in communitiesBoosting rural vitalizationEnvironmentGreen and environmental protectionAchieving the goals carbon peak and carbonneutralityPollution controlImproving environment management systemBuilding Moutai as a benchmark enterprise in theBaijiu industryPromoting ecological conservationDistributor Policy supportCooperation and win-win resultsFormulating scientific marketing policy andincentive policyConducting distributor trainingFood safetyConsiderate serviceProduct qualityConsumers healthStrengthening food safety managementImproving after-sale serviceCustomer follow-up visitPromoting moderate drinkingConsumersProtecting rights and interestsCareer developmentPhysical and mental healthSigning the labor contractImproving the salary and benefit systemImproving talent training systemEnsuring balance between work and lifeEmployeesCorporate Governance Economic Responsibility Environmental Responsibility Social ResponsibilityManagement of sustainabledevelopmentCorporate GovernanceOperation according to lawsRisk controlBusiness ethicsProduct quality and safetyResponsible marketingScientific and technologicalinnovationDigital transformationIndustrial developmentEnergy conservation and energyconsumption reductionWater resource managementPackaging materials and wastesCarbon emission managementPollution controlGreen supply chainEcological protectionProtection of investors rights andinterestsProtection of employees rights andinterestsProtection of partners rights andinterestsHealth and safetyPandemic controlRural vitalizationSocial welfare and charity campaignsKweichow Moutai actively integrates the social responsibility into its development strategy and daily operation and management, constantlyand actively practices its social responsibilities. Therefore, it has formed Moutai's characteristic concept of social responsibility -Big Brands BigResponsibilities. Specifically, the realization of sustainable development is the foundation and premise for enterprises to undertake social responsibility,while the undertaking of social responsibility will further promote enterprises' sustainable and high-quality development, which complement eachother. Therefore, the Company adheres to the concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and shared development, followed its distinctivefive-line development path. We strive to create values for the economy, society, and environment to serve people's demand for a better life and thesustainable development of the enterprises.Kweichow Moutai pays attention to integrating the requirements of fulfilling social responsibility into the whole process of production and operation.The management of the Company promote social responsibility work as a whole, and each department deeply participates in social responsibilitywork within the scope of business according to the division of functions. All affiliated enterprises earnestly fulfill their social responsibilities accordingto the Company's requirements, actively promote the practice of social responsibility, and ensure the normal development of various work.Kweichow Moutai attaches great importance to communication and exchange with the interested parties, in a bid to deeply learn about and studytheir demands and expectations, and transfer them into the action goals and plans of corporate development.Based on its development strategies, actual operation, development of social responsibilities and industries at home and abroad, Kweichow Moutaihas sorted out topics that are related to corporate business and most concerned by the interested parties, and made them the focus of socialresponsibility undertakings and communications, so as to further promote its sustainable development.Interested PartiesCorporate governanceRisk controlOperation according tolawsBusiness ethicsCorporateGovernanceFeaturing modern enterprise systemconstruction along with practical actionsand measures, Kweichow Moutai hasimproved its corporate governancestructure, ensured effective risk control,legal and compliance operation andstrengthened business ethics managementto promote comprehensive corporategovernance and ensure the stable, efficientand long-term sustainable development ofthe Company.Corporate governanceRisk controlOperation according tolawsBusiness ethicsCorporateGovernanceFeaturing modern enterprise systemconstruction along with practical actionsand measures, Kweichow Moutai hasimproved its corporate governancestructure, ensured effective risk control,legal and compliance operation andstrengthened business ethics managementto promote comprehensive corporategovernance and ensure the stable, efficientand long-term sustainable development ofthe Company.10 11Corporate governance Risk controlAccording to laws and regulations such as the Company Law of the People's Republic of China, Law of the Peoples Republic of China on Securitiesand Governance Standards of Listed Companies and requirements specified in documents regarding corporate governance issued by ChinaSecurities Regulatory Commission and Shanghai Stock Exchange, Kweichow Moutai has promoted its governance and improved its salary systemto ensure transparent and standard operation.Governance structureWe have continuously optimized its corporate governance structure and revised its Articles of Association and Rules of Procedure for Shareholders'Meetings, Rules of Procedure for Board of Directors, and Rules of Procedure for Board of Supervisors, in a bid to clarify the boundaries of powerand responsibilities of the Shareholders' Meetings, Board of Directors, and Board of Supervisors, and develop a separate governance mode for eachShareholders' meetings Board of Directors Board of Supervisorsdeliberative body.The shareholdersmeetings are organizedstrictly based on the Articles of Association,which include procedures such as notification,deliberation and voting. Such procedures haveensured that all stockholders can enjoy equalrights and effective exercise of their right toknow, participate, ask and vote. In 2021, oneannal general meeting of stockholders wasorganized and eight proposals were reviewedand approved. One interim general meetingof stockholders was organized and sevenproposals were reviewed and approved.The Board of Directors consists of 6 directors, including 3independent directors and 1 employee director. The Board ofDirectors consists of the Strategy Committee, the Audit Committee,the Risk Control Committee, the Nomination Committee and theRemuneration and Assessment Committee, all of which employ theirexpertise to review and assess the proposals submitted. In 2021, theBoard of Directors organized 13 meetings and approved 46 proposals.The committees under the Board of Directors organized 7 meetingsand approved 18 proposals. Among them, the Audit Committee, theStrategy Committee, the Nomination Committee and the Risk ControlCommittee organized 4, 1, 1 and 1 meeting(s) respectively, with 12, 1,2 and 3 proposals approved correspondingly.The Board of Supervisorsshall exercise supervision incompliance with laws andregulations to promote thecoordinated operation andkeep the balance of powerbetween governance bodiesof the company. In 2021,the Board of Supervisorsorganized 5 meetings andapproved 11 proposals.13Governance Structure of Kweichow MoutaiStrategy Committee Shareholders' meetingsGeneral ManagerBoard of DirectorsBoard of SupervisorsRisk Control CommitteeAudit CommitteeNomination CommitteeRemuneration and AssessmentCommitteeCompensation systemWe have established a sound and transparent salary management system. For senior management, the annual salary system based on the regulationsby State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of Guizhou Province and the relevant regulations of the Company. For middle management, the annual salary system based on the nature of the post, duties and rights, risks, performances and other factors is adopted. For general employees, the job performance-based salary system is adopted along with total salary contracting system according to different management needs. In such context, the salary of different posts will be referred to the salary amount in the labor market as well as the technique, knowledge, labor intensity and performance of the employee at such post.Kweichow Moutai has been strengthening the construction of its internal control system to improve its risk-resistance capacity. We completed the2020 internal control assessments for the Company a
Two men accused of storming the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 were arrested last week after their Google searches and the information they shared on Facebook allegedly incriminated them.

Bryan Raymond Jones and Patrick John King of Washington face four charges. These include entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in Capitol building, according to the complaint lodged in the US district court in Columbia.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested Mr Jones and Mr King after an anonymous tipster, who went to the same middle school as the men, indicated they had seen a photograph on Facebook of the two smoking marijuana inside the US Capitol.

Following the tip, investigators identified both men in surveillance footage as well as open-source photographs, which captured Mr Jones and Mr King entering the Capitol amid a crowd of other rioters.

Records provided by Verizon Wireless through legal process identified cell phone numbers registered to King and Jones. The records also indicated that King and Jones both used their phones while in Washington, DC on January 6, 2021, the charging documents noted.

The duo also conducted multiple searches on Google since the evening of 6 January 2021 related to the criminality of entering the US Capitol.

Examples of searched phrases included: Is it illegal to go into the Capitol, US Capitol facial recognition, Unlawful entry charge, Law definition of breach, DC police release photos of people who broke into Capitol, and several others, authorities said.

Another anonymous tipster, who owns a business near where the men live, told investigators that a customer pointed to a news coverage of the attack on television that week and said one of their family members was involved in that and went inside the Capitol.

Travel records provided by Delta and United airlines also confirmed that the two men traveled from Seattle in Washington State to Baltimore in Maryland on 5 January 2021, and returned on 7 January.

Story continues

Mr King had also sent multiple messages on Facebook saying he and Jones went into the Capitol and smoked weed n shit and was part of rushing the riot police. He had also expressed concerns about being arrested for his participation.

In two videos in Mr Kings Facebook records, investigators found him emerging from inside the Capitol during the siege and in another, he appeared to be smoking cannabis inside the crowded halls of the building.

So far, authorities have arrested more than 800 people in connection to the US Capitol riots, and over 200 have pleaded guilty.
A pair of Oakland teens have been arrested for two different armed carjacking incidents of two Asian men in San Francisco.



The adolescent boys, aged 14 and 16, were apprehended following a brief car and foot chase with authorities in Treasure Island, San Francisco, on Monday, March 28, according to the police report.





San Francisco Police Arrest Armed Robbery Crew

The suspects were identified as a 14-year-old male juvenile and a 16-year-old male juvenile both of Oakland. Please visit the attached link for a full synopsis of this incident  https://t.co/xdhSwGWRNe pic.twitter.com/p5JZ5c8GSt



 San Francisco Police (@SFPD) March 30, 2022







San Francisco Police Department officers from Bayview Police Station responded to a call about an attempted carjacking on the 1000 Block of Mississippi Street at around 3:10 p.m. A 37-year-old Asian man said four men tried to take his vehicle, and one of them pointed a gun at him.



Fearing for his life, the victim immediately ran away, taking his car keys with him. Authorities canvassed the area for evidence and reported no injuries during the incident.



SFPD officers from Park Police Station received a call an hour later about another carjacking incident, this time on the 100 Block of Galewood Circle. Speaking to the police, the 76-year-old victim said he was cleaning his car in his garage when four men approached him.



One of the suspects allegedly dragged the victim out of his garage and pushed him to the ground before "proceed[ing] to assault him," according to police. The attackers purportedly took the man's keys from his pockets and drove away in his BMW.



While officers investigated the Galewood Circle incident, dispatch began broadcasting an incident of a BMW that matched the victim's description driving recklessly on Interstate 80 towards the Bay Bridge. Tenderloin Station officers attempted to conduct a traffic stop, but the car fled. A car chase ensued across the Bay Bridge and into Treasure Island.



The suspects reportedly exited their vehicle following a collision and fled on foot but were eventually arrested. According to the police, one of the suspects apparently attempted to discard a firearm during the chase.



The two suspects were booked at Juvenile Justice Center for elder abuse, burglary, carjacking, attempted carjacking, felony hit and run, felony evasion, kidnapping, conspiracy, possession of stolen vehicle and resisting arrest. The 14-year-old is also facing additional charges for Carrying a Firearm in a Public Place while masked and Carrying a Loaded Firearm with the Intent to Commit a Felony.



Those with information about the incidents are advised to call the SFPD Tip line at 415-575-444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD.

Story continues

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Vladimir Putin massively misjudged the situation in ordering the invasion of Ukraine and surely knows just how poorly things are going for Russian forces even though his closest advisers are hiding the truth from him, according to the head of Britains spy services.

In a speech at the Australian National University in Canberra on Thursday morning, GCHQ director Sir Jeremy Fleming said the Russian leaders unprovoked and premeditated attack on Ukraine has been shocking in every sense of the word. He also said Putin, a former KGB officer, was caught completely flat-footed by what he found.

Its clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people, Fleming said. He underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanize. He underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions regime. He overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory. Weve seen Russian soldiersshort of weapons and moralerefusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

Its a Sh*tshow: Russian Troops Are Now Turning on Each Other

Throughout the past 36 days, Putin has consistently been misled by top Russian military and intelligence officials about the armys progress in Ukraine, declassified U.S. intelligence has reportedly shown. During a stop in Algiers on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Putins inner circle is not telling him the truth about the war and the true bite of economic sanctions on Russias economy. An unnamed senior U.S. intelligence official told the Associated Press that Putins advisers are scared to give him an accurate version of events, and that those deceiving him include Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

However, Fleming said on Thursday, whats going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.

The great irony is, of course, that through his actions, Putin has brought upon himself exactly what he was trying to avoida Ukraine with a renewed sense of nationhood, a NATO that is more united than ever, and a global coalition of nations that condemn his actions, Fleming told the audience.

Story continues

Because the invasion is only about a month old, it is far too early to confidently draw out all the implications of this crisis, said Fleming. But he discussed some notable aspects of Putins war that have so far stood out to him.

For starters, Russias disinformation game is strong.

Their aim is to promulgate disinformation, Fleming continued. To sow mistrust in the evidence and to amplify false narratives. Its also to make sure that the real picture of whats going on doesnt get exposed inside Russia We know Putins campaign is beset by problemslow morale, logistical failures and high Russian casualty numbers. Their command and control is in chaos. Weve seen Putin lie to his own people in an attempt to hide military incompetence. And all of that means, he seeks brutal control of the media and access to the internet, he seeks the closing down of opposition voices, and hes making heavy investment in their propaganda and covert agencies.

Again, Putin badly misjudged Ukraines fierce resistance, Fleming went on. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has become a global beacon of democracy, with support from governments and Bono alike. Businesses worldwide have pulled their operations out of Russia due to the invasion, and tech firms have rushed to help Ukraine stay connected to the outside world.

At the same time, Russia is padding out its ranks with foreign fighters and mercenaries from private contractors like the Wagner Group, which is closely linked to Putin confidant Yevgeny Prigozhin.

Insiders Warn Notorious Foreign Rebels to Fight With Russia in Ukraine

They are looking at relocating forces from other conflicts and recruiting new fighters to bolster numbers, Fleming said in his speech. These soldiers are likely to be used as cannon fodder to try to limit Russian military losses.

Russia has long been hostile toward NATO, viewing the allied coalition as an existential threat. And yet the invasion of Ukraine has certainly galvanized NATO members as well as non-members such as Japan and Australia which have been leaning in, in Flemings words.

Its also showing, in stark relief, those countries that choose to either support Putin or abstain from making a choice, he said. And those choices will affect the global order and our national securities for decades to come.

Putin, for now, is sticking to his plan for better or worse, according to Fleming, who described it as mostly worse. Now the fear is that Russia shifts to Putins Plan B, which Fleming warned will be more barbarity against civilians and cities.

Clearly, he plays by different moral and legal rules, he said. Far too many Ukrainians and Russians have already lost their lives. And beyond this toll, many, many more have had their lives shattered. The UN estimate that in just over a month, more than 10 million people have already fled their homes. Its a humanitarian crisis that need never have happened. And its not over yet.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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Mar. 31Drivers heading down Pullman Road on Wednesday evening in Moscow were greeted by the chants of 35 University of Idaho students standing in front of Wendy's trying to raise awareness about an issue close to their hearts.

The students were there to encourage people to boycott the fast food restaurant until it joins a program formed to protect farmworkers.

"Your burgers may be square, but your food ain't fair," the students chanted as they marched to the restaurant.

The protest was organized by the Movimiento Activista Social, a social activist club at the UI. The Wendy's boycott is an annual event the club organizes each spring as it waits for the restaurant to join the Fair Food Program.

Movimiento Activista Social Co-President Secilia Lopez said the Fair Food Program works with coalitions to support farm workers by addressing issues like sexual assault, neglect and unfair wages.

"It's a really good program because farmworkers usually don't have that luxury of being a part of a program like that," Lopez said.

She said many large corporations have joined, but Wendy's has refused. Lopez said this is the eighth year the club has protested the fast food chain.

"We want to make sure that farmworkers are treated fairly because we all eat food we all get from the hands of farmworkers," she said. "We want to make sure that we're protecting them or else there would be no food for us to eat."

Several drivers Wednesday honked in support as the students withstood the chilly wind to make their voices heard.

Movimiento Activista Social Co-President Yasmine Tovar said many of the students are part of the UI's College Assistance Migrant Program, which provides services to students who have worked in the fields or have parents that work in the fields. To them, this issue is personal.

"I personally have worked in the fields," Tovar said. "I understand the struggles that most farmworkers do. I think that we are so passionate because this stuff personally hits us back home."

Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Thursday announced a new batch of sanctions targeting Russian state media and propagandists as the Russian invasion extends into its second month.

The 14 new sanctions target TV-Novosti, which the U.K. says is Kremlin-funded and owns Russian-funded broadcaster RT, as well as Rossiya Segodnya, the Kremlin-backed media outlet that owns Sputnik.

The sanctions also include measures specifically against Rossiya TV anchor Sergey Brilev, who will not be allowed to continue conducting business in the U.K. or access his assets there; CEO of Gazprom-Media Aleksandr Zharov; RT managing director Alexey Nikolov; and Sputnik International Broadcasting head Anton Anisimov  all of whom have been deemed propagandists by U.K. officials.

Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev is also targeted by the U.K. sanctions, with the U.K. saying that he is known for using reprehensible tactics, including shelling civilian centres in both Aleppo in 2015-16 and now in Mariupol  where atrocities are being perpetuated against Ukrainian people.

Truss vowed that more sanctions against Russia would be underway.

Putins war on Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies. Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putins fake news and narratives, Truss said in a statement.

We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table.

The development comes as Russia struggles to seize Kyiv, with a top British spy chief saying on Thursday that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin had massively misjudged the conflict in Ukraine.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
The U.K.s Foreign Office declared Wednesday it was pulling its judges from Hong Kongs top court over concerns with Chinas national security law.



Hong Kongs Basic Law, a constitution upholding the one country, two systems principle, allows for senior judges from common law jurisdictions to sit as non-permanent members of their top court, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeals.



Of the 12 overseas judges, eight are British. Two British Supreme Court judges, U.K. Supreme Court President Robert Reed and Deputy President Patrick Hodge, have resigned immediately.



Addressing his resignation, Reed said, The courts in Hong Kong continue to be internationally respected for their commitment to the rule of law, nevertheless, I have concluded, in agreement with the government, that the judges of the Supreme Court cannot continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression.



The decision to withdraw was made in discussion with Secretary of State Liz Truss, Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab and Reed himself.



On Wednesday, Truss released a statement saying: We have seen a systematic erosion of liberty and democracy in Hong Kong. Since the national security law was imposed, authorities have cracked down on free speech, the free press and free association. The situation has reached a tipping point where it is no longer tenable for British judges to sit on Hong Kongs leading court, and would risk legitimizing oppression. I welcome and wholeheartedly support the decision to withdraw British judges from the court.



Raab added, This flies in the face of the handover agreement we have had with China since 1997 and, having discussed at length with the foreign secretary and the president of the Supreme Court, we regretfully agree that it is no longer appropriate for serving U.K. judges to continue sitting in Hong Kong courts.



British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed support for the two judges decision to resign, saying, The constraints of the national security law make it impossible for them to continue to serve in the way that they would want. I appreciate and understand their decision.



Several British lawmakers applauded the decision. Conservative lawmaker Iain Duncan Smith referred to the situation in Ukraine as an example justifying the move, saying, The government has done the right thing here, and not a minute too soon What Ukraine teaches us is that you simply cannot appease totalitarian states or make excuses for their behavior, which is exactly what the presence of our judges was doing in Hong Kong, they were lending legitimacy to a regime hell-bent on undermining our way of life.



Chinas national security law was passed in 2020 and includes provisions like crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces are punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison. It also dictates that Beijing will have power over how the law should be interpreted, not any Hong Kong judicial or policy body. If the law conflicts with any Hong Kong law, the Beijing law takes priority.



Through the law, China gained further authority of security and legal enforcement through the establishment of a security office and personnel in Hong Kong not under the jurisdiction of local authorities.



Since the security law took effect, China has cracked down on dissent, with over 100 pro-democracy movement activists and journalists having been arrested and many pro-democracy media organizations having been raided.



The Hong Kong Bar Association called the U.K.s decision a matter of deep regret. The U.K.s decision could also put pressure on the other overseas non-permanent members from Canada and Australia to do the same.

Story continues

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By William James

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain announced sanctions on 14 more Russian entities and people on Thursday, including state media organisations behind RT and Sputnik and some senior figures, saying it was targeting those who push out President Vladimir Putin's "fake news and narratives".

Britain is acting in concert with its Western allies to try to cripple Russia's economy as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine, and has already sanctioned more than 1,000 individuals and businesses.

Among those sanctioned on Thursday were RT's managing director, Alexey Nikolov, Sergey Brilev, a prominent news anchor at the state-owned Rossiya Television and Radio network, and Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Anton Anisimov.

The government said it was also directly sanctioning state media organisations, including Kremlin funded TV-Novosti which owns RT, and Rossiya Segodnya, which controls news agency Sputnik.

"Putins war on Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies," Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.

"Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putins fake news and narratives."

RT said the sanctions showed the imminent end of media freedom in Britain.

"We will continue to bring the news to audiences that wish to seek it, and prevent a media echo chamber from being orchestrated by blinkered officials hell-bent on conflating anything remotely Russian with wrong," Anna Belkina, RT's deputy editor in chief, told Reuters.

Brilev did not respond to requests for comment.

The Russian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Russian officials say RT - which had its UK broadcasting licence revoked earlier this month - is a way for Moscow to compete with the dominance of global media companies based in the United States and Britain that Moscow says offer a partial view of the world.

Story continues

Moscow calls the invasion it launched on Feb. 24 a "special military operation" aimed at demilitarising and "denazifying" its neighbour - which Ukraine and the West have dismissed as a baseless pretext for war.

Britain's new sanctions also include seven individuals connected to Russian think tank the Strategic Culture Foundation, who were recently sanctioned by Australia for their role in spreading disinformation.

The government said it had also sanctioned Russia's Chief of the National Defence Command and Control Centre Mikhail Mizinitsev, who it said had been "responsible for planning and executing the siege and bombardment of Mariupol" - a southern Ukrainian port city that has been bombarded for weeks.

Britain has used sanctions to target Russia's access to the international financial system, as well as industries such as shipping and defence, and wealthy elites close to Putin.

(Reporting by William James and Guy Faulconbridge; Writing by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Kate Holton, Frances Kerry and Alexander Smith)
By Anthony Deutsch and Toby Sterling

THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Dutch lawmakers demanded of Prime Minister Mark Rutte's government on Thursday that it speed up the implementation of sanctions against Russia, saying the Netherlands was "shamefully behind" other countries in freezing targeted assets.

The debate came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed to the Dutch parliament by video link earlier on Thursday, the first time a foreign head of state has addressed the 150-member Dutch lower house, with Rutte and the chairman of the Senate also attending.

"Stronger sanctions are needed so that Russia doesn't have a chance to pursue this war further in Europe," Zelenskiy said, adding that the Dutch should stop energy imports from Russia, which make up around 20% of the country's natural gas supply.

Zelenskiy received a standing ovation, but discussions then turned to the government's lack of progress in freezing or seizing much of an estimated 27 billion euros ($30 billion) in Russian assets registered in the Netherlands, often in shell companies.

Sanctions were "agreed weeks ago and the Netherlands is shamefully behind," said opposition Labour Party leader Lilianne Ploumen, who submitted a motion asking Rutte's coalition government to urgently target the assets.

Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra responded that the government was working as quickly as it could, but legal hurdles and privacy laws were hindering progress.

Rutte told parliament on March 23 that assets linked to sanctioned Russian entities seized so far -- 392 million euros ($431.24 million) worth -- included only bank assets and not property or real estate.

His government promised to update parliament on progress on implementing sanctions later on Thursday.

In Zelenskiy's address he also thanked the Dutch for military support to date and as hosts of several international courts in The Hague, including the International Criminal Court that is investigating possible war crimes in Ukraine.

Story continues

The Netherlands has supplied Ukrainian forces with anti-tank rockets and is also supporting NATO's increased presence along the military alliance's eastern flank with Patriot air defence systems.

"Those who gave the orders (to bombard and shell Ukraine) must be called to account. In The Hague, city of tribunals, people know that," Zelenskiy said.

(Reporting by Anthony Deutsch, Toby Sterliung and Benoit Van Overstraeten; Editing by Alex Richardson, Gareth Jones and Raissa Kasolowsky)
B(200553):2022() 20220331 22:46:05  :

: B :2022() Stock Code: 000553(200553) Stock Abbreviation: ADAMA A (B) NO. 2022-10







ADAMA Ltd.



Announcement on Expected Related-Party Transactions in the Ordinary

Course of Business in 2022







The Company and all members of its board of directors hereby confirm that all information

disclosed herein is true, accurate and complete with no false or misleading statement or

material omission.







I. Basic Information on Related Party Transactions in the ordinary course of business

(1) Overview of related-party transactions in the ordinary course of business





The Company expects that the aggregated amount of related party transactions between it

and/or its subsidiaries (together the "Group Companies") and the subsidiaries of

Sinochem Holdings Corporation Ltd. (Sinochem Holdings, the actual controller of the

Company) in 2022 shall not exceed RMB 5,141.09 million.



Such aggregated amount consists of (1) expected transactions of the Group Companies for

the purchase of raw materials/products/fixed assets and the receipt of certain services from

subsidiaries controlled by Sinochem Holdings, in a total amount that shall not exceed RMB

3,379.65 million; and (2) expected transactions of the Group Companies for the sale of

products and the provision of services, in a total amount that shall not exceed RMB

1,761.44 million, to subsidiaries controlled by Sinochem Holdings. Such transactions

hereinafter referred as the "Related-party transactions".



Related-party transactions of the above type performed by the Company in 2021 in the

ordinary course of business amounted to RMB 3,134.39 million.



These estimations were performed based on the current available data and may change,

inter alia, as a result of changes to the Group Companies business and/or due to market

conditions as well as due to the forming of Sinochem Holdings as part of the strategic

restructuring of ChemChina and Sinochem Group Co., Ltd., and the continued alignment

and cooperation between the companies of Syngenta Group Co., Ltd. (Syngenta Group),

comprising the Company, Syngenta AG and Sinochem Holdings agriculture-related

activities, which will further capitalize on the value creation and synergy opportunities

identified.



The related-party transactions matter has been reviewed and approved at the 9th Meeting of

the 9th Session of the Board of Directors of the Company. Among the five directors of the

Company, there were three affirmative votes, zero negative votes and zero abstentions,

while the two related-party directors (Mr. Erik Fyrwald and Mr. Chen Lichtenstein)





refrained from voting.



The related-party transactions matter shall be further approved by the Shareholders

Meeting. Syngenta Group will refrain from voting.



(2) The types and amounts of expected related-party transactions in the ordinary course

of business in 2022





RMB0000



Type of

related-party

transaction



Related

party



Content of

related-party

transaction



The pricing

principle of

related-party

transaction



Contract

amount or

estimated

amount not

to exceed



Amount

already

occurred

in 2022 as

of the

disclosure

date



Amount

occurred in

the previous

year



Purchasing



raw materials



and products



from related



parties



Syngenta

A.G. and

its

subsidiaries



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



145,104



27,176



90,985



Bluestar

(Beijing)

Chemical

Machinery

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



650



0



560



Jiangsu

Huaihe

Chemicals

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



19,830



0



16,492



Sinofert



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



200



0



688



Jiangsu

Yangnong

Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



129,356



22,252



50,113



Jiangsu

Youshi

Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



128



0



4,106



Jiangsu

Ruixiang

Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



96



0



43



Jiangsu

Youjia Plant

Protection

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



540



0



5,794



Hangzhou

(Torch)

Xidou Door

Film

Industry

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



33



0



13









Bluestar

Engineering

Co.,Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



10



0



14



Sinochem

Agro

Co.,Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



17,329



2,928



6,592



Zhonglan

International

Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



Market price



18,000



0



-



Sub-total



-



-



331,276



52,356



175,400



Purchasing

fixed assets

from related

parties



Bluestar

Engineering

Co.,Ltd.



Purchase of fixed

assets



Market price



6,500



0



137



Sub-total



-



-



6,500



0



137



Selling raw

materials and

products to

related parties







Syngenta

AG and its

subsidiaries



Selling products



Market price



127,343



20,149



90,625



Jiangsu

Huaihe

Chemicals

Co., Ltd.



Selling products



Market price



23,640



0



18,816



Sinofert



Selling products



Market price



10,280



0



6,075



Sino MAP



Selling products



Market price



541



0



523



Jiangsu

Yangnong

Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Selling products



Market price



200



6



146



Jiangsu

Youshi

Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Selling products



Market price



6,100



2,255



13,343



Zhonglan

International

Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Selling products



Market price



300



0



58



Jiangsu

Youjia Plant

Protection

Co., Ltd.



Selling products



Market price



240



0



237



Syngenta

Nantong

Crop

Protection

Co.,Ltd.



Selling products



Market price



4,500



677



-



Sinochem

International

Crop Care

Company

Limited



Selling products



Market price



3,000



1,227



-



Sub-total



-



-



176,144



24,314



129,823



Receiving

services from

related parties



China

National

Chemical

Information

Center



Value-added OA

services



Market price



94



0



46









Zhonglan

Lianhai

Design

Institute

Co., Ltd.



Design services



Market price



50



0



247



Syngenta

AG and its

subsidiaries



Regular service



Market price



45



0



39



Sub-total



-



-



189



0



332











(3) Actual related-party transactions in the ordinary course of business performed in the

previous year (2021)





RMB0000



Type of

related-party

transaction



Related party



Content of related

transaction



Actually

occurred

amount



Estimated

amount not

to exceed



Difference

proportion%



Purchasing



raw

materials



and

products



from related



parties



Syngenta AG and its

subsidiaries



Purchase of raw

materials/products



90,985



132,936



-31.56%



Bluestar (Beijing) Chemical

Machinery Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



560



940



-40.43%



Jiangsu Huaihe Chemicals

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



16,492



19,000



-13.2%



Sinofert



Purchase of raw

materials/products



688



220



212.73%



Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



50,113



52,010



-3.65%



Jiangsu Youshi Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



4,106



120



3,321.67%



Jiangsu Ruixiang Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



43



160



-73.13%



Jiangsu Youjia Plant

Protection Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



5,794



160



3,521.25%



Hangzhou (Torch) Xidou

Door Film Industry Co.,

Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



13



10



30%



Bluestar Engineering

Co.,Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



14



-



-



Nantong Xingchen

Synthetic Material Co., Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



14



-



-



Sinochem Agro Co.,Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



6,592



-



-



Shenyang Shenhua Institute

Testing Technology Co., Ltd



Purchase of raw

materials/products



2



-



-



Shandong Dacheng

Agrochemical Company

Limited



Purchase of raw

materials/products



91



-



-



Sinochem International

Crop Care (Overseas) Pte.

Ltd.



Purchase of raw

materials/products



591



-



-



China Bluestar Chengrand

Research Institute Chemical

Industry



Purchase of raw

materials/products



1,221



-



-



Shenyang Chemical Co.,



Purchase of raw



409



-



-









Ltd.



materials/products



ELKEM SILICONES

BRASIL LTDA



Purchase of raw

materials/products



192



-



-



Sub-total



-



177,920



205,556



-13.44%



Purchasing

fixed assets

from related

parties



Zhonglan Lianhai

(Shanghai) Chemical

Engineering Technology

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of fixed

assets



123



-



-



Changsha Huaxing

Construction Supervision

Co., Ltd.



Purchase of fixed

assets



174.60



-



-



Syngenta AG



Purchase of fixed

assets



4,677



-



-



Bluestar Engineering

Co.,Ltd.



Purchase of fixed

assets



137



-



-



Sub-total



-



5,112



-



-



Selling

products

and goods

to related

parties







Syngenta AG and its

subsidiaries



Selling products



90,625



92,586



-2.12%



Jiangsu Huaihe Chemicals

Co., Ltd.



Selling products



18,816



21,000



-10.4%



Sinofert



Selling products



6,075



8,030



-24.35%



Sino MAP



Selling products



523



500



4.6%



Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Selling products



146



300



-51.33%



Jiangsu Youshi Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Selling products



13,343



25,000



-46.63%



Zhonglan International

Chemical Co., Ltd.



Selling products



58



360



-83.89%



Jiangsu Youjia Plant

Protection Co., Ltd.



Selling products



237



280



-15.36%



Sinochem Chongqing

Fuling Chemical Co., Ltd.



Selling products



0



50



-100%



Jiangsu Ruixiang Chemical

Co., Ltd.



Selling products



4



-



-



Sinochem Agro Co.,Ltd.



Selling products



42



-



-



Shenyang Sinochem

Agrochemicals R&D

Co.,Ltd.



Selling products



9



-



-



China National Chemical

Information Center



Selling products



126



-



-



Shenyang Chemical

Institute Testing Technology

Co., Ltd.



Selling products



3



-



-



Sub-total



-



130,007



148,106



-12.22%



Receiving

services

from related

party



China National Chemical

Information Center



Value-added OA

services



46



128



-64.06%



Zhonglan Lianhai Design

Institute Co., Ltd.



Design services



247



120



105.83%



Syngenta AG and its

subsidiaries



Regular service



39



-



-



Shenyang Chemical

Research Institute Co., Ltd.



-



68



-



-



Sub-total



-



400



248



61.29%



Aggregated



313,439



353,910



-11.44%



An explanation by the board of directors for the major difference

between the actual occurred amount of daily related transactions

and the estimated amount







The Company estimates that the total amount

of daily related party transactions in 2021

will not exceed RMB 3,539.1 million. The

Companys actual amount incurred in 2021 is

RMB 3,134.39 million, which does not









exceed the expected amount. There is no

significant difference between the actual

amount and the estimation.



An explanation by the independent directors for the major

difference between the actual occurred amount of daily related

transactions and the expected amount



N/A







Notes:



1. Please refer to the announcements on March 31, 2021, for the 2021 expected related-party

transactions of the Company (Announcement number 2021-6).



2. In September, 2021, the industrial and commercial change registration procedures on the transfer

of the equity in ChemChina to Sinochem Holdings were completed. Since September 2021,

Sinochem Group Co., Ltd. and its holding subsidiaries have become new related parties of the

Company, and the daily transactions between the Company and Sinochem Group Co., Ltd. and its

holding subsidiaries are regarded as related party transactions.



II. Introduction to Related Parties and Their Relationships with the Company



1. Bluestar (Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Qiao Xiaofeng;

registered address: No. 5, Xingye Street, Beijing Economic and Development Zone) has

registered capital of RMB 200 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to

production of chemical machinery and equipment, production of type III pressure vessels,

design, maintenance and installation of chemical machinery and equipment, technical

consultation, technical services, technical training. The main financial data as of the date

December 31, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB 743,524,662.50, net profit of RMB

33,681,229.27, total assets of RMB 1,071,803,183.25, net assets of RMB 401,334,683.35.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the

actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Bluestar

(Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. operates normally and is in good operational and

financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on

the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party

subject to enforcement.



2. Jiangsu Huaihe Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Xia Wenbiao; registered address:

Yutai County, Jiangsu Province) has registered capital of RMB 160 million and mainly

undertakes the businesses related to manufacturing and sale of chemical products. The main

financial data as of December 31, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB 786,389,006.69, net

profit of RMB 36,146,351.46, total assets of RMB 661,695,496.96, net assets of RMB

218,925,536.65.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the

actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Jiangsu Huaihe

Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financial

conditions and thus has a good performance capability. After searching on the website of





disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to

enforcement.



3. Sinofert Holdings Limited (Executive Director & CEO: Qin Hengde; registered office:

Clarendon House 2 Church Street Hamilton HM11 Bermuda) is a company listed on the Main

Board of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (stock code:00297), which has registered capital

of HKD 8,000,000,000 and mainly undertakes the production, import and export, distribution

and retail of fertilizer raw materials and finished products, provision of technological research

and development and services relating to the fertilizer business and products, exploration and

exploitation of phosphate mine, and production of monocalcium/dicalcium phosphate

(MCP/DCP). The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB

22,641,396,000, net profit of RMB 880,507,000, total assets of RMB 17,494,493,000, net

assets of RMB 8,983,724,000.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the

actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Sinofert

Holdings Limited produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financial

conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website

of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to

enforcement.



4. Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Qin Hengde; registered address:

No. 39, Wenfeng Road, Yangzhou) has registered capital of RMB 309.8989 million and mainly

undertakes the manufacture of agrochemicals and fine chemicals. The main financial data as of

September 30, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB 9,241,606,251.93, net profit of RMB

1,016,860,535.54, total assets of RMB12,537,939,404.75, net assets of RMB 6,756,128,863.40.

Jiangsu Youshi, Jiangsu Youjia, Sinochem International Crop Care Company Limited and

Sinochem Agro Co.,Ltd. mentioned in this announcement as expected related parties are

subsidiaries of Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the

actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Jiangsu

Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational and

financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on

the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party

subject to enforcement.



5. Syngenta AG (registered address: Schwarzwaldallee 215 4058 Basel) has the registered capital

of RMB 41.33 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to crop protection, seeds.

The main financial data as of the date December 31, 2021 are: total assets RMB

39,580,345,600.00, net assets RMB 39,484,710,100.00, net income RMB 4,816,207,800.00.

Syngenta Nantong Crop Protection Co.,Ltd. mentioned in this announcement as expected

related parties is a subsidiary of Syngenta AG.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the





actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of contract performance capability: Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries produce and

operate normally and are in good operational and financial conditions and thus have a good

contract performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement

information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement.



6. Jiangsu Ruixiang Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Feng Weilin; registered address:

No.2, Dalian Road, Yizheng City, Yangzhou Chemical Industrial Park, Jiangsu Province) has

registered capital of RMB 937.3434 million and mainly undertakes hazardous chemicals

manufacturing, processing, sales, technology development and application services, hazardous

chemicals wholesale, etc. The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are: operating

revenue of RMB 3,774,173,383.80, net profit of RMB 405,975,074.66, total assets of RMB

3,246,145,426.02, net assets of RMB 26,54,900,306.52.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the

actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Jiangsu

Ruixiang Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational and

financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on

the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party

subject to enforcement.



7. Hangzhou (Torch) Xidou Door Film Industry Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Wang Shougen;

registered address: Building 2, No. 602 Shunfeng Road, Qianjiang Economic Development

Zone, Hangzhou) has registered capital of RMB 58.24 million and mainly undertakes the

manufacturing of water treatment equipment, technical development, technical service and

transfer of membrane separation technology, separation membrane and water treatment

engineering technology products, and sales of separation membrane and water treatment

engineering technology products. The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are:

operating revenue of RMB 133,485,690.41, net profit of RMB 244,410.81, total assets of RMB

77,040,427.93, net assets of RMB 51,567,859.01.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the

actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company,

Hangzhou (Torch) Xidou Door Film Industry Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is

in good operational and financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance

capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it

is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement.



8. Bluestar Engineering Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Wang Lijie; registered address: 4/F,

Building 1, No.5 Anxiang Road, Zone B, Tianzhu Airport Industrial Zone, Shunyi District,

Beijing) has registered capital of RMB 110 million and mainly undertakes engineering services

in the fields of chemical industry, rubber tires, environmental pollution prevention and energy







conservation, providing engineering general contracting service, engineering design,

engineering consultation, etc. The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are: operating

revenue of RMB 202,413,735.44, net profit of RMB -58,337,033.41, total assets of RMB

406,596,539.57, net assets of RMB 82,183,977.41.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the

actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Bluestar

Engineering Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financial

conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website

of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to

enforcement.



9. Zhonglan International Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Yang Hongbin; registered

address: No. 1205-1206, 12/F, No.62 North 4th Ring West Road, Haidian District, Beijing) has

registered capital of RMB 100 million and mainly undertakes the wholesale chemical products,

technology import and export, technology and information consulting services. The main

financial data as of December 31, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB 4,997,963,396.21, net

profit of RMB 21,917,779.38, total assets of RMB 968,588,980.39, net assets of RMB

36,368,066.61.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the

actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Zhonglan

International Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational

conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website

of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to

enforcement.



10. Sinochem Agriculture Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Ying Minjie; registered address: Room

818, No. 28 Fuxingmennei street, Xicheng district, Beijing) has registered capital of RMB

4,000 million and mainly undertakes sales of agricultural production materials; grain purchases;

services for agriculture; technology development and technology consultation on soil

improvement and restoration, etc. The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are:

operating revenue of RMB 11,351,786,967.38, net profit of RMB -278,168,746.85, total assets

of RMB19,007,794,740.53, net assets of RMB 38,269,954.33.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the

actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Sinochem

Agriculture Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financial

conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website

of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to

enforcement.





11. China National Chemical Information Center (legal representative: Jie Yubin; registered

address: No. 53 Anwai Xiaoguan Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing) has registered capital of

RMB150 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to chemical information

analysis and consultation, software development and network technologies and services. The

main financial data as of the date December 31, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB

249,587,739.98, net profit of RMB 29,129,589.76, total assets of RMB 924,100,625.26, net

assets of RMB 813,344,801.63.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the

actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, China

National Chemical Information Center operates normally and is in good operational and

financial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on

the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party

subject to enforcement.



12. Zhonglan Lianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. (Legal Representative: Li Shourong; registered

address:No.51, Chaoyang West Road, Haizhou District, Lianyungang) has registered capital of

RMB128 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to project consultation and

evaluation, design and project management, engineering construction (excluding blasting),

general contracting, technical services. The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are:

operating revenue of RMB 686,742,466.84, net profit of RMB 35,939,138.88, total assets of

RMB 1,081,070,529.32, net assets of RMB 722,327,984.87.





Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, the

actual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 of

the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of the

Company.



Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Zhonglan

Lianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. operates normally and is in good operational and financial

conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the website

of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to

enforcement.



III. Main Content of Related-Party Transactions



1. Main content

(1) All related-party transactions between the Group Companies and the relevant

related parties should be carried out based on market terms and according to the

principles of voluntariness, equality, mutual benefit, justice and fairness and

without prejudice to the interests of the Company.

(2) If there is any available state fixed price, then the state fixed price shall prevail; if

the state fixed price is inapplicable or not applicable any more, then the market

price shall prevail; if the market price is inapplicable or not applicable any more,

then both parties shall determine the exact and fair pricing standards they believe

to be based on relevant data.

2. Signing of transaction agreement







The Group Companies will conclude contracts with the relevant related parties

according to their production and operation requirements and their ordinary course

business practices.



IV. Purpose of Related-Party Transaction and its Impact on the Company



These related-party transactions are necessary for the daily business operation of the Group

Companies. They mainly aim to capitalize on the Group Companies unique positioning

and profile, including as part of the Syngenta Group, achieve cost savings, increase the

Companys sales and market share and to drive its profitable growth. Based on the

understanding of the related-parties business performance, credit status and performance

capability, the Group Companies have selected them to conduct transactions in the

ordinary course of business. The related-party transaction activities follow the principle of

fairness and justice, they will not adversely affect the Company and its non-related party

shareholders. The Board of Directors of the Company holds that the related-party

transactions benefit the continuity and stability of the Companys business operations and

has a positive impact on the normal operations of the Company. Those transactions will not

impact the independence of the Company.



V. Independent Directors Opinions



The Companys independent directors have given separate opinions on the related party

transactions matter: The Group's related-party transactions performed in the ordinary

course of business are mainly to purchase or sell goods, materials and services from/to the

related parties based on the principles of justice and fairness and the pricing standards

consistent with those of non-related parties, in order to capitalize on the Groups unique

positioning and profile including as part of the Syngenta Group, achieve cost savings,

increase the Companys sales and market share and to drive its profitable growth. All such

transactions shall conform to relevant national laws and regulations, as applicable, and

market-oriented principles, and shall not influence the independence of the Company or

damage the interests of the Group Companies and their other shareholders. The

decision-making procedures for these related party transactions conform to the Company

Law of the Peoples Republic of China, the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the

Listing of Stocks, the Articles of Association and other laws and regulations. We agree on

this proposal and submit it to the General Meeting of Shareholders for deliberation.



VI. Documents for Future Reference



1. The resolution made at the 9th Meeting of the 9th Session of the Board of Directors of

the Company;

2. Independent directors prior written approval;

3. Independent directors opinions.





















The Board of Directors of ADAMA Ltd.





March 31, 2022









 Stock Code: 000553(200553) Stock Abbreviation: ADAMA A (B) NO. 2022-10ADAMA Ltd.Announcement on Expected Related-Party Transactions in the OrdinaryCourse of Business in 2022The Company and all members of its board of directors hereby confirm that all informationdisclosed herein is true, accurate and complete with no false or misleading statement ormaterial omission.I. Basic Information on Related Party Transactions in the ordinary course of business(1) Overview of related-party transactions in the ordinary course of businessThe Company expects that the aggregated amount of related party transactions between itand/or its subsidiaries (together the "Group Companies") and the subsidiaries ofSinochem Holdings Corporation Ltd. (Sinochem Holdings, the actual controller of theCompany) in 2022 shall not exceed RMB 5,141.09 million.Such aggregated amount consists of (1) expected transactions of the Group Companies forthe purchase of raw materials/products/fixed assets and the receipt of certain services fromsubsidiaries controlled by Sinochem Holdings, in a total amount that shall not exceed RMB3,379.65 million; and (2) expected transactions of the Group Companies for the sale ofproducts and the provision of services, in a total amount that shall not exceed RMB1,761.44 million, to subsidiaries controlled by Sinochem Holdings. Such transactionshereinafter referred as the "Related-party transactions".Related-party transactions of the above type performed by the Company in 2021 in theordinary course of business amounted to RMB 3,134.39 million.These estimations were performed based on the current available data and may change,inter alia, as a result of changes to the Group Companies business and/or due to marketconditions as well as due to the forming of Sinochem Holdings as part of the strategicrestructuring of ChemChina and Sinochem Group Co., Ltd., and the continued alignmentand cooperation between the companies of Syngenta Group Co., Ltd. (Syngenta Group),comprising the Company, Syngenta AG and Sinochem Holdings agriculture-relatedactivities, which will further capitalize on the value creation and synergy opportunitiesidentified.The related-party transactions matter has been reviewed and approved at the 9th Meeting ofthe 9th Session of the Board of Directors of the Company. Among the five directors of theCompany, there were three affirmative votes, zero negative votes and zero abstentions,while the two related-party directors (Mr. Erik Fyrwald and Mr. Chen Lichtenstein)refrained from voting.The related-party transactions matter shall be further approved by the ShareholdersMeeting. Syngenta Group will refrain from voting.(2) The types and amounts of expected related-party transactions in the ordinary courseof business in 2022RMB0000Type ofrelated-partytransactionRelatedpartyContent ofrelated-partytransactionThe pricingprinciple ofrelated-partytransactionContractamount orestimatedamount notto exceedAmountalreadyoccurredin 2022 asof thedisclosuredateAmountoccurred inthe previousyearPurchasingraw materialsand productsfrom relatedpartiesSyngentaA.G. anditssubsidiariesPurchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price145,10427,17690,985Bluestar(Beijing)ChemicalMachineryCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price650560JiangsuHuaiheChemicalsCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price19,83016,492SinofertPurchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price200688JiangsuYangnongChemicalCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price129,35622,25250,113JiangsuYoushiChemicalCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price1284,106JiangsuRuixiangChemicalCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price9643JiangsuYoujia PlantProtectionCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price5405,794Hangzhou(Torch)Xidou DoorFilmIndustryCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price3313BluestarEngineeringCo.,Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price1014SinochemAgroCo.,Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price17,3292,9286,592ZhonglanInternationalChemicalCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/productsMarket price18,000Sub-total331,27652,356175,400Purchasingfixed assetsfrom relatedpartiesBluestarEngineeringCo.,Ltd.Purchase of fixedassetsMarket price6,500137Sub-total6,500137Selling rawmaterials andproducts torelated partiesSyngentaAG and itssubsidiariesSelling productsMarket price127,34320,14990,625JiangsuHuaiheChemicalsCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price23,64018,816SinofertSelling productsMarket price10,2806,075Sino MAPSelling productsMarket price541523JiangsuYangnongChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price200146JiangsuYoushiChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price6,1002,25513,343ZhonglanInternationalChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price30058JiangsuYoujia PlantProtectionCo., Ltd.Selling productsMarket price240237SyngentaNantongCropProtectionCo.,Ltd.Selling productsMarket price4,500677SinochemInternationalCrop CareCompanyLimitedSelling productsMarket price3,0001,227Sub-total176,14424,314129,823Receivingservices fromrelated partiesChinaNationalChemicalInformationCenterValue-added OAservicesMarket price9446ZhonglanLianhaiDesignInstituteCo., Ltd.Design servicesMarket price50247SyngentaAG and itssubsidiariesRegular serviceMarket price4539Sub-total189332(3) Actual related-party transactions in the ordinary course of business performed in theprevious year (2021)RMB0000Type ofrelated-partytransactionRelated partyContent of relatedtransactionActuallyoccurredamountEstimatedamount notto exceedDifferenceproportion%Purchasingrawmaterialsandproductsfrom relatedpartiesSyngenta AG and itssubsidiariesPurchase of rawmaterials/products90,985132,936-31.56%Bluestar (Beijing) ChemicalMachinery Co., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products560940-40.43%Jiangsu Huaihe ChemicalsCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products16,49219,000-13.2%SinofertPurchase of rawmaterials/products688220212.73%Jiangsu Yangnong ChemicalCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products50,11352,010-3.65%Jiangsu Youshi ChemicalCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products4,1061203,321.67%Jiangsu Ruixiang ChemicalCo., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products43160-73.13%Jiangsu Youjia PlantProtection Co., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products5,7941603,521.25%Hangzhou (Torch) XidouDoor Film Industry Co.,Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products131030%Bluestar EngineeringCo.,Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products14Nantong XingchenSynthetic Material Co., Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products14Sinochem Agro Co.,Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products6,592Shenyang Shenhua InstituteTesting Technology Co., LtdPurchase of rawmaterials/productsShandong DachengAgrochemical CompanyLimitedPurchase of rawmaterials/products91Sinochem InternationalCrop Care (Overseas) Pte.Ltd.Purchase of rawmaterials/products591China Bluestar ChengrandResearch Institute ChemicalIndustryPurchase of rawmaterials/products1,221Shenyang Chemical Co.,Purchase of raw409Ltd.materials/productsELKEM SILICONESBRASIL LTDAPurchase of rawmaterials/products192Sub-total177,920205,556-13.44%Purchasingfixed assetsfrom relatedpartiesZhonglan Lianhai(Shanghai) ChemicalEngineering TechnologyCo., Ltd.Purchase of fixedassets123Changsha HuaxingConstruction SupervisionCo., Ltd.Purchase of fixedassets174.60Syngenta AGPurchase of fixedassets4,677Bluestar EngineeringCo.,Ltd.Purchase of fixedassets137Sub-total5,112Sellingproductsand goodsto relatedpartiesSyngenta AG and itssubsidiariesSelling products90,62592,586-2.12%Jiangsu Huaihe ChemicalsCo., Ltd.Selling products18,81621,000-10.4%SinofertSelling products6,0758,030-24.35%Sino MAPSelling products5235004.6%Jiangsu Yangnong ChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling products146300-51.33%Jiangsu Youshi ChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling products13,34325,000-46.63%Zhonglan InternationalChemical Co., Ltd.Selling products58360-83.89%Jiangsu Youjia PlantProtection Co., Ltd.Selling products237280-15.36%Sinochem ChongqingFuling Chemical Co., Ltd.Selling products50-100%Jiangsu Ruixiang ChemicalCo., Ltd.Selling productsSinochem Agro Co.,Ltd.Selling products42Shenyang SinochemAgrochemicals R&DCo.,Ltd.Selling productsChina National ChemicalInformation CenterSelling products126Shenyang ChemicalInstitute Testing TechnologyCo., Ltd.Selling productsSub-total130,007148,106-12.22%Receivingservicesfrom relatedpartyChina National ChemicalInformation CenterValue-added OAservices46128-64.06%Zhonglan Lianhai DesignInstitute Co., Ltd.Design services247120105.83%Syngenta AG and itssubsidiariesRegular service39Shenyang ChemicalResearch Institute Co., Ltd.68Sub-total40024861.29%Aggregated313,439353,910-11.44%An explanation by the board of directors for the major differencebetween the actual occurred amount of daily related transactionsand the estimated amountThe Company estimates that the total amountof daily related party transactions in 2021will not exceed RMB 3,539.1 million. TheCompanys actual amount incurred in 2021 isRMB 3,134.39 million, which does notexceed the expected amount. There is nosignificant difference between the actualamount and the estimation.An explanation by the independent directors for the majordifference between the actual occurred amount of daily relatedtransactions and the expected amountN/ANotes:1. Please refer to the announcements on March 31, 2021, for the 2021 expected related-partytransactions of the Company (Announcement number 2021-6).2. In September, 2021, the industrial and commercial change registration procedures on the transferof the equity in ChemChina to Sinochem Holdings were completed. Since September 2021,Sinochem Group Co., Ltd. and its holding subsidiaries have become new related parties of theCompany, and the daily transactions between the Company and Sinochem Group Co., Ltd. and itsholding subsidiaries are regarded as related party transactions.II. Introduction to Related Parties and Their Relationships with the Company1. Bluestar (Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Qiao Xiaofeng;registered address: No. 5, Xingye Street, Beijing Economic and Development Zone) hasregistered capital of RMB 200 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related toproduction of chemical machinery and equipment, production of type III pressure vessels,design, maintenance and installation of chemical machinery and equipment, technicalconsultation, technical services, technical training. The main financial data as of the dateDecember 31, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB 743,524,662.50, net profit of RMB33,681,229.27, total assets of RMB 1,071,803,183.25, net assets of RMB 401,334,683.35.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Bluestar(Beijing) Chemical Machinery Co., Ltd. operates normally and is in good operational andfinancial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching onthe website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest partysubject to enforcement.2. Jiangsu Huaihe Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Xia Wenbiao; registered address:Yutai County, Jiangsu Province) has registered capital of RMB 160 million and mainlyundertakes the businesses related to manufacturing and sale of chemical products. The mainfinancial data as of December 31, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB 786,389,006.69, netprofit of RMB 36,146,351.46, total assets of RMB 661,695,496.96, net assets of RMB218,925,536.65.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, Jiangsu HuaiheChemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financialconditions and thus has a good performance capability. After searching on the website ofdisclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject toenforcement.3. Sinofert Holdings Limited (Executive Director & CEO: Qin Hengde; registered office:Clarendon House 2 Church Street Hamilton HM11 Bermuda) is a company listed on the MainBoard of the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (stock code:00297), which has registered capitalof HKD 8,000,000,000 and mainly undertakes the production, import and export, distributionand retail of fertilizer raw materials and finished products, provision of technological researchand development and services relating to the fertilizer business and products, exploration andexploitation of phosphate mine, and production of monocalcium/dicalcium phosphate(MCP/DCP). The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB22,641,396,000, net profit of RMB 880,507,000, total assets of RMB 17,494,493,000, netassets of RMB 8,983,724,000.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, SinofertHoldings Limited produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financialconditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the websiteof disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject toenforcement.4. Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Qin Hengde; registered address:No. 39, Wenfeng Road, Yangzhou) has registered capital of RMB 309.8989 million and mainlyundertakes the manufacture of agrochemicals and fine chemicals. The main financial data as ofSeptember 30, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB 9,241,606,251.93, net profit of RMB1,016,860,535.54, total assets of RMB12,537,939,404.75, net assets of RMB 6,756,128,863.40.Jiangsu Youshi, Jiangsu Youjia, Sinochem International Crop Care Company Limited andSinochem Agro Co.,Ltd. mentioned in this announcement as expected related parties aresubsidiaries of Jiangsu Yangnong Chemical Co., Ltd.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, JiangsuYangnong Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational andfinancial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching onthe website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest partysubject to enforcement.5. Syngenta AG (registered address: Schwarzwaldallee 215 4058 Basel) has the registered capitalof RMB 41.33 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to crop protection, seeds.The main financial data as of the date December 31, 2021 are: total assets RMB39,580,345,600.00, net assets RMB 39,484,710,100.00, net income RMB 4,816,207,800.00.Syngenta Nantong Crop Protection Co.,Ltd. mentioned in this announcement as expectedrelated parties is a subsidiary of Syngenta AG.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: Syngenta AG and its subsidiaries produce andoperate normally and are in good operational and financial conditions and thus have a goodcontract performance capability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcementinformation of China, it is not a dishonest party subject to enforcement.6. Jiangsu Ruixiang Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Feng Weilin; registered address:No.2, Dalian Road, Yizheng City, Yangzhou Chemical Industrial Park, Jiangsu Province) hasregistered capital of RMB 937.3434 million and mainly undertakes hazardous chemicalsmanufacturing, processing, sales, technology development and application services, hazardouschemicals wholesale, etc. The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are: operatingrevenue of RMB 3,774,173,383.80, net profit of RMB 405,975,074.66, total assets of RMB3,246,145,426.02, net assets of RMB 26,54,900,306.52.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, JiangsuRuixiang Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational andfinancial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching onthe website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest partysubject to enforcement.7. Hangzhou (Torch) Xidou Door Film Industry Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Wang Shougen;registered address: Building 2, No. 602 Shunfeng Road, Qianjiang Economic DevelopmentZone, Hangzhou) has registered capital of RMB 58.24 million and mainly undertakes themanufacturing of water treatment equipment, technical development, technical service andtransfer of membrane separation technology, separation membrane and water treatmentengineering technology products, and sales of separation membrane and water treatmentengineering technology products. The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are:operating revenue of RMB 133,485,690.41, net profit of RMB 244,410.81, total assets of RMB77,040,427.93, net assets of RMB 51,567,859.01.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company,Hangzhou (Torch) Xidou Door Film Industry Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and isin good operational and financial conditions and thus has a good contract performancecapability. After searching on the website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, itis not a dishonest party subject to enforcement.8. Bluestar Engineering Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Wang Lijie; registered address: 4/F,Building 1, No.5 Anxiang Road, Zone B, Tianzhu Airport Industrial Zone, Shunyi District,Beijing) has registered capital of RMB 110 million and mainly undertakes engineering servicesin the fields of chemical industry, rubber tires, environmental pollution prevention and energyconservation, providing engineering general contracting service, engineering design,engineering consultation, etc. The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are: operatingrevenue of RMB 202,413,735.44, net profit of RMB -58,337,033.41, total assets of RMB406,596,539.57, net assets of RMB 82,183,977.41.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, BluestarEngineering Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financialconditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the websiteof disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject toenforcement.9. Zhonglan International Chemical Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Yang Hongbin; registeredaddress: No. 1205-1206, 12/F, No.62 North 4th Ring West Road, Haidian District, Beijing) hasregistered capital of RMB 100 million and mainly undertakes the wholesale chemical products,technology import and export, technology and information consulting services. The mainfinancial data as of December 31, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB 4,997,963,396.21, netprofit of RMB 21,917,779.38, total assets of RMB 968,588,980.39, net assets of RMB36,368,066.61.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, ZhonglanInternational Chemical Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operationalconditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the websiteof disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject toenforcement.10. Sinochem Agriculture Co., Ltd. (legal representative: Ying Minjie; registered address: Room818, No. 28 Fuxingmennei street, Xicheng district, Beijing) has registered capital of RMB4,000 million and mainly undertakes sales of agricultural production materials; grain purchases;services for agriculture; technology development and technology consultation on soilimprovement and restoration, etc. The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are:operating revenue of RMB 11,351,786,967.38, net profit of RMB -278,168,746.85, total assetsof RMB19,007,794,740.53, net assets of RMB 38,269,954.33.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, SinochemAgriculture Co., Ltd. produces and operates normally and is in good operational and financialconditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the websiteof disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject toenforcement.11. China National Chemical Information Center (legal representative: Jie Yubin; registeredaddress: No. 53 Anwai Xiaoguan Street, Chaoyang District, Beijing) has registered capital ofRMB150 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to chemical informationanalysis and consultation, software development and network technologies and services. Themain financial data as of the date December 31, 2021 are: operating revenue of RMB249,587,739.98, net profit of RMB 29,129,589.76, total assets of RMB 924,100,625.26, netassets of RMB 813,344,801.63.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, ChinaNational Chemical Information Center operates normally and is in good operational andfinancial conditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching onthe website of disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest partysubject to enforcement.12. Zhonglan Lianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. (Legal Representative: Li Shourong; registeredaddress:No.51, Chaoyang West Road, Haizhou District, Lianyungang) has registered capital ofRMB128 million and mainly undertakes the businesses related to project consultation andevaluation, design and project management, engineering construction (excluding blasting),general contracting, technical services. The main financial data as of December 31, 2021 are:operating revenue of RMB 686,742,466.84, net profit of RMB 35,939,138.88, total assets ofRMB 1,081,070,529.32, net assets of RMB 722,327,984.87.Relationship with the Company: It is a legal person controlled by Sinochem Holdings, theactual control holder of the Company. According to item (2) of paragraph 2 of Article 6.3.3 ofthe Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for the Listing of Stocks, it is a related party of theCompany.Analysis of contract performance capability: To the best knowledge of the Company, ZhonglanLianhai Design Institute Co., Ltd. operates normally and is in good operational and financialconditions and thus has a good contract performance capability. After searching on the websiteof disclosure of enforcement information of China, it is not a dishonest party subject toenforcement.III. Main Content of Related-Party Transactions1. Main content(1) All related-party transactions between the Group Companies and the relevantrelated parties should be carried out based on market terms and according to theprinciples of voluntariness, equality, mutual benefit, justice and fairness andwithout prejudice to the interests of the Company.(2) If there is any available state fixed price, then the state fixed price shall prevail; ifthe state fixed price is inapplicable or not applicable any more, then the marketprice shall prevail; if the market price is inapplicable or not applicable any more,then both parties shall determine the exact and fair pricing standards they believeto be based on relevant data.2. Signing of transaction agreementThe Group Companies will conclude contracts with the relevant related partiesaccording to their production and operation requirements and their ordinary coursebusiness practices.IV. Purpose of Related-Party Transaction and its Impact on the CompanyThese related-party transactions are necessary for the daily business operation of the GroupCompanies. They mainly aim to capitalize on the Group Companies unique positioningand profile, including as part of the Syngenta Group, achieve cost savings, increase theCompanys sales and market share and to drive its profitable growth. Based on theunderstanding of the related-parties business performance, credit status and performancecapability, the Group Companies have selected them to conduct transactions in theordinary course of business. The related-party transaction activities follow the principle offairness and justice, they will not adversely affect the Company and its non-related partyshareholders. The Board of Directors of the Company holds that the related-partytransactions benefit the continuity and stability of the Companys business operations andhas a positive impact on the normal operations of the Company. Those transactions will notimpact the independence of the Company.V. Independent Directors OpinionsThe Companys independent directors have given separate opinions on the related partytransactions matter: The Group's related-party transactions performed in the ordinarycourse of business are mainly to purchase or sell goods, materials and services from/to therelated parties based on the principles of justice and fairness and the pricing standardsconsistent with those of non-related parties, in order to capitalize on the Groups uniquepositioning and profile including as part of the Syngenta Group, achieve cost savings,increase the Companys sales and market share and to drive its profitable growth. All suchtransactions shall conform to relevant national laws and regulations, as applicable, andmarket-oriented principles, and shall not influence the independence of the Company ordamage the interests of the Group Companies and their other shareholders. Thedecision-making procedures for these related party transactions conform to the CompanyLaw of the Peoples Republic of China, the Rules of Shenzhen Stock Exchange for theListing of Stocks, the Articles of Association and other laws and regulations. We agree onthis proposal and submit it to the General Meeting of Shareholders for deliberation.VI. Documents for Future Reference1. The resolution made at the 9th Meeting of the 9th Session of the Board of Directors ofthe Company;2. Independent directors prior written approval;3. Independent directors opinions.The Board of Directors of ADAMA Ltd.March 31, 2022
A woman who fled the war in Ukraine rests in a temporary shelter at the House of Theater Craft on March 31, 2022 in Krakow, Poland. Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images

A Ukrainian woman gave a harrowing account of what is happening at a Russian "filtration camp."

Russian troops have been accused of forcing Mariupol residents to relocation camps.

A woman told the Washington Post she was photographed, interrogated, fingerprinted, and had her phone confiscated.

A Ukrainian woman gave a harrowing account of what is happening at Russian a "filtration camp" for people relocated from eastern Ukraine.

The unnamed woman told The Washington Post that, along with her family, she was taken from the besieged Ukrainian city of Mariupol to what Russian forces described as a "filtration camp" along Russia's border.

She told the Post that she was then photographed and fingerprinted before being told to hand over her phone so the Russians could download her data and record all of her contacts.

The woman told the Post that she faced multiple rounds of interrogations, including by the Russian security service FSB, before being brought to the Russian port city of Taganrog.

She told the Post that she eventually broke away from the group by claiming to Russian soldiers that she had a friend nearby in Russia who could house her and her family.

The Kremlin said on Monday that reports of Ukrainians being forcibly relocated are "lies," according to the Post.

But Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of forcing thousands of citizens from Mariupol  a heavily bombarded southern port city in Ukraine  to remote cities in Russia.

Mariupol City Council previously said Ukrainians had phones and documents checked, and were forced into camps by Russian soldiers.

The US Embassy in Kyiv also accused Russia of kidnapping thousands of Ukrainian children from the eastern Donbas region.

Mariupol has been a focal point of the humanitarian aspect of Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.

The city has been constantly shelled by Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces, and proposed humanitarian convoys and corridors have been difficult to construct.

Read the original article on Business Insider
The U.S. Mission to the United Nations announced Thursday that Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield would be traveling to Moldova and Romania between Saturday and Monday over Ukrainian refugee assistance.

The U.S. Mission said that she would be using the trip to learn about both countries efforts to support Ukrainian refugees, including meeting with government officials.

The ambassador is also slated to meet with Ukrainian refugees during her visit and hold meetings with U.N. agencies and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

The announcement also comes on the heels of President Bidens trip to Europe last week in which he participated several meetings, including in a NATO summit, a European Council summit, a meeting with the Polish president and later a meeting with Ukrainian refugees in Warsaw, Poland.

Several bipartisan groups of senators have traveled to Europe earlier this month, including Poland and Germany to meet with NATO partners and visit refugee sites amid the ongoing Russian invasion in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also held a Zoom meeting with lawmakers earlier in March and later addressed all members of Congress. Ukrainian Parliament members also met with the Senate Ukraine Caucus on Wednesday.

The development comes as Russia has failed to notch critical military victories in its war with Ukraine. Most notably, Russian forces have thus far failed to seize the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Russian units suffering heavy losses have been forced to return to Belarus and Russia to reorganize and resupply. Such activity is placing further pressure on Russias already strained logistics and demonstrates the difficulties Russia is having reorganizing its units in forward areas within Ukraine, the British Defense Ministry said in an update released through Twitter on Wednesday.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
CLAVERIA, Philippines (AP)  With assault weapons ready, U.S. and Filipino marines sprang from amphibious vehicles and transport helicopters to defend an island from potential aggressors in a war exercise and show of American firepower staged on Thursday in the northern Philippines.

The exercise  held in far-flung Claveria town across the sea from China and Taiwan  fits into a strategy unveiled in February by the Biden administration to considerably broaden U.S. engagement in the Indo-Pacific region by strengthening a web of security alliances and partnerships, with an emphasis on addressing Chinas growing influence and ambitions.

Watched by invited journalists, the mock combat ended with the allied forces successfully securing the island before it could be seized by invaders in a clear warning to would-be aggressors in a region with multiple trouble spots.

We should indeed improve our preparation for external aggression, said Philippine regional military commander Maj. Gen. Lawrence Mina, who spoke with reporters as the marines took combat positions on the sandy beach and a narrow trench under the scorching summer heat.

Its high time because we never know if well get embroiled in the unfolding events that were hearing in the international scene, he said. At least were ready.

The beach landing and coastal defense maneuvers were part of one of the largest combat exercises in years between the longtime treaty allies that began Monday and would include live-fire drills, aircraft assaults, urban warfare and civic projects mostly in northern and the western Philippines, which faces the disputed South China Sea.

Col. Timothy Brady Jr., who heads the U.S. 3rd Marine Littoral Regiment, said he was very pleased with the outcome of the mock beach maneuvers, which started in the nearby coastal town of Aparri.

Certainly, the objective of what were doing is demonstrating the strength of the alliance as well as the commitment to regional security, Brady said.

Story continues

Called Balikatan  Tagalog for shoulder-to-shoulder  the annual exercises will run up to April 8 with nearly 9,000 navy, marines, air force and army troops, including 5,100 American military personnel, to strengthen their joint fighting capabilities and readiness for real-world challenges, according to U.S. and Philippine military officials.

First staged in 1991, the Balikatan exercises are anchored on the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty, which commits the United States and the Philippines to come to each other's aid in case of an attack.

When President Rodrigo Duterte took office in 2016, he threatened to scale back U.S. military activities in the country as he nurtured closer ties with China and Russia but walked back on many of his threats, including a move to abrogate a defense pact that would have restricted American forces from largescale combat exercises in the country.

Chinas coercion and aggression spans the globe, but it is most acute in the Indo-Pacific, the strategy paper said, citing Beijings economic coercion of Australia, the intensifying pressure on Taiwan, bullying of neighbors in the East and South China seas and the conflict along the Line of Actual Control with India.

Integrated deterrence will be the cornerstone of our approach, the strategy paper said. We will more tightly integrate our efforts across warfighting domains and the spectrum of conflict to ensure that the United States, alongside our allies and partners, can dissuade or defeat aggression in any form or domain.

Last week, U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Adm. John C. Aquilino said China has fully militarized at least three of several islands it built in the South China Sea, arming them with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile systems, laser and jamming equipment, and military aircraft in an increasingly aggressive move that threatens all nations operating in the disputed waters.

I think over the past 20 years weve witnessed the largest military buildup since World War II by the PRC, Aquilino, using the initials of Chinas formal name, told The Associated Press in an interview on board a U.S. Navy reconnaissance aircraft that flew near Chinese-held outposts in the South China Seas Spratly archipelago, one of the most hotly contested regions in the world.

China has been staging threatening exercises and flying military planes near Taiwans airspace, including on Feb. 24, when Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, in what it calls a warning to Taiwan independence supporters and their foreign allies.

Chinese officials led by President Xi Jinping say they are committed to using peaceful means to bring Taiwan, which they claim as Chinese territory, under Beijings control. Chinese military action against the island in the short- to medium-term is generally considered a remote possibility.

While adhering to a One-China policy  recognizing Beijing as the government of China but allowing informal relations and defense ties with Taipei  the U.S. said in its strategy paper that it will also work with partners inside and outside of the region to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, including by supporting Taiwans self-defense capabilities, to ensure an environment in which Taiwans future is determined peacefully in accordance with the wishes and best interests of Taiwans people.

The U.S. and its allies have been routinely sailing warships through the Taiwan Strait, between the island and mainland China, to visibly demonstrate that they are international waters, and conduct major naval exercises in the region.

Beijing maintains its military profile is purely defensive, aimed at protecting what it says are its sovereign rights. But after years of increased military spending, China now boasts the worlds second-largest defense budget after the U.S. and is rapidly modernizing its force with weapons systems.

China is also expanding its nuclear arsenal, with the Pentagon saying Beijing is on track to field at least 1,000 warheads by 2030  five times the current number.

Philippine marine Col. Romulo Quemado said the Balikatan exercises were complementing crucial efforts to bolster his countrys coastal defense, including the acquisition of armored amphibious vehicles, but were not meant to antagonize any particular country.

Deterrence is all about perception, Quemado said.

___

Associated Press journalists Aaron Favila and David Rising in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Vassar College history professor Michaela Pohl, who has studied Russian President Vladimir Putin since he took power in 1999, recalls his obsession with Chechnya during his first year in office.

That's when Putin viewed the new nation on Russia's southern border as an existential threat to its existence.

When I taught my first course at Vassar, I was already worried about him then, she said. The war in Chechnya had just started up again, and he made mistakes, and every war since has been the same pattern.

Michaela Pohl, associate professor of history at Vasser College, will speak on "Putin's war in Ukraine" on Tues. April 5 at 7 p.m. at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church in Staatsburgh.

Pohl, who joined Vassars faculty the same year Putin became president, will speak on Putins War in Ukraine on Tuesday, April 5 at 7 p.m. at St. Margarets Episcopal Church, in Staatsburg, on Old Post Road in historic Hyde Park. This writer will moderate a question-and-answer session following the talk.

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Pohls talk will touch on the history of Russia, the Soviet Union, and then its break-up on Christmas Day in 1991, when the hammer-and-sickle flag was replaced with the tri-color of the newly independent Russian state. Putin was in the KGB then.

She said the war in Ukraine was one step in Putins drive to restore some of the empire it lost in 1991.

He felt the breakup of the Soviet Union was a huge catastrophe, said Pohl, who grew up in Wiesbaden, West Germany and later emigrated to the U.S. for her undergraduate and graduate studies. Thats true of you are only speaking of Russia. It was also a liberation for so many. He is blind to the non-Russians who were liberated.

She says Putin is waging what he calls a hybrid war, with the Russian propaganda machine investing heavily in misinformation, along with relentless bombing, the killing of civilians and cities under siege.

He has a well-oiled machine, she said.

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Pohls scholarship has delved deeply into Putins scorched-earth war to over control of the republic of Chechnya, and the attacks on independent journalists, such as Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in Moscow in 2006. That scholarly paper, published in the journal, Problems of Post-Communism in 2007.

She has visited Ukraine four times, with her first visit in 1988, and her last in 2008, when she drove from Germany to Odessa to interviewed sources from the resistance in Chechnya.

I knew Anna, and she signed a book for me that she wrote, said Pohl.

Pohl warns Putins war in Ukraine carries risk for him in Moscow.

Putins plan for regime change and destruction of the Ukrainian security apparatus and military is violent and risky, she said. It may backfire. Civil society in Russia may seem down, but it is not entirely destroyed, and unexpected change could conceivably come to Russia, as well.

Follow Tax Watch columnist David McKay Wilson on Facebook or Twitter @davidckay415. He has written about Hudson Valley public affairs since 1986.

This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: 'Putin's War on Ukraine" topic of April 5 talk in Staatsburg
Don't miss CoinDesk's Consensus 2022, the must-attend crypto & blockchain festival experience of the year in Austin, TX this June 9-12.

A key U.S. financial watchdog is warning banks not to get cozy with crypto derivatives, suggesting those that do will face extra regulatory scrutiny.

"Several large banks are exploring making markets for clients in bitcoin (BTC) futures, with an eye towards trading forward [contracts] and other derivatives, said Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), in a virtual speech during an American Bankers Association conference on Thursday. Before banks move too much farther down this path, they should carefully consider the tail risks of trading crypto derivatives."

Hsu cited Goldman Sachs (GS) completing its first cryptocurrency-related, over-the-counter (OTC) trade with Galaxy Digital last week. The Wall Street giant and the digital-asset financial firm said the transaction demonstrates the "continued maturation and adoption of digital assets by banking institutions."

Hsu warned that crypto pricing is "limited or unreliable," so the type of models big lenders typically use to figure out risk could make them underestimate what they're facing. Hsu contends banks could end up without a big enough capital cushion.

He also wondered whether the lenders his agency oversees can properly hedge their risks if those hazards can't be measured.

Hsu said he's working with other global regulators to find "a consistent, careful and cautious approach to bank involvement in crypto."

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is already looking into the capital treatment for such crypto-related exposures at banks. Whatever that global standard-setter decides will influence the decisions made by its member governments, including the U.S.
Mar. 31Alaska State Troopers shot and killed a man who fired at them Tuesday evening a few hours after he entered a Wasilla-area home uninvited while carrying a gun and an ax, the agency said.

Joshua Baert, 35, of Wasilla walked into the home around 5:45 p.m., demanding to see someone who wasn't there, troopers said.

Baert didn't make any threats, and left without incident once the residents told him the person wasn't at the house, troopers spokesman Austin McDaniel said. The gun he carried was a semi-automatic assault rifle.

He went into nearby woods, troopers said.

More than 10 troopers initially responded to the report of a man entering a home carrying weapons and started looking for him in the woods, McDaniel said. They could hear occasional gunshots but couldn't see where they were coming from.

Baert was spotted briefly but didn't follow troopers' commands and kept moving through the woods, troopers said.

He ignored repeated requests to stop and drop his weapons, McDaniel said.

At about 8:15 p.m., troopers located Baert on South Edelweiss Drive, which is near West Hollywood Road.

He started firing at multiple troopers with a handgun, McDaniel said. They shot and killed him.

"There was an exchange of gunfire over multiple minutes," he said.

Troopers say they later found an additional handgun, along with the rifle, on Baert's body.

Per troopers policy, the officers who fired their weapons were placed on a three-day administrative leave. The Alaska Bureau of Investigation is investigating the incident.
Netflix

You know that youre getting close when youre hit with the smell of Abercrombie, begins the trailer for Netflixs upcoming documentary about the scandal-soaked clothing brand, Abercrombie & Fitch. The nightclub beats and bare-chested guys.

Lets travel back in time for a moment, shall we? The year is 2007 and I am literally dragging my mother by her hand through the mall to the tween holy grail of stores, ignoring her protestations that the incredibly unsubtle scent of cologne gives her a headache and the dim, cocktail-lounge lighting makes it nearly impossible to get a good look at what shes buying. Maybe Ill get lucky and walk out with a moose-emblazoned polo shirt, a turquoise striped one to match the rubber bands on my braces, tucked into a shopping bag plastered with a shirtless blonde hunk.

For those who were teenagers in the late 90s and early aughts, Abercrombie is as synonymous with adolescence as acne. Maybe you plastered your walls with black-and-white images of models cut from the signature shopping bags or begged your parents for a needlessly expensive denim miniskirt to wear on your first day of school. Maybe you will forever associate the little moose logo with that one popular mean girl from your homeroom class. Maybe you simply remember it as the store between Sam Goody and the Auntie Annes pretzel stand in your hometown mall. (OK, now Im just aging myself.)

Whatever your relationship to it, Abercrombie & Fitch undeniably looms large in the cultural lexicon of an entire generation.

Abercrombie & Fitchs legacy, however, is not one of overpriced graphic tees, but of discrimination and corporate corruption, as explored in White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch. The Netflix doc from director-producer Alison Klayman breaks down decades of criticism aimed at the brands exclusionary (read: straight, white, thin, wealthy) look and marketing strategy under controversial former CEO Mike Jeffries.

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Abercrombie & Ditch: The Fall of the House of Tween

Abercrombie & Fitch said, We go after the cool kids. If they didnt look a certain way, they didnt belong in our clothing. says one person in the trailer. Theres a reason people liked that brand, he says later. Exclusion is part of our society.

According to the trailer, White Hot digs into the multiple discrimination lawsuits against the company, including a 2004 class-action suit charging that Abercrombie & Fitch discriminated against Black people, Latino people, Asian American people, and women by predominantly hiring white men  the more abs, the better. The brand eventually settled for $40 million with a promise to revise its hiring practices. The trailer also mentions a 2009 lawsuit that went all the way to the Supreme Court, filed by a teen who was told when she applied for a job that her hijab violated the stores look policy.

They didnt invent evil. They didnt invent class. They just packaged it, narrates one woman, lending the film its captivating tagline.

White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch premieres on Netflix on April 19  plenty of time to mentally prepare to relive the trauma of trying on an ill-fitting tube top at the height of puberty.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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A team of Western Michigan University students helped police crack a murder cold case that went unsolved for 35 years  and helped bring a woman's killer to justice  authorities said Thursday.

Patrick Wayne Gilham, 67, has pleaded no contest to the second-degree murder of Roxanne Leigh Wood, 30, in her home in Niles Township, Michigan, on Feb. 20, 1987, police said.

He has agreed to be sentenced to at least 23 years in prison, officials said.

"You can imagine, after that long, wanting something to be solved  it was a relief," Michigan State Police Detective First Lt. Charles Christensen said.

Roxanne Wood. (South Bend Police Dept.)

Police paired up with Western Michigan Universitys Cold Case Program, and the students played a key organizational role in cataloging a 3,000-page case file and thinking out loud alongside investigators, officials said.

The more eyes the better, Christensen said. "We had all our numbers in there, the names. It was important. Obviously this guy pled, but it really comes into play coming in court. Now you have this whole file categorized."

The path leading to Gilhams arrest was much clearer with police pressing computer buttons rather than digging through boxes and boxes of yellowing paper.

This program provided organizational and informational support," state police said in a statement.

The director of the Cold Case Program, sociology professor Ashlyn Kuersten, estimated that doctoral students Ashley Chlebek and Carl Huber logged 1,200 hours of work over eight months on the case.

The organizational part of this was the beauty of this. I mean, this was an old case file. Things arent digitized, Kuersten said. So we made it all digitized, and they searched license plate numbers, by someones name, variation on a towns name, a comment someone made. It just made it easier for the police [to] do their work.

Wood was bowling with her husband the night she was killed; they drove home separately, and she got back first. When her husband got home, he found her dead with her throat slit.

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The killer sexually assaulted Woods, and his DNA was left at the scene.

Public DNA databases eventually led to Gilhams family tree and three brothers as the final suspects, Berrien County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Jerry Vigansky said.

Finally, a discarded cigarette detectives picked up in three days of surveillance of Gilham implicated him directly, Christensen said.

Gilham had spent time in an Indiana prison before 1987, long before law enforcement agencies began swabbing DNA samples from some inmates.

Even with the DNA and how long its been in existence, his DNA was not on record anywhere, Vigansky said.

Gilham, who was arrested Feb. 20, will formally be sentenced in April, authorities said.

There were no known ties between Gilham and Wood, other than that he lived on the same South Bend street as Wood's mother, police said.

"I'm thinking he was at that bowling alley that night and followed her from there," Christensen said. "He was a predator."

Gilham's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.
Elijah Ramos stands outside the the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island borough of New York at a bus stop on March 16, 2022. An independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers are trying to unionize a company warehouse in New York City. If successful, the effort at the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island could lead to the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. (Haleluya Hadero/AP)

NEW YORK (AP)  Vote counting has begun in a union election, in which an independent group formed by former and current Amazon workers is trying to organize a company warehouse in New York City, a David and Goliath scenario that could lead to the retail giants first unionized facility in the U.S.

Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island will determine whether or not they want to form a union. The vote count began Thursday afternoon. It is unclear when the results will be revealed. Counting could potentially carry into Friday.

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The count for a separate worker organizing effort began simultaneously Thursday in Alabama, where the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union faces a tough challenge in a re-do election to unionize Amazon workers in the city of Bessemer. The union said that election had a turnout rate of about 39%, with only 2,375 of the nearly 6,100 eligible workers voting through mail-in ballots. Amazon provides the list of eligible workers to the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees the process.

In New York, the nascent Amazon Labor Union has led the charge in a fierce labor fight, where the nations second-largest private employer has made every effort to fend off labor organizers and Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon employee who now leads the fledging group. Smalls was hopeful of victory, but said Thursday that any celebrations would have to wait.

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We dont want to get overconfident and think that weve already won, he said, adding that his group hadnt planned any immediate celebrations. A small group of Amazon workers have planned to gather at an art gallery in Brooklyn to watch the vote count remotely.

This has been a long journey for me, and Im just happy to really see that we were able to get to this point, Smalls said.

The warehouse in Staten Island employs more than 8,300 workers, who pack and ship supplies to customers based mostly in the Northeast. A labor win is considered an uphill battle. But organizers believe their grassroots approach is more relatable to workers and could help them overcome where established unions have failed in the past.

Meanwhile, Amazon has pushed back hard. The retail giant held mandatory meetings, where workers were told unions are a bad idea. The company also launched an anti-union website targeting workers and placed English and Spanish posters across the Staten Island facility urging them to reject the union.

New York is more labor-friendly than Alabama, where the other union election is being held. But some experts believe that wont make much of a difference in the outcome of the Staten Island election, citing federal labor laws that favor employers, and Amazons anti-union stance.

The employer is the same, and thats the key thing, said Ruth Milkman, a sociologist of labor and labor movements at the City University of New York. Amazon is resisting this with everything its got.

The ALU said they dont 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. 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. But its unclear how the facilitys high turnover rate may have shifted things.

Amazon workers often travel from across the New York metro area by subway and then take a 40-minute long public bus ride to get to the warehouse. At a nearby bus stop, organizers have put up signs encouraging workers to vote in favor of the union. WERE NOT MACHINES WERE HUMAN BEINGS, one reads, a nod to worker complaints about long shifts and the companys time off task tool that dings employees for taking too many breaks.

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Among other things, Staten Island workers are seeking longer breaks, paid time off for injured employees and an hourly wage of $30, up from a minimum of just over $18 per hour offered by the company. A spokesperson for Amazon said the company invests in wages and benefits, such as health care, 401(k) plans and a prepaid college tuition program to help grow workers careers.

As a company, we dont think unions are the best answer for our employees, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.

ALU organizers say theyre optimistic about their chances at pulling off a win, but challenges remain.

To hold the election, organizers collected signatures from about 30% of eligible voters, which is the legal threshold. Typically, unions attempt to secure support from 60% or more of eligible workers before filing for an election. This is done to buffer any loss of support that might happen when employers ramp up efforts to persuade workers not to unionize.

Connor Spence, ALUs vice president of membership, said organizers chose not to pursue that strategy because of high turnover.

ALU also lacks official backing from major unions, which are traditionally well-staffed and well-financed. Smalls, the leader, said his group has spent $100,000 it raised since it formed last year. As of early March, he said it had only about $3,000 left in its account and was operating on a week-to-week budget.

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Two unions - Unite Here and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union - as well as local community groups have pitched in and given organizers office space, a lawyer to help with legal filings and other aid.

Pro-union employees also ramped up efforts. Michelle Valentin Nieves, a warehouse employee, says shed been quietly supporting the union push but around the time the ALU secured an election, she decided to be more public, staying late after her shifts to hand out pro-union flyers. She said her organizing was met with hostility by some Amazon managers.

I get the death stares, said Nieves. Some people have just stopped speaking to me.

Already, organizers have filed several complaints with the NLRB against the company, citing unfair labor practices, including surveillance of pro-union employees.

Other warehouse workers like 22-year-old Elijah Ramos said they planned to vote against the union, doubting the ALU can get Amazon to agree to higher wages and other benefits. Ramos said he believes organizers dont have enough experience to represent him.

Although he thinks a union could bring good things, Ramos said it also might constantly butt heads with the company and create more complications.

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Its better to deal with what we have now than to deal with something where we dont know what theyre going to do, he said.
The White House has blasted Donald Trumps request for Russian President Vladimir Putin to release potentially damaging information on President Joe Bidens son in the middle of the war in Ukraine.

During Wednesdays White House press briefing, communications director Kate Bedingfield was asked by reporters about the former presidents comments on a recent edition of the show Just the News.

Mr Trump raised unsubstantiated questions about Hunter Bidens former business dealings in Russia, saying: I think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it.

Given that the entire Western world has united in its condemnation of Mr Putins five-week war against Ukraine, the largest conflict in Europe since World War Two, the request from Mr Trump was met with incredulity.

What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin and brag about his connections to Vladimir Putin? There is only one, and its Donald Trump, Ms Bedingfield said.

Mr Trump has been widely criticised for the comments, with the hosts of Morning Joe on MSNBC offering particularly sharp condemnation . On Wednesday the former president responded in kind , firing off a statement through his spokesperson hitting back at Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.

During the military buildup preceding the invasion of Ukraine, Mr Trump praised Russian President Vladimir as a genius for his tactics. Once the attack had commenced and the killing had begun, he changed tack and condemned Mr Putins actions as appalling.

WH Comms. Director Kate Bedingfield on Trump asking Putin for information on Hunter Biden:



"What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin ... There is only 1 and it's Donald Trump." pic.twitter.com/IiQf4bKPN0  The Recount (@therecount) March 30, 2022

Trumps long-running search for information on Hunter Biden that could be politically damaging to Joe Biden led to the first of his two impeachments, over what presidential aides said was an effort to withhold nearly $400m in military aid to Ukraine and a White House visit unless Ukrainian officials announced investigations into Mr Biden.

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The former president has a history of asking Russia for help. During his 2016 presidential campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton, the Republican publicly suggested Russian hackers could help find Clinton emails, saying: Russia, if youre listening, I hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails.

Trumps remarks came the week that a federal judge ruled he "more likely than not" committed a felony by trying to overturn his election defeat on 6 January 2021, and as his business remains under investigation.

With reporting from Reuters
T-shirts designed by local child survivors of abuse will be on display at several locations in western Illinois as part of Victim Services Child Abuse Prevention Month and Sexual Assault Awareness Month activities during April. Some of the t-shirts have heart wrenching messages on them, such as I have felt guilt, shame, anger, sadness and fear. [Photo by Jamie Roth, Victim Services]

MACOMB  After experiencing the horrific trauma of sexual assault, survivors of any age often face another daunting hurdle: finding someone to believe them. The way in which someone responds to a disclosure can have long-lasting impacts on a survivors mental and physical health. WIRC-CAA Victim Services, a nonprofit counseling agency for survivors of abuse, says it is critical for everyone to start by believing. That is why the agency chose the worldwide Start by Believing campaign as this years theme for Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month.

An average of one in every three women and one in every four men in the United States have experienced some form of sexual violence, according to studies by the Centers for Disease Control. Despite these shocking numbers, surveys suggest that only one out of three survivors report the assault to law enforcement.

For some survivors, one of the reasons they do not report is because they are worried no one will believe them. This fear commonly stems directly from the abuser themselves, as the survivor has been gaslighted (another form of abuse) into believing they are worthless, friendless, and/or that no one will believe the abuser is capable of such an act. Other times, the survivor has seen negative reactions from friends and family members to public cases of sexual assault. When the person they disclose to does not believe them or blames them, the impact on the survivors mental and physical health can be serious and life-long.

End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI) created the worldwide Start by Believing campaign in 2011 to educate the public about how they can properly respond to disclosures from sexual assault survivors. Victim Services is one of many agencies supporting and participating in the campaign.

It takes courage for survivors to tell their story. When someone tells you they were abused, that means they view you as someone they trust, says Victim Services Public Relations Manager Jamie Roth. Start the conversation by saying you believe them and ask how you can help. Then, suggest that they call a counseling agency such as Victim Services so they can start their healing journey.

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Child abuse is another crime that is unfortunately more common than people realize. On average, the CDC says one in four girls and one in 13 boys in the United States will experience some form of sexual violence before they turn 18. In turn, the CDC also says one in seven children in the United States experienced some form of physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and/or neglect from a caregiver or someone in a custodial role in the past year. According to Victim Services counselors and advocates, child abuse is happening in western Illinois, and it is critical to start by believing a child when they disclose abuse.

Believing kids is important; it sets a precedent that you will believe them in the future, said Alisha, a child sexual assault counselor for Victim Services (the full names of counselors and advocates are kept confidential to protect their safety).

For many child survivors, as well as adults, counseling with a trained professional is an essential part of healing from the trauma they experienced. Getting help can be challenging as the abuse makes them question who they can really trust, and it is difficult for them to identify and open up to people who truly want to help. Counselors, like those at Victim Services, take the time to get to know each client and make them feel as safe and as comfortable as possible.

It is a breakthrough moment when we witness a childs heart unfold and they open up after we have built up mutual trust, said Brittany, a domestic violence child counselor/advocate for Victim Services.

Counselors and advocates of Victim Services are increasing their outreach activities throughout the month of April to reach survivors and raise awareness about sexual assault and child abuse in western Illinois. One special awareness event focuses specifically on child abuse: Hands Around the Courthouse. This free event is both interactive and informational. It will begin with a short presentation from counselors and advocates who have experience with helping child survivors. Afterwards, attendees who want to participate will be asked to hold a long, blue awareness ribbon and form a circle around the courthouse.

During the event, T-shirts designed by western Illinois child survivors who witnessed or experienced abuse will be on display as part of The Clothesline Project. Victim Services is excited to announce that Hands Around the Courthouse will be held in McDonough, Knox, and Fulton counties. The McDonough County event is scheduled for April 14 on the steps of the McDonough County Courthouse, Macomb, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., weather permitting. The Knox County event is scheduled for April 21 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Knox County Courthouse in Galesburg, and the Fulton County event will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Fulton County Courthouse in Lewistown on April 12.

In a public display of support for survivors, Victim Services will hang blue ribbons and teal ribbons in Macomb, Monmouth, Oquawka, Carthage, Lewistown, Galesburg, and Canton. Several local law enforcement agencies and businesses plan to make public their pledge to start by believing survivors.

Victim Services counselors and advocates use a survivor-centered approach to provide services to child survivors, adult survivors, and friends/family of survivors. For more information about how you can be an ally or become a volunteer, call their business line at 309-836-2148 . If you have experienced or witnessed abuse at any point in your life, call their 24/7 crisis hotline at 309-837-5555.

This article originally appeared on The McDonough County Voice: WIRC victim services: Start by believing survivors
The Nelson County Board of Supervisors held a preliminary discussion on the school boards proposed budget recently, and conversations over whether to fund a significant increase in the schools 2023 request became heated, bringing out opposing viewpoints between supervisors and county administration.

In a March 14 letter to the board, the Nelson County School Board and interim Superintendent Joseph Cox submitted a $32.8 million budget request, a 19% increase from the schools 2022 approved budget of $27.5 million.

That request is more than historic, County Administrator Steve Carter said at the March 24 meeting.

The budget requires a contribution of Local Funds in the amount of $19,068,061 to balance, Cox wrote the board.

The countys 2021-2022 contribution to the schools for operations is $15.6 million and $164,935 for school nurses for a total of $15.8 million, according to Finance Director Candy McGarry.

McGarry also said the county board approved $704,896 in additional funding for school capital improvement projects in fiscal year 2021-2022.

Carter first presented the board with a summary of the General Assemblys pending school budget proposals. The document shows the estimated state and local funding the district would receive if versions from former Gov. Ralph Northam, the Senate or the House are adopted, using information available through the Virginia Department of Educations Direct Aid Payment Calculation Templates.

Carter demonstrated that for Nelson County Schools estimated 2023 enrollment of 1,454 students, the county will be required to fund the schools $9 million with Northams budget, $9.1 million with the Senates budget and $8.9 with the Houses budget, for an estimated increase from its 2022 required contribution to the schools of $1.4 million, $1.5 million and $1 million respectively.

Nelson County schools would receive an estimated increase of $2 million in state funding if Northams budget is adopted, $2.1 million if the Senates and $531,943 if the House budget is adopted.

Carter said the schools budget increase is all salary driven.

He then presented the board with data comparing Nelson Countys local per pupil funding and state ranking compared to 18 other Central Virginia area school districts.

In fiscal year 21, of 130 school divisions, we ranked 102, Carter said.

According to Carters document, which cites Schooldigger.com, a website that calculates school district rankings based on test scores released by the Virginia Department of Education, Nelson ranks 102 out of 132 Virginia school districts. Albemarle County Public Schools rank 31 and Charlottesville City Schools rank 86.

Local per pupil funding, only Charlottesville and Albemarle County are greater than us, Carter said.

According to Carters document, and the Virginia Department of Education, Nelson spent $8,848 in fiscal year 2019-2020 per pupil. Albemarle spent $10,206 and the city of Charlottesville spent $13,286.

Carter also addressed Nelson Countys 2020-2021 starting teacher salary. Among the 19 Central Virginia schools districts Carter lists, Nelsons is the greatest at $50,832. Charlottesvilles starting teacher salary ranks second at $50,007, and Albemarle County third at $48,298, according to the Virginia Department of Educations teacher salary report

The problem, I think, to do this, is that the salary structure as it exists for first-year teachers is high. If you take a look at the teachers that we have, weve been losing the more experienced teachers because that doesnt hold across the board once they start spending time with the schools, East District Supervisor Ernie Reed said.

Reed added about 60% of Nelson County teachers are recent hires.

The school board has proposed to adjust the salaries of teacher who have been with the schools for 20 to 30 years to meet the 25th highest salaries in the state, in addition to a 5% salary increase for SOQ, or Standards of Quality, funded positions.

Carter said he had spoken with Appomattox County Administrator Susan Adams, who told him her county does not fund the schools beyond what is required by the state, compared to the $8 million Nelson County currently funds the schools that is beyond its required amount. Carter then pointed to Appomattox County Public Schools reported ranking of 46. His document also lists Appomattox Countys 2019-2020 local per pupil funding at $2,580.

What do you attribute that to? Reed asked Carter.

The schools are getting overfunded, thats what I attribute it to, Carter said.

Reed said Carter couldnt use that conclusion to explain what happened. Carter added the schools are underperforming.

So youre faulting the schools for that? Reed asked.

Well, whose fault is it? Carter responded. Its the schools fault.

See, thats what infuriates me about you sometimes, South District Supervisor Skip Barton said to Carter.

Barton began to reference past decisions that have impacted the schools current request. Carter interrupted, saying events of 20 years ago dont count and the board should instead consider the present.

You say it counts if I say it counts. Youre working for me, remember that, Barton responded.

Not for very long, Carter said.

Carter, who has served his position the past 24 years, recently announced his retirement effective July 31.

The board returned to the question of schools proposed salary increases, with Reed urging the board to consider the reasoning behind the request for the pay hikes.

There is a reason and Ive thought about this reason for a decade, Barton said.

He told the board the current situation could be explained by the 2001 No Child Left Behind Bill and the implementation of standardized testing.

He said he didnt fault the lawmakers or tests themselves but, the consequences for the students not doing well on that test were draconian, and the administrations in schools began to put pressure on teachers and pressure on themselves to increase their test scores. What that did was undermine the professionality of the teachers.

Barton added these measures changed the criteria for evaluating teachers and the methods of instruction and eroded teacher morale, a trend exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Something needs to be done to make teachers feel that what they do for our society is paramount, Barton said, adding increasing salaries was a way to accomplish this.

It gets back to the taxpayer. What can the taxpayer afford to pay? North District Supervisor Tommy Harvey asked.

Board Chair Jesse Rutherford told the board $3.4 million, the amount the county would need to increase its funding to the schools to meet their deficit, equates to $0.10 in tax revenue.

West District Supervisor David Parr said Were looking at a less than 2% increase in our county budget, right? And theyre looking at a 20% increase in theirs. Well thats a no-brainer, but added he wanted to see if the school boards 2020-2021 request was unusually low because of the pandemic, and how its current funding request compares to those of the last five years.

The board continued its meeting to March 29 and will hold its regular meeting April 12.

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Amherst and Nelson counties' public schools will dismiss students early Thursday as a safety precaution due to severe weather in the forecast.

Amherst

Secondary schools will dismiss students at noon.

Elementary schools will dismiss at 1 p.m.

All after-school activities are canceled.

The school system said the most severe weather is expected from 2 to 7 p.m.

Nelson

Elementary students will be dismissed at noon.

Middle and high school students will be dismissed at 1 p.m.

There will be no evening activities.
A new art gallery in the first floor of the Allied Arts building in downtown Lynchburg offers something different than what you might expect from traditional exhibits.

Stability X, owner and founder of Be Kind Gallery 101 located at 725 Church St., Suite A, is a disabled veteran, a single mother and now an art gallery operator.

She opened the gallery at the beginning of March and said she wants it to be a more inclusive space for art.

I dont look at people's work and think, Oh, that's not a Mona Lisa, I can't hang it on my walls, I want the name of the gallery to speak for itself. When you come in here, I want you to have a kind mindset when you look at the artists artwork, because a lot of times I feel like we're looking at art wondering, Is it beautiful, does it have meaning, does it have purpose? she said.

She said she wants this space to be a welcoming environment.

We're kind of coming out of COVID and a lot of people were in the house doing arts and crafts. I want them to have a place to show their work that they've been doing and exploring these last few years, she said.

Both of X's parents were in the military, so it was expected she would follow suit, she said.

And being young and impressionable and listening to your parents, you think they know best. So I went into the military for nine years, but I sustained a couple traumatic brain injuries jumping out of airplanes for the 82nd Airborne Division, she said.

In light of that, she decided to go to school full time to get a history degree to teach high school students.

But I really wanted some nice supplies to set the tone to get me in this new chapter, so I decided to make some stationary notebooks and I loved how they turned out, she said.

X put them up for sale on Instagram in 2016 and sold 1,200 in 24 hours.

And so I just immediately was like, 'Well, do I want to stay in school or do I want to run this business full time?' So I decided to drop out of school and run the business full time, she said.

When she moved to Lynchburg last year from Lafayette, Louisiana, she decided to open an art gallery that would showcase both art and the notebooks.

I've been fascinated with the downtown rejuvenations that I'm seeing happening all across the country, particularly right now where everyone's wanting to be close to everything, she said. When I noticed that this space was move-in ready, and it's the Allied Arts building and already has so much art history with it being an art deco building, and it has so much artsy feelings to it that I felt like this was the right space to be.

The circa-1930s art deco building, designed by architect Stanhope Johnson, is an iconic landmark in the city, with its greenstone base from local quarries. The stone is heavily used on both the interior and exterior of the building.

Heath Barret, vice president of membership development at the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance, said by showcasing artwork by talented local artists, Be Kind Gallery is a great place to find art for the home or office.

This veteran-owned gallery also has custom-made notebooks for sale and a library from which to pull your inspiration, he said.

Matthew Sir Robertson, of Abstract Artist Sir, said he wanted his artwork on display in Be Kind Gallery 101 because from the moment he first walked in during the grand opening he was greeted and welcomed into the space like family.

"I had the pleasure of meeting Stability and her husband, John, and we spoke for hours about art, process and life experiences," he said. "Be Kind Gallery 101 offers a unique gallery experience, different from the traditional art gallery displaying multiple forms of art as well as offering a safe and inclusive place for artists to create, brainstorm and collaborate."

For now, X isn't curating any special shows but is just allowing artists to bring their art in.

Some people feel they have to have an art degree to make art, or even purchase it, but X disagrees.

I want this to be that stepping stone up, and if you know absolutely nothing, just come in, because I've never gone to art school, but this whole wall is mine, she said as she pointed to a portion of the gallery.

Lots of abstract pieces are hung on the wall as well as art therapy pieces created by X when she was going through a custody battle.

Instead of writing down how she was feeling, she created art pieces documenting the experience. Some pieces use recycled and reclaimed materials.

X is biracial; her mother is white and her father is Black. She said she always has struggled with her identity and how she is accepted in society.

So mixed media really spoke to me as I was able to take different pieces and create one unique piece, she said. It just reminds me so much of my childhood, and I've incorporated that in my art instead of just using paints and acrylics and oils and pastels. I'm cutting up magazines. I'm sewing fabric to the canvas. And that's something that a lot of galleries don't typically display.

In spite of her obstacles, X said she still is here in the community, giving and serving.

There are veterans that are coming back from the service and they're needing these opportunities and thankfully, Ive been given that opportunity to let the community see what veterans can actually do when they come back from service. And even with disabilities they can still do so much, she said.

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Channel surfing may soon be a solar-powered activity in Chicago.

Comcast is planning to plug into a massive Grundy County solar project under development to power its operations in the Chicago region and beyond beginning in 2025.

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The cable giant announced a 15-year agreement with Constellation Energy Thursday to use power generated by the Blue Sky Solar Project, a solar facility being built on 2,700 acres near Morris, about 60 miles southwest of Chicago.

The Blue Sky project is expected to supply Comcast with 250 megawatts of solar electricity  enough to power its operations in the Chicago area and several mid-Atlantic markets  as Comcast seeks to become carbon neutral by 2035.

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Were really excited that clean energy produced right here in Illinois is going to power such a large portion of Comcasts operations and help us reduce our carbon footprint, Comcast spokesman Jack Segal said.

Scout Clean Energy, a Colorado-based renewable energy developer, acquired the Blue Sky project in December, with plans to invest $400 million to build out what it called one of the largest solar projects in Illinois.

The project is expected to create up to 400 construction jobs, 20 permanent jobs and generate $36.3 million in tax revenue, according to the developer.

Its a large-scale solar project, but Illinois and Chicago have large-scale needs, said Michael Rucker, founder and CEO of Scout Clean Energy.

The former farmland will be turned into a sea of moving solar panels that tilt toward the sunlight, surrounded by a border of trees, Rucker said. Construction is scheduled begin in late 2023.

Blue Sky received unanimous approval for a special use permit with Grundy County under its solar ordinance in December 2020.

From the addition of hundreds of construction jobs and significant capital investment, to being positioned as a viable location for major clean energy projects, Blue Sky and Comcast will have a major impact on the local economy, Nancy Norton, president & CEO of the Grundy Economic Development Council, said in a news release.

Blue Sky is expected to begin commercial operation by December 2024. Constellation has agreed to purchase power and project-specific renewable energy certificates equal to 250 megawatts of Blue Skys total 300-megawatt output to supply electricity to Comcast.

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A renewable energy certificate represents one megawatt-hour of electricity generated and delivered to the power grid from a renewable source such as solar or wind.

Rucker said the power purchase agreement with Constellation for Comcast was crucial to getting the Blue Sky project fully financed and off the ground.

Chicago-based Exelon, the parent of ComEd, spun off Constellation, its former power generation subsidiary, into a stand-alone company last month.

Illinois has become something of a hotbed for solar projects in recent years, with renewable energy developers staking out turf on the rural fringes of the Chicago area to build dozens of solar farms to feed the electric grids of Commonwealth Edison and other utilities.

The states solar energy boom is driven in large part by legislation requiring Illinois utilities to get 40% of their power from renewable sources such as solar and wind by 2030.

rchannick@chicagotribune.com
WASHINGTON  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday voted 21-1 to advance a bill sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., that would prohibit any president from removing the United States from NATO without congressional approval.

Kaine said Russias invasion of Ukraine has underscored the importance and unity of NATO, making his proposal a very timely bill.

In an interview at his Senate office on Tuesday, Kaine said the vote sent a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin and European allies alike.

Its really designed to send the message of bipartisan, bicameral congressional support for NATO, he said.

In 2018 Kaine first introduced bipartisan legislation to clarify that no president could withdraw the U.S. from NATO without the advice and consent of the Senate or an act of Congress.

Kaine originally introduced the legislation with three other senators, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the month before he died. The measure was in response to threats by then-President Donald Trump to withdraw the U.S. from the North Atlantic Treaty signed in 1949.

The legislation advanced in committee on a voice vote in 2019, but never advanced to the Senate floor. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said, Now we see the value of NATO.

Kaine said the legislation might be first of its kind in seeking to curb presidential authority to withdraw from a specific treaty, despite a history of bipartisan concern about a presidents ability to unilaterally withdraw the U.S. from treaties that the Senate had approved by a two-thirds vote, as required by the U.S. Constitution.

The Constitution says nothing about getting out of a treaty, Kaine said.

The authority was tested in 1979, when the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit members of Congress filed against then-President Jimmy Carter about his decision to withdraw from a treaty for the defense of Taiwan. Trump and other presidents have acted unilaterally to withdraw the U.S. from other treaties over congressional dissent.

People griped about it, but there was no action taken, Kaine said.

Kaine said the legislation is consistent with his larger position on the War Powers Act and the requirement of congressional approval to declare war. Part of what Ive tried to do is reassert Congress into matters of war, peace and diplomacy.

He said he has applied the same principle regardless of party, helping to force then-President Barack Obama  a close political ally  to submit the Iran nuclear deal to Congress for approval. He blames a lack of congressional backbone more than presidential overreach.

Executives all tend to overreach, he said. Thats just like the law of physics.

Kaine reintroduced the NATO measure in 2021 with more than a dozen co-sponsors in both parties. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is the chief co-sponsor.

John Bolton  Trumps former national security adviser  recently told The Washington Post that Trump considered removing the U.S. from NATO in 2018.

Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, told CNN Plus this week that if Trump were again elected president in 2024, NATO nations will have to rethink their own national security and whether they can count on the U.S. to lead the alliance.

mmartz@timesdispatch.com (804) 649-6964 Staff writer Andrew Cain contributed to this report.
Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine are urging a federal agency to suspend and move to revoke the license of Envigo's Cumberland County facility, condemning its "continued horrific mistreatment" of beagle dogs and puppies bred for research.

The senators said that under federal law the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service could seek up to $730,000 in penalties from Envigo "for its repeated noncompliance" with the Animal Welfare Act.

The senators, both Virginia Democrats, are urging the agency to act after multiple federal inspections found more than 70 animal welfare violations at the Cumberland site, including instances of puppies being euthanized without anesthesia.

Last year People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals conducted an undercover investigation at the facility, citing mistreatment among 5,000 beagle dogs and puppies bred and housed at the site. PETA posting disturbing video of beagles housed in what it called a "prison like factory."

Four federal inspections have resulted in dozens of reported violations at the site.

Mortality records at the facility showed that from Jan. 1, 2021 to July 22 "over 300 puppy deaths were attributed to unknown causes, however, the facility has not taken additional steps to determine the causes of death in order prevent similar deaths of other puppies in the future," according to a July inspection report by the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

A November inspection report on the facility found that "many young puppies are not receiving anesthesia" before being euthanized. The report also found that euthanasia injections without proper veterinary care have "have been found to be painful, stressful, and uncomfortable" and frequently have caused "unnecessary pain and distress."

The report found that 30 beagles between the ages of 2 and 7 showed signs of severe dental disease and assorted others had problems with their feet, eyes and skin.

An inspection report on the facility released in March found that dozens of dogs were injured in fights, several got their feet stuck in the flooring of kennels, and inspectors noted instances of "wet food with varying amounts of mold."

It is clear to us that Envigo has been derelict in its duty to provide for the humane care of its dogs, and is unable to abide by the basic standards set forth by the Animal Welfare Act, Warner and Kaine wrote to Kevin Shea, administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The senators said that by law the agency can seek civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation of the Animal Welfare Act, meaning that it could seek up to $730,000 in penalties from Envigo "for its repeated noncompliance. "

On its website Envigo tells researchers that it is important to partner with "a supplier whose social housing solutions nurture and promote healthy, well-socialized animals." It asserts that "the purebred beagles at our Cumberland, Virginia location develop in a dynamic social housing environment."

General Assembly efforts

Abuses of beagles bred for research at the facility prompted a bipartisan effort in the regular General Assembly session that ended March 12. Sens. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County and Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, co-sponsored four measures that passed the legislature without opposition.

The bills, awaiting action by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, would:

* Prohibit a dealer or breeder with certain violations of the Animal Welfare Act after July 1, 2023 from engaging in further sales of dogs or cats;

* Require breeders of cats and dogs for an animal testing facility to keep records of the animal for five years and submit quarterly reports to the state veterinarian;

* Require such a breeder of unneeded dogs or cats to offer them for adoption before they are euthanized;

* Tighten language in state law to note that such dogs and cats are considered "companion animals" and come under animal cruelty regulations unless they are actively involved in bona fide medical and scientific experimentation.

Stanley also has spearheaded efforts to find new homes for 400 beagles removed from the facility. He and his family adopted two of the dogs.
The event is a fundraiser for Angie Lauritsen's campaign for Legislative District 36, which includes the rural southern and western parts of Sarpy County, including Gretna. (Rick Holdcroft, a registered Republican from Bellevue, is also seeking the seat.)

Along with city government, Lauritsen said she has been involved on numerous boards and committees, including the Gretna Area Chamber of Commerce, Gretna KIDS Committee and Citizens Committee. She founded the Gretna Home Town Heroes program and is president of the local Greater Omaha Area Marine Parents group. She was named a 2017 Woman of Distinction in Sarpy County by Suburban Newspaper publication, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for Lift Up Sarpy County, Concord Mediation, and is the current treasurer and co-chair of the Policy and Legislative Committee for Survivors Rising.
The Green Hills Area Education Agency Board of Directors is closing in on a new chief administrator.

Current Chief Administrator Lolli Haws plans to retire after this fiscal year.

The board announced three finalists for the position Tuesday, who are to be interviewed today.

The Board of Directors reviewed applications from 26 candidates and identified five candidates for first-round interviews, which were conducted on March 23 and 24, a press release from the agency stated. At the conclusion of first-round interviews, the Board selected three outstanding educational leaders for finalist interviews.

Dr. Kimberly Buryanek

Dr. Kim Buryanek is the associate superintendent for the Sioux City Community School District in Sioux City. She is responsible for the educational process for almost 15,000 students and the work of nearly 2,500 staff members in 23 student attendance centers.

During the past 10 years, the district has celebrated many accomplishments, including significant gains in academic achievement and graduation rates. The district has been labeled one of 100 original Future Ready Districts in the nation and a Next Generation High School District by the United States Department of Education and the White House.

The students and community have benefited from 17 school construction projects. The district has implemented progressive programs through specialty elementary schools, middle school STEM-focused exploratory offerings and over 30 Pathways to the Future in career academy high school offerings.

Buryanek was named the 2020 Central Office Administrator of the Year by the School Administrators of Iowa. She currently serves on the Iowa Statewide Assessment System Advisory Committee and is a national Future Ready Schools advisor for district leadership.

She started her career in education as a high school English teacher before becoming an assistant high school principal in Sidney, Montana; a high school principal in Anaconda, Montana; and a 6-12 principal at West Sioux in Hawarden. She has served as an adjunct professor teaching online courses for Northwestern College in Orange City and teaches seminars for the Iowa Principal Leadership Academy through Prairie Lakes AEA.

Buryanek holds a doctorate degree in educational leadership and policy studies from Iowa State University, a masters in educational administration from South Dakota State University and a bachelors from the University of South Dakota. She is affiliated with many professional and community organizations. She and her husband and daughter live in Sioux City.

Dr. Jason Plourde

Dr. Jason Plourde is the executive director of Universal Services & Supports at Green Hills Area Education Agency, where he leads, supervises and supports all curriculum and instruction areas, including professional learning, school improvement, career and technical education and multiple core consulting services.

He has dedicated 28 years to public education in southwest Iowa, receiving several noteworthy professional honors and achieving accomplishments throughout his tenure. His leadership roles include serving as a former director of secondary schools, building administrator for elementary, middle, and high school levels, as well as math-science, talented & gifted and special education teacher and paraeducator in Council Bluffs Community Schools. Prior to Council Bluffs Schools, Dr. Plourde was a special education teacher with Loess Hills AEA 13 in a specialized program for students with behavioral challenges.

Plourde is an alumnus of the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Creighton University, earning a degree in K-8 education with an emphasis in special education and advanced degrees in PreK-12 educational administration, leadership and management. Over his career, he has been honored with multiple awards, including The Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award for Iowa (2008) and the Promising Professional Distinguished Alumni Award, University of Nebraska at Omaha (2010).

The first is a national-level honor for impressive achievements as a model for the state and nation and, more significantly, for what nominators believe the candidate is likely to accomplish in the future. This rare, distinguished award requires nominations from the Superintendent and School Board, with final approval by the State Board of Education. The second is a university-level honor awarded for exemplary achievement in their field. The prestigious award recognizes recipients for significant accomplishments within their profession, including their dissertation research, as well as their potential for future impact.

A top leadership goal continually promoted by Plourde is to ensure Green Hills AEA creates and nurtures a positive staff culture with high-functioning teams who deliver unparalleled services, support, and advocacy on behalf of each child.

Dr. David VanHorn

Dr. David VanHorn serves as the executive director of teaching and learning at Southwest Metro Intermediate District #288 in Shakopee, Minnesota. As the executive director, he is responsible for instructional technology, communications, professional development, adult education and online learning.

Previously, he served in various capacities for Green Hills AEA for 29 years. Most recently, he served as the executive director of specialized services for the AEA. In his last year in this position, he received the J. Frank Vance Distinguished Leadership for Outstanding Leadership in Special Education Award. While at the AEA, he served as the associate administrator, interim chief administrator, director of instructional services and media, director of special education, supervisor of school psychological services and as a school psychologist.

VanHorn earned a Ph.D. in Guidance and Psychological Services from Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana in 1994. He received an award from the American Psychological Association for his dissertation work in the area of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. His Master of Education in School Psychology was awarded by the same University in 1988. His bachelors degree in psychology was awarded by the University of Southern Indiana.

He has led or been involved in a number of substantive projects at the AEA and state levels. These include leading the development of the Iowa Technology Plan and the Suicide Prevention and Postvention module used statewide. He has held appointments on the Governors Council for Early ACCESS and the Governors STEM Council. At the AEA level, the work of VanHorn and his teams has resulted in improved instructional practices for students on IEPs and a federal grant focused on training new school psychologists.

VanHorn is passionate about student and adult learning, child mental health issues and the development of leaders. He and his wife, Dr. Elaine Hoversten, a clinical psychologist, have five adult children.

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The Pottawattamie County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the 2022-23 budget, which features a significant decrease in the general levy for county residents.

Thanks to SF 619  legislation that shifts the cost of mental health services to the state signed into law last year by Gov. Kim Reynolds  residents will see a general levy decrease of 39 cents. Coupled with a 2 cent reduction from the county, the general levy is going down by a total of 41 cents for all county residents.

The overall property tax levy for county residents who live in a town or city is $7.45997 per $1,000 of valuation, down from $7.88147 last year. The countys rural services levy is $3.36948, which means residents who live outside corporate limits have a total levy of $10.82945, which is down from $11.25095.

Supervisor Justin Schultz said its the eighth consecutive year with a levy reduction.

During the meeting, Schultz noted that the county can only affect four levies: general, general supplemental, debt services and rural services. Board Chair Tim Wichman added that the 41 cent reduction does not take into account city or school district budgets.

Im not familiar with what all the cities did, Wichman said during the board meeting. Ive seen most of them either kept the levy the same or went down. Theres a couple of cities that increased their levy. School districts are still working on theirs. But at least on this side of things, there is some good news for the taxpayers of Pottawattamie County that their levys gonna go down.

Council Bluffs residents, for example, will see their levy increase by $0.29559 per $1,000 of taxable valuation, bringing it up to $17.82559.

Lewis Central School District has proposed a levy of $10.23615, which will be voted on at the April 4 school board meeting. Council Bluffs School District has not yet announced a budget proposal, but its levy for the current fiscal year is $16.99.

The county budget features revenues of $97,328,564 against expenditures of $122,890,088. The expenditures include $20,623,053 in bond funds that were raised in the last fiscal year that are expected to be spent this year, though the county does have another two years to spend the entirety of the bond money, according to Mitch Kay, county finance and budget director.

Supervisors decline recommended raise

The Compensation Board had recommended a 10% raise for all elected county officials, Board Chairman Tim Wichman said, but members of the Board of Supervisors quickly dismissed that number as being too high.

Schultz recommended a 4% raise.

My recommendation is that we reduce that amount to reflect the same amount that weve done countywide for all employees, Schultz said at the board meeting.

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As with many things, propaganda can be used for good or for ill, depending on who dispenses it. During World War II, American propaganda was considered a necessary tool in the pursuit of victory in a moral cause. Germany and Japan had their own propaganda machines to advance an evil agenda.
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Danielle Helmer pumps gas at the Mobil station in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood on March 31, 2022, where gas was $4.99 per gallon. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

The city of Chicago plans to make available $12.5 million in prepaid gas and public transit cards as prices at the pump soar, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Thursday.

The plan, which comes weeks after possible 2023 mayoral candidate Willie Wilson spearheaded several rounds of free gas giveaways, includes gas cards worth $150 each for as many as 50,000 drivers, and transit cards worth $50 each for as many as 100,000 riders. Wilson on Thursday blasted the mayors plan and called it a political stunt.

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This is one of the many tools in the citys toolbox to eradicate poverty and build generational wealth across Chicago, Lightfoot said. Additionally, boosting CTA ridership is not only good for our recovering transit system, but a step in the right direction to reduce carbon emissions.

Residents must apply for the cards, which would be distributed via a lottery system in waves throughout the summer, according to the city. Three-quarters of the transit cards would be prioritized for residents in low-income neighborhoods who use the CTA often. The remainder would be distributed throughout the city.

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It will benefit CTA riders across the city, but especially on the South and West sides, CTA President Dorval Carter said. Areas that saw the lowest ridership declines during the pandemic, areas where public transit is the best and sometimes the only option.

Thursday, the average price for a gallon of regular gas in the city of Chicago was $4.84 up from $3.33 a year ago, according to AAA.

Customers fill up at a BP gas station in Chicago on March 31, 2022. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)

As gas prices climbed in recent weeks, drivers lined up for Wilsons gas giveaways, causing traffic jams and at times unmanageable crowds.

Wilson has said he will soon announce whether he will run again for mayor in 2023, potentially setting up a match against Lightfoot. The perennial political candidate has run unsuccessfully for Chicago mayor before.

Lightfoot is expected to announce her own reelection campaign in the coming weeks, though she has at times played coy about whether she will run again even though she has been fundraising.

Wilson called the gas and transit card plan tone deaf in a statement.

He told the Tribune he is still considering another gas giveaway and questioned why Lightfoot waited until after his events to take action to provide gas price relief. He said gas tax relief would help more Chicago residents than prepaid cards selected by lottery.

If shes doing it with taxpayer dollars, every taxpayer should benefit from the lower taxes in terms of gasoline, not just a few, he said.

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The Sun-Times previously reported that Lightfoot had been considering gas tax relief.

Asked Thursday why she chose gas and transit cards instead, Lightfoot said the city had not rejected gas tax relief, but thought prepaid cards were a better option.

In thinking about what we could do to actually provide maximum impact, we thought that this was a better way to go. To literally put a gas card in the hands of Chicago residents, she said. And then obviously we want to continue to emphasize the importance of lowering our carbon emissions by partnering up with the CTA to give those transit riders relief at the same time.

A gas tax holiday would have had bigger costs for the city, and could mean less spending on roads and bridges, said Joseph Schwieterman, director of DePaul Universitys Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development.

A more targeted program such as prepaid cards would likely mean less expense to the city, he said, but raised other issues. While the prepaid transit cards are a positive, subsidizing gasoline runs against environmental efforts to promote more sustainable travel options, he said.

And the transit cards might bring riders back to public transit, but might not keep them there for the long term, he said.

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I go back to the fact that what people want most is safe, efficient, clean service, he said. And the cost can be a secondary factor.

Applications for gas and transit cards will open April 27, if City Council approves the plan. To be eligible, applicants must live in Chicago and their household income must be no more than 140% of the areas median income, or more than $130,000 for a family of four. Gas card applicants must have a valid city sticker.

Only one card will be issued per household, and the cards will be valid for one year. Gas cards can only be spent at gas stations in Chicago.

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sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez defended before Spanish Mps the new position of his country in support of Moroccos autonomy plan as  The most serious, realistic and credible  basis for settling the artificial dispute around the Sahara territory.

Sanchez had sent a letter to King Mohammed VI on March 18 voicing the same position and expressing willingness to improve relations with Morocco in a spirit of transparency and good will.

He told MPs that the Spanish Sahara move was the result of the countrys willingness to contribute  actively  to settling the conflict that lasted for 50 years.

The decision we have taken on the Sahara is a further step on the path that began 14 years ago when the Spanish government welcomed the autonomy plan presented by Morocco as a valuable contribution to the solution of a deadlocked conflict, he pointed out.

The new positin comes after the opening of  window of opportunity  to relaunch negotiations after the nomination of Staffan de Mistura a personal envoy for the UN Secretary General.

After many years of conflict and status quo in the negotiation process, the Spanish government considers that the autonomy proposed by Morocco is the basis on which there are more possibilities to build a solution to the Sahara issue, stressed Sanchez, noting that his country logically recognizes the efforts made by Morocco in this direction.

He said Spains support for the autonomy initiative, first introduced by Morocco in 2007, comes after similar positions by France and the US and recently Germany.

Moreover, all the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council since 2007 have welcomed the autonomy plan and the serious and credible efforts made by Morocco, he underlined.

In his address to the Congress of Deputies, Pedro Sanchez made it clear that relations with Morocco, a neighbor and strategic partner, are an affair of State that requires a State policy.

The government is firmly committed to opening a new stage in relations between the two countries, with a clear and ambitious roadmap, Sanchez stressed.

Morocco is a neighbor and an indispensable strategic partnerThroughout history, the two countries have established human ties, agreements and relationships that have forged common interests.

Most of Africa and the Arab world backs Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara and the autonomy plan and the most recent country to express support for Moroccos territorial integrity was Israel.

Thanks to the new Spanish position in support of neighbourliness with Morocco, Rabat returned its ambassador to Madrid and a visit will take place on April 1 by Spanish foreign minister to be followed by a visit by Sanchez later.
Mauritania has woken up without a government. Prime Minister Mohamed Ould Bilal tendered his resignation and that of his government to the Head of state, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. No statement to the press was made following the resignation, which could be explained in part by the harsh criticism of the President of the Republic.

The announcement of the resignation of the Prime Minister and his government was made official by the Mauritanian News Agency at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday evening. I thank the President of the Republic for the confidence he has placed in me, Mohamed Ould Bilal said simply.

While the disappearance of Mauritanian nationals in Mali and tensions over the Western Sahara have marked the recent news, the local media have focused on the tensions between the head of state and the now ex-Prime Minister.

Last week, President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani again severely criticized the governments work, calling on it to focus on doing its duty. For the head of state, the involvement of ministers was not sufficient: Most ministries suffer from a lack of mechanisms to solve the problems of citizens, this is unacceptable.

A political observer added, on Wednesday, the lack of results in the fight against corruption, presented as the number one project of the former Prime Minister, the blockage of political dialogue and the surge in prices a few days before the beginning of Ramadan. These are all points of rupture between the two strong men of Mauritania. President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani has therefore decided. Mohamed Ould Bilal had been Prime Minister since August 2020.

Posted by North Africa Post North Africa Post's news desk is composed of journalists and editors, who are constantly working to provide new and accurate stories to NAP readers.
Tunisian President Kais Saied Wednesday dissolved the suspended parliament in reaction to a plenary session held on online and which voted for a draft law cancelling all presidential decisions taken since July 25.

121 lawmakers of the suspended parliament held an online session defying Saied. 116 of those present at the plenary voted in favor of a draft law overturning all presidential decrees issued since July 25, the day Saied seized the executive power, froze the activities of the patliament and suspended MPs.

In reaction to the move, Saied used the article 72 of the constitution to dissolve the parliament to preserve the unity of the state and security of Tunisians. The President of the Republic is the Head of State and the symbol of its unity. He guarantees its independence and continuity and ensures that the Constitution is respected, the article says.

Prior to the decision to break up the parliament, Saied branded the session a coup detat and urged for action against the lawmakers who participated in the session. The plenary was chaired by the second deputy speaker Tarek Fetiti. Early this week, 27 MPs signed documents calling for the March 30 session.

We call on all members of parliament to assume their historic responsibility to find a way out of the crisis by holding a consultative plenary session to discuss constitutional solutions that will end the exceptional measures. The goal is to establish the basis for a national dialogue that will lead to a real rectification of the trajectory and will result in early legislative and presidential elections so that the people regain their sovereignty through the ballot box, the MPs said in the call.

The president of the republic has suspended chapters of the Constitution, he has begun to dissolve elected bodies. He has also started to change the basis of the political system unilaterally and outside the constitutional and legal framework. The president has used the means of the state in order to promote his political project and impose it on everyone. He has taken the liberty of attacking his opponents and making serious accusations against them without proof, the lawmakers added.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) launched this week in Casablanca the Green Economy Financing Facility Morocco II (GEFF II), a credit line facility of 163.5 million.

Green Economy Finance Facility Morocco II (GEFF II) is a 163 million financing line set up by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) with the support of the European Union (EU) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

GEFF II follows on successful implementation of MorSEFF program in the period 2015-2021.

This credit line facility is an intermediated financial program providing financing to local participating financial institutions (PFIs) for on-lending to private enterprises in Morocco for financing green investments in sustainable energy (energy efficiency and renewable energy), water conservation, waste reduction, green buildings, circular economy and soil erosion protection.

EBRD Managing Director for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean region, Heike Harmgart, said that this is the third green financing program launched by the EBRD in Morocco and takes place following the success of previous programs.

The program seeks to develop and improve the competitiveness of Moroccan companies while reducing carbon dioxide emissions, Ms. Harmgart added.

Overall, the program would enable greater private sector involvement and held Moroccos transition to a resilient, low-emission and environmentally sustainable economy, she noted.
King Mohammed VI invited Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to visit Morocco after relations improved between the two countries following Madrids open support to the autonomy plan for the Moroccan Sahara.

In a phone call Thursday, King Mohammed VI expressed appreciation for the letter in which Sanchez said Spain supports the autonomy plan as the most serious, credible and realistic basis for settling the dispute over the Sahara.

This letter confirmed the spirit of the Royal speech on August 20, 2021 in which the King called for ushering a new era in bilateral ties, the Royal Office said in a statement.

The new partnership between the two countries is now on track of mutual respect and trust as well as permanent communication and sincere and faithful cooperation, it said.

In this context, ministries and officials of the two countries are called upon to take concrete actions as part of an ambitious roadmap covering all fields of partnership and covering all issues of common interest, the statement said.
The organization of Eastern Caribbean States OECS opened their consulate in Dakhla in the Moroccan Sahara, in a tangible support for Moroccan territorial integrity and sovereignty.

The new consulate will join similar diplomatic missions in Dakhla and Laayoune opened by 24 countries.

The opening of this new consulate mirrors the growing support for Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara, said Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita following the inauguration of the consulate by Prime Minister of Dominican Republic Roosevelt Skerrit.

The advantage of this consulate is that it does not only represent a single country, but six member states of the OECS.

During this visit Skerrit reiterated his countrys position in support of Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara and backed the autonomy initiative as the unique basis for a political solution to this regional conflict.

The opening of this consulates came as Moroccos autonomy plan gains traction within the international community after similar positions by Spain and Israel which recently joined the US, France, Germany as well as African and Arab countries.
A soldier walks the amid the destruction caused after shelling of a shopping center last March 21 in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 30, 2022. (Rodrigo Abd/AP)

KYIV, Ukraine  Russian troops handed control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant back to the Ukrainians and left the heavily contaminated site early Friday, more than a month after taking it over, Ukrainian authorities said, as fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other fronts.

Ukraines state power company, Energoatom, said the pullout at Chernobyl came after soldiers received significant doses of radiation from digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone around the closed plant. But there was no independent confirmation of that.

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The withdrawal took place amid growing indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation in Ukraine as cover while regrouping, resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in the eastern part of the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian withdrawals from the north and center of the country were just a military tactic and that the forces are building up for new powerful attacks in the southeast.

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We know their intentions, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. We know that they are moving away from those areas where we hit them in order to focus on other, very important ones where it may be difficult for us.

There will be battles ahead, he added.

Meanwhile, a convoy of 45 buses headed to Mariupol in another bid to evacuate people from the besieged port city after the Russian military agreed to a limited cease-fire in the area. But Russian forces blocked the buses, and only 631 people were able to get out of the city in private cars, according to the Ukrainian government.

Twelve Ukrainian buses were able to deliver 14 tons of food and medical supplies to Mariupol, but the aid was seized by Russian troops, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said late Thursday.

The city has been the scene of some of the worst suffering of the war. Tens of thousands have managed to get out of Mariupol in the past few weeks by way of humanitarian corridors, reducing its population from a prewar 430,000 to an estimated 100,000 as of last week, but other relief efforts have been thwarted by continued Russian attacks.

A new round of talks was scheduled for Friday, five weeks into the war that has left thousands dead and driven 4 million Ukrainians from the country.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it had been informed by Ukraine that the Russian forces at the site of the worlds worst nuclear disaster had transferred control of it in writing to the Ukrainians.

The last Russian troops left the Chernobyl plant early Friday, the Ukrainian government agency responsible for the exclusion zone said.

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Energoatom gave no details on the condition of the soldiers it said were exposed to radiation and did not say how many were affected. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin, and the IAEA said it had not been able to confirm the reports of Russian troops receiving high doses. It said it was seeking more information.

Russian forces seized the Chernobyl site in the opening stages of the Feb. 24 invasion, raising fears that they would cause damage or disruption that could spread radiation. The workforce at the site oversees the safe storage of spent fuel rods and the concrete-entombed ruins of the reactor that exploded in 1986.

Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert with the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said it seems unlikely a large number of troops would develop severe radiation illness, but it was impossible to know for sure without more details.

He said contaminated material was probably buried or covered with new topsoil during the cleanup of Chernobyl, and some soldiers may have been exposed to a hot spot of radiation while digging. Others may have assumed they were at risk too, he said.

Early this week, the Russians said they would significantly scale back military operations in areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv to increase trust between the two sides and help negotiations along.

But in the Kyiv suburbs, regional governor Oleksandr Palviuk said on social media Thursday that Russian forces shelled Irpin and Makariv and that there were battles around Hostomel. Pavliuk said there were Ukrainian counterattacks and some Russian withdrawals around the suburb of Brovary to the east.

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Chernihiv came under attack as well. At least one person was killed and four were wounded in the Russian shelling of a humanitarian convoy of buses sent to Chernihiv to evacuate residents cut off from food, water and other supplies, said Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova

Ukraine also reported Russian artillery barrages in and around the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said intelligence indicates Russia is not scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead trying to regroup, resupply its forces and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas.

Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions, Stoltenberg said. At the same time, he said, pressure is being kept up on Kyiv and other cities, and we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering.

The Donbas is the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial region where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014. In the past few days, the Kremlin, in a seeming shift in its war aims, said that its main goal now is gaining control of the Donbas, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including Mariupol.

The top rebel leader in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, issued an order to set up a rival city government for Mariupol, according to Russian state news agencies, in a sign of Russian intent to hold and administer the city.

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With talks set to resume between Ukraine and Russia via video, there seemed little faith that the two sides would resolve the conflict any time soon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that conditions werent yet ripe for a cease-fire and that he wasnt ready for a meeting with Zelenskyy until negotiators do more work, Italian Premier Mario Draghi said after a telephone conversation with the Russian leader.

In other developments, Ukraines emergency services said the death toll had risen to 20 in a Russian missile strike Tuesday on a government administration building in the southern city of Mykolaiv.

As Western officials search for clues about what Russias next move might be, a top British intelligence official said demoralized Russian soldiers in Ukraine are refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their equipment and had accidentally shot down their own aircraft.

In a speech in Australia, Jeremy Fleming, head of the GCHQ electronic spy agency, said Putin had apparently massively misjudged the invasion.

The Pentagon reported Thursday that an initial half-dozen shipments of weapons and other security assistance from the U.S. have reached Ukraine as part of an $800 million aid package President Joe Biden approved this month.

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The shipments included Javelin anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, body armor, medical supplies and other materials, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the war is going because they are afraid to tell him the truth.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the U.S. is wrong and that neither the State Department nor the Pentagon possesses the real information about what is happening in the Kremlin.

Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.
Opelika police are searching for a suspect in connection with the theft of a pickup truck from Fairway Auto Brokers in Opelika on March 21.

Police identified the suspect to be Micah Joshua Williams, 43, from Tuskegee, Ala. Police said Williams stole a green 2018 Ford F-150 XLT and has been charged with third degree burglary and theft of property.

In an earlier report from March 21, police said the vehicle was last seen with a Fairway Auto Brokers drive-off tag heading eastbound on Second Avenue.

Officers first responded to Fairway Auto Brokers, located at 301 Second Avenue, at 8:45 p.m. on March 21 because the business alarm was activated.

After arriving at the scene, police said the window at the front of the building was broken and employees informed the officers that a green 2018 Ford F-150 XLT was missing from the parking lot.

Police said security camera footage shows the suspect, a black male with a full beard, arrive wearing a long sleeve red shirt, gray pants, tan work boots, and a brown toboggan. The suspect then puts on a black jacket before committing the crimes, according to the police report.

Anyone who has information about the whereabouts of Williams is asked to contact the OPD at 334-705-5200 or the Secret Witness Hotline at 334-745-8665.

Anonymous tips can be submitted through the Opelika Police Mobile App.

Tips can also be forwarded through Central Alabama Crime Stoppers at 334-215-7867, toll free at 1-833-AL1-STOP (7867), or via their Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/215stop or their website: www.215STOP.com.
In advance of possibly severe weather expected late Wednesday night going into Thursday morning, Lee County Schools announced a two-hour weather delay Thursday.

Lee County was expected to receive thunderstorms after 10 p.m., according to the latest statewide update from the National Weather Service in Birmingham. While some counties in the central Alabama region were bracing for 80 mph winds and tornadoes, winds in Lee County from Auburn to Phenix City were forecast to reach about 40 mph during the night.

"Based on the latest weather advisories and the possibility of severe storms, all Lee County Schools and offices will observe a two-hour delay in opening Thursday, March 22, 2022," a statement on the LCS website read. "This means that whatever time the respective school starts or a student is picked up at a bus stop, that will be delayed by two hours tomorrow."

Auburn City Schools and Opelika City Schools said they are watching weather patterns overnight.

Daniel Chesser, public relations coordinator for ACS, said Wednesday night the district is aiming to maintain normal operations.

"At this point we're just monitoring closely," Chesser said. "It's going to be a long night for us as far as keeping up with it and then a very early morning to see what the aftermath will be to gauge our decision."

OCS is also planning for a regular school day Thursday, according to Becky Brown, public relations coordinator for OCS.

"Right now, we feel like with the pattern that we're going to monitor it and see if anything changes overnight," Brown said Wednesday night. "Usually whenever we have a weather event, if we have to make a change, we'll make it by 5 a.m."

Auburn University has not announced any delays but shared on social media Wednesday night that storm shelters in Greene Hall and Ralph Brown Draughon Library opened at 8 p.m. for students and community members to take refuge in if needed. Those with pets may bring them to Greene Hall, which is located on the College of Veterinary Medicine campus, according to Susan McCallister, director of campus safety and compliance.

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On April 7, the College of Liberal Arts, or CLA, at Auburn University will host AUsome Alumni Day, a one-day event that connects students with influential CLA alumni.

AUsome Alumni Day, sponsored by Southern Company, will be held from 2:30 to 6 p.m. at the Tiger Walk Club in Jordan-Hare Stadium. Students, faculty and staff in attendance will enjoy networking opportunities, a welcome from CLA Interim Dean Ana Franco-Watkins, a panel of successful CLA alumni and a keynote speech from NASA legal counsel Dawn Oliver.

Read more here.
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Auburn University Libraries, in partnership with the League of Women Voters of East Alabama, is hosting a voter registration day on April 6 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Ralph Brown Draughon Library. Those wishing to register to vote or just wanting information on voting are welcome to stop by.

A help desk staffed by League of Women Voters volunteers will provide information about voter registration and voting by absentee ballot. Laptops will be available at the help desk so that individuals may register to vote online. Print mail-in voter registration forms will also be available.

The help desk will be located at the first floor parking deck entrance to the library, adjacent to the circulation desk.



This years election dates:

May 9last day to register to vote before primary election

May 24primary

June 6last day to register to vote prior to runoff

June 21primary runoff

Oct. 24last day to register

Nov. 8general election
OPEC has its priorities, and it is sticking to them, even in the face of growing pressure from its political partners in the West.

OPEC is meeting on Thursday for its regular monthly review of production policy. This time, no one seems to expect surprises, and the reason is that in the past couple of months, the cartel and its allies in OPEC+ led by Russia have been in remarkable sync. And they appear to have had enough of consumers pressure.

The energy minister of the United Arab Emirates sounded a sober note earlier this week as he struck at Western countries for having what can only be described as a hypocritical attitude to fossil fuels.

I think in COP 26 all the producers felt they were uninvited and unwanted but now we are again superheroes, its not going to work like that, Suhail Al-Mazrouei said at the Global Energy Forum organized by the Atlantic Council in Dubai.

The top Emirati energy official went on to explain the basics of the oil industry, stressing that production is tied to long-term planning, which is incompatible with callsand actionson investment cuts in order to put more money into renewable energy.

That should have been obvious to everyone familiar with the very basics of economics, but it appears to have escaped some currently in charge in Europe and the United States. Their reasoning seems to be that oil producers have a vested interest in selling their oil while it is in demand because in 20 years, per climate change plans, demand wont be that strong.

It is a valid line of reasoning and one that the oil producers themselves have recognized. It is this, at least in part, that has motivated the UAE and Saudi Arabia to invest in boosting their output capacity. The UAE is aiming for 5 million bpd in total production, and the Saudis are eyeing 13 million bpd in production capacity.

Related: Are You Really Being Gouged At The Gas Pump?

This should be good news for oil-thirsty importers, but this capacity is not coming online this year while the importers, specifically the ones in Europe, are eager to reduce their dependence on Russian oil right now, by the end of the year. The obvious substitute for Russian oil would be oil from the Middle East, but as Reuters John Kemp recently explained, this is easier said than done.

Although, theoretically, new markets would be good news for oil exporters, OPEC is still limiting its production, and some members are failing to pump even as much as that limited amount agreed by the OPEC+ group.

Also, as Kemp pointed out in his column, rerouting oil flows from Asia to Europe makes very little strategic sense: Europe is an oil market in decline, unlike Asia. In other words, Gulf producers dont really have an incentive to sell more oil to Europe. Nor do they have an incentive to join the Western condemnation of Russia.

When it comes to OPEC+  I would take that privilege of saying Ive been at it for 35 years, and I know how we managed to compartmentalize our political differences from what is for the common good of all of us, Saudi energy minister Abdulaziz bin Salman told CNBCs Hadley Gamble this week, speaking of the Russian issue.

That culture is seeped into OPEC+, so when we get into that OPEC meeting room, or OPEC building, everybody leaves his politics at the outside door of that building, and that culture has been with us, bin Salman also said.

Indeed, one only needs to recall that OPEC involves both Saudi Arabia and Iran, the two Middle Eastern archenemies, and they have managed to act in concert on oil despite their differences.

OPEC, and OPEC+, appear to be stronger than ever. It is hard to believe that just two years ago, Saudi Arabia and Russia locked horns over oil policies and even engaged in a sort of an oil output blitz to make their respective points, pushing prices down sharply just before the pandemic really got going, pushing them a lot further lower. The two cooled off pretty soon and have been working in harmony ever since.

Crude oil prices slipped briefly below $100 per barrel on signals that the negotiations between Russia and Ukraine had struck a constructive note. However, soon after the news, traders apparently realized this wouldnt automatically mean the lifting of sanctions on Russia, and prices rebounded, helped by the APIs weekly inventory report, which estimated a decline of 3 million barrels.

The villain-turned-superhero trope is one that is well known and frequently exploited in literature and film. There are plenty of examples of this trope in geopolitics as well, as well as its mirror image of the superhero-turned-villain. Yet OPEC clearly does not want to star in such a film.

OPEC has its priorities, and it is sticking to them, even in the face of growing pressure from its political partners in the West. The latter might need to be more convincing in their assurances that they are committed to this partnership, and even that may not be enough to sway the cartel into producing more oil.



By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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U.S. crude oil production has risenalbeit modestlyfor the first time in ten weeks, the latest EIA data shows.

Weekly U.S. field production of crude oil rose to 11.7 million barrels per day, according to EIA data, up from 11.6 million bpd in the previous seven weeks.

U.S. oil producers have been in the crosshairs since oil started risingwhich was before Russia invaded Ukraine--for failing to ramp up crude oil production. The oil industry has further been accused of price gouging, which the U.S. government said has led to high prices at the pump for drivers.

Meanwhile, U.S. oil producers claim that shareholders are still demanding fiscal restraint, and the regulatory environment isnt welcoming to additional investments. Even at $200 oil, Pioneer Natural Resources chief executive Scott Sheffield said last month, U.S. shale companies arent going to change their growth plans to switch to an aggressive drilling program.

Nevertheless, the Baker Hughes U.S. oil rig count shows that oil companies in the United States have added 39 drilling rigs over the last 10 weeks. Crude oil production, however, lags rig additions.

Of course, these production figures provided by the EIA are estimated based on short-term forecasts. And since they are rounded to the nearest 100,000 barrels, it is impossible to know how muchif anyof an increase there is at all.

The EIA says that its crude oil production figures includes lease condensate and is estimated using a combination of short-term forecasts for the lower 48 states and the latest available production estimates from Alaska.Weekly crude oil production estimates are rounded to the nearest 100,000 b/d at the U.S. and lower 48 state level, according to the EIAs website.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilpice.com

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Japans nuclear sector has been a point of contention in the years following the Fukushima disaster, but the country is beginning to warm back up to its potential.

Japan has recently announced big plans to invest in renewables and bring back nuclear power - the first big move on nuclear since the Fukushima disaster. With international organisations putting pressure on governments to establish net-zero carbon emissions targets, Japan is responding by developing its renewable and nuclear energy sectors. With rapid innovations in cleaner public transport and international interest in the countrys offshore wind, it could soon lead Asia in green energy. Despite much controversy, the EU moved to label nuclear power and natural gas green earlier this year, deeming them vital to a transition away from coal and oil towards lower-carbon alternatives. Some question whether nuclear is sustainable, accusing the European Commission of greenwashing. However, as nuclear operations can be carbon-neutral many governments are welcoming it as an energy source as they strive for net-zero in the face of mounting global pressure.

In Japan, nuclear power has been seen as highly controversial since the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, which saw a meltdown at three of its reactors following an earthquake and a tsunami. But the tables may have turned, as Japanese newspaper Nikkei reported that 53 percent of people surveyed are in favour of restarting Japans decommissioned nuclear reactors, with 38 percent against it. This marks the first majority since the event.

Related: Why We Cannot Just Unplug Our Current Energy System



Due to the disaster, Japans nuclear power fell from contributing 13 percent of the countrys electricity needs in 2010 to just 1 percent in 2012, as the majority of its nuclear power plants were decommissioned. But natural disasters, such as earthquakes, and extreme temperatures have left Japan in a state of poor energy security at times as the energy mix has decreased. This month, a rise in the use of heating due to freezing temperatures saw the government introduce thermostat restrictions to avoid power outages.

And following this recent energy concern, the Japanese government is once again looking to nuclear power to improve its security. Japan announced a target last year for renewable energy to contribute a third of the countrys power by 2030, but to achieve this it will have to restart many of its nuclear reactors, with 10 already resumed. The government hopes nuclear power will account for between 20 and 22 percent of electricity production by 2030. But with widespread opposition still, this will not be an easy task.

The head of the Energy Economics and Society Research Institute in Tokyo, Go Matsuo, said of the need to diversify Japans energy mix Many power plants in the country have been closing and There needs to be a fundamental shift in how to encourage investment in the area. Investment in large-scale power generation takes seven to eight years to decide, so that means there is an urgency, he stated.

As a major emitter of CO2, Japan has long been looking at ways to decrease its greenhouse gasses by shifting to renewables in line with global targets. The country aims to become carbon-neutral by 2050, meaning it has a lot of work ahead of it as the sixth-biggest carbon emitter worldwide. Related: OPEC+ To Use Rystad, WoodMac Data Instead Of IEA



Recent interest from international oil and gas majors will see Japan expand its wind energy sector. This month BP agreed on a strategic partnership with Japanese firm Marubeni that will focus on offshore wind operations as well as other low-carbon projects, such as hydrogen. BP purchased a 49 percent stake in a wind project, although more information about the development off the coast of Japan has not been released yet.

This move supports the government target of 10GW of offshore wind power by 2030. This figure is expected to increase further to between 30 and 45GW by 2040. The IEA stated of Japans aims, It will also be important to develop different decarbonization scenarios and to prepare for the possibility that certain low-carbon technologies, such as nuclear, might not expand as quickly as hoped.

But in Japans transport sector, low-carbon developments are already well underway. Tokyu Corp. announced this month that it will be running all services on solar power and other renewable sources from April. The company, which has 105km of rail lines running between Tokyo and the Kanagawa Prefecture, introduced hydropower and geothermal-powered trains in 2019. And as it expands, Tokyu hopes to reduce its carbon emissions by as much as 46.2 percent by 2030 and around net zero by 2050.

Similarly, Japans largest railway firm, East Japan Railway Co., announced plans to test its first hydrogen-powered train this month. The $35 million Hybari train is expected to have a range of 140km and achieve a top speed of 100km an hour. It hopes to commence commercial services in 2030.

Japan has long shied away from nuclear power following the devastating Fukushima disaster around a decade ago. But as the government looks to diversify the countrys energy mix as a means of boosting its long-term energy security and reducing its reliance on fossil fuels, nuclear projects may be back on the table. In addition, Japan will likely expand its renewable energy sector as international oil and gas majors show increasing interest in the industry.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been repeatedly called upon by Western leaders to increase oil production in order to counter soaring prices. So far, all requests have been bluntly refused by Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and other OPEC members. Both Saudi Arabia and the UAE have made it clear that they plan to maintain the OPEC+ production agreement, an agreement that includes the participation of Russia. Saudi Arabias Minister of Energy, Abdullah bin Salman, and his Abu Dhabi counterpart, Al Mazrouei, have again and again emphasized their focus on the stability of the global energy markets regardless of geopolitical factors. As Abdullah bin Salman reiterated, OPEC has gone through major crises before, including wars between member countries (Iran-Iraq), and even sanctions (Iran), without breaking up.

Officially, the reason that OPEC members wont increase production is that they believe oil and gas markets are still struggling with the fall-out of COVID-19. OPEC+, originally set up to counter a major global oil glut in 2020, is now becoming a significant geopolitical power. The power of the cartel has forced Western and Asian oil consumers to become increasingly assertive in their demands of the group. In light of the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the growing threat of Moscows militarization of energy, OPECs oil market actions are increasingly regarded as political. Try as they might, Riyad, Abu Dhabi, and other OPEC members will struggle to change the opinion of OECD countries on this front. OPECs recent decision to remove the International Energy Agencys (IEA) oil market data and reporting from its official list will be seen by OECD states as further evidence of its political leanings. While OPEC officially rebukes all claims of political interference in its decisions, OPEC strategies are clearly linked to the geopolitical views held its members. The growing divide between OPEC and the West is not only based on oil and gas demand or differences of opinion regarding the global energy transition. The more fundamental divide comes from a lack of confidence between Western powers and the Arab world. President Biden may be enjoying plenty of support within Europe due to the position he has taken with regard to Putins invasion of Ukraine, but the same cannot be said of his relationship with the Arab world. OPECs strategy is currently being driven by Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, both of which are struggling to engage with what they see as a return of Obama-era policies. The impact of the Arab Spring, a civil war in Syria and Libya, and the removal of Egyptian President Husni Mubarak are all still fresh in the memory of the region. The fact that US president Biden is yet to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or has reservations about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, is not being taken lightly. The current shifting of alliances by the Arab world, including Egypt, Libya, and even Algeria, towards the East, setting up or improving on strong relationships with China and Russia, is a clear trend. If the West is serious about influencing OPEC production, it will first have to rebuild trust among its allies in the region.

Related: OPEC Sees Smaller Oil Supply Surplus For Q1 2022

Perhaps the most significant issue when it comes to this lack of trust between Western and Arab nations is the Iran nuclear deal. Against the will of the Arab states in the Gulf and North Africa, the Biden Administration and European counterparts are continuing their efforts to reach a new Iranian JCPOA agreement. A potential JCPOA deal could potentially destabilize oil and gas markets while also angering key OPEC nations and Israel. As the U.S. and Europe doggedly pursue a new deal with Iran in the hope of ensuring additional oil supply, they should be wary of the potential costs of such a deal. While OPEC claims not to be political, the Wests relationship with Arab states will undoubtedly impact its ability to reason with the cartel.

The attempts by Biden and other nations to tap into strategic petroleum reserves have proven to be ineffective in reducing the price of oil. Trust based on mutual interest is the only solution here. While OPEC leaders may claim that their assessments are based on market fundamentals, the reality is that oil and gas markets an always political. Washington and Brussels need to understand that a political solution is needed. When it comes to oil and gas markets, OPEC holds all the cards at the moment, and the West needs to engage with that fact.

By Cyril Widdershoven for Oilprice.com

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Three robbers who returned to the scene of their crime for a cellphone beat their victim with a metal pipe and skateboard when he refused to give the phone back to them Wednesday morning on the South Side.

The victim, 51, suffered a broken arm, a separated shoulder and cuts and bruises to his head and face during the attack in the 2100 block of West 22nd Place in the citys Heart of Chicago neighborhood, Chicago police said.

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The attack unfolded about 7:45 a.m. Wednesday when the victim, a man who represents the citys Department of Film, left his home and saw the hood of his car open, a man inside his car and a gray Dodge van stopped next to his car, according to a police report.

The victim grabbed the man inside the car, but he broke free and jumped into the van, which took off, dragging the victim who was grasping onto it, the report said. The victim fell to the ground as the van sped away with the mans valuables, the report said.

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When the robbers came back for their cellphone, which the victim found, they beat him with a metal pipe and skateboard when he refused to give it back, according to the report. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital for treatment of his injuries.

The Department of Film declined to comment, saying it was a personal matter.

No arrests have been announced by police.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Moscow would halt active natural gas contracts if Russias customers fail to comply with the demand to pay in rubles for gas, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.

Putin has set a March 31 deadline for the government, Gazprom, and the central bank of Russia to make the arrangements for payments in rubles for Russian gas from the so-called hostile countries. And Putin has told unfriendly states that the gas supplies will be halted as of April 1 if they do not pay in rubles.

The Kremlin, however, has issued unclearand at times, contradictorymessages over the past few days, while European economies started to activate emergency plans in anticipation of a potential disruption to gas supply from Russia.

The Russian Presidentwhose list of hostile states includes the United States, all EU member states, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, South Korea, Japan, and many othersordered last week the central bank to develop a system for payments in rubles within a week.

The EU, G-7, and leaders of the biggest economies in Europe have said over the past week that changing the currency of the payments would be a breach of contract and that Europe would not be blackmailed into buying gas with rubles. Related: Oil Drops As Biden Prepares Largest Ever SPR Crude Release

As the deadline for the gas-for-rubles switch approaches, Germany and other European countries activated emergency plans on Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, the Kremlin said it would not require payments in rubles immediately, and said there would be a gradual phase-in to gas-for-rubles payments.

Thursdays reports about Putin threatening to halt existing gas contracts further confused the market and traders.

This week, Germany and Italymajor European economies and major importers of Russian gassaid that they had received assurances from Russia that they could continue paying in euros for the gas coming from Russia. During a call with Putin on Wednesday, the Russian president assured Italys Prime Minister Mario Draghi that existing contracts remain in force. ... European companies will continue to pay in dollars and euros, Draghi said as carried by AP.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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Since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, several countries have introduced sanctions on the country, restricting trade and stopping Russian energy imports. This has led to severe oil and gas shortages worldwide. But some governments are using this situation as an opportunity to establish a closer relationship with Russia while demand for its huge oil and gas supplies is low, providing countries with low-cost energy imports.

While Australia, Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. have introduced total bans on Russian oil purchases, the EU and several other state governments around the world have refused to follow suit. It is thought that introducing sanctions and import bans on Russia will hit its economy hard, encouraging President Putin to pull out of the conflict in Ukraine. However, many governments recognize the importance of the Russian oil and gas supply, as one of the top three crude producers worldwide.

In 2021, Russian oil output totaled 10.5 million bpd, equating to 14 percent of the global supply. Russia exported approximately 4.7 million bpd of crude last year, with China as its main importer with around 1.6 million bpd, while it supplied 2.4 million bpd to European countries.

In Europe, Germany, Hungary, and Bulgaria are some of the countries continuing to buy Russian oil and gas, which makes up a large proportion of their energy supplies. Some energy international companies such as Trafigura and Vitol have also stated that they will uphold long-term contracts with Russia to continue buying its crude.

But there are no countries more dedicated to Russian oil, at present, than India and China. Both countries are continuing to buy cheap Russian oil as many Western countries reject Russian energy in a stand against the conflict. In fact, Russian oil exports to India have increased significantly since the invasion with it dropping its price as international demand for the energy source wanes. Experts believe that China will also soon increase its import of Russian crude.

The ongoing reliance on Russian oil supplies is mainly in response to the soaring price of oil in recent months, leading governments to look for the cheapest options. For China and India, maintaining energy security by accessing low-cost oil sources is a top priority.

Related: Saudi Arabia Hikes Oil Prices Despite Record Discounts For Russian Crude

Russia has been offering its Urals crude at a significant discount to encourage countries to maintain their partnerships with the oil giant as the conflict continues. As the U.S. and other countries around the world refuse to buy Russian oil, it could be left with an excess of oil supplies by the end of the year if it is not able to sell them to alternative markets.

Earlier this month the International Energy Agency stated, Urals crude from Russia is being offered at record discounts, but uptake is limited so far, with Asian oil importers, for the most part, sticking to traditional suppliers in the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. And As of mid-March, we see the potential for 3 million barrels a day of Russian oil supply to be shut in starting from April, but that could increase if restrictions or public condemnation escalate, the organization said.

It is uncertain whether this will continue to be the case or whether the temptation to buy low-cost oil will be too high for some. In India, the government has decided to increase its imports of Russian oil. There were no regular imports of crude to India in 2021 and none registered after December, but since the beginning of March, five Russian oil cargoes, around 6 million barrels, have been sent to India. It is thought that Russia may offer India a discount of around 20 percent compared to Brent prices, making it very attractive during a time of record-high prices and energy shortages. India currently imports between 80 and 85 percent of its crude, meaning this is a strong economic decision.

In China, the government has, so far, refused to denounce Russias invasion of Ukraine. This is likely a strategic move to maintain its strong trade relations with Russia. China is the worlds largest oil and natural gas importer, and in 2021 Russia was Chinas second-biggest oil supplier. China, therefore, continues to rely heavily on Russia for its energy security. There is already evidence to suggest that China will continue its partnership with Russia having maintained its oil imports from both Iran and Venezuela despite U.S. sanctions on the two oil-rich states.

So, could this be an opportunity for countries willing to maintain relations with Russia to get access to cheap energy and solidify their trade links? For some, it may be a question of economics versus politics, with energy security being simply too important to condemn Russias actions by cutting their oil and gas imports from the country. The EU will likely follow the U.S. and other government actions in stopping oil imports from Russia, but for China and India, the outlook is not so certain.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

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Beijings partnership with Moscow has been a topic of debate, and the outcome of this meeting could transform EU-China relations.

The high-stakes meeting comes as casualties continue to mount in Russias war in Ukraine.

When European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, president of the European Council, meet for a virtual summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping on April 1, they plan to warn Beijing that there will be consequences if it provides aid to Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.

The high-stakes summit comes as ties between China and the European Union are more delicate than ever, as Beijings alignment with Russia during its war in Ukraine has undercut its strained relations with Brussels, which were already rattled by a series of escalating trade and geopolitical tensions.

At the China summit, there is a big agreement among EU representatives that this is not business as usual and Brussels should not be naive, a senior European diplomat told RFE/RL

The Ukraine war -- and Chinas warm relationship with the Kremlin -- will overshadow the meeting at which the EU is looking to show its hardening line toward China and warn against any active support for Russia at the summit.

Beijings partnership with Moscow has been in the spotlight since Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin inked a strategic pact in early February, but focus has grown following Russias invasion of Ukraine.

A Western intelligence report alleged that China was aware of the Kremlins invasion plans and even asked Moscow to delay them until after the 2022 Winter Olympics, while U.S. officials have said Russia asked China for military equipment and economic support after being hit by Western sanctions.

China has denied both reports and has so far quietly adhered to Western sanctions against Russia, but Beijing has also shown no signs that it will abandon the strategic relationship it has forged with the Kremlin.

At the summit, Brussels is looking to hammer home to Beijing that its alignment with Russia could harm its ties with the EU, which is one of the worlds greatest economic relationships, totaling $828 billion in bilateral trade in 2021.

Its clear that Russia is delighted to have China by its side and its clear that this has emboldened Moscow, another senior European diplomat told RFE/RL. China has to exert influence over Russia to achieve a cease-fire, to create humanitarian corridors that are working, and ultimately to start peace negotiations. But it probably cannot act as a mediator in a classical sense.

Russia And China

Beijing has sought to portray itself as neutral throughout the crisis in Ukraine and aimed to distance itself from Moscows invasion, but China has also refrained from criticizing Russia and often echoed its talking points about the root causes of the war.

But Chinas diplomatic dance is also proving increasingly difficult to maintain as the Ukraine war enters its second month.

China was already in focus during meetings between NATO and European leaders with U.S. President Joe Biden on March 24-25 in Brussels, during which the Western alliance called out Beijing over concerns about Chinese military assistance and disinformation supporting Russias narrative around the war.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told RFE/RL that there is new momentum forming in how the EU views China and that Beijings current line toward Russias invasion is untenable.

You can't sit this one out and by sitting on the fence you [make] it very clear: Either you're supporting Russia -- either you're supporting their war on Ukraine -- or you're not, Landsbergis said.

At the summit, the European strategy is to state the costs of more outright support for Russia and highlight that it could be at the expense of the wider relationship with the EU. Those ties have often been used as a buffer by China amid its competition with the United States and have become more important for Beijing as tensions with Washington have grown.

Chinas two largest trading relationships are with the EU and the United States, and Beijing could be unwilling to jeopardize ties with Europe while facing the headwinds from the Ukraine war, a growing COVID outbreak inside China, a financial crisis in the countrys property sector, and a crucial Communist Party congress in the fall at which Xi is looking to extend his rule.

Noah Barkin, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, said that gives Brussels added leverage.

Brussels is betting that Xi will not want to alienate the EU, particularly at a sensitive time, Barkin told RFE/RL.

EU officials do not expect Beijing to break in its partnership with Moscow and do not believe the bloc should be issuing threats. But they have already considered responses, such as limiting Chinese access to the single EU market, if China openly sides with the Kremlin or arms Russian soldiers, according to four senior European diplomats.

A New Era

The warning from the 27-country bloc comes amid a downward trajectory in the EU-China relationship and a growing alignment between Brussels and Washington on China policy.

In December 2020, after the last EU-China summit, both sides agreed to an ambitious investment treaty following four years of souring relations between Europe and the United States under the administration of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Related: Oil Drops As Biden Prepares Largest Ever SPR Crude Release

After taking office, Biden moved to improve ties with his European counterparts and the EUs relations with China have since faced several obstacles. For instance, the far-reaching investment pact has been frozen since May due to Beijing blacklisting a group of European lawmakers, experts, and diplomats over the EU's sanctioning of four Chinese officials over rights violations against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in Chinas western Xinjiang Province.

The bloc has also introduced new forms of legislation to guard against Chinese economic pressure and also logged a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Beijings retaliation against Lithuania for letting Taiwan open a representative office in Vilnius in 2021. China responded by blocking Lithuanian imports, including components from the Baltic nation in products from other countries.

In addition to China-Russia ties and the Ukraine war, the summit is also set to cover the trade dispute with Lithuania, Chinese abuses in Xinjiang, and Taiwan.

Changing the EUs approach to China to take into account that rivalry is now the dominant mode means lots of hard work behind the scenes in order to reduce dependence on China, Thorsten Benner, the director of the Berlin-based Global Public Policy Institute, told RFE/RL. Europe won't drastically alter its economic ties with China overnight, but it needs to speed up the process of adjusting.

Europe's Careful Path

While the summit is an opportunity for the EU to showcase its unity in pressing China against actively helping Russia, European Union officials have also signaled a preference from member states to keep lines open with Beijing and follow a middle path that does not alienate China or get Brussels enmeshed in wider U.S.-China tensions.

China has had past success driving a wedge between the EU and the United States with promises and opportunities about expanded market access and climate change cooperation, and many analysts predict Xi will play similar cards again during the virtual meeting.

There is still a belief in Beijing that when push comes to shove, Europe will prioritize the business relationship over all else, said the German Marshall Funds Barkin. But over the past year Beijing has repeatedly misread Europe.

The Ukraine war has marked a turning point for Europe, with Brussels and its member states greenlighting severe economic sanctions against Russia and moving to supply military and security assistance to Kyiv that many countries had previously opposed and that the Kremlin had not expected.

While the EU is still looking to chart its own course in dealing with China, Barkin says that Beijing runs the risk of counting on old assumptions about European policy.

Misreading Europe on Ukraine would have far more serious consequences, said Barkin. It could be a tipping point for EU-China relations, tilting the balance decisively toward systemic rivalry and away from any talk of partnership.

By RFE/RL

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The U.S. Administration is mulling over whether to temporarily remove the summertime restriction on the sale of the higher-ethanol gasoline varieties in another policy attempt to lower high gasoline prices, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing sources with knowledge of the deliberations.

The U.S. typically restricts the sale of the 15-percent ethanol-gasoline blends during the summer driving season because of concerns that it would increase smog in hot weather. The 10-percent ethanol-gasoline blends are being sold all year round.

Now, as a potential move to reduce high gasoline prices, the Biden Administration is considering temporarily removing the ban on the 15-percent ethanol gasoline, Reuters sources said. The higher ethanol content could potentially lead to a lower price of the gasoline because ethanol is now cheaper than straight gasoline out of the refinery.

As of March 31, the national average price of regular gasoline stood at $4.225 per gallon, according to AAA data. This compares with $4.236 a week ago, $3.610 a month ago, and $2.874 at this time last year.

Apart from removing the ban on E15 ethanol, the Biden Administration is also considering a major new release from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). The release could be the biggest ever  at 180 million barrels over several months, which equals to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) over six months.

Gasoline prices have spiked above $4 per gallon in much of the United States, hitting a fresh high of over $6 per gallon in Los Angeles earlier this month. President Biden recently blamed the gas price rise on Russias President Vladimir Putin, calling it Putins price hike, although prices were climbing at U.S. gas stations long before the war in Ukraine began.

This would be a second SPR release in several months after the White House resorted to an SPR release was last November, when it announced it would sell or lease 50 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to try and alleviate pain at the pump.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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U.S. President Joe Biden outlined a series of steps the White House is taking to reduce high prices at the pump.

The U.S. President called on Congress on Thursday to make American oil companies pay fees on wells from leases they have not used in years and on acres that they are hoarding without producing, as part of a plan to respond to Putins price hike at the pump.

While the Administration announced a massive release of 180 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over six months, the largest ever in history, it did not spare criticism toward the domestic producers. According to the U.S. Administration, oil firms are not ramping up production fast enough to fill the gap in global oil supply and ease the upward pressure on U.S. gasoline prices.

Still, too many companies arent doing their part and are choosing to make extraordinary profits and without making additional investment to help with supply. One CEO even acknowledged that, even if the price goes to $200 a barrel, theyre not going to step up production, the White House said.

U.S. shale producers, apart from keeping a capital discipline, are constrained by supply chain bottlenecks in ramping up production RIGHT NOW, as the Biden Administration wants.

For example, even if ConocoPhillips decided to pump more oil today, the first drop of new oil would come within eight to 12 months, CEO Ryan Lance told CNBC earlier this month.

According to the U.S. Administration, however, the U.S. oil and gas industry is sitting on more than 12 million acres of non-producing Federal land with 9,000 unused but already-approved permits for production.

Companies that are producing from their leased acres and existing wells will not face higher fees. But companies that continue to sit on non-producing acres will have to choose whether to start producing or pay a fee for each idled well and unused acre, the White House said today.

The U.S. industry has already signaled its frustration with the talk of the leases and the pump-more-right-now calls.

The talk about price gouging is tiresome. Discussion of federal leases and those leases being unused without an honest discussion about all the constraints and regulatory issues to drill is also unhelpful, an E&P executive said in the quarterly Dallas Fed Energy Survey earlier this month.

The regulatory environment is not friendly, another executive noted.

Biden also said he is calling on Congress to pass his plan to speed the transition to clean energy that is made in America. Biden will also issue a directive authorizing the use of the Defense Production Act to secure American production of critical materials to bolster our clean energy economy.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com

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President Joe Biden is reportedly preparing for what would be the largest ever release of crude oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, totaling some 180 million barrels, according to unnamed sources quoted by Reuters.

According to the AP, who also spoke to two sources wishing to remain unnamed, the White House was preparing to release up to 1 million barrels of crude daily to rein in retail fuel prices.

The specific period of the release has yet to be agreed, but it could be a few months, the AP source said.

Gasoline prices have spiked above $4 per gallon in much of the United States, hitting a fresh high of over $6 per gallon in Los Angeles earlier this month. President Biden recently blamed the gas price rise on Russias President Putin, calling it Putins price hike, although prices were climbing at U.S. gas stations long before the war in Ukraine began.

In fact, the first time this White House resorted to an SPR release was last November, when the White House announced it would sell or lease 50 million barrels of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve to try and alleviate pain at the pump.

At the time, analysts warned that the SPR release would not have the desired effect for various reasons, such as the type of crude to be released versus the types of crude used by refiners to produce fuels. Also, they said, traders had already priced in the release, and it would not affect benchmark oil prices on which fuel prices are based.

These analysts turned out to be right, but the federal government went ahead with its release, which by January had totaled some 40 million barrels without much affecting oil or gasoline price movements.

A more recent announcement by the International Energy Agency for the release of 60 million barrels from national oil reserves also failed to have the desired effect on prices, suggesting such releases might not be the step that works in an environment of tight supply made tighter by Western sanctions on Russia.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The Technical Committee of the OPEC+ group has dropped the International Energy Agency as a secondary source of member oil production data in favor of Norwegian consultancy Rystad and Wood Mackenzie.

This is according to a report by Reuters that spoke to an OPEC+ insider familiar with the groups actions. The decision to switch from the IEA to Rystad and Wood Mackenzie was made after a thorough analysis, the source said.

Production data from secondary sources is essential for OPEC before and OPEC+ now to make sure all member countries of the production control agreement sealed at the start of the pandemic comply with requirements or at least dont stray from them too much.

In addition to secondary sources, OPEC also reports primary source production data every month, with figures from member countries themselves.

The Reuters source did not detail the reason for the switch, but the report noted that some members of OPEC+ had expressed criticism of IEA data recently.

Its not only data that bothers the oil producer group when it comes to the International Energy Agency, it seems. Based on recent media reports, some in OPEC+ are unhappy with the IEAs attitude to oil supply control, with the energy minister of the UAE recently directly slamming the organization for pushing for more oil.

His Saudi counterpart, Abdulaziz bin Salman, last year went further, calling the IEAs Roadmap to Net Zero La La Land, which eventually proved not incorrect since the IEA asked OPEC+ for more oil investment just months after saying that all new investments in oil and gas should end in 2021.

Bloomberg noted that the exchange of critical remarks between the two organizations has been going on for months now, suggesting the removal of the IEA as a secondary source of production data is the next step in the dance.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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The 60 largest banks in the world poured as much as $742 billion in fossil fuel financing in 2021 alone, a new report by environmental groups showed this week.

Since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, the worlds largest commercial and investment banks have financed fossil fuels with a cumulative $4.6 trillion, according to the annual Banking on Climate Chaos report from Oil Change International, Rainforest Action Network, BankTrack, Indigenous Environmental Network, Reclaim Finance, Sierra Club, and Urgewald.

Banks have come under increased pressure and scrutiny over the past years to stop funding fossil fuels.

JPMorgan Chase remains the worlds worst funder of climate chaos, with JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Mizuho, MUFG, and all 5 Canadian banks among those that increased their fossil financing from 2020 to 2021, the authors of the report said.

Overall, fossil fuel financing remained dominated by four U.S. banks, as JPMorgan Chase, Citi, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America together accounted for one-quarter of all fossil fuel financing over the last six years.

Fracking received $62.1 billion in financing last year, and was dominated by North American banks with Wells Fargo at the top, funding producers like Diamondback Energy and pipeline companies like Kinder Morgan.

Coal mining financing was led by Chinese banks, the report said, with China Merchants Bank and Ping An Group leading financing for the sector in 2021.

In coal financing alone, between January 2019 and November of last year, commercial banks globally funneled a jaw-dropping $1.5 trillion into the coal industry, a previous report by environmental organizations found earlier this year.

This weeks Banking on Climate Chaos report showed that Citi and JPMorgan Chase provided the most financing for offshore oil and gas in 2021. In total, big banks channeled $52.9 billion into offshore oil and gas financing last year, the report noted.

With Wall Street banks leading the charge, these financial institutions are directly complicit in undermining a climate stable future for us all and must immediately end their support of any further fossil fuel infrastructure expansion, Alison Kirsch, Research and Policy Manager at Rainforest Action Network, said, commenting on the report.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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Rochelle Jackson, center, and her sister Cassandra Jackson, right, hold photographs of Rochelle's daughter, Tanisha Jackson, who was killed on March 26, 2017, as they sit on a bus to Springfield with other Chicago crime victims and family members of murder victims. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

SPRINGFIELD  Maria Pike found her calling after her son Ricky was shot and killed in Chicagos Logan Square neighborhood in August 2012.

She became an advocate for a better support system for grieving families, which is why she and hundreds of other relatives of victims of violence came to the Illinois capital on Wednesday to push legislators to invest in community-based efforts to combat street violence that would serve as alternatives to traditional law-and-order methods.

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I want them to see us, said Maria Pike in a ballroom at a downtown Springfield hotel, where activists were joined by several state legislators. Those survivors are in pain. They want answers and solved cases, right? But they also have other needs.

Those needs include better housing and employment options, as well as mental health support for families coping with the loss of loved ones.

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Tuesdays event was hosted by the group Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice. Family members held up photos of relatives lost to violence and signs that included one saying, Freedom from violence is a human right.

We are here with survivors of domestic violence, of gun violence, sexual assault, survivors from those communities that are most harmed by violence, Aswad Thomas, managing director for the group, told the crowded ballroom. Those same communities and these people in this room today are least supported by the justice system. But that must change.

Thomas group is calling for the state to put more money into trauma recovery centers, which help surviving victims and families of those who died from violence with an array of services ranging from mental health treatment to seeking victim compensation funds.

Gov. J.B. Pritzkers budget proposal includes roughly $240 million for violence prevention organizations that specialize in mediating street conflicts and connecting those most at risk of being a party to violence with various social services.

The Illinois General Assembly is expected to decide on the governors full budget proposal by the end of next week, the scheduled end of the spring legislative session.

Republicans have used recent outbreaks of violent crime to attack Pritzker and Democrats, contending without concrete evidence that landmark criminal justice reform legislation passed last year has fueled the spike. But many of the Democratic initiatives, such as the elimination of cash bail, have yet to take effect.

Proponents of change say traditional law enforcement strategies havent by themselves proved successful in combating crime.

Bertha Purnell holds a photo of her son, Maurice Purnell, 28, who was killed June 24, 2017, as she speaks on March 30, 2022, to reporters. Purnell was part of a group of Chicago crime victims and family members of murder victims that gathered to depart by bus for Springfield to join fellow survivors in demanding support for crime victims. (Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

When you think about safety, safety is not being tough on crime. Safety is about being smart, Thomas said. That means more mental health treatment  More investments in things that help stop the cycle of violence, (including) trauma recovery centers, funding for organizations, also (ensuring) that we prioritize rehabilitation for those individuals coming out of the justice system.

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Chicago ended 2021 with more than 800 slayings, and a few Illinois cities saw a record number of homicides last year. In Champaign, a city of about 88,000 people, 17 homicides were recorded, the most ever for that city, according to news reports. Peoria ended 2021 with 34 people slain, also a record for the central Illinois city of about 113,000 people.

House Deputy Majority Leader Jehan Gordon-Booth, a Peoria Democrat whose stepson was shot and killed in 2014, noted that she and her legislative colleagues have had success in securing funding for trauma recovery centers, prompting the crowd to erupt in an applause. But she acknowledged more are needed.

We are going to continue to fight for trauma services, for healing that survivors have to have, said Gordon-Booth. You cant incarcerate your way out of this. You cant prosecute your way out of this. We have to heal our community.

The family of 19-year-old Chrys Carvajal, a National Guard member who was shot and killed on Chicagos Northwest Side last summer while visiting his family, was among those at the event.

Its really hard to have to grieve at the same time and have to continue to be present and speak up, be his voice, because hes no longer here, said his sister, Jennifer Ramirez. But were here, and we will continue to be here and make it known that were not going to give up.

jgorner@chicagotribune.com
Ask Tony Vargas about why he got into politics and the state senator talks about his father.

Antonio Vargas hated politics.

Growing up in Peru, the elder Vargas didnt think elected officials worked for the people.

But when Tony Vargas ran for office, his father went from disliking politics to helping knock on doors as his son campaigned for a seat in the Nebraska Legislature.

He would talk to families, he would listen to people and he would come back after eight hours of knocking on doors and be like, I get it. What youre doing, I get it, said Tony Vargas. People believe in you and expect more from you. Thats how this is supposed to work.

After almost a decade in elected office in Nebraska, Tony Vargas, 37, is back on the campaign trail  this time for a seat in Congress.

Vargas is running to represent the 2nd Congressional District, which covers all of Douglas County, Saunders County and western Sarpy County. The district is currently represented by Rep. Don Bacon, a Republican who is seeking reelection.

Vargas, a Democrat, will face fellow Democrat Alisha Shelton in the May 10 primary election. The winner will move on to the general election in November.

When asked to compare himself with Shelton, Vargas said he prefers to talk about himself and pointed voters to his record in the Legislature.

According to the last available fundraising reports, Vargas entered the year with $440,108 in the bank compared to $89,184 for Shelton.

Either Democrat will have a tough race against Bacon, who is expected to win the Republican primary and started 2022 with $977,664 in the bank.

Elizabeth Theiss-Morse, a University of Nebraska-Lincoln political science professor, said Vargas at least has name recognition.

People hear about him, she said. One of the issues that challengers have is just that people havent heard of them and they need the money to get some name recognition but they have trouble raising the money because theyre not the incumbent.

Vargas was appointed to the Omaha Public Schools board in 2013 and then was elected to the Legislature to represent District 7, which covers southeast and downtown Omaha, in 2016.

He was reelected in 2020 with more than 75% of the vote.

Vargas was a nonprofit executive but stepped away to focus on running for Congress and being a state senator. Vargas and his wife, Lauren, have two children: Ava, 3, and Luca, 1.

A native New Yorker, Vargas grew up in Queens and Long Island more than 1,200 miles away from the district he now represents in the Legislature.

His parents, Antonio and Lidia Vargas, both immigrants from Peru, worked two or more jobs most of their lives in order to give their three boys opportunities and a different life. Tony Vargas said thats why he has not only stayed in politics but also remains idealistic about whats possible.

They had grit and perseverance just emanating through every single bone of their body, and it was a big part of my life, Vargas said of his parents. The word cant never came up. It was How? What are we going to do next? How are we going to do it?

In April 2020, Antonio Vargas died of COVID-19 at the age of 72.

Theres not a minute that goes by that I dont think about him, Vargas said.

The state senator used his familys experience to persuade people, in Spanish and English, to take COVID-19 seriously and take precautionary measures. Vargas also advocated for more COVID-19 testing sites.

And he introduced bills in 2020 and 2021 intended to establish COVID-19 protections for workers in meatpacking plants, which were a hot spot for infections early in the pandemic. He said he fought hard for the bills, but they did not pass.

Vargas district includes several packing plants. He said at the time that the back-to-back rejections of safeguards for such essential workers sent a bad message to the Black and brown workers who comprise most of the packing plant workforce.

When we take care of our workers  when theyre healthy and when families are healthy  productivity, the companies, the communities are better, Vargas said. And when we dont, and we see heartache and we see people hospitalized or dying or not being able to go to work, there is a real loss of a family, and a loss that I saw firsthand that I never wanted anybody else to see.

I realize we need somebody that stays connected to the pain people are feeling right now, Vargas said of his decision to run for Congress.

Vargas said his parents taught him the importance of giving back to others and using your education for good. After initially planning to enter a public health doctorate program, Vargas instead became a middle school science teacher in Brooklyn for two years with the Teach for America national program.

Teach for America trains college graduates to be teachers and places them in schools, in both rural and urban areas.

Becoming a teacher wasnt what Vargas had planned for his life, but he now calls it one of the best decisions.

My students honestly taught me everything I ever needed to know about culture, and about when we set really amazing goals, when we think idealistically about whats possible, we can do really amazing things, Vargas said.

Vargas first introduction to Nebraska came through Lauren, whose family is from the state. Vargas said getting to know her family meant not only visiting Omaha but going on a bit of a state tour visiting cities like Columbus, Kearney and Lincoln for family reunions.

Vargas moved to Omaha in 2012 as Lauren pursued a law degree at Creighton University.

This is a special place, Vargas said of Omaha. Theres one degree of separation. And people want to take care of each other and help each other.

After moving to Omaha, Vargas saw an online post from the Greater Omaha Chamber Young Professionals in 2013 about an open spot on the Omaha Public Schools board and decided to apply.

Vargas said he wanted to invest in his new community and find ways to be active. He was appointed and served as a member of the school board until he was elected to the Legislature.

I learned that: One, its my job to make sure that peoples voices are elevated from my community; and two, we can always do a better job of representing the public, Vargas said of his time on the school board.

In February 2014, Vargas testified in support of Legislative Bill 972, which would have authorized the creation of five charter schools in Omaha. The bill did not get out of committee.

At the time, Vargas said charter schools could be an option for parents, especially those faced with the prospect of sending their kids to low-performing neighborhood schools.

Vargas stance on charter schools became an issue in his 2016 run for the Legislature. Vargas said then that his views on the issue had evolved and he didnt support any type of charter schools that would undermine public education.

Now, Vargas says that after talking to people over the years about the issue, his focus is on figuring out a way to invest more in the current education system and expect that every student, regardless of what school they attend, is prepared for college or the job market.

How do we innovate and expect more from the system and invest in the people doing the work every single day? Vargas said.

During his time in the Legislature, Vargas said he has passed more than 55 bills. He has also been a member of the budget-crafting Appropriations Committee.

Vargas is one of the youngest members of the committee and the only person of color currently on the committee.

It taught me the value of relationships, the value of looking at how we invest in our state, how our budget is a moral document that is how we invest in our communities and also what we safeguard, Vargas said of his time on the committee.

Growing up, Vargas said he received free and reduced lunch at school and used Pell Grants to attend college. He said Congress needs people who have experience in how those programs and services can affect and improve lives.

The state senator said he uses those life experiences as a member of the Appropriations Committee when talking about similar programs to help the highest-need communities in Nebraska.

I think we are capable of leading with compassion and civility, but I also think we fight for the things that matter, Vargas said. I think we can be principled in how we stand up for things. Those are not mutually exclusive.

Bio Box Tony Vargas Age: 37 Party: Democratic Occupation: state senator, former nonprofit executive Home: Omaha Public Offices Held: District 7 state senator, 2017 to present, Omaha Public Schools board, 2013-2016 Education: Bachelors degree in psychology, University of Rochester; masters degree in education, Pace University Family: Married, two children Faith: Catholic Website: www.vargasfornebraska.com Top priority: Washington isn't working for Nebraskans. We're feeling it at the gas pump and the grocery store, yet career politicians in Congress are more focused on partisan infighting than solutions. Folks here deserve affordable access to health care, jobs with living wages that support a family, and a world-class education no matter where they live. And we must get rising costs under control so Nebraskans have the opportunity to get ahead. To do it, we need more leaders in Congress who will stand up for our values with integrity and civility and put results above politics.

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LINCOLN  A day after Gov. Pete Ricketts rejected an attempt to secure an additional $120 million in federal rental aid, advocates for Nebraskans facing housing challenges said there remains an urgent need across the state, despite the governors claims to the contrary.

People are not through this crisis yet, said Erin Feichtinger, director of advocacy and policy for Together Omaha, which fights hunger and homelessness.

On Tuesday, Ricketts vetoed Legislative Bill 1073, which would have required him to apply for $120 million in federal rental assistance through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, or ERAP. Nebraska is one of only two states to not seek the second round of funding.

The decision drew immediate criticism from Ken Smith, Nebraska Appleseeds economic justice director, who issued a statement Tuesday calling the veto indefensible and saying it would cause serious harm to Nebraskans, especially those in rural parts of the state.

Housing is essential for the strength of our community and the strength and stability of our neighbors, Smith said. We have a responsibility to ensure every Nebraskan and their families have a roof over their heads.

In his veto announcement, Ricketts said ERAP was no longer about COVID-19, but was creating a government subsidy that would make people more reliant on the government. He argued that Nebraska couldnt justify seeking the second-round funding with a low unemployment rate and $30 million of unused funds from the first round of the program.

Nebraskas 2.3% unemployment rate in December was tied with Utah for the lowest in the U.S.

However, officials at multiple nonprofits said there is still a high need for rental aid.

Karen Rathke, president of Heartland United Way, pointed out that the $30 million will expire at the end of September, at which point there will still be Nebraskans feeling the ongoing economic impacts of the pandemic.

The ripple effect is quite visible, Rathke said.

Tanya Gifford, executive director of Lift Up Sarpy County, said she received multiple phone calls Wednesday morning from residents needing help with their rent. She said her nonprofit is assisting seven families who are currently being housed in a hotel after they were evicted. There are no nearby shelters to take them in, she said.

Feichtinger said she doesnt believe the unused money is evidence of a lack of need  its evidence of an unnecessarily difficult program. Both she and Gifford said they have heard multiple residents express frustration over how difficult it is to access the aid. Others simply didnt realize it was available to them.

State Sen. Matt Hansen of Lincoln, who prioritized LB 1073, plans to seek a veto override, which requires 30 votes to succeed. The bill previously passed through the Legislature with a 26-15 vote.

Rathke and Gifford urged lawmakers to support the override.

Theres 120 million reasons why that button should be pushed, Rathke said.

Even if a veto override fails, Nebraska will still have 40% of the $120 million available beyond the original March 31 deadline, which amounts to about $51 million. The 40% figure was spelled out in updated guidance released by the U.S. Treasury Department Wednesday. However, the state still has to apply to access that funding.

Feichtinger said that she wasnt sure if $51 million would be enough to meet the level of need in Nebraska but that she was certain the state could make good use of all the funding. She said it was still important for the Legislature to pass LB 1073, because it sent a signal to the Treasury Department that Nebraska intends to use the funding.

Were throwing away $70 million, Feichtinger said.

If Nebraska does not receive any additional ERAP funds, Gifford said she fears more people will experience homelessness at levels that neither nonprofits nor lawmakers will be able to control. She said that would also hurt nonprofits like hers, which is already struggling with a lack of funding.

We just need time, Gifford said.

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The third Foreign MinistersMeeting among the Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan was held in Tunxi, Anhui Province in China on 31 March 2022. Foreign Ministers or senior representatives of seven countries, namely China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, attended the meeting.

President Xi Jinping of the Peoples Republic of China sent a congratulatory message to the meeting. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivered remarks via video link.

In a candid and pragmatic atmosphere of mutual understanding, the parties had comprehensive, in-depth and constructive discussions on the situation in Afghanistan and on cooperation regarding Afghanistan, and declared the following:

I. Political and diplomatic fields

Reaffirmed respect for the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity of Afghanistan, support for the Afghan people in independently deciding the future of their country, and support for the basic principle of Afghan-led and Afghan-owned.

Urged the countries mainly responsible for the current predicament in Afghanistan to earnestly fulfill commitments on the economic recovery and future development of Afghanistan.

Stressed that a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan serves the common interests of regional countries and Afghanistan, and expressed readiness to jointly play a constructive role to this end.

Noted the importance to achieve national reconciliation in Afghanistan through dialogue and negotiation, and to establish a broad-based and inclusive political structure, adopt moderate and sound domestic and foreign policies, and grow friendly relations with all countries, especially its neighbors, and emphasized the necessity for all sides to strengthen dialogue and communication with Afghanistan for the above purposes.

Noted the importance of taking necessary continuing steps in Afghanistan on ensuring womens rights and childrens education, among others, and called for further actions to be taken to improve peoples livelihood, safeguard the fundamental rights of all Afghans, including ethnic groups, women and children.

Reaffirmed opposition to attempts at politicizing humanitarian assistance, and reiterated respect and support for the central role of Afghanistan in distributing and using humanitarian assistance to be rendered by international community and international organizations to the people of Afghanistan.

II. Economic and humanitarian fields

Expressed deep concern over the humanitarian situation, economic and livelihood plight in Afghanistan and announced readiness to provide further humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

Expressed appreciation of and support for the key role of the UN in providing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, and called on the international community in particular the UN agencies and relevant members of the UN Security Council to step up emergency humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

Followed with concern the spread of COVID-19 and shortages of medicine and medical equipment in Afghanistan, and expressed readiness to help Afghanistan enhance capacity in health care and COVID-19 containment.

Expressed support for Afghanistans efforts toward self-generated development, and undertook to support the economic recovery of Afghanistan at both bilateral and multilateral levels, open up ports further, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Afghanistan in such fields as trade and economy, energy, agriculture, finance, connectivity and infrastructure, to help Afghanistan build capacity for self-generated development.

Reaffirmed commitment to deepen cooperation within such frameworks as the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as regional cooperation organizations, and to include Afghanistan in the regional connectivity, energy and transport networks, economic and trade systems, in order to help Afghanistan unleash its geographical advantages and economic potential.

III. Counter-terrorism and security

Noted commitments and pledges made by Afghanistan to the international community that the territory of Afghanistan will not pose any threats to the neighboring countries and no place will be given to terrorist groups on the Afghan territory.

Stressed terrorism as a key factor affecting stability in Afghanistan, condemned all forms of violence and terrorist attacks, and reiterated that ISIS, Al-Qaeda, ETIM, TTP, BLA, Jondollah, Jaish-Al-Adl, Jamaat Ansarullah, IMU and other terrorist organizations must not be given any place on the Afghan territory.

Called on relevant Afghan parties to take more visible steps to make a clean break with all forms of terrorist forces, monitor free movement of all terrorist organizations, and to firmly fight and eliminate them including through dismantling of their training camps, to ensure that Afghanistan would never again serve as a breeding ground, safe haven or source of proliferation for terrorism.

Urged relevant Afghan parties to safeguard the security and legitimate rights and interests of foreign citizens and institutions in Afghanistan.

Reaffirmed readiness to strengthen counter-terrorism and security cooperation among neighboring countries, build a united front against terrorism. Noted the initiative of the Republic of Tajikistan on security beltaround Afghanistan. Tighten border control, prevent terrorist forces from fleeing across borders, and stay committed to safeguarding security and stability in the region. Expressed readiness to conduct counter-terrorism and security cooperation with Afghanistan to help it build counter-terrorism capacity.

Encouraged relevant Afghan parties to take concrete actions against cultivation, production and illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs in order to crack down on organized crime to free Afghanistan from the scourge of drugs.

Reaffirmed readiness to scale up joint efforts to combat cross-border drug-related crime and protect peoples health and social stability.

IV. Refugees

Expressed concern over the situation of the Afghan refugee as well as internally displaced people and support for UN agencies in playing an active role in this regard.

Expressed appreciation of the efforts made by the regional countries, in particular Pakistan and Iran, on the issue of Afghan refugees and called on the international community to provide those countries with continuous, sufficient and proportionate financial support for timely return of Afghan refugees with dignity and honor.

V. Institution building

Announced the launch of a mechanism for regular consultations among special envoys (special representatives) for Afghanistan of the neighboring countries and three working groups namely political and diplomatic, economic and humanitarian, security and stability, to follow up on the outcomes of the foreign ministers meetings among the neighboring countries of Afghanistan.

Expressed appreciation and gratitude to the Chinese side for hosting the 3rd Foreign Ministers Meeting at the high organizational level, supported Uzbekistan to convene the 4th Foreign MinistersMeeting in first quarter of 2023 in Tashkent.








LINCOLN  The third time proved a charm Wednesday for a tax cut package that backers called transformative and a once-in-a lifetime opportunity.

Nebraska lawmakers advanced the package on a 44-0 vote, after debating and approving pieces separately. The vote on Legislative Bill 873 represented a marked turnaround from last week, when opponents twice blocked other attempts to advance the tax package.

On Friday, backers fell one vote short of ending a filibuster against the proposal. Earlier in the week, opponents stopped an attempt to attach the package to a different bill.

On Wednesday, State Sen. Lou Ann Linehan of Elkhorn, the Revenue Committee chairwoman, urged colleagues to pass the package to move Nebraska forward. Other supporters argued that it was needed to keep people and businesses from leaving the state for places with lower taxes.

Several described the package as a unique opportunity made possible by the states strong revenue growth over the past couple of years and its record-high coffers.

This package of tax relief truly is transformative and it benefits all Nebraskans, said Sen. Tom Briese of Albion. He later explained that some Nebraskans would benefit indirectly, through increased economic activity in the state.

The proposal would ratchet down the states top corporate and individual income tax rates over five years, expand income tax credits offered to property taxpayers and phase out income taxes on Social Security benefits.

Opponents raised concerns about the impact of the package on state tax revenues in future years, particularly after the state is no longer getting federal pandemic recovery funds.

Revenue Department officials estimate the package would reduce state revenues by $565 million by fiscal year 2024-25. The OpenSky Policy Institute calculated the reduction at about $900 million by fiscal year 2027-28, when all pieces of the package are fully implemented.

It is reckless, it is irresponsible, said Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha. They are making a choice to bankrupt the state.

Some senators criticized the package for leaving out large numbers of Nebraskans.

The personal income tax cuts would leave out single filers making less than $40,676 or married filers making less than $81,352, unless they get Social Security benefits. The property tax credits would leave out anyone who does not own property. The corporate income tax cuts would leave out businesses making less than $100,000 of taxable income.

Still, four of the five pieces of the package drew strong support when lawmakers considered each separately.

The weakest support was for the proposal to ratchet down the top corporate income tax rate to 5.84% over five years. Under current law, the top corporate rate is 7.5% for this year and is slated to drop to 7% next year.

Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha said that more than 80% of the corporate income tax cuts would go to businesses based outside of Nebraska. Corporate taxes are based on sales in the state, not location, so lowering the top rate would not be an incentive for businesses to come to Nebraska, he said.

But Sen. Mike Flood of Norfolk said the top corporate tax rate is one factor businesses consider when deciding where to locate. Linehan argued that lower corporate taxes benefit people who have money in mutual funds, retirement plans and other investments that include equities.

Lawmakers approved the corporate tax change on a 32-12 vote, but voted 43-0 to approve a reduction in the top individual tax rate. The rate would ratchet down to 5.84% over five years. The top individual rate is 6.84% now.

Another popular piece of the package would help property owners by creating a new refundable income tax credit equal to a portion of what they pay in community college property taxes.

The proposed community college credit program would start at $50 million this year and ramp up to $195 million by 2026. At full implementation, the program could offset about three-quarters of community college property taxes.

The new credit program would be similar to the LB 1107 program created two years ago, which offsets a portion of what property owners pay in school property taxes.

The LB 1107 program will provide up to $548 million worth of credits this year, equal to about one-quarter of school property taxes. The tax package advanced Wednesday would set the size of that credit program at $560.7 million for 2023.

Once reaching the maximum value set in the package, the school and community college credit programs would be allowed to grow by the same percentage that property valuations in the state grow, up to a 5% maximum.

The final piece of the package would phase out income taxes on Social Security benefits in four steps.

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The Nebraska Legislature is in session and making life-changing decisions regarding womens health. As a licensed physician, board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology with more than 20 years of experience, I feel compelled to speak out and make sure Nebraskans know how extremely dangerous this legislation is and the lasting impacts it will have for generations to come.

LB 933 would outlaw abortion in Nebraska. The goal is to stop elective abortion in the state, but the fallout affects how doctors like me can safely provide medical care. It may surprise you, but all obstetricians, even those who are anti-abortion, need the option to end a pregnancy in emergency situations. Its the standard of care.

It misses the nuances, the art of medicine. Under the measure, doctors who end a pregnancy would face a felony charge and up to 20 years in prison. This will make us think first of potential criminal charges before providing necessary, sometimes emergent, medical care. No patients or situations are the same, so to pass blanket bills like this are reckless at best and could be deadly at worst.

Here are some examples to illustrate my point. These are all patients of mine. Details are altered for HIPPA reasons:

A woman who was 22 weeks pregnant came to my ER seizing from eclampsia, at risk for a stroke. A fetus does not have functioning lungs at this age and cannot survive on its own. The only treatment is to abort the pregnancy. Really picture this woman in front of you, seizing as her blood pressure skyrockets. Its terrifying.

Another patient with uncontrolled diabetes and three previous cesarean sections had an ultrasound at 23 weeks. It showed the fetus had stopped developing from the waist down. The condition wasnt survivable for the fetus. The further along she is, the riskier delivery is. Especially since shes had C-sections, she could experience life-threatening hemorrhage and/or infection of her wound.

Another patient, a mother of four holding her 9-month-old daughter, found out she was pregnant after discovering a cancerous lump on her breast. The oncologist refused to provide chemotherapy because she was pregnant.

Every patient was devastated, as was I.

These are the situations we as doctors face every day. I never want to hesitate to treat a patient in an emergency because I have to think of what might happen to me legally. Do I run the risk of a felony for acting? Or run the risk of maternal death and a malpractice suit for not? Im in court either way.

I recently visited the Nebraska State Capitol to meet with several senators as well as the organizations  including the National Catholic Conference  that helped draft the current bill. I was told in the above scenarios, yes, doctors would be charged with a felony, but we would be able to defend our actions in court.

Your obstetrician, the one who delivered your baby, is collateral damage here.

That cavalier thinking and the fear it will instill may result in an obstetrician shortage in Nebraska, especially rural areas. The threat of criminal charges could have a chilling effect on the availability and recruitment of obstetricians to our state. In addition, those of us who practice both obstetrics and gynecology may decide to stop seeing pregnant patients due to the increased personal liability.

This is why so many doctors and medical groups oppose LB 933. The Nebraska Medical Association opposes this bill. I attended the meeting of the legislative committee of the NMA when the bill was discussed and I was struck by the visual of young doctors on the screen overwhelmingly opposing this abortion ban. I also created an online petition for doctors who oppose this bill and in three days, over 100 Nebraska physicians signed on. Dozens more have contacted me to see how they could help. These are your obstetricians.

We are all asking that doctors not be charged criminally with a felony, the equivalent of manslaughter, or be reported to the state for unprofessional behavior, for using our best medical knowledge and judgment to take care of patients in desperate situations.

Physicians in Nebraska believe all health care decisions should be left to us and our patients. Its a relationship we view as sacred. Let us do our jobs and provide the medical care our patients need to live healthy productive lives.

Contact your state senator. Oppose legislative bill 933. Trust us. Trust women. Protect the physician-patient relationship.
BLOOMINGTON  Jehovahs Witness meetings will resume in person this week in Central Illinois after two years of virtual sessions.

Meetings at the Kingdom Hall at 1213 E. Emerson St. in Bloomington will be held weekly at 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays and 10 a.m. Sundays, with the first one back in person on Sunday, April 3.

Rodney Norman, public communication representative for Jehovahs Witnesses in Central Illinois, said hundreds of congregants in the area, including Bloomington, Decatur, Champaign and Springfield, have met through video conferencing on Zoom since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Being together again is the moment they have anticipated for the past two years, he said. Hopefully, this will be the beginning of more meetings/events to come to the area for the Witnesses.

Congregants have used letters and phone calls to spread their messages, and as of now, Jehovahs Witnesses have no plans to resume their traditional in-person ministry work, Norman said.

The move to in-person meetings will be just in time for two global Jehovahs Witness events: a special lecture, titled Where Can You Find Real Hope? on April 10, and the annual commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ on April 15.

Local Kingdom Halls will hold gatherings on those dates with live speakers.

Contact Kelsey Watznauer at (309) 820-3254. Follow her on Twitter: @kwatznauer.

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Central Illinois lawmakers on Wednesday reacted with surprise and sadness to the announcement that Lincoln College will close its doors in May.

State Sen. Sally Turner of Beason and state Rep. Tim Butler of Springfield, both Republicans, issued a joint statement in reaction to the news. The 157-year-old institution cited pandemic-related expenses, declining enrollment and the fallout from a cyberattack as factors in the closure.

"Todays unexpected and sudden closure announcement is devastating news for our local community," the lawmakers said. "We both have had close family and friends who attended and graduated from Lincoln College, so we know just how special Lincoln is to its students and alumni.

"For more than 150 years, the namesake college of our 16th President has served as a higher educational pillar for central Illinois. It is painful to think that this historic institution will no longer be a part of our region.

"Our hearts go out to all of the lives that have been abruptly disrupted by this announcement. We promise to do everything within our power to help with the transition process for the students, faculty members, and staff impacted by the closure."

Contact Allison Petty at (217) 421-6986. Follow her on Twitter: @AllisonAPetty

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NORMAL  In recognition of International Transgender Day of Visibility on Thursday, the Queer Coalition at Illinois State University will host a "sashay" through uptown Normal.

Participants in the Trans Day of Visibility Sashay will gather at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at the Old Main Bell on ISU's Quad and depart at 4:45 p.m. From there, the group will walk along West North Street to Uptown Circle, culminating in a rally and poetry reading in support of trans youth.

After the rally, participants are invited to The Coffeehouse, 114 E. Beaufort St., for "snacks, mutual support and community building," according to the Facebook event page.

Preregistration for the event is encouraged, but not required.

Contact Robyn Skaggs at (309) 820-3244.

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LINCOLN  Community leaders reacted with sadness and apprehension Thursday to the upcoming closure of Lincoln College, one of the areas economic drivers.

Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch characterized the decision to close the 157-year-old institution when its spring semester ends in May as devastating. The loss of one of the citys larger employers  and the hundreds of students it brings to the area  will be keenly felt, he said.

From an economic development standpoint, there will be an impact, he said. Students come in and they shop in our businesses and they are employees  and they volunteer in the community. They will be missed and will have an impact.

Welch said he was confident that the colleges board of trustees took every possible action to avoid the closure. He said Thursday he hadn't had a chance to speak with business owners yet, but he had seen a lot of mixed emotions with the individuals who have been impacted. Its definitely a devastating blow to the community.

Welch said he has reached out to local and state partners to discuss their options, and once it is more clear how the community will be affected, the city will work to help those facing economic challenges as a result of the closure.

We are committed to doing everything in our power to help those who have been impacted, he said.

The closure also means an end to visits from Lincoln College parents, who travel from across the state and country for move-in weekend, graduation, sporting events and other activities throughout the year, said Alice Roate, director of the Logan County Tourism Bureau.

Businesses that serve the students and their families are saddened, she said, because Lincoln College plays an integral part of the community.

Everyone is trying to stay positive and are looking to neighbors to see how they can help and see how they can move on, she said.

She noted that the area does offer plenty of other events to attract visitors: Third Fridays, held from May through July, where live bands, food, drinks and activities for kids pop up in downtown Lincoln. Second Fridays are also held in neighboring Mt. Pulaksi.

Summertime brings several car shows, Roate said, plus the Logan County Fair in August. Additionally, the next Balloons Over 66, a hot air balloon festival normally held in late August, is in the planning stages, said Roate.

The bureau is developing Route 66 days, which Roate said celebrates all the different dining and shopping attractions. Theres also the Worlds Largest Covered Wagon and The Mill Museum, which reopens April 5.

Still, the closure represents an inescapable loss for a community deeply intertwined with the college. Take Zak Luken, a senior at the college who is from Lincoln.

His younger brother is also a student, his father worked at the college for a time, and many older family members also attended.

It just hurts, Luken said. I think the long-term effects will be felt (across the city).

It may take some time for the community to really realize the impact of the closure, Luken said. "I think the ones who do understand, are just devastated," he said.

Lawmakers, too, were rattled by the news. State Sen. Sally Turner of Beason and state Rep. Tim Butler of Springfield, both Republicans, issued a joint statement expressing sadness and pledging to help those affected. "For more than 150 years, the namesake college of our 16th president has served as a higher educational pillar for central Illinois. It is painful to think that this historic institution will no longer be a part of our region, they said.

Seth Goodman, a former Lincoln mayor who owns ME Realty, said he was shocked by the announcement. The lifelong Lincoln resident said the college has always been known as a staple with a prominent presence in the community, and its closure will leave a void.

In his time as mayor, Goodman saw the college put on many events, like the Grand Soiree, productions on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and various debates and meetings.

He said ME Realty has sold many homes to faculty over the years because they loved their jobs and they loved being part of Lincoln. Additionally, past homebuyers have included parents who wanted to live near or with their college students.

They frequent our stores and our shops, he said. Its going to be felt across the community.

Goodman said now is a big time for people in Lincoln to step up to the plate and fill that void.

Welch, the current mayor, said he had not seen any previous signs that the college was heading toward closure. In fact, he thought recent changes to curriculum and programs showed its leaders were innovating and trying to stay current.

It was a shock to the community; it was a shock to me, he said, noting he did not receive the news before it was made public.

After Lincoln Christian Universitys announcement earlier this month that it will eliminate most undergraduate programs, its kind of a double blow there, the mayor said.

But we will see. Time will tell. Were going to keep moving forward and working on our economic development initiatives that are in flight.

Connor Wood contributed reporting.

Contact Kelsey Watznauer at (309) 820-3254. Follow her on Twitter: @kwatznauer.

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Absa Group today announced the appointment of Arrie Rautenbach as Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective immediately.



The appointment follows a thorough recruitment and selection process completed by the Board.



Arrie, who is currently Chief Executive of the Groups retail and business banking (RBB) unit, is the first internally appointed CEO since 2006. He has more than 25 years banking experience, which includes serving as the Groups Chief Risk Officer, simultaneously providing executive leadership for the Group Separation Programme and Group Strategy Office. His extensive experience in the banking sector, his in-depth knowledge of Absa through several executive roles over the years, and his experience and strengths in strategy development and execution for the group, positions him ideally to lead the Group at this time.



Previous Absa roles include Chief Executive of Retail Banking, Managing Executive of Absa Card Division and Managing Executive of Distribution. He began his career with Absa Group at Bankfin in the late 1990s.



Interim CEO Jason Quinn will resume his position as Group Financial Director with immediate effect.



Wendy Lucas-Bull, outgoing Absa Group Chairman, said: On behalf of the Board, I am delighted to announce the appointment of Arrie as our Group CEO. I am confident that his leadership will provide the continuity and stability necessary to consolidate our purpose and strategy. I know that the Group is in good hands under Arries executive leadership as I hand over the reins of the Board Chairmanship to Sello, who takes over on 1 April 2022. I would like to thank Jason and Punki for their significant contributions as Interim Group CEO and Interim Financial Director, respectively, during which time the Groups positive operational momentum was maintained. I am pleased to be handing over the Chairmanship to Sello, with the Group in very good shape, having delivered record results for 2021 and with strong capital and liquidity ratios.



Sello Moloko, Absa Group Chairman Designate, said: "Arries appointment will anchor our performance and growth, as we consolidate our position as a leading financial services provider on the continent. Arrie is aligned with the Board on our organisational imperatives, including talent management and transformation. The Board looks forward to working with Arrie and the executive to ensure a Pan-African financial services Group that creates sustainable value for all its stakeholders. Furthermore, I look forward to continuing to work with Jason and Punki and thank them and the Exco for such strong delivery over the last year, which has placed the Group on a solid footing for the future.



Arrie Rautenbach, Absa Group CEO, said: "I am humbled and honoured to lead Absa during challenging conditions locally and internationally. I am excited at the prospect of working with a talented and diverse team, leading an outstanding business that is positioned to seize the many opportunities that lie ahead. I look forward to working with the Board and the Executive in consolidating our strategy and performance, driving organisational and cultural transformation, and delivering financial and social value for all our stakeholders, and sustainable future growth and returns for Absa and its shareholders."



Punki Modise will step down as Interim FD of Absa Group and Absa Bank and as an executive director of the Boards, with immediate effect. She will take the position of Interim Chief Executive: RBB and remains on the Group Executive Committee (Exco).

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The Bank of Ghana has revealed that some of the persons involved in the GH1bn fraud that hit the banking sector in 2020 are being prosecuted.



A source at the central bank told the Daily Graphic that while some of the banks were still investigating the persons involved, others were going through due process in the courts.



This is a matter that banks are dealing with on the quiet and we are closely monitoring them, the source said.



This is the first time we are seeing such a high number of bank staff involved in fraud of this magnitude, the source added.



The type of fraud, which saw the highest involvement of staff of the banking sector, was suppression of cash  where a staff takes cash from customers but does not record the full amount in the books and tries to balance it off with deposits made by other customers.



That, according to the source, was very common in the banking sector in 2020.



Cash suppression



A 2020 banking sector report showed that 78.6 per cent of all reported cases of cash suppression had the involvement of staff and out of a total of 2,670 fraud cases reported in 2020, 1,958, representing 73.3 per cent of total submissions were related to suppression of cash.



The increasing rate of staff involvement may be attributed to inadequate vetting processes of staff of financial institutions.



 There is also the problem of weak internal control systems that allow unauthorised staff to interact with customers, as well as unauthorised staff accessing confidential information and systems that should have been restricted to authorised personnel only, are the major contributory factors that lead to the escalation of this fraud type, the source said.



Value of cases



The total value of reported fraud cases in the banking industry witnessed substantial increase last year to hit GH1.0 billion, the Bank of Ghana has revealed.



This is compared to GH115.51million recorded in 2019.



According to the central bank, the notable increase in the value reported was as a result of high values recorded in attempted correspondent banking fraud (forgery of SWIFT advice).



Even though the banking sector did not suffer any losses from any of the correspondent banking fraud attempts, the report said it posed a reputational risk to some banks whose staff were found culpable in two of the three reported incidents.



Losses incurred



However, losses incurred as a result of fraud for 2020 stood at GH25.40 million, as compared to an estimated loss of 33.44 million in 2019, representing a 24.0 per cent.



Rural community banks lost GH1.6 million through cash suppression, as against a total of GH538,595 by banks.



These losses, the report states, may be as a result of weak internal controls or non-adherence of institutions in the sector to their own security systems.



There are concerns that the increase in some of the fraud cases were largely due to customers adoption of digitisation and electronic modes of transaction, as the pandemic propelled people who, would have otherwise sought for in-person services, decided to go online in order to respect the COVID-19 safety protocols.









Source: graphiconline.com









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A female painter graduated from a Thangka art school in southwest China's Sichuan province works on a Thangka painting. [Photo/Xinhua]

Along the G316 highway in Tongren City in northwest China's Qinghai Province, dozens of thangka art academies dot a section of road several kilometers in length. Nearby villages boast painters of the thousand-year-old art.

"Everyone in my family except me is a thangka painter," said 33-year-old Kanzhoiji from Wutunxiazhuang Village in Tongren.

Thangka paintings are Tibetan Buddhist scroll paintings on cotton or silk with mineral and organic pigments derived from coral, agate, sapphire, pearl, gold, and other sources so that the color lasts for centuries. The paintings date back to the 10th century and typically depict Buddhist deities.

Tongren is famous for the local Regong thangka. It is part of the Regong arts that were inscribed on the UNESCO intangible heritage cultural list in 2009.

Fifteen years ago, less than 5,000 people were engaged in Regong thangka-related businesses, local statistics showed. Today, nearly 10,000 people in Tongren, or one-ninth of the city's population, work in various trades of Regong arts.

Thangka, once a form of religious painting, has now become a popular choice for home decoration and even collection.

"Some thangka paintings with traditional Chinese elements are very popular among our customers," said Gesang Gyaco, a local salesman, adding that one horse-themed piece has become a hit among customers in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The artwork features a white horse head surrounded by orange clouds against a blue lake background and other Tibetan cultural motifs. It costs 1,900 yuan (about 298 U.S. dollars) and Gesang Gyaco sold 600 pieces last year.

Tongren has seen an increase in thangka sales and practitioners as a result of various local thangka art academies and industrial parks that have sprung up in recent years.

Lanka, founder of a Regong ethnic cultural center, said over the past five years, the center has cultivated over 800 students, whose artworks have been sold to many European countries.

"Thangka paintings are very popular in France. We have cooperated with an art center in Aulnay to exhibit and sell our products regularly," said Lanka, adding that one of the artworks was sold for more than 3 million yuan.

The high value of thangka paintings has attracted more local farmers and herders to join the trade, said Qiao Delin, director of a committee for preserving Regong arts in Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which administers Tongren.

In the past three years, the prefecture has built 76 centers for teaching the thangka craft, Qiao added.

Zhu Maoji, 25, from Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Gansu Province, has been studying in a local center for over five years.

"It takes patience and determination to paint thangka," Zhu said, adding that she has been working on a painting with three of her fellow students for more than one year.

Radan Gyanco, a 26-year-old teacher at the center, started to learn the craft at the age of 11. Since 2013, he has taught over 100 students.

"I want more people to know about the art," Radan Gyanco said.
The Group CEO of Hollard Ghana, Patience Akyianu, has been named the Outstanding Woman CEO of the Decade at the just ended 12th Ghana Entrepreneur and Corporate Executive Awards 2022 held at Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra last Saturday.



The annual awards ceremony held under the theme: Entrepreneurship in the Digital Era sought to honour corporate and businesspeople for their significant and positive impact on society.



Patience is an award-winning Chief Executive, currently the Group Chief Executive Officer of Hollard Ghana Holdings, a subsidiary of Hollard International - South Africa, and a director on both boards of the subsidiaries, Hollard Insurance Ghana, and Hollard Life Assurance Ghana.



Before this, she was the first Ghanaian woman to be the Managing Director of Barclays in Ghana, now Absa Bank Ghana. Patience is also a solid finance professional and banker with over 26 years of experience in finance, banking, and insurance.



Commenting on the recognition, the GCEO of Hollard Ghana, Patience Akyianu, expressed her gratitude to God and the jury of the Ghana Entrepreneur and Corporate Executive Awards board for the honour done to her.



She said: I am excited to be acknowledged at this prestigious awards ceremony. Its been a remarkable journey for me. Thank you to the Almighty God for the opportunity to serve great companies. I owe who I am, to God, my family, especially my husband, Lawyer Kwame Akyianu for his immense support of my career growth. I do not take your support for granted.



To thrive as a successful female leader, you need to have team that forges on with a binding purpose. To my able management and staff of Hollard Ghana, I say thank you. It is because of you that Hollard Ghana is an award-winning and vibrant insurance company. Your resilience is so infectious, and it's that spark that sets us apart as the countrys favourite insurer".



Insurance is a social enabler, and as a leader in this industry, we pledge to continue to lead the good fight by propagating insurance awareness in the country. This, we believe, will help increase insurance penetration in the country. I dedicate this win to my family and the entire staff of Hollard Ghana, affectionately called Hollardites, she added.



Patience is known for her tremendous leadership skills and execution capabilities. She has been recognized with prestigious awards like African Female Business Leader of the Year-2021, Marketing Woman of the Year -2019, Outstanding Group CEO of the Year- 2019, etc. She is a certified professional accountant and a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Ghana. She is also on the board of Ecobank Ghana Limited and Hubtel Ghana and a founding member of both the Executive Women Network and the International Womens Forum, Ghana.



About Hollard Ghana



The countrys favourite insurance group is Hollard Ghana, with subsidiaries Hollard Insurance and Hollard Life Assurance. The group combines its deep local knowledge of the market having previously operated in Ghana for 25 years as Metropolitan Insurance with the world-class expertise of an international insurance brand in 18 countries across the world. With feet firmly planted on Ghanaian soil but headquartered in South Africa, Hollard delivers innovative insurance solutions customized to the unique risks Ghanaians face. Hollard offers various life and general insurance products including funeral, personal accident, motor, business, travel, home, and more; and can be reached via the following means: 0501603967 (Hollard Insurance) and 0501533698 (Hollard Life). Beyond various nationwide office branches and Hollard 2U franchise shops, Ghanaians can find Hollard at Shell Fuel Station Welcome Shops, Melcom stores, and online at www.hollard.com.gh and www.jumia.com.gh for all their insurance needs.





Source: Peacefmonline.com









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The Chief Corporate Communication Officer of Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), Ms. Sophia Kudjordji, has been honoured with a Global Women Achievers Award 2022 in the field of communication.



The 2022 Global Women Achievers Awards (TGWAA) which was organised by CMO Global and World Women Leadership and Congress & Awards--all in India, recognise sterling contributions and accomplishments of women across the world. It also celebrates and honours women who have excelled in various spheres of life.



The TGWAA was presented to Ms. Kudjordji via zoom together with 85 women from 37 countries who were also acknowledged.



A citation accompanying the award praised Ms. Kudjordji for her strong track record of building the function and teams of some of Ghanas leading organisations.



The citation particularly mentioned the 25 years experience of Ms. Kudjordji in the media and communication space which has been brought to bear on the JGC.



Under Ms. Kudjordjis watch at Jospong Group of Companies, one of the subsidiaries focused on waste management is now established as a thought leader in environmental sanitation, the citation states.



The citation also recognised Ms. Kudjordjis instrumental role in helping subsidiaries of JGC to win awards both within and outside Ghana, adding that across her career, the chief corporate communication officer of JGC has initiated several impactful communication projects.



Speaking to the media, she thanked the organisers for the honour done her, and also thanked JGC for the support given to her right from the day she joined the group.



Meanwhile, Ms Kudjordji over the weekend received the Outstanding Corporate Communication Personality Award at the 12th Ghana Entrepreneurs and Corporate Executive Awards, and for three years running was named one of Ghanas Top 10 Women in PR in Ghana.



Other awards in her stable include Corporate Communications Professional of the Year 2020, Corporate Communications Personality of the Year 2020.



Also, the Chief Operating Officer (COO)-Environmental and Sanitation Cluster, JGC, Mrs. Florence Larbi, was also honoured.



The TGWAA programme is organised annually by CMO Global and World Women Leadership and Congress Awards.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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A growing number of Ghanaians have started switching from their current networks to Vodafone Ghana following the E-levy approval announcement. The mobile money users who expressed this on social media, especially on Twitter, praised Vodafone for the waived telco charges on transfers to any other network.



The introduction of the E-levy means that Vodafone Cash customers will be charged only a 1.5% rate for any amount that exceeds GHC 100 instead of the expected 2.5 % by other networks. This means that Vodafone customers will still enjoy the lowest mobile money transfer charges in Ghana when E-levy is implemented.



Last year, Vodafone Ghana made the unusual decision to waive all charges on any amount of money transferred from Vodafone Cash to all other networks in order to reduce the financial burden on customers. Aside from drastically reducing the financial burden on consumers, the free mobile money transactions by Vodafone has made the service more appealing to ordinary Ghanaians and caused a rise in patronage.



Vodafone Cash has earned a name for itself in product innovation. Its free transfer service has won a number of awards including Product of the Year at the 2021 CIMG Excellence Awards. Vodafone Cash has over the years proven that its mobile money platform is robust and not susceptible to fraud.



Customers who have not subscribed to the service yet can simply dial *558# to register. Non-Vodafone customers can port their existing number or purchase a SIM card from any Vodafone Agent or Retail Shop, and register with a valid Ghana Card.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy asked the Dutch parliament on Thursday for weapons, reconstruction aid and a halt to all business with Russia in response to the invasion of his country.



"Stronger sanctions are needed so that Russia doesn't have a chance to pursue this war further in Europe," he told lawmakers via video link. "Stop all trade with Russia."



Zelenskiy, the first foreign head of state to address a plenary session of the 150-member Dutch lower house of representatives, said the Netherlands must "be prepared to stop the energy from Russia so that you do not pay billions for the war".



Roughly 20% of Dutch natural gas comes from Russia, which has become an increasingly important trading partner for the Netherlands in recent years.



The Dutch, along with other EU countries including Germany, are looking for other energy sources, but quick alternatives are few and global supplies limited.



Zelenskiy asked the Dutch to "adopt a city" in Ukraine to focus post-war reconstruction efforts.



The Netherlands has supplied Ukrainian forces with military equipment, including anti-tank rockets and Patriot air defence systems and is also supporting NATO's increased presence along the military alliance's eastern flank. read more



The Dutch have so far been unable to effectively freeze or seize tens of billions of euros (dollars) in Russian assets registered in the Netherlands, due to complex tax structures that make it difficult to identify ultimate owners of corporate holdings and property.



A letter to parliament from the Finance Ministry on March 22 said 392 million euros ($431.24 million) in Russian assets and transactions had been frozen under EU sanctions imposed since the invasion on Feb. 24.



Opposition Labour Party leader Lilianne Ploumen called on the government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte to urgently implement EU sanctions and quickly target the assets because we can "no longer justify this to Ukraine".



In a reference to the war crimes courts in the Netherlands, Zelenskiy called for justice.



"Those who gave the orders (to bombard and shell Ukraine) must be called to account. In The Hague, city of tribunals, people know that," he said

Source: REUTERS









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A Turkish prosecutor called on Thursday for the trial in Istanbul of Saudi suspects over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to be halted and transferred to Saudi authorities, a move which comes as Turkey seeks to mend ties with Riyadh.



Khashoggi's killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul four years ago triggered a global outcry and put pressure on Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.



A U.S. intelligence report released a year ago said the prince had approved the operation to kill or capture Khashoggi, but the Saudi government denied any involvement by the crown prince and rejected the report's findings.



Turkish officials said they believe Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the crown prince, was killed and his body dismembered in an operation which President Tayyip Erdogan said had been ordered at the "highest levels" of the Saudi government.



The killing and subsequent accusations strained ties between the two regional powers and led to an unofficial Saudi boycott of Turkish goods, which cut Ankara's exports to Riyadh by 90%.



Erdogan now seeks better ties with states which had become bitter rivals in recent years, including Egypt, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.



Israeli and UAE leaders visited Ankara in recent months, but progress with Cairo and Riyadh has been slower. Erdogan said last month he hoped to take "concrete steps" with Riyadh soon.



The Istanbul court where the 26 Saudi suspects have been on trial in absentia for nearly two years said on Thursday it would ask for the Justice Ministry's opinion on the request to transfer proceedings, and set the next hearing for April 7.



In 2020, Saudi Arabia jailed eight people for between seven and 20 years for Khashoggi's murder. None of the defendants was named in what rights groups described as a sham trial.



At the time Ankara said the verdict fell short of expectations but has since softened its tone as part of the broader attempt to repair ties. Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told broadcaster A Haber on Thursday that "judicial cooperation" between the two countries had improved.





A demonstrator holds a poster with a picture of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi outside the Saudi Arabia consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 25, 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal/File Photo

Erol Onderoglu, a representative for Reporters Without Borders (RSF), said Turkey's Justice Ministry should reject the prosecutor's request to transfer the case to Saudi Arabia.



"It is not possible to expect anything from Riyadh, where such a judicial charade took place," he told Reuters.



SAUDIS SOUGHT TRANSFER



Last year the Turkish court rejected requests to add the U.S. intelligence assessment of Prince Mohammed's role to the case file. It then asked for details of the Riyadh trial from Saudi authorities to avoid the defendants being punished twice.



The Turkish prosecutor said Saudi authorities responded by asking for the case be transferred and pledging to evaluate the accusations against the 26 defendants.



The request should be accepted, the prosecutor said, because the defendants were foreign citizens, the arrest warrants could not be executed and their statements could not be taken, leaving the case in abeyance or suspension.



The crown prince told The Atlantic monthly in an article published this month that he felt his own rights had been violated by the accusations against him as any person should be considered innocent until proven guilty.



Agnes Callamard, Amnesty International secretary general, said that Turkey is "betraying" Khashoggi and justice.



Callamard was the former U.N. special rapporteur for extrajudicial summary or arbitary executions and carried out the investigation that found Saudi officials "planned and perpetrated" Khashoggi's killing.



"Nothing surprising though," she said on Twitter about the prosecutor's request. "Turkey is after all one of the worse jailers of journalists and cannot be counted on," Callamard said, describing the move as "spineless."

Source: REUTERS









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In fulfilling Pepsodent brands ongoing mission to unleash the power of healthy smiles by eradicating oral disease for everyone, Pepsodent has offered free dental screenings for the people of Bogoso-Appiate.



The goal is to aid the people of the town in accessing free dental services after the explosion and create awareness on the need to seek early dental care to prevent the dire consequences of waiting too long which can result in expensive treatments and tooth loss.



According to Elvis Twumasi, Oral Care Brand Manager at Unilever, What happened at Bogoso-Appiate was sad. We are here to offer our support the best possibly way we can. Our team in partnership with the Ghana Dental Association is here to put smiles on the faces of the people of Bogoso-Appiate by bringing free dental services to their doorstep



For us at Pepsodent, we cannot overemphasize that every smile matters to us. And a healthy one as such. This is because a healthy smile and good oral hygiene builds ones self-esteem and impacts on their overall health. We are happy that the people of Bogoso-Appiate have also embraced our gesture of dental screening and participated in it successfully, he stated



Based on global research conducted by Pepsodent, there are 570 dentists currently serving the needs of 31 million population in Ghana which implies a ratio of 1 dentist to 58,400 people. Out of about 298 public hospitals and polyclinics, there are only 84 dental facilities in the country. Of these, only 54 clinics have equipment in reasonably good condition. The rest are in various states of disrepair. This means that visiting a dentist to address oral health problems is often delayed, or problems are not treated at all.



This effort by Pepsodent in providing free dental screening to the people of Bogoso-Appiate is a step in the right direction. Pepsodent is also providing free dental check-ups via dental screenings centres around the country. They are also televising free dental consultation in partnership with the Ghana Dental Association through their popular TV programme Time with The Dentist. Through these services, the brand aims to help Ghanaians take control of their oral health to avoid tooth loss.



The forms part of this years World Oral Health Day celebration, of which Pepsodent has launched a campaign Dont Wait Until Its Too Late #TalkToADentist to inspire people to seek early dentist attention to prevent serious dental problems and tooth loss later in life.



Pepsodent also donated cash, school bags, pencil cases, water bottles and toothpastes and brushes to the chiefs and people of Bogoso-Appiate.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Kenyan police say they have taken disciplinary action against a policeman filmed forcing his way into a private car through a window on a busy road in the capital.



The incident, which has been shared widely on social media, was captured by a local TV crew in Nairobi's central business district.



The clip shows the policeman in uniform forcefully entering the vehicle through the passenger window before ejecting the driver, who walks away.



The policeman then drives the vehicle away with the passenger.



The Directorate of Criminal Investigations on Twitter said there appeared to be some argument that degenerated into an ugly scene.



The cop took one step back, removed his cap and shoved his left foot through the co-drivers window gaining entry to the vehicle, with little regard to the passenger occupying the passenger seat, it said about the incident.



It noted that the distasteful conduct of the policeman had attracted online condemnation



The National Police Service said the officer had been identified and action was being taken.



We reiterate that it is imperative for individual police officers to discharge their mandate professionally, diligently and with high levels of discipline, it said.



Kenyan police are often accused of brutality.





Source: GNA









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The President of Hungary, H.E. Janos Ader, has decorated the Founder and Leader of World Miracle Outreach, Dr. Lawrence Tetteh, an International Evangelist, with the highest national award of his countrythe Knight of Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary.



The conferment was done on behalf of President Ader by the Hungarian Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Tamas Feher, at a brief and colourful ceremony on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, at the Hungary Embassy in Accra.



Dr. Tetteh was honoured by the Hungarian government for his outstanding performance and instrumentality in building the bilateral and business relationship between Ghana and Hungary.



Conferring the Honour on Dr Tetteh, the Hungarian Ambassador mentioned that this was the second time a Ghanaian is receiving this award in the history of Hungary.



Addressing the gathering, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, H.E. Claudia Turbay Quintero, the award was in recognition of Dr. Tettehs uniqueness in every sphere of life.



She added that Dr. Tetteh's leadership was exemplary and worthy of emulation.



Former President of Ghana, H.E. John Agyekum Kufuor, who graced the occasion, underscored that Dr. Tetteh was deserving of the award.



He contended that Dr. Tetteh contributed immensely towards the opening of the Hungarian Embassy in Ghana.



Rev. Tetteh is the embodiment of the relations between the two countriesGhana and Hungary, former President Kufuor noted.



On her part, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Honourable Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, admitted that Dr. Tetteh has been of great help to her commending him for his passion for the Ghana - Hungary relationship and how this can be harnessed for the mutual benefit of their friendship.



In a brief remark, Dr. Tetteh who is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) , a tele- Evangelist, Philanthropist and Counsellor, expressed appreciation for the honour done him, and dedicated the award to God.

.

"If you have the opportunity to do something, do it with your all. The relationship between Ghana and Hungary is through the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC)," he stressed.



He, however, pointed out that "any politician who does not love and fear God, does not merit your vote."

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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The Founder and Senior Partner at AB and David Law firm, David Ofosu-Dorte, has stressed the need for forward-looking leaders who can implement conscious strategies to help the Africa realise its full potential.



He said having visionary leaders alone was not enough but for the continent to develop, it needed leaders who could develop conscious leadership strategies geared towards the development of every aspect of Africas economy.



Mr Ofosu-Dorte, who is also a Rotarian, said this at an annual lecture of the Rotary Club of Accra Ridge in Accra last Thursday.



Without conscious leadership strategies, we will develop but it will be by accident, he said.



Lecture



The lecture, which is the 13th to be organised by the club, was on the theme: The Myths holding back Africas development.



The interactive session saw various rotarians asking questions on the best strategies to adopt as a nation and on the continent to help it fully develop.



Members also cut the anniversary cake to commemorate the 13th anniversary.



Mr Ofosu-Dorte observed that the continent had witnessed a wave of Africanisation and youth venturing into entrepreneurship.



However, it is necessary for the entrepreneurs to come together to export volumes of their products to other continents to boost the economy.



Renewed mindset



While calling on the citizens to rally behind visionary leaders to implement their strategies, Mr Ofosu-Dorte said Africans needed a renewed mindset and attitude towards work to help the leaders actualise their dreams.



The lawyer cited countries such as China, which got its citizens to work nine hours in a day and six days in a week to transform its economy.



The truth is that most of us are lazy. We are not working hard enough. Imagine the President coming to tell us that we are lazy. Imagine what will happen? But the truth is that we need to change the ones who are not working and break the beliefs that are not helping us grow, so we can move forward, Mr Ofosu-Dorte said.



Natural resources



Touching on natural resources, he said having natural resources alone was not enough to transform a country.



Mr Ofosu-Dorte added that the country could only make higher revenues from its resources only when it added value to them.



We have abundant resources but if you do not add value it, it wont yield much results to help transform your economy, he added.



He said the use of excuses such as influence of foreign culture, colonialism, wrong governance system, lack of leadership and good governance were all myths that needed to be dispelled.



Advice



For his part, the President of the Rotary Club of Accra Ridge, Edem Menka, urged members to continue to give more and do good to society.



As we mark this day, I implore you to be poised to impact the world with more projects, he said.









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 Ministry of Roads and Highways has issued a communique to explain some issues arising from President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos statement on roads construction as his 'greatest achievement' in infrastructure.



The sector minister, Kwasi Amoako Attah gives table statistics of road networks currently under the Nana Addo-led administration.



In 2017, the total network size was 78,402km. As of the end of 2021, the projected network size had increased to 94,203km. This length is currently undergoing validation by the Ministry. He said



His explanation follows the argument by the minority that President Nana Addo "lied" with figures on road construction by his government.



According to the President, "Mr Speaker, it is in the road sector that we have registered the greatest infrastructure achievement. I know that the word "unprecedented" is often used with careless abandon in our public discourse, but I use it carefully and purposefully. In the five years of my government, of ar, more roads have been built, improved and upgraded than at any other equivalent period under any government in the history of Ghana.



Some ten thousand, eight hundred and seventy-five (10,875) kilometres of new roads have been constructed in these five (5) years. Let me mention that yesterday, it was my honour and great pleasure to have commissioned the Tamale Interchange, the first such interchange in the northern sector of our country, which the people of Tamale celebrated. I considered it to be a most satisfying birthday present. We intend to continue with the building of roads around the country to accelerate the opening up of our country ."



Below is the explanation from the road sector

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Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









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Thailand-China cooperation crucial to economic development: Thai deputy PM

Xinhua) 09:11, March 31, 2022

BANGKOK, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Thai Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Wednesday that deepening economic cooperation between Thailand and China is key to Thailand's post-pandemic economic recovery.

Speaking at an investment cooperation forum held in Bangkok, Anutin said that as Thailand's top trading partner for nine years in a row, and second largest source of investment, China has played a significant part in Thai people's daily life.

From Chinese home appliances in early years to the automobile industry in recent years, Chinese enterprises have invested in Thailand in a wide range of fields, offering Thais more choices of consumer products at affordable prices, Anutin said.

He noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's medical industry has seen great development with the help of Chinese high-tech companies, especially in the field of digitalization of local hospitals.

According to the Thai official, Chinese companies have worked closely with the Thai Health Ministry to "lay a foundation for the innovation of Thailand's medical and health service."

He also highlighted the China-Thailand Railway, a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, saying that the Thai government has decided to accelerate the construction of the railway because of its importance for regional development and integration.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Photo taken on Jan. 2, 2021 shows the light show at the Lujiazui area in east China's Shanghai. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's commercial banks are expected to see their net profit increase by nearly 10 percent in the first half of 2022 amid the country's economic growth and improvement of business environment, according to a report by the Bank of China (BOC).

In the relevant report on the economic and financial outlook for the second quarter, the BOC Research Institute noted that the banking industry will maintain growth momentum in the first half of this year, with its assets and liabilities up around 8.5 percent year on year.

Commercial banks' asset quality will continue to improve, the report said, expecting the non-performing loan ratio to decline to around 1.72 percent, and the non-performing loan balance to see a small increase.

In 2022, credit support will focus on key areas of the real economy, with priorities given to the manufacturing sector, green industries, government-subsidized rental housing and elderly services, said the report.

Medium- and long-term lending for the manufacturing sector is expected to surge by more than 30 percent year on year, while that for the high-tech manufacturing industry will see faster growth, the report added.
A revised Ga Bible and the Ga-English Standard Version (Ga-ESV) Diglot Bible have been launched by the Bible Society of Ghana (BSG) at the Peniel Presbyterian Church in Accra.



The Ga-ESV Diglot is the second to be launched three years after the Asante Twi-English Standard Version Diglot was launched in 2019.



Even though other local languages have been translated by the society, only two Diglot Bibles have so far been launched. A diglot is a bilingual edition of a book.



The General-Secretary of the BSG, Dr Enoch Aryee-Atta, said the purpose of the diglot was to assist Christians interact with the scriptures for better understanding by comparing the text in two languages.



Our mission requires that we do not only make the Bible accessible to people, but also help them to understand and apply the principles of Gods word to their lives, he said.



The revised Bible, Dr Aryee-Atta said, would enable Ga speakers to relate to Gods word in a meaningful way and add some value to their lives.



Significance



He said in purchasing the Bible, they would be helping the Bible Society of Ghana to fulfill its mandate of making Gods word available, affordable and usable to transform lives.



I will like to encourage all who are gathered here to be active participants in this historic moment of celebration by purchasing copies of this maiden Ga-English Diglot for yourselves, your families and your churches, the General-Secretary said.



He further explained that the Ga version was translated from the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts and not from the English standard version.



According to him, the next Bible to be launched would be the Ewe-English standard version for the Ewe speaking community.



The President of the BSG, Apostle Prof. Opoku Onyinah, said the essence of translating the Bible into our local languages was to promote easy understanding and reading of Gods word in ones language.



The importance of the Bible is that, when you open it, you see the word of God in your language. Sometimes you cannot find an English version of a word but once you open the Ga version, you would be able to understand the word from your own language, he added.



BSG



The Bible Society of Ghana is a non-denominational and inter-denominational Christian organisation.



It exists to ensure that the vision of making Bibles affordable and available is achieved.



The Bible translation began in 1965 during the establishment of the BSG.



Currently, the society has translated the Bible into nine major Ghanaian languages. They are Asante Twi, Akuapem Twi, Mfantse, Ewe, Dagbani, Dangme, Nzema, Esahie and Ga.



In pursuit of its mission, the organisation deals in translations, distribution, Bible engagement and fundraising programmes.









Source: graphiconline.com









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Six hundred people at Dompim, a community in the Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality have been displaced after a rainstorm on Monday afternoon.



Although no one sustained injury, the rain which lasted for about 10 minutes was accompanied by a heavy wind, affected 165 households and property worth thousands of Cedis.



Five schools in the area had their roofs ripped up and this forced authorities to halt classes in the school.



Currently, parts of the Dompim township had been plunged into darkness as some electricity wires and transformers that connect the town to the national grid were also affected.



Mr Francis Amoah, Municipal National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) Coordinator, disclosed to the Ghana News Agency that those who had been rendered homeless were living with their relatives.



He hinted that the Municipal Disaster Committee led by Mr Benjamin Kessie, Municipal Chief Executive for Tarkwa-Nsuaem, had led a team to assess the extent of damage.



He said officers from his outfit had moved in and were taking stock of the various household ravaged by the rainstorm, adding, we will be holding an emergency meeting to see how we can re-roof the affected schools as soon as possible for classes to resume.



Mr Amoah called on the residents of Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipal to embrace the Green Ghana Project initiated by the government by planting at least one tree in their neighborhood and nurturing them to mature.



He stressed that it would contribute to the preservation of the environment and prevent such unfortunate incidents from reoccurring.



Some victims who were affected told the Ghana News Agency that Our whole house was flooded. The roof of our house was removed by the rainstorm, destroying our personal belongings. We are calling on the government to come to our aid.



Meanwhile, the MCE, Mr Benjamin Kessie, has assured them of the assemblys support.

Source: GNA









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Russia's bloody 'Butcher of Mariupol' and a host of Kremlin television executives have been added to Britain's sanctions list.



Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, who ordered a strike on a theatre that killed 300 civilians, is among 14 people and organisations hit in the latest wave of punitive economic measures unveiled by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

The latest names added to the sanctions list include propagandist Sergey Brilev and Kremlin-funded TV-Novosti, which owns the RT news channel.





Aleksandr Zharov, chief executive of Gazprom-Media, Alexey Nikolov the managing director of RT, and Anton Anisimov, the head of Sputnik International Broadcasting were also sanctioned.



Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: 'Putin's war on Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies. Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putin's fake news and narratives.





'We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table.'



Mizintsev is facing demands for a war crimes prosecution over the attack on the theatre which killed 300.



Video released at the weekend showed injured civilians at the Donetsk Regional Drama Theatre after it was near-totally destroyed by Russian bombs aimed at building on March 16 despite a large inscription saying 'children' being clearly visible on the pavement outside.





In a chilling intercepted phone call he also appeared to berate a junior officer for not cutting off the ears of a private who had been caught not wearing his uniform properly.



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 Foreign Office source said: 'Liz wants to keep on hitting Putin with sanctions to debilitate the Russian war economy and put Ukraine in the strongest possible negotiating position. There'll be plenty more sanctions to come.'









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President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has, in his State of the Nation Address today at Parliament, assured Ghanaians of his commitment and determination to see to the construction as well as completion of the 111 hospitals across the country.



Dubbed ''Agenda 111'', the President promised Ghanaians the project would be completed in the year 2020 but unfortunately the government didn't meet the schedule, hence casting doubts over the President's ability to construct the hospitals.



Critics called the President's bluff but the President, in his address on Wednesday, has reiterated his willingness to constructing the hospitals.



Describing the initial schedule for the completion of the hospitals as ''overly ambitious'', the President explained his aim for the Agenda 111 saying, ''we are undertaking the construction of 111 entities, which comprise standard 100-bed district hospitals for 101 districts without hospitals, with accommodation for doctors and nurses; six(6) new Regional hospitals for each of the six new Regions; the rehabilitation of the Effia 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, that is north, middle and coastal."



"Agenda 111 is an anbitious project, which must and will be done, and which will create some thirty-three thousand, nine hundred(33,900) jobs for construvtion workers, and on completion, some thirty-four thousand, three hundred (34,300) jobs for the health workers," he added.



"Mr. Speaker, I have to report that, like all major construction projects, it's evident that the initial schedule we gave for the completion of Agenda 111 was overly ambitious. Identifying suitable sites around the country, for example, has turned out to be even more problematic than had been anticipated . . .", he elucidated.



President Nana Akufo-Addo pledged all the hospitals will be fully done before he exits office.



" . . work has started at 87 of the 111 sites. I have been assured that preliminary work on the remaining 24 sites is ongoing. We have every intention of seeing this project through a successful end which will enable me to commission all 111 hospitals before I leave office on 7th January, 2025," he promised.





Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Former Member of Parliament(MP) for Akwatia constituency, Baba Jamal, has disclosed that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) will scrap the E-levy policy in their first year in government come 2025.



He says what happened in parliament during its passage constitutes an illegality which must not be countenanced.



Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he established that his party and for that matter minority in parliament has fiercely fought against the crude method the NPP government wants to use to tax the already over burdened Ghanaian.



"I will even advise my party that we should let it go, because Ghanaians have seen that we have done our best . . . we should leave it and let's go ahead with our lives," he told Kwame Nkrumah 'Tikese'.



On the party's position when they come to power in 2024, Baba Jamal said, "our position will remain the same that don't tax MOMO".



Watch Video Below





The rubicon has finally been crossed with the passage of the controversial Electronic Levy (E-Levy) bill, despite a spirited attempt by the Minority caucus in Parliament to shoot it down, including the obvious staging of a walkout.According to the Minority, the Majority pulled a surprise one on them because E-levy was not listed in Parliaments business statement for this week.According to the Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu: We have time and again warned and cautioned that we never want to be taken by surprise on a major economic policy bill of government and we will not accept that culture."So when you (Majority Caucus) did not have the numbers, you were hesitant, you wont come before the House, now that you think that you have some reasonable numbers then you say go to the business of item 27.Minority Leader of Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, and his colleagues Mahama Ayariga and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, have dragged the Attorney-General to the Supreme Court over the approval of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy).They contend that Parliament did not have the required number of at least half of its members present, when the controversial tax policy was approved.The House on Tuesday approved the policy without the participation of National Democratic Congress (NDC) MPs.The Tamale South MP and his colleagues want the Supreme Court to declare that the said approval was contrary to law.They are seeking the following reliefs;a. A declaration that on the authority of the Supreme Court case of Justice Abdulai v. Attorney-General, Writ No. J1/07/2022 dated 9th March, 2022, the constitutional quorum number for decision-making and voting within the meaning of Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution is 138 Members of Parliament out of the 275 Members of Parliament and not 137 Members of Parliament.b. A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of articles 2(1)(b) and 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, there was no quorum to enable the 137 Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus present in Parliament on 29th March, 2022 to pass the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy).c. A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the passing of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) by the 137 Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus present in Parliament on the 29th March 2022 without the requisite quorum number of 138 Members of Parliament present in Parliament, is null and void and of no legal effect.d. An order of the Honourable Court setting aside the passing of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) by the 137 Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus present in Parliament on the 29th March, 2022 as a nullity.e. Any other order(s) the Honourable Court may deem fit.

Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









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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Addressing a Presser after their walk out in Parliament, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddirisu claimed that there is no E-levy despite the approval by a one-sided House on Tuesday, March 29.



Haruna Iddrisu who said they going to the Supreme Court on the matter, described the approval as a charade.



According to him, This is a charade. The majority of less than 137 conducting businesses only proceeded on illegal and unconstitutional business. Parliament did not have the numbers to take any decision that should be binding on Parliament and Ghanaians.



Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the NDC MP for North Tongu who also in a post on his Facebook page said: You thought we will give you the pleasure of returning to court for a declaration that the Assin North MP shouldnt have been present in the Chamber to vote so that you can claim a 137-136 victory for the E-Levy.



According to him With our strategic walk out, you fall short of the required 138 quorum under article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution and as affirmed by the Supreme Court in the recent Justice Abdulai case.



He said, There can be no contention about Adwoa Safos absence from todays proceedings. Trust your NDC representatives, we have a conscience, and we know that the real power belongs to you.



Going by the Supreme Courts decision, the E-Levy has not been passed. What transpired today is a ridiculous nullity he said.



The E-levy was passed by Parliament on Tuesday, March 29 after the third reading in the House. The Minority staged a walkout during the second reading on the E-levy. They walked out after Mr. Iddrisu said the NDC MPs remain united in opposing the policy.



Contributing to the E-levy debate on the floor of the House on Tuesday, March 29, he described the policy proposal as punitive which if approved will further increase the high cost of doing business in the country.



E-levy is the nuisance of nuisance tax, he said, adding that businesses are suffering under your watch. We are united that we will not support E-levy, we will not vote for E-levy.



Finance Minister Ken Ofori-Atta on Tuesday, March 29 moved a motion for the passage of the E-levy in Parliament.







Source: Daily Guide









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NDCs Chief Scribe, Johnson Asiedu Nketia who is not happy with the passage of the E-levy bill says government must make sure all problems in the country are solved with the bill being approved.



They [Nana Addos government] have said the economy among other problems in Ghana will be solved if the E-levy is passed. So, they should solve all the problems with their E-levy, He said in an interview with NEAT FM's morning show, Ghana Montie.



According to Mr Asiedu Asiedu Nketia, proceedings to the passage of the controversial bill are questionable  after backing the minoritys decision to go to court for clarification.



He also defended the decision of the Minority in Parliament to boycott the passage of the bill.



I dont see how Ghanaians could feel let down by the NDC, because we can only fight with the weapon that Ghanaians have provided us and we were provided with 137 weapons so if you expect us to fire 200 and 300 weapons that will be too much because our vote maximally should come out up to 137, he noted.



Parliament on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, passed all three readings of the Electronic Transfer (E-Levy) Bill.



The bill now awaits President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addos assent to be passed into law.



Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/peacefmonline.com/ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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While the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) are contemplating whether to retain former President John Dramani Mahama as presidential candidate or look for fresh blood, some party bigwigs within the Volta and Oti Regions believes it is their time to rescue the party by fielding a presidential candidate.



Base on this, some power brokers of the party from the two regions have on many occasions met with the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Marrer Ghana Limited and Susagtad Boat Building, Mr. Novihoho Afaglo, to consider the decision of contesting former President Mahama for the presidential slot of the party.



According to deep-throat sources, the power brokers have gone ahead to offer to pay for his filing fees and other expenses during the process all in a bid to ensure that Mr. Afaglo accept the offer from the world banks of the party.



This development the source says is gradually gaining attention and support from grassroot all the way to the top hierarch of the party in the two regions.



The source further stated that in one of their recent meetings organised at the Volta regional capital, Ho, was attended by over 500 party executives from the two power houses of the party.



"It is our time to rescue the party, because the NDC was born from the two regions and we will not sit down for some people who claim they love the party to mismanagement it. We are doing this in memory of our late former President and founder of the NDC, Jerry John Rawlings, they stated at the said meeting."



In a telephone interview with Mr. Afaglo, who is far away United Kingdom confirmed that some power brokers of the party have contacted him to consider the decision of leading the party in the 2024 elections.



He told Myrepubliconline.com that the party faithful have gone ahead to printed posters of him without his knowledge a situation he said has come to confirm their earlier proposal.



Mr. Afaglo is an ardent supporter and a card bearing member of the great umbrella party. He is an entrepreneur, a philanthropist and a lawyer.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Six political parties not represented in Parliament have expressed varied views about the passage of the Electronic Transfer Levy (E-levy) last Tuesday.



Speaking in separate interviews with the Daily Graphic, some lauded the government for introducing measures to resuscitate the economy with the passage of the bill, while others felt the new tax would further burden the citizenry.



The parties are the Peoples National Convention (PNC), the Convention Peoples Party (CPP); the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP); the All Peoples Congress (APC); the Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG) and the National Democratic Party (NDP).



PNC



The General Secretary of the PNC, Madam Janet Nabla, told the Daily Graphic that taxation across the globe was the avenue countries depended on to generate income for development purposes.



She said the new tax measure was geared towards addressing the rising debts, creating jobs for the teeming youth, addressing infrastructural challenges, improving the transportation system, extending loans to the private sector and young entrepreneurs, etc.



It is our considered view that we all, especially the Minority in Parliament, keep watch to ensure the above-stated issues are addressed by the E-Levy for the good of Ghana.



We believe in generating funds internally and using those funds to develop areas we deem fit, she said.



She urged Ghanaians to be on the government's neck to demand for stewardship and accountability.



CPP



The General Secretary of the CPP, Nana Yaa Akyempim Jantuah, described the E-Levy as obnoxious and punitive.



She said the party would support any legal action against the implementation of the E-Levy, stressing that the CPP stood with Ghanaians and did not want to see citizens go through pain by means of tax hardships and tax exploitation.



She said the CPP disagreed with the walkout staged by the Minority in Parliament during the discussion of the bill and was of the opinion that the opposition should have sat through and voted against it for all to see that they (NDC MPs) were really opposed to the bill.



PPP



For his part, the Director of Communications of the PPP, Mr Emmanuel Felix Mantey, reaffirmed his partys stance against the introduction of the tax.



According to him, the solution to the current economic challenges in the country was not the imposition of new taxes but the effective and efficient administration of existing tax revenue measures.



He called on the government to invest resources in the productive sectors of the economy to raise enough resources for the development of the nation instead of slapping the already burdened citizenry with new taxes.



LPG



The Leader of the LPG, Mr Percival Kofi Akpaloo, welcomed the passage of the E-Levy, saying it would help transform the country.



He underscored the need for Ghanaians to support the initiative because the government could not run the affairs of the country without revenue.



On the walkout by the Minority in Parliament, Mr Akpaloo said it was a tool deployed by the NDC to demonstrate to their followers that they were opposed to the bill but deep within them, they were in favour of the new levy.



NDP



The General Secretary of the NDP, Alhaji Mohammed Frimpong, for his part said the E-Levy was a bitter pill that must be swallowed because Ghana needed the revenue to develop and support some of its social intervention programmes, including the Free SHS Policy rolled out over the years.



He said considering the fact that Ghana was in a defining moment of governance, political parties and the government in power must give the people firm assurances of leadership to enable them to support the levy and also contribute to holding government accountable in the best interest of the country at all times.



APC



The Founder of the APC, Mr Hassan Ayariga, said the passage of the E-Levy would encourage Ghanaians to pay taxes for the rapid socio-economic development of the country.



He, however, indicated that the mistrust that had greeted the introduction of the new levy was due to the fact that the government had not thoroughly accounted for the huge money borrowed over the years, leading to the downgrade of the economy by international rating agencies.



He said a section of Ghanaians did not trust that the money would be used for productive ventures to support the economy, and called on the government to avail itself for accountability from taxpayers on the usage of revenue generated from the E-Levy.









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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General Secretary of the opposition NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has accused the Clerk of Parliament, Cyril Kwabena Nsiah for deliberately marking about eight NDC Members of Parliament as absent, during the approval of the controversial Electronic Transactions Levy (E-levy) Bill.



According to the NDC Secretary who is a member of the Parliamentary Service Board, the Clerk of Parliament is in bed with the Majority members, hence tampering with vital evidence to be used by the Minority in challenging the passage of the E-levy in court.



Parliament on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, approved the controversial E-Levy Bill after the Consideration Stage was completed by a Majority-sided House.



The Bill was adopted at a reduced rate of 1.5% from the initial 1.75% amid a Minority walkout.



Asiedu Nketia reacting to the absent of the NDC MPs in the chamber when the E-Levy was presented to the house on Joy News said the Clerk who keeps possession of the true records of the House, deliberately marked about eight NDC MPs as absent.



He explained that How come these people [the eight MPs] will all of a sudden be marked absent when they actually were there and everybody saw them? They signed the attendance sheet and I have spoken to them. They signed the attendance sheet so it tells you that somebody somewhere is tampering with evidence.



To him, the Office of the Clerk has been compromised by the Majority, hence calling on the leadership of the Minority to challenge the altered documents.



He cried out that It gives me the impression that the Majority side knew they have done something wrong and the approval of E-levy was not actually backed by the rules, and they know the Minority have resorted to court action and so they now come round to fake the evidence that will be called for during the hearing, and that is what gives me the suspicion that this thing is a deliberate orchestration to take decisions on behalf of Ghanaians when their representatives have actually not taken those decisions legitimately.



He also backed the decision of the NDC MPs to stage a walkout during the consideration of the e-levy, adding that the government should rather be blamed for imposing the e-levy on the citizenry and not the Minority.



Walking out or voting against them, all the same. So I dont see how Ghanaians could feel let down by the NDC, because we can only fight with the weapon that Ghanaians have provided us and we were provided with 137 weapons so if you expect us to fire 200 and 300 weapons that will be too much because our vote maximally should come out up to 137, he noted.



Meanwhile, MinorityLeader, Haruna Iddrisu, and his colleagues, Mahama Ayariga and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa have dragged the Attorney-General to the Supreme Court over the approval of the E-Levy.



They contend that Parliament did not have the required number of at least, half of its members present when the controversial tax policy was approved.

Source: daily guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The third Lancang-Mekong Business Forum was held in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh on Wednesday, aimed at exploring business opportunities among the six Lancang-Mekong Cooperation (LMC) countries.

The LMC groups China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Under the theme of "Promoting Agribusiness and Investment in Processed Food Sector", the two-day forum was attended online and offline by some 350 representatives from public and private sectors in the six countries.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Chhuon Dara, secretary of state at the Cambodian Ministry of Commerce, said the forum provided a platform to discuss challenges and opportunities for agribusiness in processed food sector in the LMC countries.

"It's a good opportunity to showcase the innovative agro-food products and facilitate business matching between Cambodian companies and foreign manufacturers, suppliers, traders and investors from the LMC countries," he said.

"It's also to assist traders and investors to understand Cambodia's agro-food processing market, investment policies and incentives," he added.

Dara said agribusiness is one of the most crucial industries driving and backing up economic and social development in the LMC countries.

Sponsored by the LMC's special fund, the forum was co-organized by the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce and the Mekong Institute.

Kith Meng, president of the Cambodia Chamber of Commerce, said the LMC countries enjoy cultural similarities and long-standing traditional friendship, and have common development goals.

"Despite the impact of COVID-19, trade and investment volumes among the LMC countries have continued to rise," he said, adding that promoting cooperation among LMC countries is essential for building a community with a shared future by the countries.

Over the course of two days, the forum will also arrange a field visit to a local food processing company and to a special economic zone so that participants can learn more about investment incentives offered by the Cambodian government.
Award-winning Ghanaian rapper, Sakodie has been chastised for skipping out on the just concluded 3 Music Awards in his native Nigeria.



To the many users of the many social media platforms accessible, the rapper has time for the Doctor United Nations Awards but cannot make time for the three Music Awards that are recognized as having legitimacy.



However, in a cryptic message to his detractors, Sarkodie said that he must deal with a lot of garbage but must maintain his cool at all times.



Those who do not understand him, according to him, will eventually come around if they follow him constantly.



He tweeted;



To be in a position of power, you will have to deal with a lot, and the best quality to have is the ability to sail through the BS and keep your eyes on the price  those who dont get it might get it with time, if you stay consistent with it.

Source: Eugene Osafo-Nkansah/Peacefmonline.com









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" " Tibetan prayer flags flutter above Tilicho Lake in Nepal. Frank Bienewald/LightRocket/Getty Images

If you ever get a chance to wander the streets of Dharamshala, India  the residence of the Dalai Lama  or Nepal's capital city of Kathmandu, then you'll almost certainly come across at least a few iconic Tibetan prayer flags floating on the breeze. You even may have encountered them somewhere in your daily life.

But just what are these colorful flags fluttering in the wind and what do they signify to the Tibetan people? As we will see, Tibetan prayer flags can symbolize many different things and have a rich, complex history with roots in both Buddhist and ancient Indigenous religious practices.

"The printing and hanging of prayer flags is a Tibetan practice, given the many mountain passes where prayer flags are typically hung," emails Donald S. Lopez Jr., a distinguished professor of Buddhist and Tibetan studies at the University of Michigan and author of the book "Religions of Tibet in Practice."

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What Are Tibetan Prayer Flags?

Tibetan prayer flags are colorful square pieces of cloth that are tied together and hung up on poles or from rooftops so they will flutter in the breeze.

"Such flags generally symbolize a person's (individual) blessing, the promotion of luck and offerings and praise to the local deities," Dawa Tsering, director of the Tibet Policy Institute in Dharamshala, says in an email.

Prayer flags often contain religious texts or mantras written in Tibetan, so they serve as a vehicle to convey religious blessings through the wind.

"The wind blows the prayer flag, so that the power of the text on the prayer flag will follow," Tsering says.

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Where and When Do You Hang Tibetan Prayer Flags?

They're often hung from high places like mountaintops where they won't be trampled, or near religious sites like temples, holy lakes or monasteries.

"In other words, hang them in a 'high, clean, holy' place," says Tsering, adding, "You can hang them at any time. If you choose a good and holy day, the effect may be better."

On auspicious days or holidays like the Tibetan New Year, people will sometimes hang prayer flags around their home, which for nomadic Tibetans is typically a large tent.

"I'm from a nomad family. Behind our tent, we always hang the prayer flag," says Rinchen Tashi, deputy director for Chinese outreach at the International Campaign for Tibet.

" " Tibetan prayer flags often depict the windhorse surrounded by auspicious symbols, religious text, invocations, prayers or mantras. Hermes Images/AGF/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

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What's Depicted on Tibetan Prayer Flags?

Prayer flags are sometimes referred to as "windhorse flags" or "lunta"  which can also be written as "lungta." "Lun" is Tibetan for "wind" and "ta" refers to "horse." Many lunta will contain a symbol of the windhorse in the middle of the flag along with a religious text or prayer known as the windhorse mantra.

"Nowadays, prayer flags and windhorse flags, which represent two different meanings, have been mixed in use, generally with patterns of horses and other animals, as well as Buddhist scriptures," Tsering says.

The windhorse is often surrounded by four other animals that appear in the corners of the flag, such as tigers, lions, a mythical bird known as "garuda"  "khyung" in Tibetan  and dragons. However, other kinds of prayer flags contain representations of Buddha statues or depictions of domestic animals like sheep or yak.

There are many different versions of prayer flags that come in different sizes. For example, while we may be most familiar with prayer flags hung horizontally, there's also a certain kind of vertical Tibetan prayer flag known as "darchok."

Some prayer flags may not contain symbols of the windhorse and instead contain small printed versions of long religious texts that can be "up to several hundred pages" according to Tashi.

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Are Tibetan Prayer Flags Connected To Buddhism?

Prayer flags carry religious messages and prayers directly stemming from Tibetan Buddhism. According to Lopez, some prayer flags may contain prayers to different versions of Tara, who is a goddess known for her power to save devotees from dangers.

However, prayer flags  specifically the lunta  have a long history in the Bon religion, which predates the introduction of Buddhism to Tibet. The Bon religion in Tibet refers to the Indigenous spiritual practices of the Bon people, which include shamanism.

"Strictly speaking, prayer flags are not exactly the same as lunta," Tsering says. "The prayer flag is a Buddhist term, but the 'windhorse flag' lunta existed before traditional Tibetan Buddhism."

According to Tashi, the five typical colors of modern prayer flags stem from the Bon religion and its worship of different elements of nature. The five colors are: blue, white, red, green and yellow.

"Color, in ancient times, is generally considered to be the worship of the gods," Tsering adds, stating that the five colors represent the elements of sky (blue), air (white), fire (red), water (green) and earth (yellow).

" " Tibetan prayer flags fly in the wind on the Tibetan Plateau, often called "the Roof of the World," in Qinghai, China. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

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Are Tibetan Prayer Flags Political?

"Prayer flags themselves really don't carry any political agenda," Tashi says.

But as a prominent symbol of Tibetan culture and religion, prayer flags have come under fire from the Chinese government in recent years, due to China's policies of Tibetan cultural suppression  known as the "Sinicization of Tibet," the process by which the Tibetan people are brought under the influence of Chinese culture.

"The Chinese government will take down the prayer flags because this is the belief of the Tibetans, and the Chinese government hopes to 'sinicize' the Tibetans," Tsering says.

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Can Anyone Hang a Prayer Flag?

You'll find prayer flags not only in Tibet, but in any country where there's a significant Tibetan population ranging from Nepal to the U.S.

But Tashi says it's also becoming common for non-Tibetans to purchase and display prayer flags, which he thinks is fine.

"Anyone who thinks prayer flags will help them in a religious sense, or just anything you like in the aesthetic sense can be hung or displayed, as long as the prayer flags are not desecrated, trampled on or insulted," Tsering says.

According to Tsering, prayer flags must meet the conditions of being "high," "clean" and "holy" so printing a prayer flag on shoes or shorts, for example, would be inappropriate, but hanging prayer flags high up in or around homes should be fine.

Lopez adds, "These days, people in the West hang them on their own houses or inside their houses, both for their blessings and as a sign of solidarity with the Tibetan cause."

Now That's Interesting Nowadays, it's really easy to buy a Tibetan prayer flag online or from a shop. But simply buying a prayer flag does not automatically confer the flag with religious meaning. "They must be blessed by monks (lamas) in religious ceremonies before they can be given spirituality or sanctity, and only then can they be effective," Tsering says.
In this picture taken on 9 March 2022, passengers attempt to board a jeepney, a unique type of public transport in the Philippines, as commuters wait for available public transport to flag in Manila, Philippines, 18 March 2022. The Philippines is considering to implement earlier work hours for government offices to ease traffic jams in Metro Manila that has gotten worse after pandemic rules were loosened. (Photo by Richard James Mendoza/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has asked President Rodrigo Duterte to consider earlier work hours for government offices to help ease traffic in the National Capital Region (NCR) as COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

In a briefing on Tuesday (March 29), MMDA chairperson Romando Artes proposed a 7 am to 4 pm shift from the usual 8 am to 5 pm for government workers so they can avoid rush hour in Metro Manila.

Maganda po ang naging resulta, maraming pong suhestiyon kung paano mababawasan ang traffic sa Kamaynilaan. Pero ang nagmarka po ay ang agreement ng bawat isa na sobra po ang dami ng sasakyan dito sa Kamaynilaan at kailangan po talagang i-reduce, Artes said.

(The results were good, there were many suggestions on how to reduce traffic in Metro Manila. But what stood out was that everyone agreed that there are too many vehicles in Metro Manila and they need to be reduced.)

Agreeing to an earlier proposal from Economic Planning Secretary Karl Chua, Artes said that a four-day workweek of 10 hours each day can also be implemented.

He also highlighted another proposal to allow workers to work from home once a week to help lessen the number of vehicles on the road.

The MMDA also presented changes to the existing Unified /Vehicular Volume Reduction Program (UVVRP), including a 50% volume reduction plan for vehicles from the current 20% plan that bars vehicles from Metro Manila once a week.

Traffic congestion has further worsened in the capital as offices mandate return-to-office for workers following the easing of movement restrictions as Covid-19 infections subside.

Artes said that they are also looking to implement no contact apprehension instead of issuing tickets on the road.

He also presented a proposal to build elevated walkways and bicycle lanes to encourage workers to walk or use bikes on their way to work.

Pola Rubio is a news writer and photojournalist covering Philippine politics and events. She regularly follows worldwide and local happenings. The views expressed are her own.

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A tagged green turtle. Credit: Miguel Varela

A network of West African Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) covers key sites used by green turtles, new research shows.

The RAMPAO network runs along the coast of seven countries, from Cape Verde to Sierra Leone, protecting vital habitats for many species.

The new study tracked 45 female green turtles from Poilao Island, in Guinea-Bissau's Bijagos Archipelago, which hosts the largest population in the Eastern Atlantic.

The tracked turtles were found to spend most of their time during nesting and foraging periods inside the MPA network.

However, just 21% of key "migration corridors" are protected.

The study was carried out by a team including the University of Exeter (UK), MAREISPA, Instituto Universitario (Portugal), the Institute of Biodiversity and Protected Areas (Guinea Bissau) and the Banc d'Arguin National Park (Mauritania). Additionally, youngsters of local Bijagos villages were engaged in fieldwork activities.

"RAMPAO is a great example of an MPA network, with good connections between the MPAs and strong links between the organizations that oversee them," said Dr. Rita Patricio, of the Center for Ecology and Conservation on Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall, and MARE.

Dr Rita Patricio and Fernando Madeira, PhD student at the Universidade de Lisboa, attaching a satellite tag. Credit: French Connection Films

"West Africa has very rich marine ecosystems. Conservation efforts initially focussed on key habitats, such as seagrass, mangroves, estuaries and intertidal flats, which are used by populations of global importance of coastal and seabirds, and by charismatic species such as humpback dolphins, West African manatees and green turtles.

"Our study is part of wider efforts to discover where species are distributed in the region, to ultimately find the most effective ways of protecting them.

"Green turtles have complex life-cycles, involving large-scale migrations between breeding and feeding sites.

"It is essential to understand the connectivity between these areas, to estimate the level of protection, and to ensure that conservation efforts on breeding sites are not canceled out by lack of protection at feeding sites, and vice-versa.

"In the case of green turtles, our study shows the MPA network in the region covers almost all marine areas used during the nesting period and most feeding areas too. This is hugely encouraging.

"Our finding that most key corridors used by the turtles currently fall outside the MPA network suggests there is an opportunity to increase protection even further."

During the nesting period, turtles spent an average of 95% of their time within the limits of the MPA network, and among the 35 turtles successfully tracked into the foraging period, 28 of them used waters within MPAs.

The research team preparing to tag a green turtle. Credit: Miguel Varela

Key migration corridors were mostly located close to the shore, where regionally important fisheries activities can make effective marine protection more challenging.

Dr. Patricio said green turtle populations in this region "look stable"but this is "conservation-dependent".

"If you remove the conservation effort, the population could drop very quickly," she said.

The United Nations global target to protect 10% of the world's ocean by 2020 was not achieved, but the coverage of protected areas is increasingand there are now calls to protect 30% of the ocean by 2030.

Balancing marine protection with the needs of human coastal communities is vital, and Dr. Patricio said a key goal is to bring all parties together to improve conservation in a way that works for people and ecosystems.

The paper, published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, is entitled: "Green turtles highlight connectivity across a regional marine protected area network in West Africa."

Explore further Half-century of protection pays off for sea turtles

More information: Green turtles highlight connectivity across a regional marine protected area network in West Africa, Frontiers in Marine Science (2022). Journal information: Frontiers in Marine Science Green turtles highlight connectivity across a regional marine protected area network in West Africa,(2022). DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2022.812144
A view of the island colonized by Typha domingensis after the flood of iron mine tailings arrived. The photograph was taken at low tide in August 2019. Credit: Hermano Melo Queiroz

Brazilian researchers have analyzed the mechanisms by which estuarine plants absorb iron, and used their findings to recommend a promising phytoremediation technique for the rehabilitation of water and soil contaminated by environmental disasters such as the 2015 collapse of the Fundao iron mine tailings dam in Mariana, Minas Gerais state (Southeast Brazil). An article on the study is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

The researchers conclude that Typha domingensis, a reed whose common name is Southern cattail, is effective in mitigating the impact of iron ore tailings (mining waste) on the natural environment.

They conducted fieldwork at Regencia in Espirito Santo state, on the mouth of the Doce River near the border with Minas Gerais. The area was inundated by part of the 50 million cubic meters (m3) of tailings released when the dam burst, in the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history. They analyzed the role of T. domingensis (which averages about 2.5 m in height and has coffee-colored flower spikes) and Hibiscus tiliaceus (often called beach hibiscus, a 4-10 m tree with yellow flowers) in the biogeochemistry of iron and their potential involvement in phytoremediation, the use of living plants to clean up soil, air, and water.

Forty-one towns in Minas Gerais and Espirito Santo were affected when the dam burst on November 5, 2015, and 19 people died. The toxic waste is estimated to have contaminated 240.8 hectares of Atlantic Rainforest and killed 14 metric tons of fish. Many projects and programs have been launched since then to try to mitigate the damage.

"Our study concluded that T. domingensis was more efficient than H. tiliaceus because its root system had far greater acidification capacity, and also because it accumulated more iron in the aerial portions. This is an important finding for future phytoremediation strategies," said Tiago Osorio Ferreira, last author of the article. Ferreira is a professor in the Soil Science Department of the University of Sao Paulo's Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ-USP).

"Iron accumulation by T. domingensis and its remediation potential are good news. Besides accumulating more iron in the aerial portions and being easier to manage, it's also preferable to H. tiliaceus because it grows faster," Prof. Ferreira told Agencia FAPESP.

The group is ahead of others in its research, he said, because of the connection made between soil geochemistry and biology with consistent results, focusing on iron and trace elements such as nickel, chrome, copper and lead, which can be a source of environmental pollution even in low concentrations.

Iron is abundant and a key nutrient for plants. It is rarely perceived as a pollutant, but in waterlogged soil with low oxygenation, as in the case of the estuary, microorganisms may use organic matter and iron oxide to obtain energy in a process leading to dissolution of oxygen and release of potentially toxic substances. In this manner, contaminants can enter water, soil, plants and animals, affecting ecosystems and constituting an environmental hazard.

Accumulation of iron

To adapt to a flooded environment, a plant must oxygenate its root system, responsible for anchorage as well as ingestion of water and mineral salts. It does so by capturing oxygen from the atmosphere via its aerial portion and transferring the oxygen to the roots via porous tissue called aerenchyma. When the oxygen comes into contact with iron, it oxidizes and forms iron plaque on the roots, creating a barrier.

T. domingensis has a large system of roots and aerenchyma, so that oxygenation and iron plaque are also substantial. The researchers measured 3,874 milligrams of iron per kilo of dry matter in the plant, up to ten times more than in H. tiliaceus.

"On our first fieldwork expedition to the Doce River estuary, in 2015, there were still islands without vegetation and with an abundance of sand. After the flood of tailings from the Mariana disaster, many of these islands became colonized by plants, and later there was substantial growth of cattails," Ferreira said, noting that the researchers have been studying the area for more than six years.

He recalled that the Group for Studies and Research on Soil Geochemistry at ESALQ-USP have been publishing other studies on the same area, citing one led by Hermano Queiroz and also supported by FAPESP. This showed that manganese was steadily leaching from the soil into the water even two years after the tailings arrived and detected high levels of manganese in two species of marine catfish routinely consumed by the local community (Cathoropus spixii and Genidens genidens).

"After all these years of research, we're able to design phytoremediation strategies with more confidence and consistency," Ferreira said.

Armanda Duim Ferreira is currently conducting two field experiments. One of these entails testing ways to increase cattail biomass production and the amount of metal absorbed by the plant. The strategy combines the use of organic acids and iron-reducing bacteria with agronomic practices such as ideal harvesting frequency, planting density and fertilization with the aim of reducing the time taken to achieve phytoremediation.

Explore further Researchers gain insights into Rio Tinto microbial community

More information: Amanda Duim Ferreira et al, Iron hazard in an impacted estuary: Contrasting controls of plants and implications to phytoremediation, Journal of Hazardous Materials (2022). Journal information: Journal of Hazardous Materials Amanda Duim Ferreira et al, Iron hazard in an impacted estuary: Contrasting controls of plants and implications to phytoremediation,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2022.128216
EuropaBON User and Policy Needs Assessment. Credit: Pensoft Publishers

The European data landscape is highly fragmented in the area of biodiversity. A variety of different methods for data collection and analysis often makes it impossible to compare across countries the information that has been obtained. "In addition, many countries have difficulty even meeting the minimum biodiversity monitoring required by the European Commission," says Professor Henrique Pereira, who conducts research at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig and heads the "EuropaBON" (Europa Biodiversity Observation Network) project. The reasons for this are manifold: too little funding, insufficient technical capacities, a lack of support from long-term political goals, the inability to access data from the agricultural, energy and fisheries sectors, as well as a certain skepticism about changing existing methods.

Yet the monitoring of data could greatly help shape policies and guidelines in an evidence-based way, as the first policy report of the "EuropaBON" project shows. The pan-European project was launched in November 2020 with the task of developing a unified, comprehensive and equally practical approach to monitoring Europe's biodiversity and ecosystems. Since then, the team has conducted surveys, interviews and workshops with more than 350 representatives from science, policy and conservation. The specific aim was to obtain an overview of previous monitoring measures and the challenges associated with them, as well as to find initial approaches towards a common standard. "We are very happy about the stakeholder responses that paint a comprehensive picture of the current situation in many European countries. These now serve as the basis for a joint design of a new, multi-national biodiversity monitoring network in Europe with stakeholders from policy, science and society across Europe," says Professor Aletta Bonn, lead PI for the policy report, from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Friedrich Schiller University Jena, and iDiv.

Consistent, high-quality biodiversity data is needed to meet the goals of the EU's 2030 Biodiversity Strategy. As part of this strategy, member states commit to restoring threatened or already destroyed ecosystems by 2030 and halting biodiversity loss. "The EU 2030 Biodiversity Strategy is currently at the core of the integrated policies. But to achieve its goals, European countries and the European Commission need more robust, comparable data at all scales," says Dr. Ian McCallum, co-lead for the report, from the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria, adding that such data would help policymakers and scientists develop evidence-based targets and progress reports for conserving and restoring ecosystems and their services.

One particular method shows real promise for harmonizing the different approaches in Europe: the identification of so-called "Essential Biodiversity Variables" and "Essential Ecosystem Service Variables." In its report, the EuropaBON team presents a list of the 15 highest ranking variables that could be used in a common approach. These range from bird and marine fish biodiversity, to plant and invasive species distribution and land-use change. However, most of these 15 variables are currently not being monitored at all or are not monitored adequately in Europe.

Explore further From ambition to biodiversity action: Time to hold actors accountable

More information: Hannah Moersberger et al, Europa Biodiversity Observation Network: User and Policy Needs Assessment (2022). Journal information: Environmental Research Hannah Moersberger et al, Europa Biodiversity Observation Network: User and Policy Needs Assessment (2022). DOI: 10.3897/arphapreprints.e84517
New research by Francesco Decarolis and Paolo Pinotti, Professors at Bocconi University, Milan, suggests that women may be significantly less corrupt than men. Women at different levels of government bureaucracy in both China and Italy are much less likely to be suspected of corruption and arrested for it. These results are of clear policy relevance. They suggest an intriguing idea for fighting corruption in public office: assigning women bureaucrats to work at tasks involving higher risks of corruption. Credit: Weiwei Chen

New research by two Bocconi University professors suggests that women may be significantly less corrupt than men. Women at different levels of government bureaucracy in both China and Italy are much less likely to be suspected of corruption and arrested for it.

These results are of clear policy relevance. They suggest an intriguing idea for fighting corruption in public office: assigning women bureaucrats to work at tasks involving higher risks of corruption, according to Bocconi Professors Francesco Decarolis (Economics) and Paolo Pinotti (Social and Political Sciences), who have just published the paper "Gender and Bureaucratic Corruption: Evidence from Two Countries" in The Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization in collaboration with Raymond Fisman (Boston University), Silvia Vannutelli (Northwestern University), and Yongxiang Wang (Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Shenzhen Finance Institute, Hong Kong).

Their research not only provides evidence that, out of those who obtain such bureaucratic roles, women are less corrupt but also illuminates a possible cause for this difference: women bureaucrats tend to be more defensive in selecting actions that minimize the risk of a future investigation.

The authors analyzed a dataset of procurement officers in Italy and a dataset of prefectural leaders in China. The Italian data reveals which procurement officers have ever been investigated for corruption. And the Chinese data tells us which prefectural leaders have been arrested. After accounting for various potentially confounding factors including age and location, just the fact of being a woman makes Italian procurement officers 22% less likely to be investigated, and Chinese prefectural leaders 81% less likely of being arrested.

There is also good reason to think these findings are general: the populations examined are from very different cultural and political environments and cover very distinct roles in their hierarchies, with procurement officers in Italy and mayors and prefecture-level leaders in China. The large gender gap in corruption documented in this work highlights the importance of future research to explain this difference.

It could be that women are simply less corruptible than men. Yet, the authors acknowledge that a number of other causes can occur at the same time and cannot be ruled out. It may be that women and men are selected differently to public service jobs such that the selected women are less corrupt; women could face less opportunities for corruption; or women could even be subject to different levels of enforcement. What the authors do find, however, is that female procurement officers in Italy are more risk averse. Using a survey of how Italian procurement officials would respond to real-world scenarios, the authors find that women systematically choose responses that are more defensive, in the sense that they maximize compliance and seek to limit the risk of investigations for possible violations of procedures. Such risk-avoiding behavior could thus contribute to the observed gender gap in corruption.

"Ultimately, we can't conclude that the average woman is less corrupt than the average man. But we now have strong evidence that after the process of selection into bureaucratic professions has taken place, women tend to be significantly less corrupt," said Professor Decarolis.

Explore further Study finds less corruption in countries where more women are in government

More information: Francesco Decarolis et al, Gender and Bureaucratic Corruption: Evidence from Two Countries, The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization (2021). Francesco Decarolis et al, Gender and Bureaucratic Corruption: Evidence from Two Countries,(2021). DOI: 10.1093/jleo/ewab041

Provided by Bocconi University
In a major breakthrough in research on giant viruses, researchers from Japan unveil a unique four-stage maturation process of the medusavirus inside host cells. Credit: Masaharu Takemura from Tokyo University of Science

Giant viruses represent a unique group of viruses that are similar in size to small bacteria. Medusavirusa special type of giant viruswas first isolated from a hot spring in Japan. Genetic studies showed that medusavirus was more closely related to eukaryotic cells than to other giant viruses, suggesting that it may hold the key to understanding eukaryotic evolution. Although the details of medusavirus morphology and maturation in infected cells have so far remained elusive, the researchers behind its initial discovery now have some answers.

In a recent study published in Journal of Virology, a team of Japanese scientists led by Prof. Kazuyoshi Murata from the National Institutes of Natural Sciences and Prof. Masaharu Takemura from Tokyo University of Science has revealed, for the first time, a unique four-stage maturation process that the medusavirus undergoes within host cells.

Prof. Takemura comments, "From an evolutionary perspective, the medusavirus is extremely interesting, as its replication process and genome are different from those of other viruses. Interestingly, medusavirus also has a unique particle structure. In this study, we wanted to make additional inroads towards elucidating the biology of this virus by characterizing its morphology and maturation process."

To do this, the researchers used two techniques that allow the high-resolution visualization of viral infectionconventional transmission electron microscopy (C-TEM) and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). Using these techniques, they observed the detailed particle morphology of medusavirus in infected amoeba cells.

Detailed evaluation of medusavirus morphology within and outside host cells provides new clues into the maturation of giant viruses. Credit: Tokyo University of Science

Their first and rather surprising discovery was the presence of four types of medusavirus particles both within and outside the infected host cells. Based on their features, these particles were named pseudo-DNA-empty (p-Empty, i.e., filled with spongy material but no DNA), DNA-empty (Empty, i.e., no spongy material or DNA), semi-DNA-full (s-Full, i.e., half-filled with DNA), and DNA-full (Full, i.e., completely filled with DNA) particles.

Subsequently, they performed time-course analysis, in which the gene expression was measured at several time points during maturation, and discovered that the four types of particles represented four consecutive stages of viral maturation. They found that unlike in other viruses, the viral capsid or shell of medusavirus was produced independently in the host cell's cytoplasm, while the viral DNA was produced in the nucleus. Further, only empty capsids present near the host nucleus could incorporate viral DNA and become s-Full or DNA-full particles. These findings suggested that the medusavirus had a unique maturation process.

To observe the detailed structure of the four types of medusavirus particles, the team used the cryo-EM technique. They found that all the different particle types had a comparable outer structure, with the presence of three different spikes. The configuration of the capsid shell was also consistent with the structure of the membrane layer within the capsid. However, while s-Full and Full particles showed a complete internal membrane, p-Empty and Empty particles had "open membrane structures," meaning the membrane had a gap at one end.

The medusavirus is known to turn host amoeba cells into cysts, and are often found inside the host mitochondria. This suggests that the medusavirus can directly regulate mitochondrial activity. Credit: Masaharu Takemura from Tokyo University of Science.

"Viruses are smart and can replicate and mature in various ways. Our findings reveal the unique way in which the medusavirus matures. The open membranes we observed in p-Empty and Empty particles were particularly interesting. We believe that the membrane gaps indicate an incompleteness and represent a state in which viral particles have not yet matured. The gaps are likely used to exchange DNA and proteins required for medusavirus maturation and disappear as the virus reaches its final stage," explains Prof. Takemura.

These new insights not only demonstrate a novel mechanism of particle formation and maturation in medusavirus but also shed light on the great structural and behavioral diversity of giant viruses. They represent a "giant" leap in our knowledge of virus biology and call for further research into giant viruses, which could help answer numerous questions about evolution and infection.

Explore further A petrifying virus key to evolution

More information: Ryoto Watanabe et al, Particle Morphology of Medusavirus Inside and Outside the Cells Reveals a New Maturation Process of Giant Viruses, Journal of Virology (2022). Journal information: Journal of Virology Ryoto Watanabe et al, Particle Morphology of Medusavirus Inside and Outside the Cells Reveals a New Maturation Process of Giant Viruses,(2022). DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01853-21
Destination Earth will help scientists and policymakers to understand the complex interactions that the environment and humans will play in shaping Earths future. Destination Earth will also form the baseline for effective European adaptation strategies in support of the green transition, helping the EU reach its goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, and the implementation of the European Commissions Green Deal and Digital Strategy. Credit: ESA

Today, the European Commission, ESA, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (Eumetsat) celebrated the official launch of the Destination Earth initiative: an ambitious project that involves creating a digital replica of Earth to help us move towards a sustainable future.

Destination Earth (DestinE), led by the European Commission's DG Connect, aims to develop a highly accurate digital model of Earth that will monitor and predict environmental change and human impact. Using innovative Earth system models, cutting-edge computing, satellite data and machine learning, DestinE will allow its users to explore the effects of climate change on the different components of the Earth system, together with possible adaptation and mitigation strategies.

The project will contribute to achieving the objectives of the green transition and support the European Commission's Green Deal and Digital Strategy actions on climate change, biodiversity and deforestation. It will also aid in monitoring food security, changes in the polar regions and sea level rise.

Simonetta Cheli, Director of Earth Observation Programmes at ESA, comments, "Destination Earth is a key initiative for Europe that will form the baseline for effective European adaptation strategies and support the green transition. ESA and all involved partners will work hard to bring their own expertise, Earth observation data and excellence to help Europe achieve the next step in informed decision-making."

Credit: European Space Agency

ESA will be responsible for the DestinE Open Core Service Platform, a user-friendly platform that will rely on the most comprehensive and sophisticated space-based observation data, including data from ESA's Earth Explorers, the Copernicus Sentinel series, data from ECMWF and, over time, other major data holdings in Europe.

ESA's Destination Earth Project Manager, Eric Monjoux, says, "The DestinE Core Service Platform is a place of European industry excellence. It is designed, procured and overseen by ESA and ready to evolve to encompass the challenges of the Green Deal and climate change adaptation."

Destination Earth (DestinE), is an initiative of the European Union, that aims to develop a digital twin, or replica, of our planet. This twin will be used to monitor the effects of natural and human activity on our planet, anticipate extreme events and adapt policies to climate-related issues. Credit: ESA

Eumetsat will be responsible for the multi-cloud data lake underpinning DestinE, including its design, establishment and testing, as well as its operations of the online inventory, while ECMWF will be responsible for the Digital Twin Engine, including the development of the two initial Digital Twins: Digital Twin on Weather-Induced and Geophysical Extremes and the Climate Change Adaptation Digital Twin.

Destination Earths digital twins are digital replicas of our planets complex Earth system. They will be built under thematic categorisations from the different domains of Earth science, such as extreme natural disasters, climate change adaptation, oceans and biodiversity. The aim is to integrate these digital replicas to form one comprehensive digital twin of the complete Earth system. Credit: ESA

DestinE will be developed gradually through the following key milestones: the development of the open core digital platform and the first two digital twins by 2024, and by 2030 a "full" digital replica of Earth through the convergence of the digital twins available through the platform.

Explore further ESA moves forward with Destination Earth
Dr. Tobias Chemnitz at the test facility for Mo-99 production at FRM II at the Garching reserach campus. Credit: Reiner Muller, FRM II / TUM

Nuclear medicine uses technetium-99m among other things for tumor diagnostics. With over 30 million applications worldwide each year, it is the most widely used radioisotope. The precursor material, molybdenum-99, is mainly produced in research reactors. A study at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Research Neutron Source (FRM II) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) now shows options to significantly reduce the radioactive waste produced during processing to a medical product.

Over 85 percent of all nuclear medicine diagnostic examinations use technetium-99m (Tc-99m). In Germany alone, more than 3 million doses are deployed every year. Coupled to suitable organic molecules, technetium is distributed throughout the body via the blood and accumulates in tumors, for example. When it decays there, the released radiation reveals the precise location of the tumor.

Technetium-99m is produced by irradiating uranium plates, so-called targets, with a high neutron flux that is practically only available at research reactors. Initially, starting from uranium-235 this produces molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), which decays to Tc-99m with a half-life of 66 hours. With a half-life of six hours the latter converts to Tc-99, emitting gamma radiation that can be measured.

More waste from low-enriched uranium

The political push to replace highly enriched uranium with low-enriched uranium also applies to targets being used in the medical field. This is why the Mo-99 irradiation facility currently under construction at FRM II is designed for targets with low-enriched uranium.

"However, this gives rise to a severe problem: the less the uranium plates are enriched with uranium-235, the lower the specific yield of Mo-99 during irradiation," says Dr. Tobias Chemnitz, instrument scientist at the MEDAPP medical irradiation facility at FRM II.

To meet world-wide demand of Tc-99m, at least twice as many uranium plates must be irradiated and processed, depending on the technology used. This produces correspondingly higher volumes of waste. Chemnitz addressed this problem in his doctoral thesis at the Technical University of Munich.

New process avoids up to 15,000 liters of liquid radioactive waste

The final irradiated plates comprise only about 0.1 percent Mo-99. To ensure a purity sufficient for medical applications, the Mo-99 must be carefully separated from the remaining material.

Currently, there are two standard processes in use, based on an acidic and an alkaline process, respectively. In the alkaline variant, the entire target is initially treated with caustic soda. In the process, Mo-99 is preferentially dissolved, while the uranium is insoluble in this solution and remains as a solid. The residual fission products are then separated from the aqueous solution in an elaborate chemical separation process.

Since highly enriched targets were substituted by low-enriched targets, the same molybdenum yield doubles the the resulting aqueous, medium-level radioactive waste to an annual volume of up to 15,000 liters worldwidewhich furthermore has to be cemented to be suitable for final disposal, so that in the end radioactive waste with a volume of 375,000 liters is produced every year.

The solution: Get rid of the water

To alleviate this problem, Chemnitz and his colleague Riane Stene developed a new method for extracting Mo-99 without the use of aqueous chemistry.

In collaboration with the fluorine chemistry group at Philipps University of Marburg, the researchers developed a system in which the uranium-molybdenum test plates react with nitrogen trifluoride in a plasma. These plates had the same molybdenum content as would later be present in actual irradiated targets.

Finally, they separated the excess uranium from the molybdenum via a light-controlled reaction. The separation of the two elements in this manner is every bit as efficient as the sodium hydroxide treatment performed in the first step of the conventional reprocessing procedurewith the notable exception that it produces no aqueous waste.

Only six major research reactors produce molybdenum-99

"Currently, six major irradiation facilities worldwide produce Mo-99. Of these research reactors, four are over 40 years old, which leads to unforeseen repairs and associated shutdownsas has already happened in the recent past. That is why we are proud that the FRM II, together with the French Jules-Horowitz reactor, will be able to secure the European demand for Mo-99 in the future," says Tobias Chemnitz.

TUM has submitted a patent application for the process. Regardless that further development work is still needed, Chemnitz is confident that this novel approach will provide a viable alternative to established processes in the medium term.

The research is published in Journal of Fluorine Chemistry.

Explore further Partnership plans to produce Mo-99 to fill global demand for medical applications

More information: Riane E. Stene et al, Reductive photo-chemical separation of the hexafluorides of uranium and molybdenum, Journal of Fluorine Chemistry (2020). Riane E. Stene et al, Reductive photo-chemical separation of the hexafluorides of uranium and molybdenum,(2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.jfluchem.2020.109655
With the approval of Xi Jinping, chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the CMC has issued a series of new regulations on the management of People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers.

The interim regulations on non-commissioned officers and conscripts, together with several supporting documents issued by the CMC, are aimed at enhancing professionalism and stability among non-commissioned officers, while allowing conscripts to play a more fundamental role in the development of China's military talent, the military authorities said.

They will also help boost the management of PLA soldiers by perfecting the recruitment, training, rank promotion, benefits and demobilization system for non-commissioned officers and conscripts, and will play a vital role in building a high-quality military that follows the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the authorities said.

The new regulations will all go into effect on March 31.
Dating of tiny zircon crystals reveal the age of volcanic rocks in the Karoo province. Credit: Arto Luttinen

Severe environmental crises led to a series of large-scale extinction events in the Jurassic period 178-186 million years (myr) ago. The turmoil has been ascribed to the abundant release of volcanic gases, but the temporal link between volcanism and extinctions has remained controversial.

"Our results provide strong support for the view that episodic magmatism in the Karoo province may have been the culprit of repeated Jurassic environmental and biological crises," says Arto Luttinen from the Finnish Museum of Natural History, the leading author of the article published in Gondwana Research.

"Previous dating of volcanism in the Karoo province has indicated a short duration of activity 182-183 myr ago. While this age coincides with the largest Jurassic extinction, it cannot explain the recurrent environmental crises that began millions of years earlier and continued long afterwards," says Luttinen, and explains that the indications of longer duration and periodicity of volcanism have mostly been regarded as unreliable due to potential methodological issues.

Uranium-lead method needed to unveil the historic events

The new ages were measured at the Nordsim Laboratory in Stockholm using the so-called uranium-lead method on sub-millimeter-sized zircon crystals in volcanic rocks. The production of lead from the radioactive decay of uranium provides the most reliable chronometer for dating ancient geological processes.

At the Nordsim Laboratory, the studied crystals are drilled with a narrow beam of ionized particles and the ages of the tiny zircons are defined by mass spectroscopic measurements of the uranium and lead abundances.

"This approach enabled us to date individual crystals formed at various evolutionary stages of long-lived magma systems," explain co-authors Matti Kurhila, Geological Survey of Finland, and Martin Whitehouse, Swedish Museum of Natural History.

The examination of samples collected across an over 1000 kilometer-long magmatic zone in Mozambique shows the previously established peak of activity 182-183 myr ago was preceded by volcanism 185-190 myr ago, and was followed by another major magmatic stage 178-181 myr ago, and waning activity during the subsequent several million years.

"These results pave the way for further research on age dating and magmatic degassing in order to better understand the coincidence between Karoo volcanism and global biosphere crises," concludes Luttinen.

Explore further First direct evidence for a mantle plume origin of Jurassic flood basalts in southern Africa

More information: Arto Luttinen et al, Periodicity of Karoo rift zone magmatism inferred from zircon ages of silicic rocks: Implications for the origin and environmental impact of the large igneous province, Gondwana Research (2022). Arto Luttinen et al, Periodicity of Karoo rift zone magmatism inferred from zircon ages of silicic rocks: Implications for the origin and environmental impact of the large igneous province,(2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.gr.2022.03.005
Credit: University of Chicago Press

While maybe not racially prejudiced, a broad swath of American citizens nonetheless do and say things that racists do, according to a new study.

"Everyday people are implicated, not because they are racist but because they possess certain values that lock in disadvantage for African Americans," wrote Darren Davis, the Snyder Family Mission Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, and David C. Wilson, professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, in their new book, "Racial Resentment in the Political Mind," published by the University of Chicago Press. "Such 'banality' makes racial resentment frightening. While the overwhelming focus has been on the overt and blatant racists parading in hoods and capes, the ordinariness of racial resentment works in the same way as racial prejudice. As a comparison, lynchings were spearheaded by blatant racists, but thousands of everyday citizens were willing participants who cheered, posed for photographs, and departed with souvenirs as if they were state fairs."

The term "racial resentment" has been around for decades and originally referred to a less blatant kind of racism in which Black people are seen as violating traditional norms and values like individualism. However, Davis and Wilson disagree with the way the term is defined and measured and, instead, looked to factors like deservingness and defense of the status quo across many years of data.

"The underlying theory is that people who are high in racial resentment are more likely to possess attitudes that reject special racial treatment and amelioration because they benefit African Americans and other minorities unjustly and unfairly," they wrote.

"The book is predicated on this idea that whites perceive that the American way of life is changing; they perceive that they are being cut in line and that their status is being threatenedand being threatened by undeserving African Americans and other minoritiesand that this costs them, thus legitimizing racial myths. It's a little bit more sophisticated than just holding racial stereotypes," Davis said.

Wilson added that racial attitudes can have many causes and can be motivated by a host of needs, including the need for security, the need for safety or the need to not feel like the world you see as fair is disrupted.

"Whenever someone receives something, they go through the automatic judgment of whether or not it's deserved. When people perceive that someone is getting something they don't deserve and they think that something is very importanta cherished outcome like a scholarship to a university or the ability to buy a house, or even being the first person in line because you got there earlywhenever that system of fairness is disrupted, it produces resentment," Wilson said. "What we're saying is that that resentment becomes racialized because of the ways in which people think about systems of merit and beliefs that capitalism is fair."

Wilson pointed out that some of these issues about deservingness are motivated by what might be called racism or prejudiced ideas, but it could be the inverse. "It may be the actual oppositethat racial attitudes like prejudice are motivated by holding certain values that undeserving people should be in a certain place, for example, or that they haven't paid their dues."

He stressed that people are not naturally born as racists or with prejudice, but that these are evolutionary traits that manifest because people are part of self-enhancing groups that they want to protect. These groups make people feel good and lead them to the conclusion that they are good people.

"So, if we're good people and we have negative attitudes about African Americans, we can do two things: We can realize that we're not good people, or we can blame African Americans," Wilson said. "It's easier to say that 'it's your fault and you should work harder'; that's the deservingness mechanism that's at play. The myth is that African Americans are not working hard and playing by the rules so, even when they do work hard and play by the rules, those [negative] values persevere and get applied more broadly."

The authors note that it is fair for whites (and any other dominant group) to realize that society is changing, but they say that doesn't mean it must be resisted and should not be misconstrued as reverse racism.

"I think that there are things taking place in society today that can actually give the perception that the status quo for whites is actually changing. For instance, trigger warnings; we have this renewed emphasis on diversity and inclusion; we have this reaction, this backlash toward political correctness; Barack Obama was elected for two terms; and we also have job outsourcing and immigration issues," Davis said. "However, another argument that we make is that it is not unreasonable for whites to perceive that; these things are actually occurring. However, the extent to which African Americans and other minorities are benefiting from these things is misperceived."

Davis and Wilson also tested how racial resentment relates to campaign appeals as well as schadenfreude as retribution. They found that campaign slogans that "convey a threat to the status quo and privilege have a special resonance." In their related experiment, participants overwhelmingly interpreted President Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" rallying cry as African Americans forgetting their place.

"Many whites believe they are being left behind and disadvantaged by racial groups and policies, and reacting to this threat, they will gravitate toward candidates and campaign appeals that seek to protect and defend the status quo or their privilege," Davis said. "'Make America Great Again' becomes a code for returning an era in which whites were more well off."

The authors also found that high levels of racial resentment correlated with delight in the failure of those not in the majority whoas perceived by the white majorityhave received unearned or undeserved perks at the expense of whites. They asked if people would be happy or sad when responding to things related to Obama, such as whether or not he would be identified as the best or worst president in history or his economic successes or failures. They found that "individuals with higher levels of racial resentment are more likely to express sadness in the face of African Americans' accomplishments and happiness in the face of African Americans' failures because they perceive African Americans as undeserving of success, and such success thus challenges their notion of justice and fairness."

African Americans' racial resentment toward whites is infrequently studied and, when done, Davis and Wilson noted, has been flawed and not equivalent to measurements applied to white racial resentment. The authors applied their same framework of deservingness and justice to African Americans and found that higher levels of racial resentment in African Americans translated into greater support for Obama and for increased spending on welfare and health care. It also manifested as lower support for Trump and decreased spending on law enforcement.

Explore further Why do white Americans support both strict immigration policies and dream act?
A Hellenic sculpture of a head from the ancient Libya city of Cyrene is displayed after it was returned by the United States Thursday, March 31, 2022 ,Tripoli, Libya. The United States returned a cache of smuggled ancient artifacts to Libya on Thursday as the oil-rich Mediterranean country struggles to protect its ancient heritage against the backdrop of years of war, turmoil and unrest. Credit: AP Photo/Yousef Murad

The United States on Thursday returned a cache of smuggled ancient artifacts to Libya as the oil-rich Mediterranean country struggles to protect its heritage against the backdrop of years of war, turmoil and unrest.

The repatriated items include two sculptures dating to the 4th century B.C. from the ancient city of Cyrene.

One, named the "Veiled Head of a Female," was previously in the hands of a private collector of other illegal artifacts, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy in Libya. The other, also a Hellenic bust, had been at the Metropolitan Museum of New York since 1998, the statement said. Both were displayed by Libyan antiquities officials at a reception ceremony in the country's capital, Tripoli.

Libyan antiquities authorities thanked American officials and law enforcement for the returned items and said that they looked forward to future cooperation. The embassy credited the work of the Manhattan District Attorney's office and Homeland Security Investigations officials for the recovery of the artifacts.

"Although these antiquities were brought illegally to the United States by traffickers, legal efforts have succeeded in returning them to their country of origin," the embassy statement read.

Libya boasts many ancient Greek and Roman structures, along with a wealth of ancient artifacts in its major museum in the capital of Tripoli and in other museums countrywide, though its archeological sites have been plundered for decades.

A collection of ancient pottery is displayed, as part of a cache of antiquities is returned to Libya from the United States on Thursday, March 31, 2022 ,Tripoli, Libya. The United States returned a cache of smuggled ancient artifacts to Libya on Thursday as the oil-rich Mediterranean country struggles to protect its ancient heritage against the backdrop of years of war, turmoil and unrest. (AP Photo/Yousef Murad).

A Hellenic sculpture of a head from the ancient Libya city of Cyrene is displayed after it was returned by the United States Thursday, March 31, 2022 ,Tripoli, Libya. The United States returned a cache of smuggled ancient artifacts to Libya on Thursday as the oil-rich Mediterranean country struggles to protect its ancient heritage against the backdrop of years of war, turmoil and unrest. Credit: AP Photo/Yousef Murad

A Hellenic sculpture of a head from the ancient Libya city of Cyrene is unloaded after it was returned by the United States Thursday, March 31, 2022 ,Tripoli, Libya. The United States returned a cache of smuggled ancient artifacts to Libya on Thursday as the oil-rich Mediterranean country struggles to protect its ancient heritage against the backdrop of years of war, turmoil and unrest. Credit: AP Photo/Yousef Murad

A Hellenic sculpture of a head from the ancient Libya city of Cyrene is displayed after it was returned by the United States Thursday, March 31, 2022 ,Tripoli, Libya. The United States returned a cache of smuggled ancient artifacts to Libya on Thursday as the oil-rich Mediterranean country struggles to protect its ancient heritage against the backdrop of years of war, turmoil and unrest. Credit: AP Photo/Yousef Murad

Libya has been wrecked by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The country was after that split for years between rival administrations in the east and the west, each supported by an array of militias and foreign governments.

Large-scale fighting has only stopped in the past year, but Libyans have yet to unite under a single political leadership, despite strenuous U.N.-led efforts.

The Greeks founded the settlement of Cyrene, close to the modern town of Shahat, in the 4th century B.C. It was later incorporated into the Roman empire. The United Nations added Cyrene to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1982 and it has been classified as a location that is particularly endangered due to neglect and looting since 2016.

Explore further Iraq gets back looted ancient artifacts from US, others

 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
The UN wants to measure whether cities and companies are meeting their emissions pledges.

The United Nations launched a task force Thursday to pressure businesses to keep their emissions-cutting promises instead of masking progress with feel-good "greenwashing".

The group will draw up standards for measuring the credibility of claims by non-state groupsincluding cities and companiesthat they are cutting the carbon emissions driving devastating climate change.

The 16-member group of experts will be chaired by Canada's former environment minister Catherine McKenna and includes various academics and leaders from business, finance, energy, politics and NGOs.

Countries have agreed they must cap global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius to avert the worst impacts. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says this requires carbon-neutrality by mid-century.

But UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres warned that state pledges will not be enough if regional authorities, polluting companies and the banks that finance them do not pull their weight.

"We also urgently need every business, investor, city, state and region to walk the talk on their net-zero promises," he said, according to pre-prepared remarks released ahead of the group's launch.

In February, a landmark IPCC report on climate change impacts warned that time had nearly run out to ensure a "liveable future" for all.

A report by Boston Consulting Group found that some 3,000 companies had set some form of net-zero commitment by November 2021.

They included more than a fifth of those in the Fortune Global 2000 ranking of listed companiessome 420 major world firms.

But companies are accused of "greenwashing"trumpeting climate pledges while taking action that undermines those goals.

The UN says greenwashing is made possible by a lack of common standards for assessing the credibility of carbon-cutting commitments and enforcing them.

It warns that pledges by fossil fuel companies to shift to methods such as carbon-capture technology are not enoughcarbon emissions must be actively reduced overall.

"The recent avalanche of net-zero pledges by businesses, investors, cities and regions will be vital to keep 1.5 degrees Celsius alive and to build towards a safe and healthy planet," McKenna said in pre-released remarks.

"But only if all pledges have transparent plans, robust near-term action, and are implemented in full."

Guterres said the new bodythe High-Level Expert Group on the Net-Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entitieswill draw up such standards and aim to embed them in international regulations.

Similar initiatives are under way in the United States and the European Union.

Guterres asked the group to make recommendations by the end of the year.

"To avert a climate catastrophe, we need bold pledges matched by concrete action," he said.

"Tougher net-zero standards and strengthened accountability around the implementation of these commitments can deliver real and immediate emissions cuts."

 2022 AFP
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Runoff from roads, lawns, farms and old septic tanks is polluting US waterways, driving harmful algae blooms.

 Climate change means heavier rainstorms carry more pollution to warmer waters primed for algae spread.

 About half of US lakes and rivers are now too polluted to be used for fishing, swimming or drinking water.

Some call Lake George the "Queen of American Lakes."

Millions of visitors each year are drawn to its crystal clear waters, bountiful islands, and the backdrop against the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. Families camp, fish, boat, and otherwise take in the natural world.

If anywhere is pollution-free, this picturesque place would seem to be it.

Except it isn't. Not anymore.

For decades, human development has crept to the banks of Lake George. Septic tanks dotting its edges are aging and failing, seeping contaminants into the groundwater and then into the lake. Increasingly heavy rainstorms, a product of climate change, carry oil, road salt, and fertilizer from roads and lawns into its waters.

Global warming is also raising air and water temperatures, creating the conditions for what happened in 2020: Lake George's first known bloom of blue-green algae.

Often an indicator of pollution, harmful algae blooms have grabbed headlines in the Great Lakes and Gulf Coast states in recent years. But to Eric Siy, president of the nonprofit Lake George Association, its appearance in Lake George presented a bright, neon warning sign of a nation's troubled waters.

"This is a pandemic in its own right," Siy said. "We're setting ourselves up for a runaway train of a problem."

The swift rise in algae blooms across the nation is the most visible symptom of a much deeper problem facing U.S. waterways, experts say. Over the past 50 years, the buildup of agriculture and human development nationwide has created an immense strain on lakes, rivers, and streams in virtually every region of the country, threatening the ability of Americans to safely fish, swim, and drink from our waters.

Passed in 1972, the U.S. Clean Water Act at first vastly improved the nation's waterways, primarily by clamping down on pollution coming from industrial factories and sewage treatment plants. The effort cut down on the large, stinky "dead zones" near major cities, most notoriously Cleveland's Cuyahoga River, where industrial oil slicks repeatedly lit on fire leading up to the passage of the law.

But, experts say, the law paid little attention to polluted runoff from a vast constellation of American farms, towns, businesses, and homes. When it rains, these landscapes spill a cocktail of pollutants into water where they harm ecosystems and pose deadly threats to drinking water and swimmers.

After half a century of agricultural and residential development, these types of "nonpoint source" pollution, largely an afterthought 50 years ago, are now the chief water quality concern in many parts of the country. Making matters worse, climate change is warming lakes and rivers, which can further exacerbate large fishkills and algae blooms.

"This is a recipe for disaster," said Silvia Secchi, a watershed scientist at the University of Iowa. "Because we didn't do anything about it for nearly half a century, the problem has festered."

This March, the nonprofit Environmental Integrity Project released a report showing that 50% of the nation's rivers and streams and 55% of its lakes are now "impaired," according to data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. That means half of such waters nationwide are too polluted to safely be used for recreation, fishing, or drinking water, or cannot support populations of animals, from oysters to otters.

That follows a prior investigation by the Natural Resources Defense Council that tracked an exploding number of algae blooms across the U.S. between 2008 and 2020, ultimately impacting all 50 states.

Signs of waters in distress are everywhere.

In Iowa, fertilizer and manure runoff from the state's agricultural sector has choked rivers like the Des Moines to the extent that the city is now drilling for cleaner groundwater to ensure the safety of its drinking water. The Des Moines ultimately drains to the Mississippi River, which carries so many pollutants from the heart of America that a dead zone as big as New Jersey forms off the coast of Louisiana each summer.

In Florida, leaky septic tanks and other runoff is helping drive algae blooms along more than 100 miles of the Indian River Lagoon, contributing to the death of thousands of acres of seagrass and hundreds of manatees that rely on it.

In California, the paving over of cities like Los Angeles is forcing plastics and pollutants into waterways and limiting the recharge of the local groundwater, intensifying a need to pipe in water from elsewhere in the drought-stricken state.

"It's death by a thousand cuts," said Bruce Reznik, the Los Angeles River waterkeeper. "And it's very hard to fix."

Experts across the country agree solutions are elusive. Some advocate for a modern-day reworking of the Clean Water Act and its regulations to crack down on nonpoint source pollution. Others favor incentive-based systems to prompt farmers and homeowners to voluntarily adopt best practices.

Without any action, many experts see a future of growing harm to humans and animals alike. But any fix will inevitably require a difficult recalibration of the American way of life, from how we produce and consume our food, to how we maintain our roadways, to how we care for our lawns and pick up after our pets.

"The question is, how do you provide a mix of measures to inform and empower people to do the right thing?" Siy said. "Because I do think most people want to do the right thing."

A drinking water threat

In Des Moines, generations of Iowans have relied on the river for their drinking water, as well as the Raccoon River that empties into it in the heart of town. But that dependence is now in doubt.

In two of the past three years, the city has had to stop using the Des Moines for drinking water after pollutants from upstream fertilizers led to harmful algae blooms, said water utility CEO Ted Corrigan. In addition, drought conditions have cut dangerously into the flow of the Raccoon.

With nowhere to turn, the city is planning to drill three or four groundwater wells along the Des Moines riverbanks, where Corrigan said sand and gravel will help filter impurities. The project will cost $50 million, but the city is out of options; a federal judge dismissed in 2017 a lawsuit seeking to impose regulations upon upstream farmers.

The Clean Water Act has "left Iowa behind," Corrigan said. "Our most challenging water-quality issues are related to agriculture, and it's almost completely exempted" from the federal law.

Similar stories abound nationwide

In 2014, the city of Toledo, Ohio, had to shut down the drinking water of more than 400,000 people for several days after it was contaminated by algae bloom on Lake Erie, the most developed of the Great Lakes. The following year, an algae bloom stretched 650 miles on the Ohio River, threatening numerous water treatment plants.

Blue-green algae is actually not an alga at all, but cyanobacteria that can cause serious health risks to humans, including vomiting, diarrhea, body aches, and even pneumonia.

Such acute illnesses remain the top concern from runoff pollution, said Steve Via, director of federal relations for the American Water Works Association, a nonprofit representing water utilities nationwide. In addition to cyanobacteria, organisms like the microscopic parasite cryptosporidium, which can cause severe gastrointestinal distress and death, can enter drinking water after pollutant-laden water disrupts normal treatment processes.

After a major outbreak of cryptosporidium killed 69 people in Milwaukee in 1993, drinking water utilities began focusing on addressing dangers across their watersheds, not just at their water intakes, Via said.

"You've got to be looking upstream: Is my supply going to be impacted by (pollutants), by algae blooms?" Via said. "You do that to install the right kind of treatment, and so you're able to spot and respond before that treatment is inadequate."

Agricultural and urban pollution presents other risks to drinking water. Nitrates, a primary contaminant from fertilizers and manure, are dangerous to humans above the EPA's safety limit of 10 milligrams per liter in drinking water. Exposure above that level can cause "blue baby syndrome" leading to serious illness or death in infants, as well as increased heart rate, nausea, headaches, and abdominal cramps in adults.

Research has shown a doubling of the number of water utilities violating the nitrate safety limit in the past several decades, now reaching more than 500 annually. Scientists have found acute nitrate pollution stretching across the country from the Central California Valley to the Midwest and Great Plains to Pennsylvania's Amish country and Delaware's coastal plains.

Even successful treatment of these polluted waters comes with drawbacks. When large amounts of debris and runoff enter a waterway after a rainstorm, treatment plants use chemicals like chlorine to kill potentially harmful pollutants. But that process creates disinfection byproducts in the water, some of which are cancerous at high levels. These layered threats prompted a collection of scientists and water regulators to issue an "urgent call to action" to the EPA in 2009 to find a way to reduce the pollution outright.

Pointing out the threat to inland waters and coastal estuaries, the report's authors warned, "nitrogen and phosphorus pollution has the potential to become one of the costliest, most difficult environmental problems we face in the 21st century."

A risk to humans and animals alike

Two years ago, Sandi Richardson and her two young children were enjoying a summer day along the banks of Indiana's White River. They knew not to swim. The river slices through the state and has a long legacy of both urban and rural pollution.

But her 4-year-old son slipped from a log and fell in. Two days later, he was sick with fever and black diarrhea. The doctor's diagnosis: a bacterial infectionthe exact type someone might get from exposure to E. coli through contaminated water.

Though her son recovered, and it's not possible to confirm his infection came from the river, Richardson wonders what else it could have been. Now, she takes part in a state effort to track water pollution back to its sources, which experts say often traces back to agricultural runoff.

"That freaked me out," she said. "That week definitely was the week where I decided I needed to do something."

Across the country, polluted waterways are having profound impacts on both the animals that depend on clean water and the people who enjoy its recreational benefits.

Water quality in the Puget Sound in Washington is under threat from a variety of sources, including runoff from Seattle and other population centers, as well as aging sewage treatment systems that overflow when heavy rains arrive. Conditions are now a far cry from the pristine waters that generations of the Indigenous Suquamish Tribe have relied upon to harvest salmon, crabs, clams and oysters.

Indigenous people have had to shut down some harvesting activities in recent years due to the lack of healthy shellfish populations, said Leonard Forsman, the tribe's chairman. They even fear for their own health, soaping down canoes after ceremonial paddles to guard against infection.

Tiring of the pollution, the tribe has considered suing nearby King County in order to cut down the number of sewage spills into the sound.

"It's difficult to take these actions, but our people here are really frustrated," he said.

On the coast of North Carolina, millions of hogs eventually bound for dinner plates are concentrated on large, industrial farms. Their waste is often pooled into open-air lagoons, which can overflow during storms and cause harmful algal blooms, eating up oxygen essential to animal life, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Following intense storms like 2016's Hurricane Matthew, large fish kills have been observed in nearby waterways like the Neuse River.

"On the coast, the biggest threat is to our commercial fishing and shellfishing industries, along with our recreation industry," said Geoff Gisler, a senior attorney at the center.

On the southwest tip of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, scientists at the Marine Biological Laboratory have for decades tracked the health of postcard-perfect estuaries like Waquoit Bay.

Over the past several decades, the Clean Air Act has cut down on nationwide nitrogen emissions from cars and industry, sharply reducing the number of pollutants reaching the bay by air. But growing real estate development and aging septic systems have overwhelmed that trend and driven nitrogen levels in the Waquoit to unprecedented levels.

The pollution has killed off once bountiful eelgrass, pushing it to just a few spare pockets of the bay. Populations of fish and scallops, which depend on it, have also fallen. Underwater algae have taken the place of the eelgrass, occasionally washing up in unsightly clumps on beaches.

A continued drop in air emissions has bought some time before the eelgrass fully disappears, said Javier Lloret, a research scientist at the laboratory.

But the window is closing.

"It's only giving us a little more time to act," Lloret said. "This is the time to do something."

The pollution solutions

The Chesapeake Bay sits just 30 miles from Capitol Hill, making it the home watershed for federal officials with the power to decide the fate of the nation's waterways.

But even for the Chesapeake, everything hangs in the balance.

Harry Campbell, a director of science policy and advocacy for the nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said the health of the watershed has substantially improved since the passage of the Clean Water Act 50 years ago.

But the cracks are showing. Large quantities of agricultural runoff pose a primary threat, followed by urban runoff and sewage, as well as continuing industrial pollution. Brook trout, rockfish, eel, and shellfish populations are under threat. The act's goals of "swimmable, fishable" waters are unrealized. And climate change is bearing down, perhaps putting the full restoration of the bay out of reach.

To combat the pollution, Campbell works to improve best practices in Pennsylvania's agricultural sector, a large contributor to pollution in the Chesapeake. That puts him among a growing band of advocates working on runoff pollution across the country.

But how do you stop pollution that's coming from everywhere?

"I don't believe there's a magic bullet," Campbell said.

After Des Moines' legal defeat, Iowa has become perhaps ground zero for voluntary efforts.

Ruth McCabe, a conservation agronomist at Heartland Cooperative in central Iowa, believes in the ability of farmers to get the job done. The scale is Herculean23 million acres of cropland across the statebut McCabe takes it one farm at a time.

"My mantra is 'another practice, another grower, another acre,'" McCabe said.

The practices she preaches include adding cover crops like rye and oats after corn and other staples are harvested, which helps to retain soil and nutrients. Also, she urges the planting of natural vegetation to keep runoff out of waterways and educates farmers on how to stabilize their soil, their most valuable asset.

But Secchi, the University of Iowa water researcher, is skeptical. Trends in Iowa are heading in the wrong direction, she said. Without any regulation, there's no requirement to perform best practices.

She also believes incentives are misaligned, with farmers pushing their land to the limit to meet American consumers' expectations for cheap meat. In Secchi's view, that means Americans need to eat less meat and pay more for it so farmers can afford to implement more holistic practices.

"We need to change the way we eat if we don't want to have problems going forward," Secchi said.

Money for farmers is also on the mind of experts like Via, with the American Water Works Association. He is skeptical the modern political environment will allow a significant overhaul of the federal Clean Water Act. But, he notes, Congress passes a farm bill about every five years that divvies out hundreds of billions of dollars to the agricultural sector. If even a small percentage of that paid farmers to protect rivers and streams, Via said it could go a long way.

"That's a real investment in the agricultural communities that can benefit the downstream water supplies," Via said.

Others believe laws and regulations must come into play. Gisler, the environmental attorney in North Carolina, believes an easy start is for the EPA to use powers under the Clean Water Act to target the largest farms producing the most waste. Anne Giblin, a scientist on Cape Cod, believes local regulations requiring the replacement of septic systems with those that remove nitrogen, paired with new funding sources, would be an effective combination of carrot and stick.

But ultimately, an update to the Clean Water Act to "tune up the language" and address modern concerns by giving regulators more oversight remains a powerful option, said Eric Schaeffer, executive director of the Environmental Integrity Project and a former director of the EPA's Office of Civil Enforcement. Such an effort, while politically difficult, would help the agency formulate water quality standards and a plan fit for 21st century challenges.

"Big problems are hard," Schaeffer said. "You've got to see that finish line ahead of you and understand what you're working toward."

Explore further Researchers say it's time to clean up the Clean Water Act

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QUEENSBURY  Dan Janssen and his 13-year-old daughter Ruby, who traveled to Poland to assist in Ukrainian refugee efforts, have returned from a sobering and successful trip.

The pair had plans to trace the final years of Anne Franks journey by visiting Holland, Poland and Germany, but after Ukraine was invaded by Russia, their itinerary shifted.

They were still able to witness history up close by visiting the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, the concentration camp where she died and museums along the way, but the focus of the trip became to provide aid to the refugees fleeing the warfare in Ukraine.

The Janssens followed the path Anne Frank traveled to help Ruby experience her current history lesson at Queensbury Middle School with her own eyes, before traveling to a refugee camp in Warsaw, Poland.

In Warsaw, they met up with Nata Maievska, a Ukrainian film student studying in Poland and now a refugee herself.

Dan Janssen met Maievska in October 2021, staying at the same hostel in Warsaw while he was there for an international film festival. The two have remained Facebook friends, which prompted Dan to reach out during this time of crisis.

With plans already in place to travel abroad with his daughter, after learning that Maievska was actively assisting in refugee efforts, he made arrangements to meet her in Warsaw to shop for supplies for refugee camps in Poland.

The Janssens raised over $7,000 solely for their efforts on the self-funded and planned trip. They originally planned to buy mattresses and blankets for refugees, but Maievska provided a specific list of medical supplies needed not only for those at the camps, but also in Ukraine hospitals.

She took us to her film school, which she said like all film schools in Warsaw is doubling as a distribution center for daily needs and relief for the refugees in Warsaw. We then went shopping with her for supplies like food and medical items that she said were in short supply at the distribution site, Dan said.

At the supply distribution site, they met a group of refugees that Dan described as a family that could live next door in Queensbury.

He said the woman, along with her sister and sisters two children ages 9 and 12, had been stranded at a family countryside cottage after fleeing Kyiv the night before it was locked down in February.

As a precaution, they told him the bridge leading back to the city had been blow up by the Ukraine Army to keep the Russians from invading the area.

That night they said they thought any snap of a twig outside the window would be their end, so they woke up the next morning and made a break for the border and fortunately wound up in Warsaw where they have been given a home, Dan shared.

While in Warsaw, they also visited the central train station that has been set up to process refugees coming into Poland.

They would come in by train or bus and then were assigned refugee housing. There was a big tent with a soup kitchen set up outside the station, he explained.

Ruby said her favorite part was being able to see the Anne Frank House and coming back to school to finish reading the play with her class.

Dan plans to return to Warsaw each month to assist with the relief efforts, but is still helping from his Queensbury home.

I held on to about half the funds and Nata has been regularly giving us updates from the consulate on what is needed in Ukraine, and we have been able to make purchases online and have them shipped directly to the consulate and they are then transported by ground right into Ukraine, he said.

The Janssens are still accepting donations on Venmo: @daniel_janssen_pa_c or they can be contacted by email for other ways to help: winchguy99@aol.com.

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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QUEENSBURY  Vietnam veterans from an Adirondack-based group have donated 30 gift cards for gas to SUNY Adirondack veteran students.

In honor of Vietnam War Veterans Day on Tuesday, Adirondack Chapter 79 of Vietnam Veterans of America donated the 30 gift cards, each with $30 for gas, to the SUNY Adirondack Foundation, the charity wing of the college.

A few weeks ago, I attended lunch with the SUNY Adirondack President Kristine Duffy and she mentioned shes concerned some students, with the price of gas, will not be able to make every class because they dont have gas money to go back and forth, said Sam Hall, president of Chapter 79 and a Washington County supervisor, according to a news release from the college on Thursday.

The gift cards were purchased from Stewarts Shops.

According to the news release, Vietnam Veterans of America, a national nonprofit organization, was formed with the intention to help and advocate for all veterans in the country.

If we have a veteran we know is in need, we support them, Hall said.

SUNY Adirondack has about 43 students who identify as active duty, Guard reserves or veterans.

A total of 98 students have parents, guardians or spouses who are veterans.

The dependents are not eligible for the gifted gas cards, however a place called The Hub on campus provides gift cards for gas to students in need, according to Rhonda Triller, director of marketing and communications for the college.

This gift will directly help veteran students overcome new and emerging financial barriers in their academic pursuits, said Taylor Testa, director of student engagement and diversity at the college.

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Warren County Health Services confirmed 28 new COVID cases on Wednesday, 15 of which stemmed from at-home test results.

There are now four county residents who are hospitalized due to COVID, after Health Services confirmed a new hospitalization on Wednesday.

There have been 118 new COVID cases over the last five days in Warren County.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate for the county is 4%.

Following an announcement by the FDA, Warren County is awaiting state authorization to provide a second round of booster vaccination shots to those who need it the most, such as the elderly and immunocompromised individuals.

A total of 46% of the population in Warren County have been vaccinated with a booster shot.

Washington County

Washington County last updated its COVID data on Friday, at which point officials reported 34 active COVID cases and two hospitalizations within the county.

According to state data, six people tested positive out of 183 administered tests in the county, as of Wednesday morning.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate for the county is 1.8%.

A total of 36% of the population in the county have been vaccinated with a booster shot.

Saratoga County

Thirty-one people tested positive out of 636 administered tests in the county as of Wednesday morning, according to state data.

The seven-day rolling positivity rate for the county 3.6%, according to Saratoga County data.

The percentage of the total population in the county that has been vaccinated with a booster shot is 46.1%, according to state data.

Capital Region/statewide

A total of 38.1% of the population of New York state have been vaccinated with a booster shot, according to state data.

On Tuesday, 3,243 people tested positive out of 127,873 administered tests statewide.

In the Capital Region, 160 tested positive out of 3,518 administered tests.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state is keeping an eye on hospitalization and case trends. It is important for every New York to continue using the tools that are known to be effective.

If youre feeling sick, get tested and limit your exposure to others. If you test positive, talk to your doctor about available treatments, she said in a news release. The vaccine and booster are still the most effective way to limit infection and severe illness, and I encourage all New Yorkers to take advantage of these tools so we can continue to keep ourselves and loved ones safe and healthy.

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China's economic hub Shanghai is conducting a new round of screening using both nucleic acid and antigen testing to contain the latest resurgence in COVID-19 infections, a municipal health official told a press conference on Wednesday.



As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, around 9.1 million residents had undergone nucleic acid testing in many areas of the city including those on the east of the Huangpu River that are under temporary closed-off management, said Wu Qianyu, an official with the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission.

Around 17,000 testing personnel from Shanghai and the surrounding provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang had set up 6,300 test sites in these areas, Wu said.

Meanwhile, some 10.87 million residents had taken antigen testing to screen for COVID-19 infections by Wednesday morning.

The megacity with a population of over 24 million on Monday began enforcing temporary closed-off management in two phases to track possible infections and curb the spread of the virus.

Several isolation venues are under operation currently. The over 150,000-square-meter Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center was converted into an isolation venue on Saturday, which can accommodate about 7,000 people. A gymnasium in Minhang District was also transformed into a quarantine venue in merely 72 hours, while medical teams have been sent to both sites.

Faced with an increasing number of infections, Shanghai is accelerating the transformation of more large venues into quarantine sites, said Wu.

"Although our city is going through a particularly severe test, I believe our concerted efforts will pull us through. The spirit of solidarity pulls us together and keeps us going," said a patient without giving her name at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center.

Starting from Wednesday, Shanghai will carry out large-scale disinfection lasting one month in key places, such as office buildings, construction sites, transport vehicles, farmers markets and residential communities, according to the press conference.

Disinfecting public spaces is an important part of the city's epidemic prevention and control efforts, and it is also an effective measure to cut off the route of virus transmission, said Jin Chen, deputy director of Shanghai's housing and urban-rural development management committee.

Shanghai reported 326 confirmed locally transmitted COVID-19 cases and 5,656 asymptomatic carriers on Tuesday.
You might say Mainland Regional High School grad and former Linwood resident Jeremy Sless is popping up all over the place. While you might not bump into him in Wawa, you can find him on Amazon Prime, Netflix, iTunes, and Google Play.

In high school, Sless was active in New Jersey Drama and Forensic League as well as the plays produced at the school. Fast forward to 2022 and Sless is living in Los Angeles and staring in the full-length film, Deep Hatred, released on multiple online platforms March 22.

Filmed in Sao Paulo, Brazil just before the pandemic shut everything down, the movie is set in the United States. The pandemic slowed the release of the film, according to Sless, but the distributor really got it going and early results have it getting favorable reviews.

It is a horror film that Sless described as extremely suspenseful, and added, It feels like a drama and the suspense builds and things begin to unfold as the cast seeks answers. It will keep you on the edge of your seat, there is a supernatural element, but it is not really gory.

The characters, including several that appeared with him in the 2019 independent film, Among Thieves, are together again in Deep Hatred. Sless character, Mark travels with his friends Cindy, played by Sara Drust, and Nathan, played by Evan Jordan, to Cindys family home after the death of her father. Looking for comfort, she is joined by friends on the trip but soon after they arrive, they discover the house hides a terrible secret.

Sless is involved with other projects as well. He can be seen pitching for Microsoft, Lumen Skin Care and Meridian grooming aids. He can also be seen in the Netfilx film Operation Varsity Blues: The College Admission Scandal as the high school guidance counselor. Sless said it was a great role for him and he has high hopes it will open more acting doors for him in the future.

It is great to be able to do what you love and make a living at it. While I have concentrated on films, now that things are opening up, there are projects that I have worked on with friends that we may adapt for the live stage, said Sless.

He has also taught young kids at a private camp in California and said it was a great time, reminiscent of his summers working at the Jewish Community Centers Camp by the Sea in Margate for several summers.

As an actor, having a thick skin is important.

You have to be confident and I feel that I gained a great deal of confidence at Mainland. Becky Sannino and Judy Cline (former MRHS drama teachers and directors) helped to give me that strong foundation to be confident, said Sless. They were very encouraging and looking back, I felt well taken care of at Mainland. If I am feeling low, honestly, I can think back to my roots and remember. I use it to reenergize myself. The resilience built up when I was at Mainland lets the negative slide off a little easier.

To follow what is on the horizon for Jeremy Sless, follow him on Instagram (@jeremysless) or his website jeremysless.com.
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Audrey Miles, of Brigantine, was approved by the state Senate as deputy superintendent of elections for Atlantic County during the Legislatures session last week.

Miles had been a Democratic member of the county Board of Elections but resigned effective last Thursday, said board Chair Lynn Caterson.

She will start as deputy superintendent April 19, said Superintendent of Elections Maureen Bugdon.

The county Board of Commissioners last year passed an ordinance to establish a deputy superintendent of elections position. Under state law, the deputy must be of the opposite political party from the superintendent.

Bugdon is a Republican.

The superintendents office handles voter registration, voter roll accuracy, voting machine purchasing and security, provisional paper ballots cast the day of the election and more.

Changes in state law earlier this year allowed a county the size of Atlantic to employ a deputy superintendent, largely because early voting and other changes in how elections are run have increased the workload on the office.

Armato nominated to substance abuse panel: Former Assemblyman John Armato, D-Atlantic, was nominated to the Governors Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse.

The Buena resident has been a strong advocate for support for those facing substance abuse issues. His son Derek died of an overdose in 2020 at age 50.

Governor signs pay raise for poll workers: Gov. Phil Murphy recently signed legislation (A208) to increase pay for New Jerseys election workers.

It raises pay from $200 per day to $300 per day and appropriates $7 million to the Department of State to pay for the increase.

The bill also increases the maximum hourly rate for election workers serving at a school election held at a time other than the general election, from $14.29 to $21.43 per hour.

Food banks get reprieve from plastic bag ban: Food banks and pantries will get an additional six months to stop using plastic bags for clients food, after Murphy signed A2065 into law Friday.

The bill also appropriates $600,000 to give food banks reusable bags to begin using.

In November 2020, Murphy signed into law a plastic bag ban, and the law gave stores until May 4 to prepare for the change. Larger grocery stores will also no longer be able to use paper bags, under the law.

Get ready for June 7 primary: The Atlantic County Superintendent of Elections and Commissioner of Registration is reminding voters to register, check and/or update their voter registration information prior to New Jersey election deadlines.

May 17 is the registration deadline for new voters who would like to vote in the New Jersey primary election.

U.S. citizens who are 18 as of June 7 and who have lived in Atlantic County for at least 30 days prior to that date may register.

The simplest way to make sure youre all set is to visit the website www.vote.nj.gov, said Bugdon. For more information, contact the superintendents office at 609-645-5882.

REPORTER: Michelle Brunetti Post 609-841-2895 mpost@pressofac.com

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OCEAN CITY  City Council has approved two bond ordinances worth more than $3 million each, set to cover additional expenses in the citys long efforts to acquire land that was once home to a car dealership at 16th Street and Haven Avenue.

The city has sought to acquire the land for years, first through negotiated purchase, then filing to take it through eminent domain.

In that time, the value of the properties has soared, along with other values in the city and throughout the Jersey Shore, driven in part by a pandemic boom in second home sales.

That was good news for property values and for owners, but not such good news for property buyers, which we were at that point, city attorney Dottie McCrosson said at the meeting Thursday night.

McCrosson told council members the city now owns the land, but the fair market value for the property is still being worked out. That question could eventually be decided by a court. The city filed to condemn the properties after negotiations for a purchase broke down.

The properties include more than a city block next to the citys community center.

Ocean City panel discusses options for former car dealership OCEAN CITY  No one can say the members of the citys Healthy Living Advisory Council fail t

The land had been a car dealership for decades, but the most recent tenant of the property closed in early 2018. With the building demolished, it is now a large paved area.

Most of the land is owned by Palmer Center LLC, a family-owned company led by John Flood, and another portion is owned by brothers Harry and Jerry Klause, who are Floods cousins.

Mayor Jay Gillian has sought to keep the property from being developed. He said he wants the land to remain open space. In 2018, the city had a deal to buy the Klause property for $9 million, but that deal collapsed after the group Fairness In Taxes challenged the original bond ordinance in a petition drive.

Youll recall they thought the price was too high, McCrosson told council in a recap of the events at the meeting Thursday. She said the petition meant a delay in the deal, and the agreement of sale for the Klause portion of the property expired Oct. 31 of that year, and the Klauses declined to renew it.

According to McCrossons presentation, Palmer Center LLC had approvals for single-family homes on the property, while Klause Enterprises received Planning Board approval for 21 single-family units.

The citys current appraisals put the value of the Klause lot at $9.98 million. There are two separate parcels owned by Palmer Center, including one on the north side of 16th Street that is usually described as the truck lot.

Ocean City Planning Board approves housing on former car lot OCEAN CITY  The Planning Board has approved plans for a 21-home development on 1.967 acres 

Each of the Palmer properties are assessed at $3.6 million, for a total value of $7.2 million. The city also plans to put aside more than $1 million for cleanup costs.

A city investigation found no contamination at the truck lot, McCrosson told council, and the Klauses undertook their own remediation. There are concerns with part of the Palmer property. Flood had actually sought to handle that remediation, McCrosson said, but the city disagreed over the plans, which meant about nine months of additional negotiations.

It essentially has been a difference in methodology as to remediation, the extent of remediation and the cost of remediation, she said.

The citys environmental consultants did not believe the remediation proposal would be enough to get the land to residential standards, she said.

At some point, McCrosson said, there was either a dry cleaner or another business that used volatile organic compounds on that property.

Dave Breeden, president of Fairness in Taxes, spoke during the public hearing on the bond ordinances. He alleged the city failed to deposit the estimated value of the condemned properties with the courts at the same time as the motion for condemnation, which allowed the owners to seek updated appraisals that raised the values.

Ocean City again pursues buying former car lot OCEAN CITY  City Council is again pursuing the purchase of a block of land near the Ocean C

Although towns may legally take private land for public purposes, it does have to pay for it. The money is paid to the courts until the fair market value can be established.

City legal representatives state that the city did not pay the courts the estimated legal value of the properties when the original motions were filed, but instead waited until the courts had established the citys right to take the land. That was established in summer 2020. After additional court filings and the long process of approving two bond ordinances, which require two votes by council and a public hearing, the funds were available in December 2020.

The court set the date of the updated valuations at Dec. 23 of that year.

Contact Bill Barlow: 609-272-7290 bbarlow@pressofac.com Twitter @jerseynews_bill

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WOODBINE  State aid is coming to replace parts of the local water system, Mayor William Pikolycky said Thursday.

The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs awarded Woodbine a $400,000 grant to replace the aging water system beneath sections of Madison Avenue and Clay Street, and to then reconstruct the affected areas, Pikolycky said in a news release.

The borough has determined that the approximately 70-year-old water system is beset by undersized, substandard piping throughout and needs to be replaced.

Pikolycky noted that the borough had made several repairs to the water system over the years and installed a subterranean natural gas distribution system at the subject location and throughout Woodbine.

This required digging up the roadway and restoring the surface, resulting in a patchwork that can ultimately cause pavement failure, Pikolycky said. So the need to replace the aging water system pipes and then reconstruct the roadways go hand in hand.

Dennis Township detour planned to accommodate paving DENNIS TOWNSHIP - Drivers frequenting Dennisville-Petersburg Road will be impacted by paving

Certain curbing and sidewalks will be replaced during the reconstruction of the pavement, to remain compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The $400,000 DCA grant complements other support the borough is receiving from the state. The New Jersey Department of Transportation awarded a $365,000 grant to Woodbine for the project, meaning the borough is receiving $765,000 in total state support. The NJDOT grant will help fund reconstruction of roads affected by the project when improvements extend into the road.

Pikolycky said the borough had received an additional $900,000 in grants from state agencies to do similar work along portions of Adams Avenue.

This new project will supplement that work, thus helping us create a more inclusive community for all residents, Pikolycky said.

Contact Chris Doyle cdoyle@pressofac.com

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The Democratic Governor's Association is running ads in the Illinois governor's race  the Republican primary, that is.

The Washington D.C.-based organization, which supports Democratic governors and candidates around the country, has bought at least $360,000 in airtime for a 30-second advertisement highlighting Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin's record as a defense attorney.

"Richard Irvins real record shows he is anything but tough on crime," the ad reads. "For 15 years, Irvin made money by getting violent criminals off the hook and back on the street."

The ad goes on to say that "Illinoisans deserve to know who the real Richard Irvin is."

The buy encompasses several television markets, including Chicago, Bloomington-Peoria and Champaign-Decatur-Springfield.

The advertisement comes less than three months from the Republican primary election. Irvin, with significant financial backing from hedge fund manager Ken Griffin and institutional support from many key GOP figures, is widely considered a frontrunner in the race.

However, he has had to shake off attacks from fellow Republican candidates, including state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia; businessman Gary Rabine; former state Sen. Paul Schimpf; and venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan that he isn't conservative enough for today's Republican Party.

Enter Pritzker, the incumbent Democratic governor, who faces nominal opposition in his party's primary but could face a close race in the fall depending on who wins the GOP primary.

Many political operatives in both parties consider Irvin, an Army veteran and Aurora's first African American mayor, to be the strongest general election candidate against Pritzker.

By funneling money towards ads countering Irvin's narrative, which touts his record as a tough-on-crime prosecutor, and highlighting his later career as a defense attorney, the DGA is hoping to convince rank-and-file Republicans that Irvin is not who he says he is.

Irvin, in a statement Wednesday, said that the campaign is a sign that Pritzker is scared to face him in November.

For months, Ive told voters that Pritzker was desperate and would do anything to win, he said. Now, Pritzker is trying to hijack the Republican primary because he cant run from the facts: crime is out of control, tax hikes continue, and corruption lives on in state government under Pritzkers reign.

House Leader Jim Durkin, who is supporting Irvin, told reporters in Springfield Thursday that Pritzker chooses to "hide behind political insider groups by forcing them to meddle in the GOP primary on his behalf."

"He is running scared and he knows it," Durkin, a Western Springs Republican, said.

But it's not the first time the group has meddled in a Republican primary.

In 2018, the DGA ran ads accusing state Rep. Jeanne Ives, R-Wheaton, who was running against incumbent Gov. Bruce Rauner in the GOP primary, of being "too conservative" for Illinois.

This 'negative' ad was intended to help Ives by highlighting her social conservatism with GOP primary voters. It almost worked  Ives came within three points of knocking off Rauner.

The major difference this time is that the DGA is going after their target directly, attempting to chip away at Irvin's law-and-order persona.

The Pritzker campaign declined to comment on the ad, referring questions to the DGA.

"Irvin needs to stop pretending to be tough on crime and actually support the policies that will keep people safe," said DGA spokeswoman Christina Amestoy.

Irvin's record has not been significantly challenged to this point in advertisements by his GOP opponents. Bailey's campaign launched its first television ads this past week while Sullivan has been on air since January.

However, Irvin's campaign is more flush with resources thanks to Griffin, who donated $20 million in February and has promised even more resources down the line.

Pritzker, a self-funding billionaire, has dumped $135 million into his campaign account in the past year. He's on pace to easily exceed the $172 million he spend to win in 2018.

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You are here: China

Beijing will require that all imported cold chain food be checked before going to market.

The rule is designed to further ensure food safety going forward. Imported cold food that has already arrived can continue to be sold.

There are 26 checkpoints ready for the procedure in 10 districts, covering all main channels into the capital.

Starting in November 2020, the origin and flow of all imported cold-storage meat and aquatic products in Beijing have been traceable  part of an effort to prevent the COVID-19.

Under the new rule, businesses dealing with imported cold food will be required to make reservation before being checked.

They also need to upload data about their products, including origin and flow, to a digital platform, according to the Beijing Administration for Market Regulation.

Recently, Beijing's Changping district started to publicize the new regulation to merchants, asking them to prepare, so that supplies of the food remain stable.
A Davenport man was sentenced to 27 years in prison for attempting to kill his girlfriend by shooting her in the head on Feb. 17, 2021.

A jury in September found Vincent Salvatory Brocato, 41, guilty of attempted murder and domestic abuse assault using a dangerous weapon after a trial in Scott County District Court.

During a sentencing hearing Tuesday, District Judge Patrick McElyea sentenced Brocato to 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge. Brocato must serve 70%, or 17.5 years, in prison before parole can be granted.

McElyea sentenced Brocato to a consecutive term of two years imprisonment for the domestic abuse assault charge.

Brocato was arrested in February after his former girlfriend, ME Kahler, 31, was found on Feb. 17 with a gunshot wound during a welfare check in the 1400 block of Main Street in Davenport.

Kahler was treated on scene, transported to Genesis Medical Center East in Davenport and later airlifted to Iowa City for treatment of life-threatening injuries, police said.

Scott County Attorney Mike Walton said in his closing statements that Kahler, who was shot in the head, had permanent brain damage and was partially paralyzed. Because of the brain damage, Kahler has been unable to answer many questions about the shooting.

"ME didn't die, but she will never ever have a normal life," Walton said. "Do you think if ME could sit here and tell you what happened to her, she wouldn't be here?"

At trial, prosecutors said Kahler had come over that night to retrieve her things as the two were in the process of breaking up.

Walton showed a text message conversation between Brocato and a friend in which Brocato wrote angrily about Kahler and threatened to hurt her.

Walton said Brocato shot Kahler that night and then called his aunt on the phone and walked around Davenport for an hour or more before going to the police department to ask them to check on his apartment.

Defense attorney Michael Motto argued in his closing statement that the prosecution had not proven their claims beyond a reasonable doubt, focusing on a phone call that may have placed Kahler in the apartment above Brocato's within a minute of when Brocato called his aunt. Motto said that meant Brocato wouldn't have had time to shoot Kahler before making the call, and someone else would have had to shoot her.

The call hadn't come from Kahler's phone, but rather the phone of the upstairs neighbor, who testified during the trial that Kahler had used his phone to call Brocato.

Walton in his rebuttal said there was no proof the call had been made by Kahler herself, and no one else could have gotten into the apartment to shoot Kahler after Brocato left, since he had the only key and the door was locked when police arrived later.

During the trial, the jury also heard testimony from the victim's mother and other witnesses, including police officers who investigated the case. They also saw video footage of interviews between Brocato and the police, and footage of Brocato arriving at the police station the night of the shooting.

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A former Quad-City area sex offender who is required to register as a sex offender nationwide for life is facing a federal charge after he moved to Cheyenne, Wyo., and failed to register.

Chad Allen Kemper, 49, was convicted of a charge of lascivious acts with a child in Louisa County (Iowa) in 2003.

He had been living in New Boston, Ill., in Mercer County until he moved to Cheyenne in October.

Kemper is charged with one count of failure to register as a sex offender in U.S. District Court in Wyoming. He was taken into custody Tuesday in Cheyenne and made an initial appearance on the charge Wednesday.

The charge carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years. There is no parole in the federal system. He could also be ordered to serve supervised release from five years to life.

A preliminary hearing on the charge is scheduled for Friday.

According to the sworn statement in support of the criminal complaint filed in Federal Court, Kemper had been residing and working in Cheyenne from Oct. 1, 2021, to Feb. 25, 2022, when he was arrested by Laramie County Sheriffs deputies on three counts of failure to register as a sex offender.

Before Oct. 1, Kemper had been living in New Boston.

Kemper is required to register as a sex offender for life after he pleaded guilty on Oct. 31, 2003, to a charge of lascivious acts with a child in Louisa County District Court in Iowa.

Initially he was charged with third-degree sexual abuse, a Class C felony that carries a prison sentence of 10 years. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge, a Class D felony that carries a five-year prison sentence, and on Dec. 19, 2003, Kemper was placed on supervised probation.

He violated that probation, and on April 1, 2005, he was sentenced to prison for five years. He was released from prison on Jan. 11, 2007.

Kemper has been convicted several times in Iowa for violating the states sex offender registration statutes.

Kemper was last released from the Iowa Department of Corrections on Dec. 31, 2019, after being convicted in 2017 in Des Moines County for failing to register as a sex offender, according to Iowa Department of Corrections electronic records.

According to Iowa DOC records, Kemper has been on pretrial release, probation, in prison or on parole for convictions in Muscatine, Louisa, Johnson and Des Moines counties since Sept. of 1995.

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Clinton police have made an arrest in connection with the murder and arson Saturday at an apartment building.

Trevor Allan Jeorge Ward, 30, is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree arson in connection with the death of Dustin Christopher Doran, 41, formerly of Newton, Iowa.

Dorans body was found early Saturday after a fire at an apartment building 78 31st Ave. N.

Police Chief Kevin Gyrion said in a news release that Clinton firefighters went to the scene at 6:52 a.m.

The fire was quickly extinguished, after which firefighters discovered Doran's body inside the apartment. The discovery led to the launch of a criminal investigation aided by the Clinton police and fire departments, county sheriff, Iowa State Fire Marshal's Office, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, state and county medical examiner's offices, and state and county attorney's offices.

The State Medical Examiner ruled Dorans death a homicide after an autopsy on Monday.

According to the arrest affidavits filed by Clinton Police Detective Michael Crockett, Doran lived in apartment N of the building.

A neighbor in a next door apartment told police that at about 6 a.m. there was a loud thump inside Doran's apartment that shook the common wall between the two apartments. There was an argument between a loud male and a soft-spoken person.

A backpack with the name Dusty written on it was found in the common hallway of the building. Inside the backpack were numerous prescription pill bottles with Trevor Ward's name on them.

While investigators were investigating Doran's death and the fire scene, Ward was arrested by Clinton Police for striking a 65-year-old man. Ward was booked into the Clinton County Jail.

During a search of Ward, officers found a billfold that contained a number of cards with Doran's name on them including Doran's Social Security card.

During a first appearance on the murder and arson charges Thursday in Clinton County District Court, District Associate Judge Kimberly Shepherd scheduled a preliminary hearing in the case for April 8.

Ward was being held Thursday night in the Clinton County Jail on a $1 million cash-only bond.

First-degree murder is a Class A felony under Iowa law that carries a prison sentence of life without parole. First-degree arson is a Class B felony that carries a prison sentence of 25 years. As a forcible felony, anyone convicted of first-degree arson must serve 70%, or 17  years, of their sentence before parole can be granted.

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A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced two Silvis men to 15 years or more in prison on charges they participated in a heroin distribution ring that led to a fatal overdose in 2019.

U.S. District Judge Sara L. Darrow handed down the sentences to William E. Sykes Jr., 54, and Dionte Marquell Brown, 25, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Central District of Illinois.

Sykes was sentenced to 16 years in prison for the distribution of heroin and conspiring to distribute heroin. Brown received a 15-year prison term for conspiring to distribute heroin. Both must also serve three years of supervised release once their prison terms are complete.

Sykes and Brown were two of four people charged in Rock Island County with drug-induced homicide in relation to the death of 30-year-old Silvis resident Elaina Anderson on Sept. 25, 2019.

Rock Island County Coroner Brian Gustafson confirmed at the time that Andersons cause of death stemmed from the adverse effects of heroin.

Sebastian J. Suits, 32, of East Moline, and Mary A. Brown, 52, of Silvis, were also charged for their alleged involvement in the heroin distribution ring.

Local charges against Sykes, Dionte Brown and Mary Brown were eventually dropped in favor of federal prosecution, according to county court records. There is no parole in the federal system

Mary Brown pleaded guilty to heroin distribution in July and has yet to be sentenced, according to the U.S. Attorneys news release.

Suits pleaded guilty in February of 2021 to attempted drug-induced homicide, according to county court records. His plea was part of an agreement with prosecutors and was sentenced to seven years in state prison but qualified for early release because of time already served and good behavior, according to county court records.

Suits qualified for day-for-day good-time credit. Those credits, awarded for the completion of programs or services rendered while in jail awaiting sentencing or while in prison, usually cut a persons sentence in half.

Suits was on parole from the Sheridan Correctional Center as of March 1, according to the department of corrections website. His sentence is scheduled to end on March 1, 2024.

Sykes and Dionte Brown pleaded guilty in August, according to the news release. At Tuesdays hearings, Darrow ordered the men to pay more than $10,000 in restitution for the overdose death.

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The two finalists in the running to lead the Eastern Iowa Community College District are scheduled to make public appearances at forums next week throughout the district.

The EICCD Board of Trustees on Thursday announced the selection of two finalists for the District Chancellor position, which will be vacated with the July 1 retirement of Chancellor Don Doucette. He has served since 2011.

The search committee, including college faculty, staff, student and members of the general public, began interviews in March and recommended their choices to the board.

The finalists are:

 Ellen Bluth, Ph.D., is vice chancellor for workforce and economic development at EICC in Davenport.

She previously served as executive director of resource development and innovation at EICC. Bluth earned a Doctorate of Philosophy in Higher Education Administration from the University of Iowa in Iowa City; a Master of Business Administration from St. Ambrose University in Davenport and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Iowa State University in Ames.

 John Maduko, M.D., is vice president for academic and student affairs at Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Fergus Falls, Minn.

He previously served as vice chancellor for student affairs at North Central Texas College District in Gainesville, Texas. Maduko earned a Doctorate of Medicine in Allopathic Medicine from St. Matthews University School of Medicine in Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; and a bachelor of science in biology from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in Pomona, Calif.

We had a number of highly qualified candidates and the committee devoted many hours in determining the best candidates to present to our board, said EICCD Board of Trustees President Robert Gallagher, who also chairs the search committee.

The finalists will be invited to participate in public forums, beginning Monday. The Board of Trustees also will interview them and make the final selection, which is to be announced in late April or early May.

The public is invited to the forums, which will begin with introductions of the candidates, followed by question-and-answer sessions.

Here is the schedule:

Dr. John Maduko

Monday, April 4

 10:20-11 a.m., SCC Urban Campus, Room W116/117, 101 W. Third St., Davenport.

Watch via Zoom at: https://zoom.us/j/94443787604

 1:30-2:30 p.m., MCC Student Center Lounge, 152 Colorado St., Muscatine.

 4-5 p.m., SCC Belmont Student Life Center, 500 Belmont Rd., Bettendorf.

Tuesday, April 5

 9:30-10:30 a.m., CCC Auditorium, 1000 Lincoln Blvd., Clinton.

Dr. Ellen Bluth

Tuesday, April 5

 10:20-11 a.m., SCC Urban Campus, Room W116/117, 101 W. Third St., Davenport.

Watch via Zoom at: https://zoom.us/j/97793107950

 1:30-2:30 p.m., MCC Student Center Lounge, 152 Colorado St., Muscatine.

 4-5 p.m., SCC Belmont Student Life Center, 500 Belmont Rd., Bettendorf.

Wednesday, April 6

 9:30-10:30 a.m., CCC Auditorium, 1000 Lincoln Blvd., Clinton.

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A fire heavily damaged a home Thursday night in Davenport, though no one was reported injured.

Firefighters were called about 8:10 p.m. for a report of a building on fire in the 400 block of West 17th Street, according to the Davenport Fire Department. While on their way there, they were notified that everyone had gotten out of the house.

When they arrived, firefighters saw heavy smoke coming from the attic windows and roof eaves, the department said. They went into the building to distinguish the fire and quickly had it under control.

No injuries were reported, but the second floor and attic were heavily damaged, the department said. The Red Cross was called to assist the residents.

The cause of the fire was still under investigation Friday, the department said.
DES MOINES  Two Iowa Republicans are asking a district judge to overturn a state panels ruling to accept Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abby Finkenauers nominating paperwork, a move that would result in Finkenauer being taken off the ballot for the 2022 elections.

The petition for judicial review was filed Thursday in Polk County District Court.

Finkenauer, of Cedar Rapids, is one of three Democrats seeking the partys nomination to face longtime incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who also faces a primary challenge.

Iowas primary election is June 7, and the general election is Nov. 8.

The State Objection Panel -- comprised of the secretary of state, attorney general and state auditor -- this week considered objections to dozens of signatures collected by the Finkenauer campaign on her nominating petitions.

As a candidate for U.S. Senate, Finkenauer was required by state law to acquire at least 3,500 signatures, including at least 100 signatures each in at least 19 counties.

After the panels review, Finkenauer finished with exactly 19 qualifying counties, including one with exactly 100 signatures and two more with 101 each.

The panel of Republican Secretary of State Paul Pate, Democratic Attorney General Tom Miller, and Democratic Auditor Rob Sand, voted 2-1 to deny the objection, clearing the way for Finkenauer to remain on the ballot. The Democrats, Miller and Sand, voted to deny the objection while Republican Pate voted to approve it.

The panel members disagreed over rulings on some signatures that contained incorrect or illegible dates. Miller and Sand argued the information on the forms was sufficient, while Pate argued the signatures were not completed to the letter of the law and should have been disqualified.

The objections to the Finkenauer campaigns signatures were brought by Kim Schmett, a former Republican candidate for Congress and former leader of the Polk County Republicans, and Leanne Pellett, co-chair of the Cass County Republicans.

Alan Ostergren, a Des Moines lawyer who has been active in conservative political and legal causes, is representing Schmett and Pellett in the request for judicial review of the state panels ruling.

The filing asks the district court to reverse the state panels decision or require the panel to reconsider the objections to Finkenauers signatures without Miller and Sand participating.

Ostergren argued before the panel that Miller and Sand should recuse themselves for voting on Finkenauers petitions and argues the same in the legal filing.

Ostergren argues Miller should have recused himself because the panel considered some of the same issues that were raised when his campaigns signatures were challenged, and that Sand should have recused himself because Ostergren previously sued Sand and the auditors office and because, in a statement, Sands spokesperson called Ostergren a political hack.

Ostergren also argues Miller and Sand incorrectly ruled on the objections to the Finkenauer campaigns signatures and that their rulings were based on an erroneous interpretation of law that had not been clearly vested by a provision of law in the panel.

The filing asks for an expedited review, given the states need to begin printing ballots for the June 7 primary election.

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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday in Tunxi, east China's Anhui province, and both sides pledged to strengthen bilateral ties.



Noting that China-Russia ties have stood the new test of a changing international landscape, Wang said the relationship has maintained its correct direction and shown strong resilience.

"Both sides have a firmer will to develop bilateral relations, and stronger confidence to advance cooperation in various areas," Wang said.

China is willing to work with Russia to push the relationship to a higher level in the new era, guided by the important consensus between the two heads of state, Wang said.

For his part, Lavrov said the strategic communication between the two heads of state has played an important role in ensuring the stable development of bilateral relations and promoting a multi-polar world.

He said Russia is willing to work with China on the international and multilateral arena to promote the multipolarization process, oppose hegemony and power politics, and uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.



Lavrov informed the Chinese side of the Russia-Ukraine talks, saying Russia is committed to easing the tensions, continuing peace talks with Ukraine, and maintaining communication with the international community.

Noting that the Ukraine issue has a complicated history, Wang said China supports Russia and Ukraine in overcoming difficulties to continue their peace talks, supports the positive outcomes achieved in the negotiations so far, and supports the deescalation of the tensions as soon as possible and the efforts of Russia and other parties to avoid a large-scale humanitarian crisis.

From a long-term perspective, lessons should be taken from the Ukraine crisis, and all parties' legitimate security concerns should be responded to on the basis of mutual respect and indivisible security, he said.

He called for establishing a balanced, effective and sustainable European security structure through dialogue and negotiation in order to realize lasting peace in Europe.

The two sides also exchanged views on other multilateral affairs such as the Asia-Pacific situation and the BRICS mechanism.
For as long as most Cubans have been alive, they have both hoarded and hated a flimsy little booklet of cheap paper that reminds them daily how much they owe their government.

Known as la libreta, or little book, its 20-or-so pages dictate how Cubans can buy limited amounts of basic foods such as rice, beans and chicken at subsidized prices. Resembling wartime rations, the system has been in place since Fidel Castro laid it out on Cuban television on March 26, 1962, little more than a month after President Kennedy announced the complete economic embargo of Cuba that remains in place today.

The booklet effectively determines what Cubans can buy, sell and, to a large extent, eat. For some, it is a lifeline. Others see it as a symbol of government control at the most intimate level, a handout intended to keep people dependent.

The embargo and the libreta dominate the lives of ordinary Cubans  and after 60 years, the time may have come for both to end.

The libreta has become a cultural touchstone for Cubans, a totem of either survival or subservience that they have been forced to obsessively hold on to through the many trials of revolutionary Cubas existence. It is celebrated officially but mocked incessantly. Cubans surely chuckle subversively when popular TV comedian Luis Silva, better known as his character Panfilo, regularly beseeches an oversized libreta for help tracking down precious food.

Since rationing began, the booklets offerings have varied widely. At one point, even Christmas toys were rationed. Peas and potatoes come and go. Sometimes cigarettes are included (10 packs a week per person).

The allotments are always meager  five eggs per person per month, for example  but Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, in an address last September at the United Nations, asserted that the ration system guarantees every Cuban sufficient nutrition.

The reality is different. A Cuban human rights monitor contends that for six of 10 Cuban families, the libretas monthly supplies last about a week. Month after month, libreta stores run short, forcing Cubans to scurry from store to store or wait in lines for hours.

Cuba has been trying to end rationing for years because the system is inefficient and encourages hoarding. But new crises, most recently the pandemic, have won it reprieves. Since Raul Castro took over in 2008, the government has also operated state-run stores that sell food without limitations, but at prices most people cant afford.

Sometimes this inequity enrages. Today, there is a shortage of powdered milk, which the government has long guaranteed would be available at subsidized prices for young children and ill adults. Cuban mothers are infuriated when they see it at dollar stores, priced out of their reach. We were used to not having chicken for a month, but milk, that was always sacrosanct, one mother in Havana told the news agency AFP.

Cuba blames the U.S. embargo for creating many of the shortages that plague the nation  and that helped incite last Julys historic street protests. On Feb. 3, the 60th anniversary of Kennedys embargo proclamation, Cuban leaders again called for its end. And so did a number of American politicians, including Rep. James P. McGovern (D-Mass.), who first traveled to Cuba in 1979.

At the end of the day, we are responsible for inflicting a lot of pain on the Cuban people, McGovern told me in a phone interview. He is one of 114 members of Congress pressing President Biden to suspend regulations that limit travel, remittances and the sale of food and medicine.

Cubas underachieving farms and its inept centrally controlled economy force the country to import most of its food. Since the U.S. embargo was amended in 2000 to exclude food, much of the chicken that Cubans eat  when they can get it  has come from America. But because the U.S. demands cash, in advance, the cash-poor Cuban government often has to shop elsewhere for staples like milk, which comes from as far away as New Zealand.

American farmers and food producers have consistently lobbied to be able to sell to the Cuban market. The trade embargo long ago outlived its usefulness, except at election time, when Florida votes are in play. But are those votes worth it if they mean Cuban kids wont have milk?

Some in Washington and Miami worry that lifting any restrictions now would reward the Cuban regime, but the members of Congress urging Biden to suspend the sanctions say they are not giving the Cuban government a pass. Were just saying our policies have made things a lot worse for the Cuban people, McGovern said.

Denying humanitarian aid during the worst economic crisis in Cuba in a generation is unworthy of a great nation.

If the powdered milk that fills the shelves of libreta stores is labeled Made in USA, there would be little benefit to the increasingly unpopular Cuban government. But it could mean that someday the libreta might not need to be printed again.

Anthony DePalma, a journalist who has covered Latin America for close to three decades, is author of The Cubans: Ordinary Lives in Extraordinary Times. 2022 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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When Michael Birkeland resigned from teaching at Rapid City Central High School, he didn't know he was going to run for school board but knew he wanted to be more involved.

Birkeland is one of two candidates for the Area 3 seat. Incumbent member Gabe Doney will seek re-election during the June 7 election.

Birkeland said his resignation was spurred by wanting to change how the students and fellow teachers were impacted by the school board's decisions.

If elected, Birkeland said he wants to start with updating facilities and getting schools to a modern and safe standard. He said when he taught math at Central for six years, it rained in his classroom.

He said he'd also like to focus on staff retention, increasing teacher salaries and bettering students' scores. He also said teachers need to feel respected and students need to be supported.

Birkeland said if there was something he was concerned about at a school, he would speak with the teacher or principal and figure out what was going on rather than chasing a "boogeyman."

"Mostly just putting it out there that I trust the teachers and that I trust our community," he said.

Birkeland said he would begin work on the board by approaching how to improve students' test scores.

"We want kids to find success, we want our community and our economy to be successful, so that's kind of the main thing that I want to focus on with them."

He said he'd like to have members of the board go to the schools during the day and meeting with students and teachers. He said there are some strong students on the School Board panel and would like to hear more from them.

Birkeland said he grew up in Rapid City and graduated from Central. He said he got more involved with the board and district through the bond attempt a few years ago. He said he came back to Rapid City because it's his community and he wanted to help make it better.

Birkeland is a teacher at the digital Arizona State University Preparatory Academy. He's currently pursuing his master's in learning design and technologies from Arizona State University.

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The Rapid City Rush announced Thursday that they have traded forward Brett Van Os and defenseman Elijah Vilio to the Norfolk Admirals in exchange for defenseman Kyle Rhodes.

Rhodes joins the Rush after putting up six goals and 11 assists over 49 games for the Admirals. The Ashburn, Virginia native played in the major junior OHL for the Guelph Storm and has also appeared for the Tulsa Oilers and the South Carolina Stingrays in his pro career. In 111 career ECHL games, he has 19 goals and 18 assists.

Van Os has played 33 games for the Rush and has eight goals and 12 assists. Vilio appeared in six games with Rapid City and has a goal and an assist. The trade was completed ahead of the ECHLs trade deadline, which was 1 p.m. Thursday.

Rapid City continues its week of games in Utah against the Grizzlies on Friday night. The Rush overtook the Grizzlies for first place in the Mountain Division on Wednesday with a 4-3 win.

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The Richmond Greek Festival will not be returning in May or June this year, due to supply chain limitations and out of an abundance of caution, according to festival organizers.

One of the most popular festivals in Richmond, the Greek Festival has not been held since 2019 due to the pandemic.

The annual event, which was first held in 1976, typically draws more than 30,000 people to Saints Constantine & Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral in the West End.

We completely understand the disappointment in the change to the festival  we are disappointed as well, organizers posted to the events Facebook page on Thursday. There is truly so much that goes into the planning for this large event that is impacted by many factors already in 2022.

Organizers cited supply chain issues and rising costs, which they began experiencing in January.

Due to supply chain limitations, we were faced with shortages and large price increases that have been difficult to navigate, organizers posted.

Most of the Greek Festival is run by volunteers, who typically begin cooking homemade dishes for the festival as early as February. But the festival cited a lack of volunteers this year, as the majority of their volunteer base is older and needs to be more cautious about health concerns.

We are so honored that the Richmond community loves our festival so much. The festival is our single largest fundraising event for our Cathedral and we have certainly felt the impacts of not being able to hold it for the last few years, organizers posted to Facebook.

In the past, the festival has given away $5,000 a day to various charities such as Richmond Friends of the Homeless and the Autism Society Central Virginia.

There will be a Richmond Mini-Greek Festival from Sept. 22-24 that will include a drive-thru and seated dining inside.

Organizers hope to bring back the full, outdoor festival in June 2023.

Check out their website and social media for more updates.

***

On the bright side, the Lebanese Food Festival will be returning to Glen Allen this year after a two-year hiatus.

The Lebanese festival will be held May 13-15 at St. Anthony Maronite Church, 4611 Sadler Road, in Glen Allen.

Roughly 30,000 people attend the food festival every year for homemade Mediterranean food like stuffed grape leaves and shish kabobs and to watch traditional Lebanese music and dancing.

For a full menu, check out the Lebanese Food Festival website at lebanesefoodfestival.com.
A corrections officer for Riverside Regional Jail was charged Wednesday with attempting to smuggle drugs and cash into the facility after he was intercepted by jail investigators and Prince George County police.

Riverside authorities said the officers arrest came after several months of investigation by the jails internal investigations unit.

On Monday, Riverside investigators contacted Prince George police detectives to advise that evidence had been gathered in the case, and a plan was developed to intercept the officer Wednesday morning before he had an opportunity to introduce drugs into the facility, said Riverside Lt. Charlene Jones in a statement.

When the officer entered to begin his shift, he was met by jail investigators and Prince George detectives, authorities said. He was found with suspected illegal drugs and more than $600 in cash, officials said. They did not disclose the quantity and type of drugs recovered.

Jones said a firearm and other items were found in the officers vehicle.

The officer, Tijuan A. Collins, 39, was charged with two counts of possession with the intent to distribute narcotics, conspiracy to distribute narcotics, attempting to deliver drugs, carrying a concealed weapon, possession of a firearm while in possession of drugs, and three counts of unauthorized delivery of articles.

Riverside officials did not say how long Collins had been employed as a corrections officer at the jail. He is being held as an inmate at Riverside in lieu of a $1,500 bond.

Jones said Riverside has recently implemented additional security measures to prevent contraband from entering the facility and to apprehend those who attempt to do so.

Riverside is one of the largest jails in central Virginia and houses roughly 1,300 inmates for Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Hopewell and the counties of Chesterfield, Charles City, Surry and Prince George. The facility in Prince George is governed by a regional authority consisting of representatives from each locality.

***

In November, former Riverside corrections officer Quentina Latrice McKinnon, 22, was sentenced to serve one year in prison and pay a $4,400 fine for smuggling drugs, cigarettes and cellphones into the facility just a month after she was hired.

According to evidence, McKinnon smuggled contraband into the jail for profit at least 11 times, and had developed a plan to conceal the items she was bringing in. McKinnon admitted to concealing contraband in her socks, her waistband or hair to get them inside undetected, prosecutors said.

In sentencing McKinnon to nine years in prison with eight suspended, Prince George Circuit Judge W. Allan Sharrett said she violated the trust of the jail and prisoners inside who were trying to get help for their drug addictions.

The smuggling operation began about a month after she was hired on May 4, 2020, and occurred during a period when the jail was struggling to fill dozens of vacancies while on state probation for staff violations that state officials said directly or indirectly caused the deaths of two inmates in 2007.
Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine are urging a federal agency to suspend and move to revoke the license of Envigos Cumberland County facility, condemning its continued horrific mistreatment of beagle dogs and puppies it breeds for research.

The senators said that under federal law, the U.S. Department of Agricultures Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service could seek up to $730,000 in penalties from Envigo for its repeated noncompliance with the Animal Welfare Act.

The senators, both Virginia Democrats, are urging the agency to act after multiple federal inspections found more than 70 animal welfare violations at the Cumberland site, including instances of puppies being euthanized without anesthesia.

Last year, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals conducted an undercover investigation at the facility, citing mistreatment among 5,000 beagle dogs and puppies bred and housed at the site. PETA posted disturbing video of beagles housed in what it called a prison like factory.

Four federal inspections have resulted in dozens of reported violations at the site.

Mortality records at the facility showed that from Jan. 1, 2021, to July 22, over 300 puppy deaths were attributed to unknown causes, however, the facility has not taken additional steps to determine the causes of death in order to prevent similar deaths of other puppies in the future, according to a July inspection report by the USDAs Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

A November inspection report on the facility found that many young puppies are not receiving anesthesia before being euthanized. The report also found that euthanasia injections without proper veterinary care have been found to be painful, stressful, and uncomfortable and frequently have caused unnecessary pain and distress.

The report found that 30 beagles between ages 2 and 7 showed signs of severe dental disease, and assorted others had problems with their feet, eyes and skin.

An inspection report on the facility released in March found that dozens of dogs were injured in fights, several got their feet stuck in the flooring of kennels, and inspectors noted instances of wet food with varying amounts of mold.

With new protections for experimental animals, Stanley calls for adoption of rescued beagles These dogs, they never saw what grass was like, the state senator said. They never knew what their noses were good for. They never knew freedom on a leash to walk around.

It is clear to us that Envigo has been derelict in its duty to provide for the humane care of its dogs, and is unable to abide by the basic standards set forth by the Animal Welfare Act, Warner and Kaine wrote to Kevin Shea, administrator of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

On its website, Envigo tells researchers that it is important to partner with a supplier whose social housing solutions nurture and promote healthy, well-socialized animals. It asserts that the purebred beagles at our Cumberland, Virginia location develop in a dynamic social housing environment.

Envigo said in a statement that more than 480 of its dogs are finding homes through partnerships with adoption agencies. It said that over the past four months, it has reduced the number of older, non-breeding dogs on-site by more 1,300, and its goal is to have fewer than 100 at any time. Envigo also said it has improved the ratio of caretakers to dogs and expects to achieve its goal of 100:1 in the second quarter of 2022.

A group called Stop Animal Exploitation Now has lodged multiple federal complaints against Envigo with the USDAs director of animal care operations. It has called for the confiscation of all dogs in need of veterinary care, license revocation and for fines that it says could reach $10,000 per infraction/per animal.

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 

General Assembly efforts

Abuses of beagles bred for research at the facility prompted a bipartisan effort in the regular General Assembly session that ended March 12. Sens. Bill Stanley, R-Franklin County, and Jennifer Boysko, D-Fairfax, co-sponsored four measures that passed the legislature without opposition.

The bills, awaiting action by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, would:

prohibit a dealer or breeder with certain violations

of the Animal Welfare Act after July 1, 2023, from engaging in further sales of dogs or cats;

require breeders of cats and dogs for an animal testing facility to keep records of the animal for two years and submit quarterly reports to the state veterinarian;

require such a breeder of unneeded dogs or cats to offer them for adoption before they are euthanized; andtighten language in state law to note that such dogs and cats are considered companion animals and come under animal cruelty regulations unless they are actively involved in bona fide medical and scientific experimentation.

Stanley also has spearheaded efforts to find new homes for the more than 400 beagles removed from the facility. He and his family adopted two of the dogs.

Stanley has said anyone interested in adopting a dog from the site can contact his Senate office at (804) 698-7520 or email district20@senate.virginia.gov.
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The Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned Russian Ambassador Igor Bratchikov on Wednesday, requiring him to decrease the staff of the embassy by 35 members.

The decision was made "based on information from the security forces of the Slovak Republic about the activities of another Russian diplomat in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations," the Slovak Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Slovakia expelled three Russian embassy staff on March 14, citing information from Slovakia's secret service.
Widespread damage was reported in the Jackson, Tennessee, area as a tornado warning was in effect. Significant damage occurred to a nursing home near Jackson-Madison County General Hospital and the Madison County Sheriffs Office in Jackson, said Madison County Emergency Management Director Jason Moore.

In Nashville, Tennessee, paneling fell five stories from the side of a downtown hotel Wednesday evening and onto the roof of a building below. The fire department warned that debris could become airborne as high winds continued, and some hotel guests were moved to other parts of the building due to concerns the roof would become unstable. No injuries were immediately associated with the collapse.

Daylight revealed widespread wind damage across Alabama.

One person suffered minor injuries when a storm hit the University of Montevallo campus south of Birmingham, damaging three buildings, officials said, and a woman was injured when a manufactured home rolled over in rural Bibb County. A school bus was flipped at a high school in south Alabama, and part of the roof was missing from a church in northwest Alabama.

Elsewhere, a warehouse roof collapsed as the storms moved through Southaven, Mississippi, near Memphis, police said. The building had been evacuated and no injuries were reported.

The Mississippi Senate suspended its work Wednesday as weather sirens blared during a tornado watch in downtown Jackson. Some employees took shelter in the Capitol basement.

Rander P. Adams said he and his wife, Janice Delores Adams, were in their home near downtown Jackson when severe weather blew through during a tornado warning Wednesday afternoon. He said their lights flashed and a large window exploded just feet from his wife as she tried to open their front door.

The glass broke just as if someone threw a brick through it, he said. I advised her then, Lets go to the back of the house.

Adams said the storm toppled trees in a nearby park, and a large tree across the street from their house split in half. We were blessed, he said. Instead of falling toward the house, it fell the other way.

Earlier Wednesday, a tornado that struck Springdale, Arkansas, and the adjoining town of Johnson, about 145 miles northwest of Little Rock, shortly after 4 a.m. injured seven people, two critically, according to Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse.

Sprouse said in a statement that one of those critically injured had improved and was in stable condition and the other five were released from a hospital.

Our first responders have completed door-to-door searches, and we believe everyone has been accounted for, Sprouse said.
March is known for its winds, and that will hold true as the month comes to a close. In fact, both Thursday and Friday will be windy in Richmond, with some gusts up around 30 mph each day.

Thursday brings a warm and relatively humid south wind, with a few rounds of showers, and a possible thunderstorm. Widespread damaging winds are not expected, but isolated damage, generally to trees, is possible in some of the gustier showers and thunderstorms that move through on Thursday afternoon and early evening.

A colder and drier wind from the west comes on Friday. It will not be as cold as earlier this week, but after a relatively mild start to the morning, those winds will not allow much of a warmup for the afternoon. Despite the sunshine, much of Friday will be in the 50s to lower 60s.

The weekend looks much quieter by comparison. A very weak disturbance passes through Virginia on Saturday night, which could touch off a few sprinkles during the night or early Sunday morning, but its probably not even enough to get the ground wet.

Aside from that disturbance, look for a good mix of sun and clouds both days this weekend with temperatures close to normal.

After a quiet Monday, the next significant disturbance moves into Virginia on Tuesday of next week. It will be a slow mover, bringing in some clouds at first, then a better chance of a soaking rain on Tuesday night or into early Wednesday.

There are early signs of another shot of especially chilly air around Friday of next week that could lead central Virginia toward a frost, but that is still a week away and does not look as intense as the cold we experienced earlier this week.

Climate Check

Thursdays surge of warmth will ensure that this March finishes among Richmonds 20 warmest on record, right around 4 degrees above normal, where normal is defined as the 30-year average between 1991-2020.

Rainfall has been much closer to normal  with 3.35 inches this month  leaving central Virginia slightly drier than normal over the past three months, though still far from getting close to a legitimate drought. According to the NOAA Drought Monitor, areas north of the James River have been a bit drier, but the weather pattern over the next 10 days offers at least three more chances at rain, and most of the state has recovered well from the dry spell last fall.
Federal authorities in Western Virginia have joined forces with a Washington D.C.-based team to investigate and prosecute the fraudulent use of relief funds intended for victims of COVID-19.

U.S. Attorney Chris Kavanaugh announced a memorandum of understanding this week with Brian Miller, who heads the Office of the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery.

The agreement will enhance efforts to root out fraud related to the CARES Act, which Congress passed in 2020 to provide over $2 trillion in emergency aid for American businesses and individuals.

We have already prosecuted dozens of individuals here in the Western District of Virginia for defrauding the federal government of hundreds of thousands of dollars provided by Congress to aid those in need during a global pandemic, Kavanaugh said in an announcement.

The partnership between the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Virginia and the Special Inspector General for Pandemic Recovery will ensure this important work continues effectively.

Under the partnership, Kavanaugh's office will designate two assistant U.S. attorneys to serve as direct points of contact in an effort to streamline case intake and prosecution. A criminal paralegal position and a forensic audit support system will be established.

From Washington, the special inspector's office will assist in those efforts and refer any investigation it opens to a Roanoke-based prosecution office with a jurisdiction that extends to the Lynchburg area, north to Winchester and into far Southwest Virginia.

In Abingdon, more than 30 people have been charged in an ongoing investigation of a scheme to illegally obtain about $1.5 million in unemployment benefits.

The plot was hatched at a time when people who lost their jobs in the midst of the pandemic were entitled to $600 a week from the federal government in addition to state aid.

Authorities say the scheme involved gathering personal information from individuals  including inmates in jails and prisons  and submitting it to the Virginia Employment Commission, knowing the applicants were not eligible for benefits.

Farren Gaddis Ricketts of Jonesville, identified by prosecutors as the head of the conspiracy, was sentenced late last year to 10 years in prison and ordered to pay restitution.

Ricketts, 31, created a business entity called Ricketts Advisory LLC, which she advertised as a financial services company that helped with filing pandemic unemployment claims, according to court documents.

In addition to receiving unemployment benefits herself, Ricketts charged fees to over 120 of her co-conspirator clients for the service of filing their fraudulent claims.

Prosecutions in such cases will gain strength through the agreement announced this week, Miller said.

Miller, whose legal background includes stints as a senior associate White House counsel and assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, was confirmed to his current job by the U.S. Senate in June 2020.

For more information from the Department of Justice about reporting frauds related to the pandemic, see https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

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FLORENCE, S.C.  Candace Norton, a patient care supervisor with McLeod Emergency Services at McLeod Regional Medical Center in Florence, has received the South Carolina Emergency Medical Services Nurse of the Year Award.

The honor was conferred during an awards ceremony at the conclusion of the South Carolina EMS Symposium held in Myrtle Beach from March 8 to March 12.

The Emergency Nurse of the Year Award is given to the South Carolina nurse who has contributed most significantly to the EMS community. Nominated by EMS personnel, Norton was selected for the award based on her accomplishments to improve emergency services, her community involvement, her credentials and letters of recommendation.

During the awards ceremony, Norton was described as both professional and dedicated, and throughout the many challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, she remained bright and cheerful to her patients, fellow employees, and to EMS, fire, and law enforcement personnel.

Being nominated by someone outside of our organization truly demonstrates the impact Candace has on the EMS community, said Emily Adams, vice president of patient services for McLeod Regional Medical Center. She is an indispensable member of our Emergency Department and serves as key partner between McLeod and EMS. As a dedicated member of the team for more than 25 years, Candace exemplifies the McLeod Core Values of Caring, the Person, Quality, and Integrity, and is very deserving of this award.
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After extending the record for the longest single spaceflight in history by an American to 355 days, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth on Wednesday with two Russian crewmates.



Vande Hei departed the International Space Station along with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov at 3:21 a.m. Eastern Day Time (EDT), and made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 7:28 a.m. EDT southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, according to NASA.

"Mark's mission is not only record-breaking, but also paving the way for future human explorers on the Moon, Mars, and beyond," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

Vande Hei's extended mission will provide researchers the opportunity to observe the effects of long-duration spaceflight on humans as the agency plans to return to the Moon under the Artemis program and prepare for exploration of Mars, according to NASA.

Vande Hei and the two Russian cosmonauts launched on the Soyuz MS-18 rocket on April 9, 2021. Vande Hei's second journey into space of 355 days is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut, previously held at 340 days, according to NASA.
FLORENCE, S.C.  Class was different Tuesday morning at Carver Elementary school. Students launched a miniature satellite into subspace in Anna Korbs fourth-grade classroom. The launch was called mission subspace.

The students worked through computers to make the launch and watch it online.

Mission subspace is a unique and engaging experience for late elementary through high school classrooms, said Rob Quigley. He is a former NASA engineer and is CEO of New Ascent. He spoke to the students about Mission subspace. It is built around the launch of tiny satellites, called chip sats. We are trying to give students hands-on experience with an aerospace mission.

We want to expand their horizons. Especially at a time in their lives when they are beginning to ask big questions like what am I good at and what do I want to do? We want to make sure that students know this is an option for them.

Quigley said the most interesting part of the mission was the questions students asked him.

I am a big space geek and I really want the students to know that this is an option for them, he said. NASA does a great job at a lot of things, but it has done a bad job at letting kids know that space is something that can be achieved. A part of our mission is to develop a love and excitement for math and science at an early age.

Students like Delaney Bolt were excited to watch the satellite launch.

I have loved space ever since I was 4years old and it felt insane that I could actually see a satellite being launched, Delaney said. I have been to the planetarium with my dad many times. It felt really cool to see an actual space mission. Space is definitely one of my top choices now. I usually dont like math, but after hearing that math was a main part of going to space, I was like I might consider it more.

Chris Rogers, director of STEM at Florence One Schools, said programs like this bring STEM to life. STEM is short for science, technology, engineering and math.

You can see their excitement, Rogers said. When one student was leaving, he said that he didnt want to leave. We want them to see that learning can be fun and this is an experience that they will remember for the rest of their lives.

We have partnered with New Ascent and our middle and high schools will be launching satellites. We hope to see this program start in elementary school and work its way up to our high schools. Throughout the years, we hope to continue to partner with New Ascent and grow our students love for space and STEM.

Anna Korbs, the teacher at Carver Elementary School whose class launched the satellites, said it is important for the classroom to have programs like this to show students real-life examples. Watching their reactions makes me proud as a teacher. I see those light bulbs going off and I see the excitement, she said. Even if students are not the best at math or science, the kids were told about an opportunity to be a broadcaster and this opened up a different pathway because not all kids are good at math and science. This opens up another way for them to get to space and be a part of the mission.

Korbs was awarded a NASA pin at the conclusion of the mission.

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 New report claims many successes attributable to Proposition 47's sentencing reductions in California | Main | New short FAMM memo makes the case for the EQUAL Act 

March 31, 2022

An effective (though incomplete) review of current GOP views on criminal justice reform

Li Zhou has this lengthy new Vox piece about the state of GOP politics on criminal justice issues headlined "The Republican Party is still fractured on criminal justice reform." The piece is worth a full read, and here are excerpts:

The rhetoric in Jacksons hearing and in broader GOP messaging have seemed like a departure from the focus on criminal justice reform that the party had as recently as 2018, when the majority of Senate Republicans backed sentencing changes for nonviolent offenders in the First Step Act. The party back then was eager to show it had made progress on an issue that arose from Congresss efforts to crack down on crime decades ago. (Many of these efforts notably excluded violent offenders or sex offenders that Jackson was spuriously accused of going easy on.) There are some Republicans who are reluctant to evangelize criminal justice reforms now, advocates say, since increases in crime have become a GOP talking point.... I think your average conservative, or average Republican, may have supported the First Step Act, but I have the impression that the average conservative has backed off from where they were, says Clark Neily, a senior vice president of legal studies at the Cato Institute. Experts emphasize, however, that the most aggressive moments in the hearing are not indicative of how open a segment of Republicans still is to important but limited criminal justice reforms. Just last week, 10 Republicans signed on to cosponsor the Equal Act, legislation that would reduce the sentencing disparities between crack cocaine and powder cocaine. The legislation  which would make penalties the same for the two substances  has yet to be considered on the floor but could pass with the GOP support it has.... For years, the party has been fractured on the subject with senators like Tom Cotton (R-AR) opposed to virtually any reforms, while others like Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Mike Lee (R-UT) and Tim Scott (R-SC) have led efforts for sentencing reforms for nonviolent drug offenses and police reforms.... At the state and local level, many Republican officials have also pushed back on progressive prosecutors, policies like changes to cash bail, and reduced prosecutions for low-level offenses. I think theyre often scared that if  crime continues to increase, no one wants the blame placed on them, says Jillian Snider, the policy director for the criminal justice and civil liberties team at R Street Institute. Theres also the Trump factor. During his presidency, Trumps support of the First Step Act helped to get Republicans who were on the fence on board. Without his advocacy on the issue now, some lawmakers are likely less open to this idea.

Because there are so many moving part to this story, even a strong press piece cannot cover the ground completely. For example, the piece does not discuss the conventional wisdom that the slogan "abolish the police" proved extremely unpopular with voters in the 2020 election cycle, nor does it engage much with all sorts of interesting and diverse political reform dynamics at the state level (especially on topics like marijuana reform and record clearing). Still, this piece reflects a notable moment in the ever-changing ebb and flow over crime policy and crime politics.

March 31, 2022 at 11:05 AM | Permalink

Comments

Several dynamics at play in the Jackson hearings, especially the fact that she was perceived as "soft" on child porn crimes. This is a category in which I believe neither party has advocated for weakening current laws and/or penalties.

Even if there are rational arguments that those laws have become excessively severe, but that's not a position that any politician with a survival instinct can take.

Posted by: Marc Shepherd | Mar 31, 2022 2:06:38 PM

Post a comment
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STORM LAKE, Iowa -- While attending Buena Vista University, Andrew Offenburger couldn't have told you much about Storm Lake other than it was where the college he attended was located.

He was oblivious to the changes the city was undergoing as immigrants relocated there to work in the meatpacking plants.

"I was clueless to that as a student," the 1998 Buena Vista graduate said. "I was unaware of the global dynamics going on in my backyard."

After undertaking graduate studies at Yale and learning how issues such as industrial agriculture, race and immigration were affecting rural areas of Africa, Offenburger realized Midwestern cities and towns like Storm Lake faced many of those same issues. He also realized Storm Lake's response to those challenges had gone on right under his nose as an undergraduate and he never knew it.

He's making up for the lost opportunity, taking a renewed interest in a city in which the majority of residents are non-white and hail from dozens of countries.

"I really think it's one of the most fascinating places to study in the United States," said Offenburger, a Johnston, Iowa, native who's now an associate history professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

"Small Town, Big World," a collaborative project involving students at Miami and Buena Vista, aims to introduce Storm Lake residents -- some immigrants, some who have lived here for generations -- to the world, showing what's helped the city become an effective melting pot of diverse cultures.

While searching for ideas for a final project for students in his Midwest history class, Offenburger called Storm Lake Community Schools superintendent Stacey Cole. She suggested the features on local residents, thinking the stories could improve social relations.

Offenburger loved the idea, but one problem: with his students hundreds of miles from Storm Lake, how do you meet people and interview them? He sought the help of Buena Vista digital media professor Andrea Frantz, who he knew as a student, about teaming up.

It fit Frantz' goal of getting students off campus and interacting with community residents.

"I thought it was a great opportunity," Frantz said. "Anytime you can tell the stories of the humans who share a community, it stands to broaden the community and advances us."

After Storm Lake residents submitted profile suggestions, students from the two schools paired up, the Miami students doing the interviews via Zoom while Buena Vista students sat with the local residents, recording the interviews and taking photos. The profiles explored topics such as race, integration and immigration -- all subjects that can be a little touchy, but are something Storm Lakers must address as they continue to welcome new faces to town.

"That's the everyday reality that Storm Lakers are living with," Offenburger said.

A reality that current Buena Vista students, just like Offenburger back in the '90s, aren't always aware of.

"I thought it was very impressive to try to do something like that," Blake McMillan, a senior digital media major from Philadelphia, Mississippi, remembered thinking when project was proposed to his class. A transfer to Buena Vista, McMillan said he hadn't gotten out in the community much, but knew a little more about it than he realized when describing it to Miami students.

"It was interesting because they were trying to tell a bunch of stories about a town they'd never been to," McMillan said.

McMillan teamed on a profile of Katie Lindgren, who grew up in Storm Lake and now lives nearby in Newell, about the changes she's witnessed in Storm Lake. McMillan also interviewed an immigrant from South Sudan and her daughter about the challenges they faced moving here.

Working on their stories helped McMillan realize what immigrants go through to get to Storm Lake and how longtime residents adjust to the changes. McMillan said he realized Storm Lake is a special place that has worked hard to integrate newcomers, a discovery he could share with the Miami students.

"It became a lot more fun to show people who aren't from here what it's like here," McMillan said.

Twenty profiles were finished last spring and began posting on the Small Town, Big World website at smalltownbigworld.org on March 8. Written profiles were done by the Miami students, and Buena Vista students used the interview recordings to create audio stories to accompany them.

Students are collaborating on 20 more profiles this spring.

The project has taught Offenburger things about Storm Lake he wished he'd learned as a Buena Vista student. But through his students, he's come to know the city and how its citizens from dozens of backgrounds have built a community, despite the challenges to do so.

"There's some beautiful things going on in Storm Lake, and I think that's how the U.S. can move forward. It wasn't always like that," said Offenburger, who's working on a book about Storm Lake and the region.

He may not have known it when living here, but he's making sure as many people as possible now become aware of what makes Storm Lake special.

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SARS-CoV-2, the virus causing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, is likely to keep evolving as transmission continues globally, but its severity will reduce due to immunity acquired by vaccination and infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday.

Speaking at an online briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gave three possible scenarios for how the pandemic could evolve this year.

"Based on what we know now, the most likely scenario is that the virus continues to evolve, but the severity of the disease it causes reduces over time as immunity increases due to vaccination and infection," he said, warning that periodic spikes in cases and deaths may occur as immunity wanes, which may require periodic boosting for vulnerable populations.

"In the best-case scenario, we may see less severe variants emerge, and boosters or new formulations of vaccines won't be necessary," he added.

"In the worst-case scenario, a more virulent and highly transmissible variant emerges. Against this new threat, people's protection against severe disease and death, either from prior vaccination or infection, will wane rapidly."

The WHO chief put forward outright his recommendations for countries to end the acute phase of the pandemic in 2022.

"First, surveillance, laboratories, and public health intelligence; second, vaccination, public health and social measures, and engaged communities; third, clinical care for COVID-19, and resilient health systems; fourth, research and development, and equitable access to tools and supplies; and fifth, coordination, as the response transitions from an emergency mode to long-term respiratory disease management."

He reiterated that equitable vaccination remains the single most powerful tool to save lives. However, as high-income countries now roll out fourth doses of vaccination for their populations, one third of the world's population is yet to receive a single dose, including 83 percent of the population of Africa, according to WHO's data.

"This is not acceptable to me, and it should not be acceptable to anyone," Tedros said, vowing to save lives by ensuring everyone has access to tests, treatments and vaccines.
SIOUX CITY -- From the moment the Navy announced that one of its newest ships would be named after Sioux City, local civic leaders swelled with pride, vowing to support the ship and its crew.

Barely three years after joining the Navy's fleet, the USS Sioux City will need every bit of that support to remain in service.

A U.S. Navy budget proposal unveiled Monday recommends the decommissioning of the USS Sioux City and 23 other ships. Just like that, the ship could be mothballed when memories of the joyous 2018 commissioning ceremony still remain strong in the minds of many.

Though the ship's future is now uncertain, the community will continue to stand behind the ship's crew members and their mission, said Chris McGowan, Siouxland Chamber of Commerce president.

"We will continue to do our very best to support the courageous men and women who serve on the USS Sioux City and remain focused on expanding and enhancing the incredibly strong relationship we have built with these sailors," said McGowan, who co-chaired the ship's commissioning committee with retired Rear Adm. Frank Thorp.

The Navy's decommissioning recommendation must be approved by Congress, and lawmakers could block the plan. Thorp, a 28-year Navy veteran, said Thursday that process ensures the USS Sioux City will not disappear overnight.

"The budget still needs to be approved by Congress, so this has a long time to play out. And then if USS Sioux City and the other Freedom class LCS are approved for decommissioning, it will take some time to make that happen. That is important because the crew needs that connection with her namesake city now more than ever," Thorp said.

The proposal is part of a five-year budget plan that calls for decommissioning 24 ships, including eight other Freedom Class Littoral Combat Ships, or LCS, similar to the USS Sioux City, for a total savings of $3.6 billion, Navy officials said at a press briefing Monday.

Navy officials said other ships can perform the USS Sioux City's anti-submarine warfare mission, and mechanical problems with the water jet propulsion systems have plagued the LCS Freedom class vessels.

"... it's a hard thing to make a decision to decommission ships, but what we are looking at is what offers the best capability against the threats that we are facing," Meredith A. Berger, acting Under Secretary Of The Navy, told reporters. "And so as we think about how to build a force that we can sustain within the budget that we have, that's how we've made some of these, again, tough decisions. And as we look across LCS, this is a place where we have identified that there are real costs, especially at the -- for the Freedom class to be able to make some of the repairs that are needed on those as we measure that against what is the best contribution to the capabilities that we need."

When commissioned, Navy leaders said the USS Sioux City's expected lifetime would be 30 years, probably more. Mayor Bob Scott said the Navy's decision would be a waste of taxpayer money if the $362 million ship were decommissioned after serving just a fraction of that time.

"It's amazing they can spend that amount of money and then decommission it. It's unbelievable," Scott said. "We have a relationship with a lot of people who have served on that ship, and it's hard to believe that ship is unsalvageable.

"I would hope we at least try to voice our objection to this."

It was just 10 years ago that the Navy announced to an enthusiastic crowd at City Hall that the 11th ship of the LCS class would be named after Sioux City.

That enthusiasm never waned. Large numbers of Siouxlanders traveled in January 2016 to the ship's christening at a Wisconsin shipyard. Hundreds more traveled to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, to witness the ship's commissioning on Nov. 18, 2018.

Before and since the ship's commissioning, ship commanders and crew members have received warm welcomes when visiting Sioux City, and more than $250,000 was raised to create a legacy education fund to help USS Sioux City crew members and their families pay for educational expenses.

Thorp repeatedly said during his many visits to Sioux City before the commissioning that he'd never seen a city embrace a namesake ship as Sioux City had done.

"The support for the ship and crew is unparalleled," Thorp said. "The other thing I would say is that the sailors who have served on USS Sioux City will forever stand proud, arguably prouder than most if not all of the other ships on the waterfront, because of the great support of the people of Siouxland."

Since its commissioning, the USS Sioux City and its 75-member crew have been based in Mayport, Florida, and deployed to the U.S. 4th Fleet area of operations to support Joint Interagency Task Force South's mission, which includes counter-illicit drug trafficking missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

In recent months, the USS Sioux City and its crew, working with the U.S. Coast Guard, stopped two vessels in the Caribbean Sea, seizing approximately 1,080 kilograms of cocaine worth an estimated $44 million.

News of those missions has been a point of pride, McGowan said.

"We are very proud to serve as the namesake city for LCS 11 and we will remain so for as long as the USS Sioux City continues to serve our nation in the defense of freedom," he said. "Obviously, these decisions will be made at the highest levels of our federal government, and their sole criteria ought to be what is in the best interest of our national defense and protecting the security of the American people."

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IDA GROVE, Iowa -- Five Northwest Iowa men have been fined a total of nearly $83,000 for their involvement in a wildlife poaching network dating back to 2018.

State conservation officers served a search warrant at the rural Washta home of Devon Lewis in November and discovered evidence of other poaching activity. After getting an additional search warrant, investigators found evidence of a year-round poaching network involving at least 70 deer, four turkeys, ducks, raccoons and red fox.

The five men shot wildlife out of season and from vehicles, over baited and often did not have proper tags, according to an Iowa Department of Natural Resources news release.

Pleading guilty in Ida County District Court were:

-- Devon Lewis, 26, 23 citations, $37,600 in fines and damages, seven-year hunting license suspension.

-- Taylor Luvaas, 27, Schaller, 14 citations, $31,118 in fines and damages, seven-year hunting license suspension.

-- Jacob Fouts, 23, Cherokee, six citations, $5,861 in fines and damages, hunting license suspension.

-- Dylan Lewis, 22, Cushing, three citations, $5,251 in fines and damages, license suspension.

-- Austin Lewis, 19, Cushing, two citations, $4,300 in fines and damages.

A judge also condemned five rifles, three shotguns and three bows used to commit the crimes.

"Our best chance to catch poachers is when the public provides us with timely information after witnessing illegal activity take place. It was apparent that this activity had been going on for quite some time," conservation officer Kirby Bragg said in a news release.

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More than 2.2 million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines donated by China through the COVAX Facility arrived in Myanmar's Yangon on Wednesday, according to the Information Ministry.

According to the figures released by the Health Ministry, more than 49.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in the country and more than 21.8 million people have been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday.

Besides, over 1 million people in the country had received a booster as of Tuesday.

The Southeast Asian country reported that the number of COVID-19 infections has increased to 611,448 with 19,430 deaths in the country on Wednesday, the ministry's data showed.
The Fillmore County sheriff who was arrested on suspicion of DUI last week had been drinking in Lincoln before he allegedly drove his truck off a rural Seward County road in the early morning hours of March 20, according to court filings.

Steve Julich, a 41-year-old Geneva man who has been Fillmore County's acting sheriff since November, was formally charged with misdemeanor DUI on Friday after Seward County deputies found him alone in the backseat of his 2013 Ford just before 6 a.m. March 20, according to the affidavit for his arrest.

The truck, which was running and still in drive when deputies contacted Julich, was in a ditch against a tree off County Road 140, Deputy Steve Schulz said in the affidavit.

Schulz said the truck smelled of alcohol, and Julich, who appeared to have vomit on his left shirt sleeve, declined both a field sobriety test and preliminary breath test.

The sheriff told deputies he left a Lincoln bar with two friends, one of whom had been driving the truck, but Julich couldn't name the individuals, Schulz said. The deputy noted there wasn't room in the pickup for three people, and Julich was the only person on scene.

Julich, who is still the acting sheriff in Fillmore County, was taken to the Seward County Jail but was released on bond March 21.

He is set to make his first appearance in court April 20.

Reach the writer at 402-473-7223 or awegley@journalstar.com. On Twitter @andrewwegley

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To state Sen. Steve Lathrop of Omaha, the criminal sentencing changes he is pushing represent smart on crime reforms and could help the state avoid spending hundreds of millions on new prisons.

But Gov. Pete Ricketts recently offered a different description for Lathrops LB920, calling it a soft on crime package of letting inmates and dangerous criminals out of prison early.

In the Legislature this year, LB920 has become a divisive issue thats gone beyond just the future of the nations fastest growing and most overcrowded prison system. The bill  along with Ricketts plan to build a new $270 million prison  has weighed heavily during discussions of the states budget and recently derailed a package of tax cuts.

Lathrop maintains that state senators need to pass sentencing reforms not only to deal with current overcrowding, but also with some 1,600 additional inmates that Nebraska is projected to add between now and 2030.

Theres little doubt LB920 would make an impact on Nebraskas inmate numbers.

The Crime and Justice Institute, a nonprofit that worked with state officials this past year to study the states criminal justice system and prison growth, estimated that LB920 by 2030 would reduce the head count in Nebraskas prisons by more that 1,000 inmates from current projections.

Thats the difference between 4% inmate growth over that time and the current projection of 22% growth.

CJI found that the number of inmates coming into Nebraskas prison system in recent years is actually down. But the issue is that they are staying longer. Thats why its imperative to take a hard look at sentencing laws, Lathrop said.

Without taking the types of actions contemplated in LB920, he said, even if the state builds the prison Ricketts has been pushing, lawmakers will be asked before long to build another. And thats not to mention the tens of millions of annual costs to staff and run prisons.

He calls LB920 an effort to reserve the states expensive prison beds for the states most serious and dangerous criminals.

"We can't build as fast as the place is filling up," Lathrop said as lawmakers launched debate on LB920 Wednesday night. "It is incumbent on this Legislature in this session to chart a long-term course for the Department of Corrections."

But the bill has faced strong opposition from the association representing the states county prosecutors and from Ricketts. They say it goes too far in reducing criminal penalties and taking away discretion from judges.

Most of these policies are nonstarters for anyone looking to serve the victims of crime and promote public safety, the Republican governor said in a column released Tuesday.

Ricketts has called on Lathrop to drop most of the bill and instead work with him on 17 provisions from last years criminal justice review that achieved consensus approval from the panel.

Those measures include improving access to mental health care for individuals on parole or probation, providing transitional housing for just-released inmates, and increasing the availability of problem-solving courts. Most of those provisions, however, are not currently before the Legislature.

While criminal justice debates can often be partisan, CJR officials note that a number of LB920s provisions have been adopted in states with Republican governors and legislatures. Utah, Tennessee and Oklahoma, for example, have made possession of small amounts of drugs a misdemeanor rather than a felony.

And at least two LB920 provisions are similar to policies that then-President Donald Trump included in a federal criminal justice reform package he signed in 2018.

Theres also no doubt the changes proposed by LB920 have been subject to both misunderstanding and hyperbole.

Ricketts in a press conference last week said Lathrop wants to get rid of consecutive sentences. The bill would actually only limit their use, particularly when it comes to nonviolent offenders.

Lathrop said the governor and others have also mischaracterized parts of the bill that would make some offenders eligible for parole earlier.

That does not mean they would be released earlier, Lathrop said. It would still be up to the parole board  which is appointed by the governor  to determine whether they are good candidates and should be released to supervision. CJI found the parole board has recently been approving 58% of applications for parole.

Lathrop and even some opponents of the bill acknowledge its in everyones interest for inmates to spend time on parole rather than jamming out  prison slang for completing their entire maximum sentence. While on parole, former inmates are monitored to make sure they are staying off drugs, working and taking other steps to re-integrate into society.

If (an offender) goes in for eight years, will you be safer if he spends eight years, or if he spends seven years and one year supervised by a parole officer? Lathrop said. Thats what this is all about.

Sen. Suzanne Geist of Lincoln, who like both Ricketts and Lathrop served on the group that studied the states prison system, has introduced an amendment that would strip out most of the provisions of LB920.

An analysis of the amendment by CJI shows it would also cut out nearly all the bills impact in reducing inmate numbers. It would mean 143 fewer inmates by 2030 compared to the more than 1,000 under Lathrop's plan.

During negotiations this week, Geist has been able to reach agreement with Lathrop on some provisions of the bill. But consensus on others seems far apart.

The Legislature is expected to take up the bill for the first time Wednesday evening, with debate expected to extend into Thursday and perhaps beyond.

Here is a look at some of the most contentious provisions of LB920:

* Reduce penalties for possession of a small amount of drugs.

Current law in Nebraska allows charging of a felony for even trace amounts of drugs, amounts CJI says are more consistent with being a drug user rather than a drug dealer. The bill would make possession of less than half of a gram of most drugs a misdemeanor, subject to probation or time in county jail.

A number of states have reduced penalties for small amounts of drugs. For example, Utah made it a misdemeanor for the first two offenses, with a third offense rising to a felony. An Urban Institute study found the change significantly reduced the number of drug possession offenders coming into prison.

The goal of these types of policies is that if this is an addiction issue, then address their addiction, said Len Engel, CJIs director of policy.

Geist and Ricketts say that in reality, prison is already the last resort for drug users, with first-time offenders typically given the opportunity to attend diversion programs and special drug courts. Every judge I have talked to said they do not incarcerate people for possession of small amounts of drugs, Geist said.

The county attorneys association said making drug possession a misdemeanor undermines offenders participation in drug courts, which another part of the bill seeks to expand.

* Establish a system of geriatric parole for inmates 75 years or older who did not commit murder, are not serving a life sentence, and who have served at least 15 years of their sentence.

Nebraska has a fast-growing number of very old inmates. The working group examined systems in a number of states that allow for parole of older inmates who no longer pose a serious threat to public safety and are expensive to incarcerate due to medical costs.

The federal government under Trump also established geriatric parole, and that system is more lenient than what LB920 provides. The federal program is available to inmates 60 or older and is not subject to a parole board review.

Ricketts blasted the provision in his column, saying older inmates can still pose a threat. But Geist in negotiations with Lathrop this week has agreed to the policy with some tweaks, including making sexual offenders ineligible.

I contend we do not want a 75-year-old pedophile released on parole, Geist said.

Lathrop said he expects the parole board will still choose to release few such inmates, and their numbers will not impact overcrowding much.

* Set a limit on minimum sentences in order to encourage offenders to spend more of their sentences under parole supervision.

Nebraska uses indeterminate sentencing, with crimes carrying a minimum and maximum penalty. The minimum determines when the offender becomes eligible for parole, and the maximum determines when the offender will be released. The time between those dates is the time the offender can spend under parole supervision.

Nebraska law once capped minimum sentences at one-third of the maximum. But in 1993, repeal of the cap was slipped into a bill without a word of debate in the Legislature, and lawmakers have declined to restore any kind of cap since.

LB920 would cap most minimums at 50% of the maximum in an effort to move up parole eligibility. Lathrop calls this one of the bills keys, serving the public interest by increasing supervision of those who are eventually released. Hes been willing to increase the cap above the 50% level.

Geist agrees supervision is critical but opposes the cap. She may seek to amend the measure by putting a period of mandatory supervision on the end of criminal sentences, similar to a bill vetoed previously by Ricketts.

* When charging a person as a habitual criminal under Nebraskas three strikes law, the two prior strikes need to involve violence or sexual assault.

In Nebraska, being a habitual criminal carries a significant 10-year mandatory sentence, so Lathrop said its appropriate the charge should be focused on those with a history of committing violent offenses.

The county attorneys say the law remains important, and say such offenders represent a small percentage of total inmates.

* Establish criteria for judges to determine when sentences for multiple crimes should be served consecutively.

Requiring criminals convicted of multiple crimes to serve sentences consecutively can significantly ratchet up the amount of time behind bars.

CJI found that 86% of consecutive sentences handed down by Nebraska judges were discretionary, and there was also no consistency in how they were used. In Lancaster County, judges used consecutive sentences twice as often as in Douglas County, and across the state they tended to be most often used for lower-level crimes.

Under LB920, for a judge to require consecutive sentences, the multiple crimes would need to meet one of these conditions: the crimes were violent or involved threat of violence or sexual assault, were committed on more than one day or involved multiple victims, or involved a crime that was heinous or cruel.

Ricketts said this week the limits go too far and would handcuff a judges ability to issue a sentence appropriate for the crimes committed.

Geist said she feels there is room for reaching agreement on this provision, as well as on others. But with just days left in the session, she questioned whether there is time.

She also lamented the fact that at a time when the state is flush with cash, the state isnt investing more money in drug treatment and mental health services that everyone agrees would reduce inmate numbers.

Sen. Lathrop and I agree on so much and want the same outcomes, she said. We just want to get there a bit differently.

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The Legislature on Thursday broadened the North and South Omaha Recovery Act to distribute designated federal pandemic recovery funds statewide with some of the funding earmarked for affordable housing and tourism development in Lincoln.

The amendments to LB1014 proposed by Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha, sponsor of the bill, included $5 million directed to assist the Lancaster Event Center Fairgrounds.

The amended bill would designate $30 million for development of affordable housing in Lincoln and $1 million in tourism development grants.

A number of rural senators, spearheaded by Sen. Curt Friesen of Henderson, served notice that while they support the bill they will be insisting on substantial designated funding for development of broadband expansion in rural Nebraska.

The bill was moved ahead from first-stage floor consideration on a voice vote.

Wayne said the amendments he proposed would make sure the funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act would benefit the entire state while directing $135 million in fiscal 2022-23 to meet affordable housing needs in high-poverty census tracts in Omaha and developing a business park near Eppley Airfield that would provide employment opportunities.

Another $135 million would be placed in a contingency fund.

Funding would "provide hope and opportunity to compete with the resources needed to be successful," Wayne said.

While the original proposal was directed at addressing poverty, housing and employment challenges in North Omaha, the bill was broadened to include South Omaha before its introduction.

The needs are estimated at $2 billion, Wayne said, and the original request was for $450 million in ARPA funding.

Sen. Anna Wishart of Lincoln said Wayne had talked about his determination to address his community's needs when they were climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa last November with a number of other Nebraska state senators.

"This is not only economic development," Wishart said. "This is criminal justice reform," in the sense that it is addressing some of the needs, challenges and barriers that face the Black population in North Omaha.

And, in its amended form, Sen. Tony Vargas of Omaha said, "it benefits the entire state."

Vargas represents the largely Latino population of South Omaha.

"We need to make sure people have opportunities," Sen. Terrell McKinney said. McKinney also represents North Omaha constituents.

Now that it has been amended, McKinney said, the bill will have "a positive impact on the whole state."

Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers of Lincoln praised the plan as "thoughtful, strategic, creative" and representative of "long-term thinking."

The Lancaster Event Center hosted the National High School Finals Rodeo last year and continues to seek funding for the final phase of long-term improvements plans, including a coliseum and additional pavilion.

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

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Nebraska has sent 550 pieces of used protective law enforcement and military equipment to Ukraine to help protect Ukrainians who are battling the Russian troops who have invaded their country, Gov. Pete Ricketts announced Wednesday.

The equipment was delivered to Des Moines where it was scheduled to be flown to Ukraine along with equipment gathered in Iowa.

"We want to help the people of Ukraine fight this aggression," the governor said. "We support Ukraine," the governor said during a news conference that included Ukrainian Catholic Church representatives and a third grader named Lexi Fedoronko who tearfully said her grandparents are still in Ukraine.

They all asked Nebraskans to pray for the people of Ukraine.

Among the donated items shipped from Nebraska were 321 pieces of body armor and 69 helmets.

Cass County Sheriffs Lt. Larry Burke said his department donated 30 to 40 vests, which typically cost about $400 apiece. He told the Omaha World-Herald each vest is at least 5 years old, which means it no longer is in compliance with law enforcement standards.

Normally, Burke said the Sheriffs Office would dispose of the vests through a vendor but "this was a way of cleaning out our storage and (they) are hopefully going to a good cause.

Ricketts said the people of Ukraine are undergoing "enormous suffering" now as a result of "the unprovoked attack" by Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has created "the worst refugee crisis since World War II," the governor said. "Nebraskans stand with Ukraine."

Bennet Goldstein of the Omaha World-Herald contributed to this report.

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

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JOHNSTON -- Taras Slyvka, a Ukrainian-Iowan who lives in Dubuque, said in 2015 he lost two good friends who fought for Ukraine, and that now he has two more close friends fighting to defend Ukraine against the Russian invasion.

They need help, Slyvka said.

The state of Iowa is trying to do its part, announcing Wednesday it is shipping unused protective helmets and vests from state and local law enforcement agencies to Ukraine, where they will be donated with the hope of helping Ukrainian military forces and citizens.

During a news conference at Camp Dodge, where Slyvka spoke, Iowa officials said the state public safety department oversaw the collection of donated gear from its own reserves as well as 18 local law enforcement agencies around the state, and will send 146 protective helmets and 714 ballistic vests to Ukraine.

The equipment is considered retired by the agencies because of manufacturers recommended service life. Law enforcement officials said the equipment still is in usable condition.

Once we learned the plight and the needs of the Ukrainian people, it was immediately apparent to us that we could put our decommissioned equipment to good use, said Stephan Bayens, commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety. While this protective gear is beyond its recommended service life, it still is capable of providing a measure of ballistic protection where currently none exists. 

I know its a small gesture. But if the equipment we donate today even saves one life or protects one family, gives the Ukrainian people any measure of hope, it was worth every effort.

The state of Nebraska added to Iowas donation, officials said.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said the state stands ready to accept Ukrainian refugees and has notified the federal government. She said she does not have a projected timeline for when the federal government might ask Iowa to house Ukrainian refugees.

I have had so many people  Ive had mayors, Ive had individuals, Ive had families reach out to me and say, Ive got room in my home. We will do whatever we can to help the displaced refugees until they can get back home to their family, Reynolds said. So I wanted to make sure that we werent the barrier in making that happen.  Were ready."

Reynolds also said the state is working with Iowa Sister States and Meals from the Heartland in West Des Moines to help address food supply needs in Iowas sister state of Cherkasy, Ukraine.

Reynolds said there is not currently a need for volunteers, but donations to help cover costs of shipping the food to Ukraine can be made at iowasisterstates.org.

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Biden peddles Indo-Pacific strategy to Singapore's Lee, but ASEAN members aware US targeting China

By Zhang Han (Global Times) 09:13, March 31, 2022

US President Joe Biden told visiting Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday that the "Indo-Pacific" remains the strategic focus of the US, but during their meeting, Lee mostly avoided using the "Indo-Pacific" term which is widely believed to be coined by the US to contain China.

Tuesday was the original date for a US-ASEAN summit which had been postponed for "scheduling reasons" of ASEAN leaders.

With global attention attached to the Ukraine crisis, Biden said Tuesday his administration "is strongly supportive of moving rapidly to implement the Indo-Pacific strategy."

"We also discussed a wide range of concerns for peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. That includes ensuring that all nations in the region, including China, uphold the principles that enable a free and open region," Biden said at a joint press conference with Lee after their meeting, according to a transcript released by the White House.

Lee welcomed the US-proposed Indo-Pacific economic framework, while referring to the region as "Asia-Pacific" rather than Indo-Pacific when talking about other issues.

Some observers interpreted the word selection as showing Singapore, just like other ASEAN members, is cautious about getting involved in the US' Indo-Pacific blueprint, which is more about security rather than development and mainly targeting China.

Gu Xiaosong, dean of the ASEAN Research Institute of Hainan Tropical Ocean University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that since the US-ASEAN summit was postponed, the US seized on Lee's visit to learn about ASEAN's internal views of key regional and international issues, and convey a message of commitment to the region.

But ASEAN members have a tradition of balanced policies and they are aware of the US' real intention - Washington doesn't care about Southeast Asia at all, except the region's potential to serve the US' containment of China.

Unlike China which has been developing ties with the region through concrete projects and programs, what the US does in the region is trying to spend little with maximum gains - sending warships and warplanes to the South China Sea and playing "a thief crying stop thief" by hyping China as a threat to the region.

US and the Philippines kicked off their largest joint exercises in years, in a region that US media hyped as facing Taiwan island and the South China Sea. The Philippines said the exercises are "for mutual defense, never for offense."

Observers said that through the drills, the US tried to fan the flames and stir trouble in the Asia-Pacific and benefit from it, just like it has done with the Ukraine crisis. Some Philippine politicians also noted the country should pursue an independent foreign policy, stressing that the country should not be a "pawn."

The US has been hyping the "China threat" theory and is trying to connect the Russia-Ukraine conflict to China's role in Asia.

According to the Biden-Lee joint statement, the US and Singapore recognize that threats to the UN Charter and the rules-based international order, including Russia's military activities in Ukraine, place peace and prosperity everywhere at risk. The war in Ukraine has a negative impact on the Indo-Pacific region, which already faces many complex challenges, it says.

Though frequently sending senior officials to Southeast Asia, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Biden's three foreign visits since his inauguration were all to Europe.

Lu Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday that Biden's ideal was to streamline the transatlantic relationship first and engage Europe to join its Indo-Pacific Strategy, for which it has to unite Europe by creating a common threat - Russia.

The US has seeded the crisis, but playing with fire turned out to burn the US itself, and the expert said the US no longer has time or resources for the Asia-Pacific.

The Biden-Lee meeting touched on the "Indo-Pacific economic framework" with regional partners that will "expand cooperation on trade, supply chains, clean energy, de-carbonization, infrastructure, taxes, and anti-corruption," according to the White House release.

But like previous US promises including a $102 million fund announced in October 2021, what Biden said to Lee will remain as lip service; in contrast, China's cooperation with ASEAN eyes joint development and prosperity, and has been concrete and fruitful, Lu said.

At the invitation of China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, foreign ministers of Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Myanmar will visit China from Thursday to Sunday, Wang Wenbin, a spokesperson of China's Foreign Ministry, announced on Monday.

Wang said the four countries are important ASEAN members and China's friendly neighbors and important partners for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation. Through this visit, China hopes to work with all parties to ensure the sound implementation of the outcomes and consensus of the summit in 2021, promote the materialization of the Global Development Initiative in neighboring countries first, and jointly build a peaceful, tranquil, prosperous, beautiful and friendly homeland, Wang said.

Lu pointed out the Ukraine crisis has an implication for Southeast Asia, showing that neutrality and a balanced policy will benefit a country's interests.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
 Flash

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks on Wednesday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Qureshi is in Tunxi, east China's Anhui province, to attend the third meeting of foreign ministers of the countries neighboring Afghanistan.

In the face of the complex and volatile international and regional situation, the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between China and Pakistan has withstood the test and shown strong vitality, becoming an important factor in safeguarding regional peace and stability, Wang said.

No matter how the international situation changes, China will continue to view and promote China-Pakistan relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, support Pakistan in safeguarding its national sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity, and will be Pakistan's most reliable partner and strongest backer, Wang added.

Noting that Pakistan and China have supported each other in weal and woe and have never let each other down, Qureshi said Pakistan is ready to maintain sound communication with China, with the two nations firmly supporting each other in safeguarding their core interests.

The two sides exchanged views on deepening mutually beneficial cooperation and agreed to continue to promote the high-quality development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Qureshi said Pakistan will make every effort to ensure the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel in Pakistan.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine issue.

Qureshi said that Pakistan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are deeply concerned about the multiple challenges brought by the spillover of the crisis to developing countries, and they advocate respecting international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and resolving disputes through diplomatic means.

Pakistan is willing to work with China to adopt a common position and make a unified voice, Qureshi added.

China and Pakistan, like other developing countries, adhere to the general direction of dialogue, negotiation and the restoration of peace, Wang said.

"Under the current circumstances, we should be especially vigilant against the negative spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis," Wang said. "We must not allow the Cold War mentality to resurface in Asia. We must not allow bloc confrontation to repeat in Asia. We must not allow small and medium-sized countries in the region to become tools or even victims of major-country rivalry."

He said China is ready to work with Pakistan and neighboring countries to play a constructive role in regional and world peace and stability.
DES MOINES -- School transparency requirements, parental objections to classroom materials, and a proposed taxpayer-funded private school tuition assistance program have been addressed by majority Republican state lawmakers.

Now, to get something passed into a new state law, those Republicans must come together and reach a compromise agreement.

Because as it stands, their proposals vary in multiple and significant ways.

Majority Republicans in the Iowa Senate passed their version Wednesday, approving legislation that would require public K-12 schools to publish classroom materials and curriculum online, provide avenues for parents to shield their children from any sexually explicit classroom materials, and shift taxpayer funding for public schools to a scholarship program for private school students from moderate- or low-income families.

The scholarship program would make an estimated $5,520 in tuition assistance available to students from families at or below 400 percent of the federal poverty level, or $111,000 in income for a family of four.

The proposal is similar to the one introduced early this legislative session by Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds.

The bill, Senate File 2369, passed on mostly a party-line vote, 31-18, with Republicans supporting and Democrats opposing. Republican Sen. Annette Sweeney of Alden was the lone crossover.

Senate Republicans argued the legislation will empower more parents to make the choice to send their children to private schools if those parents have an issue with their local public school.

This is not an attack on teachers or our schools.  This is not a bill designed to undermine public education, Sen. Amy Sinclair, a Republican from Allerton who chairs the Senates education committee, said during floor debate. Plain and simple, folks, this bill is about parental rights.

Sen. Jim Carlin, a Sioux City Republican who is mounting a primary challenge to longtime U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, during debate expressed his concern regarding a leftist agenda to indoctrinate and sexualize the identity of children.

Senate Democrats introduced amendments that would have isolated the elements of the bill that have bipartisan support, like the parents bill of rights; required private schools to adhere to the same transparency requirements as public schools; and added more leeway for educators to withhold some communications between students and educators, if it may place the student in danger. Majority Republicans rejected each proposal.

Democrats warned that the private school scholarship proposal would adversely impact public schools, and argued taxpayer funding should not go to schools that are not held to the same public accountability standards and are not required to accept all students.

It would be like using taxpayer dollars to pave a road the public cant drive on, or a private pool that our kids cant swim in, said Sen. Zach Wahls, the Senate Democrats leader from Coralville. Why on earth would we give private schools our taxpayer dollars when they dont have the commitment or the responsibility of educating all Iowa students.

Roughly 24 hours earlier, on Tuesday night, majority Republicans in the House passed their own version of school transparency legislation.

That bill, House File 2577, also contains school transparency requirements, but they are not as stringent as the Senate version.

Also, the House bill does not contain the private school tuition assistance program. In 2021, a similar proposal failed to gain sufficient support in the House, even with its Republican majority. The proposal is facing a similar hurdle in the House this year.

Iowa parents have raised concerns over age-inappropriate material and left-leaning curriculum in their childs classroom and school libraries, Rep. Phil Thompson, a Republican from Jefferson who oversaw the House bill, said in a news release Wednesday. I believe that parents matter, and they deserve a voice in their childs education. The best way to give them back their voice is to increase transparency. Parents deserve to know what their child is being taught.

Eventually, Republican leaders in the House and Senate, along with Reynolds, will have to come to a compromise agreement on the myriad subjects broached in these bills.

Were continuing to work on (the private school scholarship program). Im going to continue to be optimistic right into the end, Reynolds said at a news conference earlier Wednesday. I think it lifts all of education up. I think its a positive thing. I dont think its anything that other schools should be afraid of, because a strong public school system is also fundamental to our state and the success of our state. So they can coexist together.

Neither bill contains a path for parents to sue educators over school materials and create criminal penalties for those educators, as was proposed earlier this session by Sen. Jake Chapman, R-Adel, and passed through the Senates judiciary committee.

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We are in trouble, said Erin Brockovich. She leaned forward, emphasizing every word. This is the biggest water crisis our nation has ever faced.

She was visiting my hometown of La Crosse, Wis., to talk about drinking water, particularly, the dangers posed by the group of chemicals known as PFAS.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of about 5,000 chemicals comprised of linked carbon and fluorine atoms. They have been widely used in manufacturing since the 1940s. The properties that make them so useful in products such as cooking pans, packaging, carpets, paints and firefighting foam, also are what prevent them from breaking down in the environment. They have become known as forever chemicals.

The list of places contaminated by PFAS is growing so rapidly that many experts think the only reason they have been undetected in many water supplies is that they havent yet been tested. Even states like Maine, which is largely rural, has significant PFAS contamination in private wells due to wastewater treatment plant sludge applied to agricultural fields for fertilizer.

One of the reasons contamination is so widespread is that the unsafe levels are so incredibly small. Most toxic substances that pose dangers in drinking water are measured in parts per million or parts per billion; PFAS is considered dangerous at levels measured in parts per trillion. Detecting PFAS is like finding a penny in the state of Texas.

Although all the adverse health effects of PFAS have not yet been determined, a number of studies link them to cancer, asthma, low infant birth weights and thyroid disease. They also are believed to compromise the immune system, affect liver and kidney function, decrease bone density in children, and cause fertility problems.

Yet, despite what is known about the dangers of PFAS and their prevalence in the environment, the EPA has not yet issued a regulatory standard. (They are scheduled to release their final determination in the fall of 2023.) To date, only a handful of states have established their own maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for PFAS.

That is why we need people like Brockovich to encourage the rest of us to step up and take action.

Brockovich has been an advocate for communities afflicted by groundwater contamination since 1991, when she first stepped foot in Hinckley, California. I knew there was something wrong there, she recalled. I could feel it.

The movie that made her famous came out in 2000, and she used that fame to expand her work, encouraging ordinary people to get informed and involved. Dont wait for the agencies and politicians to do it for you, she says. Nobody is going to do it for you; you have to do it yourself.

Her most recent book, Supermans Not Coming, takes up that theme. Ive noticed over the years that when I visit towns and work with people, the No. 1 thing everyone seems to need is permission. They are looking for someone to tell them that its OK to move forward.

Well, its OK, she says. There are a number of things we can do, and we need to start doing them.

To protect oneself and ones family, one can install in-home water filters that use either activated charcoal filtration or reverse osmosis to treat drinking water. These filters may not remove all contaminants, but they can reduce the levels considerably.

But that is not enough. Water is not a private good; it is a common good. It is our shared ethical responsibility to ensure that the water supply we collectively contribute to and draw from is safe for all.

We can start by requesting local authorities both test for and report the presence of PFAS in water supplies. If we dont know whats in our water, we cant do anything about it.

We also should contact legislators to insist that PFAS be regulated as a class of chemicals rather than individually. Presently, only about 1 percent of PFAS chemicals have been studied for toxicity, and new versions of the chemicals are being developed, used in manufacturing, and finding their way into our food and water supply. Just because the specific health effects of the new chemicals have not yet been studied, there is no reason to suppose they are any less dangerous than older versions of PFAS.

When facing an overwhelming and complex problem like PFAS contamination, it is important to know what to do. But that is what human beings are really good at. We find solutions to problems. We investigate, we negotiate, we collaborate, and we commit.

In addition to figuring out what to do, we need to remember why we are doing it.

Brockovich confesses that a few years ago she felt burned out. There were too many communities asking for help, too many contaminants, too much need. And then her first grandchild was born.

Meeting her now, the first thing one notices is that she has the energy and passion of a much younger person, but she also has a gravitas she didnt possess 30 years ago. She takes time to talk to everyone she meets, attending to them as if they are the only person in the room.

Brockovichs message today is not just about water. Her message is about love  about genuine, heartfelt concern for the well-being of those most vulnerable to the downstream effects of our economy.

It doesnt take Superman to act with love and concern. It takes you.

Richard Kyte is director of the D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo University in La Crosse, Wis., and co-host of The Ethical Life podcast.

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Florida legislators recently voted in favor of a bill that would change the requirement for government entities to place public notices in local newspapers. If signed into law, local governments would be able to provide the public notice of government meetings, zoning changes and legal proceedings on government websites rather than in local newspapers.

Its a move that could have broad consequences and strikes at the heart of government transparency.

Public notices cover a variety of subjects and actions  meeting minutes, government expenditures, annual salary summaries, notices of public hearings, unpaid property tax bills and various other items of interest.

Putting this information before the public, through an independent source, assures levels of transparency, accountability and visibility. When these notices appear in local newspapers near other information that citizens are reading, they might spot the notices and spend a few minutes keeping tabs on their local governments activities. Some watchdog readers specifically will seek the information out in the pages of the TH.

Similar bills have been introduced in the Iowa Legislature over the last few years, and, thankfully, they have not found traction. Like the Florida bill, proponents propose allowing local governments to post these notices on their own websites.

When was the last time you visited a government website just to check it out and see whats going on? And if you have done it a time or two, how willing are you to do this every week or so  and, if necessary, to do it for your municipality and your county and your school district?

For government officials wanting to conduct business with the least amount of public attention, we cant think of any better way  short of concealing the information entirely  than posting it on government websites.

The argument for moving public notices to government websites is about two things: cost savings for local government and (allegedly) accessibility. Proponents suggest government websites are accessible to anyone, while not everyone subscribes to a newspaper.

Heres the thing: State newspaper associations  including those of Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin  aggregate their members public notices on statewide websites  at no additional charge. So, for those who want to access legal notices online, there already exists a means.

As for cost, its true that newspapers are paid for placing those notices  and, yes, the Telegraph Herald and other legal newspapers have a stake in this issue  but the rates are set by law and, we assure you, are artificially low. With the exception of some very small publications, no newspapers survival depends on retaining legal notices.

How much of a financial burden are public notices to local governments (and taxpayers)? A few years back, an Iowa Newspaper Association survey showed that local governments spend about one-twentieth of 1% of their budgets on public notices. Entities needing to cut spending wont find much savings there.

The nominal savings also would come at the expense of transparency and public accountability. In Iowa, where internet connectivity can be an issue, some rural residents would have virtually no access. How many older residents who have no computer or internet service are going to find a way to see this key government information?

In March, we celebrate Sunshine Week and set aside a week to honor the commitment to accessible government and the publics right to know. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, makes a point of offering remarks on the importance of Sunshine Week each year: Ive found sunlight deters wrongdoing and strengthens the public trust between the taxpayer and those who hold the purse strings. Secrecy breeds distrust. Conducting the peoples business behind closed doors erodes the public trust. Transparency brings accountability.

We couldnt agree more. Citizens who want to retain the convenience and accountability that public notices in their local newspaper provide should tell their state legislators so.

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SIOUX CITY -- Metro Sioux City economic leaders expressed optimism that new housing development will heat up this year after a pandemic-fueled slowdown in 2021.

Last year, the number of new housing units added in Sioux City fell more than 80 percent, with 103 permits taken out for new single-family or multi-family units, compared to a record 521 in 2020.

The year-over-year decline in South Sioux City was far starker, although also somewhat misleading, due to the massive, anomalous number of new housing units added in 2020. Twenty dwelling units were added in South Sioux City in 2021, compared to 355 in 2020. The latter figure was unrivalled in data going back to 1980, due mainly to the addition of 334 multi-residential units.

North Sioux City, meanwhile, saw a modest uptick in new housing in 2021, with 31 units added, compared to 21 in the year prior.

Sioux City Economic Development Director Marty Dougherty attributed the slump in Sioux City to a slowdown in the residential housing construction market, itself the result of an enormous increase in the price of building materials.

"We really think that the demand is there and the interest is there. What happened in 2021, basically the entire residential housing construction industry slowed down during the pandemic, due to several factors," Dougherty said after the numbers came out last month. "Construction materials are just really high. Everybody's looking for them to come down, and I don't think they've really come down too much, just yet."

Part of the reason Sioux City's 2020 numbers were so good by contrast, Dougherty said, was that many projects in that year were already in the works by the time the pandemic hit, with materials ordered and contracts signed before prices soared. The new housing tallies of recent years, including the high-water mark of 2020, included a significant proportion of multi-family units.

But even with all the new units added in 2020, housing availability in Sioux City has declined markedly.

"If you look at today's market, like what's on the market for sale, existing housing units in Sioux City, single family -- it's a third to a half less than is typical," Dougherty said.

Oscar Gomez, assistant city manager in South Sioux City, said demand for housing in South Sioux also is hot and, in some cases, going unmet. There just aren't enough houses to go around, and the wait list for apartments can be long. Beyond the frustrated home-seekers, the shortage puts a strain on employers.

"Even just with the employers here, like Tyson -- if they hire 10 people, if they want to move to South Sioux, there's nothing available," Gomez said. "We're drawing some people that are working at Wells Blue Bunny in Le Mars that, they're looking for a place to live, and they can't find anything."

"So there is a demand for housing, it's just -- nothing's available. So whenever something builds, they get sold right away, or whenever something sells, even before (it's on) the market, they already have an offer on it," he added.

Housing construction in North Sioux City in the last six years has consisted of a far higher proportion of single-family dwellings than its neighbors to the southeast -- counting duplexes and townhomes, the number of new multi-residential units exceeded single-family homes only once, in 2016, with most of the surplus being in the duplex/townhome category. As of last month, the community was working on a housing study to determine what type of housing is most in demand.

Andrew Nilges, executive director of the North Sioux City Economic Development Corporation, said South Dakota's favorable tax climate has lured residents and businesses to the community in the state's farthest southeastern tip. All that's missing is a ready supply of homes and apartments.

"We've seen a pretty significant increase in demand to be in North Sioux City, and in the state of South Dakota, so we definitely want to make sure that demand is getting met," Nilges said. "One of the things that our business community especially tells us is, they have employees from outside of North Sioux City who would love to live in the community, but there's just not as much housing available, especially that workforce/career housing. There's just not enough of it available."

Gomez, Dougherty and Nilges all said that, with housing construction ongoing at this very moment or slated to begin in the future in their respective communities, a parade of new homes and apartments are coming down the pipeline.

A 78-unit single-family housing development is in its second phase in South Sioux, and the city is using state funding to help pay for residential infrastructure to help pave the way for about 48 new homes, in addition to an apartment complex that should come on the market soon. In Sioux City, redevelopment of older buildings into apartments should add about 170 units in the first few months of this year. And North Sioux City has purchased 100 acres of land set aside for workforce housing, with space for approximately 500 new residences, plus apartments.

"This is the type of housing that people who work at our local businesses in North Sioux City, that they can afford," Nilges said. "We think with this land acquisition, we'll be able to make a pretty significant impact, in terms of addressing workforce housing."

"We're actually already seeing a really strong year in 2022, even though we're only a month into it," Dougherty said in early February.

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1 Artful acquisitions!

Want to bring more art into your lives? Check out ARTcetera, the Sioux City Art Center's triennial auction, which will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at 225 Nebraska St.

2 'Current' affair!

You can't call your band Rock 'n Roll Damnation unless you're willing to go 'Hells Bells" when it comes to the music of AC/DC. Will anyone be doing in the duck walk in schoolboy-inspired clothing, ala Angus Young? See this AC/DC cover band at 9 p.m. Saturday at The Marquee, 1225 Fourth St., and report back to us.

3 Personal 'Tranyr'

A Valley, Neb.-based Tranyr Band is best known for such songs as "Saddle on a Chevy" and "Not Enough Beer." Huh, how did you know they were a country act? They'll be in concert at 9 p.m. Saturday at Beer Can Alley, 1109 Fourth St.

4 Getting yukky!

What better way to spend April Foods Day than to see a stand-up show? Comics Austin Anderson and Richard Reese will be ready to make you laugh, beginning at 8:30 p.m. Friday at DOXX Warehouse Bar, 1219 Fifth St.

5 Bary-what?!?

Don't sweat it, we had never heard of a baryton before either. Apparently, it is a bass instrument that can either be plucked or bowed to play. Another thing that we know: Sioux City Chamber Music will host a performance by the Valencia Baryon Project at 2 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, 608 Nebraska St.

6 Kid's Night Out!

Wanna drop off the kids for a pizza party? What if there was a movie and hydro-dripping of Easter eggs involved? Ashley Prince, of Pickled Palette, will give mom and dad the night off with an artistic kid's night out event, from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at 4014 Morningside Ave.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called on the neighboring countries of Afghanistan to do their best to support the Afghan people to create a brighter future.

Xi made the remarks in a written message to the third meeting of foreign ministers of the countries neighboring Afghanistan, in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province.

Xi pointed out that having gone through so much in the past, Afghanistan is in urgent need of development in many areas. The country has come to a critical point of transition from chaos to order.

"Afghanistan is a common neighbor and partner of all participating countries, and we form a community with a shared future linked by the same mountains and rivers who would rise and fall together," said Xi.

He also noted that a peaceful, stable, developing and prosperous Afghanistan is the aspiration of all the Afghan people, and it is also in the common interests of regional countries and the international community.

Xi underscored that amity and good neighborliness are invaluable to a country.

"China always respects Afghanistan's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and has committed to supporting its pursuit of peace, stability and development," Xi said.

The coordination and cooperation mechanism among neighbors of Afghanistan, since its launch last September, has endeavored to bring into play the strengths of neighboring countries, thus playing a constructive role in promoting the steady transition in Afghanistan, he said.

Xi stressed that the neighboring countries of Afghanistan should do their best to build consensus and coordinate efforts to support the people of Afghanistan in building a brighter future.
The war against truth has entered its most diabolical phase: false flag fact-checking. For several years, propaganda wings have simply masqueraded as fact-checkers to label untrue content as genuine or genuine content as untrue. Now, Russias invasion of Ukraine has spawned a new variant of false fact-checking, wherein the propagandist creates their own obviously fake content just to debunk it. These bad-faith fact-checks are even more difficult to dispel than those that simply lie about truth or falsity, and they are equally capable of inflicting a post-truth worldview.

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Prior to recent developments, false fact-checkers have largely existed to lend credence to misinformation. For example, false fact-checking groups have affirmed that the Armenian genocide never occurred or that Russia had no part in the poisoning of Kremlin enemy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. False fact-checkers have also sought to undermine factual reporting. For example, during the Saudi effort to smear Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of assassinated and butchered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, as an undercover foreign spy, false fact-checkers claimed that pictures of the couple were all photoshopped.

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By contrast, false flag fact-checkers can use real photographs or videos and draw true conclusionsmaking them trickier to debunkbut then lie about the deployment of those images. For instance, a propagandist doctored a genuine image of a burning tank by adding a Russian-identifying Z symbol on the wreckage, then purported to debunk the constructed image by pointing to the genuine photo, and then used that fact check as evidence that all images of Russian losses in Ukraine are likely misinformation. The trick here is that the constructed image was never actually used.

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The debunking is correct in that the image is in fact constructed or miscaptioned. However, the original misinformation story is a fabrication of the bad-faith fact-checker itselfthat is, the fact-checker created the misinformation (which was never widely distributed) just to debunk it, thereby creating a misinforming fact check for distribution. This misinforming fact check is then laundered by the Russian state media, which reports the fact check as evidence that Russians cannot believe social media posts about the war.

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The false flag approach from Russian propagandists aims to spread two complementary narratives: The Western press broadcasts obvious lies about Ukraine, and social media videos of negative actions in Ukraine are fabrications. The benefits of this approach are twofold. First, it allows the wrongdoer to discredit legitimate Western news sources by association. Secondly, it allows them to claim the social media videos upon which the media rely are, themselves, false. These actions are designed not to convince users of a particular narrative, but to flood information channels with enough contradictory trash to poison the source.

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Russian Twitter channels are pressing the narrative of Western media spreading obvious lies regarding Ukraine, thereby sowing doubt and providing justification for a Russian governmental ban of those news sources. This largely consists of creating phony news posts or broadcasts, containing obviously false content. The simplest variant of this has consisted of pushing verifiably false statements from imitation CNN accounts, such as CNNUKR and CNNAfghan. The more complex variant involves fabricating false news broadcasts and posting the clips with a fact check. For example, propagandists took a genuine video of a climate change protest in which protesters donned body bags, then mixed in genuine audio of a real news report on Ukraine, to create an incorrect report with Western anchors seemingly unaware of the moving dead crisis actors in the background.

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Russian Twitter users are also generating fake media and attributing those images to Ukrainians. The propagandists do so by altering footage, claiming that pro-Ukrainian users are disseminating that footage, and then debunking the altered images and videos. For example, ASB News is a recently suspended propaganda account pushing misinformation in support of the Russian invasion (such as the specious biolab claim). ASB News has featured several fact checks showing that the Russian-identifying Z was added to older footage.

However, these fact checks do not point to any genuine dissemination or use of the altered image. Indeed, a reverse image search shows the altered image has appeared only in the context of the false fact check. An examination of the metadata of the video files in these supposed fact checks also suggests that the pro-Ukrainian fakes were created by the Russian fact-checkers themselves.

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This novel method is worrisome. It may undermine the ability of Russians to comprehend the actions of their government in Ukraine. Recent polls suggest that roughly 75 percent of Russians who claim to support the war trust official Russian sources, though of course reliable polling is difficult to achieve in Russia. More broadly, however, this method is likely to spread. American propagandists have shown a disturbing willingness to use the same tactics as their foreign counterparts. For example, Russian propaganda campaigns from 2014 onward about Ukraines brutalization of separatists feature miscaptioned photosthat is, genuine photos paired with misidentifying text. For example, Russian propagandists have repeatedly used photos taken in Israel and claimed they show civilians in Donbas in eastern Ukraine.

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This exact same technique was widely used in propaganda demonizing a migrant caravan in 2018. For example, Ginni Thomas and right-wing supporters tweeted genuine images of bleeding Mexican officers, falsely linking these images (which were unrelated to migrants and were taken years before) to caravan members.

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The Gaza-for-Ukraine swap was actually reversed by Katrina Pierson in an attack on Rep. Ilhan Omar. In 2019, Pierson tweeted a 2015 video of rocket fire in Ukraine or Belarus, paired with the text 650 Rockets being fired into Israel from Gaza, and asked if Omar would condemn it.

Pierson subsequently claimed that the video was used merely to underscore what hundreds of rockets would look like, though fact-checkers pointed out that the ordered and rhythmic artillery barrage was unlike those in Israel/Gaza and thus the video fails as a representation.

The misinformation ecosystem is replete with borrowing of method and subject matter: Russian propagandists also take note of domestic conspiracies in a vicious feedback loop. One particularly pertinent example is the Ukrainian biolabs claim, which has been seeded for years by Russian propagandists but was not part of the initial Russian propaganda push (which focused on the slur that President Volodymyr Zelensky is a Nazi). Instead, the claim appears to have taken on new life in QAnon accounts in late February. The biolab claim then jumped to right-wing influencers and anti-vaxxers (already primed by trafficking in COVID biolab strains of misinformation), then to Fox News in commentaries by Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity, with a readoption by Russian propagandists (and subsequent repetition by China). Now it has been retooled by the right as an attack on Hunter Biden.

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It is hardly a stretch to imagine that the new false flag technique will be deployed for the 2022 midterm elections (perhaps targeting audit-hungry individuals or newly created election police). False screenshots of CNN war coverage are our present; false broadcasts of election coverage are likely our future.

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One of the best tools to defeat some variants of this method is reverse image searching. This searching can reveal that the fact-checked image was never actually used. For example, a reverse image search of the doctored captured tank image shows that it never appeared outside of Pro-Russian forums and propagandist channels. Alternatively, reverse image searching can reveal the source of the original media. For example, a reverse image search of the moving body bag video shows that it is an earlier climate protest.

However, social media providers must take steps to facilitate reverse image searching by users; research shows that mere disclaimers are likely not enough. Platforms could embed the function directly on their platforms, so users can more readily access the tool. Similarly, they could streamline a report misinformation tool with fields specific to miscaptioned or misattributed images. Ukraine is, unfortunately, going to serve as a proving ground for the latest innovations in misinformation. We must be prepared for the next wave of lies.

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society.
ARCHIVED - Small filling stations in Spain face closure due to 20-cent discount



The cost of petrol and diesel in Spain will be drastically reduced from Friday April 1

In fact, small- and medium-sized filling stations have warned that the fuel bonus for consumers and professional carriers could well break them, and many claim that they cannot afford to begin offering the bonus on April 1. Companies are entitled to cash-back from the Tax Agency, but not for another month, and although service stations can request an advance on account that would cover 90% of the cost, many fear that the discount will put them out of business.

The National Association of Automatic Service Stations (Aesae), which represents twenty of the smaller chains including Plenoil, which had to shut up shop in Murcia recently after it ran out of fuel , has argued that many filling stations have already been selling petrol at cost to minimise the impact of the energy crisis on consumers. These further discounts will suffocate small businesses.

On the other hand, the government has been forced to take action against some gas stations in Spain who have begun hiking up their prices by as much as ten cents per litre in anticipation of Fridays changes.

To ensure that consumers benefit fully from the new discounts, the Minister of Transport, Raquel Sanchez, has tasked the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) with supervising the countrys more than 11,500 filling stations to ensure that there are no suspicious increases.

Of the total number, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 70% of all the filling stations in Spain, and it is estimated that each will lose an average of 1,000 euros per day when the new fuel discount is applied.

Image: Archive
Hotel Kyjev has been awaiting renovation for two decades.

Hotel Kyjev with the Ukrainian flag atop in Bratislava. (Source: Marko Erd)

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Construction workers were still building the steel structure of Hotel Kyjev when the media reported, in the sixties, that the new accommodation facility would welcome up to 420 people in its double and triple rooms.

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During the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, the 15-storey building on Kamenne Square in Bratislava was described as a hotel with world-class parameters. Its construction cost more than 100 million Slovak korunas.
State-run health insurer and association representing outpatient departments say they will continue to seek a deal.

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People with health insurance from state-run health insurer Vseobecna Zdravotna Poistovna (VsZP) will not have to pay for non-emergency medical care from April 1, it has been announced.

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They had been facing having to pay for medical treatment other than urgent care in outpatient departments and surgeries after VsZP and the Association of Outpatient Providers (ZAP)  an umbrella organisation for 1,700 outpatient departments and surgeries in Slovakia - failed to reach a deal on financing health care.

Outpatient departments and surgeries had been demanding more money for patient treatment and without a deal patients would have had to pay for medical care provided by their general practitioner, eye specialist or paediatrician from April 1, unless they had required urgent treatment.

Urgent treatment includes situations where ones health condition worsens rapidly to the point that basic life functions are threatened, such as birth or an examination; the diagnostics and treatment of a person considered to be the source of a rapidly spreading and life-threatening disease, according to the law.

But with March drawing to close, ZAP and VsZP have now agreed that they will try to reach a deal in the coming days and VsZP has said its clients will not face any changes in financing of their healthcare on April 1, as reported by the SITA newswire.

On the contrary, the doctors associated in the Alliance of General Practitioners (AVLS) were successful in making a deal with VsZP, valid until the end of 2022. This means that their patients will not have to pay for provided treatment.

The ministry changes the criticised manner of prescribing medications Read more

Patients will learn about whether they will pay only after visiting the outpatient department or surgery. Every doctor needs to have the list of health insurers with which they have signed an agreement by their door.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky (OLaNO nominee) said he planned to meet with the VsZP head Richard Strapko to discuss the situation, the TASR newswire reported. The outcome of this meeting is not known.
More LNG supplies expected.

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Slovakia must be prepared for Russia to suddenly cut off gas supplies to the country and plans should be drawn up to deal with such a scenario, Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO) said after a meeting of the Security Council on March 30.

The PM cited the example of Germany which has recently issued an urgent warning of a similar scenario there for two reasons  war in Ukraine and Russian demands that European customers pay for gas in roubles.

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If we apply it to Slovak conditions, the gas utility company Slovensky Plynarensky Priemysel (SPP) would have to first purchase roubles with euros and then purchase gas from Russia's Gazprom for roubles, he said, as quoted by TASR. This would however increase Slovakias dependence on Russia, as it would then not be just energy [dependence], but also financial.

Heger made the statement just before news broke that Russian president Vladimir Putin had signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from April 1, and contracts would be halted if these payments were not made.

Heger pointed out that Russia had already stopped gas flows to Europe in 2009, and noted that Slovakias doubts about the reliability of Russian supplies of gas are even greater following the invasion of Ukraine.

We are, therefore, together will all member countries of the EU, looking for an alternative solution so we can protect our households and industry, he said, adding that while Russia fights with bombs in Ukraine, it is using gas to fight the rest of Europe.

Winter season finished
Part of Godrova becomes Boris Nemtsov Street

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There will be a new street on Bratislava maps.

Bratislava authorities have approved a proposal that part of Godrova Street, which is home to the Russian Embassy, will be renamed Boris Nemtsov Street, after one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critics who was murdered in Moscow in 2015.

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The change will apply to the part of Godrova Street starting in Palisady after the building at Godrova 1, the TASR newswire reported.

The proposal to rename part of the street was initiated by the Old Town district following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The original plan was to rename the whole Godrova Street but after consultation with local inhabitants, it was decided that only a section of it would be renamed.

Slovakia will reduce staff at the Russian Embassy Read more

The Old Town also approved naming part of the nearby pavement to Boris Nemtsov Pavement.

Earlier this month, the municipality announced that it will no longer inform the embassy about public gatherings to take place in front of its building. It had been the only embassy in the capital which had been given such information. The municipality also got rid of some of the embassys designated parking places.

A number of public spaces are named after Boris Nemtsov across the world. The first was in Washington in 2018. This was followed by others in Vilnius in Lithuania, Kyiv in Ukraine, and at the beginning of 2020 in Prague where Pod kastany Square was renamed as Boris Nemtsov Square. There are similar plans for places in Warsaw, Toronto and London.
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Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met on Wednesday with Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province.

The Qatari top diplomat is in China to attend the "neighboring countries of Afghanistan plus Afghanistan" foreign ministers' dialogue.

Wang said Qatar has participated in the political settlement of a number of hotspot issues and made great contributions to international peace and cooperation. China supports countries in the Middle East to strengthen their unity and development and build a collective security structure in the region.

He called on the two sides to continue to support each other in safeguarding their core interests and strengthen the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative with Qatar's development strategy. China is willing to be a long-term, reliable, and stable energy cooperation strategic partner of Qatar and actively expand cooperation in the whole industry chain.

Mohammed spoke highly of China's significant role in addressing the Afghanistan issue, lauded China's objective and fair position on Palestine, and congratulated China on the successful hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympic Games.

Mohammed said Qatar attaches great importance to the Belt and Road Initiative and is willing to be an active participant. Qatar will also continue to facilitate Chinese enterprises' investment in Qatar.

Mohammed said Qatar firmly supports the one-China principle and opposes foreign interference in China's internal affairs. He added the economic and trade cooperation between Qatar and China has continued to expand.

China has become the most important energy partner of Qatar, and Qatar is willing to be China's sustainable and stable energy supplier, Mohammed said.

The two sides agreed to promote the upgrading of cooperation between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Mohammed expressed his support for the signing of a free trade agreement between China and the GCC at an early date.

The two sides also exchanged views on other topics, including the Iran nuclear issue.




U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger on Thursday honored Phil Jenkins, former executive editor of The Free LanceStar, on the House floor to recognize his nearly 24 years of work as a journalist in the Fredericksburg region.

Jenkins also served as a mentor and advisor to journalists at the Culpeper Star-Exponent.

Id like to thank Phil Jenkins for his service to the people of Virginia, Spanberger said. We thank him for his devotion to his colleagues, his commitment to accuracy, and his love of a good story founded on the truth.

In her remarks, Spanberger, D7th District, also drew attention to the importance of local journalism and print news.

Local news keeps us informed about the day-to-day events in our communities. It allows us to share in the triumphs of our neighbors. It holds those in power to account, she said. And it brings to light the challenges we face togetheras a community, as a commonwealth and as a country.

Spanberger shared reflections from Jenkinss former colleagues and underscored his years of mentorship, his steady eye for news, and his commitment to making The Free Lance-Star an enduring local paper.

On Tuesday, he will become content director of the Virginia Public Access Project, an award-winning, nonpartisan nonprofit group that works to better inform the public about politics and government.

Click here to watch Spanbergers speech in the House chamber.

Her full remarks follow:

Mister Speaker, I stand here to recognize the remarkable contributions of Phil Jenkinswho recently finished serving as Managing and Executive Editor of The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Phil gave his time, his energy, and his dedication to The Free Lance-Star for 24 years.

Equally wise and unflappable. Thats how his colleagues describe him. A trusted leader, gifted editor, and generous mentor.

When he arrived at the paper in 1998, Phil made sure the paper stayed at the top of its game. As the years went on, his determination guided the paper through difficult stretches and through thousands of local news developments.

He oversaw critical investigationsincluding those related to the D.C. sniper trial. He managed major transitionssuch as shifting from an afternoon to morning production cycle and moving the papers offices to downtown Fredericksburg.

And under Phils leadership, The Free Lance-Star was nine times judged as Virginias best midsize daily between 2011 and 2020winning first place for its writing, design, and photography.

In Fredericksburg, Phil supervised dozens of peopleincluding writers, photographers, designers, editors, web producers, and clerical staff.

Those who worked with him over the years said that few knew a more journalistically savvy, more even-handed, or more calming influence in the newsroom.

When asked to describe Phils tenure at the paper, a former colleague said that Phil showed unparalleled leadership, as well as an uncanny ability to measure and satiate the communitys hunger for the news that makes it unique.

Today, Phils staff, the entire Fredericksburg region, and The Free Lance-Star readership will greatly miss Phils hand at the helm of The Free Lance-Star.

One former Free Lance-Star editor said, Working with such a gifted journalist and wonderful person as Phil Jenkins was one of the highest honors of my life. There is no way to adequately thank him for all the contributions he has made to the paper and to the community.

Phils service to the Fredericksburg area and Virginia overall speaks to the enduring importance of local newsincluding print journalism.

Local news keeps us informed about the day-to-day events in our communities. It allows us to share in the triumphs of our neighbors. It holds those in power to account. And it brings to light the challenges we face togetheras a community, as a Commonwealth, and as a country.

As another former colleague of his said, Nobody gave more to the cause of community journalism than Phil Jenkins.

And today on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, Id like to thank Phil Jenkins for his service to the people of Virginia. We thank him for his devotion to his colleagues, his commitment to accuracy, and his love of a good story founded on the truth.
Residents will have the chance to hear from local state legislative candidates during a Nebraska Farm Bureau forum on Friday, April 1. The forum will take place at 7 p.m. at the Hotel 21 & Co. conference room. Organizers estimate the forum will last around 90 minutes. Doors open 30 minutes before the event begins. The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be provided.

Jay Ferris, the Nebraska Farm Bureaus director of political engagement and state policy, said the organization will hold four candidate forums across the state this year.

We try to do this every election year, especially in rural districts that have open seats, he told the Star-Herald.

The forums are usually held when there are more than two candidates. Otherwise, the bureau often interviews candidates instead.

The purpose of such an event is for both the Farm Bureau and the public to learn more about the candidates. Ferris said its important for potential elected officials to be knowledgeable of agricultural issues.

The candidates running for District 48 are Talon Cordle and Scott Shaver of Scottsbluff, Brian Hardin and Jeremiah Teeple of Gering and Don Lease II of Bridgeport. Ferris said all five of them had verbally confirmed their attendance. The forum will serve as a way for them to get their messages to the public, he added.

Current District 48 Sen. John Stinner is term-limited and cannot run for the position again.

District 48 covers all of Scotts Bluff, Banner and Kimball counties. Andy Groskopf, president of the Scotts Bluff County Farm Bureau chapter, said it was a good thing that so many people were interested in running.

Fridays forum will not be a debate. All questions will be submitted by the audience and asked generally to all the candidates; rebuttal will not be allowed.

We like to keep control and order of the forum, but we certainly want whats on the minds of the public asked, Ferris said.

Questions regarding the same topic will be combined when possible; topics will include property taxes, school funding, rural infrastructure and broadband issues.

Marketing for the event will primarily be done through social media and by emailing local Farm Bureau members to keep them informed. Ferris said he is working on a way to livestream the forum as well.

Four years ago, the Scotts Bluff County Farm Bureau hosted a similar event with county board and North Platte NRD candidates.

The Farm Bureau is the largest grassroots farming organization in the state. There are more than 55,000 members, and various county chapters meet regularly to discuss policy.

We represent a lot of issues farmers might have ... the Farm Bureau is the voice of rural Nebraska, Id like to think, in the legislature, Groskopf said.

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SCOTTSBLUFF - Western Nebraska Community College officially reopened the Professional Testing Center in the John N. Harms Center on the Scottsbluff Campus.

The Professional Testing Center administers a variety of professional certification exams for community members looking to further their careers or maintain their current certifications. Some of the options at the Testing Center include Prometric testing for auto mechanics, Nebraska insurance, education, and healthcare; PearsonVUE testing for paramedics, EMTs, other healthcare workers, and GED testing; and PSI exams for real estate, water treatment, and pesticide application professionals. Various exams are also offered through Kryterion.

We are so excited to be fully functional again after two years, Tammie Kleich, academic testing & tutoring services director said. We have had numerous calls from community members who have needed this testing because of the time, extra cost, and scheduling conflicts involved in going to another center. This service is incredibly important for the entire Panhandle, and we are proud to be able to offer professional testing to our community once again.

Prometrics testing is available from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Wednesday; and PearsonVUE/Criterion testing is available from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays. The Testing Center at WNCC is the only location in the Panhandle. Other testing centers are located in North Platte; Rapid City, South Dakota; and Cheyenne, Wyoming.

For more information about the Professional Testing Center, visit wncc.edu or contact Kleich, academic testing and tutoring services director, at kleicht@wncc.edu or 308-635-6072.
Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it, yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer.  Deuteronomy 10:14-16

The above words were spoken by Moses on behalf of God to a new generation of Israelites (the first one died in the wilderness in rebellion against God), as they were on the brink of crossing over into the Promised Land. In this little passage Moses tells the people to circumcise the foreskin of their hearts. Interesting, isnt it? Circumcision was the outward act that was administered to Jewish males in order to remind them of the Abrahamic Promise, which was the promise of God making a great nation out of old man Abraham and his barren wife Sarah.

Moses used this outward physical sign and drew a spiritual analogy from it, by stating that as important as our outward acts of obedience are, there must be an inward transformation as well. A lot of people wrongly think that the Old Testament is just a bunch of outdated outward rules, with no concern for the heart, whereas the New Testament is all about the matters of the heart, with little regard for keeping outward commands. This is a false dichotomy that develops from a lack of Biblical knowledge. The fact of the matter is that it is the same God who authored both testaments of Scripture. It is important for us to know our Bibles well, so that we can know Almighty God well. God wants to change our hearts from the inside, and when Christ came to do that, he was not doing something entirely new. The seeds of such an inward change had already been planted in passages of Scripture like the one above. Be encouraged!
After three and a half years of serving the community at Academy Street Park, the original Mooresville Kindness Closet has moved from the park to the Mooresville Christian Mission to reach more residents in need of household and hygiene products.

We are very excited about our new partnership with the Christian Mission, and its a natural complement to the services already offered to their clients, said Anne Mautner, founder of the Kindness Closet.

The closet will be filled with toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo, deodorant, soap, laundry detergent, dish soap, feminine products and paper products. All of these items are not covered by SNAP or other services in the area and are only increasing in cost.

What began in 2018 as a simple concept of teaching children to give back to the community with service group, Little Helpers of Mooresville, the Kindness Closet has distributed more than 75,000 hygiene products and engaged the community with meaningful service projects.

Scouts from Troops 171 and 5171 volunteered to help move the 500-pound closet on March 26, which was no small task. They then stocked the shelves with hygiene items to get it ready to serve clients this week.

Craig Chamberlin, warehouse director at the Christian Mission, told the Scouts, We are serving between 25-50 people a day. What you did today, you guys are making an impact on your community, and thats what its all about.

The community will be able to continue to sponsor the closet at its new location just as they did at the original one.

For more information, visit them at mooresvillekindnesscloset.org.
The county's humane society has nearly reached capacity for dogs and cats, and is feeling a strain on its resources.

Chief Executive Officer Christopher Cone said the Humane Society of Cowlitz County has seen an influx of pets returned to the humane society from people who adopted them while quarantining in 2020.

"I would imagine this year will be even worse than last year, just using my crystal ball," Cone said.

He said he based his predictions on what he has heard from other animal shelters in Vancouver, Seattle and the Tri-Cities.

Before the pandemic started, Cone said the Cowlitz County humane society started a spay and neuter clinic to mitigate the number of strays who end up pregnant, or adoptees who end up back in the shelter after they give birth to new litters.

The increase has come with a high need for cat and dog food, Cone said, as well as kitty litter.

As a nonprofit, the humane society can only get these items through donations or by purchasing them directly.

Local grocery outlets help with donations, but transportation also can pose an obstacle if the shelter has to rely on animal control vehicles for pickup, he said.

"You can't go wrong with the adage that cash is king," Cone said. "Unrestricted dollars are valuable to every nonprofit. It gives us flexibility to be reactionary when the time comes."

Cone said people who have the means to donate can call 360-577-0151 to determine a good drop-off time, or they can drop off donations during operational hours between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays at the shelter at 909 Columbia Blvd., Longview.

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The accounts, like those belonging to Li Jingjing and Vica Li in China, are often labeled on Facebook or Instagram, but arent flagged on YouTube or TikTok.

To her 1.4 million followers on social media, Vica Li says she is a life blogger and food lover who wants to teach her fans about China so they can travel the country with ease. Through my lens, I will take you around China, take you into Vicas life! she says in a January video posted on YouTube and Facebook. But that lens may be controlled by CGTN, the Chinese-state run TV network where she has regularly appeared in broadcasts and is listed as a digital reporter on the companys website. While Vica Li tells followers she created all of these channels on her own, her Facebook account shows at least nine people manage her page.

That portfolio of accounts is just one tentacle of Chinas growing influence on U.S.-owned social media platforms, an Associated Press examination has found.

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As China continues to assert its economic might, it is using the global social media ecosystem to expand its already formidable influence. The country has built a network of social media personalities who parrot the governments perspective in posts, operating in virtual lockstep as they promote China, deflect criticism of its human rights abuses and advance Beijings talking points on world affairs like Russias war against Ukraine.

Some of Chinas state-affiliated reporters have posited themselves as trendy Instagram influencers or bloggers. The country has also hired firms to recruit influencers to deliver carefully crafted messages that boost its image to social media users.

And it is benefitting from a cadre of Westerners who have devoted YouTube channels and Twitter feeds to echoing pro-China narratives on everything from Beijings treatment of Uyghur Muslims to Olympian Eileen Gu, an American who competed for China in the most recent Winter Games.

The influencer network allows Beijing to proffer propaganda to social media users around the globe. At least 200 influencers with connections to the Chinese government or its state media are operating in 38 different languages, according to research from Miburo, a firm that tracks foreign disinformation operations.

You can see how theyre trying to infiltrate every one of these countries, said Miburo President Clint Watts, a former FBI agent. If you just bombard an audience for long enough with the same narratives people will tend to believe them over time.

Russias war with Ukraine is but one example.

While the invasion was being condemned as a brazen assault on democracy, Li Jingjing presented a different narrative to her 21,000 YouTube subscribers, posting videos that echoed Russian propaganda and promoted misleading claims  including that the U.S. and NATO provoked Russias invasion.

On YouTube, Li Jingjing says shes a traveler, storyteller and journalist." But she does not reveal in her segments that shes a reporter for CGTN, articulating views that are not just her own but also familiar Chinese government talking points. Neither Vica Li nor Li Jingjing responded to questions from AP.

The AP identified dozens of similar accounts, which collectively have more than 10 million followers and subscribers. The profiles often belong to Chinese state media reporters who have transformed their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube accounts  platforms largely blocked in China  and begun identifying as bloggers, influencers or non-descript journalists.

They clearly have identified the Chinese lady influencer is the way to go, Watts said of China.

Foreign governments have long tried to exploit social media to stealthily influence users, including during the 2016 U.S. election.

In response, tech companies like Facebook and Twitter promised to better alert American users to foreign propaganda by labeling state-backed media accounts.

But the AP review found most of the Chinese influencer social media accounts are inconsistently labeled as state-funded media. The accounts, like those belonging to Li Jingjing and Vica Li, are often labeled on Facebook or Instagram, but arent flagged on YouTube or TikTok. Vica Lis account is not labeled on Twitter. Last month, Twitter began identifying Li Jingjings account as Chinese state-media.

CGTN did not respond to interview requests. CGTN America, which is registered as a foreign agent with the Justice Department and has disclosed having commercial arrangements with international news organizations including the AP, CNN and Reuters, did not return messages. A lawyer who has represented CGTN America did not respond either.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, Liu Pengyu, said Chinese media and journalists carry out normal activities independently, and should not be assumed to be led or interfered by the Chinese government.

Chinas interest in social media influencers became evident in December when filings with the Justice Department revealed the Chinese Consulate in New York paid $300,000 to New Jersey firm Vippi Media to recruit influencers to post messages to Instagram and TikTok followers during the Beijing Olympics. Vipp Jaswal, Vippi Medias CEO, declined to share with AP details about the posts.

English-speaking influencers have also cultivated a niche by promoting pro-Chinese messaging on YouTube and Twitter.

Last April, CGTN invited English speakers from around the world to join a months-long competition that would end with jobs as social media influencers in London, Nairobi, Kenya or Washington.

British video blogger Jason Lightfoot raved about the opportunity in a YouTube video and has accrued 200,000 subscribers with headlines like The Olympics Backfired on USA  Disastrous Regret and Western Media Lies about China.

The video topics are in sync with those of other pro-China bloggers like Cyrus Janssen, a U.S. citizen in Canada. During the Olympics, Janssen and Lightfoot shared identical images on the same day of Gu in posts celebrating her three-medal win and blasting the U.S.

Janssen told AP hes never accepted money from the Chinese government. But when pressed for details about some of his partnerships with Chinese tech firms, Janssen responded only with questions about an APs reporter salary.

YouTubers Matthew Tye, an American, and Winston Sterzel, who is from South Africa, believe, in many cases, China is paying for content.

They were included last year on an email pitch to numerous YouTube influencers from a company that identified itself as Hong Kong Pear Technology. The email asked them to share a promotional video for Chinas touristy Hainan province on their channels. Pear Technology followed up in another email with a pitch for them to post a propaganda video that asserted COVID-19 originated from North American white-tailed deer, not China.

Sterzel and Tye didnt hear anything further after they requested the company provide evidence to support that claim.

Theres a very easy formula to become successful, Sterzel said in an interview. Its simply to praise the Chinese government, to praise China and talk about how great China is and how bad the West is.
Eneko Agirre and Xabier Saralegi. Credit: UPV/EHU

Researchers from the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country, the UNED (National Distance Education University) and Elhuyar have created the VIGICOVID system, thanks to Supera COVID-19 (Overcoming COVID-19) funding by the CRUE (Association of Spanish Universities). This system addresses the need to search for answers in the avalanche of information generated by all the research conducted across the world relating to the pandemic. By means of artificial intelligence, the system displays the answers found in a set of scientific articles in an orderly fashion, and uses natural language questions and answers.

The global bio-health research community is making a tremendous effort to generate knowledge relating to COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2. In practice, this effort means a huge, very rapid production of scientific publications, which makes it difficult to consult and analyze all the information. That is why experts and decision-making bodies need to be provided with information systems to enable them to acquire the knowledge they need.

In a new study, under the coordination of the UNED research group, researchers have created a prototype to extract information through questions and answers in natural language from an updated set of scientific articles on COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2 published by the global research community.

"The information search paradigm is changing thanks to artificial intelligence," said Eneko Agirre, head of the UPV/EHU's HiTZ Centre. "Until now, when searching for information on the internet, a question is entered, and the answer has to be sought in the documents displayed by the system. However, in line with the new paradigm, systems that provide the answer directly without any need to read the whole document are becoming more and more widespread."

In this system, "the user does not request information using keywords, but asks a question directly," explained Elhuyar researcher Xabier Saralegi. The system searches for answers to this question in two steps: "Firstly, it retrieves documents that may contain the answer to the question asked by using a technology that combines keywords with direct questions. That is why we have explored neural architectures," added Dr. Saralegi. Deep neural architectures fed with examples were used: "That means that search models and question answering models are trained by means of deep machine learning."

Once the set of documents has been extracted, they are reprocessed through a question and answer system in order to obtain specific answers: "We have built the engine that answers the questions; when the engine is given a question and a document, it is able to detect whether or not the answer is in the document, and if it is, it tells us exactly where it is," explained Dr. Agirre.

A readily marketable prototype

"From the techniques and evaluations we analyzed in our experiments, we took those that give the prototype the best results," said the Elhuyar researcher. A solid technological base has been established, and several scientific papers on the subject have been published. "We have come up with another way of running searches for whenever information is urgently needed, and this facilitates the information use process. On the research level, we have shown that the proposed technology works, and that the system provides good results," Agirre pointed out.

"Our result is a prototype of a basic research project. It is not a commercial product," stressed Saralegi. But such prototypes can be modeled easily within a short time, which means they can be marketed and made available to society. These researchers stress that artificial intelligence enables increasingly powerful tools to be made available for working with large document bases. "We are making very rapid progress in this area. And what is more, everything that is investigated can readily reach the market," concluded the UPV/EHU researcher.

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More information: Arantxa Otegi et al, Information retrieval and question answering: A case study on COVID-19 scientific literature, Knowledge-Based Systems (2021). Arantxa Otegi et al, Information retrieval and question answering: A case study on COVID-19 scientific literature,(2021). DOI: 10.1016/j.knosys.2021.108072
Credit:  Waraphorn Aphai, Shutterstock

The transition to energy security and climate-neutrality means we need to close the gender gap to fully involve women in a technical, scientific and business transformation.

While it has been in the works for some time, the EU's strategy to move away from dependency on fossil fuels has gained a new impetus with geopolitical developments in Europe.

Already, on 8 March, the European Commission proposed the outline of a plan for joint European action for more affordable, secure and sustainable energy. The goal is to reduce demand for Russian gas by two-thirds by the end of this year.

The shift towards clean, secure energy supplies in Europe and efforts to tackle climate change hinge on several key factors. One factor you may not yet have thought about is a better inclusion of women in developing the technical solutions required.

Diverse thinkers

"With the complexity and challenges of the 21st-century problems, we need diverse thinkers and diverse leaders," said Sandrine Dixson-Decleve, co-president of the Club of Rome and thought leader in climate, energy and sustainable development.

The Club of Rome conducts research into new thinking about complex, planetary-scale problems. "We cannot do it with just a male perception of the world," she said.

Women remain underrepresented in scientific, technical and engineering (STEM) disciplines, despite growing demand. They make up just 38% of Ph.D.s in physical sciences and engineering (27%). Only 24% of self-employed professionals in science, engineering and ICT are women.

Society misses out when there's a lack of gender equality. "Women tend to lead with a more long-term vision in what they want to achieve, and tend to lead without just a focus on power gains, but in finding solutions," said Dixson-Decleve.

Climate-neutral cities

Professor Doris Damyanovic at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, focuses on sustainability in urban planning and landscape planning.

She has a special interest in gender issues and climate-neutral cities. She is calling for a rethink in urban planning, with an expansion of green and open spaces.

"The important thing is to consider gender, age, but also social and cultural background in local planning," she said.

"We work on designing open public spaces with more trees or maybe to use blue infrastructure such as a water fountain," said Damyanovic. On hot days, water fountains could make cities more liveable by reducing temperatures.

A challenge for many European cities is to build affordable housing in locations where people want to live, with good transport links.

Dependable and affordable public transport can take people out of cars and reduce consumption of fossil fuels.

"How can you have nice green areas, but keep housing affordable? This is always a big challenge," Damyanovic said.

People experience climate change differently according to their gender, age, ethnic and cultural backgrounds, noted Damyanovic. Those on low incomes, with health issues, a migratory background or a low level of education are especially dependent on climate resilient public spaces.

"Women are not per se more vulnerable than men, but many of these vulnerability characteristics apply more frequently to them due to structure disadvantages," said Damyanovic.

"Climate change has profound implications for gender equality and social justice," she said.

Dixson-Decleve agrees that women are often bearing the brunt of climate change, while also taking leadership in terms of fighting for women's rights and climate rights.

"This is reflected in the youth movement today, where you see that it is being run not just by Greta [Thunberg], but also by many other young women." said Dixson-Decleve.

Technical degrees

Dr. Maria Luisa Hernandez Latorre is a Spanish industrial engineer who co-founded Ingelia in 2008, to build industrial plants that recover resources from waste biomass.

Often, this comprises leftovers from the food and beverage industries, agriculture and forestry residues and organic waste. The plants recover chemicals such as carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. One byproduct is nutrient-rich water with potential for use by local farmers as a fertilizer.

In Hernandez Latorre's industrial engineering course at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, women were few and far between. So too when she began her engineering career.

"Most places I worked in, I was alone, or maybe with one other woman, along with 60 (men)," she said. She points out that a technical background is very important in industry.

"Take a look at who is managing companies, whether big or small," she said. "Most of them have a technical degree."

Energy innovation

According to Eurostat, renewable energy made up 37% of gross electricity consumption in 2020, up from 34% in 2019. Greening the fuel supply is a major ambition for Europe.

Solar power is the fastest-growing sector, but it still has room to expand beyond the 14% share it provided in 2020.

"Italy is a sunny place, and we should have more solar cells on our buildings," said Dr. Alessandra Giannuzzi, Italian physicist who carried out research on this technology at University of Bologna in Italy.

She began her career with an interest in astrophysics. Following her degree, however, she devoted attention to practical problems in energy and the environment, by applying insights from optics in astronomy to solar concentrators.

These are mirror-like devices that concentrate sunlight onto a receiver which uses solar energy to generate electricity. "There are technological similarities between ground-based telescopes and some types of solar concentrators," said Giannuzzi.

She says part of the problem with the lack of women in physics lies with societal attitudes, including from women themselves.

"A lot of people have said to me, 'Oh you studied physics, but you are a woman. No, I couldn't do that. It is too complicated,'" said Giannuzzi. "But this is a mental block. It is about intelligence and mental skills, and we are the same in that sense."

As part of its commitment to promoting gender equality in research and innovation, last year the EU launched Women TechEU supporting 50 women-led tech start-ups with a budget of 3.8 million.

"Women are excellent innovators. We really need to integrate women into all levels of companies," said Hernandez Latorre. The absence of women from technical projects and board rooms has negative repercussions for business.

Women can play a key role in "contributing to management bodies of companies to think out of the box, promote innovation and implement new ways of management," she said.

Huge change

"On the energy transition, our perspective is, that women can make a huge change," said Ioannis Konstas, the project manager for W4RES.

The goal of the project is to develop the role of women in the renewable heating and cooling market all across Europe, through technical and business supports. It also collects key data about women's participation in the industry.

The role of women in the energy sector is growing to becoming "an entrepreneur, (a) person willing to pursue a career in the tech sector and make a significant change," he said.

Inclusivity is no longer a luxury either, a widespread acceptance of rapid change is essential. Recent events underline the feeling that "we have an elephant in the room," said Konstas. The lack of women participating in key roles in the renewable energy sector is unsustainable.

The traditional model of for-profit management in the sector leaves other considerations behind. "Women tend to be more open-minded, more inclusive in their approach," said Konstas.

Dixson-Decleve noted that while "gender equality is not at the level that it needs to be, it is getting better."

She added that a more female holistic approach to the European economy, by men and women, is needed to shift away from power games, and towards values that matter, such as the environment, health care, education and well-being.

A new study recently launched by the European Commission is designed to assess women's participation in the field of green energy transition. It will help to determine ways to increase the role of women in the sector. Conducted by the Directorate General for Research and Innovation, the study will also aim to determine ways in which the demand for new skills in the energy sector can be met.

Explore further Women's participation is essential to achieve global climate targets
Brazos Countys 2022 Relay for Life is set for May 7 at the Brazos County Expo in Bryan. The American Cancer Society fundraiser will be from 4 to 10 p.m. Teams and sponsors are encouraged to register at go.theeagle.com/relayforlife.

THURSDAY

EVENTS

Brazos County Blue Ribbon ceremony, 2 p.m. at the College Station Police Department, 800 Krenek Tap Road in College Station. Scottys House, local law enforcement officials and child service agencies will host a ceremony to raise awareness about child abuse and neglect in the community.

Night of Hope, 6:30 p.m. at The Weinberg at Wixon Valley, 7786 Kurten Cemetery Road. A semi-formal event to raise awareness and funds for Unbound Bryan-College Station. Tickets are $125. unboundbcs.org/night-of-hope.

Business After Hours, 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Allen Honda, 2450 Texas 6 in College Station. A free Bryan-College Station Chamber of Commerce networking event.

Once Upon a Story Time, 10 a.m. at Lake Walk Pavilion, 4107 Lake Atlas Drive in Bryan. The Childrens Museum of the Brazos Valley will host a free, one-hour story time and craft.

Trivia on the Green, 7 to 10 p.m. The Green at Century Square. Win prizes by competing with your friends to answer questions about sports, history, music and more. Free and open to the public. century-square.com/events.

LIVE MUSIC

David J. Skinner, 6 p.m. at Casa Do Brasil, 1665 Greens Prairie Road in College Station.

Jeremy Todd, 7 p.m. at Luigis Patio Ristorante, 3975 Texas 6 in College Station.

Giovannie & The Hired Guns, 9:30 p.m. at The Tap, 815 Harvey Road in College Station. Tickets are $15. go.theeagle.com/thetap.

COVID-19 TESTING

St. Teresa Catholic Church, 201 Hall St. in Bryan, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. On-site registration accepted. curative.com.

New Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1505 Dansby St. in Bryan, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. On-site registration accepted. curative.com.

Kohls parking lot kiosk, 1509 Texas Ave. in College Station, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Rapid PCR testing. On-site registration accepted. curative.com.

Blinn College, 651 Blinn Blvd. in Brenham, 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Friday. On-site registration accepted. curative.com.

Rudder Plaza kiosk, 275 Joe Routt Blvd. on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Nasal swab tests for Texas A&M students, faculty and staff members. Appointments required.

Mays Plaza kiosk, 210 Olsen Blvd. on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nasal swab tests for Texas A&M students, faculty and staff members. Appointments required.

SUPPORT GROUPS

Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS), 5:30 p.m. A peer-led weight loss support group. Call 846-0617 for location.

NAMI Brazos Valley Mental Health support group, 6:30 to 8 p.m. Free support group for people with symptoms of mental health issues. Open to residents in Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Leon, Madison, Robertson and Washington counties. Meetings are held online and in-person. Call 774-4713 or visit namibv.org/namibvsupport for more information.

EXHIBITS

Oceans of Plastic at the George H.W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station. A collection of art made from plastic pollution acquired from beaches along the Texas coast. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $9 for adults, and tickets must be purchased at bush41.org/visit/admission.

Lovin That Lone Star Flag, through Saturday at the Arts Council of Brazos Valley, 4180 Texas 6 in College Station. A collection of work by E. Joe Deering. The gallery is open Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.

Texas on Paper, through May 29 at the J. Wayne Stark Galleries in the Memorial Student Center on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station. The exhibit examines the growth and popularity of printmaking among artists and an exploration of various paper media. The gallery is open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. tx.ag/paper.

Space: Now You See It, through May 15 at the J. Wayne Stark Galleries in the Memorial Student Center on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station. The exhibit explores how floral art installations inhabit and alter perceptions of space and depth of field. The gallery is open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and noon to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. tx.ag/floralspace.

Fire and Earth, the Story of Ceramics, through May 28 at the Brazos Valley Museum of Natural History, 3232 Briarcrest Drive in Bryan. Exhibit highlights include the origins of ceramics, current uses and the future of the material. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults.

Unexpected Treasures on the Texas A&M campus, through April 22 at the Cushing Memorial Library and Archives. The exhibit includes rare and unique items from campus collections. It is open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In Actuality: Social Realism and Its Legacy, through April 10 at the Forsyth Galleries in the Memorial Student Center on the Texas A&M University campus in College Station. The exhibit features more than 40 images by nine photographers, highlighting their contribution to the social realism movement. The gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. tx.ag/inactuality.
The Sadberry Intermediate School held a topping out ceremony Wednesday to put the final beam, evergreen trees and U.S. flag in place with members of the Sadberry family, school district board members and city and county officials along Bonham Drive and Wilkes Road in Bryan.

Bryan ISD Superintendent Ginger Carrabine said she was grateful some of the Sadberry family members were able to attend and sign the beam that was to be placed in the schools structure.

Our most important guests today are the Sadberry family members, and we are excited they are here to be a part of this, she said. We are on schedule to put this together. I feel very excited because I have been on this project since the bond process and I was determined to get this on the bond, and we went to work immediately.

Carrabine said since they are on track with the scheduling and planning for the school, they are now working behind the scenes with a demographer to determine projected enrollment.

It is a big question of which lucky kids get to come here to open the building in the class of 2023, she said at the ceremony.

The Sadberry family and district board members were among those who signed the beam that went up into the structure of the school.

In August 2021, the Bryan school district officially began construction of the districts third intermediate school to house fifth and sixth grade. The school is funded as part of a $175 million bond approved by voters in November 2020 and will be built across from Bonham Elementary School.

It was announced in February that the school was named for O. W. Sadberry Sr., and the new maintenance and transportation facility will take the name of longtime district employee Ruby Haliburton.

Sadberry, who served as principal of Bryans Booker T. Washington Elementary School from 1949-1970, helped encourage Black students in Bryan pursue higher education and guided the school district through the integration process after the elementary school burned down, according to a press release from the district.

The release stated Sadberry helped integrate the Bryan public library as well as help house Tuskegee Airmen and other Black military officers stationed at the Bryan Air Field in the 1950s.

The first wave of fifth graders will attend the campus for the 2023-2024 school year. Carrabine announced that the school colors will possibly be royal blue and white, which were Sadberry Sr.s school colors, and that parents and students will work on deciding a school mascot as enrollment grows closer.

Halcyon Sadberry-Watkins, daughter of the schools namesake, said her father was very protective of the schools.

He loved children and he would teach all of the neighborhood kids, she said. He would bring books for us so we would all learn how to read. This is a privilege and it is an honor, and I am so grateful for everyone working so hard to put this together. I know we will have a pipeline of wonderful students for this school. I know if my father was here and he could see this he would just have a beautiful smile on his face and I hope I can portray that today.

Anthony Neal ll, a great grandson of Sadberry Sr., said helping young people in education was his lifes work.

Education has always been important and vital in our family. This is just incredible. I couldnt miss this for the world, Neal said. I didnt get a chance to meet my great grandfather, but I have learned a lot about him through my family members.

Bryan City Councilman Prentiss Madison was present at the ceremony and said the school will showcase the communitys appreciation for what Sadberry Sr. did as an advocate for education.

My own father grew up around the corner from the Sadberrys and he went to church with them. He was a Sunday school teacher at the church my parents grew up in, Madison said. I think this is wonderful for the City of Bryan. I remember talking with the different family members of the Sadberry family and this is a historic recognition that goes way back for Brazos and Robertson County.

Ginger also thanked PBK Architects of Houston and Drymalla Construction of Columbus for all the work they have done with the Intermediate School thus far.

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A Belarusian threat actor known as Ghostwriter (aka UNC1151) has been spotted leveraging the recently disclosed browser-in-the-browser (BitB) technique as part of their credential phishing campaigns exploiting the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

The method, which masquerades as a legitimate domain by simulating a browser window within the browser, makes it possible to mount convincing social engineering campaigns.

"Ghostwriter actors have quickly adopted this new technique, combining it with a previously observed technique, hosting credential phishing landing pages on compromised sites," Google's Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said in a new report, using it to siphon credentials entered by unsuspected victims to a remote server.

Among other groups using the war as a lure in phishing and malware campaigns to deceive targets into opening fraudulent emails or links include Mustang Panda and Scarab as well as nation-state actors from Iran, North Korea, and Russia.

Also included in the list is Curious Gorge, a hacking crew that TAG has attributed to China's People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force (PLASSF), which has orchestrated attacks against government and military organizations in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.

A third set of attacks observed over the past two-week period originated from a Russia-based hacking group known as COLDRIVER (aka Callisto). TAG said that the actor staged credential phishing campaigns targeting multiple U.S.-based NGOs and think tanks, the military of a Balkans country, and an unnamed Ukrainian defense contractor.

"However, for the first time, TAG has observed COLDRIVER campaigns targeting the military of multiple Eastern European countries, as well as a NATO Centre of Excellence," TAG researcher Billy Leonard said. "These campaigns were sent using newly created Gmail accounts to non-Google accounts, so the success rate of these campaigns is unknown."

Viasat breaks down February 24 Attack

The disclosure comes as U.S.-based telecommunications firm Viasat spilled details of a "multifaceted and deliberate" cyber attack against its KA-SAT network on February 24, 2022, coinciding with Russia's military invasion of Ukraine.

The attack on the satellite broadband service disconnected tens of thousands of modems from the network, impacting several customers in Ukraine and across Europe and affecting the operations of 5,800 wind turbines belonging to the German company Enercon in Central Europe.

"We believe the purpose of the attack was to interrupt service," the company explained. "There is no evidence that any end-user data was accessed or compromised, nor customer personal equipment (PCs, mobile devices, etc.) was improperly accessed, nor is there any evidence that the KA-SAT satellite itself or its supporting satellite ground infrastructure itself were directly involved, impaired or compromised."

Viasat linked the attack to a "ground-based network intrusion" that exploited a misconfiguration in a VPN appliance to gain remote access to the KA-SAT network and execute destructive commands on the modems that "overwrote key data in flash memory," rendering them temporarily unable to access the network.

Russian dissidents targeted with Cobalt Strike

The relentless attacks are the latest in a long list of malicious cyber activities that have emerged in the wake of the continuing conflict in Eastern Europe, with government and commercial networks suffering from a string of disruptive data wiper infections in conjunction with a series of ongoing distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

This has also taken the form of compromising legitimate WordPress sites to inject rogue JavaScript code with the goal of carrying out DDoS attacks against Ukrainian domains, according to researchers from the MalwareHunterTeam.

But it's not just Ukraine. Malwarebytes Labs this week laid out specifics of a new spear-phishing campaign targeting Russian citizens and government entities in an attempt to deploy pernicious payloads on compromised systems.

"The spear phishing emails are warning people that use websites, social networks, instant messengers and VPN services that have been banned by the Russian Government and that criminal charges will be laid," Hossein Jazi said. "Victims are lured to open a malicious attachment or link to find out more, only to be infected with Cobalt Strike."

The malware-laced RTF documents contain an exploit for the widely abused MSHTML remote code execution vulnerability (CVE-2021-40444), leading to the execution of a JavaScript code that spawns a PowerShell command to download and execute a Cobalt Strike beacon retrieved from a remote server.

Another cluster of activity potentially relates to a Russian threat actor tracked as Carbon Spider (aka FIN7), which has employed a similar maldocs-oriented attack vector that's engineered to drop a PowerShell-based backdoor capable of fetching and running a next-stage executable.

Malwarebytes also said it has detected a "significant uptick in malware families being used with the intent of stealing information or otherwise gaining access in Ukraine," including Hacktool.LOIC, Ainslot Worm, FFDroider, Formbook, Remcos, and Quasar RAT.

"While these families are all relatively common in the cybersecurity world, the fact that we witnessed spikes almost exactly when Russian troops crossed the Ukrainian border makes these developments interesting and unusual," Adam Kujawa, director of Malwarebytes Labs, said in a statement shared with The Hacker News.
There are no plans to fly Hall County veterans to Washington, D.C., for a tour of the nations Capital this year.

Hall County Hero Flight Association instead will continue to focus its efforts on a planned state veterans cemetery project, said Don Shuda, Hall County veterans services officer and Hall County Hero Flight chairman.

The 10th flight, held in October 2019, was reported as being the final flight, but an 11th reportedly was being considered.

This year, we have the same mission, which is still working on the state veterans cemetery creation, here on Capital Avenue, and raising funds for the different fixtures and amenities that would be added to the cemetery, Shuda told The Independent.

The Hero Flight group aims to transform the current Nebraska Veterans Home Cemetery on Capital Avenue into a Nebraska state veterans cemetery.

A fundraising campaign was launched in May 2021 to raise $750,000, or 10% of the $7.5 million project cost, with the rest to be funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs via its State Veterans Cemetery Grant program, to meet an August 2021 deadline.

The deadline was met, unfortunately the VA decided not to fund new projects in 2022.

Although we were No. 1 on new VA cemetery construction projects, the VA didnt fund any new projects, Shuda explained. Well have to see come October whether they do that or not for the next fiscal year.

The project is still going forward, said Shuda.

It will happen, he said. Were still working at it. All the money the VA needed for our 10% match, of course, the state has, and the application by the state of Nebraska was done correctly and completed properly. Everythings in place. Were just in a waiting mode right now.

Shuda is optimistic that Hall County will receive federal support.

Hopefully the VA will fund our request this next budget year for them, he said. We should know something the first part of October, where were at with the VA on the funding for that budget.

Hero Flight continues to raise funds for those amenities and features for the cemetery that would not be federally supported.

This includes a carillon tower, and possibly a waterfall feature or a monument.

One such monument could be presenting a flag to a family member at the entrance of the cemetery, which Shuda said, would be a very moving image.

Fundraising efforts are going well.

Weve got about $260,000 in our bank account now for such projects, he said.

The last hero flight event was held October 2019, with 164 people participating, including 76 veterans.

Of these veterans, two were World War II era veterans, 17 were from the Korean War era and 57 were from the Vietnam War era, The Independent reported.

It has not yet been decided if flights to the nations Capital will resume in the future.

Hopefully well be able to start this cemetery after October here, when the next funding begins from the VA, Shuda said. At that point, well all have a little better idea of what the future looks like and see what some of these costs would be associated with the different amenities wed like to include with that cemetery.

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YORK  Adam M. Scrivner, 49, of Elk Creek, has been formally charged with meth possession after being stopped by a York County Sheriffs deputy in Gresham.

While on regular patrol, the deputy says in his affidavit filed with the court that he was in Gresham when he saw a man walking on the west side of the CVA gas station. The deputy says in the affidavit that the man looked at him, entered his vehicle and then drove away. The deputy followed the vehicle as it went east on Road 21 and a traffic stop was initiated for an alleged traffic violation.

According to court documents, the deputy could smell raw marijuana coming from the vehicle and when asked to join the deputy in his cruiser, Scrivner rolled up his windows, exited the vehicle and locked his vehicle after shutting the door.

Scrivner gave deputies consent to search his person and vehicle and on his person they found a bag of marijuana and a glass pipe with marijuana. In one of his socks, they found a bag with 1.5 grams of methamphetamine.

It was noted that Scrivner has an extensive Nebraska criminal history, which includes possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, possession of a controlled substance and aggravated assault.

Scrivners arraignment has been held in York County District Court, during which he pleaded not guilty.

A jury trial has been set for early summer.
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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe
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A 47-year-old Norway man is accused of beating one of his sons until the child lost consciousness on Sunday, according to an Orangeburg County Sheriffs Office incident report.

George Sean Wilson, of Henry Road, is charged with trafficking in methamphetamine or cocaine base more than 100 grams but less than 500 grams, assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature and two counts of unlawful conduct toward a child.

The incident took place around 9:45 p.m. outside of a Savannah Highway auto repair business, the report said. Wilson was at the location with his three sons.

Wilson allegedly shut a car door on the 17-year-old as the teen got out of Wilsons vehicle.

The 17-year-old called his father abusive, the report states.

Wilson allegedly slammed the 17-year-olds head onto the vehicle multiple times. Both Wilson and the 17-year-old fell to the ground, the report states.

The 17-year-old was unconscious, but Wilson allegedly sat on him and punched him in the face multiple times, the report states.

One of the brothers called the sheriffs office. Wilson became visibly upset and fled the scene before deputies arrived, the report states.

The 17-year-old was medivacked to Prisma Health Richland, the report states.

Medics told deputies that the 17-year-old had possibly sustained broken bones and muscle and tendon trauma.

A deputy noticed bruising on the teens neck.

Wilsons prior Orangeburg County convictions since 2012 include: second-degree harassment, first-offense unlawful possession of a distillery, first-offense possession of less than one gram of methamphetamine or cocaine base, first-offense domestic violence, receiving stolen goods valued more than $2,000 but less than $10,000, receiving stolen goods valued more than $10,000 and three counts of operating a chop shop.

As of Thursday afternoon, Wilson remained at the Orangeburg County Detention Center on a $60,000 bond set on Wednesday by Orangeburg County Magistrate Stephanie McKune-Grant.

If convicted on his most severe charge, Wilson faces up to 20 years in prison.

Wilson also goes by Sean George Wilson and has a Sifly Road address in Orangeburg.

Contact the writer: mbrown@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5545. Follow on Twitter: @MRBrownTandD

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Dogs and puppies

 King, a 1-year-old black male Boxer-mix, needs the warm embrace of safety with you (case 0328).

 Cyndi Lou, a 3-year-old black-and-white female Lab-mix, is no Grinch to be around (case 0361).

 Ollie, a 1-year-old spotted white-and-black male Lab-mix, will only have eyes for you (case 0542).

 Nosey, 2-year-old tan female Shepherd-mix, needs someone to love just as much as she does (case 0001).

 Bandi, a 4-5 year-old white female Lab-mix, needs love she has never been shown (case 0051).

 Petunia, a 2-3 year-old brindle female Boxer-mix, will cuddle with you all day long (case 0137).

 Diesel, a 14-month-old black male Boston Terrier-mix, is that fire you need in life (case 0242).

 Rusty, a 9-month-old black-and-brown male Huskey/Rottweiler-mix, will make you feel brand new (case 0274).

 Rex, a 1-year-old brindle male Boxer-mix, is more than the average mans best friend (case 0261).

 Timmy, a 1-year-old tan male Mountain Curr-mix, needs someone to show him a loving touch (case 0159).

 Starlight, a 3-year-old gray female Lab/Boxer mix, will give you all of her love (case 0422).

 Sampson, a 2-year-old black male Boston Terrier-mix, is searching for his Delilah (case 0034).

 Jenny, a 3-month-old black female Lab-mix, will be your partner in crime (case 0279).

 Dick, a 5-month-old gray brindle male Pointer-mix, wants a Batman for his Robin (case 0281).

 Otto, a 5-month-old brown male Lab/Shar Pei-mix, will trade love for licks (case 0021).

 Smoke, a 11-month-old brindle male Boston Terrier-mix, will light a fire in your heart (case 0023).

 Max, a 6-month-old white-and-orange male Lab-mix, is the best track partner (case 0020).

 Bruce, a 16-month-old black male Lab, will always be there to save the day (case 0028).

 Sawyer, a 2-year-old white-and-orange male Lab-mix, needs a good country girl in his life (case 0026).

 Rambo, an 18-month-old white-and-black male Lab-mix, will go on any adventure with you (case 0014).

 Pugsley, a 4-month-old black male Boston Terrier-mix, needs your love to make sense of his life (case 0033).

 Lovegood, a 5-month-old black-and-white female Lab-mix, will catapult straight to your heart.

 Archer, a 4-year-old tan-and-white male Lab/Pointer-mix, will always point his love in your direction (case 0022).

 Apollo, a 3-month-old tan male Lab-mix, is like music to your ears (case 0036).

 Albert, a 1-year-old tan male Lab/Boxer-mix, will love you more than himself (case 0045).

 Mercedes, a 3-month-old gray-and-tan female Lab/Shepherd-mix, will make you feel like a million dollars (case 0039).

 Glimmer, a 4-month-old black female Boxer/Lab-mix, will bring sparkle into your life (case 0048).

 Shera, a 4-month-old red female Boxer/Lab-mix, will rescue you (case 0047).

 Beau, a 4-month-old white male Boxer/Lab mix, will mend any broken heart (case 0046).

 Fred, a 5-year-old white-and-tan male Carolina-mix, is patiently waiting for his Wilma (case 0052).

Cats and kittens

 Penelope, 2-year-old tabby female, will turn your sour in to sweet (case 0331).

 June, an 18-month-old black female Bombay-mix, who makes it feel like summer all year long (case 0178).

 Dotty, a 2-year-old tabby female DSH, will make your heart skip a beat (case 0548).

 Emma, a 10-month-old black-and-white female DSH, will cast a spell over your heart (case 0059).

 Freda, an 11-year-old tri-color female calico, knows cuddles are the best medicine (case 0075).

 Missy, a 7-month-old female tortoise shell, who needs someone classy in her life (case 0229).

 Haley, an 11-month-old female tortoise shell, is out of this world fun (case 0218).

 Cynthia, a 1-year-old female diluted calico, is the best couch surfer (case 0132).

 Kira, a 3-month-old female tabby DSH, has a way with purrs (case 0184).

 Sunshine, an 18-month-old orange-and-white female tabby DSH, will show brighten your day (case 0185).

 Meow, an 11-month-old female tortoise shell, knows purrs are the way to your heart (case 0260).

 Boxie, an 11-week-old orange female tabby DSH, is tailless and can care less with so much fun (case 0271).

 Wanda, a 4-month-old black-and-white female Persian-mix, makes every day feel like magic (case 0042).

 Gomez, a 6-month-old black male DSH, needs a Morticia in his life (case 0031).

 Mingo, a 2-year-old grey tabby male Persian-mix, is the handsome gentleman youve been searching for (case 0029).

The Orangeburg SPCA will be limiting the number of people inside its facility at this time. Hours of operation are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays. The SPCA is located at 225 Ruf Road and the phone number is 803-536-3918. Check out available adoptions on the internet at orangeburgspca.petfinder.com, the interactive website at www.OrangeburgSPCA.org and Facebook page at Orangeburg SPCA. Email any questions to adopt@orangeburgspca.org.

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(TBTCO) - Thang 4 nam ngoai, khi bat au buoc vao cuoc chien voi ai dich Covid- 19, toi tap cac cong ien cua Thu tuong Chinh phu oc thuc chong dich. Thang 4 nam nay, a la thoi hau chien, toi tap cong ien oc thuc cho phuc hoi, cho an ninh tien te Nen kinh te nong en tung khoanh khac, cong ien va cong ien.
Theo bao cao mang ten Nhung thach thuc va co hoi cho Viet Nam tu RCEP do Ngan hang Standard Chartered moi xuat ban gan ay, Viet Nam la mot trong nhung quoc gia huong loi nhieu nhat tu Hiep inh oi tac kinh te toan dien khu vuc (RCEP).
U.S. Congressman Donald Norcross presented Rowan University President Ali A. Houshmand on Monday with a ceremonial $500,000 check for a federal workforce training grant that will be used to prepare students for New Jerseys burgeoning wind power industry.

Funded by U.S. taxpayers, the grant will fuel workforce training programs designed to fit the needs of wind energy employers, starting in high school up through graduate-level engineering degrees. With the federal support, Rowan will offer new job pathways in partnership with Rowan College South Jersey, allowing students to earn a bachelors degree for less money than a traditional four-year program.

Such workforce development funding is critically important to the Universitys ability to prepare students to meet industry demands, Houshmand said.

The workforce training program we have developed with our partners will have a far-reaching impact on the industry well beyond South Jersey, Houshmand said. No one is offering this breadth of education in support of wind energy. Thanks to Congressman Norcross support, New Jersey will become the leader in wind energy jobs and training.

Norcross said the funding is priming the pump for children who are growing up in South Jersey.

Its about jobs and a career; its about education and its about security, Norcross said. Imagine the world today 20 years from now and what our economy is going to look like based on clean power. Its about giving opportunities to kids who want to go to school and succeed, whether youre a welder or an engineer.

The Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering will first use the grant to develop specialized wind energy certificates for students enrolled in 2+2 engineering technology degree programs offered in partnership with Rowan College of South Jersey, said Dean Giuseppe Palmese.

Were going to use the same certificates for mechanical engineers, electrical engineers and civil engineers, so that anybody who wants to get some foundational knowledge in wind power can do that, Palmese said. Eventually, Rowans wind power program will push into research and graduate-level training.

Alison McHugh, a civil and environmental engineering junior, has already worked on a hands-on clinic project to design an efficient wind turbine with blades angled to generate the most energy possiblealbeit on a much smaller scale than the 100-foot blades typically used on off-shore wind turbines.

Though she is interested in pursuing an engineering career in clean water supplies, McHugh said she was pleased to see Rowan will use the grant to help support the clean energy industry.

Its very important to take care of a good planet, McHugh, for us and for future generations.

The workforce development grant comes from the Funding for the People Act (H.R. 2471), an omnibus package of 12 appropriations bills and supplemental funding that includes $4.325 million for community projects in New Jerseys 1st Congressional District.
If or when Merrick Garland bestirs himself to action, hed do well to ponder the new federal court ruling that drops the hammer on coup conspirator John Eastman.

On Monday, the case for indicting Donald Trump was succinctly framed and arguably wrapped in a bow. And this was without even knowing what Trump may have said to fellow conspirators during seven key hours on Insurrection Day, the 7 hours and 37 minutes that are mysteriously missing from the White House phone logs.

Seriously, folks. What is it gonna take?

First, some quick housekeeping: Eastman, you may recall, is the Better-Call-Saul lawyer whos been outed for concocting a legal memo that was designed to help Trump overturn his election loss. Sort of a fascist instructional sheet for dummies.

Mondays court ruling, authored by U.S. District Judge David Carter (a former decorated Marine), commanded Eastman to cough up 101 emails  mostly exchanges with Trump  and to share them with the Houses Jan. 6 Committee. That was the narrow issue at hand. But, fortunately, Carter took it upon himself to connect the dots that situate Trump at the center of the blessedly failed coup. Carters warning was an implicit plea for Merrick Garland to wake up:

If Dr. Eastman and President Trumps plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power, undermining American democracy and the Constitution. If the country does not commit to investigating and pursuing accountability for those responsible, the Court fears January 6 will repeat itself.

It would seem that our accountability sleuths at the Justice Department still need to be enlightened about the evidence that shines with the strength of 100 suns. Whatcha got for us, Judge Carter?

Dr. Eastman and President Trump launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American historyTheir campaign was not confined to the ivory tower  it was a coup in search of a legal theory. The plan spurred violent attacks on the seat of our nations government, led to the deaths of several law enforcement officers, and deepened public distrust in our political process.

As Judge Carter reminds us, Eastman insisted in his Jan. 3, 2021 memo that Mike Pence, during his ceremonial task of counting the Electoral College votes, could simply throw out seven Biden states, thus reducing the tally to 232-222; and that Pence could then announce that since no candidate had reached the magic 270, the election would decided by the House, where each state would get one vote  and since the GOP at that time controlled 26 of the 50 state delegations, presto! Trump would win the election.

The problem, of course, was that Pence had no power to toss Electoral College votes, because theres no such provision in the Constitution. But that mattered not a whit to Trump, who spent days trying to muscle Pence into executing the plan that Eastman had touted as BOLD.

The judge zeroed in on one particular provision of the federal criminal code  18 U.S.C.  1512(2)  which, as he explained, criminalizes obstruction or attempted obstruction of an official proceeding. It requires three elements: (1) the person obstructed, influenced or impeded, or attempted to obstruct, influence or impede (2) an official proceeding of the United States, and (3) did so corruptly. He thus concluded:

Because President Trump likely knew that the plan to disrupt the electoral count was wrongful, his mindset exceeds the threshold for acting corruptly.After filing and losing more than 60 suits (in court), this plan was a last-ditch attempt to secure the Presidency by any means.

The potential hitch in all this evidence is that to prove Trumps criminality to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt, prosecutors need to successfully argue that Trump knew in his mind that his coup conspiracy was wrong. Hence the potential problem: This mope doesnt have a moral compass. He tends to believe that whatever he wants or says at any given moment is right and true.

For instance, one possible explanation for the seven-hour gap in the White House phone logs is that Trump communicated with fellow conspirators by using burner phones. In a statement, he denied doing that because, he insisted, I have no idea what a burner phone is, to the best of my knowledge I have never even heard the term.

Im sure he believes that lie in his mind. The problem is, he used the term burner phones at least three times in his recent lawsuit against niece Mary Trump. And former national security adviser John Bolton told CBS News, Wait a minute, Trump knows burner phones.

The Jan. 6 Committee members have been calling on the Justice Department to do its job, but alas its possible that Garland is hesitating to indict Trump precisely because its so hard to prove that someone so amoral has any consciousness of wrongdoing. Heck, just this week Trump asked his 2016 campaign ally, war criminal Vladimir Putin, to release some dirt on Hunter Biden.

I know, I know. Just like you, Im rolling my eyes. Again.

Dick Polman, a veteran national political columnist based in Philadelphia and a Writer in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania, writes at DickPolman.net. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com

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In the face of the rise in the cost of living, increased instability across workplaces and the need for a financial plan to secure his familys future, Anildath Cazabo started to build a business last year.

Notwithstanding the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic that led to financial fragility, Anildath ground his heels, with determination to bring money to the familys table.
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.
Population of black-necked cranes exceeds 10,000 in Tibet

Xinhua) 09:19, March 31, 2022

Black-necked cranes are pictured in Namling County of Xigaze City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 29, 2022.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. The population of black-necked cranes has exceeded 10,000 from 1,000 to 3,000 previously. (Xinhua/Zhang Rufeng)

Black-necked cranes fly in Namling County of Xigaze City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 29, 2022.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. The population of black-necked cranes has exceeded 10,000 from 1,000 to 3,000 previously. (Xinhua/Zhang Rufeng)

Black-necked cranes are pictured in Namling County of Xigaze City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 29, 2022.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. The population of black-necked cranes has exceeded 10,000 from 1,000 to 3,000 previously. (Xinhua/Zhang Rufeng)

Black-necked cranes are pictured in Namling County of Xigaze City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 29, 2022.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. The population of black-necked cranes has exceeded 10,000 from 1,000 to 3,000 previously. (Xinhua/Zhang Rufeng)

Black-necked cranes fly in Namling County of Xigaze City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 29, 2022.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. The population of black-necked cranes has exceeded 10,000 from 1,000 to 3,000 previously. (Xinhua/Zhang Rufeng)

Black-necked cranes are pictured in Namling County of Xigaze City, southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, March 29, 2022.

Tibet has seen a steady increase in endangered wildlife population, thanks to its continuous efforts over the past decades. The population of black-necked cranes has exceeded 10,000 from 1,000 to 3,000 previously. (Xinhua/Zhang Rufeng)

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
The mausoleum crypt holding Padre Eusebio Francisco Kinos remains in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, was opened Wednesday so that a Tucson organization promoting Kinos canonization could obtain a relic.

The opening of the crypt by the Mexicos National Institute of Anthropology was requested by Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson on behalf of the Kino Heritage Society. The society educates the public and promotes the cause for Kinos sainthood. The organization is affiliated with the diocese.

Jose Luis Perea Gonzalez, an anthropologist who is the director of Mexicos National Institute of Anthropology and History Center in Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora, authorized the opening and closing of the crypt.

The procedure was done in private by the institutes conservator, Rodolfo Castillo Lopez, an anthropologist who wore latex gloves, a face mask, knee pads and used a brush to restore the area he touched in the tomb. Kinos visible skeletal remains, which are under plexiglass, are in the mausoleum crypt at La Plaza Monumental, about 50 yards from Maria Magdalena Church.

The crypt was opened for the Kino Heritage Society to obtain what is called a third-class relic from Kino who is a candidate for sainthood. A third-class relic is an object that has touched a body part of a saint or would-be saint, or a possession that a saint or would-be saint owned, according to Vatican rules.

In this case, the third-class relic was reels of black ribbon, representing the Jesuit cassock, that were placed in the crypt by Lopez, touching the skull of Kino, said the Rev. Gregory Adolf, who was among the delegation from the Tucson diocese to attend the event in Magdalena de Kino, about a 2-hour drive south from Tucson.

The Rev. Gregory Adolf The Rev. Gregory Adolf witnessed the unsealing of the crypt with the remains of Father Eusebio Kino.

Before the event, Lopez checked the interior of the crypt and found it to be in good shape with no signs of deterioration, said Adolf. Lopez handed the reels of ribbon to Adolf after the reels touched Kinos skull. Lopez then closed and locked the crypt where access to Kinos remains has been rare during the last 50 years, and is only authorized by the institute, Adolf said.

Adolf is a board member of the Kino Heritage Society and member of the board of directors of the Southwest Mission Research Center, which promotes borderland history and also sponsors tours in Arizona and Sonora of Kino missions.

This was deeply moving because I have seen the remains many, many times through the plexiglass, but to have the tomb open and looking in on the ground level straight at Father Kinos bones was very touching, said Adolf. I was very impressed by the wonderful cooperation by the local authorities and the National Institute of Anthropology and History to make this possible, he said, explaining that pilgrims arriving at the tomb were held back by a gate while the process to obtain the third-relic was taking place. The crowd stood in silence.

It was a beautiful sunny day and about 40 people waited to catch an unexpected glimpse into history, said Adolf.

The ribbon will be cut into tiny pieces that will go on 20,000 prayer cards that will be distributed to diocesan parishes to promote Kinos cause for sainthood. The prayer cards are being donated to the society by Frank Barco, owner of the Copper Queen Publishing Co., Inc. in Bisbee, said Rosie Garcia, president and founder of the Kino Heritage Society. One reel of ribbon will be given to Kinos descendants in Segno, Italy.

Gathering a third-class relic from Kinos crypt is most appropriate now that the good padre has been declared venerable, said Rev. Christopher Corbally, a Jesuit Vatican astronomer and heritage society board member, in regards to Kinos candidacy for sainthood. Relics of saints help us recall that these holy people were as real as ourselves, they walked our walk, and so can be an inspiration to our own journey, said Corbally.

Rev. Christopher Corbally The Rev. Christopher Corbally, a Jesuit Vatican astronomer.

Relics, such as this one of Kino, help us to remember to call on those in heaven for help. They are our friends and family, and they care for us, Corbally said. Yes, we can always go straight to God with our needs but, as in our present life, it feels good to have the support of friends when we have a special request to make of someone with authority. Praying for something really special to God like this, with the support of such as Padre Kino on the way to be declared saint, has the two effects: it opens us to Gods answer; and it confirms that the padre is indeed close to God in heaven, said Corbally.

In July 2020, Pope Francis approved that Kino be declared a venerable person, which is two steps away from sainthood. At that time, Bishop Weisenburger said the popes formal approval recognized Kinos life of heroic virtue.

Padre Kino is especially recognized as an extraordinary example of evangelization, science and respect for the dignity of the poor, wrote Weisenburger in an email to parishioners of the diocese.

The process to canonize Kino began in the 1960s and it started in Hermosillo.

According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops website, after a candidate becomes venerable, the next step is blessed and then canonized as a saint.

To be beatified and recognized as a blessed, one miracle acquired through the candidates intercession is required in addition to recognition of heroic virtue or martyrdom. Canonization requires a second miracle after beatification, though a pope may waive these requirements, according to the site.

The society would not disclose what it paid the institute for the costs to obtain the relic. The money came from a trust fund established by the late Jesuit Rev. Charles W. Polzer, a Kino historian and anthropologist, to support events promoting and celebrating the canonization process of Kino.

Kino, who left a legacy as a Jesuit missionary, explorer, cartographer, rancher and farmer, was born Eusebio Chini on Aug. 10, 1645, in Segno, Italy, and died March 15, 1711, at age 65 in Magdalena. He founded 21 missions in the Pimeria Alta  what is now Northern Sonora and Southern Arizona.

Among the missions are Tumacacori mission that was established by Kino in 1691 but later built under Franciscan missionaries. In 1700, Kino laid the foundation for a mission at the village of Bac, on the Santa Cruz River near Tucson. Mission San Xavier del Bac  also known as the White Dove of the Desert  was completed in 1797 also by Franciscan missionaries.

According to writings by Polzer, Padre Kinos bones were found May 19, 1966, by a binational team of experts, including archaeologists and historians involved in methodical excavations. The work was commissioned by the Mexican federal government.

The remains were discovered where they had been buried some 255 years earlier. They were found under the Chapel of St. Francis Xavier that Kino had built in what is now the Plaza de Magdalena. In the remains, was a cassock button and a small crucifix, according to writings by the late Bernard L. Bunny Fontana, also an anthropologist and historian.

That Kinos remains were discovered in 1966 has to be regarded as miraculous. The same might be said for the continuation of so much that he set in motion in Northern Sonora/Southern Arizona more than three centuries ago, wrote Fontana about the discovery and Kinos accomplishments.

Photos: Father Kino (Eusebio Francisco Kino) Eusebio Francisco Kino, Father Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Father Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Father Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Father Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Father Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Father Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Father Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Father Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Father Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Father Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino, Father Kino

Contact reporter Carmen Duarte at cduarte@tucson.com or on Twitter: @cduartestar

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PHOENIX  As Democrats in the U.S. Senate push for Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksons confirmation to the Supreme Court, judicial advocates are actively pushing for greater diversity in Arizonas courts.

If confirmed, Jackson would be the first Black woman to ever sit on the Supreme Court. Jackson was confirmed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in 2021. The Senate Judiciary Committee is expected to vote Monday on whether to confirm Jackson, sending the nomination to the full Senate for consideration, according to USA TODAY.

The Arizona Advocacy Foundation, a nonprofit committed to a representative political system, compiled a diversity report for Arizona courts in April 2021.

Although Arizonas population is about 55% white, the report found, the most racially diverse and representative court, the Justice Court, is 80% white. County-level justice courts handle cases ranging from traffic disputes to harassment cases.

The report, which analyzes the racial and gender breakdown of superior, appellate, justice and the Supreme Court of Arizona, also found that the Latino community, which is a third of the states population, is the most underrepresented racial demographic in those courts. The report did not look at municipal courts.

The lack of representation of Arizonas judiciary poses a danger to the people of Arizona, the report says. Judges who believe that they are fair can still have ingrained biases that affect their rulings.

Marcos Tapia is the associate counsel at Chicanos Por La Causa and former president of Los Abogados, Arizonas Hispanic Bar Association, which encourages and supports Latinos in the legal field.

To diversify the bench, he said, the whole legal profession needs to be diversified first.

When I was in elementary school and we had career day, there was no attorney that looked like me, he said. Its a topic thats been on a lot of peoples minds, especially the legal field.

Tapia said Los Abogados encourages students of color to pursue careers as attorneys or in the legal field.

Any time I really saw anything about attorneys or lawyers, it was because somebody in my community was on the wrong side of it, he said. If you look at the bench, it really was not reflective of our community.  The way that our justice system is set up and the way it works, you get a lot more people in front of these judges that dont look like the judges.

Elena Nethers is the director of diversity, equity and inclusion at the State Bar of Arizona, a nonprofit organization supervised by the state Supreme Court that provides developmental programs for people looking to pursue a legal career.

Some of the programs that we do are pretty effective at taking down some of the barriers that may exist for these young attorneys who dont think they have it in them to be a judge, Nethers said.

The State Bar has two annual events focused on increasing diversity. The first is Meet the Bench, in which the 16 attorneys of the Bar Leadership Institute arrange a panel of state and federal judges discussing the paths they took to the bench.

They also talk a little bit about some of their efforts to diversify, but also what its like to lead from within the courts, Nethers said.

The second event is similar to Meet the Bench and takes place at the annual State Bar of Arizona Convention.

The Phoenix Municipal Court also puts emphasis on making sure its court staff is representative of its community along with the bench. Barton Fears, Phoenix Municipal Court general counsel and public information officer, said the diversity of court staff members is just as important as having diverse judges, because in many cases, people that go to court will deal more with staff.

Fears said efforts extend beyond encouraging people of color to become a lawyer or judge. He said court staff hold job fairs and recruiting events at high schools to encourage students to work in the courts.

At the end of the day, what were looking for is a court that is representative of the community and to produce justice through excellence, Fears said. Most of the time in arguments about diversification, the justice system will focus only on the bench. Theres no focus on the court staff, but thats just as important.

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PHOENIX  Gov. Doug Ducey has signed legislation to tighten up voter registration requirements in a way that may be courting a legal challenge.

House Bill 2492, requires anyone who wants to vote for president to first submit proof of citizenship. The measure, crafted by Rep. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, is aimed at individuals who have registered to vote using only the form prepared by the federal Election Assistance Commission.

That form requires only that people avow they are citizens. That differs from state laws governing state and local elections where proof of citizenship has been required since 2004.

But under federal law, those using that form are permitted to vote in federal elections, meaning the presidential and congressional races.

In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected efforts by Arizona to impose the citizenship-proof requirement on those using the federal form. Based on that, attorneys for both the House and Senate told lawmakers that HB 2492 is unconstitutional.

That didnt stop the Republican-controlled Legislature from giving its approval and sending it to the governor.

Ducey insisted there is a legal nuance in the 2013 ruling that permits the state to do what is in HB 2492.

He said its also the right thing to do.

I believe voter ID is Step 1 of being able to vote, and proof of citizenship along with that, the Republican governor said. This bill ensures that.

Ducey also pronounced himself unconcerned about possible legal challenges from groups like the Arizona Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, whose lobbyist testified against the measure.

The ACLU looks for every opportunity to have a frivolous lawsuit, he said.

The debate arose after official election results showed Joe Biden defeating Donald Trump in 2020 by 10,457 votes statewide. Among the accusations by those who have questioned the results is whether that total was affected by people who are not citizens.

Central to HB 2492 is what steps the state can take to curb voting by people who have registered using the federal form but not provided evidence of citizenship.

That number, the governor said, has been ballooning.

Ducey said that in 2014  after the Supreme Court ruling  only 21 voters who signed up with the federal form cast a ballot. But by 2020, that number climbed to more than 11,600, he said.

Maricopa County listed 4,484 such ballots, with another 1,942 from Pima County.

Ducey said the legislation is designed to ensure that anyone using that form to vote for president is, in fact, a citizen.

Election integrity means counting every lawful vote and prohibiting any attempt to illegally cast a vote, he said in a letter to Secretary of State Katie Hobbs in sending the measure to her. HB 2492 is a balanced approach that honors Arizonas history of making voting accessible without sacrificing security in our elections.

Ducey is accepting the arguments advanced by Hoffman, the bills sponsor, that in 2013 the high court was addressing only the ability of people to vote in congressional races. Hoffman said that is based on his belief that the justices were relying on the federal constitutional provisions giving Congress the power to regulate the times, places and manner of conducting elections for representatives and senators.

And, in fact, nothing in HB 2492 requires citizenship proof of those who want to cast a ballot for candidates for U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives.

By contrast, Hoffman contends, the U.S. Constitution leaves it up to individual states to decide how the presidential electors are chosen.

This distinction has yet to be presented to the court, he said. So any assertion that it is prima facie unconstitutional based on this provision is patently false.

There is one other legal issue.

Prior to 1996, there was no requirement for anyone seeking an Arizona drivers license to prove citizenship. And in 2004, when voters enacted citizenship requirements to register to vote in Proposition 200, the law was written so that anyone with a license issued prior to 1996 effectively was grandfathered in and allowed to continue to use that Arizona license as citizenship proof to register.

But foes say there is no similar provision in HB 2492. And that raises the question of whether anyone with one of those pre-1996 licenses  and there are about 192,000 of them, according to the Motor Vehicle Division  will now have to come up with separate proof to cast a ballot later this year.

Ducey, however, said he doesnt see an issue.

HB 2492 does not disturb the safe harbor granted to Arizona voters who registered to vote prior to Prop. 200s passage, he said.

The measure has separate provisions to deal with how election officials handle requests to register by people who still want to use the federal form to vote only in congressional races.

It directs county recorders to, on their own, search various federal and state databases to look for other evidence of whether the person is or is not a citizen. If those checks verify the person is not a citizen, election officials will be required to reject the application, notify the applicant and forward the application to the county attorney or state attorney general for investigation.

If the records search turns up neither proof nor disproof of citizenship, then the person has to be told he or she cannot vote in the presidential election but can cast a ballot for congressional candidates.

Even in these cases, it requires the secretary of state and each county recorder to provide a list of those for whom citizenship could not be verified and make that available by Oct. 31  days before the general election  to the Attorney Generals Office, which would do its own search of records. It also requires the office to prosecute anyone who submitted a form who was not found to be a U.S. citizen.

Howard Fischer is a veteran journalist who has been reporting since 1970 and covering state politics and the Legislature since 1982. Follow him on Twitter at @azcapmedia or email azcapmedia@gmail.com .

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Students, parents and community members spent almost two hours Wednesday night laying out their concerns about race, diversity and equity within Tulsa Public Schools to the Board of Education.

Its not fair that a child or an adult be asked Where are you from? when this is a country that grew from people coming from different places, a TPS parent said in Spanish. Were not asking where your ancestors come from.

If we work together, TPS can be a model to follow at the state and national level.

Speaking before a full audience at the Education Service Center, multiple attendees listed five specific demands of TPS:

Better translation services at all public meetings;

Greater investment in hiring more Hispanic, bicultural and bilingual staff across the district;

Diversity, equity and inclusion training for board members and district leaders;

Mandatory immigrant support training for board members;

And quarterly meetings among district leaders and Hispanic families mediated by Deputy Superintendent Paula Shannon and Padres Unidos de Tulsa, a grassroots organization within the Hispanic community.

Data published by the district indicate that 37% of TPS students and 11% of the districts employees identify as Hispanic.

Neither figure includes people who identify as multiracial.

We can no longer stay silent, community member Mimi Martinez said. Everything thats been going on  has really woken up an anger not just in myself but in my community. Were no longer the sleeping minority. We represent more than 37% of your student body,  yet the board doesnt represent that. Our students and families have a right to have a seat at the table.

It makes me angry and disappointed that were having to explain in 2022 why representation matters.

Among the specific objections raised by several attendees were some about comments made in a recent private conversation between board members Jerry Griffin and Judith Barba Perez in which Barba Perezs citizenship status was brought up.

Elected to the board in 2021, Barba Perez is a naturalized citizen and the first first-generation immigrant to serve on the TPS Board of Education.

The immigration question can trigger something very personal, she said. Thats not a microaggression. Thats an aggression.

During Wednesday nights meeting, Griffin described it as a miscommunication between the two, drawing vocal objections from many of the meetings attendees.

In fourth grade, I spent a year in Jamaica while my parents were missionaries, he said. I also spent two years in Botswana, so I know something about living in a culture where you dont understand the language.

Its a challenge. I respect that.

Although the board did not formally vote on any binding action, President Stacey Woolley said the items on the list will be reviewed by both the board and district administration. Woolley also said the board was open to additional conversations on the matter with the support of a facilitator.

As much as I want to empathize, I dont have your life experiences, she said. Im glad were hearing from all of you tonight. I sincerely hope that we do our very best to continue to engage and make sure that everyone in this room within your communities will help affect change for your students.

I hope you are hearing me. I hope you recognize that we are listening, and we want to hear from you.

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The City Councils latest effort to establish a police oversight program failed Wednesday, but not before councilors offered a ray of hope that it is not dead forever.

What failed was a procedural step required to send a proposal to create an Office of the Independent Monitor to voters in August. Councilors voted 7-2 to reject the measure, with Councilors Vanessa Hall-Harper and Kara Joy McKee casting the dissenting votes.

But before casting his vote, Councilor Mykey Arthrell tried to assure the members of the public assembled at City Hall that the no vote they were likely to witness did not mean the end of the discussion.

We got verbal confirmation (from councilors) that an Office of the Independent Monitor is something that needs to be revisited, something that we need to have more discussion about and something that they are willing to reopen so we can try to create that office once again, Arthrell said. That was really encouraging.

The verbal confirmation came earlier in the day, during a council committee discussion of the options the City Council has for moving the oversight proposal forward.

Although no timeline or other specifics were discussed at the committee meeting, almost every councilor expressed support for at least discussing the possibility of restarting talks about establishing an OIM through a city ordinance.

Councilor Phil Lakin was one of many councilors who said they felt more comfortable with an OIM created through an ordinance.

My personal opinion  is that if we are going to do OIM, we have mechanisms to put an OIM in place before we make it more permanent through a charter, to test it out, to walk before we run, Lakin said. Whatever you want to call it, I would just prefer to do it that way.

Unlike a City Charter amendment, which is voted on by the public, ordinances are established through a vote of the City Council and the signature of the mayor.

In September 2019, Mayor G.T. Bynum pulled his proposal to establish an OIM through an ordinance after councilors split over how much authority the monitor should be given. That led in March 2020 to the first failed attempt to put the OIM to a vote of the people through a charter change amendment.

Wednesdays proposal was the same one presented in 2020. It would have given the OIM greater authority than what was proposed by Bynum, including investigative and subpoena powers.

And as in 2020, there was not enough support among councilors to move it forward.

I think oversight is important, said Councilor Crista Patrick. But that oversight has to come with community. It has to come with everyone being at the table, and this wording tonight, it doesnt come with everybody at the table.

Before casting her vote, City Council Chairwoman Lori Decter Wright stressed her commitment to ensuring that the process moving forward would be inclusive.

Her hope, she said, is to co-create with the citizens, with the elected officials, with the legal advisers, with the Police Department, with our tribal colleagues a program that is going to work for Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2022 and moving forward.

Wednesday nights meeting came fresh on the heels of the release of a YouTube video showing Tulsa police officers encounter with a 70-year-old woman who has bipolar disease and was having a manic episode. The officers conduct has been widely criticized as being unprofessional and insensitive to the womans plight.

The Tulsa Police Department has acknowledged that the banter among the officers can be perceived as unprofessional but that the officers overall actions and the way the call was handled were within the departments policies.

That was not how the 20 speakers who urged councilors to advance the OIM charter amendment saw it. In fact, one speaker used her time to show the video on the big screen inside City Council chambers.

Speaker after speaker denounced the officers actions, no one more forcefully than the Rev. Marlin Lavanhar of All Souls Unitarian Church.

If that is the policies of the Tulsa police, then the policies need to change, Lavanhar said. And if that is the policies and procedures and thats OK, then we know that the police cant police themselves, and we need an Office of the Independent Monitor so that we can have somebody who is policing the police.

Two people, Susan and Michael Phillips, spoke against the OIM proposal.

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A 27-year-old Henryetta man was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of killing his father with a samurai sword in 2019.

A federal jury in a two-day trial found Diamond Levi Britt guilty of first-degree murder in Indian Country, the United States Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma said Thursday.Britt told his family on at least two occasions that he planned to kill his father, according to federal prosecutors, who said police found Britt walking along a roadway carrying a sword after the slaying.

When taken into custody, Britt reportedly made numerous statements indicating that he had wanted to kill his father.

Federal prosecutors said they presented evidence that Britt attacked his father with premeditation. The injuries included a partially severed arm, multiple head wounds and a transected quadriceps tendon. Gary Britt died nine days after the attack.

U.S. District Judge John F. Heil III sentenced Diamond Britt to life in prison.

Federal prosecutors handled the case because the defendant is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe and the crime occurred in Okmulgee County, within the boundaries of the Muscogee Nation.

A life sentence is fit punishment, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Wilson said in a news release. The defendant viciously murdered his father with a samurai sword. His acts were almost unthinkable.

He said his heart goes out to the family of Gary Britt.

Prosecuting violent crime in Indian Country like this continues to be of paramount importance to the United States Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, Wilson said.

The case involved an investigation by the Okmulgee County Sheriffs Office, the Henryetta Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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Oklahoma is in a much better place than a year ago to combat COVID-19 with widely available treatments that are proven effective  but only if used and used early.

Dr. Dale Bratzler, the University of Oklahomas chief COVID officer, said he recently reviewed the case of a person who in an outpatient setting was given a host of inappropriate treatments not proven to help. The person didnt enter OU Healths care until after developing severe lung disease and respiratory failure.

By then it was too late; the patient  subsequently died, Bratzler said Wednesday during his COVID briefing with media. What frustrated me about the case was that we have proven drugs  proven in randomized trials  that reduce the risk of hospitalization and death from this disease, and that particular patient never got offered any of those.

Bratzler encourages anyone who tests positive for COVID-19 and has risk factors for complications to seek treatment immediately because a range of good drug options exist: antiviral pills, monoclonal antibodies, intravenous remdesivir and convalescent plasma.

Risk factors include chronic illness, immunosuppression and advanced age (65 and older).

He also urged individuals to be up to date on their COVID vaccination schedules, noting that the federal government has approved a fourth dose of vaccine to individuals 50 and older and those who are younger than 50 but have high-risk conditions or are immunocompromised.

The fourth dose  the second booster shot  is recommended at least four months after the third dose.

Bratzler reiterated that its OK to mix and match mRNA vaccines  Pfizer and Moderna  for booster doses if only one is available at a particular location.

Less than 1 in about a million people have any serious event with the RNA vaccines, Bratzler said. So I think the risk is incredibly low. I think if you have underlying risk factors  particularly immunosuppression, chronic illness or are elderly  then getting the next dose does make sense.

Bratzler highlighted that COVID case counts are very, very low, even with a potential uptick beginning to occur here that isnt unlike those in some other states.

Our prediction models suggest that we would see a slight increase in the number of cases  nowhere near the surges that we saw last year or in January, Bratzler said.

While the Oklahoma State Department of Health now reports COVID data only once a week instead of each weekday, Bratzler said the data get to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at least three times per week.

So the CDC is where he tries to get the most up-to-date information available for Oklahoma.

The states weekly new case rate is at 53 per 100,000 people, which is tremendously lower than the peak 2,086 during the omicron surge and much lower than the delta surge high of 495. The states low point a year ago in the spring was 15 in late May.

As of Monday, the CDC had Oklahomas seven-day average of new cases at 301 per day  a level not seen since July, when the delta variant was beginning to take off. The low point was 99 cases per day in June.

COVID hospitalizations in the states latest report a week ago were at 199 across Oklahoma, the lowest it has been since July.

The low in 2021 was 106 in June. The overall peak record was 2,243 in January during the omicron wave.

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Twenty-seven people aged 15 to 22 have been sentenced to up to nine years in prison for participating in a street brawl in Hanoi in mid-2019.

The Hanoi Peoples Court announced the sentences for the 27 defendants on Wednesday following a two-day trial.

Tran Gia Kiet, 19, received a six-year jail term for murder.

As Kiet was previously sentenced to two years behind bars for disrupting public order, his total prison term is eight years.

Other members in Kiets gang were given prison terms lasting for four to nine years for murder.

Hoang Duc Hong, 21, received a two-year prison term for disrupting public order.

Hongs accessories were condemned to 18 to 30 months in jail for similar offenses.

The indictment showed that Tran Duy Hai, a member of Hongs gang, was assaulted by four masked men on a local street at around 11:00 pm on June 12, 2019.

Hai told Hong about the incident, believing that Kiet and his acquaintances had attacked him.

The two gangs later used social media to arrange a fight to settle their dispute.

On the following day, Hai was once again attacked by about 10 members of Kiets gang at a local gas station.

To avenge the attack, Hong and nine others prepared iron batons and bricks to fight with Kiets group.

Kiet also gathered about 30 people and brough glass bottles and iron pipes with knives attached.

As they were outnumbered, Hong and his gang retreated on their motorbikes, but were eventually chased down and beaten by Kiets crew.

Hong suffered the most serious injury while his associates were also wounded.

At the trial, the defendants admitted to their wrongdoings and expressed regret for their impulsive action.

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Check out the news you should not miss today:

Society

-- In recent days, intersections in Ho Chi Minh City have seen a number of people performing fire-breathing stunts in the middle of the street, which has raised concerns over safety and traffic disorder.

-- Police in Tuy Hoa City, located in the south-central province of Phu Yen, said on Wednesday night they were investigating the death of H.T.K.C., 49, after she stepped into a puddle of allegedly electrified water near an iron pylon following a heavy rain earlier the same day.

-- Three elementary school students from the northern province of Dien Bien were found dead from drowning on Wednesday at a section of the Ma River through Muong Luan Commune.

-- Some 3.4 million workers would benefit from the housing rent support policy that has been recently approved by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the Vietnam News Agency cited a press conference in Hanoi on Wednesday.

-- The Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police Division (PC07) under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Public Security on Wednesday evening dismantled a big hive of vespa affinis with a diameter of more than one meter hanging on a tamarind tree on Nguyen Du Street in District 1.

Business

-- Two Vietnamese business associations in central and southern Laos have been established as member organizations of the Vietnam Business Association for Cooperation and Investment in Laos, the Vietnam News Agency reported on Wednesday.

Lifestyle

-- Hoi An is on top of Booking.coms list of the most welcoming places in Vietnam in 2022, followed by Phong Nha and Ninh Binh, the travel and accommodation booking platform said in a press release on Wednesday.

World news

-- Fans have bought 804,186 tickets for matches at the World Cup in Qatar later this year in the first phase of sales, Reuters quoted soccer's world governing body and tournament organizers FIFA on Wednesday.

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Many people, including students, have admitted to being sexually harassed on public buses in Ho Chi Minh City recently.

M.P., a young woman, is one of these victims.

She shared her frightening incident on a No. 53 bus at 4:00 pm on February 28 on social media.

Anyone can become a victim

On that day, a young man actively sat closer to P..

After using a school bag to cover himself, he touched P. sexually with his hands.

"At first I thought I was mistaken because I was so tired," the young girl recalled.

"But when he touched my breast, I realized with surprise what had happened, and I ran to another place.

"I was too shocked to scream. As soon as I changed seats, he also got off the bus."

According to P.'s description, the man had a slender figure and looked like a student, which is why she was initially inattentive.

"Be careful when you are on a public bus, girls," P. said.

Male commuters have also fallen victim to such sexual harassment.

N.K., a 21-year-old college student in Ho Chi Minh City, recounted being harassed on a No. 8 bus despite so many people on board.

According to K.'s recollection, the bad guy was rather thin and wore a black jacket over his head.

Due to car sickness, K. suffered from a sense of illusion while being on board.

"While I was feeling faint, he first tried to lean over to my shoulder. Then he proceeded to put his hand on my thighs and crawled to sensitive body parts," the young student recounted.

"I woke up in surprise and immediately pushed his hand away.

"That was the first time I had experienced such an incident that scared me so much.

"I did not know what to do so I rushed to the bus driver's place."

K. told his family the story, and he has not ridden the bus since.

"I have seen so many students' reports of sexual harassment on public buses lately. I hope the authorities will deal with this problem as soon as possible," he suggested.

Victims should come forward

Le Hoan, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Management Center of Public Transport, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the center has asked relevant transport companies to jointly deal with the problem when such reports of sexual harassment on public buses are received.

Solutions include increasing staff to investigate the reports.

They will review the videos recorded in the CCTV camera systems of the buses and extract the footage to identify the suspects if they need to do so to assist investigators.

The Ho Chi Minh City Management Center of Public Transport also suggests that the Criminal Investigation Department under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Public Security launch some investigations into the matter.

Hoan acknowledged that the agency has encountered many difficulties in settling the issue as it is a special problem.

Sexual harassment often occurs for a short period of time, making it difficult to detect and collect evidence, Hoan further explained.

Recently, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport and the Ho Chi Minh City Management Center of Public Transport jointly held courses on responding to sexual harassment and child abuse for bus drivers and staff.

Notice boards have also been placed near bus stations in addition to more surveillance cameras on buses to increase commuters' safety.

"When sexual harassment happens, most victims are too ashamed to report it, so people nearby are not aware of it and there is no help as a result," Hoan said.

"When it does occur, victims need to shout loudly to get timely assistance from bus attendants and drivers."

3-4 cameras on public buses Students make up the majority of commuters on public buses in Ho Chi Minh City. According to Tuoi Tre reporters' observation, there are always 3-4 cameras on a bus. Six cameras are even installed on some electric buses at the stop at Vinhomes Grand Park in Thu Duc City.

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Police in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday evening dismantled a meter-wide nest belonging to a swarm of vespa affinis (lesser banded hornet) in the heart of District 1.

The nest had been situated about ten meters up a tamarind tree on Nguyen Du Street in District 1.

The Fire Prevention and Fighting and Rescue Police Division under the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Public Security was charged with dismantling the nest after authorities deemed it a threat to local residents due to its location above a crowded street near a cinema and elementary school.

Dozens of officers equipped with protective gear worked in the evening when the area was less crowded than usual.

It also helped that the hornets had limited ability to see in the dark.

The surrounding area was strictly cordoned off.

Two officers reached out to the hive by a ladder truck and used a big sweep net to collect it before sealing the net with duct tape to keep the bees from escaping.

It took about 20 minutes to safely dismantle the nest.

The beehive is located on a tamarind tree on Nguyen Du Street in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, March 30, 2022. Photo: Supplied

Officers wear protective gear before dismantling a beehive on Nguyen Du Street in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, March 30, 2022. Photo: Nguyen Hoang / Tuoi Tre

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Police in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City said on Wednesday that they had successfully broken down two theft rings in the district, including one that often stole motorbikes at convenient stores, cafes, and peoples houses, and the other that resold them in Cambodia.

The theft rings have been rampant since mid-2021, according to police officers.

Theft duo

Criminal detectives arrested Bui Dinh Thach, 27, living in Go Vap District, and Nguyen Trieu Long Nhan, 25, living in Binh Duong Province when both were riding a motorbike stolen from a cafe on No Trang Long Street in Binh Thanh District on January 25.

Based on the testimony of Thach and Nhan, officers continued to arrest Truong Van Phu, 28, living in Binh Thanh District and Nguyen Van Hau, 30, living in District 1.

Police officers determined that Phu and Hau, both of whom had had many previous convictions for property theft, were the main suspects in the case.

The two confessed to stealing the aforementioned motorbike and selling it to Thach for VND7 million (US$306).

In addition to this case, the two also confessed to committing six previous motorbike thefts in Binh Thanh and other districts.

The Binh Thanh District police thus arrested and initiated legal proceedings against Phu and Hau on charges of property theft and Thach and Nhan for the investigation of possession of property obtained by crime.

Officers also confiscated eleven motorcycles and a large number of tools used during their thefts.

This collage shows suspects in two motorbike theft rings in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City.

Stolen bike resale in Cambodia

The other ring involved 26-year-old Tran Van Tung and his 21-year-old wife, Nguyen Thi Tuyet Nhi, both hailing from Binh Thanh District.

The couple stole a motorbike parked in front of a 7 Eleven store in Ward 22 of the district on February 21 before reselling it to Dinh Cong Nghia Trong, another 27-year-old local, for VND13 million ($569).

Nghia then offered the stolen vehicle to Dang Van Tuan, 28, and Vo Hoang Thuan, 28, both hailing from Tay Ninh Province.

The two sides agreed on a deal of VND16 million ($700) for the said motorbike, in addition to VND3 million ($131) for a Honda Dream scooter.

After Tuan received and brought the motorbike from Ho Chi Minh City to Tay Ninh, Thuan rode it to Cambodia, where he resold it to someone named Cat for $880.

Besides Tuan, Thuan often had two other Tay Ninh-based men, namely Vo Cong Hau, 24, and Le Van Nghia, 20, travel to Ho Chi Minh City to receive motorbikes of unknown origin for resale.

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The number of international visitors to Vietnam in March increased by 41.4 percent compared to February and by 2.2 times year on year, the Vietnam News Agency quoted the General Statistics Office as reporting on Tuesday.

During the first quarter of 2022, Vietnam welcomed nearly 91,000 international visitors, an 89.1 percent annual rise.

Visitors arriving by air accounted for nearly 90.5 percent of international arrivals to Vietnam during this period, up 165.2 percent.

Revenue from accommodation and catering services in the first quarter of 2022 jumped by 1.2 percent, while tourism revenue climbed 1.9 percent from the same period last year.

Vietnam fully reopened international tourism on March 15, a move which paved the way for both inbound and outbound tourists to travel to and from the country by air, road, rail, and sea.

Conditions and regulations on immigration and health for international tourists were also relaxed.

Vietnam's unilateral visa exemption policy for 13 countries was already restored, along with the resumption of the immigration policy it had in place before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nguyen Trung Khanh, head of the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, stressed that reopening the country to international visitors was an important milestone for Vietnam's tourism industry.

The move will not only help boost post-pandemic economic recovery but also affirm that Vietnam is a safe and friendly destination, Khanh elaborated.

Tourism activities in many localities are once again thriving thanks to the many promotional campaigns launched since March 15 to attract visitors.

On March 26, the National Tourism Year 2022, themed Quang Nam  The Green Destination, kicked off in Hoi An City, a popular tourist destination in central Quang Nam Province.

The event is the country's largest annual tourism event and is co-organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Quang Nam People's Committee.

The National Tourism Year 2022 was also announced at the Expo 2020 Dubai, attracting serious attention from potential international visitors.

Vietnam aims to serve 65 million tourists, including five million international visitors and 60 million domestic travelers, in 2022.

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A second series of Kangaroo Beach, which was awarded last night in the Screen Producers Australia Awards, has been announced by ABC, Screen Australia and Cheeky Little Media.

The second series will offer further beach-based fun adventures with cadets, Pounce, Frizzy, Neville and Gemma.

Miranda Tapsell will also be joining the cast as a guest character for 2023.

Cheeky Littles Executive Producer Patrick Egerton said, Were so happy to be heading into season 2 of Kangaroo Beach. Congratulations to the entire Cheeky Little team for making a wonderful show that resonates so strongly with kids and their families. After the rapid success here in Australia its madly exciting to see the show make a huge splash in the UK, LATAM and beyond. I think 2022 will be a big year for our little lifeguard cadets!

ABC Head of Childrens Production Libbie Doherty said, Kangaroo Beach has quickly become a beloved ABC Kids Brand thanks to the lovable surf cadets whove connected via humour and genuine warmth. The distinctive Australian beach setting is a rich storyworld with plenty of fun and action to explore beach culture that is relatable to kids all over the world in the new episodes for next summer.

Screen Australias Head of Content Grainne Brunsdon said, We are excited to support the second season of this charming, funny and educational series from Cheeky Little Media that has made waves around the world. We look forward to this series engaging young viewers on the ABC later in the year.

Bernadette OMahony, ACTF Head of Content said, ACTF is pleased to be teaming up with Cheeky Little on Kangaroo Beach and to be able to bring this delightful and positive series to the world.

Since the series burst onto screens in 2020, its quickly become a smash hit with its young audience and their families, amassing an average of 1.6 million views per episode on broadcast TV and ABC iview and securing a top #3 position of most viewed program of 2021 (within both kids and adults series). This was in addition to 14.9 million play on ABC iview within the past year. Further success has come with a Summer Special release at the end of 2021 and a release of consumer products, including a book series, kids swimwear and clothing, bedding and toys being available at major retailers and select independents.

Key partners onboard for Series 2 include, the ABC, the Australian Childrens Television Foundation and Surf Life Saving Australia. ACTF will also distribute the series. Cheeky Little Commercial continues as the global brand manager.

Production Credit: Kangaroo Beach Series 2 is a Cheeky Little Media production for the ABC. Major production investment from the ABC in association with Screen Australia. Financed with support from the Australian Childrens Television Foundation (ACTF), Surf Lifesaving Association of Australia. International sales by ACTF and Infinite Frameworks. Cheeky Little Commercial continues as the global brand manager.
Screen Australia has appointed Christopher Sharp to the newly created role of Head of Scripted.

Sharp is a former Investment and Development Manager and will oversee the Content Departments team of investment and development managers, Scripted, across feature film, general television drama and childrens drama.

Screen Australias Head of Content Grainne Brunsdon said, Christopher has an incredibly strong and varied background in development and production and is a natural fit to oversee our scripted funding programs. I look forward to working with him in this new role.

Sharp said, Im excited at the task of working with producers to finance their projects in this competitive market, and to support them in bringing compelling Australian stories to our screens, big and small. The team at Screen Australia is particularly focused on being proactive to ensure the long term sustainably of our sector, whilst also ensuring we fund projects and storytellers that reflect the rich diversity within our culture, and support the emergence of the next generation of storytellers coming through.

In other changes to the Screen Australia Scripted team, Investment Manager Cristina Pozzan will be returning to her career as a producer and will be depart the agency in April, while Lucy Hill will be commencing parental leave, also in April.

Brunsdon said, Cristina has been an invaluable team member at Screen Australia during her four years here and will be hugely missed. We wish her all the best as she heads back into producing, and we also give our best wishes to Lucy as she goes on parental leave for the next 12 months.

Its wonderful to have Seph McKenna now on board who many in the industry will know from his distinguished career as Head of Australian Production at Roadshow and CEO of Screenwest, and we look forward to a new Investment Manager joining the team soon.

Recruitment for a new Investment Manager, Scripted, will commence shortly.

With 18 years experience in the screen industry, Christopher has worked as a story developer and producer in Australia, the UK and the US. He has held senior development roles for production companies as well as at government funding bodies including a previous stint at Screen Australia as Development Executive in 2010.

Christopher joined Screen Australia again in 2020, and as Investment & Development Manager he has managed titles including New Gold Mountain, The Newsreader, Love Me and Crazy Fun Park. Prior to this, Christopher was Head of Development at Thumper Pictures where he led a development slate of commercial TV and online projects. Christopher has also worked as Head of Development at RevLover and as Director of Development at Screen Queensland where he helped design and implement development workshops and talent incubators including the SQ Projector.

Christopher worked at the London-based Material Entertainment, a co-venture between New Line Cinema and Entertainment Film Distributors, as well as the New York-based film sales company FilmNation. During his career he has lectured at the Australian Film Television & Radio School where he designed and taught a course in Script Assessing.
Alyssa Barnes, 24, travels nearly 2,200 miles from her home in Los Angeles to study at the University of Dayton.

I knew I wanted to teach high school religion and none of the schools in Southern California reflected this in their education programs, Barnes said. UD also allows for studies in secondary Catholic religion education while also obtaining a license in another subject.

One of the inspirational classes at the university is called the Forum for Young Catechetical Leaders, which is held on Saturday mornings during the semester.

The Forum positions our UD students to be well prepared for being hired in Catholic schools, in diverse ministry positions, or, simply preparing students for living and sharing their faith in their future careers, said Sister Angela Ann Zukowski, D. Min.,MHSH, who teaches the class and is the Director of the Institute for Pastoral Initiatives. The Forum motivates our students to become outstanding communicators of our rich Catholic traditions.

For over 22 years, University of Dayton Forum students have been preparing to become Catholic religious educators (catechists) through the Saturday class and praxis experience, committed to witnessing, communicating and sharing their faith in Catholic schools and parishes across the United States.

Elena Niese, 22, says the forum allows students to explore what it means to be a Catholic educator no matter the discipline.

Engaging in conversation with like-minded, Christ-centered educators empowered me to live my faith in the classroom in a way that I would not have otherwise, Niese said. Any student called to the vocation of Catholic education should enroll in the Forum because it forms you to bring the Catholic faith to your classroom.

Zukowski says many of the Forum graduates currently serve as Diocesan Directors of Faith Formation, Youth Ministers, Catholic School Religion Teachers, volunteer Parish Catechists and diverse forms of new emerging ministries in the Catholic Church.

This is an opportunity for students to prepare for their calling, Zukowski said.

Also to help students discover and deepen their faith, even if class is on a Saturday.

The Forum is a collaborative program between the Institute for Pastoral Initiatives, the Center for Catholic Education and the Department of Religious Studies. Those interested in the program should contact Sr. Angela Ann Zukowski at azukowski1@udayton.edu
Gul E. Kremer, a distinguished researcher, teacher and skilled university administrator, has been named the new dean for the University of Dayton School of Engineering, starting Aug. 1.

Kremer, Wilkinson Professor in Interdisciplinary Engineering in the Iowa State University Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering and senior director of presidential projects in the Office of the President, brings an extensive track record in collaborative sponsored research, engineering program development, advancing diversity and inclusion, and fundraising.

Paul Benson, University of Dayton provost and executive vice president of academic affairs, said Kremer emerged as the top candidate in a highly competitive national search process that attracted many talented academic engineering leaders and innovators.

"We found in Dr. Kremer's candidacy an abiding dedication to students' holistic education and success, deep passion for first-rate, interdisciplinary research and innovation, and a robust commitment to inclusive excellence and equity in university life," Benson said.

"I have found her to be an especially thoughtful, bright and insightful person, motivated by values that naturally resonate with UD's mission and strategic vision. Her colleagues attest that she is an extremely hard worker, a ready collaborator and a highly effective team builder. I have great enthusiasm for the experience and aspiration she will bring to our School of Engineering, which is already rich in talent and expertise."

In her current position, Kremer reports directly to the president of Iowa State, and oversees a $52 million engineering building project. While chair of the industrial and manufacturing systems engineering department, she led successful efforts to increase research productivity and industrial support, and raised more than $42 million for the new building, professorships and student scholarships.

In previous positions, she was a program director/officer for the National Science Foundation, served as a Fulbright Scholar to Ireland, held faculty positions at the Pennsylvania State University and Gebze Technical University in Turkey, and was appointed as a National Research Council-US AFRL Summer Faculty Fellow in the Human Effectiveness Directorate.

"My conversations and interactions with members of the University of Dayton community have left me with a very good impression of UD," Kremer said. "I am honored by UDs selection of me to become a part of the UD leadership team. I look forward to working to move the School of Engineering to new heights in all facets of its mission through a collective vision and collaborative spirit."

Kremer earned a doctorate in engineering management from the Missouri University of Science and Technology (formerly University of Missouri-Rolla); master's and bachelor's degrees in industrial engineering from Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul, Turkey, and a masters in business, specializing in production management, from Istanbul University.

Her research accomplishments focus on applied decision sciences and operations research for product and design systems, and other research interests include sustainability, system complexity, design creativity, and engineering education. Read more about her here.

As dean, Kremer will oversee more than 1,900 undergraduate and 576 graduate students, programs that offer nine undergraduate majors in engineering and engineering technology, 14 master's level programs and five Ph.D. programs. The school includes six departments: chemical and materials engineering; civil and environmental engineering and engineering mechanics; electrical and computer engineering; electro-optics and photonics; engineering management, systems, and technology; and mechanical and aerospace engineering. The School of Engineering is tied for first place nationally for graduate engineering at Catholic universities in the most recent US News & World Report rankings.
Europe told to turn down the heating in Russia gas standoff Weekly cabinet meeting in Berlin

By Kate Abnett and Susanna Twidale

BRUSSELS/LONDON (Reuters) -Fears of a Russian gas supply crunch prompted some European countries on Wednesday to ask people to consume less energy in a move that could potentially yield big results.

Despite months of soaring energy prices and tight supplies most governments have avoided taking a step they fear could be unpopular but with concerns growing that Russia could turn off the taps, the message in some capitals is starting to shift.

"Every kilowatt-hour counts," German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Wednesday as Germany declared an "early warning" of a possible gas supply emergency.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris agrees that when done on a large scale, small behavioural changes can significantly reduce gas and oil demand.

It estimates that turning down thermostats in buildings across the European Union by 2 Celsius would save 20 billion cubic metres of gas, worth about $28 billion at current prices.

That's also about 13% of the 155 billion cubic metres the 27-nation bloc buys each year from Russia, which is in turn about 40% of the EU's total gas consumption.

The Dutch government followed Germany on Wednesday saying it would launch a campaign this weekend asking citizens and businesses to use less gas while France's regulator asked citizens to collectively try to reduce their consumption.

Simone Tagliapietra, senior fellow at think-tank Bruegel, said governments should have urged citizens to curb energy use months ago to help manage the supply crunch but politicians resisted because such a message "smells of austerity".

"Each billion cubic metre of gas we don't consume, it's important. That gas is very expensive, and we need now to start filling up the storage ahead of next winter," he said.

IT'S YOUR CHOICE

Rather than calling on consumers to cut their energy use, governments have so far mostly been looking for ways to cap utility bills and find alternative sources of fuel.

Story continues

Sweden, France, Itay, Germany and Britain also announced measures to make petrol cheaper this month after crude hit its highest price since 2008, drawing criticism from campaigners who say the measures are fossil fuel subsidies.

But since Russia invaded Ukraine last month, Brussels has declared a mission to cut the EU's Russian gas imports by two-thirds this year and to end the use of Russian gas by 2027.

Cutting demand could reduce the impact of any supply crunch if Russia were to cut exports, which has become more of a worry since Moscow said last week that countries should start paying for gas in roubles.

A detailed EU plan to wean itself off Russian fossil fuels is due in May, but a blueprint published this month showed Brussels would boost non-Russian gas imports, expand renewable energy faster, swap millions of gas boilers for heat pumps and renovate buildings to use less energy.

Those solutions will take time, however, and the European Commission has already suggested that consumers could help dent demand immediately.

"Your choices in how much energy you consume co-decide how strong we are in our reaction to Russia," EU climate policy chief Frans Timmermans said.

Temporarily cutting demand would also help countries build up gas storage for next winter and provide a stop-gap while governments secure lasting options to replace Russian fuel - such as building wind and solar farms, renovating buildings, or securing more non-Russian gas.

"There are tracks for immediate energy savings measures that remain unexplored," said Adeline Rochet, policy expert at climate think-tank E3G.

If they stick, energy-saving habits such as turning off lights and appliances or using less air conditioning where convenient, could also help bring down carbon dioxide emissions.

MOVE TO THE SLOW LANE

Christina Demski, an expert on consumer energy behaviour at Cardiff University's School of Psychology, said soaring energy bills and a desire to show solidarity with Ukraine may mean Europeans are receptive to such messages.

"People are more likely to make a behavioural change if you are asking to do something that reflects their values," she said, adding that requests to change behaviour should not target vulnerable households who lack the flexibility to adapt their consumption, or who are already struggling with bills.

Only a few countries have broached the idea of ways to reduce oil consumption, despite the fact Russia, which calls its action in Ukraine a special military operation, providing 27% of the EU's oil imports.

Denmark is looking at a proposal to temporarily reduce highway speed limits. Ireland's transport minister Eamon Ryan, who also the environment portfolio, suggested driving slower could save fuel when announcing a cut in petrol duty this month.

The IEA last week published options it said could lower oil demand in advanced economies by 2.7 million barrels per day (bpd) within four months, equivalent to the combined demand of every car in China.

Most options would require consumers to change their behaviour.

Lowering speed limits by 10 km per hour in advanced economies could save 290,000 bpd from cars and 140,000 bpd from trucks. Working from home three days a week would cut 500,000 bpd while fuel-saving practices such as car-sharing could save 470,000 bpd, the IEA said.

Some governments are resistant. Britain, which is no longer an EU member, rejected the IEA's ideas. The country plans to replace the 8% of oil imports it gets from Russia with alternative supplies this year.

"There is absolutely no need to apply this guidance in the UK," a government spokesperson said.

(Reporting by Kate Abnett and Susanna Twidale; Additional reporting by Padraic Halpin and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by David Clarke)
The Henry Downs Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution announced the winners of the 2021-22 American History Essay Contest and the Patriots of the American Revolution High School Essay Contest.

Zachary Henry, a sophomore at Vanguard College Preparatory School, won the regional and state Patriots of the American Revolution essay contest, writing about Benedict Arnold: Skilled Commander, Overlooked Talent. His essay advanced to compete in the DAR national essay contest.

The high school contest invited students to select a figure from American Revolution era and discuss how he or she influenced the course of the revolution and contributed to new nations founding.

Zachary views Arnold as a very conflicted man who made an admittedly terrible mistake, which in most peoples minds unfairly canceled out all of his good deeds. Zachary noted the strategic victories Arnold achieved for the Colonial war effort, his personal sacrifices, and George Washingtons acknowledgement of Arnold as his finest field commander.

Caleb Vaughan, a seventh-grade home-schooled student, submitted the winning American History essay, titled The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier: Memorial, Meaning, and Memory.

This years theme, open to students in fifth through seventh grades, was The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Nov. 11, 2021, was the 100th anniversary of the tombs dedication. Students were asked to imagine they had a brother who died on the battlefields of France during World War I, and their family attended the dedication of the tomb. Caleb hopes to visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C.

Caleb and Zachary were presented with a chapter winner certificate, a bronze American history medal and a check for $50.
ITHACA  While the war in Ukraine seems a world away, its effects are felt right here at home.

Jeff Peterson, president of Heartland Farm Partners, an ag marketing agency, spoke to a group of about 20 local producers during the Saunders County Ag Breakfast Friday, March 25 at the Eastern Nebraska Research, Extension and Education Center near Ithaca.

After the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed public events for the past two years, the Saunders County Extension Office invited the public back to its headquarters with the first of a series of quarterly breakfasts.

Ukraine is a major player in the world agriculture market. Peterson said the Eastern European country is a large producer of food grade oils, including nearly half of the sunflower oil used in the world and 20% of rapeseed exports.

More importantly to local farmers, Ukraine grows 16% of the worlds corn exports and 12% of wheat used world-wide. A disruption in their farming season created by the Russian invasion could mean a change in world markets for grain, Peterson said.

The war has shut down exports of grain via the Black Sea. Ukraine has nearly 600 million bushels of corn and 225 million bushels of wheat waiting to be sent out, Peterson said.

They dont raise anything near what we raise, but they do export a lot of what they raise, he said.

But the real focus is the crop that needs to get in the ground this spring. Planting will likely be delayed by the war in some areas of Ukraine, Peterson said. Shortages of diesel fuel and fertilizer are expected to also be factors that could reduce corn exports by about 850 million bushels, he said.

Still, Peterson is optimistic for the farmers of Ukraine.

Knowing Ukraine, theyre tough, he said. Theyre going to figure out a way to get something planted.

The expected downfall in wheat production in Ukraine is around 650 million bushels, Peterson said, which could cause problems in food production by taking out wheat rations worldwide. This could open up demand on the corn side, he added.

Other world market factors include China, which has increased net imports of corn tremendously in recently years. But concerns about unrest and food insecurity have forced China to start maintaining stocks, Peterson said.

Across the globe, corn stocks have dipped since peaking in 2016. About 25% of the worlds grain supply was left over in 2021, and U.S. corn stocks are at 10% due to good crop years, Peterson said.

As the stock-to-use percentage tightens up, we will see prices increase, he said.

Good prices and good weather have moved stocks off U.S. farms and to markets, Peterson said. Right now there are about 30 days of supply left for corn.

An uptick in production of biofuels and a reduction of acres available to plant due to an increase in Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) and urban sprawl also factor into markets, Peterson said.

Ag experts dont believe the highest grain prices have been reached, but Peterson gave the farmers in the audience some words of advice: Dont be afraid to sell.
Putin's decision to withdraw part of its soldiers from the area surrounding the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv may be little more than a tactical pause after a month of battle in which Moscow failed to conquer a key city and asked for reinforcements from deep inside Russia.

According to the United Nations, Moscow scuppered chances of a breakthrough in the most recent round of peace discussions by redoubling its land and air assaults in Ukraine's eastern territories.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesman, denied that Tuesday's meetings in Turkey between Russian and Ukrainian delegates had marked a turning point in the nation's history. He said, "No one has indicated that parties have made progress." There is nothing that we can find that is very promising.

Vladimir Medinsky, Moscow's lead negotiator, said less than 24 hours earlier that Russian President Vladimir Putin had agreed to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, to sign a peace treaty after discussions were concluded. In addition, he said that, as a gesture of goodwill, Russia would restrict its actions in the vicinity of Kyiv.

The attempted overthrow of Ukraine, which started on February 24, has already forced more than four million people to escape their homes, essentially surpassing a figure that the organization had previously believed to be the top limit for refugee numbers. The United Nations has previously said that millions of people have been internally displaced inside the nation, with more than 10 million people uprooted within Ukraine or forced to flee to other countries.

With no evidence that the conflict is approaching a conclusion, Germany, largely reliant on Russian energy imports, activated the early-warning stage of a contingency plan that tries to protect the nation from any potential cut in gas supply.

Russia has made four assaults in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, which the Ukrainian military claimed it had repelled early Wednesday. Later, it was revealed that Russia had escalated its offensive in the direction of Donetsk, with the primary goal of gaining control of the cities of Popasna, Rubizhne, and Mariupol. During the last several days, Moscow has said that it would concentrate the combat in the Donetsk and Luhansk territories, which are where Kyiv and its allies are based.

In recent weeks, the Ukrainian military has launched counteroffensives in a number of locations, including the territories around Kyiv and Chernihiv and the provinces of Mykolayiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy.

Throughout the nation, Russia has maintained its long-range attacks against what it describes as military sites, according to the press. According to Reuters, Russia's Defense Ministry said that it has damaged Ukrainian military equipment and targeted two major warehouses in the Donbas region with short-range ballistic missiles.

According to the Ukrainian press, Mr. Zelensky expressed delight at the apparent Russian departure from regions near Kyiv and the area around a highly fought hamlet in the southern Ukrainian province of Kherson. "According to reports, the Russian military has chosen to scale down its military efforts," he stated in a daily video address. "Russian aircraft began to fly less often, and Russian equipment began to drive less frequently."

Mr. Zelensky, on the other hand, cautioned that the military forces would remain on high alert across the nation despite the apparent retreat in the area surrounding Kyiv and other cities. "The situation has not improved in any way. The magnitude of the difficulties has not been reduced in any way. "The Russian army retains a tremendous amount of capability to launch more strikes against our country," he said.

Western officials have speculated that the Kremlin's policy change indicates a stronger emphasis on securing and growing one of its strongholds within Ukraine, which may be used as bargaining chips in peace negotiations with Ukraine.

Ukraine's military, although claiming to have seen signals that Russian troops were reorganizing to concentrate their efforts in the east, voiced skepticism that Moscow had abandoned its ambitions to seize Kyiv. According to the Ukrainian military, the army moving in and around the capital might be nothing more than rotating battalions.

Meanwhile, it looked like Russia was redoubling its attempts to seize cities that were farther away from Kyiv.

Russian artillery shells continued to pound the southern front-line city of Mykolayiv throughout the night, rattling buildings and windows as far away as the right bank of the Southern Bug River on the right side of the river. A guarded checkpoint at the regional administrative offices in the middle of town was already clogged with dump trucks taking away debris from the Russian missile hit on Tuesday that leveled most of the structure. Four ladies, all in tears, came together in an embrace to convey their despair over the fate of colleagues who were trapped under the debris. The corpses were removed from the pile by workers.

According to the regional governor, Russia continued to bomb the northern Ukrainian province of Chernihiv throughout the night, striking an administrative center. Vyacheslav Chaus, the governor of Chernihiv, claimed that Russian forces "spent the whole night attacking the city." "In fact, the enemy was in Chernihiv all night long."

Several western observers believe that Russia's withdrawal of some soldiers from Kyiv's region may be little more than a tactical pause after a month of the war. Putin's military has failed to capture a major city and has asked for reinforcements from deep inside the Russian Federation. According to the British Defense Ministry, after incurring substantial casualties, Russian soldiers may return to Belarus and Russia to reorganize, the ministry stated on Wednesday.

A large portion of Ukraine's most intense combat is taking place in the Donbas region, where Russian soldiers have stormed the port city of Mariupol. However, the city has been under siege for about a month of violent combat with Ukrainian troops. According to local authorities, more than 5,000 civilian deaths have been reported in the city, which has seen numerous areas wholly demolished.

A phone chat between President Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron, which lasted an hour on Tuesday night, according to Mr. Peskov, the Kremlin's spokesperson, had no results in reducing the humanitarian catastrophe in Mariupol. According to Russia's official news agency TASS, which cited the Kremlin, Mr. Putin warned Mr. Macron that things would improve if Ukrainian soldiers surrendered.

Russia pledges to 'drastically' scale back military operations l GMA
WAVERLY  Wartburg Players will present Suite Surrender, a comedy set in 1940s Hollywood, at 7:30 p.m. April 1 and 2 in the McCaskey Lyceum. Tickets are $10 at the door or free for students with a Wartburg ID.

Wartburg Players is a student-run theater organization with performances open to the public. The spring show, Suite Surrender, centers on two feuding divas assigned to the same hotel suite  and the lengths those around them will go to keep them apart.

Im looking forward to the moment when we can show the public what we've worked so hard on, said Nathan Osgard, student co-director.

Get ready to laugh! added Katriela Caspari, student co-director.

Parking is available near Saemann Student Center for those entering campus via Wartburg Boulevard.

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WATERLOO  A project underway in some West High School composition classes answers the perennial student question What does this assignment have to do with real life?

For the fourth year, Kelly McLeans Composition 2 classes include a charitable giving project where the students  all seniors  research an organization and write a grant proposal. Students are also doing the project in sections of the class that Josef Kadlec began teaching last year.

The writing you do in college is not necessarily the writing you do in the workplace, said McLean, of why she incorporated the project into the class. I wanted them to understand, too, they would become part of a community as an adult. She believes it is important for students to find something in their community they want to support.

Writing the grants is not just an academic exercise. After their work is completed, a group of community members will read the grant proposals. The proposal ranked the highest for each of the four classes will be funded, with a $250 grant awarded to the organizations those students chose.

I have funded it out of my pocket before, but we have four sections of it this time, said McLean. In previous years, there were one to three sections of the class, which earns concurrent community college and high school credit.

She and Kadlec decided to pursue a grant to fund the expense this year and won a $1,000 Excellence in Education Enrichment Grant from the R.J. McElroy Trust.

Students create a portfolio made up of the work they do in a three-step process that is graded by the teachers and reviewed by the readers.

We researched our organization, wrote an informational paper, said Alen Dizderic, a student in McLeans class. Afterwards, they wrote their grant proposals.

Basically, were just trying to get information on nonprofits, said Jaid Domatov, another student. All of them had to interview someone at the organizations they chose. Domatov chose the Boys & Girls Club of the Cedar Valley, because of its focus on youths  and she used to attend their programs.

Ruby Chris, another classmate, chose the Beyond Pink Team, a Cedar Valley breast cancer awareness and advocacy group.

I personally picked one that I had never heard of, she said, but the organizations mission is close to her heart. I had a family member with breast cancer, Chris noted, as did her best friends mom.

They raise money to help with the cancer treatments, she explained. Beyond Pink can also help pay for transportation, groceries and bills. Getting that treatment does have a huge affect on your financial needs.

Students are currently working on the third step  preparing argument papers to critique someone elses proposal and defend their own. The steps are designed to met the outcomes for Composition 2. Among those are doing research, writing an argument paper and engaging in discussion.

But in the case of critiquing other grant proposals, some of the students were struggling a bit with the intent.

It feels weird to go against another organization, said student Journey Shipman. Theyre all here to do good.

Dizderic chose IMPACT, which assists families in need with rent, food and other essentials across five counties in the Des Moines metro area. He said the argument paper is just another part of the learning process.

Its kind of fun. You get to learn more about the organization, he noted, by comparing and contrasting it with his choice. Its really cool to me. I learned a lot.

McLean said the positive impacts for students who do the project sometimes spill outside of the classroom. This year has been no exception.

One of the students started volunteering at that organization, she said, after choosing to write a grant request. In another case where a student chose the Beyond Pink Team, she ended up interviewing the nurse who worked with her mom while going through breast cancer treatments.

Not all stories are that way, but it is nice when that happens, said McLean.

She recruits community members to read the grant proposals and is always looking for people who are interested in helping. She can be contacted through West High at (319) 433-2700.

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Did you ever think in your lifetime that the financial & security systems of the world would would be changed in real-time in front of our eyes? Or did you blunder along with your face buried in a smartphone and only care about the pink haired girl who danced to a new song everyday on TikTok? Hmm.that is what I thought!

Ideally, all involved in what is happening, can see the crossing point of a strategy with the rouble tied to real resources, such as gold, oil, gas, wheat, fertilizer etc. and Lavrovs declaration in China that the Multi-polar World will be founded on the original UN roots and UN Charter, as when originally the UN was set in place, which makes one wonder about the situation with the individual countries who wont submit to UN rules. Countries that have gone rogue in the system that developed & corrupted under the power of the USA

The soon to be Fugitive US country is a Criminal even within its own dictatorial UN system as it sits now, since its (USA) disregarded for the UN Sanction laws and rules since the time the UN came into force in October 1945

I dont anticipate that the UN framework should be rebooted for the current year, as the need might arise to stabilize the real financial sector of the world first to meet modern needs. In any case, you can wager that what Lavrov reported in China recently as the main part of the new world being the new balance, everything (all countries) being equal, will turn into the system for the UN global security as it should be.and that the countries whom are against a revised UN Security system, will be compelled to acknowledge a world system and or be excluded from the remainder of humankind. Thus we see a serious divide already to be made worse. West vs East and the West is not the world any longer

Also, an update  There are no sanctions ever in the world allowed, unless supported by the UN, all other sanctions are illicit.the USA has flagrantly violated this rule constantly

The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) will be at the heart of a new world order, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said.In all respects  these countries will become the basis of a new world order, the deputy foreign minister told RT when asked whether the BRICS countries would take a more important role in the world.  Source: BRICS Countries Will Be at Heart of New World Order, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Says  30.03.2022, Sputnik International

I am reminded lately when studying the world situation, about an analogy from several posts in the past I have done

About the difference between chess and checkers

West plays checkers

East plays chess

EU leaders are burning up the phone lines to get understanding of what Russia has done with the Ruble.they really are confused and that should tell you something. These leaders are out of their element when it comes to reality. Russia is too nice, but Russia is Russia

Though the Group of Seven major Western economies have collectively agreed to reject Moscows demand for payment in rubles, Putin has fielded calls from individual leaders whose countries are still dependent on Russian energy. As well as speaking to Scholz, Putin talked to Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi on Wednesday and French President Emmanuel Macron the day before.  Source: Russias Putin and Germanys Scholz talk gas for rubles  RT Russia & Former Soviet Union

A tidbit: The ruble move by Russia is also a move to allow the EU countries individually to use only Euro and or their personal currency in transactions with Russia for fuel. The countries like Germany, France, Spain are shuddering in that direction as you read this and there must be lots of fear in the single countries as they find themselves the unwitting pawn of a Evil Empire made up of the USA and an un-elected EU administration

Another tidbit

The USA is showing signs of eating itself right now. Hunter Biens laptop, the legend of Russian collusion, has been vindicated as real. So even if the evil Empire desires war? It first has to stop consuming itself

Now we have to keep an eye upon the Western Empire.there are some very very upset people staring at the abyss right now and they do not want to change the status quo.even if they have to take us all with them

Stay tuned for it is not over by a long shot and all Russians whom did not come home when they had a chance are in peril

Empires do not go silently and the Western Empire is a true, Three Ring Circus

WtR
Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa participates in the 5th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit hosted by Sri Lanka on March 30, 2022. The 5th BIMSTEC summit was held by Sri Lanka from Monday to Wednesday. (Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Handout via Xinhua)

COLOMBO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Wednesday called for enhanced cooperation among member countries when chaired the 5th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit in Colombo.

Rajapaksa said enhanced cooperation between member states will be necessary not only for economic recovery, but also for greater economic prosperity, better public health, and improved regional resilience in the long term.

The president said the theme of the summit was "BIMSTEC: Towards a Resilient Region, Prosperous Economies, Healthy Peoples," and he hoped that these goals could be achieved through collective actions of the leaders of the region.

The summit also adopted the BIMSTEC Charter on Wednesday, which Rajapaksa said is a significant step towards increasing the organization's role, not just within the region, but also as a driving force from Asia in global affairs.

The president also highlighted the importance of trade and investments within the BIMSTEC region given its strategic location at the center of the Indian Ocean and the resources in the Bay of Bengal should be preserved and managed equally.

He also called for collective mechanisms to prevent unregulated, unreported and illegal fishing practices as well as overfishing, which threatens livelihoods in coastal communities.

The summit was attended virtually by Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bhutan Lotay Tshering, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Nepali Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and Prime Minister of Thailand Prayut Chan-o-cha. Foreign Minister of Myanmar Wunna Maung Lwin representing the government of Myanmar also joined the summit virtually.

All the seven leaders emphasized the need to accelerate BIMSTEC's agenda on trade and investment and the need to ensure that private sector and start-ups of the BIMSTEC countries work closer.

Adopting the BIMSTEC Master Plan for Transport Connectivity, the leaders reiterated the implementation of projects on maritime, transport cooperation and road connectivity.

A Memorandum of Association on the Establishment of Technology Transfer Facility in Colombo was also signed.

Concluding the summit, President Rajapaksa handed over the chairmanship to Thailand, the next chair of BIMSTEC. 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi participates virtually in the 5th Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit hosted by Sri Lanka on March 30, 2022. The 5th BIMSTEC summit was held by Sri Lanka from Monday to Wednesday. (Photo by Ajith Perera/Xinhua)
Loretta Boyd never dreamed she would leave Colorado Springs. Nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, the city regularly tops the list of best places to live in the U.S. Her mother was there, her friends were there, and Loretta had a job she loved as a reading tutor in a large school district.



And then, she says, my mother took sick.

Loretta resigned from her job and spent the next several years as her mothers full-time caregiver. Her children, who by then were adults, helped out as much as they could when they werent working. But even with their support, Loretta experienced physical and mental stress, along with financial strain and sleep deprivation. The biggest [problem] was isolation from the rest of the world, she adds, and no time to take care of myself.

And yet, she says, it was worth it. The time I spent with my mother  I wouldnt have traded that. And after she passed away in 2013, I thought, OK, well, Ill go back into the workforce again.



It turned out to be a bigger challenge than she expected.

Lo and behold, the workforce had changed! she says. It was so competitive, and I just could not land a job. I fell upon really, really hard times.

During her time as a caregiver, Loretta had to tap into her 401(k) to cover expenses. But now, still grieving the loss of her mother, she was forced to give up the home they had shared because she couldnt afford to keep it. Without a job, she says, I didnt have anything else to use, so I had to do a short sale on the house.

Her daughter had moved to Arizona and her son couldnt take her in, so Lorettas only option was transitional housing: temporary lodging that gives displaced people a roof over their heads until they can move into permanent, affordable housing. But one of the requirements for transitional housing is to find gainful employment  something Loretta was unable to do no matter how hard she tried. She was evicted from transitional housing with nowhere else to go.

She thought she might stay with friends for a little while, but they failed to come through. Thats where you find out who your true friends are, she says.

Expanding Into New Areas

With all of her options exhausted in Colorado Springs, Loretta made the difficult decision to relocate to Denver, about 70 miles and a world away from the hometown she knew and loved. She moved in with her brother and tried to navigate her new surroundings. It didnt go well at first. I was so overwhelmed, she says. I thought, I cant do this. I just cant do this.

She managed to find a job at a day care center  but shortly after starting, she fell and hurt her back. It was a long journey, she explains. I had to see a pain management doctor and get injections in my back. Just like that, she was unemployed again.

Once she started to feel better, Loretta visited a workforce center to get help finding a job. She saw a flyer for the AARP Foundation Senior Community Service and Employment Program, or SCSEP, a workplace training program for adults over 55 who have very low income. Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Labor, SCSEP organizes training assignments with local nonprofits and public agencies that help participants build job skills and earn a livable income while giving back to their community. The vast majority of participants end up with permanent, unsubsidized employment.

Loretta already had basic computer skills, but SCSEP helped her expand her capabilities into new areas. I got to assist with job fairs and teach a couple of courses, she says. I had no idea that I was able teach anybody anything! Her computer skills advanced substantially, and her varied responsibilities helped her gain customer service experience as well.



More than anything, though, Loretta gained confidence. I was still pretty trodden down at that time, she says, but she found her footing thanks to the confidence that my director had in me  what she knew I was capable of doing and how she brought it out.

The Confidence to Keep Pushing Forward

Loretta was able to move into her own place in 2018, and in January 2022 she landed a full-time job as a health screener for a company that operates a number of hospitals in the Denver area. But as coronavirus-related mandates were lifted, the need for health screeners diminished, and Loretta was laid off just weeks after she started.

This time, however, she had the confidence to keep pushing forward. She let the human resources department know she was interested in pursuing other opportunities with the company. And when a recruiter for the hospital proposed a position in accounts receivable, she grabbed it, even though she had no experience in accounting. The recruiter told her, With the skills you have behind you, you can definitely do the job. And, it turns out, she could.

When Loretta thinks about how much her life has improved, more than a decade after she left the workforce to take care of her mother, she gives AARP Foundation SCSEP a lot of the credit.

I was in a dark place, she says. But the SCSEP program helped save me. I dont know where I would have been if I hadnt found that program. Thats just how much it meant to me. It transformed my life.

Learn More About SCSEP Workforce Program

Read more stories about how our programs have helped people find hope, and about the volunteers who give so much of themselves to help others.
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En espanol

Fans and filmmakers reacted with shock, grief and respect when Bruce Willis announced his retirement at 67 after a diagnosis of aphasia, a condition that impacts the ability to communicate, on March 30. Many voiced hope for treatment and celebrated his legacy. His impaired speech is unusually cruel, because it was his linguistic gymnastics that propelled him to fame. People forget, but Moonlighting was very much about language  and nobody took greater delight in all that language than Bruce, tweeted the shows auteur Glenn Caron, who cast him, an unknown, over 3,000 candidates. It was fun, a kind of acting college, graduate school, Willis told Rolling Stone in 2000.

A genius on stage, TV and film, Willis is also one of cinemas great connoisseurs. We all shared a goal, to do a show that reflected our love of movies by Howard Hawks, George Cukor, Preston Sturges and Leo McCarey, recalls Moonlighting director Allan Arkush. Cybill [Shepherd] was deeply knowledgeable about film history and Bruce was the joker in our deck. Musically as well as verbally dexterous, Willis exulted the day Ray Charles guest starred on Moonlighting. We were sitting around Ray's piano bench, Bruce leaned over, and in my ear he whispered, Aren't we the two luckiest Jersey boys in the world? says Arkush.
RAMALLAH, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Ishtaye on Thursday denounced his Israeli counterpart Naftali Bennett's call on licensed citizens to carry weapons in public.

Ishtaye stated in an official statement that Bennett's call on Israeli citizens to carry guns "is very dangerous and aims at killing Palestinians."

Ishtaye urged the international community "to ensure protection to the Palestinian people and pressure Israel to stop the actions of the Israeli soldiers and settlers of killing and murder."

On Wednesday, Bennett said in a televised statement that Israeli citizens who have a gun license should carry guns immediately to thwart any possible attack.

Bennett's call was made following a series of deadly stabbing and shooting attacks that killed at least 11 Israelis in the last couple of weeks. 


Divestment Of Listed Investments Nets $2 Million

Perth, Mar 31, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Horizon Minerals Limited ( ASX:HRZ ) advises of the divestment of a portion of its listed investment portfolio generating $2 million in cash.As previously noted, the Company's intent is to monetise certain listed investments over time to meet the ongoing cash flow needs of the business.Horizon has fully divested its shareholdings in Red Dirt Metals Ltd and Cyprium Metals Ltd. The nonescrowed portion of the Company's shareholding in Metal Hawk Ltd has also been sold.Proceeds from the sale of shares will be used to part fund the large-scale multi-commodity exploration program that commenced in the March Quarter 2022 and for general working capital.Following the sale, the listed investment portfolio is valued at ~$7.3 million and summarised in link below:Current cash at bank totals $3.5 million.Commenting on the divestments, Managing Director Jon Price said:"Horizon has been successful in creating shareholder value through the divestment of non-core assets to groups with better alignment and capacity to take the projects forward. This has been a successful strategy in creating value for both sides. We have worked closely with our investment companies to minimise any market disruption from share sales and will continue to do so."Proceeds from the recent share sales, combined with the current cash position, will contribute to the large-scale multi-commodity exploration program for 2022 that commenced earlier this quarter."*To view tables and figures, please visit:About Horizon Minerals Limited

Horizon Minerals Limited (ASX:HRZ) is a gold exploration and mining company focussed on the Kalgoorlie and Menzies areas of Western Australia which are host to some of Australia's richest gold deposits. The Company is developing a mining pipeline of projects to generate cash and self-fund aggressive exploration, mine developments and further acquisitions. The Teal gold mine has been recently completed.

Horizon is aiming to significantly grow its JORC-Compliant Mineral Resources, complete definitive feasibility studies on core high grade open cut and underground projects and build a sustainable development pipeline.

Horizon has a number of joint ventures in place across multiple commodities and regions of Australia providing exposure to Vanadium, Copper, PGE's, Gold and Nickel/Cobalt. Our quality joint venture partners are earning in to our project areas by spending over $20 million over 5 years enabling focus on the gold business while maintaining upside leverage.


Deep Yellow and Vimy Agree to a Proposed $658M Merger

Perth, Mar 31, 2022 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Deep Yellow Limited ( ASX:DYL ) ( FRA:JMI ) ( OTCMKTS:DYLLF ) and Vimy Resources Limited ( ASX:VMY ) ( OTCMKTS:VMRSF ) are pleased to announce that they have entered into a Scheme Implementation Deed (SID), under which the two companies propose to merge by way of a recommended court-approved scheme of arrangement between Vimy and its shareholders (Scheme).HIGHLIGHTS- Deep Yellow and Vimy have agreed to a merger by a Scheme of Arrangement, under which Deep Yellow will acquire 100% of the Vimy Shares on issue- Vimy Shareholders will receive 0.294 Deep Yellow Shares for every Vimy Share held on the Scheme record date- The merger transaction implies 28.5c per Vimy Share representing a premium of 35.3% to the 30-day VWAP and a 18.8% premium to the closing Vimy Share price on 25 March 2022 (being the last trading day for Vimy Shares and Deep Yellow Shares prior to this announcement)- Upon implementation of the Scheme, Deep Yellow shareholders will hold 53% of the Merged Group and Vimy Shareholders will hold 47%- The Scheme is unanimously recommended by the Board of Vimy and each director of Vimy intends to vote all Vimy Shares they control in favour of the Scheme, in the absence of a Superior Proposal, and subject to an Independent Expert opining (and continuing to opine) that the Scheme is in the best interests of Vimy Shareholders- The merger is expected to create a new global uranium player with significant scale, cash resources of $106 million , one of the largest uranium Mineral Resource inventories globally (389Mlb ) and two advanced, world class assets in Tier-1 uranium mining jurisdictions- Deep Yellow and Vimy will host a joint investor call at 10AM AWST (1PM AEDT) today, 31 March 2022On implementation of the Scheme, the merger of Deep Yellow and Vimy (Merger) will combine the two companies to form a merged group (Merged Group) with complementary asset bases, leveraging Deep Yellow's development, construction and operational expertise to unlock the development potential of the Mulga Rock Uranium Project (Mulga Rock), located in Western Australia. Combined with the future development of Deep Yellow's Tumas Project (Tumas) in Namibia, the Merged Group is expected to have the scale to rapidly advance its pipeline of organic growth opportunities and be well positioned to pursue additional disciplined value accretive growth.Under the terms of the Scheme, each shareholder of Vimy (Vimy Shareholder) will receive 0.294 Deep Yellow ordinary fully paid shares (Deep Yellow Share) for every ordinary fully paid Vimy share (each a Vimy Share) held on the Scheme record date. If the Scheme is approved and implemented, Deep Yellow shareholders will hold 53% of the Merged Group and Vimy Shareholders will hold 47% of the Merged Group, in both cases on a fully diluted basis.The Vimy Board unanimously recommends that Vimy Shareholders vote in favour of the Scheme, in the absence of a Superior Proposal and subject to the Independent Expert opining (and continuing to opine) that the Scheme is in the best interest of Vimy Shareholders.Subject to those same qualifications, each Vimy director intends to vote all Vimy Shares they control in favour of the Scheme. As at the date of this announcement, the Vimy Board collectively holds 0.42% of Vimy Shares.The Vimy Board has received a statement from Paradice Investment Management Pty Ltd (Paradice), the largest shareholder of both Vimy (owning 7.52% of Vimy Shares on issue) and Deep Yellow (owning 7.88% of Deep Yellow Shares on issue), advising that Paradice intends to vote or cause to be voted all the shares that it holds in Vimy in favour of the Scheme, in the absence of a superior proposal and subject to the Independent Expert opining that the Scheme is in the best interest of Vimy Shareholders (and subject to that opinion being maintained up to the date of the Scheme meeting).John Borshoff, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Deep Yellow, commented: "This Merger has the potential to be a significant value-creating opportunity for both Deep Yellow and Vimy Shareholders. The Merger combines two world class assets, both in Tier-1 mining jurisdictions, into a single group with scale and know-how. The expanded strong technical team of Deep Yellow, together with Vimy personnel, positions us well to bring both projects online when uranium prices support the generation of long-term, sustainable positive cash flows. Our vision has been to deliver growth organically and inorganically to Deep Yellow shareholders and I am very pleased we have started to achieve that in this process. This transaction also builds on the pipeline of exploration assets able to add growth organically and critically, creating a platform for additional value accretive acquisitions."Steven Michael, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Vimy, commented: "This Merger de-risks and underpins our path to development at Mulga Rock. The combined financial, processing and operating strengths of both companies will enable greater optimisation and the delivery of Mulga Rock, as well as an established exploration team that can unlock considerable value at Alligator River. The Merger provides Vimy Shareholders the opportunity to share in the expected significant benefits of being part of a larger, geographically diverse Merged Group, with the expertise to develop the full portfolio of assets in the near term."Chris Salisbury - Non-Executive Chairman of Deep Yellow commented: "This Merger represents an outstanding opportunity for both companies. It combines the strengths of both companies into a merged group of global scale, with outstanding assets and importantly a team with a track record of execution. The resultant Merged Group is well positioned for future growth in a sector that requires further consolidation.The strategic importance of a merger such as this cannot be underestimated. In a time where energy security is at the forefront of government thinking globally, the value of a well credentialled company with a diverse asset base, places this company in a strong position when compared to its peers. The Merger represents a first step in the consolidation of the uranium sector required to deliver long-term sustainable supply."The Hon. Cheryl Edwardes AM - Non-Executive Chairman of Vimy commented: "Vimy has made significant advancements in the development of Mulga Rock and I am proud of the team's achievement in reaching substantial commencement. As the company now moves to the next phase of development with a clearer pathway to production, I view this Merger as a key step to the successful development of the project. I encourage Vimy Shareholders to support the Merger and am excited about the future of what the Merged Group can deliver."The board and senior management of the Merged Group will comprise representatives from Deep Yellow and Vimy which is detailed further in the Leadership and Integration section in the full announcement in the link below.*To view tables and figures, please visit:To view the Investor Presentation, please visit:About Deep Yellow Limited

Deep Yellow Limited (ASX:DYL) (OTCMKTS:DYLLF) (Namibian Stock Exchange:DYL) is a differentiated, advanced uranium exploration company, in predevelopment phase, implementing a contrarian strategy to grow shareholder wealth. This strategy is founded upon growing the existing uranium resources across the Company's uranium projects in Namibia and the pursuit of accretive, counter-cyclical acquisitions to build a global, geographically diverse asset portfolio. A PFS has recently been completed on its Tumas Project in Namibia and a DFS commenced February 2021. The Company's cornerstone suite of projects in Namibia is situated within a top-ranked African mining destination in a jurisdiction that has a long, well-regarded history of safely and effectively developing and regulating its considerable uranium mining industry.
Ken Burns has built a niche for himself in documentary filmmaking.

Hes developed a signature style in presentation, but its the deep dive he takes into each subject that separates his work.

Burns latest project set to air is Benjamin Franklin.

Franklin is without a doubt, the greatest American personality of the 18th century, Burns says. His life spanned most of the 18th century and he is the example of upward mobility. He started with nothing and became someone who touched every facet of the world.

The two-part series will air at 7 p.m. Monday, April 4, and Tuesday, April 5, on New Mexico PBS, channel 5.1.

Burns and his crew worked on the project for more than five years.

Franklin was a prolific writer and publisher, a groundbreaking scientist and inventor, a world-renowned diplomat and a signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

Burns says Franklin is celebrated as a quintessential American story, but its not typical.

His 84 years spanned nearly the entirety of the 18th century, an epoch of revolutionary change in science, technology, literature, politics and government  change that Franklin himself helped to advance.

He launched the first public library in America, organized a volunteer fire company, and founded an academy that eventually became the University of Pennsylvania.

His annual publication, Poor Richards Almanack, set a model for future humorists such as Mark Twain and contained maxims that are still part of our shared lexicon. And his famous experiments with electricity led to one of his most important inventions  the lightning rod.

While Franklin was also full of contradictions.

Critically, especially for a man so associated with independence and individual liberty, Franklin owned enslaved people and did not become an abolitionist until very late in life. The Franklin household had at least six enslaved individuals, including Peter, Jemima, Othello, George, John and King.

Franklins newspaper, The Pennsylvania Gazette, also advertised the sale of enslaved people and published notices of runaways. And while he publicly denounced white settlers who indiscriminately killed Indigenous people, he also championed the expansion of white settlements on to Indigenous lands.

Benjamin Franklin was a fascinating and complicated individual who helped shape our contemporary world, Burns says. If we see him for more than his long list of accomplishments, we recognize an imperfect man challenging himself and his contemporaries as he tries to understand and improve the world around him. One of the best and most prolific writers of the 18th century, Franklin both embodies and documents the dynamic social, scientific and political changes of this revolutionary age. His story is one of hope, with a faith in the common man. But his shortcomings are also a reminder of this countrys failure to address slavery at the time of its founding and the racial divisions that continue to impact our country today.

Burns says the projects always have challenges.

Taking on Franklin, there are no photographs, he says. We traveled around the Eastern seaport and filmed. We went to London and we found a working printing press of the time. Its been a journey and the four hours is a compelling one.

The actor Mandy Patinkin provides the voice of Franklin. Burns called Patinkins reading distinctive and transcendent, noting that Patinkins voice and timing seem to capture Franklin perfectly, finding just the right sense of humor and curiosity for life that Franklin presented in his many writings. Peter Coyote narrates the film.

Every American learns about Benjamin Franklin in grade school, but often it ends there, says David Schmidt, the films producer. He is too interesting, too complicated and too important a figure not to revisit. We have tried to present Franklin as a real person who lived a real life, separated from the myths that have followed him through time.

His biography is uniquely primed to inform us of our history. His 70 years before signing the Declaration of Independence tell us about America before the United States, and in his last 15 years, he was central to bringing the United States into being.

On TV

Benjamin Franklin, a two-part series from Ken Burns, will air at 7 p.m. Monday, April 4, and Tuesday, April 5, on New Mexico PBS, channel 5.1.
If we had an awards category for best cover song in a motion picture, I would instantly nominate the Brittany Snow/Kid Cudi rendition of Fleetwood Macs Landslide in the spectacularly gruesome, wickedly funny and just plain badass gore fest that is X, with Kid Cudi on acoustic guitar and Snow delivering lovely and lilting vocals, set to a split-screen montage featuring another character from the film who is either deeply sympathetic or a psychopathic killer, or maybe a little of both?

Ta da! If that doesnt tell you writer-director Ti West has fashioned something unique and devilishly strange in the genre that has come to be known as elevated horror, then I just dont know what. Of the approximately one kabillion homages to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre weve had since the release of Tobe Hoopers visceral classic in 1974, this is one of the most inventive and creative entrants Ive ever seen.

With echoes of everything from The Shining to Psycho to Boogie Nights to Alligator to Hardcore to infamous porn films such as Andy Warhols Blue Movie and Debbie Does Dallas, this is an homage, but also a strikingly original and cheerfully grotesque work, filled with dark humor, relatively complex subtext, and gung-ho, all-in performances from the talented ensemble cast. Its the kind of movie that has you reeling in disgust at certain moments, and then laughing at the blood-spattered absurdity of it all.

Its a new twist on the period-piece slasher movie, smart and strange and fantastically depraved. I kinda loved it.

With writer-director West often employing techniques mimicking the grindhouse cinema of the time, X is set in 1979, with In the Summertime by Mungo Jerry setting the tone as we meet the six Houstonians who are headed to a remote farm in the Texas countryside, where their leader has rented out a cottage to surreptitiously shoot The Farmers Daughter, a homemade porn movie designed to capitalize on the brand-new home video market. Their ranks include:

 Wayne (Martin Henderson), the constantly upbeat, smooth-talking, fortysomething huckster and producer who is the putative mastermind behind the project.

 Maxine (Mia Goth), Waynes freckle-faced girlfriend, who indulges in a regular cocaine habit and yearns to become famous like Lynda Carter.

 Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), who is street-smart and supremely self-confident and believes in touching all the hedonistic bases while shes still young.

 Jackson (Kid Cudi aka Scott Mescudi), a Marine who served in Vietnam and is all too happy to launch a career in porn, as hell be playing the stranded stranger who winds up at a farmhouse where daddy isnt home and the farmers daughters, played by Bobby-Lynne and Maxine in the movie-within-this-movie, are determined to show him the time of his life.

 R.J. (Owen Campbell), who fancies himself a director in the French New Wave tradition and believes porn will be his springboard to Hollywood, and R.J.s innocent and prudish girlfriend Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), who will handle boom mic duties and is mortified, at least initially, when filming commences.

Even before the van with Plowing Service (haha) painted on its sides gets to the farm, theres some ominous foreshadowing, from the sight of cow entrails gunking up the road after an accident to the obligatory stop at the creepy gas station/convenience store, where we see images of a fire-and-brimstone televangelist (Simon Prast) on the black-and-white TV, railing against those who give in to the temptations of the human flesh.

Once the gang arrives at the farm, theyre greeted with surly suspicion by crusty ol Howard (Stephen Ure), who looks to be about 100 years old and answers the door waving a shotgun. Staring from an upstairs window in classic horror movie fashion is Howards wife Pearl, and heres the thing about Pearl: Shes also played by Mia Goth, who is virtually unrecognizable beneath some truly impressive makeup and prosthetics, which has us wondering if theres going to be some sort of supernatural element to the proceedings, and Im not spoiling that either way for ya.

X is that rare film that takes you inside the lives of the spooky villains, as we learn Pearl was once a beautiful young dancer whose dreams were cut short, and in present day Pearl still yearns for the touch of Howard, who is mortified by the idea and says he cant risk physical contact because of his bad heart. (West has reportedly filmed a prequel, also starring Goth as Pearl, set in 1918.)

The story takes a number of surprising twists and turns, all while exploring themes of sexuality, judgment and religion  and even with all the stylized tricks and splatter moments and gruesome violence, we believe these are real people in a real situation that goes really, terribly, entertainingly horrific.
Blando Bland works hard to remain focused.

Whether its working at a Santa Fe restaurant or working in his Albuquerque home studio, the Albuquerque native doesnt really like to stop.

Sometimes it overwhelms me, he says. I have to make sure that I dont burn out. This is why Im always trying different things.

Though Bland, born Roberto Lara, spends a good chunk of his time working in the restaurant industry, its important for him to keep creating.

Art is my true north and always my main focus, he says. I also dont like to take it too serious because that would get really boring.

Blando Bland usually works in acrylics, oil and spray paint.

Hes often inspired by his daily life  which is life in New Mexico.

Francis Bacon, Frida Kahlo and Georgia OKeeffe, Im inspired by their work, he says. In New Mexico, we have a 360 view of everything. Driving from Albuquerque to Santa Fe is my favorite drive. New Mexico is an inspiring place.

Blando Bland moved to Kansas City during the beginning of the pandemic, but found himself longing for the New Mexico skies.

Returning home, he wanted to split time between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.

On his social media, he will let those who follow his pages know that he is giving away free art.

Ive probably given away 300 pieces, he says. I put one in Grand Central Station in New York City and nearly got arrested. There are some places where you just cant put free art. Luckily, when I post the free pieces, the people who find it are giving it a good home.

On a usual week, Blando Bland paints on his days off while at home in Albuquerque. During his work week, he stays in Santa Fe and finds himself drawing during his breaks.

I can get lost in ink and paper drawing, he says. Thats what keeps me at bay when Im not painting.

Blando Bland has also tried his hand at art classes  many of which he failed at Central New Mexico Community College.

I would learn the material and show up every day, he says. But I didnt turn in the assignments. I failed three times. Who knows, maybe one day Ill go back to school and get more training.

While Blando Bland balances his art and job at the restaurant, here are a few things you didnt know about him:

1 Im left handed. When I was a kid I could never remember which hand I was told to use. So I stuck with my left.

2 Im a chef at a deli in Santa Fe.

3 Most of my paintings start off by doing one liners, and those are when you draw without lifting your pen.

4 I failed art class three times and never finished school.

5 I love skateboarding.

Online

To follow the work of Blando Bland, visit Instagram @blandewky



Editors note: Venue Plus continues In Case You Didnt Know, a weekly feature with fun tidbits about New Mexicans and their projects.


Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Another overtime scandal has erupted at the Albuquerque Police Department and some city councilors are now calling for the chief to apologize for the way he handled the aftermath.

The officer in question  former Lt. Jim Edison  was ultimately terminated in mid-November for being untruthful following internal affairs investigations, according to a department spokesman.

Since then, statements made by Chief Harold Medina to KRQE-TV  which was first to report on the investigations  have drawn sharp criticism from City Councilors Louie Sanchez and Dan Lewis, who say he should be taking responsibility for waste and fraud in his department. Medina said the deputy chiefs dont have time to examine everyones hours.

Lewis has even said the chief deserves a no-confidence vote from the council.

The incident is the latest in a string of overtime scandals. Seven audits or investigations have been conducted examining overtime abuse at APD since 2014. The latest, released by State Auditor Brian Colon in August, found that problems identified in previous investigations persisted and the city was not tracking its progress in addressing recommendations.

In a meeting with Journal editors and reporters, Chief Medina said Edison wasnt exactly breaking the law, but he was taking advantage of the terms within the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the union to claim more overtime than he actually worked. The union represents officers, lieutenants and sergeants.

Referencing prior audits of APDs overtime uses and abuses, Medina said he thinks the department has improved.

Look at the audit reports  it said hold people and supervisors accountable to create that culture, Medina said. Thats what were doing. He was held accountable.

Medina has asked for, and is now getting, a regular audit of top earners of overtime, said Gilbert Gallegos, an APD spokesman. He said the chief of staff is working on an automated process to alert the chief and supervisors to issues on an ongoing basis.

Pay stubs APD provided to the Journal show Edison made $186,944 in 2020 and $173,672 in 2021. In 2020, more than $95,000 appears to be from overtime. Over the course of a year  from April 2020 to April 2021  Edison made about $224,000, according to records APD provided.

Edisons attorneys insist he did nothing wrong, and say he followed standard operating procedures and the terms of the collective bargaining agreement. They are appealing his termination before the citys personnel board, and considering filing a lawsuit.

Edison has not been asked to return any of his earnings.

A spokeswoman for the Attorney General said the office has been contacted by APD and anticipates a potential referral.

Everything was above board, attorney says

In the spring of 2020, right after the pandemic began, Edison was put in charge of the COVID-19 unit in APDs Special Operations Bureau. That meant he was coordinating the departments response, including contact tracing, testing of officers and directing them when to quarantine.

However, an internal investigation into the time he claimed in 2021  sparked by a social media post and a complaint made to the Civilian Police Oversight Agency  found Edison was routinely forwarding voicemails or emails outside of work hours and claiming two hours of overtime in each instance. The collective bargaining agreement states that, when an officer is called in to work outside their regular working hours, they are guaranteed pay for a minimum of two hours.

But the investigation found he was voluntarily taking on tasks outside of his regularly scheduled hours.

An example, continued to be listed on his overtime slips were emails he chose to send each morning (early hours, example 0300 hour) and claiming an automatic 2-hours, the investigator wrote in the report. (Deputy Chief Michael) Smathers did not require this work at that time and never called him to work to complete those at that time during the period investigated.

Gallegos said Edison  who had been with APD for 14 years  received an 80-hour suspension and a 120-hour suspension for two complaints about his overtime pay, and was also investigated for retaliating against a commander who raised the issue. He did not serve his suspensions before he was fired, according to a union attorney.

All three together and also that there was a determination that he was untruthful  thats what ultimately led to termination, Gallegos said.

Smathers received a verbal reprimand and an eight-hour suspension without pay for lack of supervision, Gallegos said.

Edisons attorney Tim White insists that everything was above board and that his client really did work those hours. He pointed out that Edison had to create the departments response to COVID-19 from ground zero and was the only one working on it for the first six months.

What really happens is, Jim takes that call and whether he takes it live or whether he takes a voicemail, listens to it, and then refers that piece to one of the subordinates in the unit, hes still working, White said. Hes having to wait to see what that person that he has sent the work to needs. Do they need to call him back? Is he going to still be involved? And until that call comes back from whoever hes sent the work to, hes on the clock.

Petty council politics

When KRQE interviewed Medina, he defended his command staff, noting Smathers had taken responsiblity for his missteps.

The executive staff, were so busy that to go through the fine details of looking through somebodys time sheets is not something that were going to be carving out time for, Medina said.

That comment drew the ire of some city councilors. At the most recent council meeting, Sanchez, a former APD officer, questioned Medina about why there isnt time to check a time sheet  which he called the single most important item that you deal with as a police officer.

In a statement to the Journal, Sanchez reiterated that point and said that, if an APD employee cannot truthfully fill out a time sheet how can they be trusted to enforce the law, write criminal complaints, and testify in court?

Chief Medina needs to take responsibility for fraud, waste and abuse under his watch , Sanchez wrote.

Medina hadnt attended the city council meeting. Instead, he responded to councilor Sanchez by letter.

He said he had been responding to a question about Edisons supervisor  Deputy Chief Smathers  and determined it was problematic for a lieutenant to be supervised by a deputy chief, instead of a commander. Edison was put in his position under former Chief Michael Geier, who was asked to resign in September 2020.

The KRQE story fails to mention that, when Lt. Edison was eventually put under the supervision of a commander, that commander scrutinized his time sheets and found discrepancies, which were reported up the chain of command and investigated, Medina wrote.

As for Sanchezs comments about the time sheet being the most important document a police officer deals with, Medina said he strongly disagrees.

Frankly, that approach to the job is the type of culture we have been changing since I have been chief, Medina wrote. I want officers top priorities to be fighting crime, the quality of their work and their service to the community. I want officers to excel at investigations and produce effective criminal complaints that lead to the prosecution of criminals  . A time sheet, while important to document an officers work, should not be an officers top priority.

In a statement to the Journal, Councilor Lewis said rather than criticizing a fair question from a councilor with a long-time public safety record, the chief should take responsibility for fraud and abuse in his own department, and do his job.

The culture that needs to change in the department starts with the chief and the mayor, Lewis wrote. Frankly, his comments deserve a vote of no confidence from the council. The chief should make a public apology to Councilor Sanchez and to the Council. Shut up and do your job, or resign.

In response, APD spokesman Gallegos said that Medina is focused on fighting crime and supporting officers who protect the community.

We are not going to get involved in petty council politics, Gallegos said.

Another OT probe continues

Almost two years ago, officer Simon Drobik, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, resigned in the middle of an overtime investigation.

That investigation found Drobik was gaming the system and getting paid for work he did not do.

The matter was referred to the Attorney Generals Office for possible criminal prosecution.

On Wednesday, when asked for any updates, Jerri Mares, an AGs Office spokeswoman, said, Historically department policies have created a system that allows a few bad actors to abuse overtime, and this investigation is active and ongoing.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Nothing could keep Kristian Medina-Rodriguez, a Freedom High senior, from graduation  not even a life-threatening brain tumor.

Cheered on by family, teachers and his doctor on Wednesday, Medina-Rodriguez became the first graduate this spring at a ceremony that capped his six years at the high school.

Medina-Rodriguez, donning a Philadelphia Phillies cap, was escorted into the ceremony held in the schools gymnasium by his teacher, Anne Raymond. Afterward, he held his diploma in the air, triumphantly beaming through large-frame glasses.

When asked what the day meant to him, Medina-Rodriguez  who has lost the ability to speak  broke down in tears.

Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education member Barbara Petersen presented Medina-Rodriguez as the first graduate of the Class of 2022. The ceremony, which combined his robing, honors assembly and graduation, was also attended by Superintendent Scott Elder.

Its a very special moment because, regardless of whats happened to him, hes been resilient, hes been going forward, he has not given up, Israel Medina said of his son. He spoke in Spanish through an interpreter.

Before he was handed his diploma, Medina-Rodriguez was presented an honor cord for his three years of service on the schools Principals Advisory Committee, a group that represents student interests and ideas in school planning, instruction and events. He was also given a perseverance award by the school.

He was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2009  when he was 7, his doctor said. Dr. Koh Boayue with the University of New Mexicos Comprehensive Cancer Center said Medina-Rodriguez has undergone radiation therapy, chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant donated by his fraternal twin sister.

Boayue said he was in remission for 10 years before doctors discovered a life-threatening brain tumor in 2019, which has compromised his ability to speak.

Nevertheless, social worker Lindsey Davis said Medina-Rodriguez has shown so much resilience, both at the hospital and in his education.

He never quit. There were days he couldnt do the work, and he did it anyway, Raymond said. He would say, No, I want to do what everyone else is doing. 
An employee works at a workshop of the Kunming Hasfarm Flowers company, in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 25, 2022.(Xinhua/Cao Mengyao)

by Xinhua writers Zheng Bofei, Cao Mengyao, Zhao Cailin

KUNMING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- When Tim Scalongne's plane touched down at the airport of southwest China's Yunnan Province in 2004, the Dutchman never thought this would be the start of his decades-long experience with floriculture.

Situated at a high altitude and low latitude, the province boasts long sunlight hours and good weather. It provides a pleasant environment for international business people, such as ones from the Netherlands -- the world's biggest fresh-cut flower producer -- to set up their flower farms.

Scalongne's first experience in Yunnan was nothing but traveling, and the investment in Yunnan's flower businesses was a trending topic for the Dutch residents.

At the start of the new millennium, the province took advantage of its location and environment and set up industrial flower parks and floral exchanges in Kunming. As a potential flower market, flower business people and botanists from countries, including the Netherlands, came to Yunnan for new opportunities.

"In my Dutch network, everybody was talking about investing in Kunming's flower business. That's when I decided to jump on the board," said Scalongne.

After receiving language training in Kunming, the provincial capital, Scalongne followed suit and joined one of the Dutch fresh-cut flower providers in Kunming to start his over-decade journey in this industry.

However, Scalongne realized that not many Chinese households were warm to buying high-end blooms produced by Dutch investors.

Export took the largest market share of Scalongne's company, whose flowers were for customers with high-quality demand in countries like Japan and Australia.

"A limited number of people at that time would buy quality flowers, and some of them bought flowers only for events and hotels," Scalongne said. "The market volume was small, but many Dutch believed China would have more high-end flower consumption once the country's middle class expanded."

The Chinese market did not fail the expectation of the Dutch managing director. After Scalongne got a new role as the managing director of another Dutch flower company, the Kunming Hasfarm, the Chinese market began to favor flowers with longer flowering times and more vibrant colors.

"It takes time for flower buyers to demand flower quality," said Wu Mingying, a long-time flower market regulator with the agricultural and rural affairs department of Yunnan.

"Gradually, you would see the increase in buying high-end products, which is also a microcosm of the whole Chinese market," Wu added.

According to the department, the flower planting area in Yunnan exceeded 1.9 million mu (about 126,667 hectares) in 2020. It was up 8.3 percent year on year, with the total output value from flower planting hitting 39 billion yuan (about 6.1 billion U.S. dollars).

In 2012, Scalongne's company had around 95 percent of its production exported to markets outside of China. But in 2022, over 70 percent is for Chinese customers.

"When you see households in China's coastal regions, especially people in their 20s or 30s, they are very interested in putting high-quality flowers in their homes to enrich their lives," Scalongne said.

The wait paid off in the end, and China's effort to combat poverty also yielded new opportunities for Scalongne's business.

"We would hire workers living in poor households with the government's encouragement," said Scalongne. "Reciprocally, those workers can also help us alleviate labor shortage."

To thank Scalongne's company, the local government awarded the company's farm in Yunnan's Qujing City the "model farm" for helping lift nearby villagers out of poverty.

Similar to other companies, Scalongne also faces challenges from increased labor costs, and one of the solutions is technology upgrading.

"In the future, China would see fewer plantations of low value-added flowers such as carnation like what we have seen in many countries," he commented. "But at the same time, we would see more flower breeders in China creating new varieties of flowers with higher yield and better quality."

This year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the Netherlands. The Netherlands has now become the second-largest trading partner of China in the European Union.

An official with the Dutch Foreign Ministry said that China's investment in research, talent, and knowledge infrastructure would offer Dutch companies and institutions many opportunities.

Sharing the same opinion, Scalongne believes that in this time of transition, the Chinese market would once again provide international businesses more opportunities. 

Tim Scalongne is interviewed at the greenhouse of the Kunming Hasfarm Flowers company in Kunming, southwest China's Yunnan Province, March 25, 2022.(Xinhua/Zhao Cailin)
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

Since 2018, local leaders and authorities have touted a 19% drop in property crime, which drove a decrease in overall crime  even as violence spiked across Albuquerque.

Last year put an end to that narrative.

In 2021, crime went up across the board by 0.85%, according to data released Wednesday by the Albuquerque Police Department.

The slight increase came after the city recorded sizable yearly decreases of 7% and 6% in 2019 and 2020, respectively, largely due to back-to-back drops of 10% in property crime.

But in 2021 property crime had its first increase of under 1%. Violent crime continued to rise, going up 3%, the largest annual increase since 2018.

Gun violations, along with homicide and fraud, saw the largest jumps last year.

Prostitution, drug and stolen property offenses had some of the biggest decreases.

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina said Albuquerque is in the same boat as many other cities.

Were in line with a lot of national trends  we cant expect to decrease every year. Our trends are still going down on the property crime side and our violent crime is still taking the same course as the rest of this country, he said.

Medina attributed the slight increase locally to internal investigation and technology lapses hindering auto theft enforcement, people with drug use issues committing more fraud and an increase in guns being taken off the streets.

Medina added that he and other police chiefs around the country  who he speaks with regularly  attribute the increase in crime to bail reform and repeat offenders.

Every single major city chief is frustrated with the fact that we cant keep people in custody and we have a revolving door in the criminal justice system and there has to be a middle ground, he said.

APD released the crime stats the same day FBI Director Christopher Wray sat down with law enforcement leaders from across the state to publicly acknowledge what were up against.

Wray said, nationwide, violent crime has reached extreme and even alarming levels. As part of that national trend, this region has certainly had its share of gun violence and heartbreak recently, he said, calling Albuquerques homicide spike in 2021  the highest total in recent history  a truly horrifying jump.

Wray didnt announce any new enforcement tactics but touted the past accomplishments of the FBIs Violent Crime Gang Task force, who are laser-focused on reversing the trend of violence.

He said, additionally, a recent FBI endeavor putting billboards around New Mexico stating Gun crime = federal crime. No Parole will hopefully change some behavior of criminals and prevent crime from happening in the first place.

I would love nothing more than to hear that everyone seated around me is getting bored by the lack of crime happening here, Wray said. But, needless to say, that is definitely not the case right now.

History

Albuquerques rising crime is nothing new, but changes in the way the data is now compiled make comparing crime stats before 2018 difficult.

In 2018, APD, along with many other departments across the country, switched the format in which it provides crime data to the FBI for its annual Crime in the United States report published each fall.

Previously crime was broken into eight categories  four in property crime and four in violent crime  and only the highest crime in each incident was counted.

Now, under the National Incident-Based Reporting System there are 52 subcategories spread throughout crimes against persons, crimes against property and crimes against society. Each crime committed during an incident is counted.

Before the switch, both violent crime and property crime had been rising steadily in 2015, with large jumps in auto theft, homicides, assaults and robberies.

In 2018, property crime began to fall and, for the past several years, has decreased while violent crime increased or stayed relatively constant.

In 2019, the Journal discovered the preliminary numbers APD had been providing at quarterly media briefings had been a bit too optimistic. However, the general trend remained true and APD has said its now making sure to verify all the data before releasing it.

By the numbers

In 2021, the crime stats shifted in the wrong direction.

APD data shows property crime saw its biggest jumps in reports of fraud and robbery.

Medina said fraud, which skyrocketed 61%, from 3,900 to 6,300 cases, rose as APD cracked down on shoplifting, larceny and burglaries. He said those with drug abuse issues moved away from those crimes and began to steal identities, checks and credit cards to fuel their drug behavior.

Theyre finding low level crimes to commit in other ways, he said. The fraud is just another one of those symptoms.

Auto theft  which rose for the first time in years  went up 6%, according to APD.

Medina attributed the change to an Internal Affairs investigation into the Auto Theft unit, opened in June 2021, that caused the unit to take a step back and become skittish in enforcement.

We know the settlement agreement doesnt cause crime to go up, but it does create a fear among our officers to be able to do their job and they arent as aggressive and proactive, he said. Medina said APD has since gotten the unit to overcome that fear and work within the settlement agreement.

He called the adaptation a huge, huge benefit that will lead to a drop in auto theft in the future.

On a positive note, according to the data, property crime saw large drops in stolen property, destruction/damage/vandalism and larceny/theft offenses with 15%, 10% and 7%, respectively. All three categories reached their lowest levels since 2018.

Meanwhile, as with previous years, violent crime kept rising.

Violent crime, known as crimes against persons, saw increases in all but four categories. APDs data shows the steepest were in homicide, intimidation and aggravated assault  all of which reached their highest levels since 2018  with spikes of 53%, 20% and 5%, respectively. Sex offenses also jumped 15% as simple assault and kidnapping decreased 11% and 5%, respectively.

According to the data, crimes against society saw a large spike of 66% in gun violations  which has gone up 218% since 2018  and drops of 26% and 63%, respectively, in drug offenses and prostitution.

Medina said gun violations went up after gun ownership exploded during the pandemic, leading to more gun thefts from cars and homes and, in general, more people being armed.

Eventually, at some point in time, weve come across a lot of people with those firearms, and we start making those arrests, he said. Its just a combination of more guns in the community, officers being proactive and us taking the guns off the streets.
KYIV, Ukraine  Russian troops handed control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant back to the Ukrainians and left the heavily contaminated site early Friday, more than a month after taking it over, Ukrainian authorities said, as fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other fronts.

Ukraines state power company, Energoatom, said the pullout at Chernobyl came after soldiers received significant doses of radiation from digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone around the closed plant. But there was no independent confirmation of that.

The withdrawal took place amid growing indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation in Ukraine as cover while regrouping, resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in the eastern part of the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian withdrawals from the north and center of the country were just a military tactic and that the forces are building up for new powerful attacks in the southeast.

We know their intentions, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. We know that they are moving away from those areas where we hit them in order to focus on other, very important ones where it may be difficult for us.

There will be battles ahead, he added.

Meanwhile, a convoy of 45 buses headed to Mariupol in another bid to evacuate people from the besieged port city after the Russian military agreed to a limited cease-fire in the area. But Russian forces blocked the buses, and only 631 people were able to get out of the city in private cars, according to the Ukrainian government.

Twelve Ukrainian buses were able to deliver 14 tons of food and medical supplies to Mariupol, but the aid was seized by Russian troops, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said late Thursday.

The city has been the scene of some of the worst suffering of the war. Tens of thousands have managed to get out of Mariupol in the past few weeks by way of humanitarian corridors, reducing its population from a prewar 430,000 to an estimated 100,000 as of last week, but other relief efforts have been thwarted by continued Russian attacks.

A new round of talks was scheduled for Friday, five weeks into the war that has left thousands dead and driven 4 million Ukrainians from the country.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it had been informed by Ukraine that the Russian forces at the site of the worlds worst nuclear disaster had transferred control of it in writing to the Ukrainians.

The last Russian troops left the Chernobyl plant early Friday, the Ukrainian government agency responsible for the exclusion zone said.

Energoatom gave no details on the condition of the soldiers it said were exposed to radiation and did not say how many were affected. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin, and the IAEA said it had not been able to confirm the reports of Russian troops receiving high doses. It said it was seeking more information.

Russian forces seized the Chernobyl site in the opening stages of the Feb. 24 invasion, raising fears that they would cause damage or disruption that could spread radiation. The workforce at the site oversees the safe storage of spent fuel rods and the concrete-entombed ruins of the reactor that exploded in 1986.

Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert with the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said it seems unlikely a large number of troops would develop severe radiation illness, but it was impossible to know for sure without more details.

He said contaminated material was probably buried or covered with new topsoil during the cleanup of Chernobyl, and some soldiers may have been exposed to a hot spot of radiation while digging. Others may have assumed they were at risk too, he said.

Early this week, the Russians said they would significantly scale back military operations in areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv to increase trust between the two sides and help negotiations along.

But in the Kyiv suburbs, regional governor Oleksandr Palviuk said on social media Thursday that Russian forces shelled Irpin and Makariv and that there were battles around Hostomel. Pavliuk said there were Ukrainian counterattacks and some Russian withdrawals around the suburb of Brovary to the east.

Chernihiv came under attack as well. At least one person was killed and four were wounded in the Russian shelling of a humanitarian convoy of buses sent to Chernihiv to evacuate residents cut off from food, water and other supplies, said Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova

Ukraine also reported Russian artillery barrages in and around the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said intelligence indicates Russia is not scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead trying to regroup, resupply its forces and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas.

Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions, Stoltenberg said. At the same time, he said, pressure is being kept up on Kyiv and other cities, and we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering.

The Donbas is the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial region where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014. In the past few days, the Kremlin, in a seeming shift in its war aims, said that its main goal now is gaining control of the Donbas, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including Mariupol.

The top rebel leader in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, issued an order to set up a rival city government for Mariupol, according to Russian state news agencies, in a sign of Russian intent to hold and administer the city.

With talks set to resume between Ukraine and Russia via video, there seemed little faith that the two sides would resolve the conflict any time soon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that conditions werent yet ripe for a cease-fire and that he wasnt ready for a meeting with Zelenskyy until negotiators do more work, Italian Premier Mario Draghi said after a telephone conversation with the Russian leader.

In other developments, Ukraines emergency services said the death toll had risen to 20 in a Russian missile strike Tuesday on a government administration building in the southern city of Mykolaiv.

As Western officials search for clues about what Russias next move might be, a top British intelligence official said demoralized Russian soldiers in Ukraine are refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their equipment and had accidentally shot down their own aircraft.

In a speech in Australia, Jeremy Fleming, head of the GCHQ electronic spy agency, said Putin had apparently massively misjudged the invasion.

The Pentagon reported Thursday that an initial half-dozen shipments of weapons and other security assistance from the U.S. have reached Ukraine as part of an $800 million aid package President Joe Biden approved this month.

The shipments included Javelin anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, body armor, medical supplies and other materials, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the war is going because they are afraid to tell him the truth.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the U.S. is wrong and that neither the State Department nor the Pentagon possesses the real information about what is happening in the Kremlin.

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Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

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Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

The family of an Albuquerque man shot and killed by police in 2020 used the second anniversary of his death to call for a reexamination of the case.

On March 30, 2020, Albuquerque Police Department officer Edgar Sandoval shot Valente Acosta-Bustillos, 52, inside his home after the mans daughter asked APD to check on him.

Acosta-Bustillos family filed a lawsuit in 2020 against APD and the city of Albuquerque alleging officers arent properly trained to interact with people with mental or behavioral health problems.

A judge last week ordered a settlement conference in the case.

Lapel camera footage released by APD showed that Acosta-Bustillos appeared to be doing yardwork at his house in the 900 block of Edith SE when Sandoval and his partner arrived. Acosta-Bustillos appeared to act calmly until the officers learned he had a warrant for his arrest for failing to appear at a court hearing.

Acosta-Bustillos ran into his house and threatened the pursuing officers with a shovel, police said. Sandoval fired three times, killing Acosta-Bustillos.

Members of his family and other supporters on Wednesday called for District Attorney Raul Torrez to reopen the investigation into his death.

Lauren Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the DAs office, said officer-involved shootings are handled by a special prosecutor under contract with the DAs office to avoid conflicts.

A special prosecutor who investigated the killing found insufficient evidence to file charges against Sandoval.

Rodriguez told the Journal in an email and a tape-recorded interview that only the state Attorney Generals Office has the authority to reinvestigate the case. On Thursday, she denied saying that.

Attorney General Hector Balderas disputed the DA offices position.

After the Journal published its story online, Balderas sent a letter Thursday stating that Torrez has the primary authority to prosecute officer-involved shootings in his district.

Torrez himself could review Special Prosecutor Ralph Trujillos recommendation, or hire another special prosecutor to reexamine the case, Balderas said. As a third option, Torrez could refer the case for prosecution under federal law, he said.

As an elected prosecutor, you are aware that Special Prosecutor Trujillos recommendations do not bind you from continuing to pursue various courses of actions, should you wish to do so, Balderas said.

Torrezs office responded with a statement.

The District Attorney has accepted the decision of the independent prosecutor who was assigned to review this case and who found that there was insufficient evidence to move forward with the prosecution, Torrezs office said in an email. Should the Attorney General wish to reopen this investigation he has the statutory authority to do so.
Defense attorneys quickly rested their case Thursday after one of four men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer repeatedly said absolutely not when asked if he had agreed to abduct her before the 2020 election.

Daniel Harris was the only defendant to speak to jurors on the 14th day of trial. It was a risky, dramatic shift following days of testimony from undercover FBI agents, a gutsy informant and two men who have pleaded guilty and pointed fingers at the rest.

Closing arguments were planned for Friday.

Harris, Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., and Brandon Caserta are accused of conspiring to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home in northern Michigan because of their disgust with government and her tough COVID-19 restrictions.

Only Harris lawyer offered a few witnesses Wednesday after prosecutors finished presenting their evidence that same day.

Harris, 24, a former Marine, said he wanted to maintain his infantry skills when he joined a militia, the Wolverine Watchmen, not snatch Whitmer or blow up a nearby bridge.

But after friendly questions from a defense lawyer, the atmosphere in court turned tense as a prosecutor confronted Harris with his chat messages about posing as a pizza deliveryman and killing Whitmer at the door. He also reminded Harris that he worked with explosives while training with the group.

Harris and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth sometimes talked over each other. At one point, Harris snapped, Next question.

Everyone can take it down a notch, U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said later.

Soon after swearing to tell the truth, Harris repeatedly rejected claims that he was involved in crimes. He said America was on fire in 2020 over the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, protests over police treatment of Black people and a pandemic that shut down parts of the economy.

A key part of the governments case is a firearms training weekend at Luther, Michigan, in September 2020 with a shoot house that was intended to replicate Whitmers second home. Harris admitted that he brought materials but said he didnt build it with her house in mind.

Did you agree to kidnap the governor of Michigan? defense attorney Julia Kelly asked many times.

Absolutely not, Harris replied.

He didnt participate in an evening ride to Elk Rapids, Michigan, to scout Whitmers second home and a bridge during that same training weekend. Harris said he had purchased $200 of cheap beer and cigarettes so he could return to the camp and get wasted with others.

I had assumed they went to a strip club or a bar, Harris said of Fox and Croft.

The men were arrested in October 2020 amid talk of raising $4,000 for an explosive that could blow up a bridge and hold back police from responding to a kidnapping, according to trial testimony.

Defense attorneys claim the men simply were engaged in a lot of wild talk fueled by agents and informants but no conspiracy.

The prosecutor covered much ground during Harris cross-examination, often referring to recordings or text messages to challenge testimony. Roth noted that Harris had said the Founding Fathers would have approved of killing certain officials.

Tyrants, Harris told Roth.

Was Gov. Whitmer a tyrant? the prosecutor asked.

Not really. She was just a governor to me, Harris said, adding that she performed poorly.

Prosecutors played a conversation of Croft talking about militias overthrowing governments in various states and breaking a few eggs.

When this man talks to you at a diner about killing people, you dont stand up and walk out, do you sir? Roth asked. You dont say, This group is not for me, do you sir?

No, Harris answered.

Two more men, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, pleaded guilty and cooperated with investigators. Garbin last week said the group acted willingly and hoped to strike before the election, cause national chaos and prevent Joe Biden from winning the presidency.

Michael Rataj, a Detroit-area defense lawyer not involved in the case, said sometimes bringing in a pack of witnesses for the defense doesnt always fit. He said attorneys for the four men will peck away at the governments evidence during closing arguments  the textbook way to do it.

As for Harris testifying, Rataj said it can be dicey.

The FBI has recorded them, and for him to say anything different than whats recorded makes it look like hes lying, Rataj said. Its foolishness.

Whitmer, a Democrat, rarely talks publicly about the kidnapping plot, though she referred to surprises during her term that seemed like something out of fiction when she filed for reelection on March 17.

She has blamed former President Donald Trump for fomenting anger over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn right-wing extremists like those charged in the case. Whitmer has said Trump was complicit in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

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Find APs full coverage of the Whitmer kidnap plot trial at: https://apnews.com/hub/whitmer-kidnap-plot-trial

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White reported from Detroit. AP reporter Michael Tarm contributed from Chicago.
A line of severe storms packing isolated tornadoes and high winds ripped across the Deep South overnight  killing at least two in the Florida Panhandle, toppling trees and power lines and leaving homes and businesses damaged as the vast weather front raced across several states.

In Florida, the Washington County Sheriffs Office said Thursday morning that two were killed and two injured when a tornado touched down in the western Florida Panhandle.

Two homes were destroyed and powerlines were knocked down, according to Washington Country Emergency Management spokeswoman Cheryl Frankenfield. The countys Facebook page showed at least one home that was obliterated, as well as trees down on another home. No other details were immediately available.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management has employees in the area to help, spokesperson Samantha Bequer said. She said neighboring Jackson County also had property damage.

Its a nasty day, but thankfully these storms are moving quickly, she said.

At least two confirmed tornadoes injured several people Wednesday, damaged homes and businesses and downed power lines in Mississippi and Tennessee after earlier storm caused damage in Arkansas, Missouri and Texas.

About 185,000 customers were without electricity Thursday morning in the wake of the storm along a band of states: Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utilities.

The worst of the weather Thursday morning appeared to be at the southern end of the storm front, which was expected to bring heavy rain and high winds all along the U.S. East Coast later in the day. Much of the Florida Panhandle was under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

Widespread damage was reported in the Jackson, Tennessee, area as a tornado warning was in effect. Significant damage occurred to a nursing home near Jackson-Madison County General Hospital and the Madison County Sheriffs Office in Jackson, said Madison County Emergency Management Director Jason Moore.

In Nashville, Tennessee, paneling fell five stories from the side of a downtown hotel Wednesday evening and onto the roof of a building below. The fire department warned that debris could become airborne as high winds continued, and some hotel guests were moved to other parts of the building due to concerns the roof would become unstable. No injuries were immediately associated with the collapse.

Daylight revealed widespread wind damage across Alabama.

One person suffered minor injuries when a storm hit the University of Montevallo campus south of Birmingham, damaging three buildings, officials said, and a woman was injured when a manufactured home rolled over in rural Bibb County. A school bus was flipped at a high school in south Alabama, and part of the roof was missing from a church in northwest Alabama.

Elsewhere, a warehouse roof collapsed as the storms moved through Southaven, Mississippi, near Memphis, police said. The building had been evacuated and no injuries were reported.

The Mississippi Senate suspended its work Wednesday as weather sirens blared during a tornado watch in downtown Jackson. Some employees took shelter in the Capitol basement.

Rander P. Adams said he and his wife, Janice Delores Adams, were in their home near downtown Jackson when severe weather blew through during a tornado warning Wednesday afternoon. He said their lights flashed and a large window exploded just feet from his wife as she tried to open their front door.

The glass broke just as if someone threw a brick through it, he said. I advised her then, Lets go to the back of the house.'

Adams said the storm toppled trees in a nearby park, and a large tree across the street from their house split in half. We were blessed, he said. Instead of falling toward the house, it fell the other way.

Earlier Wednesday, a tornado that struck Springdale, Arkansas, and the adjoining town of Johnson, about 145 miles (235 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock, shortly after 4 a.m. injured seven people, two critically, according to Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse.

Sprouse said in a statement that one of those critically injured had improved and was in stable condition and the other five were released from a hospital.

Our first responders have completed door-to-door searches, and we believe everyone has been accounted for, Sprouse said.

The National Weather Service in Tulsa said Thursday that the tornado has been rated an EF-3, up from an initial assessment of EF-2, with wind speeds between 136-165 mph (219-265 kph). The tornado reached a peak speed of about 145 mph (233 kph) and 5 miles (8 kilometers) while on the ground for about eight minutes, according to the weather service.

In northwest Missouri, an EF-1 tornado with wind speeds around 90 mph (145 kph) struck St. Joseph on Tuesday night, damaging two homes.

A small tornado also touched down briefly on the eastern edge of Dallas, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. The tornado struck just after 4:30 a.m. Wednesday near McClendon-Chisolm with top winds of about 100 mph (161 kph) and damaged homes, but no injuries were reported, according to the weather service.

The storms come a week after a tornado in a New Orleans-area neighborhood carved a path of destruction during the overnight hours and killed a man.

Strong winds in Louisiana overturned semitrailers, peeled the roof from a mobile home, sent a tree crashing into a home and knocked down power lines, according to weather service forecasters, who did not immediately confirm any tornadoes in the state.

The National Weather Service office in New Orleans said Thursday that teams would be out in Tangipahoa and St. Tammany Parishes in southeastern Louisiana and in Jackson County in southeastern Mississippi surveying damage. They said the highest wind speed recorded in the office coverage area was 67 mph (108 kph) at the New Orleans Lakefront airport with winds in Baton Rouge reaching into the high 50 mph (80 kph) range.

Firefighters, meanwhile, have been trying to get handle on a wildfire spreading near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, amid mandatory evacuations as winds whipped up ahead of the approaching storm front.

The fire, which was not contained, had expanded to about 250 acres (more than 100 hectares) as of Wednesday afternoon. One person was injured, and a plume of smoke rose above one community not far from where 2016 wildfires ravaged the tourism town of Gatlinburg, killing 14 people and damaging or destroying about 2,500 buildings.

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Wagster Pettus reported from Jackson, Mississippi; Farrington reported from Tallahassee, Florida; and Mattise from Nashville, Tennessee; many other Associated Press journalists contributed to this report.
VILNIUS, Lithuania  Russias tech workers are looking for safer and more secure professional pastures.

By one estimate, up to 70,000 computer specialists, spooked by a sudden frost in the business and political climate, have bolted the country since Russia invaded Ukraine five weeks ago. Many more are expected to follow.

For some countries, Russias loss is being seen as their potential gain and an opportunity to bring fresh expertise to their own high-tech industries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has noticed the brain drain even in the throes of a war that, according to the U.N. refugee agency, has caused more than 4 million people to flee Ukraine and displaced millions more within the country.

This week, Putin reacted to the exodus of tech professionals by approving legislation to eliminate income taxes between now and 2024 for individuals who work for information technology companies.

Some people in the vast new pool of high-tech exiles say they are in no rush to return home. An elite crowd furnished with European Union visas has relocated to Poland or the Baltic nations of Latvia and Lithuania.

A larger contingent has fallen back on countries where Russians do not need visas: Armenia, Georgia and the former Soviet republics in Central Asia. In normal times, millions of less-skilled laborers emigrate from those economically shaky countries to comparatively more prosperous Russia.

Anastasia, a 24-year-old freelance computer systems analyst from the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, chose Kyrgyzstan, where her husband has family.

When we heard about the war on (Feb. 24), we thought it was probably time to leave, but that we might wait and see. On February 25, we bought our tickets and left, Anastasia said. There wasnt much thinking to do.

Like all the Russian workers contacted for this story, Anastasia asked to remain anonymous. Moscow was cracking down on dissent even before the invasion of Ukraine, and people living outside Russia still fear reprisals.

As long as I can remember, there has always been fear around expressing ones own views in Russia, Anastasia said, adding that the war and the background noise of patriotism made the environment even more forbidding. I left one day before they began searching and interrogating people at the border.

The scale of the apparent brain drain was laid bare last week by Sergei Plugotarenko, the head of the Russian Association for Electronic Communications, an industry lobbying group.

The first wave  50,000-70,000 people  has already left, Plugotarenko told a parliamentary committee.

Only the high cost of flights out of the country prevented an even larger mass exit. Another 100,000 tech workers nevertheless might leave Russia in April, Plugotarenko predicted.

Konstantin Siniushin, a managing partner at Untitled Ventures, a tech-focused venture capital fund based in Latvia, said that Russian tech firms with international customers had no choice but to move since many foreign companies are hastily distancing themselves from anything Russia-related.

They had to leave the country so their business could survive, or, in the case of research and development workers, they were relocated by HQs, Siniushin wrote in emailed remarks.

Untitled Ventures is helping in the migration; the firm charted two flights to Armenia carrying 300 tech workers from Russia, Siniushin said.

Some nearby countries are eager to reap the dividends.

Russian talent is primed for poaching. A 2020 Global Skills Index report published by Coursera, a leading provider of open online courses, found that people from Russia scored highest for skill proficiency in technology and data science.

As soon as the war started in Ukraine, the Central Asian nation of Uzbekistan radically streamlined the process for obtaining work visas and residence permits for IT specialists.

Anton Filippov, a mobile app programmer from St. Petersburg, and the team of freelancers with whom he works made the move to Tashkent, the Uzbek capital, where he grew up, even before those incentives were made public.

On February 24, it was like we had woken up to this different terrible reality, Filippov said. Were all young, less than 27 years old, and so we were afraid we might be called up to take part in this war.

As in-demand tech workers explore their options, their diaspora resembles a roaming caravan. Some countries, like Uzbekistan, are picked as stepping stones because Russian citizens do not need visas for short-term stays. But young professionals like Filippov do not plan to necessarily stay where they first landed.

If the conditions they find differ from the ones they were promised, they will simply move on, he said.

In many cases, entire companies are looking to relocate to avoid the fallout from international sanctions. A senior diplomat from another Russian neighbor, Kazakhstan, made a naked appeal this week for fleeing foreign enterprises to come to his country.

Kazakhstan is eyeing high-tech investors with particular interest as the country tries to diversify its economy, which relies on oil exports. In 2017, the government set up a technology park in the capital, Nur-Sultan, and offered tax breaks, preferential loans, and grants to anybody prepared to set up shop there.

The uptake has been moderate so far, but the hope is that the Russian brain drain will give this initiative a major shot in the arm.

The accounts of Russian companies are being frozen, and their transactions do not go through. They are trying to keep customers, and one available opportunity is to go to Kazakhstan, said Arman Abdrasilov, chairman of Zerde Holding, an investment fund in Almaty, Kazakhstans business hub.

Not all countries are so eager, though.

Russian companies or startups cannot move to Lithuania, said Inga Simanonyte, an adviser to the Baltic nations Economy and Innovation Minister. We do not work with any Russian company with their possible relocation to Lithuania, and the ministry has suspended all applications for startup visas since February 24.

Security concerns and suspicion that Russians might spy or engage in cyber mischief abroad make some governments wary about welcoming the countrys economic refugees.

The IT sector in Russia is very closely connected to the security services. The problem is that without an extremely strong vetting process, we risk importing parts of the criminal system of Russia, Lithuanian political analyst Marius Laurinavicius told The Associated Press.

Siniushin, the managing partner at Untitled Ventures, is urging Western nations to throw open their doors so their employers can take advantage of the unusual hiring opportunity the war created.

The more talent that Europe or the United States can take away from Russia today, the more benefits these new innovators, whose potential will be fully realized abroad, will bring to other countries, he said.

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Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
JERUSALEM  Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, setting off a gunbattle in which two Palestinians were killed and 15 were wounded, as Israel targeted what it said were militant networks after a series of deadly attacks.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian stabbed a 28-year-old Israeli man on a bus in the West Bank before being killed by a bystander, the military said. The Magen David Adom emergency service said the stabbing victim was treated and taken to a hospital.

Videos circulated online showing smoke rising from the center of the Jenin refugee camp as gunfire echoed in the background. Others appeared to show Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen moving through the narrow streets.

The raid came two days after a Palestinian from a village near Jenin shot and killed five people in central Israel, part of a wave of attacks in recent days that have left a total of 11 people dead.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 17-year-old Sanad Abu Atiyeh and 23-year-old Yazid al-Saadi were killed on Thursday. It said 30-year-old Nidal Jaafara was shot and killed near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, apparently referring to the stabbing incident.

The Israeli military said troops came under fire after entering Jenin to arrest three suspects linked to Tuesdays attack. It said one soldier was wounded and evacuated to a hospital for treatment. The army said it has arrested a total of 31 suspects in recent West Bank raids aimed at preventing more attacks.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennetts office later Thursday announced it was spending about $56 million in emergency funding for more police officers and equipment.

A strong police equals a strong Israel, Bennett said in a statement. We are operating all means and on all fronts to restore security and a feeling of safety to the people of Israel.

The Jenin refugee camp was the scene of one of the deadliest battles of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising. In April 2002, Israeli forces fought Palestinian militants in the camp for nearly three weeks. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers and at least 52 Palestinians, including civilians, were killed, according to the U.N.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and coordinates with Israel on security matters, appears to have had little control over Jenin in recent years. Israeli forces operating in and around the city and refugee camp often come under fire.

The Islamic Jihad militant group announced a general mobilization of its fighters after Thursdays raid.

In Tuesdays attack, a 27-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank village of Yabad, near Jenin, methodically gunned down victims, killing five. On Sunday night, two Islamic State group sympathizers shot and killed two police officers in the central city of Hadera. Last week, a combined car-ramming and stabbing attack in the southern city of Beersheba  also by an IS-inspired attacker  killed four. The two attacks claimed by IS were carried out by Arab citizens of Israel.

President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday to express his condolences, saying the U.S. stands firmly and resolutely with Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats, according to the White House.

The recent wave of violence has brought the conflict with the Palestinians back to the fore at a time when Israel is focused on building alliances with Arab states against Iran. There have been no serious Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in more than a decade, and Bennett is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leaders have held a flurry of meetings in recent weeks, and Israel has announced a series of goodwill gestures, in an effort to maintain calm ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend.

They hope to avoid a repeat of last year, when clashes in Jerusalem set off an 11-day Gaza war. After a Security Cabinet meeting late Wednesday, Israel decided to carry on with plans to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally. In the West Bank, it is steadily building and expanding Jewish settlements, which most of the internationally community views as illegal.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the Palestinian militant group Hamas seized power there two years later. Since then, Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade on the territory, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.

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Associated Press reporters Areej Hazboun and Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  Military bases with a high risk for sexual assault, harassment and other harmful behaviors often have leaders who dont understand violence prevention, dont make it a priority and focus more on their mission than on their people, a Pentagon review has concluded.

The review studied 20 bases in the United States and Europe, including 18 with some of the more severe problems identified in command climate surveys. It found that the failures were worse in a number of bases in Germany and Spain where key leaders and resources werent on site. The report was publicly released Thursday.

At Naval Station Rota in Spain, for example, the report said that the military mission requirements were prioritized above and at the expense of the sailors well-being. They said sailors reported bullying, mental health issues, sexual harassment and relationship problems, but often could not seek help due to their mission requirements.

In one location, officials said, they found that young enlisted men were taking steps to help their female peers stay safe by keeping them away from more senior leaders who were harassing them.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the report as part of his effort to strengthen sexual assault and harassment prevention across the forces, identify what programs work and ensure high-risk bases get attention quickly. Austin approved the report, and in a memo said it will help the department tailor improvements for bases where needs may vary.

While we have made progress, we must do more to strengthen the integrated capabilities we have on the ground to prevent sexual assault, harassment, suicide, domestic abuse and other harmful behaviors, he said.

The report comes nearly two years after Army Spc. Vanessa Guillen went missing from Fort Hood, Texas, and her remains were found two months later. Guillen was killed by a soldier, who her family says sexually harassed her, and who killed himself as police sought to arrest him.

Her death and a number of other crimes, murders and suicides led to heightened scrutiny on assaults and other violence in the military, and to a series of reviews. An independent panel appointed by Austin last year made more than 80 recommendations, including specific changes to improve accountability of leadership, command climate and culture, and victim care and support.

Officials said Austins goal is to find effective ways to prevent harmful behavior, which includes sexual assault and harassment, suicides and domestic violence. They said this latest report is designed to pinpoint which leadership and other failures contribute to higher instances of such behavior and which prevention programs and other changes actually work.

According to the report, 16 of the bases were selected because a command climate survey of nearly a million personnel identified problems there, which included things such as binge drinking, toxic leadership, stress, and racial or sexual harassment. While serious problems were identified at these 16 bases, the report looked at a variety of factors for each location and doesnt specifically characterize them as the worst in the military.

Two other bases were chosen because the survey showed good results, such as high morale, inclusion and good leadership. Two others had a mix of both high-performing and problem units.

Defense officials said that while in many cases leaders had a genuine desire to prevent violence, there was a pervasive misunderstanding of how to do it and they often didnt devote enough personnel or time for it or hold subordinates accountable.

And even if they understood department policies, leaders often didnt recognize when there was a high risk for violence or harmful behavior among their people.

In the United States, the bases surveyed were: Fort Custer, Michigan; Naval Support Activity Sarasota Springs, New York; Fort Polk, Louisiana; Fort Bliss, Texas; Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia; Marine Corps Base Hawaii; Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska; Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, California; Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas; Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California; Dyess Air Force Base, Texas; Vandenberg Space Force Base, California; the Kentucky National Guard; and the Army Reserve base in Fraser, Michigan.

The last two  the Guard and Reserve bases in Kentucky and Michigan  were the ones chosen because they had less risk and more positive command climates.

The overseas bases were: Army Garrison Ansbach, Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfatz Smith Bararcks; Army Garrison Bavaria; Naval Station Rota; Army Garrison Stuttgart; and the Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz, Kaiserslautern. All but Rota are in Germany.

As an example, the report found that at the Kentucky National Guard base leaders believed that their soldiers came first, and their well-being was part of the mission, not an adjacent effort that was secondary. In contrast, commanders in at the bases in Germany and Spain tolerated harmful behaviors and it was difficult to access resources due to mission requirements or geographic dispersion of services.

The report said that the changes proposed by the independent review board will help address the problems. Those improvements include establishing a dedicated prevention workforce, expanded sexual assault prevention and response programs, and better leadership. The budget for 2023 includes funding to hire additional personnel.

The report also recommends that the department establish data to help the military services share prevention and program support information, hold leaders accountable if they dont have healthy command climates. Officials said its important to ensure that leaders better understand the prevention policies and programs and that service members and employees know where to go to get help.

Officials also said that there will be follow-up visits to the bases by this fall, and that similar site visits and reviews will be done every two years.

Austin is asking military service leaders for implementation plans by early June and said the department will issue more guidelines and policies by early October.
NEW YORK  Amazon workers in Alabama appear to have rejected a union bid in a tight race, according to early results on Thursday. But outstanding challenged votes could change the outcome.

In New York, union supporters have the edge in a count that will continue Friday morning.

Warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, voted 993 to 875 against forming a union. The National Labor Relations Board, which oversees the election, said that 416 challenged votes could potentially overturn that result. A hearing to go through the challenged ballots will occur in the next few days.

Meanwhile, in a separate union election in Staten Island, New York, the nascent Amazon Labor Union is leading by more than 350 votes out of about 2,670 tallied.

The close election in Bessemer marks a sharp contrast to last year, when Amazon workers overwhelmingly rejected the union.

This is just the beginning and we will continue to fight, said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is organizing the union drive in Bessemer, at a Thursday press conference. Regardless of the final outcome, workers have shown what is possible. They have helped ignite a movement.

Appelbaum said RWDSU will be filing objections to how Amazon handled the election but declined to be specific. He also took the opportunity to lash out at current labor laws, which he believes are rigged against unions and favor corporations.

It should not be so difficult to organize a union in the United States, he said.

If a majority of Amazon workers votes yes in either Bessemer or Staten Island, it would mark the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the companys history. Organizers have faced an uphill battle against the nations second-largest private employer, which is making every effort to keep unions out.

In New York, the ALU has led the charge to form a union along with Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon employee who now heads the fledging group. Turnout for the in-person election was unclear but Smalls was hopeful of victory.

To be leading in Day One and be up a couple hundred against a trillion dollar company, this is the best feeling in the world, Smalls said after the conclusion of Thursdays counting.

While Smalls attention has been focused on securing victory in New York, similar efforts in Alabama also weighed heavily.

Im not too sure whats going in Alabama right now, but I know that the skys the limit if you can organize any warehouse, he said, noting that the vote in Alabama could well end up differently. I hope that theyre successful. I dont know whats going on yet, but we know we show our support and solidarity with them.

The warehouse in Staten Island employs more than 8,300 workers, who pack and ship supplies to customers based mostly in the Northeast. A labor win there was considered difficult, but organizers believe their grassroots approach is more relatable to workers and could help them overcome where established unions have failed in the past.

John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, said the early vote counts in New York has been shocking. ALU has no backing from an established union and is powered by former and current warehouse workers. The group had also filed for a union election after getting support from about 30% of the facilitys workforce, a much lower percentage than what unions usually seek.

I dont think that many people thought that the Amazon Labor Union had much of a chance of winning at all, Logan said. And I think were likely to see more of those (approaches) going forward.

Though RWDSU is currently lagging behind with challenged ballots outstanding, Logan said that election was also remarkable because the union has made a good effort narrowing its margin from last years election.

After a crushing defeat last year, when a majority of workers voted against forming a union, RWDSU is hoping for a different outcome in the Bessemer election, in which mail-in ballots were sent to 6,100 workers in early February. Federal labor officials scrapped the results of the first election there and ordered a re-do after ruling Amazon tainted the election process.

The RWDSU said election there had a turnout rate of about 39% this year, much smaller than last year. Appelbaum blamed the low numbers on high turnover  he believes thousands of people who worked for Amazon in January and were on the official list to be eligible to vote either quit or were fired. He also believes that an in-person election, which the RWDSU had asked for, would have made a difference

Amazon has pushed back hard in both elections. The retail giant held mandatory meetings, where workers were told unions are a bad idea. The company also launched an anti-union website targeting workers and placed English and Spanish posters across the Staten Island facility urging them to reject the union. 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.

Both labor fights faced unique challenges. Alabama, for instance, is a right-to-work state that prohibits a company and a union from signing a contract that requires workers to pay dues to the union that represents them.

The mostly Black workforce at the Amazon facility, which opened in 2020, mirrors the Bessemer population of more than 70% Black residents, according to the latest U.S. Census data.

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.

The ALU said they dont have a demographic breakdown of the warehouse workers on Staten Island and Amazon declined to provide the information to The Associated Press, citing the union vote. 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.

Amazon workers there are seeking longer breaks, paid time off for injured employees and an hourly wage of $30, up from a minimum of just over $18 per hour offered by the company. The estimated average wage for the borough is $41 per hour, according to a similar U.S. Census Bureau analysis of Staten Islands $85,381 median household income.

A spokesperson for Amazon said the company invests in wages and benefits, such as health care, 401(k) plans and a prepaid college tuition program to help grow workers careers.

As a company, we dont think unions are the best answer for our employees, the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.



Associated Press staff writers Tali Arbel and Bobby Caina Calvan in New York contributed to this report.
Copyright  2022 Albuquerque Journal

An alleged sex trafficker  accused of having sex with a teenager  learned the hard way not to lie on the stand.

John Dompierre pleaded guilty to perjury on Monday and is facing five years in prison.

The 58-year-old testified falsely in November that a condition made him incapable of sexual activity and he could not have committed the crimes charged, according to a plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court.

Dompierre said in his plea deal that, while it is true that he suffers from the condition, it did not make him incapable of sexual activity and he was even on medication to treat it.

His attorney did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.

If a federal judge accepts the plea deal, the U.S. Attorneys Office will file a motion to dismiss the charges from the sex-trafficking case, which ended in a hung jury the first time around.

Court records state Dompierre, who lives in Arizona, is a longtime veteran who worked for Department of Veterans Affairs after 23 years serving in the Air Force.

At the time of his trial, Dompierre was facing federal charges of conspiracy and one count of transportation for illegal sexual activity in a 2018 case. Dompierre was one of several people charged in a nationwide ring, based in Albuquerque, that trafficked adult and teenage girls using such online sites as Backpage.

During his trial, according to court records, federal prosecutors asserted Dompierre had transported women for sex trafficking and also had sex with a teenage girl. Prosecutors called Dompierres testimony about why he was not guilty an absurd defense.

The case against Dompierre ended in a mistrial when they could not reach a unanimous verdict. Jurors split 11 to one to convict.

But according to court records, it was later revealed Dompierre had not been truthful on the stand and his attorneys used his lies in his defense.

Dompierre wrote in his plea agreement: I knew it was false.

My false statements were material to the criminal trial because they formed the substantial basis for my defense: that I could not have formed the necessary intent due to the claimed effects of my medical condition, which I falsely claimed was unmedicated during the charged time period, he said in the plea deal.

Since his plea, Dompierre has requested his conditions of release  which include a GPS monitor  be modified to allow him unsupervised visits with his grandchildren.
Chinese librarian learns over 10 languages in one dozen years while working at National Library of China

People's Daily Online) 09:29, March 31, 2022

With his strong passion for linguistics, a librarian at the National Library of China in Beijing taught himself more than 10 languages, including Persian, Latin, Greek, French, German, and Italian, in only about 12 years.

Photo shows Gu Xiaojun. (Photo/yangtse.com)

Gu Xiaojun, now 41 years old, is what is known as a polyglot  that is, someone who has the ability to speak many different languages. Gu began working at the National Library of China in 2009 because he thought that the library was a perfect place for him to read books and further pursue his interests.

Reading is my hobby. I pursue what I am interested in through reading, the man said.

I often take advantage of the breaks in my daily routine at the library and read books on history and linguistics, the bookworm said, adding that he also reads books on the subway during his daily commute back and forth from his home to the workplace.

Having graduated from the Department of History of Capital Normal University in Beijing, Gu has a deep interest in works on the history, literature, and philosophy of the Renaissance period in Europe, which later sparked his interest in European languages. In order to read those works that were written in other languages, including French, German, and Latin, he had to personally learn these languages.

Gu Xiaojun takes down some notes. (Photo/yangtse.com)

While most people might struggle to learn an abstruse ancient language, especially an ancient foreign language, Gu is particularly attracted by these languages.

When I began to learn the Greek language, the content that was beyond my understanding inspired me to access more learning materials. I was excited when I could understand such content, which encouraged me to go on, the man said.

Gu once translated lines from The Book of History, an ancient classic in China, into the ancient Greek language in an attempt to assess his proficiency in the foreign language.

The librarian is modest about his remarkable capabilities in learning languages. I dare not say that I have mastered many languages because language learning has no limits. I have been learning languages continuously over the years, said the man.

Gu Xiaojun shows off his notes about the Greek language. (Photo/yangtse.com)

Having already worked for the library for about 12 years, Gu has witnessed diverse groups of readers over the years, including young students who were preparing for exams and academic papers as well as elderly readers seeking books at their own leisure.

The librarian said what impressed him most was the oftentimes strong intent of silver-haired readers. He recalled that a granny once came to borrow the Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature, the largest collection of books in Chinese history. The granny said she didnt have the opportunity to read the collection when she was young. When I gave her several volumes of the collection, she was very surprised and threw herself into reading with a magnifier, he said.

I am deeply moved by senior readers thirst for knowledge. I am particularly pleased to be a librarian who provides services for readers at the National Library of China. I also enjoy the very good reading atmosphere here. I believe that books help people secure a peaceful state of mind and somehow find a freedom of the soul, Gu said.

Photo shows Gu Xiaojun reading a book on a subway train during his daily commute. (Photo/yangtse.com)

Gu Xiaojun provides some services for a reader. (Photo/yangtse.com)

Photo shows a section inside the National Library of China in Beijing. (Photo/yangtse.com)

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
CAIRO, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The recent unprecedented conference held by the foreign ministers of Israel and four Arab countries aims at filling a strategic void in the region, Egyptian experts said.

The two-day conference held in Israel's southern Negev desert was attended by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid with his counterparts of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt, as well as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It marked the first time that Israel hosts a meeting with Arab foreign ministers.

Lapid said the participating countries are forming a new partnership based on religious tolerance and cooperation in the fields of economy, technology, security and intelligence, which will help "counter threats from Iran."

According to Israel's public radio, the six officials discussed forming a regional defense alliance to deal with drone attacks and other threats.

"The meeting comes as an attempt to fill the existing strategic void in the region as a result of the major powers reducing their regional weight," said Jihad Oda, professor of international relations and member of the Board of Directors of the Tahrir Center for Studies and Research.

Oda noted that many regional powers attempted recently to fill this strategic void, adding that a number of meetings were held in Iraq and Jordan, but failed due to the existence of geopolitical rivalries.

"The Negev meeting is just the beginning, and it will be followed by a series of meetings to reach common understandings, in light of the persistence of differences in visions and the multiplicity of goals," he told Xinhua.

Oda said that the conference's participants may expand to include several other countries, especially Turkey, which is a key regional player.

The six-party meeting came days after a tripartite summit hosted by Egypt, which was attended by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"The six-party meeting is an unprecedented action, especially as it comes on the 43rd anniversary of the Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement," Tarek Fahmy, professor of political science at Cairo University, told Xinhua.

He said that there will be no strategic approaches without taking into account the higher Arab interests.

"There will be no security system in the Middle East at the expense of a unified Arab action ... the meeting may lead to the establishment of regional consultations that include Israel and other countries," he noted.

Fahmy added that the U.S. fears the collapse of the American-Arab strategic alliances, and possible formation of partnerships by Arab countries with Russia.

He noted that Iran topped the agenda of the meeting as the U.S. is close to restoring the 2015 nuclear pact with Iran, which Israel firmly opposes citing that it will enable Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. Tehran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

Mohamed al-Shimy, assistant professor of political science at the Helwan University, said the meeting has strong geopolitical symbolism.

"It was an urgent summit driven by the war in Ukraine and the suspended nuclear agreement with Iran. However, the meeting did not produce tangible results," he told Xinhua.

But he noted that the meeting allowed Israel and the four Arab states to deepen their coordination on common security threats, intelligence gathering, and concerns related to energy and food supplies.

Al-Shimy added that Israel and the four Arab countries joined hands at the meeting in encouraging the U.S. to maintain its role in the region, despite its current focus on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. 
Parenting platform BabyChakra recently acquired one of Indias strongest regional parenting networks, Tinystep, to further strengthen its growth across the country. With this acquisition, BabyChakra expands its regional footprint by providing in-depth access to a robust network of parents across 9 languages. BabyChakra targets to reach 75 million moms by the end of 2022.

BabyChakra has earmarked Rs 100 crore in building Indias largest mom-baby content to commerce platform over the next 3 years. By acquiring Tinystep, Baby Chakra makes significant progress towards its aspiration to reach 75 million mothers and achieve its goal. This is BabyChakras first acquisition.

Indias baby care product market is expected to grow by $10 billion over the next few years at a CAGR of more than 14%. With the growth of the online availability of baby care products and nuclear as well as single parent families, the market is gradually witnessing a steady growth.

Adgully spoke to Naiyya Saggi, Co-founder, Good Glamm Group, Founder & CEO, BabyChakra, to know what this acquisition brings to the companys core business strength, investing in enhancing content and communities of mothers and doctors on the platform, and more.

BabyChakra already reaches 39 million moms and 10,000 doctors across India. With such a great reach, what was the reason for acquiring Tinystep?

BabyChakra aims to grow further and be a part of families across India. To do so, it is necessary to connect with parents in their language. Tinystep is a network of 9 regional language based mom networks and with 5 million+ existing followers and a potential 20 million addressable additional reach has the largest social presence of all parenting platforms. The decision to acquire Tinstep assets is a step forward in our aspiration to be the largest parenting platform from India.

What new products and services can the consumers expect with this new partnership?

There will be more content and outreach in newer regions and languages ensuring deeper engagement with families who need us most. BabyChakra will continue investing in enhancing content and communities of mothers and doctors on our platform and reaffirm its commitment to becoming the one stop destination for all parents across India to find the support , care & community they need in their language through conception, pregnancy and early child care.

Tinystep is a multilingual parenting platform. How is that going to help BabyChakra?

70% of Indian families are nuclear units. Hence, parents today are turning online for virtual communities of care and information. However, no two parents are alike. Language is an important part of ensuring parents feel comfortable in getting care and also getting their questions answered. Also, language is an indicator of culture, hence cultural nuances, which are an extremely core part of a familys identity. Hence, through language we can form a deeper connection with families we serve. With Tinystep, we open up more than 9 new languages for BabyChakra. Hence, it opens up a new set of languages and content to initiate conversations with newer families.

What is the USP of BabyChakra and Tinystep as an entity?

The USP is that we now have the largest social followership in India as a parenting entity and will be available in 9+ languages. Therefore, we will be able to fulfil our vision of being the largest parenting platform in India by next year with 75 million parents.

Will the partnership help BabyChakra to better co-exist with competitors such as The Moms Co, iMumz, and others?

The Moms Co is a part of our overall group (The Good Glamm Group) and is a close partner with BabyChakra. They are already using BabyChakra as a way to initiate conversations and connect with millions of parents across India. The Tinystep partnership already puts us ahead of most other players in the ecosystem, since we have a differentiated proposition of having the largest social user base and accelerated reach in regional networks. The content assets and social IPs that Tinystep acquisition brings to us already gives us a head start of one and half years into our ambitions.

How does BabyChakra in collaboration with Tinystep want to position itself in the market in the next 5 years?

The aim for BabyChakra is to be the care companion for parents globally from out of India. Care for us is care across information, communities and products. With Tinystep, this is a starting point in this aspiration on ensuring new audiences become part of the BabyChakra community of care with many future milestones to come.
Bconnect Communication, one of Indias reputed public relations (PR) agencies, bagged the PR mandate of Vecros, a growing Indian start-up in the drone tech arena. Bconnect has become Vecros official communication partner.

Accordingly, Bconnect will handle the integrated communications and media relations & strategies for vecros. They will ensure Brand Vecros gets the correct visibility, communication advice and complete PR & media connectivity all over India. Their campaigns will focus on Vecros's need to present its rising drone portfolio.

Regarding the appointment, Besta Prem Sai, Co-Founder, Vecros, reveals, The engagement of Bconnect Communication as our PR agency is a matter of happiness. They have the confidence to help push Vecros more into public focus via various campaigns. Vecros is committed to revolutionising the drone field with our expertise. And we need our vision & work to be well-represented in the public domain. It will help us progress with the right investors and buyers approaching us. Bconnect captured the vision in their pitch. We are excited about this partnership.

Neha Bahri, Founder & Director, Bconnect Communication, is also excited to handle the PR mandate for Vecros. "We, at Bconnect, want to thank Besta Prem Sai & Sai Allu, the founders of Vecros, for providing us with this opportunity. Indias drone-related technology scenario is hugely expanding. What Vecros is working on is truly something to watch out for. In nearly four years, the brand has created the right noise. And to be a part of their journey and help it rise through our work will be exciting," she said.

Established in 2018 by Besta Prem Sai & Sai Allu, Delhi & NCR based Vecros is a promising deep tech start-up. Vecros is the first in India to develop AI on Edge system for drones which help them navigate complex environments and negotiate different obstacle spaces. VECROS team is group of experts in aerial robotics, control systems, ML, autopilots and robotics sensor tech. They have created JETPIXTM, an operating system for drones using AI & computer vision algorithms. It enables the drones to operate on autopilot in the toughest of terrains. They offer products for industrial AI applications used for better supervision and work management in the construction, agriculture, oil & gas industries, and mining sectors. They are already dealing with major clients in cell phone tower inspections and land inspections.
As part of a unique network strategy of Viacom18 in the Kannada market, the networks broadcast channel Colors Kannada and digital platform Voot Select will be premiering the hit Kannada movie Neer Dose.

The much-talked adult comedy movie Neer Dose will premiere digitally on Voot Select on March 31st 2022 followed by the World Television Premier on Colors Kannada.

The movie that entertained Kannada audiences with its comedy has the most versatile and veteran talents such as HG Dattatreya, Jaggesh, Hariprriya and Suman Ranganathan in its lead roles. Though Neer Dose has been categorized as bold comedy, the movie talks about social and emotional values by adding the flavour of comedy into it.

Neer Dose, in its plot explores the challenge of narrating the life of a sex worker (Hariprriya) who forges unexpected but meaningful and selfless friendships with a crematorium van driver (Jaggesh) and a retired man (H G Dattatreya).

Director Vijaya Prasad says, I have seen sex workers closely and that has helped me in narrating the character of Hariprriya in this movie.

Another unique aspect of the movie is that the character played by Jaggesh as crematorium van driver who joins hands with one of effortless actors H G Dattatreya. Here Neer Dose talks about how life can be so beautiful and simple if one breaks the barriers of social paradigms.

Speaking about the digital premiere of Neer Dose on Voot Select, Director Vijaya Prasad said, I am so excited about the OTT release of the film as the demand of mass audiences for the film is finally being addressed by Voot Select. I can say that the same baby is born twice.

Get ready to immerse yourself in the world of Neer Dose premiering on Voot Select on March 31st, 2022 followed by the television premiere on Colors Kannada.
Integral Ad Science, a global leader in digital media quality, has released the 16th edition of the Media Quality Report, providing transparency into the performance and quality of Indian digital media, alongside global comparisons. The latest Media Quality Report highlights brand safety, ad fraud, and viewability trends across display, video, mobile web, and in-app advertising.

Display environments were the safest for advertisers in India

Brand risk rates dipped to historically low levels in H2 2021, indicating brands increased efforts to optimise ad placements toward contextually relevant content. Worldwide brand risk averaged less than 3% across all environments and formats. Display formats in India were the safest for advertisers worldwide, with brand risk levels on desktop display at 0.3%, down by 1.5 percentage points (pp) year-on-year (YoY). While mobile web display brand risk fell to 0.6% in H2 2021, down by 2.1 pp, the worldwide average was 2.0%. Programmatically transacted display ads showed higher brand risk in India than publisher direct inventory at 0.6% on desktop and 0.9% on mobile web environments. This data suggests that the market is actively using solutions to protect brand reputation and place ads in suitable environments.

Viewability increased across all environments in India

Digital display ads in India had higher viewability rates YoY, almost touching 60% viewability across all environments in H2 2021. Viewability increases at the closing end of 2021 would likely spell great opportunities for advertisers as consumers increase their time spent with digital media in 2022. Desktop display viewability in India rose to 59.5%, a 4.3 pp increase YoY. In comparison, the worldwide average remained at 70.1%.

Indias viewability on mobile web display was at 59.0%, an increase of 3.2% pp YoY, while the viewability on mobile app display was 60.3%.

Optimised ad fraud rates remained stable in India

Global ad fraud rates rose across all formats and environments in H2 2021. However, in India, desktop display saw a marginal decrease in fraud rates (1.1%) down 0.3pp YoY, while mobile web display fraud rates remained the same at 0.3% YoY. The worldwide non-optimised fraud rate for desktop display was 10.7% and 6.3% on mobile web display, clearly indicating that using fraud mitigation strategies can reduce ad fraud risks and reduce ad wastage significantly.

Saurabh Khattar, Commercial Lead India, IAS, commented, India saw an increase in key media quality benchmarks in H2 2021. This performance is likely a testament to the sophisticated local ecosystem of advertisers, publishers, and industry bodies championing initiatives such as ads.txt and the IAS-built Open Measurement SDK (OM SDK). Advertisers must continue to prioritise quality impressions to see sustained gains in digital media campaigns and ensure that the intended consumers see their ads in brand-safe and suitable environments.

The 16th Edition of Integral Ad Sciences Media Quality Report analysed trillions of global data impressions from ad campaigns that ran between July 1 and December 31, 2021.
For one girl, independence was a word seen in graffiti on the walls of her hometown in Southern Thailand, but she got into trouble in school for writing it in her notebook. For another filmmaker in Vietnam, funeral rites become complicated for a family when the only son is transitioning to a woman.

These stories would have remained untold if left to the usual model of filmmaking where funding tends to be monopolised by bigger players.

Because these good stories don't have the benefit of financial support, industry support and resources, they don't get the chance to become great stories, says Sydney-based queer writer Miranda Aguilar.

To support more inclusive and diverse storytelling, Netflix created the Netflix Fund for Creative Equity last year. In the first 12 months, the streamer worked with 25 organisations globally.

The programmes in Asia Pacific helped to create new opportunities for underrepresented filmmakers who might not normally get the chance to take part in short film camps, script writing workshops or film competitions. They include:

 A short film workshop in Thailand in December 2021 that welcomed young, aspiring filmmakers from all over the country;

 Take Ten, an ongoing program in India that aims to celebrate diversity in storytelling and ensure that the projects have a predominantly women-led cast and crew;

 Cinema Beauty in Vietnam, a film competition where shortlisted winners include stories that represented ethnic minorities and the LGBTQ+ community;

 A program with Co-Curious in Australia that takes place this year and supports new writers from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds to further develop their writing skills.

The way that you make a difference is to have different perspectives and different ways of presenting, and the only way you do that is when you have a diversity of filmmakers and creatives behind the scenes, adds Aguilar, who is participating in the Co-Curious programme.

While building up diversity both in front of and behind the camera takes time and sustained effort, it can sometimes start by gathering a group of young people across socio-economic status to learn together. When Purin Pictures organised the short film camp in Thailand, it aimed to level the playing field by selecting filmmakers from outside Bangkok.

You don't build a filmmaker in 10 days, but you can inspire a filmmaker in 10 days, said Aditya Assarat, co-director, Purin Pictures. What we really saw (at the camp) was the spark in people's eyes. Everybody really felt empowered, and everybody felt equal to each other.
Dentsu has announced the appointment of industry veteran Sunil Lulla as Consultant Advisor for India. Sunil will work closely with, and report into, Peter Huijboom, Interim CEO, dentsu India to focus on driving business growth and activation in the market while we continue our search for the right candidate to lead the dentsu India business.

Sunil will partner with key members of the India Leadership team to capitalise on the opportunities delivered through dentsu Indias rapid transformation to realise dentsus global vision of being the worlds most integrated network by 2024. He will also work on ensuring the competitiveness of dentsu Indias distinctive, integrated capabilities in a fast-paced, evolving marketplace.

Commenting on Sunils appointment, Peter said, Sunil is joining us at a critical time as we realise the benefits of our transformation through our integrated offering. He has had an impressive career with significant achievements in the businesses he has worked with, and I am looking forward to our partnership. We see significant opportunity in the India market and I am pleased with the momentum we are seeing. Sunil will continue to accelerate our growth trajectory while working with our teams to define, activate and ignite dentsus winning culture in the market. Its an exciting time to be at dentsu India.

Sunil added, Sunil added, I am thrilled to participate in denstu Indias growth and transformation journey. I could not refuse an opportunity to work with a business that is relentlessly focused on shaping their own business to help clients navigate the changing market context and pioneer a new way forward. I am excited to partner with Peter and build on the progress made with the leadership team, being a part of the team that works together to transform into the agency of tomorrow.

Sunil starts on 4 April and will work with the business until dentsu India hires a permanent CEO. Most recently, Sunil was Group CEO of Balaji Telefilms Ltd and CEO of Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).
On the occasion of the fifth anniversary (29th March 2022) Indias first downloadable bank account, Kotak811, unveiled its new identity as a digital bank within a bank. This reaffirms Kotaks vision of democratized banking backed by world-class talent, technology, and data science. Bollywood Superstar Ranveer Singh, the brand ambassador of Kotak Mahindra Bank

Limited (Kotak /Bank) and an integral part of Kotak811s journey, also attended the event at the Banks corporate office  27BKC, Mumbai and appreciated Kotak811 for its disruptions in the banking sector.



Emulating the superpower of the alphanumeric prefix ://, Version 2.0 of the logo connects with the audience as digital, approachable, and relatable. On the internet, a URL is a doorway to all places in the digital world, and it begins with a set of characters that the brand has seamlessly integrated in its identity. It also stands for a linksomething that enables access. With its newly done identity, Kotak811 aims to be recognised as the go-to place for digital banking. This new persona has been designed by the New Delhi-based creative agency -Animal.

Shanti Ekambaram, Group President  Consumer Banking, Kotak Mahindra Bank said, With great delight, we celebrate Kotak811s fifth anniversary as one of Indias first full-service digital banks within a bank. We are proud of our five-year journey. With Kotak811, we step into the next phase of growth. We reaffirm our brand promise to make all banking products and services available at the fingertips of our customers.
MullenLowe Lintas Group, a leading communications group of India and the country's best-known institution for building brands, has introduced Brands to Stands  its brand-building philosophy aimed at providing a distinctive niche and advantage for its clients brands in the marketplace.

In a world awash with brands, most of them are either unable to chart a clear course in todays uncertain marketplace or are drowning in a sea of sameness. MullenLowe Lintas Group posits that the solution to this problem is in Distinctive Advantage, and not Competitive Advantage. Something that is exclusively derived from point of view, not point of difference.

Over the last few decades, MullenLowe Lintas Group has been creating effective work for its clients, guided by its Brands to Stands' philosophy. Brands to Stands is a brands definitive declaration of what it believes in and fights for; a brand taking a stand to fulfil a higher-order purpose, and in the process, transforming itself into a catalyst for social change. Testimony to their success is the report  Kantar BrandZ Report 2021s Most Purposeful Brands in India, unveiling 2021s Most Purposeful Brands in India where seven out of fifteen brands featured were steered by MullenLowe Lintas Group.

Commenting on the occasion, Amer Jaleel, Group CCO and Chairman, MullenLowe Lintas Group said, Our work has been spoken of at various forums and awards separately because its always been brand-linked, client-linked. It deserved to be celebrated together because when you see just a fraction of what Lintas has produced over the years you can see the patterns of our thinking, the volume of our contribution to the world of marketing and the scale of our impact on the work being churned out today.

Speaking about MullenLowe Lintas Groups journey with purpose-led brand building Virat Tandon, Group CEO, MullenLowe Lintas Group said, Our journey on Brand Stand started much before the term brand purpose became popular. It is an approach that has helped provide a long-term distinctiveness to the brands and create respect and love for it. The book covers 25+ cases that have set a benchmark in the world of branding and marketing. These ideas have won the effectiveness awards at every level  India, Asia and the world. We have a robust strategy process to arrive at the brand purpose and point of view and the creative mastery to craft that into a narrative that is fresh and yet consistent over time.

To mark the launch of this unique brand philosophy, its heady success and impact have been distilled into a book bearing the same title  Brands to Stands. The book is a path-breaking compendium that celebrates authentic and highly captivating stories of how Indias leading brands have created brand marketing history by adopting a point of view, taking a stand and spearheading purposeful action.

Authored by S. Subramanyeswar (Subbu), Chief Strategy Officer  Asia Pacific and Head of Global Planning Council, MullenLowe Group, the book has learnings from brands such as Tata Tea, Surf Excel, Havells, Axis Bank, Swiggy, Lifebuoy, Bajaj Avenger etc. that are based on proven empirical insights and are equally relevant for traditional as well as new-age brands. It also features a prologue by the celebrated Bollywood film director and former Chairman & CCO of MullenLowe Lintas Group  R. Balki, and an epilogue by Harish Bhat, Brand Custodian, Tata Sons.

Talking about Brands to Stands, Subbu said, Marketing will significantly benefit as brands take stands in a world that will no longer stand for a glut of commoditized products and services without any meaning. Our book 'Brands to Stands floats an idea that inspires brands and businesses to embrace this fresh new wave of thinking by showcasing how some of Indias top brands have positively impacted the way society at large thinks and behaves. Each of the brand stories chronicled in the book captures a wealth of marketing wisdom, powerful insights and memorable anecdotes from their respective brand custodians as well as prominent industry experts. The book appeals equally to corporates, entrepreneurs, students and about anyone who wants to elevate the role of brands to ensure that they are in the vanguard of transforming society. This is not a book with an end, but one that prompts a new beginning.

The launch event held on March 30th in Mumbai saw participation from prominent personalities of the advertising and marketing industry.

Currently, the book is available for exclusive distribution and will be available for retail in leading marketplaces soon.
Netflix will open an office in Polands capital Warsaw later this year as part of its wider European expansion plans. The office will serve as the streamers hub for the region.

It has been seven years since Netflix started its journey in Central and Eastern Europe. In 2016, the streamer localised its service in Poland. Soon after that Netflix became available in Romanian, Czech, Hungarian, Croatian and Ukrainian.

Throughout this time, and because we know how much our members in the region love local titles, we have worked with the creative community across CEE to grow our local film and series slate. In Poland alone, we have invested over 490 million PLN (~115 mln USD) in original Netflix films and series and have created over 2600 jobs on our productions, giving opportunities to actors, scriptwriters, directors and all of the below-the-line crews who are the backbone of every production. In parallel, we have consistently invested in licensing many hugely popular local titles in Czechia, Romania, Hungary and others. CEE has also become a strategic production hub for our international shows, with major titles like Extraction 2 or Shadow & Bone S01 successfully shot in the region recently, said Larry Tanz, Vice President Series, EMEA, in a blog post.

The streamer has worked closely with celebrated Polish creators to bring a variety of Polish films and series to Netflix members in Poland and around the world. Series like The Woods, Sexify, Rojst 97 and films such as David and the Elves, Nobody Sleeps in the Woods Tonight, How I Fell in Love with a Gangster and the critically-acclaimed Operation Hyacinth have connected with audiences across the region and regularly appeared in Netflix's Top 10.

Im thrilled to announce that we plan to open a Netflix CEE office in Warsaw later this year that will function as a hub for the region. The Netflix office in Warsaw is a natural next step for us and will help build long-term cooperation in the region as well as deepen existing ties, creating new opportunities for content creators and producers. The creativity and potential of the local industry make Warsaw a great place to base our business across Central and Eastern Europe, said Larry Tanz.
Gujarat has been scaling unprecedented heights of development and growth consistently for years, and huge credit for these rapid strides goes to the achievers from different fields. As a voice of inspiration in the region, News18 Gujarati constantly recognizes and lauds these role models and their success stories through various awards and felicitations. In its most recent effort, News18 Gujarati conducted Shreshtio Nu Sanman, an evening to honour the talented faces from Central Gujarat, in the presence of chief guests C. R. Patil (President, BJP Gujarat) and Harsh Sanghavi (Home Minister, Gujarat).

At the ceremony, the chief guests highlighted their vision for the state and their dream to create better opportunities for the citizens of Gujarat. The event also witnessed a panel discussion on Charotar as a Growth engine of Gujarat, focusing on education, industry, and agriculture. Dr. Utpala Kharod, Provost Bhaikaka University; Kantibhai Bhuva, Senior Vice President, Vithal Udhyognagar Industries and Dr. B.D. Patel, Retired Professor and Head Agronomy, Anand Agricultural University chaired the panel discussion in the presence of whos who of the city.

A total number of 19 awardees were recognized at the ceremony, which celebrated the achievement of such sharp minds who have made a mark for themselves with their passion, dedication, and hard work. These performers along with leading the change in their respective fields have also played an instrumental role in the betterment of society and the state.

Catch the complete coverage of the ceremony on 3rd April at 12.30pm, exclusively on News18 Gujarati.
ADDIS ABABA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China's strong commitment and positive engagement towards peaceful development in the Horn of Africa (HoA) will help create stability and peaceful development across the region, an Ethiopian expert has said.

Eyob Belachew, an Ethiopia-based international relations and political analyst, told Xinhua that the HoA region is volatile, incessantly ravaged by intra and inter-state conflicts.

"There is a high level of extra regional actors' penetration within the regional security agenda, which, I think, is the major source of prolonged and protracted conflicts in the region, along with socioeconomic and geopolitical factors," he said.

Emphasizing the wide-ranging security challenges affecting the region, the expert emphasized that the challenges are inter-connected threats to social stability and regional security, which demand the efforts of all actors involved in the instabilities in the region.

Amid a series of old and emerging security perils, countries in the region are urgently in need to find fresh conflict resolution approaches to ensure stability and peaceful socio-economic development.

Belachew emphasized that China's growing positive engagement would bring in a desirable outcome for countries in the region in fulfilling their quest for peaceful coexistence.

"China, as a global power and player, aspires to instill peace in the region. It is of paramount importance to the Chinese government to facilitate and establish the platform for inter-regional dialogue, which I believe will help to create stability and peace in the region and avoid the geographical contestation among countries of the region and pursue a path of unity and development," the expert said.

He emphasized that the proposal by China to hold a peace dialogue in the region "can play a huge part" towards peaceful development in the region.

Commending China's commitment to play its role in demonstrating its initiative of peaceful development in the HoA region in a multidimensional approach, he called on other global powers to follow China's positive role.

"However, still, there is a higher demand for all actors to play a fair and constructive role in firmly perusing peace, development, and good governance in the region," he said.

During his visit to Africa at the beginning of the year, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi proposed the "Outlook on Peace and Development in the Horn of Africa", which aims to support regional countries in achieving lasting peace and security and embracing development and prosperity. 
KAMPALA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's Ministry of Health has further eased COVID-19 restrictions as the east African country's positive cases are consistently dropping to near zero.

The ministry has stopped retesting of all incoming travelers from the east African region provided they arrive with test results from their point of departure.

Emmanuel Ainebyoona, the ministry spokesperson told Xinhua Wednesday that the suspension took immediate effect.

"Uganda will recognize COVID-19 PCR results from the East African Community (EAC) state laboratories that were jointly accredited by EAC for COVID-19 testing. Travelers should come with COVID results taken within 72 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

EAC member countries include Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan. On Tuesday, the Democratic Republic of Congo was also admitted to the community.

The ministry said COVID-19 PCR results were currently not required for fully vaccinated travelers including truck drivers to cross the land border entry points.

Ainebyoona noted that PCR tests would be maintained for travelers who come in through the country's airport, Entebbe International Airport.

The ministry has also integrated COVID-19 vaccination into routine immunization at most of the health facilities in the country. Previously there were special COVID-19 vaccination exercises across the country following an increase in the number of cases.

The number of medical personnel recruited to manage the pandemic has also been reduced as cases have dropped and there is no money to pay the health workers' wages, according to the ministry.

"Following the reduction of cases of COVID-19 in the country, coupled with budgetary constraints, it has been decided to scale down the number of health workers under Emergency Response to COVID-19," the ministry said in a recent circular to hospital heads.

Those affected by the scale down are health workers on non-gratuity contracts who were deployed in COVID-19 treatment centers.

The ministry directed managers of referral hospitals and other government medical facilities to mainstream the management of COVID-19 into the main structure to ensure continuity of service delivery in hospitals.

The ministry in July last year recruited hundreds of health workers as the country faced a virulent second wave of the pandemic. The new recruits were beefing up the existing workforce, which was overwhelmed by the surging number of cases.

The country then imposed second lockdown efforts to reduce the rapid spread of the pandemic. The first lockdown was imposed in March 2020 when the country registered the first COVID-19 case.

The country in January fully reopened the economy after close to two years of restrictions.

Ministry of health figures as of March 30 showed there were only two cases admitted to health facilities, with only 14 daily cases being registered.

Cumulatively, the country has registered 163,892 infections with 3,595 deaths and 100,167 recoveries. The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in the country stands at 18.6 million. 
Its difficult to have much faith in the judicial system when individual judges appear to be gullible consumers of fake news, swallowing media accounts of events that have been widely questioned and, at least in some cases, debunked completely.

Just how gullible and uninformed even top jurists can be was seen in January at the U.S. Supreme Court, during oral arguments over the governments COVID-19 vaccine mandate affecting nearly 100 million workers.

During the arguments, the justices revealed an ignorance of the basic facts surrounding COVID that shocked onlookers  and showed that many relied upon unreliable media sources for their information.

"We have hospitals that are almost at full capacity with people severely ill on ventilators, Justice Sonia Sotomayor blurted out at one point. We have over 100,000 children, which we've never had before, in serious condition, many on ventilators.

In fact, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the seven-day average of pediatric hospitalizations for COVID at that time was only around 3,700.

That a Supreme Court justice could be so uninformed  involving an issue that affected 100 million workers and the entire U.S. economy  highlighted for many the danger of Big Tech control of information and the media.

The issue of judicial ignorance and outright bias arose again this week with another boomer federal judge, U.S District Judge David Carter, who issued a finding that former President Donald Trump more likely than not" committed felony obstruction in the effort to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential election.

What is troubling about Judge Carters 44-page opinion is not his analysis of the law. He claims that Trump may have violated provisions of the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which could well be true.

Rather, it is his tendentious summary of the facts surrounding the 2020 election and January 6 protest at the Capitol that is shocking.

Not only does this tough-minded judge present a picture of the 2020 election that reads like a press release from Nancy Pelosis office, but he presents as facts things we now know are simply not true.

For example, in his opinion Judge Carter cites the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agencys declaration, one week after the election, that [t]he November 3rd election [was] the most secure in American history and found no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.

Yet just days after CISAs statement was issued on November 12, election officials in Georgia reported that, during a mandatory recount, they had discovered 5,900 votes that had been lost and were initially not reported  exactly the opposite of what the CISA claimed. A day later, they found 2,800 moreuncounted ballots. This narrowed Bidens lead in the state from 14,112 votes to 12,781 as most of those extra votes went to Trump.

Whats more, Judge Carter, in his summary of the facts surrounding the 2020 election, utterly ignores the issues raised by the State of Texas in its suit before the U.S. Supreme Court that battleground states unconstitutionally revised their states election statutes and flooded the Defendant States with millions of ballots to be sent through the mails, or placed in drop boxes, with little or no chain of custody.

Judge Carters characterization of the January 6 protest at the Capitol, which he calls an attack, is equally uninformed and even more partisan.

He calls the protest at the capital a rampage that left multiple people dead without seeming to know that of the five people who died, all were Trump supporters. One was a woman veteran shot by an overzealous Capitol Hill policeman, and the rest all died of natural causes, such as stroke or heart attack.

At the end of his opinion, Judge Carter even repeats the widely-debunked claim that the January 6 protests led to the deaths of several law enforcement officers. He doesnt seem to know, or doesnt care, that the claim that Officer Brian Sicknick died from being struck by a fire extinguisher thrown by protesters has been proven false and deliberate fake news, and that the four other officers often cited by the media, Jeffrey Smith, Howard Liebengood, Gunther Hashida and Kyle DeFreytag, all died by suicide many months after January 6 and not in the line of duty.

This is ignorance of basic facts that is on the same level of Justice Sotomayors 100,000 COVID babies.

Judge Carters opinion, like Sotomayors error-ridden declarations over COVID, only strengthens the view of many ordinary Americans that the judicial system is corrupt beyond repair, and nakedly partisan.

Judge Carter was appointed by Bill Clinton, the husband of Donald Trumps arch-rival Hillary Clinton, who is the architect of one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated on the American public  the Russia Hoax  aided and abetted by the federal judicial system and the U.S. Department of Justice. It is thus not surprising, but still disheartening, that a federal judge would use his office to further Hillarys agenda of demonizing Trump in an attempt to prohibit another run for elected office.

The judge may well be correct that Trumps legal theory was wrong that Vice President Mike Pence could have rejected the votes of the electors and demanded legislative investigations of the questionable ballots in some states.

But reading the judges media-tainted and at points outright false summary of the facts, you can only conclude that Judge Carter is yet another partisan contributing to the cause of stopping Donald Trump, no matter the cost.

Robert J. Hutchinson writes about the intersection of politics and ideas. He latest book is What Really Happened: The Death of Hitler.
For a man who vows to de-Nazify Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has surely focused a great deal of attention on the dramatic events of 1938, and has seen fit to closely mimic the actions of Germanys dead, unlamented fuehrer in that very fateful year.

Mr. Putin has clearly embraced Hitlers tactics towards both Austria and Czechoslovakia, using them as a template for his struggle to claw back for Mother Russia what he has always viewed as rightfully hers.

Over the course of his rule, Putin has shown himself to be nearly as ruthless in pursuit of his political aims as Adolf Hitler, caring little for the carnage or civilian suffering produced by his aggressive actions in various parts of the world. But its useful to remember that Hitler swallowed Austria and Czechoslovakia by sheer pressure alone, cynical though it was. At least in these initial conquests of his soon war-provoking reign, Hitlers calculations and assessments of Germanys relative strengths, and more importantly his opponents exploitable weaknesses, proved more accurate than Putins during this current conflict.

In his dreams of reassembling a portion of Tsarist Russias staggering vastness, Mr. Putin has mistakenly concluded that the deep and longstanding ties between the two peoples that loomed so large in his imagination would persuade the Ukrainians to desist from opposing Russian forces too strenuously. While he certainly didnt expect a rapturous welcome in the way old newsreels depict triumphant German troops being greeted with joyous smiles and Nazi salutes as they entered Vienna in March 1938, Putin (and most of the rest of the world) failed to foresee the dogged, determined and unexpectedly skilled resistance the Ukrainians have consistently put forth. His imaginings somehow could not grasp that the collective memories of the Ukrainian people constituted something more akin to a nightmare than a dream; horrible visions of the deaths of more millions than history could precisely count due to starvation and summary execution as the Bolsheviks brutally consolidated their hold on power in the late 1920s and early '30s --- something that ought to be more fully considered by those outsiders astounded by the resoluteness of Ukrainian opposition.

So the Ukrainians' oft-repeated vows to fight and die for their independence turned out to be no bluff, consequently Russian tanks and vehicles were greeted not with flowers and cheering throngs, but Molotov cocktails and Javelin missiles. Thus spurning Putins embrace, Ukraine will now experience the wrath of their rejected suitor. One can only pray that by the time this altogether unnecessary war is concluded, Kyiv doesnt resemble the flattened Warsaw of 1944.

Hitlers desire for Anschluss (union) with Austria similarly had an emotional basis. Austrian by birth, the act of incorporating his homeland into the Reich could only help affirm his own somewhat suspect German identity. But unlike Putin, he correctly gauged the attitudes of his adversaries, and their unwillingness to shed blood for Austrias independence. The beleaguered Austrian Chancellor, Kurt von Schuschnigg, had vainly tried to stave off a complete German takeover by acceding to some of Hitlers demands: taking Austrian Nazis into his cabinet and cancelling a free and open plebiscite on the reunification issue that might have complicated or embarrassed the fuehrer's aims.

Seeking to head off any contemplated acts of vehement resistance, Hitler ordered Wehrmacht troops to cross the Austrian border on March 12. Schuschnigg promptly tendered his resignation, while at the same time instructing the Austrian army to offer no resistance. In fairness to Schuschnigg, those willing to fight for Austrias independence were but a tiny minority. Most Austrians either supported the Anschluss or, despite their misgivings, had no stomach for taking up arms against the militarily superior Germans.

Todays Ukrainians, thanks to their past sufferings at the hands of Moscows brutal dictates, are made of sterner stuff, and failing to recognize that fundamental fact was Mr. Putins biggest miscalculation.

Putins maneuverings in Ukraines Donbas region also closely mirror Hitlers insidious machinations towards Czechoslovakias Sudetenland that came to a head in September 1938. The tactics are eerily similar: infiltrating rabble-rousers into an ethnically mixed area in order to maximize strife; claiming harassment and discrimination against the minority population to help promote rebellious separatism; and finally, appealing to ones own people to come to the aid of their oppressed brothers and sisters.

In some ways Putins even outdone Hitler in audacity; Hitler at least waited for the cover of a phony, pre-ordained conference of western leaders terrified of another war with Germany to be handed the Sudetenland on a platter --- without ever consulting the Czechs. Shorn of most of her formidable fortifications, the nearly defenseless remainder of Czechoslovakia fell to the Germans only months later. But unlike the Russians in Ukraine, it was all accomplished with threats, but no shooting.

Putin pictured Joe Biden and the other leaders of the NATO alliance as modern day Chamberlains and Daladiers, and in that respect he may have been more close to the mark. However, he severely misjudged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose unyielding defiance and willingness to lead from the front served to rally world opinion to him. Should he survive this onslaught, Zelensky will call the tune at any future peace conference; there will be no Munich redux, with Ukraines fate being decided by others behind her back.

In the end, true tyrants always reveal their inevitable limitations; neither Hitler nor now Putin proved himself to be a practitioner of power politics of the first order. Both lacked the skill, or perhaps just the subtlety of mind to achieve their political aims with a minimum of bloodshed. Physical occupation was of greater value to them than the wise exercise of political influence. Had Putin just stayed his hand and applied pressure, he could have achieved a good deal of what he wanted, especially on the issue of Ukrainian non-alignment. Accepting half a loaf and calling off the war would likely have secured the relieved endorsements of Presidents Biden and Macron, Chancellor Scholz and Prime Minister Johnson. Instead, his bullheadedness has invested the NATO alliance with a new vitality, one that its less than dynamic leaders couldnt possibly have summoned on their own, nor perhaps even truly wished to bring about.

Like many others (including our ex-president), I thought Vladimir Putin to be too shrewd an operator to allow himself to be caught in this precarious position. Now the world must hold its breath to see the destructive extent of any desperate solution he concocts to his self-created dilemma. An added worry is the reports of Putins deterioration from obdurate but sane autocrat to nuclear-armed madman, impervious to reason.

Admirable as the nearly universal Ukrainian rejection of Putins lunge surely is, and the undeniable gallantry of President Zelensky in the face of this outrage against peace, his instant elevation into some Churchillian pantheon is still somewhat premature. He is not untouched by Ukraines pervasive past corruption; his countrys interference with Americas political processes probably exceeds that of the Russians. By now, Ukrainian leaders must be wondering if their extensive investments in the Biden family and other Democrat politicians were colossal wastes of money. Neither can Bidens feebleness in bearing and expression --- constantly requiring confusing walk backs --- inspire much confidence from the Poles or other Eastern European peoples who recognize themselves as future prey should Putins Ukrainian aggression somehow end victoriously.

Past corruption and Bidens leadership deficits notwithstanding, clear-thinking people must nevertheless endeavor to do everything within reason to safeguard Ukrainian independence and aid their courageous fight, with the hope that this terrible ordeal will help them --- and other former Soviet possessions and satellites --- move beyond corrupt, Russian-style oligarchy to genuine, if imperfect, democracy.

Image: Narodowe Archiwum Cyfrowe Poland, via Picryl / public domain
Russias war on Ukraine is changing the geopolitics of the world. The delicate situation calls for agility and improvising to adjust to a crisis that could quickly become ugly. The Biden Administration and Western Europe have imposed sanctions as part of a strategy to end the war.

However, the administration is also applying sanctions upon the American energy industry to serve the ideology of the climate-change left. America cannot win a war if it turns against itself.

President Biden is waging war on American energy, and his administration is doing everything possible to discourage production. It cant not know what it is doing.

A Devastating SEC Decision

A recent decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is a case in point. The Democrat-dominated body voted to advance a proposed rule that will wreak havoc on energy producers -- right when they need to increase production to offset sanctioned Russian supplies.

The new SEC rule will expand the requirement that all public companies disclose the climate risks involved in their operations. This already egregious requirement has now been made completely unreasonable.

Present law covers so-called material events and risks defined as information deemed important by a reasonable person. Such disclosures are usually very limited to those things impacting the environment that investors would need to know.

However, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and his fellow Democrats voted 3-1 to redefine materiality to mean anything they want it to mean. The 510-page proposal broadens the requirements to require public disclosure of the risks of anything associated with carbon and climate change politics at any stage in production.

Contrary to the SECs Purpose

There has never been a proposal like this one in SEC history. The rule unloads a mountain of bureaucracy on already-struggling firms. It contradicts securities law and sound regulatory practice. Such disclosures favor progressive investors seeking to strangle oil and energy investment by depriving it of credit and capital. The new data provide ammunition to woke investors who can cancel offending companies.

The SEC exists to ensure investors have relevant information about publically traded firms. Thats it. It was never intended to be a policy-making agency imposing an ideology. Its purpose is to assure fairness in the securities markets, protecting investors against fraud.

The SEC was founded after the stock market crash in 1929. It sought to restore investor confidence by stopping the deceptive sales practices and manipulations that caused the crash in the first place. The commission established rules, supervision and forbade unfair use of nonpublic information about stocks when trading.

A Rule With an Agenda

The new rule uses this full disclosure requirement to demand information about greenhouse gas emissions and other climate ideology data. The new requirements are massive. They have no place in a volatile world where everything is upside down. The fanatical zeal of the green new dealers once more disregards reality in favor of de-development and eco-fantasy.

The new reporting must include all phases of production. This begins with the greenhouse-gas emissions caused directly by the operations of company plants and their energy consumption. Companies will also have to report on Scope 3 emissions, which means data related to supply chains and customer use.

All manufacturers will feel the fire of the regulatory state. However, these draconian requirements especially target oil companies, which will be required to estimate emissions from rigs, tankers, and pipelines transporting oil and gas. On the product side, emissions from combustion engine consumption, plastics and other oil-based materials must be monitored.

The worst thing about Scope 3 emissions is that the SEC admits there is no clear definition for them. The commission has not proposed a bright-line quantitative threshold for the materiality determination. Everything depends upon the facts and circumstances surrounding each case. Thus, the potential for arbitrariness in rule enforcement is enormous. All it takes is an overzealous regulator to determine that an eco-factor is relevant to an investors supposed need to know.

Harassment on a Grand Scale

The new reporting is meant to intimidate. The commission has the authority to reveal only those things that are necessary or appropriate in the public interest or for the protection of investors. The SEC decision provided no proof that the new green ideology data fit the criteria for necessary public disclosure.

The SEC claims the new rule will will promote efficiency, competition, and capital formation. However, it would add yet another layer of government regulation to the already excessive burden carried by companies. The threat of such exhaustive disclosures will discourage companies from going public and encourage stock buy-backs to return to the private sector.

In addition, it will expose private supply chain partners to disclose climate information that they usually would not have to report. All this information must be certified and audited, and companies will be liable for inaccuracies.

This huge effort is made to help woke, eco-friendly investors like BlackRock and public pension funds sniff out climate offenders whose only crime is using carbon like every human being in America.

The proposed rule will now be open for comments for 60 days before being finalized. Many states, such as West Virginia, have promised to sue the SEC for harassment of their energy industry. However, many rightly note that the damage has already been done. A shot has been fired over the bow of the energy sector. Even if federal courts throw the final rule out, the message has been sent. The war on energy has been declared. Investors beware. You are a target of the Democrats and their extreme green militants.

The message is equivalent to sanctions on the industry for doing its job. President Biden is declaring war on American energy in a time of crisis. The administration knows this and nevertheless continues destroying the nation.

Image: Public Domain Images
We live in age of forever crises. I may not be as old as other Americans, but from my early memories and maturation, coinciding with the post-9/11 world, I have noticed that we live in an age of forever crises. These forever crises have certainly become more acute and part of public consciousness since COVID, but it goes back long before COVID.

Some crises are not crises, though they may be related to critical issues we must contend with -- but let us not confuse an important issue to deal with as a crisis. The War on Terror is a critical issue. I do not consider it a crisis. I recall this crisis being blown out of proportion when I was an elementary student in the midst of the anthrax scare, Saddam Husseins WMDs that were supposedly going to be launched on New York City, and the drumbeat of perpetual war and never-ending military intervention against people who hardly have the ability to invade the United States. Most Americans have now seen through this facade pushed for 20 years.

But the War on Terror was billed as a crisis. The success of the U.S. military, despite the eventual failure of our political and punditry class, caused this crisis to slip to the back of our minds. It became more a nuisance, two decades later, to still be stuck in war despite constant military success. Some, however, think its a great idea to be stuck in forever wars.

As the crisis that was the War on Terror slid away, a new crisis emerged -- one with far more dangerous staying power: global warming. We were told in the mid-2000s of the impending doom of our coasts, of island nations around the world, and that if we did not immediately change our economy and way of life, we would be the last generation to live on the earth. We are still living under the auspices of this crisis. There is no Planet B many millennials hold at their idolatrous global warming vigils and gatherings.

The global warming crisis is also related to the economic crisis -- the economic crisis of global capitalism and poverty (so we are told). Let us not worry about the fact that global poverty is decreasing and standards of living are increasing. We are told, especially since the 2008 recession, that our current economic system is acidic to the environment and to human flourishing. Dealing with this crisis involves the gigantic expansion of federal bureaucracies and regulatory agencies to counteract what businesses, charities, and the market cannot.

Then COVID hit. While we have seen the slow backtracking of the media over the dictatorial lusts of ostracism and COVID shaming, the COVID crisis was equally global as all the previous crises were. COVID also demanded increased federalization, bureaucratization, and regulatory measures that stripped civil liberties and small businesses. Only the Leviathan could save us from our own stupidity!

Now were on the verge of World War III. While most people, especially Americans, are decidedly on the side of the Ukrainians fighting for their freedom and preserving their sovereignty (arent these noble goals worth advocating at all times?), the media and our political leaders who worship at the altar of the Leviathan are speaking the language of treachery, calling for anti-war advocates to be locked up, and that there needs to be a greater governmental response to the war.

What all the crises of the twenty-first century have in common is that they are perpetual and that they demand big government solutions that will invariably reduce individual and civil society liberties and norms. The worshippers of Leviathan need crises -- never let a crisis go to waste as Rahm Emmanuel said -- in order to advance their totalitarian agenda. And it is a totalitarian agenda they advocate.

Crises demand totalizing responses: we must sacrifice as individuals and forget the idea of normal and embrace a new normal. What Orwellian language and newspeak all things considered. The new normal, of course, is greater government control over our lives and the continued erosion of civil liberties and the desecration of the vibrancy of civil society. To go back to the old normal is the world of relationships, freedom, and open association. No more! Not in this brave new world we live in.

These authoritarians and totalitarians, especially in America and the broader Western world (though they cloak their intentions in softer, more benign, language than open revolutionaries), move from one crisis to the next. Their sycophantic allies in the media keep us drowned in 24/7 news over these crises. We are force-fed the lies of perpetual crisis to frighten us into submission.

Thomas Hobbes wrote that people are willing to surrender their liberties to government out of fear. Fear is what compels us to flee to the foot of the mortal god that is the state for the promises of protection and security. Free us from the danger of harm is the impetus of the slow growth of authoritarian government that becomes totalitarian government over the course of time: governments totalizing control over all aspects of our lives.

And what has the century of perpetual crisis revealed? Precisely this. If we consent to the government solution in all these crises, we will be free from the danger and harm that threatens our lives. So we are inundated by the media and the rhetoric of our politicians with the constant threats which rely on a sense of fear to surrender our liberties. If we do not, then they employ the fear of social and moral shaming: how dare you not have compassion for your neighbor or grandma!

We who love liberty, the American experiment, and true human flourishing must remain vigilant of the constancy of the forever crises that now abound. We will never not be without crises, according to our government and media. We must, however, not let their constant barrage of crises and fears eradicate our spirit of free living and human existence.

We must live our lives independent of their fearmongering. The true health of our souls, our society, and our nation, depend on our rejection of the forever crises to simply live life rather than submit in fear of life. Liberty also depends on our living free of their fearmongering and posturing of forever crises which aim, at their heart, to eradicate freedom.

Paul Krause is the editor of VoegelinView. He is the author of The Odyssey of Love: A Christian Guide to the Great Books, The Politics of Plato, and contributed to The College Lecture Today and the forthcoming book Making Sense of Diseases and Disasters.

Image: Pixabay
TRIPOLI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) evacuated 119 asylum-seekers from Libya to Rwanda on Tuesday evening, the agency said in a statement on Wednesday.

The asylum seekers, including women and children, came from Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia, said the UNHCR, adding most of them had been living in urban areas of the capital Tripoli.

"These evacuation flights out of Libya continue to provide hope and safety to refugees and asylum seekers trapped in Libya," said Djamal Zamoum, UNHCR's acting chief of mission in Libya.

The asylum seekers will stay at transit facilities as the agency works to find long-term resolutions for them, including resettlement, voluntary repatriation, migration to countries that granted asylum and integration with local Rwandan communities, according to the UN agency.

Since 2017, a total of 8,143 vulnerable refugees and asylum seekers have been taken out of Libya to various safer countries.

Many illegal immigrants, mostly from Africa, choose to cross the Mediterranean Sea to European shores from Libya, which has been suffering chaos since 2011 when former leader Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown.

So far this year, more than 3,000 illegal immigrants have been rescued at sea and returned to Libya, including women and children, according to the International Organization for Migration. 
England knows much about war in Europe. For over a thousand years, it has been entrenched in conflicts on the continent -- from the First Crusade to the Hundred Years War, Seven Years War, Napoleonic Wars, and all the conflicts of the 20th century -- as both victim and aggressor. The last 77 years of peace in Europe are an exception to the violent trend of our enlightened nation. After surviving such a bloody history -- and remaining a European power, at that -- one would think we knew how to handle aggressors. To this end, as Lord Nelson said, England expects that every man will do his duty, of which Winston Churchill is held up as the paragon.

Against this history, Britains response to the war in Ukraine has been a disappointment. In responding to the crisis, Boris Johnson has adopted the same strategy of appeasement that failed to prevent the Second World War in 1939. He closely follows the steps of his predecessor, Neville Chamberlain, in dealing with Nazi Germany as he grapples with Russias aggression. For Johnson, a biographer of Churchill -- in his words, the resounding human rebuttal of appeasement -- who has channeled his imprimatur throughout his political career, the irony is prolific. To borrow from Boriss book, he is missing his Churchill Factor.

In American lore, the contrast between Churchill and Chamberlain might mirror that between Abraham Lincoln and James Buchanan. The former are celebrated for their moral strength and wartime victories, while the latter are footnotes of failure who caused those very crises. In Chamberlains case, this was the Munich Pact -- his agreement with Nazi Germany in 1938. As Nazi forces invaded Czechoslovakia, Chamberlain struck a deal to cede Sudetenland (a German-speaking region) against Czechoslovak wishes. Hitler then promised to lay no further claims in Europe. A year later, though, that promise was broken as Germany invaded the rest of Czechoslovakia. When they pushed along the same course into Poland, war began.

Replace the proper nouns in the preceding paragraph -- Ukraine for Czechoslovakia, Nazi Germany for Russia -- and you will find a picture of the present, with Britain as the only constant. Like the Nazi Germany, Russia has begun a special military operation in Ukraine to protect Russian-speaking regions of the country. Like Hitler, Vladimir Putin has professed no desire for expansion into the rest of Europe, while demanding that Ukraine remain a neutral non-NATO country. Yet, like Chamberlain, Boris Johnson has sought to appease Putin rather than confront him. In a New York Times op-ed, he flagrantly dismissed Ukraines prospects of NATO membership and said that Britain was ready to respond to Russias stated security concerns through negotiation. The ambiguous message to Russia couches its cowardice: If you end the war, youll get you want. Similarly, he has refused a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which protect fleeing civilians from bombardment. Even in this inferno, Johnson is trying to deal with the devil while Ukraine goes through hell.

In doing so, Johnson clings to the ignorant idea that concessions will end hostilities. He has not learned the lesson of Munich: that appeasement never works. Aggressor states view any concession as a sign of weakness on the other side, which fears the consequences of their own response. Such asymmetric fear only emboldens the aggressor to push further, for revanchism has no true limits. Britain and NATOs naked fear of war, and concession of Ukraines neutrality, will validate Russias decision achieve its objectives through force. It will only embolden Putin to seek the same neutrality in other states of the former Soviet bloc -- i.e., Moldova, Finland, the Baltics and, perhaps even Poland. Its a rather simple lesson that everyone learns about bullies in their youth: give them an inch, and theyll take a mile. Concession leads to capitulation. It is no different in geopolitics. Ignorant of this truth, Chamberlain made the mistake of appeasement 84 years ago. Johnson does so once again.

Then, as now, many of Chamberlains conservatives opposed appeasement, none more so than Churchill. Thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting This is only the beginning of the reckoning, he said in the House of Commons, attacking on his own government. A veteran of the Great War, Churchill knew that only defiant strength would stop an aggressor. Boris Johnson, his biographer, apparently does not. Presently, Churchills role is reprised by Tobias Ellwood MP, a veteran himself, who has castigated Johnson and led the call for a no-fly zone, a measure to protect civilians and force Russia to cease and desist.

The typical response, in which Johnson joins, is that a no-fly zone (which NATO aircraft would have to enforce) runs the risk of direct hostilities with Russia, which could lead to a nuclear exchange. For all the gravity of this apocalyptic objection, it defies the logic of nuclear deterrence. Equal possession of nuclear weapons is precisely what prevents the other side from launching theirs; the fear of mutual destruction keeps the peace. Unlike North Korea, Russia is not a rogue state. It is a mature state with a 70-year history of deterrence, and is unwilling to risk total destruction over Ukraine. Indeed, when Russia put its nuclear forces on high alert last month in response to Western sanctions, Johnsons government brushed it off as a distraction. Any Russian bluster about nuclear war over a no-fly zone is no different.

Moreover, as experience has shown, Russia is prone to halting when checked by NATO force. In 2015, NATO state Turkey shot down a Russian jet that deliberately violated its airspace during operations in Syria, killing the pilot. It faced neither nuclear attacks nor any violations of its airspace by Russia thereafter. Against this precedent, to suggest that a no-fly zone over Ukraine would escalate into full war, much less a nuclear war, is absurd. It lends credence to the idea that Britain is afraid, which only boosts Russias audacity to continue. Whereas Churchills attitude was to never give in never yield to force, never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy, Johnson has yielded at the first threat. Now, no relief aid or military hardware can regain Britains credibility. It has been sold out to fear.

History is remarkable for the dramatic contrasts of its moments. The Titanic sinks on its maiden voyage, Kennedy is killed at the height of his presidency, a new decade begins with a worldwide pandemic, a new millennium begins with terror on 9/11. Such oscillations on the world stage mirror the men who are its players. From Buchanan to Lincoln and Chamberlain to Churchill the character of our leaders often swings successively between the terrible and the terrific. In this last dyad, the judgment of Boris Johnson hangs in the balance. This war in Europe is his defining moment. Will he rise to the occasion and save Europe from a new Iron Curtain? Or will he embrace appeasement, and postpone the confrontation of Russia to a future disadvantage. Both are pathways paved by history. For Johnson, the juncture is decisive. He must make it his finest hour, swiftly, or in the name of God, go.

Image: Donald Sheridan
We are living in times of the self-obsessed and the self-absorbed, where everything begins and ends with "me."

When people visit a historical monument or marvel at the scenic beauty of nature, instead of taking pictures for their memories, they take selfies, where the self literally is before everything.

Politicians and celebrities promote and brag about owning expensive electric vehicles (Teslas start at $69,900), not caring that the average annual income for citizens is $53,490.

Publicity-hungry medical professionals and powerful politicians impose mandates for ineffective vaccines and prescribe lockdowns for regular people while flouting these rules in their personal lives

This narcissism and self-love almost insulate these people from the outside world. Consequently, there is very little empathy for the less fortunate. Charity all too often is for virtue-signaling rather than compassion.

But on rare occasions, we do hear of stories that succeed in restoring faith in the human race.

One such incident occurred in Queens, New York a few days ago.

Louie Suljovic, a 38-year-old military veteran, and his 68-year-old father, Cazim Suljovic, were working at their pizzeria and restaurant at night when they saw the elderly woman being robbed by two men.

Without even a scintilla of reluctance, both father and son swung into action to help the victim.

Following a brutal and prolonged physical struggle with the assaulters, both Suljovics were stabbed multiple times and struck with an unidentified object. Both the father and son suffered punctured lungs. The elderly woman was also stabbed by one of the assailants.

Despite being stabbed and obviously in considerable pain, both men managed to restrain two of the three perpetrators until police arrived to take them into custody.

The brave men then walked over with the police to the nearest hospital, where they and the woman are being treated.

The NYPD and many others lauded their local heroes for their unquestionable selflessness and courage.

#Elmhurst heroes:

Local Military veteran and pizzeria owner Louie was working behind the counter at Louies pizza when he and his father witnessed an elderly woman being robbed outside. Without hesitation, they jumped into action to help and were stabbed in the process. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/CB42vjTsVH  NYPD 110th Precinct (@NYPD110Pct) March 28, 2022

Thanks to the quick response of third platoon patrol, PO ODonnel and Lt. Korpolinski apprehended two perpetrators while other responding officers provided immediate medical attention. Louie and his father are now recovering thanks to the staff at @NYCHealthSystem Elmhurst(2/3)  NYPD 110th Precinct (@NYPD110Pct) March 28, 2022

This was not their only recent act of altruism. The Suljovics had also donated meals to Elmhurst Hospital staff and emergency workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"He and his father are among the very best New York has to offer. We thank them for their bravery and wish them a speedy recovery," the NYPD's 110th Precinct said in a statement.

The assaulters and thieves were identified as Robert Whack, 30, and Supreme Gooding, 18. Gooding is Whack's brother-in-law.

Both men were charged with robbery, assault, and criminal possession of a weapon. Whack was also charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance. The third perpetrator remains at large as police continue their investigation.

The elderly female victim informed the police that her assaulters had struck her from behind, pushed her, and snatched her bag. This was followed by a stabbing spree, where both she and her saviors were victims.

Surveillance video of the incident showed the three men following the victim that night. After the assault, Gooding is seen laughing as they flee with the victim's purse, the court papers indicated.

The police said they recovered a bloody knife from Whack's jacket pocket, and he once again confirmed that the weapon belonged to him.

Whack, arrested with 39 bags of heroin in his possession, was jailed on $450,000 bail, while Gooding was held on $250,000 cash bail at his arraignment, said a spokeswoman for the Queens D.A.'s office.

The assault is part of the crime wave that has engulfed many major cities across the U.S. Those relentlessly demonizing law enforcement as systemically racist and demanding the defunding of police have blood on their hands. They have weakened the police force and placed the lives of regular people in peril, while they themselves have private security.

The proud son also talked about his brave father.

"The man is a machine. They don't make them like that anymore. I'm better. It can be tough to breathe, but I'm better."

Louie is right.

The age of chivalry, bravery, and selflessness is fast melting into thin air.

The bravery of the Suljovics is in stark contrast to recent incidents where bystanders displayed indifference.

During an assault and robbery inside a McDonald's eatery located in Midtown, New York, witnesses simply watched as the victim was knocked unconscious by a parolee who was later taken into custody.

Also, last year, a passenger onboard a SEPTA train in Philadelphia was sexually assaulted, but none of the fellow passengers dared intervene or even notify authorities via their cell phones. The assault carried on for over 45 minutes until an off-duty employee reported the incident, resulting in the arrest of the assaulter.

Also on a Philadelphia train, four African-American girl students hurled racist abuses and intimidated and physically assaulted a group of Asian-American high school students. A senior Asian-American girl student who attempted to intervene was assaulted by the African-American girls. Once again, none of the other passengers intervened.

To be fair, we are living in a racially charged atmosphere that is driven by the media, politicians, and activists. In all cases, the perpetrators were non-white people, and it is possible that witnesses didn't want to intervene for fear of being demonized as racists.

They know that their lives and those of their families could be destroyed if they become targets of a relentless media-led campaign. Most people just do not want the hassle of being involved with the law and the unwanted media attention. They saw what happened to Kyle Rittenhouse and the Covington kid, both of whom were accused of racism without any basis, and their lives were nearly destroyed. Above all, few want to risk their lives or even an injury for strangers.

This makes the actions of Louie and Cazim Suljovic many times more heroic. Apart from not caring about their own well-being, they did not think about the potential consequences of their actions, such as a media trial. They also didn't care about lawyers for the perps potentially misusing the law or playing the race card to make them look like culprits.

The result of the way heroes are depicted in literature and on film is that we focus solely on the act of valor. The hero is thought of like a vigilante or an intrepid crime-fighter with fists and guns.

What is often forgotten is that the core of heroism is compassion. At the core of the Suljovics' actions was human empathy and kindness for the defenseless septuagenarian Korean woman in peril, who is no relative or friend of theirs.

We must hence celebrate them as humanitarians as much as heroes and hope we create a climate that encourages similar acts.

The justice system and law enforcement should ensure that such heroes are honored and above all treated with dignity and respect during every interaction.

The coverage across all media needs to be more extensive and commemorative. It is time to celebrate heroism and compassion.

The restaurant remains closed while the Suljovics recover from their injuries. Hence, a GoFundMe page set up to help the two men and their medical expenses has raised more than $276,000.

Photo credit: Twitter.
Few brands are more valuable than that owned by the shareholders of The Walt Disney Company, one that now is being shattered. In 2020, Forbes rated it as number seven in the world in value. But I think this may actually understate the standing of the Disney brand. Few people would want to take a vacation at a Google resort or take a Microsoft cruise, but the allure of Disney's brand is enough to attract vacationers from all over the world. Disney theme parks exist in the United States (2), France, China (2), and Japan, and these attract visitors from many other countries, many bringing their children along, others seeking to recapture the joys of their childhood.

The essence of the Disney brand has been wholesomeness and the innocence of children, embodied in the smiling, ever-cheerful persona of Mickey Mouse, whose figure appears on Page One of its annual report.

However, any association of Disney with wholesomeness and innocence was shattered by the excerpts from a company Zoom meeting obtained by journalist Christopher Rufo and published on Twitter. In case you haven't seen them:

SCOOP: I've obtained video from inside Disney's all-hands meeting about the Florida parental rights bill, in which executive producer Latoya Raveneau says her team has implemented a "not-at-all-secret gay agenda" and is regularly "adding queerness" to children's programming. pic.twitter.com/eJnZMpKIXT  Christopher F. Rufo  (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022

SCOOP: Disney corporate president Karey Burke says, "as the mother [of] one transgender child and one pansexual child," she supports having "many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories" and wants a minimum of 50 percent of characters to be LGBTQIA and racial minorities. pic.twitter.com/oFRUiuu9JG  Christopher F. Rufo  (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022

SCOOP: Disney diversity and inclusion manager Vivian Ware says the company has eliminated all mentions of "ladies," "gentlemen," "boys," and "girls" in its theme parks in order to create "that magical moment" for children who do not identify with traditional gender roles. pic.twitter.com/OWsGTUoeCA  Christopher F. Rufo  (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022

SCOOP: Disney production coordinator Allen March says his team is committed to "exploring queer stories" and has created a "tracker" to make sure they are creating enough "gender nonconforming characters," "canonical trans characters," and "canonical bisexual characters." pic.twitter.com/ddSzw4aqQv  Christopher F. Rufo  (@realchrisrufo) March 29, 2022

While there no doubt are some parents like Disney corporate president Karey Burke, who are proud to have "queer," or transgender, or pansexual children, and who see exposure to these concepts in early childhood as enlightened, I am reasonably sure that a very substantial majority of American and French parents, and even larger shares of Chinese and Japanese parents, see the inclusion of such characters in their children's screen viewing as akin to grooming, and something to be shunned.

Now that responsible executives at Disney have announced they will be inserting such content into their programming, boycott movements are already forming. And news of this commitment is certain to spread beyond the boundaries of Twitter, conservative media, and the United States.

While Disney has 190,000 employees worldwide, including many operations such as ABC, ESPN, Fox Studios, and the National Geographic Channel, there is a disturbing frequency with which employees in operations geared toward children have been arrested on sex crime charges:

How about you stand up for the rights and safety of your most vulnerable demographic and vet your employees better first and foremost? Seems to be a reoccurring problem with your company pic.twitter.com/wlbkmmKM3J  Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) March 28, 2022

I think executives of Disney have made a colossal blunder embracing the sexualization of young children. As a Facebook friend put it recently, referring to the company's stock: "Short the mouse."
The U.S. Border Patrol expects a record surge of migrants from 157 countries crossing our border illegally, with most presenting spurious claims to "asylum."

The Daily Mail reports:

The U.S. will see 1 million migrant encounters in the first half of Fiscal Year 2022, according to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), as the administration plans to start administering coronavirus vaccines to those in custody as it weighs ending Title 42 as early as next month. This figure just accounts for migrants encountered, meaning there could be thousands of other 'gotaways' who evaded CBP when illegally crossing into the U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz told Fox News that in the next few days, CBP will have encountered 1 million migrants from when the federal fiscal year started in October 2022.

Sure it's a big number  and the fiscal year is only half over.

But we ain't seen nuthin' yet.

These monster numbers come as Joe Biden has set the conditions for an even bigger surge  on two fronts.

One is in his executive order to replace immigration judges with newly created "asylum officers" brought in from the NGO open-borders ranks, to make decisions on asylum claims. These are people you can bet will rubber-stamp all asylum claims, regardless of what the law says.

The second incentive is in Biden's expected decision to scrap Title 42, an erratically employed executive order that allows Border Patrol agents to deport illegal crossers on COVID concerns. Based on the numbers of COVID-spreading migrants, such as in this instance here, it's pretty obvious that that order was used on only some migrants. Now it won't be used on any of them if the rule is rescinded on May 23, which seems likely following whatever recommendation the CDC puts out as its de facto union masters direct. The laughable claim now is that they'll offer them COVID vaccines, free of charge (to them), as if migrants who openly break the law can be trusted to come back for their second shot. Those who refuse will be sent back, unless they file an asylum claim, in which case they'll be allowed to stay but "stringently" monitored. Kind of like Afghan refugees being stringently vetted, right, Joe? Kids and babies will likely be forced to take them, too  and guess who will pay the medical bills and lawsuit bills when they get vaccine injuries? What could go wrong?

Both of those actions add up to two new incentives to cross the border illegally, just as the cartel human-smuggling networks have ramped up and improved their human-cargo pipelines, given the numbers seen. The current forecast is 18,000 migrants a day, up from the 7,000 or so being "encountered" today. You can bet that the numbers are going to be a hell of a lot higher than last year's 1.7 million illegal border crossings now that the risk of getting sent back is just about zero now. It's as sure as the sun coming up.

What's interesting here, though, is that this Biden lunacy comes just as midterms are approaching.

That surge won't hurt Republicans, but it will serve as a guided missile targeted at Democrats.

And what stands out is how many Democrats, particularly from border states, are clearly worried about it.

According to Fox News:

"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," Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema said in a letter to President Biden last week.

There's also this from Bill Melugin of Fox News, citing a group of lawmakers which include Democrats:

NEW: A group of Texas lawmakers including @TonyGonzales4TX, @tedcruz, @JohnCornyn & Democrat @RepCuellar have sent a letter to DHS & HHS urging them to keep Title 42 in place, saying DHS is unprepared, and does not have the capacity to handle a likely migrant surge. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/W1dPxdfh0R  Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) March 30, 2022

That suggests panic time for Democrats in the most vulnerable geographical area for Democrats, the south Texas border corridors, which have shifted red as the human waves of human-smuggling have already inundated those regions, never mind what's coming up.

What the intensified surge will do is remind residents that Joe Biden has no intention of shifting course, nor does he care in the least about the American communities along the border most affected by the migrant surge. The Biden administration has been trying to hide just how many illegal migrants it's allowing in, but there's no hiding anything from the border communities at the tip of the spear, because these communities see everything.

That's why Democrats are alarmed, and should be. Joe Biden has basically pitched his own Democrat base over the side, and rather than try to regain the voters who are moving to other parties, he's writing the whole area off. A border surge never bothers Joe Biden, or, for that matter, his border "czar," Kamala Harris.

But it clearly is concentrating the minds of those Democrats who are likely to be thrown out by the voters. We are seeing noises now, but this may be nothing compared to what is to come as the surge hits record highs.

Democrats must be spitting mad at this mop in the face from senile old Joe just as they try to make their case to voters. They may get a bit angrier than just angry enough to send stern letters to Biden, as has been done, given the size of the surge ahead of midterms. If it gets bad enough, and they decide they don't want to be the sacrificial lambs for the Biden administration, they may withhold votes for the upcoming Supreme Court slot, or possibly break for the Republicans themselves.

Screen shot from BBC video via YouTube.
If Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson were honest, she would acknowledge the tenets of her political party: life begins when Democrat politicians decide it does.

Democrats in California are working on a law to eliminate consequences for people who let babies die up to six weeks after a failed abortion. They certainly aren't biologists.

A mother or anyone else who allows a newborn baby to die wouldn't be charged with murder.

Democrats falsely claim they are for equal rights and equal treatment under the law, but if this legislation passes, babies less than six weeks old will be treated completely unequally. Some babies would have legal protections, while others would have as many rights as a clump of dirt.

Isn't it time the Democrats stopped claiming to be the party of science and empathy?

Brazen attempts to legalize infanticide are becoming the norm in blue states. According to Wesley J. Smith:

One blue-state ill that would allow a born baby to be neglected to death might be an anomaly. A second that does that  and perhaps could be interpreted to allow infanticide, also  is a pattern. The cultural Left is blazing new grounds of depravity.

The California proposal comes after a similar bill in Massachusetts but takes it a step farther. Pointing out his concerns, Smith cites the bills' language:

(c) A critical part of realizing reproductive justice for people in California is clarifying that there shall be no civil and criminal penalties for people's actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcomes. ... The Legislature finds and declares that every individual possesses a fundamental right of privacy with respect to personal reproductive decisions, which entails the right to make and effectuate decisionsabout all matters relating to pregnancy, including prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care. ... 123467. (a) Notwithstanding any other law, a person shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability or penalty, or otherwise deprived of their rights, based on their actions or omissions with respect to their pregnancy or actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcome, including miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion, or perinatal death.

Here are the frightening clauses: "postpartum care" and "perinatal death." "Postpartum" simply means the span of time shortly after childbirth, and "perinatal" is a scientific time metric that extends to six weeks after a child is born. Democrats rail against a state that doesn't want to indoctrinate children between the ages of 5 and 8 with obscenely sexualized "curricula." They don't want people to do business with states that require photo identification to vote. For Pete's sake, a Democrat woman nominated to the Supreme Court can't even define one of the most basic biological truths. But it's "reproductive justice" to torturously withhold care from precious babies?

What about the extensions of the Democrat party? Disney, "journalists," the plethora of woke companies, or Hollywood? Are they speaking out against laws that support the legalization of murder? Not a peep. Essentially, they see newborns as disposable diapers: deserving of a dumpster. I thought these people said they care about human rights!

If Judge Jackson is confirmed, she will have a duty to recuse herself from any case involving abortion and innocent life (among countless other things). She explicitly stated she is unsure when life begins, but she errs on the side of death.

The obvious choice for 2022 and 2024 gets clearer every day.
Most Americans have had a bellyful of the likes of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the National Institutes of Health bureaucrat who upended society in the name of flawed or absent research in the name of conquering COVID.

It turns out he's not sui generis, or even a bug in bad system  he's just a feature.

And now we know where he gets it from.

According to an eye-opening article in National Review by Johns Hopkins professor of applied economics Steve Hanke and the U.K. University of Durham's Professor Kevin Dowd, the Imperial College of London is kind of a Fauci cubed, based on its constant fear-mongering and bad research models. The college, unably headed by Dr. Neil Ferguson, wields power in inverse proportion to its competencies. And that power includes even the U.S. They begin:

The defining event in the history of Western Covid lockdowns occurred on March 16, 2020, with the publication of the now infamous Imperial College London Covid report, which predicted that in the "absence of any control measures or spontaneous changes in individual behaviour," there would be 510,000 Covid deaths in Great Britain and 2.2 million in the United States. This prediction sent shock waves around the world. The next day, the U.K. media announced that the country was going into lockdown. The impact of the report was amplified by the U.Ks soft-power machine, the BBC. Its reach has no equal: broadcasting in 42 languages, reaching 468 million people worldwide each week, and efficiently disseminating its message. With the BBC in full cry and the public genuinely alarmed, there was no room for dissent. A copycat cascade then took hold, with the U.S. and other countries embracing Londons message and policies. The result was a policy based on a defective model that originated at Imperial College under the leadership of Neil Ferguson. The model's major flaw is its assumption that people would be unresponsive to the dangers that accompany a pandemic. That behavioral assumption is unrealistic. If people are told they are in danger of catching a potentially lethal disease, most will take action to reduce their exposure. The Imperial team turned the world on its head with fantasy numbers about a scenario that could never materialize.

It turns out that this group has been wrong on pretty much every infectious disease it's ever made pronunciamentos about, at least over the past 20 years. Their formula has been to declare a public health emergency every time a new illness strikes, forecast monster death numbers, and demand huge disruptions from lockdowns and other measures until they get what they want. Hanke and Dodd write:

Before hurrying into panicked policy decisions, U.K. policy-makers should have been aware that Neil Fergusons Imperial College team had a history of defective modeling. With minimal effort, policy-makers would have quickly discovered that that team had a track record that makes astrology look respectable.

Incredibly, they have been wrong on everything. In 2001, they dropped the ball on U.K. foot and mouth disease, where they demanded that every animal be slaughtered to prevent the spread of the disease  millions and millions of livestock animals. Most of us remember how traumatic that was to farmers and animal-lovers. Turns out their forecasted death count wasn't anything near what they claimed it would be, and most of the animals could have been safely vaccinated. They weren't. But the Imperial College got a taste of power from this and went on to create other problems.

After that, they got busy with "mad cow" disease, something that cropped up in the early 1980s in the U.K. (when I lived there, which is why to this day I can't donate blood), and they felt a need to redux. Bad forecasts, lousy modeling, and 178 people died, not their forecasted 150,000.

They made similar mistakes of overblown forecasts and underwhelming death counts on bird flu and swine flu.

And nobody punished them when it became obvious they were wrong. Hanke and Dowd call for an "audit" of this group to find out why their models were so off base and that makes sense.

What it shows is that power is an aphrodisiac among the medical elites, and they rely on a fear-mongering formula to wield power. Once a pandemic burns itself out, they will get started on another one because the name of their game is power.

It's embarrassing stuff. Sunlight  and an audit  is can be the best disinfectant.

Image: Shadowssettle via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Max Horkheimer, a German philosopher prominent during the early 20th century, wrote:

The Revolution won't happen with guns, rather it will happen incrementally, year by year, generation by generation. We will gradually infiltrate their educational institutions and their political offices, transforming them slowly into Marxist entities as we move towards universal egalitarianism.

Horkheimer's chilling statement laid bare Marxian intentions to infiltrate the political sphere, incrementally working toward an end goal of radical transformation. It goes without saying that the conversion is fully realized in the Democrat party, but some are slow to acknowledge that the same forces are at work in the Republican Party as well. However, the treachery is overt in Arizona, and Pima County in particular.

Sherrylyn Young, an official candidate in a legislative race as a Republican, was, until very recently, a lifelong Democrat. During the Reagan years, she entered a political race to oust a Republican from a county government board. Most horrifically, she spent a lifetime committing abortions: sacrificing children at the altar of wealth and militant feminist ideology, remaining unrepentant for her actions. She clearly does not believe in the Arizona party platform tenet of "Life at Conception."

Her presence as a representative of Republican values proves that the strategy of Horkheimer and his ilk is at work in two ways. First, Young's vocal opposition to the ideals of the Republican Party brands her as an infiltrator. But the second fact to consider is that she isn't an anomaly. Registered Republicans put her on that ballot.

Abortion is a hot-button issue, and rightfully so, because people should be enraged over the wholesale slaughter of those not yet born. The apathy toward, or worse, the approval of such a barbaric act by those who claim to support innocent life details a sad reality that Republican values are decaying.

During this legislative session, both Massachusetts and California introduced bills to legalize infanticide. The obvious fact to note is that these states are run by Democrats. But eventually, as the revolution of which Horkheimer speaks continues to occur, it won't just be Democrats pushing the envelope to legalize murder. It will be Republicans, too.
The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, AP, and others have somehow all gotten the message that it is OK to cover the criminal activity revealed on Hunter Biden's laptop. It is about time.

However, every article I see about his laptop being genuinely his says there is no indication that Joe was involved  which is a bald-faced lie.

If they examined the data on the laptop, they know that Hunter references giving 10% to the big guy, know that Hunter commingled funds with Joe, and know that Hunter used the criminal kickbacks to pay Joe's bills. That is corruption to the core.

They also know that Joe blackmailed Ukraine with taxpayer money to fire the prosecutor.

This is massive corruption by Joe, yet the media cover for him.

It is no wonder there are so many corrupt politicians throughout the country, when most of the media are actively burying the truth of leftists like the Bidens and the Clintons as they support them for president.

Trump was also impeached for asking Ukraine to investigate the kickbacks to the Bidens.

It would be dereliction of duty if Trump, or any president, knew that some high-level officials in government were corrupt and didn't care.

When will the media do their job instead of functioning as campaign workers for the Democrat party?

A huge number of Obama administration officials should be in jail for falsely targeting Trump and associates while not caring about Hillary's and Joe's criminal activities, along with all the people who lied to Congress and the FISA courts.
On energy, President Trump again demonstrated his uncanny ability to see around the corner, and what he saw is now being seen by some Wall Street heavyweights. As a commonsense American, Trump saw the handwriting  now some hand-wringing  that the green energy solutions aren't ready for prime time. While his insights and warnings went unheeded, his message is now getting a hearing on Wall Street.

According to Larry Fink of BlackRock in his 2022 shareholder letter (bold type his):

The transition to net zero is already uneven with different parts of the global economy moving at different speeds. It will not happen overnight. We need to pass through shades of brown to shades of green. For example, to ensure continuity of affordable energy supplies during the transition, traditional fossil fuels like natural gas will play an important role both for power generation and heating in certain regions, as well as for the production of hydrogen. As we pursue these ambitious goals  which will take time  governments and companies must ensure that people continue to have access to reliable and affordable energy sources. This is the only way we will create a green economy that is fair and just and avoid societal discord. And any plan that focuses solely on limiting supply and fails to address demand for hydrocarbons will drive up energy prices for those who can least afford it, resulting in greater polarization around climate change and eroding progress. Divesting from entire sectors  or simply passing carbon-intensive assets from public markets to private markets  will not get the world to net zero.

Interestingly, Mr. Fink makes the new "energy equity" argument  namely, that high energy costs are far from equitable and are arguably racist since they target the less fortunate, who all too often are non-white people  not to mention traditionally Democrat voters.

Fink finds himself singing the same tune as hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio. Earlier this year, he addressed a conference in Abu Dhabi.

"Thank God for the oil producers" because they are providing reliable supply, Dalio said Monday on a panel at the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week summit. Dalio is adding his voice to a chorus urging vigilance in how the world transitions toward greening the economy and the impact it could have on everything from the cost of fuel to food.

As always, politicians are the last to know. But the new "tap the brakes on green energy" message is coming from the folks who bankroll the politicians. So perhaps there's hope for a more Trumpian energy future.

Image: Gage Skidmore.
CAIRO, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Egypt signed Thursday a five-billion-U.S. dollar deal with Scatec, a Norwegian renewable energy company, to establish and operate a green hydrogen production facility with a capacity of 100 megawatts in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, Egypt's cabinet said in a statement.

Egypt also signed an agreement on the purchase of the produced green hydrogen with Scatec, the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, Orascom Development Egypt, Egypt-based Misr Fertilizers Production Company, and Abu Dhabi-based Fertiglobe.

The produced green hydrogen by the Norwegian factory will be sent to the Fertiglobe factory in Egypt for making ammonia according to a long-term contract, the statement added.

"Producing green hydrogen is a priority for Egypt now, and part of the country's strategy for promoting the green economy," said the statement.

Later in another ceremony, the Sovereign Fund of Egypt and the Norwegian Investment Fund signed a framework agreement for cooperation in developing renewable energy, green hydrogen, and green infrastructure projects in several African countries. 
Posted on: March 31, 2022 3:54 PM

Anglican representatives at the UN call for an urgent response to the ever-growing threat faced by vulnerable people in war-torn Ukraine.

Anglican representatives at the United Nations have joined other faith-based and humanitarian organisations in calling for an urgent response to the ever-growing threat faced by women, children, the elderly and vulnerable people in Ukraine and those fleeing the conflict.

In a statement delivered at the 49th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, the Anglican Communion's representative to the UN joined with 11 other NGOs in saying that international humanitarian law and human rights law must be respected and protection of civilians, civilian infrastructures, as well as humanitarian aid workers guaranteed.

The statement was delivered by Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of Catholic relief and development agencies.

Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, told the Human Rights Council that the people of Ukraine had been enduring a living nightmare since Russia invaded on 24 February, with millions forced to flee their homes or hide in basements and bomb shelters as their cities are pummelled and destroyed. Ms Bachelet said indiscriminate attacks by Russia may amount to war crimes.

In their Joint Oral Statement to the Council, the faith-based and humanitarian NGOs said they had been continuing provide critical life-saving assistance in Ukraine, through their grassroots networks. Hence, it is of utmost importance that unhindered safe access for delivery of principled humanitarian aid is guaranteed, they said.

They also expressed their grave concern for the safety of women and children who had fled Ukraine, particularly unaccompanied minors, warning they faced a serious risk of sexual violence, exploitation and trafficking.

The co-signers called for countries through which refugees are travelling, or their destination counties, to put effective measures in place to prevent and reduce the risk of trafficking and exploitation.

The UN estimates that 12 million people inside Ukraine will need relief and protection, while more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees may need protection and assistance in neighbouring countries in coming months.
(ANSA) - ROME, MAR 31 - Italy registered 504,487 new COVID-19 cases in the period between March 23 and 29, largely steady with respect to the 502,773 registered the previous week, the GIMBE medical foundation said in its weekly coronavirus monitoring report on Thursday. It said this ended the trend that had seen the number of new cases rise sharply in the previous two weeks.

The foundation said that "at the moment it is difficult to make forecasts" about how contagion will go.

It said the number of COVID-19 patients admitted to ordinary hospital wards rose by 8.6% in the period in question and intensive-care admissions were up by 7%.

But the report added that, after six consecutive weeks of falls, the number of COVID-19-linked deaths increased by 3.1% to 953.

(ANSA).


EU raids Gazprom's German offices in antitrust price probe Russia providing roughly 40 percent of gas supply in Europe

(ANSA-AFP) - BRUSSELS, MAR 31 - EU antitrust investigators raided the German offices of Gazprom, sources said on Thursday, on suspicion that the Russian energy giant had illegally pushed up prices in Europe. The European Commission, in a statement, said its teams carried out unannounced inspections on Tuesday "at the premises of several companies in Germany active in the supply, transmission and storage of natural gas". Two sources familiar with the matter said that a main target of the operation was Gazprom, the state gas giant that is accused of sparking an energy crunch in the European Union. According to a report by Bloomberg, officials visited offices of companies that included the giant's Gazprom Germania GmbH and Wingas GmbH, which supply about 20 percent of the German market. The commission, the EU's powerful antitrust authority, is currently looking into allegations that Gazprom squeezed its European clients by limiting supply, causing prices to skyrocket. Gazprom has a powerful hand over the EU with Russia providing roughly 40 percent of its gas supply, mainly to German, Italy and a few eastern European countries. (ANSA-AFP).





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TEL AVIV - Two Palestinians in the Jenin refugee camp in the northern part of the West Bank were killed Thursday during violent clashes with the Israeli army.



Reports were from the Palestinian health ministry, adding that 14 had been injured including three of whom seriously.



According to the Palestinian news agency Maan, the incidents occurred during an arrest operation by the Israeli army.



The arrests - according to an Israeli source - are connected with the Bnei Brak attack that killed five people.




TEL AVIV - Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas has condemned the "dangerous Israeli escalation against our population and against our holy sites".



The announcement, the Palestinian news agency Maan reported, came after a morning of violence in which at least three Palestinians were killed and after an Israeli MP from a far-right party, Itamar Ben Gvir, went to the al-Aqsa Mosque Complex escorted by the police.



Abbas warned that these "provocations" could drag the region into tension and result in an escalation.



He noted that they also risk rendering in vain efforts at various levels to ensure calm during the upcoming Muslim holy month of fasting, Ramadan.



This was apparently a reference to a meeting he had had in recent days in Ramallah with Jordan's King Abdullah, who later received Israeli head of state Isaac Herzog in Amman.
ISTANBUL - A Turkish prosecutor has asked a court in Istanbul to halt a trial in absentia for the 2018 killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in order to transfer the case to Saudi Arabia.



The DHA news agency reported that the judges asked for an opinion from the justice ministry prior to making their decision.



Saudi journalist well known at the international level including for his criticism of Saudi crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS), Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018.



A trial has been underway in absentia for over two years in Turkey against 26 Saudi defendants including two people very close to MBS but little progress has been seen thus far.



The fiancee of the journalist, Hatice Cengiz, believes that the Saudi authorities are not interested in cooperating on the case.



In 2019, five people were sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for the murder after Riyadh also opened a trial.



According to a CIA probe, however, the crown prince was the one to order the killing.



The murder of Khashoggi sparked high tension between Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan and MBS and since 2018 diplomatic relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been complicated.



Starting last year initiatives began for reconciliation.



Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has since visited Saudi Arabia in an official capacity for the first time in almost 4 years.




TUNIS - Tunisian president Kais Saied has announced the dissolving of the country's parliament eight months after suspending it after he took on special powers in July 2021.



Saied made the announcement on Wednesday evening after chairing a National Security Council meeting, a few hours after a group of MPs held an online session during which they voted to annul the exception measures ordered by the president.



"I am today, at this historic moment, announcing the dissolving of the Assembly of the People's Representatives to preserve the state and its institutions, and to preserve the Tunisian population, Saied said in a video circulated by the president's office.



After months of political stalemate, Saied - who was elected in late 2019 - took on full powers on July 25, removing the prime minister and suspending the parliament's activities.



On September 22, the president made his taking on of new powers official through the issuing of "exceptional measures" that extend the suspension of the parliament and allow him to rule by decree and preside over the Council of Ministers.



In December, the president announced his road map, which calls for a constitutional referendum on July 25, 2022 and elections on December 17, 2022.



On the invitation of the Office of the Parliament, a body that brings together the speaker of the parliament and party representatives, 120 MPs (out of 217 total) took part on Wednesday in an online session under Tarek Fertiti, deputy parliament speaker and an independent.



Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, who is also the head of the Islamic party Ennahdha, did not take part in the session.



The session was broadcast on Al-Jazeera.



In addition to the vote to annul the exceptional measures decided by Saied, the MPs, including the elected members of Ennahdha and independent MPs, asked for early parliamentary and presidential elections to be held to overcome the political and socio-economic crisis.



Acknowledging their part of responsibility for the crisis, the MPs asked for national dialogue.



"We are not MPs that are frozen or suspended as Saied would like. We are simply under the power of a new pharaoh," said independent MP Safi Saied, who had previously been a presidential candidate.



In the opening of a new session of the National Security Council on Monday, President Saied had decried what he called "illegal online meetings" that are only "desperate, worthless attempts at a coup d'etat".



On Wednesday, the powerful trade union UGTT said it was against the meeting of the suspended parliament, which aim to "take the country to conflict and political division", saying through the words of Secretary General Noureddine Taboubi that the dissolution of the parliament is the only way out of the current stalemate.




JUBA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan's President Salva Kiir and his First Vice President Riek Machar are holding discussions to end the deadlock over the security arrangements, a senior official said on Thursday.

Bol Makueng, Secretary for external affairs of Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) led by President Kiir said the two principals are already consulting each other on how to move forward on peace implementation.

"We will be communicating among ourselves because this country belongs to all of us, the First Vice President is promising that they will work hand-in-hand with President Kiir, so that they avoid taking this country back to war again," Makueng told journalists after meeting envoys for the United States, Norway, and Britain in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

On March 22, the main-opposition SPLM/A-In Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) under Machar withdrew from the security mechanisms, citing "unprovoked" attacks on its positions by South Sudan People's Defense Force (SSPDF).

The SPLM/A-IO also rejected the three positions within the army and police provided to it by President Kiir.

The opposition wants a 50:50 ratio within the unified army command it claims was agreed upon by the parties during peace talks in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum in 2018.

"We have come to the conclusion to do things that are pending in the agreement, some of the challenges pertaining to security arrangements, especially the unification of forces and that is already near finishing," said Makueng.

He also noted that one of the main challenges they are facing is the fact that SPLM/A-IO has a huge number of senior ranking officers than private officers, thus making it difficult to quickly integrate them into the unified armed forces.

Kuol Atem, the SPLM secretary for political affairs, corroborated Makueng, saying that the various parties to the 2018 revitalized peace deal are consulting each other on how to conclude the outstanding issues, mainly the security arrangements.

"The president and the first vice-president are in consultation, the president decreed the unification of (army) command which was rejected, but that will be resolved and the command will be one," said Atem.

The transitional period is set to end in February 2023, and yet several critical tasks including the graduation of the unified forces, the enactment of the permanent constitution and the establishment of transitional justice mechanism are yet to be implemented. 
The biggest jump in domestic energy bills in living memory has come into effect as charities warn that 2.5 million more households are set to fall into fuel stress and supplier websites remained unresponsive to customers.

As a 54% increase to Ofgems price cap hit bills, the Resolution Foundation think tank said the number of English households in fuel stress  those spending at least 10% of their total budgets on energy bills  was set to double overnight from 2.5 to five million.

Resolution Foundation senior economist Jonathan Marshall said: Todays energy price cap rise will see the number of households experiencing fuel stress double to five million.

Another increase in energy bills this autumn hastens the need for more immediate support, as well as a clear, long-term strategy for improving home insulation, ramping up renewable and nuclear electricity generation, and reforming energy markets so that families energy bills are less dependent on global gas prices.

Citizens Advice said around five million people would be unable to pay their energy bills from April, even accounting for the support the Government has already announced.

It warned this number would almost triple to one in four people in the UK  more than 14 million  if the price cap rises again in October based on current predictions.

Concern about the pressures households are facing came as energy firms continued to struggle to allow customers to submit up-to-date meter readings to avoid paying the higher tariff on energy used before April 1.

Customers reported issues logging in to supplier websites including British Gas, EDF, E.On, SSE, So Energy and Octopus Energy from early on Thursday.

Energy UK, the trade body for the industry, urged people not to worry if they were unable to submit a meter reading ahead of Friday.

It said: Most suppliers are offering alternative options such as submitting at a later date, and different methods to send meter readings such as text, social media and email.

This demonstrates the scale of the problem and how worried people are about high prices, which is why we have been asking Government to intervene to provide further support to consumers.

Citizens Advice chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty said: The energy price cap rise will be potentially ruinous for millions of people across the country.

The support announced so far from the Government simply isnt enough for those wholl be hit hardest. With the long-anticipated price rises now hitting, many more people will face the kind of heart-rending choices that our frontline advisers already see all too often.

The energy price cap for those on default tariffs who pay by direct debit is rising by 693 from 1,277 to 1,971 from April 1.

The energy price cap increase applies from 1 April. What you should know   Ofgem (@ofgem) March 30, 2022

Prepayment customers will see a bigger jump, with their price cap going up by 708, from 1,309 to 2,017.

The regulator was forced to hike the energy price cap to a record 1,971 for a typical household as gas prices soared to unprecedented highs.

Fuel poverty charity National Energy Action (NEA) warned the cost of heating an average home has now doubled in 18 months, leaving 6.5 million households unable to live in a warm, safe home across the UK.

An Ofgem spokeswoman said: We know this rise will be extremely worrying for many people.

The energy market has faced a huge challenge due to the unprecedented increase in global gas prices, a once in a 30-year event, and Ofgems role as energy regulator is to ensure that, under the price cap, energy companies can only charge a fair price based on the true cost of supplying electricity and gas.

Ofgem is working to stabilise the market and over the longer term to diversify our sources of energy, which will help protect customers from similar price shocks in the future.

(PA Graphics)

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has previously pledged to take the sting out of the price rises, promising all 28 million households in Britain would get a 200 upfront rebate on their energy bills from October.

The Government will provide the cash for this, but it wants the money back so will hike bills by 40 per year over the next five years from 2023 to recoup it.

Goldman Sachs has already warned that prices in the gas market are likely to remain at twice their usual levels until 2025.

Higher energy prices are not the only way households are set to feel the pinch, with tax rises and reductions in state pandemic support increasing costs for businesses and, ultimately, leading to higher prices for customers.

The cost of buying a pub meal, soft drink or hotel stay could become more expensive from this month as VAT levels across the hospitality sector lift back to 20%, while the National Insurance tax rise will come into force on April 6.

Fuel prices have also reached record highs in recent weeks amid a rise in oil prices following Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Sunak cut fuel duty by 5p in his spring statement last week, but retailers have been accused of failing to fully pass on the saving.
Chris Rock says he is still processing his altercation with Will Smith at the Oscars but will talk about it at some point.

The comedian referenced the incident at a stand-up show and promised that when he did comment officially it would be serious and funny.

Smith took to the stage on Sunday and slapped the comedian across the face, following a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and her hair loss.

Addressing audiences at the top of his show in Boston, Rock said: How was your weekend?

I dont have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend.

Im still kind of processing what happened.

So, at some point Ill talk about that shit. And it will be serious and funny.

Rock was reportedly given a standing ovation by his audience before kicking off his set.

It comes as the Academy revealed that Smith was asked to leave the 94th annual awards show after the incident, but refused.

The organisation said the best actor winners actions were shocking and traumatic to witness live on television as it apologised to Rock, praising his resilience in that moment.

Smith later returned to the stage accept the award for best actor for his performance in King Richard, and gave an emotional speech about the importance of protecting family.

The Academy revealed that Smith was asked to leave the 94th annual awards show after the incident, but refused (Doug Peters/PA)

Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated, the Academy said in a statement.

While we would like to clarify that Mr Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognise we could have handled the situation differently.

Mr Smiths actions at the 94th Oscars were a deeply shocking, traumatic event to witness in-person and on television, the academy said.

Mr Rock, we apologise to you for what you experienced on our stage and thank you for your resilience in that moment.

We also apologise to our nominees, guests and viewers for what transpired during what should have been a celebratory event.

Smith took to the stage on Sunday and slapped the comedian across the face, following a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and her hair loss (Chris Pizzello/AP)

A formal review into the incident has been launched to discuss what disciplinary measures will be taken, and Smith will reportedly be given the chance to provide a written defence.

The Academy said disciplinary action for Smith could include suspension, expulsion or other sanctions.

The actor apologised to The Academy and his fellow nominees during his acceptance speech following his win, and later to Rock on social media.

In a statement posted to Instagram he admitted he had reacted emotionally to the joke, but violence in all its forms is poisonous and destructive.

Pinkett Smith also called for a season of healing following the incident.

Smiths behaviour has been heavily criticised by his Hollywood contemporaries, including Oscars so-host Wanda Sykes.

Speaking on the Ellen DeGeneres show, the actress and comedian said she was still traumatised and felt disappointed by the way the show had handled the sickening incident.

She also praised Rocks response after the altercation, revealing he had approached her to apologise about the incident because he knew it would overshadow her presenting efforts alongside Amy Schumer and Regina Hall.

I just felt so awful for my friend Chris. It was sickening, absolutely sickening. I physically felt ill and Im still a little traumatised by it, she said.

And for them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award, I was like, How gross is this? This is just the wrong message.

You assault somebody, you get escorted out the building and thats it. But for them to let him continue, I thought was gross.

Oscars showrunner Will Packer has described the altercation as a very painful moment for me.

But others went further, with comedian Jim Carrey calling the Oscars audience spineless for applauding Smiths win following his behaviour.
The Teaching Council is reviewing registration fees for Ukrainian teachers, amid concerns that refugees were being charged 390 euro to work in Irish schools.

Concerns were raised by Labour TD Aodhan O Riordain, who said he had received reports that Ukrainian refugee teachers were facing being charged 390 euro to register with the Teaching Council.

The council is the professional standards body for Irish teachers.

They will not have 390 euro. And if they do have 390 euro, they should probably be spending it on something else, the Labour education spokesperson told the PA news agency.

Mr O Riordain said he had written to Minister for Education Norma Foley about it.

He said it was clearly a barrier for Ukrainian teachers hoping to work in Irish schools.

It has come to my notice that Ukrainian refugee teachers are being charged 390 to register with the @TeachingCouncil. Given the urgent need for language support in our schools for Ukrainian children, I have written to the Education Minister asking for this fee to be waived.  Aodhan O Riordain (@AodhanORiordain) March 31, 2022

The politician said it makes no sense, given that Ukrainian teachers are needed in Irish schools, which are currently preparing to take in thousands of Ukrainian children, many of whom will have little English.

It is likely a lack of proactivity, rather than bad faith, from the Teaching Council, he said.

On Thursday evening, the Teaching Council confirmed that it was aware of the issue.

In a statement, a spokesperson said that a streamlined process for the registration and vetting of Ukrainian teachers in Ireland was being developed.

Ireland has taken in more than 15,000 Ukrainian refugees since the war began over a month ago.

The spokesperson said that the process will include guidance documentation and a tailored application process that provides reasonable accommodations to allow qualified Ukrainian teachers to apply for vetting and registration in Ireland.

The matter of fees is also under review, the spokesperson added.

Education Minister Norma Foley (Niall Carson/PA)

The Teaching Council already has procedures in place for teachers who have arrived in Ireland after fleeing from war or political turmoil, the spokesperson confirmed.

They said the council would engage with any Ukrainians who, due to the situation in their home country, do not have the necessary documentation to register.

Where Ukrainian teachers have evidence of qualified teacher status, they can apply to be admitted to the register of teachers in Ireland in order to teach in schools, the spokesperson said.

Each application for registration will be assessed under the Teaching Council Registration Regulations 2016.

Teachers who do not meet all the registration requirements may be registered subject to conditions. Once registered, Ukrainian teachers, irrespective of conditional status, are eligible to receive a state-funded salary to teach in recognised schools.

PA has contacted the Department of Education for comment.
Machine Gun Kelly says he would like to speak to the children of Taylor Hawkins to tell them what a great man their father was.

The US rapper, who spoke to Hawkins two days before his death, said the Foo Fighters drummer was such a beautiful soul and that he was lucky to know him.

Fifty-year-old Hawkins was on the South American leg of the bands world tour when his sudden death was announced at the weekend, after he had taken ill at his hotel in northern Bogota.

Kelly was also scheduled to play at the festival, alongside Miley Cyrus, J Balvin, Doja Cat and The Strokes.

Fifty-year-old Hawkins was on the South American leg of the bands world tour when his sudden death was announced at the weekend (Yui Mok/PA)

Speaking on SiriusXMs Howard Stern show he recalled a night he had spent with the rock band after their shows at the Estereo Picnic festival had been cancelled due to extreme weather conditions.

Kelly said he had been super bummed that the cancellations had meant the Foo Fighters had not been able to see his show, but that he had attended a party with them, and Hawkins, in the evening.

Taylor went up to every single one of us and gave us each our moment, he said.

Every single one of us, man, down to my assistantIt was like, dude, hes such a beautiful soul man.

The last thing he said was, Im just so bummed I didnt get to see you guys play.

I really want to thank him and let his kids know that he made us feel  in a time where the outside world, outside of the fans, and the outside world was really coming in hard on us  he made us feel so confident in ourselves and loved.

Kelly said the drummer was so proud of his kids and addressed them directly.

Your father is a great, great man and we were all lucky to know him and we all appreciate that night more than anyone will know, he said.

Hawkins had played in the Foos with former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl on vocals for more than two decades, alongside Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Rami Jaffee.

His death prompted scores of tributes from other famous artists, including Sir Paul McCartney, who described him as a true Rock and Roll hero.

Hawkins had played in the Foos with former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl on vocals for more than two decades, alongside Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Rami Jaffee (Ian West/PA)

Sir Paul, who inducted the Foo Fighters into the American Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2021, said that as well as Hawkins immense talent, his personality was big and shiny and will be sorely missed by all who were lucky to live and work alongside him.

Hawkins joined Foo Fighters in 1997, having previously toured with Alanis Morrissette and also starred with the band in their recently released film, Studio 666.

The Foo Fighters announced they were cancelling all of their upcoming tour dates in light of the staggering loss.

They were also scheduled to perform at the Grammys on April 3.
Newly announced Ofcom chair Lord Michael Grade is due to appear in front of a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) committee for a pre-appointment scrutiny.

Lord Grade will receive a grilling from MPs which may include questions on the drawn-out selection process, online safety and sanctions on Russian media.

The Conservative peer, 79, who has held senior positions at all three of the UKs major media outlets, was named as the Governments preferred candidate for the role by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries last week.

Lord Grade will receive a grilling from MPs which may include questions on the drawn-out selection process, online safety and sanctions on Russian media (Fiona Hanson/PA)

He is due to appear in front of the cross-party select committee at 10am on Thursday.

Such hearings are conducted to allow select committees to scrutinise the quality of ministerial appointments and assess the candidates suitability for the role, knowledge and experience.

During his career, Lord Grade has served as controller of BBC One, chief executive of Channel 4, chairman of the BBC and executive chairman of ITV plc.

The committee will publish a short report on the proposed appointment for the head of the media watchdog in the days following the session.

Lord Grade, 79, who has held senior positions at all three of the UKs major media outlets has been named as the new chair of media regulator Ofcom (Yui Mok/PA)

Lord Grade currently sits as a Conservative peer in the House of Lords after being appointed by David Cameron in 2011.

If confirmed as Ofcom chair he will move to the cross-benches and give up any non-executive roles that could cause a conflict of interest.

Following the Governments announcement, Lord Grade said: Ofcom is respected across the globe as a first rate communications regulator so I am privileged to be asked to become its chair.

The role of Ofcom in British life has never been more important with new responsibilities on the horizon regulating online safety, on top of the ever changing broadcasting landscape.

Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Nadine Dorries, named Lord Grade as the Governments preferred candidate last week (James Manning/PA)

I look forward to my appearance in front of the DCMS Select Committee to outline what I can bring to this role and how I can help ensure Ofcom is fit for the future.

The former media executive was named for the position after a lengthy recruitment process which was branded as chaotic and frankly embarrassing by Labour.

Former Daily Mail editor Paul Dacre was reportedly Boris Johnsons preferred choice during the initial interviews but he withdrew from the race, claiming the civil service had influenced the process because of his right-of-centre convictions.
More than 300 paediatricians have signed an open letter calling for the Government to provide support to doctors treating children injured during Russias war with Ukraine.

The letter, published online in the medical journal The Lancet, warns of children experiencing severe trauma  both physical and psychological as a result of air strikes taking place after Vladimir Putins army launched an invasion more than a month ago.

Bombings on schools and hospitals have taken place in the nation over the last few weeks, including a maternity and childrens ward in Mariupol which was attacked on March 14.

Im sorry to have to say it out loud but all war in all places is disastrous for children. Its not ok and children need help. Grateful to the >300 UK childrens emergency & critical care doctors who have said the same in this open letter. @jamesdenselow @PaulreavleyPaul https://t.co/4ewKhzcPSb  Dan Magnus  (@drdanmagnus) March 31, 2022

On Thursday, the Government said 5.29 million medical items had now been donated to Ukraine, including lifesaving medicines, wound packs and intensive care equipment.

The latest flight carrying medical equipment left Birmingham Airport bound for Poland on Thursday morning. Items will then be transported to Ukraine.

The letter from the paediatric doctors said: Children are more likely than adults to experience blast injuries of a greater severity, have a disproportionate requirement for health services, and are more likely to die as a result.

If children survive explosive weapons, they often find themselves dealing not only with physical trauma and disability, but also the acute stress caused by growing up in a conflict zone. Left untreated, the long-term effects result in children facing a lifetime of physical and mental suffering.

We are sending a plea for immediate action from the British Government to stand up in solidarity with all healthcare staff trying to care for children caught in conflict at this difficult time and to offer practical assistance where possible.

This could include (but is not limited to): direct medical support; training; medical advice and guidance; distribution of resources like the Paediatric Blast Injury Field Manual.

A young Ukrainian refugee sits on a bus bound for Przemysl after crossing the border point from Ukraine into Medyka, Poland (Victoria Jones/PA)

According to the United Nations, 99 children have died and 126 have been injured since the start of the conflict, although numbers are thought to be higher.

Dr Dan Magnus, the original author of the open letter, said: When children suffer severe injuries to their legs and arms, it takes highly specialised knowledge to know where to amputate so that you can factor in future growth. Without that, children are left with even worse disabilities, and often intractable pain for life.

I have seen with my own eyes the devastating impact conflict can have on children. Its crucial that the UK steps up now and uses its influence to ensure that at the very least, children in Ukraine get lifesaving medical assistance as soon as they need it.

The Government said it has been working closely with Ukrainian officials to deliver targeted support to ensure medical items are reaching people who need them most.

Some of the items that have been sent so far include nearly 3,000 adult resuscitators, around 220,000 wound care packs, about 380,000 packs of medicines  containing 2.8 million doses  including antibiotics and painkillers and 1,600 pieces of equipment for ventilators.

A Ukrainian family walk out of the customs office at Przemysl Glowny train station in Poland (Victoria Jones/PA)

Previous jets have flown from Stansted, Birmingham and Heathrow airports as well as RAF Brize Norton over the last month. The lifesaving medicines, intensive care equipment and wound packs have been donated by NHS England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

A total of 400 million in humanitarian and economic aid has been provided by the Government to Ukraine and neighbouring countries since the Russian invasion started.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: The appalling atrocities inflicted on the Ukrainians by Putins evil attacks are causing untold misery to millions of people.

The invasion has created a medical emergency and the UK has acted swiftly to give our Ukrainian friends the medical support they need which has helped save tens of thousands of lives.

The UK will continue to stand with the remarkable people of Ukraine in the face of Russias horrendous invasion.
Sir Richard Branson has hailed LinkedIns decision to recognise the term Dyslexic Thinking as a major step towards helping people feel proud of their neurodiversity.

The businessman and entrepreneur, 71, and global charity Made By Dyslexia have collaborated with the business-focused social network to recognise the term as a valuable skill.

The platform is now offering its members the chance to add it to their profiles, while online resource Dictionary.com has also said it will be adding Dyslexic Thinking as an official term.

Sir Richard told the PA news agency people with dyslexia think creatively and more expansively, and described the new initiative as a breakthrough in acknowledging the positives of being dyslexic in the workplace.

The Virgin boss added that he hoped companies will be actively seeking out dyslexic thinkers in the coming years.

As a dyslexic person, I know how tough it can be in the early stage of discovering you are dyslexic at school, he said.

(LinkedIn/PA)

When I was young a long time ago at school, you just thought you were thick or stupid. There wasnt even a term for it.

And to a large extent over the past decades, when parents are told that their children are dyslexic, they view it with a bit of fright or fear.

Sir Richard said he wanted parents to realise that while their children may struggle with more conventional school teaching, they will also have many extra strengths.

He added: When they concentrate on the things they are good at they will be extraordinary and when they leave school they are most likely going to be even more extraordinary.

And they should be proud of being able to say after their name, I am a dyslexic thinker  and I am proud of it.

I know that I would not have been able to achieve what I have achieved in my life if I hadnt been born dyslexic, so I am very grateful for it.

Sir Richard is inviting others with dyslexia to join him in adding the skill to their LinkedIn profiles.

Made By Dyslexia is the driving force behind the campaign, which also features a video featuring names such as Hollywood star Orlando Bloom, space scientist Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Soho House founder Nick Jones, talking about the value of Dyslexic Thinking in their careers.

Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Trains/PA)

Charity founder Kate Griggs, who is dyslexic, told PA: It is absolutely essential that we see dyslexia as a pattern of strength, because we know from all of the research that it is vital for the workplace of the future.

Dyslexic thinking is all about soft skills and every workplace is looking for those soft skills, so having that focus is really important.

Ms Griggs said it was super important everyone embraces that and discovers their dyslexic superpowers.

Nicole Leverich, vice president of communications at LinkedIn, said: Im proud to be dyslexic and a part of this movement to redefine what it means.

By adding Dyslexic Thinking as a skill on LinkedIn, we can help recognise the creative, problem-solving and communication skills people with dyslexia bring to their work.

John Kelly, senior director of editorial for Dictionary.com, added: As evidenced by its addition as an official new skill on LinkedIn, the term Dyslexic Thinking, while long used within the dyslexia community, is fast spreading in the wider world.

According to the Made By Dyslexia website, dyslexia influences as many as one in five people, and is a genetic difference in an individuals ability to learn and process information.

The terms Dyslexic Thinking refers to how such minds process information in divergent, creative and lateral ways.

A 2018 report commissioned by the charity in partnership with EY suggests Dyslexic Thinking skills match the skills needed for the future, as defined by the World Economic Forum.

A report from 2019 also indicated the skills found most challenging by dyslexics were in decline.
Will Smith was asked to leave the Oscars after hitting comedian Chris Rock but refused, the Academy has said.

The organisation said the best actor winners actions were shocking and traumatic to witness live on television as it apologised to Rock, praising his resilience in that moment.

Smith took to the stage on Sunday and slapped the comedian across the face, following a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and her hair loss.

He later returned to accept the award for best actor for his performance in King Richard, and gave an emotional speech about the importance of protecting family.

Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated, the Academy said in a statement.

While we would like to clarify that Mr Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognise we could have handled the situation differently.

Mr Smiths actions at the 94th Oscars were a deeply shocking, traumatic event to witness in-person and on television, the academy said.

Mr Rock, we apologise to you for what you experienced on our stage and thank you for your resilience in that moment.

We also apologise to our nominees, guests and viewers for what transpired during what should have been a celebratory event.

Smith took to the stage on Sunday and slapped the comedian across the face, following a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and her hair loss (Chris Pizzello/AP)

A formal review into the incident has been launched to discuss what disciplinary measures will be taken, and Smith will reportedly be given the chance to provide a written defence.

The Academy said disciplinary action for Smith could include suspension, expulsion or other sanctions.

The actor apologised to The Academy and his fellow nominees in a tearful acceptance speech following his win, and later to Rock on social media.

In a statement posted to Instagram he admitted he had reacted emotionally to the joke, but violence in all its forms is poisonous and destructive.

Pinkett Smith also called for a season of healing following the incident, but Rock has yet to respond publicly.

Smiths behaviour has been heavily criticised by his Hollywood contemporaries, including Oscars so-host Wanda Sykes.

Speaking on the Ellen DeGeneres show, the actress and comedian said she was still traumatised and felt disappointed by the way the show had handled the sickening incident.

She also praised Rocks response after the altercation, revealing he had approached her to apologise about the incident because he knew it would overshadow her plaudits for presenting alongside Amy Schumer and Regina Hall.

I just felt so awful for my friend Chris. It was sickening, absolutely sickening. I physically felt ill and Im still a little traumatised by it, she said.

And for them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award, I was like, How gross is this? This is just the wrong message.

You assault somebody, you get escorted out the building and thats it. But for them to let him continue, I thought was gross.

Oscars showrunner Will Packer has described the altercation as a very painful moment for me.

But others went further, with comedian Jim Carrey calling the Oscars audience spineless for applauding Smiths win following his behaviour.
An isolated President Vladimir Putin, rattled by the Russian Armys failures in the brutal invasion of Ukraine, may have fired some of his Kremlin cronies and placed others under house arrest, President Biden said Thursday.

Biden delivered the assessment, which he did not present as high-certainty intelligence, after officials in the U.S. and U.K. suggested Wednesday that Putins advisers have shielded the authoritarian leader from receiving a full picture of Russian military woes.

U.S. President Joe Biden (left) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin (right) meet at the 'Villa la Grange' in Geneva, Switzerland on June 16, 2021. (Photo by DENIS BALIBOUSE / POOL / AFP) (Photo by DENIS BALIBOUSE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)





U.S. President Joe Biden (left) and Russia's President Vladimir Putin (right) meet at the 'Villa la Grange' in Geneva, Switzerland on June 16, 2021. (Photo by DENIS BALIBOUSE / POOL / AFP) (Photo by DENIS BALIBOUSE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) (DENIS BALIBOUSE/)

He seems to be self-isolating, Biden said of Putin. And theres some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers. But I dont want to put too much stock in that at this time, because we dont have that much hard evidence.

At a news conference in Washington, Biden said that it is an open question how much misinformation Putin has received from his advisers regarding the conflict, a five-week-old war that has killed at least 7,000 Russian soldiers, according to a NATO estimate.

Destroyed Russian armored vehicles are seen in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022.





Destroyed Russian armored vehicles are seen in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (Rodrigo Abd/)

Putin apparently expected the blitz, which began on Feb. 24, would lead to the swift fall of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. But Ukraines outgunned military has fought fiercely, sending Russian soldiers reeling. Kyiv has remained in Ukrainian hands, and Russia has withdrawn in some places.

The head of Britains Government Communications Headquarters spy agency, Jeremy Fleming, said Wednesday that it looks like Putin has massively misjudged the situation.

Weve seen Russian soldiers  short of weapons and morale  refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft, Fleming said in a speech to the Australian National University.

We believe Putins advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, Fleming said, adding that the military failures must still be crystal clear to the regime.

In the U.S., the Defense Department echoed the assessment that members of the Russian leadership have not been forthcoming with Putin, a 69-year-old former KGB colonel who has been labeled as a war criminal by Biden and other world leaders.

We would concur with the conclusion that Mr. Putin has not been fully informed by his ministry of defense at every turn over the last month, John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a Wednesday news conference.

Kirby emphasized the limits on American insight into the inner workings of the Kremlin, noting that the U.S. does not have access to every bit of information Putin receives.

On a visit to Algeria, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters Wednesday that he believed Russia was suffering from one of the Achilles heels of autocracies  a lack of people able or willing to speak truth to power.

The transatlantic assessments collided to create a picture of Putin battling both Ukrainian bravery and cowardice from cronies perhaps unwilling to bear bad news to their ruthless president.

That image appeared to again sharpen on Thursday with Bidens word of Putin advisers possibly imprisoned in their homes, or stripped of their responsibilities.

Honesty seems hard to come by in the Kremlin these days: Putin himself has weaved a fact-allergic rationale for Europes largest invasion since World War II, telling his country that its 30-year-old sovereign neighbor is led by drug-addled neo-Nazis.

Volodymr Zelenskyy, Ukraines president, is Jewish. Zelenskyy once responded to comparisons made between him and Winston Churchill by saying that Britains celebrated World War II prime minister drinks more than I do, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Many members of the Russian elite have faced criminal prosecution over the last two decades, and the charges were typically viewed as stemming from battles over influence and wealth, said Brian Taylor, a professor at Syracuse University who studies Russia and international security.

Taylor noted that reports of Kremlin advisers under house arrest remain murky, but said that it would not come as a major surprise if they are true.

It would not stun me at all, Taylor said. It would maybe surprise me a bit more if there were no repercussions for so botching the operation in the first month. They did not expect what theyve gotten. And someone is probably going to be the scapegoat.
NAIROBI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday vowed to continue investing in the modernization of training to help equip the country's security forces with adequate skills to deal with the challenges of an ever-evolving threat.

Kenyatta said that cooperation in education and training will strengthen the cohesion of the country's security organs and foster the multi-agency approach to operations that have proved very successful in addressing security matters.

"We have also undertaken far-reaching reforms to support your welfare and to facilitate you to best discharge the high burden of responsibility that has been bestowed upon you," he said in Lanet, Nakuru County, where he commissioned the first cohort of graduate general service officer cadets that have undergone a one-year professional training at the Kenya Military Academy (KMA).

The country has been investigating undisclosed financial budgets for training its security forces and modernizing its equipment to help deal with emerging security threats across the country. The investment has seen security forces receive year-long specialized training to combat the evolving transnational organized crime.

Kenya said it has been facing an insurgency along its porous border with Somalia as well as increasing insecurity and threats of terrorism in the counties on the Indian Ocean coast.

The president said during the commissioning that public investments in the security sector have not only secured the modernization of the training of the security forces but also ensured that training is abreast with the challenges of an ever-evolving security environment.

He said security threats the country faces cannot be defeated by military might alone and urged all Kenyans to work together in securing the country by strengthening national unity and observing the values of tolerance and brotherhood.

The President, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF), lauded the KDF for its commitment to ensuring that the training provided to Kenyan troops adequately prepares them to operate effectively in both the contemporary and future security environments. 
In a small but notable change, digital media providers with reader apps in Apples App Store  such as Netflix and Spotify  will now be able to provide links in their iOS apps to let customers sign up for and manage accounts on the companies own websites.

Previously, Apple prohibited app developers from including any links to account sign-up pages. For purchases made within the app itself, Apple will still require developers to use Apples in-app payment system  under which Apple takes a 30% cut of subscriptions in year one, with that dropping to 15% starting in the second year. (Netflix and Spotify, among others, do not allow such in-app payments.)

On Wednesday, Apple said that it updated its App Store guidelines so that developers of reader apps can now request access to the External Link Account Entitlement. That lets reader apps  defined as those that let a user access previously purchased content or content subscriptions (specifically magazines, newspapers, books, audio, music and video)  link to a website that is owned or maintained by the developer, so that users can create or manage their account outside of the app.

However, there are restrictions. For example, app developers may not include the price of items available on the website in their iOS apps; according to Apple, an example of acceptable language on this front is Go to example.com to create or manage your account. Also, reader app developers must apply for permission to use the External Link Account Entitlement.

Apple made the change under a settlement with the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC), announced in September 2021. While the agreement was made with the JFTC, Apple said, it is applying the change globally to all reader apps on the App Store.

Apples update comes after Google and Spotify announced an agreement last week that will let Spotifys Android app present the option for subscribers to pay using Google Plays in-app payment system or Spotifys directly. Under the Spotify agreement with Google, the music streamer will still pay fees to the internet company regardless of payment method but those will be less than the 15% cut that Google ordinarily collects for Google Play subscription purchases.

Separately, also Wednesday, Apple said that to comply with a recent Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) order, it is eliminating the requirement that developers of dating apps in the Netherlands create two separate apps if they want to use a third-party payment system (one to accept third-party payments and another to accept App Store in-app payments). Apple will charge Dutch dating app developers a 27% commission regardless of which payment mechanism is used.

As we have previously said, we disagree with the ACMs original order and are appealing it. In the meantime, the changes weve made today demonstrate Apples ongoing commitment to fulfill its legal obligations in the Netherlands, the tech giant said in blog post.

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Smoke billows from a fire at oil refinery, owned by Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft, in Moscow

(Reuters) - Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States have imposed outright bans on Russian oil purchases following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, but the European Union remains divided.

So far, the bloc's 27 members have been unable to agree on an embargo, with Germany warning against hasty steps that could push the economy into recession, and, some countries, such as Hungary, opposing any bans.

Germany, however, has already reduced its dependence on Russian oil imports, and aimed to phase out those completely by the end of this year, officials said.

Many buyers in Europe have already been shunning Russian crude voluntarily to avoid reputational damage or possible legal difficulty.

Meanwhile, India and China, which have refused to condemn Russia's actions, continue to buy Russian crude.

Lured by steep discounts following Western sanctions on Russian entities, India has bought at least 13 million barrels of Russian crude oil since the country invaded Ukraine in late February.

That compared with some 16 million barrels for the whole of last year, data compiled by Reuters shows.

The following lists major takers of Russian crude:

NEFTOCHIM BURGAS

A Bulgarian refinery, owned by Russia's Lukoil, and with Russian crude accounting for about 60% of its intake, continues to refine Russian crude.

MIRO

Russian crude continues to account for about 14% of the intake at Germany's largest refinery, Miro, which is 24% owned by Rosneft..

PCK SCHWEDT

Germany's PCK Schwedt refinery, 54% owned by Rosneft, receives crude oil via the Druzhba pipeline.

PERTAMINA

Indonesian state energy firm PT Pertamina is considering buying crude oil from Russia as it seeks oil for a newly revamped refinery.

LEUNA

The land-locked Leuna refinery in eastern Germany, majority-owned by TotalEnergies, is also fed Russian crude by the Druzhba pipeline.

HELLENIC PETROLEUM

Greece's biggest oil refiner relies on Russian crude for about 15% of its intake. The company earlier this month secured additional supplies from Saudi Arabia.

ISAB

Italy's largest refinery, owned by Lukoil-controlled Swiss-based Litasco SA, processes Russian and non-Russian crudes.

MOL

The Hungarian oil group, which operates three refineries in Croatia, Hungary and Slovakia, continues to buy Russian crude via Druzhba pipeline, as well as refined products, a company source told Reuters.

Hungary is opposed to sanctions on Russian oil and gas.

ZEELAND REFINERY

The Dutch refinery, 45% owned by Lukoil, declined to comment on whether it was using Russian crude oil.

ROTTERDAM REFINERY

Exxon Mobil declined to comment on whether its Dutch refinery in Rotterdam was using Russian crude oil.

HINDUSTAN PETROLEUM,

India's state refiner bought 2 million barrels of Russian Urals for May loading, according to trading sources last week.

INDIAN OIL CORP

India's top refiner on March 23 bought 3 million barrels of Urals for May delivery from Vitol, trade sources said. This is the second purchase of Urals by IOC since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The company has a contract with Rosneft that gives it an option to buy up to 2 million tonnes, equivalent to about 15 million barrels, of Urals crude in 2022.

NAYARA ENERGY

Indian private refiner, part-owned by Russia's Rosneft, has purchased Russian oil after a gap of a year, buying about 1.8 million barrels of Urals from trader Trafigura.

The following lists those that have stopped buying Russian oil:

BP

The British oil major, which is abandoning its stake in Rosneft, will not enter new deals with Russian entities for loading at Russian ports, unless "essential for ensuring security of supplies".

ENEOS

Japan's biggest refiner has stopped buying crude oil from Russia, while some cargoes signed under previous agreements will arrive in Japan until around April.

ENI

The energy group, 30.3% owned by the Italian government, is suspending purchases of Russian oil.

No Russian crude will be used at Germany's Bayernoil refinery, in which Eni and Rosneft have stakes.

EQUINOR

Norway's majority state-owned energy firm has stopped trading Russian oil as it winds down its operations in the country.

GALP

The Portuguese oil and gas company has suspended all new purchases of petroleum products from Russia or Russian companies.

GLENCORE

The global mining and trading firm, which holds 0.57% stake in Rosneft, said it would continue to honour its obligations under previously signed contracts, but would "not enter into any new trading business in respect of Russian origin commodities unless directed by the relevant government authorities".

NESTE

The Finnish refiner has Russian oil contracts until the end of the year, but is not making any new supply agreements.

PKN Orlen

Poland's largest refiner has not bought Urals crude on the spot market since the start of the war in Ukraine, the company said on Friday, while it has bought a few cargoes from Norway.

The company, which operates refineries in Lithuania, Poland and the Czech Republic, however, buys crude under previously signed long-term supply contracts with Russia's Rosneft and Tatneft.

PREEM

Sweden's largest refiner, owned by Saudi billionaire Mohammed Hussein al-Amoudi, has "paused" new orders of Russian crude, which accounted for around 7% of its purchases, replacing them with North Sea barrels.

REPSOL

The Spanish company has stopped buying Russian crude oil in the spot market.

SHELL

The world's largest petroleum trader will stop buying Russian crude and phase out its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons.

TOTALENERGIES

The French oil major will not sign new contracts, promising to stop buying Russian crude oil and petroleum products by the end of this year.

VARO ENERGY

The Swiss refiner, which owns 51.4% in Germany's Bayernoil refinery, said it did not plan to enter into new deals to buy Russian crude.

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise, Barbara Lewis and David Evans)
By Michael Martina and David Lawder

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai on Thursday declined to say if Taiwan would be invited to join the Biden administration's Indo-Pacific economic plan, spurring Senate criticism that excluding the island would be a missed opportunity.

Taiwan has voiced its desire to be a "full member" in the forthcoming Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), one part of the administration's effort to counter what it says is Beijing's increasing economic and military coercion in the region.

The administration says the still fledgling IPEF aims to be inclusive, but it has not publicly detailed any membership plans. IPEF is intended as a flexible economic framework that would align members on supply chain security, infrastructure, labor standards, clean energy and other issues.

Tai, testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, called Taiwan an essential partner, but that no decisions had been made on membership.

"On the point of Taiwan, we are in general in conversations with those who are interested in joining this framework," Tai said when asked by Senator Bob Menendez if the island would be invited to join the framework.

"Participation in the IPEF is still under consideration, and as far as I'm aware no decisions have been made," said Tai, the U.S.-born daughter of immigrants from Taiwan.

Menendez responded that the democratically governed island claimed by China was a key strategic and trading partner intertwined with U.S. economic security.

"I get a sense from that answer that we will not include Taiwan within the IPEF, which is missing an opportunity," he said.

The exchange followed a March 30 letter from 200 members of Congress from both parties, including Republicans Michael McCaul, Liz Cheney, and Elise Stefanik, and Democrats Ted Lieu, Ro Khanna, and Elissa Slotkin, urging Tai and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo to invite Taiwan to join IPEF.

"Taiwan's inclusion would also send a clear signal that the United States stands with its allies and partners, and will not be bullied by the PRC," the representatives said, referring to the People's Republic of China.

The letter https://sires.house.gov/sites/sires.house.gov/files/documents/Taiwan%20IPEF%20Final.pdf was posted on the official Congress website of Democratic Congressman Albio Sires, who also signed it.

Some analysts argue Taiwan's participation in the plan could make countries in the region hesitant to join for fear of angering Beijing, which opposes the idea as a tool for Washington to try to contain China's rise.

Raimondo told members of the Senate Finance Committee last week that the administration was not contemplating Taiwan's inclusion at this time, according to two sources with knowledge of the closed-door meeting where she made the remark.

"I think it speaks to a broader issue that our trade agenda is sometimes just out of whack with our foreign policy agenda," one of the sources said.

The Commerce Department referred a Reuters request for comment to the White House National Security Council, which also said no decisions had been made on membership.

Taiwan's de-facto embassy in Washington declined to comment on Raimondo's remark, but a spokesman said: "Regarding IPEF, Taiwan continues to exchange views with the U.S. through existing economic and trade mechanisms and channels."

Though it doesn't have formal ties with Washington, Taiwan is one of Asia's most vibrant democracies and economies, and is a dominant producer of semiconductors crucial to global supply chains.

(Reporting by Michael Martina and David Lawder; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
A U.S. soldier was killed early Wednesday morning after an incident involving two helicopters near a Georgia fort.

One Soldier was killed in an incident involving two UH-60 helicopters at Wright Army Airfield at approximately 2 a.m. this morning. The Soldier was assigned to the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, the 3rd Infantry Division said in a statement.

The incident is under investigation and the Soldiers name will be released pending Next of Kin notification. Wright Army Airfield is closed until further notice, the statement continued.

A U.S. soldier was killed early Wednesday morning after an incident involving two helicopters near a Georgia fort.





A U.S. soldier was killed early Wednesday morning after an incident involving two helicopters near a Georgia fort. (Shutterstock/)

Wright Army Airfield is located between the town of Hinesville and Fort Stewart, about 40 miles southwest of Savannah. It is also known as MidCoast Regional Airport because it is used by military and civilian pilots.

According to Army Times, both the Army Criminal Investigative Division and the Army Combat Readiness Center are investigating.
One of President Joe Biden's first foreign policy moves was a pledge to help end one of the world's worst humanitarian crises  the war in Yemen  by "stepping up our diplomacy" and "ending all American support for offensive operations in the war in Yemen, including relevant arms sales."

More than a year later, the war has escalated  with a sharp increase in civilian casualties, a growing number of Yemenis facing hunger, with less humanitarian funding, less international oversight of airstrikes and more complex attacks against Yemen's neighbors fighting in the conflict.

A possible new cease-fire for Islam's holy month of Ramadan could be within reach, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen indicated Wednesday, as he promotes a new peace plan. The Saudi-led coalition announced a unilateral cease-fire starting Wednesday, days after the Houthi rebels announced their own on cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

"I don't want to overstate it because we've been here before, but there's a chance that we actually have a path forward with the new special envoy laying out what is a credible plan," a senior State Department official told ABC News.

MORE: Yemen, on brink of collapse, may suffer further after Trump decision to designate Houthi rebels

Temporary cease-fires and new peace plans have come and gone for seven years now, with the Yemeni people left to suffer the consequences. Nearly 400,000 people are believed to have been killed by fighting, disease and starvation, according to a U.N. report. Over 20 million  two-thirds of the population  are now reliant on humanitarian aid, including two million children facing acute malnutrition.

"The world cannot forget about Yemen," said Tamuna Sabadze, the country director for the International Rescue Committee, an aid group on the ground in Yemen  a country the size of California and long the Arab world's poorest. "The suffering has continued for too long. Those with influence over the warring parties must work to deliver a diplomatic resolution to this crisis."

PHOTO: Forces loyal to Yemen's Houthi rebels take part in a military parade marking the seventh anniversary of the Saudi-led coalition's intervention in their country, in the capital Sanaa, on March 29, 2022. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP via Getty Images)

The Houthis, a northern rebel group increasingly backed by Iran, swept to power in 2014 when they seized the capital, Sanaa, amid Arab Spring strife. In response, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and an Arab coalition launched a military intervention  seven years ago this past Saturday  to prop up the Yemeni government and keep from power what they saw as an Iranian proxy.

Biden brought new attention to the war early in his term, including by naming career diplomat Tim Lenderking as special envoy for Yemen. On one side, critics, including Republicans and Saudi and Emirati officials, blame increased fighting on his decision to remove the Houthis from the foreign terrorist organization list. On the other, especially among members of Biden's own party, there have been accusations that the administration is not doing enough to pressure the Saudi-led coalition to end the war.

It's unclear if measures prescribed by critics on either side would do just that. The last year of diplomatic efforts hasn't.

But amid rockier ties with those Gulf Arab partners, the Biden administration is shifting toward them  redoubling support for their defense and increasing pressure on the Houthis. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met the UAE's de facto ruler, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohammed bin Zayan, on Tuesday during a tour of the region. They spent two hours together at a private residence of MBZ, as the powerful prince is known, in Morocco  including a 30-minute one-on-one stroll around the compound.

MORE: Despite wave of violence, US to lift terrorist designation on Houthi rebels in Yemen after warnings of humanitarian crisis

A senior State Department official said Wednesday the two discussed "different mechanisms" to elevate U.S. support for the UAE's security, although not an official treaty or security guarantee. But after an increasing number of deadly Houthi attacks on Saudi and Emirati civilian infrastructure, the U.S. is now considering "everything from sanctions to interdictions to other means of preventing [the Houthis] from being able to wage attacks against not just the Emiratis, but the Saudis, as well as within Yemen," they added.

Houthi attacks have gotten increasingly sophisticated and deadly  killing civilians, striking airports and oil facilities, and using ballistic missiles and drones that are supplied by Iran. Many have come to view the militant group as a proxy force for Iran, which has taken advantage of the war to destabilize its chief rivals in the region, the Saudis and Emiratis.

One form of pressure the Emiratis and Saudis are unlikely to get, however, is re-adding the Houthis to the State Department's foreign terrorist organization list, a designation that carries similar sanctions to those the Houthis are already under, but adds potential criminal prosecutions for anyone supporting them.

Emirati officials in particular have been lobbying for a reversal, with Biden announcing in January that one is under consideration and the State Department consistently calling Houthi attacks "terrorism."

PHOTO: A Yemeni soldier inspects a site of Saudi-led airstrikes targeting two houses in Sanaa, Yemen, March 26, 2022. (Hani Mohammed/AP)

But even as they review re-designating the Houthis, the senior State Department official said, the administration's argument for the last year against the designation remains  that it would restrict aid flowing into Yemen because of that threat of prosecutions.

"It's fair to say that they [the Emiratis] and others in the region see the FTO designation in one way, whereas we see it primarily through the impact on our ability to deliver and support humanitarian assistance," the senior State Department official told ABC News.

Still, the talk of strong support for UAE, Saudi Arabia, and others is a far cry from where some members of Biden's own party are.

MORE: Trump vetoes historic resolution to end US involvement in Yemen

"Saudi Arabia's airstrikes and air-and-sea blockade have cost hundreds of thousands of lives and threatened millions more with famine, triggering the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. On this grim anniversary  spanning seven years and three presidential administrations  we are calling for an immediate end to American involvement in the Saudi-led coalition's brutal military campaign," Sen. Bernie Sanders and three progressive House members  Pramila Jayapal, Peter DeFazio, and Ro Khanna  adding they will use a War Powers resolution to force his hand.

The U.S. military's involvement in the conflict has been limited since November 2018 when, under similar bipartisan pressure, the Trump administration halted midair refueling for Saudi-led coalition aircraft. That air force has been accused by the U.N. of potential war crimes  indiscriminate bombardments and targeting civilian infrastructure.

The Houthis have also been accused of potential war crimes, including indiscriminate attacks and land mines, according to the same U.N. panel. Increasingly, they've also conducted complex, coordinated attacks on Saudi Arabia and UAE  including one last Friday that set two Saudi Aramco facilities ablaze and sent black smoke billowing into the air. While there were no casualties, Saudi officials said it would affect oil production amid the global energy crunch.

Fighting in recent months has been worse than in years  with more January the deadliest month since 2018  just three months after the UN Human Rights Council voted to disband that U.N. panel investigating war crimes.

PHOTO: Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves as he boards a plane to depart from the Algerian capital Algiers, on March 30, 2022. (Jacquelyn Martin/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

While the majority of civilians have been killed by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, the senior State Department official said the coalition "has been saying they're prepared to engage" in negotiations towards a cease-fire and ultimately a political resolution.

The coalition on Wednesday launched a unilateral cease-fire. The U.N.'s new special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, welcomed it as part of his call for a truce for Ramadan, Islam's holy month which starts this weekend. Grundberg has been conducting extensive consultations with not just the warring countries, but also political parties, civil society activists, and women's rights advocates.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, a Riyadh-based bloc of regional countries, is also hosting a peace conference this week of Yemeni parties.

The Houthis have rejected both the Saudi cease-fire and the GCC summit, but days earlier announced they would halt to cross-border attacks until Wednesday, refusing to extend it unless the coalition met certain demands. Those demands  ending restrictions on Yemeni ports and closure of Sanaa's airport  were not met, but it's unclear if the Houthis had resumed attacks.

MORE: US to resume aid to Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen amid desperate need, intensified fighting

Still, Grundberg expressed some hope Wednesday that his team was "making progress" on reaching a truce  telling the GCC summit, "Yemen needs a truce. I am engaging with the parties with a sense of urgency to reach this truce by the beginning of Ramadan."

In the meantime, it's the Yemeni people who suffer  a crisis now exacerbated by Russia's war against Ukraine. Yemen imports approximately one-fifth of its wheat from the two countries, and with energy prices also soaring, the already severely underfunded humanitarian response is left reeling.

That's left children like "Isaac" with dimmer futures. In addition to widespread malnutrition, approximately 10,000 children have been killed by the war. Some two million children are out of school, with over 25,000 schools damaged or destroyed.

Isaac, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, told the aid group Save the Children that his school "is definitely not safe anymore." The 14-year old boy was shot by a sniper in the leg.

"I assumed the sniper would spare me when he saw I was only picking up the ball. He doesn't usually shoot at us, he rarely does, but he did this time," he said, according to the group.

After year of diplomacy, Biden administration confronts difficult realities of Yemens war originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
FILE PHOTO: An Afghan woman holds her child as she and others wait to receive package being distributed by a Turkish humanitarian aid group at a distribution centre in Kabul, Afghanistan

GENEVA (Reuters) - Donor countries pledged $2.44 billion towards the United Nations' $4.4 billion appeal for humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, a senior U.N. official said on Thursday after a high-level pledging conference.

Earlier, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for donors to provide "unconditional" funding saying that 9 million Afghans faced famine and that families were selling children and organs to survive.

Joyce Msuya, U.N. deputy emergency relief coordinator, announced that $2.44 billion was promised at the talks during which Western donors including the United States, the European Union and Britain strongly criticised the Taliban decision to deny girls secondary education.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Chris Reese)
FILE - People enjoy the sunny weather and a view of the Manhattan skyline from the Brooklyn waterfront, March 21, 2021, in New York. A judge has ordered New York's Democrat-controlled Legislature to redraw the state's congressional and legislative districts after finding they were unconstitutional. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File) (ASSOCIATED PRESS)

NEW YORK (AP)  A judge has ordered New York's Democrat-controlled Legislature to redraw the state's congressional and legislative districts after finding they were unconstitutional.

Judge Patrick McAllister said in a Thursday ruling that maps redrawing the state's congressional districts were gerrymandered to benefit Democrats. McAllister said those districts must be redrawn, along with the legislative districts, in a way that attracted at least some bipartisan support.

The judge gave lawmakers until April 11 to try again. If their new maps fail to pass muster in the courts again, then the judge said he would order the state to pay for a court-approved expert to redraw the maps.

Legislative leaders said they would appeal the ruling.

The state's primary elections are scheduled June 28 and candidates have already begun campaigning in the new districts.

The judge said that if the Legislature fails again and an outside expert is hired to draw the maps, the process would be expensive and lengthy and may leave the state without maps before Aug. 23, the last possible date that the state could push back its primary election.

Republicans had argued in a lawsuit that the maps were unconstitutionally gerrymandered to benefit Democrats and marginalize GOP voters.
Over the last 24 hours, the Pentagon has seen "less than 20%" of the Russian troops that had been around Kyiv moving northward as they "reposition" into Belarus so they can be re-equipped for possible action in eastern Ukraine, the Pentagon's top spokesman said Wednesday.

Also, The White House said Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by his top advisers about military developments in Russia, a development that the Pentagon labeled as "disconcerting."

"We have seen over the last 24 hours the repositioning of a small percentage of the troops and the battalion tactical groups that Russia had arrayed against Kyiv," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said Wednesday. "Probably in the neighborhood of 20% of what they had, they are beginning to reposition some of those troops."

Specifically, Kirby said the Russian troops near the Hostomel airport north of the city have been seen moving north towards Belarus. The airport had been the scene of heavy fighting from the opening hours of Russia's invasion.

Separately, a senior U.S. defense official said some Russian troops had also been seen moving out of the Chernobyl nuclear facility. However, it remained unclear if they would all be leaving.

MORE: Pentagon dubious of Russian 'withdrawal' north of Kyiv, expects troops will move to eastern Ukraine

Some of those troops are being moved into Belarus, said Kirby, who added that none of the units have been seen returning to their home bases.

PHOTO: A Ukrainian soldier carries Russian weapons captured during a battle between Ukrainian and Russian forces outside Kharkiv, Ukraine, March 29, 2022. (Thomas Peter/Reuters)

"If the Russians are serious about de-escalating, because that's their claim here, then they should send them home, but they're not doing that, at least not yet," Kirby said. "That's not what we're seeing."

Kirby said he was intentionally using the term reposition instead of a withdrawal to describe the movement of Russian forces "because the way it's being spun by the Ministry of Defense is that they're that they're pulling back and they're trying to de-escalate and depressurize the situation and we just don't believe we haven't seen any evidence of that."

Instead, Kirby said the U.S. assesses that the Russians are "going to refit these troops, resupply them, and then probably employ them elsewhere in Ukraine."

A senior U.S. defense official said U.S. intelligence believes that Russia may intend to shift some of these troops towards the fight in the Donbas region, which would be in line with public statements from Russian officials that they want to make that region a priority of their operations.

MORE: Russia-Ukraine live updates: Putin's advisers 'are too afraid to tell him the truth'

Even as some of the Russian troops around Kyiv move away, Kirby and the rest have established defensive positions. Kirby noted that Russian forces continue to launch missiles and artillery at the city and surrounding suburbs.

Kirby said that without getting into intelligence, the Pentagon concurred with comments in news reports attributed to a U.S. official that Putin is not being fully advised of Russia's performance on the battlefield in Ukraine.

"We would concur with the conclusion that Mr. Putin has not been fully informed by his Ministry of Defense at every turn over the last month," Kirby said Wednesday.

PHOTO: People walk in front of a theatre building adorned with the letter Z, which has become a symbol of support for Russian military action in Ukraine, in central Moscow on March 30, 2022. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)

Kirby described that assessment as "disconcerting" and "an issue of concern."

"The fact that he may not have all the context, that he may not fully understand the degree to which his forces are failing in Ukraine, that's a little discomforting, to be honest with you," Kirby said.

"If he's not fully informed of how poorly he's doing, then how are his negotiators going to come up with an agreement that is enduring? Certainly one that respects Ukrainian sovereignty," he added.

"The other thing is you don't know how a leader like that is going to react to getting bad news," Kirby said. '

Less than 20% of Russian troops around Kyiv are 'repositioning': Pentagon on Day 35 originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Editor's note: This article contains graphic images below.

Louie Suljovic was working in his pizza shop Saturday night when he heard a shout from his father, Cazim. An older Asian woman had been robbed and stabbed outside the store in Queens, a borough of New York City.

Suljovic had just one thought as he ran outside to intervene: "Somebody is in trouble, and they need help," he told TODAY. "That's it."

The 38-year-old and his father chased after the people who harmed the woman  later identified as Eun Hee Chang, according to ABC New York  and fought back once they caught up to them. Cazim Suljovic, 68, was stabbed nine times and the younger Suljovic once next to his spine, puncturing his lung.

During a time of increased anti-Asian violence in the U.S., many  including the New York Police Department  have lauded Louie Suljovic and his father as heroes for intervening in the attack.

Louie Suljovic is recovering from a stab wound near his spine that resulted in a punctured lung.

"We're not going to let stuff like that happen," Louie Suljovic said. "We take care of our community."

Chang, a 61-year-old woman of Korean descent, according to NBC New York, was stabbed once in the back through her jacket.

Suljovic said he is not "100% sure" as to her condition. But if he could talk to her, he has one simple message: "We love you, and we're here for you, and we will always be here for you," he told TODAY.

According to ABC New York, Chang, a home health aide, went back to work the next day out of necessity.

Thats just who he is

Aferdita Suljovic, Louies mother, told TODAY that hearing her sons voice after the attack brought an immediate sense of relief  then, a feeling of pride.

Thats the way we were all grown up to be; if you see somebody, you have to help somebody, she said.

Her family is from Albania, and when they first arrived in the United States, they relied on their community to get through the struggles of settling in a new place. She said that her son, along with her other children, was raised to always help people, even strangers.

Thats just who he is, she said.

Louie Suljovic continues to recover from his injuries.

Louie Suljovic is recovering at a hospital in the Elmhurst neighborhood of Queens, located across the street from his shop, Louies Pizza. Early on in the coronavirus pandemic, the area's hospital system became a cautionary tale of overworked staff and supply shortages that would come to define much of the crisis.

Suljovic served food to essential workers at the hospital to keep them well-fed and to provide a little bit of normalcy.

Your local shop is here for you; its just the one thing thats always going to be as normal, he said.

Suljovic said that the tube from his lung was removed Tuesday, and he hopes to be discharged soon.

He wants to be up and out already, Aferdita Suljovic said of her sons condition.

Cazim Suljovic will remain in the hospital for several more days to recover from his injuries, Louie Suljovic said.

According to NBC New York, two suspects were taken into custody related to the attack.

Rising anti-Asian harassment and violence

Louie Suljovic said he's noticed the city of New York becoming increasingly violent, especially toward people from the Asian American community. Intervening in the attack on the 61-year-old woman was his way to "stand up."

"If the communities don't start taking back their areas, we're going to lose our city," he said.

"We've had enough of the sheer violence on people who are incapable of defending themselves," he added.

According to 2020 U.S. census data, Queens has the largest Asian population of all five New York City boroughs at 656,583 people, with the highest concentrations in Elmhurst and Flushing-Willets Point neighborhoods.

The organization Stop AAPI Hate has tracked the rise in violence and tallied more than 10,000 hate incidents across the country against the community since March 2020, around the time of the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In March 2021, six Asian women were shot at several spas in Atlanta. In January, Michelle Go was pushed in front of a New York City subway car and died. In February, Christina Yuna Lee, 35, was stabbed to death in her apartment after a man followed her home. These attacks have left many members of the Asian American community feeling unsafe.

For bystanders who bear witness to these attacks, Louie Suljovic encourages others to stand up as well.

"If we're on the sidelines and just recording an incident and putting it on social media, you're no better than the person being the perpetrator," he said.

Stop AAPI Hate has a list of resources on how to be an ally towards the community, including safety tips for what to do when witnessing a hate crime. The organization Asian Americans Advancing Justice also offers a virtual training on intervention that focuses on five safety strategies  distract, delegate, document, delay and direct.

'We need change'

Aferdita Suljovic said that her son's actions were ultimately unconditional.

"It was a human life, that was the most important thing to him," she said. But she hopes that her son's actions will change the way people approach these incidents.

"I hope we change; we need change," she said.

For Elizabeth Amber Gomez, a New York native and second-generation Chinese woman and activist, the Suljovics' actions sparked hope.

"It's extremely rare, especially when weapons are involved and in New York City," Gomez told TODAY.

She said she often sees recorded videos of hate crimes against Asian American people with no bystander intervention.

"It was hopeful, I feel like, to see someone that was a bystander come in to actually risk their own life to save another," she said. "We need that hope, that unity to keep us going. We feel like we're alone."

Support from the community

An Elmhurst community member started a GoFundMe for Louie and Cazim Suljovic to help with medical expenses and to pay staff as the restaurant remains closed in the wake of the incident.

In just two days, the page has raised more than $188,000 from more than 3,900 donors, dwarfing its initial $75,000 goal.

Louie Suljovic said these donations allow him to take time in his recovery instead of rushing to reopen his local shop.

"It's a huge relief for us," he said.

Donors from the Asian American community and beyond have left messages of thanks on the fundraising page, calling the Suljovics heroes.

"I wish the wonderful people a speedy recovery. I live in a different state, but Ill go out to eat soon, so I hope and pray that you leave the hospital early by then. There were also news articles about you in Korean news. All Koreans are grateful to you," one donor said.

"I donated because it takes a true hero to put himself in the line of danger to save a stranger," another wrote.

The fundraiser's founder, a "concerned neighbor and Louie's Pizza regular," has put out calls for more information to help the woman who was initially attacked.
By Tom Balmforth

LONDON (Reuters) -Russia said on Thursday that imprisoned ex-U.S. Marine Trevor Reed had declared a hunger strike to protest at disciplinary action taken against him, but denied he had contracted tuberculosis and said that his health was "satisfactory".

The 30-year-old Texan's parents met U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday, having raised fears that their son had caught tuberculosis in the jail in Russia's Mordovia region where he is serving a nine-year sentence.

They said their son had been exposed to an inmate with active tuberculosis in December, had not been tested or received proper medical care despite his health worsening, and had been put in solitary confinement and begun a hunger strike.

The White House voiced concern about reports of the hunger strike on Wednesday and called on Russia to provide Reed with adequate medical care immediately.

Reed was convicted of endangering the lives of two police officers while drunk on a visit to Moscow in 2019. He denied the charges and the United States called his trial a "theater of the absurd."

In a written statement to Reuters on Thursday, Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service denied that Reed had been in contact with anyone suffering from tuberculosis and said that repeated tests for the illness had come back negative.

It described his health as satisfactory and said that medical workers were constantly monitoring him.

"T. Reed declared a hunger strike on Monday ... because he disagreed with a punishment imposed on him by the facility's disciplinary commission in view of the circumstances of an offence and the previous behaviour of the convict," he said.

It did not say what the punishment was or why exactly it was imposed.

Washington has called on Moscow to release him as well as Paul Whelan who was jailed for spying and also denied the charges against him.

Speaking after Biden's meeting with Reed's parents, the White House said "the President reiterated his commitment to continue to work to secure the release of Trevor, Paul Whelan, and other Americans wrongfully held in Russia and elsewhere."

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey, Guy Faulconbridge and Nick Macfie)
MANILA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A restive volcano near the Philippine capital Manila expelled magmatic gases and steam on Thursday morning, days after a phreatomagmatic eruption over the weekend.

In a video post on Facebook, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said it recorded a phreatomagmatic burst from the main crater of Taal volcano at 10:39 a.m. local time.

Before the burst, the institute did not detect any volcanic earthquake. But it noted that a "low-level background tremor" has persisted since Wednesday.

The volcano island is located in Batangas province, 66 km south of Manila. On March 26, the institute raised the volcanic activity alert level to 3 on a scale of 5 following a phreatomagmatic eruption. The government has evacuated over 7,000 people from 18 villages around the volcano.

A phreatomagmatic eruption occurs when magma and water interact, leading to steam and pyroclastic fragments ejection.

The Taal volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the Philippines, last erupted in January 2020, displacing nearly 380,000 villagers and destroying many farms, houses and roads in the provinces nearby. 
LVIV (Reuters) - Ukrainian forces are preparing for new Russian attacks in the southeast region where Moscow's guns are now trained after its assault on the capital Kyiv was repelled, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.

Five weeks into an invasion that has blasted cities into wastelands and created more than 4 million refugees, U.S. and European officials said Russian president Vladimir Putin was misled by his generals about the dire performance of Russia's military.

Tough resistance by Ukrainian forces has prevented Russia from capturing any major city, including the capital Kyiv, which it assaulted with armoured columns from the northwest and east.

Moscow says it is now focusing on "liberating" the Donbas region - two southeastern provinces partly controlled by separatists Russia has backed since 2014.

In an early morning video address, Zelenskiy said Russian troop movements away from Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv were not a withdrawal but rather "the consequence of our defenders' work".

Ukraine was seeing "a build-up of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas and we are preparing for that," he said.

That includes Mariupol, once a city of 400,000 people, where most buildings have been damaged or destroyed in four weeks of constant Russian bombardment and siege. A convoy of Ukrainian buses set out for the port city on Thursday to try to reach trapped civilians, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

The United Nations believes thousands of people have died there, many buried in unmarked graves.

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of an armoured vehicle in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol.

The past week has seen a Ukrainian counter-offensive, recapturing destroyed suburbs of Kyiv and strategic towns and villages in the northeast and southwest. Russia declared on Monday that it was scaling back its offensive near the capital and the city of Chernihiv in the north, in what it called a trust-building gesture for peace talks.

Russia says it launched a "special military operation" to disarm and "denazify" its neighbour, and that the mission is going to plan.

Western countries say the invasion was an unprovoked war of aggression, that Russia's true aim was to swiftly topple the government in Kyiv, and that its failure has been a strategic catastrophe, bringing economic ruin and diplomatic isolation.

U.S. officials have declassified intelligence which they said showed a rift between Putin and his advisors, who failed to warn him of the poor performance of his military or the economic impact of Western sanctions.

We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership, Kate Bedingfield, White House communications director, told reporters during a press briefing on Wednesday.

We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions, because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth.

A senior European diplomat said the U.S. assessment was in line with European thinking. "Putin thought things were going better than they were. That's the problem with surrounding yourself with 'yes men.'" the diplomat said.

A charred car is seen in front of a destroyed apartment building in Mariupol.

Military analysts have described Russia's announcement of a focus on the Donbas as an attempt to reframe its war goals to make it easier for Putin to claim a face-saving victory. Denis Pushilin, the Russian-backed separatist leader in the Donbas province that includes Mariupol, said on Wednesday offensive operations were intensifying.

All previous efforts to reach Ukrainian-held parts of Mariupol with aid or buses to evacuate civilians have failed. On Thursday, however, Ukraine said it was now sending a relief convoy through a humanitarian corridor with the backing of the Red Cross, which had secured agreement with the Russians.

In Russian-held parts of Mariupol people occasionally climb out of cellars to appear, ghostlike, among the ruins.

Pavel was placing a bowl and spoon as a tribute on a makeshift grave, in a patch of grass outside a wrecked apartment block, marked with a plain wooden cross.

"Our friend. March 16. Driving in a car. A bullet hit him in the throat. He was dead in five minutes," he said. "I was in the car. I brought him home."

Three older women sat bundled in coats at a picnic table outside the basement where they shelter. One was slicing a cabbage on some old newspaper.

"There's no food, no water, no gas," said Viktor, hovering over a makeshift wood stove on the basement steps nearby. "We cook what we find among neighbours. A bit of cabbage, a bit more of potatoes, we've found tomato paste, some beetroot."

A local man looks into a Russian tank left behind after Ukrainian forces expelled Russian soldiers from the town of Trostyanets which they had occupied at the beginning of its war with Ukraine.

Western sanctions imposed on Russia as punishment for its invasion have largely isolated its economy from world trade, but Moscow is still the biggest supplier of oil and gas to Europe.

The United States is considering releasing up to 180 million barrels of oil over several months from its Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to ease upward pressure on prices, two U.S. sources said. Oil prices fell more than $5 a barrel on Thursday on the news.

International Energy Agency (IEA) member countries were set to hold an emergency meeting on Friday at 1200 GMT to decide on a collective oil release, a spokesperson for New Zealand's energy minister said on Thursday.

Russia has demanded European payments for its gas be made in roubles by Friday, raising fears of energy shortages. Germany has warned of a possible emergency if Russia cuts supplies.

A German government spokesperson said Putin had told Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday that payments could still be made in euros to Gazprombank, a bank affiliated with the Russian gas export monopoly, which would convert the money to roubles.

However, the Russian business newspaper Kommersant said Gazprom was looking into shutting off supplies: "Gazprom ... is indeed working on an option of a complete stoppage of gas supplies to 'unfriendly countries' and is evaluating the consequences of such measures," it wrote.
President Biden said Thursday that his administration is working to protect Americans from the wave of anti-trans laws being passed at the state level.

To everyone celebrating Transgender Day of Visibility, I want you to know your president sees you, Biden said in a video statement. Our entire administration sees you for who you are, made in the image of God and deserving in dignity, respect and support. But we know its hard when there are those out there who dont see you and dont respect you.

Biden then referenced the surge in state-level laws targeting transgender Americans. In Texas, the state government is investigating parents of trans youths for child abuse. In Idaho, a bill would have made it a felony punishable by life in prison for parents to seek gender-affirming care for their children and for medical professionals to provide it. While the bill passed in the state House, virtually along party lines, it ended up being shelved in the Senate.

President Biden speaking on Wednesday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

To parents of transgender children, affirming your childs identity is one of the most powerful things you can do to keep them safe and healthy, Biden said. To any transgender American whos struggling, please know youre not alone. To parents and children alike, please ask for help and know this: Youre so brave, you belong, and we have your back.

As part of its rollout of actions on Thursday, the White House said it would work to streamline processes for transgender and nonbinary Americans in areas like education, travel and employment as well as providing additional resources to LGBT youths. The White House added that the Department of Health and Human Services would be the first federal agency to fly a trans pride flag.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said his Justice Department is "committed to combatting the hate crimes that target and terrorize the transgender community  particularly transgender women of color."

"Transgender individuals deserve to be able to live free from discrimination, harassment, violence and threats of violence," Garland said in a statement. "Transgender youth deserve to be loved and protected. And members of the transgender community deserve to be treated with dignity and respect."

On Wednesday, Republican governors in both Oklahoma and Arizona signed laws banning transgender youth from participating in sports. Last week, Republican governors in Indiana and Utah vetoed similar bills.

Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in a statement explaining his veto. I dont understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.

Attorney General Merrick Garland at a Justice Department meeting on March 10. (Kevin Lamarque/AFP via Getty Images)

The Republican-controlled Legislature in Utah then overrode the veto and put the ban into effect. GOP lawmakers in Indiana have said they plan to do the same. According to tracking from the Human Rights Campaign, more than 300 anti-LGBT bills have been introduced in 35 states this year. This follows 2021, when the HRC tracked 147 anti-trans bills in 34 states.

Previously, Biden honored the transgender Americans who were killed last year and addressed the community in his State of the Union speech earlier this month, saying, The onslaught of state laws targeting transgender Americans and their families is wrong. Shortly after taking office, his administration reversed one Trump-era decision in order to protect LGBT Americans from discrimination in health care and another so that transgender access to taxpayer-funded homeless shelters is protected. However, movement on enacting legislative protections via Congress has fallen short.

Last March, the House passed the Equality Act, which would amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Those protections would extend to housing, employment and access to federal programs and were a campaign promise by Biden, who had said hed sign the bill into law in his first 100 days.

The legislation has since stalled in the Senate due to opposition from Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. In his Thursday statement, Biden said it is time to pass the Equality Act, to help transgender persons around the world to live free from discrimination and violence.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who is the mother of a transgender child, wrote in Teen Vogue, Its past time for the Senate to finish the job and get the Equality Act to the presidents desk.

A rally in support of transgender people at New York's City Hall in 2018. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

At the end of the day, what transgender children need is the same thing that every child needs: the unequivocal love, support, and protection of their parents; the same chance to thrive as any of their peers; and the ability to be fully who they are, without fear of discrimination, violence or hatred, Jayapal concluded. The suffering of transgender children is not inevitable. It is our job  as leaders, as parents, as legislators  to push back on the attacks and to move us forward again toward true equality and justice.
The Queen has held virtual audiences at Windsor as she kept busy with official engagements despite being only three weeks away from her 96th birthday.

She welcomed the Ambassador of Ecuador and the Ambassador of Nepal via video link.

The same day, she issued a message of thanks to those across the country who have planted more than a million trees for her Jubilee, saying she was deeply touched by the support for the Queens Green Canopy.

The Ambassador of Nepal, Gyan Chandra Acharya, presents his credentials to the Queen (Kirsty OConnor/PA)

The monarch has had a run of duties this week, attending the memorial service for her late husband the Duke of Edinburgh on Tuesday.

The poignant service saw the Queen, walking slowly with a stick, on her first official engagement outside of a royal residence in nearly six months.

A day later, she presented honours to Philips most loyal and trusted aides at special private face-to-face investitures in Windsor Castle.

The Queen being accompanied by the Duke of York (Richard Pohle/The Times/PA)

She invested the dukes long-serving private secretary Brigadier Archie Miller-Bakewell with the insignia of a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO).

Brig Miller-Bakewell, who was also Philips treasurer, was the dukes right-hand man for 11 years, taking on the role in 2010.

He along with other devoted staff were named last June as recipients of the honours in recognition of their service to the duke as part of a special set of Demise awards, announced on what would have been Philips 100th birthday.

Nine months on, the Queen granted them an increasingly rare face-to-face investiture, where she is likely to have personally thanked them for their support in Philips day-to-day life.

Brigadier Archie Miller-Bakewell (third from left) in the funeral procession (Hannah McKay/PA)

Others received by the Queen on Wednesday included the dukes correspondence secretary Suzy Lethbridge, his assistant private secretary Rachel Loryman and his archivist and librarian Alexandra McCreery, who were all made Lieutenants of the Royal Victorian Order (LVO), the Court Circular showed.

Philips valet David Berwick, who worked for the Queens consort for 46 years  joining his staff in 1975  received his insignia of a Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO).

Another trusted valet Stephen Niedojadlo was also received and made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order.

Brig Miller-Bakewell attended the dukes service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday, and the others are likely to have been invited.

He and Mr Berwick processed behind Philips coffin as it was ferried through the grounds of Windsor Castle on a Land Rover hearse at his funeral almost a year ago.

Philips service of thanksgiving was held nearly a year after his death (Adrian Dennis/PA)

Philips page William Henderson, who also joined the funeral procession, was invested with his LVO insignia last July.

Honours in the Royal Victorian Order are in the Queens gift.

The monarch, who reached her Platinum Jubilee in February, is set to celebrate her 96th birthday on April 21.

She also held her weekly telephone audience with Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday evening.

Other engagements were left to younger members of her family on Thursday with the Earl of Wessex presenting Colours to the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, on behalf of his mother, in the quadrangle at Windsor.

The Earl of Wessex presenting new colours to the Royal Gibraltar Regiment during a ceremony at Windsor Castle (Steve Parsons/PA)

Edward told the troops: This is your Sovereigns personal recognition of your professionalism, skill, courage and unique contribution to our nations defence.

He added: On behalf of Her Majesty, I hand over these colours in the confidence that you will guard them well. That they will be symbols of the Royal Gibraltar Regiments enduring spirit and devotion to duty.

That it will inspire you in the face of uncertainties. That as an emblem of your achievements it will be an embodiment of your Regiments traditions, heritage and ethos.

But most importantly, I give it into your care as a token of Her Majestys admiration and trust in each and every one of you and in the regiment in which you serve.

Three cheers were given for the Queen, with the troops raising their white helmets in her honour, during the ceremony.

Meanwhile, the Countess of Wessex planted a tree at Buckingham Palace to signal the halfway point of the Queens Green Canopy planting initiative for the Jubilee.

The Countess of Wessex joins year four pupils from Grange Park Primary School in Shropshire, to plant a Jubilee tree (Toby Melville/PA)

In the abbey earlier in the week, the Queen, who has confessed to mobility issues, moved gingerly, holding onto the Duke of Yorks elbow for support and using her stick as she arrived to join the congregation of 1,800.

Allowing Andrew to chaperon her was a shock move after the duke, who had been banished from royal public life, paid a multimillion-pound out-of-court settlement in a civil sexual assault case just a few weeks before.

It was seen as the monarch signalling her support for her second son, but has provoked reports that the Queen overruled the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge to give Andrew the key role.
Editor's note: This page recaps the news from Ukraine on Thursday, March 31. Follow here for the latest updates and news from Friday, April 1, as Russia's invasion continues.

Russian troops have continued to retreat from Kyiv in the last 24 hours, although the withdrawal remains at about 20% of the force Russian President Vladimir Putin sent to seize the Ukrainian capital, a senior Defense official said Thursday.

The Pentagon believes the Russians are pulling back to get resupplied, not to wind down the war, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to reveal intelligence assessments. As evidence, the official pointed to continued airstrikes and shelling of Kyiv by Russian troops.

President Joe Biden supported that contention later in the day, saying there have been no clear signs the Russians are relenting in their assault around the capital.

The official spoke to reporters hours after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg provided the same assessment in a briefing in Brussels. Stoltenberg also pledged that NATO will supply Ukraine with weapons for its struggle against Russia's invasion for as long as necessary.

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The alliance remains unconvinced that Russia is negotiating in good faith in the peace talks taking place in Istanbul. Russia must be judged on actions, not words, "and it's obvious that we have seen little willingness from the Russian side to find a political solution," he said.

"Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities," Stoltenberg said. "So we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering."

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President Joe Biden ordered the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day for the next six months from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve in response to a spike in gas prices triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Syria is sending hundreds of fighters to join the Russian cause in Ukraine as a sort of favor repayment by President Bashar al-Assad for Moscow's help in his country's civil war, the New York Times reported.

U.N. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield will travel to Moldova and Romania on Saturday to focus on efforts to assist refugees and the overwhelming humanitarian needs created by the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree Thursday demanding payment for natural gas in rubles but appeared to temper the order by allowing dollar and euro payments through a designated bank, the latest twist over energy supplies that Europe relies on to heat homes and generate electricity.

Talks between Ukraine and Russia will resume Friday by video, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, said. Ukraine will not sign a peace treaty until Moscow withdraws its troops, he said.

Russia blocks buses evacuating Mariupol residents, Ukraine says

The Ukrainian government said Russian forces blocked 45 buses that had been sent to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol, and only 631 people were able to get out of the city in private cars.

Twelve Ukrainian trucks were able to deliver humanitarian supplies to Mariupol, but the supplies were seized by Russian troops, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said late Thursday.

According to Ukrainian officials, tens of thousands of people have made it out of Mariupol in recent weeks along humanitarian corridors, reducing the prewar population of 430,000 to about 100,000 by last week.

Vereshchuk said about 45,000 Mariupol residents have been forcefully deported to Russia and areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

No easing of bombardment in Kyiv

President Joe Biden told reporters Thursday theres no clear evidence that Vladimir Putin is pulling all Russian forces out of Kyiv and that the Russian leaders next military steps in Ukraine remain unclear.

There is also evidence that he is beefing up his troops down in the Donbas area, Biden said, referring to a contested region in eastern Ukraine near the Russian border. Depending on your view of Putin, Im a little skeptical. Its an open question whether hes actually pulling back or going to say Im just going to focus on the Donbas and Im not worried about the rest of the country.

Ukrainian soldiers carry a body of a civilian killed by the Russian forces over the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky) ORG XMIT: XEL115

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that rather than pulling back their assault on the capital city and its surroundings as announced, Russian forces have intensified bombardment of homes, stores, libraries and other civilian sites on the city's outskirts.

U.S. and British intelligence officials say Russian forces are repositioning and regrouping, not scaling back in and around Kyiv as the Kremlin said.

"It's not true," Klitschko said in a video address to European Union regional officials translated by Reuters. "The whole night we listened to sirens, to rocket attacks, and we listened to huge explosions east of Kyiv and north of Kyiv. There are immense battles there, people died, still die."

As Putin clashes with advisers, Russian soldiers rebelling

The impact of a war that's not going according to plan appears to be taking an increasing toll on Russian forces and their leader. There are growing reports of friction between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his advisers, as well as discontent among the troops.

"He seems to be self-isolated, and there's some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers,'' President Joe Biden said of Putin. "But I don't want to put too much stock in that at this time because we don't have that much hard evidence.''

The head of the U.K.'s spy service said it "increasingly looks like Putin has massively misjudged the situation" in Ukraine and that Russian soldiers, short on weapons and morale, are refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their own equipment.

"And even though we believe Putins advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, whats going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime," spy chief Jeremy Fleming said.

A U.S. official who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity said Putin has felt misled by the Russian military, leading to tension between the sides.

Zelenskyy strips Ukrainian generals of their ranks

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he has stripped two generals of their military rank.

Zelenskyy said something prevented them from determining where their homeland was and they violated their military oath of allegiance to the Ukrainian people.

According to Zelenskyy, one of the generals had headed internal security at the SBU, the main intelligence agency.

He said the other general had been the SBU head in the Kherson region, the first major city to fall to the Russians.

Zelenskyy didnt say anything about the fates of the two generals other than them being stripped of their rank.

Russian troops sickened after being exposed to radiation at Chernobyl site

Russian troops were exposed to significant doses of radiation from digging trenches around the Chernobyl nuclear plant and have left the highly contaminated site, Ukraines state power company said Thursday.

Energoatom said the Russians had dug in the forest inside the exclusion zone around the now-closed plant, site in 1986 of the worlds worst nuclear disaster. The troops panicked at the first sign of illness, which showed up very quickly, and began to prepare to leave, said Energoatom, which did not provide information on the soldiers' condition.

Russian forces seized the Chernobyl site early in the invasion that began Feb. 24, raising fears that they would cause damage or disruption that could spread radiation.

On Thursday, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Ukrainian officials informed it that the Russian forces who were in control of the plant have in writing, transferred control of the facility to Ukrainian personnel.

Russians shell humanitarian convoy headed for Chernihiv

At least one volunteer was killed and four other wounded when Russian forces shelled a humanitarian convoy of buses sent to evacuate residents from the northern city of Chernihiv, Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova said.

She said the Russian troops besieging Chernihiv, about 90 miles north of Kyiv, have made it impossible to evacuate civilians from a city that has been cut off from food, water and other supplies.

Cost of seafood likely to rise with sanctions on Russia, a major exporter

The global fishing industry expects to feel the impact of the sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine, with price increases and supply disruptions likely on the way.

Russia is one of the biggest producers of seafood in the world and was the fifth-largest producer of wild-caught fish, according to a 2020 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. In the U.S., which is not among the largest importers of seafood from Russia, the impact is most likely to be felt in products like fast-food sandwiches and fish sticks.

British consumers will probably see a significant increase in the price of the popular fish and chips dish, because the UK and the European Union are deeply dependent on Russian seafood. The cost of seafood is already spiking in Japan, which is limiting its trade with Russia.

Because seafood is a global commodity, even if they are not harvested in Russia, you will notice the price hike, said Kanae Tokunaga, who runs the Coastal and Marine Economics Lab at Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

Germany: More sanctions needed

Germanys economy minister says Europe should impose additional sanctions on Russia to encourage an end to what he described as a barbaric war in Ukraine. Robert Habeck said he discussed additional measures with French officials Thursday in Berlin.

The last package doesnt need to be the final one, it should not be the final one, he said. Habeck said French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire had identified additional sanctions but did not detail them.

Habeck declined to elaborate on what those points might be. Current sanctions include the freezing of assets held by the Russian central bank in the EU, the exclusion of Russian banks from the SWIFT banking system and a ban on EU companies exporting high-tech products to Russia.

Zelenskyy asks Australia for armored vehicles

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Australia to increase sanctions against Russia and send him some armored vehicles in a video speech Thursday to the Australian Parliament.

"Most of all we have to keep those who are fighting against this evil armed," he said. Finance Minister Simon Birmingham did not directly respond to the request in a briefing, saying the government was considering what was practical. He said Australia has already provided missiles and protective gear to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said the war might not have happened if Russia had been punished after Russian-backed separatists shot down Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014. Thirty-eight Australians were among the 298 aboard, all of whom perished.

"The unpunished evil comes back," Zelenskyy said.

A woman with a child returns to Ukraine from the border crossing in Medyka, southeastern Poland, on March 31, 2022.

Russia calls up 134,500 military conscripts

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Thursday ordering 134,500 new conscripts into the army as part of Russia's annual spring draft, but the defense ministry said the call-up was unrelated to the war. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the conscripts, ages 18-27, would be dispatched to bases in late May for 3-5 months of training. None will be sent to combat "hot spots," he said.

The defense ministry acknowledged earlier this month that some conscripts had been taking part in the war, despite Putin saying only professional soldiers and officers had been sent to Ukraine. The Kremlin said Putin ordered military prosecutors to investigate and punish the officials responsible for disobeying his instructions to exclude conscripts.

Red Cross ready for Mariupol evacuation Friday

The International Committee of the Red Cross says its teams are ready to help evacuate civilians from of the besieged city of Mariupol.

"Our team in #Ukraine is on the road right now to be ready to: Facilitate the safe passage of civilians out of #Mariupol tomorrow. And bring aid," the Red Cross tweeted Thursday. "All parties must agree to the exact terms. This operation is critical. Tens of thousands of lives depend on it.''

The evacuation could begin Friday provided all the parties agree to the terms, route, start time and the duration, the Red Cross said. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Ukraine is sending out several dozen buses to collect civilians from Mariupol after Russia's military agreed to a local cease-fire from the city to Ukraine-held Zaporizhzhia.

Tech industry impacted by Russian invasion of Ukraine

Sensing the worst two weeks before Russia began invading his homeland, tech entrepreneur Volodymir "Vlad" Panchenko wanted to charter a plane for a month to get as many of his employees and their families out of Kyiv as quickly as possible.

But the co-founder of video game and metaverse marketplace DMarket said his board was giving him heavy pushback because his plan to shuttle workers to the Balkan country of Montenegro would lead to a 20% budget increase.

None of them supported me. They said I was overreacting, said Panchenko, who trusted his gut and told them he was executing his contingency plan anyway  regardless of the cost. I told them that I felt a war was coming and we should leave. And if there isnt, well spend time in a warm place and still get our work done.

DMarket and many other tech companies rely on colleagues who live and work in Ukraine, a fast-growing tech hotbed. While known companies such as Google and Microsoft have workers based in Ukraine, many far lesser-known, early- and mid-stage startups globally count on the embattled countrys talent-rich pool of engineers and developers and could be in jeopardy because of the conflict. Read more here.

 Terry Collins

Contributing: Joey Garrison, USA TODAY; The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ukraine recap: Russia pulling back to resupply, not end war, US says
KYIV, Ukraine  Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and another city just hours after pledging to scale back operations in those zones to promote trust between the two sides, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday.

The shelling  and intensified Russian attacks on other parts of the country  tempered optimism about any progress in the talks aimed at ending the punishing war.

The Russian militarys announcement Tuesday that it would deescalate near the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv to increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations was met with deep suspicion from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the West.

This handout picture released on March 30, 2022 by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows rescuers conducting search operations and dismantling the debris of a government building in Mykolaiv, which was hit by Russian rockets the previous day.





This handout picture released on March 30, 2022 by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine shows rescuers conducting search operations and dismantling the debris of a government building in Mykolaiv, which was hit by Russian rockets the previous day. (STR/)

Soon after, Ukrainian officials reported that Russian shelling hit homes, stores, libraries and other civilian sites in and around Chernihiv and on the outskirts of Kyiv. Russian troops also stepped up their attacks around the eastern city of Izyum and the eastern Donetsk region, after redeploying units from other areas, the Ukrainian side said.

Olexander Lomako, secretary of the Chernihiv City Council, said the Russian announcement turned out to be a complete lie.

At night they didnt decrease, but vice versa increased the intensity of military action, Lomako said.

Five weeks into the invasion that has left thousands dead on both sides, the number of Ukrainians fleeing the country topped a staggering 4 million, half of them children, according to the United Nations.

I do not know if we can still believe the Russians, Nikolay Nazarov, a refugee from Ukraine, said as he pushed his fathers wheelchair at a border crossing into Poland. I think more escalation will occur in eastern Ukraine. That is why we cannot go back to Kharkiv.

Mariya, a local resident, looks for personal items in the rubble of her house, destroyed during fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the village of Yasnohorodka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022.





Mariya, a local resident, looks for personal items in the rubble of her house, destroyed during fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the village of Yasnohorodka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (VADIM GHIRDA/)

Top Russian officials reacted positively to the talks, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying Wednesday that Ukraines willingness to accept neutrality and look outside NATO for security represents significant progress, according to Russian news agencies.

After the Kremlins announcement that it would scale back some of its military operations, Zelenskyy reacted by saying that when dealing with the Russians, you can trust only concrete results. That assessment was echoed by President Biden and by British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, who noted suspicions that Russia intends to regroup and attack again.

The skepticism appeared well-founded on Wednesday.

Oleksandr Pavliuk, head of the Kyiv region military administration, said Russian shells targeted residential areas and civilian infrastructure in the Bucha, Brovary and Vyshhorod regions around the capital.

A relative mourns on the coffin with the body of 3 year-old Mykola Goryainiv, who died with his parents as they were driving a car trying to evacuate from a fighting zone in Kharkiv region, during a funeral ceremony in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022.





A relative mourns on the coffin with the body of 3 year-old Mykola Goryainiv, who died with his parents as they were driving a car trying to evacuate from a fighting zone in Kharkiv region, during a funeral ceremony in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (Andriy Andriyenko/)

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the military also targeted fuel depots in two towns in central Ukraine with air-launched long-range cruise missiles. And Russian forces hit a Ukrainian special forces headquarters in the southern Mykolaiv region, he said, and two ammunition depots in the Donetsk region.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that over the last 24 hours, the U.S. has seen some Russian troops moving north away from Kyiv into Belarus but does not view this as a withdrawal, just an effort by Moscow to resupply and then reposition the troops.

Top Russian military officials have said in recent days that their main goal now is the liberation of Donbas, the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial heartland in the east, where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014. Western officials say Moscow is reinforcing its troops in the Donbas, which includes the Donetsk region.

Some analysts have suggested that the apparent scaling back of the Kremlins war aims and pledge to deescalate may merely be an effort to put a positive spin on reality: Moscows ground troops have been thwarted  and have taken heavy losses  in their bid to seize the capital and other cities.

A Ukrainian soldier walks past the bodies of Russian soldiers laying on the ground after the Ukranian troops retook the village of Mala Rogan, east of Kharkiv, on March 30, 2022.





A Ukrainian soldier walks past the bodies of Russian soldiers laying on the ground after the Ukranian troops retook the village of Mala Rogan, east of Kharkiv, on March 30, 2022. (FADEL SENNA/)

Meanwhile, a missile destroyed part of an apartment block in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk early Wednesday, and two people were reported killed. Separatists blamed Ukrainian forces for the attack.

I was just sitting on the couch and  bang!  the window glass popped, the frames came off. I didnt even understand what happened, said resident Anna Gorda.

The UN food aid agency said it is providing emergency assistance to 1 million people in Ukraine. It said the food includes 330,000 freshly baked loaves of bread for families in the heavily bombarded eastern city of Kharkiv.

Children are suffering, and our city, and everything, Tetyana Parmynska, a 28-year-old from the Chernihiv region now at a refugee center in Poland, said as songs were being played on a battered piano decorated with a peace emblem. We have no strength anymore.
ISLAMABAD, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan on Thursday closed its National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), a department formulating policies and supervising their implementation in the national fight against COVID-19, after a persistent decline in new cases and fatalities, the department's chairman said.

The decision was made after the country achieved a high level of vaccination besides all-time low indicators of the pandemic, NCOC Chairman Asad Umar said in a tweet, adding that Thursday is the last day of NCOC operation.

He said the country's health ministry will take charge of the COVID-19 response and vaccination process.

Lauding the department for its outstanding performance against the disease, Prime Minister Imran Khan said the leadership and team of the department achieved success due to their professional and nationally-coordinated response to the pandemic.

The NCOC was formed in March 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic in the country, under the directives of the prime minister to collate, analyze and process the pandemic information received from across the country and take measures accordingly. 
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan denied as fake news the reports that Armenia transferred its fighter jets to Russia for use in Ukraine.

The fake news authored by Azerbaijani sources claiming that Armenia transferred its four SU-30SM multi-role aircraft to Russia to use in Ukraine is widely circulating in the Western world. This, certainly, is a flagrant disinformation and our SUs not even once left the borders of our country ever since being imported, Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

Pashinyan added that sometimes such fake news have significant roles in the context of Azerbaijan being engaged in a policy of developing a false narrative both before, during and after the 2020 war in an attempt to substantiate military attack on Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

The Ministry of Defense of Armenia earlier also denied the reports by Turkish and Azerbaijani media outlets that claimed the Armenian military transferred four SU-30 fighter jets to Russia with the purpose of using them in the military operations in Ukraine.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Armenia again denies the reports which claimed that mercenaries are being transported to Ukraine through Armenian territory.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan talked about the problem of fake news during the March 31 Cabinet meeting.

The fake news claiming that mercenary terrorists are being transferred to Ukraine through Armenian territory is misrepresented as truth. Any more or else informed person knows that two years ago Armenia itself suffered from mercenary terrorists and Armenia can never contribute to their involvement anywhere, Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan added that sometimes such fake news have significant roles in the context of Azerbaijan being engaged in a policy of developing a false narrative both before, during and after the 2020 war in an attempt to substantiate military attack on Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. The Minister of Emergency Situations Andranik Piloyan is arrested in suspicion of bribery, the Anti-Corruption Committee said.

The National Security Service conducted a large scale investigation into alleged cases of bribery, abuse of power and embezzlement committed in the Ministry of Emergency Situations.

Numerous cases of alleged crimes were discovered.

Suspects include Minister Piloyan, his advisor, as well as more than 10 ministry officials.

Piloyan is suspected in accepting a bribe for making actions in his capacity as minister in favor of a company which works with the ministry. Piloyans advisor acted as an intermediary in taking the bribe, according to the Anti-Corruption Committee.

Piloyan faces 3 counts of bribery charges under Article 311 Paragraph 3, Clause 3. He was arrested on March 30. Investigators filed a motion to court requesting to remand him in custody until the trial.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. In its public and diplomatic responses Armenia has recorded that there is the Nagorno Karabakh issue and the issue of the rights of Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh must be addressed in the context of the Armenia-Azerbaijan comprehensive settlement, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting today.

Azerbaijans position is that there is no Nagorno Karabakh conflict, it is already solved. However, this position of Azerbaijan is not giving an answer to an important question: how in this case the issue of the rights of Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh has been solved? The answer of this question doesnt exist, and this is the reason that the international community is constantly talking about the necessity for the comprehensive settlement of the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, which we see in different international platforms. Understanding that the Nagorno Karabakh issue exists and will be further expressed in the international agenda, Azerbaijan is trying not to solve this issue, but to close it, and this operation started from Parukh village in Askeran region which has an obvious tendency to continue. In fact, Azerbaijan is trying to displace all Armenians from Nagorno Karabakh, thus, for considering the issue closed, the PM said.

He said if the Armenian side is wrong, then let Azerbaijan show concrete interest to the discussions relating to the rights and security guarantees of Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh.

A matter that is pushed forward not only by Armenia, but also the entire international community.

Whereas official Baku is moving on an opposite direction, claiming that there is no Nagorno Karabakh. This is also the reason that the official circles of Azerbaijan quite aggressively react to the cases when the international community is using the name Nagorno Karabakh. However, the use of this name is definitely and undoubtedly legitimate, he said, stating that the November 9 trilateral statement clearly mentions the terms Nagorno Karabakh, the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. This statement has also been signed by the President of Azerbaijan, he noted.

Pashinyan said Azerbaijan has adopted and is implementing a policy of Nagorno Karabakh without Armenians. It is also explained by arbitrary interpretations of the November 9 trilateral statement.

Such are, for example, Azerbaijans constant claims that the November 9 trilateral statement recorded an obligation to withdraw Armenian units from Nagorno Karabakh. This is more than an arbitrary interpretation because the November 9 statement clearly states where the Armenian units should leave and where they should stay. I want to note that the statements made by the Azerbaijani President earlier show that this provision put forward by Azerbaijan is imaginary. During our trilateral meeting on November 26, 2021, mediated by the Russian President, the President of Azerbaijan has publicly announced that all provisions of the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement are implemented in practice, except the point relating to the unblocking of communications. I want to state that its obvious that the provision on returning prisoners of war, hostages and other persons held is also not implemented completely yet. The works on this issue continue, Nikol Pashinyan said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Armenia expects that the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh will take concrete steps to withdraw the Azerbaijani troops from the area of responsibility of the peacekeepers and to restore the status quo recorded in the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

Pashinyan added that the crisis in Parukh was caused as a result of violations of the agreements.

He said that with the purpose of de-escalating the situation in the region, an agreement had been reached to reciprocally withdraw a number of positions from the Parukh-Khramort section and the Russian peacekeeping contingent had to guarantee this agreement. Several Armenian positions were withdrawn, Russian peacekeepers were deployed into the area, however the Azerbaijanis invaded into the Russian peacekeepers area of responsibility right before the eyes of the peacekeepers.

We regret to record this, and the fact that despite clear statements made by the Russian Defense Ministry, the USA, France and the UN, the Azerbaijani military invasion into the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh still continues as of today. We expect that the Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh will take concrete steps to withdraw the Azerbaijani troops from the area of responsibility of the peacekeepers and to restore the status quo recorded in the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement.

We also expect that the actions or possible inactions of the Russian peacekeepers during and after the invasion will be subject of a proper investigation. Lets not forget that before these events the Azerbaijani military was firing mortars for 10 consecutive days at the village of Khramort. In some villages of Nagorno Karabakh the Azerbaijani troops were opening small arms fire and still continue firing at residential homes and farming tractors, with farmers inside. Such cases happened in Nor Shen, Amaras and Taghavard villages, while on October 9 of 2021 a farmer was shot dead by Azerbaijani sniper fire at the presence of Russian peacekeepers in Martakert while working in the agricultural fields, Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan warned that the obvious goal of such actions by Azerbaijan is to complete ethnic cleansing of the Armenians of Nagorno Karabakh.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan is distorting clause 9 of the 2020 November 9 trilateral statement which is about the restoration of all transport and economic connections in the region and the opening of the road linking Azerbaijans western regions with Nakhijevan, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

You know that Armenia presented comprehensive proposals on this matter. Without going into details, the essence of our proposal is the following: rebuild the Yeraskh-Julfa-Ordubad-Meghri-Horadiz railway, reopen or build a road, which will also link Azerbaijans western regions with Nakhijevan, by conducting border, customs and other control at border checkpoints, Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan noted that Azerbaijan is both accepting and not accepting this proposal, manifested when Baku says they agree to any legal regime for the launch of that road but the same regime must be applied in the Lachin corridor and they cite the November 9 state as a substantiation for this.

This narrative is unfounded for two reasons: First of all, the November 9 statement doesnt mention anything about any territory of the Republic of Armenia and any corridor relating to it, but it does contain the Lachin corridor term. The Lachin corridor is not, or isnt simply a road, it is rather a territory of 5 kilometers width. According to the trilateral statement that entire territory is under the Russian peacekeeping control. Clause 9 of the trilateral statement simply doesnt contain anything about any other countrys control on any territory of Armenia. And then, parallels between Nagorno Karabakh and Nakhijevan are strange for several reasons. First of all, Nakhijevan has land connection with Azerbaijan through Iran and Turkey. And it has air connection through the airspaces of Iran, Turkey and Armenia.

Nagorno Karabakh only has land connection with Armenia, only through the Lachin corridor, and making the Lachin corridor a territory in any way controlled by Azerbaijan would mean one thing  the exodus of Armenians from Nagorno Karabakh, Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan said the comparisons of the Lachin corridor with the road in question through Armenian territory is unacceptable, and that the November 9 statement doesnt envisage any corridor through the territory of Armenia and that Armenia has not accepted and will not accept any corridor logic.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Armenia is proposing concrete and reasonable solutions for demarcation and delimitation, opening of regional connections and ruling out military escalation in Nagorno Karabakh, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

Pashinyan reiterated that there are no grounds or substantiations for Azerbaijan to accuse Armenia in rejecting or breaching any agreement.

I once again express the readiness of the Republic of Armenia to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. Armenia is ready to immediately launch peace talks. My meeting with the President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is scheduled for April 6 in Brussels. And I hope to discuss and agree at that meeting with the President of Azerbaijan all issues relating to the launch of peace talks, Pashinyan said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev held a meeting with Minister for Foreign Affairs of Poland, OSCE Chairman-in-Office Zbigniew Rau in Baku.

This is a good opportunity to discuss the important issues on our agenda. Of course, as the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, you and I will discuss the post-conflict situation in the region. At the same time, the bilateral agenda between Poland and Azerbaijan is very extensive. As you may know, we recently had a telephone conversation with President Andrzej Duda. I have very good memories of my meetings with the President in Warsaw, Baku and Davos. You are aware that we are in regular contact and the relations between our countries are a good demonstration of a strong partnership between us.

We are also grateful to Poland for its continuous support in matters of cooperation with the European Union. This process is now in full swing, and the European Union has already announced that a new meeting between the Armenian prime minister and myself will be organized by President Charles Michel. I do hope that this meeting will be productive, because there have already been several meetings and we must move towards peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia and sign a peace agreement as soon as possible. In our view, Azerbaijan has laid out the main principles of this agreement, the Azerbaijani AZERTAC State News Agency quoted President Aliyev as saying at the meeting.

President Aliyev again falsely claimed that the conflict has already been resolved.

.and now is the time to normalize relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. We are receiving certain messages from Armenian officials. As I was recently informed that one of these messages is that they consider our proposal acceptable. This is very good news, and I hope that this issue will be clarified at the meeting in Brussels.

The five principles we have initiated reflect the norms of international law and good international conduct. We are not inventing a bicycle here, so to speak. All these principles are the fundamental principles of interstate relations between any countries. Reciprocal recognition of territorial integrity and inviolability of international borders, and then the delimitation of borders  I think that peace will come to the Caucasus on this basis. We want it. We are seeing the potential for active cooperation amongst the three countries of the South Caucasus, and I think that this will be important not only for these countries but also for the wider region. Of course, all these issues need to be addressed very carefully and in a timely manner, Aliyev added.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan earlier said that there is nothing unacceptable for Armenia in the 5-point proposals for peace talks handed over by Azerbaijan, and that Yerevan has responded to Baku.

The OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Polands Minister for Foreign Affairs Zbigniew Rau is expected to arrive to Armenia on March 31.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Hambardzum Matevosyan met with Jordans Minister of Investment Khairy Amr during the visit in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the deputy PMs Office said in a news release.

The officials discussed the peculiarities of the investment climate of Armenia and Jordan, as well as the broad circle of promotion mechanisms.

The Minister of Investment of Jordan said the Armenia-Jordan business forum 2020 in Yerevan created a great interest among Jordanian investors. He highly appreciated the role of the Armenian community in Jordans development.

Despite the COVID-19-related restrictions, the sides agreed to continue the active cooperation aimed at ensuring the desirable level of the partnership dynamics. Minister Khairy Amr informed about his plan to visit Armenia in the future together with the interested representatives of their business community.
China issues new regulations on management of soldiers

Xinhua) 09:29, March 31, 2022

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- With the approval of Xi Jinping, chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the CMC has issued a series of new regulations on the management of People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers.

The interim regulations on non-commissioned officers and conscripts, together with several supporting documents issued by the CMC, are aimed at enhancing professionalism and stability among non-commissioned officers, while allowing conscripts to play a more fundamental role in the development of China's military talent, the military authorities said.

They will also help boost the management of PLA soldiers by perfecting the recruitment, training, rank promotion, benefits and demobilization system for non-commissioned officers and conscripts, and will play a vital role in building a high-quality military that follows the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the authorities said.

The new regulations will all go into effect on March 31.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
COLOMBO, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's meteorological department on Thursday warned of extreme heat in most parts of the country.

The meteorological department urged residents of Northern, North Central, North Western and Eastern provinces to exercise extreme caution when outside.

Those living in other parts of the country have been asked to take precautious measures.

The meteorological department warned that staying outdoors for extended time periods can cause many health complications, including heat strokes.

Sri Lankans have been asked to stay hydrated, remain in the shade for as much as possible, avoid strenuous work, wear light-colored clothes, and not to leave children alone in vehicles. 
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. On March 31, the defence attaches of the EU and NATO member states accredited in the Republic of Armenia visited the airbase N of the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Armenia, ARMENPRESS was infomred from the press service of the MoD Armenia.

The commander of the airbase, Air force Colonel Samvel Tavadyan presented the daily activities of the military unit to the foreign guests and gave answers to the questions they were interested in.

Afterwards, the defence attaches visited the facilities in the military unit and were introduced to the aviation equipment.

The visiting personnel was most interested in SU 30-SM aircrafts. Expressing gratitude for the reception, the defence attaches noted that during the visit they were once again convinced that all 4 SU-30SM aircrafts were in the home base, and the information spread in the Azerbaijani and Turkish press, that the aircrafts are taking part in the hostilities in Ukraine, do not correspond to reality.
Binstec comprises India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other top leaders of the member nations of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (Bimstec) on Wednesday adopted a charter and also a master plan for transport connectivity of the group at the virtual summit organised by Sri Lanka on Wednesday, with a complete revamp of the groups functioning into seven pillars, of which India will head the important security pillar to combat terrorism and other crimes.

With New Delhi later publicly defending the participation of Myanmar at the summit, citing its importance, Mr Modi earlier in his speech referred to the Ukraine conflict obliquely, as having raised a question mark on the stability of the international order, adding it was now imperative for the group to give more priority to its regional security. He also called for making Bimstec a Bridge of Connectivity, Bridge of Prosperity, Bridge of Security.

Binstec comprises India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. These developments are seen by observers as an important move to counter Chinas influence in the region. Bimstecs membership is for nations that are littoral to or dependent on the Bay of Bengal. With Saarc in cold storage due to India-Pakistan tensions in earlier years, India has invested its hopes for regional cooperation in Bimstec, which does not have Pakistan as a member.

At a special briefing on Wednesday afternoon in New Delhi following the summit, the external affairs ministrys additional secretary in charge of Bimstec, Rudrendra Tandon, said with the adoption of the charter by the leaders, Bimstec had been formalised into a regional organisation with its purpose, principles and architecture and now had an international personality with its own emblem and flag.

Asked about the controversial summit participation of Myanmar, which is now ruled by a military junta after the coup in February last year, the senior MEA official defended Myanmars participation, describing it as an important constituent-member of Bimstec, with an important geographical location. He said for the success of the groups regional cooperation efforts, all members had to be present. According to reports, Sri Lanka invited Myanmar foreign minister U. Wunna Maung Lwin to represent his country at the virtual summit.

New Delhi noted that the summits main outcome was the adoption and signing of its charter, which formalises the group as an organisation made up of member states that are littoral to, and dependent upon, the Bay of Bengal.

In his address at the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said: The developments in Europe of the last few weeks have raised a question mark on the stability of the international order. In this context, it has become important to make Bimstec regional cooperation more active. It has also become imperative to give more priority to our regional security. He added: Today, as our region faces challenges of health and economic security, the need of the hour is solidarity and cooperation. Today is the time to make the Bay of Bengal a Bridge of Connectivity, Bridge of Prosperity, Bridge of Security. Rededicate yourself with a new vigour, new energy.

On security, Mr Modi said: Without security it is impossible to ensure the prosperity or development of our region. In our fourth summit in Kathmandu, we decided to strengthen the regional legal framework against terrorism, trans-national crime and non-traditional threats. We also decided to increase cooperation between our law enforcement agencies. I am glad that our convention to combat terrorism has become active since last year. During todays summit, a mutual legal assistance treaty on criminal matters is also being signed between us. We should also move quickly to other similar instruments, so there can be better coordination between our legal systems.

On the Bimstec charters adoption, Mr Modi said: This is an important step in our efforts towards an institutional architecture In the charter, we have decided to have summit meetings every two years and annual foreign ministers meetings. I welcome it. We should focus our attention on how to make this architecture stronger. In this context, the secretary-general suggests that an Eminent Persons Group be formed, which will prepare a vision document. I agree with this suggestion. It is also important to enhance the capacity of the Secretariat for Bimstec to meet our expectations India will provide financial assistance of $1 million to increase the operational budget of the secretariat.

The PM added: Our region has always been prone to natural disasters. The Bimstec Centre for Weather and Climate is important (to cooperate on) disaster management, especially disaster risk reduction. I would like your cooperation to make it active. India stands ready to contribute $3 million to restart the work of this centre.

On the proposal for a Bimstec Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Mr Modi said: It is necessary to make early progress on the proposal of Bimstec FTA to enhance our mutual business. We should also increase exchanges between the entrepreneurs and start-ups of our countries. Along with this, we should also try to adopt international norms in the field of trade facilitation. This will boost intra-Bimstec trade and economic integration. Speaking later, the senior MEA official, Mr Tandon, said the trade facilitation efforts were a low-hanging fruit or early harvest that will lead to flourishing of intra-Bimstec trade.
AFSPA will continue to be in force in some areas of the three insurgency-hit states

New Delhi: In a major outreach to the Northeast, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday announced reduction of the disturbed areas imposed under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur from April 1, after decades.

A home ministry spokesperson, however, said the decision does not imply that the AFSPA has been completely withdrawn from the three insurgency-hit states but will continue to be in force in some areas of the three states.

The move came three months after the central government constituted a high-level committee to examine the possibility of lifting the AFSPA in Nagaland where 14 civilians were killed by the army in December 2021 in a case of "mistaken identity".

In a series of tweets, Shah said: "In a significant step, GoI (Government of India) under the decisive leadership of PM Shri @NarendraModi Ji has decided to reduce disturbed areas under Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the states of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur after decades."

The home minister said the reduction in areas under AFSPA is the result of the improved security situation and fast-tracked development due to the consistent efforts and several agreements to end insurgency and bring lasting peace in Northeast by the Modi government.

"Thanks to PM @NarendraModi Ji's unwavering commitment, our North-Eastern region, which was neglected for decades is now witnessing a new era of peace, prosperity and unprecedented development. I congratulate the people of North East on this momentous occasion," he said.

The AFSPA has been in force for decades in the three Northeastern states to assist the armed forces operating there to tackle insurgency.

The AFSPA empowers security forces to conduct operations and arrest anyone without any prior warrant besides giving immunity from arrest and prosecution to the security forces if they shoot someone dead.

There have been protests and demands for the complete withdrawal of the law from the Northeast as well as Jammu and Kashmir for its alleged "draconian" provisions.

Manipuri activist Irom Chanu Sharmila fought against the law by remaining on hunger strike for 16 years, before ending it on August 9 in 2016.

The disturbed area notification under AFSPA was completely removed from Tripura in 2015 and Meghalaya in 2018.

The disturbed area notification is in force in entire Assam since 1990. Due to the significant improvement in the situation, the AFSPA is being removed with effect from April 1 completely from 23 districts and partially from one district of Assam.

The disturbed area declaration is in force in entire Manipur (except Imphal municipality area) since 2004. With Thursday's decision, 15 police station areas of 6 districts of Manipur will be excluded from the disturbed area notification with effect from April 1.

In 2015, AFSPA was in force in 3 districts of Arunachal Pradesh, 20 km belt of Arunachal Pradesh along the Assam border and in 16 police station areas in 9 other districts of the state.

This has been gradually reduced and the disturbed areas notification, is currently applicable in only 3 districts and in 2 police station areas in 1 other district of Arunachal Pradesh.

The disturbed area notification is in force in the whole of Nagaland from 1995. The central government has accepted the recommendation of a committee constituted in this context for withdrawal of AFSPA in a phased manner.

The disturbed area notification is being withdrawn from 15 police stations in 7 districts in Nagaland with effect from April 1.

The killing of 14 civilians rose tension in Nagaland, where people protested for weeks for the withdrawal of the AFSPA.

Before the recently concluded assembly elections, Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh had said he and the people of Manipur wanted the withdrawal of the AFSPA but security agencies have to look into the issue of the national security.

A home ministry spokesperson said in comparison to 2014, there has been a reduction of 74 per cent in militancy incidents in 2021 in the Northeast. Similarly, deaths of security personnel and civilians have also come down by 60 per cent and 84 per cent respectively during this period.

To realise the prime minister's vision of a peaceful and prosperous Northeast, the home minister has held a dialogue with all the states of the region on a continuous basis.

As a result, most of the extremist groups have laid down their arms expressing their faith in the Constitution and the policies of the Modi government.

Today all these persons have become a part of the democratic process and are participating in the peace and development of the Northeast. About 7,000 militants have surrendered in the last few years, the spokesperson said.

The prime minister is committed to make the whole of the Northeast free from extremism, the spokesperson said.
The additional instalment will be effective from January 1, 2022

The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission. (Representational Image/ DC File)

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday hiked Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) by 3 per cent to 34 per cent to compensate for the price rise, benefitting over 1.16 crore central government employees and pensioners.

The additional installment will be effective from January 1, 2022, said an official release after the Cabinet meeting.

"The Union Cabinet...has given its approval to release an additional installment of DA to central government employees and DR to pensioners w.e.f. January 1, 2022, representing an increase of 3 per cent over the existing rate of 31 per cent of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise," an official statement said.

The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission, it added.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief will be Rs 9,544.50 crore per annum.

This will benefit about 47.68 lakh central government employees and 68.62 lakh pensioners, the release said.

In October last year, the Cabinet had hiked the two allowances by 3 per cent to 31 per cent. It was effective from July 1, 2021.

Before that in July, the government had restored the dearness allowance and dearness relief and increased the rate of allowance from 17 per cent to 28 per cent.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the central government had frozen the three additional installments of the DA and DR, which were due on January 1, 2020; July 1, 2020; and January 1, 2021.
BJP has blamed Mamata Banerjee-led TMC for the massacre of eight people in Birbhum and demanded Central intervention

Kolkata/New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party has blamed the "mafia rule" flourishing under Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress in West Bengal for the massacre of eight people in Birbhum and demanded Central intervention for restoration of the collapsed law and order in a report submitted by its fact-finding team to party president J.P. Nadda in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee immediately hit back at the BJP, accusing it of unleashing "political vendetta" against her government and party and of trying to "interfere and weaken" the CBI probe.

The BJP report claimed "state-sponsored extortion, goonda tax, cut-money and tolabazi (organised extortion) were the main reasons behind the massacre in which eight people were burnt.

Slamming the BJP for trying to "weaken and interfere with the probe" into the Bogtui killings, the West Bengal CM, who was in Darjeeling, said the report mentions the name of TMC Birbhum district president Anubrata Mondal, which clearly shows the vindictive attitude of the BJP. She said the report will weaken and interfere with the probe and condemned the BJP's attitude.

She said there should be no interference from any political party in the investigation.

"A government and a party president are not the same. We have extended full cooperation to the investigation underway into the Rampurhat incident. Some BJP leaders visited there and submitted a report to their party president. Such a report amid an investigation will interfere and weaken the probe. It has a political purpose to misuse the probe. It is absolutely a BJP-conspiracy, larger conspiracy now. If it is not, how could they know, without an investigation, who is involved and who is not? The investigation has not been completed even by one-fourth but they have taken a decision and mentioned who is responsible, Ms Banerjee said.

"When an investigation is on, there should not be any interference from any (political) party or any side. Investigation must be free and fair. Party interference at this moment is misuse and abuse of power which may distort the probe and people will lose their confidence in the investigation, she said.

Her party colleagues, while promising to cooperate with the CBI which has been asked by the Calcutta high court to probe the incident, had earlier warned of mass agitations if the BJP tries to influence the investigation.

Under TMC leadership, mafia is ruling in West Bengal in connivance with police and political leadership. Law and order has totally collapsed (due to) state-sponsored extortion, goonda tax, cut-money, tola bazi, the BJPs fact-finding team of four retired IPS officers and state unit president Sukanta Majumdar said.

The four retired IPS officers are Rajya Sabha MP and former Uttar Pradesh police chief Brajlal, Lok Sabha MP and former Mumbai police commissioner Satyapal Singh, Rajya Sabha MP and former cop K.C. Ramamurthy, a national spokesperson of the party, and former West Bengal cadre IPS officer Bharati Ghosh.

Eight people were burnt alive in Bogtui village, while one more succumbed to the injuries a week later, after a mob set some houses ablaze allegedly in retaliation for the killing of a ruling TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh on March 21.

The West Bengal government had constituted an SIT to probe the killings that sparked national outrage before the high court decided to hand over the investigation to the CBI.

The fact-finding team alleged it was attacked during its visit and not a single officer or even a constable came to rescue.

The BJP leaders observed, "Local residents have deserted their homes fearing threat to their lives and property. It is recommended that NHRC, NCW and NCWCR visit Bogtui and take confidence-building measures. They also noted, "Not even a single officer/constable of West Bengal Police was visible, nobody came to the rescue of the fact-finding team when they were attacked Our efforts to contact the DGP and other officers failed.

After submitting the report to Mr Nadda, West Bengal BJP president Sukant Majumdar, briefing the media said the state urgently needs central intervention for restoration of law and order as complete lawlessness prevails and the state police is colluding with the ruling TMC.

Outraged by the explosive charges, Ms Banerjee said, "I condemn the attitude of the BJP and the Central government Party interference at this moment is absolutely misuse and abuse of power. The misuse of power will mislead and distort the investigation. People will lose confidence in the investigation. I will request them (BJP) to behave properly."

The TMC supremo argued, "I have seen they mentioned our district president's name in the report. This is a very bad, rough, negative, biased and vindictive attitude. How could they mention his name without investigation? It means they want to arrest him. That is a personal vendetta. They want to arrest all the political party fellows and their family members and party members, whoever is opposing them, throughout the country. They are trying to evict all the parties forcefully with a political vendetta."
Arvind Kejriwal's statement comes a day after BJP's youth wing members allegedly vandalised property outside his residence

Miscreants vandalise the gate at the residence of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, in New Delhi, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (PTI Photo)

New Delhi: If the country's biggest party indulges in hooliganism, it will send out a wrong message and the country cannot progress in such a scenario, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday, a day after BJP's youth wing members allegedly vandalised property outside his residence.

The BJP's youth wing damaged property outside the residence of Kejriwal on Wednesday during a protest against his remarks on 'The Kashmir Files' film.

"Arvind Kejriwal is not important but the country is. I can lay down my life for the nation. India will not progress through such hoolignanism.

"If the biggest party of the country, which is in power at the Centre, resorts to such hooliganism, it will spread a bad message among people. People will think that this is the right way (to deal with anything)," he said at an event.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday had lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging it was a "conspiracy to kill" Kejriwal as the saffron party is unable to defeat the Aam Aadmi Party in elections.

The BJP, however, has accused the AAP of scripting a drama and playing the "victim card" after the ''public anger'' against Kejriwal's remarks "mocking" displaced Kashmiri Pandits.

The Delhi Police has arrested eight people in connection with alleged vandalism at Kejriwal's residence here.
The writer is an alumnus of the National Defence College, and the author of China in India.

It is well known that theres no full stop in defence and diplomacy in any era

The Indian government must be delighted after receiving an unexpected, tempting and entirely unsolicited proposal to help (get) defence supplies from Washington from visiting US undersecretary of state for political affairs, Victoria Nuland, but with a very major (and challenging) rider: that India move away from dependence on Russian weaponry.

It is well known that theres no full stop in defence and diplomacy in any era. Any black-and-white formula is always anathema to the high table practitioners of realpolitik. Grey is the preferred colour for all who abhor being, or are reluctant, camp followers. India being a traditional non-camp follower, due to her national self-interest issues, this is indeed a tough call, especially at a time of global conflict.

India uses a lot of imported weaponry - traditionally mostly of Russian make, now increasingly American. The United States is a late entrant into Indias arms market, following the 1991 breakup of the Soviet Union, that created huge production-supply channel hurdles for both Moscow, as producer/seller, and New Delhi as consumer/buyer.

The American proposal is therefore a vexed question for India, and also for its timing, coming soon after US President Joe Biden called Russias Vladimir Putin a war criminal and butcher.

This foray into uncharted territory has created turmoil. What does war criminal or butcher legally mean in international relations, whether or not President Biden was serious or just made off-the-cuff remarks. In one stroke, Mr Putin was booked on four counts, under separate provisions of international law. First: war crime: Cruelty that violates international rules of law devastation thats not justified by military necessity. Second, war criminal: A person who commits an act violating international rules of war. [Its important to remember here that after the 1945-46 Nuremberg trials, its not a defence to maintain that the act was done under orders of a superior officer; implicating both the subordinate (soldier) who executes, and superior (state sovereign) who conducts the war.]

Mr Bidens third implied count -- on the laws of war -- the rules and principles agreed on by most countries to regulate matters inherent in or incidental to the conduct of a public war. And the fourth -- the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which are actually four conventions: the earliest dating back to 1864. Subsequently revised, expanded and completed in 1949. The broad humanitarian law protection established in these was further amplified in 1977 by two additional protocols.

Mr Bidens words have not only put Mr Putin on the backfoot globally, they have also added to the avoidable pressure on New Delhi, which has a six-decade seller-buyer relationship with Moscow. Will the West now raise questions about the sagacity of democratic India in continuing to buy armaments from a war criminal? But even an alleged war criminal has the right to be heard, at least in the court of natural justice, as with Germany and Japan after 1945, despite that in the eyes of some both the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials were transparent acts of vengeance.

India cant afford to discard Russia as a defence partner overnight, after a six-decade history. The facts speak for themselves. Military Balance 2021 (International Institute for Strategic Studies, London) says Indias defence budget stood third in 2020. It still does, at $68 billion, as stated in the Lok Sabha on Budget 2022 day. Only the US and China are ahead.

In Indias military, except the Lockheed C-130J Hercules and the Boeing C-17A transporter, not a single fighter is US-made. All 768 combat capable consist of mixed versions of Russian MiGs, Sukhoi-30, French Mirage-2000, Rafale and the 41-year-old Anglo-French Jaguar. Barring the 100-odd India-made Arjun, all the Indian Armys main battle tanks are Moscow-supplied T-72s and T-90s. Russia supplied infantry fighting vehicles, armoured personnel carriers, armoured engineer vehicles, vehicle-launched bridges and a plethora of infantry weapons.

The most visible and prominent Russian contribution was to the Navy. While India started very well, conceiving a builders navy rather than a buyers navy, Moscow gave its best when India was ignored; fast attack craft, patrol, reconnaissance to corvette, frigate, destroyer, submarine to aircraft-carrier. Even as the USSR broke into pieces in 1991, leading to cost and time overruns for Indian arms, things moved on. Without doubt the Indian Navy stands out today in the sea due to Russias steely and sterling cooperation. Thats no mean an achievement for a nation lacking in a sustained naval tradition and history. One must recall the unique service to India by Russias legendary Adm. Sergei G. Gorshkov.

Some serious issues must be resolved. Can the US guarantee a sustained, long-term, uninterrupted defence partnership for at least five decades, as was done by Moscow for 60 years? Without any major obstacle cropping up out of the blue?

Hasnt the treacherous geopolitics of our times led to some changed priorities already? At such points, the over-riding national interest of a superpower always takes precedence, leaving its smaller, weaker allies in the lurch?

The harsh reality of todays world is that no superpower can ever be a long-standing partner due to its global interests. Even during the Cold War, Russia could never match the US as, despite its formidable Navy, Moscow didnt have enough warm water ports, which severely restricted its armadas operations.

At a time of extreme heat, is it right to resort to an act seen as avoidable provocation by non-aligned India? Can New Delhi just switch over from Moscow to Washington for fighters, frigates, tanks and tankers, that take decades to adopt and adapt? India should avoid taking or switching sides: its first duty is the safety and welfare of its 1.37 billion population.
Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv and intensified attacks in other parts of the country

A soldier walks the amid the destruction caused after shelling of a shopping center last March 21 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (AP/Rodrigo Abd)

Kyiv: The Ukrainian president said his country's defence against the Russian invasion is at a turning point and again pressed the United States for more help in the hours after the Kremlin's forces reneged on a pledge to scale back some of their operations.

Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv and intensified attacks in other parts of the country Wednesday, adding to already deep doubts about any progress toward ending the punishing war. Talks between Ukraine and Russia were set to resume Friday by video, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia.

Meanwhile, a delegation of lawmakers from Ukraine's parliament visited Washington to push the U.S. for increased assistance, saying their nation needs more military equipment, more financial help and tougher sanctions against Russia.

We need to kick Russian soldiers off our land, and for that we need all, all possible weapons, Ukrainian parliament member Anastasia Radina said at a news conference at the Ukrainian Embassy.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made the case directly to U.S. President Joe Biden.

If we really are fighting for freedom and in defense of democracy together, then we have a right to demand help in this difficult turning point. Tanks, aircraft, artillery systems. Freedom should be armed no worse than tyranny, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation, which he delivered standing in the dark outside the dimly lit presidential offices in Kyiv. He thanked the U.S. for an additional $500 million in aid that was announced Wednesday.

There seemed to be little faith that a resolution would emerge anytime soon between Russia and Ukraine, particularly after the Russian military's about-face and its most recent attacks.

Russia said Tuesday that it would de-escalate operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv in order to increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations." The announcement was met with suspicion from Zelenskyy and the West. And soon after, Ukrainian officials reported that Russian shelling hit homes, stores, libraries and other civilian sites in or near those areas.

Russian troops also stepped up their attacks on the Donbas region in the east and around the city of Izyum, which lies on a key route to the Donbas, after redeploying units from other areas, the Ukrainian side said.

Olexander Lomako, secretary of the Chernihiv city council, said the Russian announcement turned out to be a complete lie.

At night they didn't decrease, but vice versa increased the intensity of military action, Lomako said.

Five weeks into the invasion that has left thousands dead on both sides, the number of Ukrainians fleeing the country topped a staggering 4 million, half of them children, according to the United Nations.

I do not know if we can still believe the Russians, Nikolay Nazarov, a refugee from Ukraine, said as he pushed his father's wheelchair at a border crossing into Poland. I think more escalation will occur in eastern Ukraine. That is why we cannot go back to Kharkiv.

Zelenskyy said the continuing negotiations with Russia were only words without specifics.

We know that this is not a withdrawal but the consequences of being driven out, Zelenskyy said of Russia's pledge. But we also are seeing that Russia is now concentrating its forces for new strikes on Donbas, and we are preparing for this.

Zelenskyy also said he had recalled Ukraine's ambassadors to Georgia and Morocco, suggesting they had not done enough to persuade those countries to support Ukraine and punish Russia for the invasion.

With all due respect, if there won't be weapons, won't be sanctions, won't be restrictions for Russian business, then please look for other work, he said.

In other developments:

U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about the poor performance of his military in Ukraine because they are too afraid to tell him the truth.

The German government said it received assurances from Russia that European companies won't have to pay for Russian gas in rubles. That prospect had raised fears that Russia could cut them off. Also, Poland announced steps to end all Russian oil imports by the end of the year.

 The U.N. is looking into allegations that some residents of the besieged and shattered southern city of Mariupol have been forcibly taken to areas controlled by Russian forces or to Russia itself.

At a round of talks held Tuesday in Istanbul, the faint outlines of a possible peace agreement seemed to emerge when the Ukrainian delegation offered a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral  dropping its bid to join NATO, as Moscow has long demanded  in return for security guarantees from a group of other nations.

Top Russian officials responded positively, with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov saying Wednesday that Ukraine's willingness to accept neutrality and look outside NATO for security represents significant progress," according to Russian news agencies.

But skepticism of statements from Russia by Zelenskyy and others seemed well-founded.

Oleksandr Pavliuk, head of the Kyiv region military administration, said Russian shells targeted residential areas and civilian infrastructure in the Bucha, Brovary and Vyshhorod regions around the capital.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the military also targeted fuel depots in two towns in central Ukraine with air-launched long-range cruise missiles. And Russian forces hit a Ukrainian special forces headquarters in the southern Mykolaiv region, he said, and two ammunition depots in the Donetsk region, which is part of the Donbas.

In southern Ukraine, a Russian missile destroyed a fuel depot in Dnipro, the country's fourth-largest city, regional officials said.

The U.S. said that over the last 24 hours, Russia had begun to reposition less than 20% of its troops that had been arrayed around Kyiv.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said that troops from there and some other zones have begun moving largely to the north, and some have gone into Belarus. Kirby said it appears Russia intends to resupply them and send them back into Ukraine, but it is not clear where.

The Ukrainian military said some Russian airborne units were recorded in neighboring Belarus and were believed to have withdrawn from Ukraine.

In northern Ukraine, Russian forces took no offensive actions Wednesday, focusing on reconnaissance and logistics, the general staff said in a statement. But Russia is expected to increase attacks soon on Ukrainian forces to protect its own troops as they are repositioned, it said.

The Russians also are expected to try to blockade Chernihiv.

Top Russian military officials have said in recent days that their main goal now is the liberation of Donbas, the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial heartland where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.

Some analysts have suggested that the focus on the Donbas and the pledge to de-escalate may merely be an effort to put a positive spin on reality: Moscow's ground forces have been thwarted  and have taken heavy losses  in their bid to seize the capital and other cities.
Today's headlines: closed-door trial of a Chinese-born Australian journalist accused of "trafficking" state secrets; Syrian "Wagner" brigade mercenaries arrive in Ukraine to bolster Russian army after losses; Washington "warns" Delhi about buying Russian oil; Indonesian radical Islamic group blocked HKBP Protestant community functions; Iraqi parliament (still) lacks quorum for president election.

SRI LANKA

Sri Lanka's stock exchange has reduced its opening and trading hours to two - down from the traditional four and a half - due to prolonged power cuts in a nation increasingly prey to a severe energy crisis. Supply disruptions of at least 13 hours are expected in much of the country today due to fuel shortages. There is a lack of foreign currency to pay for imports.

CHINA

A Chinese court today began the closed-door trial of Australian journalist Cheng Lei in a high-profile diplomatic case. The reporter, of Chinese origin, is accused of trafficking state secrets abroad. The family proclaims her innocence. The arrest dates back to August 2020, when she worked for the CGTN television network.

INDIA

Washington has warned New Delhi that a "significant" growth in Russian oil imports could expose India to a "serious risk" as US sanctions against Moscow are strengthened. The American administration seems in fact intent on "limiting" the purchases of other nations, keeping them at "normal" levels in a phase of serious crisis in supplies.

SYRIA - UKRAINE

The Russian "Wagner" company of mercenaries has arrived in the eastern territories of Ukraine, transferring over a thousand fighters from Africa and Syria. These include some of the group's leaders, who will compensate for the heavy losses suffered by Moscow's army and the setbacks recorded in the invasion.

RUSSIA - M. EAST

Many Russian oligarchs, and ordinary citizens with spare capital, are investing in real estate and properties in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The aim is to secure a financial refuge after the events of the last month, according to Elena Milisenkova, a broker of the Tranio company that operates between Moscow and Berlin, who spoke to Reuters.

ASIA

Western countries could extend sanctions to other Eurasian Economic Union nations in addition to Russia and Belarus, namely Armenia, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Also at risk of retaliation are companies from China, as pointed out by the director of the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences Aleksandr Ageev.

INDONESIA

A radical Islamic group in Bandung, West Java, has prevented the faithful of the HKBP Church (Huria Kristen Batak Protestant), a Protestant community already the object of controversy in the past, from meeting and praying. The incident dates back to March 23rd: in a video that has gone viral on social networks, fanatics can be seen surrounding the place of worship, calling for an end to "illegal cults" in the area.

IRAQ

For the second time in less than a week the Iraqi Parliament, which met yesterday, failed to elect a new President of the Republic. The vote was cancelled for lack of quorum, caused by the boycott of part of the assembly. The deputies present were only 200, out of a total of 329; the minimum number for the regular conduct of operations is set at 220.
by Sumon Corraya

Fr Lintu, 34, will live his ministry in the Diocese of San Jose. Christians are just 0.4 per cent of the population, but we still leave to go abroad as missionaries to bear witness to the faith, he noted.

Dhaka (AsiaNews)  Bangladeshs small Catholic community has gifted the mission in Uruguay a young, Fr Lintu Areng, a 34-year-old member of the Oblate missionaries of Mary Immaculate. His superior general is sending him to the Diocese of San Jose, Uruguay.

An ethnic Garo, he discovered his religious vocation in the family. His father worked for the Border Guards Bangladesh while his mother was a homemaker.

My mother was a member of the Baptist Church, he said speaking to AsiaNews before leaving Dhaka for Uruguay. After her marriage, she became a devout Catholic.

He explained: Although my mothers background was Protestant, she loved the rosary prayer and inspired me to be a priest.

Outreach by some Oblate priests in his parish in Mugaipar, Sunamganj, proved decisive in his setting his path. I was inspired by Fr Dilip Sarkar who was my parish priest, he noted.

After his ordination on 20 January 2020 in Italy, where he also studied Spanish, Fr Lintu served as parish vicar in the Diocese of Rajshahi, Bangladesh.

Now the young Garo will become the fourth priest to leave Bangladesh for the mission organised by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, which currently has 29 priests in Bangladesh.

In our country, Christians are just 0.4 per cent of the population, but we still leave to go abroad as missionaries, he said.

Coming from a multicultural background, I will be a witness to the faith in Uruguay and spiritually take care of people. I take it as a challenge for my life and I will use my talent appropriately, he added.

In addition to Fr Lintu, Fr Arun Rozario is the personal secretary of the superior general, while Oblate Frs Shitol Nokrek and Sobuj Simsang are missionaries in South Korea. Another young priest will soon leave Bangladesh for Germany as a missionary.
Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanavisit gestures during an interview with Xinhua in Bangkok, Thailand, March 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

BANGKOK, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanavisit said his country hoped to further expand exports to China building on solid bilateral trade cooperation.

"If we look back at the 10-year trend between Thailand and China, when we look at trade values, it has been going up," Jurin told Xinhua in an interview, saying that "in addition to increasing the bilateral trade values between our two countries, we hope to reduce the trade deficit."

Jurin said Thailand and China have strong and prosperous relations for a long time, with the two countries sharing broad partnerships in diplomatic and economic relations.

"China has always been very important (for Thailand)," in terms of both the tourism and export sectors, he said.

The senior official noted that Thailand and China have very strong trade relations and diverse types of cooperation, including bilateral trade agreements, the ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

"We do hope to see a big gain from RCEP," he said, which, as the world's largest FTA, will benefit Thailand in terms of bigger market access as well as tariff reductions.

RCEP has entered into force from Jan. 1, which enables "Thailand and other member countries including China to share the prosperity," he said.

China has remained Thailand's largest trading partner for nine consecutive years. Bilateral trade volume surged 33 percent year-on-year to 131.18 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, according to data from China's General Administration of Customs.

The Thai deputy PM welcomed China's efforts in further opening up its economy and the hosting of the China International Import Expo (CIIE).

"I'm especially impressed by the CIIE because this is a beneficial policy for many countries, including Thailand. The object is great for China in a position as an export destination and opens up the economy for joint prosperity as well as stronger corporation and trade values."

With Thailand's tourism sector hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, "we're left with exports as our key economic driver," Jurin said, adding that the ministry set a target of growing the country's exports by 4 percent this year.

The Thai government hopes to work with the Chinese government to enhance export facilitation as such checkpoints and clearance, Jurin said, "We hope to see more channels to receive Thai products, especially for our food and fruits which Chinese consumers have high demand for."

He also said Thailand expected to see the transportation of more export products to China through the China-Laos Railway, with fruits, vegetables and other products being the prioritized items.

In February, the cross-border railway line, which stretches over 1,000 km and links the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming to Vientiane, the capital of Laos, carried the first shipment of 500-ton Thai rice to southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

Thailand is ready to use the rail route to transport fruits into China after the sanitary and phytosanitary facility at the port of Mohan in southwest China's Yunnan Province is completed by mid-year. 
The expected humanitarian disaster is happening. Half of the population is already in a situation of food insecurity. International agencies are taking measures to contain the impact. Meanwhile, Moscow has accredited the first diplomat of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Kabul (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Afghanistans humanitarian crisis is going from bad to worse.

Since the Western withdrawal and the Taliban return to power, 95 per cent of the population has inadequate access to food, analysts say.

Over 85 per cent of families who previously had an income said they did not receive a salary in February, and at least 23 million people (more than half of the population) are already in a condition of food insecurity.

Bread, sugar, and even tea are a luxury. At least 26 mothers and 13,700 newborns have died from lack of food since the start of the year, according to the Health Ministry.

In a country with more than 900,000 widows according to reliefweb, women and children are forced to beg to support their families.

In Herat the Ministry of Public Works has taken hundreds of children off the streets and put them into training camps in cooperation with international organisations where they can learn a trade, ToloNews reports. Children will get US a month and will be able to continue their studies for six months.

Other steps include UNICEF cash transfer programmes for the most vulnerable families who can freely dispose of the money. According to a recent report by the agency, the money goes mainly for buy food, shoes and clothes for children, medicine, wood or other fuels to heat the home.

At the same time, since Western media is focused on the conflict in Ukraine, the Taliban continue their repression of society undisturbed.

Girls have been banned from school, and women will not be able to travel abroad without a male chaperon.

The BBC, Deutsche Welle and other international media have seen their programmes in Urdu, Pashto and Persian taken off the air and are no longer available on Afghan channels.

Public parks have also been sex-segregated: women have access three days a week and men the other four, including weekends.

Men are also required to wear traditional clothing and grow a beard. The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is threatening to fire anyone who does not respect the new rules.

In case anyone had doubts, the Taliban have not changed and have not become moderate.

Allowing girls to have an education, as the Taliban had promised at first, would have been a game changer. But on 23 March, when schools reopened for the start of the new year after more than seven months, teenager girls were turned away from high schools.

In protest, the United States boycotted a scheduled meeting in Doha to discuss key economic issues with the Taliban and unfreeze Afghan bank accounts.

The countrys current financial situation and lack of liquidity are the main cause of its disastrous humanitarian situation.

To counter the situation, the Taliban have turned eastward. Yesterday and today, a summit of the region's foreign ministers was held in China.

The meeting, the third of its kind, was held in Tunxi, in the Chinese province of Anhui, and was attended by officials from Pakistan, Russia, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

China stressed that a prosperous and stable Afghanistan was in the interest not only of the Afghan people, but also of the entire region.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Afghan, Chinese and Pakistani officials plan to discuss economic relations between the three countries.

For his part, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, said that the growing trade ties between Afghanistan and neighbouring nations are contributing to the potential international recognition of the Taliban regime.

Today the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan had its first diplomat accredited in Moscow.
Today's headlines: Pakistani president confers posthumous award on Iqbal Masih, who died in the fight against the exploitation of child labour; the famous Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo will be demolished; Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia arrested for praying for peace; humanitarian aid for Ukraine from Azerbaijan; Dengue fever alert in Singapore.

CHINA

Beijing has censored all news on the March 22 China Eastern Boeing 737 air disaster. The plane crashed mid flight between Kunming and Guangzhou into a mountainous area of Guangxi. The 132 people on board died. The families of the victims are not allowed to talk to each other, news on social networks is censored and even journalists loyal to the party are not allowed to go near the crash area.

PAKISTAN

Pakistani President Arif Alvi awarded the Sitara-e-Shujaat prize, one of the highest civilian honours, to Iqbal Masih, a young Catholic man killed on 16 April 1995 at the age of 12 for having denounced child exploitation in the textile industry. Also a victim, he fought for two years in defence of the weakest, freeing 3,000 of them. His brother Patras Masih accepted the award.

JAPAN

The Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo, a rare example of architecture from the Metabolist movement, emblematic of Japan's rebirth after the war by architect Kisho Kurokawa, will be demolished next month. Completed in 1972, it is the world's first example of a serial application of a housing capsule built for real use. Attempts to restore the structure have failed.

RUSSIA

In the Russian-Caucasian republic of Adyetia, charges of extremism and defamation of the State have been brought against a group of Jehovah's Witnesses, a religious denomination banned in Russia, who held collective prayers for peace in Ukraine. The leaders of the community were arrested and placed in solitary confinement.

AZERBAIJAN - UKRAINE

Ukrainian President Zelensky thanked his Azerbaijani counterpart Aliev for the humanitarian aid and, above all, for his willingness to compensate for the destruction by the Russians of fuel deposits for agricultural work. Azerbaijani supplies will enable the Ukrainians to complete the harvests "on which the food security of half the Arab world depends".

UZBEKISTAN - RUSSIA

Russian tourist agencies such as "Vedi Group" (Moscow and Ekaterinburg) are offering three-day trips to Uzbekistan, with VISA and MasterCard credit cards still active in Tashkent. Painful for the Russian economy is the exit of the Dutch beer company Heineken, on which five other different Russian brands and many factories, employing over two thousand people, depend.

SINGAPORE

Health authorities in Singapore are warning of a rapid increase in cases of dengue fever, the haemorrhagic fever transmitted by mosquitoes. Since the beginning of the year, there have been about 3,000 cases, 112 of which are still active. The peak is expected between June and October. The Ministry of Sustainability and Environment says that dengue remains a "clear and serious" threat at the time of Covid-19.

SAUDI ARABIA - YEMEN

The Saudi-led Arab coalition says it will freeze military operations in Yemen as of today. Previously, the Houthi rebels had called a three-day truce. The aim is to create an atmosphere of relative calm for Ramadan and encourage negotiations between the parties. The docking of ships laden with fuel and the partial resumption of flights to Sana'a are also under consideration.
Over the weekend, Bishop Hinder celebrated the country's first priestly ordination and imparted Confirmation to about 170 boys and girls. The challenge is to "respect" the needs in pastoral care, avoiding ethnic and nationalistic drifts. It is on the young seminarians to build the future of the local Church.

Mascate (AsiaNews) - The Church in Oman is a "migrant" reality made up of Indian, Filipino, European, American and African workers, where there is a strong "community spirit" that must not, however, "close in on itself" by taking on "ethnic or nationalistic" drifts, says Msgr. Paul Hinder, vicar of southern Arabia (Emirates, Oman and Yemen) and apostolic administrator sede vacante of northern Arabia (Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain).Last weekend he celebrated Oman's first priestly ordination.

In areality such as the Gulf context, he explains to AsiaNews, "the challenge is to respect the needs of each in pastoral practice" starting "from the language", but "maintaining the link at the community level" even if "it is not always easy "to pursue the goal".

The two parishes in the capital "are the most important points of reference", emphasizes Mgr. Hinder, then there are two other centers in the north, near the border with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one in the south, in Salalah, a thousand kilometers away from Mascate and "with only one priest". None of the parishioners "is a citizen of Oman," he continues, but they are all "immigrants for work" who can gather, celebrate the Eucharist and pray benefiting from a general freedom of worship "in a living, vital reality, which offers the reading of the Bible and the recitation of the Rosary."

Speaking of the first ordination, the vicar of Arabia describes "a beautiful atmosphere, of participation, even if there are still some limitations imposed by the pandemic [of Covid-19] that involve restrictions on the number of participants. In addition, there are still people who are reluctant to go to church because of the fear of the virus, but this has not prevented a strong presence of a community that has tightened" around Fr. The priest, says Msgr. Hinder, "grew up in the parish" of Saints Peter and Paul in Mascate, and "here he served as an altar boy, attended school, and then went to the Salesians. He was very happy and grateful" to have received the sacrament "in his parish."

According to the vicar, the "vitality and richness" of this parish reality is one of the reasons that allowed the young man to cultivate his faith and to "live in prayer and charity, showing attention and care towards the most needy". It is precisely his path and his testimony, the relationship that he has been able to build over the years with other young people "can be an example for other boys and girls" who might decide to take the same path.

"In fact, there are - he confirms - two or three other young people, who grew up in the parish, who are studying with the prospect of future ordination. As there are in the Emirates, in Bahrain... there are not thousands, but there are" and they represent the future of the Church of Arabia.

In addition to the ordination, last weekend saw the celebration of the confirmations of dozens of young people and a meeting of all the country's priests, for a moment of reflection and in-depth study of the most important issues: "In the parish of Peter and Paul, 95 boys and girls received their confirmation on the morning of March 26th; in the afternoon, another 72 in the parish of the Holy Spirit in Ghala. All young people between the ages of 13 and 14, for a community celebration that was well prepared and well attended."

In the meeting with the priests, however, the challenges for the future emerged, starting with the issue of migrants "who are losing their jobs, since the government has launched a policy aimed at encouraging the employment of locals. This has triggered an outflow that is reflected in the physiognomy of the parishes, with numbers that are visibly decreasing even if, at least so far, not at dramatic levels." That's why it becomes essential to ensure employment, as well as to ensure an "adequate path of formation for young people that passes through the presence of catechists in the parishes. This too - concludes Msgr. Hinder - is a problem that the local Church is called to address".
After the Bnei Brak attack, two Palestinians die in a gunfight with security forces during a raid on a refugee camp near Jenin. A 28-year-old Israeli was stabbed on a bus, while the attacker was killed. Far-right Knesset member Ben-Gvir's visit to the Esplanade of Mosques risks sparking new violence on the eve of Ramadan.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews)  Tensions are still running high in Israel and Palestine, following three incidents causing the death of at least 11 people, including civilians, and raising fears of an uncontrolled escalation.

Making matters worse, far-right Knesset Member Itamar Ben-Gvir went to the Temple Mount, adding fuel to the smoldering fire.

In the latest incident, three Palestinians were killed and an Israeli was seriously wounded.

This morning, a 28-year-old Israeli was seriously injured after a Palestinian attacked him with a screwdriver on a bus near the West Bank settlement of Efrat.

After first aid, he was transferred to the Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem, where he underwent surgery.

The attacker, 38-year-old Palestinian Nidal Jaa'fra, a native of Bethlehem, was shot dead by another passenger, an armed civilian.

In another incident, two other Palestinians, aged 17 and 23, were killed and three others seriously injured in a gun exchange with Israeli soldiers near a refugee camp in Jenin. An Israeli soldier was slightly injured.

The Israeli raid against the camp was aimed at arresting a Palestinian suspected of links to the terrorist attack on Tuesday evening in Bnei Brak, in which five people died.

The camp near Jenin was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles of the second Palestinian intifada. In April 2002, Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian militants in the camp, resulting in the death of 23 Israeli soldiers and more than 50 Palestinians.

Over the past few years, the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank, has struggled to control the area and Palestinians have often fired upon Israeli security forces.

Against this background of rising tensions, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a member of the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, went this morning to the Temple Mount in the old city.

My visit sends a simple message: I am not surrendering and folding to terror. The State of Israel must not surrender and fold to terrorists who want to kill us, he said in a message addressed to Hamas, which he claims has targeted him.

[T]hose who control the mount control all of Israel. Even the enemy understands this, he added. The mount here is the Temple Mount, which is also known to Muslims as the Haram esh-Sharif or Noble Sanctuary.

For security reasons linked to the recent wave of violence, Israeli authorities are deploying 3,000 officers to boost security ahead of Ramadan, the Islamic month of fasting and prayer, which this year overlaps with the Jewish celebration of Passover and Christian Easter holidays as well as Israels Independence Day.

Jerusalem police also temporarily banned men under 45 from the site.

Meanwhile, Hamas spokesman Fazi Barhoum responded to Ben-Gvir's provocative visit to the sanctuary.

Following the decision to allow Ben-Gvir to invade the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque, we warn Ben-Gvir not to approach the mosque, he said. Likewise, we hold Israel responsible for the consequences of this dangerous step, he added.
JAKARTA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape meet on Thursday at the Indonesian Presidential Palace in Bogor, discussing bilateral cooperation, especially in trade and border opening.

Widodo expressed his optimism over the economic recovery of the two countries as the value of their two-way trade increased by 87 percent in 2021.

"Indonesia is also ready to reopen the border with Papua New Guinea to restore the cross-border trade," Widodo said in a joint press statement with Marape.

At the meeting, the two leaders exchanged views on increasing ties with South Pacific countries, including cooperation in sustainable development, climate change, renewable energy, maritime affairs and disaster management.

Marape said that Indonesia has been not only a friend but also a relative that has helped Papua New Guinea.

"You have always been there for us in some of our moments when we struggled as a nation, during our crisis days, our financial stressful days, and lately our COVID-19 stresses," said Marape. 
The brand's entry-level model at the time, the Dictator was quite popular, moving more than 350,000 units in 10 years. Unfortunately, many of these cars got lost on the way to 2022, and the Dictator is now a hard-to-find classic.This 1935 example is one of the lucky Dictators that survived, but it needs a lot of tender loving care to become road-worthy again. In layman's terms, it's a project car that needs to be restored and put back together.Described as "a partial restoration that was evidently abandoned partway through the project," the four-door appears to be in solid condition overall. It seems that the car was repainted in 2020, but the finish has haded after the Dictator was left in the desert for a while. It will need new body seals all around, but the grille is complete, and the body has very little rust.The interior was stripped during a previous restoration attempt, but it's largely complete. The car will need new upholstery and a new headliner, while the door latches will need to be replaced.The really good news comes from the engine compartment, which still features the car's original, numbers-matching, 203-cubic-inch (3.3-liter) straight-six. An L-head unit with a compression ratio of 6.3:1 and a Stromberg carburetor, the inline-six was rated at 88 horsepower from the factory.The seller claims that the engine was running before the restoration but that it won't start without a new fuel line. The three-speed manual gearbox is believed to work, while the radiator and the fuel tank have been replaced.Now resting in Arizona, the Dictator is being sold with a clean title and a few spare parts and receipts. The Studebaker is being auctioned off at no reserve via Hemmings , and bidding has reached $3,700 with two days to go.
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Lifting the BMW Groupsportfolio to six vehicles, the 2022 BMW i3 eDrive35L has an 11 cm (0.43 in) longer wheelbase than the normal premium compact sedan, measuring 2,966 mm (116.77 in), and 4,872 mm (191.81 in) from bumper to bumper. This translates into more legroom for those sitting at the back, a popular thing among Chinese car buyers.Despite having more inches between the axles, and an all-quiet nature, the zero-emission car promises the same sporty driving dynamics, long-distance comfort, and wide range of individualization options as the regular 3 Series. Other defining features are the high level of build quality, service quality, and longevity, which make it a unique offering in the premium compact segment, BMW claims.Packing a powertrain shared with the i4, iX3, and iX, the i3 eDrive35L has 286 ps (282 hp / 210) and 400 Nm (295 lb-ft) of torque available via the right pedal. This enables a 0 to 100 kph (0-62 mph) acceleration in 6.2 seconds, according to the official spec sheet. The 66.1(net) battery gives it a range of 526 km (327 miles) on the local test cycle and supports DC fast charging of up to 95 kW, taking 35 minutes to be juiced up from 10 to 80%. After only 10 minutes, it adds 97 km (60 miles) to the range. The automaker states that the energy consumption is rated at 14.3 kWh/100 km (62 miles).Besides the latest eDrive assembly, the electric BMW 3 Series , otherwise expected to play a major role in helping the Groups EVs account for half of their global sales by the end of the decade, features the brands OS8 operating system. Everything is sprinkled with the usual comfort and tech features, with items such as the Digital Key making their debut in this model.At the same time, the 2022 i3 eDrive35L has been fine-tuned for the roads in the Peoples Republic, with BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd.s Research and Development division in Shenyang adapting some of its components to the local requirements.Production will be carried out by the aforementioned joint venture at their Lydia facility, in Shenyang , and full pricing details will be announced close to its on-sale date. Naturally, it will be more expensive than the-powered BMW 3 Series, which starts at 293,900 yen in China in the 320i configuration, according to the official website, equaling to $46,251 at the current exchange rates.
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This is not something you wouldve expected to see in 2022, as the battle for raw materials used in batteries and semiconductor chips is intensifying. But it looks like U.S. carmakers want some clarity regarding when the change to all-electric is happening. They need a timeline, and thats why theyre siding with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).On the other side of the aisle, we find Texas and other 15 U.S. states that challenge EPA s plans to gradually reduce vehicle emissions by 28.3% until 2026. They took the matter to court since former President Trumps ideas to stall modifying tailpipe exhaust gases limits have been canceled by the current Biden administration.If youre wondering why these 16 states chose to fight against the reduction of harmful gasses produced by internal combustion engine cars (), then youll be happy to find out their main reasoning is biofuels . More precisely, this is about ethanol production which contributed to the rise of corn prices. Farmers are happy about it, but the positive environmental impact is too low. A change here would mean crops will have to sell at a discount soon.Texas, Ohio, Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Kentucky, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma , South Carolina, and Utah are some of the biggest corn or ethanol producers. A notable absence here is Iowa. Arizona filed its own claims against the EPA.According to Reuters , the Alliance for Automotive Innovation is the one that sided with EPA. This organization comprises auto companies like General Motors, Hyundai, Stellantis, Toyota, and - wouldnt you believe it  Volkswagen. They argue in favor of regulatory stability since their production decisions must be taken in accordance with what the laws and rules say. If things change in a very short amount of time, then the auto industry will be forced to face unpredicted challenges that may result in price hikes or failure to provide competitive products.The 16 states and Arizona dont want this to happen, since it would mean a change thats going to apply also for oil producers and distributors. The more ethanol put into gas, the more people will understand that the shift to EVs is inevitable because old cars will soon face problems using this type of fuel. This would also lead to losing a lot of tax money for states, if they dont choose to tax owners of all-electric cars like Oklahomas currently doing.If the judge will decide in favor of the carmakers and the EPA, then expect to see the new emission rules apply starting from September. The 28.3% reduction will happen gradually over the next four years.In the meantime,'s preparing its own rules regarding emissions and fines applicable to carmakers that don't respect them. Things are moving quickly!
A lot of people still consider electric vehicles as a gimmick and sometimes not even real cars as we discovered from some spirited comment exchanges across this website. And yet, the time is nigh for electric vehicles to gain more prominence in sales.There are many countries, especially in Europe, where the sales of internal combustion vehicles will be banned in the not-so-distant future. It's usually 2050, 2040, or even 2030 because we all like round numbers. In the U.S., states like New York and Washington have announced banning ICE vehicles by 2035 and 2030, respectively. But there cant be a complete ban in 2030 and business as usual until then, so you see the plans are already in motion.Canada is one of the latest joining the ranks of countries to ban sales of combustion engine cars . According to the Emissions Reduction Plan , the Canadian government will gradually enforce the ban. This means that by 2026 more than 20% of the passenger cars sold in the country will be electric. By 2030 this percentage will increase to 60% to reach 100% in 2035.The broader plan includes several sectors that would need to step up decarbonization plans, and the transportation sector is only a small part of this plan. It is therefore hard to tell if these figures refer to one makes product mix or the volume of cars sold, we assume it is the latter. Long term, the higher goal is to reduce emissions to 40 to 45 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.The plan also acknowledges the transportation sector will face difficulties meeting the goals and thats why the medium-duty and heavy-duty vehicles will have a more forgiving schedule. Only 35% of these vehicles would have to be electric by 2035 and 100 percent of a subset of those vehicles by 2040.Canadian plan also involves offering 1.7 billion CAD (about 1.36 billion USD) to extend incentives for buying electric cars and other zero-emission vehicles. Under the current federal program, Canadians can receive up to 5,000 CAD (4,010 USD) rebates for EVs, plug-in hybrids, and hydrogen fuel cell cars, depending on price and configuration. Some provinces, such as British Columbia and Nova Scotia, also offer their own incentives.
The record for the longest passenger flight is currently held by Singapore Airlines for the Singapore-New York route. That flight covers approximately 9,534 miles (15,343 km) in almost 18 hours. But Cathay Pacific could surpass that soon. The airline recently listed on its website an upcoming flight from New York to Hong Kong, scheduled for April 3. This route is already one of the longest in the world, but now it will become even longer due to the fact that it needs to be rerouted.According to a statement from Cathay for Agence France-Presse (AFP), the new flight path will cross the Atlantic instead of the Pacific, adding up to almost 9,000 nautical miles (10,357 miles/16,668 km) in approximately 17 hours. This means more than 2,000 extra miles compared to the conventional route.According to Simple Flying , the airlines CX845 will be the one to depart from the JFK Airport to return to the companys home base in Hong Kong. On April 3, data from flight tracking platforms will show the exact new route, one that could lead to an unintentional world record for the longest passenger flight. The airline is already using a different route for the London-Hong Kong flight in order to avoid Russias and Ukraines airspace.The aircraft that will be completing this record-setting flight, staying in the air for more than 17 hours, is an Airbus A350-1000. Built with an airframe that contains more than 70% advanced materials such as composites, and powered by two Trent XWB turbofan engines considered the worlds most efficient large aero-engines, the A350 was introduced by Airbus as a modern, sustainable aircraft. In addition to its reduced fuel consumption, it might also claim the worlds longest passenger flight soon  data for the upcoming April 3 flight will confirm it or not.
EV

Mr. Elon Musk kept his true nature intact when he was met with the world  the real one. The man didnt change for the stage, nor did he ever try to be or become someone else just for the sake of money or international fame. The SEC, the Tesla board, politicians, activists, investors, customers, other public authorities Nobody managed to make this businessman flinch. He is who he is. Most importantly, he managed to survive everything the entrepreneurial world had to throw at him.This doesnt mean Elon Musk is a saint or some kind of savior, no. Hes a successful businessman. He got in a fight with a very conservative industry, threw everything he got at it, and managed to rise to the top. This is something that most of us will never achieve. It requires personal sacrifice, incredible determination, and a very keen sense of humor. After all, nobody can refuse laughter in the face of danger or failure.While hes the most easily identifiable Tesla figure, we should also give props to those that helped Elon Musk in his endeavors, including the first two co-founders. What this Americanmaker achieved is not something that can be done alone or with just a few partners and several employees. The success of this now global brand is something that everyone shares: from customers and investors to enemies and taxpayers. How this sharing is done Well, thats a topic of discussion for some other time.It's hard to summarize so briefly this mans impact on the auto industry. Furthermore, we can just imagine what hell be able to do with SpaceX. At the least, he could open new doors for space exploration and cement Americas global role in this soon-to-be vital sector. Lets just agree hes done a lot, and we should be grateful hes still sane. A couple of memes and some cryptocurrency tweets didnt and wont hurt anybody.You might wonder now why this piece about Tesla's journey to undeniable success started with praise for Elon Musk and those that believed in him. Well, it was done for a very simple reason: before I became a journalist, I read and saw how the media treated this man. He was mocked, belittled, accused of crazy things, and was always put in the spotlight for something weird. The public was rarely able to learn something useful about Tesla's CEO.His business-oriented mind, however, never betrayed him. Legacy automakers laughed at Tesla and its all-electric cars. A couple of years later, they started buying carbon credits from the same company. Now everyones looking to beat or be better than Tesla. The tables have indeed turned.While Ford might have a chance at competing with Musks company thanks to its F-series trucks, Europeans are lagging. That may be why Mercedes-Benz and BMW are already trying things out with hydrogen. Not because they like it very much, but they fear what the EV battle for resources might mean for their survival. And here shines Tesla once again - because it already decided what it wants to be.Just today, we found out the EV maker closed a secret deal for nickel with a mining company from Brazil. This is extremely important. The demand for all-electric cars has skyrocketed across the globe, and Tesla wants to make its customers around the planet happy. With more deliveries, the chances to have more orders increase. Furthermore, Musk and his team knew very well not to trust Russia, which is the world's largest nickel producer. They've weaponized natural gas. Nothing will stop them from using the same tactics on something similar in the future.This month weve also learned that Tesla is accumulating cash at a faster pace than its ability to grow physically. Remember when cashflow problems were all the media reported about Tesla?So, for now, we know a couple of things: Musk is a great businessman and a good leader, Tesla is doing more than fine and is growing rapidly, its competitors are struggling, and the carmaker wants to do even more than it currently can.Enter Master Plan Part 3.Theres no need to speculate about what Elon Musk might be thinking or preparing right now. Scaling to extreme size sounds fun and a little bit menacing, but lets talk facts and try to guess the next all-important move. Tesla s CEO mightve announced on Twitter that hes ready to take the company to the next level, but heres what will give it the best shot at doing that. Its not a marketing stunt, a new car, or another plant. Its far more important than this.Adam Jonas is the head of Morgan Stanley's auto and space research. According to his briefing about what Teslas plans are, we should get ready to witness a major victory for the EV era. If this will be done right, then Musks company will easily become the number one auto manufacturer. If youre thinking about the newly requested stock split right now, too, then were on the same page. Things click together right about now, dont they?Jonas argues the Master Plan Part 3 will include a huge change regarding the EV supply chain. He says that the next winners will be those with the ability to buy the commodities in the highest volume and be guaranteed supply, with unlimited capital being a critical ingredient. Essentially, this means that companies must get their hands on raw materials fast, easily, and for the right price if they want to succeed. Tesla perfectly fits this description and looks as ready as ever to seize this opportunity.If youve been around for longer than me, then you might remember Fords adventures in South America. The company wanted to secure its own resources and heavily invested in developing entire villages close to mines or around forests. Fordlandia was just a preview for whats to come now.Pushing for manufacturing EVs without delays and with costs under control, Blue Oval City appeared. The $11.4 billion investment will help Ford in dealing with its aspirations as an EV maker. The companys CEO even said that solving this issue must happen as soon as possible because we dont have much time. And, boy, was he right!With the Brazilian deal in place and prices of lithium skyrocketing , Tesla is now looking forward to securing its own raw materials for batteries  the key to long-term success.Having the funds ready and an important partner that might be willing to let go of its operations, Elon Musk is on track to become the one who signs the contract of the decade. Albemarle is the worlds largest lithium producer and is already working with Tesla. It will surely be asked to give in to what the American carmakers want because it makes the most sense right now. Why not join forces with your biggest client? There's nothing to lose! Knowing how the American manufacturer is doing business nowadays, a transaction like this would be of no surprise. I would even go as far as saying that it is most likely already in the works.Having a secure supply chain and cheap raw materials will turn any EV maker into an almost instant champion. With Albemarle having mines or processing plants on every continent except Africa, integrating it into Teslas own corporate group is a no-brainer.As of now, Albemarle doesnt want to give more of its products to Tesla. As with any other business out there, its in its best interest to have a diversified customer portfolio. But Musks company is pushing to ensure its own success, so the lithium provider might soon become a part of the global transformation of personal transport.If Tesla pulls this off, then it will become unbeatable. Not only will it offer better-priced cars after securing much cheaper raw materials for batteries, but it will also choose who gets leftovers from them. It will be fantastic to witness how the American carmaker will transform itself and the whole industry.That being said, you should bear in mind this is not confirmed. This transaction might happen, or it might not even get to the negotiation phase.If this scenario goes as expected, then get ready for the battle that'll make automated driving and artificial intelligence the most important things a carmaker would like to have. Tesla has already harnessed enough data from its customers, and it collects more of it as each day passes.Elon Musk will most likely get his much-wanted crown, which will sit nicely on Tesla. He never liked to show off anyway.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov on the sidelines of the third foreign ministers' meeting of neighboring countries of Afghanistan, in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

HEFEI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday met with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov on the sidelines of the third Foreign Ministers' meeting among the neighboring countries of Afghanistan, in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province.

Noting that no matter how the international situation changes, China will remain Turkmenistan's reliable brother and dependable partner, Wang said China has full confidence in relations with Turkmenistan.

China is willing to work with Turkmenistan to advance the sustained, smooth and stable development of cooperation in various fields and open up broader prospects, Wang added.

Meredov said Turkmenistan regards China as the most important partner in energy cooperation and will not change this established position. Turkmenistan is willing to strengthen the alignment between its development strategy to revive the Great Silk Road and the Belt and Road Initiative and lift bilateral relations to a new high.

China is willing to expand collaboration in the entire energy industrial chain, enlarge the volume and scale of energy cooperation and explore cooperation potential in green energy, natural gas utilization and technical equipment, Wang said.

The two sides also exchanged views on cooperation between China and five Central Asian countries, as well as the Afghanistan issue.

Meredov expressed support for Afghanistan in drawing a clear line with terrorist organizations and resolutely cracking down on all terrorist forces including the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. 

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov on the sidelines of the third foreign ministers' meeting of neighboring countries of Afghanistan, in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)
Tesla Giga Berlin construction has been plagued with problems from the very beginning. The delays amounted to more than a year, but we finally watched Elon Musk doing his signature dance moves in Gruenheide on March 22. It wasnt without sweat, as things looked quite bad at some point, with the environmentalist protests threatening to completely derail de European gigafactory.But as it happened more than once in Elon Musks career, the tides have cleared just before the ship was about to sink and Musk was able to personally hand the keys to the first cars to customers. It wasnt just a show, as Giga Berlin was already building cars at the time. More than that, several flyover videos and pictures shared on social media showed the Model Y produced in Gruenheide leaving the factory on haulers.Since then we've got reports that the Model Y cars from Giga Berlin were delivered to the Netherlands, Belgium, and Italy, among others. Tesla Club Italy shared on Twitter the moment the first made-in-Germany Model Ys were handed to customers in Italy. Another video from Denmark shows several made-in-Germany Model Ys being delivered to customers in Aarhus.There is no information about the volumes currently produced in Gruenheide, but we assume they are not that high. We expect the plant to reach the planned production pace later into the year. The factory is not fully complete yet. Tesla would probably push to increase production, especially as its main hub in Shanghai is facing problems at the moment because of a new lockdown imposed by the Chinese authorities.
The firmware update, however, isnt necessarily aimed at adding new capabilities for the two platforms but to introduce new functionality and to bring new refinements and overall polishing.First and foremost, the update is only live for Pioneer receivers sold in the United States and Canada, with the supported devices including the following models: DMH-W4600NEX, DMH-W4660NEX, DMG-WC5700NEX, DMH-WC6600NEX, DMH-WT7600NEX, DMH-WT76NEX, DMH-WT8600NEX, and DMH-WT86NEX.The changelog reveals the new firmware update includes new features for Amazons digital assistant Alexa. For example, it comes with support for new languages, such as Spanish (Mexico), Portuguese (Brazil), and Hindi (India), as well as support for Spotify.Pioneer explains the update also includes multi-camera system support for iDatalink, as well as Metra Axxess display on the Home screen widget. And as it happens every time, the update also includes other improvements supposed to further polish the overall experience.Updating a Pioneer head unit doesnt take more than a few minutes, as the process is pretty straightforward. Users only need to download the firmware update files from this page and then copy all of them to a USB storage device. Insert the USB device into the Pioneer receiver and start the update process, with the whole thing then completed in a matter of minutes  its important to let the device complete the process, as otherwise, it could end up getting bricked.The receiver will also restart when the update is complete.In case you wonder what type of USB device is needed for the update, pretty much any model will work, as long as its size exceeds 512MB. It must be formatted in either FAT32 or NTFS file systems and store no other files  make sure you format the drive before you copy the update files.
HP

I am sorry if the Ferrari F40 never made it as your poster car - many wild dreams and ambitions came from blankly staring at its magnificence. The obnoxiously high rear wing, low hanging body, and deep exhaust roar are an ecstasy for the mind.The Ferrari might be a supercar, but in the early '90s it was like the golden chariot of kings. Hollywood stars, mega athletes, hedge fund managers, wall street honchos all found solace and glory behind it; three pedals, a gated shifter, and iconic Momo steering.Turn the key, push the start button, step on the throttle, and a hive of dragons, hot lava, and goblins pierce through the center exhaust in a grunt perfected and harnessed by the best from the land of Enzo.Even with tight competition from European rivals like Lamborghini, the Ferrari F40 was a statement on the track. It came with a turbocharged 2.9-liter V8 paired to a 5-speed manual transmission making 471and 577 Nm of torque. It could do 0 to 62 mph (100 kph) in 3.8-seconds, a remarkable feat in its heyday.Behind the wheel, the F40 inspired the confidence of a Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor. With your foot steadily leaning on the throttle in the right gear, youll experience an explosive thrust once its twin turbos kick in.It doesnt matter where you drive this car; 35 years later, it still turns heads and attracts camera lenses everywhere it goes. Those pop-up headlights, conspicuous wing, angular wedge design make it an unforgettable sight.This piece of classic supercar glory doesnt come cheap. In 1990, Nigel Mansell sold his for $1.5 million. With 1,311 units produced, its not the rarest gem on wheels, but youd be lucky to get one under $500,000 Magnus Walker of Hagerty takes the iconic Ferrari F40 to the streets of LA, explaining its deep history and impact on urban motorsports.
But the ad program thats bundled with Waze allows the app to be transformed into so much more, and the authorities in St. Lucie County decided its next goal should be the conversion to a job portal.More specifically, the local economic development council noticed that many people in the region travel to another county as part of their daily commutes. Their first idea was to provide residents with local job opportunities so they would no longer have to cover a long travel distance every day.To provide job ads with some extra visibility, the authorities decided to go specifically after the drivers that are targeted by the openings. And to do this, they turned to Waze to buy ads and therefore send alerts to drivers whenever they travel on certain roads.The job ads are technically alerts that are sent to Waze users when theyre detected on Citrous Boulevard or Becker Roading between 6-9 am and 4-7.30 pm. The local media reveals more than 6,000 ads have already been shown to drivers since the partnership started earlier this year.The program will continue until the next of April, with the local authorities to then look into statistics and figure out if Waze indeed helps people find new jobs and therefore give up on a daily long commute.In the meantime, not everybody is likely to be a big fan of these notifications displayed on Waze. Given theyre sponsored ads, they cant even be blocked, which means they are shown in the app no matter if users want them or not. Obviously, the warnings only show up for people in the area, but dont be too surprised if other authorities copy the idea and sign similar deals with Waze.
Pashinian at the same time accused Baku of seeking to fully reconquer Nagorno-Karabakh and drive out its ethnic Armenian population.

I once again express Armenias readiness to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. Armenia is prepared for an immediate start of peace negotiations, he said in a lengthy speech delivered at the start of a weekly session of his cabinet.

Pashinian indicated that the issue will be high on the agenda of his talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev that will be hosted by European Council President Charles Michel in Brussels on April 6.

I hope to discuss and agree at that meeting with the president of Azerbaijan all the issues related to the start of peace talks, he said.

Yerevan formally proposed such negotiations on Monday. Baku responded by saying the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace deal must be based on five elements that were presented by it to Yerevan on March 10. Those include, among other things, a mutual commitment to recognize each others territorial integrity.

Pashinian said the Armenian side has already notified Baku that there is nothing unacceptable for us in Azerbaijans proposals.

This reply means that the principle of mutual recognition of territorial integrity and inviolability of the borders is acceptable to Armenia, he stressed.

Similar statements made by Pashinian and members of his political team earlier this month drew strong condemnation from Armenian opposition leaders. The latter maintain that Pashinians administration is ready to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh.

Meanwhile, Aliyev expressed the hope that the upcoming talks in Brussels will pave the way for the signing of the Armenian-Azerbaijani treaty as early as possible. He was reported to describe Armenian leaders responses to the Azerbaijani proposals on the peace deal as good news.

Meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau in Baku, Aliyev also reiterated that Azerbaijans victory in the 2020 war with Armenia put an end to the Karabakh conflict. The conflict is already settled, he said.

Pashinian complained on Thursday that despite his conciliatory stance Azerbaijan is ratcheting up tensions in Karabakh and trying to legitimize a possible large-scale assault not only on the disputed territory but also Armenia. He pointed to last weeks Azerbaijani incursion into a Karabakh village, saying that it was part of Bakus broader attempts to terrorize the Karabakh Armenians and force them to flee the territory.

The apparent purpose of these actions is to finish the policy of ethnic cleansing of Karabakhs Armenians, charged the Armenian premier.

Azerbaijani troops captured the Karabakh village of Parukh and advanced towards a strategic mountain to the west of it on March 24, meeting with stiff resistance from Karabakh Armenian forces. Russian peacekeepers stationed in Karabakh intervened to stop deadly fighting there.

Azerbaijani forces reportedly withdrew from the village on Monday. But they continue to occupy a section of the Karaglukh mountain.
This is the red line which we will never cross regardless of anything, Davit Babayan, the Karabakh foreign minister, told RFE/RLs Armenian Service. Whatever promises Azerbaijan could give us, those promises wont be serious, they wont be fulfilled.

For us, there is no chance of survival within Azerbaijan, he said. We would either be turned into a concentration camp or there would be a genocide and ethnic cleansing of Armenians.

Therefore, the Karabakh Armenians will not even discuss any status of their region within Azerbaijan, added Babayan.

The remarks came as Armenia and Azerbaijan geared up for talks on a peace treaty meant to end their border disputes and the conflict over Karabakh. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Thursday that Yerevan is ready to formally recognize Azerbaijans territorial integrity through such a deal.

Other Armenian officials have made similar statements of late, prompting serious concern from opposition leaders and other government critics. The latter maintain that Pashinians government is ready to recognize Azerbaijani sovereignty over Karabakh.

Pashinians statement followed deadly fighting in Karabakh sparked by an Azerbaijani incursion into a village in Karabakhs east. Azerbaijani forces fired at other Karabakh villages and blocked supplies of natural gas to the territory in early March.

The authorities in both Yerevan and Stepanakert say these actions are part of Bakus efforts to bully the Karabakh Armenians and cause them to emigrate.

Babayan said that the Karabakh leadership is making intensive efforts to stabilize and improve the security situation with the help of Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in Karabakh.

We must stay strong, make the right geopolitical choices and understand that we have no right to make mistakes at this historic moment, he said.
DHAKA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Bangladesh's phone companies bid 1.24 billion U.S. dollars on Thursday to obtain additional spectrum in order to stay competitive in the race for networks serving nearly 181 million customers.

The South Asian country's four top operators -- Grameenphone, Robi, Banglalink and Teletalk acquired 190 MHz (megahertz) of spectrum at some 1.24 billion U.S. dollars.

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) staged the auction in capital Dhaka, which was attended, among others, by the country's Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar.

The one-hour auction concluded on Thursday morning. It staged 100 MHz of spectrum in 2,300 bands and 120 MHz in 2,600 bands and the base price for both bands was 6 million U.S. dollars per megahertz.

The country's top two cell phone operators Grameenphone and Robi each acquired a 60 MHz spectrum in 2,600 bands. The third largest telecom operator Banglalink and state-owned Teletalk acquired 40 MHz and 30 MHz, respectively, in 2,300 bands.

Apart from spectrum fees, the operators will have to pay 15 percent value-added tax (VAT) as well.

Yasir Azman, chief executive officer of Grameenphone, said that through this auction, the Bangladeshi government has taken another step toward realizing "Digital Bangladesh."

He said, "Grameenphone's acquisition of the maximum allowable 60 MHz spectrum reflects our strong commitment to creating digital possibilities for people across the country."

In his concluding remarks at the auction, Jabbar expressed hope that the fresh radio-frequency allocations to mobile phone operators will help bolster both 4G and 5G mobile services in the country.

"We're learning from our neighbor China how to get optimum benefits of 5G applications," said the minister.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister's ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy in December last year inaugurated the 5G or fifth-generation mobile services in the country via state-run cellphone operator Teletalk in collaboration with the Chinese telecom giant Huawei.

With the launch of the next-generation services, mobile users in selected places in parts of the country now have access to high-speed 5G Internet through their mobile phones at a relatively lower price. 
You can reach Ishani Desai at 661-395-7417. You can also follow her at @idesai98 on Twitter.
Its time to say goodbye to Beaumonts longest-tenured city manager, Kyle Hayes.

This week, he returned his keys, city credit card, printer and identification documents. While speaking with The Enterprise last week, his desk was virtually bare, save for a calculator, reading glasses, a coaster, notepad, a pen and an ornate dish with paperclips in it. Hes handed the reins over to Director of Planning and Community Development Chris Boone, now interim city manager, while the city searches for his official replacement.

Related: Beaumont council appoints interim manager

During his two decades as city manager, Hayes worked alongside 11 city councils and four mayors - Evelyn Lord, Guy Goodson, Becky Ames and now Robin Mouton.

It's been great. Kyle is very laid back, easy to work with, Mouton said. And he has always said, My job is to take what four council members asked for, and make it happen.

Ames recalled how good it was to have a common goal with Hayes - making sure they did what was best for the citizens of Beaumont.

We worked together (at the city) for 27-plus years. I couldnt ask for a better working relationship, said Ames, who served as a city council member for several years before becoming mayor. I cant say enough good things about (him). He was not only someone I worked with, he became my friend. Kyle and I didn't always agree, but we had frank discussions and worked through many different issues and had a mutual respect for each other. So when we didn't agree, we agreed to disagree and went on to the next item. And there's nothing better than that.

Goodson, too, appreciated Hayes forthrightness.

The most important things in life are a persons character and their word, he said. What is exceptional about Kyle Hayes is his character, and whenever he gives you his word on something, you know its golden.

I think hes the best thing that ever happened to Beaumont, said Lord, who hired him with the help of the city council in July 2002. He made an incredible impression on all of us. He was just always pleasant. He never lost his cool. He is a joy to work with. It was a happy ship and we sailed smoothly because Kyle had his hand on the wheel. When you had a problem, (he would say), Now, mayor, this is not going to be easy. And we would talk it out and sometimes it wasn't easy, but it was never unpleasant.

Together, the mayors, councils and Hayes have gone through many things that were not easy - natural disasters and evacuations, an ongoing pandemic, the rise of social media and the inevitable obstacles with infrastructure in any municipality.

You always have challenges - every year, every month - and they're different, Hayes said. Its like our personal lives. We're all dealing with something and sometimes it's bigger or more important than other times. Its the same thing with running a city.

Born James Kyle Hayes in the late 1960s at St. Elizabeth Hospital, now Christus St. Elizabeth, he lived in Beaumont for the first few years of his life before moving to Port Arthur at around age 3. His family had a business, Hayes Incorporated, that his father ran with Kyles two uncles. They were property holders and real estate owners, and the business went through many iterations - Hayes Property Management and the Port Arthur Land Company.

But as a kid, Hayes didnt want to be in the family business.

I wanted to be a trash man, he said. When I was 4, 5, 6, Id get up on my parents poster bed, Id throw all the pillows down on the floor and then I would get off and that was the garbage sack. Back then, before these garbage cans, when I was growing up, you put your garbage sack on the curb. So I guess I saw that and I wanted to go off the bed and grab that pillow and throw it up on the bed.

He also had a childrens vacuum cleaner with the bubbles inside that he would push around, which he called his cleany cleany.

Even though that wasnt the direction his life took him in, since becoming city manager in his 30s, Hayes regularly works with sanitation workers.

Our guys do an incredible job picking up over 40,000 customers a week, he said. And they do it so well. I'm not out there doing that hard work on the street like they are in inclement weather, but I do hope I work to make sure that they have the right trucks and supplies and equipment to run a landfill and do it right, and keep the charges for the citizens at good rates.

In 1987, he graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School and moved to Austin, where he went to the University of Texas and got his bachelors degree in history, political science and government. After that, he attended Trinity University in San Antonio for a masters in urban administration. He started an internship in the Alamo City but left it early when he got another offer in Beaumont.

Hayes came to town specifically to talk to then-City Manager Ray Riley, and was told by his secretary that Riley would give him five minutes. They ended up talking for well over an hour. Riley called him soon after and offered him an internship. One of his main duties in that internship was putting together the city council meeting agenda, one he did until his last week as city manager.

He hired me for $7.50 an hour, and I was happy to do it, he said. And they didn't have an extra office up here at the time. So, they turned basically a storage room, put a folding card table with a metal chair, and that's where I officed for six-plus months.

That windowless room now houses the copy machine, and Hayes eventually moved out of the room and bounced around that office until he arrived at the corner suite on the third floor of City Hall, overlooking the port and Main Street.

Over the years, hes tried to improve the spaces around him. Within the four walls of his own office, he hung a bright, abstract painting his wife made and adorned the coffee table with a bronze longhorn. Hes worked with various departments on landscaping and to make sure there are tables and chairs in front of City Hall to make it more inviting. Theyve added illuminated street signs, maintained public buildings and even erected several new ones. They continually upgraded the 36 municipal parks, trying to be equitable to each of the four city wards.

Related: A Beaumont park is getting something new

He's very creative. He's a visionary. That's one thing I enjoyed about him, Ames said. If you look back over the last, say, 10 (or) 12 years, we've done quite a bit in the city.

There have been some signature projects during Hayes time. He cites the Lakeside Center and the new Public Health building as well as the new central fire station.

Sometimes, though, unforeseen events have thrown the city staff off their charted course. Four major storms blew in under Hayes leadership  hurricanes Rita and Ike, Tropical Storm Harvey and Tropical Depression Imelda. The last two are in the top 10 wettest rain events recorded in U.S. history. He can recall restless nights spent trying to sleep back in the copy room. His family had evacuated, his house had no power, all the food had spoiled and the city had a long road to recovery ahead of them.

What I found most amazing about Kyle Hayes is the level of leadership very early in his career as a manager that he displayed in the face of that incredible disaster of our city, Goodson said, referring to Rita, which hit shortly after Goodson took office. He will go down as one of the very finest city managers, not just in Beaumont but period. One thing I've always appreciated about Kyle is he thoughtfully considers whatever is facing the city, but he puts a lot of faith and confidence in his department heads. Hes not a micromanager. Hes a person who I believe is confident in his own abilities, but has surrounded himself over the years with very capable senior management.

Related: Something worth staying for Beaumont sees first GLO Imelda rebuild

Indeed, one of the things Hayes is proud of is how the staff and department heads pulled together in those difficult moments.

Our staff adapted and learned. We really didn't know what to expect or what we were facing. We had never gone through anything like that before, Hayes said. So we learned a lot, and now, golly, we could probably assemble a team of 20 people and go to manage any event across the country. They're that good. They really are.

Leaving this team is hard, but he knows that Beaumont is in very capable hands. This is the best group of department heads hes worked with in 29 years, and he says hes worked with some really good ones. This group is smart, he said, dedicated and theyve run a clean ship with good financial audits every year - no easy feat.

Contrary to what a lot of people may think, Kyle has kept the city in a great financial position. I mean, we have come back so resilient from each and every disaster that we have had, Mouton said.  I talk to other council members and other mayors, and a lot of cities don't really fully recover. But we come back like nothing has ever happened. And I attribute that to Kyle and to a great staff.

All of this bodes well for the city and its residents.

Hayes plans to travel around Texas and go north to Michigan with his wife and son for a few months this summer. Theyll relax, reevaluate and play golf. He wishes the best to the next city manager and says its not his style to tell them what they need to do, but if Boone or the next city manager ever needs any help, they can feel free to call him.

For now, though, Kyle Hayes is off the clock.

I don't have any regrets whatsoever. I would do this again if I knew it would go this way, he said, leaning back in his leather chair. Its been truly a privilege to be city manager. I'm walking out with a smile on my face. Its a big world out there, and I look forward to a new chapter.

rachel.kersey@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/ontheREKord
BERLIN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Four suspected supporters of the Islamic State (IS) had been arrested at Frankfurt Airport as they entered Germany, the Federal Public Prosecutor General said on Thursday.

The four women, three German nationals and one German and Moroccan national, allegedly traveled to Syria or Iraq in 2013 or 2014 and joined the terrorist organization IS, according to a statement by the public prosecutor general's office.

The defendants were suspected of membership in a terrorist organization abroad, the statement said. One woman was also accused of crimes against humanity as well as aiding and abetting crimes against humanity, war crimes, human trafficking, and violations of the weapons law.

The four people will be brought before the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), where the implementation of pre-trial custody would be decided. 
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The Port Arthur Police Department has issued a murder warrant in connection with the shooting death of a former Port Arthur mayors brother.

Police are asking for the publics assistance in locating 18-year-old, Dastacy Lawrence, for the alleged murder of Marcus Freeman.
A Southeast Texas restaurant is asking for help find its bull-shaped smoker that was allegedly stolen over the weekend.

Big P's Ultimate BBQ Shack is offering a reward for information that will steer police to the arrest of the individual or individuals who allegedly stole the metal smoking bull from the Sour Lake restaurant.

You shouldnt have that in a small town, a co-owner of the restaurant, who did not wish to be named, told The Enterprise on Tuesday.

The couple who owns the business, which opened in October 2021, originally discovered the bull at Casa Luna Imports in Lumberton.

The co-owner said her husband fell in love with the unique smoker, which the pair ultimately purchased for $1,000.

She said the couple believes the bull was stolen between when they left the restaurant at 11 p.m. Saturday and when they returned on between 7 and 8 p.m. on Sunday. The restaurant was closed on Sunday, she said.

It was just a really cool feature and everyone really knew us by it by the little time that we did have it, the co-owner said.

The restaurant is asking anyone with information to contact Big P's Ultimate BBQ Shack or the Sour Lake Police Department. The restaurant, which has security cameras, said that a report has been filed.

If you took it and bring it back immediately, we won't ask questions or press charges, the post said. We just want our bull back!!!!

The co-owner of the restaurant said some of the officers also enjoy dining at the restaurant, including the officer who took the incident report on Monday.

She walked in and I said, youre not here to eat, are you? the co-owner said with a small laugh.

meagan.ellsworth@beaumontenterprise.com

twitter.com/megzmapgie
ISTANBUL, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky discussed the latest development in the Ukraine crisis over the phone on Thursday, the Turkish presidential office said.

Erdogan stated that the recent peace talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations in Istanbul gave a meaningful impetus to the process to end the crisis and establish peace, the presidential office said in a statement.

Erdogan reiterated his proposal to bring together the presidents of Ukraine and Russia for a summit in Turkey. Zelensky thanked Erdogan for hosting the talks in Istanbul, according to the statement.

Russia and Ukraine concluded a fresh round of face-to-face peace talks in Istanbul on Tuesday, creating a possibility of formulating a security treaty.

Following the meeting, Ukrainian negotiators named several countries which could act as guarantors, protecting Ukraine on the international arena, and Russian delegates pledged to scale down Russia's military operations in Ukraine to create the necessary ground for dialogue.

Turkey has been increased its diplomatic efforts for lasting peace in the region, and Erdogan has been pushing for a summit between his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts while conducting "phone traffic" with Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Zelensky. 
Human rights activists on Thursday praised the Indonesian military chiefs decision to allow relatives and descendants of the countrys liquidated communist party to join the armed forces, calling it a right step toward ending long-standing discrimination.

On Wednesday, Gen. Andika Perkasa said there were no strong legal grounds to ban descendants of Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) members, who were blamed for a failed coup that ignited an anti-communist bloodbath in Southeast Asias largest country in 1965-66, during which the military played a leading role.

What is the legal basis for this? What have they violated? Please dont make things up. I am a law-abiding person. If we ban them, make sure we have a legal basis, Indonesias top military commander said.

During the rule of President Suharto, children and relatives of those linked to the communist party were stigmatized and barred from joining the military and the police force, or getting civil service jobs. The countrys longtime dictator, a former army general, came to power in 1967 when he took over from Sukarno, the countrys founding president, after the mass killings targeting suspected PKI members.

This should be an opportunity for national political reconciliation to end the stigma and discrimination against PKI descendants, said Ardi Manto Adiputra, deputy director of the human rights group Imparsial.

Ardi said that the specter of communism has been used to attack political opponents and to attract voters during elections.

Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono supported Andikas action.

That is very good because it reminds us that the [decree] does not prohibit the descendants of the PKI from serving this country, Andreas told BenarNews.

In fact, there is no legal basis that prohibits the descendants of communists from working for the country, he said.

Historians said more than 500,000 were killed in a purge targeting members and sympathizers of the PKI after a failed coup in 1965 blamed on communists. The government has suppressed alternative accounts of the events and public discussions on that chapter in the countrys history were often banned.

Ilham Aidit, son of the late PKI chairman D.N. Aidit, told BenarNews in 2016 he had failed to become a civil servant because of his fathers supposed sins.

The anti-communist propaganda by [President Suhartos] New Order was overwhelming. It really stuck into a lot of peoples minds, generated hatred for those who dont even know anything, and it still exists, he said at the time. His father was executed during the 1965-66 crackdown against the communists.

Soldiers guard members of the youth wing of the Communist Party of Indonesia as they take them in an open truck to prison in Jakarta, Oct. 30, 1965. The youths had been rounded up by the army following an anti-communist crackdown in the wake of an abortive coup detat against President Sukarnos government. [AP File Photo]

General dropped virginity tests

Andika made headlines last year after he issued a directive to stop subjecting female recruits to so-called virginity tests. The general also was praised for supporting military member and volleyball athlete Aprilio Manganang, who competed as a woman but transitioned to be a man.

Women make up about 15 percent of the roughly 800,000 members of the military in Southeasts Asia largest country.

Andreas said Andikas latest stance should be supported, although it would not necessarily end all forms of discrimination against relatives of PKI members.

We wont end the stigma overnight. But if you want to move forward, General Andikas statement must be supported, Andreas said.

Pipit Ambarmirah, a daughter of a former PKI political prisoner, called Andikas remarks progress.

Its good if he thinks like that, she told BBC Indonesia.

Despite Andikas decision to welcome communist party descendants, a 2021 survey indicated that 46.6 percent of Indonesians believed there could be a PKI resurgence, citing among others, the influx of Chinese workers in the country as evidence.

Indonesian human rights advocates, meanwhile, have lobbied the government to pursue a national reconciliation over what happened in 1965-66, although President Joko Jokowi Widodo has said that his administration would not apologize.

In 2018, a land rights activist was sentenced to 10 month in prison after he was found guilty of spreading communism for unfurling a banner displaying a hammer and sickle during a protest against a mining operation in East Java province.

A higher court later increased his prison term to four years.

Rights group Amnesty International said there was no evidence that Hari Budiawan, also known as Budi Pego, had displayed a pro-communist banner.
Presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. gestures as he addresses the crowd during a campaign rally in Buluan, an impoverished Muslim town in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao, March 28, 2022.

Presidential candidate Ferdinand Marcos Jr. courted undecided voters during a campaign swing this week through the restive south  one of the large voting regions in the Philippines  but for some locals, his visit stirred memories of suffering inflicted under his late fathers brutal rule.

Independent surveys have placed the son and namesake of the longtime dictator consistently leading a field of candidates vying to replace President Rodrigo Duterte, who banked on his southern roots to win election to the top office in 2016. Dutertes late mother had campaigned against then-dictator Ferdinand E. Marcos, a legacy that helped her son rise to power.

But many in this heavily Muslim southern region of the mainly Catholic Philippines see Marcos Jr. as an extension of his fathers regime (1965-1986). Thousands of people died and disappeared under the iron-fisted rule of Marcos Sr., who governed this archipelago nation for 14 years under martial law.

We are concerned of a Marcos win and an eventual return to power in Malacanang, Murad Ebrahim, the leader of the former insurgent group Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), told BenarNews on Wednesday, referring to the presidential palace in Manila and the upcoming Philippine general election on May 9.

While Marcos Jr. was not the one behind the atrocities, he carries his fathers name. And if Muslims hear that name, they also relive the pain of the dictatorship, said Murad (also known as Ahod Balawag Ebrahim), who was once a fierce leader of the MILF guerrilla forces fighting Marcos loyal soldiers in the south.

Composed of primarily young, idealistic Muslims seeking their own identity, the MILF at the time was a separatist force.

Based on the accounts of Amnesty International and the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines, historians believe that at least 3,250 known extrajudicial killings occurred during the Marcos regime. There were also 35,000 documented cases of torture while thousands of others were forcibly disappeared or jailed.

The most atrocious incident in the south occurred in September 1974 when Marcos troops allegedly massacred about 1,500 Muslim males aged from 11 to 70 inside a mosque in Sultan Kudarat province. Historians say that thousands of Muslim women were also detained, and an entire community was razed.

The bloodshed occurred during the Muslim holy months of Ramadan, with various accounts by survivors saying that soldiers forced many of those they killed to dig their own graves.

Murad said the scar remains fresh after all these years. If Marcos Jr. apologizes on behalf of his family, it could help heal the wounds of the past, he said.

If a sincere apology is asked, that would help, Murad added.

Presidential candidate Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. and running mate Sara Duterte-Carpio greet supporters during a campaign rally in Santa Rosa, south of Manila, March 11, 2022. [Jason Gutierrez/BenarNews]

Marcos Jr. has often said that his fathers sins were not his own, and his trip to the south this week was meant to bolster the unity he forged with the Dutertes. His running mate is Sara Duterte-Carpio, the presidents popular daughter, who is the mayor of Davao City.

Mohagher Iqbal, a former ranking MILF guerrilla who now serves as education minister in the autonomous Islamic region here, said Marcos Jr.s trip this week was a bitter reminder of why he once joined the countrys Muslim rebel forces.

Muslims should choose a candidate who will preserve and defend the Bangsamoro cause and ensure that our women and children will not suffer the atrocities of the past, he said.

Bangsamoro is what the Filipino Muslims call their homeland in the south.

We cant support a candidate wholl bring up past horrors, Iqbal said.

According to government data, the Muslim autonomous region of the southern Philippines accounts for only 1.9 million voters of the roughly 65 million Filipinos eligible to vote this year. However, winning the Muslim vote is considered crucial in the country.

Changing perspectives

Not everyone in the south remembers the Marcos family in the same light.

Over the past decades, some influential families and the young Muslim generation have changed their attitudes about the political dynasty.

In the provinces of Maguindanao and Sultan Kudarat, thousands of Filipino Muslim supporters whose ancestors were victims of martial law-related atrocities showed up to support Marcos Jr.s campaign rallies this week.

They wore the Marcos camps trademark red and green colors and roared their approval as they saw the presidential candidate pressing hands and walking toward the stage.

Theres already a winner, they chanted in unison.

Mariam Sangki Mangudadatu, a Muslim governor of Maguindanao province, told reporters that fellow Muslims should let bygones be bygones.

Nobody is perfect, but under the leadership of Bongbong, he will bring back the progressive image of our country, Mangudadatu said, using the nickname of Marcos Jr. Anyone can make mistakes.

Nursing student Florabel Sinempalan, 21, said both Marcos Jr. and Duterte-Carpio were deserving candidates who would help bring prosperity to many underdeveloped Muslim regions in the south, where militants and communist guerrillas also operate.

As a Muslim, I know that they will help the Muslim Filipinos and other religions in building respect. Most of the Muslims are being discriminated against. I know that it will stop, and Muslims will be seen equally (by) others, she said but demurred when asked to explain how she knew Marcos Jr. would bring about change.

Marcos Jr. gives the victory sign as he sits beside Duterte-Carpio during a rally in Santa Rosa, Philippines, March 11, 2022. [Jason Gutierrez/BenarNews]

Inherited support

The rehabilitation of the Marcoses was partly a fault of the political system that allowed them to return home from exile in Hawaii, where the old dictator died in 1989, analysts and observers have said.

Apart from Marcos Jr., the familys matriarch, Imelda Marcos, and her daughter Imee have all won political office and hold considerable political sway. Another daughter, who keeps out of the limelight, is also married to an influential family.

The strong showing by the Marcos camp in some areas of the country was, in fact, due to the Dutertes, according to a local politics expert.

The support for Duterte-Carpio was converted to Marcos Jr. Probably, these people also have different experiences, said Ramon Beleno III, head of the political science and history department at the Ateneo De Davao University in Davao City, President Dutertes hometown.

Maybe, they are also getting wrong information from the social media about martial days under the Marcos regime, and they have no time to counter-check that information, he told BenarNews.

Richel V. Umel and Froilan Gallardo contributed to this report from Cagayan de Oro city, southern Philippines.
People watch as Thai police inspect the body of a suspected militant after a gunfight with government forces in Rueso, a district of Narathiwat province in southern Thailand, Oct. 30, 2016.

Face-to-face talks between Thailand and BRN insurgents resume in Kuala Lumpur this week in a peace process shaken up by back-channel negotiations that took place late last year without the knowledge of the official facilitator, Malaysia, BenarNews can reveal.

Malaysia was upset about the secret negotiations that were organized by an international NGO and conducted virtually in November between seven negotiators of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), who were in Istanbul, and representatives of the Thai government, according to multiple sources with direct knowledge of the talks.

But the negotiations appeared to help propel the peace process forward, producing a three-point agreement that was subsequently discussed in Kuala Lumpur in January, when the official in-person talks between Thailand and the BRN over the long-running Deep South conflict restarted after a two-year hiatus.

In-person talks resume in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday and are scheduled to run until Saturday, officials on both sides confirmed to BenarNews.

Lt. Gen. Thira Daehwa, the secretary of a Thai government panel negotiating with the rebels to resolve a decades-old conflict in the countrys Deep South, said that a remote zoom meeting between Party-B and Thai officials took place in November.

Party B is how Thai authorities sometimes refer to the negotiating panel representing the BRN, the largest armed separatist group in Thailands mostly Muslim, Malay-speaking southern border region.

Asked if holding such talks without Malaysias knowledge could jeopardize the peace process, Thira replied, There is nothing to worry about. We value the participation of all.

The back-channel talks were set up by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), an NGO based in Switzerland, said another source with knowledge of the talks.

Not only Malaysia was upset. BRN leadership was also very upset upon knowing this as it was done without their approval, said the source, who was not authorized to speak to reporters and did so on condition of anonymity.

Representatives of the Geneva-based NGO did not immediately respond to BenarNews requests for comment.

The group describes itself as a private diplomacy organization whose mission is to help prevent, mitigate, and resolve armed conflict through dialogue and mediation.

Most of its activities are confidential, and it does comment on its discreet work as a general policy, according to the groups website.

Students hold white balloons during a demonstration against violence, after recent incidents between Thai troops and suspected separatists, in Ra-ngae district, Narathiwat, March 21, 2022. [AFP]

November meet produced roadmap

Sources familiar with the Deep South conflict said the November talks produced the three-point agreement that was subsequently discussed in Kuala Lumpur in January.

At the time, a Thai military official told BenarNews that Thailands delegation and the BRN representatives had discussed a three-point framework which will be used as a roadmap for further talks.

The proposed framework includes violence reduction, political participation, and discussion mechanism in the [Deep South] region, according to a statement from the Thai source, who requested anonymity because he, too, was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Thira, the secretary of the Thai peace talks panel, suggested that the Swiss NGO was instrumental in bringing about the agreement.

The [Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue] got along with Party-B and could have told Party-B not to be stubborn and make some concessions, and that eventually resulted in the agreement on the three topics, he said.

The two warring sides have been unable to agree on how to formalize the framework, and this will likely be discussed again in upcoming talks, said the anonymous source with knowledge of the negotiations.

They had agreed on terms in Turkey  both [sides] wanted Rahim Noor to sign the paper but did not wish to put their signature on the same paper as a form of agreement, the source said.

Abdul Rahim Noor, Malaysias former national police chief, is brokering the official talks on behalf of his government.

Rahim Noor felt it was unfair for him to put his signature on the document that Malaysia was not even consulted on, the source added.

The Malaysian facilitator declined to comment for this report in response to questions about HDs back-channel involvement in the southern Thai peace process.

Police forensic officers inspect the wreckage of two burnt vehicles used by Islamic missionaries in Rueso district, Sept. 7, 2019. [AFP]

Ramadan violence reduction

The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue waded into the Thai peace process at least once before, overseeing the so-called Berlin Initiative in 2019 that laid the groundwork for the current peace process, in which the most powerful southern insurgent group, BRN, has come to the table.

Artef Sohko, president of a political action group that promotes self-determination for the Deep South, expressed concern over recent negotiations, suggesting that agreements may have been struck without the knowledge of BRN leadership or consultation with fighters in the field.

The fact that the BRN leaders did not discuss this matter with the combatants on the ground prior to going to the table with the Thais could very well lead to the movement breaking up. If that happens, a major spike of violence on the ground is to be expected, he said.

The Deep South, a predominantly Muslim and ethnic Malay region, encompasses Pattani, Narathiwat, Yala provinces, and four districts of Songkhla province.

Since the insurgency reignited in January 2004, more than 7,000 people have been killed and 13,500 others injured in violence across the region, according to Deep South Watch, a local think-tank. A formal peace process to solve the issue began in 2013 but never progressed.

On Monday, BRN released a video ahead of Ramadan in which it urged the people of the Deep South to celebrate the Islamic fasting month in a peaceful manner. This year, Ramadan begins in early April.

Gen. Thira told BenarNews that the Thai side would offer at talks this week to suspend raids and arrests of suspected combatants during Ramadan.

The Thai peace dialogue panel, he said, had instructed the regional military command to make Ramadan really peaceful by not enforcing laws against suspected insurgents during the first 20 days of the fasting month.

And if they [BRN] create no violence at all, then in the last 10 days we will even allow them to perform Itikaf at mosques, Thira said.

Itikaf is an Islamic practice of staying at a mosque and devoting oneself to prayer.

Its up to them whether or not to accept this option, Thira said.

On Wednesday, alleged insurgents killed two policemen and injured two others in a roadside bomb attack in Bannang Sata, a district in Yala, military and police investigators said. Police were patrolling a street when the bombing incident, the second since Saturday, took place.

Todays incident shows that the insurgents would mount an attack whenever they have a chance, said Col. Kiatisak Neewong, a spokesman for the military command with jurisdiction across the heavily militarized southern border region, told BenarNews.

The army has to be patient and remain open for those who want to do a good deed during Ramadan, he said.
by Xinhua writers Xiong Maoling, Sun Ding

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- As the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to unfold, casualties keep rising and its economic impact has been devastating, stock prices of major American arms companies on the other side of the world have surged.

Experts believe that the ongoing conflict will bring huge revenues to U.S. arms manufacturers, and the military-industrial complex will profit from the crisis in the long run, with continued lobbying for a more confrontational approach and higher defense spending.

U.S. defense firms are the indisputable top producers of the world's weapons. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the world's top five arms companies have all been American since 2018, and the United States accounted for 39 percent of global military expenditure in 2020.

Lockheed Martin, the world's top weapons manufacturer, saw its stock price surge over 25 percent since the start of the year, while the stock price of Raytheon Technologies is 17 percent higher.

Company executives had foreseen this. In a January earnings call, Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet highlighted the "renewed great power competition," noting that it would lead to higher defense budgets and additional sales. Raytheon Technologies CEO Greg Hayes, meanwhile, said the company expected to see "opportunities for international sales" amid the tension in Eastern Europe and other geopolitical tensions.

There are at least three ways in which the Russia-Ukraine conflict will bring additional sales to U.S. arms dealers: U.S. arms aid to Ukraine, ballooning U.S. defense budget, and growing defense budgets in many European countries.

DEFENSE BUDGETS HIKES

Immediately after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in late February, President Joe Biden announced that the United States would provide 350 million dollars in military aid to Ukraine. On March 16, Biden announced an additional 800 million dollars in security assistance to Ukraine.

According to a White House fact sheet, the two rounds of assistance package include 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 4,600 Javelin anti-armor systems, five Mi-17 helicopters and over 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenade launcher and mortar rounds, among others.

Meanwhile, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has led to growing bipartisan consensus to increase the already elevated defense budget, with the Congress approving its largest-ever defense spending bill just weeks after, more than the president requested. The 1.5-trillion government funding bill allocates 782 billion toward defense, 5.7-percent larger than the previous year's package.

"Supporting defense department budgets is a very cheap form of patriotism!" Greg Cusack, a former member of the Iowa House of Representatives, told Xinhua.

"At a time when most primary opposition to existing congresspersons comes from the far Right, no one wants to toss any 'red meat' to such potential opponents by voting against 'providing our troops with the best that money can buy'," said Cusack.

The defense spending hikes don't seem temporary. On Monday, the White House unveiled a budget plan for the fiscal year 2023 calling for a boost in military spending. The budget plan totaling 5.8 trillion dollars includes 813.3 billion dollars for "national defense," of which 773 billion is allocated for the Defense Department.

Defense contractors are also eyeing additional sales in Europe, where several countries, including Germany, have announced they will increase defense budgets in light of the recent conflict.

"With more countries, Germany making a pretty abrupt shift towards increased military spending and focus on countering Russia militarily, that is a huge opportunity (for U.S. arms companies), " Erik Sperling, executive director of anti-war group Just Foreign Policy, told Xinhua.

Noting that defense spending across North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members are likely to grow, Sperling said many of the weapons "that NATO uses are gonna be overwhelmingly U.S. based weaponry. So that's all positive for the weapons companies."

PROFITABLE ARMS MANUFACTURERS

A recent report released by the U.S. Defense Department showed that since the 1990s, the defense sector has consolidated "substantially," transitioning from 51 to five aerospace and defense prime contractors, indicating an oligopoly situation, which means lack of competition and potentially excessive profits.

How profitable are the arms manufacturers? Their generous investment in lobbying might throw a light on this. A study from the Brown University showed that weapon makers have spent 2.5 billion dollars on lobbying over the past two decades, employing, on average, over 700 lobbyists per year over the past five years.

Sperling, a former congressional staffer, told Xinhua that he had dealt with arms-industry lobbyists and was familiar with their moves.

"One of the things they do that is very smart is they spread the jobs of the industry really across the country. So a huge number of congressional districts and states have thousands and thousands of jobs that are connected to the defense industry. So that means that it's very possible that, if someone votes for (defense budget) cuts, that they could be cutting jobs in their own district," said Sperling.

"The effect of having these relatively high paying jobs spread across the country makes it a real challenge to cut military spending for a lot of elected officials," he said.

"REVOLVING DOOR"

The indirect impact of the "revolving door" could also be significant. High-level former U.S. military officials and state department officials could be sitting on the boards of a lot of the arms companies, or are acting as consultants or lobbyists for these companies. People who have worked for those companies could then go back into the government.

"It creates a general climate where it's in the interest of many people both in terms of their ideology, but also financially and even personally to see to have at least a somewhat confrontational, militarized response to a crisis rather than a diplomatic one," Sperling said.

"Certainly it's not in the interest of weapons companies to see issues resolved diplomatically, it's in their interest to see ... military tension that requires arms buildups," Sperling said.

"There's not very much money to be made in diplomacy, usually," he added.

Former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a 2020 presidential candidate, told Fox News in mid-February that warmongers on both sides of Washington had been drumming up tensions, and if a Russia-Ukraine war broke out, the military-industrial complex would make a ton more money than they had been in fighting al-Qaida or making weapons for al-Qaida. 
If you'd like to leave a comment (or a tip or a question) about this story with the editors, please email us

We also welcome letters to the editor for publication; you can do that by filling out our letters form and submitting it to the newsroom.
Winston Churchill said: never let a good crisis go to waste.

Recently, on a Thursday night, my friend Jennifers husband of 10 years, Martin, came home from an overseas business trip. Jen and their young son, Shane, were overjoyed to see him. Martin is a young-looking, handsome 50 year old, in relatively good health. Hes a devoted and loving husband and father, going above and beyond to care for his family. Hes in senior leadership in a stressful corporate role.

The next morning, Martin woke up with terrible stomach pains. It was so bad he could barely stand up. Going to work was out of the question. He asked Jen to take him to the hospital. Alarmed, Jen put him in the car and sped off, breaking red lights to get him to a private hospital.

The doctors report was dire. He had a swollen gall bladder that was at the risk of dying and becoming gangrenous or bursting and becoming septic. He had kidney stones and his prostate was enlarged. He was whisked to emergency surgery. When the doctors opened him up, they realised it was worse than they thought. Gangrenous cells had already started moving into his internal organs. They had to scrape some off his chest walls.

Post-surgery, hes been doing better, although his white blood cell count isnt yet where it should be. Doctors wont release him from the hospital until this improves. Hes on antibiotics and will need physiotherapy. Jen is a devoted believer and has been by his side every step of the way. She epitomizes the power of a dedicated and praying wife.

I was thinking about the lessons that could be gleaned from that experience. They are both practical and spiritual:

1. Life can change in an instant

One minute, Jen and Martin were living a trouble-free life, and in the next, Martins life was in jeopardy.

When we are experiencing good times, we dont often think that we may be a few moments away from a tragedy. Instead of this being a scary thought, we can use that realization to cause us to lean into God more, knowing that our life is in His Hands. This should change how we live.

Colossians chapter 3 verse 2-3 says: Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. This means setting aside anything that God wouldnt be pleased with, in how you live, what you say and do and how you devote our time, energy and resources.

We are new creatures in Christ, but we live in an imperfect world. No oppression can crush us (2 Corinthians chapter 4 verses 7 to 9). With Christ, we are invincible. That knowledge gives us the power to withstand any obstacle. Even if our flesh dies, we have eternal life with Him.

2. Know your family medical history and take care of your health

Martins family has a genetic predisposition for high cholesterol. Even if he eats well, he needs to take medication to control the level in his body. This medication has side effects, so he hasnt been taking it consistently. The past year, hes felt tired and has had bad heartburn. The irony is hed had an appointment to see an internist a few days before the medical emergency. It was an appointment hed kept pushing back due to work commitments.

Hed been working so hard; hed had several weeks of vacation stored up over years. On top of that, Martin has been too busy to even play squash at the club his company pays for. He grabs junk food between meetings when he has no time for a proper lunch.

Now, Martin has been forced to rest. He lies in a hospital bed, not taking meetings or making business decisions. A physiotherapist helps him take a few steps out of bed and down the hall. Those few steps are an achievement. He has a long road to recovery ahead of him. Every milestone, no matter how small, is worth celebrating.

Balance is key.

Listen to your body. Organ care is vital. Dont keep going at a fast pace until your system crashes.

Take care of your health. Lie down and rest when necessary.

3. Gods timing is perfect

Martin didnt fall sick while overseas, away from his family.

Martins surgeon is one of the best in the country. Jen has a friend who knows this surgeon and so the surgeon has taken a personal interest in the case. He is in demand for his superb skills and expertise. It just so happened that the same doctor was just coming out of another surgery at the same hospital where Martin was admitted. He had the time to go see Martin.

In a believers life, there is no coincidence. There are God-appointments. He orchestrates everything in your life for your good.

4. Health insurance and emergency funds are key

Martin has a health insurance policy from his employer, but he has to pay a deductible. Jen has had to pay money upfront for every test and procedure. Thankfully, Jen has the financial resources to cover this. She and Martin have been blessed.

However, not everyone has this luxury. Planning ahead for emergency spending like this is a good idea. Have a stash of savings for a rainy day. Even if your employers health package isnt attractive, you can take out your own insurance policy. Remember that one bad illness can wipe out life savings.

5. Introspection is a gift

This experience has given Martin a jolt. Hes not as strong in his faith as Jen. Jen has used this opportunity to encourage Martin to lean into God and to trust Him. She sees this trial as an opportunity for them both to grow in faith.

While we all want to do a good job, workaholism can kill. It can be easy for a job to take up our main focus, even causing us to spend less time with God or giving less consideration to pleasing him.

Every crisis is a chance to learn. That knowledge is precious.
Greg Sukiennik has worked at all three Vermont News & Media newspapers and was their managing editor from 2017-19. He previously worked for ESPN.com, for the AP in Boston, and at The Berkshire Eagle in Pittsfield, Mass.
Berkshire Bank has taken several measures to assist humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine including a $50,000 donation from the Berkshire Bank Foundation to the Ukrainian Federation of America.
Cops and Courts Reporter

Amanda Burke is Cops and Courts Reporter for The Berkshire Eagle. An Ithaca, New York native, she previously worked at The Herald News of Fall River and the Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise.
GREAT BARRINGTON  Police have increased surveillance and patrols around at least four Berkshire County schools after an email Wednesday afternoon threatened the schools with a shooting on Thursday.

Massachusetts State Police investigators have since deemed the email to be spam and traced it to Europe, said Great Barrington Police Sgt. Adam Carlotto. The threat is not credible, he added, but police and the schools are taking precautions regardless.

Carlotto said officers would be rotating on patrols at targeted areas near the schools out of an abundance of caution.

The Brookside School, Berkshire Waldorf School and Bard College at Simons Rock, all in Great Barrington, as well as Hillcrest Academy in Pittsfield received the email at around 4 p.m. The writer did not specifically mention the schools by name.

It was sent from the email address bidennjoe063@gmail.com. The text read, Hello, I want to declare that tomorrow I will start shooting at your school. I understand how much pressure world events put on you. All these wars and crises. Ill put you out of your misery, just be patient.

Hillcrest Academy and the Brookside School  both owned by the same company  closed school Thursday and increased security, said Hillcrest CEO Jerry Burke. Representatives at Simons Rock, which was the site of a deadly school shooting in 1992, could not be immediately reached for comment.

The Berkshire Waldorf School decided against closing, but took extra precautions learned from a law enforcement consultant after the Newtown, Conn. school shooting in 2012, said Erik Bruun, president of the schools board of trustees.

Those include having someone outside to watch for unfamiliar people, locking all the doors after children arrive, and using only one door for entry, he said.

In an email to the school community Wednesday night, the schools leadership team said they understood any anxiety as well as the decision to not come to school.

Although we believe this email is a spam threat, we are treating it as a real concern, the email said, before sharing the text of the threat.

Bruun said the school contacted police immediately.

Police offered assistance and presence readily and professionally, he said.

The decision to remain open with precautions is an effort to balance a productive and meaningful life in a shaky world, and not allow dark forces to hijack us, Bruun added.
A year ago, Hinsdale officials wrote to Gov. Charlie Baker and other state officials to warn that newly enacted police reform would hollow out their small-town force.

Their worry: Costly training rules could make part-time officers an endangered species.

We implore you and your colleagues to reconsider the crushing financial demands of this reform bill, they wrote, so that our police department can continue to serve and protect its citizens.

No one replied.

Hinsdales leaders are even more sure today that given the laws training requirements, they need to find a new way to patrol the town.

Theyre going to basically kill us, because we use part time officers, said Robert Graves, the Hinsdale town manager.

Baker didnt write back a year ago. But last week, his administration gave Hinsdale and neighboring Dalton $25,000 to explore a path forward.

The towns will hire a consultant to study this question: Can one police department, Daltons, serve both communities? The communities already share dispatching services.

Tom Hutcheson, Daltons manager, will prepare a request for proposals, as the towns seek to hear not only what a consultant thinks, but how residents view this idea. Of the grant, $5,000 will be used to arrange community meetings.

To have someone really address issues that community residents might have. And try to introduce the concept and come up with concerns that [the consultant] can address in their plan, Hutcheson said.

The managers say the crux of the problem is that after undergoing higher levels of training, part-time officers might decide to seek full-time work  and perhaps not in their home departments.

If you want to be a part-time officer, you have to go through full training, said Graves. You then could go to Stockbridge and get a job that pays higher.

Facing the same problem, other western Massachusetts communities are exploring regional policing. Some are further along than Hinsdale and Dalton.

The Hampden County towns of Russell and Montgomery got $200,000 from the states Community Compact program last week to explore shared police services. In Franklin County, Leyden and Bernardston received $187,000 for the same reason. And the towns of Buckland and Shelburne bagged $200,000 to coordinate policing.

In March, the towns of Otis and Becket began sharing one police chief, Kristopher McDonough, while maintaining separate departments.

For Hinsdale, the question is particularly timely, because Police Chief Susan Rathbun is closing in on retirement, according to Graves. If the town were to merge its force with Daltons, now is a good time to consider that, officials say.

We do want this done in a timely manner, with the understanding that wed been moving forward with it, Hutcheson said.

Joe Diver, chair of Daltons Select Board, said Hinsdale approached Dalton and the towns hope to find savings by working together through a single department. He said Deanna Strout, Daltons chief, and Rathbun have been exploring the issue.

We all hope that the cost would be decreased together, he said.

The new laws training requirements have hit Hinsdale hard, since it maintains a small full-time force and relies heavily on part-time officers, Graves said. The manager says he is not against training officers to higher standards. Im a big believer in those kinds of things, he said.

But as the one who must shape Hinsdales budget, the costs are onerous locally, for whats in effect an unfunded mandate.

I dont have a nickel to spend that isnt appropriated, Graves said. Were not alone in this. I think every single town is feeling a pinch.

Calls to reform policing accelerated nationally after the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers in 2020.

The Massachusetts law requires that officers be certified every three years. A new independent state agency, the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, holds the power to establish policing standards, certify officers, investigate allegations of misconduct, and suspend or revoke the certification.

Last August, Baker swore in the commissions members, who include Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Wynn.
State Rep. Paul Mark, D-Peru, counts employee ownership as one of his top focuses, including in his work to restore funding for the Office of Employee Involvement and Ownership. Mark joined advocates at the Statehouse on Wednesday to bring attention to legislative goals.
I recently was watching Martyn Iles online. If youre not aware of who Martyn is, he is the current head of the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), a non-party partisan, non-denominational advocate for Christians and the faith.

Martyn was speaking and making the emphasis that we, Christians in a modern society, need to stand firm. This simple call  to stand firm  really resonates with me, and thus this article is borne.

Our Christian heritage

Australias background as a modern society has an undeniable Christian root. As a member of the western world, there is an understanding and concept of freedom of speech, faith and identity which our society upholds. Unlike the United States, our freedoms and rights are not strictly codified, but are largely agreed upon and defended regularly.

However, over the years our Christian heritage is slowly eroding. Think back to the debate and change in definition of marriage  previously and universally upheld to be one man to one woman to the exclusion of all others. The topic of same sex marriage has highlighted to us all that Australians are no longer the traditional values-based society once rooted in the Christian faith and indeed  God. Identifying as Christian is one thing, but it is now an individual responsibility to uphold and stand firm to the Bible and build our faith in God. Our Christian faith allows for tolerance insofar as we also know what truth is. Ah  truth

Truth and righteousness

In Proverbs chapter 14, verse 34, the Bible says Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. Righteousness and truth continue to be attacked. Biblical truth used to be the norm, unchallenged and upheld as our standard. But this is no longer the Australian reality. We have become a pluralistic society where truth is subjective  but Gods objective truth remains unchanged.

We think we can make rules to suit our fancy (marriage is for anyone, gender is how I feel) and change truth. But truth doesnt change. God doesnt change. The way God made us  our biology  doesnt change.

As believers and followers of Jesus, we know the Truth, but we also need to stand firm for what we believe in.

In Isaiah chapter 59, the prophet also records

Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede

The call to stand firm is part of the challenge for us to ensure there are people available and ready to intercede.

Governments should not legislate morality

One of the hardest concepts for me to get my head around over the years is how governments  previously God-abiding  are now trying to play the role of God. Governments seek to legislate morality. Australia (and her states) can make rules that define things like marriage and gender but the reality is the rest of the world doesnt, hasnt or never will align with that kind of thinking.

Nations guided by the Islamic faith are incredibly clear on how they exercise and apply their faith to their society  and things clearly permissible in Australia are clearly illegal with the penalty of death. Even in this opposite Islamic application and workings of law  I make my point again  governments should not be legislating on issues of morality, telling us how we can think or speak.

I also fully appreciate that the other faiths  like Islam  have a very different world view  and see faith sitting above government, and not separately the state from their religion. However, to remain on topic and focused for us as Christian believers, knowing truth is one thing. To stand firm and to intercede for the faith in the public forum is increasingly challenging  particularly in this climate of increasing hostility towards the Christian faith community.

God is with Us

When you stand firm, know that you do so with the help of God. Through the Holy Spirit, you can take comfort that you are not alone. As you wear the armour of God, pray into the various situations where we are called to stand up for God and his values. Bear the shield of faith and know that our faith is in a living and eternal God. Put on the helmet of salvation; have confidence that nothing can steal your salvation away from God. The belt of truth underpins the whole suit. Equipped with Gods breastplate of righteousness combined with the truth is indeed the Way and the Life.

When all is said and done, it is better to seek his divine approval rather than to try to please man. Stand firm brothers and sisters in Christ; the gates of hell cannot prevail against the army of God.
Traditional thangka paintings stand test of time

Xinhua) 09:40, March 31, 2022

XINING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Along the G316 highway in Tongren City in northwest China's Qinghai Province, dozens of thangka art academies dot a section of road several kilometers in length. Nearby villages boast painters of the thousand-year-old art.

"Everyone in my family except me is a thangka painter," said 33-year-old Kanzhoiji from Wutunxiazhuang Village in Tongren.

Thangka paintings are Tibetan Buddhist scroll paintings on cotton or silk with mineral and organic pigments derived from coral, agate, sapphire, pearl, gold, and other sources so that the color lasts for centuries. The paintings date back to the 10th century and typically depict Buddhist deities.

Tongren is famous for the local Regong thangka. It is part of the Regong arts that were inscribed on the UNESCO intangible heritage cultural list in 2009.

Fifteen years ago, less than 5,000 people were engaged in Regong thangka-related businesses, local statistics showed. Today, nearly 10,000 people in Tongren, or one-ninth of the city's population, work in various trades of Regong arts.

Thangka, once a form of religious painting, has now become a popular choice for home decoration and even collection.

"Some thangka paintings with traditional Chinese elements are very popular among our customers," said Gesang Gyaco, a local salesman, adding that one horse-themed piece has become a hit among customers in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

The artwork features a white horse head surrounded by orange clouds against a blue lake background and other Tibetan cultural motifs. It costs 1,900 yuan (about 298 U.S. dollars) and Gesang Gyaco sold 600 pieces last year.

Tongren has seen an increase in thangka sales and practitioners as a result of various local thangka art academies and industrial parks that have sprung up in recent years.

Lanka, founder of a Regong ethnic cultural center, said over the past five years, the center has cultivated over 800 students, whose artworks have been sold to many European countries.

"Thangka paintings are very popular in France. We have cooperated with an art center in Aulnay to exhibit and sell our products regularly," said Lanka, adding that one of the artworks was sold for more than 3 million yuan.

The high value of thangka paintings has attracted more local farmers and herders to join the trade, said Qiao Delin, director of a committee for preserving Regong arts in Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, which administers Tongren.

In the past three years, the prefecture has built 76 centers for teaching the thangka craft, Qiao added.

Zhu Maoji, 25, from Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in northwest China's Gansu Province, has been studying in a local center for over five years.

"It takes patience and determination to paint thangka," Zhu said, adding that she has been working on a painting with three of her fellow students for more than one year.

Radan Gyanco, a 26-year-old teacher at the center, started to learn the craft at the age of 11. Since 2013, he has taught over 100 students.

"I want more people to know about the art," Radan Gyanco said.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
ABOUT THE EVENT

Get your appetites ready! Coahoma Community College will be serving up something delicious as they host The Men of the Mississippi Delta are Cooking! The event, scheduled for Thursday, April 14, brings together local chefs & home cooks and their cooking teams to battle it out to please the taste buds of eager, hungry attendees. Participating chefs come from all sectors across the Mississippi Delta, from banking to clergy, lawyers to realtors, higher education to local media, and everything in between. Chefs' dishes, which are prepared off-site, will be judged by event attendees in the areas of taste, presentation, and creativity. The winning chefs will be awarded their share of $1,000 cash and other great prizes! The chef who wins first place will recieve $500, second place $300, and third place $200.



One ticket allows you to sample various dishes that our participating chefs prepare. The proceeds benefit the Coahoma Community College Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit geared toward assisting CCC students to achieve their academic and career dreams through financial support. Join us in Clarksdale, MS, on Thursday, April 14, 2022, from 5:00 pm  8:00 pm on the lawn of the historic Cutrer Mansion.



We feel strongly that this event will showcase the best of our community and provide needed scholarship dollars for our deserving students. We hope you will be here with us as we move to build a stronger and more sustainable Coahoma Community College. In conjunction with other CCC departments and initiatives, we will also work closely with other organizations to develop and promote educational programs, webinars, and resources aimed at supporting our campus community. Now more than ever, we value our collaborative partners as we help to strengthen our community.

Guest DJ - Stan Bell

Stan Bell is no stranger to the Mid-South area. He communicates on and off the air. He has become one of Memphis' most energetic and beloved radio personalities spanning his 30+ year career in the Bluff City.

He is employed with I-Heart Media-Memphis and can be heard "drive-time" from 3p.m. until 7p.m. on V-101.1. He also holds down a nightly radio show on sister-station, WHAL 95.7 Hallelujah FM.

In recent years, Stan received the prestigious Marconi Award for broadcast excellence--a nationally recognized honor among his peers.

Mr. Bell is an educator and has served as a classroom teacher with Memphis City and Shelby County Schools for more than 25 years. He is currently the Senior Communications Advisor in the Office of Communications with the District.

He is a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. He holds undergraduate and post-graduate degrees from UT-Martin and Union University, respectively.

Mr. Bell is a member of Cummings Street Baptist Church.

He is a family man with a loving wife, Carla. He is the father of three brilliant and handsome sons--Matthew, Myles, and Micah, also known as the "Baby-Bellringers".

CLICK HERE FOR COMPETITION GUIDELINES Participants must adhere to the following rules: Should arrive no later than 3:30 p.m.

Must check in with event staff.

Food is prepared off-site. No cooking will be allowed at/during the competition.

Chefs are responsible for maintaining the temperature of dish. (must bring your own heating and cooling materials) Chefs must prepare 60-80 samples

Are responsible for removal of the items brought to event

Must stay for the duration of event (winners must be present to win)

Must bring display cards with the name of dish and recipe

Must remain in your presentation area during the event

Must not prepare food on location Winners will be rated according to taste, presentation, and creativity. All event guests will serve as judges. Guests will be able to cast votes in real time.

COMPETE AS A CHEF Register your team for the competition

Show your skill in the kitchen and you could win BIG!

The Men of the Mississippi Delta are Cooking gives you a chance to show off your skills in a fun and constructive way. Compete with the best of the best in the MS Delta for the chance to win your share of $1,000 cash and a variety of prizes, as well as the title of the Men of the Mississippi Delta are Cooking Best Cook! Click here TO REGISTER FOR THE COMPETITION ATTEND AS A PATRON Be our guest and ENJOY! Enjoy great food in support of an even greater cause!

Join Coahoma Community College as we host the tastiest event with a purpose. Sample food from the Delta's best amateur and professional chefs as they show you why the Mississippi Delta is number #1. All proceeds support scholarships and service programs at Coahoma Community College. Click here TO PURCHASE TICKETS BECOME AN EVENT SPONSOR Join our noble quest.

Your support will positively impact the lives of our students. Help this event be a success! We are looking for strong partners to aid us in our mission. There are sponsorship opportunities for organizations of every size. We can help you meet your philanthropic goals, all while supporting deserving students. Click here TO LEARN MORE

OUR SPONSORS
BOISE - Idaho Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo have joined Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty to introduce the Stop Fentanyl Border Crossings Act. This bill will expand Title 42 authority to turn back migrants to combat prolific drug smuggling across the U.S.-Mexico border.

During the Fiscal Year 2021, more than 10,000 pounds of fentanyl were seized and over 1 million migrants expelled at the southern border, while Title 42 was in effect. Title 42, which the Biden Administration is preparing to end by May 23, 2022, currently only allows for the expulsion of migrants during the spread of communicable diseases.

President Biden refuses to address the flow of fentanyl across our southern border and into our communities, said Risch. This bill will protect Idaho from experiencing the dual impacts of the immigration crisis and drug use crisis, spurred by the Administrations open border policies.

The soaring increase in drug overdose deaths in the last year is a public health crisis, said Crapo. Mexico is a major source of the illicit flow of fentanyl into the United States, and more must be done to stop this deadly substance from entering the country. This bill will help address the public health crisis facilitated by drug smuggling and enable our enforcement authorities on the border to keep a tighter grip on the record-breaking flow of illegal border crossings.
NHSO joins forces with NT and Bitkub team to build Thailand's national health platform on blockchain

National Telecom (NT), Bitkub World Tech and the National Health Security Office (NHSO) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the collaboration for studying, testing and developing new technology features and data linkage for health services.

The NHSO will provide information, policies and regulations related to the platform development while NT will provide telecoms and tech systems, such as internet network services, 4G and 5G network, cloud computing, cybersecurity and data centres.

Bitkub World Tech, a joint venture between cryptocurrency exchange operator Bitkub Capital Group Holdings Co and Thongtang Group, will support the development of digital health ID and pilot health platform, capitalising on blockchain tech.

The system will also support a pool of data involving migrant workers from neighbouring countries.

Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the collaboration is meant to support equal access to healthcare services and pave the way for the development of e-consulting, e-prescription and telemedicine.

People would be facilitated through the use of the platform, including checking their right to receive medical treatment, insurance coverage, receiving compensation and appointments for treatment.
Indian biopharma industry HITS Rs 33K Cr WITH 13% GROWTH in 2020-21

Amidst the pandemic, the Indian Biopharma Industry, with over 300 companies, has witnessed a good growth of 13 percent, 2 percent less than the previous years 15 percent growth rate. This growth was largely driven by the performance of the Indian biopharma companies which have done very well as against multinational companies. As a result, the Indian Biopharma Industry has crossed the Rs 33,000 crore mark for the year 2020-21 over the previous years figure of Rs 29,176 crore. The Indian Biopharma industry, comprising hormones, insulin, blood products, and vaccines recorded a sales revenue of Rs 33,067 crore for the year 2020-21.
Addressing more than 90 per cent needs of small to medium-size laboratories through entry into these new segments.

Pune-based Mylab Discovery Solutions plans to launch an entire range of routine diagnostic kits and devices in conventional and POCT (point of care testing) format. It will include the devices and kits for three major sub-segments of the market - immunology, biochemistry and haematology. This will nearly complete the companys portfolio for diagnostics laboratories which until now included molecular (RT-PCR) test kits and devices and rapid/self-tests.

With this expansion in product lines, now the labs can use Mylabs devices and reagent kits to do all routine tests such as liver panels, cardiac profile, urine panels, hormone panels, fever panels, kidney function tests, cancer markers and much more.

For the research and development of these products, the company has earmarked Rs 100 crores and several devices and reagent kits are already in development at its Pune-based Innovation Centre for Medical Devices.

The company plans to start rolling out these products in the third quarter and roll out pan India through existing and new distributorships. The company is also building a team to reach rural and urban customers. The team will be trained at the state-of-the-art training centre of the company.

Mylab aims to place its products in 1000 labs within the first six months from the time of launch and acquire a market share of 10 pr cent by the end of 2024 with its reach to more than 20000 labs.

The company expects a total of 10 different devices and 120 test parameters to be rolled out in the next financial year under this business segment. The company will use its manufacturing facility at Lonavla and the upcoming facility at AMTZ, Vizag for the production of these devices and kits.
According to George Fitzroy, MD for security at Servest, the violent crime that still plagues many South African businesses and homes, despite the proliferation of security companies, is mainly due to the mismatch between the product offering of the security company and the needs and requirements of their customers.

No single end-to-end solution

Non-compliant security companies

Installing multiple layers of physical security

The recently released quarterly crime statistics for the period October to December 2021 showed a total of 5,138 incidents of robberies at non-residential premises, with 27,155 cases of commercial crime being reported  a disturbingly 15.9% surge. Robberies at residential premises dropped by a marginal 0.4% to 5,760 cases.The ever-rising crime levels have spurred the exponential growth of the security industry over recent years. Data published in 2021 shows that the private security sector has more than 11,370 registered businesses, far outnumbering the official police service workforce.However, warns Fitzroy, due to minimum barriers to entry, the industry has been flooded with service providers that are indistinguishable from one another.While South Africas security proofing market currently offers some of the best solutions for businesses, there is no single end-to-end solution. The security industry in South Africa is characterised by multiple service providers, providing different solutions, however one of the biggest challenges is that many of them do not provide end-to-end turnkey solutions that enable customers to make an informed assessment of the quality of their service. Furthermore, some of the industry players have not kept up with the latest technologies and trends in security.Most security companies still use obsolete equipment that has been overtaken by the latest developments  the hardware is outdated, and systems do not connect to each other, says Fitzroy.To aggravate matters, non-compliant security companies are disrupting the market with poor risk solutions while the regulatory authorities are not too keen to enforce compliance, he adds.He points out that the security industry globally has digitised at a rapid pace over the last five years to keep up with increasingly savvy criminals who are using the latest gadgets and solutions.The latest trends in security include offsite monitoring, the increasing use of drones for surveillance and reconnaissance, a lower number of more highly-skilled guards who are complemented by these smart solutions and a specialised tactical response team.The use of guards, while important, needs to be supplemented with the right defences and suitable technology. Not having the proper security layers in place, for example a compromised perimeter fence or malfunctioning alarm system, is going to make the job of a guard more cumbersome than it should be, Fitzroy says.He advises businesses and individuals to invest in and prioritise their safety and not skimp on it. If you think an investment in security is too high, think of the untold costs of not investing in adequate security to your employees and to your families  its too high a price to pay, he adds.Although technology is playing an increasingly important role in security, Fitzroy says this does not negate the importance of creating multiple layers of physical security which would be difficult to breach. This includes a fully-functioning alarm system, CCTV cameras, solid perimeter fencing, remote monitoring and armed response.We urge customers, be they homeowners or businesses, to ensure that the level of technology used by their security service provider is up to standard and relative to their needs and requirements.He notes that unsuspecting consumers are not aware of the difference in quality of security companies, so they are inclined to opt for more affordable services, which usually compromise their business in the long run. It is important for business owners to do their due diligence on the security companies they employ as many are not compliant with the industrys regulations.Businesses should be looking for good quality, professional services and make quick decisions that benefit themselves and their businesses before it is too late. It is crucial that business owners make use of quality suppliers who actually care about their reputation and their clients, those investing in the right tools and technologies to enable a quicker turnaround in anticipation of potential crimes as well as a fast response to criminal activities, Fitzroy concludes.
Comic Con Africa has announced another exciting addition to the event this year: StreamerCon - the place to celebrate and experience all of the online magic and wonder in real life.

Geared towards celebrating digital creators, platform innovators and their fans all in one place, StreamerCon aims to bring together everything that is a part of creating, watching and promoting video content. More than that, StreamerCon will be the hub for creators to expand their reach, collaborations to spark, and for aspiring content creators to be guided by industry veterans.Comic Con Africas show director, Carla Massmann, said, Weve seen the growth and talent of South African streamers  and want to offer these very talented individuals an opportunity to be celebrated. The influencer today is very different to what it was. Content creators today are the micro-influencers who drive exceptional engagement through niche communities.StreamerCon aims to create awareness around the world-class local content creators irrelevant of their platform  be it Twitch, YouTube, TikTok, or anything else.In 2021, Comic Con Africa launched Streamer Takeovers which allowed members of the South African streaming community to showcase themselves on Comic Con Africas Twitch channel. After engaging with this community, that displays great passion and comradery, Comic Con Africa has set out to highlight content creators  established and upcoming  across the continent.StreamerCon is also excited to welcome streaming software companies, tech brands, high-performance software and systems, peripherals, and components, streaming equipment, streaming and recording software, video editing and design software, vlogging kits and more.Comic Con is taking place from 22-25 September at The Johannesburg Expo Centre. Tickets can be purchased here
While most South African electric vehicle (EV) owners will likely adopt an overnight top-up solution via home-installed charging boxes as a means of accommodating a weekly commute or school run, it stands to reason some adventure-focused customers will be keen to cover longer distances in their battery-electric cars. To this end, local companies like GridCars have already installed a relatively broad network of charging solutions along all three major routes in South Africa, the N1, N2 and N3. But, what to do whilst your vehicle is charging at one of these spots?

US-based coffee franchise Starbucks has partnered with Volvo Cars and charging infrastructure specialists Chargepoint to trial the viability of offering a network of charging stations positioned in the parking areas of its outlying US stores. The thinking, says chief sustainability officer for Starbucks, Michael Kobori, is that a customer is likely to plan a long-distance journey around stops for both a comfort break and, indeed, coffee. So the brand may as well include the option to charge your EV while youre there.This is pairing the idea of electric vehicle charging with the fact that, hey, if youre on a trip, youre gonna stop along the way to get your Starbucks, to get your beverage, to get your breakfast etc. says Kobori. And if youre sitting there, getting ready for your day and planning out your route and checking out, your car may as well be charging.With a forecast of 26 million EVs set to be negotiating US roads by 2030, Starbucks is looking to take advantage of its some 15,000 locations across all 50 states to offer an additional vital service to its customers.The initial trial is set to be conducted on a 1350-mile (2,170km) route between Denver in Colorado and Seattle in the state of Washington. Around 15 new charging stations will be installed along this route, one or two at each Starbucks stop along the way. Rated at up to 60 kW DC, each station will have the potential to charge a modern EV from 20% to 90% in around 40-minutes; enough time to have a coffee and rest up before the next leg of the trip. With the operating range of each new generation EV getting more generous, most owners would look to stop around four times on a trip of this distance.It's a partnership Volvo sees as mutually beneficial as it pursues a target of 100% EV sales by 2030, the US being a crucial market for this Swedish brand.With an existing extensive network of petrol service stations positioned along all of South Africas main travel routes, would this kind of thinking from established convenience-focused brands the likes of Steers, Wimpy or Vida e Caffe prove viable?
With the assistance of team members specialising in a multitude of practice areas, an analysis of the sustainability / environmental, social and governance (ESG) related reports of nine large players in the South African mining industry was undertaken to track key ESG trends and, more importantly, to determine "what's missing", when looking at South African mining companies' current approach to ESG.

Nomsa Mbere, partner, and Sebastian Steenkamp, associate at Webber Wentzel

Environment

Society

Governance

Of the common themes and key trends identified, potentially the most important theme that surfaced was the inter-related nature of each of the environmental, social and governance elements that together form the ESG landscape, and the pressing need for companies to adopt an integrated and holistic approach to operating in an ESG-targeted manner.The most prominent environmental issue highlighted in the reports was climate change, and the various operationally disruptive permutations that may emanate from this overarching issue.When looking at climate change, a key strategy that some (but not all) companies have adopted is an active buy-in to the circular economy. In short, this is a model of production and consumption that involves re-using, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products for as long as possible. There are obviously trade-offs when looking at a system like this (for example efficiency and safety), but this, in our view, is a concept that warrants further exploration by players in the industry.Most companies have also identified the need to move towards a diverse energy mix, coupled with a strategy to use more renewable sources of energy. However, what seems lacking currently is a coordinated approach towards engagement with government on the framework that regulates self-generation. This is becoming even more important, given that we are already seeing certain interpretative and practical issues from a regulatory perspective.Lastly, we identified a real opportunity for mining companies to increase their collaboration with regulators, communities and conservation organisations, particularly on mine closure strategies.Although the mining industry still presents a potentially dangerous working environment for many employees, in recent years there has been a greater move towards automation (as a key driver of safety and efficiency) and, post-Covid-19, socially distanced remote working.From a community perspective, a very unfortunate reality that many mining communities still face is a lack of access to proper education and employment opportunities, coupled with poor health and support facilities and infrastructure.If not managed adequately or properly acted on, these issues can lead to serious dissatisfaction among communities and employees, potentially leading to social unrest.We found that many companies have a holistic and comprehensive approach towards the health and wellness of their employees but lack the same approach for community members. Clearly, there are certain practical considerations (like resources, the Covid pandemic and interest groups, etc.) but there is a key ESG opportunity for companies to focus on rolling out holistic and pro-active health and wellness programmes to community members (aimed at mental, physical, and financial health).Mine closure has become increasingly complex. Environmental, social, and economic impacts and the interrelationships between the three have resulted in mine closure moving from a mere technical process to one which is iterative and requires planning, consultation and thinking throughout the process to ensure that all stakeholders are ready for the closure and its aftermath. Internationally, there is a growing body of literature on the social aspects of mine closure and similar strides are being made in South Africa, where a draft Mine Closure Strategy was published for comment in 2021.If well managed, the ESG focus of mining operations, coupled with technological advances and social investments, can play an important role in creating lasting benefits for mine host communities and the broader population. These benefits will endure beyond mine closure and will influence a companys future financial performance and its overall social licence to operate. Against this background, our analysis showed that ESG initiatives are not being sufficiently integrated into the corporate strategy, particularly social closure plans.The EU recently published a Proposal for the Directive on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, a step towards making sustainability a legislated feature in the global economy. The directive introduces directors' duties to oversee the implementation of the corporate sustainability due diligence and integrate it into the corporate strategy. There is also increasing pressure from investors and regulators for companies to disclose ESG performance and set targets. In this regard, improvements in gathering useful ESG data to assist in the disclosure and the decision-making process for investors is increasingly becoming critical. Standardised reporting of a company's ESG impacts and its sustainability measures will progressively be an important feature in companies' integrated reports.Our analysis showed that there was an absence of measurable ESG goals. The, as well as other global disclosure standards, will help to strengthen reporting in these areas. However, this guidance should be coupled with investments in new technology and the relevant software to process the collected ESG data so that a company has the relevant information to report to its governance structures, shareholders, and potential investors. Adequate information will enable stakeholders to quantify the ESG impact of their investment and evaluate the company accordingly, giving the company a competitive advantage over its competitors.
Vaal Cannabis Consortium co-ordinator, MK Malefane confirmed that he and the Gauteng Premier, David Makhura - together with relevant ministers of parliament - will soon be meeting with SA President, Cyril Ramaphosa for a high-level round-table meeting regarding the drafting of a new Cannabis National Masterplan.

Source: iStock.

Objectives of the new Cannabis National Masterplan

Increasing the volumes and variety of cannabis products destined for both local and export markets;

Establishing and increasing the capacity of South African farmers to produce dagga and hemp;

Creating opportunities for the creation of small-and medium-sized enterprises across the cannabis value chain;

Establishing and increasing the manufacturing capacity of the South African cannabis industry and designating cannabis and hemp products with the designated local content legislative framework.

The Vaal Cannabis Capital

The Vaal River Smart City

A new logistics sector;

A hub of the cannabis industry;

A hub for the hydrogen economy in the Gauteng region.

Training and education in the cannabis sector

This follows the Constitutional Court Ruling in September 2018, which declared legislation criminalising the use, possession, purchase and cultivation of cannabis unconstitutional.Malefane was speaking at the Cannabis Expo at GrandWest Casino in Cape Town, where he was in a panel discussion clarifying government's investment into cannabis.Malefane said relevant industry stakeholders were not happy with the current draft of the Cannabis National Masterplan, and that a clear way forward was needed on the role cannabis would play in South Africa and how it would be regulated.Consensus, he said, needed to be achieved with The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) on the regulation of cannabis. SAHPRA is tasked with regulating (monitoring, evaluating, investigating, inspecting and registering) all health products and clinical trials in South Africa.Key objectives of the Cannabis National Master Plan include, among others:Negotiations regarding the Cannabis National Master Plan will unpack how agricultural land is to be earmarked and prepared for cannabis cultivation and, within this framework, clarify the public-safety benchmarks of growing cannabis as a medicine as opposed to growing it for the purposes of industrialised hemp in South Africa.Within this context, the Drug and Drug Control Act will be taken into account as will the legislation for industrial hemp which falls under the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (and whose role it is to issue and monitor permits for the production of hemp in South Africa), and the Private Use Act.There is currently no legislation for adult use of cannabis.Consensus is needed from all stakeholders, Malefane said."The Cannabis Masterplan will unlock the full potential of the regulatory framework which is conducive to unlocking the full potential of the cannabis industry. SAHPRA will be brought into the equation to make sure they do what is required.""To this end, The Vaal Cannabis Capital is set to launch in three months," Malefane added."The future of the Gauteng Economic corridor is the Vaal and we are spearheading the Vaal Cannabis Capital with an initial funding commitment of R3bn."We are focusing great attention on the large-scale cultivation of 100ha of land as well as on processing, construction and manufacturing facilities so that [cannabis] growers throughout the country - even across the border in African countries - can have a place where their quality product can have a buyer and a market, both locally and in exports."In the process we will have launched a cannabis health and wellness resort, the first and best of its kind in the world. We're laying the groundwork and have acquired existing lodges to incorporate into a single resort destination with cannabis and health and wellness in the offering."Already we've raised R45bn in investment commitment to the Vaal and our target in the next three month is to reach a R100bn investment commitment with cannabis as the anchor."Malefane said the Vaal Cannabis Capital is an anchor project to the soon to be Vaal River Smart City, a multi-billion investment in the Vaal triangle earmarked as Gauteng's Special Economic Zone (SEZ).SA President, Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his 2019 and 2020 SONAs that South Africa will be looking to develop the formation of a number of smart-city developments for the country.In 2019 at the second SA Investment Conference, in an interview Malefane said : "A smart city is to imagine a Dubai and a Singapore combined in terms of Fourth Industrial Revolution, new technology, but most importantly sustainability." smart city therefore is a municipality that uses information and communication technologies (ICT) to increase operational efficiency, share information with the public and improve both the quality of government services and citizen welfare.Broadly speaking , a smart city is a technologically modern urban area that uses different types of electronic methods, voice-activation methods and sensors to collect specific data.This includes data collected from citizens, devices, buildings and assets that is processed and analysed to monitor and manage traffic and transportation systems, power plants, utilities, water supply networks, waste, crime detection, information systems, schools, libraries, hospitals, and other community services.At the time Malefane said the Vaal River Smart City would include major research and development campuses for pharmaceutical, medicinal and health products and hospitals.In October 2021, in a report Gauteng Premier David Makhura noted that the Vaal River Smart City would focus on emerging technologies, including:The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition and Gauteng provincial government, in collaboration with Sedibeng District Municipality, have already established the Vaal River SEZ Company and the programme management unit, in line with applicable legislation, to help co-ordinate and fast-track all the planning and rollout of specific shovel-ready projects that will catalyse the entire smart city and SEZ, Makhura said.The launch of The Vaal River Smart City will potentially see South Africa aim to align itself over time with some of the world's most efficient smart cities in the world. Topping most lists when it comes to smart cities is often Singapore. Since launching its Smart Nation initiative in 2014, Singapore has introduced a wide range of smart technologies in both its public and private sectors.Laying the foundation for this, Malefane lauded PSL Training, which has its campus in Gauteng, as being the only accredited academy offering training in growing medicinal cannabis. PSL Training alongside its industry partners (Dicla training farms, Boabab Training Group and ODB NPC), officially launched the NQF Level 4 course on Medicinal Cannabis Plant Production.This is an AgriSETA accredited skills programme that awards successful students with a nationally recognised certificate of competency."We're also finalising the design and launch of the Vaal Cannabis Agency, which will focus on research and development, training and education, and on the empowerment of emergent [cannabis] growers and SMMEs in the cannabis and hemp sector."To this end, Malefane said the Democratic Republic of the Congo has asked for mentorship so they can participate. He said the country has set aside 250 000ha of land for this sector."We're going to train and bring the best of African brains to South Africa," Malefane said. "This is to ensure that people of African descent globally finally have a leading city that is sustainable, very profitable; commercial."This is not just for South Africa's benefit, but for the benefit of Africa and people of African descent."
Employment and Labour Deputy Minister, Boitumelo Moloi, has encouraged employers to use the department's Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA) system to recruit workers and maintain stability in the labour market.

Image source: Getty Images

Moloi said the ESSA system is credible and user-friendly in allowing employers to recruit.The Deputy Minister was speaking during the Department of Employment and Labours breakfast advocacy session with stakeholders in the Western Cape this week.The session was held as part of efforts to promote compliance with the Employment Equity (EE) Act."Employers could further be assisted, as the department also offers counselling to job seekers. We need employers to be friends with us, she said.ESSA is an online recruitment service of the Department of Employment and Labour, available to all South African citizens.Those who are unemployed and in the job market have to register as a job seeker on the Public Employment Services (PES) branch system.The online portal is created for prospective job applicants to register and create their profiles (CV/resume), view vacancies, and review their CV.Turning to workplace transformation, Moloi said South Africas workplaces are in need of an overhaul.She emphasised that EE legislation is in place not to punish but to ensure compliance."EE self-regulation has not delivered results. That is why we are coming up with EE Act amendments. If we continue with the status quo, it will take us a century to transform workplaces. Workplace transformation is moving at a slow pace and we need to do something," she said.
The initiative from TBWA\New Zealand asks brands, advertisers, and users to flood feeds with authentic images and combat dependence on unethically altered images.

Global initiative Bodyright, from TBWA\New Zealand, is continuing its fight against unethical retouching and misrepresentation of the human body with March Unfiltered. The new campaign, which consists of a week of active support between 28 March and 3 April, encourages brands, influencers, and advertisers of all types to flood their feeds only with authentic images that remain unfiltered and unretouched.The increasingly widespread use of filters has already been shown to exacerbate issues with mental health, body image, and self-esteem. Girls and boys alike report feeling worse about themselves after scrolling through Instagram, comparing themselves to the swathes of airbrushed and unrealistic bodies before them. Evidence from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery even reports that some users are undergoing cosmetic procedures in an attempt to look more like their online selves. In such a climate, its more important than ever to ground people back in reality. Whilst many governments have discussed legislation, Bodyright launched last year and took the opportunity to lead this movement, encouraging people and brands to take a stand.The movement is centred around , a unicode symbol free for anyone anywhere to use on their images or social profile. Just as the copyright  communicates proof of ownership, the Bodyright  will communicate proof of unretouched authenticity, reminding viewers of what bodies really look like - sharing realistic weights, scars, skin tones, pores, acne, and body hair. These images will not only celebrate authentic, unedited bodies, but raise awareness for the issues surrounding deceptive filers and unethical retouching apps. Rather than focus on the artistic or visual, the  will verify that what you see is a true representation of a human body.To boost engagement with the cause, Bodyright will push for a surge of unretouched images across brand, media, and social channels during the week of March Unfiltered, using the Bodyright  to highlight their authenticity. Flooding feeds with unretouched and unapologetic imagery, the campaign will seek to restore the balance in the media, normalising whats really normal and celebrating people as they are. Several brands have already voiced their support for the initiative, including Trilogy Skincare, 2degrees, and The Warehouse.Seeing as the practice of retouching began in advertising, Bodyright is putting particular focus on this industry to get involved and combat the problem it created.Sara Chatwin, psychologist, comments: Unethical retouching and image manipulation is everywhere. The more people buy in to this kind of thing, the more they like it, get used to it, and seemingly cant live without it. Social media has also become a very pervasive form of social judgement  understanding that and understanding the damage that negative social judgement can do to all groups of society may be the difference between people feeling great about themselves when they view images, or people feeling suicidal.She adds: Parents and educators need to raise their level of awareness of this material and put checks and balances in place so that children are able to differentiate between fantasy and reality. Advertisers and influencers must also be accountable for the images they present and the damage that false and manipulated imagery can cause their viewers. Thinking through how images will resonate with others helps and trying to be honest and authentic rather than glitzy and judgemental would be a meaningful change.Catherine Harris, CEO at TBWA\NZ, says: Advertising agencies have been retouching images for years and social media has taken this to the next level in a way that negatively impacts peoples self-image, sense of self-worth and self-esteem. People are creating images even of themselves that portray something that isnt real or achievable. Thats not real life and we shouldnt expect people to hold a mirror up, and feel disappointed when they dont see perfection.She adds: March Unfiltered is about letting everyone know no body is wrong, and that we all deserve to be comfortable and happy in our own skin - thats the point of the Bodyright movement.Shane Bradnick, Group CCO at TBWA\NZ, comments: The damage that unethically retouched and manipulated images are causing is real. Governments are starting to make laws requiring influencers and brands to label retouched photos, but these warning labels are just a way to excuse the action  the damage is still being done. Instead of labelling whats fake, Bodyright looks to celebrate whats real, and empowers people to own authentic unfiltered images of themselves.He adds: Since launching Bodyright, the support weve gotten from photographers, videographers, influencers, client and media partners has been incredible, we cannot thank everyone helping to grow the Bodyright movement enough.
credit: National Counterterrosim Center

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) wants Americans to believe since 2011, when the word "extremists" was just starting to take root in the public's consciousness, there has been an explosion of violent extremism.

In 2011, DHS published the "Empowering Local Partners To Prevent Violent Extremism In The United States" report while at the same time calls for ending America's never-ending war on terror started taking hold.

The DHS report made dubious claims like al-Qaida was trying to recruit Americans and radicalize terrorism across the country, which coincidentally was also the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The report mentions extremists and violent extremists interchangeably during a time when Americans were beginning to question the war on terror.

Fast forward eleven years, to 2022 and the war on terror shows no signs of abating.

DHS, who could be mistaken for magicians if it were not so ironic, have convinced law enforcement that America now has at least twenty-three different types of extremists.

There does not appear to be a master list of American extremists published by DHS or the Department of Justice.

I used four sources to compile this list of twenty-two different types of violent extremists, but I fear that the government's "official list" is far larger.

Antigovernment violent extremist Anti-war extremist Antiauthority violent extremist Anarchist violent extremist Domestic violent extremist Racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist Militia violent extremists Sovereign citizen violent extremist Individual violent extremist Involuntary celibateviolent extremist Abortion extremist Anti-abortion extremist Animal rights extremist Environmental extremist Right-wing extremist Left-wing extremist Christian Identity extremist Islamist extremist Muslim extremist Racist extremist Nativist extremist Schoolboard extremist

Two weeks ago, the Tallahassee Democrat revealed that a Hot Yoga shooting in 2018 was the result of "Misogynist extremism."
The push to get Canadas controversial Bill C-11  otherwise known as Internet Censorship Bill  is entering its final stages, as MPs in the countrys parliament will now debate it.

Those opposed to the bill are calling on Canadians to contact their MPs and ask them to vote against this legislation, which, if passed, is likely to make radical changes to the way Canadians are allowed to express themselves online, and what content they will be permitted to access.

Like any other declaratively liberal democracy that finds itself dangerously close to undermining the very foundations of its own system, Canadas government is assuring citizens that their freedoms will not be curtailed in any way.

However, while the politicians lips say one thing, the draft law itself and its wording speak another story, critics are warning. The bill wants to force social and other online platforms to artificially prioritize certain categories of content, such as those promoting diverse ethno-cultural backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, abilities and disabilities, sexual orientations, gender identities, etc.

The bill is the brainchild of Canadas Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, who back in 2020 served as Minister of Canadian Heritage, when he said that once the bill becomes law, a new regulator will be appointed to make sure it is implemented, and hate speech monitored.

The main criticism the bill has faced from a flurry of free speech advocates of various ideological and political persuasions is that the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications (CRCT), a broadcasting and telecommunications regulatory agency, will now serve as a government tool to regulate the internet as well, and fairly explicitly, ending the era of the open internet in Canada (although that crucial quality has been steadily eroding across the globe for years.)
Germany triggered an emergency plan to manage gas supplies on Wednesday under which Europe's largest economy could ration power if a standoff over a Russian demand to pay for fuel with roubles disrupts or halts supplies.

Moscow's insistence on rouble payments for the Russian gas that meets a third of Europe's annual energy needs has galvanised others in Europe: Greece called an emergency meeting of suppliers, the Dutch government said it would urge consumers to use less gas and the French energy regulator told consumers not to panic. read more

The demand for roubles, which has been rejected by Group of Seven nations, is in retaliation for crippling Western sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. read more

Moscow, which says it is conducting a "special military operation" there, calls Western measures an "economic war."

Russia's most senior lawmaker said on Wednesday Russia could demand rouble payments also for other commodities including oil, grain, fertilisers, coal and metals, raising the risk of recession in Europe and the United States.
The Solomon Islands have come under harsh criticism from Australia over the Pacific island nations plans to sign a security pact with China.

According to a leaked draft of the agreement, which hasnt been finalized, the Solomon Islands could "request China to send police, armed police, military personnel and other law enforcement and armed forces." China would also be able to "make ship visits, to carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands."

AFP/Getty Images

The leak fueled speculation in Australia and New Zealand that China is seeking to establish a military base in the Solomon Islands, which is about 1,200 miles north of Australias coast. Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the potential deal has caused "great concern" across the Pacific.

On Tuesday, Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare spoke out against the backlash. "We find it very insulting to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs," he said. "Our security approach is not done in a vacuum and not without due consideration to all our partners."

Sogavare also rejected the idea that the Solomon Islands was pressured by China to make the deal. "The Security Treaty is at the request of the Solomon Islands, and we have not been pressured  in any way by our new friends," he said.

The Solomon Islands has grown closer to China in recent years. In 2019, the Pacific island nation severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan and established formal relations with Beijing.

The potential deal comes after Australia has taken steps to boost military cooperation with the US and its allies in the Asia Pacific to counter China. Last year, Australia, the US, and Britain signed the AUKUS military pact that will give Canberra access to technology to build nuclear-powered submarines, which could be used to patrol waters near China.

Map: VOA News

Earlier this year, Australia and Japan inked a military pact that will allow each nations military to deploy to the others territory for drills. Australia and Japan  as well as the US and India  are members of the Quad, an informal military grouping that some hawks in Washington view as a potential foundation for an Asian NATO-style alliance.
Actually, as Winston well knew, it was only four years since Oceania had been at war with Eastasia and in alliance with Eurasia. But that was merely a piece of furtive knowledge which he happened to possess because his memory was not satisfactorily under control. Officially the change of partners had never happened. Oceania was at war with Eurasia: therefore Oceania had always been at war with Eurasia. The enemy of the moment always represented absolute evil, and it followed that any past or future agreement with him was impossible. -George Orwell, 1984

The smoothness with which the corporate media redirects its viewers base emotional response  emanating from the deepest reptilian caverns of the medulla oblongata, the lizard brain  is uncanny, other-worldly, jaw-dropping.

No combination of adjectives could do justice to this most marvelous of propaganda coups over the human psyche.

Almost overnight, sometime in February 2022, the corporate lefts Public Enemy #1 morphed from the much-maligned anti-vaxxer murdering their grandmother by COVID breath into a Russian:

The vaccinated also say, almost unanimously (88%), that Russia is guilty of war crimes in Ukraine, while only 32% of unvaxxed respondents agree, and 42% say they dont believe it is happening at all.

Via Ekos Politics:

This is not an organic phenomenon. There is no natural correlation between COVID-related public opinion and Ukraine-Russia war public opinion.

Rather, this is the intentional result of incessant propaganda.

Check out all the usual corporate media suspects  Buzzfeed, CNN, Huffington Post, New York Times, et al.  and youll notice that their headlines switched overnight, in perfect synchronicity, from COVID propaganda to Ukraine propaganda.

Anthony Fauci  a semi-permanent fixture on cable news  all but disappeared in the blink of an eye.

In the lefts NPC minds, anti-vaxxers and racist MAGA goons and Vladimir Putin and bigoted transphobes who wont celebrate a 63 man packing visible genitals crushing women competitors as a hero on par with Jackie Robinson are all one interchangeable entity.

Thus the social engineers achieve the intentional interweaving of various far-right identities into a single consolidated, hated enemy of the left.

The One Great Unified Far Right Enemy simply wears different faces, in their conception, and so adherents to leftist doctrine can easily be shepherded into a frenzy against whatever face is most convenient to push the current corporate-state agenda at any given time.

When the facet of the social control agenda is vaxxing the entire population down to newborn babies (carried out in the name of public health), the enemys face is the anti-vaxxer.

When the facet of the social control agenda is cracking down on domestic political dissent (in the name of voting rights), the enemys face is a Jan 6 th MAGA goon.

MAGA goon. When the agenda is instigating World War III (in the name of defending democracy), the enemys face is a Russian sympathizer domestic terrorist.

Its the modern Two Minutes Hate:

Within thirty seconds any pretense was always unnecessary. A hideous ecstasy of fear and vindictiveness, a desire to kill, to torture, to smash faces in with a sledge hammer, seemed to flow through the whole group of people like an electric current, turning one even against ones will into a grimacing, screaming lunatic The programmes of the Two Minutes Hate varied from day to day, but there was none in which Goldstein was not the principal figure. He was the primal traitor, the earliest defiler of the Partys purity.  -George Orwell, 1984

The memes almost paint themselves.

The Only Time Establishment GOP and DNC Leadership Come Together Is to Serve Their Corporate State Overlords

The first major rule of thumb when analyzing domestic US politics: when both major parties (which are in practice a single captured uniparty serving multinational corporate interests) operate in lockstep, whatever agenda unites them is bad for you.

Cooperation between the two wings of the corporate uniparty always means:

More power for central bankers, greater centralized financial control

More restrictions on civil liberties

More military funding to be funneled to weapons contractors

More excuses for a failing economic and political system and reductions in the availability of consumer goods (to distract from the true cause; corporate-state pillaging)

The Fake Moral Outrage Is 100% Theater

Just like the COVID social posturing had nothing to do with science (or, as Fauci frames it, The Science), none of the moral preening over Ukraine/Russia has anything to do with humanitarianism.

None of these leftist morons, as Ive pointed out before, knew Ukrainian flag colors two months ago. They still dont know what those colors symbolize. The overwhelming preponderance of them couldnt find Ukraine on a map even now.

Do they have even a basic grasp on millennia-long Ukrainian history? Yeah right.

They cant even draw goofy depictions of the flag for self-congratulatory Instagram selfies right.

Via New York Post:

Most importantly in this human tragedy, Ukraine and Ukrainians will be left to rebuild their destroyed country once the leftist moral preeners have been herded into the next culture war virtue signal.

Every single one of these people all of the sudden pretending to have a deep abiding interest in Ukrainian national sovereignty  the teachers union president Randi Weingarten picture above and chickenhawk nancy Lindsey Graham  should be shipped directly to the front lines to fight the war they cheerlead.

Off you go to the frontlines to defend Ukrainian democracy with an AK-47 and a prayer, American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten

Check out this worthy ultimate montage of shameless social media virtue signaling, as the influencer vultures feast on the suffering of average Ukrainians:

A Note On Left-Right Dichotomy and Related Terminology

A major failure, which I take personal responsibility for, has been negligent framing. I havent properly reframed the narrative away from left vs right to establishment vs. average people.

The NPC leftist public Borg-like consciousness is carefully engineered; the so-called right wing (interchangeably called white supremacist, domestic terrorist, etc.) consciousness is merely the organic backlash against the obvious corporate state agenda.

There is, by and large, no right or left left in America  or if there is, those battle lines are rapidly disintegrating and reordering.

And, if there is a genuine and significant left-right dichotomy still at play, its certainly an entirely different ideological animal than the 1990s liberal vs conservative, elephant vs jackass, Hannity and Colmes-style breakdown.

The only reason to continue to use the right-left terminology is for the sake of convenient shorthand.

What we have in 2022 are humans with human interests, and, on the other side in opposition to us  them  whoever or whatever they are.

On one side, the human one, we have a barely-treading-water, forever-imperfect vision of a pro-human, Western future with a respect for civil liberties.

On the other side, we have WEF-directed dystopian corporate collectivism that achieved remarkable gains in the COVID era, and is now leveraging that success for further gains through a variety of mechanisms, including shutting down food supplies by way of war with Russia and all the sanctions that come with it.

Those are the new battle lines.

Ben Bartee is a Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs. Follow his stuff via Armageddon Prose, Substack, Patreon, Gab, and Twitter. Please support his independent operations however you can.

Bitcoin public address: 14gU3aHBXkNq8bDqmibfnubV7kSJqfx5LX
BEIJING (AP)  Residents of eastern Shanghai hoping to emerge from a four-day lockdown got some bad news Thursday night: Some will be confined to their homes for at least 10 more days.

A resident wearing a mask walks past shadows of a tree in a park on Thursday, March 31, 2022, in Beijing. China's case numbers in its latest infection surge are low compared with other major countries. But the ruling Communist Party is enforcing a "zero tolerance" strategy aimed at isolating every infected person. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

BEIJING (AP)  Residents of eastern Shanghai hoping to emerge from a four-day lockdown got some bad news Thursday night: Some will be confined to their homes for at least 10 more days.

It was the latest wrinkle in the lockdown of China's largest city as it struggles to eliminate an omicron-driven coronavirus outbreak under China's zero-COVID policy. Shanghai's 26 million residents were initially told the eastern part of the city would be locked down for mass testing over four days, followed by a similar exercise in the west.

The city announced new restrictions nine hours before the lockdown of the east was scheduled to end at 5 a.m. Friday. It was unclear how many people would have to stay in their homes beyond that. Meanwhile, the four-day lockdown of the western part of Shanghai was set to start at 3 a.m.

There was a bit of good news elsewhere in China in the country's largest COVID-19 outbreak since the initial one in early 2020 that devastated the city of Wuhan and other parts of Hubei province. Authorities announced the lifting of a citywide lockdown in the province that has been hardest hit.

A resident wearing a mask walks past shadows of a tree in a park on Thursday, March 31, 2022, in Beijing. China's case numbers in its latest infection surge are low compared with other major countries. But the ruling Communist Party is enforcing a "zero tolerance" strategy aimed at isolating every infected person. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Residents of Jilin will be able to move about freely starting Friday for the first time in more than three weeks, state broadcaster CCTV said, citing a city notice. They will be required to wear masks and, when indoors, stay 1 meter (3 feet) apart. Public gatherings in parks and squares are prohibited.

The spread of COVID-19 has been brought under control in Jilin but not in the rest of Jilin province, officials said at a news conference. Some progress has been made in Changchun, the provincial capital and an auto manufacturing hub that has been locked down since March 11.

By far, most of the cases in the ongoing outbreak have been in Jilin province, which borders North Korea in China's industrial northeast. Smaller outbreaks have popped up across the country, including Shanghai, the country's financial capital.

Ma Chunlei, a senior Shanghai official, acknowledged shortcomings in the city's response. Authorities have rushed to bolster food deliveries to the city after panic buying stripped store shelves of necessities.

We didnt prepare sufficiently enough, Ma said. "We sincerely accept the criticisms from the public and are making efforts to improve it.

He spoke before the new rules for Pudong, the half of Shanghai on the east side of the Huangpu River, were announced Thursday night. People living in a building where a positive case had been found will be required to stay home for 10 more days. Residents of other buildings in the same residential compound will be confined for three more days.

People living in the surrounding neighborhood of a positive case will face less restrictive limits. They may be allowed out to shop for necessities, but only for a limited time on certain days.

The two-phase lockdown of Shanghai, being carried out over eight days, has shaken global markets worried about the possible economic impact. Chinas manufacturing activity fell to a five-month low in March, a monthly survey showed Thursday, as lockdowns and other restrictions forced factories to suspend production.

German automaker BMW's plants in Shenyang, a northeastern city in Liaoning province, have been closed for more than a week because of pandemic controls.

About 16 million people will be tested during the lockdown in Puxi on the west side of the river in Shanghai. Residents are not allowed to leave their neighborhoods or housing compounds during the four-day period, with groceries or meals delivered to their complexes.

China on Thursday reported 8,559 new cases in the previous 24-hour period, of which 6,720 had no symptoms. The proportion of asymptomatic cases has been higher than in previous outbreaks, particularly in Shanghai. About 100 of the new cases were imported ones among people who had recently arrived from abroad.

___

Associated Press researchers Chen Si in Shanghai and Yu Bing in Beijing contributed.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  The worldwide seafood industry is steeling itself for price hikes, supply disruptions and potential job losses as new rounds of economic sanctions on Russia make key species such as cod and crab harder to come by.

FILE - In this Oct. 29, 2015, file photo, a cod to be auctioned sits on ice at the Portland Fish Exchange, in Portland, Maine. Russia, along with Iceland and Norway, remains a major producer of the white fish, which it harvests from the Barents Sea and other frigid oceans. The U.S. is clamping down on trade with Russia, and is targeting seafood in particular. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  The worldwide seafood industry is steeling itself for price hikes, supply disruptions and potential job losses as new rounds of economic sanctions on Russia make key species such as cod and crab harder to come by.

The latest round of U.S. attempts to punish Russia for the invasion of Ukraine includes bans on imports of seafood, alcohol and diamonds. The U.S. is also stripping most favored nation status from Russia. Nations around the world are taking similar steps.

Russia is one of the largest producers of seafood in the world, and was the fifth-largest producer of wild-caught fish, according to a 2020 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Russia is not one of the biggest exporters of seafood to the U.S., but it's a world leader in exports of cod (the preference for fish and chips in the U.S.). It's also a major supplier of crabs and Alaska pollock, widely used in fast-food sandwiches and processed products like fish sticks.

The impact is likely to be felt globally, as well as in places with working waterfronts. One of those is Maine, where more than $50 million in seafood products from Russia passed through Portland in 2021, according to federal statistics.

If youre getting cod from Russia, its going to be a problem, said Glen Libby, an owner of Port Clyde Fresh Catch, a seafood market in Tenants Harbor, Maine. Thats quite a mess. Well see how it turns out.

Russia exported more than 28 million pounds (12.7 million kilograms) of cod to the U.S. from Jan. 1, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2022, according to census data.

The European Union and United Kingdom are both deeply dependent on Russian seafood. And prices of seafood are already spiking in Japan, a major seafood consumer that is limiting its trade with Russia.

In the U.K., where fish and chips are a cultural marker, shop owners and consumers alike are bracing for price surges. British fish and chip shops were already facing a squeeze because of soaring energy costs and rising food prices.

Andrew Crook, head of the National Federation of Fish Friers, said earlier this month that  even before the war  he expected a third of Britains fish and chip shops to go out of business. If fish prices shoot up even higher, we are in real dire straits, he said.

In mid-March, the U.K. slapped a 35% tariff hike on Russian whitefish, including chip-shop staples cod and haddock.

Were a massive part of U.K. culture and it would be a shame to see that go, he told broadcaster ITV.

U.S. consumers are most likely to notice the impact of sanctions via price and availability of fish, said Kanae Tokunaga, who runs the Coastal and Marine Economics Lab at Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland.

Because seafood is a global commodity, even if they are not harvested in Russia, you will notice the price hike, Tokunaga said.

In the U.S., the dependence on foreign cod stems to the loss of its own once-robust Atlantic cod fishery that cratered in the face of overfishing and environmental changes. U.S. fishermen, based mostly in New England, brought more than 100 million pounds (45.4 million kilograms) of cod to the docks per year in the early 1980s, but the 2020 catch was less than 2 million pounds (900,000 kilograms).

Regulators have tried to save the fishery with management measures such as very low fishing quotas, and many fishermen targeting other East Coast groundfish species such as haddock and flounder now avoid cod altogether.

Seafood processors in Massachusetts are concerned about job losses due to loss of Russian products, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, who does support sanctions on Russia, said.

I have heard from seafood processors in my home state with concerns about potential sudden effects of a new, immediate ban on imports on their workforce, including hundreds of union workers in the seafood processing industry, he said on the Senate floor in February.

For U.S. producers of seafood staples such as fish and chips, the lack of Russian cod could mean pivoting to other foreign sources, said Walt Golet, a research assistant professor at the University of Maines School of Marine Sciences.

We might be able to bring in more from Norway, a little more from Canadian fisheries, Golet said. It really is driven by the price of those imports.

As an alternative, producers and consumers could try underutilized fish species caught domestically, such as Atlantic pollock and redfish, said Ben Martens, executive director of Maine Coast Fishermen's Association.

Maybe this is a time to use haddock or hake or maybe monkfish, something different, Martens said. If its going to disrupt supply chains it does present an opportunity for other species to fill that void.

___

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
More joint replacement surgeries and spine assessments are among the Manitoba governments plans to help clear the surgical and diagnostic backlog in the province.

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More joint replacement surgeries and spine assessments are among the Manitoba governments plans to help clear the surgical and diagnostic backlog in the province.

Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced the plans at a news conference on Wednesday at Concordia Hospital in Winnipeg, saying the diagnostic and surgical recovery task force has been making progress.

"There are thousands of Manitobans whose quality of life is profoundly affected by this work, which is why it is critical we continue to make progress and find solutions," Gordon said.

The province is expanding Concordias orthopedic surgery program by adding a fifth operating room, recruiting an orthopedic surgeon, adding four inpatient beds and acquiring anesthesia staff.

These expansions will be in place by the end of 2022, said Dr. Peter MacDonald, chair of the diagnostic and surgical task forces steering committee.

"This expansion will add another 1,000 joint replacement surgeries performed at the institution annually, which is not just going back to baseline, but adding incremental surgeries," he said.

Over the summer, there will be 250 surgeries slated as a recovery measure. Surgical procedures will be at 75 to 100 per cent capacity at a time when those would be at 40 per cent.

The government is also investing $400,000 in additional funding to the Spine Assessment Clinic housed at the Health Science Centre in Winnipeg. It currently has 900 patients waiting for assessment to guide their care plan.

"Back pain is unique because about 90 per cent of patients dont need surgery, but they do need a proper assessment," he said. "This investment will add four physical therapists, helping to shorten wait times. This is a critical step in getting them the right pain management plan."

The expansion is expected to take place in September and could clear the backlog well within the next calendar year, he added.

An update is expected on cataract surgeries, endoscopy, bariatric surgery and mens urological procedures at the next press conference, but he could not specify when that would be.

Cataract services at Misericordia Health Centre in Winnipeg are also being expanded. The province has issued a supply arrangement request to be run concurrently to increase baseline capacity within the province.

The pilot project to send some spinal surgery patients to Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, N.D., is already underway, with nine patients being sent to the hospital. This is a temporary measure to get some patients the surgery they need, while building capacity at home.

Valerie Parish is one of the Manitobans who travelled to Fargo for surgery. Parish, whose condition left her with limited mobility, even around her own house, had been waiting for two and a half years.

When she was told she qualified to go to Sanford, she was ecstatic.

"Mine was done three and a half weeks ago. We knew exactly what was going on, the treatment was wonderful," she said. "I still need some help around the house, but I am off my pain meds and use a back brace. Im very grateful for everything."

The government is also moving ahead with the purchase and installation of a mobile CT unit and two mobile MRI units. Once put into service, the units will be able to perform 11,600 CT scans and 7,200 MRI scans annually.

The announcement lacked any real information, according to the NDP. Health critic Uzoma Asagwara said the provinces announcement didnt give Manitobans waiting for surgeries or diagnostic tests a clear date for when the backlogs will be resolved.

"They say in the coming weeks, months, sometime next year. They are kicking the can down the road."

In a statement, Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont said the province has broken the system and it is not trying to fix it. People provide health care, and thats where the province needs to put its investments.

"The PCs and NDP both spent money on buildings and technology that cost a lot of money only to sit idle, and helped no one, because they wouldnt hire people to provide care."

Leaving ophthalmologists off the task force is a "glaring omission," he added.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Doctors Manitoba president Dr. Kristjan Thompson said the organization is encouraged by the provinces news, calling it a good step forward.

However, much more work and investment will be needed to clear the backlog.

"Physicians remain committed to being partners to ensure their patients who are caught in this backlog, waiting in limbo, as Minister Gordon described today, get the answers they want about how long their wait will be, and most importantly, get the care they need."

The news conference was streamed live on the provinces website and YouTube channel, which limited questions from the media.

 kmckinley@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @karenleighmcki1
Having now been an employee of this newspaper for the better part of 17 years, Ive seen my fair share of Winter Fair weeks in Brandon. And theres always a few things you can count on when visiting the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

Having now been an employee of this newspaper for the better part of 17 years, Ive seen my fair share of Winter Fair weeks in Brandon. And theres always a few things you can count on when visiting the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair.

The mini donuts are divine and addictive. Theres always plenty of action and good family fun in the afternoon and evening shows. And the hallways are inevitably graced with the sweet smell of horse and cow manure  yes, this is a good thing. Take it from a farmers son.

But the fair also provides journalists, partisans and ideologues a chance to indulge in one of our favourite working pastimes  animal watching, particularly of the political kind. And I dont mean in the strictly Aristotelian sense.

Manitobas political animals tend to form large herds during fair week, temporarily migrating from the lush lawmaking grounds of Manitobas legislature in Winnipeg to the Keystone Centres hallways and meeting rooms for selfies, meetings, a little glad-handing, and the occasional monetary grant to local organizations.

This is a good time for our elected officials to be seen out and about among the regular fairgoers  a chance to mingle and have a little fun at the same time.

Case in point, Liberal Leader Dougald Lamont made the time to journey out to Brandon yesterday and took  yes  a selfie, tweeting out to his followers "At the awesome Royal Manitoba Winter Fair in Brandon. The Heavy horses are always incredible."

His visit coincided with Manitoba Agriculture Minister Derek Johnson  along with nine of his fellow PC ministers  who spent a few days with Wheat City folks. On Tuesday, Johnson announced a $900,000 contribution to the Manitoba 4-H Council, to help it "deliver unique and quality programming" across the province to 102 4-H clubs and its more than 1,020 members over the next three years.

This is a most welcome shot in the arm for one of our local agricultural institutions. No doubt it always feels good for any politician to be able to hand out some dollars and a little good news. And Lord knows, the Stefanson government could use a little good news these days.

A recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute found that Premier Heather Stefanson continues to be the most unpopular premier in the country, no doubt akin to the somewhat tone-deaf decisions, policies and comments she has been making of late, many of which seem more prone to a lack of understanding of urban and rural realities beyond her social circle in Tuxedo.

Or perhaps its merely a lack of interest?

Add to that the near electoral miss the Tories had to suffer through in the recent Fort Whyte byelection. Yes, Fort Whyte  Brian Pallisters old stomping grounds  stayed Tory blue, but only just. It was a must-win situation if Stefanson was to have any ability after the byelection to begin the process of trying to turn around party fortunes.

To quote newly elected Progressive Conservative MLA Obby Khan, "whether you win by one point or one goal or one vote or 100 votes or a thousand votes, a wins a win." Of course, thats true. But the sheer closeness of the race with Liberal candidate and fellow Blue Bombers alumnus Willard Reaves in what has been an historically safe Tory seat, means the Progressive Conservatives are in very dangerous territory.

As Winnipeg Free Press columnist Dan Lett noted last week, following the results of the byelection the premier seemed to acknowledge that the results were a reflection of a growing anger felt by Manitobans "about a lot of things" in the later stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. And she further stated that her task ahead was to connect with Manitobans and "earn their trust."

Its unfortunate, then, that the premier decided not to join her fellow Tory MLAs here in Brandon this week.

What better venue could there be than a weeklong fair in Manitobas second-largest city, in which to meet with thousands of voters who have only just emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions? She could explain to them just how much she did for them as health minister and premier over the last two years.

Or perhaps, thats why she decided to stay away. Thats too bad, really. I think its always good for the leader of our province to make an appearance, and show our community some support. This is one of Manitobas biggest events, even if Winnipeg media tend to ignore it for much of the week unless theres some kind of controversy, like a call for ending pig and calf scrambles.

Youre always welcome in Brandon, Premier Stefanson, especially during fair week. Ill even buy you a bag of mini donuts. They really are divine.

 Matt Goerzen, editor
The notes of traditional Metis fiddle songs floated down the halls of the Keystone Centre Wednesday night during the 47th annual Royal Fiddlers Contest.

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CHELSEA KEMP/THE BRANDON SUN Contestants play in the Jam at the 47th annual Royal Fiddlers Contest in the Manitoba Hydro Auditorium at the Keystone Centre during the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair Wednesday.

The notes of traditional Metis fiddle songs floated down the halls of the Keystone Centre Wednesday night during the 47th annual Royal Fiddlers Contest.

Melanie Smith and Grayson Ross served as the judges for the competition that took place in the Manitoba Hydro Auditorium. Both have competed at the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, so it was exciting to sit behind the judges table this time.

This sort of contest features fiddlers of all ages coming together to compete. Various classes and musicians are judged on the danceability and technicality of their tunes.

"The fiddle is a dance instrument first and foremost. Its Manitobas instrument," Ross said. "Its the pace and rhythm to it. Its got to be something dancers could easily waltz, two-step or polka to."

During the competition, the contestants were graded by Smith and Ross. Once everyone played, the judges convened to go through the marks they awarded and decided on the winners of each category.

Competitors were sorted into classes of 10 and under, youth 11 to 16, adults 17 and older, seniors 60 and older, and a category open to all ages.

During the Old-Time Fiddle classes, contestants played an old-time waltz, a jig and a reel and were judged on their timing, tempo, tone, technique and overall accuracy. Contestants were accompanied by a pianist or guitarist.

The Metis-style Fiddle class saw one competitor in the novice category and three contestants in the youth category. During the Metis-Style Fiddle classes, contestants played two tunes of their choice while sitting on a chair, keeping time with their feet. Musicians were judged on their timing, Metis style and danceability.

The Royal Fiddlers Contest is one of the major three fiddle competitions that still take place in Manitoba.

"Unfortunately, the fiddle contests are not as abundant as they used to be, so its exciting that its on tonight," Smith said Wednesday. "There used to be lots when I was in my teens. It was like every weekend, I feel like, in the summer we were going to a fiddle contest."

Winnipegger Danika Hutlet, 13, took home multiple placings through her prowess with the fiddle. Hutlet, who began playing the fiddle seven years ago, placed first in the Metis-style class 11 to 15 and first in the Open.

"My family really encouraged me. The first time the fiddle was OK and the second time I couldnt put my fiddle down."

She especially enjoys playing with others. One of her favourite parts of the night was the Jam that took place during one of the breaks. A jam features all of the contests hitting the stage together to perform different songs as a group.

"I really missed it [competing] when COVID-19 shut it down."

During the contest, Hutlet also provided a demonstration on how to do the footwork needed for Metis-style Fiddle classes for audiences.

Phil Hutlet helped organize the fiddle contest that saw performers from across the province compete.

CHELSEA KEMP/THE BRANDON SUN Phil Hutlet (left) accompanies Danika Hutlet, 13, on the stage for the 47th annual Royal Fiddlers Contest in the Manitoba Hydro Auditorium at the Keystone Centre during the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair Wednesday.

"We have anywhere from really young ones, I think the youngest one is probably around eight years old, to seniors," he said.

He was grateful for the sponsors of the event, because they rallied to support everything coming together in under three weeks, ensuring prizes were available to contest winners.

Phil said one of the goals of the competition is to get more youth involved in Metis fiddling.

It has been inspiring to watch musicians hone their skills and he hopes the contest inspires others to learn the fiddle.

"To see them [the kids] from year to year improve, its incredible."

Royal Fiddlers Contest winners:

Metis novice

Elise Hutlet

Metis youth



Danika Hutlet

Gabriel Bylyna

May McCusker

Old-time novice

Elise Hutlet

Margaret McCusker

Old-time youth

May McCusker

Gabriel Bylyna

Londyn Hrubeniuk

Best old-time waltz

May McCusker

Old-time adults

Jesse Large

Logan Baker

Rory McCallum

Old-time seniors

Boris Nowosad

Wayne Lipischak

Old-time open

Danika Hutlet

Mitchell Mozdzen

 ckemp@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @The_ChelseaKemp
Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size In July and August 2020, Leanne Shapton picked up her paintbrush and began noodling around with a new idea. In slightly sepia tones, on thick white paper, she reproduced paparazzi pictures of Princess Diana getting out of cars. At first it was a personal project for Shapton, author, artist and art editor at The New York Review of Books. And then it grew. In Cars: On Diana is the result. It is a small, hardcover tome  in the bookshop you might mistake it for a novel, or a biography, but it is neither. It contains 71 images of the worlds most famous woman, mostly exiting various cars, in moody black and white watercolour, punctuated with a spare, extended poem, Shaptons first foray into poetry. Credit:Leanne Shapton First, there were around 30 images, and a clunky essay that Shapton pitched around with no success. Then Shaptons friend, Australian Jemma Birrell, the creative director at Tablo Publishing, emailed, asking if she had anything that might make a good book. She thought perhaps she did. And so she began amassing more paintings, and whittling the essay into a poem. Its a bitingly cold late-winter Sunday afternoon when I meet Shapton in her New York studio. She is still in her coat because the heating doesnt feel like its on, and beside her is a pile of her paintings of Diana. For Shapton, the volume matters. The vast number of similar pictures of one person says a lot about our culture and society. Leanne Shapton in her New York studio: I think [Diana] was the threshold moment in how we look at pictures, and how we look at people. Credit:Derek Shapton Im so interested in the trance we go into looking at the same image over and over again, looking at the varying degrees of images of the same person, she says. The colour of the cars, and the tyres, and where the curb was, and then  just this ghost, repeating, repeating, repeating.

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Shapton grew up in Canada in the same Commonwealth shadow of the monarchy that Australians do, and in the book she recounts watching Diana marry Charles on television in 1981. Her brother told her she looked like the young bride. Scrolling Instagram, she came across Diana fan pages and was drawn to the images of the princess that didnt seem polished. The rushed, harried ones. Credit:Leanne Shapton [I chose] nothing too high production value, and that repetition, repetition, repetition, image, image, image, kind of thing serves the art I was trying to talk about  the quantity is kind of everything, she says. Shaptons previous books include Was she pretty?, about the shadows cast by ex-girlfriends, and Guestbook: Ghost Stories. The books, a blend of illustration and prose, defy categorisation. What they share is Shaptons obsession with obsession. Credit:Leanne Shapton This is sort of what I do, like Ill fixate on something and then do series and series and series, so yeah with [In Cars] ... I didnt have a book in mind, I just thought it was a little series. Diana remains an obsession for people all over the world, of course, reimagined most recently in The Crown, on Broadway in Diana: A True Musical Story, and in the claustrophobic fiction of Spencer. She was this incredible person of power and glamour, Shapton says.

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In Cars is, she says very, very much not about the royal family, and so much about photography. She does not expect monarchists to like it. Im trying to illustrate a watershed moment in photography and history, when the still image became more valuable than the living person. Credit:Leanne Shapton I think she already is, and was, the threshold moment in how we look at pictures, and how we look at people, and how we look at women, and how we look at celebrity and how we make portraits of ourselves now  [Dianas story] has all of these modern themes surrounding it that only now we are kind of catching up to in terms of Instagram, in terms of the moment, in terms of how we look at people. In Cars presents Diana exiting cars and attending various events. It is an overload of variety, and also sameness. The images closest to the poem are some of the heaviest, the saddest. She was so young, and those dresses and the body language of her getting out of cars just always got me, Shapton says. Theres this moment that seemed to illustrate public, private, interior, exterior. Credit:Leanne Shapton One of her favourite illustrations, pictured above, shows Diana sitting in the back seat, in profile, her head down, the hard black line of her shadow revealing the cameras flash. In another image, she appears to be crying. The portrait radiates sadness.

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You can see this choreography of awareness of comfort, of discomfort, Shapton says of the photographs the paintings are drawn from. The photographs come first, and theres something about the power of photography as this haunting thing. With this new frontier of everyone having a camera, and again that started with Diana, there are all of these practices and ethics that do have to be addressed, and are being addressed ... after these boundaries have been crossed. Shapton has a nine-year-old daughter and wonders about the potential for damage, in terms of vanity, in terms of ego. When we have this much reflection, this many self-portraits floating around ... There must be so many more designations in terms of mental illness that are going to come out because of photography. Im really interested in the darker sides of photographs. Credit:Leanne Shapton That darker side is an undercurrent in any discussion of Diana, given the circumstances of her death. But Shapton does not want the book to be about the way Diana died. In so much as it is about Diana, it is about the very public record of her life. The book, she says, is much more about photography, as witness, as lens, as scrutineer. This is a book about surveillance  Theres this poor woman suffering, just suffering, and feeling surveilled and scrutinised and criticised and to the world it was like what a beauty! As Shapton writes in her poem: Returning the love of a camera is a deal/with the King of Darkness. A Faustian pact.

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Its hard not to conclude the Morrison government has all but abandoned Victoria.

Self-evidently, it believes the May election will be won or lost in the suburbs of Brisbane, Western Sydney and Perth, rather than Australias second largest state.

Premier Daniel Andrews and Prime Minister Scott Morrison at national cabinet in December 2020. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

When you tally it all up, quite the picture emerges.

First, in terms of new money over the four-year budget period, Victoria is getting a shabby deal. As The Age reported on Wednesday, Victoria has been allocated just 5.9 per cent, or $208 million, out of a total $3.56 billion worth of new infrastructure funding over the four-year budget period, despite having one-quarter of the nations population.
The secretary of the NSW nurses and midwives union has warned its members will strike again and again if the state government refuses to meet to discuss its demands, as thousands of healthcare workers walked off the job for the second time this year.

Police said about 5000 people were at the rally at Macquarie Street on Thursday morning. Another 20 smaller rallies occurred at regional hospitals and health services across the state.

About 5000 nurses and midwives demonstrated at Macquarie Street on Thursday morning. Credit:Louise Kennerley

The union is seeking a 4.75 per cent pay rise, nurse to patient ratios on every shift, a boost to maternity staffing and an allowance for nurses working in regional and rural hospitals.

If they dont negotiate, we will be back here again and again, union secretary Brett Holmes told the crowd in Sydney.
Brisbane and the Gold Coast are falling behind regional areas for COVID-19 boosters, and experts are calling on authorities to give vaccination rates a shot in the arm by finding out why.

Brisbanes north and south, the Gold Coast, and the Sunshine Coast have lower COVID vaccine booster rates than the central west and south-west regions, according to Queensland Health data.

The metro areas had previously recorded higher vaccination rates than the rest of the state, but that excluded the Gold Coast, which struggled to meet double-dose targets when other areas in Queensland did.

The region is still just below the 90 per cent rate for double doses.
Employers are calling for a 2 per cent increase in the minimum wage in a move that would deliver a cut in real incomes for millions of workers already facing cost-of-living pressures.

Arguing for the modest pay increase, Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox urged the industrial umpire not to take chances as the economy recovered from the coronavirus pandemic, noting ongoing supply chain disruptions and skills shortages.

Ai Groups proposal would lift the minimum wage by 41 an hour to $20.74. Credit:Louie Douvis

Minimum wage increases are a very blunt instrument, Mr Willox said.

The national minimum wage, reviewed annually by the Fair Work Commission, applies to employees not covered by an award or registered agreement. Any increase also flows to about 2 million employees on higher industry awards linked to it.
The head of Britains cyber spy agency says new intelligence shows Russian soldiers in Ukraine are refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and have accidentally shot down their aircraft.

Sir Jeremy Fleming, the director of the Government Communications Headquarters, commonly known as GCHQ, says Russian President Vladimir Putin has massively misjudged the capabilities of his own military, the resistance and resolve of the Ukrainian people and the ability of the West to impose serious costs on Moscow.

The head of Britains cyber spy agency warns Russia is looking to target countries which oppose its actions. Credit:AP

Speaking at the Australian National Universitys National Security College in Canberra, Sir Jeremy said global security faces a period of generational upheaval in the face of Russias invasion of Ukraine and the rise of China.

It increasingly looks like Putin has massively misjudged the situation. Its clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people, he said.
At 62, with a 40-year career in technology behind him, Larry De Cata could be excused for wanting to wind down a little. Instead, he has gone back to school, both to learn and to teach.

Mr De Cata is studying a unique two-year master of teaching program at the University of Melbourne that is designed to catapult qualified career-changers into hard-to-staff roles in regional and disadvantaged schools.

Larry De Cata is starting a teaching career at the age of 62, teaching VCE systems engineering at Rosehill Secondary College. Credit:Joe Armao

After just six weeks of university classes, he began teaching VCE systems engineering and year 9 and 10 technologies at Rosehill Secondary College in Niddrie this year.

Rosehill needed a teacher who could take those subjects. Mr De Cata had had his fill of the corporate world and wanted to use his engineering degree to help young people find their way into a profession that has been rewarding for him.
Singapore: Three of Australias most senior judges will remain on Hong Kongs top court after Britain pulled out its judges in response to Beijings national security laws.

British judges Lord Robert Reed and Lord Patrick Hodge resigned from Hong Kongs Court of Final Appeal on Thursday, stating they believed the Hong Kong government had departed from values of political freedom and freedom of expression.

All three Australian judges on Hong Kongs court Robert French, Murray Gleeson and William Gummow, are former High Court judges. Credit:Fairfax Media

Australian judge James Spigelman left over the introduction of national security laws in September 2020. But former Australian High Court chief justices Murray Gleeson and Robert French and former High Court judge William Gummow said in a statement that they would remain on the court because they believed in its commitment to judicial independence.

We do not intend to resign and we support the judges of the Court of Final Appeal in their commitment to judicial independence, Gummow, Gleeson and French said in the joint statement.
Singapore: Solomon Islands has initialled a security deal with Beijing, paving the way for China to take its first major stake in the Pacific and testing Australias century-long influence over the region.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele will now formally sign off on the deal after details of the draft agreement were ironed out on Thursday by officials from both sides.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, left, and Solomon Islands PM Manasseh Sogavare in Beijing. Credit:AP

Honiaras Office of Prime Minister and Cabinet said in a statement on Thursday that officials have initialled elements of a bilateral security cooperation framework with China. The office said the government would continue to work with all partners in providing a safe and secure nation where all people are able to co-exist peacefully.

Chinas Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the agreement was beyond reproach.
The exchange of control happened amid growing indications the Kremlin was using talk of de-escalation in Ukraine as cover to regroup, resupply its forces and redeploy them for a stepped-up offensive in the eastern part of the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Russian withdrawals from the north and centre of the country were just a military tactic to build up forces for new, powerful attacks in the south-east. A new round of talks between the countries was scheduled for Friday, Kiev time, five weeks into a conflict that has left thousands dead and driven 4 million Ukrainians from the country. We know their intentions, Zelensky said in his nightly video address to the nation. We know that they are moving away from those areas where we hit them in order to focus on other, very important ones where it may be difficult for us. There will be battles ahead, he added. Meanwhile in Mariupol, Russian forces blocked a convoy of 45 buses attempting to evacuate people despite the Russian military agreeing to a limited ceasefire in the area. Only 631 people could get out of the city in private cars, according to the Ukrainian government.

Russian forces also seized about 14 tonnes of food and medical supplies in a dozen buses that were trying to make it to Mariupol, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said. The city has been the scene of some of the worst suffering of the war. Tens of thousands have managed to get out in the past few weeks via humanitarian corridors, reducing the population from a prewar 430,000 to an estimated 100,000 by last week, but other relief efforts have been thwarted by continued Russian attacks. Destroyed Russian armoured vehicles sit on the outskirts of Kyiv. Credit:AP The International Atomic Energy Agency said it had been informed by Ukraine that the Russian forces at the site of the worlds worst nuclear disaster had transferred control of it in writing to the Ukrainians. The last Russian troops left early on Friday, the Ukrainian government agency responsible for the exclusion zone said. Energoatom gave no details on the condition of the soldiers it said were exposed to radiation and did not say how many were affected. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin, and the IAEA said it had not been able to confirm the reports of Russian troops receiving high doses. It said it was seeking more information.

Russian forces seized the Chernobyl site in the opening stages of the February 24 invasion, raising fears that they would cause damage or disruption that could spread radiation. The workforce at the site oversees the safe storage of spent fuel rods and the concrete-entombed ruins of the reactor that exploded in 1986. Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert with the US-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said it seems unlikely numerous troops would develop severe radiation illness, but it was impossible to know for sure without more details. This satellite image shows a close view of Chernobyl nuclear facilities in Ukraine on March 10. Credit:Maxar Technologies He said contaminated material was probably buried or covered with new topsoil during the clean-up of Chernobyl, and some soldiers may have been exposed to a hot spot of radiation while digging. Others may have assumed they were at risk too, he said. Early this week, the Russians said they would significantly scale back military operations in areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv to increase trust between the two sides and help negotiations along.

But in the Kyiv suburbs, regional governor Oleksandr Palviuk said on social media on Thursday that Russian forces shelled Irpin and Makariv and there were battles around Hostomel. Ukrainian forces counterattacked and some Russian withdrawals around the suburb of Brovary to the east, Pavliuk said. Ukrainian soldiers carry a body of a civilian killed by the Russian forces over the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv. Credit:AP At a Ukrainian military checkpoint outside Kyiv, soldiers and officers said they didnt believe Russian forces had given up on the capital. What does it mean, significantly scaling down combat actions in the Kyiv and Chernihiv areas? asked Brigadier General Valeriy Embakov. Does it mean there will be 100 missiles instead of 200 missiles launched on Kyiv or something else? Chernihiv came under attack as well. At least one person was killed and four were wounded in the Russian shelling of a humanitarian convoy of buses sent to evacuate residents cut off from food, water and other supplies, said Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova.

Elsewhere, Ukraine reported Russian artillery barrages in and around the north-eastern city of Kharkiv. Ukraines emergency services also said the death toll had risen to 20 in a Russian missile strike Tuesday on a government administration building in the southern city of Mykolaiv. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said intelligence indicated Russia was not scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but was instead trying to regroup, resupply its forces and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas. Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions, Stoltenberg said. At the same time, he said, pressure was being kept up on Kyiv and other cities, and we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering.

The Donbas is the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial region where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014. In the past few days, the Kremlin, in a seeming shift in its war aims, said that its main goal now was gaining control of the Donbas, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including Mariupol. Loading The top rebel leader in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, issued an order to set up a rival city government for Mariupol, according to Russian state news agencies, in a sign of Russian intent to hold and administer the city. With talks set to resume between Ukraine and Russia via video, there seemed little faith that the two sides would resolve the conflict soon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that conditions werent yet ripe for a cease-fire and that he wasnt ready for a meeting with Zelensky until negotiators do more work, Italian Premier Mario Draghi said after a telephone conversation with the Russian leader. As Western officials search for clues about what Russias next move might be, a top British intelligence official said demoralised Russian soldiers in Ukraine are refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their equipment and had accidentally shot down their own aircraft. Loading US intelligence officials have concluded that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the war is going because they are afraid to tell him the truth. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the US is wrong and that neither the State Department nor the Pentagon possesses the real information about what is happening in the Kremlin.
But now, as Israel faces the possibility of another cycle of violence less than a year after a war with Hamas militants in Gaza, the Palestinian issue is once again clawing its way back to the fore and exposing the weaknesses of this approach. It was a message that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas tried to deliver as he condemned Tuesday nights shooting in the central city of Bnei Brak. Mourners attend the funeral of Avishai Yehezkel, 29, killed in an attack by a gunman in Bnei Brak, Israel, on Tuesday. Credit:AP Permanent, comprehensive and just peace is the shortest way to provide security and stability for the Palestinian and Israeli peoples and the peoples of the region, he said. Israel has long sidelined Abbas, branding him an unacceptable partner for peace talks. Israel sees the current wave as another round of extremist violence aimed against its very existence. It blames incitement on Palestinian social media, says that Hamas encourages the violence and points to a flood of weapons available in Palestinian communities.

In response to the violence, Israel has increased its security presence in the country and the occupied West Bank. It has made arrests in Arab communities and raided the West Bank home of the man who carried out Tuesdays attack. We are dealing with a new wave of terror, Bennett said. As in other waves, we will prevail. An injured man is loaded into an ambulance after an attempted stabbing in the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem on Wednesday. Credit:AP Ahead of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, he said that along with calling up reservists to bolster the police, he was evaluating a larger framework for incorporating civilian volunteers who want to help and assist. But there are no signs that Bennett was prepared to address the deeper issues fuelling the conflict.

The Prime Minister heads an unwieldy coalition of ideologically diverse parties  including an Islamist Arab faction  that united with the goal of toppling his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu. To survive, the coalition agreed to set aside divisive issues, most notably the conflict with the Palestinians, and instead focus on matters in the Israeli consensus, such as the pandemic and the economy. At the Negev Summit, from left, the foreign ministers of Bahrain (Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani), Egypt (Sameh Shoukry) and Israel (Yair Lapid) with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Sde Boker, Israel, on Monday. Credit:AP The US ambassador to Israel, Tom Nides, has repeatedly called the new government a beautiful thing. Focused on the war in Ukraine and tensions with China, Washington has indicated it has no plans to float a peace plan and instead wants to lay the foundation for future talks. Bennett and his government have not diverged from the policies of Netanyahu, who begrudgingly accepted the concept of Palestinian statehood under fierce American pressure but did little to advance the idea. The Palestinians, in turn, have drawn parallels with the war in Ukraine, lamenting that the West has rallied swiftly against Russias aggression and has yet to move to sanction Israel for its 55-year occupation.

Meanwhile, Israel has deepened its control over the West Bank with its web of checkpoints and barriers, and hundreds of thousands of Israelis living in exclusively Jewish settlements. The Israeli-Egyptian blockade on Gaza persists. The last substantive peace talks took place a decade and a half ago. The Palestinians seek the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war, for a future state. But the Bennett government appears to have learnt some lessons from last year, when a series of missteps before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan boiled over into the Gaza war. This year, as major Islamic, Jewish and Christian holidays converge, Israel has offered to ease a series of restrictions on Palestinians ahead of Ramadan, which begins this weekend. Israel has issued thousands of work permits for Gaza labourers, lifted a ban on family visits to Palestinian prisoners from Gaza and said it will not restrict Palestinian gatherings around Jerusalems Old City as it did last year. A rare visit by Jordans king to Palestinian leaders in the West Bank this week, followed by visits to the king by Israeli defence minister and president on Wednesday, was aimed at cementing the calm.

The uptick in violence could derail the new measures. King Abdullah II told Isaac Herzog, the visiting Israeli President, that he condemned the bloodshed, but that any regional progress must include our Palestinian brothers. Loading Many Palestinians say the true aim of Israels measures is to maintain the status quo, in which millions live under a decades-long military occupation with no end in sight. Theyre doling out little privileges through an eyedropper, said Diana Buttu, a former legal adviser to the Palestinian leadership. The Israelis have long taken the position that Palestinians dont deserve rights, that we dont want rights, that its just a question of us being able to be bought off, to get little permits here and there.

Any solution to the Palestinian conflict is complicated by a years-long rift between Abbas Fatah movement and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and calls for Israels destruction. And with two of the last three attacks having been carried out by Israeli citizens, Israel may now be forced to reckon with a minority population riddled by violent crime and long suffering from discrimination. In Israel, some argue that even Palestinian statehood wouldnt end the conflict. The Palestinians will never accept Israel as a Jewish state. The struggle for them is for all of Israel, Yitzhak Gershon, a retired general, told Israeli Army Radio. Loading Meanwhile, several rights groups have branded Israeli rule between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea as an apartheid system.
Latest News 24 lenders raise interest rates Read the full list here

Clients seek advice on interest rate rise City brokers field many enquiries

Asset finance fintech Nodifi has appointed former Prospa head of partnerships Alex Brgudac as its new chief revenue officer.

Brgudac (pictured) will have a strong focus on strategy and distribution, as well as assisting brokers and SMEs.

His appointment follows Nodifi hiring a new BDM in Western Australia to meet increasing demand for its service in the west.

Everything has lined up so well, its the right place, the right time, and strong synergies, Brgudac said. Nodifi is a business that continually strives for excellence and one that truly wants to make a positive impact on the broking industry.

Ultimately I will be looking to continue Nodifis strategy, looking for distribution and mutually beneficial partnerships to improve our positions and help us all grow through technology to assist our customers.

Read more: Asset finance specialists Nodifi to add personal lending products

Brgudac said consumers had different expectations in the digital space and the speed of technology had forced many organisations to reinvent themselves to stand out from the crowd.

Nodifi has very much been a broker channel business for a long time, he said. We will continue to grow through advancing technology and making it far more integrated within our business so brokers can provide their customers with a seamless experience.

Brgudac said he would use his expertise as a lender to help shape the broker platform to provide a stronger service provider and lender experience for brokers.

Brokers can focus on their customer relationships and will be less worried about the processes and documentation in the background, and our experience will continue to grow that, he noted.

I am really excited to have the opportunity to be involved in providing a holistic view in changing this landscape.

Read more: Brighten Home Loans enjoys lending, staff growth

Brokers can become accredited through the Nodifi website.

It is a really simple process, and we have a great onboarding team that will show brokers the ropes and provide fantastic follow up support including marketing, Brgudac explained. It is a nice holistic package for brokers.

Nodifi CEO Tom Caesar said it should come as no surprise how well respected Brgudac is within the industry through his many career accomplishments.

Were looking forward to having Alex join the team and lead the rollout of some significant new initiatives, Caesar said.
Instamojo, a digital solutions provider for D2C (direct to consumer) businesses, has said it recorded a five-fold annual growth in enrolments of monthly paid subscribers since February 2021.

The company made its entry in e-commerce space early 2021 with a product suite empowering D2C brands to launch their independent online stores. With small businesses owners shifting to the digital storefront, 20 per cent of Instamojos annual revenue is contributed by revenue from e-commerce online stores (versus 2 per cent in January last year). The company said it has a merchant base of more than 2 million small business owners.

We are consistently working towards enabling as many entrepreneurs as possible across India, helping them find digital and financial independence. Post the launch of the beta version of our e-commerce solutions, we received an overwhelming response from merchants, said Sampad Swain, chief executive officer and co-founder of .

Instamojos e-commerce outlook recently found the platform recorded a 23 per cent rise in new users logging in via phones. Swain said the pandemic continued to pose its set of challenges over the past year across verticals. However, the shift in consumer behaviour during this time compelled brands to rethink their business strategies to serve their customers better.

The company said 40 per cent of the entrepreneurs that signed up with up it in 2021 had a business profile on social media. As more entrepreneurs and small businesses learn the benefits of selling independently online, the DTC model can be expected to catalyze business growth in the new normal.
Ukraine sets up three humanitarian corridors

Xinhua) 09:56, March 31, 2022

Local residents queue up to receive humanitarian aid in Volnovakha of Donetsk, March 15, 2022. (Photo by Victor/Xinhua)

KIEV, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine established three humanitarian corridors on Wednesday, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram.

Two corridors were set up to allow Ukrainian civilians to flee the cities of Melitopol and Energodar in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, which were captured by Russia's forces, Vereshchuk said.

Another humanitarian route was established in the eastern Donetsk region to evacuate people from the city of Mariupol, where active hostilities are underway, she added.

Last Thursday Ukraine established seven humanitarian corridors, following nine corridors the previous day, according to Ukraine's government-run Ukrinform news agency.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
The centre has sought bids to sell its 100 per cent stake in Ferro Scrap Nigam Ltd (FSNL) over five years after the cabinet approved of the public sector undertaking (PSU).

The sale would also involve transfer of management control in the PSU which is a 100 per cent subsidiary of state-owned MSTC. FSNL was incorporated in 1979, and is a specialised steel mill service provider engaged in scrap processing for steel mill in India. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had accorded in-principle approval to divest entire stake in FSNL held through MSTC in October 2016.

Expression of interest (EoI) from interested buyers will have to be submitted by May 05, and physical copies of the bids will have to be submitted by May 12. The bids would be opened, and shortlisted bidders would be intimated by May 25, according to preliminary information memorandum floated by Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM).

Based on the evaluation of EoIs, shortlisted bidders will be provided with request for proposal (RFP), including draft share purchase agreement and access to the data room to review documents of the PSU to conduct due diligence. The shortlisted bidder, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, will be designated the successful bidder.

The winning bidder will have to undertake certain obligations relating to certain matters including employee protection, business continuity, asset stripping, lock-in of the shares which would be specified at the RFP stage.

The company had a total manpower of 1,451 with 590 regular employees on the companys payroll and 861 outsourced employees as on November 1, 2021. the companyt reported a profit after tax of Rs 22.75 crore in FY21 as against a PAT of Rs 30.58 crore in FY20.

The companys authorized capital Rs 50 crores as on March 31, 2021, and paid-up share capital of Rs 32 crores. The entire paid-up capital is held by MSTC. The sale is expected to conclude in the next financial year.





Particulars FY21 FY20 FY19 FY18 FY17 Revenue from operations (in Rs crore) 352.7 400.7 365 319.6 310.6 Profit after tax (in Rs crore) 22.7 30.6 26.7 8.1 23.7

To manage the sale, the government has appointed BDO India LLP as the transaction advisor.
on Thursday said it is cooperating with the investigation by the (CCI), asserting that it has acted in compliance with competition laws.

CCI officials visited the offices of Apollo Tyre on Wednesday.

Another tyre maker Ceat Ltd had also confirmed a visit by the officials of the anti-trust regulator for a 'routine enquiry' but denied any wrongdoing in the conduct of its business.

"We are fully cooperating with the anti-trust regulator's investigation and have provided all the details required," a spokesperson of said in a statement.

The spokesperson further said, "We are of the firm view that we have acted and will continue to act in compliance with the competition laws."



The spokesperson reiterated that the company "follows the highest level of governance practices and operates within the letter and by spirit of the law.

On Wednesday, a Ceat Ltd spokesperson in a statement said he CCI officials visited the company's office for a "routine enquiry". "As a responsible corporate we are cooperating with the authorities in the investigation," the spokesperson had said in a statement.

The spokesperson further said, "We categorically deny any wrongdoing in our conduct of business.

(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.)
Mining firm Limited (HZL) on Thursday said it will invest Rs 350 crore to develop up to 200 megawatt (MW) capacity through a special purpose vehicle.

The project will be built under group captive norms on Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis through a special purpose vehicle (SPV), HZL said in a statement.

HZL will own 26 per cent equity in the SPV with contributions of up to Rs 350 crore, it said.

"We have set an ambitious target for a 40 per cent reduction in carbon footprint by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 by transitioning towards . Towards this goal, we are happy to announce that the company has approved the proposal for entering a long-term group captive renewable power development plan up to a capacity of 200 MW," the statement said.

The company however did not divulge any details on the formation of SPV and the location for setting up the green energy capacity.

HZL CEO Arun Misra said: "I am elated that we are marching ahead in our ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) road map for the development of renewable power supply up to 200 MW. We stand committed to decarbonising its operations and transition to the production of green products of zinc and lead."



According to its website, is a subsidiary of Vedanta Limited which owns 64.9 per cent stake in the company while the government of India holds 29.5 per cent equity.

(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.)
(JLR) on Thursday said it has committed to cut 46 per cent across its operations by 2030.

In addition, the Tata Motors-owned automaker will reduce average vehicle emissions across its value chains by 54 per cent, including a 60 per cent reduction throughout the use phase of its vehicles.

The goals, which are approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), confirm the company's pathway to a 1.5-degree celsius emissions reduction in line with the Paris Agreement.

By the end of the decade, JLR will reduce its direct across vehicle manufacturing and operations by 46 per cent in absolute value compared to a 2019 baseline.

To support the initiative, the automaker has introduced the new role of Sustainability Director, appointing Rossella Cardone on the post to drive its transformation and support Francois Dossa, Executive Director, Strategy and Sustainability.

"Sustainability sits at the core of our Reimagine strategy, with the aim to achieve net carbon zero by 2039, as the creator of the world's most desirable modern luxury vehicles. As we move from climate ambition into action, we are now embedding sustainability into the DNA to minimise our carbon footprint across our value chain," Cardone stated.

Science-based targets tell how much and quickly the company needs to reduce its as well as keep stakeholders informed about the progress, she added.

announced its commitment to the SBTi as part of its support for COP26, the climate change summit held in November 2021.

The UK-based automaker sold 4,39 588 vehicles in 127 countries 2020-21 fiscal.

As part of its Reimagine strategy, the company is looking at electrification of the Land Rover and Jaguar brands with clear, distinct personalities.

All Jaguar and Land Rover nameplates will be available in pure electric form by the end of the decade, marking the start of the company's journey to become a net-zero carbon business across its supply chain, products and operations by 2039.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mumbai-based drug major said that it's New Jersey facility has received thirteen observations from the US drug regulator. The facility accounts for less than 5 percent Lupin's global turnover.

The observations do not, however, imply any restriction on supplies.

"U.S. FDA inspection of the Company's Somerset, New Jersey (USA) facility. The U.S. FDA has concluded an inspection at the Company's wholly owned subsidiary Novel Laboratories, Inc., based in Somerset, NJ. The inspection commenced on March 7, 2022 and concluded on March 30, 2022. The inspection closed with thirteen observations," said.



The company further added that it is confident of addressing these issues with the regulator

"We are confident of addressing these observations and will work closely with the Agency to address their concerns. We uphold quality and compliance with utmost importance and are committed to be compliant with Good Manufacturing Practice standards across all our facilities," it said.

claimed that this would not have any impact on the supplies or existing revenues from operations of this facility.
Tech giant has launched its  for Founders Hub in India. The aim is to empower startups vision and fuel innovation to drive economic and societal progress for India and beyond. for Founders Hub is a new digital inclusive platform for startup founders in India. The platform offers over $300,000 worth of benefits and credits, giving free access to the technology, tools, and resources they need to build and run their business. From the most trusted, secure, open-source friendly and compliant cloud platform, to best-in-class developer and productivity tools including GitHub Enterprise, Visual Studio Enterprise and Microsoft 365.

Beyond access to technology, Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub will empower entrepreneurs to innovate and grow by connecting them with mentors who will provide them with industry, business, and technical support to guide them through their next business milestones. Microsoft is also partnering with innovative like OpenAI, a global leader in AI research and deployment, that develops AI systems such as GPT-3 and Codex to provide startups with exclusive benefits and discounts. In addition, founders will have access to Microsoft Learn for tailored startup-centric training and a variety of startup and unicorn programs to help them build connections with customers or industry veterans and accelerate their growth.

Disruptive innovation in Indian startups is accelerating Indias position to become one of the leading startups hubs of the world. We want to empower every startup in India to help scale their idea to become a unicorn and beyond, said Sangeeta Bavi, Director - Startup Ecosystem, Microsoft India. As a platform company, our cloud services and solutions are designed to empower founders to concentrate on what they do best  innovate at their own pace. Our aim is to provide startups access to the resources that will power their innovation, connect them with customers, and an ecosystem of developers, partners and investors to help them scale in India and beyond.

Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is designed specifically for early-stage startups to lower the barriers of business creation, be a catalyst for entrepreneurship and innovation, and contribute to easing the journey from an idea to a unicorn. It is available to all startups in India, including those without third-party validation or funding, as part of Microsofts commitment to empower startups ambitions to drive innovation from India to the world.

Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub was created following extensive research and conversations with hundreds of founders who explicitly shared their need for access to a digital ecosystem that promotes opportunities and democratizes innovation regardless of background, location, progress, or passions, said Bavi.

As the third-largest ecosystem for startups in the world, India holds tremendous opportunities for emerging businesses across industries. Microsoft said it continues to demonstrate its ongoing commitment to Indias startup ecosystem and founders through specially curated initiatives. Last year, Microsoft launched a program for nurturing and scaling startups that are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) called Microsoft AI Innovate. The programme supports startups in India leveraging AI technologies, helping them scale operations, drive innovation, and build industry expertise. In collaboration with Accenture, Microsoft has also expanded Project Amplify to support startups focused on sustainability and social impact, with hands-on support and technologies, mentoring and collaboration opportunities.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved the scheme of transfer of Apparel Ltd business to Ltd.

In September 2021, board of had approved demerging the B2C business, including apparels, of Raymond Apparel Ltd (RAL), on a going concern basis to merge with the company itself.

"The Mumbai Bench has on March 23, 2022 pronounced the order sanctioning the scheme with the appointed date of the scheme as April 1, 2021," Raymond said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

However, it also said it is yet to receive the certified true copy of the order.

Raymond in a filing on September 27, 2021 said with a focus to fast- track the recovery post pandemic, Raymond will consolidate its B2C business by transfer of apparel business into Raymond Ltd.

This brings all major apparel brands including , Colorplus, Parx into Raymond Ltd.

(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.)
has entered into an in-principle settlement with Credit Suisse, saving itself from possible liquidation.

The parties have now reached an in-principle commercial settlement of the dispute and the process of documentation is underway. has already deposited $5 million on the direction of the Madras High Court in the case and there is no adverse financial liability on the company. The settlement involves payment of an amount over a mutually-agreed period of time, the airline said in a statement on Thursday.

Last December, the high court had ordered the winding up of for failing to make payment of $24 million to Swiss maintenance company SR Technics.

had a financing agreement with SR Technics that gave it the right to receive payments from the airline.

The high court had stayed its order for three weeks and directed the airline to deposit $5 million.

SpiceJet then challenged the high court order in January in the Supreme Court, which gave it three weeks to negotiate a settlement.

SpiceJet said its agreement with follows successful settlements with De Havilland Aircraft of Canada and aircraft lessors  CDB Aviation and Avolon.

Meanwhile the long-drawn share dispute between SpiceJets and the airlines former promoter Kalanithi Maran and his KAL Airways saw a fresh development in the Supreme Court on Thursday.

The top court asked both the parties to look for a full and final settlement of around Rs 900 crore, by April 12, when the case will be heard next.

The chief justice inquired from SpiceJet counsel as to why the company is not paying the money to the decree holder and settling the matter.

The tussle dates back to 2015 when Maran sold his 58.46 per cent stake, or 50.4 million shares, in SpiceJet to Singh for a nominal Rs 2 after the airline was hit by financial trouble.

In 2016, Maran approached the Delhi High Court, citing a breach of the agreement by Singh for not issuing him 189 million share warrants and preference shares, despite his Rs 679-crore infusion.
(RIL) wrote to (FRL) on March 8 explaining its stance over the takeover of 947 stores in February.

had earlier written to RIL over the takeover of its stores, according to three people in the know.

According to a Reuters report, RIL said in its letter to that it is, well and truly beyond what can be expected to keep Future (Group) out of harms way, as it took significant steps to ensure business continuity at Future and make sure there was "no impediment" to their deal.

The letter also said Future Groups request for assurances had to be seen in the light of the rapidly evolving circumstances. RIL also assured Future Retail in the letter that as and when the scheme is implemented, it will be in accordance with its terms.

A source in the know had earlier told Business Standard that Future Retail had not paid lease rentals to RIL and added that the latter extended working capital support thanks to which Future Retail has been able to pay statutory dues, interest, one-time settlement to banks, and continue its business operations.

The source had also said that Future Retail owes RIL towards this working capital support.

RIL took possession of those stores  all were loss-making  that were sub-leased to Future Retail. The source added that the remaining stores will continue to be run by Future Retail. In this way, Future Retails operating losses will be reduced.

has approximately 1,500 stores, of which 947 are in RILs possession.

Another source had explained that while RIL took over the stores, it also ended up taking over a lot of physical assets, such as escalators and chillers. had purchased a bulk of its fast-moving consumer goods and food stocks from JioMart and was making payments in a staggered manner, a chunk of fashion and general merchandise stocks belonged to .

The earlier mentioned source had also then said that RILs actions preserve the value of Future Retail and will allow the scheme it signed with Future Group decided to sell its retail, logistics and warehousing businesses to Reliance Group for almost Rs 25,000 crore in 2020 to continue.

In a stock exchange filing in March, Future Retail said it was committed to taking all actions necessary to seek value adjustments and reversal of takeover of stores by the Reliance Group. Future Retail also said its board had held two meetings and notified Reliance that such a drastic and unilateral action had not only come as a surprise to Future Retail but also complicated the positive scenario, which had started building up after the Competition Commission of Indias order in December in its favour.
Mining giant Limited on Thursday said its board has approved a proposal to source 580 MW of for its operations across India.

The company said a power delivery agreement has been signed with the Sterlite Power Technologies Private Ltd, a special purpose vehicle for supply of solar and wind-based energy.

"The board has approved plans for the group to source 580 MW of renewable energy for its operations across India. The company has signed a PDA (Power Delivery Agreement) with Sterlite Power Technologies Pvt Ltd," said in a regulatory filing.

The miner said it aims to partially replace its existing captive thermal power capacities with renewable energy for smelting and associated operations, and meet power requirements of capacity expansion at Aluminium Limited, Balco in Odisha and Hindustan Zinc in Rajasthan.

The overall arrangement is to procure 580 MW of renewable power from the plant where Sterlite Power Technologies Private Ltd (SPTPL) and its affiliates are setting up a 1,960 MW hybrid-based renewable energy capacity. Once the power supply begins, it has the potential to prevent about 2.7 million tonnes of green house gas emissions from entering the atmosphere, it said.

"These projects will be built on group captive model and Build-Own-Operate (BOO) basis. The term of the power delivery agreement will be for a period of 25 years from the date of commissioning of the project," Vedanta said.

The project will be funded on the basis of 70:30 ratio of debt to equity, it said, adding that Vedanta Ltd and its subsidiaries will own 26 per cent of equity in the respective SPVs at a total investment of up to Rs 850 crore.

"This agreement is an important milestone in our journey towards becoming the ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) leader in the natural resources sector. The project is poised to become one of the largest renewable energy hybrid projects in India. It demonstrates the group's commitment to become one of the greenest natural resources in the world," Vedanta's Chief Safety Officer and Group CEO Sunil Duggal 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.)
German auto major group has crossed the cumulative production milestone of 15 lakh units in India across its three brands - Skoda and Audi, according to Skoda Auto India Pvt Ltd (SAVWIPL).

SAVWIPL, which manages the Indian operations of five Volkswagen Group brands -- Skoda, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini -- said the production milestone was achieved collectively across the group's two manufacturing facilities at Pune and Aurangabad.

This milestone has been accomplished with the production of Skoda Kushaq at its facility in Pune, SAVWIPL said in a statement on Thursday.

SAVWIPL Managing Director Piyush Arora said, "The production milestone is a significant achievement and a testament to the success of our products in the domestic as well as export market."



It also highlights the seamless collaboration between the group's global and Indian teams, who have been instrumental in putting the engineering and manufacturing expertise of India on the global map, he added.

The SAVWIPL facility in Pune currently produces Skoda Kushaq, Skoda Slavia, Volkswagen Taigun, Volkswagen Virtus, Volkswagen Polo and Volkswagen Vento. While the Aurangabad facility produces premium and luxury models from the group's brands Skoda, Volkswagen and Audi.

SAVWIPL Executive Director Sales and Marketing Christian Cahn von Seelen said, "With over two decades of providing world-class products for the Indian market, the group's brands have nurtured strong relationships with the Indian automotive customer, and our production facilities have played a key role in its growth journey."



The group has exported over 5,45,700 cars until December 2021. In February this year, it commenced exports of Volkswagen T-Cross.

(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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As many as 22,500 nationals have returned to India from since February and around 40-50 Indians are still in the war-torn country, of which only a few are willing to return, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.

"Overall, 22,500 nationals have returned to India since February 2022. Around 40-50 Indian nationals are still in Ukraine, of which only a few are willing to return to India. Their return is being facilitated by the Embassy," said Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakashi Lekhi said in written response to a question on the number of people evacuated from .

The Ukrainian authorities had shut down the country's airspace for civilian aircraft after the Russian attack on February 24.

To another question on the number of operations carried out to evacuate stranded Indians and other nationals during the last five years, she said during the global Covid pandemic, the government launched the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indian nationals and to facilitate the travel of passengers between India and other parts of the world.

"Around 2.97 crore passengers (in-bound and out-bound) have been facilitated in the flights operated under the Vande Bharat Mission and Air Bubble Arrangements till date," she said.

Under 'Operation Devi Shakti', a total of 669 people were evacuated from Afghanistan, including 448 Indian nationals, 206 Afghans (including Hindu Sikh minority community members) and 15 people of other nationalities (Nepal, Lebanon and Uganda) in seven flights between August 16 to 25, 2021 and the last flight on December 10, 2021, Lekhi said.

All Indian nationals who had sought repatriation to India were evacuated, she added.

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Former Congress president on Thursday said the country is in dire need of learning brotherhood and eradicating hatred as taught by 12th Century social reformer Basaveshwara.

You teach what Basaveshwara had said that we all are one, we have to live together, shun hatred and rise above caste and religion, said in his public address after paying obeisance to the Shivakumara Swamiji of Siddaganga Math in Tumakuru on his 115th birth anniversary on April 1.

Basaveshwara was the 12th century AD social reformer who founded the Lingayat sect based on compassion, love, benevolence and philanthropy. He had a vision of equality in the society.

The nation is in dire need of brotherhood you teach here. Your organisation is eradicating hatred, which is spreading fast in the country. I congratulate the seer (current pontiff Siddalinga Swamiji) and his team for this, Gandhi said.

Recalling his association with the Siddaganga Math and Shivakumara Swamiji, the Congress leader expressed his joy that the institution had shaped the future of thousands of children by imparting them education.

Gandhi, an MP from Wayanad in Kerala, promised the pontiff that he will assist the Math wherever required.

Saying that he was saddened to note that Shivakumara Swamiji was no more whom he had met during his last visit, the Congress leader said, Swamiji may not be here but he has shown us way. We have to tread on his path. We have to give education to youth and help the poor.

The pontiff of the reputed Siddaganga Math, who had lived for 111 years before passing away in January 2019, had become the flag-bearer of the teaching of Basaveshwara with his philanthropic work.

Earned the reputation of Walking God', the seer had carried turned his Ashrama into a big educational institution for a large number of students from weaker section from across Karnataka who were offered food and education free of cost.

Lingayat is a powerful dominant community of Karnataka with a substantial population. With just one year left for the general assembly elections, Gandhi's visit here is seen as the party's aggressive start to the election campaign.

Interestingly, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will also be visiting the Math on Friday to participate in the birth anniversary celebrations.

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leader on Thursday claimed that COVID-19- related restrictions are going to be lifted in from April 2 only because of the pressure mounted by his party and the state's people.

The Shiv Sena-led government was not even ready to allow processions on the occasion of Gudhi Padwa (Marathi new year) but had to yield, he said, speaking to reporters here.

"I had demanded relaxation in COVID-19 restrictions during the Budget session, but my demand was flatly rejected. The same government has now lifted all the restrictions," he said.

Was the three-party government was waiting for a nod from "the Delhi office of a party," Shelar said in a veiled reference to Congress, a ruling alliance partner.

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The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to entertain a public interest litigation seeking a direction to the central government to award to industrialist .

A bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi stated that it was not for the court to direct the authorities to award the highest civilian honour to a person.

"What kind of a petition is this? Is this for the court to direct (the government to award Bharat Ratna)," said the bench also comprising Justice Navin Chawla.

The counsel for the petitioner urged the court to "at least request" the government.

"Go make the request. Where is the question of the court stepping in?," said the Acting Chief Justice.

The counsel for the petitioner withdrew he petition after the court said that it would dismiss the same with costs.

The petitioner -- Rakesh, who claimed to be a social worker, said in his plea that deserves as he is serving the nation and has an unblemished life.

He has led an exemplary life inspiring millions of career aspirants around the globe and has proved to be an excellent leader and a business owner, the petition said.

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The crisis in Ukraine figured prominently in talks between External Affairs Minister and his visiting British counterpart Liz Truss on Thursday.

In her opening comments, Truss said it is important to respect the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity and international law.

In his remarks, Jaishankar talked about the progress in the implementation of the Roadmap 2030 that was adopted in May last year to further broadbase ties.

Ahead of the talks, the British High Commission, in a statement, said Truss will convey to Jaishankar that Russia's invasion of Ukraine underlines the importance of democracies to work together to deter "aggressors" and reduce vulnerability to "coercion".

"Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is in India today as part of a wider diplomatic push following Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine last month," the statement said.

"In a meeting with India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, the foreign secretary will say Russia's invasion of Ukraine underlines the importance of democracies working closer together to deter aggressors, reduce vulnerability to coercion and strengthen global security," it added.

There has been a flurry of visits by foreign dignitaries to India in the last few days. US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh arrived in the country on Wednesday, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is scheduled to land in New Delhi on Thursday evening.

According to the statement of the British High Commission, Truss wants to "counter" Russia's aggression and reduce global strategic dependence on the country ahead of the key NATO and G7 meetings next week.

"Deeper ties between Britain and India will boost security in the Indo-Pacific and globally, and create jobs and opportunities in both countries," Truss was quoted as saying in the statement.

"This matters even more in the context of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and underlines the need for free democracies to work closer together in areas like defence, trade and cyber security," she said.

The India-UK relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the India-UK virtual summit held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson in May last year.

In the summit, the two sides adopted a 10-year roadmap to expand ties in the key areas of trade and economy, defence and security, climate change and people-to-people connections.

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The condition of the health sector in is far from optimum with a major shortfall of facilities and staff, as per a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report tabled in the state legislature on Wednesday.

As per the performance and compliance audit report, the government auditor conducted performance audits in the five districts - Patna, Biharsharif, Hajipur, Jehanabad, and Madhepura districts for the period 2014-15 to 2019-20, and found 52 to 92 per cent shortfall of beds as per the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) in the district hospitals.

Apart from two, three district hospitals have only 24 to 32 per cent beds available for patients, with the report saying that the state Health Department had failed to increase the bed strength since 2009.

It also pointed out that there was a persistent shortage of MBBS doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, lab technicians from 2014 to 2020.

The district hospitals did not provide medical test facilities in 12 to 15 departments like cardiology, gastro, enterology, nephrology, ENT etc due to the shortage of specialist doctors, and basic infrastructures such as buildings, medical equipment, furniture, and fixtures.

There are 121 diagnostic facilities mentioned in a district hospital as per the IPHS in the country, but only a maximum of 33 per cent diagnostic facilities are available in Hajipur district hospital.

Facility of diagnosis and management of cases of cardio-vascular disease, cancer, myocardial infraction and stroke facilities were not available in any of the test-checked district hospitals.

Four of these district hospitals do not have test facilities of Japanese encephalitis and chikungunya.

Also, accident/trauma and psychiatry wards and positive/negative isolation wards for infectious patients were not available in any of the test-checked district hospitals.

The operation theatres for emergency surgeries are not available in any of the district hospitals, while shortage of essential drugs in OTs ranged between 64 to 91 per cent, forcing patients to generally purchase drugs from outside.

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is available only in Jehanabad district hospital but is also having shortage of paramedical staff, nurses, drugs, and medical equipment.

The Cardiac Care Units (CCU) is not available in any of the five sample district hospitals. The government had approved a CCU in the Hajipur district hospital in 2012 but it lacks specific equipment like CCU ventilator, defibrillator, cardiac monitor, ECG machine etc. and is lying idle. Hence, it was locked from 2014 till the physical verification in 2021 by the officials.

has 38 districts and nine of them, including Patna, do not have blood banks. The two blood banks operational in district hospitals do not have valid licenses.

In the four test check district hospitals, four blood banks did not have facilities to test Hepatitis A.

In district hospital Hajipur, all four ANC check ups were ensured in only 4 per cent cases. In other district hospitals, it was not ensured.

High stillbirth rate was observed in the district hospital Madhepura with 2.17 out of 100 live births. In the Biharsharif district hospital, the stillbirth rate is 1.63 per cent. The state average stillbirth rate is 0.96 per 100 live births.

Meanwhile, it was also found that TT injection was not given to all pregnant women in the test-checked district hospitals during the period between 2014 to 2020 except Biharsharif, despite availability in stock.

Significant shortage of equipment (9 to 16 out of 28) was observed in all district hospitals which compromised the ability of the hospitals to provide emergency and critical care in maternity cases leading to 21 maternal deaths in three test-checked district hospitals. Biharsharif registered 9 maternal deaths, Jehanabad 7, and Hajipur 5 during the period 2014-20.

The Bihar Medical Services and Infrastructure Corporation Ltd (BMSICL) was entrusted in March 2014 to ensure uninterrupted supply of drugs and medical equipment in all the hospitals of 38 districts in the state. However, it could not supply all the indented drugs, among other districts, most notably in Patna where 70 drugs came under Essential Drug List (EDL), but 42 per cent and 30 per cent were not supplied at all during 2017-18 and 2018-19, respectively.

The BMSICL could only spend 29 per cent, that is Rs 3,103 crore, against the available funds of Rs 10,743 crore. Out of the total 1,097 projects undertaken by it during 2014-20, only 187 could be completed while 523 were still in progress and 387 were yet to commence.

--IANS

ajk/vd

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The Income Tax Department has found alleged illegal business expenses of over Rs 800 crore, Rs 60 crore "unaccounted" cash used to purchase land in Delhi and role of some shell companies after it raided and two other groups, officials said on Thursday.

The raids were launched on March 23, and the country's largest two-wheeler maker had then said it was extending full cooperation to the tax authorities, who visited its offices in Delhi and nearby Gurugram, apart from the residence of its chairman and CEO Pawan Munjal.

The CBDT issued a statement saying the operation was carried out on a leading automobile manufacturer group, along with a company operating chartered flights and a real estate group of Delhi-NCR, covering more than 35 premises.

"Incriminating documents and digital evidence have been found and seized indicating that the expenses ostensibly shown to have been claimed towards business purposes are not fully supported by evidences.

"Expenditure aggregating to more than Rs 800 crore has been booked in the guise of purchase of services from a specific event management entity," the policy-making body for the tax department said.

This entity, it said, has siphoned off the money by way of layering.

Such claims towards non-business purposes are inadmissible expenditure under the provisions of the Income-tax Act, the CBDT said.

It was also found that 10 acres of farm land in Delhi was purchased through a few paper companies, it said.

In such transactions, "unaccounted" cash component of over Rs 60 crore was purportedly involved.

"The ultimate/real beneficiary of the land deal is a prominent person of the automobile manufacturer group.

"The intermediary who facilitated the said deal has admitted in his statement that major part of the sale consideration was paid in cash," the statement said.

The officials said this action was carried out against and Pawan Munjal.

While a statement from the company on the CBDT statement is awaited, it had said in a regulatory filing on Tuesday that it was a "law-abiding corporate, with robust internal financial controls" and its "financial statements are duly audited".

In the case of the real estate business entity, the CBDT said "several incriminating documents" have been unearthed from the premises of persons involved.

"These contain records of on-money (cash) transactions where cash was being received in lieu of sale of units in their various real estate projects across Delhi," it said.

In the case of the company operating chartered flights, the statement said "evidence" related to booking of bogus expenses and non-recognition of income totalling to over Rs 50 crore, rotation of funds and suspicious loans through a dubious NBFC (non banking financial company) floated by a key person, layering and re-routing of funds through paper companies and claiming bogus interest expenses, etc. were unearthed.

It said "undisclosed" cash worth more than Rs 1.35 crore has been seized and jewellery over Rs 3 crore has been kept provisionally under restraint.

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In the face of mounting sanctions against for launching military operations in Ukraine, in line with its old ties and friendly relations will allow Moscow to invest and borrow in the domestic market.

has been hit by multiple sanctions following its military operations in Ukraine. Countries around the world are imposing fresh sanctions against .

The United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and Canada have banned certain Russian banks from SWIFT, the high-security network that facilitates payments among 11,000 financial institutions in 200 countries. Earlier, Germany halted certification of the 'Nord Stream 2' gas pipeline, following Moscow's actions in Ukraine.

Amid the sanctions, allowed Russia to invest in Indian corporate debt funds that could help Moscow.

This can be seen as a return gesture for the Russian offer of selling to oil at a whopping 25 to 30 per cent discount. Energy-starved India has already begun to avail this facility and build enough buffer stocks.

Equally important is the Indian decision, taken at the highest level, to allow Russia to pay for these investments through a Reserve Bank of India account that has existed since the collapse of the Soviet Union three decades ago. Funds have accumulated pending payments for defence purchases made from Moscow. There is thus an element of a quid-pro-quo.

India is drawing lessons from the past dealings with Iran, another sanction-hit friend. Iranian oil imports were brought down to zero some years ago after the United States made it difficult for monetary transactions with Tehran.

Among other areas, Russia will be allowed to invest in debt securities.

Reports say that the Russian government officials have asked their Indian counterparts to relax India's External Commercial Borrowing (ECB) framework, which would allow Russian entities to invest in bonds of Indian companies, and pay for these investments through an account with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

The RBI account has an accumulated balance of Rs 2,000 crore from pending payments for defence purchases made from Russia, according to media reports.

'Masala bonds' are rupee-denominated bonds issued overseas by Indian companies. They are debt instruments that help companies raise money in India's currency from foreign investors. Both government and private entities can issue these bonds.

The proposed arrangement is a response to pressures at the economic level, when global oil prices are rising, with their imports having a negative cascading effect on the Indian economy.

India abstained from United Nations votes on the Russia-Ukraine crisis, calling instead for an "immediate cessation of violence", and emphasizing dialogue as the way out of the dispute.

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Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will visit the office on Friday, the party's overseas affairs cell head Vijay Chauthaiwale said on Thursday.

Deuba is on a three-day visit to India. This is his first visit to India after becoming prime minister of .

"The prime minister of is visiting office on the invitation of party chief J P Nadda Ji. He will be welcomed by the party president," Chauthaiwale told PTI.

He further said Deuba will be accompanied by his party's leaders and will meet other leaders as well.

Sources in the BJP said the discussion will revolve around strengthening party-to-party relations.

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The transport authority for the Mumbai Metropolitan Region has decided to issue "provisional aggregator licence" to four companies, including and Uber, for operating app-based taxi services in the region, an official said on Thursday.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Transport Authority (MMRTA) has decided to issue provisional aggregator licence to ANI Technologies Pvt Ltd (Ola), India Systems Pvt Ltd, Meru Mobility Tech Pvt Ltd, and Mahindra Logistics Ltd as per the Union government's Motor Vehicle Aggregator Guidelines-2020, the Maharashtra Motor Vehicles Department official said.

Earlier this month, observing that app-based taxi firms and operating in Maharashtra without valid licences was an instance of "complete lawlessness", Bombay High Court had directed all the aggregators to apply for valid licence by March 16 if they wish to continue operations.

Acting on the high court's directive, six companies, including and Uber, had made 10 applications for aggregator's licence under the Union government's guidelines. As most of the applications were not fulfilling all the required conditions, the MMRTA in its last week's meeting had asked the companies to comply with those conditions before March 30, 2022.

In Maharashtra, app-based taxis and autos have been operational since 2014.

Notably, for the first time since the launch of its cab services in Maharashtra in 2014, Ola and had applied for getting the licence. Even though the state government had brought new rules to regulate app-based cab service, the companies had never applied for aggregator licence.

The official said that the representatives of all the six companies were present for the MMRTA's meeting held on Wednesday and assured fulfilment of the conditions mentioned in the guidelines. Based on those, the authority decided to issue provisional aggregator licences to four companies including Ola and Uber, which were fulfilling majority of conditions. The licence would be issued with a condition of compliance of the remaining conditions within a month.

The MMRTA in its minutes also specified the provisional aggregator licence having 30 days of validity will automatically stand cancelled if the companies fail to fulfil the remaining conditions within the deadline.

The official said that the authority, however, rejected the applications of Mediamiles Pvt Ltd (All Miles), and Roppen Transportation Services Pvt Ltd as the companies failed to fulfil the conditions like driver training centre, payment of licence fees, lack of simulator and induction trainings facility, health insurance for drivers, and valid documents of the drivers, among others.

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Opposition members, including those from the and Trinamool Congress, on Thursday walked out from the to protest against the continuous hike in .

Petrol and diesel prices were on Thursday hiked by 80 paise a litre each, taking the total increase in rates in the last 10 days to Rs 6.40 per litre.

As soon as the House assembled, opposition members started the protest against the hike in and demanded that it should be withdrawn.

Raising slogans and carrying placards, the members shouted slogans against the Modi government for its alleged anti-people policies.

However, Speaker Om Birla said he had given them opportunities on four occasions in the past in this session to raise the issue and hence they should go back to their seats and take part in the proceedings.

The opposition members ignored the Speaker's plea and continued their protest.

Apart from and Trinamool Congress, those who took part in the protests include DMK, CPI, CPI-M and TRS members.

TRS members were raising some placards seeking justice for Scheduled Castes communities.

After nearly 30 minutes, some members, including and Trinamool Congress, staged a walk out in protest.

Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 101.81 per litre as against Rs 101.01 previously while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 92.27 per litre to Rs 93.07, according to a price notification of state fuel retailers.

Rates have been increased across the country and vary from state to state depending upon the incidence of local taxation.

This is the ninth increase in prices since the ending of a four-and-half-month long hiatus in rate revision on March 22.

In all, petrol and diesel prices have gone up by Rs 6.40 per litre each.

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Prime Minister has assured that appropriate action will be taken on the issues raised on Thursday, Chief Minister said.

Expressing satisfaction and happiness over his meeting with the Prime Minister and other Central Ministers, Stalin said, "I explained in detail the demands of Tamil Nadu, and the Prime Minister assured me of appropriate action."



He took up the Assembly resolution seeking for the State NEET exemption. He had said the Governor delayed sending to the President the resolution for his assent. "Apart from this, I requested the Central government's intervention in ensuring equal civil and political rights for Eelam Tamils," the Chief Minister told reporters after his meeting with the Prime Minister.

During his meeting with the Home Minister Amit Shah, Stalin said he stressed on further modernisation of the police and fire service. He said he sought defence and infrastructural projects during his meeting with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari.

"In addition to urging the Centre to set up Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) labs in Tamil Nadu, I sought several road infrastructural projects, including six laning of the Chennai- Kanyakumari national highway and Tambaram-Chengalpattu elevated expressway," he said.

He said he would meet Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, and Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday. Stalin said Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal would accompany the former to the Delhi Model School on that day.

Meanwhile, AIADMK co-coordinator K Palaniswami ridiculed Stalin and asked him to explain what the AIADMK leader said was a mystery behind the Delhi visit after his DMK flew "Go back Modi" black balloons in Chennai protesting against the Prime Minister's visit to during the 2019 Lok Sabha election.

Wondering if it had anything to do with his recent trip to Dubai, Palaniswami mocked the DMK's change in stance and referred to the party's black balloon protest. "Then, the DMK members stooped to a low level in criticising the Prime Minister. People now say that Stalin undertook the Delhi visit with the hope that the Prime Minister, forgetting the past, will save him and his family," Palaniswami said in a statement here.

The AIADMK senior leader, who has criticised the Chief Minister's overseas trip as a family trip rather than one to attract foreign investments, said complaints have been sent to the Central government on the matter. This probably prompted Stalin to go to the capital, Palaniswami added.

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has arrived in New Delhi on the first high-level visit by a Russian leader to India since Moscow's war against Ukraine which began last month.

"Welcoming the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation as he arrives in New Delhi for an official visit," spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a tweet.

Lavrov, who arrived on Thursday on a two-day official visit, is expected to meet and hold talks with External Affairs Minister on Friday.

The Russian Foreign Minister reached New Delhi after his two-day visit to China.

New Delhi has seen a flurry of visits by foreign leaders over the past fortnight. China's foreign minister Wang Yi had visited India last week.

Russian Foreign Minister this week participated in two multinational meetings on Afghanistan along with representatives from Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Lavrov also held meetings with representatives from China and Pakistan and attended a separate meeting of the "Extended Troika" with special Afghan envoys from China and the US.

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Top Indian-American US advisor and a key architect of Washington's punitive economic sanctions against Moscow, Daleep Singh, currently in New Delhi, will consult closely with on "consequences" of Russia's "unjustified war" against Ukraine, the said Wednesday.

Singh, the Deputy Security Advisor for International Economics, had his meetings in New Delhi on Wednesday and is scheduled to continue with his deliberations with his Indian counterparts on Thursday.

He will meet with the Government of to deepen cooperation to promote inclusive economic growth and prosperity and a free and open Indo-Pacific. He will consult closely with counterparts on the consequences of Russia's unjustified war against Ukraine and mitigating its impact on the global economy, Director of Communications Kate Bedingfield told reporters at her daily news conference.

Singh, 46, is the great-grandson of Dalip Singh Saund, the first Asian-American elected to the Congress. He has a Master of Business Administration and Master of Public Administration in international economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Harvard Kennedy School.

During the Obama administration, he was deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for international affairs and acting Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets in the Obama administration.

Singh is said to be the architect of economic sanctions against Russia under the Biden administration. The sanctions, so far, have had a punitive impact on the Russian economy.

Singh's trip to comes in the midst of a flurry of high-profile visits to the country which included British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and German Foreign and Security Policy Advisor Jens Plotner.

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Chief Minister MK Stalin along with his Delhi counterpart will visit Delhi government schools in the city on Friday, sources here said.

Both leaders will meet and later visit Delhi government schools, they said on Thursday.

"Stalin is impressed by the reforms brought in education sector in Delhi and he is keen on visiting the Delhi government schools to have a firsthand experience," sources said.

They said that Stalin may also visit mohalla clinics of the Delhi government.

The DMK leader is in the national capital and on Thursday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi to seek the Centre's approval for the state government to provide humanitarian aid to Sri Lankan Tamils in the wake of an economic crisis in that country.

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With Covid-19 cases recording a steady decline, states have now stepped forward to revoke pandemic-related curbs from April 1.

Among the major states and union territories, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Delhi said on Thursday that Covid-19 restrictions would be lifted. Some states like are, however, taking a cautious approach, and are yet to announce major relaxations.

Maharashtra: On Thursday, the Cabinet cleared a proposal to withdraw the Disaster Management Act and Epidemic Act for Covid-19 in the state. With this, all Covid-19 curbs have been revoked: wearing of masks would be voluntary; and people will not need to be fully vaccinated to travel in public transport or visit public places like malls, theatres and shopping complexes.

From Gudhi Padwa (Marathi New Year, April 2), all Covid-19-related restrictions under the Epidemic Diseases Act and Disaster Management Act will be withdrawn, state health minister Rajesh Tope said.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, too, tweeted: All Covid restrictions in will be lifted, as we bring in the new year this Gudi Padwa!

Delhi: Similarly, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) decided that there would be no fine for not wearing face masks at public places in the national capital, official sources said.





They added that the DDMA, however, is likely to issue an advisory asking people to wear masks at crowded places. Currently, there is a fine of Rs 500 for not wearing masks in public places in Delhi.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the DDMA chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. It comes after the city recorded a significant decline in the number of fresh Covid-19 cases over the last few days.

West Bengal: The state too has revoked Covid restrictions from April 1 following an overall decline in total caseload and positivity rate.

An order, dated March 31, mentioned that after a review of the pandemic situation, the state executive committee of West Bengal State Disaster Management Authority observed that the restrictions imposed can now be revoked.

The current restrictions were in force till March 31. The major curbs included night curfew and a cap on the assembly of people up to 75 per cent capacity.

Tamil Nadu: The state meanwhile, is treading cautiously. According to a source, the final decision will be taken after a meeting with a consultative committee and following the opinion of health experts. "We are still having an average of 35 cases and, hence, it is no time to relax. It is too early to take a call on doing away with Covid-appropriate behaviour," a source said.

Earlier this month, the Union home ministry decided to end all Covid-19 containment measures from March 31, and said there may not be any further need to invoke provisions of the Disaster Management Act for this purpose.

However, wearing of masks and maintaining social distancing norms will continue.

States and Union Territories, too, can periodically issue standard operating procedures and advisories for containment measures, vaccination and other related aspects, including following Covid-appropriate behaviour.

According to Union health ministrys data released on Thursday morning, India now has an active caseload of 14,307, while 1,225 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours.

The recovery rate currently stands at 98.76 per cent with a weekly positivity rate of 0.23 per cent.

With inputs from PTI
Strengthening ties with India is more important than ever before in the context of the crisis in Ukraine, visiting British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said on Thursday.

Her comments came shortly after holding extensive talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

Truss said the Ukraine crisis highlighted the need for like-minded nations to work together and that developments in that country will have far-reaching implications for the globe.

"Strengthening relationship with India is more important than it has ever been precisely because we are living in a more insecure world, precisely because we have (Vladimir) Putin's appalling invasion of Ukraine," she said.

"I think it is very significant that sanctions are applied on Russia," she said addressing the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum along with Jaishankar.

In her opening comments at the talks, Truss said it is important to respect the principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and international law.

In his remarks, Jaishankar talked about the progress in the implementation of the Roadmap 2030 that was adopted in May last year to further broadbase ties.

Ahead of the talks, the British High Commission in a statement said Truss will convey to Jaishankar that Russia's invasion of Ukraine underlines the importance of democracies to work together to deter "aggressors" and reduce vulnerability to "coercion".

There has been a flurry of visits by foreign dignitaries to India in the last few days. US deputy security adviser Daleep Singh arrived in India on Wednesday while Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov landed in the capital this evening.

According to the statement by the British High Commission, Truss wants to "counter" Russia's aggression and reduce global strategic dependence on the country ahead of key NATO and G7 meetings next week.

"Deeper ties between Britain and India will boost security in the Indo-Pacific and globally, and create jobs and opportunities in both countries," Truss is quoted as saying in the statement.

"This matters even more in the context of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and underlines the need for free democracies to work closer together in areas like defence, trade and cyber security," she said.

The India-UK relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership during the India-UK virtual summit held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart Boris Johnson in May last year.

In the summit, the two sides adopted a 10-year-roadmap to expand ties in the key areas of trade and economy, defence and security, climate change and people-to-people connections among others.

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The on Thursday struck down the 10.5 per cent provided to Vanniyars, a Most Backward Community (MBC) in Tamil Nadu, in government jobs and admission to educational institutions.

A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai upheld the Madras High Court order which had quashed the .

"We are of the opinion that there is no substantial basis for classifying Vanniakula Kshatriyas into one group to be treated differently from the remaining 115 communities within the MBC groups and, therefore, the 2021 Act is in violation of Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution. Therefore, we uphold the decision of the high court," the bench said.

The Assembly had in February last year passed the then ruling AIADMK-piloted bill providing internal of 10.5 per cent for Vanniyars, with the incumbent DMK government issuing an order in July 2021 for its implementation.

It had split the aggregate 20 per cent reservation for MBCs and denotified communities into three separate categories by regrouping castes and provided a 10 per cent plus sub-quota for Vanniyars, formerly known as Vanniakula Kshatriyas.

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The construction of upcoming units of the is likely to be delayed due to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict, the government told Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

"The components and equipment to be imported from and Russia may be delayed due to the logistical and ocean freight problems arising out of the conflict," Minister of State in the PMO Jitendra Singh said in a written reply to a question by Rajya Sabha member Abir Ranjan Biswas.

The (KKNPP) is being undertaken in cooperation with Russia, which is supplying 1,000 MW VVER type nuclear reactors. Two units of 1,000 MW each are already operational, while units 3&4 and 5&6 are currently under construction.

"KKNPP 3&4 and KKNPP 5&6 have achieved an overall physical progress of 58.22 per cent and 8.12 per cent respectively as of February 2022," Singh said.

Russian state-owned Rosatom is developing the nuclear power project at Kudankulam. KKNPP-1 started operations in 2013, while Unit 2 started power generation in 2016.

"The project completion schedule is likely to be impacted. The exact extent and nature of the impact is difficult to assess as the situation is still evolving," the minister said.

Singh said Rosatom was not an entity under sanctions at present.

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As diplomatic efforts over India's position on Ukraine heat up, US Deputy Security Adviser Daleep Singh is in New Delhi at the same time as Russian Foreign Minister and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss are expected there on Thursday.

Singh, who is the architect of US economic sanctions on Moscow, "will consult closely with counterparts on the consequences of Russia's unjustified war against Ukraine and mitigating its impact on the global economy", White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said on Wednesday.

has stayed neutral on seven Ukraine-related resolutions at the United Nations - including one on which the US also abstained - although New Delhi has criticised Russia's invasion obliquely by emphasising "the need to respect the UN Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states".

Also in is Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, the Foreign Minister of Mexico which sponsored along with France a resolution in the General Assembly on the Ukraine humanitarian situation.

abstained on that resolution but it was passed by an overwhelming majority.

All sides to the Ukraine crisis are seeking India's backing and this has led to senior diplomats converging on New Delhi.

Last week, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi went to India and on Wednesday German Foreign and Security Policy Advisor Jens Plotner was there.

Although China has extended an uneasy support to Russia, it has said at the UN that developing countries should not be pressured to pick sides.

Although Singh's role is seen mainly as President Joe Biden's sanctions chief, Bedingfield sought to soften the focus on that aspect indicating that his discussions in New Delhi will go beyond Ukraine.

Despite Biden calling India's position on the Russian invasion "somewhat shaky" and several US politicians criticising New Delhi for not voting at the UN to condemn Moscow and for planning to buy oil from that country, Washington sees India's pivotal role in the Indo-Pacific in its strategy of countering China's aggressive posture.

The Indo-Pacific will figure in the discussions of Singh, said Bedingfield who was substituting at the daily briefing for White House Spokesperson Jen Psaki, who has tested positive for Covid-19 a second time despite being vaccinated.

He will hold consultations "to deepen cooperation to promote inclusive economic growth and prosperity and a free and open Indo Pacific and the development of an Indo Pacific economic framework," she said.

His visit will "continue our ongoing consultations with the Government of India and advance a range of issues in the US India economic relationship and strategic partnerships" and discuss Biden's priorities "including the promotion of high-quality infrastructure to build back better worlds", she added.

On Wednesday, Singh met with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who tweeted that they "discussed at length steps for further deepening India-US economic & strategic ties. Our complementary partnership will help us build resilient economies in a dynamic world order".

Psaki has said that India buying oil from Russia will not violate US sanctions on Russia.

Germany and several European allies of the US continue to buy energy from the US without recriminations.

However, India's purchase of the Triumf S-400 missile defence system from Russia despite US discouragement puts it in the crosshairs of sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) law.

Reflecting the West's dilemma over India's position of being trapped by its dependence on Russian arms, Plotner told reporters, "We would have welcomed to have India in our camp. This having been said, everybody has his own geography, everybody has his own geopolitical setting in which it must evolve."

India's External Affairs Ministry announced the visits of Lavrov and Truss, but was silent on Singh's trip.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)

--IANS

arl/shs

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With being portrayed negatively in the mainstream American press during the ongoing Ukrainian conflict, mainly because New Delhi has refused to toe the US line, a recent research of media reporting during the has concluded that the American media has by and large followed the official US Government policy when it comes to .

The study, titled 'US interests and framing in the US press during and after the Cold War', spanning 48 years of US media coverage of India, found that the US government and the press opposed India's proximity to the Soviet Union.

Published recently by The Journal of International Communication, the research conducted by Abhijit Mazumdar, an assistant professor at Park University in the United States, is a result of a two-year research project wherein the NRI professor studied hundreds of The New York Times and The Washington Post news articles about India.

As one perused US media stories about India during the one could sense the hugely anti-India narrative in them, Majumdar told PTI.

The US media portrayal of India mirrored governmental policies on India and showed that US foreign policy has a major impact on the US media's international reportage, he said.

The research found that the US press portrayed India as a strategic opponent of the nation during the Cold War, but the same media outlets depicted India as an ally of the after the in line with US foreign policy, he said.

According to the published paper, the study uncovers the fact that the US media portrayed India according to the policies of the US government during and after the Cold War.

In keeping with journalist traditions of objectivity and fairness in reportage, this study recommends that the US press should try to also include views in their news stories that are not espoused by top officials of the US administration, he writes.

In doing so, the US press would accord more objectivity and generate more trust in their reportage, Mazumdar concluded.

According to Mazumdar, the research found there were significant differences in India's overall portrayal between Cold War and post-Cold War era in five key areas: defense ties, trade, nuclear programme, terrorism and separatist movements in India, he said.

The US media during the Cold War supported defense ties between the US and Pakistan while opposing any military help to India, Mazumdar said.

The 1971 war between India and Pakistan was a case in point where the US government and the press went into an overdrive to criticize India, he added.

Similarly, the US government and the press viewed the Pokhran nuclear test in 1974 with suspicion, he said.

Terrorism in Kashmir and Punjab was viewed in the US press more as a human rights issue involving minorities. However, the kidnapping and the subsequent killing of Western tourists in Kashmir in 1995 changed the attitude of the US government and its media in India's favour as it grappled with the escalating tide of international terrorism, Mazumdar said.

The outright US media support on Kashmir was evident until 2015, he said in a statement.

While the US media roundly criticized India's nuclear quest during the Cold War, the same media outlets supported the US government's nuclear deal with India in 2005, he noted.

Compared with US media's stinging castigation of India's nuclear test in 1974, The New York Times and The Washington Post were less scathing in rebuking India for the nuclear tests (in 1998), the Park University professor said.

Mazumdar attributed the subservience of the US press to its own government in international reporting to its 44th rank on the World Press Freedom Index.

Supporting its own government in international reporting may be a reason for the US media getting a comparatively low rank on the World Press Freedom Index, he said.

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A significant increase in Russian oil imports by India could expose New Delhi to a "great risk" as the prepares to step up enforcement of sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, a senior U.S. administration official said.

While the current U.S. sanctions against Russia do not prevent other countries from buying Russian oil, the warning raises expectations that Washington will attempt to restrict other countries' purchases to normal levels.

The U.S. official's comment comes ahead of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's two-day visit to New Delhi and during the ongoing visit of U.S. deputy security adviser for economics Daleep Singh.

Refiners in India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, have been snapping up Russian oil through spot tenders since the war broke out on Feb. 24, taking advantage of deep discounts as other buyers back away. India has purchased at least 13 million barrels of Russian oil since Feb. 24, compared with nearly 16 million barrels in all of 2021.

"U.S. has no objection to India buying Russian oil provided it buys it at discount, without significantly increasing from previous years," said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Some increase is allowed," said the source, who did not offer more detail.

The State Department is aware of talks between Russia and India concerning the purchase of oil, a spokesperson said. "We continue to engage our partners in India and around the world on the importance of a strong collective action, including strong sanctions, to press the Kremlin to end its devastating war of choice against Ukraine as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

The Biden administration is coordinating with India and European countries to mitigate the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on energy markets, while encouraging steps to reduce dependence on Russian energy, the spokesperson said.

The U.S. Treasury Department declined comment and the White House's Security Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. sanctions are reducing the ability of Russia, which normally produces about 1 in every 10 barrels of global oil, to get crude to market. The Paris-based International Energy Agency has estimated that sanctions and buyer reluctance could remove 3 million barrels per day from global markets of Russian crude and refined products from April.

The source said Washington has no problems if India settles trade with Russia in rupees or continues to pay in dollars, provided the transaction are sanctions-compliant and with permitted entities.

India is devising a mechanism to settle trade with Russia, including through payment in rupees.

"Whatever they are paying, whatever they are doing, needs to be in compliance with sanctions. If not they are exposing themselves to a great risk", the source said.

"As long as they are compliant with sanctions and not significantly raising purchases, we are okay," the source said.

Russia is facing an onslaught of international sanctions led by Western countries aiming at isolating it from the global economy, including shutting it out of the SWIFT global bank messaging system and restricting dealings by its central bank. [

The White House has slapped sanctions against Russian entities and individuals among others, crippling Moscow's economy.

The Biden administration has also banned U.S. imports of Russian energy, including oil. But it has so far not targeted Russia's oil and gas exports to other countries, as the administration weighs the impacts on global oil markets and U.S. motor fuel prices.

New Delhi has called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine but has refused to explicitly condemn Moscow's actions. It has abstained from voting on multiple U.N. resolutions on the war.

U.S. President Joe Biden said this month India was "somewhat shaky" in acting against Russia.

The U.S. official said India should use the mechanisms created by the that exempt energy transactions, and import oil from the 'permitted entities'.

"We, over the next several days and weeks, are going to be stepping up enforcement of sanctions. We are telling everybody, everywhere around the world to ensure you are compliant with sanctions  this is the message to everyone".

The U.S. sanctions have granted a waiver till June 24 for settling energy trade with the Central Bank of Russia.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; additional reporting by Timothy Gardner in Washington; Editing by Nick Zieminski)

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Vikas Kumar, a 1988-batch officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service, will assume charge as the new managing director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Friday, officials said.

The Delhi government on Wednesday appointed Kumar as the next chief.

He will hold the post for a term of five years, as per an official order issued by the transport department of the Delhi government on Wednesday.

Kumar will succeed Mangu Singh, who on Thursday bid an emotional farewell to the after an illustrious career of 25 years, including the last decade as its top boss.

He will be the DMRC's third managing director after E Sreedharan and Mangu Singh, officials said.

"Vikas Kumar will assume responsibility as the new Managing Director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) with effect from tomorrow, i.e., April 1, 2022 (Friday). Kumar is taking over charge from Dr Mangu Singh, who was the managing director of since January 1, 2012. Dr. Singh's illustrious tenure came to an end today," the DMRC said in a statement.

Kumar, who was holding the position of the director (Operations) in the DMRC, has over three decades of experience in rail-based urban transportation projects, it said.

Kumar has worked with the Indian Railways in various capacities before joining the DMRC in September 2004. He has been associated with the DMRC for more than 17 years in key management positions, the statement said.

In the DMRC, Kumar has headed the operations wing of the organisation since 2007 in various leadership capacities, such as general manager (Operations), executive director (Operations) and director (Operations). He has played a key role in ensuring smooth commencement of metro services in Delhi-NCR, it added.

"Kumar was instrumental in setting up of DMRC's wholly-owned subsidiary company 'Delhi Metro Last Mile Services Limited' for provision of last-mile services to and from metro stations. He has also provided consultancy services to the Dhaka Metro project as its Operations and Maintenance Rules expert. This apart, he has been involved in providing consultancy for various metro projects in India, such as in Jaipur, Kochi, Nouda-Greater Noida, Mumbai, etc," the statement said.

He has travelled across the world to get exposure to the latest technologies and management strategies employed by rail-based urban transit systems, the officials said.

"Kumar has been DMRC's Senior Benchmarking Representative to deal with TSC (Transport Strategy Centre), Imperial College, London which is the coordinating agency for the CoMET group of Metros. DMRC is a member of CoMET which is a benchmarking group of large and medium-sized metros from across the world," it said.

Kumar has also been the recipient of various awards while serving in the Indian Railways and the DMRC such as the General Manager's Award, Operations Shield (in Indian Railways) and the Managing Director's Award (in DMRC), the DMRC said.

A graduate in electrical engineering from the University of Roorkee (now IIT-Roorkee), he has done his Masters in opto-electronics and optical communications from IIT-Delhi. Apart from being academically meritorious, Kumar was also involved in swimming and badminton as a student, the officials added.

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Chief Minister on Thursday welcomed the Centre's decision to withdraw the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 completely from 23 districts and partially from one district of the state, saying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah have given a precious 'Rongali Bihu' gift to the people by withdrawing it from 60 per cent of the state's territory.

It has been removed from those areas where it is not required any longer and is in force in areas "where the situation is yet to improve to the satisfaction of the government, the chief minister told a press conference here.

The empowers security forces to conduct operations and arrest anyone without any prior warrant besides giving immunity from arrest and prosecution to the security forces if they shoot someone dead.

The Act will continue to remain in force in nine districts of Upper and the Hill districts along with the Lakhipur sub-division of Cachar district, Sarma said.

The nine districts are Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Golaghat, Sibsagar, and Charaideo, he said.

"This is a historic and bold step taken by the Prime Minister and Home Minister as the Act was in force since 1990 and it was extended 62 times since then by the state government", he said.

The situation in the areas from where the has not been withdrawn is in a transit state and a call will be taken to withdraw it from these areas in due time", Sarma said.

In Karbi Anglong district, peace accords have been signed with militant outfits and the situation is peaceful but its proximity to other disturbed areas has made it necessary to keep the Act in force, Sarma said.

In Dima Hasao district, talks with the militant outfits are in an advanced stage and once an accord is signed, the withdrawal of the Act can be considered while in Upper districts the ULFA is still active but we are hopeful of a breakthrough though as of now we are taking a cautious but decisive step, he said.

It was important to conclude negotiations with the pro-talk faction of the ULFA and "it is being fast-tracked with active efforts being made in that direction, the chief minister said.

Highlighting that the decision to withdraw the Act was not taken "overnight and neither was it taken due to the demand of any group or organisation, Sarma said, it was taken as there has been a marked improvement in the law and order situation in the state.

Noting that it was a "collective decision taken by both the central and state governments, he said the Assam government was consulted at every step as indicated by his frequent visits to the national capital.

The state Cabinet authorised it, we will issue the notification today and at midnight, the Act will be withdrawn from 23 districts", he said.

The Union Home Minister had set a target of achieving this bold step by Bihu, and "we can say it is a Rongali Bihu gift for the people of Assam", the chief minister said.

This is, however, just a "symbolic step" and it has been possible due to people's desire for peace and development, Sarma said.

The withdrawal of will also send a strong signal to investors and people who want to work in Assam that the law and order situation was a thing of the past while growth, industrialisation, and economic development are the way ahead, he said.

Referring to the Unified Command strategy in force in the state, the Chief Minister said that its role will be confined to the nine districts with the disturbed area' tag while the army will move out from the other districts from where the Act has been withdrawn.

The army will be primarily involved in intelligence gathering and will be ready for deployment if required, the Chief Minister said.

During the last one year, the army is not there in most of the districts from where the Act has been withdrawn and the deployment of central forces in the state is also at its lowest level of deployment, he said.

Earlier in the day, Sarma had tweeted "I wholeheartedly welcome Adarniya PM Shri @narendramodi ji's decision to withdraw AFSPA from all areas of Assam barring nine districts and one subdivision".

He had also conveyed his gratitude to Union Home Minister Amit Shah "for this great move. Around 60 per cent of the state's area will now be free from AFSPA's purview".

The state was declared a 'disturbed area' under AFSPA during the intervening night of November 27-28 1990 and the Act was extended every six months since then after a review by the state government.

It was last extended for six months on February 28, this year.

Out of Assam's total geographical area of 78,438 sq km, 31,724.94 sq km will continue to have the 'disturbed area' tag under AFSPA even after its complete withdrawal from 23 districts.

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The Tribunal on Thursday upheld the case against the Gandhi family in connection with commercial immovable properties worth more than Rs 800 crore by incorporating Young Indian having a share capital of Rs 5 lakh and by taking hawala entry of Rs 1 crore from a shell company of Kolkata.

The controversy had started with the acquisition of shares of Associated Journals Ltd on February 26, 2011. The AJL was incorporated as a public limited company on November 20, 1937 under the Indian Companies Act, 1913, for the purpose of publication of newspapers in different languages, and started publishing newspapers such as "National Herald" in English, "Navjivan" in Hindi and "Qaumi Awaz" in Urdu.

The proceedings and the assessment order was challenged twice by the Gandhis before the by way of writ petition, however, these writ petitions were dismissed. The order of the authorities levying tax of Rs 249.15 crore has already been confirmed by the CIT(A) in the first appeal on December 6, 2018.

The whole process of takeover of commercial property of the AJL was completed within three months from the date of incorporation of Young Indian without paying any taxes and stamp duty. The Income Tax Department had levied tax of Rs 249.15 crore on the benefit of Rs 414.40 crore accrued to Gandhi family through this "fraudulent transaction" by order dated December 27, 2017.

Young Indian has challenged the order of the CIT (A) before Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), and its second appeal was disposed of by the ITAT, by order dated March 31, 2022, confirming the order of the assessing officer and first appellate authority holding hat benefit of Rs 395 crore accrued to Gandhi family, as against the benefit determined at Rs 414.40 crore by the the Income Tax Department, giving small relief of approximately Rs 17 crore to the Gandhi family.

The National Herald scam is also currently under investigation by the Directorate of Enforcement under the provisions of the PMLA as sequel to cognizance of complaint of Subramanium Swamy to a Delhi court.

The CBI/ED have also charged the then Congress government in Haryana with illegally allotting an immovable property to the AJL, and a charge sheet has been filed against Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the then Chief Minister, and other officials. The ED has already attached the immovable property located at Panchkula under the PMLA Act.

The Central and state governments had allotted several immovable properties located at prime locations to the AJL on a token payment for publication of a newspaper. However, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development later detected that the property, namely National Herald House, was used to earn commercial income instead of publishing newspapers and accordingly, its lease deed was cancelled. The order was challenged by the Gandhis before the but their plea was dismissed.

--IANS

jw/vd

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The government on Thursday extended stock limits on edible oils and oilseeds till December this year in order to check the soaring prices of



the commodities due to the current global geopolitical situation.

The order in this regard will come into effect from April 1, an official statement said.

In October 2021, the Ministry of Consumer Affairs had imposed stock limits till March 2022, and left the decision to states to decide whether the stock limits should be based on the availability and consumption pattern.

According to the fresh order, the stock limit for edible oils will be 30 quintals for retailers, 500 quintals for wholesalers, 30 quintals for retail outlets of bulk consumers i.e. big chain retailers and shops and 1,000 quintals for its depots. Processors of edible oils can stock up to 90 days of their storage/production capacities.

For oilseeds, the stock limit will be 100 quintals for retailers and 2,000 quintals for wholesalers. Processors of oilseeds will be allowed to stock 90 days' production of edible oils as per daily input production capacity.

Exporters and importers have been kept outside the purview of this order with some caveats.

"The above measure is expected to curtail any unfair practices like hoarding, black marketing, etc. in the market, and would help in controlling the prices of edible oils and also ensuring that maximum benefit of the duty reduction is passed on to the end consumers," the statement said.

Six states -- Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Rajasthan and Bihar -- which had issued their own control order in pursuance of the central government's order have also been brought under the purview of the latest order.

"The above decision was taken after deliberations at the highest level on the upward price trends of all edible oils owing to the current geopolitical situations across the globe," the statement said.

The government said the pressure on sunflower oil supplies from Ukraine has had a rub off effect on the export policy of Indonesia, affecting palm oil imports.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war is likely to put pressure on the overall supplies of edible oils, especially sunflower oil.

Also, crop loss concerns in south America has impacted soybean oil supplies due to which the international prices have shown a large upward trend, it said.

International soyabean oil prices have increased by 5.05 per cent over the month and by 42.22 per cent over the year. Global palm oils prices (both crude and refined), which had showed a substantial increasing trend from January, have decreased over the week and over the month, it added.

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The Union government is looking to raise Rs 8.45 lakh crore through borrowings in the first half of 2022-23 to fund the revenue gap for reviving the economy, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

Out of the gross market borrowing of Rs 14.31 lakh crore estimated for the next financial year, Rs 8.45 lakh crore is planned to be borrowed in the first half or April-September period.

The government has front loaded its borrowing programme as the 60 per cent of the record borrowing planned for the financial year beginning April 1 would be complete in the first six months itself.

Front loading of borrowing will be done with the objective of pushing capital expenditure which will have a multiplier effect on the economy.

As per the Union Budget document, the gross market borrowing through dated securities for 2022-23 will be Rs 14,95,000 crore. Taking into account the switch operations conducted on January 28, 2022, the gross market borrowing through dated securities for 2022-23 is expected at Rs 14,31,352 crore, the ministry said in a statement.

The gross borrowing for 2021-22 was Rs 12,05,500 crore.

The borrowing is scheduled to be completed in 26 weekly tranches of Rs 32,000-33,000 crore, the ministry said.

The borrowing will be spread under 2, 5, 7, 10, 14, 30 and 40 year securities and Floating Rate Bonds (FRBs) of various tenors. Long term securities, including the 14, 30 and 40 year ones, will make up for a significant chunk of the borrowing.

FRBs of various tenors will be issued on a fortnightly basis.

The government will continue to carry out switching of securities to smoothen the redemptions, the statement said, adding that it may continue to exercise the greenshoe option to retain an additional subscription up to Rs 2,000 crore against each of the securities indicated in the auction notification.

Weekly borrowing under treasury bills in the first quarter of 2022-23 is expected to be Rs 33,000-34,000 crore, with net borrowing of Rs 2.40 lakh crore during the quarter.

There will also be an issuance of Rs 13,000 crore under 91 DTBs, Rs 12,000-13,000 crore under 182 DTBs and Rs 8,000 crore under 364 DTBs in each auction to be held during the quarter.

To take care of the temporary mismatches in government account, the statement said the Reserve Bank of India has fixed the Ways and Mean Advances (WMA) limit for H1 of FY'23 at Rs 1,50,000 crore.

The government and the RBI are working jointly to bring a framework for issuance of sovereign green bonds.

In her Union Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that the government proposes to issue sovereign green bonds to mobilise resources for green infrastructure.

The net borrowing during 2022-23 would be Rs 11.6 lakh crore, which is nearly Rs 2 lakh crore higher than the current year's budget estimate of Rs 9.7 lakh crore.

Gross borrowing includes repayment of past loans. The government raises money from the market to fund its fiscal deficit through dated securities and treasury bills.

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Growth in eight infrastructure sectors rose to a four-month high at 5.8 per cent in February. It was boosted by a low base during the same month a year ago, when the core sector contracted 3.3 per cent, official data showed.

However, sequentially, core sector growth contracted 5.3 per cent in February, signalling growth momentum is yet to be on a strong footing. It boosted the annual growth rate to a four-month high of 5.8 per cent.

Data released by the industry department showed growth in all eight sectors contracted sequentially in February. When compared to the same month a year ago, all sectors except crude oil (-2.2 per cent) and fertilisers (-1.4 per cent) registered robust growth.

Sunil Kumar Sinha, principal economist at India Ratings, said the production level of crude oil, refinery products and fertiliser are still lower than the pre-Covid level (February 2020).

Production of other core segments are also just above the pre-Covid level. This shows that there is still a long way to go so far as revival of core sector output is concerned. Going forward, the disruption to the global supply chain may further impinge on the availability of key raw materials like natural gas and coal in the domestic market due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he added.

Several agencies have cut their growth projections for India recently after Russias invasion of Ukraine increased uncertainties.

Rating agency slashed Indias GDP forecast for FY23 to 7.2 per cent from 8 per cent projected earlier. It blamed the elevated commodity prices and supply chain disruptions caused by the ongoing war and lockdowns in China.

Separately, data released by the Controller General of Accounts showed the government exhausted 82.7 per cent of its full-year revised fiscal deficit target in the first 11 months of the year till February. It compares to 76 per cent during the same period a year ago.

Madan Sabnavis, chief economist at Bank of Baroda, said the 83 per cent fiscal deficit of the budgeted amount by February leaves scope for expansion in March without any additional borrowing being incurred, even if it is exceeded.

Only 80 per cent of budgeted capex has come through and it does look like that the target of Rs 6 trillion will not be attained as March has been a month where there has been preoccupation with the war impact. On the whole, the fiscal deficit target would not be breached and there could be an upside of savings, that is, lower fiscal deficit, albeit marginal if capex is cut, he added.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the FY23 Budget, marginally increased the fiscal deficit for FY22 to 6.9 per cent from 6.8 per cent estimated earlier. Sinha said the sharp increase in fiscal deficit during February-end was due to higher sharing of central taxes with states. In February, Rs 2.42 trillion was shared with states against the average of Rs 545.39 billion per month for April 2021-January 2022.

Due to this, year-to-date growth on revenue receipt of the Union government declined to 21.77 per cent in February-end from 40.44 per cent in January-end.

However, post March 15, tax collections are set to pick up, and hence, the target is expected to be achieved.

Despite sluggish disinvestment proceeds, weak expenditure growth in February-end (11.54 per cent) has led to fiscal deficit at the end of February 2022 to be 6.33 per cent lower than last year.

Mostly, the transfer of excess funds to states based on the revised estimates takes place in March. This year, it took place in February, he added.
Russian Foreign Minister arrived in India on Thursday on a two-day official visit even as the country offered India steep discounts on the direct sale of oil as mounting international pressure lowered the appetite for its barrels elsewhere following the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia is offering its flagship Urals grade to India at discounts of as much as $35 a barrel on prices before the war to lure India to lift more shipments, the people said, asking not to be identified.

Headline Brent prices have risen about $10 since then, implying an even larger reduction from current prices.

Russia wants India to take 15 million barrels contracted for this year just to begin with, they said, adding that the talks are taking place at government level.

India, Asias No. 2 oil importer, is among a handful of nations that have been doubling down on Russian crude, defying international pressure and sanctions. Russian barrels have been flowing to Asia in greater volumes as buyers across Europe and the US shun the supply following the invasion of Ukraine. India and China have been the key buyers.

Russia has also offered rupee-ruble-denominated payments using Russias messaging system SPFS, that could make trading more attractive for India, they said. No final decision has been taken and the matter is likely to be discussed when Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrives in India for a two-day visit Thursday.

The direct purchase is expected to involve Russias Rosneft PJSC and the Asian nations biggest processor Indian Oil Corp., which have an optional term contract  thats rarely used  for close to 15 million barrels a year. Its not clear what the upper end of the buying might be, but India is thought to have limited appetite for the grades being offered.

Indias intake of Russian oil has been very small for many, many years, said Vandana Hari, founder of oil market analysis provider Vanda Insights in Singapore. So the refineries are not configured to buy a lot of Russian oil.

Representatives for Indian Oil didnt immediately reply to calls seeking comment and Indias Oil Ministry declined to comment.

Meanwhile, Lavrovs visit was his first trip to India since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine last month.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Lavrov will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Friday.

A media advisory on Lavrovs visit issued by the Ministry of External Affairs has not mentioned any meeting between the Russian foreign minister and the prime minister.

People familiar with the preparations for the talks said India is also likely to press for ensuring timely delivery of various military hardware as well as components of the S-400 missile systems by Russia.

The Russian foreign minister arrived in India after concluding a two-day visit to China.

His visit to India coincides with that of US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India. EU Special Envoy for the Indo-Pacific Gabriele Visentin visited New Delhi this week.

Unlike many other leading powers, India has not yet criticised Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and it abstained from the votes at the UN platforms in condemning the Russian aggression.

However, last Thursday, India abstained on a resolution pushed by Russia on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, which was seen as reflective of its neutral position on the conflict.
The on Thursday cancelled the mop-up round counselling held for All India Quota (AIQ) of the NEET-PG courses for the year 2021-22, and ordered a fresh mop-up round.

A bench headed by Justice D.Y Chandrachud and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Bela Trivedi said that for 146 seats, which became available after the AIQ round 2 on March 16, 2022, a special round of counselling shall be conducted.

The bench added these candidates can avail the benefit of extra 146 seats, which were added to the pool.

It said the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) will invite interest for options from students within 24 hours and wrap up the proceedings within 72 hours. The top court said a fresh mop round will be conducted for AIQ seats, and the process should not take more than two weeks.

The top court clarified that those candidates, who have joined in round 2 of state quota, will not be eligible to participate for fresh mop-up round.

The bench added that students who joined in AIQ or state quota, will be eligible to participate in the special round of counselling without any financial penalty.

On Wednesday, the asked the DGHS to reconsider the decision of adding 146 new seats, as it directed the central government to maintain status quo till Thursday on the mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counselling.

The bench had expressed concern at two aspects - the addition of 146 new seats in government college, and the lack of uniform application of March 16, notice of the Medical Counselling Committee barring students who took admissions in state quota from participating in the mop-up round for the All India quota. The bench said the DGHS should examine the issue.

On March 28, the sought response from DGHS on petitions filed by various groups of doctors seeking participation in mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counselling.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing some petitioners, submitted before the apex court that after the second round of counselling, his clients were allotted the seats and later DGHS issued two notices to bring into the pool some seats which were not available to them. Sankaranarayanan said hundreds of seats were added to the pool as a result people not on merit were given seats, which were not available to his clients.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, representing another set of petitioners, submitted that people who were much lower in rank than his clients will get better discipline.

The bench noted that staying the process of counselling will be a very extreme step. It added, "If we cancel the seats, then we will have to cancel all the admissions, which would further delay the whole processa..".

The apex court order came on petitions filed by a group of doctors seeking to participate in mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counselling. A group of petitioners contended that after round one of the counselling, they joined a discipline, but were not allowed to upgrade in round two. They sought permission to appear in the mop-up round.

--IANS

ss/shb/

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At a time when are engaged in a fierce battle to gain market share in the segment, has been losing its share, both in terms of outstanding cards and spends in the last few years.

Still, average spends on cards are higher than any other Indian bank.

Last year, the global banking behemoth announced exit from its consumer banking franchises in 13 markets across Europe, Middle East and Asia, including India, citing lack of scale.

On Wednesday, Axis Bank announced that it will buy the retail business of in an all-cash deal of Rs 12,325 crore.

In a span of almost four years, Citibank has lost 600-basis points (bps) in spends market share. As of FY18, the bank commanded a market share of 10.6 per cent, with only HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, and ICICI Bank having a higher market share.

But gradually, the spends' market share has come down to 4.6 per cent, according to the latest data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).





During the same period, ICICI Bank has gained 900 bps in spends' market share and SBI Cards gained 260 bps.

HDFC Bank, which was under embargo, could not issue fresh cards for almost nine months. It has lost 230 bps in spends market share during this period.

Axis Bank, which initially gained market share in FY19 and FY20, saw its spends' market share decline by 100 bps between FY18 and FY22 (as of February). This is according to data compiled by Motilal Oswal.

Citibanks market share in outstanding credit cards has also seen a decline of 350 bps between FY18 and FY22 (as of February). As a result, now has only 2.55 million credit cards as of February 2022.

According to a Motilal Oswal Institutional Equities report, over the past five years, Citis outstanding cards grew at a muted 0.4 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) whereas the industry saw a 20 per cent CAGR.

Also, since FY21, incrementally, the bank has been losing credit cards. However, outstanding credit cards on an industry level were growing over 20 per cent between FY18 and FY20. The growth then dipped to 7.5 per cent in FY21 as HDFC Bank was barred by RBI from issuing new credit cards. In FY22, the growth has again picked up and is over 16 per cent as of February.

Citibank had a market share of 13 per cent in outstanding cards and 19.5 per cent in spends back in 2019. There has been a gradual decline in its market share since then.

Suresh Ganapathy, associate director, Macquarie Capital, and Param Subramanian  in their research note  have said, Citis business has seen continuous decline in spend market share from 10 per cent to 4 per cent over the last four years. It also saw a decline in spend per card from Rs 16,000 to Rs 14,000. has been losing ground to larger players in driving spend and engagement.

However, Citi still enjoys a premium clientele  its spend per card at Rs 14,000 is above both industry average (Rs 12,000) and Axis Bank (Rs 9,000).

Also, Citibanks cards clock the highest number of monthly transactions per card. In FY22, it was 4.6 per card in a month versus the industry average of 2.8.
Four public sector lenders -- State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and Union Bank of India -- on Thursday said their stakes in India Debt Resolution Company Ltd (IDRCL) have come down to 5 per cent each.

The bad bank or the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL) will acquire bad loans from to help clean up their books, while the IDRCL will handle the debt resolution process of these loans.

With the current round of preferential allotment by IDRCL, equity stake of has now reduced to 5 per cent from previous holding of 14.90 per cent, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

The reduction of stake is on account of issuance of fresh shares on preferential basis to the existing shareholders.

PNB's stake came down from 11.8 per cent while Union Bank's holding reduced from 12.30 per cent in the debt resolution company.

Public sector will hold 51 per cent stake in NARCL and 49 per cent in the debt management company IDRCL.

Indian Banks' Association (IBA) was entrusted with the task of setting up the bad bank. Last month, the IBA moved an application before the Reserve Bank of India for a licence to set up the Rs 6,000-crore NARCL.

(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 chief said Wednesday that one-quarter of humanity -- two billion people -- are living in conflict areas today and the world is facing the highest number of violent conflicts since 1945 when World War II ended.

Secretary-General cited conflicts from Yemen, Syria, Myanmar and Sudan to Haiti, Africa's Sahel, and now the war in Ukraine a catastrophe shaking the foundations of the order, spilling across borders and causing skyrocketing food, fuel and fertilizer prices that spell disaster for developing countries.

He told the UN Peacebuilding Commission on Wednesday that last year 84 million people were forced to leave their homes because of conflict, violence and human rights violations. And that doesn't include the Ukraine war which has already seen 4 million people flee the country and displaced another 6.5 million within the country, according to U.N. agencies.

Guterres said the UN estimates that this year at least 274 million will need humanitarian assistance. This represents a 17% increase from 2021 and will cost USD41 billion for the 183 million people targeted for aid, according to the UN humanitarian office.

Guterres also cited the two billion figure of people living in conflict countries in a report to the commission in late January, which said there were a record number of 56 state-based conflicts in 2020. It doesn't include the Ukraine war, which started with Russia's Feb 24 invasion and has affected almost all 40 million people in the country.

The secretary-general told the commission that conflicts are increasing at a moment of multiplying risks that are pushing peace further out of reach -- inequalities, COVID-19, climate change and cyber threats, to name just a few.

He also pointed to an increase of military coups and seizures of power by force around the world, growing nuclear arsenals, human rights and law under assault, and criminals and terrorist networks fueling -- and profiting from -- divisions and conflicts.

The flames of conflict are fuelled by inequality, deprivation and underfunded systems, Guterres said, and these issues must be addressed urgently.

According to his report to the commission, the world is seeing the increasing internationalization of conflicts within countries, and this, together with the fragmentation and multiplication of armed groups linked to criminal and terrorist networks, makes finding solutions arduous, he said.

Consequently, Guterres said, there are fewer political settlements to conflicts, with Colombia a notable exception.

Over the last decade, the world has spent USD349 billion on peacekeeping, humanitarian relief and refugee support, he said. And global military expenditures rose to nearly USD2 trillion in 2020.

The Peacebuilding Commission has worked to advance peace and prevent conflict in countries including Ivory Coast, Iraq, Africa's Great Lakes region and Papua New Guinea, the secretary-general said, and the Peacebuilding Fund has grown, investing USD195 million last year.

But it relies on voluntary contributions and peacebuilding needs are far outpacing resources, which is why Guterres said he is asking the UN General Assembly to assess the UN's 193 member nations a total of USD100 million annually for the fund.

When we consider the costs of war -- to the global economy but most of all to humanity's very soul -- peacebuilding is a bargain, and a prerequisite for development and a better future for all, he said.

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The Biden administration is weighing a plan to release roughly a million barrels of oil a day from US reserves, for several months, to combat rising gasoline prices and supply shortages following Russias invasion of Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter.

The total release may be as much as 180 million barrels, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an official move. Oil prices dipped to over 5 per cent.

Russian President said that unfriendly countries, including all EU members, will need to set up ruble accounts to pay for gas deliveries from April.

Western countries have piled crippling sanctions on Moscow since it moved troops into Ukraine, including the freezing of its foreign currency reserves.

The plan is accompanied by a diplomatic push for the Energy Agency to coordinate a global release by other countries. A final decision hasnt been reached on the global release, but the White House may make an announcement on the US release as soon as Thursday, one of the people said.

Oil prices plunged on Thursday on news that the United States was considering a 180 million barrel release from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest in the near 50-year history of the SPR.

Brent crude futures for May fell $6.95, or 6.13 per cent, to $106.50 a barrel by 10:57 GMT. The May contract expires on Thursday and the most actively traded June futures were down $6.66 at $104.78.

West Texas Intermediate futures dropped as much as 5.5 per cent on Thursday on signs the US was considering the release.

Russian forces have begun to pull out of the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power site after seizing control of the facility on February 24, said a senior US defence official.

Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other zones Thursday amid indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover while regrouping and resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in eastern .

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an early morning video address that is seeing a buildup of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas, and we are preparing for that." Meanwhile, a convoy of buses headed to Mariupol in another bid to evacuate people from the besieged port city after the Russian military agreed to a limited cease-fire in the area. And a new round of talks aimed at stopping the fighting was scheduled for Friday.

to lift short-selling ban, expand trading hours

will lift the short-selling ban on local equities on Thursday, removing one of the measures that helped limit the declines in the stock market after a record long shutdown.

The Bank of also said equities trading hours will be expanded from a shortened four-hour session to the regular schedule of 9:50 a.m. to 6:50 p.m. Moscow time, according to a website statement.

Since reopening from a month-long shutdown last Thursday, Russian stocks have gained 1.7 per cent and their daily moves have been limited. Prior to the resumption of trading, the Russian government took measures, including preventing foreigners from exiting local equities and banning short selling, to avoid a repeat of the 33 per cent slump seen on the first day of the invasion last month. Russian equities are the worlds worst performers so far.

UK makes 14 additions to Russia sanctions list

The British government said on Thursday it had made 14 additions to its list of sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including media organisations and senior figures within them.

Britain is acting in concert with Western allies to try to cripple the Russian economy as punishment for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, and has sanctioned more than 1,000 individuals and businesses, including in industries like shipping and defence, and wealthy elites close to President .

Among those sanctioned on Thursday were senior figures from media outlets including RT's managing director Alexey Nikolov, Sergey Brilev, a prominent news anchor at the state-owned Rossiya Television and Radio network, and Sputnik's Editor-in-Chief Anton Anisimov.

Russia's Chief of the National Defence Command and Control Centre Mikhail Mizinitsev was also added to the list, which said he had been "responsible for planning and executing the siege and bombardment of Mariupol".



On Wednesday Britain put in place new legal powers to prohibit maintenance on aircraft and ships belonging to specific sanctioned Russian oligarchs or their businesses.

Zelenskyy says others may be emboldened; Russia targeting agriculture

Zelenskyy told Australia's parliament on Thursday that Russia must be held accountable for past wrongs, warning that a failure to punish Moscow may encourage other countries to wage war against their neighbours.

Zelenskyy called for new and tougher sanctions to retaliate against Russia's invasion of Ukraine and suggested that years of failure to rein in the global power had emboldened Moscow.

If we don't stop Russia now, if we don't hold Russia accountable, then some other countries of the world who are looking forward to a similar war against their neighbours will decide that such things are possible for them as well, Zelenskyy said in the video address, according to an official translation.

Russian forces are deliberately trying to damage Ukraines agriculture sector, a main source of income, Zelenskyy told Dutch lawmakers. Troops have placed landmines in fields and agricultural equipment has been destroyed, he said.
has completed the main search and rescue work at site of a Eastern Airlines crash that killed 132 people last week and plans to complete a preliminary report within 30 days of the event, an aviation official said on Thursday.



A final report into the crash of the Boeing 737-800 will be completed and made public after the investigation is concluded, Civil Aviation Administration of (CAAC) safety head Zhu Tao told reporters.



Under rules, a 30-day report must be lodged with U.N. aviation agency ICAO but it does not need to be public. A final report is due within a year of the crash, though sometimes it can take longer.



(Reporting by Stella Qiu in Beijing and Jamie Freed in Sydney Editing by Shri Navaratnam)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A defiant Imran Khan on Thursday indicated that he will not resign from the post of Pakistan's prime minister despite losing the majority in the National Assembly and insisted that he will face the vote of no-confidence which would take place on Sunday.

In a live-address to the nation, 69-year-old Khan also discussed a 'threat letter' that purportedly showed "evidence" of a foreign conspiracy to topple his coalition government. He named the US as the country behind the threat in what appeared to be a slip of tongue.

"...Our policy was not anti-US, -Europe, or even India [...] it became anti-Indian after New Delhi revoked the special status of Kashmir and broke law in August 2019," said Khan, who insists that the Kashmir dispute remained a big issue between the two countries.

India has repeatedly told that Jammu and Kashmir "was, is and shall forever" remain an integral part of the country.

"...the letter stated that the no-confidence motion was being tabled even before it was filed, which means the Opposition was in contact with them," Khan said, adding that the letter was against him, not against the government.

#WATCH | Islamabad: In his address to the nation, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan claims that a foreign nation sent a message to them (Pakistan) that Imran Khan needs to be removed else Pakistan will suffer consequences. pic.twitter.com/aTGUh9HqSe  ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2022

Khan said that it was an "official letter" that was communicated to Pakistan's ambassador, who was taking notes during the meeting.

He said the foreign official knew that the ones who would come into power after him would have no issues taking orders from external forces.

"But what is most disturbing is that our people, who are sitting here, are in contact with foreign powers," he said, as he referred to the "three stooges" - Muslim League-Nawaz president Shehbaz Sharif, Peoples Party Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

"Will foreign countries want such corrupt people in power in their states? They are ready to accept such corrupt politicians, but I am not acceptable to them," the prime minister said.

Khan said he will play till the last ball and the no-trust vote on Sunday will decide where the country will go.

Khan needs 172 votes in the lower house of 342 to foil the Opposition's bid to topple him. However, Opposition claims it has the support of 175 lawmakers and the prime minister should immediately resign.

No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term in office. Also, no prime minister in Pakistan's history has ever been ousted through a no-confidence motion, and Khan is the third premier to face the challenge.

(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.)
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who has been nominated by President Joe Biden, as his envoy to India, should receive a confirmation vote by the Senate expeditiously, the said Wednesday.

The believes that Garcetti should receive a vote in the Senate expeditiously, Director of Communication Kate Bedingfield told reporters at her daily news conference.

The President has confidence in Mayor Garcetti, (and) believes he will be an excellent Representative in India, Bedingfield said in response to a question on the objection to his nomination by a senior Republican Senator Chuck Grassley.

I would remind you that his nomination advanced unanimously with bipartisan support in committee and we're continuing to engage with Senators and working to earn bipartisan support for his nomination, Bedingfield said.

Last week, Grassley took the Senate floor to tell his colleagues that he will oppose the nomination of Garcetti till the investigations being conducted by his staff are complete and he is satisfied with it.

"The owes it to the Republic of to send them a qualified Ambassador that will represent the values of the . Mayor Garcetti may very well be fully qualified, but at this time, the Senate needs to look into these allegations further, he said.

"So, until my staff and I have conducted a thorough investigation and are able to speak with everyone involved, I cannot vote to confirm Mr Garcetti, Grassley said.

Giving details, he said he has received multiple whistleblower complaints that Garcetti witnessed and was aware that his deputy chief of staff, Rick Jacobs, sexually harassed city employees.

Two weeks ago, Grassley had said that there needs to be an investigation. He had also called for review of the investigation that the city of Los Angeles had commissioned which had cleared Garcetti of any wrongdoing.

"At the time, I instructed my staff to complete this investigation in no more than two weeks, since it is not my intent to drag this out. My staff spoke with additional whistleblowers and subsequently made three separate requests to representatives of the mayor to send us the city's investigative report - on March 11, 18, and 21, he said on the Senate floor.

Grassley said the mayor's staff provided him with a copy of the report on March 21.

"However, we were just notified last night, March 23, that there was also an updated report, along with a summary that was completed several months after the original report that my office received on March 21. While I am still reviewing this report, my staff informs me that the report is focused exclusively on allegations made that Mr Jacobs sexually harassed an LAPD officer,'' he said.

It does not address other allegations made, including allegations that Jacobs had sexually harassed the mayor's senior staff and made racist comments toward staff in front of the mayor, Grassley said.

"Due to the extremely narrow scope of this report, the fact that many of the allegations brought to my office were not investigated in that report, and the fact that we only received the updated report last night, I have instructed my staff to continue investigating these allegations, he said.

Grassley said it is not his intent to drag this out and he anticipates that his investigation will be concluded in the near future.

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External Affairs Minister on Thursday spoke with US Secretary of State and discussed developments pertaining to the Indo-Pacific, Ukraine and the global economy.

"Just completed a useful conversation with @SecBlinken. Reviewed the progress on our bilateral cooperation. Discussed developments pertaining to the Indo-Pacific, Ukraine and the global economy," Jaishankar tweeted.

India and the United States are scheduled to hold a 2+2 dialogue in Washington on April 11.

EAM Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will meet their counterparts Secretary of State and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh will also have other meetings scheduled on the sidelines.

The last 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue between the two countries was held in October 2020 in New Delhi.

Moreover, as Russia's war on Ukraine is set to enter its sixth week, the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine has now crossed the 4 million mark, the chief of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday.

Notably, 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.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many Western nations and European countries have imposed tough sanctions on Russia targeting its economy and financial system.

(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 is ordering the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation's strategic petroleum reserve for six months, the White House said Thursday, in a bid to control energy prices that have spiked after the U.S. and allies imposed steep sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

The White House said Biden is also calling on Congress to impose financial penalties on companies that lease public lands but aren't producing.

And he intends to invoke the Defense Production Act to encourage the mining of critical minerals for batteries in electric vehicles, part of a broader push to shift toward cleaner energy sources and reduce the use of fossil fuels.

The actions demonstrate forcefully that oil remains a key vulnerability for the U.S. at home and abroad.

Higher prices have hurt Biden's approval domestically, while also adding billions of oil-export dollars to the Russian war chest as it wages war on Ukraine.

The release of reserves in the U.S. would create pressures that could reduce oil prices, though Biden has already twice ordered releases from the strategic reserves without causing a meaningful shift in oil markets.

Part of Biden's concern is that high prices have not so far coaxed a meaningful jump in oil production.

The planned release is a way to increase supplies as a bridge until oil companies ramp up their own production, with administration officials estimating that domestic production will grow by 1 million barrels daily this year and an additional 700,000 barrels daily in 2023.

The markets reacted quickly with crude oil prices dropping about 4% on Thursday morning to under $104 a barrel.

Still, oil is up from roughly $60 a year ago, with supplies failing to keep up with demand as the world economy has begun to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic.

That inflationary problem was compounded by Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, which created new uncertainties about oil and natural gas supplies and led to retaliatory sanctions from the U.S. and its allies.

Biden has been in talks with allies and partners to join in additional releases of oil, such that the world market will get more than the 180 million barrels total being pledged by the U.S.

Americans on average use about 21 million barrels of oil daily, with about 40% of that devoted to gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That total accounts for about a fifth of total global consumption of oil.

Domestic oil production is equal to more than half of U.S. usage, but high prices have not led companies to return to their pre-pandemic levels of output. The U.S. is producing on average 11.7 million barrels daily, down from 13 million barrels in early 2020.

Republican lawmakers have said the problem rests with the Biden administration being hostile to oil permits and the construction of new pipelines such as the Keystone XL.

Democrats have countered that the country needs to move to renewable energy such as wind and solar that could reduce the dependence on fossil fuels and Putin's leverage.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mt., blasted Biden's action to tap the reserve without first taking steps to increase American energy production, calling its a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.?

Daines called Biden's actions desperate moves? that avoid what he called the real solution: investing in American energy production,? especially .

Biden needs to stop appeasing the woke green activists and get leases going again, Daines said.

The Biden administration has countered that increasing oil output is a gradual process and the release would provide time to ramp up production. It also wants to incentivise greater production by putting fees on unused leases on government lands, something that would require congressional approval.

Oil producers have been more focused on meeting the needs of investors than consumers, according to a survey released last week by the Dallas Federal Reserve.

About 59% of the executives surveyed said investor pressure to preserve capital discipline amid high prices was the reason they weren't pumping more, while fewer than 10% blamed government regulation.

The steady release from the reserves would be a meaningful sum and come near to closing the domestic production gap relative to February 2020, before the coronavirus caused a steep decline in oil output.

The Biden administration in November announced the release of 50 million barrels from the strategic reserve in coordination with other countries.

And after the Russia-Ukraine war began, the US and 30 other countries agreed to an additional release of 60 million barrels from reserves, with half of the total coming from the U.S.

According to the Department of Energy, which manages it, more than 568 million barrels of oil were held in the reserve as of March 25.

After the release, the government would begin to replenish the reserve once prices have sufficiently fallen.

(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.)
Alex Ellis, the British High Commissioner to on Wednesday indicated that talks between Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss and External Affairs Minister may include the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

"I don't want to comment on specific issues regarding Ukraine. What I would say is that the principles of UN Charter are important to us all. That is exactly what our Foreign Secretary will be talking with Jaishankar on March 31," Ellis told ANI.

He made these remarks during Queen Elizabeth II's birthday party at British High Commission in Delhi.

"But there are many other aspects as well - the climate change challenge, the long-term challenge of trade, of health. So, we will have to look at all of these challenges together. But together and are quite a might force," said the British High Commissioner to .

He said Truss is visiting India to have "deep talks" with Jaishankar.

"Our PMs ( Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi) have signed a new, much deeper partnership, a strategic partnership. We want to work together to develop that, including in defence and security. That's why our Foreign Secy is coming here to have deep talks with Jaishankar," he said.

Ellis said that there is much "more we can do to develop our defence and security links to deal with many issues. The issue around sovereignty, of law, of territorial integrity - the common issues for us all to deal with."

At the Queen's Birthday Party at the British High Commission, Ellis spoke in Hindi and said, "...Last year was very difficult due to COVID. Nowadays it is difficult in Ukraine due to Russia..."

Moreover, Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Ayog at Queen Elizabeth II's birthday party said that, "We've had long, historic relations with Britain but we've very vibrant relations in world of trade, investment, climate change, sustainability and many areas of growth and partnership."

"We have a very vibrant, dynamic and very energetic relationship that is going to grow and expand in the years to come even further," he added.

Truss will pay an official visit to India on March 31 to hold talks with Jaishankar on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

She would also participate in the inaugural edition of the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum, a track 1.5 Dialogue between the two countries hosted by the Indian Council of World Affairs and Policy Exchange, UK.

(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.)
Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom said on Thursday that most of the Russian forces that occupied the Chernobyl nuclear power station after invading Ukraine had left the defunct plant, and only a "small number" remained.

Though Russian troops seized control of Chernobyl soon after the Feb. 24 invasion, the plant's Ukrainian staff continued to oversee the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and supervise the concrete-encased remains of the reactor that exploded in 1986.

Energoatom said these workers had flagged earlier on Thursday that Russian forces were planning to leave the territory.

"The information is confirmed that the occupiers, who seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and other facilities in the exclusion zone, have set off in two columns towards the Ukrainian border with the Republic of Belarus," it said in a statement.

It said a small number of Russian troops remained at Chernobyl, but did not specify how many or share further details. Russian forces have also retreated from the nearby town of Slavutych, where workers at Chernobyl live, it said.

There was no immediate comment from the Russian authorities, who have denied that its forces have put nuclear facilities in Ukraine at risk.

Ukraine has repeatedly expressed safety concerns about Chernobyl and demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops, whose presence prevented the rotation of the plant's personnel for a time.

Earlier on Thursday, the head of Energoatom urged the U.N. nuclear watchdog to help ensure Russian nuclear officials do not interfere in the operation of

Chernobyl and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe's largest, which is also occupied by Russian soldiers.

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By Noah Browning

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices plunged on Thursday on news that the United States was considering the release of up to 180 million barrels from its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the largest in the near 50-year history of the SPR.

Brent crude futures for May fell $4.87, or 4.3%, to $108.58 a barrel by 0855 GMT. The May contract expires on Thursday and the most actively traded June futures were down $5.08 at $106.36, having earlier slid by more than $6.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for May delivery fell $5.90, or 5.5%, to $101.92 a barrel after touching a low of $100.53.

U.S. President Joe Biden will speak later on Thursday regarding his administration's actions aimed at lowering gasoline prices that have risen to record highs since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine.

"Desperate times, clearly call for desperate measures and clearly the Biden administration believes the spike in oil prices warrants this move to eat into the country's emergency supplies," said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

"A drip release of 1 million barrels of oil is on the cards for the next six months, a sign that there is not expected to be a quick resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, which has squeezed oil supplies."

Goldman Sachs analysts said the move would help the oil market to rebalance in 2022 but was not a permanent fix.

"This would remain, however, a release of oil inventories, not a persistent source of supply for coming years. Such a release would therefore not resolve the structural supply deficit, years in the making."

Energy Agency (IEA) member countries are due to meet on Friday at 1200 GMT to decide on a potential collective oil release, a spokesperson for New Zealand's energy minister said on Thursday.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies including Russia meet on Thursday and are expected to stick with a planned increase in their May output target.

Oil rose by around 3% on Wednesday as peace talks stalled between Ukraine and Russia, the world's second-largest oil exporter.

Western financial sanctions imposed on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine have disrupted its crude oil and oil product exports. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation".

(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Houston, Florence Tan and Isabel Kua in Singapore; editing by David Goodman and Jason Neely)

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As faces a highly fluid political situation, Prime Minister has sought safe exit for himself by offering to hold early elections, the Muslim League-Nawaz has claimed.

PML-N's Shehbaz Sharif and Rana Sanaullah have revealed at the opposition parliamentary party meeting that has made the offer through an "important person" of the country, Samaa TV reported.

Sharif said that the prime minister is now proposing something what the opposition had demanded earlier, but it was too late. "The issue will be decided through the vote in the Parliament" on the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, he said.

has reportedly offered that if the opposition withdrew it no-confidence motion, he would dissolve the National Assembly and hold early elections, but if the opposition pressed ahead with the no-trust vote, he would fight them until the end.

Meanwhile, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that he wants to send a clear message to Imran Khan that no NRO would be offered to him and the only honourable exit for him was to step down immediately, paving for Shehbaz Sharif to be elected as the new Prime Minister.

The Opposition on Thursday submitted a petition to include the election of a new Prime Minister in the agenda of the National Assembly, Dunya TV reported.

--IANS

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Pakistan's embattled Prime Minister on Thursday summoned a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC), the highest forum for discussion on security issues, a day after he effectively lost majority in Parliament after a key partner of the ruling coalition joined the ranks of the Opposition which had tabled a no-confidence motion against his government.

The NSC meeting will be held at the Prime Minister's House, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry tweeted. The NSC is chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by services chiefs, key ministers, national security adviser and top intelligence officials.

Prime Minister Khan will also address the nation this evening, Chaudhry said in another tweet. Separately, Senator Faisal Javed Khan, a confidante of Prime Minister Khan, also tweeted to confirm the address and said that the exact time of the speech would be shared later.

The development comes a day after the premier shared a letter - purportedly showing evidence of a "foreign conspiracy" to oust his government - with his cabinet members in a hurriedly called meeting, which was not attended by PTI's two major allies - Muttahida Qaumi Movement- (MQM-P) and Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) - despite being invited.

Khan also called a select group of TV anchors and informed them that "the language of the letter was threatening and arrogant" and that would face dire consequences if the no-confidence motion failed. However, the premier did not show the letter to the media, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The lower House of Pakistan's Parliament is scheduled to meet on Thursday for a debate on the no-confidence motion tabled by the joint Opposition against Khan to topple his government.

The NSC meeting coincides with the National Assembly session to debate the no-confidence motion against the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, the letter was apparently losing steam as it was written by none other than a Pakistani envoy and is based on a meeting of embassy officials with the officials of the host country, who expressed displeasure at the foreign policy of about the ongoing Ukraine war.

Following the pressure by the Opposition, the government has also indicated to brief a parliament body on security about the letter.

"If the parliamentary leaders from the government and the opposition side agree, the issue of the sensitive letter can be discussed at an in-camera meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Asad Qaisar, Speaker of the National Assembly tweeted.

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By Joseph Nasr and Mark Trevelyan

BERLIN/LONDON (Reuters) -Russian President is demanding foreign buyers pay for Russian gas in roubles from Friday or else have their supplies cut, a move European capitals rejected and which Berlin said amounted to "blackmail".

Putin's move, via a decree signed on Thursday, leaves Europe facing the prospect of losing more than a third of its gas supply. Germany, the most heavily reliant on Russia, has already activated an emergency plan that could lead to rationing in Europe's biggest economy.

Energy exports are Putin's most powerful lever as he tries to hit back against sweeping Western sanctions imposed on Russian banks, companies, businessmen and associates of the Kremlin in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Moscow calls its Ukraine action a "special military operation".

Putin said buyers of Russian gas "must open rouble accounts in Russian banks. It is from these accounts that payments will be made for gas delivered starting from tomorrow," or April 1.

"If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either - that is, existing contracts will be stopped," he said in televised remarks.

It was not immediately clear whether in practice there might be a way for foreign firms to continue payment without using roubles, which the European Union and G7 group of states have ruled out.

Under the mechanism decreed by Putin, foreign buyers would use special accounts at Gazprombank to pay for the gas. Gazprombank would buy roubles on behalf of the gas buyer and transfer roubles to another account, the order said.

A source told Reuters that payments for gas delivered in April on some contracts started in the second half of April and May for others, suggesting the taps might not be turned off immediately.

Putin's decision to enforce rouble payments has boosted the Russian currency, which fell to historic lows after the Feb. 24 invasion. The rouble has since recovered much lost ground.

SEARCHING FOR ALTERNATIVES

Western companies and governments have rejected any move to change their gas supply contracts to another payment currency. Most European buyers use euros. Executives say it would take months or longer to renegotiate terms.

Payment in roubles would also blunt the impact of Western curbs on Moscow's access to its foreign exchange reserves.

Meanwhile, European states have been racing to secure alternative supplies, but with the global market already tight, they have few options. The United States has offered more of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) but not enough to replace Russia.

"It is important for us not to give a signal that we will be blackmailed by Putin," Germany Economy Minister Robert Habeck said, adding that Russia had not been able to divide Europe.

German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said existing gas contracts were based in euros and payments would continue to be made in that currency.

French economy minister Bruno Le Maire said France and Germany were preparing for the possibility of Russian gas flows being halted. He declined to comment on technical details linked to latest Russian demands for rouble payment.

Putin said the switch to roubles would strengthen Russia's sovereignty. He said the West was using the financial system as a weapon, and it made no sense for Russia to trade in dollars and euros when assets in those currencies were being frozen.

"What is actually happening, what has already happened? We have supplied European consumers with our resources, in this case gas. They received it, paid us in euros, which they then froze themselves. In this regard, there is every reason to believe that we delivered part of the gas provided to Europe practically free of charge," he said.

"That, of course, cannot continue," Putin said, although he said Russia still valued its business reputation and would continue to meet obligations in its gas and other contracts.

STAYING UNITED

European gas prices have rocketed higher in recent months on mounting tension with Russia raising the risk of recession. Soaring energy prices have forced companies, including makers of steel and chemicals, to curtail production.

British and Dutch gas prices were up 4% to 5% after the Putin's announcement.

"The parties concerned have not heard from Gazprom yet. However, we should be united and not allow ourselves to be divided between politics and business in Europe," said Timm Kehler, managing director of German gas industry lobby Zukunft Gas.

European companies had little or no immediate comment on the Russian announcement or on their contracts with Gazprom, which has a monopoly on Russian gas exports by pipeline.

Poland's PGNiG said it remained in contact with Gazprom with which it has a long-term contract that expires at the end of this year, but it said it would not discuss details. The Polish contract with Gazprom is for 10.2 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas a year and is denominated in dollars.

The Polish Climate Ministry had no immediate comment.

Italian energy firm Eni, another major European buyer of Russian gas, also had no comment. It bought around 22.5 bcm of Russian gas in 2020. Its contracts with Gazprom expire in 2035.

Danish energy firm Orsted, which has a long-term take-or-pay contract with Gazprom, said it was waiting to hear from the Russian firm and declined to comment further.

Uniper and EnBW's VNG, two major German buyers of Russian gas, declined to comment, while RWE did not immediately respond.

(Reporting by Reuters correspondents including Stephen Jewkes in Milan, Vera Eckert, Joseph Nasr and Tassilo Hummel in Berlin, Nina Chestney in London, Marek Strzelecki in Warsaw and Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt; Writing by Mark; Editing by Edmund Blair)

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Russian President has told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that European partners can continue paying for Russian gas in euros, according to a statement published by the government in Berlin.

During a phone conversation on Wednesday, Putin said payments will continue to be made in euros and will be transferred as usual to Gazprombank and converted to rubles, Xinhua news agency quoted the statement as saying.

Scholz did not agree to the procedure proposed by Putin during the conversation but asked for written information in order to understand the procedure more precisely, according to the statement.

Last week, Russia announced that it would only accept payment for gas imports in rubles from "unfriendly countries".

In response, the G7 rejected payments in rubles, citing reasons of contractual compliance.

Wednesday's statement stressed that the G7 agreement on making payments in euros or dollars still applies.

Earlier on Wednesday, announced the first stage, or the early warning level, of its gas emergency plan, saying that it's for "precautionary purposes".

--IANS

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President Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine has been a "strategic blunder" that has weakened Russia and left it "increasingly isolated" on the world stage, according to the .

At a press conference on Wednesday, Press Secretary Kate Bedingfield said the US has information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which has resulted in persistent tension between the president and his military leadership.

We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisors about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth, she said.

So, it is increasingly clear that Putin's war has been a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term, and increasingly isolated on the world stage," she said.

Bedingfield said the Russian leadership made an aggressive push toward Kyiv at the beginning of the invasion, but is now publicly trying to redefine the goals of their invasion to be different than they were at the outset.

When asked about some declassified American intelligence information that Putin had bad information from his military, she replied: I think putting forward this information simply contributes to a sense that this has been a strategic error for them.

Again, I'm not going to characterise what they are thinking. I'm certainly not going to characterise how they may or may not use this information to make decisions. That's not my place. But I do think that making this information public contributes to an understanding that this has been a strategic failure for Russia, the US official said.

Bedingfield said the US will continue to pursue its strategy of imposing severe costs on Russia and trying to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.

She reiterated that President Joe Biden has not been advocating for a policy of regime change in Moscow.

What he said a couple of days ago was a statement of personal moral outrage, but we do not have a formal policy of regime change. What we are doing is continuing to impose unprecedented costs on Russia, Bedingfield said.

We are ensuring that Russia is paying for this choice. Putin himself has said that the cost, the impact of the sanctions, has been significant. So, we are continuing to focus on our strategy of making sure that we are providing security assistance to Ukraine and imposing significant costs on Russia for these choices, she noted.

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Residents of China's commercial capital of scrambled on Thursday to stock up groceries as they braced for a lockdown in the city's western areas to stop the spread of COVID-19, while authorities appealed for continued compliance with curbs.

The city, home to 26 million people, is in the fourth day of a two-stage lockdown divided between the historic centre west of the Huangpu River and the financial and industrial district of Pudong in the east.

Public transport in western areas will halt, with residents confined to their homes from 3 a.m. on Friday (1900 GMT Thursday).

In central Shanghai, vegetable sellers and butchers hawked their wares from behind barriers and on sidewalks. Restaurants hoping to cut losses advertised deep discounts through chat groups on social media.

"Lockdown super deal! 50% off on steaks", advertised a pamphlet from a high-end steak house.

The two-stage lockdown began on Monday in eastern districts, where the curbs are to be lifted at 5 a.m. on Friday. But some residents told Reuters they could be asked to stay in longer, especially as the number of new infections keeps rising.

Authorities would decide how to lift the first stage of lockdown on the basis of testing results and advice from experts, city government official Ma Chunlei told a daily news conference.

Shanghai's daily tally of infections eased for the first time in about two weeks, authorities said on Thursday.

It reported 5,298 locally transmitted new asymptomatic cases and 355 symptomatic cases for Wednesday, versus corresponding figures of 5,656 and 326 the previous day.

makes up almost 80% of local asymptomatic cases across for Wednesday, and about 20% of those with symptoms.

Inadequately prepared

The outbreak, and the curbs against it, have disrupted life for residents and businesses.

U.S. electric car maker Tesla is extending a production halt at its factory for at least two days, following an output suspension since Monday, two sources told Reuters.

Volkswagen's Shanghai joint venture with SAIC Motor will maintain some production between April 1 and 5 by providing accommodation and meals at its factory for employees volunteering to work, it said.

Many residents have vented frustration on social media with videos and images of crowded quarantine centres, while seeking help with medical treatment and buying food.

In a letter to residents, the city government thanked them for their efforts and sacrifices, especially as some spent a long time in quarantine and lockdown. But it urged them to keep co-operating to rein in the virus.

Ma, the Shanghai government official, however, acknowledged that the city could have done more, adding that authorities were trying to improve distribution of food and issues with securing medical help.

"Our knowledge about the highly contagious Omicron variant has been insufficient, we were inadequately prepared for the fast-rising number of infected patients, and our control measures have not been up to speed," he said.

Still, even though some in Shanghai have questioned how practical China's strategy of "dynamic clearance" is, the approach will not be relaxed, state news agency Xinhua has said, saying it was essential to protect lives and health.

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Three were detained by the Sri Lankan Navy for allegedly poaching in the island's territorial waters, an official said here on Thursday.

The three aged 30, 35 and 57 respectively from Puddokotai district of were fishing in Karainagar waters when they were arrested late on Wednesday night. The boat which the were using was also seized by the Sri Lankan Navy.

The captured fishermen were then taken to the Mylatty harbour in for further investigation, according to Q Branch Police, one of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) wings of Police.

As per the Q Branch Police, on Tuesday, the Sri Lankan Navy apprehended four Rameswaram-based fishermen in the Ramanathapuram district of the state and impounded their boat.

Previously, on March 24 Sri Lankan Navy had apprehended 16 fishermen and impounded their two boats from Rameswaram and Mandapam in Tamil Nadu.

On February 12 as well, the Sri Lankan Navy had apprehended 12 Rameswaram-based fishermen and impounded their two fishing boats after they had gone fishing across the border in Palk Bay.

Earlier Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs V Muraleedharan, in a written reply in Lok Sabha on February 4 this year said Indian fishermen are arrested from time to time by the Sri Lankan authorities for allegedly crossing the Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and fishing in Sri Lankan waters.

"As per the available information, 74 and 159 Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy in 2020 and 2021 respectively," he stated.

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Embattled Prime Minister in what appeared to be a slip of tongue, on Thursday named the as the country behind the threat letter' that purportedly showed evidence of a foreign conspiracy to oust his government.

On Wednesday, Khan's Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government confirmed that its allegation about a foreign conspiracy was based on a diplomatic cable received from one of the country's missions abroad.

"The letter stated that the no-confidence motion was being tabled even before it was filed, which means the Opposition was in contact with them," Khan alleged in his address to the nation.

At a massive public meeting held on Sunday in Islamabad, Khan had pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and waved it at the crowd, claiming it was evidence of an conspiracy being hatched to topple his government.

Khan, 69, said the memo was against him, not against the government. "...it stated that if the no-confidence motion passes, will be forgiven, if not, there will be consequences."



He stated that it was an "official letter" that was communicated to Pakistan's ambassador, who was taking notes during the meeting.

The premier said the envoy was told that if remains in power, Pakistan would face "difficulties".

"I am telling my nation today that this is our status. We are a nation of 220 million and another country and they are not giving any reason [is issuing threats]. They said that decided to go to Russia on his own even though the Foreign Office and the military leadership was consulted.

"Our ambassador told them that the decision [to visit Russia was made after consultations] but they are denying it and saying that 'it was only because of Imran Khan and that our ties cannot be good if he stays.' What they are actually saying is that they have no issue with the people who will replace Imran Khan. The US has asserted that it did not send any letter to Pakistan on the current political situation in the country as it sought to refute allegations of America's involvement in the no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan-led government."



The US State Department on Wednesday asserted that no US government agency or official had sent a letter to Pakistan on the current political situation in the country.

Responding to questions from the Dawn newspaper of Pakistan about the alleged letter and US involvement in the no-confidence motion against the PTI government, a State Department spokesperson said: There is no truth to these allegations."



Earlier, Khan chaired a meeting of the National Security Committee which decided to issue a strong demarche to a country, that it did not name, over the "threatening letter".

"The committee expressed grave concern at the communication, terming the language used by the foreign official as undiplomatic, according to a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office.

"The Committee concluded that the communication amounted to blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan by the country in question, which was unacceptable under any circumstances."



Imran Khan's government initially offered to share the letter with the chief justice of Pakistan, but later the prime minister also briefed his cabinet members about the contents of the letter.

Khan met President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on February 24, the day the Russian leader ordered a "special military operation" against Ukraine. Khan also became the first Pakistani premier to visit Russia in 23 years after former premier Nawaz Sharif travelled to Moscow in 1999.

Earlier this month, Pakistan had abstained from voting in United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution calling on Russia to stop the war, and urged that the conflict be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy.

Pakistan's ties with Russia have moved past the bitter Cold War hostilities in recent years and the chill in the relations between Pakistan and the US has further pushed the country towards Russia and China.

At the same time, Pakistan's relations with the US have been lukewarm and President Joe Biden is yet to make a customary call to Prime Minister Khan since his appointment in January 2021.

Khan was originally expected to address the nation on Wednesday. However, it was postponed for Thursday.

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By Makiko Yamazaki and Junko Fujita

TOKYO (Reuters) - Corp's top shareholder has agreed to sell its stake to Bain Capital if the U.S. private equity firm launches a tender offer, Effissimo Capital Management said in a regulatory filing on Thursday.

The agreement with Singapore-based Effissimo, which owns about 9.9% of Toshiba, could potentially force to revive talks for a private equity buyout after shareholders last week voted down the Japanese industrial conglomerate's plan to split its devices unit.

Effissimo said in the filing it had signed a confirmation letter dated March 24 that it would tender to a bid that allows Bain to own at least two thirds of and that clears regulatory approval.

The Nikkei business daily reported later on Thursday that Bain is planning to team up with Japanese investment funds in making a buyout offer.

Bain said in a statement nothing had been decided about a takeover bid for Toshiba, adding there were many issues that needed to be resolved to launch a bid to take Toshiba private.

"We believe we need to have careful and sincere dialogues with Toshiba management, the Japanese government, financial institutions and other stakeholders," it said.

INTEREST FROM OTHER PRIVATE EQUITY FIRMS

Three sources with knowledge of the matter have told Reuters that other global private equity firms are also interested in taking Toshiba private.

One of them sounded out Toshiba management about a potential buyout in January, saying that it could make a proposal if the company is interested, said the sources, who declined to be identified as the talks were private.

Toshiba said in a statement it was not involved in the confirmation letter between Effissimo and Bain, as well as in its contents.

It also said the company accepts the opinion of the shareholders expressed at last week's meeting and will aim to build trust with shareholders and reconsider its strategic options to enhance value.

A spokesperson for Effissimo, when asked about the filing, said the fund planned to announce its stance at the appropriate time.

Reuters reported last year that Bain was looking at formulating a bid to take Toshiba private, making it one of several said to be interested in such a deal.

During a five-month strategic review through November, Toshiba held discussions with private equity firms but decided not to entertain potential offers. Sources said the private equity firms Toshiba held talks with included Bain, KKR & Co Inc and Blackstone.

Bain owns Kioxia Holdings Corp, the world's second-largest maker of NAND flash memory chips. Toshiba has a 40% stake in the chipmaker.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki and Junko Fujita; editing by Mark Potter and Jason Neely)

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Ukrainian Defense Ministry's spokesman Olexandr Motuzyanyk on Wednesday confirmed that has been withdrawing some troops from Kiev and Chernihiv directions, in central and northern respectively, the Interfax- news agency reported.

"The General Staff of the Armed Forces of notes a certain partial relocation of individual units from the Kiev direction, as well as from the Chernihiv direction," Motuzyanyk told a media briefing.

However, there was no mass withdrawal of Russian troops from those areas, he was quoted as saying Xinhua news agency.

Motuzyanyk suggested that Russian forces may renew their offensive against Kiev and Chernihiv after replenishing the units that suffered the biggest losses in the battles.

On Tuesday, Russia's Defense Ministry announced that has decided to significantly reduce military activity in the Kiev and Chernihiv directions.

--IANS

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Germany's economy minister says Europe should impose additional sanctions on Russia to prevent what he described as a barbaric war in Ukraine.

Robert Habeck said he discussed what further measures could be taken with his French counterpart during a bilateral meeting in Berlin on Thursday.

The last package (of sanctions) doesn't need to be the final one, it should not be the final one, he told reporters, adding that he and French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire had identified additional points that could be included in a (sanctions) package.

Habeck declined to elaborate on what those points might be.

Speaking ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement on new rules requiring countries to pay for Russia's natural gas sales in rubles, Habeck insisted that contracts would be adhered to. These stipulate payment in euros or dollars.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked Belgian lawmakers for more help and took aim at the continued import of Russian diamonds to Belgium's port of Antwerp on Thursday while repeating calls for a no-fly zone over his country.

Zelenskyy's video address at the parliament elicited a long round of warm applause, but Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo reiterated the Western stance that NATO is not a party in the war.

And it should not become one, he added.

You have been pleading for a no-fly zone imposed by NATO since the beginning of this war. Let's be frank, this would mean shooting down Russian planes and an escalation that might engulf the whole continent of Europe. More lives lost, and a wider war without any solution.

De Croo, however, assured Zelenskyy of Belgium's resolute and long-lasting support. He announced new orders for weapons to be delivered to the war-torn country.

Zelenskyy thanked Belgium a country of 11.5 million for its help, and for welcoming already 30,000 Ukrainian refugees who managed to escape the conflict.

But recalling the ordeal of the besieged city of Mariupol's inhabitants, Zelenskyy also pointed to the continued importing of Russian rough diamonds to Antwerp, which is the world's most important diamond trading hubs.

There are people for whom Russian diamonds sometimes sold in Antwerp are more important," he said through a translator speaking in French.

People for whom accepting Russian ships in their ports, and for whom the income from these ships is more important than our struggles."



I believe that peace is way more valuable than diamonds, than the deals sealed with Russia, than the Russian ships (allowed) in ports, than Russian oil and gas, Zelenskyy added.

Help us. Do it, with weapons, sanctions, and the possibility to become members of the European Union.

According to The Antwerp World Diamond Centre, the official representative of the city's diamond industry, 86% of all rough diamonds mined worldwide are traded in Antwerp, making it the most important gateway to the world for Russian diamonds.

Diamond imports from to the EU have not been targeted by the bloc's sanctions so far.

De Croo said last week that Belgium is not opposed to sanctions that would have an impact on the diamonds sector, but said the EU should be careful not to take measures that would be more detrimental to the 27-nation bloc than to .

If as a European Union we do that and the whole traffic is just moving to Dubai, and it does not have an impact on Russia, then ... I mean. we are not waging a war on ourselves," he said.

"The goal is that the impact should be on the Russian side. So I'm not against it, but it should be done with good agreements or we might have no impact at all.

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Ukrainian forces are preparing for new Russian attacks in the east of the country as Moscow builds up its troops there after suffering setbacks near the capital Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.



Russia's invasion of its neighbour, now in its fifth week, has driven around a quarter of Ukrainians from their homes and brought Russian-Western tensions to their worst point since the Cold War.



Tough resistance by Ukrainian forces has prevented Russia from capturing any major city, including Kyiv, where a Russian armed column was held back for weeks. At peace talks this week in Istanbul, Russia said it would curtail operations near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv to build trust.



But and its Western allies, including the United States, dismissed Russia's pledge as a ploy to stem its losses and prepare for other attacks.



The head of Britain's GCHQ spy service said new intelligence showed some Russian soldiers had refused to carry out orders, sabotaged their own equipment and accidentally shot down one of their own aircraft.



Russia says its forces are regrouping to focus on "liberating" the breakaway eastern Donbas region.



In an early morning video address, Zelenskiy referred to Russian troop movements away from Kyiv and Chernihiv and said that was not a withdrawal but rather "the consequence of our defenders' work."



Zelenskiy added that is seeing "a build-up of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas and we are preparing for that."



The Donbas region encompasses two self-proclaimed "people's republics" that Russia says it is helping to free from Ukrainian control.



The leader of the Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, said on Wednesday that offensive operations were intensifying.



Donetsk includes the besieged port city of Mariupol, which has seen some of the war's heaviest fighting and bombardment and where about 170,000 people are trapped with scarce food and water.



"We cook what we find among neighbours. A bit of cabbage, a bit more of potatoes, we've found tomato paste, some beetroot," said former steel worker Viktor from Mariupol. They cook using a rudimentary barbecue and sleep in a basement, which he termed their "peaceful oasis."



Russian forces have taken half of the strategic port city, an adviser to Zelenskiy said on Wednesday. Russia's defence ministry said it was prepared to observe a ceasefire in Mariupol on Thursday, Russian news agencies reported.



Kyiv has accused Russia of not fully respecting earlier such commitments. Moscow denies targeting civilians.



PEACE TALKS, GAS PRICES



Russia says it is carrying out a "special operation" to disarm and "denazify" its neighbour. Western countries say Moscow's invasion, the biggest assault on a European country since World War Two, was entirely unprovoked.



The fate of Donbas was discussed at peace talks on Tuesday in Istanbul. A senior Ukrainian negotiator said the talks will resume online on Friday.



has sought a ceasefire without compromising on territory or sovereignty, though it has proposed adopting a neutral status in exchange for security guarantees. Russia opposes Ukraine joining the U.S.-led NATO military alliance, and has cited its potential membership as a reason for the invasion.



Western sanctions imposed on Russia as punishment for its invasion have largely isolated its economy from world trade but Moscow is still the biggest supplier of oil and gas to Europe.



The United States is considering releasing up to 180 million barrels of oil over several months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) to ease upward pressure on gasoline prices, two U.S. sources said.



U.S. President Joe Biden will give remarks later on Thursday on efforts to lower gas prices, the White House said.



Seeking to exert its leverage, Russia demanded oil and gas payments be made in roubles by Friday, raising fears of energy shortages and boosting recessionary risks in Europe. Germany has warned of a possible emergency if Russia cuts supplies.



Floating a potential compromise, Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that payments could be made in euros and sent to Gazprombank, which would convert the money to roubles, a German government spokesperson said.



Scholz asked for written information to "better understand the procedure," the spokesperson said.



Gazprombank, one of the main channels for payments for Russian oil and gas, is not subject to EU sanctions.



'SQUEEZED OUT'



Global restrictions on exports to Russia over its invasion have shut down a car maker, halted work on tanks, and cut off a Russian computer maker's access to circuits used in communications equipment, a U.S. official said.



"Necessity brought together this unprecedented collaboration on export controls and other measures that are having a meaningful impact on Putin's war," said Thea Kendler, an official with the U.S. Commerce Department.



Russia says the West has effectively declared economic war on Russia and so it will now turn eastwards, away from Europe to build a partnership with China.



(Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Rami Ayyub and Stephen Coates; Editing by Michael Perry)

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
As the prepares to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees following Russia's invasion of their country, existing communities in cities like Sacramento and Seattle are already mobilizing to provide food, shelter and support to those fleeing the war.

The federal government hasn't said when the formal resettlement process will begin, but Ukrainian groups in the U.S. are already providing support to people entering the country through other channels, including on visas that will eventually expire or by flying to Mexico and crossing over the border.

No refugee is waiting for you to be ready for them," said Eduard Kislyanka, senior pastor at the House of Bread church near Sacramento, which has been sending teams of people to Poland and preparing dozens of its member families to house people arriving in California.

Since the war began in late February an estimated 3.6 million people have fled and millions more have been displaced within the country. President Joe Biden said last week that the U.S. would admit up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and provide $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to countries affected by the exodus.

The federal government has yet to provide a timeline for refugee resettlement often a lengthy process or details on where refugees will be resettled. It's unlikely the will see a massive influx of Ukrainians on charter and military flights like happened with Afghan refugees last year.

Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said the White House commitment of accepting up to 100,000 Ukrainians does not come with a minimum. Aside from the refugee resettlement program, their main avenues will be seeking humanitarian parole and appearing at the border with Mexico, she said.

Many who reach the will likely go to cities that already have strong Ukrainian communities.

The Sacramento region is home to the highest concentration of Ukrainian immigrants in the country, with about 18,000 people, according to census data analyzed by the Migration Policy Institute. The Seattle, Chicago and New York City areas are also hubs.

Word is spreading about the resources available in Sacramento, where churches like House of Bread are connecting Ukrainians who have already arrived with host families who can offer shelter and help access government resources and transportation. Kislyanka called the church's actions a stop gap" measure designed to help as people await more clarity about the formal government resettlement process.

Most of these people do not have any relations, like they don't know anybody here," said Kislyanka, who came to the U.S. as a child in the early 1990s. Having somebody who can help them navigate the cultural shock and navigate the system. . . it just makes things a lot easier and smoother."



Sacramento has been a destination for Ukrainians since the late 1980s and early 1990s, when many of those arriving were Christians taking advantage of a U.S. law offering entrance to anyone escaping religious persecution in the former Soviet Union.

Another wave of refugees began arriving after Russia's initial invasion of in 2014. Of the 8,000 Ukrainians resettled by the organization World Relief since then, 3,000 have come to Sacramento, said Vanassa Hamra, the group's community engagement manager in Sacramento.

Beyond the dozens of Slavic churches in the Sacramento region, there are schools that serve mainly Ukrainian and Russian students. Eastern European grocery stores and restaurants offer favorite foods like borscht, a type of beetroot soup, and varenyky, a boiled dumpling. Businesses started by Ukrainians try to hire from their country.

All of that makes it easy for younger people to maintain a sense of connection to their heritage and for older immigrants to adapt without having to become fluent in a new language and culture.

It's very easy when you come here. Every door, it's open for you," said Oleksandra Datsenko, who came to the U.S. six years ago and works as a waitress at Firebird Russian Restaurant, which serves Eastern European fare in a Sacramento suburb.

Valeriy Goloborodko, who immigrated to Southern California in 2006, wanted to return to until he settled with his wife in the Seattle area. There, he found a thriving Ukrainian community and went on to become the country's honorary consul in Seattle in 2015, helping organize an annual festival where as many as 16,000 people a day would show up to feast on traditional food, listen to Ukrainian musicians and wear traditionally embroidered clothing.

The Ukrainian community in Washington helped me to feel like I was at home and this is my home now, Goloborodko said. We feel like this is a Little Ukraine.

Since the invasion, Goloborodko and in the Washington state Ukrainian community have lobbied hard for support from state officials. Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee has vowed that Washington will welcome Ukrainians fleeing the violence. The Legislature has set aside nearly $20 million to help pay anticipated costs of housing, job training, health care and legal aid for Ukrainian refugees. The Port of Seattle has promised to help welcome the refugees at Seattle-Tacoma Airport, where they can begin to be connected with services.

In Sacramento, meanwhile, the state's housing crisis could prove challenging as resettlement and community organizations look for lodging for new arrivals. Like much of California, the region is facing a housing crunch with limited supply and rising rents.

People are coming here; we can help them; we can provide something. But it's going to get swamped so quick, said Kislyanka, the head pastor at House of Bread.

The Rescue Committee's Sacramento branch has an affiliated immigrant welcome center that's already assisting people who entered the country illegally, said Lisa Welze, director of IRC Sacramento. Many are nervous to engage with resettlement agencies but in need of resources particularly housing as well as help navigating the immigration system to see if they can find a legal path to stay.

As for when the more formal resettlement process will begin, we've been told we just need to wait," Welze 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.)
The U.S. and criticized India for considering a Russian proposal that would undermine sanctions imposed by America and its allies, showing a deepening rift between the emerging security partners as Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traveled to Delhi for talks.



Now is the time to stand on the right side of history, and to stand with the and dozens of other countries, standing up for freedom, democracy and sovereignty with the Ukrainian people, and not funding and fueling and aiding President Putins war, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told reporters in Washington on Wednesday. She called reports of the arrangement deeply disappointing, while adding that she hadnt seen details.

Dan Tehan, Australias trade minister who also spoke at the briefing, said it was important for democracies to work together to keep the rules-based approach that weve had since the second world war.

The comments reflect growing unease with India among fellow members of the Quad, a group of democracies seeking to counter Chinas assertiveness in the Asia-Pacific region that also includes the U.S., and Japan. India is the worlds largest buyer of Russian weapons, and has also sought to buy cheap oil as fuel prices surge.





ALSO READ: US official warns India, others against increasing Russian oil imports

While India has supported calls for a cease-fire and a diplomatic solution, it abstained at the United Nations on votes for draft resolutions condemning Russias invasion that were ultimately vetoed by Moscow. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that India is weighing a plan to make rupee-ruble-denominated payments using an alternative to SWIFT after the U.S. and European Union cut off seven Russian banks from using the Belgium-based cross-border payment system operator.

The Russian plan involves rupee-ruble-denominated payments using the countrys messaging system SPFS and central bank officials from Moscow are likely to visit next week to discuss the details. No final decision has been taken.





Indias middle-ground position on the war has left to a raft of diplomacy in the past few weeks, with Chinas foreign minister visiting for the first time since 2019 and now Lavrov seeking to shore up support. At the same time, the U.S. and its allies are also stepping up engagement in a bid to influence Prime Minister Narendra Modis government.





ALSO READ: Jaishankar speaks with Blinken, discuss Indo-Pacific, Ukraine situation

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visited Delhi earlier this month, and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison also held a video summit with Modi. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a call with his counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, to discuss the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine among other issues.

During Lavrovs trip, India is also hosting U.S. Deputy National Security Advisor for Economics Daleep Singh and U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss. Her office said she will point to the importance of all countries reducing strategic dependency on Russia at this time of heightened global insecurity.

India has pushed back against U.S. concerns by noting that it needs Russian arms to counter China, particularly after border clashes in 2020, and alternatives are too expensive. The strategic relationship between India and Russia dates back to the Cold War and remains robust, even as Modi has shifted the country more toward the U.S. orbit in recent years.
As members of the Ukrainian parliament were pleading for aid on Capitol Hill, an air raid siren blared from one of their cell phones a wrenching alert from the war-torn country back home.

One of the visitors reached into her bag, pulled out the phone and let the siren wail in the halls of Congress.

Right now, you hear the sound? said Anastasia Radina, a member of the Ukrainian Rada.

This is the air raid alarm in the community where my son is staying right now, she said at a press conference this week after meeting with members of Congress. I need you all to hear that.

The Ukrainian lawmakers met for a second day Wednesday with their counterparts in the U.S. Congress, urging American allies to more quickly provide additional military aid fighter jets, tanks and other support and to impose stiffer economic sanctions on the invading Russians they're trying to push from their country.

The visiting legislators, all women, with family back home, were warning the U.S. that they do not trust negotiations underway with Russian President Vladimir Putin over ending the monthlong war.

And they impressed on the Americans that their country is at a crucial juncture in the fight against his invasion.

They desperately need more help both with military assistance and the tightening of sanctions, said Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, emerging from Wednesday's private meeting at the Capitol.

U.S. lawmakers have been pressing President Joe Biden's administration to do more for providing their political support for sanctions on Russian leadership, a ban on Russian oil imports to the U.S., even declaring Putin should be investigated for war crimes.

Biden on Wednesday announced that the U.S. will send another $500 million in direct aid to as the Russian invasion continues.

At the same time, the Senate was working to pass legislation suspending Russia's favoured trade status a measure that has been tangled over a related human rights provision, even though there is widespread support for suspending normal trade relations and halting Russian oil imports.

Lawmakers emerging from two days of meetings with the Ukrainian lawmakers kept up a largely unified front, with both Republicans and Democrats saying more funding would be needed, beyond the nearly $14 billion in military and humanitarian aid recently approved. Many are members of the Caucus in the House and Senate, formed years ago to bolster the emerging democracy after it emerged from the former Soviet Union.

Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., described a sense of "buoyancy in the room with the Ukrainian lawmakers Wednesday amid word of a possible Russian move away from Kyiv, even as he acknowledged the likely fighting still ahead.

The Russians are losing this war, which is extraordinary," he said. While the Ukrainians are looking at the scope of the loss of life, man, this has been a sight to see. A real inspiration. And there's a lot of support in Congress to continue to help them.

Yet there is concern in Congress that Biden's administration is too timid in its response and too slow to send needed military equipment. Some speak of an administration Afghanistan Syndrome."



Republicans in particular, but also Democratic lawmakers, suggest there's a hesitancy from the U.S. to push deeper into an overseas conflict with commitments of military aid after 20 years fighting the forever war in Afghanistan.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said the Ukrainians she had met with in the past had used that term Afghanistan Syndrome, but on Wednesday the Ukrainian legislators instead spoke with urgency about the military aid they need with fighter jets at the top of the list.

If they're going to win, they need more," Ernst said. "And they know they can win. But they just need the support coming from the United States.

The Ukrainians delivered a long list of specific military equipment they are requesting, and senators said at the top remain the fighter planes the Biden administration has been reluctant to transfer from NATO ally Poland.

The Ukrainians told reporters after meeting with House lawmakers a day earlier that they also want other air support systems as well as tanks to push the Russians back from their cities.

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has roused the world to his country's side, speaking via video livestreams to legislative bodies around the world, the Ukrainian legislators provided their own compelling portrait this week in Washington women fighting for their country abroad while their loved ones and families fight from home.

They said that while they are thankful for the U.S. help their country has received, they need more especially now, as Russia's strategy may be shifting.

They are wary of talks with Putin, and they framed the war ravishing their country not only as a fight for a Ukraine, but for all of Western democracy.

Putin cannot be trusted, said Yevheniya Kravchuk, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, at Tuesday's press conference.

For us neutrality is not an option, said parliament representative Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze. Neutrality accepted today, it's a slavery tomorrow slavery under the Russian Federation.

Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill are making weekend trips to the Ukrainian border regions to understand the war first-hand. What they've seen is reminiscent of imagery many grew up with learning about World War II.

It's freezing cold. There's like a little gust of snow, I mean, most folks didn't have winter coats, they had like one bag, said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., recounting what he saw a few weeks ago on the Polish border.

It was reminiscent of the Second World War," he said. "You're just like watching, you're just seeing this mass exodus of people.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
PM addressed the country on Thursday night, after effectively losing majority in the lower house. Criticising US, he said that they used and ditched at convenience.

I will not resign, will fight till the last ball. The voting on no-confidence will be conducted on Sunday. Its a day of reckoning for Pakistan, he added speaking about the no-trust vote on Sunday.

He called trio of opposition as chosen stooges of foreign forces eager to bring about regime change in .

His address today comes amid backdoor efforts to reach a deal between the premier and the joint opposition to dissolve the lower house.

Pakistan's National Assembly session was earlier adjourned abruptly till Sunday after opposition lawmakers demanded an immediate vote on a no-confidence motion against embattled Prime Minister who has effectively lost majority in the lower house.

As soon as the National Assembly session began at the Parliament House, Deputy Speaker Qasim Suri opened the floor for questions.

However, opposition lawmakers demanded an immediate vote on the no-confidence motion amid chants of go Imran go.

Suri termed the opposition's attitude non-serious and adjourned the session till 11:30 am Sunday when the vote on the no-confidence motion is expected to take place.

Earlier, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Babar Awan moved a motion to adjourn the session so the assembly hall could be used for the Parliamentary Committee on National Security's meeting. The motion was rejected after voting.

The resolution against the embattled premier was tabled by the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif on March 28 and it was approved for debate the very same day.

The assembly secretariat had issued a 24-point agenda for Thursday's session and the no-confidence motion was fourth on the agenda.

Sharif had tabled the motion under Article A-95 of the Constitution, and it had 161 members as signatories. While tabling the motion, Sharif had said he was presenting the no-confidence motion against prime minister Khan.

Prime Minister Khan also chaired a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) - the highest forum for coordination on security issues - at the Prime Minister's House on Thursday.
The White House has pledged an additional $500 million in direct aid for as the Russian invasion grinds on.

U.S. President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a 55 minute call Wednesday that the additional aid was on its way.

The leaders also reviewed security aid already delivered to and the effects that weaponry has had on the war, according to the White House.

Zelesnkyy has pressed the Biden administration and other Western allies to provide with military jets.

The U.S. and other NATO countries have thus far been unwilling to accommodate that request out of concern it could lead to Russia broadening the war beyond Ukraine's borders.

Prior to Wednesday's announcement of $500 million in aid, the Biden administration had sent Ukraine about $2 billion in humanitarian and security assistance since the start of the war last month.

That's all part of the $13.6 billion that Congress approved earlier this month for Ukraine as part of a broader spending bill.

(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 Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday that it has delivered food aid to 1 million people in and requested an additional USD 590 million in funding to expand the assistance.

"JUST IN: @WFP has reached 1 million people in # w/ emergency food assistance including humanitarian convoys into Sumy & Kharkiv, two hard-to-reach cities. Within a few months, we'll be working hard to scale up to 6 million people. But we urgently need funds to do it," WFP Executive Director David Beasley said on Twitter.

The WFP said it managed to build a network of urgent assistance tools in within just one month. Food is now being delivered to such conflict zones as Sumy and Kharkiv by two convoys of humanitarian vehicles, while displaced Ukrainians in the western city of Lviv are receiving cash assistance.

"Now that the structures are in place, we need the funding to keep delivering assistance, and to help 3 million people in need," the agency said, adding that "WFP requires $590 million to assist 3.1 million crisis-affected people and IDPs on the move inside Ukraine with in-kind and cash distributions, as well as refugees and asylum seekers from Ukraine in neighbouring countries for the next three months."

On February 24, launched a military operation in Ukraine after declaring the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population is not in danger.

(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.)
Logistics company aims to launch its initial public offering (IPO) in the June 2022 quarter, said investment bankers who know about the plans.

The Gurugram-based company filed in November its draft red herring prospectus with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). It got Sebis approval for the in January.

Challenging market conditions due to the US Federal Reserves hawkish pivot and Russias attack on Ukraine have roiled the market after a record-breaking 2021.

"The market has seen an improvement in the past one week amid talks of ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine. If market conditions continue to improve, we can see large issuances such as launch their share sale," said a banker. Four IPOs have got launched in the past one week compared to just three between January and February.

is pegged to be around Rs 7,000 crore. It is Indias largest multimodal, fully-integrated logistics and supply-chain firm by revenues (FY21 basis).

Brokerage Motilal Oswal said in in a recent note the domestic logistics sector offers a large addressable opportunity as it is pegged to grow at an annualized rate of 9 per cent to $365 billion between FY20 and FY26. It expects the growth to be higher for the organised players due to their relentless focus on technology and automation.

At present, the logistics market is highly fragmented with organized players accounting for less than 4 per cent of market share. Motilal Oswal said the shift to unorganised to organized sector is already underway.

This shift has gathered pace with the rollout of GST, which increased demand for national, integrated supply chain service providers with integrated warehousing and Transportation models, that allow customers to scale operations at lower fixed costs, while creating opportunities for optimizing footprints and capacity utilization, lesser inventory, and faster and cheaper fulfillment, said Alok Deora and Dhirendra Patro, who are analysts at Motilal Oswal, in a note.

As per the brokerage, some of the key positives of Delhivery are an asset-light business model, diverse customer base, and sophisticated network infrastructure.

Motilal Oswal said Delhivery has proprietary technology systems that enable it to offer integrated logistics services to a wide variety of customers. Its technology stack consists of over 80 applications that encompass all supply chain processes.
The are likely to start the last trading session of the current financial year FY22 on a quiet note. As of 06:55 AM, the SGX Nifty April futures quoted at 17,590  indicating a marginal gain of 30-odd points on the NSE Nifty50 benchmark.



Here are some out for in trade today:

Axis Bank: Axis Bank, the third-largest private sector lender in the country, will buy the retail business of Citibank India in an all-cash deal for Rs 12,325 crore. This is the biggest deal in the banking space since the acquisition of ING Vysya Bank by Kotak Mahindra Bank in 2014, which was valued at Rs 15,000 crore. Read here

Tata Motors: TPG RISE Climate TopGun (TPG), a private equity fund, has subscribed to 3,75,00,000 compulsorily convertible preference shares of the face value of Rs 1,000 each in company's subsidiary, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, for an aggregate consideration of Rs 3,750 crore as the first tranche of the potential investment aggregating Rs 7,500 crore, announced by the company in October 2021.

CEAT & Apollo Tyres: The countrys antitrust agency on Wednesday raided offices of tyre companies, including Germany's Continental AG and India's Apollo Tyres, and Ceat, in a case of suspected competition law violations, as per Reuters. Read here

Telecom: Reliance Jio and Vodafone Idea reported a month on month fall in mobile subscribers while Bharti Airtel reported gains in January as per data released by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday. Reliance Jio saw a drop for the second consecutive month as its customer base declined by 9.3 million to 406.3 million. Vodafone Idea continued its losing streak as it shed 389,082 subscribers. It ended the month at 265.12 million customers. Airtels subscriber numbers increased by 714,199 to 356.4 million.Read more

Tata Steel: The steel major on Wednesday said it will acquire ferro alloys producing assets of Odisha-based Stork Ferro and Mineral Industries for Rs 155 crore in an all-cash deal. Moreover, it has also transferred its entire stake in SEZ to Tata Steel Utilities.

MaxHealthcare: As per reports,private equity fund KKR will sell $500 million worth of shares in Max Healthcare via a block deal on March 31. The stake would be offloaded by Kayak Investment, which is the KKR-affiliated entity that has invested in the healthcare company. It will sell the stake with base size of $375 million or Rs 2,800 crore,

ONGC: The company's offer for sale (OFS) garnered 303 million bids from investors--1.6 times of 188.7 million shares put on the block by the government. The two-day issue will close on March 31. The government has decided to exercise the oversubscription option to the extent of additional 9.4 crore equity shares, in addition to 9.4 crore equity shares of the company. Accordingly, close to 19 million shares, worth Rs 300 crore, reserved for retail investors will be auctioned on Thursday.

Nazara Technologies: Subsidiary Nazara Pte Ltd (Nazara Singapore) will invest $2.5 million in BITKRAFT Funds, out of which $0.875 million will be invested upfront while the balance investment amount of $1.625 million will be deployed over a period of three years.

India Glycols: The company said it will commission operations of Goarkahpur unit by May 15. The delay has been caused due to covid-19 pandemic.

Godrej Properties: The company has bought 9 acre land in Pune for a housing project with an estimated revenue of Rs 1,400 crore.

Pidilite Industries: The NCLT has approved merger of Pidilite Adhesives into the company.

Cosmo Films: It has announced expansion by setting up CPP film production line at Aurangabad with annual rated capacity of 25,000 MT. Investment of about Rs 140 crores will be funded through internal accruals and debts.

Hindustan Aeronautics: The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday approved the procurement of 15 Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) for Rs 3,887 crore from the company, for the Indian Air Force.

Bharat forge: Board to meet on April 2 to consider raising funds

Mangalam Cement: Promoter Vidula Consultancy Services acquired 2.26 lakh equity shares in the company via open market transactions. With this, its shareholding in the company stands at 9.92 percent, up from 9.1 percent earlier.

Stocks in F&O ban: Vodafone Idea is under the F&O ban for March 31.
Info Edge (India) announced that its subsidiary, Allcheckdeals India (ACD) has invested an amount of Rs. 50 lakh in its wholly owned subsidiary-NewInc Internet Services, step down subsidiary of the Company.

NewInc is engaged in the business of providing all kinds and types of internet, computer and electronics data processing services.

The said investment is done to meet working capital requirement of the NewInc.

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Axis Bank: The board of directors of Axis Bank have approved the purchase of the Citibank's India Consumer Business from Citibank N.A. (acting through its branch in India) (CBNA) and the NBFC Consumer Business from Citicorp Finance (India) (CFIL), as going concerns, without values being assigned to individual assets and liabilities to either business.

Hero MotoCorp: Hero MotoCorp announced the sixth edition of Hero CoLabs, its flagship crowd-sourcing platform. Commencing the new season of Hero CoLabs, the 'Design Challenge 3.0' will put to test the visual and creative flair of the participants.

ONGC: The Government of India has decided to exercise the oversubscription option to the extent of additional 9.4 crore equity shares, in addition to 9.4 crore equity shares of the company. Accordingly, the total offer size for sale will be up to 18.8 crore shares or 1.5% of total paid up equity.

Tata Steel: The company had transferred its entire equity stake i.e. 100%, held in Tata Steel Special Economic Zone (TSSEZ) to Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services (TSUISL), a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, for consideration other than cash.

Godrej Properties: Godrej Properties announced that it has acquired a 9 acres land parcel in the residential micro-market of Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune. The development will primarily be for a group housing project.

BL Kashyap & Sons: B L Kashyap and Sons was awarded new projects worth Rs 461.32 crore. The new projects require the company to carry out Civil and Structural work in cities Gurugram and Bangalore in the coming months.

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Birla Corporation jumped 5.56% to Rs 1172.75 after the Mukutban integrated cement plant of RCCPL (RCCPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, started clinker dispatch.

The plant has a clinker capacity of 2.68 million tons and cement grinding capacity of 3.9 million tons annually. The captive thermal power plant has a generation capacity of 40 mw.

The clinker is being dispatched to the company's nearest grinding unit at Butibori. Maharashtra. The cement plant at Mukutban, near Nagpur, has taken into consideration energy efficient equipment, right from the limestone crusher up to grinding and packaging.

The Rs 2,744-crore Mukutban integrated cement plant is an important milestone in the annals of Birla Corporation (MP Birla Group) and is the largest greenfield investment by the company in the history of the Group, taking its cement business to almost 20 million tons annually.

Birla Corporation, the flagship Company of the MP Birla Group, has interests in cement and jute.

The company reported a 59.3% decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 60.45 crore on a 1.5% fall in net sales to Rs 1,750.66 crore posted in Q3 FY22 over Q3 FY21.

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Gail (India) advanced 1.14% to Rs 155.15 after the company's board approved share buyback worth Rs 1,082.72 crore at Rs 190 per share.

The company proposes to buy back up to 5,69,85,463 equity shares, comprising 1.28% of the total paid-up equity capital of the company, at a price of Rs 190 per share, for an aggregate amount not exceeding Rs 1082,72,37,970.

The company has fixed Friday, 22 April 2022, as the record date for the purpose of ascertaining the eligibility of shareholders for the buyback of equity shares.

The Government of India held 51.45% stake in Gail (India) as on 25 March 2022.

State-owned GAIL (India) is one of the largest natural gas processing & distribution company.

The net profit of GAIL (India) jumped 100.7% to Rs 3780.78 crore on a 67% increase in net sales to Rs 26145.09 crore in Q3 December 2021 over Q3 December 2020.

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Equity indices traded with small gains in early trade. FMCG and media stocks gained while PSU bank and realty shares declined.

At 9:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 14.78 points or 0.03% at 58,698.13. The Nifty 50 index was up 10.65 points or 0.06% at 17,508.65.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.18% while the S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.45%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, shares 1,701 rose and 792 shares fell. A total of 102 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,357.47 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,216 crore in the Indian equity market on 30 March, provisional data showed.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Godrej Properties rose 0.62%. The real estate developer has acquired a 9 acres land parcel in the residential micro-market of Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune.

The development will primarily be for a group housing project. Based on the current business assumptions, the project will have a developable potential of approximately 1.7 million square feet of saleable area with an estimated revenue potential of approximately Rs 1,400 crore.

ONGC rose 0.12%. The Government of India has decided to exercise the oversubscription option to the extent of additional 9.4 crore equity shares, in addition to 9.4 crore equity shares of the company. Accordingly, the total offer size for sale will be up to 18.8 crore shares or 1.5% of total paid up equity.

Global Markets:

Asian stocks are trading mixed on Thursday as oil prices fell sharply.

China's factory activity likely shrank in March, as the country imposed more mass testing and activity controls amid its worst resurgence of COVID-19 cases since early 2020. The country's official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index for March came in at 49.5, lower than February's reading of 50.2.

Oil futures dived more than $5 a barrel on Thursday after reports indicated that the Biden administration is weighing releasing some 1 million barrels of oil per day from strategic reserves for several months in a bid to calm soaring crude prices.

U. S. stocks fell on Wednesday on waning signs of progress for peace talks between Ukraine and Russia against a backdrop of a hawkish Federal Reserve curbing economic growth.

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The construction firm has defaulted on payments to lenders to the tune of Rs 2,897 crore on 28 February 2022.

The default amount comprises overdues of Rs 1,544 crore in interest and Rs 1,353 crore in principal, according to the company's statement.

The company has defaulted on obligations such as fund-based working capital, non-fund-based working capital, term loans and FCCB.

In total, there are about 35 banks which have exposure to Jaiprakash Associates. Lenders include HDFC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Bank of lndia, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda and Union Bank of lndia.

The company said its total financial indebtedness including short-term and long-term debt (in INR crore) on provisional basis stands at Rs 27,560 crore.

The Jaypee Group is a diversified infrastructure conglomerate with business interests in engineering & construction, cement, power, real estate, expressways, fertilizer, hospitality, healthcare, sports, information technology and education (not-for-profit).

Shares of Jaiprakash Associates were down 3.29% at Rs 8.53 on the BSE.

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The benchmark indices were trading with decent gains during morning trade. FMCG, financial services and auto stocks witnessed strong demand whereas pharma and IT scrips dragged the index pivotals lower. The Nifty index traded above 17,500 level. The March 2022 F&O contracts will expire today, 31 March 2022.

At 10:30 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex rose 76.63 points or 0.13% at 58,760.62. The Nifty 50 index gained 28.50 points or 0.16% at 17,526.75.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index added 0.37%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index rose 0.64%.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was strong. On the BSE, shares 1,913 rose and 1,155 shares fell. A total of 147 shares were unchanged.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,357.47 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net buyers to the tune of Rs 1,216 crore in the Indian equity market on 30 March 2022, provisional data showed.

Economy:

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) stated that its FY23 Economic Outlook released in the month of January 2022, is unlikely to hold in view of the global geo-political situation arising out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Since the duration of Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to be uncertain, Ind-Ra has created two scenarios with respect to the FY23 economic outlook basis certain assumptions.

In Scenario 1, the crude oil price is assumed to be elevated for three months, and in Scenario 2, the assumption is for six months, both with a half cost pass-through into the domestic economy. Ind-Ra expects GDP to grow 7.2% Y-o-Y in Scenario 1 and 7% Y-o-Y in Scenario 2 in FY23, compared to its earlier forecast of 7.6%. However, the size of the Indian economy in FY23 will still be 10.6% and 10.8% lower than the FY23 GDP trend value in Scenario 1 and Scenario 2, respectively, the firm added.

Buzzing Index:

The Nifty FMCG index rose 0.80% to 36,146.85. The index added 1.42% in two trading sessions.

Procter & Gamble Hygiene & Healthcare (up 2,73%), Marico (up 2.45%), Radico Khaitan (up 1.23%), United Breweries (up 1.23%) and Dabur India (up 1.17%) were the top gainers in the FMCG segment.

Stocks in Spotlight:

Godrej Properties rose 0.35%. The real estate developer has acquired a 9 acres land parcel in the residential micro-market of Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune. The development will primarily be for a group housing project. Based on the current business assumptions, the project will have a developable potential of approximately 1.7 million square feet of saleable area with an estimated revenue potential of approximately Rs 1,400 crore. Pimpri-Chinchwad is one of the established residential locations in Pune and has excellent connectivity to all major social and commercial hubs of Pune city, Godrej Properties said in a statement.

Axis Bank gained 1.21%. The private bank will pay a consideration upto Rs 12,325 crore to Citibank for acquiring its consumer businesses in India. The transaction comprises the sale of the consumer businesses of Citibank India, which includes credit cards, retail banking, wealth management and consumer loans. The deal also includes the sale of the consumer business of Citi's non-banking financial company, Citicorp Finance (India), comprising the asset-backed financing business, which includes commercial vehicle and construction equipment loans, as well as the personal loans portfolio. The deal offers strategic advantages to Axis Bank, such as premiumization of its overall customer portfolio, increased opportunities to cross-sell its products and accelerated digital transformation. Post the acquisition, Axis Bank will have about 28.5 million savings accounts, 2.3 lakh+ Burgundy customers and 10.6 million Cards.

IIFL Wealth Management rallied 3.36%. Bain Capital agreed to acquire 24.98% equity stake in the company. Bain Capital has agreed to acquire 24.98% equity stake in IIFL Wealth Management ("IIFLWAM") from General Atlantic Singapore Fund and FIH Mauritius Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fairfax India Holdings Corporation. BC Asia Investments X will acquire 2,21,55,000 equity shares of IIFLWAM, constituting 24.98% stake, at Rs 1,661 per share, aggregating to Rs 3679.94 crore. The share purchase agreement was executed on 30 March 2022. The transaction is subject to regulatory and other customary approvals.

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The on Thursday moved the seeking a special probe into the case of vandalism outside Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's residence.

AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj approached the High Court seeking the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to undertake an independent criminal probe into incident which took place on Wednesday.

The Delhi Police has registered an FIR against unidentified persons under sections 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 332 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Indian Penal Code and under section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

Around 70 people were detained for creating ruckus outside the Kejriwal's residence during a protest that was spearheaded by the Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha over his recent remarks in the Delhi Assembly on 'The Kashmir Files' movie that were deemed as "against the Kashmiri Pandit" community among the saffron clans.

The protest, which was led by Delhi BJP spokesperson Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga and BJP Yuva Morcha's national president Tejasvi Surya, had started as a march around 10.30 a.m from the IP College to the Chief Minister's residence.

It took a violent turn at around 1 p.m., when some of the protesters breached the two barricades that were placed near the chief minister's house and created a ruckus.

--IANS

jw/shb/

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With the Assembly elections scheduled to be held in 2023, leader will embark on a two-day visit beginning today with an aim to strengthen the party, for which many meetings are scheduled, according to the sources.

Speaking to ANI on Gandhi's visit to the state, senior leader Mallikarjun Kharge said that he will be meeting senior leaders and will be looking to strengthen the party for the upcoming polls.

"He will be meeting senior leaders, frontal organisation, party executive committee. He will also visit the Pradesh Committee office," Kharge said.

On Thursday, Gandhi is likely to visit Sree Siddaganga Math in Tumkur at around 4 pm by road. He is likely to pay respects to Dr Shri Shivakumara Swami on the occasion of his Jayanti. The Congress leader is scheduled to hold a meeting with the Bengaluru leaders.

On Friday, the Congress leader will visit the KPCC office and attend the executive meeting with the frontals.

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People who drink are great sinners, good for nothing, and do not deserve to be called Indians, according to Chief Minister .

The veteran socialist made the remarks on the floor of the state legislature.

The legislative council bore witness to his declamation on Wednesday when an amendment to the state's stringent prohibition law was placed before it after having been passed by the assembly.

Kumar, who has been a member of the upper house in the state ever since he became the chief minister in 2005, rose to take part in the debate.

Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, Kumar recalled the revulsion "Bapu" had for alcohol and railed against critics who questioned liquor ban in Bihar, which has been in force since 2016.

"Those who criticise us for bringing prohibition, think they are kaabil (accomplished). Actually they are maha ayogya (good for nothing) and maha paapi (great sinners)," Kumar had fumed.

The CM also said that it was Gandhi who had helped the country get Independence and, as such, those who disagreed with him on the issue of alcohol "cannot be called Hindustanis or Bharatiyas".

Prohibition was imposed in April, 2016 in keeping with an electoral promise Kumar had made to the state's women ahead of the assembly polls held the year before.

His government had, in its first couple of terms, faced flak for a liberal excise policy which allegedly facilitated mushrooming of liquor shops in every nook and corner.

Subsequent implementation of the prohibition law has, however, been patchy and called into question following a spurt in hooch deaths in the past few months.

The government maintained that the ban on liquor has led to improved standards of living.

Recently, Kumar turned down suggestions that those coming to the state from outside be exempted with the remark that anybody who found liquor ban inconvenient "need not visit Bihar".

He also exhorted people to publicly shame those found involved in sale or manufacture of illicit liquor.

Kumar's detractors have scoffed at the use of drones, helicopters and other such measures for keeping a check on bootleggers.

Moreover, his government was recently upbraided by the Supreme Court for having brought in a law which burdened the Patna High Court with cases relating to prohibition.

The latest amendment seeks to exempt "first time offenders" from jail term if they tell on their peddlers, a provision which, as per the opposition, could put the lives of informants at risk and be misused for setting personal scores.

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Voting for Tripura's lone seat is underway in the state assembly on Thursday, amid strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols, an Election Commission official said.

Altogether 27 legislators have exercised their franchise till 10.30 am, Chief Electoral Officer Gitte Kirankumar Dinkarrao told PTI.

The turnout is very good. The polling has been going on smoothly without any trouble or technical snag. It is scheduled to end at 4 pm and the counting of votes will take place later in the day after getting permission from the Election Commission of India (ECI), he said.

State BJP president Dr Manik Saha, who had joined the party in 2016, is in the fray, while the CPI(M) has fielded former finance minister and sitting MLA Bhanu Lal Saha as its nominee for the election.

MLAs in the 60-member assembly are participating in the election as members of the Upper House of are elected by legislators in state assemblies. It is an election through proportional representation.

Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb held a meeting with the BJP and IPFT MLAs in his residence on Wednesday night.

BJP legislator Kalayani Roy issued a whip to its MLAs to avoid cross-voting in the election.

The Left Front currently has 15 MLAs in the assembly, while the ruling BJP has a strength of 33 and its ally IPFT has eight.

BJP legislators Sudip Roy Barman and Asish Saha resigned from the assembly and gave up their memberships of the party in February. They later joined the Congress.

Tripura Speaker Ratan Chakraborty in January disqualified BJP MLA Ashish Das who has joined the Trinamool Congress, while CPI(M) legislator Ramendra Chandra Debnath died recently.

The tenure of incumbent MP from Tripura, Jharna Das Baidya, will expire on April 2.

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New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI/Target Media): The multiple waves of COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent socio-economic distress have affected everyone in more ways than one. The impact has been acute for marginalised communities who had to suffer loss of livelihoods and incomes. Countless families had to return from their cities of work to their native villages, only to find themselves vulnerable still. To make ends meet, they have had to compromise on their family's nutrition and health and their children's education.

There are several social security schemes for people living in poverty and exclusion from the Central and State Governments. These include pension schemes for widows, persons with disability and the elderly; Ayushman Bharat for health-related support; Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana for monthly rations; Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for guaranteed rural employment; and Central and State-sponsored scholarship schemes for educational assistance to students.

However, due to lack of information about these schemes and the application or enrolment process, several eligible community members have not been able to access these benefits. The gap between those eligible and those accessing these schemes is amply visible in several instances. For example, the findings of a study by the Centre for Economic Data and Analysis (affiliated to Ashoka University) of 2020-21 indicated that 4.1 per cent of the registered families could find full 100 days of employment under MGNREGA. In Punjab, which has nearly 2-3 million people eligible for registration under the Construction Workers' Welfare Board, only 3.17 lakh workers are actually registered and are subsequently availing related benefits.

On the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8, 2022, ActionAid Association launched a door-to-door outreach campaign to create awareness among communities on the various social security schemes and to enable people's access to those. Titled 'Sarkari Yojna, Samajik Suraksha, Sab Haq Hamara', this drive is running in 800 villages and urban locations across Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi NCR.

"As a large number of eligible vulnerable families are not accessing social security benefits, we sensed an urgent need to reach out to those most disadvantaged and to inform them about what they're entitled to. We are also working towards creating community-level volunteers to take our efforts forward in their villages," said Rakesh Thakur, Programme Officer, ActionAid Association. This campaign aims to reach out to at least one million people with information and support towards applying for the schemes.

Rajwant Kaur, 62, from Cheena Bidhi village in Tarn Taran district of Punjab is elated as her application for old-age pension gets filled up by ActionAid Association's volunteers at the facilitation camp in her village. "Over the last two years, I had been running from pillar to post to gain access to pension but to no avail. I didn't know how to apply for the scheme. This facilitation camp has come as a blessing for me," she says. Like Rajwant Kaur, thousands of other eligible people have applied for the various social protection schemes during such facilitation camps organised by ActionAid Association across these villages. As part of this campaign, a booklet has also been brought out with details pertaining to the schemes available in the aforementioned four states, for sharing with Gram Sabhas and community leaders.

ActionAid Association is an organisation working for social and ecological justice. ActionAid has been engaged with the most marginalised communities in India since 1972. In 2006, ActionAid Association was registered as an Indian organisation, governed by an independent General Assembly and a Governing Board. Together with supporters, communities, institutions and governments, we strive for equality, fraternity and liberty for all. ActionAid Association works in 24 states and two union territories, with several partners and allied organisations. ActionAid Association is part of a global federation and a full affiliate of ActionAid International, which has presence in over 40 countries worldwide.

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The launch of Keventers Cafe marks a shift in the brand's retail strategy as it moves from the conventional take-away and QSR formats to enter a larger dining space

New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI/SRV): Keventers, the iconic 97-year-old dairy brand opens the first ever, 'Keventers Cafe' at Zirakpur, Mohali district, Punjab.

An experience zone spread across an area of 911 sq ft., at Keventers Cafe customers can dine in and enjoy the iconic Keventers milkshakes, cold coffees with light bites.

The launch of Keventers Cafe marks a shift in the brand's retail strategy as it moves from the conventional take-away and QSR formats to enter a larger dining space. This is a part of the brand's shift to create more engaging consumer experiences with rising market demand.

The Keventers Cafe has an exceptional ambience to cater to visitors across a varied demographic, from families, to millennials and Gen Z with the right balance of Vintage-Modern and Retro aesthetics. The experiential cafe offers its patrons a fun experience with a menu that offers all the iconic Keventers milkshakes, desserts, ice creams, newly launched cold coffees, as well as a brand new food menu.

The new food menu offers a variety of munchies and yummy vegetarian dishes like Aloo Samosa, Hot Jalapeno Nachos, Peri Peri Fries, Toasties, Hot stir-fried Maggi, and also serves non vegetarian items like Butter Chicken Samosa, Sandwiches and Wraps.

The patrons can sit with their friends and families and enjoy board games like Scrabble, Plot 4, Jenga, Chess, Ludo, Tumbling Monkeys, keeping them entertained as they wait for their food and coffee order. Free unlimited Wi-Fi has also been provided at the store so that the customers have an option to work from there while enjoying their coffee.

The ambience of the cafe is light, bright, and pastel in the shade which brings out the upbeat, happy, and lively vibes. The layout is clean and functional, designed keeping in mind groups of people who can celebrate birthdays; working professionals to attend hectic meetings with their favorite cold coffees and for couples who want tofeel nostalgic with the taste that made history.

Speaking about the new launch of Keventers first cafe in India, Agastya Dalmia, Founder and CEO, Keventers said, "Keventers has had a high growth trajectory in the past years, allowing it to grow from a pan-India brand to a multi-national brand. The Keventers Cafe is a step in the right direction for us as we wanted to set up a more experiential offering for our loyal customers. The space and 'To-Eat' menu have been designed to provide an environment for customers to relax, work, use the free Wi-Fi and charge points on every table, eat and drink great food, hang-out with friends and capture fun Instagrammable memories. Zirakpur is one of the fastest developing places in the Tri-City area of Chandigarh-Panchkula and we are confident of it being well received here."

Zirakpur has become a focal point for a number of world-class residential and commercial projects, the economy is booming, and it's well connected to the capital. Also, the cafe is not just catering to the Zirakpur customers but also to Chandigarh and Panchkula. The company plans to move to more locations eventually but Zirakpur looks very promising right now for their first step towards establishing cafe outlets.

The brand is also launching an Inaugural Offer at the Zirakpur store. The first 20 daily customers that drop by the store between 1st to 7th April get 15 Free milkshakes/Scoops from Keventers for the next 15 days.

The store timings are between 10am to 11pm.

Keventers, creator of the iconic milkshake is India's first very own 'Made in India' brand. Established in 1925 by Edward Keventer, Keventers then became famed for its milkshakes. Acquired by Ram Krishna Dalmia in 1940, it underwent great changes through the course of history.

From supplying to the Indian army to becoming the preferred choice for Delhiites walking around Connaught Place. The brand was then revived in 2015 by Agastya Dalmia, Aman Arora and Sohrab Sitaram. Keeping the vintage tone alive with its signature glass bottles, the trio has completely revamped the brand in a way that makes it strike a chord with modern-day consumers. Presently, Keventers has brand presence across India, Nepal, UAE, Oman and Kenya.

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Indore (Madhya Pradesh) [India], March 31 (ANI/PNN): The Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya, the State University of Madhya Pradesh, organised a two-day National Yoga convention with the primary goal of discussing the issues that a developing country faces in combating anaemia and potential answers to those challenges.

The National Yoga convention, held at Devi Ahilya Vishwavidhyalaya's sprawling auditorium, was inaugurated by the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Prof. Renu Jain, in the presence of Rector of the University, Prof. Ashok Sharma, and Registrar, Dr Anil Kumar Sharma.

Dr AK Dwivedi, a senior Homeopathic physician of Advance Homeo Health Centre and Homeopathic Medical Research Private Limited, addressed a large crowd at the National Yoga Convention with a PowerPoint presentation that detailed the incidence of various types of anaemia in India.

According to Dr Dwivedi, Iron Deficiency Anemia is caused by when your body doesn't have enough iron to produce haemoglobin. While Aplastic Anemia is caused by the bone marrow's failure to produce new blood cells, Sickle cell anaemia is caused by a change in the gene when red blood cells' shape changes from round or oval to sickle. A lack of folate and vitamin B-12, in addition to iron, causes Vitamin Deficiency Anemia. Thalassemia is caused by a disruption in the DNA of haemoglobin. Hemolytic anaemia is a disorder in which red blood cells are destroyed faster than they can be made.

Dr Dwivedi recommended those in attendance at the convention to consult their doctors as soon as possible if they had severe menstrual bleeding, bleeding piles, bleeding from the nose and mouth, or blood in the urine. Furthermore, adults over the age of 45 should avoid using painkillers on their own if they are experiencing weakness, exhaustion, or a high fever. Patients in this situation must undergo CBC testing in a laboratory and take medications suggested by specialists.

Dr Dwivedi also informed that he has been treating patients suffering from Aplastic anaemia with Homeopathy medicines for the last 22 years through his rich experience in the field of homoeopathy. Scores of his patients who have recovered from aplastic anaemia are living a completely normal life after recovery without the need for blood transfusion or taking any medications. As per Dr AK Dwivedi, homoeopathy medicines may help stop profuse menstrual bleeding or bleeding piles in a very shorter duration.

Dr S S Sharma, the program coordinator, gave a welcome speech. Deputy coordinator of the convention, Dr Anurag Sharma, faculty member Dr Sarita Dhanuka, Nikki Tiwari, Bipin Sharma, Yoga Acharya, Vishal Sharma, Nita Malaviya, Uma Pathak, Shital Pathak, Pooja Panwar, etc., remained present on this occasion.

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Solan (Himachal Pradesh) [India], March 31 (ANI/PR Newswire): Shoolini University has added another feather to its cap by crossing the landmark number of 1,000 patents filed by its researchers and students. This is a remarkable achievement considering that the record has been achieved within six years of the creation of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Cell in the university.

To celebrate this success, a plaque for filing 1,000 patents was released by Padma Shri Prof RC Sobti, former Vice Chancellor of Panjab University, Shoolini University Chancellor Prof PK Khosla, Shoolini University Vice Chancellor Prof Atul Khosla, and Director IPR at Shoolini University Prof Kamal Dev.

Shoolini University has a dedicated team of biologists, engineers, and IP attorneys, who are actively involved in filing patent applications on behalf of the university at the Indian Patent Office, Indian Copyright Office, Indian Industrial Design Office, and Indian Trademark Office.

Chancellor Prof PK Khosla said he was delighted that the staff and students had achieved the target. He hoped it would encourage others to take up high-impact research. Established in 2009, Shoolini University is now India's No. 1 research university (QS World University Rankings 2022) and is the third highest patent filer. The groundbreaking research conducted on the campus, nestled in the lap of nature, is driven by world-class academic excellence.

Describing this as an "amazing achievement", Prof Atul Khosla said, "We will work at the grassroots level to change lives and serve the society." He also congratulated the university staff for this momentous accomplishment.

Prof Kamal Dev said crossing the 1,000-patent milestone will encourage others to file more patents in keeping with the call of 'one student, one patent' given by the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor.

Out of the 1,000 patents filed, 549 were process patents, of which two have already been granted. Patents have been filed in the areas of nanotechnology, multidrug resistance, water purification, novel antimicrobial compounds, anticancer molecules, fermented food and wine, robotics, phytomedicines, new drug delivery systems, a new approach to wastewater treatment, solar energy, automobile, novel construction technology, safety equipment, biopesticides, agriculture farm machinery and farm management.

The maximum number of patents have been filed by the engineering department, followed by the Biotechnology and Basic Sciences. The university has taken a big initiative to commercialise the key patents and take them to the end-users.

Intellectual Property plays a crucial role in the economic development of the country and Shoolini University will be contributing in a bigger way to enhance innovation, competitiveness and economic growth in India, Prof Kamal Dev added.

Set up in 2009, Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences is a research-driven private university with full-recognition from the UGC. A leading university of India, it is recognized for its focus on innovation, quality placements, and world-class faculty. Nestled in the lower Himalayas, the university has received accreditation from NAAC and it is ranked by the NIRF.

For further information, please visit: (https://shooliniuniversity.com)

Logo: (https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/792680/Shoolini_University_Logo.jpg)

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New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI/SRV): Every year many students travel abroad and get degrees from foreign universities for work abroad opportunities. Given that foreign education and the required stay is extremely expensive, not everyone is able to spend a fortune on foreign education. While some companies require you to have a degree in the field you are applying for work, nowadays many companies don't need a degree anymore. It's a skill driven market and if you have the right industry ready knowledge in the emerging fields such as data science, ai, cyber security you can grab the work abroad opportunity even by studying in India. With the rise of remote working many companies from abroad are hiring industry ready talent based in India.

Edtech platform TopMentor is turning out to be a bridge between US & Europe firms and professionals based in India. TopMentor is India's first 100 per cent practical e-learning platform and offers projects based learning experience for freshers and professionals. This project based learning enables students to fill the demand for industry ready talent in the fields of data science, ai, cyber security and many more professional skills at major organizations based in USA and Europe. Around every year topmentor reveals its placement statistics and like every other year topmentor has proved to be worthy of trust shown by students around the globe.

TopMentor placement season for the year 2020-21 last quarter has just ended and results have been phenomenal. TopMentor has announced 100 per cent placement. A total of 400 students participated in the placement drive last quarter and over 390 students have already received the offer letters and the remaining have an oral commitment. The average salary for the freshers is around 6 lacs and for experienced people it is even higher. Minimum salary offered for topmentor students is 4.5 lacs and highest salary is 34 lacs. Figures are only considering students placed in India. Students placed abroad received much higher packages according to the country's industry standards. Around 85 per cent of students have secured job offers from top MNCs and remaining 15 per cent have offers from startups and medium size companies.

The data science students saw a huge leap in the salaries being offered with more than 60 per cent students getting more than 10 lacs annual package. Full stack developer and cyber security are close second with 49 per cent students getting more than 10 lacs as annual package. With more than 390 offer letters in just the last quarter TopMentor has proved to be the youngest and best edtech startups in the industry at the moment.

Priyanka shirurkar, co-founder and CTO says, "We are the only edtech startup to deliver such placement results even during pandemic. With these great results even greater responsibility is now on our shoulders. Entire TopMentor team is spending time and resources to design even better mentorship programs focused on delivering results to the students.

TopMentor was founded by Ravi Shirurkar and Priyanka Pandharpurkar after they realized companies they worked in struggled to find job ready students and professionals. While companies are struggling to find the right candidates, educated students are unemployed due to the skills gap.TopMentor is turning out to be a bridge between the students and companies.

Priyanka Pandharpurkar, Co-founder and CTO at topmentor says, "We extensively spend our resources on building tie-ups with major corporations across the world. These tie-ups share the exact requirements. skills they are looking for in the potential candidates. They also share the exact number of openings they will have for a particular skill set. Our intake count, syllabus projects vary based on the requirement of the client. That has helped us place thousands of students in MNCs which later sponsor students for moving abroad"

While most edtech startups are promoting their courses, TopMentor promotes Mentorship Programs. "Mentorship programs carry way more responsibility than just normal course training," Says Ravi Shirurkar, CEO at topmentor "Mentoring is usually long term, even if the learning phase lasts only a few months, we help students to get the job and continue support even after they get the job. Student-mentor relationship lasts and grows over a period of years. While training is highly impersonal and carries a one-to-many approach, mentoring is a very personal, one-to-one approach of learning."

One of the major reasons why TopMentor is preferred students' choice is not just their 350+ industry tie ups but also the fact that their mentorship program is 100 per cent practical and projects driven. This helps students become prepared for actual jobs and gives them an edge over other students' with theoretical knowledge. TopMentor program is verified by employers for job ready skills it imparts in students and its alumni are the most preferred candidates for jobs at big MNCs.

To ensure personal attention TopMentor has very limited intake every month for its mentorship programs. If you are interested in rebuilding your career without any tech background and want to eventually find your dream job abroad please visit (https://www.topmentor.in)

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China has set up the worlds highest automatic weather station on Mount Everest as part of the Peak Mission scientific expedition launched April 28. The weather station sits over 8,800 meters above sea level on the worlds highest mountain, known locally as Mount Qomolangma. More than 270 researchers participated in the expedition, among whom 13 reached the summit on Wednesday. The team is the first to make the famous climb from China this year

May 06, 2022 08:15 PM
China playing leading role in electrification of car industry, says industry leader

Xinhua) 10:18, March 31, 2022

Photo taken on July 6, 2019 shows a production line at a subsidiary of Beijing Electric Vehicle Co., Ltd. (BJEV), a new energy vehicle producer, in Huanghua city of Cangzhou, north China's Hebei Province.(Xinhua/Yang Shiyao)

- "If you look at the moving away from petrol and diesel to electrification, all markets in the world are making that at different paces. China was one of the first markets to be and still is in the front," said Mike Hawes, chief executive officer of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

- "China also makes investments in Britain, especially in terms of research and development, and increasingly that is around electrifications," Hawes said.

LONDON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China, the world's largest new electric vehicle maker and market, is playing a leading role in the electrification of the car industry, a British leader of the auto industry told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"If you look at the moving away from petrol and diesel to electrification, all markets in the world are making that at different paces. China was one of the first markets to be and still is in the front," said Mike Hawes, chief executive officer of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, a leading British automotive trade body.

"Obviously given China is the world's largest new car both in manufacturing and market," he said, "It has that lead role."

Hawes's remarks came after an analysis from his society showed manufacturers have committed 10.8 billion pounds (about 14.2 billion U.S. dollars) in Britain's electric vehicles and batteries since 2011.

"China also makes investments in Britain, especially in terms of research and development, and increasingly that is around electrifications," Hawes said. "It is something that both countries would want to work on because delivering zero-emission mobility is the entire world needs."

Hawes welcomed China's battery manufactory Envision Group partnering with Japanese auto company Nissan to build a "gigafactory" in Sunderland, a port city in England. He said this sets a good example of international cooperation and technology implementation.

Envision AESC, the battery division of Envision Group, announced last October that they got formal planning permission for Britain's first at-scale battery manufacturing plant.

The 9GWh-capacity gigafactory will form part of a 1 billion pounds (about 1.3 billion dollars) partnership with Nissan UK and Sunderland City Council to create an electric vehicle hub.

Hawes also noted that Britain and China have a "good foundation" in cooperation in the car industry, saying "UK is a competitive market. We are seeing increasing Chinese brands coming to Britain's market, and British companies also have been invested in China around production and taking British brands into China."

When talking about the challenges in global car industry cooperation, Hawes said the international relationship is in a difficult situation, but it will be overcome.

"I think from the UK's perspective, what we always want is free and fair trade. We can overcome these problems and as long as know the benefits for both countries and both markets," said Hawes.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Photo: Contributed

The NDPs information and privacy debacle from last fall has moved off centre stage, but continued its run until recently in a theatre-of-the-absurd committee room.

Seven MLAs spent a few days listening to people expound on how information law should be amended, despite the fact Citizens Services Minister Lisa Beare amended it without bothering to wait for their advice. It is very much an off-Broadway production now. In fact, its a closed show as the meetings are going in camera. But its continuing the standards she set last fall in the legislature for inanity.

They are obligated by law to review the legislation, but the NDP government made up its mind last year on what needed to be done. So it rewrote the law last fall. That left MLAs obligated to hold hearings on how to do whats already been done. The show must go on, however irrelevant it is.

The open hearings concluded in mid-March. The MLAs  four New Democrats, two Liberals and one Green MLA  are now deliberating behind closed doors on what might have been done in some alternate reality, or in some far-off future.

Although online submissions can be filed up until March 31, the committee held just two-and-a-half days of public hearings. But it has no fewer than 11 in camera meetings scheduled over the next two months to deliberate on what was said. That continues the surreal theme.

The only interesting thing will be to see if the NDP MLAs on the committee have the guts to call out the minister  and presumably the premiers office  for the offensive amendments they made to B.C.s information and privacy law, and the way they made them.

To briefly recap the plot, the committee convened for a few moments last summer to begin preparing for the review of the law. Then in October, Beare introduced amendments before it could meet again. She consulted with independent information and privacy commissioner Michael McEvoy, but ignored key parts of his input. When he made objections public after the bill dropped, she ignored them again. McEvoy supported some changes, but criticized the new fee charged for many freedom of information requests, the elimination of the legal requirement to keep B.C. personal data stored in Canada and some curbs on access to information.

He also objected to the new exemption from FOI that was granted to a half-billion dollar government investment fund.

The NDP stonewalled an opposition attempt to delay the bill by refusing to debate the motion for two days, letting the opposition talk themselves out. Then the government cut off debate and jammed it through the legislature using a form of closure.

This brings us to this month, when an assortment of individuals and groups presented ideas, all of them forced by circumstances to overlook that the fix was already in.

The most telling proof of what a comprehensive botch this has turned into came from the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. Neskonlith Chief Kukpi7 Judy Wilson amplified concerns the UBCIC expressed earlier about the process described above. She told the committee that many of the changes last fall were made without discussions with First Nations and contravene the UN declaration on Indigenous rights.

She said the bill was rushed through the house without full debate or a chance for First Nations to make representations. It is baffling that the committee has been tasked with reviewing the act and hearing from witnesses after amendments have been passed  I have to add, without our consultation.

The B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association said the fall amendment moved transparency legislation to a regulatory and policy process that is determined behind closed doors, in secret, by the minister.

Executive director Jason Woywada said it not only undermined the committees work, it did not address key recommendations from prior committees. Another independent FOI advocate, Vincent Gogolek, stressed how unprecedented the above chain of events is and urged a mechanism to prevent it from happening again.

Maureen Juffs, who described herself as just a rural citizen, said: I shudder to guess why those particular changes were rammed through without waiting to incorporate your current review findings.

I just want to say that this really matters. It matters to the public interest.

Les Layne is a reporter with the Times Colonist newspaper in Victoria. This column first appeared in the Times Colonist.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.
Photo: The Canadian Press A police officer looks towards a black SUV that has had its contents removed at a crime scene outside the Metropolis in Montreal on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2012. Four technicians who witnessed Quebec's fatal 2012 election night shooting are arguing in court that Montreal police and Quebec provincial police failed in their duty to ensure the event was safe. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

A technician who witnessed Quebec's fatal election-night shooting 10 years ago testified Wednesday as part of a lawsuit alleging that Montreal police and Quebec provincial police failed to properly secure the event.

Jonathan Dube told the court that the trauma of witnessing the shooting of his close friend caused his life to unravel into hard drug use.

Four workers at the concert hall where the Sept. 4, 2012, shooting occurred are suing the City of Montreal and Quebec's attorney general for a total of more than $600,000, alleging they've suffered from post-traumatic stress and other psychological damage as a result.

Shooter Richard Henry Bain was convicted in 2016 on one count of second-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder after the shooting outside the concert hall as then-premier designate Pauline Marois was inside delivering a victory speech.

Lighting technician Denis Blanchette was killed in the attack and a second technician, David Courage, was injured after being struck by the same bullet.

The lawsuit, which was filed in March 2019, says the plaintiffs experienced "periods of depression and alcohol and/or drug dependence and have experienced feelings of shame and guilt" stemming from the trauma.

Dube has never recovered from the death of his close friend, the lawsuit claims. On the stand, Dube discussed his relapse into hard drug use that occurred following the event, after several years of sobriety.

While he started with ketamine, he then spiralled into heroin use, which he described as the "biggest battle of my life."

He said he had to be hospitalized a few months after his relapse, and has been on social assistance for most of the time since the attack.

Later, two of Dube's friends testified that his personality had changed completely following the incident.

Audrey Bissonnette, a former neighbour, said Dube changed from someone with a huge social circle who loved attending metal shows to a "hermit" who kept to himself.

"He was someone who was luminous, jovial, full of life," she said. "After the events, he lost it, that light. He didnt have it anymore."

She said Dube had appeared "tortured" by the events and had questioned why Blanchette lost his life while his own was spared.

The lawsuit says the plaintiffs had been waiting outside the back door of the venue to dismantle the stage when Bain approached and fired in their direction.

The shooter, armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle and wearing a bathrobe and a balaclava, fired a single bullet before his weapon jammed, according to legal documents.

He was arrested after a brief police pursuit, shouting "The English are waking up!" as he was taken into custody.

The lawsuit says two of the plaintiffs, Audrey Dulong Berube and Gael Ghiringelli, helped carry Courage into the building after the shooting, while another, Guillaume Parisien, was so close that Blanchette's body fell on top of him.

The plaintiffs allege the police failed to properly evaluate the risks associated with the event and that there were no police stationed outside the back door of the downtown venue or at other key areas.

The plaintiffs are asking for $125,000 each, as well as several thousand each for therapy and another lump sum of $100,000 in punitive damages.

The legal action was only filed several years after the event because it took time for the plaintiffs to process and recognize what had happened, the court document claims.
Photo: The Canadian Press Senators Joyce Fairbairn and James Kelleher discuss their report on Bill C-36 at a news conference in Ottawa, Nov. 1, 2001. Former Liberal senator Joyce Fairbairn has died at the age of 82. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand

Colleagues of former Liberal senator Joyce Fairbairn remembered her kindness and determination after she died this week at the age of 82.

Fairbairn began her 50-year career in Ottawa as a journalist in the parliamentary press gallery at a time when very few women were reporting on Parliament Hill.

She went on to enter the political realm, where she became an important adviser to then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

Tom Axworthy, who was Trudeau's principal secretary at the time, called her "a groundbreaking woman."

In an interview Wednesday he said their families became very close over the years, and Fairbairn was his eldest daughter's godmother.

"We had a few tears this morning."

Axworthy said she brought warmth and emotional intelligence to the work, and when members of caucus had issues or problems, they almost always went to Fairbairn's office first.

"When you're in the (Prime Minister's Office), keeping your caucus together, united, is just about one of the single most important things you must do," he said.

"Joyce was the Number 1 person for doing that."

She also maintained a strong connection to her hometown of Lethbridge, Alta., and in a government that had its share of issues in Western Canada, "gosh, we needed that a lot," Axworthy said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a statement Wednesday that Fairbairn was a "wonderful friend both to my father and me."

"She was a true champion for Canadians and will be dearly missed," he said.

Fairbairn was made a senator in 1984 and became the first woman named government leader in the Senate.

"I remember coming to the Senate for the first time and looking at her in awe," said Nova Scotia Sen. Jane Cordy.

"Even with all the accomplishments that she's had, with all the responsibilities she had during her career both before the Senate and after, she could have been (intimidating), but she wasn't. She was kind to everybody."

Fairbairn retired from the Senate in 2013 after a public struggle with Alzheimer's disease.

In February 2012 she was declared legally incompetent by a psychiatrist, but continued to work and cast votes in the Senate for months afterward, said a report in the Toronto Star. The issue led to calls for the Senate to come up with rules in the event that something similar happens in the future.

"You just saw this brilliant, brilliant woman who was facing so many challenges, and yet it didn't deter her," Cordy said.

"It was very difficult."

Fairbairn died Tuesday at a continuing care facility in Lethbridge.

Flags at federal government buildings in Lethbridge will be at half-mast until a funeral is held, and the flag on the Peace Tower will be at half-mast on the day of the memorial service. That date has not yet been announced.
Photo: The Canadian Press Prime Minister Justin Trudeau holds a child as Ontario Premier Doug Ford looks on during $10-a-day child-care deal signing.

It was almost 40 years ago that Sharon Gregson says she became an advocate for child care out of necessity.

The spokeswoman for $10-a-day child care at the Coalition of Child Care Advocates for British Columbia said she is celebrating this week after Ontario became the final province to sign on to the federal government's national daycare plan, which promises $30 billion in new spending over five years.

Gregson said she was 22 years old, raising two young children on her own and attending post-secondary classes when she realized she couldn't find quality child care and couldn't afford it even if she did find it.

"I instantly became an advocate because I recognized that politicians seemed blind to this gender equity issue," said Gregson in an interview. "It's a children's rights issue and I spoke up as a young parent."

Gregson, 59, said she's now advocating for quality child care for her grandson.

B.C. was the first province to sign on to the federal government's national child-care program last July. Under the agreement, Ottawa promised $3.2 billion to add 30,000 regulated care spaces by the end of 2026 and 40,000 by the end of 2028.

Quebec implemented its own universal child-care program in 1997 and has more than 200,000 children in subsidized child care. The Quebec government announced last October it would spend an additional $3 billion to create another 37,000 daycare spaces.

Gregson's advice to other provinces and territories embarking on child-care programs is to focus on building a complete system, one that looks beyond low fees for parents.

"With (Premier) Doug Ford in Ontario just signing, they have a lot of work to do, not just with making a difference on the ground for families but actually putting systems in place that support building the infrastructure around child care and not having it just be ad hoc," she said.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ford signed a $10.2-billion, five-year child-care deal Monday to bring fees down to an average of $10 a day by the end of 2026.

B.C. Premier John Horgan made universal $10-a-day child care a key election promise in 2017 when his New Democrats formed a minority government.

B.C. launched its child-care program in 2018 and expects to have about 12,500 licensed, $10-a-day child-care spaces operating by the end of the year, said Gregson, who estimated the province has about 125,000 children in daycares.

The B.C. government said earlier this year when it tabled its budget that most families can expect to have their fees down to $20 a day by the end of the year.

"We are well on our way," Gregson said. "That's not to say there isn't a lot of work to do."

The deal between Ontario and the federal government marked a milestone for universal child care across Canada, said Katrina Chen, B.C.'s minister of state responsible for child care.

"It's exciting news for Canadian families," said Chen in an interview. "It's great to see all the provinces on board. It's totally doable. It's an exciting time for all Canadian families, especially B.C. families."

Chen said B.C. wants to make child care a core service people come to count on like public education and health care.

"You really need a comprehensive approach to make sure you build a new social program to make this work for everybody," she said. "Every province has different opportunities and challenges. I know some provinces are only focusing on affordability, lowering the cost. Some provinces may be focused on creating spaces."

B.C.'s plan is focused on child care that is affordable, accessible, inclusive and high quality, Chen said.

Gregson said it's taken more than 50 years since the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada first said there should be a national daycare plan, but the goal is now within reach.

"It is not in any way extreme to say this is historic," she said. "This has never happened before. This is a turning moment for child care, for future generations not to have the same chaos in their lives when they have children as we have had in the past."
Re.: Steve Burkes letter EV not the silver bullet (Castanet, March 30)

Yes, it would seem our federal and porovincial governments really want us (the driving public) to change our existing internal combustion engine vehicles to electric ones in an effort to meet proposed planet-saving hopes.

For me, if you want to buy and go E.V. then go for it but just think about, and fully consider, what Steve outlinedthe way the batteries are made, how much extra electrical energy is going to be required and how the old/used batteries will be eventually be recycled (if, in deed, they will be).

There is another issue that needs to be considered heregovernment revenues, also known as taxes. We are all aware, thanks to news media, how much revenue is currently being generated from our gas purchases, the federal GST , the provincial PST, the ever-increasing carbon tax and, of course, the larger cities have also implemented transit taxes.

So, just a question to all those politicians who are so full of this EV change over, do you propose an alternative tax source?

I dont have an answer but I am sure it is something that needs to be clarified. How will Vancouver pay for its transit expansions? How will our roads and highways get repaired?

The reduced level of revenues from reduced gas sales will need to be made up from other sources. I cant wait to see where else they will taken from.

Malcolm Roberts, Kelowna
Photo: The Canadian Press

A team with the International Committee of the Red Cross has arrived in a Ukraine-held city where staff are preparing to take civilians out of the beleaguered port city of Mariupol.

Julien Lerisson, deputy director of operations for the ICRC, said Thursday that the team assembling in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, has medicines, food, water, hygiene items and other essentials.

He said the organization has high-level agreement for the mission but is focused on making sure the order trickles down the chain of command," allowing the team to enter and leave Mariupol safely.

The Russian military has said it committed to a cease-fire along the route from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian authorities have said 45 buses would be sent to collect citizens and provide resources to those who remain.

Lucile Marbeau, a staff member with the ICRC team hoping to enter Mariupol, said on Thursday: Were here because really, we hope to be able to facilitate safe passage for civilians desperately wanting to flee Mariupol.

LONDON  Britains defense minister says Ukraines international allies have agreed to send more military equipment, including artillery ammunition and armored vehicles.

U.K. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace held a conference call Thursday with defense ministers from more than 35 countries, including the United States, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan.

Wallace said that as a result there will be more lethal aid going into Ukraine. He said that would include more long-range artillery, ammunition predominantly, to help counter Russias bombardment of Ukraines cities.

Wallace said Ukraine was also looking for armoured vehicles of some types, not tanks necessarily, but certainly protective vehicles.

He said allies were also looking to see what more we can do to help Ukraine defend its coastline.

LVIV, Ukraine  Russian troops were leaving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and heading towards Ukraines border with Belarus, the Ukrainian nuclear operator company said Thursday.

The operator, Energoatom, said that the Russian military was also preparing to leave Slavutych, a nearby city where power plant workers live.

Energoatom also said reports were confirmed that the Russians dug trenches in the Red Forest, the 10-square-kilometer (nearly four-square-mile) area surrounding the Chernobyl plant within the Exclusion Zone, and received significant doses of radiation.

The Russian troops panicked at the first sign of illness, which showed up very quickly, and began to prepare to leave, the operator said. The claim couldnt be independently verified.

Energoatom said the Russians have signed a document confirming the handover of the Chernobyl plant and stating that the plants administration doesnt have any complaints about the Russian troops who were guarding the facility.

LONDON  The head of Britains military says Russian President Vladimir Putin has already lost in Ukraine and is weaker than he was before the invasion.

Adm. Tony Radakin at a think-tank seminar Thursday in London said Moscows aim to take the whole of Ukraine fell apart. He added that the coming weeks will continue to be very difficult for Ukraine.

But in many ways, Putin has already lost, he said. Far from being the far-sighted manipulator of events that he would have us believe, Putin has damaged himself through a series of catastrophic misjudgements.

Radakin also said there was disquiet at all levels of Russias military about the campaign, from troops who were not told they were invading Ukraine up to senior commanders.

Western officials say Putins small inner circle is not giving him the true picture of the war, and his isolation may have contributed to miscalculating the strength of resistance Russian troops would meet.

ROME  Italys leader is urging Europe to cultivate all available land as a partial remedy to reductions in agricultural imports, especially of Russian grain, due to the war in Ukraine.

Premier Mario Draghi told reporters on Thursday that under existing agricultural practices in the European Union 10% of land is purposely left fallow, but that must now change as European countries search for ways to reduce dependency on farm imports.

Its not clear whether Ukraine, one of the worlds largest exporters of wheat, maize and sunflower oil, might be able to salvage any of this planting season.

Meanwhile, Draghi noted that Western Europe will be looking to food producers like Canada, the United States and Argentina to help make up the shortfall of imports from Ukraine and Russia.

MADRID  Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez says his country has so far received more than 30,000 Ukrainian refugees and expects that figure to reach 70,000 within days.

Sanchez announced the latest refugee numbers Thursday during a visit to a refugee reception center in the southeastern city of Alicante, one of four in Spain.

Also Thursday, Defense Minister Margarita Robles said Spain has sent 10 transport aircraft with weapons and humanitarian aid for Ukraine. She didnt specify how many shipments of each type were sent, but at least two carried arms.

She also said during a visit to the Moron de la Frontera air base in southern Spain that eight Spanish F-18 fighter planes are going to Lithuania to take part in NATO patrols.

KYIV, Ukraine  Ukrainian emergency services say the death toll after a Russian missile strike Tuesday on the regional government headquarters in the southern city of Mykolaiv has risen to 20.

The emergency services said rescuers had now found 19 bodies in the ruins since the strike devastated the government building Tuesday morning. One other person died in hospital.

The regional governor accused Russia of waiting until people arrived for work before striking the building.

Emergency services said they are still working at the scene.

BRUSSELS  NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia does not appear to be scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead redeploying forces to the eastern Donbas region.

Russia promised during talks in Istanbul on Tuesday that it would de-escalate operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv to increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the West were skeptical.

Stoltenberg told reporters Thursday that Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions, and must be judged on its actions alone, not the word of its leaders.

According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region, he said.

At the same time, he said pressure is being kept up on Kyiv and other cities and we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering.

The U.S. says Russia has begun to reposition less than 20% of its troops that had been arrayed around Kyiv. The Pentagon says that most moved north, although some crossed into Belarus where they could be resupplied and sent back into Ukraine.

MOSCOW  Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on the spring draft, with 134,500 new conscripts to be added to the Russian army amid the countrys war on Ukraine.

Both Putin and Russias Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu have said that conscripts will not be taking part in the operation in Ukraine. Earlier this month, however, the Russian military admitted that a number of conscripts ended up in Ukraine and were even captured there.

The decree signed on Thursday outlines the draft which will kick off on April 1 and last through July 15.
Photo: VPD

Police are searching for a man suspected in seven different robberies in Metro Vancouver in one day.

The robberies all took place on Jan. 15, according to Vancouver Police.

In Vancouver, the suspect allegedly entered the Marine Gateway Liquor Store at Southwest Marine Drive and Cambie Street at 6:45 p.m. and brandished a knife while demanding cash.

The employee called 911 instead and the man fled the scene without taking money.

Just half an hour later, around 7:15 p.m., the man was seen in the London Drugs at Granville and West Georgia streets in downtown Vancouver and allegedly demanded money.

The VPD is working with the Richmond RCMP on the case as they believe the same man committed five robberies the same day in Richmond; police did not release details about those cases.

The man is described as a white male 25 to 35 years of age. At the time he had short hair and either a moustache or beard. He was wearing a puffy black jacket, a white t-shirt and dark pants.

Anyone with information is asked to call 1-604-717-2541.
Photo: The Canadian Press

The National Advisory Committee on Immunization is expected to release guidance on fourth doses of COVID-19 vaccine in early April as public health indicators tick up across Canada.

A spokeswoman for the Public Health Agency of Canada said Thursday that the agency expects to publish NACI's advice on fourth doses for "elderly populations at higher risk of severe disease" in the coming days.

Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliott, meanwhile, told legislators Thursday that she expects to receive advice from NACI imminently.

"Were working on the booster shots and were also examining whether a fourth shot is necessary, an extra booster. Were waiting for NACIs advice ... about what age group should be receiving the fourth vaccination, if necessary," she said.

"We are actively moving on this and were continuing with our plan across the province of Ontario."

NACI previously recommended that people who are "moderately to severely immunocompromised" receive a fourth dose of the vaccine six months after getting their third shot.

The committee says that data on the fourth dose is currently limited, but those who are immunocompromised are at a higher risk both of severe outcomes of COVID-19 and of decreasing protection over time.

Earlier this week, U.S. regulators approved a fourth dose for Americans 50 and older if it's been at least four months since their last vaccination.

The Food and Drug Administration gave the measure the green light on Tuesday, and the Centers for Disease Control later recommended the extra shot as an option but stopped short of urging that those eligible rush to make an appointment.

The question of extra boosters has become more pressing to some due to concerning public health indicators.

Hospitalizations have started rising in some regions and wastewater trends suggest cases are too, after many provinces ditched their vaccine passports and mask mandates this month.

Ontario reported 807 patients in hospital with COVID-19 on Thursday, compared to 661 a week earlier.

Quebec  which started offering fourth doses to seniors over 80, immunocompromised people and residents of long-term care homes this week  saw 1,238 people hospitalized with the virus Thursday.

Health Minister Christian Dube said outlying regions in Quebec that were spared when the highly contagious Omicron variant tore through the country are now being hit hard by what he characterized as the pandemic's sixth wave.

Montreal, for instance, has about 208 cases per 100,000 people. In contrast, Cote-Nord has 750 cases per 100,000 people.

Nonetheless, Dube said the province doesn't plan to delay lifting its mask mandate  a move currently set for mid-April  or reintroduce other public health measures.

"There is no reason at the moment  to change the strategy we have, because people have to learn to live with the virus, to continue to protect themselves," he said.
In light of the current controversy over the display of events depicting scenes of the Civil War and other events that were a popular mode of expression in the post war era of the 1880-1890s, the above title may be of historical significance.

It will not be an effort to change the outcome that up to now may be described as the most decisive period in our nations past.

The first step is to define Cyclorama as:

Mammoth panoramic paintings displayed in cylindrical wooden buildings around the country that were normally 50 feet high and 375 feet high in circumference that surrounded the viewer and tricked the eye into seeing three dimensions.

The Missionary Ridge cyclorama was allegedly painted in 1883-1884 by three German artists and 13 assistants after they had visited the Chattanooga area to observe the site of the battle and to make photographs prior to returning to their country to create the cyclorama.

It was created for the American Panorama Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and ultimately would be sold to Paul Atkinson of Madison, Georgia who would also become the owner of the Atlanta cyclorama.

One version of the history of the Missionary Ridge work is that Atkinson initially sent the Atlanta painting to Chattanooga and sent Missionary Ridge to Atlanta for display in a circular building on Edgewood Avenue until February 1892.

An August 21, 2011, article by historian Mark Pedro of Sevierville, Tennessee is based on his research and available material when his curiosity got the best of him, and he came to Chattanooga and researched the history of the Chattanooga Cyclorama.

According to his findings, the cost of the painting was $55,000 and transportation to this country from Germany was $10,000 in 1886. According to Mr. Pedro, the subject weighed over 14,000 pounds and measured 50x400 feet.

After being shown in Atlanta and through the country a building was erected on Carter and Chestnut Streets next to the now razed Southern Hotel in an area that was then called Nashville Flats with the opening date of July 1, 1890. It was a scenic attraction from 1890-1893.

The complexity of the issue of how it traveled is unclear, but it is assumed that it was by railroad.

In 1893 the exhibit was shown at the Columbia Exposition in Chicago and was finally displayed in Nashville at the Tennessee State Centennial Exposition of 1897.

At the conclusion of the event in the state capitol it was placed in storage where one version says it was destroyed by hailstorms and another claims its demise was caused by a hurricane. Nevertheless, the tragic storm made the canvas unfit to display again.

* * *

You can reach Jerry Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)
Friends, family and the community gathered in the Auditorium at Georgia Northwestern Technical Colleges Gordon County Campus to honor nine students graduating from Basic POST Certification Class BPC1 #2022-01.

The Basic POST Certification program is designed to train and prepare graduates for employment as entry-level Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council certified police officers. The new program is offered in addition to the Basic Law Enforcement program, and both programs are part of GNTCs Law Enforcement Academy.

The BPC program is the first of its kind here, and it is only for students that are already employed with a law enforcement agency in a non-certified position, such as jail, communications or other support, said Gary McConathy, master instructor/coordinator of the Basic Law Enforcement Academy.  The BCP1 course is the basic course taught by the regional academies.

"This is the first 408-hour Law Enforcement Certification Course to be conducted at the GNTC Law Enforcement Academy since its creation in 2009, he said.

The regular basic mandate is 700 hours and takes three semesters to complete, he said.

Braden Smith was the student speaker for the ceremony. Joshua Burchfield was presented with the Top Gun award for excellence in marksmanship and the Academic (Honor Graduate) Award for having the highest grade point average.

This course is nonstop for 11 weeks, and these students excelled in every way, Mr. McConathy said.

Graduates of GNTCs Basic POST Certification Class BPC1 #2022-01 are Joshua Burchfield, Stephanie Dillard, Colton Gilreath, Alexander Hall, Vanessa Long, Jonathon McKeehan, Michael Phillips, Braden Smith and Nicholas Woods.

All nine students were certified and are working as sheriff's deputies: Burchfield and Dillard with the Murray County Sheriffs Office; Gilreath and Phillips with the Walker County Sheriff's Office; and Hall, Long, McKeehan, Smith and Woods with the Whitfield County Sheriffs Office.



"In my career I have taught more than 1,000 students, Mr. McConathy said. These graduates, as a group, are the best students I've ever had. Murray, Walker and Whitfield county citizens are very fortunate to have these men and women serving their communities."
Its been announced that Bruce Willis has retired from acting. But what has shocked fans is that his family revealed that the reason hes stepping away from his career, which spans more than four decades, is due to a recent aphasia diagnosis.

The news was shared via social media by the Die Hard stars wife Emma Heming Willis as well as his ex-Demi Moore, who just a few days ago posted a photo of her and Bruce celebrating his 67th birthday. Heres more on that as well as a few things you may not have known about the Charlies Angels: Full Throttle actor.

Demi Moore poses for a photo at the Saint-Laurent Fall-Winter 2022-2023 show | STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images

Demi Moores real name

Moore was born on Nov. 11, 1962, in Rosewell, New Mexico. Her biological father, Charles Harmon Sr., left Moores mother, Virginia, before she was even born.

A few months after Moores birth, her mom married a man named Dan Guynes. For years, Moore believed he was her biological father as her name growing up was Demi Gene Guynes. However, when she was a teenager she found their marriage certificate and began asking questions. It was then that she learned Harmon was her father.

So where did the name Moore come from? Well, its actually the surname of one of her exes.

How many times Moores been married

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher smile on the red carpet at the Valentines Day premiere in 2010 | Anthony Harvey/Getty Images

The actor has been married three times.

Her first husband was a musician named Freddy Moore. They wed in 1981 but divorced in 1985. However, his last name is the one she decided to stick with throughout her career.

She was of course married to Bruce as well. They got hitched in 1987 and were together until 2000. Despite their marriage ending, they have had a very good relationship over the years while co-parenting their three daughters Tallulah, Rumer, and Scout.

Moore was also famously married to Ashton Kutcher. They were together from 2003 to 2011. Their divorce was finalized in 2013. Moore said did everything she could to save their marriage but in her memoir, Inside Out, she detailed some factors that led to their split including their 15-year age difference.

Moore and her familys post to Bruce Willis fans

(L-R): Rumer Willis, Demi Moore, Bruce Willis, Scout Willis, Emma Heming Willis, and Tallulah Willis | Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for goop

Bruce celebrated his birthday on March 19, and that day Moore shared a photo of the two of them together writing: Happy Birthday, Bruce! Thankful for our blended family.

On March 30, Willis family shared his diagnosis with the public by posting a message to his fans via Instagram that read:



To Bruces amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities. As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him. This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion, and support. We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him. As Bruce always says, Live it up and together we plan to do just that.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, Aphasia is a language disorder caused by damage in a specific area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension. Aphasia leaves a person unable to communicate effectively with others.

RELATED: Demi Moore Thinks Bruce Willis Cheated on Her Multiple Times With His Movie Co-Stars
John Stamos lost his close friend Bob Saget when the Full House co-star died at age 65 in January. Just a few months later, Stamos mourned the death of another friend, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. The actor recently revealed the last text message he received from the musician. Heres what Stamos said about Hawkins and Sagets deaths.

This was Taylor Hawkins' last text to me: "Ya Weve yet to fully have a hang -Got a put that shit together before we die" Wise words from my friend- put that shit together! I'm so fucking sad. Another one gone too soon.  John Stamos (@JohnStamos) March 26, 2022

John Stamos revealed the last text he received from Taylor Hawkins before the Foo Fighters drummers death

Taylor Hawkins, best known for being the drummer of the rock band Foo Fighters, died at age 50 on Mar. 25. Several celebrities paid tribute to the musician after his death, including stars like Chris Martin, Stevie Nicks, Miley Cyrus, and Mick Jagger.

Full House star John Stamos also mourned the loss of Hawkins on social media. On Mar. 26, Stamos tweeted, This was Taylor Hawkins last text to me: Ya Weve yet to fully have a hang -Got a put that s*** together before we die Wise words from my friend- put that s*** together! Im so f***ing sad. Another one gone too soon.

Stamos is also a drummer, and his last Twitter post prior to sharing Hawkins text message was a photo of him with his late friend Bob Saget playing the drums. Throwback to a very special drum lesson, Stamos captioned the tweet. Miss you so much Bob.

(L-R) John Stamos and Taylor Hawkins | Michael Tullberg/Getty Images; Steve Granitz/WireImage

John Stamos buried his Full House co-star Bob Saget earlier this year

Taylor Hawkins isnt the first friend John Stamos lost this year. On Jan. 9, his Full House co-star was discovered dead in his hotel room in Orlando, Florida. On the day of Sagets memorial, Stamos tweeted, Today will be the hardest day of my life.

He was a pallbearer at Sagets funeral, where over 100 of Sagets famous friends and loved ones celebrated the comedian. Comedians Chris Rock, Jimmy Kimmel, Dave Chappelle, and Kathy Griffin attended the funeral. Besides Stamos, other Full House co-stars including Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Jodie Sweetin, Candace Cameron Bure, and Lori Loughlin were also present.

In a Jan. 25 interview with the New York Times, Stamos opened up about his last moments with Saget. He shared that the last time he saw the comedian was on a double date. The last time we were all together, we went on a double date to Nobu, maybe a month before he passed away. He didnt look like a guy who was going to die, but he was very calm, which was odd for Bob.

The You actor described Sagets demeanor in their final moments together. He was at peace somehow. And he listened and he was thoughtful and didnt interrupt; he cared about what we were saying, Stamos said. I hate to say it, but it was the Bob that I always wanted to see. And it was the last time I saw him.

John Stamos Shares Video Message from Late Foo Fighters Rocker Taylor Hawkins: 'Miss You Pal' pic.twitter.com/6TU0IxfO0H  People (@people) March 30, 2022

Fans are consoling the Full House star after the deaths of Bob Saget and Taylor Hawkins

John Stamos fans consoled him online after the Full House star shared his last text from Taylor Hawkins.

Memory eternal Mr. Stamos. Im sick with grief, one fan tweeted in response to Stamos post, adding a video clip of Hawkins performing on stage.

I am so so very sorry to hear of the passing of the legend that was Taylor Hawkins!! My heart breaks  for you knowing that youve lost yet another friend, another fan tweeted. I do hope you are doing ok and will be praying for you and yours.

And one fan tweeted, Such a shame that you didnt get the chance to hang with him before he passed. Another amazing talent gone too soon  Im truly sorry that youre going through this pain once again..it just doesnt seem fair. Take care of yourself John.

RELATED: Fans Think Bob Saget Predicted His Own Death: Im Going to Be Found Dead in Bed
The future Cherokee Nation Child Development Center will be located on West 530 alongside Hwy69A in the MidAmerica Industrial Park.
First they had to get a car.

As the threat of a Russian invasion grew on the horizon, some shrugged it off, thinking it unlikely. But Vika Aharkova, who ministered alongside her husband Vasyl among the 20,000 international students in Kharkiv, near the Russian border, kind of knew it was going to happen, she said.

Its easy to delay when crisis is coming. Its easy to think of the many plausible reasons the worst wont happen. They were still praying for peace. But they also knew they needed to be prepared.

They needed a car.

If we know there is going to be a war, we need to buy a vehicle, Vika said. So we can evacuate fast.

Vika and Vasyl appealed to supporters for funds to buy a car, and two days later, funds in hand, Vasyl traveled to Lviv, in western Ukraine, to purchase the vehicle. He immediately drove back to Kharkiva 14-hour journey.

The invasion started eight days later, at 5 a.m. on February 24. At 5:30, Vika and Vasyl were in the car, each carrying just a single backpack.

By the time they left the city, they had five more people, with five more backpacks: Vasyls sister, a couple from their church, an elders teenage daughter, and a student from the medical university.

No one took any extra luggage, but they did make room for a cat.

They would drive nonstop to Lvivthis time a 36-hour journey. Many people from all over the country have fled to Lviv now. In the West, near the Polish border, its more secure.

Here many churches, and many evangelicals like the Aharkovs, have turned to face the crisis head-on.

Image: Joel Carillet

Step onto the grounds of the Central Baptist Church, for example, and the place is abuzz. Parked in front is a bus that will take evacuees to the Polish border. Inside are several rooms serving as temporary shelter for displaced peoplethose like Irina Malko, 38, and her dog, Zaya, who also fled from the city of Kharkiv.

Walk down the stairs a couple floors and youll find several women cutting up cloth to be used for camouflage netting for the military. Walk a little farther, to the churchs kitchen, and youll find women preparing mealsfor the guests who are leaving in the bus out front and some who are staying longer.

The church is the new, temporary denominational headquarters, home to the staff of the Ukrainian Baptist Union. The union was located in Irpin, a suburb of Kyiv that quickly became a battlefield. Now its at Central Baptist Church in Lviv.

Image: Joel Carillet

In one room of the church is a large map of Ukraine, multicolored thumbtacks indicating distribution pointschurches of various denominations, mission organizations, and so forthwhere humanitarian aid from Haus der Hoffnung, a German Christian organization, can be sent.

Down the hall, Igor Bandura, vice president of the union, is worried about what happens if the Russian military succeeds in taking Ukraine.

The battle is huge, and it is not only about Ukraine, he says. If Ukraine would be taken, it is just a matter of time before Putin would move forward. Poland understands this. The Baltic states understand this. Romania understands this.

He has stopped praying for peace. Now he prays for victory. He prays he and other Christians and the country as a whole will face the crisis head on. He prays that the Russian people will see the invasion for what it is.

The majority of people just dont want to know the truth, he said in a sermon a few weeks ago. They are easily attracted by state propaganda. Even our own Christian brothers and sisters are overwhelmed with fears.

Inside this church, though, there doesnt seem to be any fear. These are the faces of determination. Like so many people around Ukraine, the Baptists here, in this one church in Lviv, are stepping up to meet the challenges with a sense of solidarity and sacrifice. The church, like the rest of the country, is operating in a crucible, and a sense of unity is being forgednot in some abstract sense but in a blood, sweat, and tears sense.

Image: Joel Carillet

They are choosing, every day, to face the crisis and make the necessary decisions, from buying a car that can carry seven from Kharkiv to sorting donated clothes in a storage room in the church in Lviv.

What will they think about this time, when its all over?

In the end, after the victory, Bandura said, we will look back and say, God, it was painful, but it was so precious, so valuable.





You can now follow CT on Telegram: Editors note: CTs coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war includes select articles in Russian and Ukrainian You can now follow CT on Telegram: @ctmagazine (also available in Chinese and Russian ).

[ This article is also available in espanol, , and . ]
This piece was adapted from Russell Moores newsletter. Subscribe here.

No ones ever invited me to a cocaine party or an orgy, and Ive been working in Washington for years.

I never thought Id say those words, but I did recently when a younger Christian asked me, in hushed tones, whether its true that members of Congress are snorting cocaine and organizing sex parties. I stared back blankly, wondering if this man knew that Congress resembles more a senior adult bingo night than a fraternity house.

I quipped that Ive never heard of much of that going on but that maybe I just wasnt invited people arent likely to invite a Baptist preacher if they want to put together a coke-fueled bacchanal.

This week US Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) described people he once respected inviting him to do such things, speaking of the series House of Cards as an accurate depiction of life in Congresscontroversial allegations that were swiftly refuted by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and others.

Personally, I dont recall ever hearing anyone who works in government describe the situation in such terms. However, I know that many peoplenamely, Christiansassume that any place with a lot of non-Christians who have a whole lot of power will be like that.

One reason for this, I think, is that we often dont understand just how boring the path to sin usually is.

The Bible speaks nowhere directly of cocaine, but it does address orgies in several places. The apostle Paul warns the church at Rome to walk away from carousing and drunkenness,  sexual immorality and debauchery, following up with the same warning about dissension and jealousy (Rom. 13:13). Both, he writes, are manifestations of the desires of the flesh (v. 14).

In contrasting the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5, Paul warns not only about sins such as drunkenness, orgies, and witchcraft but alsoin the same listabout much more respectable and boring desires of the flesh such as jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, and envy (vv. 2021).

Nowhere else have I seen a reference put jealousy and envy in the same category as orgies, and the like. When we think of the flesh, we tend to think of dramatic rebellionthe kind that people would want to gossip aboutnot about matters as dull and (we think) innocuous as jealousy or envy.

In many cases, sin does express itself in shocking debaucherybut most often it expresses itself in more invisible or easily justifiable ways of walking in the flesh.

Is Washington filled with sex-and-drug parties? There are probably a lot fewer of them than you think. But is Washington filled with the sins of the flesh? Absolutely, thats the case.

This shows up more often, though, in careerists drinking alone in their offices late at night than it does in wild parties. It shows up more in people whose flesh burns for the external validation of election wins and media hits than in anything resembling a night in Caligulas court.

The greatest temptations in Washington are seldom for those who want to fight for their right to party but for those who perhaps joined politics precisely because they werent invited to parties back in high school or earlier.

Most enticements on Capitol Hill are to lie in order to undercut a partisan enemy or to simmer in resentment over not being as high profile as another politician or bureaucrat. In other words, the typical temptations are not as glitzy and obviously transgressive as much as they are sad and lonely.

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Even in the realm of ordinary work in Washington, most people expect that the biggest problem is hypocrisypeople calling someone whom they privately hate my good friend so-and-so in public. That is a problem, but its a much bigger issue within partisan and ideological tribes than between them.

In what Freud called the narcissism of small differences, many people are far more resentful of those who are like them, whom they perceive as rivals, than of people they denounce on television or in fundraising emails.

In fact, the big secret in Washington is often that there are people who actually like each other but could never be seen shaking hands or laughing together in public. In a tribalized America, that sort of basic human connection looks like disloyalty. So what ends up being theatrical is not just the unity of the partisan solos but also their divisive animosity toward the other side.

Sometimes, stark and dramatic assumptions about other peoples sin can lead to horrific consequences. The people spreading conspiracy theories about politician-led, Satan-worshiping pedophile rings know these things are lies. But they market such to people who dont, which has led to actual threats of violence.

At other times, the result is more subtlean erosion of truth that leads to even more cynicism and a disconnect between authority and power.

But even in the more benign cases, Christians can err by assuming that the line between Spirit and flesh is always dramatic, when it is often far more subtle. This shows up in the church as much as, if not more than, it does in the world. The Bible tells us that too: At one point the sin within the church at Corinth was, Paul wrote, of a kind that even pagans do not tolerate (1 Cor. 5:1).

If we dont see this, then we will be rattlednot so much by the outside world engaging in obvious sin but by people who really dont seem to be supervillains and who genuinely want to do the right thing giving in to desires of the flesh.

And well be shaken when those who tell us we must ascribe to a certain Christian worldview to withstand the barbarians outside are themselves revealed to be filled with envy, rivalry, jealousy, fits of angerand sometimes with orgies and cocaine too.

Russell Moore leads the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today.
Suffering freezing temperatures during the long winter cold in the Caucasus Mountains, this month Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh had no heating for three weeks. The natural gas malfunction, stated Azerbaijans state-run energy distribution company, has now been repaired.

It is not often that pipeline maintenance draws international concern.

The European Union and Freedom House both called for quick resumption of the supply in order to avert a humanitarian crisis. Over 100,000 residents in the contested enclave rely on Armenian natural gas that passes through Azerbaijani territory.

Nagorno-Karabakh, which Armenians call Artsakh, lies within the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan. Armenians accused Azerbaijan of deliberate disruption, prevention of repair, and installation of a new valve with which they can shut off gas flow at will.

Secured by Armenians backed by Armenias military following the fall of the Soviet Union, Artsakh sought independence for three decades while controlling six buffer zones in depopulated Azerbaijani lands. Negotiations failed to resolve the dispute, until Azerbaijan launched a 44-day war in 2020 that recovered significant territory.

A Russian-brokered ceasefire ended active hostilities.

Yet skirmishes continue, and Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of instigation. Last November, Armenia stated an Azerbaijani incursion occupied 15 square miles of sovereign territory. Christianity Today was reporting from one of the liberated buffer territories at the time.

Image: Christianity Today

And in the month prior to the pipeline issuewith the worlds attention focused on UkraineRussia officially accused Azerbaijan of breaking the terms of the ceasefire. Monitors recorded at least four incidents of firing toward Armenian villages. Three soldiers were reportedly killed by an Azerbaijani drone; another was shot by a soldier across the border.

After years of holding the upper hand in Nagorno-Karabakh, the reversal suffered in the war has Armenians fearful of genocide. Now victorious, Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has pledged to develop the area economically and to treat Armenians as equal citizens.

The recent conduct makes many doubt these promises.

They openly cant go for a full-blown war today since Russian peacekeepers are deployed here, stated an Armenian journalist. So they do everything to disrupt normal life and make people leave their homeland.

But it goes beyond Artsakh.

To emphasize its sovereignty over the region, Azerbaijan has mandated that the designation Nagorno-Karabakh no longer be used. Armenians see this as erasuresimilar to what they allege is being done to their nations cultural heritage.

The ninth-century Dadivank Monastery, called Khudavan by Azerbaijan, is now labeled to be Caucasian Albanian, a defunct Orthodox sect traced to the Udis, a tiny Christian minority group still present today. Priests from this recently revived church were appointed to administer the monastery, with several other worship sites delinked from their Armenian origins.

After the war, the Armenian Apostolic Church created a department to preserve its historic churches in the territories that changed hands. Monitoring satellite imagery and Azerbaijani social media feeds to document violations, the department also tracks examples of pilgrims denied access to once-active religious sites.

We call on the international community, and give them the facts, said Garegin Hambardzumyan, head of the Department for Preservation of Cultural and Spiritual Values of Artsakh. The world needs to know the truth.

An Apostolic priest, Hambardzumyan works with institutions such as UNESCO, which has still not been granted investigative access to the contested territories by Azerbaijan. He informs the widespread Armenian diaspora, which plays an active role in lobbying foreign governments. And his departments reports also go to the Armenian government, whose lawyers determine the best course of action.

International outcry led to Azerbaijan backtracking last month on an announced committee to remove alleged Armenian forgeries from historic churches. Armenia also won a provisional judgment from the International Court of Justice, calling on Azerbaijan to prevent and prosecute incidents of vandalism and desecration.

But is this enough?

Some Armenians have floated the controversial idea of remedial secession, a theory in international law in which a nation loses its right to territory if it oppresses the resident people. Bangladesh (from India) and Kosovo (from Serbia) are sometimes given as examples.

The legal strategy is being considered at the highest levels.

When the life of a people in a larger entity is no longer possible because there is an existential threat, said Maria Karapetyan, a member of Armenias parliament, the only way to secure their existence is secession, to live as a separate entity.

While the idea has not been adopted as official policy, Karapetyan, also the English-language spokeswoman for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyans Civil Contract party, stated that Artsakh has been a human rights issue from the beginning. In 1991, an independence referendum was overwhelmingly approved amid a boycott by its Azerbaijani minority and met with violent rejection by authorities, she said.

Mutual ethnic atrocities followed for the next three years, as thousands were killed and over 1 million people displaced from their homes.

Since then, the general strategy for peacethough never enactedwas for Armenians to trade the buffer zone territories in exchange for Azerbaijan granting special status, even independence, to Nagorno-Karabakh. The 2020 war voided this option.

Today, the Civil Contract party holds to the necessity of negotiations, while insisting on a formal demarcation of borders and the removal of military forces from the frontlines. Communications must be resumed with Azerbaijan, which can then open paths for trade.

Despite the military defeat in 2020, Karapetyans party overwhelmingly won a majority share of parliament in early elections last June, running on a platform of peace. With its mandate renewed, Pashinyans government has surged forward with the controversial task of normalizing relations with neighboring Turkeywhich strongly backed Azerbaijan during the war.

Prior to this development, in December Karapetyan dismissed Aliyevs promise to integrate the Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh, calling it a fairy tale. But Pashinyan continues to hope for a negotiated solution, and yesterday announced a meeting with Aliyev next week to iron out steps toward a lasting peace agreement.

Others have been looking at strategies to intervene.

Clerics at Hamdarzumyans conference last September heard a geopolitical rationale. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle, adopted by the United Nations in 2005, seeks to ensure the international community never again fails to prevent war crimes and ethnic cleansingsuch as in the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

If you can frame the destruction of cultural heritage as a war crime, said Sheila Paylan, an international lawyer, theres no reason why we cant push forward the R2P envelope.

It is warranted, said Eric Hacopian, an Armenian analyst. In the early 2000s, Azerbaijan destroyed thousands of ornate funeral khachkar cross-stones in Nakhchivan, erasing the historic marker of Armenian residence.

The only comparable modern precedents, he said, are the Talibans demolition of Buddha statues, the Islamic States damaging of Palmyra, and the Chinese governments desecration of Uighur mosques.

This is the league that Aliyev is in, said Hacopian. Youre dealing with a state that systematically destroys cultural sites in Europe.

But regardless of the status of Nagorno-Karabakh, many Armenians are worried simply by the terms of the ceasefire. Point 9, the final one listed, called for the unblocking of all economic and transportation routes.

While consistent with Pashinyans mandate, a key application pertains to a southern corridor connecting noncontiguous Nakhchivan with the rest of Azerbaijan. It would be overseen by Russian peacekeeping forces, who currently monitor the Lachin corridor between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.

The idea has been championed by Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees it as a way to connect the entire Turkic world. Armenia is the only interruption, which worries those who fear for more than a mountainous enclave.

The proposed corridor would pass through Armenian sovereign territory, and it puts some residents ill at ease.

If they are going to take my village for peace, that already is not peace, said Alen Avedisyan, who lives near Meghri, 230 miles southeast of Yerevan on the Iranian border. Erdogan wants to be Saladin, ruling from the Mediterranean to China.

A history teacher and father of three daughters, he recalled the day three decades earlier, when the 12 Azerbaijani families in his village fled. Armenians, with tears in their eyes, helped them load their worldly goods into trucks. The wives who stayed behind changed their Azeri names.

His province of Syunik, also known as Zangazur, is only 25 miles across at its narrowest point. In January 2021, a joint Armenian-Azerbaijani-Russian committee was formed to reopen routes per the ceasefire agreement, but little progress has been made.

Aliyev has threatened to take it by force, if necessary. But his rhetoric goes further. He has highlighted Zangazur as Azeris ancestral landto which they will definitely return. He even described Yerevan as a political and strategic goal, which Azeris must gradually approach.

Some analysts have posited that such language is meant to give Azerbaijan domestic room to negotiate over Nagorno-Karabakh or Lachin, in order to trade these historical claims in any future settlement.

We want communication, not land, said Mubariz Qurbanli, chairman of Azerbaijans state committee on religious associations, when CT asked about Zangazur in December. We will recognize each others boundaries.

But for many Armenians, Aliyevs statements prove the problem is far deeper than a pipeline.

And whether the solution lies in negotiation, lobbying, arbitration, or even remedial secession, it is clear to them that Nagorno-Karabakh must be made an international issue.

With all we have gone through in the world today, we should be done with war, said Avedisyan. But small countries are in the hands of big countries, and big countries must play a role for peace.
Biden admin. prepares for uptick in border crossings amid plans to halt COVID-19 asylum rule

The Biden administration is preparing for a sharp increase in illegal border crossings as its plans to lift a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention measure limiting asylum seekers from applying for protection at the southern border as part of the effort to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Multiple reports citing people familiar with the situation say that the CDC is likely to end orders issued in March 2020 as part of duties outlined in Title 42 of the U.S. Code to medically examine noncitizens. The order allowed the U.S. to stop immigrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. for public health reasons.

The order allows for most migrants to be rapidly deported and for immigration proceedings to be bypassed.

When asked about the CDC plan to end Title 42 and its impact on the border, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield told a press conference on Wednesday that the administration was planning for multiple contingencies.

[W]e have every expectation that when the CDC ultimately decides its appropriate to lift Title 42, there will be an influx of people to the border, Bedingfield said. And so, we are doing a lot of work to plan for that contingency.

Bedingfield said that Title 42 is a public health directive and not an immigration or migration enforcement measure.

So the decision on when to lift Title 42, we defer to the CDC, she stated.

Yesterday, the Department of Homeland Security did a briefing walking through some of the planning that theyre doing to increase efficiency, to ensure that we have the capacity, to ensure that we are operating in a way that is treating migrants humanely, fairly.

Bedingfield noted that Homeland Security was more broadly doing work to continue to build up our migration system and ensure that we are restoring order at the border.

Despite calls from some Democrats to end the order immediately, The Wall Street Journal reports that the CDC is delaying the implementation of the order rescinding the Title 42 powers until May 23 so that Homeland Security can plan for what is expected to be a sharp rise in border crossings in the coming months.

The order is pending at the White Houses Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs and is expected to be made final this week as the agency faces a deadline to decide whether to extend the Trump-era policy.

The CDC had previously voted to extend the Title 42 orders in late January due to the uptick on COVID-19 cases attributed to the Omicron variant, the Associated Press reports.

Many members of Congress, including moderate Democrats, want the orders to remain in place.

If anything, we should be looking at permanency on Title 42, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., told reporters this week. Maybe that would spur us to get a good immigration policy that works for Americans and secure our borders  the borders have to be secure, he said.

Democratic Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly of Arizona have warned Biden not to lift the public health directive until a plan is in place to process the expected rise in asylum claims in a letter sent last Thursday, according to Roll Call.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, argues that the orders need to be in place, at least until border security has improved.

The Border Patrol agents told me they expect a tsunami of humans to come across the border and the Border Patrol has said they will lose control entirely, Cornyn told the AP.

Other Democrats have voiced disappointment that the Title 42 order remain in effect. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined U.S. Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Alex Padilla, D-Calif., in issuing a joint statement earlier this month contending that it's wrong to continue sending families with minor children back to persecution and torture.

With vaccines and testing widely available, there is no public health benefit to sending asylum seekers back to harm, the letter contends.

As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxes [its] domestic COVID-19 protocols, it is perplexing that the agency continues to recommend the extended use of this draconian policy at the border, contradicting the overwhelming signs of Americas pandemic recovery under President Bidens leadership.

The American Civil Liberties Union claims Title 42 has been misused as a border enforcement tool.

Our government has the tools it needs to safely screen people at the border, as our laws require, to determine whether they qualify for asylum or other humanitarian protections, the ACLU said in a statement. The CDC should resist any political interference from the White House and end Title 42 in its entirety.

Illegal crossings on the southern border of the United States have already been on the rise in recent weeks, according to a report by The Washington Post. March has seen around 200,000 detentions, the highest since last August.

On Tuesday, the Department of Homeland Security reported about 7,100 migrants are crossing the border daily compared to 5,900 in February, according to AP.

The Title 42 order has allowed the government to carry out 1.7 million deportations, 70% of which have come under President Biden, CBS News reports.

Earlier this month, CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky terminated a Title 42 order regarding unaccompanied noncitizen minors, thus allowing them to remain in the country.

The order termination came in response to a preliminary injunction given by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas enjoining and restraining CDC from enforcing its orders excepting unaccompanied immigrant children.

The court found that CDC had not adequately explained its decision to treat unaccompanied noncitizen children differently than other noncitizens subject to the CDC orders, stated the CDC earlier this month.

CDC addresses the courts concerns and has determined, after considering current public health conditions and recent developments, that expulsion of unaccompanied noncitizen children is not warranted to protect the public health.
Matt Chandler says Christianity is only religion that handles suffering honestly: 'God's at work in the mess'

Village Church Pastor Matt Chandler told his congregation that, for Christians, suffering is normal and stressed that only Christianity  not the secular world or other religions  handles suffering, trials and pain honestly.

Christianity doesnt pretend that suffering is not real. It doesnt pretend that its fair. It doesnt pretend that its not really there. It doesnt do that. Nor does it pretend that it doesnt have meaning, the 47-year-old pastor said in a March 20 sermon titled What Well Face.

The pastor told those gathered at the churchs Flower Mound, Texas, campus that Gods at work in the mess. He said God strengthens and refines and calls into Himself, and grants life with and empowers through not the good times, but through the difficult times that expose our idols, shows us as weak and makes us desperate for His presence.

Chandler said suffering is not abnormal because humans have been experiencing trials throughout history. But amid this reality, Jesus is good, he said, citing 1 Peter 3:18-22.

Jesus pathway of suffering is the path to glory. Its not a life of ease and comfort thats the path to glory. We see in the suffering of Jesus Christ that once and for all He broke the back of sin.

Jesus Christ went to the cross, Chandler said, and absorbed Gods wrath toward all of humanitys sin.

He hands to you His righteousness so that when God sees you, when the just Judge of the universe sees you, He sees the righteousness of Christ, which is why He delights in you and rejoices in you and celebrates you if you put your faith in His saving work, Chandler said.

He doesnt come with new law. He doesnt come with a new set of rules, he added, referring to John 3:17, which says Jesus will return not to condemn but to save.

Jesus has saved humans from sin and death, Chandler noted.

I dont know where I would be if He didnt get me. ... I know what happens to us if God didnt intervene, the pastor elaborated.

When he looks at his wife, his children, his relationship with his church congregants and how God has healed him, Chandler realizes God is good even amid suffering.

Like King David, He lifted me out of the muck and mire, and He set my feet on a rock. Hes good. And Ive had brain cancer and a difficult marriage and all sorts of other issues and Hes good, Chandler said.

For nothing else, but He saved me. He rescued me, opened my eyes, he continued.

Earlier in his sermon, Chandler shared how Christians can exist and thrive as they face the kind of suffering resulting from living in a world that is hostile to their faith.

We are a nuisance. We can kind of feel that, he posited. The predominant culture kind of sees us as a hurdle to get to the utopia that they have in view, our sexual ethic, our belief about marriage. ... If you guys would just get over your archaic backward, historically abusive trauma-causing nonsense, we could get to the utopia of where were trying to go.

Chandler emphasized that Christians should submit to God's moral law to reveal His wisdom, beauty, and glory through suffering. On top of that, he said Christians should live a life of boldness.

How are we to live?  You live lives of beauty. Gods moral law matters. We pursue goodness. We live lives of beauty. We let the Word of God conform our lives into something that will be beautiful to those who will be saved and will be indicting and rage-causing for those who will not, Chandler said.

The Explicit Gospel author warned parents that it is vital to not only point their children to Jesus as they go through trials, but its also essential to refrain from enabling their children as they face struggles.

What service do we do to our children when we coddle their disappointments? he asked. Im not talking about comforting. Please comfort them. Life is brutal. Youre mom and dad. Youre meant to comfort them. But if you save them and treat them like candles, you are setting them up.

If all were perpetually doing is saving them from disappointment, youre treating them like a candle. ... Thats on us to teach them fortitude; to let them own some of the pain that comes from dumb mistakes, to not constantly rescue, he stressed.

Chandler told the congregation that they are stronger than they believe they are.

You are not that candle easily extinguished in the wind, the pastor said. Youre a bonfire. The wind makes you stronger, makes you burn hotter, it makes you brighter. So dont always shield yourself from the wind.  Your growth as a person, it happens not in comfort but at the edge of your growth, where it feels stressful and painful. And thats when youre growing as a person.
Pastor, 3 others killed by suspected Fulani herdsmen in Nigeria: reports

Suspected Fulani herdsmen shot to death four people, including a pastor and two women in two separate attacks in Benue State on Tuesday, according to Nigerian media reports.

Pastor John Ajav of the Pentecostal network Deeper Life Church was killed in Waku village while he was on his way to a church program Tuesday morning, Vanguard reported. Additionally, three farmers were said to have been killed on the same day while they were working on their farms in the Nyiev Council Ward area.

All the killings reportedly occurred in the Guma local government area.

Confirming the attacks, Tivlumun Nyitse, the chief of staff to Benue Gov. Samuel Ortom, who is from the area where the incidents occurred, wrote on his Facebook page that it was a very sad day.

We lost Pastor John Torbee Ajav this morning to some Fulani marauders who shot him on his way to Gbajimba to attend a religious function, he wrote, according to Vanguard and the daily newspaper The Punch.

The late John was a pastor with the Deeper Life Bible Church, Umenger. May the Lord receive his soul with mercy.

The Christian Post reached out to Deeper Life Christian Ministry for comment on Ajavs reported killing. A response is pending.

The killings come as there has been an increase in attacks by suspected Fulani radicals against farming communities in Nigerias Middle Belt states in recent years that have reportedly led to thousands of deaths.

The herdsmen involved in Tuesdays attack in Benue reportedly came from neighboring Nasarawa state.

These terrorists have continued to attack and kill our people for no reason whatsoever, Caleb Abah, the Chairman of Guma local government area, was quoted as saying.

On March 17, heavily armed Fulani herdsmen attacked Agunu Dutse village in Kachia County in Kaduna state shortly after midnight, abducting at least 46 Christians and their children, Morning Star News reported. In a separate attack two days later, more than 100 herdsmen and Islamist terrorists killed 32 civilians in Kagoro town in Kaura County.

Weapons are being made available to militants in Nigeria by way of war-torn Libya. And in the countrys northeast region, the terrorist groups Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province have killed thousands and displaced millions in recent years.

The U.S.-based persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern warns that the Nigerian government continues to deny any religious motivation behind the attacks.

The Nigerian government, led by President Muhammadu Buhari, who comes from a Fulani background, attributes the violence in the Middle Belt states to decades-old farmer-herder clashes. However, Christian human rights advocates have accused the government of overlooking religious elements and not doing enough to protect Nigerian citizens.

Last year, the U.S. State Department removed Nigeria from its list of countries of particular concern for tolerating or engaging in egregious violations of religious liberty after it was placed on the list in 2020 by the Trump administration. The removal of Nigeria from the list drew backlash from some human rights activists.

Many have raised concerns about what they perceive as the governments inaction in holding terrorists accountable for the rising number of murders and kidnappings, which some groups warn have reached the level of genocide.

ICC identified Nigeria as one of its 2021 Persecutors of the Year.

Nigeria is one of the deadliest places on Earth for Christians, as 50,000 to 70,000 have been killed since 2000, the ICC Persecutor of the Year report states.

Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, reported that at least 4,650 Christians were killed between Oct. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021. That is an increase from 3,530 the previous year. Additionally, more than 2,500 Christians were kidnapped, up from 990 a year earlier.
In some American cities, young women earn more than young men: study

While the gender pay gap among full-time, year-round workers continues to endure nationally, a new analysis by the Pew Research Center shows that the median earnings for young women in some American cities are the same  or more  than their male counterparts.

An analysis of Census Bureau data by senior researcher Richard Fry shows that when it comes to younger workers under 30 nationally, the gender pay gap is much narrower than the general population of workers, where young women earn 93% of the earnings of their young male counterparts.

While the median annual earnings of women in 2019 registered at just 82% of mens earnings, women under 30 in 22 of 250 metropolitan areas in the U.S. were found to be making the same or more than men their age.

In New York City and Washington, D.C. metropolitan areas, young women earn 102% of what young men earn when examining median annual earnings among full-time, year-round workers.

In New York City, for example, women under 30 had median annual earnings of $41,717 while their male counterparts earned $40,725.

In some smaller metropolitan areas, the pay gap was even more in favor of women in 2019. In Wenatchee, Washington, young women earned 120% of what young men earned. And in Morgantown, West Virginia, young women earned 114% of what young men earned.

In Wenatchee, women under 30 had median annual earnings of $30,363 while young men had annual median earnings of $25,251.

In Morgantown, the home of the University of West Virginia, the median annual earnings of full-time employed young women was $32,373 in 2019, while the median earnings for young men were $28,507.

Young women were similarly out-earning their male counterparts in other places, such as Yuba City, California; San Angelo, Texas; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Gainesville, Florida; and San Diego, California.

In cities like Richmond, Virginia; Flagstaff, Arizona; and Los Angeles, California, the median annual earnings of men and women are even.

From a regional perspective, metropolitan areas in the Midwest tend to have wider gender wage gaps among young workers. Young women working full time, year-round in Midwestern metros earn about 90% of their male counterparts, Fry wrote. In other regions, by comparison, young women earn 94% or more of what young men earn.

The Institute for Womens Policy Research, which provides national data on the needs of women in the U.S., contends that [c]losing the gender wage gap would help many women and families, and particularly single women and mothers, achieve economic security.

For each state and the nation overall  and for the men, women, and families who live in communities around the country  equal pay could provide a significant boost to the economy, the organizations website, the Status of Women in the States, reads.

Recent data shows, however, that young adults have been finding it much harder to save for the future, pay for college, buy a house or find a spouse.

Research also suggests that  at least when it comes to finding a spouse  a shrinking gender pay gap may have more negative consequences for men.

In 2019, for example, researchers Daniel T. Lichter of Cornell University, Joseph P. Price of Brigham Young University and Jeffrey M. Swigert of Southern Utah University found in their study, Mismatches in the Marriage Market, that America is facing a significant shortage of highly educated economically attractive unmarried men who earned at least $53,000.

As of March 24, Zip Recruiters reports the average annual pay for men in the U.S. at $37,185.

The study results were based on comparisons between actual data on unmarried men and a synthetic profile of the ideal husband that the average unmarried woman desired, created from marriage data from 2008 to 2012 and 2013 to 2017 recorded in the American Community Survey.

These synthetic husbands have an average income that is about 58% higher than actual unmarried men who are currently available to unmarried women. They also are 30% more likely to be employed (90% vs. 70%) and 19% more likely to have a college degree (30% vs. 25%), the study noted.

Our analyses provide clear evidence of an excess supply of men with low income and education and, conversely, shortages of economically attractive unmarried men (with at least a bachelors degree and higher levels of income) for women to marry. One implication is that promoting good jobs may ultimately be the best marriage promotion policy rather than marriage education courses that teach new relationship skills.

A 2020 analysis by the Institute of Family Studies suggests that despite the ability of modern women to earn their own livelihoods, there is still a tendency among women to marry men who earn more than they do.

Hypergamy turns out to be a stubborn thing. It seems that the highly-credentialed alpha female still prefers a mate above her pay grade, wrote Kay Hymowitz, the William E. Simon Fellow at the Manhattan Institute, who studies family issues, poverty and cultural change in the U.S.

In one of the most widely-cited papers on the subject, demographer Yue Qian compared couples in the 1980 Census and in 2012 American Community Survey. She found that during the intervening decades, though wives became more likely to marry down in terms of educational achievement, the tendency for women to marry men with higher incomes than themselves persisted.

In fact, women with the same or more education than their husbands were more likely to marry up.
What the Bible says about grumbling may surprise you

Spiritual conversion involves saying Yes to Jesus as the Holy Spirit works the miracle of the new birth, (John 1:13; 3:5-6), while spiritual maturity involves consistently saying No to ungodliness and worldly passions (Titus 2:12). Christians are saved by grace through faith, (Ephesians 2:8) and Christians grow as God works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose (Philippians 2:13).

The Israelites often committed the ugly sin of grumbling. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites (Numbers 14:26-29).

Grumbling is a wicked way to deal with our frustrations. Rather than helping our situation, it only worsens our attitude and decreases our trust in God. Therefore, Scripture instructs us: Do everything without complaining or arguing (Philippians 2:14).

In the Old Testament, the Lord dealt as severely with the sin of grumbling as He did with the sin of sexual immorality. We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did  and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did  and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did - and were killed by the destroying angel (1 Corinthians 10:8-10).

C.S. Lewis said, Hell begins with a grumbling mood, always complaining, always blaming others.

It is impossible for a Christian to please the Lord or grow into spiritual maturity if grumbling is a regular habit. Instead, believers are called to give thanks continually (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Grumbling is the exact opposite of how the Lord wants us to live. Billy Graham put it this way: Grumbling and gratitude are, for the child of God, in conflict. Be grateful and you wont grumble. Grumble and you wont be grateful.

In addition to grumbling, two other signs of spiritual immaturity are quarreling and jealousy. The Apostle Paul addressed these specific sins in one of his letters to the church in Corinth: Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly  mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? (1 Corinthians 3:1-4).

It was jealousy that led Josephs brothers to plot against him, throw him into an empty well, and then sell him into slavery (Genesis 37:1-36). Jealousy is a terrible vice that produces resentment, distrust, paranoia, and can even lead to violence. The Bible describes how Rachel became jealous of Leah (Genesis 29 & 30), and how King Saul became jealous of David (1 Samuel 18). Jealousy causes havoc within your soul.

The ultimate example of jealousy is when Lucifer became jealous of God receiving all the praise, honor, and glory (Ezekiel 28:11-19). Lucifer wanted the angels to worship him instead of the Lord, and his pride and jealousy got him kicked out of Heaven. Jesus said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven (Luke 10:18). Lucifer chose to stop finding contentment in doing the will of his Creator. And a similar thing happens today to those who become disillusioned with serving God.

It is natural to desire something that someone else has been given. But such longings, if unchecked, can leave a person with the miserable mindset of jealousy. Much can be learned from the Apostle Paul on this matter, who wrote, I have learned the secret of being content whatever the circumstances. And Jerry Bridges wisely said, The cure for the sin of envy and jealousy is to find our contentment in God.

Quarreling, like jealousy, is a corrupt offense that stems from our sinful nature. James wrote, What causes fights and quarrels among you? Dont they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but dont get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God (James 4:1-3).

Paul wrote, The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19-21). That is to say, those who live for sin rather than for Christ are not saved, justified, redeemed, born again, or forgiven.

Spiritual conversion happens first and is instantaneous. Spiritual maturity develops second and is a lifelong process. Justification takes place on the front end of your relationship with God. Sanctification, on the other hand, develops in the lives of those who have already been saved, redeemed, born again, justified, and forgiven. Just as a child must be born before he or she can mature, a person must be born again (John 3:7) through faith in Christ before he or she can start maturing in their relationship with God.

The author of Hebrews addressed the issue of spiritual infancy: Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of Gods Word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil (Hebrews 5:12-14).

While grumbling, quarreling, and jealousy reveal spiritual immaturity, Christians are free to say No to these temptations. And when we fall short of the mark, we can go to our Savior and say, Lord Jesus, wash me in your precious blood. And help me resist temptation the next time it comes knocking at my door."
125-year-old 'remember me' letter by orphan choir boy discovered in church pew sparks writing campaign

A 125-year-old letter written by a choir boy who was orphaned after his father died was discovered stuffed down the side of one of the pews at Sunderland Parish Church.

Workers discovered the note as they were renovating the church, also known as Holy Trinity, which had ceased being used as a house of worship in 1988 due to declining attendance. The church was subsequently used as a community events space and was being renovated when the letter was found.

The note was written by 13-year-old William Elliott on Aug. 11, 1897, on the back of an order of service, according to the Sunderland Echo.

In the note, Elliott requested not to be forgotten.

Dear friend, whoever finds this paper, think of William Elliott who had two months and two weeks and four days on the 11 of August 1897. Whoever you are that finds this paper don't tear it up or throw it away... keep it in remembrance of me, W. Elliott...I was the leading boy of this choir... I love you if you love me.

The letter was found during the extended COVID-19 lockdowns as the Grade I listed Georgian building was being renovated into a catering space called Seventeen Nineteen, RTE News reports.

Conservationists removed layers of wax and dust to make the text, written in pencil, visible.

The Seventeen Nineteen project, which is working with the Churches Conservation Trust and other sponsors and volunteers to restore and repurpose the building as a venue space, researched more about Elliott's life and how he came to stay at the church as an orphan.

Research by Seventeen Nineteen volunteers revealed Williams father was chief officer Thomas Duncan Elliott who was sailing on the vessel Skyros when he was washed overboard in 1887. William's mother Sarah Ann Elliott was left a widow with four children and, although the family appears to have been fairly comfortable until Thomas death, by 1891 Sarah was working as a dressmaker to keep the family afloat. As a consequence of losing his father, William was eligible for admittance to the orphanage and was ultimately accepted in 1892. He was discharged on 29 October 1897, his 14th birthday  just weeks after he wrote his letter.

It was discovered that he was a child of the Sunderland Orphan Asylum via the orphan admissions register images and sang in the Holy Trinity choir. His father was a Chief Officer Thomas Duncan Elliott in the Navy and was sadly lost at sea. #DearFriend#LettersThroughHistorypic.twitter.com/MUBSS06Nv5  Seventeen Nineteen (@17Nineteen) March 30, 2022

Seventeen Nineteen has now launched The Dear Friend project in honor of Elliott, which aims to encourage anyone who would like to participate to write a letter in reply.

His letter has touched us all, said Tracey Mienie, Seventeen Nineteens center manager. He was clearly very aware that his time at the orphanage  and in the choir  was ending and I think apprehension at what his future may hold comes across in his words.

Seventeen Nineteen added that based on their findings, Elliotts high marks in reading and mathematics, he became an errand boy for a lawyer. The historical record of Elliott's life ends in 1901, however.

His letter is now framed in the churchs Lady Chapel near the seating area where it was believed to have been written. His name has also been added to the list of men and boys with ties to the parish who died in generations past.

To participate in the Dear Friend project and write to Seventeen Nineteen, contact Lily Daniels with a postal address at 17nineteen@thecct.org.uk or call 0191 560 0288.
Justice Department indicts 9 people for attempting to block access to abortion clinic Pro-life activists may face up to 11 years in prison, as much as $350K in fines if found guilty

The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it plans to indict nine people for trying to block access to an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C.

In a statement released yesterday, the department said it was issuing a two-count indictment against nine people, charging them with conspiracy against rights and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

If they are found guilty, according to the DOJ, they will each face 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine not to exceed $350,000.

Those indicted include: Lauren Handy, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia; Joan Bell, 74, of Montague, New Jersey; Jonathan Darnel, 40, of Arlington, Virginia; William Goodman, 52, of Bronx, New York; Paulette Harlow, 73, of Kingston, Massachusetts; John Hinshaw, 67, of Levittown, New York; Heather Idoni, 61, of Linden, Michigan; Jean Marshall, 72, of Kingston, Massachusetts; and Jay Smith, 32, of Freeport, New York.

At issue was an incident from October 2020 in which the nine indicted individuals allegedly organized an effort to stop people from accessing an abortion clinic.

According to the indictment, as part of the conspiracy, Smith, Harlow, Marshall, Hinshaw, Idoni, Goodman and Bell traveled to Washington, D.C. from various Northeast and Midwestern states to participate in a clinic blockade that was directed by Handy and was broadcast on Facebook by Darnel, according to the DOJ.

Handy, Smith, Harlow, Marshall, Hinshaw, Idoni, Goodman and Bell forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains and ropes. Once the blockade was established, Darnel live-streamed footage of his co-defendants activities.

Last November, Handy was arrested alongside other pro-life activists outside the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital in California under the charge of trespassing.

Days later, Handy, Bell and Darnell, along with other like-minded activists, were arrested while handing out roses to women seeking abortions at a clinic in Alexandria, Virginia.

Terrisa Bukovinac of the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, who was among those arrested at both the San Francisco hospital and the Alexandria facility, told The Christian Post in an earlier interview that she and her fellow activists will not be silenced.

We are at a precipice now. We are so close to a victory, and its going to require an immense amount of bravery from those within our movement, said Bukovinac.

I think that its important that the pro-life movement move past our fear of sanctions.  The abortion industrial complex is a totalitarian regime, and we must use every tool in non-violent struggle in order to resist this regime.
Judge blocks Navy from enforcing COVID-19 vaccine mandate against sailors with religious objections

A federal judge has expanded an earlier preliminary injunction on behalf of a group of U.S. Navy sailors opposed to taking the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds, with the case now including thousands of personnel seeking religious exemptions.

Earlier this year, a group of Navy SEALs and other military personnel sued the Department of Defense and others over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, with a major issue being the Navys failure to grant any religious exemptions.

U.S. District Court Judge Reed OConnor issued an order Monday that granted a request to broaden a lawsuit against the Defense Department to include over 4,000 Navy service members who have requested a religious exemption from the mandate.

Plaintiffs decided to pursue a class action on behalf of 4,095 Navy servicemembers who have filed religious accommodation requests, wrote OConnor.

Here, the potential class members have suffered the same injury, arising from violations of their constitutional rights. Each has submitted a religious accommodation request, and each has had his request denied, delayed, or dismissed on appeal.

The decision added that a finding in favor of the Named Plaintiffs on their [Religious Freedom Restoration Act] and First Amendment claims also resolves the RFRA and First Amendment claims of the class.

By resolving the Navy Classs common questions, this Court may provide relief to all servicemembers in the class and subclasses, continued the decision. Even though their personal circumstances may factually differ in small ways, the threat is the same  get the jab or lose your job.

The plaintiffs are being represented by the First Liberty Institute, a conservative law firm based in Texas that has often handled religious liberty cases.

Mike Berry, general counsel and director of Military Affairs at First Liberty, explained to The Christian Post how this latest injunction worked in relation to a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed the Defense Department to reassign those opposed to the COVID-19 vaccine.

Judge OConnors order granting class certification and classwide preliminary injunction does not inhibit the Navys ability to consider vaccination status when making personnel assignment decisions, said Berry.

But it does, for example, prohibit the Navy from punishing a sailor because of his/her vaccination status.

Last November, 35 Navy personnel, including 26 Navy SEALs, filed suit against the government over the COVID-19 vaccine mandate, arguing that the Navy has failed to provide a proper religious exemption to the mandate.

For its part, the Pentagon has contended that the mandate for all branches of the military is necessary in order to maintain combat readiness for the Armed Forces.

Now that the Pfizer vaccine has been approved, the department is prepared to issue updated guidance, requiring all service members to be vaccinated, stated Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby last year.

These efforts ensure the safety of our service members and promote the readiness of our force, not to mention the health and safety of the communities around the country in which we live.

In January, OConnor granted the Navy personnel a preliminary injunction against the mandate, noting in part that the Navy has failed to properly process religious exemption requests.

The Navy provides a religious accommodation process, but by all accounts, it is theater. The Navy has not granted a religious exemption to any vaccine in recent memory. It merely rubber stamps each denial, wrote OConnor in January.

The Navy servicemembers in this case seek to vindicate the very freedoms they have sacrificed so much to protect. The COVID-19 pandemic provides the government no license to abrogate those freedoms. There is no COVID-19 exception to the First Amendment. There is no military exclusion from our Constitution.

In February, the Navy announced that it had approved an exemption to the COVID-19 vaccine for a member of their branch, the first such approval in seven years, according to U.S. Naval Institute News.

However, noted the USNI, the exemption approval came under the condition that the unnamed sailor, who was in the Individual Ready Reserve, is not called up to active duty. At that point, the individual would have to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Ukrainian American pastor freed from Russian forces over a week after abduction: 'God is good'

A Ukrainian American pastor residing in war-torn eastern Ukraine has been released from detention more than a week after Russian forces captured him during the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

The wife of Dmitry Bodyu, who was reportedly abducted by Russian forces from a home in the Russian-controlled city of Melitopol on March 19, announced on Facebook Monday that her husband had been released.

Dmitry is home, Helen Bodyu wrote. Hes doing well. Thank you for your participation, for your concern, help and love! God is good!!! Praise the Lord!

The pastor's family had previously told media that Russian forces stormed their home, confiscated her husband's American passport along with their phones and other devices. After the abduction, the pastor hadn't been heard from for days.

According to NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, Bodyu emigrated to the United States from the Soviet Union in 1990 along with his family.

He settled in Burleson, Texas, located near Dallas. Pastor Otis Gillaspie of Open Door Church in Burleson sponsored Bodyu and his family, enabling them to come to the U.S.

Although Bodyu and his family became American citizens, he opted to return to Ukraine along with his wife to establish several churches.

Bodyu serves as the pastor of the Word of Life Church in Melitopol. Gillaspie told the local news outlet that despite the danger he currently faces by remaining in Ukraine, Bodyu wont leave ... his flock because he feels a mandate from God to do what God has told him to do, no matter what is happening around him.

I really feel like prayer makes a difference, and its made a difference in this case, Gillaspie added. You cant meet him and not like him. I felt like he [captured] those who captured him.

Bodyus abduction came a day after he posted a video lamenting that the city is full of Russian troops.

Our routine has changed, Bodyu said in the video. Were ministering outside, were trying to collect anything we can: groceries, vegetables, water, medicine and were trying to distribute around the city.

The pastor noted that many people were sheltering in the church as as it served as a place of fellowship" and enabled people to pray together so they can cheer up each other.

We cook hot meals all the time so people can eat, and this is our routine now, he explained. Mobile connection is very, very slow. A couple of days ago, we didnt have electricity, water, internet, mobile connection [for] almost two days.

Bodyu addressed the atmosphere outside the church and touched on the fighting in the last month.

Today is OK, he said. There is no shootings around. Yesterday, there were some rockets flying to  our city but we are holding on.

Bodyu concluded the video by expressing hope that everything will be finished soon.

We believe in this, were praying about this and I believe that God can help us, the pastor stated, adding that Ukrainians in other cities have it even worse than he does.

On March 11, Reuters reported that Russian forces kidnapped the mayor of Melitopol, later releasing him in exchange for the return of nine captured Russian soldiers.

According to the latest civilian casualty update published Wednesday by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 1,189 civilians have been killed since Russia first invaded its eastern European neighbor on Feb. 24.

An additional 1,901 civilians in Ukraine have been injured since the Russia-Ukraine conflict began. The casualties in Ukraine include 108 children while an additional 142 children are among those injured.

The agency indicated that 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.

Since the invasion began, over 10 million people have been forced to flee their homes.
Biden declares support for trans surgeries, puberty blockers for kids, adolescents

President Joe Biden declared his support for allowing children and adolescents with gender dysphoria to undergo body mutilating surgeries or use puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to look more like the opposite sex despite unknowns about longterm side effects.

In multiple documents released Thursday, which is observed by some as the Transgender Day of Visibility, the Biden administration backed what it described as gender-affirming health care" for children.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Population Affairs released a document titled Gender Affirming Care and Young People."

The document states that early gender-affirming care for non-binary or trans-identified minors is crucial to overall health and well-being as it allows the child or adolescent to focus on social transitions and can increase their confidence while navigating the healthcare system.

The document lists top surgeries  elective mastectomies and breasts enhancements  and bottom surgeries  removal of genitals  as gender-affirming care.

The document states that the surgeries are [t]ypically used in adulthood or case by-case in adolescence.

Gender-affirming care is a supportive form of healthcare. It consists of an array of services that may include medical, surgical, mental health, and non-medical services for transgender and nonbinary people, stated OPA.

Medical and psychosocial gender affirming healthcare practices have been demonstrated to yield lower rates of adverse mental health outcomes, build self-esteem, and improve overall quality of life for transgender and gender diverse youth.

HHS Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrations National Child Traumatic Stress Network released a document titled Gender-Affirming Care Is Trauma-Informed Care.

The networks document defined gender-affirming care as including so-called evidence-based interventions such as puberty blockers and gender-affirming hormones and proclaimed that gender-affirming care is neither child maltreatment nor malpractice.

The statement comes as officials in Texas have defined administering puberty-blocking drugs on children who question their gender as child abuse and experimental since the Food and Drug Administration has not approved such drugs for that use.

There is no scientifically sound research showing negative impacts from providing gender-affirming care, the networks statement adds. [Transgender, gender diverse, and intersex] youth can thrive when they are supported and affirmed in their identities and their identity development.

An entry on Mayo Clinic's website states that drugs aimed at blocking puberty might help reduce depression among youth. However, puberty suppression alone might not ease gender dysphoria, said the clinic, adding, Using medication to delay puberty beyond ones peers can be stressful, and thus, a child might experience lower self-esteem.

The conservative American College of Pediatricians, an association of physicians and healthcare professionals dedicated to the health and well-being of children, has long voiced its opposition to using puberty-blocking drugs on children suffering from gender dysphoria.

There is not a single long-term study to demonstrate the safety or efficacy of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for transgender-believing youth, the organization said in a statement.

This means that youth transition is experimental, and therefore, parents cannot provide informed consent, nor can minors provide assent for these interventions. Moreover, the best long-term evidence we have among adults shows that medical intervention fails to reduce suicide.

Temporary use of puberty blocker Lupron has also been associated with and may be the cause of many serious permanent side effects including osteoporosis, mood disorders, seizures, cognitive impairment and, when combined with cross-sex hormones, sterility, the American College of Pediatricians added. In addition to the harm from Lupron, cross-sex hormones put youth at an increased risk of heart attacks, stroke, diabetes, blood clots and cancers across their lifespan.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has issued medical guidelines that support the surgical and hormonal transition of trans-identified children and adolescents.

Often, pubertal suppression creates an opportunity to reduce distress that may occur with the development of secondary sexual characteristics and allow for gender-affirming care, including mental health support for the adolescent and the family, an October 2018 AAP guideline states.

Supporters of puberty blockers have long claimed that puberty blockers' impact on children is reversible and are designed to give children with gender dysphoria more time to decide which gender they identify as. Proponents also claim that once adolescent users stop taking puberty blockers, their puberty resumes.

The new OPA document claims that puberty blockers are reversible.

However, the United Kingdoms National Health Service reports that [l]ittle is known about the long-term side effects of hormone or puberty blockers in children with gender dysphoria.

Although GIDS advises this is a physically reversible treatment if stopped, it is not known what the psychological effects may be, the NHS website explains. Its also not known whether hormone blockers affect the development of the teenage brain or childrens bones. Side effects may also include hot flushes, fatigue and mood alterations.

As teens who are 16 or over and have been on puberty blockers for at least a year are eligible to start cross-sex hormones in the U.K., the NHS warns that those hormones cause some irreversible changes, such as breast development and deepening of the voice.

Long-term cross-sex hormone treatment may cause temporary or even permanent infertility, the NHS website added. There is some uncertainty about the risks of long-term cross-sex hormone treatment.

The state of Texas has made headlines in the last year as Gov. Greg Abbott, Attorney General Ken Paxton and the states child services agency have questioned whether prescribing puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones to minors could constitute child abuse.

In February, Paxton issued a formal opinion stating that prescribing puberty blockers or conducting sex-change surgeries on children with gender dysphoria can legally constitute child abuse under several provisions of chapter 261 of the Texas Family Code.

Texas is also investigating whether AbbVie Inc. and Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., manufacturers of puberty blockers, have been engaging in deceptive advertising practices.

Paxtons office had issued Civil Investigative Demands against the two companies, seeking to determine whether these manufacturers of puberty-blocking drugs deceptively advertised and promoted hormone blockers for unapproved uses without disclosing the potential risks to children and their parents.

Companies should never promote or supply puberty blockers for uses that are not intended or approved, stated Paxton. I will not allow Big Pharma to misleadingly promote these drugs that may pose a high risk of serious physical and psychological damage to Texas children who cannot yet fathom or consent to the potential long-term effects of such use.

The Biden administration has challenged Texas, with the president claiming that his administration is putting Texas on notice that their discriminatory actions put childrens lives at risk. The administration issued guidelines saying that it may violate federal law for Texas to charge doctors who administer gender reassignment surgeries or puberty blockers on children with child abuse.

Earlier this month, Paxton sued the Department of Health and Human Services and argued that the federal government is misinterpreting federal law and that Texas law does allow him to label such acts as child abuse.

A state appellate court struck down Abbotts directive instructing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation of any reported instances of these abusive procedures.

The attorney generals office has asked the Texas Supreme Court to reverse the lower court decision blocking the directive.

As a result of the governors directive and attorney generals opinion, the Houston-based Texas Childrens Hospital stated earlier this month that it will pause hormone-related prescription therapies for gender-affirming services.
73% of US counties had more deaths than births in 2021: Census report

Driven by the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, some 73% of U.S. counties registered more deaths than births in 2021 and states in the Northeast experienced the most widespread natural decrease in population, according to data released by the U.S. Census Bureau.

The data show that between July 1, 2020, and June 30, 2021, half of all states, including seven of the nine states in the Northeast, had more deaths than births, while only three of the 13 states in the West had more deaths than births.

Only 33% of states in the Midwest calculated more deaths than births for that period, while in the South, some 65% of states registered more deaths than births.

Estimates provided by the U.S. Census Bureau are based on final data from the National Center for Health Statistics as well as supplemental data from the Federal-State Cooperative for Population Estimates.

The impact of the pandemic on the U.S. population has been quite stark, according to researchers who show that between 2011 and 2020, the highest number of states to register an annual natural decrease in population was eight. Only Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and West Virginia registered recurring natural decrease in the previous decade, and the populations of those states were older on average.

While many states experienced more deaths than births in 2021, some states like Arizona and New York experienced an increase in population due to the number of births in certain areas. Births in the five boroughs of New York City, for example, were enough to offset the decrease in population in other parts of the state. Arizonas increase was also driven by Maricopa County which saw an increase of 8,042 people.

Some states experienced the same direction of change as their large counties. In others, natural increase occurred in larger counties but not enough to counteract declines in other counties, said Sandra Johnson, chief of the Census Bureaus Population Divisions Population Evaluation, Analysis, and Projections Branch and Shannon Sabo a statistician.

In December 2020, a Brookings Institution report projected that the COVID-19 pandemic would result in at least 300,000 fewer births in 2021. A few weeks later, data gathered by NBCLX also confirmed the decline would be significant.

This is a bad situation, Philip Cohen, a sociologist and demographer at the University of Maryland, told NBCLX. The declines we're seeing now are  pretty substantial.

Cohens research showed declines in Google searches for pregnancy and sex-related topics and predicted the decline would likely last for months due to the economic uncertainty and other factors fueled by the pandemic.

Provisional data cited by the U.S. Census Bureau show that trend to be on track as births declined between 2020 and 2021 in all states.

"All states other than Hawaii and West Virginia had more counties with natural decrease in 2021 than in 2020, and a handful of states in the South and Northeast regions (Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island) had natural decrease in all counties," the report added.

It was noted by researchers, however, that births in most states had been declining since 2016.

Between 2020 and 2021, all states experienced a drop in births, the researchers said. For most states, that one-year slide was larger than any that occurred in the previous decade.
Can Ukraine save us from ourselves?

The legs of Western relativism have been wobbly for a while. And now Vladimir Putins war may deliver a knock-out blow. While some Western intellectuals cling to a your truth and my truth philosophy, the invasion of Ukraine is revealing the absurdity of such thought. Evil has a way of waking us up to reality, and this may prove to be good news for the Christian message.

Western intellectuals have long celebrated the benefits of relative truth. Secular philosophers and psychologists argued that ethical relativism would do away with the unpleasant feelings of guilt and shame. Thus, relativism would open wide the doors of sexual freedom and self-actualization.

Moreover, political philosophers argued that relativism would pave the way for world peace. After all, if there are no moral absolutes, then no one nation can enforce its values on another. Secular philosophers were elated about the possibility of a pain-free and peaceful world.

Nevertheless, the secular mind has sensed the cracks in its philosophical foundation for some time. Americans first experienced the shallowness of postmodern thought on Sept 11, 2001. After the planes smashed into the Twin Towers, even the most committed relativists were forced to acknowledge the presence of absolute evil.

However, Western intellectuals scrambled to revise their theory not long after the debris was cleared. Christian scholar, Gene Edward Veith, notes that postmodern thought hardened after 9/11 as secular intellectuals blamed religious intolerance for the attacks. Hence, any thought that claimed absolute truth was subsequently demonized. Consequently, in the years following Sept 11th, 2001, relativists crusaded to eliminate any form of exclusive truth in the name of tolerance.

Now consider Russias invasion of Ukraine. American citizens are once again shocked by the degree of evil and injustice unfolding. There is a universal outcry over the bombing of maternity hospitals, the targeting of civilians, and the displacement of the elderly. Western citizens are universally bonding as they empathize with the people of Ukraine.

Moreover, Western nations are galvanizing in ways not seen since World War II. A few months before Putins attack, NATO was distracted and aimless. But now, there is universal agreement that Putins actions are evil and must be stopped. And President Biden seems increasingly frustrated that Chinas Xi will not join with Western nations and condemn Putin. Thus, it seems relativism simply does not hold up very well in the real world of international law.

Furthermore, Ukraines exodus ban is doing what Olympic sport could not  solidifying gender distinctions. Few Western thinkers are willing to chastise President Zelenskyy for forbidding men ages 18-60 from leaving the country. And there are no reports of men trying to identify as women to receive an exemption. The war in Ukraine seems to be affirming what we have always known  there are differences between men and women.

Some relativists may argue that Western philosophy is not entirely subjective. Modern relativists contend that intersectionality provides universal points of agreement. Some claim that people can find overlapping consensus on certain moral principles. For instance, people universally agree that injustice is evil, and most people agree that love is good. Therefore, relativism is not utterly devoid of universal truths.

However, these points of intersectionality only expose our need for a source of moral knowledge outside ourselves. Why do we feel outraged over Putins invasion? And what animates the groundswell of benevolence pouring in for the people of Ukraine? Why are so many progressive corporations flying the Ukrainian flag and pulling business out of Russia?

The relativist can admit that humans share a common sense of love, and this animates our feelings of empathy. And the relativist can acknowledge a common intuition trending toward justice. But what the secular mind cant explain is what differentiates our impulses from Putins. Western intellectuals can only assume that Putin is going insane.

The Western secular mind is disoriented over Ukraine because we sense this war is wrong. But the secular moral framework cant rationally explain what makes it wrong without drawing upon the Christian principles they fought to discard.

Christianity gave the West a framework to balance justice and love. The cross of Jesus Christ is where our two primal instincts for justice and love conjoin. The Gospel message makes sense of our empathy  we are creatures made to give and receive love. And the Gospel message explains our moral outrage  we are creatures that demand justice and long for mercy. In the message of Christ, our longing for love, justice and mercy are made plain.

The Western mind can no longer rationally explain why it responds to evil as it does. And secular thought cannot offer a critique of this war without betraying its own inconsistencies. Thus, one is left to wonder if we are watching the destruction of post-modern secular thought even as we watch the destruction of a nation.

If so, the soil may be ripe for Christian thought to flourish in the West once again. Consequently, would it not be just like our subversive Savior to take what was intended for evil and use it for good?

Originally published at Dan Trippie.
Russian military culminates into new 'phase' in Ukraine

One of the many pitfalls of Russias invasion of Ukraine is the worlds reassessment of the Russian military and the resulting loss of prestige. Though the Russian economy is only around an eighth that of the United States, Russia has poured an excessive percentage of its GDP into defense spending, around 4.3%.

This totaled over $60 billion and puts Russia at the highest defense spending (by GDP) among the worlds major industrial powers. In comparison, Germany spends only 1.4% and China spends only 1.7%. Additionally, the Russian military was seemingly experienced, as it had deployed operationally over the last two decades in various locations outside Russia: Chechnya, Georgia, Crimea, the Donbass, and Syria. But the Russian invasion in Ukraine has drastically underperformed compared to what most intelligence assessments of Russian conventional military capability had assumed.

Despite the fog of war, the facts on the ground show that Russia led the invasion with its most capable forces and equipment, and yet failed. That, and a Russian shift in war aims, shows a likely culmination of Russian forces. It remains to be seen whether this means well have a stalemate or an end to the conflict. Let me explain.

First, early Russian failures included most of the battlefield operating systems, particularly logistics and maneuver. Putin had made clear that the invasion of Ukraine, or special operations as he called it, was for the complete seizure of the country to install a puppet government. He said, for this we will strive for the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine. And to the Ukrainian military, Putin said, I urge you to immediately lay down your weapons and go home. All servicemen of the Ukrainian army who fulfill this demand will be able to freely leave the combat zone.

Putins invasion came on multiple fronts and included amassing forces to seize the capital, Kyiv. However, this invasion quickly sputtered out on multiple fronts, in particular the advance from Belarus to Kyiv. Many Russian armored vehicles ran out of fuel, got stuck in the mud, or were destroyed by Ukrainian infantry and drones. The only seeming successes were near Crimea and Donbass, where the Russian logistical lines were quite short. Their focus has shifted to primarily killing civilians.

A culmination comes when a military force has spent itself in resources and casualties to the point it cannot continue its mission. Some have theorized that Russia deployed less capable forces early in the invasion and has held back its main forces  but that claim makes little sense from what we know.

To achieve success in any offensive operation, surprise and speed in maneuver are the critical components. The attacking force needs to move combat power quickly to the decisive point before the enemy can develop defenses to stop the advance. Success is predicated upon speed with the most capable combat power possible. In other words, you need your best troops leading off any invasion for success, and that is what we have seen. Over 800 Russian vehicles were destroyed in the first few weeks of the invasion (versus around a quarter of that number in Ukrainian vehicles). The destroyed Russian tanks and infantry carriers in Ukraine are the latest and best models of vehicles. The units involved are top Russian units with a lower number of conscripts than most others. This is what we would have expected.

By the known data, the numerically smaller Ukrainian David has been demolishing the behemoth Russian Goliath since the start of the invasion. To take a prime example, while Russia has lost a conservatively estimated 274 tanks, the Ukrainians have actually gained in numbers of tanks due to the capture of Russian tanks. According to Forbes: Ukraine has lost at least 74 tanks  but Ukraine has captured at least 117 Russian tanks.

Despite the early 40-mile convoy of vehicles backed up outside Kyiv, Ukrainians are now on the offensive against Russia and have retaken ground both east and west of Kyiv. As I write this, approximately 10,000 Russian soldiers sent to complete the encirclement of Kyiv are now likely encircled by Ukrainians. Because of these changes, Russian troops around Kyiv are digging defensive positions.

Due to these reverses, Russia has now had to reframe its stated aims. According to Sergei Rudskoy, head of the Russian General Staff's Main Operational Directorate, 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.



The focus to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine is now liberation of Donbass. This shows an operational culmination of the originally stated aims involving all of Ukraine, not just the eastern region.

Based on Russias history in Chechnya and Aleppo, there is a danger that this special operation could continue past a Russian offensive, with Russia pounding civilians with artillery in frustration. However, the difference is the present international sanctions are causing great economic pain to Russia. That, and the continued depletion of the best of Russias military may make a difference in leading Putin to leave now.

Proverbs 29:6 tells us: The evil fall into their own traps. It appears Putin has culminated in his invasion of Ukraine and may have fallen into the trap he set. Lets pray wisdom prevails with his next decision.
Why Americas labor force decline matters beyond current supply shortages, rising prices

Work is fundamental to human flourishing. Work determines individuals incomes and total economic output, and its also a core component of meaning and contentment in peoples lives.

A strong work ethic was fundamental to Americas founding, and it enabled America to become one of the most prosperous nations in the world. Thats why the recent decline in labor force participation in the United States is so troubling.

Having declined steadily over the past two decades from a peak of 67.3% in early 2000, the U.S. labor force participation rate plummeted, and has yet to fully recover, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Between February 2020 (prior to the pandemic) and February 2022, the labor force participation rate declined 2.1 percentage points, from 63.4% to 62.3%. That translates into 3 million fewer workers today.

Demographic shifts explain part of the longer-term decline over the past decades. The retirement of the baby boomer generation  which is expected to be fully retired by 2030  is responsible for roughly half of the pre-pandemic labor force decline. And the pandemic appears to have caused some baby boomers to retire earlier than planned, as roughly 1.75 million baby boomers retired in 2021 versus the typical 1 million per year.

But the decline in labor force participation isnt just older Americans hanging up their work hats a few years early.

The labor force participation rate for Americas core workforce of individuals ages 25 through 54 has declined 2.2 percentage points since 2000. That translates into 2.7 million fewer workers, and 1 million of that loss occurred just over the past two years, during the pandemic.

Labor force declines have been most significant  and troubling  among men. Between 2000 and 2022, the labor force participation rate of men ages 25 through 54 dropped 3.4 percentage points, resulting in 2.2 million fewer prime-age working men today.

Although there has been a slight recovery in labor force participation rates since the start of the pandemic, current economic policies and welfare-without-work government programs are holding back labor force participation.

But people working is what drives output and fuels innovation. Its only through work that basic necessities such as food and housing are available and that innovations such as automobiles and smartphones that make our lives easier and more mobile are possible.

Work is also essential to support essential government services, such as national defense and a justice system.

A 2017 Heritage Foundation study reported that 71% of young Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 were ineligible to serve in the military because of health problems (obesity, substance abuse, and mental health, to name a few), a lack of education and criminal records.

As retired Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, the reports author, explains, A manpower shortage in the United States military directly compromises national security. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of the Heritage Foundation.)

On top of that, the more lawmakers continue to expand the size and scope of government  and the national debt  the more that a declining labor force could become a vicious cycle.

For example, entitlement programs have grown so much that current workers pay for 100% of providing Social Security and Medicare benefits to current retirees, including even interest payments on past borrowing from those programs.

But the more the government raises taxes to increase benefits for nonworking Americans, the less people will work.

Most importantly, Arthur Brooks, a Harvard University professor and former president of the American Enterprise Institute, has explained, earned success that comes through work is the secret to human happiness and dignity.

Brooks points out: To truly flourish, we need to know that the ways in which we occupy our waking hours are not based on the mere pursuit of pleasure or money or any other superficial goal. We need to know that our endeavors have a deeper purpose.

This is why, regardless of pay, people who feel productive at their jobs are five times as likely to be satisfied in their jobs as those who dont feel productive.

For the sake of personal and societal happiness, for the sake of financial well-being, for the sake of Americas dire fiscal situation, and for the sake of preserving the foundation of American society, its time for lawmakers to recognize the value and rewards of work in the policies they implement.

By protecting individuals rights to pursue the type of work that is best for them and not forcing workers into unions, policymakers can expand opportunities for people to achieve meaningful and rewarding work.

By eliminating double taxes on investments, policymakers can expand investments in education, experience and technology that increase the returns to work.

And by orienting welfare programs toward work instead of hooking people on dependency, lawmakers can help more people achieve their potential.

Work truly affects every aspect of American life. Our economy, our personal well-being, and even our national security depends on it.

Originally published at The Daily Signal.
Will you join the parental rights movement?

The proposed new rules to restrict the growth of charter schools by limiting their access to federal funding represent the latest blow to the Parental Rights movement across the country. TheParental Rights movement is a loose conglomeration of angry parents, anti-vaxxers, libertarians, conservatives, and Christians who will no longer tolerate the lack of educational integrity, medical freedom, and socialist indoctrination in the public schools.



These diverse groups of everyday Americans, who may otherwise have nothing in common, found a rallying point around having a say in what their children learn and experience on campus. The issues range from limiting students' exposure to toxic sexual information and gender confusion to prohibiting the vaccination of a minor without parental consent. As one reporter said, "it's clear that many Americans have had enough and are becoming a potent political counterweight in an environment once dominated by teachers' unions." Unfortunately, the teacher unions are pushing for the most radical ideologies, including that our country is inherently racist and redefining gender norms.

Since the movement began, 19 state legislators have introduced some form of curriculum oversight that calls for parental access to the information taught in public schools. This may be one of the most significant grassroots protest movements of our generation. The far-left wants to manipulate and control what our kids grow up believing and thinking, but concerned citizens on both sides of the political aisle are finally fighting back.

One alternative supported by the movement is to increase the funding and creation of charter schools. Charter schools are public schools funded by the government but that allows for greater control by parents and nonprofit organizations. Therefore it is no surprise that the federal government is quick to undermine its success. Department of Education officials know charter schools would be where the teacher unions and local government cannot impose things like oversexualized health education and Marxist agendas. The proposed restrictions will narrow the pool of candidates who receive the funding to ones that are ideologically aligned with their divisive agenda.



I spent 20+ years as a federal contractor and can say from experience that federal grantors make it quite clear how they want a program to end before it even begins. In the grant application, the grantee must outline how the project will align with the government's mission and goals, which always reflects the current administration's policy. Federal grants in the education sector are no different. Requiring the grantee to demonstrate "plans to establish and maintain racially and socio-economically diverse student and staff populations" makes it clear that the issue of "ensuring diversity" will be paramount to a successful award. This requirement would be especially disadvantageous to the charter schools that serve predominantly minority communities that are not necessarily diverse but whose students deserve a better quality of education. The Hispanic and black lower-income areas best served by charter schools would lose the most with these restrictions. Ironically, these are the precise communities the far Left claims it defends. In reality, they do not want to improve their opportunities; they merely seek to control them.

Another ruse for protecting the status quo in the public school system is asking charter school applicants to show local need, based on the availability of existing public school options. Attendance at public schools is at an all-time low, so it would be nearly impossible to meet this criterion. Simply put, the Feds do not want charter schools outside of their influence, which can deviate from their agenda to indoctrinate our youth.

This latest roadblock aimed at charter schools is another indication that we cannot surrender our public school system. The Parental Rights movement's slogan, "we will pull them," threatens school boards that if they do not concede to parental involvement, parents will remove their kids from the schools. It pressures school districts by threatening to decrease their government funding due to reduced enrollment.



Another alternative is homeschooling, although it is not a viable option for many families. Ultimately, the solution is to get more involved in the election of our school board members and elections in general. Again, it doesn't matter what sector of government we look at whoever makes the rules has a greater impact on the outcome. If we do not like being referred to as domestic terrorists or having our kids be indoctrinated with communist ideals in the classroom, we have to get engaged.

As Christians, we should never ignore our responsibility to protect and maintain our children's values. We accomplish this by demonstrating Christ-like qualities in our own lives and influencing a collective governing body, such as a school board or a City Council. In my area, two talented and faithful community members have stepped forward to run for school board positions coming up in the fall. They are both hard-working fathers who will sacrifice their personal and professional time to defend our children.



As a community, it is our job to raise funds for their campaign, educate our neighbors about their platform, and place yard signs across the district. If they win, we will have four conservative Christians on the board, which is a majority. It would significantly impact all aspects of our public school regulations and will be a tremendous first step to taking back our schools. Friends, this fight is a struggle for the soul of our nation and is a fight we cannot afford to lose.
Christian doctor ousted for refusing trans-identified pronouns to have case heard at UK tribunal

A Christian doctor who lost his job for refusing to use trans pronouns will appear before a tribunal in the United Kingdom this week to challenge a ruling that held that biblical beliefs on gender are incompatible with human dignity and not worthy of respect in a democratic society.

Dr. David Mackereth, a physician who in July 2018 was forced out of his job in the Department of Work and Pensions, will challenge the ruling at the Employment Appeal Tribunal in London on Tuesday and Wednesday.

He is represented by the Christian Legal Centre.

My case affects everyone, not just me and Bible-believing Christians, but anyone who is concerned by compelled speech and transgender ideology being enforced on the NHS and other public services, Mackereth said in a statement.

The judgment from two years ago said to Christians, you have to believe in transgender ideology. That is totalitarianism. It made out Christianity to be nothing, the Bible to be nothing. That cannot be allowed to stand.

The case comes about a week after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told members of Parliament that when it comes to distinguishing between a man and a woman, the basic facts of biology remain overwhelmingly important.

In the two-day hearing, lawyers are expected to cite Maya Forstaters tribunal victory last June, maintaining that an earlier decision against her erred in law. Forstater served as a senior researcher at a think tank in London and was fired in 2019 for tweeting that men cannot change into women. She criticized the decision to house a trans-identified biological male in a womans prison.

Mackereths lawyers will argue that the Forstater ruling has resolved the central issue of law raised in Mackereths case and that the conclusion that Christian religion itself was not a protected characteristic simply cannot be right.

In 2018, Mackereth was terminated as a medical assessor after refusing to identify clients by their chosen gender identity. In 2019, he took his case to an Employment Tribunal in Birmingham, claiming harassment and discrimination based on his Christian beliefs.

Mackereth said during proceedings that he was asked in a conversation by his line manager: If you have a man six foot tall with a beard who says he wants to be addressed as she and Mrs, would you do that? And Mackereth replied that in good conscience, he could not. His contract was subsequently terminated.

But the tribunal ruled in October 2019 that the Department for Work and Pensions had not breached the Equality Act of 2010 by firing the physician, who now works as an NHS emergency doctor.

A lack of belief in transgenderism and conscientious objection to transgenderism in our judgment are incompatible with human dignity and conflict with the fundamental rights of others, the judgment read.

The Christian Legal Centre argues that the employment judge effectively put transgender rights ahead of freedom of conscience. The legal group contends that the consequence of the decision is that it authorized employers to compel Christians to use pronouns preferred by customers who believe in gender-fluidity.

It is believed to be the first time in the history of English law that a judge has ruled that free citizens must engage in compelled speech, a statement from the Christian Legal Centre reads.

Mackereth believes that NHS employees are being forced to accept a massive change to our concept of the medical reality of sex, with no scientific basis for that change.

No doctor, or researcher, or philosopher, can demonstrate or prove that a person can change sex, Mackereth said. Without intellectual and moral integrity, medicine cannot function and my 30 years as a doctor are now considered irrelevant compared to the risk that someone else might be offended.

As Christians are called to be love all people, Mackereth asserts that followers of Christ cant love people truly when we live and disseminate a lie.

Christian Legal Centre Chief Executive Andrea Williams said if the judgment against her client is upheld, it will have seismic consequences for anyone in the workplace who is prepared to believe and say that we are created male and female.

The teaching of Genesis 1:27 is repeated throughout the Bible, including by Jesus Christ himself. It is fundamental to establishing the dignity of every human person but is, in a bizarre ironic twist, being branded as incompatible with that dignity, Williams said.

This ruling cannot stand. We are determined to fight as far as possible for justice and for it to be overturned.
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.
The Muonionalusta meteorite impacted the Earth over one million years ago, making it the oldest discovered extraterrestrial rock. Since landing on Earth, this meteorite has withstood four ice ages and has been preserved by the permafrost and glaciers of the subarctic tundra in northern Scandinavia. The first fragment of the Muonionalusta was found in 1906 near the village of Kitkiojarviin, Sweden, and merely 40 pieces are known to exist, making this an extremely rare specimen. Due to its historic significance, fragments of the Muonionalusta meteorite are held by numerous institutions worldwide, including the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, USA.

BROWSE LOT



A MUONIONALUSTA METEORITE END PIECE



Octahedrite, type IVA

Norrbotten, Sweden

Estimate: 8,00012,000
Like anyone else, entrepreneurs need a night off now and again. And what better way to veg out than a night of binge-watching Netflix? But even an evening of playing couch potato can lead to a lightning bolt of inspiration if you watch the right things.

Spend a little time recharging your batteries and get reinvigorated with these seven insightful movies on Netflix.

This Netflix-produced documentary is about the infamous failed attempt to hold a music festival in 2017 in the Bahamas. It focuses on the disastrous build-up to the event, which was supposed to be a glittering three-day luxury festival, but in reality was a hellish and ghastly experience for the people who paid thousands to attend. Slick videos featuring influencers were key to helping Fyre Fest sell 5,000 tickets, but as the movie shows, there was absolutely no plan to follow through on the experiences the videos were promoting.

Related: 13 Must-Watch Movies for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

The film offers some important lessons for entrepreneurs, in particular anyone interested in using influencer marketing as a way to quickly grow your company. You can hire the most popular celebrities and influencers to promote your brand, but thats not what will make your company a success. Make sure you set expectations you can actually attain and, most of all, provide customers with a satisfactory experience.

Based on Chris Gardners heart-wrenching rags to riches memoir, The Pursuit of Happyness is about winning the fight against all odds while staying true to your inner compass. The story details Gardners nearly one-year struggle with homelessness while raising his young son and pursuing an unpaid internship as a stockbroker. At times, he had to resort to sleeping in a subway bathroom, while struggling to sell medical bone-density scanners for income. It has been decades since this film was released, and yet the subject is still relevant today.

What should we learn from this movie? We all face moments of desperation (although most of us are lucky enough to never face the extreme hardships Gardner had to overcome). But no matter how bad things get, you have to keep moving forward and believing in your dream.

The basic premise of Yes Man is simple: Say yes to everything in life. Thats because life, with all of its chaos, danger and fun, is meant to be fully embraced. In the film, Carl Allen is a man who basically lives to say no to everything. Completely stuck in a negative mindset, Carl attends a self-help conference based on the concept of saying yes to any question thrown his way.

What happens next is the result of Carl saying yes to every opportunity  which of course is insane and a lot of fun. In the end, Carl realizes hes taken the yes exercise a little too far, but hes changed for the better.

Related: 15 Gangster Movies Every Entrepreneur Should See and the Lessons They Teach

The moral of the story: Seize the day, enjoy life, have fun and say yes whenever possible. This movie is lighthearted, full of laughs and has a great inspirational message. Its a reminder to seek a balance between saying yes and saying no when opportunities come our way.

The late Stephen Hawking was one of the most brilliant and influential scientists of our time. But as well as harboring an exemplary scientific mind, he was an extraordinary man. Hawking was a fighter who overcame what was supposed to be a fatal case of ALS (or Lou Gehrigs disease) and went on to live a full and accomplished life. He was given no more than two or three years to live when he was diagnosed in 1964, but the disease progressed more slowly than expected.

However, Hawking was confined to a wheelchair for much of his life, and as his condition worsened, he had to resort to speaking through a voice synthesizer and communicating by moving his eyebrows.

Related: 8 Movies That Increase Your IQ - #5 Will Test How Smart You Are

Key takeaways: Never stop asking questions. Hawking let nothing hold him back or keep him from his goal of creating something great out of his life. He proved time and again that life can give us great things if we are brave enough to dream, believe and work hard. If you love a great story of persistence and grit, dont pass this up.

From the very beginning of this biographical movie, its clear that Steve Jobs was not about to follow the well-trodden path to success. The film is in three parts, each focused on the time period immediately prior to the launch of a key product.

These scenes offer crucial insights into not only Jobs professional development, but also his often strained personal life. Jobs was a brilliant man who gravitated toward those who shared his obsessions. But, as the movie shows, he was not always good at playing well with others.

Some crucial insights offered by the movie: What Steve Jobs lacked in skills, he made up for in vision. He wasnt a computer coder, a marketer or an engineer, yet without him, Apple would not exist. He didnt care about being liked, and he didnt let himself get bogged down by outmoded paradigms. He had a vision of affordable computing for all, and he let nothing stand in the way of accomplishing that goal.

This Netflix original is based on the true story of a boy who saved his town from famine by constructing a windmill to provide water and electricity.

William Kamkwamba was an adolescent when he was forced to drop out of school in Malawi because his family couldnt afford the school fees. As drought, deforestation, flood and famine hit his village, he began to search for a solution. He borrowed books from his former schools library, and in them he learned about wind turbines. At its heart, this is a story of incredible innovation.

Related: 4 Business Lessons from Quentin Tarantino Movies

What can entrepreneurs learn from this story? Necessity is the mother of invention, and knowledge is power. Also, every venture comes with inherent risk, but every risk creates new opportunities. The key is that you must not let your doubts hold you back. Even in failure, there are lessons to be learned and new goals to move on to.

This is one of those compelling sci-fi psychodramas that will have you pondering the influence of the subconscious over our waking lives and what reality really means. In the movie, Dom Cobb is a thief with the ability to enter peoples dreams and steal their secrets from their subconscious, a hot commodity in the world of corporate espionage.

He is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased if he uses "inception" to implant another person's idea into his target's subconscious. However, as Cobb is well aware, the subconscious mind will repel the attempts of inception, especially if that planted idea isnt authentic. The plot explores the idea of dream-sharing, connecting with others on a much deeper level, and being able to tap into someones core beliefs.

Viewed from the standpoint of a professional marketer, Inception has several important insights. For one, every startup that is attempting to raise money from investors is essentially trying to sell a dream and hoping to get investors to see that dream as their own. Successful marketing is also based on the idea of a well-crafted, authentic message that resonates with a targeted audience. Done correctly, inception marketing exerts a subtle influence on the audience, so it feels natural, almost like it was their own idea.

Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
(Bloomberg) -- Texas has started requiring new large-scale cryptocurrency miners to seek permission to connect to the states power grid in anticipation of a flood of requests expected to drive up electricity demand.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc., is requiring utilities to submit studies on the impact of miners and other large users tapping the grid before they can get approval to energize, according to a March 25 notice from the states main grid operator. Ercot members voted Wednesday to form a task force to hash out details of an interim plan thats ultimately meant to protect the grid from being overwhelmed.

The move is a reaction to a surge in electricity demand expected from crypto miners this year and next. Texas regulators are grappling to understand how miners will tax a grid that had its vulnerabilities exposed during a deadly winter storm last year.

The latest measures are a turnabout from the previous practice, which had utilities perform their own studies to determine if their transmission and distribution systems need to be upgraded and then informed Ercot of the changes coming.

Crypto miners seek to add several gigawatts of demand this year and next, which poses a challenge for a grid operator that typically gets a heads up several years in advance from traditional industries that help it better plan for the added consumption.

We are entering into a dialogue with Ercot now to ensure that this does not cause any delays for the Bitcoin miners, Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, said Wednesday in an emailed statement.

Crypto firms are already being affected. Bitcoin miner Cormint received an Ercot notice Tuesday that its project outside of Fort Stockton was throttled back to 25 megawatts, Chief Executive Officer James McAvity said. The company already had approval for 130 megawatts from its utility, Texas-New Mexico Power Co., but now must undergo the Ercot review to increase capacity, he said. The site is expected to start operating in a few months.

I hope we have enough time to get clarity so it doesnt derail the investment, McAvity said in an interview at a Bitcoin conference in Houston. If it takes three months, it will kill our project.

Slamming Brakes

Ercots new requirement will impact every big consumer, from factories to liquefied natural gas export terminals, but its poised to slam the brakes on the lightning-fast needs of the crypto industry. A miner with servers on hand and an ideal location could be up and running within a couple of months, unlike the years it takes for a company to build a factory or terminal.

Any project that will add 20 megawatts of demand on the site of a generator within the next two years will have to undergo this review process. For those that dont have their own power generation on site, the minimum threshold for review is 75 megawatts. The rule applies to both new projects and expansions of existing facilities.

The task force being established to hammer out details of this plan is expected to consider almost three dozen priorities, including tracking new large consumers and whether these users should be required to participate in Ercot-controlled services to help stabilize the grid. The Large Load Task Force, as its called, will be comprised of Ercot members, the independent market monitor and other interested parties.

2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Launched in 1972, Silver Oak continues to be one of the most popular American wines in the country  and the world. Silver Oak is the exclusive wine partner of the San Francisco Giants and the Golden State Warriors, and counts the likes of Oprah Winfrey, Matthew McConaughey and Lebron James as superfans. We caught up with CEO David Duncan on Silver Oak's silver anniversary to discover how the brand continues to thrive.

How does a brand stay true to its heritage while continuing to innovate?

Youve got to celebrate in a way that makes the roots proud but keeps moving the brand forward. First, were updating the bottle, but our fans are insiders on our journey, so we hid the est. 1972 as an Easter Egg in the mountain horizon of the illustration. We also updated the vineyard rows to reflect the more sustainable way we farm and irrigate today. It's a nod to our Alexander Valley winery being the first LEED-Platinum winery ever built and the first winery to receive Living Building certification.

What do you think separates you from other winemakers?

When we started Silver Oak, we decided to age the wine longer than any other American wine, so our 1972 vintage didnt get released until 1977. We wanted to invest in quality. We are also the only North American winery to own our cooperage, where our barrels are made. Owning your supply chain is an important way to ensure superior contents in the bottle  and also to avoid supply-chain disruptions. True reverence for craftsmanship is its own form of flywheel: Our emphasis on craft has brought us together with like-minded enthusiasts from other categories  food, the arts, music, spirits and sport  which further fueled our creativity and expansion.

Related: The CEO of Silver Oak Wine Breaks Down a Winning Ecommerce Strategy All Entrepreneurs Can Use

Who have you collaborated with?

We currently have a pop-up at our winery with Kyle and Katina Connaughton - we like to say that their SingleThread is not just one of the best restaurants in the world, its also a showcase to one of the best duos of all time in any category (they are husband and wife - she is the farmer, he the chef).

Were launching a limited-edition beer in partnership with Russian River Brewing Company in the small-batch tradition of their Pliny The Younger. It was brewed in Silver Oaks American Oak barrels and used Silver Oaks grape pomace, and will be available for one night only at the restaurant of another 3-Michelin Star winner, Christopher Kostows Charter Oak, during our 50th Anniversary Week of festivities in August.

What do you think is key to Silver Oak's longevity and popularity?

Dont make an analog in the existing category  create your own original. We didnt want to do a French analog; the goal was to create an American original. We used American Oak barrels to achieve this - it supports the unique American full-bodied Cabernet using the flavor profiles that are a key part of the American palate through categories like bourbon and tabasco. Our water-tower logo captured a key signature of American wineries and made it an icon.

What trends are you seeing in the global market?

American wines are leading the world in the growth of demand, quality, and investment  particularly among the premium American wines, where theres been a renaissance. This results from American winemakers continuing to evolve the craft and better farming and use of technology.

Related: The Strong Case for Wine as an Alternative Investment

As the American wine industry has stepped into a leadership role, the wines have become increasingly site-driven, much like France before us. Our regions like Napa, Sonoma County, Mendocino County and Oregon have become the American equivalents of Bordeaux and Burgundy, etc. Now we even see the French taking lessons from American wines  French wines are getting richer in taste, theyre looking to incorporate our technology and sustainable practices, and theyre even being produced to be drinkable upon release.

What is your approach to pricing?

We are an affordable luxury. Silver Oak found a unique lane of being the wine of choice for life moments. We are certainly a luxury item, but one that is accessible for special occasions. Put your product right in the sweet spot of a generous gift.

Where do you think the luxury consumer is heading?

Luxury products are heading to a digital waiting list model. Were doing this with all our wines, and the industry is on its way. I think this is more accessible; even if youre not able to buy the product today, youre able to start your journey, begin a one-on-one relationship with the brand, and even, to let the brand surprise you with an unexpected window to gain access.

What are millennials looking for in brands?

Millennials are incredible because they dont want to compromise on having the best of both worlds: They want modern approaches to sustainability, capsule collections, and private tastings. But they also value shared inspiration with their parents. We see an outsized percentage of multigenerational groups in our tasting rooms. Millennials care about community, which starts deeply with family and extends to coming together to dine with their friends. Wine has a unique place with this next generation because its the truest beverage complement to a special meal.

Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Sometimes, you just need to get away from it alland fast.

Yelp reviewer Valerie A. and her husband needed to escape the California wildfires last year and wound up in Monterey. They hadnt really planned to be there, so they werent visiting as tourists. As such, they didnt want to do anything touristy. They just wanted a really nice dinner.

They found Paluca Trattoria, an Italian restaurant right on Fishermans Wharf, which is normally crowded with tourists and waits can be lengthy. But Valerie saw that Paluca Trattoria was using Yelp Waitlist so she added herself to the online queue.

I was looking around to try to get reservations and everything was booked. So I liked the fact that I could check in on the waitlist, said Valerie.  I did that, and we walked around for a little bit, and then [when we got the alert,] we headed back to the restaurant. We checked in and were able to get a seat right away, which was really great.

Yelps waitlist technology was an added value not just for the customer, but for the restaurant too.

We [used to have] a huge rate of no shows or people that were very late. The conundrum was we'd have all these tables booked out for reservations. We're holding these tables while we've got other people physically standing there saying, Why are all those tables empty? said Paluca Trattoria owner Ashley Tedesco.

What we decided to do during our busiest months and particularly on the weekends, is offer Yelp Waitlist exclusively. And what that allowed folks to do is as they're approaching and getting closer, they could time it out, being more realistic about when they could show up and then hop on the waitlist.

For Paluca Trattoria, that meant no empty tables, no big crowds waiting on tables, and no revenue left behind.

While the waitlist feature was convenient, it wasnt the only draw for Valerie and her husband. They really enjoyed their visit from start to finish. The food was excellent, but the serviceand their serverreally stood out, and Valerie mentioned that in her review too.

The menu was great with lots of traditional Italian classics and some fresh seafood. Our table was nice on the water, but just far enough away so we weren't freezing. They have plenty of heat lamps for added warmth. Our server Rosemary was really friendly and accommodating and we had a lovely evening.

Leaving a personal note about exceptional service is a great way to help business owners recognize outstanding employees, who might otherwise not get the recognition. Its also a great way to incentivize staff to be the best they can be.

When someone goes out of their way to mention their name, we feel like that's pretty spectacular, said Ashley. That doesn't happen a lot these days. So when it does, they must have done something really incredible. That's one part of the reviews that I really love is when they call out our staff members, it really does make their day in so many ways.

Successful employees can almost always be traced back to the way they are managed, and one of the best ways to encourage specific behavior is to model it yourself as the business owner. Thats something Ashley and her husband Sal believe in wholeheartedly.

You really have to model what you want your people to, how you want them to be, and how you want them to interact with your customers. We want to create an atmosphere where we feel like people are getting a lot of personalized attention and care, said Ashley.

We're all working to make sure that everyone's having a good experience. I think that comes off to visitors, and I actually have had quite a few people stop me and comment on that, that they appreciate the fact that it's obvious we're all in that together.

Successful businesses learn how to play to their strengths. Paluca Trattorias location on Fishermans Wharf puts them in the middle of everything, and it allows them to promote their relaxed atmosphere and proximity to Monterey Bay, as well as the bays friendly inhabitants, which are visible from the deck.

You can see the sea lions and the fish even. Sometimes depending on the time of year and the weather conditions, you can see jellyfish in the water. It's really amazing for people to come and be able to sit and eat and see all that going on, pelicans and the seagulls. We have an outer seating area that's closer to the sailboats, and that's great for a day that has decent weather and not a lot of wind. People love to sit out there because they're closest to the boats and all the sea life, said Ashley.

When it all comes together, like it did for Valerie at Paluca Trattoria, it can wind up in a positive review on Yelp. Valerie says she prefers to give more positive reviews than negative, and she factors in more than just the food in her restaurant reviews. She also feels that leaving a good review is her way of making sure her favorite places can stick around.

Did I feel welcome? Did I feel like I had a nice experience? Did I want to come back? And when I feel like if I want to come back, I should take the time to write a review so that they are going to get better reviews and other people will come because the more business they get, the more likely I'm going to be able to keep enjoying coming back to this restaurant. So I kind of look at it as like I'm making a small investment to help them be successful in the future, by putting my review out there and my thoughts out there.

Its not easy to run a small business, but it can be made easier if you follow some of these recommendations from Ashley:

Use all the tools available to you. Technology like Yelps Waitlist feature can benefit your business in real revenue terms, not just in customer service.

Technology like Yelps Waitlist feature can benefit your business in real revenue terms, not just in customer service. Model the customer service you want from your employees. Theyll look to you as a business owner to set the tone of the business, and then theyll pass that on to the customers.

Theyll look to you as a business owner to set the tone of the business, and then theyll pass that on to the customers. Play to your strengths, especially in a crowd. Whats special about your business that no competitor has? Use those differences to your advantage to help your business stand out.

Listen to the episode below to hear directly from Ashley and Valerie, and subscribe to Behind the Review for more from new business owners and reviewers every Thursday.

Available on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and Soundcloud

Copyright 2022 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Shortly after 8 a.m. on a drizzly Wednesday, two employees at Black Rifle Coffee in northwest Houston threaded a large American flag, then a Texas flag, onto a pole outside the coffee shop and hoisted it up toward the dark-gray sky.

The cafe and store, which had its grand opening on March 26, is the latest brick and mortar outpost for Black Rifle, a veteran-owned, Utah-based company whose tagline is serving premium coffee to people who love America.

The menu features your typical nitro cold brew and cortado offerings, as well as specials like the camo latte, a blend of Irish cream, green mint and smokey oak barrel that is balanced with espresso and milk. Food items include a combat kolache and a tacti-club ciabatta sandwich.

The coffee shop has an adjoining store with Black Rifle coffee and merchandise. Shoppers can grab a Chemex pour-over or a hand grenade mug. Or a 12-ounce bag of Silencer Smooth light roast, Thin Blue Line medium roast, Freedom Fuel dark roast, or perhaps an AK-47 espresso blend. Or even one of the many t-shirts, including one with a black rifle overlaid on an American flag, the same design worn by the Jan. 6 Capitol rioter known as zip-tie guy, whose Black Rifle cap helped the FBI track the Tennessee man down.

Black Rifle Coffee has been portrayed as the Starbucks for conservatives, a moniker founder and CEO Evan Hafer doesnt mind. If youre pro-freedom and pro-United States, people automatically label you as that, he told Chron. If thats the way people want to characterize me, based on my love for my country, so be it.

A former Green Beret and CIA contractor who brought his own roasted beans when serving overseas, Hafer started Black Rifle as an online-only, direct-to-consumer coffee seller in 2014 with the aim of tapping into the veteran community. He was tired of West Coast cities like San Francisco, Seattle and Portland driving the coffee culture, he says. The stereotype of the politically liberal, coffee-snob hipster tends to dominate the craft caffeine world. That was my pushback, you dont have to buy into that, he said.

The first year, Black Rifle did $1.2 million in coffee sales. The second year, it did $8 million. In 2021, its net revenue totaled $233.1 million, a 42.2 percent increase year-over-year.

Black Rifle Coffee Company

Today, Black Rifle is more of a lifestyle brand than just a coffee company. Hafer says apparel drives between 10 to 15 percent of its gross revenue. Its Coffee or Die Magazine, which currently has journalists reporting from Ukraine and was profiled by Nieman Lab, launched in 2018. The first physical coffee shop opened in fall 2020 in Salt Lake City, near the roastery.

Through these ventures, Hafer says he is building an ecosystem for the veteran community. Black Rifles pro-military and pro-law enforcement message has stretched its reach further, though, garnering support from Fox News commentator Sean Hannity and former President Donald J. Trump. As well as at the U.S. Capitol riots in 2021, Black Rifle apparel has appeared at the anti-lockdown and anti-Black Lives Matter protests that marked 2020.

Kyle Rittenhouse, who fatally shot two people at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wis., was seen in a photo wearing a Black Rifle t-shirt when he was released on bail. (Hafer put out a statement saying the company does not have a relationship with the teenager.)

The Black Rifle guys are not the evil that everybody makes them out to be, J.J. MacNab, a researcher on extremism, told the New York Times. But theyve closed their eyes to some of the evil that takes their humor seriously.

Opening coffee shops around the country, both corporate-owned and franchises, was always the end goal for Black Rifle, and Houstonians are about to see a lot more of them. Texas is our primary focus, said Hafer.

After the Salt Lake City location, Black Rifle went on to open 18 more stores to date, including nine in Texas, and in other states like Georgia, Oklahoma and Tennessee. By the end of 2022, there will be between 20 and 25 total brick and mortars, more than half of them in Texas.

More Greater Houston stores are in the works, according to Hafer, including one around the same area as the franchise's first location on FM1960, whose opening date will be announced imminently.

Hafer explains that direct customer feedback made it clear to them they had to establish a presence in Texas. The team analyzes subscription and purchase data as well as the brands social media engagement to target very specific communities where Black Rifle already has an established, high-density customer base. Once theyve narrowed these places down, they look at available properties in the area to decide where to plant roots next.

This customer-led strategy led Black Rifle to open its first Houston-area location right off Highway 6 in unincorporated Harris County, near a collection of cul-de-sac-dotted, master-planned subdivisions called Copperfield.

The entire coffee shop is papered in wall wraps of armed men in tactical gear, while a TV mounted in a corner broadcasts videos of more armed men in more tactical gear.

Black Rifle offers a 10 percent discount on the entire store to veterans, active military and first responders. On Wednesday during the morning rush hour, a man with an American flag shirt and a red (unmarked) cap walked out with to-go coffee and a 12-pack of cold brew cans. Minutes later, two armed men, clad in all-black and sporting Houston Police Department Special Response Group badges, engaged the counter staff in conversation.

As more locations open, the Houston suburbs could become a counter-culture hotbed in response to the so-called "latte liberal."

Just like any pendulum, it starts to swing the other way, said Hafer.
We have reached peak "National Days." There are literally more of these utterly meaningless honorary titles than there are days in the year, and many of them are purely marketing-drivenespecially the fake food holidays.

Did you know that there is a National Lima Bean Respect Day? It falls on April 20, as do National Banana Day, National Cheddar Fries Day and National Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Day.

But World Taco Day, celebrated March 31, is more than a gimmick in Houston.

World Taco Day mirrors Dia del Taco, a tradition in Mexico thats been celebrated on March 31 every year since 2007. Sure, it was itself invented by Mexican TV station Televisa, but it has deeper roots than National Taco Day on Oct. 4, which is only celebrated in the U.S.

In 2021, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner declared that March 31 would be World Taco Day in the city. He made the proclamation when Arnaldo Richards, owner of Picos in Upper Kirby, came to him after a rough patch at the Mexican restaurant.

When Texas Gov. Greg Abbott lifted the states mask mandate on March 10, 2021, many business owners in Houston decided to keep the requirement. With the onus of enforcement now solely on staff and owners, some restaurants got a horde of angry anti-maskers after them.

Picos received calls and messages threatening to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the restaurants staff. It was horrific, his daughter Monica Richards told the Houston Chronicle at the time. I never imagined that they would go that far.

Arnaldo Richards told Texas Monthly that he wanted to turn something negative into a positive, and that he always considered Dia del Taco the real celebration, not the U.S.s National Taco Day in October.

As the first city in America to recognize March 31 as World Taco Day, Houston is proud to embrace people of different cultures and origins, including their culinary dishes, said Mayor Turner in a statement to Chron. I encourage all Houstonians to participate in celebrating World Taco Day this year by eating their favorite authentic taco dish from their favorite local business.

The mayor actually happens to be in Mexico City this week to promote trade and tourism between Mexico and Houston. His communications director, Mary Benton, assured us he was eating plenty of tacos.

World Taco Day hasnt fully taken off in Houston yet, but there are limitless options for tacos in the city. This year, Bike Houston is organizing a five-mile bike ride to Tacos Tierra Caliente, the beloved taco truck across the street from West Alabama Ice House in Montrose. It starts today at 5:30 p.m. from Market Square Park.
Advocates who had hoped to see another expansion of Medicaid coverage this year for children regardless of their immigration status are now calling for the proposal to be included in the state budget implementer, following a surprising defeat of the bill in committee.

Last year, lawmakers approved an expansion of Medicaid, known as HUSKY in Connecticut, that allowed children 8 and younger, regardless of their immigration status, to qualify for the program beginning on Jan. 1, 2023. Children must come from households earning up to 323 percent of the federal poverty level to be eligible for coverage.

With the start date imminent, some legislators wanted to widen that age group this year. A bill permitting children 18 and younger, regardless of immigration status, to qualify for HUSKY coverage was raised in the Human Services Committee but failed to advance after members cast a tie vote (10-10) earlier this month.

Supporters now want lawmakers to wrap the initiative into the budget implementer, a measure that puts into effect the provisions of an adopted state budget.

Every child should have a right to health care coverage. Its a fundamental right, said Jay Sicklick, deputy director of the Center for Childrens Advocacy. From an access issue, why are we drawing the line that this cohort of individuals should not be covered?

Sicklick noted that the state is already paying for treatment for undocumented children in the form of uncompensated hospital care. Expanding the HUSKY eligibility would allow them better access to preventative and primary care.

If were going to exclude a group, theyre going to have to get treatment somewhere and somehow, and somebody is going to pay for it, either through an inpatient stay or a shifting around of uncompensated care monies, he said. So why not embolden the primary and preventative care system to handle these, to reduce the costs on the back end? Thats good public health policy, but its also supported by data and even more significant in a pandemic.

Dr. Julia Rosenberg, an instructor of pediatrics at the Yale School of Medicine, has seen first-hand the difficulties of children accessing care when children arent covered by health insurance. She described a series of obstacles she faced recently in helping to secure a crucial test for a patient.

I was trying to make sure that I could get a child a tuberculosis screening they needed, which is important for the persons health as well as for public health, she said. I was having a lot of challenges, because this was a child who did not have insurance. Its the kind of thing where there are a lot of extra steps involved to make sure that we can get kids the health care they need and deserve.

Rosenberg has advocated for the Medicaid expansion.

The challenges we have faced in making sure that undocumented children can get the care they need has been incredibly disheartening, she said in an interview. Ive been so hopeful that Connecticut could support this legislation.  I really cannot think of anything else that could be more important for childrens health. It cant come soon enough.

Legislators supporting the bill did not expect it to fail in committee. In an interview before the vote, Sen. Marilyn Moore, a Democrat from Bridgeport and a co-chair of the Human Services Committee, predicted it would likely pass.

I dont think its a good look for anyone to deny this type of health care to people, especially children, she said.

But, in a 10-10 tie vote, the bill failed, with every Republican and three of the committees 13 Democrats voting against it, including co-chair Rep. Cathy Abercrombie, D-Meriden. The Medicaid expansion is the only proposal that the Human Services Committee did not pass this session.

Some legislators voiced concerns that the expansion was premature because of a lack of information regarding the number of residents who would qualify for the program and what the cost would be to the state. Last years bill mandated the Office of Health Strategy to conduct a feasibility study on expanding coverage to all children 18 and younger that would address those points, but the findings are not due until July. During the committee vote, many legislators said they felt the bill should not pass before the findings are available.

Though the feasibility study is not yet complete, the Connecticut Health Foundation and Georgetown University published a brief in September 2020 that addressed many of the questions raised during the committee meeting.

The Migration Policy Institute estimated that, at the time, there were around 13,000 undocumented children 18 and younger in Connecticut. The brief estimated that about 4,550 children would enroll during the first year of eligibility and that the total number of children enrolled would reach 5,590 by the second year, costing about $11.3 million in the first year and $13.9 million in the second. Most of those findings were not presented during committee debate.

House Speaker Matthew Ritter, D-Hartford, said the issue would be part of the upcoming budget negotiations, but he did not predict an outcome. The cost of the expansion and the fact that the state commissioner of social services testified against the bill are things lawmakers will also have to consider, he said.

Deidre Gifford, the commissioner, said in her testimony that the state would be unable to claim federal funding for those who would qualify for coverage under the measure, meaning Connecticut would incur significant additional program costs to extend the benefit.

Asked whether he supported the measure, a spokesman for Gov. Ned Lamont said the governor is reviewing the proposal.

We did have this conversation last year. We reached a compromise to [the 8 years old and younger] age group, and that was not easy to do, Ritter said. So there are a lot of people who are going to have to be involved in this conversation in the next couple of weeks. And a lot of it may come down to what the Appropriations Committee has with the spending cap and what people have as priorities.

Senate President Pro Tem Martin Looney, a supporter of the Medicaid expansion, said the bill has a very good chance of being included in the budget process. Looney said he is concerned for children who would face an arbitrary cutoff after age 8.

Some lawmakers said if the expansion to age 18 was unsuccessful, they would weigh an amendment that would at least allow children who are turning 9 in 2023 to keep the benefit through the end of the calendar year. Legislators have not yet openly discussed that idea.

Looney said he hopes the HUSKY expansion will be included in the budget.

These are children who are now residents of Connecticut, they are in need of health coverage and they are likely to be long-term residents of Connecticut, he said. There is a basic need to treat children humanely when they have illnesses that need care. It really is just a matter of simple humanity to incorporate the care of these children in our health care system.
Multiple localities across China yield results in vigorously carrying out grassland protection and restoration projects

People's Daily Online) 10:42, March 31, 2022

In 2021, China planted 6.67 million hectares of forests and grassland, including 3.07 million hectares of grassland that were further improved by way of efforts to expand their grass cover, according to a bulletin on afforestation in China during 2021 as recently released by the National Greening Commission.

Photo taken on June 15, 2021 shows the view of herds at the summer pasture on the Barlik Mountain in Yumin county, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Hu Huhu)

In recent years, various localities in the country have carried out the protection and restoration of grasslands in a continuous manner, having built beautiful grasslands through their own unique endeavors.

Maodeng Ranch, located in Xilinhot city, north Chinas Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was once severely degraded. To recover the grasslands ecosystem, the ranch relocated herders from those places encountering severe grassland degradation to a newly-built village and encouraged them to get involved in cow breeding. As a result of this, 400,000 mu (26,666.67 hectares) of grassland, or half of the total area of the ranch, was enclosed for better protection and was later built into an ecological protection area.

Between 2003 and 2021, protective reaping of the grass was allowed only during the autumn season within the bounds of the protection area. Some of the forage grass planted within the protected area was sold to employees at the ranch and their children at a price much lower than the market price, while the rest of the grass was sold on the market, with the earnings from the grass being used to maintain the operations of the ranch.

Currently, the grass coverage rate inside the protected area has reached 62 percent from less than 40 percent in the past, while the average height of the grass is nearly 40 centimeters, compared with about 10 centimeters in the past, with the average yield of grass per mu having increased to 40 kilograms from 15 kilograms.

The protected area not only helped restore the grasslands ecosystem, but also delivered economic benefits to local residents, said Yang Hai, head of the ranch. In the autumn of 2021, local herder Chen Caiyun bought 15 tonnes of high-quality forage grass from the ranch, which was priced at 800 yuan per tonne. In total, the forage grass cost 6,000 yuan less than what it would have cost on the market.

In 2020, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration of China kicked off the countrys first pilot program to construct grassland nature parks in the country. As one of the first pilot grassland nature parks, the Maodeng national grassland nature park seeks to preserve the grassland ecosystem of the wider Xilingol Grassland and rare plants and animals, vigorously advance grasslands protection and restoration projects, and properly develop the local grass industry and ecotourism by making use of its grassland scenery and cultural resources, Yang introduced.

The Fenglongshan Grassland in Xundian Hui and Yi Autonomous County in Kunming, southwest Chinas Yunnan Province has also achieved amazing results in grassland protection in recent years.

Excessive grazing, once a problem faced by the grassland, has been gradually resolved as the locality has constantly ramped up protection efforts in recent years, introduced Yin Caineng, an official from the provincial forestry and grassland bureau of Yunnan.

Shi Yixue, a farmer from Fenglongshan village, Xundian Hui and Yi Autonomous County, has been a forest ranger for the course of more than 20 years. Before 2015, Shi rode a motorcycle to the forest to carry out protection activities.

Those who visited the Fenglongshan Mountain were mainly local residents, Shi said. As the local road conditions became better and after paved roads were built in the locality, Shi bought a car to more conveniently patrol the forest. Meanwhile, the mountain has become a destination for an increasing number of tourists from outside the locality. What attracts the tourists is the unique grassland scenery of southern China, said Shi.

Statistics show that the total area of grassland in Yunnan has reached 229 million mu (15.27 million hectares). Being home to various grassland plants that can be categorized into 199 families, 1,404 types and 4,958 species, Yunnan is one of the provinces in China that has the most diversified varieties of grassland and plants.

(Web editor: Hongyu, Liang Jun)
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NEWTOWN  Alex Jones was penalized with an escalating daily fine of $25,000 for intentionally failing to comply with the orders of the court to give pretrial testimony in the defamation case he lost in Connecticut to eight families whose loved ones were slain in the Sandy Hook shooting.

The fine, which could accumulate into six figures in as quickly as four days, was imposed Wednesday by state Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis after Jones twice defied court orders last week to sit for a deposition, citing doctors orders to refrain from stressful activity.

The court finds by clear and convincing evidence that Mr. Jones willfully and in bad faith and without justification failed to abide by clear court orders requiring his deposition, Bellis said during a midday hearing, where she also held him in contempt of court.

Bellis, who could have issued an order for Jones arrest to compel him to testify instead said the escalating daily fine would begin on Friday and would end only after Jones completed a full days deposition.

If Mr. Jones counsel this afternoon informs (the families) counsel that he will sit on Friday (for questioning under oath) and if he does, there will be no fine, the judge said by way of example. If Mr. Jones sits on Tuesday April 5th, the fine will be $25,000 for Friday and $50,000 for Monday for a total of $75,000.

The sanctions against Jones, the host of Infowars who called the 2012 shooting of 26 first-graders and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School staged, synthetic, manufactured, a giant hoax, and completely fake with actors, is the latest development in a story that has been in the national headlines for the past week.

On Tuesday, Jones offered an FBI agent and 18 members of 10 families who lost loved ones in the school shooting $120,000 each to settle defamation lawsuits he lost against them in Texas and Connecticut late last year.

In Connecticut, the FBI agent and 14 people from eight families rejected Jones offer, calling it a transparent and desperate attempt by Alex Jones to escape a public reckoning under oath with his deceitful, profit-driven campaign against the plaintiffs.

The four other parents in the two defamation cases in Texas have yet to respond officially to Jones offer, according to their lead attorney in Texas, Mark Bankston. But on Wednesday one of those parents told Hearst Connecticut Media that he would reject Jones settlement offer and was going to trial to fight him.

The first of two trials in Texas to determine defamation damages is scheduled for April 25. The trial in Connecticut to determine defamation damages is scheduled to start Aug. 2.

Meanwhile Jones has admitted to viewers that he is feeling stressed, and may have cardiovascular symptoms related to his COVID-19 infection last year.

I started getting sick after I got COVID last year  like everybody else, it attacked the cardiovascular system, okay? Jones said in an audio message posted Friday on Infowars. Im 48 and Im under a lot of stress.

An attorney representing Jones at Wednesdays hearing in Connecticut argued as much.

If you decide to hold him in contempt, I ask you not to issue an arrest warrant for Mr. Jones (because)  it would only serve to exacerbate those health concerns, said Cameron Atkinson. Mr. Jones recognizes that he must give a deposition. An arrest warrant would be a drastic step toward procuring his attendance.

Bellis said the fines were designed to compel Jones to complete his pretrial deposition as soon as possible.

The court recognizes while this fine is coercive, it is reasonable and necessary, Bellis said, adding the families attorneys had the right to petition the court in Texas for an arrest warrant for Jones.

It is clear that the (families) simply want and are entitled to the deposition of Mr. Jones who has continued to deliberately disregard the court process.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
Beaumont could be the home of two new plants that could bring more than 100 jobs to the area and cost more than $4 billion to construct -- potentially one of the largest single investments the city has seen.

Members of the public-sector consulting firm GMJ, Inc. earlier this month presented the two projects -- Project Mercury and Project Deep Blue -- to the Beaumont ISD school board in pursuit of potential tax incentives.

The incentives could be used to persuade the firm's client, which was not named but does already have a presence in the city, to build the plants in Beaumont as opposed to other competing areas.

The firm made similar presentations to the Beaumont City Council, Jefferson County officials and other special taxing districts that could have jurisdiction in the area.

RELATED: New biorefinery to bring 142 jobs to Newton Co.

"They've been here a while and they're furthering their investment in Beaumont in a very significant way," GMJ Vice President and General Counsel John Johnson said at the meeting. "They're a worldwide company so, we're competing with other locales."

Johnson said without tax incentives, the firm is not confident that their client will build the plants in Beaumont.

Former Jefferson County judge and GMJ's President and CEO Carl Griffith told the Enterprise Friday that the firm's client is looking at sites in Iowa, North Africa, Asia and Europe in addition to Texas.

RELATED: Port Arthur to see improved water mains, wastewater plant, WiFi

"It will be amazing if we could land it here," Griffith said. "We've kind of been fortunate to get in the race just recently because before we weren't being considered, just as long as a month ago."

Griffith said Beaumont was chosen as a potential location because the company has synergy in the area but noted that the company also has ties to Iowa.

"It's just a race. How the incentives (pan) out versus the product availability, all those things come into (consideration)," he said.

Project Mercury, a $1.7 billion to $2.1 billion bio-gasoline plant, could be located just south of Beaumont off Twin City Highway at the former DuPont Elastomers plant site.

RELATED: DuPont closes Beaumont plant that employs 80

The plant is expected to generate more than 120 permanent jobs in addition to the 1,800 construction workers expected to be utilized during peak construction, said GMJ Chief Financial Officer Megan Gallien at the meeting.

"The average salary would range from $85,000 to $90,000," she said. "It's estimated that the inventory level (of the plant) annually would be about 26 million. That is inventory that would create tax revenue that would not be part of this agreement to the district."

The proposed project is expected to have a 24- to 30-month construction period with operations beginning in the end of 2025 or in 2026, Gallien said.

Project Deep Blue, a fertilizer manufacturing facility, would cost $2.4 billion to $2.8 billion.

RELATED: Chevron Phillips fined for SETX plant pollution

"We're talking about a combined investment north of $4 billion," Johnson said. "If the whole thing happens, it could potentially increase the tax base of the district by over 33%."

Johnson said the firm asked all taxing jurisdictions to "do whatever they can" to incentivize the project to make Beaumont a more enticing location.

The tax abatement, which would only give a break on the maintenance and operations piece of the district's tax rate, could last for 10 years.

"We've gotten positive indication from the other taxing entities that they are willing to do that," Johnson said.

RELATED: Biofuels plant could be complete by 2023

Board Secretary and District 2 Trustee Stacey Lewis, Jr. said that he would like to see more jobs come to Beaumont, citing the city's median income, which is $28,466, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"I'm all for supporting that," he said. "But for me, being a citizen of Beaumont, how can we make sure that we have assurance that those jobs are afforded to people who live (in) and are from Beaumont first? We have our plants where people will go to Beaumont and then travel hours to Louisiana, Nederland, Port Neches and we never receive that, but we are always the housing unit for jobs."

Gallien said that the company currently has 269 local employees and has shown preference and priority to the local workforce.

RELATED: These SE Texas plants released the most benzene in Texas last year

"Also, part of the tax abatement agreements that would be in place, they check the jobs, the numbers, and they check to make sure that you have the percentage local that you said you're going to commit to," she said.

Former Beaumont mayor and GMJ Vice President of Strategic Alliances Becky Ames said that the city will have to compete for the plants in a variety of ways since it can't offer the tax incentives that the other candidates can.

"If we don't try to get it, we won't get it," she said.

RELATED: Nederland, are you ready to recycle?

Griffith said the company is on the cutting edge of trying to reduce emissions and its carbon footprint.

Johnson said, to his knowledge, this would be the single largest investment in Beaumont's history if the company chose the city as its candidate.

The school board voted 6-1 to accept the projects' tax abatement applications for review.

Kevin Reece was the only vote against.

The board also voted to approve to retain consultants to assist the district in processing both project applications.

RELATED: Report: Texas ranked No. 7 in taxpayer return on investment

Reece abstained from voting on the approval of retaining consultants for Project Deep Blue, which passed 6-1. The approval to retain consultants for Project Mercury passed 7-0.

District Chief Financial Officer Cheryl Hernandez said that the district typically uses the firm O'Hanlon. Demerath & Castillo to handle the documents in these types of agreements and the firm Moak, Casey & Associates to calculate financial benefits to the district.

Hernandez said the company had to give the district a $75,000 application fee for both projects which is used to cover the cost to the consulting firms.

Griffith said he expects a final decision to be made around mid-summer.

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Kochi: India's third busiest airport, Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) will facilitate 1190 flights every week from Sunday as India will resume commercial international flights from March 27 after a gap of two years.

The airport was facilitating 848 flights during the ongoing winter schedule. The Summer schedule released by the airport starting from Sunday will be operational till October 29.

CIAL's summer schedule will see 20 airlines operating to destinations abroad among which 16 are International carriers operating 261 weekly departures.

"Air India Express, Air Asia Berhad, Ethihad, Emirates, Oman Air, Qatar Air, Saudi Arabian, Kuwait air, Thai Air Asia, Srilankan, Gulf Air, Fly Dubai, Singapore Airlines, Spice jet and Indigo are among some of the major flights which frequently operate from Cochin Airport.

There will be 44 weekly departures to Dubai alone. Whereas Abu Dhabi comes second with 42 operations from Kochi.

Air India will continue their three weekly operations to London and Thai Air Asia will resume its operations from Kochi in June, with 4 weekly direct flights to Bangkok.

CIAL schedules 668 domestic operations for the summer season offering connectivity with 13 cities in the country which includes 63 weekly flights to Delhi, 55 to Mumbai, 39 to Hyderabad, 49 to Chennai, 79 to Bangalore and 7 to Kolkata.

"The zealous effort taken by the company to smoothen the traffic during the pandemic period would have instilled a sense of safety in International Airlines and which has been reflected in the summer schedule," said S Suhas, Managing Director, CIAL.
NASA

The Axiom mission (Ax-1) is scheduled to launch between April 6-19 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA recently announced. The Ax-1 is posed for a historic spacefaring first as the mission is set to launch the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS), according to Axiom.

The Ax-1 mission features an international astronaut crew from around the globe, including commander Michael Lopez-Alegria, pilot Larry Connor and mission specialists Eytan Stibbe and Mark Pathy. The crew will travel to the space station on the SpaceX Dragon Endeavour spacecraft after launching on the companys Falcon 9 rocket, NASA stated.
Bengaluru: A Special Court in Bengaluru has ordered the registration of a 'special criminal case' against former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa in connection with the land denotification complaint lodged against him in the year 2013.

Special judge B Jayantha Kumar has ordered authorities to register a special criminal case for offences punishable under section 13(1)(d) read with section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against the former chief minister

The case pertains to the denotification of about 4.30 acres of prime land near Bellandur, Bengaluru while Yediyurappa was Deputy Chief Minister. The case has haunted Yediyurappa for several years. In 2013, one Vasudeva Reddy had filed a private complaint.

A special court while hearing the denotification case on Saturday rejected the Lokayukta police's B report and allowed an investigation.

Judge Sridhar Gopalakrishna Bhat ordered further investigation into the case and instructed Lokayukta Deputy Superintendent of Police of the same. In addition, the High Court has been instructed to conduct an investigation and submit a final report.

In 2015, the Lokayukta Special Court ordered an investigation. The B Report was filed in January 2021 and said that the allegations were futile. The court has rejected this B report and ordered an investigation into the case.
Russian hackers have been probing Texas energy infrastructure for weak points in digital systems that would allow them to steal sensitive information or disrupt operations, according to interviews with energy companies, state officials and cybersecurity experts.

State regulators and energy companies  from utilities to oil and gas transportation hubs to their associated vendors  said they have been aware of the elevated Russian cyber threats since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last month, but theyre careful to not say too much.

We are on super high alert, said Thad Hill, CEO of Texas power giant Calpine, adding that he has been closely monitoring Russias cyber actions.

President Joe Biden last week warned that the White House has evolving intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks  the administrations starkest warning yet.

Worst-case scenarios in Texas include hackers breaching the states power grid system and shutting off electricity to millions of Texans, seeking to halt shipments of oil and gas from sea ports, or breaking into a refinerys network so it is unable to produce gasoline and other petroleum products.

The Houston Ship Channel on Feb. 2, 2021. Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune

Flint Hills Resources, a manufacturer of fuels and chemicals, site in Corpus on Nov. 11, 2021. Credit: Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune

First: The Port of Houston, home to the country's largest petrochemical complex. Last: A fuel and chemical manufacturing site in Corpus Christi. Credit: Annie Mulligan and Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune

Energy companies and their regulators said its not unusual to detect hackers surveying their networks for weak points. But since Februarys Russian invasion, energy-related facilities in Texas have seen the number of probes by hackers increase, Robert M. Lee, founder and CEO of the industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos, said in an interview.

Lee, who previously worked at the National Security Agency, where he helped design the U.S. governments system for tracking state-backed hackers, said his company has traced the hackers recently probing Texas energy infrastructure and discovered theyre Russian.

Texas has some key export facilities for liquid natural gas  at a national security level, there are a couple sites that we all freak out about, Lee said. If you took down one site, you don't get fuel exports out to certain countries.

The Port of Corpus Christi has grown to be the third largest sea port in the country and the nations second largest exporter of natural gas. Many European countries rely heavily on Russian natural gas, and the U.S. is trying to help wean Europe off Russian gas by increasing U.S. natural gas exports to Europe  part of an increasing effort to put economic pressure on Russia.

We are certainly a target, Sean Strawbridge, CEO of the Port of Corpus Christi, said in an interview.

Russia is known globally in the cybersecurity world for having a top notch cyberattack operation. In 2021, Russian hackers breached computerized equipment that operates the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S., causing the Colonial Pipeline Company to shut down its pipeline, which originates in Houston, for six days to contain the attack. The breach triggered fuel shortages and a spike in gas prices on the East Coast.

Last week the U.S. Justice Department unsealed two indictments charging four Russians who worked for the Russian government with an ongoing campaign of infiltrating the computers of energy companies in 135 countries between 2012 and 2018.

Separately, a federal grand jury earlier this month indicted a 23-year-old Russian man in East Texas for operating a cyber-criminal marketplace that sold thousands of stolen login credentials, personal identifiable information and authentication tools for online payment platforms, retailers and credit card accounts, the Justice Department said.

Dr. Chris Bronk, a cybersecurity professor at the University of Houston, said he is most concerned about possible cyber attacks on the U.S. electricity system.

Regulators overseeing Texas power grid, the smallest of the three in the U.S., said the grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, and the Public Utility Commission of Texas that oversees it, work diligently on cyberdefense.

But ERCOT was unable to keep the power on last year when a winter storm hammered Texas, leaving millions without power for days and hundreds dead. ERCOT said the grid was only minutes away from catastrophic failure that could have caused monthslong blackouts if it hadnt quickly ordered companies to shut off power to large swaths of the state.

If parts of ERCOT go down, the whole grid could collapse, Bronk said. Its a rickety ship, and we have ample evidence of the weaknesses.

The main switchyard at a power plant in North Texas that sends electricity to the power grid. Credit: Shelby Tauber for The Texas Tribune

State regulators said they have been shoring up their cyberdefenses.

We take cybersecurity and the protection of the Texas grid and our states energy infrastructure very seriously, a spokesperson for the Public Utility Commission of Texas said in an email. We are aware of and closely monitoring the potential increased risk of cyberattack on that infrastructure and were working with our regulated industries to communicate emerging threats, alerts and warnings issued at the federal level.

In West Texas, the nations biggest oil producing region, a February hacking attempt on a local hospital system has some local officials on edge.

Dustin Fawcett, the incoming county judge in Ector County, home of Odessa  which was named after the Ukrainian city on the Black Sea  said Medical Center Hospital System learned that the attack did come from Russia.

Anything to disrupt our way of life will then impact the oil and gas industry, Fawcett said. If they can disrupt our production out here in any way, that benefits them.

Disclosure: Calpine and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.
Timothy Abero / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm

A father in Texas was keeping his son's body in the kitchen almost four years after his death, according to authorities. During a welfare check, police discovered David McMichael, 67, held on to his son's remains after he died in May 2018.

The Dallas Morning News reported officers in New Boston, about 20 miles west of Texarkana, were called to McMichael's home for a welfare check. When officers arrived at the home on Tuesday, March 29, police asked McMichael if he knew why police were at the home, and he "advised them it was because he had a body in his kitchen."
ZZ Top pulled into the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium Wednesday evening for a rocking performance. The band has been together for over five decades and sold over 30 million records across 15 studio albums. The loss of long-time bassist Dusty Hill in 2021 did not stop the band as his spot o
Vijayawada: Andhra Pradesh will set up Mobile Tribunals to solve land issues. Chief Minister Jaganmohan Reddy has asked officials to initiate the process, resolve previous problems of web lands in a most transparent manner and finalise the procedures (SOPs) in this regard.

The chief minister said land records should be prepared in such a way that they cant be changed or tampered. Physical records should be prepared along with electronic ones.

Jagan held a review meeting on YSR Jagananna Saswatha Bhu Hakku  Bhu Raksha scheme and inspected the drones designed for comprehensive land survey using advanced technology.

During the meeting held at the camp office in Tadepalli on Thursday, the chief minister said physical records should be updated regularly and ensure the survey is done immediately after the applications came in.

The CM said the system should be corruption-free. Stringent action should be taken against the corrupt and registrations should be done at village/ward secretariats. Mobile Tribunals would help resolve the issues locally.

He said there should be no controversies by the time clear title deeds are given to the land owners. Officials should involve the Law Department in the process and prepare a road map.

The officials informed the chief minister that 51 advanced drones will be operational for the land survey by April 5. Another 20 drones are being procured to expedite the process. A total of 154 drones will be used for land survey.

The drone survey was completed in 1441 villages so far and more areas will be covered before the monsoon season. Purification of land records is being done along with the comprehensive land survey.

The officials said they would give web land application, village land register application, and village account register, along with land title deed. They would update the land records as per records with the village secretariats so that the issues raised due to web land will be resolved.

The officials said they laid out plans to complete the land survey and issue clear titles in 5200 villages by the end of July 2023; some 5700 villages by the end of August 2023; and 6460 villages by the end of September 2023.

The first phase of taking Orthorectified Radar Image (ORI) images in villages will be completed by November, the second phase by December and the third phase by January 2023.

Deputy chief minister (revenue ) Dharmana Krishna Das, Panchayat Raj and rural development minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy, municipal administration and urban development minister Botsa Satyanarayana, CM's principal adviser Ajeya Kallam, chief secretary Sameer Sharma, CCLA special chief secretary Sai Prasad, revenue special chief secretary Rajat Bhargav, revenue commissioner Siddarth Jain and other officials were present.
Despite record-high PNP draws in the first three months of 2022, Canada has only invited 6,470 Express Entry candidates so far this year.

Express Entry Q1 2022: Smallest first quarter ever as IRCC works on backlog Despite record-high PNP draws in the first three months of 2022, Canada has only invited 6,470 Express Entry candidates so far this year.

Express Entry Q1 2022: Smallest first quarter ever as IRCC works on backlog Despite record-high PNP draws in the first three months of 2022, Canada has only invited 6,470 Express Entry candidates so far this year.

Express Entry Q1 2022: Smallest first quarter ever as IRCC works on backlog Despite record-high PNP draws in the first three months of 2022, Canada has only invited 6,470 Express Entry candidates so far this year. Shelby Thevenot Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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Canada has been playing catch-up this past quarter, resulting in a relatively slow start to the year for Express Entry.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has so far invited only 6,470 Express Entry candidates to apply, all of whom are Provincial Nominee Program (PNP) candidates. Compared to previous first quarters, the start of 2022 has been the smallest first quarter since Express Entry was launched in 2015. The smallest quarter ever was Q4 2021, when Canada invited just 4,735 PNP candidates to apply for permanent residence.

The first seven draws of 2022 have consisted of record-breaking PNP draws. The largest PNP draw ever was held on February 16 when 1,082 candidates were issued Invitations to Apply (ITAs).

Get a Free Express Entry Assessment

Express Entry invitations by quarter

Why so few Express Entry invitations

The drop in invitations overall is the result of a backlog in Express Entry applications for permanent residence. IRCC halted draws for Canadian Experience Class (CEC) candidates in September 2021, as the backlog in applications had driven up expected processing times in excess of the six-month standard. FSWP candidates had not had a draw for nearly a year at that point, as IRCC paused draws for these candidates in December 2020.

Before the pandemic, most Express Entry draws were not program specific. Candidates from any Express Entry-managed program, including the Federal Skilled Worker Program (FSWP), Federal Skilled Trades Program (FSTP), CEC and PNP, could receive an invitation so long as their Comprehensive Ranking System (CRS) score was high enough. Occasionally, IRCC would hold FSTP-specific draws to allow for more trades candidates to be invited to apply. There were only a few PNP and CEC-only draws prior to 2020.

Canada closed its border to most international travel in March 2020. At the same time, IRCC operations all around the world came to a halt. Even so, IRCC continued to hold Express Entry draws. For the first few months after the border closed, IRCC only invited CEC and PNP candidates, then briefly resumed draws for FSWP candidates between August and December 2020.

Internal IRCC communications indicate the backlog was exacerbated because Canada focused on transitioning as many temporary residents to permanent residents as possible. IRCC created the Temporary Residence to Permanent Residence (TR2PR) immigration program, and invited record numbers of CEC candidates. The backlog for FSWP candidates grew so much that the estimated processing times for this program is expected to reach 36 months in 2022, even though the IRCC website still indicates that these applications will be processed in six months.

IRCC has paused draws in order to process the backlog and return estimated processing times to the standard. No new invitations to apply means no applications are coming in, and the department can focus on clearing the backlog. There are enough Express Entry applicants waiting to be processed to fill the immigration targets for 2022.

Express Entry forecast

Although Immigration Minister Sean Fraser has not confirmed any date for when Express Entry draws for skilled workers will resume, he has suggested it could be as early as the spring.

The most recent IRCC inventory data shows that between February 28 and March 15, IRCC processed 4,101 FSWP applicants, which is more than IRCC processed in a seven-month period in 2021. Canada has already landed more FSWP immigrants in 2022 than it did in all of last year. There are about 41,000 FSWP applicants left to be processed as of mid March.

According to the same backlog data, there are about 10,400 CEC applicants left to be processed. In 42 days, IRCC was able to process 4,751 CEC applicants. At this rate, IRCC could end the CEC backlog by this spring.

Get a Free Express Entry Assessment

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
However, Dr G Srinivasa Rao said, that it was advisable to wear a mask while in crowded places and hospitals and by those suffering from comorbidities. (Representational Image/ AP)

Hyderabad: Telangana health department on Thursday declared that wearing face masks is no longer mandatory in the state and will be optional from Friday. This was announced by director of public health & family welfare Dr G Srinivasa Rao.

However, he said that it was advisable to wear a mask while in crowded places and hospitals and by those suffering from comorbidities.

Meanwhile, the city police said that no one would be fined for not wearing masks while in public places. City police commissioner C.V. Anand said that the government orders on face masks had lapsed on February 28.

On work from office, Dr Srinivasa Rao said work from home can now be stopped fully and IT companies can allow their full staff to work from offices, he said.
IRCC has unveiled major changes today as it seeks to be more transparent with its clients.

IRCC updates processing times tool to provide more accurate information IRCC has unveiled major changes today as it seeks to be more transparent with its clients.

IRCC updates processing times tool to provide more accurate information IRCC has unveiled major changes today as it seeks to be more transparent with its clients.

IRCC updates processing times tool to provide more accurate information IRCC has unveiled major changes today as it seeks to be more transparent with its clients. Shelby Thevenot Kareem El-Assal Aa Accessibility Font Style Serif

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On March 31, Immigration Minister Sean Fraser announced major updates to the governments online processing times tool.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) clients can now see more accurate estimates of how long it will take to process their application.

Most permanent resident and citizenship services will now use dynamic processing times. New calculations will be posted weekly based on data from the previous six months. Dynamic processing times for temporary residence services are already in place, based on data from the past eight or 16 weeks.

Discover Your Canadian Immigration Eligibility

The new processing time estimates will reflect the volumes of applications being processed, as well as the latest operational realities. They will allow future newcomers to make plans based on a more accurate timeline. This upgrade to the government website is part of IRCCs effort to modernize the immigration system.

Before, the government website was only showing the service standard, which is IRCCs commitment to process applications under normal circumstances. This past January, Fraser had announced that these changes would be forthcoming in the months ahead.

The difference between processing times and service standards

IRCCs processing times tell clients how long it took to process most complete applications in the past and are updated weekly. Service standards, on the other hand, are IRCCs commitments to process applications in a certain amount of time under normal circumstances. They are not updated regularly, and not all programs have service standards.

IRCC reports annually on how actual processing times compared to service standards.

How processing times are calculated

IRCC measures processing times based on how long it took to process 80% of the applications in the past. Processing times start the day IRCC receive a complete application and ends when an immigration officer makes a decision on it.

For those who apply by mail, the processing time starts when their complete application arrives in an IRCC mail room. For those who apply online or in person, the processing time starts when they submit their application.

Discover Your Canadian Immigration Eligibility

What are IRCCs processing times right now?

As of March 31, processing times are the following:

Economic class immigration

Family class immigration

Spouse or common-law partner living in Canada: 16 months

16 months Spouse or common-law partner living outside Canada: 19 months

19 months Parents or grandparents: 32 months

32 months Dependent child: Varies by country

Varies by country Adopted child or relative: Varies by country

Refugees and humanitarian & compassionate (H&C) applicants

Government-assisted refugees: Varies by country

Varies by country Privately-sponsored refugees: Varies by country

Varies by country Protected persons and convention refugees in Canada: 22 months

22 months H&C cases: 16 months

Temporary residence application

Visitor visa outside Canada: Varies by country

Varies by country Visitor visa inside Canada: 16 days online and 48 days by paper

16 days online and 48 days by paper Visitor extension: 162 days online and 201 days by paper

162 days online and 201 days by paper Parents or grandparents Super Visa: Varies by country

Varies by country Study permit outside Canada: 13 weeks

13 weeks Study permit inside Canada: 9 weeks

9 weeks Study permit extension: 75 days online and 156 days by paper

75 days online and 156 days by paper Work permit outside Canada: Varies by country

Varies by country Work permit inside Canada (initial application or extension): 133 days online and 239 days by paper

133 days online and 239 days by paper International Experience Canada: Varies by country

Varies by country Electronic Travel Authorization: 5 minutes

Citizenship

Citizenship grant: 27 months

27 months Citizenship certificate (Proof of citizenship): 17 months

17 months Resumption of citizenship: 23 months

23 months Renunciation of citizenship: 15 months

15 months Search of citizenship record: 15 months

15 months Adoption: 11 months for part 1; part 2 varies on complexity

Permanent resident (PR) cards

Renewing or replacing a PR card: 108 days

108 days Waiting for first card: 103 days

Replacing or amending documents, verifying status

Verification of status: 26 weeks

26 weeks Replacement of valid temporary resident documents: 22 weeks

22 weeks Amendments of immigration documents: 47 weeks

47 weeks Amendments of valid temporary resident documents: 27 weeks

IRCCs latest inventory

IRCC has struggled to manage its inventory and stick to its service standards due to challenges caused by the pandemic. The latest data shows the departments inventory stands at 1.84 million people awaiting processing. The data suggests IRCC is making progress in some areas, such as with Express Entry CEC and FSWP applicants, but continues to struggle in other areas, such as processing citizenship applications.

Discover Your Canadian Immigration Eligibility

 CIC News All Rights Reserved. Visit CanadaVisa.com to discover your Canadian immigration options.
Wilkes Barre, PA (18701)

Today

Periods of rain. High around 55F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall near a half an inch..

Tonight

Rain likely. Low 49F. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the 10.5 per cent reservation provided to Vanniyars, a Most Backward Community (MBC) in Tamil Nadu, in government jobs and admission to educational institutions.

A bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai upheld the Madras High Court order which had quashed the reservation.

"We are of the opinion that there is no substantial basis for classifying Vanniakula Kshatriyas into one group to be treated differently from the remaining 115 communities within the MBC groups and, therefore, the 2021 Act is in violation of Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution. Therefore, we uphold the decision of the high court," the bench said.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly had in February last year passed the then ruling AIADMK-piloted bill providing internal reservation of 10.5 per cent for Vanniyars, with the incumbent DMK government issuing an order in July 2021 for its implementation.

It had split the aggregate 20 per cent reservation for MBCs and denotified communities into three separate categories by regrouping castes and provided a 10 per cent plus sub-quota for Vanniyars, formerly known as Vanniakula Kshatriyas.
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MPs have rejected the governments preferred candidate to be the next Charity Commission chair over a slapdash and unimaginative approach to the recruitment process.

The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee said that although they had no concerns about Orlando Fraser as a person, they could not formally endorse him because of concerns about the appointments process.

The report, Another pre-appointment hearing for Chair of the Charity Commission , says: Regarding this candidate, we recognise that Orlando Fraser has qualifications and experience that could make him suitable for this role. During the hearing he responded reasonably well to our concerns about his ability to remain independent and demonstrated his respect for the charity sector. We have no grounds for concern about Mr Fraser as an individual.

However, the committee said the department should have re-run the process following Martin Thomas withdrawal.

Julian Knight, Conservative chair of the committee, said: The fiasco of four months ago should have jolted the department into widening out its search for the very best person to oversee an organisation that is so vital in ensuring people can support charities with confidence.

By failing to re-run the process and falling back on a shortlist which would seem to be so lacking in diversity, ministers have sadly squandered their second chance.

Slapdash and unimaginative approach

There were 37 candidates, with 36 completing the diversity monitoring form. Nine candidates identified as female, six as BAME and one said they had a disability.

Of the eight candidates invited to interview, one was a woman, one from a BAME background and none declared disability.

Knight added: While we recognise Mr Frasers potential to do the job, such a slapdash and unimaginative approach to his recruitment means we cannot formally endorse his appointment.

This should act as a warning to the government. Unless it changes tack, trust in the process will continue to be damaged and we risk missing out on getting the most qualified people from all backgrounds for these very important jobs.

Ministers do not have to follow the advice of the committee. Previously when the committee rejected Baroness Stowell the government went ahead with the appointment.

At the pre-appointment hearing Fraser said that if the committee rejected him he would read the reasons and withdraw if he felt it would be impossible to do the job.

DCMS will respond 'in due course'

A DCMS spokesperson said: As recently noted by the Commissioner for Public Appointments, the appointment process for Charity Commission Chair was run in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments.

The DCMS Select Committee rightly recognises Orlando Fraser's suitability for the role and we will now consider its report in full and respond in due course.

NCVO: Parliament needs to be central to the process

NCVO urged the government to reflect before proceeding with the appointment.

Alex Farrow, head of networks and influencing at NCVO, said: We have argued for a long time that parliament needs to be central to the process of appointing the chair of the Charity Commission. The government should carefully consider the implications of continuing to appoint a candidate who does not have the backing of parliament.

We agree that Orlando Fraser has the experience and understanding of the sector required to do the job, and we were pleased that he stressed the importance of the independence of the Commission to the committee.

We believe it was a mistake not to rerun the appointment process. This would have provided confidence in the process and enabled a more diverse and representative shortlist to have been developed.



sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector,




On March 10, a Reuters headline announced that Facebook would temporarily change its content rules to allow users to post calls for the death of Vladimir Putin, Russias president, as well as calls for violence against Russians. (Reuters later modified its headline to specify invading Russians.) Such posts would normally qualify as what Meta, the parent company of Facebook, calls T1 violent speech, which is removed without question. A few days later, Nick Clegg, head of global affairs for Meta, said the new rules would not allow users to call for the death of Putin or Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus. Clegg also said that calling for violence against Russians would only be allowed for users in Ukraine, and only when the context is the Russian invasion.

Yesterday, Ryan Mac, Mike Isaac, and Sheera Frenkel reported in the New York Times that the rules about allowing calls for violence against Putin and Lukashenko were actually changed on February 26, two days after Russian troops first entered Ukraine. Following the Reuters story, which was widely shared, Russian authorities labeled Metas activities as extremist, the Times wrote. Shortly thereafter, Meta reversed course and said it would not let its users call for the deaths of heads of state. (At the Washington Post, Will Oremus noted that Facebooks changes also enabled users to praise a Ukrainian neo-Nazi militia that has been resisting the Russian invasion. The Intercepts Sam Biddle, who broke that news in February, wrote at the time that Facebooks blunt, list-based approach to moderation puts the company in a bind: What happens when a group youve deemed too dangerous to freely discuss is defending its country against a full-scale assault?) Clegg told staff in a memo that circumstances in Ukraine are fast moving. We try to think through all the consequences, and we keep our guidance under constant review because the context is always evolving.

According to the Times, the many changes to content rules has caused confusion inside Facebook and Instagram, which is also owned by Meta. In an unusual step for the company, the Times reported, Meta suspended some of the quality controls that ensure that posts from users in Russia, Ukraine and other Eastern European countries meet its rules. Sources told the Times that Meta temporarily stopped tracking whether its workers who monitor Facebook and Instagram posts were accurately enforcing its content guidelines, because those workers couldnt keep up with the shifting rules about what kinds of posts were allowed about the war in Ukraine. The result of the rule changes has been internal confusion, especially among the content moderators who patrol Facebook and Instagram for text and images with gore, hate speech and incitements to violence, the Times wrote.

ICYMI: CNNs ambitious, uncertain leap into streaming

While some content is removed automatically by algorithms and other software, much of it is left to human moderators, who are on contractand who, according to the Times story, are often given less than ninety seconds to decide whether images of dead bodies, videos of limbs being blown off, or outright calls to violence violate the platforms rules. Moderators also said they were shown posts about the war in the Chechen, Kazakh, and Kyrgyz languages, which they did not know and so could not properly review.

The rule books governing platform speech and content permissions need a new chapter on geopolitical conflicts, Oremus wrote for the Post. Companies such as Meta may feel that their approach to Ukraine is the correct one, but they havent clearly articulated the basis on which theyve taken that stand, or how that might apply in other settings, from Kashmir to Nagorno-Karabakh, Yemen and the West Bank. Katie Harbath, a former public policy director at Facebook, told Oremus, Were all thinking about the short term in Ukraine. Harbath added that she would prefer to see the platforms building out the capacity for more long-term thinking, noting, The world keeps careening from crisis to crisis. They need a group of people who are not going to be consumed by the day-to-day.

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Emerson Brooking, a fellow at the Atlantic Councils Digital Forensic Research Lab, wrote in a piece for Tech Policy Press that moderation is supposed to stem the spread of violent content, but wars are exercises in violence, fueled by cycles of hate. Accordingly, social media companies will never be able to write a sufficiently nuanced wartime content policy that somehow elides violence, hate, and death. Metas struggles, he argued, demonstrate an irreconcilable tension in trying to adapt content moderation policy to major conflict.

Heres more on the platforms and war:

Scale : Contributing to the moderation challenges at a company like Meta or Google is the vast scale of these platforms. Evelyn Douek, a lecturer at Harvard Law School and research scholar at the Knight First Amendment Institute, gave a talk last year at Stanford called  The Administrative State of Content Moderation . In the thirty minutes it took for her to give the presentation, Douek noted, Facebook would have taken down 615,417 pieces of content, and YouTube about 271,440 videos and channels.

Blunders : In addition to its moderation challenges, Meta has made some high-profile mistakes, the Times noted. For example, it allowed a group called the Ukrainian Legion to run ads on its platforms this month in an attempt to recruit foreign fighters to assist the Ukrainian army, which is a violation of international laws. Meta later removed the adswhich were shown to people in the United States, Ireland, Germany, and elsewherebecause the group may have misrepresented its ties to the Ukrainian government.

Orders : Google allegedly told translators not to use the word war to describe whats happening in Ukraine, according to The Intercept another example of how the legal requirements dictated by operating in a country can hamstring platforms and lead to censorship. An internal email sent by management at a firm that translates corporate texts and app interfaces for Google and other clients said that the attack on Ukraine could no longer be referred to as a war but rather only vaguely as extraordinary circumstances, wrote Sam Biddle and Tatiana Dias.

Erasure: In 2014, The Atlantic wrote about how Facebooks decision to shut down dozens of pages set up by dissidents in Syria dealt a significant blow to peaceful activists who have grown reliant on Facebook for communication and uncensoredif bloody and graphicreporting on the wars atrocities. At the time, Eliot Higgins, a former blogger who founded Bellingcat, an open-source investigative journalism site, also complained that Facebook was making it difficult to document atrocities in Syria because it kept removing the evidence.

Other notable stories:

Russian media are running a video interview with a Ukrainian refugee who references claims of violence against civilians by Azov, the far-right Ukrainian militia. According to a report from Mediazona , an independent media outlet started by two members of the band Pussy Riot, the interview was set up by Russian state police: In fact, the media had nothing to do with the interview that was distributed to state agencies by the FSB press service with a request to omit the source. Following her arrival in Russia, the woman was subjected to a long interrogation, her phone was searched, and she has been unable to contact any of her family members for more than a week.

Meta is paying Targeted Victory, a major Republican consulting firm, as part of a campaign to turn the public against TikTok, according to a report by Taylor Lorenz , an online culture reporter for the Washington Post . The campaign includes placing op-eds and letters to the editor in major regional news outlets, promoting dubious stories about alleged TikTok trends that actually originated on Facebook, and pushing to draw political reporters and local politicians into helping take down its biggest competitor, Lorenz reports.

Apple and Meta provided customer data to hackers who masqueraded as law enforcement officials, Bloomberg reported, citing three people with knowledge of the matter who chose to remain anonymous. Apple and Meta provided basic subscriber details, such as a customers address, phone number, and IP address, in mid-2021, in response to the forged emergency data requests. Normally, such requests are only granted with a search warrant or subpoena signed by a judge, according to the anonymous sources.

Molly White, a software engineer who runs a site critical of cryptocurrency hype called Web3 Is Going Great, collaborated with fifteen other researchers and journalists to annotate an article by Kevin Roose , a New York Times reporter who wrote an introduction to cryptocurrency and the movement known as Web3. Roose wrote that his piece was intended to be a sober, dispassionate explanation of what crypto actually is . The group who annotated it called it a thinly-veiled advertisement for cryptocurrency that appeared to have received little in the way of fact-checking or critical editorial scrutiny.

The Wrap reports that Truth Social, the social networking app started by Donald Trump, has seen a 93 percent drop in signups and similarly steep decline in traffic after a rocky rollout last month fraught with technical issues and an extensive waiting list for new signups to actually use the service. The site says the Twitter look-alike saw app installations decline by more than 800,000 since its launch week, according to Sensor Tower, and installations on the Apple app store this month have fallen to about 60,000 per week.

Justin Hendrix of Tech Policy Press interviewed Jane Lytvynenko, a senior research fellow at Harvards Shorenstein Center, about the role of the social media platforms and news media in confronting disinformation during the war in Ukraine. Lytvynenko said shes concerned about the inequality in information environments when it comes to Western countries and primarily the English language, and the inequality in literally everywhere else where social media companies have not invested as much into moderation efforts.

Priyanjana Bengani and Jon Keegan wrote for CJR about a checklist they created to help journalists and researchers try to find out who published a website. This is meant to be used in conjunction with offline reporting techniques, they wrote. While following the checklist does not guarantee that you can unmask an owner of a website who does not want to be found, they added, it can help surface crucial clues and connections that can act as leads for further reporting.

ICYMI: BuzzFeed and the demands of being public

This post has been updated to include a link.

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Mathew Ingram is CJRs chief digital writer. Previously, he was a senior writer with Fortune magazine. He has written about the intersection between media and technology since the earliest days of the commercial internet. His writing has been published in the Washington Post and the Financial Times as well as by Reuters and Bloomberg.
It may be noted that the state government, while announcing 80,000 government posts, had stipulated that at least 18,343 vacancies in the city police department had to be accommodated on a priority basis.  Representational image/DC

Hyderabad: The city police are bearing the brunt of the constant increase in narcotic and cybercrime cases as it has only 1,800 personnel who are responsible for the safety of 70 lakh citizens spread over the citys five zones. In effect, the ratio translates to one police officer for 4,000 citizens.

Following new recruitments, the ratio could be one police personal for 2,000 citizens. Though our strength is less, our police tops the country when it comes to controlling crime and detecting cases, city police commissioner C.V. Anand told Deccan Chronicle here on Thursday.

We are hoping that the Telangana State Level Police Recruitment Board would be calling for applications to posts like Stipendiary Cadet Trainee (SCT) sub-inspectors and constables by an early date, he said. Towards this, they have already started pre-recruitment training to the aspirants by providing study material, preparing them for physical measurement tests (PMT) and physical efficiency test (PET), physical training. These are being overseen by the in-charge zonal DCPs.

It may be noted that the state government, while announcing 80,000 government posts, had stipulated that at least 18,343 vacancies in the city police department had to be accommodated on a priority basis. A majority of the new recruits will be for lower cadre posts.
Chinese president stresses neighboring countries' role in supporting Afghanistan

Xinhua) 11:26, March 31, 2022

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called on the neighboring countries of Afghanistan to do their best to support the Afghan people to create a brighter future.

Xi made the remarks in a written message to the third meeting of foreign ministers of the countries neighboring Afghanistan, in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province.

Xi pointed out that having gone through so much in the past, Afghanistan is in urgent need of development in many areas. The country has come to a critical point of transition from chaos to order.

"Afghanistan is a common neighbor and partner of all participating countries, and we form a community with a shared future linked by the same mountains and rivers who would rise and fall together," said Xi.

He also noted that a peaceful, stable, developing and prosperous Afghanistan is the aspiration of all the Afghan people, and it is also in the common interests of regional countries and the international community.

Xi underscored that amity and good neighborliness are invaluable to a country.

"China always respects Afghanistan's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and has committed to supporting its pursuit of peace, stability and development," Xi said.

The coordination and cooperation mechanism among neighbors of Afghanistan, since its launch last September, has endeavored to bring into play the strengths of neighboring countries, thus playing a constructive role in promoting the steady transition in Afghanistan, he said.

Xi stressed that the neighboring countries of Afghanistan should do their best to build consensus and coordinate efforts to support the people of Afghanistan in building a brighter future.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert said Friday that she was filing articles of impeachment against President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, but the Colorado Republican's announcement was overwhelmed by the online reaction to a misspelled graphic released by her office calling to "IMEACH BIDEN."
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There's big news today for 31 million small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the US who are among the growing number of companies to deploy Macs, iPhones, or iPads for work: Apple Business Essentials has exited beta and now offers plans that include AppleCare support.

Apple nurtures the enterprise

Regular viewers will recognize that Apple Business Essentials has been available in beta in the US since it was introduced in November 2021. The service is now available to any US business. Additionally, a two-month free trial will be available to all customers, including those who have been using Apple Business Essentials in beta; the company says tens of thousands of US companies are already using it.

Business owners outside the US will have to wait for a while. International audiences may take heart that Apples Enterprise and Education Product Marketing executive, Jeremy Butcher, pointed out that the company already offers Apple Business Manager outside North America, so its easy to imagine it will extend Essentials elsewhere in future.

Meanwhile, business owners can also choose alternatives, such as those from Jamf, which adds a range of additional supplementary features to the mix.

What Apple announced

Apple has a deep and decades-long commitment to helping small businesses thrive. From dedicated business teams in our stores to the App Store Small Business Program, our goal is to help each company grow, compete, and succeed, said Susan Prescott, Apples vice president of enterprise and education marketing.

As businesses grow, more employees is more devices, which is more time managing all those devices, she said. We wanted to provide an easy solution so SMBs can focus on handling their businesses, not their tech. Using this new service leads to invaluable time savings for customers  including those without dedicated IT staff  that they can invest back into their business."

What the analysts said

That dedication to access to the same kind of IT support available to much larger companies is central to Apple's vision with the service. Constellation Research analyst, R Ray Wang told me: The bottom line is that small businesses are now able to get the same level of service as large companies already get. If you think about the challenges of service big companies handle, then this is now available to small businesses, too.

Maribel Lopez at San Francisco-based Lopez Research agrees, telling me:

While business essentials can scale to companies with hundreds of employees, it's been a real win for smaller businesses (the sub 100 category) where combining ease of management with security is essential. ABE makes it easier for smaller companies that lack IT staff and the repair credits simplifies repairs and streamlines costs.

Forrester Research Senior Analyst, Andrew Hewitt, told me:

The combined management, deployment, support, and security services are especially valuable for SMB customers, as these customers often don't have the staffing to support these services on their own like enterprises do. "This also represents a shift by Apple into a services market, which we're starting to see with many of the OEMs. In particular, SMBs may favor this approach because it skips the middleman of an MSP or a VAR, helping them get value faster. On the other hand, many customers may still prefer a traditional service provider that knows their business, has experience with mobile services, or has industry specific knowledge.

What is Apple Business Essentials?

Apple Business Essentials is a one-stop shop offering SMBs iCloud+ for Work, device, application, and user management and 24/7 support.

With the Collections feature, groups of apps can be delivered to employees or teams, and settings such as VPN configurations, Wi-Fi passwords, and more can be automatically pushed to devices. Thats the plan that has been tested for the last few months and is now being introduced with AppleCare+ support.

Aimed at businesses with up to 500 employees, prices range from $2.99/month per user for a single device with up to 50GB storage, $6.99/user for up to three devices and 200GB storage, all the way to $12.99/month per user for up to three devices and 2TB of storage.

Employees simply sign in to their work account on their Apple device using a Managed Apple ID. Once they do, they will have access to everything they need to be productive, including the new Apple Business Essentials app, where they can download work apps available to them.

Managed Apple IDs can be created by federating with Microsoft Azure Active Directory and, coming later this spring, Google Workspace identity services.

Apple Business Essentials works with company-provided and personally owned devices, and with Apples User Enrollment feature, employees personal information remains private and cryptographically separated from work data.

Now available with AppleCare for your whole business

Whats new, at least to beta testers, is that Apple has now introduced the option to add AppleCare+ for Business Essentials. This provides 24/7 access to phone support, training for both IT admins and employees, and up to two device repairs per plan  by individual, group, or device  each year.

Employees can initiate repairs directly from the Apple Business Essentials app, and an Apple-trained technician can come on site in as little as four hours to handle repairs.

If you want to add AppleCare+ for Business Essentials, the prices are:

$9.99/month per user for a single device, 50GB of storage, onsite repairs and 24/7 support with one repair credit.

$19.99/month per user for up to three devices, 200GB storage, onsite repairs and 24/7 support with two repair credits.

$24.99/month per user for up to three devices, 2TB storage, onsite repairs and 24/7 support with two repair credits.

Repair credits pool across the company, so if you pay for 20 users in the mid-tier plan youll gain 40 repair credits per year.

Each one of those credits is for a single repair  one credit can be used to fix a cracked iPhone display or to replace a MacBook Pro motherboard. The cost remains one credit, no matter the cost of the repair.

Because these repair credits are pooled, this also means there is no limit as to how many repairs a single person or device can accrue. If no one in your company breaks anything, but Clive in accounts manages to break his iPhone display every week, youll be able to get his smartphone fixed 40 times before you need to pay more. (Though youll probably just want to buy him a more robust case.)

Constellations Wang said: One of the interesting things is the repair credits, and thats what makes this pretty exciting.

Of course, as Apple continues to extend its approach to services, he added, in the next couple of years, services will be c.25% of Apple revenue.

At the console

Like everything else in Apple Business Essentials, the entire system is controlled from a single administration console, including repairs; whoever handles the tech at your company can choose to approve or reject the use of a repair credit via that console.

They can also assign person and device permissions and assign required apps to be downloaded to devices. You might, for example, assign Okta as one of those apps to ensure an employees device is completely equipped to access authenticated services.

What customers think

We also heard from some Apple Business Essentials customers as the company announced its news. Representatives from Sock Club, Replicated Grass Systems, and Espresso Services Inc. all began using Apple Business Essentials during the beta testing period.

In the last week, we onboarded three employees. This used to take a few hours, but now takes just 15 minutes, said Max Williamson, Director of Sales & Business Operations, Sock Club. As we grow, the amount of time we are getting back just makes complete sense and is totally worth it to us.

All three agree that the Apple system allows them to better manage business growth, particularly as all three kind of fell into becoming a tech manager at their company. Particularly in smaller companies, the people who handle these issues are usually also trying to do other jobs, which provides a kind of ceiling to the pace at which headcount can expand.

I started this business in 1989 on Apple products, and now iPhone, iPad, and Macs are used across sales, operations, and service for our coffee equipment business, said Peter Kelsch, Espresso Services president. Apple Business Essentials makes deployment and security simple for our business as we continue to grow, and will reduce our IT management overhead and streamline our growth process. Its going to be a game-changer for our business.

Lots of Apple in the enterprise activity

This has been a very busy few weeks for Apples enterprise teams as a range of big news emerges to the space: Ciscos AirPlay support for Webex devices, news that Managed Apple IDs will integrate with Google Workspace, new solutions for Apple-wielding business users from Jamf and this weeks UK MacAD conference to name just some recent events.

Updated 31/3 with additional comment from Forrester Research and Lopez Research.

Please follow me on Twitter, or join me in the AppleHolics bar & grill and Apple Discussions groups on MeWe.
03/31/2022

Photo (c) TravelCouples - Getty Images COVID-19 tally as compiled by Johns Hopkins University. (Previous numbers in parentheses.)

Total U.S. confirmed cases: 80,060,491 (80,019,456)

Total U.S. deaths: 979,907 (978,693)

Total global cases: 487,118,192 (484,496,268)

Total global deaths: 6,140,023 (6,128,712)

COVID-19 outbreaks in China likely to make supply chain issues worse

The coronavirus is raging across China, causing officials to order a lockdown this week in Shanghai, the countrys largest city. Elsewhere, the virus has caused factories all across China to close for days at a time.

Economists say American consumers are probably going to feel the fallout from that, as the supply of finished goods from China will be limited, at least for the short-term future.

At Goldman Sachs, analysts tell the Wall Street Journal that the regions of China that are suffering the worst COVID-19 outbreaks supply about 30% of the countrys goods.

CDC drops cruise line risk advisory

In another sign that the COVID-19 pandemic may be passing in the rearview mirror, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has dropped its risk advisory for people who want to go on a cruise. Previously, the CDC urged consumers to avoid cruises.

The update was posted on the CDC website to remove its cruise ship travel notice. Late last year, as the Omicron variant was spreading around the world, the health agency increased its cruise ship travel warning. The cruise line industry hailed the latest move.

"Today's decision by the CDC to altogether remove the Travel Health Notice for cruising recognizes the effective public health measures in place on cruise ships and begins to level the playing field, between cruise and similarly situated venues on land, for the first time since March 2020, the Cruise Lines International Association said in a statement.

Researchers find protective effects of ivermectin are unclear

Ivermectin, an existing antiviral drug used by some people to prevent or treat COVID-19, has finally been subjected to a clinical trial. Researchers writing in the New England Journal of Medicine say its effects are unclear.

The researchers conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, adaptive platform trial involving adults with COVID-19 symptoms who were recruited from 12 public health clinics in Brazil. Patients who had symptoms for up to 7 days and had at least one risk factor for disease progression were randomly assigned to receive ivermectin once daily for 3 days or a placebo.

Treatment with ivermectin did not result in a lower incidence of medical admission to a hospital due to progression of COVID-19 or of prolonged emergency department observation among outpatients with an early diagnosis of COVID-19, the authors wrote.

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60%

Website kladoffka.com uses latest and advanced technologies. It is very popular on the web, it's within the 1 million most visited websites of the world at position 336441 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS and GZIP compression. The main html page has a size of 22575 bytes (22.05 kb uncompressed) and 6733 bytes (6.58 kb compressed).

This CoolSocial report was updated on 2022-05-04, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.
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Website kob.com uses latest and advanced technologies. It is very popular on the web, it's within the 1 million most visited websites of the world at position 95686 by Alexa. It supports HTTPS. The main html page has a size of 132625 bytes (129.52 kb uncompressed).

This CoolSocial report was updated on 2022-03-31, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.
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Puertoricoboatgraphics.com scored 40 Social Media Impact. Social Media Impact score is a measure of how much a site is popular on social networks. 2/5.0 Stars by Social Team

This CoolSocial report was updated on 21 Apr 2013, you can refresh this analysis whenever you want.

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The total number of people who shared the puertoricoboatgraphics homepage on Delicious. The total number of people who shared the puertoricoboatgraphics homepage on Google Plus by a google +1 button. This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared the puertoricoboatgraphics homepage on Twitter + the total number of puertoricoboatgraphics followers (if puertoricoboatgraphics has a Twitter account). This is the sum of two values: the total number of people who shared, liked or recommended the puertoricoboatgraphics homepage on Facebook + the total number of page likes (if puertoricoboatgraphics has a Facebook fan page). The total number of people who shared the puertoricoboatgraphics homepage on StumbleUpon.

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The description meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. CoolSocial advanced keyword analysis tool is able to detect and analyze every keyword on each page of a site. The keywords meta-tag found in the head section of the homepage. The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is the address of the site. The title found in the head section of the homepage.

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We sure don't know what this might mean  besides the obvious part that they're moving offices, but we sure do know it means something. Kojima has evolved far beyond simple and practical stuff, sure, but the move itself strikes us as peculiar since the team had entered those offices just a few years ago to make Death Stranding. This may just mean that Kojima will now have everyone working from home to have them live like the characters in Death Stranding (like he predicted we'd do) to make a better sequel, but it might also mean something way more interesting.

Hideo Kojima No room feels sadder than the old Metal Gear charging room.

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If they really are moving for monetary reasons alone, this might force Kojima's next project to be a more grounded experience, something we could probably all benefit from. It can also mean the opposite, like Kojima joining the hordes of companies getting devoured by Microsoft, which could result in even more bloated projects. The completely unfounded dream here, however, would be to see Sony acquiring Kojima Productions, the rights to Konami's dormant IPs, and getting Kojima and his people to develop their new game in the offices of a small foggy town.

Or maybe there's absolutely nothing to read into this one, and it's just the case of another ultra-expensive office getting abandoned by a develo wait a minute, abandoned as in Abandoned, the mysterious game fans still believe is a secret Hideo Kojima project? OMG

Top Image: Kojima Productions
Ariel Weintraub sees intelligence, agility, and a more robust talent pipeline as key components of a strong cybersecurity program.

And as head of enterprise cybersecurity at MassMutual, an insurance and financial services firm, she has a plan on how to bring those pieces together to deliver for her organization.

In fact, Weintraub has already brought on new analytics capabilities, beefed up the companys security operations center, and expanded its talent programsall in an effort to achieve and sustain her objectives.

We exist to support the business, so we have to understand the systems were protecting and what the business risks are, we have to understand the companys priorities, and we have to have a way to quickly test against controls, she says.

Weintraub moved into MassMutuals top security role in February 2021, after working for 18 months as the companys head of security operations and engineering.

As such, she already had a solid grasp on the organization and a clear vision of what she wanted to achieve as she took on CISO responsibilities with her promotion to the executive spot.

Building up in-house analytics, security operations

Weintraub acknowledges that MassMutual had some of her priority components in place before she became head of enterprise cybersecurity. But she saw a need to strengthen and mature her teams capabilities on all those fronts to keep up with the ever-evolving and increasingly sophisticated threat landscape.

Weintraub says that reality is driving her initiatives.

One initiative is to bring more intelligence into the security function.

The company, she explains, had implemented a commercial user behavior analytics (UBA) tool before she took over security. It demonstrated the value of using analytics in cybersecurity, she says, but it also showed her the need to have algorithms more finely tuned to MassMutuals own environment.

It validated that we needed to do it on our own, she says.

So she leveraged the companys existing data science team to write the algorithms for its own proprietary UBA platform, one that Weintraub expected could better evaluate MassMutuals own environment and its unique traffic patterns to differentiate normal from suspicious.

We have a lot of complexity in our organization, and I believed with our internal resources we could build something more specific to our environment, she says, explaining that as a large 170-year-old company it has a mix of on-premises and cloud resources as well as a significant number of processes to secure.

Weintraub saw another benefit in building a custom UBA platform: increased agility and quicker responses to evolving threat intelligence data.

I have a red team, an offensive team, thats constantly testing our controls. And they sit next to the team building the UBA platform, so they can make sure the UBA can catch their activities and adjust [to threats] in real time. We literally tune the tool while we do the testing and in real time can tweak the models. We can tweak to either a known use case or tweak for a new threat actor technique, she says.

The in-house tool lets her team handle even large changes more quickly than commercial options, she adds, pointing out that her organization uses agile software development processes and works in sprints to ensure rapid delivery.

It all makes us very agile, she says.

Meanwhile, she says the intelligence within the tool further enables her and her team to better keep pace with the speed at which threat actors evolve tactics. As she points out: Humans cant keep up with the changes in techniques as fast as AI and machine learning models can.

Expanding agility and strength

Weintraub is building agility and strength in other areas of her security department, too.

For example, shes bringing more speed to risk re-prioritization, which had traditionally been done through a quarterly process that recertifies what the company considers its top risks.

Threats may change quickly. And we recognize that we may need to more frequently reprioritize what our risks are, so if something new comes up, we can focus our time to adding new controls, she says.

Key to this, she further explains, is using the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, the MITRE ATT&ACK Framework and a risk register (which she implemented).

Additionally, Weintraub has focused on evolving the companys security operations center.

MassMutual had used a managed service provider for 24/7 monitoring with only a small in-house SOC team to handle escalated incidents.

Weintraub, however, said she believed an in-house team that knew the company and what normal vs. suspicious looked like (thanks in part to using its own UAB platform as well its use of commercial SIEM tool) would be more effective in identifying potential troubles.

As a result she now has a follow-the-sun operations center with locations in the United States, India, and Romania.

Weintraub said the SOCs use of data, particularly within the UAB platform, and automation means she didnt have to hire an army to staff the center to be highly effective.

If you create a baseline of service accounts, then you know whats normal, she says.

The way Weintraub sees it, an in-house SOC team equipped with analytics models customized to its own IT environment and its own traffic patterns can better detect not only a compromise but also post-compromise lateral movements that are often hard to identify.

That capability, she says, makes it more likely that her company could detect even a zero-day attack.

I dont think MSPs have the context that someone working internally has, she adds. There are so many nuances, and if you dont understand the business processes, the architecture, the context, you can either over-escalate incidents or miss the true events.

Creating a talent strategy

Although Weintraubs evolution of the SOC aligns with her goals of increased agility, intelligence, and responsiveness, she says she also saw the move to an in-house SOC as a way to address staffing issues.

We recognized when I joined that we had a talent shortage and that we wanted to grow our team, she says, noting that her companylike many otherssaw burnout among SOC staffers.

To address both problems, Weintraub says she decided to use her SOC as a talent pipeline.

For companies that build out their own SOC, youre going to have more effective response and a great set of talent that can be leveraged for other purposes, she says.

She hires people into the SOC where they can develop skills and experience and then move up into other areas of the organization.

And she looks to non-traditional areas, such as workers without computer or security degrees, to fill the SOC roles. That helps get around the market shortage of experienced security professionals and bolster diversity among her team.

She also looks for candidates with intellectual curiosity, knowing that she can teach them the technology and cybersecurity skills needed to do the work. (It doesnt work every time, but it works out most times, she says.)

Additionally, Weintraub created a new rotation program for summer interns who are hired as full-time employees.

The two-year program, which starts with its first class late this spring, will have the new hires work in three different position for eight months each so they develop more skills, and thus, agility, and so they gain a greater view of the security profession and the companys own operations.

Weintraub says the program fits well with her overall focus on professional development and diversity, saying both help bring needed skills, new thinking, and a variety of perspectives to the complex challenges facing security teams today.
This blog covers software patent news and issues with a particular focus on wireless, mobile devices (smartphones, tablet computers, connected cars) as well as select antitrust matters surrounding those devices.
As he drove to Boston from his home in Fairfield last Thursday, Dr. Brett King knew it would be a huge weekend for the millions of people who care about alopecia areata, the condition that causes dramatic and traumatic hair loss.

He couldnt have had an inkling that alopecia on Sunday night would join the pantheon of pop-culture terms, forever linked to one of the most controversial moments in the history of the Academy Awards.

At that moment, the dermatologist and associate professor at the Yale School of Medicine, had bigger news for people with alopecia areata: The first approved treatment, years in the works with King at the center, was now in sight.

A yearlong, Phase 3 study of 1,200 alopecia patients, led by King, showed significant regrowth of hair from a drug made by Eli Lilly & Co.

He presented the results Saturday at the American Academy of Dermatologists annual meeting. The New England Journal of Medicine published the findings with King as lead author.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has the treatment  baricitinib, sold as Olumiant  under priority review. Lilly expects regulatory decisions in the U.S., European Union and Japan in 2022, the company said in a release timed to Kings talk.

If you dont believe the balding (not with alopecia areata) 51-year-old King that a treatment for alopecia areata matters beyond the hair on patients heads, just watch the clip of Sundays Academy Awards. Will Smith took the stage, slapped comedian Chris Rock, then screamed profanities after Rock cracked a baldness joke about Smiths wife, fellow actor Jada Pinkett Smith  who has spoken openly about her alopecia areata.

The outburst didnt surprise King, though he was clear that Smiths violence, for which Smith apologized Monday, was not okay. King sees hundreds of patients with the autoimmune disease in his practice at Yale Medicine.

This is a disease, as this event of the Oscars highlights, it doesnt matter if you are rich, famous and wildly beautiful, stunningly beautiful even without hair, it affects us at our core, King said to me Tuesday. And not only does it affect us, it affects people around us. ... the pain in this man was provoked in an instant. He could not control himself.

Your Super Bowl

Thats the passion King has brought to the search for a treatment. Thats the same bubbling emotion  as healers, not sufferers  that he and his wife, Dr. Britt Craiglow, both felt as they drove up to the conference last Thursday.

Craiglow, a pediatric dermatologist and adjunct medical professor at Yale, sees kids with the illness in her practice. She also presented at the conference and she has used some of the same class of pharmaceuticals in the Lilly study to treat them.

She said Brett, this is kind of like your Super Bowl, he recalled Tuesday.

He didnt disagree. I have to say, for a doctor, for a dermatologist, it has a little bit of that feeling. This is where Ive lived mentally, professionally, for eight years.

Back in 2013, King was aware of early research in mice that connected a new class of drugs developed for rheumatoid arthritis, known as Janus kinase inhibitors, or JAK inhibitors, to hair growth. A man in his early 20s, from Killingworth, came to King with psoriasis; he also had alopecia areata.

King treated the patient, Kyle Rhodes, with a JAK inhibitor made by Pfizer that had been approved for arthritis a year earlier. The results were dramatic  hair regrowth on a balding man with a previously untreatable hair-loss illness!  and King published his findings.

I was among the journalists who wrote about that treatment, a quantum leap in a field that typically takes decades to see new results. While most of us forgot about it, King and the medical and pharma community set to work.

We put alopecia on the map

Alopecia is just a fancy word for hair loss. I have it, King has it; we talked about that. Alopecia areata describes the illness in which the bodys immune system attacks its own hair follicles for reasons that remain a mystery. It leaves some sufferers without hair on their scalp, face including eyebrows and eyelashes, and other parts of their bodies as quickly as a few weeks.

What happened in 2014 is, we put alopecia on the map. King said Tuesday.

The National Alopecia areata Foundation says 6.8 million Americans in todays population have or will have it, with a 2.1 percent risk  typically starting before age 40.

By 2017, King published a paper with more positive results from his practice, which, he said, gave the pharma industry quite a bit of confidence.

JAK inhibitors have zoomed ahead in development. In another three or four years, I think were going to probably see a world of eight or nine or ten JAK inhibitors, he said.

Among them, Lilly, Pfizer and a small firm outside of Boston have candidates for alopecia areata. Lillys was licensed from a smaller firm and approved for rheumatoid arthritis as a daily pill.

A lot of this science is still developing. For example, the link between viruses and autoimmune conditions, as we saw with some COVID-19 patients who lost hair, is not well understood, King said.

But the results in the Phase 3 study he just published are persuasive. Among those patients who received a high dose and had at least 50 percent hair loss, 39 percent showed a full or near-full recovery of hair.

Pain in that household

Triumphant as they are, those findings didnt pack the public punch of Sunday nights brouhaha  a Hollywood ending that would have been too unbelievable if it were scripted.

The event truly could not in a more dramatic way have highlighted better the significance of this disease, King said.

Kings view: Rocks joke set off Smith, who later in the evening won the Oscar for Best Actor, in a way that even a master of the art of self-control could not control. He in his core is affected by the pain, the existential pain of not looking like yourself. Thats what this disease does, it erases you.

Its not something that we all expect to happen and appeared over 30 years like in you or me  Out of the blue, boom, you wake up one day and you have a spot.

As for the idea that Smith lashed out for dramatic effect: Be certain, that was his response because there has been pain in that household.

He repeats: There has been pain in that household.

Thats what drives King. My love for all of this is to show what is possible. Dermatology is not a joke, its not about wrinkles. We can transform people's lives.

dhaar@hearstmediact.com
If youre reading this at home, take a moment to look up, down and side to side, and if you have a few moments, take a lap or two inside and outside. What do you think your home is worth if you were buying it today, in year three of the COVID-19 real estate market? Its the question some of your neighbors are finding out right now by listing their home for sale this spring. For everyone else, its a question that will be coming up soon enough in the next municipal revaluation of property, with implications for the taxes you pay.

Whether you think your home is worth more than that buyer  or less than that tax official  an unvarnished, advance appraisal will cost anywhere from $300 to $500 for many Connecticut properties, with real estate agents also able to provide their two cents in aiming to land a listing.

And if you want to do a deep dive, a precursor home inspection may be the way to go at a slightly higher cost, to make sure you know what could come up for any buyers as they put together best and final offers against other bidders.

Whatever you may think about the value of your abode, in living with normal wear and tear and older systems, you may be missing much  not to mention damage from Mother Nature. We check in with Jack Boyles, a gold member of the National Association of Real Estate Appraisers who runs J. Boyles Appraisers in Wilton, and Stan Bajerski, the Milford-based owner of Houseworks Home Services and president of the Connecticut Association of Home Inspectors.

Big picture for people thinking about listing their homes for sale this year or next, what is top of mind from a value perspective?

Jack Boyles: For people who are listing their houses, for me the main thing is condition. You dont have to upgrade a kitchen. Ive seen houses where the kitchen is upgraded but the rest of the house looks bad. To me, if its well maintained, its move-in condition. Paint the house. With the attic and basement, clear out the clutter before the appraisal.

Stan Bajerski: One of the common defects we find is dampness in the basement. In getting rid of mold, thats something a lot of people forget  once you get rid of it, you have to figure out how to stop it. Wet basements or some kind of seepage might not prevent you from using the basement, but you have to correct it.

JB: Sometimes there will be a finished basement and there is no permit, or a summer kitchen with a stove and no permit.

SB: If theres a blatant building-code violation, we will call it out as a safety issue.

What are less obvious things many people may miss in assessing the value and condition of their property?

JB: Check water pressure and that your cooling and heating systems are functioning. Do the windows open properly? Do all the lights and outlets work?

SB: For things that are older, some people dont pay attention to them until they dont work  so older mechanical systems like furnaces and AC, or an older roof. Most of the time, we dont find catastrophic things. Those are few and far between because most of the time people cant live in a house if they have a catastrophic issue  they have to fix it.

The last two things that ever get upgraded in a house are windows and insulation. Most people dont pay attention to that. A lot of the time, replacement windows were not measured and installed properly, so they are very difficult sometimes to operate or lock, which most people dont pick up on before the inspection.

Insulation nowadays is important, because youre losing energy, but because you cant see it, its out of sight and out of mind. You also need to know how long youre going to be in the house, because if you want a payback, youve got to be there for a while.

How frequently should one consider getting an updated inspection or appraisal?

SB: It depends on your ability to see problems. We do pre-listing inspections where somebody says, I am going to sell my house and I want to see what you would point out if you were working with the buyer. Some people find that to be money well spent. And then for higher-end homes, some people have inspectors come in and do a lesser version of a home inspection, checking on things like the gutters or whether the deck needs work. People dont fix things until they are broken.

Digging deeper

If its been a while since you went through the process, the Connecticut Association of Home Inspectors has an extensive list of informative links online at ctinspectors.com, and the American Society of Home Inspectors has useful general information at homeinspector.org. Several websites have updated tips for 2022 on things to consider for home appraisals and inspections, including HomeInspectionInsider.com and HomeLight.com. And if you want to vet professionals, a good place to start is the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection at portal.ct.gov/DCP.

This article appears in the April 2022 issue of Connecticut Magazine. You can subscribe to Connecticut Magazine here, or find the current issue on sale here. Sign up for our newsletter to get our latest and greatest content delivered right to your inbox. Have a question or comment? Email editor@connecticutmag.com. And follow us on Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag.
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Prosecutors have now turned over thousands of pages of investigative materials related to the death and disappearance of Jennifer Dulos, an attorney for defendant Michelle Troconis said during a hearing Tuesday.

Jon Schoenhorn, Troconis attorney, said that the documents appeared to include forensic evidence that he sought for months from prosecutors in an effort to defend Troconis against charges of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with evidence in relation to the disappearance of Dulos, a New Canaan mother of five.

Troconis has pleaded not guilty to each of the charges. She appeared remotely Tuesday for a court hearing in front of Stamford Superior Court Judge Gary White.

Im hoping and assuming it will be what I asked for, Schoenhorn told White when asked whether the documents satisfied his requests for materials.

Schoenhorn added that the documents totaled roughly two gigabytes of information, which he had only begun flipping through after the materials were sent electronically within the last week.

The hearing did not resolve Schoenhorns most recent request to have Judge White explain his rationale in determining that alleged misstatements by state police investigators in arrest warrants for his client amounted to inadvertent errors and minor inconsistencies.

Schoenhorn had sought to have Troconis two charges of tampering with evidence and a charge of hindering prosecution thrown out based on the false statements and omitted material facts.

White said that he was aware of Schoenhorns request, which was filed Monday, and would make a ruling on it at a later date. Neither Schoenhorn nor the prosecutor overseeing the case, Assistant States Attorney Michelle Manning, raised any objections to having the judge take time to consider the motion.

I felt that there were a couple of areas that the court might want to reconsider or at least look at, Schoenhorn said.

Dulos estranged husband, Fotis Dulos, was dating Troconis at the time of his wifes disappearance. Prosecutors alleged that he killed Jennifer Dulos at her New Canaan home in May 2019, and then disposed of evidence with the help of Troconis. Fotis Dulos died of suicide in January 2020, not long after he was charged with murder.

Schoenhorn, however, has argued that police lied, made exaggerated statements and omitted other facts in describing video footage showing Troconis with Dulos as he dumped trash bags along Albany Avenue in Hartford the night that Jennifer Dulos was reported missing.

For example, police said in a warrant that Troconis and Fotis Dulos were seen stopping 30 times to dispose of trash bags. However, the video footage only showed their truck stopping three times, Schoenhorn said, and Troconis was never seen leaving the vehicle to help Dulos.

Dulos body was never found, though police found her blood and clothing in some of the trash bags that were recovered from Albany Avenue, arrest records show.

In addition to the tampering and hindering prosecution charges, Troconis faces a charge of conspiracy to commit murder.

In other motions filed ahead of Tuesdays court hearing, Schoenhorn had also complained that prosecutors are withholding evidence vital to the defense, including documents that he alleged were collected by the federal Department of Homeland Security to investigate Fotis Dulos.

It is apparent that the absence of court orders has only contributed to unnecessary delays, either due to inertia or intentional suppression of materials by responsible law enforcement agencies that have an obligation to respond to states attorneys requests, Schoenhorn said in a motion filed last week.

However, Schoenhorn took a more conciliatory tone during Tuesdays hearing, even praising Manning for her efforts to supply the defense with discovery materials. He said that those efforts have improved since the former prosecutor overseeing the case, Richard Colangelo, left to become the chief states attorney in 2020.

Colangelo subsequently announced his decision to step down from that job earlier this year amid accusations of nepotism for hiring the daughter of another state official.

I have to give her credit, Schoenhorn said. Weve gotten way more accomplished in the few months she's been involved than in the few years under the previous states attorney.

Manning told White on Tuesday that U.S. District Court Judge Victor Bolden had unsealed records related to Homeland Securitys investigation into Dulos and unnamed Greek nationals.

She said that federal authorities were in the process of creating an external hard drive with those materials to turn over to state prosecutors and the defense.

Schoenhorn did press Judge White to order the state to return laptops and other electronics seized from Troconis on May 31, 2019 as police scoured the state in search of Dulos. One of the laptops belonged to Troconis 12-year-old daughter to use on school work, Schoenhorn said.

Manning said the items were among the more than 40 pieces of electronics seized by police during the search, and that Troconis should have to prove they belonged to her and not to Fotis Dulos.

Judge White said that prosecutors should be able to determine which items belonged to Troconis and were no longer of evidentiary value so that they could be returned.

Just work it out between yourselves and if you cannot, bring it to this court and well work it out, White said.

Troconis and Kent Mahwinney, Dulos longtime friend and attorney who also faces charges in relation to Jennifer Dulos death, both remain free on bond. Prosecutors have said Mawhinney will testify against Troconis if her case goes to trial.

White set the next hearing date for Troconis' case on June 7th, adding that Troconis may appear remotely.

Troconis currently splits her time between Florida, Connecticut and Colorado, her attorney has told the court while petitioning to allow her to remove a court-ordered ankle monitor. White declined that request again on Tuesday, saying it was a necessary condition of her release.
After years of frustrated efforts, Connecticut Planned Parenthood leader Estelle Griswold set out with a group of Yale faculty members in 1961 to publicly flaunt  and hopefully overturn  the states century-old anti-contraception law by opening a birth control clinic on Trumbull Street in New Haven.

Their efforts resulted in the U.S. Supreme Courts landmark decision to grant married couples access to birth control across the nation in the case Griswold v. Connecticut, which established a precedent used by the court in subsequent decisions granting abortion and same-sex marriage rights.

More than a half-century later, however, conservative lawmakers and justices have increasingly aimed criticisms at the Griswold decision as part of their efforts to re-litigate established precedents  leaving the fate of the Connecticut case in doubt to some.

The latest salvo came last week from U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who called the Griswold decision and other high court rulings constitutionally unsound.

Blackburns comments came as the U.S. Senate began deliberations over the nomination of Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, which is ruled by a 6-3 majority of Republican-appointed justices. If her nomination is confirmed, Brown Jackson would replace liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, leaving the balance of the court unchanged.

Earlier this year, the Griswold case faced similar criticism during a GOP debate for the attorney generals office in Michigan, where all three of the candidates said the ruling improperly infringed on states rights.

Legal experts, however, say conservatives frustrations with Griswold and the subsequent decisions that have been built upon it date back to the original ruling on June 7, 1965.

Within a decade, the court had expanded the right to privacy established in Griswold to unmarried couples using contraceptives. In 1973, the court cited the ruling again in its Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. Later, the right to privacy was also used in decisions legalizing same-sex relationships and eventually marriage.

Without a doubt, this case does create a precedent, which the court then built on in subsequent cases, said Reva Siegel, a professor at the Yale School of Law who has written extensively on the Griswold case.

During the failed confirmation of conservative Judge Robert Bork in 1987, Siegel said Borks opposition to Griswold and the right to privacy helped galvanize his critics  including then-Sen. Joe Biden  and led Republican nominees to the Supreme Court to avoid directly challenging the case for the next several decades.

That background makes it less likely that the conservative-led court will seek to fundamentally alter the Griswold precedent, Siegel said, even as Republicans are increasingly hopeful that the justices will overturn subsequent rulings such as Roe v. Wade.

No court watcher is expecting this court now, to go so far in destroying the abortion right that it would simultaneously destroy, root and branch, the whole body of substantive due process law on which its based, Siegel said. So for now, the gay rights and rights to contraceptive access that are attached to this underlying line of cases, are not going to suffer the same fate that the abortion cases are.

A last-ditch effort

Griswolds opposition to the 1879 Connecticut law prohibiting anyone from using any drug, medicinal article or instrument for the purposes of preventing conception dated back to her early days as the executive director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut. During that time, Griswold helped transport women to nearby states where access to birth control was less restricted.

Also known as Comstock laws  named for the New Canaan-born anti-vice crusader and postal inspector Anthony Comstock  Connecticuts statute was one of many state and federal acts passed after the Civil War that aimed to limit the transmission of obscene or immoral materials.

During the early decades of the 20th Century, however, many states and the federal government had relaxed some of those restrictions to allow for the sale of contraceptives to prevent disease, leaving Connecticut with one of the strictest laws in the nation.

Still, lax enforcement of the law made it difficult at first for Griswold and other birth control advocates to mount a successful challenge, according to Shelley Geballe, an attorney and professor at the Yale School of Public Health.

They had tried to contest the law previously to that and their case was thrown out, Geballe said. This was sort of their last-ditch effort to challenge the issue.

In order to force the court to confront the issue, Griswold and a gynecologist from the Yale School of Medicine, C. Lee Buxton, opened their New Haven clinic in 1961 and offered counseling services and prescriptions for birth control in direct violation of the law.

According to Geballe, Griswold contacted the local states attorney to make sure he was aware of what they were doing. The pair were promptly arrested, convicted and each fined $100, which began their legal battle.

During their appeals, Griswold and Buxton were represented by two Connecticut attorneys and Yale graduates, Thomas Emerson and Catherine Roraback, who argued the law and its selective enforcement violated due process under the constitution.

In 1965, the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in favor of Griswold and for the first time determined that various amendments to the constitution had created a right to marital privacy.

Would we allow the police to search the sacred precincts of marital bedrooms for telltale signs of the use of contraceptives? The very idea is repulsive to the notions of privacy surrounding the marriage relationship, Justice William O. Douglas wrote for the courts majority.

Griswold and her attorney, Roraback, were later inducted into the Connecticut Womens Hall of Fame while Emerson was cited by Justice Douglas as the nations leading First Amendment scholar. Griswold died in 1981 at the age of 81 in Fort Meyers, Fla.

While Siegel said Douglas decision is likely to remain intact under the courts current membership, she noted the justices have been able to limit the scope of its impact in other ways, such as 2014 decision in which the court ruled that for-profit employers could deny health coverage for birth control if doing so would conflict with the owners religious beliefs.

The court doesnt have to overturn Griswold, in the near term, to make decisions expanding religious liberty rights in a way that could pose a threat to these other rights, Siegel said.

Kelo v. New London

In her criticism of court jurisprudence, Blackburn also took aim at another ruling rooted in Connecticut, the 2004 decision in Kelo v. City of New London.

Bethany Berger, a professor of property law at the University of Connecticut Law School, said that decision was based on decades of earlier rulings in which the high court had ruled the constitution permitted local governments to use their power of eminent domain to support developments that did not have an exclusively public use.

The case involved a proposed mixed-use development that was supposed to create jobs and new tax revenues in a distressed area of New London during the early 2000s.

Suzette Kelo, a resident of the neighborhood set for demolition who opposed the project, filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the development and eventually attracted the interest of outside groups that waged a very effective public relations campaign, Berger said.

Suddenly, everybody was very upset about what was going to happen, Berger said. It became really a cause to celebrate, it was very sensational across the United States.

In the nearly two decades since the ruling, however, Berger said most states have adopted their own laws either allowing or prohibiting eminent domain from being used on economic development projects.

The Supreme Court has not shown any interest in re-litigating the issue, Berger added, and the case has slowly faded from the publics memory.

When the case was first decided, my students were all Ah, Kelo! Berger said. Now they barely remember  they dont know what Kelo was about, most of them.
STAMFORD  Crane Co., an industrial-products manufacturer that ranked No. 757 on last years Fortune list of the highest-revenue firms, announced Wednesday a plan to split into two independent, publicly traded companies  but it would maintain a significant presence in Stamford.

The separation would result in a company that would still bear the Crane Co. name and remain headquartered in Stamford. It would include Cranes Aerospace & Electronics and Process Flow Technologies businesses.

Chief Executive Officer and President Max Mitchell would lead the new Crane Co., while the chief financial officer, Rich Maue, would continue in that role. The company plans to remain listed on the NYSE exchange under its current ticker symbol, CR.

Cranes split would also create Crane NXT, which would comprise the companys Payment and Merchandising Technologies business. It would be headquartered in Mount Prospect, Ill., with a satellite office in Stamford.

This announcement marks a major milestone in the evolution of Crane Co. For decades, we have delivered consistent and differentiated execution, strengthening our business through organic growth and value-creating acquisitions, Mitchell said in a statement. Having achieved the scale to operate as two market-leading, separate companies, we believe this transaction will unlock substantial value for our shareholders, as each company attracts an investor base tailored to its respective financial and growth profile.

Today, Crane is headquartered at 100 First Stamford Place, a couple of blocks from the downtown Stamford Metro-North Railroad station. It employs about 11,000 people across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

Given the need to staff both post-separation companies with fully independent corporate teams and public company infrastructure, we expect the number of roles based in Stamford across the two companies to be higher than our current level, Crane said in a statement in response to a Hearst Connecticut Media inquiry about how the split would affect employment. The statement did not specify the current number of Stamford-based employees.

The separation is expected to be completed within approximately the next 12 months, subject to the satisfaction of customary conditions and final approval of the separation by Crane Co.s Board of Directors, Crane said in its announcement. It added that shareholder approval was not required.

Before Wednesdays announcement, Crane was already pursuing major changes. Last May, it announced it had signed an agreement to divest its other main business, Engineered Materials. But the Department of Justice filed on March 17 a civil lawsuit to stop the transaction. DOJ alleges that the proposed $360 million sale to Grupo Verzatec would harm competition in the production and sale of pebbled-fiberglass reinforced plastic wall panels, which are used by enterprises such as hospitals, restaurants, grocery stores and convenience stores.

In the normal course, the company expects to engage in a process with Verzatec, the DOJ and /or the courts to address the DOJs antitrust concerns regarding a minor overlap in a narrow range of material used in certain commercial building applications, Crane said a statement on March 17.

Among other major deals in recent years, Crane acquired Crane Currency, the Boston-based banknote supplier to the U.S. Treasury, for $800 million in 2018. The name shared by the two companies was a coincidence; they did not have a connection before making the deal.

In 2021, Crane recorded revenues of about $3.2 billion, up 15 percent year over year. It recorded an annual profit of about $435 million, compared with $181 million in 2020.

This year, Aerospace & Electronics and Process Flow Technologies businesses are expected to generate approximately $1.9 billion in sales, while Payment and Merchandising Technologies are expected to produce approximately $1.4 billion in sales.

Founded in 1855, Crane is the second Connecticut-headquartered Fortune 1,000 firm this year to announce that it would divide its operations. Earlier this month, Greenwich-based XPO Logistics, No. 190 on last years list, announced it would spin off its truck-brokerage business into its own publicly traded firm.

Crane shares closed Wednesday at about $110, nearly flat compared with their closing total on Tuesday.

pschott@stamfordadvocate.com; twitter: @paulschott
State lawmakers on Wednesday admitted they have a long way to go in trying to turn around the decadeslong deterioration of conditions and culture at Middletowns Connecticut Valley and Whiting Forensic psychiatric hospitals.

But after an hourlong discussion in the legislative Public Health Committee, the panel unanimously agreed that until a new psychiatric complex is created within the next few years, staff has to be held accountable and those patients who have been assigned there after committing violent crimes should be better supervised. The bill heads next to the Senate, but committee leaders suggested it may next be reviewed by the Judiciary Committee.

State Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, co-chairman of the panel, warned that a balancing act is needed between the security of patients and the ability of clinicians to allow them access to neighboring areas of the community, including parks, from a facility that in recent years has been exposed for abominable practices and patient abuse.

We are really only at the early stages of this path, Steinberg said, stressing the underlying need to design and build a new complex. One of the things that was so obvious is that the existing facility is not suitable in any sense of the word. To suggest that it doesnt provide quality of life is an understatement. It is perhaps not even humane, and thats one of the things we have to work on.

He said while in recent years conditions have improved somewhat, Its very difficult to change a culture very quickly.

He warned that civil rights of those patients assigned there by the criminal justice system could be at risk.

This is a struggle for us. Its not the end of the story. At least we are seriously addressing a problem that had to be addressed.

Lawmakers cited the July 1989 stabbing murder of 9-year-old Jessica Short, killed by an escapee from the maximum-security Whiting Forensic Hospital, where defendants acquitted from crimes by reason of mental illness are housed and treated.

Rep. Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire, said she is concerned that the rules on day passes for patients in the legislation are inadequate.

We are here because of the staff shortfalls in Whiting Forensic, but what this legislation is doing is placing far too much trust in the head of an institution, which in the same legislation also determines the need for oversight, Linehan said, stressing that there is no reference in the bill to clinical violence-and-risk guides.

I recognize that day passes, it is well-documented, can be beneficial to the treatment of people in the reintegration into society, however, we need to institute guardrails, Linehan said. Steinberg admitted that the bill will be the subject of further review as the General Assembly heads toward its midnight May 4 adjournment.

We want to be careful about exposing the public to people who we know have been violent in the past and we dont want to put them in a circumstance where we could have bad outcomes, Steinberg said, stressing that dozen of employees have been fired from the facility amid investigations of patient abuse.

Many of the excesses have been revealed, Steinberg said. I think oftentimes we all wonder how could they not know. How could they not have seen what was going on? I think some of it could be attributed to a culture that simply got used to treating people there in a certain fashion and when there were no dissenting voices it became acceptable.

Last year, a task force studying the long-troubled complex, which also includes patients who voluntarily admit themselves, suggested abolishing the Psychiatric Security Review Board, which supervises people who are found not guilty by reason of insanity, because it favored public safety over patient treatment.

In no way does this committee or the intent of this legislation, mean to allow someone who is a high-risk or vulnerable in their actions to be released from this facility, said state Sen. Heather Somers, R-Groton, who has been looking into the psychiatric complex for years. I know that there has been some talk of that and I want to assure the victims and family members of victims.

Somers said that a pass for a patient to leave could include a two-hour supervised walk in a park. Temporarily leave does not mean you are released into society with no safeguards, Somers said. We are open to making stronger or more specific requirements as this bill moves forward.

She noted the difference between those brought to the hospitals through civil commitment and patients brought after committing crimes. It is a facility that when you visit, if you had an animal shelter in your town, I would consider it a nicer facility than what this is, Somers said.

There are issues for those who work there, with themselves getting depressed, themselves feeling like this is not a positive work environment, Somer said. You can see that when you visit this facility. This is something that you imagine like a third-world penal center to like. We can do better than that in the state of Connecticut. It is important that we change the culture, the atmosphere, the facility that those who work with these patients that are oftentimes very difficult and time-consuming and exhausting have a decent and acceptable place to go to work.

kdixon@ctpost.com Twitter: @KenDixonCT
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BRIDGEPORT  Democratic state Sen. Dennis Bradley has typically had little to say about the campaign finance fraud charges that have hung over his head  and his possible reelection bid  for nearly a year.

But with a prominent local faith leader and activist filing paperwork to run for Bradleys 23rd District seat, the incumbent this week broke his silence on the pending criminal case and his political future.

I tell the people, Read the charges lodged against me by the government and you will conclude one of two things: Either it is a misunderstanding of facts or it is a political smear, Bradley told Hearst Connecticut Media. This is not a crime of moral turpitude, an allegation of rape or murder or theft.

And, Bradley insisted, while he has yet to file for reelection, he is planning on running to retain his position representing portions of Bridgeport and Stratford in the Connecticut General Assembly in Hartford.

I do it for passion. No other reason, Bradley said. I take the business of the people very seriously and Im ready to fight for them again if they let me.

But in order to hold on to that job, Bradley, 38, a private attorney, must beat the charges against him as well as challenger Rev. Herron Gaston, who recently established a campaign committee to run for Bradleys seat.

Ideally, Gaston, 33, said this week, Bradley would do the moral thing and step aside at least until the case is resolved.

On a personal level I wish him very well, Gaston said. But on a professional level, hes ineffective in Hartford right now. ... His credibility has been irreparably eroded by the sting of this indictment.

The charges

Following his indictment Bradley was stripped of his legislative leadership posts and committee assignments.

Bradley and his former campaign treasurer, ex-Board of Education member Jessica Martinez, were arrested last May on multiple counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud related to obtaining state campaign grants for his successful initial 2018 legislative bid. Bradley was reelected to another two-year term in 2020.

According to the indictment affidavit, Bradley and others entered into a conspiracy and scheme to defraud the Connecticut State Election Enforcement Commission, the Citizens Election Fund and the State of Connecticut by making misrepresentations concerning Bradleys compliance with state election law and the Citizens Election Programs statutory restrictions and requirements in order to fraudulently obtain or attempt to obtain $179,850 in campaign grants.

Acting U.S. Attorney Leonard Boyle has stated, It is alleged that these defendants not only broke the rules at the outset of Mr. Bradleys first campaign for the state Senate, but then engaged in an extensive cover up to conceal their illegal behavior and to receive additional public funds.

Though having pleaded not guilty, Bradley before this week had typically declined public comment on the charges. But he had also hoped to have his day in court before now. The trial was originally scheduled for last August, but Bradleys attorney sought a delay until December.

Then Martinezs lawyer in October obtained a continuance until January, and then another continuance until March.

Last month the trial was put off for a fourth time, until June, with jury selection set for May 23, at the request of the prosecution, which pledged at the time to provide the defense with missing material  more than 1000 pages of financial records inadvertently excluded from its prior productions.

I want my trial to come in May with no continuances or any other reason to postpone or delay this process, Bradley told Hearst Connecticut this week. I stand by the fact America, this great country, says I am unequivocally innocent until proven otherwise beyond a reasonable doubt.

Similarities

Besides both being in their 30s, Bradley and Gaston have, at least on the surface, plenty else in common.

They are relative newcomers to Bridgeport. The former moved to the city from Massachusetts in the late 2000s. Gaston was raised in Florida, moved to Connecticut about a dozen years ago to attend Yale University in New Haven, and has lived in Bridgeport for around eight of those years.

Bradley and Gaston also fairly aggressively immersed themselves in the community and in Democratic politics.

Bradley worked on U.S. Rep. Jim Himes 2008 and 2010 campaigns, and became a caseworker for Himes office focused on immigration and Hispanic outreach. Before his election to the state Senate in 2018, he ran unsuccessfully for Connecticuts House of Representatives in 2014 and made his first, failed attempt for the Senate in 2016.

In between those latter two contests Bradley won a seat on the school board in 2015 and served for a time as its chairman. And prior to his arrest he was considered a potential challenger in 2023 to fellow Democrat Mayor Joe Ganim.

Gaston, who obtained masters degrees in divinity and sacred theology at Yale, which were in addition to degrees from Florida A&M University in pre-law studies, political science and public administration, came to Bridgeport to become pastor of Summerfield United Methodist Church. And he recently obtained his doctor of jurisprudence degree from Quinnipiac University.

He was a prominent supporter of Mayor Joe Ganims 2019 reelection bid and subsequently hired by him as assistant chief administrative officer. The chief administrative office, run by Janene Hawkins, helps the mayor manage municipal government.

Gaston this week told Hearst Connecticut it was inevitable he would run for elected office. He said that as a pastor he witnesses first hand bread and butter issues  lack of meaningful employment, expensive housing prices, public safety issues, inequitable school funding formulas  and believes one of the ways to really make change is to be part of the policy-making process.

I just feel Bridgeport deserves so much more, Gaston said. I love this community. Ive been giving back to this community, rolling up my sleeves, hitting the ground running, trying to make an impact since Ive been here.

Bradley argues that, his pending trial aside, no one can challenge the breadth of work Ive done up and Hartford and locally and he looks forward to having that debate with Gaston. He also believes he would be the more independent of the two candidates, given Gastons alliance with the Ganim administration.

Im not beholden to any political party, the structures of Hartford politics, Bridgeports political structure, Bradley said. I'm respectful of those structures but I put the people first.

But Bradley is not without influential insiders on his side, like Ralph Ford, a prominent East End Democratic leader.

I made it very clear to Gaston Im supporting Dennis, Ford said. My thing is, hes (Bradley) innocent until proven guilty. Hes been a good senator. Hes been especially good to the East End. ... If Dennis wasnt in this situation, would he (Gaston) be running?

Meanwhile City Council President Aidee Nieves is for Gaston. She said while it would be nice for the city to have a senator with longevity and connections rather than starting from scratch, if Bradleys trial starts in June it is unclear how long it will last and he has already been sidelined for too long.

I wish him no ill will, Nieves said. We need to have a new voice that can be able to focus on bringing not just economic, but health dollars, environmental dollars. ... Theyre both well-educated men. Both men of religion. It is more about the ability to advocate, to sit at the table.
According to Syrian Observatory sources, the 25th Division led by Suhail Al-Hassan, Known as Tiger, has conducted advanced military drills for the third consecutive day in areas in Idlib, the eastern countryside of Homs and Hama in order to make Russian-backed members and commanders ready to fight in Ukraine alongside the Russians.

These military drills are an attempt by the Russians to send clear messages to the International Community that Syrian military Divisions of the  Damascuss army are on standby to fight alongside Russians in the Russian-Ukrainian war in the event of escalating fighting.

SOHR added that helicopters used for training setting off from Hmeimim military airbase in Latakia countryside, where nearly 700 Russian soldiers and officers participated in these military exercises.

A.K

ANHA
It looks like the newspaper is pandering to the nanny state crowd regarding alcohol in vehicles (March 18 editorial, Lets (finally) ban open containers in Conn. cars).

Yes, Connecticut rightfully allows car passengers to drink if the operator is not. You question, why anyone needs to imbibe in a moving car. Well, it is not a matter of need it is a matter of choice. However, at the same time you also state that passengers in limos should be allowed to legally drink. So, I guess only rich people that can afford limos deserve the right to quaff a few cold ones or sip on some wine during a leisurely drive.
WESTON  Officials are working to remove the chemicals found in the towns drinking water, as well as possibly find the cause of it  just one of several unknowns around the fairly recent contaminants.

Per-and polyfluoroakyl substances, or PFAS, were found in the wells that serve the schools and town office buildings in December and again in January.

Bottled water has been provided to people in those buildings for drinking and to the school cafeterias for cooking in the meantime. A filtration system is also currently being tested and reviewed to see if it addresses the problem and will continue to be monitored once its brought online, officials said at a public information meeting Monday.

We dont know yet where the source is coming from, First Selectwoman Samantha Nestor said. Right now, were immediately focused about providing the bottled water and remediating.

She and many of the officials at the state and local level called Westons response proactive.

Well 3, which doesnt serve the drinking system, had 47 parts per trillion in December and 44 parts per trillion in January. Well 4, which does serve the system, had 33 parts per trillion in December and 13 parts per trillion in January.

And while officials stressed the amounts detected were below the 70 parts per trillion levels the state and Environmental Protection Agency use, some of the wells had amounts that exceeded the limits neighboring states have for the chemicals.

Each state has its own approach, largely because the EPA has yet to set a standard. Some states have set levels for specific PFAS chemicals, others set the limits for a combined amount. Within New England, New York and New Jersey, they tend range from about 10 to 20 parts per trillion, according to Mondays meeting.

Weston officials told residents on Monday that they want to get the levels as low as possible, aiming to be under those limits set by nearby states. State officials also said Connecticut will likely lower its levels for PFAS too.

In the Northeast where were more similar, at least in bedrock, were looking to set our numbers lower than what we have today, said Lori Mathieu, with the state Department of Public Health.

PFAS are a family of man-made chemicals that are strong and take a long time to break down, earning them the nickname forever chemicals. They are found in many everyday items including fabric softener, food packaging, non-stick cookware, cosmetics, stain resistant carpets, water proof clothing, lotions and firefighting foam, officials said.

Its a very large group, said Shannon Pociu, with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The count is now over 9,000 chemicals.

The prevalence might also mean there isnt any one reason for those in Westons water, officials cautioned.

We may not be chasing a single source of pollution here, said Ray Frigon, with DEEP. It may just be part of the fabric of our environment and the many uses of PFAS.

If there is one source, then DEEP will work with the party involved to address it, he said.

Patricia Bisacky, with DPH, said the department received a lot of inquiries from people who live near the schools after the announcement that PFAS were found in the towns water tests.

A number of at-home tests are available for $250 at the Aspetuck Health District, which serves Weston, Westport and Easton. Staff are also on hand to answer any questions.

Mark Cooper, director of the health district, cautioned people be careful when doing the test because its very easy to cross contaminate considering how common these chemicals are. He also encouraged anyone who completes these tests to send the district the results so officials can map it, much like it did with the arsenic program.

Were here to help anybody and everybody, he said, adding the majority of Westons residents have private wells.

Bisacky said PFAS cant be boiled out like other water issues, but there are ways to address the problem if they are found.

The good news is it is treatable. It can be removed with standard equipment, she said, adding its important to work with a water professional on a course of action.

While theyve been around for decades, the negative aspects associated with them have only recently come to light, including how long they take to break down in the environment and their toxicity in low levels. The health affects on humans are still unknown with a lot of the health data coming from studies on animals in laboratories.

Humans break down PFAS slowly and so repeat exposure to them can cause them to build up. They can affect development and reproduction. Exposure at high levels can increase cholesterol levels, liver and thyroid problems, and risk for testicular and kidney cancer, according to DEEP.

PFAS are already found in peoples bodies. Cheryl Fields, with DPH, said she wouldnt expect residents in the area to have levels that fall outside of the normal range given these exposures.

Testing is also not widespread yet, though the state Department of Public Health is now recommending public water systems test for them. Since PFAS arent regulated, the state cant require the tests, officials said.

December was the first time Weston had ever tested for PFAS. Town officials were looking to upgrade the water system and decided to test the quantity and quality of the water before investing a lot of money into improvements.

Officials said there wasnt enough data for Weston yet to try and figure out why the levels may or may not be changing.

The state is already making some changes concerning PFAS beyond encouraging public systems to test for it.

The state banned municipal fire departments from using the foam with PFAS last year, collecting more than 18,000 gallons of the foam from departments ahead of the new law. This included about 200 gallons collected in Weston, though Frigon said on Monday he wasnt sure how long the foam had been in town or how many departments it was from.

Mathieu said the state is also adding equipment at the state laboratory so it can test for the chemicals, as well as increasing money for testing in vulnerable communities.
Bark Frameworks, 21-24 44th Ave., Long Island City; barkframeworks.com

When Elizabeth Buffy Easton first started working with Bark Frameworks, she was the chair of the European-paintings department at the Brooklyn Museum and had undertaken the sensitive task of reframing some of the museums Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. Easton and Jed Bark spent ten years studying the collection before replacing the generic Louis XIV  and Louis XV  style frames with hand-carved ones made to honor the artists brushstrokes and composition. I had never before considered the importance a frame plays in how one looks at a work of art, she says, noting that one of Barks new frames for a Monet changed the viewing experience entirely by revealing an additional 45 square inches of the canvas. Easton continues to send pieces (both professional and personal) to Bark, both for his critical eye and the shops manufacturing capabilities: I dont know of any other framer that has both gilders in-house as well as a metal shop, she says. They can make a metal frame with no seams because they fabricate it directly for the work. (Prices start at $350.)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was furious that that bloc would force all members to ditch Russian oil and gas with consulting. He called these economists irresponsible that they would risk an embargo that would affect many economies.

US President Joe Biden promised Brussels an alternative supply of liquefied natural gas and oil with too many problems. His calls for the Middle East to step up got rejected, mentioned the Intercept.

Scholz Says No to EU Embargo

The German Chancellor has not been convinced that the suggestion to stop getting supplies from Russia, as sanctions against Moscow, will benefit the bloc, reported the Express UK.

When interviewed, he said these economists make these claims based on unpragmatic equations. It is a hugely divisive issue with bloc members, not all 27 of them are too sure that a total energy ban is an answer.

Scholz has argued that any haste decision will be detrimental to many economies, as Hungary is also not keen on it. There is pressure for all 27 members to agree to an EU embargo, noted News Lanes.

Many buyers in Europe have dropped Russian crude because of legal and cancellation by the media as a supporter of Russian aggression.

A German refinery, PCK SCHWEDT, which is 54 percent owned by Rosneft, gets the crude oil through the Druzhba pipeline. Another firm land-locked Leuna refinery located in East Germany that is owned operated mainly by TotalEnergies is also getting supplies via the same pipeline.

Most European governments depend on Russian energy firms, and the impact of the events has driven fears over the shutdown of supplies, many would not risk this.

Europe needs 40 percent of natural gas and 25 percent of oil from Russia but has sought less dependence after the war. Russia needs the earnings as well from the bloc, as profits from its oil and gas business give revenue for the country, cited Country Highlights.

One truth is that if Brussels gets all the bloc members to say yes to an EU embargo, it will be a huge loss for the Union just to take down Russian President Vladimir Putin, with Scholz being the exception to the rule.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth?

The cost of the war, which includes energy and materials expended, will be a shot in the arm to the economy of Europe, which cannot risk such a move.

Could Europe Cope With Russian Oil Boycott?

Sanctions by the US allow buying oil and gas but have prohibited Russian energy. The Kremlin demanded those hostile states should pay in rubles for the energy deliveries.

The Group of Seven (G7) major economies are one in denying the demand to pay in Russian currency. Germany's energy minister Robert Habeck said it's a breach of contract.

He added that officials from France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada gathered to coordinate last Friday, including representatives from the European Union reportedly present.

Paying in rubles will not be tolerated, and other companies should not agree to the demand by Moscow.

Putin told the Russian central bank to devise a means to let all-natural gas buyers get rubles from Russia. Habeck said if the energy were shut down, there would be ways to deal with it.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has no confidence in an EU embargo and is one of many voices telling Brussels they need to have a better plan for contingencies.

Related Articles: India Supports Russia Despite Biden's Comment on Putin, Chooses Energy Security Over Western Sanctions

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Finland skirted sanctions against Russia via the opening of the Saimaa Canal, which allows goods to be transported. The canal skirts the EU's sanctions after Russia assisted Donbas in a special operation.

Not all nations support these sanctions that negatively affect economies; countries like Germany and Hungary object to the US imposed sanctions that are not sensitive to most of the bloc's members.

Export Traffic Between Finland, Russia Opens

The Saimaa Canal opens to resume traffic on the waterway. Exporters are expected to resume trade which has been halted after the incursion in Ukraine.

In a statement by the Saimaa Canal Delegate Minna Kivimaki, the EU cannot enforce sanctions that do not apply to this valuable trade route, noted YLE News.

The total length of the waterway is 43 kilometers running to the Finnish and Russian borders. It serves as an artery for Finnish export firms that use it for forest and wood processing; sanctions have cut the earnings of many companies doing trade via this canal.

EU sanctions on land have drastically reduced this busy port getting freight rail shipments from Russia that were destined for Helsinki.

According to Russia, railways announced a steep drop in activity would be felt on the Finnish end last Saturday. As an acknowledgment of the sanctions pushed by the US on Brussels, according to Finland's VR Group as a railway operator stating, trains from Russia were banned, the Express reported.

More news came out from Finland that a Russian rail firm posted on Telegram that it discussed how to move more freight from China with Chinese officials.

Read Also: Vladimir Putin Net Worth 2022: Does Anyone Know Russian President's Hidden Wealth?

Business Reopens Despite EU's Sanctions

Helsinki is a European Union member but not of the NATO military alliance; since NATO has been knocking on its door to join and dropping any neutrality, the situation with Moscow worsens.

It said that Russia would mount a counter-campaign to push the Finns against membership, remarked the Finnish security service said on Tuesday.

Polls that were conducted had an alleged result that many in the Nordic nation wanted to join NATO after the Kremlin approved a special operation on February 24. It was the first instance many wanted to be part of the Western Military Pact. But despite the poll, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto created a task force to look over all points to make its national security stronger but not join NATO immediately, which is an option.

The Supo, a Finnish intelligence agency, observed that Moscow's attempts to influence public opinion were considered a red flag.

According to Supo Director Antti Pelttari; saying there had been no attempt to control policymaking by Helsinki about NATO membership.

Authorities should ensure that there is no influence peddling and intimidation in discussing what should be done about the country's security. But no reports show that Russia is not targeting the country in operations to undermine it, said Supo.

Both Haavisto and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto have maintained that a plebiscite on NATO membership must not be held in Helsinki because it could readily become a target of outside manipulation, cited Euroactiv.

Russia's operations in Ukraine are defined as a "special military operation" intended to disarm and "denazify" it. Kyiv and the West have seen this as a pretext for a preemptive attack.

Finland wants to keep trade with Russia even if the EU and US are putting sanctions on the Kremlin. Helsinki does not want to lose the trade.

Related Article: Macron Says Biden's Remark That Putin Is a Butcher Makes it Harder To End the Ukraine Conflict

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Opinion: There is an increase in the number of books being banned around the country. Not only is this ignorant of past experiences and social context, but it creates a further divide in background knowledge for students attending universities.

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Reading provides many critical benefits to people of all ages. Literature mirrors civilization. It provides social, historical, cultural and political backgrounds for a multitude of different time periods. And, of course, learning abilities benefit from early exposure to literature. Research from 2018 states that reading to children produces higher IQ scores through age 14.

Nonetheless, school districts around the country continue to restrict what stories students can experience; book bannings have risen over the past year. This not only limits the skills certain novels grant students in the short term but is also a dangerous separator of knowledge in higher education.

Oklahoma State Senator Rob Standridge recently authored a bill that would keep books including gender, sexual identity and sexual preferences out of the curriculum. This bill was passed by the Oklahoma Senate Education Committee on March 1. Standridge said, Our education system is not the place to teach moral lessons that should instead be left up to parents and families.

Placing this responsibility on the families of students is unfair on many aspects; it will create disparities in students understanding of life Although some parents and families may provide a highly encompassing education surrounding these topics, others, guided by bigotry or ignorance, will choose to restrict what their children learn. These students will be less equipped to relate to their peers, or their own identities. This disparity will echo through peoples educational career, including college.

Some students may find themselves falling behind in higher education because they were unable to read books that have in-class references. Or, they will feel isolated because they are unable to interact with the students outside of their own realm of understanding. Without reading about the experiences of others, these students will hardly understand the experiences of their own lives, let alone other students. This excludes them from meaningful relationships.

We neglect some students experiences and ignore historical events that cannot be forgotten by banning these books. For example, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas is included among the banned books in some places across the country. The novels themes are deeply connected to the Black Lives Matter movement, and it spreads awareness surrounding unjust deaths through its depiction of police brutality, specifically within the experience of Black women. A South Carolina police union rejected the book's addition to a reading list because they believed it to create distrust among police. Police unions negatively influencing education simply because they dont want students exposed to the fictional stories that reflect the reality of police violence in the U.S. is a fascist strike against public schools.

Book banning in itself is a sad action of educational systems. Even more troubling, however, is the effect it has on higher education. Universities accept students from all over the country. 38% of students at the University of Oregon are from out-of-state. Accompanying high rates of book banning, contextual knowledge will become vastly unequal.

The conservatism relating to LGBTQ+ identity, race and sex will continue to separate education. Knowledge about relevant topics is powerful and beneficial to university education. Understanding multiple and diverse perspectives is something that literature cradles. The doomed phrase to never forget history is ignored. These students wont have the chance to forget history; theyll never learn it in the first place.

As school boards restrict students access to books, they also undermine the ideal of equal educational opportunities. The best thing for the future of universities is to have students with a wide range of knowledge surrounding topics, no matter the controversy. Educational systems around the country need to step up and create an educational experience that encompasses the wonderful richness of diverse expression. At the forefront of understanding is listening to another's experience, and literature provides a gateway to this art of compassion.
Opinion: The price of sustainability needs to drop in order to become more effective.

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Hope for a more eco-friendly future has started to make its way into our society. We need to care for our world, and that necessity grows quickly and steadily with time. Although the push for sustainability is gaining valuable momentum, affordability of the movement is equally vital. We must answer the questions about sustainabilitys affordability so that it can be an action that reaches past socioeconomic status; it must have universal availability to be successful.

Currently, prices for sustainable options remain high. For example, a sustainable fork in place of a plastic fork may be in high demand, but the sustainable option takes more time and resources to make. Environmentally friendly alternatives are only accessible for those who can afford them. While this issue remains national, individuals at UO help to explain what actions can be made locally in response.

The way companies market and design their sustainable products comes down to one key component: communication to the public about these environmentally friendly products and listening to the needs of the consumers. Communication about the environment is a requirement for the future of our climate. Hollie Smith, assistant professor of science and environmental communication, emphasizes the importance of listening when connecting through communication.

I think the biggest thing is focusing on not just speaking but also listening. That is one of the most important elements of communication, and unfortunately it is often overlooked, Smith said.

Smith also thinks sustainability should be more affordable for everyone. Smith thinks many choices dealing with environmental sustainability and new technology are for people who come from a place where you have the option to make those decisions. They can choose different behaviors and afford to adopt new technology.

Electric vehicles, for example, while beneficial to environmental sustainability, are not affordable. Corporations offer these kinds of solutions, but they fail to acknowledge the inaccessibility of their technologies.

It is really important that we examine how were offering some of these options and how were talking about it, Smith said. She thinks these offerings are out of reach for many individuals, and that we need to start addressing key barriers to start unpacking issues to make affordable sustainability a reality.

While there are many eco-friendly alternatives for everyday products, they fail to listen to individual's needs. Our ecosystem is perpetually shared by all people. Wealth segregating the accessibility of products and technologies ignores the fundamental characteristic of environments: community. Every individual should be given the opportunity to care for their planet, regardless of class differences.

Excessive pressure on personal choice is a repeated problem of corporate responsibility, especially in terms of the environment. It is only through policy support and policy change that communities can advance past individual options. Incentivizing communities and policies will remain the key to approaching future environmental issues.

There needs to be an emphasis on affordable sustainable options. Conversations about how to incentivize and disincentivize certain options are vital to developing sustainability in an equitable, educated and responsive way. Communities crave the opportunity for a choice; its a choice that defends the future of our ecosystem, and it should be offered to all individuals, regardless of wealth or status.
Chinese premier congratulates Costa on reelection as Portuguese PM

Xinhua) 11:28, March 31, 2022

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday congratulated Antonio Costa on his reelection as the Portuguese prime minister.

In a congratulatory message, Li said that thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, China-Portugal practical cooperation in various fields has scored new achievements over the past years, writing a new chapter in their traditional friendship.

At present, the COVID-19 pandemic is proving a protracted and resurging one, with global challenges compounding one another, he said.

As trusted partners and responsible members of the international community, China and Portugal should consolidate mutual trust, expand cooperation, promote the development of China-Portugal relations and China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, so as to contribute to the common well-being of the two nations and the rest of the world, said the Chinese premier.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
The United States and South Korea claim that North Korea faked the launch of what analysts have started to call the region's "monster missile" last week, arguing that the test was the same intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that Pyongyang launched in 2017.

On Friday, North Korean authorities said that they have successfully test-fired a Hwasong-17 missile, which is a long-range ICBM that experts claim could be capable of carrying multiple warheads. The powerful equipment was first revealed during a military parade held in the country in 2020.

Pyongyang's Fake Test

However, South Korea's defense ministry said in a statement that authorities from both Seoul and Washington have concluded that the recent launch was actually of a Hwasong-15. The ICBM is the one that Pyongyang test-fired five years ago.

Defense ministry officials said that U.S. and South Korean intelligence had determined North Korea's claims to be inaccurate. But authorities said that even the older model ICBM was capable of hitting the mainland United States, as per CBS News.

Analysts said that the reason why North Korea opted to fake the test of the missile was to shore up domestic support for Kim Jong Un's regime after the actual test ended in failure. North Korean state media reported the "miraculous launch" of the Hwasong-17 ICBM on Mar. 24, posting dramatic photos and videos of the leader overseeing the test personally.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War: Latest Satellite Images Showing Major Damages Confirm Mariupol Bombing

Despite the reports, experts said they spotted discrepancies in Pyongyang's account, which echoed the conclusion by South Korean and U.S. officials. Yann Moo Jin, an analyst, referred to the birth anniversary of founding leader Kim II Sung on Apr. 15, said North Korea wanted to maintain the people's loyalty ahead of the day of the Sun.

According to ChannelNewsAsia, he added that however, the Mar. 16 initial ICBM launch failed and noted that Kim would have most likely decided to do something flashy to make up for it. South Korean intelligence suggested that the fake test was made to maintain regime stability.

Repeated Inaccurate Claims

Reports added that there was no time to analyze what had happened in the failed launch in the eight days between the initial and the fake test to justify that it was a correction. The recent incident would not be the first time North Korea has fabricated weapons development progress.

In January 2016, Pyongyang attempted to pass off a failed submarine-launched ballistic missile test as a success using altered video footage. An associate professor at Hankuk University, Mason Richey, said that it was somewhat unbelievable that North Korea was still sticking to "suck 'fake it till you make it' shenanigans."

He added that the fact that independent analysts, let alone South Korean and U.S. intelligence, was able to dismantle the lie so quickly undermined the North's credibility. The analyst argued that if North Korea were able to lie about something as apparently apparent as ICBM type, they would most likely be able to lie or make inaccurate claims about other, more pressing issues, France24 reported.

Related Article: Israeli Police Gun Down Palestinian Gunman Who Fatally Shot 5 People, Including 2 Fathers, 1 Officer

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Will we ever wake up to what is going on?

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust stands accused of causing the deaths of more than 200 babies and nine mothers, and has left other children with terrible permanent injuries.

An official report lays bare scarcely credible, monumental incompetence over a 20-year period. It says 'systemic change' is needed after repeated blunders were ignored, and mothers were blamed when their babies died.

What can be said with certainty is that it will happen again. Not at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, perhaps, and conceivably not at a maternity unit.

But that there will be other instances of numerous needless deaths at the hands of the NHS is beyond doubt.

We can be sure about this because it has happened so often in the recent past. The tragic cases investigated by previous official reports tell remarkably similar stories.

To start with, there is medical ineptitude on an epic scale.

Then there is secrecy, mendacity and sometimes threats on the part of the NHS authorities as they try to block inconvenient questions by relatives or journalists.

Doctors respond as though they assume they know best, and resent their methods being interrogated.

Those who have lost loved ones hold copies of the Ockenden report. Stephen Glover says it is 'wrong' for politicians to say the NHS offers unparalleled service and that its deficiencies can be addressed by throwing more money at it

Consider this: if two brave mothers hadn't had the temerity to take on the might of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, we would almost certainly be unaware of this particular scandal.

I wonder how many other hospitals are concealing dark secrets that will never come to light.

We know enough from previous cases to be able to say that there is something rotten at the heart of the NHS. The evidence is overwhelming. It is also deeply shaming.

There were possibly as many as 1,200 unnecessary deaths at Stafford Hospital  not very far from Shrewsbury, as it happens  between 2005 and 2009.

The appalling Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust fought tooth and nail to keep what it had done behind closed doors.

Another report found in 2018 that at Gosport War Memorial Hospital between 1987 and 2001, more than 450 lives were shortened by doses of diamorphine given to patients without clinical justification.

According to yet another inquiry, 35 children who had undergone heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary in the early 1990s died needlessly. They would have survived had they received proper treatment.

Then there is the disgrace of Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool  this is an outrage of a rather different sort  where the organs or body parts of around 850 deceased infants were removed and retained without parental authorisation.

What sort of medical staff can do that?

A huge example of NHS failure concerns contaminated blood. A public inquiry is still taking evidence.

Those with haemophilia and other bleeding disorders were given blood infected with HIV and hepatitis viruses during the 1970s and 1980s. As many as 30,000 people may have been infected. Nearly 3,000 have died.

The Ockenden report (pictured) has revealed decades of needless deaths in mothers and babies treated at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust

As I say, we can only guess at the extent of scandals that haven't come to light. We do know that in 2020/21 the NHS paid out more than 2.2 billion in cases of established clinical negligence. That is about 1.5 per cent of the entire NHS budget.

Needless to say, I don't deny that many doctors and nurses offer superb care.

My point is that the recurrence of these scandals, in which large numbers of people die who shouldn't, suggests that Boris Johnson's depiction of an NHS that is universally caring and competent is wide of the mark.

This is possibly the biggest scandal of all  the pretence by politicians of all parties that 'our cherished NHS' offers unparalleled service, and that its minor deficiencies can easily be addressed by a bit more money. That is wrong.

Imagine another national institution persistently exposed as dysfunctional, which was guilty of regularly disposing of hundreds of people. The Army, say, or the Civil Service.

In that case, if the same old patterns of ineptitude were endlessly repeated, the nation would be up in arms, demanding root-and-branch reform.

Yet with the NHS we are all-forgiving. We are in the grip of a collective delusion. A fantasy, even.

We  or, at any rate, many of us  believe that the NHS is wonderful and unique. It is the envy of the world (it's not, of course). We close our eyes and block our ears.

Every time a new horror such as that of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust erupts, we agree how ghastly it is. But we don't link it to previous outrages, or think about future ones. We don't examine the whole shocking picture.

On Radio 4's Today programme yesterday morning, former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said that if our maternity services were as efficient as Sweden's, 1,000 lives would be saved every year.

Why can't we match Sweden, whose per capita income and health spending are only marginally greater than ours?

Even more to the point, why is the infant mortality rate in the UK, according to Mr Hunt, worse than in much poorer Hungary and Slovenia?

He claimed that the UK is ranked 27th out of 38 leading OECD economies for infant mortality.

Stephen Glover: 'Every time a new horror such as that of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (pictured) erupts, we agree how ghastly it is. But we don't link it to previous outrages, or think about future ones. We don't examine the whole shocking picture'

When it comes to league tables for deaths from various illnesses, Britain is seldom one of the better performers and often one of the worst, despite spending more on healthcare than the OECD average as a proportion of GDP.

According to a 2018 report in the Lancet medical journal, which analysed 37.5 million patients with 18 of the most common cancers, Britain performed badly in almost every category.

Believe it or not, Latvia, South Africa and Argentina had better survival rates for pancreatic cancer, though they spend far less on health than the UK.

Much poorer Romania, Turkey and Malaysia had better survival rates for stomach cancer, for which Britain was ranked 46th out of 60 countries.

In other words, quality of healthcare is not simply determined by how much money is put in. It also has to do with efficiency.

Increasing resources are being poured into our voracious NHS by the Government, yet it remains cumbersome and bureaucratic  and seemingly better at killing off patients than the health services of comparable countries.

So I ask again: will we ever wake up? Not as long as we have a pusillanimous political class afraid to contemplate serious reform to the NHS, which is regarded as untouchable.

How much easier to go on ploughing cash into it, even if that risks bankrupting the economy.

Margaret Thatcher dared to take on and tame the unruly trade unions in the 1980s.

We need a brave and principled politician to tell us that the NHS  which I believe is incapable of adapting  must change fundamentally if the British people are ever to have the health service they deserve.

A courageous and visionary politician would set up a Royal Commission to explore the most efficient way of funding healthcare, while ensuring that it remains available to the poorest people.

No one else has the NHS. Why would they? It is unwieldy and antiquated  not remotely the wonder of the modern world.

What is certain is that, until or unless it is reformed, thousands more patients will die who ought to be given the chance to live.
What sort of person asks a five-year-old child if they have ever been given a speeding ticket? A surrealist clown, perhaps? One of those over-officious schoolteachers obsessed with kids who run in corridors?

Why would anyone question whether a toddler has a criminal record? Or grill a newborn baby about benefit fraud? Or ask an infant if they had ever been taken to court for non-payment of debt?

Perhaps someone can ask our Home Secretary, Priti Patel, the next time she appears in public.

For these are just some of the hostile questions that her department seems to think that Ukrainian refugees  of all ages  ought to answer correctly before being allowed into the UK.

Home Secretary Priti Patel (pictured) has been criticised for the slow 'Homes For Ukraine' scheme, which has seen very few refugees granted visas to the UK, relative to the number that has applied

Horror

Eleven days ago, I spent an afternoon helping a woman from Kyiv named Lana and her two daughters fill out three bizarrely complex forms  each stretching to more than 30 pages and laden with threats and jargon  that would hopefully see them granted a visa so that they can move into a flat I own in West London.

It was 48 hours after the high-profile 'Homes For Ukraine' scheme, launched in response to mounting public outrage over Britain's woeful treatment of the women and children fleeing their homeland, had opened for new applications.

My family, who have watched with horror as this humanitarian crisis has unfolded, are desperate to join hundreds of thousands of others helping the victims whose lives have been so cruelly shattered by Putin's squalid war.

Through the extraordinary generosity of friends and neighbours, we have managed to secure free places at wonderful local private schools for Lana's daughters. The local dance academy, whose patron is Darcey Bussell, has offered them complimentary ballet classes. My email inbox is full to bursting with offers of free food, clothing, English lessons and furniture. We have even lined up doggy-dates for their family pet, a Bichon Frise named Bonita.

In short, while things will take some time to get back to normal (not least since Lana's spouse remains in Ukraine, helping with the war effort), their lives will hopefully regain some structure and purpose.

That's what we are praying for, at least. So I am unspeakably angry to report that our efforts have so far come to absolutely nothing.

Like a staggering 90 per cent of refugees who have applied for a visa via the Homes For Ukraine scheme, Lana has yet to hear anything in response to the application she filed 11 long days ago.

There have been more than 28,000 applications from Ukrainian refugees for visas to the UK but so far less than 10% have been given (pictured Ukrainian refugees waiting at a train station in Poland)

Thanks to a toxic combination of mendacity, incompetence and mind-boggling red tape, hers is one of tens of thousands of visa applications caught up in a scandalous, yet all-too-predictable, backlog at the Home Office.

Yesterday morning, after days of bluster and obfuscation, in which officials have refused to say how many people have applied for visas, or how many have actually been issued, the Minister for Refugees Lord Harrington finally came clean about the scale of the unfolding debacle.Just 2,700 sponsored visas have so far been issued, out of 28,300 applications under Homes For Ukraine.

Given that the scheme had by then been running for 12 days, it means Home Office staff are currently approving an abject 250 per day.

At this pathetic rate, the bureaucratic swamp in which Lana and many thousands of other Ukrainian refugees families are caught will take until July to clear. And that's assuming that there are no new applications.

This is the same Harrington who originally told MPs he expected 'thousands' to arrive in the first week of the scheme.

It is true that, when visas issued with the family scheme  under which Ukrainian refugees are eligible if they have relatives here  are added, the figure rises to 25,000.

But it still means we have only agreed to provide sanctuary to just 0.6 per cent of the nearly four million Ukrainians displaced since the outbreak of war five weeks ago.

How many of those have actually made it here is anyone's guess: the Government yesterday refused to say.

In contrast, Ireland  which has a population of just five million compared to the UK's 67 million  has already welcomed some 15,000 Ukrainians.

The number of staff currently working on Homes for Ukraine applications has just been increased to 300 (pictured: border force and immigration control)

Incompetence

With visa applications disappearing into what one high-ranking Government source described to me as 'a black hole' of incompetence at the Home Office, vulnerable and exhausted people remain stranded in temporary shelters across Europe, living out of suitcases and ploughing through what remains of their life savings.

It is impossible to overstate the toll this can exact on someone whose life has already been shattered by war  but I am convinced that the failure to process visas competently is now placing many innocent Ukrainians in grave danger, making them vulnerable to criminal exploitation and worse.

If you think this sounds disgraceful, you are not alone. Earlier this week, Refugees At Home, one of the main charities matching hosts with applicants, complained of 'sheer bureaucratic hell' in the system.

An organisation called Positive Action In Housing, which has around 500 Ukrainian refugees on its books plus more than 5,500 families offering to shelter refugees, accused the UK of offering 'false hope' to vulnerable people. It revealed that not a single one of its hopefuls  not one!  had so far been offered a visa.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been repeatedly been criticised about the refugee scheme, today he defended the Government's 'overwhelmingly generous' record on taking refugees at PMQs (pictured)

Mess

Like all major scandals, this began at the top: at the start of the Ukraine war, Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided that, unlike 90 other countries including almost all of Western Europe, Britain would not allow Ukrainian evacuees across the border without first conducting 'security checks'.

Officials at Priti Patel's famously dysfunctional Home Office  which was declared 'unfit for purpose' by a Labour minister two decades back, and has since brought us the Windrush scandal among other calamities  were therefore tasked with designing a visa application process from scratch.

Unsurprisingly, they created a complete mess.

When we helped Lana fill in the lengthy application forms, several of the pages contained dire threats about the consequences of putting in misleading information.

A separate form had to be filled out for each person, including the children. Endless documents, from passports to utility bills and supporting letters, then had to be uploaded via a 'portal'.

Completing the process in a foreign language, using mobile telephones and intermittent internet, and allowing for the Home Office website occasionally crashing took Lana almost six hours and required a detailed understanding of sometimes

baffling jargon. We have spent the past 11 days checking emails, hoping in vain for good news from a department of government which seems utterly oblivious to the suffering and misery it is causing, and provides no way for evacuees, whose very lives hinge on the outcome of this process, to find out what is going on.

Facing hostile questions yesterday, Lord Harrington said that the number of staff currently working on Homes for Ukraine applications has just been increased to 300. He presented this figure as if it were some sort of achievement.

In fact, the Home Office has 36,226 employees, meaning that just 0.8 per cent of them are currently trying to sort out this supposed emergency.

Like many a failing 21st-century organisation, officials blame health and safety for some aspects of their dreadful service, saying refugees must in no circumstances be placed with hosts who haven't first undergone lengthy criminal record checks.

But when people are fleeing a war zone, does it not make sense to evacuate first and conduct 'safeguarding' checks later?

This is a wholly inadequate response to the greatest refugee crisis since World War II.

And I, for one, shall never forgive this Government if it isn't urgently fixed, preferably by allowing all Ukrainian passport holders who are travelling with children visa-free access to the UK. Security procedures can then be carried out within a month or two of arrival.

If a small number of incomers aren't properly vetted, then so be it.

On the Home Office's watch, we have, after all, allowed at least 4,500 random foreigners, from all corners of the world, into our country via rubber dinghy this year alone.

To the people with the power to fix this mess, a final thought: hundreds of thousands of people have so far stepped up to offer homes  and help  to Ukrainian refugees. I believe they represent the very best of Britain.

As things stand, our official response reflects the absolute worst.
Ah, Venezia! It's long been obliga-tory to coo about Venice but, over the years, a surprising number of tourists have found it disappointing

Back in 1765, the historian Edward Gibbon complained that delight soon gave way to disgust. 'Old and in general ill-built houses, ruined pictures, and stinking ditches... and a large square decorated with the worst architecture I ever saw.'

Others have noticed the city's peculiar capacity for dampening the spirits.

When Lady Craven visited Venice for the first time in 1789, she expected to find it cheery, 'but I was extremely disappointed; the houses are in the water, and look dirty and uncomfortable on the outside; the innumerable quantity of the gondolas, too, that look like swimming coffins, added to the dismal scene'.

When the travel writer Robert Byron tried swimming there in 1937 he found 'water like hot saliva, cigar-ends floating into one's mouth, and shoals of jellyfish'.

And now another bug-bear can be added to this long list: seagulls.

Seagulls have been added to the list of bug-bears that people dislike about the Italian city of Venice

Residents and tourists alike complain that the city's gulls have grown more aggressive, swooping down to snatch pizza or ice cream from their hands.

In one case, a gull even flew off with a tasty steak from a silver salver, the moment its lid was removed.

When a customer gets up from a table, a dozen gulls descend, snatching at the remnants of their food and knocking over glasses.

Hotel and restaurant proprietors have been mounting a rearguard action against the 500 pairs of herring gulls that inhabit the city.

Over the past few years, they have toyed with everything, from installing an acoustic system to hiring a falconer to spreading unpleasant odours imperceptible to human beings.

But none of these airy-fairy plans has proved viable. Now they are trying a more forthright, Sylvester Stallone approach.

'We decided to act after a customer lifted a croissant to his mouth and a lurking seagull dived and snatched it from his hand,' explains Enrico Mazzocco, manager of the Monaco & Grand Canal hotel.

In an early measure, he had started serving snacks covered by a napkin, and advised guests to put their hand under the napkin if they wanted to remove a crisp.

Now, even the smartest hotel, The Gritti Palace, where suites cost upwards of 7,000 a night, has joined Signor Mazzocco in providing guests with complimentary orange water pistols, and it seems to be working.

The Gritti Palace, where suites cost upwards of 7,000 a night, has been providing guests with complimentary orange water pistols to fight off seagulls

The gulls dislike being squirted, and who can blame them?

Bizarrely, the gulls seem to particularly dislike the colour orange.

Who would have thought they would be so fastidious?

I happen to be a great fan of orange, but, then again, I'm not a seagull.

Perhaps they have been seeing too much of Donald Trump these past few years.

Or do they associate orange with U.S. prison overalls, and does this act as a deterrent?

At any rate, they seem to recoil from the sight of it.

'As soon as they see the water pistols, the gulls fly away,' says Paolo Lorenzoni, the hotel's director.

'Sometimes you don't even have to use them. It's enough to leave them on the table.'

Orange water pistols seem to scare away the nightmarish birds the best, although this red one will also do the trick

Something makes me think these water-pistols will not deter them for very long.

A while ago, the management installed a fake owl to deter the gulls, but they perched on top of it: the gulls, that is, not the management.

Herring gulls are quick learners, passing on any new-found knowledge from one generation to the next.

In his great masterpiece, Birds And People, Mark Cocker includes testimony from a holidaymaker who watched a herring gull swoop down and steal a piece of fried chicken off a plate so fast that the diner didn't notice it happening.

A local then pointed the holidaymaker towards a row of juvenile herring gulls hanging out on the roof of a shed opposite.

These canny novices had been watching the proceedings with beady eyes.

'That's how they learn the technique,' he explained.

This leads me to suspect that they will soon get the hang of the orange water pistols.

By the end of this summer, the gulls will have learnt to swoop down and grab them with their beaks.

Then they will all line up with their stolen weaponry on a nearby roof and squirt the hapless diners, adding yet another complaint to Venice's long litany of woes.
A psychologist has revealed how he has seen a sharp rise in calls from people suffering from so-called 'Doomsday anxiety', a mental health condition that has taken hold in the 'perfect storm' of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Aaron Surtees, who runs a clinic in the City of London, explained Doomsday anxiety is rooted in a type of phobia which includes 'the fear or worry about the end of the world, or life as we know it'.

Symptoms include chronic nightmares, an underlying feeling of fear, and an obsession with the news or 'doomscrolling' through online media.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Mr Surtees explained the number of patients presenting with Doomsday anxiety is at the highest level he has seen in his 20-year career and reported an 83 per cent surge in calls from people asking for tips on how to cope.

Here, Mr Surtees, founder of daily hypnosis app Subconsciously, explains how to identify if you have Doomsday anxiety - and steps everyone can take to lessen its effects...

A psychologist has revealed how he has seen a sharp rise in calls from people suffering from so-called 'Doomsday anxiety', a mental health condition that has taken hold in the 'perfect storm' of the war in Ukraine and effects of the pandemic. Stock image

What IS Doomsday anxiety?

Mr Surtees said: 'A combination of post pandemic effects and the war in Ukraine, has led to a "perfect storm for doomsday anxiety.

'Doomsday anxiety is rooted in a type of phobia, which includes a fear or worry about the end of the world, or life as we know it.

'It is linked to our thought patterns and our irrational subconscious thought process called "cognitive distortion" as a way of coping with life events.

'When this is amplified, milder anxiety can turn into a specific form of anxiety that clouds a persons thoughts and can impair a person's view of reality away from the situation.'

Why women are more likely to be affected

People with pre-existing anxiety related conditions are particularly susceptible but the current state of the world makes it more likely that even people without these conditions are at risk of developing Doomsday worries, panic attacks, stress, and depression.

Mr Surtees explained parents are also more likely to be affected because they are concerned about how the current state of the world is impacting their children's wellbeing.

10 sign YOU have Doomsday anxiety Mr Surtees shared the 10 most common symptoms of the condition: Lack of sleep, especially waking up in the night

Feeling frightened all the time

Obsessed with news and doomscrolling

Chronic nightmares

Cant enjoy yourself or feel happy

Overeating or not eating

You worry about everything

Tearful

OCD

You cancel plans and have no motivation Advertisement

Mothers are particularly susceptible, he said. 'Women more statistically likely to suffer from anxiety and stress and this has also been heightened by the increased number of children being exposed to news and the lasting effects of the pandemic.'

How to help manage Doomsday anxiety

'It is important to practice steps to help overcome a way of thinking that impacts your mental wellbeing so you can try and live life with less doomsday anxiety,' Mr Surtees explained, here are seven of his tips:

1. Accept bad things will happen in life

Imagining a dream world where everything is perfect and not acknowledging bad things can happen is like living in a fantasyland.

There are challenges and some a very difficult and painful. There may be good and bad days. The best way to proceed is by taking one day at a time. The next day may be a better day, so try and stay with this mindset.

When to practise: Remind yourself every day or in specific moments.

2. Practise the S.T.O.P. technique

Stop stands for S  stop, T  take a breath, O  observe the body, your thoughts, emotions and feelings and finally P  put into action. Physically saying out loud the word stop can be very powerful in tapping into your mind on a subliminal level.

This simple technique is tried and tested, and its aim is to calm down your mind and will instantly help reset.

It allows a person to think with clarity and puts a block on negative thoughts by rewiring the mind into a positive mindset.

This technique can be very beneficial in relieving stress when you encounter symptoms or feeling triggered.

When to practise: Whenever you feel overwhelmed or triggered. There is no limit to this, and you can use the technique as much as you need it.

3. Manage 'doomscrolling'

Try to reduce your time on doomscolling, Mr Surtees advised. Observe yourself over a few days and pay attention to your scrolling habits and allow yourself time to use your phone for this purpose and when to put it down or away. Stock image

Scrolling through your phone, whether that be social media or the news, can have a negative impact on your mental health.

All your senses can be heightened, and the subconscious worry and anxiety triggers will cause a knock on effect, such as, disturbed sleep, which just causes more anxiety and stress.

Try to reduce your time on doomscolling. Observe yourself over a few days and pay attention to your scrolling habits and allow yourself time to use your phone for this purpose and when to put it down or away.

In addition, try muting or unfollowing any accounts of users who instigate your doomsday anxiety.

When to practise: Try allowing yourself 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening to scroll freely. The rest of the time only use your phone for simple communications or work.

Always stop doomscrolling at least 1  2 hours before bed and opt for reading a magazine or book at bedtime instead, if you like to flick through something before you fall asleep.

4. Practise fear-busting affirmations

3 affirmations to try: I am safe and those I love are safe and secure

I dont allow doomsday anxiety to affect me, I effortlessly control it and allow to flow over and away from me

Scary news no longer causes me anxiety. I recognise that I am safe and in control of my destiny at all times Advertisement

Create three positive doomsday-busting affirmations that shift your subconscious thoughts away from your fears and worries.

These supportive phrases will empower you to hear positivity and help strengthen your subconscious.

The key is to keep the affirmations practical and simple, otherwise your mind wont comprehend them as they will be unbelievable to your subconscious mind.

When to practise: Practice every morning, preferably laying down in a comfortable spot and relax into a safe space.

Start by breathing deeply and calmly first and feel the weight of your legs and arms, allowing relaxing energy to flow and penetrate in every pore of your mind and body. Stick to two affirmations and repeat your key affirmations twice - doing this every morning and evening.

But there is no real limit - you can repeat the affirmations throughout the day focusing on the easy in and out flow of the breath.

5. Fact check before panicking

With so much instant access to news, both real and fake, our minds can travel at a fast pace and worry and anxiety can spark anytime. Not all information you read, see or hear is accurate and can be misleading when you are in a state of worry.

Read things slowly and carefully, checking dates and looking at the context and news source of the information you are watching or reading.

Is the information from a reliable authority? How trustworthy is it? Taking a practical and considered viewpoint will drastically reduce your doomsday anxiety.

When to practise: Fact check whenever you consume news or absorb information in any medium that triggers your doomsday anxiety levels.

6. Accept uncertainty

Aaron Surtees, pictured, who runs a clinic in the City of London, explained Doomsday anxiety is rooted in a type of phobia which includes 'the fear or worry about the end of the world, or life as we know it'

Acceptance and coming to terms with life events and what life throws our way, can be a practical reality 'check-in' tactic in helping you get through each day.

If you are directly being impacted by the Ukrainian war, the feelings of uncertainty can be acutely overwhelming and scary to manage.

Accepting you have no control over the outcome of war will help you accept your emotions and coming to terms with the uncertainty of the situation.

When to practise: Remind yourself of this fact every day to help you get through each day at a time.

7. Use the 'thumb and finger' technique to anchor yourself to a safe space

Anchoring is a powerful tool you can utilise when faced with negative or stressful information.

You can teach yourself to anchor your thoughts to help reduce your anxiety levels by pressing your thumb and middle finger together (a proven meditation technique to help control your emotions), taking a deep breath and repeating certain affirmations such as 'I am calm' or 'I am fine - I feel in control'.

Even though anchoring is an NLP technique that hypnotherapists use in clinic, it is completely natural and therefore can be self-taught because we are all subconsciously using anchoring in our everyday life without even realising it  such as when a certain smell reminds you of a loved one or the touch and feel of your favourite teddy helps you feel safe and protected.

Therefore, we can manipulate our feelings in a positive way when we are in certain anxious situations.

The outcome is to feel calmer, in control and avoid a 'fight or flight' response which makes it difficult to think rationally.

By squeezing together your thumb and middle finger and saying your short affirmation, your subconscious will transport you to a calmer state of mindset which will immediately relief symptoms by stopping negative thoughts in their tracks.

When to practise: When you are faced with situation where you feel out of control, and you need an instant solution to feel calm.
If youve ever ordered clothes online or had your heart set on a specific look for something like a haircut or celebration cake, only to get something completely different, then you can probably relate to these hilarious snaps.

Social media users from the US and the UK have shared images of a time that reality crushed their expectations in a funny gallery by Doc Journals.

One snap revealed a botched hairstyle after an individual requested an edgy undercut with chevrons shaved above the neck, showing the hairdresser definitely had no clue what they were doing.

Another saw a gender reveal cake mishap when the baker decided to put blue icing around the outside of the cake, thus ruining the surprise.

Meanwhile, a young woman ordered a prom dress online only to receive a weird plastic-looking creation, bearing no resemblance to the glamorous gown she wanted.

Here, FEMAIL shares the funniest snaps were people's hopes were left in tatters.

At least she can't see it! British mother Charlee Williams went to a hairdresser who clearly wasn't confident with undercuts or straight lines

This defeats the purpose of a gender reveal! The baker decided to put blue icing around the outside of the cake ordered by a US mother, and seemed to miss out any buzzing insect decorations on the bee-themed bake

This doesnt look like the dress she ordered? US teenager Anna bought a $200 prom dress online only to receive a weird looking item that looked like it could have been made from plastic

They didn't nail it! One US woman who wanted a swirling graphic manicure was disappointed when her nails ended up looking like they were decorated with rashers of bacon

Well this is one way to scare the kids! Disney just couldnt help creating moisturising masks with Cruellas face on them - however for one British TikToker, it looks more like Quasimodo

Furry disappointing: The black coat on the left looks so lavish and cosy, unfortunately that's not what arrived for this person who received more of a wet cat look

Stitch, is that you? This is what happens when someone who is not a skilled baker attempts a delicious cartoon cake

Panda-monium: Not only was this giant panda cushion smaller than expected, it was so tiny that only an elf would be able to sit on it

Blanket ban: Italian mother Janet Perez was hoping for some cosy bedding - but anyone would be left disappointed by this throw from Amazon which is only big enough to cover your feet

Hair raising! This stylist definitely had a go at this ombre hair in the left picture...but she didn't exactly pull it off and left this American teen asking questions

Another woman bought these cool-looking Alien balloons for her kids - however when she blew them up they were just regular balloons with eyes!
Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misled by his advisers over fears of Moscow's war on Ukraine and the poor performance of Kremlin troops in the region, U.S. intelligence officials said.

One U.S. official who spoke under the condition of anonymity discussed recently declassified intelligence. On Wednesday, they said that the intelligence finding indicated that Putin was aware of the situation of the information that was being given to him.

Misleading Putin

There was a persistent tension between the Russian president and senior military officials regarding the accuracy of the reports. United States President Joe Biden told reporters that he would not comment on the matter.

Later on Wednesday, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield also did not say whether or not the president of the United States approved the release of the intelligence. The situation comes as the Biden administration is hopeful that divulging the finding could help in urging Putin to reconsider his war on Ukraine, as per CBS News.

The unprovoked invasion has led to a bloody stalemate between Russian and Ukrainian troops in the majority of the regions. Furthermore, both sides have suffered heavy casualties and Russian troop morale continues to drop as Ukrainian forces and volunteers continue to put up an unexpected resistance.

Read Also: US, South Korea Claim North Korea Faked Test of Dangerous Missile; Expert Reveals Why Kim Jong-un Did It

The senior U.S. official said Putin's advisers are not telling the Russian president the truth about the situation in Ukraine because they are "too afraid to tell him the truth." The official argued that Putin was not even aware that his military was using and losing conscripts in the region, which shows a clear breakdown of the flow of accurate information.

According to Yahoo News, on Tuesday, Western officials said that Russian elites would most likely blame each other for the situation in Ukraine which is being considered "disastrous progress" by Russia. The official said that Russian officials would be quite defensive about their own failures related to the invasion.

Situation in Ukraine

The situation comes as the Ukrainian military is preparing for a potential Russian offensive in the eastern region of the country. On Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelensky made the remarks as the war entered its fifth week.

Zelensky's administration released a video address where he mentioned that Russian troop movements were going away from Kyiv and Chernihiv. He added that the move was not seen as a withdrawal but rather the "consequence of our defenders' work."

Moscow announced on Wednesday that it was going to significantly scale back military operations in the aforementioned cities. Ukrainian officials said a day later that there were reports of shelling outside Kyiv and fighting in Chernihiv.

Many are starting to think that the war may not have a diplomatic end due to peace talks not resulting in any concrete agreements or compromises.

President Zelensky previously said that Ukrainian authorities were in the process of negotiating peace with Russia but had achieved no concrete results. Meanwhile, a local ceasefire in Ukraine's besieged port city of Mariupol was announced in an attempt to evacuate civilians after the area has become the place where at least 5,000 civilians have lost their lives, the Hindustan Times reported.



Related Article: Russia-Ukraine War: Latest Satellite Images Showing Major Damages Confirm Mariupol Bombing

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The stunning sherbet yellow dress worn by the Duchess of Cambridge as she departed the Bahamas and the end of the Caribbean tour has almost sold out online.

Kate Middleton, 40, looked radiant in the 1,690 Alessandra Rich frock as she and Prince William boarded the plane at Lynden Pindling International Airport on Sunday evening.

The 80s-inspired dress is now sold out in all but two sizes on leading designer e-tailer Net-a-Porter, and all but one size on My Theresa.

Kate Middleton, 40, looked radiant in the 1,690 Alessandra Rich frock as she and Prince William boarded the plane at Lynden Pindling International Airport on Sunday evening

The 80s-inspired dress is now sold out in all but two sizes on leading designer e-tailer Net-a-Porter, and all but one size on My Theresa

The Duchess of Cambridge has worn Alessandra Rich on a number of high profile occasions, including for the Duke of Edinburgh's service of thanksgiving yesterday.

Kate has also wore the label for Prince Charles' 70th birthday portrait, and to take her children to the pantomime in London.

The yellow frock features a bow-detailed ruffled collar, puffed sleeves and a pleated peplum at the waist.

It is embellished with a crystal buckle and it's faux pearl buttons are a nod to the decade's glamorous excess.

The Duchess of Cambridge wore the floral dress as she departed the Bahamas at the end of the royal Caribbean tour with Prince William on Sunday

According to the fashion retailer's website there is only one gown left in sizes IT42 and IT36

The dress is embellished with a crystal buckle and it's faux pearl buttons are a nod to the decade's glamorous excess

The silk-jacquard gown was strikingly similar to a Jan Van Velden piece worn by Diana during her visit to Alice Springs School on her 1983 tour of Australia with Prince Charles.

Dutch designer Jan Vanvelden was a favourite of Diana, who paired her own silk tea-dress with a white belt and matching cartwheel-style hat and pair of dainty pearl earrings.

In March 1993, the newlywed royal couple and baby Prince William visited Australia's Northern Territory in the Princess of Wales' first overseas tour and first-ever trip abroad at the age of 22.

The 80s-inspired gown donned a bow-detailed ruffled collar, puffed sleeves and a pleated peplum at the waist

The silk-jacquard gown was strikingly similar to a Jan Van Velden piece worn by Diana (pictured) during her visit to Alice Springs School on her 1983 tour of Australia with Prince Charles

Like Diana, Kate also paired the look with white leather pumps. The Duchess, 40, wore the 80s-inspired silhouette, featuring bow-detailed ruffled collar, puffed sleeves and a pleated peplum at the waist, with 560 Gianvito Rossi pumps and 3,400 earrings.

The designer intentionally included oversized crystal-embellished buckle and faux pearl buttons in a nod to the decades 'glamorous excess'.

The Duchess donned the same Ferragamo bag during her visit to Jamaica last week, while she first wore the Patrick Mavros earrings in the summer of 2020, having been a longtime fan of the Zimbabwean designer's pieces.
A cantankerous neighbour has written a note addressed to 'number 19' in a bid to quieten down their children and remove the 'illegal' caravan in their front yard but opinions are split over whether it's warranted.

The anonymous neighbour's note was posted in the WA Incident Alerts Facebook group by 'Sophie from Mandurah', suggesting they live in Western Australia, and received thousands of comments.

It starts by recognising 'Sophie' only just moved into the street so hopefully will be open to hearing some of their 'concerns' after her living situation.

'Your kids are kicking the footy which at times they get so rowdy they wake us all up. There are a few shift workers in this street whom are affected,' it read.

The anonymous neighbour's note was posted in the WA Incident Alerts Facebook group by 'Sophie from Mandurah', suggesting they live in Western Australia, and received thousands of comments

Poll Should number 19 pay any attention to what the note says? No Yes Should number 19 pay any attention to what the note says? No 492 votes

Yes 1157 votes Now share your opinion





'Your direct neighbours are not happy as the footy bangs against the fence and this makes their dogs bark, which then wakes up the whole street.'

The note continues by asking the mother to be 'quieter and respect us' to avoid 'outside agencies' needing to be involved in the matter.

'Also you have a caravan on the property with someone living in it. You need permission from the council. Thank you, your neighbours.'

Some of the note readers jumped to Sophie's defence and were pleased to hear her children sounded like they were just 'enjoying being kids'.

'Thank you number 19 for being a fantastic mum for letting your kids be kids. We are elderly and go down south to a farm stay over the Christmas school holidays in our caravan, there's kids and dogs (dogs are on leads) running and playing with each other and what a joyful noise they all make and yes it makes us smile, we where young once and so where your neighbours,' one woman wrote.

It read: 'Also you have a caravan on the property with someone living in it. You need permission from the council. Thank you, your neighbours'

'If I got that note, I would probably have considered trying to keep the kids noise level down a bit - until the outside agencies' threat. I'd buy the kids a drum kit,' said another.

A third added: 'Really who cares if someone is in a caravan during these times of very few rentals. How cruel really to go on about this. I could not care if every single home in WA had a caravan in their yard at this time'.

But others felt as though the note made a genuine point about noise levels during the day.

'I think anything hitting the fence repeatedly would be annoying to any human being, a bit of respect goes a long way. Kids have all the right to play in their own homes but there is no need to hit the fence all the time to have fun,' said one person.
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An Indiana elementary school learned the hard way this month that St. Patrick's Day is not the ideal date to hold school picture day  particularly if the photographer is using a green screen.

Sugar Grove Elementary School in Greenwood held is spring school picture day on March 17, when numerous students turned up to class in green outfits to celebrate the holiday.

But no one appears to have realized the problem until the photographers, Inter-State Studio, sent proofs home to parents  many of whom were surprised to discover that their children vanished into the background.

Photos shared by parents show kids with floating heads and missing torsos, blending into the digitally-added backgrounds of flowers, a farm, and a white lattice fence.

An Indiana elementary school learned the hard way this month that St. Patrick's Day is not the ideal date to hold school picture day - particularly if the photographer is using a green screen

Sugar Grove Elementary School held is spring school picture day on March 17. Students turned up in green outfits to celebrate the holiday (pictured: Jaxson Bowles, son of Brie Bowles)

But no one appears to have realized the problem until the photographers, Inter-State Studio, sent proofs home to parents

Parents like Bonna Hansen-Cooney were surprised to see their kids (Mikey, pictured) disappearing into the backgrounds

Amanda Snow sent her kindergartner, Oliver, in a dark green shirt.

'The top of his hoodie is green, so he turned into the fence here,' she told WTHR. 'He had lime green shorts on, so I guess the darker the shirt, the more transparent the background comes through. And he had a green mohawk, but that is completely gone.'

When she received the proofs in an email link, she got such a laugh that she posted the photos in a local mom's group on Facebook to share with others.

'Honestly, I just couldn't wait to see other parents' pictures and it ended up being just a hilarious fiasco, just because it's just so funny,' she said.

Snow added that her son was a bit confused about what had happened, but also found the photos quite funny.

Amanda Snow sent her kindergartner, Oliver (pictured), in a dark green shirt. He also had a green mohawk, which vanished into the backgrounds

Chialisea Haines's daughter (pictured) appears to have had a few outfit changes during her photo session thanks to some green screen magic

Sherrie Kight's son Landon is in second grade at the school - and based on his expression, he knew these photos would have problems

Inter-State Studio has since issued a statement, explaining what went wrong and promising parents that the issue would be fixed in any prints they order

Other parents have now shared their children's photos as well, showing shirts that have taken on the various backgrounds.

Inter-State Studio has since issued a statement, explaining what went wrong and promising parents that the issue would be fixed in any prints they order.

'The green screen process involves taking a picture in front of a solid color (in this case green) and dropping that background out to be replaced with a background of someone's choice in post-production,' they said.

'We try to get digital proofs in front of people quickly, so this is an example of seeing it before it goes through that post-production process. Typically, this is caught in an earlier, automated stage. This image is not the final product because it gets fixed in post-production.

'We appreciate the opportunity to respond to this specific instance  everyone has had such a good sense of humor about this!'

At least one parent said they want to order the messed-up versions of the pictures because they're so funny

Jorden Sitter's children (pictured) were among those to get the funny photos. Both of his kids have almost a ghost-like quality thanks to partially-vanished shirts

Sugar Grove Elementary School Principal Kristin Rodman also sent out email to parents assuring them that this is not how the final photos will look if they purchase them

Sugar Grove Elementary School Principal Kristin Rodman also sent out email to parents assuring them that this is not how the final photos will look if they purchase them.

She wrote: 'As many of you may have noticed on your childs spring pictures, it looks a little funny due to the green screen and St. Patricks Day. While I know you got a good laugh, the proofs are the only pictures that will look that way. The actual pictures if you order them will look normal.'

Snow, however, said she might ask to get the messed-up versions instead.

'Honestly, they've brought me so much joy and laughter over the last day,' she said
Crown Princess Mary has been spotted dining and shopping in Melbourne

The surprise visit has left royal fans shocked, as she prepares to see family

On Wednesday she visited Brighton's The Pantry before strolling down Church St

Plenty of remarks were made about her 'glowing' skin and Chanel ballet flats

The royal was with her long-time best friend Amber Petty, who was a bridesmaid

Have you seen Mary? Send your pictures to matilda.rudd@mailonline.com

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has been spotted in a cafe and filling up petrol beside her Australian best friend Amber Petty in Melbourne in what appears to be a surprise return Down Under to see her family.

On Wednesday Brighton's The Pantry was graced by the 50-year-old royal's presence as she dined on a light lunch before traipsing down the suburb's main shopping district for some retail therapy.

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Wearing Chanel ballet flats, a white blouse and high waisted white denim trousers she looked angelic according to onlookers, reports The Herald Sun, pausing to browse in HOSS, Carla Zampatti, Saba and Morrisson.

One fan who was in Scanlan Theodore at the time the royal strode in said she walked out with a new designer suit.

With only a small security detail and her bridesmaid Petty by her side the surprise visit went unnoticed by plenty of royal fans.

On Thursday the friends reunited again, this time in Elwood, where they were seen behind the wheel of a red hatchback filling up the car with petrol

With no security and just her bridesmaid Petty (pictured) by her side the surprise visit went unnoticed by plenty of royal fans

Princess Mary was on the phone while her best friend Amber Petty drove them around

On Thursday the friends reunited again, this time in Elwood, where they were seen behind the wheel of a red hatchback filling up the car with petrol.

It is understood by the publication that Princess Mary will fly on to Tasmania, where she was born and raised, to see family before heading back to Denmark.

She was last seen publicly at a media competition in Denmark on March 22, just over a week before her Melbourne jaunt.

Her last known visit to Australia was in 2017 on another private family holiday.

Petty, who has remained close to the royal, saw the beginning of her friend's fairytale romance with Prince Frederik.

On March 22 the royal attended a media competition event with Mary Fonden

Petty, who has remained close to the royal, saw the beginning of her friend's fairytale romance with Prince Frederik. Pictured in 2008

In an interview Stellar Magazine in 2021 Petty revealed the Crown Prince and his wife were just like any other couple, but the 'surreal' experience of seeing her best friend fall in love with a prince changed the friendship

Amber Petty (in bright pink) was a bridesmaid at Princess Mary's nuptials in 2004

In an interview Stellar Magazine in 2021 Petty revealed the Crown Prince and his wife were just like any other couple, but the 'surreal' experience of seeing her best friend fall in love with a prince changed the friendship.

Petty tells the magazine: 'For a long time, one of my coping mechanisms with the surreal side of where that friendship went was simply to just anchor it down to the basic human elements of what it was, and is, which is actually just a story of two people falling in love and choosing to do life together.'

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In her book This Is Not A Love Song Petty discusses attending Princess Mary's wedding but warns that she is scant on details.

'I have tried to honour the reader by sharing some insights, real moments that I love, while also being mindful to honour the private us, and the private her,' she says.

The Australian advertising executive, who remains close to Princess Mary, saw the beginning of her friend's fairytale romance with Frederik, 52, which she details in her new book, This Is Not A Love Song. Mary and Frederik are pictured in 2002

Petty tells the magazine: 'For a long time, one of my coping mechanisms with the surreal side of where that friendship went was simply to just anchor it down to the basic human elements of what it was, and is, which is actually just a story of two people falling in love and choosing to do life together.' Pictured in 2004

Petty confirms that Mary has read the book, but 'wouldn't want to say on record how she feels, but I will say she understands the purpose of the book and all relevant details to the overarching theme'.

She goes on to call Mary her 'soulmate' and despite the women living in different countries - with Petty based in Australia - they remain close.

'Distance has always been hard, and not knowing when you'll see and hug the people you love again is perhaps harder than ever,' Petty tells Stellar.

Love: Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary was 'just' Mary, a marketing manager at an advertisement company, when she met Crown Prince Frederik in a pub in Sydney during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. The couple's engagement was made official in October 2003

Romantic: On May 14, 2004, Mary married her Prince in a lavish ceremony attended by royals - and media - from across the globe in Copenhagen Cathedral in the Danish capital

'But I've learnt that we just need to be patient and grateful that we are still alive and healthy, and future memories are still there to be had.'

Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary was 'just' Mary, a marketing manager at an advertisement company, when she met Crown Prince Frederik in a pub in Sydney during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Mary, a daughter of two Scottish immigrants, has previously said she 'never dreamed of becoming a princess, I wanted to be a veterinarian,' and did not know who the man who introduced himself as 'Fred' was at first.

Sweet: Mary, a daughter of two Scottish immigrants, has previously said she 'never dreamed of becoming a princess, I wanted to be a veterinarian,' and did not know who the man who introduced himself as 'Fred' was at first. Pictured in 2019

The couple embarked upon a long distance relationship, something which in the pre-smartphone app era was confined to emails, phone calls and letters.

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Despite being spotted together several times in both Denmark and Australia, and Mary moving to Europe in 2001, it was not until April 2003 that Queen Margrethe publicly acknowledged their relationship.

The couple's engagement was made official with, what else, a press conference in Copenhagen in October 2003.

On May 14, 2004, Mary married her Prince in a lavish ceremony attended by royals - and media - from across the globe in Copenhagen Cathedral in the Danish capital.

It was described as the ultimate happy fairytale ending with the prince marrying the beautiful commoner, and the guestlist included the Kings and Queens of Sweden, Norway, Spain, Belgium and The Netherlands as Prince Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

The Crown Prince couple are parents to Prince Christian, Princess Isabella and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark has been spotted in a cafe and filling up petrol beside her Australian best friend Amber Petty in Melbourne in what appears to be a surprise return Down Under to see her family.

On Wednesday Brighton's The Pantry was graced by the 50-year-old royal's presence as she dined on a light lunch before traipsing down the suburb's main shopping district for some retail therapy.

Wearing Chanel ballet flats, a white blouse and high waisted white denim trousers she looked angelic according to onlookers, reports The Herald Sun, pausing to browse in HOSS, Carla Zampatti, Saba and Morrisson.

One fan who was in Scanlan Theodore at the time the royal strode in said she walked out with a new designer suit.

With only a small security detail and her bridesmaid Petty by her side the surprise visit went unnoticed by plenty of royal fans.

On Thursday the friends reunited again, this time in Elwood, where they were seen behind the wheel of a red hatchback filling up the car with petrol

With no security and just her bridesmaid Petty (pictured) by her side the surprise visit went unnoticed by plenty of royal fans

Princess Mary was on the phone while her best friend Amber Petty drove them around

On Thursday the friends reunited again, this time in Elwood, where they were seen behind the wheel of a red hatchback filling up the car with petrol.

It is understood by the publication that Princess Mary will fly on to Tasmania, where she was born and raised, to see family before heading back to Denmark.

She was last seen publicly at a media competition in Denmark on March 22, just over a week before her Melbourne jaunt.

Her last known visit to Australia was in 2017 on another private family holiday.

Petty, who has remained close to the royal, saw the beginning of her friend's fairytale romance with Prince Frederik.

On March 22 the royal attended a media competition event with Mary Fonden

Petty, who has remained close to the royal, saw the beginning of her friend's fairytale romance with Prince Frederik. Pictured in 2008 (right and left)

Amber Petty (in bright pink) was a bridesmaid at Princess Mary's nuptials in 2004

In an interview Stellar Magazine in 2021 Petty revealed the Crown Prince and his wife were just like any other couple, but the 'surreal' experience of seeing her best friend fall in love with a prince changed the friendship.

Petty tells the magazine: 'For a long time, one of my coping mechanisms with the surreal side of where that friendship went was simply to just anchor it down to the basic human elements of what it was, and is, which is actually just a story of two people falling in love and choosing to do life together.'

In her book This Is Not A Love Song Petty discusses attending Princess Mary's wedding but warns that she is scant on details.

'I have tried to honour the reader by sharing some insights, real moments that I love, while also being mindful to honour the private us, and the private her,' she says.

The Australian advertising executive, who remains close to Princess Mary, saw the beginning of her friend's fairytale romance with Frederik, 52, which she details in her new book, This Is Not A Love Song. Mary and Frederik are pictured in 2002

Petty tells the magazine: 'For a long time, one of my coping mechanisms with the surreal side of where that friendship went was simply to just anchor it down to the basic human elements of what it was, and is, which is actually just a story of two people falling in love and choosing to do life together.' Pictured in 2004

Petty confirms that Mary has read the book, but 'wouldn't want to say on record how she feels, but I will say she understands the purpose of the book and all relevant details to the overarching theme'.

She goes on to call Mary her 'soulmate' and despite the women living in different countries - with Petty based in Australia - they remain close.

'Distance has always been hard, and not knowing when you'll see and hug the people you love again is perhaps harder than ever,' Petty tells Stellar.

Love: Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary was 'just' Mary, a marketing manager at an advertisement company, when she met Crown Prince Frederik in a pub in Sydney during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. The couple's engagement was made official in October 2003

Romantic: On May 14, 2004, Mary married her Prince in a lavish ceremony attended by royals - and media - from across the globe in Copenhagen Cathedral in the Danish capital

'But I've learnt that we just need to be patient and grateful that we are still alive and healthy, and future memories are still there to be had.'

Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary was 'just' Mary, a marketing manager at an advertisement company, when she met Crown Prince Frederik in a pub in Sydney during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Mary, a daughter of two Scottish immigrants, has previously said she 'never dreamed of becoming a princess, I wanted to be a veterinarian,' and did not know who the man who introduced himself as 'Fred' was at first.

Sweet: Mary, a daughter of two Scottish immigrants, has previously said she 'never dreamed of becoming a princess, I wanted to be a veterinarian,' and did not know who the man who introduced himself as 'Fred' was at first. Pictured in 2019

The couple embarked upon a long distance relationship, something which in the pre-smartphone app era was confined to emails, phone calls and letters.

Despite being spotted together several times in both Denmark and Australia, and Mary moving to Europe in 2001, it was not until April 2003 that Queen Margrethe publicly acknowledged their relationship.

The couple's engagement was made official with, what else, a press conference in Copenhagen in October 2003.

On May 14, 2004, Mary married her Prince in a lavish ceremony attended by royals - and media - from across the globe in Copenhagen Cathedral in the Danish capital.

It was described as the ultimate happy fairytale ending with the prince marrying the beautiful commoner, and the guestlist included the Kings and Queens of Sweden, Norway, Spain, Belgium and The Netherlands as Prince Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, and Sophie, Countess of Wessex.

The Crown Prince couple are parents to Prince Christian, Princess Isabella and twins Prince Vincent and Princess Josephine.
A woman has shown off her affordable Aqua Socks from Kmart that she says were an essential travel item on her recent trip to French Polynesia.

Rashida, from Sydney, purchased the slip on shoes for only $8 and says she could not have snorkelled or walked on beaches without them.

She says the socks were an absolute bargain because they worked just as well as other aqua shoes from surf shops that cost up to $70.

A woman has shown off her affordable Aqua Socks from Kmart that she says were an essential travel item on her recent trip to French Polynesia

The happy customer said that her shoes remained sand-free the entire trip and they were easy to slip on and off thanks to the built-in cord closure.

The shoes also feature a non-slip rubber base with a comfortable sole which makes them perfect to wear on long outings.

Rashida posted the pair of Aqua Socks in various tropical locations from her three week holiday and received more than 500 likes and many comments.

The happy customer said that her non-slip shoes kept all sand out and that they were easy to slip on and off thanks to the built-in cord closure

Fellow Kmart fans and customers also suggested that the shoes are suitable to wear on boat trips, when bushwalking, fishing, camping or hiking along riverbeds.

A former swimming teacher also dubbed the aqua shoes an essential when spending long amounts of time in the water.

Others commented on how professional the shoes looked sitting in the different tropical beach locations.

Fellow Kmart fans and customers also suggested that the shoes are suitable to wear on boat trips, when bushwalking, fishing, camping or hiking along riverbeds

'Might need to watermark photos just in case they use them for ads,' a woman wrote.

'Those shoes have a better life than me,' another wrote jokingly.

'Never thought Id be jealous of a pair of shoes, they're having a better time than me right now thats for sure,' a third wrote.
An NHS worker who is engaged to a US prisoner has revealed he sends her money, jewellery and gifts from behind bars, but insists their relationship 'isn't as glamorous as it seems'.

Jacqui McDonald, 30, from Bristol, who is studying for a PhD in psychology, was introduced to LaDarius 'LA' Alexander, 31, in August 2019 via a 'Write a Prisoner' scheme, which aims to pair inmates with pen friends.

LA is serving time in an Ohio prison after being convicted of robbery charges, criminal gang activity and involuntary manslaughter (which he took an Alford plea for).

After three months of daily phone calls and messages, the pair were smitten with each other and, before they had even met, Jacqui had LA's name tattooed on her chest.

In November 2019, the mother-of-one flew to America to meet him for the first time. It was on this first visit that LA got down on one knee and proposed to Jacqui.

Three years later, the couple are still going stronger than ever.

Jacqui McDonald, 30, from Bristol, has racked up a large following on social media after revealing she is engaged to convicted robber LaDarius 'LA' Alexander, 31, (both pictured) from Ohio

Jacqui, who is a psychology student and NHS worker, is looking forward to spending her life with LA when he is released from prison in 2025 at the latest

LaDarius 'LA' Alexander, who lives in the US, is currently serving time in prison for robbery charges, criminal gang activity and involuntary manslaughter

Jacqui has flown to see her incarcerated fiance in the USA two more times and her family are now fully supportive of her relationship with LA.

He bought her jewellery for her birthday and helped to pay for her brand new car so she wouldn't have to finance it.

Jacqui has three tattoos dedicated to her fiance: inmate number on her neck, the words 'Lady LA' on her foot and his full name 'LaDarius' on her leg.

The couple are looking forward to spending their lives together when he is released, which could be as early as later this year and will be in 2025 at the latest.

Jacqui has gained popularity on TikTok under the handle @amerikka22 with videos about the realities of being a 'prison wife' and has recently launched XO3 podcast, where she tackles what inmates really go through in prison and helps other women who have loved ones in jail.

Jacqui recently launched a podcast to help other women who have loved ones in jail and has been candid about what inmates go through

Jacqui got a tattoo of LA's initials on her chest before they met, and has since dedicated three more piece of body art to her fiance. Pictured: A tattoo on her foot

Jacqui said she had just come out of a relationship when she began talking to LA on Write a Prisoner in August 2019

Jacqui, who has a six-year old son from a previous relationship, began chatting with LA on Write a Prisoner in August 2019 after her friend, who was dating a prisoner at the time, suggested she try it.

Jacqui said: 'I had just come out a relationship and wasn't ready to date anyone.

'But when LA and I started chatting, I found him so funny. I think that's what attracted me to him in our first messages to each. On our first phone call two days later, I remember laughing the whole time.

'I didn't always understand his accent then but he had me in stitches.

Jacqui said she didn't always understand LA's accent but he had her laughing throughout their first phone call

Jacqui said LA spent his entire 240 minutes of call time speaking to her during the first few weeks that they began talking

LA helped to pay for Jacqui's plane ticket for her to meet him for the first time in prison in November 2019

'We're allowed 240 minutes of call time every day. In those first few weeks, we used up those minutes every day talking to each other.

'Our relationship just progressed and we quickly learned everything about one other.

'Even though we lived on opposite sides of the world, there were so many similarities between us.

'I was in love with him and had got a tattoo of his name on me but I knew I had to meet him in person to be sure.'

In November 2019, LA helped to pay for Jacqui's plane ticket for her to meet him for the first time in prison in Ohio.

Jacqui said it felt like she had known LA her entire life when they met for the first time in Ohio

LA proposed to Jacqui during her first visits to the prison, which she claims didn't have any awkward silence

Jacqui said LA organised a wedding ring and a surprise video proposal with help from her friend for when she returned to the UK

He proposed to Jacqui on that very same visit.

Jacqui recalled: 'When I met LA for the first, I felt like I had known him my whole life.

'There was never an awkward silence and he had me laughing all the time. I saw him over three days and on my second prison visit, he got down on one knee and proposed. I was so sure about our relationship and said yes immediately.

'When I returned home to the UK, he had organised a wedding ring for me through my friend and surprised me with a video proposal.'

Jacqui has bonded with LA's nine-year-old son and family members with visits in January 2020 and November 2021

Jacqui said dating a prisoner isn't all romance, but he sends her gifts on special occasions and money so that her son can have fun days out

Jacqui got a tattoo of LA's inmate number on the back of her neck to celebrate their love (pictured)

Jacqui visited her fiance in January 2020 and November 2021, bonding with his nine-year-old son and family members during her trips.

Although the coronavirus lockdown kept the couple apart, Jaqui and LA spoke without fail every day and she got a tattoo of his inmate number on the back of her neck to celebrate their love.

LA sends cards and gifts to Jacqui on special occasions as well as money so that Jacqui's son can have fun days out.

However she s keen to stress that dating a prisoner is not all glamorous and it has its ups and downs.

Jacqui said: 'Dating a prisoner is not all gifts, romance and plane tickets.

Jacqui said it's 'emotional' when prison visits are up and some days are difficult because they miss each other

Jacqui said she would like to have a normal relationship with LA but has come to appreciate what they have

Jacqui said she and LA have broken through obstacles to become stronger as a couple

'At the end of the day, what you're left with is the reality of how you feel about this person. When the prison visit is up, it's emotional - it's especially hard for LA.

'There are some days which are really tough and we just miss each other. LA and I have to work through things other couples don't have to.

'Would I like to have a normal relationship with him? Of course I would but I've come to accept and appreciate what we have.

'We've broken through some of the obstacles and it's made us stronger as a couple.

Jacqui said there was a social media trend for writing to prisoners for clout during lockdown, but the reality of dating someone long-term is a lot harder

Jacqui and LA plan to have a long-distance relationship after his release, before deciding if they should settle in the UK or USA

'In lockdown it became a trend for people to write a prisoner and start relationships with inmates for clout on social media.

'But the reality of dating someone in jail for as many years as me and LA have been together is a lot harder.'

LA will be released by 2025, but could be out as early as summer 2022 if he gets his GED (General Educational Development).

The couple plan to have a long-distance relationship after his release until Jacqui completes her PhD and then they will then decide whether to settle in the UK or the US.

She has racked up over 133,500 likes on her TikTok videos about what it's really like dating a prisoner.

Jacqui said she has grown thick skin since sharing her relationship with LA on social media after receiving criticism from trolls

Although trolls criticize their relationship, Jacqui loves advising and supporting the community of 'prison wives' on social media with weekly podcasts available on TikTok and Instagram.

She also runs a digital art business for people who have loved ones in jail.

Jacqui said: 'I've grown a bit of a thick skin since I put my relationship with LA out there on TikTok.

'I've had racial abuse about us having an interracial relationship. I've been told I must have no confidence or self-worth to talk to a prisoner

Jacqui said she has been told that she must not have confidence or self-worth to be talking to a prisoner and trolls claim LA will leave her

Jacqui said LA supports her mentally and she feels like the best version of herself because of him

Jacqui said her friends and family thought she was crazy and putting her life on hold for LA, but can now see they are good for each other

'Some trolls have said LA is using me and going to leave me. I'm not naive to how our relationship might look to people.

'At first, my family and friends were definitely skeptical about me and LA - they thought I was crazy and that I was putting my life on hold for him.

'LA had to send my mum a letter to prove how much he loved me. It moved her to tears and my family can see how good we are for each other now.

'He lifts me up and supports me mentally. I truly feel like the best version of me now - and that's thanks to LA.

'I'll be there for him the day LA come out. I see all the potential in him that other people can't or choose not to see and I want him to be the best he can be too.'
A mother whose baby died shortly after being born at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital says she was left alone for 45 minutes while in extreme pain as midwives 'sipped tea and refused to see her'.

Steph Hotchkiss, from Telford, was nearly 31 weeks pregnant when she started feeling severe pain in September 2014 - with her midwife advising she go straight to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.

She had only faced 'minor issues' up to that point but she was considered high-risk because she had suffered an abruption of her placenta in a previous pregnancy.

When she arrived, Steph claims midwives refused to see her because 'they were busy doing handover' and ignored her concerns that she was facing another placental abruption.

It comes after a damning five-year inquiry, published yesterday, revealed 201 babies and nine mothers died needlessly during a two-decade spell of poor care at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain today, Steph said: 'I did have a few minor issues but nothing that was a major concern up until the day I went in, that's when they messed up massively.

Steph Hotchkiss, from Telford, said on Good Morning Britain today midwives 'sipped tea and refused to see her' despite being in severe pain while pregnant at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital

When Steph's baby Sophiya was born she still had a faint heartbeat, but later passed away because of the lack of oxygen to her brain

'They put me in a room at the back and left me there for 45 minutes.

'My husband went down to the midwife station on several occasions and they were just sat there sipping tea and wouldn't come and see me.'

When her husband asked why staff were unable to check Steph, she claims they said they were too busy handing over medical notes from one team to another.

Steph was worried she was having another placental abruption but says her fears were dismissed by staff without giving her a proper examination.

She explained: 'When the midwife finally came in I said "Am I having another abruption" and she said "Oh no your tummy is far too soft". Brushed it off like it was nothing.

KEY POINTS FROM THE OCKENDEN REPORT The inquiry, which examined cases involving 1,486 families mostly from 2000 to 2019, found 'repeated errors in care' which led to injury to either mothers or their babies

Maternity expert Donna Ockenden, who led the review, said the trust 'failed to investigate, failed to learn and failed to improve'

Some 201 babies and nine mothers could have - or would have - survived if the trust had provided better care

Staff were frightened to speak out about failings amid 'a culture of undermining and bullying'

Medics were advised by trust managers not to take part in a 'staff voices' initiative set up to assist the investigation into what went wrong

Issues were also identified with staffing levels, the management of patient safety, patient and family involvement in care and investigations, and the complaints processes

The review team identified 15 'immediate and essential actions which must be implemented by all trusts in England providing maternity services'

Ms Ockenden said it is absolutely clear that there is an urgent need for a robust and funded England-wide maternity workforce plan starting right now, without delay, and continuing over multiple years Advertisement

'I think my gut was telling me there was something wrong but you're supposed to trust them I just took her word for it.'

Soon afterwards, staff realised that Steph was in fact having an abruption and she was rushed to theatre, where Sophiya was born around an hour and a half after the couple arrived at hospital.

The baby had a faint heartbeat but later passed away because of the lack of oxygen to her brain.

Steph is soon set to meet with Donna Ockenden, the senior midwife behind the scathing probe into almost 1,600 incidents at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

'For me personally I still don't have all the answers,' she said. 'I'm hoping when I have a meeting with Donna Ockenden I can get those answers.

'Everyone I have always spoken to has agreed had they seen me when I first came in Sophiya would still be here now.

'I feel Incredible pain at the level of statistics. The level of failure is shocking and I really, really hope the things Donna has put into place are acted upon so standards don't slip back'

The landmark probe into Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust found mothers were blamed for their own deaths and their 'poor outcomes' - with Ockenden ruling the organisation 'failed to investigate, failed to learn and failed to improve'.

Babies suffered skull fractures, broken bones or developed cerebral palsy after traumatic forceps deliveries, while others were starved of oxygen or experienced life-changing brain injuries.

One mother who has been campaigning over the poor care at the NHS Trust for years is Rhiannon Davies, who lost baby daughter Kate hours after her birth in March 2009.

Kate Stanton-Davies died just hours after being born following a catalogue of failures at the midwife-led Ludlow Community Hospital, part of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Rhiannon, from Ludlow, Shropshire, had suffered complications in the last month of her pregnancy, due to a rare condition which means blood leaks from the foetus and into the mother.

Just two hours after being born at Ludlow, newborn Kate suffered a collapse and was flown by the West Midlands Air Ambulance to Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, where she died the same day.

'All I ever wanted was to understand why Kate had died, she said on ITV's Lorraine today. 'I held her in my arms when she was born for half an hour and I never held her in my arms again.

'All I wanted to know is why she died...we were lied to and lied to over and over again, that's why I've kept going for 13 years to try and get to the truth and now we have got to the truth.'

One mother who has been campaigning over the poor care at the NHS Trust for years is Rhiannon Davies, from Ludlow, Shropshire, who lost baby daughter Kate hours after her birth in March 2009

'All I ever wanted was to understand why Kate had died, she said on ITV's Lorraine today. 'I held her in my arms when she was born for half an hour and I never held her in my arms again'

An inquest at South Shropshire Coroners' Court in 2012 found Rhiannon's baby could have survived if she had been born at a hospital instead of a midwives unit, and how a decision by clinicians to treat Mrs Davies' pregnancy as low-risk contributed to her death.

'At that inquest it felt like such a watershed moment, all of the changes this hospital trust needed to make was exposed so we felt, she said. 'My husband and I felt positive at that point that change would happen, so that future mother and babies wouldn't be harmed.

'But of course that wasn't the case. The trust refused to accept the findings of the inquest, which they can neither morally or legally do. That set us on a quest to make them accept the changes.'

Speaking of the outcome of Ockenden's report today, she said: 'I don't have confidence that this hospital trust has the ability to change, it has had decades to learn.

'Donna Ockenden stated yesterday there are families coming to her and commissions coming to her in the last to weeks saying "this hospital trust is not safe".

'I don't think they have the ability to learn, the willingness, the appetite to make change, there is something rotten here, there is a toxic culture and it's caused catastrophic harm to hundreds of families. '

The little girl whose deadly infection was ignored by midwives... just one of the hundreds of heart-breaking tragedies from the NHS maternity scandal that saw 201 babies and nine mothers lose their lives

Devastated parents who lost children during the NHS's worst ever maternity scandal have shared heartbreaking stories of the scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust that turned their lives upside down.

Mothers and fathers revealed how their sons and daughters were stillborn, left with skull fractures or brain injuries due to the incompetence of staff at the sites in Shropshire.

It comes as an independent inquiry into the scandal found some 201 babies and nine mothers could have - or would have - survived if they were provided with better care.

It presided over catastrophic failings for 20 years - and did not learn from its own inadequate investigations - which led to families leaving the hospitals without their newborn babies.

Some suffered skull fractures, broken bones or developed cerebral palsy after traumatic forceps deliveries, while others were starved of oxygen and experienced life-changing brain injuries.

Meanwhile several mothers were made to have natural births despite the fact they should have been offered a Caesarean. Here, the parents tell of their traumatic experiences:

Midwives' missed chances to save baby Pippa from deadly infection:

Pippa Griffiths could still be alive today had midwives realised she was suffering a deadly infection. The little girl was born at home in Shropshire in April 2016, but died just 31 hours later from a Group B Streptococcus infection.

A coroner ruled her death was avoidable and blamed a string of unforgivable errors by midwives.

The inquest heard medical staff missed a crucial opportunity to save Pippa when her mother Kayleigh rang a midwife with concerns about her baby's feeding.

A second chance to save Pippa's life was missed when her mother rang hours later to report bloody mucus, a sign of a serious bacterial infection which could have been treated with urgent hospital treatment.

Pippa Griffiths could still be alive today had midwives realised she was suffering a deadly infection

Mrs Griffiths wipes her eyes as she holds the Ockenden report at The Mercure Shrewsbury Albrighton Hotel in Shropshire

The couple (pictured with their baby) lost Pippa a day after she was born in 2016 due to midwives failing to spot the serious infection Group B Strep - even though Kayleigh warned them

Pippa was born at 8.34am and a midwife was supposed to have gone to the family home for a check-up later in the afternoon.

But the inquest heard she failed to turn up. Pippa developed a purple rash later that night and eventually stopped breathing. Emergency services managed to get her breathing again, but she later died.

The trust accepted that chances to save Pippa's life were missed. Following the conclusion of the inquest, Mrs Griffiths said: 'We've fought for her and fought for the truth and ultimately she could have been saved.'

Mother said she'd lost fluid but was told she'd probably wet the bed... but had a stillbirth:

Charlotte Jackson raised concerns with staff that she had lost fluid and her baby's movement had reduced when she was 37 weeks pregnant.

Workers told her she had likely just wet herself, but he son - Jacob Harris - was was stillborn in November 2018 at Telford hospital.

The then 29-year-old from Bridgnorth got lawyers involved and the hospital trust admitted liability and agreed a settlement.

Charlotte Jackson raised concerns with staff that she had lost fluid and her baby's movement had reduced when she was 37 weeks pregnant

She told the Shropshire Star: 'I was quite worried and upset. Jacob had always been a very active baby so when I noticed that his movements were reduced I had a gut feeling that something was not right.

'However, I was shocked when I was told that it was a one off and I'd probably wet the bed.'

She later added: 'Giving birth to Jacob was absolutely horrific. It's almost impossible to put into words the emotion of it all, knowing your baby had already died.'

Workers told her she had likely just wet herself, but he son - Jacob Harris - was was stillborn in November 2018 at Telford hospital. Pictured: The baby's grave

Reverend said her son looked unwell after being born - but was dismissed by staff:

The Rev Charlotte Cheshire, 44, from Newport, Shropshire, said her son Adam, now 11, looked unwell after his birth in 2011 but her concerns were dismissed by staff at the trust.

When it was finally discovered he had Group B Strep infection, he was rushed to intensive care where he stayed for almost a month.

Ms Cheshire, who is suing the trust, said her son has been left with multiple, severe health problems and should have received treatment much earlier.

Ms Cheshire, who is suing the trust, said her son has been left with multiple, severe health problems and should have received treatment much earlier for Adam (pictured)

Among mothers taking legal action against Shrewsbury is the Reverend Charlotte Cheshire, 44, from Newport, Shropshire. Her son Adam looked unwell after his birth in 2011, but her concerns were dismissed by staff at the trust, she alleges

The Rev Charlotte Cheshire, 44, from Newport, Shropshire, said her son Adam, now 11, looked unwell after his birth in 2011 but her concerns were dismissed by staff at the trust

She said: 'What I'm ultimately hoping is that all of the families get some answers.

'And then, in our individual cases, about how it's possible for there to be such systemic failings over so many years, with seemingly either no-one noticing them, or potentially them being covered up.

'So I'm hoping first of all for answers, but secondly, I'm hoping, as a result of Ockenden, there are genuine learnings.

'Not the sort of, 'oh, we'll learn and get back to you', but genuine learnings to improve maternity safety - primarily first of all at Shrewsbury and Telford, but secondly across the country as a whole.'

She added: 'I don't want any other family to have to go through what we've gone through.'

Jack Stephen Burn died 11 hours after being trapped in the birth canal for four minutes. His mother Hayley Matthews (pictured) had been told that nothing was wrong with her pregnancy but later found out that Jack had been distressed for 20 minutes before delivery

Baby boy died 11 hours after being trapped in birth canal for FOUR MINUTES:

Jack Stephen Burn died 11 hours after being trapped in the birth canal for four minutes.

His mother Hayley Matthews had been told nothing was wrong with her pregnancy but later found out Jack had been distressed for 20 minutes before delivery.

He had also contracted group B streptococcus, the lethal infection carried by one in five women.

Jack died in March 2015 at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, hours after another baby, Oliver Smale, died following similar complications. Oliver's death was later deemed avoidable.

Although Jack's death was not deemed avoidable, it was later considered part of the investigation.

Miss Matthews, from Chirbury, west Shropshire, previously said: 'We would have both been in the hospital at the same time and there are so many parallels between the two cases.

'As with this poor boy, Jack got his shoulder stuck during delivery.

'They just left his head hanging while they went off to get someone to do something about it.'

A post mortem examination revealed that Jack had been starved of oxygen and had an infection on the lung and pneumonia caused by strep B.

Miss Matthews is campaigning for routine screening of strep B, which is not NHS policy. She said: 'If I'd have been tested for strep B during my pregnancy they might have picked up on it and given me antibiotics at an earlier stage and this means that Jack might still be alive today.'

Jack Stephen Burn (pictured) died 11 hours after being trapped in the birth canal for four minutes

Rhiannon Davies had raised fears over reduced movement in the womb

Staff ignored mother's warnings and said she was 'low-risk' despite daughter being born 'pale and floppy':

Kate Stanton-Davies died six hours after she was born because midwives failed to spot tell-tale signs of her deteriorating health.

Her mother Rhiannon Davies had raised fears over reduced movement in the womb, but was ignored by midwives who failed to properly monitor her pregnancy and wrongly deemed it low-risk.

Kate, who had anaemia, was born pale and floppy at Ludlow Community Hospital in Shropshire in March 2009. She was airlifted to Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital but died.

A report published in February 2016 concluded her death was avoidable and identified a litany of failings and shoddy record-keeping at the Shrewsbury and Telford trust.

Two midwives were deemed responsible for the errors, which included changing Kate's observation notes after her death.

Mrs Davies said: 'You would think losing Kate would be the worst event in my life but the continual need to revisit the trauma of that day as we fight to get the truth means my distress is ongoing.

'How many other baby deaths were avoidable, how many other investigations were not fit for purpose, how many other families have been betrayed, and how many other opportunities for learning have been lost?'

Kate Stanton-Davies died six hours after she was born because midwives failed to spot tell-tale signs of her deteriorating health

Rhiannon Davies from Ludlow, Shropshire, pictured with her daughter Kate moments after she was born on March 1, 2009 at Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust. Kate died just hours later

Katie Wilkins' baby girl died at Shrewsbury Hospital after midwives left her in a side room for 48 hours and failed to properly monitor her. Miss Wilkins pictured with partner Dave Jackson, 45

'My girl was still born after I was left in a side room':

Katie Wilkins' baby girl died at Shrewsbury Hospital after midwives left her in a side room for 48 hours and failed to properly monitor her.

Miss Wilkins was 15 days overdue when she arrived at the hospital to be induced in February 2013.

There were no beds available on the busy labour ward and Miss Wilkins, 24, claims she was 'forgotten' in the room for two days and visited by staff just a handful of times.

When a midwife did come to check on her progress they realised her baby's heartbeat could not be found. Maddie was delivered stillborn in the early hours of the following day.

Hospital bosses later admitted the baby would have been born alive had they treated her in a more 'timely' manner.

Miss Wilkins said: 'Maddie's death was recorded as unexplained but we know why she died  because the midwives didn't do their jobs properly.

'I'd had a perfectly normal pregnancy and didn't expect any problems with the birth. But I was left for hours at a time. The hospital was very busy and I felt like they simply forgot about me.

'Giving birth to my stillborn daughter was heartbreaking. I should have been taking her home with me, but instead she had to stay at the hospital in a Moses basket. It was awful.'

Maddie was delivered stillborn in the early hours of February 21. The results of a post-mortem examination said the 6lbs 14oz baby girl's death was unexplained.

In a letter to Miss Wilkins, Cathy Smith, head of midwifery at the hospital, apologised and admitted: 'Had your induction occurred more timely, Maddison would likely to have been born alive.' She added that practices at the hospital had now changed.

Miss Wilkins  who has since had a son and daughter with her partner Dave Jackson, 45,  is sceptical. She said: 'We were told that changes would be made and women would be properly monitored, but now it seems that never happened. The hospital think they can say sorry and we should move on, but we can't.'

Staff told her she was not suffering an abruption despite severe pains... but she was:

Steph Hotchkiss from Telford started to suffer severe pains in September 2014 when she was nearly 31 weeks pregnant and asked if she was having an abruption.

Staff told her she was not, but they were wrong and baby Sophiya passed away just 32 hours later. Steph told the Shropshire Star she still suffers flashbacks of the trauma, caused by a ruptured placenta.

The then 28-year-old had similar issues when her son Kyan was born in 2013, and then had an emergency caesarian.

But she said staff refused to listen to her during her daughter's birth, with her having told Royal Shrewsbury Hospital staff what she thought was happening.

She said: 'I can't put into words how painful this is for us. It was just so frustrating not to be listened to when I had previously had a difficult pregnancy involving a similar thing.'

Steph Hotchkiss from Telford started to suffer severe pains in September 2014 when she was nearly 31 weeks pregnant and asked if she was having an abruption

Encouraged to give birth naturally before baby got stuck and had to have an emergency caesarean:

Kamaljit Uppal was on the way to having her third child in 2003 but was told it would have to be delivered by caesarean because of how he was lying.

But staff at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital encouraged her to give birth naturally and she went through 18 hours of labour.

The baby got stuck and Kamaljit had to have an emergency caesarean. She said: 'I'm still coming out of my general anaesthetic and she said 'he's died' and that's it. They plonked the baby in my arms and said say goodbye.

'I didn't know how to say goodbye, I gave him a kiss and that was it. Once I came around a bit more they put me in a ward where there were babies.'

Kamaljit Uppal was on the way to having her third child in 2003 but was told it would have to be delivered by caesarean because of how he was lying. Pictured: She still keeps the baby's unworn clothes

Lost one of her twins during labour:

Debbie Greenaway lost one of her twin babies during labour at the trust and said the report 'doesn't change what's happened for 20 years'.

She told This Morning: 'To begin with, we thought it was just us, we had no idea until they started the report that exactly the same story has happened to so many people.

'There were so many similarities I wanted to tell my story and raise that awareness and give women a voice.'

'Consultants came and went, there was no communication, I didn't know what drugs I was being given or why, one consultant - I learnt afterwards was trying to take a foetal blood sample from John - which basically they cut his head to find his oxygen level, but they never explained what they were doing. I thought she was delivering them

Debbie Greenaway lost one of her twin babies during labour at the trust and said the report 'doesn't change what's happened for 20 years'

'[At the start of my pregnancy] a c-section delivery was straight away brushed off with 'we have the lowest caesarean rate in the country, we're proud of it, there's no reason for you not to have a natural birth'...'

She had an emergency caesarean, with Debbie saying, 'When I woke up, all I remember was my husband handing me Daniel, I went, 'Where's John?' and again, another doctor I'd never seen before said, 'There's nothing we can do, we need to turn the life support off'... and before I could react to that he walked off and came back carrying John.

'And in my just come round state, I thought 'Oh I got that wrong, he's here, he's fine' and when he was handed to me I actually thought he was alive.'

Following a post mortem, she said: 'All of the time frame was between me going in with two healthy babies with absolutely no issues and an awful long time from when he was brain damaged to delivery'

Had to waited EIGHT HOURS too long for C-section surgery:

Nikita Hose's son Caleb died last January in the county but it was not covered by today's inquiry due to it coming after the interim report in December 2020.

She went into hospital on January 8, 2021, when doctors found her waters had broken just over 27 weeks.

Two days later she told medics she was concerned after getting a fever and suffering from blurred vision. They told her to take her pyjamas off.

She was later told she needed a C-section but was waiting for surgery for hours. When Caleb was born he was unwell and died the next day.

Ms Hose told the Independent: 'I felt like they weren't really listening to me ... I did mention I didn't feel [Caleb] moving a few times.'

A probe by the trust found if he had been born eight hours earlier - when he was supposed to have been - he would have lived.

Ms Hose added: 'I still cry about it now, nearly every day. It's something that you'll never ever get over  ever.

'No matter how much counselling, medication, [nothing] will get you over what's happened because there's no words for it. There are just no words.'

201 babies and nine mothers died in biggest ever NHS maternity scandal: Damning five-year inquiry into Shrewsbury trust - where women were blamed for their OWN deaths - uncovers two decades of repeated failures as victims demand justice

Key points from the damning inquiry into the hospital trust: Here are the main points from the independent review of maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust: The inquiry, which examined cases involving 1,486 families mostly from 2000 to 2019, found 'repeated errors in care' which led to injury to either mothers or their babies.

Maternity expert Donna Ockenden, who led the review, said the trust 'failed to investigate, failed to learn and failed to improve'.

Some 201 babies could have - or would have - survived if the trust had provided better care.

Most of the neonatal deaths occurred in the first seven days of life, with nearly a third of all incidents reviewed (27.9%) identified as having significant or major concerns in the maternity care which might or would have resulted in a different outcome.

498 cases of stillbirth were reviewed and graded, and one in four cases were found to have significant or major concerns in care which if managed appropriately might, or would have, resulted in a different outcome.

There were 12 maternal deaths reviewed and in nine of the 12 cases (75%) the review team identified significant or major concerns in the care received.

Ms Ockenden said staff were frightened to speak out about failings amid 'a culture of undermining and bullying'.

Staff also claimed they were advised by trust managers not to take part in a 'staff voices' initiative set up to assist the investigation into what went wrong, according to Ms Ockenden.

The review team identified 15 'immediate and essential actions which must be implemented by all trusts in England providing maternity services'.

These include matters such as workforce funding, planning and sustainability, safe staffing, escalation and accountability, leadership, investigations of incidents and complaint handling, learning from the deaths of mothers, multidisciplinary training, complex antenatal care, pre-term, labour and birth at term, obstetric anaesthesia, post-natal care, bereavement care, neonatal care and supporting families.

Ms Ockenden said it is absolutely clear that there is an urgent need for a robust and funded England-wide maternity workforce plan starting right now, without delay, and continuing over multiple years. Advertisement

Devastated families whose babies died or were left brain dead during the country's worst ever maternity scandal have said a damning report on the NHS's failings was a 'bittersweet' victory.

Mothers and fathers whose children passed away shortly after being born at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust said the findings were 'really difficult to comprehend'.

Some of them added they hope the police now have enough evidence to prosecute the medical staff responsible for the hundreds of deaths up until 2019.

Some 201 babies and nine mothers could have - or would have - survived if an NHS trust had provided better care, the independent inquiry into the UK's biggest maternity scandal has found.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust saw catastrophic failings for 20 years - and did not learn from its own inadequate investigations - which led to babies being stillborn, dying shortly after birth or being brain damaged.

Some babies suffered skull fractures, broken bones or developed cerebral palsy after traumatic forceps deliveries, while others were starved of oxygen and experienced life-changing brain injuries.

Several mothers were made to have natural births despite the fact they should have been offered a Caesarean, the report concluded.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust's chief executive Louise Barnett today apologised for the pain and affected families had endured.

The victims' families gave mixed reactions as they responded to the shocking findings, with some calling for police to launch prosecutions.

Kayleigh Griffiths said: 'It's really difficult to comprehend.' Her partner Colin Griffiths added: 'It's bittersweet. It's an accomplishment, but it didn't need to happen.

'It shouldn't have happened in the first place.' Kayleigh added: 'We visited Pippa this morning before we came, and we said 'this is what we've done for her'.

'It's just heartbreaking. There's so many stories, so many families here today.' Colin said: 'Everyone's come together for this result.'

The couple lost Pippa a day after she was born in 2016 due to midwives failing to spot the serious infection Group B Strep - even though Kayleigh warned them.

Mrs Griffiths added: 'This is 200-odd pages of harmed families. It's a disgrace that they haven't learned when we've told them what the issues were.

'It's really important, and it's really important that maternity services up and down the country read this and listen to what families have gone through and the impact that's had on people's lives.'

Meanwhile Richard Stanton, whose daughter Kate Stanton-Davies died after just six hours in 2009, called for police to launch prosecutions against those responsible.

He said on Tuesday morning: 'I hope the police will now have sufficient evidence to present to the CPS for a prosecution.'

Julie Rowlings, whose daughter Olivia died after 23 hours of labour following a consultant's use of forceps, said she wanted somebody from Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust to talk to her face to face about her case.

Rhiannon Davies (left) embraces Kayleigh Griffiths, both women were instrumental in campaigning for an inquiry into poor maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust which led to then health secretary Jeremy Hunt ordering one in 2017

Colin and Kayleigh Griffiths, Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton are pictured with a copy of the Donna Ockenden Independent Review today

The Shropshire baby deaths: The harrowing stories that informed the inquiry Investigator Donna Ockenden's team has recorded the harrowing stories of children and mothers dying at the hands of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. In some cases, women were blamed for losing their babies, while others had their concerns and complaints dismissed, compounding their grief at losing a child. Families were often treated unkindly  echoed in women's medical records, in documents provided to the inquiry by the trust and families, and in letters sent to families by the trust. In her interim report in December 2020, Ms Ockenden described how, in 2011, a woman was in agony but was told that it was 'nothing', while staff were dismissive and made her feel 'pathetic'. One obstetrician was abrupt and called her 'lazy'. In a 2013 case investigated by the inquiry, a woman was left in great pain after delivery and screamed for hours before staff intervened. In 2009, despite a woman having known risk factors, her care was not escalated to more senior staff, and errors were made in monitoring the baby during labour. Even after birth, the baby was not monitored despite clear warning signs, and was transferred, too late, to a specialist unit where it died. Other cases recorded by Ms Ockenden's team are equally distressing, with one baby dying in 2016 after the mother was not adequately monitored due to the unit being 'busy'. In this case, the baby was delivered in a very poor condition having suffered a brain injury due to inappropriate care. Then in 2017, a woman suffered a catastrophic haemorrhage and later died. Her family stated that there had not been an explanation of the risks of birth in the midwifery-led unit, nor information on the need for transfer if complications arose. In 2011, a new mother died after delays treating her severe high blood pressure. Following delivery, there was a further delay in seeking senior clinical advice. She subsequently died in another hospital. In one 2016 case a pregnant woman with known large uterine fibroids was not referred to an obstetrician as she should have been. Errors were made in recording the baby's growth and it died on the day of birth from a severe hypoxic (low oxygen) birth injury. Another baby died in 2006 after the mother was given oxytocin in labour, despite it not being recommended for a breech baby. This baby was born in very poor condition and died a few days later. Ms Ockenden's review further noted there were cases where women were given drugs inappropriately despite abnormal scans. As a result, some babies were born with brain injury, cerebral palsy, or were stillborn or died soon after. In other errors, midwives recorded the mother's heart rate instead of the baby's, with serious consequences and one baby death. This was as recently as 2015. Also in 2015, despite a mother requesting a Caesarean following a previous one, her request was denied. After a complicated natural birth, the baby died a few days later from hypoxic brain injury and complications of shoulder dystocia (where the baby's head is born but one of the shoulders becomes stuck). A subsequent investigation failed to acknowledge omissions in care. Ms Ockenden's reports have said there were many opportunities to learn from incidents, but these did not happen. In 2015, a woman in labour at the midwife-led birth centre was not adequately monitored. When problems were eventually identified in labour there was a delay in transferring her to the labour ward, where her baby was delivered in very poor condition and suffered brain damage. The baby subsequently died. The review team also found evidence of repeated attempts at vaginal delivery with forceps, sometimes using excessive force. It said there was clear evidence that obstetricians were not following established local or national guidelines for safe deliveries of this type. In one case, in 2007, repeated attempts at forceps delivery left a baby with multiple skull fractures. It subsequently died. In another case, a woman known to have a big baby was refused her request for a Caesarean. She had a forceps delivery and the baby suffered a fracture. One baby in 2017 died following a traumatic forceps delivery by two doctors, while another woman had repeated attempted forceps delivery, leading to the baby having skull fractures and developing cerebral palsy. Advertisement

She said: 'I would like somebody from the trust to sit face to face with me, and talk to me. They've never done that.

'They've apologised, via media, they've apologised to all the families via media, but they've never sat down with the families.

'I want them to apologise face to face for what they put us through.

'I'd like them to apologise for ignoring what we were trying to tell them at the time. It would go a long way.'

The Rev Charlotte Cheshire, 44, from Newport, Shropshire, said her son Adam, now 11, looked unwell after his birth in 2011 but her concerns were dismissed by staff at the trust.

When it was finally discovered that he had Group B Strep infection, he was rushed to intensive care where he stayed for almost a month.

Ms Cheshire, who is suing the trust, said her son has been left with multiple, severe health problems and should have received treatment much earlier.

She said: 'What I'm ultimately hoping is that all of the families get some answers. And then, in our individual cases, about how it's possible for there to be such systemic failings over so many years, with seemingly either no-one noticing them, or potentially them being covered up.

'So I'm hoping first of all for answers, but secondly, I'm hoping, as a result of Ockenden, there are genuine learnings.

'Not the sort of, 'oh, we'll learn and get back to you', but genuine learnings to improve maternity safety - primarily first of all at Shrewsbury and Telford, but secondly across the country as a whole.

'I don't want any other family to have to go through what we've gone through.'

The damning report, led by maternity expert Donna Ockenden, examined cases involving 1,486 families, mostly from 2000 to 2019, and reviewed 1,592 clinical incidents.

A review of 498 stillbirths found one in four had 'significant or major concerns' over the maternity care given, which, if managed appropriately, might, or would have, resulted in a different outcome.

Some 40 per cent of these stillbirths were never investigated by the trust. There were also 'major' concerns over the care given to mothers in two-thirds of cases where the baby had been deprived of oxygen during birth.

Overall, there were also 29 recorded cases where babies suffered severe brain injuries and 65 cases of cerebral palsy.

Furthermore, nearly a third of neonatal deaths had 'significant or major concerns' over care. Yet the trust had only looked at 43 per cent of these.

Overall, 12 deaths of mothers were investigated, none of whom received care in line with best practice at the time. In three-quarters of these cases, care 'could have been significantly improved'.

Some women were blamed for their own deaths, the report found, while incidents that should have triggered a serious incident investigation were 'inappropriately downgraded' by the trust to its own series of 'high risk' case reviews, which were 'apparently to avoid external scrutiny'.

Ms Ockenden's report said this 'meant that the true scale of serious incidents within maternity services at the trust went unknown over a long period of time'.

But she added there were still 'persistent failings in incident investigations as late as 2018-2019'. The report said midwifery staff were 'overly confident' in their abilities, and there was a reluctance to involve more senior staff.

There was also a culture of 'them and us' between midwives and obstetricians, which meant some midwives were scared to involve consultants.

Ms Ockenden's team found families were locked out of reviews when things went wrong and were often treated without compassion and kindness.

The trust, which is currently ranked inadequate, was also found to have repeatedly failed to adequately monitor babies' heart rates, with catastrophic results, alongside not using drugs properly in labour.

Rhiannon Davies (left) embracing midwife Donna Ockenden (right)on the release of the report into maternity services which released its findings today after a five year investigation which was delayed on multiple occasions

Midwife Donna Ockenden found that an obsession with natural births at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust led to the deaths of 201 babies and left a hundred more with brain damage

Both former health secretary Jeremy Hunt (left) and Sajid Javid (right) have said care failings highlighted by a report into at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust must never happen again

Revealed: Shrewsbury maternity scandal was investigated in 2013 but local NHS bosses said services were SAFE Shrewsbury's maternity services were first investigated in 2013, but found to be 'safe' and of 'good quality'. Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Telford and Wrekin CCG ordered the internal review following concerns over an 'increased incidence of serious clinical adverse events'. It covered the period from April 1, 2012, to March 31 the following year, including the period when an inquest ruled the death of baby Kate Stanton-Davies could have been avoided. She was cold and floppy after being born and died six hours later. Mother Rhiannon warned in the days before the birth that her baby was moving less. The report was completed by Dr Josh Dixey, then a secondary care consultant at Shropshire CCG. He concluded that the trust had a 'maternity service to be proud of' and that the service is 'safe and effective'. The report added: 'There is a robust approach to risk management, clinical governance structures and learning from incidents which suggests a 'learning organisation'.' It also referred to the trust's high level of 'normal deliveries' and lower than average rate of caesareans  but described this as a 'positive'. At the unit, it noted the philosophy of care at the midwife-led unit was based on the view that pregnancy and birth were normal processes. Many more babies died at the trust's maternity unit after the report was completed. Advertisement

Leaders and midwives were determined to keep Caesarean section rates low - consistently 8 per cent to 12 per cent below the English average - despite the fact this repeatedly had severe consequences.

Ms Ockenden noted the leadership 'up to board level' at the trust was in a constant state of 'churn and change'.

She said the trust was focused on other clinical areas and there was 'significant turnover' at board and management level, which meant maternity issues remained 'largely unseen'.

In a briefing, Ms Ockenden said the review team found evidence of 'significant' under-reporting of harm and a prevailing belief services were safe, despite the fact eight external bodies 'inspected, visited, assessed, or checked upon the trust'.

Ms Ockenden said 'so many parents' had tried to raise concerns but were not listened to.

Boris Johnson told the House of Commons: 'Every woman giving birth has the right to a safe birth and my heart therefore goes out to the families for the distress and suffering they have endured.'

Tory MP Jeremy Hunt, who ordered the inquiry in 2017 when he was health secretary, said the numbers are 'worse' than he could have imagined and he hopes the report will be 'a wake-up call'.

Mr Stanton and Rhiannon Davies, who have campaigned for years over the poor care, lost their daughter Kate hours after her birth in March 2009.

The trust noted her death but described it as a 'no harm' event, although an inquest jury later ruled Kate's death could have been avoided. The trust still insisted its care had been in line with national guidelines.

In her report, Ms Ockenden said there was evidence of poor investigation of three baby deaths in similar circumstances (Kate Stanton-Davies and babies Joshua and Thomas) within the same year.

She said there was a lack of transparency and a 'lost opportunity' to prevent further baby deaths occurring.

Ms Ockenden also pointed to 'significant staffing and training gaps', while 'medical staff rotas have been overstretched throughout'.

One employee described the maternity service as the 'Republic of Maternity, where, often, the maternity service seemed to consume its own smoke, and didn't like having oversight by the corporate team'.

Another couple who have led the campaign for safer care are Mr and Mrs Griffiths, whose daughter Pippa died in 2016 from a Group B Strep infection. A year later, a coroner ruled her death could have been avoided.

A criminal investigation into what happened at the trust is being carried out by West Mercia Police.

Louise Barnett, chief executive at the trust, said improvements have been made and are continuing, adding: 'Today's report is deeply distressing and we offer our wholehearted apologies for the pain and distress caused by our failings as a trust.'
A British journalist who was shot and wounded in Ukraine revealed how he thought he would die as he came under fire from Russian artillery.

Terrifying footage released earlier this month showed Sky News' chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay and his crew being shot at while in a car travelling towards Kyiv.

The team were attempting to cross the Desna River using a pedestrian bridge often used by medics and fleeing civilians before coming under attack and fleeing to a nearby factory building.

As they tried to escape from the car, Ramsay was hit by a bullet in the lower back while two rounds hit camera operator Richie Mockler in his body armour during the ambush.

Appearing on ITV's Lorraine with producer Dominique Van Heerden, Ramsay said: 'I kept thinking "I'm going to die, I wonder how much it's going to hurt" and I got hit and it didn't hurt that much.

Terrifying footage released earlier this month showed Sky News' chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay and his crew being shot at by Russian forces. After a tense standoff, the team found shelter in a factory unit (Ramsay is pictured inside the warehouse)

Appearing on ITV's Lorraine today, Ramsay said: 'I kept thinking "I'm going to die, I wonder how much it's going to hurt" and I got hit and it didn't hurt that much'

'I've had an operation now they've taken out the scarring. I's healing now, it's okay. I think I was very lucky the surgeons have said it me, it was beyond luck.'

Shocking video footage of the attack shows the moment bullets rained down on the car and the team scream as windscreens glass smashes around before the shouting: 'Stop, were just journalists!

The crew were told a Russian reconnaissance unit was behind the attack, and Ramsay says the ambush was 'absolutely deadly'.

'It was, we're pretty certain, a professional attack by soldiers,' he said.

'They didn't miss much. I have been shot at a lot in my working life, usually they miss - but this was absolutely deadly. We were pretty sure we were targeted, or at least our car was.'

Producer Dominique Van Heerden was among the five-person crew who came under fire while attempting to cross the Desna River using a pedestrian bridge often used by medics and fleeing civilians

After a tense standoff, the team miraculously ran for their lives using a concrete wall for cover before finding shelter in a factory unit. They were later rescued by Ukrainian police.

'Of course we are trained we are wearing body armour, mine was hit but it went under the body armour. I was hit lower down,' said Ramsay.

'Richie, the camera man, rolled the whole time because he could sense something strange. We had a good idea something was coming; we had been directed down the road by the police. I kick myself because I didn't say "When was the last time you went down it?".'

Producer Dominique Van Heerden says the team believe they were targeted because they were travelling in a civilian car, not because they were journalists.

Dominique said on the ITV programme the team believe they were targeted because they were travelling in a civilian car, not because they were journalists

'That was the point of putting the story out, saying what happened to us was actually not extraordinary this is happening to Ukrainian civilians all the time,' she said.

She added: 'It was in Ukrainian territory it was their frontline; the very definition of an ambush is you don't see it coming and we didn't see it coming.

'We were a team of five. We were in a small car, we were not marked as press because that was the guidance, but the general guidance was that moving around like that was the safest way, so we were very confused initially.

'We thought it was a mistake, we knew we had to get out of the car but thought it was a mistake. That's why we then identified ourselves as journalists, but once we did that, the incoming just increased.'

Despite the terrifying attack, Ramsay says that the crew are planning to eventually return to the Ukraine.

'We're talked about it as a team and definitely we will go back, when its not certain. We all have colleagues and friends out there, sort of that's our jobs we all look at it like that', he said.
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Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie were joined by Zara Tindall for a long lunch at celebrity favourite Scott's restaurant after Prince Philip's memorial service on Tuesday.

The cousins, alongside their husbands, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Jack Brooksbatnk and Mike Tindall, came together for a lengthy meal at the exclusive eatery after they all attended the service at Westminster Abbey earlier this week.

After the event, they were spotted dining out for a long lunch at the restaurant in Mayfair and appeared in good spirits as they left the high-end eatery.

It was a rare outing for the cousins, whose parents Prince Andrew and Princess Anne are siblings, who were appeared to be gathering to remember their grandfather with an intimate meal after the memorial service at the abbey.

Snaps of the meal emerged today as a royal expert claimed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will be aware that missing the Duke of Edinburgh's memorial service for Prince Philip has made them look 'petulant and rude.'

Princess Beatrice (left) and Princess Eugenie (right) were joined by Zara Tindall for a long lunch at celebrity favourite Scott's restaurant after Prince Philip's memorial service on Tuesday

After the memorial service, Zara was spotted dining out for a long lunch at the restaurant in Mayfair and appeared in good spirits as she left the high-end eatery

It was a rare outing for the cousins, whose parents Prince Andrew and Princess Anne are siblings, who were appeared to be gathering to remember their grandfather with an intimate meal after the memorial service at the abbey (pictured, Eugenie and Beatrice at the service)

Princess Beatrice, 33, stepped out in a burgundy dress with coordinating heels and a black coat, alongside her polished husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 38.

The mother-of-one appeared to be wearing minimal makeup but wore her hair in loose curls for understated glamour.

Meanwhile Princess Eugenie, 32, who was comforted by husband Jack Brooksbank, 35, cut a stylish figure in a floral midi dress by British fashion designer Erdem worth 1,695.

She teamed the look with a cropped black jacket and matching headband that swept her hair off her face.

Meanwhile Zara Tindall was joined by her husband Mike for the meal.

The mother-of-three looked poised as she wore an understated Laura Green navy coat which she paired with elegant silver earrings, as she was joined by her husband Mike for the event.

Princess Eugenie , 32, who was comforted by husband Jack Brooksbank , 35, cut a stylish figure in a floral midi dress by British fashion designer Erdem worth 1,695 (left and right)

The mother-of-one teamed the look with a cropped black jacket and matching headband that swept her hair off her face

Jack could be seen ushering Princess Eugenie out of the restaurant at the end of their lengthy lunch on Tuesday

Zara accessorised with a chic Bee Smith velvet headband, a leather clutch bag and she added height to her frame in matching stilettos.

Mike looked smart in a grey tailored suit which he paired with a white shirt and a navy tie.

The couple had earlier been joined by their eldest daughter Mia, eight, at Westminster Abbey for the service, however it does not appear Mia was invited to the lunch.

The little eight-year-old, who wore a black peplum coat with red piping along the cuffs and collar, may have travelled back to Gatcombe estate with Zara's brother Peter Philips and his children Isla and Savannah Philips, who were also not present at the meal.

Princess Beatrice, 33, stepped out in a burgundy dress with coordinating heels and a black coat, alongside her polished husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 38

The mother-of-one appeared to be wearing minimal makeup but wore her hair in loose curls for understated glamour

The mother-of-one, who appeared emotional throughout the service at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday, was sombre as she left the restaurant

Princess Beatrice was particularly emotional at the event, tearing up as she watched her father the Duke of York accompanied the monarch down the aisle at Westminster Abbey, seemingly overcome by the significance of the moment.

To the shock of many in the congregation, including, apparently, Beatrice, the shamed royal, 62, escorted his mother, 95, all the way down to her front-row position  in full view of the live broadcast cameras - after travelling with her from Windsor.

It had been expected that the Dean of Westminster would take the Queen to her seat, with Andrew behind. The decision to have Andrew walk her down the aisle instead is being interpreted as an 'endorsement' by Her Majesty.

Shortly after laying eyes on her father and the Queen, Beatrice covered her face with the order of service. She then stood mutely while others around her sang, apparently trying to hold in tears.

Beatrice, who is regularly snapped eating at celebrity favourite Scotts, strode out of the restaurant alongside her husband Edoardo (pictured)

The royal had removed her maroon coloured fascinator at the lunch and could be seen carrying it in her hand alongside her handbag

Her Italian husband Edoardo could be seen ushering his wife into a waiting car as they left the fine dining restaurant after the lunch

A small crowd gathered to watch Princess Beatrice climb into a waiting car alongside her husband Edoardo

The emotion would have also been driven by the personal loss she felt at the death of her beloved grandfather the Duke of Edinburgh, with whom she shared a close relationship.

As Camilla Tominey noted in the Daily Telegraph: 'The very personal nature of such a public commemoration hit home when Beatrice, 33, started sobbing upon sight of her grandmother and father, arm in arm, covering her tearful face with her order of service.'

It's been a difficult period for Beatrice, who royal commentators have previously said has been 'devastated' by accusations by Virginia Giuffre that the Duke of York sexually assaulted her. Prince Andrew has categorically denied the accusations.

Scott's has long been a royal favourite, but also boasts numerous celebrity fans.

It was also the scene of the infamous nose-tweaking incident between Nigella Lawson and then husband Charles Saatchi last summer that led directly to the end of their marriage.

Other famous diners to patronise the restaurant include Formula 1 heiress Tamara Ecclestone, rocker Ronnie Wood and his 37-year-old wife Sally Humphreys.

A seafood restaurant, it is described on its website as offering 'the finest oysters, fish and crustacea' and also has an attached champagne bar.

Zara looked poised as she wore an understated Laura Green navy coat which she paired with elegant silver earrings, as she was joined by her husband Mike for the event

Zara, who is cousins with Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, beamed as she left the long lunch at Scotts earlier this week (pictured left and right)

The mother-of-three briefly stopped to speak with a member of staff as she left the exclusive celebrity haunt earlier this week (pictured)

The mother-of-three, who lives in Gatcombe estate with her husband Mike, placed her hand to her chest as she left the restaurant alongside her rugby ace partner (left and right)

Unlike Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, the down-to-earth couple appeared to leave the lunch in the back of a black cab (pictured)

The menu includes a choice of seven different types of oyster, including the Dungarvan Rocks variety for 16.95 for six, and Beluga caviar for an eye-watering 70 for just 10g.

Other options include a smoked salmon starter for 16.25 and a whole grilled lobster for a relatively reasonable 21.

The photographs emerged today as Ingrid Seward said Prince Harry and Meghan Markle 'missed an opportunity' by not attending the service.

Prince Harry, 37 and Meghan Markle, 40, were notable in their absence as the Queen, 95, senior royals, politicians, European royals and friends gathered in Westminster Abbey to pay tribute to Prince Philip.

The couple, who live in Montecito, California with their son Archie, two, and nine-month-old daughter Lilibet, announced in March they would not come to the UK for the memorial.

The Duke is pursuing a legal challenge against the Home Office after being told he would no longer be given the 'same degree' of personal protective security when visiting from the US, despite offering to pay for it himself.

Royal author and editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine Ingrid Seward, who penned Prince Philip Revealed, told The Mirror the couple 'missed an opportunity' by not attending the service.

She added they would have been aware of the optics of their decision not to attend, and that it would make them look 'petulant and rude.'
North Korea's greatest missile test to date used an older smaller intercontinental ballistic missile rather than the huge new Hwasong-17 ICBM, according to the South Korean military, in part to avoid a harsh public response to a botched launch.

According to a defense ministry source who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic, South Korean and US officials have decided that the March 24 launch seems to have been a Hwasong-15 ICBM.

North Korea Allegedly Staged a Missile Launch

The Pentagon's spokesman, John Kirby, told reporters on Tuesday that the test was still being assessed, but Washington has yet to officially comment. North Korea first shot the Hwasong-15 in November 2017 after it imposed an ICBM testing ban that ended with this week's launch.

Shadows, weather, and other characteristics suggested the footage and photographs broadcast by North Korean official media following that launch were from a previous test, likely a failed launch on March 16, according to open-source researchers.

The test might also have been carried out to improve the country's military might and strengthen its negotiating position with South Korea, the US, and the rest of the world, according to MSN. Disparities in the video and images of the launch given by North Korea have been pointed out since the material was released, raising questions about whether the launch was staged.

The photographs show Kim Jong Un wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses as he stands next to the Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, according to official media. The test might have been a move to increase North Korea's standing as a military resource and better its negotiating position with the international community, according to the study.

This failed test is thought to have pushed North Korea to create a huge lie and claim that the launch on March 24th was from the Hwasong-17 rather than the Hwasong-15 to boost domestic support.

While authorities from South Korea and the United States confirmed that the Hwasong-17 system was tested on February 27 and March 5, it was speculated that this was in preparation for a later complete launch. The properties of the missile, such as acceleration, combustion, and stage separation timings, are stated to be identical to those of the smaller missile, as per UNILAD.

Read Also: Roman Abramovich, Ukraine Negotiators Poisoned During Peace Talks; Kremlin Allegedly Warns Russian Billionaire Not To Betray Russia

South Korea Launches Rocket, Sends Spy Satellite in Orbit

Amid escalating tensions with neighboring North Korea, South Korea announced the successful launch of its first solid-fuel rocket on Wednesday, calling it a crucial step toward attaining a space surveillance capacity.

According to photographs supplied by Seoul's Defense Ministry, the South Korean-built solid-propellant rocket ascended into the sky before launching a fake satellite into orbit. Defense Minister Suh Wook and other top officials were present for the liftoff, according to a ministry statement.

Solid-fuel rockets offer shorter launch times, simpler structures, and are less expensive to construct and produce than liquid-fuel rockets. According to the government, South Korea will send a spy satellite into orbit on a solid-fuel rocket soon. South Korea presently lacks its military surveillance satellites and relies on US spy satellites to monitor North Korean vital installations.

In 2020, South Korea received US approval to utilize solid fuel for space launch vehicles, lifting a ban placed by Washington on its important Asian ally because of worries that the technology may lead to larger missiles and a regional arms race. Other remaining constraints were dropped by the US last year, allowing South Korea to create missiles with limitless ranges, ABC News reported.

Related Article: US, South Korea Claim North Korea Faked Test of Dangerous Missile; Expert Reveals Why Kim Jong-un Did It

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Staff at Windsor Castle have given final check and polish to five grand chandeliers in the Waterloo Chamber

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Staff at Windsor Castle have given a final dust and polish to the grand chandeliers inside the Waterloo Chamber ahead of its reopening to the public this weekend.

Conservators were seen donning white gloves as they inspected and cleaned five intricate cut-glass features, which had been lowered from the 14m ceiling to nearby the floor.

Obscured by scaffolding for 20 months during renovation work, the room is welcoming visitors back on Saturday, April 9.

The grandiose chamber, dedicated to the defeat of the French in the Battle of Waterloo, is one of the largest rooms in the Berkshire castle and is traditionally used for Investitures.

In previous years, the Queen took up official residence in Windsor Castle for a month over Easter and would preside over Investiture ceremonies at the Castle throughout the year.

However earlier this month it was reported that Her Majesty has decided to make Windsor Castle her permanent home and main residence - never fully returning to Buckingham Palace.

Staff at Windsor Castle have given a final dust and polish to the grand chandeliers inside the Waterloo Chamber ahead of its reopening to the public tomorrow

Conservators were seen donning white gloves as they inspected and cleaned five intricate cut-glass features, which had been lowered from the 14m ceiling to nearby the floor

Obscured by scaffolding for 20 months during renovation work, the room is welcoming visitors back on Saturday, April 9 and staff gave the grand pieces a final inspection ahead of the re-opening

Installed in 1862, the design of the impressive chandeliers was approved by Queen Victoria's consort Prince Albert shortly before his death.

Cleaning work in the Chamber included replacing the roof, and cleaning and conserving the room's lantern windows and ceiling, as well as the chandeliers.

Founded by William the Conqueror in the 11th century, Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest occupied castle in the world and is open to public visitors throughout the year.

The Waterloo Chamber is the busiest room at Windsor Castle. It is on the main visitor route and open to the public to the majority of the year.

Installed in 1862, the design of the impressive chandeliers was approved by Queen Victoria's consort Prince Albert shortly before his death. Staff were seen today giving the chandeliers a final dust off before the re-opening of the Waterloo Chamber on Sunday

The Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle will re-open for two months on Sunday and royal staff were seen giving the room's five chandeliers a final inspection and cleaning

A staff member at Windsor Castle inspecting a chandeliers in the Waterloo Chamber ahead of the room's re-opening on Sunday

The grandiose chamber, dedicated to the defeat of the French in the Battle of Waterloo, is one of the largest rooms in the Berkshire castle and features five large chandeliers

The room celebrated British victory over France at the end of the Napoleonic wars and is decorated with portraits of important figures from the period - including general Archduke Charles of Austria.

Regarded as one of the greatest generals in Europe during the Napoleonic Wars, his portrait depicts the figure wearing his Austrian army uniform and grasping an unsheathed sword.

The Queen spent much of lockdown at Windsor with Prince Philip until his death in April last year - with sources saying the couple 'rediscovered the happiness of their early years together' while only being attended to by a skeleton staff.

Cleaning work in the Chamber included replacing the roof, and cleaning and conserving the room's lantern windows and ceiling, as well as the chandeliers

The Waterloo Chamber is the busiest room at Windsor Castle. It is on the main visitor route and open to the public to the majority of the year

The room celebrated British victory over France at the end of the Napoleonic wars and is decorated with portraits of important figures from the period as well as the five stunning chandeliers

Her decision may have been influenced by the ongoing reservicing of her central London residence, where renovators or carry out works that will last until 2027.

Royal author Hugo Vickers told The Sunday Times: 'Windsor is the place she loves. She has her memories with Prince Philip there, she has her ponies there and family nearby. It makes sense.'

Windsor also puts the monarch closer to Prince Andrew, who lives at Rowe Lodge on the Windsor estate and Prince Edwards and his wife Sophie Wessex, who are a 10-mile drive away at Bagshot Park.

Prince Charles, the Duke of Cambridge and the Princess Royal also visit the Queen regularly at Windsor.
Comes days after she and Felipe attended Prince Philip's thanksgiving service

The Foundation Against Drug Addiction meeting was held in Madrid

She looked typically elegant in a chic white coat and animal print skirt

Queen Letizia of Spain oozed glamour in an animal print skirt as she attended a meeting at the Casa del Lector Library in Madrid.

The mother-of-two, 49, looked typically elegant in a chic white coat which she draped over her shoulders for the discussion with the Foundation Against Drug Addiction.

It comes after Queen Letizia and King Felipe paid tribute to the extraordinary life of the Duke of Edinburgh on Tuesday.

Queen Letizia of Spain oozed glamour in an animal print skirt as she attended a FAD meeting at the Casa del Lector Library in Madrid on Thursday

The mother-of-two, 49, looked typically elegant in a chic white coat which she draped over her shoulders

It comes after Queen Letizia and King Felipe paid tribute to the extraordinary life of the Duke of Edinburgh on Tuesday in Westminster Abbey for the service of thanksgiving

Letizia added height to her frame in black pointed toe stilettos and she completed her look with a black blouse.

She accessorised with a black leather quilted handbag and added a bit more glam with gold hoop earrings.

Her brunette locks fell loose in soft curls and she donned a neutral palette of makeup which enhanced her flawless complexion.

Letizia donned a white paper face mask keeping in line with the Covid-19 regulations in the city.

She added height to her frame in black pointed toe stilettos and she completed her look with a black blouse

Letizia met with the Minister of Health Carolina Darias as she arrived at the venue and the two posed for a slew of snaps before heading inside

Her brunette locks fell loose in soft curls and she donned a neutral palette of makeup which enhanced her flawless complexion

Letizia and her husband Felipe were among the royals who made the journey to Westminster Abbey for the service of thanksgiving in London.

Queen Letizia of the Spain looked elegant in an emerald green coat dress and matching hat as she arrived alongside her husband for the service.

She styled her hair in a neat bun and sported discreet accessories, with just a pair of small hoop earrings adorned with emeralds to complete the look.

Letizia met with local officials before the meeting began and she chatting outside with Health Minister Carolina

She accessorised with a black leather quilted handbag and added a bit more glam with gold hoop earrings

Letizia donned a white paper face mask keeping in line with the Covid-19 regulations in the city

She beamed as she saluted the guests who were standing and waiting for her arrival at the venue

Meanwhile, her husband King Felipe VI donned a dapper navy suit with a blue tie and white shirt for today's event.

Born to Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Prince Philip had ties to many of the European monarchies which were only strengthened when he married the then Princess Elizabeth.

His maternal grandmother, Princess Victoria of Hesse, was granddaughter of Queen Victoria, dubbed 'Europe's grandmother' because of her sprawling web of nine children and 42 grandchildren marring into other European families.

There are also familial links to the King of Spain, who touchingly referred to the Duke of Edinburgh as 'dear uncle Philip' in a statement shared after his death.
Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and her daughter Estelle looked radiant in new ultra-glamorous official portraits shared online this week.

The Swedish royal family launched a new website which features newly-shot portraits of the entire family in ball-gowns and glittering tiaras.

The photographs, which include snaps of Victoria, 44, Estelle, 11, and Princess Sofia, 37, were taken by Linda Brostrom of the Royal Court.

The Crown Princess, 44, was the picture of elegance in grey and white opulent gown which featured a drop shoulder design.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and her daughter Estelle looked radiant in new ultra-glamorous official portraits shared online this week (pictured, Crown Princess Victoria)

Posing for her portrait, Princess Sofia, 37, oozed glamour in a floral full length gown which featured long sleeves and a cinched waist

It was embellished by numerous brooches which donned pearls and a chic pale blue bow.

Her glitzy tiara, which is called the Napoleonic Cut-Steel tiara, was passed down from Queen Josefina.

Princess Sofia, 37, oozed glamour in a floral full length gown which featured long sleeves and a cinched waist.

Sofia, the wife of Prince Carl Philip, wore the Palmette Tiara, which was a wedding gift from King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia.

Alongside individual portraits, the royals posed for a group-shot, which included Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf (pictured, l-r Princess Sofia ,Queen Silvia ,Prince Carl Philip ,King Carl XVI Gustaf, Princess Madeleine, Princess Estelle ,Prince Daniel, Crown Princess Victoria, Prince Oscar)

The Queen looks poised in a beaded floor length gown which features many elegant brooches.

She wore the aforementioned Swedish Cameo Tiara which features seven Napoleonic cameos encircled with pearls.

Meanwhile Princess Madeleine, 39, looked incredible in a pale pink floral ensemble which featured a sheer neckline.

Her diamond tiara was a wedding gift to her from her mother, who was given it by her husband in the 1980s.

The Queen looks poised in a beaded floor length gown which features many opulent broaches (left), while Princess Madeleine, 39, looked incredible in a pale pink floral ensemble which featured a sheer neckline (right)

The King and his heirs! In a portrait of the three heirs, the Crown Princess Victoria posed with her daughter Princess Estelle, and her father King Carl XVI Gustaf

And posing for his individual portrait, the Duke of Varmland, Prince Carl Philip, looked typically dapper in a three-piece-suit.

His ensemble featured a white waistcoat and he donned many royal medals on his blazer.

Alongside individual portraits, the royals posed for a group-shot, which included Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf.

In the photograph, Princess Sofia smiled broadly as she stood alongside her husband Prince Carl Philip.

Princess Madeline, who is based in the US, beamed widely in her portrait (left), while Sofia, the wife of Prince Carl Philip, wore the Palmette Tiara, which was a wedding gift from King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia (right)

The Queen wore the aforementioned Swedish Cameo Tiara which features seven Napoleonic cameos encircled with pearls

The married couple perfectly coordinated their outfits for the occasion, with Princess Sofia opting for a gorgeous baby blue gown for the snaps.

Meanwhile Princess Madeline was snapped in the centre of the image wearing a soft pink gown.

Crown Princess Victoria was seated alongside her children, Princess Estelle and Prince Oscar, as well as her husband, Prince Daniel.

In another, the Crown Princess Victoria poses with princess Estelle, and King Carl XVI Gustaf.

Estelle beams in a pretty pale cream floor length gown with frilly sleeves and tied at the waist.

The King looked smart in a traditional military uniform which featured many royal medals and he carried his hat under his arm

Meanwhile Prince Carl Philip (left) and Prince Daniel (right) were dashingly handsome in their new official portraits

King Gustaf has sat on the Swedish throne since 1973 when he succeeded his late father, Gustaf VI Adolf.

He married the German-born Silvia Sommerlath, now 75, in 1976 after meeting her when she was a hostess at the 1972 Olympics.

In 1980, a law was passed which abolished male preference in the line of succession.

That means Crown Princess Victoria, rather than her eldest brother Carl Philip, is the heir apparent to the throne.

She is expected to become Sweden's first female monarch since the 18th century.

In 2019, the king passed a law to remove the children of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine from the Royal Household.

Prince Oscar, Princess Victoria's son, looked adorable in a navy suit which was paired with a white shirt and polka dot tie

The monarch made the controversial decision, following the launch of an investigation by the Swedish parliament - the Riksdag - into how the 12million annual budget of the generally popular royal family could be kept under control.

The five youngsters stripped of their royal titles, aged between one and five, are the offspring of the King's two younger children, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Madeleine, and their respective partners.

As a result, they are not directly in line to the throne and Princess Madeleine - mother to Princess Leonore; Prince Nicolas, and Princess Adrienne - said they would now have 'a greater opportunity to shape their own lives'.

Also affected are Prince Alexander, and Prince Gabriel, who are the children of Prince Carl Philip and his wife Sofia Hellqvist.
A victim of Jeffrey Epstein has spoken out for the first time in a BBC documentary, describing how she was lured to his private island where she was forced to visit his 'ice cold, pitch black' bedroom and raped up to three times a day as part of his 'factory' of abuse.

Juliette Bryant, from Cape Town, South Africa, was a 20-year-old aspiring model when she was first introduced to the billionaire paedophile, who told her she had the 'most beautiful figure he had ever seen' and promised to fly her to New York to launch her career.

But instead Juliette was taken on his private jet to his Caribbean island where she became trapped in the sex trafficking operation 'run' by Epstein and 'operated' by Ghislaine Maxwell.

Speaking in BBC2 series House of Maxwell, which premieres on Monday night, Juliette tells how she watched other victims perform sex acts on Epstein and was sexually assaulted by the predator on a number of occasions over almost two years. She estimates she saw 60 girls and women in the time she was there.

'Things happened there that scared me so deeply that I can't even talk about them,' she says. 'He fed off the terror, there was something about the energy of a girl being scared that he liked.'

She also shares never-before-seen photos she took Epstein's island, including one of Maxwell and one of an artwork depicting a woman being raped by a sea monster.

Juliette, who in 2019 filed a lawsuit against Epsteins estate alleging the former financier had repeatedly raped her numerous times, explained she and other victims had been too afraid to speak out because Epstein threatened her and her family.

'It was just like a factory,' she says. He was running a machine and Ghislaine Maxwell was the one operating it. People ask why I went back. Nobody disobeyed Epstein.'

Juliette Bryant, from Cape Town, South Africa, spoke out for the first time on forthcoming BBC documentary House of Maxwell about being held against her will on Jeffrey Epstein's island

Juliette says the grooming operation ran by disgraced billionaire paedophile Jeffery Epstein ran with Ghislaine Maxwell was like a 'factory'

Now, however, she wants to shed light on the industrial scale of the abuse she witnessed, which involved carefully coordinating visas and travel plans for dozens of girls and women from around the world over a number of years.

'I wanted to just be quiet and live my life and forget about it all. But then I can't forget about it,' she says.

'I'm tired of feeling ashamed when I didn't actually do anything wrong and I know I'm one of the lucky ones I know other people have had far worse and that is who I want to speak for, for the people who can't talk anymore.'

BBC Two's House of Maxwell charts how Ghislaine Maxwell went from a multi-millionaires daughter to a woman convicted of grooming and trafficking underage girls.

Juliette's ordeal started in 2002 when Juliette was approached by a 'beautiful' American girl asking if she was a model and whether she wanted to meet her 'friend', who she claimed had links to Victoria's Secret.

'I was just a young girl with hopes and dreams and thought I could really make something of my life, some sort of modelling [career],' she said.

Soon after she presented her modelling portfolio to Epstein in a hotel room, where he told her she had 'the most amazing figure I've ever seen in my life'.

Juliette was forced to go to travel to island for various periods on and off for nearly two years, revealing 'I was so broken at that point, I just sort of went along with it'

When Juliette was first introduced to Ghislaine she was told that they were a couple, but remains unconvinced their relationship was ever romantic

Epstein said he wanted to take Juliette to New York to launch her modelling career, offering to pay for her visa and ticket.

'I thought it was going to be the most amazing opportunity of my life,' Juliette recalls.

But instead of flying to the US, Epstein's office phoned Juliette and said she would be flying to Epstein's island in the US Virgin Island. She assumed the purpose of the trip was for a photoshoot and 'immediately said yes'.

Ghislaine Maxwell's legal team launch bids for retrial for convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of grooming and trafficking underage girls last year. However Maxwell's legal team requested that her sex trafficking conviction be overturned and the case be retried in January. Maxwell is hoping for a retrial after it emerged that one juror failed to disclose that he was sexually abused as a child before the trial. In February, lawyers for the disgraced socialite filed another 37-page appeal at a New York court claiming 'erroneous' jury instructions made her conviction unfair. Jurors seemingly believed one victim  who gave her name only as Jane  who said she was abused by Epstein and Maxwell at his ranch in New Mexico when she was 16. The appeal documents say: 'A jury note sent during deliberations indicted that the jurors were considering convicting Ms Maxwellbased solely on the New Mexico conduct.' Maxwell's lawyers argue that the judge should have explained to jurors that under New Mexico law 'Jane' was not underage and should have instructed them to focus only on alleged sex assaults in New York where the age of consent is 18. Maxwell, 60, faces up to 65 years in jail when she is sentenced on June 28 after being found guilty in December on five charges. Advertisement

Juliette recalls being astounded by the beauty of Epstein's notorious island when she arrived. She discovered a pile of discarded disposable cameras which she used to take photographs of her time on the Caribbean island.

The photographs, shown for the first time in the documentary, include ones of her posing by the docks, photos of the small chalet in which she stayed near the port and a disturbing artwork showing a deformed sea creature clambering on top of a naked young woman.

'It was a naked girl and there was like a big walrus it looked like the walrus was trying to rape her, it was a very disturbing picture. I've never seen a picture like that', she says.

Other images show Juliette with a camera inside Epstein's island home, Maxwell eating a meal on a table and Epstein's bedroom which included a four poster bed with white bedding and mosquito netting.

'He had a lot of weird stuff around his house. There were just pictures of naked girls everywhere and there were a lot of naked pictures of Ghislaine too.'

But shortly after arriving on the island, it became clear the trip was far from the dream destination photoshoot she had imagined.

Juliette was asked to watch a movie with Epstein and another girl. To her horror the girl began performing a sex act on the paedophile.

'I was absolutely petrified,' Juliette recalls. 'I was so young, I'd never seen anything like that. I was crying, I just ran out of the room. I didn't know what to do.

'There was no hope of getting away. I was in a foreign country with no money or cell phone or means of communication.

'I just realised then I was completely trapped and there was nothing I could do. Ghislaine was running the girls and would tell us when we needed to go to his bedroom, you couldn't say no, there was just no option.'

She remembers his bedroom as being 'pitch black and ice cold' and says she dissociated with her body as he sexually assaulted her.

'I just checked out of my body and let him do what he wanted because I didn't know what else to do,' Juliette recalls.

'I tried to escape in my mind, I tried to pretend it wasn't happening. Things happened there that scared me so deeply that I can't even talk about them.

'He fed off the terror, there was something about the energy of a girl being scared that he liked.'

Epstein's office called Juliette and told her they would be flying to the Caribbean - where she assumed they would be having a photoshoot. Maxwell is seen giving Epstein a foot rub on board his private jet

When Juliette was first introduced to Ghislaine she was told that they were a couple, but remains unconvinced their relationship was ever romantic.

'The thing is, I didn't even see them hold hands or kiss once,' she says. 'I never saw them give each other a hug. To be honest, I never saw them come that close, so it definitely was not a romantic relationship.'

Before she was sent home Juliette was threatened by Epstein who told her of another girl who had accused her of rape and ended up in jail because he had planted drugs in her home. Juliette was also warned her family was 'on a list'.

'I just did as I was told,' she says. 'I was petrified of him, who he was. I knew crossing him would be a very bad idea.'

Juliette was forced to return to the island for various periods on and off for nearly two years.

'I was so broken at that point, I just sort of went along with it,' she says. 'I never felt okay again after that, everything just fell to pieces, it's very, very hard to understand I am still trying to piece it all together.'

None of the victims ever tried to rebel against Epstein and Maxwell, with Juliette revealing that it would have been 'very scary making them angry'

Epstein killed himself in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell was convicted of trafficking girls in December last year but her lawyers are requesting a new trial after information emerged about one of the jurors.

Series producer Ceri Isfryn said Juliette felt ready to come forward and tell her story on camera after Epstein's death.

'Juliette is a remarkable woman. She's a very strong independent woman,' series producer Isfryn said ahead of the programme's premiere.

'I think the arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell spurred her on to feel less scared of speaking out and less ashamed of speaking out.

'She really felt strongly that she wanted to speak for those woman, who were girls some of them at the time, who can't.

'I think the other thing she felt she wanted to get across was the complexity of this sex trafficking operation in terms of when she describes the visas, travelling.

'If you just look at how many different women, from different countries, from different years and I think she really wanted to convey how masterful they were at grooming women and girls and how well they did that for such a length of time.'

House of Maxwell begins Monday at 9pm on BBC Two.
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A soldier of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment dramatically fell of his horse during the state ceremonial practice for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations today.

Around 170 horses and personnel from the group left their Hyde Park Barracks to form up and be inspected by the General Officer Commanding the Household Division, Major General Christopher Ghika this morning.

However, one solider fell to the ground during the rehearsal. It's not clear how he fell but it's believed he is not seriously injured.

A soldier of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment dramatically fell of his horse during the state ceremonial practice for the Platinum Jubilee celebrations today

Around 170 horses and personnel from the group left their Hyde Park Barracks to form up and be inspected by the General Officer Commanding the Household Division, Major General Christopher Ghika this morning

The Major General's annual inspection is the ultimate test for the British Army's most spectacular and exacting ceremonial unit.

This year includes the honour of taking part in celebrations for a Platinum Jubilee.

Following intense preparation involving hundreds of hours of training for the men, women and their horses, the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment are put through their paces during their annual inspection by the Major General.

While one solider fell, other stunning images show thee originally pristine silver cuirasses and white breeches splattered with mud as the rain poured down in Central London.

However, one solider fell to the ground during the rehearsal. It's not clear how he fell but it's believed he is not seriously injured.

The Major General's annual inspection is the ultimate test for the British Army's most spectacular and exacting ceremonial unit, soldiers are pictured today

The troopers completed moves replicating those to be performed on this year's Queen's Birthday Parade - also known as Trooping the Colour -which is the highlight of the ceremonial season, an extra special celebration this year.

The Major General's Inspection is the annual test of the regiment's ability to conduct state ceremonial duties for the year.

The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment is based in Hyde Park Barracks in Knightsbridge and provides mounted ceremonial troops for all state occasions including State Visits, the Queen's Birthday Parade, the State Opening of Parliament and the Garter Ceremony.

Following intense preparation involving hundreds of hours of training for the men, women and their horses, the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment are put through their paces during their annual inspection by the Major General

The Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment is based in Hyde Park Barracks in Knightsbridge and provides mounted ceremonial troops for all state occasions including State Visits, the Queen's Birthday Parade, the State Opening of Parliament and the Garter Ceremony

It has three squadrons: The Life Guards Mounted Squadron in red tunics and white plumes, the Blues and Royals Mounted Squadron in blue tunics and red plumes and a Headquarters Squadron which commands all the specialists such as farriers and saddlers.

Nearly all new Household Cavalry recruits go first to the mounted regiment, where they learn to ride and spend just over a year on ceremonial duties before going to the operational regiment in Windsor.

Many, if not most, have never ridden a horse before.

In the last few decades, the soldiers of the Household Cavalry have seen service in the Falklands, Northern Ireland, the Gulf, Bosnia and Iraq.

Since 2006 the Household Cavalry Regiment has deployed to Afghanistan six times.

As a result of the Army 2020 plans, the Household Cavalry Regiment is to form a pivotal role in the new strike brigade, equipped with AJAX, the future armoured reconnaissance vehicle.

Nearly all new Household Cavalry recruits go first to the mounted regiment, where they learn to ride and spend just over a year on ceremonial duties before going to the operational regiment in Windsor.

In the last few decades, the soldiers of the Household Cavalry have seen service in the Falklands, Northern Ireland, the Gulf, Bosnia and Iraq.

For the Queen's Jubilee, the Army will reflect on its development in the 70 years of her historic reign.

Soldiers, sailors and airmen will be central to this years Platinum Jubilee commemorations, which officially began on 6 February, Accession Day, the 70th anniversary of the day King George VI died, and Princess Elizabeth ascended to the throne.

Some of the Queens special projects have already begun, including the Queens Green Canopy, which invites people from across the UK to Plant a Tree for the Jubilee. The project will dedicate a network of 70 Ancient Woodlands across the United Kingdom and identify 70 Ancient Trees to celebrate Her Majestys 70 years of service.

Junior Soldiers from Army Foundation College in Harrogate helped launch the project in May, with six magnolia trees being planted in memory of Captain Sir Tom Moore. The Army, and industry partners, will be planting 540 saplings and trees across the garrisons of Aldershot, Bulford, Tidworth and Warminster.

For the Queen's Jubilee, the Army will reflect on its development in the 70 years of her historic reign. An artist is shown painting the Calvary today

Nearly all new Household Cavalry recruits go first to the mounted regiment, where they learn to ride and spend just over a year on ceremonial duties before going to the operational regiment in Windsor

Whilst not all events are directly related to the Platinum Jubilee, many of them will have a significant jubilee theme running throughout, including the Royal Windsor Horse Show from 11 to 15 May 22.

Kicking off the four-day UK Bank Holiday weekend The Queens Birthday Parade, also known as Trooping The Colour, will take place on Thursday 2 June. It has moved from the traditional second Saturday in June to be held on the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeths coronation at Westminster Abbey in 1952.

Also, on 2 June, buglers and pipers will be supporting the lighting of Platinum Jubilee Beacons, being lit throughout the UK, Isle of Man and UK Overseas Territories.

On Friday 3 June, there will be a Service of Thanksgiving at St Pauls Cathedral.
Elliot Page has opened up about his milestone appearance at this year's Oscars, describing his 'joy' at being able to wear a tuxedo to the event - which marked his first Academy Awards since he came out as transgender in December 2020.

The 35-year-old Umbrella Academy star put on a dapper display on the red carpet at this year's glittering awards ceremony, donning a classic black tuxedo by Gucci, before taking to the stage to mark the 15th anniversary of his breakout movie Juno alongside co-stars Jennifer Garner and JK Simmons.

But beyond marking the milestone of the movie that turned him into a Hollywood heavyweight, Page says his appearance at the Oscars also served as a significant personal step - describing it as a 'special, wonderful, joyful moment' during an Instagram Live interview to mark the start of the Trans Week of Visibility and Action on Monday.

'I feel the best I've ever felt like, like, I feel the way that I really actually never thought was possible,' Page said of his decision to come out as transgender, adding: 'Just the degree now that I can feel present, simply that I can feel present in a space without this incessant underlying anxiety or some sort of feeling like I need to flee.'

Speaking specifically about the Academy Awards, the actor continued: 'All those things are really special, wonderful, joyful moments where youre looking at a photograph and it's really cool to see yourself for the first time  or the person you already saw but here they are, like, theyre f***ing emerging.'

Elliot Page has opened up about the 'joy' he felt at being able to wear a suit on the red carpet at this year's Oscars - which marked his first time at the event since he came out as transgender

Speaking in an Instagram Live to mark the start of Trans Week of Visibility and Action (seen), Page, 35, described his Oscars experience as a 'special, wonderful, joyful moment'

The actor donned a classic black tuxedo by Gucci for his appearance at the Oscars - where he marked the 15th anniversary of his cult 2007 movie Juno

Page's appearance at this year's Oscars comes 14 years after he walked the red carpet as a Best Actress nominee, having earned the nod for his breakout role in the hit 2007 movie Juno.

At the time, Page wore a vintage Jean-Louis Scherrer dress - however he revealed in an April 2021 Oprah that the experience of wearing dresses on the red carpet was so 'painful' for him, he couldn't stand to look back at the images of himself at the awards ceremony.

The actor, who previously stated that he had known he was a boy since he was a toddler, recalled to the TV host how, before puberty, being a 'tomboy' was 'accepted'  but upon reaching adolescence, it was less so, and having to wear girls' clothing made him feel 'ill'.

He added that he 'couldn't express just the degree of pain that I was in' while promoting Juno, which came out in December 2007, and in which he portrayed a pregnant teenager preparing to give her baby up for adoption.

Page marked the 15th anniversary of the hit movie at this year's Academy Awards, during which he praised the movie's lasting impact on viewers, while recalling his own initial excitement at reading the script, which he said 'had him hooked from the very first page'.

'Juno had me hooked from the very first page and was completely infused with [screenwriter] Diablo Cody's distinctive voice. It was unlike anything I'd ever read before,' he told the star-studded audience during the ceremony.

Jennifer, 49, agreed, chiming in: '15 years ago, we all experienced the exhilarating feeling of reading a wholly original screenplay that felt new and exciting.'

In an April 2021 interview with Oprah, Page described the 'painful' experience of having to wear dresses while promoting Juno - admitting he couldn't stand to look at images of himself in the vintage Jean-Louis Scherrer dress he wore to the Oscars in 2008 (pictured)

'I feel the best I've ever felt like, like, I feel the way that I really actually never thought was possible,' Page said of his decision to come out as transgender

Meanwhile JK, who appeared as Juno's father in the film, joked about the flick's witty dialogue, noting: 'There were definitely a couple phrases in there I'd never read before, like, "Your Eggo is preggo" and "pork swords" come to mind.'

The touching reunion comes almost 15 years after Juno premiered; the movie, which was released in December 2007, catapulted Page to global stardom.

In the movie, the actor played the part of Juno MacGuff, a pregnant teenager who offers to give her baby up for adoption to a local couple, Mark and Vanessa Loring - played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer.

The actor shot to fame while starring in the title role of Juno MacGuff, a pregnant teen who wants to give her baby up for adoption to Jennifer's character, Vanessa Loring

JK played the part of Juno's father, Mac, while the her stepmother, Bren, was portrayed by Allison Janney.

The role landed Page an Oscar nomination for Best Actress and saw him hailed as one of the brightest young stars in Hollywood. Major movie roles in X-Men: Days of Future Past and Inception  in which he starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio  followed.

However, while the actor's career was going from strength to strength, behind the scenes he was struggling with his gender identity - revealing to Oprah in 2021 that he eventually 'lost it' in 2010 after being presented with three dresses to wear to the Paris premiere of his movie Inception.

He then 'collapsed' in what was likely a 'panic attack' when he arrived back from the after party.

In his latest Instagram Live appearance, Page reflected back on the 'challenges' that he has gone through to reach a place where he now finally feels his 'best' - while shedding light on the severe struggles faced by so many transgender people, particularly those who do not have the same 'privilege' that he enjoys.

'I know the challenges I've gone through and I know how difficult it has been for me, how close I've come to... you know,' he said.

Page shared a touching moment on-stage when he reunited with his Juno co-stars, Jennifer Garner and JK Simmons, with all three paying tribute to the movie's 15th anniversary

Juno, which was released in December 2007, shot Elliot (seen in the movie with Jennifer and Jason Bateman) to global fame and even earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actress

'I think about the enormous amount of privilege, the enormous amount of resources I've had absolutely, unequivocally saved my life  from therapy to my surgery, and so many things in between.'

Speaking about anti-trans bills in places like Arizona, Page warned of the severe and 'painful' toll that they will have on transgender youth, noting that he is continually working on ways to use his 'platform' in order to raise awareness and support for the community.

'Were tired of having to say, "Oh no, I actually do exist,"' he said.

Before arriving at the Oscars, Elliot took a moment to advocate for transgender rights on his Instagram account, sharing a series of posts about the Trans Week of Visibility + Action, a digital campaign to fight anti-trans legislation across the U.S.

In the two and a half years since he himself came out as trans, Elliot has become an outspoken advocate for transgender rights, using his own experiences to highlight the importance of support for trans youngsters the world over.

During his interview with Oprah last year, he opening up about his 'life-changing' top surgery, explaining that the result of the procedure - which is typically performed on transgender men who have started undergoing hormone therapy - 'completely transformed his life'.

'Getting out of the shower and the towel's around your waist and you're looking at yourself in the mirror and you're just like, "There I am,"' he said, getting choked up. 'And I'm not having the moment where I'm panicked. I'm not having all these little moments that used to be  just being in a T-shirt. It's being able to touch my chest.'

He also stressed the need to demonstrate to others just how important this surgery can be  particularly 'because there is such an attack on trans health care right now, when already there is such a lack of access or trans people who don't even want to go to the doctor.'
Retailers were today told to stop selling hundreds of cannabis-derived oils, gels, sprays, bakery products and drinks.

In a crackdown on the unregulated CBD market, watchdogs two years ago told all manufacturers to prove their products were safe by gaining regulatory approval.

None have yet to be given the green light since, despite being widely available in shops, cafes and online.

However, the Food Standards Agency has today published a list of more than 3,500 CBD-infused items which are deemed 'credible' contenders.

The regulatory body, which will police the multi-million pound market, said any products not catalogued should be pulled from shelves immediately.

It also warned that cannabidiol supplements currently on the list could still turn out to be bogus.

Food Standards Agency has today published a list of more than 3,500 CBD-infused items which are deemed 'credible'. Pictured: i-Cann CBD oil which is on the list

The regulatory body, which will police the multi-million pound market, said any products not catalogued should be pulled from shelves immediately Pictured: Taylor Mammon's CBD roll-on which is also on the list

WHAT IS CBD OIL? CBD oil is a legal cannabinoid that can be sold in the UK. CBD contains less than 0.2 per cent of the psychoactive substance THC. Although the oil has been thought to have some medicinal properties, including relieving inflammation, pain and anxiety, there is no conclusive science. Suppliers in England and Wales have to obtain a licence to sell CBD as a medicine. Manufacturers are able to avoid the strict regulation by selling it as a food supplement - ignoring the lengthy process of gaining a medicinal licence. CBD products comes in many forms, the most popular being an oil - which users spray under their tongue - or gel tablets which melt slowly in the mouth. Government advisers at the MHRA found that CBD has a restoring, correcting or modifying effect on humans. Cannabis oil, which is different to CBD oil because it contains THC - the compound that gives users a 'high' - is illegal under UK laws. Billy Caldwell, from Castlederg, Northern Ireland, made headlines last April when he became the first Briton to be prescribed it on the NHS. Cannabis oil, which reportedly has no side effects, influences the release and uptake of feel good chemicals such as dopamine and serotonin. Advertisement

Emily Miles, chief executive of the FSA, said: 'We have created the public list to help local authorities and retailers prioritise products to be removed from sale.

'If a product is not on the list, it should be removed from sale because it is not attached to a credible application to us for market authorisation.

'But being on the list means that the application is credible and the FSA has, or is shortly expecting to receive, significant scientific evidence from the applicant with which to judge safety.'

She added: 'I want to emphasise that the FSA is not endorsing products on the public list.

'Inclusion on the list is no guarantee that they will be authorised as they have not yet been fully assessed for safety.

'But we have taken the step of publishing the list so that local authorities, retailers and consumers can make informed judgments about what they stock and buy.'

Ms Miles said the FSA, non-ministerial government department responsible for protecting public health in relation to food in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, was gradually bringing the 'growing market into compliance with the law'.

High street CBD supplements  sold in stores such as Boots and Holland and Barrett  are not classed as medicines but foods.

As such, they can't be sold with any health claims. But advocates say the compound can be used to help people who struggle with their sleep, anxiety and pain.

Yet they are popular, with sales reaching 690million last year, 164 million more than industry expectations.

Some oils cost almost 100 a bottle and customers can be charged up to 12 for eight pieces of CBD chewing gum.

In 2020 the FSA announced CBD manufacturers had to submit 'novel food' status applications, including content analysis and scientific safety data.

The deadline for businesses to submit their products was March 31, 2021, with all applications now fully processed.

Minutes from the FSA's chief executive report in December said 'the quality of applications was lower than we anticipated'.

The FSA continues to advise consumers 'think carefully' before taking CBD products. It says healthy adults shouldn't take more than 70mg a day.

It also recommends people in vulnerable groups, including pregnant and breastfeeding women and those taking medication, do not use it unless under medical direction.

Some scientific studies suggested CBD could affect the liver if taken at higher doses, although there had been very few studies, the FSA said.
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Experts say the US is unlikely to experience yet another COVID surge similar to the current infection spike being recorded in China because so many Americans have immunity to the virus, as cases and deaths plummet.

Experts from top public health schools in the U.S. told CNN that residents of China are 'immunologically naive' because of their little previous experience with the virus, as the nation has managed to keep case numbers low throughout the pandemic.

It also instituted notoriously-draconian lockdowns, which saw residents of ground zero city Wuhan welded into their apartments in an authoritarian bid to stop the virus spreading.

Meanwhile, America has already suffered five massive virus surges over two years, with nearly the entire population having been infected at some point.

The Sinopharm vaccine being distributed around the Asian country is not nearly as effective against infection as the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna jabs being administered in America, too.

Covid cases in America have also settled at one of the lowest points during the pandemic so far, with the nation averaging 30,679 cases per day, a figure that has stayed relatively steady over the past two weeks. Daily deaths are plummeting, down 24 percent over the past week to 745 a day - the lowest daily death average since August.

China has suffered its largest surge of Covid cases yet this month, reaching a record 14,000 cases per day. Even amid the surge China (green) still has a much lower infection rate that the U.S. (red) and other nations

China has suffered record surge of the virus in recent weeks, with the Asian nation reaching 14,000 new cases per day this week. Strict quarantine and lockdown orders as part of the country's 'zero Covid' policy have made these types of increases rare for China.

Dr Abram Wagner (pictured), a public health expert at the University of Michigan, said that the U.S. and China are going forward on different trajectories so far during the pandemic

Case levels are still comparatively low for China, though. At a record high, the country is averaging four cases per one million residents, while America's current low comes out to 91 cases per one million residents - Our World in Data reports.

'That's a stark contrast,' Abram Wagner, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, told CNN.

'We're in different trajectories, with the US case numbers going down and kind of plateauing at this point in time, so the direction is different. But I think seeing the smaller number of cases in China, I think the policies that China has in play with restrictions on some level have had an effect.'

A surge occurring in China does not mean much for the U.S., though, even as America heads in a total opposite direction of their Asian peers by dropping all Covid restrictions and returning to 'normal' around the country.

Experts say that the situation in each country is so different that it is hard to draw conclusions for one based on data from another.

'Public health is very much a local thing... you would probably expect to see more variation from country to country in terms of case numbers and surges and fatality rates from here on out' said Andy Pekosz, a virologist at the Johns Hopkins, told CNN.

'All of that means it's just difficult to make blanket statements about how things are going to go forward.'

The highly infectious, vaccine resistant, Omicron variant has caused problems for the Sinopharm jab as well, and 'changed an awful lot of the playing field,' Pekosz said.

Dr Andy Pekosz (pictured), a virologist at Johns Hopkins, said that the natural immunity many Americans have from BA.1 infection will likely protect them from infection from the 'stealth' variant

Meanwhile in the U.S., a successful rollout of COVID-19 booster shots has allowed the country to shore up immunity and control the virus. American regulators are now rolling out a fourth shot as well, with the Food and Drug Administration authorizing a second booster dose of the Pfizer and Moderna shots to Americans 50 and older this week.

The main difference between America and China is natural immunity. China has kept cases minimal for nearly two years, recording 1.3 million overall, meaning that basically none of the population has natural Covid antibodies.

America has suffered over 80 million Covid infections, with officials warning that true infection figures could be even three times higher than that because of lack of available testing at some points, asymptomatic cases and that some at-home rapid tests do not get reported in official figures.

Now, as the BA.2 'stealth' variant begins to spread across the world, slowly overtaking the less-infectious BA.1 lineage that dominated the winter, Chinese people do not have the same kind of natural immunity that Americans have.

'The [BA.2] subvariant of Omicron is not an entire leap ahead of Omicron, whereas Omicron was really quite different than Delta,' said Dr Davidson Hammer, a global health professor at Boston University, told CNN.

'I think that there are a lot of people, at least the United States, that have had Omicron, and there's growing evidence that there's they're close enough in terms of their immunologic profile that if you've had [BA.1], you're unlikely to get [BA.2].'

BA.2, 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 Omciron that took over the world last last year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Tuesday that it now makes up 55 percent of active Covid cases in the U.S., taking the mantle from BA.1 as the nation's dominant strain.

As a whole, Omicron is still the dominant variant and makes up every single case sequenced by the CDC, the agency reports.

There are fears that this strain will cause another surge of cases in America, like it did in other parts of the world in recent weeks, though the likelihood is looking increasingly slim as cases numbers were not effected at all by BA.2 overtaking BA.1 in recent weeks.
The Wanted's Tom Parker was given his terminal brain cancer diagnosis on his own because of Covid restrictions.

The pop star and father-of-two died at the the age of 33 yesterday after an 18-month battle with the disease.

He was told he had a stage four glioblastoma in September 2020, six weeks after he started suffering seizures.

Due to the pandemic rules in place at the time, his then-pregnant wife and daughter were not allowed to be with him when he was given the heartbreaking diagnosis at a hospital in Norwich.

Tom was on an NHS waiting list for an MRI scan since July after bouts of unexplained fits.

Charities today insisted there was nothing more the health service could have done because the standard of treatment would have remained the same even if Tom was diagnosed earlier.

Tom  who had private care on top of the chemotherapy and radiotherapy offered by the health service  slammed the options available on the NHS last year.

He said: 'I don't want to beat around the bush about the NHS. I think they have been great

'But I think there's a massive improvement needed in treatment for brain tumours.'

Glioblastoma has a notoriously poor prognosis, with patients usually only living for 12 to 18 months after a diagnosis. This is partly to do with the speed the cancer spreads but also due to a lack of treatments able to successfully combat it.

MPs today called on the Government to increase funding to improve treatment and diagnoses for brain cancers.

Wanted pop star Tom Parker and father-of-two was told he had stage four glioblastoma in September 2020, six weeks after he started suffering seizures

Tom  who had private care on top of the chemotherapy and radiotherapy offered by the health service  slammed the options available on the NHS last year

Tom said he hoped to help increase funding for treatment and research by speaking out about his own experience. Last October he performed with The Wanted for the first time in seven year at a star-studded charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall (pictured) in aid of brain cancer research

WHAT IS A GLIOBLASTOMA AND JUST HOW DEADLY IS IT? Glioblastoma is considered the most aggressive tumor that can form in the brain. Senator John McCain was diagnosed with one in July 2017. Patients have a 10 percent chance of surviving five years after their diagnosis, according to figures. The average lifespan is between 14 and 16 months. Three adults per every 100,000 will be struck down with a glioblastoma, says The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS). It is most commonly found in men aged 50 to 60, and there is no link between developing glioblastoma and having a previous history with other cancers. WHAT IS THE TUMOR MADE OF? The tumor is made up of a mass of cells growing quickly in the brain, and in most cases patients have no family history of the disease. It won't spread to other organs, however, once it is diagnosed, it is nearly impossible to target, surgeons claim. Unlike other types of brain cancer which are more specifically located, glioblastoma can occur in any part of the brain. WHAT TREATMENT IS AVAILABLE? Because the tumor likely already spread deep into the brain by the time it is diagnosed, the cancerous tissue is incredibly difficult to remove. Surgeon will only ever remove the tumor, or part of the tumor, if it won't do any damage to the surrounding brain tissue. Dr Babcar Cisse, a neurosurgeon at the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center, told Daily Mail Online in July 2017: 'By the time a glioblastoma is diagnosed, microfibers can spread to the rest of the brain which an MRI would not spot. 'So even if the main tumor is removed and the patient receives radiation and chemotherapy, it will come back.' GRADING A GLIOBLASTOMA Brain tumors are graded from between one to four, depending on how fast they grow and how aggressive they are. Malignant tumors are either given a high-grade three or four, while benign ones are given a lower grade one or two. Glioblastoma is often referred to as a grade four astrocytoma - another form of brain tumor, says the AANS. SYMPTOMS Patients typically complain of symptoms such as confused vision, trouble with memory, dizziness and headaches. The symptoms are somewhat nonspecific, and vary from person to person, and may not persist. The disease is therefore impossible to diagnose based on symptoms alone. Advertisement

Tom began suffering seizures in July 2020 and was put on a waiting list for an MRI scan on the NHS.

He had his most serious seizure during a family trip to Norwich six weeks later and was rushed to hospital.

Tom spent three days in hospital and was not allowed to have his wife Kelsey or young daughter Aurelia with him due to Covid measures in place at the time.

The boy band member was alone when he received the news that his brain tumour was inoperable and terminal.

Tom and his wife revealed his diagnosis to his fans on October 12, 2020, saying they were 'absolutely devastated' but vowing to 'fight this all the way'.

By that time, he had already begun chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment to shrink the cancer and slow its spread.

GBM patients are given the chemotherapy drug temozolomide as standard care on the NHS. The treatment has not changed for almost 20 years.

Hugh Adams, spokesman for the charity Brain Tumour Research, told MailOnline the standard of treatment would have remained the same even if Mr Parker was diagnosed earlier.

He said: 'It is impossible to predict what would have happened if Tom had been scanned earlier.

'Even if he had been scanned and diagnosed earlier the standard of care treatment would have remained the same.

'The sad fact is that treatment options for patients haven't changed in decades and this is because of a lack of investment in funding for research.

'Without proper investment we will continue to lose young people to this cruel disease.'

Speaking in October last year, Tom said he was shocked by the lack of investment in GMB treatment in the UK.

He said research was under-funded and a 'massive improvement' is needed in treatment for brain tumours.

Alongside radiotherapy and chemotherapy, patients are also sometimes given surgery to remove tumours or steroids and drugs to manage their symptoms.

But Mr Parker told the Chat2Amani podcast last October 'there's got to be a better answer out there than just that'.

Last month, it was claimed that Tom had spent a week in Spain receiving a 'revolutionary' treatment.

His treatment abroad supposedly included time in an oxygen machine, massages and a special diet.

Funding for brain cancer research in the UK increased from 4million in 2010 to 15million in 2020.

However, that only makes up 2 per cent of all the cancer research spending in the UK, according to the National Cancer Research Institute.

Tom said he hoped to help increase funding for treatment and research by speaking out about his own experience.

Last October he performed with The Wanted for the first time in seven year at a star-studded charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of brain cancer research.

Tom questioned how a vaccine was developed for Covid within a year but some chemotherapy drugs used for brain tumour patients hadn't changed in 20 years.

In November 2021, the star revealed in an Instagram post that his brain tumour had been brought 'under control'.

Although a scan revealed tumour was 'stable' and not progressions, it did not mean he was cancer-free.

Earlier this month, a photo shared by his bandmates showed the star in a wheelchair behind the scenes of the groups' UK tour after becoming too weak to stand.

MPs today called on No10 to increase spending on the NHS to improve outcomes for patients.

Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Daisy Cooper, told MailOnline: 'I was extremely sad to learn that Tom Parker had, sadly, passed away yesterday and my thoughts are with his family and loved ones.

'I never met Tom, but was touched at how, in the face of his own diagnosis and treatment, he bravely used his platform to raise vital awareness of brain tumours.

'It is clear that there is more that the Government can and must do and I urge them to act now  including by seriously tackling the NHS staffing crisis  so that fewer families have to experience the premature loss of their loved ones.'

Glioblastoma forms from cells called astrocytes that support nerve cells and has usually spread deep into the brain by the time it is diagnosed.

Like many brain tumours, scientists do not know what causes the cancer and in most cases patients have no family history of the disease.

In 2018, former Labour MP Tessa Jowell died after a battle with glioblastoma and former US Senator John McCain succumbed to the cancer in 2017.

It can kill by shutting down the brain entirely or pressing against the brainstem, which controls breathing and pulse.
Fentanyl use in America is rocketing, leading to a surge of deaths from the synthetic opioids and seizures by U.S. law enforcement agencies.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports that 9,969,551 pills containing fentanyl were seized by law enforcement like the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in 2021, a 30-fold jump from the 290,304 seized in 2018.

Synthetic opioids like fentanyl are highly dangerous, and have fueled a drug crisis that is now responsible for over 100,000 American deaths every year.

Fentanyl is largely sourced from Mexico, and experts point to the southern border crisis as the source of many of these drugs being trafficked into America.

The number of pills seized by the DEA and other U.S. law enforcement found to contain fentanyl increased 30-fold from 2018 to 2021, with over 9.6 million found last year

The NIH reports that pills only make up around 30% of fentanyl seizures made by law enforcement officials last year (file photo)

'An increase in illicit pills containing fentanyl points to a new and increasingly dangerous period in the United States,' Dr Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, a part of the NIH, said in a statement.

'Pills are often taken or snorted by people who are more naive to drug use, and who have lower tolerances. When a pill is contaminated with fentanyl, as is now often the case, poisoning can easily occur.'

Fentanyl seizures by law enforcement has been spiking for three years now. From 2018 to 2019, the increase in seizures jumped five-fold, to over 1.5 million pills founds to be laced with the drug.

The figure then more than doubled to 4,149,037 in 2020, before doubling again in 2021.

Border officials report that they only have the resources to screen around 5% of cars that come across the southern border, and that the process can be very long. Pictured: Cars lined up to cross the border at Tijuana, Baja, California

Pictured: Migrants cross the Rio Bravo river to get from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas

Fentanyl is not used on purpose by people, as it his highly potent and can almost instantly kill somebody if used.

It is instead used as a synthetic agent in many illicit drugs like heroin, Xanax, cocaine and others, leaving many of the people who overdose and die from it totally unaware.

'Many people who use heroin already expect fentanyl to be in the drug supply and are aware of the dangers,' Dr Joseph Palmar, an associate professor of population health at NYU, said.

'But people who buy pills illegally on the 'street' that are said to be Xanax or oxycodone can overdose if such pills are laced with fentanyl, even trace amounts.

'This places a much wider population at risk that may not be expecting their drugs to be adulterated,'

Fentanyl first made its way onto the radar of the DEA in 2013, and it has since exacerbated what was already a desperate opioid and overdose crisis in the U.S.

Opioids (black) make up nearly 80% of drug overdose deaths in the U.S., and synthetic opioids like fentanyl (brown) make up a large portion of overall opioid deaths

Most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that a record 105,752 Americans died of a drug overdose from October 2020 to 2021, the most ever during a 12 month period.

Nearly 70,000 of those deaths were caused by a synthetic opioid like fentanyl.

Per the NIH research team, pills account for around 30 percent of fentanyl seizures, meaning this spike is just a share of the overall problem.

Powdered drugs like cocaine that contain fentanyl also increased 263 percent during the three year period, researchers report.

Many experts believe that the drugs are flowing in from the southern border, and officials have argued for more resources to control the flow of product from Mexico, and to track down illicit material as it comes in.

The Washington Post reported in February that the process of screening a car for drugs or other illegal goods can be long and arduous.

Currently, officials only have the resources to screen around five percent of cars coming across the border, making it near impossible to stop the flow of drugs.

'It's not just a gap in our security, it's a gaping hole in our security... it's resulting in lives being lost,' Ohio Sen Rob Portman, a Republican, said last month on the senate floor.
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) has agreed to issue a more than $100,000 fine against the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign over an investigation into alleged misreporting of spending related to the infamous Steele dossier.

The FEC fined both organizations after the discovery of a pair of now-years-old complaints, one of which from the Campaign Legal Center and another from the conservative Coolidge Reagan Foundation. The documents alleged that the party and campaign reported payments to Perkins Coie, a powerhouse Democratic law firm, as legal expenses.

Federal Complaint on Clinton and DNC

However, it was found that some of the transactions' funds were earmarked for "paying Fusion GPS through Perkins Coie to conduct opposition research on Donald Trump." It was the statement written in the complaint by the Campaign Legal Center.

The two organizations included in the complaints have collectively agreed to pay $113,000 in fines. According to separate conciliation agreements the agency made with both parties, the DNC will be responsible for $105,000 while Clinton's 2016 campaign will pay the remaining $8,000, as per Politico.

Under American law, political candidates and groups are required to publicly disclose their spending to the FEC. In the documents, they must explain the purpose of any specific expenditure that is valued at more than $200. The FEC previously concluded that Clinton's campaign and the DNC misreported the money that funded the dossier.

Read Also: Joe Manchin Rejects Billionaire's Tax Urging Everybody To Pay Fair Share; Bernie Sanders Slams Senator For Nixing President's Plan

British spy Christopher Steele was responsible for compiling the dossier related to the complaint against the DNC and the Clinton campaign. The document contained unverified and salacious allegations about former United States President Donald Trump, including claims that the Republican businessman's campaign colluded with the Kremlin to win the 2016 election.

According to CNN, for years, the money trail behind the Steele dossier has been the subject of intense political scrutiny. It found that the Clinton campaign and the DNC paid more than $1 million to Perkins Coie. Fusion GPS later fired Steele and asked him to take advantage of his overseas contacts to get dirt about Trump's alleged ties to Russia.

$113,000 Fine

While the FEC has not yet made public the findings of its investigations on the DNC and Clinton's campaign, it sent a letter about the inquiry and its resolution to Dan Backer. He is a conservative lawyer and is the one responsible for filing the complaint on behalf of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation.

Backer later posted the resolution to his group's website, which shows that the commission has agreed the two parties have probably violated campaign finance law. Backer said that the group he represented was thrilled to have gotten some modicum of accountability against Clinton and the DNC.

A lawyer representing both the campaign and the DNC in the case, Graham Wilson, did not respond to a request for comment regarding the issue. On the other hand, a DNC spokesman, Daniel Wessel, said in a released statement that the party has settled aging and silly complaints from the 2016 election about "purpose descriptions," the New York Times reported.



Related Article: 21 States File Lawsuit Against Biden Administration Over Mask Mandate for Public Transportation

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Britain's Covid cases have collapsed, official figures revealed today amid growing optimism that the resurgence has peaked.

UK Health Security Agency bosses logged 74,720 positive tests today, down almost a quarter on last week. Tolls have been trending downwards for about a week now.

The decline comes on the eve of England's post-pandemic era, with the end of the multi-billion pound mass test regime. Only NHS workers, care home staff and vulnerable patients will be eligible for free swabs from midnight under No10's 'Living With Covid' strategy, with hundreds of testing sites set to be dismantled.

There were fears a reduction in testing over the past few weeks had led to false drop in case numbers but several experts have admitted the UK genuinely seems to be over the worst.

While cases have been on the decline, the number of people hospitalised due to the coronavirus and the number of people killed by Covid have been rising.

A total of 2,220 people were admitted to hospital with Covid as of March 27, the latest data available and up 12.2 per cent on the previous week. However, the milder Omicron strains and wider immunity means around half of Covid patients in hospital are not primarily being treated for the virus.

Deaths have also risen week-on-week, with 192 recorded today, up 16.4 per cent compared to last Thursday.

Despite the optimistic signs and the country being on the brink of returning to normality, senior health advisers have warned the worst is not over.

Dame Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), called for the nation to be 'very sensible and take precautions in periods of high prevalence as we have now'.

Meanwhile, Sir Patrick Vallance, the Government's chief scientific adviser, warned a Covid variant 'that escapes immunity' could still take the world by surprise. And Sir Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, argued the health service is still under 'significant pressure'.

Britons should KEEP wearing face masks because Covid infections are so high, top health chief says Britons should keep wearing face masks because Covid infections are so high, one of the country's top health advisers said today. Dame Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), called for the nation to be 'very sensible and take precautions in periods of high prevalence as we have now'. She revealed she still wears a covering in shops and on trains, despite the law being ditched in England weeks ago. Dame Jenny said: 'The public, when there has been a perceived risk, have responded and moderated their own behaviours. I have every confidence they will continue to do that.' But she admitted there was a 'middle ground' where people will opt against wearing a mask. Dame Jenny said: 'As we move into this living with Covid phase it is about balancing that risk and personal behaviours. 'In the same as we would in the flu season, in some countries many people will wear a face covering in public during that season and that is normal behaviour.' Daily cases have soared to the highest levels since the peak of the Omicron wave in January. The rise was attributed to ministers dropping restrictions on 'Freedom Day' and the more infectious Omicron strain. But leading experts  including the Government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance  are hopeful that the worst is over. He told that infections are 'beginning to turn' and that we may 'quite close to, or at, the peak'. Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, insists Britons should continue wearing face masks, saying they should be 'very sensible and take precautions in periods of high prevalence as we have now' Advertisement

Speaking at a virtual Royal Society conference Sir Patrick said there will be pandemics in the future and added that Covid could still surprise us.

'Its also clear this one is not over and weve got very high infection rates at the moment,' he said.

'And the room for this virus to evolve remains very large, so we could be taken by surprise again with a variant that escapes immunity.'

The most recent decline in cases comes after Sir Patrick said yesterday that 'infections are beginning to turn so we may be quite close to, or at, the peak and it may start coming down shortly'.

Speaking to MPs on the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, he said admissions and deaths could continue to increase for some weeks because of the lag between infection and severe illness.

And Sajid Javid today insisted people must 'learn to live with Covid' as campaigners criticised the end of free testing for millions of people in England.

The Health Secretary said it was right to 'focus resources' on those people who still most needed testing, including some hospital patients and those at a high risk of severe Covid.

'We are one of the most open and free countries in the world now, and thats because of decisions that weve taken as a country and it is right also as we learn to live with Covid that we withdraw free testing  universally if its not needed anymore, but we focus those resources on the people that need it most. And thats what were doing,' he said.

But charities like Carers UK and the Alzheimers Society have criticised the move, with the latter saying it 'risks gambling' with the lives of people living with dementia in care homes.

The Alzheimers Society has been campaigning to keep lateral flow tests free for all people visiting loved ones in care settings.

James White, head of public affairs and campaigns at the charity, said: 'With the end of Covid rules, people may well assume infections are dwindling.

'But the reality is that cases have been soaring which means scrapping all isolation rules and ending free tests is a dangerous gamble.

'It poses an unnecessary risk for people living with dementia being exposed to infected people not isolating in the community, but also from untested people visiting care homes whilst infected.

'Its a relief to see a small number of those giving close personal care receive free tests for care home visits, but this doesnt go nearly far enough to allow everyone to visit safely and provide families with the reassurance needed.'

He said the Alzheimers Societys helpline has heard from families concerned about paying for tests to visit loved ones when the cost of living is rising.

While free testing ends in England, it will continue during April in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and until the summer in Wales.

Ministers in England argue that even though infection levels have been rising, vaccines and antivirals are working to protect the vast majority of people.

The most recent data shows there were 15,632 people in hospital in England with Covid as of Wednesday, up 18 per cent week on week and the highest since January 19.

When asked if now is the right time to end free Covid testing, Dame Harries said the UK must be prepared for the pandemic to 'remain unpredictable'.

'The pandemic takes its own course and it will remain unpredictable to a large extent for the next say 18 months to two years, I think is general consensus, and we will have to be continuously alert to monitor those rates and to respond appropriately to any new variants.'

'But as with other respiratory viruses such as flu at some point we have to come to terms with that.'

However she added that people should continue to take precautions, and that she will continue to wear a mask in shops and on public transport.

The Government has set out the groups who will still be eligible for free testing when they have symptoms of the virus.

These include some hospital patients, some people at high risk of severe Covid, and some who live or work in 'high-risk settings' including some NHS and social care units or prisons.

Those who are positive, or have symptoms, are being urged to stay at home.

In other Covid news, all of the around 500 walk-in centres across the country will close from tomorrow, in the final part of No10's process of entering a post-pandemic era. Some sites have been open for two years.

Workers at a Covid testing centre in Milton, Cambridgeshire, dismantle equipment today ahead of the end of free testing tomorrow

The Government website was out of stock of lateral flows again today, amid fears people have stockpiled the tests ahead of tomorrow

Less than a third of Brits aged 18 to 24 admit they still wear masks in public places, while those aged 65 and above are the age group most likely to do so (60 per cent)

Who will still get FREE Covid tests? Free lateral flow tests will be scrapped for everyone except NHS workers, care home staff and vulnerable patients from Friday in England. It will only continue in settings where infection can spread rapidly while prevalence is high. FREE SYMPTOMATIC TESTING WILL STILL BE GIVEN TO: Patients in hospital, where a PCR test is required for their care and to provide access to treatments and to support ongoing clinical surveillance for new variants;

People who are eligible for community Covid treatments because they are at higher risk of getting seriously ill;

People living or working in some high-risk settings. For example, staff in adult social care services such as homecare organisations and care homes. Advertisement

On the closures the UKHSA said: 'As per the governments Living with Covid plan, from the end of March 31 all testing sites for the general public in England will cease operations, once free testing for the general public ends.

'Wed once again like to thank staff for their hard work and for playing such a vital role in our pandemic response. Free PCR and LFD tests will continue to be available to specific groups after 31 March and further detail is set out here.

'The government has retained the ability to enable a rapid testing response should it be needed, such as the emergence of a new variant of concern.'

Meanwhile, the Government's website to order lateral flows was out of stock again, with the final supplies having been rinsed over the past fortnight.

Covid tests will still be available to buy on the high street, with prices starting at 1.89 per test from LloydsPharmacy. Lateral flows cost 2 each from Boots and 1.99 at Superdrug.

It comes as a YouGov poll found 45 per cent of people think the Covid situation in the UK is getting worse, up from 11 per cent in February, and 42 per cent say they are still wearing a face mask  the lowest level since July 2020 and down from 53 per cent in February.

A quarter (26 per cent) last took a lateral flow test more than a month ago, while one in eight (13 per cent ) has never taken one.

The average daily hospital admissions in England of people with Covid currently stands at 2,050, the highest since February 5, 2021.

But the number of people in mechanical ventilator beds is still very low: 318 as of Wednesday, which less than level reached at the start of this year (797) and far below the total at the start of 2021 (3,736).

The proportion of hospital patients with Covid in England who are being treated primarily for something else is broadly unchanged at just over half (56 per cent).

In terms of Covid vaccines the UK recorded 30,000 more people had received one today.

Over half of these (16,723) were booster jabs, with some 12,500 people getting there second dose and 5,500 their first.

It means a total of 38.8million people have had at least three Covid jabs, about 67.5 per cent of the eligible population.
Scientists say they have finally assembled the full genetic blueprint for human life, adding the missing pieces to a puzzle nearly completed two decades ago.

An international team described the first-ever sequencing of a complete human genome - the set of instructions to build and sustain a human being - in research published Thursday in the journal Science.

The previous effort, celebrated across the world, was incomplete because DNA sequencing technologies of the day weren't able to read certain parts of it. Even after updates, it was missing about 8 percent of the genome.

'Some of the genes that make us uniquely human were actually in this `dark matter of the genome and they were totally missed,' said Evan Eichler, a University of Washington researcher who participated in the current effort and the original Human Genome Project.

'It took 20-plus years, but we finally got it done.'

Scientists announced they have finally assembled the full genetic blueprint for human life, adding the missing pieces to a puzzle nearly completed two decades ago. An international team described the sequencing of a complete human genome, the set of instructions to build a human being. Pictured: This undated image made available by the National Human Genome Research Institute shows the output from a DNA sequencer.

Many - including Eichler's own students - thought it had been finished already.

'I was teaching them, and they said, 'Wait a minute. Isnt this like the sixth time you guys have declared victory? I said, No, this time we really, really did it!'

Scientists said this full picture of the genome will give humanity a greater understanding of our evolution and biology while also opening the door to medical discoveries in areas like aging, neurodegenerative conditions, cancer and heart disease.

'Were just broadening our opportunities to understand human disease,' said Karen Miga, an author of one of the six studies published Thursday.

The research caps off decades of work. The first draft of the human genome was announced in a White House ceremony in 2000 by leaders of two competing entities: an international publicly funded project led by an agency of the U.S. National Institutes of Health and a private company, Maryland-based Celera Genomics.

The human genome is made up of about 3.1 billion DNA subunits, pairs of chemical bases known by the letters A, C, G and T. Genes are strings of these lettered pairs that contain instructions for making proteins, the building blocks of life.

Humans have about 30,000 genes, organized in 23 groups called chromosomes that are found in the nucleus of every cell.

Before now, there were 'large and persistent gaps that have been in our map, and these gaps fall in pretty important regions,' Miga said.

Dr Francis Collins (pictured), director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, announced the successful completion of the human genome project in Bethesda, Marlyand

Miga, a genomics researcher at the University of California-Santa Cruz, worked with Adam Phillippy of the National Human Genome Research Institute to organize the team of scientists to start from scratch with a new genome with the aim of sequencing all of it, including previously missing pieces.

The group, named after the sections at the very ends of chromosomes, called telomeres, is known as the Telomere-to-Telomere, or T2T, consortium.

Their work adds new genetic information to the human genome, corrects previous errors and reveals long stretches of DNA known to play important roles in both evolution and disease.

A version of the research was published last year before being reviewed by scientific peers.

'This is a major improvement, I would say, of the Human Genome Project,' doubling its impact, said geneticist Ting Wang of the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who was not involved in the research.

Eichler said some scientists used to think unknown areas contained 'junk.' Not him. 'Some of us always believed there was gold in those hills,' he said.

Eichler is paid by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, which also supports The Associated Press's health and science department.

Turns out that gold includes many important genes, he said, such as ones integral to making a person's brain bigger than a chimp's, with more neurons and connections.

In this undated image made available by the National Human Genome Research Institute, a researcher examines the output from a DNA sequencer. In research published in the journal Science on Thursday, March 31, 2022, scientists announced they have finally assembled the full genetic blueprint for human life, adding the missing pieces to a puzzle nearly completed two decades ago. An international team described the sequencing of a complete human genome, the set of instructions to build a human being. (NHGRI via AP)

To find such genes, scientists needed new ways to read life's cryptic genetic language.

Reading genes requires cutting the strands of DNA into pieces hundreds to thousands of letters long.

Sequencing machines read the letters in each piece and scientists try to put the pieces in the right order. That's especially tough in areas where letters repeat.

Scientists said some areas were illegible before improvements in gene sequencing machines that now allow them to, for example, accurately read a million letters of DNA at a time.

That allows scientists to see genes with repeated areas as longer strings instead of snippets that they had to later piece together.

Researchers also had to overcome another challenge: Most cells contain genomes from both mother and father, confusing attempts to assemble the pieces correctly. T2T researchers got around this by using a cell line from one 'complete hydatidiform mole,' an abnormal fertilized egg containing no fetal tissue that has two copies of the fathers DNA and none of the mothers.

The next step? Mapping more genomes, including ones that include collections of genes from both parents.

This effort did not map one of the 23 chromosomes that is found in males, called the Y chromosome, because the mole contained only an X.

Wang said hes working with the T2T group on the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium, which is trying to generate 'reference,' or template, genomes for 350 people representing the breadth of human diversity.

'Now weve gotten one genome right and we have to do many, many more,' Eichler said. 'This is the beginning of something really fantastic for the field of human genetics.'
AT THE TABLE by Claire Powell (Fleet 14.99, 336pp)

AT THE TABLE

by Claire Powell (Fleet 14.99, 336pp)

The Maguires of South London all have problems. Parents Linda and Gerry have just separated after 35 years, glamorous daughter Nicole is an alcoholic, and teacher son Jamie is drifting into a disastrous posh marriage.

Their interwoven stories are relayed through the brilliantly simple device of food and drink and the way we use them.

We sit with the Maguires at trendy London bars, yuppie dinners, childhood Chinese restaurants and,unforgettably, the bijou barn where Jamies wedding reception is held.

Powell is a fantastic writer who exercises perfect control. Every detail is forensically, sympathetically observed, and while theres a lot thats tragic, its often very close to comedy.

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SIX DAYS by Dani Atkins (Aria 16.99, 400pp)

SIX DAYS

by Dani Atkins (Aria 16.99, 400pp)

This enjoyable romcomturned-detective story has Gemma with the man of her dreams, the cottage of her dreams and poised for the wedding of her dreams.

But then Finn fails to turn up at the altar. How could she have got him so wrong?

We slip back and forth between the story of the romance and the eponymous six days before the police declare Finn a missing person.

Best friend Hannah provides moral support as distraught Gemma follows every clue. The twist at the end is dramatic.

A well-paced, good-natured and emotional novel whose strength is its depiction of modern urban living.

EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN by Ben Hinshaw (Viking 14.99, 224pp)

EXACTLY WHAT YOU MEAN

by Ben Hinshaw (Viking 14.99, 224pp)

Such an incredibly clever idea this, a set of interlinked stories in which people who appear in one turn up in another, often in a different place and years afterwards, with character and consequence forming the links. Betrayal is a major theme, and theres a regretful, wistful atmosphere thats compelling.

Many tales are set on Guernsey, which forms the backdrop to a boys cruel act; the same boys brother appears in a later story, in love with a reckless rich girl.

My favourite sequence was about Flora and Jonathan. His adultery with his secretary (who features in another set of tales) results in a terrible but brilliant revenge.
More than 200million of fraud has been spotted and prevented since 2016 due to a rapid scam response scheme enabling bank staff to alert local police forces with a codeword.

Staff at banks, building societies and Post Offices are trained to spot the warning signs that suggest someone may be falling victim to a scam before alerting their local police force to intervene and investigate.

Last year, 60.7million was stopped through the scheme, according to figures from UK Finance, thanks to 10,072 phone calls made to the police by branch staff.

Stopped: Branch staff at banks, building societies and Post Offices have worked with the police to stop 202.8m of fraud through the rapid scam response scheme.

It means that 34 per cent more fraud was stopped by the scheme last year than in 2020 - although, branches were more likely to have been closed for longer thanks to the pandemic.

In total, since the scheme launched, it has prevented 202.8million of fraud.

It has also led to the arrest of 162 suspected criminals last year, bringing the total number of arrests to 1,005 since the protocol began.

One such case in which fraud was successfully spotted by branch staff last year, involved an elderly man who went to his bank branch attempting to transfer 10,000 from his bank account to another.

He had received a call two days earlier from someone claiming to be from a bank security team who had said that an employee was taking money from customer accounts.

The man was asked to transfer money from his account to a new one so they could monitor it.

Figures for The Banking Protocol scheme

2021 Total since 2016 launch Amount of Fraud prevented 60.7 million 202.8 million Number of arrests 162 1,005 Number of calls made by branch staff to police 10,072 33,845

He was told to tell branch staff that he was using money for home improvements, which he duly did.

However, during his conversation with the bank, the staff became suspicious and invoked the Banking Protocol and the police were called.

The police took the customer home and found he had downloaded remote access software to his laptop on the fraudster's instructions.

A separate bank account had been set up in his name and multiple transactions had been made.

The payments were stopped and safeguards placed on the account. The individual was also referred to Victim Support for additional assistance.

Katy Worobec, managing director of economic crime at UK Finance said: 'The Banking Protocol has helped to prevent tens of thousands of people from becoming victims of fraud.

'Its success shows the importance of joint work between the police and banking industry, not only to protect customers but also to tackle the criminals behind these scams.

'Bank staff are trained to spot scams and as part of the scheme will assist customers by asking various questions when they are withdrawing or transferring money to help keep them safe.

'Criminals are always changing their tactics so it's important to follow the advice of the Take Five to Stop Fraud campaign, and remember that a bank or the police will never ask you to transfer funds to another account or to withdraw cash to hand over to them for safe-keeping.'

Which types of scams are being prevented?

The scheme is often used to prevent impersonation scams, in which criminals imitate police or bank staff and convince people to visit their bank and withdraw or transfer large sums of money.

It is also used to prevent romance fraud, in which fraudsters use fake online dating profiles to trick victims into transferring money, and to catch rogue traders who demand cash for unnecessary work on properties.

How to protect yourself and others - Be wary of those offering to do repair work on a property. Request a written quote and compare with other reputable companies. - Never pay in full up front until work is completed - Don't feel pressured to agree on work. Insist on taking your time - Don't hand over money or sign anything until credentials have been checked - Never be embarrassed to report a scam

The scheme has also been expanded to cover attempted bank transfers made by customers through telephone and online banking, with 42 out of 45 police forces across the UK signed up to help tackle this.

It means staff working in call centres and in online banking teams will notify the police when attempted bank transfers are being made which they believe may be the result of a scam.

The customers will be first asked by the bank or building society to visit their local branch to enable branch staff to carry out additional checks.

However, if the customer is unable to visit their branch, staff would be able to directly alert the local police who will make a visit to the customer's home and assess whether they have fallen victim to a scam.

Clinton Blackburn, temporary commander, from the City of London Police, said: 'The Banking Protocol continues to be one of the most vital ways of protecting vulnerable victims and preventing criminals from taking advantage of them, as banks are often the first point of contact when someone is about to fall victim to fraud.

'Partnership working across the finance sector is crucial in protecting people against fraud.

'It is great to see that the Banking Protocol is working so well and has prevented such significant losses to fraud since its inception in 2016.'
I live in a house share with five friends and our energy bill is usually 129 a month.

But last June, our supplier Ovo sent us a bill completely out of the blue for 1,000.

We hadn't used any more energy than normal  if anything we were using less as it was the height of summer. I contacted Ovo and said it was a mistake.

But Ovo is sticking with the charge. The 1,000 has been added to our monthly bills to spread out the cost, taking them up to 167 a month.

Summer shocker: These housemates were surprised to be hit with a charge of around eight times their usual gas and electricity bill in June, when they were using little energy

Now we are about to move out and Ovo says we still owe more than 700, which we must pay before we close the account.

With energy bills going up so much at the moment, we really don't want to let this go  but I'm worried that, as my name is on the bills, I will end up being chased by debt collectors if we don't pay.

I'd love some help to fight these energy bullies. E.C, South London

Helen Crane, This is Money, replies: Energy bills are sky-high and rising. Regulator Ofgem is hiking its price cap once again tomorrow, increasing the cost by 54 per cent or 693 more each year for the typical household not lucky enough to be in a fix.

The last thing anyone wants to do at the moment is pay through the nose for electricity and gas they haven't even used.

The amount Ovo charged you was eight times your usual bill, which appears to be a clear mistake coming in the middle of summer.

You have already expended plenty of energy trying to get this confusing charge wiped.

Bigger bills: From 1 April, 22million households will pay more for their energy bills as the price cap rises. Those with poorer EPC energy efficiency ratings will be particularly badly hit.

You told me you have emailed, messaged and called Ovo for nine months and, until recently, it had done nothing to help.

In your last contact with the company in February, you finally discovered that the 1,000 charge was incurred by the previous tenants of the property.

But even though you provided Ovo with a tenancy agreement to prove the date you moved in, it told you the issue wouldn't be sorted until May.

CRANE ON THE CASE Our weekly column sees This is Money consumer expert Helen Crane tackle reader problems and shine the light on companies doing both good and bad. Want her to investigate a problem, or do you want to praise a firm for going that extra mile? Get in touch: helen.crane@thisismoney.co.uk

This is a problem as you and your housemates are moving out in April. And anyway, why it would take three months to make a simple amendment to your balance is beyond me.

As you handle the bills for the house, you are rightly worried that leaving without paying could get you in hot water. You could be chased by debt collectors and damage your credit rating.

I spoke to Ovo to find out what was going on and why the bill couldn't be sorted in good time.

It said that, because of a technical issue, the change of tenancy wasn't recorded on its systems  it thought the previous tenants were still in the property, even though you had informed them when you moved in.

It has created a new account with the correct move-in date and the correct balance, wiping the 1,000 charge. It has also paid you 100 to apologise for its mistake.

A spokesperson said: 'We're very sorry for the delay in fixing her issue. We can confirm a new account has been opened which reflects the correct balance.'

I'm glad Ovo has seen the light and made this right. It's just a shame it has taken so much time and my involvement to sort quicker.

Painful process: Reader Russell's property, which is rented out to an osteopathy clinic, had its power supply disconnected - and getting the issue resolved proved a struggle

Hit and miss: This week's naughty and nice list

Every week, I look at the companies who have fallen short when it comes to customer service, and those who have gone above and beyond.

Miss: BES Utilities Reader Russell has also found his energy sapped due to dealings with a utility company.

He is the landlord of a commercial property in the Midlands, which he rents out to tenants for use as an osteopathy clinic.

In February, new tenants moved in and all was going fine  until two weeks later when the electricity was cut off by supplier BES Utilities, leaving the business unable to trade.

Russell felt he couldn't charge his tenants rent after the lights went out and rendered the clinic unusable, so is missing out on hundreds of pounds a month.

He said: 'We have provided all the info requested by BES and even offered to pay the reconnection fee, but the people we talk to on the phone do not seem to have the power to move things on and now BES has stopped replying to our emails.'

The issue related to a bill from November 2021 which the previous tenants had neglected to pay.

When Russell first diagnosed the problem in December, he informed BES immediately that the non-paying tenants were no longer in situ.

He added: 'We completed the relevant documentation as requested by BES and were assured the new tenants could take over the contract.

'We were told to ignore any more letters addressed to the previous tenant and that the disconnection procedure would be halted.'

Lights out: The power supply to the clinic was cut off when a previous tenant didn't pay bills

But that did not happen. I contacted BES to ask what was going on and when the issue would be resolved.

A spokesperson said: 'Like all commercial energy suppliers, to protect our customers from bearing the cost of change of tenancy fraud, we have in place a clear policy setting out the information we need when verifying a change in responsibility.

'This is available on our website and provided whenever we are notified of a potential change of ownership or occupancy.

'In this case, the previous tenant had accrued a substantial debt that had been escalated due to non-payment.

'When we were contacted by [Russell] in December, we advised him of the process he would need to follow and the information we needed to update our records; however, unfortunately it was not until after the supply had been disconnected that we were eventually provided with the relevant evidence.'

Although Russell thought he had provided all the information needed, it appears that this may not have been the case.

But that does not excuse the painful customer service experience, which meant it took some time to get to the bare bones of the issue and cost the osteopathy business several weeks of trade.

BES has now reconnected the supply and also paid Russell a sum of money as a goodwill gesture, though it asked him not to disclose the amount to me.

Hopefully this means Russell can resume his rent collection and the tenants can crack on with running their business.

Key to success: Timpson was helpful when our reader Joan wanted to return an engraved door sign she ordered, which had turned up damaged

Hit: Timpson Reader Joan wrote to tell us about her good experience with shoe repair, key cutting and engraving business, Timpson.

She said: 'I ordered a slate door sign from Timpson and when it arrived it was chipped. I contacted them via an online contact form, explaining the problem and offering to send them photos of the damage.

'I got an email the next day apologising, saying a replacement sign would be ordered and sent within the next few days. They didn't ask for proof of damage or for the damaged sign to be returned.'

It appears Timpson has found the key to keeping its customers happy, and we are always glad to hear a firm being rated rather than slated.
Standing charges on electricity bills will rise for everyone in April, but research has shown that customers in some regions will pay up to 60 per cent more per day than others.

The charges are expected to double in South Scotland, North Wales and the South west of England, while in London and the East of England they will increase by just under 60 per cent.

Fuel poverty campaigners have written to regulator Ofgem urging it to reduce the charges, which it says are discriminatory.

London has the lowest daily cost for standing charges, up 38 per cent to 31p per day, while North Wales and Merseyside are saddled with increases of over 100 per cent to 45p per day

The charges and are applied daily regardless of how much energy the customer uses, and are used to cover the cost of supplying energy to a home.

Therefore they are often more expensive in rural areas, where the cost per home to the energy supplier is higher.

They also cover costs related to the failure of energy suppliers, which has been commonplace in recent months.

Campaign Group Fuel Poverty Action has suggested that the majority of extra funds collected in the latest standing charge rise will be used to this end.

Standard charges are capped by the energy regulator on standard default tariffs, though this cap also varies by region.

The rise in standing charges from 1 April will cost an average of 71 annually per household, with some residents in Wales, Merseyside and the Midlands paying an extra 80 a year.

Energy bills as a whole have rocketed in recent months due to increases in the cost of natural gas, and will rise by 54 per cent when the price cap goes up on Friday.

Why have Ofgem decided to make the poorest customers pay for their bad decisions and for bad practice in the industry? This huge injustice must be urgently reversed Ruth London, Fuel Poverty Action

Given the increased cost to households, campaign group Fuel Poverty Action has said that the 'injustice of the standing charge must urgently be addressed'.

The Fuel Poverty Action co-director, Ruth London, said: 'Why has Ofgem decided to make the poorest customers pay for their bad decisions and for bad practice in the industry? This huge injustice must be urgently reversed.'

Its analysts suggest that 68 of the 75 increase in standing charges would be because of supplier failure, with vulnerable customers on prepayment meters or paying by cheque or cash left paying the highest standing charges.

Ruth added: 'Prepayment meters are another way that people with the least resources  and often with the leakiest, most poorly insulated homes  are forced to pay the highest price for fuel.

'These meters are often imposed without consent, cost more than direct debit, and have the effect of cutting people off supply. As prices increase, it is absolutely urgent to end such upside-down policies.'

Standing charge rise: Costs are more than doubling for customers in some areas of the UK

Fuel Poverty Action is campaigning for 'Energy for All' - a new pricing structure which would give all households energy to cover their basic requirements for free, with the cost covered by a windfall tax.

In its letter to Ofgem, it wrote: 'Fuel Poverty Action has long campaigned against the standing charge as regressive.

'With Energy For All, we are proposing to turn this unfair and carbon-friendly structure on its head: instead of paying an exorbitant standing charge for simply connecting to the system, everyone would be given a free energy allowance to cover the basics of heating, cooking and lighting, taking account of their needs related to their age, health, and housing.

'This means that poorer consumers are protected, and have the security to meet basic needs.'

It continued: 'We realise that such a change in pricing structure requires a lot of working out, and we ask you to begin now to consider how it can be designed and brought into effect.

'But in the meantime, the injustice of the standing charge must urgently be addressed.'

National Grid calls for local pricing per unit of energy

While Fuel Poverty Action is arguing for regional variations in standing charges to be reduced, the National Grid is calling for wholesale electricity to be traded at local prices that vary from town to town.

This, it said, could reduce the cost of energy in the UK because it would reduce the National Grid's reliance on expensive power plants to get energy to the most in-demand areas.

The company said that a radical change was needed because Britain's national electricity market 'if left unchanged will impose excessive costs to consumers'.

Big power plants can sell electricity on the national market, even if there are not enough cables to take that power to where there is higher demand - forcing cheaper or more environmentally- conscious providers in remote places to shut up shop.

This is forcing National Grid's control room to rely on expensive gas power plants to supply energy to high-demand areas, whilst still paying renewable energy suppliers to switch off instead when the network can't cope.

The National Grid Electricity System Operator warned last week that keeping supply and demand in balance across the nation was 'becoming more challenging' and was resulting in 'dramatic and rising costs for consumers'.

These 'constraint costs' are expected to hit 2.3billion a year by 2026 without market reform, after hitting 1.2billion in 2021.

Cost crunch: National Grid has said that the challenge of keeping energy supply and demand in balance was resulting in 'dramatic and rising costs for consumers'

The National Grid said it would encourage energy-intensive industries to be located near wind farms to take advantage of cheap wholesale prices.

This could reduce household energy bills in remote areas near these renewable energy suppliers.

However, the move could be controversial, as differing bills across the country could be seen as a 'postcode energy tax'.

A Government spokesperson said: 'We continue to look at various options to ensure our electricity grid is running as cheaply and efficiently as possible, but no decisions have been made on any reforms.'

Ofgem said that 'any changes to locational pricing would be complex and need careful consideration'.
Renters are facing record pressure when house hunting, with more than 28 prospective tenants for every available property.

There is an average of just five properties to rent per letting agent branch according to Propertymark, the membership body for property agents.

This represents a 44 per cent drop from the four-year average, which is nine available properties per branch.

The number of prospective tenants waiting on agents' books has spiked in the last few years

Agents in the North West of England and East Midlands reported the lowest stock, with an average of two available properties per branch. Wales was close behind with an average of three.

Rental supply has been on a downward trend since March last year, according to Propertymark.

To make matters worse, the number of prospective tenants waiting on agents' books has been on an upward trend since April 2017, reaching an all time high at the start of this year.

Last month, the average letting agent branch had 142 renters looking for a home.

Supply and demand imbalance: There are typically more than 28 prospective tenants for every available rental property on the market, meaning competition is fierce and rents are rising

This is a record high for the month of February, as well as a 73 per cent increase on February last year when agents recorded 82 applicants per branch.

Agents in the South West of England reported the highest demand with an average of 195 applicants per branch, closely followed by the North East of England where agents reported an average of 184.

'Some of our offices don't have ONE home to rent'

London estate agent Chestertons says the number of rental properties on its books is down 62 per cent year-on-year, whilst tenant enquiries are up 54 per cent in that same period.

Hamptons says its numbers of rental homes have dwindled, with its stock list down 40 per cent year-on-year. In several offices there isn't one available property to rent at present.

David Fell, senior analyst at Hamptons says: 'Some offices have seen stock levels drop to zero with around one in seven branches currently without any homes available to rent.

'Anything that comes onto the market is often let in hours and for in excess of the asking price.

Slim pickings: Estate agents are warning of reduced number of rental properties and soaring demand.

'Only a very small proportion of new instructions are ever ending up on Rightmove or Zoopla.'

Unsurprisingly the supply and demand mismatch is resulting in rent rises.

Three in four agents have reported rent rises in February alone, according to Propertymark, with more agents in London, the East Midlands and Wales reporting increases than in other areas.

Ben Beadle, chief executive of the National Residential Landlords Association, says: 'These figures provide a stark reminder of the supply crisis now engulfing the sector.

'Without urgent action, the increasing number of people looking for affordable housing will be the ones to struggle as they face less choice and higher rents as supply dries up.

'The Government needs to wake up to the scale of the crisis and develop a suite of pro-growth measures for the sector. This should include scrapping the stamp duty levy on the provision of new homes to rent.'

Rents on the rise as supply is squeezed

A low supply of homes to rent will drive up competition, and therefore prices.

In February the average rental price for a new tenancy in the UK was 1,069 per month, according to the HomeLet Rental index, up by 8.6 per cent from the same time last year.

The average annual income for a rental tenant in England is currently 28,116, according to research by the rental portal, Rentd.

Wen the new tax year starts in April, this will equate to 22,590 after tax and national insurance contributions.

With the average new tenancy amounting to 12,828 a year this could place considerable pressure on the typical household, particularly if it is reliant on a sole earner.

With the cost of living crisis beginning to take hold, an increasing number of renters may be feeling under greater financial strain.

Alasdair Mcclenahan, founder of Justice For Tenants says: 'I think we are approaching a very difficult time for the poorer members of society, almost all of whom are renting.

Cost of living crisis: The average rental price for a new tenancy in the UK is 1,069 per month. The average annual income for a rental tenant in England is currently 28,116

'Food, petrol, gas, electricity, goods and rent are all increasing. Government assistance and wages are not increasing at the same rate.

'So many people are living paycheck to paycheck, that this change to the cost of living is putting many renters over the edge.

'This will likely lead people to taking out unsustainable loans from unscrupulous lenders rather than choose between food for their family and heat for their family.'

But on top of the obvious financial strain, it also means renters are under pressure to simply secure a roof over their heads, which could force many into finding desperate solutions.

'The market still seems to bear increasing rents,' adds Mcclenahan, 'and I think more and more people will end up in overcrowded, unlicensed house-shares.

'This includes an increase in young families living in a room in a shared house which is not a good environment for children.'

What can renters do?

Offering to pay more rent than others may be a solution for those who can afford it, but paying over the odds isn't necessarily always the main factor a landlord is interested in.

Many landlords are looking for tenants they can rely on to pay the rent and who they can trust to look after their property. Essentially, someone who won't make their life a difficult.

Therefore, whatever offer you put forward, it's important to present yourself as the ideal candidate.

On the edge: With rising energy bills and food costs some renters may be forced to compromise on some of life's essentials

Richard Davies, head of lettings at Chestertons says: 'We've seen people present their entire CV, including photos of themselves, what they like to cook, and background on where they met. Basically their entire life story.

'We're seeing more and more people being creative in order to try and convince the landlord to favour them.'

Offering to rent the property for a longer term than the typical 12 months might also work in your favour.

This is because landlords want to steer clear of void periods. This is when their property is left empty.

Multiple short tenancies means there is a higher chance of void periods occurring.

'Obviously for some landlords, money is most important,' adds Davies. 'But for others it is the quality of the tenant, or the length of tenancy that is key.

'My advice to renters is, if you can commit to a longer term tenancy, then do.'

Void periods can also cost landlords money as they may need to clean, redecorate or even renovate a property prior to the start of each new tenancy.

There are also often letting agent fees to pay for finding the new tenant.

Mcclenahan says: 'The experience of re-letting a property is time-consuming and can be expensive for a landlord, so if you are looking for a home for multiple years, make that clear to the landlord.

'Many landlords place a high value on minimising empty periods, which is achieved by having the same tenants in a property for a number of years.'

Whether you are liaising with a letting agent or directly with a landlord, demonstrating that you're eager and organised is essential for any renter in the current market.

Sign here: Offering a longer tenancy may help persuade a landlord to pick you over others

'Being polite and professional in all correspondence is helpful, as well as proactively providing information that a landlord will require to grant a tenancy,' says Mclenahan.

They'll need to know your occupation and income, so providing that information up-front can show that you are easy to work with and can help the landlord pick you as a tenant if they face a tight choice as there are less steps the landlord has to take with you, because you've already provided information.

'Explaining what you like about the property can make a landlord feel like you are viewing it as a home which you will take care of.'

There is also a suggestion that renters try and target having a direct relationship with a landlord rather than via a letting agent. This is often impossible, but not always.

Online sites such as Open Rent, Mashroom, and Upad all offer landlords cheaper DIY alternatives to using the more traditional high-street agent and often involve the landlord managing the property alone.

'Sometimes you can get better deals as a tenant by using sites like OpenRent where you deal directly with the landlord,' adds Mcclenahan.

'There can be more humanity in this arrangement, and the landlord may be prioritising tenants they feel comfortable with as people rather than only focusing on maximising rent.

'Landlords in this situation are less likely to increase rent each year and are more likely to be amenable to longer tenancy agreements.'
Time Out's AIM-listed shares rose 5 per cent today on signs that its media and market divisions are continuing to recover from the pandemic.

As people returned to socialising, offices reopened and some travel resumed, the group saw 'noticeable increases' in advertising spend in its magazine business in the last six months of 2021.

Time Out Market, which is focused on opening food and restaurant markets in major world cities, also benefited from an easing of Covid restrictions, reporting a 'gradual' increase in revenue.

Time Out food and restaurant markets have started to see a 'gradual' recovery

Half-year net revenues across the group more than doubled to 24.7million - although that's compared to the last half of 2020, when trading was hard hit by Covid restrictions.

Loss before nasties narrowed significantly to 800,000, from 6.2million in 2020.

Time Out said the first half of its financial year 'marked the slow transition to something approaching normality across the world and in our trading environments'.

And added: 'This represents a promising start to an anticipated longer recovery period, which will include the regaining some of the momentum lost following the emergence of the Omicron variant at the end of this period.'

Time Out shares were up 5.2 per cent to 51p towards London market close on Thursday.

However the stock, which made its debut on London's junior market in 2016, still has not recovered from the pandemic and remains well below its 2019 peak of over 120p.

Chris Ohlund, chief executive of Time Out, said he is encouraged by the progress made in the period despite the spread of Omicron.

'Our digital audience grew as our content remained relevant and engaging, footfall began returning to the Markets and global brands advertised with us once again,' he said.

'Whilst the trading environment remains challenging and uncertain, the Group's recovery is gaining momentum and we are cautiously optimistic that now Omicron is receding, this will continue over the coming months as normality returns and the key spring and summer seasons begin.'

The group said it was beginning to transition to a post-pandemic world, which will see it continue to expand its food and restaurant markets in major world cities.

The next opening will be in Porto in 2023, followed by Abu Dhabi in 2024 and Prague in 2025.

Another one is set to open in east London in a listed building in Spitafields - instead of Waterloo as previously planned - although Time Out said it was still waiting for an outcome of its application.

'We are in advanced discussions with partners regarding new Time Out Market management agreements, and evaluating a growing pipeline of further signings, which offer a recurring earnings stream without the need for further capital expenditure,' it said.

In March 2020, Time Out decided to shut down all its seven markets, which include Lisbon and Chicago, and the publication of its magazines in response to the pandemic.

It has now reopened all markets but only restarted printing magazine for certain cities like London and Lisbon.

It said that, if the global recovery from the pandemic continues, it expects its markets business to return to full capacity during the 2022/23 financial year.

Its media business is also expected to recover to pre-pandemic levels in the next financial year, according to this 'base scenario'.
Newcomer Recognise Bank has raked in 95million in deposits since receiving its full banking license six months ago.

The SME-focused lender also handed out some 100million to small and medium UK businesses in the period.

The new challenger bank, which is part of the City of London Group, was given the green-light to accept deposits and lend to customers in September 2021.

Raking in deposits: Savers have given Recognise Bank some 95m of their savings

Recognise launched its first range of accounts just two days after receiving its full banking licence.

Its five-year fixed rate account shot straight into the best buy table with a savings rate of 2 per cent.

Recognise accounts can be opened with 1,000 but only online, cash is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme to the tune of 85,000 and deposits are used to lend to small- and medium-sized businesses.

Recognise Bank chief executive, Bryce Glover, hailed the 'huge lending milestone'.

'Through our lending we have supported a wide range of growing firms - whether it's to acquire their own business premises or to help fund a green housing development - who otherwise would have struggled to find a bank that understood their needs and was willing to lend to them,' he said.

He added that customers were happy with their services, with customer satisfaction levels hitting an average score of 81, which is 'well above the usual levels for the financial services sector'.

'Our next chapter is to continue helping UK SMEs, who are the lifeblood of the UK economy, but with an even greater focus on technology,' Glover continued.

The group is looking to 'speeding up, streamlining and digitalising operational and customer touchpoints, as well as developing new products and services to help businesses with the financial challenges they face'.

In December, City of London Group reported a pre-tax loss of 5.8million for the six months ending 30 September, up from a loss of 2.6million the previous half.

The group said 5.6million of the latest half-year loss stemmed 'from Recognise Bank, in line with its business plan, as it develops its business'.

City of London Group shares rose 3.5 per cent to 60p on Thursday.
A critical shortage in rental properties has left a homeless single mum at her wits' end.

Shikera Maher and her four teenage children have spent the last five weeks living in her car while they desperately search to find somewhere to live.

In that time, the Ipswich, Queensland family has been rejected almost 300 times for rental properties in the area.

Up until last month, Ms Maher and her children  aged 13, 15-year-old twins, and 18  were living with friends for weeks at a time.

Shikera Maher (pictured) is at breaking point after living in her car with four teens for the first five weeks

But the domestic violence survivor said the constant moving was too hard given the size of the family and how most of her friends live in small houses or units.

Five weeks on, the family is emotionally and physically exhausted and distressed by the ordeal.

The family use friends' bathrooms to take daily showers

'I don't wish the situation on anyone, not even my worst enemy,' Ms Maher told Daily Mail Australia.

'It's not a way to live, driving from one park to another because we can't stay in the same place.'

'I've asked countless time whether it's because my application.'

The hundreds of rejections have mostly not been explained to her. Owners and agencies just had other, preferred applicants who could pay higher rent for their properties.

The family lived in their car (pictured) after being rejected almost 300 times for rental properties in the Ipswich region

She said it's not a lack of funds that is the problem. 'I have the money to pay the rent and bond,' Ms Maher said.

House rent rises during the past year SYDNEY: Up 17.1 per cent to $766.70 a week MELBOURNE: Up 6.5 per cent to $547.10 a week BRISBANE: Up 19.5 per cent to $570.80 a week PERTH: Up 13.7 per cent to $575.70 a week ADELAIDE: Up 15.6 per cent to $494.40 a week CANBERRA: Up 16.4 per cent to $768.30 a week DARWIN: Up 4.7 per cent to $611.10 a week HOBART: Up 4.5 per cent to $511 a week Source: SQM Research median weekly house rents data showing annual increases in the year to March 12, 2022 Advertisement

'It's a very hard situation. We have to hang blankets on the car windows at night so people don't look in,' she said.

'I sleep in the driver's seat, the 18year-old is in the front with me while the other three sleep in the back seat with all of our belongings.'

'There are many meltdowns a day and constant fighting being stuck in the car all day.'

She estimates she's spending $30 on fuel every day using the car's air conditioning to keep warm at night.

Her children stopped going to school for a time because of the stress of their situation and being unable to focus on lessons.

She said her children were 'not really coping' and have lashed out because they were constantly in each other's space.

Ms Maher said one of her daughters recently returned to school, but studying from the car is almost impossible.

'Going to school is her way of coping and having some form of normality,' she told Daily Mail Australia

The family is looking for a four-bedroom house in Ipswich, which on average costs $430 per week to rent in the area, with a bonds of around $1043.

Ms Maher is not eligible for public housing, she said, because she owes a debt she has not yet paid after one of her children, who was then aged 8, 'smashed' their last place provided by the department in 2012.

Ms Maher and her family are on a waiting list for crisis accommodation but are yet to secure anything.

Shikera Maher (pictured) says she and her family are at breaking point

She pleaded for landlords and real estate agents to have empathy for single parents and low income earners

'All we want is a roof over our heads and for our family to be safe again, even if the kids have to switch schools,' she said.

She is currently staying with friends for a few night and knocked back an offer by the housing department of temporary motel accommodation outside the region.

'I have kids that need some stability in their lives and that is schooling,' Ms Maher said.

Along with many other cities across Australia, rents are going up in Ipswich and its vacancy rate is at a historical low at just 0.9 per cent.

'To put this into perspective, the REIQ (Real Estate Institute of Queensland) classifies rental markets into three categories: tight, healthy, or weak and anything between a 2.6 per cent to 3.5 per cent vacancy rate is considered a 'healthy' rental market, anything below 2.5 per cent is 'tight',' REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella told the Courier Mail.
Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden's son, has been the subject of a federal probe into his tax troubles in recent weeks.

The Washington Post became the second major news organization to declare that emails from the notorious Hunter Biden laptop are genuine. According to the report, two security experts used cryptographic signatures from Google and other technology companies to authenticate roughly 22,000 emails between 2009 and 2019, including information about Hunter Biden's shady international business transactions.

Authenticated Emails Reveal Hunter Biden's Massive Foreign Deals

The New York Post exclusively revealed the existence of Hunter Biden's emails in October 2020 after receiving a copy of the hard drive from a damaged MacBook Pro laptop that was dropped off in April 2019 and never retrieved, according to the owner of a repair shop in the Biden family's hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.

Several authenticated emails included a contract President Biden's son sought with the CEFC China Energy Company for which he was paid approximately $5 million. Hunter Biden was paid as much as $83,333 per month, or $1 million per year, for his work for the Ukrainian oil business Burisma Holdings, according to other authenticated emails, New York Post reported.

More witnesses are anticipated to be called by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Delaware, which has been spearheading the investigation. According to sources, prosecutors have yet to decide if criminal charges against Hunter Biden are needed, and there is discussion over whether Biden's confessed prior drug misuse may be used against him in a criminal prosecution involving his financial decisions.

They also discovered a slew of sexually violent photographs and movies on the laptop, including a gruesome 12-minute clip film purporting to show the future first son consuming crack and performing a sex act with an unknown lady. In December 2020, shortly after his father was elected president, Hunter Biden disclosed the existence of the probe.

Read Also: Biden Gets Worst Dip in Polls Revealing Americans Have No Confidence in His Administration

Hunter Biden's Ex-Wife Has no Plan to Speak Against Him in Indictment

President Joe Biden has vowed to protect the Justice Department's independence and not interfere with its work since taking office. The tax investigation is being spearheaded by the United States. Attorney Dan Weiss, a Trump appointment who stayed on after Joe Biden was sworn in.

While government watchdogs have raised concerns about Hunter Biden's international business connections, the federal investigation is the first legal threat connected to his abroad operations, as per ABC News. Meanwhile, the mother of one of Hunter Biden's children claims she has never made a public remark on whether the president's son would be charged on financial-related charges.

During an interview with the New York Post, Lunden Roberts clarified that it was her lawyer, Clint Lancaster, who said that he predicted Hunter Biden would be indicted after viewing a significant amount of Hunter's financial records. Roberts also stated that she has never spoken about Hunter Biden's finances and has no plans to do so.

Lunden Roberts stated that she was concerned about the safety and well-being of her 3-year-old daughter, Navy, whom she shares with Hunter Biden. The first son stated in his 2021 book that he had no recollection of having an encounter with Roberts, even though she had worked for his investment business.

Hunter Biden has five children with his second wife, whom he married in 2019. In April, he stated that he was fully cooperating with federal authorities looking into his taxes. He stated that he is 100% positive that he would be found not guilty of any misconduct, according to Washington Examiner.

Related Article: Hunter Biden Scandal: US President Joe Biden Slammed for "Lying to the American People," Son Is Predicted To Be Indicted

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Russia has claimed it will observe a ceasefire in Mariupol to allow civilians to escape the port city, which has been under siege from Putin's troops for more than a month.

The Russian defence ministry announced yesterday that its forces will observe a local ceasefire on Thursday to allow civilians to be evacuated from Mariupol.

The city has been under siege from Russian forces since Putin's invasion of Ukraine started on February 24.

A humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, would be opened from 10am (7am GMT), the ministry said on Wednesday.

'For this humanitarian operation to succeed, we propose to carry it out with the direct participation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross,' the ministry statement said.

The Russian ministry asked Kyiv to guarantee the 'unconditional respect' for the ceasefire through written notification to the Russian side, the UNHCR and ICRC before 6am (0300 GMT) on Thursday.

The announcement will be met with huge skepticism, after Russian forces on several occasions violated similar ceasefire arrangements and attacked humanitarian corridors from Mariupol and other cities.

Mariupol has been bombed for more than a month by alleged war criminal Vladimir Putin's forces

The city has been under Russian bombardment since Putin's troops invaded Ukraine on February 24

An apartment building destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

According to the Kremlin, Putin previously said he would only stop bombardment of Mariupol when all Ukrainian troops had surrendered

Dima, a three-year-old boy who was wounded during the shelling of Mariupol, lies in a bed in children's ward of the hospital, in Zaporizhzhia. Britain could send armoured vehicles to help rescue people trapped in the beleaguered city

Moscow also asked the Ukrainian army to commit to ensure the security of the bus convoys along the designated corridor.

The ministry said it had agreed to a proposal from Kyiv to open in the last 24 hours four new humanitarian corridors from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia.

It came as Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that Britain could send armoured cars to help evacuate 160,000 citizens still trapped in Mariupol.

Among those that could be sent are the British Army Foxhound armoured vehicle (left) and military Land Rovers (right)

The Prime Minister is considering 'going up a gear' in support for Ukraine and wants to target the 'human catastrophe' in Mariupol.

'The question is, can we help the Ukrainians relieve Mariupol?' he told the Commons liaison committee.

'Would armour, would APCs [armoured personnel carriers] be useful for them [or] armoured Land Rovers? We are certainly looking at that.'

A Government source said later: 'We're open to sending them armoured vehicles if useful and if practicable to get them there, although the view is that will be difficult.

'At a briefing last night it sounded like we're not sure Mariupol can hold out much longer anyway.'

It comes as satellite images emerged yesterday showing a clearly marked Red Cross building with holes in its roof reportedly after Russian airstrikes.

According to the Kremlin, Putin previously said he would only stop bombardment of the city when all Ukrainian troops had surrendered.

While relief efforts stumbled, 70 women and medics were reportedly kidnapped from a bombed maternity hospital in Mariupol and taken to Russia.

The Azov regiment says Russian occupiers deliberately targeted a building of the International Red Cross

Boris Johnson told the Commons liaison committee he is considering 'going up a gear' in support for Ukraine

Mariana Vishegirskaya stands outside a maternity hospital that was damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Damaged buildings are seen as civilians are being evacuated along humanitarian corridors from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol under the control of Russian military and pro-Russian separatists, on March 26, 2022

Mariupol has been all-but razed by Moscow's forces, and the shocking aerial video shows the sheer scale of the destruction of what was a picturesque port city home to 400,000 people before Putin's invasion on February 24.

Now, more than 20,000 of the city's residents have been taken 'against their will' to Russia, where their identity documents were confiscated and before they were moved 'to Russian cities far away,' the mayor's office said on its Telegram channel.

'More than 70 people, women and medical personnel from maternity hospital No. 2 from the left bank district were taken by force by the occupiers,' the office said.

Just one building seemingly remains unscathed amongst the rubble - the city's stunning Russian orthodox Cathedral (pictured at the top of this still image from drone footage)

Russian forces have encircled the city and their steady and indiscriminate bombardment has killed at least 5,000 people, but possibly as many as 20,000, according some estimates

Pictured: Aerial drone footage shows destroyed buildings in Mariupol stretching as far as the eye can see. Yesterday, Kyiv accused Russian forces of striking a Red Cross facility in the city

Pictured: A still from drone footage released by Ukraine's military showing a red cross building damaged Russian airstrikes

The footage shows the ruins of the city's theatre that was destroyed in an airstrike on March 16. At the time, it was being used as a civilian shelter, and was attacked despite the word 'children' being written in large letters outside. As many as 300 are feared dead

Mariupol has been all-but razed by Moscow's forces, with the shocking aerial video (pictured) showing the sheer scale of the destruction of what was a picturesque port city home to 400,000 people before Putin's invasion on February 24

The information could not be independently verified as Mariupol has been under a month-long siege and intense bombardment, with communication largely cut off.

Another maternity hospital in Mariupol was struck by Russian bombardment on March 9, sparking international condemnation.

At least three people including one child died in the attack.

Russian officials both dismissed the attack as being staged by Ukraine and justified it by claiming the hospital was being used by extremist Ukrainian forces and that all medical personnel and patients had long been gone.
An elderly woman has been trapped in her seventh-storey apartment for a month while insurance companies fight over who should pay to fix the building's lift.

Residents at the Gold Coast high rise have been forced to use the stairs after torrential rain flooded the Palm Beach block's basement.

The elevator is out of order and body corporate has refused to fix the damage until insurance companies accept liability - leaving Chris Langham, 75, and wife Sue, 73, stuck inside.

Mr Langham said he tries to leave his residence at least once a day by going down the building's internal fire stairs but his wife Sue has a bad back and cannot manage the brutal climb.

Mr Langham, 75 (right) said he tried to leave his residence at least once a day but the 140-stair climb is taking a toll on him. His wife, Sue, 73, (left) suffers from a bad back and has not left the seventh-floor apartment since the lift was broken

'She hasn't left the building in a month. She can't get up and down the stairs,' he told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

'I can get up and down the stairs with a bit of trouble. It's nearly 140 steps from the top floor to the basement, but it's taking its toll on me.'

Ms Langham hasn't left her home since February 27, when the building's emergency pump area and two permanent pumps failed causing a tank to rupture and the lift pit to fill with water.

Frustrated residents are climbing flights of stairs to get to their apartment level to find their access doors are jammed or their key doesn't work.

Mr Langham said doors have jammed on at least two floors preventing stairwell access. With one woman in her sixties who carried groceries up to the sixth floor locked out when her key did not work.

The building's caretaker, Mr Mark Atkinson, has advocated endlessly to have the lift fixed but no time-frame has been given on any repairs.

'We've got body corp insurance, we've got builders' insurance, and we've got plumbers' insurance - between the three they should be able to sort it out,' he said.

The building's emergency pump area and two permanent pumps failed when torrential rain flooded the basement of the Gold Coast building (pictured) causing a tank to rupture

Sable on Palm's body corporate and the building's insurance companies have not agreed on liability, delaying lift repairs.

The luxury building was developed by Brisbane-based BPG Developments, and built by Glen Williams Construction. Mr Williams is also a director of BPG.

Mr Williams said body corporate and insurance companies were 'playing silly buggers' going back and forward denying liability.

'The two insurance companies are sitting there pointing the finger at each other. We're sitting in the middle. We want to get this fixed,' Mr Williams said.

'I get that they (insurance companies) are busy but with a drama that big, with residents sitting there without a lift for that long, it's not on.

'I'm trying to get my insurance company to take it on so we can get in there and fix it.'

Frustrated tenants are asking why the body corporate has not fixed the problem and then claimed the costs from the relevant insurance companies.

Body corporate chair Wendy Pearce said fixing the damage before liability is decided would negate the builders' warranty.

The building body claimed their hands are tied while they wait for the insurance company assessor's decision on who is liable for the damage to the pit, pumps and lift.

The elderly couple moved into their $1million dollar apartment in July last year but are considering moving out until the lift is in working order.

'I thought we might go and stay somewhere else and hope it gets sorted. That's probably our next move but I gotta get her down the stairs first,' Mr Langham said.
A psychologist wrote a 'glowing' letter for Rowan Baxter expressing she had 'no concerns' about his mental health - just weeks before he murdered his estranged wife and three children.

Hannah Clarke and her children Aaliyah, six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three, were killed by Baxter, 42, during a school run at Camp Hill, in Brisbane's south, in February, 2020.

Baxter doused his family in petrol and set them alight while they were in their car. He suffered burns to 80 per cent of his body and died at the scene from self-inflicted knife wounds.

Psychologist Vivian Jarrett, who treated Baxter for six sessions, gave evidence at an inquest on Wednesday into the family's death, where she agreed he was at a high risk of harming others.

Psychologist Vivian Jarrett agreed she considered Rowan Baxter (pictured) high risk, before she was slammed over her handling of the case

Ms Jarrett wrote the above letter for Rowan Baxter just weeks before he murdered his family

Dr Jarrett was also aware Baxter might be trying to 'pull the wool' over her eyes during their six sessions from December 2019, to create good evidence for the family court in a bid to regain access to his children.

But she did not detail those concerns in her notes.

Instead, she wrote a favourable reference and provided police a statement a day after the family's deaths saying Baxter was 'level headed' and 'low risk'.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jacoba Brasch QC, blasted Ms Jarrett, who has previously been reprimanded for 'unsatisfactory professional conduct', over her handling of Baxter's case.

The court heard Ms Jarrett failed to identify red flags in her case notes - which she amended the day after the murders.

Dr Brasch also scolded Ms Jarrett for failing to hand over all of her paperwork regarding Baxter to police when served with a search warrant, and questioned why she had written him a 'glowing letter' after admitting he was high risk.

'Mr Baxter has been distressed over his wife leaving him suddenly, but has been coping remarkably well considering,' Dr Brasch read from the letter, the Courier Mail reports.

The inquest also heard Hannah Clarke and her children Aaliyah, six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three, (pictured together) could have faced a different fate with more police support

'He has been very open and sincere in our sessions. I have no concerns regarding his mental health.

'...All seems in order for him to regain contact (with his children).'

Addressing Ms Jarret, Dr Brasch said: '(You didnt) actually think through what youre committing to writing there.'

Dr Brasch asked why Ms Jarrett would write such a letter given her earlier admissions she was concerned by Baxter's behaviour.

Ms Jarrett argued the opinions in the letter reflected what she was thinking about the case at that point in time.

'I did not have any evidence before me to say he was an unfit parent,' she told the inquest.

Dr Brasch responded: ' 'A mere five days after  can I call it a glowing endorsement of this man  he started penning what we can call a death note.'

Ms Jarrett was reprimanded by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal in 2018 in a case launched by the Psychology board of Australia.

Psychologist Vivian Jarrett leaves the Brisbane Coroners Court for the inquest into the death of Hannah Ashlie Clarke, in Brisbane, Wednesday, March 30

The tribunal found Ms Jarrett failed to maintain professional boundaries, and has admitting to allegations of poor-record keeping.

The inquest also heard the fate of Ms Clarke and her children may have been different if she received more guidance from police.

Domestic violence expert Heather Douglas says she understood Ms Clarke was fearful of what her estranged husband Rowan Baxter might do if she applied for a protection order after they separated in late 2019.

But Prof Douglas said Ms Clarke may have potentially had Baxter arrested and in police custody on charges such as stalking, if officers had asked the right questions.

'If the police officers were really aware of risk factors and had explained clearly to Hannah about her safety issues and encouraged her to make charges and to support charges we might have had a different outcome,' she said.

'People can't be expected to really know what their risk factors are but police should be expected to know and be able to articulate them to a victim.

'And with full information someone like Hannah may have actually made a different decision, especially if she thought serious charges might lead to a refusal of bail.'

Prof Douglas said there are often opportunities where alleged perpetrators can be charged with criminal offences, but instead the officers' initial focus is often on domestic violence order breaches.

'They (police) may have decided to charge differently and magistrates confronted with ... 29 out of 39 risk factors may well have also decided that bail shouldn't have been granted,' she said.

There 'was a lot that went wrong' in Ms Clarke's case, Prof Douglas said, advocating for trials of different approaches to domestic violence.

The inquest is set to come to a close in Brisbane on Thursday.

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Former Donald Trump on Wednesday accused his 2016 opponent of trying to 'illegally destroy' his campaign after it emerged that regulators had fined Hillary Clinton's campaign and the Democratic National Committee of failing to properly disclose spending on the controversial Steele dossier.

Trump used the findings to repeat his attacks on a slew of enemies that he listed in a lawsuit last week.

Payments by the Clinton campaign and the D.N.C. to a law firm, he said, were 'a guise to hire numerous companies, all of whom are now named defendants in my lawsuit, to try and take down and illegally destroy your favorite president, me,' he said in an emailed statement

'This was done to create, as I have stated many times, and is now confirmed, a hoax funded by the DNC and the Clinton Campaign.

'This corruption is only beginning to be revealed, is un-American, and must never be allowed to happen again. Where do I go to get my reputation back?'

Details of the F.E.C. fines emerged on Wednesday, allowing Trump to return to one of his favorite topics: The way he was accused of links to Russia in the 2016, and the start of what he describes as a 'witch hunt.'

A letter sent to a conservative group that requested an inquiry, and were first published by the Washington Examiner, showed that the D.N.C. was fined $105,000 and the Clinton campaign was fined $8,000.

Rumors of links between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia exploded into public with the publication of the dossier by Buzzfeed days before the new president was inaugurated in January 2017.

It was written by a former British spy Christopher Steele.

Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign and the Democratic National Committee were fined for election finance violations over the Steele dossier that alleged Trump collusion with Russia

Former British spy Christopher Steele was hired by Fusion GPS to use his foreign expertise in investigating the Trump campaign's links to Russia

Donald Trump and his supporters have pored over the money trail that led to Steele and his dossier, alleging a dirty tricks campaign and attempt to smear the then Republican candidate

Its contents included claims that the Trump's campaign had numerous contacts with Russian officials, as more salacious tales about the property mogul cavorting with prostitutes in Moscow.

However, key elements were quickly discredited and no one was ever formally charged with colluding with the Kremlin.

Trump supporters quickly cried foul and have pored over the money trail behind the dossier amid allegations that it was all part of a smear campaign.

In all, some $1 million was paid by the Clinton campaign and the D.N.C. to a law firm, Perkins Coie, which in turn used Fusion GPS for opposition research on Trump. It hired Steele to use his expertise to investigate the Republican candidate's links to Russia.

In its letter, the F.E.C. said the D.N.C. and Hillary for America had violated campaign finance provisions.

It said the two parties had effectively misreported the money that funded the dossier, by labeling 'legal services' and 'legal and compliance consulting rather than opposition research.

The Clinton campaign and the D.N.C. did not concede any violation, the letter said, but agreed not to contest the decision and accepted the fines.

The F.E.C. also said it had dismissed a string of other allegations - filed by the Coolidge Reagan Foundation in 2018 - that the D.N.C., the Clinton campaign, Steele and Fusion GPS violated other rules.

The D.N.C. said in a statement through a spokesperson that the issue had been resolved.

'We settled aging and silly complaints from the 2016 election about "purpose descriptions" in our FEC report,' it said.

Former President Donald Trump launched a lawsuit on Thursday accusing Hillary Clinton, former British spy Christopher Steele, and indicted lawyer Michael Sussmann - among others - of conspiring against him to spread a false claim that his campaign was linked to Moscow

Also named in the case were former FBI Director James Comey, as well as agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, whose messages were seized on by Trump supporters to claim a plot

The case, filed on Thursday, offers a who's who of grievances dating back to the 2016 election

Details emerged after Trump himself went to court in an effort to punish Clinton and a hit list of his favorite targets, including the architects of the Steele dossier, alleging that they tried to rig the 2016 U.S. presidential election by tying his campaign to Russia.

Among the names are Steele, James Comey, the then director of the FBI who investigated possible connections, and the Democratic National Committee.

'In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, Hillary Clinton and her cohorts orchestrated an unthinkable plot  one that shocks the conscience and is an affront to this nations democracy,' reads the complaint.

'Acting in concert, the defendants maliciously conspired to weave a false narrative that their Republican opponent, Donald J. Trump, was colluding with a hostile foreign sovereignty.

'The actions taken in furtherance of their scheme  falsifying evidence, deceiving law enforcement, and exploiting access to highly-sensitive data sources  are so outrageous, subversive and incendiary that even the events of Watergate pale in comparison.'

Trump, who beat Democratic nominee Clinton in the 2016 election, alleges racketeering, the theft of trade secrets, and 'conspiracy to commit injurious falsehood,' among other crimes.
A black Texas woman won a $90,000 settlement from her former high school teacher after she claimed educators harassed her over her refusal to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance because she branded it as racist.

Mari Leigh Oliver, 22, claimed she was bullied after making her stand and sued several teachers and Klein Oak High School in Spring in 2017 before reaching a settlement on Tuesday.

The court had found the Klein school district was not liable for the wrongful acts of its employees because it had not shown 'deliberate indifference' to the students rights, the Houston Chronicle reported.

However, Oliver's sociology teacher Benjie Arnold, 75, agreed to settle the case, according to the student's lawyers from the civil rights organization American Atheists.

The Texas Association of School Boards, a risk pool funded by Texas school districts, will pay the $90,000 on Arnold's behalf, according to the Click 2 Houston.

Former Klein Oat High School student Mari Leigh Oliver (pictured in 2017), won a $90,000 settlement with the school for a 2017 discrimination case. The student refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance as she felt that 'we live in a country where there isnt justice and freedom for all'

Her mother LaShan Arcenaux (left, with her daughter) filed the lawsuit in 2017 against several teachers and the school district. All the teachers, but one, and the district were dismissed from the case

Her daughter's sociology teacher Benjie Arnold, 75, (pictured) agreed to settle the case after he allegedly harassed the student for two years and told students the only way to express free speech was through voting

Arnold (pictured in 2020) has been a teacher for over 50 years

Oliver, who is now in college, refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance because she felt 'we live in a country where there isnt justice and freedom for all,' she said in 2017.

She took offense to 'under God' and 'liberty and justice for all,' as she did not think African Americans were guaranteed that, according to her lawyers from the civil rights organization American Atheists.

'Im not going to stand for a pledge that says there is when there really isnt,' she said at a 2017 press conference.

Her lawyers said on Tuesday: 'Teacher Benjie Arnold allegedly singled her out and retaliated against her for sitting out the Pledge.

'Although she was exempt from the Pledge under state law and teachers had been informed of this fact during a staff meeting, Arnold nonetheless required that she and her classmates write it. After she refused, Arnold told her and the rest of the class: "What youve done is leave me no option but to give you a zero, and you can have all the beliefs and resentment and animosity that you want."'

Students can choose to not participate in the pledge as long as their parents request it in writing, according to the Houston Chronicle. It is unclear if her parents provided a written request.

The student's mother, LaShan Arcenaux, filed the lawsuit against the school district and several teachers, accusing them of retaliation and discrimination, which would eventually lead her to pulling her daughter out of school and homeschooling her. The district and several teachers was later dismissed from the case, according to the Houston Chronicle.

The mother said several teachers and students discriminated and harassed her daughter afterward and that school counselors and administrators - including Principal Brian Greeney - failed to address the problem.

The American Atheists said 'Arnold went on an extended tirade, offering to pay for students to move to Europe if they didnt like living in America  but they would have to pay him back double if they ever returned to the US.

'He then expressed his own limited view of free speech and insinuated that anything else is un-American,' the organization said. Arnold, who has taught for 50 years, allegedly told students the only way to express free speech was through voting.

He allegedly harassed Oliver for two years, causing the student to withdraw from Klein Oak. She reportedly returned later on, but said the harassment got worst, causing her to have panic attacks that 'greatly interfered' with her education and costing the family $10,000 for homeschooling materials, the lawsuit said.

The student would end up leaving Klein Oak (pictured) and then returned. When she returned, she said the harassment got worse and she had to be homeschooled, costing the family $10,000. The Texas Association of School Boards, a risk pool funded by Texas school districts, has paid the settlement money on Arnold's behalf

One of her lawyers Geoffrey T. Blackwell (pictured) said the 'settlement serves as a reminder that students do not lose their First Amendment rights when they enter the classroom'

'Nonreligious students often face bullying or harassment for expressing their deeply held convictions,' Nick Fish, president of American Atheists, said in a statement.

'No one should have to endure the years of harassment, disrespect, and bullying our client faced. The fact that this happened in a public school and at the hands of staff who should know better is particularly appalling. After nearly five years of litigation, the defendant finally made the only smart decision and agreed to settle this case.'

'The classroom is not a pulpit. It is a place of education, not indoctrination,' Litigation Counsel at American Atheists Geoffrey T. Blackwell said in a statement. 'This settlement serves as a reminder that students do not lose their First Amendment rights when they enter the classroom.'
There have been wild scenes in airports as Australians flock to Bali now that Covid restrictions have been eased, but a travel expert warns people to carefully read the fine print on their bookings.

Bargain flight offers have added to the rush to the the holiday island, whose economy was devastated by the pandemic.

But what seems like a bargain may have some catches such as not allowing carry on luggage or seat selection.

More than six million tourists visited Bali in 2019 - the last year before the pandemic - including 1.23million from Australia.

But in the first nine months of 2021 Bali only had 43 foreign arrivals and hospitality venues and beaches were empty.

Pictured are three young Australian women who are excited to finally be able to travel again

But now that Bali is back in business, airlines are battling each other for their custom.

Though Jetstar's $99 one-way to Bali offer is gone, there are are still some very cheap options available, with Perth to Bali priced at $149 one-way.

Airlines offer weekly deals where you can bag a bargain. Jetstar's Friday Fare Frenzy goes from 12-8pm, while Virgin offers discounted prices every Thursday from 4-11pm.

A travel expert has advised that people should look closely at their booking or may end up paying a lot more than they bargained for.

Angus Kidman, editor-in-chief of the Finder finance website, said 'They first thing you want to look at is make sure you understand what's included in the fare.

'A lot of sale fares only include the basic trip. There's no carry on luggage, there's no picking your seat,' he told Channel 7.

Mr Kidman said there are bargains to be had, though, if you look around.

Jetstar is one of the airlines that is benefitting from more travellers going to Bali

A woman in a jungle pool on a luxury villa in Bali, the tourist island that is very popular with Australians

Bali's beaches, such as the one pictured, are again filling up with Australian tourists

'Start with the sale and then pick the holiday. Most places have got something interesting to do,' he said.

However, as with most things in life, timing matters. 'If you go at the last minute, you will pay full price, so look further in advance,' Mr Kidman advised.

Where are Australians travelling to? Travel website Expedia's top international spots for Australians are Fiji, Los Angeles, Hawaii and London. Young woman walking on a suspension bridge in Fiji, which is currently the top travel destination for Australians. Expedia's top domestic destinations for April are the Dandenong Ranges in Victoria - with accomodation interest up 40 per cent from the same time last year - and Port Douglas in Queensland, up 30 per cent. Source: Expedia Advertisement

Travellers should also consider what day of the week they want to travel. Flights on Tuesdays and Wednesdays are generally cheaper than other days.

Despite Covid restrictions greatly easing, it's also important to factor in the possibility of catching it just before you leave for your destination, or while you are there.

If you get Covid before your flight you won't be able to travel. If you get it while away, you will have to isolate.

'It's important at the moment to read the terms and conditions before you take out any travel plans or accomodation,' said Delia Rickard, deputy chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

Will I need to quarantine?

The Indonesian government has eased travel regulations for several countries, including Australia.

Previously, fully vaccinated arrivals were required to isolate for five days.

Now, travellers spend from three to six hours in isolation while waiting for their PCR result.

The day three test is also no longer required.

Before your trip

You will need a negative PCR test within 48 hours before your flight.

You must also have a travel insurance policy that covers Covid medical expenses, with a minimum coverage of US$25,000.

Download the PeduliLindungi app, and register and complete the health declaration before you arrive.

Verify your proof of vaccination through the Non-Indonesia Vaccination Verification website, which can then be uploaded to the app.

Rules on arrival

Australians can buy a visa on arrival for 500,000 IDR or around $47.

Show your completed e-HAC on the PeduliLindungi app and your pre-departure PCR test result.

Australians and their families queue at the entrance to the international terminal at Ngurah Rai airport near Denpasar on the tourist island of Bali

You then have to get a PCR test at the airport and afterwards go straight to your accommodation, where you wait for your result.

If you test positive but have no or minor symptoms, you must isolate for five days at a government quarantine hotel at your own cost.

If you test negative on day six you can resume your holiday.

Before leaving Bali

Airlines require a negative PCR test before letting you on a flight.

The test have to be done one to two days before leaving Bali.
A businessman desperately trying to bring his wife's cousin, her friends and one of their mothers from Ukraine to the UK has branded Britain's visa system a 'disgrace'.

Mark Lewis and his Ukrainian-born wife Irina spent nearly eight hours filling in forms for the women to come to Britain under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

The group  who spent 24 hours travelling to the Polish border  had to trek to Warsaw because some didn't have passports with them. So far, only four of their seven applications have been approved.

Mark Lewis and his Ukrainian-born wife Irina spent nearly eight hours filling in forms for the women to come to Britain under the Homes for Ukraine scheme

Mr Lewis, 56, who works in finance and lives in Chertsey, Surrey, is a lifelong Conservative voter  but says the fiasco may have changed his mind.

He said: 'Frustration is the polite word for what we feel. They won't be able to get my vote again unless they sort this mess out.'

'I've got this horrible feeling (the system) is completely not fit for purpose,' he added.

Mr Lewis and his Kharkiv-born wife are at their wits' end trying to get second cousin Katya Katchan, 21, five of her friends and one of their mothers to safety.

The girls are Kostya, 21, Viktoriia, 18, Andriana, 16, Viktoriia, 20, plus Yelyzaveta, 20, and her mother Nataliia, 55.

The girls are Kostya, 21, Viktoriia, 18, Andriana, 16, Viktoriia, 20, plus Yelyzaveta, 20, and her mother Nataliia, 55

Katya spent a week sleeping in a corridor in her parents' apartment in Zaporizhzhia, south-eastern Ukraine, as shells rained down.

Frustrated by the visa process, Mr Lewis said: 'I don't know how anyone is meant to do it, while they're fleeing a war zone and running for their lives, on a mobile phone  and they don't speak English.'

While the women wait, Mr Lewis fears for their safety.

He said: 'There's a lot of predators. For people traffickers it's like all their Christmases have come at once; these girls are young and naive.'
A nurse who is missing in floodwaters in northern NSW has been identified as a desperate search to find her enters a third day.

Anita Brakel, 55, became trapped in her white Holden station wagon at Monaltrie, south of Lismore, about 10pm on Tuesday.

The aged care nurse, from Nowra, had been working in the area when she encountered trouble driving on Wyrallah Road.

She desperately phoned police to say that she was trapped in floodwaters, but when officers arrived at the scene she and her car were nowhere to be found.

Fears are growing for Anita Brakel, 55, after she became trapped in her white Holden station wagon at Monaltrie, south of Lismore, due to floodwaters about 10pm on Tuesday

No trace of Ms Brakel or her car has been recovered despite searches involving Police Rescue, Water Police and NSW SES volunteers.

A public appeal for information was launched on Wednesday as fears grow for Ms Brakel's safety.

Police say she was driving a 2017 white Holden Captiva station wagon, with NSW registration YHS 51F.

'She was recruited up there by an aged care agency as a nurse,' Assistant Commissioner Joe Cassar told reporters on Wednesday.

'We have the general location of Wyrallah Road, south of Lismore, but we have been unable to locate the vehicle or her.

Ms Brakel phoned police to say she was trapped about 10pm, but efforts to find her have so far been fruitless. Pictured: Floodwaters in Lismore on March 31

'As you can appreciate, they are high flood waters - so we will continue our search.'

Meanwhile, anger is growing in the community about the response from official agencies about the flood risk in the Northern Rivers.

'I was incredibly disappointed with the instructions from the SES,' Lismore resident Nancy Casson told the Nine Network.

'We had an evacuation and then a non-evacuation, and then an evacuation again. I was so confused.

'I don't know what is lacking in their instructions to us. I don't know why they constantly get it wrong.'

Major flooding was continuing in Lismore on Thursday morning, with the Wilsons River likely to continue spilling over its levee until Thursday afternoon, when river levels should begin to ease.

The river peaked on Wednesday at 11.4 metres, just below a predicted 12 metre high.

Police say she was driving a 2017 white Holden Captiva station wagon (model pictured), with NSW registration YHS 51F

Further south, major flooding is expected at Ulmarra and Maclean from Thursday morning, and at Grafton on Thursday afternoon as the Clarence River peaks at about 5.7 metres.

On the Mid North Coast, the Bellinger River peaked on Wednesday, while moderate flooding continues in Thora and Bellingen.

Kempsey is also experiencing moderate floods on Thursday. Similar conditions are likely at Smithtown, with the Macleay River likely to hit 6.3m in the city.

Meanwhile, Flood Recovery Minister Steph Cooke urged people donating to flood victims to use official channels so people on the ground do not become overwhelmed with items.

Some 54,000 items worth about $620,000 have been handed over through the non-profit organisation GIVIT since March when flooding began.
A woke Wisconsin school district has instructed its teaching staff not to reveal pupils' gender identities, should students reveal it to their teachers while in class.

The absurd instructions were explained to educators and included as part of staff development training with the Eau Claire School District.

Staff was specifically told that if a student told a staff member they were gay or transgender, they should not reveal such information to the child's parents.

'Remember, parents are not entitled to know their kids' identities. That knowledge must be earned,' one slide in the training presentation stated.

Board superintendent Michael Johnson, pictured, says the policy is to ensure students feel safe particularly if they are 'unable to be themselves' while at home

Teachers at Eau Claire School District in Wisconsin were told not to reveal a pupil's sexual orientation and gender identity to parents if they confided in them

Staff working for Eau Claire School District in Wisconsin were told 'Remember, parents are not entitled to know their kids' identities. That knowledge must be earned.'

But there is far from blanket agreement with the policy sitting uncomfortably with teachers and prospective board members alike.

'They're asking them to withhold that from the parents. They're asking teachers to keep secrets,' said Nicole Everson, Eau Claire School Board candidate to WQOW.

Everson teamed up with fellow board candidates Corey Cronrath and Melissa Winter stating that guidelines showed 'blatant disregard for parental rights and responsibilities.'

'They're asking teachers not to communicate with parents about issues that pertain to their child,' Everson said. 'I'm responsible for my child until they move out or they're 18 years old. And so I have the sole decision-making of what goes on with my child.

'Talking to community members including staff members, including students, a lot of people are concerned. Our city is not being heard. People in our district are not being heard,' Everson added.

'They're asking teachers not to communicate with parents about issues that pertain to their child,' Nicole Everson said. 'I'm responsible for my child until they move out or they're 18 years old. And so I have the sole decision-making of what goes on with my child.'

But Tim Nordin, Eau Claire School Board President says the statement was completely taken out of context and is designed primarily with student safety in mind.

'This was a professional development session talking about students who are LGBTQ and the extremely high rates they have of mental health difficulties, suicide attempts, and depression,' Nordin explained.

He went on to note that students who are LGBT may sometimes confide in their teachers if they feel as if they are unable to be themselves with their families and that the policy was designed to allow students to trust their teachers with confidence anything discussed would be confidential.

'It's a parent's responsibility to help their student become the best person that they can be, to live their true self, but when those students don't feel safe at home, where are they supposed to go?' Nordin asked.

Tim Nordin, Eau Claire School Board President, says the statement was completely taken out of context and is designed primarily with student safety in mind.

'I'm unwilling to tell them you're not safe at our school. And that's what this is about. It's not about parents versus teachers. It's about students being safe in our schools and having every student have a safe place to go.'

Everson believes there's a lack of transparency in what is being taught and what is being expected of our teachers, and she says she's not alone in her concerns.

The Superintendent of the Eau Claire school district, Michael Johnson, said the District has a responsibility to foster an environment at schools that is equitable, safe and inclusive of all students.

The Superintendent of the Eau Claire school district, Michael Johnson, pictured, said the District has a responsibility to foster an environment at schools that is equitable, safe and inclusive of all students.

Johnson said he takes pride in heading up a school district that makes students feel welcome and safe at school.

''As part of our ongoing work to support our students, our staff received training focus on creating safe spaces at school for all students,' said Eau Claire superintendent Michael Johnson in a statement.

'Data shows that students who identify within the LGBTQIA+ community have a higher incidence of mental health issues along with a higher sense of isolation... 87% of LGBTQIA+ students report mental health concerns and just 44% have a sense of belonging compared to 46% and 68% for straight-cisgender students.

'Our staff often find themselves in positions of trust with our students. The staff development presentation shared extensive data and information to assist our staff members in our ongoing efforts to create a safe and supportive learning environment for all students. The ECASD prides itself on being a school district that makes all students feel welcome and safe in our schools.'
A desperate search is underway for a young woman missing for five days since disappearing in her car.

Eleanor Hanson, 29, was last seen on Saturday morning, March 26, in Westmead but usually lives in Campsie, both in western Sydney.

Police are concerned for Ms Hanson's wellbeing as she suffers a medical condition.

Eleanor Hanson (above), 29, was last seen on Saturday morning, March 26, in Westmead, Sydney, but usually resides in Campsie

It is unknown what Ms Hanson was last wearing but she may be driving a white Hyundai i30 with the registration BLO 32U

Police described Ms Hanson as Caucasian, about 155cm-160cm tall with a thin build and brown hair.

It is unknown what Ms Hanson was last wearing but she may be driving a white Hyundai i30 with the registration BLO 32U.

Police urge anyone with information on Ms Hanson's whereabouts to contact Campsie Police Station.

They asked the public not report to information to NSW Police social media pages.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the farthest star astronomers have ever seen, which is located some 28 billion light-years from Earth and bears the name Earendel.

The star system from the early universe where the cosmic body was found is hidden from normal view from the Earth. But the universe bends around the vast bulk of a galaxy cluster, which creates a gravitational lens in spacetime, similar to the curved lens of a magnifying glass.

Farthest Star From Earth

Astronomers have given the far-away star system the official name of WHL0137-LS but have nicknamed it Earendel, based on the Old English word that means "morning star" or "rising light." The Earendel system that we can now observe was shining when the Big Bang was only less than 900 million years old.

An extended 12.8 billion years have passed before the light of the system reached the Hubble Space Telescope after it was magnified by a lucky trick of gravity. Astronomers discovered the system as a tiny smudge of photons on Hubble's image sensor. Experts said Earendel is 8.2 billion years older than our solar system's Sun and 12.1 billion years older than our planet's first animals, as per The Verge.

Astronomers estimate the size of the star to be between 50 to 500 times larger than our own Sun and several million times brighter. A study that detailed the findings of the star was published in the journal Nature on Wednesday.

Read Also: NASA Hubble Images Show Stunning View of the Heart of Massive Galaxy, Spiral Stunner [PHOTOS]

The new observation breaks the record that Hubble set in 2018 when it discovered a star that had existed when the universe was only about four billion years old. The discovery of Earendel could help experts investigate the early years of the universe.

According to CNN, co-author of the study, Victoria Strait, who is a postdoctoral researcher at the Cosmic Dawn Center in Copenhagen, said in a statement that peering into the cosmos means looking back in time. She added that these types of extreme high-resolution observations allow experts to understand the building blocks of some of the very first galaxies.

A Look Into a Young Universe

Astronomer Brian Welch of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who is the lead author of the paper that described the discovery, said that he and his colleagues were also shocked by the finding. Welch added that the distances normally showed galaxies as small smudges as the light from millions of stars blended together.

Welch added that they named the galaxy that hosted Earendel "Sunrise Arc" because it has been magnified and distorted by gravitational lensing to become a long crescent. He noted that the peculiar star may not have all the same raw materials as the stars around the Earth today.

Astronomers now expect Earendel to remain highly magnified for several years and will continue to be observed by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Webb's high sensitivity to infrared light will be crucial in learning more about the star because its light is stretched (redshifted) to longer infrared wavelengths due to the expansion of the universe, NASA reported.



Related Article: Planet Earth's Heartbeat Every 27.5 Million Years Causes Dramatic Changes Defining Epochs in Geological History

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
CBS faced internal backlash for hiring former President Donald Trump's chief of staff as a paid on-air contributor as a news head claimed that the network needed to hire more Republican's in preparations for an expected sweep in the midterm elections.

Mick Mulvaney, who previously bashed CBS reporters and other journalists for harping on anti-Trump stories during his tenure in the administration, joined the network this week following the hires of Trump's former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and fellow former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

The hires come as The Washington Post reported that CBS News co-President Neeraj Khemlani recently told staff that Republican voices were needed on the network as he expects Democrats to wipeout in the 2022 midterms.

'If you look at some of the people that we've been hiring on a contributor basis, being able to make sure that we are getting access to both sides of the aisle is a priority because we know the Republicans are going to take over, most likely, in the midterms,' Khemlani said in a leaked recording obtained by the Post.

'A lot of the people that we're bringing in are helping us in terms of access to that side of the equation.'

CBS confirmed the new hiring practice in a statement, saying: 'CBS News is continuing to build up its roster of contributors on both sides of the aisle ahead of the midterms and the 2024 election.'

However, CBS employees speaking under the condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to comment on the recent hires said many in the company were frustrated and embarrassed by Mulvaney coming on staff.

Mick Mulvaney (above), a former White House Chief of Staff in the Trump Administration, has joined CBS news as an on-air contributor. He made his first appearance on Tuesday

The hire has drawn backlash from CBS staff who called it embarrassing. Mulvaney (right) had previously lashed out at reporters while working for Former President Donald Trump

Former OMB Director @MickMulvaney, who joins CBS News as a contributor, breaks down President Bidens tax plan on wealthy Americans pic.twitter.com/Wh1m823631  CBS News (@CBSNews) March 29, 2022

CBS News co-President Neeraj Khemlani (above) was said to have told staff members that the company needs to bring in more Republican voices as he expects the GOP to make sweeping victories in the coming 2020 midterm elections

'I know everyone I talked to today was embarrassed about the hiring,' on Employee told the Post.

'Everyone is baffled,' another employee added.

A senior CBS News producer simply connected Mulvaney's hiring to the 74.2 million Americans who voted for Trump in 2020, suggesting that the company couldn't risk loosing out on potential viewers.

After he joined the company on Tuesday, Mulvaney said in a statement: 'Looking forward to working with CBS News. We need more intelligent conversation in this country, and CBS is working hard to provide that.'

While the hires of McMaster, who was brought in earlier in March, and Priebus, who was hired in 2020, brought little protest from the company, Mulvaney appeared to draw more ire due to his previous staunch defense of Trump.

In February 2020, Mulvaney accused journalists of trying to 'bring down the president,' as reports and questions grew regarding the coming coronavirus pandemic.

He also defended the Trump administration's decision to withhold military aid from Ukraine and told reporters to 'get over it' when they asked if Trump had sought a quid pro quo from Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden in 2019.

Mulvaney also slammed reporters for worrying that Trump would not participate in a peaceful transition of power despite the former president's continued insistence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

CBS had previously hired Trump's Former Chief of Staff Reince Priebus (left) in 2020 and Former National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster earlier in March

Mulvaney made his first official appearance as a contributor on Tuesday morning where he was introduced as 'a former Office of Management and Budget director, with anchor Anne-Marie Green failing to mention which administration Mulvaney worked for.

Following the segment, the company's standards department sent out a memo telling staff: 'as we introduce these folks, we must always identify relevant background and biographical information,' including what administration a guest worked for, according to the Post.

CBS News' latest hiring practice follows CNN's hires last year of former White House Communications Director Alyssa Farah Griffin. CNN had also hired Chris Wallace, who left his popular position at Fox News to join the company's new CNN+ streaming service.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said he 'understands' why Will Smith came to the defence of his wife at the Oscars.

In an interview on Brisbane radio on Thursday morning, the prime minister was asked whether he ever felt the need to slap someone in parliament.

'I'm also fiercely defensive of anyone who would say anything about Jenny too, so I can understand it,' he said in response.

Mr Morrison said he could understand why some men could resort to physical violence but added 'thats not how you roll'.

Hollywood star Will Smith, 53, was forced to apologise after striding on stage and slapping Oscars host Chris Rock, 57, at Monday's ceremony

'I'm also fiercely defensive of anyone who would say anything about Jenny too, so I can understand it,' Mr Morrison said of Will Smith slapping host Chris Rock at the Oscars ceremony. Pictured: Scott and Jenny Morrison

Hollywood star Smith, 53, was forced to apologise after striding on stage and slapping Oscars host Rock, 57, at Monday's ceremony.

An angry Smith returned to his seat and shouted twice at Rock: 'Leave my wifes name out of your f***ing mouth.'

Smith's act occurred after Rock had made a bad-taste joke referencing the bald head of Smith's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Rock joked: 'Jada, I love you, GI Jane 2, cant wait to see it.'

The joke was considered off-colour given Pinkett-Smith suffers from the hair loss condition, alopecia.

Shortly after, Smith was announced as the winner of the best actor award and went up to collect his statuette to a standing ovation from many of his peers.

Will Smith collects his Oscar after being named best actor, shortly after he'd stormed the stage to angrily slap the show's host, Chris Rock

Jada Pinkett Smith arrives on the red carpet outside the Dolby Theater for the 94th Academy Awards - host Chris Rock's joke about her caused the now infamous incident in which her husband Will Smith hit Rock during the ceremony

On Wednesday the Academy said it had launched 'disciplinary procedures' against Smith, and confirmed he ignored their request for him to leave his seat.

Smith was asked to leave by David Rubin, the president of the Academy, and CEO Dawn Hudson, TMZ reported.

Two sources told the site Rubin and Hudson were 'furious' at Smith, and there was plenty of 'yelling' and 'heated conversations' backstage with his reps after the incident.

One source said the Academy officials were 'apoplectic.'

On Wednesday night Rock offered his first response on the incident when he told the audience at his comedy show in Boston that he was 'still processing' the slap from Smith.

Dressed all in white, Rock, 57, took to the stage at the Wilbur Theatre and asked the excited crowd: 'Sooooo, how was your weekend?!?'

The Academy released a statement addressing the controversy.

'The Board of Governors today initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy,' their statement said.

'Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, [but] we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.'

Smith will receive 15 days notice of a vote as well as an opportunity to be heard by written response.

At the next board meeting - scheduled for April 18 - the Academy may take action that could include 'suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct.'
Barnaby Joyce secured up to $34billion for regional areas and critical infrastructure after his National Party backed net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

The Deputy Prime Minister, who was personally against the net zero target, announced his party would finally support it in October, just a week before Scott Morrison went to the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.

It was widely reported that Mr Morrison convinced the Nationals, who are divided on climate change policy over fears for coal and gas jobs, by promising billions of extra dollars for the electorates they represent or want to win in regional Australia.

Barnaby Joyce (right with Scott Morrison) secured up to $34billion for regional areas and critical infrastructure after his National Party backed net zero carbon emissions by 2050

The road and rail spending includes $678million for sealing 1,000km of the Outback Way, a 2,720km route that links Laverton in Western Australia with Winton in Queensland via Alice Springs in the Northern Territory

Tuesday's Budget has revealed the huge spending measures in Mr Joyce's infrastructure portfolio that quite possibly bought the Nationals' support.

There was an extra $17.9billion for road, rail and community infrastructure, $7.4billion for new dams, $7.1billion for special projects and $2billion for a regional economic boost.

The road and rail spending includes $678million for sealing 1,000km of the Outback Way, a 2,720km route that links Laverton in Western Australia with Winton in Queensland via Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

There are major regional road upgrades in all states and a new $1.5billion inter-state freight terminal in Victoria.

The $7.4billion on water infrastructure includes $5.4billion to build the biggest dam in Queensland known as Hells Gate along with cash for three other dams in the state.

The $7.1billion for 'transformative infrastructure' projects involves pumping cash into four regions including the Pilbara in northern WA

There is also $2billion for a Regional Accelerator Program to boost manufacturing, apprenticeships, universities and the critical minerals sector

The $7.1billion for 'transformative infrastructure' projects involves pumping cash into four regions - the Pilbara in northern WA, the Northern Territory, north and central Queensland and the Hunter region of NSW where the port of Newcastle will be upgraded.

The National Party - the junior party in Coalition with the Liberals - wants to shore up its seats in Queensland and pick up Hunter as well as the NT seat of Lingiari from Labor at the May election.

When he became Deputy Prime Minister for the second time in June, Mr Joyce noted the importance of Lingiari when he said the election is 'going to be won in three places - the Hunter Valley, central Queensland and in and around Darwin.'

There is also $2billion for a Regional Accelerator Program to boost manufacturing, apprenticeships, universities and the critical minerals sector.

Mr Joyce has proudly championed the measures, declaring them a major boost for regional Australia.

'Turbocharging these regional economies will enable people to get the job they want and to pursue their dreams,' Mr Joyce said on Tuesday.

'This will attract new sources of investment to Australia, further unlocking the potential of our regions and supporting the industries that earn the export dollars that make us wealthier and stronger.'

The $7.4billion on water infrastructure includes $6.6billion to build the biggest dam in Queensland known as Hells Gate along with three other dams in the state. Pictured: A dam in NSW

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg also spruiked the cash splash, claiming only the Coalition truly supports regional Australia.

Australia finally support a net zero by 2050 target in October, under pressure after its key allies had already adopted the move months or years ago.

Mr Morrison said Australia can reach net zero by relying on technology such as solar power and green hydrogen and without introducing any taxes - but he did not announce any new initiatives or funding.

By 2050, Australia's electricity generation will cause up to 97 per cent fewer emissions than in 2005, using renewables but with a small amount of gas-fired power remaining,' the Government's projection says.

Australia will get 85 per cent of the way to net zero with existing technologies and offsets while the other 15 per cent will be achieved with 'further breakthrough technologies' that don't exist yet.

International and domestic offsets such as paying farmers to plant trees will account for 10 to 20 per cent of the emissions reduction.
The commander of U.S. forces in Europe on Wednesday admitted that Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine showed that the Biden administration's efforts to 'deter and dissuade' the Russian leader had failed.

During the run-up to the invasion, President Joe Biden worked with allies to step up sanctions on Moscow and position troops to strengthen N.A.T.O.'s eastern flank.

Biden himself said it was not part of a deterrence effort last week, but appearing before members of Congress his commander in Europe, Gen. Tod Wolters, offered a different assessment as Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher probed the strategy.

Gallagher asked: 'You as a combatant commander felt that you were part of an inter-agency effort intended to deter Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine?'

'That's correct,' Wolters answered. 'Deter and dissuade.'

Gallagher continued: 'Would it be fair to say that deterrence failed in Ukraine?'

'Number one: I would say that NATO's solidarity remained,' answered the head of Europe Command, before being interrupted by Gallagher, who pressed for a direct answer.

'I can't argue with your conclusion,' Wolters answered.

Gen. Tod Wolters appeared before the House Armed Services Committee. He described being part of a 'deter and dissuade' effort to prevent Putin from launching an invasion of Ukraine

Putin ordered his forces into Ukraine 35 days ago, but on Wednesday the U.S. said it believed he 'felt misled' by his military, straining relations between him and his Ministry of Defense

Mariya looks for personal items in the rubble of her house, destroyed during fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the village of Yasnohorodka, on the outskirts of Kyiv

People clean debris next to a house destroyed during the Russian invasion, in Boromlia village, at Trostyanets district which was recaptured by the Ukrainian army, in Sumy region

Ukrainian fighters have developed effective tactics to halt Russia's armored advance. Ukrainian soldiers patrol next to a destroyed Russian tank in Lukianivka near Kyiv

The answer may seem obvious, given the way Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine 35 days ago.

But the Biden administration insists that its strategy did not fail as its sanctions were never designed as a deterrent.

'Lets get something straight,' Biden told a reporter who questioned him last week.

'You remember if you covered me from the very beginning, I did not say that, in fact, the sanctions would deter him.

'Sanctions never deter. You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter.'

Several officials offered a different view before the invasion.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with CNN that the purpose of the sanctions 'in the first instance is to try to deter Russia from going to war.'

A day earlier Wolters told a Senate committee hearing that the U.S. may have to send more troops to Europe and confirmed Russia had used multiple hypersonic weapons in Ukraine but that they had failed in their effort to spread fear among Ukrainians.

The head of Europe Command also admitted that there could have been an intelligence gap that allowed Washington to overestimate Russia's military capabilities and underestimate the power of Ukrainian resistance.

He appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on day 34 of the Russian invasion as Moscow announced it was scaling back its attempts to take the capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv.

Wolters said the Russian invasion had already prompted the U.S. to increase troop numbers from 60,000 to 102,000.

More could follow, he said in answer to a question about numbers of troops permanently stationed in Europe.

'I think what we need to do from a US force perspective is look at what takes place in Europe, following the completion of the Ukraine-Russia scenario, and examine the European contributions and, based off the breadth and depth of the European contributions, be prepared to adjust the US contributions,' he said.

'And my suspicion is we're going to still need more.'

Six EA-18G 'Growlers' arrived in Germany on Monday. They are equipped with the very latest electronic warfare capability and can jam enemy communications and anti-aircraft defenses

The U.S. has already increased the number of troops in Europe from about 60,000 to 102,000 since Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine a month ago

A day earlier, the Pentagon announced it was sending six naval aircraft, equipped for electronic warfare, to Germany to bolster N.A.T.O.'s eastern flank along with 240 personnel.

In his opening statement Wolters said Russia's invasion had 'galvanized' N.A.T.O.s 30 members.

And he described the 'unmatched' speed with which the Pentagon had able to deploy an entire armored brigade combat team to Germany in just a week.

In comparison, he confirmed that Russia had used 'multiple' hypersonic weapons - capable of traveling at more than five times the speed of sound and able to outmaneuver missile defense systems - but they had failed in their primary objective.

'I think it was to demonstrate the capability and attempt to put fear in the hearts of the enemy and I don't think they were successful,' he said when asked why Russia had used one of its most sophisticated weapons.
A little boy found cowering inside a unit after his mother was allegedly stabbed 20 times and killed is asking for his 'Mumma'.

Mackenzie Anderson, 21, was allegedly stabbed to death at her Newcastle home on Friday night. Her ex-lover has been charged with murder.

Police found Ms Anderson's son, aged 27-months, inside the unit and covered in his mother's blood.

The boy's godmother revealed he is being cared for by family and getting lots of cuddles.

'He is safe,' Alice McEvoy said. 'He's asking for mumma but he's safe and getting lots of cuddles.'

The little boy was physically unharmed in the alleged attack, but taken to hospital for observation, police said.

Mackenzie Anderson's mother Tabitha has paid tribute to the 21-year-old after she was found unresponsive outside her unit in Newcastle about 10.40pm on Friday

Ms Anderson's mother Tabitha Acret, a dental hygeinist in Newcastle, posted on Instagram about her daughter's tragic death and the 'sad new reality' the family faced.

'We tragically lost our beautiful little girl,' Ms Acret said.

'No parent should have to bury a child and this is sadly our new reality... It's been an overwhelming sadness that is in our hearts at the moment.'

The grieving mother said she hopes her daughter's memory will 'become a blessing' to live on in the hearts of all who knew and loved the 'bubbly, feisty' 21-year-old.

Mackenzie Anderson made a frantic call to police, allegedly to report her ex for breaching his AVO. When police arrived, she was allegedly found with 20 stab wounds

Hardened cops were devastated by the grisly sight and swiftly removed the boy from the crime scene.

The 22-year-old man accused of causing her death, Tyrone Thompson, was allegedly found 'crouched over her body' when police responded to her distressing call for help.

Thompson allegedly broke into her home in breach of an apprehended violence order taken out for Ms Anderson's safety, prompting the young mum to report him to police.

Ms Anderson had spent years trying to turn her life around for the sake of her son after developing a meth addiction as a 16-year-old

Instagram messages obtained by Daily Mail Australia show Ms Anderson told a friend she was frightened her son would grow up without his mum.

'My biggest fear  (is) my son being left without a mum, that's what breaks my heart,' she said just months ago.

Close to $60,000 has now been raised to cover the costs of his ongoing care and 'any therapy he may need' down the track after such a traumatic experience.

Ms Anderson noted she felt 'let down' by authorities in some of her personal circumstances.

Thompson was arrested after police responded to her call for help and found her body.

Between the final phone call and police arriving minutes later, Ms Anderson had allegedly been stabbed 20 times.

Tyrone Thompson allegedly broke into her home in breach of an apprehended violence order taken out for Ms Anderson's safety, prompting the young mum to report him to police

A police source told Daily Mail Australia Ms Anderson was clinging to life when officers arrived.

'She was still breathing,' the source said. She lost her fight for life within minutes of police arriving and was declared dead at the scene.

One traumatised friend told Daily Mail Australia she was 'holding out to make sure her baby was going to be okay'.

'He was her world. She was such a great mama and that little boy changed everything for her.'

Thompson and Ms Anderson had previously been in a romantic relationship, but separated late last year.

He was not the father of her child.

Ms Anderson's young son is in the care of loved ones and has been asking for his mum since her tragic death

She made an eerie post just weeks ago saying she'd 'haunt' her ex if he ever came to her funeral

On Sunday afternoon he was formally charged with murder, enter with intent and breaching an apprehended domestic violence order.

He spent several nights in hospital for a busted up hand which he suffered during the alleged attack, but was released into custody on Monday morning.

Thompson briefly appeared via video link before Newcastle Local Court on Monday. He did not enter a plea, nor did he apply for bail. It was formally refused.

Ms Anderson made an eerie post just weeks ago saying she'd 'haunt' her ex if he ever came to her funeral.

The 21-year-old claimed she was a victim of sustained violence in the months before speaking out.

Ms Anderson tearfully shared pictures of her bruised and busted face several times throughout since late 2021.

She was determined to use her platform to highlight injustices and spoke openly about her concerns with the Australian justice system.
The author of a report into Britain's worst maternity scandal said pregnant women will not be safe to give birth until her full raft of recommendations are implemented.

Healthcare expert Donna Ockenden said it was 'astounding' that 'systemic' failings at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust happened for so long.

She added 'maternity services cannot provide safe and effective care' without a new 'blueprint' for care for mothers and babies and proposed 15 'immediate and essential' steps for every NHS maternity ward to take, including better training and better communication with families.

The report also said an obsession with 'normal births' contributed to the biggest maternity scandal in NHS history.

Ockenden blamed eight external bodies in part for allowing the litany of errors that resulted in 201 babies and nine mothers dying in avoidable circumstances.

Rhiannon Davies (left) embraces Kayleigh Griffiths, following the release of the final report by Donna Ockenden, chair of the Independent Review into Maternity Services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust

Donna Ockenden, chair of the Independent Review into Maternity Services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, presented her devastating report yesterday

In one case the Care Quality Commission, which regulates the NHS in England, had even rated the maternity ward at the Trust as 'good'.

Ockenden's report uncovered 1,592 times that women and their babies died or were left disabled or traumatised by their experiences at the Trust.

She said the Trust had come 'to blame mothers even for their own deaths'.

The devastating report said some women were forced to have vaginal births when they should have been offered a caesarean  all because natural birth zealots wanted to keep surgery rates low.

The landmark 250-page report found the trust presided over catastrophic failings for 20 years, ignored the concerns of parents and did not learn from its own inadequate investigations.

This led to babies being stillborn, dying shortly after birth or being left severely brain damaged.

Some infants suffered skull fractures, broken bones or developed cerebral palsy after traumatic forceps deliveries. Others were starved of oxygen and had life-changing brain injuries.

The inquiry's chairman, maternity expert Donna Ockenden, examined cases involving 1,486 families from 1973 to 2020 and reviewed 1,592 incidents.

She warned that staff were still expressing concerns about the trust  and issued 15 'immediate' actions for all maternity services in England amid fears of similar failings elsewhere.

Bereaved mothers Rhiannon Davies and Kayleigh Griffiths, who spearheaded calls for the inquiry after their daughters' deaths, hugged as they welcomed the findings.

But Mrs Griffiths, whose daughter Pippa died avoidably in 2016, said: 'This is 200-odd pages of harmed families. It's a disgrace that they haven't learned when we've told them what the issues were.'

Rhiannon Davies of Ludlow Shropshire pictured with her daughter Kate just moments after her birth on Sunday March 1, 2009

Richard Stanton and Rhiannon Davies, pictured at their home in Hereford, Herefordshire. Rhiannon is holding Kate's teddy bear - a gift for their daughter Kate who passed away at just 6hrs of age. Her death was later found to have been avoidable

Richard Stanton and Rhiannon Davies often wonder what kind of girl their firstborn, Kate, would have grown up to become.

'She would have been 13 on March 1 and you think, 'What clothes would Kate be wearing today? What music would she like?' says Richard, 52, a photographer in Hereford.

'All our lives would have been drastically different if Kate was alive. She should be here today because her death was completely avoidable.'

Kate died in her father's arms just six hours after she was born at a mid-wife-led unit in Ludlow, Shropshire.

Katie Wilkins, 26, had a still born baby girl, Maddison, in Feb 2013 at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital

Since that day in 2009, Richard and Rhiannon, 47, have fought tirelessly to expose what Richard describes as the trust's 'abhorrently poor care'.

He believes the trust's obsession with natural birth impacted his wife's care and says she should never have been near a midwife-led unit.

'As parents, we were ignored, fobbed off, treated like we were the problem  just noisy people with an axe to grind,' he says.

'You never get over the loss of a child. You only learn to live with it.'

The report found that:

One in four of the 498 stillbirths reviewed had 'significant or major concerns' over the maternity care given;

There were 29 cases where babies suffered severe brain injuries and 65 cases of cerebral palsy;

Twelve deaths of mothers were investigated, none of whom received care in line with best practice at the time;

Some women were blamed for their own deaths, while incidents that should have triggered a serious incident investigation were 'inappropriately downgraded';

Midwifery staff were 'overly confident' in their abilities, and there was a reluctance to involve more senior staff;

Families were locked out of reviews when things went wrong and were often treated without compassion;

The trust repeatedly failed to adequately monitor babies' heart rates, with catastrophic results, and did not use drugs properly during labour;

Leaders and midwives were determined to keep caesarean section rates low  consistently 8 per cent to 12 per cent below national averages;

There were 'significant staffing and training gaps' and 'medical staff rotas have been overstretched throughout';

One staffer described the department as the 'Republic of Maternity' and suggested it did not like being overseen by management.

Katie Wilkins' baby daughter Maddison died at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital after busy midwives left her in a side room for 48 hours and failed to monitor her properly.

Miss Wilkins was 15 days overdue when she arrived to be induced in February 2013.

But there were no beds available on the labour ward and instead, Miss Wilkins claims, she was 'forgotten' in a side room for more than two days and visited by staff just a handful of times. When a midwife did come to check, they realised her baby's heartbeat could not be found.

Even then midwife Heather Lort failed to call a doctor and instead told Miss Wilkins to 'go for a walk'.

Kayleigh Griffiths wipes her eyes as she holds the Ockenden report at The Mercure Shrewsbury Albrighton Hotel, Shropshire

Colin and Kayleigh Griffiths, Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton with a copy of the Donna Ockenden Independent Review into Maternity Services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust

Chelsey Campbell, Carley McKee, Colin Griffiths, Fiona Carr, Charlotte Cheshire, Rhiannon Davies, Richard Stanton, Kayleigh Griffiths, Donna Ockenden, Nicky Lauder, David Boylett, Hayley Matthews, Steph Hotchkiss, Julie Rawlings, Neil Rawlings and Sonia Leigh stand with the final Ockenden report

Maddison was delivered stillborn the following day, weighing 6lb 14oz. Lort is one of just two midwives found guilty of misconduct and banned from practising.

Last night Miss Wilkins, 26, a carer from Newtown in Powys, said: 'Hopefully, the Ockenden report will be the first step towards getting justice for Maddison. The hospital admitted they failed us.'

In a letter to Miss Wilkins, Cathy Smith, head of midwifery at the hospital, apologised and admitted: 'Had your induction occurred more timely, Maddison would likely have been born alive.'

Katie Anson's son Kye died after just four days of life due to failures at the scandal-hit trust.

Katie Anson and Matthew Hall are desperate to start a family, five years after their only son Kye died

Kye (pictured) was starved of oxygen during a difficult birth. An inquest subsequently found his death could have been prevented

The baby was starved of oxygen in birth at Princess Royal Hospital, Telford, in 2015, but a coroner later heard he may have lived if staff had acted differently.

Miss Anson, 39, and partner Matthew Hall, 34, from the town, were unable to have another child due to unexplained infertility.

Kye died at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton. A 2016 inquest heard some heart rate recordings of the unborn baby had not been taken.

Shrewsbury coroner John Ellery said his death 'could have been prevented'. The couple struggled to get pregnant for two years before Kye. They have just had their sixth failed attempt at IVF.

Miss Anson said: 'To have had our only child taken away from us so tragically... makes it all the more difficult to swallow.'

Sajid Javid last night ordered hospitals to involve mothers in decisions about labour, adding: 'The only normal birth is a safe birth.'

The Health Secretary said the staff responsible for the scandal would be 'held to account' and revealed that police were probing around 600 cases.

Mr Javid yesterday apologised to the families who had suffered 'unimaginable trauma' and said the Government accepted the report's findings in full.

He said some members of staff had been suspended or struck off, while members of senior management 'have been removed from their posts'.

'It is right that both the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the Royal College of Midwives have said recently that they regret their campaign for so-called 'normal births',' he added.

'It is vital that across maternity services we focus on safe and personalised care where the voice of the mother is heard throughout.'

Tory MP Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned the Ockenden Review as health secretary in 2017, admitted its findings 'go beyond my darkest fears'.

Previous reports into maternity services in Shrewsbury either gave a glowing picture of safe care or called for improvements that were never made.

Mr Javid yesterday apologised to the families who had suffered 'unimaginable trauma' and said the Government accepted the report's findings in full

Tory MP Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned the Ockenden Review as health secretary in 2017, admitted its findings 'go beyond my darkest fears'

The chief executive of the trust said that she was confident its services were now safe for families.

Louise Barnett said the organisation was getting the support it needed to make further improvements, adding: 'I would like to apologise fully to the families involved for the poor care at this trust.'

Independent reviews of maternity services are also under way at Nottingham University Hospitals and East Kent Hospitals University Foundation Trust.
The Prime Minister buried the hatchet with rebellious Tories by joking about their plots against him.

He told a team-bonding dinner on Tuesday night that his detractors were some of the greatest epistolatory letter writers since St Paul.

Boris Johnson received a standing ovation at the gathering in a central London hotel attended by critics including former chief whip Mark Harper.

Boris Johnson received a standing ovation at the gathering in a central London hotel attended by critics including former chief whip Mark Harper and allies like Priti Patel (pictured arriving)

A string of disgruntled MPs put in letters of no confidence in the PM at the height of the Partygate scandal in January.

Noting that some critics had withdrawn their letters since war broke out in Ukraine, he joked that they were elastic  they go in and you can pull them out.

He added: One of reasons that Putin is deluded and isolated is because he has no cabinet of equals, no 1922 committee and nobody to write 54 letters to Sir Graham Brady.

The PM admitted he is currently more popular in parts of Kyiv than in parts of Kensington, but he vowed he would turn it around.

In a sign of growing confidence in No 10 about Mr Johnsons position, leading critics, including Mr Harper, were seated at his table.

Backbenchers Aaron Bell and Anthony Mangnall, who both submitted letters to Sir Graham, were spotted at the event, with the latter even joining a standing ovation for the PM.

One MP later noted that the dinners warm atmosphere would have been unthinkable a month earlier.

Mr Johnson also mocked Sir Keir Starmers agonies over trans issues by opening his speech with the greeting: Good evening ladies and gentleman, or as Keir Starmer would put it, people who are assigned female or male at birth.. MPs also sang happy birthday to Home Secretary Priti Patel, who turned 50 on Tuesday.
Russia is using banned landmines that can detect footsteps and kill or injure anyone within a 50ft radius, a report has found.

Human Rights Watch said POM-3 anti-personnel mines that failed to deploy were discovered in the besieged Ukrainian city of Kharkiv despite international treaties outlawing their use.

The campaign group said the Medallion mines have been deployed by Vladimir Putins invading forces.

Footage online reportedly shows armoured vehicles firing dozens of them into Kharkiv from nine miles away.

Human Rights Watch said POM-3 anti-personnel mines that failed to deploy were discovered in the besieged Ukrainian city of Kharkiv (stock photo)

The devices descend by parachute before burying or fixing themselves into the ground.

A seismic detector inside senses if someone is approaching and launches an explosive charge, sending shrapnel flying.

The use of landmines is prohibited by the 1997 international Mine Ban Treaty. Russia is not among the 164 signatories but Ukraine is.

Stephen Goose, director of the groups arms division, said: These weapons do not differentiate between combatants and civilians and leave a deadly legacy.

Human Rights Watch said that a delivery canister remnant pictured in Ukraine contained POM-3 mines that failed to deploy properly, with markings indicating that it was produced last year.

Mr Goose added: Countries around the world should forcefully condemn Russias use of banned anti-personnel landmines in Ukraine.

(It) deliberately flouts the international norm against use of these horrid weapons.
With his election in December 2019, Jamie Wallis became Bridgends first Tory MP in more than three decades.

The honeymoon period did not last long. A month later, the Conservative Party faced calls to kick him out over alleged links to a sugar daddy website.

Sugar-Daddy.net offered to match users with wealthy individuals, promising: We can introduce you to your very own sugar daddy and solve your money worries. Whether youre a boy, girl, straight or gay, theres a sugar daddy for you.

Conservative MP Jamie Wallis (pictured) became the first MP to openly declare they were transgender yesterday, though his time as an MP has been challenging

Clients were asked: Are you a student, a single parent or just short of money? 1000s of wealthy executives, international businessmen and diplomats are eager to sponsor you through these difficult times. Typical sponsorship can be 2,000-25,000 per year.

The website was owned and operated by a firm whose sole shareholder was a company with Mr Wallis as director. He reportedly also worked in the same office from which Sugar-Daddy.net was run. The website was branded exploitative and demeaning in the House of Commons by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi.

Her colleague Jess Phillips called on the Prime Minister to withdraw the whip from Mr Wallis.

The furore erupted days after reports that a group of companies linked to Mr Wallis were subject to more than 800 complaints to trading standards between January 2008 and February 2017. Mr Wallis disputed the figures.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson (pictured with Jamie Wallis) praised the bravery of the South Wales Tory after he came out as transgender

The rows were just the latest controversies in the MPs political career, which began on local councils in south Wales. Mr Wallis was elected to Pencoed town council in 2017, only to be kicked out in August the following year after failing to attend a single meeting for six months.

Mr Wallis claimed he had resigned by post before he was removed.

Born in Bettws, a former mining village in Bridgend, Mr Wallis attended a Catholic school before going on to read chemistry at Christ Church, Oxford.

He was awarded a doctorate in astrobiology by Cardiff University in 2014, having written a paper on evidence of panspermia  the theory that life exists throughout the universe and is distributed by objects such as asteroids and comets.
Robust regulations and enforcement are needed around the use of e-scooters, say insurance industry bodies amid fears over their safety.

In the year ending June 2021 there were 882 accidents involving the devices across Britain, government figures show.

This resulted in 931 casualties  of whom 732 were e-scooter users.

In a letter to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, bodies such as the Association of British Insurers said there are concerns about a risk to all road users until there is robust regulation beyond official trials.

It called for coherent standards on e-scooter construction and safety, including whether wearing helmets is made mandatory.

Last month transport minister Baroness Vere of Norbiton told peers that trials of the devices were 'making progress'.

The Association of British Insurers has called for coherent standards on e-scooter construction and safety, including whether wearing helmets is made mandatory (file photo)

James Dalton, director, general insurance policy, ABI, said: 'The insurance industry is committed to working with Government to ensure e-scooter regulation strikes the right balance between ensuring public safety on the one hand and encouraging innovative approaches to transport on the other.'

The groups are calling for effective enforcement where e-scooters are used illegally in Britain, including in respect of civil and criminal liability.

There must also be coherent standards regarding e-scooter construction and safety equipment, including standards on batteries and charging, braking and lighting, and whether protective equipment is mandated, they said.

The bodies called for a review of regulations on the sale of e-scooters to ensure that sellers and manufacturers clearly set out to buyers their legal responsibilities arising from their use.

Chris Jones, IUA director of legal and market services, said: 'It is essential that an appropriate and effective regulatory system is introduced at the earliest opportunity.'

Graeme Trudgill, executive director, Biba, said: 'Biba supports the introduction of new green and financially economical forms of mobility.

'However, for Government to legalise e-scooters in a responsible way, they need to bring forward robust regulations and effective enforcement.'

Raising the issue at Westminster in February, Conservative peer Baroness Neville-Rolfe, a former Tesco executive and minister, said e-scooters have become a 'menace'.

'The defence of the present situation is focused on the relatively small number of regulated trial rentals, not the hundreds of thousands in private ownership with very limited legal use,' she said.

Responding, transport minister Baroness Vere of Norbiton said the policy is still being developed, and told peers: 'It is very important that we develop a safe, proportionate and flexible regulatory regime.'

Pointing out that this requires data from the trials being run and more research, the minister added: 'I reassure her that we are making progress. I recognise that there is more to be done.'
Russia and China seek to establish a new world order, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

For the first time since Vladimir Putin authorized the invasion of Ukraine in late February, Lavrov is traveling to China to meet with his colleague, Wang Yi. In a video posted by the Russian foreign ministry, Lavrov claimed Moscow and Beijing were paving the path for a multipolar, fair, democratic international order, according to the Kremlin. Both foreign ministers then lambasted Western sanctions imposed on Moscow in the aftermath of the invasion.

Poll Reveals People Fear China May Soon Invade Taiwan

On Wednesday, Lavrov arrived in Huangshan, a city in eastern China. As the country's humanitarian catastrophe worsens, Russia's foreign minister will attend regional discussions on Afghanistan. China has declined to criticize Russia's invasion of Ukraine directly. According to a political analyst, this is a sign of Beijing strengthening its influence in the region following the US pullout from Afghanistan.

This comes as the United Nations reports that over four million Ukrainians have fled the nation to avoid Russia's pointless conflict. Since February 24, 4,019,287 individuals have crossed the border from Ukraine to neighboring countries, according to UNHCR, the UN's refugee agency. Over 2.3 million of these people traveled to Poland, according to Express.

According to fresh survey data released this week, roughly 4 in 10 individuals in Taiwan feel a Chinese invasion is likely due to present tensions. After a quarter of respondents felt similarly in another poll done the week before Russia invaded Ukraine, the findings of Monday's poll by Taiwanese news site Formosa showed a surge in fear of more than ten percent.

When NATO announced it had no intentions to send soldiers into Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin was almost certain to avoid a direct military confrontation. The West's inability to prevent Russia from invading its neighbor resulted in the threat of sanctions, whose deterrent efficacy has been questioned by President Joe Biden himself.

According to Formosa's survey, which polled 1,082 persons over the voting age of 20 between March 23 and 24, 37.4 percent of the Taiwanese population now believes China may act militarily to seize the island a month after hostilities in Ukraine began.

While 55 percent still feel a battle across the Taiwan Strait is improbable in the current situation, this was a significant rise accompanied by a drop in confidence in prospective US military assistance. Most of them believe Taiwan, like Ukraine, will have to fight alone, Newsweek via MSN reported.

Read Also: Russia-Ukraine War: Cruel Video of Ukrainian Soldiers Shooting Russian Prisoners Surfaces, Sparks "Immediate Investigation"

US Admits Failing To Deter Russia's Ukraine Invasion

On Wednesday, the commander of US forces in Europe said that Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine demonstrated the failure of the Biden administration's efforts to 'deter and discourage' the Russian leader.

President Joe Biden worked with partners in the run-up to the invasion to increase sanctions on Russia and place troops to reinforce NATO's eastern flank. Last week, Biden maintained it wasn't part of a deterrent campaign; but when his commander in Europe Gen. Tod Wolters testified before members of Congress, he gave a different view when Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher questioned the approach.

Given the way Russian tanks poured into Ukraine 35 days ago, the answer may appear simple. The Biden administration, on the other hand, claims that its policy did not fail since the sanctions were never intended to be a form of deterrence.

Before the invasion, some authorities expressed dissent. In an interview, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the initial goal of the sanctions is to prevent Russia from going to war, as per Daily Mail.

Related Article: Russia-Ukraine War: Latest Satellite Images Showing Major Damages Confirm Mariupol Bombing

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One of Australia's first long Covid clinics has opened, treating suffers of the baffling condition as case numbers continue to surge.

The St Vincent's Hospital clinic in Sydney, which opened this week, is the first of its kind in New South Wales with a team of doctors set up to treat and rehabilitate people suffering lingering Covid symptoms.

Long Covid is when people previously infected with the virus suffer ongoing symptoms that go on longer than 12 weeks.

Some studies have shown as many as a third of all those infected with Covid suffer long-term symptoms, including brain fog, anxiety, fatigue and abnormal breathing.

Patients will be able to attend the clinic with a referral from their GP, as experts frantically work to help sufferers of the debilitating and mysterious condition.

Physical and mental exercises are used in long Covid clinics to help patients progressively regain their strength (pictured, Sydney's new clinic at St Vincent's Hospital)

St Vincent's Hospital (pictured) has opened the first clinic in New South Wales to treat patients with long Covid

Symptoms also include shortness of breath, memory and concentration problems, changes to smell and taste, joint pain and mental health issues.

There are already clinics in other parts of the world treating the lingering and disruptive symptoms.

'There are people we are seeing with just respiratory problems,' Dr Steven Faux, Director at the St Vincent's Rehabilitation Unit, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

'And there is another group of patients that might have respiratory symptoms, but also have muscle joint pains and mental health issues after being admitted to hospital and ICU with severe disease.

'There is still a significant amount we don't know about what causes long Covid, and why some people develop these chronic symptoms.'

The clinic will take in patients referred by doctors and GPs for treatment for long Covid (pictured, a patient in Sydney)

An American Covid expert, Dr Leonard Jason from DePaul University, Chicago, told Daily Mail recently that anywhere from 10 to 30 percent of Covid survivors continue to suffer at least some long-term symptoms.

He also said that one of the most notable traits of long Covid is its unpredictability.

'The 'classic' long hauler has a more diverse (random), far less predictable course, more diverse and random symptoms, with less of a pattern,' he said.

'It's as if you stuck your hand into a bag of symptoms and pulled out your own personal symptom constellation, or your own personal Da Vinci code.'

Deakin University's Institute for Health Transformation researched the effect of long Covid on public health before the Omicron wave in 2021.

'We calculated the impact of long COVID as Australia opens up. Even without Omicron, were worried.' they said in a press release.

'Long COVID will increasingly drive the burden of Covid illness, even as death rates decline.'
Top Australian investors last night pledged 28.5billion to UK clean energy, technology and infrastructure projects.

It will create thousands of jobs and support major developments, including offshore wind farms and low-carbon homes, from Orkney to Southampton, No 10 said.

The announcement  part of the Brexit dividend  came after Boris Johnson hosted a roundtable with leading Australian companies at Downing Street.

Australian investors last night pledged 28.5billion to UK clean energy projects as Prime Minister Boris Johnson boasted about the potential behind offshore wind turbines and nuclear power

Mr Johnson said the move would put the UK at the cutting edge of the green industrial revolution.

It came as Mr Johnson threw his weight behind offshore wind power and suggested he wants to build up to 56 nuclear power plants.

The Prime Minister stressed that offshore wind had massive potential  but made no mention of onshore turbines.

He asked the Commons Liaison Committee: Why have the French got 56 nuclear reactors and weve got barely six?

His comments came after the Governments Energy Security Strategy was further delayed.

Whitehall sources said this was due to Treasury concerns about the cost of a massive push for nuclear power.

Ministers are also divided on whether to approve a new generation of onshore wind farms but have been told they risk sparking a backlash from backbenchers.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng is a big fan of onshore wind farms - which were not mentioned by Boris Johnson

Tory party co-chairman Oliver Dowden has privately warned there would be a political cost to relaxing planning laws that have led to a virtual moratorium on wind farms since 2015.

But Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has proposed doubling onshore wind by 2030.

Mr Johnson told MPs yesterday you have got to recognise that in the UK we have just failed, for a generation, to put in enough long-term supply.

Its been one of those colossal mistakes, he said. Renewables are fantastic: offshore wind - and I stress offshore wind - I think has massive potential. But so does nuclear.

He suggested small, modular nuclear power plants could be on stream before the end of the decade but acknowledged new developments would not come soon enough to address cost of living pressures now.

Im not going to pretend that you are going to get a nuclear reactor on stream in real time for our constituents in the next couple of years, no, he said.

We have got to do lots of other things, including transitional hydrocarbons and basically helping with the cost of living wherever we can.

But long term and medium term we have got to be looking at big ticket nuclear solutions, Sizewell and other projects, but we have also got to be looking at small modular reactors.

Asked how soon a small modular reactor could be built, he said: I saw a bit of paper last night saying that they think before the end of the decade - but they will have to go quicker than that.

Mr Johnson added: If we dont start now, we wont be fixing the problem.
The Queen overruled Prince Charles and Prince William to allow disgraced son Andrew to escort her at Duke of Edinburgh's memorial service - amid concerns he is angling for a role at the Platinum Jubilee events this summer.

The Duke of York took centre stage on Tuesday when he walked his mother through Westminster Abbey to her seat in full view of the live broadcast cameras - to the shock of many in the congregation.

It was the shamed royal's first public appearance since he paid a reported 12million settlement to Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre to end a highly-damaging civil sexual assault case in New York.

Andrew has been forced to step back from public life over his association with late paedophile Epstein.

It is reported that Princes Charles and William raised concerns 'on more than one occasion' about the optics of allowing the duke to escort the 95-year-old monarch down to her seat at such a well-publicised event.

The Queen overruled Prince Charles and Prince William to allow disgraced son Andrew to escort her at Duke of Edinburgh's memorial service - and has fuelled concerns he is angling for a role at the Platinum Jubilee events this summer

The future kings were 'absolutely united' that it was 'unnecessary' for him to have the high profile role, according to The Mirror.

But their protests were overruled by The Queen, who made it her 'wish and final decision' in choosing for Andrew to have a special role on the occasion.

Senior royals - including Charles and William - are said to have been left 'shocked and dismayed' by the decision.

The Duke of York is understood to have got his way after lobbying to take his 95-year-old mother to her seat because she 'couldn't say no to her favourite son' despite objections from William and Charles, sources claimed.

The Dean of Westminster had been expected to take the Monarch to her seat while the Prince followed behind, according to the order of service, but footage captured shortly after they entered the Abbey shows Andrew clinging to his mother's arm.

It is reported that Princes Charles and William raised concerns 'on more than one occasion' about the optics of allowing the duke to escort the 95-year-old monarch down to her seat at such a well-publicised event

The future kings were 'absolutely united' that it was 'unnecessary' for him to have the high profile role for the memorial service

Andrew then walked arm in arm with his mother before helping her to her seat. He also sat in the front row next to brother Prince Edward, rather than with his daughters as was expected.

'The Prince of Wales and Duke of Cambridge reluctantly accepted that [Andrew] would travel with the Queen to the abbey as they both live in Windsor,' a source told the paper.

'It was arguably palatable if simply down to logistics, but it goes without saying that most of the family were dismayed to see him walking the Queen up the aisle.'

Critics are painting the move as a brazen attempt by the 62-year-old to slide back into the spotlight, hoping it might lead to a 'mission creep' return to public life or a 'springboard' to appear at the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.

While the idea of an official role such as a riding in procession for Trooping the Colour is ruled out, there are other events such as a service celebrating the Queen's reign at St Paul's Cathedral on June 3 where he could make appearances.

A source close to the duke previously suggested the service would mark his final public appearance and that it was 'highly unlikely' he would appear at the flagship events to mark the Queen's 70 years on the throne. On Wednesday the palace declined to comment.

Another source said the duke 'still believes he has much to offer the family and public service in general'.

Andrew has also been accused of completely misreading the public mood by playing such a prominent role just weeks after agreeing a multi-million-pound settlement with his rape accuser Virginia Giuffre, whose claims he has always denied.

It was the shamed royal's first public appearance since he paid a reported 12million settlement to Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre to end a highly-damaging civil sexual assault case in New York

Even his siblings were said to be 'dismayed' by the stunt, with them earlier hoping 'common sense' would prevail and he would accept playing a backroom role in the event.

Andrew has been forced to lurk in the shadows after details of his close friendship with the billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his madam Ghislaine Maxwell were exposed.

He was stripped of his military honours and royal patronages, and told by Charles he would be made to 'disappear' from public life following his final official outing for his father's memorial.

Yet yesterday's antics appear to show the Duke was unafraid to thrust himself centre stage once more, while the world watched.
One soldier has been killed while two others have been rescued after a Navy plane crashed off the Virginia coast on Wednesday night.

The V-22 Osprey aircraft crashed north of the Chincoteague Causeway just off Wildcat Point near the Maryland line shortly after 7:30pm Wednesday evening.

Lt. Cmdr. Rob Myers, a public affairs officer with Naval Air Force Atlantic, said the plane was on a routine exercise when it went down.

When emergency dispatchers made contact, they found two injured crewmembers on top of the aircraft with injuries. The two had reportedly suffered broken legs.

The pair were transported to the Wallops Flight Facility airport from where both were transported to Tidal Health Hospital in Salisbury, Maryland

The plane crashed north of the Chincoteague Causeway just off of Wildcat Point near the Maryland line shortly after 7:30pm on Wednesday evening. The aircraft had taken off from Norfolk Naval Station

The dead soldier was reportedly in the back of the aircraft when it crashed.

The Virginia Coast Guard dispatched a 47-foot lifeboat, the Ocean City Dive Team and a rescue helicopter together with a police helicopter from Maryland to help with search efforts.

Emergency responders are now treating the situation as a recovery as opposed to a search and rescue.

A call went out over the emergency radio for anyone in the waters to be on the lookout for survivors, according to Shore Daily News.

There are naval bases in Norfolk, Virginia, and a Marines base at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Two people have been rescued after a V-22 Navy Osprey Tilt Rotor crashed off the Maryland /Virginia coast on Wednesday night (File photo)

U.S. Rep. Elaine Luria, who represents Virginia's Eastern Shore, tweeted: 'Im continuing to monitor the Navy plane crash in Accomack County. Im keeping our naval aviators, their families, and our first responders in my thoughts and prayers tonight as rescue and recovery efforts continue.'

Earlier this month, four Marines died when their Osprey aircraft crashed in Norway on during a NATO training exercise called Cold Response.

The four were all assigned to Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 261. Norwegian civil authorities and the Marine Corps. worked together to recover the bodies of the deceased.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, but officials said that the Marines faced harsh weather conditions during the exercise that could have played a factor.

The plane crashed north of the Chincoteague Causeway just off of Wildcat Point near the Maryland state line shortly after 7:30pm on Wednesday evening. Pictured, file photo of plane

The Marine's V-22 Ospreys have been involved in a number of deadly crashes in the past.

In 2017, three Marines died when a MV-22 Osprey went down off the coast of Australia.

In 2000, a V-22 Osprey crashed at the Marana Regional Airport near Tucson, Arizona, killing 19 Marines on board.
Five Democratic school board members were fired after a Pennsylvania judge signed a petition saying they defied a code by voting to make face masks mandatory for students.

Chester County Judge William Mahon ordered five of its nine members to be immediately removed from the West Chester School Board on Tuesday after they voted to make masks mandatory at the beginning of the school year.

It kept the decision in place after the Pennsylvania state of emergency ended in June and two months after the state's Supreme Court declared the mask mandate unconstitutional in December.

President Sue Tiernan, Joyce Chester, Kate Shaw, Karen Herrmann, and Daryl Durnell were all fired after they failed to respond to a February petition - brought forth by parent and former English teacher Beth Ann Rosica. She said the board had no right to force students to wear masks.

President Sue Tiernan, Joyce Chester, Kate Shaw, Karen Herrmann, and Daryl Durnell, all Democrats, were fired from the board after they voted to keep the school district's masking policy in place at the beginning of the school year. Masks are currently optional in the school district, but the board did vote to reimplement if transmission rates rise (pictured L-R: Laura Detre, Karen Herrmann, Sue Tiernan, Kate Shaw, Daryl Durnell, Joyce Chester, Karen Fleming, Bob Sokolowski, Stacey Whomsley, Kalia Reynolds and Gary Bevilacqua)

President Sue Tiernan (left) and Kate Shaw (right) were fired from the school board on Tuesday

Daryl Durnell (left), Joyce Chester (right), and Karen Herrmann were also fired from the board.

Judge William Mahon signed the petition on Tuesday calling for their removal after the five board members did not respond within their 20 day limit of Rosica filing the petition. The group's lawyer is asking for a reconsideration and to give the group until April 5 to respond, as that would be 20 days from the March 15 motion the judge ordered, not from Rosica's February filing

'Once the Supreme Court declared that was unconstitutional we implored our school board, we asked and asked and begged and pleaded and made comments to lift the mask mandate, and they refused,' Rosica told WHYY News. 'When they refused, that is when we made the decision to file the petition.

'I did not believe they had the legal authority to mask our children. I want to ensure they will never be forcibly masked again,' Rosica cited in her petition - which was written with fellow parent Shannon Grady - according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. She referred to masks as 'unapproved medical devices' and said schools shouldn't be able to exclude children who test positive for the virus. She also cited that masks 'suffocate' and 'abuse' children.

Masking is currently optional in the school, but the members did vote to reimplement the masking policy if transmission rates rise.

Grady found a 'loophole' where she could petition for the members' removal while researching what she could do to remove the mask policy. She found a code that stated she could petition to remove members for 'for failure to organize or neglect of duty.' The rule states that 'any ten [or less] resident taxpayers' can file a petition for removal and the members would have 20 days to respond.

Kenneth Roos, the lawyer representing the board members, said they have submitted a motion for the decision to be reconsidered and to give them until April 5 to respond, according to Fox News. The judge based the date on when Rosica filed the petition in February and not when the judge ordered the motion on March 15, which would have given the members until April 4 to respond.

Superintendent Dr. Robert Sokolowski said in a statement that the removal of the board members was 'procedural' and 'does not address any of the allegations made in the complaint.'

They were released of their duties on Tuesday, one day after the school board meeting (pictured)

Parent and former English teacher Beth Ann Rosica (pictured at the board meeting) filed the petition against the board. She and the board now have seven days to recommend five replacements

'While we do not have all of the answers at this time, please be assured that the West Chester Area School District and I remain deeply committed to the mission of educating and inspiring the best in our students,' he said.

The school board and Rosica have seven days to submit five replacement recommendations for the 'unexpired terms' of the members. The motion for reconsideration will be held by the board on Friday, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

There are other petitions pending in the district - Downingtown, Great Valley, Tredyffrin/Easttown, and Coatesville - according to Rosica. The same judge will also be ruling over the Downingtown petition, which Grady also filed.

Rosica is the executive director of Back to School PA, which is backed by a Buck County donor that has reportedly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars into school board races across the state since November, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Rosica has also opposed district pandemic measures.
Are YOU stuck at Heathrow in the disruption? Contact me via email: james.robinson@mailonline.co.uk

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Airline passengers are facing a second day of Heathrow hell today, with a perfect storm of problems including a British Airways IT meltdown, long queues at the check-in desks and e-gate disruption.

After a major BA IT outage hit Terminal 5 yesterday, passengers were this morning greeted with long check-in queues at the west London airport.

Hundreds of passengers were also seen queuing for check-in at Terminal 2 this morning, after arriving for flights with Lufthansa.

It is not thought that the German carrier has been directly impacted by BA's IT issues, though the disruption may be a knock-on effect from BA passengers attempting to rebook their flights.

Meanwhile, video shows a huge line of passengers queueing for a customer service desk in the departures lounge of Heathrow Terminal 5.

One passenger, who is currently stranded at the airport, said it will be two days before she is provided with a new flight.

To add to the chaos, arrivals to Heathrow are also facing passport control woes, with passengers complaining that just a third of the available e-gates are in use.

It followed a BA systems meltdown yesterday, which has so far affected more than 5,000 passengers, including those on long-haul flights.

At least 50 short-haul flights to and from London have been cancelled today due to the disruption, which BA say mainly impacted its operations at Terminal 5.

According to airline data firm, FlightAware, yesterday's cancellations mean there have been hundreds of BA flights either cancelled or delayed over the last seven days.

However BA say the figure includes any delay, including those caused by late passengers, as well as historic cancellations, such as on flights to Moscow or those removed from the schedule due to Covid's impact on the travel industry.

Meanwhile BA insists yesterday's IT issues have since been resolved, but that it expects disruption to continue today and 'minimal' disruption into tomorrow. However aviation experts say the issue is being 'exacerbated' by staff shortages.

Heathrow says it has been supporting impacted BA customers, while the Home Office, who run passport control at Heathrow through its Border Force, say queues at the e-gates 'peaked at 45 minutes' earlier today. MailOnline has also contacted Lufthansa.

Hundreds of passengers were seen queuing for check-in at Terminal 2 (pictured) this morning following the BA global systems meltdown yesterday, which has so far affected more than 5,000 passengers

Video shows a huge line of passengers queueing for a customer service desk in the departures lounge of Heathrow Terminal 5 yesterday

It followed a BA systems meltdown yesterday, which has so far affected more than 5,000 passengers, including those on long-haul flights. Pictured: Long queues at Heathrow yesterday

To add to the chaos, arrivals to Heathrow are now facing passport hall woes, with passengers complaining that just a third of the available e-gates are in use

It comes after BA's system was hit with a 'technical issue' yesterday, causing dozens of flights across Europe to be cancelled or delayed.

Are you stuck waiting for a BA flight? Email: james.robinson@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement

At least two flights were diverted mid-air from Heathrow to London Gatwick, more than 40 miles away.

Dozens of other flights were cancelled yesterday, including two long-haul flights, with at least 50 cancelled today. BA say some of the cancellations are historic.

One passenger caught up in the disruption was Michelle Heinrich, a student and translator from Germany who lives in Coventry.

She had been due to fly to Germany at 5.40pm on Wednesday, but said problems had started as early as 2.40pm when passengers tried to check in and drop bags off.

When the gate number was due to be announced, passengers were instead told the flight was delayed by two hours. That time came and went.

At around 9pm, a gate number was finally announced. Then, as passengers waited to board, they were told the flight had in fact been cancelled.

Ms Heinrich said there was 'silence and confusion' among passengers. British Airways staff seemed equally in the dark but 'did the best they could' to assist passengers.

While food vouchers were provided to stranded passengers, it was not the case with accommodation.

Hundreds of passengers were seen queuing for check-in at Terminal 2 this morning, after arriving for flights with German carrier Lufthansa

While yesterday's issue was with Heathrow in Terminal 5, passengers today took to Twitter to complain of issues with Terminal 2 and Lufthansa

The airline said the fault had affected its operation for 'a short time' and was resolved shortly before 5.30pm, the vast majority of flights on the airline's live tracker were shown as departing late or cancelled from 2pm to 9.30pm

One passenger said just a third of e-gates, which are operated via the UK Border Force, were open when they went through Heathrow this morning

'I'm stranded at Heathrow with no accommodation and a flight two days away. I've been given a food voucher but I'm not sure what's going to happen today,' Ms Heinrich said.

'It's another day and night before I can fly. British Airways have not been communicating with us.'

She added that the only communication from the airline had come half an hour after her flight was cancelled  to say the flight was not going ahead.

Earlier, British Airways announced dozens of planes were delayed and cancelled on Wednesday by a technical issue with British Airways.

Meanwhile passengers today vented their anger at the queues at passport control.

One passenger said just a third of e-gates, which are operated via the UK Border Force, were open when they went through Heathrow this morning.

Stuart Cook wrote: 'Love Heathrow. 15 e-gates, about 5 open, long lines of people stacked everywhere and random signs saying 'keep a safe distance' here and there. Good to be back.'

Frustrated BA passengers, meanwhile, used social media to vent frustration over long delays with the carrier yesterday.

The airline said the fault had affected its operation for 'a short time' and was resolved shortly before 5.30pm, the vast majority of flights on the airline's live tracker were shown as departing late or cancelled from 2pm to 9.30pm.

The airline apologised for the issue and said it 'deeply regretted' being forced to cancel flights on Wednesday evening.

Disruption to the flight schedule is expected to continue today, with the possibility of 'very minimal' cancellations on Friday, MailOnline understands.

However one expert warned BA's repeated IT meltdowns were being 'exacerbated by staff shortages'. Aviation consultant John Strickland, of JLS Consulting, said the airline is left 'floundering' when it faces problems such as those at Heathrow on Wednesday.

Mr Strickland said: 'They seem to have staff shortage issues coming out of the pandemic, and I know definitely that's something which is going to be more widespread with airlines because of the number of people who were let go.

Hi, Andrew. We experienced a technical issue for a short time this afternoon which affected our operation at Heathrow Terminal 5. This has now been resolved and we're resuming flight operations. We apologise to those customers who have been inconvenienced. Neil  British Airways (@British_Airways) March 30, 2022

'With what happened (on Wednesday), maybe if that extra issue wasn't there in the background, maybe less flights would have been delayed or ultimately cancelled.

'Once the dominoes start to fall, if your manpower is not up to proper planned establishment then you're really floundering even more.'

He said the carrier is 'in the process' of improving its IT systems, but 'you just can't click your fingers and have it all change overnight'.

Milena Franke, a student from Germany who is currently doing her Erasmus year abroad in Aberdeen, was one of those impacted by yesterday's IT meltdown. She said she was delayed for hours trying to fly from Heathrow to Aberdeen.

The 22-year-old said: 'I've been traveling from Germany to London Heathrow today with the initial plan of traveling further to Aberdeen. However, after landing in Heathrow around 9am, my flight to Aberdeen got cancelled right before I was supposed to walk to my gate.

'As I didn't know who to approach directly, I spent most of my time waiting for someone from the BA customer service hoping to receive further details but not a single person offered help.

'Instead, I got advised to rebook my flight and select the next one leaving in the evening. However, this flight also got cancelled.

'BA eventually managed to rebook my flight for tomorrow morning and upgraded me with the business class. It has been a terrifying experience, eventually resulting in the fact that I am now staying in a hotel with a slight hope of finally getting to travel tomorrow.'

A departures board at Heathrow earlier today showed dozens of flights being cancelled, with passengers told to go to customer services to check if they could get a rebook

Customers were reportedly met with huge queues at check-in desks and were unable to access any boarding information at Heathrow Airport on Wednesday

A second passenger, who was travelling to Washington via Heathrow with another family, described the issue as a 'comedy of errors'.

He said: 'Originally, our flights were due to leave at 8am this morning and so we were all ready to get the kids in bed last night for a 4am wake up only to be emailed at 7pm to say our flights had been cancelled and rearranged until later in the afternoon.

'They only gave us an hour to connect in Heathrow so we had to fight to get an earlier flight there but then ended up stuck in Heathrow from 3pm and still not taken off.

'It's been a comedy of errors, like no crew to board the plane, no crew to load the bags and now no clue what's happening.

'Obviously I feel gutted and exhausted. More about the lack of communication than anything else. It's been a stressful day, but we'll do what we have to for the kids.'

The issue is the latest to beset the airline in recent months. In late February, the airline was forced to cancel all short-haul flights from Heathrow for several hours due to a hardware problem.

A BA spokesperson told MailOnline: 'We're very sorry to say that as a result of the technical issue we experienced yesterday and predicted weather disruption, we have had to reduce our schedule at Heathrow today.

'We're taking steps to ensure as many customers as possible are able to travel as planned today.

'We've apologised to our customers and are offering to refund or rebook them onto alternative flights, providing refreshment vouchers and hotel accommodation where needed.'

A Heathrow spokesperson said: 'We are in the terminals supporting passengers whose journeys have been disrupted by the technical issue, experienced by British Airways yesterday.

'Passengers are advised to check their flight status before travelling to the airport and we regret the inconvenience this issue has caused British Airways passengers.'

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The queues at Heathrow this morning did not exceed the standard length.

'Border Force's number one priority is to maintain a secure border, and we will not compromise on this.

'We are working closely with all UK ports to ensure passengers have the smoothest possible journey, and we will continue to deploy our staff as flexibly as we can.'
A bus driver has been charged for allegedly letting an unlicenced teenager drive the vehicle three times.

Passengers told police in Campsie, in western Sydney, the 25-year-old Transport for NSW employee allegedly allowed the 16-year old to drive.

Police alleged the bus driver allowed the teenager behind the wheel three times between March 10 and March 22.

A Sydney bus driver, 25, was arrested in his home after allegedly letting an unlicenced teenager, 16, drive the public vehicle

Police arrested the bus driver at his home in Menai about 2pm on Wednesday.

He was taken to Sutherland Police Station and charged with three counts of negligent driving and for allowing an unlicenced driver operate the bus.

The driver as granted conditional bail and is set to appear in Sutherland Local Court on April 28.
Conspiracy theorists have claimed the floods devastating Australia's east coast are part of a 'government weather warfare attack'.

James Bartolo, a prominent former Melbourne anti-lockdown activist and Covid denier, promoted the bizarre, false explanation on his Facebook page.

'The Gold Coast and surrounds is currently under a government weather warfare attack,' he told his army of devoted followers.

'If you also know this, comment on your awareness of unnatural weather below. The more people who know about this bulls**t the better.'



Mr Bartolo moved to the Gold Coast in November 2020 after he was charged with incitement for organising illegal protests during Melbourne's lockdown.

The unsubstantiated claims have been spreading at a concerning rate on social media, with thousands seemingly convinced the record rain in northern NSW and Queensland are a 'man made' phenomenon.

A dangerous and bizarre conspiracy theory is circulating that the devastating floods which have torn through Australia's east coast are part of a 'government weather warfare attack'. Pictured: Local resident inspects floodwater in her street on March 31, 2022 in Lismore, NSW

Pictured: Debris from flood-damaged homes piles up in Lismore, NSW, Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Conspiracy theorist James Bartolo (pictured) claims Australia's east coast are part of a 'government weather warfare attack'

Mr Bartolo, a former bodybuilder who claims to be an army veteran, also promotes a range of other unhinged conspiracies including that vaccines and 5G are weapons, the world is flat, space is fake, the government is run by freemasons, and that the water supply is being poisoned.

Hundreds replied to his post with comments claiming 'the government' was using experimental technology to carry out 'cloud seeding' - a weather modification process that theoretically alters the microphysical state of clouds, causing rain.

'I have known for years they have been using this technology!' one follower wrote.

Another added: 'Absolutely nothing natural about the rainfall in the past 5 months. It's obvious when viewed on the radar.'

'Cloud seeding is being used to increase rainfall by corrupt governments to act on mother nature. Another weapon used to flood everyone,' a third wrote.

Pictured: Large parts of Lismore in NSW are completely underwater after record rainfall

Hundreds replied to the post with messages claiming 'the government' is using experimental technology to carry out 'cloud seeding'. Pictured: Homes inundated by floodwater in Lismore, NSW

James Bartolo (pictured) is a former bodybuilder who promotes a range of bizarre conspiracies

IS CLOUD SEEDING REAL? Experimental cloud seeding technology does actually exist and has been used in places like China and the UAE. The process works by shooting microscopic particles of silver iodide into existing clouds using land based generators or aircraft. Silver iodide is an ice-forming agent, which causes supercooled water droplets to freeze in the clouds. The 'ice embryos' interact with the surrounding water droplets, and eventually grow to snowflakes. These fall to the ground as snow or raindrops, depending on the surface temperatures. Cloud seeding can also, in some cases, cause the cloud to grow larger and last longer than it would have without the modification. China is developing a weather-modification system that aims to divert water vapour thousands of miles through the sky and bring rainfall to the country's driest regions. The United Arab Emirates is creating its own rain using drones that fly into clouds and unleash electrical charges to beat the sweltering 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius) heat. Advertisement

Mr Bartolo's followers claimed aircraft leaving 'chemtrails' in the sky across NSW is how the cloud seeding process is being administered.

One user even claimed that planes about 1,200km away from the epicenter of the floods might be to blame.

'I've been in Wagga Wagga for the last four days and the amount of chemtrails in the sky above the Riverina region is beyond comprehension,' the person commented.

Others pointed to terms used in media coverage as proof the floods were part of an 'attack' and not natural.

'It is very obvious. The language they are using such as "rain bombs" is clear enough for me,' a commenter said.

The term 'rain bomb' was coined by Daily Mail Australia in 2017 to describe sudden and intense rainstorms, and has since been picked up by politicians and even the Bureau of Meteorology.

Conspiracy theorists claim the motive for 'elites' carrying out a 'weather attack', which have seen communities around Byron Bay and Lismore underwater is to move people into 'smart cities'. Pictured: Local residents wade through floodwater in Lismore, NSW

Conspiracy theorists claim the motive for 'elites' carrying out a 'weather attack', which submerged communities around Byron Bay and Lismore, was to move people into 'smart cities'.

'Surprisingly, they have talked about cloud seeding and weather manipulation on the mainstream media so it's coming from multiple sources now. Question is why?' one wrote.

'Moving people into so-called 'smart cities' is likely, I think, considering the World Economic Forum openly talks about these things.

'Could also be the start of the universal basic income scheme for the displaced victims of this tyranny?'

Pictured: Military vehicles move through Lismore, NSW, with much of town now underwater

James Bartolo (pictured) says the weather event is 'not natural' and created by the government

Bartolo's move to Gold Coast came after getting arrested in a dramatic police raid in Melbourne in September 2020.

Four police officers knocked down the former bodybuilder's door when he refused to open it, claiming they didn't have authorisation to be on the property.

Bartolo was handcuffed on his lounge room floor in a struggle seconds after the police broke inside.

He was charged with incitement for allegedly encouraging his social media followers to attend an illegal rally.
A Covid expert has called for door-to-door random testing over fears thousands of cases are going undetected and that the number of infections in the community is much higher than official figures.

University of South Australia biostatistics professor Adrian Esterman warned there was a lack of accountability to ensure people report positive rapid antigen tests, along with asymptomatic infections - and many cases were likely going unrecorded.

'We need to do what the UK does: random surveys. They determine how many people they survey have got Covid, and they compare that to the reported number,' professor Esterman told the Guardian.

'There are certainly far more cases than officially reported. This is primarily because about 30 per cent of people infected with Omicron have no symptoms and, therefore, are unlikely to get tested.'

It comes as the number of daily Covid cases in Australia more than doubled from 25,017 to 61,331 last month.

During the peak of last year's Omicron wave, experts warned Covid cases were up to 10 times higher than what was officially being reported due to the nationwide shortage of rapid antigen tests and huge lines at PCR testing sites.

Medical professionals could be visiting homes to catch asymptomatic Covid cases from falling through the cracks, as experts recommend a more accurate way of collecting case data

The proposed testing scheme has been used in the UK, and revealed many who tested for Covid have had no symptoms, yet remain infectious.

The concerns remain despite a reduction in testing queues and a steady supply of RATs at pharmacies across the country.

Health authorities in the UK have been going door-to-door with mobile testing units to try and snuff out the virus.

'The states mandate that any positive rapid test must be reported, Professor Esterman said.

'However, if people are just buying [rapid tests] from the chemist and it comes out positive, how will the government know they've reported it? They won't, is the answer.'

Professor Esterman is now calling for QR codes to be added to rapid tests, so they can be logged in a similar way to the UK.

He also wants governments across the country to adopt the UK's door-to-door Covid testing.

The UK tests have revealed the majority of people tested through the voluntary scheme had no idea they had the disease.

Last month, Western Australia launched a Covid detection force that will go door to door to randomly test Aussies for the virus. The program is entirely voluntary.

Professor Esterman said there are two reasons that explain the recent rise in cases, one being that most states and territories have removed their public health measures, like mask mandates.





'All the social distancing measures, and all those [measures] have been put in place to reduce transmission,' Professor Estermen said.

'So if the nation still has an outbreak and the rules are removed, it's natural for the cases to increase.'

The home tests would give us a good idea of what the likely missed cases would be

An army of Covid researchers went door to door in Perth testing people for the virus over amid fears the Omicron strain is lurking undetected in the community (file image of police enforcing restrictions)

The second reason is the dominant sub variant of Omicon, BA.2, has accounted for 70-80 per cent of all cases presently and is much more transmissible.

Professor Esterman said a full return of the draconian health measures was not necessary, and only recommended enforcing mask mandates in retail and transport settings.

Covid case numbers remain high across the country, driven by a rise in infections from an Omicron sub-variant.

It comes as restrictions eased across three states on Thursday, despite the recent rise in national cases.

On Thursday, there were nearly 60,000 new infections nationwide, reaching levels experienced during the Omicron wave in summer.

Of those, more than 22,000 were in NSW, 11,292 in Victoria, 9727 in Western Australia, 7289 in Queensland, 5061 in South Australis, 2478 in Tasmania, 1194 in the ACT and 526 in the Northern Territory.

There were a further 32 deaths reported by state and territory health authorities, with more than half of those being in NSW.

Meanwhile, Queensland, SA and WA have eased back some of their restrictions.

Professor Adrian Esterman put forward not returning to the full blown restrictions Australians have endured the last two years, but a retainment of mask wearing in retail and transport areas

Recently recovered cases in Queensland will now be considered as 'cleared cases', and won't have to undergo isolation if they are a close contact or experience symptoms for 12 weeks.

Vaccine mandates have been removed in SA for certain industries such as education and transport.

Capacity limits on venues in WA have also been increased, as the state experiences some of its highest daily infections.

It comes as the vaccine rollout nationally passed another milestone, with more than 80 per cent of 12 to 15-year-olds being fully vaccinated.

Those in the 12-15 age group are not yet eligible to receive a booster dose, with third doses only available to those 16 and over.

However, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation is considering data from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer to allow a third dose to be approved for 12- to 15-year-olds.

The expert panel is reviewing data on epidemiology, serious illness and its use in the age group overseas.

Experts are calling for the return of the mask mandate to combat a rise in Covid-19 infections

There are now 67.8 per cent of the eligible population over 16 who have received their booster shot.

From next week, a fourth dose - or second booster - will be rolled out to older and vulnerable Australians, ahead of a predicted winter surge of cases.

People over 60, Indigenous Australians over 50, those in aged and disability care, as well as people who are immunocompromised, will be among the groups able to receive their fourth dose.

However, ATAGI has not recommended a fourth dose for the broader population.

Experts have warned the upcoming winter could see the virus coincide with rising flu cases, the first time the country has experienced an influenza season since the start of the pandemic more than two years ago.
Oil prices dived more than $5 a barrel on Thursday as the United States is considering the release of up to 180 million barrels from its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) over several months to calm soaring crude prices.

Brent futures for May fell $5.47, or 4.8%, to $107.98 a barrel overnight.

The May contract expires today and the most actively traded June future was down $5.22 to $106.22.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for May delivery fell $6.06, or 5.6%, to $101.76 a barrel after earlier slipping to a low of $100.85.

Oil prices dived more than $5 a barrel on Thursday morning as the United States is considering the release of up to 180 million barrels from its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) over several months to calm soaring crude prices

The White House is desperately looking at options to lower fuel prices and may tap into its strategic reserves. It would be the largest release in the near 50-year history of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Pictured, a gas station advertises high gas prices in LA this week

Average gas price across US is steadily falling having reached an high of more than $5.00/gal

U.S. President Biden will give remarks later on Thursday announcing the plan, three sources said, aimed at lowering gasoline prices that have risen to records following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

'If it turns out to be as much as that, it would be significant and so would certainly help to a certain extent to fill the shortfall, but not all of it,' said Warren Patterson, head of commodities strategy at ING, referring to the 180 million barrels figure.

'Another key question is whether this volume would be part of a wider coordinated release.'

The International Energy Agency has called an emergency ministerial meeting for Friday to discuss oil supply, a spokesperson for Angus Taylor, the Australian energy Minister, said on Thursday.

The Biden administration is considering releasing up to 180 million barrels of oil over several months from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Biden is pictured on Wednesday

The move would mark the third time the United States has tapped its strategic reserves in the past six months. Pictured, an aerial view of Phillips 66 oil refinery is seen in Linden, New Jersey

News of the potential U.S. oil release overshadowed a meeting set for later on Thursday between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and their allies including Russia. The group known as OPEC+ is expected to stick to its existing deal to gradually increase oil production.

Oil settled up around 3% on Wednesday, driven by supply concerns as peace talks to end the war between Russia, which calls its actions a 'special operation', and Ukraine have stalled.

Russia is the world's second-largest oil exporter and sanctions imposed as punishment for the invasion have disrupted flows from the country, driving prices higher.

In early March, the Biden administration said it would sell 30 million barrels from the strategic reserves as part of a global release of 60 million barrels to lower prices.

Gas prices reached their highest since 2008 earlier this month but are slowly falling

In November, the U.S. announced a plan to release 50 million barrels from the SPR, mostly through exchanges where the buyer agrees to replace the oil later.

'I guess we need to also see if this would be a straightforward release or an exchange,' ING's Patterson said.

Some analysts remain sceptical about the impact of oil reserves release.

'It's a sentiment shock, but if recent history suggests anything the reserve release will only be a temporary fix and akin to putting a band-aid on a broken leg,' said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management.

The release comes as U.S. commercial oil inventories fell by 3.4 million barrels in the week to March 25, surpassing forecasts of a 1 million barrel drop. At the same time, implied demand for gasoline and distillates declined.

The slower demand came as U.S. production rose by 100,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 11.7 million bpd after stagnating at 11.6 million bpd since early February.
The Queen overruled Prince Charles and Prince William to enable Prince Andrew, the Queen's disgraced son, to accompany her to the Duke of Edinburgh's memorial service.

To the surprise of many in the audience, the Duke of York accompanied his mother across Westminster Abbey to her seat in full front of the live broadcast cameras on Tuesday.

Queen Elizabeth Travels to London With Prince Andrew

It was the embarrassing royal's first public appearance since a rumored $16 million deal with Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre in New York to conclude a highly damaging civil sexual assault case. Because of his relationship with late pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Prince Andrew has been compelled to withdraw from public life.

Princes Charles and Prince William are said to have expressed reservations on many occasions about permitting the duke to walk the 95-year-old monarch down to her seat at such a well-publicized ceremony. According to The Mirror, the future monarchs totally agreed that his high-profile role was unnecessary.

But their protests were of the Queen, who chose Andrew to play a particular role in the event since it was her "wish and final decision" to rule. The decision has been described as shocking and horrifying by senior royals, including Charles and William.

Despite William and Charles' protests, the Duke of York is said to have had his way after appealing to carry his 95-year-old mother to her seat because she couldn't say no to her favorite son.

After that, Prince Andrew went hand in hand with his mother before assisting her to her seat. He also sat in the first row with his brother, Prince Edward, rather than his daughters, as what was expected.

Read Also: Hubble Telescope Spots Earendel, The Farthest Star Ever Seen, 28 Billion Light-Years From Earth

Duke of York Avoids Interacting With the Royal Family

Critics saw the move as a bold attempt by the 62-year-old to re-enter the public eye in the hopes of a mission creep return to public life or a chance to attend the Queen's Platinum Jubilee, Mail Online reported

Meanwhile, despite stepping in beside The Queen, Prince Andrew was ignored by the royal family and did not connect cordially with them during Prince Philip's burial. After the service, the Duke of York allegedly shunned receptions and went directly back to Westminster with his mother.

The Duke of York drove his mother's automobile 30 miles between Windsor and London. He then strolled arm in arm with the monarch around Westminster Abbey yesterday morning before settling into a first-row seat.

According to reports, Prince William was apprehensive about Prince Andrew's participation in his father Philip's burial ceremony. According to a family insider, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Charles were among the senior Royals dismayed by Andrew's choice to place himself front and center.

The Queen's grin and modest bow to Prince Andrew during Prince Philip's funeral ceremony should be interpreted as a consciously intended gesture to the world, according to a body language expert. Furthermore, a royal observer has stated that the Queen's choice to accompany Prince Andrew to London was a clear show of support for her second son, as per The Sun.

Related Article: [Report] Queen Elizabeth II Wants Prince Charles To Keep Secret Files Amid Health Concerns, To Speed Up Transition

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Oklahoma's governor has warned that criminals are trying to avoid jail by claiming Native American ancestry, putting them out of reach of state law.

Kevin Stitt told Tucker Carlson that he himself had obtained a Native American Card, in what he said was a sign of how easily the system could be exploited.

He told Carlson that 'literally half our state' was now off bounds to state law enforcement thanks to the July 2020 ruling, which he said was causing a surge in crime.

Indigenous people who commit crimes on the eastern Oklahoma reservation, which includes much of Tulsa, cannot be prosecuted by state or local law enforcement, and must instead face justice in tribal or federal courts.

Murders in his state were up 15.3 percent year on year, according to data released in December, and aggravated assault 10.3 percent. Violent crime as a whole had risen by 6.6 percent, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations reported.

The 49-year-old Republican said the situation was 'a real mess right now for Oklahoma'.

'We have people on death row that are doing 23andme DNA tests trying to get their convictions overturned,' Stitt said.

'It's preposterous.'

Kevin Stitt, the Republican governor of Oklahoma, appeared on Tucker Carlson's show on Wednesday night to discuss the impact of a 2020 Supreme Court ruling on his state

Stitt said the problem began with the 2020 Supreme Court ruling in the landmark case of McGirt v. Oklahoma.

Jimcy McGirt, a member of the Muscogee Nation, also known as the Creek Nation, was convicted of sex crimes against a child by the state of Oklahoma within the historical Creek Nation boundaries.

He was sentenced to life in prison on state charges after raping a four-year-old child in 1996.

McGirt argued that Oklahoma could not exercise jurisdiction over him because under the Indian Major Crimes Act, any crime involving a Native American victim or perpetrator, or occurring within recognized reservation boundaries, is subject to federal jurisdiction, not state jurisdiction.

The Supreme Court ruled in McGirt's favor, referencing an 1856 treaty that prevented the state having jurisdiction over tribal lands.

In August McGirt, now 72, was sentenced to life in prison on federal charges of abusing the girl.

Yet the case he brought to the Supreme Court is now having a significant ripple effect, and Stitt said it was dangerous.

'Basically this all started when McGirt, who was a child rapist, showed his Indian card and got his conviction overturned,' Stitt told Carlson.

He pointed out that vast swathes of Oklahoma's land were now classed as tribal land.

Stitt said that almost half of Oklahoma's land, shown in the map with the tribal reservations to the east of the state, were now out of the reach of state jurisdiction

The Supreme Court found that the state has no criminal jurisdiction over the land  home to nearly 775,000 people and portions of its second-largest city, Tulsa  because Congress never formally dissolved the reservation's boundaries when Oklahoma became a state in 1907.

The lands are owned by five Native American groups: Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw and Seminole and Muscogee Nation.

The Cherokee, with 392,000 members, was the largest of the 574 federally-recognized Indian tribes until last year, when it was overtaken by the Navajo Nation, which has 399,500 members.

Stitt said that the 2020 ruling had wreaked havoc on his state, putting much of the land out of state jurisdiction.

'If you haven't been to Oklahoma in a while, it's literally half of our state,' Stitt told Carlson.

'Think of Tulsa with a million people - we've now had a change of rules.

'The state, if there is an Indian involved, has lost jurisdiction to prosecute those crimes.

'Our police have lost jurisdiction.'

Jimcy McGirt has been in prison since 1997 on charges of sexually abusing a four-year-old girl. He challenged the right of the state of Oklahoma to prosecute him, as a card-carrying member of a Native American tribe. His case went to the Supreme Court and in July 2020 he won, but he remained in prison and was sentenced instead to life on federal charges

He said it was too easy to claim a Native ID card, which guarantees you rights as a citizen of the tribe.

Different groups have different rules.

The Navajo Nation requires members to be at least one-quarter Navajo, in contrast to tribes like the Cherokee that forgo a specific blood quantum requirement in favor of largely basing citizenship on having Cherokee ancestry.

For Stitt, he could obtain citizenship because he could trace his ancestry back to someone whose name appeared on the 1906 'Dawes Roll' - a list of people accepted between 1898 and 1914 by the Dawes Commission as members of the five tribes in the area.

Stitt's ancestor, Francis Dawson, is accused of paying to be included in the roll, High Country News reported - an allegation that Stitt himself strongly denied.

But on Wednesday night, he admitted the links could be tenuous.

'When you think about who is in in, you could be one-500th, one-11,000th,' he said.

'I've gotten my Indian card. My six children with blonde hair, blue eyes, they all have their Indian card.

'You can't tell who and Indian is and who is not an Indian in the eastern part of Oklahoma.'

Carlson remarked: 'This is on the basis of race! Depending on the racial category you are in, you're treated differently by law enforcement. Seems to be what you are saying.'

Stitt replied: 'That's exactly right. Cases all over the state.'

He referenced the release in April 2021 of Daniel Vivier, one of three people convicted in the 2011 beating and robbery of an 85-year-old man.

'One case I'd like to point out, Daniel Vivier,' said Stitt.

'Three bad guys beat an 85-year-old man almost to death, robbed him, stole his truck.

'One of them showed him the Indian card. He got out of prison.

'The other two are still in prison. That's not equal protection under the law.

'One guy is out because of race and the other two people are still in prison.'

Oklahoma, with 7.62 percent of its citizens calling themselves Native American, has the fourth highest population in the U.S.

Alaska has the highest, with 14.89 percent, followed by New Mexico and South Dakota.

New Hampshire, with only 0.15 percent, has the lowest percentage of Native Americans.
An Australia Post truck has crashed into the canopy of a petrol station after misjudging the height of the roof.

The StarTrack parcel mover took out the roof of the Shell service station in West Lakes, Adelaide, on Wednesday morning.

Photos of the disastrous scene show the truck trapped by debris and firefighters working to free it.

On Wednesday morning an Australia Post truck took out the roof of an Shell service station in West Lakes, Adelaide

Australia Post told Daily Mail Australia the driver was not harmed in the mishap.

'We are cooperating with police and apologise for the inconvenience and damaged cause. Australia Post will conduct a thorough investigation into the incident,' it said.

The national mail carrier believed after initial investigations that the driver misjudged the height of the petrol station roof compared to his vehicle.

Police found the driver was sober and came to a similar conclusion.
One of four men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer testified in his own defense Thursday, repeatedly telling jurors 'absolutely not' when asked if he agreed to abduct her before the 2020 election - claiming he joined the group to 'drink beer, shoot guns, and talk about girls.'

Daniel Harris' appearance in the witness chair was a dramatic shift on the 14th day of trial, following days of testimony from undercover FBI agents, a gutsy informant and two men who have pleaded guilty and pointed fingers at the rest of the group.

Harris, 24, was the only defendant to speak to jurors, and other defense lawyers rested their case after an aggressive cross-examination by a prosecutor, when he called one of the FBI informants a 'b*tch.'

Defense attorneys quickly rested their case on the end of Thursday, with closing arguments planned for Friday.

Harris, Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., and Brandon Caserta are accused of plotting to kidnap Whitmer from her vacation home in northern Michigan because of their disgust with government and her tough COVID-19 restrictions

Harris, a former Marine, said he wanted to maintain his infantry skills when he joined a militia, the Wolverine Watchmen, not snatch Whitmer or blow up a nearby bridge.

But after friendly questions from a defense lawyer, the atmosphere in court turned tense as a prosecutor confronted Harris with his chat messages about possibly posing as a pizza deliveryman and killing Whitmer. He also reminded Harris that he worked with explosives while training with the group.

Harris and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth sometimes talked over each other. At one point, Harris snapped, 'Next question.'

Daniel Harris, 24, is one of four men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, testified on Thursday in his own defense and denied any role in a wild conspiracy to get her before the 2020 election

The four men: Harris, Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., and Brandon Caserta are accused of plotting to kidnap Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer at her vacation home in northern Michigan in fall 2020 because of their disgust with government and tough COVID-19 restrictions

Federal prosecutors have showed jurors private chats from the group of four, including one where Harris, nicknamed as Beaker, suggests 'just cap her' referring to Whitmer

'Everyone can take it down a notch,' U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said later.

Soon after being sworn-in, Harris, 24, repeatedly rejected claims that he was involved in crimes. He said 'America was on fire' in 2020 over the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer, protests over police treatment of Black people and a pandemic that shut down parts of the economy.

A key part of the government's case is a firearms training weekend at Luther, Michigan, in September 2020 with a 'shoot house' that was intended to replicate Whitmer's second home. Harris admitted that he brought materials but said he didn't build it with her property in mind.

Defense attorney Julia Kelly took Harris through several key events raised by prosecutors earlier in the trial and asked: 'Did you agree to kidnap the governor of Michigan?'

'Absolutely not,' Harris replied.

He didn't participate in an evening ride to Elk Rapids, Michigan, to scout Whitmer's second home and a nearby bridge during that same training weekend. Harris said he had purchased $200 of cheap beer and cigarettes so he could return to the camp and 'get wasted' with others.

'I had assumed they went to a strip club or a bar,' Harris said of Fox and Croft.

The men were arrested in October 2020 amid talk of raising $4,000 for an explosive that could blow up a bridge and hold back police from responding to a kidnapping at Whitmer's home, according to trial testimony.

A video of the four men training for the kidnapping scheme at Luther, Michigan, is being used against the conspirators

Evidence, including, these drawings were pointing towards the suggestion that Harris was fully invested in plans to kidnap Michigan's governor, although he claims that he was not part of an evening to ride to Elk Rapids, to scout Whitmer's second home and a nearby bridge on the same weekend they went for training. The group also had plans to blow up a bridge nearby

Franks (top left); accused ringleader Adam Fox, 40 (top right); Barry Croft, 44 (bottom center); Daniel Harris, 24 (top right); Brandon Caserta, 33 (top center); and Ty Gerard Garbin (bottom right), 25, were arrested on October 8, 2020 after allegedly hatched the plot to snatch Whitmer because they were upset with Michigan's COVID-19 restrictions

Defense attorneys claim the men were engaged in a lot of wild talk fueled by agents and informants but no conspiracy.

The prosecutor covered a lot of ground during cross-examination, often referring Harris to his social media posts or chat messages to challenge his testimony. Roth noted that Harris had said the Founding Fathers would have approved of killing certain officials.

'Tyrants,' Harris told Roth.

'Was Governor Whitmer a tyrant?' the prosecutor asked.

'Not really. She was just a governor to me,' Harris said, adding that she performed 'poorly.'

Last week, Ty Garbin, who pleaded guilty and cooperated with investigators, said the group acted willingly and hoped to strike before the election, cause national chaos and prevent Joe Biden from winning the presidency.

'We wanted to cause as much a disruption as possible to prevent Joe Biden from getting into office. It didn't have to be,' Garbin said of striking before the election. 'It was just preferred.'

Kaleb Franks, 27, (pictured) who pleaded guilty in February, told the jury about how Barry Croft Jr., 46, 'discussed attacking her security detail.' Franks said: 'He said he would use the grenade launcher that he had, and he was discussing mounting a machine gun on top of the truck'

Ty Garbin, 26, also testified this week and told the jury that Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's kidnapping could serve as the 'ignition' for a US civil war involving antigovernment groups and possibly prevent the election of Joe Biden

Kaleb Franks, 27, who pleaded guilty in February, told the jury about how Barry Croft Jr., 46, 'discussed attacking her security detail.'

'He said he would use the grenade launcher that he had, and he was discussing mounting a machine gun on top of the truck,' Franks said Thursday in federal court in Grand Rapids.



Whitmer, a Democrat, rarely talks publicly about the kidnapping plot, though she referred to 'surprises' during her term that seemed like 'something out of fiction' when she filed for reelection on March 17.

She has blamed former President Donald Trump for fomenting anger over coronavirus restrictions and refusing to condemn right-wing extremists like those charged in the case. Whitmer has said Trump was complicit in the January 6 Capitol riot.
Outspoken politician Bob Katter has called for high school students to be given guns to protect Australia from an 'existential threat' from China.

The North Queensland MP compared the growing tensions in the Indo-Pacific to the situation in Ukraine and said teenagers should be trained to take up arms.

'How are you going to defend this country? You've got no fuel, you've got no petrol, you've got no missiles, you've got no army,' the rogue MP told Sky News this week.

Mr Katter said under his plan 13-year-olds would be trained to use rifles and schools across the country would have armoury buildings where weapons are stored.

He added that he was taught to use a rifle 'as big as he was' when he was in his early teens.

Controversial MP Bob Katter (pictured) said Australian students should be taught to use guns so they can defend the country from security threats

'There is a firing range right in the centre of Sydney actually  it would be working 24 hours a day every day of the year,' Mr Katter said.

'Look at Ukraine, how is a little tiny country holding at bay one of the two greatest armies on earth,' he said.

'How are they doing that? Because everyone has a gun.

'If you have five million rifles in Australia and people knowing how to use them then you have to have a 100-million-man army to invade Australia and hold it.'

Mr Katter's comments were likely prompted by a security deal leaked online last week between China and the Solomon Islands.

The draft agreement would see armed police and security funding provided to the Pacific Island nation and could lead to a navy base established by the communist superpower just 2,000km off Australia's coast.

Mr Katter's federal seat of Kennedy in North Queensland is the closest to the Solomon Islands, next to the division of Leichhardt at the tip of Cape York.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday spoke with New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern about the security agreement between the Solomon Islands and China.

Mr Morrison and Ms Ardern both said they believe the deal could undermine the security and stability of the Pacific region.

Ms Ardern has expressed concerns, telling NZ radio she did not see a need for China to have a security presence in the Solomon Islands.

Mr Katter recently released a political ad in which he shoots rival politicians (pictured)

Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese says Australia must engage more with Pacific island leaders.

'We need to be in a position whereby Australia is playing a leading role along with our allies in the Pacific because I'm very concerned about this announcement that appears to have been made in the Solomons,' he told ABC radio on Monday.

'The Pacific step-up needs to be more than a slogan. It needs to be backed up by action and respect for what our Pacific island neighbours are saying, for example, about climate change.'
Scott Morrison has revealed he was greeted by friendly fans as he left Shane Warne's memorial where he was booed by the crowd.

Mr Morrison brushed off the hostile reception when his name was announced at the MCG and claimed he gets a positive reception from the public more often than not.

Speaking to Sam Armytage on her Stellar podcast on Wednesday, the Prime Minister described a friendly greeting from fans on his way back to Canberra.

As host Eddie McGuire welcomed Mr Morrison to the MCG, the stadium of more than 30,000 emotionally charged fans erupted into boos

'I was leaving last night that beautiful service for Shane. I was walking back to the car and there was a lovely group of people there waiting for me to leave just to say thank you,' he said.

'I wasn't expecting that and it was nice of them to do it. And to be honest that happens more often than the alternative.'

Mr Morrison - who trails Labor by a massive 10 points in the polls - said the media only shows his negative interactions with the public such as in Cobargo, NSW where he forced reluctant locals to shake his hand after the 2019 bushfires.

'You won't see it on TV, you won't hear it often out of the media. Why would they?

'Because that suggests the PM actually connects with people and why would they want to tell Australians that?'

Scott Morrison is pictured sitting in the crowd for the memorial service on Wednesday

Former Sunrise host Armytage then joked that the media showed footage of Mr Morrison being booed when his name was announced at the ceremony.

'Politicians always get booed at every sporting stadium in the country, of course. it's a bit of a ritual,' he replied.

The moment has divided social media users as to whether it was appropriate to boo the nation's leader during the service, with some slamming it as 'disrespectful'.

Australian crowds have a habit of booing the Prime Minister at major sporting events, with Mr Morrison previously describing it as 'a great tradition'.

'I would be disappointed if they didn't,' Mr Morrison told reporters in 2019.

'Bob Hawke and everyone else got the same treatment at games.'

A Who's Who of Australian society joined more than 30,000 fans on Wednesday to say goodbye to Warne, who died of a heart attack aged 52 during a boys' trip to Thailand on March 4.

Mr Morrison and Labor leader Anthony Albanese had travelled to Melbourne together for the service.
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Thousands of nurses across NSW have gone on strike for 24 hours for the second time in 10 years, to pressure the state government to accept their demands for better pay and mandated nurse-to-patient ratios.

Nurses from up to 170 hospitals took part in a series of rallies on Thursday in Sydney, Albury, Bathurst, Broken Hill, Dubbo, Goulburn, Newcastle, Orange, Port Macquarie, Wagga Wagga, Wollongong and other areas.

A massive crowd of nurses and midwives carrying placards protested outside Parliament House, where the NSW Greens on Thursday introduced a bill to the upper house to legislate the union's preferred nurse-to-patient ratios.

Nurses from up to 170 hospitals took part in a series of rallies on Thursday in Sydney, Albury, Bathurst, Broken Hill, Dubbo, Goulburn, Newcastle, Orange, Port Macquarie, Wagga Wagga, Wollongong and other areas

Some nurses got creative and used their funny signs as a way to draw attention to the strike

Thousands of nurses across NSW have gone on strike for 24 hours for the second time in 10 years, to pressure the state government to accept their demands for better pay and mandated nurse-to-patient ratios

Several nurses got creative with their place cards and used humour to draw attention to the serious issue.

'I went down into the city to let (Premier) Dominic Perrottet know that it's not safe in our hospitals,' said Nichole Flegg, a midwife from Campbelltown who just finished three consecutive 12-hour shifts.

She said mothers of newborns were not getting the adequate care they needed, because of a shortage of midwives statewide compared to other states.

'You might have one midwife taking care of six to eight women and that's not even counting babies,' she told AAP.

Thursday's industrial action comes more than a month after the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association first voted in favour of statewide action

Some nurses got creative and used their sense of humour to bring attention to the Thursday's protest

A massive crowd of nurses and midwives carrying placards protested outside Parliament House in Sydney

Thursday's industrial action comes more than a month after the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association first voted in favour of statewide action that subsequently saw demonstrations at 150 public hospitals.

Nurses are demanding a nurse-to-patient ratio of one-to-four on hospital wards and a midwife-to-patient ratio of one-to-three, as well as a 4.75 per cent pay rise versus the 2.5 per cent a year allowed by the state government.

'Patients play Lotto depending which day they go to hospital,' union General Secretary Brett Holmes told AAP.

Nurses are demanding a nurse-to-patient ratio of one-to-four on hospital wards and a midwife-to-patient ratio of one-to-three, as well as a 4.75 per cent pay rise versus the 2.5 per cent a year

Nurses protesting on Thursday for nurse-to-patient ratios used humour and pop-culture references in their place cards

'They could get lucky and get a properly staffed shift or they could get unlucky.'

Following the February strike - the first by NSW nurses in a decade - Mr Perrottet said he hoped to provide a resolution but noted the issues were complex.

He also said Health Minister Brad Hazzard was in 'constant dialogue' with the union.

For Debbie Ross, a clinical nurse in the Infection Control Department at Sydney Hospital with three decades of experience, she said burnout was affecting nurses who are unable to cope with the influx of patients.

Secretary Brett Holmes said the government had not extended an offer to the union since its last meeting with Mr Perrottet, who has been on paternity leave since March 17

Nurses from different hospitals held place cards showing a wide range of hospitals were supporting nurses in the issue

'I'm just fed up and I'm angry. The system is broken,' Ms Ross told AAP.

'We're on our knees. Nurses are falling like flies because COVID-19 is on the increase again. I've never seen so many nurses to walk away. We don't go in it for the money. It's a calling.

'When you take the ability to comfort or care patients, you're taking the essence of their work away.'

Mr Holmes said the government had not extended an offer to the union since its last meeting with Mr Perrottet, who has been on paternity leave since March 17.

Thursday's industrial action comes more than a month after the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association first voted in favour of statewide action that subsequently saw demonstrations at 150 public hospitals

Queensland and Victoria have already legislated nurse-to-patient ratios and South Australia was considering the issue

'Nurses and midwives are at breaking point,' Greens health spokeswoman Cate Faehrmann said.

'It's time for the government to listen to their calls for safe nurse-to-patient ratios so that patients get a safe level of care.'

Ms Faehrmann noted Queensland and Victoria had already legislated nurse-to-patient ratios and South Australia was considering the issue.

The union said life-preserving services were maintained at all public hospitals throughout the day.

Following the February strike - the first by NSW nurses in a decade - Mr Perrottet said he hoped to provide a resolution but noted the issues were complex

Thursday's strike comes after some NSW paramedics took industrial action on Tuesday with similar demands for improved resources and staffing

The government had successfully argued to the industrial relations umpire the strike should not go ahead, but the union has defied the decision.

The latest strike comes after some NSW paramedics took industrial action on Tuesday with similar demands for improved resources and staffing.

On Monday, the paramedics union shared photos of ambulances queuing outside hospitals including Royal Prince Alfred, Wollongong, Wyong, John Hunter, Concord and others, waiting to offload patients at emergency departments.
A line of severe storms packing isolated tornadoes and high winds ripped across the Deep South overnight - killing at least two in the Florida Panhandle, toppling trees and power lines and leaving homes and businesses damaged as the vast weather front raced across several states.

In Florida, the Washington County Sheriff's Office said Thursday morning that two people were killed and two more injured when a tornado touched down in the Western Florida Panhandle. The two people who died during Thursday's tornado have yet to be identified.

Two homes were destroyed and powerlines were knocked down, according to Washington Country Emergency Management spokeswoman Cheryl Frankenfield.

The county's Facebook page showed at least one home that was obliterated, as well as trees downed on another home. No other details were immediately available.

The Florida Division of Emergency Management has dispatched employees to the area to help, spokesperson Samantha Bequer said. She said neighboring Jackson County also had property damage.

'It's a nasty day, but thankfully these storms are moving quickly,' she said.

At least two confirmed tornadoes also injured several people Wednesday, damaged homes and businesses and downed power lines in Mississippi and Tennessee after earlier storm caused damage in Arkansas, Missouri and Texas.

About 185,000 customers were without electricity Thursday morning in the wake of the storm along a band of states - Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utilities.

Washington County Sheriff's Office aerial drone footage reveals the devastation from this morning's tornado in the Gilberts Mill area community

Damage on Gilberts Mill Road, Northeast of Kent Mill Pond Rd., following the path of destruction to the Northeast, where the tornado continued towards Jackson County

A tornado touched down in Washington County on Thursday in the area of Gilbert's Mill Rd. and surrounding areas. Homes have been destroyed, and multiple power lines downed

The worst of the weather Thursday morning appeared to be at the southern end of the storm front, which was expected to bring heavy rain and high winds all along the US East Coast later in the day.

Much of the Florida Panhandle was under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

Widespread damage was reported in the Jackson, Tennessee, area as a tornado warning was in effect.

'Significant damage' occurred to a nursing home near Jackson-Madison County General Hospital and the Madison County Sheriff's Office in Jackson, said Madison County Emergency Management Director Jason Moore.

In Nashville, Tennessee, paneling fell five stories from the side of a downtown hotel Wednesday evening and onto the roof of a building below.

The fire department warned that debris could become airborne as high winds continued, and some hotel guests were moved to other parts of the building due to concerns the roof would become unstable.

No injuries were immediately associated with the collapse.

Pictured: more damage from Thursday's destructive tornado in Washington County, Florida, showing trees uprooted

Authorities survey the damage in Washington County, Florida after a tornado touched down in the area Thursday morning

Daylight revealed widespread wind damage across Alabama.

One person suffered minor injuries when a storm hit the University of Montevallo campus south of Birmingham, damaging three buildings, officials said, and a woman was injured when a manufactured home rolled over in rural Bibb County.

A school bus was flipped at a high school in south Alabama, and part of the roof was missing from a church in northwest Alabama.

Elsewhere, a warehouse roof collapsed as the storms moved through Southaven, Mississippi, near Memphis, police said. The building had been evacuated and no injuries were reported.

The Mississippi Senate suspended its work Wednesday as weather sirens blared during a tornado watch in downtown Jackson. Some employees took shelter in the Capitol basement.

Rander P. Adams said he and his wife, Janice Delores Adams, were in their home near downtown Jackson when severe weather blew through during a tornado warning Wednesday afternoon.

He said their lights flashed and a large window exploded just feet from his wife as she tried to open their front door.

Debris hangs in the trees outside a trailer home that was cut in half as a tornado touched down Wednesday in Vancleave, Mississippi

Debris litters a neighborhood one block west of Powell Street near Don Tyson Parkway Wednesday, March 30, 2022 in Springdale, Arkansas

The Mississippi Department of Transportation warns drivers along I-55 in Jackson of a tornado warning during a rainstorm during the outbreak of severe weather in the state on Wednesday

'The glass broke just as if someone threw a brick through it,' he said.

'I advised her then, "Let's go to the back of the house."'

Adams said the storm toppled trees in a nearby park, and a large tree across the street from their house split in half.

'We were blessed,' he said.

'Instead of falling toward the house, it fell the other way.'

Earlier Wednesday, a tornado that struck Springdale, Arkansas, and the adjoining town of Johnson, about 145 miles northwest of Little Rock, shortly after 4 am injured seven people, two critically, according to Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse.

Sprouse said in a statement that one of those critically injured had improved and was in stable condition and the other five were released from a hospital.

'Our first responders have completed door-to-door searches, and we believe everyone has been accounted for,' Sprouse said.

A tree toppled by the storm rests on the roof of a gazebo at Battlefield Park in Jackson, Miss., following a severe weather outbreak in the state, Wednesday, March 30, 2022

A state grounds engineer uses a mini skid steer to remove some of the limbs and trunk from this downed tree that was felled by strong winds on Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Terry Watson measures a window in his in-law's house after a tornado on Wednesday blew out the windows in the home and his wife's SUV parked out front in Vancleave, Mississippi

The National Weather Service in Tulsa said Thursday that the tornado has been rated an EF-3, up from an initial assessment of EF-2, with wind speeds between 136-165 mph.

The tornado reached a peak speed of about 145 mph and five miles while on the ground for about eight minutes, according to the weather service.

In northwest Missouri, an EF-1 tornado with wind speeds around 90 mph struck St. Joseph on Tuesday night, damaging two homes.

A small tornado also touched down briefly on the eastern edge of Dallas, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

The tornado struck just after 4:30 am Wednesday near McClendon-Chisolm with top winds of about 100 mph and damaged homes, but no injuries were reported, according to the weather service.

The storms come a week after a tornado in a New Orleans-area neighborhood carved a path of destruction during the overnight hours and killed a man.

Strong winds in Louisiana overturned semitrailers, peeled the roof from a mobile home, sent a tree crashing into a home and knocked down power lines, according to weather service forecasters, who did not immediately confirm any tornadoes in the state.

The National Weather Service office in New Orleans said Thursday that teams would be out in Tangipahoa and St. Tammany Parishes in southeastern Louisiana and in Jackson County in southeastern Mississippi surveying damage.

They said the highest wind speed recorded in the office's coverage area was 67 mph at the New Orleans Lakefront airport with winds in Baton Rouge reaching into the high 50 mph range.

Firefighters, meanwhile, have been trying to get handle on a wildfire spreading near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, amid mandatory evacuations as winds whipped up ahead of the approaching storm front.

The fire, which was not contained, had expanded to about 250 acres as of Wednesday afternoon.

One person was injured, and a plume of smoke rose above one community not far from where 2016 wildfires ravaged the tourism town of Gatlinburg, killing 14 people and damaging or destroying about 2,500 buildings.
How Dominic Raab is trying to prevent the release of Britain's most serious criminals Who has the power to release criminals from prison? The 246 members of the Parole Board of England and Wales make risk assessments and decisions on whether prisoners can be safely released or moved to an open jail. What power does Dominic Raab have and can the Parole Board decision be overturned? While the initial decision to release prisoners is made by the Parole Board, the Justice Secretary can apply to have a verdict reconsidered if he believes 'the correct process was not followed' or 'the decision was irrational or unreasonable'. Nevertheless, the Parole Board says it considers cases carefully so it would be unusual for a decision to change. If a parole decision is not challenged within 21 calendar days it becomes final and the prisoner must be released. How does he want to reform the system? The plans could see ministers override the Parole Board when it comes to the release of dangerous criminals from jail, with an aim to focus on protecting the public rather than the rights of offenders. This could include cases involving murder, rape, terrorism and causing or allowing the death of a child. Similarly, where the Parole Board cannot confidently say the prisoner is safe to leave prison, they will refer the decision to the Justice Secretary. While victims will not have a definitive say in the decision to release, they will be given the chance to attend hearings as an observer and ask questions, while the board will be required to take their submissions into account. Currently, victims are limited to a statement shared with the board explaining how the crime impacted on their life. Advertisement

A relative of tragic Baby P has questioned the release of his abusive mother Tracey Connelly, asking: 'When will these people learn evil is evil?'

The 40-year-old, who was jailed over the death of her 17-month-old son Peter, found out yesterday she'd been successful in her fourth bid for freedom and could be back on the streets within weeks.

Connelly had been imprisoned indefinitely with a minimum term of five years in 2009 for causing or allowing her son's death.

Peter, who was publicly known as Baby P, died in north London in August 2007 at the hands of his mother, her lover Steven Barker and his brother Jason Owen.

He suffered more than 50 injuries, including a snapped spine and eight broken ribs, despite being on the at-risk register and receiving 60 visits from social workers, police and health professionals over the final eight months of his life.

Yesterday, the Parole Board found she did not pose a threat to the public and gave the green light for her release - though Justice Secretary Dominic Raab vowed to try and block the move.

Now, a relative of the tragic toddler has also spoken out, telling the Sun: 'Connelly gets chance after chance.

'When will these people learn evil is evil? She's fooled them before and fooled them again.'

Mr Raab, who told the Commons he would ask the Parole Board to reconsider the decision, doubled down on his remarks again today, insisting he will do 'all I can' to stop Britain's most notorious offenders being freed.

'Releasing her was the wrong call then and it still is now,' he wrote in the Sun.

'Decisions to free serious criminals like her, double child killer Colin Pitchfork and rapist John Worboys, undermine public confidence in the Parole Board and the whole criminal justice system.'

Connelly was released in 2013 on a lifelong licence, but recalled to jail in 2015 after she breached its terms by selling nude photographs of herself on the internet.

She was subject to a specific length of term in prison, but had to wait until the Parole Board - which considers cases roughly every two years - deemed her fit for release.

She had bids for freedom turned down in 2015, 2017, and 2019, when the board refused to release or move her to an open prison. In 2020, she lost another appeal.

But yesterday, more than seven years after she was recalled to jail, the board found she does not pose a risk to the public, and could therefore be free within weeks.

In response, Mr Raab said he will apply to the Parole Board asking it to reconsider the plans.

Tracey Connelly, who was jailed in 2009 following the death of her 17-month-old son Peter, was today told she had been successful in her fourth bid for freedom

Peter, who was initially named in the press as Baby P, died after suffering more than 50 injuries including a snapped spine and eight broken ribs

Baby P: A timeline of the tragedy that shocked Britain March 1, 2006: Peter Connelly (Baby P) is born August 3, 2007: 17-month-old Baby P is found dead in cot November 11, 2008: Peter's mother, Tracey Connelly, boyfriend Steven Barker and brother Jason Owen are convicted of causing his death November 13, 2008: Ed Balls orders an inquiry into the role of the council, health authority and police December 1, 2008: An independent review declares Haringey's child protection services 'inadequate' December 8, 2008: Haringey Children's Services boss Sharon Shoesmith is sacked with immediate effect May 22, 2009: Connelly is jailed indefinitely, Barker gets a life term and Owen is given an indeterminate sentence for public protection October 7, 2009: Shoesmith launches a High Court case against Balls to seek compensation for her dismissal September 15, 2010: Shoesmith tells MPs she is sorry about what happened but refuses to accept any blame, saying she had no involvement in the care of Baby P May 27, 2011: The Court of Appeal rules in favour of Shoesmith, saying her dismissal was 'tainted by unfairness' October 8, 2013: Connelly is recommended for release by the Parole Board February 14, 2015: Connelly is back behind bars after sending nude pictures to male fans December 29, 2015: The Parole Board rejects Connelly's first bid for freedom November 28, 2017: The Parole Board rejects Connelly's second bid for freedom January 6, 2019: The Parole Board rejects Connelly's third bid for freedom March 30, 2022: Connelly is recommended for release by the Parole Board Advertisement

Mr Raab was backed by Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed, who described the news as 'disturbing' and said he 'fully supports' efforts to seek a review.

Since being recalled to prison, Connelly has taken part in a 'very intensive' treatment programme from the Ministry of Justice and the NHS over three years and is 'now able to work openly and honestly with professionals', a report added.

The Parole Board said it was satisfied Connelly is suitable for release after hearing she is now considered to be at 'low risk of committing a further offence' and that her probation officers and prison officials support the plan.

Mr Raab was represented throughout the review and his representative 'confirmed that this recommendation was accepted', the report said.

Connelly will be subject to restrictions on her movements, activities and who she contacts, and faces 20 extra licence conditions.

They include living at a specified address, being supervised by probation, wearing an electronic tag, adhering to a curfew and having to disclose her relationships.

Her use of the internet and a phone will be monitored and she has been told she cannot go to certain places to 'avoid contact with victims and to protect children'.

A spokesperson for the Parole Board said: 'We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board has directed the release of Tracey Connelly following an oral hearing.

'Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.

'Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.'

The case was so 'emotive' that parole bosses demanded more information on her psychological assessments before a decision was reached, a source told the Sun.

She would have faced another two years behind bars if the board rejected her bid.

Peter, who was publicly known as Baby P, died in north London on August 3 2007 at the hands of his mother, her lover Steven Barker and his brother Jason Owen.

He suffered more than 50 injuries, which included a snapped spine and eight broken ribs, despite being on the at-risk register and receiving 60 visits from social workers, police and health professionals over the final eight months of his life.

Steven Barker was jailed in 2009 for a minimum of 32 years for torturing the 17-month-old to death and Owen received a six year jail sentence for allowing the toddler to die.

'Decisions to free serious criminals like her undermine public confidence', Dominic Raab warns The Justice Secretary told the Commons yesterday he would ask the Parole Board to reconsider the decision and doubled down on his remarks again today. Mr Raab has set out the need for wholesale reform of the system to ensure the public are safe from some of the most notorious offenders. 'Releasing her was the wrong call then and it still is now,' he wrote in the Sun. 'Decisions to free serious criminals like her, double child killer Colin Pitchfork and rapist John Worboys, undermine public confidence in the Parole Board and the whole criminal justice system.' Advertisement

Peter and three other children were sharing the four-bedroom house with their mother, her boyfriend and his brother when he died.

A series of reviews identified missed opportunities for officials to save the toddler's life had they reacted properly to warning signs.

Three of the children, including Peter, were on Haringey's Child Protection Register because of fears they were being neglected.

Connelly, who covered up the abuse of her son, was jailed in 2009 for a minimum of five years after admitting causing or allowing the death of her son Peter.

She was then freed on licence in 2013 but later recalled to prison in 2015 after it was found she had sent indecent images of herself to people obsessed with her notoriety.

The Parole Board considered her case for a third time in November 2019, following previous reviews in 2015 and 2017, and refused to either release her or move her to an open prison.

In 2019, the convict launched a bid to be freed from prison so she could try to spend Christmas with her lover.

She became besotted with a 37-year-old insurance salesman named Paul and told fellow prisoners she want to move in with him in Reading.

The abuser said she believed she was ready to leave prison a 'changed woman'.

Connelly insisted her relationship was genuine because she had known him for many years.

Baby P, was tortured to death in 2007 by Connelly's lover Steven Barker (left) and his brother Jason Owen (right) at their home in Tottenham, north London

Connelly, pictured in 2013, when she was released on licence in 2013 before being ordered back to jail

Catflap rapist, child killer and sex predators: High profile criminals set free to strike again Black cab rapist John Worboys The board faced widespread criticism over its handling of the case of the Black Cab rapist  a serial sex offender convicted in 2009 for attacks on 12 women. He was recommended for release in 2018, but just weeks later, the decision was overturned after it was challenged by two of his victims. Double child killer Colin Pitchfork Last year the board allowed the release of Pitchfork, who raped and murdered two 15-year-old girls in the 1980s. However, he was recalled to jail less than three months later after he was caught 'approaching young women'. Christmas Day killer Steven Ling The farm worker was jailed for life in December 1998 after admitting murdering 29-year-old Joanne Tulip in Stamfordham, Northumberland on Christmas Day 1997. The Parole Board recommended earlier this year that he be transferred to a lower security jail, however this was overruled by Justice Secretary Dominic Raab. Catflap rapist Paul Robson Robson was given two life sentences in August 2000 after he broke into a 23-year-old woman's house in Oxford through a cat flap and sexually assaulted her while holding a knife to her throat. He fled an open prison in Boston, Lincolnshire earlier this year and was on the loose for four days, which led to the MoJ insisting Mr Raab will have more control over the transfer of prisoners in the most high-risk cases. Double killer Paul O'Hara O'Hara murdered new girlfriend Cherylee Shennan in 2014 two years after he was freed early from a life term for killing his ex Janine Waterworth, whose parents said their protests that he was still dangerous were ignored by the Parole Board. Jailmate thugs Stephen Unwin and William McFall Stephen Unwin and William McFall, were jailed for raping and murdering a young Vietnamese mother who they had tortured for four hours. They met while serving life for killing OAPs during burglaries. Each was paroled after only 13 years. Drug addict killer George Johnson Long-term drug addict George Johnson killed a hotel worker in 1986 for just 3. Freed in 2006, he battered to death an 89-year-old widow five years later to steal 25 to feed his heroin and crack cocaine habit. The 'Devil's Child' Damien Hanson Damien Hanson murdered a banker in 2004, three months after winning parole. He was seven years into a 12-year term for trying to kill a teenage boy. Known as 'the Devil's Child', he was freed despite a report saying he was a 91 per cent reoffending risk. Bodybuilding killer Douglas Vinter Fitness fan Douglas Vinter knifed his wife Ann White to death after kidnapping her and holding her hostage in 2008. They had married soon after he was freed in 2005  just ten years into a life sentence for murdering a workmate in a railway cabin. Pub landlord murderer Ian Simms Last year the Parole Board freed murderer Ian Simms, despite his refusal to reveal the whereabouts of the remains of his victim. Clerk Helen McCourt, 22, disappeared on her way home in Merseyside in 1988. Her mother lost a legal bid to keep Simms behind bars but a new rule, known as Helen's Law, now makes it harder for killers to get parole if they refused to reveal where a victim's body is. Serial rapist Joseph McCann Blundering probation staff missed a series of chances to recall McCann to jail before he attacked 11 victims. He was given 33 life terms and jailed for at least 30 years for kidnapping, raping and sexually assaulting women and children aged 11 to 71. McCann had been freed from prison by mistake two months before his two-week rampage fuelled by vodka and cocaine when he forced victims into his car at knifepoint. Advertisement

Today's decision came as Mr Raab insisted the case for reform of the parole system is 'clear and made out'.

Offenders who are subject to life sentences, indeterminate sentences for public protection, extended sentences and certain recall cases are all subject to the parole process, meaning their release must be directed by the Parole Board.

The proposed reforms could see ministers override the Parole Board when it comes to the release of dangerous criminals from jail, with an aim to focus on protecting the public rather than the rights of offenders.

This could include cases involving murder, rape, terrorism and causing or allowing the death of a child.

Victims are also expected to be given the right to attend parole hearings in full for the first time, in a nod to the Conservative Party's 2019 manifesto.

The Parole Board will now be required to take into account submissions made by victims and they will be allowed to ask questions.

The new rules could also see more police, and other people with 'enforcement experience', recruited to sit on Parole Board decision panels.

Mr Raab said it was 'striking' that as of last year only 5% of all Parole Board panel members come from a law enforcement background, telling MPs he believed this was a 'significant deficit'.

Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed said: 'It's crucial that public protection is paramount and that victims are right at the heart of the criminal justice system.

'Currently too many victims feel their views are not taken sufficiently into account either in parole decisions or in sentencing and this leads directly to public safety concerns that must be taken more seriously.'

Setting out his review of the parole system, Mr Raab said: 'Our reforms will ensure that those offenders who present the highest risk to public safety are reviewed more rigorously with additional ministerial oversight.

'Protecting the public is the Government's top priority. The proposals in this review will enforce public safety.'

He added: 'Following the review we have conducted and published today, I believe the case for reform is clear and made out.'

Mr Raab also said a ministerial check would be introduced in cases which involve 'those who have committed the most serious crimes'.

He said: 'I believe the focus in this critical decision-making has become adrift from its original moorings. So this Government will anchor Parole Board decision-making back to the cardinal principle of public protection.

'When it comes to assessing the risk to victims and public safety, we will introduce a precautionary principle to reinforce public confidence in the system and in cases which involve those who have committed the most serious crimes, we will introduce a ministerial check on release decisions exercised by the secretary of state for justice.

'The package of reforms published today will strengthen the focus on public protection at every stage.'

Outlining his plans further, Mr Raab said: 'It is striking that as of last year only 5% of all Parole Board panel members come from a law enforcement background.'

He added: 'But I do point to what I believe is a significant deficit. I believe it is wrong and that our reforms will ensure that those who we charge with making finely balanced assessments of future risk have greater first hand operational experience of protecting the public from serious offenders.

'So we will change this imbalance by mandating the Parole Board to recruit more members with operational or enforcement experience.'

Shadow justice secretary Mr Reed said: 'It's crucial that public protection is paramount and that victims are right at the heart of the criminal justice system.

'Currently too many victims feel their views are not taken sufficiently into account either in parole decisions or in sentencing and this leads directly to public safety concerns that must be taken more seriously.

'Labour will put public safety at the core of our contract with the British people, sadly the same can't be said of this Government.'

He added: 'Labour wants victims to have a right to make a new personal statement saying how they would feel if the prisoner is released.

'We would like any assessment of the risk to the public to include the risk of re-traumatising their victim and prevent released prisoners from living near their victim if that's against the victim's wishes.'

Meanwhile, a justice campaigner instrumental in the creation of Helen's Law today hailed Mr Raab's planned parole shakeup.

He said it's clear the public and the Government have 'have lost all trust' in the British parole system.

Neil Gillingham, 32, grandson to evil wife-killer Russell Causley, has spent more than a decade campaigning for a 'no body, no parole rule'.

His grandfather Causley, now 77, was jailed for the murder of his wife Carole Packman in 2003.

Causley has never revealed where his wife was buried, since her disappearance in 1985.

Neil said: 'We have successfully stopped several attempts by lobbying former justice secretaries.

'Yesterday's announcements appear to enforce earlier concerns that the Parole Board isn't fit for purpose and both the public as well as the Government have lost all trust after Colin Pitchfork and Russell Causley were both recalled to prison within two weeks of each other.

'Yesterday's announcements are welcomed. The most depraved, narcissistic murderers and those that refuse to engage in rehabilitation deserve to spend the rest of their days behind bars, if that means they die in prison, then so be it.'

Living with killers: The little boy who never stood a chance Tracey Connelly, who covered up the abuse of her son Baby Peter, was living with Steven Barker and Jason Owen when little Peter died. Barker was a sadistic neo-Nazi who raped a two-year-old girl, tortured his own grandmother and is suspected of sex attacks on other children. Their 'lodger' and his brother Owen was a crack cocaine addict and convicted arsonist who was accused of raping a girl of 11. The full horror of what they put Peter through only emerged after he was found dead in his cot, his emaciated body covered with 22 separate injuries. At the time of his death, Peter and three other children were sharing a four-bedroom house with Connelly, her boyfriend Barker, his paedophile brother Owen and his four children, plus Owen's 15-year-old girlfriend. Three of the children - including Peter - were on Haringey's Child Protection Register because of fears they were being neglected. Social workers, health visitors and doctors saw the family 60 times before 17-month-old Peter died from his horrific injuries, which included a snapped spine and eight broken ribs. Advertisement

Parole shake-up will give ministers power to BLOCK prison release of UK's worst criminals

Ministers will get new powers to veto the release of Britain's most heinous criminals, under plans unveiled today to reform the parole system.

And victims will be able to take part in Parole Board hearings for the first time.

Murderers, rapists, terrorists and violent criminals convicted of causing a child's death will be forced to stay in jail until their release is signed off by ministers.

The plans will grant Justice Secretary Dominic Raab the final say on the release of about 660 offenders a year.

Victims will get rights to attend Parole Board hearings in full and ask questions.

They will also be entitled to receive more detailed information from the board's officials.

Justice Secretary Dominic Raab will be able to prevent particularly dangerous criminals from being released with new powers that are set to be introduced

The measures will shake up the way the board operates, tipping the balance away from criminals' rights and more in favour of victims and protecting the public.

Parole Board officials will be told their 'only priority' will be making sure a prisoner poses no risk to the public.

And, in a victory for openness, parole hearings will also be opened to the Press for the first time, Mr Raab pledged.

If successful, the proposals could mark a turning point after decades of 'progressive' policies chipping away at the principles of law and order.

The Parole Board's critics claim it is packed with 'do-gooders' who are too sympathetic towards criminals 'rights'.

Mr Raab said: 'Keeping the public safe is government's first duty, and the British people expect us to keep dangerous criminals behind bars for as long as necessary to protect them.

'I am not satisfied our approach is as robust as it needs to be.'

Dozens of killers, rapists and paedophiles released from prison have gone on to get second life sentences after committing another serious crime.

The board faced widespread criticism over its handling of the case of Black Cab rapist John Worboys  a serial sex offender convicted in 2009 for attacks on 12 women.

A decision to release him was overturned after a legal challenge.

Last year the board allowed the release of Colin Pitchfork, who raped and murdered two 15-year-old girls in the 1980s.

He was recalled to jail less than three months later after displaying 'concerning behaviour'.
The distraught parents of Hannah Clarke have delivered a stark message about domestic violence, as the inquest into the deaths of the Clarke family concludes.





Clarke and her children Aaliyah , six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three, who were killed by Rowan Baxter, 42, during a school run at Camp Hill, in Brisbane 's south, in February, 2020. The inquest has been examining the deaths of Ms





On the final day of the coroner's inquest, a tearful Sue and Lloyd Clarke said if they had the chance, they would probably ask Hannah's estranged husband, 'why?'.

A tearful Sue and Lloyd Clarke (pictured, leaving the Brisbane Coroners Court on Thursday) said if they had the chance, they would probably ask Hannah's estranged husband, 'why?'

'(His grandchildren) ... would say 'why would you hurt us daddy? Why would you take away our futures'?' Lloyd Clarke asked.

'Why didn't you love us just like a father is supposed to do?

'Hannah would say 'why couldn't you be a better man, a better father, a better husband - why did you have to be such a coward and bully to us for so many years'.'

Rowan Baxter, 42, had set fire to Hannah Clarke and her children Aaliyah , six, Laianah, four, and Trey, three, during a school run at Camp Hill, in Brisbane 's south, in February, 2020 (pictured)

While fighting back tears Mr Clarke added: 'As as society we also need to ask ourselves why this can happen, why does it take the murder of four beautiful souls and dozens of others every year before governments respond?'

Ms Clarke's devastated mother said she had left her granddaughters' room at their home unchanged since the tragedy.

'I can't bring myself to pack up their toys,' she said as her voice broke.

Hannah's mother revealed she left her granddaughter's room unchanged since they were killed two years ago (pictured, Aaliyah, Trey, and Laianah Clarke)

'Our house, once filled with the noise, laughter and chaos of young children is now very quiet.

'Holidays like Christmas and Mother's Day are almost unbearable. The hole in our family is gaping and will never be filled.'

The inquest heard the sickening phone call Baxter made to a men's helpline the day before he burned his family to death.

The day before Baxter's call to MensLine he was seen on CCTV footage shopping for a fuel can, plastic zip ties and a container of surface cleaner at a Brisbane Bunnings store (pictured)

In the call to the men's helpline, Baxter can be heard blaming Ms Clarke for his need to seek help for his behaviour because she 'put a DVO on me'.

'It's not my idea, but apparently I have to do it,' a relaxed-sounding Baxter tells the support worker who took his call.

The MensLine operator suggested to Baxter he'd been 'dragged into' making the call.

Sue and Lloyd Clarke (pictured) read out their victim impact statements on the final day of the inquest into the deaths of the Clarke family

'To be honest it's a bit of, uh, it's almost like a game to put her in a better position for Family Court,' Baxter responds.

'And unfortunately, um, I've been roped into it, and now this DVO, temporary one's hanging over my head...'

Baxter continued telling the operator that he was 'not the one with the problem'.

'I sort of understand it, but I don't, because I, um, I felt as though I'm not the one that has the problem, but I guess, um, I'm just doing what I'm told,' he said.

The day before Baxter's call he was seen on CCTV footage shopping for a fuel can, plastic zip ties and a container of surface cleaner, in vision shown to the inquest on Wednesday.

In the footage, Baxter can be seen walking through a Bunnings store wearing a singlet and shorts.

He looks at different jerry cans before deciding on a 5L green plastic container.

The following morning he bought fuel from a Caltex service station, as well as lollies and three Kinder Surprises.

Shortly after his call to MensLine, Baxter had a video call with his children where he sobbed the entire time.

In the weeks before the murders a psychologist provided wrote a 'glowing' letter for Baxter expressing she had 'no concerns' about his mental health.

Days before murdering his family Baxter made a call to MensLine blaming Ms Clarke for his need to seek help for his behaviour because she 'put a DVO on me' (pictured, Hannah Clarke, Baxter and their three children)

Psychologist Vivian Jarrett, who treated Baxter for six sessions agreed he was at a high risk of harming others at the inquest yesterday.

Dr Jarrett was also aware Baxter might be trying to 'pull the wool' over her eyes during their six sessions from December 2019, to create good evidence for the family court in a bid to regain access to his children.

But she did not detail those concerns in her notes.

Instead, she wrote a favourable reference and provided police a statement a day after the family's deaths saying Baxter was 'level headed' and 'low risk'.

The inquest also heard the fate of Ms Clarke and her children may have been different if she received more guidance from police.

As the inquest reached its final day on Thursday, Mrs Clarke said she and her husband would 'never be the same people' after their daughter and grandchildren were taken from them, and had both given up work.

'Both of us have struggled with serious health issues, physical and mental,' she said in a power victim impact statement.

'The hole in our family is gaping and will never be filled.'

Counsel assisting the coroner Jacoba Brasch QC told the inquest that Baxter's 'calculated premeditated murder' demonstrated he was 'evil'.

'It was but a matter of time, such was his murderous intent,' she said.

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President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Australia to reinforce its support to the Ukraine and provide more weapons as Russia continues to wage war on the sovereign nation.

President Zelensky received a standing ovation as he addressed Federal Parliament on Thursday afternoon, with the Ukraine leader putting his hand to his heart as both sides of the aisle applauded him as he appeared via video link.

He thanked Prime Minister Scott Morrison for his support, but said his country still needs more international aid as they hold back Vladimir Putin's invasion.

In return, Mr Morrison confirmed Australia will send an extra $25million worth of military aid to Ukraine, including tactical decoys, unmanned aerial and unmanned ground systems, rations and medical supplies.

'We need your help not in the next couple of months, we need it now. The people of Australia, the distance between our countries is big, we're separated by oceans and seas, but there is no such thing as distance from the brutality and chaos Russia has brought to the Ukraine,' President Zelensky told Parliament.

'Whatever is happening in our region has become a real threat to your country and your people, because this is the nature of the evil. It can instantly cross any distance and destroy lives.'

President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Australia to provide more weapons in a powerful speech to Federal Parliament on Thursday

President Zelensky received a standing ovation as he addressed Federal Parliament on Thursday afternoon, with the Ukraine leader putting his hand to his heart

Mr Morrison offered a powerful opening speech, labelling Putin as 'the war criminal of Moscow' and promised Australia's unwavering support.

'Australia stands with Ukraine. You have our prayers, but you also have our weapons, and there will be more,' Mr Morrison said in an opening speech to President Zelenskyy.

'We stand with you Mr President, and we do not stand with the war criminal of Moscow.'

Labor leader Anthony Albanese compared Putin to Adolf Hitler, saying the world needs to stop the Russian dictator before he is responsible for more deaths.

President Zelensky accused Russia of 'blackmailing' the world through nuclear threats and called on Australia to condemn its atrocities through definitive action.

'The bipartisan support from Australia, we are extremely grateful. This is only the beginning, we should and can do more. We need powerful sanctions before they stop blackmailing other countries with nuclear missiles,' he said in his parliamentary address.

He warned that if Russia are not promptly stopped, other countries with 'similar aspirations' could follow their lead, with Moscow's aggression posing a 'real threat' to world stability.

President Zelensky accused Russia of 'blackmailing' the world through nuclear threats and called on Australia to continue to condemn its actions through definitive action

He said all Russian ships should be banned from entering international waters and barred from docking in the ports of other countries as the world attempts to stem the country's financial resources.

'No Russian vessels should be allowed in other seas. We should stop all business activities of Russia,' President Zelensky told Parliament.

He noted the hundreds of Australians who travelled to the country in 2016 to celebrate the debut of the world's largest plane - the Antonov AN-225, with its nickname translating to 'Dream' in English.

Russia destroyed the aircraft on February 28, but the Ukraine president said it would not crush their spirit.

'We can say that Russia destroyed our 'Dream', but no, they just burned down a plane,' President Zelensky said.

'But not the essence, not the dignity, not our independence.'

Mr Morrison offered a powerful opening speech, labelling Putin as 'the war criminal of Moscow' and promised Australia's unwavering support

He asked for more military assistance, namely Australia's Bushmaster four-wheel-drive vehicles, which could be pivotal for ongoing warfare.

'Most of all we have to keep those who are fighting against this evil armed,' President Zelensky said.

'For example you have very good armoured personnel vehicles, Bushmasters, that could help Ukraine substantially, and other pieces of equipment that could strengthen our position in terms of armament.

'If you have an opportunity to share this with us we would be very grateful.'

President Zelensky said the 'fate of global security is decided now' and that it was navigating a time in which precdent would be set for future wars.

The Ukraine leader received another standing ovation from Parliament as he repeatedly thanked Australia for its support at the conclusion of his address.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Australia has pledged $116million worth of military assistance, $65million of humanitarian assistance and 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal to meet Ukraine's energy needs.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Australia has pledged $116million worth of military assistance, $65million of humanitarian assistance and 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal

Mr Morrison's office announced new tariffs on Russia and Belarus in response to their continued efforts to invade Ukraine.

From April 1, Australia will withdraw its Most-Favoured-Nation tariff and apply additional 35 per cent fees on all Russian and Belarusian imports.

Australia has also announced temporary three-year protection visas for Ukrainians fleeing the war.

The timing of Mr Zelensky's speech has been widely questioned in Canberra, with Labor leader Anthony Albanese's response to Tuesday's Budget announcement overshadowed by the presence of the Ukraine president.

President Zelensky has addressed several parliaments including in the UK, US, Canada and EU to thank allies for help to defend his nation.
Residents of Georgia will receive another stimulus payment after Gov. Brian Kemp approved the one-time tax refund for qualified taxpayers.

The stimulus payment would be made to residents who filed their taxes for both 2020 and 2021, according to the official announcement for House Bill 1302. The estimated payments will range from $250 to $500 based on the taxpayer's filing.

Despite the pandemic's impact, Kemp attributes the surplus to the state's healthy economy. Georgia's lawmakers, he added, have done a fantastic job with prudent budgeting. Kemp emphasized, "It's one-time money." "I think it's best when we have more than we need to send it back to the people that sent it to us, the taxpayers."

Residents with additional questions about the rollout can refer to the HB 1302 Tax Refund FAQs for any clarification.

For a detailed read visit ParentHerald: Stimulus Payment Approved: Georgia Residents to Receive One-Time $500 Tax Refund

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
This is the dramatic moment police chased down and shot dead a Palestinian gunman who had gunned down five people in a terror rampage in Israel this week.

Diaa Armashah, 27, from the West Bank village of Yabad, opened fire on Tuesday evening with an M-16 assault rifle in Bnei Brak, a mostly Jewish Orthodox city near Tel Aviv, killing two Ukrainians, two Israeli civilians and an Arab-Israeli officer.

Bodycam footage shared by Israeli police shows an officer tearing through the streets on the back of a motorbike hunting down the killer.

Police chased down and shot dead a Palestinian gunman who had gunned down five people in a terror rampage in Israel this week

Bodycam footage shared by Israeli police shows an officer tearing through the streets on the back of a motorbike hunting down the killer

After arriving on the scene, the officer jumps off the bike and fires multiple shots, taking down the gunman before kicking away his weapon.

One of the police motorcycle sergeants, Amir Khoury, 32, was among those killed in the massacre.

Another was a teacher shielding his two-year-old son from bullets.

Avishai Yehezkel, 29, was taking his son for a walk and was on the phone with his wife Naama who is currently eight months pregnant with their second child.

He told her he could hear the sound of fireworks before they ended their call, not realising gunfire was ringing out in the city.

After arriving on the scene, the officer jumps off the bike and fires multiple shots, taking down the gunman before kicking away his weapon

One of the police motorcycle sergeants, Amir Khoury (left), 32, was among those killed in the massacre. Avishai Yehezkel (right), 29, was taking his son for a walk and died shielding him from a shower of bullets

Pictured: Israeli mourners attend the funeral of Avishai Yehezkel, one of the five people killed in yesterdays shooting attack in the ultra-Orthodoz town of Bnei Brak on March 30, 2022

The first victim, Yaakov Shalom, 36, was driving by when Armashah opened fire, killing him in his car

The two other victims were Ukrainians Victor Sorokopot (left), 38, and Dmitri Mitrik (right), 23, who had been working in a grocery store

After realising a killing spree was unfolding, Avishai rang his brother Ovadia who lives nearby, warning him not to go out, before he was shot dead.

At the teacher's funeral yesterday, Ovadia said, according to The Times: 'You told me to stay home and I didnt hear from you again. You protected your son with your own, brother, like an eagle, and took the bullets. You showed true Jewish bravery.'

The first victim, Yaakov Shalom, 36, was driving by when Armashah opened fire, killing him in his car.

The father of five was supposed to have his children in the car with him at the time but his wife had called them to their flat.

The two other victims were Ukrainians Victor Sorokopot, 38, and Dmitri Mitrik, 23, who had been working in a grocery store after arriving in the country on short-term visas just before the Russian invasion.

Chilling video of the attack showed a gunman on a motorcycle methodically gunning down bystanders with an assault rifle in the middle of the suburban streets

Pictured: A body lies covered on the ground at the scene of an attack in Bnei Brak on Tuesday

The Ukrainian embassy condemned the 'heinous terrorist attack'.

Israel was home to around 15,000 Ukrainians before Russia invaded Ukraine last month. It has since received nearly 20,000 refugees from Ukraine, an interior ministry spokeswoman said.



In retaliation today after a string of terror attacks, Israel has carried out a raid on the West Bank today, killing a Palestinian.

Armashah had previously spent six months in prison in Israel in 2013 after plotting a terror attack against Jews, but he has not yet been linked with any Palestinian group.

In a statement after a meeting with security officials Wednesday, prime minister Naftali Bennett said more than 200 people had been arrested or questioned by security forces.

He called on Israelis who own arms to ensure that they carry them when out, adding that 'Israeli society, when it is tested, knows how to stand up and mobilise'.

Friends and family mourn at the funeral of Avishai Yehezkel who was killed during the Tuesday night attack. Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned of a 'wave of murderous Arab terrorism'

Two of the victims were identified as Yaakov Shalom, 36, and Avishai Yehezkel, 29, both ultra-Orthodox residents of Bnei Brak. Pictured: Ultra-orthodox Jewish mourners gather for the funeral of Yehezkel on Wednesday in the town

Defence minister Benny Gantz meanwhile said at a press conference that he had authorised the detention of two residents of east Jerusalem who were suspected of being Hamas members.

He added that he was considering putting out a call for army reservists.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas issued a rare condemnation, saying the killings 'will only lead to further deterioration of the situation, while we are all striving for stability'.

But Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Islamist group Hamas that rules the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza, praised what he described as a 'heroic operation' and 'legitimate and moral valiant resistance to end the occupation'.

US President Joe Biden expressed his 'deepest condolences' during a phone call with Bennett and said that his country 'stands firmly and resolutely with Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats to the state of Israel,' according to a White House readout.

Pictured: Men mourn the death of Avishai Yehezkel, 29, who was shot and killed in a terrorist attack in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak, near Tel Aviv, Israel

A spokesman for UN chief Antonio Guterres meanwhile said 'such acts of violence can never be justified and must be condemned by all'.

Police said on Wednesday that they had arrested a West Bank Palestinian suspect for posting videos on TikTok 'identifying with the terror attack in Bnei Brak' and an 18-year-old Israeli citizen from the Bedouin city of Rahat on suspicion of supporting the Islamic State group.

'Israel is facing a wave of murderous Arab terrorism,' said Bennett, whose disparate coalition government ranges from Jewish nationalists to Arabs.

Tuesday's shooting brings to 11 the total death toll from attacks in Israel over the past week, excluding the perpetrators.

On Sunday, two gunmen killed two Israeli police officers in the northern city of Hadera.

That assault by Arab citizens of Israel was later claimed by the Islamic State group - the jihadists' first claim of an attack on Israeli territory since 2017.

Israeli police said the two assailants were killed at the scene.

Hamas also praised that attack, as did the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad militant group and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Sunday's attack coincided with a landmark meeting between Israel's foreign minister and those of four Arab countries with ties to the Jewish state, as well as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Last week, a convicted IS sympathiser killed four Israelis in a stabbing and car-ramming attack in the southern city of Beersheba.

The latest attack came as defence minister Gantz visited Jordan's King Abdullah II to discuss ways to ensure calm in the Palestinian territories during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Jordan serves as the custodian of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

Tensions flared last year during the fasting month, leading to 11 days of heavy armed conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
A top grammar school teacher suspended after allegedly parading a mug with an image depicting the Prophet Muhammad around the classroom was today defended by the artist who created the design.

The staff member was initially said to have been photographed carrying the item in the playground at Colchester Royal Grammar School in Essex, though witnesses have since claimed it was regularly 'shown off' during lessons too.

The white mug appears to feature a cartoon of Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad.

In speech bubbles, the Jesus figure appears to say 'Hey', with the Prophet Muhammad figure responding: 'How ya doin?'

Most Muslims deem that any physical depiction of the prophet - even a positive one - is blasphemous.

The drawing is the work of a British author using the pseudonym Mohammed Jones - who created the Jesus and Mo series - a religious satire in a comic-book format.

Today, Jones defended the teacher, accusing school bosses of 'behaving disgracefully' in suspending him.

'I am upset about the teacher being suspended for holding a mug in the playground,' he said.

'There is no blasphemy law in this country. It is not an Islamophobic mug.

'Clearly someone has it in for this teacher and is using this as a way to get at him. The school is behaving disgracefully by playing along.'

The staff member is said to have been photographed carrying the white mug (above), which appears to feature a cartoon of Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad, in the playground at Colchester Royal Grammar School in Essex

A spokesman for the top grammar school (file photo, above) said: 'While we cannot comment on individuals, this will be reviewed in line with our policies and procedures and the appropriate robust action taken as necessary'

Launched in 2005, the simply-drawn webcomic chronicles the lives of two religious prophets - Jesus and Mo - based on the Christian and Islamic faiths and generally understood to represent Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad.

The cartoons poke fun at various aspects of religion, such as arguments for the existence of God.

The image of the mug was reportedly taken almost two weeks ago, but has since surfaced online amid growing concern from students.

Former pupil Scarlett Mansfield, who has previously made claims of widespread sexist behaviour at the school, told the Telegraph how she 'wasn't surprised' by the incident.

'Everyone has known for ages that this teacher is completely like that,' she said.

'It was more audacious that they decided to bring it into the classroom so directly.

'What happened with the mug was so emblematic of the pervasive culture I've been talking about.'

Meanwhile, parents are writing to the headmaster to 'demand action' be taken against the teacher.

Gary Howard, 35, whose child is in Year 9 at the school, told the paper the situation was 'mind-boggling' and pointed to a 'failure of leadership'.

A school spokesman said: 'We have been notified that an image has been shared online of an individual appearing to use a cup that has an offensive image on it.

'At this time we are looking into the matter.

'While we cannot comment on individuals, this will be reviewed in line with our policies and procedures and the appropriate robust action taken as necessary.

'The staff member concerned is currently away from the school.'

It is understood the teacher is subject to an ongoing investigation, reported the Gazette.

Colchester Royal Grammar School is renowned for being one of the highest-ranking in the country for its A-Level results, and has been in the Sunday Times Top 10 seven times in the past ten years.

In 2020, 39 of its pupils were offered places at Oxbridge colleges.

But an Ofsted report, published last year, found that leaders in the school had not ensured that boys understand 'how to interact appropriately' with girls, and some male pupils could be rude and make 'inappropriate remarks'.

It concluded that parts of the school had become a 'hostile environment' for some pupils.

Colchester Royal Grammar School is renowned for being one of the highest-ranking in the country for its A-Level results, and has been in the Sunday Times Top 10 seven times in the past ten years. Pictured: the school's headmaster John Russell

Colchester Royal Grammar was accused last year of having a 'toxic and ubiquitous rape culture' in a blog post by former student Scarlett Mansfield (pictured above)

Last month, headmaster John Russell was recorded telling pupils that Ofsted had an 'agenda' and was being 'political' ahead of an inspection, reported the BBC.

He told pupils: 'I'd argue this is political and actually linked to their preconceptions when they came in.'

Mr Russell added: 'They did come to this school with an agenda, which means a preconception.'

It came after Colchester Royal Grammar was accused last year of having a 'toxic and ubiquitous rape culture' in a blog post by Miss Mansfield.

She said that topics such as domestic abuse and homophobia were treated as a joke at the predominantly male school - which only accepts girls in Sixth Form.

Mr Russell wrote at the time that he was 'shocked and saddened' by reports of 'wholly unacceptable behaviours and attitudes' that some female students experienced during their time at the institution.

The school said it has 'changed considerably' since Scarlett was a student and 'continue to make acts of prejudice, discrimination or abuse socially unacceptable'.
Leaders in the South Pacific said they are 'gravely concerned' after China signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands allowing Beijing to station warships just 1,000 miles off the coast of Australia.

It's the latest effort by Beijing to expand its influence in the region, where China lacks a sizeable military presence.

Western allies fear the secret deal, which was leaked by opponents in an attempt to sabotage its signing, paves the way for Chinese military domination in the region.

Chinese police officers train Solomon Islands cops with replica guns donated by Beijing

Solomon Islands PM Sogavare (standing left) hosts Premier Li Keqiang (standing right) in 2019

The Solomon Islands are located 1,000 miles north-east of Australia - and play a key strategic role in the security of the South Pacific. The nation is made up of 992 islands, 147 inhabited

A statement issued by the Solomon Islands government last night said: 'Officials of Solomon Islands and the People's Republic of China have initialled elements of a bilateral Security Cooperation Framework between the two countries today.'

It must now be signed by the two countries' foreign ministers.

A draft leaked last week prompted horror among the leaders of Australia, New Zealand, the Federated States of Micronesia and more.

Charles Edel, the Australia chair at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the New York Times: 'This is deeply problematic for the United States and a real cause of concern for our allies and partners.'

Australian prime minister Scott Morrison said 'there is great concern across the Pacific family because we are in constant contact with our Pacific family'.

And New Zealand PM Jacinda Arden told Radio NZ the move was 'gravely concerning' and a dangerous step toward the 'militarisation' of the Pacific.

The security pact includes a clause dictating that 'China may, according to its own needs and with the consent of the Solomon Islands, make ship visits to, carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands'.

It would also allow armed Chinese police to deploy at the Solomon Islands' request to maintain 'social order'.

The 'forces of China' would also be allowed to protect 'the safety of Chinese personnel' and 'major projects in the Solomon Islands'.

Without the written consent of the other party, neither would be allowed to disclose the missions publicly.

The United States and Australia have long been concerned about the potential for China to build a naval base in the South Pacific, allowing its navy to project power far beyond its borders.

A spate of anti-Chinese violence on the islands partly prompted the pact (picture from 2021)

Scott Morrison said he was nervous about what the security pact means for the 'Pacific family'

The leaked deal (pictured) reveals China's wish for a military presence in the South Pacific

The Solomon Islands flag hangs in Tiananmen Square, a symbol of the countries' strategic ties

Any Chinese military presence would likely force Canberra and Washington to change their military posture in the region.

Australia's Chief of Joint Operations Lieutenant General Greg Bilton said Thursday that the China-Solomon Islands pact would 'change the calculus' of his country's operations in the Pacific.

Meanwhile the Solomon Islands' Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare dismissed critics of the deal in a fiery speech Tuesday, saying there was 'no intention whatsoever... to ask China to build a military base in the Solomon Islands'.

He added that it was 'very insulting... to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs' by other nations.

Word that the pact had been agreed came just hours after the president of the Federated States of Micronesia made public an impassioned plea to Sogavare to reconsider signing the deal.

President David Panuelo voiced 'grave security concerns about this proposed agreement' in a letter to the leader yesterday, citing rising tensions between China and the United States.

'My fear is that we - the Pacific Islands - would be at the epicentre of a future confrontation between these major powers,' he wrote.

Panuelo asked the Solomons leader to consider the long-term consequences 'for the entire Pacific region, if not the entire world' of signing the security pact.

There are also fears the deal could fuel domestic strife inside the Solomons.

The nation of 800,000 has been wracked by political and social unrest and many of its people live in poverty.

In November, protesters tried to storm the parliament and went on a deadly three-day rampage, torching much of Honiara's Chinatown.

More than 200 peacekeepers from Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand were deployed to restore calm, allowing Sogavare to avoid overthrow.

The unrest was sparked by opposition to Sogavare's rule and fuelled by unemployment and inter-island rivalries.

Anti-China sentiment also played a role.

Leaders on the most populous island of Malaita fiercely oppose Sogavare's decision to recognise Beijing and break ties with Taiwan in 2019.
A helicopter crashed killing all five people on board at Victoria's Mount Disappointment on Thursday.

The pilot and four passengers, believed to be meat farmers, died at the scene near the popular picnic grounds at Blair's Hut.

Search crews took hours to find the grim wreckage due to the dense bushland.

The missing chopper was eventually located just before midday, almost two hours after emergency services were initially alerted.

Victoria Police Acting Inspector Josh Langelean (pictured) confirms the discovery of the missing helicopter and the death of all five occupants

The helicopter was one of two that left the Melbourne City Helipad on Thursday morning, flying in convoy over Mount Disappointment when one suddenly disappeared at 9.30am.

A police helicopter and air ambulance were sent to search for the missing chopper but the terrain hampered their efforts until 11.45am when the wreckage was finally located.

The casualties included a 32-year-old man from Cheltenham, a 50-year-old woman from Inverloch, a 73-year-old man from Albert Park, and two men from New South Wales aged 59 and 70.

The helicopter was owned by Microflite Helicopter Services, a family-owned business based in Victoria that offers private flights and premium tours.

Microflite executive general manager Rod Higgins said in a statement that the pilot operating the flight was 'highly respected'.

'The service had been travelling as part of a two-aircraft charter when it lost communication with the second aircraft just after 8am,' he said.

A police helicopter, five Country Fire Authority vehicles and paramedics, including the air ambulance, were dispatched to the area

Mr Higgins said the incident was reported to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority as per industry protocols.

'We will work with the relevant authorities to conduct a comprehensive investigation into this incident,' he said.

The helicopter had picked up the meat farmers from Melbourne City Helipad before reportedly heading north to purchase cattle.

The second helicopter returned to Morrabbin Airport safely with all onboard accounted for and uninjured.

Smoke (pictured) from controlled forestry burns in the area and low cloud cover hampered initial search efforts

Five Country Fire Authority vehicles, police and paramedics, including the air ambulance, were on scene at the crash site of the downed helicopter.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is also investigating and sending a team from its Canberra and Melbourne offices with expertise in helicopter operations and maintenance, and aerospace engineering, to the site.

The experts will inspect the wreckage and site surrounds before retrieving any relevant components to take them to Canberra for further examination.

The ATSB will also analyse any recorded data and conduct interviews with those who have knowledge of the flight.

A preliminary report from the watchdog is expected in about six to eight weeks.
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By the time a Soviet soldier waved the Communist flag above Berlin's ruined Reichstag in 1945, up to 10 million of the Red Army's soldiers lay dead in what been a brutal war for survival against Nazi Germany.

But 77 years later, the Russian army has been humiliated by its apparent failure to conquer Ukraine, with Western weapons laying waste to Putin's tanks, soldiers running out of food and even resorting to killing their own generals over 'inept' tactics.

It is an ignominious fall from grace for the army that has been worshipped within Russia since the Second World War and that struck fear into NATO during the Cold War - when commanders feared its huge tank columns could conquer Western Europe in days.

Led by Marshall Zhukov, the Red Army had, over four horrendous years of fighting in what was known as the Great Patriotic War, repelled Nazi Germany's attempted invasion of the Soviet Union.

Adolf Hitler's Operation Barbarossa had seen German troops get within ten miles of Moscow, whilst the siege of Leningrad resulted in the deaths of one million Russian civilians through starvation.

But the brutal Zhukov launched a counter-attack that led to the retreat and ultimate defeat of the invaders.

The ruthless general had little regard for his own troops and ordered the arrest and execution of those who retreated, whilst commanders who surrendered had their families seized.

After Hitler's Nazi Germany had been defeated, the Soviet Union turned from the West's ally to a mortal foe in the decades of the Cold War.

The extent of the threat posed by the fearsome Red Army was illustrated with the 1979 military exercise that depicted the Soviet Union's vision of a nuclear conflict with the West.

It would have seen troops from the countries that made up the Warsaw Pact storm through western Europe, while nuclear bombs would have been dropped on major cities.

Now, Russian forces have demonstrated with their failure to overcome Ukraine that their military strength is far below the level that the Soviet Union boasted.

Troops have deserted their posts, vehicles have been abandoned and tactics have proved to be disastrous.

Last week, it emerged that a brigade commander had been run over with a tank by his own troops.

The outdated tanks that Russia is using have also proved to be vulnerable to attack, with the latest update by the Ukrainian forces saying that 597 had been destroyed since the invasion was launched last month.

Ukrainian forces also claimed a decisive victory over an elite Russian tank detachment this week.

The 4th Guard tank division had been famed for its victories over Nazi Germany but Ukrainian soldiers said on Sunday they had obliterated its vehicles.

During the Second World War, Soviet troops successfully repelled Nazi Germany's attempted invasion of Russia and ultimately stormed into Berlin in April 1945. Above: A depiction of Russian troops in Berlin after they had overcome the last pockets of German resistance

When a Soviet soldier waved the Communist flag above Berlin's ruined Reichstag in 1945, he was symbolising his country's victory in what had been a war for survival

Led by Marshall Zhukov, the Red Army had, over four horrendous years of fighting in the Second World War, repelled Nazi Germany's attempted invasion of the Soviet Union. Pictured: Russian soldiers are seen marauding into Berlin as a German soldier lies dead in the street, during the final battle for the capital in late April and early May, 1945

Adolf Hitler had launched Operation Barbarossa  the codename for the invasion of the Soviet Union - against his former ally Stalin in June 1941.

This move rode roughshod over the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact, which was signed in 1939 between Germany and the Soviet Union.

Initially, the invasion was a success, with Russian border defences collapsing into confusion and panic.

In the city of Minsk, on the western edge of the Soviet Union, 250,000 Soviet troops were cut off as Nazi forces advanced.

The key cities of Leningrad came closest to buckling as German forces cut off supplies, leading to the deaths of millions of civilians.

In Stalingrad, desperate man-to-man combat amidst the rubble of buildings lasted for six months, before German troops were eventually forced to surrender.

Their failure to take the city was the turning point of the war, with the momentum decisively shifting to Stalin and Zhukov's side.

In 1944, when German troops were in full retreat, the Red Army encountered the horrors that the Nazis had been inflicting on millions of Jews and others in concentration and death camps.

When the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp was reached in what had been Nazi-occupied Poland, Soviet troops were traumatised by what they saw, including mounds of corpses and the 'shower room' gas chambers where men, women and children were murdered.

The extent of the threat posed by the fearsome Red Army was illustrated with the 1979 military exercise that depicted the Soviet Union's vision of a nuclear conflict with the West. Above: The angles of attack that were planned in the exercise

The ruthless Marshal Zhukov had little regard for his own troops and ordered the arrest and execution of those who retreated, whilst commanders who surrendered had their families seized

Russian tanks roll towards the battle front on June 22, 1941 to defend Soviet territory from German troops. This was the first day of Hitler's Operation Barbarossa

When Soviet troops arrived in Germany, they were indiscriminate in who they targeted. One soldier recalled being told they could do 'anything' to the Germans. Above: Soviet tanks in Berlin in 1945

In the Battle of Berlin in April 1945, Soviet troops overwhelmed the last remnants of the Germany army, along with the old men and teenage boys who had been conscripted. Above: Soviet troops celebrating in Berlin after their victory

These sights prompted the Red Army to be especially brutal in what they saw as legitimate revenge for the Nazis' crimes.

One witness told his comrades: 'Show the German b******s no mercy. Smash them to pulp.'

When Soviet troops arrived in Germany, they were indiscriminate in who they targeted. One soldier recalled being told they could do 'anything' to the Germans.

'We shot unarmed civilians, we threw grenades into basements where women and children were sheltering,' they said.

Russian troops also raped thousands of German women and looted homes and businesses.

One general whose own daughter had been killed by the Germans told his men: 'The hour of revenge is at hand. We all have personal reasons - my daughter, your sisters, our Mother Russia.'

In the Battle of Berlin in April 1945, Soviet troops overwhelmed the last remnants of the Germany army, along with the old men and teenage boys who had been conscripted.

The parts of the city that had not already been destroyed by bombs were razed to the ground as Soviet troops emerged victorious in the two-week final skirmish.

After the war, the uneasy alliance between the Soviet Union and Britain and the U.S. unravelled, with tensions caused in part by Stalin's installation of left-wing governments in the countries of Eastern Europe that they had liberated from the Nazis.

The Russian T-72 tank is seen being manned by Soviet troops during the Cold War. The Soviet Union, with their intention to spread communism across the world blatantly apparent, ended up in a stand-off with Britain and the U.S

Motorized missile launchers with surface-to-air missiles at a military parade in Moscow's Red Square on November 7, 1967

The Soviet Union, with their intention to spread communism across the world blatantly apparent, ended up in a stand-off with Britain and the U.S. Above: Soviet missiles on display in Red Square during the Cold War

The Soviet Union had signed the Warsaw Pact collective defence treaty with socialist republics in Eastern and Central Europe in 1955. Above: Soviet troops in Red Square in 1977

The Soviet Union, with their intention to spread communism across the world blatantly apparent, ended up in a stand-off with Britain and the U.S.

Communist governments were installed in East Germany and countries in Eastern Europe that included Poland and Hungary.

With both sides armed with nuclear weapons, the stakes were extremely high.

In 1955, the Soviet Union signed the Warsaw Pact collective defence treaty with the socialist republics in Eastern and Central Europe, further worsening the poor relations with the West.

Six years earlier, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) Western military alliance had been formed.

A 1979 military exercise that was publicised in 2005 revealed how the Soviet Union had envisioned a seven-day nuclear war with NATO.

The scenario involved Nato launching a nuclear attack before Warsaw Pact commanders would launch a counter-strike against West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and North-East Italy.

Austria  a neutral country in the Cold War  would also have been targeted, with two 500 kiloton bombs dropped on Vienna.

The West German cities of Hamburg and Hanover and the ports of Wilhelmshaven and Bremerhaven would have been attacked.

In the Netherlands, cities including The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam were on the list.

Earlier this month, drone footage showed how Russian tank commanders had foolishly ordered units to drive down a main road leading to Kyiv, allowing them to be picked off by Ukrainian forces. Above: The tanks are seen being destroyed

Last week, it emerged that Russian brigade commander Colonel Yuri Medvedev (pictured being stretchered away) had allegedly been killed by his own troops after his 37th Motor Rifle Brigade suffered huge losses

Whilst the plans were just a scenario envisioned by generals, they highlighted the depth of suspicion and enormous nuclear capabilities on both sides during the Cold War.

However, current Russian president Vladimir Putin has shown with his stalled and widely condemned invasion of Ukraine that his country's capabilities are far below the level that they once were.

Experts have said they are baffled by the ineptitude of the tactics being employed by Russian forces.

Earlier this month, drone footage showed how Russian tank commanders had foolishly ordered units to drive down a main road leading to Kyiv, allowing them to be picked off by Ukrainian forces.

Ukrainian forces surprised the column that included some 30 tanks and support units, as well as a fearsome TOS-1 thermobaric launcher, forcing survivors to flee.

Rob Lee, a Senior Fellow and military expert at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, commented on the ambush, saying the Russian armoured force displayed 'very poor tactics'.

And defence experts said this week that the destruction of Russia's elite 4th Guard tank division represented further evidence that the Kremlin lacks the strength it thought it had before the war.

The tanks were destroyed in the district of Trostyanets, Ukrainian officials announced on Sunday.

Defence experts said this week that the destruction of Russia's elite 4th Guard tank division represented further evidence that the Kremlin lacks the strength it thought it had before the war. Above: A destroyed Russian tank

Ukrainian troops are seen using an NLAW anti-tank weapon. Russian tanks have proven vulnerable to the weapons supplied by Britain

Around 40 per cent of the tanks Russia has lost are believed to have been hit by NLAW missiles. Above: A destroyed Russian tank

Before the war, Russia had hoped to deploy advanced T-14 tanks but were unable to when sanctions crippled access to the systems the vehicle needed, The Times reported.

Older models being deployed in Ukraine have proven vulnerable to the NLAW anti-tank weapons that have been donated by Britain, as well as launchers given by other nations.

Around 40 per cent of the tanks Russia has lost are believed to have been hit by NLAW missiles.

Speaking of Russia's weakness, defence expert James Rogers told The Times: 'It is not the technologically sophisticated military that many imagined it to be.'

'Despite the fact there has been a lot of modernisation within the Russian army, much of the equipment was built during the Cold War  some has been modernised.

'It was not designed to stand up against modern western weapons that the Ukrainians now have, weapons which have been specifically designed to annihilate such equipment.'

He added that as Russia pulls more units from its reserves, it will become 'increasingly old and rusty'.

Last week, it emerged that Russian brigade commander Colonel Yuri Medvedev had allegedly been killed by his own troops after his 37th Motor Rifle Brigade suffered huge losses.

A Western official said of Colonel Medvedev: 'He was killed by his own troops we believe as a consequence of the scale of losses that had been taken by his brigade,' they added. 'That gives an insight into some of the morale challenges the Russian forces are having.'

The official added that the colonel appeared to have been run down using a tank. 'We believe he was killed by his own troops deliberately,' they said.

A total of eight Russian colonels and seven generals have been killed so far in the fighting.

Russia has acknowledged 1,351 deaths overall since they launched their invasion last month, but this figure is widely seen as an underestimate.

True losses are believed to be in the region of 15,000.
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NHS bosses who oversaw the worst maternity care scandal in British history and who dismissed mothers' fears as 'scaremongering' are still profiting from jobs in the health service  including one manager who lied on his CV to get the job.

A damning five-year inquiry yesterday revealed 201 babies and nine mothers died needlessly during a two-decade era of appalling care at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

Mothers were found to be frequently blamed by staff for the care they received and in some cases even their own deaths. Some women were forced to have vaginal births when they should have been offered a caesarean, as part of an obsession with 'normal births'.

Donna Ockenden, the senior midwife behind the devastating 250-page report, warned that childbirth in England will be unsafe until all her recommendations are implemented in full.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid claimed the individuals responsible for the catastrophic and repeated failures at the Shropshire trust will be 'held to account', revealing that the police are now investigating 600 cases from between 2000 and 2019.

He said today that he was 'absolutely determined' to 'go after the people responsible'. Mr Javid added: 'I want to make sure that we leave no stone unturned in finding the people that were responsible for this and making sure that they are held to account.'

But it has been revealed today that five former bosses in charge of the trust during the periods of poor care went on to enjoy further careers in healthcare, with four profiting from the NHS.

One was even found to have lied on his CV, faking a University degree to get the 112,000 a year chief executive position.

Many of them were allowed to leave the trust without sanction and walk into other lucrative jobs within the health service or work as consultants for private companies with multi-million pound contracts with the NHS.

Ms Ockenden, who probed almost 1,600 incidents  including one dating back to the 1970s, revealed staff were still expressing concerns about the trust. Further reviews of potentially substandard maternity care in Nottingham and East Kent are underway.

Former Shrewsbury bosses Simon Wright (left) and Neil Taylor (right) have since taken up positions in firms that are paid to improve the NHS. Mr Wright, 54, was chief executive of the trust from 2015 to 2019 and left just as the scale of the care sandal was emerging. He then took up a position at a US healthcare firm handed millions in UK Government contracts. Mr Taylor narrowly avoided jail in 2005 after hospital bosses discovered he had lied to get the top job

Other former Shrewsbury, Tom Taylor (left), Adam Cairns (middle) and Peter Herring (right) have also continued to enjoy careers in healthcare. Mr Taylor and Mr Cairns have or continue to work in NHS positions while Mr Cairns took up a position in Qatar

Rhiannon Davies (left) embraces Kayleigh Griffiths yesterday following the release of the Ockenden report. Both women were instrumental in campaigning for an inquiry into poor maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust which led to then health secretary Jeremy Hunt ordering one in 2017

Minister reveals she was told she wasn't going to have a C-section A minister has revealed she was told not to have a C-section, despite enduring a 'very difficult' labour with her first child. International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan was asked today how she felt about yesterday's report which found some 201 babies and nine mothers could have survived at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust if they had got better care. She told Times Radio that with her first birth she was 'basically told I wasn't going to have a Caesarean section'. Ms Trevelyan, who has two children, said the inquiry, which found several mothers were made to have natural births when they could have been offered a C-section, 'reminded me that there has been for a long time a culture which says natural birth: good; Caesarean: bad'. 'And actually this report has highlighted that in too many cases difficult births can end in the most appalling tragedy, and honestly it makes me feel sick thinking that those situations have occurred,' she said. International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan (pictured earlier this month) has said she, like many of the women in the Ockenden was advised having a C-section Advertisement

The most recently departed chief executive Simon Wright, who took on the role in 2015, left his 160,000 position in 2019 just as the scale of the care sandal at the trust was emerging.

The 54-year-old was hired as a 'continuous improvement consultant' by the Seattle-based Virginia Mason Institute, awarded a 12.5million Government contract in 2015.

Under the five-year scheme, the US organisation was asked to drive up standards at five trusts, ironically including Mr Wright's former Shrewsbury and Telford.

Accountant and chairman of the hospital board Ben Reid, 67, followed Mr Wright out of the Trust a year later.

He has admitted the Trust delayed publishing a Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' (RCOG) critical report of maternity services at the trust and even sent a delegation of staff to London to persuade the authors to write a more positive addendum, delaying publication by 12 months.

This prompted cries of a 'cover-up' from families of those who died or were injured as a result of poor care at the trust.

During his time as chief executive, a baby called Pippa Griffiths died shortly after being born while being cared for by Shrewsbury staff in 2016. Her parents would go on to join others in seeking answers as to why their baby died.

Mr Wright also accused the Daily Mail of 'scaremongering' over the scale of care failings at his trust in 2018 when the newspaper published an article on its front page detailing at the time reports of 60 baby and mother deaths due to poor care.

He was also head of the trust when then health secretary Jeremy Hunt ordered the original inquiry to investigate 23 cases of poor care. It would later be expanded to encompasses hundreds of cases.

Another chief executive, Neil Taylor narrowly avoided jail in 2005 after hospital bosses discovered he had lied to get the top job.

Mr Taylor, 59, had run the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital for four years when he produced a fake degree certificate in a bid to land the 112,000 chief executive role at the new Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust when it merged with the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford in 2003.

In reality, he had just one or two A-levels and admitted obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception.

He plead guilty in 2005 to one charge of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception and one charge of attempting to commit the same offence.

Mr Taylor has since been a director of MDT Health Consulting which is paid by NHS trusts to advise them on digital healthcare solutions.

He was succeeded by Tom Taylor, who was top boss at Shrewsbury between 2004 and 2010 and still works for the NHS today.

During Mr Taylor's tenure the then-health regulator, the Health Care Commission, warned there were issues in how staff were monitoring foetal heart rates at the trust after incidents where babies were injured.

He was also in charge in 2009 when Kate Stanton-Davies died just hours after being born while under the care of Shrewsbury staff. Her parents' campaigning would go on to spark the Ockenden inquiry.

Mr Taylor is now chairman for NHS Counter Fraud Authority, a taskforce responsible for uncovering financial wrongdoing in the health service.

Adam Cairns then took the reigns at the trust from 2010 to 2012 before taking a healthcare position in Doha in Qatar.

He was replaced by Peter Herring who ran Shrewsbury until 2015. Mr Herring controversially retired from the position in 2014 for one single day, claiming a tax-free payment of 252,000 pounds in doing so, before returning to his old job 24-hours later.

During his time maternity services at Shrewsbury faced an internal investigation in 2013, but it concluded it was 'safe' and of 'good quality'.

Mr Herring has also previously expressed regret about a decision to not investigate the death of Kate Stanton-Davies.

After departing Shrewsbury he went on to serve in a variety of senior positions at NHS trusts, including Kings College London Hospital NHS Foundation, Sherwood Forest NHS Trust and University College London Hospital.

Donna Ockenden, chair of the Independent Review into Maternity Services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, presented her devastating report yesterday

Donna Ockenden claims families were still coming forward LAST YEAR about maternity safety issues at Shrewsbury trust Donna Ockenden has claimed that families were still coming forward with concerns over Shrewsbury's maternity service last year, even as the trust was under severe pressure to improve. The senior midwife who led the investigation said her team looked at 1,592 clinical incidents involving mothers and babies at the trust over the two decades to 2019. But speaking at a press conference today she warned families were getting in touch throughout 2020 and 2021 raising concerns over the care they received. She said: 'Some of these recent families contacted us with reports they wanted to share with us. 'We haven't been able to include them fully within the review but what we have seen is that the themes within their reports seem to echo concerns we have previously seen during this review. 'Seeing these repeated themes is a cause for grave concern. 'It is clear that there are a number of areas of maternity care where the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust still has significant learning to undertake.' Speaking about the report, she said 'so many' patients had repeatedly tried to raise concerns but were not listened to. There were 'repeated errors in care', she said, 'which led to injury to either mothers or to their babies'. In the report, of the 12 cases of mothers who lost their lives giving birth at the trust, nine were cases with 'significant or major concerns in the care provided'. 'Unfortunately, and overall, our report describes that a significant number of mothers and babies received care that fell way below the standards expected and this continued throughout the whole period of the review.' Ms Ockenden added that there was evidence of 'significant' under-reporting of incidents in the trusts maternity unit, and there were cases that should have been investigated but were not. She said: 'During the period this review looks at we are aware of eight external bodies who inspected, visited, assessed, or checked upon the trust. 'This was a trust with significant problems and, while independent and external reports often indicated that the maternity service should improve its governance and investigatory procedures, this did not happen. 'The trust was of the belief that its maternity services were good. They were wrong.' Advertisement

Some of the former hospital bosses have expressed 'regret' and 'sadness' over the events detailed in Ms Ockenden's report.

Ms Ockenden said it was 'astounding' that 'systemic' failings at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust happened for so long.

She added 'maternity services cannot provide safe and effective care' without a new 'blueprint' for care for mothers and babies and proposed 15 'immediate and essential' steps for every NHS maternity ward to take, including better training and better communication with families.

Richard Stanton, whose daughter, Kate, died in 2009 as a result of what he described as the trust's 'abhorrently poor care' warned the type of failures his family experienced were not limited to just one trust.

He told the Daily Telegraph: 'I dont think Shrewsbury and Telford is an isolated case. I think theyre an extreme case in terms of where they are in numbers. That doesnt mean this isnt happening anywhere else.'

Health leaders have also warned that babies and mothers are being put at risk in England over a shortage of midwives.

The number of midwives employed in the NHS in England has fallen to 26,901 according to figures published last month.

This is down from 27,272 a year ago, with the Royal College of Midwives warning it adds to an existing shortage of 2,000 staff.

Yesterday's report said an obsession with 'normal births' contributed to the biggest maternity scandal in NHS history.

Ms Ockenden blamed eight external bodies in part for allowing the litany of errors that resulted in 201 babies and nine mothers dying in avoidable circumstances.

In one case the Care Quality Commission, which regulates the NHS in England, had even rated the maternity ward at the Trust as 'good'.

Ms Ockenden's report uncovered 1,592 times that women and their babies died or were left disabled or traumatised by their experiences at the Trust.

She said the Trust had come 'to blame mothers even for their own deaths'.

The devastating report said some women were forced to have vaginal births when they should have been offered a C-section all because natural birth zealots wanted to keep surgery rates low.

The landmark 250-page report found the trust presided over catastrophic failings for 20 years, ignored the concerns of parents and did not learn from its own inadequate investigations.

This led to babies being stillborn, dying shortly after birth or being left severely brain damaged.

Some infants suffered skull fractures, broken bones or developed cerebral palsy after traumatic forceps deliveries. Others were starved of oxygen and had life-changing brain injuries.

The inquiry's examined cases involving 1,486 families from 1973 to 2020 and reviewed 1,592 incidents.

A total of 201 babies and nine mothers were found to have needlessly died with 94 other children suffering brain damage due to the traumatic nature of their birth.

The report also detailed how mothers themselves were frequently blamed for their own deaths.

In one incident in 2011 a husband was told his wife's death had been due to her 'size'.

'[it was] difficult for the midwives to listen to baby's heart beat due to her size,' he was told.

In another case, this time in 2002, trust documentation into the death of a mother noted: 'She must have been responsible for some of that because she clearly did not complain very much and tended to ignore many of her symptoms.'

Ms Ockenden also warned that staff were still expressing concerns about the trust  and issued 15 'immediate' actions for all maternity services in England amid fears of similar failings elsewhere.

Bereaved mothers Rhiannon Davies and Kayleigh Griffiths, who spearheaded calls for the inquiry after their daughters' deaths, hugged yesterday as they welcomed the findings.

But Mrs Griffiths, whose daughter Pippa died avoidably in 2016, said: 'This is 200-odd pages of harmed families. It's a disgrace that they haven't learned when we've told them what the issues were.'

Mr Stanton and Ms Davies often wonder what kind of girl their firstborn, Kate, would have grown up to become.

'She would have been 13 on March 1 and you think, 'What clothes would Kate be wearing today? What music would she like?' Mr Stanton, 52, said.

Rhiannon Davies of Ludlow Shropshire pictured with her daughter Kate just moments after her birth on Sunday March 1, 2009

Two midwives struck off... and bosses walked into lucrative new posts None of the bosses in charge at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust were named and shamed in today's devastating report  despite presiding over decades of needless mother and baby deaths. Families have previously accused executives, many of whom resigned for lucrative new roles, including jobs in the NHS, of being 'rewarded for failure.' But today Health Secretary Sajid Javid insisted individuals responsible for the 'serious and repeated failures' would be held to account. West Mercia police are investigating whether any criminal offences, including corporate manslaughter, have taken place and their inquiry is likely to be stepped up now Donna Ockenden's report has finally been published. The Daily Mail understands that just two midwives  Heather Lort and Claire Roberts  have been struck off and banned from working, while another two have been cautioned. Lort, was disciplined in 2018 over her failings leading to the death of newborn Kate Stanton-Davies nine years earlier, and the stillbirth of Maddison Jackson-Wilkins in February 2013. Roberts, was only dealt with earlier this month  six years after the death of the baby in the case. Advertisement

'All our lives would have been drastically different if Kate was alive. She should be here today because her death was completely avoidable.'

Kate died in her father's arms just six hours after she was born at a mid-wife-led unit in Ludlow, Shropshire.

Since that day in 2009, her parents have fought tirelessly to expose what Mr Stanton describes as the trust's 'abhorrently poor care'.

He believes the trust's obsession with natural birth impacted his wife's care and says she should never have been near a midwife-led unit.

'As parents, we were ignored, fobbed off, treated like we were the problem  just noisy people with an axe to grind,' he says.

'You never get over the loss of a child. You only learn to live with it.'

The report found that:

One in four of the 498 stillbirths reviewed had 'significant or major concerns' over the maternity care given;

There were 29 cases where babies suffered severe brain injuries and 65 cases of cerebral palsy;

Twelve deaths of mothers were investigated, none of whom received care in line with best practice at the time;

Some women were blamed for their own deaths, while incidents that should have triggered a serious incident investigation were 'inappropriately downgraded';

Midwifery staff were 'overly confident' in their abilities, and there was a reluctance to involve more senior staff;

Families were locked out of reviews when things went wrong and were often treated without compassion;

The trust repeatedly failed to adequately monitor babies' heart rates, with catastrophic results, and did not use drugs properly during labour;

Leaders and midwives were determined to keep caesarean section rates low  consistently 8 per cent to 12 per cent below national averages;

There were 'significant staffing and training gaps' and 'medical staff rotas have been overstretched throughout';

One staffer described the department as the 'Republic of Maternity' and suggested it did not like being overseen by management.

Katie Wilkins' baby daughter Maddison died at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital after busy midwives left her in a side room for 48 hours and failed to monitor her properly.

Miss Wilkins was 15 days overdue when she arrived to be induced in February 2013.

But there were no beds available on the labour ward and instead, Miss Wilkins claims, she was 'forgotten' in a side room for more than two days and visited by staff just a handful of times. When a midwife did come to check, they realised her baby's heartbeat could not be found.

Even then midwife Heather Lort failed to call a doctor and instead told Miss Wilkins to 'go for a walk'.

Maddison was delivered stillborn the following day, weighing 6lb 14oz. Lort is one of just two midwives found guilty of misconduct and banned from practising.

Last night Miss Wilkins, 26, a carer from Newtown in Powys, said: 'Hopefully, the Ockenden report will be the first step towards getting justice for Maddison. The hospital admitted they failed us.'

In a letter to Miss Wilkins, Cathy Smith, head of midwifery at the hospital, apologised and admitted: 'Had your induction occurred more timely, Maddison would likely have been born alive.'

Richard Stanton and Rhiannon Davies, pictured at their home in Hereford, Herefordshire. Rhiannon is holding Kate's teddy bear - a gift for their daughter Kate who passed away at just 6hrs of age. Her death was later found to have been avoidable

Katie Wilkins, 26, had a still born baby girl, Maddison, in Feb 2013 at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital

Mr Javid yesterday apologised to the families who had suffered 'unimaginable trauma' and said the Government accepted the report's findings in full

Timeline: How the Shrewsbury maternity scandal unfolded 2002 A parliamentary report highlights how Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH) has one of the lowest caesarean rates in country, at just 10 per cent of births. 2007 A leading number of maternity organisations sign a 'normal birth consensus statement' discouraging medical interventions like caesareans where possible. At this time then health regulator, the Health Care Commission warns SaTH there were issues in how staff were monitoring foetal heart rates after incidents where babies were injured. 2009 Kate Stanton-Davies dies just hours after being born while under the care of Shrewsbury staff. Her parents begin to campaign for an investigation into what went wrong. 2013 Shrewsbury's maternity services faced an internal investigation in 2013, but it concluded it was 'safe' and of 'good quality'. 2015 An inquiry into failings at Morecambe Bay NHS trust  where 11 babies and one mother suffered avoidable deaths  found a group of midwives' overzealous pursuit of natural childbirth had 'led at times to inappropriate and unsafe care'. It said the entire NHS should learn from the failings observed. 2016 Pippa Griffiths dies shortly after being born while being cared for by Shrewsbury staff. Her parents join forces with Kate Stanton-Davies's mother and father in calling for an investigation into maternity services at the trust. 2017 Then health secretary Jeremey Hunt orders an inquiry into the trust which will eventually be headed by midwife Donna Ockenden. The original scope of the inquiry encompasses just 23 cases. 2018 Former health secretary Matt Hancock said the Ockenden review is being expanded to include hundreds of cases. Also in this year the trust is rated inadequate for safety by health watchdog the Care Quality Commission. 2020 Ms Ockenden announces the investigation is now looking at cases involving 1,862 families and releases early recommendations ahead of the full report. 2021 The inquiry findings are delayed to 22 March 2022 due to an influx of new information from Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust. The final report was originally due in December 2021. 2022 The report is delayed again this time by a few weeks due to 'parliamentary processes'. Today's final report detailing the harrowing scale of deaths and injuries among babies and women over two decades of the trust's care is published. Advertisement

Katie Anson's son Kye died after just four days of life due to failures at the scandal-hit trust.

The baby was starved of oxygen in birth at Princess Royal Hospital, Telford, in 2015, but a coroner later heard he may have lived if staff had acted differently.

Miss Anson, 39, and partner Matthew Hall, 34, from the town, were unable to have another child due to unexplained infertility.

Kye died at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton. A 2016 inquest heard some heart rate recordings of the unborn baby had not been taken.

Shrewsbury coroner John Ellery said his death 'could have been prevented'. The couple struggled to get pregnant for two years before Kye. They have just had their sixth failed attempt at IVF.

Ms Anson said: 'To have had our only child taken away from us so tragically... makes it all the more difficult to swallow.'

Mr Javid last night ordered hospitals to involve mothers in decisions about labour, adding: 'The only normal birth is a safe birth.'

He has apologised to the families who had suffered 'unimaginable trauma' and said the Government accepted the report's findings in full.

'It is right that both the RCOG and the RCM have said recently that they regret their campaign for so-called 'normal births',' Mr Javid added.

'It is vital that across maternity services we focus on safe and personalised care where the voice of the mother is heard throughout.'

Mr Hunt admitted its findings 'go beyond my darkest fears'.

West Mercia Police, the force carrying out a probe into cases of poor care and deaths at the trust, said no arrests have yet been made but that it would examine whether a criminal case could be brought against either the trust or individuals involved.

Previous reports into maternity services in Shrewsbury either gave a glowing picture of safe care or called for improvements that were never made.

The chief executive of the trust said that she was confident its services were now safe for families.

Louise Barnett said the organisation was getting the support it needed to make further improvements, adding: 'I would like to apologise fully to the families involved for the poor care at this trust.'

'We have a duty to ensure that the care we provide is safe, effective, high quality, and delivered always with the needs and choices of women and families at its heart.'

She added the trust had already implemented some of the changes from an earlier report from Ms Ockenden's team and it will continue to make improvements.

The trust has already paid out more than 58million in clinical negligence damages and costs since 2000.

Detective Chief Superintendent Damian Barratt, of West Mercia Police, said the investigation into the deaths at Shrewsbury was ongoing.

'No arrests have been made and no charges have been brought, however we are engaging with the Crown Prosecution Service as our inquiries continue,' he said.

'We will be fully reviewing the findings of the report and feeding appropriate elements into our investigation.'

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is not alone in having its maternity services scrutinised, with reports expected from both Nottingham and East Kent.

An independent thematic review of maternity incidents, complaints and concerns is currently under way at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH).

The review, looking at data from 2006, when the trust was formed, until mid October 2021, has been initiated for several reasons, but mainly due to families raising concerns about their cases, according to the review's website. It is expected to be completed by November 2022.

Chief Executive for The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust Louise Barnett ,who came into the post in 2019, apologised for the pain and distress caused to families by poor care

NHS bosses given 15 areas for 'immediate and essential action' The report recommended 15 areas for 'immediate and essential' action to improve maternity services across England. They are listed below: All maternity units must receive 'multi-year' funding packages to ensure they can maintain minimum staffing levels, to be agreed nationally or locally. A portion of the budget must be 'ring-fenced' for training midwives; When maternity unit staffing levels fall below the 'minimum' level, senior management teams should be alerted immediately; In cases where staff are concerned over expectant mother's care, there should be a clear process for escalating this; All maternity services should be monitored by hospitals senior managers; When there is an 'incident' during a birth, such as the death of a baby, the resulting investigation must be 'meaningful for families' and staff must learn lessons in a 'timely manner'; When a mother dies during or after a birth, a postmortem must be carried out by a pathologist who is an expert in maternal physiology; Midwives must train together, and regular compulsory training compulsory training should be offered; Women with pre-existing medical problems such as heart disease and diabetes who are trying to get pregnant must have access to care. Women who are pregnant with twins or triplets must also receive specialist care; All trusts must ensure systems are in place for women who are at a high risk of a pre-term birth; When a woman chooses to give birth outside a hospital, midwives must give them 'accurate' advice on average transferral times to hospital units should this be required; In cases where women suffer physical or mental harm during birth, treatments must be available; Women who are re-admitted to wards after birth must have a 'timely' consultant review; Women who have suffered a loss during pregnancy must have access to 'appropriate' bereavement services; All trusts must raise the number of neonatal critical care cots they have available; The mental health and wellbeing of mothers, their partners and families as a whole must be 'integral' to maternity services. Midwives must engage with the community to ensure their services are what families say they need from care. Advertisement

Meanwhile, an independent review into maternity and neonatal services at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust in the period since 2009 is also under way.

Last year East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust was fined 733,000 over serious failures that led to the death of baby Harry Richford.

At the inquest into Harry's death in January 2020, coroner Christopher Sutton-Mattocks listed a series of errors he found with the care given.

He gave a narrative conclusion that Harry's death was contributed to by neglect and had been 'wholly avoidable'.

A number of families whose lives and those of their children have been impacted by alleged poor care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust are considering legal action.

One of these is the Reverend Charlotte Cheshire, 44, from Newport, Shropshire.

Her son Adam looked unwell after his birth in 2011, but her concerns were dismissed by staff at the trust, she alleges.

After it was finally discovered that he had Group B Strep infection, he spent almost a month in intensive care.

Adam, now 11, has been left with multiple health problems.

She said: 'What I'm ultimately hoping is that all of the families get some answers.'

'And then, in our individual cases, about how it's possible for there to be such systemic failings over so many years, with seemingly either no-one noticing them, or potentially them being covered up.

'So I'm hoping first of all for answers, but secondly, I'm hoping, as a result of Ockenden, there are genuine learnings.

'Not the sort of, 'oh, we'll learn and get back to you', but genuine learnings to improve maternity safety  primarily first of all at Shrewsbury and Telford, but secondly across the country as a whole.

'I don't want any other family to have to go through what we've gone through.'

Reverand Cheshire added she was aware some might describe her a lucky as her son lived when so many others did not.

'But in a different way it's changed my life forever, and it's changed his  because he is hearing-impaired, visually impaired and has violent, challenging behaviour,' she said.

'Although he turned 11 on Friday, mentally he's about four. The odds of that changing to a significant degree are highly unlikely.

'When he's happy, when he's calm, he's gorgeous, he's a delight and he's wonderful, and all of the things you'd expect a mother to say.

'But when he's overwhelmed, I wear the bruises.'

Tory MP Jeremy Hunt, who commissioned the Ockenden Review as health secretary in 2017, admitted its findings 'go beyond my darkest fears'

Julie Rowlings, whose daughter Olivia died after 23 hours of labour following a consultant's use of forceps, said she wanted somebody from the trust to talk to her face to face about her case.

'I would like somebody from the trust to sit face to face with me, and talk to me. They've never done that,' she said.

'They've apologised, via media, they've apologised to all the families via media, but they've never sat down with the families.

'I want them to apologise face to face for what they put us through.

'I'd like them to apologise for ignoring what we were trying to tell them at the time. It would go a long way.'

She added that with report's publication she felt her daughter 'finally had a voice', adding that justice for the babies who died was coming.

'For every family out there, every family that's come forward, this is for them.

'Justice is coming. For every baby, justice is coming.'

Previous guidance for maternity staff encouraging women to deliver their babies 'naturally' and reduce the rate of C-sections.

In 2007, the RCM, the National Childbirth Trust and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, signed a 'normal birth consensus statement'.

They said: 'With appropriate care and support the majority of healthy women can give birth with a minimum of medical procedures

'Procedures used during labour which are known to increase the likelihood of medical interventions should be avoided where possible.'

Two years later, in 2017, the RCM dropped its 'normal birth' campaign and removed advice for midwives from its website.

The RCM removed its 'top 10 tips for a normal birth' and said the campaign would be dropped in favour of a better births plan.

For its part, the RCOG has recently apologised on Twitter for signing up to the 'normal birth consensus statement' in 2007.

It said this 'may have mistakenly given the impression that targets around childbirth could take priority over safety. This is something we acknowledge and sincerely regret'.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust serves nearly half a million people in Shropshire and consists of two hospitals, the Royal Shrewsbury and the Princess Royal in Telford, as well as a number of smaller community hospitals and maternity units.

Colin and Kayleigh Griffiths, Rhiannon Davies and Richard Stanton with a copy of the Donna Ockenden Independent Review into Maternity Services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust

Chelsey Campbell, Carley McKee, Colin Griffiths, Fiona Carr, Charlotte Cheshire, Rhiannon Davies, Richard Stanton, Kayleigh Griffiths, Donna Ockenden, Nicky Lauder, David Boylett, Hayley Matthews, Steph Hotchkiss, Julie Rawlings, Neil Rawlings and Sonia Leigh stand with the final Ockenden report

Rhiannon Davies (left) embracing midwife Donna Ockenden (right) on the release of the report into maternity services which after a five year investigation which was delayed on multiple occasions

Yesterday RCM chief executive Gill Walton said the profession owed a debt to the families who campaigned for the inquiry that she feared 'can never be repaid'.

'What we can do - all of us who are involved in maternity services  is work together to ensure we listen, and we learn from this and ensure that women and families have trust in their care,' she said.

'I am asking midwives, maternity support workers, obstetricians and anyone working in maternity services to look around them and ask themselves is the care being provided where you work safe?

'If its not, I need you to have the courage to speak up, raise your voice and stand up for higher standards.

'Poor working cultures lead to a lack of timely and appropriate escalation, which in turn compromises safety. This has to stop.'

Nursing and Midwifery Council chief executive Andrea Sutcliffe also welcomed the report's findings, saying each case was tragedy.

'My heart goes out to all the women, babies and families whose lives have been so terribly impacted by these shocking failings in care,' she said.

She said the NMC would continue to consider any referrals regarding midwives' appropriately.

Katie Anson and Matthew Hall are desperate to start a family, five years after their only son Kye died

Kye (pictured) was starved of oxygen during a difficult birth. An inquest subsequently found his death could have been prevented

The little girl whose deadly infection was ignored by midwives... just one of the hundreds of heart-breaking tragedies from the NHS maternity scandal that saw 201 babies and nine mothers lose their lives

Devastated parents who lost children during the NHS's worst ever maternity scandal have shared heartbreaking stories of the scandal at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust that turned their lives upside down.

Mothers and fathers revealed how their sons and daughters were stillborn, left with skull fractures or brain injuries due to the incompetence of staff at the sites in Shropshire.

It comes as an independent inquiry into the scandal found some 201 babies and nine mothers could have - or would have - survived if they were provided with better care.

It presided over catastrophic failings for 20 years - and did not learn from its own inadequate investigations - which led to families leaving the hospitals without their newborn babies.

Some suffered skull fractures, broken bones or developed cerebral palsy after traumatic forceps deliveries, while others were starved of oxygen and experienced life-changing brain injuries.

Meanwhile several mothers were made to have natural births despite the fact they should have been offered a Caesarean. Here, the parents tell of their traumatic experiences:

Midwives' missed chances to save baby Pippa from deadly infection:

Pippa Griffiths could still be alive today had midwives realised she was suffering a deadly infection. The little girl was born at home in Shropshire in April 2016, but died just 31 hours later from a Group B Streptococcus infection.

A coroner ruled her death was avoidable and blamed a string of unforgivable errors by midwives.

The inquest heard medical staff missed a crucial opportunity to save Pippa when her mother Kayleigh rang a midwife with concerns about her baby's feeding.

A second chance to save Pippa's life was missed when her mother rang hours later to report bloody mucus, a sign of a serious bacterial infection which could have been treated with urgent hospital treatment.

Mrs Griffiths wipes her eyes as she holds the Ockenden report at The Mercure Shrewsbury Albrighton Hotel in Shropshire

The couple (pictured with their baby) lost Pippa a day after she was born in 2016 due to midwives failing to spot the serious infection Group B Strep - even though Kayleigh warned them

Pippa was born at 8.34am and a midwife was supposed to have gone to the family home for a check-up later in the afternoon.

But the inquest heard she failed to turn up. Pippa developed a purple rash later that night and eventually stopped breathing. Emergency services managed to get her breathing again, but she later died.

The trust accepted that chances to save Pippa's life were missed. Following the conclusion of the inquest, Mrs Griffiths said: 'We've fought for her and fought for the truth and ultimately she could have been saved.'

Mother said she'd lost fluid but was told she'd probably wet the bed... but had a stillbirth

Charlotte Jackson raised concerns with staff that she had lost fluid and her baby's movement had reduced when she was 37 weeks pregnant.

Workers told her she had likely just wet herself, but he son - Jacob Harris - was was stillborn in November 2018 at Telford hospital.

The then 29-year-old from Bridgnorth got lawyers involved and the hospital trust admitted liability and agreed a settlement.

She told the Shropshire Star: 'I was quite worried and upset. Jacob had always been a very active baby so when I noticed that his movements were reduced I had a gut feeling that something was not right.

'However, I was shocked when I was told that it was a one off and I'd probably wet the bed.'

She later added: 'Giving birth to Jacob was absolutely horrific. It's almost impossible to put into words the emotion of it all, knowing your baby had already died.'

Workers told her she had likely just wet herself, but he son - Jacob Harris - was was stillborn in November 2018 at Telford hospital. Pictured: The baby's grave

Reverend said her son looked unwell after being born - but was dismissed by staff:

The Rev Charlotte Cheshire, 44, from Newport, Shropshire, said her son Adam, now 11, looked unwell after his birth in 2011 but her concerns were dismissed by staff at the trust.

When it was finally discovered he had Group B Strep infection, he was rushed to intensive care where he stayed for almost a month.

Ms Cheshire, who is suing the trust, said her son has been left with multiple, severe health problems and should have received treatment much earlier.

Ms Cheshire, who is suing the trust, said her son has been left with multiple, severe health problems and should have received treatment much earlier for Adam (pictured)

The Rev Charlotte Cheshire, 44, from Newport, Shropshire, said her son Adam, now 11, looked unwell after his birth in 2011 but her concerns were dismissed by staff at the trust

She said: 'What I'm ultimately hoping is that all of the families get some answers.

'And then, in our individual cases, about how it's possible for there to be such systemic failings over so many years, with seemingly either no-one noticing them, or potentially them being covered up.

'So I'm hoping first of all for answers, but secondly, I'm hoping, as a result of Ockenden, there are genuine learnings.

'Not the sort of, 'oh, we'll learn and get back to you', but genuine learnings to improve maternity safety - primarily first of all at Shrewsbury and Telford, but secondly across the country as a whole.'

She added: 'I don't want any other family to have to go through what we've gone through.'

Jack Stephen Burn died 11 hours after being trapped in the birth canal for four minutes. His mother Hayley Matthews (pictured) had been told that nothing was wrong with her pregnancy but later found out that Jack had been distressed for 20 minutes before delivery

Baby boy died 11 hours after being trapped in birth canal for FOUR MINUTES:

Jack Stephen Burn died 11 hours after being trapped in the birth canal for four minutes.

His mother Hayley Matthews had been told nothing was wrong with her pregnancy but later found out Jack had been distressed for 20 minutes before delivery.

He had also contracted group B streptococcus, the lethal infection carried by one in five women.

Jack died in March 2015 at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, hours after another baby, Oliver Smale, died following similar complications. Oliver's death was later deemed avoidable.

Although Jack's death was not deemed avoidable, it was later considered part of the investigation.

Miss Matthews, from Chirbury, west Shropshire, previously said: 'We would have both been in the hospital at the same time and there are so many parallels between the two cases.

'As with this poor boy, Jack got his shoulder stuck during delivery.

'They just left his head hanging while they went off to get someone to do something about it.'

A post mortem examination revealed that Jack had been starved of oxygen and had an infection on the lung and pneumonia caused by strep B.

Miss Matthews is campaigning for routine screening of strep B, which is not NHS policy. She said: 'If I'd have been tested for strep B during my pregnancy they might have picked up on it and given me antibiotics at an earlier stage and this means that Jack might still be alive today.'

Jack Stephen Burn (pictured) died 11 hours after being trapped in the birth canal for four minutes

Rhiannon Davies had raised fears over reduced movement in the womb

Staff ignored mother's warnings and said she was 'low-risk' despite daughter being born 'pale and floppy':

Kate Stanton-Davies died six hours after she was born because midwives failed to spot tell-tale signs of her deteriorating health.

Her mother Rhiannon Davies had raised fears over reduced movement in the womb, but was ignored by midwives who failed to properly monitor her pregnancy and wrongly deemed it low-risk.

Kate, who had anaemia, was born pale and floppy at Ludlow Community Hospital in Shropshire in March 2009. She was airlifted to Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital but died.

A report published in February 2016 concluded her death was avoidable and identified a litany of failings and shoddy record-keeping at the Shrewsbury and Telford trust.

Two midwives were deemed responsible for the errors, which included changing Kate's observation notes after her death.

Mrs Davies said: 'You would think losing Kate would be the worst event in my life but the continual need to revisit the trauma of that day as we fight to get the truth means my distress is ongoing.

'How many other baby deaths were avoidable, how many other investigations were not fit for purpose, how many other families have been betrayed, and how many other opportunities for learning have been lost?'

Kate Stanton-Davies died six hours after she was born because midwives failed to spot tell-tale signs of her deteriorating health

Katie Wilkins' baby girl died at Shrewsbury Hospital after midwives left her in a side room for 48 hours and failed to properly monitor her. Miss Wilkins pictured with partner Dave Jackson, 45

'My girl was still born after I was left in a side room':

Katie Wilkins' baby girl died at Shrewsbury Hospital after midwives left her in a side room for 48 hours and failed to properly monitor her.

Miss Wilkins was 15 days overdue when she arrived at the hospital to be induced in February 2013.

There were no beds available on the busy labour ward and Miss Wilkins, 24, claims she was 'forgotten' in the room for two days and visited by staff just a handful of times.

When a midwife did come to check on her progress they realised her baby's heartbeat could not be found. Maddie was delivered stillborn in the early hours of the following day.

Hospital bosses later admitted the baby would have been born alive had they treated her in a more 'timely' manner.

Miss Wilkins said: 'Maddie's death was recorded as unexplained but we know why she died  because the midwives didn't do their jobs properly.

'I'd had a perfectly normal pregnancy and didn't expect any problems with the birth. But I was left for hours at a time. The hospital was very busy and I felt like they simply forgot about me.

'Giving birth to my stillborn daughter was heartbreaking. I should have been taking her home with me, but instead she had to stay at the hospital in a Moses basket. It was awful.'

Maddie was delivered stillborn in the early hours of February 21. The results of a post-mortem examination said the 6lbs 14oz baby girl's death was unexplained.

In a letter to Miss Wilkins, Cathy Smith, head of midwifery at the hospital, apologised and admitted: 'Had your induction occurred more timely, Maddison would likely to have been born alive.' She added that practices at the hospital had now changed.

Miss Wilkins  who has since had a son and daughter with her partner Dave Jackson, 45,  is sceptical. She said: 'We were told that changes would be made and women would be properly monitored, but now it seems that never happened. The hospital think they can say sorry and we should move on, but we can't.'

Staff told her she was not suffering an abruption despite severe pains... when she was

Steph Hotchkiss from Telford started to suffer severe pains in September 2014 when she was nearly 31 weeks pregnant and asked if she was having an abruption.

Staff told her she was not, but they were wrong and baby Sophiya passed away just 32 hours later. Steph told the Shropshire Star she still suffers flashbacks of the trauma, caused by a ruptured placenta.

The then 28-year-old had similar issues when her son Kyan was born in 2013, and then had an emergency caesarian.

But she said staff refused to listen to her during her daughter's birth, with her having told Royal Shrewsbury Hospital staff what she thought was happening.

She said: 'I can't put into words how painful this is for us. It was just so frustrating not to be listened to when I had previously had a difficult pregnancy involving a similar thing.'

Steph Hotchkiss from Telford started to suffer severe pains in September 2014 when she was nearly 31 weeks pregnant and asked if she was having an abruption

Encouraged to give birth naturally before baby got stuck and had to have emergency caesarean

Kamaljit Uppal was on the way to having her third child in 2003 but was told it would have to be delivered by caesarean because of how he was lying.

But staff at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital encouraged her to give birth naturally and she went through 18 hours of labour.

The baby got stuck and Kamaljit had to have an emergency caesarean. She said: 'I'm still coming out of my general anaesthetic and she said 'he's died' and that's it. They plonked the baby in my arms and said say goodbye.

'I didn't know how to say goodbye, I gave him a kiss and that was it. Once I came around a bit more they put me in a ward where there were babies.'

Kamaljit Uppal was on the way to having her third child in 2003 but was told it would have to be delivered by caesarean because of how he was lying. Pictured: She still keeps the baby's unworn clothes

Lost one of her twins during labour:

Debbie Greenaway lost one of her twin babies during labour at the trust and said the report 'doesn't change what's happened for 20 years'.

She told This Morning: 'To begin with, we thought it was just us, we had no idea until they started the report that exactly the same story has happened to so many people.

'There were so many similarities I wanted to tell my story and raise that awareness and give women a voice.'

'Consultants came and went, there was no communication, I didn't know what drugs I was being given or why, one consultant - I learnt afterwards was trying to take a foetal blood sample from John - which basically they cut his head to find his oxygen level, but they never explained what they were doing. I thought she was delivering them

Debbie Greenaway lost one of her twin babies during labour at the trust and said the report 'doesn't change what's happened for 20 years'

'[At the start of my pregnancy] a c-section delivery was straight away brushed off with 'we have the lowest caesarean rate in the country, we're proud of it, there's no reason for you not to have a natural birth'...'

She had an emergency caesarean, with Debbie saying, 'When I woke up, all I remember was my husband handing me Daniel, I went, 'Where's John?' and again, another doctor I'd never seen before said, 'There's nothing we can do, we need to turn the life support off'... and before I could react to that he walked off and came back carrying John.

'And in my just come round state, I thought 'Oh I got that wrong, he's here, he's fine' and when he was handed to me I actually thought he was alive.'

Following a post mortem, she said: 'All of the time frame was between me going in with two healthy babies with absolutely no issues and an awful long time from when he was brain damaged to delivery'

We lost our only child at 4 days

Katie Anson's son Kye died after just four days of life due to failures at the scandal-hit trust.

The baby was starved of oxygen in birth at Princess Royal Hospital, Telford, in 2015, but a coroner later heard he may have lived if staff had acted differently.

Miss Anson, 39, and partner Matthew Hall, 34, from the town, were unable to have another child due to unexplained infertility.

Katie Anson and her partner Matthew Hall

Kye died at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton. A 2016 inquest heard some heart rate recordings of the unborn baby had not been taken.

Shrewsbury coroner John Ellery said his death 'could have been prevented'. The couple struggled to get pregnant for two years before Kye. They have just had their sixth failed attempt at IVF.

Miss Anson said: 'To have had our only child taken away from us so tragically... makes it all the more difficult to swallow.'

SARAH VINE: At the heart of this maternity care tragedy is an extreme ideology that has turned motherhood into a toxic battleground

Can you imagine a forceps delivery so violent it shatters a babys skull? Or a woman in the agonies of labour being told shes pathetic and lazy?

Or relatives of a deceased mother being told that it was partly that mothers fault because she clearly did not complain very much?

Sounds like something out of the Dark Ages, does it not?

And yet this is the state of maternity care in modern 21st century Britain. And it is nothing short of shameful.

The inquiry into the deaths of mothers and babies at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, published yesterday, has unearthed a catalogue of horrors almost too gruesome to contemplate.

Over 200 babies and nine mothers dead, 94 children brain damaged as a result of neglect, incompetence and, in many cases, what can only be described as an astonishing level of malice on the part of the medical practitioners.

The inquiry into the deaths of mothers and babies at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, published yesterday, has unearthed a catalogue of horrors almost too gruesome to contemplate

Revealed: Shrewsbury maternity scandal was investigated in 2013 but local NHS bosses said services were SAFE Shrewsbury's maternity services were first investigated in 2013, but found to be 'safe' and of 'good quality'. Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Telford and Wrekin CCG ordered the internal review following concerns over an 'increased incidence of serious clinical adverse events'. It covered the period from April 1, 2012, to March 31 the following year, including the period when an inquest ruled the death of baby Kate Stanton-Davies could have been avoided. She was cold and floppy after being born and died six hours later. Mother Rhiannon warned in the days before the birth that her baby was moving less. The report was completed by Dr Josh Dixey, then a secondary care consultant at Shropshire CCG. He concluded that the trust had a 'maternity service to be proud of' and that the service is 'safe and effective'. The report added: 'There is a robust approach to risk management, clinical governance structures and learning from incidents which suggests a 'learning organisation'.' It also referred to the trust's high level of 'normal deliveries' and lower than average rate of C-section but described this as a 'positive'. At the unit, it noted the philosophy of care at the midwife-led unit was based on the view that pregnancy and birth were normal processes. Many more babies died at the trust's maternity unit after the report was completed. Advertisement

Their job was to care for these pregnant women. But instead  as we read from accounts of witnesses  they seemed to take an almost perverse delight in making them suffer. And that may well be just the tip of the iceberg: 600 cases involving the Shrewsbury Trust are currently being investigated by the police.

One grieving parent, Richard Stanton, whose daughter Kate died soon after being born in 2009, expressed the hope that the report would result in prosecutions. Donna Ockenden, the senior midwife in charge of the inquiry, which took five years to complete, has said she feels ashamed of what went on.

We have seen families that have been split apart, families where relationships have been broken, cases of trauma and PTSD that have persisted for years after the event as well as terrible, terrible sadness. At times, after meeting families, I went back to my hotel room and I cried, she said.

Such a catastrophic failure, on such a scale, is hard to understand. It seems impossible that someone, somewhere, would not have noticed what was going on, that a situation so clearly appalling could have been allowed to persist for so long without some authority stepping in or asking questions.

In truth, though, to mothers everywhere, a lot of the behaviour and attitudes that have transpired from this report will feel depressingly familiar.

At the heart of this scandal lies an extreme ideology that has turned motherhood into a toxic political battleground. A rigid dogma that resulted in disastrous misjudgements which, ultimately, cost the lives of innocent women and children.

Im talking about the NHSs obsession  central to this report on Shrewsbury and universally acknowledged as a major factor  with so-called natural childbirth, almost at any cost. An aversion to the idea of medical intervention during labour and a particular horror of caesarean sections.

One that, in my experience and in the experience of many women Ive spoken to over the years about this, is shared across all maternity services, and especially in the midwife community.

Of course there have always been a number of natural-childbirth advocates around. But around the end of the Nineties the movement gained momentum, and the notion of good and bad childbirth really seemed to take hold.

And the truth is, the NHS  run by managers, as it is, rather than doctors  had every incentive to encourage it.

A caesarean section generally costs considerably more than a natural birth. Bodies such as the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) made it clear that they were not in favour of medical intervention during childbirth. Mother Nature knows best was the mantra  even though, of course, maternal death rates before modern medicine would strongly suggest otherwise.

Nevertheless, childbirth became less of a clinical issue and more of a moral one. Women who were unable to give birth naturally were suddenly seen as cowards and failures, too posh to push, somehow inadequate for going against the natural order of things.

Even asking for pain relief was considered a cop-out. Breathing exercises, we were told, was all real women needed. There was an awful lot of baloney bandied about about how empowering vaginal delivery was, how it would flood your body with magical hormones, and make you feel like the ultimate feminine goddess.

This in turn fed into the obsession with breastfeeding, and the instant chastisement of any mother who ever eyed up a tub of Aptamil formula milk in the supermarket.

When I had my first child in 2003, I clearly remember such attitudes prevailing. At my NCT antenatal classes at the local hospital, instructed by midwives, the first thing we were told was that a vaginal birth  described as normal, the clear implication being that anything else was abnormal  was the desirable outcome.

We were shown endless slides of Native American women squatting in forests (I kid you not), and told that epidurals would numb the beautiful experience of childbirth (when I put my hand up and pointed out that I thought numbing was the whole point of them, I was met with a very stern stare).

Caesareans were the devils work, a measure of last resort, and entirely avoidable provided we, as mothers, trusted in our midwives. Ah, trust in the midwife. I did that, and it almost ended in disaster.

One grieving parent, Richard Stanton, whose daughter Kate died soon after being born in 2009, expressed the hope that the report would result in prosecutions. Donna Ockenden, the senior midwife in charge of the inquiry, which took five years to complete, has said she feels ashamed of what went on

When I eventually went into labour with my first, I did exactly as I was told. I waited until my contractions were however many minutes apart they should have been (I cant honestly remember now), and then I went to hospital. When I got there, I was examined, told my labour was progressing nicely, and given a room.

A few hours in, and something clearly wasnt quite right. I was examined again and told that my labour had stalled. I was given drugs to speed up the process, and then began an agonising night. By the time the obstetrician came to do her rounds the following morning, I had progressed to no further than 4cm dilation (you need 10cm), was struggling to breathe  and my daughter was in distress.

The obstetrician took one look, said something furiously under her breath to the attending midwife (one of several that came and went) and rushed me to the theatre. After a day and a half in labour, I underwent an emergency caesarean, and my daughter was born safely.

At every turn the midwives made me feel stupid, lazy and inadequate for not progressing with my labour. All they seemed to care about was making sure I did things their way. And yet their way was not exactly exemplary.

My daughter was posterior presented, meaning she was face up in the birth canal instead of face down  a position that makes it very hard for the cervix to dilate sufficiently to allow a vaginal birth.

But not one of the midwives present had identified this. Had they done so, it might have been possible to turn her. But such was their incompetence  or neglect  that by the time the problem had been identified, it was too late. She had to come out, fast.

Had I been left in their hands  or had the hospital had a no caesarian policy  who knows what would have happened. Maybe they would have tried to remove her with forceps; maybe she would have been brain damaged, like so many of the poor babies in this case. I consider both of us very lucky.

There are many lessons that must be learned from the appalling failures at Shrewsbury. Some of the families affected have been financially compensated. They will no doubt still seek proper justice, and rightly so.

But if any good is to come out of this tragedy, surely it must be a change in attitudes towards childbirth. As well as an acknowledgement on the part of the medical professionals involved that no mother, or baby, should ever be a pawn in the political games of others.
Russian troops who were stationed at Chernobyl are being treated for radiation sickness in Belarus, an employee at the Ukrainian state agency overseeing the exclusion zone has claimed.

Yaroslav Yemelianenko said yesterday that 'another batch of Russians' had been taken to the 'Belarusian Radiation Medicine Center in Gomel' for treatment.

It comes after the nuclear power plant's workers said Russian soldiers' lack of anti-radiation gear when they seized the Chernobyl site last month was 'suicidal'.

At least seven busloads of Russian soldiers had arrived at the Republican Scientific and Practical Centre for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology in Gomel this week, according to a Belarusian news Telegram channel.

Yemelianenko said the Kremlin's men had fallen ill because they failed to follow 'rules for dealing' with the Chernobyl nuclear plant and the surrounding highly toxic zone known as the Red Forest.

'With minimal intelligence in command or soldiers, these consequences could have been avoided,' he said, adding that radiation protection is 'mandatory because radiation is physics  it works without regard to status or shoulder straps.'

Workers at the site this week said Russian soldiers last month drove without protective equipment through the Red Forest, kicking up clouds of radioactive dust which was likely to cause internal radiation in their bodies.

At least seven busloads of Russian soldiers had arrived at the Republican Scientific and Practical Centre for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology in Gomel this week, according to a Belarusian Telegram channel

Russian troops stationed at Chernobyl have been taken to Belarus for treatment for 'acute radiation sickness', an employee at the Ukrainian state agency overseeing the exclusion zone has claimed (pictured, Russian tanks seize the site last month)

Both sources said they had witnessed Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles moving through the Red Forest, (pictured) which is the most radioactively contaminated part of the zone around Chernobyl, around 65miles north of Kyiv

Yemelianenko said the Kremlin's men had fallen ill because they failed to follow 'rules for dealing' with the Chernobyl nuclear plant and the surrounding highly toxic zone known as the Red Forest (pictured)

Yemelianenko said the Kremlin's men had fallen ill because they failed to follow 'rules for dealing' with the Chernobyl nuclear plant (pictured) and the surrounding highly toxic zone known as the Red Forest.

The two Ukrainian workers who spoke to Reuters were on duty when Russian tanks entered Chernobyl on February 24 and took control of the site, where staff are still responsible for the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and supervising the concrete-encased remains of the reactor.

Both men said they had witnessed Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles moving through the Red Forest, which is the most radioactively contaminated part of the zone around Chernobyl, around 65miles north of Kyiv.

The site got its name when dozens of square kilometres of pine trees turned red after absorbing radiation from the 1986 explosion, one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.

A vast area around Chernobyl is off limits to anyone who does not work there or have special permission, but the Red Forest is considered so highly contaminated that even the nuclear plant workers are not allowed to go there.

The Russian military convoy went through the zone, the two employees said. One of them said it used an abandoned road.

'A big convoy of military vehicles drove along a road right behind our facility and this road goes past the Red Forest,' said one of the sources.

'The convoy kicked up a big column of dust. Many radiation safety sensors showed exceeded levels,' he said.

Valery Seida, acting general director of the Chernobyl plant, was not there at the time and did not witness the Russian convoy going into the Red Forest, but he said he was told by witnesses that Russian military vehicles drove everywhere around the exclusion zone and could have passed the Red Forest.

'Nobody goes there... for God's sake. There is no one there,' Seida told Reuters.

He said workers at the plant told the Russian service personnel they should be cautious about radiation, but he knew of no evidence that they paid attention.

'They drove wherever they needed to,' Seida said.

After the Russian troops arrived, the two plant employees worked for almost a month along with colleagues until they were allowed to go home last week when Russian commanders allowed replacements for some of the staff to be sent in.

The minister said that the warnings were not related to fears of nuclear war but 'linked to the nuclear power plants in Ukraine and the accidents we have seen' (pictured, the city of Pripyat near Chernobyl which was abandoned after the 1986 disaster)

Meanwhile Norway has told its citizens to 'dust off' their Cold War bunkers and stock radiation medicines in case of a radiation fallout from Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear plant.

Oslo's defence minister Odd Roger Enoksen warned citizens a nuclear disaster could see radioactive materials drift over Norway 'if the wind goes in this direction'.

Enoksen said civilians would be given 72 hours notice to prepare their bunkers and that 'if they are using them for storage now they need to make a plan for taking things out'.

Enoksen also urged citizens to stockpile radiation medicines for children and suggested civilians should store a three-day supply of thyroid-blocking medicine Jodix in each home in case of a shutdown during a nuclear disaster.

The minister said that the warnings were not related to fears of nuclear war but 'linked to the nuclear power plants in Ukraine and the accidents we have seen.'

'Ukraine has the most production of nuclear power in Europe and if an accident happens, as with Chernobyl, we will all in western Europe be affected by that if the wind goes in this direction,' he said, The Times reported.

It comes amid high-level discussions to reimpose Cold War-era building regulations making underground bunkers a requirement for civilian structures, such as hotels, and amid talks about whether some underground shelters needed upgrading.



Oslo's defence minister Odd Roger Enoksen (pictured right, meeting with British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace) warned citizens a nuclear disaster could see radioactive materials drift over Norway 'if the wind goes in this direction'

'Children are worried about will we be at war in Norway. A lot of people are asking where is my bunker,' the minister said.

Enoksen added that Norwegian authorities 'do not see any military threat against Norway at the moment but we have a more unpredictable neighbour in the east which we have to watch closer.'

The warning comes days after a senior Ukrainian official accused Russia of 'irresponsible' acts around Chernobyl that could send radiation across much of Europe and called on the UN Security Council to take 'immediate measures'.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Putin's military 'poses a very serious threat not only to Ukraine, but also to hundreds of millions of Europeans' in a Facebook post.

She accused Russia of using 'old and unconditional ammunition', creating a risk of damaging the containment vessel constructed around the station's wrecked fourth reactor.

She also said troops' occupation of an exclusion zone means firefighters aren't able to put out blazes in the area, posing a further risk of disaster.

Using old and badly maintained weapons increases detonation risk 'even when loading and transporting', Ms Vereshchuk added, claiming Russian troops carry the equipment through Pripyat, just under two miles away from the power plant.

'Further storage of hundreds of tons of ammunition is carried out next to the city of Chernobyl, which is also a short distance from the nuclear power plant,' she said.

She urged the UN to dispatch a mission to assess the risks, saying Russian forces were 'militarising' the exclusion zone around the station, which is the site of the world's worst civil nuclear accident in 1986.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk (pictured) said Putin 's military 'poses a very serious threat not only to Ukraine, but also to hundreds of millions of Europeans' in a Facebook post

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency visited Zaporizhzhia, a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on Wednesday to meet Ukrainian officials and provide technical assistance.

Rafael Mariano Grossi said the IAEA is not involved in political talks with the Russians but added the agency was 'trying to be very active in order to ensure that as soon as possible, the situation is regressed, and the facilities are back in the hands of the Ukrainians.'

Ukraine has 15 nuclear reactors at four plants, one of which (Zaporizhzhia) is under the Russian military's control.

The Kremlin's men are also holding the decommissioned Chernobyl plant and as of Tuesday, eight reactors were operating and the rest were shut down for regular maintenance.

But on Wednesday, US military officials said Russian forces did begin to pull out of the defunct Chernobyl nuclear power site north of Kyiv.

'We think that they are leaving, I can't tell you that they're all gone,' said a US defence official speaking on condition of anonymity.

It comes as Oslo looks to become NATOs source on the Russian border and steps up purchases of military equipment as Moscow's war in Ukraine rages into its second month.

Enoksen has said Oslo is increasing the size of its home guard as well as buying more surveillance equipment including aircraft, tanks and submarines.

Rafael Mariano Grossi said the IAEA was 'trying to be very active in order to ensure that as soon as possible, the situation is regressed, and the facilities are back in the hands of the Ukrainians'

Six power units generate 40-42 billion kWh of electricity making the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant the largest nuclear power plant not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe

Fire-damaged buildings at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear complex after coming under attack by Russian forces overnight, leading to international condemnation
A heartbroken father has penned a touching tribute to his daughter after she was killed in a horrific car crash.

Lianah Paige Power, 21, died from her injuries after a traffic collision on Monday afternoon at Dayboro in Queensland's Moreton Bay region.

Ms Power was driving a hatchback when it veered onto the wrong side of the road and smashed into a sedan travelling in the opposite direction.

Lianah Paige Power, 21, (pictured) died from her injuries after a traffic collision on Monday afternoon at Dayboro in Queensland's Moreton Bay region

She was rushed to the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital but later died from her injuries on Tuesday.

Tributes have flowed for the 21-year-old, with her father Wayne Power, describing Lianah as 'the most beautiful, kind, compassionate and loyal person'.

'She touched the lives of so many people,' Mr Power said, as reported by The Courier Mail.

The 21-year-old had just been offered her dream traineeship and was due to start work as a carer for the disabled an elderly a day after the fatal crash

'Every birthday party or event we had here for her there was always hundreds of her friends in attendance.

'That's just the kind of person she was. She was amazing with people and would always make you feel special and like there was a connection.

'Total strangers would be her friends within minutes. She just had a way with people.

He said his daughter had just been offered her dream traineeship as a carer for the elderly and disabled.

'She was supposed to start the day after her accident,' he said.

'She'd be there for anyone and could always make people feel good about themselves.

Ms Power had dreams of travelling to Europe and the UK, her father said in a touching tribute

'She didn't have any hate and always saw the good in people. She wouldn't judge people at all and would give everyone a chance.'

Lianah played netball, had a passion for music and loved attending gigs and festivals with friends, Mr Power said.

He added Ocean Alley and Arctic Monkeys were among her favourite artists.

Friends and family have paid tribute to Ms Power (pictured) on social media after she was killed in a car crash

'She also had dreams of travelling to Europe and the UK,' he said.

Grief-stricken friends and family have also shared messages describing Ms Power as an 'amazing soul'.

'Shine bright like a diamond...forever in my heart beautiful girl,' wrote her Aunt.

Friend Bella Champan wrote: 'I can't believe I have lost my best friend, my sister and a huge person in my life.

'You are an amazing soul who gifted this world with laughter, smiles, good vibes and love... you have impacted my life so so much and life without you will be hard. Always and forever will be in my heart!'

Kathleen Brown said she would always be remembered.

'Her spirit freed far too young.'

Eliesha Cook said she was 'shook' when she learnt of Ms Power's tragic death.

'Forever 21 sugar, rest in peace...you'll be missed but for now reunite with all the angels that have already been taken. Send all my condolences and love to your family,' she wrote.

The details of Ms Power's funeral are yet to be confirmed by her father.
A newly-elected NUS chief has apologised after receiving a fierce backlash over 'Anti-semitic' social media posts that included an ancient Islamic battle cry in reference to a massacre of Jews.

Shaima Dallali was voted president-elect of the NUS on Monday, but Jewish students have raised concerns after historic tweets emerged referencing the massacre of Jews in the 628 Battle of Khaybar.

In 2012, she wrote: 'Khaybar Khaybar O Jews  Muhammads army will return #Gaza.'

She apologised for the 'wrong' and 'unacceptable' post this week, which has since been deleted, saying the tweet was made as a teenager.

Ms Dallali, who is currently president of the City University Student Union, has also been accused of writing that she was raising money for Cage during Ramadan in April 2020 - a group critical of the UK's anti-terror policies.

Cage faced fierce criticism when its research director called Jihadi John, a man known as Mohammed Emwazi who is believed to have carried out beheadings of multiple western hostages in Syria, a beautiful young man who was 'extremely kind and gentle'.

The group denies that it supports terrorists and says its goal is to 'simply ensure that the pursuit of justice is carried out fairly'.

The Jewish Chronicle yesterday claimed Ms Dallali had 'sung the praises of a Jew-hating cleric' and labelled Waseem Yousef as a 'dirty Zionist' after he wrote that Hamas was launching rockets from between residents' homes and was making a 'graveyard' for children in Gaza.

It also said she praised Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who was expelled from the UK, US, France and Germany, for being a 'moral compass for the Muslim community at large' in a 2018 article.

Shaima Dallali said she was 'excited to start this journey and mobilise with you all for a grassroots movement to fight for a free & liberated education' after she was elected NUS president this week

Lowkey (pictured performing on stage) pulled out of his scheduled appearance as a guest at the annual NUS conference, with the union later releasing a lengthy statement in which it acknowledged the 'strong response' to his announcement

It comes after the NUS was slammed by Jewish student groups earlier this month, who said they had been 'failed' after the union invited controversial rapper Lowkey to appear at its conference for students from marginalised groups in Liverpool on Wednesday.

The rapper, whose real name is Kareem Dennis, has previously expressed support for former Labour MP Chris Williamson, who was suspended from the party in 2019 before being kicked out over allegations of anti-Semitism, and Professor David Miller, a former sociology lecturer at Bristol University who was sacked after alleged antisemitic comments.

And in an online interview with the anti-Israel activist Asa Winstanley, Lowkey claimed mainstream media had 'weaponised the Jewish heritage of [Volodymyr] Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, to try to stave off these genuine inquiries into the nature of the groups fighting in Ukraine...'

Lowkey pulled out of his scheduled appearance, though, with the NUS later releasing a lengthy statement in which it acknowledged the 'strong response' to his announcement as a guest and apologised to students 'hurt by some of the things theyve read about NUS'.

Reacting to a tweet announcing Ms Dallali's election victory, the Union of Jewish Students said a number of students had reached out citing concerns over her alleged support for speakers with 'extremely challenging views'.

The union said: 'Jewish students have spoken to us and raised their concerns over much of the messaging Dallali has put out on her social media in the past attacking the Jewish community, UJS, and supporting speakers with extremely challenging views.

'We hope that she will come to the table, work with UJS and understand how to support Jewish students.

'There have been many bridges broken between the NUS and Jewish students over the past weeks.

'We call on Shaima and her team to join us in rebuilding those bridges to ensure that NUS becomes a space Jewish students once more feel welcomed into, rather than sidelined and excluded.'

In a tweet on Tuesday addressing concerns, she said: 'My hands are outstretched to all students and staff that work in our movement, including Jewish students, and would love to arrange a meeting once I'm in office.

'I stand ready to listen to the concerns of all students on how we can make our movement inclusive and open to all.'

And addressing the tweet on the Battle of Khayber on March 23, she added: 'Earlier today, I was made aware of a tweet I posted 10 years ago.

During Israel's assault on Gaza in 2012. I reference the battle of Khayber, in which Muslim and Jewish armies fought. I was wrong to see the Palestine conflict as one between Muslims and Jews.

'This reference made as a teenager was unacceptable, and I sincerely & unreservedly apologise.'

A spokesperson for the NUS today said it was aware of the allegations and revealed Ms Dallali has been receiving racist abuse.

A statement added: 'We are so sorry to any students, particularly Jewish students, who have been hurt by what theyve read in the lead up to conference.

'We will be reviewing what more the NUS can do in the future to ensure Jewish students feel welcome in our spaces and to improve relations with Jewish students.'

And in its statement confirming the withdrawal of Lowkey from its annual conference last week, the NUS said: 'Lowkey was due to speak at our Liberation Conference on 30 March in Liverpool but has taken the decision to pull out.

'This matter has received some social media and press coverage and is connected to some deeply complex issues that are much much bigger than NUS and our events. In the midst of this coverage, our first concerns always lie with students.

'Since we promoted Lowkey as a speaker, there has been a strong response to some of his recent actions and associations. Like with most issues discussed on social media or the press, there is a mix of facts, opinions and misinformation in circulation.

'We are horrified to know that some students in our community, particularly Jewish students, may now be wondering if they will be fully comfortable at our upcoming events. Were very sorry to any students who are hurt by some of the things theyve read about NUS in the last few days.'
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The Queen has chosen to bestow the rare honour of a royal title on one of the organisations she has been longest associated with during her historic reign.

She has been patron of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI), which provide on-base shops and canteens for the British Army and their allies across the world, since the year she became Queen in 1952.

And as the organisation is now celebrating its own landmark birthday - its centenary - she has given it permission to use the title 'Royal' in recognition of its close links to Royalty and the military.

The Queen has been Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes patron since 1952. She is seen visiting a site in Portsmouth in 1946

Prince Philip inspects goods on sale on his tour of the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) establishments at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (Shape) in 1954 with General Gruenther and Colonel Lionel Cross

The organisation was established in 1920 when the then Secretary of State for War, Winston Churchill, set up a committee to oversee organisation of the armed forces' canteens following World War One.

Since 1920, the NAAFI has provided leisure, catering and recreational services for members of the armed forces stationed across the world, including during the Second World War, deployments in Northern Ireland and the Falkland Islands, as well as both Gulf Wars and more recently the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.

It continues to serve UK forces based overseas in Germany, Brunei, Gibraltar, the Falkland Islands, Ascension and on Her Majesty's Ships.

Minister for the Cabinet Office Michael Ellis said: 'The NAAFI has played a vital part in supporting our armed forces for more than 100 years, throughout a number of overseas conflicts.

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon visits a Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes site in Plymouth in 1952

The Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (pictured in 1951) provide shops and canteens for the British Army and their allies

'Receiving the Royal title is a truly significant honour and it clearly demonstrates how seriously this country takes NAAFI's continued support for those who have served and continue to serve this country.'

The title 'Royal' is very sparingly granted and those who receive the honour must be able to show a genuine royal connection as well as evidence of a close personal interest between members of the Royal Family and the organisation concerned.

King George VI was the NAAFI's original patron until his death in 1952, at which point the Queen took over the role.
Apple and Meta were scammed by hackers into providing sensitive data using an order law enforcement authorities typically use.

A report from Bloomberg mentioned that the two tech giants handed over sensitive data to hackers last year through a fake emergency data request.

The hacks may have been executed by members of a cybercriminal group that appear to have been disbanded last year, per The Verge.

Apple and Meta Data Scam Details

According to Bloomberg's sources who requested anonymity, the scam happened in mid-2021, when Apple and Meta received the fake emergency data requests.

Apple and Meta, believing the fake emergency requests to be legitimate, handed over sensitive information to the hackers, which were made up of users' IP addresses, phone numbers, and home addresses.

Sources said these requests were normally issued with a search warrant or judge-signed subpoena if they were not urgently needed. However, they said that a court order is not necessary for emergency data requests as they usually involve life-threatening situations.

Law enforcement issues data requests, emergency or otherwise, to social media platforms to obtain information about the owner of a specific account in an investigation.

Read More: AMC Stock Surges to 117%: What's Next for the Theater Chain?

Krebs on Security reported that hackers must first access a police department's email systems for them to create a fake emergency data request, all while impersonating a law enforcement officer. Some hackers were even found to be selling access to government emails online to forge fake emergency requests for social media platforms.

The hacks were said to be carried out by White, the teenager mastermind behind the recent Lapsus$ attacks on NVIDIA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, and Okta. The teenage hacker was a founding member of the "Recursion team" cybercriminal group, a group in which he was known as "Everlynn."

White was 14 years old when he and his co-hackers founded Recursion Team. He was also found to be selling access to a government email he said could be used to send subpoenas to companies like Apple, Uber, Instagram, and others.

White, along with six other teenagers with connections to Lapsus$, were arrested by British law enforcement officials last week.

Apple's and Meta's Response

Andy Stone, Meta's policy and communications director, responded to The Verge's inquiries, saying that Meta "reviews every data request" for legal sufficiency and uses advanced systems and processes to validate law enforcement requests and detect abuse.

"We block known compromised accounts from making requests and work with law enforcement to respond to incidents involving suspected fraudulent requests, as we have done in this case," Stone added.

The Verge also asked Apple for a comment regarding the scam, to which the Cupertino-based company responded with a redirect to its law enforcement guidelines, which state: "If a government or law enforcement agency seeks customer data in response to an Emergency Government & Law Enforcement Information Request, a supervisor for the government or law enforcement agent who submitted the Emergency Government & Law Enforcement Information request may be contacted and asked to confirm to Apple that the emergency request was legitimate."

Related Article: Meta Wants to Control Ads: Threatens to Shut Down Facebook, Instagram and Other Services in Europe
Parents have voiced their frustration at being unable to attend their children's graduation ceremonies as a London University stuck rigidly to former Covid regulations.

Imperial College London refused to allow parents and other guests to attend graduation ceremonies in person at the Royal Albert Hall on March 10 and 30, insisting on the safety policy as 'cases of Covid are still prevalent in the UK'.

This is in spite of government regulations coming to an end on February 24.

As a result, many parents were forced to watch their children's graduation ceremonies online before joining them for celebrations afterwards, The Telegraph reports.

The graduation ceremonies at Royal Albert Hall went ahead smoothly on March 10 and 30, but parents were not allowed to attend due to Covid fears

24-year-old civil engineering graduate Alexander Grace accepted his diploma while his mother Lesley Grace and stepfather Stephen Radcliffe watched from a laptop in their Wembley hotel room.

The couple had travelled from Nottingham hoping to see the ceremony, which Mr Grace had deferred last year in the hope that they could attend in person.

Ms Grace said: 'Theyve done their degrees through difficult circumstances during Covid.

'Its something thats a big moment in Alexs life and it matters hugely to us  we wanted to share it with him in the best way possible, and that wouldve been being there and watching him physically.'

Mr Radcliffe added: 'Its a big place, isnt it. Its not like they couldnt fit us in.'

Other groups of parents were reported to be watching the livestream from nearby cafes.

Academics from the university played a leading role in the UK Government's decision to impose a lockdown in March 2020.

Rows of empty seats were visible at Imperial College London's March graduation ceremonies, with parents and guests unable to attend

Modelling from Professor Neil Ferguson and colleagues from Imperial College London published on March 16, 2020, predicted the NHS would be overwhelmed within weeks and a terrible death toll would arise if nothing was done to stop the spread of Covid.

Prior to the 'Report 9' paper, the Government's initial Covid strategy had been to 'mitigate' the spread and build up 'herd immunity' rather than suppress the first wave.

More recently, Professor Ferguson recommended curbs in December last year to halt the spread of the Omicron variant.

A student petition requesting Imperial College London reverse its policy over parents' attendances at graduations gathered over 150 signatures last month.

Lord Wharton, chairman of watchdog The Office for Students, said: 'There is no reason for universities imposing restrictions on gatherings when these are not required by the Government.

Many parents were forced to watch their children's graduation ceremonies online in hotel rooms, bars and cafes before joining them for celebrations afterwards

'Universities should now be looking to get back to normal, and in-person graduation ceremonies, along with in-person teaching and social activities, are all key parts of this.'

Arabella Skinner, director of the parents campaign group UsForThem, added: 'Since the start of the pandemic, parents have been consistently concerned about the experience their children have had at university from the educational and the social.

'The final straw is not being able to celebrate their graduation with them, while the rest of society is able to go to cinemas and theatres.'

Imperial College London stated: 'Unfortunately, guests are unable to attend our March ceremonies.

'Safety for graduates and staff is of utmost importance. Cases of Covid are still prevalent in the UK, and although the pandemic appears to be largely under control at present, we are also mindful that the circumstances could rapidly change.

'The measures in place have been designed to give the best possible chance of graduation going ahead.

As an institution that is helping to lead the UK Covid response, the college has maintained a safety-first approach for ceremonies in March.

'Planning for the ceremonies has also been done to best mitigate against any further disruption to graduation in the event of a rise in cases.

'In the interest of safety, the Graduation Advisory Committee, which includes representation from students and academic staff, made the difficult decision to reduce the number of attendees by restricting Graduation 2022 to graduands only.'
A high-end fitness chain backed by Rishi Sunak's millionaire wife has collapsed after receiving taxpayer-backed furlough payments of up to 630,000.

Digme Fitness, which called in creditors last month, owes around 6.1million in what is understood to be unpaid VAT and PAYE, and counts Akshata Murthy, 41, among its directors.

Ms Murthy, the Chancellor's wife, owned less than five per cent of the company - which went bust after lockdown measures forced it to reinvent itself as an online-only business.

Creditors and suppliers are not expected to recover any money after the company fell into administration.

The developments come despite Digme receiving between 310,000 and 635,000 in furlough payments between December 2020 and September 2021, reports the Times.

Digme Fitness, which called in creditors last month, owes around 6.1million in what is understood to be unpaid VAT and PAYE, and counts Chancellor Rishi Sunak's wife, Akshata Murthy, 41, among its directors. Above: Pictured today are Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murthy arriving at Downing Street

The chain collapsed despite Digme receiving between 310,000 and 635,000 in furlough payments between December 2020 and September 2021. Pictured: A promotional image used by Digme Fitness

Ms Murty, 41, the Chancellor's wife, owned less than five per cent of Digme Fitness - which went bust after lockdown measures forced it to reinvent itself as an online-only business

Digme Fitness was founded by former City lawyer Caoimhe Bamber and her hedge fund investor partner Geoff in 2015.

Ms Murty, 41, was appointed among the directors of the chain in March 2017.

Digme offered cycle, hit and yoga classes at its London venues and at home programmes for its customers to follow. Subscription packages varied from 8 per month, up to 25 per month for in-studio exercise.

The firm's website states it helps customers 'set your sights high, achieve more than you ever expected, leave feeling exhilarated and be in the best shape of your life - digging deep for real gains.'

Ms Murty is one of Britain's wealthiest women, with shares in her billionaire father's tech firm worth almost 500million.

She and her relatives hold a multimillion pound portfolio of shareholdings which came to light amid questions over the Chancellor, who met his future wife while studying at Stanford University, California, failing to declare them in the register of ministers' interests.

Her assets make Ms Murthy richer than the Queen, who is estimated to be worth 350million, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

Digme Fitness was founded by former City lawyer Caoimhe Bamber and her hedge fund investor partner Geoff in 2015. Ms Murty was appointed among the directors of the chain in March 2017

Mr Sunak was grilled in the wake of his spring statement about Akshata Murthy's 490million stake in her family's multinational business technology giant Infosys - which has a Moscow office.

The Chancellor rebuffed questions over his wife's stake and whether he was 'giving advice to others you're not following' and if his family's investments were 'potentially benefitting from Putin's regime'.

Mr Sunak now faces more pressure over his wife's holdings in Infosys, given he has warned businesses to 'think carefully' about making any investments that would benefit the Moscow regime.

Labour warned he has 'very serious questions to answer' over Ms Murthy's shares.

Ms Murthy is the daughter of one of the richest men in India - billionaire N. R. Narayana Murthy - who has been described as the father of the Indian IT sector and 'one of the 12 greatest businessmen of all time'.

Mr Sunak, 41, has put his investments in a 'blind trust' and is not required to name companies in which his wife owns shares.

He is the son of a GP father and pharmacist mother who emigrated to Southampton from East Africa in the 1960s, and he studied at Oxford University before winning a Fulbright scholarship to Stanford where the future husband and wife met.

Before becoming Chancellor, he was better known in India than he was in Britain after his marriage made him a household name.
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Thousands of people have died in Mariupol since the city was subjected to a campaign of horrific bombardment by Russia, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Evacuation attempts are underway today to rescue some of the remaining 170,000 people still trapped in the besieged port city which is a site of 'humanitarian catastrophe', Zelesnsky said as civilians face no supplies, power or water.

Ukraine is sending 45 buses during a 24-hour ceasefire period which began at 7am GMT this morning, but there are fears it will be broken again after a number of failed attempts.

So far, 17 buses have already left from Zaporizhzhia, around 130 miles northwest of Mariupol, while another 28 are waiting to pass Russian checkpoints in Vasylivka.

Meanwhile new drone footage taken over the city shows the devastating trail of destruction wrought by Putin.

New drone footage taken over the city shows the devastating trail of destruction wrought by Putin

Homes, administrative buildings and cultural landmarks have all been shelled in the brutal campaign

Thousands of people have died in Mariupol since the city was subjected to horrific bombardment, and the theatre has been completely destroyed (pictured)

Evacuees from Mariupol region arrive at reception centre in Zaporizhzhia today amid a Russian ceasefire

Children and elderly people were among those evacuated to safety today from the besieged port city

The city is now a ghost town as the trapped civilians stay in their shelters fearing Russian attacks

So far, 17 buses have already left from Zaporizhzhia, around 130 miles northwest of Mariupol

Tens of thousands have managed to get out in the past few weeks by way of humanitarian corridors

The civilians arrived at a reception centre today amid a mass evacuation effort from Mariupol

The drone footage shows a tank in the middle of a rubble-strewn street in the city blitzed by shelling

Most of the buildings have holes in the roofs after Russia unleashed its heavy bombardment

BEFORE: A satellite image shows home and buildings in Mariupol in June last year before the Russian invasion

AFTER: A photo taken on Tuesday shows the scale of devastation on the port city wrought by Putin's army

Today's convoy hopes to rescue some of those trapped while delivering essential supplies for those still sheltering from the constant shelling and street fighting which has reduced the city to rubble.

Deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk said: 'There are 45 buses en route to Mariupol.'

Teams from the Red Cross are also on their way to Mariupol with aid supplies, hoping to evacuate more civilians tomorrow.

Ewan Watson, ICRC spokesperson, said Ukraine and Russia must agree on the exact terms of the operation, which is planned for Friday, adding that 'tens of thousands' of lives depend on its success.

'For logistics and security reasons, we'll be ready to lead the safe passage operation tomorrow, Friday, provided all the parties agree to the exact terms, including the route, the start time, and the duration,' Watson told Reuters in Geneva.

Despite hopes of a brief respite from the Russian onslaught, Putin has vowed to continue his destruction as soon as the ceasefire ends, saying he will only stop shelling Mariupol when it is surrendered.

The president made the comments during an hour-long phone call with Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday night, the Kremlin said.

Putin told Macron that 'in order to resolve the difficult humanitarian situation in this city, Ukrainian nationalist militants must stop resisting and lay down their arms', Russian officials said.

An aerial view shows the level of carnage Russia has unleashed on the devastated port city by the Sea of Azov

Nurse Svetlana Savchenko, 56, stands next to the building, destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict, where her apartment was located in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

The city, which usually has a population of more than 400,000, has been a strategic focus of Russia's invasion of Ukraine

A charred car is seen in front of an apartment building destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

The city, which usually has a population of more than 400,000, has been a strategic focus of Russia's invasion of Ukraine that began five weeks ago, and has suffered near-constant bombardment.

Repeated attempts to organise safe corridors have failed, with each side blaming the other. Russia denies targeting civilians in its assault on Ukraine.

The prospect of an evacuation from the destroyed city came as Russia continued to shell the capital Kyiv and Chernihiv despite having vowed to 'reduce' military activity by 'a large margin'.

President Volodymyr Zelensky told his war-torn nation to brace for a new Russian onslaught in the eastern Donbas region.

'We don't believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase,' Zelensky said in a late-night video message. 'There is an accumulation of Russian troops for new strikes in Donbas and we are preparing for it.'

The city has been under Russian bombardment since Putin's troops invaded Ukraine on February 24

An apartment building destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

Dima, a three-year-old boy who was wounded during the shelling of Mariupol, lies in a bed in children's ward of the hospital, in Zaporizhzhia. Britain could send armoured vehicles to help rescue people trapped in the beleaguered city

'We will fight for every metre of our land,' he said.

In five weeks of brutal fighting Russian forces have been humbled by dogged Ukrainian resistance, and forced to rethink any ambitions to sack the capital or overthrow the democratically elected government.

Western intelligence agencies have been keen to underscore Russia's military failings, and to push suggestions that President Vladimir Putin is being misled by his own fearful advisors about battlefield reverses.

'We've seen Russian soldiers - short of weapons and morale - refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft,' Britain's GCHQ spy agency chief Jeremy Fleming on Thursday, after similar claims from the White House.

Citing US intelligence, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said Putin 'felt misled by the Russian military'.

Russian forces struck a Red Cross facility in Mariupol but no staff were inside after it was evacuated

Local residents are seen outside an apartment building sheltering from constant shelling in Mariupol

Military experts believe that with thousands of Russian troops killed and many thousands more injured, Moscow has no choice but to ditch efforts to advance simultaneously along multiple axes in the north, east and south.

Its focus instead has turned towards the east, and capturing more towns and cities in Donbas including Mariupol - even as the long-range assault on other cities continues.

Russia's ministry of defence on Thursday claimed that was the plan all along.

'The first stage of the special military operation,' said major general Igor Konashenkov, was 'to force the enemy to concentrate its forces, means, resources and military equipment to hold on to high populated areas'.

He said the aim was to degrade and tie up Ukrainian forces so they could not be used 'in the main direction of our Armed Forces in Donbas'. 'All these goals have been met,' he added.

Repeated attempts to organise safe corridors have failed, with each side blaming the other

Some believe that Russia's aim now will be to capture territory in the south to strengthen Moscow's hand when it comes to negotiating peace.

'I think we are now seeing the Russian strategy changing,' said Marcus Hellyer of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a former Department of Defence and intelligence official. 'They are focusing more on the east so it may be that they have realised they can't completely defeat Ukraine.'

The new strategy, he suggested was 'to occupy all of Donbas, occupy as much of the Black Sea coast as they can and use that as the facts on the ground for their negotiating strategy'.

Ukraine's general staff on Thursday reported that some Russian units had already left northwestern Ukraine for Moscow-allied Belarus, and there was a 'regrouping' of units of the Eastern Military District.

They also claimed that Russia was preparing to create 'another pseudo-republic in the Kherson region' in southern Ukraine.

Since 2014 Russia has backed two similar breakaway Donbas statelets in Lugansk and Donetsk and recently recognised their independence.

The fate of these two self-styled 'people's republics' is central to ongoing peace talks, with Kyiv insisting they are still part of Ukraine.

Russia has long sought a land link between the republics and also-occupied Crimea via Mariupol, which is now encircled by Russian forces.

Service members of pro-Russian troops are seen atop of an armoured vehicle in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol

Satellite images of the city have revealed the scale of devastation by relentless bombardment, with Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova accusing Russian forces of striking a clearly marked Red Cross facility near the city with aircraft and artillery.

An International Committee of the Red Cross official told AFP the facility was a warehouse but aid stored there had been distributed.

As generals and political leaders reassess their strategies for a new phase in the war, the toll on ordinary Ukrainians is still coming into harrowing focus.

In Irpin, a gateway to Kyiv, officials said they were recovering bodies in the streets and the area was still being shelled by Russia.

Irpin's mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said at least 200 people had been killed there since the war began.

In the town of Trostyanets, just 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Russian border, AFP reporters saw dazed residents emerge from their homes as Ukrainian soldiers salvaged abandoned Russian vehicles.

'There was nothing left to eat in the town, no water and no electricity,' said Pavlo, who spent the past month hunkered down in his basement.

The United Nations estimates that four million Ukrainians - close to one in 10 inhabitants - have been forced to flee the country.

The head of the UN Human Rights Council has warned Moscow that 'indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes'.

There are few signs of those attacks abating, despite recent talks in Istanbul and another round of video talks slated for April 1.

Both sides initially said the Istanbul meeting had made progress, but the Kremlin on Wednesday played down hopes of a breakthrough.

'We cannot state that there was anything too promising,' Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Still, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday said a higher-level meeting 'at least at the level of foreign ministers' could happen in a week or two.
Cambridge business bosses have voiced 'widespread concern' over the long-term impact of working from home, according to a survey.

A poll conducted by Cambridge Ahead, a membership organisation of 47 major businesses in the city, found four fifths of 97 respondents now spend less time in the office than before the Covid outbreak.

The study also found time spent in the office dropped to 2.5 days a week on average in the six months to November last year - down from 4.7 days before the pandemic. Workers expected this to increase to three days over the next year.

Around half of respondents believed collaboration between teams had worsened, while over a third thought partnerships with other businesses had deteriorated.

Meanwhile, the majority reported that some employees were allowed to choose where to base themselves within the UK, and more than a quarter said some were allowed to work abroad.

The research comes after law firm Knights blamed a 'continuation of the impact of Omicron' for lower than predicted revenues this year.

The company said staff did not return to the office as quickly as expected after a large number fell ill from the variant.

The poll by Cambridge Ahead found time spent in the office dropped to 2.5 days a week on average in the six months to November last year - down from 4.7 days before the Covid pandemic. Workers expected this to increase to three days over the next year

The study also found four fifths of 97 respondents in the city (file photo above) now spend less time in the office than before the Covid outbreak, while around half of respondents believed collaboration between teams had worsened

Referring to the latest findings, Jane Paterson-Todd, CEO of Cambridge Ahead, said: 'We know that Cambridge's strength as a high-growth economy lies in its networks between individuals and organisations, which drive cross-fertilisation and creativity.

'Now, as people spend more time working from home, either in the area or increasingly elsewhere in the country, the nature of the networks that have fuelled the Cambridge eco-system is changing.

'It's this kind of impact that we're looking to spot and address through our New Era for the Cambridge Economy (NECE) project.

'We're investigating how new behaviours driven by the pandemic may change the way the Cambridge economy functions, and identifying what needs to happen to put our city and others like it  in the best position to thrive sustainably.'

Two fifths noted that working from home has been beneficial for their employer financially, reported The Times, while it was also seen as good for the environment and businesses' productivity.

But it was acknowledged that hybrid working proved worse for recruitment, company culture, personal development and some workers' wellbeing.

Although the study showed efforts are being made to boost collaboration through new policies and technology, very few respondents were planning to change their workplace locations, create new spaces or reconfigure interiors.

Dr David Cleevely, Chair of the New Era for the Cambridge Economy (NECE) Steering Committee, added: 'Cambridge companies have a long history of achieving huge competitive advantage through innovation, from commercialising scientific breakthrough to reinventing business models.

The findings follow a separate study from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that staff in London are working from home more than anywhere in Britain. Pictured: Commuters walk across London Bridge on February 14

The capital has a high concentration of wealthy white-collar workers, able to do desk-based jobs from home. Pictured: Commuters at London Bridge station last month

What are the current WFH guidelines? The UK Government is no longer asking people to work from home. Employers are advised to agree arrangements to return to the office, and consult with them on any health and safety measures relating to Covid. Additional support should be given to people at a higher risk, such as consideration of extra precautions recommended by a doctor. Bosses should not ask workers with any of the main Covid symptoms or a positive test result to come to the office, and enable them to work from home. Workers in the same household as someone with Covid should work from home if able to do so. People who test positive for Covid are no longer legally required to self-isolate, but should continue to stay at home and avoid contact with others. From April 1, anyone with a positive Covid test result will be advised to try to stay at home and avoid contact for five days, which is when they are most infectious. Source: UK Government Advertisement

'We can't underestimate the role that chance meetings have played in Cambridge's ability to pursue ideas that change the world.

'Increasingly, we may need to process engineer our serendipity, finding new ways to ensure we continue to work together, design space and connect in the city of ideas.

'The NECE project is an example of influential organisations coming together in a high-growth city to adopt an anti-fragile way of thinking and operating  not just attempting to become more resilient and robust, but also seeking to use a shock like Covid to learn, adapt and improve our economy and quality of life.'

The findings follow a separate study from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that staff in London are working from home more than anywhere in Britain.

In other areas of the country they are much more likely to have gone back to the workplace full-time, according to the data released last month.

In Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the North East, just 18 to 20 per cent of people were still shunning the office all or part of the time.

The research lay bare the divide between London and the rest of the nation. The capital has a high concentration of wealthy white-collar workers, able to do desk-based jobs from home.

And employers at City firms, desperate to attract the best talent, are forced to offer as many perks as they can.

Chetan Patel, of recruiter Hays London City, said: Its no surprise to see that hybrid working is more in practice across London, as firms cant afford not to offer some form of flexibility in a competitive hiring market.

In January, Boris Johnson ended guidance to work from home where possible in England as the government scrapped the remaining Covid restrictions.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland moved slower towards lifting the same rules, with some countries introducing phased returns.
A cleanup is underway for businesses devastated by flooding after wild weather wreaked havoc in northern NSW for the second time this month.

Floodwaters inundated Byron Bay on Wednesday, with water reaching unprecedented levels in the town centre.

The water has since receded but has left businesses scrambling to cleanup before the rush of the Easter long weekend.

Businesses would usually be preparing for tourists flocking to the hotspot during school holidays, but instead they're clearing out mud and damaged stock.

A staff member from Tigerlily cleans up after flooding in the CBD of Byron Bay on Thursday

Pictures show staff from several stores across Byron's town centre donning mops, brooms and clearing out bags of rubbish on Thursday morning.

News-agency owner Ron Delardes said the flooding came quickly, taking him and other locals by surprise.

'We just didn't believe it would happen, just so heavy,' he told 9News.

Ron Delardes said flash flooding destroyed his stock and did serious damage to his Byron News-Agency (pictured)

Lara Loughlin cleans up after flooding at Dr Moose, a popular custom T-shirt store in Byron's CBD

The business wrote on Facebook that its 'heart is broken' but vowed to reopen to the public in the next two weeks

'Came too quickly... we never thought it would come in the back door so that was a surprise.'

The floodwaters destroyed all of Mr Delardes' stock and seriously damaged his shopfront, in what he's described as a 'disaster'.

Another worker was spotted clearing out plastic garbage bags and salvaging what was left of stock at Dr Moose on Jonson St, a popular custom t-shirt printing store.

A worker from Miss Brown vintage clothing in Byron Bay cleans up flood damage

Footage shared by a Miss Brown Vintage shows floodwaters inundate their building in Byron Bay

Miss Brown shared images of flood damaged stock to its Facebook page on Thursday

The business wrote on Facebook that its 'heart is broken' but vowed to reopen to the public in the next two weeks.

'Last night our little shop that survived two years of a pandemic, and beeing in Byron since '95, got hit by the floods,' it wrote.

'We are down but assure you we're not out.

'We endeavour to be back creating custom tees and epic shirts.'

Nearby on Fletcher St at Miss Brown Vintage, a shop assistant was pictured scrubbing a muddy floor and sorting through flood-damaged stock.

The vintage boutique shared footage from Wednesday, showing muddy brown floodwaters inundate the building and water damaged stock.

A staff member cleans a shelf at The Billabong store in Byron Bay CBD on Thursday (pictured)

A shop is closed for cleaning on Thursday after flooding in the CBD of Byron Bay in northern NSW (pictured)

'This was our building yesterday. Our store is currently closed but we are hoping to reopen by tomorrow afternoon or Saturday,' it wrote in a Facebook post.

'We could not have bounced back this quickly without our beautiful community and friends help.

'To all the volunteers who are helping our region bounce back you are real angels, we are so grateful.'

The flood emergency continues across northern NSW with residents rushing to salvage anything they can in the famous tourist town.

The weather event has dumped up to 400mm of rain within a 24-hour period on the region, with floodwaters engulfing entire homes and businesses on Wednesday morning.

Terrifying footage of Byron's CBD shows waist-deep brown water spilling into cafes, chemists and popular restaurants usually packed with holidaymakers.

Employee Paul Kelly cleans up after flood damage at a news agent in Byron Bay on Thursday (pictured)

Staff clear water damaged floorboards at This and That boutique after floods (pictured)

Flash flooding in Byron Bay on Wednesday impacted homes and businesses across the CBD and Suffolk Park

While the area is known to be flood-prone, residents and business owners were caught off guard when the giant rain bomb erupted over the town.

Locals expressed frustration that NSW State Emergency Service (SES) didn't notify them of the worsening conditions or appropriately prepare for the catastrophic weather event.

The BoM issued severe weather warnings in the lead-up to the flooding, but residents in Ballina remain furious there were no evacuation notices.

The SES gave residents no warning flash flooding could occur in the area with evacuation centres only made available to stranded locals a few hours after the city centre flooded.

Byron Bay Shire Council said an investigation is currently underway after the flooding event impacted homes and businesses in the town centre and Suffolk Park.

'That amount of rain alone would ordinarily have caused flooding in Byron Bay, but the already soaked catchment is believed to have exacerbated the problem with no water being absorbed into the ground,' it said.

'The intensity of the rain was beyond the capacity of Council's drainage pipe network.'

Phil Holloway, Infrastructure Services Director, said the Byron Bay is very flood-prone when there is heavy rain.

'As soon as we could yesterday we started checking the drains for blockages.'

'It's incredibly sad to see this flood event on top of everything else we've experienced, not only in the last month, but during the pandemic as well,' he added.
A former private school head girl has been accused of forging the will of her old headmistress in a bid to claim her 4.2million estate.

Leigh Voysey, 42, is being taken to the London's High Court after Maureen Renny, former head of the independent Barn School, left her everything in a new will she allegedly composed just four months before she died - including her Grade II listed, 1.65m seven-bed house in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire.

Ms Voysey claims her former mentor, who died aged 82 in January 2020, wanted to save her property and eight acres of land from being sold to developers, who had allegedly offered her in the region of 10m.

Ms Voysey claims she wrote out the will herself in September 2019 while Mrs Renny dictated to her. The only witnesses were two friends of Ms Voysey, one of whom signed on behalf of the former head, as she struggled with writing due to her poor eyesight.

But the cut-out family allege Ms Voysey faked the will, and will argue that even if her account is true, Mrs Renny had suffered a stroke in July 2019 and was subsequently recorded in a carer's notes as 'talking gibberish'.

She was also described as being confused about money, vulnerable, delusional and 'largely living in the past', meaning she was not in her right mind to execute a new will and testament, her family claim.

Mrs Renny's sprawling home, Hill House, was until 1998 the site of The Barn School, which Ms Voysey attended as a girl, starting as an eight-year-old in 1987.

Leigh Voysey (pictured), 42, is being taken to the London's High Court after Maureen Renny, former head of the independent Barn School, left her everything in a new will she allegedly composed just four months before she died - including her 1.65m seven-bed house in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire

Mrs Renny's sprawling home, Hill House (pictured), was until 1998 the site of The Barn School, which Ms Voysey attended as a girl, starting as an eight-year-old in 1987

Hill House, which housed The Barn School, is a Grade II listed building and is much-loved by locals The site of the former Barn School in Much Hadham, Hertfordshire, is a much-loved institution among locals. The sprawling estate, now named Hill House, was a fee-paying Roman Catholic school for pupils aged two and up from the 1960s onwards, before eventually closing in 1998. The mixed school became a Grade II listed building in 1985, according to HistoricEngland.org. The red brick home was built in the mid 1800s and is praised for its exposed timber frame and brick nogging to the upper storey. It sits on eight acres of land and was owned by the schools former headmistress Maureen Reeny, before she died in January 2020. A will she wrote four months before she died supposedly left her entire estate, including Hill House, to Leigh Voysey, 42, a former head girl at the school. The will is now being contested by her family. Advertisement

She claims that Mrs Renny had 'always favoured her,' giving her the best parts in school plays, and that she 'reconnected' with her by chance during the last three years of her life, after she was hired as her carer.

Ms Voysey, a mother-of-one, says the elderly former head asked her to write out a will and organise a friend to sign it on her behalf in September 2019, as she feared that her beloved former school building would be sold to developers if she left it to blood relatives.

Ms Voysey claims Mrs Renny knew her former pupil 'loved' the old schoolhouse as much as she did and decided to leave her everything, cutting out cousins and the children of her stepson, who had stood to inherit under a previous will written in 2016.

But Mrs Renny's relatives are now fighting the former head girl's bid to claim the fortune, accusing her of fraudulently faking the 2019 will.

The previous will from 2016 had divided her estate between her cousins Gillian Ayre, Angela Eastwood and Susan Vickers, and the children of her stepson, Thomas and Katherine Renny.

Ms Voysey claims she bonded with her former headteacher after visiting her as a carer and then a friend from 2016 and that she wrote her 'distant blood relatives' out of her will because she feared they would sell the old schoolhouse to developers.

She says Mrs Renny asked her to write out the will and have it signed on her behalf because she could not do so herself due to problems with her eyesight.

In papers lodged with the court, Ms Voysey tells how she was delighted to find that her former teacher still remembered her when she visited as a carer.

'Mrs Renny remembered exactly who I was, even though it was 25 years since I'd left her school,' she says.

'Mrs Renny told me that she'd been asking about me during the years since I had left her school.

'The whole experience that day was very touching.

Mrs Renny's relatives are now fighting the former head girl's bid to claim the fortune, accusing her of fraudulently faking the 2019 will. (Pictured: Angela Eastwood, cousin of the late Maureen Renny)

'I worked one more shift as a carer for Mrs Renny, then visited her as a friend after that.

'After reconnecting in February 2016, I visited Mrs Renny when I could...approximately three to four times a year.

'When I visited Mrs Renny, I would make us both a cup of tea and we would talk about my time when I was at The Barn. We both enjoyed that immensely.

'During one of my visits, she asked me what I thought about The Barn, i.e. Hill House, and I said I loved it.

'Mrs Renny said to me 'I hope it never gets built on'.'

She said Mrs Renny had mentioned leaving her estate to her in a new will, but that she did not want to accept that her former mentor was going to die.

But eventually in September 2019, the former teacher arranged for two of Ms Voysey's friends to witness a new will as she did not want anyone to know she was making it.

'Mrs Renny asked me to complete the 2019 will and dictated to me what she wanted to be written on it,' she says.

A previous will from 2016 had divided Mrs Renny's estate between her cousins Gillian Ayre, Angela Eastwood and Susan Vickers (pictured), and the children of her stepson

'I wrote down exactly what Mrs Renny told me to write. The blank will was lying on the table in the lounge. I have no idea how the will got there as Mrs Renny was chairbound.

'Mrs Renny was unable to sign the will herself as she had problems with her eyesight,' Ms Voysey says, adding that the former head 'confirmed she was happy' for one of the witnesses to sign it on her behalf.

'I knew that Mrs Renny had been unwell, but I felt that she was back to her usual self when arranging and making the 2019 will,' she says.

However Kate Selway QC, for the family, says in the defence to the action: 'It is the defendants' case that the 2016 will was the deceased's last true will. The 2019 will is invalid because it was procured by the claimant's fraudulent conduct.'

'It is denied that the claimant had any ongoing acquaintance with the deceased after leaving The Barn School. It is averred that the only other material time that the deceased and the claimant met was on 19th February 2016 when the claimant was working as a carer...and worked a lunchtime shift looking after the deceased that day.

'The claimant cared for the deceased only once for a few hours over lunchtime on 19th February 2016.

'The claimant undertook no more shifts as a carer for the deceased and never visited the deceased again.

'It is denied that the deceased made the 2019 will or any will leaving her estate to the claimant.

'The alleged events said by the clamant to have taken place...never happened.

'The deceased never signed the 2019 will. The 2019 will was completed in the claimant's handwriting and allegedly witnessed by two friends of the claimant who were not known to the deceased.'

The barrister says it was 'impossible' for the blank will to have been on the table when Ms Voysey arrived, since Mrs Renny was so frail she could not get out of her chair or even hold a telephone.

Ms Voysey however says savings the house and school, set in eight acres of grounds, from developers was very important to Mrs Renny and was the crucial justification for her changing the will.

Ms Voysey claims Mrs Renny knew her former pupil 'loved' the old schoolhouse (pictured in old photograph) as much as she did and decided to leave her everything, cutting out cousins and the children of her stepson, who had stood to inherit under a previous will written in 2016

'I think it was more important to Mrs Renny that she left her estate to me to save The Barn/Hill House and the surrounding land from development rather than leave her estate to her distant blood relatives,' she says.

'It appears that Mrs Renny's desire to save The Barn/Hill House was stronger than any bond of natural love and affection with her blood family,' she adds, claiming the former head told her she had rejected a 10m offer from developers for the land and house.'

Ms Selway is also raising an alternative defence to the claim, stating that Mrs Renny lacked the testamentary capacity to execute the will and did not know or approve of its contents, even if it wasn't faked.

She had a stroke in July 2019 and subsequently was recorded in carer's notes as 'talking gibberish,' confused about money, vulnerable, delusional and 'largely living in the past'.

The family also say that, even if she proves her case, Ms Voysey should not be entitled to recover money already distributed from the estate.

There is currently 725,000 remaining undistributed.
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Prince Andrew is trying to become a replacement for Prince Philip as the Queen's unofficial adviser and confidante, it has been claimed after he had a central role escorting her to his late father's memorial service.

Some royal aides are said to believe that the Duke of York may be positioning himself to step into the Duke of Edinburgh's shoes, as the 95-year-old monarch continues life without her husband who died last April aged 99.

Andrew is known to be the most regular visitor to the Queen at Windsor Castle given that he has plenty of time on his hands with no royal duties left and lives just three miles away at his seven-bedroom Royal Lodge home.

But royal aides have no involvement in discussions between the Queen and her so-called 'favourite son' after he was effectively kicked out of the Royal Family by the Queen in January, reported the Daily Telegraph.

And their recent conversations would have come at a time when Prince William was out of the country with Kate Middleton on a royal tour in the Caribbean last week, while Prince Charles was on tour in Ireland with Camilla.

During March, before Tuesday's service, Andrew has been pictured driving or horse riding in Windsor nine times - on March 28, 26, 25, 24, 22, 21, 15, 14 and 8 - but it is not known whether he saw the Queen on all of these days.

The Queen clearly still values Andrew as a family member - and there are concerns within royal circles that he could use his role at Tuesday's memorial to put in an appearance over the Platinum Jubilee weekend this June.

While Prince Charles and Prince William feel Andrew should play no part in any royal events, speculation is now mounting that the Queen could invite him to the service at St Paul's Cathedral on June 3 to mark her jubilee.

His appearance walking down the aisle with her at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday was a surprise to many  including Royal Family members who only found out when it was happening, according to the Telegraph.

One insider claimed: 'They didn't know until it happened. The plan changed.' The idea that he was positioning himself as her 'plus one' - and that this only emerged last minute - has been denied by sources close to Andrew.

The Duke of York's presence at the service had been known for weeks in advance, but his central role was only revealed hours earlier by royal expert Robert Jobson who said Andrew 'may play a prominent role than we think'

The Queen held onto Andrew's elbow with her left hand and had a walking stick in her right at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday

The Queen goes to take her seat as Andrew goes towards his for Prince Philip's service at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday

The Queen is pictured on the left, and Prince Andrew on the right during the service of thanksgiving for Philip on Tuesday

Prince Andrew watches as his mother the Queen gets into a car following the service at Westminster Abbey on Tuesday

The Queen and Prince Andrew leave by car after attending the service of thanksgiving for Prince Philip on Tuesday

Andrew goes horse riding at Windsor Great Park in Berkshire on Monday, one day before the service for Prince Philip

Prince Andrew drives into Windsor Castle in his Range Rover covered in Saharan dust earlier this month on March 22

The disgraced royal, who just weeks ago paid millions out of court to settle a civil sex assault case with a woman he said he had never met, accompanied the Queen almost the whole way to her seat in a shock move on Tuesday.

Andrew had been banished from royal life, first bowing out of royal duties in 2019 after his disastrous BBC Newsnight appearance over his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Sophie takes on Philip's role as Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers The Countess of Wessex has taken over the Duke of Edinburgh's former role as Colonel-in-Chief of The Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers (Reme). Sophie was appointed by the Queen, who is head of the Armed Forces, with the decision announced yesterday - the day after Philip's memorial service. Sophie, Countess of Wessex receives members of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (Reme) in her new role as Colonel-in-Chief of the Corps, at Buckingham Palace yesterday The countess was said to be extremely honoured to be following in her father-in-law's footsteps. Philip held the honorary title for more than 50 years, becoming Colonel-in-Chief of the Corps in 1969. The countess was among members of the royal family who gathered with the monarch in Philip's memory at the service of thanksgiving for his life on Tuesday, 11 months after his Covid-restricted funeral. Formed in 1942, the Reme is responsible for maintaining all the equipment the British Army operates from tanks and helicopters to weapons and communications equipment. The Royal Family said on Twitter how the Corps combined the duke's 'enduring support of the Forces, and keen interest in engineering'. Sophie held an audience with the Reme Master General Lieutenant General Paul Jaques and Colonel Jason Phillips yesterday to formally receive the title. Advertisement

This January, he was stripped of his honorary military titles and patronages by the Queen, and forced to relinquish using his HRH style amid his legal battle.

Virginia Giuffre was suing him for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after being trafficked by Epstein.

At the time, Buckingham Palace said: 'The Duke of York will continue not to undertake any public duties and is defending this case as a private citizen.'

On Tuesday, Andrew was front and centre of Philip's official memorial service, with his mother holding onto his elbow as they made their way via the shortest route into the Abbey to remember Philip.

If the Jubilee service of thanksgiving in St Paul's Cathedral on June 3 is considered to be a family occasion, Andrew could be among the congregation, alongside other non-working royals.

Royal expert Joe Little, of Majesty magazine, suggested: 'I think he will be there. Although the Queen is head of state, she is also head of the family as well and in that capacity all her children should be with her.'

He added the royal family may take stock following the media's response to Andrew's role at Philip's service.

Mr Little said: 'It is a hard one to predict. It will depend on how the royal family react to some of the newspapers' front pages today. Of course, they're not known to react in the way that you think they might.'

Mr Little added: 'It's two months away. Nobody would have predicted what would happen yesterday because Andrew was in the order of service to arrive with other members of the family and his daughters at the West Door. This was obviously an 11th hour change.'

The Palace declined to comment on who would attend the St Paul's service, with a spokesman saying: 'Our position hasn't changed since our statement in January.'

Among the headlines in yesterday's papers were 'Royals' 'dismay' at Andrew role in Philip service'', 'The pain... & the stain' and 'Royal fallout over Queen's ultimate act of love'.

Clarence House declined to comment on whether the Prince of Wales was supportive of the decision for Andrew to walk alongside her, and Kensington Palace has yet to comment on where the Duke of Cambridge stands on the issue.

The pre-printed order of service set out the royal family's arrival sequence, with Andrew due to appear at the main entrance with his daughters and their husbands and walk with them to his seat.

Even after the arrangements changed with Andrew travelling from Windsor to London in a car with the Queen, he was then expected to process from Poets' Corner behind the monarch while she walked alongside the Dean of Westminster, rather than the duke being at his mother's side.

The Queen, Prince Philip and Andrew watch a Royal Air Force flypast from the Buckingham Palace balcony on July 10, 2015

The Queen, Prince Philip and Prince Andrew arrive together in an open top carriage for Royal Ascot on June 21, 2001

The Queen with Prince Andrew and Prince Philip watch a flypast from the balcony of Buckingham Palace on July 10, 2005

The Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Andrew (left) and Prince Edward (right) in the grounds of Balmoral when Andrew was a child

Andrew remains in the line of succession, and is also still a Counsellor of State.

In the event the Queen cannot undertake her official duties as sovereign on a temporary basis due to illness or absence abroad, two or more Counsellors of State are appointed by Letters Patent to act in her place.

The role of Counsellor of State is undertaken by any spouse of the monarch and the next four adults in the line of succession, currently Charles, William, Harry and Andrew.

Concern over the arrangements, which could only be changed with legislation, has been raised in recent weeks after Charles got Covid and William was away in Dubai at the same time.
A Ukrainian family-of-ten have revealed their mammoth 20-day journey across the worn-torn country as they finally arrived in Britain.

The Starkovas told how they fled Russian bombs dropped on their home city of Kharkiv before escaping to the UK via 13 countries.

Mother Valeriia, 37, said they were relieved to feel safe but added they 'cannot feel happy now' while their countrymen are still being peppered by artillery.

The four-generational family, ranging in age from ten to 90, have settled in Britain through the government's Ukraine Family Scheme.

They were sponsored by businessman Mick Swinhoe, 52, and are living in a house he owns next to his own home in Caldecote, rural Cambridgeshire.

The Starkovas told how they fled Russian bombs dropped on their home city of Kharkiv before escaping to the UK via 13 countries

Ludmila Starkova, 90, (right) who fled Kharkiv in the Ukraine with her family following the Russian invasion, talks to Rend Platings in her new home in Caldecote near Cambridge

Valeriia Starkova and her daughter Kamila with their dog Florie, at their new home

Left to right: Valeriia Starkova with her daughter Kamila, mother Iryna, father Mykola and great grandmother Halyna, who all fled their home in Kharkiv in the Ukraine following the Russian invasion, at their new home in Caldecote near Cambridge

Mick Swinhoe's property in Caldecote near Cambridge which is the new home of the Starkova family

Mick Swinhoe: The kind-hearted businessman who is chair of an engineering firm Mick Swinhoe is chairman and co-founder of Cambridge-based engineering consultancy firm, Z-Tech Control Systems. He started the company more than two decades ago and boasts over 30 years' experience in industrial automation, electrical and mechanical systems. Before founding Z-Tech in 2000, Mr Swinhoe spent over of a decade with Northumbrian Water maintaining water and wastewater sites followed by four years as Operations Manager for a system integration company delivering automation projects to the UK water industry. He has also earned management qualifications from Durham University and holds a HNC in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Mick Swinhoe shows Iryna Starkova and her grandchildren around the kitchen of their new home Mr Swinhoe, 52, said he bought the house next to his own in Caldecote just before the war broke out, and he initially planned to use it as a 'project house'. The executive at an industrial automation company changed his plans, and after posting on Facebook groups he was connected with a family. Mr Swinhoe said he wants the house to be used for 'something more useful until I do something else with it'. 'It's a better use for it really,' he said. 'I can do what I want to do later when things get better.' Mr Swinhoe said his two daughters, aged 11 and 15, are 'really delighted' there are three children among the Ukrainian family of 10, and he said they will be able to help integrate them into school. Advertisement

The Starkovas appeared on GMB this morning and told of their 'relief' at finishing their 20-day trip through 13 countries including Romania.

Valeriia said: 'We feel safe because we have a place to stay, we are so relived now it's all finished. All the scary things are finished for us.

'But there are still a lot of people out there struggling with the war. We cannot feel happy now, we will be hopefully when this has all finished but we are fine here.'

Asked about the mammoth journey, she said: 'It was really hard it took us about 20 days to get here.

'Three days we were travelling the most difficult part - through Ukraine - but until we reached the border with Romania it was quite easy to get there.

'We spent about four days in Romania filling out documents to fill out the visa to come here to UK and passed 13 countries by car.

'It took about 20 days. It was a very hard journey, we had to rent some places, but people were really kind to us.

'Everyone helped us, all landlords were offering us some food, free food and everyone helped us.'

They appeared on the programme from their new home near to their sponsor Mr Swinhoe, who bought the house just before Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine.

The businessman, an executive at an industrial automation firm, purchased the home in Caldecote, eight miles west of Cambridge, as a 'project house'.

But he said he wants it to be used for 'something more useful until I do something else with it'.

He told GMB today: 'It was a bit of a shock really, I contacted Rend at Mums For Ukraine because I was trying to find a big group because I had a whole empty house to use.

'I didn't really want to just get two or three smaller groups, so I contacted Rend very late one night and she called me back immediately.

'Within 24 hours she had hooked me up with a family of ten. I was quite surprised actually how fast it all happened.'

The family are related to Roman Starkov, 38, of Cambridge, a software developer who has lived in the UK for 20 years since travelling to the country to study.

Mr Starkov was critical of the 'arcane' and 'pretty involved' visa process, which he had to help them navigate.

He said: 'You have to fill out arcane forms, and for such a big group there's a lot of repetition, but once that was sorted we went to a visa application centre, they processed us very quickly, that was in Albania.'

He said his 90-year-old grandmother Ludmila does not have a valid international passport and had wanted to stay in Ukraine.

Iryna Starkova and her family look around one of the bedrooms in their new home in Caldecote near Cambridge

Ludmila Starkova, who fled her home in Kharkiv in the Ukraine with her family following the Russian invasion, wipes a tear from her eye at their new home in Caldecote near Cambridge

Iryna Starkova and her family look around their new home in Caldecote near Cambridge

Mr Starkov said: 'On every border that was a challenge. Fortunately, every single border they figured something out and allowed her to pass.'

Eight family members took a flight from Albania to London Luton Airport, while Mr Starkov's sister Valeriia Starkova, 37, and father Mykola Starkov, 59, travelled by car and ferry, arriving four days later.

Travelling by land allowed them to bring more of their belongings and their two dogs, Yorkshire terrier Mikki and mini-Maltese Florie, both aged two.

Mr Starkov said he has 'mixed emotions' now his family have escaped Ukraine to safety.

He said: 'Yes they are safe, that's amazing. They've still lost everything. There's still hope that maybe they can go back and maybe what they left behind will still be there. Maybe not.

'And there's a lot of uncertainty about their future here. Will they fit in, will they find a place, will they feel comfortable? I don't know.'

His sister Miss Starkova said when the war broke out in their city - now besieged by Russian forces - 'it was 5am, we packed a few suitcases and I went to my mum's home and we stayed there for five days as it was so scary to go outside'.

She said: 'We stayed five days in the basement without going anywhere.

'Then we decided that we had to leave as we couldn't sleep, it was so scary. We just put our bags in the cars and went.'

Describing the horrific situation in Kharkiv, she added: 'We were so afraid someone would shoot our car or something like that. Recently friends of my friends were shot like that.

Alikhan Starkova, 10, at his new home in Caldecote near Cambridge

Iryna Starkova and her family look around one of the bedrooms in their new home in Caldecote near Cambridge

Iryna Starkova comforts her daughter Valeriia (left) and granddaughter Kamila at their new home in Caldecote near Cambridge

Iryna Starkova (left) with her family at their new home in Caldecote near Cambridge.

'It was so scary but we managed to go through the borders and when we passed several cities we felt relieved as we couldn't hear those bombs and those scary noises.

'The first night we slept it was so quiet.' She said it was 'such a relief' to arrive at the house where Mr Swinhoe is letting them stay.

Miss Starkova said: 'I can feel maybe I have a home again because I feel that I lost everything that I had. My kids [Alikhan, 10, and Kamila, 11] lost everything.

'I did so much, my family, for us to live there, to earn money, nice place to live, work for kids. We lost in one day everything.

'I had really nice job that I love, (as a) nail technician. I feel that I need to start again from zero.

'I'm so grateful for everyone who supports us and can give us some place to live. I really appreciate it.'

The family were reunited at the home in Cambridgeshire last Tuesday after they separated to travel from Albania to the UK.

They were shown around the home then spent last Tuesday night in a hotel while the property was furnished.

Mr Swinhoe said his two daughters, aged 11 and 15, are 'really delighted' there are three children among the Ukrainian family, and added that they will be able to help integrate them into school.
Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine are heard admitting they've eaten dog meat and raped young girls in horrifying intercepted audio.

In tapped phone calls released by Kyiv secret service the SBU yesterday, Russian soldiers reveal their sick sexual 'conquests' and complain about the quality of years-old ration packs.

An unidentified man presumed to be a family member asks in Russian: 'Are you eating okay at least?'

Cats and dogs across Ukraine have been displaced, abandoned and wounded. This injured pet, which was taken in by the ADA shelter in southeastern Poland, is nursing a serious scratch

A soldier replies: 'We had Alabay (dog) yesterday.'

'Who?', the family member asks.

'Alabay', he replies matter-of-factly.

The stunned man says: 'Are you eating dogs or what?'

Again the soldier replies stoically: 'We have. We wanted some meat.

'We're sick of [ration packs]'.

The soldier goes on to describe the rape of a 16-year-old girl by 'our guys'.

An older woman who could be his mum asks 'Who did it?', to which the soldier says 'three tankers' in his unit.

It's not clear where in Ukraine the Russian fighter is located, nor precisely when the phone call took place.

The footage, which runs to just over a minute, was tweeted by the SBU yesterday morning to more than 400,000 followers.

A flurry of outraged replies followed, with Ukrainians pointing out dogs could one day get their revenge by chewing on the Russian soldiers' corpses.

One tweeter replied: 'It's just the bottom of the bottom ... Satan nervously smokes beside them.'

Another fumed: 'Filth! They will burn in hell.'

But in a twisted irony, dogs have also been seen chewing on the corpses of Russian soldiers, according to graphic tweets posted in the last few days.

Kyiv security service the SBU tweeted the horrifying clip yesterday, prompting furious replies

Ukrainian forces and charities from around the world have worked to rescue vulnerable pets

A woman holds her dog as she flees Irpin, near Kyiv. Despite Russian peace vows, war rages on

In Mariupol, where this man and his dog are seen walking past a block of flats, fighting is fierce

Efforts to rescue vulnerable pets from the war-torn country have been aided by British Army veteran Tom, 34, who has helped save almost 700 cats and days since the invasion of Ukraine began on February 24.

The Yorkshireman, who kept his surname a secret for security reasons, compared his efforts to the sorts of 'military operation' he experienced while in combat.

Tom said: 'It's not just shelter animals that need our help, you have rescues, you have breeders, you have people that have taken in stray and abandoned animals, there must be at least 1,000 locations that have more than 30 dogs.

'There are thousands of them.'

Allegations of war crimes by Russian soldiers have been widely circulated since the start of the war last month.

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken formally accused Putin of war crimes based on 'public and intelligence sources' last week.

Earlier this month Joe Biden branded the Russian president a 'war criminal'.

A petition to try Putin in Nuremberg-style proceedings at the International Criminal Court has almost 1.5million signatures from around the world.

Notable alleged war crimes include the bombing of the Mariupol drama theatre where hundreds of refugees were taking shelter.

Residential areas in cities across Ukraine have also seen continued, indiscriminate artillery fire over the past five weeks.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said this month: 'The Russian Armed Forces have committed and continue to commit multiple war crimes against the civilian population, as well as crimes against humanity.

'All of those and other crimes are being thoroughly documented, laying the groundwork for further probes of international and Ukrainian justice.'
NATO has been defeated by Vladimir Putin calling the alliance's bluff over Ukraine, and should be replaced with a smaller coalition of nations prepared to be more offensive, Britain's former army commander said today.

General Sir Nick Parker called his suggestion 'controversial,' but pointed to the fact that the 30-member alliance - that includes the US, the UK and several European nations - had been unable to prevent the Russian president's invasion of Ukraine.

The former commander of land forces in the British Army said NATO is now in a defensive position, holding the alliance's eastern flank that last expanded in 2004.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that a smaller military alliance would be better suited to 'develop an offensive counter-strategy to Putin.'

General Sir Nick Parker (pictured, file photo) told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that NATO has been defeated by Vladimir Putin calling the alliance's bluff over Ukraine, and should be replaced with a smaller coalition that is better suited to counter the threat posed by Russia

Pictured: Local residents walk near an apartment building destroyed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 30, 2022

Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme about NATO's response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, General Parker said: 'Slightly controversially I suppose, I mean Nato's been defeated, Nato's bluff was called.

'We were unable to stop the Russians trampling all over Ukraine and now Nato is holding the line of the 2004 expansion, along the line of the Baltic states and Poland and Hungary and Romania.

He continued: 'And what it has to do is to defend that line, it's in what in military terms we would call a defensive position. And I don't think it has the capacity to move on to the offensive with its 30 nations all with slightly different views.

'We need to have a smaller coalition of nations who can start to develop an offensive counter-strategy to Putin.'

His comments came as Ukraine offered to drop its ambition to join NATO in a bid to end the war, with peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv set to resume on Friday.

Putin has used NATO's eastward expansion as one of several justifications for his brutal war, and has demanded Ukraine pursues neutrality as a condition to withdraw.

Meanwhile, NATO countries have repeatedly refused requests from Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky to directly aid his country's fight against Moscow's invading forces out of fear of being dragged into a wider conflict with Russia.

Pictured: American army vehicles arrive in the port of Vlissingen, The Netherlands, 29 March 2022. As Russia was massing troops on its border with Ukraine, and since Putin's invasion was launched, NATO has bolstered its troops on its eastern flank

A pilot in an F-16 fighter jet takes part in the NATO international air force exercise Frisian Flag, at Leeuwarden Air Base on March 28, 2022

One request from the embattled president was for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine to help his air force control the skies. The plea was refused over fears that doing so would result in a third World War.

Putin last month ordered Russia's nuclear forces to be put on high alert, and threatened NATO allies with 'consequences greater than any you have faced in history' should they intervene in the Ukraine conflict.

As Russia was massing troops on its border with Ukraine, and since Putin's invasion was launched, NATO has bolstered its troops on its eastern flank.

However, it has ruled out any military intervention in Ukraine itself, saying NATO forces would only fight if Russia moved into the alliance's territory.

NATO was founded in 1949 with 12 founding members, before quickly expanding in the coming years. By the end of the century, it had grown to 19 members.

In 2004, the largest number of new countries was admitted to the alliance with Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia all joining, meaning that NATO had a direct border with Russia for the first time.

Four countries have joined since, with North Macedonia being the last nation to enter the fold in 2020. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine have all formally expressed their aspirations to join.

The prospect of Ukraine and George both joining NATO has in particular infuriated Putin. Russian forces have invaded both countries in the last 15 years.

Putin (pictured Wednesday) has used NATO's eastward expansion as one of several justifications for his brutal war, and has demanded Ukraine pursues neutrality as a condition to withdraw his troops from his neighbouring country

Since Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed. Against the expectations of many, Ukraine has mounted a staunch defence and have managed to stop Russia from making significant ground.

Last week, a NATO official said between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting. Ukraine claims as many as 16,000 have been killed.



During peace talks on Tuesday in Istanbul, the faint outlines of a possible peace agreement seemed to emerge when the Ukrainian delegation offered a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral.

This would see it drop its bid to join Nato, as Moscow has long demanded - in return for security guarantees from a group of other nations.

Top Russian officials responded positively, with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying that Ukraine's willingness to accept neutrality and look outside Nato for security represents 'significant progress', according to Russian news agencies.

The talks between Ukraine and Russia will resume on Friday by video, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, has said.

But scepticism of statements from Russia about deescalation by Zelensky and others seemed well-founded, as shells continued to fall on Ukraine on Thursday.

Top Russian military officials have said in recent days that their main goal now is the 'liberation' of Donbas, the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial heartland where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014. Western officials say Moscow is reinforcing its troops in the Donbas.

Some analysts have suggested that the focus on the Donbas and the pledge to de-escalate may merely be an effort to put a positive spin on reality: Moscow's ground forces have been thwarted - and have taken heavy losses - in their bid to seize the capital and other cities.

On Thursday, the director of GCHQ launched an unprecedented attack on Vladimir Putin, claiming his bungled 'personal war' in Ukraine has backfired badly.

Sir Jeremy Fleming (pictured, file photo) said today the command and control of Russia 's campaign was in 'chaos' in his first public statements on the invasion

In an excoriating verdict on the 'failing' invasion, Sir Jeremy Fleming said the command and control of Russia's campaign was in 'chaos' in his first public statements on the invasion.

The spy chief revealed new intelligence showing that ill-prepared Russian soldiers are refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

He also claimed Putin's own advisors are lying to him about Russia's startling losses, speaking to the despot's isolation and authoritarian approach.

Sir Jeremy said Putin's 'misjudgments,' had forced him to adopt plan B  'barbarity against civilians and cities'.

The head of Britain's eavesdropping intelligence agency also warned China not to be 'too closely aligned' with a country that wilfully breaks all the rules and 'norms for a new global governance'.
China's March manufacturing activity contracts

11:31, March 31, 2022 By Ouyang Shijia ( Chinadaily.com.cn

A staff member works on an assembly line at a farm machinery manufacturing company in Jining city, East China's Shandong province, Feb 15, 2022. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's manufacturing activity contracted in March amid pressures from domestic COVID-19 cases and uncertainties from geopolitical tensions, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

The official purchasing managers index for China's manufacturing sector was at 49.5, compared with 50.2 in February, data from the NBS showed, slipping into contraction after staying in the expansionary territory for four consecutive months.

A PMI reading above 50 points to expansion, while one below signals contraction.

Zhao Qinghe, a senior statistician with the NBS, said the contraction in manufacturing was a combined result of shrinking demand, supply shocks and rising commodity prices amid a complicated external environment and domestic COVID-19 cases.

A sub-index for raw material costs rose to 66.1 in March from 60 a month earlier, while a gauge of new orders came in at 48.8 compared with 50.7 in February, slipping into the contraction territory. And the sub-index for production came in at 49.5 versus 50.4 a month earlier.

China's non-manufacturing PMI was at 48.4, after 51.6 in February. And the country's official composite PMI, which includes both manufacturing and services activity, came in at 48.8, compared with 51.2 in February, according to the NBS.

(Web editor: Zhong Wenxing, Liang Jun)
Lapsus$ is back in the hacking business. The hackers just breached confidential data from another giant tech company, Globant.

Lapsus$ has been attacking major tech companies this year one after the other and Globant seems to be of no exception.

Globant issued a press release following the leak. The IT and software consultancy company confirmed the hacking by the Lapsus$ data extortion group. The breached data in Globant is reported to be sensitive information including administrator credentials and source code.

Part of the leak included the release of a 70GB archive of data stolen from Globant described as "some customers' source code" by the malicious actors.

Globant stated, "We have recently detected that a limited section of our company's code repository has been subject to unauthorized access".

Lapsus$ Hacking Globant

Lapsus$ shared the data they breached from Globant in their Telegram group chat.

There has been a screenshot of what the group claims to be an archived directory from Globant. The photo contains folder names that appear to be those of the company's customers.

Abbott, apple-health-app, C-span, Fortune, Facebook, DHL, and Arcserve are just a few of the source code folders listed in the screenshot.

The hacking inside Globant's systems may have occurred on March 29th according to the metadata associated with the entries seen in the screenshot.

After posting the hacked information, Lapsus$ added another set of data they have breached in Globant in the form of credentials that they claim will grant administrators access to various platforms used by Globant for development, review, and collaboration on customer code.

The data from the follow-up post is stated to originate from Jira, Confluence, GitHub, and Crucible.

In addition, Lapsus$ made a third post containing a torrent file containing approximately 70GB of data stolen from Globant.

Read Also: Lapsus$ Hacking: Ubisoft Becomes the Next Target After NVIDIA and Samsung

As reported by Bleeping Computer, threat intelligence company SOS stated: "In terms of legitimacy, going just by volume alone it's hard to fabricate that amount of data - however samples of the data have been cross referenced with live systems and other methods that show the leak is legitimate and very significant as far as Globant and Globant's impacted customers are concerned."

SOS, a U.K.-based threat intelligence service, stated that the data exposed by Lapsus$ includes customer information, code repositories with a large number of private keys like full chain, web server SSL certificates, Globant server, and API keys.

Lastly, one of the repositories contains information about the Bluecap app, which provides financial sector consulting services and was acquired by Globant in late 2020.

Lapsus$ Hacking and Arrest

Lapsus$ has become a well-known threat actor in the industry for a while now. Lapsus$ hack was able to compromise 1TB of data from NVIDIA. Lapsus$ also leaked 190 GB of data from Samsung.

In addition, Microsoft confirmed recently that they were also hacked by the group not too long ago. Microsoft also revealed that they have been eyeing the threat actor for a while now.

The threat actors are known for breaching massive data from companies like NVIDIA, Samsung, Microsoft and Ubisoft.

Lapsus$ is a fairly new hacking group, making them quite notorious in the cybersecurity world. And despite their newness, the group was successful in targeting tech giants.

Globant is also a tech giant in its field of IT and software development with more than 16,000 employees worldwide. It is currently based in Luxembourg and has a long list of well-known customers, including the Metropolitan Police, SmileDirectClub, Autodesk, Electronic Arts, Santander, Interbank, and Royal Caribbean.

According to Ars Technica, just recently, police authorities in the U.K. arrested seven teenagers believed to be mainly connected with Lapsus$.

Lapsus$ is speculated to have been formed primarily by teenagers who were more likely motivated by the desire to make a name for themselves in the hacking community rather than by financial gain.

Related Article: Lapsus$ Group Leaks Alleged Samsung Confidential Data
Liz Truss pushed greater defence co-operation between the UK and India today amid UK attempts to cut the Modi government's reliance on Russian hardware and boost support for Ukraine sanctions.

The Foreign Secretary met her counterpart Subrahmanyam Jaishankar this morning - as Russia's Sergei Lavrov also visits the country to try to bolster backing for the Putin regime.

India, which is heavily reliant on Moscow for arms imports, has so far refused to join in western efforts to exert politician and economic pressure on Vladimir Putin. It abstained in a series of votes in the United Nations on the issue.

Prime minister Narendra Modi has also steered away from publicly condemning the actions of Russia - a long-standing ally dating back to the Cold War.

But Ms Truss met Dr Jaishankar and discussed ways to strengthen defense ties, apparently to reduce India's strategic dependence on Russia, officials said.

And they appeared together this afternoon at a Policy Exchange event, where they discussed future co-operation.

Ms Truss highlighted opportunities for closer technology collaboration as well as a full free trade deal that is being negotiated.

She added: 'There is an opportunity there for us to work closely with India including Indian production of key pieces of defence equipment, that ensure greater security but also share the technology and IP (intellectual property) and technology transfer.

'These are all areas were to be frank we have not done enough in the past, I don't think we have operated to our maximum potential and a strong India and a strong UK and a strong partnership between India and the UK is not just good for us, its good for the world, because I think the things we do are positive and make a positive contribution.'

Ms Truss met with her Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (left), and discussed ways to strengthen defense ties

Truss and Lavrov met in a bruising diplomatic encounter in Moscow (pictured) before the war started

Narendra Modi has steered away from publicly condemning the actions of Russia - a long-standing ally dating back to the Cold War

Ms Truss and Lavrov, who clashed in a confrontation in Moscow before the war, are not meeting during their parallel trips.

The hangdog Russian will use his visit to push for closer trade links to help reduce the impact of economic sanctions imposed by the West on Russia following the invasion.

International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said today she understood India's reluctance to speak out. She told Sky News: 'We understand why they've chosen to sit on the fence at the moment - they, you know, have connections in both directions.

'But for us, it's really important to see all countries who believe in democracy and the rule of law, and indeed defending your own territorial borders and wanting to have that sovereignty, respected by those around you, to stand up for that.'

Earlier this month, India agreed to import three million barrels of heavily discounted Russian oil as Moscow was forced to drop prices due to the effect of international sanctions.

Although the amounts are relatively small, there are concerns that volumes could increase in the coming months, potentially weakening the impact of economic restrictions.

It also uses a lot of Russian military hardware. Its air force and navy use the Mig 29 and Sukhoi Su-30 fighters. The navy's sole operational aircraft carrier, INS Vikramaditya is a former Soviet vessel sold to New Delhi in the late 1980s.

In a statement before the talks, Ms Truss said: 'Deeper ties between Britain and India will boost security in the Indo-Pacific and globally, and create jobs and opportunities in both countries.

'This matters even more in the context of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and underlines the need for free democracies to work closer together in areas like defence, trade and cyber security.

International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said 'It's really important to see all countries who believe in democracy and the rule of law, and indeed defending your own territorial borders and wanting to have that sovereignty, respected by those around you, to stand up for that.'

'India is an economic and tech powerhouse, the world's largest democracy and a great friend of Britain, and I want to build an even closer relationship between our two nations.'

Ms Truss will use her visit to confirm 70 million of UK investment funding to support the development of renewable energy in India, which remains one of the world's biggest users of hydrocarbons.

She will also announce a new joint cybersecurity programme aimed at protecting online infrastructure in both countries from attacks.

Since taking office in 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has set great store by building relations with India, and last year struck a landmark agreement with Mr Modi to strengthen ties over the coming decade.

It came as China joined Russia in condemning 'illegal sanctions' against Moscow. Lavrov and counterpart Wang Yi met in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui today.

The key allies spoke of their joint plans for a 'just, democratic world order' in a sign of strengthening ties during a period of heightened global tensions after Putin's savage Ukraine invasion.

Russia is looking to China for support and partnerships as it becomes ever more isolated from global financial systems and supply chains.

China is hosting two days of meetings on Afghanistan but the ministers instead slammed sanctions and spoke about the situation in Ukraine.

The invasion is viewed as a bellwether on China's stance towards Taiwan, which like Ukraine is considered highly vulnerable to an attempted land grab from its superpower neighbour.
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Hunter Biden has been seen smiling with his family as they left a celebrity restaurant in California.

The President's son was pictured leaving the Giorgio Baldi restaurant in Santa Monica with his wife Melissa and their young son Beau on Wednesday night.

It came less than a week after Melissa was seen soaking up the sun in a red bikini while enjoying a beach day with friends in Brazil.

The South African activist, 35, was spotted frolicking in the ocean and sipping on a coconut drink on the sand with two male pals during the afternoon outing in Rio de Janeiro.

The family trip to Giorgio Baldi came the same day the Washington Post confirmed the authenticity of his laptop which showed his foreign business dealings - nine months after first receiving a copy and a full year after DailyMail.com authenticated it.

The Post had cyber forensics experts validate material on the abandoned laptop hard drive, using similar methods that experts hired by DailyMail.com used back in March 2021.

After months of publishing articles suggesting the laptop could be Russian disinformation, the analysis published by the Post on Wednesday marks a startling U-turn.

Its admission also follows the New York Times, which quietly noted 1,200 words into a long story published earlier this month that it had also validated material from the laptop.

The laptop has been at the center of controversy surrounding the Biden family, with files found on Biden's personal computer including emails showing dodgy business dealings between the President's son and foreign officials.

Hunter Biden has been seen laughing with his family as they left the celebrity restaurant Giorgio Baldi in California on Wednesday night, just hours after The Washington Post finally admitted his laptop showing his foreign business dealings is real

The President's son (left) was pictured leaving the Giorgio Baldi restaurant in Santa Monica with his wife Melissa (right) and their child on Wednesday night

Hunter Biden's wife Melissa Cohen enjoyed a day on the beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Saturday

Cohen was joined by two male friends during the trip to Brazil, days before enjoying a night out with Hunter and their child

Melissa is seen walking on the beach with two buff male friends during a trip to Brazil last week

Files revealed Biden has had business dealings with the state-controlled Chinese energy company CEFC and even made keys for his family - including Joe and Jill Biden - to use at his office.

But The Post spent months ignoring stories arising from the laptop and prominently reporting claims that it was 'Russian disinformation'.

Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson promised on Wednesday to keep investigating the Biden's family's foreign entanglements and accused media organization of suppressing damaging stories about the President's son.

'It's clear the corporate media was complicit in helping Joe Biden get elected by suppressing what they knew would be damaging stories. They covered up for him in 2020 and continue to cover up for him now,' Johnson said in a statement to DailyMail.com.

'But facts are stubborn things. As the Bidens, the Democrats, and the media are learning, it is difficult to keep them hidden forever.'

'The Washington Post story should be viewed as what Nixon's advisers once termed, a "modified limited hangout,"' Johnson continued.

The term means when one concedes a little, but stonewalls on the rest.

'Senator Grassley and I will continue to investigate the Biden familys foreign financial entanglements and provide the American people with the truth to the best of our abilities,' Johnson added.

The New York Post broke the story of the laptop's contents of the first of three 'misplaced' laptops belonging to Biden in October 2020, which came into computer repairman John Paul Mac Isaac's possession after an 'inebriated' Biden brought it in for repairs to his Delaware shop in April 2019 and never picked it back up.

Republican Senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson promised on Wednesday to keep investigating the Biden's family's foreign entanglements and accused media organization of suppressing damaging stories about the President's son. Pictured: Grassley on the senate floor on Wednesday revealing receipts that claim financial dealings between Hunter Biden and a firm tied to the Chinese government

Files found in Biden's personal computer included emails showing shady business dealings by the current US president's son with foreign officials, and texts that showed him repeatedly using the 'N-word' and accidentally overpaying a prostitute $25,000 from an account linked to his dad.

It also uncovered a 2015 effort by Biden to set up a meeting between Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser at a Ukrainian energy firm, and his father, then-vice President Joe Biden, and other instances of the scion looking to cash in on his family connections.

In its Wednesday piece, the Washington Post claimed it tried to get hold of a copy of the laptop's hard drive in October 2020 but failed, and didn't get its hands on the laptop drive until June 2021, when Jack Maxey gave them a copy.

Maxey, a former co-host of ex-Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon's podcast the War Room, also gave DailyMail.com a copy in February last year  and has been doggedly trying to get the US's two most prestigious papers to investigate its contents ever since.

The Post accidentally deleted their first copy and had to get Maxey to fly out to their Washington DC office with a new one in October last year, he said.

'I'm not going to disclose the details of our conversations, but I gave them a copy of it in June. I personally delivered it to their offices and met with senior editors,' Maxey told DailyMail.com.

'I had to go a second time in October because they broke the first copy.

'They haven't done anything [until now]. They're not just late to the party, they didn't even show up.'

Photos provided by Maxey show him at the newspaper's offices, and a copy of the laptop hard drive lying on the Post's boardroom table.

Photos provided by Maxey show him at the newspaper's offices last October, and a copy of the laptop hard drive lying on the Post's boardroom table

Jack Maxey, a political activist and former Steve Bannon podcast co-host, who gave DailyMail.com the laptop, said he also provided the Washington Post with a copy last summer

But the Post dismissed the hard drive as 'Russian disinformation' and an 'explainer' piece published in October 2020 played down major revelations including that Joe Biden met with Hunter's business partners, but has since been updated to reflect the paper's new position  admitting that at least some of the material on the laptop is real.

A story based on the laptop's contents published by the newspaper on Wednesday focuses on the millions of dollars Hunter and his uncle, Joe Biden's brother Jim, received from their partnership with a Chinese government-linked oil behemoth CEFC.

The story, which has been previously reported by DailyMail.com and others, includes documents showing Hunter was paid a $1million retainer in 2017 to represent his business partner Patrick Ho, who was being prosecuted by the US government.

Other documents show CEFC wired the Biden family a total $5million.

One startling email among those now validated by the Post indicates the president could have been involved in Hunter's business dealings with the Chinese.

In September 2017 Hunter was planning to open a new office for his multi-million-dollar joint venture with CEFC at the House of Sweden, a Georgetown building home to the Swedish embassy.

He wrote to a building manager: 'please have keys made available for new office mates: Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Jim Biden, Gongwen Dong (Chairman Ye CEFC emissary).

'I would like the office sign ton [sic] reflect the following: The Biden Foundation, Hudson West (CEFC US).'

'We are very excited and honored to welcome your new colleagues!' the manager replied.

Biden Foundation board member Jeffrey Peck told the Post: 'There was never any thought  like zero thought or consideration  given to that building.'

The House of Sweden said they made the keys but Hunter never picked them up.

The Post's admission, hot on the heels of that of the New York Times, coincides with an apparent growing momentum in Hunter's federal prosecution over reported tax fraud, money laundering and illegal foreign lobbying allegations.

The New York Times reported that material from the laptop is part of the FBI's evidence in the case.

Hunter abandoned his laptop at a Delaware computer store in 2019. John Paul Mac Isaac, the store owner, gave a copy of its hard drive to Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani in September 2020, after handing over the original to the FBI the previous year.

Giuliani reportedly leaked documents and photos from the drive to the New York Post, and also gave a whole copy of the drive to Bannon and his podcast co-host Maxey.

The New York Post published excerpts of emails and photos from the laptop ahead of the 2020 election, but without authentication they were widely dismissed as fake or 'Russian disinformation'.

In spring last year DailyMail.com hired Brad Maryman, an expert who founded the FBI's cyber forensics unit, and his firm Maryman & Associates to analyze the laptop.

Their report showed the laptop was real. From then on, DailyMail.com began to reveal its sordid and potentially incriminating contents over the following year.

Using the same forensic tools as federal and state law enforcement in criminal investigations, Maryman & Associates found a total of 103,000 text messages, 154,000 emails and more than 2,000 photos on the hard drive.
Britain is spending 7million each month storing excess PPE that may never be used by NHS staff, new audit figures show, as the Government vows to pursue firms who overcharged for the protective equipment at the height of the Covid pandemic.

Billions of PPE items remain unsuitable for frontline use and there were 'inconsistencies' between the volume of PPE ordered and what the Department for Health and Social care received, a National Audit Office report found.

Among the damning findings from the spending watchdog include the fact 1.5billion items of PPE are being held in storage that have passed their expiry date, with the DHSC incurring penalty charges of almost 500m for storing PPE in containers longer than anticipated.

More than half of VIP fast-lane contracted suppliers - firms recommended by ministers, MPs and government officials - had provided unusable items.

And the department is continuing to manage 176 contracts, whose supplies and quality of PPE have been disputed by the government, which carry a risk to an estimated 2.7bn of taxpayer-backed funds, the NAO adds.

A cross-party Commons committee has since urged health officials to 'get a grip' on the PPE contracts, while minister Jacob Rees-Mogg says the government will 'be after' any cowboy companies who hiked prices at the onset of the pandemic.

It comes amid claims at least one firm allegedly sold Whitehall personal protective equipment 'at three times the price' they bought it for.

Shocking new figures reveal Britain is spending 7million each month storing excess PPE that may never be used by NHS staff, while billions of pounds worth of taxpayer-backed cash remains at risk. [File image]

Billions of PPE items remain unsuitable for frontline use and there were 'inconsistencies' between the volume of PPE ordered and what the Department for Health and Social care received, a National Audit Office report found

Britain's taxpayers are continuing to foot the bill for masks, gowns and gloves procured more than two years ago, after it was revealed last month that almost 9bn had been wasted on personal protective equipment during the pandemic.

Previous reports provided an eye-watering illustration of the scale of waste, as much of the Covid kit procured at the start of the pandemic was faulty or never used before its sell-by date.

Other problems included failed quality tests, face masks ordered with the wrong loops and gowns that were the wrong size or sent in the wrong packaging.

Ministers paid hugely over the odds and were left with equipment that later crashed in value. In all, 8.7billion has had to be written off by the Department of Health and Social Care.

Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg today warned the Government is after 'anyone who has overcharged us' when asked about a company allegedly selling Whitehall personal protective equipment (PPE) 'at three times the price' they bought it for

Tory peer Michelle Mone was accused of using her position to help PPE Medpro win a 203m contract, despite her and her billionaire husband having close links to the company

How taxpayer cash was thrown away on dodgy PPE deals Hedge fund's masks 'not tight enough' Ayanda  253m Around 50million FFP2 masks produced by Ayanda, which won deals worth 253million, were not ultimately distributed as they had ear-loops rather than head-loops, meaning they were unlikely to fit tightly enough. The company said it delivered according to its contract. Miami jeweller's gowns had to be suspended Saiger LLC  70m The use of ten million gowns, imported via Miami-based jewellery designer Michael Saiger, was suspended because officials put the wrong packaging specifications on the contract. Pest firm's aprons were the 'wrong size' Pestfix  350m Officials are locked in a legal battle with Pestfix, a pest control company based in West Sussex, after a batch of tight-fitting FFP3 masks failed quality tests and six million aprons were rejected for use by the NHS because they were the wrong size. The company delivered its batch of IIR masks, two million gloves and other products to the contracted standard. The wasted RAF flight Selegna  value unknown At the height of the pandemic an RAF flight was sent to pick up a shipment of 400,000 Turkish gowns, supplied by Selegna, which turned out to be useless. Baroness Bra in sleaze accusations PPE Medpro  203m Tory peer Michelle Mone has been accused of using her position to help PPE Medpro win a 203million contract, despite her and her billionaire husband having close links to the company. Case of PPE resold for 5 Clandeboye Agencies  107.5m A box of 250 items of PPE produced by Clandeboye Agencies, a sweet wholesaler based in Northern Ireland, cost the taxpayer 1,000 but was resold in an online auction for just 5. Clandeboye insisted it delivered what was ordered at a competitive price. The million-mask recall Polyco Healthline  56m A million masks supplied by Polyco Healthline for intensive care wards had to be recalled because they did meet safety standards. Polyco said the product 'narrowly failed' because tests were only conducted on men. Hancock's boost for furniture maker Monarch Acoustics  29m Matt Hancock, then health secretary, made a series of recommendations to the 'VIP lane' for purchasing contracts including Monarch Acoustics, a furniture manufacturer. The firm had just 41,000 in the bank before the pandemic, but its 29million PPE contract helped it increase profits by 4,700 per cent. There are understood to have been no concerns raised about the quality of the products. Advertisement

The latest analysis from Gareth Davies, chief auditor to the House of Commons, acknowledged the Department was required to 'rapidly buy PPE in unprecedented circumstances'.

But he warned more than 150 contracts still managed by the DHSC 'may not achieve full value for money, with an estimated 2.7bn at risk'.

Labour MP Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the Commons public accounts committee said: 'The numbers are staggering  over 30bn items of PPE received so far with 5bn more on the way and 3.6bn items that can't be used by frontline services.

'Storage alone has cost over 700m, with DHSC continuing to spend 7m a month storing PPE it doesn't need.

'Whatever forbearance the taxpayer may have had at the start of the pandemic, this will quickly wear thin if DHSC can't now manage the consequences.

'The department must urgently get a grip of its PPE stocks and focus on protecting value for taxpayers. It has to claw back contract costs where it can, get rid of unusable PPE, and cut down on expensive storage.'

The NAO's report stated of PPE which has been received, 17.3 billion items (55 per cent) were sent to frontline staff, but 14.1 billion items - worth 8.5bn - remain either in one of 50 warehouses, with suppliers, or in shipping containers.

By November 2021 it had cost the DHSC 737m to store PPE, with 436m of that coming under penalty charges because health bosses failed to move the items out of shipping containers in time.

It comes as Jacob Rees-Mogg today warned the Government is after 'anyone who has overcharged us' when asked about a company allegedly selling Whitehall personal protective equipment (PPE) 'at three times the price' they bought it for.

Mr Rees-Mogg's comments came as shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Hopkins told the Commons: 'We know they handed hundreds of millions of pounds of our money to an offshore company involving a Tory peer, created just days before and without any transparency, which sold Government PPE at three times the price they bought it for.

'They are now in mediation because it wasn't even fit for use. And millions of items are now stuck in storage costing us even more.

'They refused even now to reveal what they know about the company in question. So perhaps, he will answer this.

'When will we finally get the promised Procurement Bill and what safeguards will be in it to stop yet more public money being wasted and end the so-called emergency bypassing of procurement regulations?'

Brexit opportunities minister Mr Rees-Mogg replied: 'This is the classic socialist point of view that we shouldn't have done anything, we shouldn't have done anything to get PPE urgently... We should have sat comfortably upon our hands and allowed PPE to not be provided around the country.

'The Government got on with doing the job that was necessary. Of course, it ensures value for money and anyone who has overcharged us, let them be under no doubt, we are after them.'

Among those to make small fortunes from PPE contracts was banker Tim Horlick who sourced 253million of PPE from Asia after his firm Ayanda was fast-tracked by an adviser to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

Pest control firm Pestfix, whose owner Dan England was dubbed the 'bird repeller', had just 18,000 in the bank when it scooped a 348million contract for PPE.

Several contracts worth 679million were handed to Anthony Hazell, a 36-year-old from south-east London, despite his background being in interior design.

Among those to make small fortunes from PPE contracts was banker Tim Horlick (pictured with his ex-wife Nicola) who sourced 253million of PPE from Asia after his firm Ayanda was fast-tracked by an adviser to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss

Several contracts worth 679million were handed to Anthony Hazell, a 36-year-old from south-east London, despite his background being in interior design

Meanwhile, Tory peer Baroness Mone is being investigated by the Lords standards watchdog over the awarding of Government contracts worth more than 200 million to a PPE supplier.

Lady Mone has consistently denied any 'role or function' in the company, and her lawyers have said she is 'not connected to PPE Medpro in any capacity'.

A DHSC spokesperson said: 'Our priority throughout the pandemic has been saving lives, and we have delivered over 19.1 billion items of PPE to frontline staff to keep them safe.

'Having too much PPE was preferable to having too little in the face of an unpredictable and dangerous virus, given this was essential to keep our NHS open and protect as many people as possible.

'Where contracts are in dispute, we are seeking to recover costs from suppliers and we expect to recover significant amounts of taxpayers' money.'
A pilot who lied about his flying experience and faked his CV in a bid to land a job with British Airways has been jailed for 12 months.

Craig Butfoy, 49, entered false details and altered entries to his logbook to obtain and retain work with British Airways subsidiary BA CityFlyer, based at London City Airport, and former Irish regional airline Stobart Air between April 2016 and March 2018.

Details outlined in court papers included an allegation he falsely claimed to have flown 1,610 hours as a captain in a job application.

He was also accused of giving false details on his CV, including that he had held a private pilots licence since 1998, and fabricated documents - including a training course certificate.

Butfoy, of Matfield in Kent, was jailed for 12 months at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday, having earlier pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud.

Jonathan Spence, general counsel at the Civil Aviation Authority, said: 'The Civil Aviation Authoritys prosecution and the sentence imposed show that offences of this kind are taken very seriously by the Civil Aviation Authority and the courts.

'Pilot integrity is at the heart of aviation safety and we will take all steps necessary to maintain that position.'

Butfoy faked his CV to land and keep a job with British Airways subsidiary BA CityFLyer. Pictured: A BA CityFlyer Embraer 190LR aircraft

Are Lingus had to cancel a number of flights after Stobart Air ceased trading due to a lack of demand

BA CityFlyer operates Embraer 190 aircraft from London City Airport to domestic and European destinations.

Aer Linguss regional carrier Stobart Air collapsed in June last year after running into financial trouble during the coronavirus pandemic.
A Tinder user has told how her love match trashed her flat and filled her shoes with baked beans when she dumped him after just four weeks' dating.

Alisha Moy matched with Jordan Cobbold on the dating app, but within a month she decided to end the relationship.

In revenge, 'needy' 21-year-old Cobbold used a key to sneak into her flat while she was at work.

Alisha Moy, 20, from Ipswich, Suffolk matched last year with Jordan Cobbold, 21, shortly after she had left home and moved into a new flat

After four weeks, Ms Moy told Cubbold, pictured, that their relationship was over

Cubbold broke into Ms Moy's flat after being dumped and filled her shoes withbaked beans and tinned spaghetti

Ms Moy returned home to find her footwear filled with beans and tinned spaghetti, as well as damaged walls, furniture, clothes and brand new electrical appliances.

The 20-year-old said: 'This was my first home and Jordan completely violated it. Thanks to him I suffer with trust issues now. I despise him.'

Ms Moy moved out of the family home and into her first flat, in Ipswich, Suffolk, in January last year.

She said: 'I was single at the time and had been using Tinder on and off for a while.

'I was looking for a long term relationship but, until Jordan, I'd never met up with any of my matches and really just used Tinder to chat with old school friends.

'But I wanted to meet Jordan in person, and after we'd been chatting for a while I invited him round to my place.

'I was attracted to him - he dressed well and looked like he worked out.'

Ms Moy said she had only been seeing Cobbold a couple of weeks when he suggested taking the spare key to her flat.

She said: 'It was on the kitchen worktop. He thought it would be nice if he let himself in while I was at work so he'd be there when I got home.

'I didn't really get the chance to say no - so then he had a key to my flat. It was really playing on my mind and I remember calling my mum because I was worried about it.'

He also smeared the walls of the flat with bean juice and various other condiments

Cubbold also cut the cords of several of Ms Moy's appliances as well as covering electrical equipment in cooking sauce

Despite her initial attraction to Cobbold, Ms Moy soon realised their relationship was heading nowhere.

She said: 'Things turned weird. We'd be watching a film and he'd just burst into tears for no reason. I'd ask him what the problem was, but he'd just ignore me.

'Then, when we got together, he started saying stuff like "this is the stage of the relationship when everything starts going wrong".

'We'd only been seeing each other a matter of weeks! It was so confusing, I couldn't understand why he was being so intense and needy.'

Ms Moy said she sent Cobbold a message to tell him their assignation was at an end.

In response, Ms Moy claimed Cobbold 'blocked her'. She thought this was proof he understood their relationship was over.

She said: 'The next morning I went to work for 8am and didn't get home until 6pm.

'I knew something was wrong as soon as I walked in the hallway - I usually leave all the interior doors open, but someone had closed them all.

'I opened my living room door and just burst into tears at the sight in front of me.

'He'd pulled my shoes out of the little cloakroom and poured beans and spaghetti in there.

'There were condiments splattered all over the walls and cooking sauce poured all over my vacuum cleaner.'

Ms Moy said she walked through to her kitchen where she found brand new appliances had had their cables cut through.

Cubbold was ordered to pay Ms Moy 1,750 in compensation and 425 in court costs, and was given a five-year restraining order

She said her father had given her some cash for her birthday and she used the money to buy some kitchen equipment such as a kettle and a microwave.

She said: 'Leads for the kettle, microwave and coffee maker had been cut through. They'd literally only been in there for a day. I hadn't even used the microwave.

'The fridge freezer had been turned off and cooking oil poured all over the place.'

In her bedroom, Ms Moy found her make-up trashed, shower gel poured in her drawers, plus more appliances and phone chargers with severed cables.

The bathroom was strewn with red bubble bath and a shoe had been chucked down the toilet.'

She said she was in tears when she rang her mother who then contacted the police on her behalf.

When police arrived she said she believed Cobbold was responsible and he was arrested.

Her flat required intensive cleaning while some of the electrical equipment had to be dumped.

She said the damage caused by her former partner cost an estimated 1,250.

She said: 'It was heartbreaking. It took months before I felt safe again.'

Ms Moy said she has deleted Tinder from her phone and has since met a new man.

Cobbold appeared at Ipswich Crown Court in January after previously pleading guilty to criminal damage and one count of burglary after he took a necklace which he had given Ms Moy on her birthday.

He got a two-year community order, with 30 rehabilitation activity days and 180 hours of unpaid work.

He was also ordered to pay Ms Moy 1,750 in compensation and 425 in court costs, and was given a five-year restraining order.
Ukraine has given Russia a slap in the face with its own parody version of the Oscars chronicling its seven best video moments of the war so far.

The Defence Ministry announced awards including Best Picture for a burning Russian warship after it was struck by a ballistic missile in the Black Sea, and Best Cinematography for the dramatic downing of a helicopter.

Meanwhile the Ukrainian tractors who towed away Russian tanks were awarded Best Supporting Actor in the country's war effort.

It is the latest example of Ukraine winning the information war against Russia, with its official state accounts regularly posting viral memes to win support around the world.

Meanwhile Russia has continued its disinformation tactics online, claiming success in its 'denazification operation' despite its troops failing to capture a single major city after five weeks of war, and some units retreating back to Belarus.

Here is a rundown of the videos given the top prizes in the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine Oscars 2022.

Best Picture: Russian Warship, Go F*** Yourself in Berdyansk

Ukraine's Defence Ministry awarded the footage of a Russian warship being destroyed with the Best Picture at its online Oscars ceremony

The coveted Best Picture award was given to footage showing a huge Russian ship being destroyed just days after it had been filmed unloading reinforcements at a captured port.

Last week, the navy scored a direct hit on 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.

Video showed thick black 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.

The Ukrainian navy 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 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

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.

It remains the largest ship that Ukrainian forces have managed to strike so far in a major loss to Putin's beleaguered military.

The title of the video in the Ukrainian Oscars, 'Russian Warship, Go F*** Yourself', refers to the phrase previously uttered by state border guards on Snake Island when they were asked by Russians to surrender, before they were taken prisoner.

Best Supporting Actor: Ukrainian Tractor in The Taming of the Shrew

Footage of Russian tanks being towed away by tractors became one of the defining images of the brave resistance among Ukrainian civilians.

Many Russian armoured vehicles emblazoned with the Z war symbol have been captured, abandoned or destroyed in Putin's faltering invasion.

Footage of Russian tanks being towed away by tractors became one of the defining images of the resistance among Ukrainian civilians

Farmers used their trusty tractors to move the vehicles of war in one of the early signs of dated Russian equipment

Farmers used their trusty tractors to move the vehicles of war in one of the early signs of dated Russian equipment.

Lack of fuel and munitions, poor tactics, low morale and faults have hampered Russian advances and made many tank regiments sitting ducks for Ukraine.

In one video, a bystander is heard saying: 'That's huge! They stole a Russian tank!'

The farmer replies: 'I towed this one for our troops, and now I'll go get more.'

Best International Feature Film: Bayraktar, The Song of a Turkish Guest

The international award was given to Turkey for its Bayraktar TB2 drones which have been used in airstrikes on Russian forces.

The drones have helped destroy seven armoured fighting vehicles, five artillery pieces, 10 anti-air systems, nine helicopters, two fuel trains, one multiple launch rocket system and 27 ground vehicles, data shows.

The international award was given to Turkey for its Bayraktar TB2 drones which have been used in airstrikes on Russian forces

The drones cost around 3.7million each but the Defence Ministry shows how much of a benefit they have been in the war effort.

They are capable of carrying out aerial strikes against tanks and bunkers, with a maximum altitude of five miles to avoid enemy machine guns.

The drone can also navigate even if it loses GPS signal.

Turkey first developed a prototype for the TB2 in 2007 before the drones reached the final production stage in 2012.

They have previously been used by Azerbaijan against Armenian separatists; Turkish security forces, including their allies in Libya and Syria; and also sold to Ukraine and Qatar.

The drones are 21ft long, have a top speed of 80mph and a range of 93 miles.

Best Cinematography: A Kiss From Stinger

The dramatic downing of a Russian helicopter with a Stinger missile was awarded Best Cinematography in the Oscars parody.

The US-made Stingers can be carried by soldiers, and earlier this month, NATO provided Ukraine with nearly 3,000 of the anti-air weapons.

Ukraine has been asking for more Stingers to continue destroying Russian craft.

The dramatic downing of a Russian helicopter with a Stinger missile was awarded Best Cinematography in the Oscars parody

The US-made Stingers can be carried by soldiers, and earlier this month, NATO provided Ukraine with nearly 3,000 of the anti-air weapons

To operate the weapon, the soldier inserts a Battery Coolant Unit into the handguard, which releases a stream of argon gas into the machine.

It also shoots a chemical energy charge, which powers the indicators and missile.

It is a Man-Portable-Air-Defense System (MANPADS) that uses infrared homing technology to search and strike flying targets.

The Stinger, which sits on the operator's shoulder, was first developed in the US in 1981 and is currently used by more than 18 nations.

To operate the weapon, the soldier inserts a Battery Coolant Unit into the handguard, which releases a stream of argon gas into the machine

The Stinger, which sits on the operator's shoulder, was first developed in the US in 1981 and is currently used by more than 18 nations

Best Song: Anthem of Ukraine by UA girls in Kharkiv Bomb Shelter

Aside from the dramatic videos of explosions, many of the most touching moments have been the human side of the war in Ukraine.

One of those which touched hearts around the world showed children in a Kharkiv bomb shelter singing the country's national anthem.

Kharkiv, Ukraine's second biggest city, has been bombarded with constant shelling since the start of the invasion, destroying many residential buildings and forcing civilians into shelters.

A video which touched hearts around the world showed children in a Kharkiv bomb shelter singing the country's national anthem

Best Actress: Javelin for the powerful performance in Burning Orcs

Another clip shared by the Defence Ministry shows the use of a Javelin anti-tank missile against a Russian armoured vehicle.

Ukrainians are seen celebrating after firing the over-the-shoulder missile and successfully hitting the target.

Javelins work by using infrared systems to lock on to their targets, meaning troops do not need to keep aiming after pulling the trigger.

Once the missile is fired, it ejects from the tube using a small charge - so it can be fired in a confined space - before the main rockets ignite.

The missile then flies up to 490ft into the air before slamming down on its target from above - known as a 'curveball' shot.

Another clip shared by the Defence Ministry shows the use of a Javelin anti-tank missile against a Russian armoured vehicle

Once the missile is fired, it ejects from the tube using a small charge - so it can be fired in a confined space - before the main rockets ignite

Ukrainians are seen celebrating after firing the over-the-shoulder missile and successfully hitting the target

This them especially deadly against tanks because their armour is thinnest on top, although Javelins can also be used to blow up buildings.

Russia still uses T-72 tanks - with dozens of T-72Bs now deployed near Ukraine - and while they have undergone several rounds of improvements since Saddam's day, they are still vulnerable to the missile.

The title of the video uses the derogatory term 'Orcs' used by Ukraine about Russia, referencing the monstrous characters in The Lord of the Rings.

Best Production Design: Ambush, From UA Army With NLAW

A convoy of Russian tanks was destroyed in a Ukrainian ambush in Brovary earlier this month in the video given Best Production Design for its explosive power.

Multiple Russian T-72 tanks and other vehicles were obliterated in the surprise attack from the front and back of the convoy, forcing those who survived to turn and flee.

A convoy of Russian tanks was destroyed in a Ukrainian ambush in Brovary earlier this month in the video given Best Production Design for its explosive power

The devastating artillery strike targeted a column of some 30 tanks and support units, including a fearsome TOS-1 thermobaric launcher, and left Russia mourning the loss of another senior commander.

Drone footage posted online captured the Battle of Brovary, named after the north-eastern Kyiv suburb in which it took place.

It showed explosions around the Russian tanks, releasing plumes of black and grey smoke into the air.

Multiple Russian T-72 tanks and other vehicles were obliterated in the surprise attack from the front and back of the convoy, forcing those who survived to turn and flee

In video released by Ukraines military, a Russian soldier could be heard saying: Commander, the commanders dead!.

Ukraines Ministry of Defence named the dead Russian commander as Colonel Andrei Zakharov, of the 6th Tank Regiment of the 90th Tank Division.

In 2016, he was awarded the Order of Courage by Vladimir Putin, and the two stood shoulder-to-shoulder in photographs.
Baby P's abusive mother Tracey Connelly could cost taxpayers 12,500 after her release - on top of fees for a makeover, probation officers and a psychologist to 'care' for her.

The 40-year-old, who was jailed over the death of her 17-month-old son Peter, found out yesterday she'd been successful in her fourth bid for freedom and could be back on the streets within weeks.

She could therefore be free within weeks, with 20 new licence conditions. They are expected include wearing an electronic tag, a curfew and having her mobile and web use monitored.

She will spend the next few weeks in HMP Low Newton, County Durham, while her release paperwork is finalised, before she is moved to a bail hostel.

A Ministry of Justice source told MailOnline that Connelly could live in the bail hostel for up to 12 weeks, which could cost taxpayers 12,500. She will also receive care from probation officers, a psychologist and hostel workers, topping up the bill.

The most high-profile released prisoners could cost even more because of security and other factors - with the exact cost of her probation only clear after her release.

The killer mother will also be given a makeover so people don't recognise her and a new surname, adding further costs for taxpayers.

In terms of benefits, Connelly could also receive up to 324.84 a month in Universal Credit.

Connelly was reportedly placed on the psychologically informed planned environment unit at Low Newton in 2015, according to the Sun. Places on the 20-bed unit cost about 3,000 a prisoner a year.

An extra cost could be the release itself. When she was released in 2013, it was alleged she was helped out of her Durham jail in a convoy of vehicles carrying 'dummy' obese women.

Sources said that extra vehicles containing women of a similar weight with their faces covered could also be used to throw anyone keen to follow her off the scent.

The same ploy was used when Maxine Carr left prison. In 2004, when Carr left Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire, she was stowed in the footwell of a car at the same time as several similar vehicles also left.

Tracey Connelly, the mother of Baby P, leaving the women's bail hostel where she was housed after her first release from prison in 2013

Peter, who was publicly known as Baby P, died in north London in August 2007 at the hands of his mother, her lover Steven Barker and his brother Jason Owen

Connelly had been imprisoned indefinitely with a minimum term of five years in 2009 for causing or allowing her son's death.

Peter, who was publicly known as Baby P, died in north London in August 2007 at the hands of his mother, her lover Steven Barker and his brother Jason Owen.

He suffered more than 50 injuries, including a snapped spine and eight broken ribs, despite being on the at-risk register and receiving 60 visits from social workers, police and health professionals over the final eight months of his life.

Connelly was released in 2013 on a lifelong licence, but recalled to jail in 2015 after she breached its terms by selling nude photographs of herself on the internet.

She was subject to a specific length of term in prison, but had to wait until the Parole Board - which considers cases roughly every two years - deemed her fit for release.

She had bids for freedom turned down in 2015, 2017, and 2019, when the board refused to release or move her to an open prison. In 2020, she lost another appeal.

The high-profile criminals released on parole Vanessa George Britain's most notorious female paedophile Vanessa George was jailed for a minimum of seven years in 2009 after she sexually assaulted up to 30 babies and toddlers in her care at Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth. However, she was released in 2019 and reportedly put in a probation hostel just six minutes away from a nursery. The hostel costs up to 50,000 a year and is in the Midlands. Karen Matthews Matthews was nicknamed Britains worst mother after she hatched a plot to abduct her daughter Shannon, then aged nine, in February 2008 in an elaborate attempt to claim a 50,000 reward. She was released in 2012 after serving just half her sentence. Matthews was freed from Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire and taken to a secret location believed to be within 30 miles of her former home in Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire. She was reportedly given a full makeover including a new hairstyle before her release to prevent her being recognised in the street, and she will now live under an assumed name. Maxine Carr Maxine Carr was jailed for providing murderer Iam Huntley with a false alibi after the deaths of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Cambridgeshire in August 2002. Carr, from Grimsby, served 21 months of a three-and-a-half year sentence before being released on parole. She was given anonymity for life upon her release in 2004. She was also given a new National Insurance number and passport in a move that is thought to have cost the taxpayer 250,000. Wwhen Carr left Foston Hall prison in Derbyshire, she was stowed in the footwell of a car at the same time as several similar vehicles also left. Advertisement

But yesterday, more than seven years after she was recalled to jail, the board found she does not pose a risk to the public.

Now, a relative of the tragic toddler has also spoken out, telling the Sun: 'Connelly gets chance after chance.

'When will these people learn evil is evil? She's fooled them before and fooled them again.'

Mr Raab, who told the Commons he would ask the Parole Board to reconsider the decision, doubled down on his remarks again today, insisting he will do 'all I can' to stop Britain's most notorious offenders being freed.

'Releasing her was the wrong call then and it still is now,' he wrote in the Sun.

'Decisions to free serious criminals like her, double child killer Colin Pitchfork and rapist John Worboys, undermine public confidence in the Parole Board and the whole criminal justice system.'

Mr Raab said he will apply to the Parole Board asking it to reconsider the plans.

Mr Raab was backed by Shadow Justice Secretary Steve Reed, who described the news as 'disturbing' and said he 'fully supports' efforts to seek a review.

Since being recalled to prison, Connelly has taken part in a 'very intensive' treatment programme from the Ministry of Justice and the NHS over three years and is 'now able to work openly and honestly with professionals', a report added.

The Parole Board said it was satisfied Connelly is suitable for release after hearing she is now considered to be at 'low risk of committing a further offence' and that her probation officers and prison officials support the plan.

Mr Raab was represented throughout the review and his representative 'confirmed that this recommendation was accepted', the report said.

Connelly will be subject to restrictions on her movements, activities and who she contacts, and faces 20 extra licence conditions.

They include living at a specified address, being supervised by probation, wearing an electronic tag, adhering to a curfew and having to disclose her relationships.

Her use of the internet and a phone will be monitored and she has been told she cannot go to certain places to 'avoid contact with victims and to protect children'.

A spokesperson for the Parole Board said: 'We can confirm that a panel of the Parole Board has directed the release of Tracey Connelly following an oral hearing.

'Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.

'Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority.'

The case was so 'emotive' that parole bosses demanded more information on her psychological assessments before a decision was reached, a source told the Sun.

She would have faced another two years behind bars if the board rejected her bid.

Peter, who was publicly known as Baby P, died in north London on August 3 2007 at the hands of his mother, her lover Steven Barker and his brother Jason Owen.

Yesterday, more than seven years after she was recalled to jail, the board found she does not pose a risk to the public, and could therefore be free within weeks, with 20 new licence conditions

Baby P, was tortured to death in 2007 by Connelly's lover Steven Barker (left) and his brother Jason Owen (right) at their home in Tottenham, north London

He suffered more than 50 injuries, which included a snapped spine and eight broken ribs, despite being on the at-risk register and receiving 60 visits from social workers, police and health professionals over the final eight months of his life.

Steven Barker was jailed in 2009 for a minimum of 32 years for torturing the 17-month-old to death and Owen received a six year jail sentence for allowing the toddler to die.

Peter and three other children were sharing the four-bedroom house with their mother, her boyfriend and his brother when he died.

A series of reviews identified missed opportunities for officials to save the toddler's life had they reacted properly to warning signs.

Catflap rapist, child killer and sex predators: High profile criminals set free to strike again Black cab rapist John Worboys The board faced widespread criticism over its handling of the case of the Black Cab rapist  a serial sex offender convicted in 2009 for attacks on 12 women. He was recommended for release in 2018, but just weeks later, the decision was overturned after it was challenged by two of his victims. Double child killer Colin Pitchfork Last year the board allowed the release of Pitchfork, who raped and murdered two 15-year-old girls in the 1980s. However, he was recalled to jail less than three months later after he was caught 'approaching young women'. Christmas Day killer Steven Ling The farm worker was jailed for life in December 1998 after admitting murdering 29-year-old Joanne Tulip in Stamfordham, Northumberland on Christmas Day 1997. The Parole Board recommended earlier this year that he be transferred to a lower security jail, however this was overruled by Justice Secretary Dominic Raab. Catflap rapist Paul Robson Robson was given two life sentences in August 2000 after he broke into a 23-year-old woman's house in Oxford through a cat flap and sexually assaulted her while holding a knife to her throat. He fled an open prison in Boston, Lincolnshire earlier this year and was on the loose for four days, which led to the MoJ insisting Mr Raab will have more control over the transfer of prisoners in the most high-risk cases. Double killer Paul O'Hara O'Hara murdered new girlfriend Cherylee Shennan in 2014 two years after he was freed early from a life term for killing his ex Janine Waterworth, whose parents said their protests that he was still dangerous were ignored by the Parole Board. Jailmate thugs Stephen Unwin and William McFall Stephen Unwin and William McFall, were jailed for raping and murdering a young Vietnamese mother who they had tortured for four hours. They met while serving life for killing OAPs during burglaries. Each was paroled after only 13 years. Drug addict killer George Johnson Long-term drug addict George Johnson killed a hotel worker in 1986 for just 3. Freed in 2006, he battered to death an 89-year-old widow five years later to steal 25 to feed his heroin and crack cocaine habit. The 'Devil's Child' Damien Hanson Damien Hanson murdered a banker in 2004, three months after winning parole. He was seven years into a 12-year term for trying to kill a teenage boy. Known as 'the Devil's Child', he was freed despite a report saying he was a 91 per cent reoffending risk. Bodybuilding killer Douglas Vinter Fitness fan Douglas Vinter knifed his wife Ann White to death after kidnapping her and holding her hostage in 2008. They had married soon after he was freed in 2005  just ten years into a life sentence for murdering a workmate in a railway cabin. Pub landlord murderer Ian Simms Last year the Parole Board freed murderer Ian Simms, despite his refusal to reveal the whereabouts of the remains of his victim. Clerk Helen McCourt, 22, disappeared on her way home in Merseyside in 1988. Her mother lost a legal bid to keep Simms behind bars but a new rule, known as Helen's Law, now makes it harder for killers to get parole if they refused to reveal where a victim's body is. Serial rapist Joseph McCann Blundering probation staff missed a series of chances to recall McCann to jail before he attacked 11 victims. He was given 33 life terms and jailed for at least 30 years for kidnapping, raping and sexually assaulting women and children aged 11 to 71. McCann had been freed from prison by mistake two months before his two-week rampage fuelled by vodka and cocaine when he forced victims into his car at knifepoint. Advertisement

Three of the children, including Peter, were on Haringey's Child Protection Register because of fears they were being neglected.

Connelly, who covered up the abuse of her son, was jailed in 2009 for a minimum of five years after admitting causing or allowing the death of her son Peter.

She was then freed on licence in 2013 but later recalled to prison in 2015 after it was found she had sent indecent images of herself to people obsessed with her notoriety.

The Parole Board considered her case for a third time in November 2019, following previous reviews in 2015 and 2017, and refused to either release her or move her to an open prison.

In 2019, the convict launched a bid to be freed from prison so she could try to spend Christmas with her lover.

She became besotted with a 37-year-old insurance salesman named Paul and told fellow prisoners she want to move in with him in Reading.

The abuser said she believed she was ready to leave prison a 'changed woman'.

Connelly insisted her relationship was genuine because she had known him for many years.

The decision came as Mr Raab insisted the case for reform of the parole system is 'clear and made out'.

Offenders who are subject to life sentences, indeterminate sentences for public protection, extended sentences and certain recall cases are all subject to the parole process, meaning their release must be directed by the Parole Board.

The proposed reforms could see ministers override the Parole Board when it comes to the release of dangerous criminals from jail, with an aim to focus on protecting the public rather than the rights of offenders.

This could include cases involving murder, rape, terrorism and causing or allowing the death of a child.

Victims are also expected to be given the right to attend parole hearings in full for the first time, in a nod to the Conservative Party's 2019 manifesto.

The Parole Board will now be required to take into account submissions made by victims and they will be allowed to ask questions.

The new rules could also see more police, and other people with 'enforcement experience', recruited to sit on Parole Board decision panels.

Mr Raab said it was 'striking' that as of last year only 5% of all Parole Board panel members come from a law enforcement background, telling MPs he believed this was a 'significant deficit'.

Shadow justice secretary Steve Reed said: 'It's crucial that public protection is paramount and that victims are right at the heart of the criminal justice system.

'Currently too many victims feel their views are not taken sufficiently into account either in parole decisions or in sentencing and this leads directly to public safety concerns that must be taken more seriously.'

Setting out his review of the parole system, Mr Raab said: 'Our reforms will ensure that those offenders who present the highest risk to public safety are reviewed more rigorously with additional ministerial oversight.

'Protecting the public is the Government's top priority. The proposals in this review will enforce public safety.'

He added: 'Following the review we have conducted and published today, I believe the case for reform is clear and made out.'

Mr Raab also said a ministerial check would be introduced in cases which involve 'those who have committed the most serious crimes'.

He said: 'I believe the focus in this critical decision-making has become adrift from its original moorings. So this Government will anchor Parole Board decision-making back to the cardinal principle of public protection.

'When it comes to assessing the risk to victims and public safety, we will introduce a precautionary principle to reinforce public confidence in the system and in cases which involve those who have committed the most serious crimes, we will introduce a ministerial check on release decisions exercised by the secretary of state for justice.

'The package of reforms published today will strengthen the focus on public protection at every stage.'

Outlining his plans further, Mr Raab said: 'It is striking that as of last year only 5% of all Parole Board panel members come from a law enforcement background.'

He added: 'But I do point to what I believe is a significant deficit. I believe it is wrong and that our reforms will ensure that those who we charge with making finely balanced assessments of future risk have greater first hand operational experience of protecting the public from serious offenders.

'So we will change this imbalance by mandating the Parole Board to recruit more members with operational or enforcement experience.'

Shadow justice secretary Mr Reed said: 'It's crucial that public protection is paramount and that victims are right at the heart of the criminal justice system.

'Currently too many victims feel their views are not taken sufficiently into account either in parole decisions or in sentencing and this leads directly to public safety concerns that must be taken more seriously.

'Labour will put public safety at the core of our contract with the British people, sadly the same can't be said of this Government.'

He added: 'Labour wants victims to have a right to make a new personal statement saying how they would feel if the prisoner is released.

'We would like any assessment of the risk to the public to include the risk of re-traumatising their victim and prevent released prisoners from living near their victim if that's against the victim's wishes.'

Meanwhile, a justice campaigner instrumental in the creation of Helen's Law today hailed Mr Raab's planned parole shakeup.

He said it's clear the public and the Government have 'have lost all trust' in the British parole system.

Neil Gillingham, 32, grandson to evil wife-killer Russell Causley, has spent more than a decade campaigning for a 'no body, no parole rule'.

His grandfather Causley, now 77, was jailed for the murder of his wife Carole Packman in 2003.

Causley has never revealed where his wife was buried, since her disappearance in 1985.

Neil said: 'We have successfully stopped several attempts by lobbying former justice secretaries.

'Yesterday's announcements appear to enforce earlier concerns that the Parole Board isn't fit for purpose and both the public as well as the Government have lost all trust after Colin Pitchfork and Russell Causley were both recalled to prison within two weeks of each other.

'Yesterday's announcements are welcomed. The most depraved, narcissistic murderers and those that refuse to engage in rehabilitation deserve to spend the rest of their days behind bars, if that means they die in prison, then so be it.'
A prestigious medal awarded to a hero of Rorke's Drift who took on hundreds of Zulus from his hospital room has emerged for sale for 50,000

A prestigious medal awarded to a hero of Rorke's Drift who took on hundreds of Zulus from his hospital room has emerged for sale for 50,000.

Private Robert Adams was in the 150-strong British garrison that defied all odds to thwart an attack by 4,000 Zulu warriors in 1879.

The 12-hour rearguard was immortalised in the epic 1964 film Zulu, starring Michael Caine and Stanley Baker.

Private Adams was among the sick and wounded in the Rorke's Drift mission station hospital when they were attacked.

He and Gunner Arthur Howard barricaded the door then smashed holes in it to fire at the enemy.

Together they held off hundreds of warriors with volleys from their rifles. When the hospital was set ablaze by the Zulus, Gunner Howard escaped out of a veranda.

But Private Adams refused to budge and kept fighting until he was dragged out of the hospital by enemy warriors, killed and quartered in a horrific ritual death.

Private Robert Adams (pictured, his grave in South Africa) was in the 150-strong British garrison that defied all odds to thwart an attack by 4,000 Zulu warriors in 1879

Gunner Howard survived by playing dead. Zulus trampled over him without realising he was alive - earning him the nickname 'the luckiest man at Rorke's Drift'.

Private Adams' Zulu War medal is going under the hammer with auctioneers Spink & Son in London.

Only 17 British soldiers were killed during the rearguard while over 350 Zulus were slain.

This is believed to be the first time the medal of a British casualty of the battle has been sold at auction in 26 years. It has been consigned by a private collector.

The 12-hour rearguard was immortalised in the epic 1964 film Zulu, starring Michael Caine (pictured) and Stanley Baker

Marcus Budgen, head of the medals department, said: 'There can surely be no more inspiring tale than that of ''the few'' who found themselves at the former mission station of Rorke's Drift near the Buffalo River on January 22-23, 1879.

'It goes without saying that to date no action in British military history has eclipsed the feats performed, neither in terms numerical disadvantage or the level to which the engagement has resonated through the ages.

'What the defenders had faced seems almost impossible to surpass. That they stood firm remains a testament to their accumulated bravery, resilience and presence of mind.

'Private Robert Adams was one of that gallant Band of Brothers who lost his life during the defence.'

On January 22, 1879, the Zulus killed over 1,200 British soldiers at the notorious Battle of Isandhlwana.

During the devastating battle 4,000 Zulus split off and marched six miles to Rorke's Drift to inflict a similar defeat on the British there.

The 150 men were made up of the 24th Foot and the Royal Engineers. They built perimeter barricades from mealie bags and took up defensive positions.

Gunner Howard in a letter penned after the battle wrote: 'Forty men were in the hospital, and nearly all able to fight when it came to the pinch.

On January 22, 1879, the Zulus killed over 1,200 British soldiers at the notorious Battle of Isandhlwana. During the devastating battle 4,000 Zulus split off and marched six miles to Rorke's Drift to inflict a similar defeat on the British there

'... we all agreed to fight till only two were left, and these were to shoot themselves.

'Well, we all got behind our rampart, and when the Zulus were about 400 yards off, like a wall coming on, we fired the first volley.

'The rifles being Martini-Henrys our firing was very quick, and, when struck by bullets they would give a spring in the air and fall flat down.

'The enemy advanced to within 300 yards, and then it did not seem healthy to come any nearer, so we continued to fire at them until it got dark.

'Then, as the roof of the hospital was of thatch, they crept up and set it on fire.

'When the flames burst out it was all the better for us, for we could see them and their movements, though they could not see us. Didn't we give it to them, anyhow.'

The 150 men were made up of the 24th Foot and the Royal Engineers. They built perimeter barricades from mealie bags and took up defensive positions. Pictured: A hospital map

Gunner Abraham Evans, wrote of Private Adams' final moments: 'I was then standing in the doorway of the hospital, and witnessed five Zulus come in front of the doorway, jumping in their mad frenzy and flushed with their late victory.

'Just at this moment my newest mates were Adams and Jenkins of the 24th Regiment. What became of these men I can't say, I never saw them again after.'

Private Adams' remains were buried with his comrades in the Rorke's Drift cemetery and his name was inscribed on the memorial.

In total, 11 Victoria Crosses and four Distinguished Conduct Medals were awarded to British soldiers after the battle. The sale takes place on April 27.
An elite female pro-Russian sniper who has killed over 40 people is married to a rebel commander who claims to have shot more than 100 Ukrainians, it has been revealed.

It was reported this week that Irina Starikova, 41, was captured by Ukrainian forces after being injured in fighting. The notorious mother of two was operating in the the separatist Donbas region and is said to have over 40 kills. Her fate is unknown.

It has now emerged that she is married to 43-year-old Alexander Ogrenich - aka Gorynych (Slavic dragon) - who was on the run from Belarus, wanted for a string of convictions, and has previously served time in jail.

In the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, he headed a separatist 'intelligence unit' from around 2014, and claims to have killed over 100 Ukrainians in fighting.

This means that between them, the battle-hungry couple - that were recently pictured together relaxing 'between kills' - claim they have taken over 140 lives.

An elite female Russian sniper who killed 40-plus but has been captured by Ukrainians is seen in pictures relaxing between her kills (second right). It has been revealed today that she is married to 43-year-old Alexander Ogrenich - aka Gorynych (second left), who claims to have killed 100 Ukrainians in fighting in the separatist Donbas region of the country

'Yes, I've killed a lot,' Ogrenich said in one interview. 'The figure is over one hundred. And if you could see the enemy in the scope, what would you do?'

He sees his enemy as 'Ukrainian fascists', parroting propaganda by Russian president Vladimir Putin who claims his forces are 'denazifying' Ukraine.

A video has shown the couple on a 'day off' from killing in 2016.

'Today is our day off and because today is our six-month anniversary,' he said. 'I decided to give you a big present. I love you very much.

'Today you and I will have a rest, and tomorrow, as always.'

Starikova replied: 'Same as always. Service is service.'

He told her: 'And anyway, you see how great things are between us.'

'And will be better,' she said.

He told her: 'The war will end and it will be even better.'

The female sniper with 40 kills to her name was reportedly captured in Ukraine after being wounded in a battle with Kyiv's forces

Pictured: Alexander Ogrenich, codename Gorynych, husband of sniper Irina Starikova wields a RPG launcher with a grin. He claims he has killed 100 Ukrainians in fighting in Donbas

He has previously admitted that before the current war civilians on both sides of a demarcation line were caught in attacks by the pro-Russians he fought alongside.

He said in an interview with a Belarus news site six years ago: 'Of course, peaceful people are suffering. We cannot be perfect. It happens when there is a mass strike - well, you can't get away from it, you know yourself that this is war.

'There are casualties through our fault too, I won't deny it. If it wasn't for Russia, we would all be dead here.'

Ogrenich also admitted he had a criminal record before fleeing Belarus to the Donbas. 'I won't hide it, I have convictions. I was convicted for theft and fraud,' he said in one interview.

He did not comment on a claim he had committed murder in a 'crime if passion'.

'You know, like fraud - I took money, said that I would give it back, but I didn't. That kind of thing. All in all I spent eight years in prison,' he said.

His whereabouts are not currently clear.

Both Ogrenich and Starikova been married previously before their wedding in around 2015.

The female sniper is originally from Donetsk and has two daughters - Valeria, 11, and Yulia, nine. In pictures yesterday, she was shown in images relaxing with her husband and other soldiers.

Pictured left: Alexander Ogrenich - aka Gorynych (Slavic dragon) and right: Irina Starikova, code-named Bagheera. It has been revealed that the pair are married

Irina Starikova (circled), 41, is codenamed Bagheera, after Rudyard Kipling's black panther in The Jungle Book. Here she is seen holding the hand of her husband, Alexander Ogrenich

The mother-of-two was found wounded on a battlefield in Ukraine, but she is not from Serbia as some accounts say, nor was she a nun-turned-sniper.

Similar identities explain the confusion due to another female sniper with the same code-name from Serbia, although she is not believed to be engaged in fighting in Ukraine at the moment.

The captured sniper is originally from Donetsk and has two daughters - Valeria, 11, and Yulia, nine.

Her fate is now in Ukrainian hands but what has happened to her is unknown amid claims she had 'the blood of at least 40 people on her hands, including civilians'.

Anyone 'who kills peaceful people on our land can expect retribution, said the Kyiv military. There are claims she was abandoned by her Russian protectors.

'Knowing that I was injured and having the opportunity to pick me up, they simply decided to leave me there, hoping I would die,' she is quoted as saying.

The Russian sniper and mother-of-two was found wounded on a battlefield in Ukraine, but she is not from Serbia as some accounts say

The captured sniper is originally from Donetsk and has two daughters - Valeria, 11, and Yulia, nine

In a devastating criticism of the Russian war tactics, she said: 'They abandoned me.'

Soviet Russia famously deployed female snipers during the Second World War while other countries preferred to restrict women to factories or farming.

The most successful, Lyudmila Pavlichenko, was born near Kyiv and had 309 confirmed kills, giving her the nickname 'Lady Death'.

A wound in 1942 stopped her active service and she became a celebrity and propagandist for the regime.

Most sharpshooters were graduates of the Central Women's School For Sniping Training, near Moscow, commanded by female Spanish Civil War veterans. The combined efforts of the instructors and graduates are believed to have taken down 12,000 German troops during the war.

Another Russian female sniper, Yelizaveta Mironov, was only 17 when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941.

Local media claimed the sniper, who is said to be a mother-of-two and divorcee, is responsible for 'killing 40 Ukrainians including civilians'

Born in Moscow, she had just finished high school when she volunteered to join the Red Army. Mironov fought in the sieges of Odessa and Sevastopol and had at least 34 kills to her name, although some sources claim she had more than 100.

Her comrades were particularly impressed with her exploits during five days of fierce fighting at Goryachiy Klyuch in October 1942 when the teenager is said to have killed more than 20 Germans. But she was seriously injured in the battle for Novorossiysk and died at the age of only 19.

Around 800,000 women served the Soviet Union during the war, including in roles such as pilots and machine gunners.

The activities of female Soviet fighters were also documented by Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievich in her book The Unwomanly Face of War written in 1985.
Chinese authorities have axed a plan to kill all pets belonging to Covid-19 patients in a virus hotspot following an outcry from residents.

Langfang city officials ordered the 'complete culling of indoor animals' owned by Anci district residents who have tested positive for Covid in a district-wide directive on Tuesday.

But residents of the city, in China's northern Hubei province, were granted a reprieve on Wednesday after the directive was 'withdrawn and implementation stopped' following a backlash.

It was not immediately clear if any animals were culled before the directive was axed, but China News Service reported on Wednesday any killing had stopped by 5pm local time.

Several cases of Covid spreading from humans to pets including dogs and cats have been recorded but there has not been any confirmed cases of animals then passing the virus back to humans, despite anecdotal reports.

The directive was the latest in Beijing's aggressive zero-Covid policy which has largely kept subsequent outbreaks under control through a combination of strict border controls, lengthy quarantines and targeted lockdowns.

Chinese authorities have axed a plan to kill all pets belonging to Covid-19 patients in a virus hotspot following an outcry from residents (pictured, mask-wearing dogs in Shanghai in February 2020)

City officials had ordered the 'complete culling of indoor animals' owned by residents who have tested positive for Covid in a district-wide directive (pictured) on Tuesday

Chinese President Xi Jinping said in mid-March that the country will 'stick with' its zero-Covid strategy, state TV reported.

The country where the virus emerged in late 2019 has largely kept subsequent outbreaks under control and has not reported any coronavirus-related deaths for over a year.

But the highly transmissible Omicron variant is posing a stern challenge to that strategy, prompting authorities to close off cities of millions of people.

Shanghai authorities on Thursday prepared to place the city's western half in a Covid-19 but reopened its eastern half, in a sign hardened attitudes on zero-Covid have eased.

Residents of the city of Jilin will be able to move about freely starting Friday for the first time in more than three weeks, state broadcaster CCTV said, citing a notice issued by the city.

They will be required to wear masks and, when indoors, stay one meter (three feet) apart. Public gatherings in parks and squares are prohibited.

Chinese President Xi Jinping (pictured) said in mid-March that the country will 'stick with' its zero-Covid strategy, state TV reported

2020: Staff members line up at attention as they prepare to spray disinfectant at Wuhan Railway Station in China at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic

2022: Hazmat-wearing officials returned to the streets on a scale not seen since the start of the pandemic after China reported 5,280 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday and plunged nearly thirty million people back into a virus lockdown as Beijing pursues its zero-Covid policy

The spread of Covid-19 has been brought under control in Jilin city but not in the rest of Jilin province, officials said at a news conference, according to CCTV.

Some progress has been made in Changchun, the provincial capital and an auto manufacturing hub that has been locked down since March 11.

China has been battling its largest Covid-19 outbreak since the initial one in early 2020 that devastated the city of Wuhan and other parts of Hubei province.

By far, most of the cases have been in Jilin province, which borders North Korea in China's industrial northeast.

Smaller outbreaks have popped up across the country, including Shanghai, the financial capital and China's largest city with 26 million people.

The two-phase lockdown of Shanghai, being carried out over eight days, has shaken global markets worried about the possible economic impact.

Smaller outbreaks have popped up across the country, including Shanghai, the financial capital and China's largest city with 26 million people (pictured, a resident takes a test in Minhang district of Shanghai on March 30)

People wait in line in the grocery shop in Puxi, western Shanghai, ahead of a four-day lockdown in which residents are not allowed to leave their neighborhoods or housing compounds

China's manufacturing activity fell to a five-month low in March, a monthly survey showed Thursday, as lockdowns and other restrictions forced factories to suspend production.

Pudong, the half of Shanghai on the east side of the Huangpu River, was to reopen at 5am Friday after a four-day lockdown during which residents were tested for the coronavirus and isolated if the result was positive.

A lockdown of Puxi on the west side of the river was starting at 3am.

About 16 million people will be tested in Puxi. Residents are not allowed to leave their neighborhoods or housing compounds during the four-day lockdown, with groceries or meals delivered to their complexes.

China on Thursday reported 8,559 new cases in the previous 24-hour period, of which 6,720 had no symptoms.

The proportion of asymptomatic cases has been higher than in previous outbreaks, particularly in Shanghai. About 100 of the new cases were imported ones among people who had recently arrived from abroad.
Video art visionary Nam June Paik poses with his robot sculpture "Rehabilitation of Genghis Khan," which was unveiled at the 1993 Venice Biennale. Courtesy of Age Fotostock



By Park Han-sol



In 1977, two weeks before he turned 45, Nam June Paik (1932-2006) declared it was "time for Archeology of Avantgarde"  an unusual phrase he chose to trace the origins of his avant-garde spirit of experimentation that would help set the foundations of his imposing legacy as a video art visionary.



In his "archeological" effort, Paik recalled the moment he first heard about Austrian-American composer Arnold Schoenberg, who had been described to him as "a devil or the most extreme avantgarde." That description alone moved him at the age of 15, and from that point on, the composer became the driving force of the young artist's life.



He then went on to launch a string of questions  why was he interested in Schoenberg and the idea of the most extreme? The answer, he stated, lay in his adventurous "Mongolian DNA," in a figurative sense.



"Mongolian Ural-[Altaic] horseback hunting people moved around the world in [the] prehistoric age from Siberia to Peru to Korea to Nepal to Lappland," he wrote. "They saw far and when they see a new horizon far away, they had to go and see far more. Tele-vision means in Greek to 'see far.'"



Hence, he found television screens and the video art genre to be the ideal playground for his boundless creative spirit.



Marking the 90th anniversary of Paik's birth this year, the Nam June Paik (NJP) Art Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, has brought two new exhibitions proving once again that the late artist was a pioneer in the truest sense of the word.





Nam June Paik installs his video sculpture "TV Buddha" (1974) at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Courtesy of Rene Block



The first show, "Archeology of Avantgarde," named directly from Paik's own phrase, "flashes back" to 10 significant moments of the artist's five-decade career in reverse chronological order from 2000 to 1964.



"This exhibition has been organized with an aim to help the general public understand Paik's pioneering oeuvre in a more comprehensible and intuitive way," curator Lee Soo-young said during a press conference last week.





Nam June Paik's "TV Cello" (2002) / Courtesy of NJP Art Center

"At the same time, we wanted the artist to be remembered as more than just as a video art visionary, but as someone who never stopped venturing into other diverse mediums including lasers, robots, multi-channel videos, music, satellite broadcasts and collaboration with technicians."



In addition to his globally acclaimed masterpieces  such as the international satellite installation "Good Morning Mr. Orwell," video sculpture "TV Buddha" and "TV Cello"  there are works speaking directly to the digital future envisioned by Paik that has indeed become a present-day reality.



The robot sculpture "Rehabilitation of Genghis Khan," which was first displayed at the 1993 Venice Biennale, represents Genghis Khan of the 20th century and a new version of the Silk Road between the East and the West  the non-physical "electronic superhighway," which foresaw the current era of internet and digital communication.





From left, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik and Shuya Abe pose in front of the Paik-Abe Video Synthesizer. Courtesy of Tom Haar



Another piece indicating the artist's vision that proved to be ahead of his time is the Paik-Abe Video Synthesizer, born in 1969 from Paik's collaboration with technician Shuya Abe.



The synthesizer is capable of editing and shuffling clips received from video cameras in real time, adding dynamic changes to the colors, shapes, sizes and lighting of the original to give birth to an entirely new, psychedelic collage of images.



"This was the product of Paik's desire to popularize the making, editing and sharing of videos, transforming them into an everyday activity that could be done at any household  something that was unthinkable in the 1970s," Lee explained.



After "Archeology of Avantgarde," viewers are invited to a more abstruse, enigmatic world of Paik as they enter the second exhibition, titled "The Last Consummate Second  Symphony No. 2."



This is the Korean premiere of the performance of "Symphony for 20 Rooms," a mysterious text score that was composed by the artist in 1961 but was never brought to life during his lifetime.



The piece is called a "symphony," although Paik was never a person whose words could be taken literally.





Nam June Paik's "Symphony for 20 Rooms" (1961) detail, Peter Wenzel collection / Courtesy of NJP Art Center



Instead of looking like a typical music score filled with notes and scales designed for an orchestra, Paik's symphony consists of bizarre text instructions that require a range of objects, devices and even living creatures to create his own whimsical version of cacophony.



He instructed his eccentric score to be recreated in 16 rooms, or sections  despite the title being "Symphony for 20 Rooms"  which can stimulate viewers' auditory as well as visual, olfactory and tactual senses.



For example, Paik writes that the third room must contain a live hen in a cage, 100-watt light and soft yet mystical incense. While some viewers may attempt to grasp the logic behind the artist's creative process as they move further down the score, the artist makes that journey all the more baffling  yet intriguing  by presenting rooms like No. 8.



In this section, walls are instructed to be covered with national flags, old clothes and sexy underwear. In the background, an old tape recorder is playing national anthems from Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia, in addition to what he wrote as "Nazi Song (Morgen die Ganze Welt)."



One room, No. 13, remains decidedly empty.



"Many unanswered questions can be raised at this point. Why are there only 16 rooms instead of 20 as presented in the title? Why does an empty room need to exist at all? It's because for Paik, the number 20 had less to do with the physical number of sections, but more to do with the number of different sound sources and imagined situations that viewers can encounter freely," curator Han Noo-ri said.



"And perhaps an empty room exists to hint at the possibility that this score can grow and expand further from here on. It's not literally a void space; rather it is full of unseen yet possible events that can unfold."



"Archeology of Avantgarde" runs through Sept. 18, while "The Last Consummate Second  Symphony No. 2" will close on June 19 at the NJP Art Center.




Jacqui Lambie likened working with Scott Morrison to dealing with 'a two-year-old on tempy tanty' after striking a deal to finally free the prisoners on Manus Island.

The agreement was that the government would get 420 asylum seekers off Manus Island in exchange for the Tasmanian senator's vote to repeal the laws allowing doctors to decide when sick refugees could be medevaced to Australia.

Appearing on Q&A on Tuesday night following Anthony Albanese's Budget response and President Volodymyr Zelensky's historic speech to Parliament, Ms Lambie described the difficulties she found working alongside the prime minister.

'For me, it was trying to do the refugee deal job. It was like dealing with a two-year-old, to be honest with you, on a tempy tampy. That's what it was like,' she said.

Jacqui Lambie likened working with Scott Morrison to dealing with 'a two-year-old on tempy tanty' after striking a deal to finally free the prisoners of Manus Island

Ms Lambie was asked the question in response to Liberal MP Concetta Fierravanti-Wells who laid into Mr Morrison during a late night appearance on the Senate floor on Tuesday evening.

Ms Fierravanti-Wells said the PM is a 'bully' and 'not fit to be minister, with Ms Lambie echoing her sentiments on Thursday night.

'I cannot take anything away from what Connie Fierravanti-Wells said, straight out of her mouth and straight to the point,' she said.

'And I can tell you she did it very, very well. It was not nasty. It was just the truth. And that is the truth of the matter.

'It was either his way or the highway.'

Ms Lambie was asked the question in response to Liberal MP Concetta Fierravanti-Wells who laid into Mr Morrison during a late night appearance on the Senate floor on Tuesday evening

New Zealand will resettle 150 refugees from Australia each year for three years. Pictured: Asylum seekers behind a fence at the Manus Island detention centre

Senator Lambie said the prime minister warned she would risk jail time if she prematurely exposed their agreement reached back in 2018.

'I felt really annoyed about that. I thought that (was) quite threatening,' she said.

However, with New Zealand's recent announcement that it would begin accepting up to 150 refugees a year, the independent MP is finally free to speak.

Some of the refugees in detention have been incarcerated for up to nine years with 150 asylum seekers to be resettled each year, for three years.

Ms Lambie said if her negotiations with Mr Morrison had been in the army, where she served for 11 years, it would have gotten physical.

'For me, I had no choice. What you would usually do, if you were in the armed forces, you would probably jump across the table and grab hold of them,' the Tasmanian senator said.

'For me, this was about humanity and making sure over 1,000 people were dispersed off Nauru and given a second chance at life. So it was worth me just shutting up and taking what I had to take.

'And I can tell you now, I look back and it brings me to tears that every bit of that, knowing that Nauru is nearly cleared apart from a few hundred people, that New Zealand is going to take the last of them, and some of those in hotel detention. It was worth taking every bit of it.'

Senator Lambie said the Prime Minister warned she would risk jail time if she prematurely exposed their agreement reached back in 2018

Some of the refugees in detention have been incarcerated for up to nine years with 150 asylum seekers now to be resettled each year, for three years (pictured, refugees on Manus Island)

She also said Ms Fierravanti-Wells was 'punished' for speaking her mind and stand up as a woman, after the Liberal MP was recently dropped to an unwinnable spot on the Coalition's Senate ticket for the Federal election.

'Yeah, and I'm sorry, but the truth of the matter is that Connie Fierravanti-Wells got done over. She's one of the best performers up there. She always has been,' Ms Lambie said.

'Because she speaks her mind. Because she stands up as a woman. For that, she is punished. That is why she has not had a ministry for so long. And that is why she was not pre-selected. And that is the truth of the matter. That's how it went down.'

The senator's speech was an unwelcome surprise for Prime Minister Scott Morrison (above, watching Josh Frydenberg's Budget speech)

Speaking under the protection of parliamentary privilege, Ms Fierravanti-Wells said: 'He (the Prime Minister) is adept at running with the foxes and hunting with the hounds, lacking a moral compass and having no conscience.

'In my public life, I have met ruthless people. Morrison tops the list, followed closely by (party powerbroker and Immigration Minister Alex) Hawke.

'Morrison is not fit to be Prime Minister and Hawke is certainly not fit to be a minister.'

The election date is expected to be announced in days, meaning her 17-year parliamentary career is rapidly coming to an end - at least for now.

During her spray, the senator claimed Liberal supporters are despairing at the party's prospects, 'and they blame Morrison for this'.

'It is his way or the highway - (he's) an autocrat, a bully who has no moral compass,' she said.
Russian riot police who refused to fight in Ukraine were branded 'cowards and traitors' by their own commander.

In a voice recording released by an anti-Putin YouTube channel, the Siberian Interior Ministry commander appears to lambast his rebellious forces for mutiny.

'Let's call a spade a spade - weaklings, cowards and traitors,' said the loyalist Putin commander as he threatened them with a lifetime of disgrace and harassment by the secret services.

Russian riot police have detained hundreds for participating in mass Moscow anti-war protests

The furious army boss told them of another incident where 11 elite troops from Siberian region Khakassia refused to fight in Vladimir Putin's bloody war.

The audio was leaked by anti-Kremlin Youtubers Popular Politics, which has ties to Navalny

Up to 17,000 Russian soldiers have died in just five weeks.

'They've all been fired,' he said, and stopped from getting jobs linked to state agencies.

'When people had to stand up for their country, for some reason they bottled it.

'How can a SOBR man [commando unit], a professional, quit the battlefield?'

He told his own wantaway forces: 'How do you intend to live afterwards? In two or three weeks, this crap will be over. How will you live afterwards?'

He warned the men: 'I don't think an officer has the right to quit the battlefield.

'You have practically gone down the road of criminality and treason. I don't know what is worse.'

He gave them three days to change their mind in the audio recording, for which the date of origin is uncertain.

Russia's war casualties Major General Andrei Kolesnikov: Commander of the 29th Combined Army Army Major General Vitaly Gerasimov: First deputy commander of Russia's 41st army who took part in operations in Syria and Crimea Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky: Deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District killed during a special operation by a sniper Major General Andrei Kolesnikov of the 29th Combined Arms Army was killed last week Major General Vitaly Gerasimov (left) was killed last week and was the first deputy commander of Russia's 41st army. Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky (Right), 47, was deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army of the Central Military District Colonel Andrei Zakharov: Killed in a Ukrainian ambush near Kyiv Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov: Leader of marine brigade killed after Ukrainian forces recaptured Chernihiv Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov: Leader of air assault troops killed in Chernihiv Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky: Leader of air assault troops killed in the south of Ukraine Lieutenant Colonel Denis Glebov (left) and Lieutenant Colonel Dmitry Safronov (right) died in a battle in Chuhuiv and Colonel Konstantin Zizevsky (left), who led air assault troops died in the south of Ukraine and Captain Alexey Glushchak (right), of the GRU intelligence service, who died fighting near Mariupol Advertisement

If true, the recording shows clear opposition to the war inside Vladimir Putin's military ranks.

'In another three days we'll hold another meeting, and if you fill in a report to quit - that means you've reported you are quitting, booted out, the end.

'No more... I'll say again, I'll write a telegram, saying 'for cowardice and lack of moral fibre'.

'That's what your paperwork will say.

'Individually, go up to a puddle, look into it, and say "I'm a [expletive] coward".

'And the main thing is not that you've betrayed me, but you've betrayed your own ideals, your unit.'

The enraged commander told them: 'You can take offence or not take offence, do what you like, but you are cowards.

'Your military comrades are [expletive - fighting], and any minute they can be injured or killed, and you've chickened out and deserted the battlefield.'

He told the refuseniks in the six-minute rant: 'We'll do all we can so that your surnames are given to your schools, your colleges, places where you studied, grew up and so on.

'So that your parents will know who they brought up.

'You have just wiped in s*** your units now, the Novosibirsk detachment, Omsk detachment, Irkutsk detachment, written a black, a negative page in the history of your detachment.'

The commander revealed the heavy toll of the war.

'We've got 445 wounded. That's the wounded in our entire battle group. And that's the lowest of the lot.

'The Airborne Troops have had several times more. Dozens of times more. Dozens of times more! And other groups have loads more casualties.'

Using the banned word 'war', he told his troops: 'We're at war now.

'Yes, you will stay alive, but you will be an outcast.

'I say again, the main thing is what your kids will think about you.

'Yes, they are little now, but they'll grow up

'At some point they'll learn the truth, that their dad [expletive] legged it.

'Your personal information will be handed over to the state authorities, local administration bodies, Interior Ministry bodies, all the educational bodies where you studied.

'All that information will be handed over at all levels, including the FSB [Federal Security Service].'

He claimed the FSB put the earlier group of deserters 'under special control', suggesting they could be branded Ukrainian spies.

'God knows, maybe they are Ukrainian traitors. They are fighting, we and you are fighting, the whole state is fighting, the whole machine.

'I think that you, colleagues, are making a very grave mistake in life.

'Why didn't the Covid nurses desert? Tell me.

'Explain that to me, why were they dying in those Covid hospitals, why didn't they [expletive] desert?

'You have your war, or rather we do, with assault rifles, machine-guns. Are you really weaker than those girls?

'They also had death, except it took people in a different way.

'They also faced war, saved loads of people. And you shits, big lumps, couldn't hack it. Traitors.'

The audio was released on the Popular Politics channel linked to jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

It follows a clip which shows brave Russian soldiers questioning their orders and condemning Moscow for 'not know what they're doing' over the war.

A group of ten student soldiers in oversized helmets wielding AK-47s from the 1940s complain they've been 'thrown into the s**t'.

One complains: 'Know the truth! The Russian Ministry of Defence has no idea about us, or what were doing here.

'Weve been thrown into the s**t!'

One Pentagon document described soldiers simply parking their vehicles and walking away from the war into woods.
Russia's bloody 'Butcher of Mariupol' and a host of Kremlin poodle television executives have been added to Britain's sanctions list.

Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, who ordered a strike on a theatre that killed 300 civilians, is among 14 people and organisations hit in the latest wave of punitive economic measures unveiled by Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

The latest names added to the sanctions list include propagandist Sergey Brilev and Kremlin funded TV-Novosti, which owns the RT news channel.

Aleksandr Zharov, chief executive of Gazprom-Media, Alexey Nikolov the managing director of RT and Anton Anisimov, the head of Sputnik International Broadcasting were also sanctioned.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: 'Putin's war on Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies. Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putin's fake news and narratives.

'We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table.'

Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev was accused of ordering the attack on the Mariupol theatre which killed 300

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

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: 'Putin's war on Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies. Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putin's fake news and narratives.'

The latest names added to the sanctions list include propagandist Sergey Brilev (circled) and Kremlin funded TV-Novosti, which owns the RT news channel.

Who has been targeted by latest round of sanctions? Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev The 59-year-old director of the Russian National Centre for Defence since 2014 is accused of targeting civilians in Mariupol. Developed a reputation for brutality overseeing the horrors inflicted on Aleppo in Syria. Sergey Brilev Presenter on State TV channel Rossiya, which has toed Kremlin line on 'special military operation' in Ukraine. Member of foreign minister Sergei Lavrov's Russian International Affairs Council. Aleksandr Zharov Chief executive of Gazprom-Media, which owns the NTV channel. It has accused Ukraine of developing biological weapons with US assistance. Alexey Nikolov Managing director of RT, the international television channel. It has had its UK and European broadcasting licences revoked over its reporting of the war. Anton Anisimov The head of Sputnik International Broadcasting. He has described the invasion as 'a combination of a military operation with a humanitarian mission. TV-Novosti Kremlin-funded body that controls RT. Rossiya Segodnya Media group owned and run by the Russian government. It controls the Sputnik news agency, which the FCDSO says has 'published disinformation undermining Ukraine'. Strategic Culture Foundation Seven directors and staff at the online journal have been sanctioned for spreading 'disinformation. They have all previously been sanctioned by Australia. Advertisement

Mizintsev is facing demands for a war crimes prosecution over the attack on the theatre which killed 300.

Video released at the weekend 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.

In a chilling intercepted phone call he also appeared to berate a junior officer for not cutting off the ears of a private who had been caught not wearing his uniform properly.

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 Foreign Office source said: 'Liz wants to keep on hitting Putin with sanctions to debilitate the Russian war economy and put Ukraine in the strongest possible negotiating position. There'll be plenty more sanctions to come.'

RT had its UK licence revoked earlier this month by Ofcom. The TV watchdog said RT's licensee, ANO TV Novosti, was 'not fit and proper' to hold a licence amid 29 ongoing investigations into the 'due impartiality of the news and current affairs coverage of Russia's invasion of Ukraine'.

A statement released by the regulator at the time said: 'We consider the volume and potentially serious nature of the issues raised within such a short period to be of great concern  especially given RT's compliance history, which has seen the channel fined 200,000 for previous due impartiality breaches.

'In this context, we launched a separate investigation to determine whether ANO TV Novosti is fit and proper to retain its licence to broadcast.'

The network, which has been described as Vladimir Putin's 'personal propaganda tool', was previously fined 200,000 for 'serious and repeated' breaches of impartiality rules over a string of 2018 broadcasts on the Salisbury poisonings and the Syrian war.

Downing Street said the latest sanctions were a sign that 'we want to continue to further ratchet up the pressure' on Vladimir Putin's regime.

The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: 'We know that countries can adapt to sanctions over time so it's right that we keep moving forwards on this.

'It's equally right to to place sanctions on those who are are seeking to misinform people at a mass scale and that's who the sanctions are targeted at today - famous TV anchors on state-owned TV who push forward the falsehoods that are misleading some of the Russian people into not understanding the situation in Ukraine and some of the wanton destruction and killing of civilians that we're seeing.'

RT, which employed a number of British presenters and reporters, has referred to the invasion of Ukraine as a 'special military operation' (file image)

Asked whether the UK believes colonel-general Mikhail Mizintsev- 'the butcher of Mariupol' - was guilty of war crimes, the spokesman said: 'I think no one can doubt in looking at what's happening in Mariupol there, on the face of it, appears to be evidence of war crimes.

'Formally, that is not a distinction that we can rule on. But clearly, no one can be in any doubt by looking at the situation that it is a horrific thing.'

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said: 'Putin's propaganda machine has been working overdrive to spread misinformation and distract from his barbaric actions in Ukraine.

'These sanctions will target those who are complicit in covering up the Russian state's actions.

'We will not hesitate to act further against individuals and organisations attempting to deceive people about this misguided war.'

UK defence intelligence analysts said 'significant' shelling and missile strikes have continued around the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv, despite Russia's indications it would cut back military activity in the area.

In an intelligence update, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) tweeted: 'Despite Russian statements indicating an intended reduction of military activity around Chernihiv, significant Russian shelling and missile strikes have continued.

'Russian forces continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv despite the withdrawal of a limited number of units. Heavy fighting will likely take place in the suburbs of the city in coming days.

'Heavy fighting continues in Mariupol, a key objective of Russian forces, however Ukrainian forces remain in control of the centre of the city.'
Fans who paid hundreds of dollars for tickets to see Chris Rock had mixed reactions about his sold-out comedy show in Boston after the comedian refrained from making jokes about being slapped on stage by Will Smith at the Oscars.

Rock, 57, quickly shut down any hopes he would crack jokes about the slap at the Wilbur Theater, as he said he is 'still processing what happened' without mentioning Smith by name.

Some fans said they were disappointed by the decision to not address the controversy more directly, with one telling Fox News: 'We want our money back, I didn't pay $400 to see nothing.'

But others said they enjoyed the show and were happy that Rock stuck to a script he wrote a week ago, before the Oscars. 'We didn't come just for that,' one fan said after the show.

Some fans said they were disappointed by the decision to not address the controversy more directly, with one telling Fox News : 'We want our money back, I didn't pay $400 to see nothing'

But others said they enjoyed the show and were happy that Rock stuck to a script he wrote a week ago, before the Oscars. 'We didn't come just for that,' one fan said after the show

Rock quickly shut down any hopes he would crack jokes about the slap heard round the world to the 3,000 fans in the audience. Rock is pictured backstage with another comedian, Mike Troy

Chris Rock, 57, quickly shut down any hopes he would crack jokes about the slap at the Wilbur Theater, as he said he is 'still processing what happened' without mentioning Will Smith by name. Pictured: Rock leaving the theater after his first comedy performance since Smith slapped him at the Oscars on Wednesday night

Another fan said: 'It was fun, Chris Rock didn't say anything about it. He had pre-written everything.'

'I wasn't disappointed that he didn't talk about it, but it would've been cool,' another fan said.

Others said they could see from his body language that he wasn't sure how to address the controversy.

'As soon as I saw him, his mood was a little bit shocked,' said Dave Henriquez, a 48-year-old musician from Newton, Massachusetts. 'I got that it was weighing on him.'

Erin Ryan, a 33-year-old teacher also from Newton who was with Henriquez, said she felt Rock wanted to perform his act, 'not make the standup about the one incident.'

Kathryn West-Hines, a 50-year-old palates instructor from Malden, Massachusetts, said she came away with even more respect for Rock. 'I thought it was amazing, classy,' she said, adding that he wasn't going to let 'what happened Sunday' take away his shine.

Other fans said they could see from his body language that he wasn't sure how to address the controversy. Pictured: Fans outside the Wilbur theater ahead of Rock's performance on Wednesday

Some fans said they were disappointed by the decision to not address the controversy more directly. Pictured: Will Smith slaps Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars on Sunday after he made a joke about Smith's wife

Chris Rock is seen arriving at the Wilbur Theatre before his comedy performance on Wednesday

Dressed all in white, Rock took to the stage and asked the excited crowd: 'Sooooo, how was your weekend?!'

With the crowd all handing over their cell phones before the show began, the former Saturday Night Live star was greeted with a long standing ovation in the first of two sets he performed Wednesday as part for his Ego Death Tour.

However, the usually-uninhibited funnyman quickly shut down any hopes he would crack jokes about the slap heard round the world to the 3,000 fans in the audience, some of whom reportedly paid nearly $1,000 for a ticket.

'Let me be all misty and s***,' he said, with tears in his eyes.

'I don't have a bunch of s*** to say about that, so if you came here for that...' he said, and paused.

'I had written a whole show before this weekend.

'I'm still processing what happened, so at some point I'll talk about that s***. It'll be serious. It'll be funny, but right now I'm going to tell some jokes.'

Rock seemed unfazed as he delivered his typically high-energy routine, keeping the crowd roaring and gasping as he joked about everything from overweight people at Disney parks, to his decision to get a vasectomy after seeing a 78-year-old Robert De Niro walking around with a child.

He joked about how he spends all his money on women, and wryly recommended his ex-wife's divorce lawyer to the audience, for winning her half his fortune without her ever telling a joke.

Rock took the stage shortly after it emerged that Smith had refused to leave the Oscars after he was approached by the heads of the Academy of Motion Pictures.

Shortly after slapping Rock on stage at the Oscars, Smith was announced as the winner of the best actor award and went up to collect his statuette to a standing ovation from many of his peers.

The Academy said on Wednesday he ignored the request from the president, David Rubin, and CEO, Dawn Hudson, to leave, and that he had violated their code of conduct.

The 53-year-old actor marched onto the stage on Sunday and hit Rock, after Rock told a joke about Smith's wife.

Shortly after, Smith was announced as the winner of the best actor award and went up to collect his statuette to a standing ovation from many of his peers.
The mystery death of a woman found with severe facial wounds inside a unit block has prompted police to investigate whether she died from a drunken fall.

The 38-year-old woman was found unresponsive with a large hematoma on her face in a flat on Bondi Beach, in Sydney's eastern suburbs, about 5am on Thursday.

The woman's ex boyfriend, who she shared the apartment with, called triple zero however she was unable to be revived and died at the scene.

A 38-year-old woman's body was found in a flat on Bondi Beach (pictured about 5am on Thursday)

A police officer makes a phone call as forensic teams arrive at the apartment complex

The ex partner volunteered for questioning at Waverley Police Station and was later released around midday with no charges laid.

Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting there is any wrongdoing on his part.

Police sources said the woman was drinking heavily and paramedics initially suggested a wound on her face was fresh, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Police forensics teams in PPE load items into the back of a van as an investigation in launched into the suspicious death

However, it's suspected she may have reinjured an old wound from a previous fall.

A post-mortem exam is yet to determine the cause of death.

Police initially investigated whether the woman's injuries were caused by a domestic violence attack at the four-storey O'Brien Street apartment block.

The area was cordoned off while police established a crime scene.

A sergeant on the scene told Daily Mail Australia forensics were tasked with a 'difficult job'.

'Forensics will be here for the rest of the day and into the evening,' he said.

Police swarmed O'Brien Street on Thursday as an investigation is launched into the woman's death

A forensic investigator carries a brown evidence bag outside the Bondi apartment block on Thursday

'This is not an easy job, these things are not easy.'

Several police officers gathered outside the building on Thursday as forensic teams were called to the scene.

The investigators in white PPE could be seen entering the unit complex with brown bags containing evidence, before loading them into the back of a van.

Initial reports suggested the woman may have been a murder victim, but recent developments indicate police are still not yet sure what caused her death.

'That's what we're trying to figure out, what has led to this?' the sergeant said.

'There's a lot of things that are very confusing and that's our job, to figure this out.'

A report will be prepared for the Coroner and a post-mortem examination will be conducted to determine the woman's cause of death.

Inquiries continue.
A 12-year-old boy who tragically died while playing with his friends at school in Essex told his family 'I love you' as he left his home for the final time.

Ryan Heffernan, 12, collapsed on Monday at Shoeburyness High School and died a short time afterwards.

Emergency services, including an air ambulance were deployed to the scene, but sadly Ryan was declared dead a short time later.

Ryan Heffernan, pictured, died after he collapsed at Shoeburyness High School, Southend-on--Sea on Monday

Floral tributes have been left outside the school in Southend-on-Sea for the Year 7 pupil

Fellow pupils at the school are being supported by specialist counsellors following Monday's tragic events.

Floral tributes have been laid underneath the entrance sign of the school, where Ryan had been a pupil since September.

A GoFundMe appeal for the youngster's family to assist in the cost of his funeral has so far raised more than 14,000.

Friends and fellow pupils at Shoeburyness High School have left tributes for the departed scholar.

One note reads: 'Fly high', while another says: 'I didn't know you but I hope you rest in peace'. Meanwhile, an online fundraising page has been set up by a friend on GoFundMe to raise money to help his parents Mike and Catherine with the cost of Ryan's funeral.

So far, the appeal has raised more than 14,000.

A statement on the page reads: 'Ryan was a 12-year-old kind-hearted, happy, full of life young boy. Monday morning he left for school healthy and happy saying 'I love you' to his family (This was the last thing he said to them).

'He was only in his first year of senior school, a year 7 student on his lunch break when he was sadly taken. No parent should have to endure this pain, I cannot begin to imagine how hard it must be to process.'

Essex Police has launched an investigation into his death, which is being described as 'unexplained' while ruling out any third-party involvement.

District Commander Ian Hughes, of Essex Police, previously said: 'I would like to offer my condolences to the boy's family and we are doing everything we can to support them through this tragic and difficult time.. Our officers remain at the school at this time to continue our enquiries.

'We will continue to investigate the circumstances into the boy's death and will work with the school tomorrow. We are aware of comments on social media, and we want to reassure the local community and parents of pupils at the school, no knife was involved during this tragic incident.'

Southend City Council also say they are supporting the school and the family. A spokesperson said: 'Our thoughts are very much with the family and whole school community at this difficult time.'
A new security pact between China and the Solomon Islands has sparked fears Australia is at risk and will be forced to overhaul its defence operations.

China has signed a wide-ranging security pact with the South Pacific island nation allowing Beijing to station warships 1,000 miles off the coast of Australia.

It's part of the latest attempt by Beijing to increase its influence in the region amid fears it will pave the way for Chinese military domination.

A draft leaked last week prompted concerns in Australia, New Zealand, the Federated and States of Micronesia, as well as the US.

Australia's Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Greg Bilton believes a Chinese presence on our doorstep will impact on military operations in the Pacific, including patrolling patterns and maritime awareness activities.

Solomon Islands have strengthened its ties with China with a new security pact. Pictured standing are Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in 2019

'It does change the calculus if Chinese navy vessels are operating from the Solomon Islands,' he said.

'They are in much closer proximity to the Australian mainland and that would change the way we would undertake day-to-day operations, particularly in the air and at sea.'

The Solomon Islands government has confirmed officials had initialled elements of a bilateral Security Cooperation Framework with China.

'The draft framework agreement will be cleaned up and await signatures of the two countries' foreign ministers,' a statement read.

'The country will work with all partners in providing a safe and secure nation where all people are able to co-exist peacefully.'

The agreement aims to 'respond to Solomon Islands soft and hard domestic threats.

'Solomon Islands will continue to roll out the implementation of its national security strategy and uphold its foreign policy of Friends to all and enemies to none,' the government added.

It thanked Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Fiji for committing personnel to safeguard security on the islands and vowed to continue to 'work with all partners in providing a safe and secure nation where all people are able to co-exist peacefully.'

It comes after Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare dismissed critics of the deal, insisting there was 'no intention whatsoever... to ask China to build a military base in the Solomon Islands'.

Sogavare described concerns 'utter nonsense,' adding that 'I find it very insulting ... to be branded as unfit to manage our sovereign affairs.'

China has likewise dismissed questions about the agreement.

A draft version of the agreement leaked last week detailed measures to allow Chinese security and naval deployments to the island nation.

It included a proposal that 'China may, according to its own needs and with the consent of the Solomon Islands, make ship visits to, carry out logistical replenishment in, and have stopover and transition in Solomon Islands'.

A draft version of the agreement detailed measures to allow Chinese security deployments to the island nation. Pictured are Solomon Islands police being trained by Chinese police

Armed Chinese police would also be permitted to deploy at the Solomon Islands' request, to maintain 'social order'.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw was aware there was going to be some form of training proposal from China but he had not personally seen the proposed memorandum of understanding for a security pact.

He hopes Australia will remain the partner of choice for the Solomon Islands police.

'We've been there a long time ... (and) it is a little bit personal. We did lose an officer of ours,' he told Senate estimate hearings.

'So we're not about to let other countries come in and try and change that whole framework. It works.

'Community crime has dropped there, the police force are more professional than ever before and we want to maintain that position of being the partner of choice in the region.'

Australia's Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Greg Bilton (pictured) says a Chinese military in the South Pacific would change Australia's day-to-day operations in the region

Micronesia President David Panuelo expressed 'grave security concerns' at the agreement and has pleaded with Mr Sogavare to reconsider.

'My fear is that we - the Pacific islands - would be at the epicenter of a future confrontation between these major powers,' he wrote on Wednesday.

He also feared a Chinese military presence would attract conflict and the Pacific islands would become collateral damage.

President Panuelo also fears the presence may have long term consequences not just on the entire Pacific region but the world.

'It's not an impossible fear; it has happened before. Both the Federated States of Micronesia and Solomon Islands were the battlegrounds during World War II,' he wrote.

'As we can see from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the bigger countries will choose violence if they think it serves their interests, and without regard necessarily to our interests, such as not to become collateral damage.'

It comes after China issued a brutal swipe at what it claims is Australia's disrespectful 'colonialist mentality toward South Pacific island countries'.

The security pact between China and the Solomon Islands could affect the South Pacific island nation's ties with Australia. Pictured is Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (left) with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison (right)

Beijing was incensed by a fringe independent article calling on Canberra to invade the Solomon Islands over its worrying new security arrangement with China.

Chinese state media said claimed exposed Australia's 'hysterical and ugly face'. after David Llewellyn-Smith declared that Scott Morrison should 'force a direct confrontation' with the communist superpower over the Solomons using 'any and all means necessary' to drive Beijing out of the region.

The editorial also described the situation as 'Australia's Cuban missile crisis' and said 'there is no way that Australia can allow this deal to proceed.'

Finance Minister Simon Birmingham denied Australia had failed in its Pacific foreign policy despite a senior official at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet revealing he was unaware of any phone conversations between Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his Solomons counterpart.

'The government is very conscious of ensuring that we respect the sovereignty of every Pacific island nation,' Senator Birmingham said.

Mr Morrison has said the Solomon Islands government has not raised any issues about the support provided by Australia.

How China's feud with Australia has escalated 2019: Australian intelligence services conclude that China was responsible for a cyber-attack on Australia's parliament and three largest political parties in the run-up to a May election. April 2020: Australian PM Scott Morrison begins canvassing his fellow world leaders for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. Britain and France are initially reluctant but more than 100 countries eventually back an investigation. April 15: Morrison is one of the few leaders to voice sympathy with Donald Trump's criticisms of the World Health Organization, which the US president accuses of bias towards China. April 21: China's embassy accuses Australian foreign minister Peter Dutton of 'ignorance and bigotry' and 'parroting what those Americans have asserted' after he called for China to be more transparent about the outbreak. April 23: Australia's agriculture minister David Littleproud calls for G20 nations to campaign against the 'wet markets' which are common in China and linked to the earliest coronavirus cases. April 26: Chinese ambassador Cheng Jingye hints at a boycott of Australian wine and beef and says tourists and students might avoid Australia 'while it's not so friendly to China'. Canberra dismisses the threat and warns Beijing against 'economic coercion'. May 11: China suspends beef imports from four of Australia's largest meat processors. These account for more than a third of Australia's $1.1billion beef exports to China. May 18: The World Health Organization backs a partial investigation into the pandemic, but China says it is a 'joke' for Australia to claim credit. The same day, China imposes an 80 per cent tariff on Australian barley. Australia says it may challenge this at the WTO. May 21: China announces new rules for iron ore imports which could allow Australian imports - usually worth $41billion per year - to be singled out for extra bureaucratic checks. June 5: Beijing warns tourists against travelling to Australia, alleging racism and violence against the Chinese in connection with Covid-19. June 9: China's Ministry of Education warns students to think carefully about studying in Australia, similarly citing alleged racist incidents. June 19: Australia says it is under cyber-attack from a foreign state which government sources say is believed to be China. The attack has been targeting industry, schools, hospitals and government officials, Morrison says. July 9: Australia suspends extradition treaty with Hong Kong and offers to extend the visas of 10,000 Hong Kongers who are already in Australia over China's national security law which effectively bans protest. August 18: China launches 12-month anti-dumping investigation into wines imported from Australia in a major threat to the $6billion industry. August 26: Prime Minster Scott Morrison announces he will legislate to stop states and territories signing deals with foreign powers that go against Australia's foreign policy. Analysts said it is aimed at China. October 13: Trade Minister Simon Birmingham says he's investigating reports that Chinese customs officials have informally told state-owned steelmakers and power plants to stop Aussie coal, leaving it in ships off-shore. November 2: Agriculture Minister David Littleproud reveals China is holding up Aussie lobster imports by checking them for minerals. November 3: Barley, sugar, red wine, logs, coal, lobster and copper imports from Australia unofficially banned under a directive from the government, according to reports. November 18: China releases bizarre dossier of 14 grievances with Australia. November 27: Australian coal exports to China have dropped 96 per cent in the first three weeks of November as 82 ships laden with 8.8million tonnes of coal are left floating off Chinese ports where they have been denied entry. November 28: Beijing imposed a 212 per cent tariff on Australia's $1.2 billion wine exports, claiming they were being 'dumped' or sold at below-cost. The claim is denied by both Australia and Chinese importers. November 30: Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lijian Zhao posted a doctored image showing a grinning Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child. The move outraged Australians. December 12: Australian coal is added to a Chinese blacklist. December 24: China suspends imports of Australian timber from NSW and WA after local customs officers say they found pests in the cargo. January 11, 2021: Australia blocks $300million construction deal that would have seen state-owned China State Construction Engineering Corporation takeover Probuild. The bid was blacked over national security concerns. February 5, 2021: China confirms Melbourne journalist and single mother Cheng Lei has been formally arrested after being detained in August, 2020. February 23, 2021: China accuses Australia of being in an 'axis of white supremacy' with the UK, USA, Canada and NZ in an editorial. March 11, 2021: Australia is accused of genocide by a Communist Party newspaper editor. March 15, 2021: Trade Minister Dan Tehan announced he wants the World Trade Organisation to help mediate discussions between the two countries over the trade dispute. April 21, 2021: Foreign Minister Marise Payne announces Australia has scrapped Victoria's controversial Belt and Road deal with China using new veto powers. May 6, 2021: China indefinitely suspends all strategic economic talks with Australia, blaming the Morrison Government's attitude towards the relationship. The move cuts off all diplomatic contact with Beijing under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, freezing discussions between key officials below a ministerial level. June 22, 2021: China tries to 'ambush' Australia with a push to officially declare the Great Barrier Reef 'in danger' September 15, 2021: Australia, the UK and the US announce the AUKUS security pact which will give the Australian military nuclear-powered submarines to counter China growing aggression in the Indo Pacific. The move is met with seething anger in Beijing. March 24, 2022: Details of a Memorandum of Understanding emerge which could allow Beijing to station warships on the Solomon Islands, just 1,000 miles off the coast of Australia. Canberra warns it is 'concerned by any actions that destabilise the security of our region'. April 25, 2022: Defence Minister Peter Dutton warns on Anzac Day that Russia and China's resurgence means Australia must be on a war-footing. 'The only way you can preserve peace is to prepare for war, and to be strong as a country,' he said. 'We're in a period very similar to the 1930s.' April 27, 2022: Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrew says China is likely to send troops to the Solomon Islands, and was using the row to derail Australia's Federal Election. She said Beijing was 'clearly very aware we are in a federal election campaign at the moment.' Advertisement

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Prince William and Kate Middleton today appointed former Bafta boss Amanda Berry as the new chief executive for their charitable Royal Foundation in what experts said was an 'inspired' choice.

The 60-year-old from Darlington announced three months ago that she was leaving Bafta and she is known to be very friendly with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge thanks to William being the organisation's president.

Ms Berry will replace Jason Knauf who stepped down at the end of 2021. Mr Knauf, who famously accused Meghan Markle of bullying, was said to have reluctantly quit after his husband took up a diplomatic position overseas.

Mr Knauf, the ex-communications secretary to Prince Harry and Meghan, was at the centre of claims that Meghan had bullied palace staff, and made a formal complaint that prompted an internal inquiry. She denies wrongdoing.

Richard Fitzwilliams, a commentator both on the Royal Family and the film industry, told MailOnline today that the new appointment was 'an inspired one for the future of the monarchy which the Cambridges and their children represent' and said Ms Berry was 'a pragmatic and dedicated moderniser' who had a 'remarkable' record at Bafta.

When Ms Berry's exit was announced last December, the organisation said she did not intend to step down until autumn 2023. But Kensington Palace has now revealed today that Ms Berry will take up her new post at the Royal Foundation in June this year - the same month when the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations are planned.

William and Kate, who are regulars on the red carpet at the Bafta awards each year, said in a statement: 'We are very much looking forward to working with Amanda and are thrilled that she has chosen to join us at the Royal Foundation. Her extensive experience will be of tremendous value as we continue our ambitious charitable work.'

Meghan's biographer Omid Scobie tweeted today that William had worked with Ms Berry 'on a number of occasions', adding that his inaugural Earthshot Prize was yesterday nominated for the 'Best Live TV Event' Bafta.

During this year's Baftas, which William could not attend due to 'diary constraints', host Rebel Wilson made a joke about Harry and Meghan's 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, saying: 'From drama to fantasy, Harry and Meghan's Oprah interview had it all. Unfortunately, that's not nominated in this category, but some incredible films are.'

She also poked fun at Prince Andrew regarding the infamous reference he made to visiting a Pizza Express in Woking during his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, saying: 'So I was going to do a musical number as host, it was about Prince Andrew though. Um, no guys, it's no, it's not what you think. It was on roller skates, it's called Pizza Express. But don't worry, I'm not gonna do it, I'm not gonna sing. I'm saving my voice for the sequel to Cats.'

Amanda Berry with Prince William and Kate Middleton at the Bafta Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London in February 2018

Amanda Berry and Kate Middleton laugh as they sit either side of Prince William at the Baftas in London in February 2019

Amanda Berry, Prince William and Kate Middleton at the Baftas at the Royal Albert Hall in London in February 2019

Prince William walks with Bafta chief executive Amanda Berry to tour the organisation's HQ in London in September 2019

Actor Tom Hiddleston kisses Bafta chief executive Amanda Berry at the Royal Festival Hall in London in May 2016

Former Royal Foundation chief executive Jason Knauf is pictured (left) at Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding at Windsor Castle in May 2018, and (right) with Harry in South Africa in December 2015

Ms Berry said today: 'I am very excited to be joining The Royal Foundation as it continues to step up the global ambition for The Duke and Duchess' philanthropic work.

'I have witnessed, and am so impressed by, the unique impact the Royal Foundation can make on the issues Their Royal Highnesses support, from mental health to conservation, and raising awareness of the importance of early years.

Amanda Berry: Dry cleaner's daughter who joined Bafta 24 years ago Amanda Berry in 2000 after taking over as Bafta chief Amanda Berry, 60, was born on August 20, 1961 in Darlington, County Durham, to a dry cleaner father and hotelier mother. She began her television career in 1989 as a researcher for London Weekend Television before working as a producer and development executive for Scottish Television Enterprises. Ms Berry joining Bafta in October 1998 as director of development and events, and was named Media Boss of the Year and one of the Women of the Year in 1999. She became chief executive in December 2000 and upon her resignation last December was also a director of Bafta Enterprises, Bafta Media Technology, Albert Sustainable Production Certification and 195 Piccadilly, Bafta's hospitality and corporate hire business. Advertisement

'I am looking forward to working with The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, along with the trustees and staff to continue this important work.'

It comes three months after Ms Berry resigned from Bafta - an acronym for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts - amid claims she had become 'over-familiar' with the royals.

She also attracted criticism for handing the Doctor Who star Noel Clarke an outstanding contribution to cinema award in April last year shortly before sexual misconduct allegations against him came to light.

The month after Clarke received the prize, more than 20 women came forward with claims against him. He denied any misconduct, and Bafta suspended the award and Clarke's membership, but the organisation was criticised for not having looked into his alleged conduct more thoroughly.

And that followed William's criticism of the awards' lack of diversity in 2020. Nominees in the four acting categories were all white, while no women were nominated for best director, for the seventh year in a row.

However, the Duke of Cambridge's intervention led to a major shake-up, with Bafta bringing in 120 changes to its awards processes and promising to introduce 1,000 new members from underrepresented backgrounds.

Ms Berry, who became chief executive of Bafta in 2000, was said to have been 'allowed to leave gracefully' after having 'rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way over the years' and becoming 'far too familiar with the royals'.

A source told the Daily Mail last December: 'She liked to give the impression that William and Kate were her friends.'

But Bafta denied to MailOnline that her departure was connected to Clarke or her royal relationships.

Kensington Palace today said in an announcement today that Ms Berry was 'selected following an extensive global search' and that she will lead the Royal Foundation 'as it continues to deliver an ambitious new strategy, mobilising leaders, businesses, and people to address society's greatest challenges together'.

Amanda Berry at the Baftas at the Royal Albert Hall on March 13, 2022 (left) and last year's awards on April 11, 2021 (right)

Edith Bowman, actor Tom Hiddleston and Amanda Berry at a Baftas event at the Savoy Hotel in London in January 2020

(From left) Amanda Berry, Trino Verkade, Eddie and Hannah Redmayne at LAPADA Art & Antiques Fair in September 2019

Royal aides added that Ms Berry was joining the organisation 'at an exciting time as it delivers important work this year including the evolution of The Earthshot Prize, The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood and United for Wildlife, while also supporting further work currently under development'.

RICHARD FITZWILLIAMS: Amanda Berry is an 'inspired' appointment It is rare for a royal appointment to a raise a cheer, but the choice of Amanda Berry, the chief executive officer of Bafta, to be the chief executive officer of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge from June of this year is undoubtedly an excellent one. Her record at Bafta has been remarkable. When she took over in 2000, the ceremony used to be awkwardly positioned at the end of the awards season and lacked influence. It was positioned before the Oscars, which it was subsequently seen to influence, in 2001. It was also enormously beneficial that there were so many talented British nominees at the Oscars each year. Also, the presence of top Hollywood stars at the ceremony, which was moved to the Royal Albert Hall in 2017, boosted its profile enormously. After the absence of any actors of colour among the nominees in 2020, Bafta announced a total overhaul of its awards system to further diversity, which it clearly succeeded in doing in the 2021 awards. The ceremony this year was notable for championing new talent as well as for being inclusive, and was also remarkably balanced in its choices of nominees. The awards had been totally transformed in a couple of years, which was an amazing achievement. The Bafta HQ in Piccadilly was also redeveloped and Bafta's charitable work greatly expanded, during her truly remarkable tenure. The Foundation includes William's ambitious Earthshot Prize to benefit the environment, Catherine's project to study early childhood and work on conservation, all are excellent philanthropic causes. The choice of Amanda Berry, who is a pragmatic and dedicated moderniser, to run it, is an inspired one for the future of the monarchy which the Cambridges and their children represent. Advertisement

They said that Ms Berry had been 'instrumental in the major changes Bafta has undergone, including 'successfully positioning the organisation as the pre-eminent charitable body celebrating the very best work in film, games and television; supporting the growth of creative talent; and discovering, inspiring and nurturing new talent'.

The aides added that Amanda 'oversaw a huge expansion in the organisation's charitable work; was at the heart of the successful delivery of one of Bafta's most ambitious undertakings to date, the redevelopment of its HQ at 195 Piccadilly; and re-positioned the Film Awards, creating one of the most globally respected industry events of the international Awards calendar'.

Mr Fitzwilliams told MailOnline today: 'It is rare for a royal appointment to a raise a cheer, but the choice of Amanda Berry, the chief executive officer of Bafta, to be the chief executive officer of the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge from June of this year is undoubtedly an excellent one.

'Her record at Bafta has been remarkable. When she took over in 2000, the ceremony used to be awkwardly positioned at the end of the awards season and lacked influence. It was positioned before the Oscars, which it was subsequently seen to influence, in 2001.

'It was also enormously beneficial that there were so many talented British nominees at the Oscars each year. Also, the presence of top Hollywood stars at the ceremony, which was moved to the Royal Albert Hall in 2017, boosted its profile enormously.

'After the absence of any actors of colour among the nominees in 2020, Bafta announced a total overhaul of its awards system to further diversity, which it clearly succeeded in doing in the 2021 awards. The ceremony this year was notable for championing new talent as well as for being inclusive, and was also remarkably balanced in its choices of nominees.

'The awards had been totally transformed in a couple of years, which was an amazing achievement. The Bafta HQ in Piccadilly was also redeveloped and Bafta's charitable work greatly expanded, during her truly remarkable tenure.

'The Foundation includes William's ambitious Earthshot Prize to benefit the environment, Catherine's project to study early childhood and work on conservation, all are excellent philanthropic causes.

'The choice of Amanda Berry, who is a pragmatic and dedicated moderniser, to run it, is an inspired one for the future of the monarchy which the Cambridges and their children represent.'

Her appointment comes after the foundation's previous chief executive, Mr Knauf, announced he was leaving last year.

He worked for the Sussexes as their communications secretary when in October 2018 he emailed his concerns about Meghan, who denies the bullying allegations, to William's then private secretary, in an apparent attempt to force Buckingham Palace to protect staff.

Amanda Berry (left) with Natalie Dormer, Joanna Lumley, Letitia Wright and Jane Lush at a Baftas event in January 2018

Amanda Berry poses for a photo with Everybody's Talking About Jamie star Max Harwood in London in March 2022

Amanda Berry with Charlie's Angels actress Ella Balinska and Sex Education star Asa Butterfield in London in January 2020

Speaking today about Ms Berry's appointment, Royal Foundation chair Lord Hague of Richmond - former foreign secretary William Hague - said: 'We are delighted that Amanda has agreed to join The Royal Foundation and look forward to welcoming her in post.

Meghan Markle's biographer Omid Scobie said that Prince William had worked with Ms Berry 'on a number of occasions'

'Amanda brings with her extensive experience of leading a globally recognised organisation with a strong sense of purpose, and we are very pleased to have someone of her calibre take on this important role leading Their Royal Highnesses' philanthropic work.'

And Krishnendu Majumdar, chair of Bafta said: 'Throughout her 23-year tenure as chief executive of Bafta, Amanda's dedication, creativity and skilled leadership have enabled Bafta to evolve and grow into a world-leading arts organisation whilst ensuring its charitable purpose has remained at its heart.

'Amanda leaves a very different Bafta to the one she joined, and an incredible legacy.

'Her passion for supporting new talent is evident in Bafta greatly expanded, year-round global learning and talent development programmes, while her stewardship of the flagship Bafta Awards has seen the organisation grow and evolve into an internationally recognised and respected brand.

'I couldn't be happier for her that her next act will be leading the Royal Foundation and its philanthropic work and cannot imagine a more fitting organisation to benefit from her influence and commitment.

'On behalf of everyone at Bafta I would like to thank Amanda for everything she has helped Bafta achieve and wish her every success in her new role.'
President Vladimir Putin has ordered 134,500 more conscripts to join his army as Russia's forces continue to struggle to make significant gains in Ukraine.

The Russian despot signed a decree today ordering the new conscripts into the army as part of Russia's annual spring draft. Despite Moscow's struggles, the defence ministry claimed the call-up had nothing to do with the war in Ukraine.

The order came five weeks into Russia's invasion, which has run into fierce Ukrainian resistance that has inflicted devastating losses on Moscow's armies.

As the decree was signed, Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine claimed they now control almost all of the Lugansk region and more than half of the Donetsk region after Moscow made these territories its primary military goal.

The foreign ministry of the self-proclaimed republic said in a Telegram post that 'more than 90 percent' of the Lugansk region had been liberated'. Leader of the Donetsk separatists said 55 to 60 percent of the region was under Russian control.

The claims, which came after Russia said this week that it would deescalate its assaults further west in Ukraine, could not be independently verified.

Later on Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russian forces in Ukraine are not withdrawing but regrouping.

Stoltenberg also said the alliance has yet to be convinced that Russia was negotiating in good faith in peace talks in Istanbul because Moscow's military objective since launching its invasion of Ukraine has not changed.

President Vladimir Putin has ordered 134,500 more conscripts to join his army as Russia's forces continue to struggle to make significant gains in Ukraine. Pictured: A Ukrainian soldier takes a selfie next to a destroyed Russian tank in the Sumy region, Ukraine, 30 March 2022

Speaking on Thursday as Putin signed the decree, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that none of the 134,500 call-ups would be sent to any 'hot spots'.

The issue of conscripts' involvement in the war is highly sensitive.

On March 9, the defence ministry acknowledged that some had been sent to Ukraine after Putin had denied this on various occasions, saying only professional soldiers and officers had been sent in.

Putin's spokesman said at the time that the president had ordered military prosecutors to investigate and punish the officials responsible for disobeying his instructions to exclude conscripts.

The annual spring military draft, which runs from April 1 to July 15, will affect Russian men between the ages of 18 and 27, Putin's decree said.

Shoigu said on Tuesday that those called up would begin to be dispatched to their assigned bases in late May.

'Most military personnel will undergo professional training in training centres for three to five months. Let me emphasise that recruits will not be sent to any hot spots,' he said in remarks published on his ministry's website.

However, Mikhail Benyash, a lawyer representing several members of Russia's National Guard who refused an order to go to Ukraine, said that under Russian law conscripts could be sent to fight after several months of training.

The news comes after a video emerged yesterday of a group of young Russian soldiers conscripted to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine complaining that they've been 'thrown into the s**t'.

One boy soldier (left), 18, is seen wielding an AK-47 rifle first issued to Soviet soldiers in 1947

In footage taken in the back of a military vehicle, one complains: 'Know the truth! The Russian Ministry of Defence has no idea about us, or what we're doing here.

'We've been thrown into the s**t!'

Another adds: 'Our rifles are from the 1940s! They don't f***ing fire! They're sending f***ing ordinary students into war', according to The Times.

The soldiers, who were reportedly members of the 15th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade, filmed themselves in the back of a lorry near Sumy, close to the border with Russia.

One - wearing a Russian army helmet too big for his head - points to himself and says, 'I'm 18 years old.'

He then holds up his AK-47 machine gun - first issued to Soviet soldiers in 1947 - and complains, 'We've been given automatic rifles to take on Grads, artillery, mortar shells. We're asking you to spread this.'

President Putin vowed not to send young, untrained conscripts to the front lines of the war in Ukraine - but has since broken his promise.

One quarter of Russia's army is made up of conscripts aged 18-27, disproportionately from poorer backgrounds where families are unable to obtain legal letters or doctors' notes excusing their sons from battle.

Earlier this month, a group of Russian conscripts captured by Ukraine said they were deceived into believing the war was a military training exercise and apologised for behaving 'like fascists'.

Russia's President Putin (pictured on Wednesday) vowed not to send young, untrained conscripts to the front lines of the war in Ukraine - but has since broken his promise

Moscow youngster Aleksandr Morozov, 22, said: 'Ukrainians are a strong people, they fight like beasts. Their aircraft shatters our columns utterly. Our side suffers great losses: technicians, sergeants, officers, soldiers. And we want to stop that.

'I want to apologise to the whole of Ukraine for coming here. I do not want violence in this country. I am very ashamed.'

New conscripts are often tortured and even raped as part of brutal initiations dating back hundreds of years.

The army's culture of hazing (known as 'dedovshchina') involves using physical and psychological abuse to 'toughen' young recruits.

In 2019 alone there were 51,000 recorded cases of human rights violations among young Russian conscripts - and 9,890 sexual assaults, according to Moscow's defence ministry.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a special military operation to demilitarise and 'denazify' the country. The war has killed thousands of people and uprooted millions.

In recent days Russia has reframed its objectives, saying it never intended to take the capital Kyiv and other major cities but is focused on 'liberating' eastern areas where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting the Ukrainian army since 2014.

Its statements have been greeted sceptically by Ukraine and Western governments. Military analysts have suggested the declared focus on the eastern Donbas region may be an attempt to make it easier for Putin to seek a face-saving exit.

Russia recognised the independence of the self-declared Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics shortly before sending troops into Ukraine on February 24.

'As of the morning of March 31, 2022, more than 90 percent of the territory of the People's Republic of Lugansk has been liberated,' the foreign ministry of the self-proclaimed republic said on Telegram Thursday.

Leader of the Donetsk separatists Denis Pushilin told TASS news agency Wednesday that 'around 55 to 60 percent' of the region's territory was under Russian control.

Before the start of what Moscow calls its 'military operation' in Ukraine, the separatists - locked in conflict with Ukraine's army since 2014 - controlled about a third of each of these regions.

In the Donetsk region, Russian forces have encircled the southern port city of Mariupol where remaining civilians are desperate for food, water and medicine.

The leader of Russia's North Caucasus Republic of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, who has sent thousands of Chechen fighters to Mariupol, said on Telegram that '90-95 percent' of the strategic port city was under Russian control.

Following weeks of fighting, Moscow said last week it will be focusing on the 'liberation' of Donbas and on Tuesday said it will be drawing back from Ukraine's capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernigiv.

But on Thursday, NATO's Stoltenberg said the alliance has yet to be convinced that Russia was negotiating in good faith in peace talks in Istanbul because Moscow's military objective since launching its invasion of Ukraine has not changed.

'According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region,' Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels.

'At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities. So we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering.'

Russia says it launched a 'special military operation' to disarm and 'denazify' its neighbour, and that the mission is going to plan.

Stoltenberg said: 'We have no real change in the real Russian objective ... they continue to pursue a military outcome.' He also said NATO allies would continue to provide weapons to Ukraine for as a long as necessary.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said today (pictured) that Russian forces in Ukraine are not withdrawing but regrouping

Ukrainian soldiers greet each other in Moshchhon, Ukraine on March 30,2022 where they were fighting against the Russian army and pushing them back after fierce battles

Since Putin invaded, thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed. Against the expectations of many, Ukraine has mounted a staunch defence and have managed to stop Russia from making significant ground.

Last week, a NATO official said between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting. Ukraine claims as many as 16,000 have been killed.



During peace talks on Tuesday in Istanbul, the faint outlines of a possible peace agreement seemed to emerge when the Ukrainian delegation offered a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral.

This would see it drop its bid to join Nato, as Moscow has long demanded - in return for security guarantees from a group of other nations.

Top Russian officials responded positively, with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying that Ukraine's willingness to accept neutrality and look outside Nato for security represents 'significant progress', according to Russian news agencies.

The talks between Ukraine and Russia will resume on Friday by video, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, has said.

But scepticism of statements from Russia about deescalation by Zelensky and others seemed well-founded, as shells continued to fall on Ukraine on Thursday.

Top Russian military officials have said in recent days that their main goal now is the 'liberation' of Donbas, the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial heartland where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014. Western officials say Moscow is reinforcing its troops in the Donbas.

Some analysts have suggested that the focus on the Donbas and the pledge to de-escalate may merely be an effort to put a positive spin on reality: Moscow's ground forces have been thwarted - and have taken heavy losses - in their bid to seize the capital and other cities.

On Thursday, the director of GCHQ launched an unprecedented attack on Vladimir Putin, claiming his bungled 'personal war' in Ukraine has backfired badly.

Sir Jeremy Fleming (pictured, file photo) said today the command and control of Russia 's campaign was in 'chaos' in his first public statements on the invasion

In an excoriating verdict on the 'failing' invasion, Sir Jeremy Fleming said the command and control of Russia's campaign was in 'chaos' in his first public statements on the invasion.

The spy chief revealed new intelligence showing that ill-prepared Russian soldiers are refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

He also claimed Putin's own advisors are lying to him about Russia's startling losses, speaking to the despot's isolation and authoritarian approach.

Sir Jeremy said Putin's 'misjudgments,' had forced him to adopt plan B  'barbarity against civilians and cities'.

The head of Britain's eavesdropping intelligence agency also warned China not to be 'too closely aligned' with a country that wilfully breaks all the rules and 'norms for a new global governance'.
Covid testing centres were today pictured being dismantled ahead of free swabs being ditched tomorrow in England.

Boris Johnson's 'living with Covid' plan means only NHS workers, care home staff and vulnerable patients will be eligible for free tests from April 1.

All of the around 500 walk-in centres across the country will close, in the final part of No10's process of entering a post-pandemic era. Some sites have been open for two years.

Meanwhile, the Government's website to order lateral flows was out of stock again, with the final supplies having been rinsed over the past fortnight. The rapid kits will cost around 2 on the high street as of tomorrow.

Sajid Javid insisted people must 'learn to live with Covid' as campaigners criticised the end of free testing for millions of people in England.

The Health Secretary said reporters it was right to 'focus resources' on those people who still most needed testing, including some hospital patients and those at a high risk of severe Covid.

But despite the country on the brink of entering a new phase of Covid, a health chief insisted Britons should continue wearing face masks.

Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, said Britons should be 'very sensible and take precautions in periods of high prevalence as we have now'.

She claimed Britain could resemble countries in Asia in the future, where coverings are common during flu seasons.

Pictures show a testing centre in Milton, Cambridgeshire, being dismantled ahead of the rule change tomorrow.

Workers at a Covid testing centre in Milton, Cambridgeshire, dismantle equipment today ahead of the end of free testing tomorrow

There was a last rush for free Covid tests at the centre yesterday as the Government shuts down testing centres across England today

The Government website was out of stock of lateral flows again today, amid fears people have stockpiled the tests ahead of tomorrow

Graph shows: The number of lateral flow tests taken in England every day since the start of the pandemic

Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, insists Britons should continue wearing face masks, saying they should be 'very sensible and take precautions in periods of high prevalence as we have now'

Who will still get FREE Covid tests? Free lateral flow tests will be scrapped for everyone except NHS workers, care home staff and vulnerable patients from Friday in England. It will only continue in settings where infection can spread rapidly while prevalence is high. FREE SYMPTOMATIC TESTING WILL STILL BE GIVEN TO: Patients in hospital, where a PCR test is required for their care and to provide access to treatments and to support ongoing clinical surveillance for new variants;

People who are eligible for community Covid treatments because they are at higher risk of getting seriously ill;

People living or working in some high-risk settings. For example, staff in adult social care services such as homecare organisations and care homes. Advertisement

There was a last rush for free Covid tests at the centre yesterday.

Staff were seen loading up equipment at the test centre, as it closes after almost two years serving local residents.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said: 'As per the government's Living with Covid plan, from the end of March 31 all testing sites for the general public in England will cease operations, once free testing for the general public ends.

'We'd once again like to thank staff for their hard work and for playing such a vital role in our pandemic response. Free PCR and LFD tests will continue to be available to specific groups after 31 March and further detail is set out here.

'The government has retained the ability to enable a rapid testing response should it be needed, such as the emergence of a new variant of concern.'

The Government has set out the groups who will still be eligible for free testing when they have symptoms of the virus.

These include some hospital patients, people at high risk of severe Covid, and some who live or work in 'high risk settings' including some NHS and social care units or prisons.

Routine tests for care home and hospice residents will no longer continue and will only be provided in the event of an outbreak or a resident being admitted.

People who have a positive Covid test in England will be advised to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for five days, which is when they are most infectious.

Those who are positive, or have symptoms, and need to leave home are being urged to wear masks, avoid crowded places and stay away from people with weakened immune systems.

Covid tests will still be available to buy on the high street, with prices starting at 1.89 per test from LloydsPharmacy. Lateral flows cost 2 each from Boots and 1.99 at Superdrug.

A survey by the Laboratory and Testing Industry Organisation (LTIO) of 1,732 English adults today found only 32 per cent said they would continue to test once the rule-change comes into effect.

Some 58 per cent who had previously been testing while the lateral flows were free said they would refuse to pay for Covid tests.

Tom Watson, chair of the LTIO, said: 'Given the cost-of-living crisis, the decision to end free tests from April 1 is clearly a concern for Britain's workers and their families.

'The majority of people who say they would take a test when unwell with Covid symptoms change their minds when faced with a bill.

'These new findings clearly demonstrate that millions of people still want to get tested to reassure themselves and protect their families and colleagues at work, but they can't afford to pay for those tests.

'It's of particular concern right now given the recent spike in case numbers and hospital admissions. It will leave vulnerable groups at greater risk, particularly the immuno-suppressed.

'As we've consistently said, testing protects the nation from lockdowns, and that line of defence will be severely depleted from Friday.'

Some free testing will continue during April in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and until the summer in Wales.

Less than a third of Brits aged 18 to 24 admit they still wear masks in public places, while those aged 65 and above are the age group most likely to do so (60 per cent)

One in eight Britons admit they've never taken a Covid test in new poll Mask-wearing across the UK has fallen to its lowest level in two years and one in eight Brits admit they've never taken a Covid test, a new poll has revealed. Almost half of the YouGov respondents feared the Covid situation was worsening in the UK (45 per cent), as cases continue to stagnate, while deaths and hospitalisations creep up. Less than a third of Brits aged 18 to 24 admit they still wear masks in public places, while those aged 65 and above are the age group most likely to do so (60 per cent). With most people (58 per cent) self-testing using a lateral flow within the last month, around one in eight Brits (13 per cent) say they have never taken one. It comes as Health Secretary Sajid Javid said workers with Covid symptoms will no longer need to take a test from tomorrow as England continues its post-pandemic return to normalcy. Rather than get a lateral flow or PCR test, those with symptoms such as a high temperature and a cough will be advised to stay at home. Free testing provisions will be scrapped for millions from Friday, and replaced with lateral flow test offers from pharmacies across Britain. Advertisement

Ministers in England argue that even though infection levels have been rising, vaccines and antivirals are working to protect the vast majority of people.

But Dr Harries insisted Brits should wear face coverings when indoors in public, despite cases not translating into severe disease.

She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I will always put on a face covering when I walk into a shop or if I'm on a train, in those areas where we know we can help prevent transmission even if we're not aware ourselves that we might have it.'

Asked why the proportion of MPs and Brits wearing coverings has reduced, she said: 'The public, when there has been a perceived risk, have responded and moderated their own behaviours. I have every confidence they will continue to do that.

'There is obviously a middle ground where some people will wear a face covering and others won't.

'As we move into this living with Covid phase it is about balancing that risk and personal behaviours.

'In the same as we would in the flu season, in some countries many people will always wear a face covering in public during that season and that is normal behaviour.'

Dr Harries said the country is in a period of high prevalence, with cases rocketing, although hospitalisations and deaths are not following suit.

She added: 'There are around three-and-a-half million people in the last week up to that point, up to March 25, which is a very high level.

'But what we're not seeing of course is a significant translation of that into serious illness, hospitalisations and most importantly, deaths.

'There has been a small uptick in deaths in the last week and again... some hospitals are coming under significant pressure and we shouldn't underestimate that.

'But overall, immune defences through the vaccination programme has been really successful and of course we now have treatments.'

Asked if it is the right time to end free Covid testing, Dr Harries said the UK must come to terms with the pandemic remaining unpredictable.

She said: 'The pandemic takes its own course and it will remain unpredictable to a large extent for the next say 18 months to two years, I think is general consensus.

'We will have to be continuously be alert to monitor those rates and to respond appropriately to any new variants.

'But as with other respiratory viruses such as flu... at some point we have to come to terms with that.'

She said warmer weather will likely drive down infection rates and that there are high levels of population immunity as long as people come forward for booster jabs.
Financial Supervisory Service Governor Jeong Eun-bo speaks during a financial platform conference in Seoul, Jan. 26. Yonhap



By Lee Min-hyung



The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) has launched an inspection into Toss, as part of its on-site monitoring of financial firms this year.



Earlier, the watchdog shared its plan to step up its inspections of internet-only lenders and financial arms of the so-called platform giants such as Naver and Kakao, after they were mired in a series of controversies including personal data leakage and top executives' massive stock sales.



According to the financial industry, Toss, one of Korea's most successful fintech-only startups, became the first target for the FSS' occasional inspection this year.



The FSS will look into whether Toss operates its business by ensuring customer protection and abides by relevant financial regulations here. After the authority finishes the inspection of Toss, it plans to move onto companies such as Naver Financial and KakaoPay.



A key issue is whether the financial authorities need to impose less strict regulations on fintech firms, as tough regulations have long been cited as a major hurdle holding back growth of the nation's fintech ecosystem.



However, after influential big tech firms came under fire for a series of poor internal management incidents, calls have also grown that watchdogs should maintain a similar level of regulatory pressure on emerging financial players.



"It is unfair that watchdogs are not imposing the same regulations on big tech firms, as some of them take advantage of some regulatory ambiguity," a financial industry source said. "This discourages conventional financial firms at a time when a growing number of their customers are switching to the emerging players, whose rapid growth was driven in part by less tough regulatory restrictions."



Nevertheless, chances are that authorities could change their regulatory mindset after President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol takes office, as most of his pledges are centered on easing regulations and fostering overall industrial growth.



Both the FSS and Toss declined the opportunity to comment further on the matter.



The FSS announced earlier that it will conduct a total of 779 regular or occasional inspections on financial firms here throughout this year.


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Fresh video of the aftermath of Sunday's Oscars slap shows Jada Pinkett Smith laughing and keeping her gaze fixed on Chris Rock moments after her husband Will Smith slapped the comedian.

The video posted to TikTok was shot from the floor of the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, sheds yet more light on the assault that stunned the world.

Though her face cannot be seen clearly, Pinkett Smith appears to laugh in the immediate aftermath of the slap, as Rock reacts by saying: 'Wow, Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me.'

The actress, 50, glances briefly at her husband as he shouts for the first time: 'Keep my wife's name out your f***ing mouth.'

However, she keeps her eyes fixed on Rock as Smith repeats his demand at a louder volume. Pinkett Smith then appears to chuckle again as Rock repeats his joke about the alopecia sufferer looking like GI Jane, by saying: 'The greatest night in the history of television.'

The new video comes as Rock spoke out for the first time since the infamous incident, briefly addressing the matter in his first stand-up act since the Oscars in Boston on Wednesday night.

New video posted to TikTok was shot from the floor of the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, from a vantage point directly behind the table where Smith and Pinkett Smith were seated

Pinkett Smith keeps her eyes fixed on Rock as Smith repeats his demand at a louder volume. She then appears to chuckle again as Rock states: 'The greatest night in the history of television.'

Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars Sunday after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. The Academy revealed on Wednesday that Smith was asked to leave, but refused

Rock reacts onstage during the Oscars. He said Wednesday: 'I'm still processing what happened, so at some point I'll talk about that s***'

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith are seen at the Oscars. New video has emerged of the moments following Will Smith 's slap of Chris Rock at the Oscars on Sunday

Rock on Wednesday night told an audience at his sold-out comedy show in Boston that he was 'still processing' being slapped on stage by Smith at the Oscars, in his first public response to Sunday's shocking incident.

Dressed all in white, Rock, 57, took to the stage at the Wilbur Theatre and asked the excited crowd: 'Sooooo, how was your weekend?!'

With the crowd all handing over their cell phones before the show began, the former Saturday Night Live star was greeted with a long standing ovation in the first of two sets he performed Wednesday as part for his Ego Death Tour.

However, the usually-uninhibited funnyman quickly shut down any hopes he would crack jokes about the slap heard round the world to the 3,000 fans in the audience, some of whom reportedly paid nearly $1,000 for a ticket.

'Let me be all misty and s***,' he said, with tears in his eyes.

'I don't have a bunch of s*** to say about that, so if you came here for that...' he said, and paused.

'I had written a whole show before this weekend.

'I'm still processing what happened, so at some point I'll talk about that s***. It'll be serious. It'll be funny, but right now I'm going to tell some jokes.'

Rock skirted the subject again in his second set but seemingly confirmed that he has not spoken with Smith since being smacked in the jaw on live television.

'I haven't talked to anyone, despite what you heard,' Rock said.

Chris Rock leaves Wilbur Theatre in Boston after performing two shows Wednesday night. The uninhibited comedian remained uncharacteristically tight-lipped about being slapped by Will Smith during Sunday's Academy Awards show

Rock looked downbeat amid the drama, which overshadowed the Oscars and deeply divided Hollywood. Smith apologized to him on Monday night, but Rock is yet to respond

Twice during the first show, a couple of members of the audience shouted: 'Will Smith,' drawing a far louder chorus of boos.

Following the heckling, DailyMail.com saw one man being dragged out by security guards.

The Academy's statement in full The Board of Governors today initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy. Consistent with the Academy's Standards of Conduct, as well as California law, Mr. Smith is being provided at least 15 days' notice of a vote regarding his violations and sanctions and the opportunity to be heard beforehand by means of a written response. At the next board meeting on April 18, the Academy may take any disciplinary action, which may include suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct. Mr. Smith's actions at the 94th Oscars were a deeply shocking, traumatic event to witness in-person and on television. Mr. Rock, we apologize to you for what you experienced on our stage and thank you for your resilience in that moment. We also apologize to our nominees, guests and viewers for what transpired during what should have been a celebratory event. Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated. While we would like to clarify that Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently. Advertisement

Police confirmed that the man was maced and kicked out of the theater by multiple security guards.

The kerfuffle disrupted Rock, who responded the second time by saying: 'Is this how this tour is going to go?'

Later Rock commented on his life in general, saying that 'except for some weird things, life is pretty good right now.'

The crowd laughed, knowing exactly what the 'weird things' referred to.

Rock seemed unfazed as he delivered his typically high-energy routine, keeping the crowd roaring and gasping as he joked about everything from overweight people at Disney parks, to his decision to get a vasectomy after seeing a 78-year-old Robert De Niro walking around with a child.

He joked about how he spends all his money on women, and wryly recommended his ex-wife's divorce lawyer to the audience, for winning her half his fortune without her ever telling a joke.

Rock took the stage shortly after it emerged that Smith had refused to leave the Oscars after he was approached by the heads of the Academy of Motion Pictures.

The Academy said on Wednesday he ignored the request from the president, David Rubin, and CEO, Dawn Hudson, to leave, and that he had violated their code of conduct.

The 53-year-old actor marched onto the stage on Sunday and hit Rock, after Rock told a joke about Smith's wife.

Shortly after, Smith was announced as the winner of the best actor award and went up to collect his statuette to a standing ovation from many of his peers.

On Wednesday the Academy said it had launched 'disciplinary procedures' against Smith, and confirmed he ignored their request for him to leave his seat. They also apologized to Rock.

Smith was asked to leave by David Rubin, the president of the Academy, and CEO Dawn Hudson, TMZ reported.

Two sources told the site Rubin and Hudson were 'furious' at Smith, and there was plenty of 'yelling' and 'heated conversations' backstage with his reps after the incident.

One source said the Academy officials were 'apoplectic.'

Dawn Hudson, the CEO of the Academy, asked Smith to leave, along with David Rubin, the president. Smith ignored them

'The Board of Governors today initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy,' their statement said.

'Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, [but] we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.'

Smith will receive 15 days notice of a vote as well as an opportunity to be heard by written response.

At the next board meeting - scheduled for April 18 - the Academy may take action that could include 'suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct.'

In his acceptance speech, Smith apologized to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - whose members vote for the awards, and who stages the ceremony - but stopped short of apologizing to Rock.

Smith initially laughed off the attack, writing on Instagram on Sunday evening: 'You can't invite people from Philly or Baltimore nowhere!!'

Yet as the gravity of the situation became clear, Smith then posted a public apology to Instagram 24 hours after the ceremony, saying he wanted to say sorry formally to Rock.

He said his behavior was 'unacceptable and inexcusable' and left him 'embarrassed'.

'I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris,' he wrote.

'I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.

'There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.'

Smith brushed off a tumultuous night by partying to celebrate the greatest achievement of his career: Best Actor at the Oscars

Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith showed a united front after the row with Rock overshadowed his Oscar win

Condemnation of Smith has grown in the intervening days.

Oscars co-host Wanda Sykes slammed the Academy, calling their actions 'gross' for allowing Smith to remain in the theater, and said his behavior made her feel 'physically ill.'

'It was sickening,' Sykes said in a televised interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

'I felt physically ill and I'm still a little traumatized by it.'

Sykes told Ellen she was returning to the theater from her trailer when the slap happened.

She said 'when I got to the monitor backstage, I just saw Will leaving the stage, and everything was quiet. And I was like, 'What happened, what happened?!''

Sykes added that when she saw the video replay, she said it made her feel sick.

And said she was shocked when Smith was allowed to stay in the theater to accept his Oscar and enjoy the rest of the show.

Oscars co-host Wanda Sykes slammed the Academy for allowing Smith to remain in the theater Sunday after he slapped Chris Rock, a display she said made her feel 'physically ill'

Sykes told Ellen she was returning to the theater from her trailer when the slap happened. She walked into a silent theater and had the same question others did, 'what is happening'

Sykes told Ellen during the interview that Smith should have been removed from the building immediately after he slapped Rock.

'For them to let him stay in that room and enjoy the rest of the show and accept his award. I was like, 'How gross is this?' she said.

'This is just the wrong message. You assault somebody, you get escorted out of the building, and that's it.

'But for them to let him continue, I thought it was gross. I wanted to be able run out after he won and say, 'Unfortunately, Will couldn't be here tonight'

Sykes, who made her hosting debut alongside Amy Schumer and Regina Hall Sunday night, said she knows Smith apologized to Rock, but pointed out, 'No one has apologized to us.'

'We worked really hard to put that show together  so I'm like, what the hell is this?,' Sykes said.

'We were the hosts, this is 'our house,' we're gonna take care of y'all tonight and no one has apologized to us,' Sykes told DeGeneres.

'And we worked really had to put that show together.'

But Sykes said she did receive an apology from the one person who she said did not owe her one.

She explained that she ran into Rock at a party that night, and he told her 'I'm so sorry!'

'I was like, 'Why are YOU apologizing?' He was like, 'It was supposed to be your night, you and Amy and Regina. And this is now going to be about this.'

Her comments come just hours after fellow co-host Amy Schumer weighed in on the incident, saying she is 'still triggered and traumatized' by the 'disturbing' moment.

In a post shared to her Instagram account in the early hours of Wednesday morning, Schumer, 40, said that she is still feeling the impact of the on-stage altercation.

'Still triggered and traumatized,' she wrote on Instagram early Wednesday.

'I love my friend Chris Rock and believe he handled it like a pro. Stayed up there and gave an Oscar to his friend Questlove and the whole thing was so disturbing.

'So much pain in Will Smith

'Anyway I'm still in shock and stunned and sad. Im proud of myself and my cohosts. But yeah. Waiting for this sickening feeling to go away from what we all witnessed.'

Schumer - who has been close friends with Rock for several years - tried to make a joke out of the incident, jokingly asking the audience if she had 'missed anything' and noting that 'there's, like, a different vibe in here' when she returned to her hosting duties in the minutes after Smith slapped Rock on-stage.

Shocking: Oscars co-host Amy Schumer said she is 'still triggered and traumatized' after Will Smith stormed onto the stage and slapped Chris Rock on Sunday

Schumer, 40, wrote in a post to to plug her TV series, Life & Beth: ''But for real. Still triggered and traumatized. I love my friend @chrisrock and believe he handled it like a pro'

Co-hosts Regina Hall, Amy Schumer, and Wanda Sykes speak onstage during the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre on Sunday

In a letter leaked on Tuesday night, signed by Academy president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson, it states that the 'Academy's Board of Governors will now make a determination on appropriate action for Mr. Smith.'

Smith faces a range of outcomes, including forcing him to hand back his Oscar.

The most severe punishment would be expulsion from the Academy.

That would put Smith among the ranks of Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and Roman Polanski, who were all expelled for sexual misconduct.

Weinstein was expelled 'for 'sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment' and Cosby and Polanski were expelled 'in accordance with the organization's Standards of Conduct' after they had been convicted of sexual assault.

Weinstein and Polanski's Oscars were never rescinded.

Jim Carrey, 60, led the condemnation of Smith, and said he was aghast by the adoration with which Smith was received after the attack.

'I was sickened by the standing ovation,' he said, referring to when Smith took home the Best Actor award not long after the slap incident.

'I felt like Hollywood is just spineless en masse. It really felt like this is a clear indication that we're not the cool club anymore.'

Jim Carrey and Will Smith during Nickelodeon's 16th Annual Kids' Choice Awards 2003

Actor and comedian Jim Carrey slammed the audience at Sunday's Academy Awards for giving Will Smith a standing ovation following his now infamous slap of Chris Rock

Responses to Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars have been divided  but Jenna Wortham (@jennydeluxe) says most people dont have the full story of the incident.



Its something of a magnitude that I dont think can be worked out on a public stage, she says. pic.twitter.com/5qXIq30Y1F  CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) March 29, 2022

Benedict Cumberbatch, a fellow Best Actor nominee, as well as Best Director nominee Paul Thomas Anderson and actress Maya Rudolph, were some of the stars who stood for Smith's win

Venus and Serena Williams, whose father Smith portrayed in King Richard, also stood

Read the full letter sent to members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Dear Members, Sunday's telecast of the 94th Oscars was meant to be a celebration of the many individuals in our community who did incredible work this past year. We are upset and outraged that those moments were overshadowed by the unacceptable and harmful behavior on stage by a nominee. To be clear, we condemn Mr. Smith's actions that transpired Sunday night. As outlined in our bylaws, the Academy's Board of Governors will now make a determination on appropriate action for Mr. Smith. As governed by California law regarding members of nonprofit organizations like the Academy, and set forth in our Standards of Conduct, this must follow an official process that will take a few weeks. We will continue to update you on any developments, but we also ask that you respect your Board, Academy staff and the process as this unfolds so it can work in the considered way it was intended and mandated. Please trust that the Board of Governors will conduct this process in a manner that is both expedient and respectful of all involved while maintaining the standards of the Academy. Thank you, David Rubin, PresidentDawn Hudson, CEO Advertisement

Benedict Cumberbatch, a fellow best actor nominee, as well as best director nominee Paul Thomas Anderson and actress Maya Rudolph were some of the stars who stood for Smith's win. Venus and Serena Williams, whose father was portrayed by Smith in King Richard, also stood.

Carrey, who briefly overlapped with Rock in the early 90s on Fox's In Living Color, claimed Rock didn't file charges about the slap because he 'didn't want the hassle' and suggested Smith should have been arrested.

'I'd have announced this morning that I was suing Will for $200 million because that video's gonna be there forever. It's gonna be ubiquitous. That insult is gonna last a very long time,' Carrey said.

The Mask actor seemed to indicate that expressing disapproval of the joke, by saying something on Twitter or even yelling from the audience, wasn't beyond the pale - but what Smith ended up doing crossed the line.

'You do not have the right to walk up on stage and smack somebody on the face because they said words,' Carrey said.

He suggested that something was 'going on' inside of Smith that caused him to do that, and that he acted selfishly.

'It didn't escalate, it came out of nowhere because Will has something going on inside him that's frustrated and I wish him the best, I really do,' Carrey said.

'I don't have anything against Will Smith, he's done great things.

'It cast a pall over everybody's shining moment, a lot of people worked really hard to get to that place,' The Truman Show star added.

'It is no mean feat to go through all the stuff you have to go through when you get nominated for an Oscar.

'It's a gauntlet of devotion. It was just a selfish moment.'

Carrey's comments come as The View host Whoopi Goldberg, who is also a member of the Academy board of governors, said she believes Smith will be able to keep his Oscar but will face 'big consequences - because nobody is OK with what happened.'

Whoopi Goldberg doubled down on her promise to punish Will Smith during Tuesday's show, saying, 'There are consequences. There are big consequences because nobody is OK with what happened. Nobody, nobody, nobody'

'This is a season for healing and I'm here for it,' the actress posted to Instagram Tuesday, two days after the incident that stunned millions of viewers

Pinkett Smith has broken her silence after the incident between her husband and Chris Rock after Rock made a joke about her shaved head. She has been open about her struggle with alopecia on social media

Two days after the incident, Will's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, 50, finally broke her silence with an Instagram post that read, 'This is a season for healing and I'm here for it.'

Goldberg doubled down on Tuesday on her promise to punish Smith, saying: 'There are consequences. There are big consequences because nobody is OK with what happened. Nobody, nobody, nobody.'

The host claimed that producer Will Packer decided not to remove Smith from the event, 'because that would have been another 15-, 20 minute-explanation about why we're taking the black man out five seconds before they're about to decide whether he's won an Oscar or not.'

Goldberg did not know that he had been asked to leave, and refused to go.

Marshall Herskovitz, president emeritus of the Producers Guild of America, was among the first to condemn Smith, tweeting shortly after the attack that Smith had 'disgraced our entire community'.

He said: 'I call upon the Academy, of which I am a member, to take disciplinary action against Will Smith. He disgraced our entire community tonight.'

Herskovitz accused those who defended the actor of 'moral cowardice'.

'People standing up and applauding after the first assault in 94 years of Oscar history. Moral cowardice,' he said.

Several Hollywood celebrities denounced Smith's actions.

Alec Baldwin posted to Instagram and Twitter his condemnation of Smith's behavior.

'I'm sorry the Oscars turned into the Jerry Springer Show,' he said.
The Ukrainian soldier who told a Kremlin navy warship to 'go f*** yourself' was starved and beaten in a 'hellish' Russian prison after being captured, it has been revealed.

Border guard Roman Hrybov, 32, and his comrades defiantly refused to surrender on the strategically important Snake Island in the Black Sea on the first day of the war.

They were captured and held for a month in a secret jail in Russia where Hrybov lost 22 pounds and was 'degraded', but he insists he is 'not a hero'.

He was returned to Ukraine in a prisoner swap last week and is now back home in Cherkasy, and wants to highlight the plight of 72 other Ukrainian prisoners who continue to languish in the jail where he was held.

His mother Tetiana Rudolfivna Hrybova told MailOnline: 'Roman suffered terribly at the hands of the Russians. He was starved and beaten and subjected to degrading treatment. He lost 10kg.

The Ukrainian soldier who told a Kremlin navy warship to 'go f*** yourself' was starved and beaten in a 'hellish' Russian prison

His mother Tetiana Rudolfivna Hrybova (pictured) said her son 'suffered terribly at the hands of the Russians'

'But he says he is not a hero. He is only interested in helping the other soldiers get out of the Russian jail where he was held.'

Soldier Evgeniy Goncharenko, who took Roman back to his unit after the prisoner exchange, said: 'Roman and his comrades were treated badly.

'The Russians beat them. The soldiers got very cold. There was nowhere for them to sleep.

'They had to sit on the cold floor with their hands on their heads.

'They were not allowed to go to the toilet. It was degrading.'

Hrybov, 32, and his comrades defiantly refused to surrender on the strategically important Snake Island in the Black Sea on the first day of the war

After learning that he was being held prisoner, his mother set up a shrine to him at her home in Cherkasy and prayed every day for his safe release

He added: 'The Russians even beat the civilians who were taken prisoner. They treated them like soldiers.'

Roman's 13-strong unit was at first feared to have been killed when the Russian ship opened fire on their remote outpost on Snake Island around 180 miles west of Crimea.

Ukrainian defence officials hailed their bravery as they issued a recording of Roman's radio conversation with an officer on the ship who was demanding their surrender.

But it emerged three days later that the border guards had miraculously escaped death and ended up being captured by Russian forces and held for a month in a military jail at a secret location

Tetiana at first refused to believe it was her son's voice in the defiant radio message which emerged the day after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Roman's 13-strong unit was at first feared to have been killed when the Russian ship opened fire on their remote outpost on Snake Island (pictured)

Soldier Evgeniy Goncharenko (pictured), who took Roman back to his unit after the prisoner exchange, said: 'Roman and his comrades were treated badly'

The Ukrainian Parliament confirmed sailors who were captured as they defended a small island in the Black Sea have been freed in a prisoner exchange with Moscow

She could not accept his death, even after Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said the border guards had all 'died heroically' without surrendering and would be getting posthumously getting Hero of Ukraine awards, the country's highest honour.

After learning that he was being held prisoner, she set up a shrine to him at her home in Cherkasy and prayed every day for his safe release.

Tetiana said she 'almost fainted' when her prayers were seemingly answered and she heard his voice after he was freed.

Speaking of the moment, she first heard the recording of his message of defiance, she told MailOnline: 'I didn't want to believe it was Roman, I refused to believe he was killed.

'But then I learned that my son was being held prisoner. It was torment. I almost collapsed.

Tetiana at first refused to believe it was her son's voice in the defiant radio message which emerged the day after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 (pictured left, aged 18, and right, aged four)

'I made a shrine to him in corner in the room and every day I came here to chat and tell him photos of what was happening.

'And when we met after the captivity, he said he heard me.'

Roman and his friends had been stationed on the 40-acre Snake Island near the Ukrainian and Romanian coasts on the Black Sea.

The rocky island - known as Zmiinyi Island in Ukrainian  has a marine research station and is understood to be strategically important because of its resources including petroleum.

The recording of a Naval radio channel featured a Russian officer giving an ultimatum to Ukrainian forces on the island to surrender or face being annihilated.

Hrybov, whose viral statement of defiance in the face of near certain death as a Russian warship attacked Ukraine's Snake Island, has been awarded a civic medal

The voice said: 'This is a military warship. This is a Russian military warship. I suggest you lay down your weapons and surrender to avoid bloodshed and needless casualties. Otherwise, you will be bombed. Do you copy?'

After a short period of silence, Roman is heard asking a colleague, 'Well this is it, should I tell him to go fuck himself?' Another voice said, 'Just in case'

The volume was turned up as Roman responded: 'Russian warship, go fuck yourself.'

His words came to epitomise the David v Goliath spirit that has marked Ukraine's spirited resistance against the Russian war machine

Roman's pugnacious message even prompted a patriotic poster campaign across the nation.

A civil medal presented to Hrybov by Igor Taburets, the head of Cherkasy's regional administration

A civilian ship called 'Sapphire' was sent to Snake Island to check on casualties after the island was seized by the Russians, but the crew also ended up being captured

Roman has now been granted a few days leave, and has returned home to Cherkasy where he was given a medal by the local civic authorities

But the soldier, who is due to be returning to service, is only interested in saving his brothers in arms.

His mother added: 'Roman has been given military awards, but he does not want to receive any of these.

'He does not want to be a hero. He is worried about his brothers who are in captivity. That is the only thing that is important to him.'
A 'middle-aged' scientist who drank a bottle of 'cheap' rose wine before calling a Portuguese woman a 'Spanish w****' during a neighbour's row over a noisy fire alarm has been suspended from her job for racism.

Kelly Madden became furious after accidentally setting off her own alarm while cooking soup and baking bread at her rented art studio in Norwich, Norfolk, on July 9, 2020.

During the bizarre dispute, the unnamed neighbour knocked on Madden's door and urged her to turn off the device, but in a confrontation on a communal landing, she was met with abuse and shown the middle finger, a tribunal heard.

Norfolk and Suffolk Police later quizzed Madden over the incident and she accepted a caution for using racially or religiously aggravated harassment.

She told officers she had been drinking a bottle of 'cheap' rose wine in the run up to the argument.

Madden has been suspended from practising for nine months after she was found guilty of disciplinary charges at a Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service hearing on Monday.

She accepted that she shouted at the victim, known only as Person A, but claimed she 'didn't realise it was illegal to call someone a Spanish w****'.

Madden, the 'son of a military man', also claimed 'these things happen' - adding she had a 'very diverse group of friends'.

The offices of the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service, which has banned Madden from practising for nine months

In a statement read to the tribunal, she said: 'I was drunk and hadn't eaten because I had activated a fire alarm preparing soup. The fire alarm activated the other fire alarms and my neighbour became extremely agitated and was shouting in the hall and on the landing.

'I told her there wasn't a fire and apologised which I always do when the alarm activates accidentally.

'But she was hysterical and I was drunk on a bottle of wine so we had an argument at the top of the landing outside my door and I called her 'a spanish s***' and told her to go away if she didn't like it.

'She then called the local police and accused me of hate crime. Following the incident - on the advice of a police officer - I wrote a card apologised to the alleged victim and a box of chocolates.

'I believe she was already in a state of distress and anxiety perhaps completely unrelated to the property and the fire alarm.'

Madden said her neighbour had covered the property in notes complaining about the mess, an issue that did not concern her because she only rents the property 'on an ad hoc basis as a place to do art'.

But the neighbour rang police following the argument and accused Madden of a hate crime.

On the advice of a police officer, Madden wrote a card apologising to the victim and gave her a box of chocolates, the tribunal heard.

In a subsequent statement, Madden admitted she may have been a 'bit heavy-handed and that she had overeacted', before adding that 'these things happen - people have arguments'.

She told the hearing: 'She initiated the argument, I was really scared alone in a small extremely hot room and I'd drunk an entire bottle of cheap rose by accident while I was cooking soup and baking bread. I was travelling that weekend and cooking more than usual.

'Even though there was no fire and I was apologising through the door, she was hysterical and I went out onto the landing and all I did was shout back at her. She was outside my art studio with a phone after she had been screaming.

'I called her a 'Spanish w****' and said she should leave if she didn't like it (the house not the country). She called the police because she wanted attention and got attention.

'I didn't approach her or follow her or threaten her - I was scared of her. I just wanted her to go away. The fire alarms are very sensitive and activate the other fire alarms.'

The tribunal also heard Madden had various health conditions and was looking to move claiming she had experience verbal abuse and felt 'demonised'.

But the tribunal panel said: 'Since the caution, there has been no meaningful evidence of demonstrable insight or steps towards remediation.

'She has not taken any practical steps to address her behaviour, for example by attending a relevant course or meaningfully reflecting on her behaviour.

'She has sought to minimise her culpability for her behaviour, focusing instead on Person A's conduct rather than her own.

'She failed to meaningfully appreciate the impact of her actions on the victim or the profession in general, instead stating that 'these things happen.'

'She has not demonstrated that she has learned from her behaviour. As a result, the Panel concluded that there was a high risk of her repeating her behaviour.'

The panel continued: 'The Registrant used inexcusable racist language, she has demonstrated limited insight and sought to minimise her actions. There is a risk of repetition due to the lack of genuine remorse.

'However she had a previously unblemished reputation and she was under pressure due to her health and living in isolation and difficult conditions.

'Her behaviour was outrageous in racially abusing Person A in her living accommodation.'

Madden was also ordered to undertake a training and diversity course. as well as write a 'full written reflective piece' demonstrating an assessment of her behaviour and what she has learned from the courses.
The Project's political pundit Peter van Onselen has admitted he was raped by a school teacher as a child in a bitter online exchange with Grace Tame.

Ms Tame, who was Australian of the Year in 2021, is an advocate for survivors of sexual abuse and was repeatedly abused by her 58-year-old school teacher when she was 15.

Van Onselen had previously confessed to being targeted by the child molester on a school trip in 1989, but insisted in a column last October: 'To be very clear from the outset, I was not sexually abused.'

But in a late night Twitter row with Ms Tame on Thursday, he revealed: 'The police knew of three other boys he raped who didnt want to testify. I was one of them.'

He added: 'You have made me say this which is incredibly distressing but there you go...Please stop.'

The Project's political pundit Peter van Onselen has admitted he was raped by a school teacher as a child in a bitter online exchange with Grace Tame

Grace Tame and Peter van Onselen have engaged in a fiery exchange over Twitter about their past experiences with abuse

The spiteful debate blew up when van Onselen resumed his long-running dispute with Professor Gemma Carey, who had posted about her family GP.

Professors van Onselen and Carey were involved in a legal row last year, after her comments on an old picture of van Onselen and his wife with former attorney general Christian Porter, who has denied accusations of historical sexual abuse.

After Prof Carey tweeted about a row with her doctor, van Onselen replied: 'When your long term family GP decides to ban you from their clinic is that a sign you're a complete pain in the arse?'

That is when Ms Tame chimed in.

'When you victimise a vulnerable person, that's a pretty good sign too,' Ms Tame replied.

Tame responded to van Onselen's tweet directed at a professor who he has shared a combative past with on social media

That sparked a very heated back-and-forth, with van Onselen digging up old wounds from when the professor had insulted his wife in the past.

'That's how I felt when, as a survivor myself of child sexual abuse (he was convicted), she accused me of being a threat to my wife,' the journalist responded to Tame.

'Unfortunately you then helped her raise money when I had the temerity to ask her to apologise. Thanks for all your support.'

Ms Tame then fired back.

'If you're going to tell me your story Peter, I'll listen. I've got all day. We both know what you wrote in The Australian about being nearly abused,' she fired back.

Professor Gemma Carey sparked a legal row with a nine word tweet about an old picture of Christian Porter (left) and his university mates Dr Nick Coastworth (centre, left) and Professor Peter van Onselen, centre right with wife Ainslie, centre

A legal furore broke out after University of New South Wales Professor Gemma Carey (pictured with husband Ben O'Mara) made her nine word comment on the pic

Van Onselen objected to Professor Carey's tweet directed at him and his wife from several years ago

'I was molested at six and raped more times than I care to tell you. If there's more I don't know, let's hear it.'

She then deleted that tweet and replaced it with another, accusing van Onselen of lacking integrity and 'co-opting' the stories of other victims.

'He was convicted, but not of crimes against you. Co-opting other survivors experiences is a whole new low, mate,' she said.

'Especially to undermine an actual paedophilia and multiple rape survivor. I'm not denying the trauma of what you went through, just your integrity and intent.'

'If you're going to tell me your story Peter, I'll listen. I've got all day. We both know what you wrote in The Australian about being nearly abused,' Tame fired back

An incensed van Onselen shot back, saying it was not her place to be demanding he share more details of his own trauma.

'Sorry I haven't been prepared to be public about the real details of what happened to me. Not everyone wants to fully share,' he replied.

'You have made me say this which is incredibly distressing but there you go. The police knew of three other boys he raped who didn't want to testify. I was one of them. Please stop.

'Thank you for deleting that tweet I responded to where you downplayed what happened to me,' Ten's political editor said.

'Leave me alone,' she replied, before attempting again to end the argument.

'Peter. You poked fun at Gemma. I came to her defence. Then you leveraged your trauma, repeatedly, to provoke me.

'You know full well what you are doing. You started the whole thing. Take responsibility for your actions.'

Van Onselen ended up sharing details of his abuse that were 'incredibly distressing', before Tame told him to 'leave me alone'

The very public argument then continued as Ms Tame shared a screenshot from his column about his schoolboy experience in which he said: 'Let me be very clear from the outset, I was not sexually abused'.

'I was going off your own words, Peter. You are responsible for when and what you publicly disclose, not me. I ask again that you please leave me alone now,' she added.

Van Onselen then responded: 'As I said I didn't want to share my experience, but your attempt to shame me was so triggering I couldn't let that stand, so I have had to do so. As I asked, please stop'.

The ugly Twitter battle finally ended when Tame accused him of 'manipulating this entire situation'.

The disagreement saw hundreds of replies from shocked Twitter users, some of who took Ms Tame's side in the dispute.

'He keeps using his experience to justify his attacks on other people,' one user said of van Onselen.

'You seem very definitive in the extract that she attached that you were not abused, so I'm not sure how anyone is supposed to have not taken your own words at face value,' another wrote.

An incensed van Onselen said he wasn't ready to 'fully share' the details of his abuse, before noting she had deleted her previous tweet

Others sided with the Ten journalist however, saying the thread 'read like an ambush'.

'Please take care of yourselves, this is a highly charged discussion and becoming more personal by the tweet. Embrace your loved ones and have a calm night,' another Twitter user said calmly.

When van Onselen first wrote about his experience last year, he revealed: 'I was targeted because back then I was shy and quiet.

'Just the sort of kid the literature tells us predators go after.'

But he added: 'For years I didnt even realise he had tried to assault me.

'Many of us on that camp werent aware of his grooming tactics. Not explicitly anyway. We were only 13.'

Van Onselen is also at the centre of bullying and toxic workplace culture accusations in a lawsuit brought by reporter Tegan George against Network Ten.

At a case management hearing on March 21, Ms Georges barrister Siobhan Kelly said she would also be filing a claim alleging sexual discrimination.

Van Onselen's dispute with Prof. Carey goes back to when she posted an old picture of Prof. van Onselen and his wife Ainslie alongside former Australian deputy chief medical officer Dr Nick Coatsworth and former Liberal MP Christian Porter during their days at the University of Western Australia.

The 20-year-old snap showed the long-time friends in black tie and evening wear at a formal night out, along with a second woman and several other men.

A legal furore broke out after University of New South Wales Professor Carey made her nine-word comment on the pic.

Her reply referred to the women in the photograph, which then sparked the threat of defamation actions from Mr Porter and Professor van Onselen.

Prof Carey was hit with three legal notices in one email after making the jibe.

The notices all arrived in the same email from the same high-profile lawyer, Rebekah Giles, who has previously represented Mr Porter, as well as Brittany Higgins and Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Prof Carey deleted the tweet and apologised online to Mr Porter and Prof van Onselen for her reply about the photograph. Dr Coatsworth has not been involved in the legal row.

'On 24th October 2021, I commented on a photograph of Peter van Onselen when he was at university with others & that comment was completely inappropriate & highly offensive and I should never have published it,' she tweeted.

'It has now been deleted and I unconditionally withdraw my comment and apologise to Mr van Onselen for the hurt caused to him and his wife by my conduct.'
The Conservative Party press office did not take 'very seriously' allegations that a 15-year-old boy was sexually assaulted by a man who later stood as an election candidate, a court has heard.

Imran Ahmad Khan, 48, allegedly forced the youngster to drink gin and tonic, dragged him upstairs and asked him to watch pornography before groping him in a bunk bed following a party in January 2008.

The then-teenager did not want to make a formal complaint at the time but told Southwark Crown Court 'it all came flooding back' when he discovered Khan was standing to become the MP for Wakefield in West Yorkshire in the December 2019 general election.

Giving evidence at Southwark Crown Court today, the alleged victim's parents both broke down in tears as they told how their son was left 'inconsolable' and 'shaking' after the incident at a house in Staffordshire.

Tory MP Imran Khan, pictured outside Southwark Crown Court today, denies sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy following a family party at the youngster's house in Staffordshire in January 2008

The Wakefield MP, pictured, was elected to parliament in 2019. The complainant told the court Khan tried to give him alcohol, wanted to watch pornography with him

He went to police days after Khan helped Prime Minister Boris Johnson win a large Commons majority by taking the constituency in the so-called 'red wall' that had formed Labour's heartlands in the Midlands and northern England.

But the alleged victim, who voted Labour, told a jury on Thursday that his complaint was 'not motivated by political reasons'.

'If it was, I would've done it before the general election,' he said.

'I also contacted the Tory press office, trying to inform them what had happened.

'I wasn't taken very seriously.'

He continued: 'I explained that Imran Khan was running for MP and had just sort of been hurriedly put through.

'I explained this and said 'He sexually assaulted me when I was a child, when I was 15'.'

He said the woman he spoke to sounded 'shocked' and passed him on to someone else who sounded more 'stern' and asked if he had any 'proof'.

'I said "Yes, there's a police report" and she said "Well...", and that was it.

'I said "I'm going to the police", and she said "Well, you do that".'

Khan, who was 34 at the time, denies a single count of sexual assault over the alleged incident involving the schoolboy at a house in Staffordshire.

The MP, who is gay and a Muslim, claims he only touched the Catholic teenager's elbow when he "became extremely upset" after a conversation about his confused sexuality.

Khan's barrister, Gudrun Young QC, suggested in cross-examination that the complainant has given three 'contradictory' accounts - a police report in 2008, and police interviews in 2019 and 2021.

She suggested the man, who has trained as an actor, is 'literally making this up' and reliving a 'drama you are convinced of in your own mind'.

But the alleged victim insisted he is telling the truth, telling the court: 'I am not a liar.'

The complainant's father broke down in tears in the witness box as he told how his son was 'inconsolable' after the alleged attack.

Khan denies sexually assaulting the then 15-year-old boy in January 2008. His trial at Southwark Crown Court, file photograph, continues

'He went into shock, he was shaking, crying and it seemed like hours until I got the words out "I was molested",' he said.

The alleged victim's mother said Khan had seemed like a 'very charming man' who she believed was 'foreign royalty', while she described her son as an 'absolutely joyous boy' who she had tried to bring up in an 'Enid Blyton existence'.

She said: 'He was a young child, he was a boy. He wasn't a man, and I think that is what has upset me the most about all of this.

'He was a child when he went upstairs that night and he suddenly had to face what he had to face.'

She wept as she added: 'I will never, for as long as I live, forget this: (My son) just shaking and shaking and shaking.

'I couldn't get any sense out of him. I just grabbed him and tried to calm him and stop him shaking.

'He was speaking in hushed tones and was just saying "He was trying to feel me, he was trying to feel me".'

The trial continues.
The Malaysia Airlines Flight was shot down near Ukraine by Russia-backed rebels

During his address he referenced Russia's downing of flight MH17 in 2014

President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged Australians to remember Russia's downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 as he called on further military support from Scott Morrison.

The Ukrainian leader thanked Australia for its support as he addressed Federal Parliament via video link on Thursday night and urged for more international aid to hold back Putin's invasion.

During his address, Mr Zelensky referenced flight MH17, which was shot down by Russian-backed separatists, killing all 298 people onboard, including 38 Australians.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Australia to provide more weapons in a powerful speech to Federal Parliament on Thursday

Four men linked to Russian-backed rebel groups are accused of shooting down the passenger jet. All four suspects have denied any involvement and remain at large.

He said if the Russian perpetrators had been held to account in 2014 'there would not be any of this terror of invasion of Ukraine in 2022'.

'The most terrible thing (is) if we don't stop Russia now, if we don't hold Russia accountable, then some other countries of the world who are looking forward to a similar war against their neighbours will decide that such things are possible for them as well,' he told Federal Parliament.

During his address, Mr Zelensky referenced flight MH17 which was shot down by Russian-backed separatists, killing all 298 people onboard, including 38 Australians (pictured, the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 near the village of Hrabove, eastern Ukraine, in 2014)

'The fate of global security is decided now.'

He thanked Prime Minister Scott Morrison for his support, but said his country still needs more international aid as they hold back Vladimir Putin's invasion.

Mr Morrison confirmed Australia will send an extra $25million worth of military aid to Ukraine, including tactical decoys, unmanned aerial and unmanned ground systems, rations and medical supplies.

The Ukrainian leader said if the Russian perpetrators of MH17 had been held to account in 2014 'there would not be any of this terror of invasion of Ukraine in 2022' (pictured, the Malaysia Airlines flight M17 in 2014)

'We need your help not in the next couple of months, we need it now. The people of Australia, the distance between our countries is big, we're separated by oceans and seas, but there is no such thing as distance from the brutality and chaos Russia has brought to the Ukraine,' President Zelensky told Parliament.

'Whatever is happening in our region has become a real threat to your country and your people, because this is the nature of the evil. It can instantly cross any distance and destroy lives.'

Mr Morrison offered a powerful opening speech, labelling Putin as 'the war criminal of Moscow' and promised Australia's unwavering support

Mr Morrison offered a powerful opening speech, labelling Putin as 'the war criminal of Moscow' and promised Australia's unwavering support.

'Australia stands with Ukraine. You have our prayers, but you also have our weapons, and there will be more,' Mr Morrison said in an opening speech to President Zelenskyy.

'We stand with you Mr President, and we do not stand with the war criminal of Moscow.'

Labor leader Anthony Albanese compared Putin to Adolf Hitler, saying the world needs to stop the Russian dictator before he is responsible for more deaths.

President Zelensky accused Russia of 'blackmailing' the world through nuclear threats and called on Australia to condemn its atrocities through definitive action.

'The bipartisan support from Australia, we are extremely grateful. This is only the beginning, we should and can do more. We need powerful sanctions before they stop blackmailing other countries with nuclear missiles,' he said in his parliamentary address.

He warned that if Russia are not promptly stopped, other countries with 'similar aspirations' could follow their lead, with Moscow's aggression posing a 'real threat' to world stability.

President Zelensky accused Russia of 'blackmailing' the world through nuclear threats and called on Australia to continue to condemn its actions through definitive action

He said all Russian ships should be banned from entering international waters and barred from docking in the ports of other countries as the world attempts to stem the country's financial resources.

'No Russian vessels should be allowed in other seas. We should stop all business activities of Russia,' President Zelensky told Parliament.

He noted the hundreds of Australians who travelled to the country in 2016 to celebrate the debut of the world's largest plane - the Antonov AN-225, with its nickname translating to 'Dream' in English.

Russia destroyed the aircraft on February 28, but the Ukraine president said it would not crush their spirit.

'We can say that Russia destroyed our 'Dream', but no, they just burned down a plane,' President Zelensky said.

'But not the essence, not the dignity, not our independence.'

President Zelensky received a standing ovation as he addressed Federal Parliament on Thursday afternoon, with the Ukraine leader putting his hand to his heart

He asked for more military assistance, namely Australia's Bushmaster four-wheel-drive vehicles, which could be pivotal for ongoing warfare.

'Most of all we have to keep those who are fighting against this evil armed,' President Zelensky said.

'For example you have very good armoured personnel vehicles, Bushmasters, that could help Ukraine substantially, and other pieces of equipment that could strengthen our position in terms of armament.

'If you have an opportunity to share this with us we would be very grateful.'

President Zelensky said the 'fate of global security is decided now' and that it was navigating a time in which precdent would be set for future wars.

The Ukraine leader received another standing ovation from Parliament as he repeatedly thanked Australia for its support at the conclusion of his address.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Australia has pledged $116million worth of military assistance, $65million of humanitarian assistance and 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal to meet Ukraine's energy needs.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Australia has pledged $116million worth of military assistance, $65million of humanitarian assistance and 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal

Mr Morrison's office announced new tariffs on Russia and Belarus in response to their continued efforts to invade Ukraine.

From April 1, Australia will withdraw its Most-Favoured-Nation tariff and apply additional 35 per cent fees on all Russian and Belarusian imports.

Australia has also announced temporary three-year protection visas for Ukrainians fleeing the war.

The timing of Mr Zelensky's speech has been widely questioned in Canberra, with Labor leader Anthony Albanese's response to Tuesday's Budget announcement overshadowed by the presence of the Ukraine president.

President Zelensky has addressed several parliaments including in the UK, US, Canada and EU to thank allies for help to defend his nation.
A masked burglar broke into David and Victoria Beckhams 40 million mansion after scrambling up his next door neighbours scaffolding, it has been claimed.

Police have been trawling through CCTV footage from the property adjacent to the Beckhams Holland Park home in West London, which has been empty while building works are going on.

They have also asked neighbours to hand over security camera videos in the hunt for the lone thief.

The raider was able to break into an upstairs bedroom while the former England captain, wife Victoria, 47, and daughter Harper, 10, were in the house before escaping with thousands of pounds of designer and electric goods.

A neighbour told MailOnline today: Its scary to think they were able to get in while the family were inside.

Police came round asking for security camera footage and mentioned the scaffolding at the house next door.

It goes the whole way up the building. There are about six platforms with ladders and there are poles that go across to the chimney at the Beckhams house which is just a couple of feet away.

The break-in, on February 28, was not discovered until 17-year-old Cruz returned home from a night out and stumbled upon the upturned bedroom and spotted broken glass from a window on the floor.

A masked burglar has broken into the Beckham family home in West London and made thousands of pounds' worth of valuables (David and Victoria pictured)

The Beckhams' home in Kensington, pictured today, following a burglary at the property last month

David, 46 (right), reportedly called 999 and set about searching the mansion for the burglar with Cruz (left), while Harper (centre right) remained with Victoria, 47, and waited for the police (Brooklyn centre left)

David, 46, reportedly called 999 and set about searching the mansion for the burglar with Cruz, while Harper remained with Victoria, 47, and waited for the police.

The burglar is thought to have been part of a gang which targeted at least two other houses in the area on the same night.

The Met confirmed it is investigating and that no arrests have been made.

Today workmen were painting the outside of the house next door to the Beckhams home which has large signs warning the building is subject to 24 hour surveillance.

A workman at the site said: The police came around. They wanted to see our cameras and we gave everything to them.

A woman who answered the door at the Beckhams home said: Im sorry you need to make an appointment.

Cruz Beckham breaks social media silence after raid Cruz Beckham was the first member of the Beckham family to return to social media after their West London home was burgled. The thief forced their way into a spare upstairs bedroom at the 40m mansion in Holland Park and ransacked the place while David, Victoria and 10-year-old daughter Harper relaxed downstairs completely unawares. The break-in, on February 28, was not discovered until 17-year-old Cruz returned home from a night out and stumbled upon the upturned bedroom and spotted broken glass from a window on the floor. Cruz took to his Instagram Stories hours after the news emerged and shared a playful TikTok video of himself relaxing in a grey hoodie. This was followed quickly by his older brother Romeo who shared a snap of himself sporting a black printed T-shirt, grey tracksuit bottoms and a pair of sunglassses. Neither David nor Victoria have broken their silence yet on the burglary. Advertisement

A source close to the family told The Sun: 'Sadly the Beckhams were the victims of some fairly professional thieves who have been operating in the area.

'Fortunately the criminals only made it as far as one bedroom before they ran off.'

The family are said to have been 'shaken up' by the burglary, but no one was hurt.

The intruder reportedly climbed over the gate at the front of the house, shimmied his way up the property and then broke in through the spare bedroom window. Police are said to be reviewing CCTV footage.

The thief made off with thousands in designer clothes, accessories and electric goods stored in the room - but did not hang around for more.

Two other properties were also targeted, including a neighbouring house which thieves found was empty once inside, and another home on the same street into which burglars were unable to force entry.

A Met spokesman said: 'Police were called at 00.37 hours on Tuesday, March 1 to reports of a burglary at a residential address in the W11 area of Kensington.

'The burglary is believed to have taken place between 20.30 and 23.30 on Monday, February 28.

'A number of items were reported stolen. No arrests have been made. Inquiries continue.'

The raid comes just weeks after Posh and Becks won planning permission to overhaul their Holland Park mansion, parts of which had been sealed off as it had began to crumble.

Pictures of the property exclusively obtained by MailOnline show that the Grade II-listed property is held up by supports before work gets underway.

The couple were granted permission by Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to repair their historic rear terrace and stairs, which had become too dangerous to use.

Beckham's design and access statement revealed their plans to 'reinstate the terrace, which is considered structurally unsound, on a like for like basis.'

The statement also says the family no longer use the terrace which has structural damage is due to age, water ingress, cracking and spalling due to frost.

Work: David and Victoria Beckham have won planning permission to repair their 'crumbling' 31.5 million west London mansion (pictured) after parts of the property were sealed off

'Crumbling': Pictures of the propertly exclusively obtained by MailOnline show that the Grade II-listed property terrace is held up by supports before work gets underway (pictured)

Out of use: The statement also says the family no longer use the terrace which has structural damage is due to age, water ingress, cracking and spalling due to frost

Props and timber bearers have been installed to provide temporary support to prevent collapse and any loss of the buildings original features - including damage to the original cast iron railings.

The statement reads: 'A structural engineer has inspected the terrace and recommended repairs and renewal works on a like for like basis.'

From photos attached to the application, the roof terrace, which is crumbling in parts, is being supported by metal poles to stop it from collapsing.

The project is being overseen by Soho House architect Michael Ergatoudis, who was also in charge of the previous renovations at the home and their Cotswolds retreat.
This Russian tank driver made the luckiest of escapes after his tank was shelled by oncoming Ukrainian forces.

Two clips shared by pro-Kyiv campaigners Return Alive show members of the Ukrainian 54th Mechanized Brigade firing rockets at Russian T-72 tanks - and making direct hits.

In the first video, the T-72 is struck by what appears to be a 120 mm mortar shell - and a burst of flames erupts from the tank's turret.

The Russian T-72 tank is struck from hundreds of metres by a well-aimed Ukrainian mortar shell

A small fire breaks out and the driver (circled) makes his rapid escape into a trench by the road

The compelling video shows the Russian soldier vanish into nearby trees and to safety

Within moments of the man escaping from the tank, the fire engulfing it becomes more intense

Within seconds, a tiny silhouette can be seen leaping out of the cockpit.

The Russian soldier then scurries down into what looks like a trench protected by trees.

Soon later, the tank erupts into even bigger flames - with the soldier making the narrowest of escapes.

After the twenty two-second footage ends, the Return Alive post features a second video showing another Russian tank receive mortar fire.

The first mortar shell fired by Ukrainian soldiers just misses the tank, but a second shot achieves another direct hit.

This clip ends before we see what happens to the soldiers inside - but judging by the severity of the flames, they're unlikely to have made it out in one piece.

Return Alive's video is just the latest glimpse at the haphazard tactics of the Russian army and Ukrainian fighters' merciless effort to drive Putin's forces out of their country.

Earlier today it was revealed Russian soldiers have begun eating stray dogs as they've become 'sick' of their years-old food rations.

Another group of Moscow men is seen lambasting their leadership as clueless and inept - and that Russian troops have been 'thrown into the s**t'.

Yesterday it emerged that Ukrainian forces have been successful at killing invading Russians with their own weaponry.

In the second short clip, a Russian tank is hit by a Ukrainian mortar shell after a near-miss

A powerful Ukrainian shell strikes the tank, leaving it with no chance of survival

The second strike hits it square on, causing the vehicle to vanish in a puff of smoke and fire

President Zelensky celebrated the development and said: They could not imagine such a thing in a nightmare.'

The Ukrainians have also bragged about seizing a secretive advanced electronic warfare system, sophisticated missiles, tanks and other armoured personnel carriers as well as rocket launchers and scores of rifles.

Yuri Butusov, a well-known Ukrainian military journalist, believes the country is gaining more tanks than it is losing.

Putin is supplying Ukraine with more military hardware than the West, he says.

Butusov says Ukrainians have captured more than 1,000 pieces of military equipment, including at least 120 tanks, that were either undamaged or are reasonably easy to repair.

Russia is also pushing propaganda about using weapons captured from Ukraine.

Ukrainians have taken great delight in sharing thousands of videos of farmers towing away Russian tanks.

And it emerged last week that retreating Russian forces from Kyivs outskirts failed to destroy a Krasukha-4 command module, which can jam drones and low-orbit satellites as well as track NATO aircraft.

The Russian military gadget be flown to the US for examination.
Bruce Willis has shown signs of cognitive decline for years, twice firing a gun loaded with blanks on the wrong cue and wondering aloud what he was doing on a set, according to people who have worked with him.

Willis, 67, is retiring from acting after he was diagnosed with aphasia, a brain condition that affects his ability to understand language, his family said in an Instagram post Wednesday.

Lala Kent, the star of Vanderpump Rules who played Willis' daughter in Hard Kill, recalls that the action hero unexpectedly fired a gun on the wrong cue twice during filming in 2020.

'I'm supposed to think my life is about to end, and then my dad steps in to save the day,' she told the Los Angeles Times, explaining that she had her back to him during the scene and was supposed to duck after he delivered his line but before he fired the gun.

No one was injured in the incident, and the film's producer and armorer say it didn't happen.

Last April, Willis also openly questioned what he was doing on the set of the upcoming low-budget film White Elephant.

'I know why you're here, and I know why youre here, but why am I here?' two crew members recall him asking.

Bruce Willis, 67, allegedly fired his gun on the wrong cue twice during the filming of Hard Kill in 2020. No one was injured - and the incident was denied by the film's producer and armorer

Lala Kent, the star of Vanderpump Rules who played Willis' daughter in the movie, said she was supposed to duck after he delivered his line, but the action hero shot his gun before speaking

During the filming of White Elephant in 2021, two crew members said that he openly asked, 'I know why you're here, and I know why youre here, but why am I here?'

In another sign of the iconic film star's declining health, the director of the 2021 action thriller Out of Death (above) told the screenwriter to 'abbreviate his dialogue a bit so that there are no monologues'

Willis has been in more than 70 movies since he got his start in the 1970s. His instantly recognizable face helps sell low-budget films in international markets. In recent years, he's mostly worked with the production companies Emmett/Furla Oasis and 308 Entertainment, according to the LA Times.

Kent says she took things in her stride after Willis' first misfire on the set of Hard Kill in 2020.

'Because my back was to him, I wasn't aware of what was happening behind me. But the first time, it was like, "No big deal, let's reset,'" she recalled.

She asked director Matt Eskandari to remind Willis to say his line before firing, but it happened again.

Two other crew members confirmed that Willis fired the gun on the wrong cue, with one adding, 'We always made sure no one was in the line of fire when he was handling guns.'

Randall Emmett, who founded Emmett/Furla Oasis and has worked with Willis on 20 films, says Willis didn't fire a gun prematurely. The movie's armorer also denies that the incident happened.

Director Jesse V. Johnson met Willis briefly before the shooting of White Elephant began in Georgia last April, but he says, 'it was clear that he was not the Bruce I remembered.'

He says he asked the Emmy winner's team about his condition.

'They stated that he was happy to be there, but that it would be best if we could finish shooting him by lunch and let him go early,' he recalled.

The crew rushed to film his parts, and the actor was later heard asking what he was doing on set.

'It was less of an annoyance and more like: "How do we not make Bruce look bad?" one crew member told the LA Times. 'Someone would give him a line and he didnt understand what it meant. He was just being puppeted.'

In 2020, the director of Out of Death told the movie's screenwriter to keep his lines 'short and sweet,' offering little explanation for the sudden re-write.

'It looks like we need to knock down Bruce's page count by about 5 pages,' director Mike Burns said in a June 2020 email to the screenwriter. 'We also need to abbreviate his dialogue a bit so that there are no monologues, etc.'

One crew member on the set of Hard Kill, above, told the Los Angeles Times: 'We always made sure no one was in the line of fire when he was handling guns'

In 2020, the director of Out of Death, above, told the movie's screenwriter to keep his lines 'short and sweet,' offering little explanation for the sudden re-write

An unnamed source told Page Six his declining cognitive ability had been an open secret in Hollywood as the actor repeatedly had trouble acting in his films.

'Everybody knew, the cast and crew,' the unnamed source said, adding that Willis was 'using earpieces, hearing things, for them to feed him the lines,' and it 'was increasingly difficult to have him on screen.'

He said that films actually had to be made closer to where Willis resided with his family - who, the source said, has been taking care of the 67-year-old actor - to make productions easier.

And in at least one production, the source said, producers began using a body double to increase Willis' screen time, while in another his screen time was 'whittled down,' with the actor shooting on set for only three days.

The source said: 'It was becoming super obvious he was having trouble... he could not act anymore.'

The famed actor can even be seen in a scene in his new movie American Siege, which was filmed in 2020, wearing an earpiece. This was a full two years before the family's announcement that Willis has aphasia.

Willis had previously been seen using an earpiece to feed him lines in his Broadway debut in Misery in 2015, an an unnamed insider also told OK! Magazine

He was also reportedly struggling during the filming of M. Night Shyamalan's 2019 film Glass.

Sources say acclaimed actor Bruce Willis, 67, has been having trouble on the sets of his recent movies, and was even pictured wearing an earpiece to feed him lines on the set of American Siege in 2020

He was also seen apparently needing assistance on the set of his film Paradise City last May

His family shared a statement on their social media pages announcing his diagnosis on Wednesday and saying he will be be 'stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him'

'While filming Glass, staffers worked around him by cutting and editing and having him overdub lines because he struggled to remember and/or deliver them,' they told the publication, according to the New Zealand Herald.

'In most scenes on Glass he's hooded, and they used stand-in and body doubles to replace him. On set, he wouldn't smile and was always chaperoned by an assistant to guide him while walking.'

'We are moving through this as a strong family unit:' Bruce Willis' family issues statement about his condition 'To Bruces amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities. As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him. This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support. We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him. As Bruce always says, Live it up and together we plan to do just that. Love, Emma, Demi, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel, & Evelyn' Advertisement

The source also said at the time that Willis had sold his New York property to spend more time with his wife and children in Los Angeles, and said that his wife, as well as ex-wife Demi Moore, were working together to take care of the famed actor.

'His wife Emma has helped Demi Moore and the children Bruce shares with his ex-wife to make truces because they know he's fading,' the unnamed source told the magazine in January 2021.

'Between Demi and Emma, the family has always ensured Bruce has the support and care he might need at any given time,' the insider said.

They added, 'The good news is that although there is the real concern of dementia fears, it largely has not impacted his ability to work in Hollywood  and in true super hero form  he won't slow down because new technology like earpieces allows actors of his caliber not to skip a beat.'

But in recent years, the New Zealand Herald reports, die hard fans of the actor have noticed he was taking more roles in straight-to-video releases.

This year, Page Six reports, Willis was given his own category at the Razzies - a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic under-achievements - for the 'worst movies of 2021' after he starred in eight critically-panned films.

One of his films, Out of Death, earned a zero percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The parody awards show apologized to the actor following the announcement of his diagnosis on Wednesday, tweeting: 'The Razzies are truly sorry for #BruceWillis' diagnosed condition.

'Perhaps this explains why he wanted to go out with a bang in 2021. Our best wishes to Bruce and family.'

Meanwhile, the actor had been pictured more often with his family, with Moore, 59, wishing him a happy birthday in an Instagram post earlier this month, sharing a photo of the two of them standing in the kitchen and writing: 'Happy birthday Bruce! Thankful for our blended family.'

Spotted: Bruce Willis' daughters Rumer and Scout Willis were captured out in Los Angeles on Wednesday after revealing their famous father has been diagnosed with the degenerative brain condition aphasia

Willis had reportedly sold his New York pad to spend more time with his family. He is pictured here with ex-wife Demi Moore and their children in matching pajamas in 2020

That same weekend, Emma posted a tribute to her husband of 13 years in honor of their anniversary, sharing a photo of them at their 2009 wedding.

'13 years ago, those wedding speeches really sent us over the edge,' she wrote.

Emma also posted her own birthday tribute to Bruce - a photo montage she created, writing: 'I don't just love him, I really, really like him.'

Willis shares three children - Rumer, 33, Scout, 30 and Tallulah, 28, with Moore, to whom he was married from 1987 to 2000. He also has two daughters, Mabel, 9, and Evelyn, 7, with his wife Emma, 43.

On Wednesday his family wrote in a statement on social media: 'To Bruces amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities.

Willis, second from left, recently celebrated his 67th birthday with all of his family

Demi Moore recently posted a picture to Instagram on March 19 thanking Willis for their blended family as she wished him a happy birthday

'As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.'

The statement added: 'This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support. We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him.

'As Bruce always says, Live it up and together we plan to do just that,' the statement, which was signed by his wife, model Emma Heming Willis, his ex-wife Demi Moore and all of his children, concluded.

His daughters Rumer and Scout Willis were spotted out in Los Angeles on Wednesday after revealing the diagnosis.

According to the National Aphasia Association, the condition is an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write.

'Imagine being dropped in a country where you don't speak the language - cannot understand, read, write or speak': Expert reveals what aphasia - the brain condition Bruce Willis was diagnosed with - feels like for sufferers and says 35% develop depression

The world learned on Wednesday that Hollywood legend Bruce Willis, 67, would retire due to his diagnosis of aphasia, a potentially devastating condition that causes a person to lose communication skills.

Willis' family announced that the condition would cause the Die Hard star to step away 'from the career that has meant so much to him.'

Around one million Americans suffer from the condition, the National Institutes of Health reports, and around 180,000 people are diagnosed with it every year.

It can manifest itself in multiple ways, and is often either the result of a head injury, a stroke, a tumor or other brain deterioration.

Aphasia can be devastating as well, with experts saying it causes depression in over a third of cases, can lead to personality shifts and can even alienate friends and family from the affected person.

'Imagine being dropped in a country where you do not speak the language - cannot understand, read, write or speak. It would impact all of your interactions - this is what it is like to have aphasia,' Darlene Williamson, president of the National Aphasia Association, told DailyMail.com.

Other famous examples of aphasia include former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke.

Bruce Willis (pictured), 67, the Hollywood legend and iconic star of the 'Die Hard' film series, among others, has retired from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, his family announced Wednesday. The condition can affect a person's ability to speak, write and understand speech from others. His family did not reveal the extent of the diagnosis

While it is impossible to say for Willis in particular how drastically the condition has affected him and his behavior, Williamson reports that it can often be devastating for patients.

'The consequences of living with a language impairment can alter someone's behavior and outlook on life,' Williamson said.

Darlene Williamson (pictured), president of the National Aphasia Association, said that around a third of people who suffer the condition develop depression. She compared it to being placed in a country where you do not know the language

'Approximately 35 percent of individuals with aphasia experience some depression.'

The cause of the condition, which is often some sort of traumatic brain injury or a stroke, can lead to massive personality shifts.

'[Aphasia is] difficulty with language that comes about from some kind of injury to the brain. The most common source is stroke but it could come from any other type of damage, Dr Brenda Rapp, a cognitive scientist at Johns Hopkins University, told DailyMail.com.

Certain infections that impact the brain's language centers can cause aphasia to form as well, along with cognitive decline and deterioration associated with dementia.

The condition can make it very hard for an actor like Willis to continue in his career, as just the process of speaking out lines can become a challenge.

'It would surely be difficult,' Williamson said about attempting to continue acting while afflicted with the condition.

'Aphasia affects comprehension of language, speaking, as well as reading and writing. There are varying levels of severity which would be another determining factor. It may not be impossible, but acting would require extra accommodations.'

There are four common types of aphasia that make up a vast majority of cases: fluent - often called Wernicke's; non-fluent - known as Broca's; anomic; and Primary Progressive Aphasia.

Rapp explained that there are different forms of the condition because each represents a different type of breakdown in the process of communication.

Whether it is the ability to translate thoughts into proper words, the ability to physically say words, or the ability to interpret and understand speech from others, each part of communication is a complex process, and even slight brain damage can cause issue.

While the condition does cause communication failures, Rapp notes that the person themselves is still the same.

Their thoughts, beliefs and feeling towards their loved ones remain, even if it can be frustrating and alienating for both the aphasia patient and those around them to deal with this condition.

Willis' family did not reveal what type he was facing, or how severe of a case he had, or what was the root cause found for the condition.

Dr Rapp said that despite communication failures caused by the condition, people who suffer the condition still have the same thoughts, and are internally the same person. While the experience can be alienating, loved ones should remember that the person has not changed. Pictured: Willis with family and friends after a 'roast' event in 2018

According to the Stroke Association, a UK based group, those who suffer Wernicke's aphasia have the ability to string together long sentences of words, but will often say things in a way that they do not make sense, or even use made up words.

They will also suffer from impaired reading and writing ability, and may have trouble understanding clear verbal communication towards them.

One example used by Rapp is that a person may misunderstand the sentence 'John kicked the dog'.

Dr Brenda Rapp, a cognitive scientist at Johns Hopkins University, explains that aphasia is often caused by a stroke, and can manifest itself in many different ways

While the average person would clearly understand who kicked who in that scenario, a person dealing with this type of the condition may struggle to figure out whether John or the dog was the one that did the kicking.

Broca's aphasia will often cause a person to forget words or put together a proper string of words even when their brain can fully understand what they want to say.

A person suffering from this type of the condition will often use simple, short, sentences to get across speech as they are unable to properly say what they want to at times.

The Stroke Association says that these sentences will often be of around four words or less.

A person suffering from Broca's aphasia will also struggle with writing, but their reading ability is left unaffected.

Someone suffering from anomic aphasia may suffer to find specific verbs and nouns that they need to get their point across, and will speak very vaguely.

The statement was signed by his wife, Emma (pictured) and his ex-wife Demi Moore as well as all of his children

This may also translate into their writing, where they will just not be able to generate the correct words necessary to say what they would like to say.

Primary Progressive Aphasia damages a person's ability to communicate in virtually every single way.

A person suffering from this version of the condition will have trouble speaking, reading and writing.

Their ability to process and understand someone that is speaking to them is damaged as well.

Doctors can often detect aphasia via either an MRI or CT scan, and will be able to pinpoint the exact part of the brain that is causing the issue.

There is no way to fix or cure the condition entirely, but patients will often undergo speech therapy to help rebuild their language skills.

Theres not a lot of progress [with medication for the condition] the treatment for aphasia is speech therapy,' Rapp said.

She noted that in some cases a person may undergo electric stimulation therapy alongside speech therapy in order to 'get the most' out of the experience.

Williamson said that 'strong family support is a critical piece of living successfully with aphasia.'

It is not always permanent, though, and how long it lasts and how severe it is often depends on how bad the damage to the brain is.

Stroke victims in particular that suffer aphasia can regain their speech, and often within only a few weeks.
Another variant could take the world by storm, one of the country's top scientists warned today on the eve of the final Covid measure being lifted in England.

Sir Patrick Vallance said the 'room for this virus to evolve remains very large' and the world 'could be taken by surprise again with a variant that escapes immunity'.

No10's chief scientific adviser also insisted the current wave 'is not over and we have got very high infection rates at the moment'.

His comments come as other top scientists today warned the health service is under severe pressure and Britons should continue to wear masks to limit the spread of the virus, the day before free Covid tests for all is scrapped.

Meanwhile, Sir Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, told a conference today: 'The waves are still occurring.' He added they will 'certainly' continue.

And Dame Jenny Harries, head of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), called for the nation to keep wearing face masks because infection rates are so high.

She said that Britons should be 'very sensible and take precautions in periods of high prevalence as we have now'.

Daily cases have soared to the highest levels since the peak of the Omicron wave in January. The rise was attributed to ministers dropping restrictions on 'Freedom Day' and the more infectious Omicron strain.

But there are promising signs that the worst of the resurgence may already be over.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid today insisted people must 'learn to live with Covid' and that it is 'right' that free tests are only given to those who need them the most. Only the most vulnerable people and health care workers will be able to get free tests from tomorrow.

Sir Patrick Vallance today warned the 'room for this virus to evolve remains very large' and the world 'could be taken by surprise again with a variant that escapes immunity'

Sir Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, said the health service is under 'significant pressure'. Admissions have been trending upwards for more than a month, with a further 2,200 recorded across the UK on Sunday

Dame Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency, insists Britons should continue wearing face masks, saying they should be 'very sensible and take precautions in periods of high prevalence as we have now'

Less than a third of Brits aged 18 to 24 admit they still wear masks in public places, while those aged 65 and above are the age group most likely to do so (60 per cent)

Speaking at a virtual Royal Society conference today, Sir Patrick said the pandemic 'is not over' and noted 'we've got very high infection rates at the moment'.

'And the room for this virus to evolve remains very large, so we could be taken by surprise again with a variant that escapes immunity,' he said.

He also warned there will be future pandemics which look very different to the current one.

Sir Patrick said: 'It's very obvious to everyone in this meeting that there will be a future pandemic. That I think is clear. What it is going to be, we have no idea.'

The world 'needs to be ready to respond' to the next pandemic, which 'certainly won't be the same as this one', he said.

The top scientist said nations need to be in a position to have 'reliable and approved' vaccines ready for production at scale, as well as drugs and tests within 100 days of a new infectious virus being identified.

Mask-wearing falls to lowest level in two years Mask-wearing across the UK has fallen to its lowest level in two years and one in eight Brits admit they've never taken a Covid test, a new poll has revealed. Almost half of the YouGov respondents feared the Covid situation was worsening in the UK (45 per cent), as cases continue to stagnate, while deaths and hospitalisations creep up. Less than a third of Brits aged 18 to 24 admit they still wear masks in public places, while those aged 65 and above are the age group most likely to do so (60 per cent). With most people (58 per cent) self-testing using a lateral flow within the last month, around one in eight Brits (13 per cent) say they have never taken one. It comes as Health Secretary Sajid Javid said workers with Covid symptoms will no longer need to take a test from tomorrow as England continues its post-pandemic return to normalcy. Rather than get a lateral flow or PCR test, those with symptoms such as a high temperature and a cough will be advised to stay at home. Free testing provisions will be scrapped for millions from Friday, and replaced with lateral flow test offers from pharmacies across Britain. Advertisement

'Because the regulation and quality control around diagnostics was not good in much of the pandemic that we have had globally,' he added.

And the World Health Organization today warned of a new Covid strain emerging if the virus mutates in an infected animal before being transmitted back to humans.

It said this would lead to 'effectively a reset' and the entire population would be susceptible to the new strain.

The WHO urged countries to prepare for the 'background threat'.

Meanwhile, Sir Chris warned the current wave  which saw 74,720 infections logged in the last 24 hours  is piling pressure on the NHS.

He told the Royal Society of Medicine virtual Covid conference that the public can see the health service is 'under pressure' but is acting in a way that reflects that the virus no longer causes the level of hospitalisations and deaths that it did a year ago.

If there is another wave triggered by a strain that escapes protection from vaccines and prior infection, the public would 'tighten up' their action.

But he warned the NHS is currently under 'significant pressure' and no one should 'imply otherwise'.

Latest Government dashboard data shows 2,200 people were admitted to hospitals across the UK on Sunday, up 12 per cent on the previous week.

And figures from the Office for National Statistics show one in 16 people in England were infected in the week to March 19  the highest figure since the Omicron peak in January.

Dame Jenny, head of the UKHSA, said she still wears a face covering in shops and on trains, despite the law being ditched in England weeks ago.

She said: 'The public, when there has been a perceived risk, have responded and moderated their own behaviours. I have every confidence they will continue to do that.'

But she admitted there was a 'middle ground' where people will opt against wearing a mask.

Dame Jenny said: 'As we move into this living with Covid phase it is about balancing that risk and personal behaviours.

'In the same as we would in the flu season, in some countries many people will wear a face covering in public during that season and that is normal behaviour.'

No10 is pushing ahead with its 'Living With Covid' plan, scrapping free tests for everyone other than NHS workers, care home staff and vulnerable patients from tomorrow.

Hundreds of walk-in centres across the country will close, in the final part of the process of entering a post-pandemic era. Some sites have been open for two years.

But despite England's rule change signalling a clear end to the pandemic, Dr Harries told BBC Radio 4's Today programme she will continue to wear a mask  and called on everyone else to do the same.

She said: 'I will always put on a face covering when I walk into a shop or if I'm on a train, in those areas where we know we can help prevent transmission even if we're not aware ourselves that we might have it.'

Dame Jenny said the country is in a period of high prevalence, with cases rocketing, although hospitalisations and deaths are not following suit.

Getting Britain fitter would reduce impact of next pandemic: Experts say boosting exercise rates, making diets healthier and curbing smoking would leave UK in a 'much better' position 'next time around' The next pandemic would have a less severe impact than the Covid crisis if Britons were fitter, experts said today. Britons should exercise more, add more vegetables to their diet and stop smoking to reduce pressures on hospitals during the next health crisis, Professor Hugh Montgomery said today. Dozens of studies throughout the pandemic have found people who are overweight or obese are more likely to suffer severe illness, be hospitalised or die from the virus. 'Many admissions' during the pandemic would have been 'completely preventable' if people in the UK were healthier, the University College London expert in intensive care medicine told a medical conference. Nearly 800,000 people infected with the virus have been admitted to hospitals since the start of the pandemic. More than a third of adults in England are overweight and more than a quarter are obese, official figures show. Professor Montgomery also called for the Government not to be called a 'nanny state' when introducing measures to encourage Britons to make healthier choices. The Prime Minister announced a crackdown on obesity in 2020 after a near-fatal bout of Covid which he attributed to being overweight. As part of the plan, new laws restricting offers on foods high in fat, sugar and salt are due to come into effect in medium and large shops in October. Junk food giants will also be banned from advertising online and before 9pm on TV by January 2023. But there are concerns Mr Johnson may dilute or drop the plans to appease Tory MPs who oppose nanny-state interventions. Advertisement

She added: 'There are around three-and-a-half million people in the last week up to that point, up to March 25, which is a very high level.

'But what we're not seeing, of course, is a significant translation of that into serious illness, hospitalisations and most importantly, deaths.

'There has been a small uptick in deaths in the last week and again... some hospitals are coming under significant pressure and we shouldn't underestimate that.

'But overall, immune defences through the vaccination programme has been really successful and of course we now have treatments.'

Asked if it is the right time to end free Covid testing, Dr Harries claimed the UK must come to terms with the pandemic remaining unpredictable.

She said: 'The pandemic takes its own course and it will remain unpredictable to a large extent for the next say 18 months to two years, I think is general consensus.

'We will have to be continuously be alert to monitor those rates and to respond appropriately to any new variants.

'But as with other respiratory viruses such as flu... at some point we have to come to terms with that.'

She said warmer weather will likely drive down infection rates and that there are high levels of population immunity as long as people come forward for booster jabs.

Pictures show a testing centre in Milton, Cambridgeshire, being dismantled ahead of the rule change tomorrow.

Staff were seen loading up equipment at the test centre, as it closes after almost two years serving local residents.

The Health Secretary today told reporters that the UK was now 'one of the most open and free countries in the world' because of 'decisions that we've taken as a country'.

'And it is right also as we learn to live with Covid that we withdraw free testing  universally if it's not needed anymore, but we focus those resources on the people that need it most. And that's what we're doing,' he added.

Carers UK and the Alzheimer's Society are among those who have criticised the move, with the latter saying it 'risks gambling' with the lives of people living with dementia in care homes.

The Alzheimer's Society has been campaigning to keep lateral flow tests free for all people visiting loved ones in care settings.

James White, head of public affairs and campaigns at the charity, said: 'With the end of Covid rules, people may well assume infections are dwindling.

'But the reality is that cases have been soaring which means scrapping all isolation rules and ending free tests is a dangerous gamble.

'It poses an unnecessary risk for people living with dementia being exposed to infected people not isolating in the community, but also from untested people visiting care homes whilst infected.

'It's a relief to see a small number of those giving close personal care receive free tests for care home visits, but this doesn't go nearly far enough to allow everyone to visit safely and provide families with the reassurance needed.'

The UKHSA said: 'As per the Government's Living with Covid plan, from the end of March 31 all testing sites for the general public in England will cease operations, once free testing for the general public end.

Workers at a Covid testing centre in Milton, Cambridgeshire, dismantle equipment today ahead of the end of free testing tomorrow

There was a last rush for free Covid tests at the centre yesterday as the Government shuts down testing centres across England today

'We'd once again like to thank staff for their hard work and for playing such a vital role in our pandemic response. Free PCR and LFD tests will continue to be available to specific groups after 31 March and further detail is set out here.

'The government has retained the ability to enable a rapid testing response should it be needed, such as the emergence of a new variant of concern.'

The Government has set out the groups who will still be eligible for free testing when they have symptoms of the virus.

These include some hospital patients, people at high risk of severe Covid, and some who live or work in 'high risk settings' including some NHS and social care units or prisons.

Routine tests for care home and hospice residents will no longer continue and will only be provided in the event of an outbreak or a resident being admitted.

People who have a positive Covid test in England will be advised to stay at home and avoid contact with other people for five days, which is when they are most infectious.

Those who are positive, or have symptoms, and need to leave home are being urged to wear masks, avoid crowded places and stay away from people with weakened immune systems.

Covid tests will still be available to buy on the high street, with prices starting at 1.89 per test from LloydsPharmacy. Lateral flows cost 2 each from Boots and 1.99 at Superdrug.
Bank of Korea / Yonhap





Korea's central bank reported its largest net income in 2021, Thursday, thanks to a decline in expenses.







The Bank of Korea (BOK) logged 7.86 trillion won ($6.49 billion) in net profit last year, up from the previous year's 7.37 trillion won, according to data provided by the bank







Gross revenue came to 19.08 trillion won last year, which was 782.2 billion won smaller than the previous year.







But expenses shrank sharply with its interest payments on currency stabilization bonds, in particular, down 781.6 billion won year-on-year.







The BOK issues monetary stabilization bonds to control liquidity in the market and makes interest payments on the debt.







An official explained that the central bank's steep rate cuts in 2020 to bolster the pandemic-hit economy led to a decline in interest payments last year.







As of end-2021, the BOK held assets valued at around 595.64 trillion won, up from 538.73 trillion won a year earlier, the data showed. The increase was due to a rise in the value of its dollar-denominated assets amid the greenback's ascent. (Yonhap)


A minister has today told how hearing details about the 'heartrending' Shrewsbury maternity scandal brought back traumatic memories of when she was denied a C-section.

International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan said her 22-year-old son's birth was 'incredibly difficult'.

She revealed she felt 'blessed' James was born 'safely' after undergoing an agonising three-day labour.

Recalling her experience, Ms Trevelyan told LBC: 'I was told at the time a caesarean wasnt going to be the thing. And there were those afterwards who said, you know that was ridiculous, that is absolutely what you should have had.'

'It was a very difficult birth, I was left very damaged, he fortunately was fine.'

Ms Trevelyan's experience mirrors that of the women whose care was impacted by a poor care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust. She did not give birth there.

The damning five-year inquiry yesterday revealed 201 babies and nine mothers died needlessly during a two-decade era of appalling care at the trust.

Women were forced to have vaginal births when they should have been offered a C-section, as part of an obsession with 'normal births'.

Ms Trevelyan added the inquiry 'reminded me that there has been for a long time a culture which says natural birth: good; Caesarean: bad'

International Trade Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan told LBC this morning that she was denied a C-section, like many of the pregnant women whose poor care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has been detailed in the Ockenden report

Donna Ockenden, the senior midwife in charge of the inquiry, said staff actively discouraged C-sections in a bid to push up natural birth rates, which she claimed 'resulted in many babies dying during birth or shortly after'.

Ms Trevelyan insisted the recommendations put forward by the damning 250-page Ockenden report needed to be met.

Shrewsbury bosses who are STILL profiting from NHS after dismissing mothers' concerns about hellish maternity ward as 'scaremongering' NHS bosses who oversaw the worst maternity care scandal in British history and who dismissed mothers' fears as 'scaremongering' are still profiting from jobs in the health service  including one manager who lied on his CV to get the job. Five former bosses in charge of the trust during the periods of poor care went on to enjoy further careers in healthcare, with four profiting from the NHS. One was even found to have lied on his CV, faking a University degree to get the 112,000 a year chief executive position. Many of them were allowed to leave the trust without sanction and walk into other lucrative jobs within the health service or work as consultants for private companies with multi-million pound contracts with the NHS. The most recently departed chief executive Simon Wright, who took on the role in 2015, left his 160,000 position in 2019 just as the scale of the care sandal at the trust was emerging. The 54-year-old was hired as a 'continuous improvement consultant' by the Seattle-based Virginia Mason Institute, awarded a 12.5million Government contract in 2015. Under the five-year scheme, the US organisation was asked to drive up standards at five trusts, ironically including Mr Wright's former Shrewsbury and Telford. Mr Wright also accused the Daily Mail of 'scaremongering' over the scale of care failings at his trust in 2018 when the newspaper published an article on its front page detailing at the time reports of 60 baby and mother deaths due to poor care. Another chief executive, Neil Taylor narrowly avoided jail in 2005 after hospital bosses discovered he had lied to get the top job. He had produced a fake degree certificate in a bid to land the 112,000 chief executive role. Mr Taylor plead guilty in 2005 to one charge of obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception and one charge of attempting to commit the same offence. Advertisement

'The challenge she has set is absolutely right, 100 per cent right,' she said.

'We must make sure our maternity services across the UK are gold standard.'

Asked 'what the overbearing memory' of her birth is, she replied: 'Pain. It was a very, very long three days of my life.

'But as ever when one is lucky enough to have a miraculous child land safely at the end of it, you deal with it all because you are so blessed.'

Ms Trevelyan, the Conservative MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, did not give birth at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.

But it is believed other trusts across England have similarly pressured women into not having C-sections.

Ms Trevelyan's son James is about to turn 22 and she also has a teenage daughter.

Another Conservative MP also detailed her own experience of about being denied a C-section.

Alicia Kearns, for Rutland and Melton, told MPs in the House of Commons yesterday: 'I remember 36 hours in labour having already been rushed to the operating theatre being denied a C-section.'

Ms Kearns claimed she was eventually given a C-section only because her husband noticed that their son's heart rate had 'plummeted'.

In her 250-page report, Ms Ockenden warned childbirth in England will be unsafe until all her recommendations are implemented in full.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid has also claimed the individuals responsible for the catastrophic and repeated failures at the Shropshire trust will be 'held to account'.

He yesterday revealed that the police are now investigating 600 cases from between 2000 and 2019.

In comments today Mr Javid added: 'I want to make sure that we leave no stone unturned in finding the people that were responsible for this and making sure that they are held to account.'

There are also fears that the poor maternity at care detailed Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is not an isolated incident.

An independent thematic review of maternity incidents, complaints and concerns is currently under way at Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH).

The review, looking at data from 2006, when the trust was formed, until mid October 2021, has been initiated for several reasons, but is mainly due to families raising concerns about their cases, according to the review's website.

It is expected to be completed by November 2022.

Meanwhile, an independent review into maternity and neonatal services at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust in the period since 2009 is also under way.

Last year East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust was fined 733,000 over serious failures that led to the death of baby Harry Richford.

Rhiannon Davies (left) embraces Kayleigh Griffiths yesterday following the release of the Ockenden report. Both women were instrumental in campaigning for an inquiry into poor maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust which led to then health secretary Jeremy Hunt ordering one in 2017

At the inquest into Harry's death in January 2020, coroner Christopher Sutton-Mattocks listed a series of errors he found with the care given.

He gave a narrative conclusion that Harry's death was contributed to by neglect and had been 'wholly avoidable'.

The parents of babies who died as a result of poor care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust have also warned that what happened to them was not an isolated case.

Richard Stanton, whose daughter, Kate, died in 2009 told the Daily Telegraph: 'I dont think Shrewsbury and Telford is an isolated case.'

'I think theyre an extreme case in terms of where they are in numbers. That doesnt mean this isnt happening anywhere else.'

The Ockenden has a total of 84 recommendations most for Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust but 15 for the wider NHS as a whole.

Among these are increased funding to ensure adequate midwife staffing, clear escalation processes when staff are concerned about mothers, better investigations into incidents such as baby deaths, and an increase in neonatal critical care cots.

Mr Javid has said the Government accepts all the recommendations and will now work with the NHS on their implementation.
The poll results are in.

The award for stupidest and most incoherent slogan in American political history goes to 'Defund the Police.'

Congratulations Democrats!

You remember 'Defund the police'? Of course, you do. How could you possibly forget?

It is right up there with John Kerry's infamous 'I voted for it, before I voted against it,' which is credited in no small part to putting the nail in the coffin of his extremely forgettable 2004 run for president.

To be honest, the first time I heard 'Defund the Police,' I didn't understand what it meant. But that's because no one really did.

Some said it meant 're-envisioning the police' while others said, yes, literally it means we don't want a police force to exist anymore.

It was kind of like political astrology.

People read into it whatever they wanted and Democrats were always too clever by half when they discussed the issue.

Even after a veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council pledged to defund and dismantle the police department in June 2020, Democrats refused to take a clear position.

I interviewed Vice President Kamala Harris on-air at my former job immediately after that city council vote and she didn't condemn it.

I asked her, in part, 'Do you support defunding and removing police from American communities?'

In response, she unleashed  what we've come to expect from her  nearly impenetrable word salad.

'We have confused the idea that to create safety you put more cops on the street instead of understanding that to achieve safe and healthy communities you put more resources into the public education systems of those communities, into affordable housing and into home ownership, into access to capital for small businesses, access to health care regardless to how much money people have You know in many cities in America, nearly one-third of their budgets go to the police, so we have to have this conversation. What are we doing? What about the money going to social services, what about the money going to job training?'

Harris wasn't the only one to dodge the question. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi spun the issue and gave vague answers.

In fact, the only Democrats who were direct and firm in their commitment to defunding the police were the progressives and The Squad.

A NBC News poll measured 15 different candidate issues or qualities ahead of November's elections. The poll was conducted from March 18-22 among 790 registered voters with the overall margin of error of +/- 3.49 percentage points.

'Defunding police means defunding police,' said Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in June 2020 statement. 'It does not mean budget tricks or funny math. It does not mean moving school police officers from the NYPD budget to the Department of Education's budget so that the exact same police remain in schools.'

None of this insanity made any sense to me.

What happens if a crime is committed? If someone is being robbed or murdered or raped?

At the time, I was surrounded by mostly progressive extremists and media leftists and I felt like the kid in the folktale 'The Emperor's New Clothes,' who tells everyone that the ruler is actually naked.

I said on-air that there's too much explaining happening and no clarity, and in politics if you're explaining, you're losing.

Now 8 months away from the midterms, I don't want to say I told you so, but I told you so. And there's data to back it up.

A March NBC News poll measured 15 different candidate issues or qualities ahead of November's elections and guess what it found.

The top issue that made voters more likely to support a candidate - funding the police.

The top issue that made voters less likely to support a candidate - that's right - defunding the police.

In fact, funding the police was more popular than the bipartisan infrastructure law.

Defunding the police was more unpopular than saying Trump won the election in 2020.

Let that sink in for a moment because it's laughable.

The only Democrats who were direct and firm in their commitment to defunding the police were the progressives and The Squad. (Above) Minneapolis City Council appear at Powderhorn Park in Minneapolis on June 7, 2020 after pledging to dismantle the city's police department following the killing of George Floyd

Funding the police is more popular than President Biden's single notable legislative achievement (the infrastructure law) and defunding the police is less popular than Democrats' most potent line of attack against the GOP (the stolen election myth).

How could Democrats have gotten this so wrong?

Part of it was that they wanted to capitalize on the public anger that exploded after the horrific murder of George Floyd. But they chose the most out of touch way to do it.

This backfired on everyone, particularly the communities that are suffering because of rising crime rates. They are the ones who want more cops around not fewer.

Defunding the police may have been a popular idea in Ivy League political science classes, on MSNBC panels and the set (and backstage) at The View but not in the real world.

Now the chickens have come home to roost.

I am asking voters not to forget who peddled this garbage and who is responsible for the rise in crimes in American cities.

Don't forget which members of which party were against the law enforcement professionals who put their lives on the line, for very little pay, every single day. Because it's not the tribe that I'm a member of.

Defunding the police was always a terrible idea pushed by progressive extremists, who were coddled by the weak-kneed Democratic establishment.

With the midterms looming, Democrats are now working hard to change the perception that they went along with this policy.

In his recent proposed budget, Biden called for major new federal spending on law enforcement, including about $32 billion in new spending for police.

But in Congress, a budget is only a vision. It's not legislation. And I predict that Democrats will have nothing to show for it come November.

This was always a gift to Republicans and we should take it, not just because the politics of it are smart, but because this insanity has made America less safe.
Medieval re-enactors are up in arms after the castle hosting their main festival refused to have them - because wild flowers are growing there.

Herstmonceux Castle withdrew from the event after rare ecosystems sprung up in its grounds during the pandemic.

England's Medieval Festival has been going for nearly 30 years and attracts thousands of visitors.

One re-enactor Abi Mills said: 'I think the public and re-enactors should at least try a petition to the castle.

'And show the huge vast amount of people who are upset by this decision. It's almost 30 years old this event. It seems like a very silly excuse.'

Cathy Cadden, who has been going to the festival since it started in 1993, said: 'Now I need to find another show to attend with the ferret racing team.

'This show was our biggest earner of the year and paid for some of our huge vets bills.'

Herstmonceux Castle withdrew from the event after rare ecosystems sprung up in its grounds during the pandemic

England's Medieval Festival has been going for nearly 30 years and attracts thousands of visitors

The festival in the East Sussex village was due to be held from August 27 to 29. It was due to hold the 'Battle of Herstmonceux', with hundreds of knights in armour.

It also had knights jousting twice a day alongside an archery tournament, puppet shows, minstrels and a grand parade each afternoon.

But these plans have been axed after Herstmonceux pushed ahead with sustainability projects in lockdown, with wild flower meadows blooming.

A spokesman said: 'After much thought we have concluded that the scale of the event and significant impact it has on the Estate is no longer compatible with the environmentally sustainable approach being taken on the Castle's 330-acre public Estate.

'The Covid pandemic has allowed the team at the Castle to push ahead with initiatives that are now seeing rare and significant ecosystems and habitats being restored and the large and disruptive nature of the event is very much at odds with this critical work.'

The festival in the East Sussex village was due to be held from August 27 to 29. It was due to hold the 'Battle of Herstmonceux', with hundreds of knights in armour

The moated castle, which is nearly 600 years old, is owned by Queen's University in Kingston, Canada.

The 600-acre site uses sustainability and biodiversity to nurture and preserve the natural environment at the historic site, while providing a 'living lab' for students.

This has included efforts to re-wild large areas of the estate and the dedication of a 20-acre space to create a wildflower meadow.

In 2021 Times Higher Education ranked Queens University as first in Canada and fifth in the world for universities advancing sustainable development goals.

Some re-enactors are sympathetic with these decisions. Falconer Kevin Hobs Lochner said it was a 'Fair decision if it is in the interest of habitats and wildlife returning.'

It also had knights jousting twice a day alongside an archery tournament, puppet shows, minstrels and a grand parade each afternoon

Kate Westwick said: 'Really glad we took part last year, but it was feeling a bit like a last huzzah even then. I feel sure another event will fill the void.'

Mark Griffin said they should 'find another site. Use some of the revenue generated in the past to build something to fight over.' But many fans remained enraged.

Owen Jeal, who has a degree in Marine Conservation, said: 'Bloody stupid idea there are many small businesses that rely on this event to make money.

'Especially after the last few years*' James Denton Smyth said: 'Typical. I was going to go with the kids for the first time this year.' Emmy Warwick said: 'This is so sad.'
The body of a nurse who disappeared in floodwaters in northern NSW earlier this week has been found.

Alina Brakel, 55, was reported missing on Tuesday night after she became trapped in her white Holden Captiva station wagon at Monaltrie, south of Lismore.

The aged care nurse, from Nowra, had desperately called police for help when she ran into trouble in floodwaters on Wyrallah Road.

The Body of Alina Brakel, 55, (pictured) has been found on Thursday after she disappeared in floodwaters near South Lismore

After an extensive search the body of a woman was located in flood waters near the intersection of Alexandra Parade and Tweed Street, North Lismore, about 7pm on Thursday.

The body is yet to be formally identified but it is strongly believed to be Ms Brakel.

Police said Ms Brakel's Holden Captiva, with NSW registration YHS 51F, is still missing.

Police located Ms Brakel's body on Thursday following information from a member of the public, after an appeal was launched.

Ms Brakel became trapped in her white Holden station wagon at Monaltrie, south of Lismore, due to floodwaters about 10pm on Tuesday

Ms Brakel phoned police to say she was trapped in floodwaters on Wyrallah Road Pictured: Floodwaters in Lismore on March 31

Meanwhile, anger is growing in the community about the response from official agencies about the flood risk in the Northern Rivers.

'I was incredibly disappointed with the instructions from the SES,' Lismore resident Nancy Casson told the Nine Network.

'We had an evacuation and then a non-evacuation, and then an evacuation again. I was so confused.

'I don't know what is lacking in their instructions to us. I don't know why they constantly get it wrong.'

Major flooding was continuing in Lismore on Thursday morning, with the Wilsons River likely to continue spilling over its levee until Thursday afternoon, when river levels should begin to ease.

The river peaked on Wednesday at 11.4 metres, just below a predicted 12 metre high.

Police say she was driving a 2017 white Holden Captiva station wagon (model pictured), with NSW registration YHS 51F

Further south, major flooding is expected at Ulmarra and Maclean from Thursday morning, and at Grafton on Thursday afternoon as the Clarence River peaks at about 5.7 metres.

On the Mid North Coast, the Bellinger River peaked on Wednesday, while moderate flooding continues in Thora and Bellingen.

Kempsey is also experiencing moderate floods on Thursday. Similar conditions are likely at Smithtown, with the Macleay River likely to hit 6.3m in the city.

Meanwhile, Flood Recovery Minister Steph Cooke urged people donating to flood victims to use official channels so people on the ground do not become overwhelmed with items.

Some 54,000 items worth about $620,000 have been handed over through the non-profit organisation GIVIT since March when flooding began.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn has not pulled back his claims about witnessing cocaine, orgies, and 'perversion' in Washington DC, according to longtime Donald Trump advisor Roger Stone.

Stone  who got his own first-hand look at the city's club underworld in the 1990s  says he got the information from Cawthorn himself. He says the 26-year old North Carolina lawmaker did not walk back his extraordinary claims after being called on the carpet by House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

Congressman Madison Cawthorn just told me (he) has NOT retracted his claims about drug fueled orgies among DC elites, Stone posted on social media site Gab.

Then he took a dig at McCarthy, who tried on Wednesday to contain the situation after it blew up online.

Why would anyone believe a statement by Kevin McCarthy or anything reported on CNN? McCarthy is a corrupt RINO and CNN lies about everything,' he wrote.

Longtime Donald Trump advisor Roger Stone (l) says Rep. Madison Cawthorn told him he has not retracted his claims about drug-fueled orgies in Washington, DC

Frequent Twitter poster Ron Filipkowski, posted a screen shot of Stone's posting.

Stone has been a key advisor to Trump, and received a presidential pardon shortly before Trump left office after being convicted of lying to investigators, obstructing a congressional probe, and witness tampering.

Stone was forced to resign from Republican Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign after the National Enquirer and the Star reported he and his wife Nydia had advertised in 'swingers' magazine' seeking group sex.

'Top Dole Aide Caught in Group Sex Ring' blared the headline in the National Enquirer.

Stone later admitted it was true, and took to saying he was 'tri-sexual,' adding the punchline: because Ive tried everything.'

Stone and his wife were 'regulars' at notorious private sex club Capitol Couples in Washington D.C. in the mid-1990s, according to author Jerry Oppenheimer.

Stone's claim that Cawthorn was walking back his walk-back came after the conservative firebrand and Trump supporter admitted his claims that colleagues had invited him to orgies and taken cocaine were 'exaggerated'  at least according to House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday.

Stone resigned as an advisor from Bob Dole's presidential campaign following reports he and his wife placed ads in swingers' magazines

President Donald Trump pardoned Stone shortly before he left office

Stone said Cawthorn told him he had not retracted his claims

Stone's post came after House Republicans complained that Cawthorn's claims, which he failed to substantiate, were harming their collective image. Rep. McCarthy said Cawthorn admitted he had exaggerated his claims

McCarthy told reporters that he may take further action over Cawthorn's comments, which caused an angry outcry among Hill Republicans.

The row erupted when Cawthorn, one of the youngest and most controversial House members, claimed he had seen evidence of 'sexual perversion' in Washington during an interview with John Lovell for the 'Warrior Poet Society.'

McCarthy said he had had a tense meeting with Cawthorn.

'I just told him he's lost my trust, he's gonna have to earn it back, and I laid out everything I find is unbecoming,' McCarthy told Axios and other outlets.

'And, you can't just say "You can't do this again."

'I mean, he's, he's got a lot of members very upset.'

And McCarthy said Cawthorn admitted he had exaggerated his claims.

'In the interview, he claims he watched people do cocaine. Then when he comes in he tells me, he says he thinks he saw maybe a staffer in a parking garage from 100 yards away,' McCarthy said.

'It's just frustrating. There's no evidence behind his statements.

'And when I sit down with him ... I told him you can't make statements like that, as a member of Congress, that affects everybody else and the country as a whole.'

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (pictured) plans to sit down with 26-year-old GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn to talk about claims he made including that he was invited to orgies and cocaine use was rampant in Washington, D.C.

Cawthorn, 26, was asked during an interview with the Warrior Poet Society how closely his experience on Capitol Hill aligns with House of Cards, specifically its elements of 'corruption, power, money and perversion'

Cawthorn said that he once heard a former president say the only thing that was unrealistic about the Netflix show was that Congress would ever be able to pass a piece of legislation that quickly, and he agreed with the sentiment

Politico reported Tuesday that Cawthorn's Republican colleagues stood up and aired their grievances during a closed-door House GOP conference meeting earlier in the day  complaining that the North Carolina Republican made party members out to be sexual deviants and drug users.

CNN reported that colleagues wanted Cawthorn to name names because his comments could otherwise unfairly malign the whole party.

The 65-year-old Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack told the group that he rarely speaks up during the weekly meetings, but did so Tuesday because he's getting questions from constituents about Cawthorn's claims of orgies and drug use, Politico said.

Womack remarked that many lawmakers go to bed at 9 p.m. and use flip phones and fax machines, calling it inappropriate that Cawthorn would paint his Congressional peers with a broad brush.

Sen. Richard Burr, the senior Republican senator from North Carolina, was asked by CNN about Cawthorn's job performance.

'Thats for his constituents to figure out but clearly he's been an embarrassment at times,' Burr replied.

Cawthorn was asked during the interview about how much D.C. resembles of Netflix show House of Cards, specifically its elements of 'corruption, power, money and perversion.'

The North Carolina Republican replied that the 'sexual perversion' and drug use is just like what people saw on television.

'The sexual perversion that goes on in Washington ... being kind of a young guy in Washington where the average age is probably 60 or 70, I look at all these people - a lot of them who I've looked up to throughout my life ... then all of a sudden you get invited to like, "well hey we're going to have kind of a sexual get together at one of our homes. You should come," like, what did you just ask me to come to?

'And then you realize they're asking you to come to an orgy.'

'There's some of the people that are leading the movement to try and remove addiction in our country and then you watch them doing, you know, a key bump of cocaine in front of you and it's like wow, this is wild.'

Cawthorn in December announced the he and his wife of eight months were filing for divorce.

Cawthorn, a staunch conservative not known for his friends across the aisle, is seemingly accusing his fellow Republicans of the illicit behavior. He has recently sparked controversy for calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 'alcoholic' and Ukrainian President Zelensky a 'thug'

Cawthorn in December announced the he and his wife of eight months were filing for divorce

The young congressman, a staunch conservative not known for his friends across the aisle, is seemingly accusing his fellow Republicans of the illicit behavior.

The 'former president' Cawthorn seemingly referred to was Democratic President Bill Clinton.

In 2015, actor Kevin Spacey, the lead on House of Cards, said that he and Clinton were close friends and play poker together. Spacey told Gotham Magazine at the time that Clinton had told him the show was accurate.

'Kevin, 99 percent of what you do on that show is real. The 1 percent you get wrong is you could never get an education bill passed that fast,' Clinton told Spacey, according to the actor's comments to the magazine.

Earlier this month Cawthorn suggested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is an alcoholic.

Cawthorn said of the California Democrat at a campaign event: 'I'll tell you I have to work with her every single day so please do pray for me. The theories of alcoholism are very true and it's very sad,' he said, according to video posted by Patriot Takes.

His line got chuckles during the event.

Pelosi, 81, doesn't drink, and hasn't for years.

Her daughter Christine attacked prior slurs about her mom's alleged alcoholism in 2019, tweeting: 'Republicans and their conservative allies have been pumping this despicable fake meme for years! Now they are caught.

'#FactCheck: Madam Speaker doesn't even drink alcohol!'

Also last month a video surfaced showing Cawthorn calling Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky a 'thug'. He said his government was 'corrupt, incredibly evil' and 'pushing woke ideologies'.

He appeared to be discussing the US sending military aid to Ukraine before lashing out at leaders in Kyiv -- who refused to flee the country despite reports that many are on a Russian 'kill list' including Zelensky and his family.

In December 2021, Cawthorn announced that he and his CrossFit athlete wife Cristina Bayardelle were getting a divorce after just eight months together.

'When Cristina and I were engaged, I was not a member of Congress. I felt called to serve and we both agreed that I should run. Our victory was unprecedented, but overnight our lives changed,' he said in a statement posted by his spokesman.

'That change has been both hectic and difficult, it's neither the pace nor the lifestyle we had planned for.'
Appalling ambulance wait times have been revealed as a pensioner was left lying on a pavement in excruciating pain for more than 10 hours while waiting for an ambulance to arrive.

Patients have told their stories of agonising waits for ambulances as NHS England admitted it is struggling to cope after the number of staff off sick due to Covid has doubled in the past three weeks - while there are a 'high number' of patients in hospital.

This is not just affecting England with the Welsh Ambulance being hit by 'very high demand' for ambulances as it faces 'extensive hospital handover delays' causing some patients to wait hours in 'agony'.

One of the unlucky ones, Emlyn Roberts, 69, was left 'moaning in agony' on the ground of a town centre in North Wales after he tripped and suffered 'serious injuries'.

Members of the public phoned an ambulance for him immediately but he had to wait 10 hours for one to show up.

It comes as dozens of others across the country have reported 'horrendous' waiting times, with the Liberal Democrats describing the ambulance services as being at 'breaking point'.

Sylvia Jackson revealed on Twitter how she phoned for an ambulance after her 86-year-old neighbour collapsed and was told it could take 20 hours.

While Sarah Rennie, who found herself lying on her bathroom floor in a pool of blood, said she faced a 12 hour wait.

Emlyn Roberts, 69, had tripped and broken his hip and back while walking in the town centre of Colwyn Bay, North Wales, at approximately 12.30pm on March 29. (Pictured: Mr Roberts covered with blankets while waiting for ambulance)

Members of the public, who found Mr Roberts 'moaning in agony' and complaining of pain in his hip, immediately phoned for an ambulance but were told to expect delays. (Pictured: Road in which Mr Roberts fell)

'What the hell happened to our NHS?': Social media users shocked after reporting ambulance waiting times of up to 12 hours and more

More than a quarter of patients are being forced to wait at least 30 minutes in ambulances outside hospitals in England More than a quarter of patients arriving by ambulance at hospitals in England last week waited at least 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E departments - the highest level since the start of winter, new figures show. Some 21,051 delays of half an hour or longer were recorded across all hospital trusts in the seven days to March 27. This was 26% of the 79,588 arrivals by ambulance. The proportion of handovers delayed by at least 30 minutes has been rising in recent weeks, having stood at 20% in mid-February. Figures for ambulance delays are published by NHS England and the current data runs from the start of December 2021. There were 9,225 arrivals last week - 12% of the total - who were kept waiting more than an hour to be handed to A&E teams, up from 10% in the previous week. Analysis of the data by the PA news agency shows that Northern Lincolnshire & Goole NHS Foundation Trust reported the highest proportion of handovers delayed by at least 30 minutes last week (74%), followed by Gloucestershire Hospitals (71%), University Hospitals Plymouth (71%) and University Hospitals Bristol & Weston (68%). University Hospitals Plymouth topped the list for handovers delayed by more than an hour (58%), followed by Northern Lincolnshire & Goole (57%), Gloucestershire Hospitals (54%) and University Hospitals Bristol & Weston (52%). A handover delay does not always mean a patient has waited in the ambulance. They may have been moved into an A&E department but staff were not available to complete the handover. The figures are another sign of the pressures hospitals are facing amid the latest rise in coronavirus infections. Separate data published on Thursday showed staff absences at NHS hospitals in England due to Covid-19 have jumped to their highest level since the end of January, with numbers climbing in all regions. Absences averaged 27,571 a day last week - the equivalent of 3% of the workforce - up from 23,127 the previous week, though still some way below the 45,736 (5% of the workforce) reached in early January. Responding to the figures, NHS national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said: 'NHS staff remain under pressure as they deal with high numbers of patients in hospital alongside a spike in staff absences due to Covid-19 - with numbers of staff off sick due to Covid almost doubling in the last three weeks. 'Yet NHS staff are working hard to deliver as much routine care as possible, as well as rolling out the NHS spring booster programme, so if you have a health concern, please come forward for the care you need.' A total of 15,632 people were in hospital in England with Covid-19 as of March 30, up 18% week on week and the highest since January 19, NHS England said. Patient numbers are nearing the peak reached in early January - 17,120 - but remain well below the 34,336 at the peak of the second wave of the virus at the start of 2021. Advertisement

Members of the public, found Mr Roberts in the town centre of Colwyn Bay, North Wales, at around 12.30pm on March 29.

He was complaining of pain in his hip, immediately phoned for an ambulance but were told to expect delays.

Mr Roberts' sister-in-law, Lynn Roberts, said an ambulance finally arrived just before 11pm, at which point he had been on the ground for more than ten hours.

Ms Roberts said of her brother-in-law's ordeal: 'He was left for ten hours lying on the concrete, you can forgive a couple of hours, even a few hours if necessary, but ten hours is just not acceptable.'

Among those who stopped to help was an off-duty volunteer first responder, who stayed by Mr Roberts' side until the ambulance came.

Ms Roberts said local businesses and passers-by showed 'incredible kindness', bringing blankets and hot water bottles to keep them warm as day turned to night.

She recalled: 'He'd been waiting for hours and the first responder had been phoning the ambulance people for updates but he was politely told to stop phoning.

'It was at that point I did get quite irate because my brother-in-law was lying on the floor, moaning in agony, and I couldn't do anything to help him.

'I spoke to someone and she said 'you'll just have to wait, we're doing what we can'. I said to her, ten hours is ridiculous.'

She added: 'We could've got him there much quicker ourselves but we didn't want to risk moving him by lifting him into the car in case there was untold damage.

'But I've got to say, the people of Colwyn Bay were incredible.

'The passers-by and shopkeepers were wishing him well, phoning ambulances, they were amazing.

'A member of the public had phoned the fire service and they came out too, and they did a marvellous job of managing the situation.'

According to Mr Roberts' family, this is the second time something like this has happened within a matter of weeks.

Ms Roberts claims Mr Roberts was taken to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd by ambulance on February 2, following a fall and waited more than 12 hours to be seen before doctors discovered he had broken his hip and his back.

She added: 'I don't think there's enough staff in the hospital to deal with the influx of patients.

'It's not just the wait for the ambulance, there's ambulances queuing outside hospitals because there's not enough people to treat them.'

Officers from North Wales Fire and Rescue Service arrived at the scene at around 10.45pm, shortly followed by the Welsh Ambulance Service.

Mr Roberts was taken by ambulance to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, where he is believed to be receiving treatment for a broken hip.

Welsh Liberal Democrat Leader and Senedd Member Jane Dodds told MailOnline: 'The situation faced by this gentlemen is utterly unacceptable.

'Sadly, it is not proving uncommon in Wales right now.

'The Labour Government are failing to get to grips with the crisis in the Welsh NHS and while COVID has undoubtedly resulted in extra pressure, the situation had been deteriorating long before COVID.

'The Welsh Liberal Democrats have been consistently pressuring the Government on poor emergency response times throughout the last few months.

'It is clear Labour need to put more money into local services to stop crisis points building up at A&E departments.

'I have also expressed my concern over the decision to withdraw army support from the Welsh Ambulance service, one that we think has been taken too soon.'

Sonia Thompson, the Welsh Ambulance Service's Director of Operations for the Emergency Medical Service, said: 'There has been very high demand for our services this week, and this - coupled with the pressures across the entire urgent care system, including extensive hospital handover delays - has meant that some patients have waited much longer for our help, sometimes many hours.

'Regrettably, Mr Roberts was among those patients and we are deeply sorry for what will have been a distressing experience for all involved.

'We would welcome contact should the family wish to explore our response further.'

The latest statistics show the average ambulance waiting times are climbing as the NHS struggles to cope with a staffing crisis and the backlog caused by the Covid pandemic - as well as staff absences.

Figures from February, released by NHS England this month, show the average ambulance response time for the most urgent calls - including cardiac arrest - was eight minutes and 51 seconds, almost two minutes more than the seven-minute target and up from eight minutes and 31 seconds in January.

Covid absences are hitting the NHS workforce amid hospital occupancy rates of 92% NHS England has claimed ambulance waiting times and other services have been impacted by a surge in Covid absences among its workforce. The health service reported today that:  Staff absences per day on average increased 7.8% in the week ending March 27 from the week prior (up from 63,898 to 68,885) with Covid absences seeing a large 19.2% increase.  Covid absences per day on average for the week ending March 27 were recorded as 27,571, from 23,127 the week before. The week ending March 6 saw 14,821 Covid absences  an increase of 86% to this week's figure.  This week, Covid absences accounted for 40.02% of all staff absences, compared to 36.19% the previous week and 26.54% in the week ending March 6.  Bed occupancy remains high at 92% with a small decrease from 92.4% the previous week. Source: NHS England Advertisement

In terms of emergency calls, including burns, strokes and seizures, the average response time was 42 minutes and seven seconds - up from 38 minutes and four seconds the month before and more than double the set target of 18 minutes.

When it came to urgent calls, including people with non-severe burns or mothers going into labour, ambulances arrived on average within two hours and 16 minutes, compared to one hour and 56 minutes in January.

There is now a growing number of reported incidents of people waiting up to 10, 12 and even 20 hours for an ambulance in parts of the country.

The Liberal Democrats earlier this month said ambulance services are at 'breaking point'.

They said in a statement: 'Record long ambulance waits are leaving vulnerable patients stuck in queues outside hospitals for hours without the treatment they need.

'People are being left scared, panicked and with worsening symptoms, and in extreme cases dying when they might have been saved.'

NHS National Medical Director, Professor Stephen Powis, told MailOnline today: 'NHS staff remain under pressure as they deal with high numbers of patients in hospital alongside a spike in staff absences due to covid-19 - with numbers of staff off sick due to covid almost doubling in the last three weeks.

'Yet NHS staff are working hard to deliver as much routine care as possible as well as rolling out the NHS spring booster programme, so if you have a health concern, please come forward for the care you need.'

It comes after a man in Belfast whose 83-year-old aunt, named Sheila, was left lying in the street for over four hours on Monday this week.

A Belfast man's 83-year-old aunt, named Sheila (pictured), was left lying in the street for over four hours on Monday this week while waiting for an ambulance

Her nephew Declan told BBC's Nolan Show that politicians need to 'recognise the system is broken.'

'I was ashamed to be a citizen of Belfast to see my auntie Sheila lying in the street for four hours and 20 minutes,' he said.

'She fell at 4.10pm and the ambulance arrived at 8.30pm.'

He added: 'Sheila fell just outside the convent of the Sisters of St Vincent de Paul and they were able to provide blankets and pillows to help Sheila.

'The biggest fear is that she could have caught pneumonia. We were very fortunate Monday was a warm night.

'Can you imagine if that had happened on a cold, wet, dark November evening?'

Another pensioner who suffered a suspected broken hip at Christ Church in Bath, Somerset, on March 25, had to be tended by the vicar - because his ambulance did not show up for 12 hours.

The 93-year-old had suffered the injury after falling during the interval of an evening concert before the Rev Lore Chumbley - a retired surgeon - tended to him after the man had insisted the concert continue despite his accident.

The elderly man was left 'waiting and waiting' as paramedics did not turn up at Christ Church in Bath, Somerset

The pensioner had been enjoying a rendition of Stainer's Crucifixion by choir Canzona when he stood up to stretch his legs during the interval

Rev Lore Chumbley, a retired surgeon, ensured the pensioner was comfortable and gave him painkillers as the show went on

The man told reporters that he was in 'exquisite' pain lying crumpled on the floor when he fell.

After calling 999, one member of the congregation stood outside the church ready to flag down the ambulance.

The elderly man was left 'waiting and waiting' as paramedics did not turn up until the following morning, with his wife sitting next to him on the floor, holding his hand the entire time.

The pensioner had been enjoying a rendition of Stainer's Crucifixion by choir Canzona when he stood up to stretch his legs during the interval.

Keith Malone, a former ITV journalist from Bristol, attended the concert and saw the man stumble, almost hitting his head on a pew as he fell.

Doctors say patients are 'dying in ambulances' because of A&E overcrowding Medics at three Welsh hospitals warned in November last year that patients are dying in ambulances while waiting for treatment due to shocking overcrowding in emergency departments. The doctors referenced an incident over the summer where a patient died in an ambulance after waiting two hours for treatment outside a hospital. According to WalesOnline the doctors made their concerns known in two letters sent to Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which manages the Ysbyty Gwynedd, Ysbyty Glan Clwyd and Wrexham Maelor hospitals. One letter was sent in December 2020 and the other in June 2021. They wrote that while Covid had exacerbated the hospitals' overcrowding problems, the issue predates the pandemic. Responding to the mergence of the letters, which were revealed by an freedom of Information request, the Board said they understood the pressure staff were under and it was working to improve staff numbers and improve patient flow in emergency departments. Advertisement

The 65 year old said: 'I had a front-row seat and I was just chatting to my wife during the interval when suddenly this man fell against me and collapsed to the floor.

'It was lucky I was there because otherwise he would have hit his head on the wooden pew.'

Once the concert was over, the man's wife, Rev Lore and members of the congregation waited with him for the ambulance.

She said: 'We stayed with him - it took about 11 hours and 50 minutes.

'He was very jolly and brave, despite being in a lot of pain - such a wonderful man.

'One young chap in the congregation stood outside in the cold all night waiting for the ambulance to come, to flag it down in the dark.

'The paramedics were very polite - there was absolutely nothing they could do to get to us sooner.

'But we were worried and he was worried.

'My concern was I was with the man and his wife, but had they been alone, had it happened at home, they would not have known what he could do.

'You expect an ambulance to turn up in half an hour.

'They simply could not believe it was going to be that long, but we waited and waited.

'Nobody slept, his wife sat next to him. He was in pain if he moved a millimetre - he was extremely brave as it was extremely painful.

'In the morning, we prayed for the ambulance to come and - I'm not claiming divine right - but 20 minutes later it did at around 7am.

'They had to give him morphine to move him as any movement was exquisitely painful.'

Rev Lore said the man has since had an operation.

A spokesperson for South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said: 'We would like to wish this patient well in their recovery.

'We are sorry that, due to the health and social care system being under severe pressure, some patients are having to wait longer for an ambulance.

'One of the reasons is the length of time it's taking us to hand over patients into busy hospitals.

Mr Pepper being propped up by cushions at 2.30 am, 12 hours after the first ambulance call

Mr Pepper celebrating a Christmas. The 92-year-old diabetic spent nearly 14 hours waiting for an ambulance after falling in his kitchen.

'We are working closely with NHS partners to address these delays, so our crews can get back out on the road for other patients.

'However, even with the additional resources we are making available, the number of ambulances currently waiting for prolonged periods of time at Emergency Departments inevitably impacts our ability to respond to patients.'

In November last year, a 92-year-old diabetic spent nearly 14 hours lying on the floor covered in blood while waiting for an ambulance.

Cyril Pepper was left with severe back pain, damage to his arm and also banged his head during a fall at his home on Monday, November 8.

Mr Pepper, of Silverdale, Staffordshire, who also suffered a stroke six years ago, managed to alert friends after by pressing a care alarm button at his home.

He said: 'I was lying on my back in so much pain. It was horrendous.'

Mr Pepper's friend and carer Debbie Ausin, 59, arrived at his home at around 3pm after she received a message from Carecall - a personal care service.

She found the pensioner lying against a radiator on the floor near his kitchen, with blood marks from where he had tried to catch his fall.

After Mr Pepper raised the alarm, an ambulance was called at 2pm but it didn't arrive until 4am the following morning, while Ms Ausin stayed with Mr Pepper for the rest of his 14-hour ordeal.

Leon Moody, 72, said he has 'lost faith in the health service' after he fell in his home in Kingham, Oxfordshire, and had to wait more than five hours for an ambulance

His son Mark (right) says he was put through to Yorkshire call handlers because the local health service was so busy

In another case, Leon Moody, 72, fell over in his home in Kingham, Oxfordshire, at around 9am on October 5.

His carer immediately called for an ambulance and Mr Moody's son Mark, 35, from nearby Chipping Norton, rushed over. They were too scared to move him in case his injuries got worse.

The ambulance eventually arrived after 2pm, Mr Moody said.

Mr Moody's son told the Oxfordshire Mail he was 'gobsmacked' by the wait.

He said: ''Obviously, my dad was in a lot of pain and was distressed because of having to lie on the floor like that.'

When the ambulance finally arrived hours later still, Mr Moody said the paramedics were 'brilliant'.

South Central Ambulance Service said: 'While we always want to respond to all our patients as soon as we can, calls are prioritised based on clinical need to ensure those who are sickest receive the care and treatment they require as quickly as possible.'

Mother-of-two Bina Patel (above) died after waiting 'almost an hour' for an ambulance to arrive, having been 'struggling to breathe' and was heard screaming 'help me, I'm dying, I can't breathe' in 999 call recordings. The 56-year-old, from Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester already had 'no pulse' by the time paramedics got to her home, said her son Ashkay

A mother-of-two also died after waiting 'almost an hour' for an ambulance to arrive, after having been 'struggling to breathe' and was heard screaming 'help me, I'm dying, I can't breathe' in 999 call recordings.

Bina Patel, 56, from Ashton-under-Lyne, in Tameside, Greater Manchester already had 'no pulse' by the time paramedics got to her home, said her son Ashkay.

She died from a 'suspected cardiac arrest', according to a patient report completed by North West Ambulance Service (NWAS).

Ashkay had called for an ambulance 'seven times' as her condition deteriorated, in the early hours of October 11, and sat with her as she took her final breaths.

In the horrific calls, Mrs Patel can be heard screaming, saying on multiple occasions 'help me, I'm going to die', with the screaming being acknowledged by the call handler as Ashkay tries to help his mother.

The 27-year-old desperately tried to save her - and blames NWAS for her death.

A NWAS spokesperson said: 'Our records show that the local area was over-resourced on the 11th October 2021 according to our planned levels of provision, but unexpected demand on that day simply outstripped capacity.

'We are committed to learning and implementing changes in our processes as a result of this incident. However, while we understand it will be of little comfort to her family, we want to make clear no human error led to the delay faced by Mrs Patel.'
Anheuser-Busch beer heiress Trudy Busch Valentine, who is running for the Democratic seat on the US Senate, was once crowned queen of a whites-only beauty pageant in Missouri in the 1970s, a time when the competition banned people of color and Jews from participating.

Trudy Busch Valentine, 64, won the 'Queen of Love and Beauty' crown at the St. Louis Veiled Prophet Ball in 1977, an organization that has been criticized in the past for its racist history and ties to white supremacy.

Photos from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch archives revealed in a new report by The Intercept, show Busch Valentine, who was age 20 at the time, standing beside the 'veiled prophet' - a male member of the organization who covers his face with a white veil similar to white hoods worn by the Ku Klux Klan.

The ball was run by the Veiled Prophet Organization, an all-male club formed by Missouri elites in response to the Great Railroad Strike. People of color and the Jewish the population were not allowed to join the organization until 1979.

Five years before Busch Valentine was crowned queen, activist Gena Scott entered the ball and unmasked the 'veiled prophet.' Her car was later bombed, and her house was vandalized.

The protests continued for years, with one person arrested for using a 'disabling chemical spray' at the ball in the 1970s, and in 1977, the year Busch Valentine was crowned, 'There were extensive and extraordinary security measures,' according to an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Trudy Busch Valentine won the 'Queen of Love and Beauty' crown at the St. Louis Veiled Prophet Ball in 1977. Photos from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch archives revealed in a new report by The Intercept , show Busch Valentine, who was age 20 at the time, standing beside the 'veiled prophet' - a male member of the organization who covers his face with a white veil similar to white hoods worn by the Ku Klux Klan (pictured)

The ball was run by the Veiled Prophet Organization, an all-male club formed by Missouri elites in response to the Great Railroad Strike. Trudy Busch Valentine is pictured at the pageant in 1977

Anheuser-Busch beer heiress Trudy Busch Valentine, who is running for the Democratic nomination to the US Senate, was once crowned queen of a whites-only beauty pageant

Busch Valentine, who announced she was entering the Missouri Senate race on Monday and officially launched her campaign on Tuesday, apologized, saying she failed to grasp the situation and needed to acknowledge her past shortcomings.

The Intercept reported that Busch Valentine returned in 1979, where she mingled, and in 1990, when she was honored alongside other former queens, but did not compete.

'I believe in the importance of working together and healing divisions  and that starts with acknowledging my own past shortcomings,' Busch Valentine wrote in a statement to The Intercept.

'I failed to fully grasp the situation. I should have known better, and I deeply regret and I apologize that my actions hurt others. My life and work are way beyond that, and as a candidate for Missouri's next US Senator, I pledge to work tirelessly to be a force for progress in healing the racial divisions of our country.'

The group apologized for its history in 2021, after a controversy over images of 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt' star Ellie Kemper being crowned queen in 1999.

Busch Valentine on Tuesday announced her candidacy for U.S. Senate, shaking up what has been a low-profile Democratic primary in a solidly red state

Kemper also apologized last year for taking part in a 1999 Missouri pageant, saying she was not aware at the time of its 'racist, sexist and elitist past'.

'I unequivocally deplore, denounce, and reject white supremacy. At the same time, I acknowledge that because of my race and my privilege, I am the beneficiary of a system that dispensed unequal justice and unequal rewards.

'There is a very natural temptation, when you become the subject of internet criticism, to tell yourself that your detractors are getting it all wrong. But at some point last week, I realized that a lot of the forces behind the criticism are forces that I've spent my life supporting and agreeing with.'

The controversy when her image, which was originally printed in St Louis Dispatch newspaper, sparked controversy after a person referred to Kemper as the 'KKK queen' for being crowned the winner.

While an historic Veiled Prophet image showing a person dressed in a hood and robe has drawn comparisons to the KKK, there are no known links between the organization and Klansman.

Historians have previously pointed to how the organization was started in the late 1870s, which is decades before the KKK was formed in the early 1900s.

The Veiled Prophet Organization has, however, been criticized in the past for its racist history and ties to white supremacy.

The organization still holds a parade every, which has been rebranded as the 'America's Birthday Parade'.

Ellie Kemper apologized after a photo (above) of her being crowned the winner of the St Louis-based Veiled Prophet Ball when she was 19 years old started going viral on Twitter

Ellie was a 19-year-old Princeton University student when she was crowned Queen of Love and Beauty in 1999

The ceremony: The annual Veiled Prophet Ball is still held each year where the winner is crowned by a 'Veiled Prophet' (pictured on left) - a member of the organization who covers their face with a white veil so their identity remains secret

The history: While an historic Veiled Prophet image showing a person dressed in a hood and robe has drawn comparisons to the KKK, there are no known links between the organization and the white supremacists

Busch Valentine announced her candidacy for U.S. Senate earlier this week, shaking up what has been a low-profile Democratic primary in a solidly red state.

Busch Valentine's announcement comes amid widespread calls from Republicans for Eric Greitens to drop out of the race after the Republican former governor's ex-wife accused him of physically abusing her and one of their kids.

The latest scandal renewed Republican concerns that Greitens could win the crowded GOP primary but emerge a damaged candidate in the general election, threatening the party's chances of keeping what should be a relatively easy win for Republicans.

Some Democrats already are positioning the race as everyone else versus Greitens. In a Monday announcement dropping out of the Democratic primary, former state Sen. Scott Sifton endorsed Busch Valentine and called on other Democrats to unite behind her as 'the best chance to win in November.'

Picking a woman to be the Democratic nominee also could help flip the Senate seat if Greitens wins the GOP primary, University of Missouri St. Louis political scientist David Kimball said.

'Assuming that Eric Greitens is the Republican nominee, then that makes for a clear contrast in efforts to highlight allegations of abuse against Greitens and his treatment of his family,' he said.

Busch Valentine apologized, saying she failed to grasp the situation and needed to acknowledge her past shortcomings

Busch Valentine, a 64-year-old registered nurse, described herself as still being a 'nurse at heart' in her campaign announcement.

She's a widowed mother of six and said the death of her eldest son from an opioid overdose in 2020 in part motivated her to run for office.

'Matt's death brought so much sadness,' she said in a video announcing her candidacy. 'But it also reignited the passion in me to make a positive difference for others, this time on a larger scale.'

Busch Valentine, daughter of the late chairman of the Anheuser-Busch Companies, described herself as an independent candidate open to talking to people with different viewpoints, although she didn't go into much detail on her political agenda.

Forbes magazine listed the family's wealth at $17.6 billion in 2020

'Most Missouri families include Democrats, Independents and Republicans. Mine sure does,' Busch Valentine said. 'But it seems we've lost our ability to be understanding and compassionate for each other. We have so much more that unites us than divides us. We just need to talk to each other again.'
Brian Laundrie's parents asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against them by Gabby Petito's mom and dad by insisting they were entitled to plead the fifth when questioned about their son.

The Laundrie family's lawyer Steven Bertolino made the application to a court in Sarasota, Florida, on Wednesday. He did so in response to the Petitos' claims that the couple knew their son had killed their daughter, and helped him plot to escape.

'The Laundries have exercised their constitutional right to refrain from speaking and have relied on counsel to speak for them. This is not only common practice in our civilized community but it embodies the exercise of fundamental rights under the United States and Florida Constitutions,' Bertolino told CNN.

Bertolino did not confirm or deny any of the allegations made against the Laundries, whose lives were put under a microscope for weeks following the disappearance of their son and his girlfriend. Petito was found murdered in Wyoming in September, with Laundrie's remains discovered in a Florida swamp a month later. Investigators later concluded that he'd shot himself dead.

The Petito lawsuit says that the Laundries were aware that their son killed Petito, that he told his parents he killed her, helped him escape the country and that they refused to respond to the Petito family's and law enforcement's inquiries on the whereabouts of the 22-year-old Blue Point, Long Island woman.

Christopher and Roberta Laundrie, seen here outside an Orlando library last year, are requesting that the lawsuit filed by Gabby Petito's parents be dismissed. Their lawyer calls it 'baseless and frivolous.'

Gabby had embarked with Laundrie on a 'van life' cross-country road trip in July and had a brush with the law in August, when police in Utah responded to a domestic violence incident between the two

Laundrie vanished on September 13, six days before the body of his fiancee Gabby Petito was found in Wyoming. He was found on October 20 with a gunshot wound to the head

The Petito lawsuit says that if they had chose to speak out, it would alleviate much 'mental suffering and anguish' on the Petitos' part.

'Christopher Laundrie and Roberta Laundrie knew of the mental suffering and anguish of Joseph Petito and Nichole Schmidt, and knew that they could alleviate, at least in part, such mental suffering and anguish by disclosing what they knew about the well-being and the location of the remains of Gabrielle Petito, yet they repeatedly refused to do so,' the text of the lawsuit alleges.

Bertolino, though, said he is confident the suit will be dismissed, calling it 'baseless and frivolous'

The case gained national attention last summer when Petito was reported missing in September after she and Laundrie, her fiance at the time, embarked on a cross-country 'van life' trip , her then-fiance.

A memorial for Gabby Petito outside their home was created in the wake of her death.

Laundrie's remains were found north of the entrance to Myakkahatchee Creek, in the Big Slough Preserve, off an unpaved trail near a bridge where Brian's parents said he liked to visit. It is four miles north of their home in North Port, Florida

Laundrie then returned, without Petito, to his parents home in early September before leaving again two weeks later at which time he disappeared.

Days into the nationwide manhunt for Laundrie, authorities in Teton County, Wyoming found Petito's remains; a coroner later determined she died by strangulation.

Then, in late October, after the monthslong search Laundrie's remains were found in thee 25,000-acre Carlton Reserve in Sarasota County.

Medical examiners determined he died by self-inflicted gunshot and a notebook was found nearby, in which Laundrie claimed responsibility for Petito's death.
A privately-educated aid worker captured and tortured by the notorious ISIS 'Beatles' said his British abusers branded him a 'posh w**ker' for attending an English boarding school.

Federico Motka, an Italian-born aid worker who survived 14 months in Syrian captivity, outlined the extremists' chip on their shoulder at alleged terrorist El Shafee Elsheikh's federal trial in Alexandria, Virginia, on Thursday.

Detailing the abuse that began after his capture in March 2013, he recalled: 'They said I was a posh w**ker because I went to boarding school.

'They said I was arrogant, and they were going to take me down a peg.'

Motka's words prompted a ripple of laughter around the courtroom. The confused judge was then told that 'w**ker' is a British swearword derived from a slang term used for masturbation.

Federico Motka testified on Thursday about the 14 months of brutality he suffered at the hands of the Islamic State

Motka also told the court how his captors forced him to participate in a 'Royal Rumble' fight with other hostages, and subjected them to a regime of punishments and stress positions, including making them pretend to be obedient dogs, until his release in May 2014.

Elsheikh is a British national charged with taking a leading role in the Islamic State kidnapping scheme that took more than 20 Westerners hostage between 2012 and 2015.

Four Americans - journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller - were among them. Foley, Sotloff and Kassig were decapitated. Mueller was forced into slavery and raped repeatedly by the Islamic States leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, before she too was killed.

Motka is the first surviving hostage to testify at Elsheikh's trial in Alexandria, Virginia, which entered its second day on Thursday, when he described 14 months of brutality at the hands of the Islamic State.

The aid worker testified that his abductors greeted him in English after he and his colleagues were kidnapped near a refugee camp on the Turkish border, saying: 'Welcome to Syria, you mutt.'

El Shafee Elsheikh, 33, is standing trial in Alexandria, Virginia

Paula (left) and Ed Kassig (second left), the parents of beheaded US relief worker Peter Kassig walk towards the Alexandria federal court house after a break for the trial of ISIS member El Shafee Elsheikh on Wednesday

Born in Trieste, Italy, Motka said he spent much of his childhood in the Middle East and went to boarding school in England.

He was an aid worker surveying the needs of refugee camps in March 2013 when he and a colleague, Briton David Haines, were captured and taken hostage.

ISIS victim David Haines's daughter tells how she wanted his killers from terror gang 'the Beatles' to be 'hung from a tree' David Haines was a British aid worker kidnapped and beheaded by the 'Beatles' The daughter of David Haines came face-to-face with the man accused of kidnapping and torturing her father for the first time, as she said she wanted his killers to be 'hung from a tree'. Bethany Haines is present in Virginia this week for the trial of El Shafee Elsheikh, who is accused of being involved in the murders of Americans James Foley, Steven Sotloff, Kayla Mueller and Peter Kassig. While Elsheikh has not been charged in America over Mr Haines' death due to America lacking jurisdiction, he is believed to have participated in the kidnapping, torture and beheading of 27 British, American and other foreign hostages in Syria. Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, the daughter of Mr Haines - the former RAF engineer and aid worker who was 44 he was captured by ISIS in 2013 and beheaded the following year - said that she never thought Elsheikh would be caught, let alone stand trial. 'That we have got to this point feels like a miracle,' she told the newspaper earlier this week before she travelled to Virginia from her home in Perthshire. The 24-year-old has prepared a victim impact statement which she plans to read in court. Giving the Telegraph a preview, she said it would say that Elsheikh's alleged killings had nothing to do with his religion. 'No matter what you say, this was not about religion, you brutally murdered good and innocent people, and now you have to live with that for the rest of your life,' Ms Haines plans to tell him, she said. Ms Haines says that as much as she wants to see Elsheikh see justice, she is also hoping that he will finally reveal the location of her father's body. Her letter will implore him to give up the location not for her, but for her son. 'Don't do it for me, do it for my son, who can finally say goodbye to his grandad,' she told the newspaper, reading from her draft. Advertisement

Motka testified that for the first month of captivity, he was only only occasionally mistreated, but that mistreatment frequently came at the hands of three captors hostages dubbed 'the Beatles' because of their British accents.

They learned to speak surreptitiously about their captors, who wore mask and took pains to conceal their identity, since they never knew what would set them off.

A dispute over bathroom hygiene prompted a particularly intense beating, he said.

'They said I was a posh w**ker because I went to boarding school,' Motka testified. 'They said I was arrogant, and they were going to take me down a peg.'

Motka's use of the term 'posh w**ker' set off a brief period of uncomfortable laughter and confusion in the courtroom.

The judge, confused, asked him to explain the meaning of 'posh banker', forcing the aid worker to clarify the British vulgarity 'w**ker', which is uncommon in America.

Motka explained that the phrase implies someone is 'a bit of a d**k'.

The British accents and phraseology are a key element of the case, though, as prosecutors seek to prove that Elsheikh is indeed one of the Beatles who tortured hostages, even though the Beatles took great pains to conceal their faces.

Motka testified that there were at least three Britons in the group of captors, and the hostages nicknamed them 'John,' 'George' and 'Ringo.'

Life became far worse about a month into his captivity when he was blamed for a Syrian captive's efforts to escape from an adjacent cell.

He was beaten that night with a rubber cable for an hour, and transferred to a facility the hostages dubbed 'the box.' He was warned before the transfer: 'You don't know punishment yet.'

He said he and other hostages at the box then endured a lengthy 'regime of punishment' that included regular beatings and forced stress positions. 'George,' another man named Abu Mohamed and a third nicknamed 'the punisher' regularly tortured them, Motka said.

'They played lots of games with us,' Motka said, maintaining composure as he clearly struggled with the emotions of describing his captivity. 'They gave us dog names. We needed to come and immediately respond' to the dog name to avoid a beating.

Motka described in chilling detail how his captors made him and three other prisoners do a Royal Rumble style fight for their enjoyment - while the terrorists made sportscaster style commentary.

Motka said it happened in the prison he dubbed The Box with other prisoners John Cantlie, a Brit, James Foley, an American, and David Haines, another Brit.

Motka said: They called it the Royal Rumble, referring to the annual wrestling event produced by US wrestling body WWE.

He continued: They were so excited, it was the event of the day. They ordered us to get into a tag team style boxing match.

James and John were against me and David. If you were too tired you had to tag yourself out.

Motka said that all of them were so tired and weak they were barely able to lift our arms but they were still forced to fight for an hour.

He said: James passed out, John passed out. David nearly passed out. Whoever they deemed to have lost the fight would be waterboarded.

Prosecutor Dennis Fitzpatrick asked if The Beatles did a play by play commentary of the fight. Motka said: The did a Radio 5 Live commentary, referring to the BBCs sports radio station

The Beatles decided that Cantile was the winner and that Motka had lost, but he was not waterboarded and it seemed like just a threat - but he suffered the torture on other occasions.

Motka said that the abuse at the hands of The Beatles ranged from the ridiculously childish like nipple twisting up to waterboarding.

He said that Elsheikh and the Beatle called John used to egg each other on.

He said: It was like school kids bullying someone.

Describing waterboarding at the hands of Elsheikh and George, Motka said he was forced to lie on his back over the toilet with a jumper on his face while water was poured on top of it.

He said: You start to panic a little bit. I was trying to breathe out the side of my mouth. Once the jumper absorbs the water you start to lose oxygenwater starts to get into your lungs and you start to choke.

At that point George would always stop the process and say: Thats enough.

Motka said that it felt terrible and was the worst thing that could happen up until that point.

According to Motka, the prisoners were made to wear orange jumpsuits with numbers on the back because George wanted them to experience what it was like for prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, the US prison in Cuba where post-9/11 terror suspects were held.

Motka said that George always spoke about Guantanamo and that the horrific beatings and mistreatment were his idea of what conditions in Guantanamo were like.

Motka said that they were barely given any food and if they were it was usually just bread and olives - he and Haines lost dozens of pounds in weight.

One of the few times they were allowed to shower, Motka saw blue bruises all over the muscular part of Haines body from the beatings.

Other times they were not allowed to go to the toilet, which became problematic when they were moved to another prison and were given more food but couldnt keep it inside because they had been so badly mistreated.

Motka was not released until May 25, 2014. His 14 months in captivity were the longest of any hostage in the group.

Prosecutors have said in court that Elshiekh is the one who was nicknamed Ringo. Other accounts have alleged that he was the one known as George.

Defense lawyers, though, have highlighted the difficulties that hostages have in formally identifying each of their captors, who routinely wore masks that covered all but their eyes.

In opening statements, prosecutors referenced only three British nationals - Elsheikh, his longtime friend Alexenda Kotey, and Mohammed Emwazi, who frequently carried out the role of executioner and was known as 'Jihadi John.'

Emwazi was killed in a drone strike, and Kotey was captured alongside Elsheikh and also brought to Virginia to face trial. Kotey pleaded guilty last year in a plea bargain that calls for a life sentence.

Jurors also heard testimony Thursday from Danish hostage negotiator Jens Serup, who testified about prolonged efforts to secure the release of Daniel Rye Ottosen in exchange for 2 million euros.

The jury saw photos of huge bruises on Ottosen's arm and back after he was finally released. Serup testified that the captors told Ottosen the beating was a 'farewell present not to forget them.'

Elsheikh, 33, is accused of being involved in the murders of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and relief workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller.

Pictured left: James Foley while covering the civil war in Aleppo, Syria. Pictured right: US aid worker Peter Kassig - otherwise known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig - in Syria

Left: US freelance journalist Steven Sotloff. Right: Kayla Mueller is shown after speaking to a group in Prescott, Arizona. Both were killed in Syria by ISIS

Elsheikh, who is also charged with lethal-hostage taking, is believed to be one of four British ISIS terrorists belonging to the 'Beatles' cell - nicknamed for their UK roots and accents - that operated in Iraq and Syria.

He played a leadership role in keeping at least 27 Western hostages captive between 2012 and 2015 whilst inflicting torture on his victims using brutal methods such as waterboarding, prosecutors told the court in Alexandria on Wednesday.

Prosecutor John Gibbs said Elsheikh was known by his captives not only for his British accent, but for his unusual penchant for brutality even within a terrorist group known for its cruelty.

As the victims' families stared down Elsheikh in the courtroom, Gibbs described the ISIS propaganda videos showing Foley, Sotloff and Kassig being beheaded, and how Mueller was forced into slavery and raped repeatedly by the ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi before being killed.

Throughout opening statements of the trial, which is expected to last at least three weeks, Elsheikh sat stiff, avoiding eye contact with the jury while Gibbs described the atrocities inflicted on hostages.

When Elsheikh and the other militants learned that a European hostage was marking his twenty-fifth birthday, they ensured they inflicted exactly 25 blows, Gibbs said.

Only two accused members of the four-man cell, Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, are being prosecuted in the US.

Kotey pleaded guilty last year to federal charges of hostage-taking resulting in death and providing material support to terrorists, and faces life in prison.

His sentencing, originally scheduled for March 4, has been delayed until April 29, spurring speculation that he could be cooperating against Elsheikh.

The third member of the cell, Mohammed Emwazi, a British citizen who oversaw the executions known as 'Jihadi John', died in a drone strike in 2015.

Aine Lesley Davis, the fourth member of the group, was convicted in Turkey on terrorism charges and jailed.

Alexanda Amon Kotey, left, and El Shafee Elsheikh, who were allegedly among four British jihadis who made up a brutal Islamic State cell dubbed 'The Beatles,' speak during an interview with The Associated Press at a security center in Syria in 2021

Diane and John Foley, the parents of James Foley, an American journalist beheaded by the ISIS cell known as the 'Beatles', arrive at the court case for the US terror trial of Elsheikh on Wednesday

Bethany Haines, the daughter of Briton David Haines, who was beheaded by the ISIS 'Beatles' cell, arrives at the courthouse in Alexandria on Wednesday. While Elsheikh has not been charged in America over Mr Haines' death due to America lacking jurisdiction, Haines wanted to come face-to-face with her father's alleged killer

The families of the four US victims attended the trial on Wednesday, with Foley's parents Diane and John as well as Kassig's parents Paula and Ed pictured arriving at the courtroom.

But for Mueller's mother Marsha the emotion was too much and she wiped a tear from her eye as Elsheikh walked into court - before her husband Carl put his arm around her to comfort her.

Families of four Americans killed by ISIS terrorist stare him down in court The families of four Americans allegedly killed by an ISIS terrorist stared him down in court as he faced trial for their kidnap and murder. Relatives of James Foley, Kayla Mueller, Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig glared at El Shaffe Elsheikh at the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia But for Mueller's mother Marsha the emotion was too much and she wiped a tear from her eye as Elsheikh walked into court - before her husband Carl put his arm around her to comfort her. Prosecutors claim Elsheikh was part of an infamous ISIS cell called The Beatles which captured dozens of Westerners in Syria between 2012 and 2015. The group paraded their victims in orange jumpsuits in gruesome videos shared online which showed them being beheaded. Relatives of James Foley, Kayla Mueller, Steven Sotloff and Peter Kassig glared at El Shaffe Elsheikh at the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia. Pictured: Paula and Ed Kassig arrive at court on Wednesday Elsheikh has denied any role in the kidnapping of the Americans and his trial is due to last four weeks - with relatives of his alleged victims expected to be in court every day. For the opening statements Foley's mother Diane and father John sat in one of the benches of the courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia. John Foley at times closed his eyes while Diana Foley took notes, only pausing when the prosecution described her son's execution. James Foley, a journalist, 40, from New Hampshire, was seized by ISIS in 2012 while reporting on the conflict in Syria. Two years later the group released a video showing Mohammed Emwazi, the leader of The Beatles known as 'Jihadi John' , beheading him. For the opening statements Foley's mother Diane and father John (pictured arriving at court) sat in one of the benches of the courtroom in Alexandria, Virginia, as they heard details of their son's execution by the ISIS 'Beatles' cell Sotloff, 31, from Miami, Florida, also a journalist, was kidnapped on the way to Aleppo in 2013 and was executed by Emwazi in a sick video released the following year. In court were his father Arthur and mother Shirley. Kassig, 26, an aid worker and former Army ranger who converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdul-Rahman, was captured in Syria in 2013 while delivering food and medical supplies to refugees in eastern Syria. He was beheaded in 2014 after being held in captivity. Kassig's parents Edward and Paula were in court - Paula sat taking notes throughout the opening arguments. Mueller, from Prescott, Arizona, was kidnapped in 2013 while leaving a hospital in Aleppo and, in an appalling turn of events, was repeatedly raped by the former ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Her death was confirmed in 2015. Her parents sat in the second row and stared intently on the first day of the case. They had spoken movingly at the Republican National Convention in 2020 about their daughter's captivity. At the RNC Carl said: 'Kayla was mostly held in a 12-by-12 cell in solitary confinement. It was cold and dirty. ISIS terrorists shined bright lights in her face. They shaved her head. They beat her and tortured her. The leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, raped her repeatedly'. At the RNC the Muellers criticized the Obama administration for failing to bring their daughter back alive, and praised Donald Trump under whose administration the operation to kill Baghdadi was successfully carried out. Carl said: 'The operators named themselves 'Task Force 814' after Aug. 14, Kayla's birthday. And they named the mission Operation Kayla Mueller. To those soldiers: thank you. Kayla was looking down on you. 'The Trump team gave us empathy we never received from the Obama administration. The Obama administration said it was doing everything it could. The Trump administration actually is'. Also present in court was Bethany Haines, the daughter of British aid worker David Haines, another alleged victim of The Beatles. Bethany, who had flown from Scotland to be at the trial, shook her head in disgust as Elsheikh walked into court. Advertisement

Bethany Haines, the daughter of David Haines - a British aid worker kidnapped and beheaded by the ISIS 'Beatles' cell - also arrived at the courtroom in Virginia, as she said she wanted to come face-to-face with the man accused of kidnapping and torturing her father.

While Elsheikh, who was stripped of his British citizenship, has not been charged in America over Mr Haines' death due to America lacking jurisdiction, Haines wanted to have some sense of closure by attending the US trial.

Elsheikh and Kotey are accused of inflicting electric shocks with a taser, forcing hostages to fight each other, 20-minute beatings with sticks and waterboarding.

Surviving hostages will testify that Elsheikh and Kotey were more likely than regular day-to-day guards to hand out beatings, Gibbs said.

The hostages 'all experienced brutal mistreatment at the hands of the British men they called the Beatles,' prosecutor John Gibbs said Wednesday as part of his opening statement.

He said Elsheikh, who was known as both 'Ringo' and 'George', had 'knowingly conspired' to take Westerners hostage.

The ISIS militants 'were utterly terrifying' to the hostages, Gibbs said. The physical abuse they dished out was 'unrelenting and unpredictable' and they 'seemed to get satisfaction from physically abusing the hostages'.

If the Britons came into contact with hostages, they were supposed to kneel down, face the wall and avoid eye contact at all times.

'If a hostage looked at any of the three men, they would be beaten,' Gibbs said. 'In fact, they did not have to do anything to be beaten.'

Even hostages about to be released after paying a ransom were given 'going-away beatings' by the British men, Gibbs said.

Among specific murders the prosecution alleges Kotey and Elsheikh were involved in was that of Mueller, who was seized and detained by Islamic State militants in August 2013.

The indictment says that beginning about October 2014, Mueller was sexually abused by the late Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi while held captive in Syria.

Mueller's family received an email from Islamic State fighters in February 2014, confirming her death in Syria, the indictment says.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said Islamic State is still trying to radicalize people in the United States and elsewhere.

'Their goal is to motivate people to launch attacks against Western targets wherever they are, using any means available,' Wray said.

Wray and Demers said the support of the British government was critical to moving the investigation and prosecution forward.

The families of Foley, Kassig, Mueller and Sotloff welcomed the news.

'James, Peter, Kayla and Steven were kidnapped, tortured, beaten, starved, and murdered by members of the Islamic State in Syria,' they said in a joint statement.

'Now our families can pursue accountability for these crimes against our children in a US court.'

Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa, who was kidnapped by the ISIS cell and spent three months as a hostage, said Elsheikh - whom he dubbed 'Jihadi George' - was the 'most brutal' of the terrorists.

'George was the most crazy one,' the El Mundo journalist said of his former captor Elsheikh.

Espinosa said whilst it was another Beatles member, Mohamed Emwazi, who carried out the executions of prisoners, he was 'just muscles' and Elsheikh was 'the one who was leading the others'.

Interestingly, the prosecutor referred only to three British nationals  Elsheikh, Alexanda Kotey, and Mohammed Emwazi, who frequently carried out the role of executioner and was known as 'Jihadi John'.

Together, the men were nicknamed 'The Beatles' by their captives, in part because of their accents and in part because the hostages felt the need to be surreptitious when talking amongst themselves because they risked punishment to be openly discussing their captors, Gibbs said.

Among them, Elsheikh was known specifically as 'Ringo', Gibbs said.

Usually, public discussion has centered on four captors known as 'the Beatles.' The fourth, Aine Davis, is serving a prison sentence in Turkey.

Emwazi was killed in a drone strike, and Kotey was captured alongside Elsheikh and also brought to Virginia to face trial. Kotey pleaded guilty last year in a plea bargain that calls for a life sentence.

Defense attorney Edward MacMahon highlighted the discrepancy about the number of Beatles as he argued for his client's innocence, saying Elsheikh was not a 'Beatle' but a simple Islamic State foot soldier.

MacMahon said there was 'no dispute' about the horror of the captives' fate. But, he said, while there was 'no doubt' that Elsheikh had gone to Syria and fought with IS, there also was no evidence he was one of the 'Beatles.'

MacMahon said surviving hostages have different recollections about each of the Beatles and their characteristics, and about whether there were three or four.

He noted that the British speakers were careful to always wear masks, making identification difficult.

'The former hostages will give you different versions of whom the Beatles were, you will hear very, very different stories,' he said, arguing that the evidence 'will fail to prove' that Elsheikh was involved.

MacMahon also said Elsheikh's numerous admissions in media interviews about his role in the hostage-taking scheme should be disregarded.

They were made while he was in custody of the Syrian Democratic Forces, and he was fearful of being transferred to Iraq, where he heard rumors that detainees were being summarily executed after 10-minute trials, the attorney said.

Admitting that he was a 'Beatle' was a way to ensure transfer into Western custody, MacMahon said.

Diane Foley, James Foley's mother, attended the trial on Wednesday and said it was important to her that the judicial process be carried out.

'I think we must do the opposite of what was done. That to me is the huge contrast,' she said, referring to the treatment of her son and the other hostages.

She said she was 'surprised' by the defense's opening statement.

Elsheikh is standing trial in Alexandria, accused of being involved in the murders of American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and relief workers Peter Kassig and Kayla Mueller

A Kurdish security officer escorts Alexanda Amon Kotey, left, and El Shafee Elsheikh, who were allegedly among four British jihadis who made up a brutal Islamic State cell dubbed 'The Beatles,' for an interview with The Associated Press, March 30, 2018

Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa, who was kidnapped by the ISIS cell and spent three months as a hostage, said Elsheikh was the 'most brutal' of the terrorists. Pictured: Espinosa running to hug his son as he arrived in Madrid, Spain, after he was released from ISIS captivity

A former Danish soldier later took the witness stand to tell how he had negotiated for months to secure the release of a Danish photographer, Daniel Rye Ottosen.

He read emails to the young man's family demanding ever higher ransoms.

'You are negotiating for the life of your only son and time is a factor,' they wrote to the parents, accompanying their words with photos or videos of executed hostages.

In pretrial arguments, defense lawyers sought unsuccessfully to have Elsheikh's confessions to interrogators and journalists tossed out, saying they were made under duress.

The judge said the evidence was overwhelming that Elsheikh's confessions were given freely.

Gibbs told jurors that they will hear from numerous witnesses who will provide evidence of Elsheikh's guilt, including from captives who spent time with the slain Americans as well as family members who received ransom demands.

The first witness to testify was terrorism expert Bruce Hoffman, a professor at Georgetown University, who walked the jury through the origins of the Islamic State group as an offshoot of al-Qaeda.

Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, were captured in January 2018 by Kurdish forces in Syria while trying to escape to Turkey.

They were turned over to US forces in Iraq and flown to Virginia, US, in October 2020 to face charges of hostage-taking, conspiracy to murder US citizens and supporting a foreign terrorist organization.

Ringleader Mohammed Emwazi, a British citizen who oversaw the executions known as 'Jihadi John', died in a drone strike in 2015.

Aine Lesley Davis, the fourth member of the group, was convicted in Turkey on terrorism charges and jailed.

Kotey pleaded guilty in September 2021 and is facing life in prison.

Under his plea agreement, Kotey will serve 15 years in jail in the US and then be extradited to Britain to face further charges.

The charges against Elsheikh carry a potential death sentence, but U.S. prosecutors have advised British officials that they will not seek the death penalty against Elsheikh or Kotey.

He faces an unconditional sentence of life imprisonment.
Junior Goldman Sachs bankers whose salaries start at $110k are threatening to quit their jobs after the firm demanded they turn to the office five days a week.

The bankers, who have previously complained of working 100-hour weeks, have claimed they are being 'bullied' into working in the office for the five days by top managers at the firm.

The revolt comes a month after Goldman Sachs handed out the biggest bonuses on Wall Street, with the pay increased by between 76 and 226 per cent for junior bankers.

'In Goldman Sachs, the top management says it's employees choice but internally they track which team has most in office attendance,' an employee wrote on the message board Blind, according to New York Post.

'It's f***ing bulls**t from top management saying they are people first,' they added. 'In our team meeting, manager showed us the excel where the MDs [managing directors] are tracking which department has not met in-office commitments.'

Another Goldman Sachs employee wrote on Blind: 'Apparently they are tracking everyone's attendance and managers are getting lists of people who have low attendance so they can bully them into coming in.'

The investment bank demanded employees return to the office five days a week earlier this month, after CEO David Solomon branded working from home an 'aberration'.

The investment bank demanded employees return to the office five days a week earlier this month, after CEO David Solomon (pictured) branded working from home an 'aberration'

'It's an aberration that we're going to correct as quickly as possible,' Solomon said last year. The CEO has repeatedly argued that remote work 'is not ideal for us, and it's not a new normal.'

The firm's decree to return to the office five days a week was revealed a month after only half of the company's 10,000 employees showed up to the New York City headquarters when offices reopened on February 1.

'David Solomon sucks,' one user wrote on Blind. 'Nobody wants to be in 5-0 [5 days in the office, 0 at home] and plenty of companies are willing to allow hybrid/remote.'

The move towards working five days in the office has meant some employees are looking to quit Goldman Sachs and instead move to other companies who offer more flexibility.

The firm's decree to return to the office five days a week was revealed a month after only half of the company's 10,000 employees showed up to the New York City headquarters (file photo) when offices reopened on February 1

Solomon, who has maintained his distaste for remote work throughout the pandemic, argued one of Goldman Sachs' strengths is its network of staff collaborating together to serve clients.

He believes that working from home inhibits relationship building and growth.

'The secret sauce to our organization is, we attract thousands of really extraordinary young people who come to Goldman Sachs to learn to work, to create a network of other extraordinary people, and work very hard to serve our clients,' he told the news outlet.

'Part of the secret sauce is that they come together and collaborate and work with people that are much more experienced than they are. If you break that all down and scatter it around.'

Although he acknowledged that some businesses have made remote successful, he doesn't believe that is the best operating model for his company.

'I do think for a business like ours which is an innovative, collaborative apprenticeship culture, this is not ideal for us and it's not a new normal,' he said.

Despite CEO's claims, Goldman Sachs reported its best years ever over the past two years, with the company recording a profit of $21.6billion in 2021.

Solomon collected $35million in compensation last year alone, Fortune reported.

Pictured: People wait in line to enter outside the Goldman Sachs headquarters building in New York City on Monday, June 14, 2021

Goldman Sachs is widely-regarded as the most demanding investment bank to work for, but its staff are also among the highest-paid in a famously well-remunerated industry.

In 2021, the company handed out bonuses, with second-year analysts receiving a bonus of $95,000 and third-year associates receiving $350,000.

The company drew public criticism and backlash throughout 2021.

In January, a former intern named Emily shared a YouTube video describing her experience interning there in 2016 as being the internship from hell. She called it a traumatic and cutthroat program that included working from 5:40 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. without having her own desk.

Then, in March, a group of junior bankers made a PowerPoint presentation complaining of conditions like working 100 hours a week. A number of the 13 analysts who made the presentation said that they would quit by the summer if conditions didnt improve.

One claimed that his experience at Goldman was 'arguably worse' than his childhood in foster care. The PowerPoint leaked to the media and, days later, Solomon vowed to employees that he would work harder to give them Saturdays off.

Employees said that it only rubs salt in the wound to see Solomon riding the heels of his EDM career and playing opulent gigs in the Hamptons, while they struggle to get a full day off work.

When he is not running the Wall Street giant, Solomon performs under the name DJ D-Sol at some of the most elite nightclubs in the world.
"Korean Teachers" author Seo Su-jin / Courtesy of Seo Su-jin



By Park Han-sol



In the third act of Seo Su-jin's novel, "Korean Teachers," three Korean language instructors at Seoul's H University meet up for dinner on the first day of fall term classes, amid hopes for a trouble-free semester.



While waiting for their dishes to be served, one throws a question out to the table: "How many people did they fire this semester?"



An answer comes, rather nonchalantly, "Seven or so?"



No one at the dinner table really recalls any of the names of the unfortunate lecturers. One thing the three do know, however, is that they were the lowest-ranking teachers in terms of their student evaluations.



With the number of international students enrolling in H University's Korean language school fluctuating every term due to unexpected visa and travel issues, the administration claims there is no need to keep as many hourly lecturers on standby  especially those who have been deemed "incompetent" in the eyes of the students. But are they, really?



Seo's debut novel follows four Korean teachers working at Seoul-based university's language school over the course of one academic year, with each act dedicated to a single protagonist: Seon-yi in the spring, Mi-ju in the summer, Ga-eun in the autumn and Han-hee in the winter.





The cover of "Korean Teachers" (2022), written by Seo Su-jin and translated by Lizzie Buehler / Courtesy of Harriett Press



In a dispassionate, almost surgical, tone, it lays bare how the language school operates by mobilizing highly educated women and subjecting them to a toxic work environment as well as unfair contract terms. The instructors are stuck in a cycle, where they are hired for a short period as hourly lecturers, evaluated, ranked and replaced  similar to commodities.



In this deeply flawed system, each teacher is relegated to a simple cog in the machine, and often pressured into silence when faced with social and ethical challenges, including sexism and racial prejudice.



Winner of the 2020 Hankyoreh Literature Award, the book was translated into and published in English this month.



"My aim was to paint a candid picture of the incredibly complex and layered realities faced by Korean language lecturers every day," the author told The Korea Times in a recent interview.



As a certified Korean language instructor herself, Seo taught at several universities in Seoul from 2016 to 2019.



"I wanted to shatter the illusion that these highly educated instructors, who are somehow seen as ambassadors for Korean culture in the wave of globalization, are treated and compensated well."



Although "Korean Teachers" is a work of fiction, many of the disquieting events that unfold  from the discovery of illegally taken photos of lecturers being spread on social media with offensive hashtags to an instructor on the verge of being fired due to pregnancy  are inspired by the real-life experiences of the author or her colleagues.



As the global interest in learning the Korean language continues to grow on the back of the country's rise as a major cultural powerhouse  something that Seo herself has also witnessed in Sydney, where she is currently based  the book's rare glimpse into the "other side" of the Korean wave is both timely and meaningful in more ways than one.



"Here's food for thought I wanted to offer when writing this novel: whether we are ready to discuss the easily overlooked shadow behind hallyu, the stories of the exploited groups of workers behind the splendors of so-called 'K-culture,'" she said.





Protesters call for better treatment and higher wages for Korean language instructors at a university in Seoul in this June 18, 2021 photo. Yonhap
Hollywood megastar Angelina Jolie put aside time from her glamorous life producing, directing and sometimes acting in movies to carry out humanitarian aid work in in Rome.

Jolie, who was raised a Catholic and dedicates much of her time to doing work for the United Nations Refugee Agency, paid a visit to the Bambino Gesu pediatric hospital just outside the walls of Vatican City on March 30.

Here she met Ukranian children who had arrived in Italy after fleeing the war in their home country, some of whom are very sick.

Angelina Jolie, right, visits a young patient from Ukraine on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, in the Bambino Gesu pediatric hospital in Rome

Angelina Jolie talks with a young child from Ukraine in an Italian children's hospital. A number of children from Ukraine sought refuge in Italy when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24

Actress Angelina Jolie helps care for a Ukrainian child refugee at the Bambino Gesu pediatric hospital in Rome. She has been a Special Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since 2012

The children had been forced to flee their homes and country when Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Unicef estimates that two million child refugees have left Ukraine since the start of the war, with a further 2.5 million displaced internally and 60% of Ukrainian children forced to leave their homes.

Jolie also met the doctors and nurses who have been charged with taking care of the refugees.

The star of the recent Marvel movie Eternals received a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for her humanitarian work in 2013 and has been a Special Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees since 2012, undertaking dozens of trips to visit camps with refugees from countries such as Yemen, Burkina Faso, Venezuela and many more.
Vladimir Putin has already lost the war in Ukraine and is weaker than a month ago, the head of Britain's armed forces declared today, after it emerged demoralised Russian troops are refusing orders and are sabotaging their own equipment.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the Chief of the Defence Staff, said the Russian leader had overestimated his military's power with his invasion, which has run into fierce Ukrainian resistance that has inflicted devastating losses on Moscow's armies.

Speaking today, the admiral called Putin's position 'diminished,' having damaged himself 'through a series of catastrophic misjudgments.' One example, he said, was the 'insane' decision not to tell members of his armed forces they would be invading.

He also said that Putin's attempts to capture the whole of Ukraine with a sift invasion have 'fallen apart', as Vladimir Putin's troops retreat away from Kyiv.

While he said that the UK was 'incredibly cautious' about believing Russian claims a withdrawal from the capital, he said there did appear to be signs the Kremlin was preparing to focus its efforts on the east and south of Ukraine.

Sir Tony said Putin's actions, meanwhile, have only served to demonstrate the 'unity and cohesion among the free nations of the world', and show that Ukraine, unlike Russia, is supported by 'real friends'.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the Chief of the Defence Staff, said Putin had overestimated his military's power with his invasion, which has run into fierce Ukrainian resistance that has inflicted devastating losses on Moscow's armies

The defence chief's comments came the day after Sir Jeremy Fleming - the director of Britain's GCHQ intelligence organisation - launched an unprecedented attack on Putin, claiming his bungled 'personal war' in Ukraine has backfired badly.

In a damning verdict on the 'failing' invasion, Sir Fleming said the command and control of Russia's campaign was in 'chaos', and revealed new intelligence showing that ill-prepared Russian soldiers are refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

Meanwhile, the admiral's comments on unity were echoed by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky in an address to Australia's parliament today.

The embattled leader told lawmakers that his country's resistance against Putin's armies is 'undefeatable' with 'the support of the free world' behind it.

Ukraine warned today that Russia has changed its tactics to avoid direct fighting and has switched to long-range attacks after losing thousands of troops.

Senior Russian military figures this week their forces would be shifting their focus to the eastern Donbas region, a claim that has been met with scepticism in the west.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier that Russian forces in Ukraine are not withdrawing but regrouping.

Stoltenberg also said the alliance has yet to be convinced that Russia was negotiating in good faith in peace talks in Istanbul because Moscow's military objective since launching its invasion of Ukraine has not changed.

An elderly woman walks past a damaged Russian tank in recaptured by the Ukrainian army Trostyanets town, in Sumy region, Ukraine, 30 March 2022

Putin threatens to turn off Europe's gas supplies TOMORROW if countries refuse to pay in roubles Russian President Vladimir Putin today threatened to turn off Europe's gas supplies from tomorrow if foreign buyers refuse to pay in roubles. 'In order to purchase Russian natural gas, they must open rouble accounts in Russian banks. It is from these accounts that payments will be made for gas delivered starting from tomorrow,' Putin said in televised remarks, adding that contracts would be halted if these payments were not made. 'If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either - that is, existing contracts will be stopped.' Putin's decision to enforce rouble payments for gas has boosted the Russian currency, which fell to historic lows when the West applied sweeping sanctions after he sent his army into Ukraine on February 24. The move has also pushed up British gas prices and wholesale costs for day-ahead delivery jumped by 18 per cent to 259.50 pence per therm on March 23, while the winter 2022 price rose by 11 per cent to 264.01 p/therm. Western companies and governments have rejected the move as a breach of existing contracts, which are set in euros or dollars. Putin said the switch was meant to strengthen Russia's sovereignty, and it would stick to its obligations on all contracts. Russia supplies about a third of Europe's gas. Putin also decreed today that foreign buyers of Russian gas will have to use special accounts at Gazprombank to pay for the import of Russian gas. A foreign buyer is now obliged to transfer foreign currency to one special, so called 'K', account. Gazprombank would then buy roubles on behalf of the gas buyer to transfer roubles to another special 'K' account, the order said. Gazprombank would then transfer rouble funds from a 'K' type account of the foreign gas buyer to Gazprom's rouble accounts, the order said. Gazprombank can open such accounts without a presence of a foreign buyer's representative. It comes after Putin on March 23 announced foreign buyers would have to pay for gas in Russian currency. Advertisement

The head of the British armed forces appeared today at an event hosted by the Institute for Government (IfG) think tank. While he was optimistic that Putin would fail in his invasion, he still warned of 'difficult' times ahead.

'The scenes coming out of Mariupol and elsewhere are horrific, and the coming weeks will continue to be very difficult,' he told the event.

'But in many ways, Putin has already lost. Far from being the far-sighted manipulator of events that he would have us believe, Putin has damaged himself through a series of catastrophic misjudgements.'

Top Russian military officials have said in recent days that their main goal now is the 'liberation' of the eastern region of Donbas, and have said Moscow would deescalate its assaults further west in Ukraine.

Its statements have been greeted sceptically by Ukraine and Western governments. Military analysts have suggested the declared focus on the eastern Donbas region may be an attempt to make it easier for Putin to seek a face-saving exit.

Sir Tony added: 'Like all authoritarians, [Putin] allowed himself to be misled as to his own strength, including the effectiveness of the Russian armed forces.

'And lastly, he has failed to anticipate the unity and cohesion that exists among the free nations of the world, here in Europe and obviously far beyond. His actions to date have done more to galvanise than divide and have shown Ukraine to have the one thing Russia conspicuously lacks - real friends.

'What is very clear is that Putin is a weaker and more diminished figure today than he was a month ago, and conversely NATO is stronger and more united today than at any time I can remember.'

Britain's defence chief said there were 'early indications' that Russian forces were retreating, a move that was making Vladimir Putin's military open to attack from Ukrainian defenders.

He told the event: 'I think we are seeing that Russia's ambitions to take Kyiv and Russia's ambitions to take the whole of Ukraine and do that in a very swift and impressive fashion, those ambitions have fallen apart.

'And it looks now that less emphasis is being placed on Kyiv and more emphasis is being placed on the east and the south.

'We are starting to see the early indications of those forces being moved back from Kyiv and retreating to both Russia and Belarus.

'That in itself is a difficult evolution for Russia because they are doing that under contact, so Ukraine armed forces will attack those Russian forces as they retreat.

'And then I think we have to wait and see how that materialises and how that shapes in the future,' he said.

Asked at the event whether there was a mutiny in the Russian military and how widespread it might be, the Chief of the Defence Staff said: 'Mutiny is a strong word, so I think that we are unsurprisingly seeing disquiet at all levels within Russia's armed forces. But how substantial that is, we still have to wait and see.

'You've seen it at the most junior level, which is shocking in a professional sense, that Russian officers might take people into combat and those people don't even know they are going into combat - it seems an insane thing to do professionally and it's a morally bankrupt thing to do for any individual,' he said.

'And then as you carry on up through the system, we're also seeing the pressure that exists with, whether it is their tactical and operational level commanders - and their plans haven't gone well,' he added.

'And then you get up to their most senior commanders, who are clearly under pressure because Russia has made this catastrophic mistake, and then the way it has prosecuted the invasion looks to us like it has been very poorly conducted, and there is pressure on Russia's military.'



Speaking today, Sir Tony Radakin called the power of Putin (pictured Wednesday) 'diminished,' having damaged himself 'through a series of catastrophic misjudgments.' One example, he said, was the 'insane' decision not to tell members of his armed forces they would be invading

Ukrainian soldiers greet each other in Moshchhon, Ukraine on March 30,2022 where they were fighting against the Russian army and pushing them back after fierce battles

Putin orders 134,500 MORE conscripts into his army President Vladimir Putin has ordered 134,500 more conscripts to join his army as Russia's forces continue to struggle to make significant gains in Ukraine. The Russian despot signed a decree today ordering the new conscripts into the army as part of Russia's annual spring draft. Despite Moscow's struggles, the defence ministry claimed the call-up had nothing to do with the war in Ukraine. The order came five weeks into Russia's invasion, which has run into fierce Ukrainian resistance that has inflicted devastating losses on Moscow's armies. Speaking on Thursday as Putin signed the decree, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that none of the 134,500 call-ups would be sent to any 'hot spots'. The issue of conscripts' involvement in the war is highly sensitive. On March 9, the defence ministry acknowledged that some had been sent to Ukraine after Putin had denied this on various occasions, saying only professional soldiers and officers had been sent in. Putin's spokesman said at the time that the president had ordered military prosecutors to investigate and punish the officials responsible for disobeying his instructions to exclude conscripts. The annual spring military draft, which runs from April 1 to July 15, will affect Russian men between the ages of 18 and 27, Putin's decree said. Advertisement

Speaking yesterday, GCHQ's Sir Jeremy Fleming claimed Putin's own advisers have been lying to him about Russia's startling losses, speaking to the despot's isolation and authoritarian approach.

Since Putin invaded, thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed. Against the expectations of many, Ukraine has mounted a staunch defence and have managed to stop Russia from making significant ground.

Last week, a NATO official said between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting. Ukraine claims as many as 16,000 have been killed.

Sir Jeremy said Putin's 'misjudgments,' had forced him to adopt plan B  'barbarity against civilians and cities'.

The head of Britain's eavesdropping intelligence agency also warned China not to be 'too closely aligned' with a country that wilfully breaks all the rules and 'norms for a new global governance'.

His unprecedented public rebuke of a foreign leader came as US officials said Putin had 'lost faith' in his top brass, who are too afraid to tell him the truth about the war.

'We're now seeing Putin trying to follow through on his plan but it is failing. And his Plan B has been more barbarity against civilians and cities,' Sir Jeremy said during a speech in the Australian capital Canberra.

'It increasingly looks like Putin has massively misjudged the situation. It's clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people.

'He underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanise. He under-played the economic consequences of the sanctions regime.

'He over-estimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory.'

He added: 'We've seen Russian soldiers  short of weapons and morale  refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

'Even though we believe Putin's advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what's going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.'

Speaking during a visit to Australia to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Australian Signals Directorate, GCHQ's Australian equivalent, the spy chief said: 'We know Putin's campaign is beset by problems  low morale, logistical failures and high Russian casualty numbers.

'Their command and control is in chaos. We've seen Putin lie to his own people in an attempt to hide military incompetence.'

Sir Jeremy continued: 'It all adds up to the strategic miscalculation that Western leaders warned Putin it would be. It's become his personal war, with the cost being paid by innocent people in Ukraine and increasingly by ordinary Russians too.

'The great irony is that through his actions, Putin has brought upon himself exactly what he was trying to avoid  a Ukraine with a renewed sense of nationhood, a NATO that is more united than ever, and a global coalition of nations that condemn his actions.'

In a rare public address in Canberra, Sir Jeremy warned that Putin was planning to use a shadow branch of the Russian military known as the Wagner Group as 'cannon fodder to try to limit Russian military losses'.

Sir Jeremy Fleming (pictured, file photo) said Wednesday the command and control of Russia 's campaign was in 'chaos' in his first public statements on the invasion

Ukraine's president Zelensky also spoke in Australia today, telling Canberra lawmakers via video link that Russia must be held accountable for past wrongs, warning that a failure to punish Moscow may encourage other countries to wage war against their neighbours.

Zelenskiy called for new and tougher sanctions to retaliate against Russia's invasion of Ukraine and suggested that years of failure to rein in the global power had emboldened Moscow.

'If we don't stop Russia now, if we don't hold Russia accountable, then some other countries of the world who are looking forward to a similar war against their neighbours will decide that such things are possible for them as well,' Zelenskiy said in the video address, according to an official translation.

Zelenskiy, seated at a desk wearing his trademark khaki t-shirt, did not specify which countries he feared would be inspired by Russia.

Australia and its Western allies have raised concerns about increasingly aggressive language by China regarding Taiwan, whose independence it disputes.

'The fate of the global security is decided now,' Zelenskiy said. 'No one can manage to win. No one can save any part of the world from radioactive (destruction) that were to come if nuclear weapons are used,' he said.

Western countries say Moscow's invasion, the biggest assault on a European country since World War Two, was entirely unprovoked. Russia says it is carrying out a 'special operation' to disarm and 'denazify' its neighbour.

Australia has supplied defence equipment and humanitarian supplies to Ukraine, while banning exports of alumina and aluminium ores, including bauxite, to Russia.

It has sanctioned 443 individuals, including businessmen close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and 33 entities, including most of Russia's banking sector and all entities responsible for the country's sovereign debt.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy receives a standing ovation before addressing the House of Representatives via a video link at Parliament House in Canberra, March 31, 2022

On Thursday, Australia said it was imposing an additional 35% tariff on imports from Russia and Belarus, which it said supported the invasion, and that it was increasing its military assistance to Ukraine by A$25 million to A$116 million ($86.70 million).

Zelenskiy invoked the worst clash between Australia and Russia in recent years, the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over rebel-held eastern Ukraine in 2014 by what investigators say was a Russian-made surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 on board including 38 Australians.

'Has Russia paid compensation to the dead and families? No, they are still denying the fault of this tragedy,' he said.

He also brought up the Russian invasion of Crimea that same year. 'If the world had punished Russia in 2014 for what it did, there would not be any of this terror invasion of Ukraine in 2022. We have to correct such horrible mistakes and correct them now.'

General Sir Nick Parker, another British defence figure, also spoke on the war in Ukraine today, but delivered a damning assessment of NATO and its reaction to Russian aggression, saying it had been 'defeated'.

Britain's former army commander said that Putin called the alliance's bluff over Ukraine, and should be replaced with a smaller coalition of nations prepared to be more offensive, Britain's former army commander said today.

Parker called his suggestion 'controversial,' but pointed to the fact that the 30-member alliance - that includes the US, the UK and several European nations - had been unable to prevent the Russian president's invasion of Ukraine.

The former commander of land forces in the British Army said NATO is now in a defensive position, holding the alliance's eastern flank that last expanded in 2004.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that a smaller military alliance would be better suited to 'develop an offensive counter-strategy to Putin.'

General Sir Nick Parker (pictured, file photo) told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that NATO has been defeated by Vladimir Putin calling the alliance's bluff over Ukraine, and should be replaced with a smaller coalition that is better suited to counter the threat posed by Russia

Pictured: Local residents walk near an apartment building destroyed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 30, 2022

Asked on BBC Radio 4's Today programme about NATO's response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, General Parker said: 'Slightly controversially I suppose, I mean NATO's been defeated, NATO's bluff was called.

'We were unable to stop the Russians trampling all over Ukraine and now NATO is holding the line of the 2004 expansion, along the line of the Baltic states and Poland and Hungary and Romania.

He continued: 'And what it has to do is to defend that line, it's in what in military terms we would call a defensive position. And I don't think it has the capacity to move on to the offensive with its 30 nations all with slightly different views.

'We need to have a smaller coalition of nations who can start to develop an offensive counter-strategy to Putin.'

His comments came as Ukraine offered to drop its ambition to join NATO in a bid to end the war, with peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv set to resume on Friday.

Putin has used NATO's eastward expansion as one of several justifications for his brutal war, and has demanded Ukraine pursues neutrality as a condition to withdraw.

Meanwhile, NATO countries have repeatedly refused requests from Zelensky to directly aid his country's fight against Moscow's invading forces out of fear of being dragged into a wider conflict with Russia.

One request from the embattled president was for NATO to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine to help his air force control the skies. The plea was refused over fears that doing so would result in a third World War.

Putin last month ordered Russia's nuclear forces to be put on high alert, and threatened NATO allies with 'consequences greater than any you have faced in history' should they intervene in the Ukraine conflict.

As Russia was massing troops on its border with Ukraine, and since Putin's invasion was launched, NATO has bolstered its troops on its eastern flank.

However, it has ruled out any military intervention in Ukraine itself, saying NATO forces would only fight if Russia moved into the alliance's territory.

Pictured: American army vehicles arrive in the port of Vlissingen, The Netherlands, 29 March 2022. As Russia was massing troops on its border with Ukraine, and since Putin's invasion was launched, NATO has bolstered its troops on its eastern flank

A pilot in an F-16 fighter jet takes part in the NATO international air force exercise Frisian Flag, at Leeuwarden Air Base on March 28, 2022

NATO was founded in 1949 with 12 founding members, before quickly expanding in the coming years. By the end of the century, it had grown to 19 members.

In 2004, the largest number of new countries was admitted to the alliance with Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia all joining, meaning that NATO had a direct border with Russia for the first time.

Four countries have joined since, with North Macedonia being the last nation to enter the fold in 2020. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine have all formally expressed their aspirations to join.

The prospect of Ukraine and George both joining NATO has in particular infuriated Putin. Russian forces have invaded both countries in the last 15 years.

Since Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, thousands of soldiers and civilians have been killed. Against the expectations of many, Ukraine has mounted a staunch defence and have managed to stop Russia from making significant ground.

Last week, a NATO official said between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting. Ukraine claims as many as 16,000 have been killed.



During peace talks on Tuesday in Istanbul, the faint outlines of a possible peace agreement seemed to emerge when the Ukrainian delegation offered a framework under which the country would declare itself neutral.

This would see it drop its bid to join NATO, as Moscow has long demanded - in return for security guarantees from a group of other nations.

Top Russian officials responded positively, with foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying that Ukraine's willingness to accept neutrality and look outside NATO for security represents 'significant progress', according to Russian news agencies.

The talks between Ukraine and Russia will resume on Friday by video, the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, has said.
Robotic dogs have been recruited to spread Covid safety information in Shanghai as China's biggest city faces another lockdown.

The four-legged friends have been spotted marching around city streets repeating public health messages via a megaphone taped to their heads.

They repeat a handful of simple messages: 'Wear a mask, wash your hands, check your temperature.'

Dog diktats: locals report they're more willing to take orders from robot pups than officials

The four-legged friend roam the streets to give public safety advice as Shanghai locks down

The robo dog is surprisingly agile and capable of quick movement despite its heavy cargo

According to local news site The Paper, they're already having the desired effect as locals feel they can't disobey the dogs' diktats.

Yet if Shanghai's unnervingly cute creatures are a carrot, drones deployed to look out for rules violators are the sick.

They pronounce more menacingly: 'Your behaviour has violated anti-pandemic rules.

'Please go home immediately, or you will be punished in accordance with the law.'

China's biggest city returned to lockdown this week as cases climb, in breach of the zero-Covid model sought by Beijing.

Though cases remain lower than in many other parts of the world, Beijing ordered Shanghai to tighten its lockdown across the whole city.

Half of Shanghai is currently locked down, with western districts set to shutter on April 1

Beijing has been disappointed that localised measures failed to scupper Omicron in Shanghai

With cases climbing steadily, Shanghai's government introduced the new two-stage lockdown 'to curb the spread of the epidemic, ensure the safety and health of the people' and root out cases of infection 'as soon as possible'.

Sprawling eastern half Pudong, which includes the city's main airport and financial district, has been locked down since Monday morning and will be freed on April 1.

That day, the city's western half Puxi, which features the historic Bund riverfront, will look down for four days.

Authorities have watched nervously as a deadly Hong Kong Omicron surge sparked panic buying and claimed a high death toll among the unvaccinated elderly in the southern Chinese city.

The variant's subsequent spread in mainland China has posed a dilemma for authorities wrestling with how forcefully to respond amid concerns over the economic impact and the public's 'pandemic fatigue'.

The previous softer strategy failed to dampen city case counts and the localised lockdowns have provoked grumbling online and a run on groceries in some districts.
The grieving brother of an abducted teenager has taken to social media to call for justice after her death.

Casey Valley, who organized and led search efforts for his younger sister, Naomi Irion, 18, said on Wednesday night he was struggling to comprehend the news of her passing just hours after authorities reported they found her body in a gravesite.

'I can't believe it,' he wrote on Facebook. 'I'm at a loss for words.'

He thanked everyone for their support in trying to locate Irion, and said: 'Now comes a different kind of effort. Naomi was taken away from us far too soon. #JusticeforNaomi.'

Valley had previously held out hope that Irion was still alive, even writing on his Facebook page Tuesday that his family doesn't 'have any reason to believe that Naomi is not alive.'

He also told Fox News Digital just a few hours before the sheriff's departments announced her body had been found: 'I've been assured that there is no reason to believe Naomi has been harmed or is not alive, so we still have hope in our family.'

Irion was kidnapped from a Walmart in Fernley, Nevada, on March 12, when surveillance footage showed a man waiting in the parking lot for her.

Hundreds of volunteers had joined in searches across the vast desert area around Fernley over the past two weeks looking for Irion, with groups forming online to share any clues about her disappearance, until the Churchill County Sheriff's Office confirmed Wednesday night that they had positively identified her body.

Nobody has been charged in her death yet, but 41-year-old Troy Driver could face life in prison without parole for her alleged kidnapping. He has been charged with first-degree kidnapping.

The body of Naomi Irion, 18, pictured, was found at a gravesite on Tuesday - 17 days after she disappeared

Following the news, her brother, Casey Valley, second from left, wrote on Facebook that he was having trouble processing it. He and other members of Irion's family are pictured at suspect Troy Driver's court appearance on Wednesday

Valley, left, had organized search efforts across rural Nevada for Irion after she disappeared

In a Facebook post Wednesday night, Valley called for justice in Irion's murder

Irion, the daughter of a U.S. State Department staffer, was last seen around 5:25 a.m. on March 12 in her car in a Walmart parking lot in Fernley, about 30 miles east of Reno.

In a criminal complaint filed Wednesday morning, prosecutors alleged Driver - who was apprehended last Friday in connection to her disappearance - 'did abduct Naomi Irion and did hold or detain her for the purpose of committing sexual assault and/or for the purpose of killing her.'

He made his initial court appearance Wednesday, via video conference from Lyon County Jail, before Canal Township Justice Court Judge Lori Matheus ruled that his bail will remain at $750,000.

If Driver is able to post bail, he will be required to wear a GPS monitor as a condition of his release. He also must stay away from Fernley, Nevada, where Irion's kidnapping took place.

Driver is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on April 12 to determine whether there is enough evidence for him to be tried in state court.

DailyMail.com reached out to his attorney, Mario Walther, for comment.

Valley, meanwhile, said after the hearing that the family was 'all in shock' that any bail had been set.

Troy Driver, 41, was officially charged with Irion's kidnapping on Wednesday

Judge Lori Matheus ordered he remain held on a $750,000 bail

Surveillance footage from the morning of Irion's disappearance showed her sitting in the driver's seat while she waited for a company shuttle to take her to her job at Panasonic.

A man wearing a hoodie - believed to be Driver - was filmed approaching her vehicle 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 suspect in the driver's seat.

The pair then drove out of the lot with the man behind the wheel. Her abandoned car was found on March 15 near a paint manufacturing facility in an industrial park along Interstate 80 less than a mile away from the Walmart store.

Valley said earlier his sister usually catches a bus from the Walmart lot to work at a Reno-area Panasonic facility. He contacted family members and authorities after she failed to arrive at work and didn't return home that weekend.

Irion's family claimed the teen went on a date with an unknown man the day before she vanished and had previously complained about being sexually harassed at work.

Panasonic knew about the harassment and had handled it 'internally,' according to her brother.

Before authorities announced that her body had been identified, Valley told reporters Wednesday that the family appreciated the support from the community and praised efforts by sheriff's deputies and federal agents to find his sister.

'Lyon County and the FBI are working very hard,' he said. 'I wish there was more and everybody does.'

But following the court hearing Wednesday night, investigators with the Churchill County and Lyon County sheriff's departments announced they had found Irion's body at a gravesite in an undisclosed area of Churchill County.

Irion was seen in surveillance footage buying snacks at a gas station convenience store on her way to a her factory job before she disappeared on March 12

Surveillance footage also showed a hooded suspect apparently waiting outside of the Walmart parking lot in Fernley, Nevada for Irion that morning

They said they found the body Tuesday night at around 9 p.m. after receiving a tip that led them to the rugged mountains located about 150 miles from where she was abducted in Fernley.

'No further information can be released at this time as this is still an open and active investigation,' the sheriff's office said Wednesday after officials announced Irion had been found.

Her body was transported to the Washoe County Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy, which confirmed identification.

'We would like to extend our sympathy and condolences to the Irion family and thank all the volunteers for their hard work in trying to find Naomi and bring closure to the family,' the law enforcement offices wrote in a press release.

They did not provide any additional information about her apparent murder, citing an ongoing investigation.

Soon, Facebook posts poured in from residents throughout rural Nevada who wished to share their condolences with the family.

On one page dedicated to finding her, creator Rocky Pastorino said he is 'extremely proud of how our community came together to find a person we all fell in love with without knowing Naomi.'

But, he added: 'My heart breaks for the Irion family and I personally know exactly how they feel.

'We lost a great woman to a senseless act, and may Naomi Christine Irion rest in peace.'

Another woman, Naomi Owaseye also posted: 'I'm very sorry things ended this way and I'm sending my deepest condolence to her family.

'She might be gone physically, but her memories will continue to live with the people she knew, and the people who have come to know her.'

Alecia Douthit also wrote that Irion's family had been on her mind, noting: 'I didn't know you or your family, but you've touched so many hearts and you will never be forgotten.

'You deserved so much better, and I'm so sorry you had to see the ugliest parts of our world.'

Following the news of her death, local residents shared their sympathies on Facebook pages dedicated to finding her

Irion's family has previously told DailyMail.com 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 - a result of her father's job with the State Department.

She moved to America last year to live with 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.

'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.'

'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, Herve Irion, and their three Ukrainian-born adopted sons.

Until this year, Irion 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.

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.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Valley about the recent discovery of his sister's remains, and what that means for his family.

Irion's family had told DailyMail.com that the 18-year-old was exploring life as a free, young American woman after growing up in sheltered communities

Driver, meanwhile, is a convicted felon who previously served 12 years in California state prison for his role in a methamphetamine dealer's murder

Driver, meanwhile, is a convicted felon who previously served 12 years in California state prison for his role in a methamphetamine dealer's murder.

Criminal records show he was convicted in 1997 of accessory to a murder after the fact in relation to the killing of 19-year-old Paul Steven Rodriguez.

The Ukiah Daily Journal reported that in April of that year, Rodriguez, who was a methamphetamine dealer from Willits, California, was shot in the head by his 17-year-old girlfriend, Alissa Marie Moore.

Driver, who was 17 years old at the time, and 19-year-old Carl Herbert Dulinksy helped Moore dispose of Rodriguez' body and hide his torched car in a nearby forest.

The trio of suspects were arrested after the victim's remains were discovered two weeks after the killing.

Four months later, Driver pleaded guilty to the accessory charge related to the murder. He also admitted to robbing a convenience store and a service station, and to breaking into a hardware store.

Driver was sentenced to 15 years in state prison but was released after 12 years.

His rap sheet in California also includes convictions on charges of second-degree robbery and burglary.
Chris Rock briefly addressed the Oscars slap during a show in Boston on Wednesday, noting that he needs time to 'process' the assault as disappointed fans say they expected more from his first public appearance after Sunday's incident.

The comic, 57, took to the stage at the Wilbur Theatre and asked: 'How was your weekend?'

The rhetorical question got a big laugh from the crowd, which occasionally heckled the Emmy-winning comedian about Will Smith's on-screen strike.

But Rock warned those at the sold-out venue that the show would go on as planned.

'I don't have like a bunch of s*** to say about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I had like a whole show I wrote before... this weekend...' he said to more laughs. 'And I'm still kind of processing what happened.

'So at some time I'll talk about that s***... and it'll be serious. It'll be funny,' he said before an audience member shouted, 'F*** Will!'

'I'm gonna tell some jokes,' Rock concluded, later revealing that he hasn't spoken to 'anyone' since the incident, alluding to reports that he and Smith have reconciled.

But some of the 3,000 fans in the audience - who paid up to $1,000 per ticket - are disappointed that the stand-up comedian avoided the topic on everyone's mind.

'We want our money back, I didn't pay $400 to see nothing,' one person told Fox News.

Chris Rock briefly addressed this weekend's Oscars slap during a show at Boston's Wilbur Theatre on Wednesday before moving on to his regular set

'I had like a whole show I wrote before ... this weekend ...' he said to laughs. 'And I'm still kind of processing what happened'

Will Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage at the Oscars Sunday after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith. The Academy revealed on Wednesday that Smith was asked to leave, but refused

Some fans said they were disappointed by Rock's decision to not address the controversy more directly, with one telling Fox News : 'We want our money back, I didn't pay $400 to see nothing'

Actor Will Smith marched onto the stage during Sunday's live Academy Awards broadcast and hit Rock, after Rock told a joke about Smith's wife.

Shortly after, Smith was announced as the winner of the best actor award and went up to collect his statuette to a standing ovation from many of his peers.

One audience member at Rock's Wednesday night show said afterwards: 'He didn't address a lot of the stuff from previously. It's OK. I'm gonna give it like a C minus. Spent some money for the tickets. Average, very average ... We expected more.'

Others said they could see from his body language that he wasn't sure how to address the controversy.

'As soon as I saw him, his mood was a little bit shocked,' said Dave Henriquez, a 48-year-old musician from Newton, Massachusetts. 'I got that it was weighing on him.'

Erin Ryan, a 33-year-old teacher also from Newton who was with Henriquez, said she felt Rock wanted to perform his act, 'not make the standup about the one incident.'

Some were satisfied with the funnyman's set, even if they wished the controversy had been addressed.

'People loved it. It was very well attended and it really is an exciting time and its great to be here with you tonight,' one man told Reuters outside the theater. 'It was the elephant in the room. Everyone was waiting for the A-HA moment that didn't come.'

Another man said: 'It was fun. It was very funny. He had a lot of energy. He showed a lot of love to the city and stuff like that and we showed love back.'

Kathryn West-Hines, a 50-year-old palates instructor from Malden, Massachusetts, said she came away with even more respect for Rock. 'I thought it was amazing, classy,' she said, adding that he wasn't going to let 'what happened Sunday' take away his shine.

Rock skirted the subject again in his second set but seemingly confirmed that he has not spoken with Smith since being smacked in the jaw on live television.

'I haven't talked to anyone, despite what you heard,' Rock said.

Twice during the first show, a couple of members of the audience shouted: 'Will Smith,' drawing a far louder chorus of boos.

Other fans at Wednesday's show said they enjoyed it and were happy that Rock stuck to a script he wrote before the Oscars. 'We didn't come just for that,' one fan said after the show

Following the heckling, DailyMail.com saw one man being dragged out by security guards.

Police confirmed that the man was maced and kicked out of the theater by multiple security guards.

The kerfuffle disrupted Rock, who responded the second time by saying: 'Is this how this tour is going to go?'

Later Rock commented on his life in general, saying that 'except for some weird things, life is pretty good right now.'

The crowd laughed, knowing exactly what the 'weird things' referred to were.

Rock seemed unfazed as he delivered his typically high-energy routine, keeping the crowd roaring and gasping as he joked about everything from overweight people at Disney parks, to his decision to get a vasectomy after seeing a 78-year-old Robert De Niro walking around with a child.

He joked about how he spends all his money on women, and wryly recommended his ex-wife's divorce lawyer to the audience, for winning her half his fortune without her ever telling a joke.

Many expressed support for the South Carolina-born comedian, saying that Smith was out of order when he marched onto stage and hit Rock for joking about his wife's alopecia. Above, Rock arrives at the Wilbur Theatre on Wednesday

The Emmy and Grammy-winning comic kept his comments on the Oscar slap brief during his sold-out show, the first time he's performed since the infamous incident

Rock took the stage shortly after it emerged that Smith had refused to leave the Oscars after he was approached by the heads of the Academy of Motion Pictures.

The Academy said on Wednesday he ignored the request from the president, David Rubin, and CEO, Dawn Hudson, to leave, and that he had violated their code of conduct.

On Wednesday the Academy said it had launched 'disciplinary procedures' against Smith, and confirmed he ignored their request for him to leave his seat. They also apologized to Rock.

Smith was asked to leave by David Rubin, the president of the Academy, and CEO Dawn Hudson, TMZ reported.

Two sources told the site Rubin and Hudson were 'furious' at Smith, and there was plenty of 'yelling' and 'heated conversations' backstage with his reps after the incident.

Dawn Hudson, the CEO of the Academy, asked Smith to leave, along with David Rubin, the president. Smith ignored them

Smith brushed off a tumultuous night by partying to celebrate the greatest achievement of his career: Best Actor at the Oscars

The Academy's statement in full The Board of Governors today initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy. Consistent with the Academy's Standards of Conduct, as well as California law, Mr. Smith is being provided at least 15 days' notice of a vote regarding his violations and sanctions and the opportunity to be heard beforehand by means of a written response. At the next board meeting on April 18, the Academy may take any disciplinary action, which may include suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct. Mr. Smith's actions at the 94th Oscars were a deeply shocking, traumatic event to witness in-person and on television. Mr. Rock, we apologize to you for what you experienced on our stage and thank you for your resilience in that moment. We also apologize to our nominees, guests and viewers for what transpired during what should have been a celebratory event. Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated. While we would like to clarify that Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently. Advertisement

One source said the Academy officials were 'apoplectic.'

'The Board of Governors today initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy,' their statement said.

'Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, [but] we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.'

Smith will receive 15 days notice of a vote as well as an opportunity to be heard by written response.

At the next board meeting - scheduled for April 18 - the Academy may take action that could include 'suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct.'

In his acceptance speech, Smith apologized to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - whose members vote for the awards, and who stages the ceremony - but stopped short of apologizing to Rock.

Smith initially laughed off the attack, writing on Instagram on Sunday evening: 'You can't invite people from Philly or Baltimore nowhere!!'

Yet as the gravity of the situation became clear, Smith then posted a public apology to Instagram 24 hours after the ceremony, saying he wanted to say sorry formally to Rock.

He said his behavior was 'unacceptable and inexcusable' and left him 'embarrassed'.

'I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris,' he wrote.

'I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be.

'There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.'

New video has emerged of the moments following Smith's slap that show his wife, actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, chuckling in her seat.

New video posted to TikTok was shot from the floor of the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, from a vantage point directly behind the table where Smith and Pinkett Smith were seated

The video posted to TikTok was shot from the floor of the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, from a vantage point directly behind the table where Smith and Pinkett Smith were seated.

Though her face cannot be seen clearly, Pinkett-Smith appears to laugh in the immediate aftermath of the slap, as Rock reacts by saying: 'Wow, Will Smith just smacked the s**t out of me.'

The actress, 50, glances briefly at her husband as he shouts for the first time: 'Keep my wife's name out your f***ing mouth.'

However, she keeps her eyes fixed on Rock as Smith repeats his demand at a louder volume. Pinkett Smith then appears to chuckle again as Rock states: 'The greatest night in the history of television.'
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) sparked outrage among a crowd of homeless Americans late last week when she told them to 'go home' during a tense confrontation in Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Times, which reported on the incident, claimed the the 83-year-old progressive congresswoman tried to stop the outlet from publishing the story by warning its investigative reporter they would 'hurt' themselves and the community.

Waters had reportedly been trying to subdue a riled-up group of people who had come to a nonprofit advocacy group's event, misled by a social media post into believing they could obtain Section 8 vouchers for permanent subsidized housing.

Fathers and Mothers Who Care, the group which opened its South Los Angeles office to help California's homeless get emergency shelter, found itself swamped with 'hundreds of people' who were frustrated and growing unruly.

On Friday Waters told the crowd, 'you cannot get Section 8 vouchers here.'

Later, she told them to 'go home,' and fury broke out.

'We dont got no home, thats why were here. What home we gonna go to?' one person in the crowd yelled.

Others attempted to turn Waters' attention to how many people were already gathered there, and had been for hours.

'Nothing more is going to happen here today,' Waters said, waving her arms.

Someone else called: 'Miss Maxine, you need to work with me.'

The progressive Democrat had been confronted by activists and homeless Californians who had apparently been misled into thinking they could get vouchers for permanent subsidized housing

She then erupted at activist who confronted her on the failings of California's housing system, the video obtained by the Times shows.

'Excuse me, theres nobody in Washington who works for their people any f***ing harder than I do. I dont want to hear this. No, no, no,' Waters said angrily.

She added, 'What do you think I do every day?' when asked for more cooperation with the community.

'What you do every day? I'm still on the damn street!' a woman yelled.

She pointed out to the frustrated crowd, 'The money that you got thus far came from me in Washington, D.C.'

'I will continue to work, I will get the information ... there are no more vouchers today,' Waters said before leaving.

A voice can be heard calling after her, 'There were never any vouchers.'

But Waters apparently blamed the federal government for the chaos in comments to ABC 7.

'I blame those who have the money that we have sent from the federal government who have not been able to communicate properly and to provide the services that we worked so hard for,' she said.

Housing advocate Kridikel Race Truth Bae, right, talks with people about how to apply for relief services, including emergency housing vouchers, Tuesday in South Los Angeles. One woman who was at the event on Tuesday told the Times she had been present on Friday when Waters was in attendance, and said she was told by the congresswoman to come back the following week

Hundreds of thousands of California's homeless overwhelmed staff at the South Los Angeles events

The Times had spoken to a homeless woman who was at the Friday event and said Waters told her to come back the following Tuesday, apparently still under the impression she could get permanent housing.

'I have it, everything they asked for. But every time we get near the front of the line, they shut the door. They opened the door about 20 minutes ago and said theyre not servicing anyone else today,' 77-year-old Joyce Burnett said.

Times reporter Connor Sheets said he was then rebuffed by Waters during a phone call and warned 'you'll hurt yourself and the community' if he published the account.

She also dismissed specific questions on the incident as 'a bunch of rumors'

'Youll hurt yourself and the community trying to put this together without background,' the report claims she said.

'I dont want you to start trying to write it, you wont understand it.'

The call was reportedly cut short after five minutes.

California's cities have been gripped by a crisis of homelessness in recent years.

The state's most recent count found that 161,000 people slept without a roof over their heads in California on any given night, though the figure has not been updated in more than two years -- since January 2020.

A man packs up his tent as the city of Los Angeles clears Toriumi Plaza in Little Tokyo where a homeless encampment on Thursday, March 17

It's likely the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the issue since then.

The Democrat-run state has poured billions of dollars into attempts to solve the crisis, but has been criticized for inefficiently using taxpayer money to do so.

Late last month it was found that a $1.2 billion program aimed at building modest units for people living on the streets was projected to spend up to $837,000 to house a single person.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti defended the program on Twitter, claiming it 'is producing more units than promised, at a lower cost than expected.'

In June last year, Garcetti allocated nearly $1 billion in his city's $11.2 billion budget to fighting homelessness.

Despite the rampant problem, Los Angeles County does not have a specific office or point-person dedicated exclusively to solving it -- a void called out in a recent report by the LA County Homelessness Commission.

Waters introduced a legislating package aimed at tackling homelessness nationwide last summer.

It includes $600 billion toward building 'equitable, affordable and accessible housing infrastructure,' as well as dedicating $100 billion toward 'downpayment and other financial assistance for first-generation homebuyers to purchase their first home' in an effort to reduce racial inequities in wealth and home ownership.
The Home Office must change or it risks another Windrush scandal, an inspector has warned, as she criticised the government department for making 'next to no progress' on several recommendations she made two years ago.

An initial review in March 2020 found the scandal was 'foreseeable and avoidable' and victims had been let down by 'systemic operational failings' within the government department.

The report said the Home Office demonstrated 'institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness' towards the issue of race and the history of the Windrush generation.

Wendy Williams, an inspector at Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services, subsequently set out 30 recommendations for improvement.

But in an assessment published today she found just eight recommendations have been implemented and there has been 'next to no progress' on a further 'seven or eight'.

She also warned the Home Office was at 'tipping point' and its next steps were 'crucial'.

Ms Williams said: 'In some areas, the department has shown ambition and a commitment to taking forward my recommendations.

'But in others I have been disappointed by the lack of tangible progress or drive to achieve the cultural changes required within a reasonable period to make them sustainable.

Home Secretary Priti Patel today said she has 'laid the foundations for radical change' within the Home Office

The former troop ship 'Empire Windrush' pictured as it arrived at Tilbury Docks in Essex in June 1948 with 450 Jamaicans aboard

A group of protesters gather on Westminster Bridge to mark the first official Windrush Day in June 2019

'Much more progress is required in policy-making and casework, which will be seen as the major indicators of improvement.

'The department is at a tipping point and the next stage will be crucial in determining whether it has the capacity and capability to make good on its ambitions "to build a Home Office fit for the future, one that serves every corner of society...[with] a long-term focus on wholesale and lasting cultural change".'

The Windrush scandal erupted in 2018 when British citizens, mostly from the Caribbean, were wrongly detained, deported or threatened with deportation despite having the right to live in the UK.

Many resultantly lost their homes and jobs, and were denied access to healthcare and benefits.

Following its failings, the Home Office has since had to provide thousands of documents to more than 11,500 people confirming their immigration status or citizenship.

Ms Williams added: 'I believe the department is potentially poised to make the significant changes it needs to.

'But it must grasp the opportunity to implement the more fundamental recommendations that relate to producing: a more highly trained, developed and professional workforce; a department that is more comfortable engaging with the public and stakeholders on all issues of public policy - not just the uncontentious; an organisation that is more confident under the gaze of external scrutiny.

'If the department fails to do this, it risks looking back on this seminal transformation programme as a missed opportunity.'

Ms WIlliams also warned the department 'runs the risk of another incident - whatever it may be - occurring'.

She said today: 'We only need to look at the various matters that the department is facing at home and abroad, which make it clear that its got to be alive to potential future risks.'

A demonstrator takes part in the annual Afrikan Emancipation Day Reparations march, in Brixton, London, in August last year

The report added that the Home Office is 'undertaking an ambitious and significant transformation programme' and the next stage is 'crucial to the departments cultural transition'.

The department can 'maintain its momentum and drive the initiatives forward to achieve the systemic and cultural changes required'.

Alternatively, she said it can 'settle for a situation where it loses impetus, direction and focus, in which event it runs the risk that it may only be a matter of time before it faces another "difficult outcome", with all that that entails.'

Latest figures show the Home Office has paid out more than 37 million across 993 claims up to the end of February - out of a total 3,618 claims submitted to date.

Some 285 claims have been made for people who have already died and only 14 have currently resulted in payments so far.

Appeals have been made against decisions in almost 500 cases, while 636 eligible applicants were told they are not entitled to any money because their claims did not demonstrate they had been adversely affected by the scandal.

There have been 193 claims rejected on eligibility grounds.

Last week, another report found the Windrush compensation scheme - which offers payouts to victims affected by the scandal - has 'structural weaknesses' and needs reform so it can be 'efficient and effective'.

Martin Levermore, the Governments independent adviser on Windrush, acknowledged there had been criticism of the scheme from a 'variety of quarters' but said overall that it is 'delivering'.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: 'I have laid the foundations for radical change in the department and a total transformation of culture.

'We have already made significant progress and Wendy highlights many achievements, including the work we have put into becoming a more compassionate and open organisation.

'Having said that, there is more to do and I will not falter in my commitment to everyone who was affected by the Windrush scandal.'
A 'genius' black Harvard professor was forced out of his $600,000-a-year job after colleagues angered by his anti-woke views trumped up sexual harassment claims against him, a new documentary claims.

Roland Fryer, 44, came under fire after it emerged in 2018 that he'd made inappropriate comments to two former assistants, with six of their complaints against him upheld, Rob Montz's documentary claims.

And his refusal to kowtow to common woke doctrines put him in the sights of Harvard's social studies dean Larry Bobo and African-American studies scholar Claudine Gay.

They ignored recommendations that Fryer be given workplace sensitivity training following a 2019 investigation into his behavior, and effectively ended his career.

Fryer's career was trashed after he escaped an impoverished and abusive childhood to become Harvard's youngest tenured professor ever in 2007, aged just 30.

His writings were wildly-popular, and credited with attracting $33.6m in grants to the money-hungry Ivy League college - but even that wasn't enough to save him.

Recalling the allegations of the first assistant, Montz said: 'And this woman, the overwhelming impression you get is not sexual tyranny.

'It's like just, straight up camaraderie. Roland is talking to this woman about how much he wants to be a great dad and how he absolutely hates all the attention.

The doc explores the suspension of tenured Harvard professor Roland Fryer,(pictured) a prominent economist who was considered one of the rising stars of his field

Harvard academics Larry Bobo (left) and Claudine Gay (right) felt that Roland Fryer's anti-woke studies posed a 'mortal threat' to their preaching, and sought to destroy his career, a new documentary claims

'Like occasionally mildly sexual.

'He jokes that if he were single he'd need a better bed.

'You know it's reciprocal. She tells him about the three unsolicited phone numbers she got on a recent work trip.

'I mean she'd sent him pictures of herself at a work party and reported that she was getting a little intoxicated.'

Recalling the bawdy 'office culture' that landed Fryer in further trouble, Montz continued: 'So he once joked about how a senior administrator hadn't had sex since black people were slaves and he once said he learned his negotiating skills trying to get laid in high school.'

Fryer, who is married to Harvard biology professor Franziska Michor, is also said to have texted another assistant to 'joke' about his desire to bite her.

The brilliant academic's career began to unravel after he fired the first assistant in 2015, having complained about her work slipping.

College bosses slashed the severance offered to the unnamed woman by $25,000, and she came forward with harassment allegations soon after. The woman who made the allegations about the biting comment emerged shortly after that.

Fryer's lawyers are said to blame that instance of penny-pinching as the catalyst for the allegations that ultimately destroyed his career.

Fryer is married to Harvard biology professor Franziska Michor, pictured

Montz argues that Fryer was 'cancelled' because he challenged norms at Harvard and that while some of his behavior was unprofessional, it did not warrant suspension

In March Brown University grad Rob Montz (pictured) released 25-minute documentary entitled 'Harvard Canceled Its Best Black Professor. Why?'

He was accused of more than 30 instances of wrongdoing, with six complaints ultimately upheld.

But instead of following Harvard's own guidelines to offer workplace sensitivity training, Bobo and Gay are said to have set out to destroy Fryer's career.

Bobo ordered the closure of Fryer's lab and suspended him for two years, while Gay - unsuccessfully - sought for his tenure to be removed.

Fryer is still a Harvard staffer, but the actions taken against him have rendered it impossible for him to teach.

Montz attacks Bobo and Gay as born into far greater privilege than Fryer, who they felt presented a 'mortal threat' to their agendas.

The documentary says Montz's work comprises 'an empty endless recitation of victimhood that gives ample moral pleasure to the audience but actually accomplishes nothing.'

Turning his attention to Gay, Montz adds: 'She's a silky smooth corporate operator. Her signature accomplishment is a Harvard-wide inequality initiative.

'The world is awake to inequality and systemic racism and anti-black racism in particular really like never before.

'It's a standard array of task forces, symposiums, buzzwords, promising equity and inclusion.

'A way of bringing this all together into it into an agenda that feels complementary and synergistic'
The leader of Glasgow Council has issued an apology for the city's historical role in the slave trade.

Susan Aitken today put forward an amendment to offer an immediate apology following a detailed report which examined the city's connection and subsequent wealth from the transatlantic slave trade.

Eight statues and 62 street names were found to be linked to the slave trade in the report penned by historian Dr Stephen Mullen from the University of Glasgow.

The Glasgow Slavery Audit was commissioned by the council in 2019 to determine the historic connections and modern legacies derived from the Atlantic slave trade.

Councillor Aitken, of the leading SNP group, said: 'It uncovers and elucidates in greater detail than ever before a part of Glasgow's history that this city has often marginalised or downplayed.

The leader of Glasgow Council has issued an apology for the city's historical role in the slave trade after eight statues and 62 street names were found to be linked to the slave trade in a Slavery Audit commissioned in 2019

'It can no longer be ignored and the amendment that I am moving today asks us to do three things to acknowledge, apologise and to act.

'We have long known much of the source of the wealth of which Glasgow was built.

'We knew but up until recently didn't think much about what it really meant and we brushed aside the voices trying to tell us.

'In our recent era when other cities were sincerely grappling with their role in chattel slavery, our city was still glorifying it naming the Merchant City barely a decade before Liverpool issued an apology for the type of things we are her discussing today.

'Follow the Atlantic slavery money trail and its tentacles reach into every corner of Glasgow.

'The predecessor organisation of this very council borrowed and invested money to the equivalent of millions of pounds that directly came from and contributed to chattel slavery.

Susan Aitken today put forward an amendment to offer an immediate apology following a detailed report which examined the city's connection and subsequent wealth from the transatlantic slave trade

The Glasgow Slavery Audit was commissioned by the council in 2019 and was put together by historian Dr Stephen Mullen from the University of Glasgow

'It's clear what this report tells is that the blood of trafficked and enslaved African people, their children and their children's children is built into the very bones of this city.

'Glasgow's history to the present day echoes to the crack of the plantation overseers lash.

'Chattel slavery stands as one of the most heinous crimes in human history and Glasgow was complicit and for that we apologise today, unreservedly, without excuses, justifications or attempts at self-congratulation of the type we have too often employed in the past.

'Many who are alive today still live with the legacy of racism whose roots can be traced directly back to what was white supremacy codified in law and the country's whose populations were stolen and enslaved suffer still.

'An apology tells them that finally we are trying to understand.'

The amendment was seconded by Councillor Graham Campbell, chairman of the council's cross party working group on slavery.

He said: 'This is a historically unprecedented statement and I am in the position of being both able to support this amendment to make this offer of an apology on behalf of the city, but also to partly accept the apology on behalf of African and Caribbean descendants as the first one present in this chamber.

'Perhaps the 40 Lord Provosts mentioned in the report who got their wealth from ill gotten gains would never have anticipated someone like me would be here.

'Why are we remembering and what is the purpose of doing this?

'We have had organised forgetting of the record of Glasgow's involvement in chattel slavery.

'We have now got the historic evidence and it is now up to us as citizens to see what we can do with that information - how we teach the legacy of chattel slavery.

Councillor Graham Campbell, chairman of the council's cross party working group on slavery, said the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest shows that there is a racism problem in the city

'Slavery and colonialism are the origins of the racism we face today - how people think, the stereotypes and prejudices are derived from that time.'

Councillor Campbell said the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest shows that there is a racism problem in the city which is why measures have had to be taken.

He added: 'This apology is just a first step and is part of the journey not the end.'

Labour group leader, Councillor Malcolm Cunning said: 'It has taken far too long to realise that deep-seated, interwoven legacy of slavery in Glasgow.

'We now need to say how do we go foward, what do we do now and how do we make our apology and acknowledgement in the 21st Century.'

Greens Councillor Kim Long added: 'It is especially important for us to note the impact and the leadership of the first black councillors elected to this chamber.

'It is crucial for us as a city to move from the stance of we didn't know, to we do know.'
This is the heartbreaking moment a three-year-old Ukrainian boy asks for his dad after they were both injured in a Mariupol airstrike.

Little Dima asks for his father, who is being treated elsewhere in the hospital with his own wounds.

The boy cries achingly and asks again and again: 'Daddy. Is my daddy coming at all?

Dima, three, waits to see his dad in the Mariupol hospital ward where they are both being treated

Dima cries out 'Daddy' to no avail, as his father is being treated elsewhere in the hospital

Father and son were seriously hurt in one of many vicious Russian attacks on Mariupol

'Where is my dad? Is my dad coming?'

Finally a nurse comes over and tells him, 'Yes, yes he will come. Just don't cry, okay?

'He will be here soon, like your mum told you.'

Fitted with a nasogastric tube, Dima lies helpless on a metal bed with his toy car next to him.

'Dima, 3' is written in felt pen on the bed frame.

The CBS News clip has been shared tens of thousands of times since airing last night after the latest Russian airstrikes on Mariupol.

The coastal town in Ukraine's south-east has been the scene of intense fighting since February as Putin tries to clear a warpath between Russia-controlled territory and Crimea.

Mariupol - and Dima - are just in the way.

The crumbling city finally got the reprieve of a 24-hour ceasefire from 7am this morning to evacuate trapped civilians.

Dima's metal hospital bed is marked in black felt tip pen, 'Dima, 3' as nurses offer constant care

Luckily, Dima has a couple of his favourite toys close by. But that won't soothe his pain

Brave medical workers like Dima's nurse have stayed in the war-torn city to care for civilians

Once a city of 400,000, Mariupol still has 170,000 people stuck in wards or in battle zones

That was too late for Dima's family, who must stay for life-saving treatment and won't be on one of the 45 buses sent in to collect desperate refugees.

Teams from the Red Cross are also on their way to Mariupol with aid supplies, hoping to evacuate more civilians tomorrow.

Ewan Watson, ICRC spokesperson, said Ukraine and Russia must agree on the exact terms of the operation, which is planned for Friday, adding that 'tens of thousands' of lives depend on its success.

'For logistics and security reasons, we'll be ready to lead the safe passage operation tomorrow, Friday, provided all the parties agree to the exact terms, including the route, the start time, and the duration,' Watson told Reuters in Geneva.

Despite hopes of a brief respite from the Russian onslaught, Putin has vowed to continue his destruction as soon as the ceasefire ends, saying he will only stop shelling Mariupol when it is surrendered.

The president made the comments during an hour-long phone call with Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday night, the Kremlin said.

Mariupol has been granted the reprieve of a 24-hour ceasefire, but Russia will restart attacks

The once-beautiful seaside town has seen its population halve - and many landmarks wrecked

Military weapons remain on the streets of Mariupol even as fighting comes to a brief halt

Roads in Mariupol have become dusty and unkempt, while entire buildings are hollowed out

Mariupol nurse Svetlana Savchenko, 56, surveys her broken apartment building on Wednesday

Putin told Macron that 'in order to resolve the difficult humanitarian situation in this city, Ukrainian nationalist militants must stop resisting and lay down their arms', Russian officials said.

The city, which usually has a population of more than 400,000, has been a strategic focus of Russia's invasion of Ukraine that began five weeks ago, and has suffered near-constant bombardment.

Repeated attempts to organise safe corridors have failed, with each side blaming the other.

Russia denies targeting civilians in its assault on Ukraine.




By Lee Hae-rin







Seung Myung-ho, the chairman of The Korea Times and Dongwha Group, has been elected as the 34th president of Korea University's Alumni Association.







"I am glad and honored to assume such a heavy responsibility," Seung said in an acceptance speech during the inaugural ceremony at Korea University's Seoul campus on Monday. "I will do my best to treasure and further develop the association's tradition," Seung said.







Seung will lead the association for three years. The association's previous president was LS Group chairman Koo Ja-yeol.







After the nomination committee of the association unanimously recommended Seung for the position, the association's delegates confirmed his presidency during the general meeting that day.







Seung, 66, entered university as a commerce and trade major in 1974. As a graduate, Seung has made several donations to his alma mater.







Seung joined Dongwha Group in 1983 and took the helm as the group's chairman in 2011. The company expanded its business area to the media industry following its acquisition of Korean daily newspaper Hankook Ilbo and The Korea Times in 2015. From 2016 to this January, Seung led the alumni's federation of Korean industries as president.







The university decided to honor Seung's term in office by naming one of its lecture halls "Hankook Ilbo Hall" and establishing the Seung Myung-ho Entrepreneurship Education Center at the Business School, also named after its donor.







The Korea University Alumni Association was established in Jan. 1907 and has over 350,000 members.







"The association has played a significant role in nurturing global leaders and contributed to the country's academic, economic and democratic development," Euh Yoon-dae, the former president of the university told The Korea Times, Monday, "The association believes the president's role is to create the right environment in which the alumni can contribute to the country and the world," Euh added.


House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at her Thursday press conference when asked if he should resign over his wife Ginni's texts.

She first said of Thomas, 'I don't think he ever should have been appointed,' before expressing that she thought Congress should look into a provision of the House-passed H.R. 1 that would create a code of ethics for Supreme Court justices.

'If your wife is an admitted and proud contributor to a coup of our country, maybe you should weigh that in your ethical standards,' Pelosi said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi slammed Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at her Thursday press conference when asked if he should resign over his wife Ginni's texts

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas (left) is under fire after his wife Ginni Thomas' (right) texts to former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows showed she supported efforts to overturn the 2020 election

Ginni Thomas, a well-known conservative activist in Washington, sent 21 text messages to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, urging him to find a way to keep former President Donald Trump in office - despite President Joe Biden's win.

The texts were sent in the lead-up to the January 6 Capitol attack, when Trump's supporters left a rally on the Ellipse and staged a mass break-in of the U.S. Capitol.

In reponse, Democratic lawmakers have called for Thomas to recuse himself from all January 6-related cases, while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went as far as saying Thomas should be resign or face impeachment.

Pelosi wouldn't comment on whether Thomas should resign.

She also pointed out how Congress can't force recusals as the law stands, as it's a judge's personal decision to recuse.

She then noted how H.R. 1 - the giant voting rights bill that died in the Senate - had a provision to create a code of ethics for the Supreme Court.

'They have no code of ethics. Really?' Pelosi mused. 'It's the Supreme Court of the United States, they're making judgements about the air we breath and everything else and we don't know what their ethical standard is.'

She said she had talked to the committee about having a hearing on the provision 'pretty soon.'

'So that the Supreme Court has to at least have a code of ethics, A.,' she said. 'And B., why should they have lower standards than members of Congress in terms of reporting and the rest?'
A police officer has been charged with GBH after a man was left paralysed from the chest down after being shot with a Taser.

The Metropolitan Police officer, who has not been named, is expected to appear before Westminster Magistrates' Court on April 19.

Jordan Walker-Brown, 25, is now a paraplegic after he fell from a wall in Haringey, north London, while being chased by police in May 2020.

Mr Walker-Brown initially said he believed he was targeted because he is a black man.

Jordan Walker-Brown (pictured), 25, is paralysed from the waist down after being struck with a Taser in 2020, the police officer who fired the weapon has been charged with GBH

Mr Walker-Brown believes he was targeted by the police officers because he is black

He said previously that he ran from the police because he was carrying a small amount of cannabis.

Only the previous day he had been arrested and charged for possession of a similar amount of cannabis by Territorial Support Group officers.

Two TSG officers saw him and got out of their van, he then started to run away.

He was jumping over a wall, which was approximately 1.2 metres (4ft) high on one side but had a 1.8-metre (6ft) drop on the other, when he was struck by the Taser.

Mr Walker-Brown welcomed the news that the police officer who fired the taser at him will appear in court on a charge of GBH

In a statement on Thursday, Mr Walker-Brown said: 'This decision is a welcome first step towards justice for what was done to me by that police officer.

'I look now to the CPS to ensure that this matter is prosecuted to a just outcome.'

His solicitors, Raju Bhatt and Michael Oswald, said: 'This decision is welcome and our client looks forward to the matter being brought before the criminal court without delay and prosecuted with all due rigour.'

An investigation was carried out by the Independent Office for Police Conduct following the incident.
Kamala Harris is facing increased criticism for continued gaffes and inappropriate laughter during public appearances, with one former Trump-era speech writer saying her rhetoric 'undermines American diplomacy' on the world stage.

'America's allies and partners expect our leaders to speak with coherence and clarity on issues that matter to them,' former speechwriter for ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo David Wilezol told DailyMail.com in a statement.

'Harris' repeated rhetorical gaffes don't just make her look bad  they undermine American diplomacy,' added Wilezol, founder and president of the ghostwriting firm Seventh Floor Strategies.

During a meeting Wednesday afternoon, the vice president held a bilateral meeting with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness to discuss the COVID response on the island. In a speech surrounding the meeting, Harris compounded her communication woes by delivering a bit of word salad.

'We also recognized, just as it has been in the United States, for Jamaica, one of the issues that has been presented as an issue that is economic in the way its impact has been the pandemic,' Harris said.

She continued the confusing speech by saying: 'So to that end, we are announcing today also that we will assist Jamaica in COVID recovery by assisting in terms of the recovery efforts in Jamaica that have been essential to I believe what is necessary to strengthen not only the issue of public health, but also the economy.'

Dr. Jonathan Bronitsky, who served as chief speechwriter to then-Attorney General Bill Barr said of the remarks: 'An outside observer can only speculate about the reasons for the declining lucidity of Kamala Harris's extemporaneous remarksmaybe she's distracted, nervous, underprepared, or perhaps some combination of the above.'

'However, what is clear is that her blundering at the podium, combined with Joe Biden's pattern of peculiar behavior and relentless bloopers, is serving only to further fuel fearful suspicion both at home and abroad that the Oval Office is without a chief,' he continued.

Vice President Kamala Harris is yet again facing criticism for gaffes and word salad during public appearances after appearing alongside Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Wednesday to discuss the U.S. helping in the island's COVID recovery

Harris' confusing statement went like so: 'We also recognized, just as it has been in the United States, for Jamaica, one of the issues that has been presented as an issue that is economic in the way its impact has been the pandemic. So to that end, we are announcing today also that we will assist Jamaica in COVID recovery by assisting in terms of the recovery efforts in Jamaica that have been essential to I believe what is necessary to strengthen not only the issue of public health, but also the economy'

'From a U.S. government-communications perspective, not to mention a national security one, it's a disadvantageous state of affairs when listeners and viewers around the world are on pins and needles about the next catastrophic gaffe rather than closely paying attention to the key messages.'

Kamala's statement on Jamaica COVID's recovery in full 'We also recognized, just as it has been in the United States, for Jamaica, one of the issues that has been presented as an issue that is economic in the way its impact has been the pandemic,' Harris said So to that end, we are announcing today also that we will assist Jamaica in COVID recovery by assisting in terms of the recovery efforts in Jamaica that have been essential to I believe what is necessary to strengthen not only the issue of public health, but also the economy'. Advertisement

Actor Nick Searcy responded to the word salad on Twitter with: 'It is truly hard to believe what a babbling fool @VP is. CRINGE'.

Harris is the first female and minority vice president in U.S. history. Her mother's side is from India and her father's side of the family is from Jamaica.

The latest gaffe comes after a speech in Louisiana last week where Harris said the phrase 'significance of the passage of time' four times in the matter of 30 seconds when talking about helping bring high speed internet to rural areas.

In what appeared to be an off-script opening to her speech last Monday, the vice president said: 'The Governor and I and we were all doing a tour of the library here and talking about the significance of the passage of time. Right?'

'The significance of the passage of time,' she repeated.

'So, when you think about it, there is great significance to the passage of time in terms of what we need to do to lay these wires, what we need to do to create these jobs,' Harris continued.

She went on: 'And there is such great significance to the passage of time when we think about a day in the life of our children and what that means to the future of our nation, depending on whether or not they have the resources they need to achieve their God-given talent.'

In a speech last week, Harris said 'significance of the passage of time' four times in the matter of less than 30 seconds  further adding to speculation she doesn't prepare for her appearances

Harris' office has been riddled with staffing and messaging issues, including constant turnover of staff in her communications office.

Kirsten Allen will move over from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to be the vice president's new press secretary following three high-profile departures in Harris' press shop.

'Exciting day! Honored and elated to work for @VP and continue serving this historic Administration,' Allen wrote on Twitter .

Allen currently serves as national press secretary for the COVID-19 response at HHS and previously worked as deputy national press secretary and African American media director during Harris' presidential campaign in 2019.

She's also served in communications roles for the House subcommittee on coronavirus and for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

Allen's hire comes as the press secretary role has remained vacant for months.

The vice president's deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh announced she was leaving for the Defense Department earlier this month and chief spokesperson and senior adviser Symone Sanders departed in December, shortly after communications director Ashley Etienne left.

In yet another episode that drew online critique, Harris appeared on a radio show called The Morning Hustle earlier this month, where she was asked to put the war in Ukraine in 'laymen's terms.'

She obliged, but was mocked for describing the situation in a way suited for young children.

'Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia,' Harris explained in the March 1 appearance  the same day of Biden's State of the Union address.

'Russia is a bigger country,' she continued. 'Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine so, basically, that's wrong.'

Harris was also deployed to Poland this month to represent the administration in Eastern Europe after Russia invaded Ukraine and faced criticism for her laughter in the midst of a serious war unfolding and refugee crisis.

Harris laughed off questions about the refugee crisis and dodged other inquiries at a press conference in Warsaw on Thursday, March 10 regarding why a deal for sending fighter jets to Kyiv fell through.

Ukrainian-born Republican Representative Victoria Spartz slammed the vice president by saying 'this is a very serious situation requiring action, not a laughing matter,' as critics tore into Harris' conduct at her press conference alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda.

When asked about the issue of refugees during her three-day trip, Harris looked at Duda like she expected him to respond first, then cackled through her comment: 'A friend in need is a friend indeed.'

The vice president's now commonplace laughter at inappropriate moments with world leaders was met with widespread criticism.
A rogue auction house boss, who targeted elderly homeowners in the wealthiest parts of London, selling their valuables without permission and keeping the cash, has been jailed for five and a half years.

Veteran fraudster Peter Taylor, 62, printed up convincing-looking flyers and business cards, presenting himself as a legitimate antiques expert, who could obtain good prices at auction for the victims' property.

But instead of valuing them he stole the items and sold them for his own gain. Isleworth Crown Court heard the estimated loss to the 11 victims is approximately 267,000.

Peter Taylor, 62, printed up convincing-looking flyers and business cards, presenting himself as a legitimate antiques expert

Jailing him today Judge Sarah Paneth told him: 'You were motivated by greed and arrogance and the empathy for others you have you used in a negative way because people did trust you.'

The former commodities broker and property developer was released from prison in 2013 and soon built up an antiques business with a 1m annual turnover.

The judge added: 'You turned to what you described as a passion from boyhood, antiques and valuables and said there was a niche in the market,

'You saw an opportunity to obtain valuable items and were keen to clear commercial premises and houses.

'You seem to regard the property of others that is valuable to them both emotionally and financially as yours to sell after they had put their trust in you.

'You presented yourself as the owner of an auction house and exploited affluent areas of London.'

Taylor had been granted bail after being convicted earlier this year following a lengthy trial to give him the opportunity to make restitution to his many victims.

But rejecting Taylor's cheaper valuations the judge estimated the fraud at 200,00. 'You have not shown any remorse.'

Trading under his previous legal name of Peter Tillott he operated in and around Kensington; Fulham; Chelsea; Notting Hill and West Brompton in West London.

A Herend vase and Bon Bon dish which were bought in Knightsbridge, Gloucestershire

Victorian solid silver trinkets were also taken in the scam

Taylor, from Twickenham, south-west London, was found guilty of eleven counts of fraud relating to each individual complainant between March, 2016 and February, 2019.

He is a veteran of insurance fraud and a 3m tax scam for which he was jailed for four years a decade ago. He started his antiques business on his release but soon was being dishonest again.

Taylor based himself on a month-to-month tenancy at 'The Gasworks' in Fulham, where he agreed to sell property belonging to Caroline Shamash.

'This was a few months after the licence for your prison sentence had expired,' said the judge. 'You took furniture, glassware and lighting and sold them at auction.

'You never provided anything. You took those items and treated them as your own. You abused the goodwill and trust of decent people from all walks of life, adapting yourself to the consigners you tricked.

'The victim was left with 50p in her pocket when she confronted you, asking to pay.

'You were impossible for your victims to find and still used the Gasworks address on invoices months after leaving there.

'Once you had taken her goods you ignored Caroline Shamash and her partner and admitted yourself during the trial you could not be bothered to respond.'

A Royal Doulton Victorian China bowl. Taylor's hand can be seen in the image showing the item

A Silk Hereke rug valued by Sotheby's at 8000 was part of Taylor's antiques business scam

Another victim was French chef Eric Payet, who had just sold two business premises. 'You were keen to clear both premises,' Judge Paneth told him.

'Where everything has gone and what you did no-one knows. There are no documents at all.'

Taylor's downfall was largely due to the determination of 65 year-old businessman Stephen Morris, who allowed the defendant to take items from his Chelsea flat.

'He was an intelligent, honest, hardworking and extremely impressive witness,' said the judge. Mr Morris says his losses are between 52,000 and 98,000.

The defendant was known to him by his previous name - Peter Tillott - and Mr Morris said in a victim impact statement his 'belief in the system' to protect him and his family from 'predators like Tillott' was destroyed.

Equally determined to hunt down Taylor was Helen Ford, who allowed him to clear her deceased mother's home then spotted her valuables in online sales after the defendant said they were worthless.

'You never intended to provide a valuation at all,' Judge Paneth told him. 'You intended to sell the items for your benefit.

'The impact on her has been devastating, beyond the mere financial impact. You were gaslighting her over her mother's belongings'

In her victim statement Helen Ford said: 'I am constantly thinking how I have let my mother down. I will never be able to live with that.

Six Victorian cranberry wine glasses valued at 1,000 were sold by Taylor for between 40 to 60.50

'I stood and watched my childhood being taken from that house by a man who says I have to prove they are mine. Have I not suffered enough?

'He took advantage of people when they were at their most vulnerable. He sold my items on eBay and that cuts like a knife. I feel broken.'

Sadly, victim Gill Miller, who lost her china collection, never saw justice, having passed away before the trial.

However, she did say in her victim statement she suffered anxiety and sleeplessness due to Taylor and felt 'stupid and embarrassed.'

Portugese antique dealer Maria Gabriela Ponce de Leao was another victim. 'You self-prescribed yourself as an antique expert to her without any experience or training' the judge told Taylor.

'You took advantage because you knew she wanted to sell. She was an elderly lady whose first language wasn't English. What happened to those items? Nobody knows.

'You took them and treated them as your own and you put in low sales figures because that allowed you to pay-out less. You should have paid out three times more than you did.

'Anything could be sold for any amount and you put in what figure you chose.'

In her impact statement the victim said: 'He's taken my life's savings.'

Taylor, of Flat 12, 33 St. Margarets Road, St. Margarets, Twickenham, was found guilty of eleven counts of fraud relating to each individual complainant

Retired solicitor Arnold Rosen was another victim. 'You took his items and again became evasive. He was very distressed by the loss of those items and was vulnerable at the time.'

Victim Lady Patsy Alliott, 89, was impressed by Taylor's professional-looking flyer, which he had largely copied from Christie's auction house.

'She was in her ninetieth year when she gave evidence with immense grace, transparency, honesty and dignity,' said the judge.

'She said: 'There's no fool like an old fool,' and you made her feel like an old fool, but those in court will only remember her dignity and integrity.'

Describing Lady Alliott's victim statement as 'charmingly short' Judge Paneth said she simply wrote in capital letters: 'EXTREME DISTRESS AND ANXIETY. I WANT THE RETURN OF MY ITEMS.'

The court heard four of the victims were 'elderly women' and two 'elderly men' with others exploited due to their financial circumstances or having lost a loved one.

Taylor was found not guilty of defrauding company director Sheila Newsum, 83, who lives in a 1m West Brompton apartment and responded to Taylor's business card, which he shoved through her letterbox, the court heard.

She is the Chair and Managing Director of Hunters Associates, an international events company and said she allowed Taylor to remove valuables from her home, suffering a 11,340 loss.

Taylor was also cleared of defrauding another man and woman.
Dallas Police say they've found no evidence to corroborate the story of a local mother who told officers her three-year-old boy had been fatally shot during a road rage incident - instead arresting the woman on child endangerment charges after discovering a firearm in the glove compartment of her car and gunpowder residue that would suggest the boy had been shot at close range.

Lacravivonne Washington, 26, was arrested on Wednesday following the death of her young son Jalexus Washington on Monday morning, with cops saying they intend to further interview her about the fatal incident.

The mother-of-three is also being jailed for outstanding warrants related to speeding tickets in Carrollton - a town 22 miles north of Dallas - and for not using a child safety seat.

Earlier this week, Wright rushed her son Jalexus to a local hospital with a fatal gunshot wound to his head - telling authorities the deadly shot had been fired after a roadside confrontation.

At the time, all three of her children: Layla, 2, Janiyah, 4, and Jalexus, 3, were not wearing their seatbelts and were moving around in the car, authorities said.

Lacravivonne Washington, 26, (above left) was arrested on Wednesday on child endangerment charges after a handgun was found in the glove compartment of her car, where she said her three-year-old son (right) was fatally shot in the head Monday

Dallas Police said it has been unable to confirm Washington's account of her son being killed. She initially credited the shooting to a road rage incident with a man wearing a red shirt and driving a dark-colored sedan

The incident occurred at an intersection of Whitehurst and Arbor Park drives, when Washington said a man wearing a red shirt and driving a dark-colored sedan began arguing with her.

She added that she changed directions from her initial destination and pulled into a residential neighborhood in an attempt to lose the other car's tail.

She then claimed to have parked next to Forest Meadows Park and was in the process of letting her children out of the car when the other driver returned and fired at them, striking Jalexus.

Washington then drove her son to a nearby hospital.

Police, who are asking the public's help for details on the shooting, searched the mother's car for evidence after Washington signed a consent form at the hospital.

She initially told police that no firearms were in her car. However, police found a handgun in the vehicle's glove compartment during their search.

It was later revealed that the gun was one of two that she bought on March 4, according to investigators.

The mother-of-three's car also did not have any damage from the alleged drive-by shooting. It was later towed away from the hospital parking lot.

In a recorded interview at the Dallas Children's Advocacy Center, police officers said Washington waived her Miranda rights and stated that she attempted to reach for her handgun in the glove compartment during the alleged road rage shooting, but was never able to pull it out.

She also said that her children were freely roaming around in the back seats of the car - and that she heard two gunshots, the first of which she recalled sounding like it was shot far away.

Unburned gunpowder residue was found on her son, ruling out that he was shot from a distance in a drive-by shooting

Washington's children were roaming around the back of their mother's car without wearing seatbelts when the incident took place

Meanwhile, Dallas Police Department officers confirmed that they have yet to locate a crime scene and have inconsistent reports and accounts about where and how the shooting happened, police sources told NBC Dallas Fort-Worth.

'Right now at this time, our department has not found a legitimate crime scene or evidence related to that road rage incident, but this remains an ongoing investigation,' said Senior Corporal officer Brian Martinez, of the Dallas Police.

Unburned gunpowder residue was found on the young victim's body, which authorities say means the fatal bullet was fired from close proximity.

That fact rules out the idea that he was killed in a drive-by shooting, according to Jalexus' autopsy.

Other than Washington's arrests, no other suspects have been considered, and the investigation into the shooting remains ongoing.

The charge of child endangerment was added to Washington's case only after police found the handgun in the suspect's car, making it accessible to her children at the time of the incident.

Police searched Washington's car after she gave them her approval and found the weapon inside the vehicle's glove compartment

Police, who are asking the public for help for any details on the shooting, also examined the mother's car, which did not appear to have any bullet holes

Washington is currently booked at the Dallas County Jail on a bond of $25,000. It's unknown if she has a defense.

Washington's husband, Jalexus Washington Sr., was also arrested on Wednesday for outstanding warrants and for carrying a firearm without a license.

The father-of-three told police that he was at work when his son was killed and that he did not known the gun's whereabouts - but that his wife would know. The gun he was illegally carrying, police confirmed, was the other one purchased by his wife earlier this month.

The Dallas Police Department and detectives working on the case did not respond to a DailyMail.com request for comment.

Anyone with information regarding the fatal incident is urged to step forward and to contact Dallas Detective David Grubbs at at 214-671-3675.
Authorities in Florida have interviewed the ex-boyfriend of a missing mother who was last seen on Sunday night when she went to pick up her four-year-old daughter from him.

Detectives from Santa Rosa County traveled to Birmingham, Alabama, on Wednesday and located Marcus Spanevelo and his daughter, Saylor, three days after the girl's mother, Cassie Carli, vanished in Navarre, Florida, located more than 260 miles away.

Carli's car was located on Tuesday in Navarre with her purse inside, raising concerns for her well-being, Santa Rosa County Sheriff Bob Johnson said during a press conference on Thursday, adding that there has been no activity on the missing woman's phone or credit card since Sunday.

Marcus Spanevelo, the ex-boyfriend of missing Florida mother Cassie Carli, was located in Birmingham, Alabama, on Wednesday, but he has not been arrested or charged

Cassie Carli, 37, was last seen leaving her father's home in Navarre, Florida, at 7pm on Sunday to pick up her 4-year-old daughter, Saylor (right), from the girl's father

Johnson said his detectives still do not know if Carli has been the victim of a crime, but she is considered to be missing and endangered. Spanevelo has not been arrested or charged.

Carli had arranged to meet up with Spanevelo to exchange custody of their daughter at around 7pm in the parking lot of Juanita's Grill at Navarre Beach.

Her father, Andrew Carli, told DailyMail.com that before going, she told him, '"I'll be right back." She never came back.'

Andrew said Spanevelo, whom he described as a 'narcissist,' had a turbulent relationship with his daughter after their split. He claimed that prior to her disappearance, Carli had obtained a court order compelling her ex-boyfriend to pay her $6,000 in child support.

The dad also said that Spanevelo would not take his calls or answer his text messaging asking about Carli.

Her younger sister, Raeann Carli, who lives in North Carolina, told NBC's Dateline that Cassie and her ex typically met at a Walmart located in Destin, halfway between Navarre and Panama City, where Spanevelo lives.

The custody exchange was set to take place at this parking lot at Navarre Beach

Carli never returned home and was reported missing by her father on Monday evening

But for an unknown reason, they decided at the last minute to change their meeting place Sunday.

Nearly four hours after Carli went out to pick up Saylor, her father, with whom she lives in Navarre, received text messages from his daughter's phone, telling him that she was having problems with her phone and her car.

Speaking to DailyMail.com on Thursday, Andrew Carli said he does not believe Cassie sent those texts.

Carli never made it home that night, and she was still missing the following day when her father came home from work and discovered that his daughter has not returned.

That evening, nearly 24 hours after her last sighting, Carli's father contacted the authorities and reported her missing.

Santa Rosa Sheriff's deputies located Carli's vehicle on Tuesday morning at Navarre Beach, but she was nowhere to be found. Her purse was discovered inside.

Saylor has been found safe with her dad, but her mother never made it home, sparking a massive search involving law enforcement officials and volunteers

Sheriff's deputies located Carli's car at the Navarre Beach parking lot on Tuesday

Carli's friend Sam Graves, who organized a search party in Navarre on Tuesday, told WEAR-TV that Saylor's father, whom she identified as Spanevelo, falsely claimed that he had brought Cassie to Graves' house after she 'freaked out' on Sunday.

Andrew Carli, Cassie's dad, called those claims 'bulls***,' arguing that Spanevelo never even met Graves.

Graves said that Spenevelo is a Brazilian national and that he previously threatened to take Saylor out of the country. She also alleged that the man was an 'abuser,' although Spenevelo has not been charged with any crime related to Carli.

Graves grimly remarked said that all indicators are pointing to a 'worst-scenario ending.'

However, Sergeant Richard Aloy, with the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office, said officials do not suspect foul play at this time and are actively looking for Carli.

Carli had just started a new job at the nearby Eglin Air Force base the day before. Her sister said Carli told her that her first shift went well.

Raeann Carli said that her sister is in a great physical and mental shape, and is known for her fun and outgoing personality.

Carli is described as being 5-foot-5 and 150lbs, with blue eyes and blonde shoulder-length hair. She has a mole on her right cheek.
More than 1,500 employees have left one of the biggest real estate data firms in the country over the past year, and many say the 'ruthless' CEO created a toxic work environment where he openly favored young women while ridiculing others, and even pointed a gun at an executive during a Zoom call.

In interviews published by Insider, former employees each had their own horror story to tell and claimed it was a workplace where humiliation and surveillance was common, specifically by CEO Andrew Florance.

Florance, 58, who started CoStar in the basement of his father's Washington, D.C. home, has been credited with the company's growth. But former employees say his leadership styled paired with the pandemic has caused discontent in the company and sparked a mass exodus.

Insider reported that 1,546 workers departed the $27 billion company in 2021  more than double the 638 who left in 2020.

Employees' discontent with the company was also apparent in the form of memes on an Instagram account that mocks the company, many of them referencing their own experiences.

One former employee, who wished to remain anonymous, told Insider that dealing with Florance had always been difficult, but on once occasion found himself starring down the barrel of a gun.

In March 2020, at the start of the pandemic, the 39-year-old who used to be a communications director for the firm, said he was on a video call with the CEO and two other colleagues when the CEO suddenly pulled out a black semiautomatic pistol and pointed it at the screen.

'It was inappropriate, quite jarring, and showed a complete lack of professionalism,' the employee told Insider. 'What if any of us had been the victims of violence in the past?'

The employee said Florance, who was working at home in rural Virginia, then put the gun down and explained he had seen bears on his property.

But the CEO also allegedly showed off his ammunition while on the call, and then months later sent a photo of a target riddled with bullets.

CoStar told Insider in a written statement that 'the alleged incident you referenced did not occur' and that Florance is 'a well-trained and licensed shooter who is passionate about firearm safety.'

CEO Andrew Florance, 58, CEO of CoStar, a powerful real-estate data firm, is accused of creating a toxic work environment causing more than 1,500 employees to leave in 2021

A 39-year-old who used to be a communications director for the firm, said he was on a video call with the CEO when he pulled out a black pistol and pointed it at the screen

But the CEO also allegedly showed off his ammunition while on the call, and then months later sent a photo of a target riddled with bullets

The former communications director texted his account of the incident to a colleague at the time, in a text thread obtained by Insider.

'I'm on a call with Andy and he's holding a gun,' the text read.

'He just pointed it at the screen,' the next text read.

The recipient replied: 'Is it loaded?' and then added: 'Whaaaaat??'

The then-communications director wrote back: 'He was playing with a bullet too,' before adding: 'I was terrified lol.'

He said Florance told him he had a gun because he was in the mountains and 'you never know what's going to be outside'.

The director was one of the 1,546 of the firm's 4,200 US employees who resigned or were fired, in what Insider reported as its largest exodus ever, according to data provided by a current employee with access to its internal employment statistics.

In a previous Insider article, CoStar characterized the discontent as a symptom of its high performance expectations.

'We will not apologize for these standards, nor will we compromise them to accommodate a vocal few who decide that this level of expectation is not for them,' it said in a statement in a February statement.

But negative reviews of the company online and a meme account on Instagram say otherwise.

An Instagram account dedicated to memes mocking the company was created by Nate Peterson, who was fired in 2021, and has more than 2,300 followers.

The content is submitted by current and former employees eager to share their own experiences of working at CoStar.

An Instagram account dedicated to memes mocking the company was created by Nate Peterson, and has more than 2300 followers

Current and former employees submit content to the Instagram account which is dedicated to mocking the company

COSTAR: THE $27 BILLION COMPANY STARTED IN A BASEMENT CoStar describes itself as the world leader in commercial real estate information and was founded by CEO Andrew Florance in 1987 in his father's basement in Washington DC. He borrowed $5,000 from his father Colden Florance as seed money. It was one of the first companies that digitized and aggregated property data and raised $22.5 million in its IPO in 1998. According to Business Insider, it started as a 145-person upstart that made less than $14 million in revenue in 1998 to boasting a staff of 4,700 and a $2 billion annual revenue in 2021. However last year, 1,546 of the firm's 4,200 US employees resigned or were fired. The company conducts ongoing research to produce a comprehensive database of commercial real estate information. In October shares hit an all-time high of a little over $100, but they have now fallen to the $60s, despite the Dow and the S&P rising. CoStar was set up by Andrew Florance in 1987 Advertisement

In interviews conducted by Insider, more than 50 former employees described a toxic work environment with a 'ruthless' CEO who could 'ridicule and callously fire employees and that he made workers both fearful and uncomfortable by showing ruthlessness to some and unwanted attention to others.'

One employee told Insider that while she was on a video call while working from home, she overheard Florance slam her appearance and accused her of being asleep and not paying attention, apparently unaware that his microphone was on.

She said she called him out on his comments and when the call ended and an HR employee called her to inform her she had been fired.

Five women told Insider that Florance openly favored young women in the office and made them feel uncomfortable by complimenting them on their appearance.

One woman said Florance approached her at the office and told her, 'I want to steal you away for a few days with a few of us and lock ourselves in a room and figure out this product,' she said he told her. 'You can pick anywhere you want to go.'

When she jokingly suggested Europe, he responded that, 'We'll get the private jet.' The trip never happened, but the woman said the encounter was awkward.

CoStar said in its statement to Insider that 'this insinuation is categorically false and mischaracterizes the situation and the purpose and intent of the requested meeting.'

Dailymail.com has reached out to the company for comment.

CoStar disputed allegations and characterizations of the company its CEO.

Instead, they described their boss as someone who, despite coming from tough family circumstances, has 'persevered and became a success.'

Lisa Ruggles, who oversees the company's research team, told the Insider that Florance is 'pro-family' and 'likes children.'

Jason Butler, the company's chief information officer, echoed the sentiment, adding that the CEO has offered 'comfort and support' to his workers, and treated them like family, including himself, when he was diagnosed with cancer in 2016.

He said Florance offered his support, telling him, 'You're family.' 'I don't have the words to express how much that meant to me,' Butler said.

The Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, dean of the National Cathedral, whose board Florance chairs, said he was surprised by the criticism of Florance, who he said was 'gracious and supportive' as he helped to guide the cathedral through the pandemic.

'He has been one of the best leaders I have experienced,' Hollerith added. 'He's thoughtful, he's wise, and he's very good about sharing his time.'

But there are people in the real-estate world who say they understand why Florance has been recently met with criticism, a response to his power position at the top of a successful company in the real-estate data industry.

'I think that people love to put down Andy,' L.D. Salmanson, the CEO and cofounder of Cherre, a real-estate data startup, told the Insider. 'They look around and see how much power he has, and it feels wrong to them. But if someone took your intellectual property, you'd be protective too.'

CoStar told Insider it has taken steps to improve its workplace and benefits by hiring an outside firm to run focus groups, allowing employees to work from home one day a week, and updating its parental leave policy.

The company is a leading global provider of online real estate marketplaces, information and analytics in the commercial and residential property markets.

CoStar has been working safely and successfully back in its offices for nearly a year, putting the company at the forefront of the return-to-office movement in the real estate industry and across many of our nations major cities.

In December 2021, CoStar announced plans for an expanded corporate campus in Richmond, Virginia and over the next five to ten years, the planned growth would make CoStar Group the largest technology company and one of the largest private employers in Richmond.

For 2022, the company expects revenue in the range of $2.145 billion to $2.165 billion for the full year, representing growth of approximately 11% year-over-year at the midpoint of the range.
Gunmen hunting down a leader for one of Mexicos most powerful cartels were responsible for Sunday's massacre of 20 people, including a Chicago mother who leaves behind four children, at a clandestine cockfighting venue, Mexican officials revealed.

Authorities learned that members of the Los Correa cartel barged into the El Paraiso ranch in Las Tinajas, a village in the Michoacan municipality of Zinapecuaro, in an attempt to take out Jalisco New Generation Cartel regional leader, William El Barbas Rivera.

The attack was ordered by Los Correa leader, Daniel Correa, who teamed up with members of a rival criminal organization called Los Viagras in the attempt to murder Rivera, Mexican newspaper Milenio reported.

Rivera was once a member of a Correa-linked cartel called Familia Michoacana, but betrayed them to join forces with the Jalisco New Generation, spurring the assassination attempt.

The hit squad killed 20 people, including U.S. resident Melissa Silva, who was on vacation with her mother and 16-year-old sister, Arleth Silva, who also suffered three gunshot wounds and is currently fighting for her life at a local hospital.

'I did not imagine that it was going to be one of my sisters,' Yalitza Silva told Univision.

Rivera escaped the cockfighting center unscathed.

Melissa Silva, a 36-year-old mother to four children from Chicago, was one of the 20 people who were massacred at a clandestine cockfighting venue in Michoacan, Mexico, on Sunday. Her 16-year-old sister, Arleth Silva, was seriously wounded. Mexican authorities have learned that the intended target of the attack was Jalisco New Generation Cartel regional leader William 'El Barbas' Rivera. He was able to escape unscathed

El Paraiso ranch was the site of Sunday night's massacre of 20 people in Michoacan, Mexico

Security forces inspect a vehicle that was found at the El Paraiso ranch where illegal cock fights were held Sunday prior to the massacre of 20 people

Arleth Silva, 16, also suffered a gunshot wound to one of her lungs and was also shot in both of her legs. The office of Illinois Democratic Congressman, Chuy Garcia, confirmed to DailyMail.com on Wednesday that they have been in contact with the family to help them arrange her return home and to repatriate her sister's remains

The gunfight unfolded when at least 15 assassins wearing military gear arrived on a food truck that was reported stolen March 24 in State of Mexico, blocking the path of a street leading to El Paraiso.

The attackers then continued in truck and entered the El Paraiso premises, where they opened fire.

Melissa and Arleth's mother was in the family's hotel nearby when she heard the gun shots and rushed to the venue, ultimately fainting when she discovered Melissa Silva's lifeless body.

'She found (Melissa) dead in the middle of the ring and the other one (Arleth) about three feet fighting for her life,' said Alex Silva, who traveled to Michoacan to assist with arrangements to repatriate the body of his slain sister and wounded sibling.

His sisters were vacationing with their mother in the family's home state, despite a U.S. Department of State travel advisory for Michoacan due to rampant crime and kidnapping.

A GoFund account created by Melissa and Arleth's sister Yalitza to cover hospital and funeral expenses had raised at least $15,000 as of Thursday.

"Anything helps us get through this tragic moment in our lives, thanks and God bless," Yalitza Silva wrote.

A photo of a makeshift altar to honor Melissa Silva was also shared on Instagram by Jessica Silva, one of her sisters.

Jessica Silva uploaded a photo of a makeshift altar set up for her sister Melissa Silva, one of the 20 victims who were massacred at a ranch in Michoacan, Mexico, on Sunday where an illegal cockfighting event was taking place

Agents with the Michoacan State Office of the Attorney General are seen at the El Paraiso ranch in the municipality of Zinapecuaro following Sunday' massacre that left 20 people dead, including Melissa Silva, a mother-of-four from Chicago

Agents from the Michoacan Attorney General's office place padlocks at the entrance of the El Paraiso ranch were according to authorities, gunmen with the Los Correa cartel launched an attack Sunday night against a Jalisco New Generation Cartel cell leader and killed 20 people, including Melissa Silva, a 36-year-old mother-of-four who was vacationing with her family

Los Correa cartel gunmen intercepted a bus on a street in the Michoacan town of Zinapecuaro before they took a food truck and drove into the El Paraiso ranch and massacred 20 people as they were seeking to kill the leader of a Jalisco New Generation Cartel regional cell

A food truck that has been stolen in State of Mexico on March 24 was used by the Los Correa gunmen to enter the El Paraiso ranch before they launched an attack that left 20 people dead

Melissa Silva, of Chicago, was among the 20 people who were massacred at an illegal cockfighting venue in Michoacan, Mexico, on Sunday

The cockfighting venue located at the El Paraiso ranch in Zinapecuaro, a city in the western Mexico state of Michoacan, became the scene of intense gun violence Sunday that left 20 people dead

Mexico's Army and Michoacan state police officers stand guard at El Paraiso ranch where 20 people were killed Sunday night

Investigators with the Michoacan State Office of the Attorney General said they recovered 100 7.62 caliber bullet casings from the scene.

They also found at least 15 vehicles that apparently belonged to the victims. One them bore stickers with the logo of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

The western state of Michoacan has been the scene of a longstanding turf battle between local cartels and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, from the neighboring state of Jalisco. The fighting has included the use of bomb-dropping drones, landmines and home-made armored cars.

Led by the Nemesio El Mencho Oseguera  for whom the United States government is offering a $10 million reward for his arrest  the cartel has a presence in 32 Mexican states and has been embroiled in a long-running war throughout the Tierra Caliente region, which consists of areas in the states of Michoacan, Guerrero and State of Mexico, with Los Viagras, which is part of Carteles Unidos.

Arleth Silva, of Chicago, was wounded Sunday night when gunmen with Los Correa cartel stormed into an illegal cockfighting venue in Michoacan, Mexico, and opened fired, killing 20 people.

Members of the National Guard and soldiers of the Mexican Army patrol the surroundings of a venue where illegal cockfights took place after 20 people were murdered Sunday in Michoacan. No arrests had been reported as of Thursday

Newspaper Infobae reported in January that Los Correa members were working together with Familia Michoacana and had been targeting residents in eight communities located throughout the Michoacan cities of Hidalgo and Zinapecuaro.

In March 2021, Michoacan authorities discovered that Los Correa, whose criminal ways are rooted in the illegal logging business before expanding to synthetic drug production and marijuana cultivation, were setting up narco camps in wooded areas throughout eastern parts of the state that were under the control of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.

In May 2021, Jalisco New Generation Cartel gunmen ambushed a pickup truck and killed at least seven of Correas family members.

The dismembered bodies of at least 11 people with alleged connections to Los Correa were found abandoned on a street in November 20201 following a confrontation with the Jalisco New Generation the Michoacan municipality Tangamandapio.
But colleague said Mr Cole had 'been struggling with his mental health for years'

The distraught wife of one of Britain's top police officers who was found dead at home in a suspected suicide just two weeks after retiring aged 55 has told friends that she has 'lost her best friend and soul mate.'

Simon Cole, who was chief constable of Leicestershire Police for 12 years, was found unconscious on Wednesday morning by his wife Joanne Cole at their home in the picturesque village of Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire.

Friends of Joanne, who is known as Jo, have been rallying around her at the family home, describing her and Simon's marriage as 'strong and united' while insisting that they were both 'pillars of the local community.'

Mr Cole, who was hugely popular and respected in his village of Kibworth Harcourt leaves behind two children, Ben, 21, and Emily, 17.

It is believed the retired police chief had taken his own life after struggling with his mental health for years - having been a pioneer in delivering mental health support for officers.

A former colleague said that Coles passion for helping others came from his own difficulties with mental health, and that Mr Cole took three months off in 2013 with depression, although the reason was not made public at the time.

The wife of one retired Leicestershire Police chief constable Simon Cole who was found dead yesterday has told friends that she has 'lost her best friend and soul mate'

Simon Cole, who was chief constable of Leicestershire Police for 12 years, was found unconscious on Wednesday morning by his wife Joanne Cole at their home in the picturesque village of Kibworth Harcourt, Leicestershire

Mr Cole, a keen cyclist who lived in the Leicestershire countryside, was the county's longest serving chief constable

'I cannot tell you what a nice man he was  one of the most pleasant genuine people I have ever met  a truly, truly lovely guy,' the colleague told The Times.

Jo, 56, his wife of 23 years, was a leading member of the Kibworth Ladies Choir, which performed nationally and was also involved with a number of other local initiatives, playing an active role in village life along with Simon.

Friend Susan, who only wanted to give her first name and sings in the choir with Jo told MailOnline: 'Both Jo and Simon were very important members of our community. She is just devastated and feels as if she's lost her best friend and soul mate.

'They had a very strong marriage and great family life. You would often see Simon out and about with Ben running or doing other sports.

'We're all trying to make sense of this because on the face of it, they were a very happy, balanced family.'

Another friend and member of Kibworth Ladies Choir said: 'I've spoken to Jo and she is unable to make sense of what's happened. They were a wonderful, loving couple looking forward to a new life together and now she feels as if she's lost her best pal.'

Friend Susan, who only wanted to give her first name and sings in the choir with Jo told MailOnline: 'Both Jo and Simon were very important members of our community. She is just devastated and feels as if she's lost her best friend and soul mate'

Mr Cole grew up mainly in Essex after his family moved there from Leicestershire. He had been in policing for 30 years, serving with West Midlands and Hampshire, as well as the Leicestershire force

Reverend Ludger Fremer of St Wilfrid's Church in the village, which Simon attended with his family told MailOnline: 'They had a strong, happy family unit. A lot of people looked up to Simon and Jo because they were both very approachable and popular and appeared to have a fantastic relationship.

'They are a family that is well known in this community. Simon was a big part of village life. He always attended local events and was always there with his wife when she was taking part in concerts to show his support. They were a great couple.

Reverend Fremer added: 'I have spoken to Jo and the whole community is providing her and the children with as much support as possible.

'They are surrounded by friends and relatives but it's very difficult for them to have any private grief given that Simon was such a public figure.

'He was looking forward to a new chapter in his life following his retirement which has made his death at such a young age even more shocking and devastating.'

He had been the UK's longest serving Chief Constable - taking up his position in June 2010 before his recent retirement

Simon was the UK's longest serving Chief Constable at the time of his retirement, he spent the majority of his career working for Leicestershire's police force (Pictured: Leicestershire Police headquarters)

Mr Cole was a passionate rugby fan and supported the local Leicester Tigers team.

The Leicestershire force has not given his cause of death - but have confirmed the matter has been referred to the coroner, who investigates sudden unexplained deaths such as suicides.

Mr Cole grew up mainly in Essex after his family moved there from Leicestershire. He had been in policing for 30 years, serving with West Midlands and Hampshire, as well as the Leicestershire force.

He had been the UK's longest serving Chief Constable - taking up his position in June 2010 before his recent retirement.

Mr Cole was raised in a devout Christian family by his parents Mark and Barbara.

Mr Cole senior, who died in 2014 aged 73 and was a banker by profession, served more than 30 years in various lay capacities in the diocese of Chelmsford, the Colchester episcopal area, the Colchester deanery, and St Leonard's, Lexden.

His roles included being on various diocese committees, serving as a lay preacher and singing with the Colchester Choral Society.

For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116 123 or visit samaritans.org
CIA Director William Burns tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday, a day after meeting with President Joe Biden, the intelligence agency said.

Burns wore an N-95 mask at his meeting with the president and practiced social distancing, the CIA added.

'Their interaction is not considered close contact as defined by CDC guidance, and Director Burns is sharing the news of his positive test out of an abundance of transparency,' the CIA said in a statement.

Last week White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki abruptly announced she tested positive for the virus just moments before she was scheduled to take the podium for her daily briefing.

The wave of new infections across the federal government comes as the newest COVID mutation, the Omicron BA.2 subvariant, spreads like wildfire across the country. It's not clear what variant infected Burns.

The new strain accounts for nearly 55 percent of all new infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced this week.

Burns, 65, was fully vaccinated and boosted against COVID and tested positive in a routine PCR test.

The top intelligence chief is experiencing 'mild symptoms' and will work remotely for the time being, the CIA announced on Thursday

He is experiencing mild symptoms and plans to work from home, returning to the office once he has isolated for five days and tested negative.

Biden, at 79 the oldest person to hold the US presidency, got a second booster shot on Wednesday.

Despite strict precautions at the White House, several people who interact with Biden or been close to him have recently tested positive for the coronavirus, raising concerns for his health.

It's the latest in a series of close calls for the 79-year-old commander-in-chief after his press secretary, Jen Psaki, tested positive last week

Biden got the extra booster a day after regulators authorized a fourth dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccines for people 50 and older, as authorities warn of a possible new wave driven by the BA.2 variant.

It follows a resurgence of COVID cases hitting Asia and Europe, with concerns the US could soon be hit hard next.

The president and Vice President Kamala Harris have so far managed to dodge multiple close calls with the virus, including the previous time Psaki tested positive in fall of 2021.

Like her boss, Harris also took part in a meeting with an official who announced they tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday.

Vermont Lieutenant Governor Molly Gray announced she received a positive diagnosis on Twitter late in the morning.

Gray, who is running to represent Vermont's at-large district in the House, was at the White House on March 29 to meet with Harris and other lieutenant governors from around the country.

Harris' husband, Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, tested positive for COVID-19 two weeks ago.

It forced the vice president to withdraw from a White House Equal Pay Day event that she was meant to take part in alongside Biden later that day.




North Korea reiterated calls for the ruling party's propaganda officials to help weed out anti-socialist and non-socialist practices, as it wrapped up a three-day workshop, according to state media Thursday.







The workshop for officials in the information field of the ruling Workers' Party concluded the previous day with a study session on prioritizing ideological work as the "very core of the Party work," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.







"The workshop called for regarding it as the general orientation and target of the Party ideological work to model the entire Party and the whole society on the respected Comrade Kim Jong-un's revolutionary idea," it added.







Officials were urged to "concentrate all rabble-rousing forces" on improving peoples' living standards and carry out a "fierce campaign" against anti-socialism and non-socialism.







During the workshop, the North also held a lecture warning officials to stay alert against the "imperialists' moves for ideological and cultural poisoning."







On the first day of the workshop Monday, the North's leader sent a letter to the party officials, urging them to wage a battle in rooting out "evil spirits" of anti-socialism and bring fundamental change to their ideological work.







The workshop appears to be part of the Kim regime's efforts to tighten social discipline and rally internal unity amid growing economic pressure from the fallout of international sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic. (Yonhap)






A professional boxer who suffered a life-changing head injury during a fight has lost a disability discrimination case after he was declared medically unfit from his job.

Gary Murray was given oxygen in the ring then rushed to hospital after suffering a bleed on the brain in his last professional bout.

Mr Murray spent nearly a month in hospital, having been put into an induced coma, and suffered short term memory issues.

Gary Murray was given oxygen in the ring then rushed to hospital after suffering a bleed on the brain in his last professional bout

The Scot woke up after being played a video message from then world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua wishing him well.

He returned to his job as an overhead power linesman for Scottish Power on lighter duties, but was later declared medically unfit for his role.

However, Mr Murray strongly disputed the conclusion and was left frustrated as he was eager to return to work, eventually resigning as he claimed he was left with no choice.

He tried to sue the energy giant for disability discrimination and constructive unfair dismissal at an employment tribunal but has now lost his case.

Mr Murray, who made his professional debut in 2014, had won all 12 of his fights going into the bout with Belfasts Patrick Gallagher in Edinburgh in October 2017.

Gary Murray (pictured left with Patrick Gallagher) returned to his job as an overhead power linesman for Scottish Power on lighter duties, but was later declared medically unfit for his role. However, Mr Murray strongly disputed the conclusion and was left frustrated as he was eager to return to work, eventually resigning as he claimed he was left with no choice

Welterweight Mr Murray, then aged 30, was given oxygen in the ring after the fight was stopped in the 10th round.

Following the defeat Mr Murray, from Coatbridge, Scotland, was rushed to hospital and put into an induced coma after doctors discovered a bleed on his brain.

He spent the the month in hospital, then two weeks at a brain injury rehab centre following the traumatic injury.

The Scottish employment tribunal heard when he returned to work some five months later, an occupational health consultation found he had a reduced attention span, short term memory impairment, and fatigue while performing mentally taxing work.

As part of his Cambuslang-based job, which he began in 2013, Mr Murray maintained and repaired high-power electrical lines and worked at height on transmission towers.

Keen worker Mr Murray was given lighter duties but did not like to be seen as seen as doing easier work than others, the tribunal heard.

It heard Mr Murray found his work environment to be progressively more demanding for him as he was required to work longer hours.

In September 2019, he was signed off work with stress following disputes over his hours.

That month, an occupational health doctor said he was not fit to return to work.

The doctor said: My initial clinical assessment is that all of Garys perceived work related stress and reported difficulties at work appear to be entirely attributable to the late consequences of his known brain injury and the perceived work demands as reported by him.

Six months later, in March 2020, Mr Murray was still certified as medically unfit to return to work on the power lines.

He and his wife, Kelly, strongly disagreed and said he was capable of returning to work as long as he was restricted to his core hours.

He launched an unsuccessful grievance and appeal, with Scottish Power bosses refusing to reinstate him in the role while medically unfit and offered him a job in Dumfries which he rejected.

Months later Mr Murray resigned.

A tribunal report said: His evidence was that by September 15, 2020, having exhausted the grievance procedure, he finally accepted that [the company] would not allow him to return to his job as a linesperson.

Writing to bosses, Mr Murray said: I am writing to inform you that I am resigning from my position of overhead linesman at Scottish Power with immediate effect.

I feel that I am left with no choice but to resign in light of my recent experiences and Scottish Powers failure to allow me to return to my role as overhead linesman.

The tribunal panel reached a majority conclusion that Scottish Power did not discriminate Mr Murray.

Employment Judge Sandy Meiklejohn said: We considered that [the company] was entitled to seek to operate its business as efficiently as possible while complying with all legal obligations incumbent on it.

In not allowing Mr Murray to return to work when he was assessed to be not medically fit to work overtime and standby hours, the [company] did not act in breach of an express term of his contract of employment.

Mr Murrays claims of disability discrimination by way of failing to adjust his hours and constructive unfair dismissal failed.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn insisted Thursday that he 'won't bow to the mob' amid a barrage of criticism from within his own party for saying he's been invited to orgies in Washington, D.C. and watched lawmakers do cocaine.

'The radical left, the establishment, and the media want to take me down. Their attacks have been relentless. I won't stop fighting. I won't bow to the mob. They want to silence the America First movement. I'm not going anywhere,' the 26-year-old North Carolina Republican wrote on Twitter, along with a new campaign video.

'The entire left-wing establishment has targeted Madison Cawthorn as public enemy number one. Their smears and attacks are relentless,' the video's narration says. 'They are terrified of him because he's effective. Despite all adversity, Madison Cawthorn continues to stand and fight.'

On Wednesday Cawthorn had a meeting where he was chastised by GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy for the wild remarks. McCarthy said that Cawthorn told him he'd 'exaggerated,' and he 'maybe saw a staffer in a garage 100 yards' away doing drugs.

But Cawthorn has not pulled back the claims about witnessing cocaine, orgies, and 'perversion' in Washington DC, according to longtime Donald Trump advisor Roger Stone.

Stone  who got his own first-hand look at the city's club underworld in the 1990s  says he got the information from Cawthorn himself. He says young North Carolina lawmaker did not walk back his extraordinary claims after being called on the carpet by House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy.

'Congressman Madison Cawthorn just told me (he) has NOT retracted his claims about drug fueled orgies among DC elites,' Stone posted on social media site Gab.

Then he took a dig at McCarthy, who tried on Wednesday to contain the situation after it blew up online.

'Why would anyone believe a statement by Kevin McCarthy or anything reported on CNN? McCarthy is a corrupt RINO and CNN lies about everything,' he wrote.

Longtime Donald Trump advisor Roger Stone (l) says Rep. Madison Cawthorn told him he has not retracted his claims about drug-fueled orgies in Washington, DC

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., questioned why Republicans were 'shocked' by Cawthorn's orgy claims when they were 'ok' with one of their own being investigated for sex, trafficking, referring to Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Gaetz, however, on Thursday insisted that he is not in the drug-doing, orgie-hosting camp Cawthorn was referring to. 'I dont get invited to the same parties Madison Cawthorn does,' the Florida Republican said.

Frequent Twitter poster Ron Filipkowski, posted a screen shot of Stone's posting.

Stone has been a key advisor to Trump, and received a presidential pardon shortly before Trump left office after being convicted of lying to investigators, obstructing a congressional probe, and witness tampering.

Stone was forced to resign from Republican Bob Dole's 1996 presidential campaign after the National Enquirer and the Star reported he and his wife Nydia had advertised in a 'swingers' magazine' seeking group sex.

'Top Dole Aide Caught in Group Sex Ring' blared the headline in the National Enquirer.

Stone later admitted it was true, and took to saying he was 'tri-sexual,' adding the punchline: 'because I've tried everything.'

Stone and his wife were 'regulars' at notorious private sex club Capitol Couples in Washington D.C. in the mid-1990s, according to author Jerry Oppenheimer.

Stone's claim that Cawthorn was walking back his walk-back came after the conservative firebrand and Trump supporter admitted his claims that colleagues had invited him to orgies and taken cocaine were 'exaggerated'  at least according to House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday.

Stone resigned as an advisor from Bob Dole's presidential campaign following reports he and his wife placed ads in swingers' magazines

President Donald Trump pardoned Stone shortly before he left office

Stone said Cawthorn told him he had not retracted his claims

Stone's post came after House Republicans complained that Cawthorn's claims, which he failed to substantiate, were harming their collective image. Rep. McCarthy said Cawthorn admitted he had exaggerated his claims

McCarthy told reporters that he may take further action over Cawthorn's comments, which caused an angry outcry among Hill Republicans.

The row erupted when Cawthorn, one of the youngest and most controversial House members, claimed he had seen evidence of 'sexual perversion' in Washington during an interview with John Lovell for the 'Warrior Poet Society.'

McCarthy said he had had a tense meeting with Cawthorn.

'I just told him he's lost my trust, he's gonna have to earn it back, and I laid out everything I find is unbecoming,' McCarthy told Axios and other outlets.

'And, you can't just say 'You can't do this again.'

'I mean, he's, he's got a lot of members very upset.'

And McCarthy said Cawthorn admitted he had exaggerated his claims.

'In the interview, he claims he watched people do cocaine. Then when he comes in he tells me, he says he thinks he saw maybe a staffer in a parking garage from 100 yards away,' McCarthy said.

'It's just frustrating. There's no evidence behind his statements.

'And when I sit down with him ... I told him you can't make statements like that, as a member of Congress, that affects everybody else and the country as a whole.'

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (pictured) plans to sit down with 26-year-old GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn to talk about claims he made including that he was invited to orgies and cocaine use was rampant in Washington, D.C.

Cawthorn, 26, was asked during an interview with the Warrior Poet Society how closely his experience on Capitol Hill aligns with House of Cards, specifically its elements of 'corruption, power, money and perversion'

Cawthorn said that he once heard a former president say the only thing that was unrealistic about the Netflix show was that Congress would ever be able to pass a piece of legislation that quickly, and he agreed with the sentiment

North Carolina Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr have already expressed their frustration - Tillis even endorsed one of Cawthorn's primary opponents on Wednesday, State Sen. Chuck Edwards.

'I thought about the statement, if it's true, then he's got a lot of information to reveal. If it's not true, then he's guilty of being untruthful,' Tillis said, according to CNN. 'I thought it was a silly statement and it's not the first one.'

Tillis then hinted that he thought North Carolinians in Cawthorn's 11th district should vote him out.

'At the end of the day, people in the district are going to have to vote for him and I would ask them to look at his record and ask what has he done since he's been here,' Tillis said. Asked what he thought Cawthorn has accomplished, Tillis said: 'Not a lot in my opinion.'

Cawthorn's district's GOP chair is now opposing the congressman in the primary, despite being a self-proclaimed 'big supporter' in 2020.

'You know, just really bizarre comments, his irresponsible behavior that we've seen over the course of the last few months, it continues to show his immaturity,' Michele Woodhouse, a one-time ally of Cawthorn told DailyMail.com.

Politico reported Tuesday that Cawthorn's Republican colleagues stood up and aired their grievances during a closed-door House GOP conference meeting earlier in the day  complaining that the North Carolina Republican made party members out to be sexual deviants and drug users.

CNN reported that colleagues wanted Cawthorn to name names because his comments could otherwise unfairly malign the whole party.

The 65-year-old Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack told the group that he rarely speaks up during the weekly meetings, but did so Tuesday because he's getting questions from constituents about Cawthorn's claims of orgies and drug use, Politico said.

Womack remarked that many lawmakers go to bed at 9 p.m. and use flip phones and fax machines, calling it inappropriate that Cawthorn would paint his Congressional peers with a broad brush.

Cawthorn was asked during the interview about how much D.C. resembles of Netflix show House of Cards, specifically its elements of 'corruption, power, money and perversion.'

The North Carolina Republican replied that the 'sexual perversion' and drug use is just like what people saw on television.

'The sexual perversion that goes on in Washington ... being kind of a young guy in Washington where the average age is probably 60 or 70, I look at all these people - a lot of them who I've looked up to throughout my life ... then all of a sudden you get invited to like, 'well hey we're going to have kind of a sexual get together at one of our homes. You should come,' like, what did you just ask me to come to?

'And then you realize they're asking you to come to an orgy.'

'There's some of the people that are leading the movement to try and remove addiction in our country and then you watch them doing, you know, a key bump of cocaine in front of you and it's like wow, this is wild.'

Cawthorn in December announced the he and his wife of eight months were filing for divorce.

Cawthorn, a staunch conservative not known for his friends across the aisle, is seemingly accusing his fellow Republicans of the illicit behavior. He has recently sparked controversy for calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and 'alcoholic' and Ukrainian President Zelensky a 'thug'

Cawthorn in December announced the he and his wife of eight months were filing for divorce

The young congressman, a staunch conservative not known for his friends across the aisle, is seemingly accusing his fellow Republicans of the illicit behavior.

The 'former president' Cawthorn apparently referred to was Democratic President Bill Clinton.

In 2015, actor Kevin Spacey, the lead on House of Cards, said that he and Clinton were close friends and play poker together. Spacey told Gotham Magazine at the time that Clinton had told him the show was accurate.

'Kevin, 99 percent of what you do on that show is real. The 1 percent you get wrong is you could never get an education bill passed that fast,' Clinton told Spacey, according to the actor's comments to the magazine.

Earlier this month Cawthorn suggested that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is an alcoholic.

Cawthorn said of the California Democrat at a campaign event: 'I'll tell you I have to work with her every single day so please do pray for me. The theories of alcoholism are very true and it's very sad,' he said, according to video posted by Patriot Takes.

His line got chuckles during the event.

Pelosi, 81, doesn't drink, and hasn't for years.

Her daughter Christine attacked prior slurs about her mom's alleged alcoholism in 2019, tweeting: 'Republicans and their conservative allies have been pumping this despicable fake meme for years! Now they are caught.

'#FactCheck: Madam Speaker doesn't even drink alcohol!'

Also last month a video surfaced showing Cawthorn calling Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky a 'thug'. He said his government was 'corrupt, incredibly evil' and 'pushing woke ideologies'.

He appeared to be discussing the US sending military aid to Ukraine before lashing out at leaders in Kyiv -- who refused to flee the country despite reports that many are on a Russian 'kill list' including Zelensky and his family.

In December 2021, Cawthorn announced that he and his CrossFit athlete wife Cristina Bayardelle were getting a divorce after just eight months together.

'When Cristina and I were engaged, I was not a member of Congress. I felt called to serve and we both agreed that I should run. Our victory was unprecedented, but overnight our lives changed,' he said in a statement posted by his spokesman.

'That change has been both hectic and difficult, it's neither the pace nor the lifestyle we had planned for.'
A Supreme Court justice in Sweden has been fined for shoplifting a Christmas ham and meatballs among other items.

The 67-year-old woman, who has been named in local reports as Ann-Christine Lindeblad, was caught by staff at a grocery store in central Stockholm a week before Christmas.

The judge had served on the bench of Sweden's highest court - Hogsta domstolen (HD) - since 2002 and resigned from her post in February this year after reports emerged she was being investigated.

Ann-Christine Lindeblad has been named in local media reports as the supreme court judge who was caught shoplifting items including a Christmas ham and meatballs from a Stockholm supermarket

It had been claimed she had tried to hide a Christmas ham, meatballs, sausages and cheese in a woven bag by covering them with another bag, Dagens Juridik reports.

Her lawyer, Johan Erikssen, was quoted by Swedish tabloid Expressen as saying 'She deeply regrets what has happened,' following her being charged with petty theft, which is the equivalent of shoplifting.

It reports he said: 'She has felt hard pressure both at work and in private lately. She has decided to take the consequences of this.

'She has not participated in HD's activities after this incident and she will not do it again.'

Chief public prosecutor Per Nichols told AFP she had admitted the facts by denied any intention to steal the groceries.

She was issued a fine of 50,000 Swedish kronor - the equivalent of 4,055.68

'I have issued a fine regarding the crime petty theft, previously known as shoplifting,' he said.

The judge had served on Sweden's Supreme Court, which is called Hogsta domstolen (pictured), for 20 years

Lindeblad began her career after graduating with a degree in law from Lund University in 1978.

From there she served on a number of district courts, and served as a unit manager at the Swedish Enforcement Agency - which deals with unpaid debts - in 1998.

After a stint as a lawyer at Boras District Court, she was appointed to the Supreme Court as a Justice Councilor in 2002.

During her 20 years on the bench she was given a number of other assignments, including becoming chair of the Press Support Committee and the Committee for Criminal Injury Compensation.

She was also chair of the disciplinary committee for Swedsec - the Swedish Securities Dealers' Association.
A gay couple from Indiana were filmed hyperventilating after being chased in their car and pulled over by an armed cartel while birdwatching in Mexico.

In February 2020 YouTubers Aaron Payzant and Logan Howard decided to hop in their car and drive from Indiana to Mexico to photograph exotic birds - only to find themselves chased down by a truck full of armed drug runners while on a dirt road near Tabasco.

Payzant was filmed shouting: 'Oh my God. They have guns! Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,' while imploring Howard, who was driving, to speed off.

His boyfriend began hyperventilating with panic moments later.

Footage of their brush with death has been widely-shared for the first time this week, thanks to TikTok.

The couple's YouTube channel Out Off The Trail features videos of them chasing storms and their social media accounts feature wildlife photography, primarily of different types of birds.

After initially posting the footage of their harrowing encounter in Mexico on TikTok in December, they posted additional dashboard footage onto YouTube earlier this month.

Aaron Payzant, left, could be seen clenched with fear after he and his boyfriend Logan Howard, left, were chased by a Mexican cartel

Howard, left, began to hyperventilate while Payzant, right, crossed his arms on his chest, in an apparent attempt to show the armed cartel that he didn't have a weapoon

As one of the cartel members asks 'are they lost or what?' Payzant (right) responds he does not speak Spanish while pleading 'please don't kill us'

Dashcam footage captured the terrifying moment a pick up truck cut filled with armed cartel members approach the couple

'They have guns!' Payzant, who is driving, says as the cartel members exit the pickup truck

While driving down a dirt road in Tabasco, Mexico, the couple notices a pick up truck is speeding up behind them.

They begin to get more and more nervous as the car rushes towards them, eventually pulling up in front of them.

It was then that the pickup truck cuts them off and a group of armed cartel members exit their vehicle and approach the pair.

'They have guns!' Payzant, who is driving, says as Howard puts on his seat belt and urges Payzant to drive away.

Payzant puts the car in reverse for a few seconds but then stops the car as the cartel members approach the drivers side window.

Payzant puts his hands up and begs for the cartel members to not shoot as Howard begins to cry.

As one of the cartel members asks 'are they lost or what?' Payzant responds he does not speak Spanish while pleading 'please don't kill us'

The armed cartel members actually calm the men down repeating 'no problem' and ask the men where they are going.

'Calm down guero, nothing happens!' one man says patting a visibly shaken Payzant's shoulder to get him to relax.

The couple was approached by armed cartel members while driving down a dirt road in Tabasco, Mexico

The couple did set up a GoFundMe called 'Help Aaron & Logan get car back to USA' after the incident but it looks like no one donated

The men continue to try to calm a nearly hysterical Payzant, (right) who looked like he was about to pass out, even asking for his name and offering a handshake

Howard, apparently lying, tells the men they were lost on their way to see his mother in Cancun.

The cartel members continue to try to calm a nearly hysterical Payzant, who looked like he was about to pass out, even asking for his name and offering a handshake.

In the end the cartel members explain to the terrified men that they are not allowed to be on the path and order them to go back to the highway, the couple explained in a follow up video.

The pair explained they suffered severe anxiety after the incident and even left their car in an undisclosed location in Mexico before high tailing it back to the states.

'This was as we were on a back road we were looking for wildlife and we were just seeing what we could find in an area where there was a lot of wetlands and stuff like that,' Payzant explained.

'This is the most extreme experience I've ever had birding,' Howard added but said: 'I would go back, just not in our personal vehicle.'

Explaining why he didn't just drive away immediately after the cartel members said he was free to go, Payzant explained that he was in panic mode.

'After seeing my life flash before my eyes, I started seizing almost. I couldn't drive,' he said.

The couple did set up a GoFundMe called 'Help Aaron & Logan get car back to USA' shortly after the incident but it looks like no one donated.
President Joe Biden stoked a declassified intelligence that Russian President Vladimir Putin is getting bad information from his advisors  and said the 'isolated' strongman may have locked up some of his advisors.

Biden spoke directly about his counterpart's potential state of mind after the White House tried to clean up his comments Saturday in Warsaw when Biden said emphatically that Putin 'cannot remain in power.'

Biden was asked asked about Wednesday's reports based on declassified information that Putin was being 'misled' by his advisors and military leadership, and how badly Putin was being misinformed.

'That's an open question,' the president responded. 'There's a lot of speculation. But he seems to be  I'm not saying this with a certain he seems to be self-isolated. And there's some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers.'

Then he hedged: 'But I don't want to put too much stock in at this time. Because we don't have that much hard evidence.'

President Joe Biden said Vladimir Putin 'seems to be self-isolated' and said there was 'some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers'

Video images of Putin when meeting in person with top officials have featured the ruler seated at comically long tables, amid reports he is fearful of contracting covid. 'Self-isolation,' the term Biden used, also has a medical connotation for those who may have come in contact with a transmissible disease.

There were mysterious reports that coincided with Biden's trip to Europe about the apparent disappearance of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

He appeared to have vanished for 12 days amid Russia's brutal invasion.

On Saturday, the day of Biden's big speech in Warsaw, Shoigu turned up in an official Kremlin video with top officials, including head of the joint staff Valery Gerasimov.

Shoigu is thought to be close to Putin and has even been mentioned as a possible successor. The pair could even be seen in a 2021 buddy video when Putin took Shoigu for a drive in Siberia.

On Wednesday, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield commented on intelligence about Putin that appeared in the morning attributed to an unidentified administration official.

Why the long table? Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin 'seems to be self-isolated'

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu wasn't seen for days, then resurfaced at a meeting Saturday

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a concert marking the 8th anniversary of Crimea's reunification with Russia at the Luzhniki stadium in Moscow, Russia, 18 March 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, listens to French President Emmanuel Macron during their meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 7, 2022

Local residents walk near an apartment building destroyed during Ukraine-Russia conflict in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, Ukraine March 30, 2022

A gas station burns after Russian attacks in the city of Kharkiv, on March 30, 2022, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine

Putin was seen taking Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu for a cross-country drive in Siberia in a March 2021 video

'We have information that Putin felt misled by the Russian military, which has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership,' she said.

'We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth.'

Military experts have expressed astonishment at Russia's inability so far to achieve its military objectives. Russia indicated it was pulling back from Kyiv, a city it appeared to be trying to encircle, with an intention of focusing on Ukraine's east.

Earlier this month, there were reports Putin had ordered the head of the FSB's foreign service and his deputy be placed under house arrest after blaming them for intelligence failings about the war.

Andrey Soldatov, a respected author on the Russian secret services, said said FSB sources told him Sergey Beseda, 68, head of the agency's foreign service, has been placed under arrest.

Biden also indicated there is no evidence Russia is actually pulling back from Kyiv, and that it appeared to be adding forces in the Donbas, where Russian separatists have been waging a war for years.

Biden came back to address reporters after walking away from his event about actions to reduce gas prices.

'The question whether hes pulling back his forces depends on how you read exactly whats going on,' said Biden.

'Thus far, there is no clear evidence that hes pulling all of his forces out of Kyiv. There is also evidence that he is beefing up his troops down in the Donbas area. Depending on your view of Putin, Im a little skeptical. Its an open question whether hes actually pulling back and going to say Im just going to focus on the Donbas and not worried about the rest of the country,' the president said.

'Im a skeptic. But I dont have proof that in fact he is not going  hes taking a pause doing all he can to use all the troops he has in the Donbas and continue to keep an eye on and try to move beyond the rest of the country. Dont know the answer, but it appears so far that he has not pulled all of  the idea hes pulling all the troops from around Kyiv and moving south, theres no evidence that hes done that,' Biden said.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby added later Thursday that 'Kiev is still a central focus of their airstrikes.'
A planned ban on gay conversion therapy was in chaos last night after it was claimed Boris Johnson had ditched the proposals  only to back down in the face of a fierce backlash.

A document leaked yesterday suggested the Prime Minister had decided not to outlaw the practice, which attempts to change someones sexuality or gender identity.

However, late last night Mr Johnson changed his mind after a strong reaction from Conservative MPs and ministers, ITV News reported.

It has now been claimed that the law banning conversion therapy will be in the Queens Speech in May, although it will not cover transgender therapy.

The Government has dropped plans to legislate to ban so-called conversion therapy, it has been confirmed. ITV News obtained a leaked document stating 'the PM has agreed we should not move forward with legislation'

The u-turn comes after Equalities Minister Mike Freer told MPs on Wednesday that the Government was 'wholly committed' to legislation

While a ban on the abhorrent method of claiming to convert gays into straight people was uncontroversial, some expressed concerns over plans to stop therapists helping children with gender dysphoria decide whether they really want to transition. Campaigners warned the legislation was so badly drafted that teachers could end up in court if they do not allow children to use opposite sex toilets or let boys play in girls sports teams.

The Downing Street paper seen by ITV News said: The PM has agreed we should not move forward with legislation to ban LGBT conversion therapy. The leaked Conversion Therapy Handling Plan admitted that there will be a noisy backlash from LGBT groups and some parliamentarians when we announce we do not intend to proceed.

Within hours of the news breaking, the Prime Minister was also facing outrage from many in his own party. Red Wall MP Dehenna Davison said: This decision is fundamentally wrong, and needs to be reversed immediately.

As well as breaking an explicit promise, this is a matter of basic decency. Being gay is not something that needs curing.

And Conservative backbencher Alicia Kearns said: Damn the objectors  Conservatives must stand against mental and physical torture.

The strength of feeling was so great that within a few hours, it was claimed that Downing Street had performed another U-turn to ban gay conversion therapy.

Tory MP Michael Fabricant last night welcomed the change of heart, saying: The reaction ensured the Government stayed on track.

The Conversion Therapy Handling Plan had warned: The LGBT sector will read this decision as a signal the Government is uninterested in LGBT issues and sets out how the fallout could be minimised. The document had admitted that relevant ministers have not yet been informed about the change of policy, including Liz Truss, who is minister for women and equalities as well as Foreign Secretary.

While Liz is not ideologically committed to the legislation she is likely to be concerned about owning the new position, having personally committed to delivering the Bill, it said.

Chair of the Labour party and Shadow Equalities Secretary Annelise Dodds said today the Government's u-turn on conversion therapy legislation was an 'outrageous decision'. 'A government that believes conversion therapy is acceptable in 21st century Britain is no friend of the LGBT+ community,' she tweeted

The drawing up of legislation to ban all forms of conversion therapy in the UK was announced last October by Liz Truss. At the time, Truss said the safeguarding under-18s was a key a priority and pledged that future laws will place a strong emphasis on preventing children undergoing any practices considered to be conversion therapies

It is understood that Miss Truss, who is in India, only found out yesterday afternoon about Mr Johnsons first U-turn. She was said to be digesting the news.

And it had warned that Mike Freer, a junior equalities minister, could have resigned over the issue, along with the Prime Ministers special envoy on LGBT issues, Lord Herbert.

Only on Wednesday, Mr Freer told MPs that the Government remained wholly committed to bringing forward proposals to ban conversion therapy.

Stonewall had tweeted last night, before Mr Johnson reversed the U-turn, that the Government was walking away from its commitment to end conversion therapy.
Donald Trump told one of his fans in the 'Gays For Trump' supporters group that he didn't 'look gay' during a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser for a Michigan GOP candidate on Wednesday night.

The ex-president was headlining the event to support John Gibbs, a former Trump administration official who is challenging Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Mich.) for his seat in Michigan's August 2 primaries.

A brief video filmed during the event and shared on Twitter by PatriotTakes shows Trump at a podium in front of a receptive audience.

One person can be heard shouting 'Gays for Trump!' seemingly in reference to the pro-Trump LGBT group of the same name.

'Where's Gays for Trump?' the former president asked.

Someone answered, 'We're over here! Gays for Trump!' before Trump pointed a finger in their direction.

'You don't look gay,' he said as the crowd broke out in laughter.

He continued, 'We did great with the gay population as you know,' before the 17-second clip ends.

Despite a small but vocal group of consistent supporters within the LGBTQI+ community, the former president was widely panned by gay and lesbian groups while in office.

The former president was speaking at a Mar-a-Lago fundraiser for Michigan House candidate John Gibbs (back left), an ex-Trump administration official who is mounting a primary challenge to incumbent Rep. Peter Meijer

One person can be heard shouting 'Gays for Trump!' seemingly in reference to the pro-Trump LGBT group of the same name. 'Where's Gays for Trump?' the former president asked. He then found them in the crowd and said: 'You don't look gay'

A policy brief by LGBT medical research and advocacy group the Fenway Institute released toward the end of Trump's presidency found that he 'enacted more anti-LGBTQIA+ policies than any previous administration in history.'

The identities of the Gays for Trump members at Wednesday night's fundraiser were not immediately clear.

Gibbs, appearing to be standing several feet behind Trump at the beginning of the clip, was formerly an official in the Republican's Housing and Urban Development Department. It had been run by Dr. Ben Carson, who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2016.

The incumbent he is challenging for Michigan's 3rd Congressional District is one of 10 House Republicans to have voted for Trump's impeachment following the January 6 Capitol riot.

In another clip from the same event, Gibbs recounts his time working in Trump's White House by making a joke about verbally abusing his staff.

'When I went to work in the administration of President Trump, I'd never yelled at work or sweared(sp) to anyone at work. But guess what? That changed,' Gibbs said as the audience laughed.

In the same clip he said Trump looked 'even younger' today than he did before running for president in 2016.

Despite a small but vocal base of support in the LGBT community, (pictured: attendees of a Gays for Trump march in October 2020) the former president was widely criticized for rolling back protections of gay and transgender Americans during his White House tenure

Trump misspelled Meijer's name in a November 2021 statement announcing an endorsement of his challenger.

'Meyer has been a terrible representative of the Republican Party and beyond,' the former president said through his Save America PAC. 'John Gibbs is a fabulous talent who love the State, our military and our Vets.'

Trump is expected to make another public push for Gibbs during an upcoming rally this Saturday in Washington Township, Michigan.

It will be the first time the Republican leader is in Michigan since he lost the state to President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.

Wednesday evening's event is also not the first time Trump has had the American gay community on his mind in recent weeks.

Earlier this month Trump gave a brief look into how he entertains guests at his Mar-a-Lago club, revealing that the 'gay national anthem' YMCA by the Village People is always a hit at the Florida retreat.

The former president discussed his new gig as a disc jockey regaling Mar-a-Lago members on Friday and Saturday nights during a wide-ranging interview with the Full Send podcast.

The episode has since been pulled from YouTube for violating the video site's misinformation policy.

'I pick the ones I like. I don't want to spin, I want to pick the ones I like,' Trump said of his DJing style.

Asked if he had any particular favorites, the ex-president pointed to the 1978 hit YMCA.

'You know what gets 'em rocking? YMCA,' Trump said.

'YMCA -- the gay national anthem. Did you ever hear that? The gay national anthem.'

Trump has already been known to play the classic disco track at his rallies, where he would often move a bit to the beat himself. Another well-known Village People song, Macho Man, has also featured at the ex-president's events.

However he curiously chose a different song to play him off stage at a rally in Florence, South Carolina -- his first since the comment made headlines.
Wild weather that brought 'unprecedented' flooding to Byron Bay is expected to continue with heavy rain and strong winds to move further down the coast of NSW.

The Bureau of Meteorology has warned millions of residents to brace for severe weather in Sydney, the Mid North Coast, Hunter, Illawarra and South Coast on Friday.

Strong winds up to 100km/h and damaging surf will hammer the coastline, with beachfront residents told to prepare for 'local damage' and 'abnormally high tides'.

Up to 9m waves are expected to batter the shoreline, while 30mm of rain could fall within the next 24 hours in Sydney and Newcastle, and another 20mm on Saturday.

'Very heavy surf, with waves exceeding five metres, may lead to localised damage and coastal erosion is expected to develop from Thursday afternoon, persisting during Friday,' BoM warned.

Two people have already been killed after flooding battered southern Queensland, while 'unprecedented' flooding hit Byron Bay and killed another person in Lismore, in NSW.

Wild weather that brought 'unprecedented' flooding to Byron Bay is expected to continue with heavy rain and strong winds to move further down the coast of NSW (pictured, Lismore on Thursday)

Two people have already been killed after flooding battered southern Queensland, while 'unprecedented' flooding hit Byron Bay (pictured) and killed another person in Lismore, in NSW

The wild weather comes as a low-pressure system, sitting over the Tasman Sea, merges with a slow-moving high-pressure system over the Great Australian Bight.

'Beach conditions, particularly along exposed south-facing beaches, could be dangerous, and people should stay well away from the surf and surf exposed areas,' BoM warned.

Evacuation orders are still in place for 14 areas across NSW, with major warnings issued for the Richmond, Wilsons, Clarence and Orara rivers.

A moderate flood warning is in place for the Bellinger, Nambucca and Macleay rivers.

Two men died near Toowoomba, in regional Queensland, while five people were rescued from cars stranded in floodwaters in the Darling Downs after heavy rain hammered Queensland on Monday.

The Queensland Fire and Emergency Services rescued another three people from a car caught in floodwaters near Cecil Plains and a farmer at Condamine Plains.

QFES also responded to 128 calls for help in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning, while 200 roads and four schools were closed due to flooding.

The wild weather comes as a low-pressure system, sitting over the Tasman Sea, merges with a slow-moving high-pressure system over the Great Australian Bight (pictured, graphic depicting wind speed forecasts along coast of NSW)

Flash flooding in Byron Bay on Wednesday impacted homes and businesses across the CBD and Suffolk Park

The massive low pressure trough moved south into NSW before bringing 'unprecedented' flooding to Byron Bay on Wednesday.

Up to 400mm of rain was dumped in the region within a 24-hour period, with floodwaters engulfing entire homes and businesses.

While the area is known to be flood-prone, residents and business owners were caught off guard when the giant rain bomb erupted over the town.

Locals expressed frustration that NSW State Emergency Service (SES) didn't notify them of the worsening conditions or appropriately prepare for the catastrophic weather event.

The BoM issued severe weather warnings in the lead-up to the flooding, but residents in Ballina remain furious there were no evacuation notices.

Up to 400mm of rain was dumped in the Byron Bay region within a 24-hour period, with floodwaters engulfing entire homes and businesses

Staff clear water damaged floorboards at This and That boutique after floods (pictured)

The body of a 55-year-old woman was found on Thursday evening in floodwaters in North Lismore.

Police said the body is yet to be formally identified but is believed to be that of a missing woman who became trapped in her white station wagon at Monaltrie, south of Lismore, about 10pm on Tuesday.

The 2017 Holden Captiva, with NSW registration YHS 51F, that the woman was driving has not yet been located.

North Head on Sydney Harbour reached gusts of 83km/h, Bellambi near Wollongong had 87km/h winds and Norah Head on the Central Coast clocked 91km/h on Thursday.
Body camera footage shows the shocking moment a female police officer laughed as she taunted a mentally-ill 70-year-old who locked herself in the bathroom during a manic episode.

The recently shared video, edited down from 90 minutes of body camera footage released last year by the Tulsa Police Department, purports to show female police officer Ronni Carrocia banging on a bathroom door as she laughed and told one of her colleagues: 'This is going to be fun.'

An Emergency Medical Service worker told the officers when they arrived at the scene of the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on October 25, 2021, that the victim, LaDonna June Paris, 70, was bipolar and was having a manic episode and had shut herself into the bathroom, according to the video.

The EMS worker tells Carrocia: 'We couldnt make her do anything, so we called you guys for assistance, and then she just took off.'

But when officers arrived on-scene at the restroom, Carrocia can be seen threatening the woman with a Taser, as she asks, 'Do you want to get Tased?' to which Paris can be heard saying: 'Don't do it. Why are you doing this?'

Paris can also be heard pleading with Carrocia, saying: 'Get away from me, get away, get away' after she rattled the door. In response, Carrocia laughs and tells one of her colleagues: 'I love my job.'

Soon, Paris can be heard saying, 'The cops are trying to kill me here.'

The Tulsa Police Department, however, has said in a statement that the officers at the scene that day were acting within the department's policies - although it noted that their communications with each other could be 'perceived as unprofessional.'

Ronni Carrocia, a Tulsa police officer, was caught in body camera footage banging on a bathroom door at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in an attempt to get a bipolar woman to come out, as she laughed

Carrocia could be heard telling one of her colleagues: 'I love my job' and saying she hoped a certain officer would come so he could pepper spray the woman

Paris was eventually taken into custody and was charged with attempted arson, assault and battery upon a police officer, resisting an officer, trespassing and cruelty to animals. Those charges were eventually dropped by a judge, citing her mental status

An EMS worker had told the officers on the scene that the woman, 70-year-old LaDonna Paris, was bipolar and was having a manic episode

As Carrocia and another officer are waiting for a third officer to come in to break down the door, Carrocia can be heard saying she hopes it is a specific officer 'because I really like the way he works.

'He is going to pound the door open and spray her,' Carrocia says, apparently referring to pepper spray.

Finally, the third officer arrives and breaks down the door, at which point officers can be seen tackling Paris to the ground.

As they get her to stand up, a gash on the side of her face is visible, with cops remarking that they had to clean up the blood from the ground.

The video ends after Paris was taken into custody, when a female officer - presumably Carrocia says: 'If you are going to play stupid games, you are going to win stupid prizes.

'I'm just - I'm over it.'

A third officer eventually showed up on the scene to break down the bathroom door

Officers promptly pushed Paris to the ground, and blood could be seen gushing from her face

Tulsa police have now issued a statement saying the officers' overall actions and the way they handled the call was within the department's policies, though they noted: 'To be clear, the banter between the officers outside of the presence of the suspect can be [perceived] as unprofessional and has been addressed with the officers.'

Police explained in the two-page statement that officers were called to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore by an employee who said Paris had been there for hour hours, and left a dog in her U-Haul truck.

The department had hoped to have their Community Response Team, which includes mental health specialists, respond to the call, they said, but no members of the team were available at the time.

Officers then spent 15 minutes trying to talk to Paris at the door to get her to come out, the statement says, and when she refused: 'The officer continued to attempt verbal coercion and rattling the door to get Paris to comply with the lawful order to come out.'

Police say Paris then asked to speak to the manager of the ReStore, whom officers got on the phone to demand that she leave the bathroom, but Paris refused to believe it was actually the manager and 'dismissed it.'

Officers later reportedly noticed 'that Paris had been spraying an aerosol can and had a lighter,' at which point they secured a fire extinguisher and started to formulate a plan to bring another officer to the scene.

In another attempt to get Paris to unlock the door, police claim, Carrocia 'activated her Taser to make an arc sound hoping that that auditory stimulus would prompt Paris to open the door.'

After about half an hour, police report, the third officer arrived on the scene and broke down the door to the bathroom.

'While the use of OC spray was discussed, the officers chose to not use it and try to control Paris hands instead,' the Tulsa Police Department's statement says, noting: 'Paris did sustain a minor injury to her face when officers were taking her into custody on the floor of the bathroom.'

Still, police say, she continued to resist arrest and kicked one of the officers as she was brought to the Tulsa County Jail.

The Tulsa Police Department has now released a two-page statement explaining what had happened on October 25, and saying that the officers were handling the situation in accordance with the department's policies

Paris was eventually charged on October 28 with attempted arson, assault and battery upon a police officer, resisting an officer, trespassing and cruelty to animals.

She was held in the Tulsa County Jail for about a month before the case was dismissed on November 23 'in the interest of justice and civil diversion,' Tulsa World reported.

The judge cited Paris' mental health when dismissing the charges, and now a law firm has taken up her apparent police brutality case.

'Solomon-Simmons Law has been retained to represent Ms. LaDonna Paris, a 70-year-old black great-grandmother and seminary student who was taunted, harassed and antagonized by Tulsa Police Department officers before they brutalized her while placing her under arrest for behavioral manifestations of a mental health disorder in October 2021,' the law firm said in a statement to KFOR.

'The TPD officers involved were fully aware that Ms. Paris was having a bipolar manic episode, yet they still viciously provoked and attacked Ms. Paris while laughing off her disability as if it were a joke,' the lawyers continued.

'We are disgusted by this outrageous behavior caught on video and the fact that the Tulsa Police Department has attempted to shift the blame for the incident onto the victim of a mental health episode and police brutality.

'We are even more troubled by the Tulsa Police Department's frequent practice of ignoring and even outright condoning their officers' discriminatory treatment and humiliation of violence toward people who suffer from mental health disorders, especially African-Americans.'

They said they plan to hold a press conference so that Paris could tell her side of the story and 'look forward to doing everything in our power to hold the officers involved in the attack and the Tulsa Police Department accountable for their shameful and unlawful, discriminatory actions, and to seek justice for Ms. Paris.'
The parents of US Marine Trevor Reed, currently on hunger strike in a Russian gulag, finally met with Biden to discuss their son's release.

Joey and Paula Reed sought to remind Biden of their son's service to the country during a 30-minute meeting on Wednesday, as Russia-US relations continue to sour during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

'He listened intently to everything we had to say until we were through talking. We couldn't have asked for more,' Joey Reed told CNN.

Paula Reed added: 'We got to get it off our chest, all the things that we've been wanting to say to him, and it's done. We got to say what we wanted to say. He listened intently, and we're grateful for that.'

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden 'reiterated his commitment to continue to work to secure the release of Trevor, Paul Whelan, and other Americans wrongfully held in Russia and elsewhere, and to provide all possible assistance until they and others are free and returned home to their families who are advocating so passionately for their release.'

Reed, 30, is serving a nine-year sentence in a penal colony in Mordovia after he was convicted in a Russian court of endangering the lives of two policemen while drunk on a visit to Moscow in 2019, in a trial the US called a 'theatre of the absurd.'

He's now on a hunger strike in protest of being placed in solitary confinement, after his parents said he caught tuberculosis behind bars and was denied 'meaningful medical care' for that and a broken rib.

Joey and Paula Reed met with President Joe Biden on Wednesday evening to discuss securing their son's release from a Russian prison

The Reeds, above as they demonstrate in Lafayette Park near the White House earlier on Wednesday, have been protesting in DC and trying to get a meeting with the president

Trevor Reed, 30, has languished in a Russian prison since 2019 after he was accused of drunkenly grabbing an officer's arm as he was being arrested, causing him to swerve. The US has disputed the account and called his trial a 'theatre of the absurd'

A family spokesman said Biden was 'incredibly gracious' during the Wednesday meeting

Family spokesman Jonathan Franks tweeted that the president was 'incredibly gracious' during his Wednesday evening meeting with the Reeds, who said the meeting left them feeling 'optimistic.'

'We want to tell him about our son - a little bit that he hasn't gotten from a report from someone,' Joey Reed told ABC News before the meeting. 'Remind him that our son added time to his Marine Corps service so he could be a presidential guard.'

The Reeds have called for the US to engage in a prisoner swap in exchange for their son, but US officials had not been very responsive to the desperate parents' repeated pleas until now.

The president drove past the parents while they demonstrated at a speech he was giving in Fort Worth, Texas on March 8. The speech was about helping veterans access better health care.

That same day, a White House official said that the president had called the Reeds afterwards and reiterated 'his commitment to doing everything he can to bring their son home, to staying in close touch with them through his national security team, and to finding a time to meet in person.'

Biden, 79, was asked whether he'd meet the family after delivering COVID remarks Wednesday afternoon.

'I'm gonna see if I can get to see them. They're good people,' he said. 'We're trying to work that out.'

Before the meeting, the Reeds released a statement saying: 'Each day, we worry that our son will become the next Otto Warmbier,' referring to an American student who died during detainment in North Korea.

'We hope the President will be able to find the time to see us. We need his Administration to stop deliberating and start acting. We believe the President (whom we voted for) is the only person who can save our son's life.'

Reed's parents say their son is continuously punished for small things like not making his bed properly, according to ABC News.

'During the day, because the room has no real heating and there's cracks in the windows, you see your breath all day long. He coils up on the floor next to a hot water pipe to stay warm and then he's given violations for laying on the floor during the daytime,' father Joey Reed told reporters.

They've also expressed concerns that their son is being used as a 'bargaining chip' during rising tensions between the US and Russia as the latter continues its invasion of Ukraine.

Trevor Reed standing inside a defendants' cage during a court hearing in Moscow in July 30, 2020. His parents, Joey and Paula Reed, reported earlier in March that their son had been coughing up blood after possibly contracting tuberculosis from a cellmate

Trevor Reed standing inside a defendants' cage during a court hearing in Moscow on March 11, 2020. He has been in the IK-12 gulag in Mordovia for over two years

The Reed family provided this undated photo of Trevor Reed with his mother Paula when he was still serving in the US Marines. He travelled to Russia in the summer of 2019 to visit his Russian girlfriend and study Russian

Trevor Reed posing for a photo at the Moscow Zoo during the summer of 2019 in happier times before his arrest and incarceration

'The time is now to bring home Trevor, Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner,' the Reeds said, referring to the WNBA player who is in a Russian prison for allegedly bringing vape cartridges containing hash oil into the country last month.

'As we have said for more than a year, we continue to worry escalating tensions, or rhetoric, could lead to Russian authorities inventing additional false charges against Trevor.'

Reed's current hunger strike comes at a time when his health is believed to be in peril due to being placed in a cell with a prisoner carrying tuberculosis. Despite deteriorating health, the prison authorities have refused to test him for the disease.

His parents, Joey and Paula Reed, reported earlier in March that their son had been coughing up blood. He was moved to a prison hospital for ten days but was then returned to his cell without 'meaningful medical care beyond an X-ray which was taken incorrectly', they said.

'Trevor's Mordovian lawyer was able to see him (on Tuesday) and confirmed that Trevor began a hunger strike... to protest being sent back to solitary while injured and having TB,' the parents said in a statement.

Speaking to CNN on Wednesday Joey Reed said: 'Trevor had some sort of injury where he thinks he might have a broken rib. Plus, he has all the symptoms of active tuberculosis. He went to a prison hospital for about 10 days. And then they didn't treat him. They took an X-ray that didn't work.

'And when they brought him back to his prison he said, "I need to go back. I'm still hurt and sick." And they put him to solitary confinement again, where he had been for most of the last seven months. So he is protesting that. That's against all Russian regulations and European human rights.'

Reed's family revealed that Reed had previously spent time in solitary confinement for refusing to do hard labor.

Trevor had been spending the summer of 2019 in Russia, visiting his girlfriend and studying Russian. However, just days before his return to the US a night out in Moscow sent everything spinning into chaos.

According to the Russian version of events, on the night of August 16, Reed was arrested after he got drunk and allegedly grabbed the arm of an officer as he was being taken to a station to be booked, causing the vehicle to swerve and 'endangering the lives of officers'.

At the time, the US ambassador dismissed the allegation as 'preposterous' and noted that video evidence showed no swerving.

He currently resides in a cell in the penal colony, in extremely poor conditions, according to the family, who say his cell does not even include a toilet and that he did not receive any items that had been brought to him by US ambassador John Sullivan.

President Joe Biden on Thursday announced a two-pronged plan to increase oil supply and help accelerate the switch to electric vehicles to tackle record high gas prices

Joey and Paula Reed have been protesting outside the White House to raise awareness of their son's plight.

This is the second hunger strike Reed has staged, coming on the heels of the one last year, which was motivated by his unjust incarceration and alleged human rights abuses he had suffered at the hands of the Russian penal system in his gulag.

He called it off almost a week later having lost weight. Russia's prison authority denied he had been refusing food or that his rights were being violated.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has put the US and Russia at odds, with the US sanctioning Russia oligarchs and banks in protest of continued attacks on civilians.

On Thursday, Biden said that record gas prices were caused by the pandemic and Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine as he unveiled a two-pronged plan to increase supply and reduce demand.

He announced he would release a million barrels of oil per day from the nation's strategic reserve for the next six months and accelerate the switch to electric vehicle.

But his analysis of the cause of the crisis will attract criticism for opponents who accuse him of shifting the blame for his administration's economic woes.

Gas prices reached their highest since 2008 earlier this month but are slowly falling

The White House has been desperately looking at options to lower fuel prices. Biden will announce the release of 180 million barrels of oil - the biggest release in the near 50-year history of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

'The problem we're facing with gas prices has two roots,' Biden told reporters at the White House.

'First, the pandemic. When COVID struck demand for oil plummeted so production slowed down worldwide.

'Because of the strength and the speed of recovery, demand for oil shot back up much faster than the supply. That's why the cost of gas began to rise last year.

'The second root is Vladimir Putin.'

At the start of the year the price of a gallon was about about $3.30, he continued, while today it is averaging about $4.22.
Kim Eun-hye, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's spokesperson / Yonhap





President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's spokesperson said Thursday the incoming administration will likely seek stronger security cooperation with the United States and Japan but drew the line at trilateral military exercises.







Kim Eun-hye's remark came after the Hankyoreh newspaper reported the same day the U.S. and Japanese governments recently made repeated proposals to hold trilateral military exercises in waters around the Korean Peninsula but were rejected by Seoul.







"Korea-U.S.-Japan combined military exercises are entirely different from Korea-U.S.-Japan security cooperation," she said during a press briefing.







"I believe the new government will consider ways to practically and effectively realize security cooperation between Korea, the U.S. and Japan." (Yonhap)






Fourteen Republicans signed on to a pair of letters to the White House and National Archives on Thursday asking for records of any correspondence between Hunter Biden and the White House during both the Obama and Biden administrations to be turned over to them.

'The Biden family has for decades profited off Joe Biden's positions of public trust. Hunter Biden particularly benefitted from his father's success in politics,' the letter, signed first by ranking member on the Oversight Committee Rep. James Comer, R-Ky.

It noted that Russia weeks ago levied sanctions on not only White House officials but also Hunter Biden. 'The nation's adversaries apparently see the President's son as a pressure point to exploit.'

'Hunter Biden's connections throughout the Russian sphere of influence have now become especially relevant in the fast-moving and developing Russian war in Ukraine. If the Russian government is attempting to influence American policy in Ukraine by exploiting Hunter Biden's connection with his fatherthe President of the United Statesthe American people deserve to know it.'

'The Biden family has for decades profited off Joe Biden's positions of public trust. Hunter Biden particularly benefitted from his father's success in politics,' the letter read

'The Biden family has for decades profited off Joe Biden's positions of public trust. Hunter Biden particularly benefitted from his father's success in politics,' the letter, led by Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., read

It cited the younger Biden's seat on the board of Ukrainian energy firm Burisma and how he joined together with Chinese partners to found a firm that later aided China in purchasing cobalt from Congo. It cited Hunter's attempts at brokering a deal with a Chinese oil company and former Kazakh prime minister Karim Massimov for a $120 million pipeline and helped prevent a Romanian real estate tycoon's conviction for bribery charges. The pipeline attempts were exclusively reported by DailyMail.com and revealed through emails found on Hunter's abandoned laptop.

The letter also noted that Hunter has taken up a career as an artist and his work now is priced at up to $500,000 despite his amateur status.

The president's son is under a federal investigation for potential violations of tax, money laundering and foreign lobbying laws with his business interests abroad.

The letters are addressed to Dana Remus, counsel to President Biden, and David Ferriero, head archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration. The letter asked for a response to be provided to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform by April 14.

'Given Hunter Biden's foreign business relationships in Ukraine and Russia and the current international landscape, we are concerned about whether Hunter Biden continues to profit off his status as President Biden's son as well as whether foreign adversaries may be attempting to exploit questionable business dealings,' it read.

The letter asked for: communications between the president's office and the vice president's office and the Biden family relating to Ukraine or Russia from Inauguration Day to present, a list of past and ongoing foreign businesses interests related to the Biden family, all documents related to Hunter's artwork and a list of the policies and procedures in place to ensure the Biden family does not profit off Biden's presidency.

They want the same information from 2009-2017, in addition to any communications between the White House and the late former mayor of Moscow Yuri Lushkov and his wife Yelena Baturina.

Republicans have little political muscle to force the White House and National Archives to hand over the documents since they are in the minority on the Oversight Committee and in Congress. But the GOP has repeatedly said that if they win back the House in the midterms, they will subpoena Hunter to come in for questioning about his famed laptop and his business dealings.

In the middle of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, former President Trump earlier this week urged Russian leader Vladimir Putin to hand over any documents he may have about Hunter Biden's dealings with Russian oligarchs.

The ex-president said he was particularly interested in an alleged $3.5 million payment from the former mayor of Moscow's widow to a company co-founded by Hunter Biden.

A 2020 report by Senate Republicans claimed that Baturina, one of Russia's billionaire oligarchs, gave the hefty sum to a company called Rosemont Seneca Thorton as part of a 'consultancy agreement.'

Baturina was curiously left out of a smattering of sanctions against Kremlin officials and oligarchs.

Republicans have re-upped their calls for transparency around Hunter's business dealings after the New York Times and the Washington Post acquiesced that they had confirmed the authenticity of the laptop Hunter abandoned at a Delaware repair shop in 2019. DailyMail.com authenticated the contents of the laptop a year ago, after the New York Post first reported on it in October 2020.

The Times also reported that Hunter had just paid off a $1 million tax bill, as he was under investigation for defrauding the IRS.

The Republicans also raised skepticism over Biden's claims he never spoke 'to my son about his overseas business dealings.'

'This appears not to be true. The evidence is now clear that not only did Joe Biden talk to his son about his overseas business dealings, but he also met with his son's associates,' they wrote.

Emails show that then-Vice President Biden did meet with his son's Russian, Ukrainian and Kazakhstani business associates in 2015 in Washington, D.C.

One attendee, an executive at now-infamous Ukrainian energy firm Burisma where Hunter was a board member, wrote an email the day after thanking Hunter for the 'opportunity to meet your father'.

'Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It's realty [sic] an honor and pleasure', Vadym Pozharskyi wrote on April 17, 2015.

Widow Yelena Baturina and daughter Yelena Luzhkova after a farewell ceremony for Yuri Luzhkov, who served as mayor of Moscow in 1992-2010, at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour

One startling email among those now validated by the Post indicates the president could have been involved in Hunter's business dealings with the Chinese.

In September 2017 Hunter was planning to open a new office for his multi-million-dollar joint venture with CEFC at the House of Sweden, a Georgetown building home to the Swedish embassy.

He wrote to a building manager: 'please have keys made available for new office mates: Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Jim Biden, Gongwen Dong (Chairman Ye CEFC emissary).

'I would like the office sign ton [sic] reflect the following: The Biden Foundation, Hudson West (CEFC US).'

'We are very excited and honored to welcome your new colleagues!' the manager replied.

Biden Foundation board member Jeffrey Peck told the Post: 'There was never any thought  like zero thought or consideration  given to that building.'

The House of Sweden said they made the keys but Hunter never picked them up.

The Post's admission, hot on the heels of that of the New York Times, coincides with an apparent growing momentum in Hunter's federal prosecution over reported tax fraud, money laundering and illegal foreign lobbying allegations.

The New York Times reported that material from the laptop is part of the FBI's evidence in the case.

Prosecutors have subpoenaed several of Hunter's associates, including a former employee Lunden Roberts, with whom he fathered a baby.

Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz grilled the assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division over the whereabouts of the laptop in a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday.

After a battle with Democrats on the committee, Gaetz then entered a copy of the laptop drive as evidence, and tweeted calling for the president's son to be subpoenaed.
Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom has announced the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is now back under the control of Ukrainian forces for the first time since the war began on February 24.

The Ukrainian Atomic Energy Ministry also declared this evening that there are no longer any 'outsiders' on the land surrounding the power station, according to workers from the plant.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meanwhile said the Russian forces which were in control of the Chernobyl nuclear plant have 'in writing, transferred control' of the facility to Ukrainian personnel.

The UN's nuclear watchdog added that it was in close consultations with Ukrainian authorities on sending a first assistance and support mission to Chernobyl in the next few days.

Ukrainian authorities said earlier today that three convoys of Russian forces had left the site toward Belarus, with a small contingent of remaining troops preparing to leave.

Though Russian soldiers seized control of Chernobyl soon after the Feb. 24 invasion, the plant's Ukrainian staff continued to oversee the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and supervise the concrete-encased remains of the reactor that exploded in 1986, causing the world's worst nuclear accident.

Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom has announced the Chernobyl nuclear power plant is now back under the control of Ukrainian forces for the first time since the war began on February 24

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meanwhile said the Russian forces which were in control of the Chernobyl nuclear plant have 'in writing, transferred control' of the facility to Ukrainian personnel. The UN's nuclear watchdog added that it was in close consultations with Ukrainian authorities on sending a first assistance and support mission to Chernobyl in the next few days

Ukrainian authorities said earlier today that three convoys of Russian forces had left the site toward Belarus, with a small contingent of remaining troops preparing to leave (Chernobyl welcome sign pictured by a road leading to the power plant)

Though Russian soldiers seized control of Chernobyl soon after the Feb. 24 invasion, the plant's Ukrainian staff continued to oversee the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and supervise the concrete-encased remains of the reactor that exploded in 1986, causing the world's worst nuclear accident

Energoatom said workers at the plant flagged earlier today that Russian forces were planning to leave the territory.

'The information is confirmed that the occupiers, who seized the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and other facilities in the exclusion zone, have set off in two columns towards the Ukrainian border with the Republic of Belarus,' it said in a statement.

It said a small number of Russian troops remained at Chernobyl, but did not specify how many. Russian forces have also retreated from the nearby town of Slavutych, where workers at Chernobyl live, it said.

The state-owned company also said Russian forces had provided written confirmation that the plant was now back under Ukraine's control.

This was confirmed by Ukrainian energy minister Herman Halushchenko this afternoon, but he also warned that Ukrainian authorities have not yet been able to verify the complete withdrawal of Russian forces.

'We are observing what is happening there. So far we do not have the information 100 per cent that they have left the power station,' he said on national television.

It comes days Russian troops who were stationed at Chernobyl were treated for radiation sickness in Belarus, an employee at the Ukrainian state agency overseeing the exclusion zone has claimed.

Yaroslav Yemelianenko said yesterday that 'another batch of Russians' had been taken to the 'Belarusian Radiation Medicine Center in Gomel' for treatment.

It comes after the nuclear power plant's workers said Russian soldiers' lack of anti-radiation gear when they seized the Chernobyl site last month was 'suicidal'.

At least seven busloads of Russian soldiers had arrived at the Republican Scientific and Practical Centre for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology in Gomel this week, according to a Belarusian news Telegram channel.

Yemelianenko said the Kremlin's men had fallen ill because they failed to follow 'rules for dealing' with the Chernobyl nuclear plant and the surrounding highly toxic zone known as the Red Forest.

'With minimal intelligence in command or soldiers, these consequences could have been avoided,' he said, adding that radiation protection is 'mandatory because radiation is physics  it works without regard to status or shoulder straps.'

Workers at the site this week said Russian soldiers last month drove without protective equipment through the Red Forest, kicking up clouds of radioactive dust which was likely to cause internal radiation in their bodies.

At least seven busloads of Russian soldiers had arrived at the Republican Scientific and Practical Centre for Radiation Medicine and Human Ecology in Gomel this week, according to a Belarusian Telegram channel

Russian troops stationed at Chernobyl have been taken to Belarus for treatment for 'acute radiation sickness', an employee at the Ukrainian state agency overseeing the exclusion zone has claimed (pictured, Russian tanks seize the site last month)

Both sources said they had witnessed Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles moving through the Red Forest, (pictured) which is the most radioactively contaminated part of the zone around Chernobyl, around 65miles north of Kyiv

Yemelianenko said the Kremlin's men had fallen ill because they failed to follow 'rules for dealing' with the Chernobyl nuclear plant and the surrounding highly toxic zone known as the Red Forest (pictured)

The two Ukrainian workers who spoke to Reuters were on duty when Russian tanks entered Chernobyl on February 24 and took control of the site, where staff are still responsible for the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and supervising the concrete-encased remains of the reactor.

Both men said they had witnessed Russian tanks and other armoured vehicles moving through the Red Forest, which is the most radioactively contaminated part of the zone around Chernobyl, around 65miles north of Kyiv.

The site got its name when dozens of square kilometres of pine trees turned red after absorbing radiation from the 1986 explosion, one of the world's worst nuclear disasters.

A vast area around Chernobyl is off limits to anyone who does not work there or have special permission, but the Red Forest is considered so highly contaminated that even the nuclear plant workers are not allowed to go there.

The Russian military convoy went through the zone, the two employees said. One of them said it used an abandoned road.

'A big convoy of military vehicles drove along a road right behind our facility and this road goes past the Red Forest,' said one of the sources.

'The convoy kicked up a big column of dust. Many radiation safety sensors showed exceeded levels,' he said.

Valery Seida, acting general director of the Chernobyl plant, was not there at the time and did not witness the Russian convoy going into the Red Forest, but he said he was told by witnesses that Russian military vehicles drove everywhere around the exclusion zone and could have passed the Red Forest.

'Nobody goes there... for God's sake. There is no one there,' Seida told Reuters.

He said workers at the plant told the Russian service personnel they should be cautious about radiation, but he knew of no evidence that they paid attention.

'They drove wherever they needed to,' Seida said.

After the Russian troops arrived, the two plant employees worked for almost a month along with colleagues until they were allowed to go home last week when Russian commanders allowed replacements for some of the staff to be sent in.

The minister said that the warnings were not related to fears of nuclear war but 'linked to the nuclear power plants in Ukraine and the accidents we have seen' (pictured, the city of Pripyat near Chernobyl which was abandoned after the 1986 disaster)

Zaporizhzhia's nuclear reactors are contained  they have a shell of metal and cement around them. Chernobyl had NO containment around the nuclear reactors. Also, Zaporizhzhia's nuclear reactors are water-moderated; Chernobyl's were graphite-moderated. (Nuclear reactor moderators reduce the speed of neutrons and allow a nuclear reaction to be sustained)

Meanwhile Norway has told its citizens to 'dust off' their Cold War bunkers and stock radiation medicines in case of a radiation fallout from Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear plant.

Oslo's defence minister Odd Roger Enoksen warned citizens a nuclear disaster could see radioactive materials drift over Norway 'if the wind goes in this direction'.

Enoksen said civilians would be given 72 hours notice to prepare their bunkers and that 'if they are using them for storage now they need to make a plan for taking things out'.

Enoksen also urged citizens to stockpile radiation medicines for children and suggested civilians should store a three-day supply of thyroid-blocking medicine Jodix in each home in case of a shutdown during a nuclear disaster.

The minister said that the warnings were not related to fears of nuclear war but 'linked to the nuclear power plants in Ukraine and the accidents we have seen.'

'Ukraine has the most production of nuclear power in Europe and if an accident happens, as with Chernobyl, we will all in western Europe be affected by that if the wind goes in this direction,' he said, The Times reported.

It comes amid high-level discussions to reimpose Cold War-era building regulations making underground bunkers a requirement for civilian structures, such as hotels, and amid talks about whether some underground shelters needed upgrading.



Oslo's defence minister Odd Roger Enoksen (pictured right, meeting with British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace) warned citizens a nuclear disaster could see radioactive materials drift over Norway 'if the wind goes in this direction'

'Children are worried about will we be at war in Norway. A lot of people are asking where is my bunker,' the minister said.





Enoksen added that Norwegian authorities 'do not see any military threat against Norway at the moment but we have a more unpredictable neighbour in the east which we have to watch closer.'

The warning came days after a senior Ukrainian official accused Russia of 'irresponsible' acts around Chernobyl that could send radiation across much of Europe and called on the UN Security Council to take 'immediate measures'.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Putin's military 'poses a very serious threat not only to Ukraine, but also to hundreds of millions of Europeans' in a Facebook post.

She accused Russia of using 'old and unconditional ammunition', creating a risk of damaging the containment vessel constructed around the station's wrecked fourth reactor.

She also said troops' occupation of an exclusion zone means firefighters aren't able to put out blazes in the area, posing a further risk of disaster.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk (pictured) said Putin 's military 'poses a very serious threat not only to Ukraine, but also to hundreds of millions of Europeans' in a Facebook post

Rafael Mariano Grossi said the IAEA was 'trying to be very active in order to ensure that as soon as possible, the situation is regressed, and the facilities are back in the hands of the Ukrainians'

Six power units generate 40-42 billion kWh of electricity making the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant the largest nuclear power plant not only in Ukraine, but also in Europe

Using old and badly maintained weapons increases detonation risk 'even when loading and transporting', Ms Vereshchuk added, claiming Russian troops carry the equipment through Pripyat, just under two miles away from the power plant.

'Further storage of hundreds of tons of ammunition is carried out next to the city of Chernobyl, which is also a short distance from the nuclear power plant,' she said.

She urged the UN to dispatch a mission to assess the risks, saying Russian forces were 'militarising' the exclusion zone around the station, which is the site of the world's worst civil nuclear accident in 1986.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency visited Zaporizhzhia, a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on Wednesday to meet Ukrainian officials and provide technical assistance.

Rafael Mariano Grossi said the IAEA is not involved in political talks with the Russians but added the agency was 'trying to be very active in order to ensure that as soon as possible, the situation is regressed, and the facilities are back in the hands of the Ukrainians.'

Ukraine has 15 nuclear reactors at four plants, one of which (Zaporizhzhia) is under the Russian military's control.
Surveillance video captured the moment a real-life meetup set up on social media became a gunpoint robbery after thieves burst into a New York City home during broad daylight and made off with more than $40,000 in luxury jewelry - including a diamond-studded Rolex watch, a $10,000 gold chain and at least $300 in cash.

Footage from the frightening scene was captured around 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Bronx, cops say, and shows one robber in a camouflage jacket and dark-colored pants pull a gun on the victim.

Cops said that the victim was an online acquaintance with one of the perpetrators.

'They came to know each other through social media,' a police source said. It's unclear which suspect the victim knew.

The attacker allows his target to take off his parka before forcing him to the floor in the home's living room and rifling through the man's property.

The robber then pulls out a cellphone - apparently to call in an accomplice - who joins him in stealing valuables from around the home.

Scroll down for video

Surveillance video captured the moment a home invader accosts a Bronx man during a brazen daylight robbery and makes off with more than $40,000 in jewelry

Footage shows one robber in a camouflage jacket and dark-colored pants (above) pull a gun on the victim and force him to lay on the ground

The first robber pulls out a cell phone and calls in a second suspect (above) - who joins him in stealing valuables from around the home

The crooks made off with at least $40,000 worth of property, including a number of valuable items of jewelry.

Police said a diamond-covered Rolex watch worth $27,000 and a Cuban Link chain worth $10,000 were both missing after the brazen theft, as well as the victim's cell phone, car keys and $300 in cash.

Both men fled the building, located at East 165 Street and Cauldwell Avenue in the borough's Morrisania neighborhood, just minutes after arriving in a black Mercedes sedan, cops said.
A personal trainer cheated an icy death while snowboarding on a glacier in the Alps  thanks to his smartphone.

Tim Blakey, 41, was using his snowboard off-piste, alone and at 10,000ft when he suddenly plummeted 15ft down a hidden crevasse.

It was only because he landed on a fragile snow bridge that he did not fall much further and die.

Even so, he was still on a rapid countdown to death until he realised that pressing the on/off button five times on the side of his almost out-of-battery iPhone would both call emergency services and give his location.

Tim Blakey, 41, pictured, was using his snowboard off-piste, alone and at 10,000ft when he suddenly plummeted 15ft down a hidden crevasse

It was only because he landed on a fragile snow bridge that he did not fall much further and die. Pictured: The view out of the crevasse Tim Blakey fell into

Last night Mr Blakey, whose phone was on just 3 per cent when he fell through the 3ft wide crevasse, said: I had a battery booster in my backpack and had to move very, very carefully to get it off and get it out. I had a 3G connection down there but needed it on long enough for them to locate me.

It was 20 minutes before I got hold of the emergency services and they told me not to move.

After the call, he gingerly took photos of his precarious situation on a snow bridge that could give way at any time.

Apples emergency SOS feature is set up on all its iPhones. To use it, those with the latest models need to press the power button on the top right hand side five times in quick succession.

Tim Blakey, pictured, used his iPhone emergency ability to alert emergency services and was rescued

Tim's view looking up at the sky from the snow bridge

A screen then appears with an eight-second countdown asking whether users want to continue with the call.

Unless it is cancelled, it will automatically call the local emergency number.

After the call has ended, any emergency contacts set up in the phone will be sent a text as well as the callers location.

Rescue volunteer Michael Schwarzl, an Austrian, was at the ski resort of Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where he works as a guide when he received the emergency call giving Mr Blakeys location. Mr Schwarzl, who led the rescue team, assessed the situation and summoned a helicopter to take them to the spot above Saas-Fee, near Zermatt.

After 45 minutes, Mr Blakey was on his way to hospital. A week on, the qualified physiotherapist and trainer was back home in London with only an injured ligament to an ankle, relieved to tell the tale.

Rescue volunteer Michael Schwarzl, right, an Austrian, was at the ski resort of Saas-Fee, Switzerland, where he works as a guide when he received the emergency call giving Mr Blakeys (left) location

Mr Blakey, originally from New Zealand, said on his Instagram account: A week ago to this very minute my appreciation for life changed dramatically. Michael and his team quite literally saved my life. I am still clueless as to how I will ever repay him and the Swiss rescue services.

Seventeen years snowboarding and the majority of those times spending a lot of the time solo and off-piste. Never solo again.

The last thank you is to Apple [and] their side button five click to emergency services  especially great when your screen is constantly being dripped on.

Mr Schwarzl, who has been a mountain rescuer for 25 years, said: He was very lucky to have a phone signal. Three days later, I attended a similar rescue nearby, but the person fell 100ft and died.
The White House Thursday said it stood by President Joe Biden's comments when he said in 2020 there had been nothing unethical in his son's foreign business dealings and that he never made money from China, following fresh reporting about how Hunter Biden profited from his famous father.

This week it emerged that Chinese company CEFC China Energy paid $4.8 million to entities controlled by Hunter and his uncle James five years ago.

Although the Washington Post did not allege that Biden was personally involved, it reported that Hunter Biden used his father's influence and contacts to secure the payments.

Biden defended his son when challenged by President Donald Trump about his foreign business dealings in the final presidential debate in 2020.

And White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said officials stood by his assessment that nothing was unethical and Hunter did not make money from China.

'We absolutely stand by the president's comment,' she said when asked by a reporter during the daily briefing.

She also declined to answer other questions about Hunter's business dealings and whether officials were considering a pardon for the president's son.

'As you know, I don't speak for Hunter Biden,' she said. 'So there's not more I can say on that.'

Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said the White House stood by Joe Biden's 2020 comments when he said Hunter Biden had not made money from China, despite a new report saying he made millions of dollars from a Chinese energy firm

'My son has not made money from ... China,' said Biden before directing his comments at Trump, during the 2020 debate. 'The only guy who has made money from China was this guy'

Hunter Biden's business dealings were a frequent attack line for Trump and his supporters during the election campaign.

A trove of emails found on Hunter's abandoned laptop provided fuel for their attacks, and the Washington Post is among the news organizations that have confirmed their authenticity in recent weeks - a year after the DailyMail.com began reporting on their contents.

Trump demanded that Biden address the emails, and details of the lucrative business deals they outlines.

'Nothing was unethical,' said Biden about his son's role on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma - despite lacking experience in the industry.

In an another exchange he addressed allegations about Chinese deals.

'My son has not made money from ... China,' said Biden before directing his comments at Trump. 'The only guy who has made money from China was this guy.'

The Washington Post story said documents - previously reported by DailyMail.com - showed that Hunter was paid a $1 million retainer in 2017 to represent his business partner Patrick Ho, a partner of CEFC, who was being prosecuted by the US government.

And it suggested another email suggested the president himself could have been involved in Hunter's business dealings with the Chinese.

Hunter Biden is currently the subject of a federal investigation into his foreign business dealings, including his time serving on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma

In September 2017 Hunter was planning to open a new office for his multi-million-dollar joint venture with CEFC at the House of Sweden, a Georgetown building home to the Swedish embassy.

He wrote to a building manager: 'please have keys made available for new office mates: Joe Biden, Jill Biden, Jim Biden, Gongwen Dong (Chairman Ye CEFC emissary).'

Biden Foundation board member Jeffrey Peck told the Post: 'There was never any thought  like zero thought or consideration  given to that building.'

The House of Sweden said they made the keys but Hunter never picked them up.

The Post's admission, hot on the heels of that of the New York Times, coincides with an apparent growing momentum in Hunter's federal prosecution over reported tax fraud, money laundering and illegal foreign lobbying allegations.

The New York Times reported that material from the laptop is part of the FBI's evidence in the case.

Bedingfield on Thursday dismissed a question about whether the White House would use its pardon powers to get Hunter of the hook.

'That's not a hypothetical I'm gonna entertain, she said. 'I don't have anything to add from this podium.'
A colleague of the man charged with Naomi Irions kidnapping says the suspect was acting suspiciously in the days around her disappearance.

Joel Santillan says he was being mentored by the accused, Troy Driver, 41, at mining company Ledcor near Reno, Nevada.

Santillan, 34, said he went to the FBI after Naomis disappearance, believing Driver may have dumped evidence or even the 18-year-olds body near the rural Nevada mines where they worked.

The mine workers claims suggest he may be the unnamed tipster mentioned by Churchill County Sheriffs Department in a Wednesday statement, whose information led to the discovery of Naomis body in the mountains on the edge of the county on Tuesday.

Naomi was kidnapped from a Walmart in Fernley, Nevada, about 30 miles east of Reno, on March 12. Surveillance footage showed a man waiting in the parking lot for her.

Her body was found on Tuesday, 17 days after she vanished. Police did not give an exact location where it was discovered.

Irion moved to the United States last year after living a sheltered life growing up in Russia, Germany and South Africa, a result of her father's job with the State Department

Joel Santillan says he was being mentored by Troy Driver at mining company Ledcor and he noticed Driver acting suspiciously around the time Naomi disappeared

Ex-convict Troy Driver, 41, is accused of kidnapping Irion from the Walmart parking lot in Fernley during the early morning hours of March 12. He made his initial court appearance before Canal Township Justice Court Judge Lori Matheus on Wednesday who ruled that his bail will remain at $750,000.

The Northumberland Mine in Nevada where Santillan said Driver could have dropped off evidence that tied him to Naomi Irion's kidnapping

No-one has yet been charged in her murder, although Driver has been accused of her kidnapping.

In a video posted on Facebook, Santillan accused Ledcor of trying to cover up their links to Driver.

He alleged that his former employer fired him because he went to the FBI, and the firm tried to wipe his company laptop and cell phone before federal agents could check them for evidence  including his conversations with Driver in the days around Naomis disappearance.

Ledcor spokeswoman Katherine Coutinho told DailyMail.com that Santillans claims were unfounded and that his firing had nothing to do with Troy Driver but she declined to give any further details about his termination.

She also said that Driver is no longer a Ledcor employee.

Santillan said in his Facebook video: I believe Troy Driver buried some evidence out at the mines, .

He was my mentor at Ledcor for those three weeks from March 7 until March 25, the day he got arrested at the office.

Media reports say Driver was arrested at his home, though Santillan insists it was actually at the Ledcor office in Reno.

We get there and he has to get out to pee. I get out and have a pee too. As I get out, you dont hear nothing coming from him, so hes not peeing Joel Santillan

They arrested Troy Driver at Ledcors office in Reno, guns blazing and everything, the mine worker said.

March 7 through 11 we were at the office for all week, pretty much.

That weekend was the weekend she got abducted, Naomi.

On Sunday the 13th Troy text messaged me saying he got subpoenaed to court for an underage minor. So he wasnt going to make it to work on Monday.

Santillan said Driver was always punctual, but on Tuesday March 15 he showed up 20 minutes late to their job in Eureka, Nevada.

Troy is never late to anything. Hes always early when the time is set. So he was late, after the weekend she disappeared, he said.

The pair then drove to four mines in the area, he said, ending at the Northumberland gold mine in Nye County at around 9.30pm.

We get there and he has to get out to pee. He never takes breaks, Santillan said in his Facebook video. I get out and have a pee too. As I get out, you dont hear nothing coming from him, so hes not peeing.

'I wonder if Troy actually dumped some evidence out at that mine. Thats very suspicious.

Santillan says he was fired from Ledcor after he went to the FBI with his suspicions that Driver was involved in the disappearance of Naomi Irion but the company denies that

Irion's family had told DailyMail.com that the 18-year-old was exploring life as a free, young American woman after growing up in sheltered communities

Please I hope to God he didnt kill her. But he could have disposed her body out there somewhere.

Santillan said the next day Driver made the unusual move of leaving him at the office to visit another mine near Eureka.

Im thinking the reason why is because he was getting rid of evidence of Naomi, he said.

I knew something was up with him, something was wrong with him. He walked two miles by himself Thats a perfect place to dump body parts or whatever that might be.

Santillan said Driver also suddenly got rid of his beard the following week, and told his colleague he went camping with the wife and kids  though Santillan said Driver is separated from his wife.

Santillan in the video he posted to Facebook in which he airs his suspicions about Driver

That was already a lie there, he said. Thats what made me believe that in fact he was the abductor, he was the kidnapper.

The 34-year-old claimed Ledcor fired him for speaking to the FBI, because his bosses did not want the company to be publicly associated with Driver.

They wanted me to not talk to the FBI and tell them evidence of where Naomi could have been at, he said.

For Ledcor to try to cover that up, or to get mad at me for telling the FBI what I know, is pretty upsetting.

Santillan claimed that the mining firm also tried to wipe his company laptop and cell phone before an FBI agent could check them for his communications with Driver.

The former mining worker posted screenshots of his text messages with a Ledcor staffer asking for his Apple ID and password.

Good morning Joel. This is [redacted] from Ledcor, the text said. I was very surprised when I was handed your Ledcor items. The reason for my text is to see if you can give me the passcode to the phone and the Apple ID and password set up on the phone please. I cannot wipe it and that creates a few issues.

Santillan replied: Sorry but that is not possible I gave all the stuff to the FBI already because theres important documents on there that no one let me get before I left nothing against you just against ledcors management.

Driver is a convicted felon who previously served 12 years in California state prison for his role in a methamphetamine dealer's murder

Naomi's brother Casey Valley ( second from left) and other members of Irion's family are pictured at suspect Troy Driver's court appearance on Wednesday

The body of Naomi Irion, 18 was found at a gravesite on Tuesday - 17 days after she disappeared

Surveillance footage also showed a hooded suspect apparently waiting outside of the Walmart parking lot in Fernley, Nevada for Irion that morning

Irion was seen in surveillance footage buying snacks at a gas station convenience store on her way to a her factory job before she disappeared on March 12

They arrested Troy Driver at Ledcors office in Reno, guns blazing and everything, said Santillan even though media reports have said he was arrested at home

So you know I just dropped the Ledcor cell phone with the police, the staffer added. They will be contacting you for all the codes so they can access the information

Santillan complained that he was paired up to work with Driver as his mentor despite the mans previous 15-year sentence as the accessory to the murder of a meth dealer and other violent crimes.

I dont know what Ledcors policy is. I know they did a good background check on me. Why didnt they do that to him? he said.

I was working next to him for three weeks. That guy could have f***ing murdered or kidnapped me.

Even from the beginning I called him out. I said this guys a f***ing weirdo, he added. Hes crazy. Troy Driver is definitely someone you do not want to f*** with.

Ledcor says it encourages its employees to contact law enforcement if they had any information about Irion's abduction and death

Coutinho, the Ledcor spokeswoman said in a statement to DailyMail.com: 'Ledcor has been fully cooperating with the FBI in their investigation and we encouraged all our employees to contact the FBI or local law enforcement if they had any information that could help in the investigation.

'We continue to reinforce this message.'

She also declined to discuss background checks they performed on Driver, if any.

We do not disclose information related to employee background checks. What I can tell you is Ledcor is in full compliance with local employment regulations, she said.

The company declined to comment whether law enforcement had been conducting searches or had recovered evidence  or Naomis body  from their Nevada mines.

In a criminal complaint filed Wednesday morning, prosecutors alleged Driver - who was apprehended last Friday in connection to her disappearance  'did abduct Naomi Irion and did hold or detain her for the purpose of committing sexual assault and/or for the purpose of killing her.'

He made his initial court appearance Wednesday, via video conference from Lyon County Jail, before Canal Township Justice Court Judge Lori Matheus ruled that his bail will remain at $750,000.

If Driver is able to post bail, he will be required to wear a GPS monitor as a condition of his release. He also must stay away from Fernley, Nevada, where Irion's kidnapping took place.

Driver is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on April 12 to determine whether there is enough evidence for him to be tried in state court.
Russia has set up a string of concentration camps around Kyiv where they are forcing captured Ukrainians to dig trenches, a human rights group has claimed.

Escaped prisoners and relatives of those still locked up have revealed the horrors unfolding in occupied villages just a few miles north of the capital.

About 500 people are being made to build fortifications for the invading army as well as repair military gear.

The captives are housed in at least five industrial units and basements where troops blindfold them and bind their hands, only feeding them when they have spare food.

Russia has been accused of setting up concentration camps around Kyiv and forcing Ukrainian prisoners to dig trenches by Ukraines Media Initiative for Human Rights (Pictured: a Russian camp near Kyiv taken over by Ukrainians, though there is no evidence that this particular one was dug by Ukrainians)

Captives are reportedly kept in five industrial units and basements while blindfold and bound, rarely being fed (pictured: serviceman of the People's Militia of the Lugansk People's Republic)

It has previously been claimed that more than 20,000 civilians in Mariupol had been shipped to labour camps in Russia. But nobody knew of the existence of such facilities in Ukraine itself. Pictures show the extensive First World War-style trenches the Russian army has dug around Kyiv in recent weeks which are now feared to have been made by the prisoners. Victims report being threatened with violence if they do not do as they are told, says a report by Ukraines Media Initiative for Human Rights. We were only fed when the orcs [guards] had some food, said an escaped prisoner. They gave us water from the heating system. Some of us were forced to dig trenches.

The mother of another victim discovered her son had been taken to Hostomel to work. An escaped hostage told her they were taken there for two days and her son was left with injuries to his hand. He has been missing for three weeks.

Troops have allegedly been scrolling through the phones of those in occupied territory to find excuses to accuse them of working for the Ukrainian military and arrest them.

It comes after claims that locals had sent pictures and videos of Russian forces to friends in Kyiv which have triggered counter-strikes.

A trench coat that was first Ukrainian then used by the Russian army and now under control of the Ukrainian army where heavy fighting has taken place in the destroyed village of Moshchun

The Russians came for our youngest son first, said Olena, another witness. He had a photo on his phone of something burning. They attacked him, threatened him with machine guns. Then my eldest came out and they turned on him. They saw a photo of the dam on his phone. He explained he works there, but they took him away anyway.

I said, Where are you taking my son? They said, Mother, we will give him back to you.

They have not seen him since after fleeing the village of Kozarovichi over fears for their youngest.

Testimonies from dozens of victims and relatives have been able to pinpoint where the camps are located. Sites include a plastic window factory, an abandoned radio engineering plant and a textiles firm in Dymer, 30 miles north of Kyiv. More are believed to be ten miles further south in the village of Sinyak while others are held at a glass factory in Hostomel  close to the suburb of Irpin which was retaken by Ukraine this week.

The invading army started taking mostly men as prisoners from the very first day of the invasion and have been putting them to work.

Taking civilians as hostages is illegal under the Geneva Convention.

The military of the opposing parties is forbidden to detain the civilian population without any grounds, said Ukrainian lawyer Vitaliy Hekal. Those who do not bear arms and do not identify themselves as members of the armed forces of the opposing party are considered civilian.
A helicopter crash that killed five people in regional Victoria was likely caused by bad weather, an aviation expert has claimed.

Avlaw Aviation consulting managing director Ron Bartsch said it was still too soon to determine the actual cause of the crash at Mount Disappointment on Thursday.

A pilot and their four passengers, believed to be meat farmers, died after the aircraft crashed near the popular picnic grounds at Blair's Hut.

Mr Bartsch said the helicopter flight operator Microflite had a near perfect safety record and there was only one possible explanation for the crash.

'The aircraft is a very common type of aircraft,' he told Channel Nine's Today on Friday. 'Six passenger aircraft, very reliable.

Avlaw Aviation consulting managing director Ron Bartsch said it was still too soon to determine the actual cause of the crash at Mount Disappointment on Thursday

A pilot and their four passengers, believed to be meat farmers, died after the aircraft crashed near the popular picnic grounds at Blair's Hut

'The company indeed has a very good safety record and is very well managed with new aircraft.

'Really at this stage, without speculating, weather is probably the main consideration at this stage.'

Mount Disappointment recorded a high of 21C and winds of up to 36km/h.

Controlled forestry burns were being carried out in the area while there was also low cloud coverage throughout the day.

Mr Bartsch warned 'it may be some time' before investigators determined the exact cause of the crash.

'Unlike larger air transport aircraft, these aircrafts are not always fitted with blackboxes, flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder,' he said.

'I know the Australian Transport Safety Bureau is on the scene. Normally they will hand down a preliminary report in six to seven weeks.'

The helicopter was one of two that left the Melbourne City Helipad on Thursday morning, flying in convoy over Mount Disappointment.

Mr Bartsch said the other pilot was the best hope of understanding what happened to the doomed helicopter.

A police helicopter and air ambulance were sent to search for the missing chopper but the terrain hampered their efforts until 11.45am on Thursday when the wreckage was finally located.

The casualties included a 32-year-old man from Cheltenham, a 50-year-old woman from Inverloch, a 73-year-old man from Albert Park, and two men from New South Wales aged 59 and 70.

Mr Bartsch warned 'it may be some time' before investigators determined the exact cause of the crash (pictured, a tree split in half near the crash site)

A police helicopter, five Country Fire Authority vehicles and paramedics, including the air ambulance, were dispatched to the area on Thursday

The helicopter was owned by Microflite Helicopter Services, a family-owned business based in Victoria that offers private flights and premium tours.

Microflite executive general manager Rod Higgins said in a statement that the pilot operating the flight was 'highly respected'.

'The service had been travelling as part of a two-aircraft charter when it lost communication with the second aircraft just after 8am,' he said.

Mr Higgins said the incident was reported to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority as per industry protocols.

'We will work with the relevant authorities to conduct a comprehensive investigation into this incident,' he said.

The helicopter had picked up the meat farmers from Melbourne City Helipad before reportedly heading north to purchase cattle.

The second helicopter returned to Morrabbin Airport safely with all onboard accounted for and uninjured.

Smoke (pictured) from controlled forestry burns in the area and low cloud cover hampered initial search efforts on Thursday

Five Country Fire Authority vehicles, police and paramedics, including the air ambulance, were on scene at the crash site of the downed helicopter on Thursday.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is also investigating and has sent a team from its Canberra and Melbourne offices with expertise in helicopter operations and maintenance, and aerospace engineering, to the site.

The experts will inspect the wreckage and site surrounds before retrieving any relevant components to take them to Canberra for further examination.

The ATSB will also analyse any recorded data and conduct interviews with those who have knowledge of the flight.

A preliminary report from the watchdog is expected in about six to eight weeks.
Anthony Albanese deflected five questions about whether he would raise taxes

Anthony Albanese deflected five questions about whether he would raise taxes

Anthony Albanese has refused to answer a question about whether Aussies will pay more tax under his election plan five times in a breakfast TV interview.

During a spectacular showdown with Karl Stefanovic on the Today Show on Friday, the Labor opposition leader refused to give a straight answer to whether he will be increasing taxes.

With the election set to be called within days, Mr Albanese had promised during his Budget Reply speech last night to reduce the cost of living and pay back the 'trillions of dollars of debt' amassed by the Liberal government.

However, he failed to explain whether he would hike taxes to fund those ventures.

On Friday morning, Mr Stefanovic and co-host Allison Langdon repeatedly asked the Labor leader about whether working Australians would pay more under his government - but he dodged the question each time.

Hours later, Prime Minister Scott Morrison fired up and accused Mr Albanese of being ill-equipped to respond to difficult issues: 'It's a very easy question to answer, Anthony.'

Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon (pictured) drilled Anthony Albanese about higher taxes

Mr Morrison's fiery response marks an opening round of what's shaping up to be a tense campaign, as the Coalition fight to maintain power before Australians head to the polls in mid-May.

In the interview, Stefanovic asked Mr Albanese: 'You won't be increasing taxes to pay back debt?'

Instead of providing a clear response, the Labor leader talked about new jobs, a crackdown on multinational tax evasion, and accused the current government of being dishonest about waste management and its use of taxpayer funds.

'Look, what we're doing is two things, Karl,' he began.

'One is that we'll stop the waste and rorts, the other thing is we have a plan for growth through our national reconstruction fund.'

'Our climate change reconstruction fund. Our climate change policy will create 604,000 new jobs by 2030.'

His response, which sounded very much like a repeat of his budget speech on Thursday night, was only interrupted when Ms Langdon asked again: 'But you won't increase taxes?'

Anthony Albanese (pictured) dodged questions about higher taxes five times in a TV interview

The opposition leader continued talking about the need for political transparency, while dodging the question.

'We've made it very clear we have all of our policies out there for all to see, for all to see, and we have a plan for growth,' he started, but Mr Stefanovic interrupted.

'Albo, Albo, I don't know that you're answering the question,' the host said.

'Yes, I am,' the opposition leader objected.

Mr Stefanovic asked again: 'Is it a yes or a no?'

Mr Albanese again insisted he was answering the question, but refused to address the question directly.

'Is it a yes or a no? Will you be increasing taxes?' Mr Stefanovic asked for the fifth time.

'We will be announcing our measure on multinational tax evasion,' the Labor leader replied in another lengthy rant about lowering the cost of living.

'We're not doing anything on the other measures that we've put forward during the last election campaign. All of our policies are fully costed.'

Scott Morrison (pictured) told Mr Albanese on Friday 'you just don't have the skills and experience to be able to deal with these difficult issues'

Anthony Albanese (pictured during his budget reply on Thursday) promised to reduce the cost of living

Mr Morrison seized on the moment during a press conference on Friday morning.

'If you can't answer on the first day we got out of Parliament that you won't increase taxes, people are starting to get a good look at you and that's what the election campaign is all about,' Mr Morrison said.

'The scrutiny that will come, Australians will make an important choice and you've got to be able to bear up to that scrutiny.

'You just don't have the skills and experience to be able to deal with these difficult issues.'

The 2022 election will be Mr Albanese's first as the leader of the opposition.

Mr Albanese used his budget reply on Thursday night to outline his 'real plan for a better future' and accused current Prime Minister Scott Morrison of having no vision.

Mr Albanese described the Coalition's Budget as long on politics, short on plans and spoke for a wasted decade as he made a bold prediction.

'No help or hope for young Australians. No vision for the future,' he said.

'Just one-off handouts to get through an election, with all the sincerity of a fake tan.

'I think Australians will see this for what it is. Actually, I don't think, I know. '

Anthony Albanese's five budget promises: - A plan to drive investment and jobs in cheap, renewable energy. - A plan to manufacture more in Australia. - Greater investment in infrastructure. - More opportunities in training. - Cheaper childcare. Advertisement

Taking pressure off the cost of living by making child care and power bills cheaper is high on Mr Albanese's agenda, along with an economy offering stronger wages and more secure work.

'After all the challenges and the sacrifices made during the pandemic, floods, and bushfires, Australians need and deserve a better Budget for a better future,' Mr Albanese said.

'A future where no one is held back, and no one is left behind.'

'Labor has a real plan for growth and prosperity  a plan to get incomes rising and costs under control.'

Household power bills will be slashed by $275 within three years, along with lower electricity costs for businesses under a Labor government.

Its $2.5 billion pledge to 'put the care back into aged care' and fix the current crisis were also revealed.

Other plans include cheaper energy, more manufacturing and training, fee-free TAFE places and renewed focus on Medicare.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Morrison accused Labor of running with a small-target strategy going into the election.

He described the Opposition as a 'tired old opposition with no economic plan' and called on the Opposition Leader to detail an alternative budget.

'I'm very used to the leader of the opposition thinking sledging the government is an alternative for an economic plan,' Mr Morrison told parliament.

'They've put up the white flag on the (government's) budget  because they know this is the economic plan Australians need that delivers real relief for real problems right now,'

'It's not an economic plan, what he thinks is that he can breeze into government ... without being upfront with the Australian people about what he would put in the budget.'
Ultimately, Rock declined to press charges, however police said in a statement Sunday 'if the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report.'

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Los Angeles police were prepared to arrest Will Smith after he slapped Chris Rock during the Academy Awards on Sunday night, but didn't at the request of the comedian, the show's producer alleges.

In a preview clip for his upcoming interview with Good Morning America, Oscars producer Will Packer claims police told Rock they would remove Smith from the audience and arrest him for battery.

'We will go get him, we are prepared to get him right now,' the cops said to Rock, Packer recalled. 'You can press charges. We can arrest him.'

Packer claimed Rock was dismissive towards police, but he encouraged the comedian to hear them out before making a decision.

'They were laying out the options, and as they were talking, Chris was being very dismissive of those options. He was like, "No, I'm fine." He was like, "No, no, no,"' the producer said.

Ultimately, Rock declined to press charges, however police said in a statement Sunday 'if the involved party desires a police report at a later date, LAPD will be available to complete an investigative report.'

However, Smith - who was presented with his first Academy Award after the onstage attack - will face 'disciplinary proceedings' with Oscars officials that could result in suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions.

'Consistent with the Academys Standards of Conduct, as well as California law, Mr. Smith is being provided at least 15 days notice of a vote regarding his violations and sanctions, and the opportunity to be heard beforehand by means of a written response,' the Academy said in a statement Wednesday.

A source close to the actor confirmed to The Sun that Smith and his lawyers are writing to the Academy to plead his case ahead of his upcoming hearing on April 18.

'Things are hanging in the balance. He will write an official letter to apologize, and effectively beg for their forgiveness,' the source said. 'He is also expected to hold a call with show bosses in the next 24 hours. April 18 is D-Day, though  he will find out if he still has an Oscar, and quite possibly, a career.'

Los Angeles police were prepared to arrest Will Smith after he slapped Chris Rock during the Academy Awards on Sunday night, but didn't at the request of the comedian, Oscars producer Will Packer claims

Will Smith is battling to save his career after he slapped Chris Rock (pictured) during the Oscars on Sunday night. The actor is reportedly writing to the Academy to plead his case ahead of his upcoming hearing on April 18

Packer's interview, which will air Friday at 7am on ABC, comes as insiders claimed Rock, 57, was never asked if Smith should be removed from the ceremony after the attack.

'No one ever asked Chris if Will should leave. They never consulted him. It was the Oscars producer Will Packer who made the final decision to let Will stay,' an insider told The New York Post.

The witnesses claim Packer walked up to the actor and said: 'We do not want you to leave.'

Other insiders echoed the claim, alleging the producer was 'the key' to Smith being permitted to stay for the remainder of the show.

'Packer walked out into the orchestra and conferred with Smith,' two witnesses confirmed to Variety. 'Packer said that he and the production "officially" wanted Smith to stay for the remainder of the show, according to one of the witnesses.'

Despite the allegations, Packer told GMA he he did not directly speak with Smith at the Oscars.

Reports also initially claimed that Oscars president David Rubin and CEO Dawn Hudson asked the Independence Day actor to leave the ceremony after the emotional outburst.

But sources who allegedly witnessed discussions amongst Academy leaders claim there was never any attempt to remove Smith from the ceremony.

Officials were reportedly split on whether or not to remove the star and although there were many heated discussions during commercial breaks, a consensus was never reached, TMZ reported.

Chris Rock briefly addressed this weekend's Oscars slap during a show at Boston's Wilbur Theatre on Wednesday before moving on to his regular set

News of potential disciplinary action against Smith comes as insiders revealed Rock (pictured in Boston on Wednesday) was never asked if the actor should be removed from the ceremony after the attack

Smith met with Oscars leaders on Tuesday to discuss the fallout from the attack, Variety reported. People familiar with the meeting claim Rubin and Hudson talked to Smith on Zoom for roughly 30 minutes.

One source alleged Smith apologized to the Academy leaders for his actions and expressed he was aware that there would be consequences. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air alum also attempted to justify why he snapped at Rock's joke towards his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, the insider claimed.

However, attendees at Wednesday's emergency meeting of the Academys Board of Governors told the magazine they did not recall Rubin or Hudson mentioning the alleged discussion with Smith.

Following the emergency board meeting, the Academy announced Smith had violated the groups code of conduct and faced 'suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions.'

The disciplinary actions could include a possible year-long ban from the Oscars, which would prevent Smith from being nominated for awards.

'They really feel they have to be seen to act,' an insider said of the Academy, according to The Sun. 'It's no wonder Will is seeking legal advice  he's likely to need all the help he can get to avoid sanctions.'

Sources familiar with the situation also claim the fate of his upcoming projects, including the Apple-funded slave escape drama Emancipation, remains in question.

'Production executives and studio chiefs do not want to be seen picking a side too early,' the insider said, noting that Smith is expected to return for a fourth installment of the Bad Boys franchise although no start date has been set yet.

In fact, sources the claim Academy never asked the actor to vacate the premise, despite many leaders feeling he should. Insiders allege the decision to let Smith stay was ultimately made by producer Will Packer (pictured backstage during Sunday's Oscars ceremony) who reportedly walked up to the actor and said: 'We do not want you to leave'

A source close to Packer (pictured backstage with Venus Williams) has denied that he encouraged Smith to remain in the audience

The Academy's statement in full The Board of Governors today initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy. Consistent with the Academy's Standards of Conduct, as well as California law, Mr. Smith is being provided at least 15 days' notice of a vote regarding his violations and sanctions and the opportunity to be heard beforehand by means of a written response. At the next board meeting on April 18, the Academy may take any disciplinary action, which may include suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct. Mr. Smith's actions at the 94th Oscars were a deeply shocking, traumatic event to witness in-person and on television. Mr. Rock, we apologize to you for what you experienced on our stage and thank you for your resilience in that moment. We also apologize to our nominees, guests and viewers for what transpired during what should have been a celebratory event. Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated. While we would like to clarify that Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently. Advertisement

The 53-year-old actor marched onto the Oscars stage on Sunday and hit Rock, after the comedian told a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

Rock's wisecrack was targeted at Pinkett Smith's buzzcut, a style she has embraced in wake of her alopecia diagnosis.

'Jada, I love you. "G.I. Jane 2," can't wait to see it,' Rock said to Pinkett Smith, whose close-shaven head looked similar to Demi Moore's in the 1997 movie, during his presentation of the award for best documentary.

Whether Rock was aware that Pinkett Smith suffered from a hair-loss condition is unknown, but Smith reacted with the smack and an angry warning 'to keep my wife's name out your f***ing mouth!'

Shortly after, Smith was announced as the winner of the best actor award and went up to collect his statuette to a standing ovation from many of his peers.

In his acceptance speech, Smith apologized to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - whose members vote for the awards, and who stages the ceremony - but stopped short of apologizing to Rock.

Smith initially laughed off the attack, writing on Instagram on Sunday evening: 'You can't invite people from Philly or Baltimore nowhere!!'

Yet as the gravity of the situation became clear, Smith then posted a public apology to Instagram 24 hours after the ceremony, saying he wanted to say sorry formally to Rock. He said his behavior was 'unacceptable and inexcusable' and left him 'embarrassed'.

'I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris,' he wrote. 'I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.'

Pinkett Smith's first public comment came in an Instagram post Tuesday in which she said: 'This is a season for healing and I'm here for it.'

Chris Rock looks shocked during the Oscars Sunday after Smith came onstage and slapped him for making a remark about Jada Pinkett Smith's haircut

As evidenced by her unamused expression, Pinkett Smith did not appreciate the joke

On Wednesday, the Academy announced it had launched 'disciplinary procedures' against Smith and alleged he ignored their request for him to leave his seat. They also apologized to Rock.

Two sources told TMZ Rubin and Hudson were 'furious' at Smith, and there was plenty of 'yelling' and 'heated conversations' backstage with his reps after the incident.

One source said the Academy officials were 'apoplectic.'

'The Board of Governors today initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy,' their statement said.

'Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, [but] we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.'

Smith will receive 15 days notice of a vote as well as an opportunity to be heard by written response.

At the next board meeting - scheduled for April 18 - the Academy may take action that could include 'suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct.'

Chris Rock stopped his fans from cursing out Will Smith during his comedy show in Boston Thursday night

Smith brushed off a tumultuous night by partying to celebrate the greatest achievement of his career: Best Actor at the Oscars

Initial reports claimed Dawn Hudson (left), the CEO of the Academy, asked Smith to leave, along with David Rubin, the president (right). However, people who witnessed discussions amongst Academy leaders claim there was never any attempt to remove Smith from the ceremony

Rock, who held a show in Boston on Thursday, stopped his fans from cursing out Smith.

'F**k Will Smith!' a fan shouted, likely in an attempt to show support for Rock.

'No, no, no, no, no...' the comedian replied, according to People, putting an end to the verbal attacks.

The night before, during his first public appearance since being slapped, Rock was also met with 'Will Smith' chants from the audience, however he did not engage with them.

The comedian did briefly address the slap during the show, noting that he still needs time to 'process' the assault.

The comic took to the stage at the Wilbur Theatre and asked: 'How was your weekend?'

The rhetorical question got a big laugh from the crowd, which occasionally heckled the Emmy-winning comedian about Smith's on-screen strike. But Rock warned those at the sold-out venue that the show would go on as planned.

'I don't have like a bunch of s*** to say about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I had like a whole show I wrote before... this weekend...' he said to more laughs. 'And I'm still kind of processing what happened.

'So at some time I'll talk about that s***... and it'll be serious. It'll be funny,' he said before an audience member shouted, 'F*** Will!'

'I'm gonna tell some jokes,' Rock concluded, before later clarifying to the crowd: 'I haven't talked to anyone, despite what you heard,' referencing rumors that Rock and Smith had made amends.

But some of the 3,000 fans in the audience - who paid up to $1,000 per ticket - are disappointed that the stand-up comedian avoided the topic on everyone's mind.

'We want our money back, I didn't pay $400 to see nothing,' one person told Fox News.
Ex-Busan vice mayor Yoo Jae-soo enters the court, Seoul, March 31. Yonhap





The Supreme Court finalized Thursday a suspended prison sentence for a former vice Busan mayor accused of taking bribes from businessmen during his earlier stint at a financial watchdog.







Yoo Jae-soo, who served as vice Busan mayor for economy from 2018-2019, was indicted in 2019 for taking cash and goods worth nearly 50 million won ($41,322) in bribes from four people, including heads of financial firms, between 2010 and 2018 while serving at the Financial Services Commission.







A regional court had earlier sentenced him to one-and-a-half years in prison, suspended for three years, along with a fine of 90 million won, but an appellate court later commuted the sentence to a one-year jail term, suspended for two years, and a fine of 50 million won.







The regional court convicted Yoo of taking 42 million won in bribes, but the appeals court reduced the amount of bribery to 20 million won.







The appellate sentence was finalized in the Thursday ruling by the Supreme Court. (Yonhap)






Households will have to pay an extra 60 a year on water bills to pay to fix Britains creaking Victorian sewage system  despite water company bosses pocketing millions each year.

Water companies dumped sewage more than 370,000 times into rivers last year for a duration of a staggering 2.6million hours.

But the cost of upgrading the failing sewer network will be passed on to customers rather than by utility companies making billions of pounds in profits.

Over the 65 years the improvements are expected to take, families across England and Wales will fork out almost 97billion  around 60 per year each over the decades.

Sewage is legally allowed to overflow into rivers during rainstorms to stop water works becoming flooded

Sewage is legally allowed to overflow into rivers during rainstorms to stop water works becoming flooded.

But it has a devastating effect on nature  just 14 per cent of rivers meet good ecological status. The Environmental Audit Committee branded Britains rivers earlier this year a chemical cocktail of sewage, manure from farms and plastics.

Anger on the issue has exploded in recent months  with the Government forced to make changes to the Environment Act compelling water companies to reduce sewage pollution, rather than just voluntary reductions after a public backlash.

The Government blamed a growing population, Victorian infrastructure and an increase in extreme weather events for increased pressure on our sewer system, bringing the frequency of discharges to an unacceptable level.

In 2021, sewage was dumped in waterways around 370,000 times, a slight reduction on the previous year of 400,000.

The Rivers Trust charity said the slight difference is in effect no change at all once variations in weather between years are taken into account.

Yesterday, Environment Secretary George Eustice promised that sewage dumping into rivers and streams would be reduced by 80 per cent by 2050. But the price would be an increase in water bills.

Mr Eustice said: We are the first government to set out our expectation that water companies must take steps to significantly reduce storm overflows. Today, we are setting specific targets to ensure that those storm overflows are used only in exceptional circumstances  delivering on our Environment Act and building on wider work on water quality.

Environment Secretary George Eustice (pictured) has promised that sewage dumping into rivers and streams would be reduced by 80 per cent by 2050

Highlighting the grave health risk from sewage spills into rivers, chief medical officer Professor Sir Chris Whitty said: The discharge of raw sewage, including from storm overflows into waters used by the public, should be an exceptionally rare event and we need to take action to reduce it substantially.

United Utilities, which allows sewage to be dumped in rivers and bathing spots in the Unesco-protected Lake District, made the most in operating profits last year at 602million. Its chief executive Steve Mogford earned 2.94million in the financial year 2020/21.

Thames Water, which made one of the highest operating profits last year at 488million, poured more than 2billion litres of raw sewage into the River Thames in just two days in 2020. Brandon Rennet, the former chief financial officer at Thames Water, earned 1.21million last year and Sarah Bentley, the companys new chief executive, made 1.23million.

As well as legal sewage dumping, water companies have been convicted of illegally disposing their sewage. Southern Water was fined a record 90million last year after pleading guilty to illegal discharges of sewage which polluted rivers in southern England.

Critics have hit out at the Government passing the cost of infrastructure improvements on to customers.

Liberal Democrat rural affairs spokesman Tim Farron said: This is a national scandal. The Government is letting water companies get away with polluting our rivers and poisoning animals for decades to come. The whole thing stinks.

Alex Sobel, Labours environment spokesman, said: For too long under the Conservatives, water companies have been free to dump raw sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas with impunity.
MSNBC host Chuck Todd tore into North Dakota Sen. Kevin Cramer for parroting former President Donald Trump's comments asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to provide any dirt he has on Hunter Biden.

The longtime TV journalist pressed Cramer in an interview for his comments captured by C-SPAN and CNN earlier this week  where he said Russian President Vladimir Putin should 'reveal' any information he has on Biden's son.

That comment echoed one by Trump, who solicited information from Putin even as his forces were carrying out a brutal invasion of Ukraine that has displaced millions of refugees.

She gave him $3.5 million so now I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it, Trump told journalist John Solomon in an interview at his own Mar-a-Lago home. 'I think we should know that answer,' Trump said. He was raising an allegation from the 2020 campaign when he accused Hunter of taking money from the wife of the late mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov.

MSNBC host Chuck Todd clashed with Sen. Kevin Cramer after the lawmaker echoed former President Donald Trump's call for Vladimir Putin to hand over any dirt he has on Hunter Biden

'Well I dont know if he has dirt on Biden. If he does, he should reveal it, but he is a war criminal so I dont expect that hes right now sitting around thinking about ways he can,' Cramer said in what appeared to be the latest example of an elected Republican playing to Trump's tune.

Cramer had familiarity with the subject when he first answered the question, saying 'Yeah, I heard that.'

Todd was having none of it. 'Why would you want to trust anything Putin had to say about Hunter Biden,' asked Todd, only hinting at Putin and his regime's reputation for disinformation.

Cramer at first called it 'sort of interesting because Russian collusion  we were gonna believe everything that was coming out of Russia a few years ago when it was about Donald Trump,' in reference to the Russia probe.

Then Cramer claimed his answer was 'was more sarcastic than anything,' than it was anything because I said this is a war criminal that he suggested provides evidence that there's been a crime committed by Hunter Biden.'

'Well I dont know if he has dirt on Biden. If he does, he should reveal it, but he is a war criminal so I dont expect that hes right now sitting around thinking about ways he can,' Cramer said, in comments in the Senate broadcast by CNN

Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) echoed Donald Trump's call for Vladimir Putin to turn over any information he has on Hunter Biden

Todd called it 'horrendous' to seek information on Hunter from an 'enemy of the free world'

Todd referenced his claimed sarcasm, then said, 'It comes across as almost a bit unpatriotic to ask, literally, the enemy of the free world right now for propaganda. For a political opponent. I mean, it just seemed like a horrendous thing to do by the former president. No?' he asked.

'Here's the reality. If if Hunter Biden's name was Donald Trump, Jr., Eric Trump, you guys would be treating the war in Ukraine like ...' Cramer pushed back.

Todd then hit him for making ''the laziest attack - it's not about the media.'

'It's also honest,' Cramer responded, as the two talked over each other.

It all came on a day when White House fielded numerous questions about Hunter's business dealings with China following a Washington Post report, which followed a long series of reports on business activities of the now-president's son.

Cramer is a former House member who was elected to the Senate in 2018.
Goldfish bowls could be banned in Belgium because of the 'stress' they cause to fish.

Round tanks often have a smaller water surface area than square or rectangular ones, which affects the amount of oxygen absorbed into the water.

A small surface area risks the 'health and wellbeing of the fish', according to Belgian government documents.

'We know that the round jar has an impact on fish stress,' animal welfare minister Bernard Clerfayt told La Capitale newspaper.

The sale of Goldfish bowls could be prohibited in part of Belgium over concerns on the impact they have on the welfare of fish (file photo)

The proposed ban, which would apply only to the Brussels-Capital region, would prohibit the sale of round bowls but not the use of them.

There is no corresponding law in Britain  but the RSPCA has also warned against fish tanks that have a small water surface area.

Mr Clerfayt added: 'We are not going to start controlling the size of the aquarium in each household. Prohibiting the sale of bowls would be much more effective.'

Fireworks and electric dog collars will also be added to the list of items deemed harmful to pets under the proposed 'Brussels Code of Animal Welfare'.

Belgium already has some of the world's strictest laws against animal cruelty.

The worst cases of animal cruelty are punishable with prison sentences of up to 15 years and fines of up to 10million in the French-speaking south.

In the Dutch-speaking north, MPs brought an end to the ritual slaughter of animals by religious groups, arguing that the animals must be stunned first.
The tiny baby girl was two days old and weighed barely three pounds. She lay in the ventilator under a blue light, adorned with tubes taking air into her lungs and vital nutrients into her blood.

Born 11 weeks early, the infant looked so fragile. But she managed to raise her right arm  with bandages swaddled around a deep-line catheter  as if attempting to give a cheery wave of greeting after we walked into the converted classroom. Beside her, in a second ventilator with its brightly-patterned curtains closed against the light, lay another tiny premature baby.

Adelina was putting on weight. So yesterday  seven days after her birth nine weeks early  doctors deemed her strong enough join her mother Nastya Mashevska in a room down the hospital basement corridor.

Nastya Mashevska was able to be joined by her baby in a room down the hospital basement corridor, she is currently at Zhytomyr Regional Perinatal Centre which has previously been bombed

Yulia Mykhailiuk (pictured), 33, believes she gave birth prematurely due to the stress from the war

Another child at the start of lifes long journey  and another medical miracle amid the atrocities of war.

These children were born in a maternity hospital that was forced to move expectant mothers and babies  along with doctors, nurses and even an operating theatre  into its basement where staff fought to protect children born at a time of conflict.

It was scary at first but you get used to it, although I am still a bit nervous about the situation, said Olga, the head nurse, showing me the premature babies.

No wonder. For outside the hospital entrance was the crater left by a massive bomb dropped from a Russian aircraft, alongside all the usual obscene debris of war such as piles of rubble, twisted metal, shattered buildings and buried vehicles.

The hospital has been hit by Russian bombs, with a crater outside the hospital entrance and lots of debris and damage inside

Many of the hospital windows were blown out, there were holes in walls of freshly painted wards and shards of sharp-edged shrapnel littering the car park.

Another bomb dropped at the same time damaged 25 houses just down the road, killing five people. And the depressing ruins of a destroyed secondary school scar the centre of Zhytomyr, home to about 260,000 people.

Even amid the inhumanity of Vladimir Putins war, there is something uniquely barbaric about bombing a hospital dedicated to new-born babies.

Zhytomyr Regional Perinatal Centre, a 150-bed maternity hospital 90 miles from Kyiv, tends to new-borns and infants with birth difficulties from a part of Ukraine that has seen extensive fighting along the eastern flank of Russias invasion.

As this conflict enters its second month, doctors say they are seeing a sharp rise in premature births due to the extreme stresses facing expectant women.

Nastya Mashevska's child was born 11 weeks early - something doctors are saying is becoming more frequent during the war

After war broke out, storage, staff and teaching rooms in the basement were converted into wards, an operating theatre and a room for babies on life support

They were not expecting problems with Adelinas birth since her mother, a 21-year-old student in international relations, was fit and healthy  but then her home town of Novohrad-Volynskyi became snared in conflict.

I am sure it was due to the stress of war since they were shelling it as an important military town, said Mashevska. I was in a state of shock after giving birth so early. My pregnancy had been perfect and it did not look like there would be problems.

Yulia Mykhailiuk, 33, said the birth of her first child had been normal but her second  a boy called Maxym  was born seven weeks early, forcing her to spend nearly a fortnight in the stifling hospital basement as he gathered strength.

I have no doubt this early birth was down to the war, she said. When you have planes going over your head and see your child hiding from the awful sounds, how can you not be scared?

Maryna Tyshchenko, 56, has been in charge of the maternity unit that was bombed by Russian forces for more than 15 years

Maryna Tyshchenko, 56, the obstetrician-gynaecologist who has run Zhytomyrs maternity unit for 17 years, said the number of premature births they were seeing had at least doubled in the war.

Her concerns echo claims by doctors at prenatal clinics in other parts of Ukraine, who are seeing soaring rates of pre-term births.

One doctor in Kharkiv, a city suffering horrific bombardment, said they comprise half of all deliveries now. Tyshchenko warns this is creating future problems. Any child born early is going to have some kind of health issues. They may not be serious but they will be noticeable, so we put all possible efforts into caring for them at this time.

When the war broke out last month, her team hastily converted storage, staff and teaching rooms in the basement into wards, an operating theatre and a room for babies on life support. In the first five weeks of conflict, 80 babies were delivered.

During our visit they had 12 prenatal and 8 postnatal patients, some sitting on beds with new-born babies in a long corridor beneath banks of heating pipes dangling from the low ceiling.

We can only do our best  and hope, said Tyshchenko. The doctor has devoted 32 years to this unit. Earlier she had tears in her eyes as she showed me around the damaged wards, telling how they had transformed the hospital since she started work there as the Soviet Union collapsed.

She spoke passionately about their efforts to provide the best possible care. But then came the bombing. The whole building started shaking, she said, sticking an arm through a door without glass. All this side was destroyed with glass blown into the corridor.

Serhii Sukhomlyn, the citys mayor, said Zhytomyr had suffered constant assaults and casualties from Russian aircraft dropping 500-kilogram bombs. The city has been targeted as a key point on the arms and aid supply route from Europe to the frontline. Attacks have meant there has been no heating for four days, and have damaged a water pumping station and hit a fuel dump.

Serhii Sukhomlyn, mayor of Zhytomyr, said 'The worlds second biggest army is trying to defeat the 22nd biggest and failing'

Russia claimed to have fired four missiles at the city from the Black Sea last weekend. Sukhomlyn believes they are being attacked also in retaliation for the fact that the region has provided the most recruits for Ukraines armed forces since the conflict with Russia began in Crimea eight years ago.

In the first two weeks alone, almost half the civilian population left the city. Having moved the families of 47 children with cancer from the city to Switzerland, then those of children with other medical conditions and learning disabilities to the Netherlands, there are plans to start moving thousands of children and wives of men on active military duty to four more European nations next week.

Sukhomlyn said this was due to reports that Putins goons in occupied areas of Ukraine are searching for relatives of people serving in the armed forces.

The worlds second biggest army is trying to defeat the 22nd biggest and failing. This is obvious for the rest of the world but Putin needs some smaller victories to present his people, he added.

So the war drags on, the death toll mounts, the destruction of schools and hospitals continues  and distraught doctors such as Tyshchenko, born in Russia, fight to save the lives of premature Ukrainian babies born in a basement. I cannot comprehend how someone with the same blood as me could do all this, she said.

Looking at those tiny infants struggling for life, I could not agree more  it is simply unfathomable.

Additional reporting by Kate Baklitskaya
George Conway, the husband of former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, said Thursday he'd like to see the 'files on Donald Trump' released if jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny ever came to power.

'I wonder some day that maybe we won't have a president in Russia who actually acts in the best interest of the Russian people and behaves himself before the world. Maybe President Navalny. Pray to God somehow that some how could happen,' Conway told CNN's Brianna Keilar. 'And maybe we'll see the Russian files on Donald Trump. I think those would be interesting.'

Conway's comments came on the heels of Trump saying he wanted Russian President Vladimir Putin to release any information he has on Hunter Biden's business dealings.

George Conway (right), the husband of former Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway, told CNN's Brianna Keilar (left) Thursday he'd like to see the 'files on Donald Trump' released if Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny ever came to power

George Conway pointed to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny (pictured), who is imprisoned, as a potential future leader of Russia in the aftermath of Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine

Speaking to Just The News Tuesday, Trump pointed to a 2020 Senate report that said the wife of the former mayor of Moscow, oligarch Yelena Baturina, gave millions to a company co-founded by Hunter Biden.

'She gave him $3.5 million so now I would think Putin would know the answer to that. I think he should release it,' the ex-president said. 'I think we should know that answer.'

George Conway is the husband of Kellyanne Conway, who served as Counselor to the President for Former President Donald Trump

The demand - similar to one Trump made of Putin during the 2016 election cycle to get dirt on his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton - comes amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which has resulted in deaths in the thousands.

'This is Donald Trump leading the Republican Party off a cliff,' said Conway, a Republican, but a top Trump critic. 'This is a man for whom there is no bottom and Republicans are afraid to call him out.'

'We are in the middle of this war where Putin, who can't be trusted for a moment, who murders political opponents, who slaughters women and children, and Donald Trump is focused on, what? Himself,' Conway continued.

'Because he wants revenge for losing the 2020 election,' Conway added.

Keilar had initially asked Conway about reports out this week regarding Hunter Biden.

The Wall Street Journal reported that a federal tax probe into Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings was advancing.

Additionally, Sens. Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson, who wrote the 2020 report Trump mentioned, started releasing new financial documents tied to Hunter Biden's business accounts.

Keilar asked Conway how bad he thought it was for Hunter Biden - and also for President Joe Biden.

Republicans have suggested Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings could mean the president is 'compromised.'

Conway said he didn't know what the political ramifications could be.

'I suspect they're not going to be that great,' he said. 'But the point is, we don't have a president who is saying "this is fake news, these prosecutors are corrupt." We don't have a president who is trying to disrupt the process of an investigation in the Justice Department to help somebody in his family.'

Conway added that he didn't think President Biden would try to pardon anybody ensnarled in the DOJ's investigation into his son.

The president kept the U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss in place due to the probe, despite Weiss being a holdover from the last administration.

During Trump's term in office, he fired FBI Director James Comey - as the bureau was investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and ties to the Trump campaign.

The Mueller report found additional ways the ex-president tried to meddle with the probe.

It was never confirmed what motivated Trump to try to scuttle the investigation, though there have long been rumors that the Russian government held 'kompromat' on the former American leader.
A man wearing army fatigues and a gas mask was shot by police yesterday following a tense stand-off.

Officers were called to the scene in the New Craigs area of Inverness at about 3pm yesterday after they received a report of 'concern for a person'.

They were confronted by a man in camouflage gear and a gas mask, brandishing what appeared to be knives in both hands.

Witnesses said he had abseiled out of his flat, which was believed to have been on fire. A police Armed Response Unit was dispatched to support uniformed first responders.

Astonished residents gathered in the street as police cordoned off the scene.

Images of the incident show a man standing in front of a block of flats below a smoking window.

Police spoke to the man for about 15 minutes. However, he then charged at officers swinging what appeared to be a chain, before being shot by police.

A man wearing army fatigues and a gas mask was shot by police yesterday following a tense stand-off

Police spoke to the man for about 15 minutes. However, he then charged at officers swinging what appeared to be a chain, before being shot by police

Armed officers could be seen standing a few yards away seconds before he ran towards them. Police then secured the man in case he was still a threat.

The man was taken away by ambulance as firefighters battled the blaze inside the first-floor flat of the three-storey building.

A number of residents in the block had to be evacuated as a result of the fire.

Police confirmed a 40-year-old man was arrested in connection with the incident and taken to Raigmore Hospital.

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: 'Officers attended at a property on Polvanie View in Inverness around 3pm on Thursday, March 31, following a report of concern for a person.

'On attendance, the property was on fire. No one was injured as a result of the fire and it was extinguished by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and a number of neighbouring residents have had to be evacuated.

'During the incident a 40-year-old man was shot by the police. He has been arrested in connection with the incident and has been taken to Raigmore Hospital for treatment where he remains with serious injuries.

'As with any firearm and Taser deployment, the circumstances of the incident have been referred to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner (PIRC).'

Officers from Police Scotland surround an armed assailant in a housing estate in the east of Inverness. The male had been attempting to set a property on fire when Officers arrived.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said it was called to the address at 3.14pm yesterday and had sent a number of fire engines to the scene

One witness said: 'I just feel bad for everyone else in that flat block, how terrifying.'

Several people took to social media to thank the emergency services.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said it was called to the address at 3.14pm yesterday and had sent a number of fire engines to the scene.

Police said inquiries are ongoing and have asked anyone with footage of the incident to contact the force.

Chief Superintendent Conrad Trickett said: 'We want to reassure the public that this incident is contained and there is no threat to the wider public.'

PIRC said: 'We are investigating an incident involving a 40-year-old man in Inverness on March 31, 2022. Our investigation will focus on the police contact throughout the incident with the man who is currently under arrest and receiving treatment in hospital.'
A chilling video released by the NYPD shows the moment a young man was casually shot in the head by the man he was out walking with.

Peter Panthier, 26, appeared to be out for a stroll with an associate in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of Queens on the evening of March 26 when he was slain, execution-style.

The killer raises the gun to an unsuspecting Panthier's head and fires at point blank range at least twice, and then runs away even as his victim collapses to the ground.

Murder victim Peter Panthier, 26, an economics student from Dominica who was shot in Queens on March 26 by an unknown associate

CCTV footage shows Peter Panthier, 26, walking with an unknown associate down a quiet street in Queens on the evening of March 26

In the same footage, the unknown associate casually produces a gun and puts it to Panther's head, and fires the gun at point blank range

As Panthier falls to the ground, the unknown associate flees the scene of the crime. He remains at large

An ambulance crew took the victim to St. Johns Episcopal Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Panthier, from the Dominica, lived with his family in Brooklyn and had no criminal record. He had only been in the US for a year and a half studying economics.

His family had no idea what Panthier was doing in the Far Rockaway neighborhood that night. 'He was a good boy,' his grandfather, Julian Dodds, said. 'Maybe he was too quiet. He was struggling with depression.'

'A car was waiting for him outside,' he added, 'and that was the last time we saw him.'

A search is now underway for the suspect, who remains at large.

The cold-blooded killing is just the latest example of the crime epidemic that has seized New York City, with the rates of shootings, robberies, rapes, hate crimes and assaults all rising dramatically across the board.

Felony assaults and shootings have seen a rises of around 18% year on year, while rape and robbery have jumped 33% and 44% respectively, with murder holding steady and being the only crime not to see an increase. Overall crime in New York has risen a massive 47.7% from this time last year.

In February a New York City Health Department Scientist was brutally attacked with a hammer before being kicked down the stairs of a Queens subway station by an ex-convict with a history of violence.

Nina Rothchild, 58, blamed the harrowing experience on the state's soft-on-crime bail reforms, which allow criminals who commit minor offenses to go free without bail, and says she is now too afraid to take the subway to work.

'I would love to see that policy undone and people kept incarcerated until the date of their trial,' she said. 'If you're accused of a violent crime, whatever your race, ethnicity, etc, I would like to see you incarcerated until the date of your trial.'

Nina Rothchild, 58, spoke out for the first time since she was pushed down a flight of stairs and hit in the head 13 times with a hammer at a subway station in Queens, New York, in February

The hammer attack came just one week after New York city Mayor Eric Adams announced his Subway Safety Plan initiative and deployed 1,000 additional officers, as well as teams of health workers, to crack down on rising crime in the subways.

The plan was unveiled following a spate of recent crimes committed by homeless individuals, including a break-dancer who was stabbed by a homeless man last Thursday and Michelle Go's murder, where the 40-year-old was pushed beneath a train last month by a homeless man with a history of mental illness.

Adams has also introduced a revamped version of a specialized police unit focused on getting guns off the streets, which began operating in March to fulfil one of the mayor's central campaign pledges as gun violence in the city remains above its prepandemic levels.

Adams has previously pleaded with lawmakers in Albany to reconsider New York's controversial bail reform laws that would allow judges to consider whether a person is dangerous before releasing them from jail.

But Democratic leadership has repeatedly rejected the mayor's request, and said they will not act on changing the law.

Adams said he wants to see changes in bail reform laws and other criminal justice measures, claiming they will bring down crime rates in the city and reduce gun violence.

In February, Adams outlined his plans for city bail laws, which often allow for suspects to roam the streets sometimes within hours of an arrest.

'Let's remove the cash bail system, because one should not be able to get out of jail just because you can pay bail. Let's take that away. Judges should look at the case in front of them and say, 'This person has two gun arrests, and he's continually saying to the people of the city that I don't care about the safety of you,' the mayor said.

'That judge should have the right to make the discretion that this person just be held.'
The Northern Lights are more commonly associated with putting on a show in the Arctic Circle.

But tonight the spectacular natural phenomenon could be visible as far south as Edinburgh because of a giant 'cannibal' solar eruption that is barrelling towards Earth at 1.8 million miles/hour.

The Met Office's Space Weather arm said solar activity had been 'at high levels over the past 24 hours', with 17 solar eruptions blasting from a single sunspot and two heading our way.

These have merged into a 'cannibal coronal mass ejection' and will cause a powerful G3 geomagnetic storm, according to US experts at The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).

They said this could bring the aurora as far south as Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Oregon in the US, while in the UK sightings are possible as far south as southern Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Not only that but cloud cover is expected to be relatively scattered tonight and into tomorrow across Britain, meaning skywatchers have every chance of a sighting.

They usually light up the Arctic Circle with dazzling displays, but tonight the Northern Lights could be seen as far south as southern Scotland and Northern Ireland (stock image)

The spectacular natural phenomenon could be visible as far south as Edinburgh because of a giant 'cannibal' solar eruption that is barrelling towards Earth at 1.8 million miles/hour

The CME arrival last night brought minor geomagnetic storms. With enhanced geomagnetic conditions, there is the chance for further aurora sightings across Scotland and Northern Ireland tonight, and possibly across the north of England if strong geomagnetic activity occurs pic.twitter.com/VkIUzG3ZqC  Met Office Space (@MetOfficeSpace) March 31, 2022

WHAT ARE AURORAS AND WHAT TRIGGERS THE STUNNING NATURAL DISPLAYS? The Northern and Southern Lights are natural light spectacles triggered in our atmosphere that are also known as the 'Auroras'. There are two types of Aurora  Aurora Borealis, which means 'dawn of the north', and Aurora Australis, 'dawn of the south.' The displays light up when electrically charged particles from the sun enter the Earth's atmosphere. Usually the particles, sometimes referred to as a solar storm, are deflected by Earth's magnetic field. But during stronger storms they enter the atmosphere and collide with gas particles, including hydrogen and helium. These collisions emit light. Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are common. Advertisement

Also known as aurora borealis, the Northern Lights are predominantly seen in high-latitude regions, so any glimpse across the UK is a rare treat for stargazers.

However, CMEs caused by intense solar activity can make it possible to spot the spectacle much further south.

The latest potential sighting has been made possible because of the sunspot AR2957, which has been shooting out flares of electrically charged particles from the sun's plasma soup since Monday (March 28).

Sunspots are areas on the sun's surface where powerful magnetic fields, created by the flow of electrical charges, become tangled and eventually release a huge explosion of energy that results in a solar flare.

Cannibal coronal mass ejections happen when fast-moving solar eruptions overtake earlier eruptions in the same region of space, forming a huge wavefront that triggers a powerful geomagnetic storm.

A solar or geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance of Earth's magnetosphere  the area around Earth controlled by the planet's magnetic field  caused by CMEs.

Although our sun gives us life, it also frequently 'sneezes', ejecting billions of tonnes of hot plasma into space in colossal blobs of matter threaded with magnetic fields  in other words, CMEs.

It emits gigantic flares, bursts of powerful electromagnetic radiation  x-rays, gamma rays and radio bursts  accompanied by streams of highly energetic particles.

CMEs usually take around 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth.

Cloud cover is expected to be relatively scattered tonight and into tomorrow across Britain (pictured), meaning skywatchers have every chance of a sighting

The latest potential sighting has been made possible because of the sunspot AR2957, which has been shooting out flares of electrically charged particles from the sun's plasma soup since Monday (March 28)

The Met Office's Space Weather arm said solar activity had been 'at high levels over the past 24 hours', with 17 solar eruptions blasting from a single sunspot and two headed our way

WHAT IS A 'CANNIBAL' SOLAR ERUPTION? Sunspots are areas on the sun's surface where powerful magnetic fields, created by the flow of electrical charges, become tangled and eventually release a huge explosion of energy that results in a solar flare. Cannibal coronal mass ejections (CMEs) happen when fast-moving solar eruptions overtake earlier eruptions in the same region of space, forming a huge wavefront that triggers a powerful geomagnetic storm. CMEs usually take around 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth. Advertisement

The Met Office said the next one is expected to arrive today, with its effects expected to continue into tomorrow and eventually weakening by Saturday (April 2).

The aurora appears when atoms in the Earth's high-altitude atmosphere collide with energetic charged particles from the sun, creating breathtaking colours of green with a hint of pink, red and violet.

It is more often seen in winter when the nights are cold, long and dark.

When a solar storm heads our way, some of the energy and small particles can travel down the magnetic field lines at the north and south poles into Earth's atmosphere.

There, the particles interact with gases in our atmosphere resulting in beautiful displays of light in the sky  the aurora, or Northern Lights. Oxygen gives off green and red light, while nitrogen glows blue and purple.

The aurora can be seen near the poles of both the northern and southern hemispheres. In the north the display is known as the aurora borealis, and in the south it is called the aurora australis.

The Northern Lights have fascinated people on Earth for centuries, but the science behind them has not always been understood.

Our planet has an invisible forcefield, the magnetosphere, which protects us from dangerous charged particles from the sun.

The magnetosphere is the area around Earth controlled by the planet's magnetic field.

Science expert Marty Jopson said: 'Whilst it shelters us, it also creates one of the most impressive phenomena on Earth  the Northern Lights.

'When the deadly solar winds meet Earth's magnetosphere, some of the charged particles get trapped, and are propelled down the Earth's magnetic field lines straight towards the poles.

'And when they reach Earth, they strike atoms and molecules in our atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light.'
The world's largest passenger airliner has completed a three-hour flight powered by cooking oil for the first time.

A test model of an Airbus A380 'superjumbo' aircraft, which was filled with 27 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), took off from Blagnac Airport in Toulouse and landed in Nice on Friday last week.

It became the first ever A380 flight to be 100 per cent powered by SAF and the third time an Airbus aircraft has completed the feat over the past year.

The aviation industry has pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, while the UK Government has set a target of aircraft using 10 per cent SAF by 2030.

The fuel, which cuts CO2 emissions by up to 80 per cent, can be made from waste oil and fats, green and municipal waste and non-food crops.

The world's largest passenger airliner has completed a three-hour flight powered by cooking oil for the first time. A test model of an Airbus A380 'superjumbo' aircraft, which was filled with 27 tonnes of sustainable aviation fuel, took off from Toulouse and landed in Nice last week

It became the first ever A380 flight to be 100 per cent powered by SAF and the third time an Airbus aircraft has completed the feat over the past year

HOW TO TURN COOKING OIL INTO AVIATION FUEL Cooking oil alone cannot be used as a fuel, but there are a series of steps that turns the kitchen essential into a a biofuel that powers aircraft. Used olive and Canola oil, according to GF Communications, are the best options for the task because these are darker than fresh vegetable oil. The next step, known as the conversion process, is to filter the oil by heating and reheating it until it hits at least 70F. A filter is used to catch food and dirt particles. Alcohol is then added to the heated oil, along with a small catalyst - usually sodium chloride. The process leaves behind two products  methyl esters and glycerin. Methyl esters is the chemical name for biodiesel and glycerin is used in a variety of products, including soap. Source: GF Commodities Advertisement

It can also be produced synthetically in a process that captures carbon from the air.

New jet engines can take up to 50 per cent green jet fuel, but Rolls-Royce said its Trent engines could be 100 per cent powered by sustainable fuel by 2023.

Airbus' A380 double-decker test aircraft MSN 1 took off at 07:43 (GMT) on Friday, March 25, operating one Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine on 100 per cent SAF.

This was made in Normandy by TotalEnergies and consisted of Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA), free of aromatics and sulphur.

The jet was the third Airbus aircraft type to fly on 100 per cent SAF over the course of 12 months; the first was an Airbus A350 in March 2021 followed by an A319neo single-aisle aircraft in October 2021.

The airline industry body IATA estimates that SAF could provide 65 per cent of the reduction in emissions needed by the sector to reach net zero by 2050.

However, green jet fuel is up to five times dearer than conventional jet fuel, and represents one per cent of aviation fuel used globally.

The cost could mean higher air fares unless the Government offers financial support, such as subsidies similar to those used to kickstart the offshore wind sector, a loan guarantee scheme to underwrite lending used to finance the production of green jet fuel, using revenue from air passenger duty or an emissions trading scheme.

Government involvement could unleash backing from City investors to reach the target of building 13 sustainable aviation fuel plants by 2030, each costing 300 million.

The UK Government has said the sustainable aviation fuel sector could create 6,500 jobs by the mid-2030s and boost the economy by 900 million.

Airbus said that all of its aircraft were currently certified to fly with up to a 50 per cent blend of SAF mixed with kerosene.

'Increasing the use of SAF remains a key pathway to achieving the industry's ambition of netzero carbon emissions by 2050,' Airbus added in a statement.

The company claims that flying planes on SAF could net between 53 per cent to 71 per cent of the carbon reductions required to meet that goal.

Global demand for jet fuel currently totals roughly 200 billion litres a year, but airline trade group IATA estimates just 100 million to 120 million litres of SAF will be produced in 2021, which is only 0.05 per cent of overall fuel.

Planes and engines capable of running without fossil fuels are being planned for around 2025 and 2030, depending on the model.

In December 2021, the final Airbus A380 ever to be built was handed over to its new owners, the Dubai-based carrier Emirates

In August last year the Biden administration announced that it was looking to wean aircraft off fossil fuels by 2050 as part of the White House's broader push to fight climate change.

The US President's team has discussed incentives and targets to increase SAF, but it is not taking the same approach as European governments that are seeking to force suppliers to blend rising amounts of SAF into their kerosene  a move opposed by US airlines.

In December 2021, the final Airbus A380 ever to be built was handed over to its new owners, the Dubai-based carrier Emirates.

The airline, which owns roughly half of the A380 fleet, looks set to continue using it for many years to come but several others stopped using the model during the pandemic.

The A380 carries 545 passengers, although in theory it can hold a maximum of 853.

The double-decker jet has four engines, an 260ft (80m) wingspan and a maximum take-off weight of 560 tonnes.
Ozone may be weakening one of Earth's most important cooling mechanisms and heating our planet even more than we realise, a new study warns.

An international team of researchers discovered changes in ozone levels in two layers of Earth's atmosphere.

In the troposphere (the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere), ozone has increased, which is bad news because it acts as greenhouse gas, trapping outgoing longwave radiation, and thereby heating the Earth.

Meanwhile, ozone levels in the stratosphere (the next layer up from the troposphere) have decreased, which is also bad news, according to the team.

Both of these changes have weakened a natural cooling mechanism of the Southern Ocean, and in turn contributed to warming of the planet.

Acting like a shield, ozone absorbs UV light from the sun. Its absence means more of this high-energy radiation reaches the Earth, where it can harm living cells. The ozone layer is depleted by chemical reactions, driven by solar energy, that involve the by-products of human-made chemicals that linger in the atmosphere. Pictured: ozone levels vary with altitude

False-colour view of total ozone over the Antarctic pole, March 28. The purple and blue colors are where there is the least ozone, and the yellows and reds are where there is more ozone

LAYERS OF THE ATMOSPHERE Troposphere is where humans live and weather exists, the lowest layer stretching up to about six miles. Stratosphere extends up to about 40 miles and contains much of the ozone in the atmosphere. Mesosphere sits just above the stratosphere where temperature decreases with height, reaching -130F. Thermosphere is where temperatures begin to increase with height, caused by the absorption of UV and X-rays. Exosphere starts at 310 miles and contains oxygen and hydrogen atoms, but in very low numbers. Magnetosphere features charged particles along magnetic field lines in two bands at 1,800 and 10,000 miles above the surface. Advertisement

The Southern Ocean contributes to ocean circulation, transporting heat from the equator to the poles, causing the planet to cool overall.

'The ocean absorbs excess heat from Earth's system, acting to balance the excess heat from rising global temperatures,' study author Dr Michaela Hegglin, an associate professor at the University of Reading, told MailOnline.

'As the Earth's surface warms up due to increasing greenhouse gases, water in the ocean soaks up energy (heat) and distributes it more evenly across the planet.'

Ozone (O3)  which causes a smoggy haze that can damage the lungs  is a molecule comprised of three oxygen atoms that occurs naturally in small amounts.

It is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOC), found in exhaust fumes, in the presence of sunlight.

It's already well known that at ground level, ozone can cause health problems for vulnerable people who suffer from lung diseases such as asthma.

However, further up in the Earth's atmosphere  in the stratosphere, between 31 miles and 52 miles above the ground  ozone is beneficial to us.

In the stratosphere is the ozone layer, a thin region that absorbs almost all of the sun's harmful ultraviolet light.

Smog is primarily made up of ground level ozone combined with other gases and particle pollution. Picture, smog over New York

WHAT IS THE OZONE LAYER? Ozone is a molecule comprised of three oxygen atoms that occurs naturally in small amounts. In the stratosphere, roughly seven to 25 miles above Earth's surface, the ozone layer acts like sunscreen, shielding the planet from potentially harmful ultraviolet radiation. It is produced in tropical latitudes and distributed around the globe. Closer to the ground, ozone can also be created by photochemical reactions between the sun and pollution from vehicle emissions and other sources, forming harmful smog. In the 1970s, it was recognised that chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons used in refrigeration and aerosols were destroying ozone in the stratosphere. In 1987, the Montreal Protocol was agreed, which led to the phase-out of CFCs and, recently, the first signs of recovery of the Antarctic ozone layer. At lower latitudes, the upper stratosphere is also showing clear signs of recovery, suggesting the Montreal Protocol is working well. Advertisement

Without the ozone layer, there would be severe increases of solar UV radiation, would would damage our DNA and make skin cancer more common.

For the study, the team used models to simulate changes in ozone levels in the upper and lower atmosphere between 1955 and 2000, to isolate them from other influences and increase understanding of their impact on the Southern Ocean heat uptake.

These simulations showed that a decrease in ozone in the upper atmosphere and increase in the lower atmosphere both contributed to warming seen in the upper 1.2 miles (2km) of the ocean waters in the high latitudes.

The increased ozone in the lower atmosphere caused 60 per cent of the overall ozone-induced warming seen in the Southern Ocean over the period (1955 to 2000)  far more than previously thought.

Changes to ozone levels in the upper and lower atmosphere were responsible for 30 per cent of the warming seen in ocean waters bordering Antarctica in the second half of the 20th century, the researchers found.

Ozone hit the headlines in the 1980s when a hole was discovered in the ozone layer high in the atmosphere over the South Pole, due to damage caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a gas used in industry and consumer products.

This discovery of the ozone hole led to the Montreal Protocol, an international agreement to halt the production of CFCs.

'We have known for a while that ozone depletion high in the atmosphere has affected surface climate in the Southern Hemisphere,' said Dr Hegglin.

Ozone hit the headlines in the 1980s when a hole was discovered in the ozone layer high in the atmosphere over the South Pole, due to damage caused by chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), a gas used in industry and consumer products. Pictured: a map of the ozone hole over Antarctica as seen on September 16, 2020

'Our research has shown that ozone increases in the lower atmosphere due to air pollution, which occurs primarily in the Northern Hemisphere and 'leaks' into the Southern Hemisphere, is a serious problem as well.

'There is hope to find solutions, and the success of the Montreal Protocol at cutting CFC use shows that international action is possible to prevent damage to the planet.'

The stud, which is also mauthpored byu has been published today in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The Supreme Court / Yonhap





The Supreme Court struck down Thursday not guilty verdict for a Navy captain charged with raping a subordinate female officer, sending the case back to the military high court for a rehearing.







In the first trial, the captain was sentenced to eight years in prison for raping the female lieutenant junior grade, but the military appeals court found him innocent on grounds there was no evidence of violence or other threats involved in the alleged rape.







According to court records, the victim underwent an abortion after being repeatedly sexually harassed and raped by another superior, a lieutenant commander, after she was assigned to the unit in 2010. She reported her situation to the captain, but he misused his authority and also allegedly raped her.







The lieutenant commander was sentenced to 10 years in prison in his trial, but the military appeals court also acquitted him. The Supreme Court plans to deliver a verdict on the lieutenant commander later Thursday. (Yonhap)






The Northern Lights, usually seen around the Arctic Circle, could be visible in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon tonight due to an intense geomagnetic storm.

The spectacular natural phenomenon is the result of a giant 'cannibal' solar eruption that is barreling toward Earth at 1.8 million mph.

The first warning of the geomagnetic storm was issued on Monday by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) - initially declaring it a G2 but since upgrading it to a G3.

Space Weather forecasters use the G-scale to describe the strength of a geomagnetic storm - caused by charged particles from the sun interacting with the Earth's magnetic field. G1 is the weakest and G5 is the most extreme.

The increase to G3 is the result of stronger solar activity, with 17 eruptions blasting from a single sunspot on the sun, and two of them headed toward Earth.

An SWPC alert said: 'Aurora may be seen as low as Pennsylvania to Iowa to Oregon.'

The Northern Lights, usually seen around the Arctic Circle, could be visible in Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon tonight due to an intense geomagnetic storm. Stock image

The first warning of the geomagnetic storm was issues on Monday by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) - initially declaring it a G2, but since upgrading it to a G3

WHAT ARE AURORAS AND WHAT TRIGGERS THE STUNNING NATURAL DISPLAYS? The Northern and Southern Lights are natural light spectacles triggered in our atmosphere that are also known as the 'Auroras'. There are two types of Aurora  Aurora Borealis, which means 'dawn of the north', and Aurora Australis, 'dawn of the south.' The displays light up when electrically charged particles from the sun enter the Earth's atmosphere. Usually the particles, sometimes referred to as a solar storm, are deflected by Earth's magnetic field. But during stronger storms they enter the atmosphere and collide with gas particles, including hydrogen and helium. These collisions emit light. Auroral displays appear in many colours although pale green and pink are common. Advertisement

These storms are normally harmless, although they can cause some disruption by affecting electronics and satellites.

A recent example was the loss of 40 SpaceX Starlink satellites, climbing to their desired orbit, due to a geomagnetic storm earlier this year.

SWPC says the storm of Thursday could lead to some irregularities in power system voltages.

It may also cause drag on low Earth orbit satellites that could interfere with their ability to communicate with Earth, and may cause issues with GPS navigation.

However, these are remote possibilities from a G3 storm, but could increase in risk if the storm is upgraded.

Also known as aurora borealis, the Northern Lights are predominantly seen in high-latitude regions, so any glimpse further south are a rare treat.

The latest potential sighting has been made possible because of the sunspot AR2957, which has been shooting out flares of electrically charged particles from the sun's plasma soup since Monday (March 28).

Sunspots are areas on the sun's surface where powerful magnetic fields, created by the flow of electrical charges, become tangled and eventually release a huge explosion of energy that results in a solar flare.

Cannibal coronal mass ejections happen when fast-moving solar eruptions overtake earlier eruptions in the same region of space, forming a huge wavefront that triggers a powerful geomagnetic storm.

A solar or geomagnetic storm is a major disturbance of Earth's magnetosphere  the area around Earth controlled by the planet's magnetic field  caused by CMEs.

Although our sun gives us life, it also frequently 'sneezes', ejecting billions of tons of hot plasma into space in colossal blobs of matter threaded with magnetic fields  in other words, CMEs.

It emits gigantic flares, bursts of powerful electromagnetic radiation  x-rays, gamma rays and radio bursts  accompanied by streams of highly energetic particles.

CMEs usually take around 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth.

The UK Met Office space weather division said the next one is expected to arrive today, with its effects expected to continue into tomorrow and eventually weakening by Saturday (April 2).

Space Weather forecasters use the G-scale to describe the strength of a geomagnetic storm - caused by charged particles from the sun interacting with the Earth's magnetic field. G1 is the weakest and G5 is the most extreme

The increase to G3 is the result of stronger solar activity, with 17 eruptions blasting from a single sunspot on the sun, and two of them headed towards Earth. Stock image

WHAT IS A 'CANNIBAL' SOLAR ERUPTION? Sunspots are areas on the sun's surface where powerful magnetic fields, created by the flow of electrical charges, become tangled and eventually release a huge explosion of energy that results in a solar flare. Cannibal coronal mass ejections (CMEs) happen when fast-moving solar eruptions overtake earlier eruptions in the same region of space, forming a huge wavefront that triggers a powerful geomagnetic storm. CMEs usually take around 15 to 18 hours to reach Earth. Advertisement

The aurora appears when atoms in the Earth's high-altitude atmosphere collide with energetic charged particles from the sun, creating breathtaking colors of green with a hint of pink, red and violet.

It is more often seen in winter when the nights are cold, long and dark.

When a solar storm heads our way, some of the energy and small particles can travel down the magnetic field lines at the north and south poles into Earth's atmosphere.

There, the particles interact with gases in our atmosphere resulting in beautiful displays of light in the sky  the aurora, or Northern Lights. Oxygen gives off green and red light, while nitrogen glows blue and purple.

The aurora can be seen near the poles of both the northern and southern hemispheres. In the north the display is known as the aurora borealis, and in the south it is called the aurora australis.

The Northern Lights have fascinated people on Earth for centuries, but the science behind them has not always been understood.

Our planet has an invisible forcefield, the magnetosphere, which protects us from dangerous charged particles from the sun.

The magnetosphere is the area around Earth controlled by the planet's magnetic field.

Science expert Marty Jopson said: 'Whilst it shelters us, it also creates one of the most impressive phenomena on Earth  the Northern Lights.

'When the deadly solar winds meet Earth's magnetosphere, some of the charged particles get trapped, and are propelled down the Earth's magnetic field lines straight towards the poles.

'And when they reach Earth, they strike atoms and molecules in our atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of light.'
The latest launch to the edge of space for Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket has finally gone ahead, after a number of delays earlier in the week.

It was scheduled to launch March 23 with a crew of six, including comedian Pete Davidson, but had to be pushed back, causing Davidson to withdraw from the flight.

Party America CEO Marty Allen, married couple Sharon and Marc Hagle, entrepreneur Jim Kitchen, Dr. George Nield from Commercial Space Technologies, and Blue Origin's Gary Lai made up the final six who rocketed to the edge of space.

Lai was instrumental in designing the New Shepard rocket that took him, and the remaining five passengers, 62 miles above the surface of the Earth.

The Hagles will be only the second married couple to travel to space together. Mark Lee and Jan Davis were the first, launching aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.

New Shepard launched just before 9:00 a.m. ET (2:30 p.m. BST) from Blue Origin's Launch Site One spaceport in the West Texas town of Van Horn.

The latest launch to the edge of space for Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket has finally gone ahead, after a number of delays earlier in the week

It was scheduled to launch March 23 with a crew of six, including comedian Pete Davidson, but had to be pushed back, causing Davidson to withdraw from the flight

Unlike Blue Origin's first three crewed flights, which featured passenger rosters including 'Star Trek' actor William Shatner, morning TV host Michael Strahan and Bezos himself, nobody on Thursday's flight was particularly famous.

'Saturday Night Live' comic Pete Davidson had been confirmed as a non-paying promotional guest on the latest flight, taking the spot previously occupied by aviation pioneer Wally Funk, Shatner and Strahan.

But he dropped out earlier this month when the planned launch was postponed from its original March 23 date to allow time for additional pre-flight tests.

Days later the company announced that Davidson, 28, the boyfriend of reality TV star Kim Kardashian, had been replaced on the latest 'crew' manifest by veteran Blue Origin designer Gary Lai, architect of the New Shepard reusable launch system.

Veteran Blue Origin designer Gary Lai, architect of the New Shepard reusable launch system, poses with angel investor Marty Allen, real estate veteran Marc Hagle and his wife Sharon Hagle, entrepreneur and University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen and George Nield, founder-president of Commercial Space Technologies

New Shepard launched just before 09:00 ET (14:30 BST) from Blue Origin's Launch Site One spaceport in the West Texas town of Van Horn

People watch at the Blue Origin site from a viewing area. The site in Texas has witnessed four crewed suborbital launches since July 2021

Lai flew for free, going up in the rocket he helped design, as a representative of the company he works for - rather than a paying passenger.

He joined five previously announced paying customers - angel investor Marty Allen, real estate veteran Marc Hagle and his wife Sharon Hagle, entrepreneur and University of North Carolina professor Jim Kitchen and George Nield, founder and president of Commercial Space Technologies.

Lai was one of the first 20 Blue Origin employees and has been involved in product development and planning of all programs at Blue.

'His passion for our mission, technical ambition, and leadership are values we all strive to emulate every day,' a spokesperson explained.

Party America CEO Marty Allen, married couple Sharon and Marc Hagle, entrepreneur Jim Kitchen, Dr. George Nield from Commercial Space Technologies, and Blue Origin's Gary Lai made up the final six who rocketed to the edge of space

Five of the customers, not including Lai, paid an undisclosed amount for the chance to fly 62 miles above the Earth, and experience a few minutes of weightlessness.

'I felt my skin pulling taut,' Lai said, of the ride on the rocket he helped create.

Lai's inclusion came after comedian Pete Davidson, the boyfriend of reality star Kim Kardashian, canceled his participation without disclosing a reason.

The remaining passengers include Dr George Nield, who founded Commercial Space Technologies to encourage, facilitate, and promote commercial space activities.

His career includes time with the FAA and NASA, including management of the Flight Integration Office for the Space Shuttle Program.

Jim Kitchen is a teacher, entrepreneur, and world-explorer who has visited all 193 UN-recognized countries. His profile says he has been a space dreamer since watching NASAs Apollo rocket launches in Florida as a child.

Marty Allen is an angel investor, and turned Party America into a large natonwide retailer. He mentors CEOs through his board activity.

Sharon Hagle founded Space Kids Global, a non-profit aimed at inspiring students to excel in STEAM+ education - including Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math - and encouraging them to persue a career n the space industry.

Marc Hagle is president and CEO of Tricor International, a residential and commercial property development corporation.

'Marc and his wife, Sharon, are avid philanthropists for numerous arts, sciences, health, and education-related charities,' Blue Origin confirmed.

The Hagles will become just the second married couple ever to travel to space together and the first to do so on a commercial space vehicle.

After launch, the reusable, zero greenhouse gas emissions rocket landed vertically at a pad, while the capsule continued soaring, crossing the Karman line that marks the start of space by some definitions. Others put the edge at 50 miles.

The rusable first stage of the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket performs its reentry following a launch from Launch Site One in West Texas north of Van Horn

Five of the customers, not including Lai, paid an undisclosed amount for the chance to fly 62 miles above the Earth, and experience a few minutes of weightlessness

After launch, the reusable, zero greenhouse gas emissions rocket landed vertically at a pad, while the capsule continued soaring, crossing the Karman line that marks the start of space by some definitions. Others put the edge at 50 miles

Passengers unbuckled and enjoyed a few minutes of weightlessness, taking in the majesty of Earth before the capsule re-entered the atmosphere, deployed its chutes and floated to the surface for a gentle desert landing.

Blue Origin was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who travelled to the edge of space on the first crewed flight of the New Shepard on July 20.

He was joined by brother Mark, Oliver Daemen, 18, the youngest person ever to fly to space, and aviation pioneer Wally Funk, 82, at the time the oldest person in space.

Since that inaugural flight, Blue Origin have sent New Shepard on its 11 minute hop to the edge of space a total of four times - including taking Star Trek actor, William Shatner, to space - making him the oldest space travel at 90.

Passengers unbuckled and enjoyed a few minutes of weightlessness, taking in the majesty of Earth before the capsule re-entered the atmosphere, deployed its chutes and floated to the surface for a gentle desert landing

Blue Origin was founded by Amazon's Jeff Bezos, who travelled to the edge of space on the first crewed flight of the New Shepard on July 20

After years of promise, the space tourism sector is finally taking off, with Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic the main suborbital players, and SpaceX the only orbital launch.

Elon Musk's SpaceX is targeting next week to fly three tycoons and a former NASA astronaut to the International Space Station on the Axiom-1 mission.

It is thought each seat, including a ten day stay on the ISS, cost $55 million, although the crew insist they're doing serious research work rather than going on vacation.

There is also a move to build commercial space stations, likely to include tourism elements, as NASA winds down involvement int he ISS over the next decade.
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Vibrant: Malta is being recognised as a world-class foodie destination. Pictured is a colourful street in its capital, Valletta

Waiters at the romantic rooftop restaurant describe the dishes with a wonderful mix of enthusiasm, passion and pride. Diners are distracted briefly as another gleaming super-yacht eases into Vallettas Grand Harbour far below.

And so begins another magical meal in Malta.

Here at Michelin-starred Ion Harbour, the first course of our tasting menu is served at sunset with aged Kaluga caviar, soaked in beef and oyster tartare and spritzed with ice-cold sake. Sicilian red prawns follow, filled with black truffle and wrapped in a sliver of lomo ham.

Later, as diamonds of light begin to dance across the distant water, our waiter proudly describes a dish of Gillardeau oysters with champagne sabayon, another dash of caviar and a fine dusting of Indian long pepper.

Its safe to say that Malta is in the midst of an extraordinary culinary transformation. World-class restaurants, boutique hotels and award-winning vineyards have sprung up across the island. In typically understated style, it has become the Mediterraneans go-to spot for a gourmet mini-break.

Food-lovers should start their adventure as I did, amid the rooftops of Valletta at the restaurant led by star chef Alex Dilling and part of the Iniala Harbour House hotel.

Food-lovers should start their adventure as I did, amid the rooftops of Valletta (pictured), says Neil

Magical: The Michelin-starred Ion Harbour rooftop restaurant, which overlooks Vallettas Grand Harbour

A beautifully presented fish dish at Ion Harbour

Next stop should be the ancient walled city of Mdina. Step through the main gate to find silent, largely car-free, twisting cobbled streets which reveal a series of baroque palaces, churches, convents and catacombs.

While Game Of Thrones fans flock to visit key filming locations, fine dining is its main attraction, and the De Mondion restaurant, part of the Xara Palace hotel, is the place to savour it.

Its another Michelin-star restaurant (there are five on the island) and meals begin with the likes of Gozitan octopus with unagi (freshwater eel), vegetable linguine and capers.

Main courses include a modern take on Maltas traditional fish soup, aljotta, now made with grouper, mussels and shiitake mushrooms.

For a sweet twist on dessert there are Araguani chocolates made with Venezuelan cocoa beans and an unlikely mix of squash, honey and espresso.

Once more, each course is meticulously described by staff who clearly love each creative dish they serve.

Wander through the twisting cobbled streets of the ancient walled city of Mdina - fine dining is its main attraction

At the De Mondion restaurant, pictured, meals begin with the likes of Gozitan octopus with unagi (freshwater eel), followed by a modern take on Maltas traditional fish soup, aljotta

Above are two delicately presented dishes at Mdina's De Mondion, one of five Michelin-star restaurants in Malta. Each course is meticulously described by staff who clearly love each creative dish they serve

The De Mondion restaurant is part of the Xara Palace hotel in Mdina. Above is one of the hotel's stylish suites

Drive across Malta (its 17 miles long and nine miles wide) and you may stumble on another surprise  one of a small but growing band of award-winning vineyards.

Connoisseurs increasingly praise Maltese wines, but as few are exported, the best way to taste them is on holiday. Labels to look for include Delicata, Marsovin and Ta Betta.

Book a private tour at Ta Betta in Taz-Ziri and youll get to walk around its vines, fig, olive and carob trees before sampling the results in its beautifully restored tasting room.

Make sure to explore Malta's small but growing band of award-winning vineyards. Labels to look for include Ta Betta, whose vineyard is pictured above

Book a private tour at Ta Betta (pictured) and youll get to walk around its vines, fig, olive and carob trees

'Connoisseurs increasingly praise Maltese wines, but as few are exported, the best way to taste them is on holiday,' says Neil. Above are some tasting tables at Ta Betta

Art is another big attraction in Malta - pictured is the stunning interior of St Johns Co-Cathedral in Valletta, which is home to a new Caravaggio wing

Prepare for a thrill when you stand in front of Caravaggios massive masterpiece, The Beheading Of Saint John The Baptist (pictured)

Back in Valletta, its not just restaurants and five-star hotels that reveal how Malta has switched its focus from beach holidays to a more sophisticated cultural experience. Art is another big attraction, and the new Caravaggio Wing of St Johns Co-Cathedral contains two of the artists darkest works  prepare for a thrill when you stand in front of his massive masterpiece, The Beheading Of Saint John The Baptist, the only painting to bear his signature.

More recent history also draws visitors. The story of Maltas fight to survive the Second World War is told in its forts, towers, tunnels and museums. The strategically important island faced some of the most severe bombing of the war  so much so that the entire population was later awarded the George Cross for bravery.

And in bouncing back from such utter devastation, Malta has quietly become one of the most satisfying destinations in the Mediterranean  and not just because of what those amazing chefs serve up.
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They say that home is where the heart is, but this list of incredible houses could easily steal your affection.

The judges of the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) 2022 Housing Awards have revealed their pick of the best-designed homes created by U.S-licensed architects  and they're totally stunning. Now in its 22nd year, the awards seek to showcase 'excellent design in the 21st century' across different categories, including residential design and affordable housing.

The award winners range from a luxurious surf-lover's treehouse in Costa Rica to a steel-clad Colorado home with views of the Rocky Mountains. Scroll down to see our pick of the homes that impressed the judges the most...

Highland Park Residence in Dallas County, Texas, by Alterstudio Architecture  Winner in the One and Two Family Custom Residences category

Highland Park Residence (pictured) 'eschews exterior grandeur for an extraordinary interior environment', says the AIA

Inside, the design combines raw and refined finishes, 'such as mill-finished steel that abuts Indiana limestone panels and handmade tiles from Mexico alongside elegant walnut cabinetry', the AIA notes

This house 'eschews exterior grandeur for an extraordinary interior environment', said the AIA.

Inside, the design combines raw and refined finishes, 'such as mill-finished steel that abuts Indiana limestone panels and handmade tiles from Mexico alongside elegant walnut cabinetry'.

Judges praised the home, which was designed to cater for a family with three young children and a large collection of contemporary art, for being 'stately in a refreshing way'. 'The design feels livable and intimate despite its size,' they remarked.

'This is a beautifully done house,' another jury member added.

Rio House in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, by Olson Kundig  Winner in the One and Two Family Custom Residences category

According to the AIA, this stunning property in Brazil was designed to make the most of the surrounding nature

Overall, the jury was bowled over by this 'masterfully designed' home, which brings together 'the elegance of Mid-Century Modernism' with 'architecture as a machine'

'Rio House is effectively a steel and glass box that rises into the rainforest canopy atop two concrete piers,' said the AIA of this jungle hideaway in Brazil.

According to the AIA, the house was designed to make the most of the surrounding nature, with its raised position intended to 'immerse the home's occupants in the site's jucara palm and Cariniana trees'.

The panel loved that the interior was shaped using traditional Brazilian construction techniques, such as board-formed concrete site walls and interior walls of colourful plaster over terracotta.

Overall, the jury was bowled over by this 'masterfully designed' home, which brings together 'the elegance of Mid-Century Modernism' with 'architecture as a machine'.

Costa Rica Treehouse in Santa Teresa, Costa Rica, by Olson Kundig  Winner in the One and Two Family Custom Residences category

The Costa Rica Treehouse (pictured above), which acts as an 'open-air surfers' hut', offers sweeping views of the surf at nearby Playa Hermosa beach

Judges adored this 'beautiful lantern in the jungle', adding: 'It touches the earth lightly and with respect. A masterfully simple home that elevates shelter to a poetic level'

Nestled in the jungle of Costa Rica's Pacific coast, this dwelling - home to a family with two young children - 'was envisioned as an open-air surfers hut'.

Built using entirely locally sourced materials, the house was inspired by the family's former temporary home: a tent that sat on a small wooden platform. The treehouse is intended to be a 'simple but more permanent fixture', featuring a top floor that stands above the tree canopy, offering the family sweeping views of the surf at nearby Playa Hermosa beach, said the AIA.

Judges adored this 'beautiful lantern in the jungle', adding: 'It touches the earth lightly and with respect. A masterfully simple home that elevates shelter to a poetic level.'

The Aya in Washington, D.C. by Studio Twenty Seven Architecture and Leo A Daly - Winner in the Excellence in Affordable Housing category

Pictured is The Aya, an affordable housing project that aims to help residents 'avoid any period of homelessness'

According to the AIA, this affordable housing project in Washington DC provides short-term housing for up to 50 families that need emergency shelter. Named The Aya, it aims to help residents 'avoid any period of homelessness', the judges said.

The structure, which predominantly serves young mothers with small children, features space for a nonprofit health centre to serve the surrounding community  something that is 'much needed as Washington's homeless population grows', noted the AIA.

It added: 'It's hard to believe emergency housing could be so well done. This design conveys respect for the community and those it serves. A lively composition of form with thoughtfully organised spaces and playful use of colour without excess.'

Rain Harvest Home in Temascaltepec, Mexico, by Robert Hutchison Architecture and Javier Sanchez  Winner in the One and Two Family Custom Residences category

All three roofs of the Rain Harvest Home collect rainwater and channel it into a reservoir for on-site treatment and storage

Judges described the dwelling as a 'laboratory for water conservation', adding: 'Unpretentious of its place and thoughtfully arranged, the entirety of the composition works toward conservation and ecological engagement'

All three roofs of this tripartite [made up of three parts] mountainside home collect rainwater, and channel it into a reservoir for on-site treatment and storage. The collected water accounts for 100 per cent of the home's year-round water requirements, said the AIA.

Some of it is used in the home's circular, open-air bathhouse. At 250 square feet (23 sq m), it contains a hot bath, sauna, steam shower, and washroom that all encircle a cold plunge pool that opens to the sky, the AIA revealed.

Judges described the dwelling as a 'laboratory for water conservation', adding: 'Unpretentious of its place and thoughtfully arranged, the entirety of the composition works toward conservation and ecological engagement.'

Goatbarn Lane in Boulder, Colorado, by Renee del Gaudio Architecture  Winner in the One and Two Family Custom Residences category

The architect built this steel-clad home (pictured) for his father, who was, said the AIA, looking to live 'live simply and respectfully amid Colorado's unique mountain landscape'

The 1,860 square ft (172 square m) abode is a 'simple yet functional design' the AIA said

Describing the home, the judges said: 'It's a beautiful story of a parent's home, thoughtfully composed with timeless materials and intimate spaces. The design responds to the site and its inhabitant with modesty and grace'

The architect built this steel-clad home for his father, who was, said the AIA, looking to live 'live simply and respectfully amid Colorado's unique mountain landscape'.

The 1,860 square ft (172 square m) abode is a 'simple yet functional design', and boasts a viewing platform that cantilevers over the first floor toward the snow-capped peaks of the Rocky Mountains.

The judges said: 'It's a beautiful story of a parent's home, thoughtfully composed with timeless materials and intimate spaces. The design responds to the site and its inhabitant with modesty and grace.'

Divine House in Eugene, Oregon, by Landry Smith Architect  Winner in the One and Two Family Custom Residences category

Divine House (pictured), built by a small team of local carpenters, shows a 'commitment to craft and materiality'

Overlooking Oregon's McKenzie River, the Divine House was built over a year by a small team of local carpenters with only the most basic elemental materials, revealed the AIA.

Inside, it's clad in plain-sawn white oak boards finished with simple hard-wax oil, we're told.

The 'low-tech', compact home wowed the judges, who commented: 'This design exemplifies the ambition of a simple and modestly scaled home elevated to notable levels of design by a commitment to craft and materiality.'

West Campus Residence in Austin, Texas, by Alterstudio Architecture, LLP and Mell Lawrence Architects  Winner in the One and Two Family Custom Residences category

The judges called this former student rental 'a model for living comfortably with less while still championing quality and elegance'

Here an old student rental has been transformed into a 'compact and efficient space'.

According to the AIA, the ground floor is open, but divided by different architectural elements, while upstairs, each member of the family of five has their own room.

The front porch takes advantage of its position beneath the tree canopy, remarked the AIA, which says that 'its tempered daylit environment [is] an important respite from the often-oppressive Texas sun'.

'This project is a refreshing departure from most over-scaled homes in this category,' noted the jury. 'It is a model for living comfortably with less while still championing quality and elegance.'

Ohringer Arts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, by Rothschild Doyno Collaborative  Winner in the Excellence in Affordable Housing category

'This is a transformative project for the neighbourhood and a spectacular demonstration of design and urban planning,' the jury noted of Ohringer Arts, pictured above

Set in a disused furniture department store dating back to 1941, this affordable housing-meets-arts-hub preserves an important piece of Pennsylvania's industrial heyday, according to the AIA.

The building's 40ft- (12m-) wide furniture showrooms have been transformed into apartment units, allowing artists to live and work on-site, says the architectural association.

'This is a transformative project for the neighborhood and a spectacular demonstration of design and urban planning,' the jury noted. 'The design team showed great respect for the building. It is a cheerful and witty project.'

For more information, visit www.aia.org.
When Luxe Listings Sydney first aired last year viewers were introduced to top real estate agents D'Leanne Lewis and Gavin Rubinstein, and buyer's agent Simon Cohen as the trio sought to dominate the hot property market of the harbour city.

Now, with Season 2 of Luxe Listings Sydney launching on Prime Video from today, viewers are being introduced to a brand-new queen of real estate and a fabulous addition to the already fabulous cast. Meet celebrated businesswoman, Monika Tu.

Monika is a record-breaking real estate agent who has sold around $2.15billion worth of property since launching her Black Diamondz real estate company just 13 years ago and brings a new energy to the Luxe Listings Sydney line-up.

New agent on the block: Monika Tu joins the cast of Luxe Listings Sydney for Season 2, which is available from today on Prime Video

Flying high: Viewers will see the Luxe Listings cast Monika Tu, Simon Cohen, D'Leanne Lewis and Gavin Rubinstein battle it out to secure and sell the most luxurious properties in the hottest real estate market Sydney has ever seen

So what does it take to be one of the high fliers in Sydney luxury real estate? Monika, 60, spoke to Daily Mail Australia and says her success is down to hard work and determination.

'I work seven days a week and I don't finish until 12am or 1am in the morning because I'm dealing with international clients,' Monika explains.

'Its a very long day but Im very committed to what I do. There are so many new opportunities for people like myself, Im 60 years old, I dont have too much time to waste, so I just maximise my work.'

Although Monika has established herself as a savvy business woman, creating a successful IT business before establishing Black Diamondz at the end of 2009, she says she looks to her Luxe Listings co-stars for insights.

Monika reveals: 'Ive only been in the industry for only about 13 years so Im the youngest among all of the agents but the oldest in age. Its a great experience for me to learn and I get along with them all as well.'

While there is plenty of rivalry between the agents on the show as they each battle it out to secure and sell the most prestigious listings across the city, with the properties showcased on screen more luxe and impressive than we've ever seen before, Monika says she's very different to her co-stars.

Incredible homes; The new season invites viewers inside bigger, better and more luxe properties than we've even seen on screen before

Cheers! Monika says that she doesn't see her co-stars as competition and describes herself as a 'creator' not a follower

Energy: Monika credits husband Jad with giving her energy

'I think secret to my success is that I look at how can I be different from everyone else. It's a very male dominated industry but I don't see it as a competition. I like to stand out. Im not a follower. Im always a creator. Im really good at looking at my heritage, understanding the Asian culture, I speak the language and Ive got a strong business background.' With a broad smile Monika adds, 'and as Im much older than my competitors, my younger husband gives me lots of energy.'

When describing Monika in a preview for the new series, Simon tells viewers Monika is known for 'her bling and her international clientele.'

But while the mother of one is impeccably turned out in a stylish Carla Zampatti dress and Paspaley pearls during our interview, Monika says she doesn't celebrate her sales with lavish purchases.

Living the high life: The 60-year-old might have the least real estate experience out of the group (having only been in business for 13 years) but she has proved herself as a savvy businesswoman during the course of her career

'I never celebrate, you cannot believe it. I celebrate every day instead. If I feel like I want to go shopping, I just do it. I love the finer things in life but I actually dont give a s*** about the material things. If Ive done a great job, I just think whats next. Ive done the job and I move on. I just focus on work but I do celebrate every day instead.'

It's this steely determination and absolute focus that has seen Monika have such an interesting career trajectory since emigrating to Australia from China in 1988.

'I used to have a really prestigious job in China, I was being driven around in stretch limos. I couldnt speak English but someone offered me the opportunity to come here and I just thought Ill give it a go. I came here and I started from zero so I started at Paddys Markets with my $2 bum bag but I worked seven days a week, I had to make the best of the opportunity and I have to make myself the Queen of the market. I was so proud.'

From the markets Monika built a successful IT business before retiring but realised she couldn't sit idle. 'I retired and I thought "Oh my God, what a waste of time," so I started again. Now being on Luxe Listings Sydney is definitely a career highlight for me. From a market stall holder to a TV celebrity!'

Whilst Monika shares her work life on screen in the new season of Luxe Listings Sydney, she also lets cameras into the home she shares with her husband and business partner Jad Khatter and her daughter Maylin, who also appears on the show. Monika says she's an open book and happy to share her life with viewers.

In her element: Viewers will see Monika bring other real estate agents together in a bid to co-list a $17million penthouse. Her playful personality makes her a joy to watch

'I choose to be in the public eye. Everything I do I try to do the best that I can. I have no problem exposing anything because I work really hard and I have nothing to hide. I hope that by sharing my story I will inspire others like me, especially migrants and especially the Asian community.'

Viewers can certainly expect plenty of enthusiasm and energy from Monika as the newest real estate agent on Luxe Listings Sydney this season, whether she's showing off Fendi furniture in a $17million penthouse or hosting a traditional Chinese dinner party for some of her co-stars - she's a joy to watch on screen.

So what advice would Monika give for anyone looking to emulate her success?

'Its never too late to start a career whatever you choose to be and when youve found your niche, who you are, what you do. Everything I do I have to enjoy it. Thats why whatever I do I never think of it as work, its just so much fun.'

The first three episodes of Luxe Listings Sydney Season 2 are now available on Prime Video. Click here to sign up for your 30-day free trial.
She knows how to turn up the heat.

And Megan Barton Hanson did just that in her recent Instagram snap, posted to her 1.6million followers on Wednesday evening.

The former Love Islander, 28, cut a busty figure in the snap - with a low plunging satin robe just covering her cleavage.

Busty: Megan Barton Hanson shows off her cleavage in a VERY low plunging robe in an Instagram post on Wednesday

The blonde beauty donned a full-glam makeup look for the shot, showing off her plump lips with a glossy pink nude and a bronze-pink base.

She was showing off her new hair in the post, as she's gone for a blonder balayage, with shorter extensions.

Offering a nod to her zodiac sign, Megan donned a diamante Pisces necklace with a dainty gold chain.

Exes: The post comes amid her recent drama with on/off ex James Lock, where she was reportedly left terrified after her hotel room door was 'kicked in'

She captioned the post: 'Love my new blonder shorter hair' before offering details of how her fans can get the same look.

The star, who rose to fame on season four of Love Island, often takes to Instagram to share sultry snaps.

And this revealing post comes amid her recent drama with on/off ex James Lock, where she was reportedly left terrified after her hotel room door was 'kicked in' during a heated row with the TOWIE playboy.

Megan had been staying at the 350-a-night Courthouse Hotel in central London, after she enjoyed a date with Life On Marbs star Adam Graham at the same club where James, 35, was also partying with a date of his own.

It is believed that TOWIE star James was then informed of Megan's room number, after convincing staff they were together by showing pictures of him and Megan.

Gorgeous: The star, who rose to fame on season four of Love Island, is now single - after the bust up with her on/off ex

Fired up: James reportedly kicked the hotel door in what was described as an aggressive encounter

James reportedly kicked the hotel door, with a lot of shouting during the 'aggressive' encounter.

The respective date night's came just days after they had split, after giving their relationship a second go.

Initially, James and Megan went Instagram official with their rollercoaster romance in October last year, after meeting on Celebrity Ex On The Beach, but their union lasted just two months before they split after Christmas.

Drama: The Love Island star was allegedly left 'terrified' and quickly alerted hotel staff who called the police

Raunchy! At the height of their romance, James gifted Megan with an array of gifts and a huge boob-shaped birthday cake, complete with a black lacy bra

They reunited earlier this month, with James gifting Megan with a cake shaped like her breasts - before the most recent split and bust up.

It seems Megan is ready to move on from the debacle, jesting that 'it's been a while' in a post to her Story on Wednesday evening.

The star said that she was looking to find a 'heartbeat' when she visited LA with pal Lottie Moss, alongside sharing an innuendo post.
Made In Chelsea star Olivia Bentley has detailed her years-long struggle with alopecia, as she threw her support behind Jada Pinkett-Smith in the wake of Chris Rock's Oscars jibe.

In a candid piece for The Sun, the reality star revealed she first began suffering from hair loss after going on The Pill at the age of 16, and has faced horrific abuse from trolls despite attempting to hide bald patches with wigs and hair extensions.

It comes after Jada's husband Will Smith furiously slapped comedian Chris during Sunday's Oscars after he joked that the actress, who has openly shared her own alopecia struggles, was set to star in GI Jane 2 due to her shaved head.

Ordeal: Made In Chelsea star Olivia Bentley has detailed her years-long struggle with alopecia, as she threw her support behind Jada Pinkett-Smith in the wake of Chris Rock's Oscars jibe

Olivia explained that she first began to lose clumps of hair after going on The Pill, and doctors later diagnosed her with alopecia.

The star admitted she managed to hide her bald patches by using hats and wigs, but still faced nasty comments from classmates.

She said: 'But when I was 17 I was devastated when a boy I was dating told me he would not have kids with me because he didn't want them to be bald.'

Hard: The Made In Chelsea star shared her own battles with hair loss as she slammed comedian Chris for his joke about Jada's own battle with alopecia at Sunday's Oscars

Difficult: Olivia revealed she first began suffering from hair loss after going on The Pill at the age of 16, and has faced horrific abuse from trolls

Olivia went onto reveal she faced horrific abuse from trolls when she joined the cast of Made In Chelsea in 2016, with one even branding her a 'bald b***h' when she shared her hair loss for the first time on social media.

The star went onto reveal that in recent months her hair has begun to grow back, and she's become more comfortable showcasing her natural hair inside of hiding behind extensions.

Olivia went onto laud Jada for speaking openly about her own battle with alopecia in 2018, while slamming comedian Chris for his 'personal and poorly-timed' joke.

Ordeal: She added one troll branded her a 'bald b***h' when she discussed her hair loss, and for years has hidden her bald patches under wigs and hair extensions

She added 'Chris's joke was a bad one. It didn't warrant being slapped but it caused upset all round.'

The shocking scenes that unfolded during Sunday's Oscars have divided fans online, with some lauding and others slamming Will for slapping Chris in the wake of his comment towards Jada.

The Independance Day star returned to his seat after the unexpected outburst, and could be heard shouting: 'Keep my wife's name out of your f*****g mouth' at Chris, who remained on-stage and continued his planned speech.

Mere minutes later Will was awarded the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in King Richard, and in his acceptance speech, Smith apologized to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences - whose members vote for the awards, and who stages the ceremony - but stopped short of apologising to Rock.

Rage: It comes after Jada's husband Will Smith furiously slapped comedian Chris during Sunday's Oscars after he joked about the actress' shaved head

Smith initially laughed off the attack, writing on Instagram on Sunday evening: 'You can't invite people from Philly or Baltimore nowhere!!'

Yet as the gravity of the situation became clear, Smith then posted a public apology to Instagram 24 hours after the ceremony, saying he wanted to say sorry formally to Rock.

He said his behaviour was 'unacceptable and inexcusable' and left him 'embarrassed'.

On Wednesday the Academy said it had launched 'disciplinary procedures' against Smith, and confirmed he ignored their request for him to leave his seat.

Dramatic: While the star attempted to brush off the shocking scenes, winning the Oscar for Best Actor minutes later, he issued an apology to Chris in a statement on Tuesday

Rock, who is yet to respond to Smith's attack or his apology, will be on stage in Boston on Wednesday night for his first show since the incident.

'The Board of Governors today initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr. Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behavior, and compromising the integrity of the Academy,' their statement said.

'Mr. Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, [but] we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.'

Smith will receive 15 days notice of a vote as well as an opportunity to be heard by written response.

At the next board meeting - scheduled for April 18 - the Academy may take action that could include 'suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct.'
Hayden Panettiere has 'become secretive' about her relationship with Brian Hickerson.

The 32-year-old actress - who has been in an on-off relationship with Hickerson since 2018 - is reportedly avoiding friends who do not approve of her boyfriend.

'She has cut friends out who are anti-Brian,' a source told Us Weekly Wednesday. 'She's become secretive with other friends. She takes ages to respond and sends one-word answers by text and cryptic messages.'

The latest: Hayden Panettiere, 32, has 'become secretive' about her relationship with Brian Hickerson, 30, following a recent brawl at an LA bar, and is reportedly avoiding friends who do not approve of her boyfriend

The news comes just days after the Nashville star appeared to get into a physical altercation involving her boyfriend, 30, and a group of others outside of a Los Angeles bar in video footage obtained by TMZ.

A source last week told People, '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.'

Panettiere and Hickerson have been romantically linked since August of 2018; she is mother to daughter Kaya, seven, with former fiance Wladimir Klitschko, 46.

The actress 'has cut friends out who are anti-Brian,' a source told Us Weekly. The duo was seen in 2019 in LA

The on-again, off-again couple was seen at an event in LA in 2018

In May of 2019, Hickerson was arrested in connection with domestic violence following an argument but the charges were later dropped. Prosecutors said in court docs that Hickerson 'willfully inflicted corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition upon Hayden P.'

Hickerson was arrested in July of 2020 in connection with hitting Panettiere, and subsequently faced eight counts counts of domestic violence and assault in the incident.

In April of 2021, he was sentenced to 45 days in prison after entering a no contest plea to two felony counts of injuring Panettiere 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. He wound up serving 33 days in custody, according to Us Weekly.

In a July 2020 Instagram post, Panettiere said, 'I am coming forward with the truth about what happened to me with the hope that my story will empower others in abusive relationships to get the help they need and deserve.

'I am prepared to do my part to make sure this man never hurts anyone again. I'm grateful for my support system, which helped me find the courage to regain my voice and my life.'

If you or someone you know are experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
Bindi Irwin has revealed her close bond with her in-laws.

Her husband Chandler Powell's parents, Chris and Shannan, last week flew from Florida to Australia to meet the couple's daughter, Grace Warrior, for the first time.

The meeting coincided with Grace's first birthday on March 25.

Family: Bindi Irwin (second from right) has revealed her close bond with her in-laws. Her husband Chandler Powell's (right) parents, Chris (left) and Shannan (second from left), flew from Florida to Australia last week to meet the pair's daughter, Grace Warrior, for the first time

The Covid-19 pandemic and border closures meant the Powells couldn't meet Grace in person last year.

Bindi, 23, threw a party for her mother-in-law, Shannan, at Australia Zoo on Thursday.

In a gushing Instagram post, the young conservationist said she was 'thankful for [her] friendship' with her in-laws and 'in awe' of Shannan.

'Grace is leading the way to birthday celebrations for her gorgeous grandma,' her post began.

Reunited: Bindi threw a party for her mother-in-law, Shannan, at Australia Zoo on Thursday

'Join me in wishing my mother-in-law a very happy Australian birthday. Thankful for our friendship and forever in awe of the way you love your family.'

Chandler added on his own Instagram: 'Happy Birthday, mom! Loved having you and dad here these last few weeks.

'Grace had so much fun celebrating her first birthday with her grandma and grandpa. And don't worry - Grace will always be there with her crocodile when we need it.'

Shannan and Chris live in Tampa, Florida, and also have another son, Cameron, who is married to wife Kristin.

Long-distance family: Shannan and Chris live in Tampa, Florida, and also have another son, Cameron, who is married to wife Kristin

Chris said of his trip to Australia to meet Grace: 'Love you three so much. The last three weeks have been such a blessing spending time with you.'

Bindi and Chandler wed in a secret ceremony at Australia Zoo on March 25, 2020.

They made the 'difficult decision' to host their wedding without any guests due to Covid restrictions, meaning Chandler's parents did not attend.

Tough times: Bindi and Chandler wed in a secret ceremony at Australia Zoo on March 25, 2020. They made the 'difficult decision' to host their wedding without any guests due to Covid restrictions, meaning Chandler's parents did not attend

However, Chandler's parents 'fully supported' their decision to 'just get married'.

Bindi and Chandler, a former professional wakeboarder, live on Queensland's Sunshine Coast and work at her family's Australia Zoo.

They have previously celebrated Thanksgiving in the U.S. with Chandler's family.
Peta Murgatroyd said her husband Maksim Chmerkovskiy is returning to the U.S. after his efforts in Poland to help his native Ukraine.

The Auckland, New Zealand native, 35, took to Instagram Stories Wednesday with a brief clip in which she revealed she was headed to pick up her spouse, 42, from the airport.

'I'm gonna go pick up my husband from the airport,' she said, with a sigh of relief. 'I am so excited, can't tell you.'

The latest: Peta Murgatroyd, 35, said her husband Maksim Chmerkovskiy, 42, is returning to the U.S. after his efforts in Poland to help his native Ukraine

The Dancing with the Stars alum, who shares son Shai, five, with Chmerkovskiy, sang, 'Come home to me.'

In the social media clip, Murgatroyd had her blonde locks pulled back with a long-sleeved white top, earrings and a pair of sunglasses resting atop her head.

Chmerkovskiy was initially in Ukraine's capital Kyiv to film a dance show when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, before he made his way to Poland and later back to Los Angeles.

He subsequently returned to Poland to use his platform to help people impacted by the invasion, teaming up with businessman-humanitarian Michael Capponi's Global Empowerment Mission and Bethenny Frankel's BStrong foundation to help provide the people of Ukraine with aid amid the invasion from Russia.

The Auckland, New Zealand native posted a brief clip in which she revealed she was headed to pick up her spouse from the airport

In the social media clip, Murgatroyd had her blonde locks pulled back with a long-sleeved white top, earrings and a pair of sunglasses resting atop her head

The Dancing with the Stars alum, who shares son Shai, five, with Chmerkovskiy, sang, 'Come home to me'

Murgatroyd opened up in an Instagram Stories Q&A last week as she fielded a number of questions from fans about dealing with the stressful family situation.

Murgatroyd said she had used a number of activities to channel her energy toward amid the difficult stretch, including prayer, focusing on her son, and 'keeping Maks calm and in a place where he is still actively working on helping people but also spending time with family.'

Other activities she listed included: 'Finding the balance. Breathing. Meditating. Talking it out to friends and family. Having gratitude for what we have here in US. We are so blessed.'

Murgatroyd, who wed Chmerkovskiy in July of 2017, said in her Q&A that while she has had her 'anxious days' watching her husband travel abroad amid the crisis in Ukraine, she feels 'he made the right decision' to return to Europe to help.

'There wasn't a way that he could stay and watch,' she said. 'I'm just proud.'

Chmerkovskiy took to Instagram earlier this month from a warehouse in Rzesow, Poland in a clip alongside businessman-humanitarian Michael Capponi, 49, whose Global Empowerment Mission is working to help the people of Ukraine amid the invasion

Chmerkovskiy and Murgatroyd were snapped in December in LA

Chmerkovskiy's younger brother Val Chmerkovskiy opened up to former DWTS partner Olivia Jade Sunday about the family ordeal amid the tumultuous time

Chmerkovskiy's younger brother Val Chmerkovskiy, appearing on Conversations With Olivia Jade Sunday, opened up about the family ordeal amid the tumultuous time.

'My brother was in Kyiv when the invasion started, and we were all really nervous, obviously,' Val, 36, said on the podcast. 'He was petrified, we talked about it, and he was grateful to get out. He is now right back at the Polish border trying to do whatever he can.'

Val emphasized how he hopes the situation abroad does not get normalized in the U.S. more than a month into the invasion.

'It's good that were safe here - the privilege of living in this country - but there are a lot of our friends and family and peers that are in Ukraine right now that are, like I said, in bomb shelters,' he said. 'And I think were getting a little used to hearing that word, and were kinda like, "Ok cool." No, no, no, you don't understand what that is. That means you don't have a home, and you have to hide in a shelter with nothing there.'
U.S. arms companies make big fortune amid Russia-Ukraine conflict

Xinhua) 13:12, March 31, 2022

WASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- As the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to unfold, casualties keep rising and its economic impact has been devastating, stock prices of major American arms companies on the other side of the world have surged.

Experts believe that the ongoing conflict will bring huge revenues to U.S. arms manufacturers, and the military-industrial complex will profit from the crisis in the long run, with continued lobbying for a more confrontational approach and higher defense spending.

U.S. defense firms are the indisputable top producers of the world's weapons. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the world's top five arms companies have all been American since 2018, and the United States accounted for 39 percent of global military expenditure in 2020.

Lockheed Martin, the world's top weapons manufacturer, saw its stock price surge over 25 percent since the start of the year, while the stock price of Raytheon Technologies is 17 percent higher.

Company executives had foreseen this. In a January earnings call, Lockheed Martin CEO James Taiclet highlighted the "renewed great power competition," noting that it would lead to higher defense budgets and additional sales. Raytheon Technologies CEO Greg Hayes, meanwhile, said the company expected to see "opportunities for international sales" amid the tension in Eastern Europe and other geopolitical tensions.

There are at least three ways in which the Russia-Ukraine conflict will bring additional sales to U.S. arms dealers: U.S. arms aid to Ukraine, ballooning U.S. defense budget, and growing defense budgets in many European countries.

DEFENSE BUDGETS HIKES

Immediately after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in late February, President Joe Biden announced that the United States would provide 350 million dollars in military aid to Ukraine. On March 16, Biden announced an additional 800 million dollars in security assistance to Ukraine.

According to a White House fact sheet, the two rounds of assistance package include 1,400 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 4,600 Javelin anti-armor systems, five Mi-17 helicopters and over 20 million rounds of small arms ammunition and grenade launcher and mortar rounds, among others.

Meanwhile, the Russia-Ukraine conflict has led to growing bipartisan consensus to increase the already elevated defense budget, with the Congress approving its largest-ever defense spending bill just weeks after, more than the president requested. The 1.5-trillion government funding bill allocates 782 billion toward defense, 5.7-percent larger than the previous year's package.

"Supporting defense department budgets is a very cheap form of patriotism!" Greg Cusack, a former member of the Iowa House of Representatives, told Xinhua.

"At a time when most primary opposition to existing congresspersons comes from the far Right, no one wants to toss any 'red meat' to such potential opponents by voting against 'providing our troops with the best that money can buy'," said Cusack.

The defense spending hikes don't seem temporary. On Monday, the White House unveiled a budget plan for the fiscal year 2023 calling for a boost in military spending. The budget plan totaling 5.8 trillion dollars includes 813.3 billion dollars for "national defense," of which 773 billion is allocated for the Defense Department.

Defense contractors are also eyeing additional sales in Europe, where several countries, including Germany, have announced they will increase defense budgets in light of the recent conflict.

"With more countries, Germany making a pretty abrupt shift towards increased military spending and focus on countering Russia militarily, that is a huge opportunity (for U.S. arms companies), " Erik Sperling, executive director of anti-war group Just Foreign Policy, told Xinhua.

Noting that defense spending across North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members are likely to grow, Sperling said many of the weapons "that NATO uses are gonna be overwhelmingly U.S. based weaponry. So that's all positive for the weapons companies."

PROFITABLE ARMS MANUFACTURERS

A recent report released by the U.S. Defense Department showed that since the 1990s, the defense sector has consolidated "substantially," transitioning from 51 to five aerospace and defense prime contractors, indicating an oligopoly situation, which means lack of competition and potentially excessive profits.

How profitable are the arms manufacturers? Their generous investment in lobbying might throw a light on this. A study from the Brown University showed that weapon makers have spent 2.5 billion dollars on lobbying over the past two decades, employing, on average, over 700 lobbyists per year over the past five years.

Sperling, a former congressional staffer, told Xinhua that he had dealt with arms-industry lobbyists and was familiar with their moves.

"One of the things they do that is very smart is they spread the jobs of the industry really across the country. So a huge number of congressional districts and states have thousands and thousands of jobs that are connected to the defense industry. So that means that it's very possible that, if someone votes for (defense budget) cuts, that they could be cutting jobs in their own district," said Sperling.

"The effect of having these relatively high paying jobs spread across the country makes it a real challenge to cut military spending for a lot of elected officials," he said.

"REVOLVING DOOR"

The indirect impact of the "revolving door" could also be significant. High-level former U.S. military officials and state department officials could be sitting on the boards of a lot of the arms companies, or are acting as consultants or lobbyists for these companies. People who have worked for those companies could then go back into the government.

"It creates a general climate where it's in the interest of many people both in terms of their ideology, but also financially and even personally to see to have at least a somewhat confrontational, militarized response to a crisis rather than a diplomatic one," Sperling said.

"Certainly it's not in the interest of weapons companies to see issues resolved diplomatically, it's in their interest to see ... military tension that requires arms buildups," Sperling said.

"There's not very much money to be made in diplomacy, usually," he added.

Former Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, a 2020 presidential candidate, told Fox News in mid-February that warmongers on both sides of Washington had been drumming up tensions, and if a Russia-Ukraine war broke out, the military-industrial complex would make a ton more money than they had been in fighting al-Qaida or making weapons for al-Qaida.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Cheong Wa Dae / Yonhap





Cheong Wa Dae, Korea's presidential office surrounded by vast green areas in the heart of Seoul, will likely be turned into a space for various cultural events as well as a public park under President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's incoming government, transition team officials said Thursday.







Yoon's transition committee is considering transforming Cheong Wa Dae into a space for K-pop and Korean traditional music performances and various other cultural events, the officials said.







Yoon has vowed to relocate the presidential office to Yongsan, central Seoul, and return the Cheong Wa Dae compound to the people after his May 10 inauguration.







Cheong Wa Dae, situated at the foot of Mount Bukak behind the Gyeongbok Palace, the main palace of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), has been the venue of the presidential office and residence for the past 74 years after the Korean government was established in 1948. The 250,000-square-meter (62 acres) compound is 3.4 times larger than the White House.







"Cheong Wa Dae will be completely opened to the public and refurbished after Yoon's inauguration," a transition team official said. "In particular, the space will be used for cultural events, such as joint performances of K-pop and Korean traditional music," the official said.







The transition committee plans to convert Cheong Wa Dae's open spaces into those for performances, exhibitions and people's physical activities, among others, according to the officials.







It also plans to develop various walking trails for the public in and around Cheong Wa Dae, while trying to keep its main buildings and facilities intact, they said.







The construction of a contemporary history hall where visitors can learn about the experiences of former presidents and a historical and cultural space with the theme of the Korean alphabet, hangeul, are also being considered, they added.







The state-run Korea Culture Tourism Institute has recently reported to the transition committee that the opening of Cheong Wa Dae to the public is expected to generate at least 200 billion won ($165 million) in economic effects annually. (Yonhap)


He has been earning mostly positive reviews for his portrayal of disgraced WeWork CEO Adam Neumann.

But Jared Leto looked as if he was totally committed to his newest project when he hit the red carpet of a fan screening of his new supervillain origin film Morbius  which opens on April 1  in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The 50-year-old actor and rocker looked years younger than his true age as he hit the red carpet in a lustrous white satin suit and a cape while joined by Bella Thorne and his costars Tyrese Gibson, Adria Arjona and Al Madrigal.

Man of the hour: Jared Leto, 50, showed off his opulent rock star style in a striking white outfit at a special fan screening of his supervillain origin film Morbius on Wednesday

Jared stars in the Marvel film  which is distributed by Sony Pictures, rather than Marvel Cinematic Universe distributor Disney  as Dr. Michael Morbius, a gifted scientist who suffers from a rare blood disease.

When he develops a cure for his condition, he inadvertently gives himself extraordinary physical abilities, but he also instills a debilitating need for human blood.

Although trailers for the film suggest the movie have emphasized its dark, shadow-bathed visuals, the 30 Seconds to Mars frontman rocked a bright white ensemble at the special fan screening in LA.

He was dressed up in a lustrous white stain jacket and matching pants, and he showed off a hint of his toned chest under his plunging sheer lavender shirt.

Brainy: Jared stars in Morbius as Dr. Michael Morbius, a gifted scientist who suffers from a rare blood disease

Unintended consequences: When he develops a cure for his condition, he inadvertently gives himself extraordinary physical abilities, but he also instills a debilitating need for human blood

Suited up: He was dressed up in a lustrous white stain jacket and matching pants

Looking good: He showed off a hint of his toned chest under his plunging sheer lavender shirt

Made up: The Oscar winner initially wore a chunky pair of black sunglasses, before removing them to reveal his dark eyeshadow and eyeliner

Over the top: Jared paired his suit with a cape decorated with a cream-colored frilly collar and featuring white lace that draped down to the ground

Calm: The veteran entertainer flashed a peace sign as he made his entrance on the red carpet

Jared paired his suit with a cape decorated with a cream-colored frilly collar and featuring white lace that draped down to the ground.

He rounded out his eye-catching look with silver boots, and sported long hair and thick beard.

The Oscar winner initially wore a chunky pair of black sunglasses, before removing them to reveal his dark eyeshadow and eyeliner.

Joining him on the red carpet was actress Bella Thorne, who put on a very risque display in a red dress that was decorated with a woman's fake nude figure.

The Syndical Chamber dress, which costs around $500 dollars from the brand's website, featured three spaghetti straps and hugged the actress and DJ's figure.

She elevated her 5ft8in figure with a pair of sparkling red stilettos, and she wore her long strawberry blond hair parted down the middle.

Upbeat: Tyrese Gibson, who plays Simon Stroud in the motion picture, donned a khaki coat over a white button-up top with jeans and sneakers

Painted on: Bella Thorne put on a very risque display in a red dress that was decorated with a woman's fake nude figure. The Syndical Chamber dress, which costs around $500 dollars from the brand's website, featured three spaghetti straps and hugged the actress and DJ's figure

Standing tall: She elevated her 5ft8in figure with a pair of sparkling red stilettos, and she wore her long strawberry blond hair parted down the middle

Bella was accompanied by her sister Dani Thorne, who looked edgy in a black leather bra top that showed off her flat tummy and plenty of underboob.

She matched it with black leather shorts and wore a black collar around her neck that was decorated with silver spikes.

The musician towered in black platform boots with thick straps running up her knees, and she carried a slim black quilted clutch.

Playful style: Bella was accompanied by her sister Dani Thorne, who looked edgy in a black leather bra top that showed off her flat tummy and plenty of underboob

Edgy: She matched it with black leather shorts and wore a black collar around her neck that was decorated with silver spikes. The musician towered in black platform boots with thick straps running up her knees, and she carried a slim black quilted clutch

Focused: Singer and influencer Lil Huddy paired a black leather jacket with jeans on the red carpet

Tyrese Gibson, who plays an FBI agent on Morbius' trail in the film, paired a tasteful tan overcoat with distressed grayblue jeans, cream-colored trainers and a tie-free white shirt.

Comedian Al Madrigal, who plays his partner, looked classy in a textured black suit with lustrous peaked lapels and a matching black shirt.

Adria Arjona stars in Morbius as the title characters fiancee, and a fellow scientist.

She had all eyes on her in a stunning black off-the-shoulder Vivienne Westwood dress with a plunging neckline and slim sleeves that rested around her arms.

The glamorous look featured a high slit to reveal her trim legs and black open-toe stilettos that strapped around her ankles.

The model Mari Fonseca was also in attendance, and she put on a sizzling display in a shimmering green top that was only buttoned just below her neck to highlight her toned midriff.

She wore matching pants and gold open-toe heels while sweeping her luscious brunette locks over one shoulder.

Costars: Tyrese Gibson (L) paired a tasteful tan overcoat with distressed grayblue jeans, cream-colored trainers and a tie-free white shirt. Comedian Al Madrigal (R) looked classy in a textured black suit with lustrous peaked lapels and a matching black shirt

Stunner: Adria Arjona stars in Morbius as the title characters fiancee, and a fellow scientist. She had all eyes on her in a stunning black off-the-shoulder Vivienne Westwood dress with a plunging neckline and slim sleeves that rested around her arms

Seeing green: The model Mari Fonseca was also in attendance, and she put on a sizzling display in a shimmering green top that was only buttoned just below her neck to highlight her toned midriff

Stunning: Model Jocelyn Chew looked amazing in a white pantsuit with matching heels

Coming soon: Morbius will be released on April 1; (LR) Tyrese Gibson, Adria Arjona, Jared Leto and Al Madrigal

Opening up: Leto chat with the audience alongside Arjona at the screening in Southern California

Support: Leto and his collaborators stood in front of a screen showing the audiences in different cities taking in the new motion picture
Love Island Australia star Erin Barnett has debuted her new nose after visiting a cosmetic clinic in Melbourne.

The 26-year-old underwent a non-surgical rhinoplasty procedure, which involves injecting dermal filler and Botox to reshape the nose.

Erin was thrilled with the results, sharing before and after photos of her nose on Instagram on Thursday.

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Transformation: Love Island Australia star Erin Barnett has debuted her new nose after visiting a cosmetic clinic in Melbourne. (Pictured before and after the non-surgical procedure)

'Ive always been up-front and honest about any cosmetic work I've had done, as we all know!' she wrote in the caption.

'My nose shape was something I wasn't happy about. I saw [cosmetic nurse] Tania Strangio at the start of 2020.

'We went into lockdown obviously. So I've had to wait to get my nose done again - but look at the difference!'

Happy: The 26-year-old was thrilled with the results, sharing before and after photos of her nose on Instagram on Thursday

Simple procedure: Erin also shared a video of herself getting the procedure done, before asking fans if they had any questions about it

She continued: 'I am so happy with my results! When I was putting the photos side my side, I couldnt believe this was achieved. A nose job without the surgery!

'I had filler and Botox for the nose.'

Erin also shared a video of herself getting the procedure done, before asking fans if they had any questions about it.

She did not reveal the cost of the procedure, but Abbie Chatfield had a similar enhancement done in Sydney last year which cost her about $1,000.

Popular: Erin did not reveal the cost of the procedure, but Abbie Chatfield (pictured) had a similar enhancement done in Sydney last year which cost her about $1,000

Changes: Erin has previously admitted to spending more than $10,000 on cosmetic surgery

Rise to fame: Erin was a contestant on Love Island Australia in 2018

Erin, who was a contestant on Love Island Australia in 2018, has previously admitted to spending more than $10,000 on cosmetic surgery.

In 2017, she splashed out $8,000 on a breast enlargement.

The former nursing student told NW magazine a year later a doctor had initially refused to give her DD-cup implants on medical grounds.

'I wanted to get [my breasts] bigger, but the doctor said I had a too-small chest bone and I was like, "F**k you!"' she said in May 2018.

Wow! In 2017, she spent $8,000 on a breast enlargement. Pictured left in 2015; right in 2019

Erin has also been getting lip filler for years, spending $800 for each appointment.

'I've never been one to hide or lie about getting cosmetic enhancements, I'm all about doing whatever you want to make yourself happy,' she said in 2019.

Despite not finding her happy ending on Love Island, Erin did find herself a boyfriend a few months after filming the show.

She is in a long-term relationship with Mick Russell, 45, and hopes to get engaged to him in 'the next two years'.
She is the proud mother of three young children.

And Australian supermodel Nicole Trunfio lovingly doted over her daughter Gia, four, as they headed to dinner at Giorgio Baldi restaurant in Santa Monica on Wednesday.

The brunette beauty snuggled into her little girl as they made their way to the popular eatery.

Mummy and me! Supermodel Nicole Trunfio showed off her incredible figure in a black catsuit as she doted on her daughter Gia, four, as they headed to a dinner in Santa Monica on Thursday night

The 36-year-old stunner showed off her incredible figure in a stretchy black catsuit for the outing.

She teamed the ensemble with black suede knee-high boots and a crocodile skin YSL shoulder bag.

Nicole was glowing in luminous makeup and her glossy chocolate locks were coiffed in bouncy waves.

This comes after the Make Me A Supermodel star fooled her followers in an epic prank last year, when she flaunted her pregnancy belly in a bumpsuit.

Stunning: She teamed the ensemble with black suede knee-high boots and a crocodile skin YSL shoulder bag

At the time, she was quick to point out that the lifelike baby bump wasn't actually real, despite appearances.

'I'm just trying on the new bump suit, and I had to put a belly on, and now I'm like, "Ahhh! I want another baby." This is not real by the way,' she clarified.

In June, Nicole said she was even planning on using the fake belly to prank her husband-of-four-years, American musician Gary Clark Jr.

Too cute! The brunette beauty snuggled into her little girl as they made their way into the popular the eatery

'I am totally going to have dinner with my husband like this tonight and freak him out. Mmm-hmm. Wearing it to dinner. I miss the bump!' she added.

Nicole and Gary, 36, are parents to Zion, seven, and daughter Gia, four, and Ella, one.

The couple welcomed Ella in February last year, with Nicole writing at the time that she was 'so in love' with her little girl.

'All mine, actually... my belief is they are not "mine", I'm just here to raise, nurture and nourish them, to love them and guide them the best way I can,' she captioned a photo of her three kids on Instagram back in June.

'Hopefully they will love and respect me for that, and we will create a forever unbreakable bond that will keep us close, so we can share a million memories and laughs together for our entire lifetimes.
TV and radio presenter Grant Denyer has long denied rumours he was once addicted to the drug methamphetamine, also known as ice.

And the 44-year-old was asked point-blank about the rumours during a rapid-fire interview on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Thursday.

During the 'Spit or Swallow' segment, radio host Jackie 'O' Henderson asked: 'Have you ever had an illegal substance since it was rumoured you were addicted to ice?'

Rumours: Watch the moment Grant Denyer (pictured) was asked about his rumoured 'ice addiction' on live radio - years after he threatened to sue a magazine for making the claims

The question was phrased carefully so Henderson wasn't directly asking Denyer if the rumours were true, only if he'd taken a drug since the rumours came to light.

Her co-host Kyle Sandilands laughed: 'Ha! That's right, I remember that!'

Denyer responded: 'Have I ever had an illegal substance since it was rumoured that I'd had...? No, I haven't had an illicit substance since that rumour, no.'

Woman's Day reported in February 2014 that Denyer and his wife Chezzi had sought treatment for drug issues at The Cabin rehab facility in Thailand.

The magazine also claimed the former Family Feud host was spending about $200,000 a year on methamphetamine.

Segment: The 44-year-old was asked point-blank about the rumours during a rapid-fire interview on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Thursday. (Pictured: radio host Kyle Sandilands)

Grant vehemently denied the rumours and released a statement claiming he would take legal action against the publication, which never eventuated.

A Woman's Day spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia in July 2014: 'As far as we are aware, no legal proceedings have been entered into at this time.

'Woman's Day stand by our story.'

Grant's agent, Titus Day, said at the time that while legal proceedings had been considered, it ultimately proved to be too costly for the Denyers.

Hot seat: During a 'Spit or Swallow' segment, radio host Jackie 'O' Henderson (pictured) asked: 'Have you ever had an illegal substance since it was rumoured you were addicted to ice?'

'Legal fees were quoted to be over $1million and at least two years' wait until there would be a trial. That was a significant consideration at the time and probably still is,' Day said.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia that same year, Grant described the Woman's Day story as 'a very hurtful and uncomfortable thing'.

'It was a cruel article by a silly magazine, so I don't worry about it too much. If sticks and stones hurt me too badly I probably shouldn't be in television,' he added.
Sylvester Stallone is 'praying' for his friend-turned-costar Bruce Willis in wake of news that he's been diagnosed with the degenerative brain condition aphasia and will step away from acting.

'We go back a long way , praying for the best for you and your wonderful family ' captioned Stallone, 75, who shared a slideshow of photos documenting their decades-long friendship to Instagram.

Stallone and Willis, 67, famously starred alongside one another in the 2010s action franchise The Expendables - a project that spawned the pair's first and only public feud.

Prayers: Sylvester Stallone is 'praying' for his friend-turned-costar Bruce Willis in wake of news that he's been diagnosed with the degenerative brain condition aphasia and will step away from acting

Longtime pals: 'We go back a long way , praying for the best for you and your wonderful family ' captioned Stallone, 75, who shared a slideshow of photos documenting their decades-long friendship to Instagram; the pair pictured in 2011

The first snap included in the Rambo star's tribute post was a major throwback from 1992 and taken during Willis' ex-wife Demi Moore's 30th birthday celebration at Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park.

Stallone and Willis were aboard one of the park's many thrill-seeking rides with model Brigitte Nielsen.

Another showed the duo mounted on motorcycles as they made a joint appearance on the David Letterman Show in 2008.

Stallone also threw in a shot of him and the Die Hard star mingling on the red carpet at the premiere of the HBO documentary His Way, which follows the career of legendary producer Jerry Weintraub, in 2011.

Throwback: The first snap included in the Rambo star's tribute post was a major throwback from 1992 and taken during Willis' ex-wife Demi Moore's 30th birthday celebration at Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park. Stallone and Willis were aboard one of the park's many thrill-seeking rides with model Brigitte Nielsen

Biker bros: Another showed the duo mounted on motorcycles as they made a joint appearance on the David Letterman Show in 2008

Last but not least, the Predator actor shared a behind-the-scenes snap taken during the filming of the first or second Expendables film.

The very first Expendables hit theaters in 2010, with the sequel premiering just two years later in the summer of 2012.

Willis, who played CIA operative Mr. Church, was set to star in the third installment but dropped out after an alleged 'money demand' that was not met.

Soon after the news broke - and Harrison Ford had signed on as Willis' replacement - Stallone published an explosive tweet aimed at the Red star.

Co-stars: Last but not least, the Predator actor shared a behind-the-scenes snap taken during the filming of the first or second Expendables film.

'GREEDY AND LAZY  A SURE FORMULA FOR CAREER FAILURE,' wrote the Escape Plan star in September 2013.

Despite the very public criticism, Stallone insisted in an interview that same September that he still considered Willis a 'lifelong friend' and that his tweet came out of 'frustration.'

A little over a year later, Stallone took to Twitter to reveal that he and Willis had officially buried that hatchet.

'Made up with BRUCE W. A stand up guy, my mistake.... ' he posted on November 2014.

Willis' devastating diagnosis was revealed in a statement posted by his family, including ex-wife Demi Moore and their three daughters, to Instagram on Wednesday.

Sending strength: Director M. Night Shyamalan referred to the actor as his 'big brother' and sent 'support and strength' to him and his family; the pair pictured in 2017

His hero: 'All my love and respect to my big brother Bruce Willis. I know his wonderful family is surrounding him with support and strength. He will always be that hero on that poster on my wall as kid,' penned the 51-year-old

History: Shyamalan directed Willis in the critically-acclaimed 1999 thriller The Sixth Sense and the 2019 Sc-fi thriller Glass; Willis seen with Haley Joel Osment in 1999's The Sixth Sense

'To Bruce's amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities,' they wrote.

'As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.'

The statement added: 'This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support. We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him.

'As Bruce always says, 'Live it up' and together we plan to do just that,' the statement, which was signed by his wife, model Emma Heming Willis, his ex-wife Demi and all of his children, concluded.

Lasting impact: American Horror Story star Sarah Paulson, who starred alongside Bruce in Glass, spoke about working with the actor and the impact he left on her; the pair seen in 2019

'Gentle and hilarious: 'He was such an incredible acting partner to me, and is the loveliest, most gentle and hilarious man. he reigns supreme in my book,' the 47-year-old actress wrote on Instagram, followed by several red heart emojis

According to the National Aphasia Association, aphasia is an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write.

The association reports the condition is always due to injury to the brain, most commonly from a stroke, particularly in older individuals.

Head trauma, brain tumors or from infections can also cause aphasia.

Director M. Night Shyamalan, who directed Willis in the critically-acclaimed 1999 thriller The Sixth Sense and the 2019 Sc-fi thriller Glass, referred to the actor as his 'big brother' and sent 'support and strength' to him and his family.

'All my love and respect to my big brother Bruce Willis. I know his wonderful family is surrounding him with support and strength. He will always be that hero on that poster on my wall as kid,' penned the 51-year-old.

Major: Len Wiseman - who had the honor of directing Willis in 2007's Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth installment in the iconic Die Hard franchise - also sent 'strength' to the legendary screen star

'Sending love and strength to you, Bruce and your lovely family ' commented the director under Willis' daughter Rumer's Instagram statement

American Horror Story star Sarah Paulson, who starred alongside Bruce in Glass, spoke about working with the actor and the impact he left on her.

'He was such an incredible acting partner to me, and is the loveliest, most gentle and hilarious man. he reigns supreme in my book,' the 47-year-old actress wrote on Instagram, followed by several red heart emojis.

Len Wiseman - who had the honor of directing Willis in 2007's Live Free or Die Hard, the fourth installment in the iconic Die Hard franchise - also sent 'strength' to the legendary screen star.

'Sending love and strength to you, Bruce and your lovely family ' commented the director under Willis' daughter Rumer's Instagram statement.

Sending love: Alec Baldwin's daughter Ireland Baldwin commented that she is sending the Willis family 'all of my love today,' while model Tommy Dorfman left a string of heart emojis and a simple 'love you'

Thinking of the family: Actress Hilarie Burton, commenting on Rumer's post, sent 'big hugs,' while Jenna Dewan expressed that she was 'sending love to you and your beautiful family'

'Sending so much love to you, your dad and your entire family,' commented Thor star Jamie Alexander

Alec Baldwin's daughter Ireland Baldwin commented on his daughterTallulah Willis' post that she is sending the family 'all of my love today,' while model Tommy Dorfman left a string of heart emojis and a simple 'love you.'

'Sending so much love and strength to your beautiful family,' wrote supermodel Helena Christensen to Rumer on Instagram,

Actress Hilarie Burton, also commenting on Rumer's post, sent 'big hugs,' while Jenna Dewan expressed that she was 'sending love to you and your beautiful family.'

'Sending so much love to you, your dad and your entire family,' wrote Thor star Jamie Alexander.

Eiza Gonzalez gushed over how much she 'loves' the Willis family in a comment shared with Rumer, with the actress writing: 'Love you and your family girl [HEART EMOJI] send you all my love.'

Adoration: Eiza Gonzalez gushed over how much she 'loves' the Willis family in a comment shared with Rumer, with the actress writing: 'Love you and your family girl [HEART EMOJI] send you all my love'

Hearts: Arnold Schwarzenegger's son Patrick commented several heart emojis

Sweet sentiment: Tess Holiday also sent 'love' to the star and his family

Arnold Schwarzenegger's son Patrick commented several heart emojis, while Tess Holiday also sent 'love' to the star and his family on Instagram.

Willis' health announcement came more than one year after OK Magazine first speculated on his declining mental health, after he was seen leaving a California pharmacy without a facemask. The actor later apologized saying it was an 'error in judgment,' but unnamed sources told the magazine Willis 'simply forgot' to bring the bandana hanging from his neck up to his face.

The source said that, although Willis had not been diagnosed with early-onset dementia, 'he's been waging a personal war for a number of years.'

Devastating: In a statement shared to Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah's respective Instagram pages, Bruce's health condition was revealed to the world. 'To Bruce's amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities,' they wrote

Stepping away: 'As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him,' the statement revealed; Bruce pictured in 2018

They said Willis had sold his New York property to spend more time with his wife and children in Los Angeles, and said that his wife, as well as ex-wife Demi Moore, were working together to take care of the famed actor.

'His wife Emma has helped Demi Moore and the children Bruce shares with his ex-wife to make truces because they know he's fading,' the unnamed source told the magazine in January 2021.

'Between Demi and Emma, the family has always ensured Bruce has the support and care he might need at any given time,' the insider said. 'It's sad that people are making fun of him.'
Controversial influencer Ruby Tuesday Matthews has been accused of 'wanting' to appear on controversial Netflix series Byron Baes - despite publicly slamming the show as 'embarrassing' and saying last year she'd 'declined an offer' to join the cast.

Byron Baes star Hannah Brauer alleged this week Matthews, 26, had tried to secure a contract with the streaming giant but 'they didn't want' her.

Brauer, 30, came out with the allegation after Matthews posted a brutal Instagram comment about the show and its cast, saying: 'Anyone with half a brain and an actual job that pays well declined.'

Battle of the Baes: Byron Baes star Hannah Brauer (left) has accused Ruby Tuesday Matthews (right) of 'wanting' to appear on controversial Netflix series - despite publicly slamming the show as 'embarrassing' and saying last year she'd 'declined an offer' to join the cast

The mother of two continued: 'Every local influencer that I know didn't want to be part of it. Season two, if it's been signed off by now, will start filming. I'm guessing [they] will have to film most of it overseas or in surrounding towns again.

'I don't know if the script could get any worse, but I guess starting filming after massive floods it's probably the worst thing you could do.'

Matthews signed off by saying she would 'love to see the cast donate their $500-a-day paycheck to flood victims' in northern NSW 'seeing as they are all so "well off" already, flaunting their cash, designer bags and fancy lifestyles'.

Bad review: Brauer came out with the allegation after Matthews posted this brutal Instagram comment about the show and its cast, saying: 'Anyone with half a brain and an actual job that pays well declined'

Her comment didn't sit well with Brauer, who reposted Matthews's spray on her Instagram Stories, and added: 'While we are here setting things straight...

'Now Ruby darling, we appreciate that you've jumped on every opportunity to ride the wave of our success of the show from the second the backlash started.

'When in fact, you wanted a contract on this show. They didn't want you.

'Your entire career is based around doing exactly what we have all done on this show - worse though as you promote fast-fashion brands.

'Oh, and I've never seen someone from Byron Bay wear more designer than you?! Where do you find the courage to be such a hypocrite? No more shoots at the Bisque home for you.'

The fashion marketing manager concluded: 'It's time for you to stop trying to tear us down to raise yourself up.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Matthews, Brauer and Netflix for further comment.

Not having it: Brauer, a 30-year-old fashion marketing manager, reposted Matthews's spray on her Instagram Stories and wrote: 'Ruby darling, we appreciate that you've jumped on every opportunity to ride the wave of our success of the show from the second the backlash started. When in fact, you wanted a contract on this show. They didn't want you'

In April last year, Matthews posted a promotional image for Byron Baes on Instagram, and wrote: 'For everyone asking if I'll be on this show, I declined the offer.'

'Goodbye Byron, you are officially cooked. How embarrassing,' she added.

Matthews also used the hashtag #ShireRepeat? in reference to Channel 10's short-lived 2012 reality show about the glamorous residents of Sydney's Sutherland Shire.

She also told Daily Mail Australia in June: 'Half the crew aren't even from there!'

Thanks, but no thanks: Ruby posted a promotional image for Byron Baes on Instagram Stories in April last year, and wrote: 'For everyone asking if I'll be on this show, I declined the offer'

Spray: 'Half the crew aren't even from there,' Matthews told Daily Mail Australia in June

When asked if there was any possibility she would reconsider appearing on the show Matthews said: 'No... No way.'

And in February, Matthews ruthlessly mocked the cast of Byron Baes once again in a series of posts on Instagram Stories.

She shared a screenshot of a Daily Mail Australia story about Karl Stefanovic's disgusted reaction to the reality show, and gave her two cents on the program's cast.

Ruthless: In February, Matthews mocked the cast once again in a series of posts on Instagram, responding to a Daily Mail Australia story about Karl Stefanovic's verdict on the Netflix show

Matthews wrote: 'At least the cast will finally get what their egos and Instagram accounts need: "followers".

'Because I'm still having a hard time figuring out how they have marketed these people as influencers.'

She clarified in the next slide she was not connected to anyone on the series.

'I dont associate with anyone on this show,' she said - despite being pictured with Byron Baes star Saskia Wotton several times in the past.

Bad memory? 'I dont associate with anyone on this show,' Matthews (left) said - despite being pictured with Byron Baes star Saskia Wotton (right) several times in the past

Byron Baes follows the lives of 14 influencers who help each other grow their brands, connections and social followings in the idyllic Australian beach town of Byron Bay.

Critics on Twitter described the show as 'cringeworthy' and 'brain-numbing', yet many admitted they simply couldn't switch it off.

Byron Baes is currently available to stream worldwide on Netflix
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Bridgerton star Simone Ashley helped promote and celebrate Asian culture with a special Netflix dinner... where she also revealed her character's fate for Season 3.

The 27-year-old Surrey UK native, who plays Viscountess Kate Bridgerton, stunned in white while hosting the event at Arth Bar & Kitchen Wednesday in Culver City.

She also confirmed to Deadline that she will return for Season 3, along with her on-screen husband Viscount Anthony (Jonathan Bailey).

Simone steps out: Bridgerton star Simone Ashley helped promote and celebrate Asian culture with a special Netflix dinner... where she also revealed her character's fate for Season 3

Ashley stepped out with an elegant and pristine white dress with a midriff cutout and a long slit up the right leg.

The actress, who is of Sri Lankan descent, accessorized with an ornate diamond necklace and small diamond hoop earrings.

She completed her look with a set of shiny silver pumps as she hit the red carpet and posed with guests.

Simone's look: Ashley stepped out with an elegant and pristine white dress with a midriff cutout and a long slit up the right leg

It's been just five days since the eight-episode Season 2 of Bridgerton debuted, and fans are already looking forward to Season 3.

Netflix already renewed the show for both a third and fourth season last April, with Ashley confirming at the event that both Kate and Anthony will return.

'Were going to be back! Kate and Anthony are just getting started,' Ashley said at the event.

She's back: 'Were going to be back! Kate and Anthony are just getting started,' Ashley said at the event

She also praised new showrunner Jess Brownell, who will be at the helm for both the third and fourth seasons, calling her 'amazing.'

'In Season 2, there was a lot of push and pull between Kate and Anthony, there were complications with the family, and then they find each other towards the end. I think everything is just starting,' Ashley teased.

'Id like to see Kate just let go a bit more and play more in Season 3 and kind of swim in that circle of love together. I think they both deserve it.

Praise: She also praised new showrunner Jess Brownell, who will be at the helm for both the third and fourth seasons, calling her 'amazing'

Also in attendance at the event was Kal Penn, rocking a colorful floral print suit coat and pants over a black t-shirt.

Never Have I Ever star Richa Moorjani stepped out with a full-length floral print dress for her red carpet look.

Kal's suit: Also in attendance at the event was Kal Penn, rocking a colorful floral print suit coat and pants over a black t-shirt

Richa: Never Have I Ever star Richa Moorjani stepped out with a full-length floral print dress for her red carpet look

Versha: Generation Columbine producer Versha Sharma is all smiles in a pink low-cut knee-length dress

Poorna: Never Have I Ever star Poorna Jagannathan opted for a hot pink spaghetti strap gown

Sujata and Anjula: Sujata Day and Anjula Acharia pose together
Dame Joan Collins, 88, enjoyed a dinner out with her fifth husband Percy Gibson, 57, in West Hollywood this Wednesday night.

Joan cut an agelessly glamorous figure in a sleek white cocktail dress hemmed at the knee with a complementary wrap and a monochrome brooch.

Percy, already exuding summertime chic in a khaki suit and white pocket square, gallantly helped her up onto the curb by the hand.

Radiant: Dame Joan Collins, 88, enjoyed a dinner out with her fifth husband Percy Gibson, 57, in West Hollywood this Wednesday night

Just two nights earlier the duo had made a showstopping appearance at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, where Joan has been regular fixture for years.

The Vanity Fair bash also used to regularly welcome Joan's sister Jackie Collins, the bestselling 'bonkbuster' novelist who died in 2015 after a secret cancer battle.

Percy, the longest-lasting of her husbands, is more than 30 years younger than Joan, a gap she dismisses in interviews with the line: 'If he dies, he dies.'

Last month the couple, who keep a home in Belgravia, celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary with a star-studded party at Claridge's.

Looking fab: Joan cut an agelessly glamorous figure in a sleek white cocktail dress hemmed at the knee with a complementary shawl and a black brooch

Simon Cowell, Elizabeth Hurley and Sarah 'Fergie' Ferguson all attended the fete, according to a report in OK! magazine.

On the career front Joan released a gossipy book of her diaries last year and this year she starred in a BBC documentary about her life called This Is Joan Collins.

In a recent New York Times interview she decried the anti-men sentiment that she feels has grown since the Me Too movement.

'Sadly, I think that now young men are suffering from being labeled toxically masculine, because of this rise of anti-maleness,' she shared.

Gentleman: Percy, already exuding summertime chic in a khaki suit and white pocket square, gallantly helped her up onto the curb by the hand

Meanwhile she recalled that sexual misconduct 'happened to girls all the time' in showbiz when she was young. 'A lot of the time, I would just laugh in their faces.'

As for whether the wrongdoing has continued to this day, she remarked: 'Im not having men making passes at me, so I dont know. But I think probably.'

Although she told the newspaper her own Me Too experiences were 'nasty memories that I dont wish to relive,' she included the details in her memoir Past Imperfect.

The book had no shortage of darker moments such as when 20th Century Fox chief Darryl Zanuck attempted to force himself on her in a hotel hallway.

Details: Percy, the longest-lasting of her husbands, is more than 30 years younger than Joan, a gap she dismisses in interviews with the line: 'If he dies, he dies'

'I wondered how to get out of this without having to knee him in the groin,' she wrote. 'Luckily Dorothy Dandridge and a makeup man came walking down the corridor and I made my escape, vowing to keep out of Mr Z.'s way in the future.'

Joan was married at 18 to her first husband Maxwell Reed, an actor who spiked her drink and raped her on their first date and whom she eventually left after he tried to sell her for a night to an Arab sheikh for 10,000.

Her subsequent ex-husbands included Anthony Newley, with whom she had her daughter Tara and her son Sacha.

She also wed former Beatles manager Ron Kass, who fathered her daughter Katie, and ex-pop act Peter Holm, whom she dismissively refers to now as 'the Swede.'

Swanking about: Just two nights earlier the duo had made a showstopping appearance at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party, where Joan has been regular fixture for years

Joan recently remarked that of all her marriages 'The only one I didnt understand was the Swede. That was such a total mistake.'

Her marriage to Peter Holm also resulted in a temporary rift with Jackie, who despised him, but who mended fences with Joan upon their breakup.

When Joan threw a party celebrating the divorce, Jackie gave out t-shirts reading 'Holm is not where the heart is,' and 'Holm-less.'

Now however Joan has found the right man - she joked to Jonathan Ross last year that her marriage to Percy has run as long as the previous four marriages combined.
Chloe Sims wowed in a jaw-dropping leather dress as she headed out to The Londoner Hotel on Wednesday following a major fall out with former love interest Pete Wicks.

The reality TV star, 40, looked sensational as she put on a brave face after Pete, 33, was spotted on a night out with model Ruby Mae.

The Only Way Is Essex star showcased her incredible figure in the all black leather ensemble.

Stunning: Chloe Sims wowed in a jaw-dropping leather dress as she headed out to The Londoner Hotel on Wednesday following a major fall out with love interest Pete Wicks

Stylish: The reality TV star, 40, looked sensational as she put on a brave face after Pete, 33, was spotted on a night out with model Ruby Mae

She added racy over the knee leather boots to the ruched one-shoulder midi dress.

Chloe kept warm by draping a long black coat over her shoulders as she strutted to the restaurant.

The blonde beauty styled her shoulder length tresses in loose curls and added a bold dark lipstick.

She accessorised with a dark pair of triangle sunglasses and carried her essentials in a Balenciaga handbag.

Ex: Chloe sparked feud rumours with her ex love interest Pete Wicks, 33, as she removed all traces of him from her Instagram page

Taking to Instagram, the star posed up a storm in the outfit and tagged the designers to allow her 1.2 million fans to recreate the look.

She penned: 'I WANT MAGIC,' followed by a black heart emoji.

Chloe was joined by her sister for the outing, who sported a green trench coat with matching knee high boots, cargo pants and a green shoulder bag.

To brighten the look up Frankie opted for a white racer top bodysuit and accessorised with extremely large daisy earrings.

Earlier this month, Chloe sparked feud rumours with her ex love interest Pete, 33, as she removed all traces of him from her Instagram page.

Sensational: The Only Way Is Essex star added over the knee leather boots to the ruched one shoulder midi dress

Moving on: Chloe showed Pete exactly what he was missing after Pete was spotted on a night out with gorgeous model Ruby Mae on Tuesday evening

The star showed Pete exactly what he was missing after Pete was spotted on a night out with gorgeous model Ruby Mae on Tuesday evening.

The brunette beauty, who dated Everton star Dele Alli from 2016-2019, looked smitten in the company of the reality TV star.

The duo were spotted enjoying a night out at Amazonica's restaurant in swanky Mayfair before leaving together in a cab a few hours later.

Leather look: She accessorised with a dark pair of triangle sunglasses and carried her essentials in a Balenciaga handbag

Smile: Taking to Instagram, the star posed up a storm in the outfit and tagged the designers to allow her 1.2 million fans to recreate the look

On an episode of TOWIE that aired in November, Pete told Chloe he got a tattoo of her name, saying: 'You are irreplaceable to me, so I might have got like a tattoo on my hand.'

Clearly touched by the gesture, Chloe said: 'How have I not noticed that? Oh my god! That is so nice!' while covering her face in shock.

Pete then incredibly declared his love for the mother-of-one, saying: 'The point of that is, you do mean everything to me and for anyone else who feels like I don't or for anyone you feel like I've not justified this to, I do love you to bits.'

Chloe then burst into tears clearly overwhelmed by his words and declared: 'I do love you to bits, you know that - I would be lost without you'.

Pose: Chloe shared several snaps to her Instagram alongside the caption: 'I WANT MAGIC'

Sister day out: Chloe was joined by her sister Frankie for the outing, who sported a green trench coat with matching knee high boots, cargo pants and a green shoulder bag

Matching: To brighten the look up Frankie opted for a white racer top bodysuit and accessorised with extremely large daisy earrings
Cruz Beckham was the first member of the Beckham family to return to social media after their West London home was burgled.

The thief forced their way into a spare upstairs bedroom at the 40m mansion in Holland Park and ransacked the place while David, Victoria and 10-year-old daughter Harper relaxed downstairs completely unawares.

The break-in, on February 28, was not discovered until 17-year-old Cruz returned home from a night out and stumbled upon the upturned bedroom and spotted broken glass from a window on the floor.

Clip: Cruz Beckham was the first member of the Beckham family to return to social media after their West London home was burgled with a video of himself relaxing in a hoodie

Cruz took to his Instagram Stories hours after the news emerged and shared a playful TikTok video of himself relaxing in a grey hoodie.

This was followed quickly by his older brother Romeo who shared a snap of himself sporting a black printed T-shirt, grey tracksuit bottoms and a pair of sunglassses.

Neither David nor Victoria have broken their silence yet on the burglary.

David reportedly called 999 and set about searching the mansion for the burglar with Cruz, while Harper remained with Victoria and waited for the police.

Break in: The thief forced their way into a spare upstairs bedroom at the 40m mansion in Holland Park and ransacked the place while David, Victoria and 10-year-old daughter Harper relaxed downstairs completely unawares

Snap: This was followed quickly by his older brother Romeo who shared a snap of himself sporting a black printed T-shirt, grey tracksuit bottoms and a pair of sunglassses

The burglar is thought to have been part of a gang which targeted at least two other houses in the area on the same night.

The Met confirmed it is investigating and that no arrests have been made.

A source close to the family told The Sun: 'Sadly the Beckhams were the victims of some fairly professional thieves who have been operating in the area.

'Fortunately the criminals only made it as far as one bedroom before they ran off.'

The family are said to have been 'shaken up' by the burglary, but no one was hurt.

The intruder reportedly climbed over the gate at the front of the house, shimmied his way up the property and then broke in through the spare bedroom window. Police are said to be reviewing CCTV footage.

Horrific: The break-in, on February 28, was not discovered until 17-year-old Cruz returned home from a night out and stumbled upon the upturned bedroom and spotted broken glass from a window on the floor (The Beckham's home pictured)

The thief made off with thousands in designer clothes, accessories and electric goods stored in the room - but did not hang around for more.

Two other properties were also targeted, including a neighbouring house which thieves found was empty once inside, and another home on the same street into which burglars were unable to force entry.

A Met spokesman said: 'Police were called at 00.37 hours on Tuesday, March 1 to reports of a burglary at a residential address in the W11 area of Kensington.

'The burglary is believed to have taken place between 20.30 and 23.30 on Monday, February 28.

'A number of items were reported stolen. No arrests have been made. Inquiries continue.'

Ordeal: David, 46 (right), reportedly called 999 and set about searching the mansion for the burglar with Cruz (left), while Harper (centre right) remained with Victoria, 47, and waited for the police (Brooklyn centre left)

The raid comes just weeks after Posh and Becks won planning permission to overhaul their Holland Park mansion, parts of which had been sealed off as it had began to crumble.

Pictures of the property exclusively obtained by MailOnline show that the Grade II-listed property is held up by supports before work gets underway.

The couple were granted permission by Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to repair their historic rear terrace and stairs, which had become too dangerous to use.

Beckham's design and access statement revealed their plans to 'reinstate the terrace, which is considered structurally unsound, on a like for like basis.'

The statement also says the family no longer use the terrace which has structural damage is due to age, water ingress, cracking and spalling due to frost.

Theft: The thief made off with thousands in designer clothes, accessories and electric goods stored in the room - but did not hang around for more (Victoria pictured with her children)

Props and timber bearers have been installed to provide temporary support to prevent collapse and any loss of the buildings original features - including damage to the original cast iron railings.

The statement reads: 'A structural engineer has inspected the terrace and recommended repairs and renewal works on a like for like basis.'

From photos attached to the application, the roof terrace, which is crumbling in parts, is being supported by metal poles to stop it from collapsing.

The project is being overseen by Soho House architect Michael Ergatoudis, who was also in charge of the previous renovations at the home and their Cotswolds retreat.




President Moon Jae-in has recently sold his private home in the southern rural city of Yangsan for 2.6 billion won ($2.1 million), 1.7 billion won higher than the price he bought it 13 years ago, government data showed Thursday.







The gains were spent on the construction of a new home in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, which Moon plans to move into after leaving office on May 9, according to Cheong Wa Dae.







Moon bought the old home in 2009 for 900 million won and lived there before his 2017 election.







Moon reported his wealth at 2.19 billion won as of the end of 2021, an increase of 114 million won from the previous year.







Notably, Moon and his wife reported a debt increase of 1.49 billion won due to their need to finance the construction of the retirement residence.







Cheong Wa Dae said the debt increase came after Moon and his wife temporarily borrowed money for the construction of the new residence and they repaid the money. (Yonhap)


Strictly's Katya Jones has rubbished claims that tensions arose on the show over whether Russian dancers should appear after Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Appearing on Thursday's BBC Morning Live, the Russian dancer, 33, spoke out as the 2022 show line-up was announced, after claims surfaced that the show's professionals were divided on the continued participation of Katya and Luba Mushtuk, 32.

Katya and Luba were both born in the country's city of Saint Petersburg, while dancers Nikita Kuzmin, 24, and Nadiya Bychkova, 32, are of Ukrainian descent.

She's back: Strictly's Katya Jones has rubbished claims that tensions arose on the show over whether Russian dancers should appear after Putin's invasion of Ukraine

Katya said: 'This is total nonsense, we're so supportive of each other always. The invasion is totally wrong, it shouldn't be happening.

'We've been in regular touch with Nikita. He's been very proactive. I find it so upsetting to see what they're going through. Within our group there's nothing but support.'

Luba added: 'It's been really upsetting to see so much untrue information - we are only about love. We think about the victims and the people who are struggling.'

The show's 2022 line-up sees Katya and Luba return alongside Nikita and Nadiya.

Appearing on Thursday's BBC Morning Live, the Russian dancer, 33, spoke out as the 2022 show line-up was announced, after claims surfaced that the show's professionals were divided on the continued participation of Katya and Luba Mushtuk, 32

Series winner Giovanni Pernice leads dancing stars returning to the hit ballroom show for another spin on the dancefloor, as the bill was revealed during Thursday's BBC Morning Live.

Following the exits of two-time winner Oti Mabuse and Aljaz Skorjanec - who both recently revealed they were quitting the programme - Strictly bosses have not yet added any new professionals to this year's line-up, but teased that new arrivals may still be announced.

Other returning pros include Dianne Buswell, Graziano Di Prima, Amy Dowden, Karen Hauer, Neil Jones, Nikita Kuzmin, Cameron Lombard and Gorka Marquez.

The complete line-up concludes with Giovanni Jowita Przystal, Johannes Radebe, Kai Widdrington and Nancy Xu.

Line-up: The show's 2022 line-up sees Russains Katya and Luba return to the dancefloor

Claims surfaced earlier this month that the programme's dancers were divided on whether the pair should stay for the next series, with claims the pros are calling on producers to make a decision.

A Strictly Come Dancing source told the publication: 'Tensions are high and theres a lot of strong feeling about this, some of the dancers would want producers to make a decision and say, "You cant come back for the next series."'

'Some of the professionals feel its in bad taste to have them on the show, its been discussed among a group of them and they are concerned about it affecting the programme and causing a backlash.

'Given theyre on the biggest show on television they are already open to criticism and they worry that this would only invite controversy.'

Homeland: Nikita Kuzmin, 24 (pictured with 2021 celebrity partner Tilly Ramsay), and Nadiya Bychkova, 32 - are both of Ukrainian descent

Difficult times: Nadiya is also a Ukrainian national who dances as a professional on Strictly (pictured in January)

However, it is said some dancers feel it is unfair for them to be excluded based on their nationality as they cannot help where they were born, with the insider adding Katya and Luba have done 'nothing wrong' and are 'gutted' at the situation in Ukraine.

MailOnline contacted representatives for Katya, Luba and Strictly Come Dancing for comment at the time.

It comes after former Strictly professional James Jordan, 43, called on the show's Russian dancers to comment on the unrest in Ukraine.

He tweeted: 'I dont see many of the Russian dancers I know, and have even shared the Strictly dance floor with, openly speaking out about the war against Ukraine.

'But they are still promoting themselves on social media? Very disappointed.'

However, Katya, who was paired with Adam Peaty in last year's series, took to her Instagram story recently with the message: 'Praying for peace and love in the world [prayer emoji, heart emoji]'.

Message: Russian dancer Katya, who was paired with Adam Peaty in last year's series, recently took to her Instagram story with the message: 'Praying for peace and love in the world'

Other stars of the BBC dance show have used their platforms to raise awareness, including those with direct ties to Ukraine.

Nikita shared a photo of his native Ukraine's flag on Instagram, alongside the word 'Heartbreaking'. The post was immediately met with supportive messages from colleagues and fans.

And judge Motsi Mabuse updated her concerned followers with news of her in-laws, who were stranded in the country.

Sharing a photo with her Ukrainian husband Evgenij Voznyuk last month, the dancer wrote on social media: 'We stand with the people of Ukraine and we are against racism at the border against our brothers and sisters!!!!! If the people are not safe, we also not safe #standwithukraine'.

Opinion-raising: Former Strictly pro James Jordan, 43, said he was 'very disappointed' many Russian dancers had remained tight-lipped about the ongoing situation

Other stars of the BBC dance show have used their platforms to raise awareness, including those with direct ties to Ukraine.

Nikita shared a photo of his native Ukraine's flag on Instagram, alongside the word 'Heartbreaking'. The post was immediately met with supportive messages from colleagues and fans.

And judge Motsi Mabuse updated her concerned followers with news of her in-laws, who were stranded in the country.

Sharing a photo with her Ukrainian husband Evgenij Voznyuk last month, the dancer wrote on social media: 'We stand with the people of Ukraine and we are against racism at the border against our brothers and sisters!!!!! If the people are not safe, we also not safe #standwithukraine'.
Amanda Holden showed off her chic sense of style while battling against windy weather as she left the Heart FM studio in London on Thursday.

The station's breakfast show host, 51, wore a stylish black winter coat and matching flared leather trousers by Safiyaa for her outing.

Her blonde hair was whipped about in the breeze as she walked through Leicester Square.

In style: Amanda Holden, 51, showed off her chic sense of style in a black coat and leather trousers while battling against windy weather in London on Thursday

Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda wore an animal print blouse by LK Bennett and donned a pair of cat-eye sunglasses.

She added a few inches to her stature with a pair of high-heeled shoes and carried a black handbag with her.

The actress took to her Instagram Stories before she left the building to share her look with her fans.

Stepping out: The Heart FM breakfast show host wore the edgy flared trousers by Safiyaa which reached down to the ground

Fashion focus: Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda wore an animal print blouse by LK Bennett and donned a pair of cat-eye sunglasses

It comes after Amanda revealed her daughter Lexi, 16, will finish her education first before she embarks on her burgeoning modelling career.

The star revealed earlier this month that her eldest daughter has signed with Storm modelling agency as she follows in her mother's show business footsteps.

Speaking to The Sun, Amanda, revealed Lexi wants to balance her modelling career with university and has 'so many ambitions'.

Completing the look: She added a few inches to her stature with a pair of high-heeled shoes and carried a black handbag with her

Behind the scenes: The actress took to her Instagram Stories before she left the building to share her look with her fans

She said: 'Lexi was approached last year and obviously we were waiting until she was 16 to sign anything. It's something she actually wants to do, so I'm taking the lead from her.

'She's a very quiet girl but she knows her own mind. She's very bright and wants to continue her studies.

'There's no pressure and we'll just see what happens. But finishing her education is very much her plan, she'll have our support whatever she decides to do.'

Future: The stylish outing comes after Amanda revealed her daughter Lexi, 16, will finish her education first before she embarks on her burgeoning modelling career

Career: Amanda revealed earlier this month that her eldest daughter has signed with Storm modelling agency

It comes after Amanda, who is also mother to Hollie, 10, with husband Chris Hughes, 49, previously spoke to MailOnline about Lexi signing with Storm, the agency that represented Kate Moss for 28 years.

She said: 'They came after her and they're very lovely and nurturing and it will be a soft, slow thing and she won't do anything until she's 18 but they want her and that's what she wants to do.

'I have to say there was quite a number of them and there's such a different mindset to how you might think modelling agencies look after the young, but they are very nurturing and very caring, all of them.

'They came after her and they're very lovely and nurturing and it will be a soft, slow thing and she won't do anything until she's 18 but they want her and that's what she wants to do.

'I have to say there was quite a number of them and there's such a different mindset to how you might think modelling agencies look after the young, but they are very nurturing and very caring, all of them.'
Tyga and Rob Kardashian have taken aim at their baby mama Blac Chyna after she moaned about receiving no child support - which she claims meant she had to sell three cars in order to finance herself.

Chyna's comments were reshared by Instagram page The Shade Room, where they were picked up by Rob, 35, who shares five-year-old daughter Dream with the model and he didn't hold back on sharing his views in the comments section.

The 33-year-old tweeted that she 'had to give up' three of her five cars on Tuesday in order to provide for Dream and Tyga's nine-year-old son King Cairo Stevenson.

Awks! Tyga and Rob Kardashian have taken aim at their baby mama Blac Chyna after she moaned about receiving no child support

Raging: The 33-year-old tweeted that she 'had to give up' three of her five cars on Tuesday in order to provide for Dream and Tyga's nine-year-old son King Cairo Stevenson

However the Keeping Up With The Kardashians alum was having not of it and insisted he shouldn't have to pay any additional support due to the fact he forks out $37,000 for his daguhters school, as well as paying medical expensies, extracurricular activities as well as caring for her Tuesday-Saturday.

Questioning: 'Why would I pay child support lol?'

Tyga then chimed in and wrote: 'I pay $40K a year for my son's school and he lives with me Monday-Saturday. Why would I pay child support lol.'

Unimpressed: However the Keeping Up With The Kardashians alum was having not of it and insisted he shouldn't have to pay any additional support due to the fact he forks out $37,000 for his daguhters school, as well as paying medical expensies, extracurricular activities as well as caring for her Tuesday-Saturday

Questioning: 'Why would I pay child support lol?'

Responding to Rob, Tyga said: 'Rob how you pay $3,000 less. Let me know the plug'

Responding to Rob, Tyga said: 'Rob how you pay $3,000 less. Let me know the plug.'

Tyga alluded to the fact that their children go to the same school as he questioned how he was paying thousands less in fees than him.

Chyna - who was born Angela White - previously showed off all five of her cars in a 2020 TikTok video - Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini, Mercedes, and Rolls Royce.

Tyga then chimed in and wrote: 'I pay $40K a year for my son's school and he lives with me Monday-Saturday. Why would I pay child support lol'

Tyga alluded to the fact that their children go to the same school as he questioned how he was paying thousands less in fees than him (Blac pictured with King Cairo and Dream)

Back in 2019, the Halfway Dead founder stopped paying Blac $20K/month in child support due to financial difficulties, according to TMZ.

Chyna's revenge porn trial against Rob begins next month, according to Radar Online.

It's hard to believe that the Ridiculousness guest star and Kardashian only dated on/off for 11 months considering the numerous legal battles that ensued.

Fleet of vehicles: Chyna previously showed off all five of her cars in a 2020 TikTok video - Ferrari, Bentley, Lamborghini, Mercedes, and Rolls Royce (pictured May 26)

Co-parenting: The Ridiculousness guest star dated Tyga (pictured in 2019) for a bit longer - three years - and their relationship ended in 2014

Blac dated Tyga for a bit longer - three years - and their relationship ended in 2014.

Chyna is reportedly 'super excited and grateful about' her acting role as Karrin in Carl Weber's four-episode family drama The Black Hamptons, which premieres this summer on BET.

Deadline reported on March 10 that The Black Hamptons centers on feuding Sag Harbor families the Brittons and the Johnsons 'where the difference between old and new money is very apparent.'

'Thank you @tridestined!' Blac is 'super excited and grateful about' her acting role as Karrin in Carl Weber's four-episode family drama The Black Hamptons, which premieres this summer on BET

'#blackhamptonsbet': The Black Hamptons centers on feuding Sag Harbor families the Brittons and the Johnsons 'where the difference between old and new money is very apparent' (the set pictured Monday)

It will mark the ex-stripper's first role in a TV series after making her acting debut in Alex Merkin's 2013 movie Percentage alongside Ving Rhames.

Blac runs her own clothing line BlacChynaCloset, beauty company Lashed Cosmetics, $5/month CONQR subscription service, and commands $19.99/month on OnlyFans.

Chyna is also a prolific paid promoter for products like K.O. Elixir cellulite cream, Hi Kittyy vibrating panties, and What Waist trainers.

Chyna's latest bout of drama comes as Rob's sister Khloe Kardashian posted a heartwarming video of her own daughter True, three, with little Dream.

The two little girls could be seen dancing joyfully around Khloe's kitchen to the 1990s children's song Barbie Girl by Aqua.

Dream and True held hands with one another as they twirled around the floor, with Khloe cheering them on proudly.
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Channing Tatum cut a casual figure as he filmed scenes for Magic Mike's Last Dance alongside Thandiwe Newton in London on Thursday.

The actor, 41, stood outside a townhouse as Thandiwe, 49, chatted to him from the doorstep for the scene.

Channing, who plays Mike Lane in the franchise, sported a dark green hoodie and black tracksuit bottoms for the scene.

On location: Channing Tatum wrapped up in a denim jacket as he filmed Magic Mike's Last Dance alongside Thandiwe Newton in London on Thursday.

He wrapped up in a denim jacket and was seen chatting to members of the crew between takes.

Thandiwe sorted a red top with blue jeans which she paired with a black coat and a matching fedora.

Styling her locks into an updo, the film star also sported a pair of hoop earrings for the day.

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 Channing's experience working as a stripper in Tampa, Florida.

Outfit: Thandiwe sorted a red top with blue jeans which she paired with a black coat and a matching fedora

Casual: Channing, who plays Mike Lane in the franchise, sported a dark green hoodie and black tracksuit bottoms for the scene

The flick starred Channing, 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.

While appearing on The Kelly Clarkson Show, the actor explained that he didn't want to do a third film because he felt that his body wasn't in the right shape.

Franchise: The original Magic Mike movie premiered in 2012 and was directed by Steven Soderbergh - who is also the director of the latest installment

History: The film was loosely based on Channing's experience working as a stripper in Tampa, Florida

Cast: The flick starred Channing, 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

Success: The original film was made on a budget of $7million and made a massive $167.2million at the box office

'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.

'You have to starve yourself. I don't think when you're that lean, it's actually healthy for you.'

He also praised those with regular jobs who are able to commit to staying that fit.

Movie: Magic Mike's sequel, by the title of Magic Mike XXL, was directed by Gregory Jacobs, and released in 2015

Candid: Channing recently revealed that he almost passed on the opportunity to participate in the third movie due to the rigorous physical requirements involved

Pressure: The actor explained that he didn't want to do a third film because he felt that his body wasn't in the right shape

He said: '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'

'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.

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.

He added: 'It's hard to look like that. Even if you do work out, to be that kind of in shape is not natural'

Scene: Thandiwe put on an animated display during the scene

Channing said: You have to starve yourself. I don't think when you're that lean, it's actually healthy for you'

Health: He also praised those with regular jobs who are able to commit to staying that fit

Channing 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.

Back in action: Channing confirmed that he would reprise his role for Magic Mike's Last Dance in November on 2021

Lead: He also spoke about the importance on the movie having a lead female character

He said: 'I want to have an equal, if not even more centralized female character for Mike to really play off'

'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 yet to be announced.
Idris Elba has admitted he doesn't agree with fans who swoon over his 'sexy' voice as he said he thinks he sounds like a 'market trader from Canning Town'.

The Luther star, 49, addressed fans' opinions that he has a 'sexy' voice, saying he is 'baffled' by it as he has never considered himself to speak in an attractive way.

Speaking on Thursday's Loose Women, he explained: 'I'm baffled. I think I sound like a market trader from Canning Town. 'Get your fish here, 10!', that's expensive fish, but I don't necessarily think my voice is sexy but hey, I'll take the compliment.'

Deep voice: Idris Elba has admitted that he doesn't think his voice is 'sexy' and said he thinks he sounds like a 'market trader from Canning Town'

Speaking about his upcoming voiceover role as Knuckles in Sonic 2, he said he didn't want the fictional character to have his smooth tones, saying he put on a 'stern deep voice' instead.

He added that he was excited to be part of an animation film, as it means his seven-year-old son Winston will actually be able to watch it, unlike detective drama Luther.

Speaking about his son visiting the set of Luther, he added: 'He's seven, so we just finished filming Luther and he came on set quite a bit, but he's like, 'What age group is this film?' And I said, 'It's probably going to be a 15' and he's like, 'Oh man.'

Idris went on to speak about turning 50 in September to hosts Ruth Langsford and Kelle Bryan, admitting that he feels like he is still in his 30s.

'Baffled': The Luther star, 49, addressed fans' opinions that he has a 'sexy' voice, saying he is confused by it as he has never considered himself to have a nice-sounding voice

'I am 50. Honestly, I can't even believe it, I still feel like I'm 35, even though I don't look it,' he added.

Idris also opened up about how his podcast Coupledom, which sees him and his wife Sabrina speak with other couples, has helped strengthen their own relationship.

He added: 'It's definitely given us a lot of insight about our own relationship and it's weird because talking to people about their relationship, you have to offer up quite a bit about your own personal relationship and that's been quite liberating for us.'

Idris, who will be reprising his hit role as Luther for an upcoming movie, also addressed rumours that he was quitting acting to focus on music.

'I'm not giving up acting, but I'm certainly going to put out more music. And I love the process of making music,' he said.

Distinctive: Idris won fans over with his deep voice in detective drama Luther, but he joked that he didn't want his upcoming voiceover role as Knuckles on Sonic 2 to have his 'sexy' voice

Idris has been busy filming for the much-anticipated Luther film, which he first began work on in November.

In February, he was seen filming scenes alongside Cynthia Erivo, whose role in the movie version of the hit drama is yet to be confirmed.

Luther's fifth series aired on BBC One in January 2019, and ended with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, as the titular detective was arrested after he let serial killer Alice Morgan plunged to her death.

The actor has won a Golden Globe and was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards for his performance.

Cynthia is best known for her roles in the critically-acclaimed biopic Harriet and the thriller Widows.

Loved-up: Idris also spoke about how his podcast Coupledom, which sees him and his wife Sabrina speak with other couples, has helped their own relationship

Little is known about Cynthia's role in the upcoming film, but it is thought she'll play a new villain, following the death of murderous Alice in series five.

Alice (played by Ruth Wilson) had been one of Luther's main adversaries throughout the series' run, ruthlessly murdering her parents, before eventually helping him to clear his name when he was accused of killing DS Ripley.

While it was previously thought that the sinister criminal died in Belgium during series four, but in reality she'd been in regular communication with Luther via burner phones.

Back in November, Idris confirmed that filming for the long-awaited Luther movie had finally commenced.

The actor was quickly inundated with comments from fans expressing their excitement over the announcement.

Exciting! Idris has been busy filming for the much-anticipated Luther film, which he will star in alongside Cynthia Erivo, whose role in the film is still unclear

Luther follows on from the hit BBC series and stars Idris in the titular role.

Speaking in May, Idris confirmed he is 'so excited' to dive into the new project and he expects 'bolder' storylines which will span across the globe.

Idris has been keen to take the BBC show to the silver screen for some time as he discussed the spin-off movie in an interview last year.

Speaking to reporters at the BAFTA TV Awards in July, he said: 'I've maintained that I'd like to see [Luther] come to a film. That's what I think we're headed towards, is a film. I'm looking forward to making that happen... It is happening!

'With film, the sky is the limit. You can be a little bit more bold with the storylines, and a little bit more international, and a little more up the scale. But John Luther is always going to be John Luther.'

Shock: Luther's fifth series aired in January 2019, and ended with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger, as the titular detective was arrested after he let serial killer Alice Morgan plunged to her death

In another interview, Idris confirmed once more that a Luther film is 'definitely coming', while admitting his mother still believes he will take on the role of James Bond.

The actor has been repeatedly linked with the coveted role following Daniel Craig's confirmation that he will not return following the delayed release of No Time To Die - his sixth film as Bond.

But while Idris has previously admitted his chances of becoming the next 007 are remote, his mum Eve remains quietly optimistic.

He said on Capital XTRA: 'The Luther film is definitely coming, I'm very excited. For the fans that have watched five seasons of Luther, I owe it to them to take it to the next level, and that's where the film comes in.

'I know the rumours about Bond have always chased me. Listen, my poor mum is like, ''one day you're going to get it!'' I was like, ''mum, I'm good, I've got Luther''. I'm definitely doing that.'
James Haskell has made ANOTHER joke about his pregnant wife Chloe Madeley's body on Instagram, after being criticised for calling her a 'huge sea cow.'

On Thursday, he shared a snap of her hiding behind a wooden pole on holiday and wrote: 'Hide and seek is not Chloe Madeley's game' - although she clearly saw the funny side as she happily posed for the snap.

James also shared a screenshot of the MailOnline article about his 'sea cow' joke, jokingly called himself 'a big deal' as he hit out at 'stupid' comments.

The sportsman, who will become a dad this summer, then shared another quip about his wife's size in a new post from their luxury babymoon in the Maldives.

'I'm kind of a big deal': James Haskell made ANOTHER joke about pregnant wife Chloe Madeley's body on Instagram on Thursday, Hide and seek is not Chloe Madeley's game'

His say: James also hit back after being criticised for branding his pregnant wife 'a huge sea cow' in an Instagram post

'Stupid': Sharing a screenshot of the MailOnline article about his comment, James the former rugby player jokingly called himself 'a big deal' as he hit out at 'stupid' comments

On Wednesday James risked the wrath of his pregnant wife, 34, as he branded her a 'huge sea cow' in a snap of the star swimming underwater while clad in a bikini.

Showing off her blossoming baby bump, the daughter of daytime TV legends Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, smiled for the snap while throwing her hands up in double peace signs.

While Chloe looked radiant in the snap, James couldn't help but poke fun at her appearance, writing: 'Bloody hell you go snorkelling and the first thing you see is a huge sea cow doing a mating display!

'She appears to think I'm her partner. I didn't know whether to harpoon it or feed it.'

Naughty: On Wednesday James risked the wrath of his pregnant wife, 34,as he branded her a 'huge sea cow' in a snap of the star swimming underwater while clad in a bikini

Chloe didn't respond to the comment, but shared the snap on her own page with the caption: 'I wanted to try it, too.'

'I don't know how to put this but I'm kind of a big deal. People know me. I'm very important. I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany,' James, 36, wrote in the new post on Thursday - a quote from the comedy movie Anchorman.

'The comments are the best bit about it all,' he continued in reference to the MailOnline reader comments.

Quip: James later shared a new photo from the Maldives, showing his wife attempting to hide behind a deck post as her baby bump peeked out

'The best thing about stupid people is they don't know they're stupid, so they say things out loud and sign up for accounts to comment on papers and articles.'

Doubling down on his style of humour, James later shared a new photo from the Maldives, showing his wife attempting to hide behind a deck post as her baby bump peeked out.

'Hide and seek is not @madeleychloe game @discoversoneva #sonevafushi,' James quipped.

The couple are staying at luxury resort Soneva Jani, which focuses on holistic wellbeing.

Baby joy: Chloe is 21 weeks pregnant, announcing the news to Instagram last month as they are set to welcome their new addition in the summer

Chloe is 21 weeks pregnant, announcing the news to Instagram last month, and they are set to welcome their new addition in the summer.

The couple are expecting a baby girl, and Chloe recently revealed the couple were on the verge of considering IVF and adoption before unexpectedly falling pregnant at the end of last year.

Speaking to OK! Magazine, she explained that she hadn't felt the desperate urge to have children until she began to experience fertility problems. 'I find it quite amusing when people assume that all women, everywhere, want to be a mother, because it's really complicated,' she said.

The couple decided to start trying for a baby after James' stint on I'm A Celebrity in 2019 but after months of trying she began to feel nervous.

'We picked up the pace in terms of trying and that nervousness turned into utter fear,' she said.

'Like, 'Hang on, I don't want this option taken away from me.' I woke up in the middle of the night and it hit me like a ton of bricks. And that pushed me into making a decision and that I absolutely wanted to have a family.'

After a series of tests it was determined that there were no issues with the couple's fertility, but they started to consider IVF. Chloe admitted she felt 'very lucky' they didn't have to undergo IVF but said it was 'a really sad few months where I was scared it wouldn't happen for me'.

Babymoon: The couple are staying at luxury resort Soneva Jani, which focuses on holistic wellbeing, as they enjoy their last holiday as a family of two

The couples' getaway comes just days after the pair revealed that they had bought their first marital home.

She shared the good news in an Instagram post, writing: 'We have our first marital home!

'6 years after moving to the midlands for the Wasps relocation, James' subsequent Saints 'finisher' and a few lockdowns later I'm finally going home to my city, my friends and my family.

'6 years. I genuinely can't put into words this feeling. FINALLY going home,' she concluded.
Peter Kay has joined Instagram to promote his new tour - after largely stepping out of the public eye for the last five years.

A pair of tweets from Peter's official Twitter account, the first since September 2021, shared a link to his new Instagram, reading: 'Peter is now on Instagram please give him a follow his new official account.'

It comes after he took a break from life in the public eye in 2017, when he cancelled a huge 14-month stand-up tour due to 'unforeseen family circumstances'.

Here he is: Peter Kay has joined to Instagram to promote his new tour - after largely stepping out of the public eye for the last five years

The new Instagram account only has two photos  a shot of Peter and a promo poster for his show, Peter Kay's Dance for Life.

The dance party will head to London, Manchester and Liverpool, and is in aid of Cancer Research UK.

'Extra tickets just released for Peter Kay's Dance for Life in Manchester and Liverpool,' the caption teased.

Promo: A pair of tweets from Peter's official Twitter account, the first since September 2021, shared a link to his new Instagram, reading: 'Peter is now on Instagram please give him a follow his new official account'

It comes after Peter made his long-awaited return to the stage last year, receiving a standing ovation following his three-year absence.

The comedian appeared at a charity gig at Manchester's O2 Apollo in August and fans were delighted to see him.

Surprised by the reaction, he told the crowd: 'I've never in my life had a standing ovation when I came on. I'm going to go away for four more years.'

Peter cancelled his tour in December 2017, citing 'unforeseen family circumstances', and made a brief return to the stage the following year when he made a surprise appearance at a charity screening of his series Car Share.

The tour was due to run across the UK and Ireland from April 2018 through to summer 2019 - and Kay had only announced it one month earlier.

Social media: The new Instagram account only has two photos  a shot of Peter and a promo poster for his show, Peter Kay's Dance for Life

Reaction: Fans of the star were quick to express their delight at the news, saying they were looking forward to the shows

But he said on December 13, 2017: 'Due to unforeseen family circumstances, I deeply regret that I am having to cancel all of my upcoming work projects.

'This unfortunately includes my upcoming standup tour, Dance for Life shows and any outstanding live work commitments.

'My sincerest apologies. This decision has not been taken lightly and I'm sure you'll understand my family must always come first.'

He had previously been due to make a comeback with the series of Dance For Life shows to raise money for Cancer Research UK in April and May 2020.

Shock: It comes after the Car Share star stepped back from the public eye in 2017, when he cancelled a huge stand-up tour due to 'unforeseen family circumstances' (pictured in 2011)

But the events had to be postponed in March last year because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Kay did however release a special audio-only episode of his comedy Car Share with co-star Sian Gibson in April last year in an attempt to 'cheer people in some way'.

He also made a brief return last January when he called into Cat Deeley's new BBC Radio 2 programme, as they discussed the New Year and embarrassing stories.

Kay's fans had raised concerns for his health after his appearance on the BBC's Big Night In back in April 2020, with some saying he looked 'far from 100 per cent'.

Last September, it emerged his absence from the public eye had seen money continue to roll into Good Night Vienna Productions, the firm he established in 1999.

Described as a 'writing, performing and TV production' business, its shareholder funds were 24.8million by the end of March 2020 - 1million up on the year before.

Some 23.3million of the company's funds were held in 'cash in bank and in hand', while its only reported spending was limited to just 1,495 - on 'motor vehicles'.

Kay, whose 2010-11 tour made it into the Guinness World Records after he performed to more than 1.2million people, lives with his wife Susan and their three children.

Talented: The Bolton-born comic received a standing ovation as he appeared on stage at Manchester's O2 Apollo during a Q&A last August (pictured in 2021)
Katie Holmes and Emma Roberts checked out all the upcoming Kate Spade looks at the Fall 2022 Collection Presentation in New York City on Thursday.

The Batman Begins actress, 43, donned a bright yellow sundress with a floral pattern that stopped at knee level.

The ex-wife of Tom Cruise wore a white sweater with the sleeves pulled up to the middle of her forearms, and she held a brown purse that appeared to be shaped like a croissant.

Fashion fans: Katie Holmes and Emma Roberts checked out all the upcoming Kate Spade looks at the Fall 2022 Collection Presentation in New York City on Thursday

The We're the Millers star, 31, wore a red and white-striped dress underneath a heavy coat with faux fur around the collar and wrists.

She carried a white purse and her blonde hair was tied tightly behind her head.

Roberts also shared a more intimate look at the event with a series of snaps she posted to her Instagram story.

Summer is coming: The Batman Begins actress, 43, donned a bright yellow sundress with a floral pattern that stopped at knee level

Keeping cozy: The We're the Millers star, 31, wore a red and white-striped dress underneath a heavy coat with faux fur around the collar and wrists

More personal touch: Roberts also shared a more intimate look at the event with a series of snaps she posted to her Instagram story

The New York native first posted a video where she gave her more than 17 million followers the basics of what she was up to.

'Hi guys,' she began. 'I am at Kate Spade's open house which you can come check out this weekend in New York.'

She then focused the huge green bookshelves filled with bright pink books behind her before twirling in a circle for her fans.

Urging people to come out: 'Hi guys,' she began. 'I am at Kate Spade's open house which you can come check out this weekend in New York'

Her favorite outfit: In the Nerve star's second clip, she divulged which Kate Spade outfit was her favorite

In the Nerve star's next clip, she divulged which Kate Spade outfit was her favorite.

Roberts then taped a model dressed in a blue plaid blazer and pants combination with a matching kerchief.

She wore the blazer over a white button-down shirt, and she accessorized with a cheetah-print bucket hat and similarly-styled belt.

The bucket hat and belt matched well with the model's purse which bore a cheetah wearing a green bowtie on the front of it.
Brian Molko was looking drastically different in his latest interview as he unveiled his revamped rock star image ahead of the Placebo world tour.

The frontman, 49, was notably sporting a set of new gnashers as well as a head of long black hair and a goatee beard for the chat with Virgin Radio Italy recently.

Brian, who appeared with bassist Stefan Olsdal, proudly flashed what appeared to be a set of veneers as he spoke about feeling nervous ahead of an intimate London gig on Thursday night.

Wow! Brian Molko was looking drastically different in his latest interview as he unveiled his revamped rock star image ahead of the Placebo world tour

The star was also sporting a pair of dark shades and a black trilby hat.

Fans in the comments section of the video which had been shared to YouTube could be seen discussing Brian's new look.

One person said: 'He looks so different.'

Another commented: 'I think he has new teeth, that's the reason.'

Beaming: The frontman, 49, was noteably sporting a set of new gnashers as well as a head of long black hair and a goatee beard for the chat with Virgin Radio Italy recently

Before adding: 'And the mustache too.'[sic]

One other said: 'I worked in dental, he definitely got some crowns/caps.'

Another said: 'The comments on this are wild. Y'all need to calm down, there's really nothing wrong here. Stef has never been very talkative in interviews, he's always looked a bit distant.

'Brian has always been a bit pretentious and he's always talked too much. Yes, he has facial hair and he's fixed his teeth. So what? He's a musician, not a model. His appearance has no impact on his music. I swear nobody hates Placebo as much as Placebo fans.'

Reaction: Fans in the comments section of the video which had been shared to YouTube could be seen discussing Brian's new look

Back to his best! During the interview, Brian and Stefan discussed their apprehension about getting back on stage after taking a break during Covid (pictured with Neil Tennant, David Bowie And Norman Cook in 1999)

In good company: The star was also sporting a pair of dark shades and a black trilby hat

During the interview, Brian and Stefan discussed their apprehension about getting back on stage after taking a break during Covid.

Brian said: 'We might have had too much time to think about what being in a band is. Because we have a lot of experience in that and how it effects us emotionally as human beings. We've had a bit too much time to consider these things.

Stefan said: 'Before we were trying to slot our personal lives into the Placebo schedule and all of a sudden we get our personal lives back. And to try and put Placebo back into that, it's the first time since the band started really.'

Brian added: 'It's an odd time in history and an odd time for musicians like us, who have the tendency to overthink. So that's perhaps were a certain shyness or apprehension comes. Anticipation, trepidation, a little bit of fear.'

Brian said: 'We might have had too much time to think about what being in a band is. Because we have a lot of experience in that and how it effects us emotionally'

'What we do is very strange as you know we put ourselves out there even though we are shy people, we put ourselves in a place where we're just completely posed.

'It's an odd psychology you know one has to wonder why you know, why we feel it necessary to seek such validation from so many people in such an odd, contrived context you know um and we've had too much time to think about that as well. I think you can think yourself into any kind of fear if you have too much time and too many possibilities.

'Too many you know if you just do something and keep doing it you don't really have time to sort of pause.'

He added: 'We've had a bit too much time to consider these things' (pictured in 2018)

It comes after Brian admitted he's tired of being fetishised, following years of wearing lipstick while singing about drugs and sex with different genders.

Brian and Stefan were famous for glamourising psycho-sexual fantasies in the 90s, but have had a change of heart following their reunion last year after a five year hiatus.

He told Vice: 'We've had s**tloads of time to think about the demands that are placed on us  being photographed and fetishised and surveilled  and how it makes us feel.'

Surprise: It comes after Brian admitted he's tired of being fetishised, following years of wearing lipstick while singing about drugs and sex with different genders (pictured right with Stefan)

Adding that they're 'less willing to sacrifice their feelings and souls to the band', the Nancy Boy songster confessed the pair have coped with their 'shyness' about returning to the limelight by distorting their images.

He continued: 'We were also thinking about how nobody presents themselves in the world today without some kind of filter, so we thought that we would take that Instagram aesthetic and push it as far as we could with distortion and filtering.

'For me, it was also about trying to create discomfort. My friend and mentor David Bowie always used to say, "If you're feeling comfortable, you're doing it wrong."'

Throwback: Brian (pictured in 1999) was famous for glamourising psycho-sexual fantasies in the 90s, but have had a change of heart following their reunion last year after a five year hiatus

After drummer Steve Forrest decided to give up his role in the group in 2015, Stefan questioned whether he 'had it in him' to embark on a new album.

He went on to reveal that it was Brian's enthusiasm that inspired him to head into the studio, leading to the creation of their ninth LP Never Let Me Go.

Placebo fans went wild in September when the alternative rock band released new single, Beautiful James, half a decade after dropping their last album, A Place for Us To Dream.

Brian appeared on BBC Radio 6 on Thursday to tease the upcoming track, where he admitted he was nervous for fans to hear it.

Iconic: Brian (left) said: 'For me, it was also about trying to create discomfort. My friend and mentor David Bowie (right) always used to say, "If you're feeling comfortable, you're doing it wrong"' (pictured in 1999)

However, they were met with a fantastic response as listeners took to Twitter to give their verdicts, saying: 'OMG! The world is healing' - following the single's delayed release due to the pandemic.

In full capitals, one user wrote, 'HELLO THIS IS SO GOOD,' as others chimed in with, 'I LOVE IT!!!' and 'Yessss!!!' followed by four red heart emojis.

'I love you,' added an admirer while another's comment could almost be heard by those who came across it: 'YOURE AMAZING ITS AMAZING THE WORLD IS HEALING [sic].'

In early 2020, the the MTV EMA winners were ready to go on tour because their untitled album was nearing completion following a set of gruelling sessions in their home studio over 2019, Brian revealed during his on-air interview.

'OMG! It's amazing': Placebo fans went wild in September when the alternative rock band released new single, Beautiful James, half a decade after dropping their last album, A Place for Us To Dream

'I dont think Ive ever been nervous and now, after this pause, I'm finding everything that I was used-to being new and nerve-racking to me so its different,' Molko told presenter Matt Everitt.

'We had decided already that Beautiful James would be the first single so we had a lot of confidence, we had a lot of get-up-and-go.

'Then obviously what happened happened and so everything was kind of delayed by about two years now,' he said of the coronavirus pandemic bringing their plans to a holt.

Formed in 1994, Brian and Stefan make up the band's current line-up, which once featured Robert Schultzberg, 46, Steve Hewitt, 50, and Steve Forrest, 34.

Admitting he has a 'boredom problem', Brian claimed it informs the way that he works and led him to present bandmate Stefan with images first, rather than music.

'I wanted to do everything backwards so lets choose an album cover before we write any music. Heres a list of song titles which Ive been writing over the past five years. Lets start with the song titles instead of starting with the music,' he said.

'Let's do everything that we do last, first. Lets do this whole album without a drummer because there's been a drummer on every album so far.

'I just needed to do it backwards at the beginning so I could feel like I was doing something different,' he added.

Victory: Steven Forrest (L), Stefan Olsdal (C) and Brian (R) of Placebo won Best Alternative Band at the MTV Europe Music Awards in 2009 (pictured in 2009)

An insomnia sufferer, the hitmaker went on to reveal that the album's lead single was initially called Bad Piano because he had recorded its melody onto his phone at five o'clock in the morning following a sleepless night.

'I really want each person who cares enough to listen to the record to find their own story. I fully expect people to ask me all the time, "Who's Beautiful James?"

'Well, I dont know. Whos your favourite James? James Corden or James Brown? Who is James to you and is James even a man?

'These are questions Im not going to answer, I want people to answer themselves,' he concluded.
Actor Zak Bagans - who owns The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas - has revealed how he plans to a return an item belonging to the late Paul Walker to his family.

Bagans acquired the damaged Maui Jim sunglasses that Fast & Furious action star was wearing when he died, age 40, in a fiery car crash in Valencia in 2013.

After purchasing the item, the 44-year-old paranormal enthusiast now wants to return the shades back to his family for free, but if they don't want them he'll ask for permission to showcase them at his Haunted Museum - according to TMZ.

Zak's museum contains 30 themed-rooms containing objects like Dr. Jack Kevorkian's death van, Charles Manson's bone fragments, and The Conjuring 3 movie's real-life devil's rocking chair.

Spooky artifact: Ghost Adventures producer-host Zak Bagans acquired the damaged Maui Jim sunglasses that Fast & Furious action star Paul Walker was wearing when he died, age 40, in a fiery car crash in Valencia in 2013

The 44-year-old paranormal enthusiast wants to return the shades back to his family for free, but if they don't want them he'll ask for permission to showcase them at his Haunted Museum in Las Vegas (pictured March 16)

Fans were outraged when the bystander who discovered the sunglasses in the nearby charred ivy brush tried to auction them off in 2014 for $15K through BidAMI Auctions, and they never sold.

That is, until Bagans bought the shades from the owner earlier this year.

Paul perished shortly after hopping into a Porsche Carrera GT with his pal Roger Rodas, who crashed into a concrete lamp and two trees.

Nevada attraction: Zak's museum contains 30 themed-rooms containing objects like Dr. Jack Kevorkian's death van, Charles Manson's bone fragments, and The Conjuring 3 movie's real-life devil's rocking chair

Authentic: Fans were outraged when the bystander who discovered the sunglasses in the nearby charred ivy brush tried to auction them off in 2014 for $15K through BidAMI Auctions, and Bagans bought them earlier this year

RIP: Paul (pictured moments before the 2013 crash) perished shortly after hopping into a Porsche Carrera GT with his pal Roger Rodas, who crashed into a concrete lamp and two trees

Walker's cremated remains were buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills in a non-denominational ceremony.

Paul's only child and heir Meadow Rain Walker posted a tribute to him on the eighth anniversary of his death on November 30 captioned: 'I love and miss you endlessly. Today and everyday I celebrate your life, your love. And you, my best friend.'

The 23-year-old DNA Model - who's the president of the Paul Walker Foundation - is featured on the cover of Financial Time's How To Spend It magazine, which hits newsstands this weekend.

Walker's only child and heir Meadow Rain Walker posted a tribute to him on the eighth anniversary of his death on November 30 captioned: 'I love and miss you endlessly. Today and everyday I celebrate your life, your love. And you, my best friend'

Hitting newsstands this weekend! The 23-year-old DNA Model - who's the president of the Paul Walker Foundation - is featured on the cover of Financial Time's How To Spend It magazine

Catwalker: On March 15, Meadow - whose mother is Rebecca Soteros - walked in the Alexander McQueen FW/22 ready-to-wear presentation in New York City

On March 15, Meadow - whose mother is Rebecca Soteros - walked in the Alexander McQueen FW/22 ready-to-wear presentation in New York City.

Walker was only 15 when her famous father died and she received $7.2M in her 2014 settlement from the Rodas estate, according to TMZ.

And by 2017, the Cali-born, Hawaiian-raised beauty and her grandfather Paul Sr. settled a separate lawsuit against Porsche 'to the satisfaction of all involved' - according to the Los Angeles Times.
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's spokesperson Kim Eun-hye speaks during a press briefing at the presidential transition committee's office in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap



By Lee Hae-rin



President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol responded to the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)'s criticism over his alleged silence on Japan's historical distortions.



In a press release circulated to reporters on Thursday, Yoon's spokesperson Kim Eun-hye said that "Yoon will deal sternly with any distortion of history."



Kim said that the President-elect has expressed multiple times, since being a presidential candidate that he hopes for the improvement of Korea-Japan relations, but it must be based on correct historical recognition and reflection.



Kim's remarks came as Yoon faced criticism from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) which urged the president-elect to clarify his stance on Japan's historical distortions.



DPK floor leader Park Hong-geun said on Wednesday that Japan even approved some historical distortions right after Yoon met with the Japanese ambassador to Korea, demanding Yoon declare his position on the matter.



Park alleges that Yoon's silence on Japan's historical revisionism in textbooks shows he is unaware of the matter and this makes the Korean public uneasy.



On Monday, Yoon met with the Japanese Ambassador to Seoul Koichi Aiboshi and expressed hope for the improvement of Korea-Japan relations in a "future-oriented approach."



In response to the DPK's criticism, Yoon's spokesperson Kim said that the president-elect refrained from making a remark on the situation because it is what the incumbent president is supposed to do, as the person presently in charge of state affairs.



"Yoon believes it is his moral duty as president-elect to respect the government's official statement on the diplomatic issue," Kim added, expressing a regret regarding the DPK's alleged attempt to use diplomatic matters in national politics.



The Japanese government screened and approved 239 types of textbooks for junior and senior students at high schools on Tuesday, which was the day after Yoon's meeting with the Japanese Ambassador to Korea.



Some of these text books are said to contain distortions of history between the two countries. For example, "Japanese military" was removed from the term "Japanese military sexual slavery," while "coerced labor" was changed into "mobilization" or "draft."



Such changes are against Japan's previous acknowledgement of the coercion by the Japanese military in sexual slavery from the 1993 Kono statements. Also, the textbooks maintain descriptions of Dokdo as "Japan's indigenous territory."



Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made an official statement, Thursday, that Japan's approval of textbooks with historical distortions is regrettable and demanded corrections.


James Cordon mocked Jada Pinkett Smith in a musical skit just days after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars following the comedian's joke about the actress.

The CBS Late Late Show host, 43, performed a take on movie Encanto, discussing with the programme's cast members about how to tastefully cover Sunday's incident at the 94th Academy Awards.

'James, we have to at least acknowledge [what happened],' one producer said, before James chimed in.

Funnyman: James Cordon, 43, mocked Jada Pinkett Smith in a musical skit just days after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars following the comedian's joke about the actress

'We don't talk about Jada, no, no, no,' he sang, parodying the tune We Don't Talk About Bruno from Lin-Manuel Miranda's Encanto, which won the Oscar for Best Animated Film.

James sung about other moments from the awards such as Beyonce performing her song Be Alive from the film King Richard, which was nominated for Best Motion Picture of the Year and for which Will won Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for his part as Richard Williams.

However, the performance did not go down well with viewers, with many taking to Twitter to express their disgust.

Star couple: James recounted the moment Will slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada

'James Corden making the worst jokes that you will ever hear,' wrote one viewer of the clip.

Someone else wrote: 'This is genius because James Corden instantly killed Encanto and Will Smith Oscar memes. It's like hitting two birds with one stone.'

One other posted: 'Had we stopped mocking Black women for too long for your comfort?'

Joker: The CBS Late Late Show host performed a take on movie Encanto, discussing with the producers about how to tastefully cover Sunday's incident at the 94th Academy Awards

'I genuinely think its literally impossible to find someone as unfunny as James Corden,' wrote someone else.

It comes after video resurfaced of Will slapping a reporter who attempted to kiss him on the red carpet during the Moscow premiere of Men In Black 3 in 2012.

Ukrainian prankster Vitalii Sediuk embraced Smith on the red carpet and kissed him on both cheeks.

Topical: 'James, we have to at least acknowledge [what happened],' one producer said, before James chimed in

Smith, 53, promptly pushed Sediuk away and then slapped him on the cheek.

'Hey man, what the hell is your problem?' Will asked Sediuk.

Recounting the incident as he approached the next reporter moments later, Smith said: 'He tried to kiss me on the mouth.

Musical: 'We don't talk about Jada, no, no, no,' he sang, parodying the tune We Don't Talk About Bruno from Lin-Manuel Miranda's Encanto

'He's lucky I didn't try to sucker punch him... Sorry, I said that on camera,' he added.

Smith addressed the kissing incident during an interview on The Late Show With David Letterman where he called it 'awkward.'

'We're doing an interview. He's a reporter, he says, "I'm your biggest fan, can I have a hug?" So I go to give this joker a hug and he tries to lean in to kiss me... it's just awkward Dave!' Smith said.

Opinions: However, the performance did not go down well with viewers, with many taking to Twitter to express their disgust

'That's what they were saying, they were like "Oh no, we're sorry, it's just his schtick." And I said that's why his a** got schtuck!"' he added.

Sediuk, who has pranked a slew of celebrities, later apologized for kissing Will and admitted it was 'too much'.

'I apologise for my behaviour... I think it was too much. I just wanted to do something extraordinary to impress him,' he said in a video on Hip Hollywood.

Controversy erupted over the weekend after Will smacked Chris Rock on stage after the comedian cracked a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's appearance.

Smith's meltdown continued when he returned to his seat as he repeatedly screamed: 'Keep my wife's name out of your f***ing mouth'.

The crowd then fell into stunned silence - and any questions over whether the altercation was genuine were answered when just over half an hour later Smith was given the Best Actor award and apologized for the assault.

The actor released a statement on Monday, saying his behavior was 'unacceptable and inexcusable' and left him 'embarrassed'.

Scandal: Will smacked Chris Rock on stage after the comedian cracked a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's appearance

'What the hell is your problem?' Video has resurfaced of Will Smith slapping a reporter who attempted to kiss him on the red carpet during the Moscow premiere of Men In Black 3 in 2012

He wrote in an Instagram post that he was 'embarrassed' by his actions, which shocked the ceremony attendees, producers and viewers.

'Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive,' he wrote.

'My behavior at last night's Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada's medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally.

Smith turned his cheek to both kisses, promptly pushed Sediuk away and then slapped him on the cheek

'I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.'

Smith then went on to say sorry to the organizers and the producers of the show.

Rock has not responded to Smith's apology, or commented on the Sunday night incident.
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EastEnders star Tilly Keeper has been spotted filming scenes for season four of You for the first time.

The actress, who played Louise Mitchell on the soap from 2016 to 2020, cut a glamorous figure as she recorded scenes for the Netflix thriller alongside US actor Lukas Gage at Old Billingsgate in London.

Following the dramatic conclusion to season three, star Penn Badgeley transformed back into the sinister Joe Goldberg as he watched Tilly's character from afar.

Exciting: EastEnders star Tilly Keeper has been spotted filming scenes for season four of You for the first time, with the actress seen in the midst of a steamy clinch with US actor Lukas Gage while filming in London's Old Billingsgate on Wednesday

Dressed in a sparkly gold mini dress to play her character Mimi, Tilly could be seen heading into an art gallery on the arm of US actor Lukas, pausing to lean in for a steamy kiss.

No doubt having caught Joe's eye, she remains unaware he is watching her from a nearby bench, hinting she could become his next victim.

Meanwhile Penn himself cut a dapper figure in a smart black suit while perched on a bench for the scenes, after he fled his newfound suburban bliss, killing his girlfriend Love and abandoning their child.

His next victim? Following the dramatic conclusion to season three, star Penn Badgeley transformed back into the sinister Joe Goldberg as he watched Tilly's character from afar

Gorgeous: Tilly, who starred on EastEnders from 2016 to 2020, cut a glamorous figure as she recorded scenes for the Netflix thriller alongside US actor Lukas Gage at Old Billingsgate in London

Stunning: Dressed in a sparkly gold mini dress, Tilly could be seen heading into an art gallery on the arm of US actor Lukas

Smart: Lukas, best known for his roles in Love, Victor and The White Lotus, sported an eye-catching snakeskin effect suit as he filmed the scenes alongside Tilly

Loved-up: Despite his character's supposed grisly end, Lukas beamed as he shared a cheeky kiss with Tilly's character at the swanky art event

Lukas, best known for his roles in Love, Victor and The White Lotus, sported an eye-catching snakeskin effect suit as he filmed the scenes alongside Tilly.

Sean Pertwee, who previously starred as Alfred Pennyworth in Fox's comic book drama Gotham, also got into character after being previously rumoured to be joining the cast.

According to onlookers, the scenes saw police enter the gallery soon after Tilly's characters' arrival, and she simply says: 'He is downstairs,' hinting her beau could be killed, setting the stage for Joe to make his move.

It was reported last week that Tilly was among several British soap stars joining the case for You's fourth season, which has begun filming after the third season was lauded by critics last year.

Dark outcome: According to onlookers, the scenes saw police enter the gallery soon after Tilly's characters' arrival, and she simply says: 'He is downstairs,' hinting her beau could be killed, setting the stage for Joe to make his move

Sharp: Meanwhile Penn himself cut a dapper figure in a smart black suit for the scenes, after he fled his newfound suburban bliss, killing his girlfriend Love and abandoning their child

Having a rest? During a break from filming the Gossip Girl star appeared to enjoy some respite on a bench

Filming: Sean Pertwee, who previously starred as Alfred Pennyworth in Fox's comic book drama Gotham, also got into character after being previously rumoured to be joining the cast.

Penn will be joined by the likes of Dario Coates, 29, who played Alex Neeson, the son of Kym Marshs Michelle Connor in Coronation Street, and Eve Austin, who portrayed Tabitha Taylor-Rudd in Emmerdale.

A TV insider told the publication: 'This will come as a huge surprise to the millions of fans of the show around the world, who got used to the first three seasons being based in various locations in the US.

'The last thing they would have expected was for the next outing to move lock, stock and barrel across the Atlantic and feature a largely British cast.

'But the producers wanted to provide a fresh take on the show, though Joe will no doubt be going back to his dark deeds when he arrives in London.'

New role! It was reported last week that Tilly was among several British soap stars joining the case for You's fourth season, which has begun filming after the third season was lauded by critics last year

Star-studded: Penn will be joined by the likes of Dario Coates, 29, who played Alex Neeson, the son of Kym Marshs Michelle Connor in Coronation Street, and Eve Austin, who portrayed Tabitha Taylor-Rudd in Emmerdale

UK twist: A TV insider told the publication: 'This will come as a huge surprise to the millions of fans of the show around the world, who got used to the first three seasons being based in various locations in the US'

Scary: They added: 'But the producers wanted to provide a fresh take on the show, though Joe will no doubt be going back to his dark deeds when he arrives in London'

New cast members: Other Brit additions to the new series reportedly include Ed Speleers, who appeared as Jimmy Kent in Downton Abbey and as Stephen Bonnet US series Outlander (Tilly and Lukas are pictured during filming)

Other Brit additions to the new series reportedly include Ed Speleers, who appeared as Jimmy Kent in Downton Abbey and as Stephen Bonnet US series Outlander.

MailOnline contacted Netflix and representatives for the British actors for comment at the time.

You was renewed for a fourth season in October 2021, ahead of the third season's premiere.

The series is based on Caroline Kepnes' best-selling novels, You, Hidden Bodies, and You Love Me.

Last week the official Instagram account for the series revealed that season four is officially in production, posting a bloody film slate to mark the new beginning.

'Feeling YOU-4-ic. YOU Season 4 is now in production,' the caption read.

Coming soon: You was renewed for a fourth season in October 2021, ahead of the third season's premiere. The series is based on Caroline Kepnes' best-selling novels, You, Hidden Bodies, and You Love Me

Work has started! Last week the official Instagram account for the series revealed that season four is officially in production, posting a bloody film slate to mark the new beginning

Switching it up: The first season initially aired on the Lifetime network before it switched to the streaming platform Netflix

History: In the first season, Goldberg plays a bookstore manager who falls in love with a woman and eventually murders her

The first season initially aired on the Lifetime network before it switched to the streaming platform Netflix.

In the first season, Goldberg plays a bookstore manager who falls in love with a woman and eventually murders her.

Meanwhile in the second season he changes his name to Will Bettelheim and meets a new target of his obsession - a girl named Love, however as fate would have it, she also turns out to be a killer.

So much drama! Meanwhile in the second season he changes his name to Will Bettelheim and meets a new target of his obsession - a girl named Love, however as fate would have it, she also turns out to be a killer

The third season follows the couple as they raise their child in a suburb. But when Joe's compulsive obsessions kick in again, he begins focusing his attention on Marienne.

When Love discovers their relationship, she plans to murder Joe, but he ends up outsmarting her and creating the perfect murder-suicide scenario that leaves him off the hook and presumed to be dead.

The third season of You was released in October 2021 and was met with widespread critical acclaim.

The upcoming fourth season of the show currently does not have a scheduled premiere date.
Jennifer Garner opted for comfort as she made her way to a recording studio in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

The Alias actress, 49, stepped out in a pink sweater, blue jeans and black penny loafers. She carried a large notebook with her which she needed a pair of square-framed glasses to read.

This comes days after the siren dazzled at the 94th annual Academy Awards in a red gown.

Keeping comfy: Jennifer Garner opted for comfort over fashion as she made her way to a recording studio in Los Angeles on Wednesday

The 13 Going On 30 star parted her brown hair in the middle and, though she let it flow freely, she tucked it behind her ear.

Garner's appearance came just a few days after she presented at the chaotic Academy Awards alongside her Juno co-stars Elliot Page and JK Simmons.

Although she was as casual as could be on Tuesday, the actress set temperatures soaring on Sunday when she walked the Oscars red carpet in Hollywood in a gorgeous red Brandon Maxwell custom off-the-shoulder dress.

Mom look: The actress, 49, stepped out in a pink sweater, blue jeans and black penny loafers

Keeping the hair our of her eyes: The 13 Going on 30 star parted her brown hair in the middle and, though she let it flow freely, she tucked it behind her ear

She was on hand both to present the award for Best Original Screenplay and also to look back on Juno with Page and Simmons.

However, the segment angered some viewers who criticized the Academy for cutting out several awards from the live broadcast, only to fill the freed-up time with tributes to years-old films like Juno which came out in 2007.

After the ceremony, Jennifer made a splash at the Netflix Oscars after-party, which also featured appearances from Maggie Gyllenhaal and her husband Peter Sarsgaard, along with Benedict Cumberbatch, who lost out on the Best Actor trophy to Will Smith.

Woman in red: The actress set temperatures soaring on Sunday when she walked the Oscars red carpet in Hollywood in a gorgeous red Brandon Maxwell custom off-the-shoulder dress

On stage: She announced Best Original Screenplay and paid tribute to Juno with Elliot Page and J.K. Simmons at the event (L to R: Garner, Page and Simmons)

The ceremony was plunged into chaos when Smith marched up to the stage and slapped Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith's hair, which she had shaved to cover up bald spots caused by her alopecia.

While Garner attended the event, her ex-husband Ben Affleck and his girlfriend Jennifer Lopez didn't make it to this year's ceremony.

Garner and Affleck met on the set of Pearl Harbor in 2000 and married in 2005. They share 16-year-old Violet, 13-year-old Seraphina and 10-year-old Samuel.

The pair divorced back in 2018 after Affleck's alleged infidelity.
Ewan McGregor shared some Obi-Wan Kenobi news with fans on Thursday.

The actor revealed that the debut of the Disney+ series will move from May 25 to May 27 adding that the first two episodes will be shared back-to-back.

'The first two episodes will premiere together,' said an excited Ewan who wore a black T-shirt. 'So make sure you tune in to both episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi streaming Friday, May 27 exclusively on Disney+,' the veteran actor said in a cheerful tone.

Clear your Friday! Ewan McGregor shared some Obi-Wan Kenobi news with fans on Thursday. The actor revealed that the debut of the Disney+ series will move from May 25 to May 27 adding that the first two episodes will be shared back-to-back

The poster tells a lot: Ewan's Ob-Wan is living on Tatooine to watch over a young Luke

This news comes weeks after the new trailer was shared.

McGregor is seen as the fearless and wise Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi who was also featured in the Star Wars prequel movies.

And for the first time a young Luke Skywalker is seen playing alone at his home on the desert planet of Tatooine where he has been hidden away from the Dark Side. It is also where Obi-Wan must keep a watchful eye on him from afar.

The news: 'The first two episodes will premiere together,' said an excited Ewan who wore a black T-shirt. 'So make sure you tune in to both episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi streaming Friday, May 27 exclusively on Disney+,' the veteran actor said in a cheerful tone

Also teased is the appearance of the dreaded Darth Vader who at the end of the clip can be heard with his signature deep breathing.

The clip opens with a look at the desert planet Tatooine as Obi-Wan is seen walking on what appears to be a camel like creature as he says, 'The fight is done. We lost.'

Then the Jedi Knight is spotted sitting alone on a rocky hilltop looking out at familiar farm home below.

That is when a very young Luke Skywalker is seen playing outside with goggles on and his plain-looking beige attire as he pretends to fly a Jedi starfighter. The watchful Obi-Wan is heard saying, 'Stay hidden.'

New look: A first trailer for the new Star Wars TV series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, was shared by Disney+ in early March

There he is: And for the first time a young Luke Skywalker is seen playing alone at his home on the desert planet of Tatooine where he has been hidden, and where Obi-Wan has offered to keep a watchful eye on him

Luke has been placed on Tatooine to stay away from the evil forces of the Empire and Darth Vader, who is the child's father. His twin sister Leia is located on another planet.

'The key to hunting Jedi is patience,' says a man in voiceover as a black aircraft is seen approaching a menacing-looking monolith above the sea. 'Jedi cannot help what they are, their compassion leaves a trail,' it is heard.

'The Jedi code is like an itch, they cannot help it.'

A lonely man: Ewan is seen walking in Tatooine with his camel like creature into town that sees others milling about

Lonely: Luke has been placed on Tatooine to stay away from the evil forces of the Empire and Darth Vader (aka Anakin Skywalker), who is the child's father

Next actress Moses Ingram is seen in a black leather suit as she plays Inquisitor Reva, who is firmly on the Dark Side. The character lurks around on rooftops, hoping to catch surviving Jedi.

A bald Sith is heard saying, 'Where is he?' as fight scenes are seen.

'Between darkness and defeat hope survives,' it reads on the screen.

The clip ends with the sound of Darth Vader breathing which promises the evil force will be seen in the series.

The series debuts on May 25. That specific date has a lot of meaning for Star Wars fans, since it was on that date in 1977 that the very first Star Wars movie, A New Hope, debuted in theaters.

The uncle: Uncle Owen has been tasked with keeping an eye on Luke. Here he is seen in his farmer's clothing in town

Owen and Beru: Bonnie Piesse, Joel Edgerton Star Wars Episode II - Attack Of The Clones - in 2002

The town that known little rain: Villagers are seen gathering as a man talks to them

The story takes place 10 years after the final Star Wars prequel movie, 2005's Revenge of the Sith, where he failed to bring his best friend and apprentice - Anakin Skywalker - back from the Dark Side.

At least three other actors from the Star Wars prequels will return.

Joel Edgerton and Bonnie Piesse will return as Owen Lars and Beru Lars, Luke Skywalker's uncle and aunt who raised him after Anakin turned to the Dark Side.

Hayden Christensen has also been confirmed to return as Anakin Skywalker a.k.a. Sith Lord Darth Vader.

The Dark Side has been busy: 'The key to hunting Jedi is patience,' says a man in voiceover as a black aircraft is seen approaching a menacing-looking monolith above the sea. 'Jedi cannot help what they are, their compassion leaves a trail,' it is heard

Frightening: Next actress Moses Ingram is seen in a black leather suit as she plays Inquisitor Reva, who is firmly on the Dark Side. The character lurks around on rooftops, hoping to catch surviving Jedi

Scary for sure: A bald Sith is heard saying, 'Where is he?' as fight scenes are seen

And there they are: Stormtroopers are seen following a man with a black suit and hat on in a neon-lit city

She seems to pop up everywhere: Reva is also seen with her cape on she resembles Darth Vader

The cast will also include Kumail Nanjiani, Indira Varma, Rupert Friend, O'Shea Jackson Jr., Sung Kang, Simone Kessell and Benny Safdie.

The show was created by Joby Harold, who will also executive produce the series with McGregor, Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan and Deborah Chow, who will direct all six episodes of the series.

Obi-Wan Kenobi will be the third live-action Star Wars series debuting on Disney Plus, following The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, with many more in the works.

10 years later: The story takes place 10 years after the final Star Wars prequel movie, 2005's Revenge of the Sith, where he failed to bring his best friend and apprentice - Annakin Skywalker (right) - back from the Dark Side

Disney Plus is also expected to release their new series Andor later this year, following Diego Luna's character Cassian Andor set before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

The streaming service will also debut Ahsoka, a spin-off series following Rosario Dawson's Ahsoka Tano character.

Other spin-offs that are in development include The Acolyte from Russian Doll creator Leslye Headland and Lando from Dear White People creator Justin Simien.
Jen Shah let loose on Wednesday night at the Latto concert in Salt Lake City, Utah where she was ushered on stage to twerk alongside the recording artist in videos shared on social media.

The 48-year-old reality star proved to be on top of her game as she danced the night away both on stage and then hanging over the balcony at The Depot, a historic venue in the heart of downtown.

Shah's rare night out marked the exact one-year anniversary of her arrest while Bravo cameras were rolling on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City, where she later pled not guilty to charges of co conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Get low: Jen Shah let loose on Wednesday night at the Latto concert in Salt Lake City, Utah where she was ushered on stage to twerk alongside the recording artist in videos shared on social media

Shah was dressed to impress for the night out, and wore a black and white jumpsuit with matching briefs attached to suspenders.

She added inches to her petite frame with a pair of over-the-knee black leather boots, and sported a fuzzy black vest in addition to a hat over her long black hair.

Jen had no problem showing off her dance moves as she dropped down low on stage while Latto performed to a sold out crowd.

It's in the knees: The 48-year-old reality star proved to be on top of her game as she danced the night away both on stage and then hanging over the balcony at The Depot, a historic venue in the heart of downtown

Classic Jen: Shah was dressed to impress for the night out, and wore a black and white jumpsuit with matching briefs attached to suspenders

Yikes: Back up in the VIP section, Shah kicked her leg over the balcony and danced to the music while a friend kept their arm across her back for extra support

Danger zone: Twitter user @crson99 said what was on everyone's mind with the simple caption, 'Is that you Jen?!'

Back up in the VIP section, Shah kicked her leg over the balcony and danced to the music while a friend kept their arm across her back for extra support.

Twitter user @crson99 said what was on everyone's mind with the simple caption, 'Is that you Jen?!'

Shah shared a few fan snaps to her Instagram account, where @blacknbklyn wrote Jen was 'too much fun and cool with everyone!'

Jen was arrested on March 30, 2021, and faces up to 50 years in prison for allegedly defrauding elderly people in a massive, $5million telemarketing scheme which prosecutors say went on for nine years.

Good times: Shah shared a few fan snaps to her Instagram account, where @blacknbklyn wrote Jen was 'too much fun and cool with everyone!'

Stepping out: She added inches to her petite frame with a pair of over-the-knee black leather boots, and sported a fuzzy black vest

As part of the conditions of her release, Shah is prevented from traveling outside of Utah or the United States without the permission of a pretrial officer, and was also ordered to surrender her passport.

She is also not allowed to use a credit card, obtain a new line of credit, or contact her co-accused assistant, Stuart Smith. In November, Smith changed his plea to guilty previously pleading not guilty.

Last month, she filed to prevent prosecutors from using clips from the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City at her fraud trial and stated she does not want 'any clips from the RHOSLC' used as evidence in court.

In court documents obtained by Page Six, her defense claims the footage does 'not have any of the indicia of reliability' and is 'highly edited and crafted through post-production.'

Her team noted the clips 'would have to fall under one of the exceptions to the hearsay rule of evidence, as they are, by definition, out-of-court statements.'

The trial was initially supposed to begin on March 22, but was postponed until July 11.
Love Islands Paige Turley and her boyfriend Finley Tapp were caught up in a fire drama at their luxury flat in Manchester - and they admitted it was a 'f***ing nightmare' after having to evacuate the building and try to repair the damage.

Paige told her fans it was the second time in a week they had to evacuate the building in a video on her Instagram Stories on Thursday.

She said: 'So guys excuse the condition of me at 11:30 this morning. We had a bit of a wild night where we got evacuated from the flat the second time this week because of a fire, so not fun.'

Shocking: Love Islands Paige Turley and her boyfriend Finley Tapp were caught up in a fire drama at their luxury flat in Manchester

She added a clip of Finley taping up their apartment door so they could avoid the stench of smoke from the fire.

She explained: 'So also if youre wondering what that noise is. Its just Finn cellotaping the door up so that we cant smell the smoke through it.

'What a f***ing nightmare. Very minor fire thankfully.'

Hellfire: Paige admitted it was a 'f***ing nightmare' after having to evacuate the building and try to repair the damage (pictured this month)

Finley added: 'Cause it still stinks out there.'

He asked his fans: 'Anyone know how to get the smell of smoke out your clothes?'

The couple moved into their Manchester flat in July 2020 after falling for one another on Love Island and isolating together initially at Paiges family home in Scotland.

Escape: Paige told her fans it was the second time in a week they had to evacuate the building in a video on her Instagram Stories on Thursday

Sticky situation: Paige's boyfriend Finley was seen sticking tape around the door in a bid to keep the smokey smell out

Their swish apartments boasts three bedrooms and three bathrooms, floor to ceiling windows and a gym complex.

Meanwhile, Paige looked much more relaxed later in the day as she posed in some figure-hugging black active wear for an Instagram shot.

She perched on the end of her sofa with a drink in her hand and captioned the post: 'Aaaand relax.'
While it is unlikely that Captain James T Kirk will need to perform any ballet moves in the next Star Trek movie, Chris Pine is taking classes and loving it.

The actor, 41, talked about his new hobby to People in this week's issue, and he said he wishes he had started younger.

'I love it,' the star told the outlet. 'I wish I'd done it years ago. It's an incredible workout. I just find it so beautiful because you have to be so strong and kind of masculine, so to speak, but also very gentle and feminine with your arms and your hands. It's just a very difficult art form.'

New hobby: While it's unlikely that Captain James T. Kirk will need to do any ballet in the next Star Trek movie, Chris Pine is taking classes and loving it (pictured this week)

When asked why he decided to take on the new challenge, the Wonder Woman actor gave two major reasons: the discipline's artistic value and good old fashioned pride.

'One, it's artistic, but a lot of vanity,' he explained. 'I had watched this video of this great Russian dancer dancing to Hozier in this church. I was like, "Who is this guy?" I was like, "I want to look like that." He's a ballet dancer. And I was like, "I should take ballet."'

How Pine is finding time to take ballet is something of a mystery given the number of projects the Into the Woods actor is working on.

Small regret: The actor, 41, opened up about his new hobby to People in this week's issue and he said he wishes he's started younger (pictured March 2022)

New movie: Pine's new movie The Contractor, about a former soldier who joins a private army, is set for release on Friday

His new movie The Contractor is set for release on Friday, and he's already completed filming on two other movies titled All the Old Knives and Don't Worry Darling.

The Contractor follows a involuntarily discharged former soldier who joins a private underground military force but is betrayed during his first mission.

In addition, the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse actor's film Dungeons and Dragons is currently in post-production.

Pine recently told Collider that the film, set for release on March 3, 2023, is 'like Game of Thrones mixed with a little Princess Bride, just a smidge of Holy Grail.'

Reprising a role: He will reprise his role as Captain Kirk in a Star Trek sequel set for release next year (pictured left with Zoe Saldana as Kirk in Star Trek: Into Darkness - 2013)

Another challenging role: Pine will have to study quite a few newsreels to play the legendary anchor Walter Cronkite in the movie Newsflash (Cronkite pictured 1968)

However, just because the film is in post-production doesn't mean Pine intends to rest on his laurels.

He will reprise his role as Captain Kirk in a Star Trek sequel set for release next year and he will play a part alongside Danny DeVito and Annette Bening in Poolman which will also be his directorial debut.

On top of all that, Pine will have to study quite a few newsreels to play the legendary anchor Walter Cronkite in the movie Newsflash, a biopic revolving around Cronkite's minute by minute reporting of John F. Kennedy's assassination.

All of this work may have taken its toll on Pine's relationship with Annabelle Wallis. The pair dated for four years before breaking up earlier this month.

Neither of the pair have spoken about the real reasons behind the breakup though they tended to keep their relationship relatively private while they were together.
She was dumped by Mitch Eynaud on Tuesday's episode of Married At First Sight.

But Ella Ding showed no sign of heartbreak on Thursday as she reunited with several of her co-stars for a MAFS reunion hosted by Nova FM in Coogee, Sydney.

The beautician, 27, showcased her jaw-dropping cleavage in a black cut-out mini dress, which she teamed with a sparkly silver handbag and stilettos.

Bombshell: Ella Ding showed no sign of heartbreak on Thursday as she reunited with several of her co-stars for an unofficial MAFS reunion hosted by Nova FM in Coogee, Sydney

She briefly placed a hand over her chest at one stage as she arrived at the venue, perhaps in a bid to avoid a wardrobe malfunction.

The dinner party was held at Shutters restaurant at Coogee Beach in partnership with Nova 96.9 breakfast show Fitzy & Wippa.

Ella, who looked like a long-lost Kardashian sister in her slinky LBD, was joined by Brent Vitiello, Al Perkins, Jack Millar, Domenica Calarco and Selina Chhaur.

Daring display: The 27-year-old beautician (right, with co-star Brent Vitiello) showcased her jaw-dropping cleavage in a black cut-out mini dress, which she teamed with stiletto heels

Ritzy: The dinner party was held at Shutters restaurant at Coogee Beach in partnership with Nova 96.9 breakfast show Fitzy & Wippa

Cover-up: She briefly placed a hand over her chest at one stage as she arrived at the venue, perhaps in a bid to avoid a wardrobe malfunction

Gang's all here! She was joined by (L-R) Brent Vitiello, Selina Chhaur Al Perkins, Domenica Calarco and Jack Millar

It comes after her heart was broken by 'husband' Mitch on Tuesday's episode of MAFS when he dumped her at their final vows.

Ella had told him she wanted to continue their relationship, despite their issues.

Mitch, however, said he wouldn't be rushed into making an on-the-spot decision about their future, effectively ending things.

'It's difficult to see a bright future with you when it seems the longer that we spend with each other, the more difficult the relationship gets,' the financial planner began.

Dumped: It comes after Ella's heart was broken by 'husband' Mitch Eynaud (left) on Tuesday's episode of MAFS when he dumped her at their final vows

Ouch: Mitch, however, said he wouldn't be rushed into making an on-the-spot decision about their future, effectively ending things

'And the more that I realise, maybe I'm not the right person that you're looking for, or the person that you need.'

He added: 'To stand here and be forced to make a decision that I'm not yet ready to make. I'm sorry, Ella, but right now I just can't give you the commitment I know that you want.'

A tearful Ella replied: 'Wow. Throwing your own little spanner in the works. I'm not surprised. Making no decision.'

Heartbroken: She went on to say she'd given their relationship her all and was devastated Mitch was unable to give her an answer, before walking off in tears

She went on to say she'd given their relationship her all and was devastated Mitch was unable to give her an answer.

A Change.org petition calling on Ella to be Australia's next Bachelorette is now gathering steam, drawing 1,500 signatures as of Friday morning.

Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Channel Nine and 9Now
Married At First Sight's Domenica Calarco has reacted to her rival Olivia Frazer's bizarre claim she is 'more hated' in Australia than Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

Putin has been widely condemned for ordering a violent invasion of Ukraine that has so far claimed the lives of thousands of civilians. By contrast, Olivia has been called a 'mean girl' on Twitter because of things she did on a television show.

'God, please. The fact that she said that she's more hated than Putin. B***h, you're not that important,' Domenica, 29, told Yahoo on Thursday.

'B***h, please': Married At First Sight's Domenica Calarco (right) has reacted to her rival Olivia Frazer's bizarre claim she is 'more hated' in Australia than Russian dictator Vladimir Putin

The makeup artist said viewers would forget about Olivia, 28, in a few weeks' time once the hype surrounding the show has died down.

'Seriously, next week people are going to actually forget about you because you were horrible, and in their minds, they're not going to remember you for two seconds,' she said.

'That's what happens with people who have no morality and no sense of empathy.'

Not the same: Putin (left) has been widely condemned for ordering a violent invasion of Ukraine that has so far claimed the lives of thousands of civilians. By contrast, Olivia (right) has been called a 'mean girl' on Twitter because of things she did on a television show

Fuming: 'The fact she said that she's more hated than Putin. B***h, you're not that important,' Domenica, 29, told Yahoo on Thursday. (Pictured: Olivia and her 'husband' Jackson Lonie)

Despite their fierce on-screen feud, Domenica said she didn't agree with viewers sending the teaching student 'disgraceful' death threats.

Olivia emerged as the 'villain' this season after discovering a nude photo of Dom and sharing it among the cast - outing her as an OnlyFans model.

She had made the stunningly tone-deaf claim about her unpopularity during an interview with 2Day FM's Hughesy, Ed & Erin breakfast show on Tuesday.

'In Australia I feel like I'm more hated than Vladimir Putin': Olivia had made the stunningly tone-deaf claim about her unpopularity during an interview with 2Day FM on Tuesday

'More people have signed a petition to have me arrested than to end the war in Ukraine,' she said.

'In Australia I feel like I'm more hated than Vladimir Putin,' she added. 'I hate that I'm the priority. That's ridiculous.'

The Change.org petition calling on Australia's eSafety Commissioner to take action against Olivia drew more than 123,000 signatures.

Call to arms: Olivia emerged as the 'villain' this season after discovering a nude photo of Dom and sharing it among the cast - outing her as an OnlyFans model. A Change.org petition calling on Australia's eSafety Commissioner to take action against her drew over 123,000 signatures

However, contrary to Olivia's claim, over 2.7 million people are currently supporting the 46 'Stand with Ukraine' petitions on the website.

She also told 2Day FM the last few weeks had 'been hell' for her.

'I've already lost my job as a direct result of this show,' she told the hosts, who then asked her if she 'regretted' going on MAFS in the first place.

Not happy: Olivia admitted earlier this week she was a 'shell of a person' and had even lost her teaching job following her notorious appearance on the show

'I don't as I've got some beautiful girlfriends from it... and I don't as I've got Jackson [Lonie, her MAFS 'husband'],' she added.

Olivia then said she'd completely removed herself from social media after seeing a petition to have legal action taken against her in light of the nude photo scandal.

'I don't know if I'll ever go back online in a social media way,' she said.

Rivals: Domenica (pictured) was distressed after Olivia shared her nude photo among the cast, outing her OnlyFans side hustle in the process. She is now considering her legal options

Olivia said she'd had about 'three nice encounters' with viewers in public, but 'a lot of awful ones'.

She went on to praise her partner Jackson, but admitted: 'I'm a shell of a person, honestly.

'Thank God for Jackson, as I would not have survived this without him, and my mum and brother. It's been hell.'

Gone: Olivia said she'd completely removed herself from social media after seeing a petition to have legal action taken against her in light of the nude photo scandal

Despite their many obstacles, Monday's episode of MAFS saw Olivia and Jackson, 30, declare their love for each other at their final vows.

'Liv, I came into this experience hoping to find someone I could spend the rest of my life with,' plumber Jackson began.

'When I turned around and saw your beautiful smile, I definitely felt like we had an instant connection, to the point we were up all night, chatting each other's ear off.

Happy ending: Despite their many obstacles, Monday's episode of MAFS saw Olivia and 'husband' Jackson Lonie, 30, declare their love for each other at their final vows

'Since then, we have gone through so much together, both completely out of our comfort zones, and at the same time, dedicated to give this our all and to have each other's back.'

'But through all the good times we have shared, there have been some moments that really made me think about us moving forward,' he added.

Jackson said that while he didn't approve of some of the snarky comments Olivia had made throughout the experiment, he was willing to look past them.

'I'm so grateful that I met you. You are amazing to me. I want to make you feel special every day, just like you deserve.'

Hopeful: Jackson said that while he didn't approve of some of the snarky comments Olivia had made throughout the experiment, he was willing to look past them

After confessing his feelings, Olivia told Jackson: 'From the second I met you, I knew that you were something special, and it felt as if I'd known you forever.

'Even as I was walking down the aisle to marry a stranger, I felt so much at ease.

'I honestly believe this is because you radiate so much warmth that anyone who's in a room with you is comforted by your presence.

Smitten: After confessing his feelings, Olivia told Jackson: 'From the second I met you, I knew that you were something special, and it felt as if I'd known you forever'

'Never in my wildest dreams did I ever dare hope for a partner who is as beautiful, kind, compassionate and even-tempered as you are.'

Olivia continued: 'Jackson, you've built me up and made me feel worthy and adored every day that I've known you, and I hope you know how eternally grateful I am to you for that.

'During this experiment, I feel as though I've been accused by others of being a vindictive grudge-holder with an agenda for revenge, and you could potentially be put off me because of it.

Happiness: Olivia gushed, 'Never in my wildest dreams did I ever dare hope for a partner who is as beautiful, kind, compassionate and even-tempered as you are'

'I've been attacked and pushed at breaking point. But never once by you.'

'You've been the biggest support and best gift of this whole experience. I will never be able to thank the experts enough for finding you for me.'

Married At First Sight continues Sunday at 7pm on Channel Nine and 9Now
Sydney Sweeney's grandparents think she has the 'best t*** in Hollywood.'

The 24-year-old actress, who stars as Cassie Howard on HBO's teen drama series Euphoria, quipped that her grandma and grandpa praised her racy sex scenes after attending her hit show's season two premiere in January.

'For the premiere, I invited my entire family and I didn't really think about [the nudity]. I was like, Its a Hollywood premiere! You've got to come! We were all sitting next to each other watching that giant screen  ginormous screen,' she recalled on Thursday's episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Hilarious: Sydney Sweeney revealed her grandparents' surprising reaction to her racy sex scenes on Euphoria during her appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Afterward, her grandparents told her she has the 'best t*** in Hollywood.'

The former Everything Sucks! star - who has paired up with actors Jacob Elordi and Algee Smith for a series of nude scenes on the hit high school series - previously revealed that she 'forgot' to tell her father anything about her role on Euphoria and as a result he failed to finish watching the first episode.

'I did forget to tell my dad anything about'Euphoria. I, for whatever reason, spaced the last 10 months when we filmed season one and then he started to watch it. He didn't finish the first episode. Now whenever something comes out my dad will be like, 'Can I watch it?'

Supportive family: The 24-year-old actress, who stars as Cassie Howard on HBO's teen drama series Euphoria, quipped that her grandma and grandpa praised her racy sex scenes after attending her hit show's season two premiere in January

Steamy: The former Everything Sucks! star - who has paired up with actors Jacob Elordi (pictured) and Algee Smith for a series of nude scenes on the hit high school series

Sydney has also recently explained that she never asked showrunner Sam Levinson to remove any nudity from the script, despite previous comments becoming misconstructed.

In an interview with Teen Vogue magazine she explained: 'I never asked him to cut any scenes. It got twisted and turned and it became its own beast, and I was like, 'Oh, my God.''

Euphoria is known for its often challenging storylines as a group of American high school students navigate the trials and tribulations of growing up through experiences with sex, drugs and various relationships.

'For the premiere, I invited my entire family and I didn't really think about [the nudity]. I was like, Its a Hollywood premiere! Youve got to come! We were all sitting next to each other watching that giant screen  ginormous screen,' she recalled on Thursday's episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Unexpected: Afterward, her grandparents told her she has the 'best t*** in Hollywood'

Referencing her previous comments, she explained: 'It was more how respectful Sam is and how incredible of a director he is, that he would never make me do something I didn't feel comfortable with.'

Sydney's comments come following an interview with The Independent in January, where she said: 'There are moments where Cassie was supposed to be shirtless and I would tell Sam, 'I don't really think that's necessary here.''

But added that we would agree with her, she detailed: 'He was like, 'OK, we don't need it.''

She went on to say that the show's creator always did everything he could to make her feel safe.

Clearing the record: Sydney has also recently explained that she never asked showrunner Sam Levinson to remove any nudity from the script, despite previous comments becoming misconstructed; seen in 2021

The actress continued: 'I've never felt like Sam has pushed it on me or was trying to get a nude scene into an HBO show,' Sweeney said. 'When I didn't want to do it, he didn't make me.'

Sydney argued that the show - which also stars Zendaya, Jacob Elordi, Alexa Demie, Hunter Schafer and Barbie Ferreira - used nudity as an 'important' plot point, and added it has 'a purpose'.

She explained: 'I think it's important to the storyline and the character. There's a purpose to what that character is going through. That's the character.

'We all get naked in real life. We show this character's life and what they're going through. Cassie's body is a different form of communication for her.'
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol listens to members of Presidential Transition Committee during a meeting at the committee's Tongui-dong office in Seoul's Jongno District, March 29. Joint Press Corps.



By Ko Dong-hwan



The Presidential Transition Committee has warned the central government ministries not to destroy any existing government documents so that they can be of future use by the incoming government under President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol.



The transition committee issued the order on March 29, requesting the ministries to keep all government documents, either in digital or paper format, intact, as well as refrain from replacing the existing computers in their offices with new ones.



The transition committee's spokesperson, Won Il-hee, said on Thursday it was only a natural routine for an incoming government to issue such an order so as to make the transition smoother.



"All the documents produced, in each ministry, must be preserved as records so that the new administration can later check them," another official from the transition committee said. "We never specified the documents to be kept as those that are related to President Moon Jae-in. What we meant was government documents in general. There isn't any hidden idea behind the order."



The transition committee, however, exempted Cheong Wa Dae from the order, since all the documents produced inside the presidential office are separately transferred to a presidential archive for preservation according to the law.



Despite the transition committee's explanation, the order has created a tense atmosphere among the government bodies, as well as the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK). It has aroused concerns of whether the incoming government will punish the Moon Jae-in administration based on their findings from the government documents.



The transition committee is apparently concerned about the ministries possibly destroying government documents because there are precedents of them having been destroyed in the past. One of the major cases of such destruction happened in 2020, when three officials of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy were sued over charges of destroying government documents about the Wolsong nuclear power plants in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, before the ministry was due for an inspection by the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea (BAI).



One of the suspects, learning of the BAI's inspection, ordered the other two to destroy the documents in November 2019. One of the two subordinates, the following month, secretly destroyed some 530 digital files from a computer inside the ministry's office in the early morning.



The transition committee's questionable order is also suspected of being a stepping stone for Yoon to launch investigations by prosecutors against the ministries of environment and trade, industry and energy, specifically regarding the alleged manipulation of documents linked to the assessment of the country's economic index under a scenario the country's nuclear power plants are no longer expanded, as well as the alleged illegal dismissal of officials.



Rep. Youn Kun-young of the DPK said on Facebook, March 31, that the transition committee's order gives off the impression that the present ministries are doing something wrong and that the incoming government wants to monitor them. He said that the controversial order "considers acting public workers to be potential criminals rather than fellow colleagues," and is seen as an "attitude typical of occupying forces."



"The transition committee should be busy prioritizing the incoming government's agenda, but instead they are showing a strangely abnormal attention to the present government's documents," Rep. Yoon said.


Jenna Dewan looked quite relaxed as she went out to grab a healthy green juice in Vancouver on Wednesday.

The actress, 41, stepped out in a black jacket which she wore over a low-cut white top that left little to the imagination.

The siren tucked the top into her high waisted sweatpants and walked in a pair of pristine white sneakers.

Low-key day: Jenna Dewan looked quite relaxed as she went out to grab a juice in Vancouver on Wednesday

Dewan's long brown hair was parted in the middle and whipped wildly in the gusty Vancouver wind.

The Step Up star held a healthy-looking green juice in one hand and her phone in the other.

Her cheeks had a pinkish rose to them, and she wore dull reddish-pink lipstick.

Comfort: The actress, 41, stepped out in a black coat which she wore over a low-cut white top tucked into a pair of sweats

Needed her juice: The Step Up star held a healthy-looking green juice in one hand and her phone in the other

Dewan's appearance out came one week after she attended Vanity Fair's The Future of Hollywood party in Los Angeles with her fiance Steve Kazee on March 24.

She dressed up a bit more for that event donning a sheer David Koma gown with spaghetti straps.

The low-cut ensemble had sheer paneling across the stomach, revealing her toned tummy, and it was slit down the side showing off her long legs.

Kazee, 46, rocked a classic look with a simple black tuxedo.

Very different vibe: Dewan's appearance out came just a few days after she attended Vanity Fair's The Future of Hollywood party in Los Angeles with her fiance Steve Kazee

Lost love: Dewan and Kazee first started dating in late 2018 after Dewan had separated from her husband Channing Tatum (pictured 2017)

Dewan and Kazee first started dating in late 2018 after Dewan had separated from her husband Channing Tatum.

They got engaged in February of 2020 and had their son Callum the following month.

Callum is Dewan's second child. She shares Everly, 8, with the Magic Mike star who she met on the set of Step up in 2006 and married three years later.

The pair separated in April 2018 and the divorced was finalized the following year.
She welcomed her second baby with NASCAR driver fiance James Kirkham in February.

And after attending an Oscars party earlier this week, Jessica Hart enjoyed another night out to celebrate fellow Aussie model and friend Nicole Trunfio's Bumpsuit line in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.

The blonde beauty brought along her step-daughter Wren to the event - James' daughter from a previous relationship.

Support: Jessica Hart supported fellow Aussie model Nicole Trunfio at her Bumpsuit for Revolve party in Los Angeles on Wednesday night with her stepdaughter Wren

She bundled up for the chilly evening in a chic black coat teamed with a pair of Doc Martens and a beanie.

The mother-of-two wore her blonde locks in a straight style and let her post-pregnancy glow shine through minimal makeup.

Jessica's outing comes a month after giving birth to her second child.

In February, she shared a series of photos alongside her one-year-old daughter Baby-Rae to Instagram and revealed she was officially a big sister.

'And just like that, this big girl is a big sister,' she wrote at the time.

Keeping toasty: She bundled up for the chilly evening in a chic black coat teamed with a pair of Doc Martens and a beanie

Jessica announced her baby news back on June 9 2021, confirming she was six weeks pregnant - with the news arriving just seven months after she and James welcomed their daughter Baby-Rae.

She shared a video to Instagram in which she admitted she was nervous about having two children under the age of two.

'The announcement is that I've just found out I'm pregnant again,' Jessica said.

Baby makes three: Jessica's outing comes a month after giving birth to her second child

'It's exciting, after the initial shock of having two babes under two.'

Meanwhile, Nicole Trunfio ensured all eyes were on her when she stepped for her party on Wednesday night with her four-year-old daughter Gia.

The Australian supermodel commanded attention in a pink crushed velvet jumpsuit, while Gia looked every inch her mother's daughter in the kid's-sized version.

The raven haired beauty, 36, dazzled onlooking photographers as she strutted into trendy West Hollywood hotspot Catch LA with her stylish 'mini-me' in tow.

Think pink! Meanwhile, Nicole Trunfio ensured all eyes were on her when she stepped for her party on Wednesday night with her four-year-old daughter Gia

Nicole, 36, matched her outfit with a pair of pink ultra-feminine high heels and a set of pearl ankle bracelets.

The leggy beauty finished off the ensemble with a pair of delicate silver earrings.

Meanwhile, Gia looked cute as a button in black boots, with pink ribbon braids.

Think pink: Nicole, 36, matched her outfit with a pair of pink ultra-feminine high heels

This comes after the Make Me A Supermodel star fooled her followers in an epic prank last year, when she flaunted her pregnancy belly in a bumpsuit.

At the time, she was quick to point out that the lifelike baby bump wasn't actually real, despite appearances.

'I'm just trying on the new bump suit, and I had to put a belly on, and now I'm like, "Ahhh! I want another baby." This is not real by the way,' she clarified.

Incoming: The raven haired beauty, 36, dazzled onlooking photographers as she strutted into trendy West Hollywood hotspot Catch LA with her stylish 'mini-me' in tow

The founder of fashion brands Bumpsuit, Erth and swimwear Erth Swim Nicole has been married to American musician Gary Clark Jr for four years and they are parents to Gia, Zion, seven and baby Ella, one.

The couple welcomed Ella in February last year, with Nicole writing at the time that she was 'so in love' with her little girl.

'All mine, actually... my belief is they are not "mine", I'm just here to raise, nurture and nourish them, to love them and guide them the best way I can,' she captioned a photo of her three kids on Instagram back in June.
She is the quintessential blonde bombshell.

And Jessika Power lived up to her raunchy reputation this week as she stripped down to a skimpy blue bikini while on holiday in Dubai.

The Married at First Sight star, 29, sizzled at the beach in the tiny two-piece, which drew attention to her ample assets and toned tummy.

Bombshell: Married At First Sight star Jessika Power lived up to her raunchy reputation this week as she stripped down to a skimpy blue bikini while on holiday in Dubai

Jessika is on vacation with her British boyfriend Connor Thompson.

The Celebs Go Dating star, who moved from Australia to the UK last year, snapped selfies as she tugged on her briefs.

Podcaster Connor also offered a helping hand by tying her bikini top before they headed into the water for a swim.

Glamazon: The Australian glamazon, 29, sizzled at the beach in the tiny two-piece, which drew attention to her ample assets and toned tummy

The couple have been dating ever since Jessika relocated from the Gold Coast to Manchester.

The former office worker underwent a fat-transfer breast enlargement in Australia shortly after her breakout role on MAFS in 2019.

She opened up about her surgical procedure during an Instagram Q&A last year.

Romance: Jessika's boyfriend Connor Thompson (left) offered a helping hand by tying her bikini top before they headed into the water for a swim

'My boobs are real. I had a fat graft from Dr Anoop Rastogi in Sydney,' she said.

'So basically they removed the fat from the side of my thighs, and injected it into my boobs. Technically they are real, because there's no silicone, and it's just my fat being moved.'

The breast lift and autologous fat graft would have cost Jessica about $13,500, but it's believed she received it for free or at a discount as part of a sponsorship deal.

Loved-up: The couple have been dating ever since Jessika relocated from the Gold Coast to Manchester last year

Jessika explained she decided on a fat transfer because it would fix her problem areas on her thighs while also boosting the size of her chest.

'I went from a very small C to a full D cup, and the retention rate for this procedure is 80 per cent,' she said on Instagram.

She showed off the results three months after the procedure, telling fans: 'They're still really soft and supple like a natural boob, but they are a little firmer. Also, they've still got that movement.'
Tiger King's Joe Exotic has filed for divorce from husband Dillon Passage as he serves a 22-year sentence for plotting to murder rival Carole Baskin.

The former animal trainer, 59, is hoping he and his ex, 25, 'can both move on with their lives and divorce quickly and amicably,' his lawyer, Autumn Blackledge told TMZ.

The news comes a year after the bartender reportedly pulled the plug on their four-year marriage via a phone call to the Fort Worth, Texas prison.

Tiger King's Joe Exotic has filed for divorce from husband Dillon Passage as he serves a 22-year sentence for plotting to murder rival Carole Baskin

At the time, Exotic - full name Joseph Allen Maldonado-Passage - was said to be heartbroken 'considering rushing to file a petition to divorce in order to beat Passage.'

A source claimed the star emailed a friend while fresh from the phone call, telling them he felt 'abandoned and alone and just wanted to mean something to someone,' per TMZ.

Though the past owner of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park appeared upset about the split, Dillon said, at the time, that there are no hard feelings and he will still support Joe through his prison sentence.

The latest: Joe Exotic's exPassage (L) revealed on Instagram in July 2021 that he's in a new relationship with a man named John

Passage reportedly called it quits with Joe because he grew lonely during his husband's time behind bars and wanted to date again.

In July 2021, he posted a picture of his new boyfriend John, who he called his 'rock' and said has helped him 'get through it all' during some 'hard' times.

Four months prior, Passage detailed his and Joe Exotic's breakup in a social media post, which read, 'To answer the main question the public wants to know, yes, Joe and I are seeking a divorce.

Moving on: At the time, Passage said of his new beau, 'John has been my rock and helping me get through it all'

'This wasn't an easy decision to make but Joe and I both understand that this situation isn't fair to either of us. It's something that neither of us were expecting but we are going to take it day by day.'

Passage said he would 'continue to have Joe in [his] life and do [his] best to support him while he undergoes further legal battles to better his situation.'

The couple initially tied the knot December 11, 2017, months after Exotic's previous spouse Travis Maldonado died after accidentally shooting himself October 6, 2017.

Pumping up: Passage shared a shot of himself and John working out on social media

Authorities said Exotic in December 2017 attempted to bribe an FBI agent to murder Baskin, and was recorded saying, 'Just like follow her into a mall parking lot and just cap her and drive off.'

Exotic was also convicted in connection with numerous wildlife law violations in the deaths of five tigers, and infractions of the Endangered Species Act.

He found fast fame while incarcerated amid the release of the popular Netflix doc Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness.
The recent political turmoil is Pakistan is an outcome of Prime Minister Imran Khans visit to Russia on the day it invaded Ukraine. This is what the memo or the letter, currently the talking point in Pakistan Politics, hints at as per Imran Khan.

On March 27, at a rally in Islamabads Parade Ground, Wazir-e-Azam Imran Khan brandished a letter from his jacket. The letter he claims was testimony of a foreign conspiracy in toppling his government in Pakistan.

He had said that he wont be able to share the contents of the letter due to security reasons, but that he had concrete proof that there was a foreign conspiracy to bring down his government.

WHAT DOES THE LETTER SAY?

Asad Umar, Minister of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives who attended a media briefing said that the letter mentioned that if the no-confidence motion passes, everything will be forgiven. In case it fails, problems for Pakistan will increase. The letter alleges serious trouble in Pakistan if Imran survives the no-confidence motion.

The cable, as per Imran Khan, was sent on March 7; just a day before the opposition tabled a no-confidence resolution against the government in the National Assembly.

Imran Khan. Photo: Getty Images

In a cabinet meeting with his MNAs, Khan said that the allegations in the letter came from a Pakistani envoy who was told by senior officials of America that they had issues with him visiting Russia on the day it invaded Ukraine.

The Imran Khan government had also initially offered to share the letter with the Chief Justice of Pakistan. But he is now saying that he will share the letter on camera in the National Assembly. He has already shared it with his Cabinet members.

Meanwhile, it has also emerged that the cable was sent by Pakistans then ambassador to US Asad Majeed Khan on the basis of his meeting with the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu. It is said that the language used by the American officials was unusually harsh in the criticism of Imran Khan, news agency Dawn reported.

It is also being claimed that the US tried to dissuade Imran from visiting Russia ahead of its invasion of Ukraine, but the US couldnt do so. This is what apparently rattled US President Joe Biden.

WHAT DID US SAY?

US President Joe Biden. Photo: Getty Images

The United States has denied sending any letter to Pakistan through any of its agencies. A US State Department spokesperson told Dawn, There is no truth to these allegations.

Moreover, some diplomatic sources in America have also said that the contents of the letter might be based on some informal discussions between Pakistan and other US officials.

WHY DID IMRAN THEN BRING IT UP IN PUBLIC?

If we go by the merits of the letter on their face value, it emerges that the letter can be an asset for Imran Khan as he brought it out publicly. There are three reasons to back this:

Firstly, Imran Khan can convey to the people of Pakistan that there was foreign money involved in crippling his democratically elected government. Also, that he was a victim of corruption for which he has always blamed the Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardaris Bhutto family.

Second, Imran also gets an edge over the opposition if elections are held in Pakistan once again. Even if Imran has to resign from the Assembly and if the elections take place, then Khan will be able to garner sympathy votes.

Third, Imran Khan has been playing the victim card in this whole political saga. For instance, Faisal Vawda, a leader of Khan's own party PTI, has claimed that there is also a conspiracy hatched to kill Imran Khan. In such a scenario, the public sentiments go with Khan. This is undoubtedly a gift for his political discourse in future.

Imran Khan's PTI government faces a crucial test on April 3, 2022, as the Pakistan National Assembly votes on the no-confidence motion. Khan's government has already lost the majority in the lower house after its important ally Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) with 7 MNAs joined hands with the opposition on March 29, 2022. With 164 MNAs now, less than the required 172, Imran Khan might lose the voting in the Assembly.




Former opposition lawmaker Yoo Seong-min announced Thursday that he would run for the governorship of Gyeonggi Province in the June local elections.







In declaring his bid for the top post of Korea's most populous province, Yoo of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) vowed to put his 23 years of political experience toward the governor job.







Yoo, who finished fourth in the 2017 presidential election, earlier competed in the PPP's presidential primary that was eventually won by now President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol.







Meanwhile, Kim Dong-yeon, a former finance minister who withdrew his candidacy in this year's presidential election to support the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's Lee Jae-myung, also announced his bid for the governorship. (Yonhap)


Rep. Hong Joon-pyo officially declares his bid to run in the main opposition People Power Party's primary to select its candidate to run in the Daegu mayoral election in the southern city, Thursday. Yonhap



Gyeonggi governor, Daegu mayor now most sought-after elected posts for DPK, PPP members, respectively



By Kang Hyun-kyung



Seoul's mayor in the past had been the most sought-after elected post for politicians who were ambitious enough to attempt a run for the top job in the government, as the position often served as a springboard to the presidential race.



Historically, several Seoul mayors were nominated or ran in presidential elections after winning their party's nominations. Former President Lee Myung-bak won the 2007 presidential election with 48.67 percent, a double-digit margin over then his rival Jung Dong-young, after pushing through the Cheonggye Stream restoration project as Seoul's mayor.



With the upcoming June 1 local elections coming up, it seems that a seismic shift could be underway in politicians' perception toward certain elective posts. The Seoul mayoral election seems to be dipping in popularity, whereas the popularity of the Gyeonggi gubernatorial election is on the rise, particularly among the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) members.



Inside the DPK, a talent drain of potential candidates for the Seoul mayoral election has become an urgent issue.



As of Thursday, second-term lawmaker Park Ju-min is the only DPK politician who has declared his bid to run in the party's primary to select its candidate. Few political heavyweights have expressed their intention to join the party's nomination race for Seoul's mayor.



Wary of the possible consequences of a lackluster showing in the race, some DPK lawmakers  such as Rep. Kim Nam-guk  who are close to Lee Jae-myung, who narrowly lost the March 9 presidential election on the DPK's ticket, are trying to persuade former DPK Chairman Song Young-gil to run in the Seoul mayoral election.



Kim met Song, who has been in self-imposed exile in local temples since the DPK candidate's defeat in the presidential election, encouraging him to consider a bid for the mayoral election. Song's reaction to the proposal is unknown. But Kim quoted him as saying that the former DPK chairman would follow whatever the party asks him to do, if it officially requests him to run in the election.



It remains uncertain whether Song will be able to run in the local election because of the dynamics within the ruling party. Inside the DPK, people are divided in their opinions of the party's former chairman. There are opponents who claimed that Song is responsible for the party's defeat in the presidential election. Thus, he shouldn't represent the party in the local election.



The popularity of current Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon, elected less than a year ago in the April 9 by-election, seems to be one of the reasons for DPK heavyweights having been discouraged from running in the election.





Kim Dong-yeon, a former finance minister, declares his bid to run in the Gyeonggi gubernatorial election to be held on June 1 at the National Assembly, Thursday. Yonhap
HYDERABAD: A two-month hunt ended successfully for the city police on Wednesday with the arrest of the elusive Ikpa Stephen Orji, a Nigerian handler involved in the hacking of Mahesh Bank accounts and swindling Rs.12.48 crore. Orjis Nigerian accomplice is yet to be identified.

Commissioner of police C.V. Anand told reporters here on Wednesday that when reports first emerged about the hacking of Mahesh Bank accounts, around 200 police officials from Cyber-crime and CCS swung into action and nabbed 23 persons, including four Nigerians, for their alleged involvement in the fraud.

Anand said they are now contemplating to issue a red corner notice and seek Interpols help to nab the main accused, who are believed to be operating from the United Kingdom and Nigeria as servers were showing proxy UK and Nigerian IP. The amount that is hacked is withdrawn and transferred, either by way of hawala or crypto currency, he said. Money was transferred to 115 accounts of different banks and subsequently to 398 different accounts.

Probing of the IP logs used for internet banking revealed that the IP addresses were proxies with locations in the USA, Canada and Romania. Hackers used the VPN services of a Bihar-based company.

Cyber forensics said that hackers entered the system of AP Mahesh Co-operative Urban Bank through phishing mails containing a remote access trojan (RAT) sent to the bank employees on November 4, 10 and 16 last year.

As all systems in the bank are interconnected, the hackers were remotely able to access its core banking server, which they entered on the day of the actual hack, Anand said.
Rats were found to have bitten a patient at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital in Hanamkonda on Thursday. (Representational Photo:PTI)

Hanamkonda: Rats were found to have bitten a patient at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial (MGM) Hospital in Hanamkonda on Thursday, reportedly leaving the bed soaked in his blood.

The patient, P. Srinivas, 42, of Bheemaram village of Hasanparthy mandal, was suffering from respiratory and kidney-related complications. His family members had first admitted him in a private hospital and shifted him two days ago to the MGM Hospital in an unconscious condition.

MGM doctors admitted him in the respiratory intensive care unit (RICU). On Wednesday, Srikanth, the brother of Srinivas, said he saw rats biting the fingers and toes of the patient.

He immediately alerted the doctors. Resident Medical Officer Dr Murali visited the RICU and asked the staff to move Srinivas to another room. He assured the family that the hospital would try to control the rat menace.

However, the hospital staff, it was alleged tried to conceal the incident by preventing his relatives from meeting Srinivas.

Srikanth said that when he found his brother Srinivas bleeding again on Thursday morning, he approached the media. I was shocked to see blood all over the bed. Rats had nibbled my brothers fingers, arms and legs, he alleged.

MGM Hospital superintendent Dr Srinivas Rao acknowledged that there was the problem of rodents entering the RICU and said remedial action would be taken.

Two years ago, rats were found nibbling dead bodies in the mortuary. Some of the patients alleged that rat-bite incidents had recurred in the hospital in the past but the authorities had not taken any action though patients' families had lodged complaints.

Upon coming to know of the incident, health minister T. Harish Rao issued orders for an immediate inquiry. Following this, district additional collector K. Sreevatsa inspected the hospital.




President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol had a phone call with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen Thursday and agreed to try to hold a summit in South Korea in the latter half of this year, Yoon's spokesperson said.







During their first call, Yoon said Russia's invasion of Ukraine "cannot be justified" and stressed the international community's unified response for peace in Ukraine, Kim Eun-hye said in a press release.







The EU chief thanked South Korea for joining sanctions against Russia and providing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, referring to Seoul as Europe's "strategic partner," according to the statement.







The two sides vowed to align to address major challenges in their respective regions, including North Korea and Ukraine, and expand partnership in health, the environment and digital transitions, it added.(Yonhap)


Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole accused the Centre of inflicting atrocities on people as soon as the elections got over. (ANI)

Mumbai: The NCP and Congress hit out at the central government on Tuesday over the latest fuel price hike, and questioned the need for increasing the rates at a time when crude oil was imported at highly discounted rates from Russia.

The petrol and diesel prices were on Tuesday hiked by 80 paise a litre, while the domestic cooking gas prices were increased by Rs 50 per cylinder, ending an over four-and-half month election-related hiatus in rate revision, sources said. What was the need to increase the price of cooking gas when you (the Centre) have already imported lakhs of barrels of crude oil at highly discounted rates from Russia, NCP's Maharashtra unit chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase asked.

The crude oil price has increased to USD 140 per barrel in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine war, he noted.

On one hand, the petroleum ministry is trying to justify the price hike due to increased international prices of crude and on the other, they have made a swift deal at highly discounted rates, said the NCP leader, whose party shares power with the Shiv Sena and Congress in Maharashtra.

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole accused the Centre of inflicting atrocities on people as soon as the elections got over.

He was referring to the Assembly polls held recently in five states - Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa.

Had said that the BJP will recover (dues) from the people along with interest once it wins elections. Petrol, diesel, gas recovery on, Patole tweeted in Hindi.

Petrol in Delhi will now cost Rs 96.21 per litre as against Rs 95.41 previously, while diesel rates have gone up from Rs 86.67 per litre to Rs 87.47.

Simultaneously, the price of a non-subsidised LPG cylinder has been increased to Rs 949.50 for each 14.2-kg bottle in the national capital.

While the LPG rates were last revised on October 6, 2021, petrol and diesel prices had been on a freeze since November 4 as the five states went to polls.

The LPG prices had gone up by close to Rs 100 per cylinder between July and October 6, 2021, before criticism halted the revision in rates.
Hyderabad: IT minister K.T.Rama Rao on Thursday took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the rising fuel prices and for claiming credit for the TRS government's Mission Bhagiratha despite the Centre not contributing to the project.

The minister posted old tweets of Modi when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat on the fuel price hike, including one from May 23, 2012, in which Modi had termed the massive hike in fuel prices as a prime example of the failure of the Congress-led UPA government. Rao also posted a tweet of Modi in October 2014: "Since we formed the government, petrol & diesel prices came down. We are committed to removing the obstacles our nation is facing."

Rao said, "Reiterating some of your previous statements Modiji. Failure of Union Govt, Burden on States, Arrogance of Power, Unsympathetic to needs of poor (sic)."

Rao took strong exception to the advertisement of the BJP government on Jal Jeevan Mission-Har Ghar Jal. He urged the PM to tell the people the Centre's contribution to the Mission Bhagiratha scheme of the Telangana government.

Rao tweeted, "Appropriating a flagship programme of Telangana Govt where your Govt has Zero contribution is not befitting the stature of a PM (sic)." The advertisement had claimed that more than 38 lakh households in Telangana had got tap water connections in just three years since 2019.
Mumbai: The NCP youth wing, Nationalist Youth Congress, has proposed that party chief Sharad Pawar should be made the chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA). It passed a resolution on Tuesday recommending the veteran leaders name for the post.

The resolution was unanimously approved at the national executive of the NCP youth wing at New Delhi where over 100 representatives from across the country were present.

The resolution assumes significance as it was for the first time the party has openly advocated Mr Pawars name for the UPA chairpersons post. The demand significantly has also come on the backdrop of the Congress facing a heavy drubbing in the recently held assembly polls in the country.

Looking at the current political scenario in the country, Sharad Pawar should lead the Congress and other regional parties at the national level as he is the most experienced leader in the country. He has made a significant contribution in the countrys development while working as a union defence and agriculture minister. Taking all these aspects into account, he should be appointed as the leader of opposition parties, said Ravikant Varpe, working president of Maharashtra NCP youth wing.

NCPs ally Shiv Sena too has favoured Mr Pawar to head the opposition alliance on many occasions earlier. With the NCP itself favouring its party chief for the post, it remains to be seen what stand the other constituents of the UPA take on this issue.

However, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole has said that only Congress is capable of defeating the BJP at the national level. Sonia Gandhi is leading the UPA and she is competent enough for it. The UPA cannot function without Congress, he said.
Hyderabad: The TRS government is all set to fulfill its three major poll promises on the occasion of Telugu New Year (Ugadi) on April 2. The state government has decided to implement its long-pending promises of extending Aasara pensions to beneficiaries aged 57 years and above from April against 65 years at present, extend financial assistance of Rs 3 lakh each to poor to build 2BHKs on their own plots and returning money of women beneficiaries of Abhaya Hastham scheme along with interest amounting to Rs 545 crore.

Finance minister T.Harish Rao disclosed these details after launching development programmes in Siddipet district on Thursday.

Harish said that the state government will extend financial assistance of Rs 3 lakh to build 2BHKs in three installments after Ugadi.

Besides, the government will return Abhaya Hastham funds to women self help groups (SHGs) with interest totalling nearly Rs 545 crore within a week after Ugadi, he stated.

Reduction of age limit to avail Aasara pensions from 65 years to 57 years and extending financial assistance to poor to build 2BHKs on their own plots were the promises incorporated in the TRS manifesto for 2018 Assembly polls. However, they did not materialise even after the TRS government completed more than three years in office in the second term due to Covid and subsequent financial crisis.

The government invited applications for Aasara pensions for 57-plus aged people in November 2021. Eight lakh applications were received which are lying pending since then. These applicants will now start receiving Aasara pensions from April.

The previous Congress government in Undivided Andhra Pradesh launched Abhaya Hastham scheme in November 2009 to provide income security to women in their old age. The aim was to provide security to all enrolled SHG women with dignity in their old age. Under this, women were asked to contribute Rs. 365 per annum and the state government contributed its share of Rs. 365 per annum into their pension amount.

The interest that earned from corpus generated for each member till the completion of 60 years of her age was used for giving monthly pension from Rs. 500 to Rs. 2200 based on the age of the member.

Each enrolled member under the scheme was entitled to get a minimum pension

of Rs. 500 after completion of 60 years of her age and all the enrolled members between age group of 18 to 59 years are eligible to get Insurance coverage under PMJJBY scheme.

However, after TRS government came to power in 2014 it stopped this scheme on the ground that it was extending Aasara pension of Rs 2,016 per month to women which was higher than Abhaya Hastham pension. But, the funds contributed by women and state government from 2009 to 2014 accounted for over Rs 500 crore. Women are demanding for long to return their money.
American tech giant Apple is planning to hold its first media event of the year on Tuesday, March 8. (Photo: AFP/File)

Washington: American tech giant Apple is planning to hold its first media event of the year on Tuesday, March 8, where the company is expected to launch at least one new Mac.

As per Mac Rumours, Apple is planning another round of new Macs for release around May or June.

At the March 8 event, Apple is also rumoured to announce a third-generation iPhone SE and a fifth-generation iPad Air, with key features of both devices expected to include an A15 chip and 5G support.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Opposition leaders in Legislative Council cornered the government over irregularities in land allotment by Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) to Concord India Pvt Ltd.

The leaders collectively demanded the appointment of a House Committee to probe the allegations of irregularities in land allotment in the Sadaramangala (Whitefield) area.

The government assured the members that it would order a detailed probe into the matter by an official of the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) rank.

Raising the issue during the question hour, JD(S) MLC Marithibbegowda said: A plot of 78 acres of land worth Rs 1,696 crore in the market was allotted to a company for just Rs 39 crore. Further, the state government also incurred huge losses as they indulged in real estate business in the name of industry.

My sources (said) there were Rs 50 crore worth of trees on the 78 acres. It was shocking that the value of these trees was also not brought to the notice of the state government. The government must immediately cancel the allotment of land and order an investigation into the allotment.

Leader of the opposition B K Hariprasad demanded that the government constitute a House Committee since the matter smacks of irregularities to the tune of several crores.

Responding to the issue, Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani said: At the outset, the company appears to be at fault. But we will order a detailed survey besides holding an inquiry into the entire allotment by an ACS-rank officer.

The minister also said the government has no intention of protecting anyone. The KIADB had allotted 78 acres at a cost of Rs 50 lakh per acre way back in 2007, Nirani said. Subsequently, the company had changed its name to Embassy East Business Park Pvt Ltd. The company submitted a justification that there was no change in the directorship of the company as both of them are sister concerns.

He continued: The land was allotted to Embassy Industrial Park Company in Dobbspet in 2021. A total of 125 acres was allocated to the company on June 3, 2021, at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore per acre. The land was allocated to the company by making a downpayment of 30% of the total value of the land which was Rs 57.37 crore, he said.

As per the agreements terms, the company was supposed to pay the remaining Rs 136.77 crore to the state government before September 3, 2021.

However, the company requested the government to change the shape of the land. But there was a delay in the acquisition of 3 acres of land that was part of the 125 acres and hence we have directed the company to pay the remaining Rs 1.39 crore per acre along with the interest, Nirani said.

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India has emerged as a "strong voice" of developing nations on climate change issues that can neither be suppressed not ignored, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav asserted on Thursday.

Replying to a discussion on climate change in the Lok Sabha, Yadav said when it comes to environment, India has always been a solution provider to the world.

He said India, under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, was among the few countries that not only set Nationally Determined Contributions in 2015 but achieved them before time, setting an example for others.

Underlining that the prime minister has often talked about climate justice, Yadav said developed nations who are chiefly responsible for carbon emission must take responsibility.

The developed countries have acknowledged this earlier and also and pledged $100 billion to developing countries, he noted.

"If the fight against climate change has to be fought by the developed and developing nations together, then developed nations will have to give two facilities to developing nations -- climate finance and technology transfer," Yadav asserted.

Read | Antarctica hits record temperatures, say experts

During the COP26 meet in Glasgow, the prime minister talked about various aspects of India's fight against climate change, including the country's vision to achieve carbon neutrality by 2070, the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said.

The share of developed countries, which account for 17 per cent of the world population, in global carbon emission is 60 per cent, while that of India that's home to 17 per cent of the world's population is just 4 per cent, the minister said.

India's lifestyle can teach the world how to live in harmony with environment, he asserted.

Noting that climate change affects everyone transcending borders, Yadav said the new cyclones hitting India's coastal areas in the last few years show that "we are also vulnerable".

Listing out the achievements of the Modi government in the field of climate change, he said due to the efforts it made in the last seven years, India has become a leader in environment policy and action.

Under Modi, India has not only come up with an environment policy that gives direction to the world but it is the only country that has taken big steps in achieving the goals set at climate summits, Yadav said.

"The time is over when India's voice was not heard on international platforms. Under Prime Minister Modi, India has created a strong identity for itself and the world community can neither suppress its voice nor ignore it," he asserted.

Another achievement of COP26 from India's point of view is that the country has become a "strong voice" of developing nations demanding equal treatment for themselves on climate change issues, the minister said.

He also hailed the government's initiatives like the International Solar Alliance that India started along with France and asserted that such steps enhanced India's prestige on the global stage.

Participating in the discussion, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi questioned the government on the effects of the PM Gati Shakti scheme, the Centre's big-ticket infrastructure project, on India's commitment to cut emissions to net-zero by 2070.

Gogoi said while he supported the development, the scheme, which is a national master plan for multi-modal connectivity entailing large-scale construction, will raise emissions.

"Lakhs of rupees have been allocated to PM Gati Shakti for infrastructure for railways, airports and highways. This scheme is the greatest challenge for India.

"We would need coal, high-emission producing technology will be required. It will raise emissions. What is the model that will keep emissions low? Will the government make a rule that only lower-emission technology will be used?" he asked.

Gogoi also said while the environment minister had stated in Glasgow during COP26 that India will reduce the use of coal, the transition to alternative fuel has to be planned to ensure that people connected to the sector do not suffer.

BJP MP Jayant Sinha said the net-zero commitment by 2070 is "massively net positive for India". He pushed for a global carbon market and for India to be connected to a worldwide carbon network.

Both Sinha and Gogoi pitched for an institutional arrangement to secure India's climate future, with the Congress MP even proposing that the government consider bringing a legislation to that effect.

BSP's Malook Nagar said the government should encourage electrical vehicles and proposed that neem trees be grown in abundance to curb pollution.

Industries responsible for emissions should be asked to plant trees in proportion to their carbon footprint, he said.

Shiv Sena's Arvind Sawant raised concern over the use of lithium batteries in e-vehicles and wanted to know how the government planned their disposal.

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Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will be accompanied by a 50-member delegation when he embarks on his maiden visit to India on Friday to further strengthen the multifaceted, age-old and cordial ties between the two countries.

This will be Deuba's first foreign visit since he assumed office in July last year for a record fifth time.

The Prime Minister's entourage will include his spouse Arzoo Deuba, four cabinet rank ministers, government secretaries, high officials and a business delegation, totalling 50 members, the Prime Minister's press chief Govinda Pariyar told PTI.

A Cabinet meeting held on Thursday finalised Deubas delegation that includes Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Narayan Khadka, Minister for Energy, Water Resources and Irrigation Pampha Bhusal, Minister for Health and Population Birodh Khatiwada and Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Mahendra Ray Yadav, Pariyar said.

"The visit will further strengthen the multifaceted, age-old, and cordial ties between Nepal and India," the ministry said on the Prime Minister's 3-day visit.

The team will also include secretaries in the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Water Resources, Health and Population, Agriculture and Physical Planning. Deuba will hold delegation-level talks with his Indian counterpart and also meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.

Prime Minister Modi will host a luncheon in honour of his Nepal counterpart.

During his stay in New Delhi, Prime Minister Deuba will also address a gathering of business leaders.

He is also scheduled to visit the holy city of Varanasi before wrapping up his trip on April 3.

Earlier in January, he was scheduled to travel to India to participate in a business summit in Gujarat. However, the trip was cancelled after the summit was postponed due to the growing cases of Covid-19.

Deuba and Modi had met in Glasgow, Scotland in November last year on the sidelines of the UN climate conference and had "fruitful talks" on many aspects of India-Nepal friendship.

Deuba had thanked his Indian counterpart for providing support to Nepal in essential medical supplies and vaccines in its fight against the pandemic during their first meeting in Glasgow.

During the meeting, overall matters of the bilateral relations were discussed.

Deuba's visit is taking place soon after Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi's three-day tour to Nepal from March 25 to March 27.

Nepal has recently appointed senior economist Shankar Prasad Sharma as its ambassador to India.

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Resentment in Kerala's Opposition, the Congress-led United Democratic Front, is surfacing yet again due to the infighting in the Congress leadership.

Mani C Kappan, an MLA in the UDF coalition, openly expressed his resentment over the lack of coordination in the Front. He also said that many coalition partners in the UDF were unhappy with the present situation.

Kappan, who had quit the NCP and formed the Nationalist Congress Kerala party last year, cited differences among Congress leaders.

The squabble between former Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and current Opposition leader V D Satheesan over who should take stands on the party's issues continued.

Even as Kappan added that such issues were not there in the ruling Left Front, he clarified that he had no plans to return to the Left Front.

Meanwhile, the Opposition leader reacted that if Kappan had any issues, he should have brought them up instead of making open remarks.

Leaders of the Indian Union Muslim League and the RSP, the key coalition partners of the UDF, had also expressed their concerns over the infight in the Congress earlier. There were also widespread speculations that some coalition partners in the UDF were exploring the option of joining the Left Front.

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India's third moon mission Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1 satellite will be tracked by the antennas of European Space Agency (ESA).

According to ESA, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch two pioneering scientific spacecraft in 2022, one to study the Sun, and one to land on the Moon.

The Indian government had recently told the Rajya Sabha that the Chandrayaan-3 mission is tentatively planned during the third quarter of 2022.

The Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft will carry a lander and rover modules. The lander module will land on the surface of the moon carrying the rover.

The objectives of the mission are safe and soft landing Rover roving on the moon and in-situ scientific experiments. Towards this, activities are in advanced stages of integration and testing, the Indian government had said.

On the other hand, the Aditya-L1 satellite's mission is to study the Sun.

"ESA's global deep-space communication antennas will provide essential support to both missions (Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya-L1) every step of the way, tracking the spacecraft, pinpointing their locations at crucial stages, transmitting commands and receiving telemetry and valuable science data," the space agency said.

ESA's Kourou antenna and the Goonhilly station, the UK, will be added to the NASA deep space stations supporting the mission and provide similar support to Chandrayaan-3 as they will to Aditya-L1.

The ESA station support for both Aditya-L1 and Chandrayaan-3 begins with the critical launch and early orbit phase and continues to the end of both missions, if required by ISRO.

According to ESA, its involvement in the Aditya-L1 mission has already begun. "ISRO's flight dynamics team tested the software they will use to precisely determine the location and orbit of Aditya-L1 on ESA's Gaia observatory. ESA's flight dynamics experts then used their decades of experience flying spacecraft across the solar system to validate this software by comparing ISRO's results to their own measurements," the ESA said.

Meanwhile, radio frequency compatibility tests were important to ensure the hardware used by both agencies can work together took place in December 2021, the ESA added.

The ESA said the big iron, 35-metre deep space Estrack antennas, located in New Norcia, Australia; Malargue, Argentina; and Cebreros, Spain, will all support Aditya-L1. Additional support will be provided by ESA's 15-metre antenna at Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, and the commercial 32-metre deep space antenna at Goonhilly station in the UK.

The combined ESA and Goonhilly antennas will provide tracking, telemetry and command (TT&C) support for Aditya-L1, with ISRO's deep space antennas in India providing additional communication time.

Data and telemetry sent back by Aditya-L1 arriving through any of the ground stations will be forwarded to ESA's ESOC mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany. From there, they will be sent to ISRO's ISTRAC facility for analysis.

In June 2021, ESA and ISRO signed an agreement to provide technical support to each other, including tracking and communication services to upcoming Indian space missions through ESA's ground stations.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un smiles following a test-firing of what the North said was a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, at an undisclosed location in North Korea, March 24, in this photo distributed by the North Korean government. Yonhap





North Korean leader Kim Jong-un stressed that his country will further develop a "powerful strike means" to reinforce national defense capabilities, state media reported Monday, days after Pyongyang claimed to have launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).







Kim made the comments during a photo session with officials and scientists who contributed to the "successful" testing of a Hwasong-17 ICBM, according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).







"We must be strong under whatever circumstances to defend peace, accelerate socialist construction and be responsible for the security of the rising generations, free from any threat," Kim was quoted as saying.







He added that Pyongyang will "continue to attain the goal of reinforcing national defense capabilities, develop more of powerful strike means to make our People's Army equip with them."







Kim also emphasized that a country can prevent a war and guarantee its security only when it is equipped with "formidable striking capabilities" and "overwhelming military power that cannot be stopped by anyone."







He then said that the development of the North's national defense would have been "unthinkable without the trust and ardent patriotism of all the people who rendered unconditional and absolute support and encouragement to the indispensable sacred cause of building up the nuclear war deterrence of the country."







Last week, the North claimed to have test-fired the Hwasong-17 ICBM under the supervision of Kim.







South Korea and the United States believe the North tested a Hwasong-15 ICBM, the same type it fired in late 2017, and disguised its launch as that of a Hwasong-17, informed sources said Sunday, after an analysis of the missile's engine nozzles and engine combustion time. (Yonhap)


Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Alderman Graham Warke, has hosted a civic reception for Raphoe youngster Jack Beattie in recognition of his role in spreading the safety message during the Covid 19 pandemic.

The 11 year old suffers from brittle bone disease and has met Mayor Warke at a number of functions this year in his role as a Junior Garda.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland marked the occasion with a cavalcade into Guildhall Square and made a special presentation to him and he enjoyed video calls with Irish social media giants Mammy Banter and Black Paddy.

"It was an absolute joy to have Garda Jack Beattie in the Parlour today on a special cross border policing visit," said Mayor Warke.

"I've met Jack numerous times on my journey as Mayor and he had told me he always wanted to visit the Guildhall so I was delighted to have him here.

"Jack played a key role in delivering the Covid safety message online over the last two years, undoubtedly saving countless lives.

"He had to isolate for much of the lockdown himself and was telling me how delighted he was to be back attending events.

"I want to thank him for coming to see me, this was one of the highlights of my year and he entertained me and the staff in the Guildhall all afternoon.

"Thanks also to the PSNI for taking time out of their busy schedule to come into Guildhall Square and meet him."
Father Paddy O'Kane's requiem mass was held this afternoon at Holy Family Church, Ballymagroarty.

He will be laid to rest in Culdaff where he was originally from.

Bishop McKeown, who conducted the service, paid his respects to a priest who 'led with his heart'.

Bishop McKeown said: When I began to prepare this the words of St. Johns gospel sprang to mind: If all the things that Jesus did were written down, the world itself would not hold all the books that would have to be written.

"In Father Paddys case an exaggeration, no doubt, but his frenetic

activism and technicolour lifestyle could fill many a volume.

"Over the years Ive known Fr. Paddy Ive come to greatly admire his creative imagination and inventive spirit.

"Father Paddy had a wonderfully effusive personality  which caused him to be universally loved and he endeared himself to a multitude of people with his joyful expression of priesthood and his fun loving approach to life.

"He dominated situations with his leather trench coat and his effervescent presence and his huge, loving generous heart.

"His heart ruled his head in every situation and he found it impossible to say no to anyone, which meant that he gave of himself unstintingly in the face of every need, especially those whom society had little time for.

"This has been a sad few days for many people. I have heard lots of stories, told between tears. Stories about a priest who made people laugh; a priest who cared for and made allowances for those who stumble under the crosses that people bear, a priest who suffered with people, a priest who knew he shared the frailties of our human nature,

"He had a hunger to know the love of God in his own life  and he knew so well how many people felt frail and unloved because of where they had been and what had happened in their lives.

"Father Paddy OKane  and many other priests  ministered for decades during the Troubles when terrible things happened. He worked in the Cathedral, Melmount, Moville and Holy Family. But Father Paddy didnt really respect parish lines.

"Wherever people came from and needed him, Paddy tried to help them. He knew that lots of people are still suffering from the effects of violence. That has often taken its toll on those who have generously served society in many ways.

"People will remember good priests who were human and generous to a fault, especially at a time of tragedy or crisis.

"In our hurting society, there still is a need for those who will bear witness to the generosity of Jesus on Calvary.

"Today we give thanks for the ministry of Father Paddy OKane. We remember him as a wounded healer. We commend him to the God of compassion and love.

"He was very open about his struggles and his compassion made it possible for others to be more at ease with their own vulnerability and pain.

"He allowed his own raw scars to be transformed into sacred wounds offering peace, healing and hope to others.

"In the depth of the darkness our friend Paddy has found the peace that he longed for with the saviour he loved and served so well."

Father O'Kane sadly passed away on Monday (March 28) and had been PP of the Holy Family Parish in the Ballymagroarty area of Derry for many years.
MLAs in East Derry have collectively tabled the second highest number of questions to government ministers over the course of the latest Assembly mandate.

Figures available on the NI Assembly on the final day of business detailed the number of questions tabled by each of the legislature's 90 MLAs during the most recent mandate.

East Derry's five representatives asked a total of 2,495 questions from January 2020 until March 2022 when the Assembly was functional.

The figure ranked second highest behind North Down (4,482), while fellow Derry constituencies Foyle (1,962) and Mid Ulster (990) ranked 8th and 16th out of the 18 areas.

Assembly members may table up to five written questions daily, and may also submit their names for inclusion in a computer ballot should they wish to ask an oral question of a government minister.

Just one MLA within East Derry, Mid Ulster and Foyle is a serving minister  Sinn Fein's Michelle O'Neill  and therefore is not eligible to table questions.

Out of County Derry's three constituencies, Independent MLA Claire Sugden tabled the most questions (1,355) throughout the mandate.

The East Derry representative ranked fourth highest in the whole Assembly, behind the TUV's Jim Allister (1,694), Independent Alex Easton (1,635) and PBP's Gerry Carroll (1,611).

Ms Sugden said Assembly Questions were an important tool for holding government ministers to account.

If we are not holding ministers, processes and policies to account then we are not doing our job, she told the County Derry Post.

It is an MLAs job to hold Executive ministers to account and we therefore have a responsibility to use all the tools at our disposal to do that.

We are allowed up to five written questions per day when the Assembly is sitting and given the number of issues I deal with, these are nearly always used up, day by day and week by week.

Questions come from a variety of sources, but particularly from the concerns and inquiries of constituents.

If a policy or law isnt doing what it is supposed to  and helping people with their lives  then we have a responsibility as MLAs to, firstly, find out why, and then push for ways to improve it.

East Derry MLA Claire Sugden asked the highest number of questions in County Derry.

Along with written Assembly questions, I also regularly use oral questions for the same purpose.

I write to ministers directly, seeking answers for constituents, and use my presence in the Assembly chamber itself and on Executive committees as an opportunity to do the same.

Luckily I have the freedom of my independence to scrutinise equally every minister, regardless of what party they belong to, she added.

Unsurprisingly, having only been co-opted last year, Sinn Fein's Padraig Delargy and Ciara Ferguson had tabled the least amount of questions, ranking 76th and 79th with 60 and 24 respectively.

Third lowest, having served the whole mandate, was Mid Ulster Sinn Fein representative Linda Dillon who asked 115 questions, ranking 70th out of 90 representatives.

SDLP representative Sinead McLaughlin tabled the most questions of all the Foyle MLAs, ranking ninth overall with 1,056 questions.

The largest amount of questions from Mid Ulster MLAs came from Sinn Fein's Emma Sheerin with 345, leaving her 35th on the list.

With questions designed to scrutinise the work of government ministers, Independent members and those from parties not in government predictably topped the overall individual list.

However, collectively, the DUP, who held the role of First Minister throughout the mandate, tabled the highest amount of questions by party, with 7,805 being asked by their MLAs.

The SDLP recorded the second highest amount on 6,402, with Sinn Fein third (6,177), Alliance fourth (4,344) and the UUP fifth (2,743).

You can view the data for all eligible MLAs using the table below. Those not applicable due to holding Minister roles have been excluded.
Nokia has instituted legal action against the Romanian government after being refused authorisation to provide 5G network hardware in the country.

The Romania Journal news site reports that Nokia Solutions and Networks OY and Nokia Networks SRL have sued the Romanian government after failing to obtain the required authorisation from the countrys Supreme Council of National Defence (CSAT).

The CSAT decision will apparently prevent Nokia from participating in the future in the construction of 5G networks in Romania.

The legal process apparently began on 25 March at the Bucharest Court of Appeal. So far the government has not given any reason for this refusal.

Nokia, however, has released a brief statement. It says: "Nokia is committed to serving its global customer base. However, we can confirm that in February we were advised that we had been denied the authorization to provide 5G infrastructure equipment in Romania by the Romanian government. We are seeking urgent clarification for the reasons for this decision and have instigated legal proceedings. While these are underway, we will not comment further."

The law permitting this came into effect last year, although some commentators had assumed, as we reported at the time, that Chinese companies would be the likeliest foreign businesses to be targeted. A number of local companies have received CSAT approval.

According to TeleGeography's CommsUpdate, under what is known as 5G security legislation, mobile operators must remove core network technology provided by unauthorised suppliers within five years of a negative decisions entry into force of law. A seven-year limit applies for the withdrawal of other equipment and software.
Nokia has signed an agreement with Etisalat UAE to deploy 5G private wiles networks to various industries in the region.

In a statement, the two companies said they will work together to support critical businesses in sectors such as ports, oil and gas government and others, by way of digital transformation and pushing through Industry 4.0 use cases that tap into 5G.

A 5G private wireless network based on Nokias platform has been installed in Etisalats innovation centre in its Abu Dhabi headquarters.

Nokia and Etisalat UAE will offer a variety of solutions including Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), Modular Private Wireless (MPW) and Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC), to meet the diverse needs of various enterprises.

In addition, the frame agreement includes Nokia Group Communications with push-to-talk and push-to-video capabilities, as well as Enterprise Voice Core (EVC). Nokia and Etisalat UAE will be able to develop 5G-enabled use cases to support digital transformation and improve operational efficiency across multiple industries with this broad set of solutions.

Etisalat UAE chief technology and information officer Khalid Murshed said: We are committed to supporting the government's vision to accelerate digital transformation of businesses so they can capture emerging opportunities. This collaboration with our long-term partner Nokia is in line with this vision and will provide our customers with best-in-class solutions. 5G private wireless networks will allow them to boost productivity, enhance operational efficiency, and grow revenue while improving customer experience."

Nokia Middle East VP Rima Manna added: With over 75 5G and more than 420 private wireless customers around the world, Nokia offers field-proven technology and expertise in the 5G private wireless networks domain. Etisalat is a leader in innovation, and we look forward to collaborating on this initiative to provide industry-leading solutions to help enterprises across the country on their digital transformation journeys. This partnership will assist Etisalat in increasing revenue while leveraging 5G spectrum and deployment.
Zambias regulator has claimed to have blocked over two million illegal SIM cards, a move that is part of plans to clamp down on illegal activities prevailing as citizens take up digital financial services.

Zambia Information and Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA) consumer protection and compliance manager Edgar Mlauzi, said the SIMs belonged to those who had more than ten SIM cards under their name, which the authority deemed fraudulent, reported ITWeb.

Mlauzi said since blocking the two million SIMs spam traffic had decreased but did not specify any numbers.

The authority has received a number of complaints from people who have been defrauded but ZICTA is doing everything possible to address the situation. Scammers send unsolicited messages to members of the public using the SMS platform by using fraudulently registered SIM cards which compromises the safety of others users of electronic communication services, said Mlauzi.

The regulator announced it had to take action to combat mobile money fraud by going after subscribers who do not have a justifiable cause to possess an expansive number of SIMs.

ZICTA has stated Zambians are increasing their use of digital financial services with mobile money transactions increasing in value to ZMW105.6 billion (US$5.8bn) in 2020, from ZMW49.6 billion in 2019.
Togo is aiming to fiberise the countrys network of electrical power lines, according to the Minister of the Digital Economy and Digital Transformation Cina Lawson.

According to business outlet Quartz, Lawson described the strategy as cost-effective, saying: One of the costs of deploying fibre is digging the ground and burying the cable deep. Instead of doing that, we will deploy the cables on poles that host electric lines. Imagine when you tell a resident that you will give them high speed internet with their electricity at affordable prices.

However, TeleGeography reports that in order to deliver this service, Togos government will need a minimum of EUR300 million (US$334 million). Lawson noted that while discussions are underway with lenders we want to de-risk the project as the government by contributing financing, to make sure price points are low. If its entirely led by the private sector, they will need a return on investment which may lead to high prices.

The move comes hard on the heels of Togo being connected to Googles Equiano submarine cable, which CommsUpdate notes should be ready for service in Q4 2022. The cable is being deployed by CSquared Woezon, a joint venture between CSquared and Togolese state-owned telecommunications asset company Societe dInfrastructures Numeriques (SIN).

CSquared Woezon landed the Equiano cable earlier this month by building a branch into Togo offering up to one terabit per second of capacity between Portugal and South Africa. Pioneer Consulting has been providing general subsea consulting services to CSquared Woezon, initially focusing on the design, procurement, and implementation of the Cable Landing Station and the systems transmission equipment.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney announces voluntary contribution to ICC Prosecutor

Announcement

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney TD, today announced a voluntary contribution of 150,000 to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC). This contribution is being made in response to his request to all States Parties to the ICC to provide assistance in order to address the urgent resource needs of his Office. The Prosecutors workload has increased significantly following commencement of a formal investigation into the situation in Ukraine.

Announcing Irelands voluntary contribution to the OTP, Minister Coveney said:

Ireland is a leading supporter of the International Criminal Court and was one of the 41 States to refer the situation in Ukraine to the Court earlier this month. Im very pleased to be able to announce today a voluntary contribution to the Office of the Prosecutor of 150,000. This money will be used to provide new technology and equipment for investigations, provide enhanced psycho-social support to witnesses and survivors, and enhance specialised capacity with respect to investigation of sexual and gender based violence and crimes against children.

The devastating reports of attacks by Russian forces against Ukrainian urban centres, medical facilities and civilians fleeing the conflict are a powerful reminder of the importance of having a properly resourced international criminal justice system. The independent and impartial functioning of the ICC Prosecutor stands squarely in the centre of this system.

Notes to editors On 2 March 2022, Ireland joined 38 other States Parties to the Rome Statute of the ICC in referring the situation in Ukraine to the ICC Prosecutor. Two other States subsequently joined the referral shortly afterwards.

The effect of this referral was to enable the ICC Prosecutor to immediately commence a formal investigation into crimes against humanity and war crimes that may have occurred on Ukrainian territory since 2014, including those crimes arising out of the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In addition to todays voluntary contribution of 150,000 to the OTP, Ireland this year paid an annual assessed contribution of 1,272,180 to the ICC which is utilised for funding all organs of the Court.

Ireland is also providing financial support to the ICC's Trust Fund for Victims this year to the amount of 200,000, which aims to support the immediate needs of victims of international crimes. The Trust Fund for Victims was created to implement court-ordered reparation awards arising from individual cases before the ICC, and provide physical, psychological and material assistance to victims and their families in ICC situation countries. ENDS Press Office 31 March 2022

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North Korea's state media reported that the country conducted a test-firing of a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on March 24, as seen in this Pyeongyang-distributed photo. Yonhap



North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launched last week is assessed to be the same type it test-fired in 2017, Seoul's defense ministry told lawmakers here Tuesday, formally dismissing Pyongyang's claim that it was a brand-new one.



In a briefing to the National Assembly, the ministry said the ICBM in question is more similar to the Hwasong-15 missile than the newest Hwasong-17. It cited an analysis of the missile's flight characteristics and footage released by the North's state media.



The North has claimed success in launching the Hwasong-17  an ICBM dubbed a "monster" for its size. The new missile is known to have a range of around 15,000 kilometers, about 2,000 km longer than the Hwasong-15.



"Although the projectile fired on March 24 looks like the Hwasong-17 due to the increase in its top altitude and flight time, our assessment is that it is more similar to the Hwasong-15 than the Hwasong-17," the ministry said.



The ministry provided evidence suggesting the North disguised the latest launch as that of the newest missile.



It said that directions of shadows seen in the North's footage of Thursday's launch indicated the footage was taken in the morning though the actual launch took place in the afternoon.



The ministry also pointed out that the North's photos showed the missile test was conducted under clear weather though it was mostly cloudy at the launch site in Pyongyang at the time of the test.



In addition, the ministry said that it would have been difficult to carry out a successful new ICBM test following a botched test eight days earlier. The South Korean military presumes the North's failed projectile launch on March 16 involved the Hwasong-17.



Commenting on the North's intentions behind the launch, the ministry said that the North needed to deliver a "message of success" after citizens in Pyongyang witnessed an earlier failure in firing the Hwasong-17.



The North also appears to have sought to show progress in its ICBM capabilities, secure status as a military power and raise its leverage in future peace negotiations, the ministry said.



The Hwasong-17 was fired from Sunan International Airport in Pyongyang and exploded in midair over the capital.



An opposition lawmaker who attended the session said debris of the missile fell in Pyongyang and caused civilian damages.



"(The missile) exploded several kilometers above Pyongyang, so it was visible to the naked eye, and debris fell like rain over Pyongyang. Human casualties have not been confirmed, but civilian damage occurred," Ha Tae-keung of the main opposition People Power Party told reporters citing the ministry.



The firing of the Hwasong-15 was aimed at assuaging public discontent following the incident, he added.



Meanwhile, the ministry reportedly told a closed-door parliamentary session that Seoul is considering "strong" steps to take in the event of another North Korean ICBM launch, including the deployment of U.S. strategic military assets. (Yonhap)




Where to Watch / Stream Prithviraj Online Theatrical release - Not available on any OTT Platform right now.

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Prithviraj : Release Date, Trailer, Cast & Songs About Prithviraj Prithviraj will release on Jun 03, 2022 and is directed by Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi .This movie will be 2 hr 15 min in duration and will be available in Hindi language. Sakshi Tanwar, Akshay Kumar, Lalit Tiwari, Manushi Chhillar, Sanjay Dutt, Ajoy Chakrabarty, Govind Pandey, Manav Vij, Sonu Sood and Ashutosh Rana will be playing as the star cast in this movie. Prithviraj will be available in Action, Drama and Historical genres.

Prithviraj Storyline Prithviraj Chauhans life begins at the cradle of conquestsby him, or in trying to protect his kingdom, Chahamana, from invasions. His legend is glorious and fearsome, and his conquests equally worth all poetry, one that Chand Bardai attributes about at length in his courtly poems, Prithviraj Raso. The story takes a turn when the Gahadavala kingdoms king, Jayachandra, raises an invitation of Rajasuya to Prithviraj Chauhanan invitation that Prithviraj turns down. Gahadavala is a neighbor to the Chahamana kingdom, and Prithvirajs exploits are luminous to hear about for Sanyogita, the daughter of Jayachandra, who then declares that she denounces all men if she cannot marry Prithviraj Chauhan, much to rub salt on Jayachandras wound. Jayachandra announces a swayamvara for Sanyogita, and he leaves out Prithviraj. But Prithviraj still marches in with his army, where he helps Sanyogita elope with him, souring their kingdoms treaties. When the Ghurids arrive, allies to the Chahamana are dismal.

Prithviraj All Songs List 01. P Prithviraj Naresh Narayan 2: 55

Trivia First look of the film was announced in 09 September 2019 on 52nd birthday of Akshay Kumar. Budget 300 Crores

Filming Location Yash Raj Studios, Mumbai, India

Production Details Yash Raj Films

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India is all set to tax cryptocurrencies from 1st April 2022. The taxation regime will come into effect as new income tax rules on cryptocurrencies and other digital assets tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the Union Budget 2022 get implemented. In Budget 2022, Sitharaman proposed how taxation on earnings on the transfer of virtual assets will work.

These proposals were recently accepted and now taxation of virtual digital assets (VDAs) or "crypto tax" is set to be implemented from April 1. Here's all you need to know about the crypto taxation policy being put in place by the Indian government.

-- The new crypto taxation policy will see the government taxing earnings on the transfer of virtual assets at a flat rate of 30%.

-- As part of the taxation policy, the government has explained that these gains from the transfer of virtual assets or cryptocurrencies will be exempt from taxation.

-- The government has also clarified that the loss from the sale of virtual assets can not be offset against any other revenue.

-- Further, the government has also said that the taxation on virtual assets will not only be on the ones they buy but recipients would also be taxed if they received crypto tokens or virtual assets as a gift.

-- Additionally, the Finance Ministry has said that a 1% TDS will also be imposed on every payment made for transfers.

-- The finance ministry has also confirmed that infrastructure costs incurred in the mining of cryptocurrencies will not be allowed as deductions under the Income Tax Act.

-- The new taxation policy clarifies that the virtual digital assets will not just include cryptocurrencies, but also non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
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By ANNA LIZ NICHOLS

Associated Press

LANSING, Mich.  Michigan is investing more than $4.7 billion to improve infrastructure, including drinking water upgrades, internet access and fixing roads, bridges and dams.

The spending plan includes some of the biggest infrastructure investments in state history, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday before signing the bipartisan legislation in Grand Rapids. About $4 billion comes from federal funds, including COVID-19 recovery funds and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.





. . .
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong speaks alongside U.S. President Joe Biden in the East Room of the White House, March 29. AP-Yonhap





U.S. President Joe Biden and Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on North Korea to engage in serious dialogue Tuesday, reaffirming their commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.







The call comes after a series of North Korean missile tests that included Pyongyang's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch in over four years.







"The leaders reaffirm a shared commitment to the goal of the complete denuclearization and the establishment of a permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula," they said in a joint statement.







"Both leaders call on the DPRK to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy and emphasize the importance of full implementation of relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions," they added.







DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.







North Korea launched an ICBM Thursday (KST), ending its self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile testing that had been in place since late 2017.







Biden said he and Lee shared concerns over North Korea's destabilizing activities.







"We shared our concerns about the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, and their destabilizing ballistic missile launches ... which are clearly in violation of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions," the U.S. president said in a joint press conference with Lee at the White House.







"And we both urge North Korea to refrain from further provocations and return to the negotiation table for serious and sustained diplomacy," Biden added.







Pyongyang has so far staged 12 missile launches this year, including seven in January that marked the largest number of missile tests by the North in a single month.







North Korea continues to avoid talks with the U.S. despite numerous overtures from the Biden administration that took office in January 2021.







North Korea and the U.S. last held denuclearization talks in late 2019. (Yonhap)


170,196 in funding has been announced today by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, to assist with the conservation and restoration of four heritage properties in Louth.

Well-known Louth heritage sites, including the Old Gaol, Dundalk, St Josephs Church and Foresters Hall (Dundalk Credit Union building) are amongst those in Louth awarded funding to conserve notable historic structures under the Historic Structures Fund 2022. The sites have been awarded funding for diverse reasons including essential repairs to the bell tower at St Josephs and conservation repairs to the Old Gaol building.

The amounts for each site in Louth and the purpose of the funding is as follows:

Louth Co. Archives, Old Gaol, Ardee Road, Dundalk - Internal repairs to south gale wall: removal of unsuitable modern materials, replacement with traditional materials, and repairs to roof timbers set into gable (purlins, wall-plates) - 18,000.00

Foresters Hall, Market Street, Dundalk, Louth - Windows, rainwater goods, exterior walls - 76,196.00

St Joseph's Church, St Alphonsus Road, Dundalk - Replacement of badly corroded steel structure supporting the 19nr bells in the church tower and refurbishment of the bells for preservation - 40,000.00

Carrickadooan Thatch, Carrickadooan, Louth Vilalge - Rethatching of roof - 36,000.00

A total of 4m was awarded nationwide through the Historic Structures Fund, administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in partnership with the 31 Local Authorities. The announcement follows that of 4m in funding under the Departments other built heritage grant scheme, the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, earlier this month.

Announcing the awards today, Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan TD, said:

"I am delighted to announce another 4m investment in our built heritage. This years Historic Structures Fund will assist 78 owners and custodians of historic and protected structures across the country as they carry out hundreds of conservation projects to repair and safeguard our built heritage.

"I am particularly pleased to announce the awards made to vernacular structures and historic shopfronts following their successful pilot schemes last year. These awards celebrate the richness and diversity of our built heritage and help to preserve our connections to past generations, in particular through their support of traditional building skills, which this Government is committed to investing in. These actions also help us to deliver on our commitments to built heritage under Heritage Ireland 2030, the national heritage plan which I launched earlier this year."
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Directors of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter may face criminal sanctions from the government under new laws, according to a new report from The Irish Times.

Under proposals discussed between Fianna Fail Senators and Green Party Minister for Culture and Media Catherine Martin, senior executives at social media companies could face criminal sanctions if they don't do enough to tackle harmful content.

The organisers behind the planned legislation have said that due to the significant profits of social media companies, fines are not a significant punishment or deterrent.

One of the organisers, FF Senator Malcolm Byrne, explained: "If companies can simply write off fines as business costs, as we have arguably seen in the case of some data breaches, then we know that they are not going to take fines for the consequences of online harm seriously."

The online safety and media commission legislation is due to be considered by the Oireachtas in the coming months: it aims to regulate social media giants, enabling a new commission which will have powers to levy them with substantial fines.

However, as the Irish Times also reported, many online safety campaigners want to toughen the proposed legislation, which they say does not go far enough.

As the internet becomes a larger part of our lives, accountability from the heads of social media companies have become a hot-button issue in recent years, and many countries have been considering introducing similar laws.

Earlier this month, the UK government announced that social media heads may face prosecution or jail time within two months of the new Online Safety Bill becoming law, instead of two years, as it was previously drafted.

The government said a range of new offenses had been added to the bill that makes the senior managers at tech firms criminally liable.

These include destroying evidence, failing to attend or providing false information in interviews with its regulator Ofcom, and for obstructing the watchdog when it enters company offices.
Over 40,000 pieces of crashed Chinese plane found

Xinhua) 13:12, March 31, 2022

NANNING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Over 40,000 pieces of wreckage from a China Eastern Airlines plane that crashed in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region had been recovered by Wednesday, an official told a press briefing on Thursday.

Most of the wreckage pieces have been transferred to a storage site for sorting and further examination, said Zhu Tao, head of the aviation safety office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The total search area has reached nearly 10 million square meters, Zhu added.

Equipment including 216 fire trucks and 16 drones was used in the large-scale search and rescue operation.

The Boeing 737 aircraft flying from Kunming to Guangzhou crashed into a mountainous area in Tengxian County, Guangxi, at around 2:38 p.m. on March 21, killing all 132 people on board, including 123 passengers and nine crew members.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Harsh penalties required to eliminate shoddy construction



On Monday, the government asked the Seoul city government to impose the "most severe punishment" on HDC Hyundai Development Company over the deadly partial collapse of a high-rise building in January, which left six workers dead. The harshest penalty under the current law is the cancellation of business registration. No builder has had its license canceled since Dong-Ah Construction in 1994 due to the collapse of the Seongsu Bridge on the Han River.



The Seoul Metropolitan Government will likely slap penalties on HDC by September. City Hall should not provide leniency without good reason. The frequent safety accidents resulting from shoddy work by builders are due to light punishment compared to the benefits earned by poor construction. Regulators should use HDC's case as an opportunity to strengthen compliance with industrial standards and rules as well as root out shoddy construction practices.



According to the investigation report by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the crumbling of the outer wall of the 39-story apartment building under construction in Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of Seoul, was due to three causes: The builder changed the construction method of the 39th floor without a structural review, weakened the bearing capacity of the 36th to 38th floors by failing to install concrete supports and used concrete with substandard strength.



The ministry announced a set of strong measures. For instance, the central government will directly cancel the business registration of builders that cause the deaths of more than three people or five workers due to serious damage to facilities. It will also ban such builders from applying for a new license for five years. It has also decided to apply a punitive damages system that triples the liability for damages. The construction industry complained, saying, "It is a punishment-oriented decision without considering the reality." However, the government should hurry to amend the law and nail it down.



Despite Korea's remarkable economic growth, the country's construction sites remain quite vulnerable to safety-related accidents. Moreover, slashing subcontracting costs is still rampant, placing all of the burden on construction workers at the bottom rung of the industrial hierarchy. To break away from these shady practices, the authorities should have zero-tolerance for shoddy construction and resultant fatal accidents.








NEW YORK  US brand Foot Locker has announced its ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 or sooner.

The firm says its answering the call to limit global temperature rise to 1.5oC, and will look to submit environmental targets to the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) in due course.

Unabated climate change presents risks for our business, industry, and society, but through climate stewardship, we may unlock opportunities to innovate and strengthen our relationships with our customers and the communities we serve, commented Foot Lockers chairman and CEO, Richard A. Johnson.




Roslin: Partnership aims to tackle antimicrobial resistance





African fellows' recent visit to the Roslin Institute in the United Kingdom has created an opportunity for training, mentorship and strengthening collaboration, the institute said.

One-health professionals, including doctors, vets, pharmacists and microbiologists from Malawi, Uganda and Kenya were at the Roslin Institute, where they presented their work, took part in collaborative projects and learned about Roslin's antimicrobial resistance (AMR) research and infrastructure.

The group are all fellows of the Fleming Fund, which aims to support low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the fight against AMR. They are supported by the University of Edinburgh as a host institution for the capacity building component of the fellowship scheme.

Their visit, which also included a tour of research facilities, was an opportunity for the fellows to receive technical training from expert mentors from across the university in a range of scientific topics, such as bioinformatics, microbiology and communication.

The Fleming Fellowship Scheme, which is administered by the United Kingdom's Department of Health and Social Care, aims to train practitioners in collection and analysis of high quality AMR surveillance data and generate information that can be used to guide policy development and implementation.

Fellows will form a global network of AMR experts and advocate for action in their home countries, such as improved AMR surveillance and responsible use of antibiotics.

"We are delighted for the chance to contribute to the global challenge of AMR and hope the partnerships and friendships established through the Fleming Fellowship Scheme will open doors to long-term collaboration," said Professor Ross Fitzgerald, programme lead of Edinburgh Fleming Fellows.

"The visit was of great value to me. It gave me enormous exposure to small and large animal clinical practice, laboratory diagnostics and regulatory framework for AMR, the One Health approach in Scotland, science communication principles and the probable future collaborations that may arise between the fellows and the team at the Roslin institute," said Dr. Israel Mugezi, Fleming Fellow and veterinary inspector at Uganda's Department of Animal Health at the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal industry and Fisheries.

"Back in my country, I can now ably communicate pitched AMR messages to different stakeholders and guide other colleagues on how to communicate science. My capacity in data analysis and drawing interactive maps using R-software which has been built will shape the quarterly bulletin graphics for the National Animal Disease Diagnostics and Epidemiology Center.

"Together with other Ugandan fellows, we shall analyse the data that was collected by the previous cohort of fellows and use the results to inform policy and planning, including the National Action Plan for Health Security."

- Roslin Institute
Time to prevent recurrence of power abuse



The prosecution has restarted its investigation into allegations that the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy forced the heads of four power plants to resign in September 2017, four months after President Moon Jae-in took office. If the allegations are found true, ministry officials cannot avoid charges of abusing their authority to kick out the CEOs who had been appointed by the previous Park Geun-hye administration.



Last week, investigators of the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors' Office searched the ministry's planning and coordination office as well as its departments handling nuclear energy policy to secure evidence related to the allegations. They also stormed the offices of four utility companies affiliated with state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO).



The move came three years after the Liberty Korea Party (LKP), the predecessor of the current opposition People Power Party (PPP), filed a complaint with the prosecution against the ministry over the matter. The LKP accused the energy ministry of drawing up a "blacklist" of the heads of state enterprises and public institutions who had been appointed by the Park government.



However, the investigation came to a halt because the Moon administration demoted the chief of the district prosecutors' office and other senior prosecutors to prevent them from digging into the case. The government had impeded the probe particularly since the prosecutors' office indicted top officials of the Ministry of Environment on similar charges.



The investigation has now gained momentum since the Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling against former Environment Minister Kim Eun-kyung in January who was sentenced to two years in prison for abusing her ministerial power. Kim was indicted on charges of forcing 13 executives at public institutions affiliated with the environment ministry to step down in 2017 and 2018 because they were appointees of the Park government.



Prosecutors should conduct a thorough investigation into the energy ministry to prove suspicions that former Minister Paik Un-gyu and other officials put pressure on the chiefs of the four power generation plants to resign because they refused to follow President Moon's nuclear phase-out policy.



The so-called "blacklist" case cannot be overlooked because it could constitute a serious crime. Ranking officials of the conservative Park administration were also found guilty of blacklisting progressive artists and cultural figures to exclude them from state support programs. It is dumbfounding to see similar things happening again under the rule of Moon who took power following the impeachment of Park.



The prosecution should leave no stone unturned to lay bare the truth behind the energy ministry's power abuse scandal. It also needs to expand its investigation as other ministries, including the prime minister's office and the finance and education ministries, are facing similar "blacklist" allegations. In addition, it should make efforts to avoid criticism that it has resumed the investigation  belatedly  just before the end of the Moon administration in order to curry favor with the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration. We hope that the next government will prevent the recurrence of this abuse of power.






Manx Care to launch Antiviral treatments for Covid-19

Manx Care is reminding the public that the best protection against Covid-19 is for the whole community to get vaccinated. While figures are steadying off on the Isle of Man Covid-19 remains a risk for the vulnerable on the Island.

There is still time to get vaccinated with bookable appointments available by calling 111 for first, second, third and booster jabs. The Spring Booster campaign has been launched with vaccines available to the over 75s and immunosuppressed over 12s. This cohort is being contacted by letter which are being sent out in batches.

The 5-11 year olds vaccination programme will commence in April, 2022.

In addition, to protect individuals Manx Care will be offering antiviral treatment to those who are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill with Covid-19. A detailed list of who is eligible for these treatments can be viewed by clicking here (https://covid19.gov.im/general-information/covid-19-antiviral-treatment/).

If an individual falls into an eligible category and they receive a positive Lateral Flow Device (LFD) test, they should contact their GP. Suitability for treatment will depend on a set criteria assessed by GPs who will have a full record of the individuals health status. If eligibility is confirmed, the individual will need to attend The Crookall Centre as a PCR test will be required to confirm the Covid-19 positive result.

If the PCR confirms a positive result, treatment will be delivered via the Antiviral Service at Nobles Hospital which will be located next to the Emergency Department.

Treatment will be delivered in either tablet form or via intravenous infusion. For full details of what treatment will be administered by the Antiviral Service please click here.

Manx Cares CEO, Teresa Cope commented: Antivirals medication is a choice, however we would encourage anyone with a Covid positive result, who meets the criteria, to have the treatment. We continue to ask the public to get vaccinated to protect themselves and those around them.


By Troy Stangarone





As with any incoming president, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol's economic policies are still taking shape, but will likely be more market-oriented than the outgoing Moon Jae-in administration. How Yoon approaches economic issues, however, could have a more significant impact on the future of Korea-U.S. relations than under prior administrations.



While economic issues have always played an important role in Korea-U.S. relations, North Korea has often dominated the discussion between the two allies due to its pursuit of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. This, however, has begun to change in recent years.



Concerns have grown over China's role in the region and its efforts to dominate disruptive technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence, while the pandemic has heightened concerns about supply chains. Climate change has also increasingly become a focus of governments and businesses as the world moves to reduce emissions.



The growing weight of these issues in Korea-U.S. relations was made clear in last May's joint statement from the Moon-Biden summit which placed an emphasis on a broader set of concerns related to the region, the pandemic, supply chains and climate change.



The recent White House readout from President Joe Biden's call to congratulate President-elect Yoon suggests that U.S. priorities have not shifted. The readout emphasized that President Biden "looks forward to working together to deepen cooperation on key global challenges, including climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chains" before mentioning North Korea. Improving cooperation on North Korea will remain critically important for the alliance, but strengthening the relationship will mean improving cooperation in these three areas.



Climate change was a key component of last May's joint statement and the Biden administration likely welcomes President-elect Yoon's support for South Korea's efforts to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, even if the fuel mix to achieve those goals may change. In order to meet South Korea's efforts to become carbon neutral by 2050, it will be essential to meet its nationally declared target of reducing emissions by 40 percent from 2018 levels by 2030. With Yoon's presidency running until 2027, it will be the linchpin administration in meeting these goals.



The Biden administration will likely look to build on the current level of cooperation on climate change, which has been deepened with South Korean investments in the production of EV batteries in the United States. Cooperation on finance of climate measures in the region and the development of new climate technologies are areas ripe for increased cooperation.



Dealing with COVID-19 will also remain a priority for both governments. President-elect Yoon has pledged that one of his first acts will be a new emergency relief budget to deal with the pandemic, but three years into the pandemic it is critical that the United States and South Korea continue to work with likeminded partners to ensure that the world's population gets vaccinated to slow the spread of COVID-19 and limit the prospects for another variant of concern developing. Until that happens, living with COVID policies will continue to require restrictions to protect public health, but that also disrupt economic life.



With global vaccine production now estimated to be sufficient, cooperation with a Yoon administration may shift slightly from efforts to scale up vaccine production to an increasing emphasis on COVID financing for global vaccination efforts and the supply of related materials such as cold chains and needles that will be necessary to ensure the vaccines get to those who need them.



Ensuring secure supply chains is where the issues of climate change and the pandemic come together. Not only have there been shortages of personal protective equipment, vaccines and everyday goods during the pandemic, U.S. efforts to transition to electric vehicles will be highly dependent on South Korean EV battery makers. Collaboration to safeguard the steady flow of goods along supply chains in critical materials can help to address these shortages and is in the direct interest of both countries, especially as global trade becomes increasingly prone to disruptions.



Lastly, while the readout between Biden and Yoon does not mention the war in Ukraine, it will also be a significant factor in near-term cooperation between the United States and South Korea. Seoul has agreed to sanctions on technology and financial transactions with Russia, while also allowing U.S. LNG exports bound for South Korea to be redirected to Europe. The Biden administration will likely want to engage the Yoon administration early on to see what additional steps it can take to help in applying economic pressure on Russia.



As North Korea's recent test of an ICBM makes clear, Pyongyang is a challenge that the alliance cannot ignore, but the world has also changed in significant ways. Climate change is no longer an issue that governments can ignore, while the shortages created during the pandemic have highlighted the growing competition over technology and resources that is reshaping globalization. How the incoming Yoon administration addresses these challenges, along with the crisis in Ukraine, will be critical to deepening Korea-U.S. relations.





Troy Stangarone (ts@keia.org) is the senior director of congressional affairs and trade at the Korea Economic Institute.


BMW has developed the first fully electric 3 series vehicle  but it will only be available in China. In May 2022, the BMW i3 eDrive35L model that's based on the automaker's line of compact cars, will enter the Chinese market. It uses BMW's 5th-gen eDrive powertrain that's also found in the BMW iX3, BMW i4 and BMW iX. The four-door sedan will also be the first 3 Series car with the company's OS8 operating system and its features, including Digital Key, which turns the owner's smartphone into a key for their vehicle.

In its announcement, BMW also shared some key data about the EV, including its 281 horsepower max output and 295 pound-feet of maximum torque. It can apparently go from zero to 62 mph in 6.2 seconds, and it can reach a charge of 80 percent within 35 minutes of being plugged in. Fully charged, it has an estimated range of 327 miles, which is longer than that of the basic BMW i4's.

The automaker says the 3 Series line led the premium-compact segment in China in 2021, so releasing an electrified version in the region makes sense for the company. BMW even even fine-tuned and customized the EV's suspension system for Chinese road conditions and will assemble the vehicle at a plant in Lydia, Shenyang.

The i3 eDrive35L EV is BMW's sixth allelectric model. Similar to rival automakers that are aiming to make a complete shift towards electric vehicles over the coming 10 to 20 years, BMW also ramped up its electrification goals last year. It announced that the last Mini with a combustion engine will be released in 2025 and that it expects its all-electric vehicles to account for 50 percent of its global sales by 2030.
Almost exactly a year ago, Boston Dynamics introduced a new robot called "Stretch." It's not quite as exciting or as terrifyingly adorable as the Hyundai-owned company's Spot robotic dog, but it can make loading, unloading and moving boxes in warehouses a lot easier. Now, Boston Dynamics has announced that Stretch is finally available for purchase. Or, more precisely, it's now accepting reservations for deliveries in 2023 and 2024, because it's sold out throughout the year due to strong pre-order demand.

One of the early Stretch customers is DHL, which signed a $15 million deal with Boston Dynamics to equip its warehouses in North America with the robots over the coming years. TechCrunch says Gap and H&M are equipping their warehouses with the robot, as well.

What makes Stretch a feasible option for any company is that it was built for easy deployment and doesn't require warehouses to be set up for automation. It doesn't have to be pre-programmed and doesn't need information on the box sizes it needs to handle, though they have to weigh 50 pounds and below. Stretch has a wheeled base, so it can move around without the need for fixed infrastructure, and it has an advanced vision system that gives it the power to autonomously identify boxes and its surroundings.

Boston Dynamics CEO Robert Playter says companies are showing interest in Stretch due to labor shortages, especially since it can be installed and ready to work within existing warehouses in just a few days:

"Labor shortages and supply chain snags continue to create challenges in keeping the flow of goods moving. Stretch makes logistics operations more efficient and predictable, and it improves safety by taking on one of the most physically demanding jobs in the warehouse. Many of our early adopter customers have already committed to deploying the robot at scale, so we are excited Stretch will soon be put to work more broadly, helping retailers and logistics companies handle the continued surging demand for goods."

You can watch Stretch in action below:
The tone is almost apologetic. "I have some important news," says Ewan McGregor, star of the upcoming Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi. "Our premiere date is moving just a couple of days." His hands are raised, as if to say "don't be mad!" Indeed, Disney is pushing the show's launch back by two days, from Wednesday, May 25th to Friday, May 27th.

That's a shame mostly because the 25th would have been exactly 45 years since the original Star Wars opened. But, as McGregor's body language suggests: don't be mad. As penance for the grave inconvenience, Disney will now be releasing the first two episodes that day instead of just one.

For fans of the franchise, this newest series starring McGregor has been a long time coming. The series was first announced in summer 2019, and Disney has since revealed that other big names are attached, including Rosario Dawson and Hayden Christensen reprising his trilogy role as Darth Vader.
Blue Origin's first crewed space tourism mission of 2022 is go for launch today with a crew of six, the company has announced. The NS-20 mission is set to take place at the company's launch facility in Van Horn, Texas at 9:30 AM ET after a two-day delay due to high winds.

Passengers will ride aboard the New Shepard reusable launch system which marks its 20th flight to date (hence the NS-20 mission designation). The crew includes angel investor Marty Allen, nonprofit founder Sharon Hagle, Hagle's husband and Tricor CEO Marc Hagle, entrepreneur Jim Kitchen and Commercial Space Technologies founder Dr. George Nield.

SNL's Pete Davidson was supposed to be aboard but had to drop due to a scheduling conflict, so he'll be replaced by New Shepard's chief architect, Gary Lai. In previous flights, Blue Shepard has carried Laura Shepard, the daughter of pioneering astronaut (and New Shepard's namesake) Alan Shepard, Michael Strahan, William Shatner and of course Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos.

The company is competing in the space tourist arena with Virgin Galactic, which recently completed its first fully crewed spaceflight with four onboard including owner Richard Branson. Another rival is SpaceX, which did its first tourist spaceflight (Inspiration 4) last year with four civilian passengers.

The livestream for the launch is set to start at 8:20 AM ET, with the launch scheduled for 9:30 AM ET.
A wood market in Seoul. Circa 1900. Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection



By Robert Neff



For many residents of Seoul, hiking is a great way to get away from the confines of their apartments, workplaces and schools and get out into nature. It is a great outdoor activity during the pandemic as it maintains social distancing (although some of those mountain paths can be quite crowded). Seoul is blessed with an abundance of tree-covered mountains and hills but it hasn't always been like that.



In 1896, poachers prowled the mountain slopes around Seoul  especially the mountain known as Namsan  harvesting timber and brush to sell in the city markets. The Independent (a newspaper published in Seoul) declared:



"For the last two years the pine forests on the hills about Seoul have been encroached upon by wood gatherers and much timber has been cut without permission. If this continues the hills will eventually become denuded."



It happily reported that police had arrested four poachers who were caught in the act of carrying away stolen timber from the hills near Yongsan.





Gathering timber and wood in the early 1900s. Robert Neff Collection



The following month, in a letter to the editor of The Independent, a Korean resident echoed the fear that the mountain might soon become denuded of trees:



"This beautiful spring weather induced me to go up Nam San (South Mountain) the day before yesterday. Upon reaching the top I heard the sound of wood being chopped in that neighborhood. I went in the direction from which the sound came and found four Japanese cutting down large elm trees several hundred years old. I desire to know whether these Japanese received permission from the government to cut down these old trees or whether they are doing it on their own account. It strikes me as a bad policy in either case as the beautiful South Hill will soon be bare if this is allowed to go on."



The paper investigated and discovered that the Japanese legation was allowed to cut down the trees so that the wood could be used to make instruments needed by the Japanese soldiers to conduct their military drills.



However, in the following month (June), a Chinese man was arrested by Korean police for cutting trees on Namsan  possibly to sell in the market or for personal use. As he was a foreigner, the Korean authorities could not punish him so he was turned over to the British legation and subsequently punished  what punishment he received is unclear; likely nothing more than a stiff fine. The British legation at this time was responsible for Chinese residents in Korea  the Chinese legation was closed for several years following the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895).





Cutting timber circa 1900-1910. Robert Neff Collection



A lot of timber used in Seoul was imported from other regions of the country. In August 1896, The Independent reported:



"Building activity is noticed all over the city. Several large rafts of logs were brought down the river lately and snapped up by large purchasers the day they arrived."



Most of the logs  if not all  were probably obtained legally but there were some government officials who used their position to enrich their own pockets. The Royal Grave Keeper in Gwangju (Gyeonggi Province) sold eighty large pine trees belonging to the Royal Graves. He was subsequently arrested and charged with robbery.



Sometimes it wasn't greed that compelled people to cut down trees  it was a holy calling. On the northern bank of the Han River near Yeoju City (Gyeonggi Province) stood "a venerable tree centuries old." According to the newspaper, "It [was] held in great veneration by the common people of those parts" and they were abhorred when they learned that a local Roman Catholic priest had commanded his followers to cut it down.



The people pointed out that the tree belonged to the government and, unless permission was received by the local authorities, it could not be cut down. The newspaper "sympathized with the desire to put away all objects of idolatry from Korea and these sacred trees are doubtless such" but was also surprised that a foreigner "would order the demolition of property not his own."





A cart and its load of wood circa 1900-1920s. Robert Neff Collection



Unfortunately, we don't know if this tree was spared or not but Yeoju still has a couple of very old trees with interesting histories  and legends.



According to Tales of Gyeonggi Province (2013), there is one zelkova tree along the banks of the river that is over 500 years old. Legends claim that many years ago (perhaps when tigers were learning how to smoke), an elderly man peeled off some of the tree's bark and was suddenly attacked by a horned snake. Within a few days, the man died and his family was financially ruined. The tree soon gained a reputation as being holy. I am not sure why a horned snake would be associated with fertility but according to the guide, the tree is "well known as a place where women go to pray for fertility."



Judging from the legends of other zelkova trees in the area, peeling off the bark is not something you should do if you want to have a long and prosperous life.



The ancient gingko tree at Silleuksa Temple also has a legend that might have outraged the foreign priest. During the Goryeo Dynasty a famous Buddhist priest stopped at the temple and left behind his walking stick. The stick  apparently unmolested in its resting spot  eventually grew into a large ginkgo tree. The temple and the tree were badly burned during the Japanese invasion of 1592. Like the temple, the tree revitalized and three new branches poked up from its burnt remains. According to Gyeonggi Province legend, "As a ginkgo tree is supposed to have two branches, one weak branch was cut out and the remaining branches grew to become this 600-year-old-tree."





The ancient ginkgo tree at Silleuksa Temple in Yeoju. April 2020. Robert Neff Collection
Award for innovation - use of proceeds (social bond): IIX Women's Livelihood Bond Series

The Impact Investment Exchange's Women's Livelihood Bond Series was the world's first gender-lens impact investing security listed on a stock exchange and has since gone on to raise $78 million in blended capital.

It said that by addressing the three dimensions of risk-return-impact it has "created a new kind of financial instrument that delivers stable returns and sustainable impact to investors".

It claims to have supported one million underserved women and girls in south and southeast Asia to transition to more sustainable livelihoods.

Issuances have scaled up with each bond, with the recent WLB4Climate bond raising $30 million. This is its largest issue to date.

The bonds target an increasing number of UN Sustainable Development Goals, with the core objective of unlocking large-scale private capital to drive the gender equality goal.

The proceeds have been used to make loans to 21 underlying borrowers which have passed through social screening. These are women-focused enterprises across the region that are positively benefitting underserved communities.

The portfolio includes enterprises such as sustainable agriculture entities, ethical garment manufacturers, or clean water and sanitation facility developers.

They have also provided loans to microfinance institutions that assist women in increasing their socio-economic resilience. This includes assisting home/land ownership or providing access to affordable credit.

The first bond's proceeds were used for projects in Cambodia, Philippines and Vietnam, directly impacting over 453,000 women. Later projects expanded into the agriculture sector and impacted Indonesia and Sri Lanka as well.

The latest and largest issuance in the series plans to impact 500,000 woman and girls and will enter the clean energy and skills development sectors.

Environmental Finance Bond Awards judges said the series showed "several great examples of significant positive impact".
Lead manager of the year, social bonds - corporate: Nomura

Nomura was one of the largest lead managers of corporate social bond issuances in 2021.

In 2021, Nomura was involved in 31 social bond deals which raised a combined $8.2 billion, according to Environmental Finance Data. Of these, 11 were issued by corporates to raise almost $3 billion  making Nomura the largest lead manager of corporate social bonds.

SMBC Nikko folowed in second, with almost $1.5 billion raised from eight corporate social bond deals, according to EF Bond Data.

Nomura was also involved in the Japan Financial Serives Agencys Working Group on Social Bonds, which led to the publication of a set of Social Bond Guidelines for the Japanese capital market in October.

Highlights of Nomura's year in corporate social bonds include several bonds from Japanese road operator West Nippon Expressway, encompassing individual bonds worth JPY150 billion ($1.3 billion), JPY100 billion and JPY80 billion, respectively.

It was also involved in smaller issues from East Nippon Expressway, Hanshin Expressway and Tokyo University.
Sustainability bond of the year - Financial institution: Indonesia Infrastructure Finance

Indonesia Infrastructure Finance (IIF) issued an $150 million sustainability bond to champion ESG values in infrastructure financing in Indonesia.

They were the first-ever sustainability notes issued by an Indonesian non-banking infrastructure financial institution, and were 2.6 times oversubscribed.

Over 70% of the issuance was distributed to Asia with the remaining going to the EMEA region.

Its proceeds were used for green and social projects, which include renewable energy, clean transportation, access to essential houses, affordable housing and food security.

Sustainalytics assessed that the bond proceeds will lead to positive environmental and social impacts that advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The coupon of 1.5% and the yield of 1.75% were the lowest-ever for a fixed rate five-year offering by an Indonesia company.

Established in 2010 by the Indonesian government, the IIF provides infrastructure financing and advisory services. The bond is part of its Infrastructure Finance Sustainable Financing Framework, which uses sustainability debt instruments to fund projects that create positive social and environmental outcomes.

The Environmental Finance Bond Awards judges were impressed that it "focused on the most urgent needs of Indonesia" and is "an excellent example for addressing social issues with an international standard framework".

The judges said the bond "can also contribute to addressing the vast financing needs for infrastructure development".
With Russias war in Ukraine into its second month, there has been movement at peace talks in Turkey. Russia will scale back its military operations in Kyiv and Chernihiv, say Russian negotiators, amid a switch to focus on Donbas in eastern Ukraine. But as Moscows military offensive stalls in the face of strong Ukrainian resistance, Putins forces have been continuing to pound targets from afar. Planned humanitarian corridors to evacuate besieged and terrorized civilians have faltered. Millions of people have fled their homes, while thousands of civilians and military personnel have been killed in the fighting, which has left widespread devastation. The French, British, German and Italian leaders were cautious after the announcement of Russian troops withdrawal and some progress in the Russian-Ukrainian talks. Emmanuel Macron, Boris Johnson, Olaf Scholz and Mario Draghi warned in a telephone conversation against any slackening of Western resolve until the horror inflicted on Ukraine is over. They also said they agreed to continue to increase the cost paid by Russia that was merely trying to buy time to continue its assault on Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Russia has announced the expulsion of 10 diplomats from the three Baltic states in a tit-for-tat response, including three diplomats each from Estonia and Latvia, and four from Lithuania. The move came on Tuesday (29 March), less than two weeks after the three Baltic nations expelled a total of 10 Russian diplomats in a coordinated action earlier this month. Latvia said the Russian diplomats activities had been at odds with their diplomatic status and that the decision to expel them had also taken into account Russias invasion of Ukraine. Russias foreign ministry said in its statement on Tuesday that it had called in the ambassadors of the three countries to complain about what it described as the provocative and groundless action taken against its diplomats. A day earlier, Russia also expelled three Slovak and North Macedonian diplomats in a tit-for-tat move after the two European countries expelled three and five Russian diplomats respectively for espionage earlier this month.

In a separate but related development, Russia is working out methods for accepting payments for its gas exports in rubles and it will take decisions in due course should European countries refuse to pay in the Russian currency, the Kremlin said on Monday (28 March). At a meeting of European Union leaders last week, no common position emerged on Russias demand last week that unfriendly countries must pay in rubles, not euros, for its gas in the wake of the United States and European allies teaming up on a series of sanctions aimed at Russia. Concerns over security of supply were enhanced after the demand, with companies and EU nations scrambling to understand the ramifications. We are not going to supply gas for free, this is clear, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on a conference call. But leaders from some EU member states said Russias demand could simply breach supply contracts. The only big issue in Europe is gas and Russia is asking us to pay in rubles which we dont have and its not in the contract, the chief executive of Italian energy group Eni, Claudio Descalzi, said on Monday. Earlier this month, the EU announced it would cut its dependency on Russian gas by two-thirds this year and end Russian fossil fuel imports by 2027.
Thursday, March 31, 2022

Were pleased to bring to you this guest post by our former fellow Aparajita Lath. Aparajita is a lawyer based in Bangalore. She works in a law firm that advises technology companies. The views expressed in this post are personal. Her previous posts on the blog can be viewed here, here, here and here.

News and Views: Copyright Hues and Authors Dues

Aparajita Lath

Tensions between news publishers and digital platforms providing search and news aggregation services have been growing globally for years. World over traditional media houses have faced financial difficulties due to the emergence of new digital realities and plummeting online advertising revenues. Different countries have addressed these tensions differently. For instance, the EU has adopted a neighbouring right for press publishers under copyright regulations. Whereas Australia has approached the tensions through competition regulations and adopted a negotiate  arbitrate model. A recent post on SpicyIP traces the two approaches.

In India, an association of around 13 legacy media houses through the Digital News Publishers Association have taken the competition regulation route by filing a complaint against Google before the Competition Commission of India. The Competition Commission has found merit in the publishers compliant and ordered an investigation into the matter. The Commission is even of the prima facie view that Googles decision not to pay publishers for using snippets (small amounts of text) of their news content is unfair. However, the legal basis of this finding is very unclear. Usage of snippets, the manner in which snippets are accessed and used, ramifications with respect to such use and consequent requirements to pay for such usage are complicated legal issues falling within the domain of copyright law. Without a clear determination of the legal basis for which payment is sought, any solution routed through competition regulations may be meaningless or stop-gap at the most.

Without a determination on the legal basis for which payment for news content for news aggregation services is sought, negotiations will be endless and unstructured. Further, such a route may only benefit large news publishers who can claim their share of compensation while ignoring other significant stakeholders such as authors / journalists. A copyright approach can provide a more equitable solution by providing a legal basis for revenue sharing between news publishers and digital platforms as well as between news publishers and authors.

Publishers, as a category of right holders under copyright law, have always been very prompt in claiming their share of revenues from new revenue streams. On the other hand, authors, the creators of the very works on the basis of which revenue is generated, are usually left behind. And history may be repeating itself, in some form, for authors.

As seen in the music industry in the past, when new technologies such as ringtones emerged, music publishers made a fortune from ringtone royalties. However, authors  lyricists and music composers did not get anything from this new revenue stream. Given their weak bargaining power, these authors had contracted away all their rights including rights to exploit their works in future technological mediums (like ringtones) and therefore could no longer stake a claim to the newly minted fortune. The situation was so grave that the Copyright Act, 1957 had to be amended to improve this confused and unfair legal situation with respect to rights of authors. The amendments, among other things, introduced the requirement of mandatory royalty sharing between owners and authors in the music and movie industry.

The emergence of new digital realities in the news industry presents a similar situation. Under the Copyright Act, 1957, if an article is written by an author in the course of employment for a newspaper, a magazine or similar periodical under a contract of employment, the proprietor of the newspaper is deemed the owner of the copyright in that article, unless otherwise agreed. Being the owner of the copyright, the proprietor of the newspaper is entitled to receive payments for the use of the news content. News publishers, however, are deemed as owners only for the purpose of publication of the article in any newspaper, magazine or similar periodical or (b) reproduction of the article for the purpose of its being so published. News publishers are therefore deemed owners of collective articles only for the purposes of publication in collective works such as newspapers, magazines or similar periodicals. Publication of select, individual articles as part of a new-age technological service e.g. news aggregation services cannot perceptibly amount to publication in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical. Further, this deeming ownership fiction does not apply to freelance journalists that are not employed by news publishers.

While on paper the author of the news article may be the first owner and therefore the appropriate right holder for the purpose of receiving payments for news aggregation services, given market dynamics, with publishers exercising superior bargaining power, it is possible that journalists (both employed and freelance) have contracted away all their rights to their works to news publishers. So, if news publishers are compensated by digital platforms for the use of news content, there will be a lot of money flowing around, but journalists may not be entitled to a share.

This is similar to what happened in the music industry when ringtone royalties were a big thing. Of course, the situation may not be identical. Unlike lyricists and music composers who are usually paid a one-time lumpsum amount and are not employees, journalists who are employed by news publishers may benefit from trickle down effects. This will again depend on bargaining power dynamics and the benevolence of news publishers rather than a legal right to authors.

Clarity on the copyright front will therefore be more equitable. A copyright amended introducing a press publishers rights along with a revenue sharing requirement with journalists may be a better solution compared to a stop-gap competition based bargaining model. Since the copyright act has a mechanism in place for copyright societies, there is already a legal structure for collection and distribution of revenues. This structure may also be more uniform and transparent compared to case to case negotiations  the outcomes of which may never be publicly known. Further, this approach will apply to right holders in general rather than a few big publishers who may be entitled to negotiate deals pursuant to cases won before the Competition Commission.

This may, however, remain a merely romantic idea. Prashant had, early on in this debate, recommended that the copyright office should include this issue on its reform agenda and invite key stakeholders for a public discussion. However, not much seems to have been done. As seen in the past, the process of law making in India is long-drawn and many times fruitless. Especially when it comes to laws addressing technological changes, the process can go on for years with nothing to show, leaving it to market forces to dominate.
Facebook's parent company, Meta, on Thursday announced plans to open an $800 million data center in Central Texas.

The nearly 900,000-square-foot center will be located in Temple, an hour north of Austin, and is set to begin construction this spring. Meta said it is expecting up to 1,250 construction workers to help build the center and will employ about 100 people for operational jobs.

This will be the second Meta data center in Texas  the first was built in Fort Worth  and the 21st in the world.

On ExpressNews.com: Former CPS Energy building in downtown San Antonio to undergo multi-million-dollar renovation

Temple's location between Austin and Dallas makes it a "prime" spot to thrive, a news release said. Meta worked with the city of Temple, its mayor, Temple Economic Development Corporation and other local departments in order to make this investment and work on its sustainability.

Gov. Greg Abbott said the state is excited to welcome Meta and the new job opportunities the company will bring.

Metas continued expansion in Texas is a testament to the exceptional business climate and skilled, diverse workforce we have here in the Lone Star State, Abbott said in the news release.

Adrian Cannady, president and CEO of Temple Economic Development Corporation, said he believes the data center will be a positive impact on the community because of "Meta's commitment to invest in local schools, nonprofits and community projects.

Since 2017, Meta has provided more than $2.6 million in grants to schools, small businesses and local organizations in Fort Worth.

Malak.Silmi@express-news.net
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Russian hackers have been probing Texas energy infrastructure for weak points in digital systems that would allow them to steal sensitive information or disrupt operations, according to interviews with energy companies, state officials and cybersecurity experts.

State regulators and energy companies  from utilities to oil and gas transportation hubs and associated vendors  said they have been aware of the elevated cyber threats since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last month, but theyre careful to not say too much.

We are on super-high alert, said Thad Hill, CEO of Texas power giant Calpine, adding that he has been closely monitoring Russias cyber actions.

President Joe Biden last week warned that the White House has evolving intelligence that the Russian government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks  the administrations starkest warning yet.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio cybersecurity experts prep for Russian attacks

Worst-case scenarios in Texas include hackers breaching the states power grid system and shutting off electricity to millions of Texans, seeking to halt shipments of oil and gas from seaports, or breaking into a refinerys network so it is unable to produce gasoline and other petroleum products.

Energy companies and their regulators said its not unusual to detect hackers surveying their networks for weak points. But since Februarys invasion, energy-related facilities in Texas have seen the number of probes by hackers increase, Robert M. Lee, founder and CEO of the industrial cybersecurity firm Dragos, said in an interview.

Key export facilities

Lee, who previously worked at the National Security Agency, where he helped design the U.S. governments system for tracking state-backed hackers, said his company has traced the hackers recently probing Texas energy infrastructure and discovered theyre Russian.

Texas has some key export facilities for liquid natural gas  at a national security level, there are a couple sites that we all freak out about, Lee said. If you took down one site, you dont get fuel exports out to certain countries.

The Port of Corpus Christi has grown to be the third-largest seaport in the country and the nations second-largest exporter of natural gas. Many European countries rely heavily on Russian natural gas, and the U.S. is trying to help wean Europe off Russian gas by increasing U.S. natural gas exports to Europe  part of an increasing effort to put economic pressure on Russia.

We are certainly a target, Sean Strawbridge, CEO of the Port of Corpus Christi, said in an interview.

Russia is known globally in the cybersecurity world for having a topnotch cyberattack operation. In 2021, Russian hackers breached computerized equipment that operates the largest fuel pipeline in the U.S., causing the Colonial Pipeline Co. to shut down its pipeline, which originates in Houston, for six days to contain the attack. The breach triggered fuel shortages and a spike in gas prices on the East Coast.

On ExpressNews.com: Attacks like Colonial Pipeline a constant, every day thing, says CEO of San Antonios Howard Energy

Last week the U.S. Justice Department unsealed two indictments charging four Russians who worked for the Russian government with an ongoing campaign of infiltrating the computers of energy companies in 135 countries between 2012 and 2018.

Separately, a federal grand jury in mid-March indicted a 23-year-old Russian man in East Texas for operating a cyber-criminal marketplace that sold thousands of stolen login credentials, personal identifiable information and authentication tools for online payment platforms, retailers and credit card accounts, the Justice Department said.

Chris Bronk, a cybersecurity professor at the University of Houston, said he is most concerned about possible cyberattacks on the U.S. electricity system.

Texas regulators

Regulators overseeing Texas power grid, the smallest of the three in the U.S., said the grid operator, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, and the Public Utility Commission of Texas that oversees it, work diligently on cyberdefense.

But ERCOT was unable to keep the power on last year when a winter storm hammered Texas, leaving millions without power for days and hundreds dead. ERCOT said the grid was only minutes away from catastrophic failure that could have caused monthslong blackouts if it hadnt quickly ordered companies to shut off power to large swaths of the state.

If parts of ERCOT go down, the whole grid could collapse, Bronk said. Its a rickety ship, and we have ample evidence of the weaknesses.

State regulators said they have been shoring up their cyberdefenses.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio launches Alamo Regional Security Operations Center

We take cybersecurity and the protection of the Texas grid and our states energy infrastructure very seriously, a spokesperson for the Public Utility Commission of Texas said in an email. We are aware of and closely monitoring the potential increased risk of cyberattack on that infrastructure and were working with our regulated industries to communicate emerging threats, alerts and warnings issued at the federal level.

In West Texas, the nations biggest oil producing region, a February hacking attempt on a local hospital system has some local officials on edge.

Dustin Fawcett, the incoming county judge in Ector County, home of Odessa  which was named after the Ukrainian city on the Black Sea  said Medical Center Hospital System learned that the attack did come from Russia.

Anything to disrupt our way of life will then impact the oil and gas industry, Fawcett said. If they can disrupt our production out here in any way, that benefits them.

Disclosure: Calpine and University of Houston have been financial supporters of the Texas Tribune. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribunes journalism.

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.
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U.S. marshals escorted Carl N. Merkle, his hands and legs shackled, to the podium in San Antonios bankruptcy court.

Chief U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Gargotta had ordered Merkle to appear in court to give the longtime accountant another opportunity to purge himself of a civil contempt-of-court charge and get out of jail by paying a $7,500 sanction.

Merkle, 64, has been incarcerated since Dec. 6  more than 100 days  for refusing to pay the penalty.

At a hearing March 22, the third on the matter, the judges threat of a much longer confinement in the Karnes County Detention Facility didnt persuade Merkle to budge from his defiant stance.

I obey God, not man, Merkle said when asked if he was prepared to pay the sanction. Im going back to jail. Bye-bye.

All right, you go back to jail, Gargotta replied.

Merkle has routinely tested Gargottas patience by questioning his authority, telling him, Youre not judge and God is the judge in this case.

Merkle calls himself a prophet who takes his orders directly from God. He says he has been anointed Gods Fraud Auditor.

The contempt of court occurred at a chaotic hearing Oct. 5. A transcript of the proceeding, held by telephone, shows Gargotta and Merkle talked over each other before the judge commanded, Shut up.

When Merkle accused the judge of being hostile, Gargotta levied a $2,500 sanction.

I dont care, Merkle responded, prompting Gargotta to double the amount of the penalty. Merkle repeated himself, leading Gargotta to raise the sanction to $7,500 and to mute Merkles phone line.

For Gargotta, obviously weary of a combative debtor whose bankruptcy case had dragged on for almost six years, it was the final straw. In a written order after the hearing, Gargotta recounted how he had reminded Merkle that many federal judges already had warned him that he may be sanctioned for arguments disparaging to the judiciary, participants in his case(s), and other frivolous and vexatious matters.

Ive reached the end of my rope, the judge said in court after imposing the sanction.

Gargotta gave Merkle 45 days to pay the $7,500 to his bankruptcy estate for the benefit of his creditors, a deadline that came and went without payment. The judge then set a hearing for Dec. 6 on whether to hold Merkle in contempt.

Most people acquiesce when faced with the threat of a contempt charge and jail time. But Merkle didnt, resulting in his arrest.

It is very rare, if not extremely rare, for a bankruptcy judge to exercise contempt against a party, said attorney Randall Pulman, a San Antonio bankruptcy court denizen who is not involved in Merkles case.

Bankruptcy judges threaten contempt from time to time, Pulman added. But somebody actually going to jail and sitting there for weeks, if not months, I think thats the first time Ive ever even heard of it.

San Antonio bankruptcy trustee John Patrick Lowe recalled a 2001 case involving a debtor who was held in contempt and jailed. He spent about two weeks in jail for failing to turn over financial statements and other paperwork to Lowe. The judge granted the debtors release after his lawyer said the incarceration was causing a financial hardship for the debtor and his family.

Merkles incarceration likely has already cost taxpayers more than $10,000. The U.S. Marshals Service reported the cost to detain a prisoner averaged $101.30 a day in its last fiscal year.

Foreclosure

Merkle filed for Chapter 11 reorganization on Jan. 4, 2016, but hes far from the typical debtor who seeks refuge in bankruptcy court.

Hes been licensed as a certified public accountant by the state of California for more than 38 years. Hes been an Internal Revenue Service auditor, an enforcement accountant with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and a senior manager with Ernst & Young in the 1990s when it ranked as a Big Six accounting firm, his LinkedIn page shows.

I happen to be one of the nations leading accounting-malpractice investigators, Merkle said in a video he posted on YouTube in 2020. Ive helped the U.S. government recover over $1.1 billion in accounting-malpractice claims in my life.

His LinkedIn profile encourages readers to text him for an information packed brochure on the Study of Success  How to Achieve Your Financial Goals.

It is based on proven time-tested principles and information that has produced more millionaires and billionaires in the USA than any other cause, he states.

At the time of his bankruptcy, Merkle worked as an assistant controller making $65,000 a year for a company in the nonprofit housing industry. He started his own accounting practice in 2017.

In his 65-page bankruptcy petition, Merkle listed assets of almost $1.6 million and debts of nearly $1.5 million, giving him a net worth of just under $100,000.

Merkle filed for bankruptcy protection to stop the foreclosure of a San Antonio apartment complex, the 28-unit Northeast Village Apartments at 4535 Schertz Road.

He and his then-wife bought the complex for almost $1.4 million in 2005. They financed the purchase with a $1.1 million loan and $274,000 in equity that came from a line of credit on the couples home in Irvine, Calif.

The Merkles divorced in 2012, the same year he moved into a unit in the apartment complex. He had defaulted on the loan several times, the last time in 2015, when he said a fire caused by tenant negligence burned two units and caused smoke damage to two others. The fire created cash-flow problems that led Merkle to miss payments on the loan, according to a court filing.

Merkles insurer cut a nearly $105,000 check for repairs. But he alleged in the 2020 YouTube video that the note holder and loan service company stole the money and misapplied it.

Gargotta approved a reorganization plan that allowed for the sale of the complex. The property sold for about $1.3 million. The lender received $968,000, with the balance placed in an escrow account, court papers show.

Around that time, Merkles lawyer withdrew from the case, citing irreconcilable differences.

Merkle objected to the lenders monetary claim, alleging it was fraudulent. But Gargotta dismissed Merkles claims following a two-day trial in June 2017.

Appeals

Merkle appealed the dismissal and other rulings by Gargotta to the U.S. District Court in San Antonio.

By October 2017, though, a second lawyer representing Merkle had pulled out, saying in court papers they were at odds with the direction to proceed.

Merkle began acting as his own attorney.

Thus began a litany of incendiary court filings by Merkle. He accused the lender, note holder and their counsel of carrying out a very sophisticated tortious fraud.

That fraud is theft of Merkles equity in the apartment complex, he wrote. He also accused Gargotta of being a biased jurist.

Senior U.S. District Judge David A. Erza ruled on five appeals, affirming Gargottas rulings in four and dismissing the other action.

Merkle filed at least eight more appeals from 2018 through 2020 with the San Antonio federal court, stepping up his attacks.

Judges responded by threatening Merkle with sanctions.

Despite numerous warnings from Judge Gargotta, Judge Ezra, and Magistrate Judge (Richard) Farrer, Merkle continues to engage in sanctionable conduct, U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez ruled in November 2019. While disagreement with court rulings is to be expected, referring to opposing counsel as a criminal street gang and asserting that Judges are dupes or are engaged in a criminal conspiracy with opposing litigants and counsel are serious matters.

The following year, Merkle filed five appeals to the next highest court  the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Each was dismissed because he failed to file briefs with the court.

In March 2021, Chief U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ruled Merkle could no longer file any more pleadings with the San Antonio federal court without first getting its permission.

It hasnt stopped Merkle, however. A 462-page advisory to the court, filed March 24, included a document with the battle cries REMEMBER THE ALAMO and DRAIN THE SWAMP! It also contained a photo of Gargotta with the caption Enforcer of Organized Crime.

Order from God

The Oct. 5 bankruptcy court hearing by telephone was on a motion by the bankruptcy trustee in Merkles case to pay a dividend to his creditors. Merkle opposed the request, alleging parties in the case had stolen $1.5 million.

After sanctioning Merkle and muting his phone, Gargotta said, Mr. Merkle, youre done. This has gone on for  five years. And Ive had a enough of it. The level of disrespect, the waste of time and energy, the amount of resources that the federal courts have had to employ to address your conspiracy theories that have no basis in law or fact.

When Merkle failed to pay the $7,500 sanction within the 45-day deadline set by Gargotta, the judge ordered him to appear in court Dec. 6 for one last opportunity to purge himself of the contempt charge by paying the penalty.

Olena Ilchenko, who married Merkle in 2014, said he brought $7,500 he had borrowed to court that day.

Are you prepared to pay $7,500 to your bankruptcy estate for distribution to your creditors? Yes or no? Gargotta asked Merkle.

I am prepared to pay $7,500 to creditors that I agree with, Merkle said, adding he disputed creditor claims filed by the apartment lender and CPS Energy.

Gargotta held Merkle in contempt and directed marshals to take him into custody.

This is an illegal arrest, Merkle objected. This is a fraudulent court.

Merkle didnt have the money at the next two court hearings, where he was once again given the opportunity to pay.

I have a direct order from God, that out of our own pocket, out of our own pocket, we are not to pay the fine, Merkle said at the Feb. 9 hearing. However, he did tell me after the last hearing that we can raise money from essentially Gods people.

Merkle is of sound mind but under stress, Ilchenko said. Merkle had told Gargotta he was not on medication at the Dec. 6 hearing.

Merkle doesnt have the money to pay the $7,500, Illchenko said, adding she returned the money he brought to court Dec. 6. He lives on his Social Security payments, she said.

After the Feb. 9 hearing, Ilchenko started a GoFundMe page to raise $10,000 for her husband. She asked for $7,500 to pay the sanction, which she described on the website as a ransom fee, and $2,500 so he can consult with an attorney. Shes raised $675 from nine donors so far.

No mention was made of the fundraising effort on Merkles behalf when he returned to court March 22. He also didnt say anything about not having the financial wherewithal to pay the sanction.

Gargotta warned Merkle that his stay at the detention facility is not going to be a short one if he didnt pay the sanction.

It might be 60 days, it might be 90 days, the judge said. It might even be when the calendar changes.

Gargotta said he had spoken with other judges who have incarcerated people held in contempt for even longer periods than Merkles confinement.

There is no maximum amount of time that Im aware of, said San Antonio attorney Elliott Cappuccio, who is a law partner with Randall Pulman. Merkle possesses the keys to the jailhouse door.

That means Merkle can get himself out of jail by either paying the fine or showing hes unable to pay.

He can remain in custody until he turns that key, Cappuccio added.

Peter Steffensen, an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, focuses on the overuse of incarceration by courts.

A hundred days is an incredibly, incredibly long time to hold someone in the hopes that they will come into compliance with the sanctions order, Steffensen said of Merkles incarceration.

When someone is held in contempt, its generally to compel them to do something, such as appear before a grand jury, testify, turn over documents or, as in this case, pay a sanction.

The civil contempt process, in general, is supposed to be coercive, Steffensen said. But if at a certain point it doesnt sound like its ever going to coerce him, then the power to use incarceration as a tool to encourage that seems to become completely moot.

Merkle can file a writ of habeas corpus challenging the legality of his incarceration, said San Antonio criminal defense lawyer Thomas J. McHugh. It likely would be heard by a U.S. District Court judge.

On Dec. 23, Merkle filed a hand-written appeal to the U.S. District Court seeking his release from jail. He asked the court to waive the filing fee because he is indigent. The court has yet to respond.

pdanner@express-news.net
Guardians of the road in the 1900s. Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection



By Robert Neff



Richard Sidebotham, an American missionary living in Korea in the early 1900s, is often associated (rather inaccurately) with bringing the first piano into Korea, but I always associate him with what he lost  his clothes.



On October 14, 1900, Sidebotham was accompanying Mrs. Johnson (the wife of a fellow missionary) and her small child from Busan to their home in Daegu when they were suddenly set upon by a band of 20 Korean highwaymen armed with swords and other crude weapons.



Horace N. Allen, the American representative in Korea, was promptly notified of the attack but did not seem overly alarmed  despite rumors of an anti-foreign movement being organized in Korea similar to that in China. Perhaps his lack of alarm was due to his less-than-favorable impression of Sidebotham.



In a letter to his sons, Allen described the missionary as a "galvanized (I mean naturalized) American  of feeble appearance [and] feeble actions." The ruffians easily intimidated the missionary and realized almost immediately that "he was a man of no spirit [and] decided to have some fun with him."



Allen seemed to take great delight in denigrating his fellow missionary (Allen originally came to Korea as a missionary doctor) to his sons. He seemed almost giddy as he described Sidebotham being stripped of all of his clothing by the bandits, then having Mrs. Johnson's bonnet placed upon his head and finally forced to taste all of the provisions  including the baby food. This tasting may have been done because the bandits were unfamiliar with Western food or they were worried that it was poisonous. Once they were satisfied that the food was edible, they wolfed it down while presumably laughing at the naked missionary. Allen insisted that the entire American community in Seoul felt that Sidebotham "has disgraced us all by his cowardice."





A Korean street in the early 1900s. Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection



However, another missionary, James Scarth Gale, was more charitable with his description of the event.



He reported that the Korean robbers "stationed Mr. Sidebotham on a rock, prodded him gently with their swords, and then demanded clothing, money, and baggage, promising to leave him intact if he responded quickly. There was nothing to do but to yield"



While Allen had nothing but contempt for Sidebotham, he was deeply impressed with Mrs. Johnson's stoic behavior.



"When they attempted to take off her clothes, she struck out properly and gave them some good hard blows in the face. She was hit several times with the back of a sword but came off best. She then made them give back some of the baby food for her very young. She did us great credit."



Eventually, the Westerners  Mrs. Johnson fully clothed and with her dignity and Sidebotham covered with shame and whatever he could scrounge to hide his nakedness  arrived safely in Daegu.



Allen appealed to the Korean government for satisfaction and eventually, through some compromise between Mr. Johnson and the Korean magistrate, the issue was put to rest. The robbery was, according to Allen, "unpremeditated and of no anti-foreign significance, and of a similar character with many such cases occurring in that region wherein Koreans were the sufferers."



Allen seemed to take fiendish delight in taunting Sidebotham  going so far as to sending him a message informing him that the American government would "be unable to recover his panties" nor accommodate his "excessive demands for indemnity." In at least two letters  one to a fellow diplomat and the other to Sidebotham's superior  Allen wrote:



"I expect to get a very complaining letter from our naturalized friend, Mr. Sidebotham. These naturalized citizens have great ideas of the duties their Government owes them."



It is unclear if Sidebotham was aware of Allen's opinion of him. If he was, he apparently kept it to himself. However, this incident was not his only encounter with highwaymen and nakedness.





A mountainous region of Korea in the 1900s. Robert Neff Collection



Several years later, Sidebotham and his further adventures in the southern part of the peninsula became reading material for the American community in Seoul. The stories were more along the lines of a travelogue rather than an official complaint.



In November 1904, he and another missionary traveled throughout South Gyeongsang Province. According to Sidebotham, they traveled through six magistracies where "a careful enquiry seemed to indicate that not more than one foreigner had ever been seen in any magistracy." One of these men was apparently Hugh Miller, a missionary who traveled from Jeonju (North Jeolla Province) to Jinju (South Gyeongsang Province) on his bike in 1900.



In an article published in The Korea Review (June 1905), Sidebotham declared: "Even the French fathers whom I had considered ubiquitous in [Gyeongsang] Province seem to have left these magistracies out of their travels" but then he admitted some doubt as to the veracity of his statement when he added, "though some indefinite rumors led me to think perhaps three out of the six had been touched."



His account of his travel is rather boring, but there are a few gems worth repeating. Upon spying Jirisan in the distance  a mountain that "has won for itself a place of prominence in Korean mountain lore"  one of his voluble Korean companions declared the foot of the mountain had a circumference of about 290 kilometers and "that it was [24 kilometers] from bottom to top by the shortest road." Its forested slopes were abundant with wild animals, especially bears, tigers and wild boars, and its summit could only be reached in the summer months. The Korean insisted that at the present (in late November), the snow on the summit "would be up to one's neck."



Sidebotham was extremely impressed with the Hapcheon area of South Gyeongsang Province:



"Entering the district of [Hapcheon] from the eastern side we came upon the prettiest natural scenery I have found in Korea. It was a gigantic mountain cliff overhanging for perhaps half a mile a delightful little stream. About halfway up the cliff was a winding natural road about eight feet wide, while above, the rocks towered up a straight column and below, there was a sheer drop of two hundred feet or so to the glistening stream. But not only was this natural roadway a wonder to us, but we marveled at the rich verdure on that rocky prominence. Large trees a foot in diameter sprang sideways out of solid rock and then coming upwards sent out their branches as naturally as if the roots were imbedded in rich earth. The November weather had tinted the leaves with every autumnal hue, and the colored foliage was so thick we hardly saw the sun from one end of the beautiful walk to the other."





Plowing with cows in the 1900s. Robert Neff Collection
GARLAND  Sitting at her desk, Luna Mestre-Colon felt her throat tighten.

She reached into her binder and pulled out a piece of paper with instructions for a breathing exercise, the edges creased from frequent use. The school counselor told her to follow these steps when she felt an anxiety attack coming.

She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. The room was closing in.

This particular teacher at Garland High School hates it when Luna leaves class, but her anxiety attack cant wait for the bell to ring. She needs to see the counselor now.

The teacher reluctantly excused the 10th-grader, but the counselors door was closed: He was busy with another student. Again.

Luna hid in the bathroom and waited for the panic to subside.

It comes on at the weirdest times, she said of her anxiety. I have no idea why.



Half of all mental illness begins by age 14, the American Psychiatric Association found. And the U.S. Department of Education highlights school counselors, social workers, nurses and psychologists as critical in identifying mental health concerns in children.

But at no point since 2013 did any Texas school district have the professionally recommended student-to-provider ratios in all four positions, a Houston Chronicle investigation found.

That means for nearly a decade, more than 5 million kids in Texas schools each year have gone without appropriate access to mental health professionals.

Addressing mental health needs in children has become increasingly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, as students like Luna were forced into isolation and stuck behind a computer screen.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that mental health-related ER visits increased 31 percent for kids ages 12 to 17 during the first year of the pandemic compared to the year prior.

Sen. Eddie Lucio, Jr., a Democrat from Brownsville who has filed several bills since 2015 to institute a counselor mandate, shook his head in disbelief when he heard that no school district in Texas has hit all four recommended ratios. He knows kids are falling through the cracks in the states education system.

"We need to make sure we seal those cracks to make sure we can save them," Lucio said.

A Chronicle analysis of staffing at all 1,200 public school and open-enrollment charter districts in Texas during the 2020-2021 school year found that:

The vast majority  98 percent  of students attended districts that did not meet the Texas Education Agencys recommendation of one counselor per 250 students.

The Texas Model for Comprehensive Counseling Programs, which schools must use to build their counseling program, sets a lower recommendation  one counselor per 350 students. Still, less than 3 percent of students attended districts that met that standard.

The National Association of School Psychologists recommends one psychologist per 500 students. Just 25 districts met that standard.

Only four districts met the 250 students per social worker standard recommended by the National Association of Social Workers.

Two-thirds of districts failed to meet the ratio of one nurse per 750 students, as recommended by the National Association of School Nurses.

The Chronicle interviewed staff in 10 districts, from urban to suburban, large to small, across the state about mental health-related positions.

Most said the staffing shortage comes down to money.

The state does not provide districts funding specifically earmarked for hiring these four positions. Districts have to cobble together resources from federal, state and local revenue, as well as partnerships with philanthropic organizations.

While the state provides recommendations for appropriate staffing ratios in a variety of areas, ultimately it is local school system leadership that decide to allocate funds for any given position, the TEA said in a statement. School systems have tended to prioritize teaching positions. With more teaching positions, less funds remain for other positions.

The TEA added that community partnerships with organizations, such as faith-based counseling providers and telehealth mental health providers, should be taken into account when analyzing mental health staffing at school districts.

Alamo Heights ISD, a school district in San Antonio, serves nearly 5,000 children and has never met the recommended ratios for counselors, social workers, nurses or psychologists. In lieu of funding streams for these positions, it partners with community organizations to fill the gaps in service.

Those ratios are not required by state law, and they are not directly supported by state funding, per se, Frank Alfaro, the district's assistant superintendent for administrative services, said in a statement. Funding is the biggest obstacle that most districts would have in approaching those ratios.

Experts say a mandate for these positions in schools could help.

Oklahoma state law dictates that counseling programs in middle and high schools must have one counselor per 450 students in order to receive accreditation. In 2019, Arkansas passed a bill, sponsored by two Republicans, that requires one counselor per 450 students.

Texas is one of 28 states that do not have a mandated counselor-to-student ratio, despite numerous legislative pushes to do so since at least 2013.

Collecting data could spur the Legislature to make these changes, experts say, but movement on that has been recent.

Even with mandates of various strengths in other states, only three states met the counselor ratio, no states met the social worker ratio and just four states met the psychologist ratio, according to an ACLU analysis of the U.S. Department of Educations 2015-2016 federal Civil Rights Data Collection.

Since 2020, the federal government has handed down billions of dollars of COVID relief funds to Texas school districts  some of which can be used for mental health support.

Despite ramped-up support for better access to mental health care in schools, especially after the shooting at Santa Fe High School in 2018, some are pushing back.

The Republican Party of Texas 2020 platform supports abolishing the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium, a collaboration of health-related higher education institutions created in 2019 to improve mental health care availability for kids and teens.

Matt Rinaldi, chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, said in a statement that the issue isnt about access to mental health care but who determines whether services are needed.

Parents want schools to return to teaching their children things like reading, math, and history; the more they expand to other areas, they either do it poorly or are overtly harmful, Rinaldi said. We believe the parents should decide if their child needs mental health services, not the schools. These bills are a thinly veiled state intrusion into Texans' personal decisions, parental rights, and sincerely held religious beliefs.

The TEA requires school districts to get parental consent for specialized mental health services, with some exceptions.

Greg Hansch, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Health Texas, is strongly against the GOP platform that would cut down some of the mental health resources that have recently been put in place.

Weve been behind the curve in providing early intervention efforts, and now people are trying to wind the clock back on services, Hansch said.

Gathering the data

Long before Luna was holed up in the bathroom of Garland High School, bracing herself against the tile walls and wishing she had help, Texas was struggling to meet the mental health needs of its students.

In fact, the state has failed to meet the recommended student-to-counselor ratio in schools since at least 2000, according to a 2014 study conducted by the University of Texas at Austins Texas Education Research Center. As student enrollment grew by more than 860,000 between 2000 and 2011, the average ratio remained hovering between 430 and 440 students per counselor.

But in spring 2011, lawmakers cut $5.4 billion in public education funding in an attempt to right a projected budgetary shortfall. Districts put counselors on the chopping block to balance their budgets.

The ratio started to climb.

By 2013, there was an average of nearly 470 students per counselor, even as the Legislature mandated additional responsibilities for middle and high school counselors such as requiring parent, student and counselor meetings.

The TEA recommends one counselor for every 250 students, which is based on recommendations from the American School Counselor Association.

The Texas Model for Comprehensive School Counseling Programs stresses that without adhering to recommended ratios, it is clear that larger school counselor student caseloads equal less individual attention for students.

Lawmakers repeatedly tried to address the problem by filing bills that would mandate a counselor-to-student ratio. The measures repeatedly failed.

Efforts ramped up in 2018, however, after the back-to-back school shootings in Parkland, Fla., and Santa Fe. The governor held a series of roundtable discussions on school safety and the report released in its wake recommended hiring more school counselors.

During the following legislative session, Sen. Lucio brought forth a bill that would have required districts to initially hire one counselor for every 500 students.

The bill never even got a hearing.

Across the U.S., schools have struggled to collect accurate and comprehensive data on mental health needs in schools, according to a U.S. Department of Education report released in 2021.

Texas is making moves to change that. A mental health task force was created by 2019 state legislation to evaluate state-funded mental health services that are provided to students.

The bill authorized  the Texas Education Agency to ask its school districts about outcome data, said Annalee Gulley, presiding officer of the task force. By asking school districts to produce outcome data for state-funded school-based mental health supports we finally got the ability to track whats being done and where and whether its working.

That same year, the governor signed a bill creating the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium  which the Texas GOP wants to dismantle  as well as the Safe and Supportive Schools Program, which requires school districts to create teams that conduct behavioral threat assessments to serve each of its campuses.

As required in the bill, TEA has already collected data on these teams via a survey for 2020-2021. The mandatory questions focus on whether the district has established its program and how many team members have been trained in behavioral threat assessment. The survey also asks for data about how many threats  concerning behavior or communication that indicates a student might harm themselves or others  were reported and how many were referred for interventions.

According to that data, 95 percent of the states 1,200 school districts had established their Safe and Supportive School Program Teams prior to September 2021. In 70 percent of those districts, more than half of each districts team members had received behavioral threat assessment training.

About 37,000 threats were reported in schools across the state between Sept. 1, 2020 and Aug. 31, 2021, the data shows, and more than 14,300 were referred to monitoring and interventions after it was determined they posed a risk. About 2,300 were considered an emergency or eminent risk and referred to police and the superintendent, as well as referred for monitoring and interventions.

To get a sense of which Texas districts track their students' mental health needs, the Chronicle surveyed all 1,200 public school and open-enrollment charter districts.

Of the 613 districts that responded, 57 percent could account for, in some way, how many students were removed from school or referred out of school for mental health services during the 2020-2021 school year.

A number of districts that said they didnt track this information noted that it wasnt required under the states data collection system, known as the Public Education Information Management System or PEIMS.

But Frank Ward, TEA spokesman, said the agency is working on adding a new data element to PEIMS related to the Safe and Supportive Schools Program.

Though Texas still has not implemented a mandated counselor-to-student ratio for all schools, the governor signed a bill last year that requires counselors to spend just 20 percent of time doing non-counseling related duties. The bill allows for alternate requirements if a districts staffing needs mean a counselor has to spend more than 20 percent of their time on those duties.

The TEA also has added more programs and resources to address mental health in schools.

Project AWARE Texas, for example, has trained thousands of teachers, school leaders and support staff in mental health first aid and suicide prevention.

The agency also is coordinating with the consortium on the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) program that provides tele-mental health services for at-risk kids in schools.

In 2021, the TEA launched the Texas School Mental Health website, which hosts information on state-funded initiatives and outside resources for families, students, educators, counselors and community partners.

The TEAs website hosts a list of suicide prevention resources, including an online hour-long training for educators.

Mark Mulligan/Staff photographer Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer Drawings made by students are pinned on a wall in Hitchcock Primary School counselor Belinda Chambers office and Stewart Elementary School counselor Melissa Arnolds office. (Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle) Drawings made by students are pinned on a wall in Hitchcock Primary School counselor Belinda Chambers office and Stewart Elementary School counselor Melissa Arnolds office. (Mark Mulligan/Houston Chronicle)

The resource gap

Luna and her mom, Angelique Colon, moved to the Dallas area from Puerto Rico about eight years ago.

Colon could see that Luna desperately missed her family. She seemed sad and, often, angry about the move  about leaving her friends and loved ones behind and starting over in a place she had never even visited.

But Colon was a single mom. She moved to Texas for a better-paying teaching position. She thought she was doing what was best.

My mom did a good job hyping (Texas) up, Luna said. She was like, Theres Six Flags! But it was hard because I used to hang out with my cousins daily, and now I dont really get to see them.

Because Luna was getting good grades and making friends, Colon thought her sadness was normal and even expected given the life change.

There was a lot of bullying because I had a really heavy accent when I first moved here, Luna recalled.

Her third-grade teacher switched her class schedule to keep her away from the bullies. Making friends didnt come easy for Luna up until eighth grade, when she started to come out of her shell.

But then, right as she was about to enter Garland High School, COVID hit. Suddenly, she was spending all day alone in front of a computer screen.

She retreated back into herself.

Colon didnt know what to do. She couldnt stay at home with Luna every day. She surprised her with a Husky-mix puppy, Miyuki, to keep her company.

It helped, but not enough.

Then, a friend of Colons who was studying to be an educational diagnostician asked to conduct a practice assessment on Luna.

Ya know, Luna is really bright and smart, Colons friend said. But the test shows shes a little depressed. She has the indicators.

Lunas behavior started making more sense.

Is there any way that I can get a counselor or go to therapy? Luna asked her mom.

But Colon couldnt afford health insurance. The out-of-pocket cost of therapy for her only daughter was completely out of reach.

Luna found herself among a growing number of children across the U.S. who need mental health care but struggle with access.

The Ann & Robert H. Lurie Childrens Hospital in Chicago found in 2020 that 71 percent of the 1,000 parents surveyed nationwide said the pandemic had taken a toll on their kids mental health. And a national survey by the Americas Promise Alliance found that 30 percent of the 3,300 13- to-19-year-olds surveyed were unhappy and depressed more than usual.

Hitchcock ISD, which is in Galveston County and serves a population of 80 percent economically disadvantaged students, already had a dedicated counselor on each of its campuses before COVID-19 hit.

Our students have a lot going on in their lives, superintendent Travis Edwards said. So weve decided, as a district, to place a very high priority on taking care of our students.

Following the Santa Fe High School shooting in 2018, Hitchcock ISD received funds to hire additional mental health professionals. Hitchcock ISD used that money to create a position for a crisis counselor  Vickie Rabino.

Its a job that doesnt end with the school day. Rabino makes sure every emergency department, charity and social services agency in the area has her number.

Late one night, her phone rang. It was the police.

One of your students is in distress and threatening suicide.

Rabino rushed to the scene.

Following a mental health assessment by Rabino, the student was transported to a hospital for treatment.

If there isnt an active crisis to attend to, Rabino spends her day coordinating partnerships with the local food bank, homelessness services, faith-based organizations and government services. She sees prevention as part of a holistic response to crisis intervention.

Having a counselor on each campus to manage day-to-day duties gives her the freedom to focus on long-term, creative solutions, Rabino said.

We have kids who are in crisis, who have family issues and stress from their home life. The goal is to take care of our students social and emotional needs because if thats not in place, Algebra, English, whatever, are irrelevant, Edwards said.

At the largest school district in Texas, Houston ISD, each counselor is responsible for 845 students.

HISD leaves the hiring of counselors up to each individual campus. Without a mandate from the state or the district, some campuses elected not to hire one at all.

But in February, the new superintendent of HISD, Millard House II, unveiled a five-year plan to get mental health resources to every campus.

In elementary schools with at least 250 students, the district plans to allocate one full-time counselor or social worker. In HISD middle schools, the district will allocate one counselor or social worker for every 350 students.

And in high school, the district will allocate a combined ratio of one per 450 students for counselors or social workers and college and career advisors.

We already know theres a gap, Candice Castillo, executive officer of student support services at HISD, said. Its time to fix it.

In Garland, Colon was trying to find her daughter help. She emailed the school counselor and asked if Luna could have regular one-on-one sessions, she said. The counselor responded that the school doesnt provide those services, she added.

Colon wasnt satisfied.

Garland ISD had 337 students per counselor during the 2020-2021 school year, one of the better student-to-counselor ratios in Texas.

At the high school, there were seven counselors to serve its nearly 2,400 students during that school year  a ratio of 338 students per counselor. There also are two responsive services counselors  one of which is at the high school on Monday and Thursday and the other Tuesday and Friday  who are licensed mental health professionals that provide short-term individual counseling, group counseling and crisis intervention, the district said in a statement.

All counselors make referrals to community agencies, including Counseling Institute of Texas, when necessary, the district said. Counseling Institute of Texas even provides counseling at a district facility, the statement said, and families can apply for grants offered through the institute. Those who dont qualify are offered reduced rates.

Last week, the district's Board of Trustees approved a contract for telehealth behavioral and mental health services to all students free of charge.

As a school teacher, Colon knew that federal law requires public schools provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities, including depression.

One such accommodation is an Individualized Education Plan, designed for students with disabilities such as autism, deafness and speech or language impairment that need specialized help in school. That help can come in the form of occupational or speech therapy, for example.

Another is a 504 Plan, designed to accommodate kids with disabilities in a general education classroom. Those accommodations could look like getting extra time to take tests or using an audiobook version of a textbook.

Colon said school administrators recommended she look into a 504 Plan, which could allow for in-class modifications, like scheduled breaks, extended test time, reduced homework and excused lateness. But Luna already worked those issues out with her teachers on her own. The plan wouldnt necessarily get her more time with a counselor.

Offered the choice between an outside referral or going the 504 Plan route, Colon took the referral.

The school connected them with a local clinic that offered 12 free therapy sessions funded by federal COVID-19 relief dollars.

Just as Luna had hoped, the therapist taught her how to manage her anxiety and helped her better communicate her feelings with her mom.

But the sessions soon ended. Colon filled out a survey, she said, and wrote that she and Luna wanted to do more.

No one ever responded, she said.

Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

It was like putting out fires

While the pandemic heightened the need for childhood mental health services in Texas, schools were strained for resources long before the virus took hold.

Rebecca Cole worked on Memorial Hermanns Psychiatric Response Team for eight years, responding to calls from school districts when someone was threatening to harm themselves or others. But seeing students when it was already a crisis became exhausting.

In 2019, she took a job at her alma mater, Sealy ISD, as a part-time mental health professional, she said, a hybrid role encompassing the duties of a counselor, social worker and special education specialist.

Officially, her job was to provide therapy to students with one-on-one counseling mandated by their IEPs, she added. But in a district with no full-time social workers and only one full-time psychologist, she spent most of her days running across all four campuses.

It was like putting out fires, she said.

In a statement, Shawn Hiatt, executive director of human resources at Sealy ISD, said that Cole was brought on in a social worker role during the 2019-2020 school year and therefore able to perform some of the duties of a counselor.

As for several districts, finding enough counselors and (Licensed Specialists in School Psychology) has had its challenges and hiring a social worker to fill in some of those gaps was important," Hiatt said.

The district had seven counselors for its 2,800 students, a ratio of about one to 400, during that school year.

Cole administered one-on-one and group therapy to students, she said, de-escalated dangerous student behaviors, screened new special education students, educated parents on how to promote positive behaviors at home and connected families with community resources.

Some students needed specialized therapy and medication  a higher level of care than she could provide at school, she added. Cole said she struggled to find providers to help, a problem not limited to the Sealy area.

The American Psychological Association found that only 4,000 of the more than 100,000 clinical psychologists in the U.S. serve children and adolescents.

Things can get trickier if a family doesnt have insurance.

And Texas has the highest rate of uninsured children in the nation, with nearly 13 percent of children lacking insurance in 2019.

Local Mental Health Authorities, which contract with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, can provide therapy to kids. But there can be a waitlist especially for those who need additional services.

Cole constantly struggled to find clinics that would accept children, that took insurance or offered discounted services, that had immediate availability and that werent an hour away in Houston.

Cole grew increasingly frustrated by her inability to help students. She quit after two semesters.

Anxiously waiting

Now that the free sessions have ended, Colon is struggling to find a therapist for her daughter.

Shes resigned herself to paying out of pocket for Lunas care  but after calling at least a dozen providers and looking into teletherapy, she cant find anyone who will accept teenagers.

And even if they do, theres usually such a long waitlist that Luna wouldnt be able to see a therapist for months.

The two find themselves relying on the schools counselor for help.

When hes available, he helps Luna manage her anxiety and feeling of overwhelming sadness as she sits in class or wanders the halls.

He does a lot of breathing exercises and has us use stress relief toys, she said. Hell sometimes turn on music or a movie to get us to relax. And then we talk through what happened and he gives advice for how to get through the rest of the day.

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But she often finds herself sitting on the floor outside waiting for him to finish with another student, or, adding her name to a long list of kids waiting for help so she can be called out of class at a later time.

Sometimes, she doesnt bother doing either.

Colon knows when Luna cant get in to see the counselor, her phone starts blowing up with text messages.

Mom, please come get me.

It takes reimagining the system

Not all school-based mental health personnel fall into job categories collected by the TEA.

Data collected by the state showed that Frisco ISD had no social workers on staff last year. Instead, the district hired 10 school support specialists, nine of whom are licensed social workers.

The support specialists connect students with government programs and charities, work with county social workers and help families find outside counseling services.

Im not calling them social workers, or requiring that licensure, because we didnt want to limit ourselves in hiring in case we found other people that were qualified, Stephanie Cook, managing director of guidance and counseling services at Frisco ISD, said.

Avoiding the social worker classification also allows the district to set the pay for support specialists in line with the teacher salary scale. Funding for the positions came from a federal COVID-19 relief program for elementary and secondary schools.

In the first six months of the program, the school support specialists handled nearly 1,500 referrals from school counselors.

Frisco ISD also has two hospital liaisons who manage students undergoing hospitalization for mental health crises and 11 student support specialists who provide crisis intervention services to students and families.

Those positions arent classified as mental health providers in the TEAs data.

Along with about 140 counselors on staff, the district works with local counseling agencies to provide additional therapy options for students. That partnership isnt tracked by the TEA, though the agency said in a statement it was exploring ways to add more mental health data elements to PEIMS.

Without a mandate  and funding that might come with it  districts like Frisco rely on community partnerships and creative hires to meet the needs of students.

I think it takes reimagining the system, Cook said.

Luna wants to try managing her depression and anxiety with medication. Without regular access to a therapist, she hopes medicine can stabilize her mood swings and prevent depressive episodes.

In order to prescribe medication, her pediatrician would need to conduct an assessment. That appointment would cost $200 out-of-pocket, Colon said.

This summer, during their annual trip to Puerto Rico, Colon plans to take Luna to a specialist to get started on medication. She expects to pay about half of what she would in Texas.

In the meantime, Luna has found ways to cope. Shes teaching herself guitar. She experiments with makeup. She takes care of her dog, Miyuki, and the many stray cats in her apartment complex.

I watch horror movies, she said with a snicker.

The jump scares on screen make her forget about her real-life worries -- but just for a moment.

When she gets overwhelmed, she remembers what her counselor taught her.

She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.

Mark Mulligan, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer
Everything is bigger in Texas, especially Buc-ee's, a chain of excessively large roadside gas stations and convenience stores.

But for one bemused Georgia writer, there may be such a thing as too big.

On ExpressNews.com: Before and After: Buc-ees' locations before they were travel centers

Buc-ees is too damn big, wrote Gerrett Martin, the senior editor at Atlanta-based Paste Magazine, in a column published earlier this month.

Martin confessed that he hasnt been to Texas or has much of a reason to drive through it. He has, however, visited a newly opened Georgia Buc-ee's and concluded the iconic Texas gas station, with a brand many in the Lone Star State feel a fierce attachment to, was a bit too overwhelming.

I dont even think its fair to call Buc-ees a gas station; Buc-ees is basically a K-Mart that only sells junk food and Buc-ees shirts, Martin wrote. Its overwhelming, and not really in a good way  especially when the store is packed, which it has been every time Ive stopped.

Michael Miller/San Antonio Express-News

Martin said visiting Buc-ee's wasnt a quick experience but rather a commitment that can take upward of a half-hour.

Its simply too damn big and crowded for anybody whos just looking for a gas station, he said. Buc-ees is a legitimate experience, and not necessarily one I want to have when Im trying to get to wherever Im going as quickly as possible.

On ExpressNews.com: The internet cant get enough of delicious Corpus Christi Walmart employee holding Little Debbie's ice cream

Martin complained about the barbecue, called Beaver Nuggets bland, took issue with the jerky wall and said the companys home goods section was filled with the kind of old fashioned or inspirational wall signs your parents or grandparents probably decorate their house with.

The store was so jam packed with junk food, soda and beer that if central Georgia somehow came under attack, Im pretty sure Id feel safer hunkering down in there than I would any local bomb shelters.

Martin did compliment the restrooms at Buc-ee's.

Craig Moseley/Houston Chronicle

Each stall in the mens room is its own little walled off private grotto, ensuring complete privacy," he said. "Feel free to just hang out in there."

He also thought the mascot was cute.

Id give Buc-ee himself a hug and a friendly pat on the head if I ever meet him, Martin said. And thats something I cant say about any of those other gas station chains.

timothy.fanning@express-news.net
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Former Mexican President Vicente Fox on Wednesday said Mexican immigrants are an asset to the United States, but they can continue to be beneficial to their home country.

During a visit to San Antonio, Fox forged a partnership with the University of the Incarnate Word on a venture that will help educate and train low-income people in Mexico in skills like management and business so they dont have to seek opportunities elsewhere.

In Mexico, 70 percent of (the) young population doesnt have a chance, they dont have the opportunity to be in a university, Fox said. Only 30 percent have that opportunity.

By signing a memorandum with UIW President Thomas M. Evans and other UIW officials, Foxs presidential library and education center in Mexico, known as Centro Fox, and UIW launched programs that will initially focus on targeted trades and skill sets for underserved communities in Guanajuato, Foxs home state.

UIW already has two campuses in Mexico, including one established in 2003 in Mexico City and the second, commonly referred to as Campus Bajio, started in 2015 in Irapuato, Guanajuato. Both campuses offer various undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including business administration, psychology, nutrition and 3D animation. All degree programs follow the same curriculum and degree requirements as UIW in San Antonio. Students here are generally encouraged to study abroad at either campus.

Fox, who was president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006, said Centro Fox and the UIW campus in Guanajuato are going to join forces to accomplish that end. Fox noted the partnership during a speech that launched UIWs Leaders of the Americas speaker series, which will allow the UIW community, students, faculty and staff to hear from dignitaries and statesmen who have impacted society through their leadership.

Foxs 15-minute speech focused on creating the leaders of tomorrow, and he said that many of his countrymen have had to look for success by climbing over walls or swimming across the Rio Grande, barriers on the border that have stood in the way of their dreams.

What we are going to sign today is exactly that: A commitment to respond to those who dont have opportunities, to those who we have kept out, he said.

Josie Norris / San Antonio Express-News

Emmanuel Aranda, who is studying nursing at UIW, said Fox was inspiring. Aranda, born in Ciudad Juarez, said he didnt have the money or scholarships to pay for school until he emigrated to the U.S., and joined the Navy.

I didnt have the opportunities that Vicente Fox is offering right now, Aranda said. It is inspiring what hes doing, helping those who dont have the opportunity to do it in the country. Had I had those opportunities, I wouldnt have left.

Fox noted that during his presidency, he tried to work with then-U.S. President George W. Bush to lay the groundwork to overhaul U.S. immigration laws that would allow a legalization effort.

In an address before Congress, Fox declared that immigrants invariably enrich the cultural life of the land that receives them.

The Sept. 11 attacks were less than a week later, heightening security fears and scuttling Bushs immigration plans.

Its been now almost 20 years and we still have not moved ahead, he said. So we need back strong leadership trying to solve that problem for the benefit of both nations.

He said three things are needed. He estimated the United States needs about 500,000 new workers every year when the economy runs at about 3 or 3.5 percent gross domestic product.

Second, he said, there need to be laws or regulations to administer that flow.

And third, he said we need to solve the problem of those who are already here, like the situation of migrants known as Dreamers, who were brought here illegally as children.

Josie Norris / San Antonio Express-News

You have them here, Fox said. Give them a chance to educate. Give them a chance at (attending a) university, and that million Dreamers will become an additional strength on the economy of this nation.

Fox estimated 35 million to 40 million Mexican migrants are in the United States.

Its a very strong asset to this nation, Fox said. We wish them back. We need them back. Those 35 million produce a much higher gross (domestic) product than the one we produce with the 130 million in Mexico.

guillermo.contreras@express-news.net | Twitter: @gmaninfedland
Gen. Eugene Habiger, who flew B-52 bombers over Vietnam before becoming a nuclear weapons expert running the U.S. Strategic Command and befriending Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, has died in San Antonio.

Habigers career spanned the military, civilian and academic realms. He died March 18 at 82.

Services will be held at 11 a.m. May 14 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 1416 N. Loop 1604 East. Burial will be in Arlington National Cemetery.

The Strategic Command, where Habiger was responsible for U.S. strategic nuclear forces, replaced the Cold War-era Strategic Air Command, or SAC. After retiring from the Air Force, Habiger revamped security at the U.S. Energy Department, then ran the San Antonio Water System.

Habiger became known for his efforts with Soviet leaders to reduce the nuclear footprints of the United States and the Soviet Union, forging an unprecedented military-to-military relationship with his Russian counterparts that led to greater openness between the two nuclear rivals, an obituary written by his family said.

He and his counterpart in the U.S.S.R. discussed the problem of large nuclear stockpiles during a 60 Minutes II episode 22 years ago. The program prompted media mogul and philanthropist Ted Turner to found the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Habiger served on its board.

If it wasnt for Gene Habiger, NTI probably wouldnt exist, former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia, who served as its CEO for 16 years, said in a statement NTI issued after Habigers death. Gene was a passionate advocate for strengthening U.S. security while reducing global nuclear threats.

Habigers military career began in March 1959, when he enlisted in the Army after struggling at the University of California at Berkeley. He later earned a bachelors degree from the University of Georgia.

Officer Training School at Lackland AFB brought him to San Antonio in June 1963. He would return late in his career as vice commander of the Air Education and Training Command at Randolph AFB.

In 1996, the Air Forces chief of staff, Gen. Ronald Fogleman, nominated Habiger to lead Strategic Command at Offut AFB in Nebraska. He held that job for two years before closing out his Air Force career and moving to the Energy Department, where he was director of security and emergency operations.

Nuclear issues would weigh on his mind over the ensuing decades.

When domestic turmoil roiled Turkey six years ago, Habiger worried about small nuclear bombs stored at a base there, saying, I dont care where they are  its a very, very dangerous weapon in terms of military consequences, political consequences, and I think what happened in Turkey highlights the potential unintended consequences of having nuclear weapons forward deployed if there is no military requirement.

On ExpressNews.com: In wake of Turkish coup attempt, concerns rise over tactical nukes

Strategic Air Command existed from 1947 to 1992. Strategic Command, created in 2002, oversees strategic deterrence and global strike capabilities and operates the Pentagons global information grid.

He was like many of the people who had been in SAC, former Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters said of Habiger. He had a lot of flying experience, and I remember him being kind of quiet, self-controlled.

I mean, if youve got nuclear weapons, I guess thats what you want, he added, laughing.

Fogleman, now 80, of Durango, Colo., said Habiger was a quiet, gentlemanly kind of guy.  He took his job seriously, worked hard at it.

Habiger became president and CEO of SAWS in 2001, earning credit for making it a leaner and more efficient operation but over time becoming controversial because of his hard-charging style. He once apologized to residents in the River Road neighborhood north of downtown who had been supplied treated wastewater, suspending some employees for not immediately notifying him and the residents.

In another incident, Habiger asked top staffers to eat a raw egg to show loyalty and team spirit.

I remember very well when it happened, said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Chris Divich, a onetime Air Force basic training commander who later carved out a long second career as the chief operations officer and chief administrative officer for Southwest Business Corp.

In fact, I talked to Gene about that right after that and said, I couldnt believe you did that, and he said, Well, we did that when I was in the military, and it worked out really good, Divich recalled. Everybody got together and made it more cohesive, the job they were doing, but obviously the people on the board of SAWS, the employees, didnt take it that way. He just made a wrong call, I guess.

When Habiger stepped down in 2004, a year before his contract was due to end, he and the board members said it was over differing views about SAWS future.

Its a difference in philosophy, a difference between myself and the board as to how the company ought to be operated, Habiger said at the time. And thats one of the things that happen from time to time. Its unfortunate. Im retiring. Im certainly not being fired. Ive done nothing to be fired about.

Retired Maj. Gen. Susan Pamerleau recalled that Habiger once hosted a Soviet general visiting the U.S. As they flew over the American heartland, eyeing farms that dotted the landscape like postage stamps, the visitor noted that his country had crop fields so large there was no way to drive tractors and trucks into them to harvest  leaving the food to rot.

And then Gene took him into a retail store, she said. And he was certain this had been set up, that all this food had been brought in and that all these items had been brought in just for his benefit, which was not the case. Thats the way all of our grocery stores look like.

As word of Habigers death spread, accolades poured in.

I think he was just a straightforward, hardworking person and very dedicated to the military, said Divich, 88, of San Antonio. And I think he put the dedication of what was best for the country above himself. Thats something every senior officer should do, but that doesnt always happen.

Habiger served as a Pentagon deputy to Fogleman, the former Air Force chief of staff, who last week called him a key player at Stratcom at that period of time when the Cold War had ended and we were moving into a new world.

Fogleman said Habiger became both a professional and personal friend of Gorbachev, the Soviet Unions last leader.

Nunn, whose 24 years in the Senate included a stint as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said Habiger participated in NTIs public education campaign in 2003 to raise awareness of nuclear threats.

All of us are grateful for his many contributions to building a safer world, Nunn said.

Habiger was a mentor to Pamerleau when she was a one-star general assigned to a base in Alabama.

One day, he phoned her.

Are you ready to move west? she remembered him asking.

That meant a new assignment as head of the Air Force Personnel Center at Randolph, a path-breaking promotion that made her the first woman to ever head the organization. Pamerleau retired as a two-star general and later became Bexar Countys first elected female sheriff. She is now the first woman to be U.S. marshal for the federal judiciarys Western District of Texas.

Habigers message at a wing commanders course he was teaching resonated with her.

He always had such great advice and stories to tell, which he incorporated his own personal experiences. And he played the song, Cats in the Cradle, Pamerleau said. Basically its a father and a son, he grows up, the father has more things to do and doesnt have time for his son because hes always busy working.

And then when the son grows up, he doesnt have time for his father because hes working, hes taking care of his own children. And so it was a real message about family. Its like, do not ignore your family just for the sake of focusing on your job. Sometimes your family is more important than your job, and its a matter of balancing it.

When Habiger retired from active duty, he relished the visits of his two sons, Karl and Kurt, and their families, creating detailed itineraries for them down to meals and the timing of family football games. They survive him, as does his wife of 60 years, Barbara; a sister, Carol Habiger; and five grandchildren.

Our life together was a beautiful ride, Barbara Habiger said, and I wouldnt trade it for anything.

sigc@express-news.net
Nighttime access to residential streets along the St. Marys Strip will be blocked and monitored by police starting Thursday evening as part of a traffic study aimed at curbing crime and littering.

While that means longer walks for patrons to reach their favorite haunts after parking, San Antonio police and neighborhood groups hope it will solve problems that have long plagued area residents, such as public urination and arguments turned deadly on their streets.

Police Chief William McManus addressed the study Wednesday, calling it a test to keep intoxicated bar goers out of the surrounding neighborhood.

From March 31 to April 3, residential streets will be closed along a less than half-mile stretch of North Saint Marys Street from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. The barricades will extend from East Ashby Place north to East Magnolia Avenue, or roughly from Demos Greek Food to Candlelight.

Access to the YMCA-TriPoint parking lot will also be limited. The recommendation for people headed to the Strip: Plan ahead and take alternate routes.

Im not under the illusion that its going to be airtight. Its not, McManus said. But its meant to keep the bulk of the people, the drinkers, out of the neighborhood.

On ExpressNews.com: Driver crashes into Vietnamese restaurant on St. Marys Strip in San Antonio

McManus cited video footage showing intoxicated patrons who wander into neighborhoods throwing beer bottles and even a couple having sex between parked cars.

Closing residential streets as a means to curb such problems is the result of meetings with the community involving McManus, District 1 Councilman Mario Bravo and Pape-Dawson Engineers Inc., a civil engineering firm.

Bravo said he pushed for the study after listening to residents from the The Tobin Hill Community Association, which approved the measure on March 17.

He said the plan also received the blessing of businesses on the Strip, although not every business owner attended the meetings.

I think there could be some impact on businesses, Bravo said. The barricades are not permanent, but its an opportunity for people to see what this would look like, and for them to give us input.

There will a few entry points to residential streets north and south of the limited zones. Officers will keep watch while closures are in effect and ensure neighbors can get to their homes. People who want to dine at area restaurants will also be allowed through, the chief said.

As much as we want to keep the rowdy crowd from coming back into the neighborhoods, we dont want to inconvenience the people who live there, McManus said.

He said the closures will be evaluated after this weekend. The traffic study also includes looking at the width of those residential streets to see whether theyre wide enough to handle parking from people visiting businesses on St. Marys Street.

If it was successful, if people are happy, then well do it again, the chief said.

McManus said success will be weighed against the number of cars that wind up on the Strip, the people who come to the Strip, and the number of complaints received.

On ExpressNews.com: San Antonio burger food truck, pop-up Cullums Attaboy moving to St. Marys Strip area

Sean Wen, a Tobin Hills resident and owner of Curry Boys BBQ, learned about the closure plan on Tuesday. He said he understands the need to increase safety, but he is aware that closed streets can negatively affect businesses during their busiest days.

Wen, whose smokehouse offers a blend of Texas barbecue and Southeast Asian flavors, is also worried about the 7 p.m. start time, which he said coincides with the beginning of peak dinner hours for restaurants.

It becomes a psychological barrier to entry for a lot of people, Wen said. People are going to be less willing to drive or try it out or come down or something like that.

Parker Dixon, president of the Tobin Hill Community Association, was also a bit surprised by the start time. Nevertheless, he said the parking and traffic studies make him feel like the residents are finally being heard by the city.

He said the initiative has approval from nearly all area business owners, including Paper Tiger owner Chad Carey and Hi-Tones co-owner Daniel Delgado.

I keep saying, its not Strip-killing measures, its the Strip-driving measures, creating a more safer more functional environment, Dixon said. Its not going to be perfect, and it doesnt need to be perfect.

He said business owners believe customers will find ways to visit their favorite spots no matter what. Still, the future will be filled with growing pains.

jbeltran@express-news.net

steven.santana@mysa.com
A 7-month grace period that has allowed Texas bars and restaurants to continue serving alcohol despite having expired liquor licenses is ending at the beginning of April. If they dont renew before the end of March, 129 business around Bexar County are at risk of losing their right to serve alcohol.

After an initial drop in liquor sales due to COVID-19 precautions and decreased tourism in the state, alcohol sales across Texas reached all-time highs in 2021.

But Covid has been a rocky time for many businesses. Keeping up with pandemic protocols, maintaining staff and dealing with supply chain issues are just some of the many struggles business owners contended with.

Since 2020, 319 Bexar County bars and alcohol-serving restaurants have either shuttered completely or have stopped selling alcohol. Most establishments that lost their licenses had been slinging drinks for less than 10 years, but more than 10% held their licenses for 20 years or more.

Normally, businesses are required to renew liquor licenses every two years. The current renewal fee is $2,650. If they fail to renew their license by the expiry date, a $100 late fee is assessed. If the license is not renewed within 30 days of expiry, the business must apply for a new license and pay the total new license fee of $5,300.

Throughout the pandemic, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) has instituted various measures to help businesses continue serving up beer, wine and liquor. In May 2020 TABC did away with the $100 late fees, and in Sept. 2021 they instituted a grace period that allowed businesses with expired licenses to continue to pour their patrons favorite alcoholic beverages.

As of March 27, 129 Bexar County businesses were taking advantage of the grace period, meaning that their licenses have expired or will expire between Sept. 1, 2021 and March 31. 2022.

Bars and restaurants at risk are spread throughout the city, with a concentration surrounding the River Walk.

At-risk businesses still have until Thursday to renew their liquor licenses. If they fail to do so, they will still be able to serve alcohol throughout the month of April as long as they submit renewal forms and pay both the renewal fee and the $100 late fee.

Establishments that do not renew by the end of April will be required to apply for a new license at full cost.
When Will Smith angrily marched on the Oscars stage to sucker-slap host Chris Rock in front of more than 15 million viewers and then took his seat to shout expletives, it was neither supportive nor romantic.

The slap had little to do with love and all to do with Smith hitting his breaking point after Rock made an offensive G.I. Jane joke about Smiths wife, actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who is bald and has been open about alopecia, which causes hair loss.

I grew up watching Will Smith  The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air  and even with all the coverage of his nontraditional marriage and parenting choices, I remained a fan. And I am still a fan.

On ExpressNews.com: Ayala: 2022 Oscars will be remembered for Will Smiths rage, not his win

Smith deserves grace in this teachable and public moment: Two videos from Japan and Australia of the incident, which was censored in United States, have been viewed more than 91 million times on Twitter alone. I hope people, especially those who are young and impressionable, understand that Smith made a terrible and emotional decision. But I worry how our culture romanticizes toxic masculinity. Prisons are filled with men who protect their women. All over the internet, I see people who dont get that. Smiths 23-year-old son, Jaden Smith, is one of them. And Thats How We Do It he tweeted that night.

By now, Im sure Smith has imagined how the scenario could have played out in other ways. He could have calmly addressed the ill-conceived joke during his acceptance speech. Or he and Pinkett Smith could have walked out.

On Monday, Smith posted his apology to Rock on Instagram. I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness, he wrote, adding apologies to the Academy, guests and viewers.

Smith, who won his first Oscar for best actor for his role in King Richard, also apologized to the King Richard family, saying he deeply regretted that his behavior stained what was an otherwise gorgeous journey.

We all have our breaking points, but its what we do when we get there that makes a difference. And showing love and support for a loved one is possible without letting anger take over. I dont know what my husband would do if he saw someone purposely offend me in the moment, but one experience gives me insight.

Several years ago, when I worked as a news reporter, we were at a gala when a prominent businessman mistook me for a homeless woman at our table whom his company had treated to a spa day and event attire. When this man approached our table, his assistant introduced me. But the man replied by asking me if I enjoyed my day at the spa.

You know that angry look Pinkett Smith had on her face after Rock made the joke? That wasnt how my face looked. Inside, I felt wounded.

On ExpressNews.com: Will Smith would be charged if slap occurred here, Bexar district attorney says

I dont believe he did it on purpose, and somehow that made it sting more. Stunned, I struggled to find my words while insecure, self-loathing thoughts emerged. Is it my dress? My new lipstick? Hairstyle? Did he not remember my work? I remained poised as his horrified assistant rushed to correct him. My husband, who was sitting by my side, squeezed my hand, helping me to absorb the humiliation.

Late Sunday night as we watched unedited videos of the Oscars incident, I jokingly asked my husband: Babe, would you do that for me?

No, he said.

Of course not. My husband knows, unless there is a physical threat, violence isnt the answer. He keeps his emotions in check, especially in times of stress. He understands that being by my side and helping me make sense of the moment is what matters. Most importantly, he knows I am strong and resilient.

Did Judge Ketanji Brown Jacksons husband, Dr. Patrick Graves Jackson, who shed proud, sentimental tears during her recent confirmation hearings, assault Sens. Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham and others for their ridiculous and offensive line of questioning at her confirmation hearing?

He sat there day after day, absorbing each blow, saving his response  and spoken support  for their private conversations. Acting out in anger would only bring more hurt  not love.

Nancy.Preyor-Johnson@express-news.net
When tragedy strikes, politicians are quick to offer thoughts and prayers.

The sentiment  even if heartfelt and genuine  is more expedient and less risky than championing a big policy change.

When it comes to taking care of veterans whove been exposed to toxins while serving the nation, congressional Republicans are talking big, but not acting.

War is expensive, and as we learn with each conflict, the costs  physical, mental, moral and economic  echo for generations. As the full costs of our countrys wars manifest themselves decades later, some congressmen  including veterans from Texas  arent willing to pay the bill.

On March 3, the House of Representatives passed the Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act of 2021, or Honoring our PACT act, an expansive bill that would ensure health care to more than 3.5 million veterans exposed to airborne toxins and burn pits.

The bill would also extend combat veterans eligibility for health care from five to 10 years, streamline the Veterans Administration review process, and establish a presumption of service connection for 23 illnesses and cancers related to toxic exposure. It would expand coverage for veterans who served in areas that currently dont qualify, such as Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, where service members were exposed to Agent Orange.

The vote was 256-174, with the nays coming from Republicans, including at least 40 veterans, 16 of whom served in the global war on terrorism.

While they point to the fiscal cost as a reason to vote no, such rationale is obscured behind a haze of partisanship. President Joe Biden addressed toxic exposure in his State of the Union address and supports the legislation.

District 23 U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales office said he and most of his colleagues voted against the PACT act because of the cost, as well as the potential for an increased VA claims backlog and disruption of services to veterans already in the system. Gonzales is a Navy veteran.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated the legislations price tag to be at least $207.5 billion over 10 years with an additional $114.2 billion in discretionary spending subject to appropriation.

Yes, thats a lot of money, but its dwarfed by the Department of Defenses 2023 one-year budget request of $773 billion and the VAs $301 billion request, let alone the $8 trillion spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Most Republicans, including Gonzales, favor the scaled-down Health Care for Burn Pit Veterans Act, which passed the Senate in February.

We see the PACT Act as a cost of war. Its a bill our nation has already incurred. The interest compounds each day as more veterans are diagnosed with toxic exposure illnesses.

For the families whove lost loved ones and the veterans battling lung problems, rare cancers and other ailments, the bureaucratic debates and political games fall flat.

These people dont have time to wait.

On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs spoke with VA Secretary Denis McDonough and a group of veterans about the PACT Act as it makes its way to a Senate vote.

Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., the committee chair, began the session by recognizing Will Thompson, an Army veteran who died from toxic exposure injuries in December. Thompson testified to the committee in March 2021.

It was a powerful gesture. More than a few witnesses in the chamber knew Thompson.

But the best way the committee and Congress can honor Thompson and his fellow veterans is to pass the PACT Act. It should be unanimous. Thoughts and prayers are not enough.

Correction: An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated which burn pit legislation most Republicans in Congress support. They favor the Health Care for Burn Pit Veterans Act. The editorial has been updated.
Environmental nonprofit Upper Missouri Waterkeeper filed suit against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week over its handling of a new Montana law that loosens nutrient pollution regulations in the states waterways.

At issue is Senate Bill 358, a measure passed by the 2021 Montana Legislature that directs the Montana Department of Environmental Quality to repeal numeric water quality standards for nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus and convene a work group to draft replacement standards based on narrative criteria. That nutrient work group produced a preliminary set of replacement rules earlier this year and is expected to issue its final proposal this October, according to DEQ spokesperson Moira Davin.

Proponents of the measure, which Gov. Greg Gianforte signed into law last April, have argued that treating wastewater to the level established under numeric standards is cost-prohibitive. In committee meetings before Montana lawmakers last year, they also said better wastewater treatment technology expected when DEQ adopted numeric water quality standards in 2014 hasnt become available.

Upper Missouri Waterkeeper argues that the numeric water quality standards are just the kind of science-based and enforceable nutrient regulations the EPA has been urging states to adopt for two decades. The environmental group has described Montana as leading the nation in backsliding on water quality protections as a result of SB 358, and asserts that waterways will be degraded by nutrient pollution that feeds noxious algal blooms and sucks oxygen from aquatic ecosystems. It also says that the technology to treat water to the states prior numeric standards might be expensive, but it exists, and argues that wastewater plants should be making progress toward treating water to those standards.

DEQ, the state environmental agency, oversees wastewater plant permits granted to Montana towns and cities. EPA, the federal environmental agency, has ultimate authority over water quality standards across the nation and is charged with ensuring that state agencies like DEQ comply with regulations laid out in the federal Clean Water Act.

A 2020 report found that 35 percent of Montanas river miles and 22 percent of its lake acreage evaluated by DEQ are considered impaired by nutrient pollution, which can kill fish and produce elevated toxins and bacterial growth harmful to human health in severe cases.

The new lawsuit by Upper Missouri Waterkeeper argues that, under federal law, EPA should have taken action to formally approve or disapprove Montanas water quality standard changes. Specifically, Waterkeeper says the Clean Water Act requires EPA to green-light or halt implementation of new state regulations like SB 358 within 90 days. In instances where the EPA decides to disapprove state changes to water quality rules, the Clean Water Act requires the EPA to promptly prepare a proposal for alternate water quality standards with the expectation that a final regulation would be promulgated no more than 90 days later.

Nearly a year after Gianforte signed SB 358 into law, the environmental group says, the EPA has failed to even take the preliminary step of determining whether the measure is consistent with federal water quality standards. As a result, it is asking the United States District Court in Great Falls to force the agency to immediately approve or disapprove Montanas revised water quality standards.

Under the Clean Water Act, states cant lawfully roll back science-based standards that protect waterway health  as Montana has done  and put forth unproven and ineffective pollution control programs that let polluters off the hook for doing their fair share to protect water quality, Upper Missouri Waterkeeper Executive Director Guy Alsentzer said in a release. Ignoring best available science and creating new exemption schemes from pollution control is wrong, illegal, and dirty; its the EPAs duty to ensure our state is adequately protecting our clean water resources.

Waterkeeper says the narrative standards have already gone into effect and points to DEQs actions around a City of Helena wastewater treatment permit as evidence. According to the complaint, although the agency has paused its review of an application the city submitted using the new narrative standards last summer, there are no effective numeric nutrient criteria standards currently in place, allowing Helena to continue to discharge nutrients without a water quality-based effluent limit.

In the filing, Waterkeeper said some correspondence between EPA and DEQ has occurred. Specifically, EPA sent a letter to DEQ in August raising concerns about the states shift to non-numeric criteria and offering recommendations for how narrative criteria could limit nutrient pollution.

SB 258 sponsor John Esp, R-Big Timber, said in an interview this week hes disappointed the matter is now subject to litigation and said it could mean hundreds of thousands of Montanans could face higher water and sewer bills in order to pay for more expensive treatment technology.

Its got to be something we can afford, he said. If we keep adding tens of millions of dollars [for] cities to comply with regulations that are unattainable to begin with, thats not fair to our citizens.

He also said he thinks the lawsuit is premature.

We havent even finished writing the rules to implement 358, so its kind of disappointing that Waterkeeper chooses to go to court instead of sitting down and working around the table with the rest of us, Esp said.

Upper Missouri Waterkeeper is part of DEQs Nutrient Work Group, which also includes representation from municipalities, the EPA, the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation and industry groups like the Montana Stockgrowers Association, the Montana Wood Products Association, the Montana Mining Association and the Montana Petroleum Association.

The environmental group says the EPA is failing to fulfill the federal backstop role assigned to it under the Clean Water Act and is instead allowing Montana to flout federal law as the state undermines the agencys two-decade push to shift states to numeric water quality standards.

What were talking about is a state law that blatantly goes against that and is based upon improper considerations, political whims and economics, Alsentzer said in an interview. EPA needs to do its job to say this is too much  you arent following the rules, you arent using science, and youre not allowed to do it, he said.

In an e-mailed statement to Montana Free Press, DEQ spokesperson Moira Davin said the agency is continuing to work with the Nutrient Work Group, of which Upper Missouri Waterkeeper is a member, and expects the group will issue its final rule package in October.

A spokesperson for the EPA said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. The agency faces a late-May deadline to respond to the lawsuit in court.


By David A. Tizzard





Many of us take democracy for granted, believing it to be the natural state of man or the logical progress of all and every society and culture around the world. Such beliefs, however, do not always conform to reality. Backsliding, single-party states, dictators and a whole host of other factors demonstrate that democracy is a variable rather than a fixed phenomenon. What was considered democratic practice in the past is no longer held so today. In the current age, states also differ in their degree of democracy.







So how do we measure democracy? How do we know if we are living in a democratic society today? How and when did South Korea transition from a feudal slave society, through colonization and authoritarian military rule, to a country that has some of the OECD's finest democratic practices today in just over a century? It's an important yet obviously very difficult question. Nevertheless, while platitudes and stereotypes remain somewhat ingrained in many, I would suggest that in 2022 South Korea's democracy is a marvelous thing and now superior in "some" ways to even that of its erstwhile political and economic supporter, the United States.







First, what is democracy? One of the most important characteristics of democracies is that rather than power, it is the protection of rights that is of prime concern: freedom of speech and the press, freedom of religion and conscience, freedom of assembly and association and the right to due process and fair trial. There also has to be competition for government positions and fair elections carried out without force. Citizens should participate in selecting their leaders. Those elected must then be responsive and accountable to the citizens. Civil and political liberties must exist to ensure safety and integrity.







How does democracy come about? Why, for example, is South Korea a democracy and North Korea not? And China? Russia? First, the historical period in which the transition comes as well as the type of regime it replaces matters. Early democratization took place in capitalist economies in which the rich (rather than other social groups) held power. Research also confirms that richer countries are "more likely" to be democratic. Some scholars, influenced by Marx, believe that the middle class is the carrier of democracy: "No bourgeoisie, no democracy." But it is not necessarily wealth that brings about democracy; instead, economic development reduces the likelihood of democratic breakdown. Beyond this, there is a correlation between education and democracy. Culture and the effects of colonialism play a role. As does the presence (or absence) of natural resources. Democratic neighbors and participation in international organizations can also help.







Why is South Korea a democracy? There is no simple answer to this, but broadly one could point to three factors: 1) Civil society and public consciousness expanding; 2) economic development and the rise of the middle class; and 3) the international environment and historical circumstance. This narrative includes, but is not exclusive to, the class conscious rise of the "minjung," the importance of Gwangju, the millions of people that took part in 1987 demonstrations moving the narrative from beyond students and activists to middle class workers, and the 88 Olympics which brought international attention. Women, workers, students, journalists, Christians and professors. Moreover, it was not always peaceful or achieved solely by candles. People rallied behind the symbols of Park Jong-cheol and Lee Han-yeol in their pursuit of freedom. There was suffering, violence, and death. Disruptive tactics in protests played a big role in the 1980s. The point is to suggest that you need people capable of democracy, a state ready for democracy, and an environment in which it can take place.







That's why I would respectfully disagree with former President Kim Dae-jung who once argued in his influential piece in Foreign Affairs that democracy was Korea's destiny. He got much else correct in that piece but his argument that South Korean democracy was inevitable does not quite sit right with me personally. It was hard fought and made ever more beautiful considering the periods of darkness from whence it arose, but it was not the only possibility this country faced. The people of South Korea have brought about democracy and a host of factors have contributed. Considering the country to north of the DMZ is yet to experience democracy, one might think of what particular aspects of South Korea's rise have not taken place there yet. Is it the lack of a middle class? The lack of a figure behind which to rally? The lack of consciousness, education, or political opposition?







As late as the mid-1990s, the streets of Seoul could be seen filled with tear gas and flaming Molotov cocktails as protestors and riot police engaged in violent clashes. Today, whatever your thoughts of the political candidates, South Korean politics is carried out without such dangers. Moreover, power changes hands (relatively) peacefully between opposition parties who have diametrically opposed views on North Korea and other issues. The voter turnout in the recent presidential election was over 77 percent. The young, the old, the rich, the poor, women and men, all turned out in great numbers. There was no apathy or stepping away from democracy believing it to be useless. People demonstrably believed in the process and the fairness. Automatic registration, early voting, national holiday, and polling places everywhere made it easy for people to vote rather than try to prevent them from doing so. Now that the results are in, with some groups vocally unhappy about the winner, there is no narrative that the opposition's victory was not fair or legal. The process is being respected, as it should.







Professor Ra Jong-il

in which he asserted that one's political opponents should not be seen as one's enemy. Instead, they are co-workers or colleagues with whom you disagree but nevertheless must work with in order to make the lives of the citizens better. The focus should never be solely on one's own party nor on working to hinder the progress of the opposition: it should be on the people. When the parties fight, the people suffer. If they can somehow work together despite their differences, the people will benefit.







South Korea is not a perfect society. It has many faults and flaws. But its democracy is beautiful. And so is its cleanliness, infrastructure, public transport, health system and, most importantly, its people. People that share different ideas, values and beliefs but who all live by the democratic process. An alternative to this, no matter how much you might disagree with others, would be tragic in my estimation.







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.


UPDATE AT 5:56 PM:

We reached out to the White House regarding the cancellation of Senator Daines meeting with Judge Jackson and were told the meeting was not canceled but rescheduled.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Andrew Bates sent Montana Right Now the following statement:

This is false. Senator Daines meeting was rescheduled - not cancelled - and his office had already agreed to a new time on Tuesday. Weve offered the opportunity for any Senator who would like to meet the judge to do so and she has had numerous sit-downs every day that the Senate is in session. Before her hearing, she met with all members of the Judiciary Committee. And both before and after, has met with any Senator who is interested, honoring the Senates advice and consent role. Because of volume and coordination, at times meetings need to be adjusted.

Sen. Daines' team sent this as a response:

The White House cancelled the meeting this week and offered to reschedule for next week at a time when the votes were to already have begun. We even then agreed to meet after the votes begun next week and never received final confirmation from the White House, Katie Schoettler said.

Previous coverage:

HELENA, Mont. - Senator Steve Daines sent a statement Wednesday after a scheduled meeting between him and Supreme Court nominee, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson was canceled.

A release from Sen. Daines says he was set to meet with Judge Jackson on Tuesday, March 29, but the White House canceled the meeting and asked if there would be an opportunity to meet next week after the votes on her nomination began.

The following is a statement from Sen. Daines:

Its very disappointing that Bidens White House cancelled the meeting between myself and Judge Jackson this week, taking away the opportunity to ask the Supreme Court nominee important questions about her record ahead of the first votes on her nomination. I planned to meet with Judge Jackson to give her a chance to address my concerns on behalf of Montanans, like her views on the limited role of the judiciary and separation of powers, her willingness to uphold the Constitution and not serve as a political arm of Bidens woke White House, her stance on the Second Amendment, and her record of being soft on crime, Daines said. Its clear that the Biden administration is not looking to build a more robust bipartisan consensus for this nomination, and its inexcusable that they would not allow the voices of all Montanans to be heard. I will be voting no on Judge Jacksons nomination.
A 26-year-old poacher has had his vehicle destroyed after he was convicted of participating in a wildlife crime in East Yorkshire.

On 5 December 2021, Mitchel Cannon was detained on suspicion of trespassing in search of game on land at Haisthorpe.

As a result of a prompt response from Humberside Police's Rural Task Force, on 23 March Mr Cannon pleaded guilty to the offence.

Following his appearance, he was fined 300 and ordered to pay an additional 119 in surcharges and costs.

His vehicle used during the poaching crime was also granted destruction.

Rural Task Force Officer Kevin Jones said the sentencing "sends a very clear message" to poachers and hare coursers.

This has been a fantastic result thanks to some really proactive teamwork in tackling wildlife crime," Mr Jones said.

We will take action on every occasion and will look at utilising all the available legislation to prevent, deter and prosecute those who decide to engage in criminality around our countryside.

Wherever we have the evidence we will prosecute offenders and we welcome the help of our rural communities in letting us know of incidents in their area."

Over the past few months, the Rural Task Force has ramped up its efforts to tackle poaching and hare coursing incidents across the Humberside region.

It is one of 30 forces in the UK that supports Operation Galileo, which aims to deter and prevent rural crime, specifically hare coursing.

Humberside Police said these incidents were 'reducing year on year' in the area because of the action taken.

Sergeant Jenna Jones from the force's Rural Task Force said: "They know theyll be dealt with robustly if they are suspected of committing offences such as hare coursing or lamping.

The fields in our region remain bare while the crops begin to grow again and attract travelling criminals to set dogs onto hares for sport.

"Its truly barbaric and the wildlife it targets stand no chance of mercy."
Further delays to post-Brexit EU import checks could 'wreck havoc' for UK animal disease prevention, vets have warned the government.

The UKs largest veterinary body has expressed 'serious concerns' over a potential fourth delay to border checks on goods entering Britain from the EU.

The move comes amid reports that Border Control Post infrastructure in key ports are not ready for the 1 July 2022 deadline.

The government has previously blamed Covid-19 pandemic and the disruption associated with it for the reviewed timeframes.

Now The Financial Times has reported that senior government officials are sympathetic to the idea of imposing a new delay.

While some industry figures are in favour, the British Veterinary Association warned that further postponing checks could have significant consequences for the UKs biosecurity.

Any further delay could increase the threat of the incursion of devastating livestock diseases, such as African Swine Fever.

The disease is spreading rapidly and has already had a catastrophic impact on animal health and agricultural industry in parts of Europe, Asia and Africa.

BVAs senior vice president, James Russell recently gave evidence on border readiness to parliaments Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee.

He highlighted the critical role of Official Veterinarians in carrying out checks on live animals and animal products coming into Britain.

This work had become particularly vital now that the UK operates outside of the EUs biosecurity and assurance systems, he added.

"Official Veterinarians working at the border act as the countrys first line of defence of biosecurity.

If this extension is allowed to go ahead it will be the fourth delay and open the door even further to the potential incursion of African Swine Fever.

"We feel it would be deeply misguided to push back the need for these vital checks even further and in so doing weaken this layer of protection for both animal and public health."

He explained said the BVA had called for more certainty and clearer dates to work towards, instead of 'yet more shifting timeframes'.

"Given the ongoing capacity challenges in the workforce its really important that we can prepare and allocate resource where its most needed.
Free range egg farmers are calling for UK retailers to immediately increase the price of a dozen eggs by 40p to avert a catastrophe in the sector.

Farmers are being hit from all sides by huge hikes in energy and feed costs, as well as an increase in labour costs and raw materials.

A significant number of free range egg farmers are currently losing money on every egg laid by one of their hens.

Some say they can last six months before they go bust, while others are on the brink now.

Eggs are one of the cheapest protein sources, but the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) says farmers have been cut adrift by an unrelenting squeeze on their profit margins which have now been completely eroded in many cases.

The message has been backed up by the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC), which has today (31 March) also called for an immediate price rise to save farms.

Farmers are asking for an increase in the price of eggs in the shops, but it is vital that the money makes its way down the supply chain to the farmers who need to save their businesses from collapse.

BFREPAs CEO Robert Gooch said that 'enough is enough' and that the sectors appeals for help could not be ignored any longer.

For months we have been raising the desperate situation with all the major retailers, and they have all ignored the perilous position their farmer suppliers are in.

"We contacted Asda, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tesco, Waitrose, Lidl, Aldi and Marks and Spencer. Not a single reply was received," he said.

There have been small rises in the price of eggs, but that money has evaporated before it gets to the farm gate. Its the same old story of the farmer at the bottom of the chain being the last to see any price rise."

He warned: This is not a false flag  the free range egg sector is in crisis and if something doesnt change these farms will close and the people who run them will not have an income.

"This is a situation entirely out of farmers hands. The whole world can see that feed and energy prices have gone through the roof.

"That has consequences and we believe shoppers will understand the need for the egg price to increase on the shelves.

Dan Brown, who has 44,000 hens in Suffolk, has been farming for 18 years but said he would be in serious trouble if the situation did not change in the next six months.

Our feed costs are up 40%, energy is up 60%, and to bring in the next flock of hens is going to cost 10% more, he added.

Add in a labour increase of 10% and we are probably losing about 2-2.5 pence on every egg laid on the farm.

Realistically I should cancel the next flock, but farming is a long-term game and the eggs are already in the incubators waiting to hatch so we are already committed.

We will be in serious trouble if the market hasnt turned by the autumn, but it needs to turn immediately.

"There is no excuse for retailers not raising prices immediately. Everyone knows this isnt producers crying wolf  commodity prices have soared.

I cant really understand the supermarkets tactics, they must know that if they carry on like this then they will have no eggs by the autumn?

Tom Pope from Somerset has only been in free range egg production for six months, but he called the situation 'dire'.

The feed price alone increasing by 100 per tonne adds 20p to the cost of producing a dozen eggs on the farm, and every consumer will have heard about the energy price rises that are about to hit.

"For us, that means our energy bill will increase 200% on the current deal we have, leaving us with 40,000 to pay."

He said: My business needs a price rise now, in addition to keeping a tracker condition on the feed price which goes up and down with the market.

"The alternative is having to go it alone and sell eggs on the wholesale market to survive, but thats not what I want to do and not what the whole industry can do. The situation at present is desperate.

BFREPA has called on a crisis summit to be attended by every major retailer and packer, outlining what they are doing to help support farmers.
Farmers are being advised to consider their options as a brief window opens which will enable them to apply for a lump sum to exit the industry.

Those considering retirement or leaving the farming industry should seek advice as the Lump Sum Exit Scheme opens in April, Fisher German says.

It will be open for just six months, until 30 September, so those in the industry have only a short window of time to decide if this is the right option for them.

Considerations must also be made about if de-linked payments, which will replace Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments between 2024 and 2027 as the scheme continues to be phased out, would be more beneficial.

Fisher German is advising farmers to consider their options as the lump sum scheme will only be available this year and will not re-open in the future.

The considerations for farmers will be two-fold  whether they are looking to leave the industry and the lump sum option is suitable for them or if waiting for de-linking would be more financially beneficial.

To qualify for the lump sum option, farmers must have made a BPS claim in May 2018 and must agree to give up their farmland by May 2024.

This can be through gifting or selling the land or granting a tenancy with a minimum of five years, and the applicant is permitted to keep residential and commercial property, non-agricultural land and up to five hectares of agricultural land should they wish.

Those who take up the lump sum will not be able to apply for any new agreements under other support schemes such as the Sustainable Farming Incentive or Countryside Stewardship.

Matthew Ayres, of Fisher German, said: There are still certain grey areas, and we are hoping that further details around this will be released in spring when the application process opens.

"But the window to apply is extremely brief and the scheme wont be suitable for all, so anyone considering it should speak to an advisor to ensure its the right option for them."

He added: What is critical will be de-linking in 2024, and farmers thinking about retiring in the coming years will need to decide which is more advantageous.

The phasing out of BPS payments is an extremely significant change in the industry, and there is a whole generation of farmers who havent seen anything other than BPS support."

It is expected that claimants who take up the lump sum but keep hold of the minimum five hectares will still have the rights to a reduced level of de-linked payments from 2024 to 2027.

Mr Ayres said: Those looking to leave the industry will be required to consider all of their options to ensure they are making the best financial decision.
The NFU has called for safeguards for sensitive sectors such as beef and pork as the UK and Canada begin negotiations for a new free trade deal.

Talks toward an agreement have opened, a deal that the union said could offer opportunities to increase exports of British food and drink.

UK food and drink exports to Canada were worth around 344 million before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

But the NFU warned that farmers must not be undermined by increased food imports produced to standards that are illegal in the UK.

The negotiations will build on a post-Brexit "roll-over" trade agreement, inherited from the UK's time as members of the EU.

Under this, UK producers benefitted from tariff-free trade on 98% of exported goods, including exports of beef, lamb, pork, fruit, vegetables and some baked goods.

The NFU said negotiators could go further and secure enhanced access to the Canadian market for poultry, which was excluded under the previous agreement.

UK negotiators could also seek to boost volumes of dairy products including high-value cheeses and butter, as well as sugar.

Before the Covid-19 crisis, the UK exported around 1,800 tonnes of cheese to Canada, worth over 14 million.

The UK exports to Canada are typically high-value premium or speciality cheeses, making it an important market for the dairy sector to grow.

The NFU said that securing greater access for UK cheese exports, as well as protecting their geographical indications, should be a top priority for negotiators.

Currently, the only UK products that benefit from GI protections in Canada are Scotch Whisky, Irish Whiskey, and Irish Cream.

The union said it wanted negotiators to secure recognition for additional UK food and drink GIs including for beef, lamb and iconic cheeses.

However, in return, the NFU said Canada would 'undoubtedly' want greater access to the UK's beef and pork market.

Canada is one of the largest beef exporters in the world, exporting more than half of what it produces.

The country is also the worlds third largest pork exporter, exporting 70 percent of its pork production.

The NFU said that it was therefore 'essential' for imports to meet UK standards, including on food safety, animal welfare and environmental standards.

NFU President Minette Batters said: While we currently have some agri-food trade with Canada, there are opportunities available for British farmers to export more quality produce.

The government must also recognise that Canada is a significant agricultural exporter that will want to increase its access to the prized UK market.

The NFU maintains that new agreements should ensure that there are safeguards for sensitive sectors, such as beef and pork in this case, and that farmers are not undermined by increased food imports."

She added: The NFU would welcome a strengthening under all negotiated FTAs to ensure the UK farmers high production standards are protected."
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Theres a new treat for lovers of adventure in the capital region: an opportunity to try the longest zipline in the area





Delta 105 is an army-experience zone and elite camp just a 30-minute drive from Gurugram, located close to Manesar, Haryana. Sprawled across a lush 26-acre plot, it is open seven days a week with an invigorating menu of activities. These include the zipline, of course, but also a maze that must be navigated to improve mental focus and stamina, paintball facilities, a guided tour of a war zone, and other less strenuous activities such as puppet and magic shows, animal rides and a village fair to explore. The theme park allows visitors to experience life in an army camp and provides an insight into how our jawans are trained and live in peacetime and in conflict.





Image: Instagram/@delta105.gurgaon



The camp, started by Major Dinesh Sharma, a retired army man, is being positioned as an ideal experience for students, groups of friends and family members, and business colleagues whether as a day picnic or a retreat; camping facilities are also available. It allows individuals a glimpse into a different way of life. The war zone resembles an international boundary, and camp personnel describe weapons deployed in the area, a hypothetical enemy, how a war unfolds Participants also learn to tie knots and fold the national flag. Paintball, too, is undertaken in army-style body armour and battle fatigues, and one can also experience various regional foods from different regiments in the jawans hamlet.





Image: Instagram/@delta105.gurgaon





The newly-launched zipline extends 225 metres, with a starting point 40 metres above the ground. Two adventurers can go down the flying fox at the same time.



The camp is set in Pada village, well away from the urban sprawl and you can choose to get away from it all by extending your adventure to stay in one of the 10 luxury tents on site, which all boast attached toilets.



Another famous zipline in the north is over Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, where the views as you experience the flying fox are epic.





Main image: Shutterstock | used for representational purpose only





Also see: Marvel At The Night Skies Over Rajasthan


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.


Category Select Category Apparel/Garments Textiles Fashion Technical Textiles Information Technology E-commerce Retail Corporate Association Press Release

SubCategory Select Sub-Category
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2022) - PreveCeutical Medical Inc. (CSE: PREV) (OTCQB: PRVCF) (FSE: 18H) (the "Company" or "PreveCeutical") announces that it has issued 11,600,000 common shares without par value in its capital (each, a "Share") to two non-arm's length creditors and an arm's length creditor of the Company at a deemed issuance price of $0.025 per Share.

The Company entered into shares for debt settlement agreements with a current director and a company controlled by a current director (each a "Creditor"), pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue to each Creditor, and each Creditor agreed to accept, 800,000 Shares (the "Settlement Shares") at a price of $0.025 per Share in full and final settlement (the "Debt Settlement") of accrued and outstanding indebtedness in the amount of $20,000 for directors' fees (the "Debt") owing to each such Creditor (the "Debt Settlement").

The issuance of the Settlement Shares to each Creditor will be considered to be a "related party transaction" as defined under Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Securityholders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"); however, the issuances are exempt from the minority approval and formal valuation requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to subsections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101.

The Settlement Shares will be subject to a statutory hold period of four months from the date of issuance, in accordance with applicable policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange.

The Company also entered into an assignment agreement, whereby a certain arm's length assignee (the "Assignee") acquired all of Kimberly Van Deventer's right, title, interests and obligations in and under a convertible credit facility agreement dated effective March 28, 2018, as amended, as to the aggregate principal amount of $206,494.68 and the accrued interest thereon in the aggregate amount of $43,505.32 (collectively, the "Assigned Amount"). The Assignee has elected to convert the Assigned Amount into an aggregate of 10,000,000 Shares (the "Conversion Shares") at a price of $0.025 per Share. The Conversion Shares will not be subject to a hold period in Canada.

None of the foregoing securities have been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act") or any applicable state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) or persons in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from such registration requirements. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor will there be any sale of the foregoing securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About PreveCeutical

PreveCeutical is a health sciences company that develops innovative options for preventive and curative therapies utilizing organic and nature identical products. The Company aims to be a leader in the preventive health sciences sector.

With the completion of four of its research programs, the Company is actively working on the development, clinical trials, and commercialization of its products; and has filed a number of provisional patent applications to protect the intellectual property from its research programs.

For more information about PreveCeutical, please visit our website www.PreveCeutical.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of PreveCeutical

Stephen Van Deventer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Stephen Van Deventer: +1 604 306 9669

Or Investor Relations ir@preveceutical.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and U.S. securities legislation, including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements in this news release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations and orientations regarding the future, including, without limitation, the continued research interests of PreveCeutical, PreveCeutical's anticipated business plans, and its prospects of success in executing its proposed plans. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "will", "pro forma", "plans", "expects", "may", "should", "budget", "schedules", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "believes", "potential", "proposes" or variations of such words including negative variations thereof and phrases that refer to certain actions, events or results that may, could, would, might or will occur or be taken or achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions regarding PreveCeutical, including expected growth, results of operations, including PreveCeutical's research and development activities, performance, industry trends, growth opportunities, that PreveCeutical will be granted requisite expedited approvals by world health, retain and attract qualified research personnel and obtain and/or maintain the necessary intellectual property rights needed to carry out future business activities.

Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors including, risks and uncertainties relating to: complexities and delays in connection with research and development activities and the actual results of research and development activities; the ability of PreveCeutical to, among other things, protect its respective intellectual property, obtain any required governmental, regulatory or stock exchange approvals, permits, consents or authorizations required, including Canadian Securities Exchange acceptance of any planned future activities and obtaining expedited requisite approvals from world health agencies; and the ability of PreveCeutical to commercialize products, pursue business partnerships, complete their research programs as planned, and obtain the financing required to carry out their planned future activities. Other factors such as general economic, market or business conditions or changes in laws, regulations and policies affecting the biotechnology or pharmaceutical industry may also adversely affect the future results or performance of PreveCeutical. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, unless required by applicable law, PreveCeutical assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in these forward-looking statements. Although PreveCeutical believes that the statements, beliefs, plans, expectations, and intentions contained in this news release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that those statements, beliefs, plans, expectations, or intentions will prove to be accurate. Readers should consider all of the information set forth herein and should also refer to other periodic reports provided by PreveCeutical from time-to-time. These reports and PreveCeutical's filings are available at www.sedar.com. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE or CNSX Markets), its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the CSE), nor any other regulatory authority accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Any link in this press release to external information or other resources is provided for reference only, and such information or resources might change from time to time, and may include forward-looking statements as described above, and are subject to the above disclaimers under this heading forward-looking statements.

Readers are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and, accordingly, are cautioned not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements due to the inherent uncertainty of such statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118711
Proven GCC presence creates a significant entrepreneurial opportunity

NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chem-Dry has announced the availability of a Master Franchise agreement for Saudi Arabia.

The new Master Franchise opportunity, made available following the previous owners' retirement, will continue to build on this durable international brand's success in other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations such as Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar.

"We are very excited to provide this rare opportunity for an entrepreneur to take over a proven, valuable Master Franchise," according to Joe Manuszak, Vice President of Global Development. "Chem-Dry has had great success previously in the Saudi market, and we are looking forward to finding a new partner for this market."

Chem-Dry is the world's largest carpet, upholstery and hard-surface floor cleaning brand, and is the premier leader of stain removal for carpets and flooring with nearly 3,500 franchises serving more than 11,000 homes and businesses a day in 55 countries.

The innovative Chem-Dry Hot Carbonating Extraction process delivers a faster-drying, deeper and more environmentally friendly clean that appeals to home and business owners in all markets worldwide. Chem-Dry also provides cleaning and renewal services for tile and stone, granite countertops, leather and upholstery, air ducts and dryer vents. Chem-Dry is a world leader in sanitizing services, on the leading edge of green technology with over 50 products that merit green certification.

The new Master Franchise owner will control the franchising rights to all of Saudi Arabia, with the right to develop as many franchise locations as they wish. Master Franchise owners also immediately tap into a global business with a proven track record, tested and successful marketing, operational and training material, as well as full support from Chem-Dry's international office as well as their fellow Master Franchise in nearby GCC nations.

"Chem-Dry's proven track record in this region speaks for itself," says Joe Manuszak, Vice President of Global Development. "Almost 50 years of strong growth in the United States, as well as a constantly expanding global footprint, shows that Chem-Dry is a dynamic, multifaceted business that succeeds in any economy, and is adaptable to a wide variety of cultures. We are certain that our new Master Franchise partner in Saudi Arabia will start strong, and grow quickly, in that unique and vibrant market, and compliment our fellow Master Franchise owners in the GCC."

To learn more about Chem-Dry and its global franchise opportunities, visit:

www.chemdryinternational.com

Contact:

Joe Manuszak

Vice President, International Development

joe.manuszak@hrisupport.com

+1 616 560 8686
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 30, 2022) - LaSalle Exploration Corp. (TSXV: LSX) ("LaSalle" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that at the special meeting of LaSalle shareholders held today (the "Meeting"), all of the Company's shareholders present or represented by proxy at the Meeting approved the previously announced acquisition of LaSalle by Harfang Exploration Inc. (TSXV: HAR) ("Harfang") by way of plan of arrangement (the "Transaction") (see news release of LaSalle dated January 10, 2022 for more details).

"We are very pleased to have received Shareholders unanimous support of the Transaction, resulting in a much stronger exploration company that is securely financed. As the incoming Chief Executive Officer of Harfang I'm excited to begin working with our combined team applying diligent and disciplined effort to deliver exploration success and corporate value to shareholders," commented Ian Campbell, President and CEO of LaSalle.

Regulatory Approval

The Transaction remains subject to final approval by the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") and the Supreme Court of British Columbia (the "Court"). The Court hearing for the final order to approve the Transaction is currently scheduled to take place on April 1, 2022, and the Transaction is expected to close on or about April 8, 2022. Following completion of the Transaction, LaSalle's shares will be delisted from the TSXV. An application will also be made for the Company to cease to be a reporting issuer in the applicable jurisdictions upon closing of the Transaction.

Additional information regarding the terms of the Transaction are set out in the Circular which is available under LaSalle's profile at www.sedar.com, and on the Company's website at www.lasalleexploration.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of LaSalle Exploration Corp.

"Ian Campbell"

President, CEO & Director

About Harfang Exploration Inc.

Harfang is a mining exploration company whose primary mission is to discover new gold districts in the province of Quebec. Harfang's development model is based on the generation of new mining projects and on the establishment of partnerships with major exploration and mining companies to advance its exploration projects. Harfang trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "HAR".

About LaSalle Exploration Corp.

LaSalle is a Canadian exploration company focused on less explored districts of the Abitibi in Ontario and Quebec, recognized for mining investment based on mineral potential, policy and success., LaSalle is actively exploring Radisson in the developing Eeyou Itschee-James Bay region in Quebec as well as the Blakelock and Egan high-grade gold properties located in northeastern Ontario. LaSalle trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "LSX".

For further information please contact:

Harfang Exploration Inc

Telephone: 514 940-0670 x339

Email: info@harfangexploration.com

LaSalle Exploration Corp.

Telephone: (604) 647-3966

Email: info@lasallecorp.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.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Information

All statements, trend analysis and other information contained in this press release about anticipated future events or results constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect" and "intend" and statements that an event or result "may", "will", "should", "could" or "might" occur or be achieved and other similar expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation, statements regarding the closing of the Arrangement, are forward-looking statements. Although LaSalle believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements and/or information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements since the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements, including the risks, uncertainties and other factors identified in the Company's periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators, and assumptions made with regard to: the Company's ability to complete the proposed Arrangement; the Company's ability to secure the necessary legal and regulatory approvals required to complete the Arrangement and the Company's ability to achieve the synergies expected as a result of the Arrangement. Forward-looking statements are subject to business and economic risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results of operations to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include risks associated with the business of Harfang and LaSalle; risks related to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions to the closing of the Arrangement; non-completion of the Arrangement; and other risk factors as detailed from time to time and additional risks identified in Harfang and LaSalle's filings with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com). Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the date the statements are made. LaSalle does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118714
Junior Associate Professor Hiroaki Kubota of Tokai University presented Gold Award for enhancing development of model-based design and production technologies for electronic parts containing precious metals. Also receiving a Gold Award is Associate Professor Fumihiro Inoue of YOKOHAMA National University for formation of backside power delivery network using precious metal wires. Development of production technologies based on construction of high-accuracy models and development of precious metal wires for three-dimensional mounting, a technological innovation in semiconductors, received awards



TOKYO, Mar 31, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - The TANAKA Memorial Foundation's Representative Director, Hideya Okamoto, announced the recipients of the FY2021 Precious Metals Research Grants.



Following a rigorous screening process, the Gold Awards, each for 2 million yen, were presented to Junior Associate Professor Hiroaki Kubota of Tokai University and Associate Professor Fumihiro Inoue of YOKOHAMA National University. In addition, five research projects received Silver Awards, and four Young Researcher Awards were presented.



The TANAKA Memorial Foundation undertakes programs designed to foster developments in new precious metal fields while contributing to the advancement of science, technology, and socio-economics for the overall enrichment of society. The research grant program was launched in FY1999 and has continued each year since with the goal of supporting the various challenges of the "new world opened up by precious metals." This year, the program's 23rd year, a total of 137 applications were received in a wide range of fields where precious metals can make contributions to the research and development of new technologies. A total of 16.6 million yen in research grants was awarded for 23 projects.



The names of the two Gold Award recipients, their research, and the reasons for their selection are below.



- Junior Associate Professor Hiroaki Kubota, Tokai University

Enhancing development of model-based design and production technologies for electronic parts containing precious metals

This research seeks to develop model-based design and effectiveness evaluation using numerical analysis methods - represented by methods such as the finite element method - to minimize cost and takt time related to product design, prototyping, and process design. This research was highly rated for its study of model construction and developmental process efficiency using Ag-Cu alloys, which has the potential of helping the development of processing technologies and improvement of performance for precious metal spring contacts and other products.



- Associate Professor Fumihiro Inoue, YOKOHAMA National University

Formation of backside power delivery network using precious metal wires

This research seeks to develop technology for the development of metal wire formation, which is an element technology for three-dimensional mounting that is gaining attention as an integration technology for advanced logic devices. This research, which is related to the formation of precious metal wires as new materials that fulfill the conditions of metal wires, was highly rated for being research and development that can significantly contribute toward the practical application of this technology.



Five Silver Awards, four Young Researcher Awards, and 12 Encouragement Awards were also granted. The recipients and an overview of the Precious Metals Research Grants are indicated below. Applications for the FY2022 research granted are scheduled to open in the fall.



List of FY2021 Precious Metals Research Grants Recipients



- Platinum Award (0 award, 5 million yen)

Non granted



- Gold Award (2 awards, 2 million yen each)



Hiroaki Kubota, Junior Associate Professor, Tokai University

Enhancing development of model-based design and production technologies for electronic parts containing precious metals



Fumihiro Inoue, Associate Professor, YOKOHAMA National University

Formation of backside power delivery network using precious metal wires



- Silver Awards (5 awards, 1 million yen each)



Shoso Singubara, Professor, Kansai University

Formation of electroless ruthenium plating film and lowering its resistance



Yuichi Manaka, Researcher, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

Value conversion of NOx using precious metal catalyst



Yoko Yamabe-Mitarai, Professor, The University of Tokyo

Platinum group metal-based high entropy super heat-resistant material



Takuya Nakashima, Associate Professor, Nara Institute of Science and Technology

Creation of light-emitting materials based on precious metal clusters



Akitsu Shigetou, Principal Researcher, National Institute for Materials Science

Hybrid bonding of corrosion-resistant precious metals and organic materials at low temperature under atmospheric pressure



- Young Researcher Awards (4 awards, 1 million yen each)



Kosuke Ueki, Assistant Professor, KINDAI University

Development of Co-Cr-W-X alloy for next-generation stents that balances mechanical properties, corrosion resistance, biocompatibility, and X-ray visibility



Shinya Masuda, Project Research Associate, The University of Tokyo

Selective synthesis of gold cluster catalyst with high carrying rate of atomically precise size and composition



Taichi Goto, Assistant Professor, Toyohashi University of Technology

Development of high-frequency spin wave device using precious metals



Asuka Inada, Assistant Professor, University of Miyazaki

Development of innovative metal-organic framework formed using peptides and precious metals and its application in hydrogen storage medium



- Encouragement Award (12 awards, 300,000 yen each)

Chen Chuantong, Associate Professor, Osaka University

Minamiki Tsukuru, Research Scientist, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology

Hiyori Uehara, Assistant Professor, National Institutes of Natural Sciences

Shinjiro Takano, Research Associate, The University of Tokyo

Shoko Fujii, Medical Doctor, Tokyo Medical and Dental University

Hiroyoshi Ohtsu, Assistant Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology

Sun Jian, Special researcher, Tokyo Institute of Technology

Masakazu Matsubara, Associate Professor, Tohoku University

Katsunori Yogo, Assistant Professor, Nagoya University

Kaneyoshi Yamamoto, Professor, Hosei University

Haruyuki Ishii, Associate Professor, Yamaguchi University

Yoshiaki Nishijima, Associate Professor, YOKOHAMA National University



Overview of the 2021 Precious Metals Research Grants



Conditions:

Research content that falls under any of the following

- New technology related to precious metals

- Research and development related to precious metals that bring about innovative evolution in products

- Research and development of new products using precious metals

* Precious metal refers to eight elements of platinum, gold, silver, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium and osmium.

* If development is conducted jointly (or planned to be) with other material manufacturers, please indicate so.

* Products that have already been commercialized, put to practical use, or that are planned are not eligible.



Grant Amounts:

- Platinum Award: 5 million yen (1 award)

- Gold Award: 2 million yen (1 award)

- Silver Awards: 1 million yen (4 awards)

- Young Researcher Awards: 1 million yen (2 awards)

- Encouragement Award: 300,000 yen (several awards)

* The grant amount is treated as a scholarship donation.

* Awards may not be granted in some cases.

* The number of awards is subject to change.



Eligible Candidates:

- Personnel who belong to (or work for) educational institutions in Japan (universities, graduate schools, or technical colleges) or public and related research institutions may participate.

* As long as the applicant is affiliated with a research institution in Japan, the base of activity can be in Japan or overseas.

* The Young Researcher Awards are for researchers under the age of 37 as of April 1, 2021.



Application Period:

- 9am, September 1, 2021 (Wed) - 5pm, November 30, 2021 (Tue)



Inquiries Concerning the Research Grant Program:

Precious Metals Research Grants Office

Marketing Department, TANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K.

22F Tokyo Building, 2-7-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 100-6422

TEL: 03-6311-5596 FAX: 03-6311-5529 E-mail: joseikin@ml.tanaka.co.jp

TANAKA Memorial Foundation website: http://tanaka-foundation.or.jp



Press release in PDF: https://www.acnnewswire.com/docs/files/20220331_EN.pdf



TANAKA Memorial Foundation

Established: April 1, 2015

Address: 22F Tokyo Building, 2-7-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Representative: Hideya Okamoto

Purpose of Business: To provide grants for research related to precious metals to contribute to the development and cultivation of new fields for precious metals, and to the development of science, technology, and the social economy.

Areas of Business:

- Provision of grants for scientific and technological research related to precious metals.

- Recognition of excellent analysis of precious metals and holding of seminars and other events.



TANAKA Kikinzoku Kogyo K.K.

Headquarters: 22F, Tokyo Building, 2-7-3 Marunouchi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo

Representative: Koichiro Tanaka, Representative Director & CEO

Founded: 1885

Incorporated: 1918

Capital: 500 million yen

Employees: 2,453 (as of March 31, 2021)

Sales: JPY 1,251,066,897,000 (FY2020)

Main businesses: Manufacture, sales, import and export of precious metals (platinum, gold, silver, and others) and various types of industrial precious metals products.

URL: https://tanaka-preciousmetals.com



Press Inquiries

TANAKA Holdings Co., Ltd.

https://tanaka-preciousmetals.com/en/inquiries-for-media/



Source: Tanaka Memorial Foundation



Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.





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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.




WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Skippy Foods LLC has recalled 9,353 cases, or 161,692 total pounds, of a limited number of code dates of SKIPPY Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter Spread, SKIPPY Reduced Fat Chunky Peanut Butter Spread and SKIPPY Creamy Peanut Butter Blended With Plant Protein due to the possibility that a limited number of jars may contain a small fragment of stainless steel from a piece of manufacturing equipment. There have been no consumer complaints associated with the recall to date, and all retailers that received the affected product have been properly notified, the company said in a statement. The recall involves SKIPPY Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter, 40oz, with 'Best If Used By' date of 04 May 2023 and 05 May 2023. The affected SKIPPY Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter - Club, 2/40oz comes with 'Best By Use' Date of 05 May 2023. The recall also involves SKIPPY Reduced Fat Chunky Peanut Butter, 16.3oz with 'Best if Used By' date of 06 May 2023 and 07 May 2023. The affected SKIPPY Creamy Peanut Butter Blended With Plant Protein, 14oz comes with Best By Use Date of 10 May 2023. According to the company, no other sizes, varieties, or other packaging configurations of SKIPPY brand peanut butter or peanut butter spreads are included in this recall. The company advised that consumers should return the affected products to their retailer for an exchange. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
HONG KONG, Mar 31, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Suzhou Basecare Medical Corporation Limited ("Basecare" or the "Company", together with its subsidiaries, the "Group", stock code: 2170), an innovative platform of genetic testing solutions for assisted reproduction in China, announced its audited consolidated results for the year ended 31 December 2021 (the "Year").In 2021, the Group's revenue increased by 32.3% YOY to RMB107 million. Gross profit was RMB51.15 million, representing an increase of 84.6% YOY. The consolidated gross margin increased from 34.2% to 47.7%, mainly due to the increases of the gross profit margin in the PGT-A kits from 46.0% to 70.0%. Basecare, a leading provider of third-generation IVF clinical solutions for assisted reproduction in China, has extended its reach beyond the pre-implantation stage to the prenatal and postnatal stages, and has self-developed kits in each stage, making it a company with a genetic test kit pipeline that covers the full reproductive cycle.A leading position in assisted reproductive in China with core technologyBasecare's PGT-A kit is the first third-generation IVF genetic testing kit that has been approved by the National Medical Products Administration of China (NMPA), marking the birth of a regulated third-generation IVF market in China. At the same time, the Group continued to increase its investment on R&D expenses and increase the barriers to entry in the industry. In 2021, the Company's research and development expenses were RMB73.71 million, representing an increase of 114% YOY. The Company is developing two other pre-implantation genetic testing, or PGT, products, namely, PGT-M and PGT-SR kits, which are expected to obtain NMPA registration approval in 2022 and 2024. To date, the Company's PGT-M kit is the first product of its kind that has completed the registration testing in China; PGT-SR kit may become the first standardized commercial product of its kind in China with potential for mass clinical application. Those together with the PGT-A kit will form a complete testing kit lineup to occupy the PGT field, which will further enhance Basecare's leading position in China's third-generation IVF genetic testing kits market.Leveraging its core strength in PGT, Basecare has positioned itself to become an innovative platform in China's broader reproductive genetics market. It has extended its reach beyond the pre-implantation stage to the prenatal and postnatal stages, and are developing relevant kits in each stage, making it a company in China with a genetic testing kit pipeline that covers the full reproductive cycle. Except for testing kits, the Group has developed a number of innovative devices and instruments that can improve workflow in molecular genetic laboratories using the kits.Boosts commercialization process and forges sales channel barriersThe Group sold a significant portion of its products directly to hospitals and reproductive clinics. It also sold its genetic testing kits to distributors, who in turn sold our products to hospitals and reproductive clinics. At present, the Group currently has established presence in 55 reproductive centers nationwide and cultivated business relationship with about 70% of the leading customers. The Group maintains a dedicated in-house sales and marketing team with a focus on serving key customers, such as third-generation IVF licensed hospitals and reproductive clinics. The Group's in-house sales and marketing team is also responsible for the promotion of products to hospitals and reproductive clinics through academic marketing activities, to interact with KOLs as well as other industry professionals. In 2021, Basecare held 56 academic exchanges to facilitate market operation and promotion.With the first NMPA-approved PGT kit in China, the Group believes that it will enjoy the first-mover advantages in building and solidifying sales channels and customer base. It plans to focus the commercialization strategy on key hospitals and reproductive clinics. The Group will leverage the relationships built with these hospitals and clinics for PGT-A to extend the breadth and depth of its coverage. The Group aims to increase the coverage and penetration of hospitals and reproductive clinics licensed to conduct PGT, and develop stronger relationships with them to enhance customer stickiness and lay the foundation to offer other products to them in the future. Basecare plans to work toward full coverage of licensed hospitals and reproductive clinics in China. Moreover, it plans to expand its share of wallet in these hospitals and clinics by offering comprehensive solutions, with new products that target other medical specialties, such as the neonatal and pediatrics units, in these institutions.Proceeds eco-system construction and builds solid portfolio moatDuring the Year, the Group settled the consideration of RMB85 million in relation to the acquisition of Zhejiang Cellpro Biotech Corporation Limited ("Cellpro Biotech"). Cellpro Biotech is a company mainly focusing on the research and development, production, sales and technical services of assisted reproductive technology diagnosis and treatment products. The strong collaboration with Cellpro Biotech will strengthen the synergy for Basecare's business and assist in building its complete product and service system, which is the key measure for Basecare to build the portfolio moat and consolidate its leading competitive position.Looking forward, Dr. Liang Bo, Founder, Executive Director and General Manager of Suzhou Basecare Medical Corporation Limited, said "Our mission is to develop and launch innovative genetic testing solutions that are specifically designed for the Chinese population and that address unmet clinical needs in China. Our vision is to help more families have healthy babies. To accomplish that vision, we expand our market coverage and continue to capture and solidify sales channels and customer base for PGT-A. At the same time, we enrich our product pipeline and rapidly commercialize the product portfolio to occupy the full reproductive cycle. In addition, we shall promote the upgrading of hardware equipment in reproductive center laboratories, focus on the industrial chain layout of embryo cryopreservation equipment, and provide intelligent and automated integrated solutions for clinical trials to improve the Company's competitiveness, so as to maintain a leading position in technology."About Suzhou Basecare Medical Corporation LimitedSuzhou Basecare Medical Corporation Limited is a third-generation IVF clinical solution provider in the field of assisted reproduction in China and the first listed IVD company in the field of assisted reproduction (stock code: 2170.HK). It is committed to the product R&D and clinical application of high-throughput sequencing technology in the field of reproductive health. Basecare has been adhering to the concept of "compliant products", adhering to the industrialization road of R&D, registration and sales, and has a product pipeline covering embryo testing, andrology testing and fertility preservation. The PGS (pre-implantation chromosome aneuploidy testing) kit independently developed by the company has won China's first "special approval for innovative medical devices" green channel. It is the first third-generation tube testing product in China to obtain the registration certificate of Class III medical devices, opening the "certificate era" of genetic testing kits in the field of assisted reproduction in China.Source: Suzhou Basecare Medical Corporation LimitedCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Palm Beach, Florida--(Newsfile Corp. - March 31, 2022) - South Florida is gearing up to host its first-ever Crypto Polo Match, an event that will combine the Web3 revolution with the legacy and prestige of polo to celebrate the elite players in the blockchain and cryptocurrency industries. This event will take place on April 9, 2022, at the Santa Clara Polo Club in Palm Beach, FL.





Crypto Polo Cup

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/8653/118726_5dd61ba404fc296b_001full.jpg

Along with the polo match, the event includes a cocktail hour, a 3-course lunch, an exclusive fashion show, and concludes with an invite-only NFT afterparty. The guestlist includes top-notch VCs, media, celebrities and politicians, making the Crypto Polo Cup a highly sought-after event for sponsors and up-and-coming blockchain brands.

The invite-only event will be hosted by Luna PR, an award-winning public relations and marketing agency that has worked with over 600 crypto and blockchain projects globally.

"The purpose of the event is to connect people from traditional businesses and the web3 world, where ideas and innovation can spring to life while enjoying the common denominator of polo," says Nikita Sachdev, founder of Luna PR.

For more information on the 2022 Crypto Polo Cup, visit cryptopolocup.com and follow the event on social media: @CryptoPoloCup on Instagram and Twitter.

About Luna PR

Nikita Sachdev founded Luna PR in 2017, which quickly became an award-winning advising, marketing, and public relations agency. It is a full-stack digital marketing agency with dozens of clients across the globe. With the use of their highly skilled team, Luna PR helps upcoming and established blockchain and crypto projects reach their full potential. To learn more about Luna PR and its services, visit its Website, Twitter, & Instagram.

Media Contact:

Lunapr.io

Sarina@lunapr.io

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118726


Trial overview

TOKYO, Mar 31, 2022 - (JCN Newswire) - Fujitsu Limited and Teikoku Databank, Ltd. (hereinafter TDB) today announced Japan's first trials on the application of a Japanese version of an electronic seal (Japanese electronic seal)(1) to verify the authenticity of companies issuing digital documents starting April 1, 2022.In the jointly-managed trials, the two companies will build a trust platform(2) to issue a Japanese electronic seal for the delivery of digital documents by leveraging Fujitsu's digital trust technology(3) and TDB's knowledge in corporate identity verification to confirm the usability of the newly developed seal.The two companies plan to use a level 1 or level 2 Japanese electronic seal as defined in the Japanese government's electronic seal guidelines(4). Based on the demonstrations, the two companies aim to clarify tasks of the Japanese electronic seal and promote its practical application in society.Outline of the demonstrationsIn the trials, the two companies will build a trust platform for verification of a Japanese electronic seal by June 2022, leveraging Fujitsu's digital trust technology and TDB's knowledge of corporate identity as an external certification body.As a next step, the two parties plan to conduct trials for delivering digital documents with the Japanese electronic seal in simulations with various companies until September 2022. This will include the verification of Japanese electronic seals issued via the newly constructed trust platform for digital documents delivered by email and via cloud services.Starting in April 2022, the two companies plan to select private enterprises to support the trials. Details of these will be announced separately at a later date.Future plansFujitsu and TDB will continue to promote the use of the Japanese electronic seal to drivecorporate DX and realize a society in which transactions involving all types of digital documents can be conducted appropriately and smoothly.Moving forward, the two companies plan to develop technologies and mechanisms for digital signatures that are compatible with European standards to enable Japanese companies to use the Japanese electronic seal in transactions with other companies in their European offices and European subsidiaries.As previously announced(5), TDB has also started to use "EU-qualified electronic seals" and will accelerate its efforts for trust services including electronic seals in parallel to these demonstrations.(1) Japanese version of an electronic seal :Technology to verify the origin (publisher) and integrity of digital data. The development of technology, equipment, examination, operation standards, and standards for the Japanese electronic seal has become an urgent issue in order to achieve compatibility with the existing European standards.(2) Fujitsu Develops Digital Trust Management Technology to Ensure Authenticity of Business Data(3) Trust Platform:A platform consisting of technologies that enable the distribution of data useful for solving business and social issues while ensuring confidence in privacy, security, and intellectual property rights.(4) "Guidelines for e-seals (June 25, 2021)" (Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications): https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_content/000756907.pdf (in Japanese)(5) Announcement of the start of in-house use of "EU-qualified e-seals" (Press release from Teikoku Databank): https://www.tdb.co.jp/info/topics/k220205.html (in Japanese)About FujitsuFujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 126,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.6 trillion yen (US$34 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. For more information, please see www.fujitsu.com.About TEIKOKU DATABANKTEIKOKU DATABANK is committed to providing outstanding business intelligence for actionable insights and high-quality decision making.TEIKOKU DATABANK was established in 1900, with the mission of "protecting corporations from fraud." Since then, TEIKOKU DATABANK has been continually fine-tuning the craft of gathering, maintaining and communicating business intelligence.TEIKOKU DATABANK is now proud owners of Japan's largest corporate database, and have an extensive network across Japan and also internationally. With this, we are able to respond to diversified customers' requests with high-quality information and a wide range of services, which includes:- Corporate Credit Research- Targeted business list- Market research- Credit management support- Online services- Publications on bankruptcies, economic trends, and corporate attitudes- Operation of Certificate Authorities issuing Electronic CertificatesSource: Fujitsu LtdCopyright 2022 JCN Newswire . All rights reserved.
KAWASAKI, Japan, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Latest news from institutes affiliated with K awasaki IN novation G ateway at SKYFRONT (KING SKYFRONT) with the launch of the new Tonomachi Business Incubator and opening of the Tamagawa Sky Bridge enabling easy and fast access between Haneda Airport and KING SKYFRONT.

Details

https://tonomachi-ksf.kawasaki-net.ne.jp/ennewsletter/

Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion, TONOMACHI LifeScience Cluster Division

Starts Business Incubator

King Skyfront is located on the opposite bank of Haneda Airport across the Tama River, and is an International Strategic Zone with excellent domestic and overseas transport links. At the King Skyfront and its surrounding areas, the concentration of research and development institutions such as universities and companies is increasing due to the efforts by the Government of Kawasaki City. This trend reflects the value role of King Skyfront as an open innovation hub for the creation of new industries based on the world's highest level of research and development in the life sciences.

The Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion (KIIP) has decided to launch a Business Incubator from April 2022 for the development of an innovation ecosystem in the area and continuous creation of new world-class industries. KIIP will establish laboratories for start-ups in the " Innovation Center of NanoMedicine (iCONM)" operated by KIIP.

In addition to R & D support, KIIP will offer start-ups a lot of support for developing their business and expanding their networks. For business support, KIIP will provide business mentoring and business planning support by experts active in the life sciences, introduce experts in legal affairs/regulation/accounting, and for networking support, will collaborate with overseas ecosystems the USA and Europe. KIIP will hold matching/pitch events and management seminars as points of contact with overseas investors and pharma.

Contact details

KAWASAKI INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL PROMOTION

Innovation Center of NanoMedicine (iCONM)

3-25-14 Tono-machi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture,

Post code: 210-0821

Tel: 044-280-1121 (from April 2022) or 044-589-4780

E-mail:iconm-i@kawasaki-net.ne.jp

Access by train

Take the Keikyu Daishi Line from Keikyu Kawasaki Station to Kojima Shinden Station (10 mins.) Walk 15 mins. to iCONM.

For details, please see the website

https://iconm-service.kawasaki-net.ne.jp/

Lab specifications and vacancy information will be updated from April 1st 2022.

https://tonomachi-ksf.kawasaki-net.ne.jp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Labo.jpg

Tamagawa Sky Bridge opens

The Tamagawa Sky Bridge was officially opened on 12 March 2022. The downstream of the Tama River runs along the prefectural border between Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, and Haneda Airport (Ota Ward, Tokyo), which can be said to be the gateway to the world, and KING SKYFRONT (Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture), which aims to become one of the world's most advanced life science hubs ) is located on both banks. Using the 675-meter bridge it is now possible to walk between the two areas in about 15 minutes, greatly improving mobility and convenience. The bridge is expected to enhance the exchange of people, goods, information, and businesses, and will greatly contribute to the strengthening of Japan's international connectivity and sustainable development of its economy.

The opening was commemorated by a symposium held by Kawasaki City, Kawasaki

Institute of Industrial Promotion, Ota city, and Ota City Industrial Promotion Organization. Experts and business people active in both areas discussed the attractiveness of the areas and the possibility of developing as one of the world's most advanced business areas, and deepened their understanding in a panel discussion. In addition, congratulatory messages were received from overseas (Embassy of Switzerland, BIO-M, etc.), giving the symposium a rich international flavor.

https://tonomachi-ksf.kawasaki-net.ne.jp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Bridge-picture.jpg

About KING SKYFRONT

The Kawasaki INnovation Gateway (KING) SKYFRONT is the flagship science and technology innovation hub of Kawasaki City. KING SKYFRONT is a 40 hectare area located in the Tonomachi area of the Keihin Industrial Region that spans Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture and Tokyo International Airport (also often referred to as Haneda Airport).

KING SKYFRONT was launched in 2011 as a base for scholars, industrialists and government administrators to work together to devise real life solutions to global issues in the life sciences and environment.

Further information

KING-SKYFRONT iNewsletter Publishing Team

TONOMACHI LifeScience Cluster Division, Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion Life Science & Environment research center (LiSE) 1F,

3-25-10, Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi,

Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, 210-0821

Email: event-ksfcl@kawasaki-net.ne.jp

Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion (KIIP)

Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion was established in 1988 funded 100% from Kawasaki City for the purpose of coping with the hollowing out of industry and changes in the demand structure. In order to realize a higher level of market development, transforming R&D type companies, training technological capabilities to support it, human resources development, understanding market needs, etc., by utilizing the functions of the Kawasaki, KIIP has been contributing to revitalize the local economy by promoting exchanges of local industry information, advancing technology and corporate exchanges with establishment of a R&D institutions, developing creative human resources through workshops and promoting businesses such as expanding sales channels through exhibition business.

https://www.kawasaki-net.ne.jp/
This is a joint press release by Intertrust N.V. ("Intertrust" or the "Company") and CSC (Netherlands) Holdings B.V. (the "Offeror"), pursuant to the provisions of Section 4, paragraphs 1 and 3, Section 10, paragraphs 1 and 3 and Section 18, paragraph 3 of the Netherlands Decree in Public Takeover Bids (Besluit openbare biedingen Wft, the "Decree") in connection with the recommended public offer (the "Offer") by the Offeror for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of Intertrust. This announcement does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in Intertrust. Any offer will be made only by means of an offer memorandum (the "Offer Memorandum") approved by the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (Stichting Autoriteit Financiele Markten, the "AFM") which is available as of today, and subject to the restrictions set forth therein. This announcement is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in or into, directly or indirectly, Canada and Japan or any other jurisdiction in which such release, publication or distribution would be unlawful.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005808/en/

Publication of the Offer Memorandum Offer to be discussed at the AGM on 31 May 2022 Offer Period ends on 10 June 2022, unless extended.

Transaction highlights

Recommended all-cash public offer by the Offeror for all issued and outstanding shares in the capital of Intertrust at an offer price of EUR 20.00 (cum dividend) per Share (as defined below)

Offer Period runs from 1 April 2022 to 10 June 2022. Completion of the Offer is expected in the second half of 2022

The Offer Price represents a premium of approximately 59% to the undisturbed Intertrust closing share price on 11 November 2021, a premium of approximately 53% to the 30-day undisturbed VWAP and a premium of approximately 54% to the 90-day undisturbed VWAP, delivering immediate, certain and attractive value to Intertrust's shareholders

The Management Board and Supervisory Board of Intertrust (together, the " Intertrust Boards ") fully and unanimously support the Offer and the transactions contemplated in connection therewith, including the post-closing restructuring (together with the Offer, the " Transaction ") and recommend the Shareholders to accept the Offer and vote in favor of the Offer Resolutions to be proposed at the annual general meeting of shareholders of Intertrust(the " AGM

") fully and unanimously support the Offer and the transactions contemplated in connection therewith, including the post-closing restructuring (together with the Offer, the " ") and recommend the Shareholders to accept the Offer and vote in favor of the Offer Resolutions to be proposed at the annual general meeting of shareholders of Intertrust(the " Intertrust will hold the AGM at 15:00 hours CET on 31 May 2022, instead of the previously announced date of 12 May 2022. The AGM will also include the resolutions related to the Transaction

The combination of CSC and Intertrust creates a differentiated leader for corporate, fund, private, and capital markets clients on an international scale, built on the combined strengths of each other's global teams with complementary geographical and service offering strengths

The Combined Group will fully benefit from the reach, scale and resources of the combined businesses and CSC intends to invest in existing and new opportunities to further expand the business of the Combined Group and ensure the long-term interests of Intertrust's stakeholders, including its employees and clients

The Offer is subject to obtaining the Regulatory Clearances and Competition Clearances. The process to obtain the required Regulatory Clearances is ongoing. To date, the Competition Clearances condition is satisfied

The Offer is subject to certain other conditions, including a minimum acceptance level of 95% of the Shares, to be lowered to 80% if the Shareholders approve the Asset Sale and Liquidation at the AGM. If the Offeror obtains 95% or more of the Shares it expects to implement the Asset Sale and initiate the Squeeze-Out Proceedings, and if it obtains between 80% and 95% it expects to implement the Asset Sale and Liquidation, if approved by the Shareholders

Intertrust's joint Works Council in the Netherlands has rendered a positive advice on the decision of the Intertrust Boards to support the Transaction and recommend the Offer

With reference to the publication of the Offer Memorandum today, the Offeror and Intertrust jointly announce that the Offeror is making a recommended public all-cash offer to all holders of issued and outstanding ordinary shares (the "Shares", and each holder of such Shares, a "Shareholder") in the share capital of Intertrust at an offer price of EUR 20.00 (cum dividend), without interest and less mandatory withholding tax payable under the applicable Law (if any) (the "Offer Price"), in cash per Share on the terms and subject to the conditions and restrictions as set forth in the Offer Memorandum (the "Offer"). The Offer Period runs from 1 April 2022 until and including 10 June 2022. Completion of the Offer is expected in the second half of 2022. Terms not defined in this press release will have the meaning as set forth in the Offer Memorandum.

The Offer

The Offer is made on the terms and subject to the conditions and restrictions set forth in the Offer Memorandum. Shareholders who have validly tendered (or defectively tendered, provided that such defect has been waived by the Offeror) and have not validly withdrawn their Shares and have transferred (geleverd) their Shares to the Offeror prior to or on the Closing Date (each of these Shares, a "Tendered Share") will receive the Offer Price in consideration of each Tendered Share.

In the event of any cash or share dividend or other distribution on the Shares (the "Distributions") by Intertrust prior to Settlement, whereby the record date is decisive for entitlement to such Distribution, the Offer Price will be decreased by the full amount of any such Distribution made by Intertrust in respect of each Share (before any applicable withholding tax).

The Offer values 100% of the Shares at approximately EUR 1.8 billion. The Offeror expects to fund the Offer through a combination of cash available resources and third-party debt financing. In the press release dated 6 December 2021, Corporation Service Company ("CSC") confirmed that sufficient equity financing is in place to complete the Offer. CSC has entered into binding debt commitment papers with a consortium of reputable banks, led by Bank of America, N.A., for senior debt financing in an aggregate amount of approximately (a) USD 1.8 billion of first lien term USD debt, (b) EUR 1.0 billion of first lien term Euro debt, (c) USD 420 million of second lien term USD debt and (d) a USD 250 million first lien revolving facility, which is fully committed on a "certain funds" basis (the "Debt Financing"). Further details can be found in section 6.5 (Financing of the Offer) of the Offer Memorandum.

Rationale of the Offer

The combination of CSC and Intertrust creates a clear and differentiated leader for corporate, fund, private, and capital markets clients on an international scale, built on the combined strengths of each other's global teams. Customers will benefit from a strengthened and enhanced geographical and broadened service offering, built on the highly complementary strengths of CSC's leadership in the US and Intertrust's leadership in Europe. CSC shares Intertrust's vision and regards its emphasis on ESG principles with a particular focus on human capital. Employees will benefit from CSC's strong corporate culture and values, and a significantly larger and more global company, offering enhanced career development opportunities.

Full and unanimous support and recommendation by the Intertrust Boards

Following the diligent and carefully executed process, the Intertrust Boards believe that the Offeror has made the most compelling offer representing an attractive cash premium to the Shareholders, as well as favourable non-financial terms and commitments in respect of deal certainty. The Intertrust Boards conclude that the Offer is in the best interest of the Company and the sustainable, long-term success of its business, taking especially into account the interests of all Intertrust's stakeholders.

Taking all these considerations into account, the Intertrust Boards unanimously support the proposed Transaction and recommend that the Shareholders tender their Shares under the Offer. Accordingly, the Intertrust Boards recommend that the Shareholders vote in favour of the Offer Resolutions at the upcoming AGM.

Non-Financial Covenants

Intertrust and the Offeror have agreed to certain covenants, including covenants on structure and corporate governance, strategy, employees, leverage and costs, minority shareholders and other non- financial matters, for a duration of two years after settlement (the "Non-Financial Covenants"

Structure and Governance

The Intertrust Group's headquarters will remain in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and the Offeror will not divest or transfer any material part of the Intertrust Group. The Intertrust Group's core values and culture will be respected and maintained.

Upon successful completion of the Offer, it is envisaged that from the current members of Intertrust's Supervisory Board, Charlotte Lambkin and Toine van Laack will continue as independent Supervisory Board members (the "Independent Supervisory Board Members") and will especially monitor compliance with the Non-Financial Covenants. Any deviation from the Non-Financial Covenants shall require the approval of the Independent Supervisory Board Members within this two-year period.

Strategy

It is envisaged that the Offeror's and Intertrust's businesses will be aligned following Settlement in order to fully benefit from the reach, scale and resources from their combined businesses. Parties will work on a joint strategy in the period prior to Settlement, to the extent permitted by law, and will regularly consult with the Works Council on the contemplated alignment.

CSC confirms the growth potential of the Combined Group and intends to explore and invest in existing and new opportunities to expand the Combined Group's business.

Employees

The existing rights and benefits of Intertrust's employees will be respected, including existing rights and benefits under their individual employment agreements, collective labour agreements and social plans, and including existing rights and benefits under existing covenants made to the Works Council. The Offeror will also respect the existing pension rights of the Group's current and former employees and the Intertrust Group's employee consultation structure.

The Offeror will strive to apply the highest standards of human resources management within the Combined Group and organise its workforce in both a socially exemplary and competitive manner. The culture and diversity of Intertrust will be reflected in the best possible way, while taking a balanced and fair approach towards both Intertrust's and the Offeror's employees.

There will be no reduction in the number of employees of the Intertrust Group as a direct consequence of the Transaction, it being understood that the above shall not limit the Combined Group's ability to take into account the fact that the Company will no longer be a publicly traded independent company or to act in accordance with the following sentence. To the extent that any positions within the Intertrust Group and the Offeror's Group overlap following Settlement, such positions will be filled based on fair allocation principles, such as "best person for the job", without any discrimination on the basis of nationality or current employer. The Offeror is committed to provide Intertrust's employees with appropriate career opportunities and training.

Leverage and costs

CSC and Intertrust will ensure that the Combined Group will be prudently financed to safeguard business continuity and to support the success of the business, while also ensuring that the financial leverage of the Combined Group remains at a sustainable level on a rolling basis.

Until the earlier of (i) completion of the Asset Sale and (ii) commencement of statutory squeeze-out proceedings (the "Integration Date"), the net debt position of the Combined Group shall correspond to a maximum of 6.0x EBITDA and no dividends or other distributions will be paid by the Intertrust Group to the Offeror or any of its affiliates (excluding the Intertrust Group) unless the net debt position of the Intertrust Group is lower than 6.0x EBITDA.

CSC or its affiliates will not effect any debt push-down to the Intertrust Group, except as reasonably necessary to consummate the Debt Financing, or charge any management fees or other costs before the Integration Date.

Corporate governance post-Settlement

It is envisaged that the Supervisory Board will as of the Settlement Date consist of six members, with Charlotte Lambkin and Toine van Laack as the Independent Supervisory Board Members. As independent members of the Supervisory Board, they will especially monitor compliance with the Non-Financial Covenants. Subject to the Offer being declared unconditional and the relevant Offer Resolutions having been adopted at the AGM, Rod Ward, Jackie Smetana, E.J. Dealy and James Stoltzfus will join the Supervisory Board as members designated by CSC.

At Settlement, the current members of the Management Board shall continue to serve as members of the Management Board.

Following completion of the Asset Sale, the governance of Intertrust is applied to the Offeror, to the extent legally applicable, provided that Jackie Smetana will not join the supervisory board of the Offeror.

Board Irrevocables

The CEO and CFO of Intertrust and Mr. Ruys and Mr. Willing, members of the Supervisory Board, have executed undertakings to tender all the Shares held by them in the Offer. No other Shareholders have been approached for an irrevocable undertaking to support and accept the Offer.

The AGM

In accordance with article 18, paragraph 1 of the Decree, Intertrust must hold a general meeting to discuss the Offer with the Shareholders. Intertrust will combine such general meeting with the AGM. In part I of the AGM, the annually recurring items will be discussed and resolved upon. Part II of the AGM will address the Offer and the Offer Resolutions. Subject to the terms of the Merger Agreement, the Intertrust Boards recommend that the Shareholders vote in favour of the Offer Resolutions put to the Shareholders at the AGM.

The AGM will be held on 31 May 2022, starting at 15:00 hours CET, instead of the previously announced date of 12 May 2022. Intertrust will hold the AGM in hybrid form, allowing Shareholders to attend the AGM either in person or virtually. Separate convocation materials and information on the hybrid meeting are available on Intertrust's website (www.intertrustgroup.com/investors).

The information for Shareholders as required pursuant to Section 18, paragraph 2 of the Decree, is included in the position statement, which also includes the convocation notice and agenda for the AGM, which has been made available as of today at Intertrust's website (www.intertrustgroup.com/investors).

Works Council of Intertrust

Intertrust's joint Works Council in the Netherlands has rendered a positive advice on the decision of the Intertrust Boards to support the Transaction and recommend the Offer on 24 December 2021. Furthermore, the joint Works Council will, if and when applicable, at a later stage be informed of, and consulted on, the financing of the Transaction.

Competition Clearances

On 24 December 2021, WMB filed a Notification and Report Form under the HSR Act, with the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. On 30 December 2021, Intertrust filed a Notification and Report Form under the HSR Act. On 26 January 2022, the waiting period under the HSR Act expired with respect to each filing, which concluded the HSR Act review of the proposed combination of CSC and Intertrust. Accordingly, to date, the Competition Clearances condition is satisfied.

Regulatory Clearances

In connection with the provision by the Intertrust Group of trust company and other specialised administrative and financial services in various jurisdictions around the world, certain of Intertrust's subsidiaries (the "Intertrust Regulated Subsidiaries") hold licenses or other authorisations (collectively, "Licenses") permitting the provision of such services in these jurisdictions, and by virtue of this holding are subject to oversight by local regulators.

The local rules and regulations applying to the Licenses generally provide that, upon a change of control of a licensee, an investigation and due diligence process is conducted in order for the applicable regulator to assess the acquiring entity and certain of its ultimate owners and policymakers. As a result of the Transaction, CSC will become an indirect owner of the Intertrust Regulated Subsidiaries. Accordingly, CSC and, in some cases, certain of its shareholders and Affiliates are required to undergo review by the regulators with oversight of the Intertrust Regulated Subsidiaries before CSC becomes the indirect owner of the Licenses, in accordance with local law.

Intertrust and the Offeror must make certain filings to apply for the Regulatory Clearances required in connection with the Transaction (the "Regulatory Applications"). Regulatory Applications have or will be made in various jurisdictions including British Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Curacao, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Ireland, Jersey, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and United Kingdom. The Regulatory Applications are subject to varying review periods of up to 90 120 business days, and are subject to extension in certain instances if requested or required by the applicable regulator.

Indicative timetable

Expected date and time (All times are CET) Event 09:00 hours CET, 1 April 2022 Commencement of the Offer Period 15:00 hours CET on 31 May 2022 AGM, at which meeting, among other matters, the Offer will be discussed, and the Offer Resolutions will be voted on 17:40 hours CET, 10 June 2022 Closing Date and Closing Time: deadline for Shareholders to tender their Shares, unless the Offer Period is extended in accordance with Article 15 of the Decree No later than three (3) Business Days after the Closing Date (or the Postponed Closing Date) Unconditional Date: the date on which the Offeror will publicly announce whether the Offer is declared unconditional (gestand is gedaan) in accordance with Article 16 of the Decree No later than the fifth (5th) Business Day after the Closing Date (or the Postponed Closing Date) Settlement Date: the date on which, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Offer, the Offeror will pay the Offer Price for each Tendered Share No later than the third (3rd) Business Day after the Unconditional Date Post-Acceptance Period: if the Offer is declared unconditional (gestand is gedaan), the Offeror will announce a Post- Acceptance Period for a period of two (2) weeks in accordance with Article 17 of the Decree No later than the third (3rd) Business Day after the expiration of the Post- Acceptance Period The Offeror will publicly announce the results of the Post- Acceptance Period No later than two (2) Dutch trading days after the Offeror's acceptance of Tendered Shares in the Post- Acceptance Period Settlement of the Tendered Shares during the Post- Acceptance Period: in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Offer, the Offeror will pay the Offer Price for each Tendered Share

Offer Period

The Offer Period will commence at 09:00 hours CET on 1 April 2022 and will expire on 10 June 2022 at 17:40 hours CET on the Closing Date, unless the Offer Period is extended in accordance with section 5.5 (Extension) of the Offer Memorandum.

Shares tendered on or prior to the Closing Date may not be withdrawn, subject to the right of withdrawal of any tender of Shares pursuant to the provisions of Article 5b, paragraph 5 and Article 15, paragraphs 3 and 8 and Article 15a paragraph 3 of the Decree and in accordance with the procedures set forth in section 5.3 (Acceptance by Shareholders) of the Offer Memorandum.

Acceptance by the Shareholders

Shareholders who hold their Shares through an Admitted Institution are requested to make their acceptance known through their bank or stockbroker no later than the Closing Time, being 17:40 hours CET on the initial Closing Date, unless the Offer Period is extended in accordance with section 5.5 (Extension) of the Offer Memorandum. The custodian, bank or stockbroker may set an earlier deadline for communication by Shareholders in order to permit the custodian, bank or stockbroker to communicate its acceptances to ABN AMRO Bank N.V. (the "Settlement Agent") in a timely manner. Accordingly, Shareholders holding Shares through a financial intermediary should comply with the dates communicated by such financial intermediary, as such dates may differ from the dates and times noted in the Offer Memorandum.

Admitted Institutions may tender Shares for acceptance only to the Settlement Agent and only in writing. In submitting the acceptance, Admitted Institutions are required to declare that (i) they have the Tendered Shares in their administration, (ii) each Shareholder who accepts the Offer irrevocably represents and warrants that (a) the Tendered Shares are being tendered in compliance with the restrictions set out in sections 2 (Restrictions) and 3 (Important information) of the Offer Memorandum and (b) neither it, nor any director, officer, member, employee, or agent acting for it in connection with the Tendered Shares, is the subject or target, directly or indirectly, of any economic or financial sanctions or trade embargoes administered or enforced by any governmental or supranational authority, including but not limited to any agency of the U.S. government, the United Kingdom, the European Union or any member state thereof, or the United Nations (collectively, "Sanctions" and any such government, body, or agency a "Sanctions Authority"), including, without limitation, as a result of being a person (1) listed in any Sanctions-related list of sanctioned person maintained by a Sanctions Authority (other than solely by virtue of its inclusion in the U.S. "Sectoral Sanctions Identifications (SSI) List" or Annex III, IV, V or VI of Council Regulation (EU) No. 833/2014 of 31 July 2014, as amended), (2) located, organized or resident in a country, jurisdiction or territory that is subject to comprehensive sanctions or trade embargoes (including Russia, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, or the Crimea region), or (3) owned or controlled by any such person or persons, and (iii) they undertake to effect the transfer (levering) of these Tendered Shares to the Offeror prior to or ultimately on the Settlement Date, provided that the Offer has been declared unconditional (gestand is gedaan

Although under normal circumstances the relevant Admitted Institutions will ensure that the Tendered Shares are transferred (geleverd) to the Offeror, if so instructed by the Shareholder, Shareholders are advised that each Shareholder is responsible for the transfer (levering) of such Tendered Shares to the Offeror.

Subject to Article 5b, paragraph 5, Article 15, paragraphs 3 and 8 and Article 15a paragraph 3 of the Decree, the tendering of Shares by a Shareholder in acceptance of the Offer will constitute irrevocable instructions (i) to block any attempt to transfer (levering) such Tendered Shares, so that on or prior to the Settlement Date no transfer (levering) of such Tendered Shares may be effected (other than to the Settlement Agent on or prior to the Settlement Date if the Offer is declared unconditional (gestand wordt gedaan) and the Tendered Shares have been accepted for purchase) and (ii) to debit the securities account in which such Tendered Shares are held on the Settlement Date in respect of all of the Tendered Shares, against payment by the Settlement Agent of the Offer Price.

Shareholders individually recorded in Intertrust's shareholders' register wishing to accept the Offer in respect of such registered Shares must deliver a completed and signed acceptance form to the Settlement Agent, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the Offer, no later than 17:40 hours CET on the Closing Date. The acceptance forms are available upon request from the Settlement Agent. The acceptance form will also serve as a deed of transfer (akte van levering) with respect to the Shares references therein.

Extension of the Offer Period

If one or more of the Offer Conditions set out in section 6.6 (Offer Conditions, waiver and satisfaction) of the Offer Memorandum is not satisfied by the initial Closing Date or waived in accordance with section 6.6(b) (Waiver) of the Offer Memorandum, the Offeror may, in accordance with Article 15, paragraph 1 and paragraph 2 of the Decree, extend the Offer Period once for a minimum period of two (2) weeks and a maximum period of ten (10) weeks calculated from the initial Closing Date, until such time as the Offeror reasonably believes is necessary to cause such Offer Conditions to be satisfied or waived, and any subsequent extension shall be subject to the receipt of an exemption granted by the AFM, provided that:

if the Offer Condition relating to Competition Clearances set out in section 6.6(a)(ii)( Offer Conditions ) or the Regulatory Clearances set out section 6.6(a)(iii)( Offer Conditions ) is not satisfied or waived in accordance with section 6.6(b) ( Waiver ) of the Offer Memorandum on the [initial] Closing Date, the Offeror shall extend the Offer Period with (10) weeks (or such shorter period as may be agreed in writing between the Offeror and Intertrust in light of the reasonably expected period required to satisfy the Offer Condition relating to the Competition Clearances or Regulatory Clearances, as applicable), and

) or the Regulatory Clearances set out section 6.6(a)(iii)( ) is not satisfied or waived in accordance with section 6.6(b) ( ) of the Offer Memorandum on the [initial] Closing Date, the Offeror shall extend the Offer Period with (10) weeks (or such shorter period as may be agreed in writing between the Offeror and Intertrust in light of the reasonably expected period required to satisfy the Offer Condition relating to the Competition Clearances or Regulatory Clearances, as applicable), and without limitation to the Offeror's right to rely on the Offer Condition set out in section 6.6(a)(i) Offer Conditions) of the Offer Memorandum, if the total of the Tendered, Owned and Committed Shares at the Closing Date does not represent 80% of the Outstanding Capital, the Offeror, subject to compliance with the Applicable Rules, will in good faith consult with Intertrust on a possible extension of the Offer Period with such period as the Offeror, after consultation with Intertrust, reasonably expects to be required to satisfy the Offer Condition.

If one or more of the Offer Conditions is not satisfied or waived in accordance with section 6.6(b) (Waiver) of the Offer Memorandum on the Postponed Closing Date, the Offeror may, subject to receipt of an exemption granted by the AFM following a request by the Offeror which in the opinion of the AFM adequately substantiates the reasons for an exemption in accordance with Article 5:81 paragraph 3 of the Wft, extend the extended Offer Period for more reasonable periods of time, until such time as the Offeror reasonably believes is necessary to cause such Offer Conditions to be satisfied or waived. If the Offer Condition relating to the Competition Clearances set out in section 6.6(a)(ii) Offer Conditions) of the Offer Memorandum or the Regulatory Clearances set out in section 6.6(a)(iii) Offer Conditions) of the Offer Memorandum is not satisfied or waived in accordance with section 6.6(b) (Waiver) of the Offer Memorandum on the Postponed Closing Date, the Offeror shall, subject to receipt of an exemption granted by the AFM, extend the Offer Period until such time as the Parties reasonably believe is necessary to cause such Offer Condition to be satisfied but ultimately until the Long Stop Date. At the Offeror's request, Intertrust shall express in writing to the AFM its full support for the exemption request in relation to such extension, subject to the conditions of the Merger Agreement.

If the Offer Period is extended, so that the obligation pursuant to Article 16 of the Decree to announce whether the Offer is declared unconditional (gestand wordt gedaan) is postponed, a public announcement to that effect will be made no later than on the third (3rd) Business Day following the initial Closing Date in accordance with the provisions of Article 15, paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Decree. During an extension of the Offer Period, any Shares previously tendered and not validly withdrawn will remain tendered under the Offer, subject to the right of each Shareholder to withdraw the Shares he or she has already tendered in accordance with section 5.3(e) (Withdrawal rights) of the Offer Memorandum.

If no exemption is granted by the AFM while not all Offer Conditions have been satisfied before the end of the extended Offer Period (and if such Offer Condition(s) has or have not been waived in accordance with section 6.6(b) (Waiver) of the Offer Memorandum), the Offer will be terminated as a consequence of such Offer Condition(s) not having been satisfied or waived on or before the Unconditional Date.

Declaring the Offer unconditional

The obligation of the Offeror to declare the Offer unconditional (gestand doen) is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of the Offer Conditions. Reference is made to section 6.6 (Offer Conditions, waiver and satisfaction) of the Offer Memorandum. The Offer Conditions may be waived, to the extent permitted by Applicable Rules, as set out in section 6.6(b) (Waiver) of the Offer Memorandum. If any Offer Condition is waived in accordance with section 6.6(b) (Waiver) of the Offer Memorandum, the Offeror will inform the Shareholders as required by the Applicable Rules.

No later than on the Unconditional Date (i.e. the third (3rd) Business Day following the Closing Date), the Offeror will determine whether the Offer Conditions have been satisfied or waived as set out in section 6.6 (Offer Conditions, waiver and satisfaction) of the Offer Memorandum, to the extent permitted by Applicable Rules. In addition, the Offeror will announce on the Unconditional Date whether (i) the Offer is declared unconditional (gestand is gedaan), (ii) the Offer Period will be extended in accordance with Article 15 of the Decree, or (iii) the Offer is terminated as a result of the Offer Conditions set out in section 6.6(a) (Offer Conditions) not having been satisfied or waived, all in accordance with section 6.6(b) Waiver) of the Offer Memorandum and section 6.6(d) (Satisfaction) of the Offer Memorandum and Article 16 of the Decree. In the event that the Offer is not declared unconditional (niet gestand is gedaan), the Offeror will explain such decision.

In the event that the Offeror declares the Offer unconditional (gestand is gedaan), the Offeror will accept all Tendered Shares and will announce a Post-Acceptance Period (na-aanmeldingstermijn) as set out in section 5.8 (Post-Acceptance Period) of the Offer Memorandum of two (2) weeks to enable Shareholders who did not tender their Shares during the Offer Period to tender their Shares during the Post-Acceptance Period under the same terms and conditions as the Offer.

Settlement

In the event that the Offeror declares the Offer unconditional (gestand is gedaan), Shareholders who have validly tendered (or defectively tendered provided that such defect has been waived by the Offeror) and have not validly withdrawn and have transferred (geleverd) their Shares for acceptance pursuant to the Offer on or prior to the Closing Date will receive no later than on the fifth (5th) Business Day after the Closing Date or Postponed Closing Date, as the case may be, the Offer Price in respect of each Tendered Share, as of which moment revocation (herroeping), dissolution (ontbinding) or annulment (vernietiging) of a Shareholder's tender or transfer (levering) shall not be permitted. Settlement will only take place if the Offer is declared unconditional (gestand is gedaan). The Offeror cannot guarantee that Shareholders holding Shares through an Admitted Institution will actually receive payment within such five (5) Business Day period from the Admitted Institution with whom they hold their Shares.

Post-Acceptance Period

In the event that the Offeror declares the Offer unconditional (gestand is gedaan), the Offeror will, in accordance with Article 17 of the Decree, within three (3) Business Days after declaring the Offer unconditional, publicly announce a Post-Acceptance Period (na-aanmeldingstermijn) of two (2) weeks to enable Shareholders who did not tender their Shares during the Offer Period to tender their Shares during the Post-Acceptance Period under the same terms and conditions as the Offer.

In the Post-Acceptance Period, Shareholders who hold their Shares through an Admitted Institution are requested to make their acceptance known through their bank or stockbroker no later than 17:40 hours CET on the last Business Day of the Post-Acceptance Period. The custodian, bank or stockbroker may set an earlier deadline for communication by Shareholders in order to permit the custodian, bank or stockbroker to communicate its acceptances to the Settlement Agent in a timely manner. Accordingly, Shareholders holding Shares through a financial intermediary should comply with the dates communicated by such financial intermediary, as such dates may differ from the dates and times noted in the Offer Memorandum.

The Offeror will publicly announce the results of the Post-Acceptance Period and the total amount and total percentage of Shares held by it in accordance with Article 17, paragraph 4 of the Decree ultimately on the third (3rd) Business Day following the last day of the Post-Acceptance Period. The Offeror shall accept all Tendered Shares during such Post-Acceptance Period.

During the Post-Acceptance Period, Shareholders have no right to withdraw Shares from the Offer, which are validly tendered (or defectively tendered, provided that such defect has been waived by the Offeror) during the Offer Period or during the Post-Acceptance Period. Shareholders who have validly tendered (or defectively tendered provided that such defect has been waived by the Offeror) and transferred geleverd) their Shares for acceptance pursuant to the Offer during the Post-Acceptance Period will receive the Offer Price in respect of each Tendered Share within two Dutch trading days of the Offeror's acceptance of such Shares tendered.

In the event any Distribution on the Shares is made by Intertrust on or prior to the settlement date of the Shares tendered in the Post-Acceptance Period, whereby the record date is decisive for entitlement to such Distribution, the Offer Price will be decreased by the full amount of any such Distribution made by Intertrust in respect of each Share (before any applicable withholding tax).

As of the relevant settlement date, revocation (herroeping), dissolution (ontbinding) or annulment (vernietiging) of the tendering, sale or transfer (levering) of any Share tendered during the Post-Acceptance Period is not possible.

Acquisition of 100%

Intertrust and the Offeror believe the sustainable and long-term success of Intertrust will be enhanced under private ownership and acknowledge the importance of acquiring 100% of the Shares and achieving a delisting in order to execute on the Combined Group's long-term strategy. Intertrust and the Offeror intend to as soon as possible (1) terminate the listing of the Shares on Euronext Amsterdam, and (2) if deemed desirable by the Offeror, convert the Company into a private company with limited liability (besloten vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid

In the event that, following the Settlement Date and the Post-Acceptance Period, (i) the Offeror meets either the threshold to initiate a compulsory acquisition procedure uitkoopprocedure) in accordance with article 2:92a of the Dutch Civil Code or the threshold to initiate a takeover buy-out procedure in accordance with article or 2:201a or 2:359c of the Dutch Civil Code (the "Squeeze-Out Proceedings Threshold"), (ii) the Asset Sale Resolution has been adopted, and (iii) the Offeror elects to implement the Pre-Squeeze-Out Asset Sale, then the Offeror and Intertrust shall implement the Pre-Squeeze-Out Asset Sale and promptly after completion thereof the Offeror shall initiate Squeeze-Out Proceedings in accordance with section 6.15 (Post-closing measures and future legal structure) of the Offer Memorandum, whereby an amount equal to the value attributable to the Offeror's shareholding will be paid through a loan note (the "Offeror's Note"). At the request of the Offeror, the articles of association of the Company will be amended to, inter alia, provide for a new class of shares (the "B Shares") and subsequently, the Company will issue a number of B Shares to the Offeror equal to the number of Shares held by the Offeror, against the transfer of the Shares held by the Offeror to the Company. The Company will thereafter make a distribution equal to the Offeror's Note on the B Shares to the Offeror (the "Offeror's Distribution"). The Company and the Offeror have agreed to implement appropriate guarantees and indemnities in relation to issuance of the B Shares, the acquisition of Shares and the Offeror's Distribution to protect the Company's minority shareholders.

In the event that, following the Settlement Date and the Post-Acceptance Period, the Offeror does not meet the Squeeze-Out Proceedings Threshold but does meet the Acceptance Threshold and the Asset Sale and Liquidation Resolutions have been adopted, then the Offeror and Intertrust shall implement, at the election of the Offeror, the Asset Sale and Liquidation in accordance with section 6.15 (Post-closing measures and future legal structure) of the Offer Memorandum. As soon as possible after commencement of the Liquidation, an advance liquidation distribution will be made to the Shareholders consisting of a payment per Share equal to the Offer Price, without any interest and subject to withholding taxes and other taxes.

If, after the Post-Acceptance Period, the Offeror meets the Squeeze-Out Proceedings Threshold, while the Asset Sale Resolution has not been adopted, the Offeror shall commence the Squeeze-Out Proceedings to obtain 100% of the Shares without implementation of the Pre-Squeeze-Out Asset Sale.

Liquidity and delisting

The purchase of Shares by the Offeror pursuant to the Offer will reduce the number of Shareholders, as well as the number of Shares that might otherwise be traded publicly. As a result, the liquidity and market value of the Shares that were not tendered under the Offer, or were tendered and validly withdrawn, may be adversely affected. The Offeror does not intend to compensate for such adverse effect by, for example, setting up a liquidity mechanism for the Shares that are not tendered following the Settlement Date and the Post-Acceptance Period.

Should the Offer be declared unconditional (gestanddoening), the Offeror and Intertrust intend to procure the delisting of the Shares on Euronext Amsterdam as soon as possible under Applicable Rules. This may further adversely affect the liquidity and market value of any Shares not tendered.

If the Offeror acquires 95% or more of the Shares, it will be able to procure delisting of the Shares from Euronext Amsterdam in accordance with applicable (policy) rules. However, the listing of the Shares on Euronext Amsterdam will also terminate after a successful Asset Sale and Liquidation as set out in section 6.15(d) (Asset Sale and Liquidation) of the Offer Memorandum or any other measures or procedures set out in section 6.15(f) (Other Post-Closing Measures) of the Offer Memorandum. In the event that Intertrust will no longer be listed, the provisions applicable to the governance of listed companies will no longer apply and the rights of remaining minority Shareholders may be limited to the statutory minimum.

Announcements

Any announcement contemplated by the Offer Memorandum will be issued by means of a press release. Any press release issued by the Offeror will be made available on the website www.cscglobal.com. Any press release issued by Intertrust will be made available on the website www.intertrustgroup.com.

Subject to any applicable legal requirements and without limiting the manner in which the Offeror may choose to make any public announcement, the Offeror will have no obligation to communicate any public announcement other than as described above and in section 5.12 Announcements) of the Offer Memorandum.

Offer Memorandum, Position Statement and further information

The Offeror is making the Offer on the terms and subject to the conditions and restrictions contained in the Offer Memorandum which is available as of today. In addition, Intertrust has made available the Position Statement today, containing the information required by Section 18, Paragraph 2 and Annex G of the Decree in connection with the Offer.

This announcement contains selected, condensed information regarding the Offer and does not replace the Offer Memorandum and/or the Position Statement. The information in this announcement is not complete and additional information is contained in the Offer Memorandum and/or the Position Statement.

Shareholders are advised to review the Offer Memorandum and the Position Statement in detail and to seek independent advice where appropriate in order to reach a reasoned judgment in respect of the Offer and the content of the Offer Memorandum and the Position Statement. In addition, shareholders may wish to consult with their tax advisors regarding the tax consequences of tendering their Shares under the Offer.

Digital copies of the Offer Memorandum and Position Statement are available on the website of Intertrust (www.intertrustgroup.com/investors/offer-for-intertrust) and a digital copy of the Offer Memorandum is available on the website of the Offeror (www.cscglobal.com). Such websites do not constitute a part of, and are not incorporated by reference into, the Offer Memorandum. Copies of the Offer Memorandum and the Position Statement are also available free of charge at the offices of Intertrust and the Settlement Agent, at the addresses mentioned below.

Intertrust:

Intertrust N.V.

Basisweg 10

1043 AP Amsterdam

The Netherlands

The Settlement Agent:

ABN AMRO Bank N.V.

Gustav Mahlerlaan 10

1082 PP Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Advisors

Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft and Goldman Sachs Bank Europe SE are acting as Intertrust's financial advisors. N.M. Rothschild Sons Limited is acting as independent financial advisor to the Supervisory Board.

De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek N.V. is acting as legal advisor to Intertrust. Jan Louis Burggraaf is acting as independent legal advisor to the Supervisory Board.

On behalf of CSC, Jefferies LLC is acting as lead mergers and acquisitions financial advisor and Wells Fargo Securities, LLC as assisting financial advisor, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher Flom LLP and Houthoff Cooperatief U.A. are acting as legal advisors.

Notice to US holders of Intertrust Shares

The Offer is being made for the securities of Intertrust N.V., a public limited liability company incorporated under Dutch law, and is subject to Dutch disclosure and procedural requirements, which differ from those of the United States. The financial information of the Intertrust Group included or referred to herein has been prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, as adopted by the European Union for use in the European Union ("EU IFRS") and in accordance with Title 9 Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code and, accordingly, may not be comparable to financial information of U.S. companies or companies whose financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The Offer will be made in the United States in compliance with applicable Dutch securities laws and, except to the extent of relief granted by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") described below, the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "U.S. Exchange Act") and the rules and regulations adopted by the SEC thereunder, including Regulation 14E. As set forth below, in accordance with the relief granted by the SEC, the Offer will be subject to disclosure and other procedural requirements, including with respect to withdrawal rights, offer timetable, settlement procedures and timing of payments that are different from those applicable under U.S. domestic tender offer procedures and law. Refer to section 3.2 (Information for U.S. Shareholders) of the Offer Memorandum for additional detail regarding the relief sought from and granted by the SEC in connection with the Offer.

The receipt of cash pursuant to the Offer by a U.S. holder of Shares will generally be a taxable transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes and may be a taxable transaction under applicable state and local laws, as well as foreign and other tax laws. Each U.S. holder of Shares is urged to consult his or her independent professional adviser immediately regarding the tax consequences of acceptance of the Offer.

It may be difficult for U.S. holders of Shares to enforce their rights and any claim arising out of the U.S. federal securities laws, because the Offeror and Intertrust are located in a country other than the United States, and some or all of their officers and directors may be residents of a country other than the United States. U.S. holders of Shares may not be able to sue a non-U.S. company or its officers or directors in a non-U.S. court for violations of the U.S. securities laws. Further, it may be difficult to compel a non-U.S. company and its affiliates to subject themselves to a U.S. court's judgment.

Neither the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission nor any U.S. state securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the Offer, passed upon the fairness or merits of the Offer or provided an opinion as to the accuracy or completeness of this Offer Memorandum or any other documents regarding the Offer. Any declaration to the contrary constitutes a criminal offence in the United States.

General restrictions

This press release contains inside information within the meaning of the EU Market Abuse Regulation (596/2014). The information in this announcement is not intended to be complete. This announcement is for information purposes only and does not constitute an offer or an invitation to acquire or dispose of any securities or investment advice or an inducement to enter into investment activity. This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or issue or the solicitation of an offer to buy or acquire the securities of Intertrust in any jurisdiction.

The distribution of this press release may, in some countries, be restricted by law or regulation. Accordingly, persons who come into possession of this document should inform themselves of and observe these restrictions. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Offeror and Intertrust disclaim any responsibility or liability for the violation of any such restrictions by any person. Any failure to comply with these restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of that jurisdiction. Neither Intertrust, nor the Offeror, nor any of their advisors assume any responsibility for any violation by any person of any of these restrictions. Shareholders in any doubt as to their position should consult an appropriate professional advisor without delay. This announcement is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in or into, directly or indirectly, Canada or Japan.

Forward-looking statements

This press release may include "forward-looking statements" such as statements relating to the impact of the Transaction on the Offeror and Intertrust and the expected timing and completion of the Offer and the Transaction. Forward-looking statements involve known or unknown risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that all occur in the future. Generally, words such as may, should, aim, will, expect, intend, estimate, anticipate, believe, plan, seek, continue or similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this release.

Although the Offeror and Intertrust, each with respect to the statements it has provided, believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, no assurance can be given that such statements will be fulfilled or prove to be correct, and no representations are made as to the future accuracy and completeness of such statements.

Forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from historical experience or from future results expressed or implied by such forward looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, (i) the risk that required regulatory approvals may delay the Offer or result in the imposition of conditions that could have a material adverse effect on the integration of Intertrust into Offeror's Group or cause the Offeror to abandon the Offer, (ii) the risk that the Offer Conditions may not be satisfied, (iii) risks relating to the Offeror's ability to successfully operate Intertrust without disruption to its other business activities, which may result in Intertrust not operating as effectively and efficiently as expected, (iv) the possibility that Intertrust may involve unexpected costs, unexpected liabilities or unexpected delays, (v) the risk that the businesses of the Offeror, CSC and its Affiliates may suffer as a result of uncertainty surrounding the Offer, (vi) the effects of competition (in particular the response to the Offer in the marketplace) and competitive developments or risks inherent to the Offeror's or Intertrust's business plans, (vii) the risk that disruptions from the Offer will harm relationships with customers, employees and suppliers, (viii) political, economic or legal changes in the markets and environments in which the Offeror, CSC and its Affiliates, shareholders, officers, directors, employees, advisers, agents, representatives and members do business, (ix) economic conditions in the global markets in which the Offeror, CSC and Intertrust and, where applicable, their respective Affiliates operate, in particular the impact of COVID-19 and the current macro-economic developments, (x) uncertainties, risk and volatility in financial markets affecting the Offeror, CSC and its Affiliates and Intertrust and, where applicable, their respective Affiliates, shareholders, officers, directors, employees, advisers, agents, representatives and members, and (xi) other factors that can be found in CSC and the Offeror and its Affiliates' and Intertrust's press releases and public filings.

Neither Intertrust nor the Offeror, nor any of their respective advisors accept any responsibility for any financial information contained in this press release relating to the business or operations or results or financial condition of the other or their respective groups.

Each of the Offeror and Intertrust expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.

About Intertrust

Intertrust's more than 4,000 employees are dedicated to providing world-leading, specialised administration services to clients in over 30 jurisdictions. This is amplified by the support we offer across our approved partner network which covers a further 120+ jurisdictions. Our focus on bespoke corporate, fund, capital market and private wealth services enables our clients to invest, grow and thrive anywhere in the world. Sitting at the heart of international business, our local, expert knowledge and innovative, proprietary technology combine to deliver a compelling proposition all of which keeps our clients one step ahead.

About CSC

CSC is the world's leading provider of business, legal, tax, and digital brand services to companies around the globe, and specialized administration services to alternative asset managers across a range of fund strategies, capital markets participants in both public and private markets, and corporations requiring fiduciary and governance support. We are the business behind business. We are the trusted partner for 90% of the Fortune 500, more than 65% of the Best Global Brands (Interbrand), nearly 10,000 law firms, and more than 3,000 financial organizations. Headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, since 1899, we have offices throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region. We are a global company capable of doing business wherever our clients are-and we accomplish that by employing experts in every business we serve. Learn more at cscglobal.com and cscgfm.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005808/en/

Contacts:

Press enquiries Intertrust:

Investors Media

Michiel de Jonge

michiel.dejonge@intertrustgroup.com

Tel +31 6 533 983 94



Press inquiries CSC:

Brandy Chieffi

brandy.chieffi@cscglobal.com

Tel +1 302 636 5837
Waga Energy

Waga Energy and Veolia commission one of the largest biomethane production units in Europe



31-March-2022 / 07:30 CET/CEST

Dissemination of a French Regulatory News, transmitted by EQS Group.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Press release

Paris - March 31, 2022 Veolia and Waga Energy commission one of the largest biomethane production units in Europe France's largest biomethane production facility comes on stream.

This project contributes to French and European energy security, by developing local, sustainable, low-carbon energy sources.

Veolia already produces a total of 1.6 TWh (of biogas in France, equivalent to 10% of the French biogas production target set out in the 2023 Multiannual Energy Plan Veolia and Waga Energy have announced the commissioning of France's largest biomethane production unit using biogas from a non-hazardous waste storage facility. Located on the largest biogas production site in France, Veolia's industrial ecology hub in Claye-Souilly (Paris region), it will produce 120 GWh of renewable gas annually. This is equivalent to the average annual consumption of 20,000 households or 480 buses running on BioNGV, and will avoid around 25,000 tons of CO2 every year. Based on the WAGABOX(R) technology developed by Waga Energy, this fully automated and remotely controlled production unit recovers and treats the biogas from landfill waste to transform it into biomethane, a 100% renewable gas. This green gas is then injected directly into the GRDF-operated network to provide energy to homes and businesses in the region, for their traditional uses but also to decarbonize the transport sector thanks to BioGNV. The Claye-Souilly project is one of four developed through a partnership between Veolia and Waga Energy in France. A production unit is already in operation in Saint-Palais (Cher), with two others currently under construction in Le Ham (Manche) and Chatuzange-le-Goubet (Drome). Once commissioned, these four units will represent biomethane production capacity of up to 175 GWh per year by 2024, and will allow to avoid 35,000 metric tons of CO2 annually. "Veolia is a key player in the biogas production and the conversion of biogas into energy, the Group already produces 1.6 terrawat hours of biogas from waste methanisation in France alone. We intend to contribute to the development of a full-fledged green gas production sector at the European level, which is essential for energy security and to fight against global warming," explains Estelle Brachlianoff, Group Chief Operating Officer at Veolia. Mathieu Lefebvre, co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Waga Energy, adds: "The commissioning of this high-capacity unit at the Claye-Souilly industrial ecology hub marks a new milestone in our five-year collaboration with Veolia. We are delighted to combine our unique gas engineering expertise with the expertise of a world leader in waste treatment to develop a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. By producing biomethane, a pillar of energy transition, we are taking concrete action against global warming and helping to strenghen our country's energy independence." Bertrand de Singly, Regional Customer Director, Ile-de-France at GRDF: "Thanks to this 27th biomethane production unit, the Seine-et-Marne is becoming more energy independent, with 16% of its residential gas consumption now covered by local biomethane production (with a target of 75% by 2030 in the CapMetha77 charter). GRDF has invested in adapting the gas network to accommodate the renewable gas production of this exceptional project." The industrial ecology hub, located in Claye-Souilly in the Ile-de-France region, treats and recovers up to 1.5 million tons annually of municipal and industrial waste. It is already equipped with facilities converting the biogas produced into heat and electricity. With the commissioning of the new biomethane production unit, the site's total annual energy production from all sources will increase to 238 GWh, a 40% increase on current energy supply. Veolia and biomethane Veolia is now one of the world's largest producers of energy from biogas, with 6 TWh of primary energy resources. A world leader in ecological transformation, Veolia aims to maximize biogas recovery in the form of biomethane and to increase its global reserves, in a circular economy approach. The Group's ambition is to become a leader in the biomethane sector and further develop green energy production capacities to help in the fight against climate change. About Veolia Veolia Group aims to be the benchmark company for ecological transformation. With nearly 179,000 employees worldwide, the Group designs and provides game-changing solutions that are both useful and practical for water, waste and energy management. Through its three complementary business activities, Veolia helps to improve access to resources, and to preserve and replenish them. In 2020, the Veolia group supplied 95 million people with drinking water and 62 million people with wastewater services, produced nearly 43 million megawatt hours of energy and treated 47 million metric tons of waste. Veolia Environment (Paris Euronext: VIE) recorded consolidated revenue of 26.01 billion in 2020. www.veolia.com About Waga Energy Waga Energy (ISIN: FR0012532810, symbol: WAGA) produces competitively priced Renewable Natural Gas (also known as "biomethane") by upgrading landfill gas using a patented purification technology called WAGABOX(R). The RNG produced is injected directly into the gas distribution networks that supply individuals and businesses, providing a substitute for natural gas. Waga Energy finances, builds and operates its WAGABOX(R) units under long-term contracts with landfill operators for the supply of raw gas, and generates income by selling the RNG it generated. Waga Energy operates 11 WAGABOX(R) units in France, representing an installed capacity of 240 GWh/year. Eleven units are under construction in France, Spain and Canada. Each project initiated by Waga Energy contributes to the fight against global warming and the helps the energy transition. Waga Energy has been listed since October 27, 2021, on Euronext Paris. waga-energy.com Contacts Groupe Veolia Relations medias Groupe Veolia

Laurent Obadia - Evgeniya Mazalova Emilie Dupas + 33 1 85 57 86 25 / 33 33 presse.groupe@veolia.com

Relations analystes et investisseurs Ronald Wasylec - Ariane de Lamaze +33 1 85 57 84 76 / 84 80 investor-relations@veolia.com Waga Energy Relations medias Waga Energy

Laurent Barbotin + 33 7 72 77 11 85 laurent.barbotin@waga-energy.com Regulatory filing PDF file



File: Download the press release


STOCKHOLM, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Funds advised by KLAR Partners Limited ("KLAR Partners" or "KLAR") have signed an agreement to invest as growth partner in NWT Group, one of Germany's leading service providers for the solar industry.

NWT Group was established to help accelerate Germany's transition towards renewable energy. NWT Group provides best-in-class design and procurement services for a broad installer network in the German rooftop solar market. In 2021, NWT Group achieved sales of more than EUR 50 million.

The investment in NWT Group is in line with KLAR's strategy to invest in companies operating in business services and industrial technology within growing markets. Growth in the German solar market is expected to accelerate and KLAR's extensive digital expertise will support NWT Group in streamlining processes and enabling scalability to meet this increasing demand.

"The partnership sees KLAR entering the ownership structure alongside Founder and Co-CEO. We are proud to be chosen as a partner to accelerate the growth of one of the key players in driving environmentally friendly and independent energy generation in Europe", said Florian Bandel, KLAR Team Leader.

For more information:

Florian Bandel

fmb@klarpartners.com

+49 173 678 77 88

Carl Johan Falkenberg

cj@klarpartners.com

+44 7918 941 391

About NWT Group

NWT Group is a leading service provider in German rooftop solar, and offers best-in-class design and procurement services for a broad installer network. The business has approximately 50 employees and is headquartered in Germany. The company benefits from close customer relationships in a high-growth market contributing to European energy independence. In 2021, the Group delivered more than EUR 50 million of sales.

About KLAR Partners

KLAR Partners is a European private equity firm focused on investments in companies operating in business services and industrial technology. The companies in which KLAR invests each have an annual turnover of approximately EUR 50-500m and are headquartered in the DACH, Nordics and Benelux regions. With investment professionals located in London, Stockholm, Frankfurt, and Brussels, together with a broad international network in the industry, KLAR has a proven business model to support, develop and grow companies. KLAR's senior professionals have worked together for many years and have more than 50 years of combined investment experience in KLAR's industry-specific and geographical focus area. KLAR Partners is a signatory of United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

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Collaboration will improve Space Situational Awareness and promote best practices in all near-Earth orbits for SES and its partners

A partnership to enhance Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and ensure a sustainable use of space has been formed between SES, the world's leading satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider, and NorthStar Earth and Space (NorthStar), the first commercial service to monitor space from space, both companies announced today.

Together with NorthStar, the teams will be working to launch, develop and evolve NorthStar's SSA products tailored to benefit SES's satellite operations and fleet management. NorthStar will deliver unique SSA services to help satellite operators with safer management of their fleets, minimization of collision risks, and development of space sustainability solutions. Fuelled by data gathered in space, NorthStar's next-generation service will provide a unique layer of information to improve operational performance for all satellite operators and contribute to the realization of a more sustainable space environment.

SES has recently announced its revised Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy and is a firm believer of how sustainable space meets sustainable Earth. Its new ESG strategy revolves around four key pillars ensuring the secure and sustainable use of space; embarking bold climate action, increasing diversity and inclusion in the industry; and using its global content connectivity solutions to meet critical human needs.

"Space supports critical infrastructure for our economy. NorthStar's collaboration with SES leads to more responsible and sustainable operations in space from all stakeholders. NorthStar's high performance SSA services combined with SES's leading role in the industry brings a necessary focus towards the increasingly unmanageable risks we are all witnessing in space", said Stewart Bain, CEO Founder of NorthStar Earth Space. "This is a major step in NorthStar's integration and growth within the fast-moving Luxembourg space ecosystem. Recent investment from the LFF and support from the Luxembourg Ministry of the Economy also contribute to accelerate NorthStar services in support of this important collaboration."

"We are excited to partner with NorthStar and leverage their expertise in space-based sensors to monitor traffic in space and the accuracy of their intelligent platform to transmit information faster," said Steve Collar, CEO of SES. "Space sustainability is of fundamental importance to SES and to the industry. The industry needs to come together quickly to protect space for future generations before it's too late and our partnership with NorthStar is a strong step in that direction."

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About North Star

NorthStar Earth Space is headquartered in Montreal, Canada. NorthStar has recently launched its European headquarters in Luxembourg with the support of the Luxembourg Future Fund. NorthStar also has an office in Washington D.C. NorthStar seeks to empower humanity to preserve our planet through a unique Space and Earth information intelligence platform using space-based sensors. NorthStar strives to help transform the way governments, industry and institutions assess risk, enforce regulations and make decisions to foster the sustainable development of our planet and deliver a safe and secure near-Earth environment. NorthStar's unique space-based commercial Space Situational Awareness products address many of the critical and immediate challenges facing all satellite operators. With a comprehensive view of all near-Earth orbits, NorthStar's satellites will deliver more frequent and precise observations of resident space objects than any current system. Through a suite of high-speed decision quality information services derived from its unparalleled coverage, object custody, and enhanced predictive analytics NorthStar generates its Space Information Intelligence services.

NorthStar's investors comprise a global coalition of strategic partners, including Telesystem Space (a co-enterprise of the Sirois family office, Telesystem and the Roger's Family Trust of Canada), the Space Alliance (Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio) of Europe, the Government of Quebec, the Government of Canada and the Luxembourg Future Fund. More information: https://northstar-data.com/

About SES

SES has a bold vision to deliver amazing experiences everywhere on earth by distributing the highest quality video content and providing seamless connectivity around the world. As the leader in global content connectivity solutions, SES operates the world's only multi-orbit constellation of satellites with the unique combination of global coverage and high performance, including the commercially-proven, low-latency Medium Earth Orbit O3b system. By leveraging a vast and intelligent, cloud-enabled network, SES is able to deliver high-quality connectivity solutions anywhere on land, at sea or in the air, and is a trusted partner to the world's leading telecommunications companies, mobile network operators, governments, connectivity and cloud service providers, broadcasters, video platform operators and content owners. SES's video network carries over 8,400 channels and has an unparalleled reach of 361 million households, delivering managed media services for both linear and non-linear content. The company is listed on Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges (Ticker: SESG). Further information is available at: www.ses.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005906/en/

Contacts:

For further information please contact:

Suzanne Ong

External Communications

Tel. +352 710 725 500

suzanne.ong@ses.com

NorthStar Public Relations: media@northstar-data.com
Appointment strengthens Envision Digital's business in the region and powers the net-zero narrative

PARIS, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Envision Digital International Pte Ltd (Envision Digital), a global AIoT technology leader for Net Zero headquartered in Singapore, has appointed Dr. Maher Chebbo, based in Paris, as the Managing Director of its operations in Europe.

This is in line with Envision Digital's commitment to strengthen its business in the region and advance the wider net-zero agenda, as the European Union (EU) targets climate-neutrality by 2050. Chebbo's appointment also follows the announcement of several new strategic Net Zero partnerships with partners in the region, including engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald, global solar developer Lightsource BP and SITA, the world's leading IT provider for the air transport industry.

Chebbo brings with him over 30 years of experience in the energy and digital transformation sector, where he was most recently the Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial & Innovation Digital Officer at GE Digital. Prior to that, Chebbo spent over 20 years at SAP, and drove digital transformational growth in a range of industries, including Energy & Natural Resources as a General Manager for EMEA.

As the Managing Director of Envision Digital Europe, Chebbo will be responsible for expanding the digital-enabled decarbonisation mission in the region and driving strategic tech alliances to scale net-zero innovations towards a decarbonised Europe in 2050.

Michael Ding, Global Executive Director of Envision said, "We are pleased to welcome Maher to our leadership team as we accelerate our growth in Europe. Europe is one of the most advanced regions in its progress towards lowering emissions, and because of this, we see significant immediate opportunities for our technology to serve this mission. With Maher on board, we look forward to partnering with more governments and companies to leverage digital-enabled clean energy solutions in support of net-zero targets."

Dr Maher Chebbo, Managing Director, Envision Digital Europe said, "I have been impressed with Envision Digital's technology, focusing 100% on Cleantech and the momentum it has already achieved in Europe through strategic collaborations towards a carbon free continent, Enterprises and Smart Cities. I am honoured to be leading a business for purpose with entrepreneurship and strong commitment to deliver further sustainable growth and boost the use of cleaner energy by capitalising on the company's best-in-class Cleantech capabilities in AIoT and digitalisation."

Dr. Maher Chebbo will commence in his role on 1st April.

About Envision Digital

A global AIoT software leader in Net Zero, Envision Digital is committed to becoming the world's leading net zero technology partner for enterprises, governments, and cities to accelerate progress and improve their citizens' quality of life.

EnOS, Envision Digital's proprietary AIoT operating system, connects and manages more than 110 million smart devices and 360 gigawatts of energy assets globally. Envision Digital's growing ecosystem of more than 360 customers and partners spans 10 industries and includes Accenture, Amazon Web Services, GovTech Singapore, Keppel Corporation, Microsoft, Nissan, PTT, Solarvest, Total and ST Engineering. The company has close to 900 employees and 12 offices across the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Japan, Thailand, China, and the United States, with headquarters in Singapore.

For more information, please visit www.envision-digital.com/.

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By Baek Byung-yeul







Kwak Noh-jung, president and chief safety, product & production officer of SK hynix, has been appointed as the memory chip giant's co-CEO. Kwak will lead the chip company together with its Vice Chairman and CEO Park Jung-ho.







The memory chip affiliate of SK Group appointed Kwak as co-CEO in a board meeting on March 30. Kwak earned his Ph.D. in materials engineering from Korea University and joined SK hynix in 1994.







"President Kwak is an expert who has built a solid career in a variety of semiconductor manufacturing and technology-related businesses since joining the company as an engineer in 1994," SK hynix said.







His appointment can be interpreted as the company's move to improve its response capability against the government's strengthened safety regulations. In January, the government implemented a workplace disaster law to improve prevention of industrial accidents.







"The board of directors agreed to appoint Kwak as its co-CEO as he is the right person to lead all technology fields such as companywide development and manufacturing, along with safety tasks that have become important recently," the company said in a statement.







Kwak will replace Lee Seok-hee, who had been a co-CEO since 2018. Lee will work as executive chairman of SK hynix's U.S. subsidiary Solidigm Technology. After deciding to acquire Intel's NAND business in 2020, SK hynix launched the U.S. subsidiary to manage the NAND and SSD businesses newly acquired from Intel.







"Lee will take the lead in 'Inside America' strategies such as the global expansion of the NAND business and the establishment of an R&D center in the U.S., along with Solidigm's post-merger integration process," the company said.


Data presentations provide key updates on the portfolio, including Botulinum Toxin, Belotero, Radiesse and Ultherapy

Merz Aesthetics today confirmed its commitment as a global leader in medical aesthetics at the 20th Aesthetic Anti-Aging Medicine World Congress (AMWC), with the presentation of data from its medical aesthetics portfolio and a clear focus on addressing the aesthetic needs of a diverse society. AMWC 2022, held from Thursday, 31 March to Saturday, 02 April 2022, will take place in a hybrid format, enabling participants to attend the conference in person in Monaco and/or virtually. Merz Aesthetics is an elite sponsor of the global industry congress.

"As part of our continued commitment to the aesthetic medicine industry, we are looking forward to reunite with partners and experts, share insights and foster scientific exchange in the aesthetics field at this year's AMWC congress," said Frank Brandt-Pollmann, President EMEA, Merz Aesthetics. "We are focused to advance science in aesthetics, fuel confidence and empower unique attitudes."

Merz Aesthetics continues to embrace the diversified and unique needs of aesthetic patients and practitioners, recognizing the personal journey for each patient and partnering with experts to meet those needs by fueling confidence and empowering unique attitudes.

Merz Aesthetics is organizing an expert program led by esteemed medical aesthetic experts and presenting new data throughout the course of the meeting.

Expert Keynote Sessions

Merz Aesthetics is organizing expert-led keynote sessions to be held on Thursday, 31 March Friday, 01 April (via registration only).

"Skin Glow and Skin Quality optimizing your skin boosting treatment"- Dr. Sonja Sattler, Thursday, 31 March, 10:00-12:00h CEST.

"Collagen Expert Class insights into collagen stimulation, skin quality and patient safety"- Dr. Jani van Loghem, Thursday, 31 March, 13:00-15:00h CEST.

"Optimizing the Patient Journey in the Digital Age" Adam Haroun, Thursday, 31 March, 15:30-17:00h CEST.

"Aesthetic Toxin Expert Talk purity and precision for long-term patient satisfaction" - Dr. Carla Pecora, Friday 01 April, 10:00-12:00h CEST.

"Skin Lifting the expert approach to customized treatments" Dr. Tatjana Pavicic, Friday 01 April, 13:00-15:00h CEST.

"All About Lips expert techniques to address the unique needs of patients" - Dr. Kate Goldie, Friday 01 April, 15:30 17:30h CEST

Oral Presentations

Dr. Carla Pecora: 'Clinical experience with intradermal microdroplet injection of diluted Incobotulinum toxin A for facial flushing and pore size improvement' (Neuromodulators); Saturday, 02 April, 9:00h CEST, Nijinski

Dr. Carla Pecora: 'A combination approach using IncobotulinumtoxinA and CPM-HA injections for the periorbital complex improvement.' (Periorbital Zone and "Foxy Eyes" Trend Lifting Rejuvenating); Saturday, 02 April, 11:15h CEST, Salle des Princes AMWC Stream 1

E-Poster Presentations

Virtual posters will be available for viewing for the duration of the congress and displayed on the virtual E-poster platform with detailed abstracts.

Botulinum Toxin

Study Design of LONG RUN: A LONGitudinal evaluation and Real-world evidence of Uniquely purified incobotulinumtoxinA in treatment naive participants. Andy Curry, Merz Aesthetics USA, Terrence Keaney, MD USA, Niamh Corduff, MD Australia, Simon Ravichandran, MD UK, Ada Trindade, MD Brasil.

Chemobioresurfacing: Does intradermal injection of botulinumtoxinA plus hyaluronic acid improve skin quality? Diane Duncan, MD USA.

IncobotulinumtoxinA Demonstrates Safety and Prolonged Duration of Effect in a Dose-Ranging Study for Glabellar Lines: Final Study Results. Martina Kerscher, MD PhD Germany, Sabrina Fabi, Md USA, Tanja Fischer, MD PhD Germany, Michael Gold, MD USA, John Joseph, MD USA, Welf Prager, MD Germany, Berthold Rzany, MD ScM Germany, Steve Yoelin, MD USA, Susanna Roll, PhD Germany, Gudrun Klein, PhD Germany, Corey Maas, MD PhD USA.

Belotero and Radiesse

The local tissue lifting capacity of dermal filler is greater with increasing hyaluronic acid concentration using an ex vivo human skin model. Kay Marquardt, Christian Hartmann, Christina Wollenburg, Tristan Gesing, Thomas Hengl all Merz Aesthetics, Germany.

Distance between calcium hydroxylapatite microspheres is essential for fibroblast invasion and resulting neocollagenesis. Bartosch Nowag, Nils Warfving, Thomas Hengl all Merz Aesthetics, Germany.

Comparative Histomorphological Evaluation of the Injectable Cohesive Polydensified Matrix Hyaluronic Acid and Calcium Hydroxylapatite Combination. Yana Yutskovskaya, MD Russia, Evgenia Kogan, MD PhD Russia, Alla Y Koroleva, MD Russia.

About Merz Aesthetics

Merz Aesthetics is a medical aesthetics business with a long history of empowering health care professionals, patients and employees to live every day with confidence. We aim to help people around the world look, feel and live like the best versions of themselves-however they define it. Clinically proven, our product portfolio includes injectables, devices and skin care treatments designed to meet each patient's needs with high standards of safety and efficacy. We are known for building unique connections with customers who feel like family. Our global headquarters is in Raleigh, N.C., USA, with a commercial presence in 36 countries worldwide. Merz Aesthetics is part of Merz Group, a family-owned business founded in 1908 and based in Frankfurt, Germany. Learn more at merzaesthetics.com.

Copyright 2022 Merz Aesthetics GmbH. All rights reserved. MERZ, MERZ AESTHETICS and the MERZ logo are registered trademarks of Merz Pharma GmbH Co. KGaA.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005051/en/

Contacts:

Merz Aesthetics GmbH

Communications EMEA

Diana Trojanus

media@merz.com
DGAP-News: Multitude SE / Key word(s): AGM/EGM

Multitude SE: NOTICE TO CONVENE MULTITUDE SE'S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS



31.03.2022 / 09:30

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



NOTICE TO CONVENE MULTITUDE SE'S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS Notice is given to the shareholders of Multitude SE (Company) that the Annual General Meeting of the Company is to be held on 27 April 2022 at 10 a.m. (EEST / Finnish time) at the offices of Castren & Snellman Attorneys Ltd, Etelaesplanadi 14, Helsinki, Finland. In order to limit the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Company's Board of Directors has decided to adopt the exceptional meeting procedure provided for in the Finnish Act 375/2021, which temporarily deviates from some of the provisions of the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act (the so-called temporary act). The Board of Directors has decided to take the measures permitted by the temporary legislation in order to hold the General Meeting in a predictable manner while also taking into account the health and safety of the Company's shareholders, personnel and other stakeholders. The Company's shareholders can participate in the meeting and exercise their rights only by voting in advance and by presenting counterproposals and questions in advance. Instructions for shareholders are provided below in Section 3 (Instructions for the Participants in the General Meeting of Shareholders). It will not be possible to participate in the meeting in person, and no video link to the meeting venue will be provided. The Company's Board of Directors, the CEO, other management and the auditor will not be present at the meeting venue. The CEO's pre-recorded address will be published on the Company's website on the date of the meeting. 1 MATTERS ON THE AGENDA OF THE GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS At the General Meeting of Shareholders, the following matters will be considered: (1) Opening of the Meeting (2) Calling the Meeting to Order Attorney Janne Lauha will serve as the chairperson of the General Meeting. If Janne Lauha is prevented from serving as the chairperson for a weighty reason, the Board of Directors will appoint a person they deem most suitable to serve as the chairperson. (3) Election of Person to Scrutinise the Minutes and to Supervise the Counting of Votes Attorney Teresa Kauppila will serve as the person to scrutinise the minutes and to supervise the counting of votes. If Teresa Kauppila is prevented from serving as the person to scrutinise the minutes and to supervise the counting of votes for a weighty reason, the Board of Directors will appoint a person they deem most suitable to scrutinise the minutes and to supervise the counting of votes. (4) Recording the Legality of the Meeting (5) Recording the Attendance at the Meeting and Adoption of the List of Votes Shareholders who have voted in advance within the advance voting period and who are entitled to participate in the General Meeting in accordance with chapter 5, sections 6 and 6 a of the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act will be deemed shareholders participating in the meeting. Recording the attendance at the meeting and the adoption of the list of votes will take place based on information provided by Euroclear Finland Oy. (6) Presentation of the Annual Accounts including the Consolidated Annual Accounts, the Report of the Board of Directors and the Auditor's Report for the Year 2021 Because it is only possible to participate in the General Meeting by voting in advance, the Company's Annual Report published on 31 March 2022, which includes the Company's Annual Accounts and report of the Board of Directors as well as the Auditor's report and which is available on the Company's website, will be deemed to have been presented to the General Meeting. (7) Adoption of the Annual Accounts (8) Resolution on the Use of the Result Shown on the Balance Sheet and the Payment of Dividend The result for the financial year 2021 of Multitude SE amounted to a loss of EUR 4.4 million. The unrestricted equity of the Company at the end of the financial year stood at EUR 45.4 million. The result for the financial year 2021 of Multitude Group amounted to a loss of EUR 2.6 million, including EUR 1.2 million profit from continuing operations and EUR 3.8 million loss from discontinued operations. The Board of Directors proposes to the Annual General Meeting that, for the financial year ended 31 December 2021, no dividend will be distributed. (9) Resolution on Discharging the Members of the Board of Directors and the CEO from Liability (10) Consideration of the Remuneration Report for Governing Bodies Because it is only possible to participate in the General Meeting by voting in advance, the Remuneration Report for the Company's Governing Bodies published on 31 March 2022, which is available on the Company's website, will be deemed to have been presented to the General Meeting for an advisory approval. (11) Resolution on the Remuneration of the Members of the Board of Directors The Board of Directors proposes on recommendation of the Remuneration Committee that the fees payable to the members of the Board of Directors remain the same, and that each member of the Board of Directors be paid EUR 4,000 per month. Furthermore, it is proposed that no remuneration will be paid to the members who are employees or CEOs of the Company or a subsidiary of the Company. (12) Resolution on the Remuneration of the Auditor The Board of Directors proposes on recommendation of the Audit Committee that the Auditor be paid reasonable remuneration in accordance with the Auditor's invoice, which shall be approved by the Company. (13) Resolution on the Number of Members of the Board of Directors The Board of Directors proposes that the number of members of the Board of Directors be eight. (14) Election of the Members of the Board of Directors The Board of Directors proposes that Goutam Challagalla, Michael A. Cusumano, Jorma Jokela, Lea Liigus, Frederik Strange and Juhani Vanhala be re-elected as members and that Kristiina Leppanen and Jussi Mekkonen be elected as new members, each one for a term ending at the end of the next Annual General Meeting. The Chairman and the Vice Chairman will be elected by the Board of Directors from amongst its members. The curricula vitae of the proposed members of the Board of Directors are available on the Company's website at https://www.multitude.com/. (15) Election of the Auditor The Board of Directors proposes on recommendation of the Audit Committee that Authorised Public Accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy be re-elected as the Auditor for a term ending at the end of the next Annual General Meeting. PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy has notified that, should they be re-elected, authorised public accountant (KHT) Jukka Karinen will act as the auditor-in-charge. (16) Authorisation to the Board of Directors to Decide on the Repurchase of the Company's Own Shares The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorises the Board of Directors to decide to repurchase a maximum of 2,172,396 shares in the Company, which corresponds approximately to 10 per cent of all the shares in the Company. By virtue of the authorisation, own shares may be repurchased by using the Company's unrestricted equity. Consequently, any repurchase will reduce the Company's funds available for distribution of profits. Own shares may be repurchased through public trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at the prevailing market price on the date of repurchase. The authorisation entitles the Board of Directors to decide to repurchase shares also otherwise than in proportion to the shareholders' holding in the Company by way of a directed repurchase subject to the requirements set out in the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act. The Board can use the authorisation in one or several tranches to all purposes decided by the Board of Directors. The authorisation is proposed to be in force until the earliest of: (i) the transfer of the registered office of Multitude SE from Helsinki, Finland to Hamburg, Germany in accordance with the Council Regulation (EC) No 2157/2001 of 8 October 2001 on the Statute for a European Company (SE) (SE Regulation), (ii) the end of the next Annual General Meeting, or (iii) until 30 June 2023. (17) Authorisation to the Board of Directors to Decide on the Issuance of Shares and Special Rights Entitling to Shares The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorises the Board of Directors to decide to issue a maximum of 3,258,594 shares, which corresponds approximately to 15 per cent of the Company's total amount of shares. The Board of Directors may issue either new shares or transfer existing shares held by the Company. The authorisation also includes the right to issue special rights, in the meaning of chapter 10, section 1 of the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act, which entitle to the Company's new shares or the Company's own shares held by the Company against consideration. Shares that may be subscribed for by virtue of the special rights entitling to shares are included in the aforesaid maximum number of shares. The authorisation entitles the Board of Directors to decide on a directed share issue and issue of special rights in deviation from the pre-emptive rights of shareholders subject to the requirements set out in the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act. The Board of Directors can use the authorisation in one or several tranches, and it may be used to all purposes decided by the Board of Directors, such as developing the Company's capital structure, financing or carrying out acquisitions or other arrangements, or as a part of the Company's incentive schemes. The authorisation is proposed to be in force until the earliest of: (i) the transfer of the registered office of Multitude SE from Helsinki, Finland to Hamburg, Germany in accordance with the Council Regulation (EC) No 2157/2001 of 8 October 2001 on the Statute for a European Company (SE) (SE Regulation), (ii) the end of the next Annual General Meeting, or (iii) until 30 June 2023. (18) Transfer of the Registered Office of the Company from Finland to Germany The Board of Directors proposes that the annual general meeting notes the update regarding the timing of the planned transfer of the Company's registered office from Finland to Germany, i.e., the planned relocation. As announced on 9 December 2021, the Company's Board of Directors has resolved to postpone the relocation for a period currently expected to be up to a year. As a result of the postponement, the relocation is expected to take place at the latest on or about 31 December 2022. The relocation will take place pursuant to a transfer proposal for the transfer of the registered office of Multitude SE from Helsinki, Finland to Hamburg, Germany in accordance with the Council Regulation (EC) No 2157/2001 of 8 October 2001 on the Statute for a European Company (SE) (SE Regulation) approved by the Company's board of directors on 9 July 2021 (Transfer Proposal). Concurrently, the board of directors approved a related report explaining and justifying the legal and economic aspects of the relocation and explaining the implications of the relocation for the shareholders, creditors and employees (Report). In connection with the relocation, the shares in the Company will be transferred to the securities depository system maintained by the German central securities depository Clearstream Banking Aktiengesellschaft (Clearstream) and, consequently, removed from the book-entry securities depository system maintained by Euroclear Finland Oy. The relocation as well as the transfer of the shares in the Company to Clearstream were approved by the Company's Extraordinary General Meeting on 16 September 2021. The Extraordinary General Meeting on 16 September 2021 also approved the Authorised Capital 2021 and an amendment to the new articles of association which will both become effective upon registration of the Company with the commercial register in Germany. (19) Appointment of Auditor Subject to the condition precedent of the registration of the Company with the commercial register in Germany on or before 31 December 2022, the Board of Directors proposes - on recommendation of the Audit Committee - that PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprufungsgesellschaft is elected as the auditor of the Company and Multitude Group for the financial year 2022. For the avoidance of doubt, as set forth in the Report, the Company's current auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy will audit the final accounts to be prepared after the Transfer. (20) Authorisation for the Acquisition of and Use of Treasury Shares pursuant to Article 5 of the Council Regulation (EC) No 2157/2001 of 8 October 2001 on the Statute for a European Company (SE) (SE Regulation) in conjunction with Section 71 Para. 1 No. 8 German Stock Corporation Act, also subject to an Exclusion of the Subscription Right a. The Board of Directors proposes that the Annual General Meeting authorises the Company pursuant to Article 5 of the SE Regulation in conjunction with section 71 para. 1 no. 8 German Stock Corporation Act (AktG), subject to the registration of the Company with the commercial register in Germany and for a period until 30 June 2025, to acquire shares of the Company, regardless of their class, in an extent of up to 10 per cent of the capital stock existing at the point in time of this authorisation becoming effective or - if this value is lower - of the capital stock existing at the point in time of the exercise of this authorisation. Together with any treasury shares that may have been acquired for other reasons and that are either held by the Company or have to be attributed to the Company under sections 71a et seqq. AktG, shares acquired based on this authorisation may at no time exceed 10 per cent of the Company's capital stock at such point in time. In each individual case, the acquisition is to be conducted, at the choice of the Board of Directors, (i) through the stock exchange or (ii) by means of a purchase offer addressed to all shareholders. To the extent that the acquisition is conducted through the stock exchange, the purchase price per share (without ancillary acquisition costs) paid by the Company may not exceed or fall short of, by more than 10 per cent, the arithmetic mean of the auction closing prices of shares of the same class of the Company in Xetra trading (or a functionally comparable successor system to the Xetra system) at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on the last three exchange trading days before the commitment to acquire. To the extent that the acquisition is conducted through a purchase offer addressed to all shareholders, the purchase price per share (without ancillary acquisition costs) offered and paid by the Company may not exceed or fall short of, by more than 10 per cent, the arithmetic mean of the auction closing prices of shares of the same class of the Company in Xetra trading (or a functionally comparable successor system to the Xetra system) at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on the last three exchange trading days before the date of the publication of the offer. In the event that a significant change in the share price occurs after the publication of the offer, the offer may be adjusted. In this case, the relevant reference period is the three exchange trading days before the date of the publication of the adjustment; the 10-per cent-limit for the exceeding or falling short is to be applied to this amount. In the event that the purchase offer is oversubscribed, the acquisition may be conducted in accordance with the proportion of the shareholdings held by the tendering shareholders to each other (shareholding quotas) or in accordance with the proportion of the tendered shares (tendering quotas). In addition, for the avoidance of calculational fractions of shares, rounding may be applied. A preferential acceptance of small numbers of shares (up to 50 tendered shares per shareholder) may be provided for. The purchase offer may provide for additional requirements. The authorisation may be exercised, in compliance with statutory requirements, for any legally permissible purpose, in particular in pursuit of one or several of the purposes specified in lit. b. below. No trading in treasury shares is permitted. b. The Board of Directors is authorised to use treasury shares that were or are acquired on the basis of the authorisation in lit. a. above for all legally permissible purposes, in particular also for the following: i. Disposal of shares of the Company (i) through the stock exchange or (ii) through an offer to all shareholders; ii. Listing of shares of the Company on foreign stock exchanges on which they have not been admitted for trading so far. The initial price of these shares may not fall short, by more than 5 per cent, of the arithmetic mean of the auction closing prices of the already listed shares of the Company with the same features in Xetra trading (or a functionally comparable successor system to the Xetra system) at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on the last 5 exchange trading days before the date of the stock exchange listing, not including ancillary acquisition costs; iii. Transfer of shares of the Company to third parties against consideration in kind in the course of corporate mergers or for the acquisition (also indirectly) of companies, divisions of companies, operational activities, branches of activity, company interests or other assets; iv. Disposal of shares of the Company in a manner other than through the stock exchange or by way of an offer to all shareholders, provided that the disposal is made against cash payment and at a price not significantly falling short of the stock market price of the already listed shares of the Company with the same features at the point in time of the disposal. This authorisation is limited to the disposal of shares representing, on aggregate, a pro-rata amount of no more than 10 per cent of the capital stock at the point in time of this authorisation becoming effective or - if that value is lower - at the point in time of the exercise of this authorisation. To this limit of 10 per cent of the capital stock such portion of the capital stock is to be credited which is (i) attributable to shares of the Company which during the term of this authorisation are issued or disposed of subject to an exclusion of the shareholders' subscription rights in application, directly or mutatis mutandis, of section 186 para. 3 sentence 4 AktG, and (ii) which is attributable to shares of the Company which are issued or have to be issued during the term of this authorisation to settle warrant or convertible bonds which themselves were issued subject to an exclusion of subscription rights in application, mutatis mutandis, of section 186 para 3 sentence 4 AktG; v. Delivery of shares to the holders of warrant or convertible bonds of the Company or its group companies as defined in section 18 AktG in accordance with the warrant or convertible bond conditions; this shall also apply to the delivery of shares as a result of the exercise of subscription rights which in the case of a disposal of treasury shares by means of an offer to all shareholders or in the case of a capital increase with subscription rights may be granted to the holders of warrant or convertible bonds of the Company or its Group companies as defined in section 18 AktG, to the extent to which the holders of the warrant or convertible bonds would be entitled to a subscription right for shares of the Company upon exercise of the warrant or conversion right or fulfilment of the warrant or conversion obligation. On aggregate, the shares transferred as a result of this authorisation may not represent a pro-rata amount of more than 10 per cent of the capital stock at the point in time of this authorisation becoming effective or - if this value is lower - at the point in time of the exercise of this authorisation, provided that the shares are used for the fulfilment of warrant or conversion rights or warrant or conversion obligations which were granted or created in application, mutatis mutandis, of section 186 para. 3 sentence 4 AktG. This limit of 10 per cent of the capital stock is to be diminished by such portion of the capital stock attributable to shares of the Company which during the term of this authorisation are issued or disposed of as treasury shares in application, directly or mutatis mutandis, of section 186 para. 3 sentence 4 AktG; vi. Implementation of a so-called scrip dividend, in the course of which shares of the Company are used (also in part or in the form of an option) for the fulfilment of the dividend entitlements of the shareholders; vii. Redemption of shares of the Company without a further resolution of the general meeting. The redemption may also be conducted without a capital reduction by increase of the pro-rata amount of the other no-par value shares in the capital stock of the Company. In this case, the Board of Directors is authorised to adjust the number of no-par value shares in the articles of association. All of the authorisations stated above for the acquisition and for the utilisation of treasury shares acquired as a result of this authorisation may be exercised in whole or in part, on one or more occasions, individually or jointly by the Company or its group companies as defined in section 18 AktG or for its or their account by third parties. In case of a utilisation of treasury shares pursuant to the authorisations in lit. i. (i), ii., iii., iv. and v., the subscription right of the shareholders is excluded. In case of utilisation of treasury shares pursuant to the authorisation in lit. i. (ii) by way of an offer to all shareholders, which is made in observance of the principle of equal treatment (Article 9 para. 1 lit. c (ii) of the SE regulation in conjunction with section 53a AktG), the Board of Directors is authorised to exclude the shareholders' subscription right for fractional amounts. In addition, the Board of Directors is authorised to exclude the subscription right in the case of a utilisation of treasury shares pursuant to the authorisation in lit. vi. (21) Authorisation for the use of derivatives in the course of the acquisition of treasury shares as well as for the exclusion of the subscription and tendering right By way of supplement to the authorisation for the acquisition of treasury shares pursuant to Article 5 of the SE Regulation in conjunction with section 71 para. 1 no. 8 AktG proposed to be resolved under item (20) above, the Company is to be authorised to acquire treasury shares also by using derivatives and to enter into corresponding derivatives transactions. Therefore, the Board of Directors propose that the following be resolved subject to the registration of the Company with the commercial register in Germany: The acquisition of treasury shares pursuant to section 71 para. 1 no. 8 AktG within the scope of the authorisation pursuant to item (20) above may also be conducted using (i) options to be sold which oblige the Company to acquire shares of the Company upon exercise of the option (Put Options), (ii) options to be acquired which give the Company the right to acquire shares of the Company upon exercise of the option (Call Options), (iii) forward purchase contracts for shares of the Company for which there is a time lag of more than two exchange trading days between the conclusion of the respective purchase contract and the delivery of the acquired shares (Forward Purchases) or (iv) combinations of the instruments specified under (i) through (iii) (Put Options, Call Options, Forward Purchases, and combinations of the aforementioned instruments collectively referred to as Derivatives). The Derivatives may be entered into only with one or more credit institution(s) which is/are independent from the Company and/or one or more companies operating in accordance with section 53 para. 1 sentence 1 or section 53b para. 1 sentence 1 or para. 7 of the German Banking Act (Gesetz uber das Kreditwesen). The Derivatives have to be structured in such manner that it is ensured that they are only fulfilled by delivery of shares which were previously acquired in observance of the principle of equal treatment (section 53a German Stock Corporation Act); for this purpose, it suffices if the acquisition of the shares is conducted through the stock exchange. The acquisition using Derivatives is limited to shares in an amount of no more than 5 % of the capital stock existing at the point in time of this authorisation taking effect or - if that value is lower - at the point in time of the exercise of this authorisation. In each case, the term of the individual Derivatives may not be more than 18 months, has to end no later than on 30 June 2025, and has to be designed in such manner that the acquisition of the shares using the Derivatives cannot occur after 30 June 2025. The option premium received by the Company for Call Options and Put Options may not fall short significantly of the theoretical market value of the relevant options determined in accordance with generally accepted financial mathematical calculation methods. The purchase price per share payable upon exercise of Put Options or Call Options or upon falling due of the Forward Purchase may not exceed or fall short of, by more than 10 per cent, the arithmetic mean of the auction closing prices of shares of the same class of the Company in Xetra trading (or a functionally comparable successor system to the Xetra system) at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on the last three exchange trading days before the conclusion of the relevant derivative transaction (in each case without ancillary acquisition costs, but taking into account the option premium received or, respectively, paid). If treasury shares are acquired using Derivatives in accordance with the above provisions, any right of shareholders to enter into such Derivatives transactions with the Company and any right of shareholders to tender their shares shall be excluded. With regard to the utilisation of treasury shares of the Company that were acquired using Derivatives the provisions stipulated in the resolution proposal regarding item (20) above apply. (22) Closing of the Meeting 2 MEETING MATERIALS The proposals of the Board of Directors relating to the agenda of the General Meeting of Shareholders as well as this notice and the Remuneration Report for Governing Bodies are available on Multitude SE's website at https://www.multitude.com/. The Annual Report of Multitude SE, the Company's Annual Accounts, the report of the Board of Directors and the Auditor's report, are also available on the above-mentioned Multitude SE's website. Copies of these documents and of this notice will be sent to shareholders upon request. The minutes of the meeting will be made available on Multitude SE's website no later than on 11 May 2022. 3 INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE GENERAL MEETING OF SHAREHOLDERS A shareholder may participate in the General Meeting and exercise his/her rights at the meeting only by voting in advance and by presenting counterproposals and questions in advance in accordance with the instructions provided below. It will not be possible to participate in the meeting in person. 3.1 Shareholders Registered in Shareholders' Register Each shareholder who is registered in the shareholders' register of the Company held by Euroclear Finland Oy on 13 April 2022, has the right to participate in the General Meeting of Shareholders. Shareholders whose shares are registered on his/her personal Finnish book-entry account are registered in the shareholders' register of the Company. Shareholders can participate in the General Meeting only by voting in advance and by presenting counterproposals and questions in advance as described below. Shareholders, who are registered in the shareholders' register of the Company, and who wish to participate in the General Meeting, must register for the meeting by giving prior notice of participation and by delivering their votes in advance as instructed below. Both the notice of participation and votes have to be received by the Company no later than on 20 April 2022 at 4:00 p.m. (EEST / Finnish time). In connection with the registration, shareholders are required to provide certain information such as their name, personal identification number/business ID, address and telephone number. Personal data disclosed by shareholders to Multitude SE will only be used in connection with the General Meeting and the processing of the related registrations. Shareholders with a Finnish book-entry account can register and vote in advance on certain matters on the agenda during the period 6 April 2022 - 20 April 2022 at 4:00 p.m. (EEST / Finnish time) by delivering the advance voting form available on the Company's website at https://www.multitude.com/investors/annual-general-meeting/2022 or corresponding information to the Company either by email to agm@multitude.com or by post to Multitude SE, "AGM 2022", Ratamestarinkatu 11 A, 00520 Helsinki, Finland. If a shareholder participates in the General Meeting by delivering votes in advance in the manner set forth above, the delivery of the votes before the end of registration and the advance voting period shall constitute due registration for the General Meeting, provided that the information required for registration has been given. The advance voting form as well as further instructions concerning voting are available on the Company's website at https://www.multitude.com/investors/annual-general-meeting/2022 upon the start of the advance voting at the latest. 3.2 Holders of Nominee Registered Shares Holders of nominee registered shares have the right to participate in the General Meeting by virtue of shares, based on which they would be entitled to be registered in the shareholders' register of the Company held by Euroclear Finland Oy on the record date of the General Meeting, i.e., 13 April 2022. In addition, the right to participate in the General Meeting requires that the holders of nominee registered shares be temporarily entered into the shareholders' register held by Euroclear Finland Oy based on these shares by 22 April 2022 at 10.00 a.m. (EEST / Finnish time), at the latest. This registration constitutes due registration for holders of nominee registered shares wishing to participate in the Annual General Meeting. Changes in shareholding after the record date do not affect the right to participate in the meeting or the number of votes. Holders of nominee registered shares are advised to ask their custodian bank without delay for the necessary instructions regarding registration in the Company's temporary shareholders' register, the issuing of proxy documents and registration for the General Meeting of Shareholders. The account management organisation of the custodian bank must register holders of nominee-registered shares in the Company's temporary shareholders' register at the latest by the time stated above and arrange advance voting on behalf of the holders of nominee registered shares. Further information on these matters is also available on the Company's website at https://www.multitude.com/investors/annual-general-meeting/2022. 3.3 Proxy Representatives and Power of Attorney Shareholders may participate in the General Meeting of Shareholders and exercise their rights at the meeting by way of proxy representation. Proxy representatives of shareholders are also required to vote in advance in the manner instructed in this notice. Proxy representatives must produce a dated proxy document or otherwise reliably demonstrate their right to represent the shareholder. If a shareholder participates in the General Meeting of Shareholders by means of several proxy representatives representing the shareholder with shares in different securities accounts, the shares by which each proxy representative represents the shareholder must be identified in connection with the registration for the General Meeting of Shareholders. A form of proxy is provided on Multitude SE's website at https://www.multitude.com/investors/annual-general-meeting/2022. The form of proxy is provided for the shareholders' convenience, and it is not necessary to use the form provided on the website. Any proxy documents are requested to be delivered to the Company either by email to agm@multitude.com or by post to Multitude SE, "AGM 2022", Ratamestarinkatu 11 A, 00520 Helsinki, Finland before the end of registration on 20 April 2022 at 4:00 p.m. (EEST / Finnish time) by which time the proxy documents must be received. 3.4 Other Instructions and Information Shareholders who hold at least one one-hundredth of all the shares in the Company have the right to make a counterproposal concerning the proposed decisions on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting to be placed for a vote. The counterproposals must be delivered to the Company to the e-mail address agm@multitude.com at the latest by 5 April 2022 at 4:00 p.m. (EEST / Finnish time). In connection with the counterproposal, the shareholders must present an adequate statement of their shareholding in the Company. The counterproposal is admissible for consideration at the Annual General Meeting if the shareholders who have made the counterproposal have the right to attend the meeting and represent at least one one-hundredth of all shares in the Company on the record date of the Annual General Meeting. If a counterproposal is non-admissible, votes cast for such counterproposal will not be recorded at the meeting. The Company will publish the counterproposals eligible for voting on the Company's website at https://www.multitude.com/investors/annual-general-meeting/2022 at the latest on 6 April 2022. Shareholders have the right to pose questions and request information with respect to the matters to be considered at the meeting pursuant to chapter 5, section 25 of the Finnish Limited Liability Companies Act by e-mail to the address agm@multitude.com at the latest by 11 April 2022 at 4:00 p.m. (EEST / Finnish time). The Company will publish the shareholders' questions along with the management's and the Board of Directors' responses as well as any counterproposals not eligible for voting on the Company's website at https://www.multitude.com/investors/annual-general-meeting/2022 at the latest on 14 April 2022. Posing questions and counterproposals requires the shareholder to present an adequate statement of their shareholding in the Company. On the date of this notice to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, dated 31 March 2022, the total number of shares in Multitude SE is 21,723,960 and each of these shares carries one vote. Multitude SE holds 146,200 of its own shares as treasury shares. Accordingly, the number of voting rights carried by the outstanding shares is 21,577,760. ------------------------- In Helsinki on 31 March 2022 MULTITUDE SE

The Board of Directors

31.03.2022 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

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BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - GERRY WEBER Group (GRYIF.PK) reported preliminary fiscal 2021 normalized consolidated EBITDA excluding the effects of lease accounting under IFRS 16 to be between 25 million euros and 30 million euros, significantly exceeding the original forecast of a negative low double-digit million figure. The company noted that, even without the recognition of the interim state aid III, EBITDA excluding the effects of lease accounting under IFRS 16 will exceed the original forecast of a negative low double-digit million figure. Based on preliminary figures, the company generated consolidated sales at the lower forecast range of 260 million euros and 280 million euros in fiscal 2021, meeting its guidance. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
KAL is delighted to announce that we have opened a new business and engineering office in Vietnam's primary economic center Ho Chi Minh City.

By opening this office, KAL is well-positioned to serve banks in Vietnam with the dedicated local support required by financial institutions with advanced ATM and self-service networks. As part of our long-term vision, the KAL Ho Chi Minh City office will support banks elsewhere in Asia-Pacific too as KAL expands further in the region.

Our new Vietnam location is the latest in a growing list of KAL offices around the globe. KAL continually strives to provide world-class service and support while delivering solutions that address local customer needs. The Ho Chi Minh City office confirms our commitment to the growing Asia-Pacific markets, and we welcome new opportunities in the area.

For more information, visit www.kal.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005068/en/

Contacts:

To find out more, please contact KAL's Ho Chi Minh City-based Business Development Manager Anh-Duc Vu at Anh-duc.vu@kal.com
Mission Therapeutics ("Mission"), a drug discovery and development company focused on protein homeostasis by selectively inhibiting deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs), today announced it has been granted approval to take its lead USP30 DUB inhibitor, MTX652, into clinical study.

Mitochondria are essential for energy production and cellular health. When they become damaged or stop working properly, they are labelled with ubiquitin, marking them for degradation. The mitochondrial-associated DUB, USP30, removes this ubiquitin and thereby inhibits the degradation, which can affect cell health. Mission has developed MTX652 to inhibit USP30 with the aim to enable appropriate degradation of dysfunctional mitochondria to preserve and improve cellular health.

Specific kidney cells are rich in mitochondria and highly vulnerable to injury if those mitochondria are not working correctly. Mitochondrial dysfunction is strongly implicated in kidney injury and chronic kidney disease (CKD). In addition to kidney diseases, mitochondrial quality is implicated in a range of other poorly treated conditions such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and primary mitochondrial disease. Mission is also investigating the potential of USP30 inhibitors to treat these diseases.

Following candidate nomination last year, MTX652 has successfully advanced through preclinical regulatory toxicology studies and is ready to be progressed into the clinic. The planned initial clinical trial will evaluate the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics of MTX652 in over 60 participants given either a single or multiple doses. The trial is due to start in April 2022.

Dr Suhail Nurbhai, CMO of Mission Therapeutics, commented: "We are delighted that our lead programme is entering the clinic. Mission has built a groundbreaking platform for the discovery and development of first-in-class small molecule drugs that selectively target DUBs. MTX652 entering the clinic is a major milestone for the Company and a tremendous achievement. We are excited to be taking this important next step."

Kidney diseases are a major global health problem and are reported by the US CDC as a leading cause of death in the US. CKD affects an estimated 780 million people around the world. The attributable UK NHS costs in 2009/10 were around 1.5bn and the estimated US Medicare costs for CKD are greater than US$87 billion. Acute kidney injury (AKI) and CKD are increasingly viewed as a continuum of kidney disease and increase risk to patients of damage to non-renal organs, cardiovascular disease, and early death. Preventing these conditions is therefore an important unmet medical need.

- ENDS -

NOTES TO EDITORS:

About MissionTherapeutics

Mission Therapeutics is an early-stage drug development company targeting the ubiquitin pathway for the treatment of kidney disease, neurodegenerative disease, rare mitochondrial diseases andfibrosis. The Company has built a leading platform for the discovery and development of first-in-class, small molecule drugs that selectively target deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs) an emerging drug class that is attracting significant commercial interest in the area of protein homeostasis.

Mission has strong links with key academic and research centers, including Prof. Steve Jackson's Cancer Research UK Laboratories at the University of Cambridge Gurdon Institute, and leading UK centres in neurodegenerative diseases. The Company also has secured major industry partnerships, including its collaboration with AbbVie in November 2018, for the research and preclinical development of specified DUB inhibitors for the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease. The Company is managed by a team with broad international, commercial and clinical-science experience.

To date the Company has received 73 million $101 million in funding and its investors comprise blue chip institutional and corporate investors including: Pfizer Venture Investments, Sofinnova Partners, Roche Venture Fund, SR One, IP Group and Rosetta Capital. Mission Therapeutics was founded in 2011 and is based at the Babraham Research Campus, Cambridge, UK.

For more information, please visit our website, www.missiontherapeutics.com, or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005146/en/

Contacts:

FOR MORE INFORMATION:



Mission Therapeutics Ltd

Anker Lundemose MD PhD

Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +44 (0)1223 607 340



Instinctif Partners

Melanie Toyne-Sewell Katie Duffell

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7457 2013

missiontherapeutics@instinctif.com
BARCELONA, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With a full house at its exhibition space, Barcelona Wine Week (BWW), which will be held from 4 to 6 April at Fira de Barcelona's Montjuic venue, is establishing itself as the benchmark event for Spanish wine. Around 650 Spanish wineries and more than 60 Spanish Protected Designations of Origin are taking part in the second edition, which will focus on international business and on sustainability and digitisation as major trends for the future.

In its second edition, this event organized by Fira de Barcelona achieves full capacity in Hall 8 of Fira de Barcelona's Montjuic venue, 10,000m2 of net exhibition space, a 20% increase in the number of participating wineries and a 50% increase in the presence of quality labels compared to the previous edition (in March, 2020). The event consolidates the leadership of its unique proposal, which brings together a quality offer representative of all the geographical and varietal diversity of wine in Spain.

Within the show, the BWW Lands area will bring together a large part of the Spanish Protected Designations of Origin (PDO). The wineries that will add the largest number of wineries will be: DO Cava, DO Emporda, DO Jumilla, DO Montsant, DO Navarra, DO Penedes, DO Ribera del Duero, DO Rueda, DO Terra Alta, DO Ca Rioja and DO Ca Priorat.

For its part, BWW Brands will bring together some of the most recognised wine brands, together with companies offering equipment, accessories and services for the sector.

International drive

In this sense, Barcelona Wine Week promotes its international focus by contributing to the wine market's reactivation, encouraging the culmination of business deals and favouring exports. Therefore, through the Hosted Buyers programme, around 350 international wine buyers from 40 countries, mainly from Europe, Latin America and North America, will visit the trade show to meet with exhibitors. These are major opinion leaders from distribution companies, importers and supermarket chains whose presence at the event will lead to more than 4,000 business meetings with exhibiting companies. They will be joined by 1,300 national buyers from large-scale distribution, retail and specialised outlets.

Local varieties as a point of reference for sustainable viticulture will be the main focus of many of the activities that will take place in BWW, with the help of around 80 experts in charge of more than 30 sessions.

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Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
LILLE, France, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Deployment of Openbravo's POS solution has been completed in the 280 branch centers of the French network of Norauto, the European leader in automotive repair and maintenance services. Franchisees are currently in the process of deployment.

Norauto, part of the Mobivia group, has been supporting motorists for nearly 50 years and currently has a total of 656 centers, of which 407 are in France and the rest in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and Italy.

France, Norauto's largest market, is the first to standardize on Openbravo POS as the technology platform for omnichannel commerce across Europe.

The second step of the project will be to deploy Openbravo in all Norauto centers outside France to gradually include Spain, Portugal, Italy and Belgium during 2022.

With the successful deployment of Openbravo underway at Norauto, another Mobivia Group automotive brand, ATU, has decided to launch an Openbravo pilot in some of its stores in Austria. Once the pilot is successful, Openbravo POS will be rolled out to all ATU stores in Austria. The process will then be repeated in Germany, where ATU has 550 centers. The Openbravo POS solution is compatible with the tax and payment systems of all these countries.

Norauto wanted to replace its old POS solution, which was obsolete and did not meet the current needs of omnichannel commerce.

The company chose Openbravo POS, a key component of the Openbravo Commerce Cloud platform, for its 100% web-based point-of-sale solution. No new hardware was required in the stores, as the platform currently runs on fixed terminals. Its flexibility makes it easy to adapt to Norauto's service-oriented business model.

Another factor in favor of Openbravo is its open architecture that allowed integration with the specialist software used in its workshops.

In addition, Norauto appreciated the ease with which it could adapt the Openbravo POS user interface to its company-specific design and usability requirements.

"We chose Openbravo for its flexible POS solution that includes comprehensive functionality to move us towards omnichannel commerce and can be easily adapted to our business requirements. In addition, Openbravo has the resources and expertise to support our ambitious deployment", says Xavier Marvaldi, Digital Leader at Mobivia.

"Mobivia is a leader in Europe's vehicle maintenance and spare parts market and we are delighted to be able to support one its flagship brands, Norauto, as part of a group-wide strategy to support the omnichannel development of its network across Europe" says Christophe Dubuis, Sales Director France & North Europe at Openbravo.

About Norauto

As the European leader in car maintenance and equipment, Norauto has been supporting motorists for almost 50 years. Today, Norauto has established itself as a creator of innovative, accessible and connected solutions to facilitate access to and the pleasure of smoother, safer and more enjoyable mobility, which responds to the new uses of the road. The company is also a pioneer in electric technologies, an ambassador for clean vehicles and is committed to offering alternatives to the automobile in favor of sustainable mobility. The brand's omnichannel development is supported by a network of more than 600 car centers worldwide (6 countries), including more than 400 centers in France.

For more information on Norauto, its services and products, visit www.norauto.fr .

About Openbravo

Openbravo is the platform of choice for brands and retailers looking to accelerate their unified commerce strategy and increase the agility of their operations. It is a fully modular platform that integrates the online and offline channels and provides intelligent order management, a single, real-time view of customers and inventory, and a complete store solution to deliver more personalized and convenient experiences. It is an all-in-one cloud-based solution. International retailers and brands such as BUT, Decathlon, Sharaf DG, Toys 'R' Us Iberia and Zodio prefer Openbravo, which is today used by more than 10,000 back office users and in more than 40,000 points of sale in more than 50 countries.

To learn more visit www.openbravo.com .

Xavier Places, Marketing Director, +34 607 676 568, xavier.places@openbravo.com

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Participation underscores Convergint's commitment to sustainability efforts in global and local communities

Convergint, a global leader in service-based systems integration, today announced its participation in Host in Ireland's "Orchards in the Community" initiative. Designed to safeguard endangered bee populations and increase pollination levels, Convergint's participation in this wide-reaching environmental protection project will directly support Host Ireland's work to plant over 1,000 mixed fruit orchards across Ireland.

As one of the 52 pledgers and over 90 schools and community groups participating in this year's 'Orchards in the Community' initiative across Ireland, Convergint has sponsored the planting of orchards for the Catholic University School (CUS) and the Bray Chamber of Commerce. The initiative will result in orchards being planted in every single county in Ireland, providing essential support in encouraging biodiversity, protecting and feeding endangered pollinators, and driving community awareness and action. The positive environmental impact of this initiative aligns closely with Convergint's ongoing dedication to developing a company culture where all are committed to making responsible decisions that ensure the health and safety of colleagues, customers, and the communities in which Convergint operates.

"We're thrilled to participate in Host Ireland's 'Orchards in the Community' efforts and contribute to this important sustainability effort across the country," said Adrian Hill, General Manager for Convergint Ireland. "Giving back to local communities, acting with generosity, and supporting global and local environmental initiatives is well aligned with Convergint's foundational Values and Beliefs and is important to our colleagues around the world. We hope that these orchards will provide beautiful green space for communities as well as a positive environmental impact."

Acting as a key source of biodiversity, these orchards not only provide vital green space for cities and towns, but also create essential habitats and food sources for pollinators and other species in need. With Ireland's wild bee population at risk, 'Orchards in the Community' takes direct action to help reduce and prevent the extinction of the nation's bees and collect key environmental data, while also encouraging greater community awareness and interaction with nature.

"Orchards have played an important role in communities for many centuries, providing a focal point, a gathering space, and a place where people and nature successfully work together to create abundant harvests," said Garry Connolly, founder, Host in Ireland. "That spirit of community is alive and well with 'Orchards in the Community' as organisations like Convergint come together with biodiversity groups, schools, colleges, Tidy Towns, and others across Ireland to tackle challenges like biodiversity loss to save Ireland's pollinators."

About Convergint

Convergint is a $1.8 billion global, industry-leading systems integrator that designs, installs, and services electronic security, cybersecurity, fire and life safety, building automation, and audio-visual systems. Listed as the #1 systems integrator in SDM Magazine's Top Systems Integrators Report for the past 4 years, Convergint leads with over 7,500 colleagues and more than 160 locations worldwide. To learn more about Convergint, visit www.convergint.com.

About Host in Ireland

Host in Ireland is an award-winning strategic global initiative created to increase awareness of the benefits of hosting digital assets in Ireland as well as Irish companies that are designing, building, and operating data centres globally.

For more information about Host in Ireland, visit www.hostinireland.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005188/en/

Contacts:

Tommasina Domel

(847) 585-8962

tommasina.domel@convergint.com
IFS Cloud will enable Konica Minolta's field service operations move to a predictive and optimized service model across its ten national operating companies (NOCs)

LONDON, March 31, 2022/PRNewswire/ -- IFS, the global cloud enterprise software company, today announces that Japanese multinational technology company Konica Minolta will implement IFS's Field Service Management software to future-proof its service operations.

Konica Minolta currently have around two million customers in 150 countries. The company is a leading provider of digital workplace services, commercial and industrial printing, and optical systems for industrial use, which means the company has a large field service operation with 3,250 employees.

With the IFS solution, Konica Minolta will transition to a predictive maintenance model that will allow them to plan the deployment of field service staff more efficiently across ten national operating companies (NOCs) across Europe. IFS Cloud will also ensure maximum equipment uptime, reduce engineer call outs, and achieve a heightened customer experience.

As part of their 'Next Generation Field Service Management' objective - to be completed by the end of 2023 - AI-supported planning and scheduling optimization will enable employees to align schedules and optimise and deploy resources in real-time, allowing them to automatically allocate work orders.

Also, the proactive evaluation of IoT generated data, for example by production printers and systems for medical image diagnosis, is another application the IFS solution supports. This enables service technicians to predict whether defects are imminent or unscheduled maintenance is due.

The use of mobile technology can provide a competitive edge in field service - access to all relevant data at all times is essential for successful field service operations. IFS Cloud's Field Service Management capabilities provide the same user experience on iOS, Android or Windows, which means employees can check the availability of spare parts on a smartphone or tablet and create invoices and quotations on site at the customer. This not only increases the efficiency of the service, but also provides great Moments of Service.

IFS Cloud will replace Konica Minolta's ClickSoftware installation and works seamlessly with existing enterprise applications. Konica Minolta uses SAP software in parts of their business, which will have a bidirectional integration with the IFS solution.

Glenn Arnesen, President Europe North & Central at IFS, on the cooperation with Konica Minolta: "We are proud that a renowned company like Konica Minolta wants to future-proof its field service management with IFS Cloud. Our solution supports the company with services related to the installation of systems and equipment."

Ged Cranny, Senior Consultant at Konica Minolta: "With the IFS solution, we can realize our vision of Next Gen Field Service Management. The first pilot project in Belgium and the Netherlands with around 130 employees is going very promisingly. In the next step, we will make the new solution available to around 1,000 field service technicians in ten national operating companies across Europe. In IFS, we have found a partner that provides us with excellent support in offering our customers even better service and accompanying them on their way to becoming a digital company."

IFS Press Contacts:

MEA& APJ: Adam Gillbe

Corporate Communications

Email: press@ifs.com

Phone: +44 7775 114 856

USA: Mairi Drysdale

Corporate Communications

Email: press@ifs.com

Phone: +1 520 396 2155

Europe: Marie-Christin Hansen

Corporate Communications

Email: press@ifs.com

Phone: +44 755 306 1878

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/ifs/r/konica-minolta-selects-ifs-cloud-to-transform-field-service-management-performance,c3536225

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Chinese Wisdom in Xi's Words: "Act of kindness, no matter how trivial, is worth performing"

Xinhua) 16:06, March 31, 2022

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- "An act of kindness, no matter how trivial, is worth performing." President Xi Jinping on Wednesday used this Chinese adage to encourage youngsters to work hard step by step to become the talent needed by the Party and the people.

Participating in a tree planting activity in Beijing, Xi told children nearby to cultivate the awareness of work, environmental protection and thriftiness from childhood, and "not to shy away from good deeds no matter how small they seem."

The quote was taken from an annotation to ancient historian Chen Shou's book "San Guo Zhi," or "Records of the Three Kingdoms."

According to the annotation's account, Liu Bei, founder of the Shu state during the Three Kingdom Period (220-280), told his son and successor Liu Shan that "an act of evil, no matter how small, must be shunned, while an act of kindness, no matter how trivial, is worth performing."

The adage has been quoted for centuries to warn that plenty of small good deeds may add up to great deeds while multiple small evils can pile up to grave evils.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
President Moon Jae-in, front row center, listens to Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) CEO Park Du-seon, left, who was a managing director at that time, at DSME's Okpo shipyard in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, in this 2018 file photo. Joint Press Corps



New CEO suspected of capitalizing on friendship with Moon's brother



By Park Jae-hyuk



Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) is expected to be at the center of political controversy under the incoming administration because of the appointment of CEO Park Du-seon on Monday. The new CEO will serve for the next three years as the leader of the debt-ridden shipbuilder which is currently under the government's control.



Earlier this year, state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), which owns a controlling stake in DSME, failed to sell its shares to Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, as the European Union's antitrust regulator rejected the plan.



The presidential transition committee said Thursday that it decided to request the Board of Audit and Inspection to review the validity of Park's appointment, suspecting him of taking advantage of his friendship with President Moon Jae-in's younger brother. Both Park and the president's brother, Moon Jae-ik, entered Korea Maritime & Ocean University in 1978.



"DSME is a de facto state-run enterprise, because of taxpayers' money worth 4.1 trillion won ($3.4 billion) which was injected into the company and KDB holds more than half of its stake," Won Il-hee, deputy spokesperson of the committee, said in a press briefing. "In order to draw up recovery plans and survive independently, the company needs to go through painful normalization and hire new management in agreement with the new government."



Won added that Park took office, even after the Financial Services Commission ordered KDB twice to postpone the appointment of the heads of institutions under the state-run bank's supervision, until the new president's inauguration.






Drone-based geological imaging are made possible by the Merensky group for Aerial Geological Image Classification (MAGIC) at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Bloemfontein, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Did you know that one can photograph a plant so clearly from a distance that it is likely to detect the health of its leaves? Or can you contemplate the possibility of taking a photograph of three similar-looking rocks, being able to distinguish them from each other due to spectral properties associated with their internal mineral content?

This and other drone-based geological imaging are made possible by the Merensky group for Aerial Geological Image Classification (MAGIC) at the University of the Free State (UFS).

Recently, the President of the Hans Merensky Foundation (HMF), Dr Khotso Mokhele, signed a R11 million five-year research grant agreement with the UFS. Merensky research projects are currently limited to three South African universities - Stellenbosch University (for forestry research), the University of Pretoria (for avocados), and now the UFS.

Demonstration and application

Dr Mokhele, who is also the former Chancellor of the UFS, states: "When I walked into the MAGIC Lab, I knew that something special was going to happen here. What we are launching today will become a world-class and world-leading facility."

According to him, Dr Hans Merensky, whose legacy is facilitated by the foundation, was one of the most influential geologists in South Africa. He discovered, among others, deposits of gold, platinum, diamonds, phosphates, and vermiculite. After several decades of operating in the geological sciences and with his knowledge of soil health, Merensky became a conservationist of note and played a key role in the establishment of the country's agricultural practices.

"The main objective of the Hans Merensky Foundation is to promote and assist in the development of the resources of South Africa and neighbouring territories - particularly such natural resources as soil, water, flora, and fauna - and to promote the health and welfare of the inhabitants; more specifically, through research, experimentation, and demonstration and through the correlation and application of scientific knowledge."

"You have to take the knowledge and translate it into demonstration of what that knowledge can do, and then apply it," says Dr Mokhele.

The grant is also evidence of Dr Merensky's generosity. He is well quoted saying: "This country has given to me so much, that I am only too happy to be allowed to help it to develop in some way, and I am grateful to be able to give back to it a fraction of what it has given to me."

Next generation of scientists

The Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, Prof Francis Petersen, said at the signing ceremony that this is an exciting project. "For us as a university, research and the development of the next generation of scientists are critical. This is part of our mandate. This project is one of those catalysts for the development of what the mandate is all about - research output, capacity building, and impact through our students and our research in a broader society."

He thanked Dr Mokhele for facilitating the project and introducing the UFS to the Hans Merensky Foundation, having the confidence that the university has the capacity to deliver.

"For Dr Mokhele, it is all about the science. To a certain extent, his driving force was to use science to make a difference in the lives of people," says Prof Petersen.

He continues: "The institution is highly committed to this project and will make sure that it receives the maximum support to make it a success."

The grant has been allocated to MAGIC and funds will be used to support research programmes. "This includes student bursaries, staff salaries, capital expenditure acquisitions such as high-performance computers, as well as the drones that the project makes use of," states Dr Martin Clark, Lecturer in the Department of Geology.

According to him, the group aims to develop drone-based geological imaging in South Africa, with specific attention to mineral and groundwater exploration endeavours.

Impacting society

"What makes me excited about this project is how the research impacts society. This includes developing geological imaging capacity in South African geologists with a 4IR skillset, ensuring that they remain competitive in a global market," says Dr Clark.

He is also of the opinion that many industries will be able to see for themselves how this technology can improve their businesses. "Drone-based geological imaging can be quicker, cheaper, and safer for collecting much of the initial information that informs more expensive exploration processes, such as drilling. Additionally, it is non-invasive, and has little to no impact on the environment during data collection. Drones can also, in terms of safety, collect data from unstable rock walls - historically, geologists would have to take those measurements themselves, with rock falls resulting in a significant number of deaths every year."

Recent research

Dr Clark says drone-based imaging has supported research initiatives in the Vredefort Dome. "Using drone-collected high-resolution images of meteorite impact melt rocks, along with field observations of how much and where foreign rock components were contained within (clasts), we could make a case for turbulent flow in the migration of impact melt material within the deep crust."

He adds that three papers are currently underway, each predicated on drone imagery that enables new insights into geological processes or the ability to digitally translate geological information inside and outside the classroom.

The growing research group, with Dr Clark as the principal investigator, consists of one PhD student, two master's students, and two honours students, with several postdoctoral research fellows to follow soon.

The difference

Although several universities in the country have started using drones, the UFS has significant support to grow drone applications. With assets such as the high-performance computing cluster, very large drone-borne datasets can be resolved in record time.

"The UFS also has a wealth of world-class researchers focused on topics such as farming and environmental management, who will be able to benefit from the drone infrastructure being established on campus. We are aiming to be the go-to geological drone imaging group in South Africa," he says.

Attachments
Darktrace integrates with Zscaler, Okta, and Duo Security to enhance zero trust with increased visibility and response

CAMBRIDGE, England, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Darktrace, a global leader in cyber security AI, today announced its ability to extend its detection and Autonomous Response capabilities to zero trust technologies, including Zscaler, Okta, and Duo Security. These API integrations allow organizations to accelerate their adoption of zero trust architecture by feeding data into Darktrace's Self-Learning AI engine to identify and neutralize anomalous behaviors.

Zero trust technologies enforce guardrails for organizations with rules and policies designed to reduce risk exposure by eliminating unnecessary access and privileges across critical IT systems, thus creating a more secure infrastructure. Yet there is still a risk of malicious activity even with proper architecture and policy enforcement - advanced monitoring and threat detection are critical elements of a zero trust strategy, which assumes that a breach is underway at any given moment.

"Against the growing threat of advanced cyber-attacks, zero trust architecture has emerged as one way of supporting the shift to new ways of working," said Max Heinemeyer, Vice President of Cyber Innovation at Darktrace. "The shift to remote and hybrid work has increased the attack surface for organizations and underscores the importance of securing the identity of each user. Although traditional zero trust policies minimize risk, and zero trust architectures reduce the overall attack surface, organizations need to assume attackers will still inevitably breach their perimeter defenses, including identity controls."

When malicious activity occurs despite the enforcement of zero trust rules and policies, Darktrace can instantly identify and trigger a proportionate response to contain the attack. When deployed with Zscaler, the scope of activity visible to Darktrace widens, and its AI technologies can analyze, contextualize, and ultimately act when necessary. Upon detecting unusual behavior, Darktrace's Autonomous Response can directly take appropriate action via the Zscaler API, ranging from actions as granular and surgical as blocking connections between two endpoints to a complete termination of all device-specific activity.

"While Zscaler's Zero Trust Exchange reduces the attack surface and enforces cyber security policies, the integration with Darktrace AI behavioral detection and response allows customers to correlate Zscaler telemetry with data from across the enterprise to improve threat response further," said Amit Raikar, Vice President, Business Development and Technology Alliances at Zscaler.

Darktrace's integrations with Okta and Duo Security are similar, where within zero trust architectures, the administrative users become the top targets because they can affect the accessibility and vulnerability of the entire digital environment. Darktrace can alert and act on the anomalous behaviors of these accounts, including unusual and potentially unsanctioned activity. Unique to Darktrace, it may also detect unusual administrator activity around newly added user permissions and third-party software to allow-lists or anything that might widen the range of risk exposure.

"Darktrace's integration with Duo Security is fantastic. The logs we get from Duo are fed into Darktrace Cyber AI Analyst, providing us with detailed, automated investigations that are extremely beneficial. Darktrace's zero trust integrations mean that more data can be ingested into its Self-Learning AI, improving its understanding of normal for our business," commented a CISO at a major Financial Services organization based in the United States. "I'm thrilled that Darktrace is expanding these integrations to improve zero trust security and help Darktrace better serve its customers."

About Darktrace

Darktrace (DARK:L), a global leader in cyber security AI, delivers world-class technology that protects over 6,500 customers worldwide from advanced threats, including ransomware and cloud and SaaS attacks. Darktrace's fundamentally different approach applies Self-Learning AI to enable machines to understand the business to defend it autonomously. Headquartered in Cambridge, UK, the company has more than 1,700 employees and over 30 offices worldwide. Darktrace was named one of TIME magazine's 'Most Influential Companies' for 2021.

Media Contacts
LONDON and NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Panaseer, an enterprise security company, today announces it is cementing its position as the de facto automation platform for security measurement with annual triple digit growth. The company grew by over 100 percent in 2021, on the back of over 300 percent growth in 2020. Its revenue success is fuelled by the growing market adoption of the emerging category of Continuous Controls Monitoring (CCM).

Panaseer pioneered the CCM category, which addresses the biggest issues in cybersecurity today: an increasing enterprise attack surface, heightened regulation and the growing number of tools used by security teams. The technology enables security and risk teams to aggregate all the data from their security, IT and business tools, into a single platform to understand enterprise-wide cybersecurity posture. The $10+ billion CCM market is largely untapped and Panaseer's technology and people are leading the field.

Last year the company doubled its number of employees and supercharged its executive team. Jonathan Gill was appointed CEO in January 2021 with a remit to focus on international growth. A Chief Growth Officer, VP Global Sales, VP Customer Success and VP People, were added to its leadership team.

In May 2021, Panaseer announced it had secured $26.5million in series B funding to accelerate product development and expand go-to-market efforts to meet the demand for its CCM platform. This makes its total funding to date over $43million. Over the last year, it added to its growing portfolio of global enterprise clients, which includes many of the world's largest and leading institutions, who rely on Panaseer to evaluate and improve their cyber protection levels. Currently 95 percent of security teams who test for Proof of Value become Panaseer customers.

Jonathan Gill, CEO, Panaseer: "We recently received a customer testimonial that called Panaseer's technology 'the platform of all platforms.' This perfectly encapsulates what we are building. Our CCM platform now integrates with technology across eight cybersecurity domains, and can seamlessly and reliably integrate with security, business, and IT data sources. This means we can provide unique value and visibility to our customers, and crucially unburden them from the daily firefight, so they can take a more strategic role within their organisation with data-driven insights that can be used to enable effective risk decision-making.

"Currently, our platform has processed over 70 million assets for our clients. We are confident that a CCM platform for a security team will be soon become as fundamental as a CRM system is to sales and marketing professionals, and accountancy software for financial departments."

Partnerships

Panaseer invested in key partnerships to help drive the adoption of automated, data-driven approaches to security measurement, via CCM. It partnered with the Center for Internet Security, Inc. to further the development of its Control Assessment Specification. CIS is a non-profit organisation that leads a global community of IT professionals to continuously evolve standards and provide products and services to proactively safeguard against emerging security threats. Together they are providing guidance on the metrics a company should use to assess how well they are complying with 'version eight' of the CIS critical security controls.

In February 2021, Panaseer announced it had joined forces with PwC UK, a leader in cybersecurity consulting services, to offer continuous Cyber Risk Monitoring. Bringing together best-in-class technology and consulting services to pave the way for continuous and accurate measurement, monitoring, and reporting of cyber risk.

Product development

Panaseer addressed the issue of lack of industry guidance around the most important security metrics with the launch of its Security Metrics Catalogue within its CCM platform. This gives recommendations, for the first time, and advice on how to standardise calculations and policies.

Panaseer also released details on how its CCM platform has enabled customers to solve the most pressing cybersecurity issues. For example, it outlined how key ransomware controls could be mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework and built a dashboard that measures some of the most effective security controls at the three stages of a successful ransomware attack- infiltrate, propagate, and exploit. It also helped customers with guidance on how CCM could enable security teams to effectively prioritise critical and zero-day vulnerabilities, like Log4Shell, and create more efficient remediation processes. Panaseer uniquely helps organisations uncover, prioritise, and evidence remediation of zero-day vulnerabilities.

With the shift many organisations are making from on-premise to cloud, Panaseer has also launched a Secure Configuration for Cloud module to its CCM platform. This gives customers a single view of all their cloud accounts, enabling them to track misconfiguration of cloud accounts, a significant risk, from multiple ISPs to pre-established SLAs. Panaseer also adds business context to give a complete picture of key risk areas and highlights individual ownership to drive remediation.

Measurably improving customer security

Panaseer is setting the bar for 'best practice' sharing within the security industry to improve enterprise security programmes and measurably improve the security posture of its customers. Over the last year, it issued a monthly insight article on 'Metric of the Month,' whereby leading figures in the cybersecurity sector shared their insights on high value security metrics they use. It also shared the top ten most frequently used security metrics (in order of popularity), which were curated from its wide community of customers and industry experts.

In November 2021, Panaseer released its second Security Leaders Peer Report, which featured data from an external survey of 1,200 senior enterprise security leaders. Key findings included details on how an increase in tools and manual reporting, combined with control failures, is contributing to the success of threats such as ransomware. The report, crucially, gave insights and advice on how organisations could strengthen their security posture.

Over the last year, Panaseer has placed a strategic focus on enhancing customer success and service delivery, to help customers make more informed decisions and reduce their attack surface. As part of that initiative, the company formed a new department: 'Security Performance Management.' It was developed to help customers measurably improve their security status, through guidance on measurement and best practices.

The team provides recommendations on how to improve organisational security posture, and offers targeted assistance on how best to integrate and use Panaseer in support of these goals. All Panaseer's customers use its platform to continuously, and on demand, evaluate and monitor the controls that protect them from threat scenarios such as ransomware and to help them find, prioritise, and fix high risk vulnerabilities such as Log4Shell. Anecdotal views from over the last year, include:

"You achieved in two weeks what we failed to achieve in two years."

"You kept your promise to me. It's exactly what we thought it would be, unequivocal, it gives us transparency, turns the lights on. It's game changing."

"With Panaseer, we can flag ownership of applications and infrastructure together and understand risk by geography, line of business and products and services."

Industry recognition

Panaseer has been featured as an inaugural vendor for pioneering two new Gartner Hype Cycle categories. The 2021 Gartner Hype Cycles for Network Security and Security Operations added the new category of Cyber Asset Attack Surface Management (CAASM), described as "an emerging technology focused on enabling security teams to solve persistent asset visibility and vulnerability challenges."

CAASM and CCM go together. Whereas CAASM helps organisations understand the existing attack surface, CCM identifies and advises on corresponding underperforming controls, and the specific metrics, policies, and thresholds that should be used to measure them.

Momentum Cyber included CCM in its annual Cybersecurity Almanac, highlighting CCM as a next generation technology that will shape cyber in 2021 and Panaseer was listed as a vendor. The Almanac outlines that a key challenge in the cybersecurity space is a "lack of security performance measurement". This highlights the immediate need for technologies and processes, such as CCM, which allow for the automation of security monitoring and metrics generation.

In 2021, Panaseer won "Best Product in Continuous Controls Monitoring Platform" in Cyber Defense Magazine. It was also shortlisted for "Best Enterprise Solution" and "Best Security Company" at the SC Awards.

For more information visit: www.panaseer.com
IAMA Therapeutics, a preclinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel medicines to make a difference in the lives of individuals suffering from brain disorders, announced today the formation of a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) consisting of world-renowned experts in computational chemistry, protein drug design, and neurodevelopmental disorders.

The SAB will work cohesively with management to advance the company's preclinical development pipeline.

"We are proud to have such an accomplished and diverse group of scientific thought leaders and industry experts joining our SAB who share our commitment to expanding the field of neuroscience drug discovery for the benefit of the neurodevelopmental disorder community," said Andrea P. Malizia, Chief Executive Officer of IAMA Therapeutics. "These thought leaders bring deep scientific expertise in drug discovery and extensive clinical experience in drug development. We look forward to benefitting from their development and strategic insights as we seek to advance our multi-program pipeline of drug candidates, beginning with our lead program in autism."

The founding members of the IAMA Therapeutics' SAB are:

William L. Jorgensen Sterling Professor of Chemistry at Yale University (New Haven, CT, USA).

Woody Sherman Chief Computational Scientist at Roivant Discovery (Boston, MA, USA).

Antonio Hardan Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Child Adolescent Psychiatry and Child Development- and Director of the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic at Stanford University (Stanford, CA, USA).

Luigi Mazzone - Professor of Child Neurology and Psychiatry at University of Rome Tor Vergata (Rome, Italy).

More detailed biographies of the Scientific Advisory Board can be found online at:

https://iamatherapeutics.com/team/

About IAMA Therapeutics

IAMA Therapeutics is a preclinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel medicines to make a difference in the lives of children suffering from brain disorders. IAMA Therapeutics couples emerging advances in drug discovery and neurobiology to build a leading, next-generation neuroscience pipeline to selectively inhibit the sodium-potassium chloride cotransporter and other therapeutic targets relevant to brain disorders characterized by neuronal imbalance.

The company's preclinical pipeline consists of the lead candidate IAMA-6 for the treatment of idiopathic autism, IAMA-097 for the treatment of secondary autism, and other compounds for the treatment of epilepsy and other brain disorders.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005018/en/

Contacts:

Andrea P. Malizia

+39 345 2160044

media@iamatherapeutics.com
HONG KONG, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- On March 27, China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd. ("CPIC" or the "Company"; Stock Code: 2601.HK, 601601.SH, CPIC.LSE) released its 2021 Sustainability Report. This is the first sustainability report released by CPIC, based on its 13 consecutive years of social responsibility reports, demonstrating its determination and confidence in committing to sustainable development and building a high-quality development highland, and reflecting the development trend of CPIC focusing on long-term benefits and overall interests. Guided by the support for national strategies, the report presents four sustainable development forces, namely sustainable development traction, support, influence and synergy, which comprehensively summarizes the efforts and contributions made by CPIC in the practice of sustainable development.

The structure of this report focused on sustainable development. Based on the framework of "supporting national strategy" + "sustainable development capability" + "ESG performance", the report comprehensively and systematically disclosed CPIC's efforts and achievements in the areas of sustainable development strategy and management, endogenous development momentum, stakeholder management and compliance with international standards. Standards were compiled around sustainable development. The alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were further strengthened. At the same time, it responded to the implementation of the UN PRI and the UN PSI. It highlighted the effectiveness of serving the "carbon peak and neutrality" goal. The report comprehensively disclosed the effectiveness of CPIC's service to the" carbon peak and neutrality " goal from four parts: green insurance, green investment, green operation and green public welfare, and disclosed the risk management, scientific and technological innovation and other measures taken by CPIC to deal with climate change according to the framework of the TCFD.

In 2021, standing at the new starting point of starting again in its infancy, CPIC adheres to people-oriented, long-term doctrine, the upward trend of finance, and takes sustainable development as the new driving force and direction of social responsibility.

Focus on the well-being of the people and make great efforts to the vast and subtle. The CPIC is concerned about the people's yearning for a better life, implements the great health strategy, and solves the medical problems faced by the broad masses of the people. It has undertaken various government medical insurance cooperation projects, covering 145 million people, participated in 35 people-friendly insurance projects, covering 21 million people, and provided 7x24 hours of service by the imperial medical housekeeper with a full-time team of 400 people. The layout of pension industry is growing to meet the needs of the people. Ten "CPIC homes" have been established in 9 places including Chengdu, Dali, Shanghai and Hangzhou, and the national layout of the pension industry has been preliminarily completed. We will promote rural revitalization and consolidate and expand the achievements of poverty alleviation. Targeted poverty alleviation covers 7.62 million registered poor households, and won the honorary title of "national advanced collective for poverty alleviation"; "Poverty prevention and social security" has been extended to more than 1000 counties and districts, writing a new chapter in promoting rural revitalization and inclusiveness.

Guided by ecological civilization, man and nature develop in harmony. Building ecological civilization and promoting green, low-carbon and circular development is the original meaning of sustainable development. CPIC will build a green financial service system to protect the civilized development road of production development, rich life and well ecology. Green insurance, braves to be the vanguard. Serving the low-carbon circular economy, the new energy insurance nearly one trillion yuan; Zero-carbon and green and sustainable insurance will be promoted first to form industry models; Wildlife accident insurance has been implemented for a long time to promote biodiversity protection. Being a pioneer in green investment. The Company participated in green investments in energy, environmental protection, and water and pollution prevention in the form of debt investment, equity investment, asset backing and industrial funds. In addition, it issued the first ESG insurance capital management product and launched theme products of carbon neutrality. Boldly being the main force of green operation. By responding to climate change risks with product innovation and technological innovation, buildings such as Pacific Care Home followed green standards, 1,500 mu of the Sanjiangyuan, or origin of the Yangtze River, the Yellow River and Lancang River guarded the Chinese Water Tower, and the energy use efficiency of data centers continued to improve.

Following higher standards to enhance sustainable development momentum. Facing the challenges of the epidemic and uncertainty, CPIC has formulated a sustainable development strategy guided by advanced sustainable development concepts. Furthermore, the Company strengthened top-level design and prepared ESG strategy and action plan. The Board of Directors established the "Strategic and Investment Decision-Making & ESG Committee" to ensure a professional course of sustainable development and signed the International Principles for Sustainable Development. The Company became the second company in mainland China to sign the UN PSI and the fourth asset owner to sign the UN PRI. And it also signed the "Belt and Road" Green Investment Principles, setting a higher standard for sustainable development and conscientious compliance. Cultivating soft power for sustainable development. With digital transformation, big data platform, and intelligence, technology is a driving force for innovation and creativity. CPIC's "Service Officer" has penetrated into all aspects of service, and the high quality experience is enabled by service around, lifelong, and exquisite service. CPIC's services convey the philosophy of "Customer first".

About China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co., Ltd

China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "CPIC", or the "Company"; Stock Code: 2601.HK, 601601.SH, CPIC.LSE) is an insurance holding company incorporated on the basis of China Pacific Insurance Company, which was established on May 13, 1991. It is a leading insurance group headquartered in Shanghai, which is the first insurance group simultaneously listed on Shanghai, Hong Kong and London Stock Exchanges. CPIC is a leading comprehensive insurance group; the Company provides a broad range of risk solutions, financial planning and asset management services to over 100 million customers via its nationwide network of distribution and diversified services platforms.

This press release is distributed by Wonderful Sky Financial Group for China Pacific Insurance (Group) Co. Ltd.

For further information, please contact:

Wonderful Sky Financial Group Holdings Limited

Ms. Skye Shum / Cecilia Xiong / Millie Guo

Tel: (852) 3970 2199 / (852) 3641 1300 / 15513707989

Fax: (852) 3102 0210

Email: CPIC@wsfg.hk
BEIJING, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (HKG: 0386, "Sinopec" or "the Company") hosted its 2021 annual performance conference on March 28 in Beijing via webinar. Per International Financial Reporting Standards, Sinopec's 2021 turnover and other operating income was CNY2.74 trillion (USD431.50billion), with profit attributable to shareholders of the company reaching CNY71.975 billion (USD11.33 billion), a 115.2 percent growth year-on-year. This has been Sinopec's best operating performance in the past decade.

A dividend of CNY0.47 per share was distributed throughout the year, with a dividend payout ratio of 80 percent. Based on the weighted average share price in 2021, the dividend yield of A shares and H shares reached 10.8 percent and 14.3 percent, respectively.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and a complex macroenvironment, Sinopec focused on advancing high-quality production and operations, transformative development, technological innovation, management reform, risk prevention and control among other aspects in 2021 to achieve a solid start in line with China's "14th Five-Year Plan." Overall, Sinopec's various business sectors have been growing positively, with remarkable achievements in:

Increasing upstream oil and gas reserves;

Expanding refining scale and competitive advantages;

Continuous increase of the sales and operation scale of refined oil;

Giving full play to leading with innovative and technological support.

In the meantime, Sinopec also focused on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) development with the board of directors coming from more diverse backgrounds and the Company is actively responding to climate change challenges, vigorously saving energy and reducing pollution and carbon emissions, as well as supporting the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and Paralympics.

Mr. Ma Yongsheng, president of Sinopec noted, Sinopec will give full play to its advantages in the integration of marketing, brand, technology and talent to unswervingly move towards the goal of becoming a world-leading clean energy and chemical company, creating greater value for shareholders and society.

"Looking to the future, Sinopec will actively and constructively embrace energy transformation and the transformation of the industry as a whole, extensively implementing a world-leading development strategy and continuously optimizing the 14th Five-Year Plan and long-term 2035 goal to achieve high-quality, sustainable development," said Ma.

Sinopec has laid out five key focuses in implementing its new development strategy and strives to:

Improve corporate governance: Sinopec will promote the integration of risk control, internal control and compliance management to strictly control risks in terms of safety, environmental protection, operation management and more. Sinopec will also further integrate ESG with production, operation and development to improve corporate governance efficiency.

Sinopec will promote the integration of risk control, internal control and compliance management to strictly control risks in terms of safety, environmental protection, operation management and more. Sinopec will also further integrate ESG with production, operation and development to improve corporate governance efficiency. Execute an innovation-driven development strategy: Sinopec will create a cradle for original technologies to promote the development and application of advanced technologies for oil and gas resources, emphasize technological breakthroughs in oil refining, high-end chemicals and new materials, modern coal chemicals, new energy and more, and strengthen the development of the industry's key technologies, common technologies and cutting-edge technologies.

Sinopec will create a cradle for original technologies to promote the development and application of advanced technologies for oil and gas resources, emphasize technological breakthroughs in oil refining, high-end chemicals and new materials, modern coal chemicals, new energy and more, and strengthen the development of the industry's key technologies, common technologies and cutting-edge technologies. Enhance energy supply capacity: Sinopec is devoting greater efforts in the exploration and development of oil and gas, aiming to achieve major breakthroughs and discoveries of shale oil and gas, promote the coordinated development of natural gas production, supply, storage and sales, maintain domestic oil and gas reserves with steady growth in production, and actively and steadily lay out new energy businesses such as hydrogen energy. It will strengthen the support capability of international trade, improve global resource allocation capacity and explore the establishing a multi-energy complementary energy supply system.

Sinopec is devoting greater efforts in the exploration and development of oil and gas, aiming to achieve major breakthroughs and discoveries of shale oil and gas, promote the coordinated development of natural gas production, supply, storage and sales, maintain domestic oil and gas reserves with steady growth in production, and actively and steadily lay out new energy businesses such as hydrogen energy. It will strengthen the support capability of international trade, improve global resource allocation capacity and explore the establishing a multi-energy complementary energy supply system. Promote the upgrade of refining and chemical businesses: Sinopec aims to optimize oil refining and expand and strengthen chemical engineering, speeding up the progress of "crude-to-chemicals" and "petroleum derivative products" to promote the mid- to high-end development of the chemical business and build a large-scale, integrated and intelligent world-class refining and chemical engineering base.

Sinopec aims to optimize oil refining and expand and strengthen chemical engineering, speeding up the progress of "crude-to-chemicals" and "petroleum derivative products" to promote the mid- to high-end development of the chemical business and build a large-scale, integrated and intelligent world-class refining and chemical engineering base. Build green and low-carbon competitive advantages: Coordinating the relationship between development and emissions reduction, Sinopec continues the optimization of its industrial and energy use structures, improves energy efficiency to set industry benchmarks. Sinopec has also accelerated the R&D of green, low-carbon technologies using the Sinopec Qilu-Shengli Oilfield CCUS project as the foundation.

For more information, please visit Sinopec.

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Diversified business strengths continue to rise in operating results



HONG KONG, Mar 31, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Weichai Power Company Limited ("Weichai Power" or the "Company", SEHK stock code: 2338.HK; Shenzhen Stock Exchange stock code: 000338.SZ) announced its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2021 (the "year") on 30th March, prepared in accordance with PRC accounting standards.



Steady growth in operating performance and continued to increase shareholder returns

During the reporting period, the Company focused on its established strategic objectives and main business, gave full play to its diversification advantages, continued to increase investment in research and development, accelerated breakthroughs in key core technologies, continuously strengthened its product competitiveness and improved operational efficiency, firmly stabilized its fundamental and supported its future development, to achieve the Company's leading growth and gather a win-win situation.



In 2021, the Company overcame the adverse impact such as commodity price increases, with a steady increase in gross margin level and high turnover efficiency, demonstrating strong operational resilience. During the reporting period, operating revenue of RMB 203.55 billion was achieved, representing a year-on-year growth of 3.2%. Net profit attributable to the shareholders of the parent was RMB 9.25 billion, with an increase of 0.3% year-on-year. Basic earnings per share were RMB 1.1. The Company attaches great importance to shareholder returns and paid a total dividend of RMB 3.7 per 10 shares throughout the year.



Powertrain market share increased, and the product structure was significantly optimized

During the reporting period, the Company's powertrain business maintained positive and steady development, with annual sales of 1.02 million engines, increased by 3% year-on-year. Sales of 1.153 million gearboxes, including 1.01 million gearboxes for heavy trucks, with the market share increased by 5.3 percentage points to 72.4% year-on-year. And sales of 938,000 axles, including 697,000 axles for medium and heavy truck.



The engine series had significant advantages in all fields, with the proportion of non-road engines in total sales increased by 5.3 percentage points to 34.4%, and maintaining the industry's top position in the markets of loaders, cranes and bulldozers. Seizing the opportunity of upgrading emission standards, the Company's China VI engine sale volume ranked top position in the industry, with 429,000 heavy truck engines sold and the market share increased by 2.8 percentage points year-on-year to 30.7%.



Strategic high-end products continued to gain momentum, achieving revenue of RMB1.41 billion, increased by 49.3% year-on-year. High-end hydraulics achieved domestic revenue of RMB560 million, increased by 11.8% year-on-year. Relying on the differentiated advantages of products, the Company has achieved rapid growth in market segments such as crawler excavation and agricultural equipment. The commercialization of CVT powertrain has been accelerated, and it has been matched to Lovol 240hp CVT intelligent tractor, achieving a 15% increase in overall operating efficiency and a 10% reduction in fuel consumption.



Technology leads industry development, diversified power all-round champion

The Company continued to increase its investment in research and development around its core technologies and products. During the reporting period, the amount of investment in R&D was RMB 8.57 billion, and the ratio of R&D investment to revenue was 4.2%. The Company has made multiple efforts to firmly keep traditional high-end power and new energy power in the forefront. For the first time in the world, the base engine thermal efficiency of diesel engines reached 51.09%, which can reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 10% respectively and reach a new peak in power; For new energy, the Company actively laid out multiple technical routes such as fuel cell, pure electric, hybrid, hydrogen internal combustion engine and methanol to meet the diversified needs of the market, among which the core performance indicators of hydrogen fuel cell products are industry-leading.



Outstanding achievements in new energy, accelerating industrialization

The Company has developed a full range of fuel cell product platforms from 30-200kW and released them for mass production. The new energy product testing center has obtained the laboratory accreditation certificate issued by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment (CNAS), becoming the first laboratory in the industry to pass the testing certification for both hydrogen fuel cell and solid oxide fuel cell products at the same time. Relying on the National Fuel Cell Technology Innovation Center, heavy trucks equipped with the Company's hydrogen fuel cell products have been used in ports, industrial parks, steel mills, highways, and other scenarios.



Heavy trucks pursued progress while ensuring stability, and overseas sales have increased significantly

In 2021, the Company continued to adjust and optimize its product mix by focusing on the upgrading of the China VI emission regulations and sold a total of 150,000 heavy-duty trucks. Seizing the opportunity of China VI switchover, the market share of major segments continued to increase. Port tractors, muck trucks and coal and gravel transporters continued to maintain leading position in the industry, and the 480 hp model for standard load logistics had the highest growth rate in the industry; Export volume grew significantly, with over 19,000 units exported in the year, increased by 72% year-on-year. Innovation-driven development, comprehensive shaping of new advantages of the heavy truck.



Intelligent logistics reaches new highs, profit contribution continues to increase

The Company's Intelligent Logistics business achieved the high targets set, demonstrating its key position in the industry and contributing significantly more profit to the Company. During the reporting period, sales revenue of EUR 10.29 billion was achieved, increased by 23.4% year-on-year; Net profit of EUR 570 million increased by 169% year-on-year; Meanwhile, the increased share of supply chain solution business drove profitability to continue to improve, with the adjusted EBIT margin increased by 1.6 percentage points year-on-year to 8.2%. At the end of the reporting period, orders on hand amounted to EUR 6.66 billion, increased by 49.9% compared to the beginning of the year. With the completion of the new forklift plant in Jinan and the start of construction of a new plant for supply chain solutions, KION is fully committed to exploiting the business potential in the Asia-Pacific market in the future to promote sustainable and high-quality growth.



Technological revolution boosts industrial transformation, and make precise efforts to promote structural adjustment. Looking into the future, Weichai Power will continue to consolidate its dominant position in the main business, further enhance product competitiveness and market share, and lead the industry to the high-end. Weichai Power will scale up efforts to promote new business formats, significantly increase the profit contribution of large-bore engines, and achieve rapid production volume increase in hydraulic products. Weichai Power will promote synergetic development of export business, the steady growth of intelligent logistics, and the take-off of overseas business. Weichai Power will also accelerate the technological breakthrough and industrialization of the fuel cell industry chain to demonstrate the new advantages of its high-quality development.



About Weichai Power Co., Ltd (Stock Code: 2338.HK, 000338.SZ)

Founded in 2002, Weichai Power is one of the strongest comprehensive automotive and equipment manufacturing industry groups in China. It owns Shaanxi Heavy Duty Automobile Co.,Ltd., Shaanxi Fast Gear Co. Ltd., Weichai Torch Technology Co., Ltd., KION Group AG, and Linde Hydraulics GmbH & Co. KG, Dematic, and other dozens of high-quality companies in a cluster, building a new pattern of synergistic development of three major industrial segments, namely, the complete machine segment, the powertrain segment and the intelligent logistics segment, forming the most complete and competitive industrial chain in the national automobile industry. The Company was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 11 March 2004 and returned to the mainland A-share market by way of a share swap on 30 April 2007.









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VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (TSX:SGQ)(HK:1878) ("SouthGobi" or the "Company") wishes to provide an update on Management Cease Trade Order application.

Reference is made to the announcement of the Company dated March 11 and March 28, 2022 (the "Announcements"). Unless otherwise defined herein, capitalized terms used in this announcement shall have the same respective meanings as defined in the Announcements.

The Company announces that on March 30, 2022, the British Columbia Securities Commission (the "BCSC"), the Company's principal securities regulator in Canada, has advised that they have accepted the Company's application for a management cease trade order ("MCTO") in respect of the late filing of the Company's annual consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021 (the "2021 Financial Statements"), accompanying Management Discussion & Analysis and CEO and CFO certifications, and the Annual Information Form (collectively, the "2021 Annual Filings"). The MCTO will be issued by the BCSC on April 1, 2022. With the granting of the MCTO, the Company has until May 30, 2022, being the expiry date of the MCTO, to file the 2021 Annual Filings.

Pursuant to the MCTO, the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer of the Company will not be permitted to trade any securities of the Company unless and until such time as the Company files the 2021 Annual Filings. While the MCTO is in effect, the shareholders of the Company will continue to be able to trade the Company's common shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange ("TSX") and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange ("HKEx").

As disclosed in the announcement dated March 11, 2022, the Company was advised by its external auditors (the "Auditors") that they will not be able to render an unmodified opinion on the Company's 2021 Financial Statements prior to the filing deadline of March 31, 2022 (the "Annual Filing Deadline") as they have not been able to obtain sufficient evidence to support management's going concern assumptions. Consequently, the Company is not able to file the 2021 Annual Filings prior to the Annual Filing Deadline as required under applicable Canadian securities laws.

On March 17, 2022, the Company made an application to the BCSC under National Policy 12-203 of the Canadian Securities Administrators ("NP 12-203"), for a MCTO to be granted in respect of the late filing of the 2021 Annual Filings.

Until the 2021 Annual Filings are filed, the Company will be required to comply with the provisions of the alternative information guidelines specified in NP 12-203 by issuing bi-weekly default status reports in the form of press releases for so long as the MCTO remains in effect. The Company is not currently subject to any insolvency proceedings. If the Company provides any material information to any of its creditors during the period in which the MCTO is in effect, the Company will also be required to file a material change report under its profile on SEDAR (www.sedar.com) containing such information.

The Company will attempt to obtain and provide the Auditors with sufficient evidence to support management's going concern assumptions, and will attempt to obtain an unmodified opinion from the Auditors on the 2021 Financial Statements prior to the expiry of the MCTO.

Unless and until such time as the Company files the 2021 Annual Filings, shareholders and potential investors of the Company are urged to exercise extreme caution when dealing in the securities of the Company.

Under applicable Canadian securities laws, the filing deadline for the Company's unaudited interim financial statements for the three month period ended March 31, 2022 and related Management's Discussion & Analysis the (collectively, "Q1 2022 Filings") is May 16, 2022. In the event that the Company has filed its 2021 Annual Fillings on or before May 16, 2022, the filing deadline for the Q1 2022 Filings and related certifications will remain on May 16, 2022. Pursuant to the MCTO, in the event that the Company has filed its 2021 Annual Filings after May 16, 2022 and on or before May 30, 2022, the filing deadline for the Q1 2022 Filings and related certifications will fall on the date that is five business days after the date on which the 2021 Annual Filings have been filed.

If the Company is unable to file the 2021 Annual Filings prior to the expiry of the MCTO, it is anticipated that the BCSC will issue a general "failure to file" cease trade order ("CTO") prohibiting the trading by any person of any securities of the Company, including trades in the Company's common shares made through the TSX, which would take effect shortly after the expiry of the MCTO and would remain in place until such time as the 2021 Annual Filings have been filed. In the event a CTO is issued, the Company anticipates that the trading in the Company's common shares will be halted on the TSX, and the trading in the common shares of the Company on the HKEx will also be suspended until such time as the CTO is lifted and trading resumes on the TSX.

The issuance of a CTO would have a significant adverse impact on the liquidity of the Company's common shares and shareholders may suffer a significant decline or total loss in value of its investment in the Company's common shares as a result.

Trading prices and volatility of the Company's securities may be negatively affected and any investment in such securities could suffer a significant decline or total loss in value.

The Company will make further announcements with respect to the status of the 2021 Annual Filings as and when appropriate.

If there is any inconsistency or discrepancy between the English version and the Chinese version, the English version shall prevail.

Shareholders of the Company and potential investors are advised to exercise caution when dealing in the securities of the Company.

About SouthGobi

SouthGobi, listed on the Toronto and Hong Kong stock exchanges, owns and operates its flagship Ovoot Tolgoi coal mine in Mongolia. It also holds the mining licences of its other metallurgical and thermal coal deposits in South Gobi region of Mongolia. SouthGobi produces and sells coal to customers in China.

Contact:

Investor Relations

Office: +852 2156 1438 (Hong Kong)

+1 604 762 6783 (Canada)

Email: info@southgobi.com

Website: www.southgobi.com

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information included in this press release that is not current or historical factual information constitutes forward-looking statements or information within the meaning of applicable securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"), including information regarding the Company's expectation that the BCSC will issue a CTO against the company if the Company cannot file the 2021 Annual Filings prior to the expiry of the MCTO. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "could", "should", "seek", "likely", "estimate" and other similar words or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements are based on certain factors and assumptions including, among other things, the ability of the Company to obtain and provide to the Auditors sufficient evidence to support management's going concern assumptions, and obtain an unmodified opinion from the Auditors on the 2021 Financial Statements prior to the expiry of the MCTO and other similar factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from what the Company currently expects. Actual results may vary from the forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue importance on forward-looking statements, which speaks only as of the date of this disclosure, and not to rely upon this information as of any other date. While the Company may elect to, it is under no obligation and does not undertake to, update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, further events or otherwise at any particular time, except as required by law. Additional information concerning factors that may cause actual results to materially differ from those in such forward-looking statements is contained in the Company's filings with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and can be found under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: SouthGobi Resources Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695444/Update-On-Management-Cease-Trade-Order-Application
Sisvel International S.A. ("Sisvel") announced today its appointment as licensing administrator of the Wi-Fi 6 patent portfolio originated by Wilus Inc. ("Wilus"), a R&D company based in South Korea.

Increased average throughput per user and increased number of concurrent users in high density scenarios (offices, campuses, airports, stadiums, etc.) are among the main benefits of Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) when compared to Wi-Fi 5. Extended wireless range, longer battery life and coexistence with legacy Wi-Fi devices are also important features of this latest Wi-Fi generation. Such significant technical improvements are enabled through the addition of more than 40 core features: the innovations covered by the Wilus' Wi-Fi 6 patent portfolio contribute to about 90% of them.

"At Wilus we are constantly developing advanced standards technologies for enabling and enhancing wireless connectivity and immersive multi-media services. We are striving to contribute technically to the evolution of ICT standards with our own innovation" states Jin Sam Kwak, Wilus' CEO.

"Wilus' technical expertise is outstanding, on par with much larger innovative organisations, and we are pleased to have them among our patent owners" says Mattia Fogliacco, President of Sisvel International. Sisvel's Wi-Fi Program Manager, Andrea Rombola, states "Sisvel realises the quality of the Wilus Wi-Fi 6 patent portfolio and pledges to support Wilus so as they can continue their contribution to the innovation ecosystem. We plan to do this by generating a return from the innovations contained in their patent portfolio, so to fund the next generation of innovations to the benefit of society as a whole."

Sisvel is making Wilus' valuable portfolio accessible on fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory terms and conditions, by offering a royalty-bearing, non-transferable, non-assignable, non-exclusive license, with no right to grant sublicenses, under Wilus' patent portfolio essential to the 802.11ax specification.

Further information about the terms and conditions of this license offer is available on Sisvel's website https://www.sisvel.com/licensing-programs/wireless-communications/wifi6/wilus-portfolio/introduction. For more details you may contact Sisvel at the following e-mail address WiFi6-Licensing@sisvel.com.

About Sisvel

Sisvel International S.A. is the holding company of the Sisvel Group. Sisvel is a world leader in fostering innovation and managing IP. The group identifies, evaluates and maximises the value of IP assets for its partners around the world, providing firms with a revenue stream which can be reinvested in innovation for the generation of future revenues. Sisvel has more than 35 years' experience in the management of successful patent portfolios, including those relating to audio compression standards (MP3 and MPEG audio), as well as broadcasting and digital terrestrial television standards maintained by the Digital Video Broadcasting Project. Sisvel operates patent pools and joint licensing programmes in the fields of mobile communication, wireless local area networking 802.11, video coding, digital video broadcasting, recommendation engines and broadband access to data networks.

www.sisvel.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005081/en/

Contacts:

Media Contact Sisvel Group

Giulia Dini

Communications Manager

Tel: +34 93 131 5570

giulia.dini@sisvel.com


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The Australian and NZ dollars slipped against their major counterparts in the European session on Thursday, as oil prices sank after the White House weighed a plan for a massive release of crude from strategic reserves to help alleviate a spike in prices.



The plan is expected to release around 1 million barrels of oil per day from strategic reserves for several months.



U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to announce the strategic petroleum reserve release plan later today.



A meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, known as OPEC+, is also in focus. The OPEC+ is likely to increase output by 400,000 barrels a day in April, the same pace as in past months.



West Texas Intermediate futures on the NYMEX have slipped to near $100 per barrel.



The aussie declined to a 2-day low of 0.7470 against the greenback and a 1-week low of 90.76 against the yen, off its early highs of 0.7526 and 92.10, respectively. The aussie is poised to challenge support around 0.70 against the greenback and 86.00 against the yen.



The aussie touched a session's low of 0.9343 against the loonie, after rising to 0.9404 at 8:45 pm ET. Should the aussie falls further, it is likely to test support around the 0.91 region.



The aussie depreciated to a 10-day low of 1.4943 against the euro, but it has since recovered to 1.4855. The pair had closed yesterday's deals at 1.4852.



The kiwi weakened to 2-day lows of 1.6084 against the euro and 84.33 against the yen, down from its early highs of 1.5980 and 85.41, respectively. The next possible support for the kiwi is seen around 1.62 against the euro and 82.00 against the yen.



The kiwi pulled back from an early high of 0.6978 against the greenback, falling to 0.6930. The kiwi may locate support around the 0.66 level.



The kiwi edged down to 1.0798 against the aussie, from a high of 1.0757 seen at 5 pm ET. The kiwi is seen finding support around the 1.09 mark.



Looking ahead, U.S. weekly jobless claims for the week ended March 26, personal income and spending data for February will be published in the New York session.







Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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A G20 summit on the recovery of global supply chains in session in Rome, last Oct. 31. Korea Times file



By Lee Kyung-min



Korea's key export industries will face increased challenges in Europe following the legislation of a due diligence law on the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) of supply chains led by the European Commission, the administrative arm of the European Union, according to Korea's trade ministry and market watchers, Thursday.



The law will diminish the competitiveness of up to 110 manufacturers of cars, automotive parts, semiconductors and biopharmaceutical products, weakened further by higher costs needed to comply with the European Commission's guidelines with greater emphasis on human rights and environmental awareness, according to market watchers.



Experts say the government should help firms better prepare for the strengthened guidelines, mostly concerning drafting ESG reports and disclosing ESG-related information. Timely and flexible adaptation will turn the risk into growth opportunities in the long term, they added.



The EU law seeks to foster sustainable and responsible corporate behavior throughout global value chains, according to the European Commission.



Firms will be "required to identify and, where necessary, prevent, end or mitigate adverse impacts of their activities on human rights, such as child labor and exploitation of workers, and on the environment, for example pollution and biodiversity loss," it said.



The administrative arm believes the law will bring legal certainty and level the playing field for businesses, as part of an overarching policy objective of advancing green transition and human rights protection in Europe and beyond.



ESG risk management



The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy held a meeting to review the trade implications of the European Commission's move on local firms.



An ESG risk management project was launched to help assess the scope and extent of the rule change, with plans to provide consultation services.



Firms that establish effective countermeasures will be granted incentives in export insurance and government assistance in expanding overseas.



The measure coincides with key EU countries embracing the new law, including Germany and the Netherlands.



Germany has mandated the submission and disclosure of ESG reports for firms with over 3,000 employees starting next year. This will be expanded to firms with over 1,000 employees in 2024.



Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP) research fellow Moon Jin-young said the impact of the new law will reach not only large firms but also their smaller partners.



"All entities on the supply chain will face overall greater responsibilities, primarily in the form of higher costs. How far-reaching the rules may become remains to be seen, in light of lingering geopolitical uncertainties, notably the Ukraine crisis," he said.








Prosafe informs that Stig H. Christiansen, DCEO & CFO has tendered his resignation as DCEO & CFO of Prosafe in order to pursue an alternative career opportunity.



The Board of Directors and the CEO comment, "We would like to thank Stig for his dedication and valuable contribution over the years and not least in connection with the recent financial restructuring which leaves the company in a solid financial situation. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours."



The company will commence the process of identifying a successor. Mr Christiansen will remain in his current role at the latest until 31 July 2022, alternatively until a successor is in place, and will assist the company in securing a good transition.

www.prosafe.com

Prosafe is a leading owner and operator of semi-submersible accommodation vessels. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange with ticker code PRS. For more information, please refer to(http://www.prosafe.com)Stavanger, 31 March 2022Prosafe SEFor further information, please contact:Jesper K. Andresen, CEOPhone: +47 51 65 24 30 / +47 907 65 155This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to Section 5-12 the Norwegian Securities Trading Act
Continuously Increasing Investment in Science and Technology Innovation and Strengthening the Fulfillment of Corporate Social Responsibilities

Legend Holdings 2021 Revenue and Net Profit Attributable to Equity Holders of the Company Achieved a New High



HONG KONG, Mar 31, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - Legend Holdings Corporation (3396.HK) announced today the audited annual results of the 12 months ended December 31, 2021("Reporting Period"). In 2021, the Company's revenue was RMB489.872 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 17%; net profit attributable to equity holders of the Company amounted to RMB5.755 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of 49%. The Company's results grew steadily to a new record high.



"In 2021, global economic growth has slowed down significantly and the global situation is complex and volatile. But under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, China's economy has stabilized and recovered, and the economic structure has continued to be optimized, further strengthening confidence and clarifying the direction for future development." said Mr. Ning Min, Chairman and Executive Director of Legend Holdings, "As the Company completed the intergenerational transition in 2019, the new generation of management once again emphasized the importance of upholding the original aspiration of entrepreneurship. As the Company continues to solidify the basic foundation, it forges ahead and integrates the development of the company into the bigger picture of the country's macro development blueprint. In the past two years, the Company has been on the ground with sound results, and more importantly, through continuous summary, reflections and reforms, it has further clarified the responsibility that the Company should take in the new era and the direction of its future development."



Ning Min said that Legend Holdings will further emphasize the leadership of scientific and technological innovation, adhere to the building of industrial base. And it will continue to enhance the support for Specialized, Fined, Peculiar and Innovative (SFPI) enterprises, as well as actively fulfill corporate social responsibilities to a higher degree.



Based on the corporate vision of "serving the country through industry ", the long-term goal of cultivating pillar industries, and the practical experience accumulated over the years, Legend Holdings has reorganized its business and has identified two business segments, namely industrial operations and industrial incubations and investments, in order to allocate resources more rationally, realize long-term value growth of the company through effective control and service mode, and promote industrial progress and technological innovation.



During the Reporting Period, the business foundation of industrial operations segment was further strengthened, with revenue of RMB486.004 billion and net profit attributable to equity holders of the Legend Holdings of RMB5.857 billion, both of which reached record highs. The industrial incubations and investments segment achieved RMB1.540 billion in the net profit attributable to equity holders of Legend Holdings, and a number of outstanding or promising enterprises emerged, which are one of the important sources of value growth for the Company.



Mr. Li Peng, Executive Director and CEO of Legend Holdings, stated, "In 2021, a number of policies have been introduced by the Nation to promote economic development, providing a favorable ground for the sustainable development of enterprises. Based on in-depth study of national strategies and industrial policies, Legend Holdings carefully studied the results and deficiencies in its work, further clarified its future direction, actively responded to changes in the external environment such as the pandemic and dynamically adjusted its business strategies and achieved good results. On the one hand, the company continues to strengthen its foothold in the focused key industries, focusing on developing pillar businesses across industries. On the other hand, it proactively promoted the digital transformation and upgrading of its subsidiaries, increased investment in the field of scientific and technological innovation, and established an innovation and development center in Legend Holdings in order to systematically study the domestic and international innovation trends and the advanced technologies in related science and technology fields, seeking new breakthroughs in high-tech fields." In addition, it continued to help investee companies to enter the capital market and actively strengthening ESG-related initiatives.



Increasing investment in scientific and technological innovation and continuously improving support for innovative and entrepreneurial enterprises



In the context of the era of in-depth implementation of scientific and technological innovation to lead high-quality development, Legend Holdings further strengthened its technology leadership during the Reporting Period, and increased its incubations, investments and financial support in fields of scientific and technological innovation through direct or indirect means, achieving certain results.



Legend Holdings is ranked 10th in the list of "2021 Private Enterprise R&D Investment 500". Lenovo, a subsidiary of the company, has proposed to double its R&D investment and R&D staff in the next three years, with investment of RMB20 billion per year and an increase in R&D staff to 24,000, which is being actively implemented. In 2021, Levima Advanced Materials filed 41 new patents and increased its R&D investment by more than 60% year-on-year, while planning to invest RMB10 billion to enter the field of new energy materials and biodegradable materials. Fullhan Microelectronics continuously increased its investment in the field of chip research and development, with R&D expenditure increasing by more than 100% compared to the previous year. And it has a complete production line from simulation to digitization, from front-end to back-end.



At the same time, through its funds and invested enterprises, the company continuously invested in innovative enterprises in the fields of cutting-edge technology, biomedicine, advanced manufacturing, TMT and other areas. In this way, it has nurtured a number of Specialized, Fined, Peculiar and Innovative (SFPI) enterprises in the field of scientific and technological innovation, becoming a reliable partner in the growth process of these enterprises. During the Reporting Period, 39 of the invested enterprises were selected to the national list of SFPI enterprises. As leading fund management companies, Legend Capital and Legend Star have invested in more than 100 scientific and technological innovation projects, and Legend Holdings along with its platforms promoted 21 invested companies entering the capital market. In addition, various businesses under Legend Holdings have also supported the growth of nearly 200 Chinese SFPI enterprises through supply chain procurement, financial support and professional services.



Fully strengthening the fundamentals of industrial operations and developing the real economy



Deep industrial cultivation and solid operation are important development concepts that Legend Holdings has been adhering to for a long time. Through strategic management, operation improvement, resource allocation and empowerment services, the company has gradually formed its industrial pillars and driven the sound development of its upstream and downstream industrial chains.



Among them, Lenovo grasped the global trend of accelerated global digitalization and intelligent transformation and upgrading, and its three businesses achieved record results and further improvement in profitability. In 2021, revenue increased by 18% year-on-year and net profit attributable to equity holders of Legend Holdings increased by 92% year-on-year. Benefiting from factors such as strong demand for new energy products, improved operational efficiency, and high-end differentiated product strategies, Levima Advanced Materials achieved record-high revenue again. Meanwhile, it was also selected into the CSI 500 Index and Shenzhen Component Index as a constituent stock successively, with revenue increased by 28% year-on-year and net profit attributable to equity holders of Legend Holdings increased by 70% year-on-year during the Reporting Period. Joyvio Group continued to put focus on its two main business lines, namely high-end fruit and premium animal protein, with revenue up by 5% year-on-year and net profit attributable to equity holders of Legend Holdings of RMB372 million, turning loss into profit. Banque Internationale a Luxembourg (BIL) kept optimizing its business models and actively promoting its China strategy, providing credit support to Chinese companies and Chinese-invested financial institutions "going global", while actively "bringing in" foreign capital. In 2021, all BIL's key business indicators recorded year-on-year growth steadily.



Actively fulfilling corporate social responsibility and comprehensively strengthening ESG-related initiatives



By the end of 2021, the whole system of Legend Holdings had nearly 100,000 employees, involving more than 2,000 enterprises in the industrial chain, creating more than 250,000 jobs and contributing more than RMB10 billion in taxes annually.



The Company has long been investing in many key areas such as entrepreneurship support, rural revitalization, promoting righteousness and response to natural disasters, including the Legend Advancing Education Fund, the Capital Special Fund for Heroes, Models and Justice-upholders and the "Legend Star CEO Training Program", all of which have lasted for more than ten years. The Company has also committed to promoting and uniting its subsidiaries to actively fulfill its corporate social responsibility, by combining its strengths, in combating epidemics, natural disasters, rural education and many other aspects. In the past Beijing Winter Olympics, Legend Holdings' invested companies actively integrated all its strengths to support the Winter Olympics through their own technology and services. Among which, Lenovo provided 13,900 sets of integrated equipment and IT equipment operation and maintenance services for the entire process with 430 engineers, achieving the high standard of "zero failure".



In the field of ESG, Lenovo joined the United Nations Global Compact in 2009 and has reduced its carbon emissions by 92% in the past decade, and its low-carbon practices have been selected as a UN Advanced Corporate Practice Case. Meanwhile, Lenovo has set up the goal of net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and has been actively exporting products, services and solutions to help various industries achieve carbon neutrality. Levima Advanced Materials supported the national policies of carbon peaking and neutrality in its business, with vigorous efforts to develop new energy and biodegradable materials, effectively achieved the objectives of lower energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions through such initiatives as continuous reduction in unit consumption, device and technology improvement, and process optimization. It is a national green factory and a local eco-friendly benchmark enterprise. BIL is a signature bank of the United Nations Global Compact and the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking (UN PRBs). It has successfully launched four ESG investment funds certified by professional institutions and helped a number of Chinese-invested enterprises issue green bonds. Legend Capital, as the first leading VC/PE institution in China joining United Nations Organization for Responsible Investment, has invested in over 20 "dual-carbon" technology-based enterprises.



Remaining true to the original aspiration, centering on "industrial operation and technological innovation", and taking a new journey



Looking ahead, Legend Holdings will study the long-term sustainable development of the Company under the new circumstances with higher standards, bring sound mid-term and long-term returns for shareholders, and contribute greater economic and social values to the society.



The company further clarified the key work in 2022. Li Peng said that in 2022, the global situation is still full of uncertainties, while the long-term positive fundamentals of China's economy will not change. The Central Economic Work Conference proposed that the word "stability" should take the lead and progress should be sought in the midst of stability. And Legend Holdings will fully study and refine the company's future development model and management system in line with the national strategy and the strategic idea of "industrial operation and technological innovation" so as to form a clear development goal and strategic plan. The Company will continue to strengthen its corporate fundamentals, manage and control relevant risks and promote the steady growth of its industrial operation business. In the industrial incubations and investments segment, scientific and technological innovation remains the focus of our resource allocation, and efforts should be made to seek and identify new opportunities for value creation. The Company will reasonably align the allocation of resources according to the strategic objectives, promote the release of value and accelerate the return of resources. Through closely following the national strategy of high-quality development and the concept of common prosperity, the Company will further deepen the work related to corporate social responsibility and ESG. It will further improve corporate governance, systematically plan appraisal and incentive mechanisms, upgrade team qualifications, and strengthen the training and introduction of professional talents in the field of scientific technological innovation.



Ning Min emphasized, "Legend Holdings has achieved and developed due to the support of all parties. It is always our goal to make the country, people and all parties trust us and keep our promises. We are happy to listen to the voices from all sides, all criticisms and suggestions are important nutrients for us, which will stimulate us to think carefully and turn them into the driving force for the enterprise to keep moving forward. With the guidance and support of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Legend has been accompanying the development of the country for 40 years, and has never forgotten the original aspiration of serving the country through industry and the mission it should take up in the new era. We will always be open-minded, practical and uphold the spirit of entrepreneurship. We will always be closely connected with the fate of the country and the well-being of the people, and walk in the same direction with the development of the times and the expectations of the society. Through making every effort to move forward with courage and perseverance, we will make a more positive contribution to the new era with substantial achievements on the new journey in the future."











Copyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.





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First app to allow you to view your NFTs alongside the rest of your investment portfolio

Delta will also allow users to view and explore NFT collections

GHENT, Belgium, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta, the investment tracker, announced today that it is expanding into NFTs by enabling users to explore NFTs alongside their stock, crypto and fund holdings.

Delta is a multi-asset explorer that provides users with a single, clear and complete overview of their investment portfolio. The app allows users to view and track their cryptos, stocks, NFTs and funds in one place and gives them the tools and charts to stay on top of their finances and make better decisions now and in the future.

Users will be able to connect their Web3 wallet to the Delta app and keep track of their NFTs alongside their other assets1. For now only Ethereum wallets are live, with the scope to add multi-chain later this year. Users will be able to view the NFTs they own but also explore and track over 18 million NFTs.

Nicolas Van Hoorde, CEO of Delta said: "Most retail investors today are juggling multiple financial apps making it really difficult to get an accurate overview of their investments. With connections to more than 5,000 banks and brokers, Delta is the first app to provide users with a complete picture of their investments - including NFTs - in one place."

2021 was the year NFTs truly went mainstream. According to a recent report by NonFungible.com, the total value of all NFT transactions worldwide jumped 21,350% to more than $17 billion in 2021, from $82.5 million in 2020.

"Delta helps people make good financial decisions by giving them an overview of their assets and by providing all the necessary tools to analyze their wealth. Although NFTs are not classic investment assets, we believe that NFTs will be a part of many consumers' holdings and are therefore incredibly excited to add them to the Delta universe. We have always prided ourselves on our beautiful design and we hope that users enjoy being able to view their NFTs and discover new collections via our app." continued Nicolas Van Hoorde.

On April 13 at 6 p.m. CET, Delta is hosting a live webinar on NFTs, featuring Delta CEO Nicolas Van Hoorde and Bert Dries, aka Musketon, a Belgian creator who became a crypto millionaire overnight by selling his own NFTs. Registration is free and can be done via delta.app/webinar.

Delta is part of eToro, the leading social investment network with over 27 million registered users.

Notes to editors

To learn more about the Delta app, visit www.delta.app or download the app from the App Store for Apple users or Google Play for Android users.

1 Subject to Apple iOS review

About Delta

Delta is the only app on the market that gives investors a live view of everything in their portfolio. The Belgium-based smartphone application links to both crypto wallets and stock portfolios, pouring them into one convenient and user-friendly overview where users can see at a glance the total value of their investments. With a team of 27 people, Delta has been helping more than 3,5 million investors worldwide make the right decisions in an easy way since 2017. Since 2019, Delta has been part of eToro, the leading social investment network.
DUROR, Scotland, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Monday 28th March 2022, conservation company Highland Titles achieved a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORD for the world's biggest bug/insect hotel, which means Highland Titles are "Officially Amazing!"

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c6d0e716-dbd2-4737-934d-660fac898b70



The 199.9 cubic metre structure is located on the Highland Titles Nature Reserve at Duror in the Scottish Highlands and already houses a variety of species. It breaks the previous world record of 89.37 cubic metres, which was held by the Polish Association of Developers in Warsaw, Poland.

The world record-breaking bug hotel was made using felled sitka spruce from the nature reserve, masonry bricks, bamboo canes, wood chips, forest bark, wildflower seeds, clay pipes and strawberry netting.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8f7ca5a3-5c5c-4d71-a475-daceb2ca6aff



"This record-breaking initiative is about the environmental message," says Douglas Wilson, CEO of Highland Titles. "We bought this land in 2006 when it was a poorly performing commercial forestry plantation of non-native Sitka Spruce.

"Like much of the Highlands, it was inappropriately planted in the late 1980s with no thought or consideration given to biodiversity. Using these same trees for something that puts nature first symbolises that the world has changed, and we hope our efforts will inspire others. We'd be delighted if someone beat our record in the future!"

Nature Reserve Manager, Stewart Borland, was part of a team of 7 who were involved in its construction which started in September 2021 and was completed in early March 2022. In addition to the environmental message, Mr Borland hopes that it encourages people to visit:

"In 2019, we had more than 10,000 visitors to the nature reserve from all over the world. The pandemic really put a dent in our visitor numbers, so we hope that this - together with the new track which is adored by cyclists - will encourage people to visit now that travel is opening up again. The more visitors we get, the more people can see the work that we're doing."

About Highland Titles

Highland Titles began in 2006 with a mission to conserve Scotland, one square foot at a time. The conservation project - now encompassing 5 nature reserves and over 800 acres of Scottish wilderness - is funded by selling gift-sized souvenir plots of land.

The Highland Titles community of souvenir plot owners are invited to style themselves as the Lords and Ladies of Glencoe. Over 300,000 plots of land have been sold to date.

The Highland Titles Nature Reserve near Glencoe is an official 4* tourist attraction and, according to Trip Advisor, one of the most popular nature reserves in the country.

Resources

For more information on the World's Biggest Bug Hotel, visit here



For more photographs or video content, please email support@highlandtitles.com with your email address, name and phone number

Contact

Douglas Wilson, CEO

douglas@highlandtitles.com
COEUR D'ALENE, ID / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Idaho Strategic Resources, Inc. (NYSE American:IDR) ("IDR", "Idaho Strategic" or the "Company") today announced its consolidated operating and financial results for the year ending December 31, 2021. Including a 34% increase in revenue and over a six-fold increase in gross profit compared to 2020.

IDR CEO and President, John Swallow stated, "I've heard it said that 'Entrepreneurship' is living a few years of your life like most people won't, so you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't. And if the past is prologue, IDR is a corporate example of entrepreneurship personified and the future will be met with the same spirit as it took to get here.

Aside from 2021 being one of the best years in our corporate history, I personally feel that IDR listing on the NYSE and live streaming from underground at the mine must be one of the coolest 'subsequent to year-end' events ever.

It seems that each year is met with increased focus on growth and reinvestment in the company, and 2021 was no exception. Our approach is simple, as long as we recognize the opportunity to build shareholder value, we will do our best to make it happen. On the corporate side, this included completing the reverse stock split, name change and most of the work required to up list onto the NYSE American stock exchange.

On the operations and exploration side of the business the list is lengthy, yet incomplete. In no certain order or level of importance in 2021 we grew gold production considerably, completed an aggressive drill program in the Paymaster early in the year, added a sizeable amount of private land adjacent to our current holdings in the Murray Gold Belt, continued drilling for our own account the entire year (at a nice discount to market rates), added additional underground production and development folks, upgraded underground equipment, expanded our geology staff and made necessary next level 'growth-related' adjustments within all of our operations. Our rare earth element projects were expanded on many levels - market realization, agency cooperation, land position, Diamond Creek drill program funding (~ $1,000,000) and drill program approval, etc. It is also in this area that we have continued to build upon our base of nationally recognized REE properties with a focus that has many of us excited."

Operational Highlights include the following:

For the year ending December 31, 2021 44,300 dry metric tonnes (dmt) were processed at the Company's New Jersey Mill with an average gold head grade of 3.85 grams per tonne gold (gpt). Compared to 39,880 dmt with an average gold head grade of 3.03 gpt in 2020.

IDR produced a total of 4,826 ounces of gold contained in concentrates and dore, mining 27,125 tonnes of ore from the open pit at an average grade of 2.92 gpt gold with an average stripping ratio of 6.4 and an average daily mining rate of 1,024 tonnes per day (tpd). Tonnes and grade were lower than expected because of unmapped historic stopes where the old-timers mined portions of the veins.

Mining from underground operation increased to 17,318 tonnes at an average grade of 5.32 gpt gold compared to 12,190 tonnes in 2020 at an average grade of 5.98 gpt gold for 2020.

IDR crews completed 190 meters of development related to the Main Access Ramp (MAR) and two ventilation raises.

Completed 6,935 meters of core drilling at the Golden Chest with significant gold-vein intercepts in the Paymaster and Klondike areas. A highlight of the 2021 drilling included drillhole GC 21-193 which intercepted 7.3 meters of 11.5 gpt gold in the Paymaster area.

Increased land position at rare earth element properties in central Idaho.

Increased the size of the Alder Gulch Project by acquiring an additional 508 acres of patented mining claims located just west of the Golden Chest.

Corporate Highlights include the following:

The Company achieved revenues from gold concentrate sales of $7,630,416 for the year ending December 31, 2021, compared to 2020 revenues of $5,674,947, an increase of 34% over 2020. The increase in revenue from mining operations is the result of an increase in gold grade and tonnes processed at the mill.

Gross profit in 2021 of $487,877, a six-fold increase compared to a gross profit of $67,546 in 2020. This is due to an increase in grade and tonnes processed at the mill.

The Company recorded a net loss of $3,260,361 in 2021 compared to a net loss of $739,939 for the same period in 2020, largely due to the planned increase in gold exploration and a non-cash charge related to an increase in stock-based compensation to employees.

Included in the consolidated net loss were non-cash charges of $1,977,841 ($236,493 in 2020) as follows: depreciation and amortization of $814,422 ($575,671 in 2020), accretion of asset retirement obligation of $9,953 ($9,632 in 2020), stock based compensation of $1,087,575 (none in 2020), stock issued for services of $69,673 (none in 2020), loss on write off of equipment none ($9,536 in 2020), equity income (loss) on investment in Buckskin $3,782 (none in 2020), gain on forgiveness of CARES Act loan of none ($358,346 in 2020).

Overall cash costs per ounce increased to $1,350.10 per ounce for the year ending December 31, 2021 compared to $1,292.77 for the same period in 2020. Likewise, the all-in sustaining costs increased to $1,818.22 for the year ending December 31, 2021 and $1,614.13 for the same period in 2020. The increase in cash costs is primarlily the result of lower grade and tonnes produced from the open pit.

Gold sales receivable increased to $408,187 from $264,779 at December 31, 2021 compared to 2020 as a result of shipping delays related to the global shipping situation.

Inventories decreased as of December 31, 2021, compared to 2020 as a result of where material was in the process at the mill.

Exploration expenses increased in 2021 compared to 2020 as funds became available. These exploration costs were primarily associated with core drilling at the Golden Chest and rare earth exploration in Central Idaho.

Management, professional services, and general and administrative costs increased in 2021 compared to 2020 for reasons including stock based compensation that was awarded in 2021 (none in 2020), and an overall increase in corporate activities as the Company is growing.

Stock based compensation increased in 2021 compared to 2020 as the company resumed the program after forgoing any awards in 2020.

Mineral properties increased in 2021 with the addition of several properties, most significantly with the addition of 508 acres to the Alder Gulch property for $1,699,965.

Mr. Swallow concluded, "In addition to our focus at Idaho Strategic, on the national stage 2021 brought about a renewed sense of the importance and strategic advantage of having a domestic supply for critical minerals. The mass realization of the mineral demand required of a decarbonized future and our national security is coming at a time when we are actively putting our money to work and investing in growth for the next phase of Idaho Strategic Resources. Our history of stretching every dollar we invest to create value for our fellow stakeholders has earned us a lot of trust as we navigate the path ahead. At IDR, what you see is what you get, for instance every dollar the company spends to aquire/advance our properties through exploration and drilling, and/or on the corporate side via our up listing to the NYSE shows up in our all-in sustaining cost per ounce at the Golden Chest; a metric that will be constantly reflecting our investment in the future. We are actively managing our growth and mineral expansion with the current economic and political backdrop in-mind, and view 2022 as an opportunity to accelerate our plans. We have spent the last two years building the team and setting the stage to capitalize on the opportunities ahead. It is no accident that we are where we are today."

Quality assurance/quality control

All of the samples were analyzed by American Analytical of Osburn, Idaho, an ISO certified laboratory. Samples were analyzed using lead collection fire assay with a gravimetric finish. A series of known assay standards are submitted with each drill hole as part of a quality assurance-quality compliance program.

Qualified person

IDR's Vice President, Grant A. Brackebusch, P.E. is a qualified person as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information and data included in this press release.

About Idaho Strategic Resources, Inc.

Domiciled in Idaho and headquartered in the Panhandle of northern Idaho, Idaho Strategic Resources (IDR) is one of the few resource-based companies (public or private) possessing the combination of officially recognized U.S. domestic rare earth element properties (in Idaho) and Idaho-based gold production located in an established mining community.

Idaho Strategic Resources produces gold at the Golden Chest Mine located in the Murray Gold Belt (MGB) area of the world-class Coeur d'Alene Mining District, north of the prolific Silver Valley. With over 7,000 acres of patented and unpatented land, the Company has the largest private land position in the area following its consolidation of the Murray Gold Belt for the first time in over 100-years.

In addition to gold and gold production, the Company maintains an important strategic presence in the U.S. Critical Minerals sector, specifically focused on the more "at-risk" Rare Earth Elements (REE's). The Company's Diamond Creek and Roberts REE properties are included the U.S. national REE inventory as listed in USGS, IGS and DOE publications. Both projects are located in central Idaho and participating in the USGS Earth MRI program.

With an impressive mix of experience and dedication, the folks at IDR maintain a long-standing "We Live Here" approach to corporate culture, land management, and historic preservation. Furthermore, it is our belief that successful operations begin with the heightened responsibility that only local oversight and a community mindset can provide. Its "everyone goes home at night" policy would not be possible without the multi-generational base of local exploration, drilling, mining, milling, and business professionals that reside in and near the communities of the Silver Valley and North Idaho.

For more information on Idaho Strategic Resources click here for our corporate presentation, go to www.idahostrategic.com or call:

Travis Swallow, Investor Relations & Corporate Development

Email: tswallow@idahostrategic.com

(208) 625-9001

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended that are intended to be covered by the safe harbor created by such sections. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by forward-looking words such as "anticipate", "believe", "expect", "goal", "plan", "intend", "potential', "estimate", "may", "assume" and "will" or similar words suggesting future outcomes, or other expectations, beliefs, plans, objectives, assumptions, intentions, or statements about future events or performance. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, Idaho Strategic Resources expectations, intentions, plans, assumptions and beliefs with respect to, among other things, estimated and targeted production rates and results, the expected prices of gold, as well as the related costs, expenses and capital expenditures; the potential advancement of rare earth element or critical mineral resources, 2022 outlook contained in this press release was prepared based on current mine plan assumptions with respect to production, costs and capital expenditures and the metal price assumptions. Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of Idaho Strategic Resources as of the date such information is provided and is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance, or achievements of IDR to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. With respect to the business of Idaho Strategic Resources, these risks and uncertainties include risks relating to widespread epidemics or pandemic outbreak including the COVID-19 pandemic; the impact of COVID-19 on our workforce, suppliers and other essential resources and what effect those impacts, if they occur, would have on our business, including our ability to access goods and supplies, the ability to transport our products and impacts on employee productivity, the risks in connection with the operations, cash flow and results of the Company relating to the unknown duration and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; interpretations or reinterpretations of geologic information; unfavorable exploration results; inability to obtain permits required for future exploration, development or production; general economic conditions and conditions affecting the industries in which the Company operates; the uncertainty of regulatory requirements and approvals; fluctuating mineral and commodity prices; the ability to obtain necessary future financing on acceptable terms; the ability to operate the Company's projects; and risks associated with the mining industry such as economic factors (including future commodity prices, and energy prices), ground conditions, failure of plant, equipment, processes and transportation services to operate as anticipated, environmental risks, government regulation, actual results of current exploration and production activities, possible variations in ore grade or recovery rates, permitting timelines, capital and construction expenditures, reclamation activities. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, or intended. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such information. Additional information regarding the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from this forward-looking information is available in Idaho Strategic Resources filings with the SEC on EDGAR. IDR does not undertake any obligation to update publicly or otherwise revise any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or other such factors which affect this information, except as required by law.

SOURCE: Idaho Strategic Resources, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695350/Idaho-Strategic-Resources-Provides-2021-Operating-and-Financial-Results
BEDFORD, NS / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Silver Spruce Resources Inc. ("Silver Spruce" or the "Company") (TSXV:SSE)(FRA:S6Q1) announces the approval of our Informe Preventivo by the Mexican government environmental authority, SEMARNAT, in application for our trenching and drilling permit at the Jackie project, Sonora, Mexico.

"We are pleased that the permitting documents were approved by SEMARNAT. As expected, the environmental report prepared by Saul Ruiz and his team at Green and Ceo clearly demonstrated their high-quality technical expertise and was approved on schedule," stated Greg Davison, Silver Spruce Vice-President Exploration and Director. "These approvals clear the way for Silver Spruce and our partner, Colibri Resource Corp. ("Colibri") to move forward with our jointly funded trenching and drilling program. The Phase 1 trenching is scheduled to start in April and be completed in May. Receipt of assays are anticipated during May and June."

"The field team will have access to a portable X-ray fluorescence tool ("PXRF") to test trenching areas for metals and pathfinder elements in parallel with optimization of the anomalous rock sampling locations," said Mr. Davison. "We believe that the PXRF, in conjunction with rock hyperspectral analysis, will provide excellent preliminary geochemical data for vectoring on alteration and mineralization while prioritizing trail and pad building for the Phase 1 drilling."

Figure 1. Jackie Concession Location Map. Note adjacent El Mezquite and Diamante 1 and 2.

The 1,130-hectare Jackie Au-Ag property ("Jackie") is a precious metal project located 8 km west-southwest of the town of Tepoca, and 170 km southeast of the capital city of Hermosillo, eastern Sonora, Mexico (Figure 1). Jackie is situated within the west-central portion of the Sierra Madre Occidental Volcanic Complex of northern Mexico. Mining and exploration in the surrounding area is active with adjacent and nearby properties held by Alamos Gold, Argonaut, Agnico Eagle, Evrim, Newmont, Garibaldi, Kootenay Silver and Penoles among others.

Jackie Exploration

Exploration plans were submitted for a 500-1,000-metre trenching program followed by an initial 1,000-2,000-metre reverse circulation drill program to evaluate the principal targets located near the centre of the concession. The proposed scope is designed to provide significant flexibility during the life of the initial permit and includes thirteen (13) trench track locations and thirty (36) drill pads. The trenching and drilling plans are shown in Figures 2 and 3, respectively, with Au and Ag assays from recent rock sampling. High grades of mineralization to 9.65 g/t Au and 515 g/t Ag, with coincident alteration and geochemical features, are transected by a NW-trending faults (see Press Release of December 29, 2021).

Figure 2. Line profiles for trenching planned on Jackie shown with Au and Ag assays. Individual trenches up to 20 metres in length located on Priority 1 (red) and 2 (yellow) lines.

Ground truthing of the Au-Ag system was completed in campaigns between January 2021 and July 2021 (see Press Releases of February 5, May 20 and August 26, 2021). The airborne and satellite survey data were acquired between April 2021 and September 2021 (see Press Releases of February 17, June 30 and September 9, 2021).

The prospecting and mapping clearly identified a strong Au-Ag anomaly, commonly though not exclusively, associated with elevated Hg, Pb, Zn, Cd, As, Sb and Cu with spatial distribution and trends like the multi-element data recorded for the nearby El Mezquite property. Rock sampling identified intense oxidation, silicification and argillic alteration, with low grade or bleached metals, and a notable paucity of vegetation. The alteration was noted during aerial photograph reconnaissance, and ASTER and LANDSAT 8 interpretation and confirmed by aiSIRIS outcrop sampling results for hyperspectral analysis. The anomaly is the focus area of the trenching (Figure 2) and drilling (Figure 3) plans.

Figure 3. Jackie drilling area location map (1:4,000 scale, 100 metre grid) with Au and Ag in proportional symbol layers on hill shade model from the high-resolution LiDAR survey data. Permitted drill collars in fuchsia-coloured circle with cross.

A northwesterly trend of anomalous precious metal, base metal and heavy metal pathfinder elements runs parallel to and transverse to local and regional lineaments which provides new untested targets for sampling and mapping both north and northwest of the target. The patterns indicated by cryptic structural features interpreted from the LiDAR maps and surface contours include a steeply dipping scarp of 5-15 metres located by mapping within 10-20 metres of the highest Au grade. Transverse ENE-trending features aligned as extensional arrays remain to be corroborated by detailed LiDAR analysis.

All aspects of the Company's exploration programs are conducted with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols for personal safety.

Project Background

The Jackie project is currently subject to an option agreement with Colibri (see Press Release of November 30, 2020), wherein Silver Spruce can earn up to 50% of the gold and silver projects by meeting specific criteria over periods of two years. Silver Spruce has completed the earn-in terms for cash and share payments and work expenditures and a 50:50 joint venture agreement is expected to be completed in short order.

Jackie is well situated in logistics for exploration and located six kilometres west and northwest of the Nicho deposit of Minera Alamos east of Highway #117. The Property is located ten kilometres southwest of Tepoca located on Highway #16 and is easily accessible to the west of Highway #117 via trails and dry river bed access from the pueblo of La Quema with vehicles and pack teams. High voltage power lines are located on Highway #16.

Qualified Person

Greg Davison, PGeo, Silver Spruce VP Exploration and Director, is the Company's internal Qualified Person for the Jackie Project and is responsible for approval of the technical content of this press release within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"), under TSX guidelines.

About Green & Ceo

Green & Ceo, Asesorio Profesional y Securidad en Ambiente (Professional Advisory and Safety in the Environment), based in Hermosillo, Mexico, specializes in solving, optimally and sustainably, all matters of Environmental Management, Safety and Hygiene, typical of current Economic Development. Green & Ceo (www.green-ceo.com) is a CEDES Accredited Service Provider (Prestador de Servicios Acreditado por CEDES).

About Silver Spruce Resources Inc.

Silver Spruce Resources Inc. is a Canadian junior exploration company which has signed Definitive Agreements to acquire 100% of the Melchett Lake Zn-Au-Ag project in northern Ontario, and with Colibri Resource Corp. in Sonora, Mexico, to acquire 50% interest in Yaque Minerales S.A de C.V. holding the El Mezquite Au project, and up to 50% interest in each of Colibri's Jackie Au and Diamante Au-Ag projects. Silver Spruce signed a Definitive Agreement to acquire 100% interest in the Mystery Au project in the Exploits Subzone Gold Belt, Newfoundland and Labrador. The Company signed an Agreement to earn 100% interest in the Pino de Plata Ag project in western Chihuahua, Mexico. Silver Spruce Resources Inc. continues to investigate opportunities that Management has identified or that have been presented to the Company for consideration.

Contact:

Silver Spruce Resources Inc.

Greg Davison, PGeo, Vice-President Exploration and Director

(250) 521-0444

gdavison@silverspruceresources.com

Michael Kinley, CEO

(902) 402-0388

mkinley@silverspruceresources.com

info@silverspruceresources.com

www.silverspruceresources.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.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains "forward-looking statements," Statements in this press release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future, including but not limited to, statements regarding the private placement.

Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, the inherent uncertainties associated with mineral exploration and difficulties associated with obtaining financing on acceptable terms. We are not in control of metals prices and these could vary to make development uneconomic. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate.

SOURCE: Silver Spruce Resources Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695448/Silver-Spruce-announces-SEMARNAT-approval-for-trenching-and-drilling-permit-at-the-Jackie-Au-Ag-project-Sonora-Mexico
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Usha Resources Ltd. ("USHA" or the "Company") (TSX-V:USHA)(OTCQB:USHAF) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a mineral property option agreement (the "Option Agreement" or "Transaction") with Ares Strategic Mining Inc. (the "Vendor") of Vancouver, British Columbia, whereby the Company has been granted the exclusive option to acquire a 100% interest in 140 mineral claims located in Jackpot Lake, Clark County, Nevada (the "Property").

The Property is located within Clark County, 35 kilometres northeast of Las Vegas, Nevada, and is comprised of 140 mineral claims that total 2,800 acres. The project is exploring a "playa" which appears to be within a closed basin that may contain potentially lithium-rich brines. The geologic model is similar to that of Albemarle's Silver Peak Nevada Lithium Mine which has operated continuously since 1966, and Iconic Mineral's Bonnie Claire Project, which recently released a Preliminary Economic Assessment report (PEA) that indicates 40-year mine with an after-tax NPV8% of 1.5 billion, where sediments from lithium-rich surrounding source rocks accumulate and fill the deposit leading to a potential concentration of lithium brine due to successive evaporation and concentration events.

Figure 1 - Left, location of Jackpot Lake. Right, aerial image of the "playa".

The project is considered to be "drill-ready" based on the following work which has successfully delineated a 5 x 2 kilometre anomaly within a closed basin that suggests the presence of a highly concentrated brine:

129 core samples collected by the USGS with an average lithium value of 175 ppm with a high of 550 ppm and spectrographic and atomic-absorption analyses of 135 stream sediment samples confirming the potential for lithium mineral deposits.

Gravitational surveying which has identified a closed basin, critical for ensuring brines remain within the basin without dilution from external water sources.

Geophysical modelling based upon gravitational and controlled source audio magnetotellurics/magnetotellurics (CSAMT/MT) surveys has provided evidence of highly concentrated brines which are relatively near the surface. The CSAMT survey results of the Jackpot Lake Project demonstrate a large consistent body of very low resistivity - consistent with highly concentrated brine behavior - throughout the property, predominantly above bedrock depths of 625 meters.

The CSAMT Survey and report was conducted and prepared by Hasbrouck Geophysics, who has extensive experience of both surveying and data processing for brine-bearing basin environments across the southwestern U.S.

Figure 2- Left, gravitational surveying outlined the footprint of the Jackpot lithium brine anomaly. Right, CSMAT survey slices showing a cross-section of the anomaly illustrating the highly enriched brines throughout the property in red.

Based on the above, the Company intends on completing an aggressive exploration program by drilling both shallow and deep holes to test the targets outlined by the CSAMT Survey at possible higher concentration brine zones with the goal of completing a 43-101 resource estimate by Q4 of 2022.

Deepak Varshney, CEO of Usha Resources, stated, "We are thrilled to add Jackpot Lake to our growing portfolio of "green" projects and thank Ares for partnering with us to move this project forward. Our goal is to identify high-quality projects that are near or drill-ready with high-upside that can be achieved through the completion of relatively inexpensive work programs. Lithium brine deposits have a significant cost advantage over lithium clay deposits in that lithium mineralization is much less difficult and much less expensive to process. They can also be explored through smaller drilling programs that can result in the Company identifying resource estimates much more economically. The addition of Jackpot means that 2022 will be an extremely active period for USHA with three planned drill programs giving our shareholders a number of potential catalysts across our various projects."

James Walker, CEO of Ares Strategic Mining, stated, "We are pleased to have USHA as a partner for Jackpot. Our goal was to find a well-structured and capitalized company that could move the project forward and look forward to supporting USHA as shareholders and strategic partners."

The Transaction

Under the terms of the Transaction, USHA will be able to acquire a 100% interest in the Property in exchange for the following consideration:

$75,000 payable within five days from receiving approval from the TSX Venture Exchange (the " Exchange ").

"). $500,000 payable in common shares (the " Shares ") of the Company within five days from the date of Exchange approval, to be issued at a deemed value at the greater of the 10-day VWAP or Discounted Market Price;

") of the Company within five days from the date of Exchange approval, to be issued at a deemed value at the greater of the 10-day VWAP or Discounted Market Price; $225,000 payable through a combination of cash or Shares of the Company (at the discretion of the Company), up to a maximum of 1,500,000 Shares, on the six-month anniversary date, to be issued at a deemed value at the greater of the 10-day VWAP or Discounted Market Price; and

$225,000 payable through a combination of cash or Shares of the Company (at the discretion of the Company), up to a maximum of 1,500,000 Shares, on the twelve-month anniversary date, to be issued at a deemed value at the greater of the 10-day VWAP or Discounted Market Price.

Additionally, the Company will be required to complete no less than $1,000,000 worth of Expenditures on the Claims within two years unless the Option has been exercised in full.

The Vendor will return a 1% Gross Overriding Royalty (the "GORR"), subject to a buyback provision by the Company, whereby the Company may acquire, at any time, one-half of the GORR for $1,000,000.

The Option Agreement and the transactions contemplated therein, including the issuance of the Shares, is subject to the approval of the Exchange. All securities issued in connection with the Transaction will be subject to a four-month-and-one-day statutory hold period.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed and approved by Mr. Helgi Sigurgeirson, P.Geo., a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

About Usha Resources Ltd.

Usha Resources Ltd. is a Canadian mineral acquisition and exploration company based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Usha is exploring for commercially exploitable mineral deposits and is currently focused on deposits located in Northwest Ontario, Canada and the Lost Basin Gold Mining District in Mohave County, Arizona, U.S.A. Usha increases shareholder value through the acquisition and exploration of quality precious and base metal properties and the application of advanced state-of-the-art exploration methods. Usha's portfolio of strategic properties provides diversification and mitigates investment risk.

We seek Safe Harbor.

USHA RESOURCES LTD.

"Deepak Varshney" CEO and Director

For more information, please phone James Berard, Investor Relations, 778-228-2314, email info@usharesources.com, or visit www.usharesources.com.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking statements:

This news release may include "forward-looking information" under applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and are based on a number of estimates and/or assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking information are neither promises nor guarantees and are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties, uncertain and volatile equity and capital markets, lack of available capital, actual results of exploration activities, environmental risks, future prices of base and other metals, operating risks, accidents, labour issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry.

The Company is presently an exploration stage company. Exploration is highly speculative in nature, involves many risks, requires substantial expenditures, and may not result in the discovery of mineral deposits that can be mined profitably. Furthermore, the Company currently has no reserves on any of its properties. As a result, there can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements.

SOURCE: Usha Resources Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695414/Usha-Resources-Acquires-Drill-Ready-Lithium-Project-in-Nevada
COPENHAGEN (dpa-AFX) - Denmark's jobless rate declined in February to its lowest level in nearly 14 years, figures from Statistics Denmark showed on Thursday. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the gross unemployment rate decreased to 2.5 percent in February from 2.7 percent in January. The latest unemployment rate was the lowest since June 2008, soon before the global financial crisis, the agency said. The gross unemployment fell by 3,400 persons to 72,800 in February from 76,200 in the preceding month. The youth jobless rate, which is applicable to the 16 to 24 age group, remained unchanged at 1.0 percent in February for the second consecutive month. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
PORT LUIS, Mauritius, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- During the holy month of Ramadan, global multi-asset broker HotForex offers its clients the opportunity to carry on with their trading while helping those in need with a special charity activity.

From 28th March to 2ndMay 2022, for every lot traded (1 standard lot) on forex, silver and gold from trading accounts participating in the activity, HotForex will be donating 1 USD to an established charitable organization for the well-being of people in Islamic countries. Participants in the Ramadan activity will have the chance to enter three exclusive lucky draws for a chance to win generous prizes.

A HotForex spokesperson commented: "At HotForex, we largely focus on social responsibility and always look for ways to support and give back to our surrounding community. With respect to our clients' traditions, we've launched this initiative and we welcome all traders to celebrate Ramadan by joining a good cause with the chance of winning special prizes."

Visit the HotForex Ramadan page to find out more about the company's charity activity.

About HotForex

HotForex is an internationally acclaimed multi-asset broker of choice to over 2.5 million live accounts worldwide that has earned over 55 coveted industry awards since it was founded in 2010. The company offers a wide variety of account types, innovative products, platforms, tools and educational resources besides outstanding customer service and unparalleled trading conditions to facilitate individuals and institutional customers to trade Forex and CFDs online.

HF Markets Ltd, marketing@hotforex.com, +44-2030978571

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1777799/HotForex_Ramadan_Kareem_2022.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/830182/HotForex_Logo.jpg
MILAN, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Everli, Europe's leading online grocery marketplace, announces today that it has secured an additional 22m in funding led by new investor United Ventures, the Italian venture capital firm specialising in investments in digital technologies, as part of its Series C round of investment. Everli is the third company to enter the portfolio of United Ventures' fund UV T-Growth, which focuses on highly innovative growth-stage companies.

The additional investment comes part-way through the round and will enable Everli to accelerate its existing international expansion plans and continue to drive forward its mission to build Europe's most-loved grocery marketplace.

Fedrico Sargenti, CEO Everli commented, "Everli has successfully expanded internationally in recent months, making great progress securing international retailer partnerships which are going to help us grow even faster. We are very excited to have United Ventures on board to further accelerate these opportunities in the short term, but also from a longer term perspective the experience and history they have are going to be invaluable as we continue to scale."

Everli has so far fulfilled grocery orders for more than 4 million deliveries in 135 cities in Italy, France, Poland and Czech Republic, partnering with retailers such as Lidl, Carrefour, Conad, Coop and Kaufland. Its model, which relies on a network of more than 3000 Shoppers, enables customers in small and medium density areas to do their same-day delivery large basket grocery shopping conveniently via the Everli app or website. Supermarket partners benefit from an affordable, fast solution to quickly offer an easy to use online and home delivery service that reaches high-value customers and builds loyalty.

Fabio Pirovano, Partner of United Ventures' fund UV T-Growth, commented: "Few sectors have evolved as rapidly as grocery retail in recent years. We've been following Everli's progress with interest for a while, and today we are thrilled to support the company in the next phase of its international expansion through our growth fund. We are looking forward to working together with Federico and the Everli team as they pursue their mission of creating the largest online-grocery European platform."

Everli initially announced its Series C funding last year, and since then expanded into France and the Czech Republic; won additional retail partnerships with retailers such as Kaufland, Carrefour and Casino; hired new key leadership; and grew and developed its team and capability in areas such as tech, product, operations, marketing and finance.

About Everli

Everli is on a mission to help people achieve peace of mind, by simplifying their life when shopping for groceries. No more queuing, no more parking, no more carrying heavy weights: Everli's dream is to bring just the best parts of grocery shopping, directly to your home. Founded in 2014, Everli is now the main European e-grocery marketplace. Headquartered in Milan, with offices also in Paris, Verona and Warsaw, Everli's team has grown to more than 300 people, and has created more than 100 partnerships with retailers and CPG companies, providing flexible employment for over 3,000 shoppers. Everli serves 135 cities around Europe, and has delivered groceries 4 million times. Visit us at https://about.everli.com/ .

About United Ventures

United Ventures is an independent Italian Venture Capital firm investing in digital technologies. Since 2013, it has partnered with over thirty technology startups and scaleups, supporting their growth and international expansion process. United Ventures currently has 300M in assets under management on two early-stage (UV1 and UV2) and one growth (UV T-Growth) venture capital funds. The firm's portfolio includes to date twenty companies across Italy, UK, Switzerland, Israel, and USA. For more information take a look at https://unitedventures.com/

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1777836/Everli_UV.jpg
KT CEO Ku Hyeon-mo bangs the gavel to start the company's shareholders' meeting at its R&D center in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of KT



By Baek Byung-yeul



Park Jong-ook, co-CEO and chief safety officer of KT, resigned abruptly from his inside director position right before the start of the company's annual shareholders' meeting on Thursday.



Given that reappointing Park as the company's board member was scheduled for a vote at the meeting, Park's resignation can be interpreted as resulting from opposition by the National Pension Service (NPS), which holds a 12.49 percent stake in the telecom firm.



The NPS and civic organizations here have been expressing their opposition over his reappointment as a director, as he is undergoing a trial on charges of illegal fundraising for politicians. As for the reason for his resignation, a company spokesman said it was for "personal reasons."



With Park's resignation, CEO Ku Hyeon-mo has become the sole leader of the country's leading mobile carrier. The company plans to find a new in-house director and chief safety officer, while Park will maintain his post as head of the Corporate Planning Group.



At the shareholders' meeting, CEO Ku shared his vision to shift to a holding company structure. It is known that KT has considered restructuring into a holding company system, given that its market capitalization is at around only 9.3 trillion won, while the asset value of its real estate alone exceeds 30 trillion won.



"I think KT's stock price is still low and the actual value of the company is not reflected. The overall market fell more than 10 percent this year, but KT rose 15 percent. There is still room for improvement," Ku told investors.



When asked about the company's initial public offering (IPO) plans for its affiliates, Ku added that the company plans to list Millie, its e-book subscription platform company, and internet bank K bank on the stock market.



"This year's IPO preparation companies include Millie and K bank. Among them, K bank will go for its IPO later this year or early next year. I expect it to be valued considerably. Some other companies also wish to go for their IPOs, such as BC Card," he said.



The company also announced it will enter the MyData business by adding personal credit information management and incidental businesses as a new clause in its articles of incorporation.



Led by the government, MyData aims to enable customers to browse their own personal financial information gathered from various financial firms and made available all in one place. KT already applied for preliminary permission to enter the business last November and is waiting for the results. The company is expected to offer its own MyData service with its credit card affiliate BC Card.



Shareholders welcomed the CEO's vision, as the company's stock price rose 3.78 percent to end at 35,700 won, Thursday.


MONTREAL, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dynacor Gold Mines Inc. (TSX: DNG) (Dynacor or the Corporation) released its audited annual consolidated financial statements and the management's discussion and analysis (MD&A) for the year ended December 31, 2021.



These documents have been filed electronically with SEDAR at www.sedar.comand will be available on the Corporation's website www.dynacor.com.

(All figures in this press release are in Ms of US$ unless stated otherwise. All amounts per share are in US$. All variance % are calculated from rounded figures. Some additions might be incorrect due to rounding).

2021 OVERVIEW AND HIGHLIGHTS

OVERVIEW

Dynacor completed 2021 with both production and financial historical high performances on its way to its eleventh (11th) consecutive year of profit. The Corporation achieved production record of 106,862 AuEq ounces powering total sales to $196 million a significant 93% increase compared to 2020, and a net income of $11.8 million.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b031b589-3be1-4325-a07d-9ec805f4f57c

In mid-2021, the Corporation completed the expansion of its Veta Dorada plant reaching 430 tpd (+25% throughput compared to the previous 345 tpd). Thanks to its year opening high level of ore inventory and increasing volume of ore supplied, the mill has been able to operate at full capacity throughout the year averaging a 368 tpd processing rate.

The year 2020 was marked by the Covid-19 pandemic who led to a mandatory three-month shut-down of its Veta Dorada plant operations.

HIGHLIGHTS

Operational

Increasing ore volume supplied. With a new record volume of ore supplied (more than 140,000 tonnes in 2021) and even though the mill ran at full capacity, the Corporation increased its year-end ore inventory level to over 14,000 tonnes which represents more than one month of production supply;

Increased plant capacity. In Q2-2021, the plant capacity was increased by 25%;

Highest volume processed. In 2021, the Veta Dorada plant processed a historical high volume of 134,269 tonnes of ore (368 tpd average) compared to 77,978 tonnes in 2020 (274 tpd excluding the impact of the temporary shut-down due to the Covid-19 pandemic), a 34% increase;

Increased grade of ore processed. The average grade of ore processed in 2021 increased by 20% compared to 2020;

Historical high gold production. In 2021, gold equivalent production amounted to 106,862 AuEq ounces compared to 51,369 AuEq ounces in 2020 a significant 108% increase.

Financial

Solid cash position. Cash on hand of $27.1 million at year-end 2021 compared to $11.9 million in 2020;

Higher gold production boost overall financial performance. Significant increases in all financial aspects;

Surpassed revised earning per share guidance by 20%. Dynacor recorded an historical high net income of $11.8 million in 2021 ($0.30 or CA$0.38 per share) compared to $4.3 million ($0.11 or CA$0.15 per share) in 2020;

Sales surged to almost $200 million. Thanks to an historical production of 106,862 AuEq ounces, sales of 109,303 AuEq ounces amounted to $195.9 million in 2021 compared with $101.5 million in 2020 a 93% increase;

Increased gross operating margin. Gross operating margin of $27.1 million in 2021, compared to $13.6 million in 2020;

Increased operating income. Operating income of $21.2 million compared to $9.5 million in 2020;

Strong cash gross operating margin. Cash gross operating margin of $269 per AuEq ounce sold (1) compared to $276 in 2020;

compared to $276 in 2020; EBITDA surged to a record high. EBITDA (2) of $23.5 million, compared to $11.7 million in 2020;

of $23.5 million, compared to $11.7 million in 2020; Robust cash flows. Cash flows from operating activities before change in working capital items of $15.1 million ($0.39 per share) (3) compared to $8.6 million ($0.22 per share) in 2020.

Return to Shareholders

Monthly dividend policy. Since February 2021, a monthly dividend replacing a quarterly dividend is paid. Dividends totaling $2.5 million (CA$3.2 million) were paid in 2021;

Share buy-back. 441,340 common shares repurchased for $0.9 million (CA$ 1.2 million);

Increased dividends. A 33% increase in monthly dividends paid from June 2021, followed by an additional 25% increase from January 2022. On an annual basis, the 2022 dividend will represent CA$0.10 per share or more than 3% dividend yield based on the year-end 2021 share price;

Increased share price. On December 31, 2021, the market value of our share was CA$3.16 vs. CA$1.79 on December 31, 2020.

(1) Cash gross operating margin per AuEq ounce is in US$ and is calculated by subtracting the average cash cost of sale per equivalent ounces of Au from the average selling price per equivalent ounces of Au and is a non-IFRS financial performance measure with no standard definition under IFRS. It is therefore possible that this measure could not be comparable with a similar measure of another company.

(2) EBITDA: "Earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation" is a non-IFRS financial performance measure with no standard definition under IFRS. It is therefore possible that this measure could not be comparable with a similar measure of another corporation. The Corporation uses this non-IFRS measure as an indicator of the cash generated by the operations and allows investor to compare the profitability of the Corporation with others by canceling effects of different assets basis, effects due to different tax structures as well as the effects of different capital structures.

(3) Cash-flow per share is a non-IFRS financial performance measure with no standard definition under IFRS. It is therefore possible that this measure could not be comparable with a similar measure of another corporation. The Corporation uses this non-IFRS measure which can also be helpful to investors as it provides a result which can be compared with the Corporation market share price.

RESULTS FROM OPERATIONS

Extract from the Consolidated Statement of net income and comprehensive income

For the years ended

December 31, (in $'000) 2021 2020 Sales 195,906 101,533 Cost of sales (168,850) (87,928) Gross operating margin 27,056 13,605 General and administrative expenses (5,808) (3,944) Other projects (34) (145) Operating income 21,214 9,516 Income before income taxes 20,639 8,958 Current income tax expense (8,339) (3,427) Deferred income tax expense (519) (1,196) Net income and comprehensive income 11,781 4,335 Earnings per share Basic $0.30 $0.11 Diluted $0.30 $0.11

Total sales for the year 2021 were almost twice the sales of 2020. The increase is mostly explained by the increased number of gold ounces sold (+$92.0 million).

The gross operating margin beneficiating from the significant increase in sales amounted to $27.1 million in 2021 (13.8% of sales) compared to $13.6 million in 2020 (13.4% of sales).

General and administrative expenses amounted to $5.8 million in 2021. The 47.3% increase compared to 2020 is mainly due to increases in salaries expenses (ref. increase in level of activity), professional fees and in profit sharing.

The 2021 net income was again affected by the recording of a $0.7 million deferred income tax expense (non-cash) resulting from the declining value throughout the period of the Peruvian Sol against the US$ and consequently FX variances applied on long term assets local tax basis.

Reconciliation of non-IFRS measures

(in $'000) For the years ended

December 31, 2021 2020 Reconciliation of net income and comprehensive income to EBITDA Net income and comprehensive income 11,781 4,335 Income taxes expense (current and deferred) 8,858 4,624 Financial expenses 229 178 Depreciation 2,639 2,514 EBITDA 23,507 11,651

CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING, INVESTING AND FINANCING ACTIVITIES AND WORKING CAPITAL AND LIQUIDITY

Operating activities

For the year ended December 31, 2021, the cash flow from operations, before changes in working capital items, amounted to $15.1 million compared to $8.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Net cash from operating activities amounted to $21.9 million compared to $11.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Changes in working capital items amounted to $6.8 million compared to $2.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Investing activities

During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Corporation invested a net amount of $3.2 million ($0.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020). This amount includes investments at the plant notably in relation to its capacity increase (+25% throughput level), improvements in production processes and new vehicles. All investments have been financed with internally generated cash-flows.

Additions to exploration and evaluation assets were limited to the maintaining and safekeeping of assets in 2021 and 2020.

Financing activities

In 2021, due to the changes in the dividend policy, a quarterly dividend and eleven monthly dividends totaling CA$0.082 per share were disbursed for a total consideration of $2.5 million (CA$ 3.2 million). In 2020, four quarterly dividends totaling CA$0.060 per share were disbursed for a total consideration of $1.7 million (CA$ 2.3 million).

In 2021, 441,340 common shares were repurchased under the Corporation normal course issuer bid share buyback program for a total cash consideration of $0.9 million (CA$ 1.2 million) (149,185 shares for a total cash consideration of $0.2 million (CA$0.3 million in 2020)).

In 2021, the Corporation received $0.4 million (CA$ 0.5 million) mainly from some of its Directors for the exercise of purchase options ($0.2 million in 2020 (CA$ 0.3 million)).

In 2021, the Corporation made repayments of lease liabilities and assets retirement obligations for $0.2 million ($0.6 million in 2020).

Working capital and liquidity

As at December 31, 2021, the Corporation's working capital amounted to $36.4 million, including $27.1 million in cash ($25.4 million, including $11.9 million in cash at December 31, 2020).

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION

As at December 31, 2021, total assets amounted to $91.4 million ($76.3 million as at December 31, 2020). Major variances since last year-end come from the significant increase in cash and in trade and other payables and the impact of the additional tax liability (current and deferred) recorded 2021.

(in $'000) As at

December 31, As at

December 31, 2021 2020 Cash 27,099 11,868 Accounts receivable 8,407 8,434 Inventories 14,764 13,401 Property, plant and equipment 20,759 19,677 Right-of-use assets 341 834 Exploration and evaluation assets 18,516 18,510 Other assets 1,471 3,572 Total assets 91,357 76,296 Trade and other payables 11,680 7,082 Asset retirement obligations 3,553 3,604 Current tax liabilities 2,217 1,124 Deferred tax liabilities 1,555 1,036 Lease liabilities 343 706 Shareholders' equity 72,009 62,744 Total liabilities and equity 91,357 76,296

OUTLOOK 2022

Ore processing

For 2022, the Corporation forecasted sales (1) in the range of $200-220 million representing growth of 4-14% over 2021 final production sales. This would result in a net income in the range of $11-13 million ($0.28-0.33 per share) (CA$0.36-0.42 per share).

Dynacor's 2022 capital budget ranging between $5-8 million includes sustainable capital at the Veta Dorada plant. The Corporation intends to increase the mill capacity later this year.

The Corporation is continuing to assess other opportunities of growth in Peru as well as in other jurisdictions.

(1) Using opening 2022 market gold price

Exploration

The Corporation has planned for 2022, a $1.0 million 2,735-meter 8-hole drilling program on the Tumipampa project. This program is subject to the Corporation reaching a work agreement with local communities.

ABOUT DYNACOR

Dynacor is a dividend-paying industrial gold ore processor headquartered in Montreal, Canada. The corporation is engaged in gold production through the processing of ore purchased from the ASM (artisanal and small-scale mining) industry. At present, Dynacor operates in Peru, where its management and processing teams have decades of experience working with ASM miners. It also owns a gold exploration property (Tumipampa) in the Apurimac department.

The corporation intends to expand its processing operations in other jurisdictions as well.

Dynacor produces environmental and socially responsible gold through its PX IMPACT gold program. A growing number of supportive firms from the fine luxury jewelry, watchmakers and investment sectors pay a small premium to our customer and strategic partner for this PX IMPACT gold. The premium provides direct investment to develop health and education projects for our artisanal and small-scale miner's communities.

Dynacor is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (DNG).

FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain statements in the preceding may constitute forward-looking statements, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Dynacor, or industry results, to be materially different from any future result, performance or achievement expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management's current expectations regarding future events and operating performance as of the date of this news release.

Shares Outstanding: 38,643,747

Website: http://www.dynacor.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/DynacorGold

PDF available: http://ml.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/887ed177-3eb6-43ab-aacc-3674649df4e3
New HFA 152a production facility will produce low global warming potential (GWP) propellants for pressurised metered dose inhalers (pMDIs).

The new propellant will reduce the carbon footprint of pMDI inhalers by up to 90%, down to a similar level as a dry powder inhaler (DPI). [1]

New inhaler will bring more environmentally friendly options to patients, all while ensuring they can continue to access the treatments they need.

BOSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Koura, a global leader in the development, manufacture, and supply of fluoroproducts and technologies,[2] today opens a new HFA 152a production facility at their Runcorn site in the UK. Chiesi, the international research-focused pharmaceuticals and healthcare group, signed a commercial agreement to use the new low carbon footprint medical propellant for inhalation product development and clinical trials in 2019.[3]

The opening of this new production facility was conducted by Alessandro Chiesi, CCO at Chiesi and Gregg Smith, President at Koura and marks a key milestone in delivering an environmentally-friendly medical propellant, HFA 152a, which has a low GWP (F-Gas AR4 124). This new facility will see commercial-scale HFA 152a availability in the market by mid-2022, allowing pharmaceutical companies to meet 2025/2026 commercial product timeframes.

Chiesi Group, a Benefit Corporation and certified B Corp,[4] plans to bring to market the environmentally friendly pMDI inhalers for patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by the end of 2025.[5] The innovation from Koura will allow Chiesi to achieve its ambition to reduce its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions per unit of inhaled products sold by 80% by 2030 and 90% by 2035 compared to 2019.[6]

Gregg Smith, Koura President said: "This is a significant step forward in bringing our sustainable, greener medical propellant HFA 152a to the market. The opening of this facility is part of a series of strategic investments that will deliver secure supply of low GWP propellant to meet regulatory and commercial needs of our customers ahead of low GWP pMDI launches expected during 2025."

Mr Smith went on to say: "2022 is an exciting year for HFA 152a and the pMDI market, with a number of key milestones being met."

Alessandro Chiesi, Chief Commercial Officer at Chiesi said: "Patients should not have to consider the burden of environmental responsibility when choosing treatment options that impact their health. We are proud to supply both pMDI and DPI inhalers and to have taken decisive and ambitious action to ensure patients can continue to access the inhaler options that best suit their needs, whilst innovating to find the most environmentally conscious solution available."

"This step comes as part of Chiesi's commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2035 on all direct (scope 1 and 2) and indirect (scope 3) greenhouse gas emissions. Our carbon neutrality announcement last year called for "action over words" in the fight against climate change, and this announcement is the latest way that we are delivering on that commitment."

For more information about Chiesi's carbon neutrality commitments, visit: www.actionoverwords.org

About HFA 152a

HFA 152a is a new, sustainable medical propellant for use in pMDIs for treatment of respiratory disorders such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). HFA 152a minimises the carbon footprint of pMDIs while safeguarding an invaluable therapeutic option for patients.

About Koura

Koura is a global leader in the development, manufacture, and supply of fluoroproducts that play a fundamental role in enhancing everyday lives. Koura is a part of the Orbia community of companies, working together to tackle some of the world's most complex challenges. Koura's products are used in a vast range of applications including energy storage, construction of towns and cities, keeping homes cool, food fresh and even in the treatment of respiratory conditions. Headquartered in Boston, Koura has commercial activities across the world, with operations in the United Kingdom, Mexico, United States, India, and Japan.

About Orbia

Orbia is a company driven by a shared purpose: to advance life around the world. Orbia operates in the Polymer Solutions (Vestolit and Alphagary), Building and Infrastructure (Wavin), Precision Agriculture (Netafim), Data Communications (Dura-Line) and Fluorinated Solutions (Koura) sectors. The five Orbia businesses and their commercial brands have a collective focus on expanding access to health and wellness, reinventing the future of cities and homes, ensuring food and water security, connecting communities to data infrastructure and accelerating a sustainable, circular economy with basic and advanced materials and solutions. Orbia has commercial activities in more than 110 countries and operations in over 50, with global headquarters in Boston, Mexico City, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv. To learn more, please visit www.orbia.com.

About Chiesi Group

Based in Parma, Italy, Chiesi is an international research-focused pharmaceuticals and healthcare group with over 85 years' experience, operating in 30 countries with more than 6,000 employees (Chiesi Group). To achieve its mission of improving people's quality of life by acting responsibly towards society and the environment, the Group researches, develops and markets innovative therapeutic solutions in its three focus areas: AIR (products and services that promote respiration, from new-born to adult populations), RARE (treatment for patients with rare and ultra-rare diseases) and CARE (products and services that support specialty care and consumer-facing self-care). The Group's Research and Development centre is based in Parma and works alongside 6 other important research and development hubs in France, the U.S., Canada, China, the UK, and Sweden to pursue its pre-clinical, clinical, and regulatory programmes. Chiesi, since 2019, is the world's largest B Corp certified pharmaceutical group. Chiesi Limited is the UK affiliate, for more information please visit www.chiesi.uk.com.

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1777849/Koura_Alessandro_Chiesi_and_Gregg_Smith.jpg

References

[1] Koura. Zephex. Available at: www.zephex.com/zephex-152a/ Accessed March 2022

[2] Koura. Applications. Available at: www.kouraglobal.com/applications/ Accessed March 2022[3] Koura. Koura to supply medical propellant carbon footprint medical propellant to Chiesi Farmaceutici. 2019. Available at: https://www.kouraglobal.com/koura-to-supply-ground-breaking-low-carbon-footprint-medical-propellant-to-chiesi-farmaceutici-for-inhalation-product-development-and-clinical-trials/ Accessed March 2022

[4] Chiesi Limited. We are a B Corp. Available at: www.chiesi.uk.com/we-are-a-b-corp Accessed March 2022

[5] Chiesi Limited. Chiesi Investment into carbon minimal pMDIs. 2019. Available at: www.chiesi.uk.com/img/news/613_final-021219_chiesi-investment-in-carbon-minimal-pmdis-december-2019.pdf Accessed March 2022

[6] Chiesi Group. Action over words. Available at: www.actionoverwords.org Accessed March 2022
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Goodbody Health Inc. (CSE:GDBY) (OTCQB:GDBYF) ("Goodbody Health" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that, following the UK Food Standard Agencies (FSA) publication of the Novel Foods approved list for CBD, the Company's application has been approved by the FSA to the next stage of the Novel Foods submission, being the publication of the FSA CBD Products register. The status of 'Awaiting Evidence' means the FSA are now awaiting the final toxicology results and are satisfied with all the other evidence submitted. Once received, and if successful, the Company will progress to the final Validated status.

The Company welcomes this increased compliance in the sector as the new regulations ensure that only fully compliant products are placed on the market. Those not included on these FSA CBD products Novel Food register will have to be taken off sale. Goodbody Health is now well placed to continue its growth in the CBD market as this process restricts the market to fewer competitors, as many did not meet the criteria. Consumers can visit https://ukcbdlist.com/, a site run by the Association for the Cannabinoid Industry (ACI), to see if a brand is compliant.

The Company's extraction facility is HACCP, GMP and ISO 22000 certified and its laboratory is UKAS accredited against ISO 17025 international standard. Goodbody Health works closely with relevant regulatory bodies (FSA, Home Office, Trading Standards). Goodbody Health provides CBD extraction into isolate and distillate, manufacturing of CBD food supplements (oils, capsules, gummies, etc), cosmetics, and has a UKAS accredited analytical laboratory testing CBD products for potency and contaminants such as heavy metals, residual solvents, pesticides and microbials. In managing the whole production process, the Company tests the products at every stage of manufacturing, from extraction to the consumer product, ensuring all the products are of the highest quality.

Geremy Thomas, Executive Chairman, said: "The progression so far is very welcome, as after a significant amount of work and investment over the last 2 years, we can demonstrate our ambition of best quality, best price, guaranteed. We control every step of the process from extraction to shelf, and test through our accredited laboratory, to ensure every product that is made has achieved our 'Gold Standard', demonstrating that the Company meets legal and regulatory requirements."

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Marc Howells

Chief Executive Officer

Goodbody Health Inc.

+44 (0) 20 7971 1255

enquiries@goodbodyhealth.com

www.goodbodyhealth.com Anne Tew

Chief Financial Officer

Goodbody Health Inc.

+44 (0) 20 7971 1255

enquiries@goodbodyhealth.com

www.goodbodyhealth.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release contains certain "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and may also contain statements that may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking information and forward-looking statements are not representative of historical facts or information or current condition, but instead represent only the Company's beliefs regarding future events, plans or objectives, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of Goodbody Health's control. Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes" "plan is" or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "will continue", "will occur", "will be achieved" or "shortly". The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to: Goodbody Health is now well placed to continue its growth in the CBD market as this process restricts the market to fewer competitors, as many did not meet the criteria.

Although Goodbody Health believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing, and the expectations contained in, the forward-looking information and statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information and statements, and no assurance or guarantee can be given that such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information and statements. This is due to the future restrictions on the markets as competitors are limited and could affect the performance of the Company and the CBD market.

Goodbody Health does not undertake to update any forward-looking information and/or forward-looking statements that are contained or referenced herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

SOURCE: Goodbody Health Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695445/Goodbody-Health-Products-Included-on-FSA-Novel-Foods-Register
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Rockland Resources Ltd. (the "Company" or "Rockland") (CSE:RKL) is pleased to report assay results for the Company's inaugural drill program at the Cole Gold Mines Property, Red Lake Mining Division, Ontario. The program consisted of 5 NQ core holes for a total of 996 metres that targeted quartz veins and shear structures with quartz-sericite-sulphide alteration.

Drill results - Highlights from the program include the intersection of the gold mineralized quartz vein system developed by the historical Cole Gold Mines underground workings (Vein #1) and newly-discovered footwall gold mineralization in rhyolite with strong biotite, garnet, silica alteration and associated sulphides. Gold (Au) is reported in grams/tonne (g/t) in Table 1.

Hole RL-CP-02 intersected 0.5 m at 4.9 g/t Au in Vein #1 and 2.5 m at 3.6 g/t Au including 0.5 m at 10.9 g/t in the Footwall Zone.

Rockland's CEO, Mike England stated "We are pleased that our inaugural program at Cole has intersected multiple zones of gold mineralization that are associated with strong alteration and well-defined structural controls. Rockland's program is the first drilling campaign on the Cole Gold Mines Property since 1972. Our results from the initial holes after a half century provide strong encouragement for further drilling on this gold mineralized system".

Table 1. Cole Gold Property, 2021 Drill Program, Intersections with > 2 g/t Au,

Hole ID Zone Az/Dip From (m) To (m) Interval (m) Au (g/t) RL-CP-01 Footwall 180o/-55o 179.5 180.0 0.5 3.1 RL-CP-02 Vein #1 180o/-57o 121.0 121.5 0.5 4.9 And Footwall 183.7 186.2 2.5 3.6 Incl Footwall 183.7 184.2 0.5 10.9 RL-CP-04 Vein #1 180o/-56o 111.5 112.0 0.5 3.0 RL-CP-05 Vein #1 180o/-58o 79.0 79.5 0.5 2.2 Hole RL-CP -03 did not intersect values >2 g/t Au

The current drilling program targeted the quartz veins and related structures that were developed underground by Cole Gold Mines Ltd. in the 1930s. Drill targeting was based on historical plans of the underground workings that show the gold mineralized veins follow east-west striking shear structures that dip at approximately 65o north. The primary target was the Cole Property "discovery" vein that is identified as Vein #1 on government maps. Surface exposure of Vein #1 is currently covered by waste rock from underground development. Holes RL-CP-01 and -02 were drilled on a section approximately 75 m east of the Cole shaft. Holes RL-CP-03, -04 and -05 were drilled approximately 50 m east of the shaft.

In all of the drilled holes, the Vein #1 target is associated with quartz veins and sulphide mineralization in a rhyolite host rock that displays strong biotite, garnet, and silica alteration. Trace element analysis indicates the alteration is associated with strong Potassium (K) and Barium (Ba) enrichment. The immediate footwall of the Vein #1 target is well-defined by a shear zone and serpentinized ultramafic rocks. The two initial holes reported here returned low to moderate grade gold values from this target with the best intersection being 4.9 g/t Au over 0.5 m in RL-CP-02.

As a consequence of prospective geology in the footwall of the Vein #1 target, the holes were continued for approximately 50 m deeper than originally planned. Assay results from the lower portions of the first two holes have resulted in discovery of a new zone of footwall gold mineralization. The footwall mineralization is located 45 to 50 m below the Vein #1 target. This footwall zone provided the best intersection of the results reported here with 0.5 m at 10.9 g/t in hole CP-02 in a wider mineralized interval. This mineralization is hosted by altered rhyolite immediately below the contact with a gabbro intrusion.

In addition to the drill results, the Company has received assays on 157 surface channel samples with a nominal length of 50 cm from 6 outcrops in the hangingwall of the #1 vein. Channel sampling identified gold mineralized quartz veins in several locations associated with sericite-sulphide-silica alteration in sheared rhyolite. The best result was 7.7 g/t Au over 0.5 m with 2 other samples returning over 5 g/t Au. Additionally, the Company is pleased to report that surface grabs from quartz veins on the south shore of the small lake 1 km SW of Cole assayed up to 6.0 g/t Au. This is a new gold showing that warrants further exploration.

Based on these results the Company is currently evaluating plans for a follow up program in the 2022 field season. The Company is encouraged by the association of gold values with well-developed silica-sericite-sulphide-garnet alteration and K, Ba enrichment.

Stetham Uranium Project - Five grab samples from the Stetham Uranium Project, near Gogama, Ontario, have returned anomalous Uranium (U) values with the best sample being a syenite pegmatite that assayed 622 ppm U and 623 ppm Molybdenum (Mo). These U results are consistent with historical drilling intercepts. Grab samples were analyzed at ActLabs, Ancaster, Ontario using INAA for U. The Company will conduct additional field work to follow up on this results in the coming field season.

Drill Program QA/QC - This phase of the Cole drilling program was carried out under the supervision of Dr. Richard Sutcliffe, P. Geo., a Qualified Person as defined in NI43-101. Reported intersections are drilled lengths and true widths are approximately 90% of drilled lengths for holes oriented at 180o azimuth and 55 to 57o inclinations. Drill core is NQ diameter and samples were split by Company staff using a diamond blade rock saw, with half of the core retained in the core box and stored on the Cole Property. The drill core samples were transported in sealed bags by courier to Activation Laboratories ("Actlabs") in Ancaster, Ontario. Actlabs is an independent ISO/IEC 17025 certified laboratory. Au analysis was performed using a 50 grams fire assay with an initial AA-finish. Results over 5 g/t Au were re-assayed with gravimetric finish and/or screen metallic Au analysis. Certified standards, blanks and duplicates are placed in the sample stream at a rate of one QA/QC sample per 10 core samples. All QA/QC analyses associated with the results in this press release were determined to be acceptable for the purposes of the release.

Garry Clark, P.Geo, a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101, is the qualified person responsible for reviewing and approving the geological contents of this news release as they pertain to the Cole Gold Mines Property.

About the Cole Gold Mines Property

Rockland Resources Ltd. is acquiring a 100-per-cent interest in the Cole Gold Mines Property, located in Ball township, Red Lake Mining Division, Ontario. The Property consists of 28 mining claims (568 ha) located 30 km west of the Cochenour, Campbell, Red Lake mine complex owned and operated by Evolution Mining. The Property hosts high-grade gold mineralization in a classic Red Lake-type structurally controlled gold deposit environment and represents a rare opportunity to explore a strategically located asset in one of the most active, prolific producing mining districts in Canada.

About Rockland Resources Ltd.

Rockland Resources is engaged in the business of mineral exploration and the acquisition of mineral property assets for the benefit of its shareholders.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

Dr. Richard Sutcliffe

President and Director

For further information, please contact:

Mike England

Email: mike@engcom.ca

Neither the Canadian Stock Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at WWW.SEDAR.COM).

SOURCE: Rockland Resources Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695392/Rockland-Resources-Reports-Assays-Up-to-109-GT-Gold-From-Initial-Drilling-Program-at-Cole-Gold-Mines-Property-Red-Lake-Area-Ontario
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Alerio Gold Corp. (the "Company") (CSE:ALE) announces advancement of exploration activities on the Company's 100% owned Tassawini Gold Property, Guyana including a review of the historical resource using updated parameters which will be used for drill target definition, a Property-wide topographic survey, and camp upgrades in anticipation of the commencement of field activities.

The Company's technical consultants Kangari Consulting LLC has engaged with mining engineers to conduct a review of the geological and historical mineral resource data that exists for the Tassawini Property using updated mining parameters for the historical resource of 437,000 ounces of gold Indicated (10.8Mt @ 1.3 g/t Au) and the additional 62,000 ounces of gold Inferred (0.6Mt @ 1.7 g/t Au) estimated by SRK in 2010. This re-run will include updates on costs and gold price to better reflect the higher current gold pricing. These results, expected in April, will guide the confirmation and extension drill campaign on the Property in Q3 2022. This work will allow for the upcoming exploration to be guided by current mining parameters. It is expected the Company will update the mineral resource model after the confirmation and extension drill program is completed.

Work by previous owners includes 47,509 meters of drilling in 1,279 core and reverse circulation drill holes. The historical practices were in accordance with CIM Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve Best Practice Guidelines (November 29, 2019) and followed CIM Definition Standards for Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves (May 10, 2014), that are incorporated by reference into National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101").

The data and procedures employed by SRK are considered reliable and it was a valid resource estimation in 2010. The estimate used geological interpretation to prepare wireframes, data validation, and statistical analyses including variograms. Composites were capped for gold grades, block size was determined by drill spacing, and grades were estimated into the block model using ordinary kriging. Mineral resource classification was carried out using a combination of drillhole spacing, geological and wireframe confidence. Pit optimization studies were conducted to determine the depth to which resource estimates were reported. Since 2010, a qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimation as current mineral resources and the Company is not treating the historical resource estimation as a current mineral resource. Additional confirmation drilling and updated topographic surveying is required to update the historic resource estimate.

As part of doing business in Guyana, the Company has formed a wholly owned local subsidiary which will be used to conduct all in country activities. An in-country management team is being formed along with a technical team in anticipation of a rapid ramp up in activities.

The Company is receiving quotations for work programs on Tassawini including a Property-wide detailed topographic survey which will assist in the planning of field activities as well as verification of prior activities. The topographic survey will produce an accurate 3D coverage for the license to allow the Company to map artisanal mining activity and verify the location of historic drill holes.

In anticipation of the commencement of field activities Alerio Gold is in the process of initiating the re-commissioning of the on-site camp and updates are expected in due course.

Mr. Greg Smith, P. Geo. Director of Alerio Gold, is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical data and information contained in this news release. Mr. Smith has verified the technical and scientific data disclosed herein and has conducted appropriate verification on the underlying data.

About Alerio Gold Corp.

Alerio Gold Corp. is a mineral exploration and development company in the business of acquiring, exploring, and developing natural resource properties, with a focus in Guyana, SA. The company currently has 100% interest in two gold properties located in Guyana.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD of DIRECTORS

"Geoff Balderson"

Geoff Balderson, CFO

For further information, please contact:

Telephone: (604) 343-3739

Email: info@aleriogold.com

Website: aleriogold.com

#1000 - 409 Granville Street

Vancouver, BC, Canada, V6C 1T2

604-602-0001

SOURCE: Alerio Gold Corp

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695354/Alerio-Gold-Prepares-for-Exploration-Activities-in-Guyana
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / HIRE Technologies Inc. (TSXV:HIRE.V)(OTCQB:HIRRF) ("HIRE" or the "Company"), a company focused on modernizing and digitizing human resources solutions, today announced that Simon Dealy, Chief Executive Officer of HIRE, will present live at the Technology Virtual Investor Conference. HIRE invites individual and institutional investors - as well as advisors and analysts - to attend the presentation beginning at 2:30 PM Eastern Time (11:30 AM Pacific Time) on Thursday, April 7, 2022.

Technology Virtual Investor Conference

Date: Thursday, April 7, 2022

Time: 2:30 PM Eastern Time (11:30 AM Pacific Time)

Webcast: https://bit.ly/3qe7F0M

This will be a live, interactive online event where attendees ask questions in real-time. If attendees are not able to join the event live on the day of the conference, an archived webcast will also be made available after the event. It is recommended that attendees pre-register and run the online system check to expedite participation and receive event updates.

Learn more about the event at www.virtualinvestorconferences.com.

About HIRE Technologies Inc.

HIRE is investing in and shaping the future of human resource management with a technology-first focus, by consolidating and modernizing the staffing marketplace. The Company is a disciplined capital allocator due to its technology DNA and extensive experience in building and growing staffing and executive search companies, providing a shared services platform to create value for partners and shareholders. HIRE has a large recurring revenue base and helps clients manage change in the workplace in order to achieve success. For more information, visit hire.company.

Contacts:

Simon Dealy

Chief Executive Officer

(647) 264-9196

sdealy@hire.company

Caroline Sawamoto

Investor Relations

(647) 556-4498

investors@hire.company

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release.

SOURCE: HIRE Technologies Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695418/HIRE-Technologies-to-Present-at-Technology-Virtual-Investor-Conference-on-April-7-2022
Women entrepreneurs are solution multipliers in building an inclusive and sustainable future

Recognizing the intersecting relationship between climate change and gender inequality, on March 18 the Women's Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA) brought together senior representatives of its founding partners to discuss the key role of women entrepreneurship in leading the way on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response, and how women entrepreneurs contribute as change-makers in creating a more sustainable and inclusive society for all.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005276/en/

WEA Event at CSW66 "Investing in Women Entrepreneurs to Tackle Climate Change" (Photo: Mary Kay Inc.)

The CSW event highlighted the critical importance of women entrepreneurship as a key driver in tackling climate change, the need to address structural and cultural barriers to women's economic opportunity, and how to support women entrepreneurs as solutionaries to scale up and invest in innovative ideas. It also featured ways to accelerate women's economic opportunity through gender-responsive procurement and called for more commitment makers to jumpstart change for women around the world by joining the Accelerator.

Women entrepreneurs have historically faced many obstacles including a lack of access to capital, fewer entrepreneurship networks compared with men, and policies that discourage female labor market participation.1 These barriers are compounded by unequal laws. A 2022 World Bank study found that nearly 2.4 billion women of working age still do not enjoy the same economic rights as men. Of the 190 economies examined in the study, 178 maintain legal barriers that prevent women's full economic participation, while women continue to face some form of job restriction in 86 countries. In 95 countries, women are not guaranteed equal pay for equal work and 76 countries have laws which limit women's rights to land ownership, a vital resource for poverty reduction.2

To address these structural and cultural barriers which women entrepreneurs face, the Women's Entrepreneurship Accelerator was launched during the UN General Assembly in 2019 in partnership with 6 UN agencies with the goal to create an enabling ecosystem for women entrepreneurs while maximizing their sustainable development impact.

Specific to the topic of the event, data reveals that women entrepreneurs are able to look at business investment beyond just financial returns and recognize that achieving financial returns and social returns are not mutually exclusive. For instance, according to the 2020 Global Entrepreneur Report by BNP Paribas, 54 percent of women entrepreneurs say that beyond income, reducing their carbon footprint is their top measure of success in investing, compared to just 41 percent of men.3

Opening the event, Deborah Gibbins, Chief Operating Officer of Mary Kay Inc., called for the dismantling of barriers women face and described how "climate change is not gender neutral. Women and girls are paying the heaviest price. Their heightened vulnerability is a direct consequence of gender inequalities in the political, social, cultural, and economic fabric of the societies in which they live." Ms. Gibbins added that women are at the forefront of the climate response and have for generations "been using innovative tactics in mitigating the impact of climate change. This is not new. What they now need is the recognition for their leadership and an ecosystem that works for them."

Noting how the Covid-19 pandemic has rolled back progress on gender equality, Vic Van Vuuren, Director Enterprises Management, International Labour Organization, outlined how "women are already actors in the green economy as entrepreneurs, managers, farmers, workers in eco-tourism, waste management, and renewable energy. However, we need to acknowledge that the inroads we are making are not adequate. We need to mainstream gender and gender equality in all global policies, business policies and national policies."

Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, noted how "micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly those owned by women, face barriers when making their business practices more sustainable. We, at the International Trade Centre take a holistic approach to support women's entrepreneurship to ensure they contribute to a sustainable and green economy. Supporting women-owned businesses is not only good for the economy, it also accelerates our transition towards sustainability."

Calling for equal opportunities in the green economy for greater impact, Stephen Bereaux, Deputy to the Director of the International Telecommunication Union, underscored the nexus between women's entrepreneurship in the creation of innovative, just, and inclusive solutions to climate change and sustainability. "If women are able to participate, sustainable practices and business models scale more quickly," outlined Mr. Bereaux.

Stressing the importance of an inclusive green recovery, Haoliang Xu, Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support at the United Nations Development Programme, spoke of how "UNDP firmly believes we're probably facing the biggest challenge of our generation, and we have to build back better. We have to make it right for generations of women to come."

Sanda Ojiambo, Executive Director and CEO of the United Nations Global Compact, spoke of the power of the private sector in challenging orthodoxies and that "for lasting solutions and climate justice to become a reality, women entrepreneurs must have a place at the table and be included throughout the value chain."

In terms of impactful solutions, Anita Bhatia, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women, called for more gender-responsive procurement which "sets a high standard for procurers of goods and services to say we want to purchase only or predominantly from women-owned businesses. This is good for women because it gives them a leg up and gives their businesses a leg up in the supply chain."

Underscoring the need for more action and more cross-sectoral partnerships, Aldijana Sisic, Chief of Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships and Engagement at UN Women, spoke of the interrelated actions needed to respond to and address the risks and opportunities posed by climate change and gender inequality. "Tackling climate change is not only about protecting the planet, it is also about dismantling the barriers to progress. Women-owned and led micro, small and medium enterprises are increasingly recognized as key to providing climate solutions. We need to expedite the process and we need to invest more."

Moderating the event, Elizabeth Vazquez, President, CEO, and Co-Founder of WEConnect International, called out that "women represent 51 percent of the world's population, own 33 percent of all private businesses, but earn only 1 percent of global spend on products and services by large corporations." If the Global Goals are to be achieved by 2030, Ms. Vazquez urged stakeholders "to act with intention, with urgency, and in partnership with each other and to be much more proactive."

A recording of the event is available here.

About the Women's Entrepreneurship Accelerator

The Women's Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA) is a multi-stakeholder partnership on women's entrepreneurship established during UNGA 74. It convenes six UN agencies, International Labour Organization (ILO), International Trade Centre (ITC), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Global Compact (UNGC), UN Women and Mary Kay Inc. to empower 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2030.

The ultimate goal of the initiative is to maximize the development impact of women entrepreneurship in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by creating an enabling ecosystem for women entrepreneurs around the world. The Accelerator exemplifies the transformational power of a multi-partnership of unique magnitude to harness the potential of women entrepreneurs. Learn more at we-accelerate. Follow us: Twitter (We_Accelerator), Instagram (@we_accelerator), Facebook (@womensentrepreneurshipaccelerator), LinkedIn (@womensentrepreneurshipaccelerator)

_____________________________

1 https://www.oecd.org/cfe/smes/Policy-Brief-on-Women-s-Entrepreneurship.pdf

2 World Bank Group. 2022.Women, Business and the Law 2022. Washington, DC: World Bank.

3 BNP Paribas Global Entrepreneur Family Report 2021.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005276/en/

Contacts:

Mary Kay Inc. Corporate Communications

marykay.com/newsroom

(+1) 972.687.5332 or media@mkcorp.com
Allego Holding B.V. ("Allego" or the "Company") (NYSE: ALLG), a leading pan-European electric vehicle public charging network, announced today that the Company's CFO, Ton Louwers, will present at the 2022 Bank of America Global Automotive Summit held in New York, NY on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, at 2:50 pm ET.

The Company will be available for one-on-one meetings on this day. To schedule a one-on-one meeting please contact your BofA Securities institutional sales representative. A webcast of the event will be available at the link HERE. A replay will be available shortly after the conclusion of the presentation on the Investor Relations section of the Company's website at https://ir.allego.eu/events-publications.

About Allego

Allego delivers charging solutions for electric cars, motors, buses, and trucks, for consumers, businesses, and cities. Allego's end-to-end charging solutions make it easier for businesses and cities to deliver the infrastructure drivers need, while the scalability of our solutions makes us the partner of the future. Founded in 2013, Allego is a leader in charging solutions, with an international charging network comprised of approximately 28,000 public charging ports operational throughout the pan-European market and proliferating. Our charging solutions are connected to our proprietary platform, EV-Cloud, which gives our customers and us a full portfolio of features and services to meet and exceed market demands. We are committed to providing independent, reliable, and safe charging solutions, agnostic of vehicle model or network affiliation. At Allego, we strive every day to make EV charging easier, more convenient, and more enjoyable for all.

Forward-Looking Statements

All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release ("Press Release") are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements may generally be identified by the use of words such as "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "should," "would," "plan"" "project," "forecast," "predict," "potential," "seem," "seek," "future," "outlook," "target" or other similar expressions (or the negative versions of such words or expressions) that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding estimates and forecasts of other financial and performance metrics and projections of market opportunity and market share. These statements are based on various assumptions, whether or not identified in this Press Release, and on the current expectations of Allego's management and are not predictions of actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on as a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction, or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and may differ from assumptions, and such differences may be material. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of Allego. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including (i) changes in domestic and foreign business, market, financial, political, and legal conditions; (ii) risks related to the rollout of Allego's business strategy and the timing of expected business milestones; (iii) risks related to the consummation of the proposed business combination with Spartan Acquisition Corp. III being delayed or not occurring at all; (iv) risks related to political and macroeconomic uncertainty; (v) the risk that the installation of the charging solutions at Nissan locations is delayed or does not occur at all; (vi) the risk that the benefits to Allego of the Nissan partnership are delayed, are less than anticipated or do not occur at all; and (vii) the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic, including its impact on any of the foregoing risks. If any of these risks materialize or Allego's assumptions prove incorrect, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks that Allego does not presently know or that Allego currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements reflect Allego's expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this Press Release. Allego anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Allego's assessments to change. However, while Allego may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Allego specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, unless required by applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Allego's assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this Press Release. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005299/en/

Contacts:

For Allego

Investors

investors@allego.eu

Media

allegoPR@icrinc.com
DGAP-News: Ameramex International

AmeraMex International Reports Revenue of $24.7 million for the Year Ended December 31, 2021



31.03.2022 / 14:15

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



AmeraMex International, Inc. (OTC:AMMX), a provider of heavy equipment for logistics companies, infrastructure construction, and forestry conservation, reported financial results for its year ended December 31, 2021. AmeraMex CEO Lee Hamre commented, 'Last year was an excellent year for AmeraMex. Over the course of the last twelve months, we have enjoyed significant revenue growth and a much-improved bottom line. The new policies and procedures have not only increased our profitability but have allowed us to eliminate debt and clean-up our balance sheet. 'We are just tying up the first quarter and have reported sales of approximately $6.8 million. It is important to note that sales do not convert into revenue until the equipment is shipped to the customer. We expect to announce first quarter results for the quarter ended March 31, 2022 by mid-May if not before. We are off to a good start and expect to report another outstanding year.' Statement of Operations for the Year Ended December 31, 2021 The company reported revenue of approximately $24.7 million, a 101 percent increase when compared to revenue of approximately $12.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The first six months of revenue for 2020 was adversely affected by the COVID pandemic. Sales increased significantly during the last six months of 2020. Gross profit for the year was $5 million, a significant increase when compared to gross profit of $1.8 million for the 2020 year-end. Gross profit margins for 2021 were affected by a $4.5 million shipment of new equipment carrying three percent margins. Sales of new equipment are important to the Company as the customer's replacement equipment can be purchased inexpensively and refurbished for resale to other customers. Refurbished equipment carries much higher profit margins. Gross profit as a percentage of sales, was 20 percent for the year compared to gross profit as a percentage of sales of 14 percent to the 2020 year-end, a 30 percent increase. The Company reported net profit from operations of $3.2 million for the year, a substantial increase when compared to net loss from operations of $(.059) million for the comparable 2020 year-end. Net income for the year was $1.6 million compared to net loss of ($.583) million for the comparable 2020 year-end. Earnings per share were $0.11 compared to a loss per share of ($0.04). Balance Sheet for the Year Ended December 31, 2020 Total Assets were reduced $1.7 million but cash was up approximately $0.600 million. The reduction in assets was due in part to the reduction of equipment in the rental pool and other inventory items. Total liabilities for the period have decreased $3.6 million as the lines of credit were paid down approximately $2.5 million and Notes Payable (net of current portion) were reduced approximately $0.500 million. Conference Call AmeraMex International, Inc. CEO Lee Hamre is hosting the Company's year-end 2021 financial conference call on Thursday, March 31, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time, 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Hamre commented, 'I hope all shareholders will join us as we will be discussing the best year in the history of the company. We are off to a good start and look forward to another history-breaking year.' The conference call dial-in number for both U.S. and international callers is 1.201.689.8560. Please dial into the conference center five minutes before the call begins and ask the operator for the AmeraMex conference call. An audio replay of the call will be available from March 31, 2022 at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time until April 14, 2022 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. The replay is accessible by dialing 1.412.317.6671 and entering pin number 13727852. AMERAMEX INTERNATIONAL, INC. STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS DECEMBER 31, 2021 DECEMBER 31, 2020 REVENUES Sales of Equipment and Other Revenues $ 22,253,695 $ 9,665,607 Rentals and Leases 2,468,143 2,613,513 Total Sales 24,721,838 12,279,120 COST OF SALES Sales of Equipment and Other Revenues 18,878,245 9,566,702 Rentals and Leases 815,830 942,954 Total Cost of Sales 19,694,075 10,509,656 GROSS PROFIT 5,027,763 1,769,464 OPERATING EXPENSES Selling Expense 834,633 454,806 Legal Settlement - 428,700 General and Administrative 1,029,164 944,567 Total Operating Expenses 1,863,797 1,828,073 Profit (loss) From Operations 3,163,966 (58,609) OTHER INCOME (EXPENSE) Interest Expense, net (943,442) (1,047,330) Loss from Early Extinguishment of Debt (110,551) (90,925) Other Income (Expense) 268,489 222,517 Total Other Income (Expense) (785,504) (915,738) INCOME BEFORE PROVISION for INCOME TAXES 2,378,462 (974,347) PROVISION (BENEFIT) for INCOME TAXES 746,917 (391,657) NET INCOME (LOSS) $ 1,631,545 $ (582,690) Weighted Average Shares Outstanding: Basic 14,629,155 14,549,155 Diluted 14,629,155 14,549,155 Earnings (loss) per Share Basic $ 0.11 $ -0.04 Diluted $ 0.11 $ -0.04 AMERAMEX INTERNATIONAL, INC. BALANCE SHEETS DECEMBER 31, 2021 DECEMBER 31, 2020 ASSETS Current Assets: Cash $ 995,611 $ 407,881 Accounts Receivable, Net 1,162,300 768,371 Inventory, Net 5,185,864 5,873,569 Other Current Assets 312,963 198,531 Total Current Assets 7,656,738 7,248,352 Non-Current Assets: Property and Equipment, Net 1,275,717 1,035,840 Rental Equipment, Net 1,461,716 3,624,376 Deferred Tax Assets, Net - 158,124 Other Assets 391,330 453,410 Total Long-Term Assets 3,128,763 5,271,750 TOTAL ASSETS $ 10,785,501 $ 12,520,102 LIABILITIES & STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY Current Liabilities: Accounts Payable $ 560,076 $ 620,200 Accrued Expenses 264,534 231,329 Deferred Revenue 302,000 - Joint Venture Liability 142,500 439,500 Lines of Credit 3,180,967 5,749,801 Notes Payable, Current Portion 777,602 911,265 Convertible Notes - 150,683 Total Current Liabilities 5,227,679 8,102,778 Long-Term Liabilities Deferred Tax Liabilities, Net 588,792 - Notes Payable - Related Party - 226,659 Notes Payable, Net of Current Portion 1,689,353 2,597,935 Total Long-Term Liabilities 2,278,145 2,824,594 TOTAL LIABILITIES $ 7,505,824 $ 10,927,372 Commitments and Contingencies (Note 11) - - STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY: Shareholders' Equity Preferred Stock, $0.001 par value, 5,000,000 shares authorized, no shares issued and outstanding - - Common Stock, $0.001 par value, 1,000,000,000 shares authorized 14,629,155 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2021 and 14,549,155 at December 31, 2020 14,629 14,549 Additional Paid-In Capital 21,600,734 21,545,614 Accumulated Deficit (18,335,686) (19,967,433) Total Stockholders' Equity 3,279,677 1,592,730 TOTAL LIABILITIES & STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY $ 10,785,501 $ 12,520,102 AMERAMEX INTERNATIONAL, INC. STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOW DECEMBER 31, 2021 DECEMBER 31, 2020 OPERATING ACTIVITIES: Net Profit (Loss) $ 1,631,545 $ (582,690) Adjustments to reconcile Net Loss to Net Cash provided (used) by Operations Activities: Depreciation and Amortization 916,325 1,310,018 Provision (Benefit) for Deferred Income Taxes 588,792 (384,467) Marketing Services Paid in Stock 46,400 25,660 Forgiveness of Debt (254,147) (218,442) Loss on Legal Settlement - 428,700 Loss on Early Extinguishment of Debt 110,551 90,925 Amortization and Accretion of Interest 126,968 - Change in Assets and Liabilities: Accounts Receivable (393,929) (178,661) Inventory 2,850,567 (1,031,615) Other Current Assets (114,432) 44,568 Accounts Payable (60,124) 88,394 Deferred Revenue 302,000 - Accrued Expenses 33,205 151,542 NET CASH PROVIDED (USED) BY OPERATING ACTIVITIES $ 5,783,721 $ (256,068) INVESTING ACTIVITIES: Payments for Property & Equipment $ (513,798) $ (141,998) Proceeds (Payments) for Rental Equipment (724,070) (611,830) NET CASH PROVIDED (USED) BY INVESTING ACTIVITIES $ (1,237,868) $ (753,828) FINANCING ACTIVITIES: Proceeds from Notes Payable $ 2,503,698 $ 4,594,871 Payments on Notes Payable (3,369,329) (2,191,602) Payment on Note Payable - Related Party (226,659) (108,135) Joint Venture Liability (297,000) (20,000) Net Borrowing Under Lines of Credit (2,568,833) (971,861) NET CASH PROVIDED (USED) BY FINANCING ACTIVITIES $ (3,958,123) $ 1,303,273 NET INCREASE IN CASH & CASH EQUIVALENTS $ 587,730 $ 293,377 Cash and Cash Equivalents, BEGINNING OF PERIOD $ 407,881 $ 114,504 Cash and Cash Equivalents, END OF PERIOD $ 995,611 $ 407,881 CASH PAID FOR: Interest $ 774,074 $ 907,534 Income Taxes $ 800 $ 800 SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF NON-CASH INVESTING AND FINANCING ACTIVITIES: Transfer of Inventory to Rental Equipment 508,000 - Equipment Financed under Capital Leases 168,061 225,859 Transfer of Rental Equipment to Inventory 964,600 526,417 About AmeraMex International AmeraMex International sells, leases and rents heavy equipment to companies within multiple industries including construction, logistics, mining, and lumber. AmeraMex, with a US and international customer base, has over 30 years of experience in heavy equipment sales and service. Follow AmeraMex on Twitter @ammx_intl and visit the AmeraMex website, www.AMMX.net or www.hamreequipment.com for additional information and equipment videos. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "potential," "continue" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, and there are key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors are encouraged to review the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Company's control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Any forward-looking statement reflects the Company's current views with respect to future events and is subject to these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions relating to operations, results of operations, growth strategy and liquidity. The Company assumes no obligation to publicly update or revise these forward-looking statements for any reason, or to update the reasons actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements, even if added information becomes available in the future. Contact Details Marty Tullio +1 949-632-1900 marty@mccloudcommunications.com Company Website https://www.ammx.net

News Source: News Direct



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MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - The White House said it received information that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misled by advisers who are too scared to tell him how badly his troops are waging the war in Ukraine.



At a Press Briefing Wednesday, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said that this has resulted in persistent tension between Putin and his military leadership.



'We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisors about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because his senior advisors are too afraid to tell him the truth,' she told reporters.



It is increasingly clear that Putin's war has been a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term and increasingly isolated on the world stage, according to the senior White House official in charge of media.



Bedingfield pointed out that the Russian forces, which made an aggressive push toward Kyiv at the beginning of the invasion, are now publicly trying to redefine the goals of their invasion to be different than they were at the outset.



It reflects a strategic failure for Russia, she added.



Bedingfield vowed that Washington will continue to pursue its strategy of imposing severe costs on Russia and trying to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield and at the negotiating table.



The British intelligence agency also made public a similar assessment of Russia's war in Ukraine.



Putin's advisers are not telling him the truth about the situation on the ground, according to Sir Jeremy Fleming, the head of GCHQ.



In a speech at the Australian National University in Canberra, Fleming said he believes Russia has 'massively misjudged the situation' in Ukraine and Putin's advisers are 'afraid to tell him the truth'.



'He under-played the economic consequences of the sanctions regime. He over-estimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory,' Sir Fleming said.



Heavy shelling was reported overnight and Thursday in Ukraine's eastern regions of Luhansk and Donertsk.



President Volodymyr Zelensky had warned that Russian troops are concentrating in the eastern breakaway region of Donbas to launch new offensive.



Russia has reportedly declared a one-day ceasefire in Mariupol.



Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said the International Committee of the Red Cross informed the Ukrainian government that Russia is ready to open a humanitarian corridor for the people of Mariupol to escape the besieged southeren port city, through Berdiansk.



Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade announced an additional tariff of 35 percent on all imports from Russia and Belarus.







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By Kim Hyun-bin







The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) appears to be demonstrating its alignment with the incoming Yoon Suk-yeol administration by taking a favorable stance on the controversial presidential office relocation to Yongsan, according to industry watchers Thursday.







The FKI, once a mighty business lobby group representing Korea's conglomerates, has been sidelined since it was embroiled in a major corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of former President Park Geun-hye five years ago. Now it has been vying to recover its status as the corporate business-friendly Yoon administration comes to office.









President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol

The Korea Economic Research Institute, affiliated with the FKI, published a report recently, titled "Analysis of the economic effect of the relocation of the presidential office to the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan," commissioned by Kim Hyun-seok, a professor at Pusan ??National University.







The report stated that the relocation of the presidential office to Yongsan, would generate 1.8 trillion won annually in tourism income, and gross domestic product (GDP) would increase up to 3.3 trillion won.







The report's intention seems to be to side with Yoon, as it is interpreted as empowering the president-elect, who has been in conflict with the Moon Jae-in administration over the relocation of the presidential office.







Federation of Korean Industries Chairman Huh Chang-soo

The report is rather an unusual research topic for the institute, which mainly conducts research related to large corporations.







"We have conducted several research projects on societal issues before, and the relocation issue has been a hot topic so we decided to request a report," an FKI official explained.







The report assumed that if Cheong Wa Dae were fully opened to the public after the presidential office was moved out, the effect of attracting domestic and foreign tourists would be as powerful as the restoration of Cheonggye Stream. The stream was opened to the public in October 2005 and has been visited by 17 million people annually as of 2015.







"Cheong Wa Dae has beautiful scenery and special value as it is the place where past presidents worked," Kim said. "In particular, when developing tourism products connected with Cheong Wa Dae, it is expected that there will be high demand from foreign tourists."







The report analyzed that with the full opening of Cheong Wa Dae, domestic and foreign tourists will reach 16.7 million annually (16,192,000 domestic and 516,000 from overseas), and tourism revenue will reach 1.8 trillion won. Of the 1.8 trillion won, domestic and foreign tourists each accounted for 900 billion won.







However, some industry officials are skeptical of the timing of the report, which can be seen to appeal to the incoming new administration.







"The figures seem farfetched as well as the timing of the report," a senior industry official said on condition of anonymity. "The Korea Tourism Organization predicted that the economic effects from the relocation could bring in 200 billion won a year, which is a fraction of FKI's 1.8 trillion won prediction. The results could differ on how they measured and conducted the study but the figures from the two reports differ too much."










Kolibri Global Energy Inc. (the "Company" or "KEI") (TSX: KEI, OTCQB: KGEIF) is providing an update on the Barnes 7-3H well (98.07% working interest), in its Tishomingo field in Oklahoma.

The Barnes 7-3H well has averaged over 920 Barrels of oil equivalent per day "BOEPD" (730 Barrels of oil per day "BOPD") for the last 14 days with current production of about 1,050 BOEPD (830 BOPD). The Company has achieved these results utilizing a controlled flowback on the well to optimize long-term production and recoveries.

Wolf Regener, President and CEO, commented. "We are beyond thrilled about the early performance of the Barnes 7-3H well as it is exceeding even our most optimistic forecasts. Since the production from the Barnes 7-3H is not hedged, the Company is generating netbacks of over $55 per BOE from the production assuming a $100/barrel oil price. To put the well performance in perspective, the 30 day proved forecast curve case initial production rate (IP30) utilized by our third-party engineering firm for our reserve report is 388 BOEPD or 37% of what the Barnes 7-3H is currently producing. The initial 30 day type curve utilized by the Company's management assumes a 472 BOEPD IP30 rate, and the best well we have in the field had a 630 BOEPD IP30 rate.

"Since we are only halfway through the 30 day initial production time period, there can be no assurance as to what the Barnes 7-3H well's 30-day initial rate or ultimate productivity will be. Based on the current performance, we anticipate that the well will end up with an IP30 rate that is much higher than the reserve report proved forecast case, well above our KEI type curve and has a good chance of being around the current 14 day average. The current production from this well has doubled our production in the field.

"We are in discussions with several subcontractors and anticipate beginning completion operations for the Barnes 8-4H sometime in the first three weeks of April."

About Kolibri Global Energy Inc.

Kolibri Global Energy Inc. is an international energy company focused on finding and exploiting energy projects in oil, gas, and clean and sustainable energy. Through various subsidiaries, the Company owns and operates energy properties in the United States. The Company continues to utilize its technical and operational expertise to identify and acquire additional projects. The Company's shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the stock symbol KEI and on the OTCQB under the stock symbol KGEIF.

Cautionary Statements

Readers should be aware that references to initial production rates and other short-term production rates are preliminary in nature and are not necessarily indicative of long-term performance or of ultimate recovery. Readers are referred to the full description of the results of the Company's December 31, 2021 independent reserves evaluation and other oil and gas information contained in its Form 51-101F1 Statement of Reserves Data and Other Oil and Gas Information for the year ended December 31, 2021, which the Company filed on SEDAR on March 8, 2022.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements contained in this news release constitute "forward-looking information" as such term is used in applicable Canadian securities laws and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of United States securities laws (collectively, "forward looking information"), including statements regarding the timing of and expected results from planned wells development, the anticipated IP30 rate and beginning completion operations for the Barnes 8-4H sometime in the first three weeks of April. Forward-looking information is based on plans and estimates of management and interpretations of data by the Company's technical team at the date the data is provided and is subject to several factors and assumptions of management, including that indications of early results are reasonably accurate predictors of the prospectiveness of the shale intervals, that required regulatory approvals will be available when required, that no unforeseen delays, unexpected geological or other effects, including flooding and extended interruptions due to inclement or hazardous weather conditions, equipment failures, permitting delays or labor or contract disputes are encountered, that the necessary labor and equipment will be obtained, that the development plans of the Company and its co-venturers will not change, that the offset operator's operations will proceed as expected by management, that the demand for oil and gas will be sustained, that the price of oil will be sustained or increase, that the Company will continue to be able to access sufficient capital through financings, farm-ins or other participation arrangements to maintain its projects, and that global economic conditions will not deteriorate in a manner that has an adverse impact on the Company's business, its ability to advance its business strategy and the industry as a whole. Forward-looking information is subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause plans, estimates and actual results to vary materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause the forward-looking information in this news release to change or to be inaccurate include, but are not limited to, the risk that any of the assumptions on which such forward looking information is based vary or prove to be invalid, including that the Company or its subsidiaries is not able for any reason to obtain and provide the information necessary to secure required approvals or that required regulatory approvals are otherwise not available when required, that unexpected geological results are encountered, that equipment failures, permitting delays, labor or contract disputes or shortages of equipment or labor are encountered, the risks associated with the oil and gas industry (e.g. operational risks in development, exploration and production; delays or changes in plans with respect to exploration and development projects or capital expenditures; the uncertainty of reserve and resource estimates and projections relating to production, costs and expenses, and health, safety and environmental risks, including flooding and extended interruptions due to inclement or hazardous weather conditions), the risk of commodity price and foreign exchange rate fluctuations, that the offset operator's operations have unexpected adverse effects on the Company's operations, that completion techniques require further optimization, that production rates do not match the Company's assumptions, that very low or no production rates are achieved, that the price of oil will decline, that the Company is unable to access required capital, that occurrences such as those that are assumed will not occur, do in fact occur, and those conditions that are assumed will continue or improve, do not continue or improve, and the other risks and uncertainties applicable to exploration and development activities and the Company's business as set forth in the Company's management discussion and analysis and its annual information form, both of which are available for viewing under the Company's profile at www.sedar.com, any of which could result in delays, cessation in planned work or loss of one or more concessions and have an adverse effect on the Company and its financial condition. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, other than as required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005428/en/

Contacts:

For further information, contact:

Wolf E. Regener +1 (805) 484-3613

Email: wregener@kolibrienergy.com

Website: www.kolibrienergy.com
Regulatory News:

OVHcloud (Paris:OVH) announced today that it has achieved regional SAP certification for operations capabilities in cloud and infrastructure to host SAP environments across EMEA. The announcement aligns with OVHcloud vision of combining the strengths of its industry model with those of the digital ecosystem and its partners. Forthcoming use cases can benefit from a trusted, predictable and reversible cloud environment to further scale their digital transformation projects starting with their most critical resources planning software.

"We are proud of this SAP certification, which confirms that our infrastructure meets the high security and data protection standards set by SAP, helping to ensure the integrity of sensitive data and therefore granting our customers added defence to extraterritorial requests," explains Sylvain Rouri, Chief Sales Officer at OVHcloud. "We are looking forward to providing our customers and SAP partners with cutting-edge and hyper-resilient infrastructures to host their most critical SAP environments."

SAP offers a certification programme for partners that manage customer cloud or on-premises environments. SAP-certified operations capabilities help customers identify service providers to meet their requirements in terms of quality, scope and geography, while certified partners can increase market visibility and drive new revenue.

"OVHcloud has demonstrated its commitment to customers both locally in Germany and EMEA at large proven by its regional SAP certification in cloud and infrastructure operations," said Rudolf Scheipers, Vice President and Head of Outsourcing Partner Certification, Partner Innovation Lifecycle Services for SAP. "We look forward to seeing the company progress further on its journey to provide outsourcing operations for businesses that use SAP technologies

This certification enables OVHcloud to further meet customer needs by ensuring SAP environments are hosted efficiently and securely within its European data centers and its TDI-compliant (Tailored Datacenter Integration) physical servers for SAP HANA database hosting. European SAP partners and businesses that use SAP technologies can now leverage OVHcloud high performance hardware to build their SAP-qualified, partner-packaged solutions, including those for deploying SAP S/4HANA.

Sebastien Leforestier, Head of SAP services at Sopra Steria, which is both an SAP partner and a customer of OVHcloud, commented on the company's SAP certification, stating that it allows Sopra Steria to deliver services in accordance with security compliance. "Sopra Steria is qualified to help customers benefit from SAP S/4HANA as they transition to the cloud, thanks to its qualification to offer services in support of the RISE with SAP solution and its local presence in Europe. To deal with strict security constraints, Sopra Steria has developed a trusted digital platform powered by OVHcloud to manage end-to-end services for its customers. OVHcloud's regional SAP certification in cloud and infrastructure operations across EMEA makes this possible.

With over two decades of expertise in digital infrastructure services, OVHcloud has developed an industrial model that preserves the technological and operational sovereignty of customers, while deploying environmentally friendly and resource-efficient technologies. Designed and engineered in the group's own data centers, all OVHcloud solutions help to achieve data reversibility and help customers with their compliance with legal obligations. The infrastructure operated by OVHcloud meets the highest security and data protection standards, in line with ISO27001 certification, as well as GDPR compliance.

About OVHcloud

OVHcloud is a global player and a leading European cloud provider operating over 400,000 servers within 33 data centers across four continents. For more than 20 years, the Group has relied on an integrated model that provides complete control of its value chain from the design of its servers, to the construction and management of its data centers, including the orchestration of its fiber-optic network. This unique approach allows it to independently cover all the uses of its 1.6 million customers in more than 140 countries. OVHcloud now offers its customers latest-generation solutions combining performance, price predictability and total sovereignty over their data to support their growth in complete freedom.

https://corporate.ovhcloud.com/

SAP and other SAP products and services listed as listed well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and records. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005574/en/

Contacts:

Media relations

Marie Vaillaud

Corporate Communication Manager

media@ovhcloud.com

+ 33 (0)6 49 32 74 02

Investor relations

Marisa Baldo

Head of Financial Communications

investor.relations@ovhcloud.com

+ 33 (0)6 62 75 63 04
Phase 2 Proof-of-Concept study in TRD patients resistant to standard antidepressants suggests positive trend in efficacy.





Potential first-in-class oral prolonged-release formulation of ketamine, KET01, suggests larger improvement in Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) scores at 15 days compared to placebo.





Improvement in MADRS scores shown at 7 days suggestive of rapid onset of efficacy.

Safety: no treatment-related serious adverse events with only placebo-level dissociative side-effects reported.



MUNICH, Germany, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- HMNC Brain Health ("HMNC' or the "Company"), a global clinical stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the development of personalized therapies in psychiatry, together with Develco Pharma, a company specializing in the development and manufacture of orally administered modified, prolonged & chrono release drugs, today announced promising top-line results from the Phase 2 Proof-of-Concept investigator-initiated trial of its oral prolonged-release formulation of ketamine (KET01) in Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD).

The trial suggests a positive trend in efficacy, based on the primary endpoint clinical data: After 15 days, the highest dose of 240 mg/day KET01 was associated with a larger improvement on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) compared with placebo (?=-4.99, p=0.1499). In addition, KET01 appears to be a safe and well-tolerated antidepressant, with substantially limited dissociative side effects, and scores on the Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS) similar to those for placebo.

The Phase 2 trial evaluated whether KET01 administered in doses of 240 mg/day and 160 mg/day for 15 days to patients with TRD as an adjunct treatment to standard antidepressants can improve depressive symptoms compared to placebo. Recruitment stopped early after inclusion of 27 patients with TRD instead of 99, due to the effects of COVID-19 together with very stringent criteria for definition of treatment resistant depression on recruitment.

The primary endpoint, change in MADRS from baseline to day 15, showed a mean advantage of -4.99 units compared with placebo (95% confidence interval (CI): -11.81, 1.83, p=0.1499) suggesting a positive trend in efficacy for the highest tested dose (240 mg/day) on the established MADRS rating scale for depressive severity.

Additionally, the data suggest KET01 has a rapid onset of action, with a clinically meaningful improvement of -5.67 units (95%CI: -12.57, 1.23, p=0.1062) already after 7 days compared with placebo.

Importantly, safety results from the trial demonstrated that KET01 was well tolerated, with no treatment-related serious adverse events reported. The scores on the Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS) were similar to those for placebo.

Dr. Hans Eriksson, HMNC Brain Health's Chief Clinical Development Officer, said, "The encouraging preliminary results we have seen demonstrate the safety of KET01, showing the potential for development of a first-in-class, oral prolonged-release formulation of ketamine treatment for patients suffering from Treatment-Resistant Depression. In addition, our data suggest that KET01 is rapidly acting with a clinically meaningful improvement compared with placebo already after 7 days, which stands in sharp contrast to standard antidepressants which have a delayed onset of action of up to several weeks."

The study was funded by the Ketabon program, which is a joint venture between HMNC Brain Health and Develco Pharma, sponsored by University of Zurich and conducted under the central leadership of Professor Erich Seifritz, Director of the Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich. Dr. Michael Colla coordinated the medical implementation as head of the clinical trial at the University of Zurich, as successor of Prof. Annette Bruhl, after she moved to the University of Basel. The statistical evaluation of the study was carried out by SCOPE, a globally renowned CRO.

Professor Seifritz commented, "We are pleased with the top-level results from this Phase 2 study on Treatment-Resistant Depression with KET01, as they hold significant positive implications for the clinical development of oral prolonged-release ketamine to help those afflicted, making up as many as 30 percent of depression patients. Not only does the data suggest this to be a potentially safer treatment for people suffering from Major Depressive Disorder who have not found currently available antidepressants effective, but it could potentially be expanded to include additional mental-health indications in the future. Ketabon and the University of Zurich will continue to work together in the development of KET01, with future studies being planned."

HMNC Brain Health, in partnership with Develco Pharma, is about to start a multinational, larger CRO-led Phase 2 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in patients with TRD in the second quarter of 2022. First results are expected for mid-2023.

"We are highly encouraged by the findings in this study, showing a clinically meaningful improvement and excellent tolerability in patients treated with 240 mg/day KET01. We will bring our experiences from this study to further trials with KET01 and are looking forward to the next steps in the development of this promising medication," said Develco Pharma CEO Dr. Martin Renner.

Dr. Eriksson added, "The suggested clinically relevant improvement in efficacy and the good safety and tolerability profile that we saw in the Phase 2 Proof-of-Concept trial support our plans for the larger study which we are preparing to launch. With the capabilities of our team and strong Scientific Advisory Board, we are well placed to undertake the next steps for progressing Ketabon towards more studies and the pathway to approval and commercialization."

About HMNC Brain Health

HMNC Brain Health (HMNC Holding GmbH) is a global precision psychiatry biopharma company pioneering the development of personalized therapies powered by predictive companion diagnostics, leading to far shorter treatments and higher remission rates. The Company develops a unique pipeline for targeting both Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD). The Company has operations both in the U.S. and Germany and is backed by a renowned global VC, several family offices, and a strategic healthcare investor. The Company now enters the next stage of its development with a large-scale licensing and fundraising agenda.

About Develco Pharma

With headquarters in Pratteln / Switzerland, Develco Pharma is a Swiss-German pharmaceutical company specializing in the development and manufacture of orally administered modified, prolonged & chrono release drugs containing known active ingredients. Established in 2006, today the company has a workforce of 130 employees. In Germany, a state-of-the-art production facility for analgesics & other indications has been in operation in Schopfheim, in the Baden region, since 2016. Develco identifies and defines pharmaceutical products containing known active ingredients and develops generic, hybrid, value added and innovative formulations backed by clinical data for the delayed or modified release of active ingredients. On the strength of its experience and innovativeness, the company has emerged as an internationally recognized provider of pharmaceuticals for the treatment of several disease areas. The customer base of Develco Pharma includes global pharmaceuticals groups. The company has some 180 market approvals in all (products of different dosages) in Europe, the U.S., Middle-East, South Africa, Asia and Australia.

About the Ketabon Program

The Ketabon program, a joint venture between HMNC Brain Health and Develco Pharma in Switzerland comprises an oral prolonged-release formulation of ketamine for TRD with minimal dissociative side effects. The pharmacokinetic profile of the prolonged-release formulation could significantly improve the risk profile and patient convenience, by minimizing dissociative side effects compared to the currently applied intravenous and intranasal ketamine therapies. TRD patients with insufficient response to standard antidepressants represent 30% of an overall estimated number of 320 million patients worldwide suffering from major depressive disorder. In this group, prolonged-release ketamine has shown high response rates. Clinical development of oral prolonged-release ketamine could also be potentially expanded into other indications, such as anxiety, aggression, PTSD, and panic disorder.

About the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich

The Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics at the Psychiatric University Hospital Zurich is an internationally leading institute of translational research into innovative and novel biological and psychological treatments of psychiatric conditions, with a focus on Major Depression, Schizophrenia and Addiction. The translational approach is based on a comprehensive bio-psycho-social disease model overarching the full spectrum from molecular neuroscience to clinical and social psychiatry and back.

Media contacts:

Alexander Schmidt,

Anne Donohoe,

Investor Contacts (U.S.):

Tim Regan / Sophia Bashford

+1 347-487-6788

tregan@kcsa.com / sbashford@kcsa.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 31, 2022) - iMining Technologies Inc. (TSXV: IMIN) (the "Company" or "iMining"), a publicly-traded Web3 company, is pleased to announce that its fully owned subsidiary, Metaverse Advisory Group ("MAG") has entered into an agreement for a Metaverse based property with the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation ("Glenrose Foundation").

Metaverse Advisory Group will collaborate with the Glenrose Foundation to secure a building name, design to build the property and produce NFTs, wearables and an immersive NFT Gallery on behalf of the Glenrose Foundation.

The Glenrose Foundation will open the doors of its Metaverse building in Manhattan, Decentraland's most exclusive area, during Alberta Technology Symposium, which takes place from April 20th to April 21st, 2022. The dynamic gallery will feature avatars that will act as Glenrose Foundation's team members, ambient sounds and custom fixtures throughout. Eventually the gallery will include a collection of NFT art created by patients using brain-computer interfaces.

"Manhattan is evolving into one of the key downtown destinations in the Metaverse. Recently, the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation announced it has become the first healthcare foundation in Alberta to accept donations in cryptocurrency," commented Khurram Shroff, CEO of iMining Technologies and Metaverse Advisory Group. "The momentum that is being generated through these kinds of partnerships is evidence that the Metaverse and Web3 are changing how we use these emerging technologies for healthcare."

This partnership was created by Metaverse Advisory Group, Manhattan Decentralized Autonomous Organization ("DAO") and the Glenrose Foundation, which supports the largest free-standing, comprehensive tertiary rehabilitation hospital in Canada, serving patients of all ages who require complex rehabilitation to enable them to participate in life to the fullest.

Mark Korthuis, President & CEO of the Glenrose Foundation added, "Technology and innovation are integral to how we support patients in achieving their goals. Being the first hospital foundation in the Metaverse aligns with our mission to fuel advancements in healthcare. We are proud to partner with Metaverse Advisory Group and Manhattan DAO as an avenue to connect our fundraising efforts across new audiences."

The Property owned by Manhattan DAO, where the Glenrose Foundation will open its offices and virtual NFT Gallery, represents the equivalent of 16,000 SQFT of real estate that is being designed and developed for the Glenrose Foundation by the Metaverse Advisory Group.

The overall Manhattan Area represents the equivalent of 48 million square feet of developable real estate and is an exclusive downtown locality within the Decentraland Metaverse. The Manhattan DAO is a community of LAND owners in Decentraland Metaverse that proposes and votes on policy updates, development in the Manhattan Immersive Platform, auctions, whitelisting of NFT contracts to be allowed inside the Manhattan Immersive World and other items which the community deems relevant.

Hospital and Healthcare professionals interested in partnering with Metaverse Advisory Group should contact info@metaverseadvsiory.io

About the Glenrose Foundation

The Glenrose Foundation is the largest free-standing, comprehensive tertiary rehabilitation hospital in Canada, serving patients of all ages who require complex rehabilitation to enable them to participate in life to the fullest.

The Glenrose Foundation provides innovative equipment, programs and technology to help patients at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital recover, relearn life skills and rediscover their full potential. They work with the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital to identify what patients and staff need to enhance the rehabilitation journey through equipment, technology and research priorities.

For more information on the Glenrose Foundation, visit www.glenrosefoundation.com

About Manhattan DAO

The Manhattan DAO is a community of LAND owners in Decentraland Metaverse that proposes and votes on proposals the community deems relevant. Manhattan DAO uses two tokens: MHTN and SQFT. MHTN is a utility token that is used to acquire NFT SQFT Tokens. MHTN tokens can also be used to pay for a range of developable properties, avatars, wearables, names, and more on the Manhattan DAO marketplace.

MHTN DAO Contract is: 0x3Ae962Fc1D3f2c4890237E4fE04dfe3a7EaB94e5.

For more information email: info@manhattanDAO.org

About Metaverse Advisory Group

Metaverse Advisory Group is a virtual NFT based real estate company that develops and manages a portfolio of Virtual properties in major blockchain-based Metaverses including Decentraland and The Sandbox. It operates unique services including virtual property development, property management, and assisting companies with future of work, virtual events and meetings, marketing and advertising in the Metaverse.

About iMining Technologies Inc.

iMining is a publicly listed Web3.0 technology company developing technology for Crypto Mining, Decentralized Finance ("DeFi") and Non-Fungible Tokens ("NFT"). iMining also owns BitBit Financial Inc., an ATM Network and crypto OTC Trading Platform for individual and institutions.

iMining investments are directly linked to the Bitcoin Mining, Crypto Trading, Decentralized Finance ("DeFI") and Metaverse Non-Fungible Tokens ("NFTs"). With diverse blockchain investment and infrastructure solutions, iMining looks to be a leader in accelerating the growth of Web3.0 for the enterprise market. The Company's operations include secure and sustainable cryptocurrency payments, staking, mining and digital asset investment designed for the scale and compliance requirements of institutional clients. iMining is committed to building strong global blockchain ecosystems and supporting inclusive access to digital tools and technologies.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Signed "Khurram Shroff"

Khurram Shroff, President & CEO

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, please contact:

iMining Corporate Offices:

Saleem Moosa, Director

Email: investor@imining.com

Telephone: 1-604-602-4935

Toll Free: 1-866-602-4935

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance, and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions, and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, actual results of activities, future cryptocurrency prices, operating risks, and other risks in the cryptocurrency industry. All the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118675
LONDON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bourne Leisure, the leader in the UK domestic holiday market, today announces that its brands Butlin's, Haven, and Warner Leisure Hotels, have partnered with fast-growing talent attraction technology provider, inploi, as it upgrades its recruitment marketing function and enhances the applicant experience.

Competition for workers in the hospitality sector is at an all-time high, due to a decrease in the workforce supply as a result of the recent pandemic and other market pressures. Lou Thomas, People Director for Haven commented on the partnership saying that "It has become more important than ever to be able to not only reach the hospitality workforce, but also retain their engagement when it comes to the application process. Having that visibility of the hiring pipeline, and ensuring that the applicants are nurtured from first interaction with a brand to completed application, is now possible thanks to inploi's data-driven approach to reaching these key audiences."

Anne Blyth, Talent Director at Haven, also noted that "our partnership with inploi has been crucial in accelerating our recruitment strategy at Haven. We have seen a real increase in our ability to attract the best talent, underpinned by inploi's excellent real-time data and reporting, which allows us to directly measure return on investment. The tailor-made campaigns they have built for Haven are testament to their ability to really understand our recruitment needs."

Liz Lloyd, People director at Butlin's commented "working with the team at inploi has been an amazing partnership which has really helped us develop our reach externally through targeted recruitment campaigns and utilising other paid media and social platforms.

They are a creative fast-paced business which goes out of their way to innovate and bring new ideas and approaches in a challenging recruitment market."

inploi co-founder and CTO Alex Hanson-Smith adds, "Our ability to access and monitor key data from the initial candidate pool to a completed hire allows us to offer our clients unparalleled visibility when it comes to the recruitment process. In the current competitive landscape, it is vital to be able to add real value when it comes to the cost - and time - of talent attraction, and we are excited to be continuing our partnership with Butlin's, Haven and Warner Leisure Hotels to help them attract talent and enhance their existing recruitment marketing processes. We continue to attract high-profile clients with our unique SaaS platform that integrates seamlessly with the systems they already have in place. We're thrilled to be renewing and expanding our work together with Bourne Leisure in 2022."

About Bourne Leisure

Bourne Leisure is a leader in the UK domestic holiday market, employing over 16,000 team members, hosting 25,000 holiday-home owners, and attracting 4.5 million guests to 56 sites across the UK every year. It operates through its three brands, Haven, Butlin's and Warner Leisure Hotels. Haven is the largest UK caravan operator with 41 holiday parks and 2.5 million visitors a year.

About inploi

inploi is uk-based talent attraction technology startup, on a mission to rebuild the infrastructure of online talent attraction. inploi's suite of SaaS products delivers candidate journey modernisation as a service, seamlessly integrating with existing HR systems to help companies attract, engage, and convert the future of their workforce, with extensive data and reporting underpinning their solutions.

See inploi website for more information

www.inploi.com

Haven Careers Hub

Butlin's Careers Hub

Warner Leisure Hotels Careers Hub

Media Contacts: Matthew de la Hey - Email: press@inploi.com

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1777879/Inploi_Logo.jpg
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / MediXall Group Inc. (OTCQB:MDXL), an innovative healthcare solutions provider, today issued this letter to stakeholders from Travis Jackson, the Chief Executive Officer of the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Health Karma:

Dear stakeholder,

I am extremely excited about the achievements that MediXall's Health Karma team have recently made. When I took over as CEO, my main initiative for the Health Karma was to build a multi-pronged distribution system that not only would sell our robust Health Kama solution which includes virtual primary care, in-the-moment urgent and behavioral health, along with other solutions to simplify consumer healthcare access and lower the cost of healthcare.

I am happy to report that Health Karma has made tremendous progress in this department expanding our eligible member base and growing pipeline to over 500,000 individual lives. Plus, we are making significant strides in reducing the sales to implementation cycle which has historically been 140 to 160 days for health benefits.

Our dramatic growth is in large part driven by our achievements we have made towards building a robust and extensive partnership network in the health insurance industry. With distribution agreements with many leading insurance agencies including BHC Insurance, the third largest independent insurance agency in Arkansas, Gem State Financial, a leading Idaho-based General Agency, and Mosaic Employee Benefits which serves thousands of businesses nationwide. We now have over 200 distribution partners who are fully trained and actively selling Health Karma to their clients.

We have also been able to quickly increase the reach of our partnership network through our recent Affinity Marketing partnership agreement with the National Association of Health Underwriters. A professional association representing more than 100,000 health insurance agents, benefits professional, consultants, and brokers, representing both small and large health insurance companies throughout the United States.

In March 2022, we demonstrated the integration of our Health Karma solution with Employee Navigator, a leading employer/employee benefits enrollment platform used nationwide by over 1,000 brokers and 27,000 companies.

We are implementing the strategy to onboard the eligible member base to paid members. With our distribution/sales system and the talented team we have put in place, we are providing even greater benefit to our members and believe that we are poised for growth for 2022 and beyond. Over the coming weeks, I will provide a First Quarter Business Update on Health Karma including the expansion of our executive leadership team and product offerings.

If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact our VP of Investor Relations, Frank Dickerson at (954) 653-821

As a company, our core focus is to provide best-in-class well-being solutions via easy, affordable, access to wellcare programs. We look forward to sharing our accomplishments in the coming months as we strive to create value for all of our stakeholders.

Sincerely,

Travis Jackson CEO

Health Karma

For more information on Health Karma, visit their official website:www.healthkarma.org and follow @HealthKarmaApp on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

About MediXall Group, Inc.

MediXall Group, Inc. (OTCQB:MDXL) is a technology and innovation-driven organization purposefully designed and structured around delivering products and services to make it easier for consumers to learn, decide and pay for healthcare. The mission of MediXall Group is to revolutionize the healthcare industry by improving communication; providing better technology and support services; and enabling more efficient, cost-effective healthcare for the consumer. By approaching the entire healthcare ecosystem, MediXall creates, invests, and incubates companies that embody its mission statement.

About HealthKarma, Inc.

Health Karma, a wholly owned subsidiary of MediXall Group, is a data-driven healthcare technology company that is on a mission to continually raise the bar of the healthcare experience by empowering people to understand and manage their entire health care journey anywhere, anytime, whether they have insurance or not. For more information, please visit www.gethealthkarma.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These forward-looking statements are based on current plans and expectations of management and are subject to a number of uncertainties and risks that could significantly affect the company's current plans and expectations, as well as future results of operations and financial condition. Specifically, the company's ability to raise additional capital, execute its business plan and strategy, sustain, or increase gross margins, achieve profitability, and build shareholder value are forward-looking statements. A more extensive listing of risks and factors that may affect the company's business prospects and cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the reports and other documents filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Investor Relations Contact: (954) 653-8216

SOURCE: MediXall Group, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695380/Business-Update-from-Health-KarmaTM-CEO-Travis-Jackson
CRANBROOK, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Eagle Plains Resources (TSX-V:EPL) is pleased to announce that option partner Rockridge Resources Ltd. (TSX.V:ROCK)(OTCQB:RRRLF)(Frankfurt:RR0) ("Rockridge") plans for an upcoming Summer 2022 drill program at the Knife Lake Copper Project VMS Project located in Saskatchewan, Canada (the "Knife Lake Project" or "Property"). Using the results and interpretation from the Fall and Winter 2021 field programs, as well as the 2021 drill program, the upcoming program will target the Gilbert West and Gilbert South zones in addition to continued infill and expansion drilling at the deposit. Rockridge is fully funded for this upcoming exploration and drilling having recently closed a financing. The Knife Lake Project, consisting of 82 claims totaling 56,865 hectares (140,516 acres), is an advanced-stage copper, silver, zinc and cobalt exploration property in Saskatchewan host to the Knife Lake Deposit.

Rockridge holds the exclusive option from Eagle Plains to acquire a 100% interest in the Property that covers the Knife Lake Cu-Zn-Ag-Co VMS deposit (details following). The contiguous claims are located approximately 50 km northwest of Sandy Bay, Saskatchewan. A 357kV powerline runs within 16 km of the Knife Lake Deposit area.

See Knife Lake VMS Project Location Map here

Rockridge's CEO, Jonathan Wiesblatt, commented: "Exploration at Knife Lake, specifically at the target areas outside of the existing resource, offer compelling discovery potential as there has been limited historical work done on these highly prospective targets. Getting back to Knife Lake and conducting a thorough drilling campaign focused on the Gilbert West and Gilbert South zones is a priority for Rockridge as well as expanding and upgrading the resource at Knife Lake. The project remains an exciting exploration story that can offer investors exposure to a top mining jurisdiction and to commodities in high demand and short supply such as copper and zinc. We look forward to updating our shareholders as we prepare and work towards commencing the upcoming work at Knife Lake."

Rockridge received and previously announced results from a field program completed in October of last year. A two-person field crew was mobilized to complete mapping and prospecting at regional target areas, investigating conductivity and magnetic anomalies identified through the Phase I (Winter 2021) and Phase II (Fall 2021) airborne geophysical programs (VTEM).

See Knife Lake Project VTEM and Grab Sample Survey Map here

A total of 29 samples were submitted for assay, 26 samples from regional targets and 3 confirmation samples from historic trenches at the Knife Lake Deposit. Two samples collected from historic trenches at the Knife Lake Deposit returned significant results and are summarized in the table below.

Sample ID Au Ag Cu Co Zn (g/t) (g/t) (%) (%) (%) OMKFR006 0.11 4.34 1.60 0.01 0.10 OMKFR007 0.70 15.45 4.06 0.01 0.55

*Rock grab samples are selective and not necessary representative of the mineralization throughout the deposit

Prospecting on the west side of the Gilbert Lake target identified altered volcanic and green pegmatite lithologies consistent with the host rocks at the deposit, indicating continuity of favourable stratigraphy approximately 10 km west of the deposit. Field geologists reported visual confirmation of trace interstitial chalcopyrite hosted within the green pegmatite interval.

Plans for Upcoming Diamond Drilling Program

The drill program at the Gilbert North and South target areas in 2021 was designed to evaluate conductivity and magnetic anomalies identified during the early 2021 airborne VTEM Plus survey and corresponding surficial geochemical anomalies. It was the first modern drill program that tested these target areas and several drill intercepts included pyrrhotite-pyrite dominant VMS-style mineralization hosted at the same stratigraphic horizon as the Knife Lake Deposit. Following the initial drilling at the Gilbert North and South targets a Borehole Electromagnetic survey of all holes at the Gilbert North and South target areas was completed to refine future drill targets which will be tested in this upcoming program. Furthermore, previous surficial work programs have indicated that the stratigraphic position of the targeted anomalies correlates with the Knife Lake Deposit to the east. The discovery potential at the broader 15 km Gilbert trend is robust and warrants follow up work which is being planned in this upcoming program. Rockridge continues to utilize modern exploration techniques and methods with the goal of making new discoveries.

See Knife Lake Target Areas 2022 Drill Program Map here

Drill targeting for the fully funded 2022 diamond drill program is currently underway and management is assessing high priority targets that include additional drill testing in the Gilbert South Area. The planned holes will further investigate strike-length continuity of the mineralized horizon intersected in 2021 drilling, which remains open to the south. The holes will also evaluate potential zoning of mineralization, which is commonly observed in VMS systems. Additional holes at a newly discovered copper showing at the Gilbert West Area are also being considered. The holes will target the down-dip extension of a mineralized and intensely altered volcanic package which is interpreted to be the Knife Lake stratigraphic horizon. The Gilbert West target has never been drill tested. The Company is also evaluating drill targets at the Knife Lake deposit with the intention of testing deeper targets below the existing deposit and infill drilling to upgrade inferred resources to indicated resources.

Knife Lake Geology and History

The Knife Lake Deposit is interpreted to be a remobilized VMS deposit. The stratabound mineralized zone is approximately 15m thick and contains copper, silver, zinc, gold and cobalt mineralization which dips 30 to 50 eastward over a known strike-length within Rockridge's claim area of 3,700 metres, and a known average down-dip extension of approximately 300 metres.

See Knife Lake Deposit Map here

The deposit is hosted by felsic to intermediate volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks which have been metamorphosed to upper amphibolite facies. The deposit contains VMS mineralogy which has been significantly modified and partially remobilized during the emplacement of granitic rocks. The mineralization straddles the boundary between two rock units and occurs on both limbs of an interpreted overturned fold.

Rockridge has completed twenty-four holes consisting of 3096 metres of diamond drilling in the 2019 and 2021 winter drilling programs. This represented the first drilling on the property since 2001. Both programs have given Rockridge's technical team valuable insights into the property geology, alteration, and mineralization that will be applied to future regional exploration on the highly prospective and underexplored land package.

Highlights from the drill programs include previously reported hole KF19003 which intersected net-textured to semi-massive sulphide mineralization from 11.2m to 48.8m downhole. This 37.6 metre interval returned 2.03% Cu, 0.19 g/t Au, 9.88 g/t Ag, 0.36% Zn, and 0.01% Co for an estimated 2.42% CuEq.

In August 2019, Rockridge announced a maiden NI 43-101 resource estimate for the Knife Lake deposit which consisted of a pit-constrained indicated resource of 3.8 million tonnes at 1.02% CuEq and an inferred resource of 7.9 million tonnes at 0.67% CuEq using a 0.4% CuEq cut-off. For more information, please refer to the News Release dated August 14th, 2019 or the NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Mineral Resource Estimate for the Knife Lake Property, Saskatchewan dated September 27, 2019, filed on Sedar.

Knife Lake Option Agreement Details

To earn a 100% interest in the Knife Lake Project, Rockridge has agreed to make a cash payment to Eagle Plains of $150,000 (complete), issue up to 5,550,000 common shares of Rockridge (4,550,000 shares issued to date) and complete $3,250,000 in exploration expenditures over four years. Eagle Plains will retain a 2% net smelter royalty ("NSR") on certain claims which comprise the project area. Under the terms of the agreement Rockridge is designated as the Operator of the project.

Qualified Person

Kerry Bates, P. Geo., a "qualified person" for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and a Geologist employed by Eagle Plains Resources, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical disclosure in this news release relating to the Knife Lake Project.

About Eagle Plains Resources

Based in Cranbrook, B.C., Eagle Plains is a well-funded, prolific project generator that continues to conduct research, acquire and explore mineral projects throughout western Canada. The Company was formed in 1992 and is the ninth-oldest listed issuer on the TSX-V (and one of only three that has not seen a roll-back or restructuring of its shares). Eagle Plains has continued to deliver shareholder value over the years and through numerous spin-outs, has transferred approximately $95,000,000 in value directly to its shareholders, with Copper Canyon Resources and Taiga Gold being notable examples.

The Company is committed to steadily enhancing shareholder value by advancing our diverse portfolio of projects toward discovery through collaborative partnerships and development of a highly experienced technical team. Eagle Plains also holds significant royalty interests in western Canadian projects, covering a broad spectrum of commodities. Management's focus is to advance its most promising exploration projects. Throughout the exploration process, our mission is to help maintain prosperous communities by exploring for and discovering resource opportunities while building lasting relationships through honest and respectful business practices.

Expenditures from 2011-2021 on Eagle Plains-related projects exceed $27M, the majority of which was funded by third-party partners. This exploration work resulted in approximately 42,000m of diamond-drilling and extensive ground-based exploration work facilitating the advancement of numerous projects at various stages of development.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

"Tim J. Termuende"

President and CEO

For further information on EPL, please contact Mike Labach at 1 866 HUNT ORE (486 8673)

Email: mgl@eagleplains.com or visit our website at http://www.eagleplains.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain forward-looking statements including but not limited to comments regarding the timing and content of upcoming work programs, geological interpretations, receipt of property titles, potential mineral recovery processes, etc. Forward-looking statements address future events and conditions and therefore, involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.

SOURCE: Eagle Plains Resources Ltd

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695348/Eagle-Plains-Partner-Rockridge-Resources-Plans-Upcoming-Fully-Funded-Exploration-and-Drill-Program-at-the-Knife-Lake-Copper-Project-Saskatchewan
TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / abrdn Asia-Pacific Income Investment Fund VCC (TSX:FAP) (UEN: T21VC0235H) (the "Company"), a closed-end investment company trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange, announced today that ordinary shares (the "Shares") accepted for the 2022 voluntary cash redemption will be redeemed at a rounded price of $3.28 per Share in Canadian dollars. This price is equal to 100% of the average net asset value per Share based on the three business days preceding the redemption date of March 31, 2022, less direct costs. The pro-rata redemption rate will be 0.278 (i.e., for every 1,000 Shares submitted by a shareholder for redemption, 278 Shares will be redeemed). Payment of the redemption proceeds will be made on or before April 8, 2022. Shares that will be redeemed remain eligible for the March 2022 distribution.

Important Information

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Investment returns and principal will fluctuate and shares, when sold, may be worth more or less than the original cost. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. NAV returned data includes investment management fees, custodial charges, bank loan expenses and administrative fees (such as Director and legal fees) and assumes the reinvestment of all distributions. The Company is subject to investment risk, including the possible loss of principal. Total return based on net asset value reflects changes in the Company's net asset value during each period. Total return based on market price reflects changes in market value.

abrdn is the registered marketing name in Canada for the following entities: abrdn Canada Limited, Aberdeen Standard Investments Luxembourg S.A., abrdn Private Equity (Europe) Limited, abrdn Capital Partners LLP, abrdn Investment Management Limited, Aberdeen Standard Alternative Funds Limited, and Aberdeen Capital Management LLC. abrdn Canada Limited is registered as a Portfolio Manager and Exempt Market Dealer in all provinces and territories of Canada as well as an Investment Fund Manager in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador.

Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. The Company's investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the net asset value (NAV) of the company's portfolio. There is no assurance that the Company will achieve its investment objective. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

Information in this news release that is not current or historical factual information may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of securities laws. Implicit in this information, particularly in respect of future financial performance and condition of the Company, are factors and assumptions which, although considered reasonable by the Company, abrdn Canada Limited, abrdn Inc., and/or abrdn Asia Limited, as applicable, at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect. Shareholders are cautioned that actual results are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, general economic and market factors, including credit, currency, political and interest-rate risks and could differ materially from what is currently expected. The Company has no specific intention of updating any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

If you wish to receive this information electronically, please contact Investor.Relations@abrdn.com

https://www.abrdn.com/en-ca/canadaclosedend

# # #

For More Information Contact:

abrdn Inc.

Investor Relations

1-800-992-6341

Investor.Relations@abrdn.com

SOURCE: abrdn Asia-Pacific Income Fund VCC

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695466/abrdn-Asia-Pacific-Income-Fund-VCC-Announces-Pricing-of-2022-Voluntary-Cash-Redemption
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

SURREY, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Gungnir Resources Inc. (TSXV:GUG)(OTC PINK:ASWRF) ("Gungnir" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has completed the second and final tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement for 15,068,336 units of the Company (the "Units") priced at $0.12 per Unit (the "Unit Price"), for total gross proceeds under the second and final tranche of $1,808,200, resulting in a total of 21,318,336 Units issued under the Offering for total gross proceeds of $2,558,200 (the "Offering"). Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company (each, a "Common Share") and one common share purchase warrant (each, a "Warrant"), with each Warrant entitling the holder thereof to acquire one Common Share for a period of two years from the applicable closing date of the Offering at an exercise price of $0.18 per share.

The net proceeds of the Offering will be used to continue the exploration program, inclusive of drilling, at the Company's 100% owned projects in Sweden, concentrating on the Company's nickel resources, as well as for general corporate purposes.

All securities issued under the Offering are subject to a hold period expiring four months and one day from the applicable closing date of the Offering.

As consideration for the services of certain finders, the Company paid an aggregate cash commission of $120,240 and issued an aggregate of 989,999 finder options (the "Finder Options"). Each Finder Option is exercisable at a price of $0.12 and entitles the holder to acquire one Common Share and one common share purchase warrant (each, a "Finder Warrant"). Each Finder Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one Common Share (each, a "Finder Warrant Share") at a price per Finder Warrant Share of $0.18 per share for a period of 24 months from the closing of the Offering.

Insiders of the Company subscribed for an aggregate of 125,000 Units under the Offering. Each transaction with an insider of the Company constitutes a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is relying on exemptions from the formal valuation requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to section 5.5(a) and the minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to section 5.7(1)(a) in respect of such insider participation as the fair market value of the transaction, insofar as it involves interested parties, does not exceed 25% of the Company's market capitalization.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any state in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws.

About Gungnir Resources

Gungnir Resources Inc. is a Canadian-based TSX-V listed mineral exploration company (GUG: TSX-V, ASWRF: OTCPK) with gold and base metal projects in northern Sweden. Gungnir's assets include two nickel-copper-cobalt deposits, Lappvattnet and Rormyrberget, with inferred resources totalling 177 million of nickel, and the Knaften project which hosts a developing intrusion-hosted gold system, and VMS (zinc-copper) and copper-nickel targets, all of which are open for expansion and further discovery. Further information about the Company and its properties may be found at www.gungnirresources.com or at www.sedar.com.

On behalf of the Board,

Jari Paakki, CEO and Director

For further information contact:

Head Office/Investor Relations

Phone: +1-604-683-0484

Jari Paakki, CEO

Email: jpaakki@eastlink.ca

Chris Robbins, CFO

Email: robbinscr@shaw.ca

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-Looking Information

Certain statements in this news release may constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws (also known as forward-looking statements). Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, and may cause actual results, performance or achievements or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements or industry results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information generally can be identified by the use of terms and phrases such as "anticipate", "believe", "could", "estimate", "expect", "feel", "intend", "may", "plan", "predict", "project", "subject to", "will", "would", and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions. Some of the specific forward-looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to: the use of net proceeds from the Offering; Gungnir's plans for exploration of its properties; and the exercise of any convertible securities of Gungnir.

Forward-looking information is based on a number of key expectations and assumptions made by Gungnir, including, without limitation: the impacts of war and/or other international conflicts; no change to laws or regulations that negatively affect Gungnir's business; there will be a demand for Gungnir's services and products in the future; and Gungnir will be able to operate its business as planned. Although the forward-looking information contained in this news release is based upon what Gungnir believes to be reasonable assumptions, it cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with such information.

Forward-looking information is provided for the purpose of presenting information about management's current expectations and plans relating to the future and readers are cautioned that such statements may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward-looking information involves significant risks and uncertainties and should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results as actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking information. Those risks and uncertainties include, among other things, risks related to: no certainty that any economically viable mineral deposit will be located on Gungnir's properties; that Gungnir will be able to complete its exploration programs as anticipated; the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the economy and Gungnir's business; circumstances may change resulting in the use of proceeds set out in this news release; general economic conditions; future growth potential; common share prices; liquidity; tax risk; tax laws currently in effect remaining unchanged; ability to access capital markets; environmental matters; and changes in legislation or regulations. Management believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking information contained herein are based upon reasonable assumptions and information currently available; however, management can give no assurance that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking information.

The forward-looking information contained herein is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement. Forward-looking information reflects management's current beliefs and is based on information currently available to Gungnir. The forward-looking information is stated as of the date of this news release and Gungnir assumes no obligation to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by applicable law.

SOURCE: Gungnir Resources Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695473/Gungnir-Announces-Closing-of-Over-Subscribed-Upsized-Private-Placement-of-25-Million
Dieppe, New Brunswick--(Newsfile Corp. - March 31, 2022) - Colibri Resource Corporation (TSXV: CBI) ("Colibri" or the "Company") reports that its option partner Silver Spruce Resources has received an Informe Preventivo by the Mexican government environmental authority, SEMARNAT, approving a trenching and drilling permit for the Jackie Gold and Silver Project project.

Silver Spruce is in the second year of a two-year agreement to earn 50% of the Jackie Gold & Silver Project. For full details of the agreement please see Colibri's news release dated October 15, 2020.

Silver Spruce Resources Reports : (March 31, 2022)

"We are pleased to confirm that the permitting documents were approved by SEMARNAT. As expected, the environmental report prepared by Saul Ruiz and his team at Green and Ceo clearly demonstrated their high-quality technical expertise and was approved on schedule," stated Greg Davison, Silver Spruce Vice-President Exploration and Director. "These approvals clear the way for Silver Spruce and our partner, Colibri Resource Corp. ("Colibri") to move forward with our jointly funded trenching and drilling program. The Phase 1 trenching is scheduled to start in April and be completed in May. Receipt of assays are anticipated during May and June."

"The field team will have access to a portable X-ray fluorescence tool ("PXRF") which will be used to test trenching areas for metals and pathfinder elements in parallel with optimization of the anomalous rock sampling locations," stated Mr. Davison. "We believe that the PXRF, in conjunction with rock hyperspectral analysis, will provide excellent preliminary geochemical data to assist with vectoring towards alteration and mineralization while helping to prioritize trail preparation and pad building for the Phase 1 drilling program."

Figure 1. Jackie Concession Location Map. Note adjacent El Mezquite and Diamante 1 and 2.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4269/118752_d95d76f7346089fb_001full.jpg

The 1,130-hectare Jackie Au-Ag property ("Jackie") is a precious metal project located 8 km west-southwest of the town of Tepoca, and 170 km southeast of the capital city of Hermosillo, eastern Sonora, Mexico (Figure 1). Jackie is situated within the west-central portion of the Sierra Madre Occidental Volcanic Complex of northern Mexico. Mining and exploration in the surrounding area is active with adjacent and nearby properties held by Alamos Gold, Argonaut, Agnico Eagle, Evrim, Newmont, Garibaldi, Kootenay Silver and Penoles among others.

Jackie Exploration

Exploration plans were submitted for a 500-1,000-metre trenching program followed by an initial 1,000-2,000-metre reverse circulation drill program to evaluate the principal targets located near the centre of the concession. The proposed scope is designed to provide significant flexibility during the life of the initial permit and includes thirteen (13) trench track locations and thirty (36) drill pads. The trenching and drilling plans are shown in Figures 2 and 3, respectively, with Au and Ag assays from recent rock sampling. High grades of mineralization to 9.65 g/t Au and 515 g/t Ag, with coincident alteration and geochemical features, are transected by a NW-trending faults (see Press Release of December 29, 2021).

Figure 2. Line profiles for trenching planned on Jackie shown with Au and Ag assays. Individual trenches up to 20 metres in length located on Priority 1 (red) and 2 (yellow) lines.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4269/118752_d95d76f7346089fb_002full.jpg

Ground truthing of the Au-Ag system was completed in campaigns between January 2021 and July 2021 (see Press Releases of February 5, May 20 and August 26, 2021). The airborne and satellite survey data were acquired between April 2021 and September 2021 (see Press Releases of February 17, June 30 and September 9, 2021).

The prospecting and mapping clearly identified a strong Au-Ag anomaly, commonly though not exclusively, associated with elevated Hg, Pb, Zn, Cd, As, Sb and Cu with spatial distribution and trends like the multi-element data recorded for the nearby El Mezquite property. The anomaly is the focus area of the trenching (Figure 2) and drilling (Figure 3) plans.

Figure 3. Jackie drilling area location map (1:4,000 scale, 100 metre grid) with Au and Ag in proportional symbol layers on LiDAR 20cm hill shade model from the high-resolution LiDAR survey data. Proposed drill collars in fuschia-coloured circle with cross.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4269/118752_d95d76f7346089fb_003full.jpg

A northwesterly trend of anomalous precious metal, base metal and heavy metal pathfinder elements runs parallel to and transverse to local and regional lineaments which provides new untested targets for sampling and mapping both north and northwest of the target (Figure 2). The patterns indicated by cryptic structural features interpreted from the LiDAR maps and surface contours include a steeply dipping scarp of 5-15 metres located by mapping within 10-20 metres of the highest Au grade. Transverse ENE-trending features aligned as extensional arrays remain to be corroborated by detailed LiDAR analysis.

Rock sampling identified a distinctive andesite ridge with intense oxidation, silicification and argillic alteration, with low grade or bleached metals, and a notable paucity of vegetation. The alteration was noted during aerial photograph reconnaissance, and ASTER and LANDSAT 8 interpretation and confirmed by aiSIRIS outcrop sampling results for hyperspectral analysis.

All aspects of the Company's exploration programs are conducted with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols for personal safety.

Project Background

The Jackie project is currently subject to an option agreement with Colibri wherein SSE can earn up to 50% of the gold and silver projects by meeting specific criteria over periods of two years. Silver Spruce has completed the earn-in terms for cash and share payments and work expenditures and a 50:50 joint venture agreement is expected to be completed in short order.

Jackie is well situated in logistics for exploration and located six kilometres west and northwest of the Nicho deposit of Minera Alamos east of Highway #117. The Property is located ten kilometres southwest of Tepoca located on Highway #16 and is easily accessible to the west of Highway #117 via trails and dry riverbed access from the pueblo of La Quema with vehicles and pack teams. High voltage power lines are located on Highway #16.

ABOUT COLIBRI RESOURCE CORPORATION:

Colibri is a Canadian-based mineral exploration company listed on the TSX-V (CBI) and is focused on acquiring and exploring prospective gold & silver properties in Mexico. The Company has six exploration projects of which five currently have exploration programs being executed in 2022. (1) The flagship Evelyn Gold Project is 100% owned and explored by Colibri, (2) the Pilar Gold & Silver Project (optioned to Tocvan Ventures- (CSE: TOC), (3) the El Mezquite Gold & Silver Project , (4) the Jackie Gold & Silver Project, and (5) the Diamante Gold & Silver Project. 3,4, and 5 are subject to earn-in agreements by Silver Spruce Resources - (TSXV: SSE).

For more information about all Company projects please visit: www.colibriresource.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.

Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:

This news release contains "forward-looking statements". Statements in this press release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that the plans, expectations and intentions contained in this press release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that they will prove to be accurate.

For information contact: Ronald J. Goguen, President, Chairperson and Director, Tel: (506) 383-4274, rongoguen@colibriresource.com

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118752




SsangYong Motor Co. said Thursday its annual financial report was rejected by an external auditor after its takeover deal by Edison Motors Co. collapsed.







SsangYong Motor, which is under court receivership, said in a regulatory filing that Samjong KPMG gave a disclaimer of opinion for its 2021 financial report for the second consecutive year.







"We have doubt over SsangYong Motor's ability to continue its business," Samjong said in a report.







The auditor said it was uncertain whether the bankruptcy court would accept the cash-strapped automaker's rehabilitation plan given its low feasibility.







On Monday, SsangYong said it nullified a takeover deal after a domestic consortium led by electric car maker Edison Motors failed to make a full payment to acquire the carmaker and will find a new buyer.







The SUV-focused automaker logged 2.4 trillion won (US$2.1 billion) in sales and 260.6 billion won in operating losses last year. It has logged deficits since 2017. (Yonhap)






BANGALORE, India, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fiducial Market is segmented by Type - Polymer-Based Markers, Metal-Based Markers, Others, by Application - Hospitals, Radiotherapy Centers, Cancer Research Institutes, Others. Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast 2022 - 2028. It is published in Valuates Reports under the Medical Devices & Equipment Category.

The global Fiducial Markers market size is estimated to be worth USD 104.8 million in 2022 and is forecast to be a readjusted size of USD 131.4 million by 2028 with a CAGR of 3.9% during the review period

Major Factors Driving The Growth Of The Fiducial Markers Market Are

The global fiducial markers market is expected to grow as cancer prevalence rises around the world. The growth of the fiducial markers market will be aided by increased awareness of fiducial markers as a result of an accurate cancer diagnosis. Because of the complications and side effects associated with chemotherapy and targeted drug therapy, radiotherapy is expected to see a significant increase in popularity during the forecast period.

Increasing public-private sector investments, funds, and grants for cancer research, as well as technological advancements in the market and the rising global cancer burden, will drive Fiducial Markers market growth over the forecast period.

Browse The Table Of Contents And List Of Figures At https://reports.valuates.com/reports/QYRE-Auto-11G7207/fiducial-markers

TRENDS INFLUENCING THE GROWTH OF THE FIDUCIAL MARKERS MARKET

Fiducial markers market growth is expected to be fueled by factors such as oncologists' increased adoption of radiotherapy treatment and devices. Additionally, rising demand for Image Guidance Radiation Therapy (IGRT) and Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) treatments is expected to propel the fiducial markers market forward during the forecast period.

An increase in Cases of Cancer is fueling the Fiducial Markers market growth. In image-based radiotherapy, fiducial markers are used to target cancerous tissues while leaving healthy tissues unaffected. Globally, the demand for fiducial markers is increasing due to an increase in cancer cases.

Investments by Governments Fuelling Sales of Fiducial Markers market during the forecast period. Due to high demand from this sector, hospitals, which are highly advanced in terms of diagnosis and treatment, are bolstering the growth of fiducial marker manufacturers. Governments and non-profit organizations are increasing their investments in research and development, modern medical equipment, and other items for hospitals, which is fueling the demand for fiducial markers.

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FIDUCIAL MARKET SHARE ANALYSIS

Based on the product, the metal-based markers segment is expected to be the most lucrative segment in the fiducial markers market.

Based on end-user, The hospital segment is expected to be the most lucrative segment in the fiducial markers market. The segment's growth is expected to be aided by the availability of advanced radiotherapy equipment in these healthcare settings.

Based on region, North America is expected to be the most lucrative segment in the fiducial markers market. The region's growth is expected to be fueled by a strong presence of major market participants, streamlined reimbursement policies, and public health programs.

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Market By Region

North America

Europe

Asia-Pacific

Latin America

Middle East & Africa

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Market By Company

BYJU'S

VIPKid

iTutorGroup

Udacity

Newsela

Civitas Learning

Dreambox Learning

Guild Education

Coursera

Schoology

Instructure

Knewton

17zuoye

Yuanfudao

Udemy

Age of Learning

HuJiang

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SIMILAR REPORTS

- The global Molecular Weight Marker market size is projected to reach USD 676.1 million by 2028, from USD 410.3 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 6.9% during 2022-2028.

- The global cancer diagnostics market size was valued at USD 168,600.04 Million in 2020, and is projected to reach USD 280,590.21 Million by 2028, registering a CAGR of 6.9% from 2021 to 2028.

- The global Cancer Immunotherapy market size is projected to reach USD 135140 million by 2028, from USD 75950 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 8.1% during 2022-2028.

- The global Precision Medicine market size is projected to reach USD 206320 Million by 2027, from USD 104940 Million in 2020, at a CAGR of 9.6% during 2021-2027.

- The global Orphan Drugs market size is projected to reach USD 241610 million by 2027, from USD 122720 million in 2020, at a CAGR of 9.7% during 2021-2027.

- The global Next Generation Cancer Diagnostics market size is projected to reach USD 20950 million by 2028, from USD 6198.2 million in 2021, at a CAGR of 18.5% during 2022-2028.

- The global Non-Invasive Cancer Diagnostics market size is projected to reach USD 146340 Million by 2028, from USD 108520 Million in 2021, at a CAGR of 3.9% during 2022-2028.

- Global Uterine Cancer Diagnostic Testing Market Size, Status and Forecast 2021-2027

- Global Metal Fiducial Marks Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

- Global Cranial Navigation System Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

- Global Medical Marker Bands Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

- Global X-Ray Markers Market Insights, Forecast to 2028

- Global DNA Molecular Weight Marker Market Insights and Forecast to 2028

Click Here To See Related Reports on Fiducial Market

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VISTA STRENGTHENSITS GLOBAL AND U.S. LEADERSHIP

WITH THE ACQUISITION OF JET EDGE'S PLATFORM

Acquisition of the private aviation services platform of Jet Edge , the fastest-growing North American charter operator, significantly scales up Vista's U . S . presence ;

The acquisition provides additional flexibility, infrastructure and scale to support its growing client base and demand across North America ;

Vista client s to access 10 0 additional aircraft , including the largest charter fleet of Gulfstream jets in the U.S. ;

Jet Edge Reserve Members and Aircraft Owners will benefit significantly from Vista's broader global fleet and platform;

Bill Papariella , Jet Edge CEO , to join Vista's executive team as Chief Business Officer and Jet Edge's experienced management team remaining in place , in accord ance with U.S. DOT requirements;

Transaction expected to complete in the second quarter of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions ;

Follows the recent successful integrations ofRed Wing Aviation, Apollo Jets and Talon Air into Vista's ecosystem and AIR HAMBURG acquisition announcement.





Dubai, March 31, 2022: Vista Global Holding (Vista), the world's leading private aviation group, announces that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the private aviation services platform of Jet Edge, the fastest-growing North American charter operator.

Founded in 2011, Jet Edge is an integrated charter, management and brokerage platform and a leading U.S. provider of large cabin and super-midsize private jet charter and aircraft management services. At the time of this announcement, Jet Edge has a run rate of 60,000+ yearly flight hours, exclusively in the large-cabin and super-midsize category. Following the completion of the transaction in Q2 2022 Vista expects its fleet availability to expand to approximately 350 aircraft.

The move highlights Vista's continued investment into the U.S., the largest and fastest-growing region, and follows the recent announcement of a deal with AIR HAMBURG, balancing its fleet to respond to the significant demand it experienced across the two the largest aviation markets.

Thomas Flohr, Vista's Founder and Chairman, said: "Vista's commitment is to provide the most comprehensive range of flying solutions in private aviation. Today's announcement brings significant value to our clients, with access to a further 100 aircraft, expanding our fleet at a time of unprecedented demand for business aviation services.

"Our vision is to provide the best services, anytime and anywhere, for every client. Bringing Jet Edge, the fastest-growing large-cabin and super-mid on demand company in the U.S., into the Group scales up our presence in North America, giving Vista the opportunity to turbocharge growth in the most dynamic business aviation market. It also means expanding our offering and presenting our Members with the chance to fly on the largest fleet of Gulfstream aircraft available for charter.

"I am also delighted to welcome Bill Papariella to Vista's executive team as Chief Business Officer. As we continue to revolutionize the private aviation market, we are ready to integrate the extensive expertise of our new colleagues across the whole Jet Edge family. This acquisition is the latest example of Vista's ability to capitalize on key opportunities in the highly fragmented and fast-growing business aviation world."

Bill Papariella, Jet Edge's CEO, said: "Vista is, without a doubt, the best operational platform in private aviation, and it aligns with our company's promise of safe operational service and a superior flight experience. Thanks to industry-leading technology, the most coveted global fleet and the personal expertise of everyone on the team, this merger takes the Jet Edge platform to the next level overnight. Our Members will now get access to an extensive global fleet, programs, services and a network able to fly them anywhere in the world. Our Aircraft Owners will be able to take advantage of the enormous charter demand, global infrastructure and procurement advantages that Vista generates via its iconic brands VistaJet and XO.

"We are proud of the personal relationships we have built with each one of our Reserve Members and our Aircraft Owners - this has been the main driver behind our tremendous growth in the past few years, at a time when aircraft availability was at a historical minimum. We cannot wait to be able to offer them additional value through our integration with Vista. I couldn't be more proud of the hard work of our teams, and I am excited about our long future together as a Vista company".

The values of maximum safety and customer service excellence are critical for both organizations and the acquisition of the private aviation services platform of Jet Edge is the latest chapter of a longstanding partnership between the company and XO, VistaJet and Apollo Jets. The acquisition brings together two long-established companies with the shared vision of delivering the best flying solutions and experiences to their Members.

The merger is the latest step in Vista's relentless transformation of the highly fragmented business aviation ecosystem. Vista's maintenance services in North America will expand with the acquisition of Jet Edge's Part 145 maintenance facility, located strategically on the West Coast. It will provide a full suite of maintenance services to a wide range of aircraft types, augmenting the maintenance capacity across the U.S. and securing better access to parts. The acquisition will also provide two branded lounges in Van Nuys and Teterboro, ready to welcome all guests departing from these strategic terminals.

In accord with U.S. DOT requirements, Vista will acquire Jet Edge aircraft, hospitality and maintenance facilities, while its U.S. strategic operating partner XOJET Aviation will acquire a majority stake of the Part 135 certificates of Jet Select and Western Air Charter.

- Ends -

About Vista

Vista Global Holding's

About Jet Edge

Jet Edge is a leader in full-service global private aviation. As an integrated super-midsize and large cabin management operator and maintenance provider, Jet Edge services aircraft owners and charter flyers with a world-class operational platform. Jet Edge extends individual clients and corporations 365-day-a-year access to one of the most well-appointed aircraft fleets in the world. Backed by award-winning safety programs and overseen by a leadership team with wide-ranging experience in commercial and private aviation operations and management, Jet Edge delivers excellence in aircraft management, charter management, on-demand charter, aircraft sales, and maintenance. More information can be found at www.flyjetedge.com

Contacts

press@vistaglobal.com

Vista Global Holding Limited ("Vista") does not own or operate any aircraft. All flights are performed by FAA-licensed/DOT-registered EASA or U.S. certified Vista group direct air carriers and/or partner operators. Vista holds non-controlling minority stakes in XOJET Aviation, GMJ Air Shuttle, Red Wing Aviation and Talon Air.

Attachments
Employees come together to support Ukrainian citizens and refugees in crisis

Alliant Insurance Services and its employees across the U.S. joined forces to raise more than $210,000 to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. This fundraising effort was a direct response to the current crisis occurring in Ukraine, and donations will be used to provide life-giving necessities like food, water, shelter, and first aid to support Ukrainian citizens and refugees.

"I'm proud of our employees, who have risen up in such a short amount of time to support our Ukrainian friends in a time of crisis," said Diana Kiehl, Chief Administrative Officer of Alliant and head of the company's philanthropy program. "Alliant is committed to helping those in need across the globe, and our employees exemplified their spirit of generosity and made a significant impact with their donation efforts."

In response to the ongoing situation in Ukraine, Alliant partnered with the American Red Cross and UNICEF to solicit donations. Employees responded, raising more than $110,000 with Alliant stepping in on a $100,000 match. The match program also covered additional organizations providing humanitarian support and vital resources to Ukraine.

Alliant supports the efforts of employees through corporate giving and matching gift programs across a wide range of causes. Alliant also encourages employees to engage in community volunteer work through mentoring, leading, serving, and lending a hand to local and global communities as a part of its national Alliant4Others philanthropy initiative.

About Alliant Insurance Services

Alliant Insurance Services is one of the nation's leading distributors of diversified insurance products and services. We operate through a network of specialized national platforms and local offices to offer our clients a comprehensive portfolio of solutions built on innovative thinking and personal service. The business of managing risk is getting more complex, and Alliant is meeting this complexity head-on, not with more layers of management, but with more creativity and agility. Alliant is changing the way our clients approach risk management and benefits, so they can capitalize on new opportunities to grow and protect their organizations. Visit us at alliant.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005302/en/

Contacts:

Nick Kopinga

Vice President

Corporate Marketing and Communications

(949) 260-5004

nkopinga@alliant.com
DGAP Post-admission Duties announcement: Haier Smart Home Co.,Ltd. / Third country release according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 of the WpHG [the German Securities Trading Act]

Haier Smart Home Co.,Ltd.: Announcement on Proposal of 2021 Annual Profit Distribution



31.03.2022 / 16:16

Dissemination of a Post-admission Duties announcement according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 WpHG transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



Third country release according to Article 50 Para. 1, No. 2 of the WpHG Announcement on Proposal of 2021 Annual Profit Distribution Qingdao / Shanghai / Frankfurt / Hongkong, 31 March 2022 - Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. (the "Company" or "Haier Smart Home", D-share 690D.DE, A-share 600690.SH, H-share 06690.HK) yesterday published a mandatory announcement in accordance with applicable trading rules of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and applicable PRC laws in relation to the Proposal of 2021 Annual Profit Distribution. The announcement is fully available at: https://smart-home.haier.com/en/dggg/P020220331687956340441.pdf?appdesc=Announcement%20on%20Proposal%20of%202021%20Annual%20Profit%20Distribution and on the "D Share Announcement" Section on the Company's website: https://smart-home.haier.com/en/ggyxw/?id=dggg&spm=inverstor.31558_pad.irheader_20200506_3.2

IR Contact:

Haier Smart Home Hong Kong

T: +852 2169 0000

Email: ir@haier.hk Press Contact:

CROSS ALLIANCE communication GmbH

Sara Pinto

Sven Pauly

pi@crossalliance.de

T: +49 (0) 89 1250903 35 About Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd.: Haier is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household appliances with a focus on smart home solutions and customized production. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. develops, produces and distributes a wide range of household appliances. These include refrigerators, freezers, washing machines, air conditioners, water heaters, kitchen appliances as well as small household appliances and an extensive range of intelligent household appliances. The Company distributes its products through leading household brands such as Haier, Casarte, Leader, Candy, GE Appliances, AQUA and Fisher & Paykel. Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd. has launched Smart Home Experiential Cloud, which connects homes, users, enterprises and ecosystem partners, and facilitates the integration of Haier's online, offline and micro-store businesses and supports user interaction to further optimize the user experience.

31.03.2022 The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de


31 March 2022

ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC

("Ananda" or the "Company")

TOTAL VOTING RIGHTS

In accordance with the Financial Conduct Authority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules, Ananda announces that the Company has 799,015,402 ordinary shares of 0.2p each in issue ("Ordinary Shares"), each share carrying the right to one vote.

This figure of 799,015,402 Ordinary Shares may be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

-Ends-

The Directors of the Company accept responsibility for the contents of this announcement.

ANANDA DEVELOPMENTS PLC

Chief Executive Officer

Melissa Sturgess



Investor Relations

Jeremy Sturgess-Smith +44 (0) 7463 686 497

ir@anandadevelopments.com PETERHOUSE CAPITAL LIMITED

Corporate Finance

Mark Anwyl



Corporate Broking

Lucy Williams

Duncan Vasey +44 (0)20 7469 0930

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.

About Ananda Developments

Ananda is an AQSE-listed medical cannabis company creating UK-based operations to grow and provide carbon zero, consistent, medical cannabis for the UK and international markets.

The UK medical cannabis market is predicted to be worth 450m by 2025 and the European market is predicted to be worth USD4.2bn by 2027.

Ananda, through its 50% owned subsidiary, DJT Plants Limited, was granted a Home Office licence in May 2021 to grow >0.2% THC cannabis in a new research facility to breed and stabilise 65 strains.

For more information, please visit: https://anandadevelopments.com/
Session will Spotlight the Emerging Decision Intelligence Market; What's Next in Business Intelligence

Experts from Delaware and Pyramid Analytics will explore why and how Decision Intelligence what's next in analytics and business intelligence (ABI) should be introduced into enterprise platforms at the UKISUG Analytics Symposium, an annual event for the independent UK Ireland SAP User Group being held on 5 April, 2022 at The Vox Conference Centre, Birmingham. The conference offers the opportunity for networking and collaboration among peers specialising in SAP Analytics Cloud, data preparation, platform database and digital transformation.

UKISUG Analytics Symposium is free to attend. Register here.

Key Points:

Delaware's Analytics Lead and Pyramid's Director of Product Management will discuss Decision Intelligence and how to introduce it into an SAP business and technology ecosystem.

Delaware implements the Pyramid Decision Intelligence Platform across the UK Ireland to help organisations leverage the full value of data by providing AI-powered analytics to all decision-makers.

Both companies have partnerships with SAP and expertise in the SAP technology ecosystem.

Pyramid Analytics is an official member of the SAP PartnerEdge open ecosystem. Pyramid Platform is certified by SAP Certified for SAP BW/4HANA, SAP HANA, and SAP NetWeaver.

Attendees, Mark Your Diaries

Chris Houlder, Analytics Lead at Delaware, and Ian MacDonald, Director of Product Management with Pyramid, will discuss how enterprises running on SAP can best understand their data and how to react to fast-changing conditions, and address the challenges of adopting a holistic platform that works directly on both SAP BW and SAP HANA. The session will also include a demo of the Pyramid Analytics Decision Intelligence platform and how to get more value from these SAP investments. The session begins at 10 a.m. GMT.

Partnership Brings Decision Intelligence to Enterprises Across the UKI

Pyramid Analytics and global IT services company Delaware have a partnership agreement through which the companies jointly sell and implement the Pyramid Platform for decision intelligence and provide consulting services. The partnership puts the Pyramid Platform for decision intelligence into the hands of more than 3,000 Delaware consultants. The Pyramid Platform uniquely combines Data Preparation, Business Analytics, and Data Science in a single Analytics and Business Intelligence (ABI) environment. Leading technology analysts BARC, Dresner Advisory Services, and Gartner rank Pyramid first in critical ABI capabilities.

Pyramid and Delaware have strong partnerships with SAP, the world's largest provider of Enterprise Application Software. Delaware and Pyramid Analytics jointly deliver solutions enabling customers to integrate sophisticated SAP data sets and non-SAP sources, from a wide range of on-premises and cloud-based data sources, without moving or ingesting the data, through a single decision intelligence platform.

Many of Delaware's clients have complex landscapes and face challenges pulling together accurate and coherent reporting. Pyramid enables all users, from data scientists to non-technical business users, to maximise their investments in SAP providing for the fastest, direct querying and analytics on BW, BEx, HANA, CDS and IQ, while maintaining the investment in business logic and security designed into SAP all within a complete point and click, no-code, governed self-service analytics environment.

Quotes

Ian Macdonald, Director of Product Management, Pyramid Analytics: "Business success in today's dynamic markets requires organizations to react to trends and opportunities in real time with accuracy, speed and scale. Data drives better decisions. However, due to legacy tool limitations, integration issues and data management challenges, many SAP customers struggle to expose all the necessary data to deliver modern self-service analytic capabilities. Pyramid Decision Intelligence Platform allows business users to get more value out of their existing SAP BW and SAP HANA investments, delivering best-in-class functionality and performance that preserves the security and governance inherent in the SAP platform."

Complete, Unified Decision Intelligence

Pyramid's Decision Intelligence Platform unifies Data Preparation, Business Analytics, and Data Science on a single, integrated platform. This eliminates the need to use multiple disparate tools and the associated license cost and management complexity. Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), rapid rollout, quicker and direct access to all available data, and industry-leading user adoption means faster time to value. Pyramid's Decision Intelligence Platform can be deployed on-premises, into a private or public cloud, embedded into other apps or delivered through Managed Services Providers (MSP).

About Delaware

Delaware is a fast-growing, global company that delivers advanced solutions and services to organisations striving for a sustainable, competitive advantage. Delaware guides its customers through their business transformation, applying the ecosystems of its main business partners, SAP and Microsoft. Delaware continues to service its customers afterwards, assuring continuity and continuous improvement. Delaware has over 3000 professionals in 24 offices around the world. For more information, please visit www.delaware.co.uk.

About Pyramid Analytics

Pyramid is what's next in analytics. Our unified decision intelligence platform delivers insights for everyone to make faster, more informed decisions. It provides direct access to any data, enables governed self-service for any person, and serves any analytics need in a no-code environment. The Pyramid Decision Intelligence Platform uniquely combines Data Prep, Business Analytics, and Data Science in a single environment with AI guidance, reducing cost and complexity while accelerating growth and innovation. The Pyramid Platform enables a strategic, organization-wide approach to Business Intelligence and Analytics, from the simple to the sophisticated. Schedule a demo.

Pyramid Analytics is incorporated in Amsterdam and has regional headquarters in global innovation and business centers, including London, New York City, and Tel-Aviv. Our team lives worldwide because geography should not be a barrier to talent and opportunity. Investors include Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Sequoia Capital and Viola Growth. Learn more at Pyramid Analytics.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005705/en/

Contacts:

Media Contacts:

UK

Susie Evershed

Resonance

+44 7966 145092

pyramidanalytics@resonancecrowd.com

US

Heather Racicot

Resonance

+1 360-632-5616

pyramidanalytics@resonancecrowd.com


MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) - After extending the record for the longest single spaceflight in history by an American to 355 days, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned from the International Space Station to Earth along with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov.



The Russian Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft carrying the trio made a safe, parachute-assisted landing southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday.



Following post-landing medical checks, the crew will return to the recovery staging city in Karaganda, Kazakhstan, aboard Russian helicopters, NASA said in a press release. Vande Hei will board a NASA plane bound for Cologne, Germany, for refueling prior to his return home. Shkaplerov and Dubrov will board a Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center aircraft to return to their home in Star City, Russia.



Vande Hei's extended mission will provide researchers the opportunity to observe the effects of long-duration spaceflight on humans as NASA plans to return humans to the Moon and prepare for exploration of Mars.



Vande Hei launched to the International Space Station on April 9, 2021, alongside Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Pyotr Dubrov. His second journey into space of 355 days is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut and gives him a lifetime total of 523 days in space. Dubrov also remained onboard for 355 days on his first spaceflight.



Supporting NASA's goals for future human landings on the Moon, Vande Hei completed approximately 5,680 orbits of the Earth and a journey of more than 150 million miles, roughly the equivalent of 312 trips to the Moon and back. He witnessed the arrival of 15 visiting spacecraft and new modules, and the departure of 14 visiting spacecraft.



During his record mission, Vande Hei spent many hours on scientific activities aboard the space station, including plant research and physical sciences studies.



With Vande Hei, Shkaplerov, and Dubrov leaving the space stataion, Expedition 67 officially took over their mission. NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn is the Station Commander of Expedition 67. Raja Chari and Kayla Barron (NASA), Matthias Maurer (European Space Agency), and Oleg Artemyev, Denis Matveev, and Sergey Korsakov (Russia) are the other members on board.



Marshburn, Chari, Barron and Maurer will remain onboard until late April, when NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines, and Jessica Watkins, as well as ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti launch to the station as part of NASA's SpaceX Crew-4 mission.







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WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - A report released by MNI Indicators on Thursday showed a much bigger than expected increase by its reading on Chicago-area business activity in the month of March. MNI Indicators said its Chicago business barometer jumped to 62.9 in March from 56.3 in February, with a reading above 50 indicating growth. Economists had expected the business barometer to inch up to 57.0. The bigger than expected advance by the business barometer came as all main indicators increased, with the inventories index and the new orders seeing the largest boost. The inventories index surged to a nearly 50-year high of 68.7 in March from 57.3 in February, as firms stocked up due to ongoing supply chain disruptions. The report showed the new orders index also shot up to 61.9 in March from 53.0 in February, while the production index rose to 60.0 from 55.4. The employment index also climbed to 48.1 in March from 43.5 in February, although a reading below 50 still indicates a contraction. Meanwhile, MNI Indicators said the prices paid index edged down to a still elevated 12-month low of 85.7 in March from 86.5 in February. Copyright(c) 2022 RTTNews.com. All Rights Reserved Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Former Head of Technology at the SIX Digital Exchange will focus on expanding Komainu's technology capabilities

SAINT HELIER, Jersey, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Komainu ("the Company"), a regulated institutional-grade digital asset custody services provider safeguarding over US$6bn in assets, today announced the appointment of Pete Stephens as its Chief Technology Officer. Stephens previously served as Head of Technology for Switzerland's SIX Digital Exchange (SDX), the world's first fully FMI licensed digital asset exchange and CSD, and brings with him extensive experience within the institutional finance technology space.

Mr. Stephens has over 20 years of experience within the global financial services industry and will play an instrumental role in improving upon Komainu's existing offerings and building out the Company's portfolio of custody services. With previous experience at DrumG Technologies, UBS AG, IBM and PwC, Stephens maintained deep focus on capital markets post-trade technology. He holds a Masters of Engineering degree from the University of Leeds.

"Throughout my career, I've been passionate about developing operating standards for emerging technologies, and since its inception, Komainu has done just that," said Stephens. "Komainu's custody solutions meet the security, transparency, and reporting standards set in place by financial institutions and I'm excited to be a part of what the team is building. I am looking forward to working closely with the team to expand Komainu's industry-leading offering and further bridge the gap between traditional finance and digital assets."

Stephens joins Komainu shortly after the Company's introduction of Komainu Yield, a service that provides institutions with the ability to earn yield on assets custodied with Komainu. Currently, Komainu Yield supports staking services for a variety of leading digital asset protocols. Pete will be responsible for expanding the staking services offered by the Company and will lead the buildout of additional yield generating services, as well as further expanding Komainu's technology product offering, aimed at bridging traditional and decentralized finance.

Henson Orser, President of Komainu, commented on today's news, "In order to keep up with client demand and the growing digital asset ecosystem, Komainu has made a commitment to building a strong and experienced C-suite. Only a few months after naming Matthew Chamberlin as CEO, we've made another significant hire in Pete Stephens and his track record in financial services technology make him a great addition to the team. Over the past few months, we have seen an exponential increase in institutions looking to gain exposure to the digital asset ecosystem and I am excited to work alongside Pete to continue enhancing Komainu's technological capabilities."

About Komainu

Komainu is the first hybrid custodian for institutional digital asset investors created by the Japanese investment bank, Nomura, digital asset manager, CoinShares and digital asset security company, Ledger. Komainu is providing secure digital asset custody services through an application-based solution for institutions, offering multi-asset support and regulatory compliance. Headquartered in Jersey, Channel Islands, Komainu merges institutional financial services with leading security standards for the next generation of institutional custody.

For more information, please visit??https://www.komainu.com??

Media Contact

Peter Padovano

M Group Strategic Communications (For Komainu)

646-859-5953

komainu@mgroupsc.com

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AM Best has placed under review with negative implications the Financial Strength Rating of B (Fair) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "bb+" (Fair) of National Takaful Company (Watania) PJSC (Watania) (United Arab Emirates).

These Credit Rating (rating) actions follow the announcement on 3 March 2022 that Dar Al Takaful PJSC (DAT) has reached an agreement with Watania on a prospective merger between both companies. The transaction, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, is expected to complete during the third quarter of 2022.

The under review with negative implications status reflects DAT's weaker credit fundamentals and the potential negative impact the transaction may have on Watania's prospective credit fundamentals. Additionally, the newly created group's strategic direction and consolidated financial strength will need to be determined. AM Best will conduct detailed discussions with management regarding its planned strategy for the combined group. The ratings are expected to remain under review pending the completion of the transaction and AM Best's further discussions with group management.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright 2022 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Contacts:

Algirdas Karvelis, ACA

Financial Analyst

+44 20 7397 0285

algirdas.karvelis@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Jessica Botelho-Young, CA

Associate Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0310

jessica.botelho@ambest.com

Jim Peavy

Director, Communications

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644

james.peavy@ambest.com
From left are Samsung Electronics' zoned storage technology-based solid state drive (SSD) and Western Digital's zoned storage SSD. Courtesy of Samsung Electronics



By Baek Byung-yeul



Samsung Electronics joined hands with U.S.-based data storage company Western Digital to develop a next-generation storage technology called zoned storage targeting the data center and enterprise markets that need to process large amount of data, the company said Wednesday.



The Korean tech giant said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. company to promote the standardization of zoned storage technology. The two companies also plan to collaborate to develop and promote software for products featuring zoned storage technology.



Samsung said the new technology enables a more efficient operation of storage at data centers and enterprises by enabling users to save data in several different zones.



"Using zoned storage technology, storage space is divided into zones. By storing data having the same use and same use cycle in the same area, data can be stored more efficiently than existing solid state drives (SSDs) that distributes and stores data," a Samsung spokesman said.



Samsung and Western Digital have been cooperating since last year. In June, 2021, Samsung developed the industry's first ZNS SSD using the zone storage technology. Samsung accounts for the largest share of the SSD market, while Western Digital has the third-largest stake as of 2021.



The two companies have also been leading the development of zoned storage-related technology working together in organizations such as the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and the Linux Foundation. SNIA is a non-profit, storage-related standardization organization established in December 1997 and consists of 110 member companies.



Zoned technology is expected to help customers reduce costs and improve the quality of service, while the establishment of an ecosystem for next-generation, large-capacity storage products through cooperation between the two companies will lead to the production of more uniform products, Samsung said.



"This collaboration is a testament to our relentless effort to exceed customers' needs now and in the future, and holds special meaning in how we anticipate it will actively grow into a larger basis of engagement for zoned storage standardization," Han Jin-man, executive vice president and head of Memory Sales & Marketing at Samsung, said.



Robert Soderbery, executive vice president of Western Digital, also said, "We are excited to bring these contributions to this joint initiative with Samsung in facilitating wider adoption of zoned storage for users and application developers."






DUBAI, UAE, Mar 31, 2022 - (ACN Newswire) - World AI Show - world's longest and continuously running AI event that extensively highlights latest trends and challenges in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and RPA is now in its 35th global edition and will be taking place on 25th and 26th May 2022, at Jumeirah Emirates Towers in Dubai. The Dubai edition is slated to be the biggest in the series so far and will also host 'World AI Awards' to recognise and encourage latest innovations in the AI ecosystem, thereby aligning the event with the UAE's National Innovation Strategy and AI Strategy 2031.The show will witness powerful keynotes, workshops, use-case presentations, product exhibitions, panel discussions and tech talks to find solutions for issues and trends within the AI and RPA space. It is an opportunity to hear from the world's leading solution providers about the innovative ways to achieve favourable business results.The conference sessions that takes place in conjunction with the World AI Show will highlight some of the most sought-after topics such as: 'Driving Automation Maturity with Intelligent Automation'; 'Transforming the Business with Artificial Intelligence; 'Enterprise AI Adoption: Future of AI in Cyber-Security'; 'The use of artificial intelligence within the Internet of Things', and much more.When speaking about the power and relevance of AI and Automation, Mr Anand Veeramani, VP & Geo Head- Asia and Middle East, Happiest Minds stated that, "The power and relevance of 'AI + Automation' has dramatically increased due to the maturity of these technologies and has now become the foundation of modern IT workplace, digital transformation, and cyber security. Previously an afterthought solution, it is now a driving factor for any new operational and business strategy."Mr Haytham Bata, Senior Partner at Nuummite Consulting was commenting about the future being digitized, "We at Nuummite Consulting renew our commitment to help our partners and their customers move safely and smoothly to the digital era. Our solutions and products are designed to meet the specific requirements of our partners and exceed their end-users' expectations. As a leading regional service provider of RPA solutions, we are pleased to be part of such a prestigious event where the key industry leaders meet to discuss the latest developments in the industry and explore opportunities of collaborative work.World AI Show not only explores cutting-edge technology innovations within the AI space but also recognizes the achievements and innovations by individuals, teams and entities in the field of Artificial intelligence. The World AI Awards will be launched as a Gala Award Ceremony and has already garnered tremendous attention from the IT and AI Leaders in the region with over 50 nominations received for 30+ awards in five categories.Some of the foremost thinkers and thought leaders in AI that are speaking at the show include:- Dr. Anastassia Lauterbach - Managing Director EMEA, The ExCo Leadership Group; Top 10 AI influencer in the MENA; Professor for AI and Author of The Artificial Intelligence Imperative: A Practical Roadmap for Business.- Nazareen Ebrahim - Founder, CEO, and AI ethics officer at Socially Acceptable; Top 10 AI influencer in the MENA and Founder & CEO, Naz Consulting International.- Latifa Alshehhi - Head of Data Management, Road and Transport Authority, UAE.- Tony Chacko Joseph - Chief Information and Security Officer, Ministry of Finance, UAE.- Khalifa Aljaziri - Ministry Of Economy, Commercial Affairs Regulatory Sector Projects Advisor, UAE.- Saeed Alhebsi - Advisor in AI, Ministry of Human Resource and Emritisation, UAE.More than 20 elite speakers will join this event and discuss the best practices to achieve optimum results in the fast-moving world.Mithun Shetty, CEO, Trescon said, "World AI show has been a one-of-a-kind event ever since its inception in 2018 and are happy to have such wonderful partners on board this year as well. With AI technology being the future, we aim for this event to be insightful, explore the future prospects of innovation and recognize breakthroughs in the field."World AI Show - Dubai 2022 is officially sponsored by:Lead Sponsor - Happiest MindsPlatinum Sponsor - Enterprise BotGold Sponsor - BytePlusOfficial Digital Saudi Partner - Nuummite ConsultingSilver Sponsor - ManageEngineBronze Sponsors - BEINEX and SoothSayerAssociation Partner - IGOAIAbout World AI Show:World AI Show is a thought-leadership-driven, business-focused, global series of events that takes place in strategic locations across the world. The show is a one-of-a-kind gathering of pre-qualified CIOs, CEOs, CTOs, Heads of AI, Chief Digital Officers, Heads of Innovation and International AI experts. Witness powerful keynotes, workshops, use-case presentations, product exhibitions, panel discussions and tech talks to find solutions for issues and trends within the AI and RPA space. For more information about World AI Show, visit: www.worldaishow.comAbout Trescon:Trescon is a global business events and consulting firm that provide a wide range of business services to a diversified client base that includes corporations, governments and individuals. Trescon specialises in producing highly focused B2B events that connect businesses with opportunities through conferences, roadshows, expos, demand generation, investor connect and consulting services. For more information about Trescon, visit: www.tresconglobal.comFor further details, please contact:Karthik ACorporate Communications Manager, Tresconmedia@tresconglobal.com | +91 81059 75937Source: tresconCopyright 2022 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.


CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - The euro was lower against its major rivals during European deals on Thursday, as Russia continued attacks on Ukraine, despite a promise to cut military activity in the capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv.



Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his troops are preparing for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine and cast doubt about de-escalating fighting in major Ukrainian cities.



There has been heavy shelling in Irpin, near Kyiv, and Chernihiv, and attacks intensified in the Donbas region.



U.S. said that Russian troops are repositioning in order to refocus their efforts on other parts of Ukraine.



European stocks fell as hopes of de-escalation in Ukraine conflict faded after Russia said that there was 'no sign of a breakthrough' in talks.



Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine will resume on Friday following the meeting in Turkey on Tuesday.



Data from Destatis showed that German unemployment rate remained unchanged in February.



The unemployment rate held steady at seasonally adjusted 3.1 percent in February, according to calculations based on the labor force survey. In the same period last year, the rate was 3.9 percent.



The euro dropped to 2-day lows of 1.1068 against the greenback and 0.8435 against the pound, off its early more than a 4-week high of 1.1185 and more than a 3-month high of 0.8512, respectively. The next possible support for the euro is seen around 1.08 against the greenback and 0.82 against the pound.



The euro touched 3-day lows of 1.0226 against the franc and 134.68 against the yen, down from its early highs of 1.0325 and 136.84, respectively. The euro is seen finding support around 0.995 against the franc and 132.00 against the yen.



The euro retreated to 1.5950 against the kiwi and 1.4763 against the aussie, following its prior 2-day high of 1.6084 and a 10-day high of 1.4943, respectively. The euro is likely to test support around 1.57 against the kiwi and 1.45 against the aussie.



The euro reached as low as 1.3860 against the loonie, after rising to nearly a 2-week high of 1.3980 in the Asian session. Next key support for the euro is seen around the 1.37 level.







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COLUMBIA, Md., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Joget Inc, the open source no-code/low-code application platform company for faster and simpler digital transformation, announced today that it was awarded funding through Cardano's Catalyst Fund 7 for its top-voted proposal in the "Nation Building DApps" category, named "Accelerating Enterprise Adoption". This was a joint proposal with Wada, an African blockchain awareness-building organization.

Cardano, home to the cryptocurrency ADA, is a public blockchain and decentralized application (DApp) platform. As part of the Catalyst Fund challenge, a fully-featured Coffee Traceability App was built in a record 4 days by just one developer. The app was later repurposed to meet the needs of the cocoa industry, and was subsequently demonstrated to some of the largest cocoa industry players in Ghana, the second-largest producer of cocoa in the world.

"We welcome all builders and innovators creating useful applications on the Cardano blockchain and are impressed by the growth of the ecosystem facilitated by community decision making and the decentralized governance of Project Catalyst," said Kriss Baird, Product Owner of Input Output Global (IOG).

Citizen Developers, typically business users with little coding experience, can now visually develop applications integrated with the Cardano blockchain using the recently released Cardano Blockchain Pack. Joget plans to use the fund to further enhance the development of the plugin and expand its capabilities with more advanced features. By integrating blockchain technology with a no-code/low-code application platform like Joget, organizations can rapidly kick start their digitalization journey while lowering the associated costs and risks. This helps to narrow the gap between traditional application development methodology and a modernized no-code/low-code approach.

"We see blockchain as a critical component to the foundation of next-generation technological innovations, and we want to bring it to the masses with our no-code/low-code approach," said Raveesh Dewan, CEO of Joget, Inc. "We are thankful to the Cardano Community and the Catalyst Fund team for believing in and supporting our approach."

The Cardano Blockchain Pack is published on JogetOSS, an open source repository for the Joget platform, and a step-by-step tutorial is available on the Joget Knowledge Base.

About Joget, Inc.

Joget, Inc is the developer of the Joget open source no-code/low-code application platform. Joget empowers business users, non-coders (Citizen Developers) or coders to create enterprise applications across industries and countries. With more than 200,000 downloads, 3,000 installations and 12,000 community users worldwide across various industries (including finance, manufacturing, IT, and more), Joget is a proven platform for a wide spectrum of organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to government agencies and small businesses.

Contacts

Media Relations

info@joget.com

1.888.60J.OGET (1.888.605.6438)

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Nomination demonstrates importance of modernizing the Small and Medium-Sized Business (SMB) lending process, highlights value of accounting data in advancing financial inclusion

NEW YORK, NY / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / ForwardAI , a fintech providing aggregated access to accounting & business data and analysis, announced today that it has been selected as a finalist for Fintech Innovator of The Year in the 4th annual Canadian Lenders Association (CLA) Awards . The nomination speaks to the growing importance of alternative data, including accounting and cash-flow forecasting data, in expanding credit access to SMBs.

The CLA represents Canada's innovative lending community, consisting of over 230 of the country's largest consumer and business lenders. The awards honor Canadian executives and leading fintech companies who generate ideas to help move the lending industry forward. Fintech Innovator of The Year is awarded to the most promising fintech companies that use technology to solve problems, implement strategies and drive efficiencies throughout Canada's lending sector.

"We would like to express our profound gratitude and excitement to the CLA for recognizing our contributions to the commercial lending space," said Nick Chandi , CEO and co-founder of ForwardAI. "As a Canadian business, we're proud to be a part of an organization that supports the advancement and growth of emerging and leading lending businesses in Canada. Our own mission is aligned with the CLA's goals and has always been to change the future of small business lending by making the underwriting process easier for lenders and more inclusive for SMB borrowers."

"The CLA's Leaders in Lending Awards, Presented by BMO, is an opportunity to recognize the world-class achievements of Canadian companies and executives committed to innovation and leadership in 2022," said Gary Schwartz, President of The Canadian Lenders Association.

ForwardAI's signature product is the Precise API , which directly integrates with a growing number of small business software products, providing direct access to accounting, financial, and business data. It offers critical financial data points and analysis, including raw, historical, and predictive information on business clients.

Precise also powers Predict-as-a-Service , a cash flow forecasting and planning tool for financial institutions or fintechs that want to extend their business offerings by offering predictive data solutions to their SMB clients, which will be demoed for the first time at FinovateEurope on Tuesday, March 22, 2022.

Winners of the CLA Awards will be announced on Wednesday, November 16, 2022, at the Canadian Lenders Summit in Toronto, CA.

About ForwardAI

ForwardAI is improving access to aggregated accounting, financial, and business data for banks, lenders, and fintechs. With leading small business software integrations available, the intelligent PreciseMatch tech, deep client analysis, unparalleled forward-looking data insights, and complete suite of calculated KPIs and ratios, ForwardAI customers can turn client intake and assessment into only three quick steps. Solutions available include an API, a partner portal, and a client-facing cash flow forecasting and planning tool. To get started or learn more, visit ForwardAI.com

About The Canadian Lenders Association

The Canadian Lenders Association (CLA) supports the growth of bank and non-bank companies that are in the business of lending. We represent and advocate for over 230 companies across Canada that participate in SMB, BNPL, consumer, home, automotive, and mortgage sectors. Our members effectively and responsibly use innovative underwriting technology and business practices to address the needs of Canadians and support their ability to improve their credit rating. To learn more, visit canadianlenders.org .

Contact Info:

Philipp Jago

1-929-255-5652

philipp@calibercorporateadvisers.com

SOURCE: ForwardAI

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695465/ForwardAI-Selected-As-Finalist-In-2022-Canadian-Lenders-Association-Awards
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 31, 2022) - Comstock Metals Ltd. (TSXV: CSL) ("Comstock") and MAS Gold Corp. (TSXV: MAS) ("MAS Gold") are pleased to announce that, they have completed the sale by Comstock of 100% of its interest in its Preview SW Gold Project and property ("Preview SW Property") to MAS Gold in consideration of the issuance of 30,000,000 common shares in MAS Gold (the "Consideration Shares").

The 843 hectare Preview SW Property is contiguous with MAS Gold's Preview-North Property in the La Ronge Gold Belt of northeastern Saskatchewan. The Preview SW Property and portions of MAS Gold's Preview-North property are located within the Mineral Exploration Zone of the Lac La Ronge Provincial Park. The Preview SW Property is an ideal addition to MAS Gold's current portfolio of Hub and Spoke properties, where the concept that the mineralized material from various satellite deposits (Spokes) could be co-mingled at a centrally located processing facility (Hub).

Comstock engaged Red Cloud Klondike Strike Inc. ("Red Cloud") as an advisor to the transaction and paid an advisory fee of $135,000 payable through the issuance to Red Cloud of 1,350,000 common shares of MAS Gold out of the 30,000,000 Consideration Shares. Comstock's CEO is also entitled to receive a 3% bonus based on the transaction's value (the "Bonus") which Bonus was satisfied through the issuance to the CEO's holding company of 900,000 common shares of MAS Gold out of the 30,000,000 Consideration Shares.

All Consideration Shares are subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the date of issuance.

Mas Gold is pleased to announce that Steven Goldman will be joining the board of directors as an independent director, effective immediately. Steven H. Goldman was appointed President and CEO of Comstock Metals Ltd. in May 2019 and has been a director of Comstock since February 2016. He was a founder of the Toronto law firm of Goldman Hine LLP and remains counsel to the firm. Mr. Goldman is a director of Select Sands Corp. (SNS.V) as well as an advisor to Alberta based E3 Metals Corp. (ETMC.V), a lithium development company. After graduating from Carleton University in 1976 (B.A., President's Medal), he earned a JD degree from Queen's University in 1980 and was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1982.

Jim Engdahl, CEO of Mas Gold stated: "It gives me great pleasure to add Steven to our Board. His vast experience is going to make a great addition to our team at Mas Gold and we look forward to having him join."

Pursuant to the closing of the transaction Comstock has sold all or substantially all of its assets. While Comstock explores opportunities available to it (including a potential distribution to its shareholders of some or all of the Consideration Shares held by Comstock), there is a risk that Comstock will not be able to meet the continued listing requirements of the TSX Venture Exchange and may be required to be moved to the NEX market of the TSX Venture Exchange. Comstock will issue further press releases as developments warrant relating to these matters.

About MAS Gold Corp.

MAS Gold Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on gold exploration projects in the prospective La Ronge Gold Belt of Saskatchewan. MAS Gold operates four properties in the belt, including the Preview-North, Greywacke Lake, Elizabeth Lake and Henry Lake Properties that extend along segments totaling roughly 60 kilometres of the geologically prospective La Ronge, Kisseynew and Glennie Domains that make up the La Ronge Gold Belt.

MAS Gold's current projects include the North Lake, Greywacke North, Bakos (Contact Lake) and Point gold deposits and the historically defined Elizabeth Lake copper-gold volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposit within four properties totalling 34,703.4 hectares (85,753.8 acres).

The North Lake deposit located at the Preview-North Property is estimated to contain an Inferred Mineral Resource of 18,100,000 t grading 0.85 g/t Au, hence 494,000 contained ounces of gold (Godden, S, Thomas, D. Tupper, D. Technical Report on the Mineral Resource Updates, North Lake and Greywacke North Gold Projects, La Ronge Gold Belt, Saskatchewan, Canada.; effective date December 1, 2021)*. The Technical Report about the updated Mineral Resource estimate was filed on SEDAR January, 12, 2022.

The Greywacke North deposit, which hosts multiple known stratabound, high-grade gold-bearing zones, has an updated, combined open pit and underground Indicated Mineral Resource of 645,000 t averaging 4.90 g/t Au for 101,000 insitu ounces of gold (600,000 t at 4.89 g/t Au, and 45,000t at 5.03 g/t Au, respectively), plus a combined open pit and underground Inferred Mineral Resource of 410,000 t averaging 4.12 g/t Au for 55,000 insitu ounces of gold (35,000 t at 1.97 g/t Au, and 375,000 t at 4.33 g/t Au, respectively). The Indicated and Inferred Mineral Resources were estimated using open pit and underground cut-off grades of 0.65 g/t Au and 1.75 g/t Au, respectively (Godden, S, Thomas, D. Tupper, D. Technical Report on the Mineral Resource Updates, North Lake and Greywacke North Gold Projects, La Ronge Gold Belt, Saskatchewan, Canada.; effective date December 1, 2021). The Technical Report about the updated Mineral Resource estimate was filed on SEDAR January 12, 2022.

Qualified Person

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been prepared, reviewed and approved by David Tupper, P.Geo. (British Columbia), MAS Gold's VP Exploration and Darren Slugoski, P.Geo. (Saskatchewan and Ontario), of Axiom Exploration Group Ltd., and Kristopher J. Raffle, P.Geo.(British Columbia) Principal and Consultant of APEX Geoscience Ltd. of Edmonton, AB, each a Qualified Person within the context of Canadian Securities Administrators' National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101).

For further information about MAS Gold please visit www.masgoldcorp.com or contact: Laurie @masgoldcorp.com.

For further information about Comstock Metals please visit www.comstock-metals.com or contact Steven Goldman, (416)-917-1533, s.goldman@goldmanhine.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking information and statements, which may include, but are not limited to, information and statements regarding or inferring the future business, operations, financial performance, prospects, and other plans, intentions, expectations, estimates, and beliefs of the MAS Gold and Comstock (the "Companies"). Such statements include statements regarding the exploration on the Companies' properties. Forward-looking information and statements involve and are subject to assumptions and known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual events, results, performance, or achievements of the Companies to be materially different from future events, results, performance, and achievements expressed or implied by forward-looking information and statements herein. Although the Companies believe that any forward-looking information and statements herein are reasonable, in light of the use of assumptions and the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in such information and statements, there can be no assurance that any such forward-looking information and statements will prove to be accurate, and accordingly readers are advised to rely on their own evaluation of such risks and uncertainties and should not place undue reliance upon such forward-looking information and statements. Any forward-looking information and statements herein are made as of the date hereof, and except as required by applicable laws, the Companies assume no obligation and disclaim any intention to update or revise any forward-looking information and statements herein or to update the reasons that actual events or results could or do differ from those projected in any forward looking information and statements herein, whether as a result of new information, future events or results, or otherwise, except as required by applicable laws.

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 view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118754
BASEL, Switzerland, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Luye Pharma Group (Luye Pharma) today announced that its subsidiary Luye Pharma Switzerland AG has entered into agreements with Exeltis Pharma Mexico, S.A. de C.V and Exeltis Pharmaceuticals Holding, S.L (Exeltis), under which the company grants Exeltis exclusive rights to commercialize Rivastigmine Multi-Day Transdermal Patch (Rivastigmine MD) in Mexico and Poland.

Rivastigmine MD is a twice-weekly innovative patch formulation of Rivastigmine for the treatment of mild to moderate dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease. The drug was developed by Luye Pharma on its proprietary transdermal patch platform and has received marketing authorization for several European countries.

Bruno Delie, General Manager of Luye Pharma (Switzerland), said: "Exeltis has a comprehensive commercial platform and a wealth of knowledge and expertise in the central nervous system (CNS) therapeutic area. We look forward to working closely with Exeltis to address the unmet needs of growing Alzheimer's patient communities, and to help them better manage the disease." Being part of the Insud Pharma Group, which is headquartered in Spain, Exeltis is a multinational pharmaceutical company with products currently sold in 44 countries around the world. The company has extensive experience in CNS diseases and robust business operations in Europe and LatAm.

Luye Pharma is accelerating the development and commercialization of Rivastigmine MD in the global market. Sales in European markets are covered by the company's local affiliates and partners. Meanwhile, exclusive development and commercialization rights for Rivastigmine MD in Japan have been granted to a Japanese partner. Luye Pharma also plans to accelerate the marketing of Rivastigmine MD in a number of developing countries and emerging markets around the world.

Alzheimer's disease is an irreversible neurodegenerative disease which causes progressive decline in memory and other cognitive aspects. Dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60-80% of all cases[i]. It is estimated that there are over 50 million people living with dementia globally, a figure which is set to more than triple, to 152 million by 2050[ii].

Progression of new drug development in the field of Alzheimer's disease is relatively slow, and at present there are only a very limited number of therapeutic options available to patients. Rivastigmine is a first-line drug in the treatment of dementia associated with Alzheimer's disease and is currently marketed worldwide.

About Rivastigmine Multi-Day Transdermal Patch

Rivastigmine is in a class of medicines called cholinesterase inhibitors. These medicines can improve cognitive functions such as memory and thinking by increasing the amount of a certain natural substance in the brain and amplifying the communication channels between nerve cells, which are less active in individuals with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. The drug is currently available in the form of oral medications and patches.

Rivastigmine MD employs an innovative drug delivery system for Rivastigmine via twice-weekly transdermal administration. Rivastigmine MD has a lower application frequency than the once-daily Rivastigmine patches generally available in the market, enabling it to improve patients' medication adherence. Due to its transdermal route of administration, Rivastigmine MD is convenient for patients who have difficulty swallowing, and it might have the potential to lower the incidence of gastrointestinal adverse reactions such as nausea and vomiting compared with the oral form.

About Luye Pharma Group

Luye Pharma Group (Luye Pharma) is an international pharmaceutical company dedicated to the R&D, manufacturing, and sale of innovative medications. The company has established R&D centers in China, the U.S. and Europe, with a robust pipeline of over 30 drug candidates in China and more than 10 drug candidates in other international markets. Along with a number of new drugs and new formulations in the central nervous system and oncology therapeutic areas under study in the U.S., Europe and Japan, Luye Pharma has reached high-level international standards in novel drug delivery technologies including microspheres, liposomes, and transdermal drug delivery systems, as well as actively making strategic developments in the fields of biological antibodies, cell therapies and gene therapies, among others.

Luye Pharma is developing a global supply chain of 8 manufacturing sites with over 30 production lines in total, establishing GMP quality management and international standard control systems. With more than 30 products covering the central nervous system, oncology, cardiovascular, metabolism and other therapeutic areas, business is conducted in over 80 countries and regions around the world, including the largest pharmaceutical markets - China, the U.S., Europe and Japan, as well as in fast growing emerging markets. For details on Luye Pharma, please visit www.luye.cn/lvye_en/

About Exeltis

Exeltis is a fast-growing division of the integrated health sciences group Insud Pharma. In recent years, Exeltis has diversified its business into Central Nervous System (CNS), where it is creating a robust pipeline and portfolio of prescription medicines coming from internal R&D and licenses. With a global footprint spanning over 40 countries, Exeltis has a team of more than 4,000 professionals supported by a global manufacturing network. Exeltis' overarching goal is to improve quality of life and wellbeing of patients with psychiatric and neurological disorders. Exeltis already holds a leadership position in the Women's Health segment, in which it started.

[i] 2022 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures Report. Alzheimer's Association. https://www.alz.org/media/Documents/alzheimers-facts-and-figures.pdf

[ii] World Alzheimer Report 2019. Alzheimer's Disease International. https://www.alzint.org/u/WorldAlzheimerReport2019.pdf
-Tackling the COVID-19 pandemic challenge with multi-pronged strategies



-Pipeline progressed and expanded substantially

SHANGHAI, China, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co., Ltd ("Junshi Biosciences," HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180), a leading innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies, today announced financial results for the full year 2021 and provided corporate updates.

Full Year 2020 Financial Highlights

Total revenue reached RMB 4,025 million in 2021, representing an increase of 152% compared to the year 2020. Revenue from out-licensing significantly increased to RMB3,341 million, which is based on two cooperation projects: 1) the research collaboration and license agreement with Lilly and Company ("Lilly"); 2) the license and commercialization agreement with Coherus BioSciences, Inc. ("Coherus"). Sales of toripalimab was RMB 412 million for the year. The decrease was mainly due to a 60% reduction in reimbursement price of toripalimab in 2021 and the adjustment of the value of wholesalers' inventories. With a new sales leadership and strategy and additional approved indications, the company is confident that it can gain market share in the approved indications that have been included in NRDL.

Total research and development ("R&D") expenses were RMB2,069 million, representing an increase of 16% compared to the prior year. The increase in R&D expenses was mainly due to: 1) continuous increasing R&D investment, continuous diversification and expansion of product pipelines; 2) the acceleration of the development of existing clinical projects; and 3) expansion of the R&D team and investment in attracting and retaining personnel.

Total comprehensive expense was RMB719 million, representing a decrease of 57% compared to the prior year. The decrease was mainly attributable to the increase of revenue from out-licensing, partially offset by the increasing R&D expenses, administrative expenses and selling and distribution expenses.

Net cash from financing activities was RMB2,666 million, which was mainly attributable to the successful placing of the company's new H shares on the Main Board of The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (the "Hong Kong Stock Exchange") on 23 June 2021 with net cash inflows of RMB2,105 million and receipts of capital contribution from external investors to Shanghai JunTop Biosciences Co., Ltd. ("JunTop Biosciences"), a non-wholly owned subsidiary with net cash inflows of RMB895 million. This cash inflow fully covered the cash used in operating and investing activities, leading to an increase of RMB120 million in cash and cash equivalents.

Cash and cash equivalents as of December 31, 2021 were approximately RMB3,505 million. In March 2022, the Board passed a resolution and proposed to issue 70 million A Shares to target subscribers, and the total proceeds are expected to be approximately RMB3,980 million.



Business Highlights

During the year 2021 and 2022 to date, Junshi Biosciences continuously adhered to the strategic plan of "International layout with a base in China," and has achieved significant growth in operating income, which gradually demonstrated its "income generation" capability. In addition, several of its R&D pipelines have reached key milestones. Junshi has also achieved progress with respect to product commercialization, clinical trials and pipeline expansion, including the following achievements and milestones:

Advancement in pipeline : The company's innovative R&D field has expanded from monoclonal antibodies to the development of more drug modalities, including small molecules, polypeptide drugs, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), bi-specific or multi-specific antibodies and nucleic acid drugs, as well as the exploration of next-generation innovative therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Product pipelines cover 5 major therapeutic areas including malignant tumors, autoimmune diseases, chronic metabolic diseases, neurologic diseases and infectious diseases. There are 3 assets (toripalimab, etesevimab and adalimumab) under commercialization, 23 assets under clinical trials with ongericimab, VV116, bevacizumab, and PARP inhibitor under Phase III clinical trials, and over 25 drug candidates under pre-clinical drug development. In January 2021, toripalimab for the first-line treatment of mucosal melanoma was granted the Fast Track Designation by the United States Food and Drug Administration (the "FDA"). Meanwhile, the FDA also approved the Investigational New Drug ("IND") application for an immediate Phase III clinical trial of toripalimab in combination with axitinib for the first-line treatment of mucosal melanoma. In March 2021, the indication was granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation ("BTD") by the National Medical Products Administration of China (the "NMPA"). In February 2021, Junshi Biosciences entered into an Exclusive License and Commercialization Agreement with Coherus. Pursuant to the agreement, the Company granted Coherus an exclusive license for toripalimab and two option programs (if exercised) in the Coherus Territory, as well as the right of first negotiation for two early-stage checkpoint inhibitor antibodies, and may receive up to an aggregate of US$1.11 billion of upfront payment, exercise fee and milestone payments. Coherus made a one-time upfront payment of US$150 million to the Company. In February 2021, the supplemental new drug application ("sNDA") for toripalimab in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine as the first-line treatment for patients with locally recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma ("NPC") was accepted by the NMPA. In November 2021, the indication was approved by the NMPA. In February 2021, the sNDA for toripalimab for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic NPC after failure of at least two lines of prior systemic therapy was granted conditional approval by the NMPA. In January and February 2021, TAB006/JS006 (recombinant humanized anti-TIGIT monoclonal antibody) received IND approval from the NMPA and the FDA, respectively. In February 2021, the IND applications for JS110 (XPO1 inhibitor) and JS111 (EGFR exon20 insertion and other uncommon mutation inhibitor) jointly developed by Junshi Biosciences and Wigen Biomedicine Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. ("Wigen Biomedicine") were accepted by the NMPA, and the company received IND approvals in April 2021. In February 2021, the IND application for the drug candidate JS201 (anti-PD-1/TGF- bifunctional fusion protein) was accepted by the NMPA, and the company received IND approval in May 2021. In March 2021, TopAlliance Biosciences, Inc. ("TopAlliance"), the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, initiated the rolling submission of Biologics License Application ("BLA") for toripalimab to the FDA for the treatment of recurrent or metastatic NPC, and obtained a rolling review. Toripalimab has become the first domestic anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody to submit a BLA to the FDA. In August 2021, toripalimab in combination with gemcitabine and cisplatin for the first-line treatment for patients with advanced recurrent or metastatic NPC was granted a BTD by the FDA. In September 2021, the company completed the rolling submission of BLA for the above two indications. At the end of October 2021, BLA for the above two indications was accepted by the FDA. According to the acceptance letter, the FDA has granted priority review designation for the BLA and indicated that it does not plan to hold an advisory committee meeting for the BLA. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (the "PDUFA") action date is set on or around April 2022. In March 2021, the IND application for JS103 (pegylated uricase derivative) was accepted by the NMPA, and the company received IND approval in May 2021. In March 2021, the IND application for JS007 (recombinant humanized anti-CTLA-4 monoclonal antibody) was accepted by the NMPA, and the company received IND approval in June 2021. In April 2021, the sNDA for toripalimab for the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma ("UC") who failed platinum-containing chemotherapy or progressed within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant platinum-containing chemotherapy was granted conditional approval by the NMPA. In April 2021, the Independent Data Monitoring Committee ("IDMC") determined that toripalimab in combination with paclitaxel/cisplatin as the first-line treatment for patients with advanced or metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma ("ESCC") had reached its pre-specified primary endpoints of Progression Free Survival ("PFS") and Overall Survival ("OS") at the interim analysis of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center, Phase III clinical study ("JUPITER-06 study", NCT03829969). In June 2021, the IND application for JS014 (recombinant IL-21 - a nanobody fusion protein of anti-human serum albumin (HSA)) was accepted by the NMPA, and the company received IND approval in August 2021. In July 2021, the sNDA for toripalimab in combination with platinum-containing chemotherapy as the first-line treatment for patients with locally advanced or metastatic ESCC was accepted by the NMPA. In August 2021, the IND application for UBP1213sc (recombinant humanized anti-B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) monoclonal antibody) was accepted by the NMPA, and the company received IND approval in November 2021. In September 2021, the IND application for JS012 (recombinant humanized anti-Claudin18.2 monoclonal antibody) was accepted by the NMPA. It was later approved in November 2021. In October 2021, the IND application for JS019 (recombinant fully human anti- CD39 monoclonal antibody) jointly developed by Junshi Biosciences and Beijing Eirene Biotech Co., Ltd. ("Beijing Eirene") was accepted by the NMPA. It was later approved in December 2021. In October 2021, the IND application for JS026 (recombinant fully human monoclonal antibody for treatment of COVID-19) was accepted by the NMPA. It was later approved in November 2021. In November 2021, the IND application for JS112 (Aurora A inhibitor) was accepted by the NMPA. It was later approved in February 2022. In December 2021, the IND application for JS107 (recombinant humanized anti- Claudin18.2 monoclonal antibody - MMAE conjugate) was accepted by the NMPA. It was later approved in March 2022. In December 2021, the IND application for JS001sc (a subcutaneous injection formulation developed on the basis of toripalimab) was accepted by the NMPA. It was later approved in March 2022. In December 2021, the sNDA of toripalimab in combination with standard first-line chemotherapy for untreated, driver-negative advanced non-small cell lung cancer ("NSCLC") was accepted by the NMPA. In January 2022, based on the Exclusive License and Commercialization Agreement Junshi Biosciences entered into with Coherus in February 2021, Coherus initiated the procedure for exercising the option of TAB006/JS006, one of the option programs, to be licensed to develop TAB006/JS006 or any product containing TAB006/JS006 in the Coherus Territory for the treatment or prevention of human disease. Coherus will pay Junshi a one-time execution fee of US$35 million and cumulative milestone payment of up to US$255 million upon reaching the corresponding milestones, plus 18% royalty on the annual net sales of any product that contains TAB006/JS006 in the Coherus Territory. In February 2022, the dosing of the first patient was completed in the Phase III clinical trial of toripalimab in combination with standard chemotherapy as the adjuvant treatment after radical resection of gastric or esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma (JUPITER-15 study, NCT05180734). In March 2022, the marketing of adalimumab (Commercial name in China: Junmaikang) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis was approved by the NMPA. In March 2022, the IND application for JS105 (PI3K-a inhibitor) jointly developed by the company and Risen (Suzhou) Biosciences Co., Ltd. was accepted by the NMPA. In March 2022, Junshi Biosciences entered into a licensing and cooperation agreement with Wigen Biomedicine to introduce four small molecule anti-tumor drugs, namely JS120 (second-generation irreversible IDH1 inhibitor), JS121 (SHP2 inhibitor), JS122 (second-generation irreversible FGFR2 selective inhibitor) and JS123 (ATR inhibitor), thus further enriching the pipeline in cancer therapy.

: The company's innovative R&D field has expanded from monoclonal antibodies to the development of more drug modalities, including small molecules, polypeptide drugs, antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), bi-specific or multi-specific antibodies and nucleic acid drugs, as well as the exploration of next-generation innovative therapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Product pipelines cover 5 major therapeutic areas including malignant tumors, autoimmune diseases, chronic metabolic diseases, neurologic diseases and infectious diseases. There are 3 assets (toripalimab, etesevimab and adalimumab) under commercialization, 23 assets under clinical trials with ongericimab, VV116, bevacizumab, and PARP inhibitor under Phase III clinical trials, and over 25 drug candidates under pre-clinical drug development. Tackling the COVID-19 Challenge : In the face of the novel coronavirus pandemic ("COVID-19"), Junshi Biosciences responded swiftly and cooperated with domestic and foreign scientific research institutions and enterprises to jointly develop a variety of drug candidates for the treatment of the COVID-19, and took the initiative to undertake the social responsibility of Chinese pharmaceutical companies by prioritizing and accelerating COVID-19 R&D. The company has made significant progress. Etesevimab (JS016/LY-CoV016): In early 2020, Junshi Biosciences jointly developed etesevimab with the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (the "IMCAS"). Lilly licensed the rights and interests of etesevimab from the Company outside the greater China territories (including mainland China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region and the Taiwan region), and Junshi continued to lead the development of the drug in the greater China territories. In February 2021, the FDA granted Lilly the Emergency Use Authorization ("EUA") for etesevimab 1,400 mg and bamlanivimab (LY-CoV555) 700 mg together (the "dual antibody therapy") for the treatment of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 aged 12 and above who were at high risk for progressing to severe COVID-19 and/or hospitalization. In September 2021, the FDA granted the EUA for the dual antibody therapy for the application of treatment for high-risk individuals 12 years of age and older who have not been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or are not expected to mount an adequate immune response to complete vaccination, and have been exposed to someone infected with SARS-CoV-2 or who are at high risk of exposure in an institutional setting, including a nursing home or prison. In December 2021, the scope of EUA was newly extended to include treatment and post-exposure prevention of mild to moderate COVID-19 for specific high-risk pediatric populations (from infant to child aged under 12). As of the end of 2021, the dual antibody therapy has been granted the EUA in more than 15 countries and regions around the world, and more than 700,000 patients have received the dual antibody therapy or bamlanivimab treatment, potentially preventing more than 35,000 hospitalizations and at least 14,000 deaths during the worst period of the pandemic. VV116 (JT001): In September 2021, JunTop Biosciences, a subsidiary of the Company, partnered with Suzhou Vigonvita Biomedical Co., Ltd. ("Vigonvita") to jointly undertake the clinical development and commercialization of VV116, an oral nucleoside anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug, in the collaboration territory, being the whole world except for the following four territories, namely the five Central Asian countries, Russia, North Africa and the Middle East. VV116 was approved for the treatment of moderate to severe COVID-19 patients in Uzbekistan (not within the collaboration territory) in late 2021. The Company was conducting an international multi-center, randomized, double-blind, controlled phase III clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of VV116 versus standard treatments in subjects with moderate to severe COVID-19. The enrollment and dosing of the first patient has been completed. In addition, for mild to moderate COVID-19, the Company has also initiated an international multi-center, double- blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, Phase II/III clinical study (NCT05242042) to evaluate the efficacy, safety and pharmacokinetics of VV116 for early treatment of patients with mild to moderate COVID-19. The study has completed the enrollment and dosing of the first patient in Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and is in progress in multiple centers around the world. VV993 (JT003): In January 2022, JunTop Biosciences partnered with Vigonvita to jointly undertake the research, production and commercialization of VV993, a new oral anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug candidate targeting 3CL protease, in the collaboration territory.

: In the face of the novel coronavirus pandemic ("COVID-19"), Junshi Biosciences responded swiftly and cooperated with domestic and foreign scientific research institutions and enterprises to jointly develop a variety of drug candidates for the treatment of the COVID-19, and took the initiative to undertake the social responsibility of Chinese pharmaceutical companies by prioritizing and accelerating COVID-19 R&D. The company has made significant progress. Platform Expansion : Apart from developing drug candidates on Junshi Biosciences' own technology platforms, the company has also actively collaborated with outstanding domestic and overseas biotechnology companies to further expand its product pipeline, deploy the next-generation innovative drug technology platform and enrich drug combination therapies. In July 2021, Junshi Biosciences and Immorna (Hangzhou) Biotechnology Co., Ltd. ("Immorna") entered into an agreement to start a JV, which will mainly engage in the R&D, clinical research, application for approval, production and commercialization of product development projects in the fields of tumors, infectious diseases, rare diseases and other diseases agreed by both parties on the mRNA technology platform globally. The jointly formed company will be owned 50% by the Company and 50% by Immorna upon its formation. The establishment of the jointly formed company can complement each party's technological advantages, capitalize the strengths of the mRNA general platform technology in tumor immunotherapy, infectious disease prevention and other fields in a more efficient manner, and continuously explore new directions of application.

: Apart from developing drug candidates on Junshi Biosciences' own technology platforms, the company has also actively collaborated with outstanding domestic and overseas biotechnology companies to further expand its product pipeline, deploy the next-generation innovative drug technology platform and enrich drug combination therapies. Update on commercialization Additional Indications included in NDRL: Toripalimab continued to be included in Category B in the National Drug List for Basic Medical Insurance, Work-Related Injury Insurance and Maternity Insurance (2021 Edition) ("NRDL")). It was approved for two additional indications of the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic NPC after failure of at least two lines of prior systemic therapy as well as the treatment of patients with locally advanced or metastatic UC who failed platinum-containing chemotherapy or progressed within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant platinum-containing chemotherapy, and became the only anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody used in the treatment of melanoma and nasopharyngeal cancer in the NRDL, which filled the gaps in immunotherapy for patients with advanced NPC and non-selective patients with advanced UC in the NRDL, and became the only anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody used in the treatment of melanoma and nasopharyngeal cancer in the NRDL. Toripalimab achieved sales of RMB412 million in 2021. After the official implementation of the 2020 NRDL in March 2021, the terminal pricing of toripalimab dropped by over 60% compared to the initial pricing in 2020. Moreover, after the continued inclusion in the 2021 NRDL and further price reduction of toripalimab at the end of 2021, the company compensated the price difference for the entire inventory of the distributors, which also had a certain impact on the recognition of product revenue for the current period. 2021 was also a relatively turbulent year for the commercialization team. The team underwent several rounds of adjustment in regards to commercialization managers and internal marketers. In November 2021, the Board of Directors of the Company appoint Mr. Cong Li as a co-chief executive officer to be fully responsible for commercialization-related activities. All necessary adjustments to the commercialization team have been made, and Mr. Cong Li has completed the establishment and restoration of the marketing regional team and also supplemented the core market personnel. In December 2021, after friendly negotiation, the company withdrew the promotion rights agreed in the agreement with AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., ("AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical") that the company's commercialization team would be independently responsible for all promotion activities of toripalimab in mainland China. Through urban commercial insurance across the country, out-of-pocket expenses on the indications of toripalimab included in the NRDL were entitled to supplementary reimbursement under the NRDL in 102 cities, and the newly approved first-line treatment for nasopharyngeal cancer indication in November 2021 has entered the medical insurance catalogues in 11 cities, for which supplementary medical insurance could be obtained in 51 cities, thus reducing the burden on patients. After the recovery of toripalimab outsourced indications and promotion right in wide market from AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical, and the inclusion of toripalimab in the NRDL for treatment of melanoma, nasopharyngeal and urothelial cancer, commercial team members have also regained their confidence. The sales activities of toripalimab in the domestic market bounced back to normal levels. A series of marketing campaigns had commenced, aiming to reshape the market image of the company and toripalimab. Junshi Biosciences is optimistic that it can gain market share in those tumor types that had been included in NRDL indications. More large indications of toripalimab have completed the Phase III registration clinical trials and entered the commercial approval stage. With the gradual realization of the prospective layout advantages of multi-indication perioperative clinical research as well as the upgrade in production capacity of commercial production batches of the company's production base, Junshi Biosciences is very optimistic about the long-term commercial opportunity of toripalimab in the domestic market. In March 2022, Shanghai Junshi Biotechnology Co., Ltd. ("Junshi Biotechnology"), the company's wholly-owned subsidiary, passed the drug GMP compliance inspection, indicating that the production base in Lingang, Shanghai (the "Lingang Production Base") fully met the conditions to formally produce commercial batches of toripalimab. The Lingang Production Base in Shanghai was constructed in accordance with the cGMP standard, with a production capacity of 30,000L in the first phase of the project. By virtue of economies of scale, the expansion of production capacity brought by the Lingang Production Base in Shanghai will enable the Company to gain the advantage of a more competitive production cost.

Financing activity highlights : In order to optimize the capital structure, focus more on the development of the principal business, improve operating efficiency, increase investment in R&D and better serve technological innovation, Junshi Biosciences has carried out the following financing activities: In June 2021, the company successfully allotted and issued an aggregate of 36,549,200 new H Shares at the placing price of HK$70.18 per H Share to no less than six placees (the "Placing"). The net proceeds from the Placing were approximately RMB2,105 million. The proceeds from the Placing were intended to be used toward the R&D of drugs and pipeline expansion, expansion of the commercialization team, domestic and overseas investment, mergers and acquisitions, and business development, and general corporate purposes. In December 2021, JunTop Biosciences implemented the series A financing, with 14 series A investors subscribing for the new registered capital of JunTop Biosciences at a total consideration of RMB1.275 billion. The proceeds will be used to finance the R&D and production of vaccine and anti-infective drug pipelines of JunTop Biosciences. In March 2022, the Board of Directors approved a proposal to issue about 70 million A Shares to target subscribers under the General Mandate. The proceeds are expected to be approximately RMB3.98 billion, which will be used for R&D projects of innovative drugs and company headquarters and R&D base project. The issuance is still subject to the approval of shareholders of the Company (the "Shareholders") at the EGM, the approval of the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the approval of registration from the China Securities Regulatory Commission.

: In order to optimize the capital structure, focus more on the development of the principal business, improve operating efficiency, increase investment in R&D and better serve technological innovation, Junshi Biosciences has carried out the following financing activities:

About Junshi Biosciences

Founded in December 2012, Junshi Biosciences (HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180) is an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics. The company has established a diversified R & D pipeline comprising over 50 drug candidates, with five therapeutic focus areas covering cancer, autoimmune, metabolic, neurological, and infectious diseases. Junshi Biosciences was the first Chinese pharmaceutical company that obtained marketing approval for anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody in China. Its first-in-human anti-BTLA antibody for solid tumors was the first in the world to be approved for clinical trials by the FDA and NMPA and has since entered Phase Ib/II trials in both China and the US. Its anti-PCSK9 monoclonal antibody was the first in China to be approved for clinical trials by the NMPA.

In the face of the pandemic, Junshi Biosciences' response was strong and immediate, joining forces with Chinese and international scientific research institutions and enterprises to develop an arsenal of drug candidates to combat COVID-19, taking the initiative to shoulder the social responsibility of Chinese pharmaceutical companies by prioritizing and accelerating COVID-19 R&D. Among the many drug candidates is JS016 (etesevimab), China's first neutralizing fully human monoclonal antibody against SARS-CoV-2 and the result of the combined efforts of Junshi Biosciences, the Institute of Microbiology of the Chinese Academy of Science and Lilly. JS016 administered with bamlanivimab has been granted Emergency Use Authorizations ("EUA") in over 15 countries and regions worldwide. Meanwhile, VV116, a new oral nucleoside analog anti-SARS-CoV-2 drug designed to hinder virus replication, is in global Phase III clinical trials. The JS016 and VV116 programs are a part of the company's continuous innovation for disease control and prevention of the global pandemic.

Junshi Biosciences has over 2,800 employees in the United States.

Junshi Biosciences Contact Information

IR Team:

Junshi Biosciences

info@junshipharma.com

+ 86 021-2250 0300

Goby Global

Bob Ai

bai@gobyglobal.com

+ 1 646-389-6658

PR Team:

Junshi Biosciences

Zhi Li

zhi_li@junshipharma.com

+ 86 021-6105 8800
UK healthtech innovator seeks to maximize protections for TriVice mobile app, an Artificial Intelligence assisted solution

Regulatory News:

Verimatrix, (Euronext Paris: VMX), the leader in powering the modern connected world with people-centered security, today announced that Capri Healthcare chose Verimatrix App Shield, part of Verimatrix's threat defense business line, to gain fast and proven defenses for its TriVice (triage, referral and advice) mobile app.

TriVice streamlines doctor-patient care by managing acute referrals to specialist clinicians routed through its mobile app. The app captures patient demographics, details of the injury/condition and facilitates the sharing of clinical photographs and images. The app triages and enables sending of Advise and Guidance with an aim to reduce avoidable referrals. Additionally, the app enables real-time notification and communication with referring clinicians as well as integration into existing hospital systems. TriVice makes the referral process easier, smoother, seamless and with better documentation. The app's goal is to advance the digital-first strategy of the National Health Service (NHS), the publicly funded healthcare system in England.

An automated and self-defending cloud-based solution, Verimatrix App Shield provides Capri Healthcare with peace of mind that staff and patient experiences with its TriVice mobile app are protected against numerous nefarious activities. Though a zero-code (no programming required), SaaS approach, App Shield harden apps and helps prevent hacking attacks such as reverse engineering, application repackaging, dynamic modification, man-in-the-middle attacks and much more.

"Capri Healthcare is an organization driven by the vision of turning the NHS digital-first strategy into reality by bringing digital innovation into the working of healthcare providers," said Krishna Thakur and Valleesh Athreya, founders at Capri Healthcare. "We are dedicated to using technology to improve care, identifying patient conditions earlier, reducing backlog, digitizing processes and eliminating wasteful tasks. We realize that all of that is only possible if we do so by deploying solutions that are secure and trusted by all. Verimatrix answers that need by quickly and cost-effectively adding enterprise-quality threat defense to our TriVice mobile app."

"At Verimatrix, we are proud to support innovative organizations such as Capri Healthcare that develop, deploy and accelerate the adoption of breakthrough mobile health experiences that strive to make the world a healthier, better place," said Asaf Ashkenazi, Chief Operating Officer and President at Verimatrix. "We are especially pleased to work with healthcare innovators like Capri Healthcare, as practitioners and patients alike see privacy and security as a standard expectation, especially as new digital processes are established and adopted. This announcement proves again that Verimatrix's threat defense solutions are essential for the global healthcare market that is rapidly adopting mobile technologies."

About Capri Healthcare

Capri Healthcare is an organization driven by the vision of turning the NHS Digital First strategy into reality by bringing digital innovation to healthcare providers. Leading healthcare organizations into the digital era by redesigning and developing patient-centric online systems (web mobile), Capri Healthcare helps significantly reduce the burden on staff as well as the NHS. The company prides itself in offering a range of technology-driven innovative solutions that drive the healthcare industry's digital agenda. Visit www.caprihealthcare.co.uk.

About Verimatrix

Verimatrix (Euronext Paris: VMX) helps power the modern connected world with security made for people. We protect digital content, applications, and devices with intuitive, people-centered and frictionless security. Leading brands turn to Verimatrix to secure everything from premium movies and live streaming sports, to sensitive financial and healthcare data, to mission-critical mobile applications. We enable the trusted connections our customers depend on to deliver compelling content and experiences to millions of consumers around the world. Verimatrix helps partners get to market faster, scale easily, protect valuable revenue streams, and win new business. Visit www.verimatrix.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005504/en/

Contacts:

Verimatrix Investor Contact:

Jean-Francois Labadie, Chief Financial Officer

finance@verimatrix.com

Verimatrix Media Contact:

Matthew Zintel

matthew.zintel@zintelpr.com
The roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer will be separated. Dr. Riva proposed as new independent Director and non-executive Chairman of the Board.

With more than 30 years of experience in the industry, Dr. Riva will work with Transgene's CEO Hedi Ben Brahim to realize the potential of the Company's technology platforms and products to benefit cancer patients.

Transgene's Board of Directors also proposes the appointment of Prof. Jean-Yves Blay (subject to the authorization of the public authority to which he reports) and Ms. Laurence Espinasse as new Directors of the Company.

Regulatory News:

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005765/en/

Dr. Alessandro Riva (Photo: Transgene)

Transgene (Euronext Paris: TNG) (Paris:TNG),a biotech company that designs and develops virus-based immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, announces today that, as part of the evolution of its corporate governance, the Board of Directors has proposed Alessandro Riva, MD, as Chairman of the Company. If this nomination is accepted by Company shareholders at the upcoming General Shareholder Meeting, the Board intends to appoint Dr. Riva to the position of Chairman. This appointment reflects the evolution of Transgene's corporate governance, which foresees the separation of the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Dr. Riva, if confirmed as Chairman, will act as an independent member of the Board of Directors and will work closely with the Board and Transgene's CEO, Hedi Ben Brahim, to realize the potential of the Company's product portfolio to benefit patients with solid tumors.

Dr. Riva has nearly 30 years' experience in the Life Sciences industry and is currently CEO of Intima Bioscience which specializes in cell therapies for solid cancers. Prior to this role, he served as CEO of Ichnos Sciences and Executive Vice President (EVP), Global Head of Oncology Therapeutics and Cell Gene Therapy at Gilead Sciences, where he was instrumental in the acquisition of Kite Pharma and led its integration and growth. He also managed the US and EU approvals of Yescarta, the first approved CAR-T cell therapy for adult patients with diffuse large B cell lymphoma.

Prior to Gilead, Dr. Riva was EVP, Global Head of Oncology Development and Medical Affairs at Novartis Pharmaceuticals. He was President ad interim of Novartis Oncology during the acquisition of GSK Oncology.

Dr. Riva currently serves on the Boards of Beigene and Century Therapeutics. He received his bachelor's degree in medicine and surgery from the University of Milan and a certificate board in oncology and hematology from the same institution.

Hedi Ben Brahim, Transgene's CEO, commented "I am very happy about the prospect of working with Alessandro as Chairman of the Board of Directors. I am convinced that the separation of roles between a non-executive chairman and a CEO, as well as the choice to entrust the chairmanship to an independent director with great scientific skills in the field of oncology, will deliver important and valuable advantages for Transgene and its shareholders. I would like to thank the Board of Directors for approving this change in governance. Alessandro's medical and scientific competence, international experience and human qualities make him an ideal candidate to play a key role in the further development of Transgene."

Dr. Alessandro Riva added: "Transgene's promising drug candidates, generated from its world leading myvac and Invir.IO platforms, represent exciting new frontiers for targeted solid tumor immunotherapies, tapping into the unrealized potential of personalized cancer vaccinations and next-generation multifunctional oncolytic viruses. I'm delighted to be joining an increasingly important player in the oncology space as the Company prepares for the next key steps in its development."

In addition, the Board proposes two new Directors, Prof. Jean-Yves Blay and Laurence Espinasse, to join current Board members: Philippe Archinard, Jean-Luc Belingard, Hedi Ben Brahim, Benoit Habert, Marie Landel, Maya Said and TSGH, represented by Sandrine Flory. These three new members (including the Chairman) will replace Dr. Jean-Pierre Bizzari, Prof. Laurence Zitvogel and Antoine Beret. Transgene's shareholders will vote on the nominations of Dr. Riva, Prof. Blay and Ms Espinasse at the General Shareholder Meeting to be held on May 25, 2022, and the Board of Directors intends to appoint Dr. Riva as its chairman immediately thereafter.

Hedi Ben Brahim added, "The Board is also very pleased with the arrival of Prof. Jean-Yves Blay and Laurence Espinasse. Jean-Yves' clinical development know-how and Laurence's legal experience will be strong assets for the Company. On behalf of the Board of Directors and employees, I would like to salute the remarkable work of Jean-Pierre Bizzari, Laurence Zitvogel and Antoine Beret over many years. Jean-Pierre gave us the benefit of his complex clinical development experience; Laurence brought us her in-depth knowledge of scientific developments in immuno-oncology and we are pleased that we will be able to continue to call on her expertise; while Antoine enlightened us thanks to his experience in biotech management and his passion for science."

About Transgene

Transgene (Euronext: TNG) is a biotechnology company focused on designing and developing targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Transgene's programs utilize viral vector technology with the goal of indirectly or directly killing cancer cells.

The Company's clinical-stage programs consist of two therapeutic vaccines (TG4001 for the treatment of HPV-positive cancers, and TG4050, the first individualized therapeutic vaccine based on the myvac platform) as well as two oncolytic viruses (TG6002 for the treatment of solid tumors, and BT-001, the first oncolytic virus based on the Invir.IO platform).

With Transgene's myvac platform, therapeutic vaccination enters the field of precision medicine with a novel immunotherapy that is fully tailored to each individual. The myvac approach allows the generation of a virus-based immunotherapy that encodes patient-specific mutations identified and selected by Artificial Intelligence capabilities provided by its partner NEC.

With its proprietary platform Invir.IO, Transgene is building on its viral vector engineering expertise to design a new generation of multifunctional oncolytic viruses. Transgene has an ongoing Invir.IO collaboration with AstraZeneca.

Additional information about Transgene is available at: www.transgene.fr

Follow us on Twitter: @TransgeneSA

Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. The occurrence of any of these risks could have a significant negative outcome for the Company's activities, perspectives, financial situation, results, regulatory authorities' agreement with development phases, and development. The Company's ability to commercialize its products depends on but is not limited to the following factors: positive pre-clinical data may not be predictive of human clinical results, the success of clinical studies, the ability to obtain financing and/or partnerships for product manufacturing, development and commercialization, and marketing approval by government regulatory authorities. For a discussion of risks and uncertainties which could cause the Company's actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the Risk Factors ("Facteurs de Risque") section of the Universal Registration Document, available on the AMF website (http://www.amf-france.org) or on Transgene's website (www.transgene.fr). Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and Transgene undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005765/en/

Contacts:

Transgene:

Lucie Larguier Jean-Philippe Del

+33 (0)3 88 27 91 04 00

investorrelations@transgene.fr

Media:

MEDiSTRAVA Consulting

David Dible/Sylvie Berrebi

+44 (0)7714 306525

transgene@medistrava.com
Regulatory News:

AKKA (Paris:AKA) (BSE:AKA) (ISIN:FR0004180537) is pleased to announce Mike Small as Head of North America for both AKKA et Modis, soon to become Akkodis.

With over 22 years of experience, Small has a proven track record of success in leading and developing dynamic teams for Fortune 500 companies and multinational organizations. Most recently, he served as CEO of the Americas for Sitel Group, one of the largest customer experience management companies in the world. Prior to that, Small held leadership positions at VXI SYMBIO Global Solutions, IBM, Capgemini and Hewlett Packard.

As Head of North America, Small will play a key role in positioning the organization for growth and enabling clients with digital engineering and Smart Industry solutions. Reporting to Jan Gupta, President of Akkodis, Small's remit will include the combined AKKA Modis team in the U.S. and Canada, as well as the specialized teams at AKKA's subsidiary PDS Technologies and engineering staffing business, Entegee.

This news comes on the heels of the strategic move to unite AKKA Modis, creating Akkodis, a global Smart Industry tech leader at the convergence of engineering and digital solutions.

"I am excited to join Akkodis at such a pivotal time. One of my greatest passions is leading high-caliber operations and go-to-market teams. As brands reinvent and reimagine themselves for the hybrid future, there is an incredible opportunity to offer our clients and candidates new ways to scale innovation, improve productivity and accelerate their digital transformations," said Small. "I'm also eager and energized to leverage and build upon our diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to bring together and further empower diverse voices across our businesses and the communities we serve."

"Akkodis is well-positioned to leverage best-in-class IT and engineering expertise and resources globally. We have chosen the right leaders in our markets to meet the diverse needs of clients worldwide and seize opportunities generated by the fast growing Smart Industry market. I am confident that Mike's deep understanding of technology services paired with his dedication to developing top-performing teams will make him successful in his journey leading our North America footprint and advancing this new chapter under the Akkodis brand," added Gupta

ABOUT AKKA

AKKA is a European leader in engineering consulting and R&D services. Our comprehensive portfolio of digital solutions combined with our expertise in engineering, uniquely positions us to support our clients by leveraging the power of connected data to accelerate innovation and drive the future of smart industry. AKKA accompanies leading industry players across a wide range of sectors throughout the life cycle of their products with cutting edge digital technologies (AI, ADAS, IoT, Big Data, robotics, embedded computing, machine learning, etc.) to help them rethink their products and business processes. Founded in 1984, AKKA has a strong entrepreneurial culture and a wide global footprint. Our 20,000 employees around the world are all passionate about technology and share the AKKA values of respect, courage and ambition. The Group recorded revenues of c. 1.6 billion in 2021. AKKA Technologies (AKA) is listed on Euronext Paris and Brussels segment A ISIN code: FR0004180537. AKKA is part of Akkodis, a Global Business Unit of The Adecco Group.

For more information, please visit: https://www.akka-technologies.com/

Follow us on: https://twitter.com/AKKA_Tech

ABOUT AKKA MODIS

AKKA Modis, soon to become Akkodis, is a global leader in the engineering and R&D market that is leveraging the power of connected data to accelerate innovation and digital transformation.

With a shared passion for technology and talent, 50,000 engineers and digital experts deliver deep cross-sector expertise in 30 countries across North America, EMEA and APAC. AKKA Modis offers broad industry experience, and strong know-how in key technology sectors such as mobility, software technology services, robotics, testing, simulations, data security, AI data analytics. The combined IT and engineering expertise brings a unique end-to-end solution offering, with four service lines Consulting, Solutions, Talents and Academy to support clients in rethinking their product development and business processes, improve productivity, minimize time to market and shape a smarter and more sustainable tomorrow.

AKKA Modis is part of The Adecco Group.

https://www.akka-technologies.com/

https://www.modis.com/

www.akkodis.com

For further information, please contact: media@akkodis.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005813/en/

Contacts:

Stephanie Bia

Group Communications Investor Relations Director

Tel: +33(0)6 47 85 98 78

stephanie.bia@akka.eu
GCHQ Director Jeremy Fleming delivers a speech as he meets with Britain's Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Watergate House to mark the centenary of GCHQ (Government Communications Head Quarters) in London, Feb. 14, 2019. Reuters-Yonhap





A U.K. intelligence chief warned that the Kremlin is hunting for cyber targets and bringing in mercenaries to shore up its stalled military campaign in Ukraine.







Jeremy Fleming, who heads the GCHQ electronic spy agency, praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's ''information operation'' for being highly effective at countering Russia's massive disinformation drive spreading propaganda about the war.







While there were expectations that Russia would launch a major cyberattack as part of its military campaign, Fleming said such a move was never a central part of Moscow's standard playbook for war.







''That's not to say that we haven't seen cyber in this conflict. We have  and lots of it,'' Fleming said in a speech in Canberra, Australia, according to a transcript released in London on Wednesday.






Filter Bags Market by Type (Air Filter Bags, Liquid Filter Bags), Media (Woven, Non-woven), Application (Oil & gas, Mining, Cement, Power Plants, Automobiles, Water Treatment, Aerospace, Defense & marine) & Region - Forecast 2022 - 2032

DUBAI, UAE, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global filter bags market is estimated at USD 2.5 Bn in 2021 and is projected to procure USD 2.7 Bn by 2022. The market is anticipated to garner USD 4.3 Bn by 2032 while recording a CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period from 2022 to 2032. Expansion of the market can be attributed to the increasing initiatives of the government to reduce air pollution and the rapid urbanization taking place across various developing countries.

Attributes Details Global Filter Bags Market CAGR (2022-2032) 4.9% Global Filter Bags Market (2032) USD 4.3 Bn Global Filter Bags Market Attraction The environmental and safety regulations of various governments to reduce air pollution is projected to be one of the vital factors driving the market expansion.

Moreover, the growing cement and mining industries are another salient factor augmenting the industry in the assessment period. The growing usage of filter bags in coal-fired power plants is likely to offer significant opportunities for expansion in the industry in the forecast period.

Request a Sample - https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-14436

On the contrary, fluctuating prices of raw materials are expected to be the major factor hindering the market expansion. Moreover, the complexity of pollution control reforms is another factor impeding the industry expansion in the forecast period.

Key Takeaways from the Market Study

The global filter bags market to hold a value of USD 4.3 Bn while recording a CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period.

while recording a CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period. Oil & Gas segment to expand at a CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period

The U.S market expected to secure USD 716 Mn while expanding at a CAGR of 4.4%

while expanding at a CAGR of 4.4% China to record a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period

to record a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period India to witness a CAGR of 6% during the forecast period

"The global filter bags market is expected to show a remarkable growth in the forecast period owing to the growing environmental concerns and the increasing imposition of stringent rules by the government of several countries to curb the air pollution."

Ask an Analyst- https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-14436

Competitive Landscape

Key players in the global filter bags market include Babcock & Wilcox Co., Pall Corporation, Thermax D Ltd., Eaton Corporation, and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Ltd.

Some of the recent key developments among the players are:

In May 2021 , Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. disclosed an agreement under which Mitsubishi Power Ltd. would be integrated into MHI. According to the new agreement, the business operations and employees of Mitsubishi Power involved in the sale, design, installation, and engineering of thermal power generation systems would be transferred to MHI.

, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. disclosed an agreement under which Mitsubishi Power Ltd. would be integrated into MHI. According to the new agreement, the business operations and employees of Mitsubishi Power involved in the sale, design, installation, and engineering of thermal power generation systems would be transferred to MHI. In February 2022 , Babcock and Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. disclosed that it had acquired Fossil Power Systems, Inc., an eminent manufacturer of natural gas, hydrogen, and renewable pulp and paper combustion equipment.

Buy Now Report Here - https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/checkout/14436

Key Segments Covered in the Filter Bags Industry Report

By Type:

Air Filter Bags

Liquid Filter Bags

By Size:

7" OD x 17" Long Filter Bag

7" OD x 32" Long Filter Bag

4" OD x 10" Long Filter bag

bag 4" OD x 17" Long Filter Bag

6" OD x 20" Long Filter Bag

By Media:

Woven Filter Bags

Non-Woven Filter Bags

By Application:

Filter Bags for Oil & Gas

Filter Bags for Mining

Filter Bags for Cement

Filter Bags for Power Plants

Filter Bags for Automobiles

Filter Bags for Water Treatment

Filter Bags for Aerospace, Defense & Marine

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

Get Customization - https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/customization-available/rep-gb-14436

Key Questions Answered in the Report

What is the estimated market value of the global filter bags market?

What is the estimated size of the global filter bags market in 2021?

Which region is projected to garner maximum market share?

What is the expected growth rate of China ?

? Which segment is anticipated to dominate the market?

Who are the key participants of the global filter bags market?

Top Reports Related To Packaging Market Insights

Foamed Plastics Market: The global foamed plastics market is expected to witness an overhaul by reaching US$ 84.2 Bn by the year 2030 at a CAGR of 5.8% between 2022 and 2030.

Collation Shrink Films Market: The global collation shrink films market is expected to elevate at a CAGR of 5.9% between 2022 and 2030, reaching US$ 6.5 Bn by the year 2030.

Fiber Drums Market: Fiber Drums Market is expected to reach US$ 1 Bn in 2022, likely to surge at a vigorous 5.5% CAGR during the assessment period 2022-2030

About Future Market Insights (FMI)

Future Market Insights (FMI) is a leading provider of market intelligence and consulting services, serving clients in over 150 countries. FMI is headquartered in Dubai, and has delivery centers in the UK, U.S. and India. FMI's latest?market research reports?and industry analysis help businesses navigate challenges and make critical decisions with confidence and clarity amidst breakneck competition. Our customized and?syndicated market research reports?deliver actionable insights that drive sustainable growth. A team of expert-led analysts at FMI continuously tracks emerging trends and events in a broad range of industries to ensure that our clients prepare for the evolving needs of their consumers.

Contact:

Future Market Insights,

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LUXEMBOURG, March 31, 2022and are available on Tenaris's website at ir.tenaris.com.



Tenaris has also filed today its annual report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2021, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commissionand from Tenaris's website at ir.tenaris.com.

Holders of Tenaris's shares and ADSs, and any other interested parties, may request a hard copy of any of these reports, free of charge, through our website at ir.tenaris.com/tools/printed-materials.

Tomorrow, April 1, 2022, Tenaris will be convening its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to be held on May 3, 2022, at 15:30.

The following documents will be available on Tenaris's website at ir.tenaris.comas of the date of the convening notice:

information on Tenaris's total number of shares and voting rights as of the date of the convening notice;

the Shareholder Meeting Brochure and Proxy Statement (which contains reports on each item of the meeting agenda and draft resolutions proposed to be adopted at the meeting);

the 2021 Annual Report;

the 2021 Sustainability Report;

the 2021 Compensation Report; and

the forms required for purposes of voting at the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders.

Copies of these documents are also available, free of charge, at Tenaris's registered office in Luxembourg, between 10:00 and 17:00 CET, subject to restrictions imposed from time to time by Luxembourg authorities due to Covid-19. In addition, shareholders registered in the Company's share register may obtain electronic copies of such documents, free of charge, by sending an e-mail request to investors@tenaris.com.

Tenaris is a leading global supplier of steel tubes and related services for the world's energy industry and certain other industrial applications.

Giovanni Sardagna

Tenaris

1-888-300-5432

www.tenaris.com


AM Best has affirmed the Financial Strength Rating of A- (Excellent) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating of "a-" (Excellent) of Kuwait Insurance Company S.A.K.P. (KIC) (Kuwait). The outlook of these Credit Ratings (ratings) is stable.

The ratings reflect KIC's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as very strong, as well as its strong operating performance, limited business profile and appropriate enterprise risk management.

KIC's balance sheet strength is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalisation at the strongest level, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). Further supporting the balance sheet strength assessment is KIC's consistent internal capital generation and prudent reserving practices. Offsetting factors include the company's high-risk investment strategy with a concentration to equity holdings, which exposes its capital position to potential volatility, and the company's elevated dependence on reinsurance, although the associated counterparty risk is partially mitigated by the use of a panel of financially sound reinsurers.

KIC's strong operating performance is demonstrated by a five-year (2017-2021) weighted average return-on-equity ratio of 10.9%, and is driven by the company's solid technical results. Non-life underwriting profitability has been strong, with combined ratios below 90% in each of the past five years, and growing life operations have positively contributed to earnings since 2018. Investment performance supports overall earnings with a five-year (2017-2021) net investment return (excluding gains and losses) of 3.5%. However, KIC's investment returns remain subject to volatility from regional equity market performance.

KIC holds a well-established position within its domestic insurance market of Kuwait, from which it sources all its premium. In 2021, KIC generated gross written premium of KD 46.9 million (USD 155.4 million), compared with KD 38.1 million in 2020. The company has good product diversification, offering a comprehensive range of non-life, life and takaful products, and maintains a strong presence in corporate business lines, including general accident and property. KIC's near term business plan includes geographic expansion, and establishing operations in Egypt's life insurance market. Although projected to be at a small scale relative to its domestic business, KIC's regional expansion presents operational and execution risks.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright 2022 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005810/en/

Contacts:

Emily Thompson

Financial Analyst

+44 20 7397 0291

emily.thompson@ambest.com

Alex Rafferty, ACA

Associate Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0312

alex.rafferty@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Jim Peavy

Director, Communications

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644

james.peavy@ambest.com
Finsbury Growth & Income Trust Plc - Transaction in Own Shares

For immediate release

31 March 2022

FINSBURY GROWTH & INCOME TRUST PLC

(the "Company")

MARKET PURCHASE OF COMPANY'S OWN SHARES

The Company announces that it has today purchased 100,000 of its own shares ("Ordinary Shares") at a price of 831.65p per Ordinary Share. Such shares will be held in treasury by the Company.

The transaction was made pursuant to the authority granted at the Annual General Meeting of the Company held on 9 February 2022.

Following this transaction, the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury is 1,660,421; the total number of Ordinary Shares that the Company has in issue, less the total number of Ordinary Shares held by the Company in treasury following such purchase, and therefore, the total number of voting rights in the Company is 223,330,882.

The figure of 223,330,882 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for calculations of interests in the Company's voting rights in accordance with the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.

For and on behalf of

Frostrow Capital LLP

Company Secretary

For further information, please contact:

Victoria Hale

Frostrow Capital LLP

Tel: 020 3 170 8732
Significant regulatory and commercial progress for Sibnayal TM

Control of expenses with a net loss reduced to 12.4 million (vs. 14.8 million)

Closing cash position at 12.7 million.

Commercial launch of SibnayalTMin Europe expected in 2022.

Regulatory News:

Advicenne (Euronext: ALDVI) (Paris:ALDVI), a pharmaceutical company specializing in the development and commercialization of innovative treatments for those suffering from rare renal diseases, today announces the publication of its financial results for the year ended 31 December 2021 and provides an update on its activities.

The audited financial statements for the year 2021 were approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting on March 31, 2021.

Didier Laurens, Chief Executive Officer of Advicenne, commented: "We are very pleased with the achievements in 2021, which will no doubt be a springboard for our future success. During the past year, SibnayalTM became the first treatment to obtain marketing authorization in Europe and the United Kingdom for the treatment of distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA). In line with our timetable, we signed our first commercial agreements at the end of 2021 in Europe, covering one-third of the European patients affected with dRTA. In parallel we have made good progress with the British and French health authorities (NHS and HAS) to market SibnayalTM in optimal conditions for Advicenne. On the financial front, our sales have increased by 20% while controlling our expenses.

The year 2022 is indeed shaping up positively. We remain focused on preparing for the commercial launch of SibnayalTM and to record our first sales outside of any early availability regulatory process. In parallel with the gradual ramp-up of SibnayalTM sales through our distribution agreements with Frost Pharma, ExCEEd Orphan and TwinPharma, we intend to continue the search for partners in target areas both in and outside Europe. With the appointment of a strong management team, we are confident that we will be able to continue delivering on our strategy. Our objectives remain clear and unchanged: continuing the launch of SibnayalTM, pursuing its clinical development for the treatment of dRTA in the United States, and for the treatment of cystinuria, while also extending its indications to other renal diseases for which there is no effective therapeutic solution."

( thousands) December 31, 2021 December 31, 2020 Total revenue and other income 3 766 3 564 Operating expenses 16 210 17 700 of which R&D expenses 8 964 8 146 of which marketing and sales expenses 1 569 3 827 of which structural and general expenses 4 703 4 841 Operating loss -12 444 -14 136 Net loss -12 427 -14 846 Diluted loss per share (/share) -1,34 -1,76 Opening cash 16 771 16 629 Cash flows from operations -12 525 -11 694 Cash flows from investing activities -451 -694 Cash flows from financing activities 8 909 12 529 Closing cash 12 685 16 771

Key financial Highlights (31/12/2021)

Operating income amounted to 3.8 million in 2021, slightly higher (+5.7%) compared to previous year. Sales generated by SibnayalTM, Likozam and Levidcen reached 3.3 million, up 20% year-on-year. After considering rebates and provisions, accounting revenues for 2021 were up nearly 30% to 2.7 million. In detail, operating revenues also include the Research Tax Credit ("Credit Impot Recherche") for an amount of 1.1 million vs. 1.4 million in 2020. This decrease is explained by the transition of SibnayalTM clinical development in Europe and the increase in R&D expenses in the United States, which are not eligible for the CIR.

Current operating expenses were down 8.4% to 16.2 million (17.7 million in 2020). R&D expenses increased to reach about 9 million. During the year, Advicenne continued the clinical development of ADV7103 and pursued the implementation of Phase III studies in dRTA in the United States and in cystinuria in Europe. Marketing and sales expenses were significantly reduced in line with the promotion needs of Levidcen and Likozam. Finally, general expenses amounted to 4.7 million, compared with 4.8 million in 2020. This decrease is the result of stronger control of expenses incurred by the new management, offset by one-offs following the implementation of the new management.

As a result,the Company recorded an operating loss of -12.4 million (-14.1 million in 2020). In 2021, the Company recorded a net financial product of 0.1 million, of which mostly an interest charge of 1.0 million from both the 7.5 million tranche of its loan from the EIB (European Investment Bank) and the implementation of the French state-guaranteed loan (EMP). This has been offset by revised valuation of the EIB debt of 1.2 million according to IFRS standards. The Company did not record any corporate income tax expense for fiscal year 2021.

Overall, net income showed a loss of 12.4 million (compared with -14.8 million euro in 2020). This loss represents 1.34 euro per share in 2021 compared to 1.76 per share in 2020.

Net cash flow from operating activities amounts to -12.5 million in 2021, compared to -11.7 million in 2020. Cash flow from operations improved significantly to -11.8 million (vs. -13.6 million in 2020). The sharp reduction in trade payables impacts the WCR and consumes operating cash flow.

Net cash flow from investing activities amounts to 0.5 million and corresponds mainly to investments in production operations.

Net cash flow from financing activities amounts to 8.9 million in 2021 of which 9.4 million gross proceeds from a capital increase in June 2021.

Finally, Advicenne closed the year 2021 with a net cash position of 12.7 million.

Operational Highlights 2021

Registration and regulatory advances in Europe. Advicenne has achieved important milestones during the year 2021. Last May, SibnayalTM (ADV 7103), Advicenne's most advanced drug candidate, was granted marketing authorization by the European Commission for the treatment of distal renal tubular acidosis (dRTA) in adults, adolescents and children aged one year and older. This was quickly followed by the approval of SibnayalTM by the Medicines Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the United Kingdom in July 2021 for the treatment of dRTA in the same indication. These authorizations have opened discussions with the health authorities with a view to setting the price and conditions for reimbursement of the drug. Thus, in France, the Haute Autorite de Sante (HAS) validated last December the reimbursement of Sibnayal in its indication and assigned a level IV ASMR. Discussions are underway to set the reimbursement price. In the United Kingdom, after obtaining a list price from the National Health Service (NHS) in December 2021, discussions are continuing to set the conditions for reimbursement.

Strategic alliances. As expected, last year Advicenne initiated the implementation of its strategy to commercialize Sibnayal in Europe. The Company signed several exclusive distribution partnerships covering the Benelux, Central and Eastern European countries, and the Nordic countries. The three selected partners (TwinPharma, ExCEEd Orphan, and FrostPharma AB) all work within the exclusive European network, "Your Pharma Partner," whose role is to make innovative therapies available to patients in 25 European countries. In total, these agreements cover approximately one third of the European dRTA population. The Company is continuing discussions with potential partners to cover other geographical areas in Europe and beyond. Partners conduct local negotiations with health authorities regarding pricing and reimbursement. Sibnayal is available in post-ATU in France and 4 other European countries and approximately 100 patients are being treated.

Clinical developments in the United States and Europe. Advicenne continued the development of ADV7103 in dRTA in 2021 with the initiation of a pivotal Phase III trial in the U.S. The primary endpoints of the study have been validated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Advicenne is also pursuing the development of ADV7103 in cystinuria. In this indication, urine alkalinization remains the main objective of the treatment and explains the interest of ADV7103 in twice-daily administration to improve compliance.

Financial and managerial strengthening. In June 2021, the Company strengthened its financial position through the completion of a reserved capital increase of 9.4 million. This financing will allow the Company to pursue the commercial, regulatory, and clinical development of its lead drug. Advicenne's management team has also been strengthened with the appointment of Didier Laurens as Chief Executive Officer, as well as several high-level executives in the areas of production, quality, and regulatory affairs.

2022 Outlook

In fiscal year 2022, Advicenne expects to commercialize Sibnayal in Europe and achieve its first sales outside the early access setting. The Company also intends to enter new partnerships in selected geographic areas. Advicenne plans to pursue the clinical development of ADV7103 in the U.S in dTRA and in cystinuria in Europe.

About Advicenne

Advicenne (Euronext: ALDVI) is a specialty pharmaceutical company founded in 2007, specializing in the development of innovative treatments in Nephrology. Its lead product SibnayalTM (ADV 7103) has received its Marketing Approval for distal renal tubular acidosis in EU and the UK. ADV 7103 is currently in late-stage development in cystinuria in Europe and in dRTA and cystinuria in the US and in Canada. Headquartered in Paris, Advicenne has been listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange since 2017. For additional information see: https://advicenne.com/.

Disclaimer

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Advicenne group and its business, including its prospects and product candidate development. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions that Advicenne considers to be reasonable. However, there can be no assurance that the estimates contained in such forward-looking statements will be verified, which estimates are subject to numerous risks including the risks set forth in the 2020 universal registration document filed with the French Financial market authority on December 6, 2021 under number D.21-0962 (a copy of which is available on www.advicenne.com) and to the development of economic conditions, financial markets and the markets in which Advicenne operates. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to risks not yet known to Advicenne or not currently considered material by Advicenne. The occurrence of all or part of such risks could cause actual results, financial conditions, performance, or achievements of Advicenne to be materially different from such forward-looking statements. Advicenne expressly declines any obligation to update such forward-looking statements.

Appendices

IFRS consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021

Balance Sheet

ASSETS December 31, 2021 December 31, 2020 (in thousands of euros) Intangible assets 167 38 Property, Plant and Equipment 1 836 2 785 Other financial assets 263 392 Non-current assets 2 265 3 215 Inventory 717 735 Accounts receivable 802 818 Tax credit 1 126 1 406 Other current assets 1 286 1 059 Cash and cash equivalents 12 685 16 771 Current assets 16 616 20 789 Total Assets 18 881 24 004

LIABILITIES and CAPITAL December 30, 2021 December 31, 2020 (in thousands of euros) Capital stock 1 990 1 724 Capital-related premiums 24 469 29 799 Reserves -13 723 -13 404 Net Income -12 427 -14 846 Total equity capital 309 3 272 Provisions 96 118 Long-term debt 12 371 9 247 Non-current liabilities 12 467 9 366 Financial liabilities 165 4 550 Accounts payable 2 929 4 434 Other current liabilities 3 012 2 383 Current liabilities 6 105 11 366 Total Liabilities 18 881 24 004

Income Statement

CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT December 30, 2021 December 31, 2020 (in thousands of euros) Revenues 2 670 2 062 Income from partnerships 19 73 Other operating income 1 078 1 430 Total revenue and other income 3 766 3 564 Cost of goods sold -973 -886 Research and development expenses -8 964 -8 146 Sales and marketing expenses -1 569 -3 827 Overhead and general expenses -4 703 -4 841 Operating Income -12 444 -14 136 Net financing costs 139 -553 Other financial expenses -148 -260 Other financial income 14 133 Income before taxes -12 438 -14 136 Income taxes 11 -29 Consolidated net profit loss -12 427 -14 846 Attributable to shareholders of Advicenne SA -12 427 -14 846 Attributable to non-controlling interests Earnings per share (/share) -1,34 -1,76 Diluted earnings per share (/share) 1,34 -1,76

Cash Flow Statement

CASH FLOW (in thousands of EUR) December 31, 2021 December 31, 2020 Net result (loss) -12 427 -14 846 Amortisation, depreciation and provisions 426 217 Share-based payments 347 605 Other calculated income and expenses 3 -122 Net financial costs -139 553 Self-financing capacity -11 782 -13 592 Changes in inventory 18 -239 Changes in trade and other receivables 296 1 035 Changes in trade and other payables -1 057 1 102 Cash flow from operations -12 525 -11 694 Acquisition of PPE and intangible assets -297 -575 Treasury shares -56 -41 Acquisition of financial assets -78 Disposal of financial assets -98 Cash flow from investing activities -451 -694 Capital increase 9 088 662 Net borrowings and refundable advances 45 12 121 Repayment of borrowings and refundable advances -225 -254 Cash flow from financing activities 8 909 12 529 Impact of changes in foreign exchange rates -18 Change in cash 142 142 Opening cash position 16 771 16 629 Closing cash position 12 685 16 771

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005815/en/

Contacts:

Advicenne

Didier Laurens, CEO

+33 (0)1 87 44 40 17

Email: investors@advicenne.com

Consilium Strategic Communications

Mary-Jane Elliott, Ashley Tapp, Davide Salvi

+44 (0)20 3709 5700

Email: advicenne@consilium-comms.com

Ulysse Communication

Media relations

Bruno Arabian

+33 (0)6 87 88 47 26

Email: barabian@ulysse-communication.com
LONDON, ENGLAND / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Love Hemp Group PLC, the brand-led consumer goods company focussed on CBD health and wellness solutions, is pleased to announce its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 December 2021 (the "Period").

Highlights:

Revenue of 1,736,817, down from 2,379,144 for the previous period.

Gross margin of 20% down from 48% for the previous period, (see notes below).

Reduction in Revenue because of repositioning product line and brand away from discounting.

Reduction in gross margin due to some one-time costs and due to increased costs with brand building.

Increase in Operating Loss for the Period to 5,085,143 compared to the previous period of 1,019,858, (see notes).

Robust product delivery despite supply chain issues caused by the pandemic.

Launch of first national media campaign (the "Campaign") starring Anthony Joshua, OBE, across TV, print and outdoor advertising.

Chairman's Statement:

This update outlines the progress that Love Hemp has made during the first half of this financial year.

The financial performance of the Company in the first half of FY22 is disappointing but reflects the planned and significant investment Love Hemp has made in marketing and brand building. Included in this are the administration costs associated with the Licensing Agreement with the UFC and the agreement with Anthony Joshua as Brand Ambassador amongst additional key product and brand development costs. The quantum of these costs are a long term investment which the Board has approved to build Love Hemp into one of the UK's best known CBD and Wellness companies. As a consumer, brand based product, this investment is expected to build value during the next five years and early signs of this value were seen with significant sales growth towards the end of the reporting period and as a result of the media campaign the Company ran in November and December 2021.

In addition to the marketing and brand investments made, a number of operational actions were also taken during the period which, when combined, will result in substantial ongoing operational and marketing cost savings. The Company has now established a system to measure the success of its marketing efforts which it will use to measure the return on investment going forward. All of these cost savings going forward better position the Company for future sales growth expected on the back of these marketing investments. One such action has been the consolidation and move from 2 facilities to 1 centralised manufacturing and office facility based in Croydon which is expected to save over 300,000 through direct and indirect savings per annum.

The Gross Margin of 20% is an unacceptable financial performance for the Group and is currently subject to a detailed review by the Board of the sales channels, pricing, promotional activities and the cost of sales associated with each product and sales channel. Some of the impact on the Gross Margin is as a result of cyclical activity and weaker economies of scale. This will naturally evolve as the Company grows, however the outcome of this review and subsequent actions will be reflected during the second half of FY22 and reported by the Company in due course.

The total loss of 5,128,456, of which approximately 2.4m are non-cash and accounting treatments, for the Group reflects the investments described above and some of the operational restructuring to reduce operating costs going forward. The Board is committed to driving profitability through higher sales growth and improved operational performance and looks forward to updating shareholders of these plans.

The cash position of the Company has been significantly improved following the post-period financing announced on 8 February 2022 with a total of 2.060m being raised. During this time the Company also secured further distribution deals with Deliveroo and eBay UK to add to the high-profile deal announced with Amazon. Love Hemp has also been recognised in the Commercial Cannabis Awards and Beauty Shortlist Awards for our quality products.

The Company continues to work towards an up-listing to the London Stock Exchange Main Market and will update shareholders with the timing for this once the Board has completed its strategic and operational review. As part of these preparations the Company has been able to attract additional independent non-executive directors to the Board in Graham Mullis and Garry Cook who are already having an impact by providing strategic and operational challenge with additional rigour and governance to the Company

I, along with the Board, look forward to steering Love Hemp through the significant number of growth opportunities that the Board believes exist for the Company and I would like to thank our shareholders and employees as we progress on this journey.

Financials

Love Hemp is a growth company in the FMCG space and as such is still developing its infrastructure for growth in the future. The gross margin during the period ended 31 December 2021, was 20%. This was low compared to the previous period ended 31 December 2020, which had a gross profit margin of 48%. The reduction in gross margin is partly as a result of a few one-time items. In the annual accounts which were presented for the period ending 30 June 2021, the gross margin had reduced to 29%, a more realistic ratio. One-time events impacting this period include;

a. Bad debts of 100,000 which accounting treatment required to be placed in the cost of goods.

b. Surplus inventory carrying over into the second half of the year, or January 2022, has the effect of surplus raw materials to that period. Estimated 150,000 as part of the declared inventory.

Reducing these amounts from Costs of Goods in turn has an adjusted positive impact on the gross profit and demonstrates an improved underlying gross margin of 35%. This performance, however, will be reviewed by the Board and actions taken to drive improvements going forward. The company had 484,641 of raw materials and finished product in inventory as of 31 December 2021.

Gross revenue for the six-month period ended 31 December 2021 was 1,736,817 or 20% gross margin, (six months ended 31 December 2020: 2,379,144 or 48% gross margin)

For the six-month period ended 31 December 2021 the Group reported a pre-tax loss of 5,128,456 of which approximately 2.4m was non cash attributes, (restated loss reported for the six months ended 31 December 2020: 1,153,750).

The Group's net cash balance as at 31 December 2021 was 83,113 (30 June 2021: 925,921).

Responsibility Statement

We confirm that to the best of our knowledge:

the interim financial statements have been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standards 34, Interim Financial Reporting, in conformity with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006;

the interim financial statements give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and loss of the Group;

the Interim report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7R of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, being an indication of important events that have occurred during the first six months of the financial year and their impact on the set of interim financial statements; and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the year; and

the Interim report includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.8R of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules, being the information required on related party transactions.

The interim report was approved by the Board of Directors and the above responsibility statement was signed on its behalf by:

Andrew Male

Chairman and Director

31 March 2022

For further information please contact:

Andrew Male

Chairman & Director

+44 (0) 7926 397 675

andrew@lovehempgroup.com AQSE Corporate Adviser

Mark Anwyl

Peterhouse Capital Limited

+44 (0) 20 7469 0930

ma@peterhousecap.com Financial PR

Tim Blythe

Alice McLaren

+44 (0) 207 318 3205

lovehemp@blytheray.com

Financial Advisor

Rupert Fane

Nilesh Patel

H&P Advisory Limited

+44 (0) 20 7907 8500

rf@hannam.partners

nilesh@hannam.partners

For more information on Love Hemp Group please visit: www.lovehempgroup.com

Click on, or paste the following link into your web browser, to view the full announcement:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/8442G_1-2022-3-31.pdf



This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution of this information may apply. For further information, please contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.

SOURCE: Love Hemp Group PLC

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AM Best has placed under review with developing implications the Financial Strength Rating (FSR) of B (Fair) and the Long-Term Issuer Credit Rating (Long-Term ICR) of "bb" (Fair) of Noor Takaful Family PJSC (NTF) (United Arab Emirates). Concurrently, AM Best has withdrawn these Credit Ratings as the company has requested to no longer participate in AM Best's interactive rating process.

The ratings reflect NTF's balance sheet strength, which AM Best assesses as strong, as well as its adequate operating performance, limited business profile and marginal enterprise risk management.

The company's balance sheet strength is underpinned by its risk-adjusted capitalisation, which was at the strongest level as at year-end 2020, as measured by Best's Capital Adequacy Ratio (BCAR). AM Best expects NTF's prospective risk-adjusted capitalisation to deteriorate over the short term, driven by increased underwriting risk arising from targeted business growth. The balance sheet strength assessment also considers NTF's conservative investment portfolio and its appropriate reinsurance programme placed with a panel of financially sound reinsurance partners.

NTF has a track record of modest-but-positive operating performance, with a weighted average return-on-equity of 2.8% over the past five years (2016-2020). The company has benefited from a good balance of earnings between its family (life) and medical segments; nonetheless, technical performance has been volatile, with NTF posting an underwriting loss in three of the past five years.

NTF's limited business profile assessment reflects its market position and portfolio concentration within the UAE's medical and family takaful insurance market. The business combination with Dar Al Takaful PJSC (DAT) in 2020 has contributed to greater scale in the highly competitive UAE market, although NTF remains a mid-tier player.

These ratings have been placed under review with developing implications following the announcement on 3 March 2022 that DAT, NTF's parent group, has reached an agreement with National Takaful Company (Watania) PJSC on a proposed merger between both companies. The transaction, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approvals, is expected to complete during the third quarter of 2022. The under review with developing implications status reflects the potential impact of the merger on NTF's prospective credit fundamentals, and the strategic direction and consolidated financial strength of its parent group, DAT.

This press release relates to Credit Ratings that have been published on AM Best's website. For all rating information relating to the release and pertinent disclosures, including details of the office responsible for issuing each of the individual ratings referenced in this release, please see AM Best's Recent Rating Activity web page. For additional information regarding the use and limitations of Credit Rating opinions, please view Guide to Best's Credit Ratings. For information on the proper use of Best's Credit Ratings, Best's Performance Assessments, Best's Preliminary Credit Assessments and AM Best press releases, please view Guide to Proper Use of Best's Ratings Assessments.

AM Best is a global credit rating agency, news publisher and data analytics provider specialising in the insurance industry. Headquartered in the United States, the company does business in over 100 countries with regional offices in London, Amsterdam, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Mexico City. For more information, visit www.ambest.com.

Copyright 2022 by A.M. Best Rating Services, Inc. and/or its affiliates. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005873/en/

Contacts:

Algirdas Karvelis

Financial Analyst

+44 20 7397 0285

algirdas.karvelis@ambest.com

Christopher Sharkey

Manager, Public Relations

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5159

christopher.sharkey@ambest.com

Alex Rafferty

Associate Director, Analytics

+44 20 7397 0312

alex.rafferty@ambest.com

Jim Peavy

Director, Communications

+1 908 439 2200, ext. 5644

james.peavy@ambest.com
Images relating to this release are available at https://dehavilland.com/en/media

CALGARY, AB and BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (De Havilland Canada) is pleased to announce that it has launched the De Havilland DHC-515 Firefighter (formerly known as the CL-515) program.

"After an extensive business and technical review, we are pleased to announce that we have launched the De Havilland DHC-515 Firefighter program, which will involve negotiating contracts with our European customers and ramping up for production," said Brian Chafe, Chief Executive Officer of De Havilland Canada.

The DHC-515 Firefighter will build on the history of the iconic Canadair CL-215 and CL-415 aircraft which have been a critical part of European and North American aerial firefighting fleets for over 50 years. Important upgrades are being made that will increase the functionality and effectiveness of this legendarily rugged firefighting aircraft.

European customers have signed letters of intent to purchase the first 22 aircraft pending the positive outcome of government-to-government negotiations through the Government of Canada's contracting agency, the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC). De Havilland Canada expects first deliveries of the DHC-515 by the middle of the decade, with deliveries of aircraft 23 and beyond to begin at the end of the decade, providing other customers the opportunity to renew existing fleets or proceed with new acquisition opportunities at that time.

De Havilland Canada acquired the Canadair CL program in 2016 and has been contemplating a return to production since 2019. The new DHC-515 Firefighter matches the other aircraft in the De Havilland fleet in terms of lifespan, ruggedness and Canadian aerospace engineering quality. The final assembly of the aircraft will take place in Calgary, Alberta where work on the CL-215 and CL-415 aircraft currently takes place. It is anticipated that more than 500 people will need to be recruited over the coming years to successfully deliver this program.

"To bring the DHC-515 into production is important for not only our company, but countries around the world who rely on our aircraft to protect their people and forests," said Chafe. "We understand the important role the previous aircraft have played in protecting people and property and as our climate continues to change and summers increase in both temperature and length, the DHC-515 will be an important tool for countries around the globe to use in putting out fires."

Additional Quotes

"Today's announcement is an example of the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC) supporting Canadian innovators to scale up, reach new markets, and have a positive global impact. Not only is this great news for Canadian exports, but for all the countries that will benefit from its technology advancements and world-class solutions." - Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development.

"As the effects of climate change continue to impact countries around the world, CCC and the Government of Canada are proud to stand with De Havilland Canada in providing this world class solution to our EU partners and allies. We look forward to supporting DHC as other governments wishing to procure these next generation aerial firefighting aircraft come forward." - Bobby Kwon, President and CEO of the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC).

"De Havilland Canada's investment in Alberta represents a new era of diversification and economic growth in Alberta. With the hundreds of jobs being created by the DHC-515 being manufactured here, the sky is the limit for job creation in our aerospace industry." - Jason Kenney, Premier of Alberta.

Contacts

For media: Trevor Zeck, 604-694-6037 or tzeck@longviewcomms.ca

For non-media and customer inquiries: DHC-515@dehavilland.com

Backgrounder: 10 Key Facts about the new DHC-515 Firefighter

Latest in the line of Canadair amphibious aircraft that have continuously set the global standard in aerial firefighting for over half a century. Perfectly equipped to attack today's wildfires that are more erratic and prevalent due to climate change. Delivers multiple drops, in rapid succession, meaning faster fire suppression and allowing the aircraft and flight crew to better follow the behavior of today's wildfires. Delivers the highest quantity of water into the fire-zone per day (nearly 700,000 L), more than twice as much as its nearest competitor. Refills its tanks in 12 seconds, from nearby fresh or saltwater sources including rivers, small lakes, and oceans, while land-based aircraft must return to airport after each drop. Has a high-lift wing and turboprop engines with instant thrust, each allowing for safer operation in mountainous terrain and the ability to drop close to fire with superior precision. Performs in high winds typical with megafires, capable of refilling in rough waters with waves up to two meters caused by those winds. Turboprop engines produce up to 50% lower CO2 emissions, burning 25% to 40% less fuel than jet engines. Equipped with state-of-the-art navigational instruments for enhanced safety and improved situational awareness. The only aerial firefighter aircraft fully supported by the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) and comes with complementary full life-cycle support services.

About De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited

With more than 5,000 aircraft delivered, De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited (De Havilland Canada) is well established across the globe and our talented team of aviation professionals is dedicated to advancing our near-100-year reputation for excellence in innovation, production and customer support. Our aircraft operate reliably in some of the world's harshest climates and provide vital connections between rural communities and urban centres - transporting essential cargo and millions of passengers annually. Our aircraft also support a wide variety of special mission operations including aerial firefighting, search and rescue, medical evacuation, reconnaissance and coastal surveillance. In February 2022, De Havilland Canada became the operating brand for the companies that previously operated as Longview Aviation, Viking Air Ltd, Pacific Sky Training and De Havilland Canada. https://dehavilland.com

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1778163/De_Havilland_Aircraft_of_Canada_De_Havilland_Aircraft_of_Canada.jpg
Company Announcement

No. 23/2022





Copenhagen, 31 March 2022

Results of the Annual General Meeting

of Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S

Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S (the "Company") held its annual general meeting today. The outcome of the general meeting was as follows:

1. Adoption of the audited annual report





The audited annual report was adopted by the general meeting.

2. Appropriation of profit as recorded in the adopted annual report





The general meeting approved the Board of Directors' proposal that for the financial year 2021 the Company pays a dividend of DKK 7.50 per share of DKK 1.

3. Presentation of the Company's remuneration report for an advisory vote





The remuneration report was approved by the general meeting.

4. Adoption of the remuneration of the Board of Directors and Board committees





The general meeting approved the Board of Directors' proposal for compensation to the Board of Directors for the financial year 2022 as follows(unchanged from 2021):

Ordinary members of the Board of Directors are paid a base annual fee of DKK 440,000

The chairman receives three times the base annual fee

The vice-chairman receives two times the base annual fee

The chairman of the Audit Committee receives a fee corresponding to 75 percent of the base annual fee

Other members of the Audit Committee receive a fee corresponding to 37.5 percent of the base annual fee

The chairman of each of the Remuneration Committee and Nomination Committee receives a fee corresponding to 25 percent of the base annual fee

The members of each of the Remuneration Committee and Nomination Committee receive a fee corresponding to 12.5 percent of the base annual fee





The fees for the chairmen and members of the committees are in addition to their fee as chairman, vice-chairman or member of the Board of Directors. In addition to the above, the Company may, in accordance with the Company's remuneration policy, also pay social contributions and similar fees that it may be charged by foreign authorities in relation to the fees paid to members of the Board of Directors. Further, the Company may pay travel expenses and other expenses related to the work as a member of the Board of Directors.

5. Reduction of the Company's share capital





The general meeting approved the Board of Directors' proposal thatthe Company's share capital is reduced by cancelling some of the Company's treasury sharesof a nominal value of DKK 4,500,000. After the reduction, the nominal value of the Company's share capital will be DKK 93,000,000.

Prior to the implementation of the capital reduction, the Company's creditors will be requested to file any claims they may have against the Company within a period of 4 weeks. The request will be published via the Danish Business Authority's IT system. The capital reduction will be implemented after expiry of the said 4-week deadline. Once the capital reduction has been completed, Article 3.1 of the Company's Articles of Association will be amendedto reflect the resolution to reduce the share capital. The Company will publish an announcement once the reduction of the share capital has been completed.

6. Change to Articles of Association: Election of vice-chairman optional





The general meeting approved the Board of Directors' proposal to amendArticle 11.2 of the Company's Articles of Association to make itoptional for the Board of Directors whether it elects only a chairman or both a chairman and a vice-chairman.

7. Election of members to the Board of Directors





The general meeting re-elected Henrik Brandt, Henrik Amsinck,Dianne Blixt, Marlene Forsell, Claus Gregersen and Anders Obelas members of the Board of Directors.

8. Election of auditor(s)





PricewaterhouseCoopers StatsautoriseretRevisionspartnerskab was re-elected as auditor of the Company.

--



The Board of Directors has appointed Henrik Brandt as chairman of the Board of Directors.

Members of the Audit Committee are Marlene Forsell (chairman), Dianne Blixt and Anders Obel. Members of the Nomination Committee as well as the Remuneration Committee are Henrik Brandt (chairman), Dianne Blixt and Claus Gregersen.





For further information, please contact:

For investor enquiries:

Torben Sand, Head of Investor Relations

phone: +45 5084 7222 or torben.sand@st-group.com

For media enquiries:

Simon Mehl Augustesen, Director of Group Communications

phone: +1 484-379-8725 or simon.augustesen@st-group.com



About Scandinavian Tobacco Group



Scandinavian Tobacco Group A/S is a world-leading manufacturer of handmade and machine-rolled cigars with an annual production of more than four billion cigars. The Group holds market-leading positions in several categories and its products are sold in more than 100 markets.

Scandinavian Tobacco Group has its headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark - and employs approximately 10,000 people in Europe, the US, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Nicaragua, Indonesia and Sri Lanka. For more information please visit www.st-group.com

Attachment
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 31, 2022) - Silver Valley Metals Corp. (TSXV: SILV) (OTCQB: SVMFF) ("Silver Valley" or the "Company"), a brownfields exploration Company with two potential high impact projects that comprise lithium - potassium (sulphate of potash) and silver-zinc-lead, respectively, is pleased to provide an overview, update, and outlook for 2022.

It has been a transformative time for Silver Valley Metals over the past eight months. Eight months ago, after the Company consummated its first transaction in northern Idaho's prolific Silver Valley, the Company changed its corporate name to Silver Valley Metals, and its focus to the exploration and potential future development for silver, zinc, and lead. The project borders to the west the largest mine in the Silver Valley, Bunker Hill, and comprises five high-grade historical mines that are shallow and remain open at depth and along strike. Following this first transaction, the Company followed up four months ago (November 2021) and closed a second transaction that triples the original project size and consolidates under one operator for the first time the western extension of the Silver Valley mining corridor. Importantly, the entire project is located on patented land, and includes an option to own the Page Mine (the sixth mine on the newly consolidated project package) which is a top ten historical producer in the valley. The Page mine remains open at depth and possesses significant historical mineral reserves. The entire project area has never had modern exploration applied to it.

See below project development plans for 2022.

In-situ historical reserves:

Tons Silver (g/t) Silver (oz) Zinc (%) Zinc (lbs) Lead (%) Lead (lbs) Silver Equiv. (g/t)* Silver Equiv. oz's * Zinc Equiv. Grade (%)* Zinc Equiv. (lbs)* 218,000 87.4 555,727 10.34 45,082,400 5.22 22,759,200 599 3,810,380 16.8 73,276,540



* Silver Equiv. and Zinc Equiv. assumptions: Silver (Ag) price of US$25.00/oz, Zinc (Zn) price of US$1.30/lb, Lead (Pb) price of US$1.00/lb **Source: United States Geological Survey (USGS) Page Mine - https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/show-mrds.php?dep_id=10073450

Update: Mexican Lithium-Potassium (Sulphate of Potash) Project:

Following up on the news release dated November 10, 2021 - Silver Valley Metals Considers Strategic Alternatives for Its Lithium and Sulphate of Potash (SOP) Deposits in Zacatecas, Mexico - the Company can report it is in advanced discussions and under NDA's with several well financed and highly technical groups. Discussions continue to progress well. All options remain open for the Company, including a direct investment into the Company itself and the Company moving the project forward, to a joint venture, to a spin out of the asset, to a buy-out of the entire asset. By gauging the strong interest, the Company is confident that an accretive transaction or investment into the Company will occur in the relative short term. When considering today's strong economics and demand in the lithium and fertilizer sectors, and the Company's NI 43-101 inferred mineral resource defined thus far, it is anticipated that the value of the deposit(s) will add significant share value to what at this point in time is not realized in the market capitalization of the Company, which may be due to the change of corporate name and the limited market exposure of the asset up to this point in time.

Considering today's price of Lithium Carbonate Equivalent at $74,222 USD per tonne and $1,100 USD per tonne SOP (sulphate of potash), the in-situ value of what the Company possesses is significant and importantly, the inferred resource is defined from surface to, on average, only 5 metres below surface. There is strong potential the resource can be expanded at depth and laterally notwithstanding the upside brine potential that has yet to be drill tested.

The NI-43-101 Inferred Resource contains 243,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and 12.3Mt of Sulphate of Potash ("SOP").

Today's price for 1 tonne of lithium carbonate (LCE) in USD$ is $74,222 1

At 243,000 tonnes there is an in-situ dollar value of $18B

Today's price for 1 tonne of SOP in USD$ is $1,100 2

At 12.3 Mt of SOP there is an in-situ dollar value of $13.5B

Significant upside for expansion as the basin has not been determined and the brine potential remains untested, majority of resource tested from surface to only 5m in depth

Continuous high grade lithium portion at one of three salars, containing 7Mt @ 1,490 ppm Li within 20Mt @ 880 ppm Li - perimeter and depth of deposit largely untested

Maiden Mineral Resource Estimate (NI 43-101 compliant by SRK, 2019) of 120Mt of Inferred Mineral Resources grading 4.6% potassium (K) and 380ppm lithium (Li)



1 ,2 Price sources: March 30, 2022 - 1. Asian Metal, 2. CME Group

Outlook - Project Development Plans - 2022

The Company has been developing its exploration plans for 2022 at its flagship Ranger-Page project in the Silver Valley, Idaho. Because the Company made a second transaction in the latter part of Q4, 2021, which includes the option to acquire the Page Mine as well as a large unexplored property package that adjoins to the west of the original project, the Company is re-evaluating the project in its entirety. With that said, the Company will build upon the shortened exploration campaign of 2021 with an expanded ground geophysics IP survey set to begin June 1st, a field program that will include mapping and sampling in addition to compiling a significant amount of recently acquired underground mining data that clearly connects the underground workings over the entire project area. The Company considers this recently acquired new information incredibly valuable which is further enhancing the understanding of the entire projects' great potential. The exploration field campaign will kick off in the latter half of Q2, 2022 with an inaugural drill campaign targeted for the Fall of 2022.

Qualified person

Timothy Mosey, BSc, MSc, SME, is the qualified person for the company and qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Mosey supervised the preparation of the technical information in this news release.

About: Mexican lithium - potassium (sulphate of potash) project:

Silver Valley owns a 100% interest in a lithium and potassium bearing salar complex comprising 4,059 hectares on three mineral concessions (the "Mexican Projects") located on the Central Mexican Plateau in the states of Zacatecas, and San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The NI 43-101 inferred mineral resource contains 12.3Mt of Sulfate of Potash (SOP) and 243,000 tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent (LCE) and remains open in all directions for expansion. The Company is currently exploring strategic alternatives for the Project to enhance shareholder value. The Company considers the asset valuable and important.

About: Ranger-Page project:

Silver Valley's primary focus is on its flagship Ranger-Page Project ("The Project") located in the Silver Valley of Idaho, 60 kilometres east of Coeur d'Alene and 1 kilometre from the I-90 freeway. In 2020 Idaho was ranked the first in the world in policy perception and 9th best mining jurisdiction (Fraser Institute Annual Mining Survey). The Project borders the famous Bunker Hill Mine to the east and for the first time consolidates the western extent of the prolific Silver Valley mining corridor by one operator in the past 100+ years.

The Project is on patented claims, there are no royalties and comprise 6 historical mines. The largest of these, the Page Mine, was a top ten producer in the Silver Valley producing over 1 billion pounds of zinc and lead and 14.6 million ounces of silver. The Page Mine has high grade silver-zinc-lead historic reserves and remains wide open at depth beyond what has been defined to date.

There is shared underground infrastructure connecting the larger Page mine with five shallow historical mines within the larger Project area. The Company has underground mining data and surface geological data that supports high grade silver-zinc-lead mineralization present within the shallow, undeveloped mines. These mines remain open at depth, and laterally along strike.

Exploration potential beyond the historical mines is considered significant due to no modern systematic exploration applied to the project.

About Silver Valley Metals Corp.

We are a group of experienced exploration, mining, and financing specialists focused on the pursuit of mineral discovery and development. Our expertise in evaluating targets, consummating strategic and accretive outright sales, joint ventures, and /or acquisitions while maintaining a favourable share structure via the least dilutive option is the mandate for Silver Valley Metals Corp. We look to further de-risk potential projects via obtaining historical geological data that reflects untapped exploration potential that are located in top tier mining jurisdictions preferably near producing mines.

On behalf of the Board of Directors of Silver Valley Metals,

"Brandon Rook"

Brandon Rook, President & CEO, Director

For further information please contact us at:

604-800-4710

info@silvervalleymetals.com

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE HAS NOT REVIEWED AND DOES NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: risks related to failure to obtain adequate financing on a timely basis and on acceptable terms; risks related to the outcome of legal proceedings; political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projections.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118797
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with the head of the Republic of Ingushetia Makhmud-Ali Kalimatov at the Kremlin in Moscow, March 30. Reuters-Yonhap





U.S. intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by advisers about his military's poor performance in Ukraine, according to the White House. The advisers are scared to tell him the truth, the officials said.







The recently declassified findings indicate that Putin is aware of the situation on information coming to him and there now is persistent tension between him and senior Russian military officials.







The U.S. believes Putin is being misled not only about his military's performance but also "how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because, again, his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth," White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Wednesday.







Earlier, President Joe Biden said in an exchange with reporters that he could not comment on the intelligence.







The administration is hopeful that divulging the finding could help prod Putin to reconsider his options in Ukraine, according to a U.S. official. The official was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The war has ground to a bloody stalemate in much of the country, with heavy casualties and Russian troop morale sinking as Ukrainian forces and volunteers put up an unexpectedly stout defense.







But the publicity could also risk further isolating Putin, who U.S. officials have said seems at least in part driven by a desire to win back Russian prestige lost by the fall of the Soviet Union.







"What it does is underscore that this has been a strategic blunder for Russia," Bedingfield said of the intelligence finding. "But I'm not going to characterize how ... Vladimir Putin might be thinking about this."







President Joe Biden listens to a reporter's question in the East Room of the White House in Washington, March 29. AP-Yonhap





Meanwhile, Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a 55 minute call that an additional $500 million in direct aid for Ukraine was on its way. It's the latest burst in American assistance as the Russian invasion grinds on.







Asked about the latest intelligence, Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested that a dynamic within the Kremlin exists where advisers are unwilling to speak to Putin with candor.







"One of the Achilles' heels of autocracies is that you don't have people in those systems that speak truth to power or have the ability to speak truth to power, and I think that's what we're seeing in Russia," Blinken told reporters during a stop in Algeria, Wednesday.







The unidentified official did not detail underlying evidence for how U.S. intelligence made its determination.






Wilhelm Bender elected Chairman of Supervisory Board

elected Chairman of Supervisory Board Oliver Bonke will serve as new CEO

will serve as new CEO Andre Witschi and Marcus Bernhardt leave Steigenberger Hotels AG

leave Steigenberger Hotels AG Company targets to take off again after a challenging period in the market

Realising full potential of Deutsche Hospitality brands is top priority

FRANKFURT, Germany, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Steigenberger Hotels AG is shaping the future of hospitality under a new leadership. In today's supervisory board meeting, Professor Wilhelm Bender has been elected Chairman. Oliver Bonke joins the company and will serve as CEO.

Jihong He, CEO International Business of Huazhu Group, says: "I am pleased to welcome Wilhelm Bender, an internationally highly recognized manager and supervisory board member. His experience in managing complex transformation processes will be essential as we take off again after a challenging period in the market."

Bender served as Chairman of the Executive Board of Fraport AG for seventeen years. He is since then active in various supervisory boards and company advisory boards.

Professor Wilhelm Bender says: "Since my Frankfurt childhood days I am familiar with Steigenberger, and I have been close to the company for my whole career. I feel privileged to serve as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Steigenberger Hotels AG as of today. Mutual trust and respect will be my guiding principles as we kick off our joint mission with the owner Huazhu Group, the executive board and the entire supervisory board."

Oliver Bonke has over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry. At Shangri-La Group, he served as CEO Middle East, Europe, India, Americas, based in New York, and President & COO, based in Hong Kong. Prior to that he acted as Chief Commercial Officer of the U.S. based luxury hotel chain Loews Hotels & Co. Other career stations included the role of Chief Commercial Officer of InterContinental Hotels Group in North and South America as well as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing EMEA and before that Asia Pacific of Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Jihong He states: "Oliver Bonke is a distinguished expert of the global hotel industry. He has proven his ability to build and grow business on three continents. I got to know Oliver as an inspirational leader who is constantly pushing innovation on all fronts, and I am sure he will make our brands shine brightly."

Oliver Bonke says: "Deutsche Hospitality today is a well-respected, relevant player in the market. It will be an honour to work with Huazhu and the global team to realise the full potential of this remarkable company and its brands."

Andre Witschi had recently resigned from his Chairman position. Also, Marcus Bernhardt leaves the company. "I would like to thank Andre Witschi and Marcus Bernhardt for their work and wish them all the best for their future endeavours,", says Jihong He.

Current press information is available in our press portal.

About Huazhu Group Limited

Originated in China, Huazhu Group Limited is a world-leading hotel group. As of December 31, 2021, Huazhu operated 7,830 hotels with 753,216 rooms in operation in 17 countries. Huazhu's brands include Hi Inn, HanTing Hotel, Starway Hotel, Orange Hotel, Crystal Orange Hotel, Manxin Hotel, Madison Hotel, Joya Hotel, Blossom House, Ni Hao Hotel and CitiGO Hotel. Upon the completion of the acquisition of Deutsche Hospitality on January 2, 2020, Huazhu added new brands to its portfolio, including IntercityHotel, Jaz in the City, MAXX by Deutsche Hospitality, Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts and Zleep Hotels. In addition, Huazhu also has the rights as master franchisee for Ibis, Ibis Styles and Mercure, and co-development rights for Grand Mercure and Novotel, in the pan-China region.

About Deutsche Hospitality

Deutsche Hospitality operates eight hotel brands. The company is represented on three continents with more than 160 properties, around 40 of which are currently in planning or under construction. Deutsche Hospitality/Steigenberger Hotels AG is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Press contact

Deutsche Hospitality  Lyoner Strae 25  60528 Frankfurt am Main

Sven Hirschler  Tel: +49 69 66564-422

E-mail: sven.hirschler@deutschehospitality.com

www.deutschehospitality.com

- Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com) -
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / RE Royalties Ltd. (TSXV:RE)(OTCQX:RROYF) ("RE Royalties" or the "Company"), a global leader in renewable energy royalty-based financing, is pleased to announce that effective March 31, 2022, the Company's common shares (the "Shares") have commenced trading on the OTCQX Best Market ("OTCQX") under the symbol, RROYF. The OTCQX is the highest market tier operated by OTC Markets Group Inc. which operates markets on which approximately 12,000 U.S. and global securities trade. The Company's Shares will continue to trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol, RE.

OTCQX is OTC Markets Group's premier market for established investor-focused U.S. and international companies. To qualify, companies must meet high financial standards, follow best practice corporate governance, demonstrate compliance with U.S. securities laws, be current in their disclosure, and have a professional third-party sponsor introduction. The OTCQX market is a key step in enabling frictionless access for non-Canadian investors to gain ready on-line access to data, transparency, and liquidity in our securities. Non-Canadian investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for RE Royalties on: www.otcmarkets.com

Bernard Tan, CEO of RE Royalties stated "we are pleased to begin trading on the OTCQX market to provide current and future US-based investors with greater access to our company and ease of trading. OTCQX will allow RE Royalties to broaden the reach and awareness of our innovative royalty financing model, improve liquidity of our common shares and drive value for our shareholders."

An application for the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) eligibility is currently pending and once complete, will further facilitate electronic clearing and settlement of the Company's common shares in the United States. McMillan LLP acted as the company's OTCQX sponsor.

About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates regulated markets for trading 12,000 U.S. and international securities. Their data-driven disclosure standards form the foundation of three public markets: OTCQX Best Market, OTCQB Venture Market and Pink Open Market.

The OTC Link Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs) provide critical market infrastructure that broker-dealers rely on to facilitate trading. This innovative model offers companies more efficient access to the U.S. financial markets. OTC Link ATS, OTC Link ECN and OTC Link NQB are each an SEC regulated ATS, operated by OTC Link LLC, a FINRA and SEC registered broker-dealer, member SIPC.

About RE Royalties Ltd.

RE Royalties Ltd. acquires revenue-based royalties from renewable energy generation facilities by providing a non-dilutive financing solution to privately held and publicly traded renewable energy generation and development companies. RE Royalties is the first to apply this proven business model to the renewable energy sector. The Company currently owns 100 royalties on solar, wind, hydro, battery storage, and renewable natural gas projects in Canada, Europe, and the United States. The Company's business objectives are to provide shareholders with a strong growing yield, robust capital protection, high rate of growth through re-investment and a sustainable investment focus.

For further information, please contact:

Investor Contact:

Renmark Financial Communications Inc.

Joshua Lavers: jlavers@renmarkfinancial.com

Tel: (416) 644-2020 or (212) 812-7680

www.renmarkfinancial.com

Media Contact:

RE Royalties Ltd.

Talia Beckett: taliabeckett@reroyalties.com

Tel: (778) 374-2000

www.reroyalties.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange), nor any other regulatory body or securities exchange platform, accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release includes forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively, "forward-looking information") with respect to the Company and within the meaning of Canadian securities laws. Forward looking information is typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. This information represents predictions and actual events or results may differ materially. Forward-looking information may relate to the Company's future outlook and anticipated events or results and may include statements regarding the Company's financial results, future financial position, expected growth of cash flows, business strategy, budgets, projected costs, projected capital expenditures, taxes, plans, objectives, industry trends and growth opportunities including financing. The reader is referred to the Company's most recent filings on SEDAR as well as other information filed with the OTC Markets for a more complete discussion of all applicable risk factors and their potential effects, copies of which may be accessed through the Company's profile page at www.sedar.com.

SOURCE: RE Royalties Ltd.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695530/RE-Royalties-Commences-Trading-on-OTCQX-Best-Market-in-the-United-States
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 31, 2022) - Kodiak Copper Corp. (TSXV: KDK) (OTCQB: KDKCF) (FSE: 5DD1) (the "Company" or "Kodiak") is pleased to announce that it has closed its bought deal private placement financing (the "Offering") and non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") previously announced on March 8 and 9, 2022, for aggregate gross proceeds to the Company of C$9.6 million.

A total of 4,375,000 charity flow-through common shares ("Charity FT Shares") were sold pursuant to the Offering at a price of C$2.08 per Charity FT Share for gross proceeds to the Company of C$9.1 million, including the full exercise of the underwriters' option.

The Offering was oversubscribed, receiving strong interest from the institutional investor community and certain existing investors. Teck Resources Limited ("Teck") exercised its equity participation right to maintain its 9.9% ownership position in Kodiak, acquiring approximately 1.38 million shares in connection with the Offering.

Kodiak also completed a non-brokered private placement of flow-through common shares (the "FT Shares") for gross proceeds of C$0.5 million (the "Private Placement") whereby 260,417 FT Shares were issued at a price of C$1.92. Certain insiders of the Company participated in the Private Placement.

Claudia Tornquist, President and CEO of Kodiak said, "There was strong investor demand for this financing and I am pleased to welcome several well-recognized, long-term focused institutional investors as new Kodiak shareholders. I wish to thank our largest shareholder Teck for their ongoing support, as well as our chairman Chris Taylor and all other insiders who participated in this financing. With a treasury of around C$18 million, Kodiak is now very well positioned to further advance its MPD project in southern British Columbia where 2022 will see the largest exploration campaign on the property to date, as we are aiming to both extend the Gate Zone further and make more discoveries. I am also looking forward to the maiden drill program at our Mohave project in Arizona this year".

The Offering was led by Cormark Securities Inc. and included Paradigm Capital Inc. (together, the "Underwriters"). In consideration for their services, the Company pays to the Underwriters a cash commission equal to 6% of the gross proceeds of the Offering, other than in respect of proceeds sold under the president's list for which the Company pays a 3.0% cash commission. The Company pays to eligible finders who introduced subscribers to the Private Placement a finders fees in cash equal to 6% of the gross proceeds of such subscriptions. In connection with the closing of the Offering and the Private Placement, the Company will be paying cash commissions and finders fees in the aggregate cash amount of C$467,647 to arm's length finders, in compliance with the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable securities legislation.

The Charity FT Shares and FT Shares qualify as "flow-through shares" of the Company for the purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada). The gross proceeds from the Offering and Private Placement will be used to incur "Canadian exploration expenses" which also qualify as "flow through mining expenditures" (as those terms are defined in the Income Tax Act (Canada)) on Kodiak's projects in British Columbia. The Company will renounce these exploration expenses to the purchasers of Charity FT Shares and FT Shares with an effective date of no later than December 31, 2022.

Insiders of the Company subscribed for a total of 167,708 FT Shares. The participation of insiders in the Private Placement constitutes a "related party transaction", within the meaning of TSX-V Policy 5.9 and Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company has relied on the exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101, in respect of the related party participation in the Private Placement, as neither the fair market value (as determined under MI 61-101) of the subject matter of, nor the fair market value of the consideration for, the transaction, insofar as it involved the interested party, exceeded 25% of the Company's market capitalization (as determined under MI 61-101).

The Charity FT Shares and the FT Shares are subject to a four month hold period, expiring on August 1, 2022. The Offering and the Private Placement are subject to final acceptance from the TSX Venture Exchange.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the account or benefit of a U.S. person (as defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

On behalf of the Board of Directors

Kodiak Copper Corp.

Claudia Tornquist

President & CEO

For further information contact:

Nancy Curry, VP Corporate Development

ncurry@kodiakcoppercorp.com

+1 (604) 646-8362

About Kodiak Copper Corp.

Kodiak is focused on its 100% owned copper porphyry projects in Canada and the USA. The Company's most advanced asset is the MPD copper-gold porphyry project in the prolific Quesnel Trough in south-central British Columbia, Canada, where the Company made a discovery of high-grade mineralization within a wide mineralized envelope in 2020. Kodiak also holds the Mohave copper-molybdenum-silver porphyry project in Arizona, USA, near the world-class Bagdad mine. Kodiak's porphyry projects have both been historically drilled and present known mineral discoveries with the potential to hold large-scale deposits.

Kodiak's founder and Chairman is Chris Taylor who is well-known for his gold discovery success with Great Bear Resources. Kodiak is also part of Discovery Group led by John Robins, one of the most successful mining entrepreneurs in Canada.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Information

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release contains forward looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "expect", "estimate", "objective", "may", "will", "project", "should", "predict", "potential" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward looking statements. In particular, this press release contains forward looking statements concerning the Offering and Private Placement, including the proposed use of proceeds and the expected receipt of regulatory and stock exchange approvals. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which the forward looking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward looking statements because the Company cannot give any assurance that they will prove correct. Since forward looking statements address future events and conditions, they involve inherent assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated due to a number of assumptions, factors and risks, many of which are beyond the Company's ability to control or predict. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to, conditions in the mineral exploration industry, particularly the availability of equipment and labour for exploration activities, changes in laws or permitting requirements, the requirement to obtain regulatory approvals as well as those risks identified in the Company's annual Management Discussion & Analysis.

Management has provided the above summary of risks and assumptions related to forward looking statements in this press release in order to provide readers with a more comprehensive perspective on the Company's future operations. The Company's actual results, performance or achievement could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward looking statements and, accordingly, no assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits the Company will derive from them. These forward looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and, other than as required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118500
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE/ March 31, 2022 / The Power Play by The Market Herald has announced the release of new interviews Trillion Energy, Else Nutrition, and QuestEx on their latest news.

The Power Play by The Market Herald provides investors with a quick snapshot of what they need to know about the company's latest press release through exclusive insights and interviews with company executives.

Trillion Energy (CSE:TCF) closes private placement

Trillion Energy International (TCF) has closed its previously announced private placement for total gross proceeds of $17,913,000. The offering was oversubscribed by almost $8 million. Dr. Art Halleran, CEO sat down with Shoran Devi to discuss the financing.

For the full interview with Art Halleran and to learn more about Trillion Energy's news, click here.

Else Nutrition (TSX:BABY) announces Q4 & fiscal year results

Else Nutrition (BABY) has announced its Q4 and fiscal year-end results. Fiscal year 2021 revenues were $4.7M, a 219 per cent increase over FY 2020, driven by the expansion of the company's toddler products across all channels and the introduction of the new Kids Complete Nutritional shake product line. Hamutal Yitzhak, CEO & Co-Founder of Else Nutrition sat down with Shoran Devi to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Hamutal Yitzhak and to learn more about Else Nutrition's news, click here.

QuestEx (TSXV:QEX) announces acquisition by Skeena Resources

QuestEx (QEX) has entered into a definitive agreement with Skeena Resources Limited. Under the terms of the agreement, Skeena will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of QuestEx that Skeena does not currently own pursuant to a court-approved plan of arrangement. CEO Joe Mullin sat down with Dave Jackson to discuss the news.

For the full interview with Joe Mullin and to learn more about QuestEx's news, click here.

Interviews for The Power Play by The Market Herald are released daily. To learn more about the companies featured in The Power Play or to explore our other interviews visit The Power Play by The Market Herald.

About The Market Herald

The Market Herald Canada is the leading source of authoritative breaking stock market news for self-directed investors. Our team of Canadian markets reporters, editors and technologists covers the entire listed company universe in Canada. We cover over 3,985 businesses, their people, their investors, and their customers. We write the stories that move the Canadian capital markets.

DISCLAIMER: Report Card Canada Media Ltd. ("Report Card") is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Market Herald Limited, an Australian company ("Market Herald"). Report Card is not an advisory service, and does not offer, buy, sell, or provide any other rating, analysis or opinion on the securities we discuss. We are retained and compensated by the companies that we provide information on to assist them with making information available to the public. All information available on themarketherald.ca and/or this press release should be considered as commercial advertisement and not an endorsement, offer or recommendation to buy or sell securities. Report Card is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority in any province or territory of Canada, will not be performing any registerable activity as defined by the applicable regulatory bodies and do not provide nor claim to provide investment advice or recommendations to any visitor of this site or readers of any content on or originating from themarketherald.ca. Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees may from time to time acquire, hold or sell securities and/or commodities and/or commodity futures contracts in certain underlying companies mentioned in this site and which may also be clients of Market Herald's affiliates. In such instances, Market Herald and/or its affiliates and/or their respective officers, directors or employees will use all reasonable efforts to avoid engaging in activities that would lead to conflicts of interest and Market Herald and/or its affiliates will use all reasonable efforts to comply with conflicts of interest disclosures and regulations to minimize any conflict. All the information on this document and/or the website - themarketherald.ca - is published in good faith and for general information purpose only. Report Card does not make any warranties about the completeness, reliability, and accuracy of this information. Any action you take upon the information you find on this document and/or website (themarketherald.ca) is strictly at your own risk. Report Card will not be liable for any losses and/or damages in connection with the use of our website. From our website, you can visit other websites by following hyperlinks to such external sites. While we strive to provide only quality links to useful and ethical websites, we have no control over the content and nature of these sites. These links to other websites do not imply a recommendation for all the content found on these sites. Site owners and content may change without notice and may occur before we have the opportunity to remove a link which may have gone 'bad'. Please be also aware that when you leave our website, other sites may have different privacy policies and terms which are beyond our control. Please be sure to check the Privacy Policies of these sites as well as their "Terms of Service" before engaging in any business or uploading any information.

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themarketherald.ca

SOURCE: The Market Herald

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695553/The-Power-Play-by-The-Market-Herald-Releases-Interviews-With-Trillion-Energy-Else-Nutrition-and-QuestEx
AXIS Capital Holdings Limited ("AXIS Capital" or the "Company") (NYSE: AXS) today announced that it expects to release financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2022, on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, after the close of the financial markets.

Albert Benchimol, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Peter Vogt, Chief Financial Officer, will host an investor teleconference, including a question and answer period, on Thursday, April 28, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. EDT to discuss the first quarter results as well as related matters.

The teleconference can be accessed by dialing 1-877-883-0383 (U.S. callers), or 1-412-902-6506 (international callers), and entering the passcode 3358210 approximately 10 minutes in advance of the call. A live, listen-only webcast of the call will also be available via the Investor Information section of the Company's website at www.axiscapital.com.

A replay of the teleconference will be available for two weeks by dialing 1-877-344-7529 (U.S. callers), or 1-412-317-0088 (international callers), and entering the passcode 7306991. The webcast will be archived in the Investor Information section of the Company's website.

About AXIS Capital

AXIS Capital, through its operating subsidiaries, is a global provider of specialty lines insurance and treaty reinsurance with shareholders' equity of $5.4 billion at December 31, 2021, and locations in Bermuda, the United States, Europe, Singapore and Canada. Its operating subsidiaries have been assigned a rating of "A+" ("Strong") by Standard Poor's and "A" ("Excellent") by A.M. Best. For more information about AXIS Capital, visit our website at www.axiscapital.com.

Follow AXIS Capital on LinkedIn and Twitter.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005667/en/

Contacts:

Investor Contact

Matt Rohrmann

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited

investorrelations@axiscapital.com

+1 212-940-3339

Media Contact

Anna Kukowski

AXIS Capital Holdings Limited

anna.kukowski@axiscapital.com

+1 212-715-3574
JACKSONVILLE, FL / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / LFTD Partners Inc. ("LFTD Partners" or the "Company") (OTCQB:LIFD), the corporate parent of leading cannabis and psychedelics-lifestyle and consumer packaged goods company Lifted Made, which manufactures the award-winning brand of hemp-derived cannabinoid products Urb Finest Flowers and psychedelics brand Silly Shruum, today reported record revenue for Q4 2021 and full year 2021, and its sixth consecutive quarter of positive GAAP-basis earnings per share.

Financial Highlights - 2021 Fiscal Year

Revenue grew 492% to $31,656,932, up from $5,344,320 in 2020

Net income of $5,799,982, up from a loss of $(1,534,589) in 2020

Basic earnings per share of $0.50, up from a loss per share of $(0.29) in 2020

Diluted earnings per share of $0.43, up from a diluted loss per share of $(0.29) in 2020

Financial Highlights - Q4 2021

Revenue up 482% to $12,787,566, up from $2,196,518 in Q4 2020

Net income up 146% to $1,349,292, up from $549,531 in Q4 2020

Basic earnings per share up 67% to $0.10 per share, up from basic earnings per share of $0.06 in Q4 2020

Diluted earnings per share up 300% to $0.08 per share, up from diluted earnings per share of $0.02 in Q4 2020

Because LFTD Partners has exhausted its historical tax loss carryforwards, Q4 2021 financial results include a first-time accrual for income taxes of $1,367,362. Without this accrual for income taxes, Q4 2021 basic and diluted EPS would have been approximately $0.10 and $0.09 per share higher, respectively

Because a newly enacted federal law will likely result in a de facto prohibition of synthetic nicotine products by the U.S. FDA, Q4 2021 financial results include a one-time impairment of Lifted Made's investment in tobacco-free nicotine pouch manufacturer SmplyLifted LLC. Without this one-time write-off totaling $388,727, Q4 2021 basic and diluted EPS would have been approximately $0.03 and $0.02 per share higher, respectively

Nicholas S. Warrender, Vice Chairman and COO of LFTD Partners, and founder and CEO of Lifted Made, said, "Our tremendous growth and profitability during 2021 was a reflection of the team and infrastructure that we have built over the years and is a testament to the power of a true consumer-run business. The culture we have created breeds innovation and has set a new benchmark for quality and consumer experience throughout the hemp cannabis industry. Fueled by the momentum of 2021, we expect Q1 2022 to be another record quarter based upon our outstanding sales so far this year, and barring any regulatory setbacks, we expect our 2022 revenue will reach or exceed $75 million. Notably, this 2022 sales projection does not assume any revenue from a groundbreaking new federally compliant psychedelic product that we expect to launch this year that will contain zero cannabinoids and further diversify our portfolio of products."

William C. "Jake" Jacobs, CPA, President and CFO of LFTD Partners, said: "Our balance sheet is strengthening significantly, driven by our EBITDA margin that is typically in excess of 20%. During the past 100 days, we have paid off over $2.5 million of our liabilities and repurchased 100,000 shares of our common stock from an unaffiliated shareholder. And, our cash on hand currently exceeds $4.5 million."

Jake Jacobs continued, "Delta-8-THC is now the principal ingredient in less than 25% of Lifted Made's products, which shows the continuing diversification of Lifted Made's product portfolio. We are continuing to explore a potential borrowing of $5 million or more, that would allow us to prepay our outstanding $2.75 million note payable to Nick Warrender, to purchase Lifted Made's headquarters building in Kenosha for $1.375 million, and to further increase Lifted Made's working capital to facilitate even faster growth. We are also in discussions with our investment bankers regarding a potential listing of our common stock on an exchange, probably sometime later this year."

Gerard M. Jacobs, Chairman and CEO of LFTD Partners, said: "We get approached frequently regarding potential acquisitions of competitors, suppliers and other companies, as well as potential co-branding and joint venture opportunities for our brands. We will continue to explore these situations, preferring immediately accretive deals that would diversify the risk profile of our business and that would add talented entrepreneurs who would thrive in LFTD Partners' decentralized partnership structure."

About LFTD Partners Inc.

LFTD Partners Inc. (OTCQB:LIFD) is focused upon acquiring rapidly growing and profitable companies that sell branded hemp-derived cannabinoid products, emerging psychedelic products, and other alternative lifestyle products. LFTD Partners' first wholly-owned subsidiary is Lifted Made (www.LiftedMade.com), Kenosha, Wisconsin, which sells award-winning hemp-derived cannabinoid products and other psychedelic and alternative lifestyle products under its flagship brands Urb Finest Flowers and Silly Shruum. LFTD Partners also owns 4.99% of CBD-infused beverage and products maker Ablis (www.AblisBev.com), and of distillers Bendistillery Inc. d/b/a Crater Lake Spirits (www.CraterLakeSpirits.com) and Bend Spirits, Inc., all located in Bend, Oregon.

Please read LIFD's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which fully describe our business and the Risk Factors associated therewith. Learn more by subscribing to our newsletters at www.LFTDPartners.com and www.LiftedMade.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this document are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such information includes the acquisition, financing, revenue growth, profitability, and product strategies, plans and expectations of LFTD Partners Inc. and Lifted Made. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause or contribute to the actual results of these companies' merger plans, financing plans, operations, or the performance or achievements of these companies differing materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements as a result of certain other factors, including the risk factors set forth in LFTD Partners Inc.'s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell common stock or any other securities of LFTD Partners Inc.

CONTACTS:

Lifted Made

Attn: Nicholas S. Warrender, CEO

Phone: (224) 577-8148

Email: CEO@LiftedMade.com

Website: www.LiftedMade.com

LFTD Partners Inc.

Attn: William C. "Jake" Jacobs, President and CFO

Phone: (847) 400-7660

Email: JakeJacobs@LFTDPartners.com

Website: www.LFTDPartners.com

SOURCE: LFTD Partners Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695540/LFTD-Partners-Inc-Reports-Record-Annual-Revenue-and-Net-Income-and-Expects-2022-Revenue-to-Exceed-75-Million
TORONTO, March 31, 2022and on the Company's website at www.mandalayresources.com.

Mandalay has also filed an updated National Instrument 43-101 compliant Technical Reportand on the Company's website at www.mandalayresources.com.

The technical report for Costerfield, entitled "Costerfield NI 43-101 Technical Report" (the "Costerfield Technical Report"), was prepared by Mining Plus, and the Mineral Resource Estimate was carried out under the supervision of Andrew Fowler, MAusIMM CP (Geo), an employee of Mining Plus and independent of Mandalay. He is a Qualified Person for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101. The Mineral Reserve Estimate was carried out under the supervision of Aaron Spong, FAusIMM CP(Min), an employee of Mining Plus and independent of Mandalay. He is a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101.

The technical report for Bjorkdal entitled "Bjorkdal NI 43-101 Technical Report" (the "Bjorkdal Technical Report") was prepared by Mining Plus and the Mineral Resource Estimate was carried out under the supervision of Andrew Fowler, MAusIMM CP (Geo), an employee of Mining Plus and independent of Mandalay. He is a Qualified Person for the purpose of NI 43-101. The Independent Qualified Person for Norrberget Mineral Resource estimate is Reno Pressacco, P.Geo., Principal Geologist with SLR Consulting Ltd. ("SLR"), who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101. The Mineral Reserve Estimate was independently verified by Aaron Spong, FAusIMM CP (Min), an employee of Mining Plus and independent of Mandalay. He is a Qualified Person for the purposes of NI 43-101. The Independent Qualified Person for the Norrberget Mineral Reserve estimate is Rick Taylor, MAusIMM (CP), Principal Mining Engineer with SLR, who is a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

For Further Information:

Dominic Duffy

President and Chief Executive Officer

Edison Nguyen

Director, Business Valuations and IR

Contact:

647.260.1566

About Mandalay Resources Corporation:

Mandalay Resources is a Canadian-based natural resource company with producing assets in Australia (Costerfield gold-antimony mine) and Sweden (Bjorkdal gold mine). The Company is focused on growing its production and reducing costs to generate significant positive cashflow. Mandalay is committed to operating safely and in an environmentally responsible manner, while developing a high level of community and employee engagement.
DrazCanna meets DrazCanna - Company announces Letter of Intent signed for reverse merger between DrazCanna, Inc. (OTCBB:SIBED) and DrazCanna, Inc. (a Michigan based corporation). Company discloses organization's Nutrient Optimizer Algorithm for Cannabis cultivation and Female to Female strain development process

DEARBORN HEIGHTS, MI / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Shareholder Record Date as of April 1st, 2022 for special shareholders meeting on May 6th, 2022

"The signing of the Letter of Intent is our next step in the entrepreneurial journey" stated Hussein Anani, President of DrazCanna, Inc. "Our efforts in the evolution of our R&D endeavors resulted in some fine achievements by our team and we are excited as we move toward shareholder vote on the proposed reverse merger."

Letter of Intent for Reverse Merger

The Letter of Intent, signed March 31st, 2022, is among DrazCanna, Inc., a Michigan corporation ("DRAZCANNA"), the shareholders of DRAZCANNA, DrazCanna, Inc., a Texas corporation (OTCBB:SIBED), Hussein Anani, the sole officer and director of SIBED and the Managing Member of The High Company, LLC ("THC"), a Michigan limited liability company, and an officer and director of DRAZCANNA, the controlling shareholder of SIBED and THC. The purpose of this LOI is to set forth the terms and conditions pursuant to the execution of a DEFINITIVE SHARE EXCHANGE AGREEMENT for approval of the Shareholders at an annual meeting to occur on May 6, 2022. DRAZCANNA owns two subsidiaries, Lybull, Inc. and Drazmatic, Inc.

The parties agreed to the following terms for presentation to shareholders for vote:

DrazCanna, Inc. (OTCBB:SIBED) will own 45,000,000 common shares of DRAZCANNA, representing all of the issued and outstanding equity of DRAZCANNA (Michigan);

The Shareholders, or their assignee(s), will be issued an aggregate of 90,000,000 shares of SIBED, $0.0001 par value per share the Common Stock, representing 90.39% of SIBED's outstanding shares of Common Stock (the "Share Exchange"), calculated post-issuance;

THC shall return and retire 27 of the 30 outstanding shares of Special 2021 Series A Preferred Stock, $0.0001 par value per share (the "Preferred Stock"), to SIBED, representing at least 540,000,000 shares of Common Stock if converted and

DRAZCANNA will hold no common shares of SIBED, as the wholly-owned subsidiary of SIBED.

"We believe the proposed reverse merger share structure could present existing shareholders an opportunity to move forward after sitting as a dormant shell since 2016," Anani stated. "As we move forward in our evolution of SIBED, our team accomplishments over the last six years deserve recognition. I would like to introduce a fellow founding team member, Gina Szpak."

Gina Szpak, President of i2bConsultants (data analytics and process improvement consulting firm) and a founding team member of DrazCanna (Michigan) added, "The evolution of Drazcanna is thanks to the dedicated work of our team members since our humble beginnings in 2015 where we produced a number of significant achievements with our approach to cannabis cultivation and extraction," stated Gina Szpak. "Our unique cannabis cultivation approach is based upon principles of the data-driven cultivation process coined by Dutch scientists 'Growing by Plant Empowerment' coupled with DrazCanna's own Nutrient Optimizer Algorithm."

"Our Nutrient Optimizer Algorithm was about overcoming the conundrum of dichotomy between cannabis cultivation and empirical data needed as the basis of predictive data analytics. The resolution allowed us to see the "bell curve" within our data and the optimization of nutrients relative to changing dynamics within environmental variables." Gina Szpak continued - "Our approach to data-driven cultivation provides us with measurements of plant health four times per day enabling nutrient adjustment with the goal of maximizing plant health in indoor cultivation of cannabis without AC."

"Innovation was built into each facet of our development. As we explored plant physiology, we developed a process whereby female to female strain development can provide an additional basis for further research opportunities beyond traditional male/female strain development via seed," said Szpak. "Over our six year developmental history, our team of over thirty individuals achieved a number of innovations within strain development, data analytics, environmental responsibility, and cultivation processes and equipment."

DrazCanna's (Michigan) cultivation approach utilizes inert media so that it receives accurate data regarding plant health as well as appeal to requirements for medical development. DrazCanna intends to share additional information about its six-year Bio-Pharmaceutical development history in public announcements to come.

Contact:

DrazCanna, Inc.

Hussein Anani, President

P.O. Box 600

Dearborn Heights, MI 48127

www.siblinggroupholdings.com

info@siblinggroupholdings.com

About DrazCanna, Inc.

DrazCanna, Inc. (OTCBB:SIBED) was operating in the educational sector until 2016 and was dormant until 2021 when the corporation filed its reports to achieve current status. For more information, visit www.siblinggroupholdings.com.

Safe Harbor

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties concerning the plans and expectations of DrazCanna, Inc. These statements are only predictions and actual events or results may differ materially from those described in this press release due to a number of risks and uncertainties, some of which are out of the company's control. The potential risks and uncertainties include, among others, that the company's expectations of future growth may not be realized. These forward-looking statements are made only as of the date hereof. The company undertakes no obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. All forward-looking statements are expressly qualified in their entirety by the "Risk Factors" and other cautionary statements included in the company's annual, quarterly and current reports and other filings, including but not limited for the quarter ended December 31, 2021 and filings with the OTC Markets.

SOURCE: DrazCanna, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695564/DrazCanna-Inc-OTCBBSIBED-Announces-signing-of-Letter-of-Intent-for-Reverse-Merger-to-enter-Cannabis-Bio-Pharmaceutical-supply-chain
THIS ANNOUNCEMENT IS NOT AN OFFER, WHETHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN AUSTRALIA, CANADA, HONG KONG, JAPAN, NEW ZEALAND, SOUTH AFRICA OR SWITZERLAND OR IN ANY OTHER JURISDICTION WHERE SUCH OFFER PURSUANT TO LEGISLATION AND REGULATIONS IN SUCH RELEVANT JURISDICTION WOULD BE PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW. SHAREHOLDERS NOT RESIDENT IN SWEDEN WHO WISH TO ACCEPT THE OFFER (AS DEFINED BELOW) MUST MAKE INQUIRIES CONCERNING APPLICABLE LEGISLATION AND POSSIBLE TAX CONSEQUENCES. SHAREHOLDERS SHOULD REFER TO THE OFFER RESTRICTIONS INCLUDED IN THE SECTION TITLED "IMPORTANT INFORMATION" AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT AND IN THE PROSPECTUS AND THE OFFER DOCUMENT PUBLISHED ON NEOGAMES' WEBSITE (IR.NEOGAMES.COM/OFFER-PAGE). SHAREHOLDERS IN THE UNITED STATES SHOULD ALSO REFER TO THE SECTION TITLED "SPECIAL NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS IN THE UNITED STATES" AT THE END OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT.

LUXEMBOURG, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On 17 January 2022, NeoGames S.A.1 ("NeoGames") announced a recommended public offer to the shareholders of Aspire Global plc2 ("Aspire Global") to tender all their shares in Aspire Global to NeoGames for a consideration consisting of a combination of cash and newly issued shares in NeoGames in the form of Swedish depository receipts (the "Offer").



As indicated in the offer announcement published on 17 January 2022, the Swedish Securities Council (Sw. Aktiemarknadsnamnden) has, through the statement AMN 2022:02, granted NeoGames an extension of the period for preparing and publishing an offer document until 4 April 2022. Today, the Swedish Securities Council has, through the statement AMN 2022:13, granted NeoGames an additional extension of this period until 26 April 2022. Therefore, the offer document, as well as the prospectus relating to the newly issued shares in NeoGames in the form of Swedish depository receipts offered as consideration in the Offer, are intended to be published on 26 April 2022. Consequently, the acceptance period for the Offer is expected to commence on or about 27 April 2022 and end on or about 25 May 2022. Settlement is expected to commence on or about 14 June 2022.

Contacts and information about the Offer

Mr. Raviv Adler, CFO

ir@neogames.com

+972 73 372 3107

Information about the Offer is made available at NeoGames' website: ir.neogames.com/offer-page

For administrative questions regarding the Offer, please contact your bank or the nominee registered as holder of your shares.

Important information

NeoGames discloses the information provided herein pursuant to the Swedish Corporate Governance Board's Takeover rules for certain trading platforms. The information was submitted for announcement at 10.30 p.m. (CEST) on 31 March 2022.

This press release has been published in Swedish and English. In the event of any discrepancy in content between the two language versions, the Swedish version shall prevail.

The Offer is not being made, directly or indirectly, in or into Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland or in any other jurisdiction where such offer pursuant to legislation and regulations in such relevant jurisdiction would be prohibited by applicable law, by use of mail or any other communication means or instrumentality (including, without limitation, facsimile transmission, electronic mail, telex, telephone and the Internet) of interstate or foreign commerce, or of any facility of national securities exchange or other trading venue, of Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland, and the Offer cannot be accepted by any such use or by such means, instrumentality or facility of, in or from, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland. Accordingly, this press release or any documentation relating to the Offer are not being and should not be sent, mailed or otherwise distributed or forwarded in or into Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland.

This press release is not being, and must not be, sent to shareholders with registered addresses in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland. Banks, brokers, dealers and other nominees holding shares for persons in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa or Switzerland must not forward this press release or any other document received in connection with the Offer to such persons.

The Offer and the information and documents contained in this press release are not being made and have not been approved by an authorized person for the purposes of section 21 of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (the "FSMA"). Accordingly, the information and documents contained in this press release are not being distributed to, and must not be passed on to, the general public in the United Kingdom. The communication of the information and documents contained in this press release is exempt from the restriction on financial promotions under section 21 of the FSMA on the basis that it is a communication by or on behalf of a body corporate which relates to a transaction to acquire day to day control of the affairs of a body corporate; or to acquire 50 percent or more of the voting shares in a body corporate, within article 62 of the UK Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Promotion) Order 2005.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, the expected date of publication of the offer document, as well as the prospectus relating to the newly issued shares in NeoGames in the form of Swedish depository receipts offered as consideration in the Offer, the expected commencement date and the end date of the acceptance period, the expected settlement date and assumptions underlying such statements, as well as statements that include the words "expect," "intend," "potential," "plan," "believe," "project," "forecast," "estimate," "may," "should," "anticipate" and similar statements of a future or forward-looking nature. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including the factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in NeoGames' Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2020, as such factors may be updated from time to time in NeoGames' other filings with the SEC, which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. In addition, NeoGames operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment, and new risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for NeoGames' management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements that NeoGames may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release are inherently uncertain and may not occur, and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Furthermore, the expected date of publication of the offer document, as well as the prospectus relating to the newly issued shares in NeoGames in the form of Swedish depository receipts offered as consideration in the Offer, the expected commencement date and the end date of the acceptance period and the expected settlement date, as well as the completion of the Offer and closing of the combination between NeoGames and Aspire Global is subject to various conditions and there can be no assurances that the transaction will be consummated or that any of the expected dates will be met. Accordingly, you should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. In addition, the forward-looking statements made in this release relate only to events or information as of the date on which the statements are made in this release. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Special notice to shareholders in the United States

The Offer described in this press release is made for the issued and outstanding shares of Aspire Global, a company incorporated under Maltese law, and is subject to Maltese and Swedish disclosure and procedural requirements, which are different from those of the United States. Shareholders in the United States are advised that the shares of Aspire Global are not listed on a U.S. securities exchange and that Aspire Global is not subject to the periodic reporting requirements of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "U.S. Exchange Act"), and is not required to, and does not, file any reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") thereunder.

The Offer is made in the United States pursuant to Section 14(e) and Regulation 14E of the U.S. Exchange Act, subject to exemptions provided by Rule 14d - 1(c) under the U.S. Exchange Act for a Tier I tender offer (the "Tier I Exemption") and Rule 802 under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 (the "802 Exemption"), and otherwise in accordance with the disclosure and procedural requirements of Swedish law, including with respect to withdrawal rights, the Offer timetable, settlement procedures, waiver of conditions and timing of payments, which are different from those applicable under U.S. domestic tender offer procedures and law. Holders of the shares of Aspire Global domiciled in the United States (the "U.S. Holders") are encouraged to consult with their own advisors regarding the Offer.

Aspire Global's financial statements and all financial information included herein, or any other documents relating to the Offer, have been or will be prepared in accordance with IFRS and may not be comparable to the financial statements or financial information of companies in the United States or other companies whose financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The Offer is made to the U.S. Holders on the same terms and conditions as those made to all other shareholders of Aspire Global to whom an offer is made. Any information documents, including the prospectus and offer document, are being disseminated to U.S. Holders on a basis comparable to the method pursuant to which such documents are provided to Aspire Global's other shareholders.

As permitted under the Tier I Exemption, the settlement of the Offer is based on the applicable Swedish law provisions, which differ from the settlement procedures customary in the United States, particularly as regards to the time when payment of the consideration is rendered. The Offer, which is subject to Swedish law, is being made to the U.S. Holders in accordance with the applicable U.S. securities laws, and applicable exemptions thereunder, in particular the Tier I Exemption and the 802 Exemption. To the extent the Offer is subject to U.S. securities laws, those laws only apply to U.S. Holders and thus will not give rise to claims on the part of any other person. The U.S. Holders should consider that the price for the Offer is being paid in SEK and that no adjustment will be made based on any changes in the exchange rate.

It may be difficult for Aspire Global's shareholders to enforce their rights and any claims they may have arising under the U.S. federal or state securities laws in connection with the Offer, since Aspire Global and NeoGames are located in countries other than the United States, and some or all of their officers and directors may be residents of countries other than the United States. Aspire Global's shareholders may not be able to sue Aspire Global or NeoGames or their respective officers or directors in a non-U.S. court for violations of U.S. securities laws. Further, it may be difficult to compel Aspire Global or NeoGames and/or their respective affiliates to subject themselves to the jurisdiction or judgment of a U.S. court.

To the extent permissible under applicable law or regulations, NeoGames and its affiliates or its brokers and its brokers' affiliates (acting as agents for NeoGames or its affiliates, as applicable) may from time to time and during the pendency of the Offer, and other than pursuant to the Offer, directly or indirectly purchase or arrange to purchase shares of Aspire Global outside the United States, or any securities that are convertible into, exchangeable for or exercisable for such shares. These purchases may occur either in the open market at prevailing prices or in private transactions at negotiated prices, and information about such purchases will be disclosed by means of a press release or other means reasonably calculated to inform U.S. Holders of such information. In addition, to the extent permissible under applicable law or regulation, the financial advisors to NeoGames may also engage in ordinary course trading activities in securities of Aspire Global, which may include purchases or arrangements to purchase such securities as long as such purchases or arrangements are in compliance with the applicable law. Any information about such purchases will be announced in Swedish and in a non-binding English translation available to the U.S. Holders through relevant electronic media if, and to the extent, such announcement is required under applicable Swedish or U.S. law, rules or regulations.

The receipt of cash pursuant to the Offer by a U.S. Holder may be a taxable transaction for U.S. federal income tax purposes and under applicable U.S. state and local, as well as foreign and other, tax laws. Each shareholder is urged to consult an independent professional adviser regarding the tax consequences of accepting the Offer. Neither NeoGames nor any of its affiliates and their respective directors, officers, employees or agents or any other person acting on their behalf in connection with the Offer shall be responsible for any tax effects or liabilities resulting from acceptance of this Offer.

NEITHER THE U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION NOR ANY U.S. STATE SECURITIES COMMISSION HAS APPROVED OR DISAPPROVED THE OFFER, PASSED ANY COMMENTS UPON THE MERITS OR FAIRNESS OF THE OFFER, PASSED ANY COMMENT UPON THE ADEQUACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THIS PRESS RELEASE OR PASSED ANY COMMENT ON WHETHER THE CONTENT IN THIS PRESS RELEASE IS CORRECT OR COMPLETE. ANY REPRESENTATION TO THE CONTRARY IS A CRIMINAL OFFENCE IN THE UNITED STATES.

1 A Luxembourg societe anonyme (reg. no. B186309), domiciled in Luxembourg.

2 A Maltese public limited company (reg. no. C 80711), domiciled in Malta.
DGAP-News: CPI PROPERTY GROUP / Key word(s): Annual Report

CPI PROPERTY GROUP publishes financial results for 2021



31.03.2022 / 23:37

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



CPI Property Group

(societe anonyme)

40, rue de la Vallee

L-2661 Luxembourg

R.C.S. Luxembourg: B 102 254



Press Release - Corporate News Luxembourg, 31 March 2022



CPI PROPERTY GROUP publishes financial results for 2021



CPI PROPERTY GROUP (hereinafter "CPIPG", the "Company" or together with its subsidiaries the "Group"), a leading owner of income-generating European real estate, hereby publishes audited financial results for the financial year ended 31 December 2021. "2021 was a year of successful performance and growth for CPIPG," said Martin Nemecek, CEO. "Throughout the year, we made smart acquisitions, strengthened our capital structure and expanded our equity investor base." Highlights of the 2021 financial year include: - CPIPG's property portfolio increased to 13.1 billion (up 27% versus 2020) as the Group completed 1.5 billion of acquisitions and benefited from a 1.4 billion increase in the fair value of residential, landbank and office assets across the Group. Total assets reached 14.4 billion (up 22%). - Net rental income increased to 363 million (up 7% versus 2020) and consolidated adjusted EBITDA rose to 368 million (up 9%) due to the contribution from recent acquisitions and developments, slightly higher occupancy at 93.8% and 3.3% like-for-like growth in gross rental income. - The hotel segment reported net income of 14 million (versus a loss of 3 million in 2020) reflecting the gradual recovery of the hotel sector, especially in the second half of 2021, and effective cost management. - Net business income of 385 million and FFO of 254 million (both up 12% versus 2020) show the benefits of CPIPG's stable business performance, diversified sources of income, and contribution from recent acquisitions. - The Group collected 97% of contracted rent in 2021 before the impact of one-time COVID-19 discounts, which amounted to less than 3% of gross rental income. Office and residential collections were close to 100%. - EPRA NRV (NAV) grew by 38% to 7.0 billion. - Net Loan-to-Value (LTV) dropped to a record low of 35.7% at year-end 2021, following fresh equity raised, disposals and positive revaluations in the second half of 2021. - Unencumbered assets remain high at 70% (stable versus 2020) and net ICR stood at 4.6x, well above financial policy guidelines. - CPIPG's total available liquidity was at 1.2 billion (cash and undrawn 700 million revolving credit facility) at the end of 2021. - During 2021, CPIPG issued 1.4 billion of senior unsecured and hybrid bonds. Proceeds were partially used to repay more than 750 million of senior unsecured bonds, Schuldschein and hybrid bonds callable or maturing in 2022, 2023 and 2024. As a result of these steps, weighted average debt maturity increased from 4.8 years in 2020 to 5.2 years at the end of 2021. "CPIPG is proud of our performance during 2021, with positive developments across our key business measures," said David Greenbaum, CFO. "We remain committed to our financial policy, credit ratings and ESG journey."

Notable events occurring after the end of 2021 include: IMMOFINANZ and S IMMO acquisitions During 2021, CPIPG acquired shares of IMMOFINANZ and S IMMO in the public market and through block purchases. As of 31 December 2021, CPIPG owned 21.6% of IMMOFINANZ and 12.4% of S IMMO. On 3 December 2021, CPIPG announced the intention to launch a mandatory takeover offer for IMMOFINANZ. Upon the conclusion of the offer's initial acceptance period on 23 February 2022, CPIPG owned 54.9% of IMMOFINANZ shares. An additional acceptance period remains open until 28 May 2022. CPIPG expects to fully consolidate IMMOFINANZ in our financial statements as of Q1 2022. On 31 March 2022, an extraordinary general meeting of IMMOFINANZ was held. The general meeting appointed Martin Nemecek and Miroslava Grestiakova to the Supervisory Board of IMMOFINANZ. Four members of the Supervisory Board also resigned. Accordingly, the Supervisory Board of IMMOFINANZ now comprises Miroslava Grestiakova (Chairwoman), Martin Nemecek (Vice-Chairman), Gayatri Narayan, Stefan Guetter, and two representatives of the IMMOFINANZ workers council. During the first quarter of 2022, the Group also continued to acquire shares in S IMMO, resulting in a current shareholding of 16.1% (or 42.6% including IMMOFINANZ's stake of 26.5% in S IMMO). Capital markets activity In January 2022, the Group issued 700 million of 8-year sustainability-linked senior unsecured bonds. Proceeds were used primarily to fund the full repayment of two bonds: US$376.9 million (approximately 333 million) of unsecured bonds due March 2023 and 239.4 million of unsecured bonds due October 2024. Following these transactions, pro forma weighted average debt maturity at the end of 2021 increased by another 8 months to 6.0 years. Also in January 2022, CPIPG issued an additional 50 million of 2.75% senior unsecured green bonds due January 2028. Disposal pipeline In August 2021, CPIPG's Board of Directors approved a plan to complete up to 1 billion of disposals, with proceeds intended to reduce leverage and recharge CPIPG's financial profile for future growth. By the end of 2021, the Group had signed disposals that would raise gross proceeds of approximately 700 million and has since completed most of these transactions. Since the beginning of 2022, CPIPG has signed nearly 200 million of additional disposals relating to our logistics assets and landbank in the Czech Republic. The Group is confident to close pending transactions in the coming weeks and is on track to meet our disposal plan.

War in Ukraine The impact on the Group from the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been limited. CPIPG owns one hotel property in Moscow, valued at 17 million as of the end of 2021, which represents only 0.1% of our portfolio. There is no other direct impact on any of the Group's business operations or assets. CPIPG has acted promptly and provided various forms of aid to support refugees from Ukraine, including providing hotel beds in the Czech Republic, use of our warehouse space in Berlin, and food, supplies, and monetary donations to charities and authorities coordinating the humanitarian aid response. Annual results webcast CPIPG will host a webcast in relation to its financial results for 2021. The webcast will be held on Wednesday 6 April 2022 at 10:00am CET / 9:00am UK. Please register for the webcast in advance via the link below: https://webcasting.brrmedia.co.uk/broadcast/624481afc06d1847121eb7a1



FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Performance 2021 2020 Change Gross rental income  million 402 356 12.7% Net rental income  million 363 338 7.4% Net hotel income  million 14 (3) 545% Total revenues  million 664 623 6.6% Net business income  million 385 344 11.9% Consolidated adjusted EBITDA  million 368 338 8.8% Funds from operations (FFO)  million 254 227 11.8% Net profit for the period  million 1,292 244 430% Assets 31-Dec-2021 31-Dec-2020 Change Total assets  million 14,369 11,801 21.8% Property portfolio  million 13,119 10,316 27.2% Gross leasable area sqm 3,667,000 3,636,000 0.9% Occupancy % 93.8 93.7 0.1 p.p. Like-for-like gross rental growth* % 3.3 0.8 2.5 p.p. Total number of properties** No. 367 343 7.0% Total number of residential units No. 11,755 11,929 (1.5%) Total number of hotel rooms*** No. 7,025 6,753 4.0% * Based on gross rent, excluding one-time discounts

** Excluding residential properties in the Czech Republic

*** Including hotels operated, but not owned by the Group Financing structure 31-Dec-2021 31-Dec-2020 Change Total equity  million 7,695 5,787 33.0% EPRA NRV (NAV)  million 7,039 5,118 37.6% Net debt  million 4,682 4,194 11.6% Net Loan-to-value ratio (Net LTV) % 35.7 40.7 (5.0 p.p.) Net debt/EBITDA x 12.7x 12.4x 0.3x Secured consolidated leverage ratio % 9.8 12.0 (2.2 p.p.) Secured debt to total debt % 27.0 29.0 (2.0 p.p.) Unencumbered assets to total assets % 70.4 70.0 0.4 p.p. Unencumbered assets to unsecured debt % 267% 241% 26 p.p. Net ICR x 4.6x 5.4x (0.8x) CONSOLIDATED INCOME STATEMENT Twelve-month period ended ( million) 31 December 2021 31 December 2020 Gross rental income 401.8 356.5 Service charge and other income 139.1 139.6 Cost of service and other charges (116.2) (107.4) Property operating expenses (61.8) (51.0) Net rental income 362.9 337.7 Development sales 12.9 34.3 Development operating expenses (9.4) (29.9) Net development income 3.5 4.4 Hotel revenue 66.4 43.7 Hotel operating expenses (52.6) (46.8) Net hotel income

Revenues from other business operations 13.8 (3.1) Other business revenue 43.6 48.5 Other business operating expenses (38.4) (43.1) Net other business income 5.2 5.4 Total revenues 663.8 622.6 Total direct business operating expenses (278.4) (278.2) Net business income 385.4 344.4 Net valuation gain 1,275.8 173.1 Net gain on disposal of investment property and subsidiaries 34.5 0.7 Amortization, depreciation and impairment (52.0) (88.0) Administrative expenses (58.4) (47.1) Other operating income 6.5 23.3 Other operating expenses (5.8) (2.8) Operating result 1,586.0 403.6 Interest income 17.9 18.2 Interest expense (97.3) (80.9) Other net financial result 39.3 9.8 Net finance costs (40.1) (52.9) Share of gain (loss) of equity-accounted investees (net of tax) 15.1 (10.6) Profit before income tax 1,561.0 340.1 Income tax expense (269.4) (96.5) Net profit from continuing operations 1,291.6 243.6 Gross rental income Gross rental income increased by 45.3 million (12.7%) to 401.8 million in 2021 primarily due to the growth of rental income generated by the office portfolios in Berlin (9.1 million) and Warsaw (4.7 million) and acquisitions in Italy

(21.5 million). Net hotel income In 2021, net hotel income turned positive to 13.8 million, an increase of 16.9 million (544.5%), amidst a gradual recovery from COVID-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions. Net valuation gain In 2021, the valuation gain of 1,275.8 million reflected primarily revaluations of the Czech portfolio (508.6 million), Berlin offices (443.5 million) and the portfolio in Italy (251.1 million). Amortization, depreciation and impairment Amortization, depreciation and impairment decreased by 36.0 million to 52.0 million in 2021 due to significant impairment loss of the hotel portfolio recognized in 2020 (46.7 million). Interest expense Interest expense increased by 16.4 million to 97.3 million in 2021 due to the increase in total bonds issued.



Other net financial result The other net financial result reflects primarily realized foreign exchange gain. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION ( million) 31 December 2021 31 December 2020 NON-CURRENT ASSETS Intangible assets and goodwill 114.0 107.1 Investment property 10,275.8 8,792.6 Property, plant and equipment 854.6 779.4 Deferred tax assets 164.1 155.6 Equity accounted investees 1,216.1 658.1 Other non-current assets 338.0 330.9 Total non-current assets 12,962.6 10,823.7 CURRENT ASSETS Inventories 11.8 38.8 Trade receivables 105.7 85.4 Cash and cash equivalents 501.8 632.3 Assets linked to assets held for sale 588.5 37.7 Other current assets 198.6 183.5 Total current assets 1,406.4 977.7 TOTAL ASSETS 14,369.0 11,801.4 EQUITY Equity attributable to owners of the Company 5,991.8 4,320.8 Perpetual notes 1,611.6 1,369.6 Non-controlling interests 91.2 96.1 Total equity 7,694.6 5,786.5 NON-CURRENT LIABILITIES Bonds issued 3,693.7 3,195.2 Financial debts 1,164.4 1,269.6 Deferred tax liabilities 1,082.4 842.2 Other non-current liabilities 96.2 116.9 Total non-current liabilities 6,036.7 5,423.9 CURRENT LIABILITIES Bonds issued 41.1 108.8 Financial debts 233.5 253.0 Trade payables 116.2 70.6 Other current liabilities 246.9 158.6 Total current liabilities 637.7 591.0 TOTAL EQUITY AND LIABILITIES 14,369.0 11,801.4

Total assets Total assets increased by 2,567.6 million (21.8%) to 14,369.0 million at 31 December 2021 compared to 31 December 2020. The increase was driven primarily by investment property acquisitions, development costs and other additions (875.0 million) and acquisition of shares in equity accounted investees (558.0 million). Total liabilities Total liabilities increased by 659.5 million (11.0%) to 6,674.4 million at 31 December 2021 compared to 31 December 2020, largely due to incremental debt issuance. The Group issued new bonds of 893.1 million and repaid 463.2 million of bonds and 71.5 million of Schuldshein loans in 2021. The increase of deferred tax liability was primarily due to the property revaluation gains in 2021. EQUITY AND EPRA NRV Total equity increased by 1,908.1 million from 5,786.5 million as at 31 December 2020 to 7,694.6 million as at

31 December 2021. The movements of equity components were as follows: - Increase due to the profit for the period of 1,291.6 million (profit to the owners of 1,202.7 million); - Increase due to issuance of new shares 540.9 million; - Decrease due to share buy-back 239.9 million; - Decrease in revaluation and hedging reserve in total of 6.9 million; - Increase in translation reserve of 137.5 million; - Increase from transactions with NCI in total of 18.0 million - Increase due to issuance and repayment of perpetual notes net of 166.9 million. EPRA NRV was 7,039 million as at 31 December 2021, representing increase of 37.6% compared to 31 December 2020. The increase of EPRA NRV was driven by the above changes in the Group's equity attributable to the owners (increase of retained earnings and other reserves). 31 December 2021 31 December 2020 Equity attributable to the owners (NAV) 5,992 4,321 Effect of exercise of options, convertibles and other equity interests - - Diluted NAV 5,992 4,321 Revaluation of trading property and PPE - 3 Deferred tax on revaluations 1,090 837 Goodwill as a result of deferred tax (43) (43) EPRA NRV ( million) 7,039 5,118 For disclosures regarding Alternative Performance Measures used in this press release please refer to our Annual Management Report 2021, chapters Glossary, Key Ratio Reconciliations and EPRA Performance; accessible at http://cpipg.com/reports-presentations-en.





Audited documents will be available tonight at the following link:

http://www.cpipg.com/reports-presentations-en



2021 audited financial report

2021 audited management report For further information please contact: Investor Relations



David Greenbaum

Chief Financial Officer

d.greenbaum@cpipg.com Moritz Mayer

Manager, Capital Markets

m.mayer@cpipg.com For more on CPI Property Group, visit our website: www.cpipg.com

31.03.2022 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de


World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attends a news conference organized by Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents (ACANU) amid the COVID-19 outbreak at the WHO headquarters in Geneva Switzerland July 3, 2020. Reuters-Yonhap





The World Health Organization laid out three possible paths that the COVID-19 pandemic might follow in 2022, Wednesday  with a new, more virulent variant the worst-case scenario.







The WHO said the most likely way forward was that the severity of disease caused by the virus would wane over time, due to greater public immunity.







But the UN health agency also said a more dangerous variant of concern than Omicron could be lurking round the corner.







The WHO released its updated COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness, Readiness and Response Plan, with the organization's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus hoping it will be the last.







It lays out three possible scenarios for how the third year of the pandemic will pan out.







"Based on what we know now, the most likely scenario is that the virus continues to evolve, but the severity of disease it causes reduces over time as immunity increases due to vaccination and infection," Tedros told a press conference.







He said periodic spikes in cases and deaths might occur as immunity wanes, which may require occasional booster vaccinations for vulnerable people.







"In the best-case scenario, we may see less severe variants emerge, and boosters or new formulations of vaccines won't be necessary," he said.







"In the worst-case scenario, a more virulent and highly transmissible variant emerges. Against this new threat, people's protection against severe disease and death, either from prior vaccination or infection, will wane rapidly."







Tedros said that scenario would require significantly altering the currently-available vaccines, and then making sure they get delivered to the people most vulnerable to severe disease.







Maria Van Kerkhove, the WHO's technical lead on Covid-19, said the virus still has "a lot of energy left," going into the third year of the pandemic.







Last week, more than 10 million new cases and 45,000 deaths were reported to the WHO, which said the number of new infections could be far higher as testing rates have dropped.







At the end of last week, more than 479 million confirmed cases had been registered throughout the pandemic, and more than six million deaths, although WHO acknowledges that the true toll could be several times higher. (AFP)


CALGARY, AB / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Canadian North Resources Inc. (the "Corporation" or "Company") is pleased to announce that:

The Corporation has successfully completed filing of its Prospectus with the securities' regulatory authorities in the Provinces of Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and New Brunswick to enable the Corporation to become a reporting issuer under such applicable securities legislation and qualifying for distribution of 2,223,698 common shares issuable for no additional consideration upon the exercise or deemed exercise of 2,223,698 special warrants of the Corporation (the " Special Warrants ") issued at a price of $1.00 per Special Warrant. The Prospectus also qualified for distribution stock options to be granted to directors, executive officer, and consultants for the purchase of 771,698 common shares at an exercise price of $1.00 per share, which options must be granted within 90 days of March 28, 2022.

") issued at a price of $1.00 per Special Warrant. The Prospectus also qualified for distribution stock options to be granted to directors, executive officer, and consultants for the purchase of 771,698 common shares at an exercise price of $1.00 per share, which options must be granted within 90 days of March 28, 2022. received receipt from the Ontario Securities Commission for the Prospectus; and under Multilateral Instrument 11-102 Passport System in the Provinces of British, Alberta and New Brunswick, with deemed receipt issued by the regulator in each of those jurisdictions for the Prospectus. The Corporation is a reporting issuer in the Provinces of Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta and New Brunswick. The TSX Venture Exchange has conditionally accepted for listing the Corporation's Common Shares pending receipt of all final materials and the issuance of its final bulletin.

"We are pleased to have the Company successfully listed on the TSX Venture Exchange," said Dr. Kaihui Yang, the President and CEO, "We thank our shareholders for their patience and strong support. With the Company well funded, we are now focusing on the exploration and development of the Ferguson Lake project, to unveil the potential value of a Class-1 nickel, copper, cobalt, palladium and platinum property in Canada."

Ferguson Lake Nickel, Copper, Cobalt, Palladium and Platinum project:

The Company's flagship property is the 100% owned Ferguson Lake Project, located 150 Km south of Baker Lake, south Nunavut in Canada. It is a typical magmatic massive sulfide zone over 15 Km long containing base metals and platinum-group metals (PGM) mainly of nickel, copper, cobalt, palladium and platinum. The mineralization of the Ferguson Lake project is believed to be comparable with that of the productive Norilsk mining area in Russia.

The NI43-101 technical report of the Ferguson lake project is available on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. The technical information of the project is also available at the Company's website www.cnresources.com.

Over $22 million raised for Project Exploration and Development:

In connection with the Listing, the Company confirms that net proceeds of $2,193,858 were released from trust to the Company upon the conversion of Special Warrants of the Company to Common Shares, which Special Warrants were issued pursuant to the Offering Memorandum of the Company, at a price of $1.00 per Special Warrant.

Prior to the Listing, the Company raised $19,999,089 from strategic investors through the subscriptions of 26,665,453 Units at a price of $0.75 per Unit. Each Unit consisted of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant of the Company. Each purchase warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share of the Company at an exercise price of $1.50 per common share at any time on or after June 30, 2022 and on or before December 29, 2023.

The proceeds will be used for the resource definition and development of the Ferguson Lake nickel, copper, cobalt, palladium and platinum project.

Share Escrows and Restriction for Sale:

A total of 79,403,785 common shares held by the original shareholders, Board and Management, as well as their associates on a post conversion basis of the Special Warrants, are subject to escrow in accordance with the regulatory requirements and pursuant to the Escrow Agreement with Odyssey Trust Company, as escrow agent, a copy of which is also available on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com. Under the Escrow Agreement, 10% of the shares subject to escrow will be released on the listing date, with 15% released every six months thereafter.

In addition, 20,816,668 shares held by the strategic investors who subscripted to the private placements prior to the Listing are voluntarily restricted for sale, with 10% released on the listing date, 15% released after 6 months from the listing date and 25% released every six months thereafter.

The details of the share structure is available at the Company's website www.cnresources.com.

Option Plan

The Company has granted stock options to directors, executive officers, and consultants for the purchase of a total of 771,698 common shares at an exercise price of $1.00 per share.

Qualified Person

Dr. Trevor Boyd, PGeo, who is a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

Further information of the Company can be found at www.cnresources.com .

Also, for further information contact:

Kaihui Yang, President and CEO

905-696-8288 (Canada)

1-888-688-8809 (Toll-Free)

https://CNResources.com

Email: info@cnresources.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release, including statements which may contain words such as "expects", "anticipates", "intends", "plans", "believes", "estimates", or similar expressions, and statements related to matters which are not historical facts, are forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such forward-looking statements, which reflect management's expectations regarding the Company's future growth, results of operations, performance, business prospects and opportunities, are based on certain factors and assumptions and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on the Company's forward-looking statements. The Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements contained in this news release and the documents incorporated by reference herein are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these expectations will prove to be correct. In addition, although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company undertakes no obligation to release publicly any future revisions to forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this news or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as expressly required by law.

SOURCE: Canadian North Resources Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695568/Canadian-North-Resources-Inc-Announces-Receipt-for-Final-Prospectus-and-Listing-on-the-TSX-Venture-Exchange-and-Over-22-Million-Raised-for-Exploration-and-Development-of-the-Ferguson-Lake-Nickel-Copper-Cobalt-Palladium-and-Platinum-Project
PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / Aberdeen Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund, Inc. (the "Fund") (NYSE American:AEF) held its Annual Meeting of Shareholders (the "Meeting") on March 31, 2022. At the Meeting, shareholders of the Fund voted to re-elect one Class II Director to the Board of Directors and to approve the continuation of the term of one Director under the Fund's Corporate Governance Polices.

As of the record date, February 15, 2022, there were 50,751,778 outstanding shares of the Fund. 83.4% of the outstanding shares were voted at the Meeting representing a quorum.

The description of the proposal and number of shares voted at the Meeting are as follows:

To re-elect one Class II Director to the Board of Directors:

Votes For Votes Against Abstained William Maher 25,757,317 16,446,457 126,951

To approve the continuation of Term for Director under the Corporate Governance Policies:

Votes For Votes Against Abstained Steven N. Rappaport 41,075,759 1,130,104 124,862

In the United States, abrdn is the marketing name for the following affiliated, registered investment advisers: abrdn Inc., Aberdeen Asset Managers Ltd., abrdn Australia Limited, abrdn Asia Limited, Aberdeen Capital Management, LLC, abrdn ETFs Advisors LLC and Aberdeen Standard Alternative Funds Limited.

Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. A Fund's investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the net asset value (NAV) of the fund's portfolio. There is no assurance that a Fund will achieve its investment objective. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

For More Information Contact:

abrdn Inc.

Investor Relations

1-800-522-5465

Investor.Relations@abrdn.com

If you wish to receive this information electronically, please contact: Investor.Relations@abrdn.com

SOURCE: Aberdeen Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund, Inc.

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695567/Aberdeen-Emerging-Markets-Equity-Income-Fund-Inc-Announces-Results-of-Annual-Meeting-of-Shareholders
Aberdeen Standard Global Infrastructure Income Fund ("ASGI")

Aberdeen Asia-Pacific Income Fund, Inc. ("FAX")

Aberdeen Australia Equity Fund, Inc. ("IAF")

The India Fund, Inc. ("IFN")

Aberdeen Japan Equity Fund, Inc. ("JEQ")

PHILADELPHIA, PA / ACCESSWIRE / March 31, 2022 / The above-noted abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds (the "Funds" or individually the "Fund"), today announced that the Funds paid the distributions noted in the table below on March 31, 2022, on a per share basis to all shareholders of record as of March 24, 2022 (ex-dividend date March 23, 2022). These dates apply to the Funds listed below with the exception of the Aberdeen Australia Equity Fund, Inc. (IAF) which paid the distribution on March 31, 2022 to all shareholders of record as of February 22, 2022 (ex-dividend date February 18, 2022).

Ticker Exchange Fund Amount ASGI NYSE Aberdeen Standard Global Infrastructure Income Fund $ 0.1083 FAX NYSE American Aberdeen Asia-Pacific Income Fund, Inc. $ 0.0275 IAF NYSE American Aberdeen Australia Equity Fund, Inc. $ 0.1500 IFN NYSE The India Fund, Inc. $ 0.5800 JEQ NYSE Aberdeen Japan Equity Fund, Inc. $ 0.1500

Each Fund has adopted a distribution policy to provide investors with a stable distribution out of current income, supplemented by realized capital gains and, to the extent necessary, paid-in capital.

For the Aberdeen Australia Equity Fund, Inc. ("IAF"), this stock distribution was automatically paid in newly issued shares of the Fund unless otherwise instructed by the shareholder to be paid in cash. Shares of common stock were issued at the lower of the net asset value ("NAV") per share or the market price per share with a floor for the NAV of not less than 95% of the market price on March 22, 2022. The reinvestment price per share for this distribution was $6.10. Fractional shares were generally settled in cash, except for registered shareholders with book entry accounts at Computershare Investor Services who had whole and fractional shares added to their account.

To have received the Aberdeen Australia Equity Fund, Inc. ("IAF") quarterly distribution payable in March 2022 in cash instead of shares of common stock, for shareholders who hold shares in "street name," the bank, brokerage or nominee who holds the shares must have advised the Depository Trust Company as to the full and fractional shares for which they want the distribution paid in cash by March 18, 2022; and for shares that are held in registered form, written notification for the election of cash by registered shareholders must have been received by Computershare Investor Services prior to March 18, 2022.

Under applicable U.S. tax rules, the amount and character of distributable income for each Fund's fiscal year can be finally determined only as of the end of the Fund's fiscal year. However, under Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "1940 Act") and related rules, the Funds may be required to indicate to shareholders the estimated source of certain distributions to shareholders.

The following tables set forth the estimated amounts of the sources of the distributions for purposes of Section 19 of the 1940 Act and the rules adopted thereunder. The tables have been computed based on generally accepted accounting principles. The tables include estimated amounts and percentages for the current distributions paid this month as well as for the cumulative distributions paid relating to fiscal year to date, from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short-term capital gains; net realized long-term capital gains; and return of capital. The estimated compositions of the distributions may vary because the estimated composition may be impacted by future income, expenses and realized gains and losses on securities and currencies.

Each Fund's estimated sources of the current distribution paid this month and for its current fiscal year to date are as follows:

Estimated Amounts of Current Distribution per Share Fund Distribution Amount Net Investment Income Net Realized Short-Term Gains** Net Realized Long-Term Gains Return of Capital ASGI $0.1083 - - $0.0022 2% $0.1061 98% - - FAX $0.0275 $0.0160 58% - - - - $0.0115 42% IAF $0.1500 $0.0390 26% - - $0.0960 64% $0.0150 10% IFN $0.5800 - - - - $0.5800 100% - - JEQ $0.1500 $0.0255 17% - - $0.1245 83% - -

Estimated Amounts of Fiscal Year* to Date Cumulative Distributions per Share Fund Distribution Amount Net Investment Income Net Realized Short-Term Gains ** Net Realized Long-Term Gains Return of Capital ASGI $0.6498 - - $0.0130 2% $0.6368 98% - - FAX $0.1375 $0.0798 58% - - - - $0.0577 42% IAF $0.3100 $0.0806 26% - - $0.1984 64% $0.0310 10 IFN $0.5800 - - - - $0.5800 100% - - JEQ $1.1305 $0.1922 17% - - $0.9383 83% - -

* ASGI has a 9/30 fiscal year end; FAX, IAF and JEQ have a 10/31 fiscal year end; IFN has a 12/31 fiscal year end.

**includes currency gains.

Where the estimated amounts above show a portion of the distribution to be a "Return of Capital," it means that Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in a Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income."

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The final determination of the source of all distributions for the current year will only be made after year-end. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of the fiscal year and may be subject to change based on tax regulations. After the end of each calendar year, a Form 1099-DIV will be sent to shareholders for the prior calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The following table provides the Funds' total return performance based on net asset value (NAV) over various time periods compared to the Funds' annualized and cumulative distribution rates.

Fund Performance and Distribution Rate Information Fund Average Annual Total Return on NAV for the 5 Year Period Ending 02/28/2022 Current Fiscal Period's Annualized Distribution Rate on NAV Cumulative Total Return on NAV Cumulative Distribution Rate on NAV ASGI 13.22%3 5.85% 2.44% 2.44% FAX 2.22% 8.25% (5.98%) 2.75% IFN 9.85% n/a4 -8.01% n/a4 JEQ 5.10% 11.91%5 -13.85% 11.91%

1 Return data is net of all Fund expenses and fees and assumes the reinvestment of all distributions reinvested at prices obtained under the Fund's dividend reinvestment plan.

2 Based on the Fund's NAV as of February 28, 2022.

3 The Fund launched within the past 5 years; the performance and distribution rate information presented reflects data from inception (July 29, 2020) through February 28, 2022.

4 The Fund's fiscal period to date is 1/1/2022 to 2/28/2022 and there were no distributions in this period.

5 Due to the Fund's annual distribution policy in place in 2021, the percentage shown represents the per share annual distribution of income and capital divided by the Fund's NAV as of February 28, 2022.

*The Fund's fiscal period to date is 1/1/2022 to 2/28/2022 and there were no distributions in this period.

Fund Performance and Distribution Rate Information Fund Average Annual Total Return on NAV for the 5 Year Period Ending 01/31/2022  Current Fiscal Period's Annualized Distribution Rate on NAV Cumulative Total Return on NAV  Cumulative Distribution Rate on NAV  IAF 2 8.33% 11.43% (10.58%) 2.86%

1 Return data is net of all Fund expenses and fees and assumes the reinvestment of all distributions reinvested at prices obtained under the Fund's dividend reinvestment plan.

2 Based on the Fund's NAV as of January 31, 2022.

Shareholders should not draw any conclusions about a Fund's investment performance from the amount of the Fund's current distributions or from the terms of the distribution policy (the "Distribution Policy").

While NAV performance may be indicative of the Fund's investment performance, it does not measure the value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund. The value of a shareholder's investment in the Fund is determined by the Fund's market price, which is based on the supply and demand for the Fund's shares in the open market.

Pursuant to an exemptive order granted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Funds may distribute any long-term capital gains more frequently than the limits provided in Section 19(b) under the 1940 Act and Rule 19b-1 thereunder. Therefore, distributions paid by the Funds during the year may include net income, short-term capital gains, long-term capital gains and/or a return of capital. Net income dividends and short-term capital gain dividends, while generally taxable at ordinary income rates, may be eligible, to the extent of qualified dividend income earned by the Funds, to be taxed at a lower rate not to exceed the maximum rate applicable to your long-term capital gains. Distributions made in any calendar year in excess of investment company taxable income and net capital gain are treated as taxable ordinary dividends to the extent of undistributed earnings and profits, and then as a return of capital that reduces the adjusted basis in the shares held. To the extent return of capital distributions exceed the adjusted basis in the shares held, capital gain is recognized with a holding period based on the period the shares have been held at the date such amount is received.

The payment of distributions in accordance with the Distribution Policy may result in a decrease in the Fund's net assets. A decrease in the Fund's net assets may cause an increase in the Fund's annual operating expense ratio and a decrease in the Fund's market price per share to the extent the market price correlates closely to the Fund's net asset value per share. The Distribution Policy may also negatively affect the Fund's investment activities to the extent that the Fund is required to hold larger cash positions than it typically would hold or to the extent that the Fund must liquidate securities that it would not have sold, for the purpose of paying the distribution. Each Fund's Board has the right to amend, suspend or terminate the Distribution Policy at any time. The amendment, suspension or termination of the Distribution Policy may affect the Fund's market price per share. Investors should consult their tax advisor regarding federal, state and local tax considerations that may be applicable in their particular circumstances.

Circular 230 disclosure : To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the U.S. Treasury, we inform you that any U.S. tax advice contained in this communication (including any attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.

In the United States, abrdn is the marketing name for the following affiliated, registered investment advisers: abrdn Inc., Aberdeen Asset Managers Ltd., abrdn Australia Limited, abrdn Asia Limited, Aberdeen Capital Management, LLC, abrdn ETFs Advisors LLC and Aberdeen Standard Alternative Funds Limited.

Closed-end funds are traded on the secondary market through one of the stock exchanges. A Fund's investment return and principal value will fluctuate so that an investor's shares may be worth more or less than the original cost. Shares of closed-end funds may trade above (a premium) or below (a discount) the net asset value (NAV) of the fund's portfolio. There is no assurance that a Fund will achieve its investment objective. Past performance does not guarantee future results.

If you wish to receive this information electronically, please contact Investor.Relations@abrdn.com

https://www.abrdn.com/en-us/cefinvestorcenter/fund-centre/closed-end-funds

For More Information Contact:

abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds

Investor Relations

1-800-522-5465

Investor.Relations@abrdn.com

SOURCE: abrdn U.S. Closed-End Funds

View source version on accesswire.com:https://www.accesswire.com/695576/abrdn-US-Closed-End-Funds-Announce-Distribution-Payment-Details
Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - March 31, 2022) - Good2GoRTO Corp. (TSXV: GRTO.P) ("G2G" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that G2G has received conditional approval (the "Conditional Approval") from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") for G2G's proposed Qualifying Transaction (as such term is defined in TSXV Policy 2.4) with FRX Polymers, Inc. ("FRX"). The Conditional Approval is valid for a 90 day period from March 31, 2022.

The TSXV also approved the filing of G2G's filing statement dated March 31, 2022 (the "Filing Statement"), prepared in connection with the Qualifying Transaction. Further information concerning G2G, FRX, FRX Polymer (Canada), Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of FRX ("Finco"), 13448061 Canada Inc. ("Pubco Sub") and G2G Merger Sub Inc. ("Merger Sub"), both wholly-owned subsidiaries of G2G, and the Qualifying Transaction is contained in the Filing Statement, which is available for review under G2G's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Subject to satisfaction of all conditions and approvals in accordance with the terms of the business combination agreement entered into among G2G, FRX, Finco, Pubco Sub and Merger Sub dated November 2, 2021, as amended, including final acceptance by the TSXV of the Qualifying Transaction and its approval of the listing of the common shares of the combined entity (the "Resulting Issuer Shares") and certain common share purchase warrants (the "Resulting Issuer Warrants") on the TSXV, the Qualifying Transaction is expected to close in April, 2022, or such other date as may be agreed upon by G2G and FRX. Subsequent to the completion of the Qualifying Transaction and satisfaction of all the final listing and filing requirements of the TSXV, G2G expects the Resulting Issuer Shares and Resulting Issuer Warrants to commence trading on the TSXV under the symbol "FRXI".

About FRX Polymers, Inc.

FRX is a global manufacturing company, producing a family of environmentally sustainable flame-retardant products that serve a number of large markets spanning electronics, automotive, electric vehicles (EV) and medical devices. FRX is led by a team of highly experienced business and technical professionals and is positioned to be a leader in the rapidly growing flame retardant plastics and additives market.

Nofia is a registered trademark of FRX. Nofia products are manufactured at its manufacturing facility on the Port of Antwerp Belgium, one of the world's largest chemicals producing clusters. Nofia phosphonates are produced using sustainable green chemistry principles such as a solvent-free production process, no waste by-products, and near 100% atom efficiency. FRX's portfolio includes an extensive patent estate. FRX has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the EPA's Environmental Merit Award, the Belgium Business Award for the Environment, and the Flanders Investment of the Year Award. FRX has also been recognized six times on the Global Cleantech 100 list.

For more information on FRX, visit https://www.frxpolymers.com.

About Good2GoRTO Corp.

G2G is designated as a "Capital Pool Company" (as such term is defined in TSXV Policy 2.4). G2G has not commenced commercial operations and has no assets other than cash. G2G's principal business is the identification and evaluation of assets or businesses with a view to completing a Qualifying Transaction. Investors are cautioned that trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

Further Information

G2G and FRX will provide further details in respect of the Transaction in due course by way of a subsequent news release, however, G2G will make available to the TSXV, all information, including financial information, as may be requested or required by the TSXV.

All information contained in this news release with respect to G2G and FRX was supplied by the respective party, for inclusion herein, without independent review by the other party, and each party and its directors and officers have relied on the other party for any information concerning the other party.

Completion of the Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, TSXV acceptance. There can be no assurance that the Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Filing Statement of G2G prepared in connection with the Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon.

The TSXV has not in any way passed upon the merits of the Proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release.

For further information please contact:

Good2GoRTO Corp.

Sandra Hall, Director

Email: shall@bellnet.ca

FRX Polymers Inc.

Marc-Andre Lebel, President & Chief Executive Officer

Email: mlebel@frxpolymers.com

CAUTIONARY STATEMENTS REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain acts, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information in this press release may include, without limitation, statements with respect to the completion of the Qualifying Transaction, the listing of the Resulting Issuer Shares, the listing of the Resulting Issuer Warrants and the terms, conditions and completion of the Qualifying Transaction. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by these statements depending on, among other things, the risks that the parties will not proceed with the Qualifying Transaction and associated transactions, that the ultimate terms of the Qualifying Transaction and associated transactions will differ materially from those that are currently contemplated, and that the Qualifying Transaction and associated transactions will not be successfully complete for any reason (including failure to obtain the required approvals or clearances from regulatory authorities). The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118850
DGAP-Ad-hoc: Dexus Finance Pty Limited / Key word(s): Real Estate

Dexus Finance Pty Limited: Final settlement of Jandakot joint venture



01-Apr-2022 / 01:20 CET/CEST

Disclosure of an inside information acc. to Article 17 MAR of the Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.

The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.





Dexus (ASX: DXS)

ASX release

1 April 2022

Final settlement of Jandakot joint venture

Dexus announces that Cbus Super's investment in the Jandakot joint venture alongside the final settlement of the remaining Jandakot interest have now occurred, following the receipt of required regulatory approvals.

The circa $1.3 billion Jandakot joint venture which owns 100% of Jandakot Airport and industrial precinct in Perth is now held in the following proportions: Dexus 33.4%; Dexus Industria REIT (DXI) 33.3% and Cbus Super 33.3%.

Further detail relating to the transaction was previously announced to the Australian Securities Exchange on 1 February 2022.

Authorised by Brett Cameron, General Counsel and Company Secretary of Dexus Funds Management Limited

For further information please contact:

Investors

Rowena Causley

Head of Listed Investor Relations

+61 2 9017 1390

+61 416 122 383

rowena.causley@dexus.com Media

Louise Murray

Senior Manager, Corporate Communications

+61 2 9017 1446

+61 403 260 754

louise.murray@dexus.com

About Dexus

Dexus (ASX: DXS) is one of Australia's leading fully integrated real estate groups, managing a high-quality Australian property portfolio valued at $45.3 billion. We believe that the strength and quality of our relationships will always be central to our success and are deeply committed to working with our customers to provide spaces that engage and inspire. We invest only in Australia, and directly own $18.3 billion of office, industrial and healthcare properties, and investments. We manage a further $27.0 billion of office, retail, industrial and healthcare properties for third party clients. The group's $17.8 billion development pipeline provides the opportunity to grow both portfolios and enhance future returns. Sustainability is integrated across our business, and our sustainability approach is the lens we use to manage emerging ESG risks and opportunities for all our stakeholders. Dexus is a Top 50 entity by market capitalisation listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and is supported by more than 30,000 investors from 23 countries. With over 35 years of expertise in property investment, funds management, asset management and development, we have a proven track record in capital and risk management and delivering superior risk-adjusted returns for investors. www.dexus.com

Dexus Funds Management Ltd ABN 24 060 920 783, AFSL 238163, as Responsible Entity for Dexus (ASX: DXS)

Level 25, 264 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000

01-Apr-2022 CET/CEST The DGAP Distribution Services include Regulatory Announcements, Financial/Corporate News and Press Releases.

Archive at www.dgap.de


Apono, an Israeli cybersecurity startup, completed a $5 million Seed funding round.

The round was led by Meron Capital with participation from 15 other investors including YYM and Booster Ventures, as well as quite a few successful founders of cybersecurity startups as well as industry veterans.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its development efforts.

Apono provides organizations with access management solutions to manage permissions securely while adhering to all customer data security requirements.

Apono appeared not so long ago, in 2021. It was founded by Rom Carmel and Ofir Stein. They both may bolster solid experience in cybersecurity and DevOps. Rom worked in the R&D of the cyber divisions of the Israeli Prime Ministers office. Ofir was an Air Force officer. Ofir was also a core product development leader at Logz.io. Working in the field, both founders faced the problem of mismanaged permissions that many organizations also face.

Apono CEO Rom Carmel says that inadequate privilege management is the leading cause why read so much sad news about data breaches when customer data has been leaked. He believes that business productivity should not come at the cost of security, nor should security come at the expense of productivity. Clients come to Apono because they are tired of compromising.

Aponos approach is context-based and dynamic. It provides the exact permissions needed to do the task under the exact time frame. The company is not big and employs about ten people in Israel, but its product is already used by big organizations in Europe and the U.S.

As experts from VPNBrains note, cybersecurity startups are able to raise plenty of millions these days. In March, Theta Lake, a Santa Barbara-based cybersecurity startup, raised $50 million in Series B funding led by Battery Ventures. MixMode, another American cybersecurity startup, raised $45 million.
Deepki, a Paris, France-based provider of an ESG data intelligence platform for the real estate sector, raised 150m in Series C funding round.

The round was co-led by One Peak and Highland Europe with participation from Bpifrance, through their Large Venture fund, and Revaia, as well as existing investors Hi Inov and Statkraft Ventures.

The company intends to use the funds to consolidate its leadership position in Europe through innovation, securing over 200 new hires in 2022, establish and grow the business in the US within the next 12 months, and carry out strategic acquisitions.

Founded in 2014 and led by Vincent Bryant, CEO, and Emmanuel Blanchet, COO, Deepki provides a SaaS platform for real estate investors, owners and managers to improve the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance of their real estate assets, and enhance their value.

The platform enables clients to collect ESG data, get a comprehensive overview of their portfolios ESG performance, establish investment plans to reach Net Zero, improve energy efficiency, and assess results. It also allows users to report to key stakeholders. The platform is supported by carbon and ESG experts who partner with clients across data collection and analysis, through to ESG strategy definition and implementation.

Now with over 150 employees, offices in five European capital cities and operating in over 38 countries, Deepki has become the global leader in ESG and data intelligence solutions for environmental transition in the commercial real estate sector, with more than 500 million sqm  almost five times the area of Paris  under management. To date, Deepki has saved over 180,000 equivalent tonnes of CO across its client base.

In 2021, the company secured new business from major European players such as AEW and Tikehau in France, Generali RE and DeA Capital in Italy, Allianz Real Estate and Warburg HIH in Germany, Azora Capital and Neinver in Spain, and several leading global property and asset managers in the UK.

FinSMEs

31/03/2022
Lord of the Trees, a New York-based ecosystem restoration company, raised $1.25M in Pre-Seed funding.

The round was led by Draper Associates.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and accelerate growth.

Led by CEO Aymeric Maudous, Lord of the Trees is a public benefit corporation with pending B-Corp certification that uses a combination of high technology (artificial intelligence, robotics, and drones) and Lo-Tek (Local Traditional Ecological Knowledge) to harmoniously regenerate the Earths damaged ecosystems. The companys precision-planting drones are capable of scattering seeds on a vast scale  at a rate of about 400,000 seed pods in just 12 hours  cheaper and more efficiently than ever before. These proprietary seed pods contain a blend of plant nutrients that sustain optimum germination conditions, increasing the seeds chances of developing a healthy root system.

Lord of the Trees plans to tackle restoring blue carbon sources, like mangroves, tidal marshlands, and kelp forests first, as these environments are able to absorb 3-5x more carbon dioxide than regular forests. In fact, the company is currently proceeding with a drone replanting project of critically endangered Red Mangroves in Australia and will be conducting additional programs in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, California, Mexico and Africa.

Lord of the Trees is working with government authorities, the mining sector, land owners, and the agricultural industry to restore biodiversity on a mass scale at a vastly reduced cost.



FinSMEs

30/03/2022
Minut, a Malmoe, Sweden-based creator of a sensor that monitors noise, occupancy, motion and temperature in vacation rental properties, raised $14m in Series B funding round.

The round was led by Almaz Capital with participation from Zenith, Kompas, Verve Ventures, Swiss Immo Lab, and previous backers Karma, SOSVs HAX and KPN Ventures.

The company intends to use the funds to continue expanding its presence globally and adding new integrations with various property management solutions.

Led by Nils Mattisson, co-founder and CEO, Minut provides a sensor that monitors noise, occupancy, motion and temperature in vacation rental properties.

Thanks to machine learning and AI, with on-device computing capabilities, the Minut sensor can analyse the sound volume and events without streaming audio recordings to the cloud. This way, it provides accurate and timely data while respecting the privacy of guests.

The company has established partnerships with multiple players in the rental industry, including Airbnb and Kasa Living who now recommends the solution to hosts and now has tens of thousands of devices in operation in over 100 countries and offices in the US, UK, Sweden, France and Spain.

FinSMEs

31/03/2022
Members of the Ukrainian community and others gathered at the state Capitol to protest the Russian invasion of Ukraine at a rally in Sacramento, Calif., Feb. 24. AP-Yonhap





As the United States prepares to accept up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees following Russia's invasion of their country, existing communities in cities such as Sacramento and Seattle are already mobilizing to provide food, shelter and support to those fleeing the war.







The federal government hasn't said when the formal resettlement process will begin, but Ukrainian groups in the U.S. are already providing support to people entering the country through other channels, including on visas that will eventually expire or by flying to Mexico and crossing over the border.







"No refugee is waiting for you to be ready for them," said Eduard Kislyanka, senior pastor at the House of Bread church near Sacramento, which has been sending teams of people to Poland and preparing dozens of its member families to house people arriving in California.







Since the war began in late February, over 4 million people are estimated to have fled Ukraine and millions more have been displaced within the country. President Joe Biden said last week that the U.S. would admit up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees and provide $1 billion in humanitarian assistance to countries affected by the exodus.







The federal government has yet to provide a timeline for refugee resettlement  often a lengthy process  or details on where refugees will be resettled. It's unlikely the United States will see a massive influx of Ukrainians on charter and military flights like happened with Afghan refugees last year.







Krish O'Mara Vignarajah, president of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, said the White House commitment of accepting up to 100,000 Ukrainians does not come with a minimum. Aside from the refugee resettlement program, their main avenues will be seeking humanitarian parole and appearing at the border with Mexico, she said.







Edward Kislyanka, right, senior pastor at the House of Bread Church near Sacramento, Calif., meets with other church members Tuesday, March 29, to discuss efforts to assist Ukrainian refugees. AP-Yonhap





Many who reach the United States will likely go to cities that already have strong Ukrainian communities.







The Sacramento region is home to the highest concentration of Ukrainian immigrants in the country, with about 18,000 people, according to census data analyzed by the Migration Policy Institute.







The Seattle, Chicago and New York City areas are also hubs.






Nova Labs (aka Helium Inc.), a San Francisco, CA-based leader in decentralized wireless communications, raised $200M in Series D equity funding.

The round was led by Tiger Global and Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Seven Seven Six, Goodyear Ventures, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Liberty Global, NGP Capital (backed by Nokia), Pantera Capital, Ribbit Capital, and Deutsche Telekoms strategic investment fund Telekom Innovation Pool (TIP).



The company intends to use the funds to invest in its ecosystem through hiring and additional development to improve the network, driving continued wireless protocol support, building new applications on top of the Helium Network powered by cryptocurrency, growing the team, and working towards a decentralized future of wireless connectivity.

Co-founded by Shawn Fanning and Amir Haleem in 2013, Nova Labs is a pioneer of decentralized wireless communications, which has enabled global IoT and 5G networks that have created a new category of connectivity and given hundreds of thousands of people the opportunity to build the Network from home and earn rewards.

The companys blockchain-based model empowers people around the world to become a mini cell tower by deploying Hotspots and rewarding them in the Helium Networks native token, $HNT, for providing coverage. This incentive model, originally created by Nova Labs, has enabled the Helium ecosystem to build wireless infrastructure faster than big telecommunication companies at a fraction of the cost. The Helium Network launched in 2019 and earlier this year surpassed half a million Hotspots, and today provides coverage for over 52,000 cities across 169 countries.

IoT and network industry leaders including Goodyear, Actility, Senet, Kore, X-TELIA and DISH partnered with the Network to use its coverage for enterprise customers including, Volvo Group, Cisco, Schneider Electric, Accenture, Olympus, One Planet, Careband, Hoopo, Invoxia, Victor, and others.

FinSMEs

30/03/2022
Orka Technology Group, a Manchester, UK-based SaaS business that provides tech-based solutions for shift workers and their employers, raised 3m in funding.

The investment was made by Praetura Ventures.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate product development, grow its API integration program and target growth in new markets, including in the mechanical and electrical sectors.

Led by CEO Tom Pickersgill, Orka provides a platform that enables workers to find temporary employment with large organisations; a flexible payment product that allows workers to access 50 per cent of their wages as soon as theyve earned them; and a soon-to-be-launched passport system that will eliminate the need for background assessments every time someone sources work through the system.

More than 60,000 people already use Orkas products and, over the last four years, it has become the go-to tech solution for shift workers. It currently works with over half of the UKs top 30 security companies, including leading names such as G4S, ISS and Wilson James.

In a recent development, Orka Technology Group raised 29m funding. This round was a mixture of debt financing from Sonovate and equity funding involving the British Business Bank Future Fund and existing investors, including former UK CEO of Adecco Peter Searle. With this, the overall funding raised by the company totals 31.5m.

FinSMEs

31/03/2022
Yonder founders

Yonder, a London, UK-based new credit card startup founded by ClearScore alumni, raised 20M in seed funding.

The round was co-led by Northzone and LocalGlobe, with Seedcamp participating alongside a host of angels, including Sharmadean Reid, Marshmallow founders Oliver and Alex Kent-Braham, and Rio Ferdinand.

The company intends to use the funds to grow the team and build their selection of rewards and features.

Co-founded by Theso Jivajirajah, Harry Jell, and CEO Tim Chong, Yonder offers a credit card and rewards program that will provide members with access to exclusive drinking, dining and leisure experiences with partners including The Gladwin Brothers and Kricket restaurants, plus the ability to spend abroad with zero FX fees.

Yonder secured FCA authorisation in just nine months.

From today, Yonder will open its waitlist to customers in London, who can apply to join its Founding Members program for early access to the credit card.

FinSMEs

31/03/2022
How to read your Window Sticker.At the top you will see MIC- set of numbers then your Dealers State.Above the Window Sticker and to the left and above of the Last 5 digit numbers of your VIN you will see BLEND, the last 4 numbers is the Day your Ranger is schedule to be made, the other numbers in BLEND is the Current year.Further to the right and once again before your VIN number you will see numbers with the / , mine is 208/424, this means my Ranger is the 208 out of 424 on the production position assembly line.In the Box with your Total MSRP will have a set of numbers, mine states Special Order with other numbers followed by the date that day your Window Sticker was generated.To the Left of the MSRP Box is the type of Shipment, either RAIL or TRANSPORT(Truck).Before Covid the assembly line was producing thousands instead of hundreds.Interesting Video on You Tube of the Rangers being made at the Ford Factory, there are other Vid's as well not just this one.
Chinese FM meets Turkmen counterpart

Xinhua) 16:07, March 31, 2022

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov on the sidelines of the third foreign ministers' meeting of neighboring countries of Afghanistan, in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

HEFEI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Wednesday met with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov on the sidelines of the third Foreign Ministers' meeting among the neighboring countries of Afghanistan, in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province.

Noting that no matter how the international situation changes, China will remain Turkmenistan's reliable brother and dependable partner, Wang said China has full confidence in relations with Turkmenistan.

China is willing to work with Turkmenistan to advance the sustained, smooth and stable development of cooperation in various fields and open up broader prospects, Wang added.

Meredov said Turkmenistan regards China as the most important partner in energy cooperation and will not change this established position. Turkmenistan is willing to strengthen the alignment between its development strategy to revive the Great Silk Road and the Belt and Road Initiative and lift bilateral relations to a new high.

China is willing to expand collaboration in the entire energy industrial chain, enlarge the volume and scale of energy cooperation and explore cooperation potential in green energy, natural gas utilization and technical equipment, Wang said.

The two sides also exchanged views on cooperation between China and five Central Asian countries, as well as the Afghanistan issue.

Meredov expressed support for Afghanistan in drawing a clear line with terrorist organizations and resolutely cracking down on all terrorist forces including the East Turkestan Islamic Movement.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi meets with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov on the sidelines of the third foreign ministers' meeting of neighboring countries of Afghanistan, in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
The Fred Hutch Survivorship Program and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance are hosting the 16th annual Moving Beyond Cancer to Wellness, a free event for cancer patients, survivors, caregivers, friends, family and health care professionals to provide education on wellness after cancer.

The 2022 event will be held in-person* on the Fred Hutch Campus. The keynote speech, exhibitors and a complimentary light continental breakfast will take place outside in Fred Hutch's Mundie Courtyard, followed by breakout sessions held indoors for guests who are comfortable attending. Parking is free for attendees.

Agenda

8:30 a.m. - 9 a.m.: Check-in

9 a.m.: Keynote Speaker

10 a.m. - 12 p.m.: Breakout Sessions

*Due to COVID-19 concerns, conference activities will take place outdoors to the extent possible.
Fujitsu Survey Reveals how European Schools are Failing to Keep Pace with Need for Digital Expertise

News facts: Despite the need for digital skills in the workplace, digital literacy is still very limited in schools across Europe

Students are acquiring their digital skills outside of school and failing to become proficient in critical areas from digital content creation to data protection and privacy

The current approach is failing to prepare school leavers for todays workplaces  employers report significant gaps in new joiners media competencies

Munich, March 31, 2022

While digital fluency is considered a foundational requirement by employers in all industries, this is not reflected in education policy, school equipment and teacher skillsets in most of Europe, according to a first of its kind study1 undertaken by Fujitsu.



Fujitsu commissioned the Program for International Digital Skills Assessment (FIDA) study to evaluate digital literacy today. The FIDA report provides an updated snapshot of the state of digital literacy among school-leavers, since the next state-sponsored PISA study is not due until 2025.



Surprising results: Almost all of Europe is falling behind in teaching digital literacy

The study shows that almost every country has a shortfall in digital literacy in schools. Denmark is the exception, having switched to digital processes very early. For example, 86% of Danish students collaborate online at least once a week, while the figure is only 12% in Germany. The UK, France and Italy also lag. This discrepancy is in part due to a lack of buy in from teachers who do not see the urgent need for digital usage in schools: In Germany, only 9% of teachers fully agree to the use of digital media in the classroom, compared to 64% in Denmark.



Consequently, most students acquire their digital skills outside of school. Germany shows the most considerable discrepancy in the use of digital media inside and outside of school  with only 23% using digital media at school but 92% using it for extra-curricular activities.



Digital media does not seem to be a key focus for most schools  with only 16% of teachers in France and 9% in Germany prioritizing its use. Furthermore, when used, digital media is primarily for small research projects or finding specific information online. Key digital skills such as online collaboration are only covered by a minority of academic organizations  just 21% in France, 15% in Italy, 12% in Germany, and 9% in Finland. Regarding teaching responsible internet behavior  only the UK (95%) has a dedicated program. Most other countries like Austria (70%), Denmark (48%), France (70%), Italy (53%), Germany (74%), Netherlands (64%) and Portugal (62%) have room to improve in this area.



Digital infrastructure and teachers own digital skills must be prioritized

In France, almost half (48%) of students believe that the country is behind in terms of equipment and digital services in higher education. In comparison, only 20% of students are satisfied with the equipment and services provided by their institution. In Portugal and Germany, approximately 30% of principals consider their available internet speed sufficient. Germans also believe teachers cannot fundamentally effectively teach digital media. School principals across Europe emphasized that teachers must be empowered to share digital expertise and use IT infrastructure across all school subjects  utilizing regular training and strong, long-term partnerships with digital solution providers.



Dr. Christian Swertz, Professor for Media Education at the University of Vienna, comments: Most initiatives on computer literacy in the European education system focus on how to use computers yet fail to incorporate the more sophisticated skillsets that life and work require today. Education should incorporate the media used in the workplace and aim to empower students to create content  in an interactive, cooperative and individualized classroom.



Neither students nor employers have confidence in school leavers digital skills

The absence of opportunities for students to learn critical digital skills translates into a lack of confidence in their use. While students tend to feel more comfortable leveraging digital media for communication and collaboration, they feel less able in problem-solving or digital content creation. Employers across Europe confirm this shortfall: they report that entry-level candidates generally lack basic digital skills such as creating a presentation, using calculation tables and office software. Potentially more consequential is the lack of competency in data protection and privacy, where more than 50% of companies note that their apprentices have insufficient knowledge.



Christian Leutner, Vice President, Head of Product Sales Europe at Fujitsu, says: Theres a perception that todays generations of digital natives naturally acquire the digital skills they need, but our research shows that more formal digital instruction is needed to better equip school leavers for both the workplace and todays digital society. There is an urgent need to improve on many fronts  from ensuring that schools have the digital infrastructure and expertise they need to support digital media training to expanding and modernizing curricula and upskilling the teachers themselves.



The Program for International Digital Skill Assessment (FIDA)1, undertaken by Fujitsu, turns the spotlight on digital literacy in European schools today, shines a light on the crucial areas that need improvement, and informs Fujitsus support for educational customers, worldwide. Fujitsu brings strong technology partnerships and decades of experience transforming institutions of all sizes  to implement safe, secure and resilient solutions that enable teachers to effectively engage students, at home and in the classroom.

Notes to editors

1 FIDA (Fujitsu Program for International Digital Skill Assessment) is a bi-annual research initiative to determine pupils and students digital skills needs while delivering valuable insights regarding appropriate measures. FIDA is a meta-analysis: The results were extracted by compiling data from several national studies. In the first step, we investigated the current state of research on media and digital literacy among European students. For this exercise, Statista identified current national studies, surveys, reports and publications and prepared key insights in a digestible way. In addition, multinational studies were included to enable a comparison of the results.

Online resources

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For regular news updates, bookmark the Fujitsu newsroom: https://www.fujitsu.com/emeia/about/resources/news/newsroom.html

About Fujitsu Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 126,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.6 trillion yen (US$34 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. For more information, please see Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 126,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 3.6 trillion yen (US$34 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. For more information, please see https://www.fujitsu.com/

Fujitsus Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 represent a set of common goals to be achieved worldwide by 2030. Fujitsus purpose  to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation  is a promise to contribute to the vision of a better future empowered by the SDGs.

Fujitsus Commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations in 2015 represent a set of common goals to be achieved worldwide by 2030. Fujitsus purpose  to make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation  is a promise to contribute to the vision of a better future empowered by the SDGs.



All other company or product names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information provided in this press release is accurate at time of publication and is subject to change without advance notice.



Date: March 31, 2022

City: Munich
News

Port of Galveston to get $11M from infrastructure bill

jenniferreynolds / Jennifer Reynolds/The Daily News file Barges travel through the west end of the Galveston Ship Channel on Dec. 20, 2016. The federal government announced Wednesday it would allocate money to dredge the channel to 46 feet. Silt has for years been causing headaches for the Port of Galveston and some of the private businesses operating at the port.

GALVESTON

The federal government will commit $11 million to deepening the Galveston Ship Channel, the White House announced Tuesday.

As part of an announcement highlighting projects funded by last years Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Biden administration said it would fund a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers project to deepen part of the Galveston Harbor Channel to accommodate large vessels throughout the port.

The dredging will increase capacity and improve safety at the port, according to the White House announcement.

Port officials called the approved project a game changer that will help generate more jobs, economic growth and additional federal funding.

In 2020, the port and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers agreed to finalize a plan to deepen more than 2,500 feet of the west end of the ship channel.

The project would deepen the channel to 46 feet, the same depth as the rest of the ship channel.

Port officials at the time said deepening the west end of the channel would allow larger ships to access public docks at the west end of the port and benefit private entities operating there.

The administration has made it pretty clear that they want to make sure theyre improving logistical assets of the country to ease the supply chain and invest in low-to-moderate income communities, said Todd Sullivan, a trustee of the Wharves Board, which governs the Port of Galveston, and the managing principal of Texas International Terminals.

This is immediate relief to the supply chain. Its not like theyre building a road to nowhere that everybody else will fill in some day. This immediately enhances shipping efficiency for all terminals.

Texas International Terminals operates on the west end of the port.

A deep channel will allow more access to the west end of the port and allow ships to load more cargo on board because of the deeper draft allowance, Sullivan said. It also will help Texas A&M University at Galveston, which plans to bring a new, large training ship to its Pelican Island campus in 2024.

The port and its local supporters have advocated for a deepening of the ship channel for years. An earlier deepening project completed around 2010 didnt deepen the entire channel to 46 feet, Sullivan said.

In an open letter published in The Daily News earlier this month, J.P. Bryan, a commissioner on the Board of Pilot Commissioners for Galveston County Ports and the founder of The Bryan Museum, called on the Army Corps and the White House to take up the dredging project in the upcoming fiscal year.

The western-most end of the Galveston Federal Ship Channel continues to experience significant growth, which results in the creation of local jobs, tax base and increased regional significance for the Port of Galveston, Bryan wrote.

The port will be responsible for covering 25 percent of the cost of the dredging, Sullivan said. The port and a group of businesses that use the ship channel already, including Texas International Terminals, have a cost-sharing agreement in place in which the businesses will cover two-thirds of the local cost, Sullivan said.

The project is shovel-ready and planned to begin in 2023, Port Director Rodger Rees said in a message to The Daily News.

The White House included the Galveston project as one of 300 Army Corps port and waterway projects the infrastructure bill will fund. The project makes up about $2.7 billion of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill.
NEW YORK, March 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of TAL Education Group (TAL or the Company) (NYSE: TAL). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.



The investigation concerns whether TAL 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 April 25, 2021, media reports revealed that the City of Beijing had fined four online education agencies, including TAL, the maximum fine of 500,000 yuan (approximately $80,000) each for misleading customers with false advertising 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 TAL and other for-profit tutoring companies.

On this news, TALs American Depository Share (ADS) price fell $6.89 per ADS, or 13%, over the following two trading sessions to close at $46.25 per ADS on May 13, 2021.

On June 1, 2021, Chinese regulators announced that they had fined 15 off-campus training institutions, including TAL, for illegal activities such as false advertising and fraud. On this news, TALs ADS price fell $7.24 per ADS, or nearly 18%, over the following two trading sessions to close at $33.27 per ADS on June 3, 2021. Finally, on July 23, 2021, China unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its education sector, banning companies that teach the school curriculum from making profits, raising capital or going public, effectively ending any potential growth in the for-profit tutoring sector in China.

On this news, TALs ADS price fell $16.12 per ADS, or 78.56%, over the following two trading sessions to close at $4.40 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 .
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Immutable Holdings Inc. (NEO:HOLD) (Immutable Holdings or the Company), a publicly-traded blockchain holding company, is pleased to report that the NFT.com Whitelist has been enthusiastically received by the Web3 community. In under a few weeks, over 10,000 users have signed up, growing the existing community channel on Discord to more than 21,000 members. The Whitelist will remain open into early April and provide users with the opportunity to be eligible to participate in the next phase of the NFT.com platform launch, its Genesis Keys Whitelisted Blind Auction and Public Sale.



Earlier this month, the Company announced the beginnings of NFT.com, a Web3 Community-Governed Non-Fungible Token (NFT) ecosystem. NFT.com will make available Genesis Keys, a collection of 1 of 10,000 unique fully animated NFTs. As a Genesis Key owner, users will have first access to the platform and provide participation in its governance. Each key enables a holder to create two unique NFT.com profiles (e.g. NFT.com/hello), also represented as NFTs.

We have been inspired by the incredible stories and projects that have sprouted up in the Web3 ecosystem, yet we believe that the principles of Web3 are still missing from the NFT industry, said Jordan Fried, Founder and CEO of Immutable Holdings. We are creating the NFT hub that the community deserves  a community-governed ecosystem for the NFT industry, for the people, by the people.

The Genesis Keys Whitelisted Blind Auction and Public Sale are anticipated to take place in April. For more information and to join the Whitelist, visit www.nft.com. Also follow Twitter at @NFTcomofficial and Discord at www.nft.com/discord for regular updates.

About Immutable Holdings Inc.

Immutable Holdings Inc. (NEO:HOLD) is on a mission to democratize access to Web3 and blockchain-based products and services. Founded by Jordan Fried, a founding team member of the $11B Hedera Hashgraph network, Immutable Holdings already boasts tens of millions (USD) under management and a portfolio of businesses and brands built on the blockchain ecosystem: 1800Bitcoin.com, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC.com), HBAR Labs, Immutable Advisory, Immutable Asset Management and NFT.com. To learn more, visit https://immutableholdings.com/.

For media inquiries and further information, contact:

info@immutableholdings.com

This news release contains certain statements which constitute forward-looking statements or information under applicable Canadian securities laws, including with respect to the NFT.com and Genesis Key. Such forward-looking statements are subject to numerous known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, some of which are beyond the Companys control, which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those stated, anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include changes to applicable laws or the regulatory sphere in which the Company operates, general economic and capital markets conditions and stock market volatility. Although the Company believes that the forward-looking statements in this news release are reasonable, they are based on factors and assumptions, based on currently available information, concerning future events, which may prove to be inaccurate. As such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, as no assurance can be provided as to future plans, operations, results, levels of activity or achievements. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release and, except as required by applicable law, the Company does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or to revise any of the forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
NEW YORK, March 30, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pomerantz LLP is investigating claims on behalf of investors of Li-Cycle Holdings Corp. (Li-Cycle or the Company) (NYSE: LICY). Such investors are advised to contact Robert S. Willoughby at newaction@pomlaw.com or 888-476-6529, ext. 7980.

The investigation concerns whether Li-Cycle 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 March 24, 2022, Blue Orca Capital published a report (the Report) characterizing the Company as a near fatal combination of stock promotion, laughable governance, a broken business hemorrhaging cash, and highly questionable Enron-like accounting. According to the Report, Li-Cycle recognizes revenues using an Enron-like mark-to-model accounting gimmick.

Li-Cycle recognizes revenues months prior to the actual sales of its recycled black mass, based on its own provisional estimate of the future value of the product. This accounting treatment is plainly vulnerable to abuse, giving Li-Cycle discretion over its reported revenues. We suspect that under this framework, LiCycle marks up the value of its receivables on unsold products and runs the gains through its revenue line.

On this news, Li-Cycles stock price fell $0.47 cents per share, or 5.60% to close at $7.93 per share on March 24, 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 .
BROOMFIELD, Colo., WASHINGTON, and DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vita Inclinata (Vita), developer and producer of helicopter and crane load stabilization and precision hardware, today announced ALEC Engineering and Contracting (ALEC) piloted the companys Vita Lifting System in Q4, 2021. ALEC selected Vita Inclinata's Lifting System for field trial after a comprehensive evaluation. The Vita system was initially inspected in the UAE by Astron Certification, in accordance with International and UAE lifting standards.



As a leading construction company in the GCC, ALEC owns and operates its own equipment including 33 cranes, 122 pieces of heavy plant equipment, and 8 hoists. The company has successfully delivered over 100 complex projects across diverse sectors including airports, retail spaces, hotels & resorts, high-rise buildings, and themed projects. The company's focus on pioneering digital technologies enables ground-breaking innovation, increased efficiency, and collaboration with buildingtechnology partners such as Vita. The Vita partnership enables ALEC to gather data on lift speed, ease of placement, time savings, and safety/reduced risk capabilities.

Dubais construction projects are constantly challenged with extreme heat and wind conditions that often create significant safety hazards and extended timelines, said Caleb Carr, Vita Inclinata CEO. We are honored ALEC selected our lift system for evaluation and excited to see that our technology performed so well in these high-profile evaluations.

After a brief training and certification program, ALEC took control of the Vita Load Pilot (VLP) and conducted a multi-week field trial on two separate sites in the UAE. Although the smallest of Vitas industrial systems, the VLP was pushed to its functional limits and performed flawlesslyproviding remote, precision load control without taglines at heights over 200m, traversing or walking around corners, and in high-wind conditions.

As a multi-disciplinary company, ALEC has built a reputation for solving problems by using innovation to help execute complex projects on time, on budget, and safely, said Imad Itani, Innovation Manager for ALEC. We were impressed by the Vita Lifting Systems rugged, easy-to-use, semi-automated load control technology that will improve operations by improving efficiency, reducing downtime caused by high winds, minimizing risk to load and life on the worksite, as well as driving bottom-line savings.

About ALEC

ALEC Engineering and Contracting LLC (ALEC), part of the Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD), is a large construction company with related businesses operating in the GCC with a presence in Africa. ALEC has consistently evolved and grown over the last 20 years to become a trusted partner for the execution of complex and iconic construction projects. The company builds and provides construction solutions to exceed our clients expectations for quality, safety, functionality, and aesthetics. We have received numerous awards for excellence, quality, safety, reliability, and sustainability and are recognized as a leading contractor in the region. For more information, visit www.alec.ae

About Vita Inclinata

A friends death during a rescue operationwith a helicopter close but unable to stabilize due to weather and terrainwas the genesis of Vita Inclinata. Founded in 2015 as a way to solve a real problem, Vita today controls chaotic swinging and spin and adds safety and precision for rotor-wing and fixed-wing aircraft and cranes. With the mission of Bring them home, every time, Vitas technology changes the narrative while saving lives, time, and money across industries, including search and rescue, military, firefighting, public safety, construction, wind energy, and oil and gas. The company is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado, with offices in Washington, DC, and Huntsville, Alabama. For more information, please visit www.vitatech.co .

For more information, contact:

Betsey Rogers

BridgeView Marketing

603-821-0809

betsey@bridgeviewmarketing.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/94d125ca-41e8-4266-ab2a-7586af06767f
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GoldQuest Mining Corp. (TSXV:GQC, GoldQuest or the Company) is pleased to provide an update on progress towards achieving the Romero Project Exploitation License (the Permit) in the San Juan Province of the Dominican Republic following a visit to the Dominican Republic by David Massola, CEO and Bill Fisher, Chairman of the board last week. The response by government officials was positive regarding support of the project, however, no commitment was made or timetable provided as to when the decision would be made with respect to the Permit. The Company has been encouraged by the recent reported public statements in San Juan by the President Luis Abinader on January 8, 2022. He stated that he was in favor of knowing whether or not mining is feasible in San Juan province, and that the necessary scientific studies are to be carried out, recognizing that beforehand the government must grant the Romero exploitation permit to know the potential for gold production in the region. In the annual policy speech by the President on February 27, 2022 he also stated:



This administration believes in promoting a sustainable mining industry that operates with the highest standards in the world, that guarantees the environment, peaceful coexistence with the communities and that the resources produced serve to achieve a true transformation in the lives of the families that reside in these areas.

The Company will continue to work closely with the government as it has done in the past to achieve the Companys goal of receiving the Permit which will allow advanced environmental, social and economic studies to investigate the viability of the Companys flagship Romero gold/copper project.

We are pleased that the political climate remains positive for the Romero project and that the Minister of Energy and Mines Almonte stated to GoldQuests CEO and Chairman that he supports the Romero Project, commented Dave Massola, the Companys CEO.

The Minister of Finance, Hochi Vicente, expressed his support for the Romero license issuance, and recognized the role that a mining project of this nature could achieve, recognizing that mining today represents $1.8 billion or 20% of the national exports  a key sector for the solvency of the country.

Along with the Minsters of Energy and Mines, and Finance, GoldQuest executives met with the Vice Minister of Mines, Miguel Diaz, the Mining Director, Rolando Nunes, the Presidential Special Advisor on Mining, Miguel Pena, the past President of the Republic, Leonel Fernandez and the Legal Advisor to the President, Antoliano Peralta.

In other news the Company is reactivating its exploration program in the Dominican Republic after a halt of over 3 years.

Th Company looks forward to welcoming Minister Almonte and his team to the PDAC conference in Toronto in June and discussing our study programs for the Romero Mineral Reserves and accompanying exploration programs.

The main Romero gold/copper deposit, located in the San Juan province was discovered by GoldQuest in 2012. A 2016 Pre-feasibility study returned an after-tax Net Present Value of USD 204 million @ 5% and an IRR of 28%, and an AISC of 595/oz of gold. Note that this study was done at US$1300/oz of gold and US$ 2.50 copper where March 30 prices were US$1,938/oz of gold and US$ 4.75 copper, an increase of 49% and 90% respectively.

The Company is well funded with in excess of C$14 million in cash.

About GoldQuest:

GoldQuest is a Canadian based mineral exploration and development company with projects in the Dominican Republic. GoldQuest is traded on the TSXV under the symbol GQC and in Frankfurt/Berlin with symbol M1W. The Company is well funded to carry out exploration programs and to advance the development of its Romero gold/copper discovery, also located in the Tireo Formation of the Dominican Republic.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Forwardlooking statements:

Statements contained in this news release that are not historical facts are forwardlooking information that involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Forwardlooking statements in this news release include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to support for the Romero Project and the issuance of the Permit by government officials, the political climate in the Dominican Republic, the likelihood of the Permit being granted, potential development and production from the Company Romero Project, the economy of the Dominican Republic, the benefits of development and production from the Romero project on the economy of the Dominican Republic, the NPV and IRR included in the PFS, future tax payments and exploration expenditures by the Company in the Dominican Republic, the merits of the Company's mineral properties, future programs and studies, and the Company's plans and exploration programs for its mineral properties, including the timing of such plans and programs. In certain cases, forwardlooking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", looks forward, "has proven", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "potential", "likelihood", "appears", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "at least", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved".

Forwardlooking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forwardlooking statements. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to economic and political conditions globally and in the Dominican Republic; support for the Romero Project and the Permit by government officials and the risk that such support could change; risks related to the likelihood of the Permit being granted; the COVID-19 pandemic, including measures taken and that may be taken to attempt to reduce the spread of COVID-19, employee and contractor health, safety and availability, availability of materials and equipment, travel restrictions, and other risks and uncertainties related to the pandemic; uncertainties inherent in drill results and the estimation of mineral resources; commodity prices; changes in general economic conditions; market sentiment; currency exchange rates; the Company's ability to continue as a going concern; the Company's ability to raise funds through equity financings; risks inherent in mineral exploration; risks related to operations in foreign countries; future prices of metals; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents, labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals; government regulation of mining operations; environmental risks; title disputes or claims; limitations on insurance coverage and the timing and possible outcome of litigation. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could affect the Company and may cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forwardlooking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forwardlooking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, do not place undue reliance on forwardlooking statements. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forwardlooking statements except as required under applicable securities laws. Forwardlooking statements are based on assumptions that the Company believes to be reasonable, including expectations regarding support for the Romero Project and the grant of the Permit by government officials; mineral exploration and development costs; expected trends in mineral prices and currency exchange rates; the accuracy of the Company's current mineral resource estimates; that the Company's activities will be in accordance with the Company's public statements and stated goals; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required approvals will be obtained and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia and LISBON, Portugal, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- TUGA Innovations, Inc. (CSE: TUGA) (FRA: DQ5) (OTC: TUGAF) ("TUGA Innovations", or the "Company"), which is developing solutions for urban mobility challenges with the TUGA , a new type of electric vehicle ("EV"), is pleased to announce it has commenced branding efforts to strengthen and distinguish product identity in the increasingly competitive EV market.

Driving the desire to compete at a high level, TUGA Innovations' founders recognized that building and properly managing effective branding has become a priority for companies of all sizes, in all types of industries, and in all types of markets. To oversee and manage the execution of the brand effort, the Company was delighted to turn to the experienced team of Chief Marketing Officer Ross Plummer and newly engaged Executive Creative Director Mr. John Filipe.

John Filipe has worked for years as a multidisciplinary creative director, writer, and filmmaker for renowned entities such as the Ridley Scott Creative Group, Wieden+Kennedy, Nike, Audi, EA Games, and Instagram. Working together with Ross Plummer has allowed the direct application of broad creativity to exemplify the corporate values of innovation, quality, value, and pioneering spirit in vehicular and digital development.

Exploring the TUGA concept, Ross and John Filipe have introduced a new premium brand identity which flows from the redesigned logo and continues across the collective spectrum of visual marketing elements.

Mr. Filipe notes, "The TUGA story is compelling. The founders' vision of helping individuals save time and travel efficiently resonates with anyone who has been stuck in traffic jams, and of course, that's a wide audience."

Ross Plummer adds, "We explored the storyline of giving back time to people, and even more succinctly outlining how this narrative revolves around simply making people happier. What a fantastic opportunity to communicate TUGA Innovations' role in that effort."

TUGA Innovations will update its website with the first public display of these all-new visual elements. The Company believes the brand identity will continue to evolve, as the Company aims to establish a strong narrative over the course of 2022 with new campaigns that continue to build upon and explore these themes.

Company CEO John Hagie contributes, "Our outlook on developing effective solutions requires going beyond product specifications to dive deeper and understand how to resolve a given set of problems experienced by individuals and groups. We aim to provide a solution for spending hours and hours in traffic and dealing with endless parking issues. The solution we are developing is based on our uniquely designed vehicle's size, shape, and digital intelligence. John and Ross are working on how to make our offering, once available, come to the forefront of people's minds when considering their transportation purchases. This is a big part of how we plan to earn commercial interest as we endeavour to build a loyal consumer audience. It's also an effort that needs to start now to be effective when we need it most. We are thrilled to have this critically important program already well underway."

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Sincerely,

~John Hagie~

John Hagie

Chief Executive Officer & Director

TUGA Innovations, Inc.



As part of the Company's disclosure obligations as a public issuer, ongoing financial and material filings can be found under the Company's profile on the System for Electronic Document Analysis and Retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com .

About TUGA Innovations, Inc. (CSE: TUGA) (FRA: DQ5) (OTC: TUGAF)

TUGA Innovations is a development-stage EV company undertaking the conception, design, and production of specialized EVs to improve the urban mobility experience. The Company is looking to reduce urban mobility difficulties by developing a three-wheeled, fully electric fore-and-aft 2-seat vehicle. The vehicle will be no wider than a motorcycle for agility and will have a patent pending expanding rear axle for high-speed stability and a proposed patent pending expandable chassis and body length for passenger comfort. The vehicle will offer advanced connectivity technology to maximize safety, performance, environmental impact, comfort, maintenance, and navigation. The TUGA vehicle is being designed to deliver an estimated 160 km range, have an estimated top speed of 140km/hour with the comforts of a car, and with more protection than a motorcycle in an interchangeable multi-body, multi-function platform. Find out more at: https://tugainnovations.com/ .

For further information, please contact:

TUGA Investor Relations

Tel: +1 415.799.7911

Email: info@tugainnovations.com

Forward-Looking Statement

This news release contains statements and information that, to the extent that they are not historical fact, may constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking information may include financial and other projections, as well as statements regarding future plans, objectives, or economic performance, or the assumption underlying any of the foregoing. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by terms such as "aim", "aims to", "may", "would", "could", "will", "will be" "likely", "expected", "anticipated", "believe", "intend", "plan", "forecast", "project", "estimate", "outlook", or the negative thereof or other similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. Examples of such statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company brand development, the Company's ability to distinguish itself from its competitors, the Company updating its website, the Company's expectations regarding future brand or product positioning, statements with regard to brand narrative, any certainty regarding future brand recognition and expectations regarding future evolution of brand identity, new campaigns of the Company, the Company providing a solution for spending hours in traffic and dealing with parking issues, the Company earning commercial interest, advancing the TUGA development and the Company's commercialization of its automotive concepts, the width of the vehicle, the expanded rear axle feature of the vehicle, the advanced connectivity features of the vehicle and anticipated benefits, and the km range and top speed of the vehicle, the protection and platform offered by the vehicle.

Forward-looking information is based on the assumptions, estimates, analysis, and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. The material factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking information contained in this news release include, but are not limited to, key personnel and qualified employees continuing their involvement with the Company; the Company's ability to secure additional financing on reasonable terms; the competitive conditions of the industries in which the Company operates; and laws and any amendments thereto applicable to the Company.

Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information, including, without limitation, risks relating to the future business plans of the Company; risks that the Company will not be able to retain its key personnel; risks that the Company will not be able to secure financing on reasonable terms or at all, as well as all of the other risks as described in the Company's final prospectus dated November 30, 2021 under the heading "Risks Factors." Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking information. Further, any forward-looking information speaks only as of the date on which such statement is made. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company's management to predict all such factors and to assess in advance the impact of each such factor on the Company's business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking information to reflect information or events after the date on which it is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, except as required by law, including securities laws.

The CSE does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.




Finnish English

Innofactor Plc Stock Exchange Release March 31, 2022, at 10.50 Finnish time

Adopting the accounts and the group's financial statement and granting the members of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer discharge from liability

The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Innofactor Plc held on March 31, 2022, resolved to adopt the accounts and the group's financial statement for the financial period that ended on December 31, 2021, and granted the members of the Board of Directors and the Chief Executive Officer discharge from liability for the financial period that ended on December 31, 2021.





Deciding on the use of the profit shown on the balance sheet and the payment of dividend

The AGM decided, in accordance with the proposal of the Board of Directors, that no dividend will be paid for the financial period of 2021.

The AGM decided on a repayment of capital of EUR 0,08 per share to be paid. The repayment of capital shall be paid to shareholders who on the record date of the capital repayment on April 4, 2022 are recorded in the companys shareholders register held by Euroclear Finland Oy. Repayment of capital is paid on April 11, 2022.

The Annual General Meeting also authorized the Board of Directors to decide, at its discretion, on the potential distribution of assets to shareholders, should the company's financial status permit this, as repayment of capital from the invested unrestricted equity fund. The maximum distribution of assets performed on the basis of this authorization totals EUR 3 279 058. The authorization includes the right of the Board of Directors to decide on all other terms and conditions relating to said asset distribution. The authorization remains valid until the start of the next Annual General Meeting.





Remuneration report

The AGM decided to approve the remuneration report for the governing bodies presented by the Board of Directors.





Board of Directors' remuneration

The AGM decided that the Chairman of the Board of Directors shall be paid a fee totaling EUR 48,000 per year and the other members of the Board of Directors shall be paid a fee totaling EUR 24,000 per year. No separate fees for meetings shall be paid. Half of the fee (50%) shall be paid monthly in cash and the other half (50%) as shares of Innofactor Plc. The shares shall primarily be handed over to the members of the Board of Directors during April from shares in the companys possession or, secondarily the shares shall be acquired from public trading directly on behalf of the members within two weeks of publishing the interim report of Innofactor Plc for January 1March 31, 2022. In case shares will not be acquired due to a reason arising from the company or the Board member, the entire fee will be paid in cash. Innofactor Plc requires the members of the Board of Directors to keep the shares, which they have received as part of the fees, for the duration of their membership in the Board of Directors.





Composition of the Board of Directors

The AGM decided that the Board of Directors shall have four members. Mr. Sami Ensio, Ms. Anna Linden and Mr. Risto Linturi and Mr. Heikki Nikku were re-elected as members to the Board of Directors.

At the organizing meeting held after the AGM, Anna Linden was elected as Chairman of the Board.

The Board elected Anna Linden as the chairman of the remuneration committee and Risto Linturi and Heikki Nikku as its members.





Election and remuneration of the auditor

Ernst & Young Oy, Authorized Public Accounting Firm, was elected as the auditor for the company. Ernst & Young Oy has stated that it will appoint Mr. Juha Hilmola, Authorized Public Accountant, as the auditor with principal responsibility. It was decided that the auditing fee shall be paid according to reasonable invoice.





Authorizing of the Board of Directors to decide on the acquisition of own shares

The AGM accepted the Board of Directors proposal to grant the Board authorization to decide on acquisition of own shares with following presumptions:

The Annual General Meeting authorizes the Board of Directors to decide on acquisition of a maximum of 3,600,000 shares in one or several parts with the companys own capital. The Board of Directors proposes that the authorization entitles the Board to deviate from the shareholders' proportional shareholdings (directed acquisition). Own shares can be acquired at a price formed in public trading on the date of the acquisition or at a price otherwise formed on the market.

The shares may be used to carry out acquisitions or other arrangements pertaining to the companys business operations, to develop the capital structure of the company, as part of the incentive plans, or to be otherwise invalidated or conveyed. In connection with the share repurchase ordinary derivative, stock lending, and other agreements may be made in the market in accordance with the laws and regulations.

The authorization includes the right for the Board of Directors to decide on all other matters related to the acquisition of shares. The authorization is valid until June 30, 2023.

This authorization replaces all earlier authorizations of the Board of Directors pertaining to the acquisition of own shares.





Authorization to decide on share issue as well as to grant option rights and other special rights entitling to shares

The General Meeting accepted the Board of Directors proposal to grant the Board authorization to decide on share issue as well as to grant option rights and other special rights entitling to shares with the following presumptions:

The General Meeting accepted the Board of Directors proposal to authorize the Board to decide on issuance of a maximum of 3,600,000 shares and granting of a maximum of 3,600,000 of the companys own shares in one or several parts.

The shares could be issued either against a payment or without payment on the basis of conditions set by the Board of Directors and, for the part of an issue against payment, at the price defined by the Board of Directors.

The authorization also gives the Board of Directors the right to grant option rights and special rightsas defined in Chapter 10, Section 1 of the Finnish Companies Actwhich entitle, against payment, to new shares or company shares in the company's possession. A right may also be given to a creditor in such manner that the right includes a condition that the creditor's receivable is used to set off the subscription price (convertible loan). The subscription price of the new shares and the amount paid for the company's own shares will be added to the fund for invested unrestricted equity.

The authorization entitles the Board to deviate from the from the pre-emptive subscription rights of the existing shareholders, provided that the company has an important financial reason to do so, as regards the issue against payment, and that there is an especially important reason for the company and the good of the shareholders to do so, as regards the free issue. Within the limits set above, the authorization could be used, for example, to develop the capital structure, to widen the ownership base, in making a payment for an acquisition, when the company buys property related to its business operations, or incentive or reward program for employees and management at Innofactor group. New issue or transfer of own shares could also be used as a contribution in kind or when using the set-off right.

In addition, the authorization includes also the right to decide on a free share issue to the company itself in such a manner that, after the issue, the number of shares in the company's possession is at the maximum one tenth (1/10) of the total number of shares in the company. This number includes the shares in the possession of the company or its subsidiaries as defined in the Chapter 15, Section 11, subsection 1 of the Companies Act.

The Board of Directors will decide on all other matters related to the authorization. The authorization would be valid until June 30, 2023.

This authorization shall replace all earlier authorizations of the Board of Directors related to issuance of shares and granting of the companys own shares.

Other

36.88 percent of the company's share capital and votes were present in at the AGM. The decisions of the meeting were made unanimously according to the proposals of the Board of Directors.

The minutes of the Annual General Meeting will be available on Innofactor Plc's web site at https://www.innofactor.com/invest-in-us/general-meeting/ as of April 14, 2022, at the latest.







Espoo, March 31, 2022

INNOFACTOR PLC

Board of Directors



Additional information:

Sami Ensio, CEO

Innofactor Plc

Tel. +358 50 584 2029

sami.ensio@innofactor.com

Distribution:

NASDAQ Helsinki

Main media

www.innofactor.com

Innofactor

Innofactor is the leading driver of the modern digital organization in the Nordic Countries for its approximately 1,000 customers in commercial, public and third sector. Innofactor has the widest solution offering and leading know-how in the Microsoft ecosystem in the Nordics. Innofactor has approximately 500 enthusiastic and motivated top specialists in Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. The Innofactor Plc share is listed in the technology section of the main list of NASDAQ Helsinki Oy. www.innofactor.com #ModernDigitalOrganization #HybridWork #PeopleFirst #CreatingSmiles
New York, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Greenhouse Film Market by Resin Type, Thickness, Width and Region - Global Forecast to 2026" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p04221305/?utm_source=GNW





LDPE resin segment is estimated to be the largest segment of the greenhouse film market.

LDPE resin segment is expected to lead the overall greenhouse film market in terms of value, between 2021 and 2026.The vital features of LDPE that make it suitable for use in greenhouse films are low cost, high thickness, optical properties, and high resistance to sunlight and the external environment.



The LDPE type offers advantages, such as increased clarity and ease of use, making it suitable for agricultural applications. Its low cost drives its demand in emerging markets.



150 to 200 Microns thickness segment is estimated to be the largest segment of the greenhouse film market.

The 150 to 200 microns segment is forecasted to witness the fastest revenue growth during the forecast period. 150 to 200 microns thick greenhouse films are preferred in the European countries. They have benefits, such as UV stability for resistance to solar aging, excellent light transmission, excellent mechanical properties for harsh weather conditions, and additives to ensure adequate light transfusion.



APAC is the forecasted to be the fastest-growing greenhouse film market during the forecast period.

The rising population in the APAC region is the key factor driving the market for greenhouse films.It has increased the demand for food, thereby exerting pressure on agricultural yield.



China is the leading producer and consumer of greenhouse films in the region.India is an agriculture-based economy.



In Japan, the demand for vegetables and flowers is being meet by crops cultivated in the greenhouse. South Korea is also one of the major markets of greenhouse films, after China and Japan.



Extensive primary interviews have been conducted, and information has been gathered from secondary research to determine and verify the market size of several segments and sub-segments.



Breakdown of Primary Interviews:

 By Company Type: Tier 1  18%, Tier 2  36%, and Tier 3  46%

 By Designation: C Level  18%, D Level  27%, and Others  55%

 By Region: APAC  55%, North America  18%, Europe  9%, South America- 9%, and the Middle East & Africa  9%



The key companies profiled in this report are Ginegar Plastic Products Ltd (Israel), PLASTIKA KRITIS S.A. (Greece), RKW Group (Germany), Berry Global, Inc (US), and Grupo Armando Alvarez (Spain).



Research Coverage:

The greenhouse film market has been segmented based on resin type (LDPE, LLDPE, EVA, others), thickness (80 to 150 microns, 150 to 200 microns, More than 200 microns), width (4.5 M, 5.5 M, 7 M, 9 M, and others), and region (APAC, Europe, North America, Middle East & Africa, and South America).



Reasons to Buy the Report

The report will help the leaders/new entrants in this market with information on the closest approximations of the revenue numbers for the overall market and the sub-segments. From an insight perspective, this research report focuses on various levels of analyses  industry analysis (industry trends), market share analysis of top players, and company profiles, which together comprise and discuss the basic views on the competitive landscape; emerging and high-growth segments of the market; high growth regions; and market drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p04221305/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________
LONDON, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bluebell Capital Partners announces that it will vote AGAINST (i) the consultative proposal by Glencore Plcs (Glencore or the Company) Board of Directors, to approve the 2021 Climate Progress Report (Resolution 13) and (ii) to re-elect to the board, director Peter Coates (Resolution 4), current Chair of the Health, Safety, Environmental and Communities (HSEC) Committee, at the AGM on April 28th, 2022.

In December 2020, Glencore announced, as one of its priorities, to reduce coal production in line with the electrification and decarbonisation of global energy systems1, with a 20-30 Mt reduction target for its coal production, relative to the companys prior guidance in December 2019. The plan was approved by a consulting vote of Glencores shareholders, at the 2021 AGM, with a 94.4% approval.

Despite the AGMs consultation vote giving a clear indication of shareholders desire to pursue a reduction of the companys carbon footprint, Glencore embarked on several initiatives2 to increase coal production capacity and, on December 2nd, 2021 announced a significant uplift in coal production, thus acting in the exact opposite direction to what shareholders approved at the 2021 AGM. Our concerns can be summarised as:

whilst aligned with a net-zero goal by 2050, Glencores short-term commitment to CO 2 emission reduction (15% by 2026) is underwhelming, considering that they have already achieved a 25% reduction in emissions at the end of 2021, de facto building headroom to grow emissions in the next 5 years. on the other hand, intermediate (50% by 2035) and long-term (100% by 2050) total emission reduction targets are so backloaded and vague that the existing Board of Directors could not be held accountable for any failure to meet those long-dated targets, which would almost definitely exceed their tenure. existing CO 2 targets lack any real intermediate milestone for the existing Board of Directors to be properly assessed. The overall amount of CO 2 emitted can vary significantly depending on what Path to Net Zero is taken. the stated targets are in relative terms vs. 2019, which was the production peak of the past 7 years. the 2021 Climate Progress Report makes no reference to the coal production volume cap, initially set in 2018 (150 Mt p.a.), when instead it should remodel the cap to reflect CO 2 emission target net of any off-set.



Director Peter Coates joined the board in April 2011 and is its longest-serving member. Mr. Coates does not qualify as independent and nevertheless accepted to chair the Health, Safety, Environmental and Communities (HSEC) Committee, from which we deem that he has failed to address any of the environmental issues previously highlighted.

Glencore stated that if the vote either against the Climate Change Plan or the Progress Report is more than 20% of the votes cast, then the Company will engage with major shareholders to understand the areas of concern and consider appropriate changes to the Climate Plan or its implementation as appropriate3, therefore we urge fellow Glencores shareholders to vote AGAINST the consultative proposal, by the Board of Directors, to approve the 2021 Climate Progress Report.

We believe that Glencore should spin-off the coal business whilst retaining sufficient governance to exercise oversight on the responsible run-off of the business. For more details on our coal separation proposal, please refer to the presentation available on the web link Bluebell Capital Partners on Glencore 2022 AGM4

_________________________________

1 Source: Glencore, Our Purpose, Investor Update 2020, 4th of December 2020

2 28 June 2021: acquisition of control stake in Cerrejon coal mine: +15/20 Mt capacity per year; 23 December 2021: progressed application for a greenfield coal mine in Australia (project Valeria) for potential additional capacity of up to 20Mt per year; 24 February 2022: advanced to the next stage of permissions for the expansion of Glendell mining area: +10 Mt

3 Source: Glencore, Notice of Call, 2021 AGM, Letter from Chairman

4 https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/t6rkhxw9drvxxt7pbardm/h?dl=0&rlkey=vut47880fcud3w1201eg26jwb


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- NorthWest Copper (NorthWest or the Company) (TSX-V: NWST)(OTCQX: NWCCF) is pleased to announce that drilling has started at our Kwanika project in north-central British Columbia. NorthWest has an extensive drill program planned for 2022 with over 30,000 metres in total over its entire portfolio, with a minimum of 8,600 metres at Kwanika. We are taking advantage of the infrastructure at Kwanika to begin 2022 drilling almost three months earlier than in 2021. Our first holes target potential expansion on the south side of the deposit1 at Kwanika Central.

This is only the second field season for NorthWest as a company and we look forward to building on the success of the 2021 program, stated President and CEO Peter Bell. The early start gives us a jump on our exciting 2022 exploration effort and will provide news flow through the remainder of the year. I look forward to what our team can deliver from our target-rich portfolio of projects. We begin this season with more targets and greater financial strength than 2021 and look forward to more success.

Kwanika delivered multiple positive surprises throughout 2021 including the high-grade breccia zone in K-21-217, higher than expected grades at the South Zone and opportunity to expand the Kwanika Central Zone to the north, continued Mr. Bell. We are also continuing to work with the Takla Lake First Nation, with community members working at site and supporting water baseline studies.

NorthWests drill program at Kwanika in 2022 has three goals; add additional high grade within Kwanika Central and Kwanika South, increase the size of both those deposits1, and search for new satellite deposits. Plans to achieve these goals are described in the following sections, by deposit. This drill program is being done in parallel to the work on the Kwanika/Stardust preliminary economic assessment (PEA). Current exploration will not inform this version of the PEA, however NorthWest will continue to explore for opportunities to grow and enhance the overall project. Regional drilling locations are shown in Figure 1 and in more detail in Figure 2.

Kwanika Central

Kwanika Central anchors our Kwanika/Stardust project, with near-surface high-grade and scale. As 2021 revealed, it still has abundant potential for increases in grade and size. The grade surprise in 2021 was spectacular with hole K-21-217 encountering 236 metres of 2.93% CuEq, including 9.4 metres of 33.9% CuEq2, the highest-grade hole ever completed on the property. This massive copper-gold mineralization occurs in an enriched breccia which appears to cross-cut earlier porphyry copper-gold mineralization. We believe there is potential for more of this enriched breccia and will test for it in 2022.

Successful step out drilling north of Kwanika Central highlighted an undrilled gap with potential to expand the deposit footprint. We will test this area between the edge of the existing resource1 and the long intercept of anomalous mineralization encountered in recently released hole K-21-2213. That hole encountered encouraging potassic alteration, quartz veining and chalcopyrite with minor bornite. On the south side of the current resource boundary we will test for incremental elevated grade tonnage with our first few holes of 2022. This program is designed to extend near-surface mineralization through shallow holes. These targets are shown on the long section through Kwanika Central, Figure 3.

South Zone

The South Zone is less well explored but attractive targets were identified in 2021. Located about 1 km south of Kwanika Central, it has potential for upside, and any new discoveries or extensions are additive to the proposed Kwanika/Stardust project. Known mineralization is shallow, and has scope to grow as it is relatively poorly tested. Compared to Kwanika Central, South Zone has far fewer drillholes, drilling is relatively shallow and mineralization is unconstrained in multiple directions. The geophysical and geochemical coverage to date is also wider spaced, leaving room for growth.

Prior to 2021, the South Zone was regarded as low grade, however later last year hole K-21-223 encountered 34 metres of 1.3% CuEq3, highlighting the existence of higher grades at South Zone. Surrounding historical holes, including K-09-140, suggest a southward plunge to mineralization and the opportunity for additional high-grade mineralization (see Figure 4). South Zone will be an important target for NorthWest in 2022.

New Satellite Deposits

Kwanika Central and South Zone are near the northern end of a north-northwest oriented mineralized trend. NorthWests mineral claims cover over 30km of that trend. Current targets include the South Creek Zone and the Rottacker Zone, which have encouraging geophysical and geochemical signatures. Locations are shown on the accompanying Figure 1.

NorthWest starts this drill program with one rig, increasing to three rigs at the peak of activity. We will be using Matrix Drilling, based in Kamloops BC, the same contractor as we used in 2021. We expect to complete the first phase of Kwanika drilling by late May with follow up likely later in the 2022 season. Getting an early start on drilling will allow us to complete our programs and to have a longer exploration news flow cycle.

About NorthWest Copper:

NorthWest Copper is a new copper-gold explorer and developer with an exciting pipeline of projects in British Columbia. With a robust portfolio in a tier one jurisdiction, NorthWest Copper is well positioned to participate fully in a strengthening global copper market. We are committed to working collaboratively with First Nations to advance our work in a culturally and environmentally respectful manner. Additional information can be found on the Companys website at www.northwestcopper.ca.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of NorthWest Copper Corp.

Peter Bell

Director, President and CEO

For further information, please contact:

Adrian OBrien, Director Marketing & Communications

Tel: 604-809-6890

Email: aobrien@northwestcopper.ca

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.



Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements in this news release about anticipated future events or results constitute forward-looking information including but not limited to statements with respect to: the Companys goals for 2022; geological interpretations; anticipated drill results and exploration results; the estimation of mineral resources; magnitude or quality of mineral deposits; anticipated advancement of mineral properties or programs; future operations; mine plans; future exploration prospects; the completion and timing of technical reports; future growth potential of NorthWest Copper; and future development plans. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as seek, anticipate, believe, plan, estimate, expect and intend and statements that an event or result may, will, should, could or might occur or be achieved and other similar expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein constitutes forward-looking information. Although NorthWest Copper believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information and/or information are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking information since NorthWest Copper can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information, including the risks, uncertainties and other factors identified in NorthWest Coppers periodic filings with Canadian securities regulators. Forward-looking information is subject to business and economic risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results of operations to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from NorthWest Coppers expectations include risks associated with the business of NorthWest Copper; risks related to reliance on technical information provided by NorthWest Copper; risks related to exploration and potential development of the Companys mineral properties; business and economic conditions in the mining industry generally; fluctuations in commodity prices and currency exchange rates; uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology, continuity and grade of mineral deposits; the need for cooperation of government agencies and First Nation groups in the exploration and development of properties and the issuance of required permits; the need to obtain additional financing to develop properties and uncertainty as to the availability and terms of future financing; the possibility of delay in exploration or development programs and uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones; uncertainty as to timely availability of permits and other governmental approvals; and other risk factors as detailed from time to time and additional risks identified in NorthWest Coppers filings with Canadian securities regulators on SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com). Forward-looking information is based on estimates and opinions of management at the date the statements are made. NorthWest Copper does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking information except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

1 See NI 43-101 technical report titled NI 43-101 Technical Report for the Kwanika Project Resource Estimate Update 2019, dated April 17, 2019, filed under the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com

2 See News Release dated October 27,2021 available at www.northwestcopper.ca and the Companys profile at www.sedar.com

3 See News Release dated March 10, 2022 available at www.northwestcopper.ca and the Companys profile at www.sedar.com

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/30dfb3ea-0880-4433-b392-38e1908ad249

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/25b94c34-8cb2-4fef-b731-000004be4557

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/9e584028-1be1-4c2d-8791-37c998e3fa5f

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/665e15b5-acc0-4ff9-926c-8317728842c7
Pune, India, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The global spa services market size is expected to reach USD 133.28 billion by 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.1% during the forecast period. The emphasis on enhanced customer experience and relationships in spa services can be an essential factor augmenting the growth of the market, states Fortune Business Insights, in a report, titled Spa Services Market Size, Share & COVID-19 Impact Analysis, Facility Type (Day, Hotel/Resort, Medical, and Others), Service (Massage, Beauty/Grooming, Physical Fitness, and Others), End-user (Women and Men), and Regional Forecast, 2020-2027. The market size stood at USD 105.18 billion in 2019.

The coronavirus incident has led the world to a complete halt. We understand that this health emergency has negatively impacted various sectors across the globe. Rising support from governments and several companies can help in the fight against this highly infectious virus. There are some industries that are struggling and some are thriving. More or less, nearly every sector is estimated to be impacted by this pandemic.

We are making endless efforts to uplift businesses in this crucial need of the hour. Our expertise and experience can offer enormous benefits to help regain during this global pandemic.

Get a Sample PDF Brochure:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/enquiry/request-sample-pdf/spa-services-market-103490

Fortune Business Insights lists out all the spa services market companies that are presently striving to reduce the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the market:

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (Chicago, U.S.)

Four Seasons Hotel Limited (Toronto, Canada)

Marriott International, Inc. (Maryland, U.S.)

Hilton Hotels & Resorts (McLean, U.S.)

OneSpaWorld Holdings Limited (Coral Gables, U.S.)

Siam Wellness Group (Bangkok, Thailand)

InterContinental Hotels Group plc (Denham, U.K.)

Massage Envy (Scottsdale, U.S.)

Kempinski Hotels S.A. (Geneva, Switzerland)

Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa (Baden-Baden, Germany)

Market Driver:



Flourishing Tourism Industry to Improve Business Prospects

The increasingly hectic lifestyle has influenced the need for body and mind wellness, which, in turn, will foster the growth of the market. The number of tourists seeking spa treatment during their travel time can be an essential factor accelerating the revenue of the industry. As per data released by the Global Wellness Institute in 2018, the number of wellness trips increased from 691 million in 2015 to about 830 million in 2017. The growing attractiveness towards destination spas among couples will consequently spur opportunities for the market. The growing demand for quick spa facilities at airports such as XpressSpas will promote the growth of the market. Similarly, ship/cruise-based facilities offered by OneSpaWorld is expected to foster healthy growth of the market in the near future. Additionally, the rising mindfulness for health and wellness will facilitate the market in the forthcoming years.

Disruption in Hospitality Industry to Severely Affect Spa Business During COVID-19

The imposition of stringent regulations by the government to curb the spread of the infection will impede the hotels and hospitality sector during the forecast period. The rules involving physical distancing along with masks and gloves to avoid virus transmission can limit the customers, in turn, dwindling market growth. The services including body massage and facials must follow the rules implemented by the government during operations. The tourism industry has hit the bottom threshold due to lockdown rules. For instance, the OneSpaWorld closed all its destination resort facilities in the U.S and Caribbean region. The company officials declared an estimated loss of US$ 35 million in the first quarter of 2020 due to the pandemic.

The report on the spa services market includes:

Insights into the hospitality industry

Important strategies adopted by key players

Present market value with future projects

The dominant region in the world in terms of share

COVID-19 effect on the industry

Browse Detailed Summary of Research Report with TOC:

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/spa-services-market-103490

Regional Analysis:

Rising Number of Massage Centers to Influence Growth in North America

The market in North America is expected to witness a rapid growth rate during the forecast period owing to the growing number of luxurious massage services and facilities in the US. The inflated demand for full body massage and beauty treatments in the U.S. and Canada will support the growth of the market in North America. According to the American Massage therapy Associations Massage Profession Research Report 2019, in the U.S., about 47.5 million people had a total of 214 million massages in 2018, where about 33% of messages were offered through the spa. This number increased from 179 million massages availed by 47.1 million people in 2017. Europe is expected to lead the global market in the forthcoming years owing to the increased spending on health and wellness. The rising awareness about body and mind will spur opportunities for the market in Europe. The well-established travel and tourism industry is expected to contribute to the growth of the market in Europe.

Detailed Table of Content:

Introduction Research Scope Market Segmentation Research Methodology Definitions and Assumptions

Executive Summary

Market Dynamics Market Drivers Market Restraints Market Opportunities

Key Insights Overview of the Parent/Related Markets Spa Services Trend Recent Industry Developments - Policies, Partnerships, New Product Launches, and Mergers & Acquisitions Qualitative Analysis (In relation to COVID-19) Impact of COVID-19 Supply Chain Challenges Potential Opportunities due to COVID-19 Global Spa Services Market Analysis, Insights and Forecast, 2016-2027 Key Findings / Summary Market Size Estimates and Forecast By Facility Type (Value) Day Hotel/Resort Medical Others By Service (Value) Massage Beauty/Grooming Physical Fitness Others By End-user (Value) Men Women By Region (Value) North America Europe Asia Pacific South America Middle East & Africa



TOC Continued...!

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SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KlimaDAO launched its Carbon Offsetting Campaign on Saturday, March 26, in honor of Earth Hour. Using Klima Infinity, the DAO's carbon offsetting tool, individuals and organizations alike are encouraged to complete their first on-chain carbon offset, effectively removing emissions credits of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses. In doing so, participants are also able to submit a personal message about their love for the planet, to be memorialized on the blockchain.

Early participants in this campaign have already retired from the market over 2,500 tonnes of carbon via tokenized carbon credits, nearly double the emissions savings in Dubai during Earth Hour in the past 13 years (1,600 tonnes of CO2). In doing so, they have submitted over 100 Love Letters, ranging from the deeply personal to the poetic and the practical. One participant retired 30 tonnes of carbon while writing, "For our children, grandchildren, and generations to come." Another individual offset 1.91 tonnes and remarked, "Thrilled to offset our March break vacation flights. It was a great trip!" Nonprofit organizations such as Thought For Food and web3 projects like Moss.earth have participated with their own Letters in a demonstration of coordinated climate action embodied by the Regenerative Finance (ReFi) sector.

As KlimaDAO onboards more partners to participate in an ever-growing ecosystem of sustainability champions, the DAO hopes to gain mass participation in the end-to-end lifecycle of seamlessly purchasing carbon credits and offsetting them. KlimaDAO continues to onboard partners, such as the digital wallet Eco, to give consumers access to a climate-positive economic system.

"For organizations, the motivation to offset is often tied to environmental, sustainability, and governance objectives," said Oxymoron, a KlimaDAO Core member. "For individuals, however, the act of offsetting can be more personal  whether it's to offset their own footprint or for the betterment of their children's future."

KlimaDAO was one of the first to utilize its new retirement function, offsetting 165 tonnes of BCT (Base Carbon Tonnes by Toucan Protocol) and MCO2 (by Moss Protocol), equal to 1.5x the organization's greenhouse gas footprint since launch back in October 2021. A simple Love Letter read, "Forged in the hope we may preserve this blue planet and its inhabitants."

Klima Infinity partners pledged offsets as well on March 26 in celebration of Earth Hour. For more information, visit https://www.loveletter.klimadao.finance.

About KlimaDAO

KlimaDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) focused on increasing the cost of carbon emissions to disrupt the emission markets. By accelerating the price growth of carbon assets, KlimaDAO strives to motivate companies to reduce their emissions. KlimaDAO currently holds over 17 million tonnes of CO2 in its treasury, equivalent to 86,265 hectares of forest, 3,750,662 annual cars, and 512, 237, 524 liters of gasoline. There are over 65,000 KLIMA holders or "Klimates," 45,000 users in the KlimaDAO Discord, and 70,000 KlimaDAO Twitter followers.

Media Contact

Natacha Rousseau

press@klimadao.finance

(323) 352-6417

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.
DUROR, Scotland, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- On Monday 28th March 2022, conservation company Highland Titles achieved a new GUINNESS WORLD RECORD for the worlds biggest bug/insect hotel, which means Highland Titles are Officially Amazing!

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c6d0e716-dbd2-4737-934d-660fac898b70



The 199.9 cubic metre structure is located on the Highland Titles Nature Reserve at Duror in the Scottish Highlands and already houses a variety of species. It breaks the previous world record of 89.37 cubic metres, which was held by the Polish Association of Developers in Warsaw, Poland.

The world record-breaking bug hotel was made using felled sitka spruce from the nature reserve, masonry bricks, bamboo canes, wood chips, forest bark, wildflower seeds, clay pipes and strawberry netting.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8f7ca5a3-5c5c-4d71-a475-daceb2ca6aff



This record-breaking initiative is about the environmental message, says Douglas Wilson, CEO of Highland Titles. We bought this land in 2006 when it was a poorly performing commercial forestry plantation of non-native Sitka Spruce.

Like much of the Highlands, it was inappropriately planted in the late 1980s with no thought or consideration given to biodiversity. Using these same trees for something that puts nature first symbolises that the world has changed, and we hope our efforts will inspire others. Wed be delighted if someone beat our record in the future!

Nature Reserve Manager, Stewart Borland, was part of a team of 7 who were involved in its construction which started in September 2021 and was completed in early March 2022. In addition to the environmental message, Mr Borland hopes that it encourages people to visit:

In 2019, we had more than 10,000 visitors to the nature reserve from all over the world. The pandemic really put a dent in our visitor numbers, so we hope that this - together with the new track which is adored by cyclists - will encourage people to visit now that travel is opening up again. The more visitors we get, the more people can see the work that we're doing.

About Highland Titles

Highland Titles began in 2006 with a mission to conserve Scotland, one square foot at a time. The conservation project - now encompassing 5 nature reserves and over 800 acres of Scottish wilderness - is funded by selling gift-sized souvenir plots of land.

The Highland Titles community of souvenir plot owners are invited to style themselves as the Lords and Ladies of Glencoe. Over 300,000 plots of land have been sold to date.

The Highland Titles Nature Reserve near Glencoe is an official 4* tourist attraction and, according to Trip Advisor, one of the most popular nature reserves in the country.

Resources

For more information on the Worlds Biggest Bug Hotel, visit here



For more photographs or video content, please email support@highlandtitles.com with your email address, name and phone number

Contact

Douglas Wilson, CEO

douglas@highlandtitles.com
PV Live Resin will soon be carried in nearly 400 Michigan dispensaries and available to all Michigan dispensaries

Line expansion into higher-margin Live Resin Vapes marks Platinum brands first new product in Michigan beyond the wildly popular distillate vape products, with many more to come

Live resin sales in U.S. grew 86% since 2020



TORONTO and DETROIT, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Red White & Bloom Brands Inc. (CSE: RWB and OTC: RWBYF) (RWB or the Company) a multi-state cannabis operator and house of premium brands, and its RWB Michigan, LLC wholly owned subsidiary announce the debut of Platinum Vape (PV) Live Resin in Michigan. Previously only available in California and Oklahoma, PV Live Resin will soon be in the nearly 400 Michigan dispensaries that now carry Platinum products. PV Live Resin offers consumers a compact product with multiple consumption options that packs all the benefits of flower and the 80+ cannabinoids that work in synergy to bring the plants unique therapeutic qualities to life.

As promised, the Red White & Bloom team is introducing a steady stream of new products and consumption options to satisfy consumer demand in the rapidly growing Michigan cannabis market, stated Brad Rogers, Red White & Bloom Chairman and CEO. In the U.S., live resin sales grew 86% since 2020, as reported by Greentank1. We believe this is just the tip of the iceberg for the live resin opportunity, since so many new cannabis consumers are totally unfamiliar with live resin and migrate to it once they learn more about cannabis and discover live resins many advantages.

PV Live Resin captures and preserves the trichomes and terpenes of RWBs premium cannabis strains to deliver a lush flavor profile and high potency experience for maximum enjoyment. RWB anticipates PV Live Resin will be extremely popular with customers because they know and trust the PV brand and can appreciate that PV now offers a new convenient and economical way to enjoy its pure, high quality cannabis full entourage effect.

Rogers added, With our newly acquired cultivation, manufacturing and distribution centers in Michigan, we are streamlining our entire seed to sale processes and expediting the development and go-to-market timelines for new products. Weve already begun expanding distribution of our PV branded products, including the new Live Resin line. Our PV line is now carried in nearly 400 of Michigans 460+ dispensaries.

Although most frequently recognized as a leading, award-winning vape brand, RWBs expanded Platinum Vape portfolio includes live resin, gummies, chocolates and premium cannabis flower that have proven to be very popular in California and other areas. The PV brand is extremely strong in Michigan, with ArcView/Greentank's 2021 Q3 Industry Vape Report naming Platinum Vape as the #1 brand vape cartridge in Michigan, LeafLink naming it a Biggest Brand in Michigan, and winning a Thrillist Best of 2020 Edible Award for its Baked Apple Pie Gummies and a Farmers Cup 2nd place for its Raspberry Cheesecake Chocolate Bar.

Michigan Cannabis Market Growth

The Michigan cannabis markets growth is surpassing expectations, making it an ideal environment for RWB brand extensions. Michigans total cannabis sales for 2021 were $1.79 billion2 as reported in MJ Biz Daily, The rapid growth in the past two years, driven by strong demand, has vaulted Michigans overall monthly sales ahead of those in more established markets such as Colorado. Combined sales of medical and recreational marijuana products in Michigan reached $168 million in December 2021, just shy of the $171 million monthly sales record set in July. Much of Michigans growth has been driven by recreational sales. Monthly sales have doubled since January 2021, with December sales topping $135 million. 3

1 Green Tank North American Vape Market 2021 Year in Review. https://www.greentanktech.com/offer/industry-vape-report-2021/

2 Marijuana Moment https://www.marijuanamoment.net/michigan-breaks-another-marijuana-sales-record-for-december-state-officials-say/

3 MJ Biz Daily https://mjbizdaily.com/michigan-recreational-marijuana-sales-double-in-2021-lifting-overall-market/

About Red White & Bloom Brands Inc.

Red White & Bloom is a multi-state cannabis operator and house of premium brands in the U.S. legal cannabis and hemp sector. RWB is predominantly focusing its investments on the major U.S. markets, including Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Michigan with respect to cannabis, and the U.S. and internationally for hemp-based CBD products. Visit website: www.RedWhiteBloom.com, or follow RWB on social media:

Twitter: @rwbbrands;

Facebook: @redwhitebloombrands;

Instagram: @redwhitebloombrands.

CONTACT:

For more information about Red White & Bloom Brands Inc., please contact:

Tyler Troup, Managing Director, Circadian Group IR, IR@RedWhiteBloom.com

Neither the CSE nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING INFORMATION

This press release contains forward-looking statements and information that are based on the beliefs of management and reflect the Companys current expectations. When used in this press release, the words estimate, project, belief, anticipate, intend, expect, plan, predict, may or should and the negative of these words or such variations thereon or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements and information. There is no assurance that these transactions will yield results in line with management expectations. Such statements and information reflect the current view of the Company with respect to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in those forward-looking statements and information.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: risks associated with the implementation of the Companys business plan and matters relating thereto, risks associated with the cannabis industry, competition, regulatory change, the need for additional financing, reliance on key personnel, market size, and the volatility of the Companys common share price and volume. Forward-looking statements are made based on managements beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.

There are a number of important factors that could cause the Companys actual results to differ materially from those indicated or implied by forward-looking statements and information. Such factors include, among others, risks related to the Companys proposed business, such as failure of the business strategy and government regulation; risks related to the Companys operations, such as additional financing requirements and access to capital, reliance on key and qualified personnel, insurance, competition, intellectual property and reliable supply chains; risks related to the Company and its business generally; risks related to regulatory approvals. The Company cautions that the foregoing list of material factors is not exhaustive. When relying on the Companys forward-looking statements and information to make decisions, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. The Company has assumed a certain progression, which may not be realized. It has also assumed that the material factors referred to in the previous paragraph will not cause such forward-looking statements and information to differ materially from actual results or events. However, the list of these factors is not exhaustive and is subject to change and there can be no assurance that such assumptions will reflect the actual outcome of such items or factors. While the Company may elect to, it does not undertake to update this information at any particular time.

THE FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS PRESS RELEASE REPRESENTS THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE COMPANY AS OF THE DATE OF THIS PRESS RELEASE AND, ACCORDINGLY, IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AFTER SUCH DATE. READERS SHOULD NOT PLACE UNDUE IMPORTANCE ON FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION AND SHOULD NOT RELY UPON THIS INFORMATION AS OF ANY OTHER DATE. WHILE THE COMPANY MAY ELECT TO, IT DOES NOT UNDERTAKE TO UPDATE THIS INFORMATION AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME EXCEPT AS REQUIRED IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE LAWS.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/57c7207d-237d-499b-b4f1-646340300cc9
Dublin, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Floor Coatings Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global floor coatings market reached a value of US$ 2.47 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 3.64 Billion by 2027, exhibiting at a CAGR of 6.5% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different end use sectors. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Floor coatings are tough, protective layers used wherein heavy surface wear or corrosion is expected. They protect the floor from moisture, cracks and provide a high-performance, smooth, and durable surface that withstands heavy loads for several years. They also assist in brightening or defining areas of facilities, marking traffic aisles, routing traffic, and covering stained concrete. As a result, they find a wide range of applications in warehouses, hospitals, manufacturing and industrial plants, showrooms, commercial and retail stores, garages, and airplane hangars across the globe.



Floor Coatings Market Trends:

At present, there is a considerable rise in the utilization of floor coatings in the chemical industry to ensure high-performance flooring for research and development (R&D) labs, production plants, and other facilities. This represents one of the key factors strengthening the growth of the market. Moreover, floor coatings also provide chemical resistance, strict hygiene and adhere to safety protocols for avoiding the risks of damage, accidents and protecting the health of workers. They also have various beneficial properties, including high impact and extreme abrasion, to protect floors. Consequently, they are increasingly being utilized in the manufacturing industry around the world.

Additionally, there is a significant increase in the risk of microbial growth due to spillage in the food and beverage (F&B) industry. As these contaminants degrade the purity of the processed food, there is a rise in the demand for durable and thick floor coatings to provide a protective barrier and ensure a hygienic surface. Other major factors, including the thriving construction industry on account of rising infrastructural developments and the escalating demand for tile flooring in residential and commercial applications, are anticipated to create a favorable market outlook.



Key Market Segmentation:

The publisher provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global floor coatings market, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2022-2027. Our report has categorized the market based on binder type, coating component, floor structure, formulation and end user.



Breakup by Binder Type:

Epoxy

Thermoplastic

Thermoset

Acrylic

Polyaspartics

Polyurethane

Polymethyl Methacrylate

Others

Breakup by Coating Component:

One-Component (1K)

Two-Component (2K)

Three-Component (3K)

Breakup by Floor Structure:

Wood

Terrazzo

Mortar

Concrete

Others

Breakup by Formulation:

Solvent-Based

Water-Based

Others

Breakup by End User:

Residential

Commercial

Industrial

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being 3M Company, Akzo Nobel N.V., Arkema S.A., Asian Paints Ltd., Axalta Coating Systems Ltd., BASF SE, Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, Kansai Paint Co. Ltd., Koninklijke DSM N.V., PPG Industries Inc., RPM International Inc., Sika AG, The Dow Chemical Company and The Sherwin-Williams Company.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global floor coatings market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global floor coatings market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the binder type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the coating component?

What is the breakup of the market based on the floor structure?

What is the breakup of the market based on the formulation?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end user?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global floor coatings market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Floor Coatings Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Binder Type

6.1 Epoxy

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Thermoplastic

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Thermoset

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Acrylic

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Polyaspartics

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast

6.6 Polyurethane

6.6.1 Market Trends

6.6.2 Market Forecast

6.7 Polymethyl Methacrylate

6.7.1 Market Trends

6.7.2 Market Forecast

6.8 Others

6.8.1 Market Trends

6.8.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Coating Component

7.1 One-Component (1K)

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Two-Component (2K)

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Three-Component (3K)

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Floor Structure

8.1 Wood

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Terrazzo

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Mortar

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Concrete

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 Market Forecast

8.5 Others

8.5.1 Market Trends

8.5.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Formulation

9.1 Solvent-Based

9.1.1 Market Trends

9.1.2 Market Forecast

9.2 Water-Based

9.2.1 Market Trends

9.2.2 Market Forecast

9.3 Others

9.3.1 Market Trends

9.3.2 Market Forecast



10 Market Breakup by End User

10.1 Residential

10.1.1 Market Trends

10.1.2 Market Forecast

10.2 Commercial

10.2.1 Market Trends

10.2.2 Market Forecast

10.3 Industrial

10.3.1 Market Trends

10.3.2 Market Forecast



11 Market Breakup by Region



12 SWOT Analysis



13 Value Chain Analysis



14 Porters Five Forces Analysis



15 Price Analysis



16 Competitive Landscape

16.1 Market Structure

16.2 Key Players

16.3 Profiles of Key Players

16.3.1 3M Company

16.3.1.1 Company Overview

16.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.1.3 Financials

16.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.2 Akzo Nobel N.V.

16.3.2.1 Company Overview

16.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.2.3 Financials

16.3.2.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.3 Arkema S.A.

16.3.3.1 Company Overview

16.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.3.3 Financials

16.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.4 Asian Paints Ltd.

16.3.4.1 Company Overview

16.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.4.3 Financials

16.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.5 Axalta Coating Systems Ltd.

16.3.5.1 Company Overview

16.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.5.3 Financials

16.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.6 BASF SE

16.3.6.1 Company Overview

16.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.6.3 Financials

16.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.7 Henkel AG & Co. KGaA

16.3.7.1 Company Overview

16.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.7.3 Financials

16.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.8 Kansai Paint Co. Ltd.

16.3.8.1 Company Overview

16.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.8.3 Financials

16.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.9 Koninklijke DSM N.V.

16.3.9.1 Company Overview

16.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.9.3 Financials

16.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.10 PPG Industries Inc.

16.3.10.1 Company Overview

16.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.10.3 Financials

16.3.10.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.11 RPM International Inc.

16.3.11.1 Company Overview

16.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.11.3 Financials

16.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis

16.3.12 Sika AG

16.3.12.1 Company Overview

16.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.12.3 Financials

16.3.13 The Dow Chemical Company

16.3.13.1 Company Overview

16.3.13.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.14 The Sherwin-Williams Company

16.3.14.1 Company Overview

16.3.14.2 Product Portfolio

16.3.14.3 Financials

16.3.14.4 SWOT Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ifsun4

Attachment
Dublin, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Drug Device Combination Products Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global drug device combination products market reached a value of US$ 132.45 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach US$ 214.53 Billion by 2027, exhibiting at a CAGR of 8.27% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic on different end use sectors. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Drug device combination products comprise medical devices and pharmaceutical ingredients, which assist in delivering the drug to a specific location in the patient's body. They include vaccine vials packaged with a delivery device, surgical trays with drapes and anesthetic swabs, and prefilled drug delivery systems like syringes, insulin injector pens, and metered dose inhalers. Some of the commonly available drug device combination products are monoclonal antibody combined with a therapeutic drug, pacing lead with steroid-coated tip, and catheter with an antimicrobial coating, and first-aid kits containing bandages and gauze are some.



Drug Device Combination Products Market Trends:

The growing prevalence of chronic diseases and the escalating demand for new approaches in treating diseases are among the key factors driving the adoption of drug device combination products across the globe. These products help patients suffering from cancer, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries, anemia, hepatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and other serious conditions.

Moreover, these products offer advantages, such as minimal side effects, controlled drug administration, improved patient compliance, and targeted drug delivery. This, coupled with increasing preferences for smart and precision drug delivery systems that reduce the amount of drug required for therapeutic efficacy, is contributing to the market growth. Apart from this, market players are incorporating technologies into drug device combination products for tracking and monitoring purposes.

They are also introducing sophisticated products made using complex active ingredients, formulations, routes of delivery, and dosage forms, such as peptides, liposomes, and transdermal. Additionally, they are focusing on developing next-generation products with high viscosity, formulations, and new classes of biologics. As a result, the demand for these products is anticipated to rise for providing patients treatments and solutions that can better adhere to their therapy.



Key Market Segmentation:

The publisher provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global drug device combination products market, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2022-2027. Our report has categorized the market based on product, application and end user.



Breakup by Product:

Drug Eluting Stents

Transdermal Patches

Infusion Pumps

Drug Eluting Balloon

Inhalers

Others

Breakup by Application:

Cardiovascular

Diabetes

Cancer Treatment

Respiratory Diseases

Others

Breakup by End User:

Hospitals

Ambulatory Surgical Centers

Others

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being Abbott Laboratories, Baxter International Inc., Bayer AG, Becton Dickinson and Company, Boston Scientific Corporation, GlaxoSmithKline plc, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic plc, Novartis AG, Smith & Nephew plc, Stryker Corporation and Terumo Corporation.



Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global drug device combination products market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global drug device combination products market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the product?

What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

What is the breakup of the market based on the end user?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global drug device combination products market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Drug Device Combination Products Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Product

6.1 Drug Eluting Stents

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Transdermal Patches

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Infusion Pumps

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Drug Eluting Balloon

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast

6.5 Inhalers

6.5.1 Market Trends

6.5.2 Market Forecast

6.6 Others

6.6.1 Market Trends

6.6.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Application

7.1 Cardiovascular

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Diabetes

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Cancer Treatment

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast

7.4 Respiratory Diseases

7.4.1 Market Trends

7.4.2 Market Forecast

7.5 Others

7.5.1 Market Trends

7.5.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by End User

8.1 Hospitals

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Ambulatory Surgical Centers

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Others

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Region



10 SWOT Analysis



11 Value Chain Analysis



12 Porters Five Forces Analysis



13 Price Analysis



14 Competitive Landscape

14.1 Market Structure

14.2 Key Players

14.3 Profiles of Key Players

14.3.1 Abbott Laboratories

14.3.1.1 Company Overview

14.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.1.3 Financials

14.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.2 Baxter International Inc.

14.3.2.1 Company Overview

14.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.2.3 Financials

14.3.2.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.3 Bayer AG

14.3.3.1 Company Overview

14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3.3 Financials

14.3.3.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.4 Becton Dickinson and Company

14.3.4.1 Company Overview

14.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.4.3 Financials

14.3.4.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.5 Boston Scientific Corporation

14.3.5.1 Company Overview

14.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.5.3 Financials

14.3.5.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.6 GlaxoSmithKline plc

14.3.6.1 Company Overview

14.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.6.3 Financials

14.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.7 Johnson & Johnson

14.3.7.1 Company Overview

14.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.7.3 Financials

14.3.7.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.8 Medtronic plc

14.3.8.1 Company Overview

14.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.8.3 Financials

14.3.8.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.9 Novartis AG

14.3.9.1 Company Overview

14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.9.3 Financials

14.3.9.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.10 Smith & Nephew plc

14.3.10.1 Company Overview

14.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.10.3 Financials

14.3.10.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.11 Stryker Corporation

14.3.11.1 Company Overview

14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.11.3 Financials

14.3.11.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.12 Terumo Corporation

14.3.12.1 Company Overview

14.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.12.3 Financials

14.3.12.4 SWOT Analysis



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/8vqj9y

Attachment
LAS VEGAS, NV, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WarpSpeed Taxi Inc. (OTC Pink: WRPT) (WarpSpeed Taxi or the Company), the developer of an all-in-one software solution for ride-hailing, food delivery, and courier services, is thrilled to present to you a new exciting service, WARPSPEED TAXI SMART SHARING.

More and more drivers are quitting ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft due to the recent surge in gas prices, leaving customers to deal with long waits and substandard service. WarpSpeed Taxi is offering a different alternative.

SMART SHARING, a new WarpSpeed Taxi feature, will allow two people heading in the same direction, or with the same destination, to share a taxi and save money.

Weve been watching the global market and how its reacting to the current surge in gas prices, said Sara Leska, Marketing Project Manager for the Company, Our Company has always been focused on getting customers to their destinations as efficiently as possible, and this seemed like the most logical step for us to take to accommodate new customers looking for an alternative.

Daniel Okelo, CEO of WarpSpeed Taxi, stated, We really want to promote ride-sharing because its one of the most environmentally friendly ways to get around. WarpSpeed Taxis Smart Sharing connects multiple riders with drivers in minutes, so you can get where you need to go while remaining societally consciousness. This innovation is great for our customers and helps cities reduce traffic, keeping things moving at Warpspeed.

The WarpSpeed Taxi Ride-Sharing application is currently in Beta Testing, and the Companys new Smart Sharing feature is being included in the current round of testing.

About WarpSpeed Taxi

WarpSpeed Taxi Inc. is a company involved in the development, testing, and marketing of a ride-hailing and food delivery computer and mobile device application known as WarpSpeedTaxi" that will provide travelers with convenient door-to-door transport that leverages smart mobility platforms to connect drivers with passengers and lets drivers use their personal vehicles.

For more information, go to: http://www.warpspeedtaxi.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and is subject to the safe harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. That includes the possibility that the company is not successful in developing, testing, or marketing its computer application, that its U.S. joint venture partner is unable to fund operations as agreed, or that the Company is unable to commence operations in other jurisdictions. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of WarpSpeed Taxi Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein. Except for any obligation under the U.S. federal securities laws, Nature Consulting, Inc. undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Corporate Contact:

2261 Rosanna Street, Las Vegas, Nevada, 89117

Telephone: (269) 692-9418

info@warpspeedtaxi.com

Attachments
Dublin, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Transdermal Skin Patches Market: Global Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2022-2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The global transdermal skin patches market reached a value of US$ 7.22 Billion in 2021. Looking forward, the publisher expects the market to reach a value of US$ 9.57 Billion by 2027 exhibiting a CAGR of 4.50% during 2022-2027. Keeping in mind the uncertainties of COVID-19, we are continuously tracking and evaluating the direct as well as the indirect influence of the pandemic. These insights are included in the report as a major market contributor.



Transdermal skin patches refer to a non-invasive and easy to use drug delivery method of administering constant and consistent therapeutic dosages into the bloodstream over a predetermined time. They consist of backings, drugs, membranes, adhesives, liners, chemical enhancers and permeators, physical aids, and low electrical current like iontophoresis. They provide a consistent diffusion rate, depending on the characteristics of the skin and the design of the patch. They are nowadays widely used as cosmetic, topical, and transdermal delivery systems around the world.



Transdermal Skin Patches Market Trends:

Transdermal skin patches are effective for treating cardiac and hormonal disorders, migraine, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, stroke, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), osteoporosis, and restless leg syndrome. Thus, a significant increase in the percentage of the population suffering from these ailments represents one of the key factors impelling the market growth.

Moreover, these patches help avoid the traditional oral route for ingesting medicines, lower the inconvenience caused due to intravenous or parenteral therapies, and prevent gastrointestinal toxicity, nausea, and vomiting. Furthermore, due to the ease of administration, transdermal skin patches are gaining traction to improve the compliance of the patient during prolonged treatments for chronic pains and in smoking cessation therapy.

Apart from this, the escalating demand for better therapeutics at affordable costs, coupled with a significant rise in the number of clinical trials of different drugs classes, is positively influencing the market. Furthermore, the introduction of pressure-sensitive adhesives and permeation enhancers, which lead to increased product diffusion and enhanced drug retention ability, is anticipated to provide lucrative opportunities to market players and expand the application of transdermal skin patches across the globe in the coming years.



Key Market Segmentation:

The publisher provides an analysis of the key trends in each sub-segment of the global transdermal skin patches market, along with forecasts at the global, regional and country level from 2022-2027. Our report has categorized the market based on type, distribution channel and application.



Breakup by Type:

Single-layer Drug-in-Adhesive

Multi-layer Drug-in-Adhesive

Matrix

Others

Breakup by Distribution Channel:

Hospital Pharmacies

Retail Pharmacies

Online Stores

Breakup by Application:

Pain Relief

Smoking Reduction and Cessation Aid

Overactive Bladder

Hormonal Therapy

Others

Breakup by Region:

North America

United States

Canada

Asia-Pacific

China

Japan

India

South Korea

Australia

Indonesia

Others

Europe

Germany

France

United Kingdom

Italy

Spain

Russia

Others

Latin America

Brazil

Mexico

Others

Middle East and Africa

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive landscape of the industry has also been examined along with the profiles of the key players being 3M Company, AdhexPharma, LTS Lohmann Therapie-Systeme AG, Luye Pharma Group?, Medherant Limited, Nitto Denko Corporation, Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co. Inc.), Prosolus Inc., Samyang Holdings Corporation, Tapemark, Teikoku Pharma USA Inc. (Teikoku Seiyaku Co. Ltd), tesa SE (Beiersdorf AG) and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd

Key Questions Answered in This Report:

How has the global transdermal skin patches market performed so far and how will it perform in the coming years?

What has been the impact of COVID-19 on the global transdermal skin patches market?

What are the key regional markets?

What is the breakup of the market based on the type?

What is the breakup of the market based on the distribution channel?

What is the breakup of the market based on the application?

What are the various stages in the value chain of the industry?

What are the key driving factors and challenges in the industry?

What is the structure of the global transdermal skin patches market and who are the key players?

What is the degree of competition in the industry?

Key Topics Covered:



1 Preface



2 Scope and Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Introduction

4.1 Overview

4.2 Key Industry Trends



5 Global Transdermal Skin Patches Market

5.1 Market Overview

5.2 Market Performance

5.3 Impact of COVID-19

5.4 Market Forecast



6 Market Breakup by Type

6.1 Single-layer Drug-in-Adhesive

6.1.1 Market Trends

6.1.2 Market Forecast

6.2 Multi-layer Drug-in-Adhesive

6.2.1 Market Trends

6.2.2 Market Forecast

6.3 Matrix

6.3.1 Market Trends

6.3.2 Market Forecast

6.4 Others

6.4.1 Market Trends

6.4.2 Market Forecast



7 Market Breakup by Distribution Channel

7.1 Hospital Pharmacies

7.1.1 Market Trends

7.1.2 Market Forecast

7.2 Retail Pharmacies

7.2.1 Market Trends

7.2.2 Market Forecast

7.3 Online Stores

7.3.1 Market Trends

7.3.2 Market Forecast



8 Market Breakup by Application

8.1 Pain Relief

8.1.1 Market Trends

8.1.2 Market Forecast

8.2 Smoking Reduction and Cessation Aid

8.2.1 Market Trends

8.2.2 Market Forecast

8.3 Overactive Bladder

8.3.1 Market Trends

8.3.2 Market Forecast

8.4 Hormonal Therapy

8.4.1 Market Trends

8.4.2 Market Forecast

8.5 Others

8.5.1 Market Trends

8.5.2 Market Forecast



9 Market Breakup by Region



10 SWOT Analysis



11 Value Chain Analysis



12 Porters Five Forces Analysis



13 Price Analysis



14 Competitive Landscape

14.1 Market Structure

14.2 Key Players

14.3 Profiles of Key Players

14.3.1 3M Company

14.3.1.1 Company Overview

14.3.1.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.1.3 Financials

14.3.1.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.2 AdhexPharma

14.3.2.1 Company Overview

14.3.2.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.3 LTS Lohmann Therapie-Systeme AG

14.3.3.1 Company Overview

14.3.3.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.4 Luye Pharma Group

14.3.4.1 Company Overview

14.3.4.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.5 Medherant Limited

14.3.5.1 Company Overview

14.3.5.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.6 Nitto Denko Corporation

14.3.6.1 Company Overview

14.3.6.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.6.3 Financials

14.3.6.4 SWOT Analysis

14.3.7 Noven Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Hisamitsu Pharmaceutical Co. Inc.)

14.3.7.1 Company Overview

14.3.7.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.7.3 SWOT Analysis

14.3.8 Prosolus Inc.

14.3.8.1 Company Overview

14.3.8.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.9 Samyang Holdings Corporation

14.3.9.1 Company Overview

14.3.9.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.9.3 Financials

14.3.10 Tapemark

14.3.10.1 Company Overview

14.3.10.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.11 Teikoku Pharma USA Inc. (Teikoku Seiyaku Co. Ltd)

14.3.11.1 Company Overview

14.3.11.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.12 tesa SE (Beiersdorf AG)

14.3.12.1 Company Overview

14.3.12.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.13 Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd

14.3.13.1 Company Overview

14.3.13.2 Product Portfolio

14.3.13.3 Financials

14.3.13.4 SWOT Analysis

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/lmhmfi

Attachment
Irvine, CA, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Odyssey Group International, Inc. (OTC Pink: ODYY) (the "Company" or "Odyssey"), a company focused on developing unique, life-saving medical products, today announced the formation of its Military Advisory Board with the appointment of prestigious leaders in the field. Garnering experience and insight from these leaders in our military service branches will provide critical insight to traumatic brain injuries and the effects it has on those who suffer. Odysseys drug candidate, PRV-002 is intended to treat concussion and is currently in a phase 1 clinical trial. The initial members of the Military Advisory Board are:

James Jim Linder: Major General USA (r) Former Chief of Staff USSOCOM

We have lived the consequences of TBI on the battlefield. Treatment at the point of injury and beyond is a challenge we must passionately and aggressively pursue.

Francis Beaudette: Commanding General US Army Special Operations Command (r)

Leaders at all levels have a moral and professional obligation to do everything possible to ensure and protect the comprehensive brain health of their Soldiers. It matters now, and will matter long after their service commitment to the Nation is complete. These responsibilities can only be fully accomplished through an active offense. The era of passive defense, or just simply hoping for the best, is long gone. Preparation and timely and accurate response are critical, now more than ever.

Paul Toolan: Lieutenant Colonel (r)



As I spend more and more time with retired and separated service members, I continue to be troubled by how many of them are struggling with neurological/cognitive issues on a spectrum from mild to severe. Having an opportunity to advocate for a treatment that could prevent these outcomes and improve the lives of the people who preserve our way of life, is an honor and a privilege.

According to the CDC, millions of concussions occur each year in the United States and especially in the military.

We are honored to have such distinguished and passionate leaders in our military join us in this much needed effort to find a viable treatment for brain injury, commented Michael Redmond, CEO of Odyssey Group International.

Founding Members of the Military Advisory Board:

James Linder: Jim Linder is a recognized leader in the world of Special Operations and Intelligence organizations as a high performing and skilled strategist. A US General Officer with over three decades of direct command leadership around the globe.

Originally from South Carolina, Jim graduated from Clemson University as a Distinguished Military Graduate. His service has taken him to over 71 countries across Europe, into South East Asia, throughout Africa and the Middle East, and Central and South America.

As a General Officer, he created new cutting-edge capabilities and accelerated the growth of highly skilled Afghan Special Forces. He also led and directed all US special operations across the African continent, while interacting with US interagency and African leaders to achieve US national security goals. He adeptly applied new ideas as commandant of the Armys premier Center of Excellence for selecting and training Special Operations Forces, and was the commander of all US and NATO special operations forces in combat in Afghanistan during a critical period of transition. Most recently, he achieved value-driven results managing a complex and agile organization of 80k persons with a $13.4B government operating budget as the Chief of Staff for US Special Operations Command.

Major General (retired) Linder is currently the President of Tenax Aerospace and has masters degrees in International Relations from Webster University and also National Security and Strategic Studies from the US Naval War College.

Francis Beaudette: Over the course of his 32-year career in Army and Joint assignments, the majority of it as a Green Beret, Francis Fran M. Beaudette served with high performing organizations at varying levels, from a 12-man Special Forces A-team to the 36,000-Soldier and Civilian US Army Special Operations Command.

His recent assignments were Deputy Commanding General of the 1st Armored Division, Assistant Commanding General of JSOC, CG of 1st Special Forces Command and Commanding General of the US Army Special Operations Command.

His operational assignments, totaling six years of deployed time, include the first Gulf War; comprehensive Africa experience to include noncombatant evacuation operations in Sierra Leone and the Congo; multiple peacekeeping operations in Kosovo; numerous deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines and Jordan, all during eras of war, turmoil or crisis.

Fran was a distinguished academic and military graduate from the Citadel and holds a MA in Military Arts and Science from the US Army Command & General Staff College and a MS in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College.

Paul Toolan: Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Paul Toolan joined the Army as a Private in 1986. Over the course of more than three decades in uniform, he has risen through the ranks and completed every elite school in the US Army. He is a Special Forces Airborne Ranger and started his Special Forces career as a Detachment Commander in 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg. He has held nearly a dozen leadership positions in multiple Special Forces Groups, including Detachment Commander, Company Executive Officer, Battalion Operations Officer, Support Company Commander, Company Commander, Group Operations Officer, Group Executive Officer, Battalion Commander, Chief of the Special Forces Training Division, and the Director of Operations at 1st Special Forces Command. He has worked at the National Counter-Terrorism Center as a Special Forces advisor and worked as a Special Forces consultant in the United States Army Special Operations Commanders Initiatives Group. He last duty assignment was the Deputy Commander of the 1st Special Warfare Training Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where Green Berets are assessed, selected and trained.

Since retiring from military service, Paul has dedicated himself to helping Special Operators address the effects of life in Special Operations such as post-traumatic stress (PTS), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and Operator Syndrome (overstimulated sympathetic nervous system) by facilitating access to treatment innovations.

Having served for many decades in leadership roles, the members of this Board have a passion for helping active military personnel and our Veterans. They recognize the unique medical conditions they deal with and how important it is that they receive specialty care. Concussions have been linked to the increased incidence of PTSD, early-stage dementia and suicidal ideation. Odyssey is developing the first pharmaceutical to treat concussion in the acute phase of injury. A field deliverable intranasal device filled with their drug, PRV-002 can be kept in the medics bag or the soldiers pocket for buddy aid immediately following a concussion. Reducing inflammation of the brain early on can significantly improve outcomes and return our soldiers back to action faster and safer.

About Odyssey Group International, Inc.

Odyssey Group International, Inc. (OTC Pink: ODYY ) is focused on developing products in the area of life-saving medical solutions. Odyssey's corporate mission is to create, acquire and accumulate distinct assets, intellectual properties, and exceptional technologies that provide meaningful solutions to unmet medical needs. The Company is focused on technologies that have an identified technological advantage, provide superior clinical utility, have a substantial market opportunity.

We encourage our shareholders to visit: http://www.odysseygi.com or Twitter: @OdysseyGroupIn1 .

About PRV-002

PRV-002 is a fully synthetic non-naturally occurring neurosteroid being developed for the treatment of mTBI (concussion). In preclinical studies, PRV-002 has demonstrated equivalent, if not superior, neuroprotective effects compared to related neurosteroids. Animal models of concussion demonstrated that PRV-002 reduces the behavioral pathology associated with brain injury symptoms such as memory impairment, anxiety, and motor/sensory performance. Additionally, PRV-002 is lipophilic and can easily cross the blood-brain barrier to rapidly eliminate swelling, oxidative stress and inflammation in the brain while restoring proper blood flow. PRV-002 is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are based upon our current expectations and speak only as of the date hereof. Our actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors and uncertainties, including our ability to continue to raise needed funds, successfully complete the phase 1 trial, our ability to successfully develop products, rapid changes in our markets, changes in demand for our future products, and legislative, regulatory, competitive developments and general economic conditions.

Contact:

Odyssey Health, Inc. f/k/a Odyssey Group International, Inc.

info@odysseygi.com

Attachments
NEW YORK, NY, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- ILUS International Inc (OTC: ILUS) remains focused on its M&A strategy of acquiring and growing global technology companies. In addition to the completion of 7 acquisitions in 14 months, the company is now proceeding with its first investment project in Cacak, Serbia, which includes the acquisition of manufacturing facilities for ILUS EV Technologies. More facilities for other ILUS subsidiaries are to be announced further down the line in 2022. Over the next 8 years, this current investment project is expected to provide employment to thousands of Serbians and generate several hundred million Euros for the city of Cacak and ILUS EV Technologies. The forward-thinking city of Cacak, which is undergoing a rapid industrial expansion, aims to become Serbias leading producer of renewable energy technologies, with Serbia aiming to become a leading European manufacturer and global supplier of innovative sustainable solutions.



ILUS is committed to investment in the city of Cacak and Serbia. The city of Cacak is committed towards supporting the growth of ILUS EV Technologies in the country. The investment project forms part of the strategy implementation by Cacaks Mayor, Milun Todorovic, his administration, and the Serbian Government, to create employment opportunities and strengthen the local economy. Mayor Todorovic supports the ILUS EV Technologies investment project in Cacak and is optimistic about the benefits it will bring to the city.

I am both excited and very proud of this investment project in Cacak because it is creating thousands of jobs and growing our local economy. We are pleased to partner with ILUS EV Technologies in Serbia to create more innovative products and solutions that will benefit our environment and showcase Serbias great capability to the rest of Europe and the world, said Mayor of Cacak, Milun Todorovic.

In partnership with the city of Cacak and the Serbian government, ILUS EV Technologies will begin manufacturing its E-Raptor range of commercial electric utility vehicles (E-UTVs) at a large facility on the outskirts of Cacak city. The facility will be home to the end-to-end manufacturing process of the complete E-Raptor E-UTV range as well as component parts for the electric vehicle industry. The E-Raptor range manufactured in Serbia will consist of six vehicle types ranging from the entry level 4x2 L7e right up to the top of the range 6x6. The range will also include an innovative lightweight four-seater passenger transport vehicle. By 2029, revenues for ILUS EV Technologies are expected to reach hundreds of millions per year.

The city of Cacak was chosen by ILUS because of its support of innovative technology manufacturing companies as well as its excellent geographic position. The sites proximity to both sea and airports for European and global exports is a key factor as is its location near the modern Corridor 11 (E-763) Pan-European highway which efficiently connects Cacak to the rest of Europe. Cacak has a century-old industrial tradition and has recently been investing in several projects to become an innovation hub which creates employment and stimulates the local economy. A recent example of a similar investment project is the Cacak plant of German automotive parts manufacturer, Vorwerk & Sohn Group, which manufactures parts for the likes of Audi, BMW, Ford, and Volkswagen. Their investment project is expected to create 1,000 jobs. After receiving an investment of around 60 million, their 484,000 square foot manufacturing facility was recently opened at a ceremony attended by Serbias President, Aleksandar Vucic. The city of Cacak is investing in many more similar projects.

Serbia has an attractive automotive manufacturing industry with highly regarded free zones. The country is home to manufacturing plants for Fiat, Mercedes, Peugeot, and Ford, as well as several significant global automotive industry suppliers. Fiat currently employs about 2,400 people at its factory in Kragujevac, Serbia. Over 60 automotive companies from Europe, the US and Asia operate in Serbia, creating over 30,000 jobs. Serbias low construction, labour, and energy costs compared with other European countries, combined with its pan-European highway network have also played a key role in companies like Continental, Michelin, Siemens and even Deloitte setting up major operations in the country. Serbias government continues to make concerted efforts under its current president, Aleksandar Vucic, to strongly incentivise foreign investment. The government subsidies are particularly generous to capital intensive investments, more so for companies located outside of the countrys capital, Belgrade.

We are excited about the commencement of this partnership with the Serbian government and the forward-thinking city of Cacak. We are working closely with the city who are focused on creating employment and growing their local economy through investment in the large-scale manufacturing capability of innovative technology such as ours. With the final administrative procedures being completed, we are pleased to confirm the manufacturing facilities for ILUS EV Technologies in Cacak, Serbia. Over the last few weeks, the scope of this investment project has grown exponentially more than we had originally anticipated. This is ultimately to the greater benefit of ILUS and its Shareholders, therefore we will release further information on the site and deal structure once the final administration is completed, said ILUS CEO, Nick Link.

For further information on the companies please see the ILUS communication channels.

Website: https://ilus-group.com

Twitter: OTC_ILUS

Email:IR@Ilus-Group.com

Source: ILUS

Related Links

https://ilus-group.com

Forward-Looking Statement

Certain information set forth in this press release contains "forward-looking information", including "future-oriented financial information" and "financial outlook", under applicable securities laws (collectively referred to herein as forward-looking statements). Except for statements of historical fact, the information contained herein constitutes forward-looking statements and includes, but is not limited to, the (I) projected financial performance of the Company; (ii) completion of, and the use of proceeds from, the sale of the shares being offered hereunder; (iii) the expected development of the Company's business, projects, and joint ventures; (iv) execution of the Company's vision and growth strategy, including with respect to future M&A activity and global growth; (v) sources and availability of third-party financing for the Company's projects; (vi) completion of the Company's projects that are currently underway, in development or otherwise under consideration; (vi) renewal of the Company's current customer, supplier and other material agreements; and (vii) future liquidity, working capital, and capital requirements. Forward-looking statements are provided to allow potential investors the opportunity to understand management's beliefs and opinions in respect of the future so that they may use such beliefs and opinions as one factor in evaluating an investment. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and undue reliance should not be placed on them. Such forward-looking statements necessarily involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or result expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although forward-looking statements contained in this presentation are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's estimates or opinions should change except as required by applicable securities laws. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") has provided guidance to issuers regarding the use of social media to disclose material non-public information. In this regard, investors and others should note that we announce material financial information via official Press Releases, in addition to SEC filings, press releases, Questions & Answers sessions, public conference calls and webcasts also may take time from time to time. We use these channels as well as social media to communicate with the public about our company, our services, and other issues. It is possible that the information we post on social media could be deemed to be material information. Therefore, considering the SEC's guidance, we encourage investors, the media, and others interested in our company to review the information we post on the following social & media channels:

website: https://ilus-group.com Twitter: OTC_ILUS

Note: ILUS Coin does not sit within ILUS International Inc (Ilustrato Pictures International Inc), so the public are recommended to follow the correct Media Channels relating to the public company OTC: ILUS.
Just as our acquisition efforts have turned our F&B division into a cost-effective, efficient growth engine for SFIO, we continue to invest in acquiring and incubating businesses to empower our conglomerate.



NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Starfleet Innotech, Inc. (OTC Pink: SFIO) ("SFIO" or The "Company") today announced details around the release of its annual report.

SFIO is a global investment holding company focused on innovation through disruptive collaborations across three key industries: Food and Beverage, Real Estate, and Technology. Yesterday (Wednesday March 30, 2022), the company filed its Annual Report.

By year-end, as of December 31, 2021, SFIO closed with a total consolidated revenue of $25.11 million. The company ended this period with corporate cash of approximately $2.36 million.

Gross profits reached $13.99 million, led by the Food and Beverage division, which along with its branch operations accounted for 40% of total revenue. These did not include the revenues generated by franchised sites. Strategic partnerships and acquisitions across the supply chain led to new revenues and greater efficiencies, showing a net margin of 23%. By end of year, the company exhibited net income before taxes amounting to $5.87 million.

Through these strategic partnerships, joint ventures, and acquisitions, SFIO grew its assets substantially in 2021, all while keeping liabilities to a minimum.

We ended 2021 with a strong showing, highlighting the sound strategy behind our ecosystem-building initiatives, said SFIO CEO Jeths Lacson. Just as our acquisition efforts have turned our F&B division into a cost-effective, efficient growth engine for SFIO, we are investing further in acquiring and incubating more businesses to empower our conglomerate.

While we continue to be opportunistic around growth, we have taken a mindful, strategic approach to these opportunities. To accomplish this, we've invested in onboarding top global talents onto our management team, Lacson said. This highly-aligned, empowered roster of leaders bring decades of experience across F&B, Real Estate, and Technology to help guide our mission of forging the futures of these industries.

SFIO will be conducting its very first webinar on the 5th of April, 5PM EDT where Starfleet Innotech's leadership team will present the latest updates and answer questions from the community. Details on how to participate in this webinar will be shared through SFIOs online channels.

As part of SFIOs initiatives to maximize shareholder value, the company is working on restructuring shares and acquisitions which will be announced soon.

For media enquiries, please contact:

Craymond Yeong, PR & Marketing Specialist

Starfleet Innotech, Inc.

Phone: (+64) 21 0833 2966

Email: info@sfio.co.nz

Twitter: @SFIO_Inc

Facebook: @starfleetinnotech

About Starfleet Innotech, Inc.

Starfleet Innotech, Inc. (OTC: SFIO) is a global investment holding company focused on innovation through disruptive collaborations across its three key industries: Food and Beverage (F&B), Real Estate, and Technology. With a strong presence across New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and the Philippines, SFIO makes strategic investments in high-growth businesses, building synergies across its diverse portfolio to provide maximum shareholder value. Guided by tradition, driven by innovation, and enabled by collaborationSFIO is on a hyper-growth path to build a thriving global business ecosystem, shaping the futures of its core industries.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

The statements contained herein may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to Starfleet Innotech, Inc. Starfleet that are based on the beliefs of Starfleet as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to Starfleets management. These forward-looking statements are, by their nature, subject to significant risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements relating to Starfleets business prospects, future developments, trends and conditions in the industry and geographical markets in which Starfleet operates, its strategies, plans, objectives and goals, its ability to control costs, statements relating to prices, volumes, operations, margins, capital expenditures, overall market trends, risk management and exchange rates.

When used herein, the words anticipate, believe, could, estimate, expect, going forward, intend, may, ought to, plan, project, seek, should, will, would and similar expressions, as they relate to Starfleet or Starfleets management, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the Starfleets views at the time such statement were made with respect to future events and are not a guarantee of future performance or developments. You are strongly cautioned that reliance on any forward-looking statements involves known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results and events may differ materially from information contained in the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including any changes in the laws, rules and regulations relating to any aspects of Starfleets business operations, general economic, market and business conditions, including capital market developments, changes or volatility in interest rates, foreign exchange rates, equity prices or other rates or prices, the actions and developments of the Starfleets competitors and the effects of competition in the food manufacturer and service sector, technology applications and components, and real estate development. Sales and property management on the demand for, and price of, Starfleets products and services, various business opportunities that Starfleet may or may not pursue, changes in population growth and other demographic trends, including mortality, pandemics, morbidity and longevity rates, persistency levels, Starfleets ability to identify, measure, monitor and control risks in Starfleets business, including its ability to manage and adapt its overall risk profile and risk management practices, its ability to properly price its products and services, including property development capital expenditures and establish reserves for future policy benefits and claims, seasonal fluctuations and factors beyond the Starfleets control. Subject to the requirements of the Listing Rules, Starfleet does not intend to update or otherwise revise such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. As a result of these and other risks, uncertainties and assumptions, forward-looking events and circumstances discussed herein might not occur in the way Starfleet expects, or at all. Accordingly, you should not place reliance on any forward-looking information or statements. All forward-looking statements herein are qualified by reference to the cautionary statements set forth in this section.
Dallas, Texas, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Alternet Systems, Inc. (OTC Pink: ALYI) 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. ALYI is actively delivering on a $2 million electric motorcycle order in Kenya executed Q4 2021 and anticipated to be included in the companys upcoming 2021 annual report (The company will file an extension today and publish the 2021 annual report within the extension period).

ALYI is now engaged in replicating its African electric motorcycle model in Latin America, starting in Brazil.

In Brazil, ride-hailing apps such as Uber have already deployed solutions for motorcycle ride-sharing.

See - Uber expands ride-hailing services with motorbikes in Brazil .

ALYI is now working to establish a relationship with a local distributor that will in turn offer ALYIs electric motorcycles to ride-haling drivers on lease-to-own terms in the same manner ALYI now works with a local distributor in Kenya.

Adding Cryptocurrency Strategy In Brazil

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/ .

In the lease-to-own terms agreements in Brazil, ALYI plans to add a cryptocurrency payment mechanism. Following the implementation of the cryptocurrency solution in Brazil, ALYI will retroactively implement the proven solution in Kenya.

To learn more about ALYI, visit www.alternetsystemsinc.com .




Appointed new regional sales leaders will oversee teams dedicated to national retail chains both on and off premise, grocery chains and restaurants

New sales team brings over 150 years of expertise and industry experience in sales and marketing, and distribution of wine, beer, spirits and soft drinks for major brands and alcohol beverage companies including Jim Beam Brands, Diageo, PepsiCo and others

AMITYVILLE, NY, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via NewMediaWire -- Iconic Brands, Inc. (OTCQB: ICNB) (Iconic or the Company), a leader in the development, design and delivery of alcohol and non-alcohol beverages, announced today the appointment of seven new members to its sales team, further strengthening the Companys national product distribution channel and sales strategy. The new sales team brings over 150 years of industry expertise in selling, marketing and distributing wine, beer, spirits and soft drinks for major brands and alcohol beverage companies including Jim Beam Brands, Diageo, PepsiCo and others. These new members of the Companys sales team have a history of successfully building multi-billion-dollar brands.

Iconics sales team includes former Senior Managers who have held executive positions across the supplier and distributor tiers across the country. They are geographically placed based on their expertise in the regions they are responsible for. All have experience in brand-building and have a history of building relationships with their customers and trade partners. Iconic plans to appoint sales leaders with experience in the regions in which they are placed to oversee distribution, sales and relationship building. Iconic also intends to develop a team dedicated to national retail chains and grocery stores and a team dedicated to restaurant chains, once that channel opens.

Our revamped sales team includes a number of talented members who have worked with billion-dollar brands, said Iconic Chief Executive Officer, Larry Romer. Expanding our national sales team has been a key piece to driving expansion and growth. We have an impressive line-up of products and extensive manufacturing capabilities that need our regional sales leaders to canvas the United States. They understand the intricacies of the alcohol industry, know how to build successful brands and bring decades of experience. Weve chosen these new members of our sales team based on their track record of execution and success, and believe their contributions will provide immediate return on investment. We couldnt be more excited to take this next step as a company.

Select sales team bios:

Peter Hickey, Executive VP Sales. Peter brings over 40 years of experience in the wine and spirits business. He has held senior sales and marketing management positions at Whitbread, Jim Beam Brands, Allied Domecq, and most recently as Executive Vice President and General Manager, Control States Division at Southern Glazer Wine and Spirits. He has extensive experience in the sale and marketing of wine and spirits in the U.S. and International markets.

Rob Imperial, Regional VP Sales, Central Region. Rob has over 38 years in the alcohol beverage industry, including 26 years with the Jim Beam Brands Co. and Future Brands LLC, a joint venture between Jim Beam Brands and Absolut Spirits Co. (Absolut Vodka). He has held numerous manager and director positions across many areas, at both the regional and national levels, including roles in sales, brand and regional marketing, logistics and new product innovation. Before joining Iconic, he was VP of Sales Administration for Agave Loco LLC, owner of the popular RumChata Cream Liqueur brand, from 2013-2021, and was responsible for all areas of sales administration and compliance for the U.S.

Kevin Tramuta, Regional Sales Director, West. Kevin has over 40 years of experience in the Wine and Spirits Industry, including 20 years with the Jim Beam Brands Company. At Jim Beam, he held positions as State Manager Colorado/New Mexico, Control States Division Manager, and Rocky Mountain Division Vice President. More recently, Kevin spent seven years with Breakthru Beverage Colorado as a Division Manager, Western Slope, and two years as a Sales Manager for Wyoming Whiskey.

George Fisher, VP of National Retail Sales. George has 29 years of experience with PepsiCo. He was VP for the Central Division team for 10 states based in Chicago and was a VP/GM at Walmart/Sams and helped build the Walmart team; now a five-billion-dollar beverage business. Previously, he was VP of Franchise Sales and oversaw sales and relationships with franchise bottlers nationwide for Southern Wine and Spirits. He was SVP of National Accounts and built a national account team covering all national customers, which included Safeway, Kroger, Walmart and CVS. He helped grow the business into a four billion dollar enterprise, building a team of sales, category management and analysts in the process. He also worked closely with SWS states and national customers.

Other sales members include:

Peter Collins, VP Sales, Northeast: over 25 years of experience, including 14 at Diageo. He also worked at the Paddington Corporation and ran the Northeast division of the Sazerac Company.

Joe Mesuda, VP of Sales, Midwest: ran Eber Brothers Distributor in New York, and worked at Jim Beam. He was also the head of the Northeast division for Agave Loco LLC (RumChata) until it was purchased by Gallo.

Andrea Christensen, VP of Sales, Southeast: Andrea started her career in Dallas with Glazers Distributors and has held National Account Director positions with Crimson Wine Group, Ferrari-Carano, Southern Wine & Spirits of America, Beam Global, and Fosters Wine Estates.

About Iconic

Iconic Brands, Inc (OTCQB: ICNB) is a leader in the development, design and delivery of alcohol and non-alcohol beverages. TopPop, its wholly owned subsidiary, is a leader in the innovation of low calorie, ready to go drinks  ready-to-freeze (RTF) and ready-to-drink (RTD) products in sustainable, flexible and stand-up pouch packaging and in the alcohol ice-pop and cocktails-to-go market. Iconics brands include Bellissima by Christie Brinkley, a premium better-for-you and better-for-the-planet collection of Prosecco, Sparkling Wines and Still Wines, all of which are certified vegan and made with organic grapes. Bellissima is strategically positioned with its zero sugar wines in the zero sugar beverage category. The Company operates in multiple states, distributes across the globe and has Fortune 500 customers that include some of the worlds largest alcohol beverage companies and brands.

Please visit Iconics websites and follow us on social media.

Websites: Iconicbrandsusa.com ; bellissimaprosecco.com ; toppoppkg.com ; sonjasangria.com

Twitter: @iconicbrandsus; @Sonja_Sangria

Instagram: @IconicBrandsUSA; @BellissimaProsecco; @sonja_sangria

LinkedIn: Iconic Brands USA; TopPop Packaging

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward-looking statements are made on the basis of the current beliefs, expectations and assumptions of management, are not guarantees of performance, and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements should, therefore, be considered in light of various risks, including those set forth in Iconics reports that it files from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and which you should review, including those statements under Item 1A  Risk Factors in Iconics most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q.

Contact

ir@iconicbrandsusa.com
VISTA STRENGTHENS ITS GLOBAL AND U.S. LEADERSHIP

WITH THE ACQUISITION OF JET EDGES PLATFORM

Acquisition of the private aviation services platform of Jet Edge , the fastest-growing North American charter operator, significantly scales up Vistas U . S . presence ;

The acquisition provides additional flexibility, infrastructure and scale to support its growing client base and demand across North America ;

Vista client s to access 10 0 additional aircraft , including the largest charter fleet of Gulfstream jets in the U.S. ;

Jet Edge Reserve Members and Aircraft Owners will benefit significantly from Vistas broader global fleet and platform;

Bill Papariella , Jet Edge CEO , to join Vistas executive team as Chief Business Officer and Jet Edges experienced management team remaining in place , in accord ance with U.S. DOT requirements;

Transaction expected to complete in the second quarter of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions ;

Follows the recent successful integrations of Red Wing Aviation, Apollo Jets and Talon Air into Vistas ecosystem and AIR HAMBURG acquisition announcement.





Dubai, March 31, 2022: Vista Global Holding (Vista), the worlds leading private aviation group, announces that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the private aviation services platform of Jet Edge, the fastest-growing North American charter operator.

Founded in 2011, Jet Edge is an integrated charter, management and brokerage platform and a leading U.S. provider of large cabin and super-midsize private jet charter and aircraft management services. At the time of this announcement, Jet Edge has a run rate of 60,000+ yearly flight hours, exclusively in the large-cabin and super-midsize category. Following the completion of the transaction in Q2 2022 Vista expects its fleet availability to expand to approximately 350 aircraft.

The move highlights Vistas continued investment into the U.S., the largest and fastest-growing region, and follows the recent announcement of a deal with AIR HAMBURG, balancing its fleet to respond to the significant demand it experienced across the two the largest aviation markets.

Thomas Flohr, Vistas Founder and Chairman, said: Vistas commitment is to provide the most comprehensive range of flying solutions in private aviation. Todays announcement brings significant value to our clients, with access to a further 100 aircraft, expanding our fleet at a time of unprecedented demand for business aviation services.

Our vision is to provide the best services, anytime and anywhere, for every client. Bringing Jet Edge, the fastest-growing large-cabin and super-mid on demand company in the U.S., into the Group scales up our presence in North America, giving Vista the opportunity to turbocharge growth in the most dynamic business aviation market. It also means expanding our offering and presenting our Members with the chance to fly on the largest fleet of Gulfstream aircraft available for charter.

I am also delighted to welcome Bill Papariella to Vistas executive team as Chief Business Officer. As we continue to revolutionize the private aviation market, we are ready to integrate the extensive expertise of our new colleagues across the whole Jet Edge family. This acquisition is the latest example of Vistas ability to capitalize on key opportunities in the highly fragmented and fast-growing business aviation world.

Bill Papariella, Jet Edge's CEO, said: Vista is, without a doubt, the best operational platform in private aviation, and it aligns with our companys promise of safe operational service and a superior flight experience. Thanks to industry-leading technology, the most coveted global fleet and the personal expertise of everyone on the team, this merger takes the Jet Edge platform to the next level overnight. Our Members will now get access to an extensive global fleet, programs, services and a network able to fly them anywhere in the world. Our Aircraft Owners will be able to take advantage of the enormous charter demand, global infrastructure and procurement advantages that Vista generates via its iconic brands VistaJet and XO.

We are proud of the personal relationships we have built with each one of our Reserve Members and our Aircraft Owners  this has been the main driver behind our tremendous growth in the past few years, at a time when aircraft availability was at a historical minimum. We cannot wait to be able to offer them additional value through our integration with Vista. I couldnt be more proud of the hard work of our teams, and I am excited about our long future together as a Vista company.

The values of maximum safety and customer service excellence are critical for both organizations and the acquisition of the private aviation services platform of Jet Edge is the latest chapter of a longstanding partnership between the company and XO, VistaJet and Apollo Jets. The acquisition brings together two long-established companies with the shared vision of delivering the best flying solutions and experiences to their Members.

The merger is the latest step in Vistas relentless transformation of the highly fragmented business aviation ecosystem. Vistas maintenance services in North America will expand with the acquisition of Jet Edges Part 145 maintenance facility, located strategically on the West Coast. It will provide a full suite of maintenance services to a wide range of aircraft types, augmenting the maintenance capacity across the U.S. and securing better access to parts. The acquisition will also provide two branded lounges in Van Nuys and Teterboro, ready to welcome all guests departing from these strategic terminals.

In accord with U.S. DOT requirements, Vista will acquire Jet Edge aircraft, hospitality and maintenance facilities, while its U.S. strategic operating partner XOJET Aviation will acquire a majority stake of the Part 135 certificates of Jet Select and Western Air Charter.

 Ends 

About Vista

Vista Global Holdings (Vista) subsidiaries provide worldwide business flight services. A global group headquartered at the DIFC in Dubai, Vista integrates a unique portfolio of companies offering asset-free services to cover all key aspects of business aviation: guaranteed and on demand global flight coverage; subscription and Membership solutions; and cutting-edge mobility technology. The Groups mission is to lead the change to provide clients with the most advanced flying services at the very best value, anytime, anywhere around the world. Vistas knowledge and understanding of all facets of the industry deliver the best end-to-end offering and technology to all business aviation clients through its VistaJet and XO branded services and duly licensed carriers. Vista is not a direct air carrier and does not operate or charter flights.

More Vista information and news at www.vistaglobal.com

About Jet Edge

Jet Edge is a leader in full-service global private aviation. As an integrated super-midsize and large cabin management operator and maintenance provider, Jet Edge services aircraft owners and charter flyers with a world-class operational platform. Jet Edge extends individual clients and corporations 365-day-a-year access to one of the most well-appointed aircraft fleets in the world. Backed by award-winning safety programs and overseen by a leadership team with wide-ranging experience in commercial and private aviation operations and management, Jet Edge delivers excellence in aircraft management, charter management, on-demand charter, aircraft sales, and maintenance. More information can be found at www.flyjetedge.com

Contacts

press@vistaglobal.com

Vista Global Holding Limited (Vista) does not own or operate any aircraft. All flights are performed by FAA-licensed/DOT-registered EASA or U.S. certified Vista group direct air carriers and/or partner operators. Vista holds non-controlling minority stakes in XOJET Aviation, GMJ Air Shuttle, Red Wing Aviation and Talon Air.

Attachments
Tulare County, CA, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Visalia Unified School District partnered with BusPatrol to trial stop-arm safety technology and see how often cars illegally pass stopped school buses

School buses involved in the pilot were passed more than three times per bus day

From November to February, nine school buses recorded more than 1,000 stop-arm violation incidents

Visalia Unified School District has announced results of a pilot program with safety technology company, BusPatrol.

As part of the pilot, nine school buses were equipped with stop-arm cameras to see how often cars illegally pass school buses. From November 28th to February 25th, 1,196 vehicles illegally passed school buses that were stopped to load and unload children. This equates to 3.1 stop-arm violations per bus per day, one of the highest violation rates captured in BusPatrol pilots being conducted across the country.

California state law requires vehicles to stop for a stopped school bus with its stop-arm extended and red lights flashing. Under current legislation, school districts and law enforcement agencies are not permitted to use automated stop-arm cameras to cite violators.

Jean Souliere, CEO and Founder at BusPatrol, said: "This school year has been one of the most dangerous in recent history in terms of road safety. There have been too many tragedies which could have been avoided. The big yellow bus should be a clear warning to people to slow down and hit the brakes.

Campaigners and school bus safety advocates across California are calling for better legislation to keep students safe on the journey to and from school. To join the cause, contact your state representative and express your support for AB 2084 and the use of school bus safety technology.

ENDS

Attachments
TORONTO, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Platinex Inc. (CSE: PTX) (Frankfurt: 9PX) (Platinex or the Company) is pleased to announce that it has acquired 63 mining claims adjoining its Shining Tree Project through an agreement with Skead Holdings Ltd. (Skead). The acquisition increases the Shining Tree property holdings from 21,847 hectares (53,985 ac) to 23,219 hectares (57,375 ac) and covers area in the central western portion of the Project (see image).

The new acquisition covers some of the down dip extension and a prominent spur fault associated with the Ridout-Tyrrell Deformation Zone (RTDZ). The RTDZ is a trans-crustal structure, along which several world-class gold deposits are spatially and genetically associated. On the Shining Tree property, the RTDZ has been identified as the likely source of highly anomalous gold indications in a provincially significant gold dispersion train.

Pursuant to the agreement, the Company paid Skead $11,500 in cash and issued 400,000 shares of the Company. The shares issued pursuant to the agreement will be subject to a four-month hold period and subject to the approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange. The mining claims are subject to a 2% net smelter returns royalty of which the Company has the right to repurchase up to 1% at the rate of $400,000 per 0.5%.

The information presented in this news release has been reviewed and approved by James R. Trusler, P.Eng., Chairman of Platinex Inc. and the qualified person for exploration at the Shining Tree project, as defined by National Instrument 43-101, Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects.

About Platinex Inc.: Platinex creates shareholder value through the opportunistic acquisition and advancement of high-quality projects in prolific Ontario mining camps. Current assets include a 100% ownership interest in the district scale W2 Copper-Nickel-PGE Project and a 100% interest in the 225 km2 Shining Tree Gold Project in the Abitibi region of Ontario, a world-renowned gold district. The W2 Project controls one of the major Oxford Stull Dome complexes. The Shining Tree Project covers a major portion of the Ridout-Tyrrell deformation zone that trends as far west as Newmonts Borden Mine, through the area of IAMGOLDs Cote Gold deposit, and across Aris Golds Juby Project. The Company is also developing a net smelter return (NSR) royalty portfolio and currently holds royalties on gold, PGE, and base metal properties in Ontario.

For further information please contact. Mr. Greg Ferron, CEO at 416-270-5042 or via email at: gferron@platinex.com

To receive Company press releases, please sign up on the website www.platinex.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS:

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and information based on current expectations. These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by such statements. Such statements include use proprietary data to seek financial backing to advance its platinum group properties, submission of the relevant documentation within the required timeframe and to the satisfaction of the relevant regulators, completing the acquisition of applicable assets and raising sufficient financing to complete the Company's business strategy. There is no certainty that any of these events will occur. Although such statements are based on management's reasonable assumptions, there can be no assurance that such assumptions will prove to be correct. We assume no responsibility to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except as required by applicable securities laws.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any province in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. The securities issued, or to be issued, under the Private Placement have not been, and will not be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c43272f2-4e08-4022-8296-8fc4679f5b99
Vancouver, BC, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PayByPhone, which launched in Italy in 2018 as a single country app, is now expanding and has officially become part of the global PayByPhone app. This means the more than 50 million global PayByPhone users will now have access to pay for parking simply and remotely in 100 cities in Italy, including Verona, Turin, Bologna, and Naples. Additionally, Italian drivers will now be able to easily use their PayByPhone app to park in more than 1,200 cities worldwide where PayByPhone is present, including Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Amsterdam, Lausanne, London, and San Francisco.

PayByPhones goal was always to create one global app, on one global platform, servicing the world. Bringing Italy on board is the next step along this journey, with plans to launch Germany onto our global app later this year said Andy Gruber, CEO. As people start venturing out on more trips and holidays this year, we want to deliver them a seamless parking experience and a simplified journey. Bringing Italy onto our global app brings them one step closer to that.

PayByPhones growth has been strong, despite the global pandemic. Client growth was up 20% in 2021 alone and global parking transactions grew by 60%.

PayByPhone allows drivers to pay and extend their parking remotely and receive smart alerts to help avoid costly fines. PayByPhone also made it even easier for Italian users to park by launching Apple Pay, which has proven to be hugely popular in other markets. In North America, for example, just 500,000 PayByPhone users were using Apple Pay a year ago. Today, that number has doubled to over a million. There are also plans to launch PayPal in Italy this Spring.

One of our core values is to continually improve the services we offer our customers, adds Gruber. Were on a constant outlook to simplify peoples journeys, and frequent innovations like this to our global app and global platform make their lives easier. The launch of Apple Pay in more and more markets is just one of those improvements, offering parkers more choice and more convenience with globally trusted payment options.

For more information, visit paybyphone.com

About PayByPhone

PayByPhones aim is simple: simplify your journey so you can focus on what matters most. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkswagen Financial Services AG, they are one of the fastest growing mobile payments companies in the world, processing more than $641 million USD in payments and over 5 million downloads per year. Available in more than 1,200 cities across the globe, PayByPhone helps millions of consumers easily and safely pay for parking without the hassles of coins, lines, or fines. Their smart, intuitive technology is at the center of their user-first approach, delivered to make everything as simple as possible. For more information, please visit www.paybyphone.com.
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Business development organization, Co-operatives First, is pleased to announce the launch of a new business development micro-learning course and pitch contest for start-up co-operatives.



This free online training called Introduction to Co-operatives is a self-directed bootcamp for collaborating entrepreneurs unfamiliar with the co-operative legal structure.

Weve designed the course to help entrepreneurs organize their new business, says Audra Krueger, Executive Director for Co-operatives First. So, its a guide for taking a business idea from sketches on a whiteboard to investment readiness, but its also a crash course on the co-operative model.

Designed for busy go-getters, the course is available in bite-sized, video-based parts so that people who take it can learn on the run. To celebrate the launch of this modular, self-paced, and free course, the organization is also hosting a pitch contest.

Throughout April, were accepting pitches for start-up co-operatives, said Krueger. If youre teaming up on a start-up, this is your opportunity to win $15,000 worth of start-up support.

To enter, groups need to provide the organization with a short, written pitch of their business idea. The prize package includes organizational design, feasibility, or business planning, plus incorporation and board governance training. The contest is open to groups forming co-operatives throughout western Canada.

To learn more about the course and pitch contest, visit CooperativesFirst.com/Team-Up-on-a-Start-Up/

MEDIA CONTACT

Dan Matthews

Manager, Strategy and Communications for Co-operatives First

dan@cooperativesfirst.com

306-382-4410

BACKGROUND

Co-operatives First is a non-profit organization funded by Federated Co-operatives Limited and the Co-operative Retailing System. Founded in 2015, the organization provides co-op start-up resources, such as feasibility studies, business plans, online courses, and incorporation support to rural and Indigenous entrepreneurs across western Canada. Our goal is to help leaders in these communities build new businesses, grow local economies, and support community development.

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f0ecf54d-4eb3-46c0-9c30-32234bdc2e07

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/73970f58-9b9d-412b-be57-5984b962905a

A video accompanying this announcement is available at

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/95505b3f-a5b3-42ee-b04e-2baa746831e5
Eden Prairie, Minnesota, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Starkey is proud to announce its newest and most advanced family of hearing aids, Evolv AI, has won a Red Dot Award: Product Design 2022. This is the sixth year Starkey has won this award, which is one of the most renowned international product competitions in the world. This annual awards program recognizes the years best products that are aesthetically appealing, functional, innovative, and most importantly, have outstanding design.

I am so proud of the entire Starkey team for continuing to push technological boundaries with cutting-edge technology, said Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Engineering, Achin Bhowmik, Ph.D. Evolv AI has outstanding functionality, highly impressive design quality, and demonstrates our deep understanding of customer needs.

Starkeys new full line of hearing aids, Evolv AI, sets the stage for an entirely new hearing ecosystem that not only emphasizes hearings impact on overall health and wellness, but creates an effortless user experience. The hearing aids are built on Starkey Sound, a ground-breaking technology created by years of refining Starkeys research and science-based algorithms to power high-fidelity audio, which is modeled after the human auditory system. Like the brain, Starkey Sound is designed to automatically suppress background noise and increase speech audibility and intelligibility with machine learning technology. The combination of these features creates an effortless hearing experience for users. Evolv AIs always on and always automatic approach delivers realistic and genuine sound quality in every environment, without the need to do anything extra.

Congratulations to the entire Starkey family for this impressive, international recognition, said Starkey President and CEO Brandon Sawalich. Receiving this honor is a tribute to the amount of research and development we devote to producing high-quality, innovative, and personalized hearing aids.

To learn more about Starkey, please click here.

###

About Starkey

Starkey is a privately held, global hearing technology company headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. Founded by Bill Austin in 1967, Starkey is known for its innovative design, development and distribution of comprehensive digital hearing systems. Led today by President and CEO Brandon Sawalich, Starkey is the only American-owned provider of hearing technologies. The company has more than 5,000 employees, operates 29 facilities and does business in more than 100 markets worldwide. Learn more at starkey.com.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo., March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WaterEquity, the first asset manager exclusively focused on water and sanitation, today announced the final close of its third impact investment fund, the Global Access Fund. The Fund is oversubscribed, with total investor commitments of $153 million. The Fund will invest equity capital from institutional investors, foundations, impact investors, and donor-advised funds alongside $100 million of debt capital from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Investments will target sustainable returns with high credit quality and are organized around financial inclusion, gender-lens investing, and access to safe water or sanitation.

"It is deeply gratifying to see the enthusiasm and commitment of participants in our third fund," said Paul O'Connell, President of WaterEquity. "It illustrates that our ability to deliver true impact, amplified by the support of DFC, is a compelling offering for impact investors."

WaterEquity's Global Access Fund will address the global water and sanitation crisis in emerging markets by providing capital to financial institutions for water and sanitation microloans. These microloans enable low-income consumers to install water and sanitation solutions, such as water connections and toilets, within their own homes. This directly addresses Sustainable Development Goal 6to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. It also advances other development goals leading to improved health, economic security, gender equality, and climate resilience. Over its seven-year term, the Fund aims to reach 5 million people with improved access to water and sanitation across Asia, Latin America, and Africa. 100% of those targeted will be low-income families and 60% will be women.

"Globally, 1 in 10 people do not have access to safe water, and 1 in 4 lack access to a toilet, with women and girls disproportionally affected," says Genevieve Edens, WaterEquity's Director of Impact & ESG. "The global water crisis is an enormous overlooked market opportunity that can provide true, undiluted impact for investors focused on ESG."

According to the World Bank, there is a $1 trillion market opportunity for providing water and sanitation services to all people worldwide by 2030. To address this market opportunity, WaterEquity will continue to scale its investments across the water and sanitation sector, from household-level solutions to climate-resilient water and sanitation infrastructure.

About WaterEquity

WaterEquity is the first asset manager exclusively focused on solving one of the most urgent issues of our timethe global water and sanitation crisis. We invest in financial institutions, enterprises, and infrastructure in emerging markets delivering access to safe water and sanitation to low-income consumers while offering an attractive risk-return profile to investors.

Founded by engineer Gary White and actor/writer Matt Damon of Water.org, the success of WaterEquity is built on decades of experience investing in water and sanitation in emerging markets, delivering proven social and financial returns. Since 2016, WaterEquity has raised more than $200 million across three funds, reaching nearly 3 million people with access to safe water or sanitation, with women comprising 97% of individuals directly supported by our investments. Learn more at https://waterequity.org.

Contact

Jeso O'Neill, Communications Director, WaterEquity

joneill@waterequity.org

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ATLANTA, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GreyOrange , the global fulfillment platform leader, and Sistemo , the premier South American consulting and implementation firm for smart fulfillment solutions, today announced the renewal of their strategic partnership. GreyOrange and Sistemo have worked together since 2017, bringing modern omnichannel fulfillment solutions to retailers in Chile and Colombia. With the renewed agreement, the companies will expand their services in Latin America (LATAM) and increase the breadth of solutions available to customers in the region. GreyOrange has also invested in local leadership to support growth in the region alongside Sistemo, including LATAM Director of Sales Carlos Rodriguez and Market Development Representative Juan Morales.



Partnering with Sistemo helps open the door for more companies across the region to experience the innovation, efficiency and growth a fulfillment platform offers, said Rodriguez. Sistemo shares our vision to combine AI-driven software with robotic automation to overcome inadequacies in current warehouse operations and capitalize on modern market developments.

Sistemo will expand their services for companies seeking transformative solutions to todays fulfillment challenges and customer expectations for fast delivery. Sistemo has deep expertise with the GreyOrange fulfillment platform, having collaboratively developed and implemented omnichannel, intralogistics and click & collect projects for numerous organizations and sites across Chile and Colombia over the last five years.

Sistemo is dedicated to providing state-of-the-art technology which delivers the operational excellence our customers need to scale their business, said Ignacio Orellana, founder and director of Sistemo. By advancing our partnership with GreyOrange, we can work as a trusted advisor to more customers through every stage of the process, from business development and solution design, to installation, support and achieving their company KPIs.

By orchestrating data, people, process and robotic automation in real time, the GreyOrange fulfillment platform delivers order fulfillment with 99.9% accuracy, up to 5x times faster. The platform enables worker productivity using automation for goods-to-person order picking, smart zone transfer and sortation, and intralogistics for heavy payload material movement. Warehouse associates benefit from an enhanced work environment that provides better ergonomics, greater safety and the opportunity to upskill through working with technology, helping companies grapple with the effects of long-term labor shortages.

Rodriguez, a 26-year veteran in retail solutions design and consumer retail strategy, has led innovation in retail markets for North and South America through enterprise-wide digital transformation for companies such as The Home Depot, Reflexis and Revionics. For more than 30 years, Morales has helped customers in Latin markets benefit from adopting advanced technology. His expertise spans sales, operations and communications for companies such as AT&T, Georgia Pacific, Plaid Enterprises, The Home Depot, Reflexis Systems and Revionics. His current role focuses on expanding GreyOrange relationships with Latin American enterprises wanting to modernize fulfillment to meet the immediacy demands of modern commerce.

About Sistemo

Sistemo develops and implements robotic solutions in partnership with GreyOrange both in Chile and Colombia, having deployed approximately 500 robotic automation agents in the region. With a team of more than 20 professionals, Sistemo offers vast experience in the design, implementation, commissioning and maintenance of robotic solutions, from hardware, system integrations and operational support, to software maintenance.

About GreyOrange

GreyOrange is the leading omnichannel fulfillment platform that gives companies choice, flexibility and resilience in driving digital supply chain transformations. The GreyOrange platform gets the right product to the right person at the right time. GreyOrange gives organizations a competitive advantage by increasing productivity, empowering growth and scale, mitigating labor challenges, reducing risk and getting to market faster while also creating better experiences for customers and employees. The company is headquartered in Atlanta with offices across EMEA and APAC. For more information, visit www.greyorange.com .
New York, NY, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recently, AMCAP Group announced the official collaboration with ECAP financial service system. ECAP financial service system provides a variety of online financial products trading and intelligent analysis services, and its purpose is to make financial users benefit more and avoid detours in the new financial situation. AMCAP Group said that because most of the time, fragmented information everywhere just makes most people know the routine things they have mastered. People know that the information of the investment sector and the financial market is becoming more and more homogeneous, which is very unfavorable and bad for investment and financial management, because investment is a matter of refusing to follow the crowd. If investors want to get more than the market average, they have to make a judgment different from the market average. ECAP system has established intelligent global industry information analysis and scientific trend judgment, avoiding and reducing man-made investment errors and financial product selection errors.

Recently, the global stock market has been in turmoil. The market is shrouded in layers of tense clouds. Due to the Russian-Ukrainian war, the market sentiment was seriously disturbed by the geographical situation last week. The global financial market shows great volatility. Under the influence of many uncertain factors, the market differentiation is fierce. With the global economic downturn, everyone is worried about how to increase the value of assets and how to realize the freedom of wealth. AMCAP Group said that how to get financial benefits from stock market, funds and various technology and finance under this environment must plan the layout in advance, and then wait quietly for the opportunity.

AMCAP Group, an international professional asset management institution, pointed out through the recent global market research that global risk assets fell sharply. However, the mild response of Southeast Asian market indicates that the Asian market has certain flexibility, which provides opportunities for investors. As for the investment criteria, AMCAP Group always believes in the concept of value investment, whether it is stock market turmoil or stock market crash. Recently, the global situation is unstable. As an investor, people must have a sense of risk. For example, investing in the stock market is most vulnerable to the turbulence of the situation, which will negatively affect some stocks and even affect the whole market. At this time, it is very important to choose safe-haven funds and stocks. And crude oil and natural gas futures have become one of the options for avoiding risks in financial management. Military stocks and military funds have been continuously rising driven by the tense atmosphere in Russia and Ukraine. From the offline point of view, many people choose physical gold as a long-term hedge, and digital general assets have also been put on the stage of international competition.

Analyze the international market comprehensively, and match the latest financial management and investment methods in technology and finance. AMCAP Group, as a professional financial investment and financial management institution with global integration operation, develops more high-quality products and services to help users and novices understand and master the cutting-edge financial management knowledge, and makes users realize the importance of product selection and safe-haven investment in financial management.

Media Contact

Company Name: AMCAP

Email: info@amcapp.com

Website: www.amcapp.cc

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 a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any investment or security, or to engage in any investment strategy or transaction. It is your responsibility to determine whether any investment, investment strategy, security, or related transaction is appropriate for you based on your investment objectives, financial circumstances, and risk tolerance. Consult your business advisor, attorney, or tax advisor regarding your specific business, legal, or tax situation. For more info, please contact brandnewsproject@gmail.com.

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Townsville, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Townsville, Queensland -

Tree Surgeons Townsville, a company based in Garbutt, Queensland, Australia is happy to announce the launch of their complete range of tree care services in Townsville. They offer both residential tree and lawn care services and commercial tree care and landscape services. Their residential services include: tree trimming and pruning services; tree health inspection and treatment services; tree removal services; tree planting and transplanting services; shrub pruning services; tree and shrub fertilization; storm prep and support systems for trees; and lawn care services.

The arborists at Tree Surgeons Townsville can provide tree health inspection services all year round in order to help detect any problems that may happen before its too late. And if there is a need to remove a tree, they can provide the tree removal service in a safe and efficient manner. They can also provide tree trimming and pruning to keep the trees healthy and make them more attractive. Trees offer many benefits but they can also be dangerous, especially when they have been damaged by a storm or have been weakened by disease. That is why the help of arborists is needed to ensure that they are properly cared for and cut down properly when there is a need for it.

Their commercial services include commercial grounds maintenance; commercial tree care services; water management solutions; landscape enhancements; the tree surgeon nursery; and commercial snow removal. For commercial tree care services, they offer tree trimming, stump grinding, pruning and shaping, fertilizing and mulching, and shrub removal.

Commercial grounds maintenance is important because a company with a shabby-looking property will not likely to be trusted by potential customers. This involves mowing the lawn, fertilizing, trimming shrubs and trees, and tree lopping whenever necessary. Water management is also vital for commercial property. And, of course, landscape improvements, and maintenance are required to keep the company grounds looking impressive for guests and potential customers.

Tree stump removal is also essential for both residential and commercial properties. This is because tree stumps are not just eyesores but they can also be hazardous and the space they occupy can actually be put to better use. For homes, tree stumps can be dangerous. Children and the elderly can trip over them and suffer injuries. And tree stumps must be cleared to allow more space for planting new trees.

They also provide emergency tree services for those times when a tree has become a hazard to people and property and must be removed immediately. They can also provide emergency consulting services for any kind of tree emergency, whether it simply means a consultation over the phone or making an on-site assessment to establish the best course of action. They can also provide storm response and natural disaster recovery because storms and the like can cause a lot of damage and destruction. For emergencies, they are available 24/7 for emergency tree removal, debris removal, storm cleanup, and hazardous material cleanup.

They can also provide help in removing trees and vegetation from areas that are near power lines. Since these are dangerous areas, removing and trimming trees need to be done by professionals who know how to perform the tasks safely.

Despite being recently launched, the tree specialists at Tree Surgeons Townsville have more than 15 years of experience in the tree industry with the best tree services and customer service. They are a team of arborists who are knowledgeable and experienced on everything about trees and they hold certificates and diplomas available in Australia. They have the proper insurance and they are in compliance with the appropriate safety standards. But most of all, they offer affordable prices when it comes to tree care services, including tree lopping, stump grinding, land clearing, and tree removal services throughout Townsville.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12eN6aL3u2c

Those who are interested in the tree care services offered by Tree Surgeons Townsville can check out their website at treeindustries.com.au, or contact them on the phone or through email. They are open from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm, from Monday to Saturday.

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For more information about Tree Surgeons Townsville, contact the company here:



Tree Surgeons Townsville

Anthony Homan

1300 712 056

info@treeindustries.com.au

Tree Surgeons Townsville

Garbutt, QLD 4814






CHANTILLY, Va., March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Wounded Warriors Family Support recently presented veterans Patrick PJ Glavey and Adam Hartswick with a 2022 Ford F-150 XLT mobility-equipped vehicle as part of its Mobility is Freedom program. The donations occurred at the Driver Rehabilitation Center of Excellence.



Glavey, a 1st U.S. Marines Division lieutenant from Cedarburg, Wisconsin, was in his first deployment in 2010 when he lost both legs in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Glavey currently spends much of his time with numerous church programs and enjoys volunteering and spending time with his family. Glavey is very appreciative of all the donors, supporters and volunteers of Wounded Warriors Family Support who helped donate the truck.

It will go a long way in helping me to help others and myself, and Im extremely grateful, Glavey said.

Hartswick is a U.S. Army veteran from Spring Mills, Pennsylvania. Sgt. Hartswick was severely injured when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistans Kandahar Province during May 2013. Hartswick lost both legs above the knee, his right index finger and part of his right thumb. He also sustained a right hip fracture, mild traumatic brain injury and bilateral perforated eardrums.

Since retiring from the Army, Hartswick has found a new calling. He is a tactical combat casualty care course instructor for first responders.

Being gifted a brand-new truck, completely customized to my needs, is just unbelievable, Hartswick said. Im astonished by the generosity of Wounded Warriors Family Support.

Wounded Warriors Family Support launched Mobility is Freedom in 2015 to provide grants and modified vehicles for combat-wounded veterans. Glavey and Hartswick received the initial Mobility is Freedom vehicle donations in 2022. Wounded Warriors Family Support provided nine vehicles to veterans last year.

Across our country, there are 350 veterans who need modified vehicles as a result of their combat-related injuries, Wounded Warriors Family Support CEO and President Kate McCauley said. We believe that providing a properly equipped vehicle for PJs and Adams needs will allow them to have freedom to live productive and quality lives with their families.

About Wounded Warriors Family Support

Wounded Warriors Family Support is an independent nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide support to the families of those who have been wounded, injured, or killed during combat operations. This organization is run by combat veterans for combat veterans. Rated a four-star nonprofit by Charity Navigator, Wounded Warriors Family Support aids veterans and their families in healing the wounds that medicine cannot. For more information about Wounded Warriors Family Support, visit www.wwfs.org .

Media Contacts: Kevin Schuster, PR Counsel Martin Duarte, WWFS Program Outreach Coordinator Cell: 402.917.6001 760.405.7777 Email: kschuster@lukaspartners.com Martin.Duarte@wwfs.org

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b7e89087-2832-4c85-b87a-bd4605a808cc
Key Takeaways



Operating fleet capacity nearly doubles, driving sizable production and revenue increases.

Acquisition activity accelerated.

Company deployed over $1.1 billion in capital; investments more than doubled.

Companys net assets nearly tripled, with almost $1 billion in new investor capital raised.

Company expanded wind operations in the Midwest, driving economies of scale.

Companys investment activities continued to deliver on ESG metrics, including carbon abatement, water conservation and green jobs.

Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company closed to new equity capital.



NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC (Greenbacker, GREC, or the Company), a leading owner and operator of sustainable infrastructure and energy efficiency projects, has announced record financial results for 2021, with substantial growth and expansion across fleet size, production, revenue, capital deployed and raised, and portfolio value.1

Operating fleet capacity nearly doubles, driving sizable production and revenue increases

Greenbacker expanded the power-generation capacity of its operating fleet by 80% during 2021, putting a record amount of under-construction projects into commercial operation and continuing to acquire existing operational assets.

This greater capacity enabled the Companys fleet of clean energy projects to produce 1.5 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of total power, representing yearly growth of 49%. (For these and other exact figures, please see Appendix at the end of this release).

Along with this additional production, Greenbackers total annual revenue from the sale of renewable energy and environmental attributes increased 39%, exceeding $107 million.

Acquisition activity accelerated

The Company added 149 net new assets to its fleet in 2021. This brought Greenbackers project count to over 400,2 representing a 58% increase in total number of assets.

These additions nearly tripled the fleets clean powergenerating capacity, boosting it to 2.6 gigawatts (GW), an increase of 187% over the year. This figure includes both operating and pre-operational assets.

As of the end of the year, GREC was conducting business in 32 states, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Washington DC.

Company deployed over $1.1 billion in capital; investments more than doubled

Greenbacker deployed a record $1.1 billion of capital into new or existing investments in 2021, marking annual growth of 182%.

The fair value3 of Greenbackers investments4 increased 111% over the year, to reach $1.4 billion.

Charles Wheeler, CEO of Greenbacker, said:

Despite supply chain challenges in 2021, our capital deployment and fleet expansion reached new highs. Im happy to report that this growth brings even greater economies of scale throughout our operations, creating additional value for our investors and allowing us to deliver cheaper renewable power across the country.

Companys net assets nearly tripled, with almost $1 billion in new investor capital raised.

Greenbacker raised $928.3 million of new equity capital in 2021, increasing the Companys net assets, which topped $1.4 billion by the end of the period.

Company expanded wind operations in the Midwest, driving economies of scale

During 2021, GREC closed on the acquisition of two operational wind projects in MinnesotaRidgewind (25 MW) and WindShare (5 MW). The Company now owns three operating wind farms in the state, including CWS (31 MW).

Greenbacker also expanded its solar footprint in Minnesota with the purchase of the 11-MW Fillinona solar asset. This project is an example of another clean energy advantage the Company supports: multipurpose land use for ecological and agricultural benefits.

Fillinona is located on four separate sites across the state. At two of them, plans are in progress to plant pollinator-friendly vegetation beneath the solar panel arrays, to help support declining bee and butterfly populations and contribute to a healthy biosphere. At the other two sites, pasture mix will be planted to provide grazing for nearby farmers livestock. Land for Fillinona is leased from local farm families and towns, generating reliable income for the landowners over the lifetime of the project.

Companys investment activities continued to deliver on ESG metrics, including carbon abatement, water conservation and green jobs

At the end of 2021, the cumulative amount of energy generated by the Companys fleet grew to over 3.7 million MWh, abating nearly 2.7 million metric tons of carbon since 2016.5

The Companys clean energy projects have saved over 2.5 billion gallons of water,6 compared to the amount of water it would have taken to produce the same amount of power from burning coal. The fleets business activities will sustain over 4,600 green jobs.7

Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company closed to new equity capital

When GREC launched in 2014, the Company targeted an equity capital raise of approximately $1.5 billion, planning to close to new investment when that figure was reached. As it approached that amount, the Company (in consultation with its Board of Directors) made the decision to close to new equity capital as of March 17, 2022.

This close allows Greenbacker to evaluate strategic directions for its portfolio, especially given ongoing industry innovation and the expected strong growth of institutional interest in sustainable infrastructure as an investment strategy. The Company also intends to use the close to solidify GRECs portfolio, bringing its construction assets online and optimizing the portfolios financing.

David Sher, Director of Greenbacker, said:

We believe GRECs expansion will continue to illustrate the long-term earnings power of our strategy. And, as always, were excited to focus on new opportunities to drive the future of clean energy.

Appendix  GREC Portfolio and Financial Metrics1

2021 2020 Total energy produced (MWh) 1,479,921 990,891 Total revenue from the sale of energy and environmental attributes (millions) $107.0 $77.1 Total number of fleet assets at end of period 404 255 Total power-generating capacity of fleet at end of period 2.6 GW 0.9 GW Total capital deployed (millions) $1,113.7 $395.0 Fair value3 of investments in controlled and non-controlled projects (millions) $1,368.3 $648.8 Net asset value (millions) at end of period $1,439.3 $555.6





About Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company

Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC is a publicly reporting, non-traded limited liability sustainable infrastructure company that acquires and manages income-producing renewable energy and other energy-related businesses, including solar and wind farms. We seek to invest in high-quality projects that sell clean power under long-term contract to high-creditworthy counterparties such as utilities, municipalities, and corporations. We are long-term owner-operators, who strive to be good stewards of the land and responsible members of the communities in which we operate. We believe our focus on power production and income generation creates value that we can then pass on to our shareholderswhile facilitating the transition toward a clean energy future. For more information, please visit www.greenbackercapital.com .

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause the actual results to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements can be found in the Risk Factors section of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021 and in subsequently filed periodic reports that we file with the SEC. Although the Company believes the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that the expectations will be attained or that any deviation will not be material. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement contained herein to conform to actual results or changes in the Companys expectations.

General Disclosure

This information has been prepared solely for informational purposes and is not an offer to buy or sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security, or to participate in any trading or investment strategy. The information presented herein may involve Greenbackers views, estimates, assumptions, facts, and information from other sources that are believed to be accurate and reliable and are, as of the date this information is presented, subject to change without notice.

Greenbacker media contact

Chris Larson

Senior Writer & Media Communications

847.313.0935

c.larson@greenbackercapital.com

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/0cbed066-0281-4612-a022-a505cfcfaa33

_________________________________

1 The financial and portfolio metrics set forth herein are unaudited and subject to change. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

2 Total assets and megawatts statistics include those projects where we have contracted for the acquisition of the project pursuant to a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement (MIPA).

3 Fair value figures reflect the fair value of the asset type as reported in GRECs latest annual and quarterly financial statements. The quarterly figure is unaudited and subject to change.

4 This includes both controlled and non-controlled projects, as of December 31, 2021. Controlled investments are defined as investments in companies in which the Company owns 25% or more of the voting securities of such company, have greater than 50% representation on such companys Board of Directors, or are investments in limited liability companies for which the Company serves as managing member. Non-controlled investments consist of secured loans.

5 When compared with a similar amount of power generation from fossil fuels. Carbon abatement is calculated using the EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator which uses the AVoided Emissions and geneRation Tool (AVERT) US national weighted average CO2 marginal emission rate to convert reductions of kilowatt-hours into avoided units of carbon dioxide emissions.

6 Gallons of water saved are calculated based on Operational water consumption and withdrawal factors for electricity generating technologies: a review of existing literature - IOPscience, J Macknick et al 2012 Environ. Res. Lett. 7 045802.
ARLINGTON, Va., March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As the U.S. government considers fusion power to help keep America secure and competitive, the cleanliness, safety, and promise of nearly limitless energy supply of this power generation method naturally makes headlines. However, with viable fusion tokamak reactors nearing reality, thanks to projects like Kronos Fusion's deep learning design and testing simulations, its superior security proves added advantage of fusion over fission.

Current fission reactors depend on uranium enrichment to function. Ordinary uranium lacks the isotope concentration needed for practical fission, about 3% to 5% compared to natural uranium's 0.7% concentration. Running fission reactors requires additional facilities to enrich uranium, using dangerous, polluting, expensive methods like gas centrifuges or tunable photo-ionizing lasers to greatly increase the density of U235 isotopes in uranium fuel.

Reactors are known to be a target for any hostile nation. Uranium enrichment adds extra vulnerability to fission power since shutting down enrichment facilities through sabotage or attack starves reactors of fissile material.

A recent Middle Eastern event highlights the weakness. Iran restarted its uranium enrichment program on April 10, 2021, using freshly built, advanced hexafluoride gas centrifuges at Natanz facility in Isfahan Province. Less than 24 hours later, on April 11, an explosion and fire at the site decisively halted Iran's uranium enrichment.

Iranians initially believed the explosion was accidental, they soon blamed sabotage executed by Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. Ayatollah Khomeini's government said the blast destroyed or put out of action a "large number" of centrifuges. Iran says it's building new centrifuge halls at deeper subterranean levels where it hopes they'll be less vulnerable to attack, with a speculative date of resumed operations in 2022.

Israeli press also ascribed the explosion to Mossad sabotage. While Israel's government offered no official confirmation, The Jerusalem Post quoted IDF Lieutenant General Aviv Kohavi after the incident, "by virtue of clever operational activities, the past year was one of the most secure years that citizens of the State of Israel have known," likely referring to April 11's physical sabotage and July 2020 explosion, causing a shutdown at Natanz.

Likely Mossad raids on Iran show uranium enrichment dependence, creating a significant vulnerability to foreign or domestic sabotage for any country. It isn't necessary to hit reactors themselves to seriously disrupt fission operations. Fusion energy is free of this weak point, potentially requiring no more than highly abundant, non-polluting deuterium, a hydrogen isotope, to run.

Kronos Fusion plans to give America a significant lead on rivals like China with the quantum computing and machine learning simulations to operate at its Fusion Energy Commercialization Centers. Working on rapidly developing successful fusion reactor design solutions with paralleled analysis and simulation, Kronos' project aims for a major near-future boost to this key technology. If successful, this will free America from the vulnerable, polluting technological shackles of uranium enrichment, instead achieving safe, clean, secure, and practically limitless fusion energy generation.

PR Contact: ErinPendleton - pr@kronosfusionenergy.com

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CHICAGO, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VelocityEHS, the global leader in cloud-based environmental, health, safety (EHS) and environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) software, will showcase its innovative Accelerate Platform and provide industry-leading insights at the NAEM EHS+ESG TECH22 conference in Fort Worth, Texas from April 5  7, 2022. The annual compliance, reporting and digital strategy event offers a variety of sessions, keynotes, and demonstrations to help EHS, Sustainability and ESG leaders improve business performance, reduce risk and achieve their technology and software goals. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience the new developments and innovative capabilities VelocityEHS is delivering in the areas of ESG, health, safety, risk, and operational excellence.



Roger Bottum, senior vice president of product at VelocityEHS, will deliver the keynote address, The Future of EHS & ESG Technologies and Software, on April 7 from 9:15 a.m.  10:15 a.m. CT. Together with other industry leaders, Bottum will provide an insider perspective on the emerging technology and digital strategies having the biggest impact on how companies manage, assess and report on their EHS and ESG programs.

ESG has become the primary vehicle for elevating the value of EHS performance measurements to customers, investors, corporate boards, and the C-Suite, said Bottum. Cloud, Predictive and Machine Learning are key technologies to achieving this. To be an ESG leader one must first be an EHS leader, and our expertise as demonstrated by the VelocityEHS Accelerate Platform makes us a critical partner for companies looking to mature their ESG programs.

Event attendees are encouraged to visit tabletop exhibit #23 for a first-hand look at the VelocityEHS Accelerate Platform, which brings the industrys gold-standard solutions for industrial hygiene, ergonomics, chemical management, risk management, training, permit to work, environmental, and safety management into one integrated user experience. Backed by the largest global software community of EHS experts and thought leaders, the software drives expert processes so that every team member can produce outstanding results.

We are taking the lead in developing solutions and resources for executives and EHS leaders who are embracing the ESG tidal shift, said John Damgaard, CEO of VelocityEHS. Companies that face their ESG responsibilities and the complex changing regulatory landscape head-on have a chance to thrive in todays more transparent, equitable, and low carbon economy. At VelocityEHS, we are making it possible for every company to deploy predictive, AI and machine-learning backed solutions that drive better business strategy and outcomes, even in the face of growing uncertainty.

With over 19,000 customers and more than 10 million users worldwide, more businesses trust VelocityEHS and its suite of ESG and EHS management software solutions to safeguard employees, manage risk and meet their complex compliance obligations than any other industry software provider. For more information about VelocityEHS and its complete award-winning software solutions, visit www.EHS.com.

About VelocityEHS

Trusted by more than 19,000 customers worldwide, VelocityEHS is the global leader in true SaaS enterprise EHS technology. Through the VelocityEHS Accelerate Platform, the company helps global enterprises drive operational excellence by delivering best-in-class capabilities for health, safety, environmental compliance, training, operational risk and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG). The VelocityEHS team includes unparalleled industry expertise, with more certified experts in health, safety, industrial hygiene, ergonomics, sustainability, the environment, AI, and machine learning than any EHS software provider. Recognized by the EHS industrys top independent analysts as a Leader in the Verdantix 2021 Green Quadrant AnalysisVelocityEHS is committed to industry thought leadership and to accelerating the pace of innovation through its software solutions and vision.

VelocityEHS is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with locations in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Tampa, Florida; Oakville, Ontario; London, England; Perth, Western Australia; and Cork, Ireland. For more information, visit www.EHS.com.

Media Contact

Brad Harbaugh

312.881.2855

bharbaugh@ehs.com
TEMECULA, Calif., March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- With Earth Day just around the corner, Wilson Creek Winery promotes regenerative agriculture as the most sustainable choice for Southern California growers. The vineyard and online wine seller shares why their viticulture practices are setting them apart from other eco-friendly wineries in Southern California, and how they are leading the way for regenerative farming education.



When it comes to sustainability, Wilson Creek Winery is ahead of the pack. Despite available certifications, theres no baseline standard for sustainability, says Greg Pennyroyal, Vineyard Manager at Wilson Creek Winery. We focus on a scientific, holistic approach that includes both soil health and biodiversity. It's not just about taking care of our vines, but also what is happening on our land.

More Than Sustainable Practices

This holistic approach is called regenerative farming, a carbon-capturing farming practice that takes sustainability to the next level. Instead of just focusing on plant growth, regenerative farming focuses on rebuilding the health of the whole ecosystem, shared Pennyroyal. This approach aims to reverse the declining trends in soil health, water quality, and biodiversity. By using regenerative farming practices, farmers can help heal the land and create a more sustainable future for agriculture.

With over 40 years of viticulture experience, Pennyroyal has implemented regenerative farming practices throughout the Wilson Creek vineyard since its inception, including sap analysis, biological soil respiration tests, and insect monitoring, to create a diversified and resilient ecosystem that yields top grape quality.

Wilson Creek grapes grown from regenerative practices consistently outperform standard grown vines. Even in excessive heat or drought, regenerative-grown crops can endure with minimal loss compared to non-regenerative blocks, which can lose up to 30% of the crop.

Each and every farming practice at the Wilson Creek winery is considered eco-friendly. From avoiding chemical fertilizers in favor of compost, to using green waste and cover crops, Wilson Creek truly lives a mission of green living. The end result? Wine that simply tastes better. Our wine making is a labor of love, and the customers can taste that difference, Pennyroyal noted.

Pioneering Regenerative Farming Education

Looking ahead, the winery remains committed to their green vision. Because we are one of the largest wineries in the Temecula area, we pride ourselves with the responsibility of leading the development of viticultural techniques that are environmentally and ecologically regenerative, Pennyroyal said. Its our goal to perfect these regenerative practices appropriate for our region, and widely disseminate the information in support of making Temecula not only a world-class wine-producing region, but a model of regenerative agriculture and business.

Putting intention into action, Wilson Creek winery recently started the Small Wine Growers Association to share the technology and application advances being made in the field with smaller growers, who account for just over a third of the wine production in Temecula Valley, but often don't have the resources of larger vineyards.

When it comes down to it, sustainable practices are the right thing to do, and were committed to practicing what we preach, and spreading the knowledge, Pennyroyal stated. Thats what we do here. We enhance lives. That includes our soil, watershed, communities, and our people.

For more information, visit www.wilsoncreekwinery.com/winery/.

About Wilson Creek Winery

Wilson Creek Winery is an award-winning Temecula vineyard, offering a full stock of fine wines available for purchase at the winery, online store, or via wine club subscription. An ideal location for weddings and corporate events, the family estate serves wine enthusiasts from all over the country seven days a week via on-site restaurant, multiple tasting rooms, wine tours, and special events.

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/85627d44-b820-486b-86b0-2cd2e70292af
TORONTO, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hanna Capital Corp. (the Corporation), a publicly traded company focused on base metals specializing in Copper, announces the grant of an aggregate of 5,000,000 stock options to directors, officers, employees, and consultants. These stock options are granted in accordance with the terms of the stock option plan of the Corporation. Each option entitles the holder thereof to purchase one (1) common share of the Corporation at a price of $0.05 per common share for a period of three (3) years from March 30, 2025.



The Corporation also announces that it did not proceed with the proposed issuance of an aggregate 5,200,000 options as set out in the Corporations press release dated June 10, 2021.

Corporation contact:

John Gould

Chief Executive Officer

Tel: 416.945.6630

john@hannacapitalcorp.com

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
SALT LAKE CITY, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pitted Ventures is launching a $50 million fund to invest growth capital into emerging consumer brands. The fund will focus on bridging the funding needs of consumer product companies that are between seed funding and Series A investment rounds. The private fund manager offers a differentiated approach by providing less-dilutive capital and an ecosystem of complementary services across e-commerce channel management, logistics and fulfillment, enhanced data analytics, and corporate infrastructure support. These mission-critical services are offered through Pitted Ventures affiliates, Pitted Labs and Pitted Logistics. Both of these companies are based in Salt Lake City and work with numerous consumer brands in e-commerce channel management, advertising, and logistics services, including fulfillment and warehousing. To round out the services provided, the private fund manager is partnering with Nimbl, a cloud accounting services provider, to provide CFO services, corporate accounting, financial reporting, and general tax advice to the fund's portfolio companies. Nimbl works with high-growth businesses across multiple industries, and its Nimbl Commerce division specifically serves the consumer products space. Both Pitted Ventures and Nimbl see strong benefits to this partnership, which adds value by standardizing financial data, streamlining financial reporting, and mitigating risks for investors through enhanced sharing of financial information.

Shane Rowley, Co-founder and President of Nimbl, commented, "We are excited about this partnership with Pitted Ventures. Our track record of working with high-growth companies and exceptional customer service is the perfect partnership for Pitted Ventures, its consumer brand companies and their founders." Greg Russell, Managing Partner of Pitted Ventures, stated, "We chose Nimbl because of their unwavering attention to client service, an excellent reputation for providing cloud accounting services to high-growth companies, and their commitment to the consumer products segment."

Pitted Ventures believes there is a need for a services-centric partner in the alternative capital space that, instead of only selling financial capital, also has a distinct focus on consumer brands, offers mission-critical services, and expands founders' bandwidth. Tyler Allgaier, Founder and CEO of Pitted Labs and Pitted Logistics remarked, "These founders want more options to remain actively involved and economically aligned with their brands, as opposed to having to engage in a highly dilutive capital round or an outright sale when they are not fully ready." Allgaier added, "We provide a highly competitive alternative for emerging brands compared to brand aggregators and the wholesale-to-retail platforms, creating a unique environment for founders to stay engaged and accelerate the growth of their brands."

The private fund manager is also establishing a small, diverse group of brand advisors that will serve as readily-available operating resources for the fund's portfolio companies. Bryan Guadagno, a brand advisor and CEO of It's Skinny, commented, "We want to offer our companies and their founders a best-in-class group of operating executives that have dealt with similar challenges and have built successful consumer brands for their customers and investors."

Pitted Ventures plans to help founders fill funding gaps that exist for consumer products companies between seed funding and Series A and B investment rounds. While the growth and buyout stage funding needs of consumer products businesses are adequately covered by incumbent sponsors, earlier stage capital needs are persistently underfunded due to a fragmented investor base consisting mostly of angel investors and family offices. Moreover, earlier stage consumer products businesses frequently face operational headwinds from a lack of expert guidance and value-added services. As a result, seed and Series A stage consumer brands often struggle to raise capital from institutional and strategic investors in spite of compelling products, markets, and revenue traction.

The private fund manager believes the current volatility in public equity markets will likely carry over into private markets, resulting in higher costs of equity. Even while private companies continue to have revenue growth, this volatility may encourage more emerging and growth-stage companies to seek alternative financing that avoids dilution at lower equity valuations.

COMPANY WEBSITES:

pittedventures.com

pittedlabs.com

pittedlogistics.com

www.trustnimbl.com

COMPANY AND MEDIA CONTACTS:

Pitted Companies

Robert Clark, Head of Business Development

Email: inquiries@pittedventures.com

Nimbl

Danny Dorr, Head of Business Development

Email: marketing@trustnimbl.com | partners@trustnimbl.com

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WASHINGTON, DC, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Humane, the countrys first national humane organization, today announced that nominations are open for the 2022 American Humane Hero Veterinarian and Hero Veterinary Nurse Awards, presented by Zoetis. Pet owners and animal lovers alike are invited to visit www.HeroVetAwards.org between now and May 19 to nominate their favorite veterinary professionals dedicated to the betterment of the health and welfare of animals and the promotion of the human-animal bond. The winning veterinarian and veterinary nurse will attend the star-studded American Humane Hero Dog Awards gala on November 11 in Palm Beach.

The worlds animals depend on veterinarians and veterinary nurses, and we are honored to recognize their achievements in saving lives, conducting groundbreaking research, and working on the front lines of animal welfare, said Dr. Robin Ganzert, president and CEO of American Humane. Thank you to Zoetis, the exclusive sponsor of the American Humane Hero Veterinarian and Hero Veterinary Nurse Awards, for helping us shine a bright spotlight on these humane heroes.

For millions of Americans, animals are not just their best friends, but their heroes. Behind almost every hero pet (and millions more animals) is a hero veterinarian or hero veterinary nurse. These often-little-known benefactors save and improve the lives of animals every day, and for the past eight years, one awards ceremony has honored their tremendous achievements. These awards are not limited to companion animal veterinarians. Professionals from all fields of veterinary medicine are eligible for entry including, but not limited to, those who work in research, emergency services, shelters, and those who work with large and exotic animals.

Following the nomination period, five finalists in the Hero Veterinarian and Hero Veterinary Nurse categories will be selected by a special blue-ribbon panel of judges consisting of veterinary professionals, animal care professionals and celebrities. Then, beginning July 28, the American public will be invited to vote online for their favorite veterinarian and veterinary nurse. The winners will be named the 2022 American Hero Veterinarian and American Hero Veterinary Nurse.

Veterinary teams continue to serve and strengthen our communities during these evolving times by leading the efforts that support the health and wellbeing of the animals that make our lives better, said Tara Bidgood, DVM, PhD, DACVCP, executive director, Zoetis Petcare Veterinary Professional Services & Medical Affairs. Zoetis is proud to honor Americas veterinary community by highlighting their life-changing contributions to society, alongside American Humane.

Key dates for the 2022 American Humane Hero Veterinarian and Hero Veterinary Nurse Awards contest are:

Nominations Period: March 31  May 19, 2022

Public Voting Round: July 28  September 15, 2022

American Humane Hero Dog Awards gala: November 11, 2022

*All rounds open and close at 12 p.m. Pacific Time/ 3 p.m. Eastern Time.

To nominate a veterinarian or veterinary nurse between now and May 19, and for complete contest rules, please visit www.HeroVetAwards.org.

ABOUT AMERICAN HUMANE

American Humane is the countrys first national humane organization. Founded in 1877, American Humane is committed to ensuring the safety, welfare and well-being of animals, and our leadership programs are first to serve in promoting and nurturing the bonds between animals and people. For more information or to support our work, please visit www.americanhumane.org. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

ABOUT ZOETIS

As the worlds leading animal health company, we are driven by a singular purpose: to nurture our world and humankind by advancing care for animals. After 70 years innovating ways to predict, prevent, detect, and treat animal illness, we continue to stand by those raising and caring for animals worldwide - from livestock farmers to veterinarians and pet owners. The companys leading portfolio and pipeline of medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, and technologies make a difference in over 100 countries. A Fortune 500 company, we generated revenue of $7.8 billion in 2021 with ~12,100 employees. For more, visit www.zoetis.com.

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GUELPH, Ontario, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Humanitarian organization Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has had the opportunity to transport and work alongside leaders, communities, and peace-fostering organizations in South Sudan. In 2022 alone, two of our flights have facilitated peace conferences and reconciliation training for local leaders.

It can be hard to find the good news buried amongst the weariness of the last two years, and the rubble of a new, horrifying world conflict. But there is change happening. There is hope left, and there are people working tirelessly to make this possible.

One of those groups is Peace Canal. Peace Canal envisions a new era of inter-communal relations in South Sudan where communities are taking responsibility for the local level frameworks to create a lasting peace. Its a work that MAF is incredibly proud to support with flights. Two weeks ago, we were able to safely transport the Chief Administrator for the Greater Pibor Area, the honorable Lokoli Ame, after a weekend conference encouraging dialogue and peace negotiations between age sets.

South Sudan is one of the worlds youngest countries and has been plagued by war since before its independence in 2013. For generations, raiding was a way to settle rivalries. Death rates have soared since guns replaced traditional weapons, deepening already bitter divides between communities and tribes. This war is estimated to have caused nearly 400,000 deaths through intercommunal violence, and 10% of South Sudans population has fled the country to seek safety in neighbouring Uganda and Kenya.

Candian Pilot, Chris Ball also had the opportunity to fly the Peacebuilding Opportunities Fund in 2021. As he stood at the side of the Pieri airstrip, watching the negotiations between armed youth leaders in the shade of a tree, he realized just how important these meetings were to the country he lives and works in. Just a day later, these same leaders cemented their gains in a public statement on Radio Tamazuj in South Sudan.

Youth from the Greater Pibor Administrative Area and their counterparts from Bor of Jonglei State, resolved to peacefully co-exist, the report begins, then goes on to say, "We could tell these are the right people, who could agree to dialogue, make peace among themselves, and make it hold. Both sides have agreed that as soon as they return home, they will mobilize themselves to disseminate a message of peace and reconciliation to the community."

For more than 75 years, Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) has been bringing help, hope and healing through aviation to some of the most isolated places on earth. Today, we partner with over 1,500 organizations to deliver support, supplies, staff, spiritual care, and community development to thousands of communities where flying is not a luxury but a lifeline.



Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/f88573cf-f281-429b-a15c-b03f231ea674

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/db441f1f-74b8-42ca-a8c6-60f6e45c41f6
Kennesaw, Georgia, USA, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- KENNESAW, Ga., March 31, 2022  BrandSafway was selected by Flatiron Dragados, LLC, to provide access services including launching platform systems and stair towers, as well as concrete forming for the Harbor Bridge Replacement Project in Corpus Christi, Texas. The project includes replacing the existing Harbor Bridge and reconstructing portions of US 181, I-37 and the State Highway 286. Once completed, the Harbor Bridge will be the longest cable-stayed bridge in the United States and the tallest structure in the state of Texas.



Were very proud to support the iconic Harbor Bridge reconstruction project, said Tom Topolski BrandSafways senior vice president, metro and infrastructure. The new Harbor Bridge is a critical element of the regions infrastructure and will serve as a catalyst for continued growth in this dynamic community. BrandSafways broad engineering expertise and wide range of products and services, enables us to provide our clients with the most innovative and cost-efficient custom solutions, which enhances productivity and ensures safety for the public and workers on the project.



Providing custom solutions for critical infrastructure, such as bridges, is one of BrandSafways many areas of expertise, said Alex Di Domenico BrandSafways managing director, major projects group. For the Harbor Bridge, we are supplying under-bridge Truss Frame System launching platforms that traverse the length of the bridge as work progresses. Our solution makes it easy and efficient for workers to safely access the bridge.



BrandSafway is also providing forming services to help construct concrete caps on the bridges two columns, the tallest of which is 538-feet high. BrandSafway was selected to construct the concrete caps due to its lightweight GASS shoring system, which is ideal for work at very high elevations.



Additionally, BrandSafway supplied over 1,000 feet of stairs to give workers access to the bridges two pylons, both above and below the road deck. The stairs were engineered using Systems Scaffold and Frame Scaffold.



Once complete, the new Harbor Bridge will improve safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, provide capacity to meet future traffic demand and offer greater economic development opportunities for the Port of Corpus Christi. BrandSafways Truss Frame System launching platforms will be delivered in March and April 2022.

About BrandSafway

With a commitment to safety as its foremost value, BrandSafway provides the broadest range of solutions with the greatest depth of expertise to the industrial, commercial and infrastructure markets. Through a network of 360 strategic locations across 30 countries and more than 40,000 employees, BrandSafway delivers a full range of forming, shoring, scaffolding, work access and industrial service solutions. BrandSafway supports maintenance and refurbishment projects as well as new construction and expansion plans with unmatched service from expert local labor and management. Todays BrandSafway is At Work For You  leveraging innovation and economies of scale to increase safety and productivity, while remaining nimble and responsive. For more information about BrandSafway, visit www.brandsafway.com.

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Atlanta, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Board of Directors of Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI; "Company") today declared a quarterly dividend of 13 cents per share. The dividend is payable on May 2, 2022, to shareholders of record on April 18, 2022.

About Acuity Brands

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE: AYI) is a market-leading industrial technology company. We use technology to solve problems in spaces and light. Through our two business segments, Acuity Brands Lighting and Lighting Controls (ABL) and the Intelligent Spaces Group (ISG), we design, manufacture, and bring to market products and services that make the world more brilliant, productive, and connected. We achieve growth through the development of innovative new products and services, including lighting, lighting controls, building management systems, and location-aware applications.

Acuity Brands, Inc. achieves customer-focused efficiencies that allow the Company to increase market share and deliver superior returns. The Company looks to aggressively deploy capital to grow the business and to enter attractive new verticals.

Acuity Brands, Inc. is based in Atlanta, Georgia, with operations across North America, Europe, and Asia. The Company is powered by approximately 13,500 dedicated and talented associates. Visit us at www.acuitybrands.com.

# # # #

Investor Contact:

Charlotte McLaughlin

Vice President, Investor Relations

(404) 853-1456

investorrelations@acuitybrands.com
Charleston, South Carolina, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

Three College of Charleston students have been named Goldwater Scholars for the 2022-23 academic year. The scholarship is a federally endowed award that encourages students to pursue careers in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences and engineering.

Emily Grace Dombrowski, Abanob Hanna and Brison Shira, all of whom are in the Honors College, have each received a Goldwater Scholarship Award from the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Foundation. The students are among 417 students nationwide to be awarded the Goldwater Scholarship. The scholarship comes with an award of up to $7,500 per year for tuition, books and room and board.

These three students have demonstrated an excellent record of scientific achievement as undergraduates, and I look forward to seeing what they will accomplish in the future, says Suzanne Austin, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost. I congratulate them on their many accomplishments and I thank the faculty members who have mentored them. Pillar 2 of our strategic plan is Academic Distinction, and the achievements of these students are a clear mark of that characteristic at the national level.

Over the past two years, the College of Charleston has had a total of six Goldwater Scholars, more than any other university in South Carolina. Since 2012, the College has produced 19 Goldwater Scholars. Faculty mentors for this years scholarship recipients include chemistry professors Gamil Guirgis and Jay G. Forsythe and biology professor Jody Beers.

The students say the scholarships will help support their goals for the future.

I aspire to earn my Ph.D. in marine biology and work for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says Dombrowski, a marine biology and French double major from Charleston who wants to explore the effects of climate change. I hope to continue researching questions about how humans are intertwined in marine conservation and embrace sustainability along our coasts. I am particularly interested in physiology and human interaction with marine organisms.

Hanna is a chemistry major from Myrtle Beach. He plans to pursue an M.D./Ph.D in biochemistry, specializing in virology.

My career goal is to both practice medicine and do research, he says. I believe the two go hand in hand. The process of discovery improves patient care as much as patient care enhances the process of discovery, and I want to be part of both.

Shira, a double major in Classics and biochemistry from Charleston, plans to earn a doctorate in bioanalytical chemistry.

One day I hope to find myself teaching at a primarily undergraduate institution and Id love to make research a big part of my future, he says. My current research is in the origins of life and I hope that throughout my career I will be able to contribute to new discoveries that shape our understanding of life on Earth and maybe even life elsewhere in the galaxy.

Jesslyn Collins-Frohlich, director of CofCs Office of Nationally Competitive Awards, Honors College faculty fellow and English instructor, is incredibly proud of the recipients.

To once again have three students named as Goldwater Scholars is a great achievement that reflects continued excellence in undergraduate research and mentoring at the College of Charleston, Collins-Frohlich says. This years scholars are particularly noteworthy for the ways their work connects research to societal concerns. In both their current projects and future goals, they are dedicated to seeking answers to questions that are both timely and of great importance for shaping the ways we understand and interact with the world around us.

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Chicago, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to Ariztons latest research report, the Philippines data center market development has gained traction over the last few years. COVID-19 drives internet adoption, and the increasing popularity of CDNs, and gaming are the major factors driving the market growth.



In the Philippines, Manila is the most preferred location by data center operators, with 12 unique third-party data center facilities contributing to over 75% of the existing power capacity in the country. Other upcoming cities include Cebu, Clark, Mindanao, and Laguna.

Philippines Data Center Market Report Scope

REPORT ATTRIBUTES DETAILS MARKET SIZE (INVESTMENT) $635 Million (2027) MARKET SIZE (AREA) 144 Thousand Sq. Ft (2027) MARKET SIZE (POWER CAPACITY) 31 MW (2027) COLOCATION MARKET SIZE (REVENUE) $180 Million (2027) CAGR (INVESTMENT) 13% (2022-2027) BASE YEAR 2021 FORECAST YEAR 2022-2027

Click Here to Download the Free Sample Report

Philippines Data Center Market Trends & Drivers

Philippines is one of the fastest growing markets as various companies are investing in the country which is increasing the growth in data center investments. For instance, YCO Cloud Centers and Space DC are among the new investors.

High levels of investment by colocation and cloud service providers in Philippines will also offer tremendous growth opportunities to support infrastructure providers, construction contractors, and sub-contractors.

The emergence of smart homes, buildings, and cities, rise in popularity of gaming, and surge in digitization across various sectors such as BFSI, manufacturing, IT, and logistics have generated more data, which will create a greater demand for data centers in Philippines.



Get your free sample now: https://www.arizton.com/request-sample/3095

Key Insights

In April 2021, the Philippines launched the CREATE Act, with one element being a reduction in corporate income tax from 30% to 25% for companies with a net income of over $95,000, and 20% for MSMEs with a net income of under $95,000 and assets below $1.9 billion.

Data center operators are partnering with local operators to operate in the Philippines market. In March 2022, ST Telemedia Global Data Centres constituted a joint venture with Globe Telecom and Ayala Corporation for data center development in the country.

The National Renewable Energy Program (NREP) in the Philippines targets to achieve over 37% of renewable energy by 2030 and over 55% by 2040 in terms of the overall share of power generation.



Key Offerings

Market Size & Forecast by Investment | 20212027

Market Dynamics  Leading trends, growth drivers, restraints, and investment opportunities

Market Segmentation  A detailed analysis by infrastructure, IT infrastructure, electrical infrastructure, mechanical infrastructure, cooling systems, cooling technique, general construction, and tier standards

Snapshot of existing and upcoming third-party facilities in the Philippines Facilities Covered (Existing): 20 Facilities Identified (Upcoming): 5 Coverage: 2+ Cities Existing vs. Upcoming (Data Center Area) Existing vs. Upcoming (IT Load Capacity)

Data center colocation market in the Philippines Market Revenue & Forecast (2022-2027) Retail Colocation Pricing

A comprehensive analysis of the latest trends, growth rate, potential opportunities, growth restraints, and prospects for the industry.

Business overview and product offerings of prominent IT infrastructure providers, construction contractors, support infrastructure providers, and investors operating in the industry.

A transparent research methodology and the analysis of the demand and supply aspects of the industry.





Philippines Data Center Market Segmentation

The Philippines data center market will witness high adoption of hybrid storage devices that include high-capacity HDD and high-performance SSDs. For instance, in Philippines, most organizations are investing in the deployment of the hybrid cloud model.

Air-based and water-based cooling systems are majorly being adopted in the Philippines data center market. The surge in construction of data centers will witness development of multiple chillers, cooling towers, and CRAH units.

In Philippines, installation of security systems will increase in tandem with the surge in investments in greenfield data centers. The installation of intelligent security systems such as high-definition cameras, dual authentication access, and perimeter fencing is expected to increase in Philippines data centers.



Market Segmentation by Infrastructure Type

IT Infrastructure

Electrical Infrastructure

Mechanical Infrastructure

General Construction

Market Segmentation by IT Infrastructure

Server

Storage Systems

Network Infrastructure





Market Segmentation by Electrical Infrastructure

UPS Systems

Generators

Transfer Switches and Switchgears

PDUs

Other Electrical Infrastructure



Market Segmentation by Mechanical Infrastructure

Cooling Systems

Rack Cabinets

Other Mechanical Infrastructure



Market Segmentation by Cooling Systems

CRAC & CRAH Units

Chillers

Cooling Towers, Condensers, and Dry Coolers

Other Cooling Units

Market Segmentation by General Construction

Building Development

Installation and Commissioning Services

Building & Engineering Design

Physical Security

Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM)



Market Segmentation by Tier Segments

Tier I & Tier II

Tier III

Tier IV



Market Segmentation by Geography

Manila

Other Cities

Vendor Landscape

IT Infrastructure Providers - Atos, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Dell Technologies, Fujitsu, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Huawei Technologies, IBM, Lenovo, NetApp, and Oracle

Data Center Construction Contractors & Sub-Contractors- Arup, Aurecon Group, Comfac, Data Center Design Corporation (DCDC), First Balfour, and PRONET

Support Infrastructure Providers  ABB, Caterpillar, Cummins, Cyber Power Systems, Eaton, Fuji Electric, KOHLER, Legrand, Mitsubishi Electric, Rolls-Royce Power Systems, Schneider Electric, Vertiv Group

Key Investors - Beeinfotech, Bitstop Network Services, Converge ICT Solutions, DITO Telecommunity, ePLDT, Space DC, YCO Cloud Centers, and Globe Telecom.

Explore our data center knowledge base profile to know more about the industry.

Click Here to Download the Free Sample Report

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Palm Coast, Fla., USA, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Coastal Cloud, a Salesforce Expert Partner technology consulting firm, has recently received several recognition awards from ISG Provider Lens, through the research of Information Services Group (ISG), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

Founded in 2012, Coastal Cloud provides consulting, implementation and managed services for businesses, nonprofits, and the public sector. The company was identified as both a Leader and a Product Challenger in ISGs Provider Lens evaluation for its work during the 2021 project year. This includes Leader in both Implementation Services for Core Clouds Midmarket and Implementation Services for Marketing Cloud Midmarket, as well as Product Challenger in Implementation Services for Analytics Solutions on Salesforce.

We are honored to be recognized by ISG for awards in all of these categories. It highlights our emphasis on customer satisfaction and the foundation we were built on, said Tim Hale, co-founder and managing partner of Coastal Cloud.

ISG Provider Lens has defined Leader as companies that have a comprehensive product and service offering, a strong market presence, and an established competitive position. As a Leader, Coastal Clouds product portfolios and competitive strategies are strongly positioned to win business in the markets covered by the study, exhibiting innovative strength and competitive stability.

Product Challengers were defined as companies that offer a product and service portfolio that reflect excellent service and technology stacks. In this category, Coastal Cloud delivers an unmatched broad and deep range of capabilities and invests to enhance their market presence and competitive strengths.

ISG reviewer, Rainer Suletzki, states Coastal Cloud is an excellent provider of Salesforce implementations for mid-size clients, with a strong market presence across the U.S. and the company is highly capable of implementing marketing-related Salesforce solutions with an impressive certification level.

The report notes the companys expertise in core clouds with strong domain expertise in healthcare, manufacturing, high-tech, nonprofit and public sector. It also recognizes the companys focus on agile implementation of Salesforce Core Clouds and well-defined design phase, where the specific customer situation is analyzed in depth and best practices are applied. Coastal Clouds 450+ employees are all based in the U.S. and offer a delivery model with high customer proximity.

Download the Implementation Services for Core Clouds Midmarket Report here.

Download the Implementation Services for Marketing Cloud Midmarket Report here.

About Coastal Cloud

Coastal Cloud is a Salesforce Multi-Cloud Expert based in Palm Coast, Florida. Through its unique consulting business model, the company provides implementations and managed services to assist clients in migrating to next-generation systems. Coastal Cloud has pre-configured the Salesforce platform to help state and local government agencies meet the challenges of grants management, workforce management, connected city initiatives, and disaster recovery. Coastal Cloud has earned a 5/5 Customer Satisfaction rating on the Salesforce AppExchange and is ranked #1 on G2.com for Salesforce Consulting. For more information, please visit www.CoastalCloud.US.

Attachments
TORONTO, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BookJane is pleased to announce that they have partnered with One Human Service Network (OneHSN) to support up to 450 childcare providers across the District of Columba, with their innovative, leading-edge shift call out platform.

BookJane will make it easier for childcare centers to fill shifts with highly qualified staff by automating and enhancing the shift callout process while also connecting to a substitute pool of qualified childcare workers for facilities to leverage when shifts cannot be filled in real-time.

Childcare providers in the District of Columbia area have been experiencing severe staffing shortages as COVID-19 exacerbated already short supplies of qualified childcare workers. Limiting accessibility to affordable childcare and jeopardizing economic recovery as parents are prevented from returning to work to care for their children.

By implementing BookJane, childcare centres will be able to use their workforce more efficiently by instantly connecting with available, under-utilized staff and empowering them to accept new shifts based on their own personal availability. This gives the workforce the flexibility to work when they want. With the J360 Workforce, the District of Columbia will be able to reduce administration time by over 50% and increase staff retention by 15-25%.

With the J360 Workforce will equip childcare centers with a full suite of capabilities, including:

Automated call-out to instantly broadcast open shifts to available staff in real-time

The childcare workers will have access to a mobile app to centralize all shift information and empower staff to accept new shifts

Team communications to centralize all announcements and messaging

End-to-End scheduling to create, manage and monitor complex schedules

Childcare agency integration to access a wider pool of available qualified staff

"We are thrilled to be partnering with OneHSN to transform childcare in the District of Columbia," says Curtis Khan, CEO and Founder of BookJane. "Innovative technology plays an important role in delivering quality care. With the J360 Workforce, Childcare centers will not only be able to improve the efficiency of their childcare centers and ensure they are providing the best care possible, but they will also be able to offer more flexibility and control to staff which is vital to recruitment and retention."

About BookJane

BookJane is an award-winning shift fulfillment platform transforming the way healthcare facilities across North America schedule and fulfill shifts. Their all-in-one platform streamlines complex call out, connecting qualified internal and external workers force to open shifts through their centralized Mobile App. With BookJane, facilities can easily engage staff, manage open shifts, and fulfill vacancies with automated and rule-based shift callouts, eliminating the administrative burden of scheduling, so they can focus on what matters most: caring for clients.

Learn more at www.bookjane.com

For more information:

Contact:

Mallory Tretter

Email: mallory.tretter@bookjane.com

Phone: 416-859-2229

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Image 1: BookJane









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Attachment
Target Structure Runs at Least 6 km Along Strike



TORONTO, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Compass Gold Corp. (TSX-V: CVB) (Compass or the Company) is pleased to provide an update on the recently completed first-pass drilling on four areas on the new Moribala permit, located on the Companys Sikasso Property in Southern Mali (Figure 1).

Highlights:

Initial shallow drilling (43-holes/2,110 m) on four prospects on Moribala permit identified a wide zone of shallow gold mineralization associated with the Moribala fault at Dafaraba Best intercept: 21 m @ 0.50 g/t Au (from surface), incl. 7 m @ 1.01 g/t Au (from surface).

Dafaraba mineralization remains open along strike and down dip on a 1-km structure with a geophysical signature matching other prospects where gold mineralization was also found

Additional drilling is required to determine controls of mineralization and the degree of continuity

Drilling on two other prospects on the permit identified gold mineralization within 40 m of the surface



Compass CEO, Larry Phillips, said, Im pleased to report our initial drilling on the Moribala permit has been highly successful, where our discovery team has identified a large, promising new target consisting of a wide zone of shallow mineralization with strong gold grades. This new prospect, called Dafaraba, was a blind target identified using ground geophysics and shallow soil anomalism. The structure remains open for at least one kilometre along strike and at depth. It displays the same geophysical characteristics as the gold mineralization we intersected previously at Tarabala and Massala West.

He added, We also conducted limited drilling at three other locations on the Moribala permit, where we found two more areas on clearly defined faults with encouraging mineralization. Our next priority is to look for strike extensions of the mineralization and identify areas with higher gold grades at depth to determine the full potential of this discovery.

Dr. Sandy Archibald, PGeo, Technical Director, added, I am delighted with our success at Dafaraba, and we are anxious to initiate additional ground geophysics to the north and south of the mineralization to determine the true strike potential prior to follow-up drilling. Transferring our knowledge from the exploration we performed at Tarabala and Massala West over the last 18 months has paid dividends on this new, exciting, and highly prospective permit. Mineralization was encountered in an area devoid of outcrop and artisanal workings but exactly where our previous fieldwork had predicted. The width of the mineralized zone is similar to that encountered 11 km to the north at Tarabala, including higher-grade intercepts such as 7 m at 1.01 g/t Au, which is highly encouraging.

Interestingly, the newly identified mineralized structure at Dafaraba is also present over a distance of 3 km on our Sankarani permit to the north. The fault is associated with soil samples up to 433 ppb Au, and we look forward to further investigating this promising area as well.

Figure 1: Property map showing the location of Moribala Permit and the two target trends..

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/242aa78a-2948-49d6-acac-5147f2ca8903

Next Steps



AC and RC drilling will be carried out at Dafaraba and Dankoun to determine the strike and down-dip extension of mineralization. More drilling will also be performed at Nglokouna to target additional structures coincident with the workings. The Company has identified three other areas at Moribala where Gradient IP surveys will be performed to refine future AC drilling targets. The knowledge gained during the current work will be applied to areas on Compass permits to the north to identify new exploration opportunities on untested structures.

Compilation work continues at the Morila permit block located close to the world-class Morila mine. This work is focused on compiling and interpreting historic information in conjunction with a satellite alteration and structural study.

Moribala Air Core Drilling Results

Forty-three shallow air core (AC) holes (2,110 m) were drilled in six fences on the Moribala permit (Figure 2) in mid-February to early March. Most of the holes were drilled to test strong to moderate gold anomalism found in shallow soil samples, as well as clearly defined targets interpreted from ground Gradient Induced Polarization (IP) geophysics. Two holes were drilled on an area of workings with slight soil geochemical anomalism, but not associated with the two large faults bisecting the permit.

The best mineralization was reported from the Dafaraba area where a ten-hole fence and a two-hole fence were drilled 270 m apart along a 930-m target corresponding to the Moribala Fault (Figure 2). The predicted mineralized structure was encountered in drill hole MOAC012, with a 7 m @ 1.01 g/t Au (from surface) interval intercepted within 21 m @ 0.50 g/t Au (from surface.) The mineralization is interpreted to be steeply dipping to the west. Two mineralized intervals were noted in hole MOAC011 to the east, including 1 m @ 1.09 g/t Au. Hole MOAC020 drilled 270 m to the northeast intersected minor mineralization (1 m @ 0.48 g/t Au from 28 m depth) indicating the structure is present along strike. This same hole contained a 4 m void at shallow depths (15-19 m) suggesting vein material had likely been removed by artisanal miners. A longer drill fence line is needed to ensure that the structure is adequately tested.

Figure 2: Location of air core drilling and significant drill intercepts on the Moribala permit.

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b8393bfc-65ef-4dd2-9c23-c7634ee6d27f

Two short fences (9 holes, totalling 436 m) were drilled at Nglokouna in the northeast of the Moribala permit over the interpreted Tarabala Fault zone (Figure 2). Ground geophysics indicated the presence of at least four northeast-trending structures cutting the artisanal workings present over a distance of 1.8 km. Narrow intervals (1 m) of gold mineralization were noted in two drill holes, with grades less than 0.6 g/t Au. Additional drilling is required to fully test this prospect, which includes a newly-identified structure that appears to be related to a shallow soil sample that contained 43.6 g/t Au.

The longest fence (20 holes, totalling 981 m) was drilled at Dakoun in the southwest of the permit on the Moribala fault. This area was selected for drilling based on the presence of sporadic artisanal workings found over 2 km and a width of 350 m. The workings correlated with several north-east trending faults, and a disrupted chargeability zone, both determined by ground geophysics. Seven of the thirteen holes drilled across the main 350 m anomaly were mineralized, with the best intercept being 2 m @ 1.12 g/t Au (from 21 m).

Finally, two holes (totalling 93 m) were drilled over the workings at Million-ki. This area was associated with weak to moderate soil anomalism and up to 600 m of scattered historic artisanal workings. Drilling identified abundant quartz veining, but it was not mineralized.

Table 1. Mineralized intervals greater than 0.5g/t Au identified during recent drilling at Moribala

Hole ID From (m) To (m) 1, 2 Interval

(m) Au (g/t) MOAC005 5 6 1 0.57 MOAC011 25 26 1 1.09 MOAC012 1 22 21 0.5 inc 1 8 7 1.01 MOAC025 21 23 2 1.12 MOAC026 49 50 1 0.87 MOAC027 22 23 1 1.31 MOAC027 24 25 1 0.81 MOAC032 37 39 2 0.55

1True thicknesses are interpreted as 60-90% of stated intervals.

2 Intervals use a 0.2-gram-per-tonne gold cut-off value

Mali

As noted previously, working in Mali has not been without its challenges. The global Covid-19 pandemic, combined with economic stress and extremist security threats in the northern regions have resulted in a military transitional government that is struggling to restore a stable democracy. Notably, several international mining companies operating in the area have reported that these issues have not impacted their operations. Also, a number of companies have recently announced increased resources, while others have successfully raised investment funds for their exploration work there. Compass continues to actively monitor the situation and so far, has been able to conduct its work without interruption or unusual safety risks for its team.

Technical Details

AC holes reported from Nglokouna, Dafaraba and Million-ki were drilled on an azimuth of 270 (towards the west), at dips of 55, with lengths varying from 42 to 50 m for AC. Drill holes at Dakouna were drilled on an azimuth of 315 (towards the northwest) at dips of 55 and lengths varying from 42 to 50 m. The holes were to test structures interpreted from the Gradient IP survey. Drilling was performed by Etasi and Co. Drilling (Mali). All samples were prepared by Compass staff and an appropriate number of standards, duplicates and blanks were submitted and analysed for gold at SGS (Bamako, Mali) by fire assay.

About Compass Gold Corp.

Compass, a public company having been incorporated into Ontario, is a Tier 2 issuer on the TSX- V. Through the 2017 acquisition of MGE and Malian subsidiaries, Compass holds gold exploration permits located in Mali that comprise the Sikasso Property. The exploration permits are located in four sites in southern Mali with a combined land holding of 1,143 km2. The Sikasso Property is located in the same region as several multi-million-ounce gold projects, including Morila, Syama, Kalana and Komana. The Companys Mali-based technical team, led in the field by Dr. Madani Diallo and under the supervision of Dr. Sandy Archibald, P.Geo, is conducting the current exploration program. They are examining numerous anomalies first noted in Dr. Archibalds August 2017 National Instrument 43-101 Technical Report on the Sikasso Property, Southern Mali.

QAQC

All AC samples were collected following industry best practices, and an appropriate number and type of certified reference materials (standards), blanks and duplicates were inserted to ensure an effective QAQC program was carried out. The 1 m interval samples were prepared and analyzed at SGS SARL (Bamako, Mali) by fire assay technique FAE505. All standard and blank results were reviewed to ensure no failures were detected.

Qualified Person

This news release has been reviewed and approved by EurGeol. Dr. Sandy Archibald, P.Geo, Compasss Technical Director, who is the Qualified Person for the technical information in this news release under National Instrument 43-101 standards.

ForwardLooking Information

This news release contains forwardlooking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements regarding the Companys planned exploration work and management appointments. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forwardlooking information. Actual results and developments may differ materially from those contemplated by such information. The statements in this news release are made as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forwardlooking information except as required by applicable law.

For further information please contact:

Compass Gold Corporation Compass Gold Corporation Larry Phillips  Pres. & CEO Greg Taylor  Dir. Investor Relations & Corporate Communications lphillips@compassgoldcorp.com gtaylor@compassgoldcorp.com T: +1 416-596-0996 X 302 T: +1 416-596-0996 X 301

Website: www.compassgoldcorp.com

NEITHER THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE NOR ITS REGULATION SERVICES PROVIDER (AS THAT TERM IS DEFINED IN THE POLICIES OF THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE) ACCEPTS RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ADEQUACY OR ACCURACY OF THIS RELEASE.
English French

BOUCHERVILLE, Quebec, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Colabor Group Inc. (TSX: GCL) (Colabor or the Company) announces today that Mr. Robert Briscoe has tendered his resignation as director of the Company on March 30, 2022, with immediate effect. As a result, Mr. Briscoe will not be a candidate nor stand for election as a director at the upcoming annual general meeting to be held on April 29th.



Mr. Briscoe had served as a director of the Company since July 2016, including a period as Executive Vice-Chairman.

Pursuant to a contractual agreement, Robert Briscoe and the Company are working closely together in order to identify a new director as soon as practically possible.

On behalf of the members of the board of directors of the Company and the management, I wish to extend our gratitude to Robert Briscoe and thank him for his major contribution over the last few years, his expertise and his valuable advice, said Warren White, Chairman of the board of directors of the Company.

About Colabor:

Colabor is a distributor and wholesaler of food and related products serving the hotel, restaurant and institutional markets or "HRI" in Quebec and in the Atlantic provinces, as well as the retail market. Within its two operating segments, Colabor offers specialty food products such as fresh fish and seafood, meat, as well as food and related products through its Broadline activities.

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When we use your personal information, we will consider if it is fair and balanced to do so and if it is within your reasonable expectations. We will balance your rights and our legitimate interests to ensure that we use your personal information in ways that are not unduly intrusive or unfair in other ways.

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The length of time each category of data will be retained will vary depending on how long we need to process it for, the reason it was collected, and in line with any statutory requirements. After this point the data will either be deleted, or we may retain a secure anonymised record for research and analytical purposes.

In the event that you ask us to stop sending you direct marketing/fundraising/other electronic communications, we will keep your name on our internal suppression list to ensure that you are not contacted again.

Policy amendments

We keep this Privacy Policy under regular review and reserve the right to update from time-to-time by posting an updated version on our website, not least because of changes in applicable law. We recommend that you check this Privacy Policy occasionally to ensure you remain happy with it. We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email.

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We link our website directly to other sites. This Privacy Policy does not cover external websites and we are not responsible for the privacy practices or content of those sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any external websites you visit via links on our website.

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You can check the personal data we hold about you, and ask us to update it where necessary, by emailing us at webmaster@marxist.com

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Please let us know if you have any queries or concerns whatsoever about the way in which your data is being processed by emailing the Data Protection Manager at webmaster@marxist.com
RADNOR, Pa., March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (www.ktmc.com) informs investors that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed in the United States District Court for the District of Colorado against Gatos Silver, Inc. (Gatos) (NYSE: GATO). The action charges Gatos with violations of the federal securities laws, including omissions and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the companys business, operations, and prospects. As a result of Gatos materially misleading statements to the public, Gatos investors have suffered significant losses.



Kessler Topaz is one of the worlds foremost advocates in protecting the public against corporate fraud and other wrongdoing. Our securities fraud litigators are regularly recognized as leaders in the field individually and our firm is both feared and respected among the defense bar and the insurance bar. We are proud to have recovered billions of dollars for our clients and the classes of shareholders we represent.

CANNOT VIEW THIS VIDEO? PLEASE CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR GATOS LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://www.ktmc.com/gato-class-action-lawsuit?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=gato

LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE: APRIL 25, 2022

CLASS PERIOD: OCTOBER 28, 2020 THROUGH JANUARY 25, 2022

CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:

James Maro, Esq. at (484) 270-1453 or via email at info@ktmc.com

GATOS ALLEGED MISCONDUCT

Gatos focuses on the production, development and exploration of silver and zincrich mineral deposits. On October 29, 2020, Gatos conducted its initial public offering (IPO), selling approximately 24,644,500 shares of common stock at a price of $7.00 per share, and received net proceeds of approximately $156.1 million from the offering.

On January 25, 2022, after the market closed, Gatos revealed in a press release that there were 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. On a preliminary basis, Gatos estimated a potential reduction of the metal content of the mineral reserve ranging from 30% to 50% of the metal content remaining after depletion.

Following this news, Gatos stock price fell $7.02, or 69%, to close at $3.17 per share on January 26, 2022. As of the date the initial complaint was filed, Gatos shares were trading as low as $3.20 per share, a nearly 54% decline from the $7.00 per share IPO price.

WHAT CAN I DO?

Gatos investors may, no later than April 25, 2022 seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages Gatos investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASE

WHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF?

A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country and around the world. The firm has developed a global reputation for excellence and has recovered billions of dollars for victims of fraud and other corporate misconduct. All of our work is driven by a common goal: to protect investors, consumers, employees and others from fraud, abuse, misconduct and negligence by businesses and fiduciaries. At the end of the day, we have succeeded if the bad guys pay up, and if you recover your assets. The complaint in this action was not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP please visit www.ktmc.com.

CONTACT:

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP

James Maro, Jr., Esq.

280 King of Prussia Road

Radnor, PA 19087

(484) 270-1453

info@ktmc.com

A video accompanying this announcement is available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/8dc70cb0-f98c-4d56-86f5-b96ef0312b44
San Diego, CA , March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- When people learn that they require medical treatment, whether it is a minor outpatient surgery or a major, invasive procedure, there are several concerns that enter our minds. We are usually too scared. While it is an everyday occurrence for a doctor, we feel overwhelmed and anxious. Checking Google, Yelp, and medical reviews never solves our problem, and sometimes the comments can be really frightening. We all know that the internet is brimming with false information that we cannot rely on. So where do we turn?







George Kramb, the founder and CEO of PatientPartner, spent years in the operating room assisting surgeons in using medical devices correctly. He assisted hundreds of operations, but it was only after he spoke with a few patients before their surgery that he realized how nervous and scared they were. George Kramb and Patrick Frank saw that people who were going through a medical experience needed more support and education. They also needed compassion. With so many medical stories to draw on, they felt this was their calling. Together they created PatientPartner.

Subject Matter Experts Podcast show hosted by Qamar Zaman.

The Subject Matter Expert Podcast Covers:

1) How PatientPartner was founded and its founders experience in the field

2) Struggles of being a healthcare start-up and building patient trust

3) Who PatientPartner is ideal for

4) Upcoming plans PatientPartner plans

Listen to the podcast here on your favorite podcast channel to learn more about the process.

Apple Podcast , Amazon Music, Google Podcast & Spotify

About PatientPartner

PatientPartner is here to help you through surgery. You will be able to connect with other patients who have gone through surgery and with top doctors who can help you.

"Today, our community includes over 500 PatientPartner Mentors. These people have gone through a medical procedure and are ready to share their experiences with others. We've also built a network of over 100 doctors who see the value in connecting relatable patients and improving their patients' experiences." PatientPartner

If you or a loved one is going to have any surgical procedure, PatientPartner should be your first stop. The PatientPartner team and their network of mentors will help you navigate, find the finest surgeon, educate you about insurance coverage, or put you in contact with a recovered patient about their experience, visit https://www.patientpartner.com.

To find a Patient partner mentor

Find a Patient Partner doctor

PatientPartner has been featured in outlets which include Forbes, Fox Business, and TechCrunch, to name a few.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/patient_partner/

In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/patientpartner/

F: https://www.facebook.com/PatientPartner1



Listen to the podcast here on your favorite podcast channel to learn more about the process.

Apple ITunes, Amazon Music, Google Podcast & Spotify

About Qamar Zaman - Host of Subject Matter Expert Podcast

Qamar Zaman is a host of the Subject Matter Expert Podcast who interviews other experts worldwide on his show.

Media Contact

Ana Khan - subjectmatterexpertspodcast@gmail.com

Newsroom: prodigy.submitmypressrelease.com
Not for distribution to United States newswire services or for release publication, distribution, or dissemination directly, or indirectly, in whole or in part, in or into the United States.



VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Holly Street Capital Ltd. (TSXV: HSC.P) (Holly or the Company), a capital pool company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (the Exchange), and US Critical Metals Corp. (USCM) are pleased to announce that the Exchange has conditionally approved the proposed business combination (the "Proposed Transaction") between USCM and the Company previously announced in the Company's press releases dated November 1, 2021, January 10, 2022 and February 25, 2022. The Proposed Transaction remains subject to the final approval of the Exchange and satisfaction of closing conditions customary for transactions of this nature. The Company, upon and subject to completion of the Transaction (the Resulting Issuer), will continue under the name US Critical Metals Corp and trade on the Exchange under the symbol "USCM". The Proposed Transaction is expected to close on or about April 12, 2022. The Company and USCM have entered into an amending agreement extending the outside date for completion of the Proposed Transaction to April 15, 2022.

The Company has filed a filing statement today that is dated effective March 31, 2022 (the "Filing Statement") with the Exchange and on the Companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Additional information in respect of the Proposed Transaction, the Company and USCM can be found in the Filing Statement.

In accordance with the policies of the Exchange, the Companys common shares are currently halted from trading and will remain so until such time as required by Exchange policies.

About Holly Street Capital Ltd.

Holly is designated as a capital pool company under TSXV Policy 2.4. Holly has not commenced commercial operations and has no assets other than cash. Hollys objective is to identify and evaluate businesses or assets with a view to completing a qualifying transaction. Any proposed qualifying transaction must be approved by the TSXV and, in the case of a non-arms-length qualifying transaction, must also receive majority approval of the minority shareholders. Until the completion of a qualifying transaction, Holly will not carry on any business other than the identification and evaluation of businesses or assets with a view to completing a proposed qualifying transaction.

As of the date hereof, Holly has 7,510,000 common shares issued and outstanding (2,000,000 of which are subject to escrow restrictions), and an aggregate of 450,000 common shares are reserved for issuance upon the exercise of outstanding stock options.

Holly is a portfolio company of Resurgent Capital Corp. (Resurgent), a merchant bank providing venture capital markets advisory services and proprietary financing. Resurgent works with promising public and pre-public micro-capitalization companies listing on Canadian stock exchanges. For more information on Resurgent and its portfolio companies, please visit Resurgents website at https://www.resurgentcapital.ca or follow Resurgent on LinkedIn at https://ca.linkedin.com/company/resurgent-capital-corp.

About US Critical Metals Corp.

USCM is a private mining company incorporated under the laws of British Columbia and with its head office in British Columbia.

USCM is and has been since incorporation focused on mining projects that will further secure the US supply of critical metals, which are essential to fueling the new age economy. Pursuant to option agreements with private Canadian and American companies, USCMs assets consist of two option agreements, each providing USCM with the right to acquire a 100% interest in the respective mineral exploration project. Such exploration projects include the Haynes Cobalt Project, consisting of 23 lode claims, located in Idaho, and the Clayton Ridge Lithium Project, consisting of 90 unpatented mining claims, located in Nevada.

A significant percentage of the worlds critical metal supply comes from sources that are not aligned with US interests and demands. USCM intends to explore and develop critical metal assets with near and long-term strategic value to the advancement of US interests and that contribute to the US maintaining its leading global position in the green energy economy and emerging technology.

The global shift in energy supply and demand can be sustainably advanced by ensuring US domestic resources are explored and developed responsibility and efficiently. USCM is committed to responsible resource development and adhering to environmental, social and governance practices and procedures.

For further information regarding Holly and the Proposed Transaction, please contact Joel Freudman, Chief Executive Officer of Holly, at (647) 880-6414.

For further information regarding USCM and the Proposed Transaction, please contact Darren Collins, Chief Executive Officer of USCM, at (786) 633-1756.

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.

Completion of the Proposed Transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including but not limited to, Exchange acceptance and if applicable pursuant to Exchange Requirements, majority of the minority shareholder approval. Where applicable, the Proposed Transaction cannot close until the required shareholder approval is obtained. There can be no assurance that the Proposed Transaction will be completed as proposed or at all.

Investors are cautioned that, except as disclosed in the Filing Statement prepared in connection with the Proposed Transaction, any information released or received with respect to the Proposed Transaction may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon. Trading in the securities of a capital pool company should be considered highly speculative.

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the Proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this press release.

All information contained in this news release with respect to Holly and USCM was supplied by the parties, respectively, for inclusion herein, and Holly and its directors and officers have relied on USCM for any information concerning such party.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to sell any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act) or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

Forward-Looking Information

The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward looking statements, including statements relating to the completion of the Proposed Transaction, the proposed business of the Resulting Issuer on completion of the Proposed Transaction, the proposed listing for trading of the Resulting Issuer common shares, shareholder, director and regulatory approvals, and future press releases and disclosure. These statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance of each of Holly and USCM may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward looking statements. Although each of Holly and USCM believes that the expectations reflected in forward looking statements herein are reasonable, they can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward looking statements herein will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, each of Holly and USCM disclaims any intention and assume no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements herein to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward looking statements or otherwise.
TORONTO, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- EnviroGold Global Limited (CSE: NVRO | OTCQB: ESGLF |FSE: YGK) (EnviroGold Global or the Company), a Clean Technology Company accelerating the worlds transition to a circular-resource economy through the production of Metals Without Mining, is pleased to announce that FINRA has approved a change in the Companys trading symbol on the OTCQB Venture Market from RGOZF to ESGLF, effective immediately.



The Companys previous OTCQB trading symbol was a legacy of the reverse takeover undertaken by EnviroGold Global when the Companys shares were initially listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange.

Commenting on the trading symbol change, EnviroGold Global CEO, Dr. Mark Thorpe, said, We are pleased to announce our new trading symbol which is a reflection of our Companys fundamental commitment to E nvironmental stewardship, S ocial impact & transparent, equitable G overnance (ESG) while we establish circular-economy leadership in the metals and mining sector by producing Metals Without Mining.

The OTCQB Venture Market provides companies the benefits of being publicly traded in the United States while facilitating a strong baseline of transparency to inform and engage U.S. based investors. OTCQB is recognized by the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) as an established public market.

To receive its final approval for OTCQB trading, EnviroGold Global was required to meet the OTCQBs stringent company qualifications including requirements for market depth, beneficial shareholders, public float and transparency.

About EnviroGold Global

EnviroGold Global (CSE: NVRO) (OTCQB: ESGLF) (FSE: YGK), is a CleanTech company dedicated to creating shareholder value while establishing ESG & circular economy leadership by profitably reprocessing & remediating mine waste (tailings) to recover precious, critical & strategic metals  including gold, silver, copper & nickel. Led by CEO Dr. Mark Thorpe, the Company is strategically positioned to earn and maintain social license while capitalizing the estimated US$ 3.4 trillion of in situ metal value in global tailings. Dr. Thorpe is also the Chairman of the Canadian Mining Innovation Council.

The Companys commercial strategy involves identifying, qualifying and developing tailings reprocessing opportunities, generally targeting tailings sites with at least 6M metric tonnes of tailings and gross recoverable metal value of $124/tonne of tailings. The Company has reviewed over 300 global tailings sites to date and through further market segmentation has identified potential targets exceeding US$10 billion in gross recoverable metal value.

EnviroGold Global acquires the metal recovery rights to tailings sites by leveraging a profit share business model to create an attractive value proposition for site owners. The Companys low-CAPEX business model is designed to generate high free-cash flow & high target IRR while eliminating the risks of traditional exploration and extraction. The Company expects to produce metals with a carbon footprint up to 96% lower than conventional metal producers while reducing the environmental footprint of legacy mining.

As of January 2022, the Company has eight major projects in its global project pipeline including two major projects under definitive contracts and six additional major projects at various stages of commercial negotiation and detailed technical/economic review.

The Company expects to commence production of precious metals (gold and silver), clean energy metals and battery metals (copper, lead, zinc) in 2022 and is targeting seven major projects in commercial production by 2025.

Additional information can be found on the Companys website (link) and publicly available corporate presentation (link)

Further Information

Dr. Mark B. Thorpe

Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: +1 416 777 6720

Email: mark.thorpe@envirogoldglobal.com

Juan Carlos Giron Jr.

Sr. Vice President

Telephone: +1 416 777 6720

Email: juan.giron@envirogoldglobal.com

Website: www.EnviroGoldGlobal.com

Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. There is no relationship between the Company and the World Resources Institute or the Greenhouse Gas Portal and nothing in this news release should be interpreted as suggesting an endorsement by the World Resources Institute or the Greenhouse Gas Portal.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, earnings guidance, economic guidance, operational guidance and future capital spending amounts. All statements contained herein that are not clearly historical in nature may constitute forward-looking statements.

Graphical representations included in this news release are approximate representations which may vary from defined regulatory boundaries.

Generally, such forward-looking information or forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as plans, expects or does not expect, is expected, budget, scheduled, estimates, forecasts, intends, anticipates or does not anticipate, or believes, or variations of such words and phrases or may contain statements that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, will continue, will occur or will be achieved. The forward-looking information and forward-looking statements contained herein include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the expected terms of the Hellyer Tailings Reprocessing Project and its completion, the Companys working relationship with the owner(s) of the Hellyer Tailings, the economic viability of the Hellyer Tailings Reprocessing Project and statements regarding any residual precious metals as a by-product of the remediation, the Companys expansion of its reprocessing pipeline, and the Companys ability to accelerate the worlds transition to a circular resource economy. Forward-looking information in this news release are based on certain assumptions and expected future events, namely: the Companys ability to continue as a going concern; the continued commercial viability and growth in the clean technology and mining waste reprocessing industry; continued approval of the Companys activities by the relevant governmental and/or regulatory authorities; the continued development of clean technology and mining waste reprocessing technology; and the continued growth of the Company. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements, including but not limited to: the potential inability of the Company to continue as a going concern; the Companys inability to accelerate the worlds transition to a circular resource economy, the risks associated with assessing metallurgical recovery rates from mine tailings and waste and related volumetric assessments, the risks associated with the mining and mining waste recycling industry in general; increased competition in the clean technology and waste reprocessing market; the potential unviability of the clean technology and mining waste reprocessing market; incorrect assessment of the value and potential benefits of various transactions; risks associated with potential governmental and/or regulatory action with respect to clean technology and mining waste reprocessing; risks associated with a potential collapse in the value of clean technology and waste reprocessing; and risks relating to the Companys potential inability to expand its reprocessing pipeline.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive. Readers are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, as there can be no assurance that the plans, intentions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur. Such information, although considered reasonable by management at the time of preparation, may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement and reflect the Companys expectations as of the date hereof and are subject to change thereafter. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, estimates or opinions, future events or results or otherwise or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking information, except as required by applicable law.
CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Event technology startup, Jumbo, announces its latest political partnership with the Hawai'i Democratic Party (HDP), where it will be building the virtual component of the party's hybrid state party convention in May. Jumbo deploys custom virtual event platforms for enterprise organizations of all sizes.

"We are excited to partner with Jumbo to create our most accessible state party convention yet," says Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, Party Chair for the Hawai'i Democratic Party. "By using a custom-built digital ecosystem through Jumbo, we will be able to cultivate an online atmosphere that feels just as welcoming as our state and just as powerful as our mission, all the while remaining easy to use for attendees."

This is not Jumbo's first partnership with a political party, as the scrappy tech company is coming off the heels of its November event supporting the North Carolina Democratic Party, where they designed a branded and fully-integrated platform that hosts webinars, meetings and conventions. "Through the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic, we found that every industry, politics especially, needs a solution to safely host their events while still finding innovative ways to engage their participants. Jumbo has revolutionized virtual events and through the course of our tenure, we've built the ideal platform to achieve our client's goals," says Justin Ritchie, CEO of Jumbo.

While some of the attendees will be partaking in the Hawai'i Democratic Party State Convention in person in Honolulu, virtual participants will be joining via a custom branded platform built by Jumbo. In addition to hosting a live broadcast of the event, this digital ecosystem will also be home to pre-recorded videos for attendees to watch at their leisure and PDF documents outlining initiatives that require votes. Further, the branded platform will host a live chat feature, a directory of attendees, individual user profiles, an integrated registration system and voting capabilities.

"Our goal with the hybrid events that we support is to give our attendees the opportunity to experience the event, not watch other attendees experience it. That's what sets Jumbo apart from other event hosting platforms," says Dion Beary, Director of Business Development for Jumbo. He adds, "We are thrilled to continue our work supporting parties, candidates and event organizers who wish to use virtual events to engage their communities."

About Jumbo:

Jumbo is an event technology company specializing in building virtual event platforms. Jumbo has revolutionized the virtual event industry by building custom virtual platforms for enterprise projects and providing its clients with the opportunity for a completely ownable platform with the flexibility and features they deserve.

For images, click here.

Media Contact: Dion Beary, Jumbo C: (704) 806-0334 E: dion@jumbo.live

Related Images











Image 1: Jumbo | Unforgettable Live Stream Experiences





Platform screenshot example with a person standing with a microphone on the screen, clips to watch below, and a fundraiser widget to the right.









This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com.

Attachment
China calls for restarting trilateral cooperation mechanism of China, Afghanistan, Pakistan

Xinhua) 16:08, March 31, 2022

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi presides over the meeting of foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 30, 2022. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and acting Foreign Minister of the Afghan Interim Government Amir Khan Muttaqi attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

HEFEI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Under the current circumstances, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan should restart the trilateral cooperation mechanism and advance cooperation in the areas of politics, development and security, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday.

Wang made the remarks when holding the meeting of foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and acting Foreign Minister of the Afghan Interim Government Amir Khan Muttaqi attended the meeting.

Wang called on the three parties to build tripartite political mutual trust, support each other's core concerns and safeguard common interests.

The three parties should strengthen practical cooperation, promote the extension of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan, and help Afghanistan participate in regional interconnection, Wang stressed.

Wang also suggested that China, Afghanistan and Pakistan enhance anti-terrorism cooperation, eradicate the breeding ground of terrorism and achieve long-term stability in the region.

Qureshi said the Pakistani side supports Afghanistan in strengthening contacts with the world, adding that Pakistan is ready to continue to help Afghanistan improve people's livelihood.

Afghan frozen overseas assets should be returned immediately, Qureshi stressed.

For his part, Muttaqi said the Afghan side understands the international community's concern about the rights and interests of women and children, especially girls' education, and will promote it actively and step by step. The interim government has never banned girls from going to school and has reopened 60 percent of schools so far.

The Afghan side is willing to once again solemnly promise to China and Pakistan and the whole world that terrorists will never be allowed to use the Afghan territory to harm the interests and citizens of other countries, Muttaqi stressed.

Muttaqi thanked China and Pakistan for providing invaluable support for Afghanistan's development and reconstruction. Afghanistan is unwilling to rely on charitable assistance for a long time and hopes to strengthen the tripartite cooperation and actively participate in the joint construction of the Belt and Road.

The three parties also agreed to hold a formal dialogue among the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in due course.

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi presides over the meeting of foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 30, 2022. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and acting Foreign Minister of the Afghan Interim Government Amir Khan Muttaqi attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Family Planning 2030 (FP2030), the global family planning partnership that launched its second decade in 2021, today announced a collaboration with Amref Health Africa that will see the latter host FP2030s new East and Southern Africa regional hub at its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya.

FP2030s East and Southern Africa Hub is one of four new offices to be launched this year as the partnership seeks to widen its reach to bring services closer to those who need them most. The new offices will join the existing North America and European Hub and will coordinate and support country-specific activities through mobilizing existing commitments and generating new commitments from the region.

The new hubs will also help build momentum for the rights-based family planning movement at community, national, regional, and global levels; advance advocacy and accountability for family planning policy development and implementation; leverage partnerships with governments, civil society and youth-led organisations to create synergies that will maximize opportunities for growth and impact and link these efforts to a strong regional and global network.

Building on the strengths and successes of FP2020, were accelerating progress that ensures our efforts are country-led and remain globally connected, said Dr. Samukeliso Dube, Executive Director, FP2030. Amref is a well-established and well-respected organization with a mission that aligns with the values of FP2030, and with them as our host partner we are very well placed to succeed.

Amref Health Africa works to increase sustainable health access to communities in Africa through solutions in human resources for health, health services delivery and investments in health. The host organization was chosen through a rigorous and transparent selection process led by members of FP2030s Transition Oversight Group. By locating the hub in Nairobi and within Amref, partners in the region will have better access to the FP2030 network, and deeper relationships across member countries.

The hosting of this new regional hub is an exciting opportunity for Amref to contribute to the acceleration of FP2030s initiatives in the region. Through this hosting program we will be able to promote access to quality family planning services as an essential component of quality reproductive health care for our women and girls, by leveraging our convening power and experience in providing sub-grants to large, medium, and small organizations to achieve scale and impact, said Dr. Githinji Gitahi, Global CEO, Amref Health Africa. We will also make use of innovative platforms to ensure the participation of grassroots and national advocates in the region by equipping them with the resources they need to accelerate the FP2030 agenda.

The East and Southern Africa Regional Hub will support initiatives in Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, & Zimbabwe.

It is our goal to foster a truly country-led commitment process not only by ensuring countries can set their own goals, but also to facilitate better and more consistent connections with other FP2030 partners in the region, creating stronger programs and accountability mechanisms, said Dr. Dube. We believe regional hubs put countries and regional partners in the drivers seat for agenda setting, monitoring progress and collaboration, and we see this collaboration as an important step towards achieving FP2030s vision of working together for a future where women and girls everywhere have the freedom and ability to lead healthy lives, make their own informed decisions about using contraception and having children, and participate as equals in society and its development.

FP2030, with Amrefs support, will be calling on governments, civil society organisations and other implementers of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights to implement FP2030 commitments and accelerate interventions and policies that offer quality of care for women and girls, ensuring access to sexual and reproductive health care, services and commodities.

Kenya has already launched its own national commitment, with the government pledging to increase the modern contraceptive prevalence rate for married women from 58% to 64% by 2030 and reduce unmet need for family planning for all women from 14% to 10% by 2030.

For more information about this partnership and the FP2030 regional hubs, visit www.FP2030.org/Building2030.

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Urbix Inc., a US-based processor of battery-grade graphite (earlier post), has entered the first stage of its global expansion program by establishing a UK entity. Urbix UK, Ltd. will accelerate deployment of local facilities to supply UK- and European-based automakers and battery industries with Urbixs advanced materials for anodes. The company aims to supply 30% of EVs in the US, UK and Europe by 2030.

The company will work with UK battery partners to test and validate its CSPG (Coated Spherical Purified Graphite). Early results and feedback from automakers indicated that Urbixs drop-in graphite replacement is meeting and surpassing current customer specifications.

This has substantial downstream benefits, contributing to EV batteries that are more efficient, possess a longer life cycle and achieve a greater energy density at a lower cost.

Urbix, one of the few companies processing graphite outside of China, has developed a proprietary process to produce high quality CSPG for electric vehicles at a fraction of the cost, energy, time and space compared to its competitors.

Urbixs modular facilities can be located within a small footprint anywhere in the world and in response to demand. Urbixs expansion to the UK demonstrates its commitment to scaling rapidly around the world to provide automakers with locally processed graphite for electric vehicles.

According to the UKs Advanced Propulsion Center (APC), the UK needs three to six gigafactories capable of 90GWh of battery capacity by 2030 in order to support the current size of the UKs car industry. Graphite is the largest material by mass in electric vehicle batteries and is almost entirely processed in China.

Lack of diversity in the supply chain is leaving manufacturers exposed to fluctuations in price and shortages expected as early as this year. To meet electric vehicle demand, Benchmark Minerals Intelligence predicts European (including UK) demand for graphite will reach 916,000 tonnes annually (for EVs, Energy Storage Systems and portables).

Urbixs CSPG graphite is processed using just 10% of the energy, 6% of the acid, 7% of the time and double the yield compared to existing processes. Urbixs method benefits from a highly resilient supply chain as it is compatible with raw graphite from multiple global locations; i.e., it is not dependent on a single source of graphite and does not need to source from China. The company is currently commissioning its 1,000-tonne capacity pilot line and expects to be at 32,000 tonnes per year full scale production by 2024.
Volta Trucks announced the conclusion of a successful Series C funding round of 230 million. Existing New York-based investor, Luxor Capital Group, LP, led this funding round, while Stockholm-based initial seed investor and co-lead, Byggmastare Anders J Ahlstrom, extended its holding.

The latest funding round will fund engineering and business operations until after the start of production in late 2022. This includes the completion of a fleet of Design Verification prototypes for engineering development and testing, as well as a fleet of Product Verification vehicles that will be evaluated by customers in London and Paris in mid-2022.

It will also fund the continued development of the recently confirmed 7.5- and 12-tonne full-electric Volta Zero derivatives, as well as prepare the companys contract manufacturing facility in Steyr, Austria, to start production of customer vehicles by the end of the year.

As part of its European roadshow, Volta Trucks will be in Madrid on the 5th to 6th April, presenting the 16-tonne Volta Zero at the Circuito del Jarma, home to the Spanish Grand Prix between 1968 and 1981.

Following the start of production this year, the vehicles will be in circulation throughout Madrid in 2023, a city that exceeded the EUs air quality standard in 2021. Volta Trucks plans to produce 5,000 vehicles throughout Europe in 2023, increasing to 14,000 in 2024, 27,000 in 2025. The 16-tonne vehicle is the first of the four variants which range between 7.5- and 18-tonnes.

The Volta Zero vehicle has a range of up to 200 km, with a top speed of 90 km/h and a payload capacity of up to 8,000 kg. Volta Trucks looks to eliminate around 1.2 million tonnes of CO 2 emissions by 2025. The Volta Zero has 90% fewer mechanical parts than an equivalent internal combustion engine vehicle, meaning maintenance requirements are much lower.

In addition, the company proposes a Truck-as-a-Service (TaaS) solution for the electrification of vehicle fleets of all sizes, maximizing their uptime and operating efficiency. It is designed to enable commercial fleet operators to simplify, manage and de-risk the migration to electrification.

Volta Trucks will launch first in London and Paris by the end of this year. Volta Trucks will then strategically expand into other cities throughout Europe and in North America.

Volta Trucks has already signed commercial agreements in Europe, with pre-orders for more than 5,000 vehicles, with a value of more than 1,200 million. DB Schenker, the leading European road transport company, recently signed an agreement for almost 1,500 full-electric vehicles, as well as Petit Forestier, the largest refrigerated vehicle rental fleet in Europe.
The Red Ball has the coveted reputation for being one of the islands premier events to attend. As a signature fundraising project for the American Red Cross Guam Chapter  attendees typically include movers and shakers in the business community, island dignitaries and even those who just want to get dressed up for a night of fun  all for a good cause, of course!

The ARC Guam Chapter assists families in emergency situations, such as home fires or larger-scale disasters like typhoons.

Due to limits to indoor gatherings, the event was celebrated over three nights at the Hyatt Regency Guams lobby from March 24-26. Prior to the pandemic, the Red Ball would easily attract a crowd of over 700 guests.

As a formal event, the ball naturally provides a venue for fashion enthusiasts to dress their best. After a two-year hiatus of celebrating the Red Ball the way guests have become accustomed to, many attendees expressed excitement about being able to get glammed up to enjoy the festivities.

Charlotte Huntsman in particular wore a blue dress she ordered online from ASOS. This dress is fun and I thought it fitting to wear for what I hope is the revival of grand events in Guam, she said.

I attended the Red Ball to look for examples of the best-dressed men and women at the event. This is the first part of a two-part feature.

As far as I know, a piece like this has never been published before. So, this is exciting! And yes, my choices are going to be highly subjective based on my preferences.

To clue you in on my thinking, these are the criteria I used when making my picks:

1. Did the individuals outfit have an overall pleasing aesthetic?

2. Did their fashion choices fit well and flatter them?

3. Did they carry their clothing with confidence?

Look out for the rest of my picks in next Fridays Pacific Daily News. For now, heres my first cohort of choices alphabetized by first name:

Annmarie Muna

By virtue of her position as co-chairperson for the Red Ball Committee, Muna had to attend the Red Ball for all three evenings. I only attended two of the three nights so I managed to capture two of her looks here.

Muna, who is also president and general manager for AM Insurance, wore a long black dress on the first evening. She looked effortlessly elegant. On the last night, she wore a sophisticated, shimmering, off-white dress. She set the bar high!

Charlotte Huntsman

The senior vice president and chief human resources officer for Guam Regional Medical City wore a stunning blue dress with puffy sleeves. It was a definite eye-catcher. Not everyone can pull off this look, but Huntsman excels with flying colors!

Chita Blaise

The CEO of the American Red Cross Guam Chapter looked radiant with sparkling embellishments over her shimmery black gown. This was a custom-made piece by a Filipino designer.

Ian Lawton

Where else would it make perfect sense to wear a red blazer, but at the Red Ball, right? Hyatt Regency Guams director of safety and security looked dashing in his ensemble, which was toned down with a black shirt and black handkerchief. He made bold choices that paid off.

Jacob Torres

Torres, a BMW automotive consultant, sported a black blazer, black shirt, black slacks and black shoes! Torres made all the right choices. You cant go wrong with this youthful yet powerful look!

Jim Herbert

The general manager for Triple J Five Star Wholesale Foods opted for a tuxedo with a deep red bowtie and cummerbund. Classic and charming!

Linda Lim

The Tsubaki Towers assistant director for food and beverage looked chic in an ensemble carefully accessorized with a black belt and black tassel earrings.

Tyler Matanane

The contributing correspondent and anchor at KUAM, who also emceed the event, looked sophisticated without sacrificing her youthfulness. The furry accents on her dress add a bit of drama to her overall look. Black is always a great choice for evening wear.
Former Department of Corrections Deputy Director Joey Terlaje asserted his right to a speedy trial in a Superior Court hearing Thursday after arguing there isnt enough evidence to charge him in connection with a 2017 incident at a barbecue.

Terlajes attorney, Joaquin Jay Arriola, argued that the defense needs to be provided with more evidence from the prosecutors, saying that what they have been provided was extremely incomplete.

Terlaje was indicted with felonious restraint and official misconduct. However, Arriola says the evidence he has been given doesnt narrow down when the alleged crimes took place, other than sometime between August and October 2017.

It doesnt tell us what the act is, Arriola said to Judge Alberto Tolentino.

The government attorney said the 473 pages of discovery, which includes the indictment and grand jury recording, turned over to Arriola and Terlaje were sufficient. The government opposed any more discovery being given to the defense.

Arriola said since the indictment against Terlaje is the result of a 5-year-old investigation, there should be much more discovery.

Back in 2017, Terlajes name was mentioned in the District Court of Guam as ex-Yona Mayor Jesse Blas went through proceedings connected to extortion charges. Blas and Terlaje were accused of hitting Blass then-girlfriend, Vickilyn Teregeyo, and holding her against her will for three days, according to PDN files.

Terlaje resigned from his position at DOC shortly after his name was mentioned in court.

Arriola announced Teregeyo is the victim in the case against Terlaje, and because of that, there should be evidence that includes statements from Teregeyo and Blas. Both currently are incarcerated in federal facilities.

In an attempt to receive the information he needs to prepare a defense for Terlaje, Arriola asserted his clients right to a speedy trial, meaning the trial will happen sooner than it was originally planned in August.

If theyve been working on this case as diligently as they say, they have put out the discovery, because the next motion is the motion to dismiss based on the statute of limitations, Arriola said.

Arriola added he would file a motion to dismiss the case by the end of the week.

Tolentino ordered all discovery to be given to the defense in the next 10 days and said a new trial schedule will be made.




Haiti - FLASH : Former Deputy Arnel Belizaire seriously injured by bullets





Wednesday afternoon, the former Deputy of Tabarre of the radical opposition [2011-2015] Arnel Belizaire, released in December 2021 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35370-haiti-news-zapping.html , from the national penitentiary after 2 years of incarceration https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29399-haiti-flash-belizaire-arrested-in-possession-of-an-arsenal-of-war.html accused among other things of conspiracy against State security -de-l-etat.html founder of the "Delivrans" Party https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35827-haiti-news-zapping.html , was the target of unidentified armed individuals in Carrefour Pean, as he took part in demonstrations against insecurity and the resignation of the Prime Minister. Belizaire was hit by at least 4 bullets, he would be seriously injured according to the first information available.



He was rushed to a hospital in the capital. Nothing has filtered on his state of health for the moment. Rumors are circulating that he could be transported abroad to receive the treatment his condition requires.



The Central Directorate of Judicial Police (DCPJ) has opened an investigation to find out the exact circumstances of this attack and to obtain information that could lead to the identification of the perpetrators and their arrests.



See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35370-haiti-news-zapping.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29399-haiti-flash-belizaire-arrested-in-possession-of-an-arsenal-of-war.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-29383-haiti-flash-the-former-deputy-arnel-belizaire-accused-of-conspiracy-against-the-security-of-the-state.html

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-35827-haiti-news-zapping.html



SL/ HaitiLibre






















Haiti - Diaspora Covid-19 : Daily Bulletin #741





GLOBAL SITUATION 2019-2022:

Epidemiological situation:

Thursday March 31, 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 487,202,497 cases (+1,542,476 in 24 hours ), the day before (+1,829,344)



Number of infected countries: 225



*Healings: 422,428,601 people have been cured of Covid-19 worldwide (+1,382,039), the day before (+3,011,891)

*Deaths: 6,162,919 people have died of Covid-19 worldwide since the start of the pandemic (+5.577 in 24 hours), the day before (+5.124)

*Active cases (minus deaths and recoveries) in the world is currently 58,610,977 cases (+154,860 in 24 hours), the day before (-1,187,671)



Average cure rate in the world: 86.70% (+)



Average mortality rate in the world: 1.26% (=)



World: Number of daily confirmed cases



(Day-1)



Vaccination: 11.31 billion doses of vaccine injected (+30 million doses injected in 24 hours. Update March 30, 2022 (latest data available).



HAITI:

According to the Ministry of Public Health, +16 new cases of Covid-19 and its variants have been confirmed in Haiti as of March 26, 2022 (latest partial data available ) for a total of 30,545 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 (+7 cases as of March 24, 2022).



Healings: 28,431 (+162)



Cure rate: 93.07% (+)



Deaths: 833 deaths (+0) ()



Death rate: 2.72% (=)



5th Wave (Omicron Dominant):

Total of the 5th wave (starting December 27, 2021) 4,551 confirmed cases and 67 deaths



Haiti: Active Cases Trend: (less recoveries and deaths)







Screening since the start of the pandemic: 188,012 tests (+690 in 2 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: 740 (+1); Petion-ville 624 (+3); Port-au-Prince 406 (+0); Tabarre 287 (+0); Cross-Bouquets 239 (+1)



Confirmed cases by department (2022 / 2021 / 2020):

West: 2022: 2,552 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: 184 cases; (2021: 855); (2020: 593 cases)

Northeast: 2022: 148 cases; (2021: 404); (2020: 314 cases)

Southeast: 2022: 262 cases; (2021: 768); (2020: 274 cases)

South: 2022: 214 cases; (2021: 891); (2020: 262 cases)

North West: 2022: 255 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

40-49 years: 80 deaths

50-59 years: 134 deaths

60-69 years: 187 deaths

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 have 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 the first case (February 29, 2020): 81,740,722 cases (+54,094 in 24 hours), the day before (+27,655)

*Healings: 65,073,099 heals (+196,125), day before (+193,805)

National Cure Rate: 79.60% (+)

*Deaths: 1,006,445 deaths (+1,389), the day before (+812)

National death rate: 1.23% (=)

*Active cases (minus deaths and recoveries): 15,661,178 (-143,420), yesterday (-166,962)



USA: Number of daily confirmed cases:





(Day-1)



Vaccination: 560.44 million doses of vaccine injected since December 14, 2020, date of the first injection in the United States (+200,000 doses in 24 hours). Updated March 30, 2022 (latest data available).



DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:

Confirmed cases since March 1, 2020: 577,982 cases (+72 in 24 hours) the day before (+30 in 24 hours). First case (March 1, 2020)

Healings: 573,369 healings (+22 in 24 hours), the day before (+93)

National Cure Rate: 99.20% (-)

Deaths: 4,375 deaths (+0), previous (+0)

Death rate: 0.75% (=)

Positivity rate over 4 epidemiological weeks: 0.93% (-)

Active cases: (excluding deaths and recoveries) 238 cases (+50 in 24 hours) the day before (-63)



Dominican Republic: Trend of active cases: (minus recoveries and deaths)





(Day-1)



TOP 5 Provinces with the most new cases in the last 24 hours:

Santiago: +27 new cases in 24 hours (+)

Santo Domingo: +16 new cases in 24 hours (+)

Distrito Nacional: +12 new cases in 24 hours (-)

San Christobal: +4 new cases in 24 hours ()

La Altagracia: +1 new cases in 24 hours (-)



Vaccination: 15.49 million doses of vaccine injected since February 16, 2021, date of the first injection in the Dominican Republic (+10,000 doses injected in 24 hours). Updated March 30, 2022 (latest data available).



QUEBEC:

Confirmed cases since the first case (February 27, 2020): 964,450 (+3,067 in 24 hours), previous (+2,171)

Healings: 928,510 people (+931 in 24 hours) previous (+1,184)

Cure rate: 96.27% (-)

Deaths: 14,353 (+8 in 24h) previous (+20)

Death rate: 1.48% (-)

Active cases: (excluding death and recovery) 21,587 cases (+2,128 in 24 hours), previous (+967)



Quebec: Trend of daily confirmed cases





(average weekly trend)



Vaccination: 18,631,276 doses of vaccine injected since December 14, 2020, date of the first injection (+8,849 doses in 24 hours), latest data available - MSSS as of March 30, 2022)



FRANCE:

*Confirmed cases since the first case (January 24, 2020): 25,445,532 cases (+169,024 cases in 24 hours), previous (+217,480)

*Heals: 23,166,895 heals (+143,844), previous (+69,026)

National Cure Rate: 91.04% (-)

Deaths: 142,134 (+148 in 24h), previous (+164)

Death rate: 0.55% (-)

Active Cases: 2,136,503 (+94,057), previous (+148,290)



France: Number of daily confirmed cases





(day 1)



Vaccination: 141.74 million doses of vaccine injected since December 27, 2020, date of the first injection in France (+40,000 doses injected in 24 hours. Update March 30, 2022 (latest data available)



Previous bulletin : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36305-haiti-diaspora-covid-19-daily-bulletin-740.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...





Les Cayes Incident : Change of Commissioner

Following the violent incident that occurred in Les Cayes on March 29, 2022 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36301-haiti-flash-violent-demonstration-in-les-cayes-several-victims-a-burned-plane.html Commissioner Jean Bazelais Bornelus at the head of the Departmental Directorate of the South of the National Police of Haiti has been replaced by Commissioner Daniel Compere.



High school students in the streets

On Wednesday, the students of the Lycee National de Sibert (Port-au-Prince) once again took to the streets to demand the unconditional release of Professor Chrisly Pierre Brutus, kidnapped on March 20.



Les Cayes : The Government Commissioner rejects the allegations

Me Ronald Richemond Commissioner of the Government of Les Cayes, rejects the allegations that the police assigned to his security had opened fire on Tuesday on the demonstrators killing one. He denounces a political machination.



1/4 of the population of Haiti defecates in the open air

In Haiti, 25% of households practice open defecation. To put an end to this practice, UNICEF organizes awareness sessions on hygiene and sanitation in the communities.



Les Cayes : "Activists have gone too far"

On Tuesday, former Senator Richard Herve Fourcand (PHTK), resident in Les Cayes and who had made his personal plane available to help transfer injured people from Les Cayes to Port-au-Prince during the earthquake of August 14, 2021 https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-34515-haiti-news-zapping.html said that "activists have gone too far" and considered the argument of the protesters against the local air carriers exaggerated. https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36301-haiti-flash-violent-demonstration-in-les-cayes-several-victims-a-burned-plane.html



Secretary of State Joseph alongside the PNH

Wednesday, March 30, Genard Joseph, the Secretary of State for the integration of people with disabilities organized a training session for the benefit of the police officers of the Directorate of Welfare of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) on the assembly and the use of equipment adapted to people with special needs. After the training, the Office handed out a set of materials adapted to the police officers who were victims in the exercise of their function.



HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2022/03/30 | Source

Actor Ahn Bo-hyun drew attention by releasing visual photos which soothed the disappointment of the postponement of his broadcast.

Advertisement

Ahn Bo-hyun apologized on his Instagram on the 28th for the cancellation of broadcast but is working hard on filming, and asked his followers to wait for another week.

The photos show Ahn Bo-hyun making eye contact while staring at the camera. Ahn Bo-hyun's handsome visual, which looks like he jumped out of a cartoon, with fatal eyes and a smile, causes 'heart attacks'.

Meanwhile, Ahn Bo-hyun plays the role of Do Bae-man, a military prosecutor, in the tvN drama "Military Prosecutor Doberman". "Military Prosecutor Doberman", a drama about Do Bae-man, who became a military prosecutor for money, and Cha Woo-in, who became a military prosecutor for revenge, breaking down black and rotten evil in the military, was cancelled for broadcast on the 28th.
FIFTY people in Henley have signed up to house refugees from Ukraine.

The total was revealed by Gemma Birch, who has an online hub called Mother Sister Daughter to support the new arrivals and their hosts.

She spoke about her initiative at a public meeting held at the d:two centre in Henley on Wednesday

evening.

Ms Birch said she hoped that more people would sign up after the meeting and also appealed for volunteers to help run the network, particularly people with administrative skills.

She has prepared welcome boxes with essentials for refugees to receive when they arrive under the Governments Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Ms Birch said: No one has arrived in Henley yet under the scheme and there have been a lot of problems with the allocation process. The demographic of refugees currently arriving is the most vulnerable group, women and children, and they do need to make sure everything is done to safeguard them.

I think thats a big part of why its taking so long.

Its also an unprecedented situation as there has never been such a groundswell of people wanting to help and house refugees.

Its such a huge undertaking and they are learning as they go along. Were hoping we can support that and help match people up at a local level.

Wednesdays meeting had to be moved from Henley town hall because 130 people had signed up to attend and it was livestreamed on YouTube.

The meeting was hosted by Dr Krish Kandiah, who founded the Sanctuary Foundation and explained the process for registering to host a refugee.

Other speakers included Sarah Lane, a project worker at the Nomad youth and community project, town councillor David Eggleton, who has been collecting donations for Ukraine, and Laura Reineke, founder of the Henley Music School, who organised the Play for Peace in Market Place last month. South Oxfordshire district councillor Maggie Filipova-Rivers spoke about how her council was working with the Government scheme.

The meetings also heard from Ukrainians who are already in Henley as they have family here.

Organiser Sara Kandiah said: People have been so supportive. I had a slide of people I wanted to thank because everyone weve made contact with, from businesses to churches, has wanted to support us and the people of Ukraine.

People are keen to contribute and we want to help them work out what they can do and help make connections between people.

We think this will create small neighbourhood support groups. A lot of people have been in touch to say they cant host Ukrainians but they are keen to provide support to someone on their street who can.

For more information, visit www.mothersister

daughter.org.uk

Meanwhile, English teacher Christopher Ward, who fled Kyiv to avoid being caught up in the invasion and is now living in Shiplake, has launched an online platform called UKforUkraine to pull together useful information and the ways to help the people in the war-torn country while also promoting local efforts.

For more information, www.ukforukraine.org
Record-setting NASA astronaut returns from space station with Russian crewmates

Xinhua) 16:09, March 31, 2022

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei is carried to a medical tent shortly after landing in an area southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, March 30, 2022. After extending the record for the longest single spaceflight in history by an American to 355 days, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth on Wednesday with two Russian crewmates. Vande Hei departed the International Space Station along with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov at 3:21 a.m. Eastern Day Time (EDT), and made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 7:28 a.m. EDT southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, according to NASA. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

LOS ANGELES, March 30 (Xinhua) -- After extending the record for the longest single spaceflight in history by an American to 355 days, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth on Wednesday with two Russian crewmates.

Vande Hei departed the International Space Station along with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov at 3:21 a.m. Eastern Day Time (EDT), and made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 7:28 a.m. EDT southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, according to NASA.

"Mark's mission is not only record-breaking, but also paving the way for future human explorers on the Moon, Mars, and beyond," said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

Vande Hei's extended mission will provide researchers the opportunity to observe the effects of long-duration spaceflight on humans as the agency plans to return to the Moon under the Artemis program and prepare for exploration of Mars, according to NASA.

Vande Hei and the two Russian cosmonauts launched on the Soyuz MS-18 rocket on April 9, 2021. Vande Hei's second journey into space of 355 days is the longest single spaceflight by a U.S. astronaut, previously held at 340 days, according to NASA.

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei gestures outside the Soyuz MS-19 manned spacecraft after landing in an area southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, March 30, 2022. After extending the record for the longest single spaceflight in history by an American to 355 days, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth on Wednesday with two Russian crewmates. Vande Hei departed the International Space Station along with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov at 3:21 a.m. Eastern Day Time (EDT), and made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 7:28 a.m. EDT southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, according to NASA. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

The Soyuz MS-19 manned spacecraft is pictured landing in an area southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, March 30, 2022. After extending the record for the longest single spaceflight in history by an American to 355 days, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth on Wednesday with two Russian crewmates. Vande Hei departed the International Space Station along with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov at 3:21 a.m. Eastern Day Time (EDT), and made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 7:28 a.m. EDT southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, according to NASA. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei (L) poses with Russian cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov (R) and Anton Shkaplerov inside their Soyuz MS-19 manned spacecraft after it landed in an area southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, March 30, 2022. After extending the record for the longest single spaceflight in history by an American to 355 days, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth on Wednesday with two Russian crewmates. Vande Hei departed the International Space Station along with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov at 3:21 a.m. Eastern Day Time (EDT), and made a safe, parachute-assisted landing at 7:28 a.m. EDT southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan, according to NASA. (NASA/Bill Ingalls/Handout via Xinhua)

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(New York, NY)  The American Jewish Congress profoundly mourns the passing of former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. The secretary was not only a patriot and public servant in their most accurate forms, but was also a staunch advocate for peace and a lifelong ally of the Jewish Community.

From her earliest days in the U.S., Secretary Albright exhibited a remarkable capacity for knowledge and quickly grew into a leading voice on many issues.

During her time as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Secretary Albright fought to keep foreign actors in check. She worked diligently to advocate for Jewish interests, defended Israel, safeguarded the rights of women, and ensured democratic principles were maintained around the world. Her voice and poise on these vital topics earned her the trust of many, and she would go on to advise our nations highest leaders.

Subsequently, on Jan. 23, 1997, Albright swore her oath of office and began her role as the nations 64th Secretary of State. Not only did this appointment make Albright the first woman to hold the position, but it made her the highest-ranking female U.S. official ever at the time of her confirmation. During her tenure as Secretary, Madeleine Albright would continue her record of championing democracy and human rights worldwide, displaying an unwavering commitment to peace, and serving as a true friend to the State of Israel and Jews worldwide.

Secretary Albright was not just a diplomat but was an inspiration to so many who have had to crawl from the struggles of oppression and have risen stronger on the other side. The prayers of the American Jewish Congress and the entire Jewish community are with her family during this tragic hour. Those prayers are accompanied by the enormous gratitude of a nation that will forever be in her debt. The world will remember Secretary Albright as one of the most vital voices in American diplomacy and one of our nations most revered public servants.

The skies are a little darker today, but our stars will certainly shine brighter tonight.

May her memory be a blessing.
A street mural in Patras, Greece, honors two non-Jewish Greek citizens recognized by Yad Vashem for saving Jews during the Holocaust.

(JNS) - A new street mural in Greece honors two non-Jewish Greek citizens recognized by Yad Vashem as "Righteous Among the Nations" for saving Jews during the Holocaust.

The art display in the city of Patras pays tribute to the late Zakynthos Mayor Lucas Carrer and Greek Orthodox Metropolitan Dimitrios Chrysostomos, who together protected Jewish residents on the Greek island of Zakynthos after the Nazis occupied the territory in 1943.

The project was an initiative of Artists 4 Israel in partnership with the Combat Antisemitism Movement and was painted by Kleomenis Kostopoulos, creative director of the Patras-based group Art in Progress.

"Murals are one of the most important forms of contemporary expression and communication in public spaces," said Kostopoulos, who finished the display last week. "Today, more than ever, we must revisit our history in Greece by bringing it to the streets and putting it in their faces."

The mural is the second installation of Artist 4 Israel's "Righteous Among the Nations" Global Mural Project, which honors non-Jews recognized by Yad Vashem for rescuing Jews during World War II.

The first mural in the project was painted last year in the northern Portuguese city of Vila Nova de Gaia. The initiative aims to teach the next generation about the Holocaust and help prevent the spread of anti-Semitism "in a bold, dynamic and public way," according to its website.

Artists 4 Israel CEO Craig Dershowitz said "the things that bring us together far outnumber the things that divide us. Art has the power to unite us, and we think the act of creating art is universal. This is why bold and highly visible messages are one of the best tools we have to honor these heroes."
Rabbi Steven Engel of Congregration of Reform Judaism joined a group of Reform Rabbis to explore how they could help the situation in Ukraine. They contacted the JCC Director in Krakow Poland, Jonathan Ornstein, and asked what the needs are and what could be done.

He shared with the CRJ congregation via email the plans of this trip.

Rabbi Engle stated, "without hesitation, [Ornstein] said "as Rabbis you need to come to Poland to counsel and comfort refugees, to let Ukranian Jews know that American Jews are there for them, and to bring some things they urgently need."

He continued, "I am answering that call and along with my colleagues I will be going to Poland April 9-14, for myself and for you. We will assist Jewish refugees in Krakow and travel to the Ukrainian border to welcome refugees and serve as sacred witnesses to this horrific conflict."

Rabbi Engel will keep his congregation informed in real time from Poland when able.

"I am committed to using this experience to lift up the voices of those that I meet and to bring back ways we can directly connect to them and help them," he shared in the email to CRJ's congregants.

Each rabbi is bringing different items and Rabbi Engel decided to bring desper-ately needed medications, because "Pikuach Nefesh" the saving of health and life is the highest Jewish value.

Those who wish to donate items can do so by dropping off items at the Temple office by April 7th. All items will go directly to Ukranian Refugees thru the JCC in Krakow. Please use your contacts with doctors, nurses, hospitals and drug reps to help me fill six duffle bags with medications.

The requested medications are:

Wide spectrum antibiotics

Medicine for stomach pains and anti-diarrhea

Anti-inflammatory for adults and children

Anxiety pills/medications

Vitamins D and C for children

In addition, Rabbi Engel is collecting funds through the CRJ Rabbi's Discretionary Fund where 100 percent will go directly to the refugees through the JCC in Krakow. As of a few days ago they are spending more than $10,000 a day for refugee housing, food, children's education and medical needs.
U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and PLO chairman Yasser Arafat at the Wye River Conference Center during the Wye River Memorandum talks, Oct. 16, 1998.

(JNS) - Madeleine Albright, the first woman to hold the position of U.S. secretary of state, has died of cancer at the age of 84.

A statement posted on Twitter said that Albright was "surrounded by family and friends" and that she was "a loving mother, grandmother, sister and friend," as well as a "tireless champion of democracy and human rights."

Born Marie Jana Korbelova in Prague-then Czechoslovakia in 1937-she came to the United States as a refugee in 1948. She eventually rose to the heights of American foreign policymaking as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 1993 to 1997, and secretary of state from 1997 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton.

However, it was not until after she became secretary of state that she learned that her family was Jewish, and her parents had converted to Roman Catholicism during World War II. She also discovered that 26 family members, including three grandparents, were murdered in the Holocaust.

"The impact that she has had on this building is felt every single day in just about every single corridor," U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said of Albright.

In her positions within the Clinton administration, Albright played a key role in major foreign policy decisions, from the Rwandan genocide to the conflict in the Balkans. As the U.S.'s top diplomat, she made little progress in implementing the 1993 Oslo Accords that established self-rule for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. However, she played a leading role with the Wye Accords in 1998 that turned over control of roughly 40 percent of the West Bank, also known as Judea and Samaria, to the Palestinians. She also spearheaded a failed effort to negotiate a 2000 peace deal between Israel and Syria.

In a statement, officials of the Democratic Majority for Israel mourned her passing, saying they were "heartbroken."

"As our nation's top diplomat, she broke barriers and fought for human rights at home and abroad," said DMFI co-chairs Ann Lewis and Todd Richman, and president and CEO Mark Mellman.

"A refugee from Nazi Germany and Soviet communism, she was tough, courageous and a clear-speaking believer in democracy. Her moral leadership and courage will be an inspiration for generations to come," they continued. "We're indebted to her for her service to America."

Israel's President Isaac Herzog also expressed his condolences on her passing.

"Saddened by the passing of Secretary Madeleine Albright, a groundbreaking diplomat, feminist icon and outstanding leader, whom I always admired. Our last correspondence was when she graciously congratulated me on my election. She was a true friend of Israel and we will miss her."
An avid traveler, Marla Lynn Sinert, passed away just five weeks after returning from a trip to the Azores. With her husband of 45 years, Merrill, and daughter Molly by her side, Marla, 66, departed this life peacefully after a brief unexpected battle with cancer on March 25, 2022.

Marla was a lighthearted and kind wife, mother, sister and daughter. She loved her "Grand Pups" and was a friend to all animals. She often wore colorful tie-dye, which matched her bright personality. She found great joy in the simple things in life, including her daily iced coffee, and lived for experiences rather than material luxuries. Marla was enthusiastic about exploring the world with her husband. She will be cremated, and her family will spread her ashes as they continue her legacy of travel.

Marla graduated from Buffalo State College, where she met her husband. She worked for Bealls Department Store for over 17 years before retiring in 2020. She also enjoyed volunteering at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater.

Marla is preceded in death by her father, Leonard Elson, and brother, Martin Elson; and is survived by husband Merrill Sinert; daughter, Molly Sinert Ellis; mother, Ruth Elson; siste,r Fern Elson Cardella; and many other close family members.

A Celebration of Life will be scheduled at a future date.

If you wish to make a donation in her honor, please contribute to: American Cancer Society - http://www.cancer.org; ASPCA - http://www.ASPCA.org, the Orlando Shakespeare Theater - http://www.OrlandoShakes.org

Arrangements entrusted to Beth Shalom Memorial Chapel, 640 Lee Road, Orlando FL 32810, 407-599-1180, http://www.bethshalommemorialchapel.com.
Students attending the Mega Shabbat getting matzah ball soup in the buffet line outside of the Pegasus Ballroom.

By the light of many candles and with the sound of prayer, Chabad at UCF celebrated the 10th annual Mega Shabbat in the Pegasus Ballroom early last month.

An amplified spin on a Shabbat dinner, about 500 people gathered together to eat traditional Jewish food and attend a candle-lighting ceremony as Shabbat began at sundown on Friday, said Rivkie Lipskier, program director of Chabad at UCF.

"I think it really makes students feel so proud," Lipskier said. "They walk into their campus, and they're able to celebrate something that's so special in such a public way."

Shabbat, or the Sabbath, is the Jewish day of rest that begins at sundown on Friday and ends Saturday after nightfall, according to the Jewish Virtual Library. Originating in the Torah, Genesis 2:1-3 states that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day, which is now celebrated as Shabbat.

Before the dinner took place, attendees gathered outside of the ballroom to eat matzo ball soup and were then ushered inside to participate in the candle-lighting ceremony.

Lipskier and her husband, Rabbi Chaim Lipskier, said they took inspiration from other universities with Chabad student programs to bring the event to UCF a decade ago. In addition to Chabad at UCF, the event was co-sponsored by Student Government and several Jewish organizations, Rivkie Lipskier said.

"We have over 50 students working on making this program a success," Chaim Lipskier said in an email. "Mega Shabbat is here to create a greater sense of Jewish community."

These students hosted tabling events to spread the word about Mega Shabbat and invite the community to attend, said Noam Stall, Chabad president and senior accounting major.

"It really shows that we're going to be who we are no matter what, and no matter if you agree with us or not," Stall said. "All people are welcome at this event. It's not just Jews."

Jews and non-Jews alike were encouraged by the rabbi to participate in the hand washing ritual before eating the first portion of challah bread by pouring water over each hand three times. They were also encouraged to sing along to the blessings and prayers throughout the evening.

The menu of the first course included Moroccan gefilte fish, matbucha and Shabbos pasta. The main course included mushroom chicken, roasted potatoes and vegetables.

Chabad kept the same security measures they had implemented in previous years by having the UCF Police Department present during Mega Shabbat to ensure safety.

Three to four police officers were present, both inside the Pegasus Ballroom and patrolling the rest of the building throughout the event. This includes UCF Police Chief Carl Metzger who participated in the festivities with his wife.

The security in place helped to ease the concerns of students in attendance and allowed for Jewish students to proudly celebrate their faith in the midst of global and local antisemitism, said Shabbat Chair Chana Stall, junior food and beverage management major.

Shown here (l-r): Rivkie Lipskier, Linda Metzger, UCF Chief of Police Carl Metzger, Rabbi Chaim Lipskier and Chabad President Noam Stall.

"I feel comfortable that [the police] are properly trained and they know what to look out for," Stall said. "When something's so public, it's a little scary even though it shouldn't be."

Jenna Rembaum, freshman emerging media and animation major, said she attended the event for the first time despite feeling afraid of antisemitism.

"I try my best to be proud of who I am. I think specifically because of people like neo-Nazis," Rembaum said. "No one's going to stand up for me if I don't stand up for myself."

As such a large gathering to celebrate Judaism, Mega Shabbat serves as a way for Jewish students to be proud of their faith and feel as if they are at home, said Avremi Rapoport, nephew of Chaim and Rivkie Lipskier.

"Unfortunately, I think there's a lot of hate in the world," Rapoport said. "The most important and probably the most successful way of combating that is the opposite: positivity."

Originally published by Nicholson Student Media at UCF.
(Israel21C via JNS) - Almost a decade ago, a group of women from the Arab Jerusalem neighborhood of Isawiya looked for a program where they could study Hebrew. They didn't find anything appropriate, and ended up inviting two students from the nearby Hebrew University to teach them.

They enjoyed their studies so much that a year later they sought to bring aboard all their female friends, relatives and neighbors.

That's how the "Women Speaking Hebrew" program began. Fast forward a few years, and it's now under the umbrella of the nonprofit organization Lissan (Arabic for "language" or "tongue") that promotes gender and social equality in Jerusalem.

"Hebrew is an absolutely vital need in eastern Jerusalem," explains Lissan CEO Talia Vekshtein. "Jerusalem is a city whose institutions and public bodies operate in Hebrew. To get any service, to speak with doctors at the hospital, to understand the letters from City Hall and to confidently and independently go around the place, you have to know the language."

Vekshtein notes that 64 percent of the women in eastern Jerusalem don't speak any Hebrew, compared to only 12 percent of the men. "That keeps them dependent on their partners to carry out basic actions," she says.

Unlike elsewhere in the country, in eastern Jerusalem, Hebrew wasn't traditionally included in the school curriculum. Recent years have seen a rise in Hebrew lessons, both in schools and by private tutors, but the level isn't always great and the latter is expensive, especially for one of the poorest communities in Israel.

To empower these women and help them gain more independence, Lissan runs multiple all-women's language courses; makes information regarding issues such as national medical and social security rights more accessible; and offers courses geared at finding employment.

Registration fees are symbolic and are waived when they can't be paid.

Learning about each other

The Women Speaking Hebrew program is now comprised of 40 volunteer teachers, eight coordinators and 400 female students, ranging in level from beginners to advanced.

Nasra Dahdal from the neighborhood of Shuafat tells ISRAEL21c that she has wanted to learn Hebrew for a while. As an Arabic teacher and former employee of the University of Bethlehem, she didn't come across many Hebrew-speaking Israelis.

"To know a person, you should learn their language. Without talking to each other, you can't learn about each other, so I thought that it would be good to join and learn," she says.

A few months into the program, she's enjoying the teaching and the level and, as a retiree, has plenty of time to focus on her studies.

"Within three months, I read and write very well, although I still have problems with [differentiating between the Hebrew letters] kuf and kaf. But I'm practicing. I'm a teacher myself, and I know how to study," she says.

"This is a very, very good course for me. I'm enjoying it and having fun with the teachers, playing with learning, learning some songs-children's songs, but [it makes] you feel young," she laughs. "I say that no matter how old you are, you need to keep on with life and have to carry on. If not for you then for your children. If you educate your children, you open a window for them. Without the language, you can't get around. It's very difficult."

Still, the course has practical benefits for Dahdal herself, too.

"You receive a document from the bank, from the post office, from different places and you have to find someone to translate. I do Google Translate, of course, but it's not really accurate for official documents like taxes, bank statements, HMO statements," she notes. "Everything is in Hebrew. Even when they say on the phone 'Press 1 for Arabic,' you find the recording telling you many things in Hebrew."

Less alienating

Lissan is supported by philanthropic funds and private donors. Hebrew University provides the program with classrooms and grants credit points to students who volunteer as teachers.

One such student is Avital Ende, who's studying for her master's in art history. Last year, she volunteered as a teacher, and this year she's a pedagogical coordinator.

As Ende explains, even teaching Hebrew at beginners' level has a huge impact on students.

"It's not as if they had complete grasp of the language, found a job or became completely integrated. And yet, I do think that even on the most basic level-of going to the mall and being able to ask where Zara is, or getting on the bus and being capable of asking where to get off, or going to National Insurance offices or to the local HMO, and for the language around you to be less alienating-I find that to be significant," she says.

"I'm originally from Jerusalem myself, and I think there's great value in bringing together [people from] different parts of the city. For me, it's also been an opportunity to meet this large part from which there's great detachment," she adds.

Ende is committed to learning Arabic, too.

Female empowerment

For field coordinator Munira 'Abd al-Hadi, Arabic is far from foreign. Originally from the Arab town of Iksal in northern Israel, she's now studying chemistry at the Hebrew University and working as a matriculation and psychometric teacher alongside her position at Lissan.

She stresses that learning Hebrew is empowering for women, and that their studies can have far-reaching impact on their surroundings.

"We see the importance of female empowerment and how women are a very important part of Arab society, because they form the basis of the home. Most of the work inside the home is done by women, since they raise and educate the children. We want to promote women and empower them and also to give them the chance to go out to work," she explains.

The most important thing she wants the Lissan students to gain, she says, is the confidence to know "there's nothing that can get in the way of achieving their goals. They're not worth less than anyone else in Jerusalem. Whether they're just studying or going out to work, this empowerment is the most important thing for them and their families."

Lissan CEO Vekshtein concurs.

"Our goal is for every woman in eastern Jerusalem to have the liberty and independence to be in charge of her life, to exercise her rights and to have access to the rights and resources that she deserves," she says.

She looks forward to running Hebrew classes at community centers in eastern Jerusalem also for men, in conjunction with City Hall; continuing Hebrew teacher training classes; and resuming Arabic-language courses geared at medical teams that were put on halt during the COVID-19 pandemic. There's also a pilot project in the works to teach Hebrew to Bedouin women in the Negev desert.

"We aspire to expand into more projects and to reach more women and audiences that require our services," Vekshtein concludes.

For more information, click here

This article was first published by Israel21c.
WASHINGTON (JTA)  Security officials are reporting a spate of bomb threats targeting Jewish institutions in a number of states.

The threats came into Jewish community centers around the country in recent weeks, most recently in Pennsylvania and Missouri, according to Michael Masters, who directs the Secure Community Network, a consultancy that works with national Jewish groups.

Other JCCs targeted have been in Oklahoma, Arizona and New Jersey. The threats come through online contact forms and have similar language.

The two most recent threats, in Missouri and Pennsylvania, both began, Ill be there at 12 to bomb your facility you ukranian jew filth i got bombs there now.

The Anti-Defamation League said Wednesday on Twitter that it is tracking the threats. We remain in ongoing contact with local and federal law enforcement, and continue to work with partners on the ground to ensure safety for the Jewish community, it said.

Masters said that the perpetrators appear frustrated when the targeted institution does not shut down after security officials determine that the threat is not credible.

We think that these guys are doing other calls because theyre not getting the outcome that they want, which is to potentially shut down the facility or sow discontent or fear, he said.

Masters said that the targeted JCCs are working with his organization, Jewish federations and the JCC Association of North America as well as with local law enforcement.

In 2017 hundreds of bomb threats were called into JCCs, sowing widespread fear; a 20-year-old American-Israeli man was eventually convicted of making those calls. In 2020, more than 50 Jewish community centers in 23 states received emailed bomb threats. None proved credible.
(JTA)  In 2016, Colorados state pension fund passed a law pledging economic loyalty to Israel.

That law is now being invoked as the state becomes the seventh to punish ice-cream company Ben & Jerrys over the companys 2021 pledge to stop selling ice cream in occupied Palestinian territories.

The board of Colorados Public Employees Retirement Association voted unanimously Friday to begin a procedure to divest its holdings from Unilever, Ben & Jerrys parent company, the Denver Post reported. The association drew upon the 2016 law, signed by Democratic then-Gov. John Hickenlooper, which requires the state pension to divest from any foreign company that has economic prohibitions against Israel.

Ben & Jerrys has made comments that are politically motivated for leaving Israel, Amy McGarrity, chief investment officer for the fund, told the board, according to the Denver Post.

Ben & Jerrys is based in Vermont, but qualifies as a foreign company because Unilever is a British conglomerate. It has said that refusing to do business in occupied territories does not constitute a boycott of Israel itself.

But that distinction isnt flying with Colorados pension review board, or with other state funds that have invoked similar anti-boycott state laws to divest holdings from Unilever in the wake of the companys statement.

Colorados law, which stands to affect around $42 million the fund had invested in Unilever, was one of a flurry of state laws considered or passed in 2016 that sought to use economic pressure as an explicit attempt to counter the growing Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement targeting Israel.

The use of state pension funds as a bargaining chip in the Ben & Jerrys backlash is also significant given the growing prominence of investment firms in the Israel proxy war. In one notable skirmish, the multi-billion dollar investment research firm Morningstar has been scrutinized by pro-Israel groups for allegedly downgrading Israel investments.

The Colorado pension boards vote triggers a 180-day period of dialogue with Unilever, following which the state would take around a year to fully divest its holdings if company policy does not change. Unilever has said its ownership agreement with Ben & Jerrys means the ice-cream maker maintains a large degree of independence and cannot be overruled by the conglomerate.

Colorado would become the seventh state to go after Unilever economically over the statements from Ben & Jerrys. Four others  New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Arizona  have also announced similar plans to divest state pension funds from the conglomerate, while Florida has halted new investments in Unilever and Texas has said it is limiting business with Ben & Jerrys. Some other states have triggered reviews of their contracts with the company, but have not yet announced formal economic punishments.

Meanwhile, the Israeli affiliate of Ben & Jerrys is also suing Unilever in U.S. court in an attempt to pressure the company to let it keep its contracts. The lawsuit describes the Ben & Jerrys statement as boycotting parts of Israel.
Hadassah Orlando presents the annual Bunny Rosen Women's Heart Health Lunch and Fashion Show on Sunday, April 10, at 11:30 a.m. at the Alfond Inn, 300 East New England Avenue, Winter Park. The gala event features clothing and accessories by Em'Z on Fifth, Mt. Dora, Florida. Menu selection is grouper or mushroom pasta. Tickets are $54 and a variety of sponsorship packages are available from $118 - $500. RSVP reservations required by April 1. For more information, call Hadassah Orlando at 877-949-1818 or contact orlando@hadassah.org. Checks may be mailed to Nancy Greenfield, 1253 Eggleston Drive, Deland, FL 32724.

The Bunny Rosen Heart Health Fashion Show Endowment was established to honor the memory of long-time Hadassah member Bunny Rosen for her tireless efforts on behalf of the Orlando chapter. The annual charity event is a permanent memorial to Rosen and her endeavors in support of Hadassah, a volunteer organization that inspires a passion for and a commitment to the land, people and future of Israel. Through education, advocacy and youth development, and the support of world-class medical care and research at Hadassah Medical Organization, Hadassah enhances the health and lives of the people of Israel, the United States and worldwide.

The Bunny Rosen Heart Health Lunch and Fashion Show is open to the public. The menu offers grouper or mushroom pasta. Tickets are $54 and tables of 10 are available. Bronze ($118), Silver ($180), Gold ($360) and Platinum ($500) sponsorships are available. RSVP reservations required by April 1st. Complimentary valet parking is available. For more information, call Hadassah Orlando at 877-949-1818 or contact orlando@hadassah.org. Checks and menu selection may be mailed to Nancy Greenfield, 1253 Eggleston Drive, DeLand, FL 32724.
(JTA)  Israel is the ninth happiest country in the world, according to the World Happiness Report, a project of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

Israel has moved slowly up the rankings in recent years, going from No. 14 in 2020 to No. 11 in 2021. The report, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, says it factors a countrys GDP, social support, life expectancy, freedom to make life choices, citizen generosity and perceptions of corruption into its ranking.

The U.N. is known as a harsh critic of Israel, singling it out with continual condemnations and more critical resolutions than any other nation. Its Sustainable Development Solutions Network was founded in 2012 to advance U.N. sustainability, anti-poverty and industry goals around the world.

Each countrys response to COVID-19 was also a factor in the ranking, the report noted. Israel was one of the first countries to successfully vaccinate a large percentage of its population.

Deaths from COVID-19 during 2020 and 2021 have been markedly lower in those countries with higher trust in public institutions and where inequality is lower, the report reads.

As usual, the Nordic countries held their spots at the top of the list, with Finland ranking as the happiest country in the world for the fifth year in a row. Denmark, Iceland and Switzerland placed in the top four, with the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Sweden and Norway the only others ahead of Israel.
(ISRAEL21c) - On Tuesday, Israel began accepting patients at its humanitarian field hospital in western Ukraine, where it will treat people affected by the war raging in the country.

Situated in the western Ukrainian city of Mostyska and called "Shining Star," the 66-bed hospital is set to be open 24/7 and staffed by more than 60 personnel.

It will be able to service 150 patients at a time and includes a triage area, an ER ward, men's, women's and children's wards, labor and delivery facilities, imaging and telehealth technologies, mental health services, a lab, a pharmacy and an outpatient clinic.

The hospital is being operated by Israel's Health Ministry, Sheba Medical Center, the Clalit HMO and medical teams from other hospitals. It will not be manned by the IDF's medical corps as in previous state missions to disaster areas.

The hospital was launched with an inauguration ceremony that included remarks by the mayor of Mostyska, the district head, the leader of the delegation, the hospital director, and Israel's Deputy Ambassador to Ukraine.

A day earlier, the hospital delegation was sent off with a departure ceremony attended by Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid.

"Israel is the first country that is establishing a field hospital within Ukraine to treat victims of the war," Lapid noted on Twitter.

"We are doing it for the sake of Ukrainian children, but our children also need to know that the State of Israel does not stand aside. Where there is suffering and horror, we will extend a comforting hand and do anything to help."

Multiple Israeli aid organizations are already operating in Ukraine and neighboring countries to aid refugees and the wounded. Magen David Adom, for example, sent four armored ambulances to Ukraine to help evacuate the wounded even under fire. Dream Doctors, meanwhile, is treating Ukrainian refugees in nearby Moldova, as is United Hatzalah.

This is not the first time that Israel has deployed a field hospital in the wake of a disaster. In 2010, Israel set up a field hospital in Haiti, after a devastating earthquake, gaining plaudits from around the world.

It also set up a field hospital in Japan in 2011 after the earthquake and tsunami, in the Philippines in 2013, and in Nepal in 2015.

This article first appeared in Israel21c.
(JNS) - The first organized humanitarian mission of the North American Jewish community for Ukrainians will be far from the last.

This past week, a mission organized by the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) traveled to the Ukraine-Poland border to visit with refugees and evaluate needs on the ground. The task is overwhelming, but something the Federations are working on in tight coordination with its global partners.

"It was an important and eye-opening experience to go. We had leadership from 10 communities. We wanted to see and sense for ourselves all the work going on with our partner agencies that we're working with collectively to really help in any way we can," Mark Wilf, chair of the JFNA board of trustees, told JNS upon arriving back in the United States on Friday after leading the delegation.

"We saw a lot in a short period of time," he added. "It's a true tragedy, and the effects will be lingering for some time here. We need to be mobilized in how best to effectively address it."

According to JFNA, funds have been allocated by JFNA and individual Federations through their partner agencies, including the Jewish Agency for Israel, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) and World ORT, as well as United Hatzalah, Hillel International, Nefesh B'Nefesh, HIAS, Israel Trauma Coalition, Hadassah Medical Organization, Chabad-Lubavitch and Sh'ma Yisrael.

The delegation first stopped in Warsaw, where it visited the processing of refugees who want to go to Israel. They arrived at the hotel where the Jewish Agency is working with the Israeli consulate to process families.

"We met with some of the people that are applying for that trip. It was a gentleman with his 95-year-old father. It was a young lady with two small daughters whose husband is still in Ukraine. She was exhausted, and, of course, physically drained and mentally drained from the experience of just getting through Ukraine carrying her 2-year-old child in her arms for days at a time. And we also saw a family of five - a husband, wife and their three young children. The girls were just in dance school a matter of 10 days ago. The father had a decent job, and he had a normal, fine life, but it was totally uprooted. They got to the border and went on a bus tour to Warsaw, and their dream now is to move to Israel where they can rebuild their lives," said Wilf.

The mission traveled on to Lublin, where the JDC took over the Chachmei Lublin Yeshivah Synagogue that was destroyed by the Nazis in World War II and which has since found many other uses since. It's currently a processing center for refugees, where they are receiving food, housing and medical care. JFNA met with some of the professionals and volunteers there, as well as the refugees before traveling on to the Poland-Ukraine border area.

"We went to a town called Medyka [in southeastern Poland], where he saw thousands and thousands of people just looking through their belongings - their life savings, reduced to one suitcase or one shopping cart. They get on buses driven two to three miles away to a transport center, where they wait a couple more days to get on other buses to be dispersed throughout Poland. We saw humanitarian relief being offered at the border area. And what was amazing is the first flag as these people cross the border into Poland was the Israeli flag, and there was a hospital unit set up there," said Wilf.

"The irony is that my own parents were Holocaust survivors born in that area," he continued. "We know what the world was like 80 years ago, when no one looked after the Jews in that area, and we were powerless. And now, to be able to have a role - to be able to give back and help in some small way in this enormous emergency - really is a twist of history, and I was very proud to see that."

'You have to work together to make it work right'

Wilf told JNS that coordination among the various Jewish organizations has been outstanding, with each one playing its role and providing support to others when necessary, all while adapting to rapidly changing circumstances. Wilf says it's reflective of an interagency infrastructure that has evolved during previous challenging circumstances, including the aftermath of the Tree of Life*Or L'Simcha Synagogue mass shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018, the COVID-19 pandemic of the past two years and the 11-day conflict between Israel and Hamas last May.

"Anytime there's an emergency-and there have been many, unfortunately, these past few years-the walls break down. We have to work together. We have to cooperate, and that is happening. We're seeing, for instance, the Jewish Agency and the Joint - two of our largest overseas and storied partners for so many generations - working beautifully together when we're extracting people from Ukraine or working to get them into a variety of Eastern European countries, and find them housing, health care, and food and counseling.

"All of these things are organized, and it's complicated. You have to work together to make it work right. It's not as simple as running over there and having a few people do what they can. It has to be a sustained infrastructure and the Federations, as a system, with all the collective relationships we have across the spectrum, allows us to do that," explained Wilf.

JFNA has placed a specific emphasis on providing housing, clothing, medication, cash assistance, mental-health services, security and transportation for refugees, expediting the aliyah and absorption process of those individuals or families who wish to move to Israel; ensuring the secure evacuation of individuals under immediate threat or where active hostilities are already taking place; and safeguarding the security of Jewish communal facilities and Jewish individuals, whether in their home communities or temporary accommodations.

Wilf said more JFNA delegations will head to the area, including one as soon as this weekend.

"We'll probably have at least three more trips here in the coming weeks before Passover. And I know many organizations are doing all kinds of visits and trips to assess, to evaluate, to volunteer. And for us, we represent 146 federations and hundreds of communities which have been very generous. But they want to assess and see for themselves the work-to learn where their giving is going, to go back and tell their friends, their neighbors, their donors exactly what's going on," said Wilf.

JFNA says it has raised some $30 million for Ukraine relief, with funds going towards sustaining displaced Jews outside of camps and shelters with food, medicine, appliances and clothing, as well as increasing cash assistance to the elderly, to children and to vulnerable families who are in financial turmoil and face physical threats.

Those wishing to donate can do so at jewishfederations.org.
(JNS)  A new report by NGO Monitor debunks the accusation of apartheid against Israel and assesses whether apartheid, as previously defined, is applicable to Israel and territories under its military administration.

This new report, titled Neo-Orientalism: Deconstructing Claims of Apartheid in the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict and written by legal expert Joshua Kern, and legal adviser and U.N. representative for NGO Monitor Anne Herzberg, expands on a previous report published in December that sought to rectify the lack of a coherent and legally substantiated definition of the crime of apartheid.

According to NGO Monitor, accusations of this crime against humanity have been historically leveled at the State of Israel and its officials by powerful NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, BTselem and, most recently, Amnesty International. The lack of an accepted definition of the crime of apartheid has been harnessed by central actors in the campaign to delegitimize Israel, who apply the term to characterize the political and legal nature of Israels government, and in many cases to delegitimize the notion of Israels identity as a Jewish state.

Our report is for legal professionals, academics, practitioners and government officials, Herzberg told JNS, but it is also for those who are looking for answers to the false and often malicious charges by NGO and U.N. Rapporteurs who grossly misrepresent the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the legal basis for Israel as a Jewish state, and the nature of Israels democracy and legal system.

In A Threshold Crossed, published in April 2021, HRW accused Israel of crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.

Not to be outdone, Amnesty International took this accusation further on Feb. 1, when it released its own report, Israels apartheid against Palestinians: Cruel system of domination and crime against humanity.

According to NGO Monitor, Amnestys 280-page report largely echoes those of the HSRC [Human Sciences Research Council] and HRW. It does, however, express (while HRW and HSRC only did so implicitly) a thesis that the establishment and maintenance of Israel as a Jewish state institutionalized apartheid.

The Amnesty report accused Israel not only of apartheid in the West Bank and Gaza, but also in Israel proper, and having been institutionalized since the founding of the Jewish state.

Adding to Israels troubles are the three reports forthcoming this year from U.N. bodies (the March 2022 Report of Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk to the U.N. Human Rights Council; the June 2022 Report of the UNHRC United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel; and the expected report from the CERD Conciliation Committee)  all of which are highly likely to rely on the debunked Amnesty and HRW reports, as well as other anti-Israel NGOs, for information.

Arsen Ostrovsky, chair and CEO of the International Legal Forum, which has played a leading role in combating the apartheid charges in the international legal arena, told JNS: It is unfathomable, that with all the major human-rights crises around us  from Russias brutal assault on Ukraine and Chinas ethnic cleansing of Uyghurs  that some in the international community, such as the United Nations and NGO civil society, should choose to prioritize and single out Israel for opprobrium at this historical juncture in time.

However, he continued, that is also highly revealing, indicating that these false and malicious aspersions of apartheid and distortions of truth are not grounded in law or motivated by desire to advance peace, but rather by intellectual dishonesty and the simple refusal to accept Israels very right to exist as the nation-state of the Jewish people.

Ostrovsky debated Philip Luther, Amnestys Middle East and North Africa research and advocacy director, on Israel-based i24 News shortly after Amnesty released its report.

An ahistorical and decontextualized narrative

NGO Monitors analysis found the definitions of apartheids elements commonly used by the NGOs to be unreasoned by reference to principles and instruments of international law; consequently, we found the legal basis upon which accusations of apartheid against Israel rest to be invalid.

The main findings of NGO Monitors report are disturbing.

Among others, it found that apartheid discourse is not merely criticism of or an attempt to improve Israeli policy. Rather, it is used by NGOs and U.N. officials to construct a narrative that presents Israels very existence as a Jewish state as illegitimate.

It also found that reports by NGOs and the United Nations present an ahistorical and decontextualized narrative to press the case of apartheid. The publications erase the international communitys endorsement of the creation of a Jewish state, alongside Arab states; Arab military aggression and the ongoing Palestinian rejection of any final settlement to date; Palestinian political divisions and the root causes of fragmentation; and how the ongoing armed conflict has shaped policy in the region.

Additionally, it found that NGO and U.N. publications overwhelmingly adopt a neo-Orientalist approach towards Zionism and Judaism. Their claims rest on anti-Semitic caricatures and stereotypes, which trivialize how Jews have, for thousands of years, defined their peoplehood and their religion.

NGO Monitor insisted in its own report that any reasonable assessment of Israels policies must be viewed through the lens of its security dilemma and the context of armed conflict within which they are implemented. NGO and U.N. reporting consistently fail to address these issues.

According to NGO Monitor, its analysis has demonstrated that there is no reasonable basis to support the charges of apartheid against Israel and its officials. Every country across the globe struggles to protect the principle of equality and rooting out racial and other forms of discrimination. Israel is no exception.

It recommended in its report that the Israeli government establish a National Human Rights Institution to tackle the issue of discrimination affecting the population, including the Palestinians.

According to the organization, such measures, if implemented, could blunt attacks made by those NGOs and U.N. rapporteurs who might use the discourse of apartheid to attack the legitimacy of Israels existence as a Jewish state.

Israel is never going to prevail in U.N. spaces any time in the near future, said Herzberg . The U.N. is institutionally anti-Semitic and due to politics, the deck is completely stacked against the country. Officials who could do something about this dynamic, like European officials, refuse. In addition, the NGOs and U.N. Rapporteurs responsible for inventing and disseminating the apartheid charge wield tremendous influence at the U.N.

Nevertheless, she said, it is imperative that we do not cede the legal and factual space to these actors. We have to take the fight directly to the places where the political war against Israel is being waged. They cannot be allowed to monopolize the debate, even though it is difficult and we may not be successful. It is also important to expose the motives of those promoting the apartheid slander, and name and shame their funderswhich, in this case, is the European Union, Ireland, Scandinavian governments and U.N. agencies.

With so many powerful actors actively seeking to delegitimize Israel, its easy to lose hope that Israel could ever win this battle.

Nonetheless, Herzberg remained optimistic, telling JNS: We believe our report can change and is changing the discourse. Our first report already has placed HRW and Amnesty on the defensive by exposing the 1948 agenda underlying their reports and their invented legal standards, and we have seen other NGOs and activists engaging with our work, albeit trying to attack it.
(JTA)  An international academic organization devoted to study of the Arab world and Israel has voted to endorse boycotting Israel.

Members of the Middle East Studies Association voted 768-167 in favor of a resolution endorsing the Palestinian call for solidarity in the form of boycotts, divestment and sanctions, known as BDS.

The resolution also calls for an academic boycott of Israeli institutions, including universities  a term that BDS proponents typically define as severing all formal ties with the institutions. But the association says it will not target individual students or scholars, that Israeli scholars will still be eligible for membership, and that each individual member of the group has the right to refrain from participating in the boycott.

Our members have cast a clear vote to answer the call for solidarity from Palestinian scholars and students experiencing violations of their right to education and other human rights, the groups president, Eve Troutt Powell, said in a statement. MESAs Board will work to honor the will of its members and ensure that the call for an academic boycott is upheld without undermining our commitment to the free exchange of ideas and scholarship.

Of those voting on the resolution, 80 percent backed it, according to the group. Now, the groups board of directors are tasked with finding ways to give effect to the spirit and intent of this resolution, the resolution says.

Powell did not respond to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency request for comment.

The vote makes MESA, with 2,800 members, the latest group of academics to approve a BDS resolution, and likely the one whose membership is most knowledgeable about Israel and the Middle East. Other academic organizations that have also endorsed part or all of BDS include the American Anthropological Association, the Modern Languages Association and the American Studies Association.

Those resolutions have not led to widespread effects for Israeli scholars or universities. But the votes are symbolically significant amid debate over how Israel is discussed on college campuses.

Critics say such resolutions from academic groups encourage campus antisemitism, or are themselves antisemitic in nature because they single out Israel for censure. The AMCHA Initiative, a pro-Israel campus advocacy group, timed the release of an in-house study to the vote, claiming that professors who supported BDS were more likely to foster antisemitic climates on campus. After the results of the vote were revealed, AMCHA issued a statement calling it morally reprehensible and incredibly dangerous.

The Anti-Defamation League said it was appalled at the vote, which it argued was undermining academic principles of dialogue and obstructing Israeli-Palestinian engagement. It called for the many universities that have some affiliation with MESA to disassociate themselves from the vote.

But MESA says its resolution is all about academic freedom and dialogue, including the freedom of Israeli academics to criticize their country without fear of reprisal. Israeli academics who publish research or advocacy highly critical of their government have at times been met with fierce backlash, including effectively being blacklisted from academic jobs, in Israeli society.

The group has more than 2,800 members from all over the world, including 33 in Israel, though the highest concentration are in the United States. It also has a long list of institutional members, including departments at universities such as Brandeis and Columbia.

Its mission statement includes Israel under a list of Middle East and North African countries its members studies are primarily concerned with, and also states that the group opposes antisemitism. Some members are Jewish studies or Israel studies professors.

Ian Lustick, founder and past president of the Association for Israel Studies, is one Jewish MESA member who voted for the BDS resolution. He wrote in an op-ed for Mondoweiss, a website highly critical of Israel, that he supported the resolution because it is flexible and respects the moral posture and complex circumstances affecting those whose support is solicited, adding that he himself has no intention of cutting ties with Israeli universities.

The Association for Israel Studies opposed the BDS resolution during MESAs annual meeting in December when it was put to the full member vote. Though the Association for Israel Studies is currently an institutional member of MESA, it will likely debate its continued association with the group now that the resolution has passed, according to Lustick.

A rival academic group, the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa, was formed in 2007 due to what its founders said was persistent anti-Israel bias at MESA. Its president, Asaf Romirowsky, issued harsh criticism of MESAs BDS vote ahead of the final results, saying that the group is clearly a politicized advocacy organization.
(JNS) - Two dozen Christian parliamentarians wrapped up a visit to Israel on Tuesday with discussions on how to embrace and defend Israel in modern times. The discussions were the culmination of a three-day journey that took them to the Western Wall, key holy sites in Judea and Samaria and face-to-face meetings with the country's top political leaders.

The MPs were in Israel through the Israel Allies Foundation, the umbrella organization of more than 50 pro-Israel parliamentary caucuses from around the world. Lawmakers came from as far as Malawi, Guatemala and the United States to show their support for Israel and talk about issues surrounding the Jewish state that might need addressing in their governments back home.

"Faith-based diplomacy is Israel's strongest weapon in our diplomatic arsenal," said IAF President Josh Reinstein.

On Sunday, the MPs signed a declaration in Atarot supporting the "sovereign right of the State of Israel to build in its indivisible capital of Jerusalem," which they presented to Knesset Christian Allies Caucus co-chair Knesset member Yuli Edelstein of the Likud Party.

Standing with an undivided Jerusalem is one of the key issues for members of the caucuses, said Reinstein.

'Jerusalem is a biblical issue'

"Much of the world is pressuring Israel to sacrifice her territorial integrity for the prospect of a false peace," said Knesset member Gila Gamliel (Likud) at an IAF celebratory dinner on Monday. "To add insult to injury, they are campaigning to split the Holy City - Jerusalem - in two. As believers in the Bible, the issue of Jerusalem should resonate in your hearts," she said.

"God instructs us to 'Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem.' The question of Jerusalem is not a political matter. It is a biblical issue. Allowing ... Jerusalem to be divided would lead to the end of freedom of religion in a city of worship for billions of people around the world," she continued.

Gamliel helped start the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus in 2004. Since then, the international network of caucuses has grown to represent some 1,200 legislators.

"I have seen firsthand how important it is to strengthen the lines of communication between the Christian international community and the Knesset," said Gamliel. "You are all people of faith and, as such, you have a deep connection to the Land of Israel and especially the biblical heartland of Judea and Samaria. You understand that Israel is the living proof of fulfilled biblical promises."

'Iran is a threat to Israel and the West'

Attendees also held discussions about the Ukraine crisis and the Iranian nuclear threat, as well as the battle against anti-Semitism.

At Atarot, Edelstein called on the group to lobby their governments against the impending Iran nuclear deal.

"We cannot afford the situation when the regime in Tehran will have weapons of mass destruction including nuclear weapons," said Edelstein. "This is a message that I would love very much for you to take to your countries."

Gamliel, similarly, told attendees that "now, more than ever, our long-standing relationship with our friends around the world, especially those active in political work, has become even more important. Iran's pursuit of nuclear arms is a frightening example of the radical Islamic agenda... A nuclear Iran is not only a threat to Israel's very existence, but a threat to the Western world at large."

In a ceremony held at the Israeli Foreign Ministry on Monday afternoon, the Christian leaders signed a resolution to push for the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of anti-Semitism in their countries and around the world. The resolution was presented to Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid in a closed-door talk.

"We urge parliaments worldwide to adopt the IHRA working definition of anti-Semitism and its 11 examples of specific prejudiced behaviors targeting the Jewish people and the State of Israel, and call on lawmakers to vigorously apply the definition and its examples in the performance of their legislative, oversight and advocacy duties," the resolution said.

This was the first IAF mission since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which kept Israel's skies closed for the better part of the last two years.
WASHINGTON (JTA)  When Secretary of State Antony Blinken cited his familys Holocaust-era history in explaining a matter of U.S. foreign policy on Monday, it was far from the first time he has done so.

One of my responsibilities as Secretary is determining, on behalf of the United States, whether atrocities have been committed, Blinken, who is Jewish, said Monday at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where he announced that the Biden administration had determined that the Burmese military had committed genocide against the Rohingya. Its an immense responsibility that I take very seriously, particularly given my familys history.

That family history involves his stepfather, Samuel Pisar, the Holocaust survivor who became a renowned legal scholar and philosopher. Blinken has often described the late Pisars recounting of his rescue by American soldiers, saying it shaped his own idea of what the United States symbolizes around the world.

Thats the story that I grew up with, about what our country is and what it represents, and what it means when the United States is engaged and leading, Blinken has said in the past.

Now Americas top diplomat is contending with a conflict that is putting these values to the test: Russias invasion of Ukraine, which has involved mass killings of civilians.

He is also dealing with appeals from Ukraines Jewish president, Volodymyr Zelensky  who similarly cites the Holocaust as shaping his outlook  to do more to stop Russias attacks.

Zelensky has additionally made direct comparisons between the Russian onslaught and the Holocaust, while Russian President Vladimir Putin has stated his goal is to de-Nazify Ukraine.

Talking to American Jewish leaders, Zelensky called Putins actions pure Nazism; talking to Israelis, he likened Russian tactics to the final solution; and in his address to the U.S. Congress, he called the Russian invasion the worst war since World War II.

The Biden administration has imposed crippling sanctions on Russia and is funneling billions of dollars in defense and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, in addition to deploying U.S. troops to NATO allies adjacent to Ukraine. But President Joe Biden will not accede to Zelenskys top demands  including creating a no-fly zone over Ukraine to protect it  saying they could provoke a world war.

On Wednesday, however, Blinken formally declared that the United States position is that Russian forces have committed war crimes.

Many of the sites Russias forces have hit have been clearly identifiable as in-use by civilians, he said in a statement. This includes the Mariupol maternity hospital, as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressly noted in a March 11 report. It also includes a strike that hit a Mariupol theater, clearly marked with the word   Russian for children  in huge letters visible from the sky.

Does Blinken feel the pressures of family history as he contemplates Ukraine? The State Department did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. But his speech at the Holocaust musuem on Monday showed that it was on his mind.

One of the unsettling truths of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is that theres never a time I visit here when its lessons do not feel deeply resonant, he said. But I have to tell you, I can recall few times when that history felt so urgent, or the responsibility it imparts on all of us so pressing. As we meet, the Russian Government continues to wage its unprovoked, brutal war on Ukraine. Each day brings more harrowing attacks, more innocent men, women, and children killed.

The risk the war posed to Holocaust survivors in Ukraine was especially poignant in Blinkens telling.

Ukraine is home to nearly 10,000 Holocaust survivors, including an 88-year-old woman, Natalia Berezhnaya of Odessa, he said. Heres what she said in a recent interview, and I quote: Its hard to wrap my mind around the fact that in 1941, I had to hide in the basement of this building, and that Im going to have to do that again now.

Blinken stopped short of accusing Putin of genocide as he did the Burmese military. Instead, he cast Russias predations as part of a welter of human rights disasters now proliferating.

Even as we are working to increase international pressure on the Kremlin to end this unjustified war, we know there are many other places in the world where horrific atrocities are being committed, Blinken said. Over recent weeks, as Ive spoken with diplomats from around the world about Ukraine, Ive also heard a constant refrain. Many of them say, Yes, we stand with the people of Ukraine. But we must also stand with the people suffering atrocities in other places.

The move to accuse Russia of war crimes on Wednesday is notable; noted Jewish foreign policy experts had been frustrated with Blinkens language.

Josh Rogin, an influential foreign policy opinion columnist for The Washington Post, wrote that the hesitancy in Ukraine is reflective of a West that has allowed atrocities to be committed in China, Syria, and Burma. The Ukraine example shows that ignoring atrocities anywhere is both morally and strategically bankrupt, he said this week, before Blinken announced his war crimes designation.

Aaron David Miller, a longtime Middle East peace negotiator and a scion of one of Clevelands most prominent Jewish families, sounded a despairing note on Twitter.

Never Again is Ever Ever Again, he said. The International Community has failed to even try to prevent any of the planets genocides/mass killings over past 100 years; Armenians; Holocaust; Cambodia; Rwanda; Congo; Sudan; Darfur; Myanmar; Uighurs; Syria.. Ever ask yourself why.

Asked to expand on the tweet on CNN, Miller, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, a foreign policy think tank, admitted that he understood Blinkens predicament.

A president of the United States weighing the consequences of humanitarian intervention in the case of Ukraine has more than just moral factors to take into account and the consequences of an intervention or not an intervention at least for American interests, that could affect millions of humans in the United State and in Ukraine, so its its a moral hazard, Miller said. Its an extremely difficult problem. And frankly, I think Ukraine is going to be another example of confirmation of the rule.

Abe Foxman, the retired national director of the Anti-Defamation League and himself a Holocaust survivor, argued that Blinkens approach made sense: Ones views on the Holocaust may shape policy but should not necessarily determine what the policy is.

Im pleased to see Blinken knows, understands, is informed and instructed by his family history, by his Jewish experience, Foxman said in an interview. It does make a difference, but it cannot be determinative of action. This is a war. Its not a holocaust or genocide. And its very, very important that if you know your history, then you know the difference.
(JNS)  A report by U.N. Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk submitted to the U.N. Human Rights Council accused Israel of apartheid.

The Special Rapporteur recommends that the international community accepts and adopts the findings  that apartheid is being practiced by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory and beyond, he wrote.

Lynk, whose official title is Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967 will formally release the report on Thursday ahead of a Human Rights Council debate on Agenda Item 7, a permanent debate reversed for discussing Israeli human-rights abuses against the Palestinians.

In the report, Lynk accused Israel of pursuing a strategy of strategic fragmentation of the Palestinian territory and said that the political system of entrenched rule in the occupied Palestinian territory which endows one racial-national-ethnic group with substantial rights, benefits and privileges while intentionally subjecting another group to live behind walls, checkpoints and under a permanent military rule.

The Canadian academic, who is stepping down from the position, called on the international community to implement associability measures to end Israels apartheid practices.

He wrote that the United Nations should re-establish the Special Committee Against Apartheid to investigate allegations of apartheid against any government.

The report comes on the heels of last months Amnesty International report that also accused Israel of apartheid.

The Special Rapporteurs findings are an important and timely addition to the growing international consensus that Israeli authorities are committing apartheid against the Palestinian people, said Saleh Higazi, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International. The report details how Israel has established a system of racially motivated oppression against Palestinians, explicitly designed to maintain Jewish Israeli domination, and maintained through the commission of grave human-rights violations.

Israels Mission to the United Nations in Geneva blasted the report, saying Lynk is well known for his blatant and disturbing anti-Israel views. This report is no different.

The Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk has been distorting the facts with regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for the past six years at the United Nations and is doing so again in his final report.

This report recycles baseless and outrageous libels previously published by NGOs that share the same goal as the author of this report: to delegitimize and criminalize the State of Israel for what it is: the nation-state of the Jewish people, with equal rights for all its citizens, irrespective of religion, race or sex, said Israeli Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar.

Shahar said no report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be taken seriously if the security challenges and threats faced daily by all Israelis, including the 20 percent non-Jewish minority, is not considered.

She went on to note how the report does not mention or even condemn the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, or the Palestinian Authority and its legal obligations to its own people.

Once again, the Human Rights Council and its mechanisms have found a way to further inflame the region and the conflict, she said. Once again, they have proven to be detrimental to the cause of peace and reconciliation.
(JNS)  Bidens ambassador to Israel recently told participants in a pro-BDS groups webinar that the real problem with the Palestinian Authority funding terrorism is that it gives the haters an excuse not to support the P.A. based on the argument that it is paying for people who killed Jews.

He also told the anti-Israel group, whose CEO has described Israel as an oppressive regime and which cheered the Ben & Jerrys boycott, that your agenda is where my heart is.

At this rate, Thomas Nides will be hugging and kissing Hamas leaders by the end of the year.

Expectations for Nides were already pretty low when the Biden administration announced that it had picked him. Nidess main qualification for the job had been yelling You dont want to f***ing defund UNESCO at a former Israeli ambassador. He had also vocally opposed efforts to defund UNRWA and stop subsidizing the terror refugee industry. He has also served on the board of the International Rescue Committee, which has repeatedly attacked Israel.

J Street, the anti-Israel pressure group, welcomed Nidess nomination and announced that it looked forward to working with him. Other anti-Israel groups, including the Israel Policy Forum and Americans for Peace Now, echoed the sentiment.

It didnt take long for Nides to justify their faith in his hostility to the Jewish state.

Early on, Nides announced that he wanted to open an occupation consulate to the terrorists in Jerusalem, over the opposition of the Israeli government, and that he absolutely will not visit those parts of Israel wrongly described as settlements because theyre claimed by Islamic terrorists.

When it comes to Israel, I have no ideology, Nides had initially claimed. Then, during a webinar by the anti-Israel Americans for Peace Now group, he let his freak flag fly and admitted what everyone already knew.

Im center-left, he joked. Im left generally, but I put in the center just to make myself feel better.

It got worse from there.

You have a clear agenda. I think your agenda is where my heart is, Nides told APN.

What is APNs agenda? The group opposes Jews living in Jerusalem, opposes anti-BDS legislation and opposes Jews defending themselves against Islamic terrorism.

APN CEO Hadar Susskind praised Ben & Jerrys decision to boycott Israel as a principled moral stance which we fully support.

He claimed that the Jewish outrage over Amnesty International libeling Israel an apartheid state was manufactured and that the real issue was that Israel maintains an endemic, oppressive regime, in which the  human rights of millions of Palestinians are ruthlessly violated.

That clear agenda is where the rotten heart of Bidens ambassador to Israel lies.

The APN webinar was co-hosted by Susskind and teachers union boss Randi Weingarten. Weingarten, an APN board member, had previously ranted that American Jews are now part of the ownership class  who now want to take that ladder of opportunity away from those who do not have it when asked by a Jewish journalist if unions like hers had too much power.

Weingartens partner, Sharon Kleinbaum, had faced a member revolt over her extreme anti-Israel views which included reading the names of dead Hamas terrorists alongside Israeli casualties from the pulpit, and providing space to Queers Against Israeli Apartheid.

Biden has since appointed Kleinbaum to the Commission on International Religious Freedom, despite her support for Cuomos discrimination against Orthodox Jews during the pandemic.

So this gathering of antisemites was old home week for a member of the Biden administration.

Nides told Susskind and Weingarten that he and Biden wanted to divide Jerusalem and that my job is to knock down things that make that possibility impossible.

The leading thing to knock down would be the Jewish state.

Nides ranted that his priority was fighting to prevent Jews from living in those parts of Jerusalem that had been captured by invading Muslim armies in 1948 and liberated from their occupiers in 1967 during the Six-Day War.

We cant have the Israelis doing settlement growth, both in East Jerusalem or the West Bank, Nides whined. He failed to explain how Jews living in the city of King David and King Solomon, of Jewish kings and prophets, could be occupying settlements.

I cant stop everything, just so were clear, I have to pick my battles, Nides told his anti-Israel audience at the APN webinar. E-1 was a disaster, I went full bore on E-1.

E-1, an area of Judea and Samaria to the east of Jerusalem, begins at the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. Perhaps Nides would also like to evict the Jews who have been buried there for thousands of years for also being settlers.

Nides apologized to his Americans for Peace Now audience for not being able to stop every Jew from living in Jerusalem. Id be lying to you if every single house  in east Jerusalem or the West Bank I could stop  I cant stop everything, just so we are clear.

Im a bit of a nag on this, including the idea of settlement growth, which infuriates me, Nides fumed, as if he were the proconsul of an occupying regime tasked with policing the natives rather than a diplomatic envoy dispatched by an ally to cooperate on regional security.

A few years ago, Congress passed the Taylor Force Act. The law was named after Taylor Force, an American military veteran murdered in Tel Aviv by an Islamic terrorist. The Palestinian Authority, the PLO government in Ramallah, treated Forces killer as one of its fighters and put his family on a generous pension. This Pay to Slay program pays out millions to imprisoned Islamic terrorists or their families as a reward for killing Jews. The Taylor Force Act cut off a lot of American subsidies to the PLO until such a time as it stopped funding terrorism.

Nides used the PLO term for Pay to Slay, describing them as martyr payments.

Islamic terrorists describe their crimes as martyrdom; an American ambassador should use the term terrorism instead of talking like a jihadist.

The Zionist Organization of America has condemned Nidess webinar with APN, stating that a U.S. official should not be legitimizing the pro-BDS group Peace Now.

ZOA President Morton A. Klein declared that he strongly condemns U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nidess immoral, anti-Jewish, discriminatory anti-Israel statements.

Unfortunately Nides is characteristic of the anti-Israel Biden administration.

The APN webinar was co-hosted by Randi Weingarten, a close ally of the Biden administration. Beyond Weingarten, the APN board includes top lefty digital campaigner Mik Moore, top leftist donor Danny Goldberg, Human Rights Watchs Kathleen Peratis, Christine Blasey Ford lawyer Debra Katz and other Democrat political establishment figures.

Nides knew exactly who he was talking to and who his real audience at this event was.

Much as when Stuart Eizenstat contacted Jake Sullivan, currently Bidens National Security Advisor, using Nides as his referral. He told the Clinton campaign, I am respected by the J Street group and vouched that he had convinced the Israeli ambassador to end the Israeli Embassy boycott of J Street.

The anti-Israel establishment controls the Democrats. Any ambassador to Israel is going to be vetted by them. Nides wasnt picked by Biden, he was picked by J Street, APN and other anti-Israel hate groups. His job isnt to build relations with Israel, but with its haters.

Tom Nides is not the ambassador to Israel. Hes the ambassador to the anti-Israel lobby.

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism.

This article was first published by FrontPage Magazine.
Perhaps its a coincidence that I just finished reading Richard Heidemans new book, The Bloody Price of Freedom last week, the same week in which U.S. Ambassador Thomas Nides said that he was infuriated by settlement growth. Ambassador Nides would do well to read the book too. Ill lend him my copy.

Im a bit of a nag on this, including the idea of settlement growth, which infuriates me when they do things that just infuriate the situation in east Jerusalem and the West Bank. Nides was clearly playing to his audience, and likely believes what he said. Hes also representing the Biden Administration which seems to support an anti-settlement policy, hanging on to hopes that the Palestinian Authority is somehow prepared to step up to make peace after squandering numerous opportunities over decades.

Nides somehow believes that constructing new homes in my neighborhood is, as Palestinian Arabs preached for 50 years, an obstacle to peace. Hanging onto the two-state illusion, Nides stated, We cant do stupid things that impede us for a two-state solution  we cant have Israelis doing settlement growth in east Jerusalem or the West Bank.

Nides comments were not only mistaken, but they were also shockingly undiplomatic for Americas new ambassador to Israel. Were Ambassador Nides to read Heidemans book hed learn, among other things, about Israels strong legal case combating antisemitic and anti-Israel arracks, to which it has been subject since 1948, including combating terror.

While Nides held no punches about his being infuriated over settlements, he swung and missed relating to the real obstacle to peace, the PAs refusal to accept Israels existence and make peace for real, while combating terror and eliminating incitement to terror. As wrong as he was, at least he opened the door to acknowledge that, By the way, the Palestinians are not perfect, either  I want to be clear here.

Included in this, Nides mentioned the Palestinian Authority pay to slay program, providing stipends for terrorists and the families of terrorists. These martyr payments, you know we can debate and talk about it, have caused an enormous amount of problems. And Im working  to figure out how to stop it, because it gives the haters  and there are haters  who say: We cant do this because they are paying for people to kill Jews. Again, its more complicated than that. I just want to make clear that not everyone is perfect.

Just to be clear, Nides is infuriated with my new apartment, but providing cash subsidies to terrorists and their families is debatable and causes problems. He did everything but borrow Jimmy Carters critique of Palestinian Arab terror as being bad for business, but not morally repugnant or illegal. Yes, according to U.S. law, pay to slay is illegal. That was encoded in whats known as the Taylor Force Act. Taylor Force was an American Christian who was murdered by a terrorist.

No Mr. Ambassador, theres really nothing to debate or talk about. Palestinian Arab incitement and actual terror is the obstacle to peace, not my apartment. I was thinking about this from a personal perspective and realized that if, God forbid, I were to be killed by a terrorist, because I live in a settlement, the ambassador would not show up to pay his condolences to my American family, because he is not only infuriated by our home, but wont dignify the Jewish peoples legitimate and historic right to live in Judea and Samaria. I guess hes representing the Ben and Jerrys of diplomacy.

It was also more than coincidental that in the same week of Ambassador Nides shameful comments, I met an old friend. Kathleen Luken knows something about terror and pay to slay. Her twin sister, Kristine, was murdered by Palestinian Arab terrorists in December 2010. Because the terrorists were caught and imprisoned, according to the Palestinian Authority pay to slay policy, the terrorists are ranked high up in the amount they or their families received. Too bad they werent killed too; theyd have received that much more.

For Kathleen and me, it was like a reunion of old friends, only that we had just met in person for the first time. We didnt talk much about Kristine and her murder, or how Kathleen was doing. It was just a special visit. But previously, Kathleen shared her thoughts on pay to slay.

I think it is atrocious and abhorrent that the Palestinian Authority provides financial support to the families of those who perpetrate such evil and call them national heroes. It is a practice that keeps Palestinians in a cycle of hate and in prison of their own making. Bitterness and anger will do that. They as a people will not be able to rise above and make a home, a living, be productive with this misplaced erroneous evil mentality. They are misguided  nothing will ever change with this approach. It will just continue to blind each generation  the sick cycle will continue until one person at a time chooses. I realize it is far more complex than I can imagine but there is a better way, and it starts by stopping the encouragement and financial rewarding of killing Jews or anyone  all are fair game for their hatred and evil. Their hate keeps them bound. It is more than sad as that the terror attacks are accepted blindly as an acceptable way of life. I hope that Palestinians choose a better way, a way of peace, respect and honoring of all life  every life matters and is valuable and precious.

To be charitable, maybe Nides was just reading things from left to right in English when he really meant to be reading things from right to left as in Hebrew. Pay to slay is infuriating and the true obstacle to peace. My home, not so much.

Like Taylor Force, Kristine Luken was an American and a Christian. The ambassador may not be able to change the Administrations policy, but he should try looking at things more openly, from a position of reality, and not based on tried and failed policies of the past. To that end, Ambassador Nides has an historic opportunity to redirect American policies and maybe do so in a way that is constructive and not backwards as he articulated. Im pleased to invite Ambassador Nides for coffee, lunch, or even Shabbat dinner, to discuss and debate things that are debatable, and to decry things that are evil. Its an open invitation.

U.S.-born and educated Jonathan Feldstein immigrated to Israel in 2004. Throughout his life and career, he has fellowshipped with Christian supporters of Israel and shares experiences of living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel. He writes a regular column for Standing With Israel at charismanews.com and other prominent web sites. He can be reached at firstpersonisrael@gmail.com.
For us old-timers, it is beginning to feel like the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis all over again, in terms of worries about a nuclear conflagration. Vladimir Putin is waving around his tactical nuclear weapons, i.e., low yield nuclear bombs that would have a devastating impact on a battlefield, but limit the damage to a specific area.

Few would suggest based on what we have seen from him since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that his moral scruples would prevent him from employing them should his armies face a humiliating defeat or even a drawn-out stalemate on the battlefield. There is, after all, a reason that Russia has acquired an overwhelming advantage in such weapons  2,000 vs. 100 tactical nukes stored by the U.S. in Europe. And Russian military doctrine includes the use of such weapons, according to Nikolai Sokov, a former Soviet and Russian arms control negotiator.

At the outset of the Cold War, David French explains in Atlantic, the Soviet Union and its allies enjoyed overwhelming superiority in conventional forces in Europe. The United States still had a significant advantage in nuclear weapons, but no ability to use them, as that would have triggered a full-scale nuclear war. The development of tactical nuclear weapons was thought to be the means of deterring the Soviet Union from attacking Western Europe. As NATO built up its conventional forces to parity with the USSR and beyond, however, the U.S. lost interest in tactical nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union, and subsequently Russia, did not.

Once tactical nuclear weapons are used, no one can know what would happen next. Would the U.S. respond? And if so, given its inferiority in tactical nuclear weapons, would it be feel compelled to use much more devastating strategic nuclear weapons?

And once war commences, it is impossible to know what follows. The assassination of Archduke Ferdinand and his wife by a young Bosnian student in Sarajevo in August 1914, triggered a world war that resulted in the loss of the lives of four million soldiers on both sides in 1914 alone.

Putin is as stubborn as any of the leaders who pursued war in 1914. Jim Geraghty in NRO sums him up well: He doesnt want an off ramp! He doesnt want to end his war, he wants to win his war. He doesnt care how gargantuan a price he or his country must pay in blood and treasure to achieve victory. To a certain degree, Putin is dealing with the sunken-cost fallacy. He has already committed so much, nationally and personally, into this war that he cannot accept a relatively modest prize of Donetsk and Luhansk and a guarantee that Ukraine would never join NATO. Russias big sacrifices in this war means Putin must bring home a big prize to justify the bloody endeavor. The only way this war ends is with one side or the other devastated  or both in a bitter stalemate.

But as frightening as is Putin, with his arsenal of nuclear weapons, tactical and strategic, and his determination to win at all costs, Im even more afraid of a nuclear Iran. And for the reason stated by Professor Zev Maghen in describing the motivations of the regime of the ayatollahs: Its religion, stupid.

Iran is a theocracy, and the ultimate concerns of its leaders are not of this world. That became evident during the prolonged Iraq-Iran war when Iran employed children as human minesweepers, offering in recompense something more valuable than life itself: the key to heaven that they wore around their necks.

President Obama missed this central fact entirely, and convinced himself that the real concerns of the ayatollahs were more or less those of Westerners: a larger slice of the economic pie and improved geopolitical standing. Offering the regime billions in economic incentives and recognizing it as a regional hegemon would, in his view, would bind them to the international system and mediate their disruptive behavior.

But as Meghan writes, While Ayatollah Khamenei and his minions doubtless care about trade and finances, they care much more about advancing their religious ideology across the Middle East, and, like most religious believers, feel that spiritual concerns must ultimately trump material ones. Its even possible that some might find the idea of suffering material hardships to achieve ideological goals appealing.

Similarly, the Islamic Republics leadership might not be immune to real politik considerations. But ultimately the Islamic Republic is engaged militarily in Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon to advance the Islamic Revolution. The idea of sitting the ayatollahs down with other regional powers to work out compromises, completely ignores the theological aspect of Khomeinist foreign policy.

Despite no common borders, and past cordial relations with Israel, Khomeinism is deeply antisemitic. It views Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East as an unacceptable offense [to Islam], which must be eradicated at almost any cost. And the Great Satan, America, is no less an offense to religious values as the main driver of Westoxification.

Unable to comprehend those who evaluate this world primarily in terms of the World to Come, Obama and his team simply could not credit the continually expressed Iranian goal of eradicating the Zionist entity from the face of the earth, on the grounds that the cost to Iran would be too great to contemplate. Yet, as long ago as 2001, one-time Iranian president Akbar Rafsanhani, a supposed moderate, referred to Israel as a one bomb country, i.e., one that could be wiped out with a single bomb, while the much larger Iran could not.

True, Putin motivations also do not lie in the realm of increased material wealth. He is, after all, reputed to be the richest man in the world or at least he was before calling down all kinds of sanctions on his head. But still his dream of restoring the historic Russian Empire, perhaps with Kyiv again as its capital, is a dream for which the reward will be in this world. And as such subject to this world trade-offs. Not so the messianic dream of the ayatollahs of the return of the Missing Imam.

Having failed to comprehend the evil of the Iranian regime, and their deadly seriousness about erasing Israel from the map, Obamas second great mistake was to conclude that the worst possible outcome of negotiations with Iran would be for the United States to strike Irans nuclear program and destroy it, when that was still possible in 2015. And that assumption continues to underlie American negotiations with Iran.

Whether a revival of the 2015 JCPOA agreement is achieved or not, the course of negotiations has already broadcast to the Iranians that America is desperate for a deal on almost any terms. The U.S. will sign virtually any deal, even one that concedes to Iran a full nuclear weapons program, preferably after a decent interval.

Russians top nuclear negotiator in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, has bragged about the current agreement waiting to be signed, Iran got much more than it could expect. Much more. He bragged of how Russia and China teamed up to secure dozens of wins over the United States for Iran, their fellow non-status quo power.

In truth, however, they were pushing through an open door. Chief American negotiator Robert Malley, long an inveterate foe of Israel, pushed hard to secure sanctions relief for Iranian figures and organizations at the center of Irans sponsorship of global terrorism and the harshest clampdowns on the Iranian people themselves. Three career State Department officials or Biden appointments on Malleys team have already resigned in horror over his concessions, reveals former State Department Iran official, Gabriel Noronha in the March 8, 2022, Tablet Magazine.

Among those removed from sanctions list are the masterminds of the 1984 bombing the Jewish Community Center in Argentina; Ebrahim Raisi, currently Irans president, and known as the Butcher of Teheran for handing out death sentences to over 5,000 opponents of the regime; Ahmad Jannati, a particularly brutal cleric eager to execute demonstrators against the regime.

Sanctions were also removed on the gigantic slush funds through which the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei supports Hezbollah and other terrorist extensions of the regime. And Malley successfully pushed for the removal of the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations to the shock of career officials across the U.S. government.

All in all, Noronha estimates that Iran stands to gain access to $90 billion in foreign exchange reserves and another $50-55 billion annually in oil revenues  monies that it can spend without restriction to roil the region and world. Iran, by contrast, made no concessions with respect to its ballistic missile program, support for proxy terrorist groups, or any commitments with respect to hostage taking (though it will receive $7 billion for four American hostages currently held in Iranian jails.)

The one concrete achievement of the agreement negotiated in desperation in Vienna, according to Caroline Glick, is that it should remove the scales from the eyes of all those Israeli officials who travelled to Washington D.C. with briefcases of documents from Irans own nuclear archives demonstrating that Irans nuclear program was a nuclear weapons program from the start, that Iran has repeatedly violated every nuclear agreement to which it ever agreed, and detailing its work on a deliverable nuclear weapon.

Now, they know that they cannot hope that the United States will rescue Israel from Irans sights. Only Israel, with Hashems help can do that.

Jonathan Rosenblum is a columnist for the Jerusalem Post and Israeli director of Am Echad.
Sarisen will be responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations at the resort, while also actively working with consulates to recruit new graduates from selected hospitality schools and train them at Rixos Bab Al Bahr.

Sarisen has three decades of experience in the hospitality industry. He started his career in the catering department at The Marmara Hotel, Istanbul in Turkey. Wanting to travel, he joined an American cruise line and quickly worked his way up to Maitre d'hotel. At the start of the new millennium, he settled in Germany where he continued in the hospitality industry. Throughout his career, he worked for international brands like Ramada, Hilton Hotel, Miramar Hotel Resort, Rotana Hotels, Gloria Hotel and Rixos.
Kneubuhler, a South African national, started her hospitality career in 2001, holding various positions in Zambia, Switzerland, Thailand, and Qatar before returning to South Africa. In 2005, she assumed the role of Corporate Trainee at the Hyatt Regency Johannesburg, progressing within the group in roles such as Sales Manager, Revenue Manager and acting GM before launching the group's Global Sales Office as the Global Sales Director: Africa, a position she held since January 2015.

Drawing on her extensive sales experience and local market insight, Kneubuhler joined Radisson Hotel Group in February 2019 as Country Sales Director for South Africa, developing and leading the Group's dynamic sales structure. Ever since Kneubuhler and her team have delivered exceptional results, especially during the challenging pandemic period.
As Regional Director, Mexico & Central America, Antonio Vera is now responsible for the growth of all brands in the Preferred Hotel Group portfolio across Mexico and Central America. Since joining the company more than six years ago, Antonio has grown Mexico to be the second-largest country in the Preferred Hotels & Resorts portfolio, with 60 best-in-class hotel and resort members. He will continue his prior responsibilities while also driving first-time presence for all of the company's brands in new markets, including but not limited to Costa Rica, Guatemala, and Panama. Before joining Preferred, Antonio served as the Director of Sales & Marketing for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts and was primarily focused on driving domestic and international travel to the Acapulco region.

Preferred Hotel Group

Mexico City

Mexico Website
Ricardo Lambertini joins Preferred Hotel Group as Regional Director, Consultant - South America, with a wealth of experience in hospitality and destination marketing. Effective immediately, Ricardo will provide account management, assist with developing the region and dedicated initiatives, and manage retention for Preferred Hotel Group's brands across South America. Before joining Preferred, Ricardo served as the Vice President of Sales and Business Development in South & Central America for Luxe Hotels for 12 years.

Preferred Hotel Group

Buenos Aires

Argentina Website
Arlett Hoff is a Director with HVSs London office, specialising in hotel valuation and consultancy. Arlett joined HVS in 2006 after experience in the hotel investment industry as well as operational hotel experience. Arlett holds a Masters in Real Estate Investment and Finance from Reading University, UK and is a member of the RICS. Arlett has been extensively in the serviced apartment sector having worked on numerous feasibility studies and investment advice in the sector. She has spearheaded the 'Think Tank Initiative' in the UK to help define the sector which has led to an industry charter being signed by all major operators. Arlett is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences. For further information, please contact: [email protected] +44 (0) 20 7878 7753
Chinmai is a seasoned travel industry professional with more than two decades of global experience in the fields of Revenue Management, Distribution and Strategic Marketing. Chinmai is currently the President of DHISCO, a RateGain company. DHISCO is the single largest processor of electronic hotel transactions, delivering advanced connectivity and distribution solutions to over 100,000 hotels worldwide  representing 300+ hotel chains in more than 150 countries. Before joining DHISCO, Chinmai was the Chief Revenue Officer of Taj Hotel Group where he held group level responsibility for global sales, marketing, revenue management, distribution, digital, loyalty & analytics. He has also held leadership roles with companies like Starwood Capital Group (Louvre Hotels Group, Paris), Wyndham Hotel Group in New Jersey, Joie de Vivre Hotels (Two Roads Hospitality) in San Francisco and with Expedia.com in Bellevue, WA. Chinmai is a Hotel Management graduate along with a B.A. with Mathematics and holds a joint MBA from IMHI/ESSEC Business School, Paris and Cornell Hotel School (M.M.H), New York. In 2015, he was named as one of the 'Top 20 Extraordinary minds within Sales, Marketing and Technology' by HSMAI Europe.
We are seeing the highest levels of business travel since the pandemic began. CWT booking volumes show a significant increase in travel to and from several countries that have recently relaxed testing and quarantine requirements for international travel.

This comes as no surprise. A legacy of the Covid-era is a visceral knowledge that the benefits of experiences and connecting in-person run deep. Travel technology company Amadeus surveyed 9,000 travelers in nine markets around their sentiment towards travel. Over 70% surveyed said they were eager to travel within the next 12 months.

The current state of business travel is the subject of a new podcast episode by Amadeus, The Big Rethink  Discussing the future of business travel featuring Nick Vournakis, EVP and Chief Customer Officer, CWT and Paul de Villiers, SVP, Global Business Travel Accounts, Amadeus.

The resurgence of travel begs the question of how travel management companies will evolve to serve the business traveler of the future.

A shift to managed travel

Business travel agencies and corporations have used the last 18  24 months to expand on their digital transformation journeys, says Paul de Villiers, Once they primarily provided travel, issued tickets, and made changes etc. Now it's all about having the latest and the most accurate information at their fingertips to keep clients employees safe and well. More than 92% of respondents to our survey stated that safety was the number one priority. Before, few mid-to-small sized companies relied on structured programs or professional travel management services. Now because of the complexity and the need to ensure the safety for their employees, theres an increased demand for managing travel disruption, whether thats last-minute changes, canceling a trip just before departure, or even what to do when airlines cancel or reschedule flights at short notice.

People need to know that they will be supported in real-time. Its critical when you're stuck in an airport and your trip has been messed up that you can speak to somebody. There's nothing worse than being totally stressed out at the airport, calling a service number, and then you get eight options of choices of things to do. And none of them are relevant to your situation.

People plus technology

We have learned that the nature of taking calls is different, says Nick Vournakis, our calls are longer than they have been historically. Travel agents and travel counsellors are engaging in a way that they necessarily haven't needed to before around creating a level of comfort and assurance. So by and large, the nature of how calls are handled and the time it takes to get from issue to resolution is changing. That reinforces the importance of having a people-based model. The other big change for TMCs is being able to accommodate a new decision-making model and potentially a new operating model that is congruent with the way people want to work and behave."

"If the nature of how people are working is changing, the TMC model has to learn and adapt and get comfortable with an always-on model from a business travel perspective; a model that has multichannel or omnichannel capability where you can support through a mobile device or an actual human on the line."

"Our ecosystem is not going to be fully people driven, or fully technology oriented. It's the blend of people plus technology that will be the winning solution going forward."

"A travel might engage with a counselor through a purely digital platform like text and chat. And that should look and feel no different than the voice channel. But that technology is important because we need to understand as much about the context of that traveler before the engagement even starts.

Moving forward together

Having a view of the horizon and just beyond means having an understanding of the problems that we're not going to solve on our own, says Nick, We have to fundamentally get comfortable with the idea that not every provider needs to do 100% of the work. We're keen on ensuring that we can operate an open ecosystem, where we have an expertise and understanding of what it means to use API's to drive the right level of connectivity."

"Truly understanding what it means to be relevant in the future, we have to keep our eyes on the horizon with regard to the issues we need to solve for. How does that fundamentally change the way we operate within the ecosystem, who we partner with, and how we behave? Any organization that says, we're going to build all of this in-house is crazy. We work with partners with whom we can co-create, collaborate and ensure that we're bringing solutions to move our whole ecosystem forward.

Listen to the complete episode ofThe Big Rethink  Discussing the future of business travel.

About CWT

CWT is a Business-to-Business-for-Employees (B2B4E) travel management platform. Companies and governments rely on us to keep their people connected  anywhere, anytime, anyhow. Across six continents, we provide their employees with innovative technology and an efficient, safe and secure travel experience backed by our three core promises: to simplify corporate travel, to connect to unlock possibilities, and to move forward, together.

Engage with us via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and our Podcast.

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Wilhelm Bender elected Chairman of Supervisory Board

Oliver Bonke will serve as new CEO

Andre Witschi and Marcus Bernhardt leave Steigenberger Hotels AG

Company targets to take off again after a challenging period in the market

Realising full potential of Deutsche Hospitality brands is top priority

Steigenberger Hotels AG is shaping the future of hospitality under a new leadership. In todays supervisory board meeting, Professor Wilhelm Bender has been elected Chairman. Oliver Benke joins the company and will serve as CEO.

Jihong He, CEO International Business of Huazhu Group, says: I am pleased to welcome Wilhelm Bender, an internationally highly recognized manager and supervisory board member. His experience in managing complex transformation processes will be essential as we take off again after a challenging period in the market.

Bender served as Chairman of the Executive Board of Fraport AG for seventeen years. He is since then active in various supervisory boards and company advisory boards.

Professor Wilhelm Bender says: Since my Frankfurt childhood days I am familiar with Steigenberger, and I have been close to the company for my whole career. I feel privileged to serve as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Steigenberger Hotels AG as of today. Mutual trust and respect will be my guiding principles as we kick off our joint mission with the owner Huazhu Group, the executive board and the entire supervisory board.

Oliver Bonke has over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry. At Shangri-La Group, he served as CEO Middle East, Europe, India, Americas, based in New York, and President & COO, based in Hong Kong. Prior to that he acted as Chief Commercial Officer of the U.S. based luxury hotel chain Loews Hotels & Co. Other career stations included the role of Chief Commercial Officer of InterContinental Hotels Group in North and South America as well as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing EMEA and before that Asia Pacific of Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Jihong He states: Oliver Bonke is a distinguished expert of the global hotel industry. He has proven his ability to build and grow business on three continents. I got to know Oliver as an inspirational leader who is constantly pushing innovation on all fronts, and I am sure he will make our brands shine brightly.

Oliver Bonke says: Deutsche Hospitality today is a well-respected, relevant player in the market. It will be an honour to work with Huazhu and the global team to realise the full potential of this remarkable company and its brands.

Andre Witschi had recently resigned from his Chairman position. Also, Marcus Bernhardt leaves the company. I would like to thank Andre Witschi and Marcus Bernhardt for their work and wish them all the best for their future endeavours,, says Jihong He.

About Huazhu Group Limited

Originated in China, Huazhu Group Limited is a world-leading hotel group. As of December 31, 2021, Huazhu operated 7,830 hotels with 753,216 rooms in operation in 17 countries. Huazhus brands include Hi Inn, HanTing Hotel, Starway Hotel, Orange Hotel, Crystal Orange Hotel, Manxin Hotel, Madison Hotel, Joya Hotel, Blossom House, Ni Hao Hotel and CitiGO Hotel. Upon the completion of the acquisition of Deutsche Hospitality on January 2, 2020, Huazhu added new brands to its portfolio, including IntercityHotel, Jaz in the City, MAXX by Deutsche Hospitality, Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts and Zleep Hotels. In addition, Huazhu also has the rights as master franchisee for Ibis, Ibis Styles and Mercure, and co-development rights for Grand Mercure and Novotel, in the pan-China region.

About Deutsche Hospitality

Vision, passion and cosmopolitanism. Deutsche Hospitality delivers the perfect guest experience. Tradition and an eye for the future come together in an inimitable portfolio of eight brands operating across more than 160 hotels globally. "Celebrating luxurious simplicity.": Steigenberger Icons are extraordinary luxury hotels which combine historical uniqueness and modern concepts. The Steigenberger Porsche Design Hotels brand is generating innovative impetuses in the Luxury Lifestyle Segment. Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts represent the epitome of upscale hospitality on three continents. Jaz in the City's Lifestyle Hotels dictate the rhythm in the Upscale Sector. House of Beats unites a passion for the hotel business with the fascination of lifestyle, fashion and music. IntercityHotel is located at the very hub of any destination and offers a true home of comfort and mobility in the Midscale Segment. MAXX by Deutsche Hospitality is a charismatic conversion brand which is also positioned in the midscale area of the market. Zleep Hotels provide a smart marriage of design and functionality in the Economy Segment. All of these brands are unified under H-Rewards, Deutsche Hospitality's loyalty program which yields benefits from the first booking onwards. The vision is clear. In conjunction with its shareholder Huazhu, Deutsche Hospitality aims to advance to become one of Europe's leading hotel companies.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa - Radisson Hotel Group is making a strong commitment to decarbonize its business by setting ambitious emission reduction targets to be net zero by 2050 , in line with the SBTi Net-Zero Standard, as the Group releases its 2021 Responsible Business Report.

Building on its long heritage as a leading sustainable hotel group, Radisson Hotel Groups 2021 Responsible Business Report outlines its latest sustainability targets in line with its strategic five-year plan. These include its commitment to becoming net zero by 2050, to accelerating the implementation of the cross-industry Pathway to Net Positive Hospitality and Hotel Sustainability Basics initiative, and to reaffirming the Groups commitment to People, Community, and Planet as an award-winning employer.

THINK PLANET  Radisson Hotel Group is building on its long heritage of sustainability by committing to set science-based emission reduction targets, and by strengthening its performance with a net zero carbon future in sight by 2050. This includes a long-term, science-based target to reach net zero value chain GHG emissions by no later than 2050, in line with the SBTi Net-Zero Standard. Radisson Hotel Group will be part of the Business Ambition for 1.5C campaign and will join the UNFCCC Race to Zero campaign as part of an important, globally coordinated effort to reach the goal of net zero.

In 2021, the Group reduced its carbon footprint by 23% per square meter and reduced 13% of its water footprint per square meter (vs. 2019). In line with the Groups renewable energy transition strategy, more than 56 properties run 100% on renewable electricity. In 2021, Radisson Hotel Group increased the number of properties equipped with electric car charging stations to nearly 500 in partnership with Allego, Sunfuel, and other global partners. Radisson Meetings continue to lead the industry by being 100% carbon neutral, and offsetting 37,800 tons of carbon since 2019.

THINK PEOPLE  One of Radisson Hotel Groups key priorities in 2021 remained the continued focus on the health, safety and security of its team members, guests, and business partners. Following the launch and implementation of the Radisson Hotels Safety Protocol across the full portfolio, 100% of eligible hotels have completed the third-party validation by SGS to ensure the latest safety protocols were in place and implemented correctly. To date, 133 hotels remain certified by Safehotels, the worlds leading safety and security certification company.

The Group reaffirmed its strong ongoing focus on human rights, business ethics, and diversity in hotels worldwide by issuing its sixth slavery and human trafficking statement and by increasing the number of women in leadership roles to 29%. Radisson Hotel Group continued to expand its online Learning and Development initiatives in partnership with hospitality training provider, Typsy, which resulted in a 120% increase in training hours in 2021 versus 2020. Radisson Hotel Group was recognized by Forbes as the #4 Best Employer in the Travel & Leisure industry, highlighting the Groups dedication to its employees and note-worthy distinction as a leading employer of choice.

THINK COMMUNITY - Radisson Hotel Group is deeply committed to supporting the communities where it works and operates. Team members volunteered more than 26,500 hours and donated more than 510,000 to charitable causes, including SOS Childrens Villages, the Groups global charity partner.

More than 28,500 people have been provided with access to safe drinking water and hygiene solutions via water aid partner, Just A Drop, in countries like India. Radisson Hotel Group has supported 12 environmental and social carbon offsetting projects in China, India, Peru, USA, Turkey, and Borneo through its industry-leading 100% Carbon Neutral Meetings initiative.

In addition to its focus on the responsible business pillars of Think People, Think Community, and Think Planet, Radisson Hotel Group is a leading member of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and is playing a key role in the development of the Hotel Sustainability Basics in cooperation with the WTTC. The objective of the initiative is to create consistency across the industry and provide clear-to-recognize, easy-to-implement, and meaningful steps to improve sustainability at any given hotel. The Basics Framework will raise the global starting level of hotel sustainability in a transparent and easy-to-understand manner for all travelers and stakeholders.

I am delighted to announce that Radisson Hotel Group is setting emission reduction targets in line with climate science, and we are committed to decarbonizing our business. While net zero by 2050 seems far away, we need to take action immediately. Our world needs Responsible Businesses now more than ever, and we need to accelerate global climate action by 2030 in order to ensure a livable future for both our people and our planet. Much needed progress can be made by taking everyone in the hospitality value chain on the sustainability journey by setting increasingly ambitious sustainability goals. We are proud to be playing a leadership role in the development of the Hotel Sustainability Basics, which will launch later this year to establish a common industry framework to grow sustainable travel. Together with our new Build Planet guidelines to develop sustainable hotel asset portfolios, these are essential step-changes that need to be made on the route to Net Zero, said Inge Huijbrechts, Global Senior Vice President Sustainability, Security and Corporate Communications, Radisson Hotel Group.

To read the full 2021 Responsible Business Report, please click here.

About Radisson Hotel Group

Radisson Hotel Group is one of the world's largest hotel groups with nine distinctive hotel brands, and more than 1,600 hotels in operation and under development in 120 countries. The Group's overarching brand promise is Every Moment Matters with a signature Yes I Can! service ethos.

The Radisson Hotel Group portfolio includes Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Radisson Individuals, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson, Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, and prizeotel brought together under one commercial umbrella brand Radisson Hotels.

Radisson Rewards is our international rewards program that delivers unique and personalized ways to create memorable moments that matter to our guests. Radisson Rewards offers an exceptional experience for our guests, meeting planners, and travel agents at over 550 hotels in Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific.

Radisson Meetings provides tailored solutions for any event or meeting, including hybrid solutions placing guests and their needs at the heart of its offer. Radisson Meetings is built around three strong service commitments: Personal, Professional and Memorable, while delivering on the brilliant basics and being uniquely 100% Carbon Neutral.

The health and safety of guests and team members remain a top priority for Radisson Hotel Group. All properties across the Group's portfolio are subject to stringent health and safety requirements, as outlined in the Radisson Hotels Safety Protocol.

More than 100,000 team members work at Radisson Hotel Group and at the hotels licensed to operate in its systems. For more information, visit our corporate website. Or connect with Radisson Hotels on:

LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube
Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi (L) attends a ceremony for the launch of the NantBotswana vaccine manufacturing plant in Gaborone, Botswana, on March 28, 2022. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)

Botswana has approved the patent-free Corbevax COVID-19 vaccine and announced the construction of a manufacturing plant that will produce Pula Corbevax vaccines.

GABORONE, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NantWorks Patrick Soon-Shiong have launched the construction of a vaccine manufacturing plant in Botswana.

The NantBotswana Vaccine Manufacturing Plant will produce Pula Corbevax vaccine against COVID-19 developed in partnership with Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and Baylor College of Medicine, said Masisi during a ceremony Monday.

The Corbevax vaccine, which was approved by Botswana on Monday, is a protein subunit and patent-free COVID-19 vaccine, and is believed to be more accessible and can help low and middle-income countries to fight against the pandemic.

Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi (L) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NantWorks Patrick Soon-Shiong, attend a ceremony for the launch of the NantBotswana vaccine manufacturing plant in Gaborone, Botswana, on March 28, 2022. (Photo by Tshekiso Tebalo/Xinhua)

Patrick Soon-Shiong stated that Corbevax has been safely administered to over 10 million young Indians, and it has been tested and proven to be effective in all variants, including Omicron.

"The project is important to me personally, to be able to deliver on the promises that Government pledged to Botswana, particularly to drive the transformational development agenda of Botswana from a resource-based economy to a knowledge-based one as espoused in our National Vision 2036," Masisi said.

NantBotswana vaccine manufacturing plant was not only focused on addressing the COVID-19 challenges, but also on other ailments affecting citizens such as cancer, he said.

Patrick Soon-Shiong is a South African-American transplant surgeon, billionaire businessman and bioscientist. He is the founder of NantWorks, a network of healthcare, biotech, and artificial intelligence startups. 




The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI) celebrated excellence in travel marketing at the Adrian Awards Celebration on Wednesday, March 30, at The Boca Raton in Boca Raton, Florida. This years event, which took place outside New York City for the first time in over 25 years, was reimagined to provide attendees more time to socialize, celebrate, and enjoy the gracious outdoor and indoor spaces offered by The Boca Raton.

In welcoming the more 350 industry and agency professionals in attendance, Robert A. Gilbert, CHME, CHBA, president and CEO of HSMAI, said that tonight, we honor and recognize the great work done by hotels, destinations, and their agency partners to get travelers moving again, showcase safety and security, and welcome those traveling for the first time in over a year. Its been two years since weve been together face to face, and Im sure I can speak for everyone when I say tonight is a welcome reunion.

For 65 years, the Adrian Awards have spotlighted excellence in hospitality advertising, digital marketing, and public relations. The 2021 Adrian Awards honorees were selected from more than 500 entries by senior industry and media experts.

Best of Show:

Visit Norway/NNR and agency Trigger Oslo, for their entry 13,000 Reasons to Visit Northern Norway

Platinum Awards:

Company; Agency

Utah Office of Tourism

Club Wyndham; The Decker/Royal Agency

Visit Norway; Visit Norway/Maverix

DiscoverAtlanta.com; Madden Media

Best Western Hotels & Resorts; Ideas Collide

Visit Irving; Simpleview

Visit Norway/NNR; Trigger Oslo

The Broadmoor Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway; Percepture

Presidents Awards (Focus Categories):

Company; Agency

Corporate Social Responsibility

Atrium Hospitality; WiseHive Public Relations, LLC

Recovery Campaign Evolution

Naples, Marco Island, and the Everglades CVB; Paradise Advertising & Marketing

Recovery Marketing

Accor

Technology Innovation (Presented in partnership with HFTP)

Milestone Inc.

HSMAI also recognized incredible campaigns with Gold, Silver, and Bronze awards. To view the full list of winners, visit the Adrian Awards Winners Gallery.

Additionally, a panel of senior industry executives selected the HSMAI Top 25: Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Optimization for 2021. Each Top 25 recipient was honored by HSMAI in a separate ceremony at The Boca Raton on Wednesday night.

HSMAI also honored two industry leaders with HSMAI Lifetime Achievement Awards. Clayton Reid, Chief Executive Officer of MMGY Global, was recognized with the 2021 Albert E. Koehl Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hospitality Marketing.

For all of us in this industry, the second largest industry on Earth, we make things happen, said Reid. Not only do we drive economies, we create empathy by placing people in places they dont understand, by making the economy go, and thats what Im proud of. Thats what Im proud of with our company and the things weve done over 40 years, and for that reason, Im really proud that HSMAI would recognize us in that way.

Alice Diaz, a veteran of the hospitality industry with over 30 years of service, was honored with the 2021 Winthrop W. Grice Award for Lifetime Achievement in Hospitality Public Relations. It truly is an honor to be on this stage, especially after what the travel industry has endured, said Diaz. A lifetime achievement award is something I never imagined. Certainly, I know that Ive been blessed by representing some of the best travel clients in the world, but a girl from Corona with more street smarts than book smarts didnt think she would end up on this stage.

Given the unique current landscape of hospitality and travel and the emergence of extraordinary leaders, HSMAI created a new recognition program in 2020 HSMAI Hospitality Heroes: An Adrian Awards Honor. Carrying on the mission of those honors, the recipients of the 2021 Hospitality Recovery Heroes were also recognized during the Adrian Awards Celebration.

HSMAI Foundation Chair Michelle Woodley urged the audience to support a new initiative of the Foundation and HSMAI Europe: a designated fund to support both the immediate and longer-term needs of Ukrainians studying and working in the hospitality industry. More information is available at www.hsmaifoundation.org.

Thank you to this years Adrian Awards Celebration partners Cendyn, Google, Ideas Collide, and Milestone.

For more information about the Adrian Awards and the 2021 honorees, visit www.adrianawards.hsmai.org.

About HSMAI

HSMAI is a global organization of sales, marketing, and revenue management professionals representing all segments of the hospitality industry. HSMAI has become the industry champion in identifying and communicating trends in the hospitality industry while operating as a leading voice for both hospitality and sales, marketing, and revenue management disciplines, as well as connecting its members with customers. Founded in the United States in 1927, HSMAI is an individual membership organization comprised of nearly 5,000 members from 35 countries and chapters worldwide. HSMAI operates regionally around the globe via Regional boards of directors and staff. There are four regions: the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Middle East. Each region has signature programs and services for association members. HSMAI has a Global board that is comprised of delegates from each Region.
WASHINGTON - The Biden administration appears set to miss a critical deadline for continuing sales of oil and gas leases off the nations coastlines, throwing the future of drilling in the Gulf of Mexico further into question.

The Interior Departments existing five-year leasing program is set to expire June 30, and with the administration behind schedule in formulating a new one it is unclear if and when the government will hold offshore lease sales again.

The uncertainty has thrown the offshore oil industry in Texas and Louisiana into a panic, worried that the steady stream of drilling jobs upon which they rely will soon dry up.

If the leasing plan is delayed, drilling will be significantly impacted, which means we cant design wells or certify wells, said Karthik Annadorai, executive vice president at GATE Energy, an engineering and offshore services firm in Houston. When you shake the foundation of the process, it impacts everyone in the food chain.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Biden administration defends climate authority in Supreme Court

The holdup is the latest development in a long-running conflict between the oil and gas industry and President Joe Biden, who on the campaign trail promised to transition the nation from oil. Since coming into office he put a hold on offshore lease sales while the effect of such drilling on climate change was under study, only to have a federal judge order him to hold the auctions.

When Interior released its budget this week, the agency forecast that revenue from lease sales would decline by more than 90 percent to a little more than $25 million next year compared with $395 million this year.

A spokeswoman for the department said the numbers were only placeholders while the agency worked on developing a new five-year program and litigation from environmental groups worked its way through the courts.

The Interior Department is actively developing its five-year plan for the offshore program, Interior spokeswoman Melissa Schwartz said. In the meantime, of the more than 11 million acres of offshore federal waters already under lease, more than three-quarters are non-producing.

Oil and gas companies claim they need a steady supply of new offshore acreage to explore and drill, as wells run their course and leases believed to be rich in oil and gas turn out to be less prolific than anticipated - what are referred to as dry holes.

The delay in establishing a new leasing plan has prompted a fierce push back from lobbyists representing the oil and gas industry, warning that if the lease sales dont go ahead as anticipated the Gulf was likely to be hit hard economically.

In a phone call with reporters this week, Frank Macchiarola, a senior vice president at the American Petroleum Institute, claimed without new lease sales job losses could exceed 50,000.

More: Read the latest oil and gas news from HoustonChronicle.com

Frankly, the reason were holding this call is we don't have much hope theyre in the process of completing the five-year plan and scheduling the lease sales, he said. Its incumbent upon policymakers, the public and the media to hold them accountable.

For international oil and gas companies, the consequences of the delay are significant but surmountable by shifting offshore investments to other countries. Companies like Exxon Mobil and Hess are already turning offshore Guyana into one of the worlds most productive oil and gas fields.

But for the Gulf of Mexicos oil and gas industry, the delays are far more consequential, adding uncertainty to a region that faces increased competition from other offshore regions and scrutiny from investors increasingly skittish about projects that typically take six years to develop.

Already, the number of projects under development is declining, Annadorai said.

Bidens making it worse, he said. If were not careful, the projects are going to migrate away from the Gulf of Mexico.

james.osborne@chron.com
WASHINGTON  Since President Joe Biden came into office last year, Texass fast growing LNG industry has faced an uncertain future in the face of his administrations historic push to fight climate change.

But Bidens seeming antipathy toward natural gas appears to be shifting rapidly amid soaring energy prices and a war in Ukraine that threatens to upend global energy security.

After the president and officials from the European Union last week announced plans to expand U.S. LNG exports to Europe over the next eight years  in an effort to reduce reliance on Russian natural gas  LNG executives began to wonder if they might have an ally in the White House after all.

The signals coming from the administration today are almost a 180 in direction, said Charlie Riedl, executive director of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, a trade group. We think were in a good position.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Biden torn in competing directions on cutting off Russian oil

Speaking to reporters last week, Jake Sullivan, Bidens national security adviser, said that while the administration was still focused on transitioning to clean energy, natural gas remained a substantial part of the energy mix.

We want to make sure that the Europeans do not have to source that gas from Russia, he said.

How long this newfound allegiance will last remains to be seen.

Bidens announcement Friday has already generated criticism from environmental groups, who argue that it threatens to increase harmful emissions and upend U.S. efforts to fight climate change.

So far, members of the Democratic Partys environmental wing have held off similar criticism, giving Biden some cover. But its unclear how much longer that will last, said Kevin Book, managing director of the consulting firm Clearview Energy Partners.

If peace broke out (in Ukraine) tomorrow would Biden change his tune? If you look at the budget the White House proposed yesterday, its very closely aligned with the climate messaging you saw on the campaign trail, he said. The administration says theyre on war footing, and theres few things that focus the mind more than a loss of energy supply.

In the budget released Monday, Biden proposed ending tax breaks for oil and gas drilling, along with major funding expansions for clean energy.

On HoustonChronicle.com: FERC tells gas pipelines, LNG to start calculating climate impacts

Last year the United States exported 22 billion cubic meters of LNG to Europe, and now Biden is saying the United States will increase that number to 50 billion cubic meters by 2030.

With gas prices soaring in Europe, the United States is already on track to meet that goal this year, according to analysis by the research firm IHS Markit. Gulf Coast LNG terminals including Cheniere Energys Sabine Pass and Venture Globals Calciseau Pass are already sending more than 70 percent of their LNG to Europe.

But the future of that trend is uncertain. And should European gas prices fall, U.S. gas exports would likely shift to markets in Asia that typically run at a premium to Europe.

U.S. LNG is its going to be driven by commercial motivations which means price, said Gautam Sudhakar, a senior director at IHS Markit. Whats been very clear about the market is its extremely unpredictable and weve seen an incredible amount of volatility in price.

The uncertainity of the market presents an opportunity for U.S. LNG developers, who argue that the Biden administration needs to approve more export terminals if they are to meet the presidents 2030 goal.

Currently there are 17 LNG projects awaiting approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, representing more than 200 billion cubic meters of LNG exports a year, Riedl said.

More: Read the latest oil and gas news from HoustonChronicle.com

Theres going to have to be additional approvals, he said. That sends the signal that the U.S. is willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with Europe.

The other hurdle is Europe, where LNG import facilities are already at capacity. Importing more LNG from the United States and its allies will require the construction of new import terminals and pipelines, something that could be a tough sell politically as Europe seeks to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

In their joint statement with the United States Friday, European officials only agreed to increased imports through 2030. But LNG exporters are typically looking for 20-year deals, presenting a potential stumbling block to the signing long-term contracts necessary to build exports terminals that cost billions of dollars to build.

Europe is saying they want to be off gas in 20 years, Book said. LNG developers are going to want something more than through 2030 because the facilities wont be built for 5 years. Americas got the molecules. What we dont have is the certainty of long term contracts.

james.osborne@chron.com
Houston was the only large Texas city spared double-digit increases as asking prices for homes across the country soared to new highs last month, according to a report from Realtor.com.

The median list price in Houston rose by 9.5 percent year over year to $374,000, according to Realtor.coms Monthly Housing Trends Report. But in Austin, the median price skyrocketed by 30 percent to $600,000, one of the largest increases in the country. In Dallas prices jumped 17.6 percent to a median of $425,000, while in San Antonio the median price reached $357,000, a 15.4 percent increase.

The median list price in the U.S. reached $405,000 in March, 13.5 percent higher than a year earlier and 26.5 percent higher than in March 2020.

Despite the $405,000 price tag, March data reveals we are starting to take some steps towards a more balanced market, Danielle Hale, chief economist for real estate listing marketplace Realtor.com, said in the report. Buyer demand is moderating in the face of high costs, and were beginning to see more homeowners take price cuts on their listings and overall inventory declines lessen in response. Assuming all these factors and new construction hold steady, we could begin to see inventory increases this summer  welcome news for buyers who have endured pandemic home shopping and can continue their journey despite higher buying costs.

Among the top 50 metro areas, prices went up most in Miami, rising 37 percent to a median price of $547,000, followed by Las Vegas (up 35.2 percent to $480,000) and Tampa (up 32 percent to $399,000).

Texas home prices The median list price and year over year gain: Austin: $600,000, 30.0%

Dallas: $425,000, 17.6%

Houston: $374,000, 9.5%

San Antonio: $357,000, 15.4% See More Collapse

RELATED: Sugar Land, Pearland see sharpest apartment rent spikes across Houston, report finds

Mortgage rates, meanwhile, continued their upward track. The average rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose to 4.67 percent Thursday, up from 4.42 percent last week and a point and a half higher than the 3.18 percent rate a year ago, according to Freddie Mac, a Washington D.C.-based national real estate finance association.

Purchase demand has weakened modestly but has continued to outpace expectations. This is largely due to unmet demand from first-time homebuyers as well as a select few who had been waiting for rates to hit a cyclical low, said Sam Khater, Freddie Macs chief economist, in a statement.

With demand beginning to moderate and new construction near 16-year highs, there may be more homes to choose from this summer as listings, which had been on the decline, are predicted to grow year-over-year in June or July, according to Realtor.com.

More sellers dropped their list prices compared with those during March 2021, according to Realtor.com. The rate of sellers reducing their asking price increased slightly to 6 percent in March, but still remains 9 percentage points below levels seen from 2017 to 2019.

In Houston, 7.5 percent of sellers reduced the list price, down slightly from March 2021, according to Realtor.com.

A short supply of homes on the market continued to challenge buyers. The number of active listings decreased by 18.9 percent year-over-year in March.

The number of active listings in Dallas declined by 21 percent over March 2021, 17.2 percent in Houston and 9.4 percent in San Antonio. Austin had a 2.9 percent increase in active listings.

Homes in Houston spent an average of 39 days on the market or 12 days less than the same month in 2021, according to Realtor.com. Homes in Austin sold the quickest, spending 17 days on the market in March or 18 fewer days than a year ago.
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Black Restaurant Week Houston returns to the city, highlighting the culinary achievements and legacies of local Black-owned businesses.

Black Restaurant Week Houston returns to the city, highlighting the culinary achievements and legacies of local Black-owned businesses.

Black Restaurant Week Houston returns to the city, highlighting the culinary achievements and legacies of local Black-owned businesses.

More than 100 area restaurants are ready to serve up signature and specialty dishes for the event that begins April 1 and runs through April 10. Diners can find all participating restaurants on the website, which displays the types of food from each location and in many cases menus and specials that will be offered during the run of Black Restaurant Week.

BEYOND THE BOIL: Find Houston's best crawfish dishes that go beyond traditional boils

This year marks the seventh annual restaurant week in Houston. While some of Black Restaurant Weeks popular programming was curtailed during the pandemic, the event returns with a full lineup of in-restaurant dining. Warren Luckett, who founded Black Restaurant Week with partners Falayn Ferrell and Derek Robinson, said this years dining event will shine a much-needed light on the citys Black culinary professionals.

NEWSLETTERS Join the conversation with HouWeAre We want to foster conversation and highlight the intersection of race, identity and culture in one of America's most diverse cities. Sign up for the HouWeAre newsletter here.

They were hit hard just like the rest of the industry, Luckett said. Houstons Black culinary scene is alive and well and one of the best representations of Black food in the country.

Some of the participating restaurants include local favorites such as Alfredas Soul Food, Frenchys, Davis Street at Hermann Park, Craft Burger, Fainmous BBQ, Taste Bar + Kitchen, Twisted Grilled cheese, Cool Runnings Jamaican Grill, ChopnBlok, Lucilles, The Breakfast Klub, Thirteen, Micos Hot Chicken, Esthers Cajun Cafe, and Reggae Hut.

Supporting these Black-owned restaurants will help strengthen the citys diverse food scene and put money back in the pockets of businesses still suffering through the pandemic, Luckett said. He added that Black Restaurant Week also gives back to the community via grants from its non-profit arm, Feed the Soul Foundation. Last year it awarded 25 businesses $10,000 grants, and this year intends to increase that to 30 businesses.

Greg Morago writes about food for the Houston Chronicle. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter. Send him news tips at greg.morago@chron.com. Hear him on our BBQ State of Mind podcast to learn about Houston and Texas barbecue culture.
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The next time you are at your local neighborhood barbecue joint, look around for a wall of stickers featuring logos from other barbecue joints in Texas and around the world.

At places like Bretts BBQ Shop in Katy, the stickers are stuck to the order counter. At CorkScrew BBQ in Spring, they cover a whole wall of cabinets in the pit room. And the new Roegels Barbecue in Katy built a dedicated mural to host other barbecue joints stickers and logos.

Why feature the logos of other barbecue joints that might be potential competition?

Its a reflection of the tight-knit Texas barbecue community. Sure, there are beefs and rivalries, but when it comes to helping each other and their neighbors, pitmasters are uniquely supportive compared to other industries and types of restaurants.

Pitmasters make it a point to patronize other barbecue joints, and they add their logo sticker to the wall to show theyve been there. In many cases, merchandise, such as T-shirts and caps, will be exchanged. Its not unusual for a pitmaster to be wearing a cap from another barbecue joint, even while they are open for service.

Another Texas pitmaster tradition is to invite or host other pitmasters to come cook at their barbecue joints. This takes the form of either a training arrangement, or as a kitchen takeover event.

Texas is undoubtedly the center of the barbecue universe, and aspiring pitmasters come from as a far away as Kazakhstan and Paris to learn the art and science of Texas barbecue.

Recently, Feges BBQ in Spring Branch hosted pitmaster Aki Kinnunen, who owns a Texas-style barbecue joint in Finland called Millers BBQ. Kinnunen escaped the cold winter of his home country to train and work at Feges BBQ as well as at LeRoy & Lewis Barbecue in Austin.

Feges even hosted a guest chef takeover in which Kinnunen presented a menu combining Texas barbecue with the culinary traditions of Finland.

Collaborations also support the community. For example, a contingent of Katy-area barbecue joints recently teamed up to support the Katy ISD Livestock Show.

Russell (Roegels) and I were sitting at the bar at his new place and some kids came in to sell an animal, says Jacqueline Herrera, general manager at Bretts BBQ Shop, referring to Roegels new Katy location. Students were preparing to auction off their animals at their livestock show.

Though Roegels and Herrera didnt have enough money individually to buy an animal  prices often rise to thousands of dollars  they decided to solicit other Katy-area businesses and pitmasters to collaborate on a purchase. Among others, Jim Buchanan of Doziers BBQ, Waseem Hilal of Chuckwagon BBQ & Burgers and Rick Muniz of Los Muertos BBQ joined to bid on an animal at the auction.

They ended up purchasing the reserve champion market lamb from a student at local Morton Ranch High School.

Buchanan at Doziers processed the lamb, but due to their busy schedules, the team hasnt had time to cook and serve it. For now, they are planning a party sometime in the near future where they can get together, swap barbecue business stories (and stickers), and enjoy the company of other world-class pitmasters.

jcreid@jcreidtx.com

twitter.com/jcreidtx
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When Helen Streaker first battled breast cancer, her options were limited  surgery and then radiation, the gold standard for treatment at the time.

It was an approach that left Streaker feeling wrecked after her mastectomy in 1993. She compared the surgery to an amputation or mutilation.

These days, Streaker, 87, has another less invasive option to treat the tumors that returned.

Cryoablation literally puts tumors in a deadly deep freeze  with no surgery, radiation or chemotherapy required.

Streaker has undergone the innovative treatment to remove her past two tumors  one in 2016 and another last summer.

And on Jan. 25, Streaker became the first patient at Houston Methodist Hospital to undergo the procedure for breast cancer.

This is my mission, Streaker said of spreading the word about the therapy. I want to tell people about this. It is my joy  but I also consider it my duty.

Dr. Luz Venta, Streakers doctor at Methodist, described the procedure in a simple way.

Its almost exactly the same as performing a biopsy, said Venta, who is medical director of the Houston Methodist Breast Care Center.

The aha moment

When an additional breast tumor surfaced in 2016, Streaker was a patient at another hopsital. She was informed that her age made her too high a risk for surgery. The same was true for chemotherapy.

Radiation was also no longer an option, since she had already received the maximum amount allowed during her previous breast cancer treatment.

Her only path forward was a pharmaceutical treatment that ended up making her terribly ill.

Maybe I should just stop taking the medication and let the cancer take its course, she said she thought.

What happened next, she is convinced, was divine intervention.

Streaker was having dinner with a friend, when neighbors dropped in.

They were so excited, she said. They met a doctor in California who was doing cryoablation.

As the couple described the procedure, Streaker stared in disbelief. They were describing an answer to her prayers. I said, I have breast cancer. I want the doctors name and phone number.

She called his office and sent in her records. And when she asked if she would be a candidate for the therapy, the doctor said, You are.

It was the best two words Id heard in my life, she said.

No surgical suite required

Getting to California was the hardest part, Streaker said. The procedure itself was simple.

Youre in a doctors office, not a surgical suite, Streaker said.

Then the doctor numbed her breast. Thats all the pain that you feel, she said.

For the procedure, physicians rely on ultrasound imaging to know exactly where the breast tumor is located, allowing the proper placement of a needlelike device to inject the growth with liquid nitrogen.

The tumor cell is frozen and destroyed.

You can lay on the table and watch, Streaker said. And there are no side effects.

That includes no sedation, pain or scarring, as well as no lengthy hospital stay. It all happens in real time, in a matter of minutes.

All of a sudden my tumor was gone, Streaker said. Youve just never seen anyone so happy.

And thats why, when Streaker discovered another tumor last summer, there was no question in her mind. She wanted cryoablation.

There was only one problem. No one locally was offering the treatment for breast cancer.

A third tumor

After cryoablation, patients have regular follow-up appointments and mammograms.

Streakers third tumor was found during one of those frequent visits at Houston Methodist. Doctors suggested that she watch and wait. The growth was progressing slowly.

Streaker, however, had another idea.

She told Venta about cryoablation and gave her doctor a copy of a 2016 study from the National Institutes of Health.

The paper describes success treating breast cancer with the procedure, which previously was reserved for fibroadenomas, benign tumors made of both glandular tissue and connective tissues.

The Phase 2 clinical trial, referred to as Z1072, showed successful ablation in 92 percent of the cancers.

Streaker told her doctor,  This procedure is less invasive than having your teeth cleaned.

Venta said cryoablation has been used to treat tumors in the kidneys and prostate. The technology had been around for about two decades.

She pointed to studies in France and Germany, in addition to Z1072 in the U.S., which recorded the efficacy for treating breast cancer. All of these studies proved, Pay attention to this. It has a role, Venta said.

Cryoablation has not been a popular treatment for breast cancer. Venta says its because we were really stuck in the paradigm of surgical treatment, she said. We thought of breast cancer like an appendectomy. You have to take it out.

In the past two years, however, medical thinking has changed significantly, Venta said.

For instance, immunology has become a key to treatment. Theres also greater understanding of nuanced types of breast cancer.

You cant use the same tools for all of them, because they are all different, Venta said.

TREATING CANCER: Immunotherapy defeats a breast cancer that had defied other treatments

Dr. Richard E. Fine, a breast surgeon at the West Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tennessee, presented a paper on his cryoabalation clinical trial to the 2021 annual meeting of the American Society of Breast Surgeons.

For some tumors, less aggressive therapies can be as effective and deliver greater patient satisfaction at a lower cost than traditional interventions, Fine wrote. In keeping with that trend, cryoablation is a promising, high-value treatment for certain forms of less aggressive cancers.

Venta added that doctors now take a more holistic approach toward patients, as well as an understanding that certain breast cancers cannot be cured. Instead, some women have to deal with recurring tumors.

Its not just an acute disease, Venta said. Its something that may come and go and need different treatments.

She compared the formula of treatments working in unison to the Olympics, bringing endurance, speed and technique into play.

In this, cryoablation is speed, immunology is endurance and surgery is the technical aspect, she said.

All three areas are fundamental, Venta said.

The role of cryoablation as a breast cancer treatment is still being studied.

For that we need thousands of participants, she said. Right now, we only have hundreds.

But Venta is enthusiastic about the role cryoablation could have in treating older patients who have more fragile health.

For years, weve had this problem of patients who do not want surgery. We really did not have anything else to offer, she said.

Giving women a voice

On Jan. 25, Streaker became the first patient at Houston Methodist to undergo the procedure for breast cancer.

Venta is currently opening a medical trial and starting to screen potential participants.

Ideal candidates include those who are at high risk for surgery, respond poorly to general anesthesia and have a breast tumor 1.5 centimeters or smaller.

She is particularly enthusiastic about a finding in cryoablation studies that shows the treatment can support immune function in a unique way.

Certain cancer cells can go undetected by the immune system. With cryoablation, however, when the tumor dies, an alarm basically goes off, she said.

Its like a red flag to the immune system, Venta said. Its a call to arms.

The immune system can then recognize cancer cells in other parts of the body.

This phenomenon is what she hopes to study in greater detail during the trial.

In the meantime, she appreciates Streakers persistence in drawing attention to the procedure.

Helen is really inspirational to all of us, Venta said. Helen has pointed out cryoablation is a technique that gives women a voice.

Streaker is confident that women asking for cryoablation can push hospitals to offer the procedure.

And shes been spreading the word since her first procedure, bringing back manufacturers brochures from California, speaking at her condominium complex and at churches across the country.

Im just thrilled to be part of the program and to get the word out, she said. I believe this is a God thing, because God knew if I did this, it would become my moral obligation to tell others. Im supposed to do this.

Peyton is a Houston-based freelance writer.
Steve Gonzales, Houston Chronicle / Staff photographer

Nine Houstonians were charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after allegedly laundering millions by hacking companies' email accounts and sending false requests for wire transfers.

The Houstonians were identified through the FBI's "Operation Eagle Sweep," a three-month-long mission targeting BEC scammers that affected over 500 Americans with losses exceeding $51 million, according to a release. In total, 65 suspects were arrested in America and overseas.
JERUSALEM, March 31 (Xinhua) -- An academic delegation from Morocco's Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) visited Israel's Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI), according to a statement issued by HUJI on Thursday.

It is the highest-level Moroccan academic delegation visiting Israel since the two countries established diplomatic relations in December 2020.

The delegation constitutes representatives in the research fields of cyber, medical services, agriculture, business, economics, and more.

The Moroccan delegation also visited Ben Gurion University (BGU) in southern Israel, where the two sides agreed to collaborate on food security, ecological restoration, smart agriculture in a changing climate, water, remote sensing, alternative energy, entrepreneurship and venture capital, BGU said. 
Off-duty Surfside Beach police officer Nate Williams was picking up his order from a southeast Houston Subway when he saw a man exposing himself to customers and employees there Wednesday night, authorities said.

Houston police say the officer  who Surfside Beach police identified as Williams  went around 7:50 p.m. Wednesday to the restaurant in the 6100 block of Telephone Road, where he observed the man exposing himself to people there and told the man to leave.

The officer, who wasnt wearing his uniform, went to escort him outside, police said. The two were involved in an altercation in the parking lot, during which the man stabbed the officer several times in his leg before fleeing, according to police.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Fire engulfs apartments in northwest Houston

Surfside Beach Police Chief Robert Wood said Williams was released from the hospital early Thursday and has been resting. The police department has created a GoFundMe to help with the officer's medical expenses and his time away from work.

Wood said Williams was at the restaurant to pick up his dinner and was able to identify himself as an officer. He knew it was an obviously dangerous situation, Wood said.

Youve got a grown man there exposing himself in front of children, Wood said. That basically took all questions and all doubt away from him  I feel that Nate knew that he had to act, and he did  Nate Williams is a hero.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Police: Man dies from gunfire outside Gulfton hookah lounge

Surfside is a beach community in Brazoria County, located more than 60 miles south of downtown Houston.

The male patron  who fled in a four-door silver hatchback  remained at large Thursday, according to police.

Assistant Chief of Police Wyatt Martin said at a Wednesday media briefing that restaurant employees have said he comes into the business often and may live in the area or could possibly be homeless.

Police ask those with information about the case to call Houston polices Major Assaults & Family Violence Division, 713-308-8800, or Crime Stoppers, 713-222-TIPS.

leah.brennan@chron.com
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A computer glitch in a Harris County law enforcement system prompted officials to order the release of nearly 300 jailed inmates as the issue prevented those defendants from appearing in their probable cause or bail hearings within the state-mandated time frame  a red flag that some officials say indicates that the county system needs additional resources.

The system used by authorities and the Harris County District Attorneys Office to file criminal charges crashed from 7 p.m. March 24 until 9 p.m. March 26, according to the documents obtained by the Houston Chronicle.

While county officials called the two-day outage minimal, others said it violated defendants due process. People are generally are not to be held for processing for more than 24 hours in misdemeanor cases and 48 hours for felony cases, according to the Texas Code for Criminal Procedure.

They cant sleep, they arent allowed to walk around and they are just stuck in chairs, said Alex Bunin of the Harris County Public Defenders Office. Imagine doing that for two days with no break, other than going to the bathroom.

The Joint Processing Center can take a toll on the defendants and the attorneys made available to defend them, Bunin said. That stress can be a catalyst for violent incidents at the center JPC that can affect both staff members and defendants, he added.

Prosecutors with the District Attorneys Office petitioned magistrates in the probable cause court to postpone the release of some inmates for an additional 24 hours, providing a list of the inmates in question. Some inmates were held on felonies, others on misdemeanors. Magistrates approved most of the motions  meaning that some inmates were allowed to be held for longer  on Friday and Saturday.

One of those magistrates, Courtney St. Julian, then denied a similar request Sunday and ordered the release of at least 280 defendants, citing an insurmountable backlog of cases in their court and that too many defendants had gone without a review of probable cause or a bail hearing.

Records of the extensions were not available on the Harris County District Clerks Office website because of the outage and were provided to the Chronicle by other county government agencies.

Some of the defendants eligible for pretrial services were released on personal recognizance bonds, while others charged with more serious offenses had bail set at $10,000, according to the court documents.

At one point during the system failure, about 250 people were in custody at the Harris County Joint Processing Center, according to authorities. Once the system began processing data Saturday night, the most serious felony charges were filed first.

It is unclear how long certain defendants were waiting for probable cause hearings and how many were immediately released once the magistrate made her ruling.

The Chronicle reviewed a list of defendants eligible to receive pre-trial services and found that at least 10 were held for more than 65 hours before going to magistration amid the glitch. The extensions allowed inmates to remain held ahead of their probable cause or bail hearings.

Both Bunin and the district attorneys office said county leaders need to address the issue, which has happened three times previously.

This has happened before and should have been anticipated. What we need is a backup plan for when the computers go down, he said. This is a system that worked for decades on paper so it can be done and we need a way to deal with that when we dont have the access to computers.

Dane Schiller, spokesman with the District Attorneys Office, this week Monday called for Harris County to give adequate support to Universal Services.

The safety of the public, security of our criminal justice system and efficiency of our courts demand that the county give Universal Services the resources to fix this and ensure it never happens again, Schiller, spokesman for the Harris County District Attorneys Office, said in an email.

Nicole Hensley contributed to this report

joel.umanzor@chron.com
A Texas man was arrested Wednesday after police said he stored his sons skeletal remains in his kitchen for almost four years, according to the New Boston Police Department.

David McMichael has been charged with abuse of a corpse.

ABANDONED: The story of a struggling mom, her violent boyfriend and 3 kids deserted with their brother's body

The gruesome discovery was made Tuesday at McMichaels home in New Boston, an east Texas city about 30 minutes from Texarkana. Authorities said they received a call from someone requesting a welfare check on the home.

When officers arrived, they were met by McMichael. When officers asked if he knew why they were there, he told authorities that he had the body of his adult son in his kitchen.

His son, Jason McMichael, died in May 2018, according to police.

Police said that they discovered the body in the kitchen when they entered the home. McMichael was taken into custody without incident.

On HoustonChronicle.com: Nearly 300 defendants released from Harris County jail after computer glitch

The skeletal remains were taken to the Southwest Institute of Forensic Science in Dallas for an autopsy and further identification.

McMichael remains in the Bi-State Jail.

timothy.fanning@express-news.net
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It's not even Jackson Ward's birthday yet and his wish has already come true.

The 7-year old grew up on his family ranch in Cleveland, Texas and has a love for tractors and horses. Jackson turns eight on Sunday and all he wanted was the chance to meet a real-life cowboy.

But as a heart transplant patient who has been waiting for a new heart for the last five months at Texas Children's Hospital, there was no certainty that such a meeting would be possible.

It happened on Wednesday when his care team in the hospital's intensive care unit surprised him with a visit from world champion bull rider Cody Teel, according to a release from the hospital.

OnHoustonChronicle.com: Meet Bruce Wang, the Chinese cowboy in Texas defying Asian stereotypes with a southern drawl

Teel drove roughly two hours from Bryan/College Station to visit Jackson, and the two spent the afternoon discussing their ranch experience alongside Jackson's family.

Jackson talked about his family ranch in Cleveland and showed Teel pictures of his pet cow, Itsy, whom he bottle-fed as a calf, a video from the hospital shows.

Then it was Teel's turn for show and tell, sharing videos from his recent bull riding competitions.

"That's how you want to get off one, now I'll show you how not to get off one," Teel said in a video as Jackson and his family laughed.

Teel even gifted Jackson with some bull riding swag and signed his autograph on a RodeoHouston flyer.

Jackson was on cloud nine for the rest of the day and told all the nurses about the famous cowboy he met, according to the release.

For Teel, the feelings were mutual.

"He's a really cool kid," he said in an interview.

"(He) grew up in the country and enjoys cattle. We kind of have a lot in common so just to get to talk about bull riding and all of his stuff back home was pretty cool and I was glad I had the opportunity to come meet him and hang out. Being so young and that involved with cattle and ranching, it's pretty cool to see."

Teel said he grew up doing youth events so he was able to relate to Jackson's love for animals and enjoyed hearing some of his "cool" stories.

At 29, he's already been riding bulls for more than a decade with Professional Bull Riders, and although he didn't participate in this year's RodeoHouston, he's no stranger to the event.

BULL RIDING: Saddle bronc rider Wyatt Casper wins RodeoHouston Wild Card

Teel holds the 21st rank in the world, has won 12 events and averages a 40 percent ride rate, according to his career stats. He has earned more than $1 million as part of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

"It's been a lifetime deal for me," Teel said in an interview.
Mark Mulligan/Staff photographer

Access to school counselors, social workers, nurses and psychologists is critical for children struggling with mental health issues.

But at no point since 2013 did any Texas school district have the professionally recommended student-to-provider ratios in all four positions, a Houston Chronicle investigation found.
The messages Texas leaders have been sending about trans people in the past couple of years havent exactly brimmed over with empathy, support or even just plain old kindness. On this years Transgender Day of Awareness, celebrated on March 31, lets ask ourselves what it would take for the state to be known for kindness instead of hate.

Verniss McFarland has been asking that question all week as we approach the annual moment for reflection, a day that comes as families of trans children are weighing whether to relocate after Gov. Greg Abbott instructed child welfare officials to investigate gender-affirming medical care as possibly criminal child abuse. .

McFarland founded The Mahogany Project in 2017 in Houston, after a transgender performer well known for her frequent shows in Montrose, was shot to death in New Orleans, part of a years-long string of violence against transgender women of color in the South, including Dallas and Houston, that continues. Over the years, McFarland told us, the focus of the organization has broadened to increasing the visibility of and providing support for Black trans people. The goal is to grow bonds of community to combat stigma and isolation.

That will help trans people stand up to the animus politicians keep generating.

This year especially, Trans Day of Visibility is a call to action to show politicians and leaders that your hate will not stop us and we will not go into hiding, McFarland said. We will continue to thrive in spite of everything, and community will continue to be here and grow here despite the hate some choose to incite.

From the battles over bathrooms a few sessions ago to the Texas pushback against the Obama-era protections for trans students to last years bill in the Legislature barring transgender athletes from competing on teams aligned with their gender identity, the hate has seemed to never stop. Last month, Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an advisory legal opinion claiming hormone treatments, puberty blockers and surgery should all be considered child abuse. Abbotts order to investigate parents and doctors soon followed.

NEWSLETTERS Join the conversation with HouWeAre We want to foster conversation and highlight the intersection of race, identity and culture in one of America's most diverse cities. Sign up for the HouWeAre newsletter here.

Though a court has halted the investigations for now, that order has understandably left many transgender people and their families feeling as if they are wearing a target. Fortunately, several groups are doing what they can to provide a shield.

The Mahogany Project is hosting a living history event celebrating trans leaders in Houston this evening. We should give people their flowers while theyre alive, Darrien Dyrell, one of the events organizers, told the editorial board.

On Friday night, representatives from several trans and trans-affirming groups will speak at a rally at the Montrose Center, where the public will be able to hear testimonials and calls to action.

On Wednesday night, drag performer Adriana LaRue hosted Youre Beautiful!  a night of coming-out stories and advice  at ReBar Houston, the same night as the Houston Rockets second-annual LGBTQ Pride Night.

Other steps to counter the messages of hate transgender people too often hear in Texas are being taken year round. The Organizacion Latina de Trans en Texas holds monthly food drives. Equality Texas and other advocacy organizations are distributing resources for parents of trans youth, affirming that hormone and other therapies for youths are not abusive.

Texans should want trans children and adults to thrive, free to lead lives of meaning and love. Some will choose to be visible, while for others anonymity is essential.

What they shouldnt have to do is live in fear. These efforts by groups like The Mahogany Project make a difference because they send messages countering the political vitriol aimed at them. That in turn can create a space where its possible for transgender Texans to look in the mirror and see their true selves  and for us to see them as they truly are, too.

Some Republican leaders have tempered their own views on trans issues with just the kind of approach wed like to see in Texas. In Utah earlier this month, Republican Gov. Spencer Cox vetoed a ban on transgender students playing in girls sports, one day after Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb did the same. I struggle to understand so much of it and the science is conflicting. When in doubt however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy and compassion, Cox told Utah legislators. I dont understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.

Though lawmakers overrode his veto, Cox sent a powerful message that we wish Texas leaders would hear. When faced with something that challenges existing understandings, policymakers can choose to listen and proceed with both care and kindness.

Texas leaders havent done that yet, but McFarland, Dyrell and other local organizers keep dreaming of a state known for its support of transgender people. Theyre part of a lengthy history of local LGBTQ activism, and they deserve thanks for working to build the inclusive, supportive Texas we know is possible.
Billed as the first summit of the Abraham Accords, the gathering in the Negev desert Monday of foreign ministers of Israel, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was certainly unprecedented. Two years ago, the three Arab foreign ministers wouldnt have agreed to pose for photographs with their Israeli counterpart at the United Nations, never mind on his home soil.

There was more to it than a photo-op. Although the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett basked in his countrys newfound convening power, the meeting also demonstrated that the 2020 accords  under which four Arab states normalized relations with Israel  are a practical framework for cooperation on mutual benefits, such as trade ties, as well as common threats, such as Iran. (Egypt, which made peace with Israel in 1979, sent its foreign minister to the gathering, too.)

It is also a useful platform for the country that midwifed the accords. Blinken used the opportunity to try to reassure the other attendees that the countries wont be imperiled if the U.S. rejoins the 2015 nuclear pact with the Islamic Republic, a foreign-policy priority of his boss, President Joe Biden. Blinken also implored them to take a firmer line against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. (On both scores, they responded with varying degrees of skepticism.)

Yet while symbolizing the progress that has been made under the accords, the meeting served as a reminder that the Israeli-American diplomatic initiative has made no headway in more than a year. Biden and Bennett have been unable to add a single nation to the normalization papers since their predecessors, Donald Trump and Binyamin Netanyahu, left office.

This is especially galling for Bennett, who talked up the accords in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last fall, adding that more is to come.

Not only has the Israeli leader failed to deliver on that promise, at least one of the existing signatories may be developing second thoughts: Sudan chose not to send a representative to the Negev event. Ahead of the meeting, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the military strongman in Khartoum, was at pains to deny that there had been any top-level official visits in either direction. Abdalla Hamdok, the civilian leader who signed the accords, was arrested, then reinstated and finally squeezed out by the military, with little protest from Israel.

Burhan hasnt repudiated the accords, but has made it clear he wishes to keep Israel at arms length by limiting cooperation to security matters.

The three other Arab signatories to the pact are keen on deeper relations, including tourism and cultural exchanges, but their enthusiasm hasnt been as contagious as Israeli and American officials might have hoped. Indeed, the countries that had seemed the most likely to join the bandwagon a year ago  Oman and Qatar  are no closer to signing up. Both countries are content merely to maintain unofficial relations with Israel. Others, like Kuwait, have made it clear they wont contemplate normalization before Israel has come to a settlement with the Palestinians.

And the prospects of a breakthrough with Saudi Arabia, briefly raised by Netanyahus poorly kept secret visit to the kingdom in late 2020 to meet the de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, now seem remote. The prince, resentful of being snubbed by the U.S. president, is in no mood to give Biden the opportunity to match Trumps bragging rights by joining the accords.

Nor is Biden, who has made pivoting away from the Middle East a foreign-policy priority, likely to invest much diplomatic capital in entreating other Arab states to recognize Israel.

Might he enrage them into doing so? There is a double bank-shot of a chance that could happen. If Biden does bring the U.S. back into the nuclear deal and allow Iran to acquire more military means with which to menace its Arab neighbors, some of them might just make common cause with Israel. Sowing discord is hardly the most auspicious way to promote the accords. But the Israelis would probably take it.

Bobby Ghosh is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering foreign affairs.
For over two decades, Houston Independent School District has doled out dollars in a way that drives more money to schools with more students in poverty and empowers principals with a meaningful say in how their dollars are spent. This equity- and school-focused funding approach is part of the districts DNA and enshrined as a policy pillar. Now, the new superintendent is fast-tracking plans to reverse course and shift nearly a billion dollars in spending decisions away from school principals and up to central office, replacing a long-running student-based formula with a more rigid staffing one.

On HoustonChronicle.com: As Houston ISD workshops budget to fund strategic plan, some trustees want more specifics

The seismic change is buried in the districts proposed budget, which the school board has been asked to approve by June. But citing work in progress, to date, the proposal has been light on numbers and long on promises. Two months isnt much time to vet a major overhaul. In contrast, Washington D.C. has spent 4 years running numbers, prepping for their educational funding change.

Houstons school board needs to take the time the city deserves to see if consolidating budget power back to the top is the right way to go. As such, we respectfully call for the board to stand up for the community and ensure a full public vetting process. Its what such a monumental decision warrants before a well-established budget strategy with a lot of wins is ditched in the blink of an eye.

Those wins include the fact that the current model, known as weighted student funding, advances equity. Under the highly transparent model, the district gives schools more dollars for students with higher needs. Peer-reviewed research proves it: in fiscal year 2019, HISD spent $384 per student more on schools attended by the average low-income student than schools attended by other students. The weighted student funding strategy brought student achievement gains that won HISD the coveted Broad Prize for Urban Education. (The link between implementation and positive student test scores is documented in our research .) And while the district today clearly has ample room to improve, in a district like HISD with very limited dollars, theres no wiggle room to get it wrong. It is these successes that led the school board to make weighted student funding a cornerstone of district strategy.

The Houston superintendents move goes against the tide of dozens of mega-districts that have adopted WSF in recent years  from Atlanta and Denver to Chicago and New York, Memphis-Shelby County and Metro Nashville  each posting equity gains as a result. Most recently, District of Columbia Public Schools approved weighted student funding, swayed by the evidence backing it. And in 2015, the bipartisan federal Every Student Succeeds Act included a pilot program enabling districts to expand their weighted student formulas to include federal funds as well.

We understand that the natural state of many districts is to centralize power over finances. But HISDs board has long resisted that pressure, choosing instead to run a system that gives principals latitude in how best to staff their schools to meet differing student needs.

And the truth is, abandoning weighted student funding will not solve the problems the superintendent has flagged, like the structural deficit and uneven offerings across schools. Some may believe that the centralized funding model will unlock more money. It wont. The models being debated in Houston are different ways to distribute dollars; they have zero impact on how much money the district has on hand. Deficits happen when a district spends more money than it has; HISDs deficit this school year has been as big as $70 million.

The district need not jettison weighted student funding to mandate that all schools apply an effective reading curriculum or offer fine arts  things that leadership has called for. The district can absolutely require all schools to offer certain programs or services under weighted student funding; principals simply keep the leeway to decide how best to deliver those offerings at their school. Its the districts responsibility to then hold principals accountable for outcomes.

So, a centralized funding model does not win more money for schools. It does, however, incur losses. Principals  who know their students and the strengths of their unique mix of staff  lose their flexibility to decide how to tailor their resources to meet the needs of their diverse students. And a proven track record of equity hangs in the balance.

In working with scores of districts through our national school finance research center, we can confidently say that Houstons rush to change is unprecedented. We have never seen a big-city district so dramatically overhaul its finance model without at least two years of planning. And while the threat of a state takeover continues to hang over HISD, there is no evidence that the Texas Education Agency is demanding this rapid-fire shift.

It is now up to the school board to slow down and give this finance flip the full public airing and deliberation it demands. Houstonians deserve to know what this change means for every school and its students.

Dr. Jessica Swanson is Senior Research Fellow at Edunomics Lab and former Deputy Chief of Finance at DC Public Schools. Dr. Marguerite Roza is Director of the Edunomics Lab and Research Professor at Georgetown University, where she leads the McCourt School of Public Policy's Certificate in Education Finance. HISD is holding a budget workshop March 31 at 1 p.m. in the board auditorium at Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center.
China, U.S. securities regulators willing to resolve differences in audit oversight

Xinhua) 16:23, March 31, 2022

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and U.S. securities regulators are both willing to resolve audit oversight differences and problems, China's top securities regulator said Thursday.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said regulators of both sides engaged in "thoughtful, respectful and productive dialogue".

CSRC Chairman Yi Huiman and U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler have held video conferences on three occasions since August last year to discuss the remaining issues regarding audit supervision cooperation, according to the CSRC.

The Chinese side also has had multiple rounds of candid, professional, and efficient talks with the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The overall progress is smooth and communication between the two sides will continue, said the CSRC.

Both sides have the will to solve their differences, the final results will depend on their wisdom, the CSRC said.

As for the risk of delisting for some companies listed by the SEC, the CSRC said it learned from the SEC that this is normal procedure for the U.S. regulatory authorities to implement the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act.

"Whether the listed companies will be delisted in the next two years will ultimately depend on the progress and results of China-U.S. audit supervision cooperation", according to the CSRC.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
Pedestrians walk under decorations of a shopping mall in Bangkok, Thailand, on March 5, 2022. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's medical industry has seen great development with the help of Chinese high-tech companies, especially in the field of digitalization of local hospitals.

BANGKOK, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Thai Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on Wednesday that deepening economic cooperation between Thailand and China is key to Thailand's post-pandemic economic recovery.

Speaking at an investment cooperation forum held in Bangkok, Anutin said that as Thailand's top trading partner for nine years in a row, and second largest source of investment, China has played a significant part in Thai people's daily life.

Aerial photo taken on Dec. 29, 2021 shows the Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone. (Xinhua/Wang Teng)

From Chinese home appliances in early years to the automobile industry in recent years, Chinese enterprises have invested in Thailand in a wide range of fields, offering Thais more choices of consumer products at affordable prices, Anutin said.

He noted that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the country's medical industry has seen great development with the help of Chinese high-tech companies, especially in the field of digitalization of local hospitals.

According to the Thai official, Chinese companies have worked closely with the Thai Health Ministry to "lay a foundation for the innovation of Thailand's medical and health service."

He also highlighted the China-Thailand Railway, a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative, saying that the Thai government has decided to accelerate the construction of the railway because of its importance for regional development and integration.
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Some statistics on respiratory therapists shown at Tuesday's BCC trustees meeting.

BCC Faculty Advocate for Paused Respiratory Care Program



PITTSFIELD, Mass.  Some Berkshire Community College faculty are asking the board of trustees to take a deep breath before shutting down its respiratory care program.

BCC hasn't made a determination on the accredited program, but it is on pause and under review.

Two faculty members in the program, Margaret Goss, director of clinical education, and Thomas Carey, a professor of allied health, advocated to keep the program at Tuesday's trustees meeting and highlighted its importance in producing local respiratory therapists.

They fear that if the program were to be discontinued, the area would face a shortage of health-care professionals in that field.

"We are very passionate about the respiratory care program here at BCC and since COVID, many more people appreciate the value of and the need for respiratory therapists," Goss said during a public comment segment that is not a regular part of the board's meetings.

"I understand the need for small programs like ours to be reviewed in order to ensure profitability or at lest to be fiscally responsible but what I would like to emphasize to you is the need to responsible in our community."

With a respiratory care health sciences associate's degree, graduates help treat patients with cardiopulmonary illnesses such as asthma or heart failure under a physician's supervision. Respiratory therapists works in settings such as hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation facilities, nursing homes, and home care.

Goss said more than 100 million Americans are affected by respiratory disorders and more respiratory therapists, or RTs, can work to meet the high demand.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are about 135,000 respiratory therapists currently working in the United States and an estimated need for about 31,000 more.

Goss also broke down local statistics for RTs, which showed that there are currently 86 working within a 35-mile radius of Pittsfield.

Twenty respiratory therapists graduated and were licensed before 1995 and a dozen graduated between 1996 and 2000. She pointed out that the first group is likely to retire in the next 10 years or so followed by the next group.

"Of that 86, 53 graduated after 2001 and since 2001, BCC has graduated 56 respiratory therapists, so you can see that not many graduates have left the area, some have retired, a few have moved away and sadly a few are deceased," Goss said.

"BCC's retention rates have been exceptional, mostly due to small size of our program and the fact that students mean more to us than just a number."

Locally, there are 35 available full-time positions for respiratory therapists. She added that this shows the need and will be become more overwhelming as time passes. Goss asked that the board monitors and upholds the transparency of the review process for the program.

Carey highlighted the program's accreditation.

"Recently, BCC's administration has decided to close the respiratory care program after an extremely successful run for 39 years despite the critical shortage of respiratory therapists, we're hoping the board of trustees can help save the program from closing," he said.

"Just last May, the program had a very successful 10-year accreditation site visit by our accreditors, the creditors are called CoARC, it's the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care, we received full accreditation without any citations by our creditors so it was squeaky clean. ...

"Our last graduating class, although it was underenrolled, we had 100 percent student retention, 100 percent pass rate on their credentialing boards and 100 percent job placement."

Carey added that the chief nursing officer at Berkshire Medical Center, Brenda Cadorette, said at a January advisory committee meeting that the nursing workload is at capacity and they rely on respiratory therapists to help.

This will be on the agenda for the college's next Academic Affairs Committee meeting.

Earlier in the year, BCC was awarded a $350,000 grant for new simulation equipment for its nursing programs from the Community Project Funding secured by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal.

The labs simulate health-care settings to offer training and clinical experience. BCC's equipment has not received much in the way of upgrades since 2009.

In other news, a number of new BCC faculty were welcomed at this meeting including former Downtown Pittsfield Inc. Executive Director Cheryl Mirer. She joined the college in February as an enrollment councilor and Rebecca Brien took over as the new managing director of Downtown Pittsfield Inc

The college is also planning its 2022 awards night in person at the Boland Theatre on June 2 at 6 p.m.
Lanesborough Looking at $350K Increase in Town Budget

LANESBOROUGH, Mass.  The Board of Selectmen on Monday approved the town's proposed fiscal 2023 budget of $10,496,498, a $347,937 increase from last year.

"I've had conversations with the departments before I reviewed some of the lines, just to get some clarity on that," said Town Administrator Joshua Lang about the budget. "I think all the departments and committees are very comfortable."

Education received the most significant increase of any budget item, going up nearly $250,000 compared to this year. Lang said this increase is primarily responsible for the 3.4 percent increase in the overall budget.

"Without the educational increase, we would have approximately a one percent increase," he said.

Board of Selectmen Chair John Goerlach said he and the other board members have voiced their concerns with the education increase and are considering asking the district for the number to be reduced for the communities.

"Our increase beyond the schools is going to be very minimal. The school is going to be most, if not all, of the cause of the increase," said Selectman Gordon Hubbard.

Lang listed several goals for the town in FY23, including retaining staff, organizational development, improving the town's technology and updating town policies.

"Thankfully, a lot of these things don't cost any money other than my time and other staff's time, which we're trying to be very fiscally responsible," he said.

Lang said the town is exploring potential uses for American Rescue Plan Act funds to pay for some of these projects. Lanesborough received $878,000 in ARPA funds.

"What you'll notice in our annual town meeting this year is we don't have to request as many for from free cash to use as far as articles is concerned," he said. "We're going to explore utilization of our existing resources such as ARPA funding."

The salaries of several town jobs will be increased based on salary survey data from other similarly-sized towns in the state. Positions with salaries being adjusted include the town clerk, town collector, town treasurer and Council on Aging director.

"The positions that we are looking to raise salaries for are very hard to come by in local government in Massachusetts," said Administrative Assistant Makayla Zonfrilli on the salary adjustments. "This is across the board, across the state. People are retiring; there is no knowledge transfer. And so it's very important that we maintain the high-quality staff that we have."

Lang proposed two estimated tax rates, $19.80 and $20.60 per $1,000 valuation, but said these rates are just an educated guess and are not final until property values are known.

Hubbard thanked Lang for his presentation and credited him for not increasing the budget dramatically.

"You've done some good realigning, and you've got some good staff coming in," he said. "People might need to realize that the increase is not due to our spending. It's really due to the school."

Lang plans to present the budget to the Finance Committee in April.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres attends the unveiling of the installation "Pandemic Classroom," a model classroom made up of 168 empty desks, at the UN headquarters in New York on March 2, 2021, to call attention to the need for governments to prioritize the reopening of schools. (Eskinder Debebe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

Over the past two years, nearly 147 million children missed more than half of their in-person schooling, amounting to 2 trillion hours of lost learning, UNICEF said in a report.

UNITED NATIONS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, 23 countries - home to around 405 million schoolchildren - are yet to fully reopen schools, with many schoolchildren at risk of dropping out, said the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday.

Over the past two years, nearly 147 million children missed more than half of their in-person schooling, amounting to 2 trillion hours of lost learning, UNICEF said in a report called "Are children really learning?"

"When children are not able to interact with their teachers and their peers directly, their learning suffers. When they are not able to interact with their teachers and peers at all, their learning loss may become permanent," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in a press release.

"This rising inequality in access to learning means that education risks becoming the greatest divider, not the greatest equalizer. When the world fails to educate its children, we all suffer."

In addition to data on learning loss, the report points to emerging evidence that shows many children did not return to school when their classrooms reopened.

Students attend an airing lesson in Kampala, Uganda, on Aug. 16, 2021. (Photo by Nicholas Kajoba/Xinhua)

Data from Liberia show 43 percent of students in public schools did not return when schools reopened in December 2020. The number of out-of-school children in South Africa tripled from 250,000 to 750,000 between March 2020 and July 2021. In Uganda, around 1 in 10 schoolchildren did not report back to school in January 2022 after schools were closed for two years. In Malawi, the dropout rate among girls in secondary education increased by 48 percent between 2020 and 2021. In Kenya, a survey of 4,000 adolescents aged 10-19 years found that 16 percent of girls and 8 percent of boys did not return when schools reopened.

Out-of-school children are some of the most vulnerable and marginalized children in society. They are the least likely to be able to read, write or do basic math, and are cut off from the safety net that schools provide, which puts them at an increased risk of exploitation and a lifetime of poverty and deprivation, says the report.

The report highlights that while out-of-school children suffer the most significant loss, pre-pandemic data from 32 countries and territories show a desperately poor level of learning, a situation likely exacerbated by the scale of learning lost to the pandemic.

In the countries analyzed, the current pace of learning is so slow that it would take seven years for most schoolchildren to learn foundational reading skills that should have been grasped in two years, and 11 years to learn foundational numeracy skills, says the report.

A teacher gives a live-streamed lesson via an online class system at Suraomai school amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangkok, Thailand, on Sept. 10, 2021. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

In many cases, there is no guarantee that schoolchildren learned the basics at all. In the 32 countries and territories examined, a quarter of Grade-8 schoolchildren did not have foundational reading skills and more than half did not have numeracy skills expected of a Grade-2 student, it says.

"Even before the pandemic, the most marginalized children were being left behind. As the pandemic enters its third year, we can't afford to go back to 'normal.' We need a new normal: getting children into classrooms, assessing where they are in their learning, providing them with the intensive support they need to recover what they've missed, and ensuring that teachers have the training and learning resources they need. The stakes are too high to do anything less," said Russell. 
Support Staff Demand Raises at Pittsfield School Budget Hearing

PITTSFIELD, Mass.  The Pittsfield Public Schools budget hearing Wednesday was short but had a clear message: support staff want an increase in pay.

The proposed fiscal 2023 budget of $72,398,262 is a 7.56 percent, or $5,086,562, increase from this year. Most of the increase is in contractual obligations.

"The Pittsfield Federation of School Employees are the support staff of the Pittsfield Public Schools, we are the bus drivers and monitors, the cafeteria workers, the custodians, the paraprofessionals, and the educational secretaries that do the hard work behind the scenes to make our school run," Pittsfield High School employee Marcus DuRant said to the School Committee.

"Some 54 years ago, an impoverished group of sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee demanded a living wage and better working conditions from their employer, the city of Memphis, these demands were the culmination of years of suffering under an oppressive and uncaring city administration who viewed their employees and their families through a lens of disdain and disrespect."

"I stand before you this evening and state that the Pittsfield Public Schools are viewing the support staff through this same lens."

DuRant requested that support staff be allocated more than $600,000 over the next three years for wage increases, saying this would not get the employees to a livable wage but would move the needle in the right direction.

He said many support staff work multiple jobs to pay bills and provide their families with the most basic needs and that staffing shortages have made working conditions both unfavorable and unsafe.

"I am certain you understand me when I say the conditions under which we work are the same conditions under which our children learn," DuRant said. "Staffing shortages caused by low pay have led students in our schools being warehoused in auditoriums without teachers or lesson plans with no learning taking place, the current lack of staff dramatically increases the possibility that teachers, support staff, our students, our children will be victims of harassment, intimidation, threats, and physical violence."

He asserted that the School Committee has the money to meet their request.

Capeless Elementary School cook manager Corinne Keegan said she works multiple jobs amounting to 70 hours a week just to pay her bills.

According to the cafeteria staff's 2018-2021 contract, in 2020-2021 cook managers for elementary school started at $15.57 an hour, cook managers for high/middle school at $16.32, bakers at $13.59, and cafeteria helpers at $12.81.

Keegan said her union asked if federal funds could be used to offset losses in pay on two occasions and were told that the monies "can't be used for that."

"The U.S. secretary of education says what you are telling us about the use of the ESSER funds is not true ... it is our families who are already suffering and who have been made to suffer even more," Keegan said.

"Other school districts across the state and our area have used stimulus money to provide bonuses to all their support staff as a sign of appreciation for the difficult work they did keeping your schools open during the pandemic, but not Pittsfield."

The contracts for bus drivers and attendants, cafeteria workers, custodians, and paraprofessionals are in negotiation. Superintendent Joseph Curtis said afterward that because of the negotiations, he could not comment without notifying the union and making a formal statement.

Councilor at Large Karen Kalinowsky, a former student resource officer, called for a decrease in school administrators.

"You have six administrators in every middle and high school, your population has decreased in students in those four schools, I was at [Reid Middle School] when we had over 800 students, you're down to a little over 500 at that same school, that means you have an administrator for less than 100 students," she said.

"Really? How can you give these people a raise? How about getting rid of at least three administrators in each high school and middle school? That will definitely be way over $600,000."

Kalinowsky asserted that the school budget should not be increasing when population is decreasing.

"We have to do something, half of our schools are underperforming," she said. "You have to put the money where? To help these students."

The councilor also highlighted the work of support staff, pointing out that she had to get on a couple of buses as an SRO because of the bad behavior that was occurring.

"You guys really have to think about what we are investing money in," Kalinowsky said. "You're asking a lot this year and I just don't see where that growth is being used wisely."
Williamstown Rural Lands Hires New Executive Director

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  Williamstown Rural Lands (WRL) announced that Robin Sears has been selected as its new Executive Director.

Sears is an interdisciplinary scientist whose previous work at the intersections of forests and people, farming and forestry, and science and policy positions her well to lead WRL.

"I am thrilled to join the community of land stewards here at home after focusing for decades on forest management in the tropics," she said. I look forward to working with Williamstown residents, farmers, and community members to steward the rich natural and cultural assets around us for all to enjoy now and in the future.

Sears has spent much time engaged in field research in rural and wild areas such as the Amazon, the Andes, and

the Himalaya. Sears was recently elected to the Society of Woman Geographers.

Sears is a New England native, growing up in Leverett and completing her Bachelor of Science in botany from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. After two decades working in the international sphere, Sears returned to the Pioneer Valley in 2016 as Visiting Professor of Forestry at Hampshire College.

She deepened her connection to our local landscape during a Charles Bullard Fellowship at the Harvard Forest in 2018, after which she put down roots in Williamstown.

"I mark trees in my mind when I walk around these forests  as future timber, critical wildlife resource, or to be thinned  and consider the full suite of ecosystem services our fields and forests provide," she said.

While at Columbia University, Sears contributed to country-level strategic planning on achieving the Millennium Development Goal 7 on Environmental Sustainability. She shifted to international education and from 2007-2014 as chief academic officer of the School for Field Studies (SFS), which afforded her the opportunity to work with faculty and community leaders in disparate regions of the world. She led the team in establishing the SFS program in Bhutan, where she maintains close contacts.

Sears is currently a Research Affiliate at the Center for International Research and Forestry (CIFOR) and represents North America as a core member of the Forest Ecosystems Specialist Group of IUCN, the International Union for Conservation of

Nature. She plans to leverage those and other links to tie Williamstown Rural Lands to the global community.

"We are excited to bring someone with Robins experience and interests to Rural Lands. Her knowledge, understanding of the local Williamstown area and her warmth and excitement will make her a great new leader, said WRL President Greg Islan.

Sears will work with the WRL staff and board and with community members in the coming months to prepare for a strategic planning process in the fall. You will undoubtedly enjoy interacting with her at Sheep Hill, on the trails, and at the upcoming Sheep-to-Shawl event on May 7.
'Embodied Words: Reading in Medieval Christian Visual Culture' on View at WCMA

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. The Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) presents "Embodied Words: Reading in Medieval Christian Visual Culture," a reinstallation of the museum's medieval gallery.

The exhibit brings together new and past objects from the WCMA collection with a selection of manuscripts from Williams College's Chapin Library.

According to a press release, this ongoing exhibition demonstrates the embodied nature of reading in Christian Europe from the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries, with art from present-day Belgium, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. More than two dozen works on view include several books of hoursornately-decorated personal guides for daily prayerand an antiphonary, a large songbook whose letters are large enough to be seen by many and from a distance. Also on display are paintings and sculptures of saints holding books or texts. Saints, whether male or female, were often depicted with books to represent their understanding of scripture and to signify their power and wealth.

Highlights of the exhibition include two gifts to WCMA from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation Taddeo Gaddi's 14th-century depiction of the prophet Isaiah holding a scroll, and a 15th-century Dutch panel painting depicting the Passion of Christas well as an illuminated Book of Hours (French; 1496) on loan from Williams College's Chapin Library. Visitors to the exhibition are also encouraged to visit the Chapin Library, located on the fourth floor of Sawyer Library, across the street from the museum at 26 Hopkins Hall Drive, where they can see and hold manuscripts and printed books of hours.

Exhibition curator Elizabeth Sandoval, a specialist in medieval art and Curatorial Assistant at WCMA, drew inspiration for this reinterpretation of the collection in part from her 2018 doctoral thesis, "A Material Sign of Self: The Book as Metaphor and Representation in Fifteenth-Century Northern European Art."

"I hope that visitors are surprised by how much our reading practices mirror those from centuries ago in the West, and especially by how rich WCMA's collection is of such minutely detailed, precious medieval artworks," Sandoval said.

In the "Embodied Words" introduction, Sandoval explains that during the Middle Ages, text was not confined to the pages of books but could be found everywhere in homes and public spaces: on paintings, architectural decoration, sculpture, furniture, clothing, jewelry, and bodies. How artists combined text and image informed the reading practices of medieval people.

"Elizabeth's reinterpretation of medieval art in WCMA's collection through the lens of visual culture, and the fundamental role of the written and spoken word, has breathed new life into the gallery space," said Lisa Dorin, Deputy Director for Curatorial Engagement. "We are delighted to collaborate with the Chapin Library to bring these remarkable objects together for museum visitors to appreciate in new ways."
Robert Zukerman and Doug Harris star in 'An Awkward Conversation in the Shadow of Mount Moriah' by John Bavoso. The production is one of 10 10-minute play available for streaming through Barrington Stage Company this weekend.

Berkshires Weekend Outlook for March 31-April 3

Looking for something to do this weekend? iBerkshires offers some ideas and activities for what's looking to be a cool and rainy weekend. Luckily, most of the activities are inside  and even at home.

10x10 New Play Festival

Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield

See Barrington Stage Company's 10x10 New Play Festival this weekend from the comfort of your own home. The festival is streaming on-demand beginning at midnight on Thursday, March 31, through Sunday at 11:59 p.m.

For the price of one ticket at $35 you can watch 10 10-minute plays including two senior citizens who fall in love, the troubles in saying yes to the dress, an erroneous Amazon delivery, and the fallout between Abraham and Isaac over that almost sacrifice.

The shorts are directed by BSC's Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Matthew Penn.

Lonestar with Special Guest Whiskey City

Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield

If you're looking for foot-stomping music, Lonestar appears with popular local band Whiskey City at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield on Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

Band members Dean Sams, Michael Britt, Keech Rainwater, and Drew Womack will be performing all 10 of their chart-topping country hits with a new fresh perspective while still keeping the soul of the music that the fans love.

The Lonestar website quoted Britt as saying, "It was a high wire act trying to figure out how to change it a little bit and not throw people off too much. I've seen bands that when they do the big hits that I know, and they change it up too much, I feel disappointed. I think people want to sing along  the vocal melody is what people really are latching onto the majority of time."

Opening for Lonestar is Whiskey City, consisting of Berkshire County musicians Tim Sears, Dale Zavatter, Jason Webster, Beth Maturevich and Frank Algerio. They have 20 years touring and performing experience covering classic and country rock, and recently released their first CD with a dozen original songs.

Tickets for the show is $55 and up and can be purchased here.

International Slow Art Day

Mass MoCA, North Adams

Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art is holding an International Slow Art Day from noon to 5 on Saturday, during which where visitors will be encouraged to "mindfully experience" the exhibits through a variety of family friendly activities.

The museum says the average person spends 10 seconds in front of a piece of art: "Take a beat, cool your jets, and enjoy slow-looking tours, music and meditation in the galleries, and activities for all ages."

All events are first come, first serve and visitors can pick up the Slow Looking Itinerary in Kidspace

Tours will start at noon in the lobby with a maximum of 15 visitors per group. Visitors will walk through the galleries and contemplate on a single work of art. A guided meditation with Laura Thompson, the director of education and curator of Kidspace, is at 1 p.m. and Linda Sormin will introduce her installation on the idea of slowness at 2 p.m., accompanied by string quartet the Overlook.

Visitors should meet in the lobby at 3:30 to attend a Slow Art Tour on haikus and meditation with poet Colin Harrington.

All Slow Art activities will be free with museum admissions. For more information visit here

First Sunday Free: Photography

Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

The Clark open its doors on Sunday for a day full of free photography-focused activities.

Visitors will get a chance to experience the world renowned galleries and many activities. A pop-up installation on early photography will be accessible in the Manton Research Center Study Center for Works on Paper from 11 a.m. until until 1 p.m.

Artmaking will be held from 1 until 4 in the Clark Center's lower lobby. End the day with a guided hike on the grounds to take pictures and learn best practices for photographing nature from 2:30 until 4 p.m.

It is recommended participants register here for their free tickets prior to the event; there will be a limited amount left for walk-ins. Interested parties can register here

Also on exhibit are "As They Saw It: Artists Witnessing War" through the end of May.

Wining & Dining

Bountifare, Adams

The Adams Lions are hosting a wine and beer tasting with food pairings at the Bountifare in Adams from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday. Tickets are $25 in advance from Adams Lions Club members or at Smith Brothers-McAndrews Insurance agency and $30 at the door if still available. Proceeds will support Lions initiatives, including scholarships, community events, lunch for senior citizens, and assistance to residents who need help with vision and hearing loss-related needs.

Winter Farmers Market

85 Main St., North Adams

The North Adams Farmers Market returns Saturday to 85 Main St. from 9 to 1. The monthly indoor winter market offers baked goods, local maple syrup, cheeses and more.

Maple Syrup Season

Ioka Valley Farm, Hancock

The Calf-A is open at Ioka Valley Farm in Hancock on Route 43 and just minutes from Jiminy Peak Ski Resort. See sap turned into maple syrup then try it on pancakes and waffles in the Calf-A (with a piece of maple ice cream pie for desert).

A Walk in the Woods

Wendling Farm, Oblong Road, Williamstown

Forester Averill Cook leads a tour of the forest and discusses the history of wood use for energy, paper and building materiels beginning at noon.




iciHaiti - PNH : Funeral of police officer Marck Millans Henry





On Tuesday March 29, the funeral of police officer Marck Millans Henry (28), cowardly shot dead by bandits on March 10 in the Canaan area, took place at the Miraculous Medal Catholic Church in Tabarre.



Was present among others at this ceremony, alongside family members and friends grieving by this mourning : senior officers of the National Police of Haiti (PNH) including Inspector General Frederic Leconte, Central Director of the Judicial Police, representing the DG ai of the PNH, the Principal Commissioner Rodrigue Pierre, Head of the Office of Criminal Affairs, police officers from various units including agents of the Brigade for the Fight against Vehicle Theft (BLVV) to which the deceased had been assigned since April 2020, also made the trip to pay a last tribute to their brother in arms.



Chief Commissioner Rodrigue Pierre said "Marck Millians we promise you that your blood will not be shed in vain. The most worthy way to honor your memory is none other than to seek out your attackers and treat them with the greatest rigor laid down by law."



On behalf of the High Command, Divisional Inspector Garry Desrosiers Spokesperson for the PNH, also master of ceremonies, expressed all the words of sympathy to the family, deeply affected by this brutal disappearance.



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iciHaiti - Insecurity : Students spend the night in the premises of the Faculties of the UEH





The Rectorate informs that the competent authorities of the State University of Haiti have been looking for several weeks at the situation of students who, because of insecurity, spend the night in the enclosure of the Faculties https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-36274-haiti-news-zapping.html . "This results in particular in serious problems of hygiene and discomfort, not to mention the negative effects on academic results. The Faculties are not equipped to accommodate these students.



"As soon as the phenomenon appeared in its current dimension, the General Secretariats of all the entities were contacted (letter of January 14, 2022. Ref.: SG/UEH 22240) with a view to contributing to the establishment of a state of places.



"Meetings have been organized at the level of the University Council, the Council of Deans and the Executive Council on this subject. The various structures mobilized have recognized the urgency of finding a rapid solution to this problem, while avoiding favoring hasty approaches, likely to aggravate the phenomenon and which could prove to be counterproductive.



Steps have been taken with various national institutions with a view to finding a lasting and structuring solution, in accordance with the interests of the students concerned and the entire university community.



The Rectorate hopes to be able to announce the results of these steps in the coming days."



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VIENNA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, announced on Thursday that it would stick to existing plans for modest oil production increases in May despite surging crude prices.

The oil alliance reconfirmed "the decision to adjust upward the monthly overall production by 432,000 barrels per day for the month of May 2022," according to a statement released after the 27th OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting.

So far, OPEC+ has added 400,000 barrels per day at the start of each month, according to its schedule of gradual output increases agreed in July 2021 to offset production cuts made at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The OPEC+ statement said the slight output boost in May is due to adjusted baseline production levels, which were also agreed upon by its members last July.

The alliance also noted in the statement that the current volatility in the oil market is caused by geopolitical developments rather than changes in market fundamentals.

"Continuing oil market fundamentals and the consensus on the outlook pointed to a well-balanced market," it said.

Oil prices have jumped to multi-year highs in recent weeks on the back of global demand recovery and fears about supply disruptions due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Major oil-consuming nations including the United States, Britain and Germany have recently called on the OPEC+ countries to further boost their production targets to rein in soaring prices. However, key members such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have rejected such calls and reiterated their commitment to the OPEC+ mechanism.

OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo on Wednesday urged OPEC+ to "stay the course" on the alliance's decisions, remain attentive to changing market conditions and keep the focus on balancing the market.

Barkindo also called on global leaders to uphold multilateralism to ensure "unhindered, stable and secure" energy flow to the global market. 
Name: Jacob Ansari

Organisation: Schellman Compliance, LLC

Job title: CISO

Date started current role: January 2021

Location: Racine, WI

Jacob Ansari is the CISO for Schellman & Company, LLC, where he oversees the information security program. Ansari was previously a Senior Manager with Schellman and the technical for the PCI practice where he managed assessments, provided technical and standards expertise, mentored and trained other assessors, and provided strategic leadership for the practice. Ansaris information security career spans 20 years, with deep expertise in information security assessment, consulting, and compliance services.

What was your first job? In high school, I had a summer job as a sysadmins lackey, configuring Windows workstations (mostly Windows 3.1), installing engineering software, running backup processes, and the like. My first real job out of college was as a consultant in an information security practice for primarily financial institutions.

How did you get involved in cybersecurity? In college, working as system admin in our computing centre cultivated my interest in information security, and I started with reading about the topic, doing basic tasks like patch management on a variety of Unix machines, and learning how to read log files.

What was your education? Do you hold any certifications? What are they? My BS is in Computer Engineering, which has served me very well. Even twenty-odd years later, I still make use of knowledge I learned in computer architecture, networking, and programming courses. I have an MS in Information Assurance, which has taught me how to articulate complex security concepts to nontechnical audiences very well. I have a CISSP and several PCI-related credentials. I also recently obtained a CPA.

Explain your career path. Did you take any detours? If so, discuss. In some respects, becoming a CISO has been the detour. Ive been working in professional services performing security assessments for my entire career until the beginning of 2021. But in late 2020, an opportunity to become our companys first CISO arose, and I discovered that I was more ready than I realised to reinvent myself and do something new.

Was there anyone who has inspired or mentored you in your career? Ive had a few good mentors along the way. My first manager at my first consulting job was an excellent mentor remains my friend and someone I look up to even as he and I have moved through our careers on very different trajectories.

What do you feel is the most important aspect of your job? For our organisation, its getting in front of new initiatives and making sure we implement good underlying security practice that coheres with the rest of the organisation. Many of our service delivery and our operations people have a lot of infosec knowledge and act conscientiously, but very often independently of one another. Applying consistent practices and thinking is the tricky part.

What metrics or KPIs do you use to measure security effectiveness? A lot of the security role is completing tasks on schedule: review of policies, management of vulnerabilities, conducting risk assessments, meeting audit schedules. Those are more-or-less quantitative and comparatively easy to track. Measuring qualitative elements, like the effectiveness of security awareness training or of incident response plans is much harder.

Is the security skills shortage affecting your organisation? What roles or skills are you finding the most difficult to fill? Im currently looking for people with very specific audit and technology know-how and those would be hard to find in any market.

Cybersecurity is constantly changing  how do you keep learning? Its important to stay constantly curious about new attacks or technologies and keep reading about them. Some days, I have a hard time keeping that part of my brain sharp, when there are suppliers to onboard and vulnerability reports to review and nonstop meetings all day, but having a wide reading list of sites and publications and staying interested in relevant events remains essential.

What conferences are on your must-attend list? I used to attend the hacker cons that ran over weekends, but those are very unpopular with everyone else that lives in my house. Right now, RSAC is top of my list, but Id like to explore a few others.

What is the best current trend in cybersecurity? The worst? The recent Microsoft threat report, in its conclusion section reiterated the idea of doing the basics well. So many organisations struggle with patch management, secure remote access, good design patterns in software security, and meaningful incident response. Focusing on those will go a long way to mitigating even sophisticated modern attacks. The worst maybe doesnt seem like a trend but is some version of despair that usually frames itself as if an attacker can do x, then youre already in bad shape and whats the point of anything else? and then sort of giving up on the problem.

What's the best career advice you ever received? I think this is an amalgam of different advice accreted over the years, but it boils down to just because something is a security product or service doesnt mean it lacks security flaws or issues. Reminding myself of that has saved my hide too many times to count.

What advice would you give to aspiring security leaders? Learn the right mix of courtesy and relentlessness. A lot of the job of information security is getting into other peoples business, and you want to do so respectfully and with minimal disruption. That said, dont settle for stay in your lane pushback. As a security officer your lane is everyone elses lane. Insist on understanding how other teams handle data and manage risk and insist on having them follow good security practice.

What has been your greatest career achievement? Advocating for the creation of a CISO role where none existed before and then leveraging my experience as a security assessor to assume that role might be it, but I hope Im not done just yet.

Looking back with 20:20 hindsight, what would you have done differently? If anything, I would have advocated for a CISO role at my current organisation earlier and made this move a little sooner.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi presides over the meeting of foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 30, 2022. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and acting Foreign Minister of the Afghan Interim Government Amir Khan Muttaqi attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

HEFEI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Under the current circumstances, China, Afghanistan and Pakistan should restart the trilateral cooperation mechanism and advance cooperation in the areas of politics, development and security, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday.

Wang made the remarks when holding the meeting of foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and acting Foreign Minister of the Afghan Interim Government Amir Khan Muttaqi attended the meeting.

Wang called on the three parties to build tripartite political mutual trust, support each other's core concerns and safeguard common interests.

The three parties should strengthen practical cooperation, promote the extension of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to Afghanistan, and help Afghanistan participate in regional interconnection, Wang stressed.

Wang also suggested that China, Afghanistan and Pakistan enhance anti-terrorism cooperation, eradicate the breeding ground of terrorism and achieve long-term stability in the region.

Qureshi said the Pakistani side supports Afghanistan in strengthening contacts with the world, adding that Pakistan is ready to continue to help Afghanistan improve people's livelihood.

Afghan frozen overseas assets should be returned immediately, Qureshi stressed.

For his part, Muttaqi said the Afghan side understands the international community's concern about the rights and interests of women and children, especially girls' education, and will promote it actively and step by step. The interim government has never banned girls from going to school and has reopened 60 percent of schools so far.

The Afghan side is willing to once again solemnly promise to China and Pakistan and the whole world that terrorists will never be allowed to use the Afghan territory to harm the interests and citizens of other countries, Muttaqi stressed.

Muttaqi thanked China and Pakistan for providing invaluable support for Afghanistan's development and reconstruction. Afghanistan is unwilling to rely on charitable assistance for a long time and hopes to strengthen the tripartite cooperation and actively participate in the joint construction of the Belt and Road.

The three parties also agreed to hold a formal dialogue among the foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in due course. 

Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi presides over the meeting of foreign ministers of China, Afghanistan and Pakistan in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 30, 2022. Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi and acting Foreign Minister of the Afghan Interim Government Amir Khan Muttaqi attended the meeting. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)
At least four news broadcasters have been taken off air, eight media workers arrested, and two media houses shuttered by the Taliban since March 26, amid a wide-reaching ban on foreign media. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its Afghanistan affiliate, the Afghanistan National Journalists' Union (ANJU), call for the immediate release of the detained journalists and the retraction of all arbitrary restrictions on both national and international media with the intention of stifling press freedom.

BBC News, VoA, DW, and CGTN were taken off air in Afghanistan following a new crackdown by the Taliban on foreign media.

On March 27, the BBC revealed that its news bulletins in Persian, Pashto and Uzbek languages were taken off air after their local partners were ordered to remove all international broadcasters from Afghanistans airwaves by the Taliban. According to the BBC, its Persian television channel can still be accessed via satellite.

This is a worrying development at a time of uncertainty and turbulence for the people of Afghanistan. More than six million Afghans consume the BBCs independent and impartial journalism on TV every week, and it is crucial that they are not denied access to it, Tarik Kafala, head of languages at the BBC World Services said in a statement.

The same day, Voice of America (VoA), an American broadcaster that airs a half-hour news bulletin in Pashto and Dari languages, was barred from broadcasting its program produced for Afghan partners TOLOnews and Shamshad TV.

The Talibans ban also extended to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW), which announced that its political talk show "Aashti" in Dari and Pashto would no longer run from March 28, and the Chinese state-run China Global Television Network (CGTN). The crackdown on foreign broadcasters follows the Talibans ban on foreign television programs earlier this month.

The Taliban have also targeted journalists, with more than eight arrested in two days. On March 26, Mirwais Atal, director of Zema Radio in Kandahar was detained for unknown reasons. According to the Afghan Journalists Centre (AJC), he has now been released. Sarwar Hashemi, a Salam Watandar journalist, was also detained by the Taliban for six hours while he was covering a protest program by womens group on March 26.

On March 28, Radio Millat Zhaghs news manager, Farid Alizai, the producer Rahimullah Noori, technical chief Mahmood Mehraban, and another staff member from Radio Saangi, were detained by Taliban militants. on March 28. Officials confirmed that a further two staff members from Radio Zema and Radio Tabasum were also arrested for unknown reasons.

Following the journalists arrests on March 28, the Taliban ordered two radio broadcasters, Radio Millat Zhagh and Radio Saangi, to suspend operations and shutdown.

According to a survey conducted by ANJU across 33 of Afghanistans provinces, a total of 318 media have closed since the Taliban came to power in August 2021. Only 305 of the 623 media organisations active before the beginning of the Taliban regime are still operating.

ANJU said: After the de facto authorities took power, the Taliban regime not only created media restrictions and violence against journalists but also closed the international broadcasting media outlets in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the de facto authorities imposed censorship and threats on national media outlets. Thus, ANJU condemn the de facto authoritys decision on closing the international media outlets operation in Afghanistan.

The IFJ said: The Talibans intensifying vilification of Afghanistans journalists, media workers, and media organisations is deeply concerning, with press freedom in the country reaching another alarming low. The IFJ calls for the immediate release of all detained media personnel and the reinstatement of all broadcasters and media organisations affected by the Talibans new media restrictions. The Taliban must immediately cease its intimidation of Afghanistans media.
Workers of the four public media organisations in Tunisia, the national TV, national radio, Tunis Africa news agency (TAP) and the publishing house La Presse will take part in the one-day strike in protest against an increasingly difficult situation for the free exercise of their work.

IFJ affiliate SNJT condemned the Tunisian presidents attempts to control state-owned media and the arrest of journalist Khalifa Al-Qasimi for refusing to reveal his sources to authorities. His arrest sparked demonstrations by a large part of the Tunisian media sector.

Tunisia has become an authoritarian state that jails and intimidates journalists, Mohamed Yassine Jelassi, SNJT President, said to the media.

Other SNJT senior officials referred to Tunisian state TV as a propaganda trumpet for the president and denounced an alleged ban on state television hosting opposition figures in political debates.

The SNJT demands include:

To appoint directors for the national TV, radio and Tunisian newsagency according to law decree 116 of 2011, which guarantees the independence of the public media from political control.

To end the pressure on the editorial line of the national TV and maintain its political independence as a public service media.

To put into effect all previously signed agreements with the SNJT covering improvement of journalists' social and professional rights.

To put forward an immediate plan to save La Press, which is facing imminent closure.

To cancel all disciplinary and retaliatory actions taken by the acting director of the national TV against journalists and union activists, which are direct attacks on the union and the right to unionise.

The commitment of the government to allocate sufficient resources that allow these media to continue producing high-quality journalism content that serves the public interest.

To publish the text of the Media Framework Agreement in the national journal according to the final ruling of the Tunisian administrative court.

IFJ General Secretary, Anthony Bellanger, said: Freedom of speech and media was a key gain for Tunisians after 2011. Today we sadly see these fundamental rights are at serious risk. We stand in solidarity with Tunisian public media workers and fully support their demands for an independent, strong and public service oriented state-owned media in Tunisia.
Alibaba Cloud, the digital technology and intelligence backbone of Alibaba Group, has announced that its solutions will enable Binangonan Rural Bank (BRB)  the first rural bank in the Philippines to launch e-money issuance operations - to reach more of the countrys unbanked through cloud infrastructure solutions and digital technologies.

Allen Guo, Country Manager for the Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence and Alfonso Huang, President of E-pon sign the agreement for the launch of Binangonan Rural Banks E-pon digital app

Together with local partner Unicloud Technology, Alibaba Cloud will offer its Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) system, underpinned by robust computing and AI capabilities, to host BRBs E-Money digital app dubbed E-pon. The move to digitalization will enable BRB to effectively scale its online payment operations and deliver increased flexibility based on their users demands, in a secure and cost-effective way.

BRB will also leverage a series of innovative cloud-based FinTech products from Alibaba Cloud and Ant Group, including the eKYC (Electronic Know Your Customer) solution and Mobile-Platform-as-a Service (mPaas). This will digitalize its identity verification process and other mobile payment operations.

E-money makes it possible for more people to engage in financial transactions online, especially in the new normal. By leveraging Alibaba Clouds IT infrastructure and innovative Fintech products, we will be able to provide more unbanked and underserved Filipinos with convenient access to financial services, said Alfonso Huang, President of Epon from BRB.

We are honored to support BRBs digitalization journey with our proven expertise in the fintech industry. We are keen on providing cloud computing solutions to support more Philippine Fintech companies to bolster financial inclusivity in the country while bringing seamless and convenient digital experiences to local consumers, said Allen Guo, Country Manager for the Philippines, Alibaba Cloud Intelligence.

With a local data center launched in the Philippines last year, Alibaba Cloud is able to provide high availability and strengthen disaster recovery capabilities for local customers, like BRB. They will be able to enjoy more reliable cloud services and allow end users to have lower latency, added Guo.

As the leading public cloud service provider in Asia Pacific, Alibaba Cloud is one of the founding members of the FinTech Alliance of the Philippines, offering its expertise in cloud technology to provide appropriate solutions, including elastic compute, database, security, storage and network services and machine learning and data analytics capabilities, to address issues and challenges in the sector.
The Small Business Administration's Community Advantage pilot program is getting an upgrade.

In a joint announcement today, Vice President Kamala Harris and SBA administrator Isabel Guzman signaled key changes to the loan program, initialized in during the Obama administration to help improve access to SBA programs, among community lending partners including Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), Community Development Companies (CDCs), and micro-lenders.

Designed to meet the credit, management, and technical assistance needs of small businesses in underserved markets, the SBA's Community Advantage pilot loan program was originally set to expire in September 2022. After today's announcement, the program's new sunset date is September 30, 2024.

Business owners applying for 7(a) working capital loans through the community institutions will receive up to $350,000, up from $250,000. They will be able to access up to $50,000 in unsecured loans, up from $25,000. The reforms will also let lenders and other institutions make available revolving lines of credit, interest-only periods, and other loan modifications to provide more capital options for those who need it. Former restrictions that kept individuals with criminal backgrounds from accessing these programs will also be lifted.

"America's mission-driven lenders have been a critical partner to the SBA in getting much-needed financial relief to underserved businesses throughout the Covid pandemic. Scaling the SBA's Community Advantage pilot program will help us build on that momentum," said Guzman in a press release.

The changes will be effective 30 days after publication of this notice in the Federal Register, which is expected early next month, according to the SBA. Borrowers can already apply for regular 7(a) and 504 loans for up to $5 million through existing program lenders, some of which are Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) and credit unions, institutions that tend to cater to founders in underrepresented communities.
Kent Lewis, an Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) member in Portland, Oregon, is the founder and CEO of digital marketing agency Anvil Media. Kent's company recently merged with Deksia, the marketing firm of EO member Aaron VanderGalien in Michigan. We asked Kent about his journey toward the merger, and how leaders can ensure a positive experience in their exit or growth strategy.

When I founded my digital marketing agency in October 2000, mergers and acquisitions were the furthest things from my mind. I joined EO in 2007 to refine my business skills, not knowing that the connections I made would provide a critical foundation for a future merger.

In late 2020, I connected with Aaron VanderGalien, a fellow EO member and CEO of a Michigan-based marketing firm. We hit it off, but neither of us was ready to take the next step. That changed officially on March 1, 2022, when we merged our agencies to form a superagency.

Here are five critical lessons I learned from the experience of merging our companies:

Define Your Ideal Partner

As early as 2005, I entertained my first acquisition offer from an interactive agency in Seattle. Since then, I've had a half dozen casual conversations, but most didn't progress far. In 2019, I backed out of an acquisition due to fit and decided to consider a future deal only if the cultural fit was ideal. I determined that an ideal partner would value my team and clients yet provide complementary services, talent, and culture. In short, a strategic acquisition (or merger). Once you identify key criteria of an ideal target partner, you're more likely to recognize them when you see them. It worked well. Aaron said it best: "Our goal is to create a multiplier effect by taking the best of both agencies to create a true competitive edge and greater value for shareholders."

Get the Numbers Out of the Way

The second lesson I learned was to share my "magic number" early in the conversation, to save everyone's time. Getting to "no" quickly can be useful, especially for a smaller business like mine (under 12 employees), where distraction is costly. Eighteen months ago, when I first talked with Aaron, I was struck by his positivity, creativity, and intelligence. More importantly, he didn't flinch when I shared my target number. Instead, we kicked around ideas and agreed to sign an NDA so he could review our financials. From there, we talked numbers, but the timing wasn't quite right, so we both moved on. I had conversations with other investors, but I realized I was using the Deksia deal as the gold standard. No other agency was as complementary in terms of service mix, geography, and, importantly, interest in my passion for being a thought leader.

Be Patient

The next insight relates to patience and perseverance. Over the following year, Aaron texted to check in on my company and family. I appreciated the gesture. Six months ago, he surprised me with a phone call expressing serious interest in merging, as the timing was good. Both of our agencies had strong years, so we were each in an advantageous position to explore a deal. Aaron sharpened his pencil to structure a deal that would work for both parties. Once we agreed on basic terms, we moved to due diligence. I saved all essential documents to Google Drive, so he and his team could review the information, minimizing distraction on my part. While we could have done the deal more quickly than the six-month timeframe, we delayed the process to explore alternative financing and deal structure options -- which proved to be very worthwhile in terms of tax benefits.

Evaluate Fit

Once we'd locked down the deal framework, Aaron suggested that I attend his team's quarterly all-hands meeting in Chicago. Over a two-day period, I met and spoke with every team member and knew quickly that these were my people. I'd met "Anvil East" and knew the deal needed to happen. Key members of the Deksia team also flew to Portland the day before the deal to meet the team and finalize the paperwork. It allowed my team to get to know the key players in the organization they'd soon be joining, ask questions, and process the momentous news. We spent the week mapping our integration strategy. In the service business, culture is everything, because your product is your people.

Minimize Risk
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese military spokesperson on Thursday said that militarization of the South China Sea should not be blamed on China, but on the United States.

Wu Qian, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks when commenting on relevant military activities by the U.S. side on the South China Sea.

Wu said that China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters, and its deployment of necessary defense facilities is not only the legitimate right of a sovereign state, but also in full compliance with relevant international law and practice.

Facts have proven that the U.S. side is the biggest instigator of the militarization of the South China Sea, and the biggest destroyer and troublemaker to the regional peace and stability, he added.

Wu also mentioned that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the issuance of the Shanghai Communique. "We hope the U.S. side will work with China to draw experience and wisdom from history, and steer the relations between the two countries and two militaries back to the right track of healthy and steady development as soon as possible, so as to make greater contributions to world peace and stability." 
Should the Supreme Court overturn Roe vs. Wade and allow states to make their own abortion laws? Let us know in this week's poll question below.

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www.indiainfoline.com is part of the IIFL Group, a leading financial services player and a diversified NBFC. The site provides comprehensive and real time information on Indian corporates, sectors, financial markets and economy. On the site we feature industry and political leaders, entrepreneurs, and trend setters. The research, personal finance and market tutorial sections are widely followed by students, academia, corporates and investors among others.
Switzerland-based CARBOGEN AMCIS, a pharmaceutical process development and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) manufacturing company has announced that Pascal Villemagne has been named Chief Executive Officer, effective first of April, 2022.In his new role, Pascal Villemagne will be leading CARBOGEN AMCIS and its nine sites around the world. He will report to Arpit Vyas, Global Managing Director of Dishman Carbogen Amcis Ltd ., CARBOGEN AMCIS parent company. Villemagne, who has served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing for CARBOGEN AMCIS for the past 11 years, replaces Mark Griffiths who announced his decision to retire.We are delighted that Pascal will be transitioning to this new position, commented Arpit Vyas, Global Managing Director of Dishman Carbogen Amcis Ltd. As head of sales and marketing, Pascal has contributed greatly to the companys growth in recent years and he is well positioned to drive our team forward to further success.With tremendous joy, I congratulate Pascal, for all his achievements, including and especially, for finding and accepting this Exciting role of his Life and Career, within Our Family. I have nothing but, confidence, trust and belief in him, to lead the way towards an exciting Future.Before joining CARBOGEN AMCIS, Villemagne has had several experiences in the life science industry, amassed while serving in a variety of commercial leadership roles such as Vice President, Contract Manufacturing, at Farmhispania, an API contract manufacturing company based in Spain, Sales and Business Development Manager at Inabata and at Cambrex, as well as Raw Material Purchasing Manager at Sanofi-Aventis.CARBOGEN AMCIS is a major player and one of the leaders of the current CDMO in our industry, and this is the result of the engagement, hard work and expertise of its employees, said Villemagne That is why I am thrilled and especially proud to take over as CEO of CARBOGEN AMCIS. The company has grown significantly in the past years, and I look forward to continuing our successful journey together. I believe we have the best team to support us in our mission.It is with mixed emotions that, after a 40-year career, including 21 years with CARBOGEN AMCIS, I have decided to retire, said Griffiths. It has been a privilege to work with this highly talented and motivated group. I would like to thank all of the employees for their commitment to each other and the company; it has enabled us to overcome many challenges over the years and I feel proud to have been part of that. I wish Pascal all the best in his new role and I have full confidence in his leadership.I would like to recognize Marks hard work and achievements at the helm of CARBOGEN AMCIS, said Vyas. Mark has been an incredible leader and has contributed to the successful development of our company and I would like to thank him for his trust and commitment. 21 years of association and loyalty with a single Company is, as inspiring as it is, honourable, for the people and for the Company, likewise and respectively. We are nothing but and will, be grateful. We congratulate Mark and with all the best of wishes for all your future endeavours.CARBOGEN AMCIS will preserve full operational continuity during the transition and Griffiths will be available to provide guidance on matters related to the company until August 5, 2022.On Thursday at around 12:46 PM, Dishman Carbogen Amcis was trading at Rs184.70 apiece down by Rs5.7 or 2.99% on Sensex.
1. 'Still Processing', Chris Rock Gets Standing Ovation At First Comedy Show After Oscars Slapgate

Indiatimes

Three days after the incident, Chris Rock performed at Ego Death World Tour. As he arrived on stage, he got applause from the Boston audience. He was seemingly embarrassed by the multiple standing ovations he got.

2. 'Had Only Rs 50,000 In Account', Arjun Bijlani Shares He Had Decided To Abort His First Child

Indiatimes

"Humari shaadi jab hui, 1 saal hi hua tha jab humein pata chala ki shes pregnant. Wo 1-1.5 saal hai na main kaam nahi kar raha tha us time par. To obviously bachche ki ek bahut badi responsibility hoti hai, to hum us cheez ko aage nahi le jate."

3. 'Dance Of Dragons Begins', Fans Are Elated As HBO Announces Game Of Thrones Prequel Release Date

YouTube

Daenerys and her brother, Viserys, are the last remaining of the Targaryen clan in Game Of Thrones. While Viserys sells her sister off like a slave to Khal Drogo, he is eventually killed by him in the episode titled 'The Golden Crown'. After Khal Drogo's sudden death, Daenerys ends up raising a huge army and fighting for the Iron Throne.



4. Kareena Kapoor Quips Saif Ali Khan Had 'A Child Every Decade', Says It Won't Happen In His 60s

AFP

Reacting to the same, Kareena Kapoor in an interview with Vogue said that, "I've told him, in your sixties, thats not happening".

5. The Kashmir Files Cleared For Release In UAE With Zero Cuts, Vivek Agnihotri Says 'Big Victory'

Zee

The filmmaker wrote on Twitter, "BIG VICTORY: FINALLY, got the censor clearance from UAE. Rated 15+ passed without any cuts. Releasing on 7th April (Thursday). Now, Singapore. (Thanks Sanu for this portrait)."

(For more news and updates from the world of celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment, and let us know your thoughts on this story in the comments below.)


In a tragic incident, a man in Lahore has been arrested after allegedly strangling his pregnant wife to death for using the Aurat March slogan, 'Mera Jism, Meri Marzi (my body, my choice), Friday Times reported.

The police have identified the man as Allah Dutta from the Shalimar area in Lahore. He reportedly became enraged after his 28-year-old wife used the phrase 'Mera Jism, Meri Marzi', a popular slogan chanted during the Aurat March.

AFP

"Tried to cover up crime"

After the murder, the man reportedly tried to cover up his crime by trying to stage it as an accident. However, he confessed to his wife's murder during police interrogation, according to Geo News.

Couple had four children

The couple got married four years ago, and had four children. Every year, the Aurat March faces backlash from religious quarters who view the movement as an affront to Islamic principles and female modesty.

Agencies

This year, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Noorul Haq Qadri, wrote to Prime Minister Imran Khan, requesting him to ban the women's march, as he claimed the event "ridicules, diminishes and minimises Islamic laws, social mores, decency, or purdah or hijab".

This year, too, as in previous years, the Aurat March in both Islamabad and Lahore had to be curtailed early due to threats of violence from opposing factions, including the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) in Islamabad.

What is Aurat March?

The Aurat March is an annual socio-political demonstration in Pakistani cities such as Lahore, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Faisalabad, Multan, Quetta, Karachi, Islamabad and Peshawar to observe International Women's Day.

AFP

The first march was held on 8 March 2018 in Karachi. Since 2018, Pakistani feminists have been organising large public demonstrations for Womens Day, dubbed the Aurat March (using the Urdu for woman).



For more on news and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.






DAKAR, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A toll bridge spanning a local river in Senegal is believed to be the longest of the kind in West Africa.

The 1,600m steel bridge was financed by Senegal and China through the Export-Import Bank of China and built by a Chinese company in four years.

A special ceremony was arranged Saturday, with Senegalese President Macky Sall attending, to celebrate the commissioning.

The bridge was completed late last year and its construction had created 2,000 jobs.

According to a local resident, travel time across the river has been reduced from at least an hour to a few minutes.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service








Weddings are never short of drama, but a mass brawl during that special day is not something one would expect. However, this chaotic incident did occur during a wedding in Scotland.

A wedding in Scotland's West Lothian turned into an absolute disaster after a mass brawl erupted which saw the bride attack her own mother with a stiletto, The Sun reported.

Vic Rodrick

The chaos resulted in the bride and groom spending their first night as a married couple behind bars after their big day turned sour.



The couple were arrested alongside the best man over a fight that kicked off after bride Claire Goodbrand attacked her mother Cherry-Ann Lindsay with her shoe.

The Groom, Eamonn Goodbrand, and his brother Kieran, who was also his best man, then joined the brawl and assaulted Linday's partner, David Boyd, leaving him severely injured.

Facebook

The chaos erupted as family and friends celebrated the couples marriage at Bathgate, in West Lothian.



Police were called and the bride, groom and best man, were arrested and held in custody.

The bride, groom and best man all pleaded guilty to assault and injury charges at court.

The newly married couple spent their wedding night in separate cells before appearing at Livingston Sheriff Court.

Lindsay has since said the attack at the hands of her daughter left her fearing for her life.



"Claire dragged me by the hair for about two feet and she was hitting me with her shoe. She then grabbed me and put me in a choke hold. I couldnt breathe. I thought I was going to die," she told The Sun.

I could hear Yvonne [a family friend] shouting, Claire, let go of your mum. Youre going to kill her. She later told me she felt terrible pulling my daughters hair. But she said: I had to because if I hadnt dragged her off she would have killed you,'" she added.

Representational Image/iStock

They couple returned to court this week when first offender Claire admitted seizing her mums hair and punching and kicking her on the head and body.



She also admitted punching and kicking her whilst she was on the ground, striking her on the head with a shoe and seizing her by the neck and restricting her breathing.

Eamonn and Kieran both pled guilty to punching and kicking David, pushing their thumbs into his eyes, biting him and seizing him by the neck.



For more trending stories, click here.
DHAKA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Bangladeshis in the eastern Chinese province of Jiangxi said China makes them feel safe with prompt measures to control the Delta and Omicron variants of COVID-19 this month.

Some 100 Bangladeshis still live in Jiangxi even though many from Bangladesh left the province when the pandemic began.

"As though we are in lockdown, but we are safe and warm," Mohammad Akbar Hossen, a Bangladeshi student at Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, was quoted as saying in a recent report by The Business Standard, a Bangladeshi English newspaper.

"The Chinese government has taken the 'Zero Covid Policy' of prevention and control measures, which is good, really good decision. I appreciate the great work done by the university and the leaders of the People's Republic of China," said the student.

Another Bangladeshi student from East China Jiaotong University, Md Abir Hossan, told the Bangladeshi business daily that "I really want to thank the Chinese government and my university for taking some important steps to fight against the pandemic. These important steps make me feel that I am living in one of the safest countries in the world."

The student said that "The most impressive thing was the humanity of the Chines people. I have learned from this pandemic that if we want to recover from some bad things we have to work together." 
Infowars host Alex Jones offered to pay $120,000 per plaintiff to resolve a lawsuit by relatives of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims who said he defamed them by asserting the massacre never happened, according to court filings Tuesday. The offer was quickly rejected by the families.

A Connecticut judge found Jones liable for damages in November, and a trial is planned to determine how much he should pay the families.

The plaintiffs said they have been subjected to harassment and death threats from Jones followers because of the hoax conspiracy promoted on his show.

The court filings posted online said: Mr. Jones extends his heartfelt apology for any distress his remarks caused.

Last week Jones defied a court order to attend a deposition near his home in Austin, Texas, to provide testimony ahead of the trial. Jones said he was ill. A hearing is scheduled for Wednesday on a request by the plaintiffs to sanction Jones for not cooperating.

Lawyers for the families rejected the settlement offer within a few hours, saying in court filings that it was a transparent and desperate attempt by Alex Jones to escape a public reckoning under oath with his deceitful, profit-driven campaign against the plaintiffs and the memory of their loved ones lost at Sandy Hook.

Twenty first graders and six educators were killed in the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. The families of eight of the victims and an FBI agent who responded to the school sued Jones, Infowars and others in Connecticut over the hoax conspiracy. Jones has since said he believes the shooting did occur.

Jones also was found liable for damages in similar lawsuits filed in Texas by relatives of Sandy Hook victims, and also faces trial later this year.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Connecticut officials said they were monitoring a cyberattack Tuesday that attempted to crash the website of Bradley International Airport but had no impact on operations.

The Connecticut Airport Authority, which oversees Connecticuts largest airport in Windsor Locks north of Hartford, said there was a distributed denial-of-service attack on the website.

The website is currently live and there is no data breach, the authority said in a statement. The incident is isolated to the website only and there is no impact to airport operations.

The agency declined to release other details of the attack.

Distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks have been an increasing problem around the world, targeting government, education and private-sector websites and equipment. They involve multiple machines operating together to attack one target, often through the use of botnets  groups of hijacked devices connected to the internet, according to the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Cyber Aviation Connecticut
Beazley has restructured its underwriting team with the creation of four new divisions: Specialty Risks, Cyber Risks, MAP Risks and Property Risks. The divisions will be interconnected, able to operate at scale, and will generate efficiencies and deliver innovation that will benefit Beazleys clients and brokers, the company said in a statement.

Specialty Riskscreated with the merger of executive risks, M&A and specialty lines. The new division will be led by Bethany Greenwood. James Eaton will support the transition in advance of his announced retirement in December 2022.

Cyber Risksnow a standalone division headed by Paul Bantick, who joins Beazleys executive committee.

MAP Risksbrings together Beazleys political, accident and contingency, market facilities, marine and aviation businesses and will be headed by Tim Turner.

Property Riskssees the alignment of Beazleys property and treaty reinsurance underwriting, allowing Beazley to leverage data tools, future modeling techniques and build the expertise needed to effectively underwrite climate change risk as it evolves. The division will be led by Richard Montminy.

We have bold ambitions to grow our business across all key business lines and the changes we are announcing today position us to seize the opportunities both now and in the future, commented Adrian Cox, CEO of Beazley.

We operate in an uncertain and complex risk environment, and it is our responsibility to do the right thing, supporting our clients to navigate through by offering relevant insurance solutions and capacity, matched by first-rate risk management and loss prevention strategies, he added. The senior leaders of these new divisions are renowned experts in their fields, and I would like to thank them and the whole Beazley team for their continued dedication to achieving our goals.

Biographies

Bethany Greenwood, global head of Specialty Risks, has more than two decades of experience in financial and specialty lines. As a broker with Marsh, she rose to head the FINPRO team in the West Zone. Joining Beazley in 2019 as head of Executive Risks, she was promoted to group head of Cyber and Executive Risks in 2020 and in 2021 served as interim group CUO for long-tail business.

Paul Bantick, global head of Cyber Risks, is a 20-plus-year industry veteran. Starting at Wellington Underwriting, he rose to an executive director position at Willis Towers Watson before joining Beazley in 2005 to underwrite privacy and security risks. He was promoted to focus group leader Cyber and Technology in 2007 and global head of Cyber in 2020.

Tim Turner, global head of MAP Risks, has over 20 years experience in the maritime industry and is an experienced Hull & War underwriter and a former deputy chair of Lloyds Joint War Committee. He has been with Beazley since 1998, joining the executive committee in 2018 as group head of Marine. In 2021, he served as interim CUO for short-tail business.

Richard Montminy, global head of Property Risks, has more than three decades of experience in the commercial property insurance market. He joined Beazley in 2019 from Zurich North America, where he was head of property for the U.S. commercial insurance operation. Before that, he held a variety of broking and leadership roles at Marsh and what is now FM Global.

Source: Beazley

This article first was published in Insurance Journals sister publication, Carrier Management.

Topics Underwriting
The Ukrainian government has asked international marine insurers to stop all dealings with shipping companies carrying Russian fossil fuels in a bid to intensify pressure on Vladimir Putins regime.

Oleg Ustenko, Chief Economic Advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, urged a group of shipping insurance specialists to withdraw coverage in a bid to reduce cash flowing into Russia from international buyers of its energy.

On behalf of President Zelenskiy, and the Ukrainian people, in this existential moment for our nation, were asking you to terminate all business dealings with the Russian fossil fuel industry, to cut off the flow of cash which is financing the mass murder of innocent people, Ustenko said in a letter dated March 24. Ustenko confirmed the contents of the letter to Bloomberg News.

The letter was sent to the International Group of P&I Clubs, a collection of insurance associations which say they provide marine liability coverage for around 90% of sea-bound cargo. The clubs members have insured 363 vessels carrying oil, gas and coal from Russian ports since the invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24, the letter said.

Russias fossil fuel sales remain a key source of foreign capital for its government, although dozens of international countries have said they will work towards reducing or stopping imports to further squeeze Putins regime.

An insurance boycott would not stop tanker owners, Nick Shaw, chief executive officer of the International Group of P&I Clubs, said in a reply seen by Bloomberg. There is likely to be a limited short-term hiatus while those shipowners who decide to participate in the trade find alternative insurance arrangements, he wrote. Shipowners could choose a non-IGP&I group member to provide insurance cover including firms in Russia, Shaw added.

Shaw also said his members were responsible for their own underwriting risks. While collective decision are taken in response to legal requirements, duties and obligations, the Clubs may consider individually ways in which they may lawfully address the important questions that you have raised, he wrote.

I can confirm that we are in ongoing discussions with Ukraine, helping them to understand how P&I cover works, Shaw said in an email to Bloomberg.

Cargo ships insured by IGP&I members unloaded 39.3 million tonnes barrels of crude oil, 473,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas, and 2.82 million tonnes of coal picked up from Russian ports in the four weeks after fighting broke out, the letter said. Global Witness, a London-based non-governmental organization, worked with the Russian Tanker Tracking Group  a group of Ukrainian Government representatives, academics and technical experts  to help compile the research.

Coca-Cola Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and McDonalds Corp. are among international firms to have pulled back or halted business since the war began amid intense political and social pressure on firms to sever ties with Russia. UBS Group AG outgoing Chairman Axel Weber on Tuesday said he saw no future for many international banks in Russia even if theres a cease-fire.

Russia has put itself outside the international community and this will have a pretty long-dated consequence, Weber said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.

With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska.

Photograph: Activists of the environmental organization Greenpeace paint the words Oil Fuels War on the hull of a ship carrying Russian oil near the German island Fehmarn, on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. Photo credit: Frank Molter/dpa via AP.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Carriers Russia Ukraine
Britain put in place new legal powers on Wednesday to prohibit maintenance on aircraft and ships belonging to specific sanctioned Russian oligarchs or their businesses.

The government is acting in concert with Western allies to try to cripple the Russian economy as punishment for Moscows invasion of Ukraine. It has targeted Russias access to the international financial system, industries like shipping and defense, and wealthy elites close to President Vladimir Putin.

Britain Unveils New Aviation Sanctions Against Russia

Britain said the new legislation effective from 1600 GMT prohibits maintenance on aircraft or ships belonging to specific sanctioned Russian oligarchs or their businesses.

Todays legislation adds new routes at our disposal to deprive oligarchs access to their luxury toys, Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps said in a statement.

The new powers were immediately used against oil tycoon Evgeny Shvidler, a billionaire businessman with close business links to Roman Abramovich, and billionaire Oleg Tinkov, founder of Moscow-based commercial lender Tinkoff Bank, the statement said.

The measures complement those already imposed by Britain and other states, as well as commercial decisions already taken by key industry players.

Plane makers Boeing and Airbus have already halted supplies of components to Russia and the United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Russian aviation.

Ship engine makers such as Finlands Wartsila have suspended ties with Russia and German counterpart MAN Energy Solutions is reviewing contracts.

Russias maritime sector is also grappling with the winding down of other services including ship certification by leading foreign providers  vital for accessing ports and securing insurance  shipping companies pulling out and Western sanctions being imposed on its leading ocean transporter Sovcomflot.

Britain said its new legislation also extended the finance, trade and shipping sanctions imposed on Crimea, which was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014, to territory not controlled by the Ukrainian government in Donetsk and Luhansk.

(Reporting by William James, Kylie MacLellan and Kate Holton; editing by Andrew MacAskill, Lisa Shumaker and Philippa Fletcher)

Photograph: A view of Eclipse, a luxury yacht reported to belong to Russian businessman Roman Abramovich, docked at a port in the resort of Marmaris, Turkey, on Tuesday, March 22, 2022. Turkish media reports said a second superyacht belonging to Chelsea soccer club owner and sanctioned Russian oligarch Abramovich was docked in a resort in southwestern Turkey. Photo credit: IHA via AP.

Topics Russia
Occam Underwriting, the specialist lines managing general agency (MGA), announced it has completed the acquisition of Beech Underwriting Agencies Ltd. having received the required approval from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Beech Underwriting is an approved Lloyds coverholder that has been a market leader in the placement of terrorism and other specialist-related insurance for over 20 years.

Financial details of the deal, which was first announced in October 2021, were not disclosed.

The team at Beech have built a very successful MGA, with agents throughout the UK, and we can now look ahead to developing and supporting them moving forward. They have a strong relationship with an established panel of Underwriters that the management team at Occam are also looking forward to working with, commented Occam Chief Executive Officer Mark Fisher.

The acquisition is the continuation of Occams strategy to diversify into additional specialized lines of business and is supported by majority investor Hudson Structured Capital Management Ltd., doing its re/insurance business as HSCM Bermuda (HSCM), an asset manager specialising in the re/insurance and transportation sectors.

Source: Occam Underwriting

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Underwriting Insurance Wholesale
Italian tycoon Leonardo Del Vecchio is backing a push for a change in leadership at Assicurazioni Generali SpA, saying that a proposed slate of new managers put forward by investor Francesco Gaetano Caltagirone could free the way for a major deal involving Italys largest insurer.

Construction magnate Caltagirones strategy for Generali offers a long-term entrepreneurial vision that doesnt just look for dividends but also at the need to grow the company, Del Vecchio, 86, told Bloomberg News. Del Vecchio, the founder of eyewear giant Luxottica, is the insurers third-largest investor after investment bank Mediobanca SpA and Caltagirone.

Update: Challengers to Generalis Management Target Higher Growth, Bigger M&A

Del Vecchio is considering further boosting his stake in Generali from the current 8% level, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named as the deliberations are private.

He is also now set to back Caltagirones list at the insurers April 29 annual general meeting, in a vote thats shaping up as a potential showdown that could reshape Italys financial industry. The vote comes after years of skirmishing between Mediobanca and the two tycoons, who claim the investment banks influence over Generali has led it to underperform and miss out on growth opportunities.

Caltagirone, who owns more than 9% of Generali, is spearheading a challenge to oust Chief Executive Officer Philippe Donnet, instead proposing company veteran Luciano Cirina as the insurers next CEO, with ex-Goldman Sachs banker Claudio Costamagna as chairman.

Del Vecchio said he also supports Cirina, who was fired from the insurer earlier this week after being placed at the head of the Caltagirone list. What I like more than anything is to see a manager from inside the company, with a long and successful career at Generali, being proposed as CEO, he said. Cirina was the head of the companys business in eastern Europe.

In Costamagna, Generali would get a chairman with operating capabilities who has what it takes to create value for the company and give meaningful support when it comes to the management of major, transformational transactions that we hope to see in Generalis future, Del Vecchio said.

Diversifying Holdings

Caltagirone has said the insurer can boost income by half with his strategy, which includes cutting costs and boosting M&A activities. Caltagirones plan marks a contrast with the Donnet strategy, presented in December, which hinges on expansion in asset management and high-margin insurance.

Del Vecchio, who has a net worth of about $30 billion according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, has in recent years been seeking to diversify into finance, which typically delivers higher returns than the eyewear industry. He is also the biggest investor in Mediobanca, where hes criticized CEO Alberto Nagel for being too conservative and overly dependent on the investment banks stake in Generali.

The Caltagirone strategy gives the idea of a strong company, with a great future but which has perhaps been held back by a shareholder only interested in extracting dividends, Del Vecchio said.

The Luxottica founder has also questioned Mediobancas September decision to tighten its grip on the insurer through a stock-lending mechanism. In the run-up to the April vote the investment bank has raised its holding in Generali to about 17%, partly through rented shares.

Im from the old school that thinks entrepreneurs should invest with their own resources, Del Vecchio said. I recently discovered that shares in companies can also be rented just in time to vote at a shareholders meeting to then return them to their owners. If this practice became commonplace and legitimate I think it could have serious consequences for our economy.

Del Vecchio on Generali:

On CEO candidate Luciano Cirina: Cirina has a perfect understanding of how Generali works and has deep roots in Trieste, where he was born and which is the beating heart of insurance in this country. The most important thing is that his candidacy sends a message to all of Generalis people that every one of them, if they have the competency and the capabilities, can reach the very top.

On Caltagirones proposed slate of board candidates: Its a list that seems to be highly competent and well balanced.

On market reaction to the challenge: The market has already responded favorably to Caltagirones plan. The share price is going up and Generali is confirming itself as a good financial investment.

With assistance from Sonia Sirletti, Alessandro Speciale, Daniele Lepido and Antonio Vanuzzo.

Photograph: An Assicurazioni Generali SpAs logo sits in a window of their offices in Rome, Italy, on Friday, Jan. 27, 2017. Photo credit: Alessia Pierdomenico/Bloomberg.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Carriers Leadership Generali Life Assurance (Thailand) Plc.
Qatar Airways says surface flaws on Airbus SEs A350 jets cause a risk of the fuel tanks igniting, bolstering its contention that safety is at stake in its acrimonious legal dispute with the planemaker.

In documents made public Tuesday, Qatar Airways said paint layers on large parts of affected A350s have been so badly damaged that wind and pollutants, such as salt or hydraulic fluids, can penetrate through the skin and damage the lightning protection of the aircraft. That raises particular concern on the wings, where fuel tanks are located.

The argument will be fully aired in a London court next month, with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake for both sides. Qatar Airways sued Airbus late last year over A350 surface quality issues after months of disagreement over their gravity. Airbus acknowledges the problem but disputes the airlines characterization of it as a safety concern.

Both sides have made compensation claims. Qatar Airways has grounded 22 A350s to date, while Airbus canceled two deliveries of the wide-body and a separate contract for its best-selling A321s. Those orders are now caught up in separate legal proceedings.

Two Agencies

Qatar Airways has the backing of its local aviation safety regulator but the European Union Aviation Safety Agency has said the plane is airworthy.

In its filing, the carrier cited an EASA safety assessment from April 2021, saying the lightning threat would pose a danger if it were co-incident with fuel tanks. Qatar Airways said that since damage can be seen on the wings, that means it is co-incident with the fuel tanks.

Airbus rejects Qatar Airways ongoing and public mischaracterization of the nature of these issues and of their impact on the A350 aircrafts continuous airworthiness, a spokesman said. The planemaker has worked with EASA since the beginning and continues to do so, he said.

EASA didnt respond to a request for comment made after regular business hours.

Defective Design

Qatar Airways Chief Technical Officer Ali Al Hilli said the current design and manufacture of the A350 is defective and that he has inspected all of the airlines grounded A350s. The damage seen includes spider cracks, severe cracking on and around window frames, exposure of the lightning protection and of the underlying composite surface and damage to the lightning protection layer. The airline provided pictures in the statement purporting to show the damage.

In another witness statement, Qatar Airways took on Airbuss scrapping of the separate order for 50 A321s. The airline has sued over the cancellation and a judge is to rule on that dispute next week.

No other aircraft available in the market can match the economical, long-range aircrafts ability to serve smaller markets such as Toulouse and Lyon in France, Bergen, Norway, or Bilbao, Spain, and the airline has now put those plans on hold.

Any delays on the A321, should the order be reinstated, would be down to Airbuss own inability to keep up with demand, Qatar Airways said.

A350 Alternatives

Qatar Airways likewise rejected Airbuss contention that the airline grounded the A350s for commercial reasons, because its business was hit by the coronavirus epidemic.

The carrier is now operating above pre-pandemic capacity, it said, and has had to turn to alternatives including wet leases  a temporary arrangement where a lessor provides an aircraft along with crew, maintenance and insurance. Its also had to bring Airbus A380 superjumbos back into service. These arrangements are costly and have led to complaints about service, the airline said.

Even with the legal battle continuing, the airline sought to refute Airbuss claims that the relationship between the two companies has grown tense.

Qatar Airways and Airbus have worked together for more than 20 years, Krunoslav Krajacevic, a senior manager of production oversight and aircraft deliveries for Qatar Airways, said in a witness statement. I am confident that the relationship will remain strong and continue despite these proceedings.

Photograph: Aircrew stand at the top of steps at the entrance to a Airbus SE A350 passenger aircraft, operated by Qatar Airways, on the opening day of the Farnborough International Airshow (FIA) 2018 in Farnborough, UK, on Monday, July 16, 2018. Photo credit: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg.

Copyright 2022 Bloomberg.

Topics Energy Oil Gas
This edition of Internation People Moves details appointments at Guy Carpenter and Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty.

A summary of these new hires follows here.

Former Pool Re CEO Enoizi Named Carpenters Head of Public Sector

Guy Carpenter, the reinsurance business of Marsh McLennan, announced the appointment of Julian Enoizi as global head of Public Sector, effective April 11, 2022.

In this newly created role, Enoizi will lead Guy Carpenters Public Sector practice, where he will be responsible for driving its growth strategy. He will work with the global team to identify opportunities to address systemic risks, such as cyber and climate change and develop innovative solutions that facilitate a closer working relationship between public and private entities.

Working with Marsh McLennans other businesses, including Marsh, Oliver Wyman and Mercer, he will continue building on the companys position as the market leader in the sector. Mr. Enoizi will be based in London and report to David Priebe, Chairman of Guy Carpenter.

Enoizi has been in the industry over 25 years leading international insurance operations in Continental European, London and Lloyds markets. Most recently, he was CEO of Pool Re, the UK government-backed terrorism reinsurer that operates as a public-private partnership, presiding over significant advancements to the organization and its strategic direction, including the renewal of its unlimited government guarantee.

During this time, Enoizi also played a central role in discussions around how the UK might better manage the risks that sit on the governments balance sheet. These conversations culminated in the joint development of a landmark initiative Resilience UK, aimed at encouraging industry and government collaboration to tackle systemic risks and protection gaps beyond terrorism.

Earlier in his career, Enoizi held leadership roles including managing director of ProSight Specialty Underwriters, president and CEO of Argo Managing Agency, and president and CEO of CNA Europe Holdings.

***

AGCS Hires BHSIs Maxwell as Global Head of Financial Lines

Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty SE (AGCS), the corporate insurance carrier of Allianz Group, announces the appointment of Vanessa Maxwell as new global head of Financial Lines. In this role she will succeed  and also subsequently report to  Shanil Williams who was promoted in December 2021 to join the AGCS SE board of management in January 2022 as chief underwriting officer Corporate.

Williams was global head of Financial Lines at AGCS from 2019 to the end of 2021 and will continue to oversee this line of business on an interim basis until Maxwell joins AGCS at the latest in June 2022. Both will be based in AGCSs London office.

Financial Lines is the largest line of business of AGCS, contributing approximately one fifth to the companys global premium volume of 9.5 billion in 2021 and is targeting new business opportunities across all regions with products such as directors & officers (D&O), professional liability and cyber insurance.

Maxwell currently oversees the UK franchise of Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) as a country manager. Before assuming this role, she gathered extensive experience in financial lines underwriting in increasingly senior roles, most recently as head of Executive and Professional Lines UK at Berkshire Hathaway.

Before joining Berkshire Hathaway in 2017 she held various managerial roles in financial lines and professional liability underwriting at AIG (including subsidiaries) in London and New York. She started her insurance career in 2002 at AIG in New York after graduating from the Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics at University of Delaware, United States.
A U.S. judge on Wednesday said Grubhub, Uber Eats and Postmates must face an antitrust lawsuit by diners who accused them of driving up menu prices by exploiting their dominance in meal deliveries during the COVID-19 pandemic.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said it was reasonable to infer that requiring restaurants to accept no-price competition clauses left them with no choice but to raise prices regardless of where diners ordered meals.

He also said diners plausibly alleged that Grubhub and Uber Eats more restrictive clauses discouraged restaurants from using other platforms, despite their need to generate enough sales to stay afloat and offset low profit margins.

Defendants motion to dismiss is denied in its entirety, Kaplan wrote.

Diners claimed that the no-price competition clauses barred restaurants from charging lower prices for dining in or ordering takeout, while Grubhub and Uber Eats also forbade restaurants from charging less to customers who ordered on rival platforms.

They said the harm from inflated meal prices was compounded by supracompetitive 5% to 10% delivery fees charged to diners and 30% commission rates often charged to restaurants.

The proposed class action sought triple and other damages for dine-in and delivery customers in the United States since April 2016.

Grubhub, owned by Netherlands-based Just Eat Takeaway.com, said it was disappointed with the decision and will continue defending its dining-related services.

Uber Eats and Postmates, both owned by Uber Technologies Inc., did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Lawyers for the diners said they were pleased with the decision.

The practices of delivery companies faced increased scrutiny after the pandemic forced tens of thousands of restaurants to close and many more to temporarily shut their dining rooms.

Grubhub, Uber Eats and rival DoorDash Inc DASH.N have also sued to overturn a New York City law capping the fees they charge restaurants at 15%, while Grubhub and DoorDash are challenging a similar law in San Francisco.

The case is Davitashvili et al v Grubhub Inc et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-03000.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Topics Lawsuits USA
GAZA/RAMALLAH, March 30 -- Thousands of Palestinians marked on Wednesday the 46th anniversary of Palestinian Land Day in the cities of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

Local Palestinian media outlets reported that the Palestinians commemorate the Land Day anniversary through rallies, demonstrations, general strikes, and a series of events and activities such as planting olive trees near the borders with Israel.

The events of Land Day go back to March 30, 1976, when the Palestinians in Israel protested against the Israeli seizure of about 21,000 dunams (2,100 hectares) of Palestinian villages' lands in the Galilee region in northern Israel.

The 1976 protests took place in the villages of Arraba, Sakhnin, Deir Hanna, Arab al-Sawa'id and others. The lands in these villages were confiscated for establishing more settlements.

In Gaza, masses of participants were scheduled to mark the anniversary on the border between eastern Gaza and Israel. However, the rally's organizers decided to hold it at the fishermen's harbor in the western part of Gaza city.

Thousands from all over the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave arrived at the harbor in western Gaza city, waved Palestinian flags and chanted slogans supporting the legitimate Palestinian cause.

In their addresses to the participants, speakers of the Palestinian factions stressed the need for ending the internal division and restoring unity to confront Israel and end its occupation of the Palestinian territories.

Four years ago, tens of thousands of Palestinians participated in a massive rally on the border between the eastern Gaza and Israel and launched the Marches of Return and Breaking the Israeli Siege.

The marches were organized every week and had left more than 300 Palestinians killed and thousands injured.

On the anniversary of Land Day, the Hamas movement, ruler of the Gaza Strip, said in a statement that it is committed to the liberation of the historical land of Palestine from its sea to its river.

"Hamas is committed to legitimate right to defend the land and holy sites, respond to the Israeli aggression, protect the Palestinian people, and continue the comprehensive resistance as a strategic choice to deter Israel and extract full national rights," it said.

The Islamic movement called on the Arab and Islamic nations and states to protect the Palestinian refugees and provide them with a decent life "because they reject the alternative homeland and look forward to returning to their homes in historic Palestine."

In the West Bank, activities of planting olive trees and plastic art exhibitions under the title "Identity and Land" were organized in several cities and villages.

The official Palestinian Radio and Television Corporation gave live broadcasts of the anniversary's events.

The organizers of the events confirmed that it is a message of the Palestinian people's commitment to their land and their refusal to give it up under any pressure or intimidation by settler groups under the protection of the Israeli army.

The anniversary comes in the light of the acceleration of settlement expansion, land seizure, and demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and Jerusalem, which makes the two-state solution impossible, according to Palestinian officials. 
Starting April 1, property owners in low-lying areas across the country will see their premiums increase when they renew their flood insurance policies, thanks to the federal governments new flood-risk rating system.

Some policyholders could see premiums drop under Risk Rating 2.0, which officials have said is designed to be more equitable and accurate, reflecting the use of more precise computer flood-modeling techniques.

Risk Rating 2.0 is not just a minor improvement, but a transformational leap forward, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a statement. Risk Rating 2.0 enables FEMA to set rates that are fairer and ensures rate increases and decreases are both equitable.

The new rating system took effect for new National Flood Insurance Program policies last October, but kicks in April 1 for renewals. Many homeowner groups and elected officials have complained that the new system will mean much higher premiums for millions of people.

In North Carolina, 74% of policyholders could see an increase, starting Friday, according to local news reports. But about 26% could see a major decrease in costs.

Now the riskiest properties are going to have to foot the bill themselves, Quote Wizards senior analyst, Nick VinZant, told WWAY TV news in Wilmington, North Carolina. The high house on the hill that never floods is no longer paying for the beachfront mansion. And the beachfront mansion is going to have to pay a lot more.

Flood experts have said forcing affluent waterfront properties to finally pay a more realistic price on insurance is a good thing, and can discourage more building in flood-prone areas.

In some parts of Florida, the cost of flood insurance is expected to eventually increase by 1,000%, the New York Times recently reported after analyzing NFIP data. Until recently, a Tampa homeowner paid about $480 a year for a flood policy. That could eventually top $7,000 a year after annual increases.

The NFIP was established by Congress in 1968 and is the primary provider of flood coverage, which isnt widely available from private insurers. Aside from revenue from premiums, NFIP also can borrow money from the federal coffers to cover claims. The program now insures more than 4 million homes around the U.S., but critics have charged that it has subsidized coastal building for well-to-do property owners, and was bad public policy.

FEMA said in 2019 that it would adopt the new rating system, but it was delayed by President Trumps administration. It has now finally become reality, just in time to reflect stronger storms, rising seas and more rainfall in some parts of the country, advocates have said.

With a rapidly escalating threat of natural disasters, Risk Rating 2.0 is a much needed and timely change, Laura Lightbody of the Pew Charitable Trusts, told the newspaper. Higher insurance costs are a reflection of our new, wet reality, she said.

Premium increases are limited by federal law to no more than 18% per year. So with Risk Rating 2.0, about 2.4 million homes will see rates increase by moderate amounts this year, the Times has reported. Another 627,000 should see premiums drop after the April 1 renewals.

An estimated 330,000 homes could see premiums climb by a few hundred dollars this year, and about 25,000 homeowners could see costs rise by more than $1,200 in the first year, with more increases later, FEMA has said.

Topics Flood
Three terms in a written contract between a gentlemens club and a deceased employee are not so unclear as to nullify the contracts arbitration agreement, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in a March 18 per curiam opinion.

In Baby Dolls Topless Saloons Inc., v. Sotero, the Court reversed a court of appeals judgment that because the terms relationship, license, and this agreement are not always perfectly clear, there was no meeting of the minds and both the contract and its arbitration provision are unenforceable.

The underlying suit was filed by the family of Stephanie Sotero Hernandez, who was killed in a high speed crash while riding in a car driven by a coworker after the two adult entertainers had left work at Baby Dolls Topless Saloons (the Club). Hernandez family alleges that the Club continued serving Salazar alcohol while knowing she was intoxicated.

Two years earlier, Hernandez and the Club had signed a contract giving Hernandez a license to perform at the Club. The contract included a broad arbitration provision. The Club moved to compel arbitration in response to the suit.

A trial court denied the motion, and a divided court of appeals affirmed, agreeing with the familys argument that the contracts lack of definiteness and uncertainty in its use of the terms relationship, license and this agreement rendered it meaningless.

The family contends that four provisions in the contract demonstrate the parties minds could not have met regarding its subject matter and all its essential terms. The court of appeals pointed to a disparity in how the terms this agreement and the license are treated throughout the contract.

In laying out its principles for reversing the court of appeals judgment, the Court contended that courts should construe contracts to avoid forfeitures whenever possible, including by implying terms that can reasonably be implied.

The Court focused specifically on a provision regarding the contracts duration clause:

This Agreement . . . shall terminate on December 31 [2017] . . . . The License shall thereafter be automatically extended for successive one year periods running from January 1 though December 31 of each year thereafter.

The provision can be read as an automatic renewal as it makes clear that Hernandezs license is to be automatically extended until the parties say otherwise, the Court argued.

The Court noted that the duration clause refers the parties to additional portions of the contract for examples of License Termination events. By referencing additional contract provisions, the provision indicates that the agreement itself contains the terms describing and governing the license, clearing up any alleged ambiguities.

The familys argument, and the court of appeals holding, that Hernandez and the Club never had a meeting of the minds on the contract blinks the reality that they operated under it for almost two years, week after week, before Hernandezs tragic death. We hold that the parties formed the agreement reflected in the contract they signed, the Court wrote. The Court also addressed the familys argument that even if a valid contract existed at some point, it had expired by the time of Hernandezs accident. The Court said such a question is for an arbitrator to answer under the Federal Arbitration Act seperability doctrine. The Court reversed the court of appeals judgment and remanded the case to the trial court with instruction to grant the motion to compel arbitration.

Topics Lawsuits Texas
Severe storms injured seven people, damaged buildings and downed power lines in northwest Arkansas early Wednesday as tornadoes and hurricane-force winds were forecast in much of the Deep South, a week after a twister hit the New Orleans area.

No deaths were reported from the storms early Wednesday, which included a likely tornado about 4 a.m. in Springdale and the adjoining town of Johnson, about 145 miles (235 kilometers) northwest of Little Rock,

Damage was extensive in Springdale, including to an elementary school gymnasium and a warehouse, KFSM-TV reported. The Springdale School District, which is the largest in Arkansas, canceled all classes Wednesday.

We have some commercial buildings and residences and everything in between  with severe storm damage, Washington County, Arkansas, Emergency Management Director John Luther said.

He said seven people were injured, two critically, but he had no additional information.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Joe Sellers in Tulsa, Oklahoma, said investigators were going to the area to assess the damage. While the weather service hadnt yet confirmed it was a tornado, were pretty certain thats what occurred, Sellers said.

A tornado watch was issued for most of Arkansas, northern Louisiana, southern Missouri, southeastern Oklahoma, and northeast Texas through early Wednesday afternoon.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said all of Mississippi and parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee were at the greatest risk for severe weather Wednesday. More than 8 million people live in that area, which includes the cities of Memphis, Tennessee; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; and Montgomery, Alabama.

In Mississippi, dozens of schools closed early or conducted classes online Wednesday as a precaution against having children in crowded buildings or on buses.

Todays weather may not impact some folks while others may experience one of the worst days of their life, Stephen McCraney, executive director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, said in a briefing.

Officials in various Mississippi counties were opening safe locations for people worried about staying in their home during the storm. In Louisiana, officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency advised people living in temporary housing such as trailers after Hurricane Ida to be on the alert and know where to go in case they need to evacuate.

The worst weather was expected in the afternoon. Last week, a tornado in a New Orleans-area neighborhood struck during the overnight hours and killed a man.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters Windstorm Arkansas
Florida has reached more than $878 million in settlements with CVS Health Corp and three drug companies to resolve claims and avert a trial next month over their roles in fueling an opioid epidemic in the third most populous state.

CVS will pay $484 million, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. will pay $194.8 million, Abbvie Inc.s Allergan unit will pay $134.2 million and Endo International Plc will pay $65 million, Floridas attorney general Ashley Moody said in a statement on Wednesday.

Most of the money will be spent on opioid abatement. Teva will also provide $84 million of its generic Narcan nasal spray, which can temporarily reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.

The four companies denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. Endos accord had been reached in January.

Moody said pharmacy chain Walgreens WBA.N is the only remaining defendant in Floridas opioid litigation, with jury selection scheduled to begin on April 5.

pWalgreens said its 2012 opioid-related settlement with Florida covered the states latest claims, and that it will defend against unjustified attacks on its pharmacists.

CVS and Teva said they would defend against other opioid lawsuits, and Teva said it is actively negotiating a national settlement of similar claims. Allergan said its settlement also covers claims for generic opioids it sold to Teva in 2016.

Endo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Florida announced the settlements nine days after Rhode Island reached similar accords with Teva and Allergan valued at $107 million.

More than 500,000 people have died from opioid overdoses in the past two decades nationally, including 75,673 in the year ending April 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Feb. 25, Johnson & Johnson and drug distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp, Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. reached final settlements worth $26 billion over their roles in the nationwide epidemic.

State, local and Native American tribal governments in the United States have filed more than 3,300 lawsuits accusing drugmakers such as OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma of fueling opioid abuse, including by downplaying the risks of addiction.

Topics Florida
There was "an element of misfortune" in the injury that caused the death of Urantsetseg Tserendorj, a pathologist has told the trial of a 16-year-old boy who is accused of her murder.

Dr Heidi Okkers told the Central Criminal Court trial that a stab wound partially severed Ms Tserendorj's internal carotid artery, cutting off the blood flow to her brain and causing her death. She told defence counsel, Michael O'Higgins SC, that injuries to the internal carotid artery are less common than injuries to the external artery, which takes blood to the face rather than the brain.
Vladimir Putins advisers are scared to tell him the truth about the progress of his Ukraine invasion but the extent of the Russian leaders misjudgements must be crystal clear to the regime, Jeremy Fleming has said.

In a rare public address during a visit to Australia, the head of Britains GCHQ spy agency said Mr Putin had massively misjudged the situation.

And he warned China not to become too closely aligned with the Kremlin.

He said: Its clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people.

He underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanise. He under-played the economic consequences of the sanctions regime. He over-estimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory.

Weve seen Russian soldiers  short of weapons and morale  refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

And even though we believe Putins advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, whats going on and the extent of these misjudgements must be crystal clear to the regime.

GCHQ director Sir Jeremy Fleming (Hannah McKay/PA)

He added: Its become his personal war, with the cost being paid by innocent people in Ukraine and increasingly, by ordinary Russians too.

Speaking at the Australian National University in Canberra, Mr Fleming said western allies were making deeply secret intelligence public to get ahead of Mr Putins information war, while also tackling cyber threats.

On China, he said the countrys long-term interests are not well served by an alliance with a leader that wilfully and illegally ignores the international rules of the road.

His intervention comes after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week directly confronted President Xi Jinping over Beijings stance on the conflict in Ukraine in what was described as a frank and candid discussion.

On Thursday, British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will urge Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to work with other democracies to counter Mr Putins aggression in Ukraine amid reluctance to publicly condemn the actions of Russia  a long-standing ally dating back to the Cold War.

India, which is heavily reliant on Moscow for arms imports, has abstained in a series of votes in the United Nations on the issue.

A young girl sits on a suitcase in a queue as Ukrainian refugees wait in line to board a train to return to Ukraine (Victoria Jones/PA)

Boris Johnson defended how quickly Ukrainians fleeing the conflict were being offered visas, as he was warned of the danger of refugee schemes turning into Tinder for sex traffickers.

Mr Johnson said it was important that checks both ways were being carried out before Ukrainian refugees could come to the UK, both to ensure those in need were who they said they were, and also that those offering help were fit to do so.

Appearing in front of the Commons Liaison Committee, Mr Johnson said there had already been cases of people coming from that war zone who may not be entirely who they say they are after it was revealed just 2,700 visas have been granted to people wanting to come to the UK under the Homes For Ukraine scheme despite applications reaching 28,300.

The UN refugee agency said four million people have now fled Ukraine since Russia launched its war on February 24.

Mr Johnson said: What I wanted was a system that was as light touch as possible and would enable people to come here, but would enable us also to do checks.

We are outside the Schengen system, we have the advantage of being able to clarify peoples status, (that) theyre bona fide  thats not a bad thing if you want to have a programme that really works and commands confidence.

A Ukrainian family walk out of the customs office at Przemysl Glowny train station in Poland (Victoria Jones/PA)

Diana Johnson, the Labour chair of the Home Affairs Committee, told Mr Johnson that some anti-slavery and refugee groups had warned that the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship risked operating as Tinder for sex traffickers.

He said: I think that is one of the reasons why it is important to have as light touch as possible, but to have DBS checks and checks both ways to make sure we have a programme that is really working.

Defending the rate of progress in resettling refugees, Mr Johnson added: These numbers are climbing.

New laws were also announced on Wednesday which aim to prohibit the maintenance of aircraft or ships belonging to sanctioned Russian oligarchs or their businesses.

The Foreign Office said the new powers, which have been laid in Parliament via a statutory instrument, had been used immediately to sanction Russian businessmen Eugene Shvidler and Oleg Tinkov.

Meanwhile, the finance, trade and shipping sanctions imposed in relation to Crimea have been expanded to the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Interview US Expert Says Focusing on Regime Defections a Good Strategy for Myanmars Revolution

Myanmar regime troops at the Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyitaw on March 27, 2022. / Cincds

Following last years coup, the Myanmar military has been struggling with a growing popular armed resistance against it, as well as a rising number of defections. As of this month, the number of soldiers who have quit has risen to nearly 3,000, including some battalion commandersthe highest position among those to defect so far. Making matter worse for the regime, the Australian government has accepted defectors seeking asylum since January, prompting more troops to consider quitting the army.

Dr. Miemie Winn Byrd, a Burmese-American security expert, said defections are one of three elementsalong with the peoples support and international supportnecessary for all successful revolutions, adding that the resistance side in Myanmar could focus on defections as a way to deprive the regime of soldiers.

Thats why defection is a really important strategy for successful resistance, she said.

In this interview with The Irrawaddy, the professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS) in Hawaii discusses how a third-country incentive is important for defection; why a public relations strategy is essential, as in Ukraine, to draw attention to the revolution against the junta; and why the Myanmar issue has been overshadowed by the Ukraine war.

Dr. Miemie Winn Byrd / Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies

The Australian governments recent granting of asylum to Myanmar army defectors has been big news in military circles. Whats your impression?

Its not surprising. Its really a great incentive. According to previous studies we have seen, that type of third-country incentive is really important. This is a huge development for the peoples side. Huge negative for the mitlairy side. When Australia opens themselves, other countries may open up as well, including European countries.

Do you think the third-country incentive could lure more army defectors?

I think so. I think the NUGs [the parallel civilian National Unity Governments] Ministry of Foreign Affairs is specifically working on this issue. So, one of their first wins is Australia and I think there are some European countries they are working with. Now they are successful with Australia. It could have a domino effect on others countries they are working on.

What do you know about the army defectors?

I dont have contact with defectors and I dont have the data right now, but I think I have to go with the data from Peoples Embrace [a group assisting defecting soldiers], but I will interview some of them as I want to know what is the condition inside the military. When they were interviewed they said a good two-thirds of [personnel] inside the military [are] demoralized and they want to leave. It continues. I think the latest one, like the lieutenant colonel who is the battalion commander, he was saying the key [reason for defecting] is his family, and that he cant show his face in his hometown [in Myanmars heartland] anymore. He is embarrassed. His family is embarrassed. So, as long as those things continue, it would create a lot of push for the military personnel to defect to the peoples side. You will have more as the majority of the military personnel were recruited from Myanmars heartland. Now they are bombing in the heartland of Myanmar. So, they are bombing their own relatives homes and they are attacking their own relatives! So, its not surprising that the lieutenant colonel has family members there. He may not himself directly do that but the organization he belongs to [is doing it]. Direct personal impact!

How can Myanmars shadow National Unity Government (NUG) and the international community be creative and encourage more army defections, especially among higher ranks?

I think there are a variety of factors. Frist, the military continues to brutalize the population. The population sees them as the enemy. Their anger towards them increases. The second is the incentive. Once they get out, safetyspecifically for themselves and their families. Those are logistical pieces that the NUG and international community have to work on. Right now Australia is the first one to open up to defectors. Thats really good.

Do you have any recommendations for the NUG and the international community? Some say if there are more third-country incentives, the revolution would be 70 percent accomplished.

I dont have any other recommendations other than keep doing it, to make sure you [are well resourced for] this strategy. We can see it could be working as we have never seen this level of defection before. Now Australia opens for them. We expect to see some other countries are opening as well. You can say the strategy is working. It can take time. We want it faster but [there are] logistical pieces to work through.

If you compare the situation with Ukraine, the Myanmar resistance against the regime has not received much international support. Any comments?

I dont think we can say Myanmars revolution doesnt have international support. They have been supporting all throughout the year like humanitarian assistance and targeted sanctions. But Ukraines PR team is excellent. They seemed to handle the media and PR [as part of their] military strategic communication and its a major part of their war strategy and their counterstrategy. They utilize it. I think some are very proud of [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelenskys team because they realize that they cant compete with Russia based on firepower. They know that communication power is something they have to really utilize. So they effectively use it. Everybody in the strategic communication or PR arena absolutely admires what President Zelensky and his team has done on PR. I would say it was because of the way they did itthats why they got the attention they need. Its just part of their strategy.

What do you think of Myanmar on the PR issue?

Given the situation and limitations, I think they have done well. But I think Zelensky has a different level. He is also an actor. He came from that kind of world. He kind of understands how to utlize that. I would say Myanmar people did pretty well. But I would give them a B+ if I have to grade them and Zelensky A+. Definitely the Myanmar team, the resistance, can pick up their game, improve their game a little bit more, looking at Zelensky. I wouldnt say they are failing. The international community did pay attention to Myanmar. But right now Zelensky did well. Then Myanmar can leverage attention on Ukraine and try to expand their connection to Ukraine. Its not a zero-sum game. Actually, Ukraine is the European theater in the fight for democracy and against authoritarianism. Myanmar is in the Indo-Pacific theater frontline fight for democracy. In both countries, Russian bombs and bullets are killing people.

But the Myanmar resistance has been on their own so far: not a single bullet yet from outside. This is different from Ukraine.

Yes, thats the way the problem is framed. In the international system, a countrys sovereignty is so valued that its quite shocking for another country to invade. When you have an internal problem, the principle is helping Ukraine but in Myanmar it becomes a little bit of a barrier or hindrance because of the value of sovereignty. So, as for military support or no support, Ukraine has a professional military that has a long relationship with the US and the neighboring countries. Myanmars NUG doesnt have that kind of ready-made platform. Those are the differences. In missing those ready-made platforms, where the US and international community can step in is [that] we do have those sanction regimes. Thats why youve got that, and humanitarian aid. They are the differences between Ukraine and Myanmar.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Editors Note: The opinion presented in this interview is Dr. Miemie Winn Byrds own assessment as an expert on the subject matter. Her opinions do not represent the positions and policies of the U.S. government or any other agencies.

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Burma Ex-Bodyguard of Myanmars Suu Kyi Given Two More Years in Prison

Cherry Htet (right) with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Naypyitaw in August 2020. / The Irrawaddy

Myanmars military regime has sentenced the female former bodyguard of detained State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi to an additional two years in prison for incitement, her lawyer told The Irrawaddy.

Cherry Htet, a 30-year-old police second lieutenant, was already sentenced to three years imprisonment in December for breaching police rules over her social media posts supporting the ousted leader.

She will now have to serve a total of five years in Yamethin Prison in Mandalay Region, where she was moved in December.

Her lawyer U Myint Thwin said: Ma Cherry was sentenced to two years imprisonment on Thursday. She is in good health.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyis former bodyguard had been held in Naypyitaw Prison since Sept. 23, 2021, after first being put under surveillance following the juntas February 2021 coup and then detained under house arrest in a building behind the police special branch office in Naypyitaw.

After being sentenced for breaching police rules, she was sent to Yamethin Prison, as Naypyitaws jail only holds prisoners serving sentences of three years or less.

On March 14, 2021, Cherry Htet was accused of posting: We miss you Amay [mother], using the popular term in Myanmar for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She also allegedly posted another message on March 6 saying: If you do not dare to be outspoken about justice, keep your mouth shut and do not say there is justice.

The former bodyguard has also been accused of communicating with a National League for Democracy lawmaker and receiving information about the civilian National Unity Government.

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Myanmars Suu Kyi Back in Court After Spell in Quarantine

Myanmar Junta Jails ex-General Who Served in NLD Govt Over Corruption Allegation

Myanmars Civilian Defense Minister Confident of Victory

Junta Watch: Ministers Told to Save Fuel, Coup Leaders Mentor Makes Rare Appearance, and More
Burma Myanmars Suu Kyi Back in Court After Spell in Quarantine

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in August 2020 / The Irrawaddy

Myanmars detained leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in court in Naypyitaw on Thursday after being kept in quarantine, one of her lawyers told The Irrawaddy.

The 76-year-old missed court hearings late last week and on Monday as she was in quarantine after some people at her house tested positive for COVID-19.

Since then rumors have circulated that she had contracted the coronavirus.

The lawyer denied it.

She appeared in court today and she seems healthy and met with her lawyers, he said.

Since the military takeover that overthrew her democratically elected government over electoral fraud claims, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been kept incommunicado along with some other people at an unknown location by the regime.

The junta has filed 17 cases against her, and she has appeared in court every week.

Todays hearing involved the regimes charge that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her Australian economic adviser Sean Turnell violated the Official Secrets Act.

So far she has been sentenced to six years by a special court set up by the regime for alleged illegal possession of walkie-talkies, breaching COVID-19 restrictions and sedition.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is facing another seven charges including alleged corruption. She faces a potential combined prison term of over 100 years on all of the charges, which are widely viewed as trumped-up, politically motivated and an attempt by the junta to exclude her from politics.

She will appear in court tomorrow to face an election fraud charge.

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TEHRAN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The commander-in-chief of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has called on some Gulf states to halt the continuation of normalization relations with Israel, saying that it would endanger the security of the region, Press TV reported on Thursday.

The establishment of political and security relations with Israel by regional countries "poses a serious threat to the security of the region and to that of these Gulf countries themselves," Hossein Salami said on Wednesday.

For the Islamic Republic, the continuation of such relations is "unacceptable," Salami was quoted as saying.

The remarks by Salami followed a recent meeting of the foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt with their Israeli counterpart to press ahead with the already-announced normalization of ties. 
Burma Property Demand Booms in Myanmars Capital as Wealthy Seek Safety

--

Real estate prices in Myanmars capital have been rising since June last year with demand for luxury homes and land tripling in some areas.

Estate agents in Naypyitaw say sales are being pushed by former military officers and wealthy families looking for somewhere safe with reliable power supplies.

As home to the junta leader Min Aung Hlaing and other senior figures, Naypyitaw has seen few regime raids on residential areas and random shootings, like in other cities.

A Naypyitaw agent told The Irrawaddy that demand for real estate has tripled since last June.

We normally handle three or four sales per month but since the coup were are selling at least 10 or 12 properties a month, the estate agent said.

Homes are selling for between US$60,000 and $180,000, according to agents.

Other estate agents said sales are highest in Dekkhinathiri, Pobbathiri and Ottarathiri townships because they are seen as the most tranquil areas.

Dekkhinathiri is popular with the wealthy, Pobbathiri is home to middle-ranking military personnel and Ottarathiri hosts senior officers and retired civil servants.

An Ottarathiri resident said: I bought my home for 60 million kyats three years ago but last week I sold it to a retired military officer for 110 million kyats. He did not try to reduce the price.

Luxury homes are being rapidly built in the three townships, mostly on land handed to retired military officers.

The former dictator Than Shwe relocated the capital from Yangon to Naypyitaw in late 2005, apparently to insulate the military leadership from popular uprisings.

Agents say the more reliable electricity supply in Naypyitaw is another attraction.

Since last month, prolonged power cuts have become a regular part of life across Myanmar.

Naypyitaw residents say there are few outages and they only last a few hours. Power cuts apparently never happen in Zayarthiri Township, where Min Aung Hlaing lives and works along with other junta chiefs.

The junta recently said national infrastructural maintenance and upgrades to an offshore gas station are restricting electricity production.

Naypyitaw controls the bulk of Myanmars power supply, leaving other cities in darkness.

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Globant, an IT and software consultancy company based in Luxembourg, says it has found that a part of its code repository has been breached.

The company did not blame any particular entity for the breach, but the Lapsus$ group, which has been in the news recently, claimed on its Telegram channel on Wednesday that it has broken into Globant's servers and filched some 70GB of customer source code.

The Globant statement said: "According to our current analysis, the information that was accessed was limited to certain source code and project-related documentation for a very limited number of clients.

"To date, we have not found any evidence that other areas of our infrastructure systems or those of our clients were affected. We are taking strict measures to prevent further incidents."

The FBI are asking for information regarding LAPSUS. pic.twitter.com/G1JDiLrizv  Kevin Beaumont (@GossiTheDog) March 30, 2022

Of itself, the company says on its website: "We are a digitally native company that helps organisations reinvent themselves to create a way forward and unleash their potential. We are the place where innovation, design and engineering meet scale.

"We have more than 23,500 employees and we are present in 18 countries working for companies like Google, Rockwell Automation, Electronic Arts and Santander, among others.

"We were named a worldwide leader in CX Improvement Services by IDC MarketScape report. We were also featured as a business case study at Harvard, MIT, and Stanford. We are a member of the Cybersecurity Tech Accord."

Lapsus$, which does not appear to be in any way affected by the UK arrest, and subsequent release, of seven teenagers who are allegedly connected to the group, also claimed to have obtained admin credentials for all DevOps platforms at Globant.

Lapsus$ has released a torrent file with data that they claim relates to multiple organizations including Apple, C-SPAN, DHL and Facebook. pic.twitter.com/Q2YbdIsK8H  Brett Callow (@BrettCallow) March 30, 2022

Lapsus$ was in the news recently after it breached Microsoft, Samsung and identity services provider Okta, the last-named through an outsourced firm.

Contacted for comment, Brett Callow, a ransomware researcher with the New Zealand-headquartered security firm Emsisoft, said: "So, it seems that Lapsus$ is still at it, despite the arrests in the UK.

One of the heads of the FBI Cyber Division confirms that the Hunter Biden laptop is not Russian disinformation. pic.twitter.com/PBSxnWTBqH  Merissa Hansen (@MerissaHansen17) March 31, 2022

"While some people have expressed shock at the fact a band of teenage miscreants seemingly defeated the security controls of corporate behemoths, it really isnt surprising at all.

"Teenagers have been hacking corporate and government networks for as long as theyve been able to get their hands on personal computers.

"For example, 16-year-old Richard Pryce hacked the Pentagon while 15-year-old Jonathan James hacked NASA. The reality is that teenagers are curious, have lots of time on their hands and little fear of getting caught - and, combined, those factors can make them formidable adversaries."
The saying used to be that if you bought IBM, you'd never get fired, and today, if you select Logitech, you can be sure of getting leading-edge tech that's laudably legendary and logically long-lasting, making you look like quite the legitimate luminary, so what is Logitech Select all about?

Logitech. Founded in 1981 in Lausanne, Switzerland, many in the consumer space would know Logitech for its webcams, keyboards, mice and innovative computer peripherals. The company has always been focused on innovation and quality, with products and experiences that have an everyday place in so many people's lives, whether from its earlier days through the invention of the infrared cordless mouse, the thumb-operated trackball, the laser mouse and many other first.

Today, Logitech's products are sold in almost every country in the world, and has developed into a multi-brand company designing products that bring people together through music, gaming, video and computing, whether for consumers, content creation, or the business or business through its business-class keyboards and mouse, and its impressive video collaboration solutions.

And that's the focus of Logitech's newest line - Logitech Select, which has now launched in Australia. It's billed as "an all-in-one service plan that ensures video collaboration solutions are always ready and operational when teams need them, with business-class service to support every need."

Business users need robust business-class services, and that's obviously why Logitech says its Logitech Select service is "a comprehensive service plan that delivers enterprise-grade reliability, continuity, and peace of mind through one expert provider. It offers 24/7 support, a dedicated Customer Success Manager, accelerated RMA, onsite spares, and advanced Sync analytics, including customisable alerts through ServiceNow integration."

Sean Byrne, Logitechs Head of Video Conferencing for Australia and New Zealand, said at the heart of Logitech Select is the companys desire to support productivity within the workplace, stating:

Logitech Select is ultimately about people and expertise. When you sign up for Select, you get access to a team of dedicated, trained professionals, experts in meeting room solutions from a company you know and trust. They can help minimize downtime for your meeting rooms while recommending ways to optimise meeting spaces for your employees.

Its like having a dedicated helpdesk at Logitech that also has expertise in Microsoft Teams, Zoom Rooms, and in-room appliances running Windows and Android operating systems, Byrne continued.

So, what are the key features of Logitech Select? These include:

 24/7 support. Logitech Selects 24/7 technical support provides the right level of assistance fast  anytime and anywhere. Because support comes direct from the manufacturer, you can trust the Logitech team to have the expertise needed to help you recover from unexpected downtime in your meeting rooms. And that expertise extends beyond Logitech products to your entire room solution, including video conferencing services such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom Rooms.

 Dedicated Customer Success Manager. When you cover 50 or more rooms with a Logitech Select Plan, you will receive access to a Customer Success Manager (CSM) who is a trusted partner that knows your business. Your CSM serves as a single point of contact to support and address your video collaboration needs while optimizing your solution.

 Accelerated RMA. Logitech Select includes an expedited return merchandise authorization (RMA) for hardware under warranty with delivery. When extended downtime is not an option, Select will fix it fast with next business day shipping.

 Onsite spares. Sometimes even overnight isnt fast enough. Perhaps you have a problem in a corporate boardroom or training facility, and you cant afford to wait. With onsite spares, you have a failsafe plan  an immediate hot swap to get your room back up and minimize lost productivity.

 Advanced capabilities with Logitech Sync. Logitech Select includes advanced functionality with Sync, such as the ability to create a help ticket for service from within the application, and advanced insights and analytics on room occupancy and utilization.

 ServiceNow integration. If theres a problem in a meeting room, such as an outage or disconnected camera, the Sync integration with ServiceNow proactively notifies your IT admins. This integration is included with Logitech Select.

What inspired Logitech Select?

The company says Logitech Select is inspired by the business mantra of simplicity  Logitech designed products are technologically advanced, yet simple to use.

Testament to this, we're told Logitech Select "boasts no complicated tiers of support with varying prices depending on the level of expertise, when its available, or how complex the technology or ecosystem is."

Logitech Select is dedicated to providing a complete, all-in-one straightforward service with a straightforward price of AUD $1,499 (NZD $1,649.90) per room on a three year plan.

More information on Logitech Select is here.
Mohammad Barkindo, secretary-general of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), attends the CERAWeek global energy forum in Houston, Texas, the United States, March 8, 2022. Mohammad Barkindo warned Tuesday that the world cannot replace Russia's share of oil exports, calling for energy depoliticization.



(Xinhua/Xu Jianmei)

Barkindo hailed the efforts made by OPEC+ countries in supporting stability in the global oil market and called on them to remain attentive to changing market conditions and keep the focus on balancing the market, according to a statement released by the OPEC.

VIENNA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Wednesday called on global leaders to uphold multilateralism to ensure "unhindered, stable and secure" energy flow to the global market.

OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo made the remarks at a virtual meeting of the joint technical committee of OPEC and its allies, a group known as OPEC+.

A man pays at a gas station in Brussels, Belgium, March 29, 2022. Due to rise of high energy prices, Belgium markets witnessed the rise of prices of petrol, diesel, cooking oil, flour, etc, in recent times. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

Barkindo hailed the efforts made by OPEC+ countries in supporting stability in the global oil market and called on them to remain attentive to changing market conditions and keep the focus on balancing the market, according to a statement released by the OPEC.

Wednesday's meeting of the OPEC+ joint technical committee was held to examine the oil market conditions and to provide advice for the OPEC+ ministerial meeting on Thursday. The ministerial meeting, the decision-making body of OPEC+, will announce the alliance's production plans in May.

Diesel and gasoline prices are displayed on a screen at a gas station in Brussels, Belgium, March 29, 2022. Due to rise of high energy prices, Belgium markets witnessed the rise of prices of petrol, diesel, cooking oil, flour, etc, in recent times. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

In July 2021, OPEC+ agreed to raise oil output by 400,000 barrels per day each month to gradually unwind the production cuts made at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The oil-producer group has since been sticking to the plan despite calls from top consumers, including the United States, to further boost supplies to rein in soaring oil prices amid demand recovery and geopolitical tensions. 
Australia's 2022-23 Federal Budget has certainly garnered a lot of commentary and opinions, with this fourth article showcasing the thoughts of more tech leaders in Australia and beyond - please read on!

First we heard from the AIIA. Then came Part 1 of commentary from a range of tech leaders, followed by Part 2, then Part 3, with Part 4 now below!

1. Adam Philpott, Chief Revenue Officer at Trellix

It is promising to hear that the Government will be spending billions of dollars to bolster Australia's offensive and defensive cyber capabilities. That said, this funding is spread over a decade at a time where cyber threats, particularly nation-state attacks, are quickly growing in prevalence, persistence and scale, so its essential that nations act with urgency in bolstering their Cyber capabilities.

"Our own threat intelligence and research this week revealed 97% of Australian survey respondents believe they have been targeted by nation-state cyberattack, with the average nation-state-backed cyberattack costing an estimated $1.5 million per incident.

"Moreover, 90% of Australian IT leaders think the government should do more to support organisations in defending against nation-state cyberattacks, and 92% think the government should do more to support and protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.

"More clarity is needed on the governments short-term plan to support Australian businesses that are facing threats now.

2. Alasdair Godfrey, CEO, HTANALYSTS

"Amidst a pandemic that has impacted the lives of every global citizen and claimed the lives of over 6 million, any government would be foolish not to have health at the front and centre of its campaign for re-election in May.

"In the lead up to the budgets release, Minister for Health Greg Hunt announcements have been abundant and vociferous: The establishment of Genomics Australia to translate genetic research into clinical practice, long overdue investment in better treatment for endometriosis, PBS listing of Trikafta for Cystic Fibrosis and enhanced mental health funding to name a few headline grabbing punts.

"When it came to it the morning of the budget revealed no major health policy changes, which likely surprised no one. However, more good news announcements should be expected before May - it just makes sense that a government that is seen strong on health will be popular with an Australian public suffering pandemic PTSD."

3. Brodie Haupt, CEO & co-founder of Australian digital lending and payments platform WLTH

The government said that small businesses are the backbone of our economy. They have positively demonstrated that via their tax cuts to small business to 25 per cent, the lowest in 50 years.

"Coupled with the Technology Investment and Skills Training Boosts, this will certainly be welcome news to one of the largest business sectors and sure to win some votes in the upcoming election. This is what strong leadership is all about.

4. Craig Nielsen, Vice President, Asia Pacific Japan at Skyhigh Security

"We welcome the governments investment in cyber security. As our recent global threat vector report shows, Australia continues to face cyber threats from a range of state and non-state actors. We will continue to work with the Australian Government to keep Australians safe online in these uncertain times.

5. David Rajkovic, Area Vice President, Australia and New Zealand, Commvault

The strong investment in cyber security and skills development that was announced in the 2022-23 Australian Federal Budget will help secure Australias future. By investing over $9.9 billion over 10 years in the development of Australias cyber security capabilities, the country will be well protected against many forms of cyber attack.

"Unfortunately, no level of protection is sufficient to prevent every cyber attack from succeeding so additional investment will be required in backup and recovery capabilities to ensure that operations can be restored following an event.

Australias digital skills have not kept pace with the rest of the world which is why it was so encouraging to see the 2022-23 Australian Federal Budget prioritising investment in this critical area. By building local technology skills, Australia will be well positioned to take advantage of the growing impact of technology on every corner of the economy.

6. Luke Fossett, Director of ANZ Sales at account-to-account payments platform GoCardless

On Tech:

While the Budget introduced some minor incentives to digitise small business and laid out the government's strategy on cybersecurity, the broader tech industry was largely left out. Given the sector contributes over 8% to Australia's GDP and employs nearly 900,000 people, this is a glaring omission.

"The government must continue supporting this high-growth sector so we can foster more home-grown start-ups with world-class offerings, following the footsteps of Afterpay, Canva and Atlassian, to name a few.

"As a first step, we would like to see the Treasurer announce more support for tech companies building our future digital infrastructure, for example, the NPP's PayTo network. At a time when the cost of living is spiralling, infrastructure like PayTo offers lower operating costs for businesses and helps ease Australia's reliance on credit card debt traps.

On Fintech:

"It's encouraging to see greater investment in the CDR, which will ultimately empower everyday people to demand more competitive products and services by unlocking financial data.

"As we shift towards open finance, the government must remember that tech has a huge role to play in this and we need to continue to enable fintech innovators access to this initiative without getting stifled by red tape. The tech industry was largely left out of the Budget, and given the CDR is enabled by innovative technology, we need continued investment to maintain momentum with the CDR.

"As a starting point, we'd like to see the government commit to supporting the CDR's extension into business applications. This will ensure commercial data can be used to build new technology to support the growth of Australian businesses and their contribution to the economy.

7. Mark Fazackerley, ANZ Regional Vice President, Talend

It is encouraging to see the federal government focus on supporting a budget for STEM development skills. Australian businesses will continue their mass migration to the cloud in the years, automation across all aspects of business operations will take hold and new skills are going to be required to compete in the global digital economy.

"In order for Australia not to fall behind, we will need a workforce that is capable of applying data analytics in everyday business scenarios and educational curriculums which help to narrow the gap when it comes to data skills among Australian graduates and the ever-increasing requirement for data driven decision making. We will need a workforce that learns how to ask the right questions of data, to better inform the decisions they make to address current, real world and applied business requirements.



Collaboration between government, private sector and educators is essential to up-skill the workforce of today. We look forward to working with both educators and enterprises to empower more Australians with analytics skills to make rapid, insightful decisions at a time where the demand for data to make informed decisions is exploding.

8. Matt Tyrell, APAC Commercial Director at API for business data, Codat

On Tech:

It's nice to see a shake-up of the employee share scheme, but the tech industry was again overlooked in the Budget. Despite tech quickly becoming one of our most profitable industries, we've been left high and dry, particularly in addressing the skills shortage crippling Australian tech companies.

"The proposed training and upskilling incentives are long-term solutions that don't create immediate fixes. We need support now, including the immediate easing of restrictions around hiring skilled migrants and incentives for small startups trying to attract talent who can't compete with the Atlassians, Googles, and Facebooks of the world.

On SMB:

The Government knows small businesses are struggling with cashflow; this is evident in the changes to PAYG and GST instalments. However, small businesses need more support, especially after two years of lockdowns.

"The Budget lacks any reliable vehicles to improve access to finance or grants to help them back on their feet. The technology deduction is a good start; however, it's unlikely to go far enough to be able to offset the rising cost of operations and wages - and the instant asset write-off scheme seems to have disappeared.

"More needs to be done to improve access to finance and working capital for small businesses who are frequently underserved by banks.

On Fintech:

It's positive to see spending allocated to expanding the Consumer Data Right (CDR). Still, it's concerning that the focus of this initiative seems to lean towards consumers only, with the inclusion of telecoms as the primary focus.

"The CDR rollout should be prioritised around financial systems and platforms (such as Xero or Stripe) used by businesses to turbo charge innovation and digitisation. The needs of businesses are being overlooked when it comes to the expansion of the CDR, despite business data standing to have a more significant impact on the economy than just consumers. 

9. Narendra Tumkur, Principal at Endava Australia

The 2022-23 Australian Federal Budget included a range of provisions aimed at growing the digital and cyber-security skills as well as capabilities in the Australian space industry.

"This investment will provide much needed support across the economy as every industry looks to grow their competitiveness with technology. By creating a strong pipeline of tech talent, the country will be better able to compete at an international level and deliver growth across industries.

Supporting the focus on skills development, changes to the visa requirements will enable an increase in the number and range of skilled technology workers entering the country and compound the benefits of the investment in technology skills development.

Beyond skills, the government has committed significant resources to expanding capabilities in technology including cyber defence and an investment in the space industry. This commitment to technology will drive the economy forward and open many new opportunities for Australians.

10. Rachael Greaves, CEO and CO-Founder, Castlepoint Systems

"The budget looks set to invest heavily in infrastructure projects, only some of which have been listed by Infrastructure Australia as priorities. Its likely that this spend will be contested, and recent history shows that the future defensibility of these decisions will come down to recordkeeping.

"A review of ANAO Audits for the last six months show that 8 out of 12 (66%) found serious issues with records management, including the contract administration of the Research and Development Tax Incentive grant and the Defence Industry Security Program.

"Defence also ran an internal audit which found that its grants program had poor record-keeping habits and was unable to locate documents, including financial assessments.

"The NSW State Archives and Records Authority Inquiry into the shredding and destruction of documents by the Premiers office, also related to controversial infrastructure grants programs, had significant outcomes. This time, deletion simply wont be defensible."

11. Sam Kroonenberg, Executive Strategic Advisor at Pluralsight (previously CEO and Co-Founder of A Cloud Guru):

On IT skills shortage & jobs creation

The $550 million in tax relief announced in the 2022-2023 Australian Federal for small businesses that invest in upskilling existing and new employees in the space is, in some ways, encouraging. At Pluralsight, we believe everyone should have the opportunity to create progress through technology and develop the skills of tomorrow, and this investment aligns with that thinking.

"However, we are again disappointed to see the Federal Budget fail to adequately address the Australian technology skills gap that stands as a major roadblock for the country to become a top 10 digital economy by 2030.



Weve seen the need to adopt emerging technologies in areas such as cloud computing, machine learning, and cybersecurity increase quickly across all industries in the past two years. And the technology skills shortage grows right alongside thisregardless of business size or industry.

"In fact, where the government is also provisioning a tax deduction of 120% of the money small businesses invest in emerging technologiestechnologies which demand skilled workers to be rolled out and usedthe small business skills spend is unlikely to push the needle at all.

The investment in education and STEM provide some support, and the relaxing of VISA requirements will help relieve some pressure with technology workers from overseas re-entering the economy. By encouraging people to enter the industry, we hope to see the economy benefit from the growth that technology provides while bringing the market in line with our global peers.

12. Tonia Berglund, Director of Product at Envestnet | Yodlee

It is disappointing to see that investment into the Consumer Data Right (CDR) hasnt been a high priority in this years National Liberal Partys Budget. Last year, the government announced the investment of $111.3 million to accelerate the rollout of the CDR.

"This year its a modest $38.4 million over 3 years from 2022-23, and $12.6 million per year ongoing from 2025-26. Australia has made major strides in becoming a global leader in open banking over the past 12 months. In a move towards open finance, Treasury recently expanded the CDR from banking, energy and telecommunications to non-bank lending, insurance, superannuation, and payments data.

"We also had the new representative models come into play in February, which opened the playing field to the smallest of FinTechs. That said, the Federal Budget is a major moment in the political calendar, and open bankings ability to drive financial innovation, improve financial products, and increase financial wellness by enabling consumers to see all their finances in one place  means it should continue to be a priority.
Jake Williams: "My analysis targeted questions of provenance, actions taken by others on the drive, and evidence of manipulation by external parties."

Former NSA hacker Jake Williams could find himself the target of Democrat ire after he took on a paid job to determine the veracity of emails found on a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden, the son of US President Joe Biden.

Williams, a genial sort whose comments on technology issues have often been published by iTWire, took on the mission for The Washington Post, along with another security expect, Matthew Green of John Hopkins University.

The Post said in a story on Wednesday about the job done by the two experts: "Thousands of emails purportedly from the laptop computer of Hunter Biden, President Bidens son, are authentic communications that can be verified through cryptographic signatures from Google and other technology companies."

The same laptop caused a huge controversy before the 2020 presidential elections when a story written about it by the New York Post was blocked from being posted on Twitter. Facebook also reacted to the story by saying it would limit its distribution until it could verify the source material. To date, Facebook has not informed anyone about the result of its investigations into the emails.

The two social media companies acted after a number of former intelligence officials were reported as claiming that the emails provided to the New York Post was Russian disinformation. What the ex-spooks actually said was: "We want to emphasise that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trumps personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement - just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case.

Just f****** amazing: now the WashPost, 10 days after NYT, admits that the contents of the Hunter Biden laptop are genuine and uses them in their reporting.



Yet **not one** corrupt outlet that spread the CIA's pre-election lie that it was "Russian disinformation" has retracted. pic.twitter.com/K6hGIp3jrN  Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) March 30, 2022

Recently, The New York Times did a complete backflip  but only in the 24th paragraph of a story  saying that the laptop was indeed owned by Hunter Biden and the emails were genuine.

Referring to the way the NYT had played down its mea culpa, independent American journalist Matt Taibbi: "Burying the lede just a bit, The New York Times on March 16th published a long, spirited piece about the federal tax investigation of Hunter Biden. This is the 24th paragraph:

"People familiar with the investigation said prosecutors had examined emails between Mr. Biden, Mr. Archer and others about Burisma and other foreign business activity. Those emails were obtained by The New York Times from a cache of files that appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop. The email and others in the cache were authenticated by people familiar with them and with the investigation."

Another independent journalist, Glenn Greenwald, has also written about the backflip by The New York Times.

One of the heads of the FBI Cyber Division confirms that the Hunter Biden laptop is not Russian disinformation. pic.twitter.com/PBSxnWTBqH  Merissa Hansen (@MerissaHansen17) March 31, 2022

The Washington Post's hiring of Williams and Green  both of whom have impeccable credentials when it comes to tech security  appears to have been prompted by a similar desire as the NYT. It was also among the media mob who ignored the story when it first came out  and therefore has now called in Williams and Green to perform the equivalent of washing away its sins.

In its story on Wednesday, the Post wrote: "The verifiable emails are a small fraction of 217 gigabytes of data provided to The Post on a portable hard drive by Republican activist Jack Maxey. He said the contents of the portable drive originated from Hunter Bidens MacBook Pro, which Hunter reportedly dropped off at a computer repair shop in Wilmington, Del., in April 2019 and never reclaimed."

Williams, says he is not commenting on his examination of the emails. "This shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, but I won't be talking about any specifics in the Hunter Biden laptop case. This was work for hire analysis and as such, the results are the property of the @washingtonpost to do with as they please (including reporting on them)," he wrote in a thread on Twitter.

"I recognise that people from all sides have questions, and probably some allegations too. Science (including forensics) shouldn't be swayed by political interest, it's the pursuit of objective fact. Anyone allowing an agenda to influence analysis shouldn't be in DFIR at all.

"At a later date, I may be able to discuss the specifics of the forensics and look forward to the ability to do so. But even then, it's worth noting that I won't *ever* be talking about Hunter's specific *data*, because to be frank, I never viewed the *vast* majority of it.

"My analysis targeted questions of provenance, actions taken by others on the drive, and evidence of manipulation by external parties."
At HMD Global, good things obviously come in threes, although a fourth good thing would have been to call this phone the G33. Instead, it's the G21, and it hopes to win you over with this trio of features, among others, at an AUD $299 price point.

HMD Global. It's the modern-day home of Nokia phones, and its newest device is the Nokia G21, with the promise of three-day battery life and a new "Super Battery Saver mode' promising "you more battery life vs the standard Android solution" as just one of its new headline features.

The company reminds us "Legacy Nokia phones were famed for their robust battery lives, and the new affordable Android smartphones are no exception with an impressive three-day battery life and new Super Battery Saver mode, as well as category-leading security updates and three year manufacturers warranty."

Florian Seiche, CEO at HMD Global said: We continue to push boundaries in the mid-range segment providing affordable, secure and competitive technology for all. I am delighted to unveil the Nokia G21.

"This device epitomises the durability and long-lasting battery life qualities Nokia phones became famous for all those years ago. This combined with the best of Android software, cements our vision for 2022 and beyond  as we continue to build phones that last for longer.

An important feature for Android smartphones is the number of years they receive OS updates and security updates for, with security updates being vitally important to ensure vulnerabilities are eliminated and safe smartphone surfing, usage and more is possible.

HMD Global promises two years of OS updates and three years of security updates for the G21, whcih the comany says is twice the number of updates of the competition, and also states the phone is "ready for Android 12", which presumably means it comes with Android 11 but will receive an Android 12 update, and will then also get an Android 13 update.

There's also a "Mask Mode" designed for "affordable smartphones", which we're told is "available on G-series for the first time" so as to "ensure the convenience of face unlock is never disrupted", meaning you can "keep your data safe with or without a protective face mask."

Continuing with its experiment in bundling, Spotify Free will be preloaded, giving Nokia owners "access to 70 million tracks and 3.2 million podcasts out of the box," although anyone could downloading this to their own phone, while the ExpressVPN is preloaded with a 30 day free trial.

HMD Global presumably makes money from these deals the way PC makers used to with "bloatware" installed on their computers, probably whenever someone actually signs up to paid versions of both services, so whether this is good or bad depends on your point of view, and presumably, the apps can be uninstalled if users don't want them.

The G21 is also the first G-Series to get a 90Hz screen, with previous screens 60Hz only, so this means smoother scrolling and more fluid photos, typing and videos on its 6.5-inch screen.

There's also a 50 megapixel camera as part of the triple-lens array on the back, while promising good photos in low-light, too, while AI-smarts on the front camera promise clear selfies, too, while "AI Super Resolution" is designed to deliver better "zoomed" photo quality.

The G21 is also thinner and more ergonomic, with a "tough polycarbonate" design that the company also promises looks refreshed.

Available now, the G21 comes in two colours, Blue and Dusk, with 4GB RAM and 128 GB storage, starting at AUD $299.

The main thing is that there's a lot of competition in the sub-$500 smartphone market, with each maker vying to deliver as much as possible, at as low a price as possible, while making just enough profit if as many models as possible are sold.

It's a delicate game, and there are always compromises when buying a lower-end mid-range phone, rather than an actual mid-range or upper-mid-range phone, but each year the specs, screens, cameras, processors and battery life gets better, so if you need an inexpensive phone, this one is worth putting on the checklist to see how it compares with all the other choices in the market!

Here's the official video:
GUEST INTERVIEW: A big part of cybersecurity in 2022 is not just backing up your data, but knowing what to backup, and testing it all, so to discuss this and plenty more, Tesserent CIO Michael McKinnon joins me at iTWireTV for a chat!

Tesserent. It is Australia's largest ASX-listed cybersecurity company, with its mission to be "the sovereign cybersecurity provider of choice for the protection of Australia and New Zealands digital assets."

As the company explains, it provides full service, enterprise-grade cybersecurity and networking solutions, and currently has over 1200 targeted at midmarket, enterprise, government and critical infrastructure customers across Australia and New Zealand.

The company reminds us its Cyber 360 strategy delivers integrated solutions covering identification, protection and 24/7 monitoring against cybersecurity threats, with comprehensive, tailored solutions to prevent, detect and mitigate potential cyber-attacks.

With over 400 cybersecurity practitioners, Tesserent says it "has the capability to support organisations to defend their digital assets against increasing risks and cyber-attacks," with "deep expertise in security advisory (GRC) and consulting, technical assurance and testing, cloud services, 24x7 managed services and monitoring, incident response and forensics and converged/physical security."

So, when the opportunity arose to talk to Michael McKinnon, the CIO at Tesserent and whom I'm known for a number of years stretching back to his days at Internet security software provider AVG, I was very happy to talk with Michael and to catch up, especially on World Backup Day!

Our video interview is embedded immediately below, after which is a summary of the topics we spoke about, so please watch and read on!

I started by introducing and welcoming Michael to the program, and asking him to tell us a bit about Tesserent in 2022.





We then moved into the fact it is World Backup Day as we recored the video, and what it means today in a world of cyber war, actual war, ransomware and more.





We discussed how cyber criminals are especially devious, going after backups and staying hidden in systems for 10 to 30 days before they launch attacks, which often come with exfiltration of data for further extortion if ransoms aren't paid.





Michael explained the how backups need to be tested, what needs to be backed up, how long disaster recovery can take and more on these themes.





We looked at the 3-2-1 backup rule and how it should be modernised for today's realities.





Michael then shared some of his own history in the world of tech and what got him into the IT space, memories of his first computer, memories of his first virus experience, what he thinks the cybersecurity industry will look like in the future, great advice he has received in life, and his final message to viewers, readers, customers and partners.

So - please make sure you've not only backed up your systems and data, but that you have an appropriate number of multiple, up-to-date copies, that you can restore that data when needed, and that you have professional help as appropriate.

Happy World Backup Day, and I commend the video interview to you as definitely worth your time to watch!

Below is Tesserent's official video on YouTube:
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
China's factory activities slow down amid domestic COVID-19 resurgences, external uncertainties

Xinhua) 16:27, March 31, 2022

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China's factory activities slowed down in March as the country faced downward pressures including a resurgence in COVID-19 infections domestically and mounting geopolitical uncertainties.

The purchasing managers' index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector has eased to 49.5 in March from 50.2 in February, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Thursday.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below reflects contraction.

Clusters of epidemic outbreaks across the nation, along with rising global geopolitical uncertainties, have affected the production and operation of enterprises, noted NBS senior statistician Zhao Qinghe.

Fueled by the growing prices of bulk commodities in the international market, the sub-index measuring purchase prices of major raw materials rose 6.1 percentage points from February to 66.1, and that for prices at the factory gate came in at 56.7, up 2.6 percentage points from last month.

Production and market demand in the manufacturing sector weakened last month, as the sub-index for production retreated 0.9 percentage points to 49.5, while that for new orders dropped 1.9 percentage points to 48.8.

Enterprises in some areas temporarily cut production or stopped production due to the pandemic, and the production and operation of upstream and downstream enterprises have been also affected, Zhao said.

Some enterprises have borne the brunt of geopolitical uncertainties as their overseas orders were axed or canceled, he added.

Bucking the overall downward trend, the high-tech sector continued expansion, with its PMI in positive territory at 50.4, demonstrating its high resilience.

Data also showed that large enterprises sustained steady operation this month, with the PMI standing at 51.3. The PMI for medium-sized firms entered the contraction zone at 48.5, while that for small enterprises stood at 46.6.

Business activities in the non-manufacturing sector were also affected by COVID-19 resurgences, said Zhao, noting that the PMI for business activities in the services sector stood at 46.7, down 3.8 percentage points from that in February.

Enterprises in sectors such as railway transport, aviation, accommodation, and catering are facing increasing pressure, while sectors like telecommunications, satellite transmission, as well as currency and financial services, continue to be in the expansion territory.

The overall business expectation of the construction sector has strengthened, with the sub-index for business activities in the sector standing at 58.1 in March, increasing by 0.5 percentage points from the previous month.

With the economy facing headwinds at home and abroad, the country has pledged to roll out more policies, including allocating 3.65 trillion yuan (about 575 billion U.S. dollars) of special-purpose bonds for local governments, to boost demands and anchor market expectations.

China's State Council executive meeting held on Tuesday reiterated the stance that "policies for keeping the economy stable should be introduced whenever possible, and no policy that adversely affects market expectations will be introduced," while vowing more steps to shore up the economic growth.

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
NEW DELHI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- At least three Indian fishermen were apprehended and their trawler seized by Sri Lankan navy for allegedly fishing in their waters, local media reported on Thursday.

The fishermen hailing from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu were arrested Wednesday night during a patrol.

The incident came two days after four Indian fishermen were arrested by the Sri Lankan navy and their boat impounded for a similar violation.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan navy has also confirmed the arrests Thursday.

"Sri Lanka Navy carried out a special operation on the night of March 30 to chase away a large number of Indian trawlers poaching in Sri Lankan waters northwest of Kovilan Point Lighthouse in Karainagar, Jaffna. In this operation, the navy seized an Indian trawler with three Indian fishermen for poaching in island waters through the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL)," said a statement issued by Sri Lankan navy.

Fishermen of the two countries are often jailed for accidentally crossing into each other's territory as most fishing boats lack technologies to locate exact positions. 
Johnson City, TN (37604)

Today

Partly cloudy early followed by strong thunderstorms this afternoon. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 76F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 90%..

Tonight

Showers this evening becoming a steady light rain overnight. Low 54F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 90%.




BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine's security chief on Wednesday said Russia is redeploying its troops from Kiev and Chernihiv directions, in the central and northern Ukraine respectively, to Ukraine's eastern regions.



Oleksiy Danilov added that Russia's new offensive on Ukrainian forces is also possible in the eastern Lugansk area.

On Tuesday, Russia's Defense Ministry announced that Russia decided to significantly reduce military activity near Kiev and Chernihiv.

Vladimir Medinsky, Russian presidential aide and head of Russia's negotiation team, said Wednesday that Ukraine has demonstrated its readiness to negotiate with Russia "for the first time in years."

He said that after Tuesday's negotiations in Istanbul, Kiev handed Moscow its proposals.

The proposals contained its refusal to join the NATO and deploy foreign military bases and troops on its territory, its readiness to fix its current status as a non-bloc state, and willingness to renounce nuclear weapons as well as other weapons of mass destruction.







Produced by Xinhua Global Service
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Russia-Ukraine conflict continued on Thursday, as progress has been made to explore ways out of the crisis following a fresh round of talks in Turkey. Following are the latest developments of the situation:

Ukraine has demonstrated its readiness to negotiate with Russia "for the first time in years" by proposing a possible agreement containing several important conditions, said Vladimir Medinsky, Russian presidential aide and head of Russia's negotiation team.

In an interview with Russia's Rossiya 24 broadcaster, Medinsky said that after Tuesday's negotiations in Istanbul, Kiev handed Moscow its proposals, which contained its refusal to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and deploy foreign military bases and troops on its territory, its readiness to fix its current status as a non-bloc state, and willingness to renounce nuclear weapons as well as other weapons of mass destruction.

- - - -

Ukraine may hold a referendum on a new international treaty on security guarantees only after the withdrawal of Russian troops, said Ukrainian presidential adviser and negotiator Mykhailo Podolyak.

Following the negotiations on Tuesday, David Arakhamia, a member of the Ukrainian delegation, said Kiev has proposed signing the security guarantees treaty in an attempt to end the conflict in Ukraine.

"We will enter the procedure for launching a referendum only after the Russian troops leave the territory of Ukraine," Podolyak was quoted as saying by Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

After the referendum in Ukraine, the treaty should be ratified by the parliaments of the guarantor countries and the Ukrainian parliament, he said.

- - - -

Russia is redeploying its troops from Kiev and Chernihiv directions, in central and northern Ukraine respectively, to Ukraine's eastern regions, said Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

"Some personnel, who were in Chernihiv and Kiev directions, are being redeployed. Some of them appear in the Kharkiv and Donetsk directions," Danilov was quoted as saying by the Ukrinform news agency.

On Tuesday, Russia's Defense Ministry announced that Russia decided to significantly reduce military activity near Kiev and Chernihiv.

- - - -

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that European partners can continue paying for Russian gas in euros, according to a statement of the German government.

During a phone conversation, Putin said payments will continue to be made in euros and will be transferred as usual to Gazprombank and converted to rubles.

Scholz did not agree to the procedure proposed by Putin during the conversation but asked for written information in order to understand the procedure more precisely, according to the statement of the German side.

Last week, Russia announced that it would only accept payment for gas exports in rubles from "unfriendly countries." In response, the Group of Seven (G7) rejected payments in rubles, citing reasons of contractual compliance. 
UNITED NATIONS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Forty-one donors pledged more than 2.44 billion U.S. dollars for the humanitarian response in Afghanistan and neighboring countries, a top UN official announced Thursday.

"We count on you to disburse your generous pledges as quickly as possible," said Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya in a statement.

The announcement means the 4.4-billion-dollar appeal for the 2022 Afghanistan humanitarian response plan is now more than 50 percent funded.

Before the pledging conference, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the Afghanistan plan was less than 13 percent funded.

The biggest donor on Thursday was the United States with a pledge of 512 million dollars, followed by Britain (374 million dollars), Germany (219 million dollars), and China (200 million dollars).

Msuya expressed the hope that donors would exceed the commitments made at Thursday's conference and continue supporting the humanitarian response in Afghanistan, the UN Central Emergency Response Fund and the hundreds of millions of people in other crises worldwide.

The conference was held virtually by the United Nations, Britain, Germany and Qatar. 
Today

Cloudy early then strong thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High around 75F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.

Tonight

Thunderstorms during the evening will give way to partly cloudy skies after midnight. Low around 55F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%.

Tomorrow

Partly cloudy in the morning. Increasing clouds with periods of showers later in the day. High 67F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
In recent years, the number of people worldwide who are dissatisfied or anxious about their sleep has been increasing due to the diversification of lifestyles. Simple sleep measurement and quantitative understanding of individual sleep patterns are very important not only in the field of healthcare but also from the medical perspective, such as in the diagnosis of sleep disorders.

A research group of The University of Tokyo led by Professor Hiroki Ueda (also a Riken team leader) and Machiko Katori, and Assistant Professor Shoi Shi (RIKEN) used ACCEL(1), an original machine learning algorithm developed by their research laboratory, to determine sleep and waking states based on arm acceleration and converted the acceleration data of approximately 100,000 people in the UK Biobank(2) into sleep data, which was then analyzed in detail. They found that the sleep patterns of these 100,000 people could be classified into 16 different types.

The research group first focused on the arm acceleration data of approximately 100,000 people in the UK Biobank. This data was obtained from men and women in their 30s to 60s, mainly in the UK, who were measured for up to 7 days using wristband-type accelerometers. Using an algorithm (ACCEL) they had developed in 2022, the research group generated sleep data(3) for approximately 100,000 people from the acceleration data. The obtained sleep data were converted into 21 sleep indicators, and then, using dimension reduction(4) and clustering(5) methods, the sleep patterns were classified into 8 different clusters. These included clusters related to "social jet lag" and clusters characterized by mid-onset awakenings and considered insomnia, enabling the extraction of clusters related to lifestyles and to sleep disorders. Next, in order to examine sleep patterns associated with sleep disorders in more detail, the research group focused on 6 of the 21 sleep indicators, including sleep duration and intermediate waking time, which are known to be closely related to sleep disorders. By applying the same analysis to data where one indicator deviated significantly from general sleep (data in the upper 2.28th percentile or higher or the lower 2.28th percentile or lower(6) in the overall distribution), they were able to classify the data into 8 clusters. These included clusters related to morning-types and evening-types. They also identified several clusters associated with insomnia, and were able, along with the clustering using the entire dataset, to classify 7 types of sleep patterns associated with insomnia.

Thus, by analyzing sleep on a large scale, they have revealed the landscape of human sleep phenotype. This study has made it possible to quantitatively classify clusters related to lifestyle such as "social jet lag" and morning/evening types, which are usually difficult to determine with short-term PSG measurements(7), In addition, detailed analysis of outlier and classification of sleep patterns revealed 7 clusters related to insomnia. These clusters are classified based on new indicators differing from conventional methods, and are expected to be useful in the construction of new methods in terms of diagnosing insomnia and proposing treatment methods.

These results were obtained through the "Ueda Biological Timing Project," ERATO Program funded by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). In this project, JST develops "systems biology that contributes to understanding human beings," using sleep-wake rhythms as a model system, and aims to understand in human sleep-wake behavior the "biological time" information that extends from molecules to individual humans living in society.

(1) ACCEL

An original sleep determination algorithm developed by the research team. For details, refer to the following paper.

"A jerk-based algorithm ACCEL for the accurate classification of sleep-wake states from arm acceleration"

DOI:10.1016/j.isci.2021.103727

(2) UK Biobank

A large research database containing genetic and health information on approximately 500,000 British participants. This study uses acceleration data for approximately 100,000 people as well as the linked gender and age data.

(3) Sleep data

Time-series data with intervals of 30 seconds labeled as sleeping or waking. PSG measurement uses diverse data measured by specialist technicians to create sleep data. In this study, sleep data was obtained by applying ACCEL to accelerometers.

(4) Dimension reduction method

A method to reduce the number of dimensions of data. This makes it possible to extract important information from the data and to capture the characteristics of the data. In this study, UMAP (Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection) is used.

(5) Clustering method

A method of classifying data into clusters based on similarities among the data. There are two types of clustering methods: supervised clustering, which uses correct data for clustering, and unsupervised clustering, which does not. In this study, the unsupervised clustering method, DBSCAN (Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise) is used.

(6) Upper and lower percentiles

The value in any given percent when the values are arranged in descending order is called the upper percentile. Conversely, the value in any given percent when the values are listed in ascending order is called the lower percentile. For instance, data above the upper 2.28th percentile or below the lower 2.28th percentile in normal distribution refers to data deviating from the mean by more than twice the standard deviation (2SD).

(7) Polysomnography(PSG)

In PSG measurements, multiple electrodes and sensors are attached to the examinee to measure brain waves, eye movements, respiratory status, and electrocardiogram status. It is currently the most accurate measurement method used to determine human sleep patterns. It is also used to diagnose sleep disorders.
Ukraines president warned Russian troops are regrouping in preparation for a renewed assault in the east Thursday, as he dismissed Kremlin promises to scale back attacks on the capital Kyiv.

With shelling of Kyiv and Chernigiv continuing despite a Russian vow to reduce military activity by a large margin, Volodymyr Zelensky told his war-torn nation to brace for a new Russian onslaught in the eastern Donbas region.

We dont believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase, Zelensky said in a late-night video message. There is an accumulation of Russian troops for new strikes in Donbas and we are preparing for it.

We will fight for every metre of our land, he said.

In five weeks of brutal fighting Russian forces have been humbled by dogged Ukrainian resistance, and forced to rethink any ambitions to sack the capital or overthrow the democratically elected government.

Western intelligence agencies have been keen to underscore Russias military failings, and to push suggestions that President Vladimir Putin is being misled by his own fearful advisors about battlefield reverses.

Weve seen Russian soldiers  short of weapons and morale  refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft, Britains GCHQ spy agency chief Jeremy Fleming on Thursday, after similar claims from the White House.

Citing US intelligence, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said Putin felt misled by the Russian military.

Military experts believe that with thousands of Russian troops killed and many thousands more injured, Moscow has no choice but to ditch efforts to advance simultaneously along multiple axes in the north, east and south.

There are growing indications that Russias focus is turning to the east, and capturing more towns and cities in Donbas including the besieged port city of Mariupol  even as the long-range assault on other cities continues.

 Shift in strategy 

Russias Ministry of Defence on Thursday claimed that was the plan all along.

The first stage of the special military operation, said major general Igor Konashenkov, was to force the enemy to concentrate its forces, means, resources and military equipment to hold on to high populated areas.

He said the aim was to degrade and tie up Ukrainian forces so they could not be used in the main direction of our Armed Forces in Donbas. All these goals have been met, he added.

Some believe that Russias aim now will be to capture territory in the south to strengthen Moscows hand when it comes to negotiating peace.

I think we are now seeing the Russian strategy changing, said Marcus Hellyer of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a former Department of Defence and intelligence official. They are focusing more on the east so it may be that they have realised they cant completely defeat Ukraine.

The new strategy, he suggested was to occupy all of Donbas, occupy as much of the Black Sea coast as they can and use that as the facts on the ground for their negotiating strategy.

Ukraines general staff on Thursday reported that some Russian units had already left northwestern Ukraine for Moscow-allied Belarus, and there was a regrouping of units of the Eastern Military District.

They also claimed that Russia was preparing to create another pseudo-republic in the Kherson region.

Since 2014 Russia has backed two similar breakaway Donbas statelets in Lugansk and Donetsk and recently recognised their independence.

The fate of these two self-styled peoples republics is central to ongoing peace talks, with Kyiv insisting they are still part of Ukraine.

Russia has long sought a land link between the republics and also-occupied Crimea via Mariupol, which is now encircled by Russian forces.

Tens of thousands of civilians are trapped in the city without ready access to food, water or medicines.

Russias offer of a Mariupol ceasefire from 10:00 am (0700 GMT) Thursday  allowing trapped civilians to leave  was dismissed by Ukrainian authorities as another manipulation.

Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova also accused Russian forces of striking a clearly marked Red Cross facility near the city with aircraft and artillery.

An International Committee of the Red Cross official told AFP the facility was a warehouse but aid stored there had been distributed.

 Civilian toll 

As generals and political leaders reassess their strategies for a new phase in the war, the toll on ordinary Ukrainians is still coming into harrowing focus.

In Irpin, a gateway to Kyiv, officials said they were recovering bodies in the streets and the area was still being shelled by Russia.

Irpins mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said at least 200 people had been killed there since the war began.

In the town of Trostyanets, just 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Russian border, AFP reporters saw dazed residents emerge from their homes as Ukrainian soldiers salvaged abandoned Russian vehicles.

There was nothing left to eat in the town, no water and no electricity, said Pavlo, who spent the past month hunkered down in his basement.

The United Nations estimates that four million Ukrainians  close to one in 10 inhabitants  have been forced to flee the country.

The head of the UN Human Rights Council has warned Moscow that indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.

There are few signs of those attacks abating, despite recent talks in Istanbul and another round of video talks slated for April 1.

Both sides initially said the Istanbul meeting had made progress, but the Kremlin on Wednesday played down hopes of a breakthrough.

We cannot state that there was anything too promising, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was similarly pessimistic, saying the war continues.

Against that backdrop, Ukraines Western allies appear ready to step up military aid for Kyiv and sanctions on Russia.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke of British military aid going up a gear and the White House said that President Joe Biden discussed additional capabilities in an almost hour-long phone call with Zelensky.

The White House said that could include anti-ship capability to hit Russian vessels in the Black Sea.

burs-arb/je
Ukraine said Thursday it was sending dozens of buses to evacuate civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol after a Russian ceasefire announcement, but dismissed Kremlin promises to scale back attacks on the capital saying forces were simply regrouping to target the east.

Tens of thousands of civilians are trapped in besieged Mariupol with little food, water or medicine, and previous attempts to agree a humanitarian corridor have failed, despite international pressure.

But on Thursday, Ukraines Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said buses were heading to the city, where Russia said it would observe a ceasefire from 10:00 am (0700 GMT).

Tonight, we were informed by the International Committee of the Red Cross that Russia is ready to open access to a humanitarian corridor from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, she said in video posted on Telegram.

The prospect of an evacuation from the destroyed city came as Russia continued to shell the capital Kyiv and Chernigiv despite having vowed to reduce military activity by a large margin.

President Volodymyr Zelensky told his war-torn nation to brace for a new Russian onslaught in the eastern Donbas region.

We dont believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase, Zelensky said in a late-night video message. There is an accumulation of Russian troops for new strikes in Donbas and we are preparing for it.

We will fight for every metre of our land, he said.

In five weeks of brutal fighting Russian forces have been humbled by dogged Ukrainian resistance, and forced to rethink any ambitions to sack the capital or overthrow the democratically elected government.

Western intelligence agencies have been keen to underscore Russias military failings, and to push suggestions that President Vladimir Putin is being misled by his own fearful advisors about battlefield reverses.

Weve seen Russian soldiers  short of weapons and morale  refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft, Britains GCHQ spy agency chief Jeremy Fleming on Thursday, after similar claims from the White House.

Citing US intelligence, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said Putin felt misled by the Russian military.

Military experts believe that with thousands of Russian troops killed and many thousands more injured, Moscow has no choice but to ditch efforts to advance simultaneously along multiple axes in the north, east and south.

Its focus instead has turned towards the east, and capturing more towns and cities in Donbas including Mariupol  even as the long-range assault on other cities continues.

 Shift in strategy 

Russias ministry of defence on Thursday claimed that was the plan all along.

The first stage of the special military operation, said major general Igor Konashenkov, was to force the enemy to concentrate its forces, means, resources and military equipment to hold on to high populated areas.

He said the aim was to degrade and tie up Ukrainian forces so they could not be used in the main direction of our Armed Forces in Donbas. All these goals have been met, he added.

Some believe that Russias aim now will be to capture territory in the south to strengthen Moscows hand when it comes to negotiating peace.

I think we are now seeing the Russian strategy changing, said Marcus Hellyer of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a former Department of Defence and intelligence official. They are focusing more on the east so it may be that they have realised they cant completely defeat Ukraine.

The new strategy, he suggested was to occupy all of Donbas, occupy as much of the Black Sea coast as they can and use that as the facts on the ground for their negotiating strategy.

Ukraines general staff on Thursday reported that some Russian units had already left northwestern Ukraine for Moscow-allied Belarus, and there was a regrouping of units of the Eastern Military District.

They also claimed that Russia was preparing to create another pseudo-republic in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

Since 2014 Russia has backed two similar breakaway Donbas statelets in Lugansk and Donetsk and recently recognised their independence.

The fate of these two self-styled peoples republics is central to ongoing peace talks, with Kyiv insisting they are still part of Ukraine.

Russia has long sought a land link between the republics and also-occupied Crimea via Mariupol, which is now encircled by Russian forces.

Satellite images of the city have revealed the scale of devastation by relentless bombardment, with Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova accusing Russian forces of striking a clearly marked Red Cross facility near the city with aircraft and artillery.

An International Committee of the Red Cross official told AFP the facility was a warehouse but aid stored there had been distributed.

 Civilian toll 

As generals and political leaders reassess their strategies for a new phase in the war, the toll on ordinary Ukrainians is still coming into harrowing focus.

In Irpin, a gateway to Kyiv, officials said they were recovering bodies in the streets and the area was still being shelled by Russia.

Irpins mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said at least 200 people had been killed there since the war began.

In the town of Trostyanets, just 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Russian border, AFP reporters saw dazed residents emerge from their homes as Ukrainian soldiers salvaged abandoned Russian vehicles.

There was nothing left to eat in the town, no water and no electricity, said Pavlo, who spent the past month hunkered down in his basement.

The United Nations estimates that four million Ukrainians  close to one in 10 inhabitants  have been forced to flee the country.

The head of the UN Human Rights Council has warned Moscow that indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.

There are few signs of those attacks abating, despite recent talks in Istanbul and another round of video talks slated for April 1.

Both sides initially said the Istanbul meeting had made progress, but the Kremlin on Wednesday played down hopes of a breakthrough.

We cannot state that there was anything too promising, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Still, Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday said a higher-level meeting at least at the level of foreign ministers could happen in a week or two.

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Fatou Bensouda promised it, Karim Khan did it. Before she left, the former International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor indicated that she would hand over her findings on the investigation she opened in 2016 into the 2008 Russian-Georgian war. The symbolic goal for Bensouda was to show Africans they were not the only ones targeted. She didnt, and it was her successor who did so, on March 10, with another symbolic goal in mind in the context of the war in Ukraine: to show the world that the ICC is not standing idle in the face of Russian violations of international law.

Via Georgia, current ICC Prosecutor Khan wants to show that his office is not afraid to target those who carry out the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin  whilst waiting to show results of the emergency investigation opened on Ukraine on March 2. This came eight years after Ukraines referral to the ICC, following the start of the conflict in Crimea and the eastern Donbass region in 2014. On March 10, in requesting arrest warrants for three former separatist leaders of South Ossetia  a territory in northern Georgia de facto annexed by Moscow in 2008 -, the Prosecutor stressed that his office concluded that a similar pattern of action existed during its preliminary examination of the situation in Ukraine.

Three South Ossetians and a deceased Russian general

Thus Georgia is a proxy, allowing the ICC to react to the situation in Ukraine  just as the three South Ossetian suspects it is targeting were proxies in the five-day war between Tbilisi and Moscow, which resulted in the deaths of 850 people and the forced displacement of nearly 30,000 Georgians. The three men suspected of war crimes  Mikhail Mindzayev, Gamlet Guchmazov and David Sanakoev  were respectively Minister of the Interior, director of a detention centre and ombudsman. A fourth suspect, Russian General Vyacheslav Borisov who was at the head of the occupying troops, is mentioned in the Prosecutors request. But this key man is since deceased.

The three former officials of the breakaway republic of South Ossetia targeted by the International Criminal Court: Mikhail Mindzaev (left), ex-Interior Minister; Gamlet Guchmazov (bottom), former director of a pre-trial detention centre; David Sanakoev (top), ex-Ombudsman.  CPI-ICC

The government of South Ossetia was a peculiar one, it was said to be an independent State but only Russians would take the key positions in the government, says a former Georgian official who was an internal security analyst during the war and subsequent peace negotiations. The prime minister was from Siberia. The minister of defense was from Belarus. Mindzayev was from North Ossetia [Russian Federation]. It was a classical puppet government that was representing Russia rather than the local population. The president of the de facto Republic fled just when the war began, and every government official was under the command of the Russian forces. Borisov was central. Although he would claim that he was only in charge of the airborne forces, he was also the guy who was the commander of the land forces. Other sources describe the former Russian general as a de facto governor in the early days of the South Ossetia occupation.

This same first-hand witness describes the mechanics of the invasion: the Russian armed forces came to the front line, then volunteer auxiliaries  composed, among others, of Chechens, Kazakhs or Ossetians mobilized two or three months earlier  took care of the dirty work, the ethnic cleansing. According to the former Georgian official, Mindzayev and Kuchmazov both supervised and personally participated in this work  notably in a temporary detention centre in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvali  and are potentially identifiable by direct victims. Sanakoev is alleged to have organized hostage-taking for ransom. Prosecutor Khans application relates to acts of illegal detention, ill-treatment, hostage-taking and the subsequent illegal transfer of Georgian civilians in the context of an occupation by the Russian Federation, which constitute war crimes.

The ICC, obedient tool of the West

Moscow, via its foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, reacted vigorously to the request for arrest warrants against citizens of South Ossetia, who are also citizens of Russia. She did not hesitate to put them in the context of the opening of an ICC investigation into Ukraine. Of course, she writes, there is a reason behind the decisions of the Prosecutor. He has decided to contribute to the anti-Russian hysteria raging in the United States, the European Union and the bodies they are controlling. The time chosen to issue arrest warrants and the choice of the parties accused has shown clearly that the ICC has always been and remains an obedient tool of the West.

In Tbilisi, the Ministry of Justice congratulated itself on having won a new victory against Russia  after the one last year in the Strasbourg Court.

But in Georgia, whose pulse beats more than anywhere else to the rhythm of the bombs falling in Ukraine, civil society reactions to the ICC announcement are sceptical. It is of course good to have this, but definitely frustrating that things take so long, says Nino Tsagareishvili, co-director of the Human Rights Centre in Tbilisi. Justice is not served for those people who have waited, and some have died. The ICC Trust Fund for Victims, she laments, took more than a year to select its partners. A final decision is expected in the next few weeks. Only then can the programme begin. Its really important, because its one of the few ways the ICC can bring some relief to victims, says Tsagareishvili.

Better late than never

It is better late than never for the thousands of Georgian victims of ethnic cleansing, agrees Paata Gaprindashvili, director of the think tank Grass and former diplomat who took part in the peace keeping mechanism meetings after the war. But the investigation should continue and reach those most responsible, including in Russia. Georgian authorities welcomed it, and vowed to support the ICC. But this welcome is mired in political polarization. The policy of this government backed by Bidzina Ivanishvili [oligarch who built his wealth in Russia], is not to provoke Russia, not to irritate it. This has led to blunders, he says, including most recently its failure to officially show solidarity with Ukraine.

Fourteen years after the war, three warrants requested against South Ossetians  this is not a good result, says Mariam Jishkariani, president of RCT Empathy, an NGO representing some 60 victims and potential witnesses at the ICC. If the investigation had been more effective, it might have been somehow preventive for Ukraine. The three wanted men are protected by Russia, she says. War crimes could not have been perpetrated on the orders of only these officials. They represent nothing and it means Putin gave some green light to do more war crimes and its happening now, Jishkariani continues. She thinks there are similarities between Georgia and the situation in Ukraine, not only in the types of crimes committed but also in the way the ICC is taking so long to achieve results. She does not understand why the ICC needs so much time.

In an open letter to Prosecutor Khan dated March 28, the Coalition of Georgian NGOs for the ICC urges him to investigate the responsibility of the political and military leadership of the Russian Federation. The letter raises another point: the absence of crimes against humanity charges in his request. It is true that the Prosecutor is targeting the illegal transfer of Georgians from South Ossetia as a war crime, but not the broader crime of deportation or forcible transfer of population, which is a crime against humanity, retained by Bensouda during the preliminary examination. The ethnic dimension of the crime, in particular, cannot be included in war crime charges. Georgian authorities and numerous international organizations published reports describing the ethnic cleansing of the Georgian population in Tskhinvali Region and other actions directly linked not only to the commission of war crimes, but also crimes against humanity, recall the NGOs in their letter.

We, the coalition, believe that the prosecutor should consider the higher levels of responsibility in the Russian forces, says Tamar Oniani, from the Georgian Young Lawyers Association Gyla, the coalitions leader. This is not just a problem between Georgians and separatists, she added.

Natsi vs Kotsi

On Shota Rustaveli Avenue, the Champs-Elysees of Tbilisi, portraits of Georgian fighters who died in Ukraine are placed against a statue in memory of people killed during demonstrations for Georgias independence in 1989. In spite of the governments ban on volunteers going to Ukraine, many Georgians have gone there, some to take up arms alongside the Ukrainians, some to work with the government and some to assist refugees. There are demonstrations of solidarity on every street corner. Yellow and blue flags are flying on balconies, on store fronts and on the lapels of coats. Trendy Tbilisi people are snatching up anti-Covid masks in the colours of Georgia and Ukraine, which a store in the chic Vaque district had the smart idea of making.

Portraits of Georgian volunteers who died fighting alongside Ukrainians. Picture taken on Shota Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, on 21 March 2022.  Franck Petit

The gap between a pro-Western opposition and a pro-Russian government is widening. Some supporters of former President Mikhael Saakashvili refer ironically to Putins denazification rhetoric, saying that here they are also called the Natsi  a shortened form of Ertiani Natsionaluri Modzraoba (United National Movement). The other camp is the Kotsi, derived from Kartuliy Otsneba (Georgian Dream, a party founded in 2012 by billionaire Ivanishvili). The Natsi suspect that the Kotsi wanted an arrest warrant from the ICC against Saakashvili, whom the Kotsi accuse of having started the 2008 war. So, the Natsi are relieved that the worst has been avoided and The Hague has not targeted any Georgian to date. But the Kotsi have obtained their political revenge, to quote Amnesty International, by another means, namely by imprisoning Saakashvili when he first returned to Georgia on October 1, 2021, and subjecting him to a series of trials. He is currently in jail in Georgia. When in exile Saakashvili became a Ukrainian citizen, and was in 2020 named head of the National Council of Reforms there. Upon Saakashvilis arrest, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Tbilisi, in vain, that Putins Caucasian bete noire be allowed to return to Kyiv.

International organizations cant understand

David Beritashvili is a convinced Natsi. A biologist by training, he lived in Russia for 40 years before returning to Georgia when Saakashvili called him as presidential advisor. This scientist has meticulously documented, in collaboration with the NGO Grass and others, the forced displacement of Georgians from South Ossetia. Comparing satellite images before and after 2008 and asking refugees to identify their homes, he coordinated the building of a database, which he shared with ICC investigators in 2018. The data links the names of 16,273 displaced people to 5,023 destroyed homes. This painstaking work is accessible online on Google Earth.

Click on the image below to open the slideshow in large size

A satellite shot dated 2007 of the South Ossetian capital city of Tskhinvali and its suburb, the ancient village Tamarasheni, populated by Georgians. 2010 satellite image of the same location. On the right, the Georgian village of Tamarasheni, where all the houses have been destroyed. Above Tamarasheni, a city block of colored houses is hastily built  this is the Moscow Town, a gift for the homeless Tskhinvalians from the municipality of Moscow to the city of Tskhinvali, - destroyed to the ground by Georgian fascists; The colored cottages turned out to be so nice and comfortable, in comparison to local conditions, that Ossetian top officials and the Russian high rank militaries immediately settled in them

Beritashvili says he is very disappointed with the ICC. The people targeted are too low-level to represent the reality of this hybrid war, he says. The ICC people say they are continuing work but you dont see them here in Georgia. Since 2018, they called me once to check during Covid, and then last week to tell me the news. They say this is just the beginning and at the same time they only have three people working on the Georgia case. I dont know. What are they doing? What is their purpose?

The chances of arresting the three suspects and bringing them to trial before the ICC are slim to zero. Unless there is a change of administration, there is no chance that Russia will give them up, says Nika Jeiranashvili, director of the NGO Justice International. Jishkariani thinks the failure to trace responsibility for the war in Georgia to higher levels does not send a strong message for Ukraine. Its some kind of general problem, as if international organizations cant understand what is happening. The United Nations doesnt work. NATO cannot restrain Russia. And the European Union has no effective measure to stop Russias aggression. Maybe its time to make some changes in the international institutions.
AMMAN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Jordan has sent a clear message through recent intensified high-level meetings with the Palestinians and the Israelis that the Palestinian issue should be retaken to center stage in the Middle East for sustainable peace, Jordanian analysts said Thursday.

On Monday, King Abdullah II of Jordan held talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, reiterating Jordan's support for the Palestinians in attaining legitimate rights of self-determination and establish their independent Palestinian state on the 1967 border.

Also this week, during the meeting with visiting Israeli President Isaac Herzog and Defence Minister Benny Gantz in Jordan's capital Amman, the king stressed the necessity for reviving the two-state solution, moving forward with peacemaking efforts and refraining from any unilateral measures that would result in more tensions and violence, as the Islamic holy month of Ramadan is approaching.

"Jordan is emphasizing to the world the importance to retake the Palestinian issue to the central stage, so that it would not be overshadowed by other crises," Saeb Rawashdeh, a political analyst at the Jordan Press Foundation, told Xinhua.

Jordan is exerting its utmost endeavors to ensure that the Palestinian issue continues to catch international attention, even amid global hot spots, such as Russia-Ukraine crisis, he said.

He noted that Jordan is still a main supporter and plays a pivotal role in resolving the Palestinian issue.

Also on Monday, Israel hosted a two-day conference with participation of foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Egypt, as well as U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

Jordan, which was invited to the conference, did not take part, said an anonymous top Jordanian official, saying Jordan is firm in its position that the Palestinian issue is and will continue to be the main issue in the Middle East.

Amjad Jallal, a senior political news editor at the Jordan Press Foundation, said Jordan has a direct and strategic interest in supporting the Palestinians and preserving the holy sites in Jerusalem.

"The king's visit to Ramallah is timely and the meetings with the Israelis and Palestinians highlighted Jordan's key and active role in advancing peace," Jallal said Wednesday.

"Jordan's stance is firm and unwavering in spite of all challenges and developments. For all to live in peace and security, the Palestinian issue must be resolved," he added.

Under the 1994 peace treaty between Jordan and Israel, the latter recognizes Jordan's role as custodian of Muslim holy places in Jerusalem. 
Beijing on Thursday said it had slapped sanctions on an unspecified number of US officials who concocted lies about human rights in China.

The tit-for-tat move comes after Washington announced visa restrictions on Chinese officials accused of repressing religious and ethnic minorities in the far-western region of Xinjiang.

US-China relations have reached their lowest point in decades, most recently aggravated by Beijings perceived support for Russia as it carries out a bloody invasion of Ukraine.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken last week urged China to end its ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, as Washington announced sanctions on unnamed Chinese officials.

On Thursday Beijing said it would impose reciprocal visa restrictions on US officials.

Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said the sanctions would apply to those who concocted lies on human rights issues involving China, promoted and implemented sanctions on China, and harmed Chinas rights and interests.

The US uses the pretext of so-called human rights issues to concoct malicious lies, and uses these as a reason to interfere in Chinas internal affairs, smear Chinas image and suppress Chinese officials.

Wang did not disclose the names of the officials to be sanctioned or the extent of the visa restrictions, but said the move was in line with Chinas anti-foreign sanctions law implemented last year.

Rights groups estimate up to one million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslim minorities have been detained across Xinjiang in a network of re-education camps as part of an anti-terrorism crackdown.

Blinken last week said the US sanctions mainly targeted Chinese officials complicit in policies that repressed minorities, dissidents, human rights activists and journalists.

He criticised efforts by China to harass, intimidate, surveil, and abduct members of ethnic and religious minority groups, including those who seek safety abroad.

We again call on the PRC government to cease its acts of transnational repression, including attempting to silence Uyghur American activists and other Uyghur individuals, Blinken said.

The US announcement came a few days after President Joe Biden spoke via video call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as part of American efforts to dissuade Xi from supporting Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
The UK on Thursday announced new sanctions against Russian propagandists, including a well-known television presenter, and two Kremlin-funded media operations accused of spreading lies and deceit about the invasion of Ukraine.

The 14 latest sanctions follow several previous rounds of penalties against more than 1,000 Russian and Belarusian individuals and entities in response to Moscows war in its western neighbour.

Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out (Vladimir) Putins fake news and narratives, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.

We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table.

Prime Minister Boris Johnsons official spokesman told reporters separately: Countries can adapt to sanctions over time so its right that we continue to move forward on this.

It is equally right to impose sanctions on those who are seeking to disinform people at a mass scale.

London targeted Russian Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defence Control Centre, who the UK foreign ministry said had become known as the butcher of Mariupol over Russias actions in the besieged Ukrainian city.

Johnsons spokesman said on the face of it there does appear to be evidence of war crimes in Mariupol.

TV-Novosti, which owns the global television channel RT  formerly Russia Today  was also sanctioned, as was Rossiya Segodnya, which controls the news agency Sputnik.

The UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom earlier this month revoked RTs licence with immediate effect, saying it was not fit and proper to broadcast in the country.

In reaction, Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of RT told RIA Novosti state news agency, said: Well add this insult to the total count.

 Propagandist 

Meanwhile, the UK also included Sergey Brilyov  a famous TV anchor in Russia on state-owned media outlet Rossiya, known for his interviews with high profile political figures  to its sanctions list, describing him as a propagandist for Putin.

Having previously lived in the UK, (he) will no longer be able to access any of his UK assets or continue business dealings, the ministry said.

Alexander Zharov, chief executive officer of Gazprom-Media, Alexei Nikolov, the managing director of RT, and Anton Anisimov, head of Sputnik International Broadcasting, were also targeted.

These sanctions will ensure RT will not be able to find its way back on UK televisions, and will prevent companies and individuals operating in the UK from doing business with Russian state propaganda vehicles, the foreign ministry added.

London said it had also fast-tracked sanctions against another seven individuals connected to the Strategic Culture Foundation, which it described as an online journal registered in Russia.

The ministry noted they were recently sanctioned by Australia for their role in spreading disinformation.

The UK is operating closely with allies to target Russias oligarchs, banks and businesses, it added.
Kyiv said Thursday it was sending dozens of buses to evacuate civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol after a Russian ceasefire announcement, as the international Red Cross said it was ready to lead the desperately important operation.

Over a month into Russias invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putins troops have devastated cities like Mariupol with their incessant shelling, killing at least 5,000 in the port city alone. But they have struggled to take control of any significant territory.

Underscoring Russias underestimation of Ukraines dogged defence, Western intelligence agents say Putin is being misled by advisers afraid to tell him the truth about battlefield losses or the calamitous damages that sanctions have wrought on the countrys economy.

Moscow this week said it would scale back attacks on capital Kyiv and concentrate on the east, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed the vows as a red herring.

Russian forces were continuing to shell Kyiv and the northern city of Chernigiv, where governor of the region, Vicheslav Chaus, poured scorn on Moscows claim it was deescalating fighting.

The enemy is taking losses. It is moving on the territory of Chernigiv region. Can we call that a withdrawal of troops? I am not sure. At the minimum, it is regrouping, but it is possible that it is withdrawing. We must not let down our guard, he wrote on Telegram.

Military experts believe that with thousands of Russian troops killed and many thousands more injured, Moscow has no choice but to ditch efforts to advance simultaneously along multiple axes in the north, east and south.

Its focus instead has turned towards the east, and capturing more towns and cities in the Donbas area including Mariupol, while continuing to fire long-range assaults on other cities.

 Desperately important 

Around the capital Kyiv, villages like Lukianivka have borne the brunt of Russias assaults.

A trail of destruction bears testament to the ferocity of the fightback mounted by Ukrainian soldiers to recapture the tiny hamlet a week ago.

Surveying the wreckage of a church at the village, Ukrainian army chaplain Nazarii Hahaliuk said it is inexplicable given that Ukraine and Russia both share the Orthodox Christian faith.

He said he did not believe as a person or a priest in Russias pledge to ease attacks on Kyiv.

I feel pain, I feel tragedy, I feel spiritual decline like that of a person who has been killed, he said.

In the south, where tens of thousands of civilians were still trapped in heavily bombarded Mariupol with little food, water or medicine, Ukrainian authorities made a new try at rescue.

Ukraines Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 45 buses were heading to the port city in a new evacuation operation, as Russia said it would observe a ceasefire from 10:00 am (0700 GMT).

The international Red Cross said it was itself ready to lead the safe passage operation on Friday if the terms including the route and duration are agreed upon by all the parties.

Previous repeated attempts to agree a safety corridor to get them out have collapsed but the ICRC said it was desperately important to make the latest attempt work.

The ICRCs own aid warehouse near the city had been struck by Russian aircraft and artillery, Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said.

Russia forces have encircled Mariupol, a strategic city for the Kremlin which needs to capture it to ensure an unbroken link between the breakaway regions in Donetsk and Lugansk which are under de facto Russian control.

 Dont believe anyone 

Authorities at the eastern city of Kharkiv, which has also suffered relentless shelling, on Thursday reported it was hammered by 47 artillery strikes and 380 rocket bombardments.

We are working everyday to secure humanitarian corridors. For the moment, Russia is not offering this possibility, said Oleg Sinegubov, Kharkiv governor on Telegram, noting that one person was killed and three wounded by massive bombardments in the northern suburb of the city.

Zelensky had warned his war-torn nation to brace for a new Russian onslaught in the eastern Donbas region.

We dont believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase, Zelensky said in a video message late Wednesday. There is an accumulation of Russian troops for new strikes in Donbas and we are preparing for it.

We will fight for every metre of our land, he said.

Zelenksy on Thursday further pushed Western allies to hit harder on the economic front, this time using an address to the Netherlands parliament to urge the Dutch to boycott Russian energy exports.

The EU has joined the United States in imposing unprecedented sanctions against Russia but with some members mindful of ensuring their own power needs, the bloc has stopped short of enforcing a full-on energy embargo.

Be willing to stop energy (exports) from Russia so you dont contribute billions to the war, he said in a video address to Dutch lawmakers.

 Misled 

The United Nations estimates that four million Ukrainians  close to one in 10 inhabitants  have been forced to flee the country.

The head of the UN Human Rights Council has warned Moscow that indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.

A new round of video talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials is due to take place on Friday, after recent negotiations in Istanbul billed initially by both sides as having yielded some progress.

Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Thursday said a higher-level meeting at least at the level of foreign ministers could happen in a week or two.

In five weeks of brutal fighting Russian forces have been humbled by dogged Ukrainian resistance, and forced to rethink any ambitions to sack the capital or overthrow the democratically elected government.

Weve seen Russian soldiers  short of weapons and morale  refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft, Britains GCHQ spy agency chief Jeremy Fleming on Thursday, after similar claims from the White House.

Citing US intelligence, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said Putin felt misled by the Russian military.

But Russias ministry of defence on Thursday claimed that its goals have been met.

The first stage of the special military operation, said major general Igor Konashenkov, was to force the enemy to concentrate its forces, means, resources and military equipment to hold on to high populated areas.

He said the aim was to degrade and tie up Ukrainian forces so they could not be used in the main direction of our Armed Forces in Donbas.
The International Criminal Court has opened an office in Venezuela as part of an investigation into alleged human rights abuses during anti-government protests in 2017, authorities announced on Thursday.

The ICC opened a formal investigation into the alleged rights violations last November and signed a memorandum of understanding with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro which stated that the South American country would take measures to ensure the court would be able to work.

Its a very important step, very significant. This is not for appearances sake, it is something concrete that will allow me to carry out my responsibilities, said ICC prosecutor Karim Khan alongside Maduro at the presidential palace in Caracas.

Venezuela will now have this office that will provide us with an effective level of dialogue in real time that is more efficient, said Maduro, who has been in power since 2013.

As part of the agreement, Venezuela has agreed to provide ICC officials with multiple entry visas to help them in carrying out their functions.

Opposition leader Juan Guaido  who is backed by around 60 countries as Venezuelas acting president after Maduros 2018 re-election in a poll widely viewed as fraudulent  praised the development on Twitter.

There were and continue to be crimes against humanity committed in Venezuela, he wrote.

The announcement about opening an ICC office in our country is progress to determine responsibility and implement justice, something that today does not exist for Venezuelans.

In 2017, more than 100 people died as security forces cracked down on protests sparked by the arrests of several opposition leaders and the supreme courts decision to dissolve the opposition-dominated National Assembly.

During a visit in November, Khan said the ICC had decided to move from a preliminary investigation, opened in 2018, to a formal one.

As a state, we respect his decision, although we do not share it, Maduro said at the time.

When the ICC opened the preliminary investigation, Khans predecessor Fatou Bensouda said there was a reasonable basis to believe the government had committed crimes against humanity.

Since 2017, more than 200 members of the police and military have been charged or sentenced for human rights violations, according to the public ministry.

The opposition claims those actions were taken merely to try to avoid an ICC investigation.
We have enough supplies to boost shots, but if Congress doesnt act, we wont have the supplies we need this fall, Biden warned, noting that regulators may approve a fourth shot for all Americans.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) have been in talks to revive the COVID-19 package.

If a deal is reached, participants said they expect it to be similar to the bipartisan version of $15.6 billion enacted by congressional leaders earlier this month. The initial compromise fell apart after rank-and-file Democrats opposed cuts to unused pandemic aid to states that could have helped pay for it.

The bipartisan disagreement is on how to save money to offset the cost of the measure, not the new spending itself.

Leaders want Congress to approve the aid before lawmakers take their spring recess after next week.

Were not at the finish line yet, but were going to keep working throughout the day, Schumer said Wednesday. Woe to us if a new variant of COVID emerges, he said, extending its nasty tentacles across the country and we dont have the tools to deal with it.

Romney said Tuesday that negotiators are discussing a savings package. But we are making progress and hopefully we can get there soon, he said.

A sub-variant of the highly transmissible omicron that scientists call BA.2 is now the predominant coronavirus mutant in the United States. It accounted for nearly 55% of new infections nationwide last week, with a higher rate in the Northeast, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

One reason BA.2 is making progress, the scientists say, is that it is 30 percent more contagious than the original omicron. In rare cases, studies have shown that omicron can make people sick even if they already have it. But it doesnt seem to cause any more severe disease than the original, and the vaccine seems to work just as well against it.

However, unvaccinated people are at a much greater risk.
The last time Western sanctions hit Russia following its annexation of Crimea, President Vladimir Putin turned to Huawei to rebuild and upgrade the regions communications infrastructure. Now, the controversial Chinese tech company is poised to help the Putin regime on a wider scale, despite Washingtons threat to impose more sanctions on it.

In Crimea, Russia has phased out Western telecommunications equipment in a highly militarized region and replaced it with Huawei and ZTE, said Hosuk Lee-Makiyama, a telecommunications expert at the European Centre for International Political Economy. If Nokia and Ericsson do pull out of Russia altogether, Moscow will need Chinese companies, especially Huawei, more than ever, he said.

Although a initial plunge Huawei has been an early winner of the Ukraine war in terms of handset shipments. Its mobile phone sales in Russia jumped 300% in the first two weeks of March, while other Chinese brands Oppo and Vivo also recorded triple-digit sales growth, according to analysts at MTS, Russias largest mobile operator.

Its four Russian research centers are hiring dozens of engineers, including machine-learning scientists in Novosibirsk, speech-recognition researchers in St. Petersburg and big-data analysts in Nizhny Novgorod. Huawei has also added new sales and business development opportunities in Moscow since the invasion of Ukraine began, according to its website.

But experts say Chinese tech companies such as Huawei and rival Xiaomi run the risk of violating sanctions if they continue to ship mobile phones and telecommunications equipment to Russia. They need Washingtons approval because the electronics often contain high-end semiconductors or are made with U.S. tools, making them subject to new sanctions from Moscow.

Huawei could be subject to more sanctions from Washington  such as Trumps order banning ZTE from using any technology linked to the United States  which would deal another major blow to the Chinese companys business.

I bet its impossible [Huawei and other Chinese phonemakers] legally exported to Russia, said Kevin Wolf, a former Commerce Department official and sanctions expert.

Theoretically it is possible [Huawei] Have been able to figure out how to make a cell phone or base station without American tools, software, etc.But its hard to believe they can find all [semiconductors] Not made with American tools. 

Huawei has struggled to wean itself off the U.S. semiconductor supply chain since the Trump administration imposed U.S. sanctions Cut off access to the chipThe companys rotating chairman, Guo Ping, told reporters on Monday that it relies on chip inventories. He added that Huawei is working to redesign products to bypass the U.S. supply chain by getting equivalent performance from less advanced chips.

The company said on Monday that sanctions would hurt Huaweis chip-intensive smartphone business the most, causing its consumer product revenue to shrink by 50% last year. Huaweis total revenue fell 29% from a year earlier to 636.8 billion yuan ($100 billion) last year, helped by largely flat sales across its telecom and enterprise business lines.

Huaweis successor Meng Wanzhou recently back to China After being detained in Canada for nearly three years for allegedly violating sanctions against Iran, the Huawei team said it had been under a lot of pressure over the past few years.

It brings us closer together and brings clarity to our strategy, she said.

recommended

Russia needs Huawei. Apple and Samsungs retreat has put half of the smartphone market in the spotlight, while Ericsson and Nokias suspension of operations in Russia has left a gap in the supply of telecom equipment for broadband and mobile network infrastructure that needs to be maintained and eventually upgraded .

More than two decades ago, Russia was Huaweis first foray into foreign markets, and the sanctions deepened the relationship, and Huawei found a buyer willing to buy network infrastructure. Like Crimea, Russia turned to Huawei when it needed a reliable company to provide the hardware backbone of the new sanctions-resistant state payment system Mir.

Analysts say Huawei has won most of the contracts to roll out 4G and 5G networks in Russia. Huawei and Chinese peer ZTE control about 40% to 60% of the Russian wireless network equipment market, with Nokia and Ericsson making up most of the rest, according to market research firm DellOro.

An opportunity for Huawei could also lie in sharing with Russia its sanctions defense programs, including the Harmony operating system it developed for its phones after losing access to Googles mobile services.

Vladimir Puzanov, CEO of Russian phone maker BQ, told Russian media last week that the company was considering installing HarmonyOS on new devices. Huawei said it has no current plans to launch or promote HarmonyOS outside of China.

Huawei has a large share of the Russian market . . . and now the sanctions have weighed on them like a 200-pound weight, whats so scary about having 20 pounds? Beijing-based technology consulting firm Strategy Analytics Analyst Yang Guang said. However, as a business organisation, they may be on the sidelines for now.

Washington is keeping a close eye on Huawei. Commerce Department export official Matthew Borman threatened Chinese companies on Tuesday to bypass Russian sanctions with a total ban [of] Not just a deal, but any deal or even a denial order . . . like the one we imposed on ZTE.

Borman said Washington has approved a large number of export license Foreign suppliers can continue to sell to Huawei, but these could be withdrawn.

Huaweis Guo said the company was carefully evaluating the new sanctions. Huawei declined to answer further questions about its plans in Russia.

Nian Liu contributed reporting from Anhui
When the COVID-19 pandemic ends, it could wreak havoc on the cumbersome U.S. health care system, which has become technologically more generous, flexible and up-to-date with a raft of temporary emergency measures.

The phasing out of these policies could begin as early as the summer. This could force an estimated 15 million Medicaid recipients to find new sources of coverage, requiring Congress to act to preserve broad telehealth services for Medicare enrollees and create special COVID-19 rules for hospitals, doctors and insurers and payment policy. There are also questions about how emergency use approvals for COVID-19 treatments are handled.

The series of questions pertains to the coronavirus public health emergency first declared more than two years ago and has been updated regularly since then. It is set to end on April 16, and a Biden administration is expected to extend it until mid-July. Some people want longer exit ramps.

Transformation does not bode well for the complex U.S. health care system, which has a mix of private and government insurance, and an intricate mix of policies and procedures. A health care mess that could spell trouble for Democrats and Republicans in the midterms.

The flexibility provided by public health emergencies helps people stay covered and get health care, so the key question moving forward is how to build on whats been successful without losing ground, said Juliette Cuban, a health insurance expert Juliette Cubanski said. The nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation has been studying the potential consequences of ending the pandemic emergency.

Medicaid loss

Medicaid, the states federal health insurance program for low-income people, covers about 79 million people, a record partly attributable to the pandemic.

But the nonpartisan Urban Institute think tank estimates that about 15 million people could lose Medicaid when the public health emergency ends, and at least 1 million people each month.

Congress has increased federal Medicaid payments to states because of COVID-19, but its also asking states to keep people engaged during the health emergency. Under normal circumstances, states typically cancel Medicaid recipients whose income exceeds a certain level or other life changes that affect eligibility. When the emergency is over, the process will start again, with some states eager to move forward.

Nearly everyone who loses Medicaid is expected to receive some other source of coverage through their employer, the Affordable Care Act, or the Childrens Health Insurance Plan.

But it wont happen automatically, said Matthew Buettgens, lead researcher on the Urban Institute study. Cost and lack of awareness of options can get in the way.

People withdrawing from Medicaid may not realize they can get taxpayer-subsidized ACA coverage. Medicaid is usually free, so people who offer workplace insurance may find the premiums too high.

This is an unprecedented situation, Buettgens said. Uncertainty is real.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recommends states slow down and connect Medicaid recipients who have withdrawn with other potential coverages. The agency will pay close attention to the accuracy of states in making eligibility decisions. Biden officials want a change in reporting, not a loss.

Our focus is to make sure we maintain the coverage gains we made during the Biden-Harris administration, said CMS administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. Were in the strongest period in history, and were going to make sure we maintain our coverage. growth of.

ACA insurance  or Obamacare  is the option of many people who have lost Medicaid. But if congressional Democrats fail to provide the generous financial aid required by President Joe Bidens social legislation, it will be less burdened. Democrats who delay the bill will face blame.

Republicans, who have resisted expanding Medicaid in most southern states, are also vulnerable. In these states, it may be difficult for low-income adults to obtain insurance, and many more may end up uninsured.

State Medicaid officials dont want to be scapegoated. Medicaid has done its job, said Matt Salo, director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors. Weve been focusing on physical, mental and behavioral health needs. We should adjust the size of the program as we emerge from this emergency.

telemedicine static

In 2020, when the coronavirus shutdown caused routine medical consultations to be suspended, millions of Americans discovered telehealth. In-person visits are once again the norm, but telehealth has shown its usefulness and gained wider acceptance.

The end of the public health emergency will jeopardize telehealth services for millions of people enrolled in traditional health insurance. Pre-COVID-19 restrictions limited telehealth to mostly rural residents, in part to reduce health care fraud. Congress gave itself 151 days to develop new rules after the public health emergency ended.

If the law isnt changed after that, most Medicare beneficiaries wont be able to get telehealth coverage, said Kubansky of the Kaiser Foundation.

A major exception applies to enrollees in private Medicare Advantage plans, which typically cover telehealth. However, nearly 6 in 10 Medicare enrollees are enrolled in traditional fee-for-service plans.

Tests, Vaccines, Treatments, Payments and Procedures

Widespread availability of COVID-19 vaccines, tests, and treatments depends on legal authorizations related to public health emergencies.

One example is the Biden administration requiring insurance companies to provide up to eight free home COVID-19 tests a month.

One particularly nebulous area is what happens to the tests, treatments and vaccines covered by the FDAs emergency use authorization.

Some experts say emergency-use approvals only last until a public health emergency. Others say its not that simple, as different federal emergency regulations also apply to vaccines, testing and treatment. Health officials have not yet given clear instructions.

The FDA has fully approved Pfizer-BioNTechs COVID-19 vaccine for people 16 years and older and Modernas vaccine for 18 years and older, so their continued use will not be affected.

But hospitals could take a financial hit. Currently, they pay 20% more for the care of COVID-19 patients. Additional payments are only available during emergencies.

Medicare enrollees will have more hurdles to jump through to get approved for rehabilitation in nursing homes. A suspending Medicare rule requiring three days early hospitalization will come back into effect.

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra recently told The Associated Press that his department is committed to giving sufficient notice when it comes to ending the public health emergency.

We want to make sure we dont disadvantage Americans who still need our help, Becerra said. What people are really worried about is Medicaid.
Hallyu stars Song Hye Kyo, Kim Tae Ri, and more are known and lauded for dominating the small and big screens and even the fashion industry. It's not always we're able to name a celebrity who conquer these three fields, but these Korean actresses are part of the rarity, proving their influence and versatility.

Song Hye Kyo

It's safe to say Song Hye Kyo has it all - timeless beauty and her brilliant acting skills. She graces the cover of multiple major fashion magazines in a year and captivates hearts with her dramas or films.

What's more amazing is she can merge the two worlds in one! This year, she headlined "Now, We Are Breaking Up," where she portrayed a fashion virtuoso.

Jun Ji Hyun

She is not named as the highest-paid Korean actress for nothing.

With her popular works "My Love From The Star," "The Legend of the Blue Sea," "Assassination," and her amazing acting skills, Jun Ji Hyun is one of today's esteemed Korean stars who can portray any character to perfection - a mountain ranger, a mermaid, a sassy girl, you name it!

But apart from her beauty, the A-list star can quickly transform into the face of various high-end fashion brands. And in case you missed it, she is the first-ever Korean actress to become Alexander McQueen's ambassador!

Kim Tae Ri

Currently stealing the spotlight with her ongoing coming-of-age drama "Twenty Five, Twenty One," Kim Tae Ri is once again proving her multifacetedness and visual charms that can make anyone swoon.

Before her current weekend drama, the phenomenal star appeared in one of Netflix's megahit films "Space Sweepers" in 2021, where she worked with Song Joong Ki. She also starred with another prominent star, Lee Byung Hun, in "Mr. Sunshine" in 2018.

Gong Hyo Jin

Dubbed as the "Romantic Comedy Queen," Gong Hyo Jin is always lauded for her acting skills, especially in rom-com dramas. Her series "It's Okay, That's Love," "The Master's Sun," "When the Camellia Blooms" were some of her notable projects that made her receive recognition.

Most of her dramas surpassed double-digit viewership ratings, and she has the power to swiftly build good chemistry with her leading man.

Apart from her acting career, the celebrity is also the face of various fashion brands and has been featured in magazines.

Jeon Yeo Bin

Thanks to her iconic role as the ill-tempered lawyer Hong Cha Young in tvN's blockbuster drama "Vincenzo" in 2021, Jeon Yeo Bin catapulted a bigger fame and she's now reaping what she sowed.

Pre-"Vincenzo," Jeon Yeo Bin was already making a name with her stunning performances in movies "After My Death" and "Night in Paradise," where she earned a nomination and a trophy.

But aside from acting, Jeon Yeo Bin also struts the fashion world and has graced fashion magazines like Vogue, Marie Claire, Elle, and more. Through these, her growing fans have witnessed her sophisticated and playful charms.

Got any comments? Share them with us!

Visit KDramastars for more Korean dramas, movies and celebrity updates.

Reported by Shai Collins. KDramastars owns this.
UNITED NATIONS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China's deputy permanent representative to the United Nations, Dai Bing, said Thursday that the international community needs to continue its support for Somalia in the security field.

Currently, the security situation in Somalia remains challenging, making it necessary for the international community to keep up its support to Somalia on the security front, he said in an explanation of vote after the Security Council adopted a resolution to endorse the reconfiguration of the African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia into the African Union Transition Mission in Somalia (ATMIS).

During its 15-year-long deployment in Somalia, the AU peacekeeping mission has been an important contributor to the security and stability in the country, said Dai.

Following intensive consultations, Somalia, the AU, the United Nations and other stakeholders agreed on the mission's reconfiguration. China supports the Security Council's development of a mandate for ATMIS and hopes that all parties concerned will strengthen coordination in the process of ATMIS mandate implementation and work closely with the Somali government to help it gradually take over the primary responsibility for national security, he said.

The Security Council on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution to endorse the reconfiguration of the AU mission in Somalia and the phased drawdown of uniformed personnel. 
Definitely, among the breakthrough stars this 2022 is none other than Kim Min Ha, who surprised the viewers with her stellar performance in "Pachinko."

The 26-year-old South Korean beauty perfectly portrayed the role of teenage Sunja and Lee Min Ho's lover in the Apple TV+ series.

Despite being a rookie actress, Kim Min Ha proved she's Hallyu's next big thing, showing off her excellent skills and keeping pace with Lee Min Ho's acting.

Kim Min Ha Dishes Out Her Thoughts on 'Pachinko'

The Apple TV+ series is among the highly anticipated K-contents this year as it boasts a star-studded cast and a storyline based on a best-selling novel.

Cast members, especially Kim Min Ha, didn't disappoint viewers after delivering Sunja's emotions beautifully.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Did 'Pachinko' Star Lee Min Ho Use Stuntman During His Love Scene with Kim Min Ha? Here's What Viewers Say

During her interview with Tatler Asia, the rookie actress studied her character, recalling that she had to "understand her as this young girl who is living in isolation" and "look at her history" to show her transformation from a young girl to a young woman.

When asked about which part of the scene was emotional for her, Kim Min Ha pointed out that most of Sunja's part was heavy and emotional but picked the part where she had to say goodbye to the members of the boarding house run by her family, adding, "It was so emotional that I couldn't help but cry."

There's no denying that "Pachinko" is her breakthrough performance which will definitely skyrocket her career as an actress.

With her newfound fame, it is safe to say that it will significantly affect Kim Min Ha's net worth drastically, given that she'll receive more offers from various brands and projects.

Kim Min Ha Net Worth 2022: This Is How Much the 'Pachinko' Star Earned So Far

While her "Pachinko" co-stars Lee Min Ho and Oscar winner Youn Yuh Jung are earning big bucks because of their decade-long career in the industry, Kim Min Ha's net worth is estimated at $1 million as of 2022, according to popularnetworth.com.

Like most stars, most of her wealth is from her career as an actress and few endorsements like skincare products.

Kim Min Ha's Filmography

"Pachinko" might be Kim Min Ha's claim to fame, but she appeared in several Kdrama and movies.

Debuting in 2016, the actress had her first small-screen appearance in the series "Two Girls Season 2."

It was then followed by a supporting role in "School 2017," alongside Kim Jung Hyun and "A Business proposal" star Kim Sejeong.

Interestingly, OG K-drama fans might be familiar with the 26-year-old actress after joining the cast of the thriller mystery "Partners of Justice" as Park Mi Young.

In addition, she also played an advertising employee Yoo Hye Young in "Not Alright, But It's Alright" before landing the role in "Pachinko."

Kim Min Ha Instagram

With her Instagram handle @minhakim_, the South Korean beauty nears hitting the 100,000 mark on her social media, where she often posts promotions of her upcoming movies.

Aside from it, she also shares a glimpse of her life with friends and family and traveling.

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
"Thirty-Nine" episode 11 left the viewers emotional as the trio, Son Ye Jin, Jeon Mi Do, and Kim Ji Hyun, prepared themselves for an inevitable circumstance.

On the other hand, despite the heartbreaking condition, they try to create special moments together with their loved ones.

'Thirty-Nine' Episode 11: Cha Mi Jo Cuts Ties With her Biological Mom

The eleventh episode starts with Cha Mi Jo (Son Ye Jin) facing her fears and ended up meeting her biological mother in prison. She confronted her and revealed how she truly feels about being abandoned and left at the orphanage.

Amid her heartbreaking fate, Mi Jo tells her how lucky she is to find her adoptive family.

"Thirty-Nine" episode 11 featured a different kind of Mi Jo as this time, she didn't get soft about her biological mother and berated not to send creditors to her clinic nor contact her loved ones for money.

Before leaving the prison, she pointed out that her adoptive parents are her real parents, showing that she has finally cut ties with her biological mother.

Chan Young Struggles With Her Condition

Refusing to get treated, Jung Chan Young (Jeon Mi Do) is experiencing extreme pain due to her illness, making her cooped up in bed.

In one scene, her mother saw a contract for the memorial hall. She realizes that her daughter is preparing for her funeral, which makes her feel heartbroken.

With this, she tells Chan Young that she is wasting her precious time getting busy on something more mournful than spending it with them.

Capturing Jung Chan Young's Smile

Apart from the memorial contract, Chan Young gets ready for her burial photo. However, she couldn't tell the photographer that it was for her funeral, so instead, she said that it was for her I.D.

Unfortunately, she was disappointed that she couldn't smile in her last photo.

Jung Chan Young also told this to Mi Jo, which made her feel troubled. Feeling anxious that she is slowly preparing for her upcoming death, she mentioned this to Jang Joo Hee (Kim Ji Hyun).

On the other hand, with Joo Hee wanting to fulfill her wish and make her the happiest terminally ill patient, she invites the duo to go on a special trip and capture her smile.

At one point, Mi Jo took a breathtaking candid shot of Chan Young which of course made her feel happy.

The Renovation Begins

Another wish of Jung Chan Young is to renovate her family's restaurant. She opened up to Mi Jo about how she wanted to renovate her family's business, but her mom refused.

Cha Mi Jo seeing Chan Young's frustration to give her parents' only the best, she persuaded her mom to give the restaurant a new look, and fortunately, she agreed.

The trio, alongside Kim Seon Woo (Yeon Woo Jin) and Kim Jin Seok (Lee Moo Saeng), agreed to be a part of the renovation.

Meanwhile, Joo Hee was shocked to see Park Hyun Joon (Lee Tae Hwan) drive from Seoul to help clean up the place.

In the last part of "Thirty-Nine" episode 11, Mi Jo realized that what's important is creating moments and how they made Chan Young feel special.

KDramastars owns this article

Written by Geca Wills
Uhm Jung Hwa is back! The actress returns to the small screen through tvN's newest melodrama "Our Blues"!

Uhm Jung Hwa To Play Lee Jung Eun's Best Friend in 'Our Blues'

"Our Blues" is an omnibus style drama that depicts the bittersweet stories of various characters against the backdrop of Jeju Island. It revolves around people's lost love, dreams, and friendships.

Actress Uhm Jung Hwa transforms into Go Mi Ran, Jung Eun Hee's (Lee Jung Eun) best friend who returns to Jeju Island after being sick of the city life.

Go Mi Ran is a city girl at heart. She is everyone's "first love." She is blessed with beauty, popularity, and a fiery personality.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Lee Jung Eun Works Diligently To Make Ends Meet in New Drama 'Our Blues' With Cha Seung Wo

In the newly published stills, Go Mi Ran lives a grand life in the city. She loves to shop at the mall, works out with a burning passion, and improves herself with high end fashion.

She has been the envy of all women since she was young. In addition to that, she comes from a great family with a wealthy background unlike her friend Jung Eun Hee. Because of troubles in the city, she comes back to Jeju.

Instead of being comforted by Jung Eun Hee, she ends up getting hurt. The curiosity about the truth behind her life is heightened.

In particular, her chemistry with Lee Jung Eun is one of the most anticipated factors in the drama.

"Our Blues" is scheduled to air for the first time on tvN on Saturday, April 9 at 9:10 p.m. KST.

Kim Woo Bin, Han Ji Min To Work Together as Drivers in 'Our Blues'

In the drama, sterling actor Kim Woo Bin portrays the role of Park Jung Hoon. He is a ship captain who has a warm heart.

When everyone else was heading to Seoul, he stayed behind in Jeju and never left his family.

Park Jung Hoon is not greedy for anything, and he does not have an eye for luxury. He only dreams to simply live in Jeju with the woman he loves.

With that said, Park Jung Hoon is a romantic man who lives by the beach in a remodeled bus that looks like a cafe.

His daily life consists of fishing, driving ship rides to haenyeo (female divers) and selling fishes at the auction house and market.

On the other hand, Han Ji Min diversifies her filmography as Lee Young Ok, a haenyeo with a bright and bold personality.

In the drama, she lives a double life. During the day, she is the charming female diver who can be approached by anyone. At night, she lives a glamorous life as a bar owner, with gorgeous hair and outfit.

However, she does not like getting close to anyone. Because of this, she always hears stories about her in the haenyeo community.

"Our Blues" undoubtedly challenged the two veteran stars. Their characters require to put on and take off a diving suit, as well as film on a boat and even underwater.

Kim Woo Bin got a farmer's tan in order to portray the role of a ship captain who works under the hot sun better, adding a very realistic detail that gives his character life.

Meanwhile, Han Ji Min overcame her fear of water to secure the role, earning respect and leaving fans in awe.

While you're here, watch the teaser of "Our Blues"!

KDramaStars owns this article.

Written by Elijah Mully.
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada David Lametti speaks about repealing mandatory minimum sentences during a news conference, Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, in Ottawa. Lametti says reports of a Quebec criminal trial involving a police informant held entirely in secret and kept off the official court docket are deeply concerning. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
On March 4, the Kenosha News reported on Dr. Ralph Yerexs anticipated trip to the 50th running of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska. Heres a follow-up of what he experienced.

When local veterinarian Dr. Ralph Yerex volunteered his expertise at this years Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, which was the 50th running of the fabled event, he knew he was signing up for some way up north adventure.

What Yerex didnt expect was being part of a rescue mission involving teams of dogs and their mushers.

Yerex, an independent part-time veterinarian at Willow Springs Veterinary Clinic in Pleasant Prairie, participated in the 975-mile Iditarod race from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska, which began March 5. He was one of 49 vets who volunteered to provide routine checkups and medical assistance to over 600 dogs on 49 mushing teams.

A former Eagle Scout, Yerex said in a recent interview he wasnt bothered by most of the conditions of the race, which included sleeping in tents on the Alaskan ice.

But a ground blizzard that caught six of the mushing teams about 70 miles from the end of the trail was another thing.

The fierce winter storm that hit the last stretch of the Iditarod affected the teams that had left from the second-to-last checkpoint at White Mountain for the finish line in Nome.

Mushers reported winds running 50 to 75 miles per hour, Yerex said.

Of the six teams that ran into trouble, Yerex and his colleagues were called upon to bail out two of them.

Yerex and fellow veterinarian Mack Boyd were at the White Mountain checkpoint when they received the call for help from musher Gerhardt Thiart.

Gerhardt called us and said, Ive broken my ankle, can you please save my dogs? Yerex said.

Alaskan resident Ed Stang located Thiart and was able to transport him to safety on his snow machine, but he had to tie up the dogs and leave them behind when he transported Thiart.

Meanwhile, musher Bridgett Watkins, who had also experienced an injury, pushed her emergency beacon, signaling that she too needed help.

She and her dogs were at the point of losing their lives, Yerex said.

Before being rescued by her husband, however, Watkins managed to get her dogs to the point where Gerhardts dogs had been secured by Stang.

Meanwhile, as soon as they heard the call for help, Yerex and his group sprang into action to help the stranded dogs of Gerhardt and Watkins.

I grabbed my emergency kit, a butane stove and tarp, and hopped on the back of snow machine, and we drove the 16 miles to where (the dogs) were, Yerex said.

Yerex and Boyd located the mushers stranded dogs, got them bedded down and used a satellite phone to call for more help. When more equipment arrived, they loaded eight of the dogs onto two sleds to be towed behind one of the snow machines.

Yerex and 11 other dogs piled into an open-sided trailer attached to another snow machine.

Harrowing return

The 16-mile trip back to White Mountain took one-and-a-half hours and was pretty harrowing, Yerex said. His job was to hang onto the dogs to make sure they didnt jump out as the vehicle fought through freezing, high-velocity winds.

At one point, Yerex said, the vehicle sank in four feet of snow and locals arrived to help dig everyone out.

The entire rescue took five hours to complete, Yerex said, but he reported that the injured mushers were treated successfully and all of the dogs checked out, as well.

Yerex himself was treated for frostbite to his left leg, which had been exposed to the elements during the trip back to White Mountain.

All discomfort aside, Yerex said his take on the whole adventure is positive.

Some of the conditions were a little Spartan, but the opportunity was absolutely worth it, he said.

In addition to the drama of the rescue, Yerex said trip highlights included witnessing the passion mushers have for their dogs and the support offered by Alaskan locals.

They brought us food, as well as helped with the rescue, Yerex said. I got to eat some moose ribs and fresh king crab legs.

Asked if hed return to the Iditarod, Yerex replied enthusiastically, Yes! The trip was one of the top highlights of my life and career.

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Wang Qimin (L), Chinese charge d'affaires to Libya, meets with Abdullah Allafi, deputy president of the Libyan Presidency Council, in Tripoli, Libya, on March 31, 2022. China on Thursday called for resolving the political impasse in Libya through dialogue and consultation, while pledging continued cooperation with the North African country, the Chinese Embassy to Libya said in a statement. (Chinese Embassy to Libya/Handout via Xinhua)

TRIPOLI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday called for resolving the political impasse in Libya through dialogue and consultation, while pledging continued cooperation with the North African country, the Chinese embassy to Libya said in a statement.

During his meeting in Tripoli with Abdullah Allafi, deputy president of the Libyan Presidency Council, Wang Qimin, Chinese charge d'affaires to Libya, reaffirmed China's "consistent and clear stance" which supports Libya's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity.

The Chinese envoy called on all Libyan parties "to build consensus, bridge differences and find a solution to the political impasse as soon as possible," so to create conditions for holding presidential and parliamentary elections, the statement said.

Wang also said that China supports the role of the United Nations as the main channel of mediation and calls for the early withdrawal of foreign troops and mercenaries from Libya.

China will continue to strengthen cooperation with Libya within the framework of the Belt and Road initiative, support relevant Chinese enterprises to participate in Libya's economic and social reconstruction, and "jointly write a new chapter of bilateral pragmatic cooperation," the Chinese envoy added.

Allafi briefed Wang on the latest developments in the political situation in Libya and the efforts made by the Presidential Council, which is actively promoting the national reconciliation plan to avoid returning to the conflict.

The council is working to reach a consensus on the constitutional basis for holding general elections as soon as possible, Allafi said.

He stressed that Libya values China's technology and experience in construction, roads, medical care, communications and other fields, hopes to benefit from the China-proposed Belt and Road initiative and the Global Development Initiative, and looks forward to fully launching bilateral cooperation.

Libya has been suffering political instability and chaos ever since the fall of late leader Muammar Gaddafi's regime in 2011.

The North African country was expected to hold general elections on Dec. 24, 2021. However, the elections were postponed indefinitely due to the differences among the political factions. 
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Will Smiths Oscar smackdown of comedian Chris Rock proves one thing: violence should never be a response to insults  or any other inciting factors  in the heat of the moment. Will Smith knows it, and so do the millions of television viewers who witnessed the assault. Yet, despite Smiths written apology to Rock, Smith may likely believe his actions were justified. Why do I say this? Because if you look at Smiths facial expression as he does an about-face on the stage and returns to his beloved Jada, he grins, looks upward, and appears completely satisfied with himself, maintaining a stoic appearance after the scene played out and refusing to leave the Dolby Theatre as requested by Academy officials. Smiths emotional coolness and detachment from the incident signal self-righteousness.

As a psychiatrist, Ive studied facial expressions for 40 years, even prior to medical school, when, as an undergraduate psychology major, one of my first book purchases was Charles Darwins The Expression of Emotion in Man and Animals. Darwin explained the origins of human facial expressions in the animal world and argued that facial expressions are largely innate and the same in all societies, reflecting their evolutionary and genetic rather than cultural origins. Since Darwins time, however, evolutionary theorists have documented that much of our behavior (though perhaps not our facial expressions) is also learned and therefore the result of social factors and interactions.

Putting aside the nature-nurture controversy, facial expressions provide a compelling window into peoples psyches. Any expression or body language expert will tell you that facial expressions provide valuable signs for recognizing peoples true emotions. Facial expressions reflect six universal emotions of surprise, fear, disgust, anger, happiness, and sadness, and they can be important clues to deceit by masking, simulating, or neutralizing emotions. A physicians ability to interpret the emotion behind a patients facial expression makes them more adept at the practice of medicine.

Emotional awareness is just as important as emotional intelligence. But too often, we are pressed for time and ignore or inaccurately read our patients facial expressions. Given the sometimes awkward positioning of computers for data entry, many of us barely look up to see our patients. If we cant visualize them, how can we possibly understand their expressions or glean clues from other non-verbal responses? How can we judge whether their answers to critical questions belie their non-verbal behavior? In my experience, discrepancies between verbal and non-verbal behavior often surround answers to questions related to pain and mental health. Patients may paint a rosy picture of health when, in reality, they are suffering from pain, depression, or addiction.

Emojis have become a cheap and quick workaround to understanding our patients feelings. According to Doximity, emojis are becoming more common in the medical setting, and clinicians are advocating for their adoption. Doximity recently conducted a poll among clinicians, inquiring whether emojis should be used in a professional setting. The good news (in my estimation) is that more than two-thirds of respondents answered definitely not, or only with colleagues, but not with patients. We should not be fooled into thinking that simplistic caricatures can substitute for signs of observable distress in our patients or replace what is at the heart of the doctor-patient relationship  good eye contact, personal communication, and the ability to interpret and discuss our patients facial expressions and non-verbal gestures.

Despite the increased use of clinical simulations in medical school, the importance of identifying emotional facial expressions remains largely overlooked in the medical curriculum. The proof comes from a recent study conducted in India where 106 medical students were shown static images of the six universal facial expressions. About half of the students misidentified negative emotions (fear, anger, etc.), whereas the recognition of positive expressions such as happiness was much better (greater than 90 percent accuracy). There were no significant differences between male and female medical students, but the accuracy of identifications showed significant variations with respect to the gender of the expressors (images).

The study authors concluded that the findings were troubling [because] future doctors might have potential difficulty in picking up subtle non-verbal cues that are so important in a doctor-patient relationship and communication with the family members. Furthermore, most emotions are expressed in real practice situations with lesser intensity than static images, making their detection more difficult. Fortunately, physicians and physicians-in-training can effectively learn to recognize emotion by interpreting facial expressions through a short workshop or similar didactic program. As doctors, it is imperative that we learn to recognize and explore patients non-verbal cues in their speech patterns, facial expressions, and body posture.

The identification of facial expressions in patients presenting with medical emergencies may be very problematic. A study found that patients with serious and sometimes life-threatening heart or lung problems tend to have less than the normal range of facial expression, particularly when it comes to registering surprise in response to certain emotional cues. The study authors speculated that underlying serious illness may make it more challenging for patients to process emotions as a healthy person would. Accurate detection of facial expressions during an emergency is of utmost importance as it could give doctors a life-saving clue.

Some of the most effective ways to assess a patients condition dont involve a high-tech test or scan, but rather human interaction with the patient. I always remind medical students to look at the patient before they look at the computer. Life has been stressful these past two years. Many of our patients have reached their breaking points, manifested in record rates of suicide attempts, opioid overdose deaths, and in verbal and physical attacks on others. We cant afford to overlook serious psychopathology by neglecting our patients appearance. Indeed, general appearance is the first category addressed on a routine mental status exam.

Stress has also taken a toll on providers. We need to be aware of our own non-verbal behavior  eye contact, body position and posture, movement, facial expression, and use of voice  as these can all influence the tone and course of an office visit or consultation. Patients frequently refer to our facial expressions and other non-verbal communication to describe and evaluate their interactions with us. This is where our emotional intelligence comes into play  the ability to understand, monitor, and control our own behavior  verbal and non-verbal  towards our patients.

Will and Jada Pinkett Smiths emotions were on full display Oscar night, and understandably so. Jadas rolling of her eyes clearly signaled she was disgusted with Rocks insulting joke comparing her to G.I. Jane, a reference to Pinkett Smiths shaved head which was similar to that of Demi Moores in the original film. Wills initial laughter at the joke morphed into rage and sanctimoniousness after smacking Rock and returning to his seat. Smith should have kept his cool, talked to Rock afterward, and asked him to apologize. At the very least, Smith could have benefited from a moment of reflection or meditation and might have responded differently. Well never know. But we know that after he struck Rock, the nature of his facial expression will always question the sincerity of his apology.

Arthur Lazarus is a psychiatrist.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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Mote coral project expands to Key Largo

Photo provided by Mote Marine A Mote Marine diver outplants nursery-grown coral off the Florida Keys. Photo by Dan Mele Photography Coral fragments growing at Motes Elizabeth Moore International Center for Coral Reef Research and Restoration on Summerland Key. Photo provided by Mote Marine Motes Islamorada satellite facility at Bud N Marys Marina includes nursery tanks and a trailer that serves as an office and lab. The group has also secured a Key Largo site. Photo provided by Mote Marine Dr. Michael P. Crosby, Mote president and CEO, left, stands outside the restoration organizations Islamorada facility. The group has secured a spot for the Key Largo facility.

Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium will build a new land-based coral nursery, its first in Key Largo and the second in the Upper Keys, on the grounds of the Reefhouse Resort and Marina, formerly known as Key Largo Bay Marriott Beach Resort. The restoration group added an Islamorada facility last year.

Buildout of about 20 nursery tanks, laboratory space, office space and high-grade filtration systems is anticipated to be completed by late summer or early fall, according to Dr. Michael P. Crosby, Mote president and CEO.

The facilities will be housed on the northern bayside point jutting from the Reefhouse Resort and Marina Conference Center and fenced underneath the building. Land-based coral nurseries provide a more integrated reef restoration approach since elkhorn coral grows faster after fragmentation on land as compared to in-ocean fragmentation.

Motes northernmost Keys land-based nursery will be open to the public for scheduled visits.

We want the public to come and take tours of the place to learn what we are doing, but because this is a research operation, and we have to make sure that the corals are protected, well schedule tours by appointment only, Crosby said. We want the local schools and civic groups to come in so they can observe all the methods that we are doing. Id love to have some local folks take part in the fragmentation process.

Mote Marine has been scouting out a Key Largo location for some time.

Were methodical in everything that we do. Were strategic, and we do our research. We considered a number of different areas but this is an ideal location, not only for the cultivation and science, but also quite frankly, to educate the public, Crosby said.

There is excellent water quality there, which is also something that we had looked at. The area will be fenced. Well be in the middle of the circle, but there will still be plenty of room for the public. Well periodically have one of our boats there, depending on our missions.

This will be Key Largos first land-based coral nursery. It expands Motes resilience-focused restoration efforts in the Keys. The corals outplanted by Mote Marine have proven to be tougher, Crosby said. They stand up better against environmental stressors.

Motes science-based coral restoration strategy creates viable coral colonies focused on genotypes, or genetic varieties of corals, that are resistant to common stressors in the ocean environment, such as warming water temperatures, more acidic conditions and disease.

We transplanted massive, slow-growing mountainous star coral that usually take 40 to 50 years to reach sexual maturity. We used our microfragmentation-fusion method and within five years after being outplanted, these coral spawned. Its self-limiting on our part, but we proved that they can replicate themselves. They survived two major coral bleaching events, Hurricane Irma and the breakout of stony coral tissue loss disease that killed the surrounding coral, Crosby said.

Mountainous star coral is a key species listed as threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, and it is one of the most critical reef-builders within Floridas Reef Tract, helping to form the backbone of the entire reef system.

Mote is in the process of obtaining permits for in-field or offshore nurseries near Carysfort and Horseshoe reefs. The nurseries will grow elkhorn and staghorn corals as well as larger, slower-growing corals.

We teach residents, visiting divers, high school students and combat wounded veterans to outplant. Thats not the hard part. Theres a lot of coral restoration efforts going on. Outplanting isnt the challenging part, its making sure that the corals survive what killed them in the first place, which we take the time to research, Crosby said.

Mote relies extensively on partnerships and has more than 1,300 volunteers and more than 260 staff members with 41 Ph.D. degrees. There will be opportunities to volunteer and do internships at the Key Largo site.

When we started building Summerland Key facility, we had maybe five or six (staff) in the Keys, we have staff at the Islamorada facility and now we have more than 30 employees in the Keys, Crosby said. We absolutely believe that Mote is a part of the community and that comes in all forms. Were looking forward to having significant community engagements.

The Reefhouse Resort and Marina will join Mote Marine as the second satellite land-based coral nursery in the Upper Keys.

The first, located at the Bud N Marys Marina on Upper Matecumbe Key opened in May 2021. Several thousand corals are growing in Motes land-based nurseries on Summerland Key and Islamorada, as well as Motes two underwater nurseries in the Lower Keys.

With nearly 2,000 genotypes, Mote also has the worlds largest coral gene bank located 13 miles inland near Sarasota. To date, Mote has outplanted over 140,000 coral fragments on Floridas reef, with a survival rate of over 90% in most cases.

Mark Walsh, curator and owner of Opal Collection including Reefhouse, says Motes coral nursery is a welcome addition and natural fit for the Key Largo resort.

We continue to honor our commitment to the communities in the Florida Keys, and ultimately Floridas Coral Reef, to do as much as possible to help those leading the way in science-based solutions to repair, recover and rebuild our reef. Motes cohesive restoration plan offers much needed hope to our ailing reef. We stand together with and encourage other community leaders, organizations, and individuals to support Mote and their efforts throughout the Keys, he said.

The major threats to the reef tract has Mote focused on its mission.

The long-term vision for the rapid restoration and revitalization of our reef is clear, Crosby said.

tjava@keysnews.com
YANGON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- More than 2.2 million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines donated by China through the COVAX Facility arrived in Myanmar's Yangon on Wednesday, according to the Information Ministry.

According to the figures released by the Health Ministry, more than 49.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in the country and more than 21.8 million people have been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday.

Besides, over 1 million people in the country had received a booster as of Tuesday.

The Southeast Asian country reported that the number of COVID-19 infections has increased to 611,448 with 19,430 deaths in the country on Wednesday, the ministry's data showed. 


ZANU PF has reportedly launched a witch-hunt targeting its supporters suspected to have voted for Nelson Chamisas Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in the Saturday by-elections amid fears of a bhora musango (protest vote) in 2023.

The late Robert Mugabe almost lost the presidency in 2008 when ruling party supporters overwhelmingly voted for Zanu PF legislators, but snubbed him in protest over his overstaying in power.

While Zanu PF has been publicly celebrating its performance in the March 26 by-elections, NewsDay has gathered that the ruling party has unleashed its youth militias on a witch-hunt against sellouts within the party.

Under the operation, the partys youth are reportedly moving door-to-door in its rural strongholds demanding to know who the villagers voted for, and victimising those suspected to have voted for the opposition.

Zanu PF won nine of the 28 contested parliamentary seats while Chamisas CCC got 19.

According to leaked WhatsApp group chats of prison officers at Chikurubi Maximun Security Prison where Zanu PFs Mavis Gumbo was defeated by CCCs Tendai Biti, some wardens were now facing victimisation for allegedly voting for the opposition.

One of the chats read: Vamwe tatiza kubasa coz of victimisation. Hanzi sei Zanu yakadyiwa mucamp. Kkkkkkkk tyt PPU neSupport Unit ma1, transfers soon. (Some of us have fled from our workplaces because of victimisation. They are asking why Zanu PF was defeated in a camp. Its tight in Police PPU (Public Protection Unit) and Support Unit camps. Transfers are looming.

In Midlands, Mnangagwas home province, some informal traders have been ordered to vacate their vending stalls in Kwekwe on the same charges.

Artisanal miners have not been spared with some having been driven away from Globe and Phoenix mines that is linked to party bigwigs.

But Zanu PF spokesperson Christopher Mutsvangwa denied the reports, saying the party respected the democratic right of citizens to vote for the candidates of their choice.

Zanu PF is against any post-election victimisations. If there are cases like that, people should go and report to the police. Zanu PF is not bothered by how people of Zimbabwe exercise their right, Mutsvangwa said.

It would be probably found out that there are some rogue elements within the society that has nothing to do with the ruling party. Zanu PF is focusing on rapid urbanisation where it is targeting to restore order in service delivery in cities that have suffered years of neglect under the opposition MDC leadership.

In Bulawayo, leaked WhatsApp group chats early this week exposed the anger of Zanu PF activists over the partys poor showing in the by-elections amid revelations that only 15 people voted for the ruling party when more than 200 party members were seen at a queue at one polling station.

CCC won all the contested local government and parliamentary seats in Bulawayo.

Zanu PF went for broke ahead of the elections, donating goodies such as mealie-meal in what the opposition dismissed as a vote-buying gimmick. In Binga North, the party dished out bicycles, but still lost the seat to CCC.

In Dangamvura-Chikanga constituency, the party is reportedly demanding back its mealie-meal.

Just before the by-elections, the party was giving out mealie-meal to residents for them to vote for its candidates. Now that it has lost, all those suspected to have voted for CCC are being ordered to give back the mealie-meal, a source added. Newsday
Irish actor, author, comedian, commentator, and presenter Graham Norton has said that Will Smith's actions at the Oscars were "not acceptable" while speaking at the Royal Television Society (RTS) Awards on Tuesday.

Norton was honoured for his outstanding contributions to British television at this years awards. The chat show host was recognised for his contributions in 2020 but was unable to collect the prize in person due to the pandemic, but he returned to collect the reward this week.

Smith, who won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the Oscars last Sunday, went on stage and slapped American comedian Chris Rock after he made a joke about Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

Norton commented: "It's not acceptable. Heckling, yes - heckling is acceptable. Punching people isn't."

The 58-year-old said that Smith was "lovely" when he appeared on his chat show 'The Graham Norton Show' "but Chris Rock probably has a different opinion."

He added: "I think it's too late to take the award off him now because nothing happened: he sat in the chair and then they cut away as if nothing had happened.

"It was like he'd used his Men in Black memory stick and everyone had forgotten immediately."
A Kilkenny City hotel has been honoured by the Irish Hotels Federation.

Four hotels across the country were recognised for excellence in talent development this week at the Irish Hotels Federations national Quality Employers Awards 2022.

Awards were made in three categories, according to the size of the property, with hotels from Kilkenny, Laois and Cork taking the honours.

Ashford Castle, Mayo, brought home the honour of Distinction in Human Resource Management and development, which was open to hotels that had won category awards in previous years.

The category winners were:

Intermediate The Cork International Hotel

Medium The Midlands Park Hotel

Small Kilkenny Hibernian Hotel

Chairman of the independent judging panel, Dr Donagh Davern of Munster Technological University, paid tribute to the award winners and commended them for their outstanding human resource practices and innovations, which were particularly essential in keeping teams together during the immense difficulty of the last two years.

The judging committee was impressed by each winners dedication to people management and ensuring high quality employment practices are in place. Each winning hotel showcased a true innovative spirit, offering superb employee benefits and career progression opportunities.

Congratulating the winners, Elaina Fitzgerald Kane, outgoing IHF President, who presented the awards, commended the commitment shown by employers to creating and maintaining high levels of employment standards.

Irish Hotels have a well-earned reputation for excellence as employers and are committed to best practice employment standards in looking after their teams. Over 65,000 people are employed in the sector right across the country in a diverse and inclusive range of roles from entry level to highly skilled employment that provides fantastic opportunities for advancement.
Well-known Kilkenny heritage sites - Kells House, Old Ennisnag Bridge, St Canice's Cathedral and Round Tower - have been awarded funding to conserve notable historic structures under the Historic Structures Fund 2022.

Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan today announced that 78 heritage projects across the country will benefit from a total of 4 million under this years Historic Structures Fund (HSF) administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in conjunction with the 31 local authorities.

In addition to supporting owners and custodians of historic and protected structures to safeguard and maintain their properties, the funding will also provide a welcome boost to conservation professionals and tradespeople by facilitating works with a total value of almost 8 million and leveraging an estimated 22,400 days labour, including in specialist heritage roles such as thatching and stone work.

The sites have been awarded funding for diverse reasons including stripping slates from roofs, repair to timber structures, repair chimneys, and reinstatement of guttering.

A total of 4 million was awarded nationwide through the Historic Structures Fund, administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in partnership with the 31 Local Authorities. The announcement follows that of 4 million in funding under the Departments other built heritage grant scheme, the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, earlier this month.

Following on from the successful introduction of the Historic Shopfront Stream last year, the HSF has again made funding available for a range of shopfronts including bars and pubs which operate in buildings of historical significance.

Through grants of between 15,000 and 200,000, the HSF assists owners of heritage structures  including those on the local authorities Record of Protected Structures and those in Architectural Conservation Areas  to meet their obligations to care for their properties. The scheme provides assistance to a wide range of heritage structures  this years HSF includes awards to historic bridges, castles, churches, mills, libraries, shopfronts, and an old forge, as well as to private houses.

"I am delighted to announce another 4m investment in our built heritage," said Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan.

"This years Historic Structures Fund will assist 78 owners and custodians of historic and protected structures across the country as they carry out hundreds of conservation projects to repair and safeguard our built heritage. I am particularly pleased to announce the awards made to vernacular structures and historic shopfronts following their successful pilot schemes last year. The continuation of the Historic Shopfront stream, investing in our historic townscapes in line with this Governments commitment of putting Town Centres First.

"These awards celebrate the richness and diversity of our built heritage and help to preserve our connections to past generations, in particular through their support of traditional building skills, which this Government is committed to investing in. These actions also help us to deliver on our commitments to built heritage under Heritage Ireland 2030, the national heritage plan which I launched earlier this year.

"The awards also have a welcome knock-on economic benefit by generating employment for heritage contractors and other skilled crafts and tradespeople across the country. As with the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, the success of the Historic Structures Fund is a result of the close working relationship between the Department and the Local Authorities, particularly the Architectural Conservation Officers, Heritage Officers and planning and administrative staff who make these schemes possible.
Farmers in Ireland are being urged grow more barley, oats and wheat in the wake of the war in Ukraine.

The Government is hoping a new multi-million euro scheme, launched on Thursday, will ensure the backing of farmers in the bid to boost crop production.

The 10 million euro (8.5 million) scheme was quickly put together by the Department of Agriculture, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine fuelled concerns about the stability and security of grain imports to Ireland.

Both Ukraine and Russia are major sources of wheat and other cereals.

The Irish Government last week approved a 12 million euro (10 million) package for tillage farmers, which the tillage scheme a key part of the measures agreed.

Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue said that the Government had moved quickly to encourage farmers to grow more crops.

The Tillage Incentive Scheme aims to support farmers to grow more tillage crops in 2022, to reduce Irelands dependency on imported feed material, he said.

We have acted quickly to put this package in place and I am grateful to my Department and everyone in the sector for working so hard to deliver it.

He said that the 10 million euro budget reflects a contribution towards the increase in the cost of growing crops in 2022.

Farmers have already been hit by the growing cost of fertiliser, with already-high prices pushed higher still by the war.

In Ireland, growers had said that meeting more ambitious targets would be a challenge.

The scheme closes on May 16 2022.

Mr McConalogue stated: I urge farmers to take account of the Tillage Incentive Scheme when deciding on crops to sow in the coming days and weeks.
Disbursement of foreign direct investment to Viet Nam rose by 7.8 per cent compared to 2021 to US$4.42 billion in the first quarter of this year, a five-year record.

Up to $4.06 billion of capital was added by foreign businesses to 228 operating projects in the period, up 93.3 per cent year-on-year, according to the General Statistic Office (GSO).

According to the GSO, 322 new foreign projects, capitalised at $3.21 billion, were licensed in the first three months, up 37.6 per cent in the number of projects but down 55.5 per cent in capital year-on-year.

The Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) attributed the substantial decline in newly-registered capital to fact that some large-scaled projects worth over $100 million were already registered in the first quarter of 2021. Capital pledged to such projects accounted for 75.3 per cent of the country's total registered capital in the reviewed period.

For example, among these projects were the Long An I and II LNG power project, being invested by Singaporean investors in Long An Province with a total registered capital of over $3.1 billion and the $1.31 billion O Mon II thermal power plant being financed by Japanese investors in Can Tho City.

Meanwhile, the first quarter of this year saw only one foreign-invested project worth over $1 billion. That was a LEGO Manufacturing Viet Nam plant, valued at $1.32 billion, in Binh Duong Province, the FIA said.

In another bright spot, foreign investor capital contributions and share purchases doubled over the same period last year to $1.63 billion, which brought the total foreign investments into the country in Q1 to $8.9 billion, equivalent to 87.9 per cent of the last year's same period.

The agency said many projects on manufacturing electronic and high-tech products have raised their level of capital in the first three months of the year.

The processing and manufacturing sector lured the largest share of FDI with over $5.3 billion, accounting for 59.5 per cent of the country's total capital.

From January to March, Singapore was Viet Nam's leading foreign investor with nearly $2.29 billion, making up almost 25.7 per cent of the total FDI registered in the country. South Korea followed with more than $1.61 billion or 18 per cent, and Denmark with $1.32 billion or 15 per cent.

At the same time, Vietnamese firms invested $211.5 million overseas in Q1, down 63 per cent year-on-year, according to the FIA.

Of the sum, over $180 million came from 24 newly-licensed projects, up 28.5 per cent, while the remaining $31.2 million came from three capital-added projects, a yearly decline of 93 per cent.

Earlier, economic experts said Viet Nam remained an attractive destination for foreign investment, which was likely to experience a surge in 2022 after a long hiatus due to the pandemic.

An increase in the number of new projects and investments in existing projects showed the strong confidence of foreign firms in the country's investment environment, they said.

o Nhat Hoang, head of the FIA, said the country had been working with foreign partners looking to relocate their production centres. "Bringing their investment home was an effective way to support Vietnamese firms in integrating into the global supply chain," he said.

Hoang said foreign investment was likely to pick up in 2022 as countries worldwide reopened and learned to adapt to the new normal post-pandemic.

Takeo Nakajima, head representative of the Japan External Trade Organisation, said Viet Nam would continue to be one of the most attractive investment destinations for Japanese firms, especially after the visit to Japan by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who oversaw 25 cooperation agreements worth up to $12 billion.

The agreements have set up a strong foundation for Japanese investment to flow into Viet Nam in 2022 and the near future, said Nakajima.

European firms have also been showing stronger confidence in the Southeast Asian economy.  VNS
I'm currently a senior majoring in broadcast journalism and minoring in political science. I'm a fan of all St. Louis sports, Oasis and pretty much any Kurt Russell film. Feel free to reach out to me at mgp89g@umsystem.edu or on Twitter @MattPasz2000.

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More than $1 million flowed from the Clinton campaign and DNC to the law firm Perkins Coie, which then hired the opposition research company Fusion GPS.
At least 25 Pre-K students in Camden were rushed to Cooper Hospital after drinking sanitizer in their milk cartons on Wednesday morning.
Mayon Volcano, the Philippines / Courtesy of Philippine Department of Tourism



By Lee Hae-rin



Philippines awaits international travelers with enhanced safety measures



On April 1, the Philippines will reopen its borders, removing all quarantine restrictions to fully vaccinated international travelers on arrival.



The country had initially opened its borders on Feb. 10 to vaccinated international travelers from 157 visa-free countries, including Korea, and has since seen an influx of over 150,000 visitors.



Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, secretary of the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT), is excited because the domestic coronavirus caseloads have been falling despite the resumption of international tourism.





Bernadette Romulo-Puyat, secretary of the Philippine Department of Tourism (DOT) / Courtesy of DOT

"In the whole Philippines, we only had about 300 cases yesterday (Monday). We're fully vaccinated, boosted and I think that's the reason why our cases are continuing to go down even though we opened borders in February," she said in an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul on Tuesday.



She noted that the purpose of her visit to the country's capital was to introduce the Philippines' enhanced protection measures in order to reopen the tourist economy and personally invite Korean travelers back.



"Health and safety are our number one priority," the secretary said on the joint efforts of the government units, partner agencies and tourism stakeholders geared toward the industry's recovery.



In 2019, tourism contributed 12.8 percent of the country's GDP, while over 5.7 million Filipinos were employed in the industry. After the pandemic, she said, the figure decreased to 5.4 percent, and 1.1 million jobs were affected.



Due to the high vaccination rate and strict safety protocols, the country was not hit hard by the highly transmissible Omicron variant and took only three weeks for the wave of infections to pass. The country was given a SafeTravels Stamp from the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) for its high health standards.



"To enter the Philippines, all you need is to be fully vaccinated, possess a negative PCR result 48 hours before departure and travel insurance. When you arrive, there will be no quarantine, no more test procedures," the secretary said.





Banaue Rice Terraces, the Philippines / Courtesy of Philippine Department of Tourism



Unvaccinated travelers aged 12 and under can enter the country with their vaccinated parents, while booster shots of all brands are available at local drug stores for tourists with vaccination certificates, the DOT officials explained. Korea and the Philippines have mutual vaccination certificate recognition agreements.



The country's health and safety measures also include physical security and tourist-targeted crimes.



"In coordination with the Philippine National Police, we have activated Tourist-Oriented Police (TOP) to make sure that people feel safe in our tourist destinations," the secretary said. "They don't wear police outfits, because we don't want them to look scary. They look like tourists themselves, wearing bermuda shorts and shades." Over 5,000 personnel are ready to provide help to foreign travelers.



Koreans account for the lion's share in regards to the Philippines' tourism industry, with 24.28 percent of total foreign visitors in 2017. Over 1.33 million Koreans traveled to the Southeast Asian country that year alone. The number continued to rise and almost reached 2 million in 2019 right before the pandemic hit.



The Philippines has been one of the most popular tourist destination for Koreans as the country is geographically close by and offers exotic landscapes and attractions at reasonable prices.



However, security has been a major concern, as assaults against Korean travelers and residents have been reported. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a yearly average of about 1,000 Koreans were subject to crimes and assaults in the Philippines from 2015 to 2019.



She said that the Philippines also aims to develop and establish "sustainable tourism practices," both in environmental and economic aspects. All tourism-related activities adhere to the environmental laws while trying to create a virtuous cycle of returning profits to locals.





A whale shark and a diver swim together in Donsol, the Philippines. Courtesy of Philippine Department of Tourism




Key news agencies of South Korea and Vietnam opened a joint photo exhibition in Seoul on Thursday to commemorate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.







The press photo exhibition, co-hosted by Yonhap News Agency, Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, will continue until May 5 at the museum's exhibition hall. The same exhibition will be held in Hanoi in December.







On display are 86 photos from journalists of the two wire services, graphic materials showing the 30-year history of the diplomatic ties and videos containing information on the two countries.







"Through the photos, you can see the scene where the countries opened their diplomatic ties, the current status of their diplomatic and economic cooperation, the boom of Korean culture in Vietnam and Vietnamese culture," Seong Ghi-hong, CEO and president of Yonhap News Agency, said in his opening speech.







"We believe it will be a valuable opportunity to look back on the past 30 years that the two countries have been together and promise a future of prosperity they will have together."



The exhibition is also available online for those who cannot visit the museum amid the COVID-19 pandemic.







The metaverse, broadly defined as a three-dimensional virtual space where people can interact, was used to reproduce the exhibition venue.







Visitors can connect to the metaverse platform separately created for the event by clicking on banners posted on the homepages of Yonhap News and the museum.







The opening ceremony was also attended by South Korean lawmakers, government officials and Vietnamese Ambassador to South Korea Nguyen Vu Tung, among others.







Admission is free, and the museum is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day. (Yonhap)










Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Won In-choul, right, shakes hands with Gen. Mark Milley in Hawaii, U.S., March 31. Yonhap



The top military officials of South Korea and the United States have signed a document directing the update of joint wartime contingency plans, Seoul officials said Thursday, following North Korea's intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch last week.



Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Won In-choul and his U.S. counterpart, Gen. Mark Milley, inked the Strategic Planning Directive (SPD) during their talks in Hawaii, Wednesday (local time), according to South Korea's JCS.



The SPD signing is bound to accelerate a previously agreed-upon process to rewrite the allies' wartime operation plans (OPLANs).



In December, Defense Minister Suh Wook and Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin approved the Strategic Planning Guidance (SPG), a ministerial-level step to determine the broad contours of what updated OPLANs should look like.



The allies' push for the update comes as the current OPLANs based on the 2010 strategic guidance do not reflect progress in the North's push for new weapons, such as ICBMs, refined nuclear arms, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and a hypersonic missile.



"The senior military leaders signed the SPD developed in accordance with the new SPG," a JCS press release read.



Under the new directive, the allies are expected to incorporate various wartime scenarios into their battle plans, including the North's wartime use of both nuclear and conventional strikes and of its newest weapons systems.



Observers said that the SPD is likely to pave the way for a major change to the current OPLAN 5015 that lays out a series of procedures to handle an all-out war with the North.



OPLAN 5015 is known to focus largely on addressing conventional North Korean attacks  a reason why calls have surfaced for the South and the U.S. to include the nuclear dimension of the North's threats into its contingency plans.



After the bilateral talks, Won and Milley held the Trilateral Chief of Defense (Tri-CHOD) meeting with their Japanese counterpart, Koji Yamazaki.



The three discussed regional security and the "ironclad" commitment of the U.S. to defend South Korea and Japan and shared the understanding on the significance of close trilateral cooperation, the JCS said.



"The senior military leaders exchanged thoughts on multilateral cooperation and training in order to enhance the peace and stability in the Free and Open Indo-Pacific region," the JCS press release reads. "They agreed to strengthen trilateral cooperation to achieve these objectives."



The three last held their in-person Tri-CHOD session in April last year. (Yonhap)






By Hemant Adlakha





South Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol shares three common things with Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida  conservative leaning, hostility toward North Korea, and a hate-China outlook. This means a possible Fumio-Yoon-Biden security cooperation is already a cause of concern for Beijing.



Not surprisingly, media headlines in China have been calling Yoon South Korea's "Trump." We don't know if Trump will return to the White House in 2024 to haunt the Chinese.



What we do know is the political elite in Beijing is already fearful that the conservative new president-elect of South Korea may take a Trumpian "whole-of-government" anti-China hardline approach toward the "mighty" communist neighbor.



An even bigger concern in Beijing's strategic affairs community is Japan suddenly looking very hopeful of a "pro-Tokyo" government in Seoul under the new right-wing, conservative president. What threatens to upset Beijing's game-plan is if Tokyo and Seoul come together and join Washington to form a U.S.-Japan-South Korea security architecture in East Asia.



President Xi Jinping promptly congratulating Yoon, or Yin Xiyue, on becoming South Korea's new president was a usual diplomatic protocol the People's Republic of China adheres to. Though Xi was hours behind both U.S. President Joe Biden and Kishida in greeting Yoon.



In contrast, notwithstanding Biden's unscheduled phone call to Yoon within five hours of the latter being declared elected, what has raised eyebrows in Beijing is a "long" 15-minute telephone conversation the next day between Kishida and the new South Korean leader. According to a recent Chinese commentary, following the announcement of the March 9 South Korean election result, Japan's newly formed Kishida government has been quite conspicuous in not hiding a big sigh of relief.



"Japan's approach to the matter is to be cautiously 'happy.' 'Happy' because President Moon Jae-in, who is "anti-Japanese" in Japanese public opinion, has stepped down, and the candidate of his party has not been elected," the article stated.



Earlier on, what was observed as rather unusual for Beijing was several "unfriendly" media commentaries popping up within hours of Yoon's victory. Some of the headlines which "greeted" the 61-year old conservative Korean leader include "South Korea's new president may take a hardline stance on China."



"What does one make of the new South Korean leader? How will the situation evolve now in East Asia?" "South Korea elects pro-Washington president  international capital's one more erroneous step," and "Campaign rhetoric may not hint South Korea's future China policy," etc.



Interestingly, weeks before the South Korean presidential election result was declared, China's Seoul watchers had started drawing up strategies for Beijing to deal with the conservative People Power Party (PPP)  South Korea's largest opposition party  and its populist leader, but new to the country's political arena.



Experts in China also broadly agreed on the following points: one, Yoon, the country's top graft buster who was appointed prosecutor-general in 2019 by none other than the outgoing president, is clearly a "pro-U.S., anti-China" leader; two, Yoon advocates an aggressive attitude in many China-related issues, for example, throughout his campaign he severely criticized Moon's promises of the three "No's,"  no additional THAAD deployments, no participation in U.S.-led global missile shields, and no creation of a trilateral military alliance involving Japan; and three, Yoon's rising popularity during the past two-three years has much to do with him exploiting the ruling Democratic Party of Korea's (DPK) "pro-China" stance and playing to the gallery.



Arguably, it is the cultural factor in particular which is instrumental in the rise in anti-China sentiment, especially among young people in South Korea. According to a recent report, the wrong interpretation of Korean history and condescending approach to their culture by China are what has annoyed them, especially the young Koreans.



As in last October, widely influential Stanford University Korea Studies Program director, professor Gi-Wook Shin, had observed that China's claim that Korean heritage such as traditional food (kimchi and samgyetang) and traditional Korean dress (hanbok)  all have "their roots in China."



Also, in the words of Sejong University professor Lee Moon-ki, "Koreans believe our culture is unique and was never dependent on China, whereas China thinks Korea only has a culture thanks to China."



Furthermore, what is most irritating to most Koreans is the Chinese claim that the ancient Korean kingdom of Gogureyo was part of Chinese history. Apparently, it is this arrogance and patronizing attitude of China which is pushing people in South Korea to shift away from China toward the United States.



To return to what China's analysts and leaders think of Yoon, there are three broad noticeable trends in the official, semi-official, and leftist digital news platforms.



First, in the words of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences researcher Dong Xiaorong, Yoon was voted into power by a large majority of Korean voters in their 20s. On Yoon's foreign policy, while the CASS scholar agreed with several others that Yoon "is pro-U.S.," she did emphasize the president-elect maintained a neutral stance when he said "[I] would never like to be forced to have to choose between China and the United States."



Second, China's well-known and reported to be relatively independent, liberal financial daily Caixin did warn about the newly elected presidents' tough approach toward Beijing.



Third, as was expected, a hardline nationalist, leftist digital news and current affairs platform was least charitable to president-elect Yoon, and said: "Yin Xiyue has just emerged from 'electoral heat,' as his first job, he is duty-bound to report to the White House."



However, referring to the congratulatory message to Yoon by China's foreign ministry which also mentioned "China and South Korea are neighbors who cannot be moved," the hardline leftist website in an almost veiled warning said: We hope Yin Xiyue takes a pragmatic view of China-South Korea relations. [But] if he chooses to restart the THAAD system "frozen" by his predecessor, then the consequences are going to be very serious."



Finally, most analysts and experts in China appear to be willing to give Yoon the benefit of the doubt and expect him not to disturb the Blue House's current status quo position on China.



The president-elect will assume office in May; in these two months, as some Chinese commentators reckon, the new president will do well to set clear his foreign policy priorities, which may include the following: South Korea will not undermine economic cooperation relations with China; Seoul will not restart the deployment of THAAD; South Korea will not touch China's red line on Taiwan; and last but not the least, South Korea will not join Quad+ or any anti-China military alliance in the region.



Let me conclude by citing what professor Lu Chao, director of the Institute of the U.S. and East Asian Studies, Liaoning University, wrote in his recent column just before the South Korean presidential election on March 9: "In the 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea, no president has been able to undermine the overall foundation of bilateral relations once taking office. Even if the PPP is in power, it will not make major readjustments in the China-South Korea partnership."





Hemant Adlakha (haidemeng@gmail.com) is professor of Chinese at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. He is also vice chairperson and an honorary fellow, the Institute of Chinese Studies (ICS), Delhi. The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.












By Alexander Gorlach





The "blitzkrieg" victory Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin dreamt of in Ukraine clearly did not come true. Being sanctioned and outlawed, the pariah that Russia deserves to be, Vladimir Putin has one last ally he hopes to be able to rely on: the People's Republic of China.



And his hopes are not unfounded. Xi Jinping converted China into a belligerent foe that threatens the stability and welfare of Asia's nations altogether.



At this point, China has, amongst others, border conflicts or territorial disputes with India, the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea and Japan, not to mention its conflicts within China in Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang and Hong Kong.



The newfound alliance between Moscow and Beijing brings no good news to the East (nor to the West), as Russia has established a dangerous precedent, namely, that conquest is on the table again. Putin has signaled that no international law nor signed treaties will stop him from doing so when a leader sees fit.



Xi and Putin alike see themselves as such leaders, bestowed by history, to bring their countries to their former glory. It is their belief that history follows a purpose and portrays a meaning.



In this unfolding drama of time, they are seeking out their special place in history. They believe that they have been bestowed by divine providence with the task of "rejuvenating the nation," as 68-year-old Xi declares or "reunifying" "Sacred Russia," as Putin puts it.



Their historical speculation is by all means not alien to European observers. From Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel to Karl Marx, the ideas of purpose, dialectical social change, progress and the destination of history have been part of the Western history of thought.



They always were construed to support claims to power. Hegel saw multiple realms over the trajectory of time, each new one better than the prior. He understood the European empire of his time as the fulfilment of the will of history.



Marx understood history as a class struggle brought to its end by a victorious working class. All of this historical speculation can be seen as stemming from Western Christianity, which sees the history of the world as a history of salvation, beginning with creation, culminating in the life, death and resurrection of Christ, and ending with his second coming.



For the most part, Europeans have abandoned such a religiously based understanding of history and therefore fail to understand what really motivates Putin and Xi.



Already in 1960, writer Elias Canetti stated in his masterpiece, "Crowds and Power," that the loss of religious zeal across what was hitherto known as the Christian Occident is the reason why Europe will, luckily, not mobilize troops anymore on grounds of faith.



It is indeed the reason why Europe today, for the most part, is bewildered by any sort of land grabbing, which was a means of politics in eras long bygone. And it comes as a fact in history (in lower case) that Europe and East Asia have seen an unprecedented era of peace and prosperity after eradicating authoritarian nationalism and religious delusion in favor of freedom, democracy and a social market economy.



Beijing hints thereby to the notion that the conflict is an internal matter rather than an international one. That is the same way China's nomenklatura views a potential invasion of Taiwan.



Xi has declared that he will complete the "reunification of the motherland," if necessary with military force. He vowed that this event would happen in "our lifetime."



Both leaders conveniently leave out basic facts of history to convey their false narratives: Kyiv was a cultural, economic and political hub when Moscow was still an insignificant village. And China's Communist leadership has never ruled one single day over Taiwan. The parallels between Ukraine and Taiwan in the plan of the dictators next door is indeed very obvious.



It is not only Taiwan that Xi wants to grab; he aims for the whole Western Pacific. Last year Beijing issued a new "maritime security law," claiming that the entire area is "Chinese territorial waters," and concluding that it believes to have the right to sink any ship in its waters as it sees fit.



There was no mention that Beijing's claim to the Spratly Islands has been nullified by the International Court of Justice in Den Haag, confirming the archipelago is indeed part of the Philippines. Xi believes that "might makes right," meaning that if he can grab territory by force, he is essentially allowed to do so.



Already the Chinese military has set up artificial islands in the South China Sea and militarized them. Beijing is also not shying away from escalating the conflicts it has with South Korea and Japan over Socotra Rock (Ieodo) and the Senkaku Islands.



To prepare for the invasion of Taiwan, the Russian Army is training Chinese soldiers, mostly in guerrilla warfare, a tactic that follows an unwanted invasion and the occupation of another country.



Certainly, the Taiwanese people would meet the Chinese army the same way the Ukrainians have confronted the Russian invaders. From the Ukraine war, Beijing can already anticipate how its invasion of Taiwan would be met by the free world  decisively and effectively.



Japan and the United States have declared that Taiwan is imminent to their countries' security. Given the proximity to Japan and the importance Taiwanese chip production has for the American economy, it is by all means not a hallow but a firm statement.



China has thrown all of its support behind Russia. The People's Republic is the only country in the U.N. Security Council that voted for an outrageous Russian resolution on Ukraine. While Xi prepares to become "emperor for life" this October, the free world sees an "alliance of autocracies" emerging, spanning from Moscow to Beijing.





Dr. Alexander Gorlach (agoerlach@cceia.org) is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in New York. He is a professor of ethics, currently serving at the Internet Institute of Oxford University, where he researches the use of new technologies in democracies, and their abuse in autocracies. The views expressed in the above article are the author's own and do not reflect the editorial direction of The Korea Times.






By Lee Jong-eun





A major political party was left in political disarray after the resignation of its scandal-ridden president. The succeeding president from a different party, who began his term promising accountability at home and moral diplomacy abroad, then faced criticism for a domestic economic recession and perceptions of weaknesses in foreign policy.



As a result, the previous ruling party achieved a political comeback four years later, electing a presidential candidate who advocated the restoration of military strength and pro-business economic growth.



This was a short description of the 1980 U.S. presidential election when Ronald Reagan was elected president. However, the description also applies to the South Korean presidential election held this year. In 2017, when South Korea's President Park Geun-hye was impeached after a political scandal, her conservative political party fractured and faced a serious threat of extinction.



The new president from the opposing party initially enjoyed high approval ratings with promises of political accountability and peaceful engagement with North Korea. Eventually, the Moon administration faced domestic dissatisfaction from soaring real estate prices, economic recession, and stalled progress in diplomacy with North Korea.



The previous ruling party, which renamed itself as the People Power Party, nominated Yoon Suk-yeol, a former prosecutor general, as its presidential candidate for the 2022 election. Yoon ran on a campaign advocating the rule of law, economic liberalization, and an assertive foreign policy toward North Korea and China.



Through his victory, Reagan achieved what U.S. political scientists evaluate as a significant political realignment. The traditional Democrat-leaning voters from the rural and working-class districts voted for the Republican candidate in historic proportion.



Reagan's victory marked the emergence of a new political right in the U.S., which advocated an aggressive anti-communist strategy over a peaceful coexistence ("detente") with the communist bloc.



Though Yoon's victory margin was narrower than Reagan's, Yoon also significantly increased conservative support among young Korean voters who have traditionally voted for more progressive parties.



As a result, Yoon's presidency also offers the possibility of a new brand of the political right in Korea, distinct from past associations with military rule and industrialization.



With such similarities in their political character, what foreign policy lessons could the upcoming Yoon administration learn from the past Reagan administration? There are four lessons.



First, despite his reputation as a Cold War warrior, Reagan was pragmatically selective in areas of foreign policy confrontation. While Reagan increased military pressures on the Soviet Union, he also ended the agricultural embargo and resumed trade with the latter.



Despite his private support for Taiwan, Reagan continued U.S. strategic alignment with communist China and maintained the One China policy of his predecessors. Though Yoon has promised a foreign policy based on strength and principle, the Yoon administration would also be prudent in picking areas of assertiveness and areas of restraint.



Even though the Yoon administration is likely to advocate a stance of "strategic clarity" toward China and North Korea, it should take a lesson from another conservative administration that "strategic clarity" should not equal "strategic rigidity."



Second, Reagan valued personal interactions in international negotiations. Facing difficult U.S.-Japan trade relations, Reagan cultivated a close partnership with Japan's Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, ensuring the stability of the bilateral alliance. Despite criticizing the Soviet Union as an "evil empire," Reagan was proactive in building personal trust and partnership with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.



Yoon should take Reagan's lesson in complementing state-to-state diplomacy with leader-to-leader diplomacy, building personal relations with other leaders within and outside Northeast Asia. While Reagan's hardline strategy might have pressured Soviet leadership to engage in negotiation, Reagan's personal interaction reassured Gorbachev to accept a nuclear agreement.



If the Yoon administration is committed to a strategy of "maximum pressure" against North Korea, Yoon should also prepare for the future when his personal credibility and reassurance would be crucial for the North Korean leadership to eventually accept an agreement.



Third, Reagan displayed an undaunted cheerful, even humorous persona in the face of policy setbacks, which earned him the nickname a "happy warrior." Such personal character was important in projecting an optimistic perception that "It's morning again in America" even during the difficult times of Reagan's presidency.



The Yoon administration will face multiple domestic and international challenges. Realistically, some of Yoon's policies will result in disappointing outcomes, and Korea could encounter challenges beyond the administration's control. In such times, Yoon should take Reagan's lesson that a leader who inspires public confidence is not necessarily one whose policies are always successful. Rather, it is a leader who can display optimism and even humor in times of adversity and inspire others to feel the same.



Finally, Yoon should take a lesson from the political scandal of the Reagan administration, that a "detached presidency" can be as detrimental as an "imperial presidency." The Iran-Contra affairs happened in large part because of the president's lax management and lack of oversight over the conduct of his NSC staff members.



The Yoon administration has promised to prevent presidential power abuse and delegate independence to administrative staff. Yet, presidential vigilance and engagement are also important in preventing abuse of administrative responsibilities.



Though praised as a "great communicator," Reagan failed to be also praised as a "great administrator." In contrast, though Yoon might not display similar communicative talents as Reagan, through striving to enhance administrative leadership, Yoon's presidency could avoid some of the mistakes of the Reagan administration.



One U.S. diplomat evaluated that at the end of the Cold War, Reagan and Gorbachev "didn't always get things right, but on the most critical issues, they finally did." As South Korea faces daunting foreign policy challenges in the new Cold War era, I also hope Korea's new president might not always get things right but will on the most critical issues.





Lee Jong-eun (jl4375a@student.american.edu) is a Ph.D. candidate and is also an adjunct faculty at the American University School of International Service. Prior to this, he has served as a South Korean Airforce intelligence officer. His research specialty includes U.S. foreign policy, South Korean politics and foreign policy, alliance management, and East Asian regional security.




By Anne-Marie Salughter





WASHINGTON, DC  I first met

in 1988, when I was a very junior staffer on Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis's presidential campaign and she was one of his foreign-policy advisers, alongside Harvard professor

, who was already a star in the foreign-policy firmament. Madeleine was teaching at Georgetown, and was already a political veteran, having worked with Walter Mondale, Edmund Muskie, and Geraldine Ferraro.







Virtually anyone connected to the Dukakis campaign or Democratic foreign-policy circles would have predicted that Nye was going to become Secretary of State at some point, not Madeleine. But, eight years later, it was who Madeleine secured the post  the first woman ever to do so. She was working for a different president, Bill Clinton, whose wife, Hillary Clinton, was a passionate and effective feminist.







It was widely reported at the time that Hillary had lobbied hard for Madeleine's appointment, just as of course men have lobbied for other men for centuries. But it was the first time I saw the power of networks of women in power, and it was a turning point for an entire generation of women in foreign policy.









Madeleine herself lived by the maxim she declared often, most notably when

Hillary Clinton at a 2016 rally during Clinton's presidential campaign: "There's a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."







Susan Rice, who served as national security adviser under former President Barack Obama and now heads President Joe Biden's Domestic Policy Council, was a mentee of Madeleine's. So was Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. Suzy George, Secretary of State Antony Blinken's chief of staff, also worked for Madeleine for years. And there were so many more.







More broadly, Madeleine was always willing to give a talk, write a blurb, or put in a good word for a promising young woman aspiring to a foreign-policy career. She mentored and advanced plenty of men as well, but for women of my generation, she was a both a public inspiration and a private booster.







Ironically, however, Madeleine did not focus on advancing women around the world as a foreign-policy issue. It was Hillary Clinton, who became the third woman Secretary of State, who did that. Both were graduates of Wellesley, one of America's most distinguished all-women colleges, and strong feminists. But as the first female secretary of state, Madeleine needed to prove that she could be just as tough as the men.









Madeleine was known for being more hawkish than the military. As her successor Colin Powell recounts in his

, back when he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, they argued over whether to intervene in Bosnia. When Powell demurred, Madeleine retorted: "What's the point of having this superb military you're always talking about if we can't use it?"









A daughter of Czechoslovakia  a country dismembered by the Nazis and subjugated by the Soviets  Madeleine was a passionate champion of American global leadership in the service of democracy everywhere. In her experience, the United States truly was "

"  and she welcomed the responsibility and hard work that role entailed.









Indeed, while Madeleine was idealistic, she was also deeply practical. I often quote one of her many

: "democracy must deliver." Madeleine knew that people cannot live on ideals alone, and was prepared to get into the details of what a healthy democracy needs to survive, at home and abroad.









She wrote countless books and

, delivered speeches, made investments, and served on several boards, all in the service of ensuring that ordinary people understood both the stakes and demands of the struggle for self-government and human rights.







Along the way, Madeleine's gift for pithy phrase-making and humor, and her down-to-earth manner made her beloved by audiences. I heard her speak many times, and often saw people respond with unexpected delight.









She spoke candidly about the human side of the foreign-policy business; for example, in her

, she describes the challenge of finding hairstylists during her travels. Her wonderful 2009 book

explores how her carefully selected brooches helped make diplomatic history.







Madeleine understood the critical importance of helping ordinary Americans understand the world better. And unlike so many of her foreign-policy peers, she was not afraid to shed some gravitas to that end. That folksiness may explain why she was not really recognized as a foreign-policy thinker, as a strategist or theorist, by many of her peers. But she brought foreign policy home to people around the world.







Madeleine's achievements  including those she racked up during her remarkable 20-year post-government career as an entrepreneur, investor, author, campaigner, counselor, and Elder  should inspire us all.







She blazed not only a new trail, but a new style. For those of us who have tried to follow in her footsteps, her death leaves a gaping hole. I hope that she is now in that special place in heaven for women who help other women.









Anne-Marie Slaughter is CEO of New America. This article was distributed by Project Syndicate (










By Peter Roff





Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's recent speech to Congress may not have been the Churchillian moment people had hoped for, but it got the job done. He asked for what his country needed, plainly, simply, and without folding into a grand discourse on the responsibilities of the world's democracies to keep it safe from fascism as the late, great British leader might have.



Zelenskyy's remarks showed him to be a most practical man, leading a country under siege. He should get all he asked for, all of it and more. He won't, because the Biden administration fails to accept that his fight is our fight, whether we like it or not.



Some in Congress insist on shying away from that reality as well, going so far as to shamefully vote against suspending normal trade relations with Russia and Belarus as one more punishment for the aggressive war of national interest being waged against Ukraine.



Zelenskyy can see what far too many policymakers and influencers in the United States cannot. As he explained to Congress, the Russian attack on Ukraine "is a brutal offensive against our values, basic human values.



It threw tanks and planes against our freedom, against our right to live freely in our own country, choosing our own future against our desire for happiness, against our national dreams, just like the same dreams you have, you Americans, just like anyone else in the United States."



America has been called to the fight and must answer in the affirmative. Thus far, the Biden administration has been leading from the back, reluctant to place the United States in the center of the global stage where it belongs. To Zelenskyy's requests, it responded with a firm, unforgivable "no."



The sanctions were slow in coming and have not, contrary to what White House spokesman Jen Psaki's boast crushed the Russian economy. The military aid most needed is blocked, by design and by bureaucratic inertia. Most importantly, because the national security establishment is more worried about what might come next if Putin were ousted, his country still has avenues available to trade with the rest of the world.



It doesn't have to be that way. It wasn't all that long ago when Democrats like Biden led a global effort to isolate a sovereign state over a domestic matter the rest of the civilized world considered an offense against God and man.



How does the invasion of Ukraine not call for a boycott of Russia and its Balearian ally led by the United States any less vigorous than what America and the other freedom-loving peoples of the world did to bring the Republic of South Africa's apartheid government to its knees? The time to wreck the Russian economy, to give an incentive for the Russian people to throw off their masters in pursuit of a genuine democratic system is at hand.



George Washington wisely warned against any involvement in messy foreign entanglements when America was a new nation needing time to find its feet. Wise advice at the time, it became increasingly dangerous as the nation grew in economic might and military power until isolationism proved very, very costly to overcome.



From Teddy Roosevelt to today, the United States has strutted boldly across the world stage, stealing the scene from every pretender to global leadership from the Kaiser to Stalin to Saddam Hussein. We have expended American lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to defend the right of people to live free. This time that is not being asked of us.



Zelenskyyy and his people have shown they can and will fight. Some even say they are winning. Fear of what Putin might do if he's backed into a corner cannot be allowed to be the determinant of U.S. policy. Fight now or fight later. That's the choice.



We found that out in 1917. And in 1941. And in 1950. And at other times when the fascists on the left and right threatened freedom. Today is not much different except Zelenskyy is asking only for the tools needed, as Churchill famously said so many years ago "So we may finish the job."



It's up to America to make sure he gets them.





Peter Roff (RoffColumns@gmail.com) is a former UPI and U.S. News & World Report columnist who is now affiliated with several Washington-D.C.-based public policy organizations. His article was distributed by Cagle Cartoons Inc.






By Tatsujiro Suzuki





Military attack against civilian nuclear power plants by Russian forces have raised serious safety concern over nuclear facilities worldwide. Apparently, it is a violation of international law and those actions should be stopped immediately.



But, we also need to consider possible short- and medium-term implications of this incident for global nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear security and safety. The following are some important implications and possible actions to take.



Enhancing legal protection of nuclear facilities: Protocol Additional to Geneva Convention Article 56 has been widely quoted as one of the few examples to prohibit such violent actions.



According to Article 56, along with dams and dikes, "nuclear electrical generation stations shall not be made the object of attack." It should be noted that such protection "shall cease if it is used for other than its normal function and in regular, significant and direct support of military operations."



So it is critically important that nuclear power plants are used exclusively for peaceful purposes and under international safeguards. However, it is also important to point out that the above article is not applicable to non-power generating facilities, such as research reactors or, more significantly, fuel cycle facilities, including uranium enrichment, reprocessing facilities and spent fuel storage facilities.



In particular the latter two facilities could release substantial radioactivity, if attacked. Aware of this fact, in 1987 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) General Conference adopted a resolution regarding protection of nuclear installations against armed attacks.



While this resolution has established an international norm among IAEA members, it certainly lacks enforcing power. It is important thus that legal protection of nuclear facilities against military attacks be enhanced to include non-power generation facilities, especially reprocessing plant and fuel-storage facilities.



Enhancing nuclear security, especially over sensitive facilities and materials: While nuclear security measures do not assume military attacks, there are some important lessons learned from the Ukrainian nuclear crisis. Russia attacked and captured nuclear facilities, claiming that Ukraine tried to develop nuclear weapons despite the fact that there is no evidence for such claim.



Furthermore, Ukraine does not have any uranium enrichment or reprocessing facilities or fissile materials, namely highly enriched uranium or plutonium. It is possible that heavily armed terrorists could attack or capture a nuclear facility. If such an attack happened in a country with those sensitive facilities and fissile materials, its potential risk could be much worse.



It may be necessary to enhance nuclear security measures against such attacks especially for sensitive nuclear facilities and materials. It is also important that stockpiles of such materials should be minimized and eliminated as soon as possible.



Preparing for supply disruption of nuclear fuel and technology: Russia is a major supplier of uranium enrichment services (about 30 percent of the global market) as well as reactors, and also provides a service to accept spent fuel from the reactors it exports. Supply disruption by Russia could cause a serious impact on the global nuclear industry market.



Although nuclear reactors could sustain operation without a new fuel supply for a certain period of time (typically up to one year or so) and reactor operators often have a fuel stockpile of one or two years, it is important to prepare for possible long-term interruption of nuclear fuel supply and other services provided by Russia.



In particular, countries that import nuclear reactors from Russia have much higher dependence on Russia. Western countries with less dependence on Russia could help to provide an alternative fuel supply or possible maintenance services. Stockpiling of natural and enriched uranium could be an effective measure against future supply disruptions.



Re-examining nuclear exports: According to the IAEA Power Reactor Information Systems, as of March 2022, 51 reactors are now under construction in 17 countries. Excluding those countries that manufacture their own nuclear reactors (China, Republic of Korea, India, Russia, Japan, the United States and France), the rest (Turkey, the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Brazil, Belarus, Iran, Slovakia and Argentina) are the countries that import reactors.



Considering the potential risk that nuclear reactors could be involved in military conflicts, it would be wise not to export nuclear reactors to countries in regions where potential military conflicts are possible. As well, bilateral cooperation agreements should clarify the condition that civilian nuclear facilities should not be attacked by military forces.



All countries that own nuclear facilities, especially sensitive facilities and fissile materials, and countries that are planning to introduce nuclear power and considering exporting nuclear reactors should re-examine the potential risks of nuclear power. At the same time, the international community also must consider strengthening the international law to protect nuclear facilities where possible military conflicts could arise.





Dr. Tatsujiro Suzuki is vice director at the Research Center for Nuclear Weapons Abolition, Nagasaki University (RECNA). He served as vice chairman of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission cabinet office from 2010 to 2014. He is also a member of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament (APLN). His article is published in cooperation with the APLN (www.apln.network).


Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Rain showers early will evolve into a more steady rain for the afternoon. High 53F. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Rain showers this evening with overcast skies overnight. Low 46F. Winds NE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
(The Center Square)  The U.S. Embassy in Slovakia said this week Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb met with Slovakias defense minister to talk about Indiana expanding its military ties with the eastern European country.

Holcomb is visiting Slovakia, along with the head of the Indiana National Guard, Maj. Gen. Dale Lyles, in a visit thats been described as having multiple purposes, including strengthening economic cooperation between the two countries and showing support for the Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia.

The visit also had a defense-related purpose.

On March 29, Holcomb and Lyles met with Jaroslav Nad', Slovakias minister of defense, and with Gen. Daniel Zmeko, the chief of defense.

On Twitter, the governor said the meeting was to reinforce the Indiana National Guards more than 25-year collaborative relationship with Slovakia.

The trip by Holcomb and Lyles comes a month after the Russian operation in Ukraine began.

Slovakia shares a border in the east with Ukraine, and like Ukraine, is a Slavic nation. It is also a NATO country.

In February, Slovakias parliament approved a defense cooperation agreement with the U.S. government to allow the United States to expand its military presence in Slovakia.

In mid-March, its parliament approved the deployment of up to 2,100 NATO troops in the country, including troops from the United States, as part of a NATO enhanced forward presence.

And last week, NATO leaders made the decision to expand NATOs military presence in the east, increasing the number of troops in countries including Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.

When asked about Lyles' trip to Slovakia with Holcomb, a spokesperson for the Indiana National Guard had said earlier this month in an e-mail that for the Guard, these visits are common.

We visit Slovakia and our other partner nation of Niger, several times throughout the year, said Lt. Col. Randi Bougere.

She did not respond to the question of whether the Indiana National Guard is involved in a military mission in Slovakia, or any other kind of mission, or will be in the future, only referring to military training, saying that through the partnership program, the Guard has a long history of training with and supporting the Slovakian military."

Indiana Guardsmen frequently travel to Slovakia for a wide variety of combined training exercises, said Bougere. Maj. Gen. Lyles visits our partner nations to strengthen these relationships.

Holcomb and Lyles departed for Slovakia on March 27. They will end their trip with a visit to Israel and return to Indiana on April 2.

In an interview with the Northwest Indiana Times published Monday, Holcomb said about Russian President Vladimir Putin, I think the sooner he leaves the international stage the better for humanity, and if he wants to put his people first he would do just that.

This week, Indiana announced it was canceling all investments, through the states retirement fund, in Russian companies  divesting itself of $147 million in Russian-related investments.

This followed Holcombs executive order issued Feb. 28, requesting several state agencies review connections to Russian companies.
Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Cloudy skies with periods of light rain this afternoon. High 53F. Winds ENE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

Showers early, then cloudy overnight. Low 46F. Winds NE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Auburn, IN (46706)

Today

Areas of patchy fog early. Cloudy early, then off and on rain showers for the afternoon. High 53F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Showers early, then cloudy overnight. Low 47F. Winds NE at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
As spring general election voters head to the polls next week, several contested races for the Walworth County Board are on the Tuesday, April 5 ballot, with incumbent Susan M. Pruessing facing challenger Jeremy T. Segal in District 9, and incumbent Kenneth H. Monroe squaring off against challenger Steven J. Doelder in District 10.

District 9 encompasses Town of Linn Wards 2 and 4, Town of Sharon Ward 1, Town of Walworth Wards 1-3, Village of Fontana Wards 1-3, Village of Sharon Wards 1 and 2, and Village of Walworth Wards 1-3.

District 10 represents City of Lake Geneva Wards 11-14, Town of Bloomfield Wards 1 and 2, Village of Bloomfield Wards 1-5 and Village of Genoa City Wards 1-4.

Candidates in both races submitted answers to questions presented to them by the Lake Geneva Regional News. Below are their responses to those questions in each district contest, starting with the incumbent

Walworth County Board Supervisor District 9

Name: Susan M. Pruessing (I)

Age: N/A

Occupation: Media/Communications Coordinator and Health Aide, Big Foot High School.

Address: N2059 Six Corners Rd., Walworth, WI 53184.

Community involvement: Vice President, Big Foot Fine Arts Foundation. Board Member, Big Foot High School Education Foundation. Member, Historical Society of Walworth and Big Foot Prairie. Big Foot FFA Alumni. Treasurer of Big Foot Booster Club. Member of Faith Lutheran Church. Governance Board, Virtual Academy of Agriculture, Science and Technology. Past Big Foot Booster Club President. Sunday School teacher and President of Faith Lutheran Church. Walworth County Fair Foundation. Boy Scout Leader. Farm Bureau Dairy Breakfast Committee, Farm Technology Days Executive Committee. Big Foot High School Board.

Previous elected experience: 17 years on Big Foot High School Board, serving as President. Presently serving my third term on Walworth County Board, serving on Executive Committee. Chairman of Human Resources and on Zoning Committee.

Why do you want to be a member of the county board? I care enough about what is happening in our county to run. I have always believed in giving back to my community. I have experience you can depend on. I will voice the concerns of and represent each and every citizen. Our county is a special place because of the people who live here. I will fairly address the issues of the county put before me. I have years of experience serving on school boards and the county board, Government service is about serving people. I am committed to doing that.

What are two of the biggest issues you are concerned about in the county? Affordable housing and aging population. I would work with all stakeholders in the county to provide housing choices for all. Seeing that the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), State, Local Fiscal Recovery Funds that the county received are designated and spent properly. There are many tough decisions ahead. Needs in our county are great, but money is not unlimited. Spending requests will need to be justified as necessary. The County Board has a long history of being fiscally prudent. I plan to work together with all members on a budget that works for all residents. I would work to assure the next generation has the opportunity to enjoy the quality of life available to our citizens today. We must continue to be fiscally responsible in managing growth responsibly and to keep the county tax levy as low as possible, so a cost burden is not shifted to county taxpayers.

Anything else you want to add? I am open and transparent. I dont over-react or under-react. I deal with issues professionally, logically and do it with respect and based on facts. I provide experienced leadership. Through my many leadership roles and experiences, I have learned that nothing is more important than making sure people can participate in the process and make a difference in their community. I will work with our cities/towns to put in the work needed to make tough decisions.

I encourage everyone to vote on April 5th. Off-season elections like this one usually have a low voter turnout and your vote is needed. Polls are open 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. I represent Town of LinnWards 2 & 4, Town of SharonWard 1, Town of WalworthWards 1-3, Village of FontanaWards 1-3, Village of SharonWards 1 & 2, Village of WalworthWards 1-3.

Name: Jeremy T. Segal

Age: 44

Occupation: Documentary Filmmaker/Producer.

Address: W5027 Cobblestone Rd., Walworth.

Community involvement: Member of Geneva Lakes Church/active in local government and current events/volunteer teacher Lakes Area Homeschool Co-op/Stand for Life.

Previous elected experience: ZERO.

Why do you want to be a member of the county board? We have come to a point in time where regular citizens must participate in the administration and oversight of local governmental affairs. For too long, we have abdicated our God-given right to self-governance in exchange for top-down mismanagement from career politicians at all levels of government. The lower levels of government not only have a right but a duty to resist against unlawful, unconstitutional, immoral laws and mandates coming down from the state and federal government. However, the local governments in our states  including Walworth County  have failed to do so, with devastating consequences for Walworth County. In 2022, Walworth County is poised to make great economic strides and cultivate a future for our children defined by thriving economic opportunity, constitutional freedom, and safety through law and order, but only with a board aware of the threats to each of these and with a willingness to proactively defend the same.

What are two of the biggest issues you are concerned about in the county? Many issues require vigilance from our countys elected officials, from unconstitutional health mandates to citizen-focused zoning and hideous windmills  they all fall under local authority. The county must protect citizens when higher levels of government  and even non-governmental entities  attempt to exert their will over our own local affairs. We must be vigilant and proactive in the defense of the rights and liberties of Walworth County residents. Wisconsin law mandates each county board have at least nine different committees ranging from Health, Roads, and Finance. Yet, there is no committee to address the threat of federal and state tyranny being implemented through various programs, regulations and grants that these committees oversee. I propose a county committee to protect the rights and liberties of citizens, guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights, and to resist any laws, mandates, and programs which undermine these rights and liberties.

Anything else you want to add? I chose to plant my familys roots in Walworth County for its freedom, rural foundation, and exceptional mix of opportunities and experiences for all generations. I feel a strong sense of responsibility, stemming from a strong faith in Christ, to contribute to this community. With a career background that has always intersected with the political, I am keenly aware of both the peril and the opportunity this moment in history offers us as Americans. The county government may be one of the most important ways we can begin to restore American freedom and opportunity.

Walworth County Board Supervisor District 10

Name: Kenneth H. Monroe (I)

Age: 82

Occupation: Auto Service.

Address: W1500 Sunset Dr., Pell Lake, WI 53157.

Community Involvement: Involved in the development and continued work on the completion of the McKay Park in Bloomfield. Worked with volunteers during the Bloomfield Police Department annual Kids Day Out.

Previous elected experience: 10 Years Town of Bloomfield Supervisor, 10 Years Town of Bloomfield Chairperson, 5 Years Village of Bloomfield President, 17 Years Secretary/Treasurer Town Association.

Why do you want to be a member of the county board? I enjoy being a county supervisor, and working with Administrator Luberada and all the county board members, and I also enjoy representing the people of Walworth County. To hold taxes at a minimum and keep Walworth County debt free.

What are two of the biggest issues you are concerned about in the county? One of the priorities is working with Lakeland Health Care Center, because of the shortage we have of C.N.A.s and hiring new C.N.A.s and to find ways to keep them at Lakeland and not leave to go to other health care centers. Another issue in our communities is the lack of broadband internet access. With more people working from home, broadband internet access has become a very imoortant factor for Walworth County but also through the entire state of Wisconsin. In the upcoming years we will have more access to broadband.

Name: Steven J. Doelder

Age: 72

Occupation: Retired.

Address: W1103 Mangrove Rd., Genoa City, WI 53128. Village of Bloomfield.

Community involvement: Pell Lake Lake Association, Secretary and Lake Fest Coordinator. Pell Lake Properties Association. Bloomfield Village Education Committee. Immanuel Lutheran Church, Christmas and Easter Music Program Participant. Racine Zion Lutheran Church, Treasurer, President and Choir Member.

Previous elected experience: Racine Education Association President. Town of Wilson Party Ward Committeeman.

Why do you want to be a member of the county board? County Board District 10 is made up of three unique municipalities  the Village of Genoa City, the Village of Bloomfield, and the Town of Bloomfield. Each of these entities have unique characteristics and separate needs. It would be my responsibility as District 10 Supervisor to meet these needs. I would make sure that there would be some type of communication between the citizens of the district and the supervisor. There could be a newsletter, town halls or other means of gathering citizen input. My goal is to serve the community and offer people an opportunity to have their voices heard. I have spent my life serving my community and making sure government serves the people. I have been trained to solve problems and get the job done. My background in science, teaching, and computer technology offers an opportunity to use these skills to help the citizens of District 10.

What are two of the biggest issues you are concerned about in the county? The Walworth County Board is charged with overseeing the delivery of services and programs administered by Walworth County. These services include human services, sheriffs office, public works, vital records, elections, courts, and land management. The total proposed budget (2022) for these services is around $2 million dollars. When Im elected to the Walworth County Board, I would make sure that the health and safety of Walworth County citizens would be protected. These are the two things I would like to focus on as District 10 Supervisor. I would make sure that the Sheriffs Department is adequately funded to attract and retain the best deputies. I would encourage the County to obtain grants to aid the County in treating mental illness and drug abuse. Finally, I would make sure that we obtain grants to improve the infrastructure of the County. These funds would protect and improve our county roads and bridges.

Anything else you want to add? Citizens of County Board District 10 have a choice to make on April 5th. There are two candidates running for District 10 Supervisor and there is an opportunity for the districts citizens to participate in the process of who will represent them for the next two years. I encourage you use your voice and vote on April 5th. I encourage you to vote for Steven J. Doelder. I will make sure the county board works for you. I will make sure the job gets done for everyone.

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Heading into next weeks spring general election, three candidates are running to fill two seats on the Genoa City Joint 2 School District board.

The Grades 4K-8 school district, which encompasses the Village of Genoa City, the Village of Bloomfield and the Town of Bloomfield, currently serves 480 students between Grades 4K-3 Brookwood Elementary School and Grades 4-8 Brookwood Middle School, both in Genoa City.

School board candidates on the Tuesday, April 5 spring general election ballot for the two available Genoa City Joint 2 School District board seats are incumbent board member Karen Druszczak and challengers Vicki Larson and Melanie Hess.

Incumbent school board member Jaye Tritz, a 25-plus year board veteran, filed a statutory Notification of Noncandidacy due to a move out of state.

Two of the three candidates, Druszczak and Larson, submitted answers to questions posed to them by the Lake Geneva Regional News. Below are their responses to those questions, starting with the incumbent.

No response was received by Hess as of the submissions deadline.

Name: Karen Druszczak (I)

Age: 72

Occupation: Retired teacher.

Address: Bloomfield Township, County Road B, Genoa City, WI.

Community involvement: I am a parent of Brookwood School graduates. I am a past Brookwood PTO member, treasurer, and president. I have been a co-coordinator of the Brookwood Reading is Fundamental program and have volunteered many hours to school programs. I have been a substitute teacher for Brookwood. I have been a Brookwood classroom teacher for 10 years.

Why do you want to be a member of the school board? I was appointed to the Brookwood School Board in November 2015 and have been re-elected to that position. I seek to continue as a member of the Brookwood School Board, so that I can be a part of the exciting future of Brookwood schools. I have a unique position in the community, as I have participated in Brookwoods expansion and in moving our school forward for the last 30+ years. I have attended Wisconsin School Board Association seminars, conventions and forums to educate myself with regard to school law, school finance, and academic trends, and I have achieved a Level 3 Award from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards.

What are two of the biggest issues you are concerned about in the district? 1. School funding. I would like to see the Wisconsin State Legislature recognize the importance of public schools and fully fund mandated programs and fully fund Special Education. By not fully funding these programs they are passing the costs to local taxpayers and to school districts. 2. Improvement in Reading. It is time to reevaluate our reading practices and materials. We have been using the current reading curriculum for more than 10 years. It is no longer meeting the needs of many of our students. I have attended Wisconsin Association of School Board sessions on how other districts have moved away from methods that were not successful. Brookwood will need to examine the current research and methods and move toward a more successful approach. This is not an overnight fix, it will take time. Brookwood has added auxiliary methods and materials at this time and preliminary results are encouraging.

Anything else you want to add? I look forward to serving on the Brookwood School Board for another term. Thank you for your consideration and interest in helping Brookwood School and students grow into greatness.

Name: Vicki Larson

Age: 46

Occupation: Assistant Superintendent of Harvard Community Unit School District 50, a PreK-12 school district in Harvard, Illinois.

Address: 930 Oak Ridge Lane, Genoa City, WI 5312.8

Previous Elected Experience: School board-appointed seat in 2020, serving one semester.

Why do you want to be a member of the school board? I understand the importance of a well-rounded, mindful, and responsible school board as an educator myself. Schools are the essence of a community, and serving on the school board would be an honor to support students, families, and staff. I believe in and have high expectations of our schools. I am a strong advocate for all and would be a voice for the community. As a resident for 19 years, I have had the privilege to watch our community schools grow and evolve. I attribute both my childrens success and preparation to the support of our schools. Im impressed with how leadership has responded to unprecedented times and sincerely appreciate all the dedication and time that has been placed upon school boards, educators, and staff. There is still hard work to do, and we must continue to address areas of need and move forward together with all stakeholders.

What are two of the biggest issues you are concerned about in the district? The two biggest concerns and challenges in our district are adequate funding and appropriate staffing to meet the needs of our students. Our community must clearly understand how schools are funded and how monies can be allocated. Our students deserve top-of-the-line staff, programming, and various opportunities to grow both academically and socially. Often smaller districts fall short of comprehensive programs, leaving families, students, and staff frustrated with a lack of exposure, growth, and opportunity. As school board members and community members, we must foster dramatic improvements in student success by building capacity amongst all.

Anything else you would like to add? Im confident that I can bring a fresh perspective to the board with extensive experience in education and understand the critical role board members play. My experience in education has given me the skills necessary to collaborate, analyze, and develop creative solutions to any problems the board may face. I genuinely look forward to giving back to our community as a board member

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Ukrainian defenders of a steel plant in Mariupol say Russian forces have started to storm the the last pocket of resistance. The latest from Ukraine.
This week marks our 979th column in the Lake Geneva Regional News. In that time, we have shared many instances of our poverty relief work throughout our communities. Thanks to this column, thousands of our fellow creations have been fed, sheltered, and provided other areas of life changing assistance.

We began our column over 18 years ago after recognizing the need for poverty relief in our area. At first many people did not believe there was such deep poverty in our communities. Over the years this column changed that belief and was also the motivation to make a difference.

In 2003, I had the idea to write a weekly Dear Abby type of column. The difference would be that I would remain anonymous, and people would be writing in for help due to poverty. At the time I was already providing poverty relief throughout Southeast Wisconsin and Illinois through The Time is Now to Help, which I founded in 1989. After almost 15 years of poverty relief, I knew there were so many moving stories that could be shared with the local readers.

Our first bag of letters was huge. I knew there was a great need, but never imagined the response we would receive. It was often hard to choose which letter would be featured each week, as many more people are provided assistance each week than just that one letter. Word soon spread about the anonymous person who was paying peoples overdue rent and utilities, providing food to the hungry, dropping off wheelchairs and toiletries. We worked many late nights to keep up with the demand.

In 2004, Richard Driehaus  Lake Genevas beloved local philanthropist  provided our first matching grant, which became the first publicly shared matching grant for our charity. Several years later Richard gave me some wise advice saying, Sal, if you really believe in helping the poverty stricken, you will come out in the open and make yourself tangible so others can help. When I heeded his advice and began to put a face and a name to the column, our column became even more integral to our charity work.

When the CNN Heroes team of journalists and photographers arrived in Lake Geneva in 2011, due to my top 10 CNN Hero award for my efforts with The Time is Now to Help, they not only learned about our poverty relief efforts, but they also learned the history of our local newspaper. When the team of seven journalists and photographers stepped back in time into the archives of the Lake Geneva Regional News, they were so enthralled they stayed an extra two days to film and interview within the Regional News. At the Heroes event that was televised worldwide and through social media, The Time is Now to Helps column and our local newspaper was shared with millions of viewers.

Thanks to the publication of our column over these past years, over 10,000 people have received our assistance since 2003. We are beyond grateful for our faithful readers and supporters who have continued to read our column each week. It is thanks to You that these miracles continue to happen.

Several miracles are happening this week as we work to get three homeless single mothers with children into stable, affordable apartments. Due to the high cost of rentals and other expenses this is truly a blessing for these women and children. Our efforts continue every day to bring our fellow creations out of the suffering brought on by poverty and into a life they can not only sustain in but also thrive in.

This week we celebrate Lake Geneva Regional News 150th anniversary and look forward to continuing to share our poverty relief efforts through our weekly column. It has been an honor to share the past 18-plus years with them and all of You. Congratulations, Lake Geneva Regional News, for your long history of providing news that touches peoples hearts and minds.

We are continuing to raise funds for the 2022 Family Foundation $40,000 Matching Grant. Every dollar you donate will be matched, doubling your donation and the assistance we provide. Thank You and God Bless You for your support.

Health & Happiness, Love & God Bless Everyone, Sal

Please Help: There are many coming to us in desperation. Our good fellow creations need our compassion. Together we make a big difference. Make checks payable to: The Time Is Now to Help, P.O. Box 1, Lake Geneva, WI 53147. The Time Is Now to Help is a federally recognized 5013 charitable organization licensed in the states of Wisconsin and Illinois. You will receive a tax deductible, itemized thank you receipt showing how your donation provided assistance for the poverty stricken. A Very Special Thank You: Family Foundation, Mark and Natalie Reno, Barnabas, Jeff Martin, United Way of Walworth County, Paul Ziegler, Ziegler Charitable Foundation, Paper Dolls, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Schuberth, Kunes Country Auto Group, Martin Group, John Stensland and family, The Chuck and Barb Taylor Charity Fund, George and Leah Rozhon, Carol Disparti, Robert Keller, Dr. Mark and Cynthia Brower, The Holmgren Charitable Fund, Robert and Judith Russell, John and Rita Race, Lou Jane Koldeway, Joanne Zeasman, Shari and James Loback, Gene and Linda Krauklis, Amazon Smile Foundation, Michael and Kathe Beach, Karen Engelmann, Albert and Ellen Burnell, Lorna King, Church of Jesus Christ LDS, J.N. Hackman, Jack Mallory, Phillip and Deborah Tichy, Stanley Roelker, Nancy Ferguson, Bob and Millie McCormick, Richard and Carol Kerkman, Robert and Vienna Pasche, Raymond and Bonnie Andres, Gregory and Monica Prairie, Kenneth and Joyce Pagel, Donald Lightfield, Duane and June DeYoung, all of our anonymous donors and ALL of you who support The Time Is Now to Help donation boxes. Anyone who would like a Time Is Now donation box in your business, please call 262-249-7000.

Memorials: Jon and Karen Bird in memory of Susan Neumann. Prayer Chain: The power of prayer and positive thoughts comes from the true healer, our Lord answering our prayers. Please pray for healing for the following people: Brian, Talyn, Mike, Sylvia, Richard, Jennifer, Jayden, Maria C., Alex, Lily, Kaitlyn, Sheila, Rhonda, Deda Lee, Betty, Marilyn, Helen, Dennis, Mary, Joseph, Jordan, Jean, Tom L., Dr. Peter, Alyce, Matthew, Pam E., Jenene B., John S., Patricia H., Darlene, Ron K., Marian K., Judy, Wendy, Eric, Anthony, Mary, Charlie, Tom P., Christina, Billy, Mike, Cheryl, and Ellie.
New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI): The Income Tax Department will keep a close eye on every transaction on crypto exchanges as the 30 per cent 'crypto tax' proposed in the Union Budget comes into effect from 1st April 2022.

Income tax officials have been given direction to do so by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), an apex body of the income tax department, officials told ANI.

Also Read | YouTube Likely To Get Dedicated Podcasts Homepage Soon: Report.

A senior Finance Ministry official said, "Our officers will keep a close eye on the Cryptocurrency exchanges which are around 40 in number where transactions in major coins like Bitcoin, Etherium are going on."

Officials told ANI that out of 40 cryptocurrency exchanges 10 are majorly dealing in the sale and purchase of cryptocurrencies and their turnover is between Rs 34,000 crore to Rs 1 trillion.

Also Read | Delhi: 30-Year-Old Thief Regularly Flies to Hyderabad to Snatch Chains, Caught.

The official said other than crypto exchanges IT sleuths will also track the crypto transaction through reporting entities.

The new tax regime of cryptocurrency will fall under section 285BA and sub section (k) of IT Act. Where under rule 114 E, persons are required to report the prescribed financial statements in the statement of financial transactions (SFT), any person who is liable for audit under section 44AB (Like Individuals, HUF, firms, etc.).

The official said that by July 1, 2022, when the department will start deducting 1 per cent Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) on crypto transactions, it will become easier for the department to track crypto transactions.

On February 2 JB Mohapatra, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), in an interview to ANI said that tracking and tracing these crypto investors is very difficult. The TDS provision will now help in tracking and tracing the people who are in this business and making profits but are not filing it in their income tax returns.

Other than tracing through TDS they can be tracked through reporting entities. The imposition of 30 per cent tax on proceeds of digital assets, as announced in the Union Budget 2022-23, will lead to huge tax collections as the turnover of the top 10 crypto exchanges in the country is around Rs 1 trillion, said Mohapatra.

Mohapatra said, "During our pilot project on crypto we found that they are operating on four models."

"People are trading in crypto but they are not filing it in their income tax returns. Those crypto traders filing their income tax returns have no indication of crypto trading. The third model, we found that there are details of crypto trading but their estimates of stock sale and purchase or cryptos are wrong.

"The fourth model shows the details of crypto profits in their income tax return but they show it as income from other sources, income from capital gains, or income from the business. In suspicious cases, income tax returns were not filed. This is very problematic for us," the CBDT chairman said. (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 31 (ANI/PRNewswire): Tejas Networks (BSE: 540595) (NSE: TEJASNET) today announced that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire 64.40 percent of shares of Saankhya Labs Private Ltd. Bangalore ("Saankhya") for INR 283.94 Cr in cash.

The initial acquisition of Saankhya shares is expected to close within the next 90 days. Tejas Networks, upon procuring all necessary consents and approvals, also intends to proceed with acquiring the balance 35.60 percent shares through a merger process or a secondary acquisition.

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Saankhya was founded in 2007 by technology entrepreneurs with global experience and has developed a wide range of system and semiconductor products for cellular Wireless, Broadcast radios and Satellite communication ground-terminal, which are deployed by customers in India and in international markets.

With a rich IPR portfolio and 73 international patents (41 granted, 32 filed), Saankhya is a pioneer in building software defined radios (SDR), powered by its own SDR chipsets. Saankhya has a strong technology team of more than 250 engineers, with deep expertise in wireless communication systems and fabless-semiconductor design.

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Sanjay Nayak, CEO & MD of Tejas Networks said, "We are committed to our vision to create a global telecom equipment company from India, which will provide an end-to-end stack of world-class products and solutions based on latest technologies and customer requirements. This acquisition shows our continued commitment to expand our wireless product offerings to address the growing market opportunity. Saankhya's products would complement our existing 4G/5G Radio Access Network (RAN) products and positions us well for the emerging opportunities in the O-RAN and 5G Broadcast space. We are excited to welcome the highly talented and experienced team of Saankhya and the intellect and domain expertise they bring for wireless as well as semiconductor design. We expect that this acquisition will accelerate our roadmap to create a full range of trusted and secured, world-class telecommunication products."

Parag Naik, Co-founder and CEO of Saankhya Labs said, "We are delighted to become a part of Tejas Networks, which is India's leading telecom equipment company. Being part of Tejas Networks gives us a strong platform to scale up the business for our wireless products and technologies in India as well as in to international markets. Our customers and partners will also benefit from a larger product portfolio and an accelerated roadmap of our products. This merger will further Saankhya's founding team's vision to build a world class technology company from India."

ONE Media 3.0, LLC ("ONE Media") which is the largest shareholder of Saankhya, will sell majority of its shareholding in Saankhya and post merger, will retain a minority shareholding in Tejas.

Mark Aitken, ONE Media's President said, "Our close relationship with Saankhya has been critical to moving our company forward in the world of NextGen Broadcasting. Saankhya has delivered world-class products, technology and solutions, spanning across communication as well as semiconductor domains. From mobile phone design to low-cost, efficient broadcast radio heads enabling single frequency networks, its contributions have been a strategic key for us. We look forward to continuing our business and technology engagement with Tejas Networks, in opportunity areas such as cellularized 5G broadcast infrastructure."

Tejas Networks designs, develops and sells high-performance wireline and wireless networking products to telecommunications service providers, internet service providers, utilities, defence and government entities in over 75 countries. Tejas products utilize programmable, software-defined hardware architecture with a common software code-base that delivers seamless upgrades of new features and technology standards.

For more information, visit Tejas Networks at http://www.tejasnetworks.com or contact

Investor Relations:

ir@india.tejasnetworks.com

Saankhya Labs is a 5G disruptor with a breadth of wireless communication system and semiconductor expertise. Saankhya offers a wide range of communication semiconductor products and solutions for 5G NR, Broadcast and Satellite Communication applications. With several International technology patents and unique 'chips-to-systems' expertise, Saankhya's solutions include world's first production SDR, next gen open RAN Solutions for 5G networks, multi-standard direct to mobile broadcast solutions, and Satellite-IoT products. For more details visit www.saankhyalabs.com

This story is provided by PRNewswire. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article. (ANI/PRNewswire)

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New Delhi, March 31: Board of Directors of Vodafone Idea on Thursday approved a proposal to raise Rs 4,500 crore by allotting 3,38,34,58,645 equity shares to three promoter or promoter group entities at Rs 13.30 per share.

"Further to the meeting of the board of Directors of the Company held on March 3, 2022, approving the issue of equity shares on Preferential Basis, the Capital Raising Committee of the Board of Directors has, at its meeting held today, i.e., March 31, 2022, considered and approved the allotment of 3,38,34,58,645 equity shares of Rs 10/- each for cash at an issue price of Rs 13.30 per equity share (including a premium of Rs 3.30 per equity share) aggregating to Rs 4,500 crore," Vodafone Idea said in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges.

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The firms that have been allocated preferential shares include two promoters and one promoter group.

Euro Pacific Securities Ltd a promoter firm has been allotted 1,96,66,35,338 shares on a preferential basis. Prime Metals Ltd, another promoter firm, has been allotted 57,09,58,646 shares. One promoter group Oriana Investments Pte Ltd has been allotted 84,58,64,661 shares.

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The Shareholders of the Company had approved the said issuance vide special resolution passed at the Extra-ordinary General Meeting held on 26th March 2022.

After the allotment of the new equity shares, the paid-up equity share capital of the Company stands increased to Rs 3,21,18,84,78,850/- consisting of 32,11,88,47,885 equity shares of the face value of Rs 10/- each, Vodafone Idea said.

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Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], March 31 (ANI/PR Newswire): Voltas, India's undisputed leader in Cooling Products, and the No. 1 AC brand, from the house of Tata's, has strengthened its leadership position further in the Cooling Products space, by launching India's First AC with HEPA Filter technology.

This latest offering, the Voltas' PureAir 6 Stage Adjustable Inverter AC comes with a unique value proposition of 'Pure & Flexible Air Conditioning', powered with HEPA Filter, PM 1.0 Sensor and AQI Indicator (which is an industry-first), that helps to purify the indoor air and is also loaded with 6 Stage Adjustable Tonnage Mode, that allows the user to switch within multiple tonnages, depending on the ambient heat or number of people in the room. It provides pure and clean air, along with savings and optimization of running costs.

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The latest survey by Voltas indicated that Indian customers' preferences in the home appliance category are evolving, with comfort, convenience, cooling, health, and technology becoming the top priority. According to the research, 77 per cent of Indians want their air conditioners to be upgraded with air purification technology, which cleans the indoor air swiftly by destroying pollutants, germs, and pathogens. The company's market insights reaffirm that there is a consumer trend of upgrading their home appliances, while they continue in a hybrid mode and rely on technology.

Key Features of Voltas PureAir Inverter AC powered with HEPA Filter and PM1.0 Sensor:

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-HEPA Filter: Provides a very high level of filtration for the smallest, as well as the largest, particulate contaminants

-AQI Indicator with PM 1.0 sensor: A multi-colour indicator ring to show the AQI range along with a highly sensitive PM sensor which detects the presence of particulate matter with the highest accuracy

-Multi Adjustable Mode: Intelligent switching within multiple tonnages, basis ambient heat and number of people in the room.

-Super UVC Technology in select models for further purification

-Eco-friendly Refrigerant: Green R32 refrigerant, which is environment friendlyHigh Ambient Cooling: Keeps users comfortable even at 52C

Commenting on the launch of the new range of Air Conditioners, Pradeep Bakshi, Managing Director & CEO, Voltas Limited said, "Being the market leader in Air Conditioners, our market insights have revealed that consumers are now looking at upgraded features in their ACs that cater to their health and purification needs. Keeping this insight in mind we have introduced Voltas PureAir Inverter Air conditioners that have a HEPA Filter along with PM1.0 Sensor, AQI Indicator and 6 stage Adjustable Mode, which offers cooling and purification along with savings. We aim to remain a consumer-centric brand by offering them the option of 6 different tonnage options, along with air purification, within one product. Our range of ACs complements the consumer's need for energy efficient products."

The Voltas 2022 AC product range includes over 80-plus SKUs, with 45 SKUs in Inverter ACs, 17 in Split ACs, and 12 in Window ACs, besides Cassette and Tower ACs. Within this, Voltas has launched 3 SKUs of PureAir Inverter AC's.

This Summer, Voltas' new range of ACs are also coupled with unique & exciting promotional offers for consumers like 15 per cent cashback, Easy EMI offer, Lifetime Inverter Compressor Warranty and, 5-Year Comprehensive Warranty, for ease of adoption & access to customers.

This summer, Voltas has also launched 38 SKUs of its Voltas Fresh Air Coolers under various sub-categories such as Personal, Window, Tower, and Desert Air Coolers. The new range comprises of new models like, Windsor with 4-sided cooling advantage, Epicool with style and ultra-cooling, Virat with a sturdy metal body, and Alfa fresh with purification advantage. The Company also strengthened its overall portfolio by introducing 60 SKUs of Commercial Refrigeration products, including Convertible Freezer, Freezer on Wheel, and Curved Glass Freezer. The company has also launched 22 SKUs of Water Dispensers, and 25 SKUs of Water Coolers. Voltas also has a range of Cold room solutions for the B2B segment.

Key Features of Voltas Fresh Air Coolers:

-Smart Humidity Controller: optimizes the humidity in the air

-Mosquito Repellent: Resists mosquito breeding and keeps them away

-Turbo Air Throw: Large fan size delivers powerful air throw to cool large spaces.

-Pre Soaking: Pre-cools the Honeycomb pads before starting the fan, releasing cool and fresh air

-Honeycomb Cooling pads: More durable, and provides uniform cooling without letting dirt and sediment deposit

Through its new Home Appliances JV brand, Voltas Beko, the company aims to strengthen its portfolio in 2022 by launching a series of new products. Keeping the brand promise and commitment to stand by the 'Make in India' initiative, Voltas Beko will unveil an array of innovations this year. The Frost Free range of refrigerators with unique patented technologies, Harvest Fresh and Store Fresh technology, Direct Cool refrigerator with features like Active Fresh Blue Light and Rapid Cooling, within major capacities, all with standard BEE Star Rating. The brand has also introduced 5 Star rated Top Load Washing Machine, having industry-defining USPs like Fountain Wash and adjustable Jet function. All product offerings in the Semi-Automatic Twin Tub Category shall have a 5 Star Rating. The overall Washing Machine portfolio will now cater to 7.5 to 14 kg capacities. The Microwave oven category in the Solo, Grill, and Convection segment has also been expanded. And, the highly successful Dish Washer category has witnessed further expansion with the introduction of AquaIntense and Fast Plus functions. Voltas Beko is the latest growing brand in the Home Appliances segment.

Key Features of Voltas Beko Home Appliances:

Refrigerators:

-HarvestFresh+ Technology: 30 days' freshness of fruits & vegetables

-Active Fresh Blue Light Technology: simulates natural lighting conditions, keeps food fresh

Washing Machine:

-Stain Expert function: helps remove 26 types of Indian stains

-Steam Wash: Softens dirt, releases wrinkles and sanitizes clothes

-Prosmart Inverter Motor: enhances washing machine's performance while consuming less energy, brushless motor provides low friction

-India's first 5 Star Semi-Automatic Washing Machine

Voltas Limited is a premier air conditioning and engineering solutions provider and a Projects specialist. Founded in India in 1954, Voltas Limited is part of the Tata Group, and in addition to Air Conditioners, Air Coolers, Air Purifiers, Water Dispensers, Water Coolers, and Commercial Refrigeration products; the company also offers engineering solutions for a wide spectrum of industries in areas such as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, refrigeration, electromechanical projects, electrification, textile machinery, mining, and construction equipment, water management & treatment, cold chain solutions, building management systems, and indoor air quality. Voltas is one of the leading companies within the Tata group and is the undisputed market leader in room air conditioners in India, with a footprint of over 24,000-plus customer touch points. It has also launched its range of Voltas Beko Home Appliances, through its new JV in India, in equal partnership with Arcelik.

Voltbek Home Appliances Private Limited (Voltas Beko) is an equal partnership joint venture between India's leading Air Conditioner Company, Voltas Limited, and one of Europe's largest household appliances manufacturers, Arcelik. The brand 'Voltas Beko' was launched in September 2018 and has in the past year positioned itself as 'Partners of Everyday Happiness' in India. Their portfolio of products includes Refrigerators, Washing Machines, Microwaves/Ovens, and Dishwashers. The brand offers its consumers state-of-the-art innovative products and leverages Voltas' brand & distribution strength and Arcelik's global expertise in product development. Voltas Beko has been consistently increasing its footprint in the Indian home appliances segment and has currently over 5000 consumer touchpoints. The manufacturing facility is situated in Sanand, Gujarat which went on-stream in January 2020.

Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1777772/Voltas_PureAir_Inverter_AC.jpg

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Hyderabad, March 31 (PTI): A 23-year-old BTech graduate died here allegedly after overdosing on drugs, police said on Thursday.

The deceased, who was addicted to multiple drugs, was a friend of a drug-peddler, who was nabbed here today while trying to sell different narcotic drugs, they said. The drug-peddler, who is a realtor, and three consumers -- a software employee, guitar teacher and a engineering student were on Thursday apprehended, Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) DS Chauhan said. Police seized six LSD blots, 10 Ecstasy pills and 100 grams of Hash oil from the possession of the accused. According to police, the deceased, (unemployed BTech graduate) was totally addicted to consume various drugs and frequent visits to Goa made him try various drugs. The man was admitted to a hospital in the city recently and the duty doctors informed that he suffered with multiple sclerosis and strokes and due to drug overdose he died three days back while undergoing treatment, police said.

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The deceased along with the peddler and some others used to frequently visit Goa and he (deceased) consumed multiple drugs like LSD, pills, cocaine, MDMA and Hash oil, police added. LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) is sold in tablets or in liquid form, and is known to be one of the most potent 'mood-changing' chemicals while MDMA (methylenedioxy- methamphetamine) is used as a recreational or party drug.

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New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) As many as 22,500 nationals have returned to India from Ukraine since February and around 40-50 Indians are still in the war-torn country, of which only a few are willing to return, Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.

"Overall, 22,500 nationals have returned to India since February 2022. Around 40-50 Indian nationals are still in Ukraine, of which only a few are willing to return to India. Their return is being facilitated by the Embassy," said Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakashi Lekhi said in written response to a question on the number of people evacuated from Ukraine.

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The Ukrainian authorities had shut down the country's airspace for civilian aircraft after the Russian attack on February 24.

To another question on the number of operations carried out to evacuate stranded Indians and other nationals during the last five years, she said during the global Covid pandemic, the government launched the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indian nationals and to facilitate the travel of passengers between India and other parts of the world.

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"Around 2.97 crore passengers (in-bound and out-bound) have been facilitated in the flights operated under the Vande Bharat Mission and Air Bubble Arrangements till date," she said.

Under 'Operation Devi Shakti', a total of 669 people were evacuated from Afghanistan, including 448 Indian nationals, 206 Afghans (including Hindu Sikh minority community members) and 15 people of other nationalities (Nepal, Lebanon and Uganda) in seven flights between August 16 to 25, 2021 and the last flight on December 10, 2021, Lekhi said.

All Indian nationals who had sought repatriation to India were evacuated, she added.

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New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) The CBI has registered its first case on the basis of directives from the country's anti-corruption watchdog, Lokpal, against Manager Singh, the then director general of the National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLCCP), officials said on Thursday.

The central probe agency registered the case on the basis of the Lokpal's orders issued on September 30, 2021 on complaints against Singh received by the watchdog.

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"This is the first FIR registered by the agency referred by the Lokpal," a senior official said on the condition of anonymity.

The Lokpal had directed the agency to "conduct investigation in relation to and in connection with the matter of tendering, awarding and execution of the work to V K Singh Construction Company by Manager Singh, the then DG (on contract) in both the campuses of National Research Laboratory for Conservation of Cultural Property (NRLC) at Lucknow and Mysore".

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"It has further been ordered to investigate into the payments made by V K Singh Construction Company to the relatives of Manager Singh (DG on contract) and in the related irregularities," the FIR said.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has booked Manager Singh, VK Singh, the company -- VK Singh Construction Company -- and unidentified public servants and private persons under the Indian Penal Code sections related to criminal conspiracy and cheating and the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Retired Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose was appointed as the first Lokpal of the country in 2019.

The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act, which envisages the appointment of a Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayuktas in the states to look into cases of corruption against certain categories of public servants, was passed in 2013.

According to the law, the Lokpal has the power of superintendence and direction over any central investigation agency, including the CBI, for cases referred to these agencies by it.

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New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday launched a veiled attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and alleged that the country's largest party is indulging in 'hooliganism' in the capital after the BJP members allegedly indulged in vandalism outside his official residence.

"If the country's largest party and ruling party do such hooliganism in the capital, what message will be sent to the youth?" said Kejriwal in his address after he flagged off a fleet of electric autorickshaws from IP depot.

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"3,500 people will drive these e-autos. This'll provide employment to 3,500 people out of which 500 are women. It's a matter of immense pride," he added.

He said that Electric Vehicle (EV) policy made by the Delhi government is being praised across the country.

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Delhi is considered as country's EV capital. People are buying EVs rapidly. 10 per cent of total vehicles purchased by them this year were electric vehicles," he stated.

CM Arvind Kejriwal and state Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot flagged off a fleet of electric autorickshaws from IP depot.

Earlier on Wednesday, members of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) held a protest outside Kejriwal's residence on Link Road near IP College against his purported remarks on the movie 'The Kashmir Files'.

Kejriwal, in his speech in the Delhi Assembly, had accused the BJP leaders of promoting the movie and asked the makers of the movie to upload the film on YouTube. (ANI)

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New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) Three men have been arrested for allegedly duping several automobile dealers of lakhs of rupees on the pretext of buying vehicles, police said on Thursday.

The suspects were identified as Manoj Kumar (29) of Baghpat and Pankaj Kumar (28) of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, and Deepak Aggrawal, a resident of Shahdara in Delhi, they said.

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According to police, the fraud came to the fore after Narendra Singh, a Delhi-based automobile dealer, filed a complaint alleging that over Rs 11 lakh was deducted from his bank account in two different transactions.

During investigation, it was revealed that the suspects had managed to get the bank account details of the automobile dealer, Deputy Commissioner of police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi said, adding that the suspects were arrested on Wednesday.

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The accused collected nearly 100 SIM cards on fake IDs and used them to create fake e-mail accounts of reputed companies.

They would cheat the dealers on the pretext of placing orders for vehicles and seek their bank accounts details and other documents by sending e-mail from the fake accounts of reputed companies, police said.

After getting the bank details of their victims, the suspects would contact bank officials and ask them to transfer money on an urgent basis, police said.

The suspects were earlier arrested in a similar cheating case of Rs 24 lakh in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, Kalsi said.

Two similar cases were also registered in Kolkata, West Bengal and Hyderabad, Telangana against them, he added.

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Pune, Apr 1 (PTI) One person was injured after fire broke out at a godown in Pune's Nana Peth area late Thursday night, said a fire official.

The fire was brought under control around 1am and cooling off process is going on, he added.

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According to the fire department, the fire broke out at a godown of some wooden objects, sponge, and spare parts located near Quarter gate area in Nana Peth.

"We received the call about the fire at 11.35 pm and immediately 8 water tankers and ambulances were rushed to the spot. So far, one person has been injured in the incident and he has been rushed to the hospital," said the fire official.

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A fire personnel too sustained a leg injury during the operation while the cause of fire is yet to be ascertained, he added.

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New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI): The Delhi High Court on Wednesday stayed the order passed by the Central government reallocating power from Delhi's Dadri-II Plant to the state of Haryana.

Power Discom BSES Rajdhani challenged the order passed by the Ministry of Power on March 29, 2022. The order was to be effective from April 1.

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Justice Yashwant Varma issued notice on the petition moved by the BSES to the respondent parties including Northern Regional Power Committee and others. Notice was accepted by the counsel for the parties.

The Court has listed the matter for hearing on April 1, 2022, until which the order has been stayed.

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Counsel for the Central Government Kirtiman Singh appeared on advance notice and prayed for the matter to be put up on April 1, 2022, in order to enable him to obtain instruction.

The petitioner has challenged the order of March 29, 2022, passed by the Ministry of Power which alludes to a purported surrender of power generated by the Dadri-II Thermal Power Station by GNCTD has transferred the same to the state of Haryana.

Senior Advocate Sandeep Sethi appearing for the petitioner submitted the aforesaid order is wholly without jurisdiction since no power inheres in the respondents to reallocate power that forms part of the allocation made in favour of the petitioner and duly approved by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC).

He also submitted that the surrender of power which was contemplated in terms of the communication of October 7, 2021, was with respect to the Dadri-I Thermal Power Plant alone.

Senior Counsel also withdrew the attention of the court to the order of the DERC of March 30, 2022, which categorically records that the commission had not communicated any request to the Ministry of Power to either re-allocate or surrender the share of NCT from Dadri-II to other states.

Sandeep Sethi submitted that if the impugned order were to be implemented, 23 per cent of the populace of Delhi would be deprived of power in the next 24 hours. The Court also took note of the submission that the impugned order would if permitted to operate, come into effect from midnight of Friday, April 1, 2022.

The resultant deficiency would have to be arranged before 10 am on Thursday, March 31, 2022. (ANI)

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New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) India has signed a pact with the UN World Food Programme (UNWFP) for the distribution of the next batch of 10,000 metric tonnes of wheat in Afghanistan, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Thursday.

India has already sent 10,000 metric tonnes of wheat to Afghanistan through Pakistani land routes. The aid was distributed by the UNWFP under the provision of an agreement that India had signed with the world body.

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The government of India and the UNWFP signed the second agreement for the donation of the next batch of 10,000 metric tonnes of wheat to the people of Afghanistan, the MEA said.

The first agreement was signed in Rome in February.

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"In view of the deteriorating humanitarian situation and in response to the appeals made by the United Nations for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, the government of India decided to gift 50,000 metric tonnes of wheat to the people of Afghanistan," the MEA said in a statement.

"As of now, the first tranche of 10,000 MTs of wheat has been successfully delivered to Afghanistan and delivery of the next batch of 10,000 MTs of wheat is in the process," it added.

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Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 31 (ANI): Amid the row over Halal meat in Karnataka, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) General Secretary CT Ravi on Wednesday said that the halal meat business is a kind of 'economic jihad'.

"The halal meat business is a kind of 'economic jihad'. The concept of Halal meat means that they can do business among themselves and consume Halal meat only among their people. What is wrong in pointing it as wrong," Ravi told reporters here.

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Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said that the state government will look into 'halal' meat issue as "serious objections" have now been raised about it.

"The halal issue has just started. We have to study it. It's a practice that is going on. Now serious objections have been raised about it. I will look into it," Bommai said in a press conference.

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Opposition leaders in Karnataka accused the BJP government of deliberately bringing up such issues to come up in view of assembly polls next year.

Congress leader Priyank Kharge said BJP wants "to turn Karnataka into Uttar Pradesh".

"I think the BJP has lost the plot in Karnataka and they want to make this Uttar Pradesh. They have no issues to take to people so they are bringing issues like Kashmir Files, ban on economic activities of minorities and now this question of halal meat. We are already reeling under economic distress and they are out to make Karnataka - a very progressive state into Uttar Pradesh. This is just an election tactic," Kharge said.

Congress MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao said real issues concerning people are being ignored.

"Halal meat or no halal meat, who cares? If people want to buy halal meat they will buy and if people don't want to buy halal meat, they won't buy it. There's no rule. This is somewhere a focused target. It is very, very bad for the country. I condemn the approach of the Bommai government," Rao said. (ANI)

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Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 31 (ANI): A Special Court in Bengaluru has ordered the registration of a 'special criminal case' against former Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa in connection with the land denotification complaint lodged against him in the year 2013.

Special judge B Jayantha Kumar has ordered authorities to register a special criminal case for offences punishable under section 13(1)(d) read with section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against the former chief minister

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The case pertains to the denotification of about 4.30 acres of prime land near Bellandur, Bengaluru while Yediyurappa was Deputy Chief Minister. The case has haunted Yediyurappa for several years. In 2013, one Vasudeva Reddy had filed a private complaint.

A special court while hearing the denotification case on Saturday rejected the Lokayukta police's B report and allowed an investigation.

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Judge Sridhar Gopalakrishna Bhat ordered further investigation into the case and instructed Lokayukta Deputy Superintendent of Police of the same. In addition, the High Court has been instructed to conduct an investigation and submit a final report.

In 2015, the Lokayukta Special Court ordered an investigation. The B Report was filed in January 2021 and said that the allegations were futile. The court has rejected this B report and ordered an investigation into the case. (ANI)

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Mumbai, March 31: After more than two years, all pandemic-related restrictions including the mandatory wearing of masks would be lifted in Maharashtra from April 2, the state government announced on Thursday.

The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Health Minister Rajesh Tope told reporters. Mask Made Voluntary in Maharashtra as State Government Removes All COVID-19 Restrictions Ahead of Gudi Padwa And Ramadan 2022.

From Gudhi Padwa (Marathi New Year which falls on April 2 this time), all COVID-19 related restrictions under the Epidemic Diseases Act and Disaster Management Act will be withdrawn, Tope said. Wearing of face mask will be voluntary from April 2, he said.

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New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said legislators across the country should be driven by passion, performance and procedural integrity, and desist from disrupting law making bodies.

He also asked them to uphold the honour and privilege bestowed on them by the people.

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Naidu made the remarks in the House as the Rajya Sabha bade farewell to 72 members retiring during the MarchJuly period this year.

The retiring members include, A K Antony, Ambika Soni, P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh, Suresh Prabhu, Praful Patel, Subramanian Swamy, Prasanna Acharya, Sanjay Raut, Naresh Gujral, Satish Chandra Mishra, M C Mary Kom, Swapan Dasgupta and Narendra Jadhav.

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The Chairman called upon elected representatives to ensure that expectations and aspirations of the people are incorporated in the designing of laws and policies. while expressing concern over the House having lost over 35 per cent of the functional time due to disruptions since 2017.

The retiring members, he said, have a total parliamentary experience of 181 terms including 143 terms in the Rajya Sabha and 38 in the Lok Sabha.

Noting that the retiring members have a vast pool of considerable legislative experience, domain knowledge, parliamentary skills and proven performance in the House, he said, "It is not often that such a pool of performers retire in one go".

Naidu recounted the contributions of some veterans and first-time members by name and also noted that most of the retiring members have kept themselves away from the tendency of disrupting the House.

The Chairman said 65 retiring members represented 19 states while seven are nominated members.

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Rameswaram (TN), Mar 31 (PTI) In yet another such instance this week, the Sri Lankan Navy has arrested three Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu for allegedly fishing in its territorial waters, officials said on Thursday.

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The arrests were made late on Wednesday, when the three fishermen, hailing from Pudukottai district, were fishing near Katchatheevu, a state Fisheries official said. One boat was also seized.

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The incident comes barely two days after four fishermen were arrested by the Lankan navy and their boat impounded for alleged violation of the international maritime boundary.

Fishermen representatives expressed anguish over the latest incident involving the Lankan navy and wanted a permanent solution for the issue.

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Rampurhat (WB), Mar 31 (PTI) The police in Bengal's Birbhum district has arrested two more persons for their alleged involvement in the murder of a TMC panchayat official, taking the total number of people nabbed in the case so far to six, a senior officer said on Thursday.

In the aftermath of panchayat deputy chief Bhadu Sheikh's murder last week, violence had broken out in Bogtui village of the district, with miscreants attacking houses and setting them on fire, killing at least nine people, including children.

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The two accused were picked up from Nalhati and Margram, where the duo had been hiding since March 21 when the TMC leader was killed, the police officer said.

At least 10 FIRs under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) have been filed in connection with Sheikh's murder.

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The Bogtui massacre that followed is being investigated by the CBI.

A team of CBI officials visited Margram during the day in search of Sheikh's two brothers, an official of the probe agency said.

They also visited a CCTV-fitted house in Bogtui village, abandoned by its inhabitants after the massacre, in search of a hard disk that apparently had footages from the cameras.

According to the official, the hard disk was "missing" even as other belongings were intact.

The house had been "sealed" to prevent any further tampering of evidence, he said.

Later in the day, the team stopped by Rampurhat Medical College and Hospital and collected CCTV footages from there to find out who all had visited the medical establishment after the charred bodies of the victims and five other injured were taken there, the CBI official said.

CBI sleuths also grilled a senior officer of Nalhati Police Station and two other officers of Rampurhat Police Station in connection with their probe.

No arrest has been made by the agency thus far.

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New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) Vikas Kumar, a 1988-batch officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service, will assume charge as the new managing director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Friday, officials said.

The Delhi government on Wednesday appointed Kumar as the next DMRC chief.

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He will hold the post for a term of five years, as per an official order issued by the transport department of the Delhi government on Wednesday.

Kumar will succeed Mangu Singh, who on Thursday bid an emotional farewell to the DMRC after an illustrious career of 25 years, including the last decade as its top boss.

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He will be the DMRC's third managing director after E Sreedharan and Mangu Singh, officials said.

"Vikas Kumar will assume responsibility as the new Managing Director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) with effect from tomorrow, i.e., April 1, 2022 (Friday). Kumar is taking over charge from Dr Mangu Singh, who was the managing director of DMRC since January 1, 2012. Dr. Singh's illustrious tenure came to an end today," the DMRC said in a statement.

Kumar, who was holding the position of the director (Operations) in the DMRC, has over three decades of experience in rail-based urban transportation projects, it said.

Kumar has worked with the Indian Railways in various capacities before joining the DMRC in September 2004. He has been associated with the DMRC for more than 17 years in key management positions, the statement said.

In the DMRC, Kumar has headed the operations wing of the organisation since 2007 in various leadership capacities, such as general manager (Operations), executive director (Operations) and director (Operations). He has played a key role in ensuring smooth commencement of metro services in Delhi-NCR, it added.

"Kumar was instrumental in setting up of DMRC's wholly-owned subsidiary company 'Delhi Metro Last Mile Services Limited' for provision of last-mile services to and from metro stations. He has also provided consultancy services to the Dhaka Metro project as its Operations and Maintenance Rules expert. This apart, he has been involved in providing consultancy for various metro projects in India, such as in Jaipur, Kochi, Nouda-Greater Noida, Mumbai, etc," the statement said.

He has travelled across the world to get exposure to the latest technologies and management strategies employed by rail-based urban transit systems, the officials said.

"Kumar has been DMRC's Senior Benchmarking Representative to deal with TSC (Transport Strategy Centre), Imperial College, London which is the coordinating agency for the CoMET group of Metros. DMRC is a member of CoMET which is a benchmarking group of large and medium-sized metros from across the world," it said.

Kumar has also been the recipient of various awards while serving in the Indian Railways and the DMRC such as the General Manager's Award, Operations Shield (in Indian Railways) and the Managing Director's Award (in DMRC), the DMRC said.

A graduate in electrical engineering from the University of Roorkee (now IIT-Roorkee), he has done his Masters in opto-electronics and optical communications from IIT-Delhi. Apart from being academically meritorious, Kumar was also involved in swimming and badminton as a student, the officials added.

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New Delhi, Mar 31 (PTI) German auto major Volkswagen group has crossed the cumulative production milestone of 15 lakh units in India across its three brands - Skoda Volkswagen and Audi, according to Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Pvt Ltd (SAVWIPL).

SAVWIPL, which manages the Indian operations of five Volkswagen Group brands -- Skoda, Volkswagen, Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini -- said the production milestone was achieved collectively across the group's two manufacturing facilities at Pune and Aurangabad.

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This milestone has been accomplished with the production of Skoda Kushaq at its facility in Pune, SAVWIPL said in a statement on Thursday.

SAVWIPL Managing Director Piyush Arora said, "The production milestone is a significant achievement and a testament to the success of our products in the domestic as well as export market."

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It also highlights the seamless collaboration between the group's global and Indian teams, who have been instrumental in putting the engineering and manufacturing expertise of India on the global map, he added.

The SAVWIPL facility in Pune currently produces Skoda Kushaq, Skoda Slavia, Volkswagen Taigun, Volkswagen Virtus, Volkswagen Polo and Volkswagen Vento. While the Aurangabad facility produces premium and luxury models from the group's brands Skoda, Volkswagen and Audi.

SAVWIPL Executive Director  Sales and Marketing Christian Cahn von Seelen said, "With over two decades of providing world-class products for the Indian market, the group's brands have nurtured strong relationships with the Indian automotive customer, and our production facilities have played a key role in its growth journey."

The group has exported over 5,45,700 cars until December 2021. In February this year, it commenced exports of Volkswagen T-Cross.

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Thousands of Chinese-made cleaner vehicles revamping region's transport Chinese-made eco-friendly buses are transforming Latin America's public transport infrastructure. Not only are they helping to cement ties with China, they are also lowering emissions in a region with a population of more than 600 million people. In March, a batch of 800 buses powered by natural gas arrived in Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city. The buses were manufactured by Anhui Ankai Automobile. The company, in Hefei, Anhui province, exported the largest batch of buses China has ever sent to Mexico. Monterrey, with a population of 1.1 million, will benefit from modern buses with onboard Wi-Fi and incorporated technologies that will take the city's public transport system to the next level. "With the continuous growth of its urban population, Monterrey is replacing its traditional-energy city buses to provide a more environmentally friendly travel solution," according to China Yuchai International, the company that developed the vehicles' engines, called YC6GN. "Monterrey is also an important industrial and business hub with a number of large Mexican and international companies operating there." China Yuchai said the YC6GN engines provide green energy in compliance with the Euro V and Chinese National-V emission standards. Farther south, in Colombia, Shenzhen's BYD delivered 172 electric buses in February to Bogota. The Colombian capital is building up a fleet of hundreds of electric public buses. "Undoubtedly, delivering the first fleet of electric public transportation buses in the country, with 64 units to the Metroplus system in Medellin in 2019, opened the door to tenders such as the TransMilenio Bus Rapid Transit system in Bogota in 2021, where we were awarded more than 1,400 units to be delivered in the course of 2022," Juan Felipe Velasquez, commercial manager at BYD Colombia, told China Daily. He said this makes Colombia's fleet of BYD electric buses the company's largest outside China. A 2021 report from the United Nations Environment Programme said: "The transport sector in Latin America and the Caribbean is characterized by a high concentration in urban areas, high per capita bus utilization rates and the use of trucks for freight transport. "These conditions, together with having one of the cleanest energy mixes in the world, provide a unique advantage for the transition of the transport sector to electrification." According to ANDEMOS, Colombia's National Association of Sustainable Mobility, 416 electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid buses were registered in Colombia in 2021, and a similar figure for new registrations was seen in just the first two months of this year. All 417 electric buses registered in January and February were delivered by BYD. "With the delivery of the whole batch of the BYD electric buses, Colombia will consolidate its leadership in electric vehicles in Latin America," said Olivero Garcia, the president of ANDEMOS. Garcia said that for the electric buses in a city like Bogota, infrastructure deployment is needed in parallel. He added that Chinese companies are also working on building a metro system for the capital. Jeronimo Marulanda, a consultant at Cuatro Elementos, an environmental consultancy and management firm in Colombia, said: "The great challenge ahead in Latin America is to achieve progress in the infrastructure for these vehicle fleets to operate optimally, as well as to have the infrastructure to receive and manage these bus fleets." Mexico and Colombia are not the only countries in the region moving toward green public transportation. "Costa Rica has made considerable progress: enviable charging infrastructure and a growing interest of the population in acquiring electric vehicles. We will have six electric buses thanks to a donation from the People's Republic of China," Costa Rica's First Lady Claudia Dobles said in a statement in February. For Marulanda, the acquisition of electric bus fleets in Latin America is a step in the right direction, with a tangible impact on the environment that can help the region advance rapidly in the transition to sustainable mobility.


Beijing [China], March 31 (ANI): Afghanistan's neighbouring countries have urged the US and the West to take responsibility for the reconstruction of Afghanistan and return the property of the Afghans, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.

"[It is necessary] to call on the US and the West to fulfil their primary responsibility for the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan and to return to the Afghan people their property as soon as possible," Sputnik news agency quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.

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On Thursday, the third ministerial conference of the neighbouring countries of Afghanistan was held in the Tunxi region of China. Foreign ministers from Russia, China, Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan attended the meeting.

The statement stressed the need to support the United Nations' role in promoting peace and stability in Afghanistan and in coordinating assistance to the country.

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International financial institutions must actively inject liquidity into Afghanistan in order to support the country's development, the statement added.

"We call on all parties to develop contacts and dialogue with Afghanistan, support the social and economic development of Afghanistan, resist sanctions and pressure, and oppose the politicization of humanitarian aid," the statement noted.

Taliban's rise to Afghanistan in August of last year caused economic disarray and food shortages that have pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis.

Thousands of Afghans have fled the country fearful of the Taliban, widespread violation of human rights, and the deprivation of women and girls of their freedoms. (ANI)

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Washington [US], March 31 (ANI): US President Joe Biden on Wednesday (local time) expressed his condolences in a call with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a day after a Palestinian gunman killed five people in Tel Aviv.

"President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. spoke today with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of Israel to express his deepest condolences following the horrific terrorist attacks that have killed 11 people in three Israeli cities," the White House said in a statement.

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Biden emphasized that the "United States stands firmly and resolutely with Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats to the state of Israel", the statement said.

According to the statement, the leaders discussed the importance of regional partnerships, as exemplified by the Abraham Accords and the Negev Summit, in promoting security and improving the lives of people across the Middle East.

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"The President offered all appropriate assistance to our Israeli allies as they confront threats to their citizens," the statement added.

Earlier, two people were killed and six were injured in a shooting attack by ISIS operatives on Sunday in the Israeli city of Hadera, some 31 miles north of Tel Aviv, Israeli officials said.

Meanwhile, on late Tuesday, a Palestinian gunman opened fire at passersby and vehicles outside the Israeli city Tel Aviv, killing five people in the third shooting or knife attack in a week, prompting the police to raise its alert level nationwide to "the highest possible."

The shooter was shot dead by police during the incident that took place in the city of Bnei Brak, a crowded suburb of Tel Aviv, said the police and the Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's national emergency medical service. (ANI)

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Islamabad, Mar 31 (PTI) A defiant Imran Khan on Thursday indicated that he will not resign from the post of Pakistan's prime minister despite losing the majority in the National Assembly and insisted that he will face the vote of no-confidence which would take place on Sunday.

In a live-address to the nation, 69-year-old Khan said he will return stronger no matter what the result of no-trust vote would be.

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Khan needs 172 votes in the lower house of 342 to foil the Opposition's bid to topple him. However, Opposition claims it has the support of 175 lawmakers and the prime minister should immediately resign.

No Pakistani prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term in office. Also, no prime minister in Pakistan's history has ever been ousted through a no-confidence motion, and Khan is the third premier to face the challenge.

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Berlin, Mar 31 (AP) Authorities in Germany said Thursday they have detained six men on suspicion of planning to sabotage overhead power lines in order to disrupt the country's electricity supply.

Police said hundreds of officers on Wednesday raided apartments that were linked to the men in the southeastern town of Neumarkt.

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Officers found several illegal guns and rifles, as well as tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, police said.

Bavaria state police said the behaviour of the suspects, who range in age from 34 to 59, indicated they belonged to the prepper scene - a loose movement of people who believe in preparing for societal collapse.

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There have so far been no concrete indications of terrorist motivations or a terrorist organisation, police said.

Bavaria's top security official, Joachim Herrmann, said the police operation had dealt a sore blow to a group with reckless and anti-constitutional aims.

Thanks to resolute police work, planned acts of sabotage on major power lines were successfully prevented, he said. (AP)

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Jerusalem, Mar 31 (AP) Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, setting off a gunbattle in which two Palestinians were killed and 15 were wounded, as Israel targeted what it said were militant networks after a series of deadly attacks.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian stabbed a 28-year-old Israeli man on a bus in the West Bank before being killed by a bystander, the military said. The Magen David Adom emergency service said the stabbing victim was treated and taken to a hospital.

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Videos circulated online showing smoke rising from the center of the Jenin refugee camp as gunfire echoed in the background. Others appeared to show Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen moving through the narrow streets.

The raid came two days after a Palestinian from a village near Jenin shot and killed five people in central Israel, part of a wave of attacks in recent days that have left a total of 11 people dead.

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The Palestinian Health Ministry said 17-year-old Sanad Abu Atiyeh and 23-year-old Yazid al-Saadi were killed on Thursday.

It said 30-year-old Nidal Jaafara was shot and killed near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, apparently referring to the stabbing incident.

The Israeli military said troops came under fire after entering Jenin to arrest three suspects linked to Tuesday's attack. It said one soldier was wounded and evacuated to a hospital for treatment. The army said it has arrested a total of 31 suspects in recent West Bank raids aimed at preventing more attacks.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett's office later Thursday announced it was spending about $56 million in emergency funding for more police officers and equipment.

A strong police equals a strong Israel," Bennett said in a statement. "We are operating all means and on all fronts to restore security and a feeling of safety to the people of Israel.

The Jenin refugee camp was the scene of one of the deadliest battles of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

In April 2002, Israeli forces fought Palestinian militants in the camp for nearly three weeks. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers and at least 52 Palestinians, including civilians, were killed, according to the U.N.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and coordinates with Israel on security matters, appears to have had little control over Jenin in recent years. Israeli forces operating in and around the city and refugee camp often come under fire.

The Islamic Jihad militant group announced a general mobilization of its fighters after Thursday's raid.

In Tuesday's attack, a 27-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank village of Yabad, near Jenin, methodically gunned down victims, killing five. On Sunday night, two Islamic State group sympathizers shot and killed two police officers in the central city of Hadera.

Last week, a combined car-ramming and stabbing attack in the southern city of Beersheba  also by an IS-inspired attacker  killed four. The two attacks claimed by IS were carried out by Arab citizens of Israel.

President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday to express his condolences, saying the U.S. stands firmly and resolutely with Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats, according to the White House.

The recent wave of violence has brought the conflict with the Palestinians back to the fore at a time when Israel is focused on building alliances with Arab states against Iran. There have been no serious Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in more than a decade, and Bennett is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leaders have held a flurry of meetings in recent weeks, and Israel has announced a series of goodwill gestures, in an effort to maintain calm ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend.

They hope to avoid a repeat of last year, when clashes in Jerusalem set off an 11-day Gaza war. After a Security Cabinet meeting late Wednesday, Israel decided to carry on with plans to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognised internationally. In the West Bank, it is steadily building and expanding Jewish settlements, which most of the internationally community views as illegal.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the Palestinian militant group Hamas seized power there two years later.

Since then, Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade on the territory, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians. (AP)

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New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI): External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday spoke with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and discussed developments pertaining to the Indo-Pacific, Ukraine and the global economy.

"Just completed a useful conversation with @SecBlinken. Reviewed the progress on our bilateral cooperation. Discussed developments pertaining to the Indo-Pacific, Ukraine and the global economy," Jaishankar tweeted.

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India and the United States are scheduled to hold a 2+2 dialogue in Washington on April 11.

EAM Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will meet their counterparts Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. Jaishankar and Rajnath Singh will also have other meetings scheduled on the sidelines.

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The last 2+2 Ministerial Dialogue between the two countries was held in October 2020 in New Delhi.

Moreover, as Russia's war on Ukraine is set to enter its sixth week, the number of refugees fleeing Ukraine has now crossed the 4 million mark, the chief of the UN refugee agency, Filippo Grandi said on Wednesday.

Notably, 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.

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)

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Islamabad [Pakistan], March 31 (ANI): The road ahead is going to be uphill for Pakistan amid Russia-Ukraine war more so as the country's economy has been so thoroughly mismanaged by Imran Khan that it now ranks below Bangladesh.

Federico Giuliani, writing in Insideover said that the dependence on IMF bailouts has reached worrying proportions which may undo many populist measures, leading to unrest in the country.

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Post the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the new-found closeness that Imran Khan developed with Putin is proving to be a big diplomatic embarrassment, if not a debacle.

More discomforting for him was his presence in Moscow on the day Russia had launched attack on Ukraine. He rejected advice against his Russian visit in order to please Beijing, and also to demonstrate how 'independently' he runs the country's foreign policy, reported Insideover.

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Pakistan claims to have taken a 'neutral' position on the Ukraine war but the zeal with which the Imran Khan government continued to blast the US has planted an impression in American minds that Pakistan stands with Russia in defiance of the overwhelming worldwide outrage against its invasion of Ukraine.

Imran Khan may personally not be keen to be friends with the US or the West but his Army is unhappy with the distance he has created with the US.

Though not specifically on relations with the US, Imran Khan has developed differences with the Generals--very different from the days when he used to declare that for the first time in Pakistan's history, the Pakistan Army and the prime minister are on the 'same page' on all matters, wrote Giuliani.

Despite a friendly Taliban leadership taking over Afghanistan, Pakistan is unable to plan any initiative to play the role of the gateway to Central Asia it had envisaged for itself--a trump card, a point of leverage.

Imran Khan had built up hopes of energy flows from Russia and Central Asia, banking on Russian aid to build a pipeline from Central Asia to his energy-starved nation.

That must remain a pipe dream; Russia, withering under sanctions, is hard-pressed for cash almost as badly as the ultimate benefactor, Pakistan, said Giuliani.

The hardship caused by economic factors may have a bearing on ties between Russia and Pakistan. The global sentiments against Russia can dampen these ties even as the possibilities of a patch up in the frayed US-Pakistan ties do not appear bright in the near future. (ANI)

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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa [Pakistan], March 31 (ANI): A Pakistan Army captain, among two soldiers, was killed during an exchange of fire between the security forces and terrorists in Makin city of Pakistan's South Waziristan, local media reported on Wednesday.

"An intense exchange of fire took place between the security forces and terrorists," said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), The News International reported.

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As a result, four terrorists were killed, while Captain Saad Bin Amir, 25, and Lance Naik Riaz, 37, were killed fighting.

Earlier, four terrorists were killed in Pakistan's North Waziristan during an exchange of fire with security forces.

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The terrorists were killed following an intelligence-based operation (IBO) conducted by the security forces in the area of Jhallar Fort in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's North Waziristan district on the night between March 27 and March 28, Dawn newspaper reported.

According to a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the operation was conducted on the basis of the reported presence of terrorists in the Jhallar Fort's general area, the Pakistani newspaper reported. (ANI)

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New Delhi [India], March 31 (ANI): Alex Ellis, the British High Commissioner to India on Wednesday indicated that talks between UK Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar may include the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

"I don't want to comment on specific issues regarding Ukraine. What I would say is that the principles of UN Charter are important to us all. That is exactly what our Foreign Secretary will be talking with Jaishankar on March 31," Ellis told ANI.

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He made these remarks during Queen Elizabeth II's birthday party at British High Commission in Delhi.

"But there are many other aspects as well - the climate change challenge, the long-term challenge of trade, of health. So, we will have to look at all of these challenges together. But together UK and India are quite a might force," said the British High Commissioner to India.

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He said Truss is visiting India to have "deep talks" with Jaishankar.

"Our PMs (UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi) have signed a new, much deeper partnership, a strategic partnership. We want to work together to develop that, including in defence and security. That's why our Foreign Secy is coming here to have deep talks with Jaishankar," he said.

Ellis said that there is much "more we can do to develop our defence and security links to deal with many issues. The issue around sovereignty, of international law, of territorial integrity - the common issues for us all to deal with."

At the Queen's Birthday Party at the British High Commission, Ellis spoke in Hindi and said, "...Last year was very difficult due to COVID. Nowadays it is difficult in Ukraine due to Russia..."

Moreover, Amitabh Kant, CEO of Niti Ayog at Queen Elizabeth II's birthday party said that, "We've had long, historic relations with Britain but we've very vibrant relations in world of trade, investment, climate change, sustainability and many areas of growth and partnership."

"We have a very vibrant, dynamic and very energetic relationship that is going to grow and expand in the years to come even further," he added.

Truss will pay an official visit to India on March 31 to hold talks with Jaishankar on regional and global issues of mutual interest.

She would also participate in the inaugural edition of the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum, a track 1.5 Dialogue between the two countries hosted by the Indian Council of World Affairs and Policy Exchange, UK. (ANI)

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Washington [US], March 31 (ANI): United States officials on Wednesday (local time) joined Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) for a Senior Officials' Meeting to discuss their shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Daniel J. Kritenbrink, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs and Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs joined the Quad Senior Officials' Meeting.

Also Read | Ukraine Considered Use of Biological Weapons Against Russia and Donbass: Major General Igor Konashenkov.

"Today, @USAsiaPacific Assistant Secretary Kritenbrink and @State_SCA Assistant Secretary Lu joined their Quad Senior Official counterparts from Australia, India, Japan to discuss our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific," US Department of State tweeted," US Department of State tweeted.

The Quad, formally known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, comprises the U.S., India and Australia. The four nations share values such as freedom, democracy and the rule of law.

Also Read | Russia-Ukraine War: Peace Talks Did Not Offer Any Breakthrough, Says Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

This senior officials' meeting comes after reports of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida approached U.S. President Joe Biden about visiting Japan for a Quad summit.

Earlier this month, Quad Senior Cyber Group met in Sydney and decided to engage on cyber security challenges. Australia, India, Japan, and the United States all recognize the importance of cybersecurity in an increasingly digital world plagued by sophisticated cyber threats, according to Emily Horne, the US National Security Council's spokesperson.

All four Quad leaders Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Joe Biden took part in a virtual meeting earlier, the first since the leaders of the four Quad countries held a summit in September last year in Washington. The leaders discussed the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.

Prime Minister Modi underlined that the Quad must remain focused on its core objective of promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

India has taken a cautious position about fully condemning Russia, with which it has close historic military ties.

Australia said it understands New Delhi's position on the ongoing Ukraine crisis, a comment from Harsh Vardhan Shringla that came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart, Scott Morrison, concluded a virtual summit.

Meanwhile, the US termed India as an essential partner for its shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific and highlighted that regardless of India-Russia historical ties, the US is a "partner of choice for India now." (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Rome [Italy], March 31 (ANI/Sputnik): The World Food Programme (WFP) said on Wednesday that it has delivered food aid to 1 million people in Ukraine and requested an additional USD 590 million in funding to expand the assistance.

"JUST IN: @WFP has reached 1 million people in #Ukraine w/ emergency food assistance including humanitarian convoys into Sumy & Kharkiv, two hard-to-reach cities. Within a few months, we'll be working hard to scale up to 6 million people. But we urgently need funds to do it," WFP Executive Director David Beasley said on Twitter.

Also Read | Ukraine Considered Use of Biological Weapons Against Russia and Donbass: Major General Igor Konashenkov.

The WFP said it managed to build a network of urgent assistance tools in Ukraine within just one month. Food is now being delivered to such conflict zones as Sumy and Kharkiv by two convoys of humanitarian vehicles, while displaced Ukrainians in the western city of Lviv are receiving cash assistance.

"Now that the structures are in place, we need the funding to keep delivering assistance, and to help 3 million people in need," the agency said, adding that "WFP requires $590 million to assist 3.1 million crisis-affected people and IDPs on the move inside Ukraine with in-kind and cash distributions, as well as refugees and asylum seekers from Ukraine in neighbouring countries for the next three months."

Also Read | Russia-Ukraine War: Peace Talks Did Not Offer Any Breakthrough, Says Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after declaring the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk as independent republics. The Russian Ministry of Defense said the operation is targeting Ukrainian military infrastructure only and the civilian population is not in danger. (ANI/Sputnik)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Chennai, March 31: Three Indian fishermen, hailing from Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu, were arrested by Sri Lankan navy for crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and fishing in Sri Lankan waters, an official statement said here on Thursday.

Apart from arresting the fishermen late on Wednesday night, the Sri Lankans also impounded a mechanised fishing boat, the statement issued by Tamil Nadu fisheries department said.

Fishermen associations have expressed anguish and ire at the incident. A leader of the Fishermen association in Ramanathapuram J. Jesudas told IANS: "This is indeed highly objectionable. Our government is supporting the Sri Lankans during crisis and they are not reciprocating the good will. They are arresting our fishermen and seizing our costly boats. This is not acceptable and the Tamil Nadu government must take this up very seriously with the Centre on priority. People are now scared to go to the sea and several fishing hamlets are in abject poverty." US Navys Osprey Aircraft Crashes Near Virginia; 2 Rescued, 1 Missing.

Notably, the Sri Lankan navy had arrested four Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu this week itself and captured their boats also. Since January 2022, 87 Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu were arrested and around 42 were released. This means that around 45 Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu are under the custody of Sri Lankan authorities. Sri Lankan Navy Arrests 16 Indian Fishermen From Tamil Nadu, Seizes 2 Fishing Boats for Violating IMBL.

On Wednesday, the Indian Coast Guard took a Sri Lankan fisherman into custody after he had crossed deep into the Indian marine waters at Nagapattinam.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 31, 2022 01:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Delhi, March 31: The Tribunal under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in its order confirmed the notification dated November 15, 2021, issued by the government declaring Zakir Naik's Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) as an unlawful association.

The Tribunal in its order said there have been enough reasons for declaring the IRF as an unlawful association and consequently, this Tribunal confirms the notification dated November 15, 2021, issued by the Government of India for the imposition of ban on IRF for a period of five years with effect from the date of the earlier mentioned notification. Islamic Preacher Zakir Naik Follower Arrested from Mumbai on Rape Charges.

The Ministry of Home Affairs notification on March 30, 2022, said the Tribunal in the exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (3) of section 4 of the said Act, passed an order on March 9, 2022, confirming the declaration made in the said notification.

The Tribunal added that after going through the evidence that there were sufficient causes for imposing the ban on IRF as its unlawful activities through various mediums, are detrimental to the sovereignty, unity, integrity, security of India and causes disaffection against India.

The Tribunal order stated: This Tribunal confirms the Notification dated 15 November 2021, issued by the Government of India for the imposition of ban on IRF for a period of five years with effect from the date of the aforesaid Notification.

Earlier, the IRF, contesting the Centre's decision to declare the Foundation as unlawful association under section 3 of the said Act was unwarranted and unjustified, also amounts to gross abuse of the UAPA Act.

AIRF founder Zakir Naik fled from the country in 2016 and wanted by the Indian probe agencies on the charges of terror financing, hate speeches, money laundering and inciting communal disharmony.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 31, 2022 02:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
MOSCOW -- Ukraines interim government on Tuesday made good on threats to move against pro-Russia separatists occupying eastern cities, prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to demand U.N. condemnation of the use of force in the neighboring country.

In a call to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Putin emphasized that the Russian side expects the United Nations and the international community to clearly condemn the Kiev authorities anti-constitutional military operation in Ukraines southeast, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

Russia-backed militants who have seized government and security facilities in at least 10 towns and cities in eastern Ukraine were under fire in the city of Slavyansk, Russian news media reported, casting the operation to recover Ukrainian government control as a violent strike against civilians.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that the Kremlin might boycott a diplomatic gathering in Geneva on Thursday that is intended to work toward a negotiated solution to the Ukraine crisis.

You cant send in tanks and at the same time hold talks, Lavrov told journalists in Beijing after meeting his Chinese counterpart. The use of force would sabotage the opportunity offered by the four-party negotiations in Geneva.

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The Geneva meeting would be the first to include Ukraines acting foreign minister, Andriy Deshchytsia, in the quest for resolution of the Russia-Ukraine conflict ignited by the Feb. 21 ouster of Kremlin-allied Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich. Moscow argues that opposition leaders who took power after Yanukovich fled to Russia are unelected and illegitimate and therefore unable to make commitments in the name of the Ukrainian people.

The United States and the European Union, the other two political forces involved in the Geneva meeting, have accused Putin of provoking armed confrontations in eastern Ukraine to destabilize the country and gain influence over areas with a significant Russian minority.

President Obama told Putin in a Monday night phone call that he was gravely concerned about Russian government support for the actions of armed, pro-Russian separatists. Putin, while not overtly denying it, said the accusations that the Kremlin was directing the unrest were speculations based on inaccurate information.

Putin called on Obama to use his influence with the Ukrainian government to dissuade it from moving aggressively against the separatists occupying government facilities in the east. Ukraines eastern and southern areas are home to a large ethnic Russian minority. Many Ukrainians in the area speak Russian as their first language and depend for their living on factories and mines that produce goods for export to Russia.

Ukraines move to end the armed occupations was described by acting President Oleksandr Turchynov as an operation that would be carried out step by step, responsibly, cautiously to prevent injury to civilians he said had been subjected to propaganda telling them they were being rescued by the armed groups.

The aim of these actions is to protect the citizens of Ukraine, to stop terror, to stop criminality, to stop attempts to tear Ukraine to pieces, Turchynov told a parliamentary session in Kiev.

The anti-terrorist operation recaptured a military airport between two of the cities where Russian forces have barricaded themselves in key government buildings. The airport that Turchynov told parliament had been liberated Tuesday lies between Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, both seized last week by gunmen.

This is a very dangerous situation. We believe Russia is absolutely complicit, British Foreign Secretary William Hague told the BBC on Tuesday.

As evidence of Russias hand in the eastern Ukraine unrest, Hague described the weekend invasion and seizure of Ukrainian seats of power in the east as a very well-coordinated operation  people with identical arms, who are well-trained, well-equipped, proceeding in exactly the same way they did in Crimea.

To deny that the instigators of the confrontations arent acting on behalf of Moscow defies all common sense, Hague said.

The first day of military operations to oust the gunmen appeared to make limited progress, with recovery of the airport and a standoff in Slavyansk between an armored column of Ukrainian troops and the battened-down Russians inside government buildings surrounded by barbed wire and stacks of tires.

A Ukrainian SU-24 jet flew over the airport firing at separatist positions, and troops using armored vehicles followed with a ground assault, the UNIAN news agency reported.

Earlier Tuesday, the Ukraine Security Service identified the leader of the armed group holding a police station and administrative building in Slavyansk as Igor Strelkov, a Russian military intelligence officer. The security service said Strelkov had attempted to recruit fighters for the operation that seized the administrative building in Kharkiv and had been involved in coordinating the Russian takeover of Crimea in late February.

Dmitry Tymchuk, who heads the Kiev-based Center for Military and Political Research, deemed the Ukrainian governments initial push against the Russian militants a success.

We pushed the enemy away from the military airport near Kramatorsk, making way for the next move on Slavyansk, one of the most important strongholds of the terrorists coordinated by Russian agents, Tymchuk told The Times.

He said that although the results were modest, there were no casualties on either side reported by the Ukrainian military.

Some Russian news media reported as many as 11 dead in the operation but provided no source for the information.

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sergei.loiko@latimes.com

carol.williams@latimes.com

Twitter: @cjwilliamslat

Loiko reported from Moscow and Williams from Los Angeles.
A Korean American authors reverie on the victims of World War II sexual enslavement has landed in e-book form in the midst of fresh controversy provoked by a Japanese politicians defense of comfort women as necessary for wartime discipline and morale.

Kalliope Lees Sunday Girl is set in Seoul in 1991, decades after the wars end. It tells the story of two young women who have returned to their birthplace after growing up in the American heartland.

Sibyl, whose Korean mother and GI father have imparted a sanitized version of their postwar meeting during his service at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, is in search of the secrets of her heritage, which were lost with her mothers early death from cancer. Jang-Mee, adopted from a rural orphanage at age 4 and brought up in small-town Minnesota, has come to look for her birth mother, whom she recalls through fragmented memories she has meticulously nurtured.

Their stories veer through a South Korean capital freshly invigorated by an economic boom and successful hosting of the 1988 Summer Olympics. But their physical and psychological journeys take them to darker times in their homeland, confronting them with memories of wartime rape and mutilation they come to believe they carry in their blood. Like the curve of an eyebrow or the shape of a chin, the trauma of sexual enslavement endured by as many as 200,000 Asian women during the war is related to the reader as an experience replicated in subsequent generations. The past haunts women spared the firsthand suffering by what Lee calls a mere quirk of time.

Her novel is a work of fiction, but the channeling of the comfort womens abuse is so intimate and graphic as to seem at times like narrative history. It captures the essence of women caught between two cultural identities and traveling into the realm of the surreal.

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I can feel in my heart their suffering, the rage of those who died in the ordeal, silenced by shame, Sibyl conveys upon learning of the comfort womens ordeal in the novel. The shame finds its way, slips through the pores of the living, surviving as a quiet virus in the blood, silently passed on, stealing bodies and voices, ruining lives as theirs have been ruined, until the apocalypse is complete.

A Generation X scholar of Greek tragedy, like narrator Sibyl, Lee spoke with The Times about Sunday Girl and the legacies of Korean and American culture that led her to write it.

Question: What was your inspiration for writing the book? Did you hear stories growing up about the sexual enslavement of Korean women before and during World War II?

Lee: No stories were passed down to me. I was brought up in near silence, as far as my parents past and the war were concerned. I think there was a lot of trauma they went through, that they chose not to remember. And I didnt ask. There seemed to be this kind of invisible fence I couldnt cross. Then when I heard about the comfort women, in the 1990s, my reaction was so visceral, it was almost seismic. I felt the tragedy immediately in my body. I had always wanted to be a writer and I felt like I needed to lend my voice to their stories. After the brutal trauma they experienced, the second trauma was their silence, due to the shame. It prevented any kind of healing.

Q: Are any of the stories or resources referred to in the book historical accounts or are they all purely fictional? The diary of Dr. Noh Young-Soo has such an authentic ring to it.

Lee: It is purely fictional. One of my writing professors was E.L. Doctorow. The best advice he gave me was not to do my research beforehand, that it would weigh me down. But I did read a lot of war narratives and assimilated it all.

Q: The book is threaded with mystical elements, the notion that blood can carry memory and pass it down through the generations like physical traits. Do you feel experiences of women in previous generations?

Lee: Mysticism is something Ive been quite skeptical about, as is Sibyl. But I have to say that the active creation and writing led me to believe otherwise, that I have this soul that has experienced many things that I have not. Thats why I can write about it with such knowledge. I felt like there were these unremembered dead within me. The ones that died tragically, penniless. They were people who suffered tremendously and were not able to talk about it. I intuited, though I had no personal experience, that they were my ancestors. When I first heard about the comfort women, something within me was speaking, asking me to write about it.

Q: There are scenes of sadomasochism as well as sexual violence involving Sibyl. Is she trying to channel the blood memories of the abuses suffered by the comfort women?

Lee: This was very difficult for me, almost a sacrifice. But I think that divulging some of these topics, which are quite taboo, is very healing. Shame is at the threshold of taboo. Sibyl is able to break through it by enacting the most shameful experiences she can think of.

Q: There is a parallel story in the book about adoption of Korean children by Americans and the influence that has had on the grown childrens identity. Do you see the stories of sexual enslavement and the proliferation of adoptions as connected?

Lee: They share the element of shame, of sex before marriage, and when a child came, there was a need to hide that evidence of shame. Most of the children given up for adoption came from unmarried women. If you were a Korean woman, your future was entirely dependent on finding a man who would help you survive. If you had sexual relations  God forbid you got pregnant  no man was going to look at you. You were used goods. Christmas cake, as the Japanese say: something no one wants after the holiday.

Q: Why is the story of the two young Korean American women set in 1991?

Lee: That was the year when Kim Hak-soon came forward, the first comfort woman to tell her story. I wanted there to be a revelation at the end of the book. There was so much going on in 1991  the first Gulf War, with a lot of American soldiers still in Korea talking about the possibility of getting shipped off to the [Persian] Gulf. My novel is very much in that zeitgeist, the main motif not being just about comfort women but about how wounds that are not dressed and healed will recur and get passed down.

Q: The mayor of Osaka, Toru Hashimoto, has revived the controversy over Japans treatment of the comfort women with his recent remarks in defense of the provision of sex slaves to soldiers during World War II. Does this scandal recur all these years later because there hasnt been full apology and restitution for Japans wartime actions?

Lee: Hashimoto is a bit hotheaded, quite extreme. But Japan has really sidestepped legal responsibility throughout various prime ministers terms. They have paid lip service and expressed regret over what happened and set up some kind of compensation fund. But they have not admitted in categorical terms that what occurred was an atrocity. Thats why many of the surviving comfort women wont take the money.

Right-wing militarism seems to be growing in Japan. Hashimotos comments made me reflect on the disparate ways that postwar Germany and postwar Japan have dealt with their criminal pasts. In Germany, genocide denial is a crime. Germany has educated its children that the Holocaust happened and that it was an atrocity. I have German friends who still feel tremendous shame about what happened. The difference with Japan is that shame and honor are inculcated in Japanese culture. The antidote to shame is ritual suicide, an act of honor. Some of the right-wing politicians in Japan believe that if they admit their country committed atrocities during the war that that would dishonor their ancestors.

Japan and Korea have such a difficult, dark past. Korea feels raped by Japan. The comfort women issue is so provocative and incendiary because they are the living symbols of Japanese colonialism. If you think of territory, of a country, women are a resource of that country. They are the ones who give birth to its citizens. Ive always seen this corollary between colonialism  the usurpation of territory  and the rape of women. I dont think Korea will ever be able to forgive Japan until Japanese leaders show honest contrition.
Chris Rock has cracked off a joke backstage at the Oscars 2022 after Will Smith slapped him for making fun of the actor's wife, Jada Pinkett Smith.

It can be recalled that Rock was hit by Smith when the comedian joked about Jada's shaved head. Jada is known to reveal in 2018 that she has alopecia.

According to an Oscars 2022 insider from Vanity Fair, Chris Rock tried to downplay the situation following his drama with the "Aladdin" star, per NME.

The source noted that Rock returned backstage with a red cheek and that he made a joke about Will's other Oscar-nominated roles.

"One witness said he remarked loudly, 'That's the only time you get hit by Muhammad Ali and it doesn't leave a scratch,'" the source underscored.

READ NEXT: Is Will Smith's Oscars 2022 Best Actor Award Going to Be Taken Back? It's Possible

Chris Rock Will Not Sue Will Smith Over Oscars 2022 Drama

Following the slapping incident, Chris Rock is reportedly not thinking of suing Will Smith.

Rock's friend, who was not identified, confirmed the news to Page Six, saying that the comedian is focused on his tour.

The Los Angeles Police Department reportedly approached Rock after the incident. However, the comedian declines to press charges against the actor, TV Insider said, citing Deadline.

Rock has still six months to press charges should he change his mind. According to reports, a simple assault in California is categorized as a misdemeanor with a potential sentence of up to six months jail time and fines of up to $100,000.

However, Rock is not a fan of legal proceedings, according to Page Six.

In a Netflix comedy special, Rock shared his experience in divorcing his ex-wife, Malaak Campton, in 2016, saying that he had to pay for a lawyer, comparing it to hiring a hitman to kill him.

He also called the process humiliating.

Will Smith Apologizes For Slapping Chris Rock Over Jada Pinkett Smith Joke

Will Smith took to Instagram on Monday to express his apology to Chris Rock after he slapped him on the stage at Oscars 2022.

The actor began his apology by saying that violence in all forms is not acceptable. Smith also noted that his behavior at the 94h Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable.

Smith also underscored that jokes about his wife's medical condition were too much for him, prompting him to act emotionally. The actor then said sorry to Chris Rock.

"I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line, and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be," Smith said.

The actor then apologized to the Academy and producers of the show, and all those who have witnessed how he handled the situation.

"I deeply regret that my behavior has stained what has been an otherwise gorgeous journey for all of us," Smith added. However, the comedian's brother, Tony Rock, did not accept Smith's apology.

A Twitter user with the handle @PullYourCard asked Chris Rock's family if he approves of Wil Smith's apology.

Tony Rock then quoted the tweet saying: "No."

READ NEXT: How Will Smith's Ex-Wife Sheree Zampino, Other Celebrities Reacted to 'Oscars Slap'

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Snoop Dogg REACTS to Will Smith and Chris Rock Oscars Slap - From extratv
Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger's murder conviction and a 10-year prison sentence were upheld by Texas' highest criminal court on Wednesday.

Guyger was a former member of Dallas police force. She fatally shot Botham Jean in his apartment in 2018, according to a WFAA News report.

The Court of Criminal Appeals refused to hear Guyger's petition. She was calling to have a review of the lower court's decision.

Judges Kevin Yeary and Michelle Slaughter wrote dissenting opinions. However, the rest of the court turned down her appeal in a vote.

The decision likely means that Guyger has exhausted all avenues to appeal her conviction and sentence, with the nine-member court being the final appellate jurisdiction in criminal cases.

Guyger will be continuing to serve her 10-year sentence at a prison in Gatesville, Texas, and up for parole in 2024.

Guyger argued during her appeal that her mistaken belief that she was in her own apartment caused her culpability for murder.

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Amber Guyger's Case

On Sept. 6, 2018, Jean was sitting at home and eating ice cream in his Lamar Street apartment when the police officer walked into his apartment, thinking it was her own.

Guyger lived on the floor above him, according to a Dallas News report.

She was off duty at the time but was in uniform. The former police officer said she believed Jean was an intruder and shot him.

A few weeks after the killing, Guyger was fired from the Dallas Police Department. She was initially arrested on a manslaughter charge. However, a grand jury later indicted her on a murder charge.

Guyger's appellate lawyer, Michael Mowla, has yet to comment on the matter. Meanwhile, Toby Shook, the lawyer representing Guyger during her murder trial, has declined to comment.

Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot has yet to comment on the matter.

Creuzot's office released a statement in response to the original appeal, saying that what Guyger did was murder regardless of where you think you are when you did it.

Botham Jean Murder

Guyger is White while Jean is a native of the island nation of St. Lucia. Jean moved to Dallas for a job with PricewaterhouseCoopers and was Black, according to an NBC News report.

Jean's death triggered protests, leading to Guyger's removal from the force, and renewed discussions about police use of force and racial bias.

Guyger's mother, Karen Guyger, 66, testified during the sentencing hearing. She noted that her then-boyfriend had molested Amber when she was six years old.

Karen said that her daughter was distraught after killing Jean, saying that Amber "feels very sorry about it."

Jean's mother, Allison Jean, had also testified at the time, saying that she cannot sleep nor eat.

Allison said that it was "the most terrible time for me."

Amber Guyger did not testify during her sentencing. However, she has the opportunity to appeal the conviction.

The jury at the time was allowed to consider whether Jean's death was the result of "sudden passion," which meant that Amber Guyger acted in the heat of the moment.

Amber Guyger was a five-year police veteran.

READ MORE: Disturbing TikTok Challenge 'Slap a Teacher' Prompts Warning From California Teachers Association

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Written by: Mary Webber

WATCH: Ex-Dallas Cop Amber Guyger Found Guilty Of Murdering Her Neighbor - from TODAY






President Joe Biden's administration is reportedly weighing to end the Title 42 expulsion along the U.S.-Mexico borders by May.

Sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Associated Press on Wednesday that the Trump-era policy may be absolved by May 23, but the decision of Biden's administration is not yet final.

The sources also shared that ending the policy by May will give ample time to prepare for the border.

However, President Joe Biden did not blatantly confirm the date when Title 42 expulsion would end. According to AP, the president told reporters on Wednesday that they will have a decision on the matter soon.

Meanwhile, White House Director of Communications Kate Bedingfield directed the confirmation of Title 42's ending to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), according to New York Post.

"We have every expectation that when the CDC ultimately decides it's appropriate to lift Title 42, there will be an influx of people to the border," Bedingfield noted.

The White House director of communication then mentioned that the Biden administration is doing a lot of work to plan for contingency.

READ NEXT: Border Patrol Chief Claims U.S. Will Encounter 1M Migrants in F.Y. 2022; Groups Say More Immigrants to Come If Title 42 Expulsion Ends

Republicans Urge Pres. Joe Biden's Administration to Extend Title 42

Republicans have expressed their opposition in the ending of title 42, by writing a letter to the Biden administration and expressing their plea to extend the said policy.

In a press conference on Wednesday, U.S. Republican Senator John Cornyn said that the Border Patrol told him that if Title 42 expires without a plan on how to handle the volume of migrants, they will lose control of the border, per Texas Tribune.

On Tuesday, Cornyn and other Republicans in Texas sent a letter addressed to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

In the letter, the lawmakers asked them to extend Title 42, contending that the policy prevents Texas cities from becoming more overwhelmed by migrants.

They also cited the state of the DHS when it comes to responding to the influx of migrants.

"DHS appears unprepared to handle a likely unprecedented increase in apprehensions along the southwest border," the letter sent by the Republican reads.

Other Democrats have also been vocal about the possible effects of Title 42's suspension.

Arizona Democrats - Senators Kirsten Sinema and Mark Kelly - also made the same plea to the administration.

"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 implement and coordinate a comprehensive plan that ensures a secure, orderly, and humane process at the border," the Democrats noted.

Biden Admin on the Influx of Migrants

According to The Daily Mail, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were warned to prepare for illegal border crossings.

The outlet noted that an ICE officer told Washington Post that agency employees handling the enforcement within the country could be deployed to the southern border to give aid to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

DHS confirmed on Tuesday that they are prepared for migrant flows to reach a "very high" contingency of around 18,000 people per day.

Meanwhile, there were reportedly 170,000 migrants waiting at the Mexico side of the border who will travel back to the United States and seek asylum, once the Title 42 expulsion was rescinded by Pres. Joe Biden's administration.

READ NEXT: 20 Mexican Drug Cartel Hitmen Storm Police Station in Mexico to Free Men of Los Zetas Boss 'Chuy 7'

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written By: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Biden Administration To Lift Title 42 In May - From MSNBC
Brian Laundrie's parents on Wednesday filed a motion to dismiss the civil lawsuit brought by Gabby Petito's parents earlier this month.

In the civil lawsuit against Laundrie's parents filed on March 10, Petito's father, Joseph Petito, and mother, Nichole Schmidt, accused Chris and Roberta Laundrie of knowing their son murdered Petito.

Petito's parents believed that their daughter died on August 27 at the hands of Laundrie, who allegedly told his parents about what happened "on or about" August 28.

The lawsuit noted that Christ and Roberta knew of the mental suffering and anguish that the Petito family was experiencing but still refused to respond to Petito's family and law enforcement questions.

Petito's parents also alleged that the elder Laundries tried to help their son leave the country. They added that the couple also refused to disclose their son's whereabouts. The lawsuit continued to say that Chris and Roberta acted with "malice or great indifference" to the rights of Petito's parents.

The lawsuit noted that Laundrie's parents exhibited "extreme and outrageous conduct," which goes "beyond all possible bounds of decency and is regarded as shocking, atrocious, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community."

Court records showed that the Petito family is seeking damages of at least $100,000 for the "pain and mental anguish" they experienced as a result of the "willfulness and maliciousness" of Laundrie's parents.

The case is reportedly set for a preliminary hearing on June 30 in Sarasota County, Florida, where the lawsuit was filed.

In the motion obtained by the New York Post, the Laundries' camp slammed the arguments in the lawsuit filed by Petito's parents.

The attorneys for the Laundries said they had fundamental constitutional rights to silence. They added that while Petito's death is "unfortunate," they had a "general constitutional right" not to speak on any topic and a "more specific constitutional right not to speak" in the face of a criminal investigation.

"Compelling individuals to respond to inquiries by private citizens or law enforcement through a civil action like this would turn our entire constitutional system and the freedom afforded individuals in this country on its head," the motion read.

The lawyers for the Laundries further noted that the arguments cited by the Petitos' camp were "fatally flawed." Thus, they wanted the case thrown out with prejudice to prevent them from re-filing the claim.

READ NEXT: Gabby Petito Killing Sparks Move to Change Yellowstone's Zone of Death: Full Details

Brian Laundrie's Family Attorney Argues Parents Exercised Their Rights

In a statement released on Wednesday, Brian Laundrie's family attorney, Steven Bertolino, slammed the lawsuit filed by Gabby Petito's parents, saying it was baseless and frivolous.

Bertolino argued that the elder Laundries only exercised their "constitutional right to refrain from speaking and have relied on counsel to speak for them," WFLA reported.

"This is not only common practice in our civilized society, but it embodies the exercise of fundamental rights under the United States and Florida Constitutions," Bertolino noted.

The lawyer also pointed out that Chris and Roberta cannot be held liable for exercising their legal rights.

Bertolino then noted that he and his colleagues from Trombley & Hanes, who represents Brian Laundrie's parents, are confident that "the constitutional rights of all citizens of this country will be protected by the dismissal of this lawsuit."

Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie's Death

Last January, the FBI revealed that Brian Laundrie confessed to killing Gabby Petito in a message left in his notebook.

In its final report on the case, the FBI said a review of the notebook revealed written statements by Laundrie claiming responsibility for Petito's death.

The FBI noted that its investigation has concluded that Laundrie was the only person responsible for Petito's "tragic death."

Apart from the notebook, the FBI confirmed that they also found a "backpack" and a "revolver" upon further search of the area where Laundrie's remains were found.

Gabby Petito's body was found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Campground near Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming on September 19. A Teton County, Wyoming coroner said she was strangled to death by a "human being," and the manner of death was homicide.

On the other hand, Brian Laundrie's skeletal remains were discovered at the Myakkahatchee Creek Environmental Park in Florida on October 20. His autopsy report showed that he died of a gunshot wound to the head, and the manner of death was suicide.

READ MORE: Brian Laundrie Protests Prompt Florida to Advance Bill That Would Make Demonstrations Outside Homes Illegal

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Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Brian Laundrie' Grieving' Before Gabby Petito's Body was Even Found - From CNBC Television
Brazil police probing into whether Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro interfered in police work has cleared him of committing any crime.

The federal police document sent to the country's Supreme Court on Wednesday also exempted former Justice Minister Sergio Moro from criminal liability, Reuters reported.

Moro accused Bolsonaro of meddling in the federal police by replacing its director-general in April 2020 to protect his sons from investigations. However, the document noted that it was the president's prerogative to appoint or dismiss the federal police head.

At the time, Flavio Bolsonaro, one of Bolsonaro's sons, was facing a probe in Rio de Janeiro by state prosecutors for suspicious financial transactions or running a kickback scheme. Flavio has denied any wrongdoing, but he has yet to be cleared of the charges.

At the request of Brazil's top public prosecutor Augusto Aras, the probe on Bolsonaro and Moro was opened by the Supreme Court two years ago. Aras wanted to determine if Bolsonaro - by trying to influence the police work - and Moro - by making the accusation - had committed any crime.

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Case of Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro's Son

According to The New York Times, Flavio Bolsonaro has been charged with graft and money laundering as part of an investigation into the theft of public funds in 2020.

Rio de Janeiro state prosecutors announced the charges in a brief statement. However, they did not release a charging document or provide a details summary of the case.

The charges against the Brazilian president's eldest son were rooted in a series of suspicious financial transactions, which involved staff members at Flavio's former legislative office in the Rio de Janeiro State Assembly.

Flavio was elected to the senate in 2018, the same year Bolsonaro won the presidency. Investigators familiar with the matter said the president's son was operating a scheme known as "rachadinha," wherein elected officials pocket part of the salary of legislative aides who accept employment on the condition of slashing part of their pay.

It was a common practice in the lower layers of politics in Brazil. But Flavio maintained that he has "done nothing illegal." He then accused the prosecutors of a series of procedural missteps and said the charges came from a "fishing expedition into financial records."

Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro Replacing Heads of Federal Police

In April 2021, Brazil's new justice minister had replaced the heads of the federal police and federal highway police with candidates backed by Jair Bolsonaro.

It was done amid concerns that the right-wing leader was seeking more direct control over law enforcement in Brazil, Reuters reported.

Justice Minister Anderson Torres announced on Twitter at the time that Paulo Maiurino would replace federal police chief Rolando de Souza.

In addition, Torres had named Silvinei Vasques to replace the head of Brazil's federal highway police, Eduardo Aggio. Torres is known to be close to the Bolsonaro family. Critics expressed concern that his appointment at the time would allow Bolsonaro to have control over federal police probes into his family and supporters.

Critics noted that Torres could help the Brazilian president increase his support among state police forces. Some view it as an unpredictable element in the next presidential vote.

A government official familiar with the matter said Bolsonaro gave Torres the will to name people for the position, but the president would review and approve his choices.

The right-wing president has been accused of trying to meddle in the independence of federal police, with Moro saying Bolsonaro has been attempting to change the federal police chief since 2019 for personal and political reasons.

READ MORE: Brazil: Mining Firms Eyeing to Expand to Protected Indigenous Lands in Amazon Rainforest

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Written by Mary Webber

WATCH: Brazil Supreme Court Blocks Bolsonaro's Federal Police Chief Pick - From Al Jazeera English






Authorities in Mexico scored a big victory on Wednesday when they arrested one of the founders of the Independent Cartel of Acapulco, known as "El Traumado."

Infobae reported that Abdner Noe "N," alias "El Traumado ," was arrested in the city of Tonala in Jalisco state.

"The Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC), in coordination with authorities from Jalisco and Guerrero, completed an arrest warrant against an alleged murderer and generator of violence," the Ministry of Public Security noted in a statement.

According to Borderland Beat, El Traumado was accused of being an alleged murderer and generator of violence in Mexico's southern state of Guerrero.

"The Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) in coordination with authorities from Jalisco and Guerrero, completed an arrest warrant against an alleged murderer and generator of violence, who used social networks as part of his modus operandi," the agency said in a statement.

The SSPC noted that El Traumado was linked to homicides and extortions against merchants and owners in public markets in Acapulco and the suburban area.

Apart from being one of the founders of the Independent Cartel of Acapulco, El Traumado was also considered the leader of the criminal group Los Magnos Acevedo.

One of the most recent crimes in which the Independent Cartel of Acapulco has been linked was the burning of the iconic Acapulco nightclub, Baby'O.

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Mexican Drug Cartels in Mexico's State of Guerrero

Mexico's Guerrero state is plagued by Mexican drug cartels dedicated to drug trafficking and extortion. The Independent Cartel of Acapulco is one of the drug cartels operating in the Mexican city of Acapulco in Guerrero.

The said cartel is reportedly fighting the Jalisco Cartel for control of the Port of Acapulco and other points in the state. Acapulco is known as a key entryway for South American cocaine, making the city an attractive piece of real estate for drug cartels.

According to Borderland Beat, Guerrero has been hit by organized crime groups in recent years, and in 2021, the state experienced a strong wave of violence.

The Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System (SESNSP) reported that Guerrero recorded 201 intentional homicides, of which 64 were registered in Acapulco during the first two months of 2022.

The Independent Cartel of Acapulco in Mexico

According to Insight Crime, the Independent Cartel of Acapulco or Cartel Independiente de Acapulco (CIDA) is part of a wave of smaller local gangs in Acapulco that have emerged after officials dismantled larger criminal groups.

The Independent Cartel of Acapulco, founded in 2010, was formed as a result of Mexico's war on the Beltran Leyva cartel, which controlled the city. At the time, many of the cartel's top leaders were arrested and killed, and its drug shipments were interrupted, paving the way for the smaller and more agile Acapulco cartel to be formed.

The CIDA is comprised mostly of former members of the drug trafficking group run by Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "La Barbie," who had long been the right hand of Arturo Beltran Leyva, the leader of the Beltran Leyva cartel.

When Arturo was gunned down in December 2009, his brother Hector Beltran Leyva took control of one of the factions of the cartel and declared war on Valdez Villarreal.

Amidst the violence, Valdez Villarreal tried to appoint a successor. However, those in Acapulco broke off and formed their own criminal gang - the Independent Cartel of Acapulco. After several weeks, the CIDA reportedly broke up too, and a new and rival group known as La Barredora was formed.

In August 2010, Villarreal Valdez was arrested by federal police in Mexico, but the violence between the groups for the control of Acapulco continued.

READ MORE: El Chapo Trial: Sinaloa Cartel Boss to Ask Supreme Court to Review His Case to Overturn Drug Trafficking Conviction

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Written by: Joshua Summers

WATCH: Acapulco - From Hollywood's Playground to Murderous City - From CGTN America
Excellence in talent development at the Midlands Park Hotel in Portlaoise has been recognised at the Irish Hotels Federations national Quality Employers Awards 2022.

Awards were made in three categories, according to the size of the property, with hotels from Kilkenny, Laois and Cork taking top honours.

Chairman of the independent judging panel, Dr Donagh Davern of Munster Technological University, paid tribute to the award winners and commended them for their outstanding human resource practices and innovations, which were particularly essential in keeping teams together during the immense difficulty of the last two years.

The judging committee was impressed by each winners dedication to people management and ensuring high quality employment practices are in place. Each winning hotel showcased a true innovative spirit, offering superb employee benefits and career progression opportunities.

Congratulating the winners, Elaina Fitzgerald Kane, outgoing IHF President, who presented the awards, commended the commitment shown by employers to creating and maintaining high levels of employment standards.

Irish Hotels have a well-earned reputation for excellence as employers and are committed to best practice employment standards in looking after their teams. Over 65,000 people are employed in the sector right across the country in a diverse and inclusive range of roles from entry level to highly skilled employment that provides fantastic opportunities for advancement, she said.

Ashford Castle, Mayo, brought home the honour of Distinction in Human Resource Management and development, which was open to hotels that had won category awards in previous years.

The category winners were:

Intermediate The Cork International Hotel

Medium The Midlands Park Hotel

Small Kilkenny Hibernian Hotel
A man who took a cash bag containing 570 from Roll and Bowl in Portlaoise claimed to have found a bag of money on the floor.

Dean Moran 25, 28 Rossan Court, Waterville Road, Blanchardstown, Dublin admitted taking the money from Roll and Bowl on October 17 last year.

Sgt Sean Keane told Portlaoise District Court that the defendant was identified on CCTV as the suspect. Admissions were made during the interview, he said. Sgt Keane said the defendant has no previous convictions.

Solicitor Barry Fitzgerald said his client was a single father with a two year old daughter. He had attended Roll and Bowl with his girlfriend and child. While there, he said, some money was on the floor and some compulsion came over him.

Mr Fitzgerald said his client had brought 590 to court with him as recompense and the incident was completely out of character for him. He said his client was a hardworking man who supports his family in his work in a skip and bin company.

Judge John King asked if he was willing to make a contribution to the court poor box. When the response was yes, he asked, is there a charity that is close to his heart? The Judge said, we will make it Crumlin Childrens Hospital.

Judge King said he would apply the probation act if the defendant donates 300 to the charity. If he fails to make the donation, he will be convicted and fined 200. He approved legal aid and put the case was put back to April 28 to be finalised.
Laois Chamber is inviting Ukrainian refugees in Laois and surrounding counties to visit Laois Jobs Fair in Portlaoise in April.

The event in the Midlands Park Hotel in Portlaoise will be attended by 40 local companies on Tuesday, April 12 from 12 to 8pm.

The jobs fair is sponsored by Laois and Offaly Education and Training Board and Local Enterprise Office Laois and a Ukrainian hub will be located at the Laois Chamber stand.

A Ukrainian translator will be on hand to help anyone who requires assistance in accessing training or employment opportunities.

Laois Chamber President, Alison Brown said: Laois Chamber felt they could offer practical help and support to the Ukrainian refugees who would like to find work during their stay in Ireland.

We want to make the job search journey easier for this group of people who have had such a difficult time over the last few weeks. In a market where there is a shortage of employees available, the prospect of sourcing employment is very high. There will be hundreds of jobs available for skilled and non-skilled workers.

CEO of Laois Chamber, Caroline Hofman said: Our members and the wider business community in Laois have been doing stellar work helping those affected by the war in Ukraine in any way that they can, and over 300 people in Laois have also offered their properties and homes for Ukrainian families who require suitable accommodation.

A number of families have moved from Ukraine to Laois and surrounding counties to seek refuge over the past number of weeks, and we would like to welcome them to Ireland and invite them to the Laois Jobs Fair.

We would also like to thank Laois Partnership for their support and for providing us with a Ukrainian translator on the day.

Laois Chamber are encouraging community groups and local communities to spread the word to Ukrainian families. Visit www.laoisjobsfair.ie to register in advance, or register on the day.
Political relationships between Northern Ireland, the rest of the UK, and Ireland, are not where they should be, the Tanaiste has told a summit in Belfast.

Leo Varadkar added that it was an issue that would need to be taken stock of after the May Stormont elections, as strong working relationships help to drive investment.

Mr Varadkar was speaking at the Retail NI Future High Streets Summit yesterday (Wednesday March 30).

NIO Minister of State Conor Burns, shadow Levelling Up Minister Alex Norris, Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots and Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey also addressed the high street conference.

Addressing the conference virtually after contracting Covid, Mr Varadkar told business leaders that the future of retail is hybrid, with both bricks-and-mortar and online stores crucial in high street regeneration.

He pointed to the pandemic as ushering in a third way of doing business under a new and improved hybrid model.

He added: Politically speaking, relationships within Northern Ireland and north-south, east-west are not where they should be right now.

I think this is something we are going to have to take stock of when the elections in Northern Ireland are over, when the votes are counted and we know what the people are telling us.

No matter what, I am sure that strong working relationships and greater collaboration helps the business community and helps drive both public and private sector investment.

Mr Burns spoke about the UK Governments vision for the high streets of Northern Ireland and how the Levelling Up funding will help the regeneration of the high streets, with 49 million being invested in projects.
The Ukrainian refugee crisis will start to cost Ireland from 2023, the Taoiseach has said.

An estimated 14,611 Ukrainians have arrived in Ireland so far, with 30,000 expected by the end of April.

There have been 22,657 offers of accommodation by the public, and the Irish government is reportedly considering a tented facility at the Defence Forces Gormanston camp.

Micheal Martin said the Irish government does not anticipate having to borrow for it this year, explaining they hope to allocate a significant proportion of a Covid contingency fund to the challenges arising from the Ukrainian refugee crisis.

But into 2023 there will be costs and therefore the budget towards the latter part of the year will have to reflect that, and that does create challenges for us economically and fiscally, and well approach all of this in the context of the forthcoming budget and well work also with our European colleagues in the European Commission in terms of other collective responses we can bring to bear, he said.

But the economic implications of this war are there. They are there to be seen in continuing increases of energy prices, in food security issues, some aspects of agriculture and food are already bearing the brunt of this because of higher input costs, the pig sector in particular.

These were very viable enterprises and now are under pressure and we have responded sectorally to some of these areas and we will continue to do that.

Over the next while, we will be targeting those most in need and those on lower incomes.

Mr Martin said the spending will have to be factored in to next years budget.

He also said he cannot be definitive about the number of refugees who will arrive in Ireland over the coming weeks and months.

Up to 600 Ukrainians are arriving in Ireland every day.

Mr Martin said that the Government will consider modular construction, however it could take a number of months to complete.

The Fianna Fail leader said the Government will have to be innovative in its response to accommodate the large number of fleeing refugees.

He also acknowledged a low uptake in Covid vaccines among people in Eastern European countries.

He said that people arriving from Ukraine are being offered Covid-19 jabs for those who have not yet received one.

We do know that certain Eastern European countries, the take up was low because of historic issues with state and authorities in the past around vaccinations and so on, Mr Martin added.

Statement by Minister Coveney on the expulsion of Russian Embassy officials https://t.co/G4z8fm6uqw pic.twitter.com/pQDF2k0wPo  Irish Foreign Ministry (@dfatirl) March 29, 2022

But we are confident, that with proper targeted approaches, we can increase the level of vaccination.

Mr Martin also said he believes there is strong political agreement within Ireland.

I just came from the Dail and I think that was in evidence across the floor of the House in terms of supporting refugees, he added.

I dont think people need reminded of the horrors of what these people are fleeing and the war is really having a terrible, traumatic impact on people.

This is a war-time situation. Its a war-time response.

Mr Martin also refused to be drawn on why Ireland expelled four senior Russian officials.

The Government said the officials have been asked to leave the country because their activities have not been in accordance with international standards of diplomatic behaviour.

The individuals will be given a number of days before they have to leave the country, Mr Martin said.

Asked why the Government would not disclose the reason behind the concerns about the Russia officials, Mr Martin said: Historically, we are very clear in terms of how we deal with these situations.

We did have a security briefing in relation to these four individuals, but also in relation to a general situation pertaining to activities and so forth.

We dont divulge security information at that kind. One question can lead to another question, and we we take very seriously the presentations Ive received from the Garda Commissioner and Chief of Staff.

Were very clear that the reasons were well founded for doing this under the Vienna Convention, and on the basis that the activities of these individuals was not in accordance with international standards of diplomacy.

I think people can read various things from that. But fundamentally, there was a security premise underlining the decision.
The threat of a direct cyber attack against the Irish state remains low despite the war Ukraine, an Oireachtas committee has heard.

But the committee was told that the type of ransomware attack, carried out by cyber criminals against the HSE last year, continues to be high.

Richard Browne, director of the National Cyber Crime Security Centre, told politicians on Wednesday that while the threat from cyber crime against the state is high, there has been no change to the rate or seriousness of these types of incident since the onset of war.

But he said that his officials believe that danger of what he called a destructive cyber attack conducted directly against the state or state agencies is low.

Mr Browne said: The NCSC assessment is that there is no evident intent by any party to launch attacks against the State.

Similarly, there is no evidence of this type of activity being launched against other EU States either.

However, he said that there is a moderate risk of an attack targeting a European or worldwide service that could have a knock-on impact on Ireland.

In an appearance before the Oireachtas Transport and Communications Committee, the cyber security chief said that the country faces a persistent, active and serious threat of cyber espionage against both public and private entities  but said that such a warning was not influenced by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Watch LIVE as the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications meets for a Discussion on cybersecurity and possible hybrid threats following the Russian invasion of Ukraine with @CyberSaintHQ & @wardsolutions #seeforyourselfhttps://t.co/OM4LMB9ODv https://t.co/HRywCw3cMb  Houses of the Oireachtas  Tithe an Oireachtais (@OireachtasNews) March 30, 2022

However, he warned: This analysis may change, and change quickly.

He said: The NCSC has been operating at a heightened state of preparedness since late last year response to the tensions in Eastern Europe.

We have contingency plans in place, in case of escalation of malicious cyber activity impacting on Irish networks and services.

He also pledged that the staff numbers in the NCSC will rise to 70 by 2024, up from around 30 currently.

Mr Browne said Ukraine had long been a victim of cyber attacks.

He added: It is clear that the Russian State possesses and is willing to use very advanced offensive cyber security capabilities, and sought to deploy at least some of these in the run up to and during its most recent invasion of Ukrainian territory.

The effect so far, he said, has only been minimal.

However, he did not underplay the potential threats arriving from the war.

The world is watching and waiting for any kind of activity to come out of that region.

Is the state ready to deal with a serious cyber security threat? Yes, Mr Browne told TDs and senators.

He urged politicians and the public alike not to see all or any cyber crime as backed by Russia or any other hostile state.

Calling for a balanced perspective, he warned against paranoia.

He said it was vital not to call everything a wolf. Because one day a wolf will come and no-one will believe you.

He also said that the centre will be moving to Nato security spec site next year.

Mr Browne was repeatedly quizzed about the hierarchy and relationship between the National Cyber Crime Security Centre, the Irish police and the Department of Defence.

Committee chair Kieran ODonnell revealed that that An Garda Siochana and the Department of Defence had declined to send representatives to the committee, citing the responsibility of the National Cyber Crime Security Centre.

Mr Browne said his staff co-operated regularly with the Defence Forces and gardai, but worked collectively through the National Security Analysis Centre in the Department of the Taoiseach.

He said that his centre does not play a role in prosecuting anyone.

Our concern is understanding exactly what the incident is.

If there is a national security element, that goes through the normal channels.

Asked about the advice provided to parliamentarians and ministers, Mr Browne was clear that the Oireachtas was a target.

Parliaments in general are targets of cyber security incidents.

He said that that National Cyber Crime Security Centre did provide advice and guidance to politicians, with hopes to give more direct advice in the near future.

We have sought to do that for quite a while. We will be doing that, he told the committee.

Mr Browne was also questioned about the serious ransomware attack on the HSE last year, as well as a more recent reported attack on the Rehab Group charity.

The ransomware attack on the HSE, which occurred in May, caused major disruption to the Irish health service, leading to mass cancellations of appointments and surgeries.

The incident is resolved, he said.

This is an extremely serious example of what can go wrong.

He said it was a preventable incident.

Cork TD James OConnor also challenged the national director on his suggestion that state agencies and entities are ultimately responsible for their own security risks.

If thats the case, your role is pointless, the Fianna TD said.

We can give them support and assistance which we do, but ultimately, because they own the system, they have to own the risk, Dr Browne responded.

The way we do cyber security is the way Europe as a whole does cyber security.
The Minister for Further and Higher Education is planning to take Irish language classes.

That's according to a tweet posted by Minister Simon Harris yesterday evening (Wednesday March 30) in response to a Conradh na Gaeilge survey, which found approximately 28% of people aged 16 and over in the south and and 12% of people in the north have confidence in their spoken Irish ability.

The minister tweeted: "A very useful and informative survey by Conradh na Gaeilge. I can fully relate to this. I want to speak more Irish but, like so many, have lacked the confidence to do so. Decided to take up classes to rectify this in the coming weeks. Looking forward to it!"

Figures in the survey, published last year, are based on Kantar's annual survey on Irish language issues.

The minister's comments come following a report published this week providing analysis of the quality of education in Irish schools and other education settings.

A very useful and informative survey by @CnaG. I can fully relate to this. I want to speak more Irish but, like so many, have lacked the confidence to do so. Decided to take up classes to rectify this in the coming weeks. Looking forward to it!  https://t.co/nBk2GxO0Vo  Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) March 30, 2022

The Chief Inspector of the report - which covers the years 2016 to 2020 - reportedly showed many strengths in the Irish education system and identified areas for development as the system emerges from the Covid pandemic.

Chief Inspector Dr Harold Hislop said, "Our inspections show that there are many strengths in the Irish education system at early years, primary and post-primary levels. I am pleased to be able to report positively on high quality learning, good teaching and support for children and young people in our education system.

"This provides a solid basis on which to build even better education provision for our children and young people in the years ahead.

However, the report noted that the standard of Irish in English-medium schools was not as positive as that in Gaeltacht schools and Gaelscoileanna.

The language has been making a steady comeback over the past several years, indicated by the growing fans of Irish language hip-hop group, Kneecap, and by the success of Irish language films such as 'An Cailin Ciuin', which won the Grand Prix of the Generation Kplus International Jury for Best Film at the Berlin Film Festival this year.

Additionally, Minister for the Gaeltacht Catherine Martin recently announced 860,000 in additional annual funding to benefit the Irish college sector, which includes an increase in the Irish Language Learner's Scheme grant.

Four hundred thousand euro has also been ringfenced to substantially expand scholarship funds for those attending post-primary DEIS schools.

Under the funding, 400 students per year from post-primary DEIS schools nationwide will benefit from a learning period in the Gaeltacht, compared to 50 students up to this point.

Minister Martin last week said: "It is an objective of mine and of the Minister of State Chambers to create more opportunities for young people who would not normally have such opportunities, to attend an Irish course in the Gaeltacht. This practical package will not only be of benefit to the Irish language and the Gaeltacht but it will also be of benefit to society as a whole as relates to social inclusion."

The launch of a recruitment process to appoint members to the Irish Language Services Advisory Committee was also launched last week.

It follows the enactment of the Official Languages (Amendment) Act at the end of last year, which requires the advisory committee to publish a national plan to increase the provision of public services through the Irish language.
Students at a Laois secondary school took on a huge bicycle spin challenge recently to raise money for an outdoor gym.

Their energetic efforts have paid with the official opening of their new gym this week at Portlaoise College.

The students with the help of parents raised almost 7,000 towards the cost of the wheelchair accessible 15 piece gym, the first of its kind in a Laois secondary school.

Noel Daly principal of Portlaoise College spoke at the launch.

The health benefits of exercise are undisputed and this gives the pupils of Portlaoise College the opportunity to learn about physical education in new surroundings whilst allowing them to increase their fitness levels. This fantastic new facility would not have been possible without the support of our parents council and students, he said.

Present at the launch were the student council who helped promote the fundraiser within the student body, classes 2G and 3A who raised 2000 between them and won a prize for their efforts, and Parents Councils PRO Sinead Moran.

Also in attendance was Laois and Offaly ETB CEO Joe Cunningham. He thanked the students present for their fundraising contributions.

No doubt the students of Portlaoise College will gain maximum benefit from this facility, he said.

The gym will offer pupils of all physical abilities the opportunity to further learn and practice PE outdoors, before, during and after school.

The total cost of the Outdoor Gym was 18,000, funded by student/parent fundraising and partial school funds with the parents council hoping to secure a community enhancement grant with the support of Laois County Council.
Well-known Kildare heritage sites, St David's Castle, Naas, the Four Pots, Grand Canal and Abbeylands House have been awarded 150,000 to conserve notable historic structures under the Historic Structures Fund 2022.

The sites have been awarded funding for diverse reasons including full restoration on windows and internal shutter boxes and panelling , reinstatement of internal staircases, missing balustrades and handrail and structural repair of window heads and reveals to openings.

A total of 4m was awarded nationwide through the Historic Structures Fund (HSF), administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in partnership with the 31 Local Authorities. The announcement follows that of 4m in funding under the Departments other built heritage grant scheme, the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, earlier this month.

In addition to supporting owners and custodians of historic and protected structures to safeguard and maintain their properties, this funding will also provide a welcome boost to conservation professionals and tradespeople, including in specialist heritage roles such as thatching and stone work. Following on from the successful introduction of the Historic Shopfront Stream last year, the HSF has again made funding available for a range of shopfronts including bars and pubs which operate in buildings of historical significance.

Through grants of between 15,000 and 200,000, the HSF assists owners of heritage structures  including those on the local authorities Record of Protected Structures and those in Architectural Conservation Areas  to meet their obligations to care for their properties. The scheme provides assistance to a wide range of heritage structures  this years HSF includes awards to historic bridges, castles, churches, mills, libraries, shopfronts, and an old forge, as well as to private houses.

Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan said; "I am delighted to announce another 4m investment in our built heritage. This years Historic Structures Fund will assist 78 owners and custodians of historic and protected structures across the country as they carry out hundreds of conservation projects to repair and safeguard our built heritage. I am particularly pleased to announce the awards made to vernacular structures and historic shopfronts following their successful pilot schemes last year.

"These awards celebrate the richness and diversity of our built heritage and help to preserve our connections to past generations, in particular through their support of traditional building skills, which this Government is committed to investing in. These actions also help us to deliver on our commitments to our built heritage under Heritage Ireland 2030, the national heritage plan which I launched earlier this year."

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh OBrien said: "It is great to see the number and range of projects which will be supported by this investment of 4m under the Historic Structures Fund. These schemes help to safeguard our rich built heritage, keeping many buildings in use and helping to bring many others back into use. The awards announced today also have a welcome knock-on economic benefit by generating employment for heritage contractors and other skilled crafts and tradespeople across the country."

Minister of State for Local Government, Peter Burke also welcomed the announcement, stating; "As with the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, the success of the Historic Structures Fund is a result of the close working relationship between the Department and the Local Authorities, particularly the Architectural Conservation Officers, Heritage Officers and planning and administrative staff who make these schemes possible. I am particularly pleased to note the continuation of the Historic Shopfront stream, investing in our historic townscapes in line with this Governments commitment of putting Town Centres First."
Members of the Indian community in Ireland celebrated the joyful Holi festival in Naas.

The Bihar Jharkhand Association of Ireland was inaugurated by Indian Ambassador Sandeep Kumar last September and it was formed as a non-political and non-religious association to bring every person from Bihar Jharkhand (regions in India) living in Ireland to come together on one platform to celebrate regional festivals and help the community as a whole.

The Holi festival is a multicultural style event celebrated with enthusiasm in Ireland.

The Naas event took place in the Monread community centre.

Read more Kildare news

Some 130 guests attended representing different races, religions and ethnic groups. This was a regional festival organised in a multicultural way.

There was a DJ playing Bollywood and regional songs, traditional foods, Holi theme performances - dance, singing, a talk about Holi and Antakshari (a game). The participants represented all age groups and it was attended by Naas Mayor Seamie Moore, who spoke about the relationship between India and Ireland and how this can be strengthened. He thanked BJAI committee members for organising this event and helping the community for integration.

Garda inspector Paul Reilly and Gda Shane Smyth along with community garda Gda Cogan also attended.

Holi is known as the festival of colours. It is one of the most important festivals in India. Holi, a Hindu festival, is celebrated each year in March, but different religions also join in to make it a multi-coloured festival.

Naas Mayor Seamie Moore with President Dr. Deepak Kumar, Rakesh Kumar Shekhar, Abhishek Thakur, Ragini Shekhar, Prabhat Ravi

Holi is about celebrating happiness with friends and family. People forget their troubles and indulge in this festival to celebrate brotherhood. In other words, we forget our differences and indulge in the festive spirit. Holi is called the festival of colours because people play with colours and apply them to each others faces to get coloured in the essence of the festival, said Abishek Thakur.

This was the first festive celebration organised by BJAI and the committee is already planning to organise more fun filled activities for adults and children to take part in.

Mary Winders, Robyn Winders, Tina Winders, Samantha Winders enjoying Holi first time in Ireland

The BJAI committee would highly appreciate any help and support in organising future events and can be contacted at bjaireland@gmail.com.
Local Enterprise Office Kildare has announced that winning teenage entrepreneurs from St Wolstans Community School, Celbridge will represent Kildare at this years Student Enterprise Programme National Final.

The winning local students will now compete against approximately 80 student enterprises from all over the country for a place in the Top 15 shortlisted teams to make it to a live event on Wednesday 18th May at The Helix in Dublin.

This years live event will not only be a special one as its the first in-person event since 2019, but also as this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Student Enterprise Programme.

The students all took part in the Kildare Final on 30th March 2022, which was held virtually. An estimated 1006 students from 17 schools took part in the annual programme locally.

The enterprise education initiative, funded by the Government of Ireland through Enterprise Ireland and delivered by the 31 Local Enterprise Offices in local authorities throughout the country, saw over 24,000 students from just under 500 secondary schools across the country take part in 2020 / 2021. The programme supports students to create, design and market their own business, all with the hope of reaching the National Finals.

In the Senior Category of the competition, Kildares Sarah Girvan Hendy, Saoirse Povey and Mairead Kehoe from Horseshoes 4 U at St. Wolstans Community School, Celbridge will represent the county at the National Final.

In the Most Creative Business Idea section (senior category), Anna, Ella, Holly and Ellen from Happy Melon at Celbridge Community School came out on top.

Special guests at the County Final included Cathaoirleach Naoise O Cearuil, Interim Chief Executive Sonya Kavanagh, elected representatives and judges Sean Ryan, Paul Murtagh and Jane Manzor.

Speaking at the county final, Jacqui McNabb of Local Enterprise Office Kildare congratulated the students, saying We have a very successful student enterprise programme here in Kildare, with over 1000 students from 17 local schools taking part this year. Our national finalists are excellent ambassadors for the programme and we wish them the very best of luck in the National Final 2022. In what has been a particularly challenging couple of years for students the programme has offered them an outlet outside of the usual school demands. What our students are learning from the programme is that with the right supports and encouragement, they can take an idea from the classroom and develop it into a real-life business. The skills they learn along the way, such as business planning, market research, selling and team-work, will help them become more entrepreneurial throughout their future careers.

Since the Student Enterprise Programme began in 2003, over 300,000 students have taken part, learning key skills on how to create a business idea, start a business and grow a business. The Student Enterprise Programme also has new range of online resources for 2021 / 2022 at www.studententerprise.ie, which includes webinars, templates and interactive teacher and student resources.

Further information around the Student Enterprise Programme is available from www.studententerprise.ie and by searching #studententerprise on social media.
A family friendly day of events will take place in Kildare Town on Easter Saturday, April 16 from 11.45am to mark the 100th anniversary of the arrival of the Civic Guard/An Garda Siochana to Co Kildare in 1922.

The commemorative day is organised and funded by Kildare County Councils Decade of Commemorations Committee, An Garda Siochana, the Garda Siochana Retired Members Association, and the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-23 initiative).

Events will begin with the arrival of a parade led by the Garda Band to Market Square, Kildare, and addresses by the Cathaoirleach of the County of Kildare, Cllr. Naoise O Cearuil, Deputy Garda Commissioner Anne Marie McMahon and Marie Roche, Vice-President Garda Siochana Retired Members Association.

Lord Edwards Own Re-enactment Group will re-create the handover of the old Royal Irish Constabulary Station to the Civic Guard/An Garda Siochana. The Garda Band will then lead a march to the site of the former Artillery Barracks.

Kildare Town Garda Barracks will host an open day for members of the public with vintage cars on display in the carpark.

Tom ONeill, curator of a unique collection of police memorabilia, will host an exhibition in the old Courthouse, while Lord Edwards Own Re-enactment Group will give a display of weaponry and uniforms of the period in the courtyard. Walking tours of the town, facilitated by Kildare Town Heritage Centre, will be led by former Garda, P. J. Hester.

Events in Kildare in 1922 played a significant and pivotal role in the development of the future of An Garda Siochana. At a government meeting on 10 April Eamonn Duggan, T.D., had suggested that the Kildare Artillery Barracks would be suitable as a depot for the new Irish police force  the Civic Guard.

On 15 April 1922, an advance party of Civic Guard left the R.D.S. showgrounds at Ballsbridge, Dublin, and travelled by train to Kildare Town.

On reaching Kildare the party marched from the railway station to the Artillery Barracks where they accepted the handover of the garrison from the departing British troops. During the Civil War of 1922-3 and its aftermath the newly appointed Civic Guard came under armed attack, but they persevered not by force of arms or numbers but on their moral authority as servants of the people.

The Local Studies, Genealogy and Archives Department of Kildare County Library is facilitating this event.

Please contact localhistory@kildarecoco.ie for further details.
Kildare based Senator Fiona OLoughlin has welcomed the publication of the Local Just Transition Plan for West Kildare in the Seanad.

Senator OLoughlin said: The purpose of the local just transition plan for west Kildare is to support and advance sustainable development in rural Kildare, including Athy, the Rathangan and Kildare town area, Allenwood, Derrinturn and Carbury.

The plan was published Monday by Kildare County Council. The focus of the plan identifies projects to support and advance sustainable social, economic, and environmental development in the transition to a low carbon future in the West Kildare region.

There was extensive consultation with small community groups, Kildare County Council and Bord na Mona, with some 15 actions being identified," Senator O'Loughlin added.

Two of significant note include the opportunity for a new national peatlands park. That would be the first national peatlands park in the country and the only national park in the midlands. In addition the call for actions in relation to the blueway and greenway.

Concluding, Senator OLoughlin said: I want to commend Kildare County Council and Joe Boland in particular for the extensive work done on this plan and I look forward to seeing it progress.
Kildare Mental Health Association (MHA) was formed in December 2021 by volunteers around the

county of Kildare with a passion for promoting mental health.

It is affiliated with Mental Health Ireland and is part of the overall network of mental health associations

throughout the country.

Kildare MHA Caroline Brogan, Development Officer for Kildare and North Dublin explained; "The Kildare Mental Health Association aims is to encourage all in our community to think about their mental health and wellbeing in the same way they think about their physical health. Providing information to those who endeavour to maintain and enhance their mental and emotional wellness

The group will be launched on Thursday April 7 to coincide with Mental Health Ireland's first national Hello How Are You campaign with events in Maynooth University Campus and an outside broadcast with KFM in the Whitewater Shopping Centre in Newbridge from 11am to 2pm.

A recent survey conducted by Healthy Ireland (2021), shows 81% of recipients showed lower levels of social connectedness in recent times. The Hello How Are You? campaign developed by Mental Health Ireland encourages greater social connection.

Mental Health Ireland and Kildare MHA are inviting the country to say Hello, and ask How, Are You?, and to really listen to the answer.

Contact Kildare Mental Health Association kmha@mentalhealthireland.ie

Visit Hello, How are you? for resources and information on how to get involved

www.hellohowareyou.info
The latest weather forecast for this weekend for Ireland from Met Eireann tells us it will be rather cold and showery.

According to Met Eireann, the weather is set to be cold and frosty tonight with mostly clear skies. There will be a few wintry showers of rain, hail or sleet, with snow possible on high ground. Showers will chiefly affect some northern and eastern coastal areas. Lowest temperatures of -3 to zero degrees in moderate northeast breezes.

Thursday will have a cold, bright and frosty start. There will be good spells of spring sunshine during the day but it will feel noticeably chilly in a brisk northeasterly breeze. Scattered showers of rain, hail and sleet are expected, mainly affecting eastern coastal counties with a possibility of some snow on high ground. Highest temperatures of 5 to 9 degrees, coldest in the north, in a fresh northeast wind. Thursday night should have a few showers in coastal areas of the north and east on Thursday night, but most of the country will be dry and clear. A widespread frost is expected with temperatures falling back to between -4 to 0 degrees in light northerly breezes.

According to Met Eireann, Friday's weather should get the weekend off to a cold and frosty start, Friday looks set to be a mostly dry day with just a few localised showers. There will be a mix of cloud and sunshine, with the best of the sunshine expected in the east and south of the country. Top temperatures of 7 to 10 degrees in moderate northerly winds. On Friday night there will be some frost forming early on, but cloud is expected to thicken from the north with showery rain developing in north Connacht and Ulster later. Lowest temperatures of 0 to +4 degrees, coldest in the south of the country in moderate northwest winds.

Met Eireann predicts Ireland's weather for Saturday should start rather cloudy. Saturday will have widespread showers, some prolonged. There will be some sunny spells also, especially across Ulster in the afternoon and evening. Maximum temperatures 8 to 11 in moderate northwest breezes. Showers look set to become isolated on Saturday night with most of the country becoming dry and clear. A frost will form in places with lowest temperatures of -1 to +3 degrees. Outbreaks of rain will develop across the west and north of the country towards dawn on Sunday.

Met Eireann's most recent forecast tells us Sunday will have outbreaks of rain are expected to affect the country for a time on Sunday before clearing away to the south with drier and brighter weather developing for the afternoon and evening. Highest temperatures of 8 to 11 degrees.
LOCAL authority management are to revisit the increase in the price of a cemetery plot after grave anger from councillors.

At this month's council meeting, a recommendation to reverse a 25% increase in burial ground charges was adopted unanimously, alongside a notice of motion from Cllr Jerome Scanlan, Independent, requesting the rate be brought in line with neighbouring authorities.

Since the start of the year here in Limerick, a single grave in a council-owned cemetery now costs 1,500, an increase from 1,200, while double and family plots cost between 2,400 and 3,000.

After an extended debate on the matter, council boss Dr Pat Daly confirmed the review.

"There's no way we would want division or create division, or go about creating any of that. Can I review it carefully? I'm conscious of what you've said. We will take it away, we will see the scale and range of the issues, and come back to you very quickly," he told councillors.

Fianna Fail councillor Kevin Sheahan - who described the rise as "disgusting" - pointed out in Cahersiveen, Co Kerry, one grave plot is sold for 700, with a double at 1,000.

Cllr Scanlan described the costs in Limerick as "extortionate".

"An undertaker in Newcastle West had to find 3,000 to cover the cost of a grave. His cashflow should not be impinged upon to pay Limerick County Council for graves which he is providing to people who need them at the time they pass away."

Fine Gael member Adam Teskey added: "I am appealing to you all as directors, please listen to us. Help us bridge the division that are there. Costs are going up at the pumps, maintaining a household, the cost of feeding people. And the cost of burying people is adding a further burden on people when they are in need the most."
WITH A surge in Covid-19 cases putting severe pressure on the health service, the head of the intensive care unit at University Hospital Limerick says staff are continuing to see unvaccinated people and those with severe immune disease admitted to ICU with the virus.

Around 6,000 healthcare workers across the country are currently off work due to Covid-19, with the Chief Executive Officer of the HSE Paul Reid saying the healthcare system is under huge stress.

Dr Catherine Motherway, head of the ICU at University Hospital Limerick, said patients are being admitted having already been diagnosed with the virus while others are admitted for different reasons and then testing positive while being treated in the hospital.

The doctor who is a consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care at the hospital said: We are still seeing unvaccinated people and patients with severe immune disease admitted to ICU with the disease.

There is also a level of re-infection. I have colleagues who have had the virus twice. Omicron is different to previous variants and previous infection does not stop you from getting it again.

Vaccination won't stop you from contracting the virus but it will stop serious illness.

While there have been increased calls for the government to re-introduce the mask wearing mandate, Dr Motherway says people should know when to protect themselves and others.

She continued: After two years of a pandemic, people should know when they need to wear one without it being mandatory. People at severe risk of disease, despite their vaccination status, should wear masks in public.

Meanwhile, a local primary school teacher says the level of infection across schools is the highest it has been at any point of the pandemic.

Between five and nine staff members are absent on any given day for Covid-19 related reasons, according to INTO.

Due to the absences, schools are unable to get anywhere near adequate cover for teachers, substitutes and special needs assistants.

Laura Quirke, a primary school teacher in County Limerick, said the level of infection across schools is the highest it has been to date.

She said: It is becoming a major issue for schools. It was not like this when we had masks and we are also seeing people who had Covid before becoming re-infected. We can no longer decide to just send one group home, and children with special education needs are missing out on their time because their teachers have been re-deployed to cover mainstream teacher absences.

It is very difficult to give them that one-to-one support, it is the most vulnerable in our society who are suffering.

She continued: Now it is at the worst it has been over the last two years. It just keeps going round and round. It is impossible to get cover. We have every level of trainee teacher from first year to fourth year coming in to help as well.
AINE O'Farrell Hellard has two small children and is in the middle of renovating her house but, like so many, she has welcomed a Ukrainian into her home.

Aine, originally from the Ennis Road, lives in Ballybunion overlooking the ladies beach. She and husband Joe, of the popular Exchange bar, have two children, Michael, aged 4 and Christopher, 2.

They live in an old B&B that they are transforming into their home. But despite all she has going on she didnt hesitate for a second about welcoming somebody, she has never met, into their lives.

It really affected me. I was very emotional. I don't know why, maybe because I'm a mom but I just saw all these images on the television and it just really, really affected me.

I just felt so helpless. I couldnt imagine what it must be like to have no place to go and the kids having no toys. I just thought there is very little that I can do personally in the grand scheme of things but we have bedrooms so why not be able to open up a bedroom to somebody to give them a roof over their heads? So that's what we did, said Aine.

She pledged her home on eight websites and on Ireland Supporting Ukrainians Facebook pages. But the lady they took in was through a friend. Sean Dineen, from Ballylongford, flew to Poland and brought a family home to Kerry.

Aine and Joe have welcomed that familys grandmother

The original accommodation they had for her fell through and they just asked to know would we take the granny. Shes a retired cardiologist called Ira, pronounced Era, from Karkiv. She had two suitcases with her. She spent three days in a community centre as a shelter while she was waiting to get a flight.

Its so sad to see so many people displaced. I couldn't imagine it. She came into Shannon Airport at 11.30pm on St Patrick's Day and arrived to us at 2.30am, said Aine.

The following morning Ira saw the sea for the first time.

She couldn't believe it, all she has to do is look out the window and see the ocean. I suppose we take it for granted. She loves it and has been for walks on the beach. She's making borsch at the moment. She's very much settled now.

She told me today she nearly died in December 2020 from Covid. She was in intensive care for five days and she said God saved her then and she said God saved her now as well, said Aine.

Despite Ira having no English they are still able to communicate and having her family close by is a big help to her.

What would Aine tell people who are thinking about taking in someone?

Open up your homes, it'll be the most rewarding thing you can do, said Aine, who accepts that there are anxieties that go with it.

You don't know who you are opening up your home to. You don't know if you are putting your family in jeopardy but you can overthink things as well. You can spend a lot of time thinking what if, what if. One of the biggest reasons I opened my door was the Irish people are being accepted the world over and I just felt that people need to repay the favour now, she concluded.
VICKY Phelan has sent a message of support to Charlie Bird ahead of his Croagh Patrick climb this weekend.

Charlie, and hundreds of people across Ireland, are taking part in the climb to raise money for Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association and Pieta House.

Vicky was supposed to be joining Charlie on his climb however she has unfortunately had to pull out due to her ill health.

However Vicky will be well represented as her family including her mother and father who will be taking part in the climb.

In a video on Instagram, Vicky wished Charlie and the rest of the participants luck with the event and said she would be there in spirit.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vicky Phelan (@vickykellyphelan)

The campaigner returned to social media this week after taking a break due to her health and she shared an update with her followers.

In a post the Kilkenny woman said: "I'm BACK! For now anyway....I am finally back walking on my own two feet for more than a few feet without having to use a four wheel or three wheel mobility aid and, oh boy, does it feel good

"My back is still not great and I can only walk very short distances and am still in pain BUT it is manageable AND I can get out of the house."

The mother of two also shared some pictures from her recent trip to Adare Manor where she treated her mother and godmother to afternoon tea for their birthdays.

She continued: "And boy have I gotten out of the house in style this week. I wanted to treat my mother and my godmother to afternoon tea at Adare Manor for their birthdays, which they both celebrated in March.

"Two weeks ago, I honestly thought it would never happen BUT the human body and the human spirit are AMAZING things

"And so, today my aunt picked me up from my house and whisked us off to Adare Manor where we spent the whole afternoon drinking various different teas and coffees and enjoying the savoury and sweet treats that staff kept bringing to our table.

"We had a most fabulous afternoon and made more wonderful memories."
Russian President Vladimir Putin's advisors fear telling him the truth about his "failing" Ukraine war strategy, the head of Britain's top communications spying agency said Thursday.

Putin had "massively misjudged" the invasion, the director of Britain's intelligence agency GCHQ Jeremy Fleming said in a prepared speech to the Australian National University in Canberra.

His remarks, released in advance, echoed US intelligence issued by the White House the previous day indicating Putin was being "misinformed" by his advisors about the progress of the Russian operation.

Western intelligence sources have been keen to play up Russia's failures in the war and highlight divisions within Putin's inner circle.

Fleming said Putin had underestimated the Ukraine resistance, the strength of the international coalition against him, and the impact of economic sanctions.

The Russian leader had also overestimated his own military's ability to secure a rapid victory, he added.

"We've seen Russian soldiers -- short of weapons and morale -- refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft," Fleming said.

"And even though Putin's advisors are afraid to tell him the truth, what's going on and the extent of these misjudgements must be crystal clear to the regime."

Russia's public statement this week that it would "radically" reduce combat operations around the capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernigiv "perhaps shows they have been forced to significantly rethink", Fleming said.

He warned that cyber attacks from Russia remain a threat.

Though some people were surprised that Moscow had not launched a catastrophic cyber attack, Fleming said it was "never our understanding" that such an offensive was central to the Russian invasion.

Britain's intelligence services had, however, detected a "sustained intent from Russia to disrupt Ukrainian government and military systems", he said.

"We've certainly seen indicators which suggests Russia's cyber actors are looking for targets in the countries that oppose their actions."

On the battlefields in Ukraine, Moscow was using mercenaries and foreign fighters to support its own forces, Fleming said.

They included the Wagner Group, which was "taking it up a gear" after being active in the country since the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014.

"The group works as a shadow branch of the Russian military, providing implausible deniability for riskier operations," he said.

Fleming noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping had refused to condemn the invasion, providing a level of diplomatic and economic support for Russia.

"With an eye on re-taking Taiwan, China does not want to do anything which may constrain its ability to move in the future," he said, predicting however that the China-Russia relationship may deteriorate as China's military and economy grow in power.
Sri Lankas stock market will stay open for fewer hours this week as a shortage of dollars delays fuel imports, forcing the country to impose daily electricity outages and making it hard for businesses to operate.

Trading sessions will run from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. local time at least through Friday, the Colombo Stock Exchange said in a statement, instead of the usual 2:30 p.m. close. The position will be reviewed over the weekend.

Sri Lankas government on Thursday extended the duration of daily power cuts to 13 hours as diesel supplies ran out, while food and medicine stocks were also hit. The nation is undergoing a severe shortage of dollars, making it hard to pay for food and fuel imports.

Separate data during the day showed headline inflation accelerated to 18.7% in March -- the fastest pace on record under a new series -- boosting the case for more measures from policy makers to temper demand.

Trading had been briefly suspended for the third straight day Thursday, after the bluechip index plunged. The government this month also dropped its peg to the U.S. dollar and let the rupee float.

To put a stop to the selling and get some support, there needs to be good visibility on how the energy situation is evolving," said Kavinda Perera, head of research at Asia Securities in Colombo. If you see continuous devaluation and lack of dollar liquidity in the market, it affects business and sentiment."

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa is seeking a loan from the International Monetary Fund and is simultaneously talking to countries including China, India and Bangladesh for bilateral aid, to ease the crisis.

Sri Lanka energy minister Pavithra Vanniyarachchi told reporters in Colombo Thursday that the government was expecting a shipment of diesel under a $500 million credit line from India to import fuel.

The cargo was expected late on April 1, and would help reduce the duration of daily power outages, she said, without elaborating.

Ceylon Petroleum Corp. requested the public not to queue up for diesel at state-run filling stations on Wednesday and Thursday after the refiner failed to unload a shipment of 37,500 metric tonnes of the fuel.
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Cole Sprouse is returning to a role he loves to play. Rolling Stone can announce the return of Qcodes Borrasca podcast for a second season, where Sprouse plays the role of Sam Walker in the spooky multi-episode series.

When I first signed on to the project, we didnt really imagine that it would be so well-loved by people. But I really enjoyed finding the fine line, at least in the vocality of what we were doing, between emotion that can be portrayed more easily physically, Sprouse tells Rolling Stone about the project that launched in 2020. They had us all in the same room, where we were able to see each others expressions. I got along with everyone. It was a really, really enjoyable experience: You got to show up in your pajamas.

The new season of the Rebecca Klingel-written show picks up 10 years after Sam, Sprouses character, discovered the secrets of his Drisking, Missouri town when a ghost of the past came for revenge. For this season his character is closer to his age, unlike in the first season and in his role on Riverdale, where he plays a 17-year-old.

Sam is going through a tremendous trauma and their sense of distance or defeat that he carries around with him all the time, which makes him, unfortunately, not the most emotional person, Sprouse says. I lowered my register a little bit and had a kind of gravelly texture to it too. He is also a heroin addict in the show so it was important to show, at least vocally, this quality of incredible trauma.

With years in the public eye, thanks to his child star role on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Sprouse hes more intentional with the projects he chooses. Hes also learned to view fame and success in a different light.

It took me quite a long time, but I feel like Im finally getting into a confidence that I didnt really have when I was younger. Growing up as an entertainer, youre a constant people pleaser. Ive gotten to a place now where Im unrelenting on my ability to keep my boundaries, he says. Theres really not much I feel like you could probably throw in front of my face that I would genuinely be shocked by. I think the ability to carry oneself with confidence is usually a currency of age. And thats something that has been the best part about going into the latter half of my 20s. And now that Im on the precipice of 30, I really feel like its going to be the identity I feel most comfortable with.

Sprouse shares hes no longer accolade-minded as he was in his youth, and instead pursuing a lifestyle he wants for himself. Im much more joy-based now. Im pursuing things that I very much enjoy doing more than anything else. We have a very limited time on this earth, and when it comes to working, its worth to try to do something you enjoy as much as possible, especially when what you do is art.

Sprouse serves as a producer on the podcast series, whose second seasons release date has yet to be announced. Sarah Yarkin, Daniel Webber, Lulu Wilson, Beau Knapp, Lisa Edelstein, Aramis Knight, Cara Santana, Seychelle Gabriel, and Peyton Kennedy also star in the show from Qcode.
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It is no spoiler to say that Marvel Studios Moon Knight is unlike anything attempted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since 2008s Iron Man. Not only is it Marvels first Disney Plus series that doesnt focus on already established characters, the first four episodes of the show, which Variety has seen, contain not a single spoken reference to the MCU. No one talks about Thanos or the Snap, Spider-Man or Wakanda. There are no mentions of the Avengers or the Eternals, infinity stones or multiverses. And not a single familiar face  not Doctor Strange or Wanda Maximoff, Captain Marvel or Shang-Chi  makes an appearance.

When the team behind Moon Knight set out to make it, however, walling off the MCU wasnt a goal, ironically, says director and executive producer Mohamed Diab.

Moon Knight follows a nebbishy London museum gift shop employee named Steven Grant (Oscar Isaac) who is regularly waking up in strange places with no memory of how he got there. Over the course of the first episode, he comes to realize that an alternate, and far more aggressive, personality named Marc Spector (also Oscar Isaac) is living inside him  as is the voice of the Egyptian god Khonshu (F. Murray Abraham). Marc and Khonshu are at odds with a religious cult leader named Arthur Harrow (Ethan Hawke), but Steven wants nothing to do with any of it, and grapples for control over his own body.

Diab and Isaac explain that, while developing Moon Knight with head writer Jeremy Slater (The Umbrella Academy), they realized that Stevens story was already so psychologically complicated that there was precious little room to squeeze in the rest of the MCU.

As the show progressed, everyone felt, OK, you know what, we dont need crutches. We can stand on our own,' says Diab.

Adds Isaac, We wanted everything to feel like it was an external expression of an internal struggle. And so the plot ties to other MCU things became much less important, because the most important thing was an emotional truth to the journey that was happening.

It helped enormously that much like the Guardians of the Galaxy, Moon Knight was never anywhere close to being a marquee character within the Marvel Comics landscape. Because of its obscurity, it wasnt like, we got to make sure we do this beat or the fans are gonna go crazy, says Isaac. We have a lot of freedom to figure out what is exciting for us.

In doing so, Moon Knight also boldly steps into even more uncharted territory for Marvel Studios in its use of ancient Egyptian mythology, in its depiction of Steven/Marcs dissociative identity disorder, and in its darker and more violent approach to superhero storytelling.

Its a risk, says Isaac. Were creating a whole new thing.

The Pyramids Are in the Middle of the City!

When he was growing up in Egypt, Diab was a regular consumer of comic book heroes, but hed never heard of Moon Knight.

In Egypt, we only got Spider-Man, we only got Batman  we only got the big guys, he says. Nevertheless, when Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige announced in 2019 that Moon Knight would be one of the studios Disney Plus shows, Diab and his wife and producing partner Sarah Goher zeroed in on the character as the project they most wanted to pursue after recently moving to Los Angeles. Diab had established himself as an acclaimed director in Egypt for his films Cairo 678 and Amira, both grounded, contemporary dramas. In Moon Knight, he saw the opportunity to bridge his Egyptian heritage with big canvas Hollywood filmmaking.

The drama of it and the Egyptian part of it feels like an extension of everything that Ive been doing, he says. And theres the action and the horror and the comedy, which are things I wished I had the chance to show.

Diab says he and Goher put together a 200-page pitch document covering every aspect of how theyd approach the production. The moment were done, I told her, Were going to get this job or theres something wrong with the world,' he says with a smile. (Diab directed the first, third, and final two episodes of the series, with the directing team of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead handling the second and fourth episodes.)

Since Moon Knight relied heavily on ancient Egyptian cosmology, Diab understood that by necessity the show would be Marvels first title set in the Arab world  and getting that representation right would be crucial.

One of the most important things was how to depict Egypt, the present and the past, in an authentic way, he says. Egyptians see that Hollywood always sees them in an Orientalist way. Were always exotic. Women are submissive. Men are bad. So it was very important for me to break that.

He pushed for Egyptian-Palestinian actor May Calamawy (Ramy) to play Layla El-Faouly, a woman from Marcs past who was not initially written to be Egyptian. And he insisted on shooting the sequences of the show set in Cairo to reflect how the city really incorporates its most famous ancient landmarks.

You always shoot the pyramids in the desert, he says. If you pan a little bit, the pyramids are in the middle of the city! No one likes that shot. You can see skyscrapers. Its 20 million people living there. Its one of the cities that never sleeps. So showing all that was very important for me. It was also not lost on Diab that he is the first Arab director for Marvel Studios. It was very important for me to show that Im not here because Im an Arab or an Egyptian, he says Im here because Im a good director. Im here because I can tell the story better than anyone else. And if I succeeded, I might open doors for minorities around the world. I hope that happens.

The Language Is Already Very Heightened and Dreamlike

In the comics, Marc Spector takes the lead as Moon Knight, with several alternate personalities, including Steven Grant, helping him in his superheroic pursuits; its only later on that Marc is determined to have dissociative identity disorder, or DID. Previously known as multiple personality disorder  and often mischaracterized as schizophrenia  DID is a real, clinical mental health diagnosis that Hollywood has often turned to as an engine for heightened drama.

To better understand DID, Isaac read A Fractured Mind, the 2005 memoir by China scholar Robert B. Oxnam, who learned through therapy in his 40s that the blackouts, depression, and alcoholism that had plagued him were the result of 11 distinct personalities.

For me, that was my bible, Isaac says. In his research, the actor learned that DID is predominately caused by prolonged abuse that starts in early childhood. Its not just a traumatic thing happens and suddenly you have all these personalities, he says. In order to survive this abuse, the mind fractures and creates other personalities to be able to not know about the abuse, or shoulder that abuse, or punish the people that are abusing him.

In his recounting of his alternate identities, also, Oxnam turned to fantastical, child-like imagery. He described a castle and a witch that lives on a hill, he says. The language is already very heightened and dreamlike, and so it really lent itself to this genre. It didnt feel like we were trying to push this in as a backstory or a plot point, but that we could orient the entire story around these very complex psychological things, and at the same time, make, you know, an action-adventure story.

Indeed, while Isaac and the filmmaking team strove to bring as much authenticity to the depiction of DID as possible, Diab is quick to note that Moon Knight is still, at heart, a superhero show.

I learned a lot, and I think everyone is going to learn a lot through the journey of the show, about DID, the director says. But I still would say that, as respectful as we were, this is not an accurate depiction of DID. We are in a supernatural world and sometimes we over-dramatize stuff.

OK, Thats a Little Too Much Blood!

The specter of trauma and violence looms throughout Moon Knight in a far more visceral way than Marvel Studios has ever explored before. Its apparent from the very first scene  in which Hawkes Arthur Harrow places broken glass in his shoes in a ritual of religious self-flagellation  and continues throughout the show.

I covered my trailer with all sorts of Moon Knight art from the comics, Isaac says. It is a really dark, terrifying aesthetic. In a way we had to kind of go past the boundary to figure out what it was. Its like, OK, thats a little too much blood! Thats a little too much sounds of organs coming out! Lets pull that back a little bit.'

Often, the job of communicating the harrowing nature of the story fell to Isaacs performance  or, really, performances  as Steven and Marc. To the actors best understanding, the different identities within someone who has DID are, effectively, different people that happen to share the same body, so as an actor, it was about committing to completely different people. Since Marvel Studios decided to set Moon Knight in London to differentiate it from the many other titles set in New York City, Isaac decided  rather infamously now  to give Steven Grant a high-pitched, working class British accent, even though that wasnt indicated in the script.

I thought there was an opportunity to create a very different kind of indelible comic character to bring you into the world gently, and to basically get the audience on his side pretty quickly, Isaac says. So that once stuff starts going crazy, youre with him, and youre already rooting for him. You can you feel for his terror at not knowing whats happening to his mind or his reality.

Isaac has said this acting choice was not initially met with wild enthusiasm. But he credits Marvel Studios and Feige for trusting in his own creative instincts, and providing him with a more central decision-making role than many actors taking their first swing in the MCU normally receive.

I was in a position  because I wasnt actively looking to get back into something this big  to say, This is how I see it, and if you guys dont see it that way, thats totally okay, but then maybe its not the right fit,' he says. And so I wasnt afraid that I was going to do the wrong thing.

It also meant that, unlike so many actors before him, Isaac is not contractually obligated to remain in the MCU after Moon Knight ends its six-episode run in May. So fans should not necessarily expect him to show up in the Marvel Studios features like Black Panther: Wakanda Forever or Disney Plus series like Secret Invasion.

I had heard of the golden handcuffs, Isaac says with a nervous chuckle. That was something that I was reticent about. And luckily, we all agreed that this [show] is what were going to focus on. This is the story. And if theres any kind of future, I think it just depends on if people like it, if people want to see more, and if we find a story thats worth telling.

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Bruce Willis The Sixth Sense co-star Haley Joel Osment and director M. Night Shyamalan both took to social media to praise the actor after he announced on March 30 that hes stepping away from the profession following an aphasia diagnosis. Aphasia is a language disorder caused by brain damage that affects a persons ability to communicate. Osment had his acting breakthrough in the 1999 supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense, which grossed $672 million worldwide and earned six Academy Award nominations. Osment was Oscar-nominated for supporting actor.

Its been difficult to find the right words for someone Ive always looked up to  first on the big screen, and then by some wild stroke of luck, in person, Osment wrote in an emotional Instagram post. Hes a true legend who has enriched all of our lives with a singular career that spans nearly half a century. I am so grateful for what I got to witness firsthand, and for the enormous body of work he built for us to enjoy for years and years to come.

Osment added, I just wanted to express the respect and deep admiration I have for Bruce and his family as they move forward with courage and high spirits that have always defined them.

Shyamalan directed Willis in not just The Sixth Sense but also Unbreakable and Glass. The filmmaker wrote on Twitter, All my love and respect to my big brother Bruce Willis. I know his wonderful family is surrounding him with support and strength. He will always be that hero on that poster on my wall as kid.

John Travolta was another former co-star of Willis using social media to praise the actor. The two actors both appeared in Quentin Tarantinos Pulp Fiction, while Willis provided the voice of the baby in the Travolta-starring comedy Look Whos Talking.

Bruce and I became good friends when we shared two of our biggest hits together, Travolta wrote. Years later he said to me, John, I just want you to know that when something good happens to you I feel like its happening to me. Thats how generous a soul he is. I love you Bruce.

Willis family revealed his aphasia diagnosis and retirement in a joint statement. This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support, the family said. We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him. As Bruce always says, Live it up and together we plan to do just that.

All my love and respect to my big brother Bruce Willis. I know his wonderful family is surrounding him with support and strength. He will always be that hero on that poster on my wall as kid.  M. Night Shyamalan  (@MNightShyamalan) March 31, 2022

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The Daily Wire, a conservative media organization with no history of producing childrens programming, is using Disneys opposition to Floridas Dont Say Gay law as a rallying point to try to enter the business of kids entertainment.

The Nashville-based company announced Wednesday that it plans to invest at least $100 million over the next three years into live-action and animated kids content. Thats on top of more than $100 million it expects to spend on conservative-values entertainment content for adults, according to Daily Wire co-CEO Jeremy Boreing. The right-wing outlets first content targeted at children is supposed to launch on Daily Wires subscription platform in the spring of 2023.

Americans are tired of giving their money to woke media companies who want to indoctrinate their children with radical race and gender theory, Boreing said in announcing the initiative. But they want to do more than just cancel them. They want alternatives.

The Daily Wires most popular property is the daily podcast from co-founder Ben Shapiro, who has argued that homosexuality and transgender identity are mental illnesses.

The Daily Wire kid-content announcement comes two days after Disney denounced Floridas Parental Rights in Education Bill, which among other things prohibits classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity through the third grade. Disneys public opposition followed employee protests over Disney CEO Bob Chapeks previously tepid response to the bill and news that Disney had made donations to the sponsors of the legislation.

Floridas HB 1557, also known as the Dont Say Gay bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law, Disney said in the statement released Monday. Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that. We are dedicated to standing up for the rights and safety of LGBTQ+ members of the Disney family, as well as the LGBTQ+ community in Florida and across the country.

According to The Daily Wire, it originally planned to announce the push into childrens programming in November 2022. However, the company said it decided to move up the announcement based on a report that Disney employees at a recent company meeting discussed increasing queerness in the companys content and adopting more gender-neutral terms in its theme parks.

Disney was once a reliable source of wholesome and innocent entertainment for children, The Daily Wire said in a press release. But now parents are fearful that the content their kids are consuming is brainwashing them at best and endangering them at worst.

Daily Wires Boreing said three months ago, the company recruited Eric Branscum and Ethan Nicolle of the Christian-themed VeggieTales in the House series and conservative Christian news satire site Babylon Bee to lead content development for DW Kids.

So far, Daily Wire has six scripts for its first kids show, Chilla Time, about a family of homeschooled chinchillas, on which it has already spent seven figures, according to Boreing. The second DW Kids show is Doodles With Noodles, a live-action puppet show hosted by Nicolle who alongside a sidekick puppet (Noodles) teaches kids how to draw.

Were not making polemics [W]ere not making Hillarys Hard Drive Part 3: The Animated Series for little kids, said Boreing. Were making content that has underlying values that conservative Christians all agree upon, but that they actually want to see.

The Daily Wire offers several subscription tiers that provide access to video content, including $144/year, $240/year, or $14/month. The company has hundreds of thousands of subscribers, Boreing said.

In January 2021, The Daily Wire announced plans to produce films and signed a deal with Gina Carano, the actor who appeared in the first two seasons of Disney Plus The Mandalorian before Lucasfilm fired her over controversial social-media posts, one of which suggested that the treatment of conservatives in the U.S. was akin to the persecution of Jews in Nazi Germany. The Daily Wires film starring Carano, called Terror on the Prairie, is slated to be released this summer. The films synopsis reads, On the Montana plains, a frontier woman must protect herself against a ruthless gang of outlaws hell-bent on revenge.

The Daily Wire says it is wholly owned by Bentkey Ventures LLC (formerly Forward Publishing LLC), which is owned by Boreing, Shapiro, Daily Wire co-CEO Caleb Robinson and Farris Wilks, who co-founded a hydraulic fracking company with his brother Dan that they sold in 2011 for $3.5 billion.

Last week Daily Wire launched another new line of business  Jeremys Razors, which the company claims has sold 45,000-plus razor subscriptions in seven days. Daily Wire launched the razor brand after Harrys Razors a year ago pulled its advertising over anti-gay and anti-trans opinions in its shows.

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Summer of Soul producer and Academy Award-winner Joseph Patel has weighed in on The Slap, saying Will Smiths actions on the Oscars stage were selfish. Smith shocked viewers during Sundays live telecast when, in an unscripted moment, he approached the stage and smacked Chris Rock while the comedian was presenting the Best Documentary award.

It robbed the category of its moment, Patel wrote in a lengthy Twitter thread published Wednesday evening. It robbed the other excellent and amazing films of their moment to be acknowledged in what was a STRONG year for docs.

In another shocking revelation, Patel stated that, when announcing the Summer of Soul win, Chris Rock lumped me in as 1 of 4 white guys,'  Rock missed both Questloves moniker as well as the fact that Patel is not white during his introduction. Rocks comment can be clearly heard in footage posted to the Academy Awards official Twitter account as the Summer of Soul team stands to accept their award. Patel, who hails from the San Francisco Bay Area and resides in Brooklyn, identifies himself as being of South Asian descent.

Best Documentary Feature goes to 'Summer of Soul (Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).' Congratulations #Oscars pic.twitter.com/4RRClS7VVZ  The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 28, 2022

The reason that makes me SO SO VERY ANGRY is because I was so proud to be one of a handful of South Asians to have ever won an Oscar in the history of the award, Patel tweeted, noting he was the third South Asian to take home an Oscar that evening. Im a big boy  I can take a joke. Comedians make jokes. But not in that moment. What a shitty, disrespectful thing to do. Patel also stated that, while he recorded the telecast he didnt have the stomach to watch it upon returning home to New York and, due to Rocks remarks, probably never will.

The Oscars, and other awards shows for that matter, have long been criticized for its lack of diversity. In 2015, the trending #OscarsSoWhite ostensibly ushered in changes that addressed the imbalance. By 2020, the Academy made changes to address the issue, introducing new diversity and inclusion standards for Oscars Best Picture eligibility.

Still, while the organization has attempted to work toward inclusion with eligibility, Sundays Oscars indicated that honoring diversity goes further than what qualifies for eligibility to what is also projected at the ceremony itself, which reaches millions of people worldwide.

Patel said he was angry at both Rock and Smith, and angry for himself, Questlove, and their fellow filmmakers, and called Rock an absolute fucking dick for his part in ruining what should have been a celebration.

I never need a statue to tell me how nice I am  but it sure helps, Patel concluded, quoting A Tribe Called Quests 1993 single, Award Tour. And what both Will AND Chris did really stained what should have been a beautiful moment for us.

Following Smiths attack on Rock, the confrontation reverberated backstage in the Oscars press room, seemingly taking some of the shine off Questloves well-deserved moment, as a reporter asked Questlove about the vibe in the Dolby Theatre when he began his acceptance speech. Im not talking about that, he said, visibly frustrated. This is about the Harlem Cultural Festival. The day after the event, Smith  who won Best Actor later that night for his role as Richard Williams in King Richard  issued a public apology.

On Wednesday, the Academy announced it is in the midst of an investigation over the slap and the organization claimed it asked Smith to leave the awards show following his attack on Rock, but the actor refused.
Well-known Longford heritage site Oldtown House, Ardagh, has been awarded funding to conserve notable historic structures. The site was awarded funding for diverse reasons including essential repairs and repointing to chimneys, repairs of decaying roof timbers and eaves, removal of cementitious mortar to side elevation and the repair of tripartite sash window to basement.

A total of 4m was awarded nationwide through the Historic Structures Fund (HSF), administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in partnership with the 31 Local Authorities. The announcement follows that of 4m in funding under the Departments other built heritage grant scheme, the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, earlier this month.

In addition to supporting owners and custodians of historic and protected structures to safeguard and maintain their properties, this funding will also provide a welcome boost to conservation professionals and tradespeople, including in specialist heritage roles such as thatching and stone work. Following on from the successful introduction of the Historic Shopfront Stream last year, the HSF has again made funding available for a range of shopfronts including bars and pubs which operate in buildings of historical significance

Through grants of between 15,000 and 200,000, the HSF assists owners of heritage structures  including those on the local authorities Record of Protected Structures and those in Architectural Conservation Areas  to meet their obligations to care for their properties. The scheme provides assistance to a wide range of heritage structures  this years HSF includes awards to historic bridges, castles, churches, mills, libraries, shopfronts, and an old forge, as well as to private houses.

Minister of State for Local Government, Peter Burke, TD, also welcomed the announcement, stating:

"This years Historic Structures Fund will assist 78 owners and custodians of historic and protected structures across the country as they carry out hundreds of conservation projects to repair and safeguard our built heritage. I am particularly pleased to announce the awards made to vernacular structures and historic shopfronts following their successful pilot schemes last year. The continuation of the Historic Shopfront stream, investing in our historic townscapes in line with this Governments commitment of putting Town Centres First."

Minister Burke added: "These awards celebrate the richness and diversity of our built heritage and help to preserve our connections to past generations, in particular through their support of traditional building skills, which this Government is committed to investing in. These actions also help us to deliver on our commitments to built heritage under Heritage Ireland 2030, the national heritage plan which I launched earlier this year."

"The awards also have a welcome knock-on economic benefit by generating employment for heritage contractors and other skilled crafts and tradespeople across the country. As with the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, the success of the Historic Structures Fund is a result of the close working relationship between the Department and the Local Authorities, particularly the Architectural Conservation Officers, Heritage Officers and planning and administrative staff who make these schemes possible."
A Lithuanian man accused of allegedly stabbing another man during an altercation at an apartment in Longford town last year has been sent forward for trial.

Grigorijus Sibika (51), Top Flat,Keanes Garage, Strokestown Road, Longford was served with a book of evidence at last week's District Court sitting in connection to an incident at Top Flat, Stewarts, Strokestown Road, Longford on October 1, 2021.

Garda Linda O'Connell gave evidence of having served the accused with the book which, state solicitor Mark Connellan, contained three counts.

They included a Section 4 assault charge that Mr Sibika intentionally or recklessly caused serious harm to a male victim.

He was also charged with allegedly making a threat to kill and using a 12 inch knife to inflict serious injury contrary to Section 11 of the Firearms and Offensive Weapons Act 1990.

Speaking through an interpreter, Mr Sibika was remanded on bail and ordered to sign on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at Longford garda station.

Judge Bernadette Owens also gave Mr Sibika the alibi warning, advising him he had two weeks to inform the state solicitor if he intended to use an alibi during the course of his trial.

Mr Sibika was remaded on continuing bail ahead of a scheduled appearance at Longford Circuit Criminal Court on May 17.
The new digital hub co:worx Edgeworthstown in county Longford was today officially opened by Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Robert Troy TD.

Minister Troy said the hub is an example of one of the many innovative, vibrant, and sustainable hubs the Government is supporting in communities across the country. These hubs are an important resource that offer employees the chance to work closer to home while still benefitting from being in an office environment.

He added, co:worx will provide new workspaces through a combination of hot desks and discrete office formats. This will no doubt increase opportunities to do business, make connections and grow the local community in Edgeworthstown and indeed the surrounding areas. The Hub is an excellent example of what collaboration can achieve in a regional location and the invaluable work of voluntary groups, local authorities, and state agencies. I want to commend all who made todays opening possible, particularly the local groups whose ambition and vision has been realised today and from whom Im sure well see more to come in the future.

The facility, which can cater for up to 38 remote workers and start-up entrepreneurs, is an ambitious project for rural Ireland that has been realised by a local community with the support of local and national co-funders. It is housed within a former bank building in the centre of the town, which is owned by Longford County Council.

Longford County Council Cathaoirleach Cllr Peggy Nolan described the co:worx project as a fine example of what a town like Edgeworthstown can achieve in partnership with key local and national state agencies. It just goes to show that the sky is the limit for County Longford. Look what we can achieve when the right people join forces  repurposing this beautiful heritage building into a facility that will serve generations to come. Congratulations to the driving force behind this project Edgeworthstown Enterprise Hub Clg and all of the supporting partners.

Longford County Council Chief Executive Paddy Mahon added, The opening of co:worx Edgeworthstown is the realisation of a vote of confidence in both Edgeworthstown and County Longford as a great location to work, live and invest in. It will make a real difference to the quality of life on offer and allows people to live, work and participate locally in a meaningful way.

The hub is now a fantastic addition to Longford and Irelands Connected Hubs network. co:worx will offer affordable workspaces with a mix of offices, dedicated desks, hot-desks, and meeting rooms in a very central location, easily accessed by rail and road. The facility also has an event space and a POD/VOD cast studio. A dedicated Business Manager has been appointed and will be available to support users with all their needs.

This volunteer-led project is funded through the Regional Enterprise Development Fund, the LEADER Programme, the Town and Village Renewal Scheme, the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, and the Connected Hubs Fund, through the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; the Department of Rural and Community Development; the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Longford County Council.

On behalf of the Edgeworthstown Enterprise Hub Clg, Chairperson Hugh Quinn said: "We are proud to declare co:worx open for business. We were lucky to have an enthusiastic board and the help of several local and national agencies. Their advice and financial support gave us the confidence to deliver what is a first in County Longford and an enormous asset for our town and community.

The origins of this project began pre-COVID-19. Now this facility opens its doors to a changed Irish society. The Right to Request Remote Work Bill 2021 is part of the governments vision to make remote working a permanent feature of Ireland's workforce. The hub also demonstrates the vision of the transformational Town Centre First policy and Harnessing Digital - the Digital Ireland Framework.

co:worx is an excellent example of:

voluntary groups collaborating with their local authority and state agencies to develop an ambitious plan for their town,

breathing life back into a town centre by providing remote working infrastructure, and

creating economic opportunities with the potential to sustain a rural town into the future.

The values of co:worx align towards a common goal, the economic development and sustainability and participation of rural areas in Europes future - building confidence and creating innovation.

An educational partnership with the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) Learning Gate will also support the local community in accessing routes to higher education and connect local business with local talent. As a volunteer-led project, providing this type of access to the local community has been a key priority.

Further information on booking a workspace can be found at coworx.ie or by emailing Luiz@coworx.ie or calling 087 708 3914.
A new state of the art digital remote working hub has been opened in Edgeworthstown, the "home of innovation and a can do attitude".

That was the overarching message delivered earlier today as the eyes and ears of the wider public were given the chance to catch a first glimpse of co:worx, a 1m enterprise centre in the heart of the mid Longford town.

Cathaoirleach of Longford County Council Cllr Peggy Nolan said the end result was indicative of a community and urban centre that was very much on the crest of an economic wave.

"They have got a committee together of people that are like minded and who sees the value of what their town has to offer," she told of band of local volunteers who helped bring the project to fruition.

"This is the home of innovation and a can do attitude, the home of people of who won't let go and who will knock on every door possible to achieve what they want for the people that live in this town."

Cllr Nolan also singled out the part played by Longford County Council and a "forward thinking" executive spearheaded by its CEO Paddy Mahon.

Junior Enterprise Minister Robert Troy said the decision taken to purchase what was the town's former Ulster Bank premises in 2017 and transform it into the modern day and spacious facility it is today could not be understated.

"This is a special day for Edgeworthstown, a day when you bring to realisation and initiative and work that has been ongoing for the last number of years," he said.

"It's a day which sees bringing back to life what was an economic hub in the form of a bank, now a state of the art building which will be an economic hub for many years into the future," he told those in attendance.

"What you have done and achieved is magnificent.

"It's a great example of what can be achieved when you have collaboration between all the key stakeholders of community groups, Enterprise Ireland, local authority in working together to deliver for a community."

Hugh Quinn, Chairperson of Edgeworthstown Enterprise Hub Clg, the group behind the seven figure project said the move was as much about the town's last remaining bank as it was about enticing greater numbers to live and work in Edgeworthstown.

"In 2017 the Ulster Bank closed branch and 100 plus people were getting on the train every morning leaving to work elsewhere so we put our development heads together and came up with idea of turning this building into a remote working hub," he said.

Longford County Council chief executive Paddy Mahon said the upshot of today's final reveal would be evident for decades to come, describing the new centre as a "really, really significant" milestone in Edgeworthstown's economic future.
If there is one name thats synonymous with Longfords long established retail sector its the Davis.

The well respected and forward thinking family are celebrating the unveiling of their new look, ultra modern SuperValu store in a move which will see it become one of the most contemporary and customer focused stores in the country.

It comes after a nine week large-scale investment of its near 20,000 sq ft premises at the county towns Hazelwood Shopping Centre.

The impressive finished product was revealed last week amid much excitement and enthusiasm among customers and its 70 strong workforce alike.

Among the many new eye-catching additions include a fully furnished Scratch bakery that will provide fresh bread and cakes on a daily basis, making it the only bakery of its kind in the county.

A newly refurbished deli, together with a wide ranging upgrade of both the stores butchers and fish counters likewise form part of the stores striking new layout.

One of the most exciting improvements is the rollout of a new kitchen which will provide for the preparation of freshly made, ready cooked meals thereby taking the hassle out of cooking for busy households.

Throw in the introduction of a new, bespoke Happy Pear section which will offer customers the choice of healthier, plant based products, its not hard to see why Davis SuperValu is arguably Longfords leading grocery giant flagbearer.

Whats more, the store is now stocking a larger range of freshly cut cheese while its overriding belief in supporting local producers has seen it stock a wide array of products from the likes of O'Halloran's & Green's fresh eggs, Dromod Boxty, Richmond Cordial and St Mels Brewery.

In a further move and in keeping with the family run firms approach towards sustainability, the store has been fully retrofitted with LED energy saving lighting and modern energy efficient refrigeration.

Its that ethos in sustainability, evidenced by its biodegradable coffee cups and plastic bags, which has taken centre stage in the companys continuing drive to reduce its carbon footprint.

The remarkable overhaul coincides this year with the 65th anniversary of a family which can trace its retail lineage back no fewer than three generations.

Those origins can be traced back to 1957 when Fred and Amy Woods purchased a small shop on Ballymahon Street.

There, the husband and wife team converted the over the counter shop into the first self service store in the midlands.

When their eldest daughter Hazel married Ken Davis in 1964, aborted plans for the newly married couple to emigrate to New Zealand saw them take a leading role in the family business, where they remained until their retirement in 2010.

That came more than a decade and a half on from the business relocation from Ballymahon Street to the Market Square and more pivotally at a time which saw it join Irelands largest independently owned grocery and food distributor, SuperValu.

The familys unerring desire to set the benchmark for an industry it had already been immersed in for the best part of a half a century saw the Davis's acquire a property at Townspark Industrial Estate in 2006.

It was a transition which ultimately paved the way for the construction of an 18000 sq ft purpose built supermarket alongside 180 car parking spaces and additional units for rental.

Four years later, a decision by Hazel and Ken to bow out into retirement saw the couples son Roy and wife Hilary assume the reins of the firm.

More than a decade later, the seal on arguably the business most breathtaking of chapters is all but sealed.

As part of that feat, Roy and Hilary have taken time this week to acknowledge all those who played their part in its successful realisation.

They include Oscar Bacete the Store Designer in Musgraves, our SuperValu Regional Manager Eoghan Jones & Fresh Food Managers Denis Nolan & Enda Tobin and the fresh food team from SuperValu who provided training and advice on a new range of products.

Similar thanks were afforded to Tommy & Paul from Cloverhill who worked hard training the stores team of bakers in developing a new range of products for their in-store bakery now trading as Mrs D's.

Suppliers such as Coolrite Refrigeration, Domas Lighting, Storefit, Footfall, Quinlan Engineering, Kevin Wilson Ceiling & Walls, City Tilers, Blenders, Carthy Meats, Morgans Fresh Fish, Mark Leavy and his crew of merchandisers as well as the business own talented member of staff Pauline O'Reilly who provided the decorations and beautiful window displays for the opening.

The project wouldn't have been completed on time without the help of our plumber Steven Reilly and electrician John Farrell who burnt the midnight oil on many nights over the 9 weeks, said a plainly delighted Roy and Hilary.

There are many others who bailed us out during the renovation but we have to single out our manager Martina Craig and our wonderful staff who pulled out all the stops to get the shop ready for (last) Thursday.

We would also like to acknowledge our loyal customers who put up with the chaos over the past nine weeks and we hope you enjoy the new shopping experience at Davis SuperValu.

From the evidence over the past week and more, its an experience which looks set to revolutionise Longfords supermarket industry for not just years, but decades to come.

Davis SuperValu is open 7 days a week

Opening Times

Monday - Thursday 8.30am - 8pm

Friday 8.30am - 9pm

Saturday 8.30am - 8pm



Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday 10am - 7pm



Follow us on Facebook for offers https://www.facebook.com/SuperValuDavisLongford/

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(Alliance News) - The head of Britain's GCHQ spy agency is warning China not to become "too closely aligned" with Russia as it continues to pursue its path of aggression against Ukraine.

In a rare public address during a visit to Australia, Sir Jeremy Fleming will say President Vladimir Putin has made a "strategic miscalculation" over his assault on his neighbour.

And he will say that China's long-term interests are not well served by an alliance with a country that "wilfully and illegally" ignores the international "rules of the road".

His intervention comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week directly confronted President Xi Jinping over Beijing's stance on the conflict in Ukraine in what was described as a "frank and candid" discussion.

Speaking at the Australian National University in Canberra, Fleming will say that President Putin has made a clear "strategic choice" to align with China as it grows more powerful in direct opposition to the US.

From the Kremlin's point of view, it regards China in the current crisis as a supplier of weapons, a provider of technology, a market for its oil and gas and a means to circumvent sanctions.

However, Fleming will say President Xi  who has not publicly condemned the invasion  has a "more nuanced" view of the relationship.

With "an eye on retaking Taiwan", he would not want to do anything which might constrain his actions in future, while he may calculate that it actually helps him oppose the US.

At the same time, Beijing is taking the opportunity to purchase cheap Russian hydrocarbons while Moscow provides additional impetus and support to its digital markets and technology plans.

Fleming will however argue that there are risks for both sides  but particularly China  in becoming "too closely aligned".

"Russia understands that, long term, China will become increasingly strong militarily and economically. Some of their interests conflict; Russia could be squeezed out of the equation," he will say.

"And it is equally clear that a China that wants to set the rules of the road  the norms for a new global governance  is not well served by close alliance with a regime that wilfully and illegally ignores them all."

On Ukraine, Fleming will say GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre has seen "sustained intent" from Russia to disrupt Ukrainian government and military systems.

He will say there is the potential for a spillover into neighbouring countries, suggesting Russia's "cyber actors" are looking for targets in states that oppose their actions.

Nevertheless, he will say, it is increasingly clear that Mr Putin has "massively misjudged" the situation in Ukraine, from the impact of sanctions to the strength of the resistance and the ability of his forces to deliver a rapid victory.

"We've seen Russian soldiers  short of weapons and morale  refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft," he will say.

"And even though we believe Putin's advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what's going on and the extent of these misjudgments must be crystal clear to the regime.

"It all adds up to the strategic miscalculation that Western leaders warned Putin it would be. It's become his personal war, with the cost being paid by innocent people in Ukraine and, increasingly, by ordinary Russians too."

By Gavin Cordon, PA Whitehall Editor

source: PA

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Horizonte Minerals PLC - nickel company focused on Brazil - Completes iUSD65 million convertible notes issuance and the sale of royalty in its Vermelho project for USD25 million upfront. Confirms it has received all subscription amounts for the convertible notes, as well as the purchase price for the Vermelho royalty. Says that it has now received or completed the relevant funding for all aspects of funding package.

Horizonte Minerals announced its USD633 million funding package for the construction and production of its Araguaia project in November.

Current stock price: 6.84 pence, up 0.7% on Thursday

12-month change: down 25%

By Abby Amoakuh; abbyamoakuh@alliancenews.com

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
(Sharecast News) - London stocks were set to edge up at the open on Thursday, with oil prices in focus following news the US is considering releasing up to 180 million barrels from its reserves over several months.

The FTSE 100 was called to open around 11 points higher at 7,590.

Danske Bank said: "The Biden administration yesterday announced that it intends to use its strategic reserves to lower the oil price that has seen upward pressure after the Russian invasion. The administration is believed to release about 1 million barrels a day for several months from the reserves, which totalled 700 million barrels at end-January.

"The move is set to counter the reduced supply of Russian oil which exported about 8 million barrels a day before the war. The International Energy Agency will try to push other countries to release oil from their strategic reserves. The price of Brent oil fell about $4 a barrel to 108 overnight. OPEC+ will also be meeting today, where a key focus is whether they will raise its oil production to counter the loss of Russian oil supplies to the global markets."

In UK corporate news, Royal Bank of Canada is buying wealth manager Brewin Dolphin in a 1.6bn agreed deal.

The bank is paying 515p a share, a 62% premium to Wednesday's closing price. RBC added that it expected "limited" job losses in "functional and administrative areas".

Provident Financial reinstated its dividend as the subprime lender returned to profit after bad-debt provisions fell. Adjusted pre-tax profit was 64.8m in the year to the end of December compared with a 54.6m loss a year earlier as revenue fell to 534.6m from 615.4m.

Provident Financial declared a dividend of 12p a share. There was no dividend in 2020. The company said it expected to increase its payout ratio to about 40% in 2022 from 30% in 2021.

Statutory pre-tax profit was 4.1m compared with a 113.5m loss the year before. Bad-debt impairments dropped to 50.4m from 312.6m a year earlier.

Self-storage operator Safestore has acquired the remaining 80% of its Netherlands and Belgium-focussed joint venture with Carlyle Europe Realty.

Safestore said that it will part with a total of 139.0m in cash for the joint venture, including the share purchase of 67.0m, with a further 67.0m to go towards refinancing existing borrowings and another 5.0m to cover transfer taxes and other deal costs. The acquisition was funded from the group's existing loan facilities.
(Alliance News) - Ryanair Holdings PLC Chief Executive Michael O'Leary said Thursday he expected a strong rebound in the airline's activity but said the recovery was fragile due to Covid and the geopolitical situation.

O'Leary also told AFP he believed the Boeing Co's 737 MAX, which was grounded for 20 months following two fatal accidents, was "reestablishing its credibility".

The 737 MAX jetliner has been gradually returning to service since the end of 2020 following a crash in Indonesia in 2018 and another in Ethiopia five months later that together killed 346 people.

Speaking on the sidelines of an Airlines for Europe meeting in Brussels, O'Leary said the Ukraine war and soaring oil prices over supply fears posed a risk after several months of passenger numbers being hit by the pandemic.

"We were coming strong in February and then the Ukraine invasion has cost us probably a million passengers in February and March as well," he told AFP in an interview.

"So are we confident? No. But if there are no further significant disruptions, either Covid or Ukraine related, then I think there will be a very strong recovery, we could well get to 165 million passengers," he said.

He said that the airline, which flies mainly throughout Europe and to north Africa, had 65 737 MAX aircraft, which use 40% less kerosene.

O'Leary said travellers had reacted well to 55 of those planes now being back in operation.

"We thought there would be some customers hesitant to flying on a Boeing MAX. So we put up procedures. If you don't want to fly on the MAX, you can fly on the next available aircraft," he said.

But "not one passenger in six months" had done so.

He said that instead, passengers had welcomed more leg room, a "much quieter flying experience on board the aircraft".

"The MAX is re-establishing its credibility after the two-year hiatus after the Ethiopian and the Indonesian accidents," he said.

It "has now accomplished over a million flights in North America and Europe, and safety has gone away as an issue for the MAX aircraft", he said.

By Tangi Quemener

source: AFP

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi holds talks with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, March 30, 2022. Qureshi is here to attend the third meeting of foreign ministers of the countries neighboring Afghanistan. (Xinhua/Zhou Mu)

HEFEI, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks on Wednesday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.

Qureshi is in Tunxi, east China's Anhui Province, to attend the third meeting of foreign ministers of the countries neighboring Afghanistan.

In the face of the complex and volatile international and regional situation, the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between China and Pakistan has withstood the test and shown strong vitality, becoming an important factor in safeguarding regional peace and stability, Wang said.

No matter how the international situation changes, China will continue to view and promote China-Pakistan relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, support Pakistan in safeguarding its national sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity, and will be Pakistan's most reliable partner and strongest backer, Wang added.

Noting that Pakistan and China have supported each other in weal and woe and have never let each other down, Qureshi said Pakistan is ready to maintain sound communication with China, with the two nations firmly supporting each other in safeguarding their core interests.

The two sides exchanged views on deepening mutually beneficial cooperation and agreed to continue to promote the high-quality development of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Qureshi said Pakistan will make every effort to ensure the safety of Chinese institutions and personnel in Pakistan.

The two sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine issue.

Qureshi said that Pakistan and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) are deeply concerned about the multiple challenges brought by the spillover of the crisis to developing countries, and they advocate respecting international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and resolving disputes through diplomatic means.

Pakistan is willing to work with China to adopt a common position and make a unified voice, Qureshi added.

China and Pakistan, like other developing countries, adhere to the general direction of dialogue, negotiation and the restoration of peace, Wang said.

"Under the current circumstances, we should be especially vigilant against the negative spillover effects of the Ukraine crisis," Wang said. "We must not allow the Cold War mentality to resurface in Asia. We must not allow bloc confrontation to repeat in Asia. We must not allow small and medium-sized countries in the region to become tools or even victims of major-country rivalry."

He said China is ready to work with Pakistan and neighboring countries to play a constructive role in regional and world peace and stability.
Criteria JORC Code explanation Commentary

Mineral tenement and land tenure status  Type, reference name/number, location and ownership including agreements or material issues with third parties such as joint ventures, partnerships, overriding royalties, native title interests, historical sites, wilderness or national park and environmental settings.  The security of the tenure held at the time of reporting along with any known impediments to obtaining a licence to operate in the area. EL 8434 is located about 28km east of Broken Hill whilst EL 8435 is 16km east of Broken Hill. Both tenures are approximately 900km northwest of Sydney in far western New South Wales (Figure A1-2-1). EL 8434 and EL 8435 were both granted on the 2nd of June 2016 to Squadron Resources for a term of five (5) years for Group One Minerals. On the 25th of May 2020, Squadron Resources changed its name to Wyloo Metals Pty Ltd (Wyloo). In December 2020 the tenure was transferred from Wyloo Metals to Broken Hill Alliance Pty Ltd a 100% subsidiary company of Castillo Copper Limited. Both tenures were renewed on the 12th of August 2021 for a further six (6) years and are due to expire on the 2nd of June 2027. EL 8434 lies across two (2) 1:100,000 geology map sheets Redan 7233 and Taltingan 7234, and two (2) 1:250,000 geology map sheets, SI54-3 Menindee, and SH54-15 Broken Hill in the county of Yancowinna. EL 8434 consists of one hundred and eighty-six (186) units) in the Adelaide and Broken Hill 1:1,000,000 Blocks covering an area of approximately 580km2. EL 8435 is located on the 1:100,000 geology map sheet Taltingan 7234, and the 1:250,000 geology map sheet SH/54-15 Broken Hill in the county of Yancowinna. EL 8435 consists of twenty-two (22) units (Table 1) in the Broken Hill 1:1,000,000 Blocks covering an area of approximately 68km2. Access to the tenures from Broken Hill is via the sealed Barrier Highway. This road runs north-east to south-west through the northern portion of the EL 8434, passes the southern tip of EL 8435 eastern section and through the middle of the western section of EL 8435. Access is also available via the Menindee Road which runs north-west to south-east through the southern section of the EL 8434. The Orange to Broken Hill Rail line also dissects EL 8435 western section the middle and then travels north-west to south-east slicing through the eastern arm of EL 8434 (Figure A3-2-1). Figure B1: EL 8434 and EL 8434 General Location Map (Available to view on PDF version of the announcement)

Exploration done by other parties  Acknowledgment and appraisal of exploration by other parties. Explorers who were actively involved over longer historical periods in various parts of EL8434 were: - North Broken Hill Ltd, CRAE Exploration, Major Mining Ltd and Broken Hill Metals NL, Pasminco Exploration Ltd, Normandy Exploration Ltd, PlatSearch NL/Inco Ltd/ EGC Pty Ltd JV and the Western Plains Gold Ltd/PlatSearch/EGC Pty Ltd JV. A comprehensive summary of work by previous explorers was presented in Leyh (2009). However, more recently, follow-up field reconnaissance of areas of geological interest, including most of the prospective zones was carried out by EGC Pty Ltd over the various licenses. This work, in conjunction with a detailed interpretation of aeromagnetic, gravity plus RAB / RC drill hole logging originally led to the identification of at least sixteen higher priority prospect areas. All these prospects were summarized in considerable detail in Leyh (2008). Future work programs were then also proposed for each area. Since then, further compilation work plus detailed geological reconnaissance mapping and sampling of gossans and lode rocks has been carried out. A total of 22 prospects were then recognised on the exploration licence with at least 12 occurring in and around the tenure. With less than 15% outcropping Proterozoic terrain within the licence, this makes it very difficult to explore and is in the main very effectively screened from the easy application of more conventional exploration methodologies due to a predominance of extensive Cainozoic cover sequences. These include recent to young Quaternary soils, sands, clays and older more resistant, only partially dissected, Tertiary duricrust regolith covered areas. Depth of cover ranges from a few metres in the north to over 60 metres in some areas on the southern and central license. Exploration by EGC Pty Ltd carried out in the field in the first instance has therefore been heavily reliant upon time consuming systematic geological reconnaissance mapping and relatable geochemical sampling. These involve a slow systematic search over low outcropping areas, poorly exposed subcrops and float areas as well as the progressive development of effective regolith mapping and sampling tools. This work has been combined with a vast amount of intermittently acquired past exploration data. The recent data compilation includes an insufficiently detailed NSWGS regional mapping scale given the problems involved, plus some regionally extensive, highly variable, low-level stream and soil BLEG geochemical data sets over much of the area. There are also a few useful local detailed mapping grids at the higher priority prospects, and many more numerous widespread regional augers, RAB, and percussion grid drilling data sets. Geophysical data sets including ground magnetics, IP and EM over some prospect areas have also been integrated into the exploration models. These are located mainly in former areas of moderate interest and most of the electrical survey methods to date in this type of terrain continue to be of limited application due to the high degree of weathering and the often prevailing and complex regolith cover constraints. Between 2007 and 2014 Eaglehawk Geological Consulting has carried out detailed research, plus compilation and interpretation of a very large volume of historic exploration data sourced from numerous previous explorers and dating back to the early 1970's. Most of this data is in non-digital scanned form. Many hard copy exploration reports (see references) plus several hundred plans have been acquired from various sources, hard copy printed as well as downloaded as scans from the Geological Survey of NSW DIGS system. They also conducted field mapping, costean mapping and sampling, and rock chip sampling and analysis. Work Carried out by Squadron Resources and Whyloo Metals 2016-2020 Research during Year 1 by Squadron Resources revealed that the PGE-rich, sulphide-bearing ultramafic rocks in the Broken Hill region have a demonstrably alkaline affinity. This indicates a poor prospectivity for economic accumulations of sulphide on an empirical basis (e.g., in comparison to all known economic magmatic nickel sulphide deposits, which have a dominantly tholeiitic affinity). Squadron instead directed efforts toward detecting new Broken Hill-Type (BHT) deposits that are synchronous with basin formation. Supporting this modified exploration rationale are the EL's stratigraphic position, proximity to the Broken Hill line of lode, abundant mapped alteration (e.g., gahnite and/or garnet bearing exhalative units) and known occurrences such as the "Sisters" and "Iron Blow" prospects. The area overlies a potential magmatic Ni-Cu-PGE source region of metasomatised sub-continental lithospheric mantle (SCLM) identified from a regional targeting geophysical data base. The exploration model at the time proposed involved remobilization of Ni-Cu-PGE in SCLM and incorporation into low degree mafic-ultramafic partial melts during a post-Paleoproterozoic plume event and emplacement higher in the crust as chonoliths/small intrusives - Voisey's Bay type model. Programs were devised to use geophysics and geological mapping to locate secondary structures likely to control and localise emplacement of Ni-Cu-PGE bearing chonoliths. Since EL8434 was granted, the following has been completed:  Airborne EM survey.  Soil and chip sampling.  Data compilation.  Geological and logistical reconnaissance.  Community consultations; and  Execution of land access agreements. Airborne EM Survey Geotech Airborne Limited was engaged to conduct an airborne EM survey using their proprietary VTEM system in 2017. A total of 648.92-line kilometres were flown on a nominal 200m line spacing over a portion of the project area. Several areas were infilled to 100m line spacing. The VTEM data was interpreted by Southern Geoscience Consultants Pty Ltd, who identified a series of anomalies, which were classified as high or low priority based on anomaly strength (i.e., does the anomaly persist into the latest channels). Additionally, a cluster of VTEM anomalies at the "Sisters" prospect have been classified separate due to strong IP effects observed in the data. Geotech Airborne have provided an IP corrected data and interpretation of the data has since been undertaken. Soil and Chip sampling The VTEM anomalies were followed up by a reconnaissance soil sampling programme. Spatially clustered VTEM anomalies were grouped, and follow-up soil lines were designed. Two (2) VTEM anomalies were found to be related to culture and consequently no soils were collected. Two (2) other anomalies were sampled which were located above thick alluvium of Stephens Creek and were therefore not sampled. A line of soil samples was collected over a relatively undisturbed section at Iron Blow workings and the Sisters Prospect. One hundred and sixty-six (166) soil samples were collected at a nominal 20cm depth using a 2mm aluminium sieve. Two (2) rock chips were also collected during this program. The samples were collected at either 20m or 40m spacing over selected VTEM anomalies. The samples were pulverised and analysed by portal XRF at ALS laboratories in Perth. Each site was annotated with a "Regolith Regime" such that samples from a depositional environment could be distinguished from those on exposed Proterozoic bedrock, which were classified as an erosional environment. The Regolith Regime groups were used for statistical analysis and levelling of the results. The levelled data reveals strong relative anomalies in zinc at VTEM anomaly clusters 10, 12 and 14 plus strong anomalous copper at VTEM 17.

Geology  Deposit type, geological setting, and style of mineralisation. Regional Geology The Broken Hill polymetallic deposits are located within Curnamona Province (Willyama Super group) (Figure A3-2-2) that hosts several world-class deposits of lead, zinc, silver, and copper. The Willyama Supergroup consists of highly deformed metasedimentary schists and gneisses with abundant quartz-feldspathic gneisses, lesser basic gneisses, and minor 'lode' rocks which are quartz-albite and calc-silicate rocks (Geoscience Australia, 2019). Prograde metamorphism ranges from andalusite through sillimanite to granulite grade (Stevens, Barnes, Brown, Stroud, & Willis, 1988). Regionally, the tenures are situated in Broken Hill spatial domain which extends from far western New South Wales into eastern South Australia. The Broken Hill Domain hosts several major fault systems and shear zones, which were formed by various deformation events and widespread metamorphism which has affected the Willyama Supergroup (Figure A1-2-3). Major faults in the region include the Mundi Mundi Fault to the west of Broken Hill, the Mulculca Fault to the east, and the Redan Fault to the south. Broken Hill is also surrounded by extensive shear zones including the Stephens Creek, Globe-Vauxhall, Rupee, Pine Creek, Albert, and Thackaringa-Pinnacles Shear Zones. Figure B2: Regional Stratigraphy (Available to view on PDF version of the announcement) Figure B3: Regional Geological Map (Available to view on PDF version of the announcement) There are over twenty (20) rock formations mapped within the project area. Parts of the project area are covered by Quaternary alluvium, sands, and by Tertiary laterite obscuring the basement geology. Within the Lower to Middle Proterozoic Willyama Supergroup (previously Complex) there are two (2) groups, the Thackaringa Group, and the younger Broken Hill Group (Colquhoun, et al., 2019). Local Geology A summary of the units that host or appear to host the various mineralisation styles within EL 8434 and EL 8435 is given below. Broken Hill Group The Hores Gneiss is mostly comprised of quartz-feldspar-biotite-garnet gneiss, interpreted as metadacite with some minor metasediments noted. An age range from Zircon dating has been reported as 1682-1695Ma (Geoscience Australia, 2019). The Allendale Metasediments unit contains mostly metasedimentary rocks, dominated by albitic, pelitic to psammitic composite gneiss, including garnet-bearing feldspathic composite gneiss, sporadic basic gneiss, and quartz-gahnite rock. Calc-silicate bodies can be found at the base of the unit and the formation's average age is 1691 Ma (Geoscience Australia, 2019). Thackaringa Group The Thorndale Composite Gneiss is distinguished by mostly gneiss, but also migmatite, amphibolite, and minor magnetite. The age of this unit is >1700Ma (Geoscience Australia, 2019) and is one of the oldest formations in the Group. The Cues Formation is interpreted as a deformed sill-like granite, including Potosi-type gneiss. Other rock-types include pelitic paragneiss, containing cordierite. The average age: ca 1700-1730 Ma. (Stevens, Barnes, Brown, Stroud, & Willis, 1988). Other rock types include mainly psammo-pelitic to psammitic composite gneisses or metasedimentary rocks, and intercalated bodies of basic gneiss. This unit is characterised by stratiform horizons of granular garnet-quartz +/-magnetite rocks, quartz-iron oxide/sulphide rocks and quartz-magnetite rocks (Geoscience Australia, 2019). This is a significant formation as it hosts the Pinnacles Ag-Pb-Zn massive sulphide deposit along with widespread Fe-rich stratiform horizons. The protolith was probably sandy marine shelf sedimentary rocks. An intrusion under shallow cover was syn-depositional. The contained leuco-gneisses and Potosi-type gneisses are believed to represent a felsic volcanic or volcaniclastic protolith. Basic gneisses occur in a substantial continuous interval in the middle sections of the Formation, underlain by thinner, less continuous bodies. They are moderately Fe-rich (abundant orthopyroxene or garnet) and finely layered, in places with pale feldspar-rich layers, and are associated with medium-grained quartz-feldspar-biotite-garnet gneiss or rock which occurs in thin bodies or pods ('Potosi-type' gneiss). A distinctive leucocratic quartz-microcline-albite(-garnet) gneiss (interpreted as meta-rhyolite) occurs as thin, continuous, and extensive horizons, in several areas. The sulphide-bearing rocks may be lateral equivalents of, or associates of Broken Hill type stratiform mineralisation. Minor layered garnet-epidote-quartz calc-silicate rocks occur locally within the middle to basal section. The unit is overlain by the Himalaya Formation. The Cues Formation is intruded by Alma Granite (Geoscience Australia, 2019). The Himalaya Formation (Figure A3-2-4) consists of medium-grained saccharoidal leucocratic psammitic and albitic meta-sedimentary rocks (average age 1700Ma). The unit comprises variably interbedded albite-quartz rich rocks, composite gneiss, basic gneiss, horizons of thinly bedded quartz-magnetite rock. Pyrite-rich rocks occur at the base of the formation (Geoscience Australia, 2019). It is overlain by the Allendale Metasediments (Broken Hill Group). The Himalaya Formation hosts cobalt-rich pyritic horizons at Pyrite Hill and Big Hill. The protolith is probably sandy marine shelf sedimentary rocks with variable evaporitic or hypersaline component. Plagioclase-quartz rocks are well-bedded (beds 20 - 30mm thick), with rare scour-and-fill and cross-bedded structures. Thin to thick (0.5 - 10m) horizons of thinly bedded quartz-magnetite rock also occur with the plagioclase-quartz rocks. In some areas the formation consists of thin interbeds of plagioclase-quartz rocks within meta-sedimentary rocks or metasedimentary composite gneiss (Geoscience Australia, 2019). Lady Brassey Formation which is well-to-poorly-bedded leucocratic sodic plagioclase-quartz rock, as massive units or as thick to thin interbeds within psammitic to pelitic metasedimentary composite gneisses. A substantial conformable basic gneiss. It overlies both Mulculca Formation and Thorndale Composite Gneiss. Part of the formation was formerly referred to as Farmcote Gneiss in the Redan geophysical zone of Broken Hill Domain - a zone in which the stratigraphy has been revised to create the new Rantyga Group (Redan and Ednas Gneisses, Mulculca Formation, and the now formalised Farmcote Gneiss). Lady Louise Suite This unit is approximately 1.69Ma in age comprising amphibolite, quartz-bearing, locally differentiated to hornblende granite, intrusive sills, and dykes, metamorphosed, and deformed; metabasalt with pillows (Geoscience Australia, 2019). Annadale Metadolerite is basic gneisses, which includes intervening metasedimentary rocks possibly dolerite (Geoscience Australia, 2021). Rantya Group Farmcote Gneiss contains metasedimentary rocks and gneiss and is a new unit at the top of Rantyga Group. It is overlain by the Cues Formation and Thackaringa Group, and it overlies the Mulculca Formation. The age of the unit is between 1602 to 1710Ma. Mulculca Formation is abundant metasedimentary composite gneiss, variable sodic plagioclase-quartz-magnetite rock, quartz-albite-magnetite gneiss, minor quartz-magnetite rock common, minor basic gneiss, albite-hornblende-quartz rock (Geoscience Australia, 2019). Ednas Gneiss contains quartz-albite-magnetite gneiss, sodic plagioclase-quartz-magnetite rock, minor albite-hornblende-quartz rock, minor quartzo-feldspathic composite gneiss. It is overlain by Mulculca Formation. Silver City Suite Formerly mapped in the Thackaringa Group this new grouping accommodates the metamorphosed and deformed granites. A metagranite containing quartz-feldspar-biotite gneiss with variable garnet, sillimanite, and muscovite, even-grained to megacrystic, elongate parallel to enclosing stratigraphy. It occurs as sills and intrudes both the Thackeringa Group and the Broken Hill Group. This unit is aged between 1680 to 1707Ma. Torrowangee Group Mulcatcha Formation comprises flaggy, quartzose sandstone with lenticular boulder and arkosic sandstone beds. Yangalla Formation contains boulder beds, lenticular interbedded siltstone, and sandstone. It overlies the Mulcatcha Formation (Geoscience Australia, 2020). Sundown Group The Sundown Group contains Interbedded pelite, psammopelitic and psammitic metasedimentary rocks and it overlies the Broken Hill Group. The unit age is from 1665 to 1692Ma (Figure A1-2-4). There is also an unnamed amphibolite in Willyama Supergroup, which present typically medium grained plagioclase and amphibole or pyroxene rich stratiform or discordant dykes. Figure B4: EL 8434 and EL 8435 Solid Geology (Available to view on PDF version of the announcement)

Drill hole Information  A summary of all information material to the understanding of the exploration results including a tabulation of the following information for all Material drill holes: o easting and northing of the drill hole collar o elevation or RL (Reduced Level - elevation above sea level in metres) of the drill hole collar o dip and azimuth of the hole o down hole length and interception depth o hole length.  If the exclusion of this information is justified on the basis that the information is not Material and this exclusion does not detract from the understanding of the report, the Competent Person should clearly explain why this is the case.  No new drillholes have been completed yet.

Data aggregation methods  In reporting Exploration Results, weighting averaging techniques, maximum and/or minimum grade truncations (e.g., cutting of high grades) and cut-off grades are usually Material and should be stated.  Where aggregate intercepts incorporate short lengths of high-grade results and longer lengths of low-grade results, the procedure used for such aggregation should be stated and some typical examples of such aggregations should be shown in detail.  The assumptions used for any reporting of metal equivalent values should be clearly stated.  No new laboratory assays are reported in this announcement; however, a visit is in progress to the GSNSW core library to relog and resample six (6) drillholes completed across EL 8434 and 8435. Portable XRF readings are being used to identify sections of core to be resampled.

Relationship between mineralisation widths and intercept lengths  These relationships are particularly important in the reporting of Exploration Results.  If the geometry of the mineralisation with respect to the drill hole angle is known, its nature should be reported.  If it is not known and only the down hole lengths are reported, there should be a clear statement to this effect (e.g. 'down hole length, true width not known').  As a database of all the historical borehole sampling has not yet been compiled and validated (in progress) it is uncertain if there is a relationship between the surface sample anomalies to any subsurface anomalous intersections. Mineralisation is commonly associated with shears, faults, amphibolites, and pegmatitic intrusions within the shears, or on or adjacent to the boundaries of the Himalaya Formation.  No existing geological 3D models exist but preliminary investigation has shown that sufficient data may be available to generate a small resource of cobalt or copper.

Diagrams  Appropriate maps and sections (with scales) and tabulations of intercepts should be included for any significant discovery being reported These should include, but not be limited to a plan view of drill hole collar locations and appropriate sectional views.  Current surface anomalies are shown on maps in the report. All historical surface sampling has had their coordinates converted to MGA94, Zone 54.

Balanced reporting  Where comprehensive reporting of all Exploration Results is not practicable, representative reporting of both low and high grades and/or widths should be practiced to avoid misleading reporting of Exploration Results.  All portable XRF readings have been included. Regarding the surface sampling, no results other than duplicates, blanks or reference standard assays have been omitted.

Other substantive exploration data  Other exploration data, if meaningful and material, should be reported including (but not limited to): geological observations; geophysical survey results; geochemical survey results; bulk samples - size and method of treatment; metallurgical test results; bulk density, groundwater, geotechnical and rock characteristics; potential deleterious or contaminating substances.  Historical explorers have also conducted airborne and ground gravity, magnetic, EM, and IP resistivity surveys over parts of the tenure area but this is yet to be fully georeferenced (ground IP surveys).
Manchester, VT (05254)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. High 62F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy. Low near 40F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph.
MANISTEE  Joseph "Chip"Johnston, the executive director of Centra Wellness Network will be a panelist at a national mental health conference in Washington, D.C.

The conference is called Redefined, a rural mental health summit on April 10.

Johnston has been the director of Centra Wellness Network for the past 13 years, according to a press release from Centra Wellness. As the head of a mental health organization in Manistee and Benzie counties, Johnston has always said he believes its important to be representing rural mental health services.

"Since taking his first job in mental health over 32 years ago, Johnston has stated that mental health services has been a passion. Making sure that people who need help get the services, no matter where they are (and that Centra Health is able to) remove barriers," the press release stated.

Johnston told the News Advocate he "was excited to get attention for rural mental health care at a national level."

He said that in his 30-year career, this was the first time he felt he has a big stage to put rural mental healthcare as an issue of national importance.

Johnston noted that much of the way mental health service is delivered works for urban settings but often neglects the needs of rural communities. He noted the approach to delivery of services needs to be very different in rural areas, than the way it would be done it cities.

He noted that many cities -- particularly those that are densely populated -- can do a lot of the work by themselves without necessarily needing to collaborate with other entities like the sheriff's department. In rural healthcare, he said that is not the case.

Johnston said that there has been little focus on delivery of mental health services at the national level. He noted when it came to groups that have have studied substance abuse issues, about 7 out of 300 studies had any focus in regards to rural areas.

However, the conference in Washington, D.C. gives him an opportunity to change that.

Its at the embryonic stages, Im just excited to get attention on it at the national level, Johnston said.

The conference will allow him and other rural mental health organization leaders from South Dakota, Minnesota and other sparsely populated areas to brainstorm the best ways to improve delivery of mental health services in those areas.

In the past couple decades Johnston said that Centra Wellness Network, which was formerly known as Manistee-Benzie Community Mental Health, stresses the importance of customer services such as supports, treatment and access to community employment, and social skills building.

The press release said Johnston has made every opportunity to build a cohesive team and instill that cohesiveness in a team with a high level of customer services.

Members of the conference committee reached out to Johnston as a potential presenter in order to provide information on the difficulties of managing a small two county community mental health agency during times of high stress including fear of COVID and threats of statewide privatization of services.

Centra Wellness represents two rural communities that have little industry, poverty, housing crisis, and is in an area high with opioid overdoses and addictions.

A basic principle that Johnston applied upon taking on the top leadership role was to be part of the community. Whenever and wherever possible Centra Wellness works in partnership with community partners.

Being such a small agency, with high demands, the organization understood it had a need for community partners, and that was the basis for building strong community relationships.

Johnston said when it comes to mental healthcare in rural ares, "you can't do it alone ... (you have to) partner with the sheriff ... to have a collaborative approach."
A masked man broke into the Beckham family mansion in London while David Beckham, his wife Victoria and their 10-year-old daughter Harper Seven were inside.

The burglary was discovered by their 17-year-old son Cruz, who returned home after a night out with his friends, when he spotted a broken window in a guest room.

"Sadly, the Beckhams were the victims of some fairly professional thieves who have been operating in the area," a source told The Sun.

"Fortunately, the criminals only made it as far as one bedroom before they ran off."

According to the Daily Mail, the burglar broke a window on the upper floor of the family home which is valued at more than 47 million euros.

Beckham called the police

The former England international called the police and immediately began to search the mansion in case the burglar was still inside.

However, the man managed to escape after stealing thousands of euros of designer and electric goods, while that same night there were another two robberies in the same area.

Second attempt

Back in 2018, burglars targeted the Beckham family's Cotswolds country mansion, as three hooded men tried to break into the house valued at 6.7 million dollars.

The thieves, who took advantage of the fact that the Beckham couple was traveling to Australia, were recorded by the security cameras while trying to climb the facade with a ladder in their attempt to enter through a window.

However, the security system worked and the thieves were forced to escape before the police arrived.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, millions of Ukrainians have fled the country to produce the largest refugee crisis seen in Europe since 1960. In that time there have been some other forced displacements that were even larger than the current one in Ukraine, but the 2022 crisis could soon surpass all others.

Currently, there have been four million people who have fled Ukraine since the invasion started in February, according to data from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

As seen in the below infographic from Statista, roughly 2.3 million of them have gone to neighbouring Poland, while others have gone to Romania, Moldova, Slovakia and Hungary. Others have even fled to Russia or Belarus, despite their role in the start of the conflict.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Despite the ongoing peace talks and the optimism they invite, the UNHCR estimates that 12 million people in Ukraine and four million refugees will require relief and protection over the rest of 2022. That four million number could, therefore, increase further, depending on how the situation plays out.

You will find more infographics at Statista

The largest refugee crises in history

Already, according to

, the Ukrainian forced displacement of 2022 has overtaken the two Taliban-related refugee crises of 1996 to 2011 and of 2002 to 2021, as well as that related to the Derg regime between 1974 and 1991.

Looking at peak number of refugees, Ukraine's situation is already fifth in the list of all those since 1960, even though the current conflict has only lasted a few weeks so far and not years.

Therefore, the Ukraine refugee crisis could soon overtake the only four that are above it in terms of number of refugees.

Those are the 5.1 million who fled Venezuela due to economic and political turmoil, the 5.6 million who left Afghanistan between 1979 and 1989 due to the Afghan-Soviet war, the 6.3 million who left Afghanistan between 1989 and 1996 due to civil war and the 6.9 million who have fled Syria because of the civil war taking place there since 2011 to now.
Conor McGregor has discussed about his humble upbringing in Ireland and his transition from being a plumber into becoming one of the greatest UFC fighters of all time.

The 33-year-old boxer revealed that he spent almost two years working as a plumber in Ireland and claimed that there were certain lessons that he learned from his first-ever trade.

"There's no chasing your dreams and doing what you want to do, get a trade or get in and do a job," McGregor said, according to Essentially Sports.

"So, I got the first trade that came my way, which was plumbing. I mean, I spent 18 months doing that and I'm looking around the site. And I'm looking at the fully qualified people you know, bad backs and bad posture.

"When I walked out of the job, I left the plumbing. Obviously, me man and I weren't too happy, you know what I mean so but over time they saw the amount of work I put in almost hardened me. I'm the hardest working athlete on this island."

Dream big

McGregor has always insisted that in order to achieve your objective you always chase your dreams, believing that the most successful people are those who dream big.

"I believe it's very important not just to have dreams, but to recognise what your dream is and what you are passionate about, and never give up on your dream," he said back in 2016.

"To those who are looking to win this competition, show up, speak passionately about where you want to go, who you want to meet, and the person with the most passion and dedication to their craft will shine through. So make sure to dream big.

"To have people look up at me and take inspiration from what I'm doing, that's something I take great, great pride in."
Vijay Devarakonda, who gained recognition post the success of Sandeep Reddy Vanga's Arjun Reddy, is one of South Indian cinema's most popular stars. After establishing himself as a leading star of regional cinema, the actor is making his Bollywood debut with the pan-India film Liger co-starring Ananya Panday.

Besides Arjun Reddy, the actor has also delivered films like NOTA, Taxiwaala, Dear Comrade, World Famous Lover among others and is known for living a luxurious lifestyle. After tasting success as an actor, Vijay also turned producer a few years ago and bought a luxurious bungalow worth Rs 15 crores at Jubilee Hills, one of the posh localities in Hyderabad in 2019.

The actor moved into the residence with his parents, Devarakonda Govardhan Rao and Deverakonda Madhavi, as well as his brother, actor Anand Deverakonda, and Storm Deverakonda, a Siberian husky.

The interior design of the house is a blend of modern and classic elements. The poster of Vijay Arjun Reddy as well as other art pieces are displayed on one of the walls. The multi-storey property is surrounded by woods and features a magnificent entry and a huge open terrace, giving it the ideal space for a modest gathering. The bungalow also has a swanky bar and breathtaking balcony.

Below, take a look at some inside pictures from Vijay's luxurious bungalow:





Isn't it beautiful? Let us know in the comments section below.



On the career front, Vijay's next release, Liger, is slated to release in theatres later this year, on August 25. Directed by Puri Jagannadh and produced by Dharma Productions and Puri Connects, the pan-India film is expected to be released in Hindi and Telugu. It will also be dubbed in Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam.

After Liger, he is teaming up with Jagannadh for another project, titled Jana Gana Mana (JGM).
The 94th Academy Awards will go down in the history as one of the most criticised ceremonies for the way it handled the show flow, in general, and also one of the most controversial due to actor Will Smith losing his cool over Chris Rocks joke on his wife and actress Jada Pinkett Smith and slapping him on stage.

Soon after the video clip of the incident went viral, many called out The Academy for not escorting Smith out of the ceremony who went on to win the Best Actor award to a standing ovation from the whos who of the industry.

 The Academy

Now, The Academy has released a statement where it has been revealed that it did ask Will Smith to leave the Oscars ceremony immediately after the incident but the star refused.



The Academy also admitted that they couldve handled the situation better and have initiated disciplinary action against the King Richard star.

The statement read, While we would like to clarify that Mr Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently. The Board of Governors today initiated disciplinary proceedings against Mr Will Smith for violations of the Academy's Standards of Conduct, including inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behaviour, and compromising the integrity of the Academy.

"Mr Smith is being provided at least 15 days' notice of a vote regarding his violations and sanctions, and the opportunity to be heard beforehand by means of a written response. At the next board meeting on April 18, the Academy may take any disciplinary action, which may include suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct.

 The Academy

Meanwhile, Jim Carrey shared his thoughts with CBS Mornings about the slap, I was sickened. I was sickened by the standing ovation, felt like Hollywood is just spineless en masse. And it just - it really felt like, 'Oh, this is a really clear indication that we're not the cool club anymore.



He added that hed have sued Will Smith if he was at Chris Rocks place, I'd have announced this morning that I was suing Will for $200 million because that video was going to be there forever. It's going to be ubiquitous. You know, that insult is going to last a very long time. If you want to yell from the audience and disapprove or show a disapproval or say something on Twitter or whatever - you do not have the right to walk up on stage and smack somebody in the face because they said words.
March 31, 2022

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has established the Good Faith Negotiation Guidelines for Standard Essential Patent Licenses. The Guidelines are the norms of good faith negotiations provided by the Japanese government to be followed by SEP holders and implementers involved in SEP licensing negotiations, including Japanese patents.

In recent years, disputes have arisen worldwide on licensing Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) due to the widespread use of standards and the complication of technologies required for such standards. In particular, as the Fourth Industrial Revolution progresses in which many products will be computerized and processing data will create new added-value, SEP licensing among different industries, especially those in which Japan has strengths (e.g., automobiles, construction machinery and factories), is expected to expand in the future. Therefore, it is crucial for Japan to consider measures to resolve such disputes efficiently.

In light of this situation, the Competition Enhancement Office and the Intellectual Property Policy Office of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) held the Study Group on Licensing Environment of Standard Essential Patents (hereinafter referred to as the Study Group). The Study Group, comprised of representatives from industry and experts on intellectual property and competition law, has discussed the measures preferable for Japan. Considering problems faced by SEP holders and implementers caused by low predictability and transparency due to the absence of clear rules on the SEP licensing negotiations as well as international trends, METI indicated that the Japanese government will promptly consider and externally disseminate the rules on good faith negotiations that should be complied with by both SEP holders and implementers in the interim report of the Study Group published in July 2021, so that good faith negotiations between the parties may encourage early settlements and avoidance of unnecessary disputes, leading to the development of Japanese industries.

Following this policy, METI asked domestic and foreign companies, etc., about their opinions on actions at each of the main steps of SEP licensing negotiations, and METI also asked opinions on the same contents on the website. The Study Group discussed good faith negotiations with reference to these opinions. METI then established the Good Faith Negotiation Guidelines for Standard Essential Patent Licenses (hereinafter referred to as the Guidelines), considering the results of the discussions. METI also published a report that indicates the process of discussions to establish the Guidelines in the Study Group.

The Guidelines are the norms of good faith negotiations provided by the Japanese government to be followed by SEP holders and implementers involved in SEP licensing negotiations, including Japanese patents, to realize an appropriate licensing environment through improvement of transparency and predictability of the negotiations. The Guidelines are not legally binding and do not guarantee that, even if followed, negotiations can be judged to be in good faith in each individual case as there are no clear global rules for SEP licensing negotiations. However, METI expects that various parties related to SEP licensing negotiations, such as those in the negotiations and the judiciary, utilize the Guidelines, because METI established the Guidelines considering opinions of domestic and foreign companies, etc., industries and experts on intellectual property and competition law in Japan. METI will also utilize the Guidelines to realize an appropriate licensing environment of SEPs.

Good Faith Negotiation Guidelines for Standard Essential Patent Licenses

Related documents

Related Links

Division in Charge

Competition Enhancement Office, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau

Intellectual Property Policy Office, Economic and Industrial Policy Bureau
Chris Buckley was a member of the Ku Klux Klan, addicted to hatred after his deployment with the Kentucky National Guard to Afghanistan. There, he saw his best friend killed.

Daniel died in my arms while I was trying to push his brain back into his skull, he told lawmakers Thursday at a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on extremism.

After his traumatizing experience in Afghanistan, and his own injuries, he was led down a dark road laced with drug addiction and a hatred for Muslims. He had suicidal thoughts, even reaching out for help from the Department of Veterans Affairs, but received little more than pills.

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I would still have been a KKK member had it not been for the intervention of my wife, he said. My 4-year-old son had started asking for his own KKK outfit. And my wife had just had enough. She suffered as I suffered, and I was about to pass my sufferings to my young innocent son, too. She gave me an ultimatum: it was going to be either her and my son or KKK and the drugs.

He says hes ashamed of his association with white supremacy and now aims to deradicalize other veterans.

Buckley is just one of what many advocates fear is a growing roster of veterans and current service members becoming radicalized. One study by a Washington think tank found that between 2019 and 2020, the percentage of domestic terrorism attacks committed by active-duty and reserve personnel quadrupled.

Theres no singular pipeline to falling into extremism. Instead, its a multi-pronged problem consisting of dishonest media leading consumers down an algorithm-powered rabbit hole to more radical personalities peddling conspiracy theories and disinformation often backed by foreign adversaries - namely Russia and China.

Social media personalities promote veterans and the veteran brand to develop large followings under the guise of supporting the troops, said Chris Purdy, director for veterans for American ideals and outreach at Human Rights First, an advocacy organization. Status became something that could be packaged, marketed and sold on a T-shirt or in a bag of coffee.

Theres scant evidence veterans are more or less prone to fall into extremism. However, experts have warned they can serve as force multipliers with the inherent credibility veterans often bring to groups. Even those with short military careers with minimal combat training can still prove dangerous.

We found that among far-right terrorists active during the 1980s and 1990s, approximately one-third had military experience, Peter Simi, associate professor of sociology at Chapman University in California, told lawmakers.

Some estimates found 12% of individuals arrested on charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol were veterans. That attack, fueled by conspiracy theories of a fraudulent election peddled by then-President Donald Trump, prompted widespread concerns over how pervasive extremism is within the ranks and in the veteran community.

I was horrified and angry to find out how many veterans were among the insurrectionists that day, Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz, said. Veterans were overrepresented among those insurrectionists.

Yet the military has had its own problem disciplining those who took part in the assault. Pfc. Abram Markofski, a Wisconsin National Guard infantryman, was found guilty for being a part of the mob that sought to subvert the peaceful transition of power. Despite that, he is being allowed to continue his service in the military.

Veterans are being increasingly recruited by far-right groups, like the Oath Keepers, who, on the lead-up to the Capitol assault, went through a military-inspired planning process and built up arms at a nearby hotel to prepare for what they thought would become an insurgency to keep Trump in power, despite losing the election.

I was on the House floor when the Capitol was attacked. It was my Marine training that kicked in and allowed me to help the other members on the floor to put on their gas masks, keep calm and unfortunately prepare to fight. Other members who are veterans helped as well, Gallego said. Many of the Capitol police officers are veterans as well. I was grateful there were veterans in the Capitol to fight for our colleagues and defend democracy.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

Related: Inside the Oath Keepers' Plan for an Armed Takeover of the US Capitol
The Army released the name late Wednesday of an officer who died at Fort Stewart, Georgia, on Tuesday morning in an incident involving two HH-60 helicopters.

Capt. James Bellew, 26, was found dead at the site of the incident at Wright Army Airfield. A spokesperson for the base declined to comment on if there were other soldiers injured, what the condition of the two helicopters are, or what led to Bellews death.

Bellew, a medical officer, entered the Army in 2017. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division. He had served at Fort Stewart since 2018, after previously being stationed at Camp Casey, South Korea.

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The loss of James is an immeasurable tragedy to his family, friends, crew and fellow soldiers, Col. Eric Vanek, the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade commander said in a statement issued to the press.

Bellew was a platoon leader in his company where his daily duties included medical evacuations at Fort Stewart, including moving critically ill COVID-19 patients to off-post medical facilities, according to a statement from the service.

His awards include an Army Achievement Medal, Army Aviator Badge and the Expert Field Medical Badge.

The incident follows a string of aviation crashes this year, including an MV-22B Osprey crash in March in Norway that killed four Marines. In February, two Utah National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed, with none of the crew injured.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

Related: Loss of 4 Marines in Norway Osprey Crash Brings Attention to Aircraft with Spotty History
Danyelle Luckey had been on the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan barely a week before she began vomiting and feeling ill. After reporting her symptoms to doctors, she was given a flu vaccine, despite them not being recommended for sick patients, and sent on her way.

Days later, not feeling any better, she returned and was tested for flu and strep. She was prescribed fluids, Motrin and bedrest. When she failed to improve, her shipmates carried her back to the clinic, where, after five days, she was admitted and given a blood test, which showed her kidneys and liver were failing. As officers prepared to evacuate her off the ship, she died from sepsis, according to her father, Derrick Luckey.

Retired Army PFC Dez Del Barba was at basic training, Fort Benning, Georgia, when he contracted an infection. He went to sick call six times before a physician at a civilian emergency room ordered a blood test. He had streptococcus A, which developed into necrotizing fasciitis, a flesh-eating bacteria.

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More than 100 days later, he lost his left leg, most of the flesh in his right leg and required skin grafts over 55% of his body.

As far as he knows, his case was never investigated.

It's been 1,143 days, and I still have no clear answers on the status of any quality assurance investigation that may or may not have been initiated promptly, Del Barba told members of the House Armed Services personnel subcommittee on Wednesday. What happened to me did not have to happen. This was preventable.

While the Defense Department has procedures for ensuring quality of care and patient safety, facilities often fail to adhere to them, harming patients or potentially placing them in danger, the Government Accountability Office, an independent taxpayer-funded watchdog, found as part of an investigation into the military medical systems quality management procedures.

According to a preliminary report released by the GAO on Wednesday, a review of four medical facilities in the military health system found that administrators failed to verify medical licenses of about a sixth of the centers doctors before they were allowed to practice, failed to document assessment requirements when evaluating concerns about treatment and did not adhere to patient safety review procedures in cases that would qualify for a compensation claim.

The report did not name the four, and GAO Health Care Team Director Sharon Silas said that they would remain anonymous as part of the investigation agreement with the Defense Department.

During the hearing, Silas said the oversights put patients at risk.

[In one case] at the beginning of the review, facilities are supposed to consider taking adverse privileging action against a provider if the safety events were particularly egregious, and we found there was no documentation that any consideration was ever taken, Silas said.

In 2016, the military health system recorded 108,000 occurrences in health facilities that threatened patients health or lives, according to a 2018 report from the GAO. At the time, the agency recommended that DoD improve tracking of such events, which it said would improve overall care.

Congress passed the Sgt. First Class Richard Stayskal Military Medical Accountability Act in 2019 as part of the defense budget process to give service members a way to file medical malpractice claims against the Department of Defense.

DoD published guidance on that process in mid-2021 but to date, the bills namesake, a former Army Special Operations soldier whose lung cancer was missed by military physicians and diagnosed at a significantly later stage by civilian doctors, has not received any compensation, according to his attorney, Natalie Khawam.

The delay, as well as DoDs seeming inability to hold accountable providers who fail to meet standards of care, raise concerns about the agencys commitment to adequately treat troops and their families, said Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., subcommittee chairwoman.

It is incomprehensible and shameful that we cannot ensure [that service members] have quality medical care, Speier said. My efforts to allow service members to file claims against the military for instances of medical malpractice aren't only a matter of justice  they are about accountability. I am frustrated to say the least that DoD has been so slow to implement the Stayskal Act.

According to Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, the subcommittees ranking Republican, roughly 400,000 hospitalized persons in the U.S. experience an adverse event that was preventable, costing $20 billion each year.

While a 2014 review found that the military health system is largely comparable to civilian care, there appears to be variability, with some metrics falling below national standards, said Gallagher, a former Marine and Iraq war veteran.

The bottom line is, the military health system is not where it needs to be, Gallagher said.

Defense Health Agency Director Lt. Gen. Ronald Place said during testimony that DHA oversees accreditation for its hospitals and clinics and belongs to several accreditation organizations to ensure that facilities are certified and providers are accredited.

DHA, he said, has seen patient safety improvements in the past four years that measures against peers.

But he added, when patient events occur, the malpractice claims process exists and DHA does review cases. And to Derrick Luckey and Del Barba, he apologized.

Your testimony today was compelling and heartbreaking  I apologize for [your] losses. Im deeply committed to ensuring we learn from your losses so we can better our system so we have fewer losses, Place said.

GAOs findings on the four health facilities were preliminary, with a complete report due out in mid-2022, according to Silas.

Speier asked for assurances from Place that when the full report is published, DHA will follow the recommendations to ensure that the military health system performs at its highest levels.

I think we are all interested in the same thing, Speier said. We dont want practitioners out there providing services to our service members who need more training, or have forgotten their training, or just are not good physicians or health-care professionals.

Correction: This story was updated April 1 to reflect Del Barba's training status and correct who diagnosed him with strep and necrotizing fascitis.

 Patricia Kime can be reached at Patricia.Kime@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @patriciakime

Related: Plans for Hospital Closures as Part of Military Health System Reform Forging Ahead After Pause
Military families continue to face issues with unhealthy living conditions at privatized housing, as well as unresponsive landlords and military officials, despite the Pentagon implementing a tenant bill of rights last year, families testified to Congress on Thursday.

Each citizen puts their faith in us to protect the standards of this country, Army Private First Class Cody Calderon said at a hearing held by the House Appropriations Committees military construction subcommittee. What happens when the standards, the foundation that supports those protectors, is built on these mold and sewage and lead and pest issues?

Calderon was speaking to the committee virtually from an Airbnb that he and his wife, Alyssa, are paying for entirely out of pocket while they wait for their home 30 minutes away at Fort Polk, Louisiana, to be cleared of mold that sickened them and their dog, Leo.

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Systemic issues with on-base military housing run by private companies, including widespread mold, rodent infestations, dangerous wiring and shoddy repairs, came to light after a series of Reuters articles in 2018, followed by several congressional hearings where military families testified about the poor housing conditions.

Somes companies have also faced legal woes, with Balfour Beatty Communities LLC pleading guilty in December to defrauding the Army, Air Force and Navy and agreeing to paying $65 million in fines and restitution. In January, Hunt Companies agreed to settle its fraud case at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for $500,000 without admitting fault.

In response to the unsafe living conditions, Congress mandated that the Defense Department issue an 18-point tenant bill of rights aimed at providing military families with more negotiating power with the private companies that run the military housing and ensuring more oversight from the military services.

The bill of rights has been implemented at all but five of nearly 200 military bases with privatized housing, Pentagon officials testified Thursday. The private companies must agree to the bill of rights before it can be put into effect.

In his testimony, Calderon said he moved into a home at Fort Polk managed by housing company Corvias last summer, 11 days after the bill of rights was implemented. His wife immediately felt something was wrong with the home, but initially brushed it off as the shock of moving or environmental allergens, he said.

A Corvias representative insisted the company is listening to the concerns of its residents, with the representative offering to visit Fort Polk and speak directly with Calderon.

We believe every resident is important, and while we are hardly perfect, our people on the ground try hard to earn the trust of our residents, said Al Aycock, Corvias military partnership executive.

Since realizing the issue was actually mold, Calderon and his wife have faced rude and unprofessional maintenance workers; were told their home was safe to move back into, only to find mold was still there; and received no response from the military housing office on questions, such as a timeline for remediation.

While Calderon said he could not make comparisons to before the bill of rights was in place since hes only been in the housing for a year, he said there appears to be no urgency in fixing his situation, that he feels he has no place to turn to for help and that the military housing office failed him.

I dont think I could do 20 years of this, Calderon said when asked if the housing issues are affecting his future in the military. I dont think I could put my wife through 20 years of this just for a retirement.

Testifying alongside Calderon, Nikki Wylie, the wife of a Marine master sergeant, detailed the issues her family has faced since 2018 at their Liberty Military Housing-managed home in the Shadow Mountain community at Twentynine Palms, California, including her previously healthy children developing breathing problems and skin rashes shortly after moving into the home.

Maintenance workers also repeatedly told her there was no mold or simply caulked over the mold, and in one instance, a maintenance worker insisted there was no gas leak, only for the base fire department to later confirm there was and that it could have had lethal ramifications, Wylie said.

The government housing office has been of very little assistance, unfortunately, with navigating this, Wylie said. We had nowhere to go. We felt very alone against the giant that is the housing company and their complicit contractors.

Philip Rizzo, CEO of Liberty, thanked Wylie for testifying, saying theyve previously been in touch and that we've actually made improved changes since then.

Rachel Christian, co-founder of Armed Forces Housing Advocates, also told the committee housing issues are absolutely systemic still. One of the problems is that government housing employees and advocates provided by military housing offices arent properly trained in detecting issues, such as mold and gas leaks, and in the state and local laws they are tasked with making sure are enforced, Christian said.

The testimony deeply frustrated lawmakers.

I feel like Im stuck in 2019, subcommittee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said. My patience has run out, and I know the committees has as well.

The Pentagon on Thursday conceded that there have been hiccups in implementing the bill of rights, but contended the situation is improving.

There has been a significant increase in training. Obviously some staff are new and theyre still being trained, and there are probably locations, as was mentioned, where maybe the on-base housing staff dont understand fully that the state and local requirements do apply to privatized housing, said Patricia Coury, deputy assistant secretary of defense for housing.

The tenant bill of rights has been in place since August, she added. We know there are places that there have been hiccups along the way as the housing offices are learning how to follow the new policies and processes, and we are committed to working through that and making this program the best that it can be.

Lawmakers were unmollified by the assurances of progress.

It certainly doesnt seem like anywhere near enough progress has been made, Wasserman Schultz told Coury. And Im not sure that the structure youve put in place is working or enough.

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Related: The Military's Expanded Tenant Bill of Rights Is About to Take Effect
The U.S. Army has granted a Maryland military veteran the Prisoner of War medal, bringing to an end a battle he has fought with the Army's bureaucracy for 18 years and opening the door for other ex-soldiers who have been denied the award under circumstances similar to his.

Ron Dolecki, 76, was part of a U.S. Army team carrying out a classified mapping mission in Ethiopia in 1965 when armed guerrillas ambushed him, his helicopter pilot and a local translator, forced them to march 155 miles across the Sahara desert, and held them captive under harsh conditions for two weeks.

He escaped from the assailants, members of an anti-Ethiopian rebel group known as the Eritrean Liberation Front, and walked 25 miles without arms, food or a map to the Sudanese-Ethiopian border, where he was rescued by friendly forces.

A retired CIA employee who lives in Calvert County, Dolecki first applied for the POW Medal in 2004. The medal is an Armed Forces honor for those who have been "taken prisoner and held captive while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States" and who meet other criteria.

The U.S. Army Awards and Decorations Branch, the agency that rules on such requests, rejected his application. They did so not because of a dispute over what he went through but over how his captors should be characterized.

Branch officials told Dolecki that the Eritrean Liberation Front, an armed and uniformed group they described as "bandits," did not qualify as an "armed enemy force," and that because the U.S. was not in an officially declared war with Eritrea or Ethiopia at the time, he did not qualify.

Dolecki has applied three more times in the years since then, each time providing more documentation to contest the branch's accounts. Along the way, his cadre of backers grew to include four U.S. senators, two battalion commanders and military historians.

The Army denied each appeal, citing an evolving series of technicalities. Army officials did not respond to requests for comment.

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland confirmed Wednesday that the Army had granted the honor to both Dolecki and Jack Kalmbach, the pilot who was captured with him. Kalmbach died in 2015 at age 87.

Van Hollen, who has been supporting Dolecki's cause for years, wrote new language into the current National Defense Authorization Act for 2022 that he crafted with the specific aim of making it clear that Dolecki qualified for the award. President Joe Biden signed the act into law in December.

"Finally there's some measure of justice for Ron Dolecki," Van Hollen said. "He was on duty with the U.S. military when he was taken prisoner. The Army needs to recognize his service and sacrifice and recognize the hardships he endured as part of that service. This is great news, and it's long overdue."

Ron Dolecki, a 76-year-old Army veteran from Southern Maryland, was once taken prisoner and held captive by Eritrean rebels in the Sahara desert, but for years the Army refused to award him the POW medal. The Secretary of the Army just reversed that decision. (Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun)

Historians say the Prisoner of War Medal, a military honor authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, was written with the broad intent of recognizing brave and honorable conduct on the part of captive U.S. soldiers. It was meant to recognize qualifying soldiers taken prisoner as far back as April 5, 1917, the day before the U.S. entered World War I.

According to its original version, the medal was to be awarded to anyone taken prisoner or held captive "while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing Armed Force; or while serving with friendly forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing Armed Force in which the United States is not a belligerent party."

The awarding of medals is invariably a subjective matter, says Joe Balkoski, a Baltimore-based military historian and author, and because veterans by the thousands send in applications for such recognition, officials must develop clear criteria by which to make judgments.

But military bureaucracies skew toward saying no, he says, and like most bureaucracies are loath to admit mistakes, let alone go to great lengths to correct them.

Balkoski wasn't the only researcher outraged to hear about the branch's rulings in 2004 and on Dolecki's appeal four year later.

Another military historian, Joseph Kaufmann, wrote a book on the 64th Topographic Engineer Battalion of the Corps of Engineers, Dolecki's unit and the outfit that carried out the top-secret, mid-1960s operation known as the Ethi-U. S. Mapping Mission.

Kaufmann believes such rulings miss the spirit of the medal.

"These field parties  often supported by aircraft -- crossed deserts, mountains, and jungles, operating in areas that included everything from deadly snakes to lions and an array of diseases," he told The Baltimore Sun in 2020, adding that the then-20-year-old faced grave perils and handled himself courageously while crossing the desert.

"He had absolutely nothing with him, including nothing to protect himself with," Kauffman said. "Unless you have been in the field and surrounded by hyenas, and hear their whooping noise, you don't know how dangerous that can be."

Another historian had taken note of similar cases. Dwight S. Mears was teaching at the U.S. Military Academy in 2010 when he applied for the POW Medal on behalf of a group of Army Air Force pilots who had been taken captive and tortured at an internment camp in supposedly neutral Switzerland during World War II. (The group included his late grandfather.)

Rebuffed at first on similarly technical grounds, Mears, an attorney, pressed the Armed Forces to make criteria for the medal less legalistic, a campaign that ultimately led to a 2013 amendment to Title 10 of the United States Code.

The change allowed the medal to be given to those captured under conditions that are "comparable" to the ones "under which persons have generally been held captive by enemy armed forces."

The pilots were recognized with the POW medal that year, and Mears says he believed the Armed Forces were long since applying the new criteria until he came across the article about Dolecki in The Baltimore Sun in November 2020.

Seven years after the defining language was changed, it seemed, the awards branch was still using outmoded, and therefore unlawful, criteria for the medal. Mears got in touch with Dolecki.

"I offered to help him pro bono," the historian says. "I thought he deserved far better treatment from the Army, and I suspect there are many out there like him who were wrongly rejected  possibly hundreds -- due to these policy errors."

For his part, Dolecki sent military photographs, declassified State Department cables and Army after-action reports from 1965 that he believes contradicted the Army's arguments against his medal.

He has also pointed out that crew members of the U.S. Navy ship the USS Pueblo who were taken prisoner by North Korea in 1968, and U.S. embassy staff taken hostage in Iran in 1979, went on to be awarded the POW medal, and the U.S. was at war with neither country.

When they wrote back, he says, they simply reiterated earlier objections.

"If they said something rational, if they gave me real and true reasons, I'd have said 'I see your point' and simply gone away," he says. "But for whatever reason, they didn't, and it started making me angry. It just inspired me to keep pushing."

In December 2020, Van Hollen, then a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, spoke about his constituent on the Senate floor, arguing that the Army continued to incorrectly apply the previous standard to his case.

Van Hollen then wrote language for the military funding bill aimed at clarifying that Dolecki qualifies. It became part of the current National Defense Authorization Act.

Dolecki's case eventually made its way to the desk of Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, who has authority to award the medal.

The Army had not contacted Dolecki about the matter as of Wednesday night, but Army officials did contact Van Hollen's staff by email to relay the news, which Van Hollen's office shared with the veteran.

The Army also mailed the medal to the senator's office in Rockville, and an Army official let Van Hollen's staff know that if Dolecki wished to have a ceremony marking the occasion, the Army would provide one.

Dolecki has told the staff he would indeed enjoy such an occasion, and he hopes they'll be able to set it up with the military before too long.

"As far as the medal goes, it has been a long, long struggle to obtain it," he says. "After all this time, I'll certainly treasure it all the more."

2022 Baltimore Sun.

Visit baltimoresun.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The U.S. military could have done more to protect civilians trapped in Raqqa, Syria, as it pummeled the city to rubble during a climactic battle with the Islamic State group in 2017, the Rand Corp. found in a Pentagon-ordered review released Thursday.

The brutal battle and ultimate U.S.-led coalition victory over the terror group came at a heavy price -- as many as 1,600 civilians were killed and much of the city, including residential neighborhoods, were leveled by intense American and coalition bombing, according to investigations by watchdog groups.

The most likely estimate of deaths due to the coalition is 774, said Rand, a nonprofit think tank frequently contracted by the Pentagon for research. Kurdish forces who helped the coalition fight on the ground reported recovering 4,000 civilians from the city rubble, though it remains unclear how they were killed, the Rand review said.

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The U.S. coalition gave a much lower estimate of 178 killed.

The strategy to encircle the city, gather intelligence and strike from the sky, and rely on Kurdish allies on the ground to eliminate dug-in Islamic State fighters, who intentionally targeted residents, led to more civilian deaths and harm, including widespread destruction that left little future for the city, Rand found.

"Although coalition forces focused intently on the civilian casualty risk for each strike, they largely ignored the impact of their actions on civilian livelihoods over the long term," its review said. "As a result, Raqqa endured the most structural damage by density of any city in Syria."

About 60%-80% of the city was left uninhabitable after the conflict, it said.

Amnesty International and Airwars, a London-based nonprofit group that monitored the war, investigated the civilian death toll in 2019 and said it had gathered 1,000 names of victims, verified 641 deaths on the ground in Raqqa and estimated the total toll at 1,600.

In one instance, a five-story residential building sheltering families in the basement was destroyed by a coalition airstrike and at least 32 people, including 20 children, were killed, the two groups said. Another strike a week later killed 27 civilians in a nearby building, and many were relatives of the earlier victims.

Rand called the battle a "cautionary tale about civilian harm in 21st-century conflicts" that likely reveals how future conventional wars in cities will play out. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin asked for the review as part of a larger ongoing effort to overhaul the military's efforts to reduce death and destruction on civilian populations when the U.S. goes to war.

The overhaul plans were unveiled in January, along with an initial Rand report detailing how the military has fallen short in its efforts to protect civilians. The secretary ordered the creation of a "civilian protection center of excellence" to coordinate and improve the efforts.

Austin's push was partly spurred by a botched U.S. strike during the Afghanistan withdrawal in August that killed 10 civilians, including children. Another strike in Baghuz, Syria, in 2019 killed about 70 civilians, including women and children, The New York Times reported in November.

Rand said the lessons of Raqqa are likely to be relevant for future conflicts. As the war on terrorism wanes, the Pentagon is focused on China and its growing military might and assertiveness, as well as Russia and its dangerous new stance on the world stage, as part of the new National Defense Strategy, a classified document turned over to Congress this week.

The unintentional deaths of innocents plagued the U.S. post-9/11 wars, because the military often relied on drones and air power in areas -- especially cities -- where no American troops are on the ground to guide or wave off strikes that threaten civilians.

In 2017, Raqqa had been the Islamic State's last stronghold after three years of war with the U.S. and its allies in Syria and Iraq, with the group's wave of global terrorist attacks including mass shootings and the video beheading of journalists and aid workers.

The U.S. and coalition partners, including the UK and France, bombarded the city between June and October in 2017 following months of preparation. There was a cap on the U.S. troops presence in Syria of 500, but by the end of the battle, there were about 2,000 troops deployed to the country because commanders were given the authority to exceed the cap if needed, Rand reported.

The Raqqa review found the U.S. and its allies followed the laws of war during the battle, and even went beyond international conventions when trying to protect Syrians who were hunkered down in the city after being occupied and terrorized by the Islamic State.

But the relatively small U.S. footprint meant a reliance on the allied Kurdish Self Defense Force troops and airpower. The U.S. "conducted an estimated 95% of the total airstrikes during the Raqqa operation and all of the artillery strikes," according to Rand.

-- Travis Tritten can be reached at travis.tritten@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @Travis_Tritten.
The Navy suspended the discharges late on Tuesday of sailors who have refused to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate after a Texas judge ruled that a case involving vaccine-refusing Navy SEALs would apply to the entire Navy.

Just days after his January order to halt any Navy action against 35 sailors was narrowed by the Supreme Court to no longer inhibit deployment decisions by the service, U.S. District Judge Reed OConnor granted the sailors' request to broaden the case out to a class action that includes 4,095 Navy service members who have filed religious accommodation requests, the Monday ruling said.

OConnor then ordered the Navy to halt any action against the thousands of sailors prompting the Navys pause.

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According to a copy of the Navy-wide message provided to Military.com by the Navy, the service will stop separation proceedings against any sailor who submitted a request for religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine requirement.

Adverse administrative consequences and separation processing  continue to apply for personnel who did not submit requests for religious accommodation, the message added.

It is not clear if the Marine Corps, which falls under the Department of the Navy, will also follow suit. Military.com reached out to the Marine Corps but did not hear back before publication.

Sailors who have chosen to voluntarily leave the service or transfer to the Fleet Reserve after getting their accommodation requests denied can cancel or amend those requests, though the message notes that time is of the essence for updated requests.

OConnors order noted that, given the Supreme Courts ruling, the Navy can consider sailors vaccination status in making deployment, assignment, and other operational decisions. The Navys message also noted that it had that option.

When asked Tuesday about OConnors decision, neither the Navy nor the Department of Justice offered any comment.

Lawyers for the Department of Justice argued that the Navy has a strong interest in maintaining a fully vaccinated force and, in a court document arguing against making the case a class action, noted that just because [the Navy SEALs] disagree with the strength of the Navys compelling governmental interest does not mean that the Navy is acting in bad faith or unlawfully in denying religious exemption requests.

In January, Vice Adm. Bill Merz, the Navy's operations and strategy boss, told reporters that despite a fully vaccinated operational force, the sea service was still seeing cases on ships and that vaccines were necessary to keep the more severe outbreaks, like the one that sidelined the destroyer USS Chafee for more than a month in 2021, at bay.

"We have become very consistent at sea again, and I would tell you, if I had to put a dollar value on it, it's probably lower than it was a year ago because of the ability to be able to manage [COVID-19] at sea [and] return to normal operations, Merz told reporters.

As of last Wednesday, the date of the most recent update, the Navy had discharged just over 650 active-duty and reserve sailors over the vaccine mandate.

The branch has not granted any religious exemption requests to active-duty sailors, but it did give nine conditional approvals to sailors in the Individual Ready Reserve, a non-drilling component of the reserve corps, with the understanding that, if called up, they would get the shots.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Judge Stops Navy from Discharging Any Religious Vaccine Refusers
Seaman Ryan Sawyer Mays, the man the Navy alleges is responsible for one of the Navy's biggest peacetime disasters, will be tried in September, the Navy confirmed Thursday.

Mays faces charges of "willful hazarding of a vessel" and "aggravated arson" after his fellow sailors testified that they saw him in the area of the USS Bonhomme Richard where the fire started on July 12, 2020.

Lt. Sam Boyle, a spokesman for the Navy's Third Fleet, said that the trial is currently scheduled to run from Sept. 19 to Sept. 30, 2022.

Read Next: Navy Halts Discharges of Sailors with COVID-19 Religious Exemption Requests

Mays was charged with starting the fire in July 2021, just over a year after the days-long fire ravaged the Bonhomme Richard, which was nearing the end of a two-year upgrade in San Diego.

Court records from that time showed that the service saw Mays as a disgruntled sailor, assigned to the Bonhomme Richard after dropping out of Navy SEAL training. The ship's command master chief "identified Mays as a person who showed disdain towards authority and the U.S. Navy," court records say.

In mid-December of 2021, Mays had his preliminary hearing. Then, in February the Navy's commander of Third Fleet, Vice Adm. Steve Koehler, sent the case to a trial, contrary to the recommendation of his subordinate who oversaw that first hearing.

Mays has maintained his innocence since the charges were first announced. Mays' lawyer, Gary Barthel, previously told Military.com that their position is "that the Navy's not looking for justice, in this case."

"What they're trying to do is make Mays a scapegoat for a billion-dollar ship that ended up burning as a result of other people's negligence," Barthel said, alluding to a Navy report that found major failures by commanders and crew that fueled the catastrophic blaze.

That investigation named 36 people -- including several admirals -- as accountable in the massive fire. Among those people, 17 sailors were cited for failures that "directly" led to the loss of the ship, while others "contributed" to the loss.

Reforms put in place after those reports increased the responsibility and visibility of the Naval Safety Command, but Adm. Bill Lescher, the Navy's No. 2 officer, also put more responsibility on commanders "to speak with a strong and courageous voice about what they see."

Mays is not under confinement and is currently assigned to a squadron at Third Fleet.

The dismantling of the Bonhomme Richard began on April 15, 2021, after the Navy decided it would take at least five years and $2.5 billion to fix the ship.

-- Konstantin Toropin can be reached at konstantin.toropin@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @ktoropin.

Related: Sailor Accused of Starting Bonhomme Richard Blaze Will Be Court-Martialed, Admiral Decides
When Dr. Herschel Flowers joined the Army in 1961, he probably had no idea he would be one of the leading veterinarians studying snakebites and developing antivenom. He also likely never considered injecting himself with cobra venom.

The veterinarian spent his Army career trying to develop a range of antivenoms for snakes all over the world. He wanted to mitigate the fear of snakes, increasingly used by the Viet Cong against U.S. troops in Vietnam, over the course of his research.

His primary goal was to immunize Special Forces soldiers and other U.S. troops who were operating in areas inhabited by the world's most dangerous snakes.

To do that, he often took on the role of human test subject, envenoming himself to test "vaccines" and other snake-bite treatments.

The idea of using the venom of a poisonous creature to create a gradual immunity to the venom itself wasn't new by 1961. It's one of the oldest studies in immunology. As early as 1870, British surgeons watched locals in the remote areas of the British Empire attempt to vaccinate themselves with the venom of their prey.

Snakes and other venomous animals aren't affected by their own venom. Snakes create antibodies for their venom that protect them from their own poison, as well as that from other members of their species.

In 1895, a British doctor was able to inoculate rabbits to withstand the venom of Indian cobras. After two months of treatment, the small rabbits survived enough cobra venom to kill two horses. Flowers wanted to create this effect for deployed American soldiers, and not just with cobras, but for any snake.

As a veterinarian for the U.S. Army Medical Research Lab at Fort Knox, Kentucky, he took care and milked the venom from at least 100 poisonous snakes every week. The lab then performed various experiments with the deadly poison. Flowers personally took more than 30 doses of venom to inoculate himself.

It was a useful effort, especially considering he was bitten by cobras twice. Flowers' work with dried snake venom did show promise in increasing his immunity against envenomation. His body began to naturally produce more antibodies toward snake venom.

His work helped the Army develop antivenom against North American coral snakes, kraits and other dangerous snakes. Flowers became so familiar with the snakes that as of 2019, civilian employees still remember a trick he would perform for coworkers.

"Flowers would put his hand up in front of the cobra," said Army civilian Morris Miller, who worked with Flowers. "The cobra could strike no farther than the height he could rise. If it was 18 inches, that was it, and Flowers would be at 19 inches away. We all thought he was the bravest man alive."

After his work at the Army Medical Research Lab, Flowers was sent to the U.S. Embassy in Costa Rica, where snake bites were a public health hazard. The Army sent him to work with the Clodomiro Picado Institute of the University of Costa Rica to develop an antivenom serum program.

Flowers went back to his usual methods; only this time, he used horses to test immunity, instead of himself. He milked snakes from all over Costa Rica in his rumpus room, took the horses' blood and used it as the foundation for a serum snake-bite treatment.

In 1967, they developed "polyvalent anti-ophidic serum" there, a serum capable of protecting against the venom of most Central American snakes, except for sea snake and the South American coral snake. Flowers and company created a treatment for the coral snake later that same year.

Today, the Clodomiro Picado Institute is an active and independent producer of snake antivenom, in a world critically short on such supplies.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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Although first produced in 1967, the French-made Exocet anti-ship missile has a deadly service history. The weapon uses active radar to home in on its target, skims the ocean surface as it approaches its target and hits with a high-explosive, semi-armor piercing warhead at just below the speed of sound.

Its also a versatile weapon and civilian jets can be modified to fire the Exocet missile, as the U.S. Navy uncovered after the USS Stark was hit by two of them in the Persian Gulf in 1987.

Flying in at high speeds, just 6.5 feet above the water, the Exocet missile is a very hard weapon to see and even more difficult to defend against. So when an Iraqi aircraft fired two Exocet missiles at the USS Stark in 1987, the American guided missile frigate was lucky to survive. U.S. sailors weren't so lucky.

Exocet missiles didn't see combat until the United Kingdom went to war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands in 1982. The Royal Navy's chief concern was Argentina's Exocet missile stockpile.

The bulk of British naval losses came at the hands of Argentine Exocet missiles, sinking the guided missile destroyer HMS Sheffield and the supply ship MV Atlantic Conveyor. Exocets also damaged other British ships and killed dozens of sailors.

The USS Stark was in the Persian Gulf to protect oil tankers traversing through the area from being attacked by Iranian forces. At the time, Iran and Iraq had been at war for seven years in a brutal stalemate that killed an estimated half-million people on both sides.

Although officially neutral in the conflict, the United States provided significant materiel support to Iraq, as well as protection for international shipping in the Persian Gulf region and through the Strait of Hormuz. The USS Stark was part of that mission. Nearly a dozen tankers and merchant vessels had been sunk in the region since the start of the Iran-Iraq War, all by Exocet missiles.

On May 17, 1987, Stark was off the coast of Saudi Arabia, outside the Iran-Iraq War's exclusion zone at just after 10 p.m. local time when it picked up an incoming aircraft. Originally believed to be a Dassault Mirage F1 fighter, Stark requested it to identify itself when it turned toward the ship. No reply came. No reply came for the ship's second request, either.

In less than 10 minutes after first detecting the incoming craft, the ship was targeted by the jet's radar. It fired two Exocet missiles and then withdrew. The Stark didn't detect either of the incoming missiles until they were 1.5 minutes away. Stark's air defenses did not activate in time, and both hit the ship on its port side.

The first missile warhead failed to detonate but penetrated the hull. Fuel from the missile caught fire and spread through the ship's interior, including its weapons control systems. The ship was unable to defend itself. Thirty seconds later, the second missile hit Stark and exploded, ripping a 15-foot-wide hole in the port side.

A view of damage sustained by the guided missile frigate USS Stark when it was hit by two Iraqi-launched Exocet missile while on patrol in the Persian Gulf. (U.S. Navy)

Thirty-seven sailors were killed or lost at sea in the attack. Another 21 were wounded but survived. Stark never fired a weapon in defense or in retaliation, and the Iraqi fighter escaped the area unharmed. The Stark began to list after the attack, and the ship's captain, Capt. Glenn Brindel, ordered the starboard side of the vessel flooded to keep it level and prevent it from sinking.

The U.S. Navy's board of inquiry determined that the attack could not have come from a Mirage F1 fighter, as that aircraft could only fire one Exocet missile. It was actually from a Dassault Falcon 50 business jet, modified to fire Exocet missiles.

In the aftermath of the attack, Capt. Brindel was reprimanded and relieved of duty. He opted to retire early, but since he had not held the rank of captain long enough, he was forced to retire as a commander.

Iran called the incident a "divine blessing" and warned the West to stay out of the Persian Gulf. Iraq, controlled by Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime at the time, apologized for the attack and agreed to pay $27.3 million in compensation to the families of the 37 US Navy personnel killed.

President Ronald Reagan did not take Iran's warning. Instead, he recommitted the U.S. to protecting international shipping in the area and maintained the U.S. Navy presence. The USS Stark was escorted to Bahrain for repairs before returning to port in Florida. It returned to the Middle East in the 1990s before being decommissioned in 1997.

-- Blake Stilwell can be reached at blake.stilwell@military.com. He can also be found on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Facebook.

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BEIJING, March 31 -- The military-to-military relations, serving as the mainstay of the China-Pakistan friendship, have played an important role in the development of bilateral relations for a long time, said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, at a regular press conference on Thursday.

Senior Colonel Wu made the remarks when commenting on the reports that the Pakistani Air Force recently held a ceremony for receiving the Chinese J-10CE fighter jets, and that as commented by the Pakistani Prime Minister, the China-made aircraft would play an important role in correcting the security imbalance in the region.

Wu emphasized that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners, true friends and iron brothers that share weal and woe. China is willing to work with Pakistan to accelerate the construction of a closer China-Pakistan community of shared destiny in the new era.

Wu added that the two militaries have achieved fruitful results in fields such as high-level visits, joint training and exercises, anti-epidemic cooperation and equipment technology, constantly enriching the connotation of bilateral strategic cooperation.

Next, under the guidance of the two heads of state, the Chinese and Pakistani militaries stand ready to expand practical cooperation in various fields to a new level and inject a new impetus into the all-weather strategic cooperative partnership between the two countries, Wu said.
Chairman of the Ghana Association of Songwriters, Mr. Logic has over a few weeks been faced with several backlashes for constantly criticizing fast-rising rapper Black Sherifs career.

Music fans have complained about Mr. Logics negative comments about the young rappers latest song Kweku The Traveller when he said on live radio that he didnt really enjoy the song.

However, in a radio discussion on Hitz FMs morning show, Daybreak Hitz, Mr. Logic has cleared the air, saying he has no problem with the youngster.

I do not have any issue with Black Sherif. Never. I like him, he told host, Andy Dosty,

Mr. Logic has always expressed sentiments when the rappers former management accused him of switching labels without their notice.

He said Ghanaians forget positive remarks, thus recounting a few times when he praised the young rapper for his talent and his ability to stand out amongst the Kumerica rappers.

It was on this same platform that Black Sherif will be the only Kumerican artiste who will go far. Where was Black Sherif when I said that? Did Sherif hear it or not? Did his team hear it? Do you know of calls I got due to that? But I still stood firm on my grounds and words. I never retracted. But when I said he is being one-way, you are saying bring him down, he said.

Mr. Logic advised the rapper to always be critical towards criticisms and be careful around people who will praise him in the face of his flaws.
A former Finance Minister Dr Kwabena Duffuor has said the NPP government led by President Akufo-Addo has forced the electronic transaction levy on Ghanaians because they turned a deaf ear to wise counsel from economic experts such as himself.

Lamenting on his Facebook wall the morning after the e-levy was passed, the former Governor of the Bank of Ghana said: The NPP has progressed in their passage of the unpopular e-levy bill. May it be on record that despite the hardship of the Ghanaian people and disaffection for the e-levy, the NPP ignored these concerns and added to our tax burden.

Some Ghanaians have expressed public indignation against the NPP government for the passage of the e-levy in parliament on Wednesday, 30 March 2022 despite a lack of popular support from the general public, a boycott of the Minority Caucus as well as warnings from economic experts.

Just like many well-meaning and experienced economic experts, Dr Duffuor, in the past, offered several alternatives to the unpopular e-levy.

Speaking on Tuesday, 21 February 2021, on his Accra-based Starr ahead of the IFSs forum on domestic revenue mobilisation mode, Dr Duffuor said, Currently in Ghana, foreign interests are largely the main beneficiaries of our extractive sector at the expense of Ghanaians who benefit from very little revenue from our natural resources.

He added: We must start looking at the sector we have ignored over the years  the extractive sector.

A well-managed natural resources centre has emerged as the safest route to prosperity in many developed countries such as the USA, UK and Germany. We must go back and renegotiate our mining agreements for higher revenues rather than stick to colonial agreements to the detriment of our people, he advised.

As a former Governor of the central bank, Dr Duffuor expected the NPP government to have paid heed to his counsel on how to proceed with revenue mobilisation without taxing an electronic mode of payment.

However, that did not happen.

Source: Classfmonline.com
Over 50 analogue gaming machines, popularly known as jackpot machines, have been confiscated by the Gaming Commission of Ghana.

The commission in 2018 issued a notice to all gaming operators on its intention to phase out all analogue machines, within the gaming landscape in Ghana.

As such, in January 2022, the commission totally banned the operation of jackpots in the gaming terrain.

This forms part of efforts by the commission to protect minors from gaming, curb the incidence of exploiting the vulnerable, and help operators to streamline their activities towards the adoption of conventional digital machines of international standards.

In a field operation on March 29, 2022, the Head of Public Affairs at the commission, Beatrice Baiden cautioned Ghanaians to desist from operating illegal jackpot machines since it puts minors at high risk.

She added that the commission is on high alert to phase out these machines.

The Gaming Commission wants to reiterate the fact that minors are not supposed to get close to any of these gaming machines, let alone to engage in any such gaming activities as stipulated in the Gaming Act 2006.

We cannot work alone as an organization, we rely on public tips a lot, and so we will actually appeal to the general public to inform us when they come across some of these machines being operated within their jurisdictions. Lets not forget that these machines do not come into the country in this state, they are actually assembled here by our local artisans, who are normally carpenters.

The illegal jackpots, which are mostly owned by Chinese nationals, usually have Ghanaians operating them on their behalf.

The AML Act 2020 requires all gaming operators to take steps to identify and verify customer identity for all cash transactions.

As such, Beatrice Baiden indicated that the ban is part of efforts to upgrade the industry to meet international standards and best practices where only over 18-year-olds can engage in gaming.

So weve actually engaged these stakeholders, and weve given them the requirement for the new gaming machines that are permissible in the country, and weve given them the standards which are required internationally.

And so, if we seize the machines and call them to come to our office, its to regularize their operations so that they dont operate these analogue machines which are looking at their portable nature and the fact that they are often exposed to minors. So when stakeholders come we take them through the process and give them the mechanisms, and also the standards for the digital machines that are permissible.

---citinewsroom
Intelligence at our disposal suggests that aggrieved APC chieftains who lost out in the consensus primaries used the occasion of the Abuja-Kaduna train bomb attacks to hit back at President Buhari , Chairman Adamu and Rotimi Amechi, a supposed presidential favorite. I expected a tragedy after the APC consensus convention by estranged disenfranchised chieftains and their collaborators. I knew they will hit back at PMB and his consensus feasters, but this is too soon and too massive.

The plot to destabilize Buhari started the moment he retracted from his earlier order that Buni should be replaced as APC Caretaker Chairman. The aggrieved chieftains felt that Buni is a plot to hoist a presidential candidate upon them to whom they will be slaves. The plot thickened to the point that security agencies were on alert and engaged in all round monitoring of some chieftains.

With lots of moles within the system, the plotters decided to use terrorists to attack. The Kaduna Airport was first attacked to force the elites to use the train. The train service was attacked at night to avoid quick response, especially aerial attack and rescue operations. The attacks came after the APC Convention where over eighty percent of the participants were coerced to select candidates they deemed unpopular.

We got wind of attacks but the details of location and targets were hazy. Worried by the disturbing reports, I warned APC in two write-ups, days to the convention, about the consensus option, not because I am particular about any candidate but because the aggrieved parties will react in a manner causing concern to national security.

Therefore, the train bomb attack that killed many Nigerians, including Dr Chinelo Megafu, Dr Abdu Isa Kofa, Barrister Ozigi, Comrade Akinwunmi among other treasurable Nigerians, is politically motivated to tarnish the image of Buhari and the consensus and future consensus feasters on the national cake.

This is not the first time politicians are using terrorists to settle political scores. Our lists are replete with instances. However, I will only recount one experience.

In July 2014, Buhari, then the APC foremost presidential hopeful, was attacked at Kawo Motor Park Area in Kaduna, in an incidence where over 100 persons died. Luckily for Buhari, his Prado Jeep was replaced by a bullet, mortar proof one by a party chieftain, weeks earlier. That was how Buhari escaped assassination when Boko Haram was blamed. However, intelligence analysts traced the suicide attempt to political branch of Boko Haram, which I then tagged PDP-Boko Haram

I wrote a piece a day after the incidence on July 25tth 2014 titled PDP Boko Haram  before they kill Buhari and brew another civil war where I warned the politicians that :

Yesterday there was an attempt by suicide bombers to kill the main opposition leader to President Goodluck Jonathans government in the person of Muhammadu Buhari. The suicide bomber was trailing the convoy of Buhari for a while and deliberately rammed into his convoy, spreading bloodshed at Kawo junction in Kaduna..

PDP branch of Boko Haram simply wants to kill Buhari because his political profile in the North has refused to diminish. All the attempts by the clueless and corrupt PDP regime which budgeted and embezzled over four trillion naira ($25 billion dollars) in four years meant for security while rescuing over 250 Chibok Christian girls from the hands of Boko Haram is a mirage, to tarnish the image of Buhari had failed woefully. This obfuscate corrupt PDP which turned Boko Haram into a multi-billion dollar corrupt enrichment programme, instead of exposing the sponsors of Boko Haram, tagged Buhari , Atiku and some northern governors sponsors of Boko Haram in a political propaganda towards 2015 elections.

It is obvious that the ruling PDP wants to turn Christians against Muslims in Nigeria, and turning Northerners against southerners in Nigeria by trying to kill Buhari. If Buhari had been assassinated, the northerners will abandon the PDP Boko Haram members among their people and descend on Igbo businessmen and women and slaughter them in their tens of thousands, the Igbos will in turn slaughter back some northerners and another civil war will start.

Therefore I counsel the aggrieved APC chieftains and their high powered government sponsors that killing of innocent persons including Dr Chinelo Megafu, Dr Abdu Isa Kofa, and Comrade Akinwunmi among other innocent travellers is a despicable way of settling political scores.

I also counsel President Buhari to settle and placate all the aggrieved chieftains of APC as a National Leader before the next phase of this attack unravels. This time around critical infrastructures around FCT will be attacked, and Buharis men will be seriously embarrassed.

Rev Obinna Akukwe has a duty to God as a cleric, activist, party faithful to sound alarm before politicians use the blood of hapless masses to settle political scores, including my church faithful.

May God grant the lost souls repose, innocent persons who are caught in the rutal crossfire of 2023 politics. Let the aggrieved APC chieftains bent on hitting back at Buhari, assemble political war machines, not terrorist war machines.

(Obinna Akukwe is a Cleric, Columnist, [email protected] [email protected])
Juliette sits up on the examining table and slowly pulls up her top to reveal a back marked by a constellation of fine scars and deformed by a huge abscess.

She smiles despite the nasty-looking growth on her back and her other symptoms: chest pains, dizziness and parasites.

Juliette is aged only in her fifties, yet this places her among the very oldest of the Aka -- a Pygmy people living in remote southwestern Central African Republic (CAR).

"I live between the forest and the village," she says.

It is the very first time she has had access to modern medicine.

That she has is thanks to a free clinic set up by Senitizo, a small US non-profit specialising in providing access to medical care in parts of the country that would not otherwise get it. They started work here last June.

Central African Republic. By AFP

The clinic is in Sakoungou, some 200 kilometres (120 miles) southwest of the capital Bangui.

The village has thankfully been spared so far from the civil conflict that has wracked the country since 2013.

But the Aka people -- also known as the Bayaka -- have their own problems, which are many.

Stigma

Ostracised and exploited by other communities, the Aka are among the poorest people in a country that according to the UN's Human Development Index is already the second-least-developed country in the world.

The CAR depends heavily on international aid to feed and care for its nearly five million inhabitants -- and the Aka are near the bottom of the social ladder.

"There is discrimination against Pygmies everywhere in Central Africa," anthropologist Alain Ebelpoin told AFP -- from low wages, to the hardest jobs.

They are victims of humiliations, considered as serfs by the rest of the population,' said anthropologist Alain Ebelpoin. By Barbara DEBOUT AFP

"They are victims of humiliation, considered by the rest of the population as serfs," said Ebelpoin, a researcher at France's CNRS institute.

According to the UN cultural organisation UNESCO, the Aka are the original inhabitants of this part of Central Africa.

They are historically a forest nomad people, and many still adhere to the ancestral ways.

When they come for treatment at Senitizo's clinic, it is often for viruses or bacteria picked up from the modern world around them -- pathogens they had never encountered until recently.

The changing times have forced some of the Aka to change their ways, leading to more sedentary lifestyles in villages or towns -- often forced there after fleeing deforestation, civil conflict or intercommunal violence.

Traditions at threat

The red-earth track that leads to Juliette's village winds through luxuriant vegetation to a handful of earth-brick houses belonging to non-Pygmy villagers on the edge of the forest.

The Pygmies themselves live in more rudimentary shelters made from the dried foliage of the surrounding trees.

A sign near the clinic announces the community: "Pygmy village -- let's protect our minorities."

In 2003, UNESCO classed their polyphonic chants part of the world's intangible cultural heritage.

Their hunter-gatherer culture is threatened by the gradual disappearance of the forest ecosystem that has been their home. By Barbara DEBOUT AFP

But their hunter-gatherer culture, which also includes seers and healers, is threatened by the gradual disappearance of the forest ecosystem that has been their home, said Ebelpoin, who sounded the alarm a decade ago in an academic paper.

"The Aka have a lot more health problems than other people and their life expectancy rarely exceeds 40," says Jacques Bebe, a doctor at the clinic.

"They consume non-drinkable, even stagnant water, they don't have durable shelters, no sheets, no mosquito nets," he says.

And they have trouble, too, getting used to taking medicines, preferring first to treat themselves using traditional methods, he adds.

"When they arrive at the centre, sometimes it's too late."

Jean-Claude, a patient in his 30s, has come to the clinic to pick up medicines before heading back into the jungle to search for a particular kind of shrub.

"This one's for headaches, and this one for a bad back," he explains, producing two different plants.

Juliette heads out from the clinic and back to her sparsely furnished home. The roof is covered in leaves and bark, drying in the sun.

Water bubbles in her only saucepan, as one of her female relatives prepares a treatment composed of several different plants.

The Aka still turn to traditional, plant-based remedies. By Barbara DEBOUT AFP

"It's very effective for the stomach," she says. "Here, everyone knows the forest remedies."

Ebelpoin nevertheless says that if there is a health centre nearby and they don't sense discrimination, they will go there for treatment too.

Back in the clinic's waiting room, Gaspard, a man in his 50s dressed in rags, is there to get treatment for his back.

"Life in the forest is difficult, so from time to time I come to the village," he explains.

"To make a living, I gather caterpillars (a sought-after dish) but I also farm manioc and bananas, hunt and fish."

"I have nothing against modernisation," he says, "but I'm afraid that one day our traditions will disappear."
Ranking Member on Parliaments Roads and Transport Committee, Governs Agbodza, has questioned the governments purported figures in the road sector.

The President, while delivering the 2022 State of the Nation Address on Wednesday, said his government had so far constructed some 10,875 kilometres of new roads within the five years of being in office.

In the five years of my government, so far, more roads have been built, improved and upgraded than at any other equivalent period under any government in the history of Ghana. Some 10,875 kilometres of new roads have been constructed in these five years.

Mr Agbodza refuted this claim on Eyewitness News, insisting that the government was being disingenuous about the roads it had constructed so far.

He said contrary to claims that some successes had been chalked in the road sector, the government had failed to pay road contractors working on various projects in the country.

Where did the President get his figures from? I was so sad about his comments. One of the things he has done is that he has impoverished Ghanaian contractors. The government has awarded road projects to the tune of 40 billion cedis, and we have not got a penny [to pay the contractors].

According to the Adaklu legislator, similar claims made by the Minister of Roads and Highways Kwasi Amoako-Atta, about roads constructed under the governing NPP had already been challenged in Parliament.

Meanwhile, just last month, the Minister of Roads and Highways presented a document to Parliament alleging on that document that they have actually completed over 4,200 kilometres. [It later turned out] The new road was only 68.5 kiolemtres not even 100 kilometres.

citinewsroom
President Nana Akufo-Addo has called on all and sundry to throw weight behind the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in the fight against illegalities in the natural resources sector, particularly the fight against illegal Mining and also support the Green Ghana Project.

Addressing Ghanaians and the World, during his 2022 State of the Nations Address (SONA) on 30th March, 2022, the President stressed "if ever, the support of all citizens was required to make something work, it is in the battle to end illegal mining and restore our lands and waterbodies back to health."

The President said in the light of this fight, government has through the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, declared river bodies and forest reserves as Red Zones for mining.

He stated that government has also suspended the issuance of all prospecting exploration licences for Minerals in forest reserves and launched Operation Halt II to help rid water bodies and forest reserves of illegal miners.

Still on illegal mining, he mentioned that the government has revamped the Community Mining Scheme (CMS) as a more sustainable source of livelihood to replace illegal mining.

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo indicated that all these initiatives are important contributors to the fight against illegal Mining but noted that what the country needs above all is the buy-in of all citizens in the fight.

"What we need above all is the buy-in of all citizens to recognise that the degradation caused to the lands and water bodies by the illegal mining practices affect each one of us and we all should take an interest to stop those involved."

The President on behalf of the nation extended his condolences to the bereaved families and victims of the Appiatse explosion while commending the public for their massive response to the disaster.

He said government responded swiftly in the immediate aftermath of the incident by dispatching a high power delegation to Appiatse, led by the Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia and supported by the Sector Minister, Samuel A. Jinapor.

He mentioned that the Appiatse Support Fund is also an immediate action by government to spearhead the building of a decent, green and sustainable community to enable victims of the incident get back on their feet and rebuild their lives.

On the Forestry sector, the President applauded the Ministry and Ghanaians for having made last year's Green Ghana Project a success and beckoned all to support this year's target of planting 20 million trees.

Touching on the Lands sector, the President applauded the Ministrys efforts in securing some lands at Kwabenya to build a Huge Barracks complex which he said will soon be completed to boost the morale of the police and security service.

Source: Classfmonline.com
The Kenya's police have been accused by Amnesty International of unlawfully killing 167 people last year, including some of those arrested for violating Covid-19 restrictions.

The rights group alleged the force was also responsible for the forcible disappearance of 33 people in 2021.

In its report looking at events in 2021 , Amnesty accused the police of using excessive and sometimes lethal force to break up protests and said many of the alleged perpetrators were not facing justice.

Only 28 prosecutions were initiated against suspected perpetrators of unlawful killings and enforced disappearance, the rights group said.

It highlighted several cases, including that of Alex Macharia Wanjiku, who was shot in Nairobi County when security services reportedly tried to disperse a protest against the Nairobi Metropolitan Services, which manages the citys transport, health and development.

Investigations into the incident by the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), an independent civilian body, were not concluded by the end of the year [2021], the report said.

Kenyas police have not yet commented on Amnesty's report.

The country's president has previously apologised for alleged police excesses when enforcing Covid restrictions.

The East African nations police force has often been accused of brutality, but it says its officers are highly trained.

Source: BBC
Some aggrieved staff of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) are demanding the immediate removal of the caretaker minister and the Chief Director of the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection over the non-payment of their salaries for several months.

They accused Cecilia Dapaah of ineffectiveness and for also allowing the Chief Director of the Ministry, Dr. Afisah Zakariah, to dictate how the Ministry should be run, resulting in the latters refusal to sign for monies to be released for payment of salaries, compensation, goods and services.

Information gathered by Onua TV suggests that Dr. Afisah Zakariah seems to be wielding more powers than all the ministers she has ever worked with. She is the one to determine and control whatever goes on in every department under the Gender Ministry.

According to the aggrieved staff of the Programme, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity, the Chief Director played active role in the botched attempt by Sarah Adwoa Safo to sack the National Coordinator of the Programme, a decision that was eventually reversed by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo .

According to them, she has succeeded in rendering Madam Abena Dapaah, ineffective, as the caretaker minister has since failed to address concerns and challenges confronting the Ghana School Feeding Programme .

The Chief Director, Dr. Afisah Zakariah, served under Otiko Afisah Djaba, Cynthia Mamle Morrison, Sarah Adwoa Safo, who all could not find their right footing; and now Hon. Cecilia Abena Dapaah.

Under her watch, the Programme, the aggrieved staff hinted, has not undertaken any meaningful field operations to ensure sanity, efficiency and proper monitoring for the past two years.

Our secretariat has no vehicles to go to the field. Our management has to rent vehicles for our operations at an expensive cost. Meanwhile, we heard that a request was made to the caretaker minister for the purchasing of new vehicles out of School Feeding's own budget allocation, but once again the Chief Director forced the Minister not to sign it.

Even though government in the 2021 budget approved over GH440 million for Ghana School Feeding Programme to be used for operational activities, compensations and goods and services, the Chief Director, who was more or less the acting Minister due to the inconsistency of Sarah Adwoa Safo, unjustifiably failed to allow the School Feeding Secretariat to access the money.

It would be recalled that on March 4, 2022, Onua TV and 3news.com broadcasted and published an investigation piece which indicated that the Ghana School Feeding Programme had been wallowing in serious financial challenges for the past two years.

The investigations uncovered that over 130 contract staff of the Programme had not been paid for the past eight months, and salaries of permanent staff were also in arrears for months.

All staff of School Feeding including cleaners and drivers did not receive even a Pesewa as Christmas bonus in December 2021.

A confidential document intercepted during the investigations also revealed that management of the social intervention programme did not receive even a cedi for their operational activities for all four quarters in the year 2021.

Further checks by Onua TV two weeks after the publication indicated that the Chief Director, Dr. Afisah Zakariah, to satisfy her cronies at the Ministry, is bent on migrating Ghana School Feeding Programme staff unto the Single Spine Salary Structure , to have their already meagre salary slashed.

This unpopular decision, Onua TV learns, has led to some resistances from the staff including those on contract and political appointees.

Until the migration is done, the Ministry has vowed not to release any funds to the Secretariat for payment of salaries or field operations.

Currently, 3rd term payment to the over 10,850 caterers for the 2020/ 2021 academic year of the Programme is still in arrears.

The angry staff are therefore demanding the immediate removal of the Caretaker Minister, Cecilia Abena Dapaah and the Chief Director, Dr. Afisah Zakariah, for the insensitivity about their welfare and the future of the Programme in general.

Meanwhile, management at the Secretariat are tight-lipped and efforts to speak to the Chief Director for the Gender Ministry have not also been successful.

Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender would be meeting the ministry Thursday, March 31.

3news.com
31.03.2022 LISTEN

The lawyer who went to Supreme Court for interpretation of the voting rights of presiding Deputy Speakers of Parliament is still undecided on whether he will go for a review of his case or not.

After the judgment affirming the right of Deputy Speakers of Parliament to vote, the lawyer, Justice Abdulai, has said he will take a final decision on whether to file the review motion by the deadline of April 8, 2022, or not.

I am preparing my draft. The motion is ready. There are other matters that are still being worked on, so I have up to the 8th of April.

Im sure I will take that final bold decision on the 8th of April whether to go ahead or just leave matters to lie as they are at the moment, the Lawyer said.

He was contesting the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Owusu's decision to count himself for a vote on the 2022 budget.

Commenting on the latest suit emanating from Parliament over the passage of the Electronic Transfer Levy without the minority side, Mr. Abdulai said it is an opportunity for the Supreme Court to answer questions pertaining to his suit.

The Minority is arguing that Parliament did not have the right numbers to form a quorum for the passage of the E-levy Bill into law.

This is after Minority MPs walked out during the consideration of the Bill.

Mr. Abdulai is still unclear on what it means to be present in Parliament and whether one must be in the Chamber or may have just signed in as being present.

I am hoping that the reliefs being sought [by the Minority] may bring out some of these issues so that we can determine to its finality what amounts to being present and what amounts to being absent at the House of Parliament.

citinewsroom
Member of Parliament (MP) for Ketu South, Abla Dzifa Gomkashie, has described the State of the Nation Address delivered by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Wednesday, 30 March 2022, as a pseudo version meant to please members of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and not the entire country.

The Ketu South MP was speaking on the sidelines of the SoNA in Parliament on Wednesday, 30 March 2022.

According to the lawmaker, the entire address by President Akufo-Addo was unrepresentative of the true state of the country.

The Ketu South MP, who bemoaned the silence of President Akufo-Addo on the tidal waves disaster that occurred in her constituency and led to the displacement of thousands of persons, noted that there was no mention of the ongoing Sea Defence Project, in the address.

She said: We had two disasters in this country, the first one was the tidal waves; His Excellency the President, was silent, absolutely silent on that one. But he mentioned the other one.

The Ketu South legislator also noted that those affected by the closure of borders across the country were not captured in the Presidents address.

She indicated that although Ghanas borders have been opened, Togos borders are still closed, thus, activities of traders around the borders are still on hold.

His Excellency the president admitted that were members of ECOWAS and hes blessed to be the chairman of that organisation. His Excellency the President, on Sunday, indicated that the Ghanaian side of the border was opened. What he failed to do, was to communicate to us whether his colleague Heads of State were also going to open theirs. As we speak, Togos side of the border is still closed.

What is the communication, what did he tell us about that, would His Excellency say that he didnt know about it, I dont believe that.

She added: I believe that this whole pseudo-state of the nation address is a statement that is to please his side of the divide and not to consider the rest of us and that means that the majority of the people who we represent, who I represent, were not considered in this State of the Nation address at all.

Source: classfmonline.com
Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has said the Minoritys war against the e-levy is not over, insisting the Caucus has not given up the fight.

According to Mr Ablakwa, the Minority Caucus did not come this far to be induced or play mind games with their constituents who sent them to Parliament, or the larger Ghanaian populace who are depending on them to rescue the nation from the Akufo-Addo-led government that has gained notoriety for imposing excruciating economic hardships.

In a Facebook post, Mr Ablakwa noted that it is obvious trust in Ghanaian politicians is at an all-time low, mainly due to gross deception and failed promises but that should not make Ghanaians paint all politicians with the same brush.

At least, its important to bear in mind that it is not NDC politicians who conceived of the e-levy, neither are we the ones forcing it down the throats of the suffering masses despite overwhelming public agitation, he said.

He further reminded Ghanaians that the NDC has also made it clear that in the unlikely event of an eventual passage of the e-levy, We shall abolish the regressive and obnoxious tax immediately we assume power in 2025.

Mr Ablakwa, together with Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu and MP for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga, has filed a suit at the Supreme Court to challenge the passage of the e-levy bill by a one-sided parliament.

They claim the number of legislators in the chamber when the bill was passed did not form a quorum as declared by the Supreme Court.

The opposition MPs want the Supreme Court to set aside the passage of the e-levy bill by the 136 Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus present in the chamber of parliament on 29 March 2022 as unconstitutional, null and void.

Read Mr Ablakwas full post below:

For 5 good months, we have stood by the Ghanaian people in fiercely resisting the e-levy and standing up to a government desperately determined to do everything by hook or crook to impose the most unpopular tax policy of the Fourth Republic.

It takes grit, strategy and integrity to sustain a hung parliament resistance of this kind for this long.

If anyone doubted the stubborn insensitivity of this government, just look at the extent they went to violating the dignity of their own extremely sick colleague MP by dragging him to the precincts of Parliament in an ambulance. That is not a superior political tactic, it is heartless politics without regard for human life. Politics must not be this ugly and barbaric.

Lets not forget that but for the resistance of NDC MPs since November last year, Ghanaians would have been paying the E-Levy as far back as January 2022.

To us, the war against the E-Levy isnt over and we are not about to give up. Indeed, we are only warming up. This is the battle of our lives.

Many didnt give us credit to mount such a formidable and long-drawn campaign against the oppressors rule.

One day, we shall tell the full story about the machinations we have endured and overcome in this epic war to defeat E-Levy.

We have not come this far to be induced or play mind games with the people who sent us to Parliament or the larger Ghanaian populace who are depending on us for collective salvation from a government that has gained notoriety for imposing excruciating economic hardships.

Let those who think they can break our resolve by peddling blatant falsehoods and dabbling in devious character assassination revise their strategy.

It is obvious trust in Ghanaian politicians is at an all-time low mainly due to gross deception and failed promises but that should not make us paint all politicians with the same brush. At least, its important to bear in mind that it is not NDC politicians who conceived of the e-levy nor are we the ones forcing it down the throats of the suffering masses despite overwhelming public agitation.

The NDC has also made clear that in the unlikely event of an eventual passage of the E-Levy, we shall abolish the regressive and obnoxious tax immediately we assume power in 2025.

May our clear conscience, purity of heart and unflinching resolve not to betray the Ghanaian people vindicate us in the final analysis.

Source: Classfmonline.com
Mali's junta-dominated government has taken delivery of combat helicopters from Russia to help its army fight a bloody jihadist insurgency, an AFP journalist saw.

Defence Minister Sadio Camara late Wednesday formally received two helicopters, radar and other equipment brought by a Russian transport plane to a military base at Bamako airport.

The delivery adds to at least four helicopters and weapons provided by Russia under closer ties forged by rebel colonels who seized power in 2020.

Russia has also supplied what are officially described as military instructors -- personnel that France says are operatives from Russia's Wagner security arm.

Mali's rapprochement with the Kremlin has prompted French forces and their European allies to announce their exit from the country.

They have been helping the impoverished Sahel nation fight a decade-old jihadist campaign that has claimed thousands of lives and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes.

On its website, the Malian army said the new consignment was "the fruit of a sincere and very long-running partnership" with Moscow.

The equipment comprised "combat helicopters, the latest radars and much other material needed for the fight against terrorism and extremism."

An AFP journalist saw two helicopters and at least five transport trucks.

Mali is the epicentre of a jihadist campaign that in 2015 spread to Niger and Burkina Faso. By AFP

Colonel Camara said the equipment included a 59N6-TE radar, "capable of detecting in 3D objects flying at a speed of up to 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) per hour."

"Today, we can say with pride that our army is able to operate completely independently, without asking for help from anyone," he said, referring to air support provided by foreign armed forces, notably France.

No details have been provided about the terms under which the weapons are being supplied.

Camara went to Moscow in March with air force chief Colonel Alou Boi Diarra, in an unadvertised trip that coincided with the early days of the war in Ukraine.

They discussed the supply of additional military gear, two military sources told AFP at the time.

Mali was among 35 countries that abstained in the UN General Assembly vote in March that condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine by an overwhelming majority and demanded the Kremlin immediately halt its operations.
Obscenities occupy the annals of State behaviour, revolting reminders about what governments can do. One of Australias most pronounced and undeniable obscenities is its continuing effort to gut and empty international refugee law of its relevant foundations. Instead of being treated as a scandal, populists and governments the world over have expressed admiration, even envy: If they can get away with that, what might we do?

Along the way, Australia has also made its greatest contribution to deterring unwanted arrivals, creating the most ruthless, tropical detention network for individuals who, unblessed by paperwork, arrive by boat with the aid of people traffickers and are duly told they will never settle in Australia. These unlawful arrivals  language itself in contravention of the UN Refugee Convention  are duly passed on the refugee camp conveyor belt, where they face ruination, despair and sadistic prison wardens. To Manus Island or Nauru they go, awaiting settlement in another country.

In 2013, New Zealand offered some mitigation to these ghastly conditions. Australia might have expressed no interest in resettling such arrivals, but New Zealand did. Thus, that great tradition of outsourcing obligations and responsibilities was continued, with Australia preferring to let others do the heavy lifting.

That agreement involved Australias neighbour accepting 150 of its annual intake of refugees from Australian detention centres. But the fall of the Labor government, and the coming to power of a conservative Coalition crazed by turning back the boats, all but killed the arrangement.

This did not stop other inglorious attempts on Canberras part to abdicate human rights responsibilities with the connivance of other countries. In 2014, a resettlement deal was struck with Cambodia costing in the order of AU$55 million. Unsurprisingly, only a few refugees availed themselves of this less than impressive arrangement. The next year, Australia tried, in vain, to coax the Philippines with an offer worth AU$150 million.

The 2016 agreement with the United States, hammered out in the last days of the Obama administration, was seen as a diplomatic coup, obliging Washington to take between 1,250 to 2,000 refugees. All would be subject to stringent US vetting. Australia, in turn, would accept a much smaller complement of refugees from Central America.

These arrangements, with much justification, were rubbished by the newly arrived President Donald J. Trump. In a now notorious phone call between Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, the President suggested that this stupid deal might facilitate the import of terrorists into the United States. I do not want to have more San Bernadinos or World Trade Centres. I could name 30 others, but I do not have enough time.

In another action that could only be seen as ingratiating, Australia agreed, in 2017, to resettle 17 Cubans who were found desperately clinging to a lighthouse off the Florida Keys. The pattern here should be obvious: Australia will do everything it can to evade, circumvent and subvert a refugee processing scheme that is humane and generous.

Under the current, revived understanding, New Zealand will accept 150 refugees from Australia each year for three years, but only those who are already in detention. Canberra has made it clear that the deal will not apply to those subsequently making an effort to travel to Australia by sea. Australia remains firm, stated Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews, illegal maritime arrivals will not settle here permanently. Anyone who attempts to breach our borders will be turned back or sent to Nauru.

Another nasty proviso is also applicable. Those refugees resettled in New Zealand will be looked at as a special category should they wish to enter Australia. According to the Australian Department of Home Affairs, they will be allowed to apply for visas to enter Australia on a short-term or temporary stay basis only. This would also apply even after the grant of New Zealand citizenship.

Government acceptance of this plan was only reached after what were described as bullish and intimidating negotiations between Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and non-government parliamentarians in 2019. Independent Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie even claims that she was threatened with jail were she to reveal any details of the plan. So, for the sake of humanity, I had no other choice but to shut up anyway to make sure that job was done.

Lambies sense of humanity should not be exaggerated. Negotiations with the government centred on securing her support for the repeal of laws permitting the evacuation of gravely ill refugees to the Australian mainland for medical treatment. Compassion for refugees tends to be in short supply in the nations capital.

The opposition Labor Party, hardly a shining light in the refugee debates, have tried to make hay from the Morrison governments change of heart. This is an absolutely humiliating backflip, cheered Shadow Assistant Minister for Immigration, Andrew Giles. It should not have taken nine years and that is the other big thought in my mind, the cost to those individual lives and the cost to all of us in this pointless, cruel intransigence by Mr Morrison.

While Australian Labor mocked, New Zealand Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi was self-congratulatory and business-like of his countrys record. New Zealand has a long and proud history of refugee resettlement and this arrangement is another example of how we are fulfilling our humanitarian international commitment. In marketing speak, Faafoi expressed his pleasure that NZ could provide resettlement outcomes for refugees who would otherwise have continued to face uncertain futures.

While 450 refugees will find safety and sanctuary in New Zealand, that does little for 500 others. The beastly, cruel system remains in place, and promises to cost AU$2 billion next year. If anything, this revived agreement shows how far countries have pitifully fallen in their responsibilities in providing safety for the vulnerable and damaged.

Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. Email: [email protected]
Ghana Education Service (GES) has emphasized that there has been no change in the reopening date for Form One Senior High School (SHS) students

First years are therefore to report on Monday, April 4, 2022, as earlier communicated.

Reports have circulated that the date has been shifted following some challenges with the placement of the students.

But the GES in a statement maintained that parents, students, teachers, and the public are to note that the re-opening of SHS/T students remains 4th April, 2022, as indicated on their placement forms.

It added that the admission processes for the first years in all the SHS/T are going on smoothly.

The education management body advised parents against paying monies to enroll their wards.

School authorities are cautioned that under no circumstance should there be a demand for money that would hinder the admission process of any placed student.

In the meantime, the GES says it is reviewing all the guidelines on the COVID-19 protocols and will in due course issue the revised guidelines.

It reiterated the Ghana Health Service recommendation of the wearing of masks in enclosed environments including classrooms and other areas which require large gatherings of students in the schools.

The Ministry of Education published the 2021/2022 Computerized School Selection and Placement Systems (CSSPS) for students into SHS on Saturday, March 26.

According to the Ministry, 367, 811 candidates out of the 555,353 who qualified for the placement have been placed automatically into schools of their choice.

The remaining 187, 542 qualified candidates will, however, have to do self-placement to available schools since they could not be matched with any of their choices.

The Ministry of Education assured candidates of its commitment to ensuring that all qualified candidates are placed successfully.

The public is assured of the Ministry's commitment to ensure all qualified candidates are placed in SHS/SHTS/TVET institutions.

citinewsroom
General Secretary of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Johnson Asiedu Nketia, has questioned President Nana Addo Akufo-Addos efficiency in estimating distances in terms of quantifying the quantum of roads constructed in Ghana.

According to Mr Nketia, if the President were well versed in civil works, he would have known that 1000 km of road is no mean feat.

Mr Asiedu Nketia was reacting to claims by President Akufo-Addo, during his State of the Nation Address to Parliament on Wednesday, 30 March 2022 that his administration has built over 11,000 km of new roads across the country, which, in his view, was unprecedented in Ghanas history.

The NDC leader, however, said: I am sure the President was teasing himself about his government's inability to build roads in the country.

He reminded the President that 5,000 km of road is equal to the distance travelled between Accra and London by air.

The engineers in the New Patriotic Party must teach the President to appreciate what the state of 1000 km of road is, Mr Nketia said, adding that such a stretch is not something that can be hidden.

According to Mr Nketia, the government is on record to have borrowed over GHS300 billion and yet has nothing to show for it in terms of infrastructure.

He said even the Tamale interchange in the Northern region that was inaugurated on Tuesday, 29 March 2022 by the president is being constructed in phases and not fully completed.

This government is on record to have declared years of roads since 2019 and Ghanaians are still complaining about the state of their bad roads, he noted.

He bemoaned that it is under this administration that contractors, who are stakeholders in the built environment, have not been paid for several years.

The NDC General Secretary said these in an interview with Accra-based Neat FM on Thursday, March 31, 2022.

Source: Classfmonline.com
31.03.2022 LISTEN

Major General Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu of blessed memory Wait a minute, did you know shes been posthumously promoted?

Well, this was announced by the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) of the Ghana Armed Forces Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, at the funeral service of the trailblazer, on Friday 25th March 2022, at the Garrison Methodist Presbyterian Church, Burma Camp.

The Big Announcement

Having paid his final respect upon his arrival, the president of the Republic, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, took a seat to mourn with the family. The Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) of the Ghana Armed Forces, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama, was then invited for an important announcement.

He climbed up the podium, and acknowledged the presence of the president, who by virtue of his busy schedule, would have to leave in the course of the service, to attend to other equally important assignments. It was for this reason, that the announcement could not wait till the end of the service.

To recognize her hardwork both internationally and locally, which according to the CDS was characterized by extreme passion in championing issues of gender and mainstream, Vice Admiral Seth Amoama stated that, the president and Commander in Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo has graciously approved her promotion posthumously from Brigadier general to Major General. In effect, all official records are to reflect with immediate effect, her new rank, Major General Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu.

Posthumous promotion: What is it

A posthumous promotion, is given in honour of a dead officer or soldier, who had been officially recommended for promotion but had not yet been promoted at the time of their death. It is to recognize hardwork and also encourage others to aspire to the zenith.

A read through the biography of this trailblazer, proves that shes worth the promotion. In her case, this posthumous promotion, is to particularly encourage female officers and other ranks to rise to the occasion of excellence, God be their strength.

Shattering of glass ceiling

This promotion makes her the first Major General of the Ghana Armed Forces. Even in death, this trailblazer has still made history, shes made her way through male preserves. From her days at the Ghana Military Academy (GMA), she seemed to have been destined to shatter glass ceilings, as she graduated as the only female in her intake.

During her training till she was commissioned in April 1980, she held the appointment of Cadet Sergeant, an appointment which was a preserve for male cadets. Her resilience earned her the Determination and Perseverance Trophy on the day of their graduation. In February 1999, the then Major Edjeani-Afenu was appointed the Commanding Officer of the Forces Pay Office, making her the first female Commanding Officer of a Unit in the Ghana Armed Forces. This, is believed to have been a progression in the Ghana Armed Forces, on the issue of gender balance and women empowerment in a male dominated field.

During one of her peacekeeping missions under United Nations Mission in DR Congo (MONUC) Ghanbatt 11, her hardwork earned her the role of Team Leader, making her the first female team leader in MONUC. In 2013, she again made history as the first female Deputy Military Advisor (DMILAD) at the permanent Mission of Ghana to the UN, New York, till 2016. While serving as DMILAD, she was promoted to the rank of a Brigadier General, making her the first female General in the Ghana Armed Forces. From 2019 to December 2021, guess what, history was made again! The then Brigadier General Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu became the first female Deputy Force Commander in the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO). What an expert she was at shattering glass ceilings!

The Beautiful Balance

It is worthy of note however, that while climbing up the ladder of excellence in her career, Major General Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu did not sacrifice her service to God, family and other societal engagements for her career. Reading through the tributes by her husband and children, you can only admire the beautiful balance she maintained as a high rising officer, thoughtful wife, a biological mother of three, a grandmother and mother figure to many.

The tribute by her Pastor, Rev. Dr. Agyinasare, is a testament to how she prioritised her relationship with God and service to God through her service at church, beginning as an usher and rising to an elder and a board member of her church, Perez Chapel International. For a trailblazer and an inspiration to women, it was no surprise that she was a part of Aglow International and played an instrumental role in establishing its security wing, to help provide security while the members prayed. Her involvement in the Girls Excellence Movement proved that she believed in rising to help lift others up. Her advocacy in the fight against period poverty, mobilization of her Unit to create awareness on HIV/AIDS as well as visits to the Dzorwulu Special School with her Unit, proves that one cannot be too busy in their career, hindering them from adding their voices to a good cause for humanity. What a beautiful balance of career, family, service to God and mankind she demonstrated. As to how she did it, I bet her upcoming book, The Lady in Boots, would be an eyeopener. It definitely is a piece to look forward to!

You Too Can

To the female who thinks she cant break a glass ceiling in a male dominated field, you have a reference. To the lady who thinks aspiring to the zenith may intimidate males, do you need to be told thats a lie from the pit of hell? You have a reference! To the woman who thinks she has to sacrifice family for career or vice versa because both cant work, you have a reference. It is possible to unleash all your potentials and meet men boot for boot, without necessarily fighting them, being disrespectful about it or belittling others. Why? Major General Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu excelled with an admirable character. Her infectious smile and people skills, characterised by respect for others irrespective of age or status, are highly spoken of by the various groups and individuals she encountered. Gods Plan, The Ultimate

God has a purpose for every one here on earth, in a particular jurisdiction. In an interview with Peace Journal, the then Brigadier General Edjeani-Afenu had this to say about Gods purpose for her life in the career path she had chosen: I look at the Bible, where Hannah was crying for a baby and vowed her son to God but what she also didnt know was that God needed a prophet so it just fitted in. Sometimes, that is the way I see it. Yes, I wanted to join the military but God needed a female officer, who would stay in the service for some number of years, wholl become a general. A female officer that He God, wanted to use.

From her early life, where she commenced education in 1965 at the Kamina Barracks Primary, Tamale, to the Armed Forces Experimental School at 4Bn, Kumasi from 1968 to 1971, through to her days at the Wesley Girls High School from 1971 to 1978, to her training and service in the Ghana Armed Forces and the United Nations, while acquiring higher education at different tertiary institutions, it can clearly be seen that Major General Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu has lived a life of purpose. For she who was born on 5th March 1960, one would think that living for 61 years, may not be enough to enjoy the fruits of her labour and spend quality time with her family and loved ones after active service but the Master has need for His servant, whom He believes has served His purpose for her life here on earth.

For the many of us who mourn, especially her family, I pray we all find solace in Acts 13:36 Now when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. Major General Constance Ama Emefa Edjeani-Afenu has served Gods purpose for her life. It is up to us, to be inspired by her life of purpose, rise up to the challenge and also make ourselves available for the Masters use, to glorify His Mighty Name.

The writer is Abena Nyansa, a Ghanaian Orator, poised to fulfill Gods purpose.
Wednesday was eagerly anticipated as a crucial day at the Paris attacks trial. Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the suicide killers who murdered 130 people on the night of 13 November 2015, was to give his version of what really happened. The public benches were packed. The media showed up in droves. And Abdeslam invoked his right to silence. Consternation!

"I don't wish to say anything today," Salah Abdeslam announced straight off. The shock and frustration were palpable.

Court president Jean-Louis Peries was at his patient best, supporting the witness in his decision to exercise a right which is guaranteed by French law, attempting, nonetheless, to convince Abdeslam that his silence would help neither his own cause nor comfort the families of victims, dozens of whom were present to hear his testimony.

"It's beyond me. I'm sorry. I simply can't answer questions today."

Salah Abdeslam was allowed to sit down.

There followed the empty ritual of interrogation without response. The judges, the prosecution, the various legal teams, posed their carefully prepared questions, each answered by silence.

In the face of that silence, the French legal profession deployed its rhetorical gamut from A to B.

Nicolas Le Bris, the clearly very angry attorney-general, called Abdeslam a liar and a coward. In an outburst which would have provoked a mistrial in an Anglo-Saxon courtroom, he also called the suspect a "terrorist".

"Your silence," declared bristling Le Bris, "is further proof of your cowardice. It is clear that a lack of courage is part of the fundamental make-up of all terrorists."

Luckily for Le Bris, under French law, the state alone is allowed to believe in the implicit guilt of those it accuses, even before a verdict has been handed down.

An afternoon of intense emotional tension

The lawyers representing the families attempted various strategies.

Questions were posed politely, brusquely, whingeingly, violently. The witness remained unmoved.

And then it was the turn of Maitre Josserand-Schmidt. She was remarkable.

She quietly explained that the lawyers representing the families had no trick questions, that they were in court to act on behalf of the suffering bereaved, whose only wish was to understand.

For the first time all afternoon, Salah Abdeslam looked directly at his questioner, nodding or shaking his head in response to her presentation, occasionally smiling behind his mask.

The emotional tension was extreme.

"There are so many things they want to know," Josserand-Schmidt continued. "About the explosive vest. About why you didn't set it off. Did you think of alerting the police? Why did you cry on the evening of your final meeting with your girlfriend? Of course you understand the pain of loss, of bereavement . . ."

And then, at 15H07 precisely, Salah Abdeslam began to speak.

He started by repeating the propaganda claim that the Paris attacks were in revenge for International Coalition air-raids against Islamic State in Syria.

"To ensure a fair trial, you would have to hear the testimony of the woman who lost her six children in a bombing raid" in Syria. "If you look only at what Islamic State did, and not what the French state did, you can't make a balanced judgement.

"Yes, I sincerely loved my fiancee and wanted to marry her. If I did shed a tear or two that evening, it was because she was talking about our future together, kids, an apartment, and I knew that I was going to have to go to Syria.

"I had been warned I'd have major problems because of my support for IS, and I knew that the best thing was to go there.

"Everything changed on 12 November, when my brother told me Abaaoud wanted to talk to me."

"Did you accept what he proposed? Were you the replacement for Mohamed Abrini?"

"I can't confirm or deny that. But I can say I did not set off my suicide vest, not out of cowardice, not out of fear. I just didn't want to. That's all."

"So, why did you tell members of the terrorist cell in Belgium that your vest had malfunctioned?"

"It was a lie. I was ashamed, afraid of what the others would think of me. I was 25 years old. I was simply ashamed."

Technical evidence on the suicide vest

There was a second witness on Wednesday, the police explosives expert Bruno Vanlerbergue, and he was prepared to talk.

His evidence was absolutely clear: there is no way of knowing whether Salah Abdeslam did or did not attempt to explode his suicide vest.

What is certain is that this particular vest had two internal flaws, neither of them obvious to the wearer, which made it impossible for the electrical firing system to work.

For the technically minded, the flaws were, in the first place, a dysfunctional detonator, the tiny bulb which lights briefly and intensely to provide the energy necessary to provoke the explosion. This one was broken, probably in the manufacturing process, and would not light.

Secondly, police discovered a tiny nick in the wire linking the other firing bulb to the 9-volt battery, cutting the copper conductor, ensuring that no power could pass. An accidental stroke with a cutter in the construction of the vest was the most likely cause.

The witness was categorical. Salah Abdeslam did not cause either of the flaws which led to his wearing a suicide vest which could not be set off using the electrical detonation system.

The anger of court president Peries

Late in the afternoon, in the wake of the expert witness, Salah Abdeslam again broke silence.

He admitted that the vest found in Montrouge was the one he had been wearing. He explained that he had disconnected the battery and the detonator button because he was afraid the device might be discovered and activated by a child, with disastrous consequences.

That was too much for tribunal president, Jean-Louis Peries.

"Wait a minute, Mr Abdeslam," insisted the president, clearly exasperated. "You had delivered three suicide bombers to the packed Stade de France a few hours earlier, each of them wearing vests just like yours. You knew what they were going to do. And now you tell us you were worried about hurting an innocent passer-by! It makes no sense!"

To which Salah Abdeslam petulently replied: "That proves I was right not to speak earlier. You turn everything against me. Whatever I say, I'm in the wrong. I'll answer no more questions."

The trial continues.
The French medical charity Doctors without Borders (MSF) said Thursday that five employees who were kidnapped more than a month ago in troubled northern Cameroon had been released in neighbouring Nigeria.

The five, who were seized on February 24 at Fotokol, a border area that frequently suffers jihadist attacks, have been taken to a "safe place," MSF told AFP, without giving further details.

"We are pleased to have our colleagues back safe and sound," MSF's chief executive, Stephen Cornish, said in an email to AFP.

The five comprise three aid workers with Chadian, Senegalese and French-Ivorian nationalities, and two Cameroonian security guards.

They were seized by armed men who entered a building used by the charity.

Troubled area: Cameroon's Far North region. By AFP

Fotokol lies in Cameroon's Far North region -- a tongue of land that lies between Nigeria to the west and Chad to the east.

It touches on the marshlands of the Lake Chad region, where Boko Haram jihadists and militants from the rival Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) are notorious for attacks on troops and civilians.

In September 2019, six Cameroonian soldiers were killed near Fotokol by suspected Boko Haram members.

Last August, 26 Chadians were killed in the marshlands just on the other side of the border.

But a local Cameroonian official, speaking after the abduction of the five, cautioned that the identity of the kidnappers was unclear.

"We don't know if it was a simple robbery that went wrong. A safe was opened," he said.

Violence in the Lake Chad area began with the rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria in 2009.

Since then, more than 36,000 people have died, most of them in Nigeria, and three million have fled their homes, according to UN figures.
Mr. Jeff Kwadwo Agyei Oware, the Assemblymember for the Akaporiso Electoral Area has been re-elected as the Presiding Member of the Obuasi East District for the third time.

He went unopposed and managed to polled 26 out of the 27 Yes or No votes cast on the day. This represented 86.6% of total votes cast in an election supervised by the District electoral officer Joseph Gyamfi Owusu.

Speaking with the media after his overwhelming endorsement, Hon Agyei thanked the Assembly members for their trust and confidence reposed in him for the third consecutive time.

He pledged his commitment to providing inclusive leadership and bringing all stakeholders on board to execute the development agenda of the Assembly as he has always done. He again promised to lead the process to ensure the equitable distribution of projects to all the electoral areas in the district.

Hon. Agyei further appealed to the members to unite and do their best to uplift the image of the Assembly by working hard.

Hon. FaustinaAmissah, the District Chief Executive praised the Presiding Member for his humility, positive response to duty and teamwork, the attributes which she opined culminated in his re-election.

She commended the Assembly members for the peaceful manner in which they conducted themselves during the elections.

She called on the Assembly members and other stakeholders in the district to put their shoulders on the wheel as the Assembly rolls out various policies, programmes and projects which will transform the lives of the people in the district.

Hon. Jeff Kwadwo Adjei Oware is the First Vice Chairman for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Obuasi East Constituency, now Acting as the Chairman for the party in the Obuasi East Constituency

Hon. Jeff Adjei is a businessman and hails from Assin Akonfudi in the Assin North District of the Central Region of Ghana.

He was first elected as Presiding Member in August 2018.
The Deputy Minority Chief Whip in Parliament Ahmed Ibrahim has blamed the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin for turning a blind eye on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, by not ensuring the rules of the floor was brought to bear during the Majority's one-sided approval of the controversial E-levy.

He has further accused the Speaker of betraying their course in the one-sided approval of the E-levy.

He was of the view that the Speaker should have instructed the Clerk of Parliament to call for a headcount when the Minority walked out on the passage of the E-levy.

Mr Ibrahim explained that in the same scenario, when the First Deputy Speaker, Joe Osei Owusu assumed the seat to overturn what the Minority did with the Speaker presiding, he (the First Deputy Speaker) instructed the Clerk of Parliament to call for a headcount and counted himself to satisfy himself they have formed a quorum to pass the 2022 budget.

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Banda Constituency in the Ahafo Region said this in an interview with Kwame Obeng Sarkodie on the Ghana Yensom morning show on Accra 100.5 FM, Thursday, March 31, 2022.

He stressed that before the decision was made for the Minority to walk out on the passage of the E-levy; Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrissu notified the Speaker.

The Speaker asked when the leadership of the Minority intends to walk out and he (the Speaker) was told immediately after the Minority leader finished making his submission on the E-levy, Mr Ibrahim said. So, nothing came to the Speaker as a surprise, when the Minority staged the walkout, he added.

He noted that the Speaker ought to have known that the NPP could not have formed a quorum to have passed the E-levy because the Majority numbers were 137.

This, he indicated, implies that the Majority fell short of forming a quorum to have passed the E-levy per the Supreme Courts ruling on the formation of parliamentary quorum.

He said the Speaker failed to make article 108 work when the Minority staged the walked out.

Ive always been number one defender of the Speaker but on this front, the Speaker betrayed the Minority big time on what transpired in Parliament last Tuesday, he bemoaned.

Source: Classfmonline.com
31.03.2022 LISTEN

Mrs Serwaa Quaynor, a mother of a 39-year-old man living with autism, has called on the government to put in place measures that will let society stop the killing of children with autism and other disabilities.

These children do not have a voice and someone has to be responsible for them and speak for them, she spoke with the Special Mothers Project, an advocacy and awareness creation platform for children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities, ahead of Autism Awareness Month, which is celebrated in April.

Mrs Quaynor who is also the Founder and Director of the Autism Awareness Care and Training Centre (AaCT) also reacted to a recent article in the media where a two-year-old boy was buried alive somewhere in the Central region.

She said but for the intervention of the police the child would have died.

This is not the only case that we have heard of, what about the ones being given concoctions and being poisoned slowly to death, these stories span across the country, who do we cry out to?

Mrs Quaynor urged the government to have the interest of children with autism and other disabilities at heart and put in place policies that supports children with disabilities and their families in Ghana

Ghana joins the rest of the world to celebrate World Autism Day on the 2nd of April every year. In Ghana, the Autism community has designated the whole of April as Autism Awareness Month.
More than 200 traders at Kumasi Racecourse have benefitted from a free health screening exercise, organised by the Contracta Construction Company Limited.

The company which is in charge of the construction of the second phase of the Kejetia Redevelopment project held the screening on Wednesday, March 30, 2022 at the Kumasi Racecourse Market.

The exercise, according to the Community Laison Officer of the firm, Mr Emmanuel Danso, formed part of it's corporate social responsibilities.

The screening was undertaken by health officials from the same company (Contracta construction limited) in Kumasi.

Beneficiaries, including yam sellers, meat sellers, second hand cloth sellers, vegetable sellers, among others were screened for eye defects, hepatitis B, hypertension, diabetes and others.

Traders who were diagnosed with health problems received medications and were advised to visit health facilities for immediate treatment of the ailments.

Mr Emmanuel Danso in an interview with this reporter said, their outfit found it necessary to ensure their clients were in good health.

He said this screening is not limited to only racecourse Traders but extends to other markets like Bantama and Abinkyi Market. We are happy to make an impact in the lives of everybody, not just ourselves.

He advised the beneficiaries to be health conscious by going for regular checkups because health is wealth.

Mr Micheal Amponsah, public relations officer for Central Market, Racecourse traders expressed gratitude to Contracta Construction Limited for the gesture and called on other institutions to emulate the laudable move.

He said the company which had helped them find a place for their daily bread, had proven that it did not only care about making profit, but also sought the well-being of customers.
Kenya's top court ruled Thursday that a controversial bid by President Uhuru Kenyatta to change the constitution was illegal, dealing a blow to him and his allies ahead of key elections in August.

But it left open the possibility for the reforms -- popularly known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) -- to be submitted again by parliament or through other means, so long as the president did not have a hand in the changes.

"The president cannot initiate constitutional amendments or changes through popular initiative under article 257 of the constitution," said six of the seven judges overseeing the case at the Supreme Court.

The reforms would have expanded the executive and increase the number of parliamentary seats in the biggest change to Kenya's political system since the introduction of a new constitution in 2010.

The initiative has left the East African nation's political elite divided.

Kenyatta had argued that the change would make politics more inclusive and help end repeated cycles of election violence.

Thursday's decision came after the High Court and Court of Appeal ruled against the proposed amendments last year.

Fresh alliances are being created in Kenya with a view to dividing the spoils come election time. By Tony KARUMBA AFPFile

The appeals court even said Kenyatta could be sued in a civil court for launching the process.

But the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against this idea.

"Civil proceedings cannot be instituted in any court against the president or the person performing the functions of the office of the president during their tenure of office in respect of anything done or not done under the constitution," it declared.

BBI's detractors -- including Kenyatta's estranged deputy William Ruto -- say it is a little more than a naked grab for power by a two-term president who cannot run a third time.

The timing of the reforms spurred speculation in recent years that Kenyatta was seeking to remain in power by establishing the post of prime minister as part of the BBI.

'A dream deferred'

Ruto, 54, was initially anointed by Kenyatta as his successor, but found himself marginalised after a shock 2018 pact between the president and his former foe Raila Odinga, who have a long history of opposing each other at the ballot box.

The pair's spirited pursuit of the BBI since 2018 sparked speculation that Kenyatta may assume the new position of prime minister in a power-sharing arrangement if Odinga, 77, wins the presidency.

Earlier this month, Kenyatta, 60, endorsed Odinga, who will compete with Ruto for the country's top job.

Thursday's session lasted over six hours, with each of the judges including Kenya's first female chief justice, Martha Koome, reading out their respective decisions on the case.

Analysts say the decision will jolt political alignments among smaller parties, which are weighing their options ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections barely four months away.

Already, fresh alliances are being forged, with a view to dividing the spoils come election time.

Prior to the ruling, constitutional lawyer Charles Kanjama told AFP that a verdict which "rejects the proposals in part or in whole... will give further political capital to those who opposed the process."

Although the ruling is likely to weaken the president's hand ahead of the August polls, Kenyatta has previously vowed to see the constitutional changes instituted in his lifetime.

"Although it encountered some legal obstacles, I can only say that BBI is just a dream deferred," Kenyatta said last December.

"One day, someday, it will happen, because the country cannot survive ethnic majoritarianism and exclusion, just as it cannot survive unfair and skewed representation. This is a design defect that we must fix," he said.
Read this: The challenge of the postmodern world is to get used to the idea of double standards Among ourselves, we operate on the basis of laws and open cooperative security. But when dealing with more old-fashioned kinds of states outside the postmodern continent of Europe, we need to revert to the rougher methods of an earlier era  force, preemptive attack, deception, whatever is necessary to deal with those who still live in the nineteenth century world of every state for itself. Among ourselves, we keep the law but when we are operating in the jungle, we must also use the laws of the jungle [T]he opportunities, perhaps even the need for colonization is as great as it ever was in the nineteenth centuryWhat is needed then is a new kind of imperialism, one acceptable to a world of human rights and cosmopolitan values. Robert Cooper, The Post-Modern State, essay in Reordering the World: the Long-term Implications of September 11, Foreign Policy Centre (London), 2002. Quoted in Gregory Elichs brilliant article Zimbabwe under siege, published by Swans.com

And who the heck is Robert Cooper? He was the foreign affairs advisor to ex British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Remember Blair the Liar; that monstrous war Criminal?

That some racist ideologues are talking about re-colonising Africa is no surprise to Femi; the surprise here is that some serious Africans are taking them seriously.

From whichever way we throw it around, the physical colonization of Africa a la 1884 is an impossible task.

And my plea here is that we Africans should engage our intellects in a better enterprise, rather than continue to speculate on the sophomoric ejaculations of some racist dreamers.

Of course, Europe, lacking any meaningful natural resources, and still unwilling to engage those that have them in mutually beneficial honorable commerce, will continue to produce mis-adventurists like the son of Margaret Thatcher sponsoring coups here and there.

But the very idea that the entire African continent will ever again be physically re-colonised is simply laughable and we can safely dismiss it.

I simply cannot conceive a new Riebeeck leaving Holland today to go and grab land in South Africa, or a Glover cutting a swathe in colonizing Nigeria, or another Cecil Rhodes massacring Africans in Monopotama in order to steal their land!

No way, sir!

I am more inclined to agree with Professor Ngugi wa Thiongo that we should rather engage in the battle to decolonize our minds; which I believe is the most urgent battle awaiting our attention.

With what is Europe going to re-colonise us?

Is it with the band of badly-educated, badly-informed, uncultured, uncouth weirdoes, with heads and minds filled with every chemical known to chemistry, that one sees on the streets of Europe today?

Of course, they can also try and throw their precision bombs here and there. But then bombing is not occupation or colonization, as the Iraqi resistance groups are gallantly proving!

Or perhaps, the oxymoronic outfits they call intelligence agencies have gathered another solid evidence that showed that some Africans are waiting with garlands of flowers to welcome new colonizers.

Give me a break!

The Yorubas have a saying: Ti a ba ma je opolo, ki a kuko je eyi to leyin. It means that: If we have to eat a toad, we should try, at least, to eat one that has eggs.

If (God forbid) we have to be colonized again we should, at least, be colonized by a more decent specimen of the human race, and not by the miscreants and the riff-raffs and the violent homophobes that only Europe is capable of siring!

No one, especially not a European, is ever going to colonize me. And this is true for every African I know, aside from a few sad cases among us who have been conquered by materialism and consumed by pessimism.

I wondered sometimes what Europeans really think of themselves.

Our forebears can be pardoned for not understanding Europeans  having not been to Europe. But very few Africans I know who live in Europe today are impressed with Europe or with anything European.

This reminds me of another Yoruba saying: Eni ti a nwo ni awo sokun, ti o nwo ara e lawo rerin. Someone that we look upon with utter contempt, who continues to look at himself with admiration.

Of course, Europeans, like the perpetual little children they are, will continue to sing and dance to their make-up lullabies.

They were there dreaming that the Asians were waiting for a Caucasians Messiah until the Asians met, overtook and passed them by. They can keep on dreaming until we Africans also overtake them, which is only a matter of time

Europe no longer holds any appeal to anyone.

And, as one of our prophets, Frantz Fanon, warned: Come, then, comrades, the European game has finally ended; we must find something different. We today can do everything, so long as we do not imitate Europe, so long as we are not obsessed by the desire to catch up with Europe. Europe now lives as such a mad, reckless pace that she has shaken off all guidance and all reason, and she is running headlong into the abyss; we would do well to avoid it with all possible speed.

Yet it is very true that we need a model, and that we want blueprints and examples. For many among us the European model is the most inspiring. We have therefore seen in the preceding pages to what mortifying setbacks such an imitation has led us. European achievements, European techniques, and the European style ought no longer to tempt us and to throw us off our balance. When I search for the Man in the technique and the style of Europe, I see only a succession of negations of man, and the avalanche of murders.

What the racists dreaming about the re-colonisation of Africa failed to configure into their inebriated analyses is that the worlds geopolitical dynamics have changed dramatically in Europes disfavor.

Sadly for these mindless Euro-Jingoists, and happily for the rest of us, Europe no longer rules the waves, if it is ruling anything at all!

And it never will again.

It was the perceptive Satre who once said that A few years ago, a bourgeois colonialist commentator found only this to say in defence of the West: We arent angels. But we, at least, feel some remorse. What a confession! Formerly our continent was buoyed up by other means: the Parthenon, Chartres, the Rights of Man or the swastika. Now we know what these are worth; and the only chance of our being saved from, shipwreck is the very Christian sentiment of guilt. You can see its the end; Europe is springing leaks everywhere. What then has happened? It simply is that in the past we made history and now it is being made of us. The ratio of forces has been inverted; decolonization has begun; all that our hired soldiers can do is to delay its completion.

The era of Euro-domination is finally and happily forever over. The technological, financial, and industrial power centers have shifted away from Europe, and it surely is not going to return anytime soon. In but a few years Europe would have become totally irrelevant. Those drunks dreaming about re-colonisation should be advised to leave the bottles alone awhile and start to smell something else.

I often tell whoever will listen that were I to be a European, I will be more worried about my future than an African.

Why?

Simply, because Africa has no way to go but up!

As more and more African nations continue to solve their political problems, they will have more time to develop their abundant natural resources for the benefit of their own people, instead of the current situations where European middle-men steal them!

What those arrogant Europeans blissfully forget is that Europe remains the only continent (if we can even call it that) that cannot survive on its own!

.

I Concluded my article thus: As the global power paradigm shift inexorably away from Europe, the central question thus becomes: Who needs Europe with all her reckless bigotry, violence, virulent racism, cynicism, unbridled greediness, selfishness, rampant arrogance, immodesty, and wanton decadence?

When the baton is finally and irrevocably pass from Europe, perhaps the rest of mankind can finally leave Europe, with all her negative baggage, behind and march to build a new relationship of mankind based on mutual love, respect, peace, fraternity, and solidarity.

You can read the whole article here: http://alaye.biz/who-is-afraid-of-the-recolonisers/

Femi Akomolafe

Femi Akomolafe is a writer and a published author.

March 29, 2022
The Sunyani West Municipal Assembly has held its maiden staff durbar of the year 2022 with a call on staff to adopt good work ethics to boost the development objectives of the Assembly.

The durbar was a platform to address the shortcomings and challenges of staff and also find ways to address them.

The Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Evans Kusi Boadum said it was a privilege to have such a gathering which enables Management to interact with Staff. He urged all to participate in the deliberations and share issues with regard to the Assembly.

The MCE explained that the gathering would help Management know the success and challenges of staff in line with their duties.

He urged staff to be committed to their jobs and discharge their duties effectively and efficiently.

He also advised the staff to stay away from party politics at the workplace.

The Municipal Coordinating Director, Mr. Gordon Domayele urged staff not to shirk the duty and commitment to work.

He advised the staff to be punctual to work and avoid lateness. He stressed the need for staff to maximize their efforts and also encourage teamwork.

"As public servants, we should be mindful that government work is a business that w ae doing for the people of Ghana and for that matter we should render quality services," he added.

The staff had the opportunity to ask questions and made suggestions which were addressed by Management.
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A stakeholders engagement has been organized for the informal sector workers in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Region.

It was organized by the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) dubbed "Extending SSMT to the Informal Sector, Voluntary or the Self-employed.

The meeting was to among other things educate the informal sector workers otherwise known as self-employed to know and appreciate the value the scheme has to offer and what they stand to gain should they joined the scheme which can help change the perception some public workers hold about SSNIT.

Speaking in an interview with Modern Ghana News in Bolgatanga, the Chief Actuary of SSNIT Joseph Poku said the mandate of the SSNIT currently is to carer for the First Tier of the Three-Tier Pension Scheme. He noted that the narrative has to change for people to accept SSNT as having something immeasurable to give off at one's old age.

Mr. Poku further explained that SSNIT is supposed to cover every worker in Ghana including the self-employed. According to the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the just-ended Population and Housing Census (PHC) gave the working population as 10.8 million workers, out of which 1.7 million workers are covered by SSNIT, and a further 14,379 being self-employed. He described the level of SSNITs penetration of the scheme among the working population of Ghanaians as nothing to write home about.

The Upper East Regional Industrial Relations Officer for the Teacher and Educations Workers Union, Mathew Abeaba Abeere-nyeeyer, said his union was a major stakeholder of SSNIT, and being part of the engagement meant that the massage will be spread among his union members. He commended SSNIT for the engagement and urged SSNIT not to relent in educating the public about the need to be a member of the scheme.

Participants were drawn from formal and informal sectors including traders, tricycles drivers, the Ghana Private Road Transport Unions of Trade Union Congress (GPRTU of TUC) Taxi drivers' associations, weavers associations among others.
The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has slammed President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for skipping the issues relating to the economic difficulties being experienced by Ghanaians in his State of the Nations Address (SoNA).

According to the NDC, the president in his SoNA to Parliament on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, failed to mention the economic challenges.

The NDCs former Deputy National Organizer, Mahdi Jibril raised these concerns on the Dwabre Mu morning show hosted by Nana Otu Darko on Thursday, March 31, 2022.

He noted that the president was not confident in talking about how the economy has been mismanaged by the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta.

He said it is the reason the president subtly did not speak about the challenges confronting the economy.

He added that the president failed to speak on the fuel price hikes, the cedi to dollar depreciation, skyrocketing prices of goods and services among others in his SoNa.

What has never happened in the history of the delivery of SoNA was the no mention of the countrys debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the president in his delivery, Mr. Jibril stated.

He said the president in his address patted himself on the back for the security of the state but failed to mention that it is under his administration that security personnel are killing fellow security personnel

Source: Classfmonline.com
The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, has called on government to, as a matter of urgency, promote and strengthen Ghanaian farmers' use of organic fertilizer.

This would help the farmers, especially the peasant farmers, to produce to feed the nation

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II pointed out that access to chemical fertilizer was increasingly becoming very difficult and expensive as a result of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, which were major producers and exporters of chemical fertilizers.

It was, therefore, important for the government to support farmers to get used to organic fertilizers as they could not continue to rely on chemical fertilizers amid difficulties in accessing them.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu made the call in an address read for him at the annual general meeting of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) in Kumasi.

The meeting was held on the theme: Building Back Better, Consolidating the Gains of Smallholder Farmers for Improved Food Systems.

The Asantehene said the Russian and Ukrainian crisis posed a threat to global food security given the high cost of fertilizers, fuel and other necessities produced from that part of the world.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu called on the government to pay attention to peasant farmers since they were very critical in improving the country's food systems.

He said smallholder farmers in the country played a significant role during the coronavirus pandemic and global geo-politics, which had put a strain on all economies worldwide.

Peasant farmers have held the fort in providing food for you and they continue to do so even in these challenging times.

"High cost of inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, high fuel prices, continuous reliance on rain-fed agriculture infrastructure, have consistently impacted heavily on our food systems and smallholder farmers have not been spared, he emphasized.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu called on the Ministry of Finance to allocate more resources to develop industries, adding that Ghana could not develop with the current approach of exporting raw materials and importation of finished goods.

We should learn from China and Israel. Why should we be importing rice, and rather exporting raw cashew nuts and raw cocoa, the King quizzed.

He said it was time the government ventured into the irrigation of more dams across the country to ensure all-year-round food production.

He urged the farmers to work together to improve the food systems in Ghana.

Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, said the government was working to address issues confronting farmers, especially smallholder farmers.

The government was building more warehouses across the country, selected some dams for rehabilitation while stringent measures were being implemented to curb fertilizer smuggling.

Dr Afriyie Akoto mentioned that the government would increase investment in the fertiliser subsidy programme, which was very essential input for farmers but in short supply due to global factors.

The government was, therefore, assessing the possibility of setting up local fertilizer plants in some parts of the country to meet demand.

Dr Afriyie Akoto said the government was working to support the local production of organic fertilizer and promote sustainable agriculture, which was economically prudent, environmentally friendly, gender-sensitive and climate-resilient.

Mr Wepia Awal Adugwala, the Board Chairman of PFAG, called on the government to speed up work on selected dams earmarked for rebuilding and expansion.

This, he believed, would make water available for all year farming and domestic activities.

GNA
Paul Amaning, the Eastern Region New Patriotic Party (NPP) Chairman hopeful, says government is committed to seeing through its Agenda 111 despite some initial challenges.

He explained that the delivery of the project was seriously on course since it had taken off after the sod-cutting ceremony in March 2021.

The Agenda 111 aims at constructing 111 hospitals made up of 88 district hospitals, six regional hospitals, three psychiatric hospitals and refurbishment of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital for the country.

Paul Amaning said the project had gone through various stages following its announcement by the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in March 2020.

These stages he said included dealing with issues like feasibility studies, land acquisition, land preparation, documentation, and resolution of land disputes, as well as mobilisation of contract fees.

He noted that so far construction works on some hospitals had started following the full acquisition of lands and clearance by the Ministry of Finance.

Some contractors have moved to site while a few have started actual work and at nascent stages. The duration for the contract is 18 months, all things being equal, Paul Amaning exclusively told Okogyeabour Ocran on Anopa Nkomo on Accra-based Kingdom FM 107.7

According to him, the President had a serious interest in the project and would make sure that the projects were executed on time.

Touching on other projects, Paul Amaning said government had not abandoned any health facilities started by the previous regime.

"Those who are saying that show us just one hospital you have built, here we are; we have done a lot in two years. We shall complete many projects in spite of the stiff challenge and difficulties brought by COVID-19 pandemic, he emphasised.

He recounted the impediments introduced by the pandemic that had affected the world economic order and politics, including the US and China.

If in the midst of this pandemic the government has done this entire health infrastructure, then we need to praise the President, he concluded.
31.03.2022 LISTEN

A day after the passage of the controversial E-Levy Bill by the Parliament, a video interview of the General Secretary of the opposition NDC had emerged, indicating that the official records of Parliament for the day the bill was passed showed that eight (8) NDC Members of Parliament were absent from the House.

He also indicated that the records show that the very ill Chieftaincy Minister, who was reported to have been waiting in an ambulance, conspicuously stationed outside of Parliament was actually in the House and had participated in the proceedings of the day.

But the interview disclosed also that all of the 8 NDC MPs who were reported on the official records as having been absent were indeed, in the House, and each of them had signed the attendance sheet for the day. Additionally, although, the ambulance that was reported to have brought the sick MP was in the full glare of the press and general public, there was no further evidence that the Minister had been removed from the ambulance and sent to the floor of the House.

The interview suggests that there was obviously something very seriously wrong and untoward with the official records of the Parliament. The NDC General Secretary explains in the interview that the order paper for each day of Parliament usually provides space and opportunity for possible errors in the records of the previous day to be rectified, but regrettably however, the order paper for yesterday, a day after the E-Levy was passed did not create the space and opportunity for any corrections to be made in the records of the previous day, which was the day the E-Levy was passed.

These events and circumstances suggest that the Office of the Clerk of Parliament might have been compromised, and the official records of Parliament might have been tampered. In light of these circumstances, Lawyer Eric Delanyo Alifo thinks the general public deserves to know the truth, and he has therefore called for a full bipartisan investigation of the Office of the Clerk of Parliament to unravel the truth.

READ HIS FULL STATEMENT BELOW:

URGENT: OFFICE OF CLERK OF PARLIAMENT MUST BE INVESTIGATED

The opposition NDC in Parliament is alleging that the total number of Members of Parliament in the House and voting at the time the controversial E-Levy Bill was passed was less than 138, half of all Members, and might be 136 or 137. If indeed, this allegation is true, then per the Supreme Court's interpretation of article 104 (1) of the 1992 Constitution in the recent case of _Justice Abdulai v. The Attorney General_, the Parliament did not have the required quorum to pass the E-Levy Bill. The leadership of the Minority has subsequently filed a suit at the Supreme Court for a declaration that the passage of the E-Levy Bill was unconstitutional, and therefore null and void.

For the Court to give Ghanaians true and unbiased justice, which everyone is expecting from the Court, and is yearning for in these high-profile political matters, it is very important for the records of Parliament, particularly, on the attendance of Members on the day, and at the time of passing the bill, to be accurate, meticulous, and reliable.

Unfortunately, just the day after the E-Levy Bill was passed, a video interview of the General Secretary of the NDC, Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketiah emerged and indicates that the official records of Parliament for the day the Bill was passed had named as absent, eight (8) NDC MPs who were actually present and had signed the attendance sheet. The interview also indicates that the very-ill Chieftaincy Minister was present. According to Mr. Asiedu Nketia, the records could not have been right because he knew for a fact, and he had also spoken to all the 8 NDC MPs to verify, that all the 8 of them were present in Parliament just before the walkout by their caucus.

It is also a fact, and a matter of extreme interest to the press and the general public that an ambulance had been stationed at the compound of Parliament, and in the full glare of the press and general public and reported to have brought the very-ill MP-Minister to be on standby to vote for the E-Levy Bill if the need would arise. However, it was not shown at any point, and the more than keen press did not report or capture in photos or any reportage that whoever was in the ambulance was at any point removed and brought to the House to participate in the proceedings of the day and voted. But the official records of Parliament, according to the NDC General Secretary, shows that the sick Minister was present in the House.

Mr. Asiedu Nketiah has established clearly through his interview that the official records of Parliament for the day the E-Levy Bill was passed was fraught with errors. He explains that the Order Paper for each day of Parliament would normally provide the space and opportunity for errors in the previous day's records to be rectified. He states, unfortunately, that the Order Paper for yesterday, which was the next day after the E-Levy Bill was passed did not provide any space and opportunity to the wrong records of the day the E-Levy Bill was passed to be corrected.

The narration in the video suggests largely that the Office of the Clerk of Parliament might have been compromised, and perhaps records had been tampered. Mr. Asiedu Nketia smells a rat and many of us do too. We are concerned that our Parliament may be turning into an institution of dubious dealings, if some of these things can happen without thorough investigations to convince the general public about the sanctity of the House. Over the years, we have struggled with rumours of bribery of MPs without answer. Recently, we heard about a deliberate, and NPP-instigated possible impersonation of Hon. Adzoa Sarfo in the House to assist the side in passing the E-Levy Bill. Neither the NPP nor NDC side issued any official statement on the allegation, and no investigation has been carried out. The general public was as usual taken for granted.

There is the danger again that we shall be taken for granted as always and nobody shall speak officially to the anomalies in the official records of the House and the Order Paper unless, we, 'the people" exert some pressure on Parliament and our other institutions to behave more responsibly and give some hope in the future. It is in light of these that I, as a concerned citizen, call for a thorough bipartisan investigation of the Office of the Clerk of Parliament to reveal all the truth in this matter to assist the Supreme Court in determining the suit before it, and to offer us a good opportunity to scrutinize whatever decision the Court may come up with, if it shall hear the case, and quickly too.

Eric ELANYO Alio
The Member of Parliament (MP) for North Tongu Constituency, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has indicated that it is regrettable President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo could not address the demolition of the Bulgaria Embassy by a private estate developer in his State of the Nation Address.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, March 31, 2022, the MP said the President missed a fine window during his State of the Nation Address to set things right when he stormed Parliament.

According to him, it is about time the Akufo-Addo government exhibited more seriousness and a sense of urgency in such grave matters.

He noted that it has been 14 days and there has been no formal communication to Ghanaians and the international community on the status of investigations.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa adds that he is baffled how Dr. Yaw Adu Ampomah remains at post at the National Development Planning Commission.

Read the full post by the North Tongu MP below:

It is regrettable that President Akufo-Addo missed an opportunity during his Message on the State of the Nation to assure the diplomatic community who were well represented in Parliament yesterday that recent violations of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961; characterized by the condemnable demolishing of Nigerian High Commission properties and the Bulgarian Embassy will not recur under his watch.

Let me remind government that the Sole Inquirer on the Bulgarian Embassy demolishing investigations, Justice Retired Kwasi Anto Ofori-Atta was given 7 days from the 18th of March, 2022 to conclude his work and report to the Lands Minister. Its been 14 days since and there has been no formal communication to the Ghanaian people and the international community on the status of investigations.

Meanwhile, demolishing man Dr. Yaw Adu Ampomah remains at post at the NDPC.

The Akufo-Addo Administration must exhibit more seriousness and a sense of urgency in such grave matters.
South Africa's former president Jacob Zuma on Thursday lost another bid to delay his corruption trial, as a court rejected four appeals to delay the case set for April.

Zuma faces 16 counts of fraud, graft and racketeering over the purchase of fighter jets, patrol boats and equipment from five European arms firms.

The 79-year-old is accused of taking bribes from French defence giant Thales, which has also been charged with corruption and money laundering.

The Supreme Court of Appeal said in a one-sentence ruling dated Monday that his appeals had "no reasonable prospect of success."

The ruling, made public Thursday, was welcomed by the National Prosecuting Authority.

The NPA said it will "now focus on ensuring that the trial resumes on April 11, 2022."

In October, Zuma had sought to have lead prosecutor Billy Downer dropped from the case, accusing him of bias. Zuma contends Downer leaked confidential documents to the media.

Zuma and Thales have denied any wrongdoing.

The trial started in May 2021 after repeated postponements as Zuma's legal team battled to have the charges dropped.

Zuma was president from 2009 to 2018, but was forced to step down by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) as graft scandals surrounding his government brewed into a political storm.

Last year he was given a 15-month jail sentence for contempt of court after refusing to testify before a panel probing financial sleaze and cronyism that proliferated under his presidency.

His jailing sparked riots that descended into looting and left more than 350 dead in the worst violence since the advent of South Africa's democracy.

He was released on health grounds two months into the term.
North Tongu Member of Parliament (MP), Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has accused the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of being heartless over the decision to drag Ahanta West MP Ebenezer Kojo-Kum to Parliament just to pass the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).

The bedridden Ahanta West MP who doubles as Chieftaincy Minister is reported to have arrived in Parliament last Tuesday in an ambulance to add to the numbers of the Majority in the house to approve the levy.

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Samuel Okudzeto has lamented over what he says was a display of heartless political tactics by the ruling NPP.

If anyone doubted the stubborn insensitivity of this government, just look at the extent they went in violating the dignity of their own extremely sick colleague MP by dragging him to the precincts of Parliament in an ambulance.

That is not superior political tactic, it is heartless politics without regard for human life. Politics must not be this ugly and barbaric, parts of a post on the Facebook page of Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa reads.

According to him, the trust in Ghanaian politicians is now at an all-time low mainly due to gross deception and failed promises by the ruling New Patriotic Party government.

Read the full statement from Okudzeto Ablakwa in the attachment below:
31.03.2022 LISTEN

The Peoples National Convention (PNC), says, although they support the passage of the E-Levy, government should have reduced the tax to 0.75% instead of the 1.5%.

Despite a minority walkout on Tuesday, Parliament approved the controversial bill. The tax will introduce 1.5 percent charge on electronic money transfers.

The government claims it will help raise enough revenue to be used to address the problems of unemployment and high public debt.

General Secretary of the Peoples' National Congress, Janet Nabla, said the PNC is not opposed to the levy, only that the charge should have been further reduced.

1.5% on mobile money transactions is substantial. The PNCs position is that government should have reduced the charges to 1% or even 0.75%. We agree that E-Levy is a necessary evil. We knew the economy and the problems we were facing, so we were never against paying.

Now that it has been passed, we want the government to put the monies accrued to good use. Ghanaians were opposed to the levy because they complained they have not seen the impact of the taxes collected by the government so far.

The levy, which was amended from 1.75 percent to 1.5 percent, will be a tax on electronic transactions, which includes mobile-money payments.

The charge will apply to electronic transactions that are more than GH100 on a daily basis.

Critics of the proposal have warned that this new levy will negatively impact the Fintech space, as well as hurt low-income people and those outside the formal banking sector.

Three members of the Minority NDC in parliament including its leader, Haruna Iddrisu, have filed a suit at the Supreme Court to challenge the passage of the levy which was done in their absence after they boycotted proceedings.

According to them, the house did not have the numbers to pass the levy.

---Citi Newsroom
The speaker of Tunisia's parliament on Thursday rejected President Kais Saied's dissolution of the assembly the previous day.

"We consider that the parliament remains operational," Rached Ghannouchi told AFP in an interview.

"The president does not have the constitutional right to dissolve parliament."

Saied had dissolved the chamber on Wednesday, dealing another blow to the political system in place since the North African country's 2011 revolt which sparked the Arab Spring.

It came eight months after he sacked the government, froze parliament and seized sweeping powers, later moving to rule by decree in moves opponents have dubbed a "coup".

The president's announcement on Wednesday evening came hours after parliamentarians held a plenary session online -- their first since Saied's power grab -- and voted through a bill against his "exceptional measures".

Addressing his National Security Council, Saied said MPs who had taken part would be prosecuted.

But Ghannouchi, who heads the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party that has dominated Tunisia's post-revolution politics, Saied's decision was "null and void because it contradicts the constitution".

Many Tunisians welcomed Saied's moves against political parties seen as self-serving and corrupt, but his moves have prompted accusations that he is moving the country back towards autocracy.
A group calling itself the Concerned NPP Communicators has lambasted the NDC Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo South Constituency, Hon. Eric Opoku over his claim that Ghana imports cassava from China.

In a press release, the group noted that the claim by the MP confirms how empty and ignorant he (Hon. Eric Opoku) is on matters of food production, consumption, and importation in this country.

The Concerned NPP Communicators indicated that contrary to the false claims, Ghana does not import cassava from China but has rather become a net exporter of cassava products.

For instance, in 2019 alone, total production of cassava in Ghana was 19.4 million metric tonnes. In the same year, Ghana exported GHc 13.7 million of processed cassava products including tapioca, flour, gari, etc.

Besides, the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorates of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, which is the agency responsible for issuing permit for the importation of agriculture produce, did not issue any permit for the importation of raw cassava into Ghana. So it can never be true that Ghana imported raw cassava from China in 2019, parts of the release issued by the Concerned NPP Communicators reads.

The NPP group concludes that the claim by Hon. Eric Opoku is borne out of hatred and a desperate attempt to discredit Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto and the government's enviable record in Agriculture.

Read the full release from the Concerned NPP Communicators below:

Ghana does not import Cassava from China, Hon. Eric Opoku should stop the lies

By: Concerned NPP Communicators

There is this outrageous and palpable misinformation spreading through both social and traditional media that, Ghana, our naturally endowed rich land imports cassava from China.

It is regrettable to note that, this outrageous piece of disturbing falsehood is been engineered and spread by no mere a person than the Member of Parliament (MP) for Asunafo South constituency who also doubles as the Ranking Member of Food, Agriculture, and Cocoa Affairs Committee of Parliament, Hon. Eric Opoku.

According to this NDC Member of Parliament, since 2019, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture has imported cassava from China to augment Ghana's depleting cassava stock. He made this disparaging claim on Accra FM's morning show, "Ghana Yensom".

This claim by Hon. Eric Opoku confirms how empty and ignorant he is on matters of food production, consumption and importation in this country.

We would wish to use this opportunity to cure the mischief of this "Dishonourable" Member of Parliament against the Ministry that is currently holding the economic pillars of this country.

First of all, Ghana does not import cassava from China. As a matter of fact, Ghana is a net exporter of cassava products. For instance, in 2019 alone, total production of cassava in Ghana was 19.4 million metric tonnes. In the same year Ghana exported GHc 13.7 million of processed cassava products including tapioca, flour, gari, etc.

Besides, the Plant Protection and Regulatory Services Directorates of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, which is the agency responsible for issuing permit for the importation of agriculture produce, did not issue any permit for the importation of raw cassava into Ghana. So it can never be true that Ghana imported raw cassava from China in 2019.

We are therefore daring Hon. Eric Opoku to avail to us the source of information for his bogus claim that Ghana has been importing cassava from China since 2019.

It is also worthy to note that, some of the derivatives of cassava used for some specific industrial purposes such as manufacturing of drugs, textiles, among others, are all not manufactured locally and sometimes manufactured, but not in very large quantities to meet all the industrial needs of the Country, and therefore have to be imported. But this, can never be termed as importation of raw cassava into Ghana.

A simple scenario to help cure the ignorance of Hon. Eric Opoku and his NDC Propagandists is the importation of some cocoa products into this country. We import several cocoa products, but it would be very childish if not insane for anybody to claim that Ghana imports cocoa just because we import cocoa products.

In conclusion, it could be seen that, in whichever way you would look at it, it can never be said that Ghana imports cassava.

It is therefore, out of hatred and a desperate attempt to discredit Dr. Owusu Afriyie Akoto and this government's enviable record in Agriculture, that a supposed Ranking Member of Food and Agriculture Committee of Parliament would peddle such infantile lies.

We wish to inform the public that, Ghana does not import cassava, and therefore, should disregard the claims of Hon. Eric Opoku.

............Signed...............

Concerned NPP Communicators

0248005516

0244078968

0266561344

0508710909

0554884535
31.03.2022 LISTEN

Energy Minister, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh has suggested that government is at its wits' end on how far Ghanaians can be cushioned, following the rise in prices of petroleum products at the pumps.

The government recently announced a 15 pesewas reduction on fuel prices, which is being sold at a minimum of GH9.2 per liter.

However, this was not received lightly, as many described it as woefully inadequate. Commercial drivers for instance, have threatened to increase fares by 15%.

In an interview with Citi News on the President's State of the Nation Address, the sector minister however said the prices are largely affected by external factors and the government cannot affect a reduction beyond 5%.

Isnt it true that covid has affected the developed world, and things have been made worse by the Russia  Ukraine war? Isnt it true that some countries have started practicing petroleum products patriotism? Over 80% of petroleum products depend on the outside external price. Even if we took all the 2.43 cedis, that is the governments stake, out of the fuel, it would not have contributed to more than 5 percent.

Diesel is currently selling between GH10 and GH11 per litre, while the price of petrol has crossed the GH9 mark at some fuel stations.

The price of the product will, however, go down by 15 pesewas per litre effective April 1, 2022.

This, according to Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta, will be in place for three months.

---citinewsroom
Ghana has received 44.7 million grant as part of the Agriculture Water Management Project (AWMP) to build and rehabilitate a total of 35 irrigation schemes in northern Ghana.

The project would support the expansion of irrigated agriculture in northern Ghana, covering 11 Districts in the Upper West Region, two districts, and one District in the North East Region.

It would be implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and the Ghana Irrigation Development Authority (GIDA) to stimulate green and inclusive growth, reduce inequalities and improve Ghana's food security.

It is being funded by the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) and the European Union (EU)

The agreement was signed by Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, on behalf of the Government, while Mr Christophe Cottet, Country Director for AFD and co-signed by Ms Jutta Urpilainen, the European Commissioner for International Partnerships.

Madam Anne-Sophie Ave', the French Ambassador to Ghana, Dr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, the Minister of Agriculture and Mr Irchad Razaaly, the EU Ambassador to Ghana all witnessed the signing.

Mr Ofori-Atta, who commended all the partners, said the project would support the expansion of irrigated agriculture in northern Ghana, covering 11 Districts in the Upper West Region, two districts, and one District in the North East Region.

He said the project was consistent with the government's priorities as it addressed the key issues faced by smallholder farmers and farming systems in the Northern Region.

The AWMP programme dovetails perfectly into our Planting-For-Food and Jobs Programme as it would help address food insecurity issues and improve the income of farmers and promote poverty eradication, the Minister said.

Mr Owusu Afriyie Akoto, Minister of Food and Agriculture, said the project would help develop the untapped irrigation potential in Northern Ghana

He said the construction of the 35 small irrigation schemes would cover an area of 1,000 hectares, adding that 15 irrigation schemes would be fed from earth dams, nine schemes fed by pumping from Black Volta River and 11 schemes fed by pumping from holes.

Ms Jutta Urpilainen, the European Union Commissioner for Internal Partnerships, reiterated the EU's commitment to supporting Ghana's agriculture sector.

She said the sector was essential for the country's economic development that would boost socio-economic development and stability of regions in northern Ghana.

She said the project was an ambitious and important investment that would support smallholder farmers to make their yields more predictable and increase their income.

Madam Anne Sophie Ave', the Ambassador of France to Ghana, said, investing in agriculture was investing in the future.

She said the project aimed at planting for peace and security and planting for sustainability and it would enable better jobs and revenues, environment-friendly agriculture, all-year-round production and ensure food provision for all.

The construction of irrigation systems is essential to increase yields in the targeted regions of Upper West, Savannah and North East Regions, she added.

The project will provide an additional and reliable source of income for more than 6000 smallholder farmers, who currently rely on unpredictable rain-fed agriculture and are increasingly exposed to extreme climatic events such as droughts and floods.

Signatories of the Project have agreed to join forces to support irrigation in northern Ghana, where 85 per cent of the population makes a living from agriculture.

In all the European Union is committing 39,7 million and the French is committing 5 million, which would be managed by AFD with the MoFA and GIDA as implementing partners.

The projects will finance the rehabilitation and construction of 15 dams, 11 boreholes and 9 pumping stations on the Black Volta River and their associated 1300 hectares of irrigated perimeters.

It will accompany farmers to move from rain-fed to irrigated agriculture, support the Water Users Associations to run the irrigation scheme and build GIDA's capacity to supervise these schemes.

GNA
Dr. Chris Kpodar, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Solomon Investments Ghana Limited has revealed that digitalization and thorough investment in Artificial Intelligence technology game-changer key for African nations.

African countries have the potentials to compete on the global market equally by using Artificial Intelligence to propel development in the continent, Dr. Kpodar who is a Chief Technical Adviser of the Center for Greater Impact Africa (CGIA) said.

According to him, problems in Africa were very crucial adding that it was imperative for the various leaders in the continent to adapt to the modern trends of solving certain problems and societal challenges using Artificial Intelligence.

Dr Kpodar who served as a Consultant for Africa and the Middle East advising governments and companies on investment stated at a forum organized by the Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Office.

The forum which was on the topic: Artificial Intelligence and sustainable development, was attended by Reverend Dr. Samuel Worlanyo Mensah, an economist, and CGIA Executive Director; Mr. Mohammed Malik, CGIA Technical Advisor, and an Indian Investor; Mr. Percy Opata, CGIA Corporate Secretary; Mr. Samuel Akoetey CGIA Head of Business Development and Mr. Frank Ofoe Zotorvi, CGIA Head of Legal Affairs.

Dr. Kpodar further hinted that scientific data indicate that over 80 per cent of jobs in the global market could be affected by the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence modules in the next ten years.

He said Artificial Intelligence technology would help cure some lapses in the various institutions stressing that bribery and corruption could be dealt with, saying sophisticated gadgets would be deployed to do basically what humans were employed to do.

Dr. Kpodar again explained that Ghana could become a pacesetter for digitalization adding that once the implementation was done right, things would begin to move in the right direction to bring the needed development which would cater to the wellbeing of the African people.

The CGIA technical adviser again reiterated the need for Africans to be strategic to acquire the needed knowledge on using Artificial Intelligence technology to solve many of the problems confronting the continent.

Dr. Kpodar formerly of the United Nations encouraged young people to learn and draw level with the new trends of artificial intelligence and its benefits and implications on 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 said.

Dr. Kpodar explained that artificial intelligence alone can make the world food-sufficient and poverty-free if adopted and applied well.

This, he explained that artificial intelligence could be used for a wide range of things including setting rain patterns favourable for planting and harvesting seasons which will be a more sustainable way of producing and storing food all year long.

Mr Francis Ameyibor, Ghana News Agency Tema Regional Manager called on the African Union to fast track the implementation of the African Digital Transformation Strategy (DTS) and the AU Communication and Advocacy Strategy (CAS), as well as the Unions Brand and Communication Style Guideline adopted in 2019.

Mr Ameyibor said the role of digital technologies and innovation in the achievement of the vision and goals of the AUs Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals cannot be overemphasized.
Mrs. Sika Ramatu Lawson, a Project Electrical Engineer at the Department of Electrical Engineers Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) has revealed that women have started penetrating into the mainly male-dominated oil refinery sector.

She said the oil refinery which was a purely engineering-oriented field of work, was predominantly male-dominated as fewer women studied and work in that area but in recent times women have built their capacities to take up the task in the hard-core environment and department.

She said that the female population ratio at TOR in the past compared to now was very encouraging explaining that at a point there was only one female engineer amongst the host of men.

Mrs Lawson stated when she led a three-member team of technical ladies to present a paper on the Prospects of women in the oil refinery sector: Womens contribution to the success story of the Tema Oil Refinery at the Ghana News Agency-Tema Regional Offices eleventh Stakeholders Engagement.

The eleventh stakeholder engagement was also used to climax the GNA Tema Regional Offices month-long activities to mark the 2022 International Womens Day celebration and also mark the first anniversary of the stakeholder engagement.

Mr Lawson said: It is worthy of mention that at the moment in TOR we have several gallant ladies who apply modern technology in various positions as instrument/electrical technicians and engineers, process technicians and engineers, chemists.

Laboratory technicians as was as administrators, finance, procurement, insurance professionals, lawyers, and health personnel, all playing sensitive roles in the process delivery, she added.

Mrs. Lawson was accompanied by Miss Matilda Adane Okrah, Maintenance Planner at TOR, and Ms. Phillipa Joy Essien, TORs Learning and Development Officer.

The 2022 International Womens Day is on the theme: Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow, recognizing the contribution of women and girls around the world, who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response, to build a more sustainable future for all.

She also revealed that current TOR has completed 80 per cent of work on the reconstruction of its crude oil furnace which exploded in January 2017 forcing it to reduce its production.

TOR, which is the only refinery in Ghana which has a capacity of 45,000 barrels per stream day was currently producing at 26,000 barrels due to the explosion.

Mrs. Lawson said TOR was hopeful of starting full operation by the end of June when the work on the furnace would be fully completed.

She explained that TOR had two plants made up of the Crude Distillation Unit (CDU) and the Residual Fluid Catalytic Cracker (RFCC), noting when the installation of the furnace was complete it will give the plants a faster turnaround time to produce at full capacity.

We have two main plants, the CDU and the RFCC major plants without them we cant run, currently installations are almost around 80 per cent completion to replace that equipment which got exploded, with that we can go back doing 45,000 barrel per stream day for the CDU, while the RFCC plant does 14,000 barrels, she added.

Taking participants through the work of TOR, she indicated that the core business of the refinery was to refine crude oil it either acquired or for third parties to be able to serve the Ghanaian market, the sub-region and beyond by marketing the finished products to the Bulk Distribution Companies (BDCs) and the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs).

The TOR Project Electrical Engineer further said the refinery work interlink the commerce department got the crude oil for the Refinery, production department then takes over its movement and storage, after which it was prepared, and send to the CDU for distillation heavy residue, gasoil, heavy and light naphtha, aviation turbine kerosene, and domestic kerosene.

She added that the by-product from CDU which was the heavy residue would then be taken to the catalytic cracker for further refining into the two major products, LPG and gasoline (super).
The Peoples National Convention (PNC) has called for an all-hands-on-deck approach to bring back the economy on track for accelerated development after COVID-19.

The PNC, therefore, called on national governance bodies, academia, opposition political parties, Civil Society Organisations, Non-governmental Organization, traditional leaders, and all well-meaning Ghanaians to join hands with the current government to resort to the national economy, if the boat of state sink we will all perish with our political ideologies.

The PNC explained that the citizens should be ready to give constructive criticism, offer advice when the need arises, and put partisan interests aside to help make Ghana a better place.

In a document made available to the Communication for Development and Advocacy Consult (CDA Consult) in Tema signed by the partys General Secretary Ms. Janet Asana Nabla, the PNC commended President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo for the State of the Nation Address (SONA).

According to the PNC, President Akufo-Addo is sincere in admitting the hardship Ghanaians are going through this is an act of statesmanship for the President to exhibit during the delivery of SONA.

It was a show of good leadership when the government in recent times cut down on its expenditures which have given it the moral right to call on the citizenry to appreciate its efforts in dealing with the situation.

The PNC however appealed to the government to do more to make lives better for Ghanaians.

The Party believed that investing in agriculture was another way to go and they are convinced the government's commitment towards agriculture by rehabilitating some dams to aid farmers will help to get all-year-round farming.
31.03.2022 LISTEN

Member of Parliament (MP) for Tamale Central, Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed has taken a swipe at President Akufo-Addo.

He said the President bereft of any touch of human feelings decided to celebrate after imposing harsh and severe taxes on the citizenry.

The President on Wednesday, March 30, 2022, expressed his delight over the passage of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) by Parliament.

Mr. Speaker, despite the protracted and sometimes acrimonious nature of proceedings, I am happy that the House has, finally, found it possible to pass the E-levy Bill. I believe the levy is going to make a significant contribution to revenue mobilisation and the management of the national economy, President Akufo-Addo stressed while delivering his State of the Nation Address.

Speaking to Joy News on Thursday, Minority MP Murtala Mohammed said he is shocked President Akufo-Addo is on cloud nine after the passage of the controversial levy that has been overly rejected by the Ghanaian people.

According to him, the Minority is not going to relent. He said they will continue pushing to ensure victory at the Supreme Court.

President Akufo-Addo is the only president to jubilate over imposing severe and harsh taxes on its citizens.

We have no doubt that the Supreme Court will rule in our favour because there is a precedent, the Tamale Central MP said.

Meanwhile, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has today assented to the passed E-Levy bill to become a law.
Ugandan authorities should investigate a February 22 assault on and several incidents of suspected surveillance of freelance journalist Lawrence Kitatta, and hold those responsible to account, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday.

Kitatta, a photojournalist and reporter, has been in hiding and unable to work since March 11, he told CPJ via messaging app, after a group of 12 men thought to be plain-clothed government security officers were seen allegedly surveilling the offices of the Vision Group, a Kampala-based state-owned media company that publishes Kitattas work in its New Vision and Bukedde newspapers, according to a report by New Vision and a statement by the local press rights group, the Human Rights Network for Journalists-Uganda.

Since February 24, Kitatta has reported two other incidents of being followed and attacked by people he believed to be security officers, he told CPJ. Kitatta believes the security personnel planned to detain him following a February 22 incident in which a police officer attached to the elite Presidential Protection Guard, which provides security to high-ranking government officials and delegates, kicked him while he was covering an opposition protest in Kampala outside the home of Anita Among, who has since been elected speaker of parliament, according to media reports.

A police officer attached to the elite Presidential Protection Guard kicked Kitatta while he was covering an opposition protest in Kampala. The attack was widely publicized and pictures of the incident were published on the front page of the Daily Monitor, a large privately owned newspaper. (Credit Withheld)

The attack was widely publicized, and Kitatta told CPJ that a picture of the incident was published on the front page in the Daily Monitor, a large privately owned newspaper. Kitatta also wrote a first-person account that was published by New Vision.

It is a shame that a Ugandan journalist has been forced to go into hiding out of fear simply because he spoke out about being attacked while on assignment, said CPJ sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoki Mumo. Authorities should hold the police officer who kicked Lawrence Kitattta on February 22 accountable and provide guarantees that the journalist will be allowed to continue his work safely.

In the February 22 incident, Kitatta heard the police officer making disparaging comments about the media and saying he did not like journalists before covering his face with a mask, chasing protesters, and assaulting Kitatta, the journalist told CPJ.

In a tweet, Asan Kasingye, an assistant inspector general and chief political commissar of the Uganda police force, accused Kitatta of attempting to grab the police officers weapon and suggested the officer was only trying to protect his gun. Kitatta told CPJ that when the officer went to kick him, he put out his arm in front of his body in a self-defensive reflex, not to grab the police officers gun.

Kitatta first suspected he was being surveilled on February 24, when a man in civilian clothes approached the journalist while he was walking back to the Vision Group following a lunch break, Kitatta told CPJ. The man called him by name but walked away when Kitatta responded.

I think he was trying to confirm it was me, to confirm my identity, Kitatta said.

On the evening of February 28, when he was riding his motorcycle home from the Vision Group offices, he noticed a man riding another motorcycle without a license plate following him, Kitatta told CPJ. The man followed him for about two miles (three kilometers), then tried to run him off the road. Kitatta told CPJ that he stopped and waited for the other man to drive off before taking an alternative route home.

Kitatta has reported two other incidents of being followed and attacked by security officers since February 24, 2022, that he believes are connected to his assault by a police officer during a February 22 protest. (Photo courtesy Kitatta)

On March 1, accompanied by a Vision Group lawyer, Kitatta reported both incidents to police at the Jinja Road station, in Kampala, according to a report published by the newspaper, which CPJ reviewed.

Kitatta told CPJ that he believed that the group of men outside the Vision Group building on March 11 incident was connected to these two earlier incidents. In its reporting, New Vision said that some of the men, riding motorcycles without license plates, watched the buildings exit while another group waited in an idling car.

When one of the men was asked by Vision staff what they were doing outside the Vision Group offices, the man claimed to be looking to hire space for a conference  a service the media company does not provide. Kitatta told CPJ that at least one of the men approached a Vision Group security officer, asking for Kitattas whereabouts.

Kitatta told CPJ that he was warned by his colleagues that there were men looking for him, so he hid in the Vision Group offices throughout the afternoon until they left.

In a telephone call on March 31, Kasingye said he had no comment on the case and referred CPJ to police spokesperson Fred Enanga and the Criminal Investigations Department spokesperson Charles Twiine for comment.

Twiine asked CPJ to visit his office for a response to queries sent via messaging application and did not respond to a further request to communicate his comments either via email or WhatsApp. Enanga did not answer multiple calls and messages from CPJ requesting comment. CPJs March 26 email to the police was also unanswered.
The West Africa Health Organization (WAHO) congratulates Nigerias National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) on their achievement of World Health Organization (WHO) Maturity Level 3 for National Medicines Regulatory Authorities (NMRAs).

NAFDAC becomes only the second NMRA in West Africa and one of four in Africa to have achieved this prestigious milestone, the other three NMRAs being Tanzania, Ghana, and Egypt. WAHO therefore felicitates with the Director-General of NAFDAC, the Honourable Minister of Health of Nigeria, and the Government and People of Nigeria on this international recognition of the strong regulatory performance, governance and autonomy of the countrys medicines gatekeeper.

Improving the regulatory systems and capacity of NMRAs in the ECOWAS region to ensure quality and safety of medicines, vaccines and other medical products has been a priority of the West African Health Organisation (WAHO). Over the past few years, we have supported all NMRAs both technically and financially to achieve this goal in collaboration with international partners. Following a gaps analysis in 2017 of the performance status of the regions 15 NMRAs, WAHO in collaboration with WHO championed the introduction of Institutional Development Plans in line with WHOs Global Benchmarking Tool for all the NMRAs.

This has led to significant improvement across the region in Pharmaceuticals Quality Management and Regulatory systems. To date, five NMRAs have achieved international ISO 9001-2015 accreditation whilst seven National Medicines Quality Control Laboratories which are integrated within NMRAs (NMQCLs) have achieved ISO 17025 certification.

The Food and Drug Authority (FDA) of Ghana attained WHO Maturity Level 3 in April 2020 and this week we celebrate the entry of Nigerias NAFDAC to this exclusive club.

WAHO will continue to work with all the National Medicines Regulatory Authorities in the region to achieve and maintain higher international standards in order to strengthen the regional joint regulatory assessment procedures and enhance medicines and vaccines production capacities in the region.

Once more we congratulate the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria for their success.

Source: ECOWAS (CEDEAO)
The Member of Parliament for Amasaman constituency in the Greater Accra Region, Hon. Akwasi Afrifa-Mensa has donated a total of one thousand sets of desks to Senior High Schools within the Amasaman Constituency.

The beneficiary schools are Akramaman Senior High School (E-Block) and Adjen-Kotoku Senior High School, with each receiving 500 pieces of mono desks and furniture for teachers.

At a brief ceremony to officially hand over the desks to school authorities on Monday, March 28, 2022, Hon. Afrifa-Mensa appealed to both management and students to put the furniture into good use as he strives to secure more support for them.

The MP said the move is part of several interventions to help improve education in the constituency.

This comes after he donated 100 desks, sewing machines, freezers, oven among others to the Home Economics Department of Akramaman Senior High School last year.

Hon. Afrifa was accompanied by the Municipal Director of Education, Rev. Peter Atta Bilson.
A two-day annual general meeting of the Ghana Hubs Networks (GHN) has been organized in Bolgatanga, the Upper East Region.

The Ghana Hubs Networks is a nationwide network across the sixteen regions of Ghana, with the pre-occupation of, providing access for training of young people to enable them leverage their skills and the assets that they have within the local communities across the country, and would be able to develop innovations that will enable development at the local level.

It was organized by the Ghana Hubs Networks and hosted by DANSYN Z ISO which is a member of the network in the Upper East Region. The AGM brought together more than 50 participants made up of researchers, digital technologies, entrepreneurs, innovators and enthusiasts, experts in ICT, social scientist among others across the country to infuse knowledge for development.

Speaking in an interview with this reporter, the Director of Policy and Research of the Ghana Hubs Network, Yaw Adu Gyamfi stated that GHN is a natural partner with the government and other development stakeholders with the aim of raising an army of young people who would want to team up and work innovatively with other stakeholders to addressing the challenges that they have at the local level, and by so doing, GHN is able to impact at the National level.

Mr. Gyamfi indicated that the idea of hosting the AGM in the Upper East Region is to help build the eco-system and to also take resolutions that will feed into the overall development paradigm for Ghana, especially to ensure how business incubators, accelerators and Hubs in the country have all it takes to do their work.

The Chairman of the GHN Josiah Eyison said GHN is an umbrella body of 52 registered hubs in Ghana. He stated that they provide the space for graduates who after university still need resources and training for them to be able to develop the ideas and concepts and gain funding for the projects that they do. Mr. Eyison commended the government for the hard work in this area however, the contribution of GHN cannot be underestimated as they can envisage how the industry will be like in five years to come.

A lecturer at the entrepreneurship Centre of Ashesi University Dr. Gordon Adomdza said, it is envisioned that in 10 years to come, Sub- Saharan Africa will lead in the population growth due to the huge number of her youth. In Ghana for instance, he said, the economy keeps dwindling and provides no more enabling avenues for employment. It is against this backdrop that it is important to train the youth in entrepreneurial skills and digital technology so the youth can take their destiny into their own hands.

The Chief Executive Officer of Dansyn ISO, Daniel Yennube Nang commended the GHN for choosing to host the AGM in the Upper East Region. He added that the move will foster collaboration and inspire the youth to upscale their quest for digital, innovation and entrepreneurship skills as part of solutions to addressing the problems in these challenging times.
An Accra Circuit Court has sentenced two to a total of 30 years imprisonment each in hard labour, however, one was sentenced in absentia for robbery.

Abdul Rashid Issah, unemployed,21 and Abubakari Iddrisu, mason, 27, both denied conspiring to rob Nicholas Aglobi of his cellular phones, power bank and GH30.00.

However, they were found culpable after trial and a bench warrant was issued for the arrest of Iddrisu, who was not in court when the sentence was passed.

Police Chief Inspector William Kwabena Boateng told the Court presided over by Mrs Afia Owusua Appiah that, Aglobi, the complainant is a taxi driver, staying at Sakaman, a suburb of Dansoman.

He said Issah and Iddrisu lives at Tunga and Zammrama Line respectively and on April 25, 2019, at about 02:30 hours, the complainant was driving his Daewoo Matiz taxi cab with registration number GC 1255-13, but on reaching Dansoman Exhibition Roundabout, Issah and Iddrisu stopped him and asked that they should be sent to Tunga of which the complainant obliged.

Prosecution said, on reaching the area, Iddrisu, who was sitting at the back seat suddenly pulled a knife from his trousers, pointed same at the complainant and threatened him to hand over all his money and phones or risk being stabbed to death.

Chief Inspector Boateng said Issah, who was sitting at the front seat quickly took complainant's Samsung Galaxy 'S' Mobile phone valued GH200.00, Vodafone mobile phone valued GH100.00, a Power Bank valued GH50.00 and GHC30.00, totaling GH 380.00.

According to the prosecution the robbers also took the car's ignition key from the complainant and threw same away into the darkness, which the complainant later found after a search of which he met one Salif Awudu, a witness in this case, whom he narrated the issue to and gave the convicts description to him.

He said a few minutes later, the complainant identified Issah who was passing by the area to his house which led to his arrest by the complainant and the witness.

Mr Boateng said the two upon a search on the suspect found complainant's Samsung Galaxy 'S' mobile phone on him for which he was sent to the Police station where he was re-arrested.

Chief Inspector Boateng said when a search was conducted on him, GHC8.00 was found on him being part of the money they had robbed the complainant of.

Prosecution said Issah admitted the offence and mentioned Iddrisu as his accomplice and subsequently led Police to arrest him in the house.

Mr Boateng said the complainant's Vodafone phone, Power Bank and cash the sum of GHC20.00 were retrieved from Iddrisu.

Chief Inspector Boateng said after investigations, the two were arraigned.

GNA
The Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has waded into the controversy surrounding how the bedridden Ahanta West MP arrived in Parliament.

He said he saw him arrive in an ambulance.

I saw how Ahanta West MP and Chieftaincy minister Ebenezer Kojo-Kum was brought to parliament in an ambulance, the Speaker said in the House on Thursday.

The MP who has been reported sick for sometime was dragged to Parliament. The Ahanta West MP who doubles as Chieftaincy Minister is reported to have arrived in Parliament on Tuesday in an ambulance to add to the numbers of the Majority MPs in the house to approve the levy.

Even though some NDC MPs claim he wasn't found in the ambulance nor was he in the chamber, there were reports that the sick MP was receiving treatment at the Parliament clinic.

North Tongu Member of Parliament (MP), Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has accused the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government of being heartless over the decision to drag Ahanta West MP Ebenezer Kojo-Kum to Parliament just to pass the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Samuel Okudzeto has lamented over what he says was a display of heartless political tactics by the ruling NPP.

If anyone doubted the stubborn insensitivity of this government, just look at the extent they went in violating the dignity of their own extremely sick colleague MP by dragging him to the precincts of Parliament in an ambulance.

That is not superior political tactic, it is heartless politics without regard for human life. Politics must not be this ugly and barbaric, parts of a post on the Facebook page of Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa reads.

According to him, the trust in Ghanaian politicians is now at an all-time low mainly due to gross deception and failed promises by the ruling New Patriotic Party government.
Global News, March 29, 2022

The Taliban have issued even more restrictive edicts in Afghanistan, after recent news that the all-male government would prevent girls from attending school after Grade 6, and that women would be disallowed from boarding flights without male chaperones.

After the U.S. and NATO evacuated their troops from Afghanistan in mid-August and the country slipped back under Taliban control, the international community has waited to see if this new government would revert back to how the Taliban ruled in the late 1990s. Those days saw women banned from education and public spaces, and the prohibition of music, television and many sports.

These latest attacks on womens rights are adding weight to fears of a return to 1990s-style rule, especially since the Taliban had initially promised that womens education would be protected.

The newest actions from the Taliban include segregating parks, restricting mens grooming, and limiting access to international media.

Parks to be segregated

In an official announcement on Sunday, all parks in Afghanistan will be segregated by sex thanks to new orders from the Talibans Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

The letter that introduced the measure explained that women will be allowed to visit parks three days out of the week, with men being permitted on the other four days.

These new rules mean that even families with children wont be able to enjoy parks together. Neither will couples, colleagues, or friends  unless theyre of the same sex.

Restrictions on beard trimming

Male government workers must sport a full beard to work or risk losing their job, according to new practices demanded by the Talibans Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

On Sunday, employees of various government ministries were barred from work because they had trimmed their beards or were not wearing appropriate clothing in accordance with the Talibans interpretation of Islamic law.

A spokesperson for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice confirmed the actions, saying that to continue working, government staff were notified a month ago that male workers needed to have a full beard and women, a hijab.

Employees of the Ministry of Promotion of Vice and Virtue ombudsmen went to some departments following the order. Still, some employees did not pay attention to the instruction and were stopped for advising, the ministry spokesman said.

International media blocked

The U.S. State Department has found that the Taliban are blocking broadcasts from Western media outlets, including the BBC, the Voice of America, and Germanys Deutsche Welle.

The UN is calling the move another repressive step against the people of Afghanistan.

According to Tarik Kafala, head of languages for the BBC World Services, More than six million Afghans consume the BBCs independent and impartial journalism on TV every week and it is crucial they are not denied access to it in the future.

(The BBC broadcasts in Pashto and Persian, the two languages of Afghanistan.)

The U.S. State Department condemned these latest restrictions on basic freedoms, saying it is clear the Taliban are not living up to the essential commitments they made to the Afghan people and the international community.

Who is responsible for these new rules?

AP News talked to senior Taliban officials and found that these new measures came out of a three-day meeting last week with Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada. The meeting took place in Kandahar, where the supreme leader lives. Kandahar is considered the birthplace of the Taliban.

According to those officials, Akhundzada is the one behind the countrys latest restrictive moves  and those who know the leader say he is not worried by international outrage or complaints from Afghans.

In late March, the Taliban promised it would reopen schools to girls above Grade 6. Reportedly, Akhundzada was also the one to veto that decision. On March 23, the government officially reneged on its promise, triggering protests in Kabul.

In response, the U.S. government cancelled talks meant to address economic issues with the Afghan government, saying that restricting girls education would profoundly harm Afghanistans prospects for social cohesion and economic growth, its ambition to become a respected member in the community of nations, and the willingness of Afghans to return from overseas.
Rainbow Flags will be flying high to celebrate the Southern Hemisphere's biggest Winter Pride party - Winter Pride 2022 being back on in Queenstown and Wanaka with some of New Zealand's biggest pride parties!

With 10 days of pride filled fun and over 30 events on and off the slopes, Winter Pride is set to rebound after 2 years impacted by COVID. Hit the slopes 'Pride Style' at Winter Pride 2022 across Queenstown and Wanaka's 4 mountains and see some of New Zealand and Australia's most fabulous Queer talent take the stage!

Winter Pride is everything you imagine and more. Join thousands of LGBTTQIA+ travelers in one of the most stunning settings in the world to celebrate Pride - right here in New Zealand from August 26 - 4 September

Tickets are on sale NOW and after 5 consecutive sell out years of events, you really don't want to be left out in the cold! Head to www.winterpride.co.nz , register and get access to secure your place!

Check out www.winterpride.co.nz for all the details to make the most of one of New Zealand's most fabulous Pride events of the year.

Winter Pride 2022

Friday 26 August - Sunday 4 September

10 days of festival - 8 days of on mountain events including theme days!

Tickets on sale now
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
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During Raising Cane's grand opening of its largest Texas location on Tuesday, the company donated money to its first local charity.

The West Texas Food Bank received a check for $2,500 from Raising Cane's during its opening celebration. The restaurant will donate $10,000 to various organizations throughout the Odessa community during the opening week, according to a press release.
John Moore/Getty Images

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol found an unresponsive 32-year-old Guatemalan woman two miles northwest of the Tornillo port of entry on March 17, according to a March 30 CBP press release. The woman was pregnant, but her fetus died on March 18, the release said. The woman was pronounced brain dead on March 20 and was removed from life support by her family on March 25, according to the release.

The woman was found after a Border Patrol agent operating video surveillance equipment saw six suspected undocumented migrants climbing the international border barrier in the El Paso sector, according to the release. Border Patrol agents arrived on scene and then called the Border Patrol Sector El Paso to request emergency medical services, the release said.
Truescope Gets Funds for US Expansion

Media insights and business intelligence firm Truescope has raised $6.2m in funding, to support its expansion plans which include its launch in the US market and the further development of its platform.



Launched in 2020 by John Croll, former CEO of media monitoring firm Isentia, and his former colleague Michael Bade, Truescope has offices in New York, Sydney and Singapore. The company informs clients about breaking news across all media types, and identifies issues, fake news and trends in real time, aiming to use AI and other technology to simplify the analysis and reporting of media analytics.



New funding comes from venture capital firms, Investible and Jelix Ventures, as well as other private investors. Croll comments: 'We are hiring a fantastic team in the US with a wealth of industry experience. Now to have this support from the calibre of investors that we do, we know that our strategy stacks up and we're on track to being one of the leading media intelligence SaaS platforms globally'.



Web site: www.truescope.com .




A new computational tool developed at Michigan Technological University assists in the urgent quest to eliminate the persistent chemicals known as PFAS from community water supplies.

Because of their unique properties, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are used everywhere in daily life  from water-repellent clothing and nonstick cookware to pizza boxes, ski wax, fast food wrappers and firefighting foam.

PFAS contain a very strong carbon-fluorine bond, not easily degraded by biological activities, said Daisuke Minakata, an associate professor of civil, environmental and geospatial engineering. PFAS can remain in the environment almost forever; thus, they are called the forever chemicals. They end up contaminating our groundwater and surface water, our waterways, and eventually our drinking water and ecological systems, too  including freshwater fish.

About the Researcher Daisuke Minakata dminakat@mtu.edu

906-487-1830 Research Interests Sustainable water and wastewater treatment and management

Development of assessing and predicting tools for water treatment technologies

Innovative water and wastewater treatment technologies for energy saving and harvesting

Systematic and integrated understanding of water and wastewater reuse

Application of computational chemistry and molecular modeling Researcher Profile

Chemical industries manufacture PFAS with different properties for specific commercial products; there are approximately 4,000-5,000 known types. While toxicological impacts are still largely unknown, PFAS are potentially carcinogenic, Minakata said. Small concentrations of PFAS have been found in human bloodstreams. As a result, the state of Michigan and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently began regulating the levels of several types of PFAS under the Safe Water Drinking Act.

Responding to PFAS detected in water is challenging for communities in Michigan and elsewhere. Some water authorities have already located the source of PFAS contamination in their drinking water, Minakata said. Its a start. However, because of the budget constraints faced by many local governments, they simply cannot afford to employ advanced water treatment technologies to remove the PFAS.

"Our new computational tools provide helpful guidance and methods to researchers around the world who seek to forever destroy these forever chemicals." Daisuke Minakata, associate professor of civil, environmental and geospatial engineering

Cost is not the only barrier. Local water authorities are struggling to implement available technologies to remove PFAS from water sources, Minakata said. Current technologies  such as adsorption of granular activated carbon and ion exchange  offer only a phase transfer of PFAS from water to carbon media, which then require regeneration and replacement. Another concern: Carbon-based adsorption works for longer chain PFAS, but those are now being phased out of the market, he said. They are being replaced by smaller chain PFAS. The smaller chain PFAS do have fewer toxicological concerns, but they are not well removed by adsorption.

And, theres another problem. Most currently available remediation technologies do not actually destroy PFAS, Minakata said. Instead, these technologies transfer PFAS from one phase to another. They are conveniently implemented in order to meet the new EPA regulations. But its going to backfire. Unless we fully destroy the structure of PFAS, were bound to encounter larger, more fundamental problems.

Minakata believes PFAS will end up in wastewater and landfill leachate as a result of current PFAS remediation technologies, albeit in very low concentrations. PFAS will then be transported back to the environment through evaporation, atmospheric deposition and biosolids. The recycled biosolids may then be used in agriculture, so PFAS could eventually contaminate food crops, he said.

A New Computational Tool for Advanced Reduction

Even so, Minakata sees a light at the end of the PFAS tunnel. His research group recently published a paper outlining a new PFAS computational tool, Reactivities of hydrated electrons with organic compounds in aqueous-phase advanced reduction processes in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology.

Minakata and Michigan Tech graduate student Rose Daily, a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow in environmental engineering, used data science and computational chemistry to study hundreds of structurally diverse organic chemicals to predict PFAS reactivities.

Our methods can be expanded and used to screen thousands of PFAS, says Minakata. The key is understanding the reactivities of solvated electrons with organic chemicals and PFAS. With that knowledge, you can screen a great number of PFAS contaminants and prioritize them for the application of advanced reduction processes to degrade  and hopefully fully destroy  PFAS.

Minakatas research findings can also be used to strengthen and improve current PFAS remediation applications, including electrochemical oxidation techniques.

Fundamental Research: Reactivities of Electrons

I have studied the oxidation of organic contaminants in water and wastewater for 20 years, Minakata said. Each PFAS is very unique and many are oxidized forms; thus, oxidation does not destroy PFAS well. Researchers worldwide are now looking to reduction technologies that rely on electrons, he said.

Electrochemical reduction using electrons is one technology with promising results. Researchers are now working on the electrode materials and reactor design to improve efficiencies for real-world application. It is here that my fundamental research can provide valuable information about reactivities of electrons that, up until now, have not been well understood.

Suggested Focus: Target the Largest Concentrations of PFAS

Get the PFAS where its most prevalent, says Minakata. Rather than targeting extremely low concentrations of PFAS in water, research and remediation should identify and target the points where PFAS concentrations are relatively high, he said. That would be a much better way to affordably, effectively and efficiently destroy PFAS.

Next, Minakata and his collaborators plan to study the physical distribution of PFAS. We want to go about finding PFAS hotspots  places where we can apply these promising technologies  in order to destroy large amounts of PFAS at one time.

PFAS presents environmental justice issues, noted Minakata, whose research in this field is partially supported by Central Chemicals. Rather than covering up PFAS problems, like putting small bandaids on serious injuries, we environmental engineers must tackle and solve the fundamental problem of PFAS in collaboration with scientists, industries, communities and policymakers, he stated.

Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, the University offers more than 125 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
BEIJING, March 31 -- Militarization of the South China Sea should not be blamed on China, but on the US, said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense (MND) at a regular press conference in Beijing on Thursday.

Senior Colonel Wu made the remarks when commenting on relevant moves and remarks made by the US side. According to reports, the US Department of Defense named China the "most consequential strategic competitor" for the US in its recent National Defense Strategy Report to the Congress. Meanwhile, the US Indo-Pacific Commander Adm. John Aquilino recently patrolled the South China Sea on a P-8A Poseidon plane and said that Chinas construction on relevant islands and reefs there has damaged regional stability and threatened nearby nations. He also added that Washingtons main objective in disputed regions is to prevent war through deterrence. If deterrence fails, the second task is to get ready for combat and win. Furthermore, another news report said that the US Navys Expeditionary Sea Base (ESB) ship USS Miguel Keith had entered the South China Sea days ago.

In response to the above actions and remarks by the US side, Defense Spokesperson Senior Colonel Wu said that Chinese President Xi Jinping had a video call with US President Joe Biden at invitation on March 18. The US side reiterated its commitment that it does not seek a new Cold War with China, does not seek to change Chinas system; does not seek to counter China through strengthening alliances, does not support Taiwan independence, and has no intention of conflict with China. Wu pointed out that China believes that what the US has done is seriously inconsistent with President Bidens commitment and China is firmly opposed to that.

Wu said that China has indisputable sovereignty over the South China Sea islands and their adjacent waters. Chinas deployment of necessary defense facilities is not only the legitimate right of a sovereign state, but also a necessary measure to deal with Americas provocations, which is in full compliance with relevant international law and practice.

Senior Colonel Wu stressed that Militarization of the South China Sea should not be blamed on China, but on the US. He added that when Adm. Aquilino flew over the South China Sea, he must have seen not just a scattering of islands and reefs, but also a number of American ships and planes throwing their weight around. They have come all the way to the South China Sea to stir up troubles. Regional countries know exactly what they want. Facts have proven that the US is the biggest instigator of the militarization of the South China Sea, and the biggest destroyer and troublemaker to the regional peace and stability.

Wu continued that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of the Shanghai Communique. As two major countries in the world, China and the US stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation. Standing at a new historical starting point, we hope the US side will work with China to draw experience and wisdom from history, and steer the relations between the two countries and two militaries back to the right track of healthy and steady development as soon as possible, so as make greater contributions to world peace and stability.
A former Pakistani Minister has claimed that a "plot is being hatched to assassinate Prime Minister Imran Khan" as political tensions escalate in the country, Geo News reported.

Former Minister Faisal Vawda's claim comes as the PTI's key ally in the Centre, MQM-P, decided to switch sides and become a part of the Opposition to support its no-confidence motion against the premier.

The Prime Minister has seemingly lost the majority of the National Assembly as several allies have left the government's camp and decided to back the Opposition, and currently, the treasury benches have 164 members, while the Opposition has 177, and they need 172 to oust the premier.

In conversation with a private television channel, Vawda claimed that the premier's life is in danger and a plan was being made to take his life.

"We have told him repeatedly to use a bulletproof glass while addressing rallies in response, the premier had stated that he will die when his time comes," he said.

In response to a question, the former Minister said the plot was linked to the "secretive" memo that the government had received.

"There isn't just one letter, there are several letters," he claimed.
The bloody images of war in Ukraine are transforming our understanding of the post-Cold War order and reminding us of an important lesson: Energy policy and national security are inextricably linked.

As we observe the crisis in Europe, the Biden administration would be wise to move away from damaging climate policies and toward energy independence.

Despite the presidents contention that green energy is the solution to higher gas prices, we know renewables alone are not a viable alternative to fossil fuels because of their intermittent power generation and our current lack of battery storage capacity. Its now widely acknowledged that a green energy transition requires partnering renewables like solar and wind with a reliable baseload energy source such as natural gas or nuclear. Carbon-free nuclear energy would be an optimal alternative, but until that option is more scalable we have no choice but to turn to fossil fuels.

With the average price for regular gas at more than $4 a gallon and the Biden administrations move to ban Russian oil imports driving prices higher, now is the time for the administration to rethink its climate and energy policy.

The administration is reluctant to increase domestic production for fear of further disappointing its climate-focused constituents. Theyve already failed to pass meaningful climate measures through Build Back Better and an about-face on domestic oil and gas production would be a bridge too far. But the reality is, limiting domestic production while importing foreign fossil fuels does nothing to reduce global greenhouse-gas emissions  fossil fuels are still being produced and consumed. This approach is climate theater that now comes at a strategic cost.

Instead of boosting domestic production, Biden is just trying to put a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.

The administration along with its counterparts in the United Arab Emirates have agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves to alleviate the upward pressure on oil prices. This, however, is no long-term fix. Prior to the pandemic slump, the United States alone was consuming more than 19 million barrels of oil per day; 60 million barrels will provide limited relief.

The administration, in its negotiations over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, is also considering lifting sanctions on Iran so we could begin importing oil again from the worlds leading state sponsor of terror. Likewise with the authoritarian regime in Venezuela.

But this would be a colossal mistake. Why would we want to trade one dangerous dependency on a hostile foreign actor for another?

A better solution would be to ditch the arcane Jones Act, a World War I-era regulation that makes it costly and cumbersome to ship American crude from the Gulf of Mexico to our coastal ports. And because there are no pipelines connecting our coasts to American crude in the Permian Basin, our largest oil field, we must import from overseas. Eliminating this regulation should be a no-brainer.

The administration could also drop its hostile posture toward fossil fuels. Technically domestic production is up, but that increase represents the recovery from the pandemic slump, not an increase in overall production. Prior to the pandemic, the United States was producing almost 13 million barrels a day. The pandemic dramatically reduced demand, resulting in a precipitous drop in supply. Today, were producing about 11.7 million barrels per day, still below our pre-pandemic peak and not enough to meet surging demand.

Moves in the early days of the administration like blocking the Keystone XL pipeline or pausing federal oil and gas leasing sent flashing red signals to the fossil fuel industry that the tide was turning. The leasing pause has since been blocked in court, and while the administration is appealing that decision, it has actually approved more lease sales per month than the Trump administration did in its first three years. Still, more could be done to increase domestic production.

Instead, the administration could drop its efforts to pause federal oil and gas leases, it could publicly acknowledge that energy independence is vital to our national interest, and it could pledge to get out of the way of industry, from fracking to pipeline construction.

We need to learn the right lesson from this conflict: energy independence is key for national security. And transitioning to a green economy before we have adequate technology to do so in a sustainable way sets us up for failure. If Biden wants to lower gas prices and keep hostile foreign actors at bay, increasing domestic fossil fuel production is the best path forward.
New Melones Reservoir View Photo

Sacramento, CA  The State of California, federal government, and some major water agencies have put together a memorandum of understanding that would, among other things, pay some farmers not to plant on thousands of acres of farmland.

It is part of an overall $2.9 billion plan endorsed by Governor Gavin Newsom. The funding would come from state and federal agencies, and water agencies. It is being promoted as a peace treaty in Californias ongoing water wars.

Governor Newsom argues it balances the need for a healthy ecosystem and healthy economy. Not all of the specifics are known, and the plan would still need to be approved by state regulators.

The Associated Press reports that it would result in an extra 824,000 acre feet (1 billion cubic meters) of water each year flowing through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. One acre foot of water is more than 325,000 gallons, which is usually enough to supply two average households for one year.

Some environmental groups are already coming out against it, arguing that it doesnt go far enough to conserve water, and protect certain fish species.
The new Portuguese government headed by Prime Minister Antonio Costa was sworn into office by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

At the swearing-in ceremony, the President said the new government has "exceptional conditions to be able to do what needs to be done, with no excuses or alibis", reports Xinhua news agency.

Prime Minister Costa, for his part, said that the new government will have an attitude of "courage and ambition" even if faced with "storms and tempests", adding that the government's program "is well known" and will be approved on Thursday.

"The Portuguese demand that we recover the time lost with a political crisis that they did not want, continuing the path we have been following and moving towards a fairer, more prosperous and more innovative country," he added.
Kounalakis Will Fill In For Newsom Over Next Two Weeks

Sacramento, CA  Eleni Kounalakis will serve as Californias Acting Governor until April 12 as Governor Gavin Newsom and his family departed last night for a spring break trip to Central and South America.

It was confirmed by the Governors Office. Californias Constitution stipulates that the Lt. Governor serves in the executive role anytime the Governor leaves the state.

The exact location of the trip was not disclosed. Newsom and his family also left the state for a brief period in November to celebrate Thanksgiving down in Mexico.

Newsoms final action before departing was signing a proclamation declaring today as Cesar Chavez Day in recognition of the founder of the United Farm Workers union. His office says he plans to stay in contact with legislative leaders during the trip.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has summoned a meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) on Thursday, Pak Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said, Dawn reported.

The NSC, which is the highest forum for coordination on security issues, is chaired by the Prime Minister and includes key federal ministers, the national security adviser, services chiefs and top intelligence officials.

The development comes a day after it became clear that the Pak Prime Minister had lost his majority in the National Assembly (NA) following the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan's (MQM-P) decision to support the joint opposition in the no-trust resolution against the Prime Minister.

A key ally of the PTI government at the Centre, the MQM has seven seats in the NA and after its decision to part ways with the government, the opposition has gathered the support of 177 MNAs, five more than the 172 required to gain a majority.

On Wednesday, Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) met PM Imran Khan twice after which some ministers claimed that neither the premier had been asked to resign nor would he opt for it.

On Sunday, during his party's public rally, the Pak PM brandished a 'secret letter' as evidence of a "foreign conspiracy" to oust him, asking his party dissidents, as well as disgruntled allies, to change their minds and avoid becoming part of a "foreign plot" against him.
Nitat Termmee/Getty Images

Voyages Behavioral Health has begun the process of turning a Warm Springs Rehabilitation center into a behavioral health hospital. The conversion will mark Voyages first behavioral hospital in San Antonio. The new hospital renovate the site of the now relocated PAM Health Warm Springs Rehabilitation Hospital of Thousand Oaks located at 14747 Jones Maltsberger Road, according to the news release.

Voyages Behavioral Health of Thousand Oaks will feature 44 patient beds with programs designed to meet "much-needed behavioral health services" in San Antonio. Andrew Hardin, senior vice president and COO of Voyages, says in the news release that the facility will include services for medically complex, adults and geriatric patients.
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UPDATED: Meta, the parent company of and Instagram, is defending its enlistment of a political lobbying firm to plant negative opinion pieces about rival TikTok in U.S. news outlets  as the social giant tried to deflect attention away from its own PR headaches.

The Washington Post on Wednesday reported on Metas deal with Targeted Victory, a digital marketing agency that has worked on numerous Republican campaigns. The Post reported that the firm worked with dozens of PR firms to undermine TikTok through a nationwide media and lobbying campaign, including spreading reports of false rumors about harmful trends supposedly going viral on TikTok. Citing emails from Targeted Victory staffers, the report said Targeted Victory sought to portray TikTok  which is owned by Chinese internet giant ByteDance  as a danger to American children and society. Targeted Victory says it employs a right-of-center perspective to solve marketing challenges.

Asked to comment on the Targeted Victory campaign, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said in a statement, We believe all platforms, including TikTok, should face a level of scrutiny consistent with their growing success.

Targeted Victory CEO Zac Moffatt said in a statement provided to Variety, Targeted Victorys corporate practice manages bipartisan teams on behalf of our clients. It is public knowledge we have worked with Meta for several years and we are proud of the work we have done.

According to one email cited by the Post, a director at Targeted Victory wrote that the firm needed to get the message out that while Meta is the current punching bag, TikTok is the real threat especially as a foreign owned app that is #1 in sharing data that young teens are using. According to the report, another Targeted Victory staff member wrote in an email, Dream would be to get stories with headlines like From dances to danger: how TikTok has become the most harmful social media space for kids.

A TikTok spokesperson said in statement to Variety, We are deeply concerned that the stoking of local media reports on alleged trends that have not been found on the platform could cause real-world harm.

TikTok last year said it had more than 1 billion monthly users worldwide  and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, on the companys Q4 earnings call in February, identified TikTok as major rival. Meta has tried to step up its competition with TikTok through its copycat Reels feature for Instagram and Facebook.

We face a competitor in TikTok that is a lot bigger, so it will take a while to compound and catch up there, Zuckerberg told analysts. The thing that is somewhat unique here is that TikTok is so big as a competitor already and also continues to grow at quite a fast rate off of a very large base.

Some of the narratives Targeted Victory has pushed about TikTok are unfounded, according to the Post report. For example, according to the report, Targeted Victory in October spread rumors of the Slap a Teacher TikTok challenge in local news, touting a local news report on the alleged challenge in Hawaii. However, there was no such challenge on TikTok  and the false reports of the trend originated on Facebook, per an Insider report.

In a Twitter thread after the Post story was published, Targeted Victorys Moffatt claimed, Todays Washington Post story not only mischaracterizes the work we do, but key points are simply false. He noted that the Post itself wrote several stories about the supposed Slap a Teacher trend on TikTok.

The Post cited two letters to the editor, both of which were facilitated by Targeted Victory: one published in March in the Denver Post from a new parent saying in part that Its time we take a serious look at what harm TikTok is having on their mental health and that Many people even suspect China is deliberately collecting behavioral data on our kids (the Chinese government and TikTok deny that they share data); and another in the Des Moines Register that linked to negative stories about TikTok signed by Mary McAdams, chair of the Ankeny Area Democrats.

Moffatt defended Targeted Victorys work in placing the anti-TikTok letters on behalf of Meta. The Washington Post characterizes 2 letters to the editor as a scorched earth campaign. That is not just hyperbolic, but laughable. Were proud of the work weve done to highlight the dangers of TikTok, wrote Moffatt, who served as digital director for Mitt Romneys 2012 presidential campaign.

Its not the first time Facebook has used a political lobbying company as part of its broader PR efforts.

In 2018, Definers, founded by Republican political strategists, launched a campaign linking anti-Facebook advocacy group Freedom From Facebook to billionaire George Soros. Freedom From Facebook was formed by a coalition of liberal organizations, including Open Markets Institute, whose backers include Soros Open Society Foundations. Both Zuckerberg and Sandberg denied having any knowledge about Facebooks hiring of Definers before it was reported by the New York Times. Subsequently, outgoing Facebook comms executive Elliot Schrage took the blame for contracting with Definers.

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Crumbl Cookies

Crumbl's newest San Antonio location is giving customers a sweet reason to stop by their grand opening celebration. The new Quarry shop is offering late-night hours. That means cookie-lovers can cure their sweet tooth as late as midnight starting Friday, April 1.

The store will be open from 8 a.m. until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. Franchise owner Connor Tews says the all-day hours are standard for weekends. The store will be open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday. The location is closed on Sundays.
In the age of social media, you probably have an idea of what a trip to Mexico looks like. You know the beaches are beautiful and the food looks fantastic. But if you've never been to Mexico, what you've seen your friends or family (or influencers) post only tells a fraction of the country's story.

"There's a real misconception - or partial understanding - of Mexico that it's only a place to go to escape the cold," says Zachary Rabinor, president and chief executive of the travel planning company Journey Mexico. "A lot of the stereotypes on the positive side are about the sun and the sand."

While it's true Mexico can be a warm getaway that boasts an incredible food culture, there is more to the massive country than its most famous places. After all, "the diversity of Mexico is enormous," says Marisol Herrera, a local Mexico specialist for the travel planning company Kimkim.

To help you plan the right Mexico trip for you, we asked local travel experts to share their recommendations. Here are six options, whether you are looking to eat your way through a vacation, find epic outdoor adventures or just relax by the water.

1. For sun and surf: Oaxaca state

Mexico is blessed with thousands of miles of coastline stretching along the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of California, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Anais Martinez, a food blogger and culinary tour guide from Mexico City, narrows her recommendation down to Oaxaca state.

"There's a different beach for every type of experience that you want," she says. At the top of her Oaxaca beach-town list are Mazunte - one of Mexico's designated "pueblos magicos" (or magical towns) because of its architecture, culture and dedication to the conservation of sea turtles - and Chacahua, where you will find the 35,000-acre Lagunas de Chacahua national park.

But to disconnect entirely from the world at a resort, Martinez points to Riviera Maya on the country's Caribbean coast and Nayarit on the west. When "you just want your room, your pool and a little bit of beach time," Martinez says, "both of them are amazing."

For surfers, "I'd point you toward the Pacific coast because you don't really get surf-able waves on the Caribbean coast," says Rabinor, a lifelong surfer. He recommends the Nayarit beach town of Sayulita as a family-friendly beginner spot and Puerto Escondido, in Oaxaca, for the expert set. For something in the middle, "between Huatulco and Salina Cruz [both Oaxaca] has some amazing intermediate waves," he says.

2. For nightlife: Mexico City

Mexico City hits the mark for a variety of trips - for the bon vivant, the bachelorette party, the family reunion - but it's an obvious choice for travelers seeking nightlife.

There are the award-winning cocktail bars (Licoreria Limantour, Handshake, Fifty Mils), and "then you can also go to really old-school places like Salon Los Angeles for a completely different experience," Martinez says. "Nothing fancy, very real. Old people dancing salsa and dressing up with oversize suits and big hats with feathers ... you can have a little bit of both in one night."

Herrera's alternative pick is Playa del Carmen, in Quintana Roo. "It's a small town with lots of bars and lots of places to go dancing," she says.

Rabinor also recommends Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco, for its great bar scene, museums, art, historic center and proximity to tequila country.

3. For wine aficionados: Baja California

Dig deeper into the best of Mexico's wine and spirits by tasting them at the source. Your drink of choice will take you to different parts of the country, like tequila hub Guadalajara or Oaxaca for mezcal. For wine, Martinez recommends traveling to the Valle de Guadalupe and Ensenada on the Baja California peninsula.

"It's definitely like a Mexican version of Napa," Martinez says. "You have amazing wine, the seafood is great ... and you get lots of influence from the craft scene in California, so you have really good beer."

You can explore the region's great restaurants and wineries on your own, or you can enlist the help of a company such as Club Tengo Hambre to show you the best of the best and provide more context to what you're eating and drinking. While you're down there, don't forget to appreciate the abundance of Baja wildlife that captivated Jacques Cousteau. "There's a lot of interest in glamping in the whale lagoons of Baja and the islands in the sea of Cortez," Rabinor says.

For travelers interested in drinking pulque, the naturally effervescent fermented juice of the maguey cactus, Tlaxcala City is Herrera's top pick and conveniently located 30 minutes from the city of Puebla.

"People will be amazed by this small destination because the historical center is so charming," she says. "It's very, very small and you can drink very good pulque." While you're there, Tlaxcala's main art museum also houses early Frida Kahlo paintings.

4. For the food-obsessed: Puebla

With its world-class culinary culture, "you can't talk [about travel in Mexico] for more than a minute without mentioning the food," Rabinor says.

Outside of the obvious eating capitals, Mexico City and Oaxaca, travel experts point to Puebla for a food-focused trip. Located about a 212-hour drive from the capital, "Puebla is amazing for its cuisine," Rabinor says.

Puebla is said to be the birthplace of some of the country's most beloved moles. It is known for its dried poblano chile peppers (or ancho chiles) and, now, its ancho chile liqueur, too. Herrera says it's also telling that Puebla is home of the dish chiles en nogada, which was recognized by UNESCO as one of the most representative dishes of Mexico. As visitors digest their way through Puebla, Rabinor says, they will also enjoy the city's Talavera pottery, its architecture and its history.

5. For friend trips: Yucatan Peninsula

If you're traveling with a group, "a road trip with friends in the Yucatan Peninsula is a great idea," Herrera says. That's because you can plan stops to satisfy every kind of traveler in the group, such as swimming in cenotes (cave pools), admiring architecture in Valladolid, dancing in Merida, touring ruins near Tulum and exploring Yucatecan cuisine.

Rabinor says groups should focus as much on the accommodation as the destination, and he recommends finding an hacienda - an estate where workers also lived - as a home base for the trip.

Whether you're in San Miguel de Allende (Guanajuato) for the art or Morelia (Michoacan) for the butterfly reserves, the layout and history of an hacienda "gives a great sense of place," Rabinor says. "It gives great common areas to get together and chat and meet up with different members of the group and also areas for everyone to eat and drink together."

6. For a far-flung nature adventure: Barrancas del Cobre

When you have checked off Mexico's essential destinations, turn your attention to natural wonders such as the Barrancas del Cobre, which translates to "Copper Canyons." Southwest of the city of Chihuahua, the Copper Canyons are a series of canyons in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. There you'll find the tallest waterfall in Mexico.

"It's four times the volume of the Grand Canyon," Rabinor says of the Barrancas del Cobre. "It's jaw-dropping landscapes, incredible nature and some of the most traditional cultures in all of Mexico."

Or you could go farther south to the Lacandon Jungle, which stretches from Chiapas to Guatemala, to see "nature in its splendor," Herrera says. The rainforest is far away from mass tourism and is home to wildlife such as howler monkeys, toucans and tapirs. It's not easy to get there, Herrera says, so it's necessary to hire a local driver to navigate the infrastructure. "But that really makes it an adventure," she says.
NZK noted an error in our results announcement waiver issued this morning. One of the dates referenced was incorrect "our results announcement which is now expected to be on or around 13 April 2023" This should have been 13 April 2022, and has now been corrected

31 March 2022

New Zealand King Salmon  Results Announcement Date Waiver

The Board of New Zealand King Salmon Investments Limited (NZKS) advises that NZKS has been granted a waiver from NZX Listing Rule 3.5.1, which ordinarily requires NZKS to release a Results Announcement through MAP no later than 60 days after the end of its financial year.

In reliance on this waiver, NZKS expects to release its results for the 12 months ending 31 January 2022 on or around 13 April 2022. The delay is due to the disruption caused by the Omicron variant of COVID-19, which has impacted either directly or indirectly (close contacts) members of the NZKS finance team and our audit provider.

NZKS expects to release its annual report on or before 2 May 2022 (and therefore has not sought, nor been granted, a waiver in relation to the release of its annual report).

In February the Board announced we were experiencing higher than expected sea farm mortality. As noted in our previous announcement, the mortality event will have an impact on our FY23 harvest volumes and our FY22 and FY23 financial results. NZKS is still working through the associated financial impacts of this and will provide a more detailed updated on sea farm mortality and the expected impact on FY23 earnings as part of our results announcement which is now expected to be on or around 13 April 2022. NZKS remains committed to minimising sea farm mortalities and is continually assessing the options available to do this.

Although we are still finalising our financial results, we continue to expect our FY22 Proforma EBITDA to be in the previously indicated range of $6.5m  $7.5m.

ENDS

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The Gulf Coast produces nearly half (45%) of the nation's $250 million oyster industry, according to an NOAA Fisheries report. In Texas, the industry contributes approximately $50 million to the state economy, based on Texas A&M estimates. In recent months, the oyster industry has taken a financial hit due to a number of challenges, including the temporary closing of a majority of the commercial oyster reef on the Texas Gulf Coast by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD).

So, what's behind the closures, and how are these challenges impacting industry professionals?

Texas oyster reef closures and community impacts

On March 23, the TPWD heard public comments from industry businessmen, oystermen workers, stakeholders and researchers in the field in response to an agenda item to permanently close the Ayres, Carlos and Mesquite Bays. The department stated that the closures are due to harvest reefs not producing oysters at the legal size to harvest.

Jennifer Pollack, an Associate Professor in the Department of Life Sciences at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi researches climate, impacts on these environments related to human activity and marine ecology restoration. Her research focuses on marine organisms and how restoration can play a role in recovering ecosystem services along the Gulf Coast.

"The issue is multifaceted with many variables including climate changes, weather patterns, reefs being overfished, to name a few," Pollack explained. "The TPWD studies the commercial fished bays and provides samples to [determine] if the [oysters] beds meet the regulated population and required size for commercial fishing."

Pollack said her presentation at the TPWD commissioner meeting was to report data collected in science-based research, noting that she cannot take any side in response to the debate.

The Washington Post/The Washington Post via Getty Im

Texas seafood retailers and oystermen

So, as oyster reefs close, how are Texas seafood retailers and oystermen weathering the industry tides?

"I have worked as a seafood retailer for 43 years and I have never seen the oyster industry this bad," said Steve Edwards, owner of Seafood Lovers in Beaumont. "I'm purchasing oysters from Louisiana and they're more expensive and sold in smaller quantities. It's detrimental on our [bottom line]. I feel for the oystermen. There's a lot [of] folks in the industry that have totally lost their livelihoods."

The closures have potentially far-reaching impacts across the industry and local economies for businesses and consumers alike.

"In the restaurant business, sacks of oysters have been difficult to come by," said George Meagas with, The Schooner Restaurant near Port Arthur. "I will order 10 sacks and only four will be delivered [and this] is a common occurrence. I have ordered from Louisiana and Mississippi and the higher costs are increased to the consumer on the menu, but, in all fairness, it's not just oysters, it's shrimp, beef, sugar packets, it's [everything]."

Mark Valentino owner of Bay Fresh Oyster Co., an oyster processing business in San Leon has been in the business for 40 years, said he disagrees with the TPWD actions related to the bay closures, noting that his business has come to a standstill for more than two months.

"Oysters are more resilient than people think," Valentino said. "Dredging the bays helps cultivate the oysters and supports them to populate. I've seen this first hand through my many years in the business with a variety of different weather patterns. In the 1980s, the state closed the oyster beds like they are now and a group of [us] in the industry had to file a lawsuit to protect our rights and livelihood."

Valentino presented his views in response to this season's Gulf Coast Bay closures at the TPWD commissioner's meeting along with Pollack. The meeting accompanied a full house of attendees as well as a four-hour public comment session.

"The agenda item was tabled," said Pollack. "TPWD determined to create a committee with stakeholders to provide more information and data. A projected decision should be determined before the next commercial oyster season in November."

TPWD was contacted in response to the Gulf Coast bays being closed for the commercial oyster season and provided comments on the topic.

"We are sensitive to the potential economic impact of closures, but we are also sensitive to the long-term sustainability of the oyster fishery and oyster habitats," said Emma Clarkson, with TPWD. "Oyster reefs provide a variety of ecosystem services (such as habitat provision for fish and water quality improvement) based on their physical structure and vertical relief, which is very sensitive to degradation from dredging."

Additionally, Clarkson said the department has been constructed to "work with constituents, including the industry, to find a solution."

"It is a balancing act between protecting habitat and peoples livelihoods, and we must ensure that oysters and their habitats are thriving for future generations," Clarkson added.

Educational opportunities and innovation

Executive Director Joe M. Fox and Gail Sutton with the Palacios Marine Agriculture Research, Inc., a non-profit group focused on Texas oyster farming research and innovation to mitigate the environmental impacts in the industry.

Their goal is to create a sustainable commercial aquaculture industry, which can develop seed oysters in hatcheries, grow them in a reliable, protected environment and then harvest them when ready  all while maintaining the integrity of the coastal environment, as stated in a published report on their efforts in AgriLife Today.

"This is an environmental issue and Texas is behind from what other coastal communities are doing to create a better ecosystem in their bays," Sutton said. "The bays are not in a good condition and [we] need to act now."

"I would like to see the state implement retraining programs and [educational] opportunities for the men impacted by the current bay closures, something to help mitigate the economic and environmental shifts of [our] time," Sutton added.

Pollack agreed with the TPWD decision to include more time to handle the commercial oyster bay closures and create a strategic plan that includes the considerations of all parties involved with the decision.

"I think the oyster aquaculture research and farming is a separate conversation to the bay closure debate ," Pollack added. "However, aquaculture and closures in the Gulf Coast will help provide protections as added tools to help with oyster reef sustainability."
JERRY LARA, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Hispanic Elvis is likely the most-photographed person in the downtown San Antonio area. With his gold-rimmed aviator sunglasses, red cape, and handmade guitar, the local star was always ready to pose for the camera and meet his fans. It's those moments that are being pulled out of camera rolls across the city Thursday, March 31 as San Antonio remembers the late Hispanic Elvis.

The Market Square legend, who maintained his anonymity under his rock n' roll-style moniker, has died, his family confirmed to MySA Thursday. He was hospitalized in January with an esophagus infection and COVID-19. He was released but was then admitted to hospice care earlier in March.
Courtesy of Ken Branca

A couple and their dog are safe after a fire destroyed their Northside home in the early morning of Thursday, March 31. San Antonio firefighters responded to a house fire at the 15100 block of Rockriver Lane around 12:34 a.m. A fire battalion chief on scene says the home was fully engulfed in flames when they arrived.

The home was deemed a total loss despite the firefighters' efforts.
David Calvert/Getty Images

Jefferson County law enforcement have arrested a woman just outside Austin who was wanted for murder of a 16-year-old girl. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, Liberty Hill Police Department, and Williamson County deputies arrested 24-year-old Chelsea Shipp around 3:40 a.m. at a home in Liberty Hill on Thursday, March 31, according to a news release.

Jefferson County issued a murder warrant after deputies found 16-year-old Katelynn Nicole Stone of Vidor dead on Sunday, March 27 at a home at the 14000 block of Kolbs Corner in west Jefferson County. Deputies say Stone had been shot and her family has been notified.
There comes a time when the people you see on your local TV news become more like family rather than the titles they hold. You come to know their personalities, their mannerisms, sense of humor, and everything in between.

For more than two decades, these San Antonio female anchors and reporters have been welcomed into your lives, sharing the news of your communities and the voices that surround them. We salute their commitment and recognize some of the iconic women who make-up the Alamo Citys news market.

Liz Garza Williams /KSAT

Ursula Pari, KSAT 12 anchor

Growing up, I watched KSAT 12. I remember saying to myself I want to be just like Ursula Pari. On a path that what would become my TV news producing career, I looked up to the team at KSAT. Pari became my role model, and someone Ive always dreamt about meeting. Fast forward 20-plus years, and she remains a staple of television news in Texas.

Shes been at the helm of KSAT since 1996 and is a veteran of broadcast journalism for more than 30 years, according to her biography on KSATs website. Her career has taken her across the country from her Cajun hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana to Portland, Maine, then back south to Texas. Pari has reported on a variety of issues and personalities, including interviews with Oprah Winfrey and former Texas governors George Bush and Rick Perry. Pari is a regular contributor to KSAT 12 and anchors the News at Noon and 5 on weekdays.

Marvin Pfeiffer /Express-News

Jessie Degollado, KSAT 12 reporter

Jessie Degollado is another familiar face at the San Antonio ABC affiliate. Her career with KSAT dates all the way back to 1984. Degollado has been a prominent and respected general assignments reporter  covering a variety of stories.

Born and raised in Laredo, Degollado started her career in the Rio Grande Valley in 1977 before finding her way to KSAT. She is a pioneer when it comes to Latinas pursuing a career in journalism in South Texas. Her outstanding resume includes several accolades including the Henry Guerra Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012 from the San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists, the International Humanitarian Service Award in 2011 from Mujeres Hispanas Por Mejor Justicia, and the Alegre Award in 2016 from Norteno Radio. In an article published to KSATs website in August 2021, Degollado explained why she chose journalism.

It was curiosity and my love for the written word, combined to become my desire to be a reporter.

Courtesy of Sue Calberg

Sue Calberg, KENS 5 multimedia journalist

Known as KENS 5s News Wrangler, multimedia journalist Sue Calberg joined the elite few in December 2021 in celebrating 20 years at the CBS affiliate. She has worn many hats during her time, including a photographer, producer, assignment desk manager, and now a reporter. A San Antonio native, Calberg enjoys giving a platform for ordinary folks to be heard and has been doing so since 1980. According to her KENS 5 biography, two of her most rewarding major stories are extensive coverage of the devastating floods of October 1998 and winning a national Bronze Medallion for public service from the Society of Professional Journalists for an investigative piece on mysterious health issues in rural south Texas.

Courtesy, KENS 5

Deborah Knapp, KENS 5 anchor

Award-winning journalist Deborah Knapp anchors KENS 5 Eyewitness News at 5. The San Antonio TV icon has been on the anchor desk and in the field for more than 30 years at the station. Her work outside of the newsroom has gained her a plethora of recognition, including the FBI Directors Community Leadership Award for her years of community involvement and leadership in San Antonio. In 1994, she established a scholarship at her alma mater, The University of Texas at Austin. Shes also been inducted into the San Antonio Womens Hall of Fame.
Tokyo Broadcasting System

When it debuted in 1986, the unscripted Japanese adventure show Takeshis Castle was like nothing anyone else had ever seen. Hosted by Japanese comedian Takeshi Kitano, contestants and visitors to his castle were asked to perform outlandish physical stunts like leaping across bouncy balls perched over a mud pit, climbing rope ladders, and eventually battling the host himself in a water or laser-gun fight.

MXC: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge Amazon.com Shop Now

The show was hugely influential, inspiring an entire of genre of game. shows like Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (an Americanized version of the show that reu-used footage from the original airing with newly recorded English commentary) and Fear Factor, and in 2023 its going to be rebooted on Amazon Prime  with Takeshi Kitano (now 75 years old) returning as host.
Yves here. While it seems that Russia has reached the conclusion that it needs to reorient its economy permanently away from Europe and the US to Asia and the Middle East, economists are only starting to grapple with the implications for supply chains. Im not as confident as these authors are that difference in degree are not differences in kind.

By Tobias Korn, PhD candidate in Economics, Leibniz Universitat Hannover and Henry Stemmler, Postdoc, ETH Zurich. Originally published at VoxEU

The war Russia is waging against Ukraine has already halted most of Ukraines production capabilities. Similarly, the sanctions raised against Russia by the international community end decades of economic cooperation across several economic sectors. This column draws on empirical evidence from over two decades of civil wars across the world to inform the debate on how international supply chains will adjust to the economic disruptions brought by violence, and how likely it is that the international economy will ever return to the pre-war situation.

The havoc brought upon countries by violent warfare causes, next to immeasurable personal pain, heavy economic disruptions. Destruction of production sites, disrupted supply chains, and the displacement of people often provoke a sudden and durable rupture of economic activity. While we do not have much generalisable empirical evidence on the economic costs of international wars, which used to be a rare phenomenon in recent decades, the literature on civil wars coined the term development in reverse to describe the often persistent, negative economic effects of sustained episodes of warfare (Collier et al. 2003).

Currently, we see such a development in reverse unfolding in Ukraine. Only weeks after Russian forces commenced their invasion of Ukraine, millions of people have left the country, and formerly prosperous towns lie in ruins (Skok and de Groot 2022). At the same time, the international community punishes Russia with sanctions of an unprecedented scale, which have the potential to hurt the Russian economy significantly and end decades of economic collaboration (Berner et al. 2022, Felbermayr et al. 2019). Nonetheless, an embargo on oil and gas imports from Russia has not yet been implemented despite intensive public discussion, as several large European countries fear the economic consequences of forfeiting these hard-to-substitute imports (Bachmann et al. 2022) . Looking at how the international economy coped with prior disruptions to economic exchange caused by violent warfare helps us form expectations about the economic future of Ukraine, Russia, and the sanctioning countries.

(How) Do Supply Chains Adopt to Economic Disruptions?

In a recent study, we investigate how international trade flows respond to unilateral economic shocks (Korn and Stemmler 2022). For this, we focus on national civil wars, which have been found to cause significant disruptions to countries production and export capabilities (Blattmann and Miguel 2010). Specifically, we ask whether and how importers adjust their trade flows if a civil war breaks out in one of their main trade partners (see Arezki 2022 on the international spillovers of the war in Ukraine). To answer this question empirically, we use bilateral trade data that include over 150 countries for the period 1995 to 2014.

In this dataset, we first identify exporters that experience a civil war in a given year according to the civil war classification from the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (Sundberg and Melander 2013). Then, we code which trading dyads are most likely to be affected by trade relocation away from the conflict country. We base this coding on two characteristics, which we illustrate in Figure 1. First, we identify all countries for which the conflict country used to be a main trading partner (i.e. among the top seven exporters to this country).1 Second, we identify all countries that offer a variety of goods similar to the conflict country. Using various classification algorithms, we sort countries into clusters with similar production portfolios based on production volumes across 61 SITC product lines. We combine these relevance and similarity conditions to code which importer-exporter dyads are likely to experience trade relocation effects, as the importing country substitutes its demand away from the conflict country towards another exporter who offers a similar variety of goods. Finally, we investigate empirically whether trade values increase between these relocation dyads in response to a civil war.

Figure 1 Illustration of trade relocation coding

Notes: This figure illustrates our coding of relocation propensity. For each conflict country k in a given year, we identify its main trading partners as well as all countries that provide a similar production portfolio. For each dyad ij where both conditions overlap, i.e. where the importer j is a relevant trading partner of conflict country k, and the exporter i produces similar products to conflict country k, we expect a trade relocation effect to materialise.

We find robust evidence that global supply chains adapt relatively quickly to economic disruptions from civil conflicts, but that this trade relocation effect exhibits a fair amount of heterogeneity. First, the reactions of supply chains in agricultural goods and the mining sector are exceptionally strong. On average, trade volumes between such relocation dyads increase by 12% and 13%, respectively, already one year after the start of a civil war. In the manufacturing sector, trade values increase by 7% on average, and only if conflicts last for several years. Hence, manufacturing supply chains seem to be more hesitant to relocate compared to imports of primary goods. Interestingly, we find no evidence of supply chain adjustments in the fuels sector. If anything, importers cut back on fuel imports from alternative trading partners to maintain their current fuel imports of their main exporting partner who is now at conflict. This is a reaction we see again today, where countries highly dependent on Russian oil and gas struggle to scale back on these imports, even though they support various other sanctions. Our findings further add to the recent discussion in Kwon et al. (2022), who find evidence that sanctioning countries substitute for exports from third, non-sanctioned countries. If our results apply similarly to the economic effects of sanctions, and in light of the current debate on oil and gas embargos against Russia, we would not expect to find such a substitution effect for trade in fuels.

Figure 2 Trade relocation after Ukraines civil war

Notes: This figure reports the changes in bilateral trade values in 2015 compared to a hypothetical counterfactual world where the 2014 civil war in Ukraine never took place. On the y-axis, we report the four importers that reported the largest trade relocation effects in response to Ukraines civil war (Egypt, Moldova, Jordan, and Ethiopia). For each of these importers, we provide three bars, which indicate the size of the relative trade increase for the three main substitution partners (Kazakhstan, Slovenia, Finland, and Ecuador).

What do our findings imply for Ukraines global supply chains? Here, we can draw on case study evidence from Russias annexation of Crimea and the subsequent civil war that erupted in Ukraines Donbas region. Applying a similar structural gravity-general equilibrium estimation technique as in Kwon et al. (2022), we estimate the reduction in Ukraines exports following the outbreak of the civil war in 2014. We then use this estimate to compute hypothetical trade patterns and welfare levels of countries worldwide if this conflict would never have happened. Comparing actual to hypothetical trade flows and welfare levels, we get an idea of how this conflict affected the global economy. While we can hardly compare the scale of violence during the civil war to todays situation, the qualitative tendencies are likely to be similar. We find that several dyads increase their bilateral shipments in response to the civil war. The countries most affected by the disruption of imports were Egypt, Moldova, Jordan, and Ethiopia. For most of them, Kazakhstan, Slovenia, and Finland resembled the main substitution partners, as they increased their imports from these countries by up to 2% in response to the civil war. Looking at welfare changes, however, we find that all countries are left worse off compared to the counterfactual where the civil war did not take place. While it is not surprising that Ukraine itself suffered the most, even those countries that benefit from trade relocation (e.g. Kazakhstan and Slovenia) become worse off overall from the civil war, as the increases in export demand do not compensate the loss relating to trade opportunities with Ukraine.

The Future of the Global Economy

We conclude this column by looking ahead. How can the Ukrainian and Russian economies recover from the war once the violence ends and the sanctions are lifted? As far as international trade is concerned, it highly depends on how long the war and sanctions will go on, and on how the rest of the world reacts. In our study, we estimate how trade relationships behave after a civil war ends. Here, we find that the trade relocation effects we estimate during a civil war remain of almost the same magnitude up to nine years after a civil war ended. Our 20-year sample unfortunately does not allow us to look for much longer periods. Especially in the manufacturing sector, the relocation effects robustly remain unchanged after peace is established. That is, whereas manufacturing supply chains tend to remain intact during shorter periods of violence, they also stay relocated once a substitution took place. As a possible explanation of this persistence, we provide evidence that (sustained) periods of violence and the resulting trade relocation effects increase the likelihood that the substituting importers persistently decrease the bilateral trade costs with their substitution partners by signing Preferential Trade Agreements with them. Hence, relocation persists because the world economy reaches a new equilibrium, in which the (former) conflict countries relative trade costs have increased compared to the pre-war situation.

This has implications should the war in Ukraine continue for so long that the relocation of supply chains and the subsequent conclusion of new international cooperation agreements cement a new structure of the world economy. In that situation, our analysis suggests that both Ukraine and Russia would find it hard to recover their international economic standing from before the conflict (Chepeliev et al. 2022). The recent visit of Germanys Secretary of Economic Affairs to Qatar and negotiations on better trade relationships may be one of the first steps in this direction. Nevertheless, current considerations to foster economic and political relations with Ukraine, and even to initiate the process of Ukraine joining the EU, can be a valid measure to counteract the loss in trade access brought upon them by Russias declaration of war.

See original post for references
Yves here. I confess to being late to post Lynn Fries informative interview about the IMF role in the Ukraine crisis, meaning the simmering conflict that preceded the war. Recall the IMF did a funding round in Ukraine in 2014, even though it was in clear breach of its ruled to do so.

A sampling of our posts in 2014 and 2015 on this unseemly relationship:

By Lynn Fries. Originally published at GPE Newsdocs

he economic doctrine promoted by the IMF after the fall of the Berlin Wall brought massive damage to the countries now at war. Prabhat Patnaik looks at how the role of the IMF was instrumental to the advance of Western metropolitan powers in the post-Soviet region.

March 20, 2022 Produced by Lynn Fries / GPEnewsdocs

TRANSCRIPT

LYNN FRIES: Hello and welcome. Im Lynn Fries producer of Global Political Economy or GPEnewsdocs.

The conflict the world is currently facing in Ukraine cannot be understood by ignoring the way in which the West, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, conquered Eastern Europe, including Russia, with an economic doctrine that was not only inappropriate but brought massive damage to the countries and a sense of being second class people.

The result is a large number of states that are not counted as failed states today only because they were able to squander their raw materials in the wake of the opening of all markets. This and absurd privatization attempts orchestrated by the West paved the way for an oligarchy that was initially hailed by the West as a private solution to the structural problem, but which proved fatal for the countries development chances.

In addition, it was precisely these oligarchic structures that blocked any path to a functioning democracy from the outset, because only regimes that came to terms with the oligarchs were allowed by them. However to this day, people in the West do not want to take note of this.

So, that was a quote taken from Eastern Europe and Russia The economic disaster we created is forgotten [Part 1] an article authored by Heiner Flassbeck.

Heiner Flassbeck served as chief macroeconomist at the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, the DIW, from 1988 to 1998. Flassbeck then became State Secretary (Vice Minister) in the Federal German Ministry of Finance from 1998 to 1999.

With this kind of firsthand experience Flassbeck goes on to explain how in the 1990s he and some of his DIW colleagues tried to contribute to the rebuilding of the economic structures and economic decision making in one of the former Soviet republics, Kazakhstan. And that other colleagues from the German Institute for Economic Research, travelled just as extensively in Russia, Ukraine, and other countries. The point Flassbeck makes is that everywhere they went the IMF was there.

In his article The IMF Connection with the Ukraine Crisis, Prabhat Patnaik writes:

It [the IMF] has become an instrument in the hands of international finance capital, enabling its penetration into every corner of the globe. But it is not just an instrument of international finance capital; it also serves as an instrument of Western metropolitan powers that stand behind this capital. While defending the interests of international finance capital, it gets dovetailed into the entire coercive apparatus of Western metropolitan powers.

Patnaik goes on to argue that Putins regime is by no means detached from the power of finance capital. Joining us from New Delhi, India Prabhat is here to talk to us about all this.

Prabhat Patnaik is Professor Emeritus at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning at Jawarhalal Nehru University in New Delhi. He is author Capital and Imperialism among numerous other books. Welcome, Professor Patnaik.

PRABHAT PATNAIK: Thank you.

FRIES: Prabhat in your article about The IMF Connection with the Ukraine Crisis, economic policy is a big issue. So, start with some of your thoughts about Russian President Putins stance on this versus that of the IMF.

PATNAIK: Well, there was a time when the Soviet Union existed when there was an ideological confrontation between communism let us say and capitalism, in which it was generally believed that the hegemony of international finance capital is something which is thwarted by the communist countries. Because they have countries which were centrally planned. Countries in which the state played a very important role in generally directing the way in which the economy is to develop. Therefore, that was a regime in which the Soviet Union was actually opposed to the free operation of the market, the free operation of international finance capital.

Now many people tend to see Putins actions as in some sense a continuation or a legacy of the actions of the CPSU [Communist Party of the Soviet Union]. And that I believe would not be correct. Which is why I believe that this is something which is, of course, much more narrowly focused as far as Putin is concerned on the security threat to Russia. But what is more, in this security threat his opposition to the IMF arises not because the IMF is basically a promoter of international finance capital as such but because the IMF is promoting US foreign policyin a confrontation with Russia. Putin is concerned with the role of the IMF in facilitating the US hegemony over Ukraine.

Whatever you may say about the old Soviet Union what Putin has presided over is the growth of tremendous inequality. I am not saying only Putin. It began with the collapse of Soviet Union. I am not saying only Putin. Boris Yeltsin was there before him and so on. But what has happened in Russia is the growth of tremendous inequality. And so, it is not as if Putin, as I mentioned in the beginning, is really fighting an ideological struggle against the IMF, because one of the implications of IMF conditionalities it is to create these enormous cleavages inside the society through its so-called investor-friendly policies.

FRIES: So, the way you see it, Putin is not really opposed to inequality. And so, Putin is not really fighting against the IMF for its role in creating as you say enormous cleavages inside society. Focus for a moment, on this role of the IMF when it intervenes in an economy. Explain how IMF conditionalities work and what these investor-friendly policies mean for people not only as in this case the Russian & Ukrainian people but for working people in general.

PATNAIK: It typically means firstly that the governments role in the economy on behalf of the people: that means the governments role in providing subsidies and essential goods whose prices remain low; the governments role in providing education, in providing healthcare, in providing employment, all this must actually be wound up.

That does not mean that the governments role in the economy is something which is rolled back. No. The government is supposed to act in the interests of Big Capital, Big Finance which is aligned to international finance capital.

The government completely changes the role that it was playing earlier. And the government uses its new role of being a promoter of the interests of Big Capital to attack the living standards of the people. So you act against the working class. You reduce the bargaining strength in the working class. And thats called introducing labor market flexibility, which means the trade unions have to be weakened or smashed so that it becomes investor friendly.

You reduce the social wage which the government was providing through its healthcare and other expenses. You wind up the public sector. And that public sector is wound up for the song. Public sector units are sold for a song to the various Big Capital, domestic as well as foreign. So, altogether it amounts to an attack on the working people to make the economy investor friendly.

FRIES: Although it is not so hard to figure out what they mean given their context, there are some expressions in this article like dirigiste for example that many of us are not so familiar with. So explain what you mean in saying:

From being a facilitator of a dirigiste regime, the IMF has become a destroyer of the dirigiste regime and an instrument for ushering in a neo-liberal regime.

PATNAIK: You see when the IMF was started, it was started as an aid to lets say a development strategy in which the state played a major role. The government played a major role in providing relief to the people, in generating directly through its expenditures, larger amounts of employment in the economy. So, the IMF was an aid to that.

In fact, the IMF was started as you know at Bretton Woods twin institutions, the IMF and the World Bank. The Bretton Woods Agreement, the proposal that was agreed upon, was basically pioneered by John Maynard Keynes on the one hand and Harry Dexter White of the United States on the other. Harry Dexter White was associated with the Roosevelt Administration, was associated with the New Deal. While Keynes had been writing about the need for what he called socialization of investment. That the state must always ensure that the economy is close to full employment.

The international regime in which they would operate allowed trade controls, tariffs, quantitative restrictions on imports and so on, on exports. It allowed capital controls. And at the same time it actually said: OK you may have balance of payments problems. A country can get into balance of payments problems. And some of these problems may not be easily solved. In such a case you would have to borrow from an organization and the IMF was meant to be such an organization.

Now, the IMF then would also impose certain targets in terms of how government expenditure has to be cut and so on. That itself is something which many progressive economists had opposed at that time because it actually generated unemployment within the deficit country as a means of overcoming deficits.

But those targets were within the regime. Within the same economic regime, the government if its spending (lets say) $100, should actually cut back its expenditure by $20. So that demand goes down, import demand goes down. And therefore the deficit goes down.

Surplus countries were under no compulsion to make any adjustment. Under the IMF arrangement, it is only deficit countries who were coerced into making adjustments in order to overcome the crisis, to overcome their balance of payments problems.

Imagine, suppose the surplus countries had been forced to make adjustments [by increasing expenditures]. See, ultimately all countrys deficits and surpluses balance out to zero. But that was not agreed because of which basically, even under the old IMF, many of us were critical of the role that the IMF was playing. But all that was still within the regime.

Then the IMF changed. And then it became not only an entity for giving loans to meet deficits, but an entity that started suggesting that no this regime is no good. You have a neoliberal regime. So that entity then started saying that the public sector should be privatized. That there should be no healthcare. That where the government cuts expenditures is not left to the government. It is now the IMF that decides on it and so on. That the role of the government should be changed. That it should not either directly bring larger employment to the people or increase the real wages of the people through larger social wage; but it should actually make the country investor friendly, which basically means attack the working class. So, so it actually started suggesting an alternative economic regime quite different from the economic regime that either Keynes or Harry Dexter White would have approved of. Thats when the IMF has changed. It actually became if you like an entity looking after -globally- the interests of international finance capital.

But even that, as I tried to suggest in this article, is of course a general role that the IMF plays all over the world now. But in addition, it has a particular closeness to the foreign policy of the US, to the administration of the US, because of which it actually penalizes countries that defy it. And what is more, defying it then becomes an occasion for the US to intervene in the politics of the country to change the government. So this is really very different from the role that was originally envisaged for it under the Bretton Woods Agreement.

FRIES: This changed IMF that you are describing then is the IMF that in the 1990s Heiner Flassbeck and his colleagues found advising governments everywhere in the former Soviet republics, even Russia. And it is this economic policy of the West that Flassbeck calls out for having brought massive damage to the countries and proved fatal for their development chances.

PATNAIK: Yes. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Eastern European socialist countries, there was a huge drop in their GDP, a huge drop in their gross domestic product in their national income. And you had a massive increase in unemployment. You had really an economic distress which was unparalleled in peace times.

And as far as Russia is concerned, it was for a very long time during the Yeltsin period, virtually run by a group of persons from the United States. In fact, they surrounded Yeltsin and they were the main economic architects of that kind of collapse of the Soviet Union and of Russia.

And that is something where again, you have the emergence of these oligarchs who simply appropriated state property as their own. Now, to some extent in Russia itself there was some check on it that was introduced after Boris Yeltsin left the scene.

But in the rest of the Eastern European countries, you actually have now a situation where they they have lost their productive systems, the productive apparatus which had been built up is now not in place. Instead, people are simply migrating as cheap labor to Western Europe and to Britain and so on.

FRIES: Talk now more specifically about the IMF and Ukraine.

PATNAIK: Ukraine has been having a relationship with the IMF for quite some time from the late 1990s. This connection is not a temporary one. In other words, its not as if you have a balance of payments problem and you go to the IMF for a temporary loan, and then you put your economy in order and you pay back the loan.

It was not that kind of arrangement. The loan that Ukraine and many other Eastern European countries took from the IMF was really quite unpayable. And even now the debt they have to the IMF and to others together is something which is quite unpayable. They cannot really pay back that kind of debt particularly when their productive apparatus is not really generating much.

So that was going on. So, the IMF at one point therefore insisted that in order to continue with the debt Ukraine had to meet certain conditionalities. In these conditionalities, it wanted a reduction in the real wage. It wanted a curtailment in the governments welfare expenditures, particularly on education and healthcare. It also wanted a cut back in subsidies. You see, in Ukraine, the government had been providing substantial subsidies on gas, which is made available to all domestic consumers. In the absence of government subsidies, there would be very high gas prices that people would really suffer a great deal.

And that is when Yanukovych, who was the President of Ukraine at that time said that, no, this is something which is not possible. So, at that point therefore, IMF ended up deciding that if the conditions are not being met in that case, its not going to provide any more loans to Ukraine. Thats when Yanukovych started negotiating with Russia.

FRIES: How do the Maiden Square demonstrations fit into all this?

PATNAIK: The moment it became clear that Yanukovych was not going to be accepting the loan from the IMF demonstrations began. This loan was also linked to the trade negotiations with the European Union. So, when the IMF loan fell through trade negotiations with the European Union also fell though. And that is when demonstrations started occurring in Maiden Square against Yanukovych.

So then, after the Yanukovych government was toppled and the government changed hands in 2014, comment on what happened to stumbling blocks the Yanukovych administration had put up against the IMF. I am thinking here of the unwillingness to accept loan conditionalities that you mentioned earlier. Prominently, the unwillingness of Yanukovych to cut government subsidies on Ukrainian gas provided to domestic consumers, so the Ukrainian people. So, in other words, cut public spending that served a broad public interest by keeping the cost of living down. So comment on what the new government did when it came in.

PATNAIK: Firstly, it slashed the gas subsidy by half. Therefore gas prices went up for the consumers. Secondly, you know there was a ban on the sale of land area in Ukraine to Big Capital, to foreigners and so on under Yanukovych. And that had been one of the things demanded by the IMF that the ban should go. And immediately when the government came in that ban went. So, you had the opening up of Ukraine, not just Ukrainian resources, but even land area to the penetration of foreign capital, foreign Big Capital.

FRIES: It was under these conditions where Ukraines new government embraced investor-friendly policies, that the IMF loan went through. To cite your article that loan had some notable features. In your words: first, it was huge, much larger (in fact more than six times) than what the IMF would normally provide in a comparable situation; second, it was given to a country in the midst of a civil war (as Ukraine was then), which is against usual IMF practice; and, third, It was known from the very beginning that the loan could not possibly be paid back. So that the only means though which it would be sought to be recovered would be through metropolitan capital taking control of the countrys land and mineral resources (the most prominent of which is natural gas).

According to IMF fast facts, as of March 2021, Ukraine is one of the IMFs four largest borrowers. Fast forward to today, March 2022, and as we all know, Ukraine went back to the IMF for a further loan. Before that loan had been approved you wrote: The precise amount of support and the purpose for which it is being asked are still not clear; but one thing remains certain: after the current crisis comes to an end in that region, no matter what form that resolution takes, Ukraine will become a second Greece in Europe. Explain what you meant by that.

PATNAIK: Yes. I mean, in the following sense that the size of the loans are so large that I do not believe that Ukraine is going to come out of this state of indebtedness in any way through its own actions.

This globalization that we talking about, for which the IMF has prepared the ground all over the world, has taken two quite distinct forms. There are places like in Asia, lets say China, Vietnam, to some extent India and so on, Bangladesh. Where globalization takes the form of the location of manufacturing or service sector activities. In other words, these are the countries to which a lot of the activities are shifting from the metropolis.

So, their productive system survives and is promoted by globalization but not in the interests of the people. I mean, obviously the people dont benefit from it because agriculture gets destroyed and so on. I am not going into that. But there are other places where globalization takes the form not of supporting and sustaining and promoting the productive apparatus but rather the productive apparatus gets completely destroyed and of course people then start migrating.

Now, Eastern Europe is a part of the latter. And that is why the idea of Eastern European countries generating enough production in their own country, that through exports getting enough foreign exchange to pay back this loan does not arise.

And of course, borrowing from international finance capital to pay the IMF is something which may happen, but thats not something which constitutes a solution to the problem of indebtedness.

So, I think these countries are going to remain highly indebted and in that sense they would be like Greece. And forever there would be these measures of austerity which will be imposed on the people. That means they will be excluded from the benefits of these loans or whatever.

FRIES: Very briefly, so in a nutshell, give us a wrap on the argument youve been making today. First, on the role of the IMF; then the IMF connection with the Ukraine crisis.

PATNAIK: There is a general objective that all countries should be opened up to the free movement of capital and finance and even of commodities. In fact, that is the essence of the neo-liberal economic policy that fundamentally economies should be opened up.

And when they are opened up, it is not just for capital to come in and set up industries or capital to come in and buy up industries. But capital must come in also to take control of the sources of raw materials. And in the case of Ukraine also take control over the land area. Capital would like to own the entire land of the planet.

So the point is: that is a general objective which is promoted by the IMF on behalf of international finance capital all over the globe. That is what the IMF these days does everywhere.

But in the case the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, the argument which I have been putting forward is that it is not just that. It is something much more specific. And that specific feature lies in the fact that it actually is promoting American foreign policy interests. Theres a close intermingling of US foreign policy interests with the IMF. And so its not just the general role of the IMF, but the role of the IMF that is very specific in this particular instance, which is superimposed if you like the general role and that consists in keeping Ukraine under the thumb of the IMF so that it actually follows US foreign policy interests.

FRIES: Prabhat Patnaik. Thank you.

PATNAIK: Thank you.

FRIES: And from Geneva, Switzerland thank you for joining us for this segment of GPEnewsdocs.

Prabhat Patnaik is professor emeritus at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning where he taught for four decades. He was Vice-Chairman of the Kerala State Planning Board from June 2006 to July 2011. An eminent and prolific economist, his published works include numerous books such as The Value of Money, Re-Envisioning Socialism and Accumulation and Stability Under Capitalism. His most recent book, co-authored with Utsa Patnaik, is a comprehensive survey of capitalisms colonialist roots and uncertain future and titled Capital and Imperialism: Theory, History, and the Present.
(Natural News) Alex Newman of the New American pointed out that U.S. presidents have been endorsing the New World Order for a long time now  with incumbent President Joe Biden being the latest to do so.

Newman revealed this fact during an episode of his program Behind The Deep State. He referenced remarks made by the former vice president under the Obama administration. Biden mentioned the goal of a new world order led by the U.S., thanks to significant opportunities to make some real changes.

We are at an inflection point. Weve established a liberal world order and that hadnt happened in a long while. And [now is] the time when things are shifting, theres [going to] be a new world order out there. Weve got to lead it and weve got to unite the rest of the free world in doing it, Biden said during the March 21 quarterly meeting of the non-profit organization Business Roundtable.

Newman commented: Biden  plans to create a new world order out of the chaos thats taking place. But this is not a new idea. These new world order clowns have been pushing this agenda for a very long time. Just as we predicted months ago, theyre going to use this Ukraine-Russia crisis and milk it for everything its worth to create a new world order. (Related: No longer a conspiracy theory: Biden announces US involvement in realigning New World Order.)

But aside from Biden, his predecessors have been espousing the idea for some time now. Newman cited speeches by former President George H.W. Bush  a Republican  and his Democratic successor, former President Bill Clinton, that mentioned the need for a new world order.

We have before us the opportunity to forge for ourselves and for future generations a new world order. A world where the rule of law, not the law of the jungle, governs the conduct of nations, said Bush.

Clinton echoed his predecessors words, saying: Its a phrase that I often use myself: We need a new world order.

Newman commented: This is not a partisan thing. Its been on both sides of the aisle; the Republican establishment and the Democratic establishment have been fully in favor of this.

Biden has supported a US-led NWO as early as 1992

The host of Behind The Deep State also pointed to a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) op-ed penned by Biden back in the early 1990s. The WSJ print article dated April 23, 1992 was interestingly titled How I Learned To Love The New World Order, written back when he was still a senator for the state of Delaware.

Most Americans, myself included, reject 1930s-style isolationism. They expect to see the strong hand of American leadership in world affairs, and they know that economic retreat would yield nothing other than a lower standard of living.

Biden also wrote that the U.S. could also bring about this new world order without the need to fire a shot  through economic muscle-flexing.

Our 21st-century strategy has to be a shade [cleverer] than [Mao Tse-Tungs] axiom that power comes from the barrel of a gun. Power also emanates from a solid bank balance, the ability to dominate and penetrate markets and the economic leverage to wield diplomatic clout.

However, Newman pointed out that three decades after Biden wrote the article, the incumbent presidents vision of a new world order is not one that is led by the United States.

In his [recent] speech  at the Business Roundtable [meeting], Biden suggested that America would lead the new world order. He is lying. Right now, the globalist Deep State in the U.S. is busy undermining [the countrys] power, the economy and the military to make way for that they describe as a multipolar world order, Newman said.

All the globalist bigwigs have been talking about this and celebrating this process of removing America as the sole unchallenged superpower, and bringing in what they call a concert of governments to rule the new world order.

Visit Globalism.news to read more stories like this.

Watch Alex Newman of the New American talking about Bidens new world order remarks below.

This video is from The New American channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Joe Biden pledges allegiance to the New World Order in 1992 article.

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Sources include:

Brighteon.com

LifeSiteNews.com

Uncensored.co.nz
(Natural News) The administration of President Joe Biden has eliminated tariffs on more than 350 products imported from China, four years after they were imposed by former President Donald Trump.

In a March 23 announcement, U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai bared that 549 products made in China were subject to tariffs. Following an extensive review of the total list, Tai said the Biden administration would reinstate 352 products as exempted from the Section 301 tariffs.

Solar water heaters, breast pumps, garage door openers, X-ray tables and thermostats are some of those included in the 352 China-made items exempt from tariffs. The exemption list also included food products such as crab meat, Dungeness crab and Alaskan sole. Alternating current and direct current electric motors, printed circuit board assemblies and automated data processing storage units also made it to the list.

Tais office invited comments from the public regarding the 549 items subject to tariffs back in October 2021. The March 23 announcement was made after careful consideration of the public comments, and in consultation with other U.S. agencies.

[The] USTR considered whether or not reinstating the exclusion would impact or result in severe economic harm to  U.S. interests  including the impact on small businesses, employment, manufacturing output and critical supply chains, stated the announcement. It added that Tai also looked at the overall impact of the exclusions on the goal of obtaining the elimination of Chinas acts, policies and practices covered in the Section 301 investigation.

But according to Breitbart, the products imported from China eliminated 3.7 million American jobs from the U.S. economy from 2001 to 2018.

Trump first announced the tariffs in 2018 as part of Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act of 1974. Under the law, the president is allowed to punish foreign governments who violate international trade agreements or restrict American commerce. These penalties include imposition of tariffs, which Trump did on the aforementioned products.

Tariff exemptions another blow to US manufacturing industry

Back in December 2021, Breitbart reported about a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House of Representatives urging Biden and Tai to exempt all China-made products from tariffs.

Reps. Darin LaHood (R-IL), Jackie Walorski (R-IN), Ron Kind (D-WI) and Suzan DelBene (D-WA) penned a letter calling on the trade representative to expand the tariff exclusions in order to support American workers, businesses and our economic recovery. The four also denounced the use of tariffs against businesses that have outsourced their manufacturing to China, claiming that the tariffs have caused the prices of these goods to increase.

Several Republicans also signed the letter, first among them House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). Other lawmakers include Reps. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Burgess Owens (R-UT), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Ken Buck (R-CO), Young Kim (R-CA) and Anthony Gonzalez (R-OH).

Zach Mottl, chairman of the nonprofit Coalition for a Prosperous America, denounced Tais move. Once again, multinational importers and their army of Washington lobbyists have protected their ability to import cheap Chinese goods over sourcing from American manufacturers, he said in a statement. (Related: U.S. consumers got hooked on cheap Chinese imports but the coronavirus is about to expose what a HUGE mistake this was.)

We are disappointed that the Biden administration granted exclusions to the [Section] 301 tariffs on many Chinese products that have alternatives that are made or could be made right here in America, or are made outside of China. As China supports and enables Russias aggression against Ukraine, we should be decoupling rather than providing their companies [with] revenue from U.S. consumers, Mottl continued.

We will continue to fight against those in Congress who want to use taxpayer dollars to refund importers that profit off of cheap Chinese goods, as well as efforts to weaken the [Section] 301 tariffs.

Visit CommunistChina.news for more stories like this.

Watch the Fox Business report below about CEOs calling for then-President Donald Trump to remove tariffs on China-made products.

This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

China is stealing solar panel jobs from American workers  Will Trump send a tough trade message?

Chinese immigrant found guilty of stealing $120 million worth of trade secrets for China.

Is China on the verge of total economic collapse?

Sources include:

Breitbart.com 1

USTR.gov 1

USTR.gov 2 [PDF]

Breitbart.com 2

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Twitter, Facebook and YouTube allow seven dictators, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, unfettered access to post on their platforms, influencing approximately 50 million followers as of March 28. Meanwhile, former leader of the free world President Donald Trump is still banned.

(Article by Catherine Salgado republished from NewsBusters.org)

MRC Free Speech America found seven dictators that Big Tech allows to post online. Twitter grants verified status to six of the seven dictators on the platform: Putin, Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, and Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei is also allowed on Big Tech platforms, though he does not post from a verified account. His Twitter account has been identified as belonging to him by many news outlets, including Fox News.

Of these seven dictators, four were also on Facebook, and three were on YouTube as of publication time. Erdo?an and Kagame are on all three social media platforms. The dictators accounts have about 38 million Twitter followers, 11.4 million Facebook followers, and 417,800 YouTube subscribers altogether.

All seven of these rulers have been repeatedly identified as dictators. Putins military is also in the midst of a devastating invasion of Ukraine, while his verified YouTube and Twitter accounts remain unrestricted.

Ayatollah Khamenei has repeatedly posted violence-encouraging content on social media, including a video depicting the assassination of Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Khamenei, whose government is classified as a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. State Department, has also called for the destruction of Israel and the death of American leaders in tweets. Iran also killed over 600 Americans in Iraq. Meanwhile, Twitter banned Trump in January 2021 allegedly due to the risk of further incitement of violence after Trump had called for peace.

The other dictators have years of corruption and tyranny behind them as well. Cubas Bermudez worked with former Cuban dictators for years. His translated Twitter bio says he is Committed to the Martian ideas of Fidel and Raul [Castro]. Fidel Castro was an evil, murderous, communist dictator, as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said.

Rwandas Kagame is not only a dictator, he has encouraged and facilitated investments from the genocidal Chinese Communist Party in his country. Kagame has also received positive press from the Chinese state media outlet China Daily.

All of these dictators have corruption in their past, and each practices some form of tyranny in the present. Yet, Trump is still banned from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

As of Feb. 28, after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, Russia state-affiliated accounts on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube were still allowed to influence their approximately 38.7 million followers. Big Tech has since taken some actions against Russian accounts or state media, but Putin is still on YouTube and Twitter.

Read more at: NewsBusters.org
The door to diplomacy is the main way forward for both sides. On Ukraines side to accept neutrality status coupled with international guarantees.

by Victor Cherubim

Russia and Ukraine negotiators have ended their first direct face to face talks in Istanbul yesterday 29 March 2022, after 35 days of incessant shelling of military targets and civilian properties all-round the eastern borders of Ukraine.

British sources who have continued to supply Ukraine with all forms of tactical weapons, now admit that President Vladimir Putins forces having continued to suffer heavy losses taking over the whole of Ukraine, have scaled back some of the military operations. British intelligence maintains Russia is struggling to sustain more than one significant axis of advance.

According to the Russians stated offensive focus all along was that their intrusion in Ukraine was a special operation and their move now is to increase mutual trust for face to face peace talks to continue. It has announced it would drastically reduce combat areas both around Kyiv and Chernihiv, two areas where its troops have struggled to gain ground.

What happens in all wars?

We have seen in all wars, there is a beginning and an end, but the end is mostly dragged out for tactical reasons. We saw that in the Korean War, later in the Vietnam War, the Sino-Indian War Oct.Nov.1962 and the Yon Kippur War06 Oct.1973hoping to win back territory lost to Israel in earlier wars.This is nothing new?

The door to diplomacy is the main way forward for both sides. On Ukraines side to accept neutrality status coupled with international guarantees. On Russias side to, perhaps, regroup its war machine fully operational, which has always had a pretty fearsome reputation.

Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has refused to lift sanctions based on a loose promise of ceasefire. The words that have become part of our war vocabulary are maximum leverage, feeling of total war against Russia in trade, in economy, in seizing properties, funds, blocking financial relations, and distancing. We became used to social distancing but now UK is distancing itself from President Joe Bidens unwarranted and dangerous Putin comment.

What we do not know?

What we know about what we dont know, is that any war is a tax on working people, a drag not only the enemy, but also on all innocent people. Accordingly, Russians are calculating if this cost is worth getting their borders extended?

Could you blame them for the West ostracising, stigmatizing Russia, over the years, removing them from the G7 years before any war and provoking this conflict?

In the West, simultaneously, the cost of sanctions is slowly but steadily sinking in?

It is all well and good to seize a Russian Oligarchs yacht in London, but who pays for its upkeep, its maintenance, its security, whilst in custody? The whole affair looks like a comedy?

The first yacht 38 million, Phi to be detained in UK waters hours before it was due to leave Canary Wharf, east London, by the so called Anti-Kleptocracy Squad of the National Crime Agency. Now that its being held, it wont go anywhere?

When you see what the war is doing to ordinary peoples lives, not only Russian and Ukrainian people, but people the world over, it is a shambles!

Russian citizens in particular have been targeted by the West. The World has a duty to demand an end to this war and a reparation. With the end of restrictions for COVID-19, will it be back to normal if and when this war ends?

Of course, uncertainty and volatility can create opportunities for some, but that does not make the headlines?
(Natural News) The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has partnered with scientists working on the Breakthrough Listen project in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). The team will use NASAs Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to identify light-curve anomalies and detect technosignatures.

Breakthrough Listen is a $100 million SETI initiative considered as the most comprehensive search for alien communications to date. Project scientists already have a target list of exoplanets for study and secured thousands of hours of observation time in many cutting-edge observatories around the world. Their partnership with NASA will provide more resources that can deepen their search.

Its exciting that the worlds most powerful SETI search, with our partner facilities across the globe, will be collaborating with the TESS team and our most capable planet-hunting machine, said S. Pete Worden, executive director of the Breakthrough Initiatives.

Searching for aliens with the help of NASA

TESS and Breakthrough Listen scientists announced their partnership in October last year during the International Astronautical Congress in Washington, D.C. The collaboration will expand the Breakthrough Listens target list, adding over 1,000 exoplanets detected via TESS in the last two years.

The Breakthrough Listen team will scan these promising worlds using a range of instruments, including the Green Bank and Parkes radio telescopes in West Virginia and Australia, respectively; the Automated Planet Finder telescope in California; and the MeerKAT radio array in South Africa.

The collected data will be analyzed for technosignatures with the help of NASA scientists. These signatures are indicators of technology that may have been developed by advanced civilizations. The Breakthrough Listen scientists said that while past searches failed to detect unambiguous technosignatures, the chances of detection are now higher with their project.

The researchers will also use TESS data to look for anomalies in the light curves of stars. Light curves are graphs of a stars brightness over time, and recent observations using the Kepler space telescope suggested that oddities in these graphs might have been caused by orbiting megastructures built by advanced civilizations. (Related: Has the second alien megastructure been found?.)

The discovery by the Kepler spacecraft of Boyajians Star, an object with wild and apparently random variations in its lightcurve, sparked great excitement and a range of possible explanations, of which megastructures were just one, said Andrew Siemion, the lead researcher of the Breakthrough Listen team and an astrophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley.

Siemion added that while dust particles in orbit around Boyajians Star could be responsible for the dimming, studies of light-curve anomalies will refine future observations and cast a wider net in the search for technosignatures.

NASA funds SETI study

In June 2020, NASA awarded a grant to a SETI study that will scan exoplanets for technosignatures. The researchers involved said that they will initially focus on the technosignatures made by solar panels and air pollution.

Solar panels are designed to absorb certain wavelengths of light. This could create a specific spectral signature that can be detected using current space telescopes, according to the researchers. Meanwhile, the team will look for signatures of artificial gases like chlorofluorocarbons, which were once commonly used as refrigerants and aerosols until they were discovered to be destroying the ozone layer.

The researchers noted that they will only characterize what these technosignatures would actually look like in data. But their findings will be uploaded into an online library that can be used by astrophysicists to identify exoplanets that may be of interest for follow-up studies.

Our job is to say, this wavelength band is where you might see certain types of pollutants, this wavelength band is where you would see sunlight reflected off solar panels, said co-researcher Adam Frank of the University of Rochester in New York.

Read more updates on the search for aliens at Space.news.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

LiveScience.com

NewAtlas.com
(Natural News) El Salvadors congress has approved emergency powers that suspend constitutional freedoms and ease arrest rules for 30 days to battle a record wave of gang-related killings that forced business closures and the postponement of public events.

The measures, which were requested by President Nayib Bukele on Saturday, March 26, and passed by legislators the following day, enforce restrictions on free gathering, relax arrest rules and grant the blocking of communications. (Related: NYPD to increase weekend patrols after sudden increase in crime citywide.)

Police reported that there had been 62 murders on Saturday, making it the most violent 24-hour period in the country since the end of the 1992 civil war.

The new laws restrict the right to come together, permit arrests without a warrant and the inspection of communications.

Gang-plagued El Salvador recorded 1,140 murders in 2021

The gang-plagued nation recorded 1,140 murders last year, which was actually a 30-year low. Nevertheless, that still corresponds to 18 murdered individuals per 100,000 inhabitants. Last November, another series of violence led to more than 40 people being killed within three days.

Hours before El Salvadors congress voted on the new powers, which will stay in place for 30 days, four leaders of the Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang had been arrested over the series of killings, according to police.

We have had a new spike in homicides, something that we had worked so hard to reduce. While we fight criminals in the streets, we must try to figure out what is happening and who is financing this, said Bukele, elected in 2019 on promises to fight organized crime and improve security in the Central American nation.

The country must let the agents and soldiers do their job and must defend them from the accusations of those who protect the gang members, added Bukele in a statement tweeted by Congress President Ernesto Castro.

Juan Pappier of the international campaign group Human Rights Watch tweeted that the measures were very worrying, especially in a country where there are no independent democratic institutions.

The MS-13 and Barrio-18 gangs, among others, have about 70,000 members and are accountable for homicides, extortion and drug trafficking, according to authorities.

Police said the newest bloodshed had left 12 people dead in La Libertad, including nine each in San Salvador and Ahuachapan, with the other killings spread around the Latin American country.

In April 2020, as the coronavirus swept through the country, Bukele enforced a 24/7 lockdown for imprisoned gang members after more than 50 people were killed in three days.

Bukele argued that many of the murders were ordered from behind bars and said prisoners belonging to rival gangs would be made to share cells in a bid to break up lines of communication. In the past weekend, he wrote in his social media accounts that he was ordering the head of the countrys prisons to execute a 24/7 lockdown of gang inmates in their cells.

They are not to go out even to the patio of prisons, Bukele said, adding: A message to the gangs: because of your actions, now your homeboys will not see even one ray of sunlight.

US claims Bukeles government in cahoots with gang leaders

While Bukele appeared to be tough on criminals, the conservative Arena Party hinted that he was actually protecting them. We must remind the people of El Salvador that what is happening now is due to the negligence of those who protected criminals, the party said in a statement.

This was an obvious reference to a December report by the United States Department of the Treasury claiming that Bukeles government privately negotiated a truce with gang leaders. That belied denials made by Bukele and increased tensions between the two countries.

The U.S. accused Bukeles administration of buying the gangs support with financial benefits and privileges for their imprisoned leaders, including prostitutes and cell phones.

The explosive allegations ripped to the heart of one of Bukeles most highly accepted successes in office, which is a drop in the countrys homicide rate.

Cell phones and prostitutes in the prisons? Money to the gangs? When did that happen? Didnt they even check the date? How can they put out such an obvious lie without anyone questioning them? said Bukele via Twitter in response to the accusations.

Bukele fiercely denied the allegation when it was reported by the local news site El Faro in August 2020.

The U.S. Treasury said in a statement that in 2020, Bukeles government provided financial incentives to Salvadoran gangs MS-13 and 18th Street Gang (Barrio 18) to ensure that incidents of gang violence and the number of confirmed homicides remained low and over the course of these negotiations with Luna and Marroquin, gang leadership also agreed to provide political support to the Nuevas Ideas political party in upcoming elections.

Follow Violence.news for more stories like this.

Watch the video below about violence in America.

This video is from the Son of the Republic channel on Brighteon.com.

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Sources include:

WSJ.com

BBC.com

ABCNews.go.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) A gruesome new pro-abortion bill proposed in California could legalize infanticide for weeks, months, or even years after a child is born, an attorney with the Thomas More Society told LifeSiteNews.

(Article by Ashley Sadler republished from LifeSiteNews.com)

AB 2223 was introduced in February as a placeholder for future legislative language amid a raft of pro-abortion proposals advanced by lawmakers, following radically pro-abortion Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsoms promise to make California a sanctuary for abortion, Right to Life League reported.

On March 17, the bills authors submitted updated language to amend existing state laws.

AB 2223 literally decriminalizes infanticide  the killing of babies possibly up to two months old. It eliminates civil and criminal penalties for abortions including perinatal death. The bill doesnt define the term perinatal  but it doesnt have https://t.co/J7NQUUFnkg pic.twitter.com/rn3ZXqQQGW  Right To Life League (@Right2LifeLg) March 21, 2022

Under the new language, a person shall not be subject to civil or criminal liability or penalty, or otherwise deprived of their rights, based on their actions or omissions with respect to their pregnancy or actual, potential, or alleged pregnancy outcome, including miscarriage, stillbirth, or abortion, or perinatal death.

Thomas More Society Special Counsel Charles LiMandri, a partner at LiMandri and Jonna LLP who earned his law degree at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., told LifeSiteNews in an email Saturday that the altered language would allow for the brutal murder of babies weeks, months, or even years after they are born.

According to LiMandri, the proposal exposes the false narrative that the abortion lobby has been peddling for over half a century: That no one knows when life begins, and babies in their mothers wombs feel no pain. No sane person can deny that a newborn infant is a fully developed human being, one that is capable of feeling intense pain. Yet, by including perinatal in its provisions, [the bill] would authorize the brutal murder of these infants even after they are born.

LiMandri, an author and lecturer who has appeared and been published nationally and internationally, noted that the definition of the term perinatal varies, spanning weeks or even years after an infant is born.

He cited MedicineNet which puts the definition of perinatal at ending 1 to 4 weeks after birth, as well as the government definition of the phrase via PubMed.gov, which states: The perinatal period, broadly defined, encompasses the time frame from  18 to 24 months after the birth of the child.

Hence, [AB 2223] leaves one to ask: What kind of depraved monsters would justify the killing of innocent and helpless children between one week and two years after their birth? LiMandri said.
(Natural News) A veteran of the United States Army won a $50 million lawsuit against 3M over defective earplugs that caused hearing damage.

Luke Vilsmeyer, 42, of Indiana, served in the Army from 1999 to 2020, first as a howitzer gunner and later as a Green Beret. His initial position in the army exposed him to the loudest and most potentially harmful noise levels possible.

According to Vilsmeyers lawsuit, he used 3Ms Combat Arms Earplugs Version 2 for most of his time in the army. He believed the products should have protected him from the worst possible hearing damage he could get. But the earplugs did not work, and he later suffered permanent hearing loss and severe tinnitus. (Related: Routine MRI ruins a womans life by making her so sensitive to sound that she cant go out in public.)

Following a 10-day trial, a jury in Pensacola, Florida decided that Vilsmeyer had adequately proved his claims that his hearing loss was caused by defects in 3Ms earplugs. He was awarded $50 million. This was the second-largest amount won in litigation against 3M and was made up entirely of compensatory damages.

Another veteran won lawsuit against 3M for hearing damage

Vilsmeyer is not the only veteran to win a lawsuit against 3M. In Tallahassee, a jury awarded $8 million in compensatory damages to Army National Guard veteran Steve Wilkerson, who said using the earplugs did not protect him from developing tinnitus and hearing loss.

Wilkerson used the Army-issued 3M earplugs for several years during his time in the National Guard, which included a combat rotation in Afghanistan.

In its defense, 3M suggested that Wilkersons alleged hearing loss and tinnitus were pre-existing and the result of him being part of a band playing guitar for many years before his time in the National Guard.

This counter-argument was not enough for the jury, who found that Wilkerson had sufficiently proven that his hearing damage was caused by the deficiencies in 3Ms product.

Over 280,000 veterans suing 3M for defective earplugs

Vilsmeyer and Wilkerson are among the more than 280,000 former and active military personnel who have sued 3M, claiming the companys combat earplugs are defective and have damaged their hearing. This is the largest federal mass tort litigation in American history.

In a statement, the lead lawyers for the plaintiffs in this massive lawsuit noted that 3M had already lost six earlier trials regarding its defective earplugs. These six previous trials combined won plaintiffs more than $160 million. Two veterans alone were awarded $55 million each.

It is clear 3Ms defenses  whether in the courts, to investors or the public  are unconvincing and without merit, they wrote in a joint statement.

The plaintiffs allege 3M hid design flaws, fudged test results and failed to provide wearers with instructions for the proper use of the combat earplugs.

3Ms lawyers said in a statement that it was disappointed in the results of the Vilsmeyer and Wilkerson trials and will appeal. The company said the issues raised in its earlier appeals relating to evidentiary rulings and legal defenses applied to both cases.

We remain confident in our case and will continue to defend our product and our record at trial and on appeal, wrote the companys lawyers.

Thirteen trials have already been concluded against 3Ms combat earplugs. Three more bellwether plaintiffs are expected to go to trial in the next two months, including the case of Denise Kelley, which began on Monday, March 28.

This trial is expected to last two weeks. According to Ronald V. Miller, Jr., writing for Lawsuit Information Center Blog, if the jury sides with Kelley, it could be the death knell for 3M.

Watch this video and learn about natural treatments for hearing loss and tinnitus.

This video is from the Holistic Herbalist channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Study: Following healthy diets found to reduce the risk of acquired hearing loss by 30%.

Hearing loss can INCREASE dementia risk by 17%: Straining to hear may accelerate brain aging, reveals study.

A simple solution may preserve hearing loss caused by loud noises.

One of the best ways to preserve your hearing? Dont drink while listening to loud music.

Yale researchers add reduction of hearing loss to the many benefits of NAC supplements.

Sources include:

TheHill.com

Reuters.com

Lawsuit-Information-Center.com 1

Lawsuit-Information-Center.com 2

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) To ensure that free and fair elections become a thing of the past in the United States, the Biden regime is proposing a $15 billion cash injection into a nationwide election assistance program that will make voter fraud the norm in all 50 states.

The 2023 budget proposal calls for $10 billion to go to new state election equipment and personnel, as well as to increased access and security while voting. The other $5 billion would go to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to expand delivery capacity and to provide support for vote-by-mail, including making ballots postage free and reducing the cost of other election-related mail.

Thanks to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) plandemic, voting by mail has become more normalized across the country. In the November 2020 presidential election, some 46 percent of votes were cast by mail, which is up from 21 percent in the 2016 election, according to the USPS inspector general.

A USPS whistleblower came forward around that time to reveal that many mail-in ballots were illegally backdated in key swing states, which explains why the Biden regime wants to normalize mail-in voting for all future elections.

More than 135 million ballots were delivered by the USPS for the 2020 election, rendering it the most fraudulent election in American history. There is simply no way that Joe Biden is the countrys most popular president of all time, which is what the official vote tallies suggest.

Remember when Trump tried to sound the alarm about mail-in ballots ruining free and fair elections?

Then-President Donald Trump tried to warn the country against mail-in voting, stating that they cant have universal mail-in voting; they just cant have it. But it fell on mostly deaf ears among those holding the levers of power.

U.S. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy blasted Trump over these statements, calling them incorrect and claiming that the USPS has more than enough funding and know-how to handle hundreds of millions of mailed ballots.

In December, both the USPS and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) reached a settlement over a 2020 lawsuit, which the Department of Justice (DoJ) said would ensure prioritizing the delivery of ballots in future elections.

For the upcoming 2022 midterm congressional election, the USPS has agreed to take the same extraordinary measures that it used in the 2020 election to deliver ballots via mail.

The Postal Service has also agreed that for all elections through 2028, guidance documents will be posted that publicly reflect the good faith efforts to prioritize monitoring and timely delivery of Election Mail.

Since a record number of Americans opted to vote by mail during the plandemic, numerous courts have instructed the USPS to take extraordinary measures to ensure ballot deliveries.

Biden: Im paying the USPS to cheat. White House: He meant he was paying for assistance with the election. Biden after being asked about WH walk-back: I never said that, wrote one commenter at Newsmax jokingly.

How many stimuluses, bailouts and loans does the USPS need? asked another about these constant cash injections into the Postal Service.

Someone else suggested that many states are not going to go along with this and allow Democrats to continue to win (steal) elections via the USPS and ballot box stuffing.

You got us once; it isnt happening again, this person wrote.

Another wrote that Bidens plan is an organized voter fraud scheme that will allow more dead and fictitious people to vote, as well as allow the same person to vote multiple times.

Last election, a lot of folks that were dead got absentee ballots, this person added.

To keep up with the latest news about the downfall of America at the hands of criminals and crooks, be sure to check out Collapse.news.

Sources include:

Newsmax.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) President Joe Bidens remark that Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power came under attack for clouding United States policy and threatening to weaken diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Ukraine.

Administration officials and Democratic lawmakers said Sunday, March 27, the impromptu remark was an emotional response to the presidents interactions in Warsaw with refugees that had fled violence in Mariupol, a Ukrainian southern port city under weeks-long Russian bombardment and attacks.

Julianne Smith, the U.S. ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), said Bidens comments were a principled human reaction to the stories that he had heard that day.

Speaking in the Polish capital of Warsaw on Saturday, March 26, Biden appeared to release his strongest criticism of Putin to date.

For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power, Biden said at the close of his speech. The following day, Biden denied he was seeking a regime change in Russia in an answer to a reporters question.

His remark, which was dismissed by Moscow, marked an increase in Bidens verbal attacks on Putin, after earlier calling him a butcher and war criminal. It is also the most recent example of his fondness for going off script, obscuring his intended message and inciting White House aides to clarify his words.

Bidens aides surprised by his comments on Putin

Surprised by their boss comments, Bidens aides scrambled to minimize potential damage. White House officials stated they still thought Bidens trip and speech were a success, even as some legislators and analysts said the remarks could complicate matters.

It reminds us that message discipline has its virtues. It was reportedly very clearly an unscripted moment. And, you know, it will cause some challenges down the road, David Petraeus, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director and retired four-star general, said Sunday on ABC News.

According to Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Bidens comments were a horrendous gaffe that weakened a well-made speech.

I think most people who dont deal in the lane of foreign relations dont realize that those nine words that he uttered would cause the kind of eruption that they did, Risch said on Sunday.

This administration has done everything they can to stop escalating. Theres not a whole lot more you can do to escalate than to call for regime change. That is not the policy of the United States of America. Please, Mr. President, stay on script.

French president not a fan of Bidens remark

French President Emmanuel Macron, a close American ally, was worried that Bidens remark Saturday could complicate diplomatic efforts to stop the war.

I wouldnt use this type of wording because I continue to hold discussions with President Putin. We want to stop the war that Russia has launched in Ukraine without escalation  thats the objective, Macron said in an interview with France 3 TV.

Some European diplomats also warned that Bidens remarks could endanger Western efforts to keep lines of communications with Moscow open. Nevertheless, they said Bidens comments dont threaten any present peace talks because Russia has shown little inclination to engage seriously in such negotiations.

No one thinks theres the chance of a diplomatic solution in the next few days or even a few weeks, said a senior European Union official while adding that Putin is going to keep on pushing and trying to overhaul the Ukrainian government. (Related: Putin puts Bidens king in check.)

A person acquainted with the matter said Sunday that top Biden administration officials hadnt yet heard personally from allies expressing concern about the remark since the presidents speech.

Meanwhile, Ukraines Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishyna lauded Bidens speech. It was really important to have the sense of an international leadership and an understanding of the tragedy which is happening there for us, she said.

From his side, Putin has long considered the U.S. and its allies are bent on toppling him and he is convinced that Washington was behind the 2011 mass protests in Russian cities, the biggest of his term. In a speech on Friday, March 25, he accused the West of trying to cancel Russia.

Some analysts warned that the U.S. presidents remark could bolster Putins hand at home, causing Russians to gather around him and an invasion they may not otherwise endorse.

Follow JoeBiden.news for the latest news about the Biden administration.

Watch the video below to know why Biden is standing by his comments that Putin cant remain in power.

This video is from the Chinese taking down Evil CCP channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Jeffrey Prather: Putin is making Biden look even more foolish  Brighteon.TV.

Biden bragged about handing Putin a list of the 16 most vulnerable infrastructure targets in the US; now Americans are vulnerable to Russian cyberattacks.

Desperate Biden administration enlists clueless TikTok stars to blame inflation on Putin.

Biden declares US ban on Russian oil imports in response to Putins Ukraine invasion.

Biden regime blames Russia-Ukraine conflict for rising inflation, deflecting from the many decades of corrupt monetary policy that actually caused it.

Sources include:

WSJ.com

EnergiesNet.com

Brighteon.com
(Natural News) Mainstream media outlets in the United States are refusing to cover stories regarding Hunter Biden and his connection to the biolabs in Ukraine.

InfoWars host Owen Shroyer pointed out how important it is for media outlets to question Hunters connection to the biological weapons research laboratories in Ukraine now that President Joe Biden is flooding Ukraine with billions of dollars. (Related: Journalist exposes medias collusion to protect Hunter Biden.)

As of March 18, the Biden administration, with the approval of Congress, has already sent over $13.6 billion in aid to Ukraine.

The billions of taxpayer dollars heading to Ukraine include around $6.9 billion to be spent on traditional foreign aid like food and healthcare assistance, aid for Ukrainian refugees and economic support.

Another $3.5 billion has been allocated for purchasing military supplies for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including small arms and anti-armor systems. Another half-billion dollars to be spent on replacements for used up military supplies has already been sent.

Congress also allocated around $3 billion for the deployment of American troops to allied countries in Eastern Europe and to provide them with medical and intelligence support.

Finally, Congress approved allocating more than $175 million in taxpayer money to enforce sanctions and export control measures imposed by the United States against Russia to cripple its economy.

Shroyer noted that the president has previously bragged about spending so much taxpayer money on Ukraine because it helps turn the country into a U.S. puppet.

You only get money from the U.S. government, you can only reach into the U.S. taxpayers pockets and rob us dry, if you do what [President] Biden wants, he said.

The measure passed by Congress allows the Biden administration to keep sending Ukraine more supplies in the future. The president has already committed to a third arms shipment, worth at least $800 million.

It has been nearly a year since mainstream media outlets have mentioned Hunter Bidens name

As of March 28, it has been 259 days since any mainstream media outlet even mentioned Hunter Bidens name during a live newscast.

The last time it occurred was July 12 last year on NBC Nightly News. That was one of the few times a mainstream media outlet covered a story regarding Hunter and his connection to potential criminal acts. In that instance, Hunter allegedly used his family name to sell potentially millions of dollars worth of art. Ethics watchdogs rightfully criticized Hunter for attempting to use his fathers status as the president to increase his wealth.

The only other mention of Hunter in mainstream media is a New York Times article published on March 16 that confirmed a cache of files  appears to have come from a laptop abandoned by Mr. Biden in a Delaware repair shop.

Shroyer found it questionable that after nearly a year of almost total silence from mainstream media outlets regarding the contents of Hunters laptop they are now suddenly admitting that the laptop did have questionable contents.

He believes it is not a coincidence that mainstream media outlets were now willing to admit that the story about Hunters laptop was accurate just as the president is sending billions of dollars of aid to Ukraine and people are now also questioning the Biden familys ties to the biological weapons research laboratories in Ukraine.

What about Hunter Biden? asked Shroyer. Where are the people begging for word from Hunter Biden, or Hunter Bidens whereabouts right now? Especially in regards to the biolabs.

NewsCartels.com has the latest information regarding the mainstream media and its chronic inability to cover actual news.

Watch this clip from InfoWars as host Owen Shroyer talks about the mainstream medias refusal to talk about Hunter Biden.

This video is from the InfoWars channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Investigation proves Hunter Biden FUNDED the illegal biolabs in Ukraine.

Phony Facebook whistleblower served on team that suppressed Hunter Biden laptop story.

Politico confirms Hunter Biden laptop story they previously slammed as Russian disinfo.

Hunter Biden ordered Facebook to remove account criticizing him and Facebook complied.

Covering up for Hunter: Secret Service tried to intervene in Hunter Biden missing gun incident.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

NYTimes.com

Newsbusters.org

Newsmax.com
(Natural News) (ANP note: With Joe Biden only in office for just over 430 days so far, with well over 1,000 days left in his presidency, and stores in America already looking like the photograph above sent in to ANP by a reader in Beaver Falls, PA, just imagine what the store shelves will look like at the end of Bidens term! With it long having been warned that only 9 meals separate a civilized society from complete and total anarchy, please listen to what Biden says in the final video below: We both talked about how we could INCREASE and disseminate MORE RAPIDLY food shortages. Joe Bidens words, not ours. If we stay on the same track were now on, its not a stretch to suggest America is headed towards cannibalism.)

(Article by Hailey Sanibel republished from AllNewsPipeLine.com)

Tucker Carlson might host one of the most important hours on television in all of America. Each night, it seems he distills the most pressing and alarming issues of the day into a fifteen-minute monologue, each of which is deserving of required-viewing status. Last Friday was no different, as he elucidated on the most basic and fundamental threat facing this country  the ability to feed our families.

Food, water, energy. Dont laugh. Thats where were headed.

With concision given the topic, Carlson proceeded to spend the next fifteen minutes of a must-watch monologue detailing the ways in which the inept and dangerous Joe Biden has systematically dismantled Americas key infrastructures and paved the way for certain ruin.

I have pulled key talking points from in the paragraphs that follow, but for those interested in watching the monologue, its entirety can be seen in the 1st video at the bottom of this story.

Its a frightening, dystopian prospect. We use those words a lot nowadays to describe what can only be deemed intentional acts of sedition and national suicide  too much is going wrong to be considered an accident. However, nothing better describes what we are witnessing than frightening and dystopian. The threats are personal and real.

Consider how Carlson describes the current situation on very real and experienced food shortages:

With regard to food shortages, yes, we did still talk about food shortages and its going to be real. The price of these sanctions is not just imposed upon Russia; its imposed upon an awful lot of countries as well, including European countries and our country as well. And because both Russia and Ukraine have been the breadbasket of Europe, in terms of wheat, for example

Food shortages. Biden said, quote: Theyre going to be real. Once again, in case you missed it, to repeat: Food shortages. Not in Sudan, in Cincinnati, in Reno, in Spokane, and Norfolk, and of course in our big cities too where not a single person who was born here has any idea what a food shortage is. Our problem has always been having too much food. Now we wont have enough.

We know that because the President of the United States just told us that on camera. So what is this going to mean

A food shortage is not like deciding to skip dessert, its not a diet. Its not voluntary. A food shortage is different. Its scary. Food shortages topple governments. They turn moderates into revolutionaries. A food shortage is a big deal. You dont want one.

Read more at: AllNewsPipeLine.com
(Natural News) Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabias energy minister, said his country can no longer ensure energy security due to a jittery period in the worlds markets.

What was once a sure and steady supplier of oil has become another casualty, or so we are told, of an escalating world war, which is conveniently collapsing just about everything else that did not already collapse during the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) plandemic.

Speaking at the recent World Government Summit, which is sponsored by the government of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Abdulaziz explained that the cross-border attacks have called into question Saudi Arabias ability to supply the world with the necessary energy requirements.

The attacks of which Abdulaziz speaks were reportedly carried out by Yemens rebel Houthis, which are said to be supported by Iran.

It goes without saying that if this security supply is impacted, it will impact us. But more fundamentally, I think it also will affect the world economy, he added.

For many years, Saudi Arabia and the UAE relied on a collective effort to ensure energy security. According to Abdulaziz, these pillars are no longer there.

Everywhere you look, fossil fuel supplies are being shut off one by one

Oil prices had already reached record highs around the world amid Russias invasion of Ukraine. Then they shot up even higher following the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) largest oil producer.

At various times throughout this chapter of the great reset saga, Brent crude prices have soared above $120 a barrel.

Officials say that the Houthis used drones and missiles to target Saudi Arabias oil facilities. There were also targets attacked in the UAEs capital city of Abu Dhabi.

An oil products storage facility in the Red Sea coastal city of Jeddah was hit by one of the blasts, which sent up large plumes of black smoke that were visible from the Formula One racetrack where practice laps were underway.

The war in Yemen  where a Saudi-led military coalition, which includes the UAE, has been battling the Houthis since 2015  has rattled these two Gulf Arab states, revealing the vulnerability of their oil facilities, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Saudi Arabia has expressed its frustrations in official statements, saying it will not bear any responsibility for shortages in oil supplies due to the attacks.

Another big reason why oil prices continue to soar is the fact that a deal struck by the worlds leading oil producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, in an alliance called OPEC+, intentionally limited oil production throughout the plandemic in order to keep prices from crashing.

A crash would have been good for consumers, of course, but not the fat cats. The fat cats would rather rake in as much cash as they can get their hands on, which is why supplies were artificially limited with a cautious plan to gradually release more barrels on a monthly basis.

Now would be the time to completely lift those restrictions and deliver much-needed oil to wherever it needs to be in the world, but that is unlikely to happen any time soon.

Saudi Arabia is benefitting greatly from the current situation, as is the UAE. The latters energy minister, Suhail al-Mazrouei, rejected calls from the United States, many European nations and Japan to pump more oil to feed dwindling supplies.

What we are asking for (is) not to tell us do this and do that. We are experts in our field and we have been doing it for a very long time, al-Mazrouei stated arrogantly at the summit.

More related news coverage can be found at Collapse.news.

Sources include:

Yahoo.com

NaturalNews.com
(Natural News) A new study published on March 24 in Nature Astronomy has found a new set of waves on the Suns surface that dont fit current theories.

Known as high-frequency retrograde (HFR) waves, the newly-detected waves travel in the opposite direction of the Suns rotation and emerge as a pattern of vortices on the Suns surface, moving three times faster than scientists thought was possible. (Related: Model for plasma flow on the Sun reveals secrets behind sunspots and other solar phenomena)

Since the interior of the Sun and stars cant be imaged by traditional means, scientists depend on interpreting the surface signatures of an array of waves to produce an image of what happens below the surface. These new HFR waves may yet be a significant piece of the puzzle in our knowledge of the stars.

Chris Hanson, the lead author of the research, said the new waves dont appear to be a result of other commonly known waves and magnetism, gravity or convection.

If the high-frequency retrograde waves could be attributed to any of these three processes, then the finding would have answered some open questions we still have about the Sun. However, these new waves dont appear to be a result of these processes, and thats exciting because it leads to a whole new set of questions, said Hanson, a solar physicist at New York University (NYU) Abu Dhabis Center for Space Science.

Researchers studied space- and ground-based data to discover HFR waves

The researchers studied 25 years of space- and ground-based data to discover the HFR waves.

The very existence of HFR modes and their origin is a true mystery and may allude to exciting physics at play. It has the potential to shed insight on the otherwise unobservable interior of the Sun, said Shravan Hanasoge, the papers co-author and astrophysicist at NYU Abu Dhabis Center for Space Science.

The study was directed by researchers from NYU Abu Dhabis Center for Space Science in cooperation with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and NYU.

Scientists originally thought that acoustic solar waves form near the Suns surface, thanks to the Coriolis effect wherein points on a rotating spheres equator seem to move quicker than points on its poles. The Coriolis effect is an apparent effect created by a rotating frame of reference. It happens when an object moving along a straight way is seen from a non-fixed frame of reference.

Addressing the shortcomings in their knowledge might help the researchers gain a better understanding of the Suns interior in addition to getting a better sense of how the Sun affects Earth and other planets in the solar system. It could also provide insight into the same kind of high-frequency wave known as the Rossby waves, which had been seen crossing Earths oceans four times faster than current models can explain.

Astronomers examine acoustic waves like these for the reason that we are still a long way from building technology capable of peeking deep into the Suns interior.

NASA, ESA launch solar probes

In 2018, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) launched the Parker Solar Probe, which was named after the late solar physicist Eugene Parker from Floridas space coast. During the course of its seven-year mission, the Parker Solar Probe will move closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft in history. It has already broken speed records in just four years, traveling at a maximum speed of 430,000 mph. It has also done a series of astonishing discoveries about solar winds, high-energy particles and much more.

In February 2020, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Solar Orbiter probe, which the agency created to study space weather; the heliosphere or the protective plasma bubble that encloses our solar system; and the Suns poles, a mysterious area that has never been fully studied.

Exactly six months after it was launched, the Solar Orbiter was able to take a closer photo of the Sun. The particular image showed the presence of small solar flares named campfires, which could help explain why the Suns corona  the outermost layer of the Suns atmosphere  is hotter than its surface.

The discoveries these probes make could aid researchers in better foreseeing catastrophic space weather and comprehending how the Suns cycles affect physical procedures here on Earth.

Follow Space.news to learn more about the Sun.

Watch the video below to know more about massive solar flares and Sun anomalies.

This video is from the Space Anomalies channel on Brighteon.com.

More related stories:

Discovery: The suns magnetic waves react to sound.

Solar telescope offers unprecedented glimpse into the Sun.

Sun erupting non-stop this month, giant explosions seen from its far side.

Sources include:

WND.com

WIONews.com

LiveScience.com

Byjus.com

News.Yahoo.com

Brighteon.com
Sanctions, an instrument of foreign policy, can be used to create pressure on a state or non-state actor to influence those decisions and actions that are being perceived as threatening to security or violating international behavioural norms.

by Anwar A. Khan

This proverb is towering enough to limn Uncle Sam, An angels face with a devils mind. Bangladeshs PM Sheikh Hasina on 28 March, 2022 slammed the U.S. sanctions on officials of Bangladesh's Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) over alleged rights abuse, saying the move was "very condemnable act.

She said the elite force has immensely contributed to the country's efforts in containing militancy and terrorism.Hasina said Bangladesh takes legal action against any law enforcement agency members including those from RAB if they are found involved in any criminal act.

Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen said earlier that the allegations of gross rights violations by the anti-crime elite police unit were not "based on facts" and RAB was a disciplined institution that instead "has been securing human rights for the people of Bangladesh."

It is very outrageous on December 10, 2021, the Biden administration-imposed sanctions on Bangladeshs elite paramilitary force - the RAB and seven of its current and former officials accusing of human rights abuses and abductions. The U.S. and Bangladesh have been in good relationship after the birth of Bangladesh, but this sudden human-rights related sanctioning has raised concerns in the South Asian Nation, especially as it has been imposed unilaterally without any prior information.

Sanctions, an instrument of foreign policy, can be used to create pressure on a state or non-state actor to influence those decisions and actions that are being perceived as threatening to security or violating international behavioural norms.

The US government normally slaps sanctions, using it as a carrot and stick policy, on those countries that US views as enemies, e.g., those that threaten its national interest, or simply to coerce the target country to do something for their self-interests. As Bangladesh is not a threat to US interests, the recent US like a rogue states sanction on Bangladeshsurprised political analysts across the world.

Generally, when the US imposes sanctions, the opponent states react in way that worsen the situation further. As a friendly country, how Bangladesh responded to the US sanction deserves analysis since it will help to understand how a US ally reacts to such sanctions, compared to the reaction of US enemies.

Initially, Bangladesh followed the diplomatic way to communicate with the US government and explain its stance against the allegations. Diplomatic efforts, on the part of Bangladesh, were mainly focused on convincing the US government by conveying the message that Bangladesh has been misrepresented by vested groups. This is how Bangladesh differentiated itself from other countries on which the US has imposed sanctions. For example, North Korea, which has tended to fire fresh missiles in response to US sanctions. Instead of accepting the criticism, rogue states react negatively. But Bangladesh showed a positive attitude, and welcomed constructive suggestions from the US government.

In response to human rights violations, the Foreign Ministry of Bangladesh established a human rights cell under the United Nations (UN) to look into human rights issues and abuses requiring attention. In addition, the cell will present facts and figures concerning the human rights situation in Bangladesh before the international community. As it has been established under the UN, it can be expected that the situation will be monitored properly, with accurate data being presented.=

According to the Bangladesh government, it has already sent data on the country human rights situation and its progress in rescuing those people who allegedly fell victim to enforced disappearances. The law enforcement agencies of Bangladesh have also rescued several people mentioned in the report. It was also argued that the government is working relentlessly to find the whereabouts of the rest of the people.

Gregory W Meeks, the chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and an influential US Congressman, in one of his speeches delivered at fundraising luncheon function in New York, said that there is no plan on the part of the USA to impose further sanctions against the security forces of Bangladesh. Also, Meeks hinted about certain vested groups who are strongly lobbying the Biden Administration to slap further sanctions on Bangladeshs officers and politicians. Though he clearly mentioned that he supports the Biden administrations stance on RAB, he also made it clear that wholesale sanction against Bangladesh is currently unwarranted by the US government.

Bangladesh handled the US sanction on RAB professionally, with much emphasis on diplomatic maneuvers. The crisis may be resolved soon, but Bangladesh should decode the hidden motive of Washington behind such sanction. What does the US actually expect from Bangladesh? The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), a strategic security dialogue between the United States, India, Japan and Australia, may be a relevant issue to be considered in this context. Perhaps the US is trying to create pressure on Bangladesh to join its Indo-Pacific military pact to contain China, in which case the Biden administration may slap additional sanctions in the future if Bangladesh fails to meet US expectations.

Bangladeshs economy is now at the take-off stage, with the potential of graduating from LDC status by 2026, and the country aspires to become a developed economy by 2041. Considering Bangladeshs economic conditions, the global powers should not involve the country into any geopolitical tug-of-war.

Neither Bangladesh can ignore the US and India nor China considering the current global geopolitical situation. Also, it does not comply with Bangladeshs balancing foreign policy which emphasizes friendship toward all, malice toward none. For now, Bangladesh has to ensure neutrality and strike a fine diplomatic balance among the major global powers for its development discourse. Otherwise, the country is going to face more sanctions which will worsen US-Bangladesh relations and ultimately push Bangladesh toward the strategic orbit of China.

Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen summoned the US ambassadoron Saturday last "to convey Dhaka's discontent" over the move.

The top diplomat "regretted that the US decided to undermine an agency of the government that had been on the forefront of combating terrorism, drug trafficking and other heinous transnational crimes that were considered to be shared priorities with successive US administrations," the statement added.




(Natural News) Ukraine is the biolab for fifth generation warfare and the global inflection point for everything that is happening now, according to The Prather Point host Jeffrey Prather.

Ukraine itself is the biolab. Its the biolab for fifth-generation warfare against third-generation warfare. Its the inflection. Its the global inflection point now for everything that is happening, Prather said during the March 25 episode of the The Prather Point show on Brighteon.TV.

According to the retired Special Operations soldier, Ukraine is also the hub for bio-digital, electromagnetic and genetic weapons.

Ukraine is a biolab and is a choke point. Now it is the global inflection point for the Great Reset,' said Prather, adding that the United States has 15 biolabs in Ukraine.

Other people say 11. Some other people say 30. There are biolabs all over the world. Thats why Putin went in for the special military operation to demilitarize the biolabs, because he showed proof at the UN Security Council that the wind vectors were taking infected birds and bats into Russia with genetic specified weapons against the Russian population and perhaps Ashkenazic Jews.

The former Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) intelligence collector also pointed out that Ukraine serves as a biolab for the Deep State through the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that has been running a regime change or revolution.

Prather added that this was very similar to what has happened in the United States under Antifa. He noted that a lot of the same players from the Deep State along with Russian and Ukrainian voices masked up with covert operators to infiltrate the January 6 crowd. He said this is also happening in all of the feral cities and feral states with Antifa and Black Lives Matter (BLM) movements.

The former intelligence officer explained that a fifth-generation wars primary vector of operations is information influence operations, which must be countered with the truth. He added that the primary weaponry of fifth-generation war is bio-digital, mitochondrial, magnetic, electromagnetic, genetic weaponry activated by direct energy weapons (DEW) and 5G.

Putin uses third-generation warfare to counter fifth-generation warfare

Prather said this fifth-generation warfare was countered by third-generation warfare by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he described as kinetic. A fifth-generation warfare goes back to the Chinese unrestricted warfare report that came out after the first Gulf War.

And Prather recalled the Chinese government previously claimed that they had won a fifth-generation war against the American government.

And I assess that they did. But they did not win a war against the American people. We are now involved in a fourth generational insurgent war in our own country against our own government. Because the United States government is now a puppet of China, Prather said.

The former DIA agent indicated that a nuclear war is irrelevant because the weapons of mass destruction these days are much different. He added that the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) doctrine of nonspecific weapons of mass destruction or nuclear weapons is no longer relevant. (Related: STRATCOM commander sounds the alarm bell, says nuclear war very real possibility with Russia or China.)

Prather added that the Department of Defense (DOD) has designated CRISPR as a weapon of mass destruction that is much more effective than nuclear weapons, aircrafts, tanks, battleships, among others.

He also clarified that Putin is not Adolf Hitler and Russia is not the Nazis. In fact, Prather said, the Nazis are in Ukraine and supported by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Russians lost 27 million Russians in World War Two against the Nazis, the United States only lost 420,000. The memory of German Nazism is alive and well in every family in Russia. And they are not going to countenance that and so this is really important to understand, Prather explained.

Follow DeepState.news to know more about the Deep State.

Watch the full March 25 episode of The Prather Point with Jeffrey Prather below. The Prather Point airs every Friday at 10-11 a.m. on Brighteon.TV.

More related stories:

Jeffrey Prather talks about fifth-gen warfare and how Americans can fight for freedom  Brighteon.TV.

Investigation proves Hunter Biden FUNDED the illegal biolabs in Ukraine.

Ukrainian biolabs operator Metabiota linked to EcoHealth Alliance, World Economic Forum and Jeffrey Epstein.

Sources include:

Brighteon.com

JeffreyPrather.com
(Natural News) Several media reports over the past week have claimed that Russian forces are losing the war in Ukraine, but according to an announcement by the mayor of a major port city, that doesnt appear to be the case.

The important southeast city of Mariupol has now been completely taken over by Russian forces, according to its mayor, after weeks of siege and intense bombardment and fighting, Zero Hedge reported earlier this week in an update on the situation in a region deemed highly important to the Russian high command.

Mayor Vadym Boichenko announced Monday that his city is in the hands of the occupiers.

Not everything is in our power, he said in a live television interview. Unfortunately, we are in the hands of the occupiers today.

Boichenko then called for the city of what was around 400,000 to be completely evacuated, though less than half that number have remained, some estimates indicate.

According to our estimates, about 160,000 people are in the besieged city of Mariupol today, where it is impossible to live because there is no water, no electricity, no heat, no connection, Boichenko continued. And its really scary.

Russian forces have besieged the city for weeks now after invading on Feb. 24. It has been reported that the city is a vital objective in the Russian militarys overall plan since it is a major port.

Last week, Russian troops finally reached the center of the city, where street-to-street fighting had taken place for days. It wasnt clear on Monday whether fighting was continuing.

In the past, Russian forces have established short-lived humanitarian corridors for the citys civilians to use in evacuation efforts, but now the Mariupol mayor is urging a major new operation.

The situation in the city remains difficult. People are beyond the line of humanitarian catastrophe, Boichenko said, according to Reuters. We need to completely evacuate Mariupol.

The Russian Federation is playing with us. We are in the hands of the invaders, he explained.

Reuters, meanwhile, adds:

He said 26 buses were waiting to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, which normally has a population of about 400,000 people, but Russian forces had not agreed to give them safe passage. He did not say where they were waiting.

The mayor went on to say that the citys bus drivers who are involved in leading evacuations are coming under fire from Russian forces.

Our heroic drivers under the fire are trying to reach the places where Mariupol residents can be picked up, and they are waiting with the hope that they will have such an opportunity, he said.

Following weeks of heavy artillery and missile fire, up to 90 percent of all buildings in the city, including civilian residences, have either been destroyed or damaged, according to Ukrainian government sources.

Russian Marines & DPR troops entering an Azov base in Mariupol. Abandoned but probably full of traps & mines, says war reporter Andrey Filatov, clearing it will be complicated. Tanks are useful here, one on-the-ground war report noted that was posted to Twitter.

Russian Marines & DPR troops entering an Azov base in Mariupol. Abandoned but probably full of traps & mines, says war reporter Andrey Filatov, clearing it will be complicated. Tanks are useful here pic.twitter.com/hvbqjauRxb  Russians With Attitude (@RWApodcast) March 28, 2022

Given Russias advance into the port city, it is clear that Moscow has not lost the war in Ukraine, though Ukrainian fighters have made gains, too.

Also on Monday, reports noted that Ukrainian troops had retaken the important Kyiv suburb of Irpin. A CNN report cited the mayor of that burb, Oleksandr Markushyn, who said: Irpin was freed last night. Now we need to clear the town totally. There are wounded Russian soldiers. They are offering to surrender or they will be destroyed. Irpin is a staging area for an attack. We will [next] liberate Bucha, Vorzel and Hostomel.

Markushyn then announced on Telegram: We have good news today  Irpin has been liberated, though Reuters noted that there had yet to be independent confirmation of the claim.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com

NewsTarget.com
(Natural News) The maker of a film focusing on weaknesses inherent in the U.S. power grid says that with war raging in eastern Europe, Iran on the move, North Korea testing new ICBMs, and China eyeing Taiwan, Americas electric nerve center is at major risk of being destroyed by a cyberattack.

In an interview late last week, David Tice, producer of the film Grid Down, Power Up, noted that as he researched his film, he discovered how incredibly vulnerable the U.S. grid is to a cyber assault from Russia, China and other potential adversaries.

Were in an incredibly vulnerable position, Tice told NTDs Capitol Report in a recent interview. And essentially, we have four big adversaries, China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. And all of them have talked about the fact that they could potentially bring down our power grid and therefore affect U.S. civilians.

To his point, the Biden administration has warned on multiple occasions of the potential of a cyberattack from Russia in response to the U.S. and NATO providing lethal military aid to Ukraine following Moscows Feb. 24 invasion, which was only supposed to last a week or less but has been dramatically prolonged by stiff resistance.

Also, Joe Biden has said recently as well that the threat has dramatically increased since the U.S. and Western countries imposed stiff economic sanctions on Moscow over the invasion.

Today, my administration is reiterating those warnings based on evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options for potential cyberattacks, Biden said in a March 21 press statement.

Biden also called on private power companies to do more to shore up their cybersecurity and cyber defenses.

My administration will continue to use every tool to deter, disrupt, and if necessary, respond to cyberattacks against critical infrastructure. But the Federal Government cant defend against this threat alone, he said.

But Tice warned that the power grid infrastructure in the U.S. is not secure from cyberattacks since they are privately owned and are not very well-regulated.

Essentially, government tends to not be prepared for these ultimate catastrophes. And frankly, one of the big issues is our public utilities have not been regulated sufficiently  our public utilities or electric companies have pretty much been self-regulated and there needs to be an overhaul of that regulation, he said.

The chief of the U.S. Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) echoed the White House warnings and confirmed U.S. intelligence reporting that Russia seeks to undermine cyber security inside the country.

In light of the indictments announced today and evolving intelligence that the Russian Government is exploring options to conduct potential cyberattacks against the U.S., CISA, along with our FBI and DOE partners, is issuing this joint advisory to reinforce the demonstrated threat posed by Russian state-sponsored cyber actors, said CISA Director Jen Easterly in a March 24 press statement.

Were an adversary to launch a large-scale cyberattack against the U.S. and knock out huge swaths of our power infrastructure, perhaps for months, the aftermath would be devastating, as society would literally collapse in many parts of the country, particularly the major cities. Millions of Americans would likely die as a result as well because our modern infrastructure relies solely on electricity to function.

And therefore, they could essentially turn out the lights, they can knock out our critical transformers, and our SCADA [Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition]. Essentially, that could cause a longer-term power outage, said Tice, referencing the industrial control system at the heart of many industries.

If there is any good news, Tice noted, its that the U.S. military is far less vulnerable to cyberattacks.

Essentially our military has become hardened against a potential cyberattack and electromagnetic pulse attack. However, our civilian infrastructure has not been given that same attention, he said.

No doubt the U.S. would respond in kind to a cyberattack, but that wont be much of a consolation for most Americans caught up in the chaos.

Sources include:

TheEpochTimes.com

PowerGrid.news
Meteorologists and people in Florida's peninsula are on high alert for the possibility of tornadoes and deadly hurricanes as a storm system approaches.

Parts of the Panhandle, from Pensacola to Panama City, were under an increased risk, or level 3 out of 5, for the storm's ability to produce hazardous tornadoes and deadly straight-line gusts Wednesday night, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

Another storm will come on its way

Pensacola would be under a medium risk of serious weather and forecast wind gusts capable of damaging trees, crops, electrical lines, and structures, according to the National Weather Service.

The danger forced school districts of Escambia and Santa Rosa to cancel all after-school programs for today, as per Herald Tribune.

On Thursday, the danger region moves east, approaching the Forgotten Coast and Big Bend.

A squall line of storms is moving east in advance of a chilly front.

While the highest threat of tornadoes was expected to be over southern Mississippi and Alabama, forecasters warned a rogue, severe tornado in the western Panhandle is not ruled out.

The Storm Prediction Center issued a medium risk of severe weather throughout the Southeast, including parts of the western Panhandle, on Tuesday afternoon.

Twisters, some of which may be EF2 or higher, widespread destructive wind gusts of up to 75 mph, torrential rain, and localized potential for significant hail are all threats posed by the impending storms.

Also Read: Meteorologists Issue Storm Alert for Thunderstorms and Tornadoes to Central US from Midweek

Strong storm will strike Florida

Warmth and increased humidity will be brought by a strengthening southerly wind flow ahead of an incoming storm system, as per Fox 35.

Inland, highs will surge into the upper 80s today, with a little increase tomorrow. The beaches will be a little colder, and conditions will be quite windy.

Today, all eyes are on the Gulf South as a major storm system passes through.

Through this afternoon, the chance of severe weather will dramatically increase, with a threat rating of "4" or "SIGNIFICANT" severe potential.

As the line of storms moves through, destructive winds in excess of 70 mph and the chance of tornadoes will both be very high.

The Panhandle is anticipated to be hit by severe storms tonight.

Very strong winds are expected somewhere else in the state, with gusts of up to 55 mph and more.

As per the Florida Public Radio Emergency Network, a wind advisory is in force throughout most of the Panhandle until Thursday.

A red flag warning was issued for much of the West Coast due to a combination of high winds and low humidity.

The storm line is expected to pass into the Panhandle Wednesday night and Thursday morning, reaching around Tallahassee.

The storm will then proceed through North Florida in the afternoon and into Central Florida Thursday night, most likely in the I-4 corridor.

One of the most significant threats in these locations will be destructive wind gusts, although tornadoes can be ruled out, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

By Friday, the border should have stalled in Central Florida, before gradually sinking toward South Florida later in the weekend.

Related article: Severe Thunderstorms and Critical Fire Weather Conditions Expected in Multiple US Regions on Friday
The maiden international flight Maldivian that landed at Colombo International Airport - Ratmalana (CIAR) last Sunday (27), was grounded within 96 hours as there were no passengers from the Maldives nor from Ratmalana to the Maldives, and the Government incurred a loss of around Rs 6 million spent on the exorbitant launching ceremony that day, Colombo based media reported.

The national carrier Maldivian, the first to land as the first international regional flight operations between its main hub, Velana Airport, was called off within 96 hours. It is believed that some of the top officials have had suggested this route without even assessing whether this route is marketable or not.

A grand ceremony was held on the inaugural flight from Male to Colombo welcomed by a celebratory water cannon salute upon arrival at CIAR. The passengers were warmly welcomed and presented with gift packs from the Sri Lanka Tea Board followed by a traditional Kandyan dance performance. Maldivian operates scheduled flights on a Dash-8 aircraft with 50 seats between Sri Lanka and the Maldives three times a week and the frequency will be increased up to five flights from May 2022 onwards, the Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka (AASL) announced earlier.

6 million was spent on this grand but stupid ceremony, newspapers in Colombo reported.




System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e8383e2a38)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8383d08c0)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e8383e2a38)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8383d08c0)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e83869f5c8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8383d08c0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8383d08c0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e838362d88)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e8382448a8)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e8382448a8)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
BEIJING, March 31 -- Some politicians in Australia have repeatedly made erroneous remarks on bilateral relations and Taiwan question, to which the Chinese side has expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition, said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, at a regular press conference on Thursday.

It is reported that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison claimed before the federal election that Australia planed to establish a nuclear-powered submarine fleet and build a nuclear submarine base with the assistance from the US and the UK. And an AUD 38 billion plan to boost Australias military had also been announced. The Australian media commented that China's growing military strength is one of the reasons for that.

Wu pointed out that China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to the Australian side, who maliciously hyped up the so-called China military threat theory to significantly expand its military strength and increase its military budget.

Wu also remarked that the nuclear submarine cooperation between the US, the UK and Australia violates the object and purpose of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), undermines the global nuclear non-proliferation regime as well as the regional peace and stability, which has been widely opposed by the international community.

As for the words from the Australian Assistant Minister for Defense that Australia has to get prepared for the Chinese possible military actions in Taiwan and elsewhere, Defense Spokesperson Wu said that Australia's erroneous remarks on Taiwan question are very dangerous. He stressed that Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory, and the Taiwan question is purely Chinas internal affairs. Wu sternly warned that if Australia insists on clinging obstinately to its course, it must be prepared to pay a heavy price for interfering in Chinas internal affairs.
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e8346f7c88)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8346f3ec8)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e8346f7c88)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8346f3ec8)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e8384435a0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8346f3ec8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8346f3ec8)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8346f3b68)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e82a106530)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e82a106530)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

/var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj:17

/usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html:149



Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25. Trace begun at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Exceptions.pm line 125 HTML::Mason::Exceptions::rethrow_exception('Can\'t call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.^J') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 157 HTML::Mason::Component::run_dynamic_sub('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e83844e338)', 'main') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 948 HTML::Mason::Request::call_dynamic('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8391f1758)', 'main') called at /var/cache/mason/obj/2011159162/main/smetimes/dhandler.html.obj line 17 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e83844e338)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1302 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 955 HTML::Mason::Request::call_next('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8391f1758)') called at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/autohandler_template.html line 149 HTML::Mason::Commands::__ANON__ at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Component.pm line 135 HTML::Mason::Component::run('HTML::Mason::Component::FileBased=HASH(0x55e83844ece0)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1300 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 1292 HTML::Mason::Request::comp(undef, undef, undef) called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 481 eval {...} at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm line 433 HTML::Mason::Request::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8391f1758)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 165 HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler::exec('HTML::Mason::Request::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8391f1758)') called at /usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/ApacheHandler.pm line 831 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handle_request('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler=HASH(0x55e8346f3a60)', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e839156918)') called at (eval 592) line 8 HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler::handler('HTML::Mason::ApacheHandler', 'Apache2::RequestRec=SCALAR(0x55e839156918)') called at -e line 0 eval {...} at -e line 0
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Cloudy skies with periods of light rain this afternoon. Thunder possible. High near 55F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Showers early, then cloudy overnight. Low around 45F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

Rain likely. Thunder possible. High around 55F. Winds N at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%..

Tonight

Cloudy. Periods of light rain early. Low 46F. Winds N at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
System error

error: Can't call method "get_id" on an undefined value at /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html line 25.

context: ... 21: </%method> 22: 23: % foreach my $c (@categories) { 24: <%perl> 25: my $category_id = $c->get_id(); 26: my @stories = Bric::Biz::Asset::Business::Story->list ( { element_type_id=>1148, category_id=>$category_id , Order=> 'cover_date', publish_status => 't' , OrderDirection=> 'DESC' , Limit=>10 } ); 27: </%perl> 28: <table width="90%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"> 29: <tr> ... code stack: /usr/local/bricolage/data/burn/stage/oc_1027/smetimes/dhandler.html:25

/usr/share/perl5/HTML/Mason/Request.pm:948

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Introduction

Psychotherapy Versus Counseling

Types of Psychotherapy

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)

Interpersonal therapy (IPT)

Supportive therapy

Psychodynamic therapy

Psychoanalysis  The Black Sheep of Psychotherapy

As Necessary Now As Ever

Psychotherapy: A New Normal | Aruna Gopakumar | TEDxJSB

References

Further reading

The term psychotherapy (also known as talk therapy) describes a set of varying methodologies and techniques designed to help those suffering from mental illness and/or emotional turmoil. The primary goal of a psychotherapist is to ameliorate a patients negative symptomatology and improve their overall mental well-being. The history of this branch of psychology can be traced as far back as the 9th century with the work of the Persian polymath al-Razi, who held the position of the chief physician in the Baghdad bimaristan (i.e., the primary hospital). Since then, the field has undergone various changes and reiterations, perhaps most notably through the work of Sigmund Freud in the late 19th century and the development of his psychoanalytic approach.

Image Credit: melitas / Shutterstock

Psychotherapy Versus Counseling

The difference between psychotherapy and counseling is far from obvious and remains a topic of debate amongst the psychology community. For example, in Ireland, most professionals refer to themselves as both counselor and psychotherapist, making little to no distinction between the terms. However, according to the official former mental health framework document for Ireland, A Vision For Change (2006): Counselling is concerned with a circumscribed difficulty arising from an identified precipitating cause and is short-term in application, whereas psychotherapy is concerned with more fundamental and inherent difficulties of longer duration and with less easily identified causes [1].

In other words, counseling is used to address short-term, shallow-rooted emotional issues while psychotherapy addresses more serious and fundamental difficulties within an individuals psyche. However, many countries and institutions still use the terms interchangeably.

Types of Psychotherapy

As mentioned, psychotherapy is an interdisciplinary field that envelopes various approaches and techniques. The choice of therapy used depends upon the patients specific difficulties and requirements and their own preference [2]. The primary categories enveloped under its general heading are as follows:

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is designed to enable patients to identify and alter their thought and behavioral patterns. The overall goal is to remove processes that are detrimental to their mental well-being and often replace them with new, beneficial routines and practical skills. This can involve journal writing, meditation, and practicing positive reinforcement. CBT has demonstrated its efficacy in treating a variety of different issues such as anxiety, substance abuse, depression, and eating disorders.

Image Credit: mypokcik / Shutterstock

Interpersonal therapy (IPT) focuses on addressing unresolved issues which have arisen in a patients relationships. This can involve conflicts in their personal or professional lives, grief, or tumultuous changes in their social dynamics. In general, IPT is a short-term psychotherapeutic approach and does aim to address deep-rooted trauma or dysfunction. Nonetheless, it has been successfully implemented in treating addiction, eating disorders, depression, and various other mood disorders such as bipolar.

Supportive therapy aims to develop a patients self-esteem and confidence. This is achieved primarily through alliance building between the therapist and patient, wherein the patient is an equal collaborator in the therapeutic process. This form of psychotherapy is perhaps the most informal, with therapists placing a significant amount of emphasis on building rapport and trust with the patient while normalizing their emotions and encouraging their growth.

Psychodynamic therapy addresses psychological issues by linking them to past experiences (often from early childhood), as well as to unconscious motivations. This can involve focusing on the relationship between the patient and their parents and/or how they interacted with their siblings in their youth. The end goal of this is to allow the patient to reformulate their internal image and understanding of themselves; in doing so, creating healthier behavioral patterns and emotional stability. Pioneered by Freud, psychoanalysis is generally accepted to be the more rigorous form of psychodynamic therapy involving longer and more frequent sessions [2]. Both have been shown to be helpful in the treatment of mood disorders, eating disorders, and relationship issues.

Psychoanalysis  The Black Sheep of Psychotherapy

As mentioned, psychoanalysis can generally be thought of as an extension of psychodynamic therapy and a subset of psychotherapy. However, the distinct history of psychoanalysis leads some professionals to claim it should not be placed within the confines of the psychotherapeutic bracket. Indeed, subtle nuances between psychotherapy and psychoanalysis can be unearthed when examined more carefully.

Perhaps the best way to understand the distinction between these two overlapping disciplines is to highlight the subtle differences in their goals. While psychotherapy aims to restore an individuals relationship with social norms and their ego, psychoanalysis attempts explicitly to restore their relationship to their subconscious and unconscious minds. Psychoanalysis also places a considerable emphasis on forgotten early childhood trauma, suggesting that, more often than not, it is the primary driver in the manifestation of mental illness during adulthood [3]. In contrast, psychotherapy as an interdisciplinary approach does not claim that there is any single primary cause of mental health disorders, instead recognizing that the underlying mechanisms are often multifaceted and complex.

As Necessary Now As Ever

The number of people receiving mental health therapy is increasing year on year. For example, 2020 saw approximately 41.4 million Americans avail of such services, an increase of over 14 million from 2002 [4]. While advances in neuroscience and pharmacology in recent decades have provided a myriad of alternative strategies, psychotherapy maintains its place as an invaluable asset in the treatment of mental health disorders and ailments.

Psychotherapy: A New Normal | Aruna Gopakumar | TEDxJSB

Psychotherapy: A New Normal | Aruna Gopakumar | TEDxJSB Play

References

Government of Ireland (2006). A Vision for Change: Report of the Expert Group on Mental Health Policy. Stationary Office, Dublin. Parekh, R., & Givon, L. (2019). What is Psychotherapy? [Online] American Psychiatric Association (APA). Available at: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/psychotherapy Fromm, E., & Funk, R. (2019). The revision of psychoanalysis. Routledge. Elflein, J. (2021). Mental health treatment or counseling among adults U.S. 2002-2020. [Online] Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/794027/mental-health-treatment-counseling-past-year-us-adults/.

Further Reading
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Booster doses of mRNA vaccines provided strong protection against hospitalization and death from COVID-19 in Qatar, though breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infections were greater for the omicron variant compared with the delta variant, according to a study by investigators at Weill Cornell MedicineQatar.

Dr. Laith Abu-Raddad, director of the WHO Collaborating Center for Disease Epidemiology Analytics on HIV/AIDS, Sexually Transmitted Infections, and Viral Hepatitis at Weill Cornell MedicineQatar, and his colleagues published their results on March 9 in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The team conducted a retrospective matched cohort study to determine the effectiveness of booster vaccination compared with two doses of vaccine during a large wave of omicron infection in Qatar from mid-December 2021 through January 2022. The booster dose reduced the risk of symptomatic omicron infections by about 50 percent compared with people who received only two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. Booster doses also increased protection against hospitalization and death during omicron infections by almost 80 percent compared with two Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine doses. The study documented nearly identical levels of protection among people who received the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine and booster.

Those who get booster doses are substantially more protected." Dr. Laith Abu-Raddad, professor of population health sciences, Weill Cornell Medicine

Dr. Abu-Raddad and his team took advantage of recently established advanced digital health platforms in Qatar to analyze national health system data on about 2.2 million people vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. They compared SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 hospitalization rates in about 189,000 people who received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine with an age-, sex- and nationality-matched group of about 189,000 people who received two doses plus a booster. They also compared infection and hospitalization rates in about 67,000 people who received two doses of the Moderna vaccine and a matched set of 67,000 who got the booster.

While the booster doses continued to provide strong protection against serious illness, Dr. Abu-Raddad and his team found that they offered less protection against becoming infected with the omicron strain than with previous strains. They noted that booster doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine were 85 percent effective at preventing symptomatic infections with the delta strain of SARS-CoV-2, compared with about 50 percent effectiveness against omicron.

"We have really good vaccines that work very well against COVID-19 hospitalization and death, but they are no longer working as well against symptomatic infections," Dr. Abu-Raddad said.

Dr. Abu-Raddad and his team are now using Qatar's health system data to study vaccine protection against a new strain of omicron (BA.2) that appears to be even more infectious. This strain is rapidly becoming the dominant strain worldwide. So far, it does not appear to cause more severe disease than the original omicron strain. They also have preliminary evidence that people who were infected with the original omicron strain are about 95 percent protected from infection with the new variant. Another study suggests that while vaccine protection wanes quickly, natural immunity after infection with SARS-CoV-2 persists, providing about 50 percent protection against a new infection.

For now, Dr. Abu-Raddad said booster shots are the best way individuals can protect themselves against current and future strains of SARS-CoV-2. But to prevent further pandemic-related disruptions, he said it would be essential to develop even better vaccines.

"In the future, we need a new generation of vaccines that protect against both infection and severe disease and that are effective against a broad range of variants," he said. "We can't keep playing catch up with the virus."
As vaccination rates against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) increase around the world, there has been a gradual decline in COVID-19-related death rates. However, many countries continue to face challenges in acquiring and administering enough vaccine doses. Additionally, growing vaccine hesitancy and the emergence of new variants of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) capable of evading immunity can also limit the success of global vaccination efforts.

Taken together, these factors emphasize the need for the development of effective treatments against COVID-19. In a recent Communications Biology study, researchers from John Hopkins University discuss the use of the isothiocyanate sulforaphane (SFN) for the treatment of both SARS-CoV-2 and seasonal human coronavirus (HCoV)-OC43 infections.

Study: Sulforaphane exhibits antiviral activity against pandemic SARS-CoV-2 and seasonal HCoV-OC43 coronaviruses in vitro and in mice. Image Credit: sdecoret / Shutterstock.com

In vitro antiviral effects of SFN

In the current study, VeroC1008 cells were incubated with SFN for one to two hours before they were inoculated with either the HCoV-OC43 or the wild-type strain of SARS-CoV-2. SFN was found to effectively inhibit virus-associated cell death in a dose-dependent manner for both coronaviruses. The median inhibitory concentrations (IC50) were similar for both HCoV-OC43 and SARS-CoV-2 at 10 micromolar (M) and 12 M, respectively.

To confirm these results, the same assay was performed in human diploid fibroblast cell line MRC-5 using only HCoV-OC43. This assay revealed highly similar results, albeit with a slightly higher IC50 of 18M. The cytotoxicity was similarly dose-dependent, with the median cytotoxic dose (TD50) between 73 M and 89 M.

Viral RNA was quantified from SARS-CoV-2-infected Caco-2 cells treated with SFN, thus revealing a dose-dependent reduction with an IC50 of 2.4 M. Further evaluation showed that SFN is similarly effective in Vero C1008 cells against strains of SARS-CoV-2 carrying the well-established D614G mutation, including the Delta and Omicron variants, with an IC50 of 5.6 M and 3.3 M, respectively.

After establishing that SFN could effectively prevent coronavirus infection in cell lines, the researchers then sought to determine the ability of SFN to affect an already established infection. Both HCoV-OC43 and SARS-CoV-2 were allowed to replicate in Vero C1008 cells for 24 hours before the addition of SFN. Again, SFN was found to effectively inhibit both coronaviruses, with IC50 values of 18 M and 13 M, respectively.

The inhibitory effect of the SFN was similar when added before or during infection, thereby leading researchers to speculate that it has an effect on both extracellular entry and viral processes within the cell. Following this, a potential synergistic effect of SFN combined with remdesivir was explored, which revealed several effective combination ratios below the corresponding IC50 values for each individual drug.

Caco-2 cells were then modified to knockdown nuclear factor erythoid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) before infection with SARS-CoV-2 and treatment with SFN. This experiment revealed similar reductions in viral titers in both control and knockdown cells, thus suggesting that the antiviral activity may be mediated through an NRF2 dependent pathway.

Median effect plot and dose-effect curves calculated for a Vero C1008 cells infected with SARS-CoV-2/Wuhan-Hu-1 after 12 h incubation with increasing concentrations of SFN; b Vero C1008 cells infected with SARS-CoV-2/Wuhan-Hu-1 for 24 h and then incubated with SFN. Antiviral data is displayed in red; anti-host cell activity (cytotoxicity) is displayed in blue. c The antiviral activity in human Caco-2 cells was determined by measuring viral RNA by qPCR. The cells were incubated with SFN for 1 h before viral inoculation. d Effects of SFN evaluated in Vero C1008 cells exposed to drug for 1 h followed by viral inoculation. A reference strain (USA-WA1/2020) and two 614G+ clinical strains of SARS-CoV-2 were evaluated for CPE using a bioluminescence readout. e Effects of SFN and remdesivir evaluated in Vero C1008 cells exposed to the drug for 1 h followed by viral inoculation. f Normalized isobologram showing combination index (CI) for combinations of various doses of SFN and remdesivir. Synergism (CI < 1); Additive effect (CI = 1); Antagonism (CI > 1); SFN, Sulforaphane; RDV, Remdesivir. Dotted lines represent 95% confidence interval. Experiments were performed a minimum of two times (range = 27), 36 replicates within each experiment, except the experiment shown in (e), which was performed once.

In vivo antiviral effects

The researchers then sought to evaluate the antiviral effects of SFN treatment in mouse models. Transgenic mice expressing human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) were inoculated with 8.4 x 106 TCID50 of SARS-CoV-2. Daily doses of SFN were administered to the mice orally, starting one day after viral inoculation.

All infected mice showed significant weight loss by day four; however, by day six, it was evident that SFN-treated mice were losing significantly less weight than controls. When examining the alveolar fluid and lung viral titers of infected mice, those treated with SFN had significantly lower viral burdens.

SFN-treated mice also showed significantly reduced pulmonary pathology than non-treated mice, with lower levels of alveolar and peribronchiolar inflammation. Immunostaining for the spike protein also revealed a wider distribution of infection within the lungs of infected animals.

High-dimensional flow cytometry was then used to evaluate any changes that might have arisen in the mice treated with the immunomodulatory drug as compared to controls. Changes in the spleen showed small differences; however, these findings were not significant.

When the changes in the lungs were observed, it was revealed that SFN treatment significantly reduced the recruitment of myeloid cells in the lungs, which is often seen in COVID-19. This effect likely reduced inflammation and immune-related damage.

The activation of lung alveolar and interstitial macrophages, which can introduce further cytokines, was also significantly reduced. CD8+ and CD4+ T-cells isolated from the lungs of mice exhibited significantly reduced expression of activation and proliferation markers.

Conclusions

SFN was found to significantly inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection both in vivo and in vitro. The significant evidence described here thus supports further research, especially given the synergistic effects of SFN with the already-approved remdesivir.

SFN could help developing nations struggling with low vaccination rates, as well as support developed nations if new variants emerge with an enhanced ability to evade vaccine-induced immunity.
The announcement of the In Vitro Diagnostics Regulation (IVDR) was celebrated as an essential upgrade to in vitro diagnostic (IVD) device regulations in Europe. As the countdown looms to the May 2022 deadline, now is the time for final preparations, and implementing everything that we  the collective industry  have learned.

IVDR will still come into force in May 2022 for new IVDs and Class A non-sterile devices, but it will allow for a more gradual implementation  between 2025 and 2028  for devices in other classes and in-house assays. Image Credit: Tecan

This article discusses the important changes, challenges and benefits of IVDR, as well as an industry insight into how to work together to ensure IVD devices are, and continue to be, compliant.

The IVDR is the European Unions regulatory overhaul of pre- and post-market requirements for IVD devices. It came into force in May 2017, with a five-year transition period that was initially proposed to finish on May 26, 2022. This would leave a small window for companies to ensure that their product portfolio was compliant with the new  much stricter  regulations.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic added further strains to already tight timelines, and many companies were forced to switch priorities and divert resources to fight the virus. As a result, the European Commission has recently proposed a more progressive rollout to prevent disruption in the supply of essential healthcare products.

The IVDR will still come into force in May 2022 for new IVDs and Class A non-sterile devices, but it will allow for a more gradual implementation  between 2025 and 2028  for devices in other classes and in-house assays.

The Commissions proposal has been accepted by the European Parliament and European Council, and the amended regulation was published and entered into force on January 28, 2022.

What are the main changes under IVDR?

Perhaps the most significant change concerns the classification structure, which organizes IVD devices according to four risk classes, ranging from the lowest (class A) to the highest (class D).

Under the previous regulation, only around 20% of IVD devices needed notified body (NB) approval, with the majority allowed to be self-certified by the manufacturer. In contrast, approximately 80% of devices will need some level of NB oversight under IVDR, not only to bring the product to market but also throughout its entire lifecycle to ensure it remains compliant.

This rigorous post-market surveillance will require manufacturers to update technical information to enable continuous evaluation of new hazards. As technology evolves, it may also be necessary to update risk profiles  for example, to account for changes in antibiotic resistance, new interfering substances or variations in stability profiles  and product performance studies to retain certification.

Importantly, product scope will be expanded to include IVD devices that have come to market quite recently.

The previous directive was launched in 1998, and there have since been several innovations and novel techniques that werent covered under that ruling. IVDR is a state-of-the-art regulation with comprehensive coverage of new technologies  such as NGS, POC testing, companion diagnostics, medical software, etc.  that ensures they are clinically relevant and safe for the patient.

There will also be stricter rules on technical documentation and clinical evidence. Currently, manufacturers can use legacy data  original data used when they brought the product to market  but this may no longer be sufficient, and additional studies may be required to prove the continued clinical performance and safety of the IVD device.

Acknowledge the challenges to focus on the benefits

This overhaul will modernize device classification, addressing safety and product concerns that may have slipped through the gaps under the previous directive. But many challenges accompany IVDR, which must also be addressed to make sure they dont eclipse the benefits.

The extra time and cost involved in gaining IVD device certification will greatly impact manufacturers, especially smaller companies with limited resources.

All manufacturers will be stretched, as there will be increased responsibility to supply technical documentation of a product both pre- and post-market. This may cause some companies to consolidate their portfolios if a product is deemed commercially unviable to continue, potentially restricting the availability of certain IVD devices in the short term.

NBs will also be under unprecedented pressure to certify the mountains of applications coming their way, and so they represent another obvious bottleneck in the timeline.

Furthermore, there will be increased responsibilities across the entire supply chain  including suppliers, manufacturers, R&D teams, sales departments and distributors  where companies will have to establish contracts with all involved parties.

A company will have to know exactly who contributed to the development of the product, helped get it to market and kept it there throughout its entire lifecycle. This will provide greater transparency along the supply chain, but is far more labor-intensive, leading to heightened costs and slower certification if a company is not prepared.

New requirements for sharing information between manufacturers and OEM customers will also come into force. Confidential information and intellectual property arent something companies usually want to share but, under IVDR, OEM customers are expected to receive technical documentation on the IVD device.

There are some intricate details of IVDR that still need to be clarified. CE-marked IVD devices, for example, are preferred and, as such, clinical labs will need to evaluate whether there is a commercial alternative for their laboratory developed tests (LDTs), potentially shrinking future innovations in this space. Though how this will affect industry and hospital labs is uncertain.

How has Tecan approached the transition?

Image Credit: Tecan

Tecan has embraced the challenge and prepared from the outset, closely following its recommendation to plan, engage and communicate.

Planning started directly after the publication of IVDR, including changes to the quality management system, supply chain appraisals for each IVD product and a thorough portfolio review and gap assessment of technical files.

Tecan engaged NBs early, scheduling quality system audits and clarifying product classifications and groupings. It promptly developed a submissions roadmap and, through the entire process, has maintained communication with all internal and external stakeholders to ensure consistency across the board and to manage expectations.

This framework is providing the confidence for timely approval of the IVD device portfolio and, as such, Tecan was one of the first companies to gain IVDR certification for its DHEA Saliva ELISA Diagnostic Assay kit, and the first to undergo an IVDR QMS audit from its NB.

The goal of IVDR is to provide higher quality standards and ensure the delivery of safe, reliable and fully compliant IVD devices from the day they enter the market, for every patient they ever affect.

It has been a steep learning curve for Tecan  and the whole industry  to embark on this arduous task, which is why we must all help each other during the transition. Tecan has provided support and exchanged experiences with its partners to help them mitigate the mistakes the company made early on. This is especially important for smaller companies that may not have the resources to complete the required work for IVDR certification.

These enterprises are crucial in the development of innovative devices, so it is imperative that bigger corporations support them to ensure the IVDR pipeline will continue to be stocked with products that make a difference.

Watch this on-demand webinar  Navigating the transition from IVDD to IVDR  with three leading experts in the field for more information on IVDR. Or visit www.tecan.com/ivdr for a collection of resources to help recertification and ongoing IVDR compliance.

About Tecan

Tecan is a leading global provider of automated laboratory instruments and solutions. Their systems and components help people working in clinical diagnostics, basic and translational research and drug discovery bring their science to life.

In particular, they develop, produce, market and support automated workflow solutions that empower laboratories to achieve more. Their Cavro branded instrument components are chosen by leading instrumentation suppliers across multiple disciplines.

They work side by side with a range of clients, including diagnostic laboratories, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and university research centers. Their expertise extends to developing and manufacturing OEM instruments and components, marketed by their partner companies. Whatever the project  large or small, simple or complex  helping their clients to achieve their goals comes first.

They hold a leading position in all the sectors they work in and have changed the way things are done in research and development labs around the world. In diagnostics, for instance, they have raised the bar when it comes to the reproducibility and throughput of testing.

In under four decades Tecan has grown from a Swiss family business to a brand that is well established on the global stage of life sciences. From pioneering days on a farm to the leading role our business assumes today  empowering research, diagnostics and many applied markets around the world.
When covid-19 vaccines first became available, Native Americans acted swiftly and with determination to get their shots  as though they had everything to lose.

Covid hospitalization and death rates for American Indians and Alaska Natives had skyrocketed past those of non-Hispanic whites. Leveraging established systems like the Indian Health Service and tribal organizations, Native Americans urgently administered vaccines. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed they achieved the highest vaccination rates of any race or ethnicity.

Yet, tribal health officials said, they eventually ran up against the challenges that broadly stalled the U.S. vaccination campaign, particularly in persuading people to get booster shots.

Nationally, 72% of American Indians and Alaska Natives of all ages had received at least one dose of a covid vaccine as of March 28, and 59% were fully vaccinated  having received two doses of Moderna's or Pfizer-BioNTech's vaccine or one dose of Johnson & Johnson's. A much smaller share had received booster shots  44% of fully vaccinated Native Americans ages 12 and up, below the booster rates for whites, Asian Americans, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

Tribal health experts say data problems may be partly to blame, but there are other factors. It's proved more difficult in recent months to find shots and book appointments. Some people weren't convinced about the value of a third shot, a hesitancy fueled by evolving scientific understanding of the virus and a distrust of the federal government entrenched in tribal communities.

"Sometimes I think the people I talk to see it as, 'Hey, we got our first and second shot. You guys have told us that's what we need, and we're going to be OK,'" said Angie Wilson, who until recently served as tribal administrator of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, a federally recognized tribe in Nevada with about 1,200 members.

Reno-Sparks provides a glimpse into what it takes to increase vaccinations. Before the omicron variant arrived in early December, vaccinations had plateaued, and many members were expressing apathy about getting additional shots, she said. After omicron caused a sharp rise in cases, Reno-Sparks mandated that its employees be fully vaccinated and boosted. It also used money provided by the American Rescue Plan Act to offer cash to members: $1,000 for getting the initial doses and $500 for a booster, regardless of whether they lived on or off the reservation.

Those incentives and rising counts of breakthrough infections sparked renewed interest and persuaded roughly 130 people to get boosters within six weeks. Thirty-five percent of eligible Reno-Sparks' tribal members had been boosted as of late March. The rates of first and second shots rose, too: 60% of members 5 and older had received an initial dose, while 56% were fully vaccinated.

The tribal land is in an urban area in Reno, and the reservation has a Walmart Supercenter. Nevada lifted its statewide mask mandate abruptly Feb. 10.

With precautions to limit covid's spread falling by the wayside, tribal officials fear what any gaps in vaccination will mean for their communities. American Indians and Alaska Natives have been hospitalized for covid at three times the rate of white Americans and have died of covid at double the rate of whites, according to the CDC. Nationally, as of March 28, fewer than half of booster-eligible Native residents had received them.

"I can see where we're heading, which is concerning," Wilson said. "I worry about our tribal population, especially with our risk factors."

The challenges were evident even before the FDA on March 29 authorized a second booster dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines for anyone 50 or older and certain immunocompromised people. Tribal members and health experts see several reasons that booster rates have not been higher, despite employing more aggressive vaccination measures than surrounding states and counties.

Virginia Hedrick, executive director of the California Consortium for Urban Indian Health, said, "I do think that IHS really rose to the occasion when it came to the pandemic and vaccine rollout." Still, "any time we have something change," she said of the vaccine, "it raises questions for folks."

In the fall, Hedrick said, her mother-in-law saw ads for booster shots all over the place but still couldn't get an appointment. "There was a general sense of frustration," she said.

Another problem, which likely masks the true share of Native Americans who have gotten booster shots: data inconsistencies. Race data on Native Americans has long been hindered by accuracy issues, including misclassifications of people. With covid vaccines, the CDC receives data from a hodgepodge of systems that generally don't communicate with one another: state immunization registries, pharmacy chains, and federal vaccine providers, including IHS. And race and ethnicity information is missing from a significant share of vaccination records.

The agency acknowledges that it can overestimate initial vaccines given and undercount subsequent doses because the data does not include personally identifiable information. As a result, different doses may not be connected back to the same person.

If a Native American receives the first two doses through the IHS but gets a booster elsewhere, the booster dose could be misclassified as a first dose. Many instances of this could create the impression that booster rates among Native Americans are lower than they really are.

"The counting might get confused because there's no central system," said Dr. Meghan O'Connell, a tribal medical epidemiologist with the CDC Foundation who works at the Great Plains Tribal Leaders Health Board in South Dakota.

Accurate federal data is crucial for assessing Native American vaccinations because of the large role played by the IHS, a federal agency through which 355 facilities, tribal health programs, and urban Indian organizations received vaccine shipments. State-level data on vaccination does not include administered shots from all federal vaccine providers, including the IHS.

Native Americans get vaccinated in and outside of tribal health facilities, but access to IHS facilities can affect overall rates.

IHS publishes the number of vaccine doses that have been delivered and administered in 11 IHS areas but not the number of people per area who have received those doses. The lone exception is Alaska, where tribes received vaccines from the state.

"Something I'm very interested in is knowing how these rates may differ between tribal communities so that we can learn more about best practices," O'Connell said.

IHS received $9 billion to respond to the pandemic, the bulk of it from the American Rescue Plan. It did not respond to questions about efforts to increase booster rates among tribal populations and whether they differed from outreach done to encourage people to get the initial shots.

When asked how often Native American vaccination data is checked for errors, CDC spokesperson Kate Grusich said the agency "regularly provides feedback on data quality" and works to remove duplicate or incorrect records. "This is an ongoing process and includes strategies to improve the accuracy of all COVID-19 vaccination related data, including race and ethnicity data," she said in an email.

Agnes Attakai, a member of the Navajo Nation who lost six relatives to covid, got her first two vaccine doses easily, through a university drive-thru clinic. But when it came to her booster shot, she said, she had two options  CVS and Walgreens pharmacies, which had "a month- to two-month-long waits," or her local public health department about 10 miles away. A resident of rural Pima County, Arizona, she chose the latter and got her shot in November.

Attakai, director of health disparities outreach and prevention education at the University of Arizona's public health school, said she observed high uptake of booster shots. But there have been some clear differences compared with the early vaccine rollout.

Shots were "more accessible at the very beginning where there was a mass effort, a communitywide effort," Attakai said. "When the boosters rolled out  [folks had to] actually find out where to get their booster shots and which was the closest location, when they were open. And, of course, some of them were open only during the daytime."

The Navajo Nation, the largest tribe in the U.S., in January required its employees to get booster shots, building on an earlier mandate that they be fully vaccinated. As of March 4, 66% of Navajo Nation residents had received the first two doses, according to spokesperson Jared Touchin, above the U.S. rate at the time.

As officials brace for future covid surges, Wilson said tribal officials are trying to figure out how to best educate people on how to protect themselves. "If we don't do that, I think that the issue's going to be, 'Well covid's over, everything's opened up, we don't have to deal with this anymore, I'm back to living my life,' without realizing that the danger is still there," she said.

The hardship for the national pandemic response is that "there's a validity in the fear in tribal communities," Wilson said, "centered around the distrust of the federal government, rightfully so."
President Joe Biden released his budget proposal for 2023 this week, and it calls for a nearly 27% increase in funding for the Department of Health and Human Services. That includes $28 billion for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to implement a preparedness program for future pandemics and $40 billion for HHS to invest in making vaccines and other medicines.

Also, the FDA and the CDC authorized a second booster shot for most people 50 and older. But federal officials offered little advice to consumers about who might need that shot and when.

This week's panelists are Mary Agnes Carey of KHN, Amy Goldstein of The Washington Post, Jennifer Haberkorn of the Los Angeles Times, and Rachana Pradhan of KHN.

Among the takeaways from this week's episode:

Biden's advocacy for funding preparations for a future pandemic reinforces his sense of urgency in bolstering the public health infrastructure, but whether Congress will take that track is unknown. Already, some lawmakers are balking at the administration's request for more money to help fund additional covid-19 testing and vaccine efforts.

A bipartisan group of senators has been meeting in the past several days hoping to find a compromise to restore funding for testing and vaccinations. Republicans have complained that earlier appropriations for covid have been spent too recklessly and that there isn't enough transparency about where it has gone. They would like some of the funds that haven't been spent to be clawed back. There is no indication yet that the group of senators has a plan for moving forward, but the upcoming spring recess for Easter and Passover may provide a deadline that helps focus the debate.

The administration originally sought more than $20 billion for testing and vaccines. Congress appeared ready to spend about $15 billion before hitting the impasse. Some reports suggest that the Senate negotiators are talking about $10 billion, which may provide funding for only several months.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services also announced this week that a new analysis shows the growth in health spending in the U.S. has slowed.

Millions of Americans are expected to lose Medicaid coverage once the covid emergency ends and states will be able to disenroll people who no longer meet eligibility requirements. Advocates warn that some of those people will not move to other coverage options, such as insurance offered on the Affordable Care Act's insurance marketplaces.

One priority of the ACA was to help drive down health costs, and the law established an innovation center to fund projects looking for ways to do that. Experts at the time suggested that value-based care could make a difference, and the center has made that a guiding principle in its research. But there is little evidence so far that such efforts are producing meaningful results.

Also this week, Julie Rovner interviews KHN's Julie Appleby, who reported and wrote the latest KHN-NPR "Bill of the Month" installment about a very expensive air ambulance ride. If you have an outrageous medical bill you'd like to share with us, you can do that here.

Plus, for extra credit, the panelists recommend their favorite health policy stories of the week they think you should read, too:

Mary Agnes Carey: The New Yorker's "A Freelancer's Forty-Three Years in the American Health-Care System," by David Owen

Amy Goldstein: Stat's NIH's Identity Crisis: The Pandemic and The Search for a New Leader Leave the Agency at a Crossroads, by Lev Facher

Jennifer Haberkorn: The New York Times' F.D.A. Rushed a Drug for Preterm Births. Did It Put Speed Over Science? by Christina Jewett

Rachana Pradhan: The Washington Post's 'Is This What a Good Mother Looks Like?'" by William Wan

Also discussed on this week's podcast:

The Wall Street Journal's You Likely Don't Need a Fourth Covid Shot, by Philip Krause and Luciana Borio

To hear all our podcasts, click here.

And subscribe to KHNs What the Health? on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
More than 600,000 additional Medicaid patients in Tennessee may soon be covered with comprehensive dental benefits under a proposal by Republican Gov. Bill Lee. But the state, one of the last to extend dental coverage to adults, is also trying to make sure those Medicaid enrollees can find dentists willing to treat them.

Along with $75 million to extend Medicaid dental benefits to adults, Tennessee is considering $94 million to help its two dental schools expand. About a third of the money would help pay off the student loans of graduates who agree to work in high-need areas, with the idea that they would treat more Medicaid patients.

"It's sometimes a chicken-and-egg phenomenon," said Dr. Lisa Piercey, who leads the Tennessee Department of Health. "If you bring a bunch of people into coverage but don't have the providers to do it, then that's a real problem."

The lack of dentists in some areas has bedeviled a number of states expanding Medicaid coverage in recent years, including Missouri and Oklahoma. Complicating matters is the unwillingness of many dentists to accept Medicaid insurance rates, which vary by state but typically pay less than half of what commercial insurance pays. A 2019 analysis from the Milliman consulting firm found some states paying less than a third of commercial rates for dental work on Medicaid patients.

In Tennessee, fewer than a third of dentists are even enrolled to treat Medicaid patients. American Dental Association data finds at least a dozen states have similar participation levels.

And many dentists cluster within higher-payer communities, leaving gaps elsewhere. Virtually every state has a shortage of dentists in at least some areas, according to tracking by KFF. The ADA finds that the problem has worsened during the covid-19 pandemic, with an exodus of dentists and hygienists. But the greatest needs are basically everywhere but large metropolitan areas, with rural communities representing roughly 60% of the shortage areas.

"There are only a handful of counties in this state that actually have an adequate number of dentists," Piercey said of Tennessee.

So is there an actual shortage of dentists or just a shortage of those willing to practice where needed and treat those most in need? It's likely a combination.

In the 1980s, dental schools were shrinking for lack of qualified students applying. Some were scared off by the escalating tuition to earn a "doctor of dental surgery" degree. Practicing dentists also had concerns about an oversupply in their profession. But predictions at the time suggested that advances in dentistry and even birth control would reduce demand, the dean of Emory's dental school told The New York Times in 1987. Emory's school closed. So did Georgetown's, once the nation's largest private dental program.

Within a decade, enrollment nationwide had dropped by a third. The University of Tennessee went from graduating two classes of 80 a year to just one 80-person class. It's now grown to more than 100. But roughly a quarter of the seats are reserved for residents of neighboring Arkansas, which doesn't have its own dental school.

Many schools are adding seats, and the American Dental Education Association isn't standing in the way.

"The question of the right number of dentists to serve any given population is complex, with varying considerations, but in general, we believe the potential for an overabundance is a long ways off," American Dental Education Association CEO Dr. Karen West said in a written statement.

In recent years, UT and Tennessee's other dental school, at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, have started to add a few slots. Nationally, enrollment has surpassed 1980 levels, with the number of graduates hitting roughly 6,500 a year, though the U.S. population has also grown since then.

"Now the pendulum has swung the other way," said Dr. James Ragain, dean of the UT College of Dentistry in Memphis.

But to expand by more than a handful of spots, Ragain said, schools need cash to build out the physical space and purchase equipment, such as sophisticated mannequins used by first-year students.

"Dentistry is a hand-skills profession," Ragain said, contrasting dental schools with medical schools, which start out with classwork and then lean heavily on hospitals as their training grounds. "We do the clinical training."

Providing the hands-on training and employing full-time dentists as professors, who are demanding ever-higher salaries, are the main drivers of escalating tuition, Ragain said.

The four years of dental school usually cost more than the four years of medical school. And with an average school debt of $300,000, many dentists don't want to practice in a small town with few patients covered by commercial insurance and many retirees on Medicare, which doesn't pay for most dental work.

So dentists prefer to work in the suburbs, where more people have private insurance through employers.

"The first thing that comes to mind is that I have $400,000 of loans," said Dr. Ratrice Jackson, who graduated in 2018 from Meharry, one of the few historically Black dental schools. She then completed an optional two-year residency in Florida to become a pediatric specialist and now works in a Dallas suburb. "I hate that it is that way."

While the career can be lucrative, Jackson said, the loans scare off people who would make great dentists. "A lot of people don't want to be $500,000 in debt," she said, adding that her monthly student loan payment is $4,500.

The median annual salary for a dentist is roughly $160,000, though specialists and practice owners make considerably more.

The expansion of dental schools alone isn't expected to solve the clustered shortages. So as part of Tennessee's oral health push, the state is also proposing to pay off student loans for dentists who work in high-need areas for three years, similar to an existing state program for primary care physicians.

The ADA has been pushing Congress to provide help through several bills involving loan deferment and refinancing. And some states already have loan forgiveness programs.

Dentists helped craft the Tennessee plan and are generally supportive. But Dr. Jeannie Beauchamp, president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, said the low rates paid by Medicaid in Tennessee still must be addressed. A practice like hers in Clarksville, Tennessee, could not have more than 35% or 40% of its patients on Medicaid, she said, "because you'd go broke."

Tennessee's program, known as TennCare, has proposed increasing reimbursement for pediatric dental services by an average of 6.5% this year. But rates haven't been set for the 600,000 adults who would be newly covered.

Leaders in a number of Republican-led states have been convinced in recent years that poor oral health is dragging down overall health and even holding back their state economies, aligning with Medicaid advocates who have been calling for benefit expansion for years. They, too, say payments need to increase so dentists will accept the coverage.

A report from the Tennessee Justice Center finds that just 53% of children in the state's Medicaid program saw a dentist in 2019, despite having coverage.

"We have to figure out how we make Medicaid more attractive for more providers," said Kinika Young, the nonprofit advocacy center's senior director of health policy and equity. "There's not enough to even see the children  so we need more providers to step up."
The University of Minnesota received two National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants, totaling more than $6.5 million, to research cardiovascular health among a diverse population of children.

Led by Jerica Berge, PhD, MPH, LMFT, CFLE, a professor of family medicine and community health at the U of M Medical School, the grants will fund an interdisciplinary study with the Medical School, School of Public Health, Humphrey School of Public Affairs and Minnesota Population Center.

Specifically, the research will:

Examine how psychosocial stress puts children at higher risk for cardiovascular disease later in life, and ultimately health inequities by race and ethnicity.

Understand how cardiometabolic risk arises from food insecurity during childhood and identify malleable factors for intervention to buffer the negative health impact of food insecurity on adolescents' cardiometabolic health.

These studies are poised to address highly impactful problems that are driven by social and structural determinants of health in school-aged children and adolescents, including both psychosocial stress and food insecurity. Findings from these studies will inform the development of interventions to promote health equity in addressing cardiovascular disease risk in children that will be implemented in primary care settings to benefit all children and families." Jerica Berge, PhD, MPH, LMFT, CFLE, professor of family medicine and community health, U of M Medical School

These studies are funded by NIH. Once the research from the study is completed, the research team plans to publish their data in peer-reviewed journals and to co-disseminate findings with community members back to primary care settings and the broader community.
UW Medicine genome scientists were among the leading contributors to the publication of the first complete, gapless sequence of a human genome announced this week by the National Human Genome Research Institute.

The lab of Evan Eichler, professor of genome sciences at the University of Washington in Seattle, was one of the major contributors to the main paper, "The complete sequence of the human genome," published in Science April 1. The achievement is the culmination of a large consortium, the Telomere-to-Telomere, or T2T, which aimed to obtain complete sequences of all 23 human chromosomes, end-to-end.

Eichler's team and collaborators from other institutions also produced a companion paper offering the first comprehensive view of highly identical, large repeat regions, called segmental duplications, and their variation in human genomes.

These areas of the human genome are critical to understanding human evolution and genetic diversity, as well as resistance or susceptibility to many diseases. Of the 20,000 genes in the human genome, about 950 originate in segmental duplications.

However, segmental duplications were among the last regions of the human genome assembly to be fully sequenced, due to their complexity.

The desire to resolve these regions was part of the impetus for advancing sequencing technologies, such as the ability to read long stretches of DNA. These technologies, along with many laboratory tools, computational biology approaches and other essential research resources, were not available during the first drafting of the human genome more than two decades ago.

The team led by the Eichler lab reported their results and analysis in a companion Science paper published this week, titled "Segmental duplications and their variation in a complete human genome." The lead author on this paper is Mitchell R. Vollger, a postdoctoral fellow in genome sciences at the UW School of Medicine. He applied skills in computer science, data visualization, and mathematics to analyze the new genomic repeats to further our understanding of human variation within segmental duplications. Working with Phil Dishuck, a graduate student in the Eichler lab, they showed that the completion of the human genome added about 180 "new" protein-coding genes, almost all of which mapped to segmental duplications.

As a kid, I saw the magazine covers for a complete human genome in 2001. I remember thinking that was the coolest project, and how I was disappointed that I would never get to do something that cool. I've thought about that a lot during this project, that I got to contribute sequence to the human genome, and that excites me a lot, that I had the opportunity to do that." Mitchell R. Vollger, postdoctoral fellow in genome sciences, UW School of Medicine

Several intriguing findings emerged from the recent accomplishments in sequencing these regions.

In addition to the medical research implications of the completed assembly, it also is helping to answer: What is contained in our genomes that makes us distinctly human? Some of the genes that were gaps in the original genome are now thought to be critically important in helping to make a bigger brain in humans compared to other apes.

Eichler's lab also generated long-read assemblies from other nonhuman primate genomes and compared them to the new gapless human genome assembly. They systematically reconstructed the evolution of some biomedically relevant genes, as well as certain human-specific duplicated genes.

These human-specific segmental duplications are reservoirs for new genes that drive the formation of more neurons in developing brains and increase connectivity of synapses in the frontal cortexthe anatomical part of the brain where some of the higher-level thinking, reasoning, logic, and language functions that seem to be characteristically human take place.

In TBC1D3, a gene family related to the expansion of the human prefrontal cortex, analysis by Xavi Guitart, a graduate student in the Eichler lab, revealed that recurrent and independent expansions occurred at different points in primate evolution. The most recent was about 2 million to 2.6 million years ago, about when the genus Homo emerged. Surprisingly, the human TBC1D3 gene family showed remarkable, large-scale structural variation in a subset of samples.

"Different humans carry radically different complements and arrangements of the TBC1D3 gene family," the researchers explained in their paper and that was unexpected for a gene thought to be so important to brain function. The scientists also found diversity in the complex structure of the LPA gene, in which variability in part of this lipoprotein gene underlies the most significant genetic risk factor for cardiovascular disease from abnormal lipid levels in the blood.

The researchers also looked at SMN (a motor neuron gene) whose mutations are linked to certain neuromuscular disorders. Having better sequence resolution of the spinal muscular atrophy region - one of the most difficult regions to finish on chromosome 5 - could be of practical advantage in both disease risk determinations and in treatment as the duplicate gene SMN2 is a target for one of the most effective gene therapies.

Based on these and other findings, the scientists noted that the new reference genome "reveals unprecedented levels of human genetic variation in genes important for neurodevelopment and human diseases."

In addition to being a source of new knowledge about human biology, the recently completed human genome also is likely to answer some basic questions about cell biology. For example, the assembly will help to better understand the differences in the centromeres present in each of the human chromosomes. Problems in centromeres can cause difficulties during in cell division.

Studying the sequences of the centromeres could get to the root of medical conditions where cell division, and the allocation of genetic material between cells, goes awry. These include cancer as well as abnormalities that affect prenatal development, such as Down syndrome or Robertsonian translocations.

Glennis A. Logsdon, a postdoctoral fellow in genome sciences at the UW School of Medicine, has made several discoveries related to centromere sequencing.

"We had to develop new ways to target these regions," she explained. "We took advantage of new technology that had been on the horizon, such as ultra-long-read sequencing, in order to get across these regions. We also put effort into polishing the genome sequence to make sure that it was highly accurate."

Eichler commented on the training and experience early-career human genome researchers received during the T2T projects.

"I consider it a privilege to actually help build the next generation of scientists," he said. "It's so much fun to see them start as students, contribute to a big project, and then carry it to the next level."

Eichler was part of the original Human Genome Project back in 2001. He was fascinated by regions of the genome that were complex from the perspective that they were highly repetitive, but also encoded genes.

When the conclusion of the human genome sequence project was declared, a lot of those regions weren't done.

Eichler added that, since then, he has had an intense desire to finish them.

"I've always come back to that point that, to understand genetic variation comprehensively, we need to have a reference that's complete. Otherwise, we're missing pieces of the puzzle. 95% of the puzzle being solved is good enough for some people. But I guess for me, getting that last 5% was so important because I believe so much of what we don't understand about disease, or we don't understand about evolution is disproportionately represented in that 5% of the of the genome that we didn't sequence first off."

This is not the end, he said. "Even though people would say, 'Well, we're done with finishing the genome.' We finished a genome. There will be hundreds, probably thousands of genomes over the next few years. I think our view of how humans differ from each other is going to be transformed, and how more complex genetic variation is important not only for making us human, but also making us different."
"The General Sir John Kotelawala Defense University ( KDU), in partnership with the U.S. Embassy, hosted a conference on A Shared Vision for the Indo-Pacific on March 31. Conference participants discussed the Biden Administrations new Indo-Pacific Strategy and how it aligns with regional initiatives that promote shared prosperity, democracy, and security," the joint press release issued by the US Embassy in Colombo and KDU has noted.

US Envoy in Colombo addressing the Conference - PHOTO: US Embassy in Colombo

The release reads further as follows;

U.S. State Department Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu delivered the keynote address emphasizing that the Indo-Pacific Strategy is meant to show that we do not stand against a country or a group of countries. Its meant to show that we stand for something. We stand for a free and open Indo-Pacific. Ambassador Julie J. Chung noted, in her opening remarks, that the United States envisions an Indo-Pacific that is free and open, connected, prosperous, resilient, and secure and that builds upon many decades of partnership across the region. Ambassador Chung added that Sri Lanka, with its strategic location next to vital shipping lanes, has a key leadership role in the Indo-Pacific.

In his welcome remarks, Vice Chancellor of General Sir John Kotelawala Defense University Major General Milinda Peiris highlighted the importance and timeliness of the discussion stating that The Indo-Pacific is increasingly a focus of international geopolitical attention due to the rising influence of both China and India [and therefore] forums such as this are imperative in charting a way forward in bridging the policy academic research nexus.

Panel discussions were moderated by well-known regional analyst Professor C. Raja Mohan and considered different perspectives on the U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy, South Asian security challenges, and regional economic issues. Panelists included U.S. experts and regional analysts from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Singapore, and Sri Lanka.

Held at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel in Colombo, the conference was attended in-person and virtually by over 300 participants.
(Newser)  House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy delivered a lecture and a warning to Rep. Madison Cawthorn in a private meeting on Wednesday. The North Carolina freshman has publicly talked about being invited to an orgy by other lawmakers and seeing a colleague take cocaine, Politico reportsstories that McCarthy said have "a lot of members very upset." That behavior is part of what prompted the Republican leader to say, "Hes lost my trust," adding, "He's going to have to earn it back." Cawthorn could be booted off House committees, for instance.

Cawthorn and his spokesman did not immediately comment about the meeting, but McCarthy said the lawmaker admitted some of the things he said were false or exaggerated, per Axios. "I laid out everything I find is unbecoming," McCarthy said, adding that he told Cawthorn it's not good enough to say he won't do it again. In addition, Cawthorn called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a "thug" and lied to a Capitol officer to get a candidate onto the House floor. McCarthy said that he laid out changes Cawthorn needs to make in "his own life as well" and that it's unacceptable for a member of Congress to fail to show up in court and drive with a revoked license.

McCarthy said he might meet again with Cawthorn as party leaders decide what to do about him. Rep. Steve Womack is among the members who want to hear more than a promise to do better. "That hasnt worked," Womack said. "Frankly, if western North Carolina is not going to fix the problem, then leadership will have to." Others have called on Cawthorn to provide names or withdraw his allegations. McCarthy said he's frustrated. "There's no evidence behind his statements," the leader said, adding that he told Cawthorn "you can't make statements like that, as a member of Congress, that affects everybody else and the country as a whole." (Read more Madison Cawthorn stories.)
(Newser)  Chris Rock took the stage for the first time since Will Smith slapped him in the face on live television at the Academy Awards, and he told a sold-out crowd at Boston's Wilbur theater that he's "still kind of processing what happened," and that while he will eventually address the incident in some way, he's not ready to yet, NBC News reports. He opened by jokingly asking the audience at his stand-up show how their weekend was, hinting at what had happened during his weekend. To the two standing ovations and enthusiastic applause he received, Rock said, "Let me do a show, yo. Y'all are getting me all misty-eyed and (expletive)." WCVB reports that he was "visibly emotional" and "visibly crying" at times.

"I had a whole show before this weekend," he added, and beyond the fact that he hasn't fully processed the Oscars incident, he noted he also didn't have time to change his material. At one point, portions of the crowd could be heard chanting "(Expletive) Will Smith," which Rock did not comment on. All six of his shows at the Wilbur, two of which were held Wednesday night, are sold out, with tickets on the resale market soaring as high as $1,245, the Boston Herald reports. Audience members are asked to place their phones in sealed pouches during the shows; no audio or video recording is allowed. Among the rest of the topics at the show: COVID-19, the Kardashians, the British royal family, his own family, and people who visit Disneyland. (Read more Chris Rock stories.)
(Newser)  Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford was married to Brian Wilson from 1964 to 1978, a 14-year stretch during which the Beach Boys co-founder helped write some of the group's biggest hits, including "Good Vibrations," "California Girls," and "Wouldn't It Be Nice." Now, a year after Wilson sold his song rights to Universal Music Publishing Group, Wilson-Rutherford is suing her ex for $6.7 million she says he owes her for song royalties, reports Reuters. Thanks to a 1981 divorce settlement, Wilson-Rutherford was granted half the rights to the songs Wilson helped pen during the time they were married. But a complicated mechanism under federal copyright law has made what exactly she's entitled to a bit more murky, and Wilson's team is pushing back.

Per documents cited in Wilson-Rutherford's suit about the Wilson-UMPG deal, which Billboard notes wasn't reported at the time, Wilson received a $31.6 million payment for his songwriting interest, plus an additional $19.2 million payment for his termination, or reversion, interest. Regarding that latter payment, US copyright law permits artists to take back control of their music rights decades after they've signed them away. The current dispute arises over whether the divorce settlement includes the termination payout of the deal. Wilson-Rutherford says it does, as her ex recently reclaimed those rights, while Wilson says it doesn't.

"Brian ... did not own those termination interests until 30 years after the 1981 judgment was entered, and long after the separation of the parties," his legal team wrote Friday. Rolling Stone notes that Wilson's attorneys did offer Wilson-Rutherford $3.3 million in December to "tie off all issues" between the two, but Wilson-Rutherford didn't want to settle for that. Wilson-Rutherford's complaint, which was moved last week from Los Angeles state court to federal court, also asks Wilson for accounting records from the past seven years on the song royalties. (Read more Brian Wilson stories.)
(Newser)  A warrant that used Google location history to find people near the scene of a 2019 bank robbery violated their constitutional protection against unreasonable searches, a federal judge has ruled. The decisionbelieved to be the first of its kindcould make it more difficult for police to continue using an investigative technique that has exploded in popularity in recent years, privacy experts say. The ruling came earlier this month in a closely watched Virginia case in which the robbery suspect argued that the use of a "geofence warrant" violated the Fourth Amendment, the AP reports.

Geofence warrants seek location data on every person within a specific location over a certain period of time. To work, those people must be using cellphones or other electronic devices that have the location history feature enabled. US District Judge Hannah Lauck found that the warrant violated the constitution by gathering the location history of people near the bank without having any evidence that they had anything to do with the robbery. "The warrant simply did not include any facts to establish probable cause to collect such broad and intrusive data from each of these individuals," Lauck wrote in her ruling.

In the Virginia case, a man robbed the Call Federal Credit Union in Midlothian on May 20, 2019. After following a couple of leads that didn't pan out, police went to a magistrate judge and obtained a geofence search warrant, seeking location history from Google for any devices located within a 164-yard radius of the bank around the time of the robbery. They arrested Okello Chatrie, who was charged with armed robbery. Chatrie, who has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial, will not benefit from Laucks ruling. She denied his lawyers request to suppress the evidence produced by the warrant, finding that the detective was not at fault because he had consulted with prosecutors before applying for the warrant. (Read more privacy stories.)
(Newser)  The FBI says it is investigating alleged death threats made in connection with the ongoing trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. FBI spokesperson Mara Schneider says a Detroit-area home was raided last week over alleged threats to trial participants including the judge and two defense lawyers, the Detroit Free Press reports. Schneider says threats were also reportedly received by Steve Robeson, a former FBI informant prosecutors describe as a "double agent" who warned alleged plotters about their impending arrests and helped destroy evidence.

The four men now on trialDaniel Harris, Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., and Brandon Casertaare among 14 people who allegedly plotted to kidnap the Democratic governor in 2020 because they opposed COVID restrictions. Ty Garbin and Kaleb Frank pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution, which rested its case Wednesday, the AP reports. Robeson and several other defense witnesses invoked the Fifth Amendment and said they wouldn't testify.

Defense lawyers, who accuse the FBI of entrapment, asked the judge to compel Roberson's testimony, saying that for some of the men, he was the only link to the alleged plot, MLive.com reports. "Robeson would take defendants to riots and protests in an effort to get them worked up; then, using the recording device provided by the FBI, he would record them reacting to the situation in a state of anger," lawyers for two of the suspect wrote in a court filing. (Read more Michigan stories.)
(Newser)  As the US warned earlier this year that Russia may try to invade, others pushed back on that prediction, including the new chief of France's military intelligence. Now, just seven months after he was hired, Gen. Eric Vidaud is out of a job, Reuters reports, citing an internal email and multiple sources. The French newspaper L'Opinion reports that Vidaud was told he'd need to leave his post by the summer over his alleged missteps, and that instead he opted to step down immediately.

Vidaud's departure comes after Gen. Thierry Burkhard, the head of France's armed forces, pointed the finger at him and his team for the apparent intelligence failure, telling Le Monde earlier this month: "The Americans said the Russians were going to attack, they were right." Per reports in local media, Vidaud's briefings ahead of the invasion were found by the army to have been "insufficient" and without "mastery of the subjects." One military source defends Vidaud, telling AFP that Vidaud was tasked with offering military intelligence "on operations, not on premeditation." And so, because Vidaud had correctly predicted Russia had the capability to invade Ukraine, "what happened proves him right."

The BBC adds that France's divergence from invasion predictions was "all the more embarrassing" because French President Emmanuel Macron, deemed by some to be the "Putin whisperer," had met with the Russian president in early February to push for a diplomatic resolution. The outlet notes there may have been other reasons contributing to Vidaud's leaving, including criticism after France lost a lucrative submarine contract with Australia. (Read more Russia-Ukraine conflict stories.)
(Newser)  Indonesia has just welcomed a bundle of joy in the form of one of the rarest mammals on Earth. A Sumatran rhino was born March 24 in a sanctuary to a mother that had suffered eight miscarriages since she was captured in the wild in 2005 as part of a breeding program, AFP reports. Experts believe a captive breeding program is the only hope to save the critically endangered species, per CNN. No more than 80 Sumatran rhinos are believed to remain in the wild on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and in the Indonesian part of Borneo. The birth brings the total number of rhinos at the sanctuary to eight.

The smallest of all rhino species once roamed across Southeast Asia, but it's now threatened by poaching and habitat destruction. It was declared fully extinct in the wild in Malaysia in 2015, four years before the country's last remaining Sumatran rhino, a female named Iman, died in captivity. Breeding in the wild is difficult with remaining rhinos living "on small pockets of land," per NBC News. Success with captive breeding programs has been limited, with mother Rosa's track record as an example. That's why the birth of the yet-unnamed female, announced by Indonesia's Ministry of Environment, is so significant.

"This is a momentous occasion for a critically imperiled species," says Nina Fascione, executive director of the International Rhino Foundation, per CNN. "We share the excitement of this birth with the world!" It's "such happy news amid the government's and partners' efforts to increase the population," adds Wiratno, a senior environment ministry official who uses one name, per AFP. It's the first birth at the Sumatran Rhino Sanctuary in Way Kambas National Park in a decade and the third overall, per Mongabay.com. The calf's father, Andatu, was the first rhino born at the sanctuary, in 2012. (Read more Sumatran rhino stories.)
(Newser)  The intercontinental ballistic missile North Korea launched last week flew higher and farther than any of its predecessors, officials saybut not all was as it seemed, according to South Korea's defense ministry. Ministry officials told lawmakers that evidence strongly suggests North Korea fired an older Hwasong-15 missile, which was successfully tested in 2017, the New York Times reports. Officials said video released by Pyongyang that supposedly showed Kim Jong Un guiding the launch was apparently taken on a different day. They noted that the launch day was overcast, but official photos showed the North Korean leader inspecting a Hwasong-17 missile on a sunny day.

As with the 2017 launch, the trajectory of the launch last week showed that the missile could potentially hit targets anywhere in the mainland US. North Korean media has quoted Kim as saying the missile would make the world aware of North Korea's military capabilities, but South Korean officials said the most recent launch "had more to do with domestic considerations," with the dictator seeking a propaganda victory after a failed launch earlier this month, which caused an explosion in the sky visibile to Pyongyang residents. The regime "needed to send a message of success and do so quickly in order to prevent rumors from spreading and to ensure regime stability," ministry officials said in their report to lawmakers.

But if it was a Hwasong-15 instead of the newer, larger Hwasong-17, the improved height and distance seen last week still represents a technological advance that Western nations should be worried about, Kim Dong-yup, an expert on North Korea's military, tells the Times. American officials tell CNN that activity at a test site suggests North Korea is also preparing for its first underground nuclear test since 2017. Duyeon Kim at the Center for a New American Security tells the Guardian that another nuclear test is probably inevitable, with Pyongyang feeling it's "safe to test more provocative weapons without drawing penalties while Washington and the world are preoccupied with Ukraine." (Read more North Korea stories.)
(Newser)  In what State Department special envoy for LGBTQ rights Jessica Stern calls a "momentous step," Americans will be able to select "X" as their gender on passport applications starting April 11. Stern says adding the gender-neutral option moves the US toward "ensuring that our administrative systems account for the diversity of gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics among US citizens," NBC News reports. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last year that the department was working toward adding a "gender marker for nonbinary, intersex, and gender non-conforming persons," but no date was set at the time for what Blinken called a "technologically complex" change.

The change was announced Wednesday, the day before the annual Transgender Day of Visibility. "The 'X' means 'unspecified' or 'another gender identity,'" Stern says. Applicants will be allowed to select "X" no matter what gender is listed on other documents, officials say. The first X passport was issued last fall to intersex Colorado resident Dana Zzyym, who'd lobbied for the change for years, CBS News reports. Other new measures to be announced Thursday include new gender-neutral Transportation Security Administration scanners. Advocates say the current gender-based system causes a disproportionate number of transgender travelers to be selected for invasive searches.

President Biden is planning to release a video message to transgender Americans Thursday, the AP reports. "Transgender Americans continue to face discrimination, harassment, and barriers to opportunity, Biden wrote in a proclamation. "In the past year, hundreds of anti-transgender bills in states were proposed across America, most of them targeting transgender kids. The onslaught has continued this year. These bills are wrong." (Read more transgender stories.)
(Newser)  Anti-death penalty advocate Lea Rodger says she is keenly aware of the realities facing her and Richard Glossip, who she married Tuesday inside the Oklahoma State Penitentiary where he sits on death row. Glossip, 59, already has narrowly escaped execution three times and could be the next man Oklahoma puts to death now that the state has lifted a nearly seven-year moratorium on executions. Rodger, 32, a Florida paralegal and law student who has spent more than a decade advocating for an end to capital punishment, says she never even considered marriage when she added Glossip to a list of prisoners she sends Christmas cards to each year, reports the AP.

Ultimately, correspondence via letters gave way to phone calls, and Rodger said she and Glossip quickly developed a deep connection. "We had that instant comfort with each other, like youve known someone your whole life," she recalled. In a statement provided to the AP, Glossip said: "After all I have been through, losing so much of my life and everyone in it, I have been blessed beyond all imagination." Although marriages of death row inmates don't happen often, they aren't completely unusual either: The Supreme Court's ruling in Loving v. Virginia, which prohibits bans on interracial marriages, has since been applied to people in prison.

Some of the most notorious inmates in the country have married after being imprisoned. Convicted serial killer Ted Bundy married his fiancee while on death row in Florida. Erik Menendez and his brother, Lyle Menendez, serving life sentences for murdering their parents in 1989 in their Beverly Hills mansion, both were married in prison. In Oklahoma, marriage ceremonies for people who are incarcerated are conducted twice a year, in March and September. Oklahoma does not allow conjugal visits, even for newly married inmates, but Rodger said they were able to hold hands and kiss during Tuesday's ceremony.

It is the second prison marriage for Glossip, who filed for divorce from his first wife, Leigha Joy Jurasik, of New Jersey, who he married in 2018 when Jurasik was 21. They divorced last year. Glossip was twice convicted and sentenced to die for ordering the January 1997 killing of Barry Van Treese, who owned the Oklahoma City motel where Glossip worked. Prosecutors said Justin Sneed, a motel handyman, admitted robbing and beating Van Treese, but said he did so only after Glossip promised to pay him $10,000. Sneed, who was the key witness against Glossip at both of his trials, is currently serving a life sentence without parole. A lawyer is seeking to overturn Glossip's conviction based on a claim of innocence. (Glossip has eaten the same "last meal" three times.)
(Newser)  Chinese officials said Thursday that the search for wreckage in last week's crash of a China Eastern Boeing 737-800 is basically done, and that more than 49,000 pieces of debris had been found. Flight MU5735 plunged from 29,000 feet into a mountainside in southern China's Guangxi region, killing all 132 people on board. The impact created a 65-foot-deep crater, set off a fire in the surrounding forest, and smashed the plane into small parts scattered over a wide area, some of them buried underground, per the AP. Zhu Tao, the director of aviation safety for the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said at a news conference in the nearby city of Wuzhou that important partsincluding the horizontal stabilizer, engine, and remains of the right wing tiphad been recovered after nearly 10 days of searching, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The investigation into the cause of the crash faces several challenges, including that the plane plunged without warning, air traffic controllers got no reply from the pilots after it started falling, and the pieces of debris are so small. More than 800,000 cubic feet of soil were excavated and 49,117 pieces of the plane found, said Zhang Zhiwen, an official with the Guangxi government. The search was made more difficult by rain and muddy conditions in the remote and steep location. The two "black boxes" the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorderhave been found and sent to Beijing for analysis. Zhu said a preliminary investigation report would be completed within 30 days of the March 21 crash.

A team of US investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and advisers from Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration have been granted visas to travel to China to take part in the investigation, under long-standing international agreements. Engine manufacturer CFM will support the investigation but not send anyone to China, the NTSB said, correcting an earlier announcement that company representatives would be part of the traveling team. The China Eastern flight, with 123 passengers and nine crew members, was headed from the southwestern city of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, a major city and export manufacturing hub to the east, near Hong Kong.

(Read more plane crash stories.)
(Newser)  The news that Bruce Willis must end his acting career because of a brain disorder known as aphasia likely came as a shock to fans. But a story in the Los Angeles Times suggests the news isn't too much of a surprise to actors and directors who have worked with him in recent years. "After the first day of working with Bruce, I could see it firsthand," Out of Death director Mike Burns tells the newspaper. In June 2020, Burns wrote an email to the film's scriptwriter asking that Willis' dialogue be reduced, by about 20%, just before shooting. The Times talks to about two dozen people in the industry who tell similar tales about the 67-year-old actor: He had to use an "earwig"another person feeding him lines through an earpieceand didn't seem aware of his surroundings on set. One disturbing anecdote:

"In one alleged incident two years ago on a Cincinnati set of the movie Hard Kill, Willis unexpectedly fired a gun loaded with a blank on the wrong cue, according to two people familiar with the incident who were not authorized to comment," write Meg James and Amy Kaufman. "No one was injured. The film's producer disputed that the incident occurred, but the alleged discharge left actors and crew members shaken."

Meanwhile, daughter Scout Willis has expressed thanks for the volume of support the family has received since the news came out. "The exquisite outpouring of love that I am experiencing right now is just blowing me away," Scout wrote in an Instagram story, per CNN. "Thank you all for showing up with so much tenderness and stunning love for my daddio and my whole family." (Read more Bruce Willis stories.)
(Newser)  Washington Gov. Jay Inslee on Thursday signed into law a bill that creates a first-in-the-nation statewide alert system for missing Indigenous people. The law creates a system similar to Amber Alerts and so-called silver alerts, which are used respectively for missing children and vulnerable adults in many states. The system will notify law enforcement when there's a report of a missing Indigenous person, the AP reports. It will also place messages on highway reader boards and on the radio and social media, and will provide information to the news media.

The law attempts to address a crisis of missing Indigenous peopleparticularly womenin Washington and across the United States. While it includes men, women, and children, a summary of public testimony on the legislation notes that "the crisis began as a women's issue, and it remains primarily a women's issue." A 2021 report by a government watchdog found the true number of missing and murdered Indigenous women in the US is unknown due to reporting problems, distrust of law enforcement, and jurisdictional conflicts. But Native American women face murder rates almost three times those of white women overalland up to 10 times the national average in certain locations, according to a 2021 summary of existing research by the National Congress of American Indians. More than 80% have experienced violence.

In Washington, more than four times as many Indigenous women go missing as white women, according to research conducted by the Urban Indian Health Institute in Seattle, but many such cases receive little or no media attention. An alert system will help mitigate some problems surrounding investigations of missing Indigenous people by allowing better communication among tribal, local and state law enforcement and creating a way for law enforcement to flag such cases for other agencies. The law also expands the definition of "missing endangered person" to include Indigenous people, per the AP, as well as children and vulnerable adults with disabilities or memory or cognitive issues.

(Read more indigenous peoples stories.)
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TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrains Supreme Commander His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa has emphasised the importance of the strategic partnership that brings the Kingdom of Bahrain, US and UK together in all fields, particularly military, defense and security.

This benefits our friendly countries and peoples, and we work together and in solidarity with brotherly and friendly countries to protect the security of the region and international navigation, as well as to maintain the free flow of maritime trade in the region and around the world, HM the King said.

His Majesty yesterday visited the Royal Bahrain Naval Force(RBNF) to inaugurate the advanced new warships, marking their entry into service. The warships are Al Ghurairiah, Sakhir, Al Farooq, Jenan and Damsa.

He emphasised the new ships high combat potential, which reflected the Bahrain Defense Forces significant and ongoing development of its various military assets. The Supreme Commander inspected Al Ghurairiah, met with the captain and a number of her crew, and was briefed on its cutting-edge technology and distinct efficiency, which keeps pace with the advancement of modern warships.
TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune  www.newsofbahrain.com

Bahrains achievements in modernising its judicial system, as well as the implementation of a five-year strategy and digital transformation, were discussed yesterday.

The Supreme Judicial Council Vice-President and Court of Cassation President, Chancellor Abdulla bin Hassan Al Buainain, Attorney-General, Dr Ali bin Fadhl Al Buainain, and Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments, Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa, held a joint meeting with the Saudi Justice Minister and Saudi Supreme Judicial Council President, Dr Walid Al Samaani, who is on an official visit to Bahrain.

They welcomed the visit of the Saudi Justice Minister and his accompanying delegation to the kingdom during the meeting, which was attended by officials from the Justice Ministry, judges, and members of the Public Prosecution.

The Bahrain officials reviewed the development projects of the countrys judicial system, including mainly the implementation of the Restorative Justice Law for Children and Protection from Maltreatment, the Alternative Penalties and Procedures Law, the Law of Civil and Commercial Execution, the legal case management system and medication in criminal cases.

Likewise, the visiting delegation was briefed about the strategic initiatives (2021-2025) put forward by the Justice Ministry to enhance access to justice, which is based on seven pillars that are implemented over a period of five years.

The five-year strategy is aimed at developing the legal and judicial work environment, enhancing the role of licensees in resolving disputes, involvement of the private sector, serving the public, improving the predictability of judgments and criminal justice procedures, developing judicial procedures and digital courts, and the practice of the legal profession, and enhancing the family and child protection environment.

The meeting also reviewed the applications of digital transformation in the justice sector, through which the automation of all procedures before the courts was completed, thus putting in place an integrated system that is fully available electronically, starting from filing the case until the stage of the execution of the judicial rulings, taking into account the availability of all constitutional and legal guarantees for a fair trial.

Following the meeting, the Saudi Minister of Justice toured the restorative justice courts, where he was briefed on the progress of their work and procedures, as well as on the role of social and psychological experts before the restorative justice courts for children and the Judicial Committee for Childhood.
Japanese consumers are bracing for possible price hikes on bread and wheat products in the coming months as the governments selling price for imported wheat was set to rise 17.3% beginning Friday.

The increase in the price for wheat the government sells to private milling companies is the highest in nearly 14 years and 50% higher than 2020. It comes amid growing concerns about poor harvests in the countries that supply wheat to Japan and the effect of Russias invasion of Ukraine, which together account for 29% of the worlds wheat exports, on commodity prices and availability worldwide.

The wheat purchase price is determined every six months by the agriculture ministry. Since September, the last time the purchase price was set, the U.S. and Canada have seen a poor wheat crop yield following the hot, dry summers in 2021. A weakening yen and supply disruptions due to export restrictions on Russia due to the war have also led to higher wheat prices worldwide. ...continue reading
H John Voorhees III / Hearst Connecticut Media

DANBURY  An investigation is underway after police said several Rogers Park Middle School students became ill after ingesting chocolate suspected of containing THC.

Police said an unusual number of students reported feeling ill Thursday afternoon, prompting the school resource officer and school administrators to launch an investigation.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, there was a large and magnificently brilliant star that shined across the young, expanding universe. The starlight skewed blue. It was the cosmic morning, when everything in the universe was still new, raw, the galaxies still forming not long after the first stars had ignited and lit up the heavens.

The light from that blue star traveled through space for billions of years, and then one day a few thin beams crashed into a polished mirror - the light bucket of the Hubble Space Telescope.

In a report published Wednesday in the journal Nature, a team of astronomers asserts that this is the most distant individual star ever seen. They describe it as 50 to 100 times more massive than our sun, and roughly 1 million times brighter, with its starlight having traveled 12.9 billion years to reach the telescope.

The lead author on the report, Brian Welch, a 27-year-old doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins University, had the honor of giving the star a name: Earendel. It's an Old English word, meaning "morning star," he said. Earendel was found in a young galaxy known as the Sunrise Arc, and "morning star" seemed appropriate, Welch said.

"And it sounds cool," he added. Moreover, "Earendil" is the name of a character in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Silmarillion," which also inspired the name, Welch said.

"This is one of the major discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope in its 32 years of observation," said Rogier Windhorst, an Arizona State University astronomer and a co-author of the report.

Found in the constellation Cetus near the star Mira, Earendel's light was emitted about 900 million years after the universe began its expansion - the big bang. If that estimated distance holds up to further scrutiny, the starlight would have been emitted nearly 4 billion years further back in the universe's history than that of the most distant individual star previously seen.

In recent decades, astronomers have seen galaxies at that distance, and even farther away, but galaxies are collections of billions of stars and the very distant ones have typically been nothing more than smudges of light.

As with any stunning claim, this carries caveats and uncertainties, starting with the possibility that it is not a singular star at all. It's possible Earendel is a pair of stars, or even a trio or more, a common stellar phenomenon in which one bright member of the group does most of the illumination. (Alpha Centauri, the closest sun-like star, is part of a triplet).

Another possibility is that Earendel is, at its core, a black hole - the remnant of a massive individual star that has collapsed. Black holes are invisible, of course, but their gravity can lure rapidly moving and visible material, known as an accretion disk.

"The object is real. It's not a smudge. There is something there," Windhorst said. "The question is, whatever object is there, what is it really?"

What it definitely is, is a target for the newly launched James Webb Space Telescope, the Hubble's successor. The Webb is parked in a solar orbit that keeps it roughly 1 million miles from Earth, and it is in the midst of a calibration and commissioning phase, with the first scientific observations still a few months away.

The discoverers of Earendel have snagged observation time on the Webb. The new space telescope has the ability to study, in a way that Hubble can't, the elemental composition of Earendel.

The previous record holder for the most distant individual star is named Icarus, detected by the Hubble in 2018 and seen in a galaxy whose light was emitted 9 billion years ago, when the universe was about one-third its current age, according to NASA.

Earendel emitted its light remarkably close to the cosmic dawn - the epoch when the first stars ignited and galaxies began to form. The current estimate for the age of the universe is about 13.8 billion years.

The new report describes how Earendel was detected with the aid of gravitational lensing - a phenomenon in which a closely grouped (as seen from Earth) cluster of galaxies warps the space around it to magnify, distort and sometimes duplicate objects behind it. In this manner, the Hubble Space Telescope exploits a natural cosmic magnifier.

Large objects such as galaxies can be magnified several times over, but very small objects, like stars, can be magnified to an astonishing degree. "This star is magnified by a factor of thousands," the report in Nature states.

Earendel is part of an early, small galaxy whose light has been magnified and distorted in two curved strips as a result of such lensing. Astronomer Dan Coe of Johns Hopkins discovered and named the Sunrise Arc in 2016 as part of a Hubble observation program. Welch, Coe's student, scrutinized a tiny speck - some kind of object - providentially located on the arc where the magnification was highest. Over the course of 3 1/2 years, the object remained in that spot.

Welch used computer models to compute the distance to the object. By 2020, he had begun to think this was something special, he said.

"We saw it, and at first I kind of figured it was just a very small star cluster," Welch said. "The more I tried to model what its intrinsic properties might be, it just kept coming up that it was much smaller than a star cluster. Based on its brightness, it was more consistent with being a massive star."

Other scientists weighed in. The single-star hypothesis remained persuasive, and the paper by Welch and his colleagues - the co-authors are scientists from 11 nations - made its way through peer review. (Publication in a prestigious journal such as Nature does not make something true but adds luster to the claim.)

"When we look back to these distances, most of the objects we see are just these little red smudges," Coe said. "To be able to see an individual star at this distance - few really dared to dream we could see something like this."

As with any object that far away in the universe, it is easier to say where it was than where it is. Earendel's light is deeply redshifted, as are all cosmically distant objects. The degree to which the light has been shifted toward the red end of the spectrum is a cosmic yardstick, telling astronomers the distance to that object. Specifically, it is at redshift 6.2, which cosmologists will tell you is a really big redshift.

In the case of Earendel, astronomers calculate that its light has taken about 12.9 billion years to reach us. Thus, we see the object as it existed 12.9 billion years ago.

What was the fate of Earendel? Probably something explosive, followed by darkness. Most massive stars last only a few million years, or in some cases tens of millions, before exploding in a supernova. The bright blue stars that dominate the night sky as seen from Earth - Sirius and Rigel, for example - are young, hot stars, much brighter intrinsically than our own ancient, yellow sun, and with much shorter life spans.

If Earendel or its remnants collapsed into a black hole, then in theory it is still present in our universe, hidden in the far depths of space. Black holes stick around for a very long time.

When astronomers look at Earendel and the distorted, elongated galaxy named the Sunrise Arc, and then examine the other small galaxies of the deep past, they see a universe still getting its sea legs. The first stars and galaxies formed something like 300 million years after the big bang. Earendel is seen about 600 million years after that cosmic dawn. In that young cosmos, planets may have been rare, along with the heavy elements necessary for life as we know it. The universe may have been lifeless. It is very unlikely that any astronomers were on the scene.

"Galaxies were just starting to form around that time. So you wouldn't have the big, beautiful spiral galaxies that we see nearby today. You would have had a lot of chaotic, clumpy galaxies," Welch said.

One possibility is that Earendel is a hypothesized Population III star - one constituted entirely, or almost entirely, of hydrogen and helium, the primordial elements of the early universe. The heavier elements of the periodic table (things such as oxygen, carbon and iron) came along later, having been created within stars that exploded. Life as we know it is made of star stuff, a concept made famous by astronomer Carl Sagan.

The Webb is an infrared telescope, which allows it to penetrate the deepest realms of space and see the highly redshifted objects of the early universe. It has instruments that can discern the elemental composition of atmospheres around faraway planets - exoplanets - that orbit stars other than our sun.

In interviews this week, several scientists who are not part of the Earendel team praised the technical virtuosity of the discovery, noting that further observations could firm up the claim and potentially provide insights into the early evolution of stars.

"[T]he identification of this bright object as a single star is highly dependent on the models of the gravitational lens," Heidi Hammel, vice president of science at the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, said in an email. She added that if the discovery is confirmed by observations with the Webb, "this will be a remarkable result that will give us insight into star formation at much greater distances than we have traditionally been able to access."

Elena Sabbi, an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, noted in an email that no one has ever been able to see a Population III star, although they've been long hypothesized.

"These are the stars that changed forever the Universe from the cold and boring soup of hydrogen, helium and lithium to a place where planets capable of supporting complex forms of life can form," she said.

Michael S. Turner, a University of Chicago cosmologist, said in an email that the Webb telescope "now has at least one target that isn't an exoplanet, but is just as exciting. We are truly in a golden age of discovering our place in the Universe."
The Government of Canada will engage with an expert advisory group to provide advice on a revised approach to combatting harmful online content

OTTAWA, ON, March 30, 2022 /CNW/ - With Canadians spending more time on social media to connect and share information, it has become easier for us to be exposed to harmful content online. While online platforms play a central role in the lives of Canadians, bringing many benefits to society, they can also be used as tools to cause real and significant harm to individuals, communities and our country. The Government of Canada is committed to a digital society that creates safe and respectful spaces online and protects Canadians' freedom of expression.

Today, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, and the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, David Lametti, announced a new expert advisory group on online safety as the next step in developing legislation to address harmful online content.

The expert advisory group will be mandated to provide advice on a legislative and regulatory framework that best addresses harmful content online. The group is composed of diverse experts and specialists from across Canada who will contribute their knowledge and experience from a variety of fields:

Amarnath Amarasingam , Assistant Professor, School of Religion, Queen's University

, Assistant Professor, School of Religion, Queen's University Bernie Farber , Chair, Canada Anti-Hate Network

, Chair, Canada Anti-Hate Network Chanae Parsons , Community Activist and Youth Engagement Specialist

, Community Activist and Youth Engagement Specialist David Morin , Full Professor, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Universite de Sherbrooke

, Full Professor, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Universite de Emily Laidlaw , Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Calgary

, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Ghayda Hassan , Professor of Clinical Psychology, Universite du Quebec a Montreal

, Professor of Clinical Psychology, Universite du Quebec a Montreal Heidi Tworek , Associate Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and History, University of British Columbia

, Associate Professor, School of Public Policy and Global Affairs and History, Lianna McDonald , Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Child Protection

, Executive Director, Canadian Centre for Child Protection Pierre Trudel , Professor, Faculty of Law, Universite de Montreal

, Professor, Faculty of Law, Universite de Montreal Signa A. Daum Shanks , Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa

, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Taylor Owen , Beaverbrook Chair, Media, Ethics and Communications

, Beaverbrook Chair, Media, Ethics and Communications Vivek Krishnamurthy , Samuelson-Glushko Professor of Law, University of Ottawa

The expert advisory group will hold nine workshops to discuss various components of a legislative and regulatory framework for online safety. They will also take part in additional stakeholder engagement, including with digital platforms. The work of the expert advisory group will be open and transparent. The group's mandate, the supporting materials for each session, and non-attributed summaries of all sessions and discussions will be published. All Canadians can follow the progress of these discussions on this important issue that affects us all.

Quotes

"Canadians should be able to express themselves freely and openly without fear of harm online. We conducted a consultation last year and released the What We Heard Report earlier this year. It's clear that harmful online content is a serious problem, but there is no consensus on how to address it. We're asking the expert advisory group to go back to the drawing board. We need to address this problem openly and transparently as a society. I'm grateful to the experts who will dedicate their time and experience in the next few months to helping us tackle this complex issue. It's too important to not get right."

Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage

"Too many people and communities are victimized by harmful online content that is often amplified and spread through social media platforms and other online services. The Government of Canada believes that Canadians should have protection from harmful online content, while respecting freedom of expression. The creation of the expert advisory group on online safety shows our commitment to taking meaningful action to make our online environment safer and more inclusive for all Canadians."

David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada

Quick Facts

Harmful content, such as hate speech, sexual exploitation of children and incitement to violence, is published online every day. There are no broad regulatory requirements in Canada that apply to platforms regarding their responsibilities in relation to such content.

As outlined in the 2021 Speech from the Throne, the Government of Canada is committed to fighting serious forms of harmful content online to protect Canadians and hold social media platforms and other online services accountable for the content they host.

On July 29, 2021, the Government of Canada launched a public consultation seeking Canadians' views on a detailed technical discussion paper that outlined a proposal for regulating online platforms and combating certain types of harmful content online. Details are available in the technical paper

The release of What We Heard: The Government's proposed approach to address harmful content online is based on 422 unique responses and 8,796 individual submissions. This was an important step in identifying gaps in order to develop a regulatory framework to address the issue of harmful content online in the near future.

Some facts and figures on online violence in Canada:

62% of Canadians think there should be more regulation of online hate speech;

58% of women in Canada have been victims of violence online;

have been victims of violence online; 80% of Canadians support requirements to remove racist or hateful content within 24 hours;

1 in 5 Canadians have experienced some form of online hate;

Racialized Canadians are almost three times more likely to have experienced harmful behavior online;

1,106% increase in online child sexual exploitation reports received by the RCMP National Child Exploitation Crime Centre between 2014 to 2019.

Related Products

Government of Canada takes action to protect Canadians against hate speech and hate crimes

Associated Links

The Government's commitment to address harmful content online

What We Heard: The Government's proposed approach to address harmful content online

Backgrounder

Following the release of What We Heard: The Government's proposed approach to address harmful content online on February 3, 2022, the Government of Canada is now unveiling the next step in its work to design legislation to address harmful content online by announcing the composition of its expert advisory group on online safety.

This expert advisory group has been given a mandate to provide the Minister of Canadian Heritage with advice on how best to design the legislative and regulatory framework to address harmful content online, and how to best incorporate the feedback received during the national consultation the government held last year.

More specifically, the expert advisory group will participate in nine workshops on the components of a legislative and regulatory framework for online safety, including an introductory workshop and a workshop summarizing the substantive sessions. The sessions will address the following core components of the framework:

Setting out which online services should be regulated, and to what extent

Establishing how "harmful content" would be defined and regulated

Identifying a set of obligations and requirements for regulated entities to monitor, moderate and manage harmful content on their services

Setting an enforcement toolkit to help promote and ensure compliance

Laying out reasonable linkages to authorities

Identifying programming and policy responses that could be included in the framework to confront disinformation and build civic and media literacy and resilience

Ensuring the inclusion of elements that protect freedom of expression and privacy rights

The expert advisory group is composed of twelve experts and specialists from across Canada who will provide expert knowledge in a variety of fields. They come from diverse backgrounds with experience on issues relating to platform governance and content regulation, civil liberties, tech regulation, and national security. The group will be led by two co-chairs, Pierre Trudel and Emily Laidlaw, who will help facilitate discussion and communication throughout the consultation. Members of the expert advisory group will receive remuneration for their services.

The selected experts forming the group and their biographies are as follows:

AMARNATH AMARASINGAM, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

SCHOOL OF RELIGION, QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY

Amarnath Amarasingam is an Assistant Professor in the School of Religion and is cross-appointed to the Department of Political Studies at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. He is also a Senior Fellow with the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation.

His research is focused on terrorism and political violence; sociology of religion; religion and violence; social movements; religion and politics in the Middle East; religion and the public sphere; diaspora politics and activism; religion and media/social media; atheism and non-religion; hate movements and the far-right.

Mr. Amarasingam is the author of Pain, Pride, and Politics: Sri Lankan Tamil Activism in Canada (2015), and the co-editor of Sri Lanka: The Struggle for Peace in the Aftermath of War (2016). He has also published over 40 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, has presented papers at over 100 national and international conferences, and has written for The New York Times, The Monkey Case, The Washington Post, CNN, Politico, The Atlantic, and Foreign Affairs. He has been interviewed on CNN, PBS Newshour, CBC, BBC, and a variety of other media outlets.

BERNIE FARBER, CHAIR

ANTI-HATE NETWORK

Bernie Farber is the Chair of the Anti-hate Network. He is acknowledged as one of Canada's most accomplished NGO CEOs. His career spans more than 30 years focused on human rights, diversity, anti-racism, and extremism. His efforts have been documented in numerous Canadian Human Rights publications, books, newspapers and magazines. His work has also been cited for its expertise in a number of academic publications.

Mr. Farber has successfully run large NGOs and Foundations such as the Canadian Jewish Congress, the Paloma Foundation, and retired as the Executive Director of the Mosaic Institute.

Mr. Farber is a human rights consultant, newspaper columnist and social justice advocate. He has received numerous awards for his civil rights work, including the Queen's Diamond Jubilee medal, Government of Canada 125 Commemorative medal, the Chancellor's Commendation of the Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Award for Outstanding Service and Dedication to Policing in the province of Ontario, among others.

CHANAE PARSONS, SPECIALIST

COMMUNITY ACTIVIST AND YOUTH ENGAGEMENT

Chanae Parsons comes from the historical Black Heritage community of Lucasville and is a loving mother to her son Cairo. She is a strong professional with a Bachelor of Social Work degree from Dalhousie University and pursuing a Master of Education focused in Adult Education, Women's Leadership and Community Development from St. Francis Xavier University. In her official role as the Manager of Programming and Community Engagement for the Eastern District of the Halifax Public Libraries, the largest public library system in the Province, Chanae oversees the development and implementation of programming and community engagement strategy for one of four regions of the Halifax municipality, as well as Youth Services across all branches.

Ms. Parsons participates on several Nova Scotian leadership committees, such as the African Nova Scotian Sexual Violence Advisory Committee, formed by the Department of Community Services to create the e-learning module: African Nova Scotian Perspectives on Sexual Violence, and the African Nova Scotian Employment Innovation Lab, also formed by the Department of Community Services to find innovative solutions to help lower the unemployment rates amongst Black youth in Nova Scotia. She also sits on the Board of Directors for Black Girls Gather and GameChangers902. Additionally, she is co-founder of the community-based organization ACCE HFX (Arts, Community, Culture, and Economics), where she provides support, resources, and learning opportunities to a wide range of African Nova Scotians in vulnerable positions.

Ms. Parsons is both passionate and experienced in youth leadership, program creation and facilitation, research, project management, policy reform, critical thinking, public speaking, as well as diversity and inclusion. She prioritizes youth-led initiatives and is committed to ensuring that youth, specifically Black youth, see themselves reflected in leadership roles.

DAVID MORIN, PROFESSOR

FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES, UNIVERSITE DE SHERBROOKE

David Morin is a full professor at the School of Applied Politics of the Universite de Sherbrooke. His areas of expertise and professional experience focus on national and international security issues. Since 2017, he has been a co-holder of the UNESCO Chair in the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Extremism (UNESCO-PREV Chair) and in 2015 co-founded the Observatory on Radicalization and Violent Extremism (OSR). He is also a manager of the PREV-IMPACT Canada program on the evaluation of violent extremism prevention programs, funded by Public Safety Canada's Community Resilience Fund. Mr. Morin is an active contributor to the debate and dialogue on these issues in the Canadian context and leads numerous scientific and public activities.

He is currently Co-President of the Dialogue+ project, which aims to prevent discrimination and radicalization in Canada, and was one of the initiators of the Youth Forum  Thinking Democracy Differently, a Quebec program aimed at combatting and defusing extremist discourse leading to violence. He sits as a designated expert on the steering committee of the Francophone Network for the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Extremism that could lead to Terrorism (FrancoPREV) of the International Organization of La Francophonie and was a member of the scientific committee for the UNESCO Internet and the Radicalization of Youth conference in 2016.

Mr. Morin also has a rich and diverse experience in coordinating international projects with researchers and practitioners and in capacity building in Francophone Africa. He has just co-edited the book Le nouvel age des extremes? Les democraties occidentales, la radicalisation et l'extremisme violent, published in 2021 by the Presses de l'Universite de Montreal. He has also co-authored a number of recent reports on the evaluation of violent extremism prevention, on prevention mechanisms in the Francophone space, and on conspiracy and misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

EMILY LAIDLAW, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

FACULTY OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

Emily Laidlaw is a Canada Research Chair in Cybersecurity Law and Associate Professor at the University of Calgary in the Faculty of Law. She researches in the area of technology regulation and human rights, with a focus on content regulation, platform liability, privacy and freedom of expression. She is the author of the book Regulating Speech in Cyberspace: Gatekeepers, Human Rights and Corporate Responsibility (Cambridge University Press, 2015). As a scholar, she actively contributes to law reform, with recent projects on defamation, non-consensual disclosure of intimate images, the tort of privacy and online abuse, and platform governance.

Ms. Laidlaw has taught a variety of courses over the years in Internet Law, Privacy and Cybersecurity, Media Law, Human Rights, Tort Law, Intellectual Property, and Foundations of Law and Justice. She is also the Ethics Advisor to the Members of Council at the City of Calgary and previously practiced as a litigator. From 2006 to 2014, Ms. Laidlaw obtained her LLM and PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science and was an Assistant Professor (lecturer) at the University of East Anglia Law School.

Ms. Laidlaw is a network director of the Canadian Network on Information Security and a member of the Institute for Security, Privacy and Information Assurance.

GHAYDA HASSAN, PROFESSOR

UNIVERSITE DU QUEBEC A MONTREAL

Ghayda Hassan, a clinical psychologist and professor of clinical psychology at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal (UQAM), is the founder and director of the Canada Practitioners Network for the Prevention of Radicalization and Extremist Violence (CPN-PREV). She is also a researcher with the Research and Action on Social Polarization (RAPS) team of the SHERPA University Institute at the Integrated Health and Social Services University Network for West-Central Montreal. She also acts as a policy consultant on violence intervention (radicalization, domestic violence and war) and is a member of the RCMP Interim Management Advisory Board.

She contributes her expertise to several national and international partnerships in research, clinical practice and community intervention. Her systematic reviews, research and clinical activities focus on four main areas: social suffering, relationships between communities, and violent extremism; intervention in the context of armed conflict and domestic violence; identity, belonging and mental health of children and adolescents who are members of ethnic or religious minority groups; and intervention and cultural sensitivity training of various professionals working with vulnerable immigrants and refugees.

HEIDI TWOREK, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS AND HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Heidi Tworek is a Canada Research Chair and Associate Professor of international history and public policy at the University of British Columbia. She is an award-winning researcher of media, history, health communications, international organizations and platform governance. She is also a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation. She is also a non-resident fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

Ms. Tworek received her BA (Hons) in Modern and Medieval Languages from Cambridge University and earned her PhD in History from Harvard University.

Ms. Tworek has advised officials and policymakers from multiple European and North American governments on media, democracy and the digital economy. She previously held the position of Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies and lecturer in History at Harvard University.

LIANNA MCDONALD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

CANADIAN CENTRE FOR CHILD PROTECTION

Lianna McDonald is the executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. Since 1998, she has guided the agency from its grass roots origins to a leading organization on the international stage in the fight against child victimization.

Ms. McDonald spearheaded the creation of Project Arachnid, the world's leading technology for disrupting the online distribution of child sexual abuse material globally. To date, more than six million images targeted by Project Arachnid have been removed from the internet. She works closely with international partners, including survivor organizations, child protection NGOs and law enforcement agencies. Her expertise in this space is frequently called upon by key groups including the Five Country Ministerial's child exploitation task force, the United Kingdom's Home Office as well as European Union officials.

In Canada, Ms. McDonald oversaw the establishment of Cybertip.ca, which later became the national tipline under the Government of Canada's National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet. Her advocacy efforts with provincial and federal governments have contributed to multiple legislative changes for the protection of children, including the creation of the criminal code offenses related to online child luring and legislation for the mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse material by internet service providers.

Ms. McDonald is the recipient of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) for her continued dedication to the safety of children.

PIERRE TRUDEL, PROFESSOR

FACULTY OF LAW, UNIVERSITE DE MONTREAL

Pierre Trudel is a full professor at the Centre de recherche en droit public of the Universite de Montreal's Faculty of Law. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada. He teaches civil law, intellectual property law, information law and cyberspace law.

From 1990 to 1995, he was director of the Universite de Montreal's Centre de recherche en droit public. From 2003 to 2015, he was the holder of the L.R. Wilson Chair in Information Technology and E-Commerce Law.

Mr. Trudel was a member of the expert panel for the review of Canada's communications laws from 2018 to 2020. He is the author or co-author of several books, including Droit du cyberespace (1997), Introduction a la loi sur le cadre juridique des technologies de l'information (2012) and Les fausses nouvelles nouveaux visages, nouveaux defis (2018).

Mr. Trudel is currently working on research projects on fundamental information rights, privacy protection in public service networks, assessment of legal issues and risks, the Internet of Things, e-health, audiovisual law, e-commerce and methodologies for developing rules of conduct in Internet environments.

SIGNA A. DAUM SHANKS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR

FACULTY OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

Signa A. Daum Shanks is a trained lawyer, law professor, and historian. Most recently, she was an Associate Professor at York University's Osgoode Hall Law School. Her teaching has included classes such as Torts, Law and economics, Aboriginal Self-government, Canadian legal History, the Kawashimhon Aboriginal Rights Moot, Game Theory and the Law, Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law, and Comparative Indigenous Legal Traditions and Indigenous Peoples. She previously taught at the University of Saskatchewan's College of Law, the summer program hosted at the Indigenous Law Centre in Saskatoon and the Nunavut Law Program in Iqaluit.

Ms. Daum Shanks has also worked for Justice Canada, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, and Saskatchewan Justice, as well as the Toronto office of a national law firm and the criminal appeals division of the Ministry of the Attorney General of Ontario.

Her current research interest revolves around law and economics, Indigenous Governance, and legal history. She has received recognition and funding for her impactful research and professional accomplishments.

TAYLOR OWEN, BEAVERBROOK CHAIR

MEDIA, ETHICS AND COMMUNICATIONS

Taylor Owen is the Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communications, the founding Director of the Center Media, Technology and Democracy, and an Associate Professor in the Max Bell School of Public Policy at McGill University. Mr. Owen is also a senior fellow at the Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI).

He is the Co-Chair of the Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression with former Supreme Court Justice Beverley McLaughlin. He was previously an Assistant Professor of Digital Media and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia and the Research Director of Tow Center for Digital Journalism at the Columbia School of Journalism.

Mr. Owen has a doctorate from the University of Oxford and his work focuses on the intersection of digital media, technology, and public policy. His main research projects at the moment include work developing and studying domestic and international platform governance policies, a large-scale digital ecosystem monitoring project called the Media Ecosystem Observatory, work on understanding the impact of digital technologies on childhood development, and comparative analysis of government journalism support policies around the world.

He has been a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar, a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, an Action Canada and Public Policy Forum Fellow, the 2016 Public Policy Forum Emerging Leader and, until 2019, served on CIGI's Board of Directors and the Governing Council of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

VIVEK KRISHNAMURTHY, SAMUELSON-GLUSHKO PROFESSOR OF LAW,

UNIVERSITY OF OTTAWA

Vivek Krishnamurthy is the Samuelson-Glushko Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC).

Mr. Krishnamurthy's teaching, scholarship, and clinical legal practice focus on the complex regulatory and human rights-related challenges that arise in cyberspace. He advises governments, activists, and companies on the human rights impacts of new technologies and is a frequent public commentator on emerging technology and public policy issues.

Mr. Krishnamurthy is currently a Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, a Faculty Associate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and a Senior Associate of the Human Rights Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

SOURCE Canadian Heritage

For further information: For more information (media only), please contact: Laura Scaffidi, Press Secretary, Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, [email protected]; Media Relations, Canadian Heritage, 819-994-9101, 1-866-569-6155, [email protected]
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Miller's Famous Sandwiches, a 50-year-old sandwich brand that originated in Rhode Island, is looking to expand into Connecticut with new franchise locations.

The third-generation, family-owned shop currently has restaurants in East Providence, R.I. and Attleboro, Mass., and is eyeing Bridgeport as its next community.
Lawmakers in Connecticut are considering a legal change this year to enable the state to automatically return so-called unclaimed property to hundreds of individuals every year.

From 2000 to 2021, the state treasurers office collected more than $2.3 billion in unclaimed property  in the form of forgotten bank accounts, insurance payments and more  but returned less than 37 percent percent of that amount to its rightful owners, according to a Connecticut Mirror investigation published earlier this year.

In response, Connecticut Treasurer Shawn Wooden announced several changes to the unclaimed property program in February, which made it easier for people to find and reclaim their money.

But Wooden, who was elected to the office in 2018 and is in his first term, is also pushing for legislation this year to enable his office to automatically cut checks to people.

The states Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee held a public hearing this week on SB 379, which would give the Connecticut Treasurers Office the ability to track down the owners of uncashed checks, missing insurance policies and forgotten security deposits and reunite those people with their missing money.

The legislation, for the first time, would offer the treasurers office access to governmental data from state agencies such as the Department of Revenue Services, the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Labor.

The treasurers staff would then use that information to locate any individual with unclaimed property valued at less than $2,500, verify their identity and send them checks.

Anyone with unclaimed property valued above that amount would still need to file paperwork with the state to certify they are the rightful owners.

Still, the change would be a dramatic advancement for Connecticuts unclaimed property program, which the state has operated in a similar fashion since the 1930s.

The program requires banks, utilities, insurance companies and other financial institutions to turn over assets to the state if they lose track of the individual or entity the money belongs to for more than three to five years.

That happens frequently. People move and forget to update their contact information with a company, or they are unaware they are listed as a beneficiary on an insurance policy.

The state is meant to safeguard that money until the owners can be found.

For most of the programs history, the treasurers office listed the owners of the unclaimed property in newspaper ads. That notification process transitioned in 2016 to an online database, which is referred to as the CT Big List.

The current system, however, still relies on individuals, businesses, nonprofits and local governments to seek out their missing money on their own.

That has not always resulted in the best outcomes.

We are working to have as many property owners as possible put their cash back in their pockets. These enhancements make the process of reuniting rightful owners with their unclaimed property easier and faster than ever before. And by authorizing automatic payments, many families may be receiving some much-needed and unexpected money back, Wooden said at a press conference this week.

Woodens support for the bill should provide some momentum in the legislature, unlike past years, when his staff opposed other reform efforts.

Democrats and Republicans voiced support for the legislation during the committee hearing this week, arguing the state needed to make it much easier for people to reclaim their lost money.

Rep. Leslie Zupkus, R-Prospect, said the legislation was a big step in the right direction for the unclaimed property program and the millions of people, businesses and other entities with missing money.

Hopefully, we can get it across the finish line, Zupkus said.

Rep. Mary Mushinsky, D-Wallingford, agreed and explained her frustrating experience with the unclaimed property program.

In past years, Mushinsky tried to reclaim a security deposit that was collected by an electric utility, she said, but she was never able to get that money back from the treasurers office, despite filing repeated claims.

The amount of time I was spending was not worth the amount of money I would get back, she said.

While many lawmakers voiced appreciation for the new bill, there were a few people who advocated for several tweaks to the draft legislation.

Ron Lizzi, who has advocated for reforms to Connecticuts unclaimed property program for several years, told lawmakers that the legislation could be improved with a couple of simple changes.

Lizzi, a Bethany resident, asked lawmakers to ensure that businesses, nonprofits and local governments with unclaimed property can benefit from the automatic payments too. As written, he warned, the legislation may limit the automatic payments to individuals.

Under the current legislation, the treasurers office also might not be required to automatically return money that was collected by the state before 2023  even if it can identify those individuals and businesses.

Those types of issues, Lizzi argued, would limit the effectiveness of the proposed legislation.

Some lawmakers are also concerned, however, with the security of issuing checks to people through the mail.

Sen. John Fonfara, D-Hartford, said he wanted to have greater certainty that the unclaimed property would be returned to the right people.

As a result, he argued that lawmakers should review the legislation so they could have more confidence that the checks would go to the right addresses.

Even with those reservations, Fonfara argued it was past time for the treasurers office to improve the unclaimed property program.

I think the treasurers office needs to be much more proactive than they are, he said.
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NEW HAVEN  About 150 students, parents, teachers, professors and school staff marched downtown on Wednesday evening to call on the state of Connecticut to make dramatic investments in the public education system, including higher education.

The event was organized by Recovery For All, a statewide coalition of 58 community, labor and faith organizations across the state aimed at reducing and eliminating systemic racial, economic and gender inequities.

Participants gathered outside the Board of Education central office at 54 Meadow St., carrying signs calling for fully funded public education, stated public education is a right and called for public education for all.

Outside the office, protesters shook noise makers, waved union flags, banged on buckets and drums, and chanted.

Chants included No cuts, no fees, education should be free and Pay cuts for teachers, we say no. Tax the people with lots of dough.

At the first stop, Leslie Blatteau, the president of the New Haven Federation of Teachers, told the crowd that teachers and school staff are doing the jobs of multiple people because their colleagues are sick, stressed or have resigned because the situation was not sustainable.

We want to do the jobs that we were hired to do, Blatteau said. To do this, we have to be honest about school funding.

Blatteau called for fair funding from pre-k to grade 12 and from community colleges to state universities.

In a state like Connecticut, one of the richest states in the country where a dozen billionaires increased their wealth by billions during the pandemic, why are districts like New Haven facing deficits year after year? Blatteau asked.

Currently, the school district has roughly 100 vacancies for certified teachers, according to Blatteau, who added that if funding is not addressed, that number will only increase.

Jonathan Q. Berryman, the vice president of the elementary school and chair of the community action subcommittee for the New Haven Federation of Teachers, said the pandemic showed the gaps that exist within the public school and university system.

We have noticed that a foggy haze still lingers in the heads of some of our local, state and national officials, and they have yet to fully comprehend what it means to provide a free and appropriate public education, Berryman said.

Berryman told the crowd that school staff are often told by bystanders that they dont know how teachers do what they do and that these people could not possibly know what teachers need if they do not understand.

We have to show them and we have to insist that they understand and act responsibly on what they hear us say, Berryman said.

Teachers said at the march that theyre fighting for a fair wage, safety and stability in their careers.

Paraprofessionals are seeking similar items, as Blatteau said they are some of the hardest working, lowest paid people in the New Haven school system.

Hyclis Williams, president of AFSCME local 3429, said paraprofessionals are tired of being underfunded. She also said that paraprofessionals should be a part of the citys pension plan and shared that an employee of 54 years cannot retire because they do not have a pension.

We are tired of doing professional work and getting sub-par pay, Williams said. Our primary duty is to assist teachers, but the teachers will never get any assistance these days because were busy subbing, were busy doing the cafeteria work, were busy being the secretary in the front. Thats what we do on a day-to-day basis.

Other groups such as Unidad Latina en Accion, CSU-AAUP, the 4Cs, Federation of Tech College Teachers - AFT Local 1942 and AFSCME Council 4 participated as well, chanting for fair pay and booing when they heard how paraprofessionals are treated.

While the crowd took turns speaking, New Haven Public Schools Superintendent Iline Tracey spent some time standing by the building and listening to concerns before ultimately heading back into the central office.

Parents in the crowd called for massive changes to meet the demand for a high-quality education for all students in Connecticut and thanked staff for their hard work.

The crowd then traveled to Gateway Community College, where college professors and more spoke about the need to fund public education. As people spoke, cars and buses honked in support, which continued as the group made its way to City Hall.

christine.derosa@hearstmediact.com
WEST HAVEN  More than a year after Sushi X, the popular all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant on Captain Thomas Boulevard, temporarily closed in the aftermath of a kitchen fire, the restaurant quietly reopened its doors Tuesday.

Although the reopening happened without fanfare, residents had not been quiet about their desire to see the eatery reopen.

Every day I got calls. Customers called every day asking us what time well be open, said Penny Gao, whose family owns the restaurant.

Gao said the delay came about because of some miscommunications and disagreements with the company that helped to clean out the kitchen following the fire.

We didnt write down what stuff they took away, he said.

Because of the lack of inventory records, staff had a difficult time recounting and getting reimbursed for lost materials, Gao said. Once the restaurant did have all of its appliances in place, he said, there still was the matter of being approved by inspectors to reopen the kitchen.

Gao said the menu is still the same, but returning customers might notice some cosmetic changes: the relatively bare-bones tables-and-chairs setup has been replaced with booths alongside the wall and the dining room floor has been redone.

Gao said federal grants to businesses during the pandemic helped to keep the restaurant afloat and current on rent payments as the owners worked to restore the kitchen.

During lunch Wednesday, husband and wife Angelo and Norma Dichello stopped in for their first Sushi X meal in more than a year.

We were surprised they were open, Angelo Dichello said. They did a nice job with the new booths. We were driving by and saw the open sign.

Norma Dichello said questions about when the restaurant would reopen have buzzed around the community on social media for a long time.

Everybody has been waiting, she said.

Gao said a lot of his attention lately has been on the newly-opened Hibachi X, across the street from Sushi X. The restaurant, which Gao also co-owned, previously was Iishin Ramen.

brian.zahn@hearstmediact.com
NEW HAVEN  A new partnership between the Yale New Haven Health System and four nursing schools in New Haven and Fairfield counties will bring more than 550 new nurses into the field in the next four years, the institutions announced Thursday.

The initiative, to which Yale New Haven will contribute $1.7 million per year over the next four years, will expand the number of nursing students, faculty and related programs at the nursing schools at Fairfield, Quinnipiac and Southern Connecticut State universities and Gateway Community College.

Yale New Haven Health, which includes five hospitals, has about 6,500 nurses on staff now, a shortage of 700 to 900 nurses, according to Beth Beckman, chief nursing executive for YNHH. The system has seen a severe shortage of nurses and other staff throughout the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 194,500 annual openings for nurses because of retirements, more lucrative positions as travelers who dont stay at one facility for long, and the aging of the population. Meanwhile, more than 80,000 applicants were turned away because of a lack of faculty, clinical sites and other reasons, according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing.

These schools and their leaders have been legacy partners with us for a long time and have already had a long history of doing incredible work with us. But now were going to innovate solutions to age-old problems of a faculty shortage issue and clinical placements, which in health care weve struggled with for decades, Beckman said.

Were going to bring down those walls and maximize the number of students who are going to graduate in this state, she said. In the state of Connecticut, believe it or not, we leave thousands of qualified nursing student candidates who are denied admission because we havent solved for those two problems.

Clinical placements are on-the-job training that nursing students must add to their classroom studies.

Each and every program is different, Beckman said. And when we went to our academic colleagues, and we asked, How could we do this? What would it look like? What is your capacity? They all came up with different plans, and in some cases, it was, Ive got plenty of space but I dont have enough faculty and I need you to work on clinical placements. So some of them are dollar costs, and some of them are indirect.

Meredith Wallace Kazer, dean of Fairfield Universitys Egan School of Nursing & Health Studies, said, This intentionally immerses our students into clinical experience in the Yale New Haven Health System. Yale New Haven has generously agreed to offer them scholarships. Its also an opportunity for Yale to see if Yale is a good fit for them.

Fairfield will focus the funds on its accelerated 15-month program for students who have a bachelors degree in another subject. Other schools have similar programs.

Maria Krol, chairwoman for the Department of Nursing at SCSU, said Southern will focus on increasing diversity of its program, to bring more people of color into the profession but also more men.

I think it really means a lot for our program and also for nursing.  We will increase the diversity access to education, which is really important in todays climate and for the future.  We want to make sure that our nurses reflect the community that they serve.

Sandra Bulmer, dean of Southerns College of Health and Human Services, said the university has devoted much of its scholarship money to students who take courses while in high school and then can graduate with a nursing degree in three years.

And Yale is providing the scholarship support for those students while theyre in that three years of college, she said. And thats going to be focused on New Haven and this region and these high schools, because that is the students who will be working at Yale living and working in their neighborhoods after they graduate.

Lisa OConnor, dean of Quinnipiacs School of Nursing, said the initiative will give the school the ability to recruit more nurse educators who are Yale employees? They have qualified nurses at the bedside and who are nurse educators that we can have them assist us in educating the students, whether in a lecture or clinically.

Also, OConnor said, Quinnipiac will give a smoother pipeline for any Yale employee who is interested in becoming a nurse through the Quinnipiac program, no matter what their current job is. She said the school hopes to add 25 more students, a 25 percent increase, in its accelerated program, in which students get their bachelors in nursing in one very, very full calendar year.

Sheila Solernou, division director of nursing and allied health at Gateway, said, Through this initiative, Yale New Haven Health System is investing in the future of nursing and, more importantly, in the future of their employees and Greater New Haven residents who aspire to make a better life for themselves and their families.

The community college plans to enroll 128 students in the fall, which will enable additional qualified applicants who are employees of Yale New Haven Health System to realize their own dreams, Solernou said.

edward.stannard@hearstmediact.com; 203-680-9382
Nasiru Ahmed, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the house representatives, has called for the sacking of Babagana Monguno...

Nasiru Ahmed, a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the house representatives, has called for the sacking of Babagana Monguno, national security adviser (NSA).

Ahmed, from Kano, made the demand during a plenary session on Thursday while contributing to a motion on the recent killings in Kaduna state.

He said since 2015 when President Muhammadu Buhari took over power, service chiefs have been changed but the national security adviser has not been replaced.

He said all the security agencies are accountable to the national security adviser who has failed in his duty.





Do we have a national security adviser? he asked.

Are we saying the army, the Nigerian navy, air force, police and DSS with all the training that they have had, with all the international training that they have gone to  they have gone to peacekeeping. That a ragtag army of 16 to 17 year-old-boys (bandits) is more powerful than them?

Mr. Speaker this madness has to stop. It simply has to stop. You travel by road youre kidnapped; you go by train, youre kidnapped, last week the airport was attacked by bandits; you sit at home youre kidnapped, you send your children to school they are kidnapped. Mr. Speaker a few weeks ago somebody was kidnapped in a hospital. Where are you going to stay? You can be kidnapped right in this chamber.

What do we tell our people that elected us? Do we just fold our arms? I want to use this opportunity again and I am calling on the national security adviser  he must be removed.
Women expat volunteers help to fight epidemic in Shanghai

By:Zhao Chunyuan | From:english.eastday.com | 2022-03-27 18:01

In March 2022, the current situation of epidemic prevention and control in Shanghai is getting tougher. Luckily, among the army of volunteers working to maintain the dynamic zero-Covid policy, there is a group of expat women contributing what they can to guard the city from the frontlines.

Women volunteersblooming flowers in the "cold spring" of epidemic

On the night of March 13, 2022, Junle residential complex in East Nanjing Road Sub-district, Huangpu District, was temporarily put under closed-loop management, with 17 volunteers quickly stationed. However, the manpower was obviously insufficient to serve more than 1,700 residents. So the volunteers decided to try and recruit further volunteers from among the residents. In just a few days, a total of more than 50 community residents had signed up to volunteer, and Ilona, a young girl from Russia, has proved among the most adept at the task.

Many residents were not prepared in advance for the lockdown and did not have many supplies at home. Therefore, the volunteers needed to deal with the countless deliveries ordered through online shopping. Solving the problem of the last 100 meters of delivery of goods therefore became an issue. With her experience working as a real estate agent, Ilona took the initiative to assist in sorting and dividing the packages into major categories according to the recipients addresses, so that it was easier for her partners to quickly deliver the parcels to the respective doors, a process which significantly improved the efficiency and accuracy of the volunteer team.

After putting on the personal protective equipment, Ilona quickly joined the "battle" with the Chinese volunteers

I like Shanghai especially because of its openness and tolerance, which makes it very convenient for expats to integrate here," said Ilona."Although I can't speak Chinese, I want to give back to Shanghai for the help it has given me, and I want to be an example for others to learn from," she said when asked by the reporter from Eastday.com why she had volunteered for epidemic prevention and control.

The Spanish volunteer Eva Serrano had the same wish to give back.

Eva Serrano (right) is volunteering to help with nucleic acid testing

On March 18, residents in the Jing'an Temple Sub-district area received a free nucleic acid test in batches of the residential communities they lived in. Among a group of volunteers in blue protective suits, a Spanish woman with blond hair stood out. She is Eva Serrano, president of Inditex (ZARAs parent company) Greater China.

Ms. Serrano said that after learning about the needs for nucleic acid testing volunteers in residential areas, she not only signed up herself, but also brought eight colleagues of her company to serve the community together."The prevention and control of the epidemic is the responsibility of the entire society. Seeing that the medical staff are working very hard, I also really want to do my best to contribute as much as I can," Ms. Serrano said.

In fact, at the beginning of the epidemic in 2020, Inditex Group donated 1 million RMB to Central China's Hubei Province on January 25 for the purchase of medical supplies. After learning of the shortage of masks, 160,000 medical masks were purchased overseas and donated to the epidemic areas. On February 5, the group purchased another 2.7 million pieces of medical masks and protective clothing worth 1 million euros from around the world, and donated them to the front lines through the Tsinghua University Education Foundation.

A French entrepreneur's love for China: Shanghai is my second home

Clarisse Le Guernic,(middle) who joined the volunteer team to fight against the epidemic in Shanghai

On March 19, Ruijin Er Road Sub-district carried out nucleic acid testing at different times. A total of more than 1,300 people, including socially recruited volunteers, were on the front line to carry out the work."Although the volunteers will use loud speakers to call people to go downstairs and do the nucleic acid testing, for foreign residents who do not understand Chinese we have to knock on their doors to explain the situation and remind them to do the nucleic acid testing," French volunteer Clarisse Le Guernic said. She also assisted the elderly who did not know how to operate their phones to generate an appointment QR code via the city s Health Cloud app Jiankangyun before doing the nucleic acid testing.

In the process of fighting against the epidemic together, Clarisse also felt the warmth from other volunteers and residents."I also learned a lot of Shanghainese phrases from the residents, such as 'come and do the nucleic acid testing'," she said.

While Clarisse isnt fluent in the Shanghai dialect, the reporter noticed that she spoke fluent Mandarin. This is largely because when Clarisse was a junior high school student in France, she attended Chinese class at her school.

In 2015, Clarisse came to Shanghai to study. She was deeply impressed by the warmth and friendliness of the Shanghainese."I love talking to senior Shanghainese because they have experienced a lot and know a lot of stories, and they are willing to share them," she said.

Today, as the founder and CEO of Arcade Experiences Shanghai, a company focused on Shanghai history related outdoor activities, what she wants to do most is to tell the history and culture of China and Shanghai to more people.

"In the future, I would like to participate in more community activities and meet more volunteers to better understand my community and help in any way I can. I also hope that with the concerted efforts of everyone, we can overcome the epidemic soon and the city can return to normal as soon as possible," she said at the end of the interview.

(The pictures are provided by the interviewees)
Mr Macaroni says hes a Lekki landlord, hence, has a right to protest reopening the tollgate. The Nigerian skit maker stated this in...

Mr Macaroni says hes a Lekki landlord, hence, has a right to protest reopening the tollgate.

The Nigerian skit maker stated this in a post via his page while responding to a critic on Twitter.

Im a Lekki Landlord. I have an office in Lekki Ma. I have about 15 permanent staff and over 100 cast and crew members on and off that come to work for us every month at Lekki, he wrote.

I only shared the decision of the residents and chairman. So why are you crying ma?

What business do you have with LCC? Do you understand the importance of tolling at all? Besides, you don't even live in Lekki so why are you spearheading a crusade of revolt? https://t.co/w3d2AwYEwd  Omotunde (@Funkemyfun) March 31, 2022

1) Im a Lekki Landlord Ma.

2) I have an office in Lekki Ma.

3) I have about 15 permanent staff and over 100 cast and crew members on and off that come to work for us every month at Lekki.

4) I only shared the decision of the residents and chairman.

So why are you crying ma? https://t.co/Re7mbSLb74  MrMacaroni (@mrmacaronii) March 31, 2022





The Lekki tollgate was shut down in October 2020 following the armys crackdown on unarmed EndSARS protesters.

A panel set up to probe the cases of police brutality had listed 48 casualties of the #EndSARS protest.

It established, contrary to the federal governments denial, that nine citizens died and four others went missing.

The panel said the killing of unarmed protesters at the tollgate could be described in the context of a massacre.

But the Lagos government argued that the testimony of John Obafunwa, a pathologist who appeared before the judicial panel on police brutality, showed that there was no massacre at the Lekki tollgate on October 20, 2020.

Earlier, the Lekki Concession Company (LCC) announced that tolling activities will resume at the gate by April.

The Lagos government subsequently urged the people of the state, especially residents of Lekki and Ikoyi, to show understanding ahead of the reopening of the Lekki-Ikoyi link bridge toll plaza by the Limited (LCC).

The comedian had earlier said anything aside from justice for the victims would not be accepted.

Speaking shortly after state government released a white paper on the recommendations of the judicial panel, Macaroni had argued: Recommendations were made by the panel. I expect that these recommendations are accepted.

I expect that the events of police brutality up until October 20, 2020, are formally acknowledged.

The recommendations, going from justice for victims; a public apology from the government; police reform and all of that, should be put in place. Anything contrary to what the panel has recommended will not cut it.

It would simply mean that the government is not willing and ready t accept the reality of things.
Some members of the House of Representatives have proposed that the National Assembly be shut down to force the President, Muhammadu Buhar...

Some members of the House of Representatives have proposed that the National Assembly be shut down to force the President, Muhammadu Buhari, to wake up to his responsibility of ensuring protection of life and property in Nigeria.

This is just as a lawmaker called for the resignation or sacking of the National Security Adviser, Maj.-Gen. Babagana Monguno, saying he should have been sacked along with the last set of service chiefs.

The House cut short its plenary on Thursday, following an extended debate on the growing insecurity in the country, during which emotions ran high in the chamber.

Items on the Order Paper for the day, which contains the agenda for each plenary, were stepped down after the lawmakers, mostly members of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, spent over one hour criticising the Buhari-led regime and security agencies.

A member of the House, Shehu Balarabe, had moved a motion of urgent public importance on the killings in Kaduna.

The Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado-Doguwa, noted that he would use his emotion-laden voice to speak in his capacity as leader of the House and the ambassador of the government on this floor.

Ado-Doguwa said, You can see how this chamber is thrown into disquiet and into an emotionally-disturbed manner. When you have a government in place, the major responsibility of that government, especially a democratic one which was elected by the people, is to ensure safety of lives and properties of its innocent citizens.

When things like this continue, and continue on a daily basis, those of us who are representatives of the government will become speechless. I have to repeat: we become speechless in the discharge of our duties here to defend actions by the government.

This is an elected government under a popular democracy but we continue, day in day outkillings, massacre, banditry, armed robbery left, right, and centre. This is just a report of one local government area out of the 774 of the federation.

The majority leader asked why several parts of Kaduna State have been under attack despite the existence of several military and paramilitary institutions and bases, the highest number you can count in the northern part of the country, in the state.

The government, in this case, has to rise up to its responsibility and call a spade a spade, he stated.

Ado-Doguwa pointed out that the National Assembly had always appropriated more funds for the security agencies, while relevant committees have been following up on the use of the funds in the implementation of the budget.

He said, We are here for Nigerian people; we must speak for Nigerian people. We cannot sit down here, fold our arms and see our electorate  people who elected us into our respective offices  being killed by the day.

The majority leader described the situation as an institutional failure and regimented failure on the part of our security agencies because you have no cause to even excuse any one of them.

Lets shut down parliament, force Buhari to action  Lawmakers

Contributing, Aminu Suleiman said the situation is going beyond the control of our security agencies, adding that nobody can explain this clear case of what I will call ineptitude  absolute ineptitude. He decried that the entire country is now insecure, with the crisis in the North-West growing at an alarming rate.

Suleiman said, I am beginning to interrogate the power of our resolutions here. We have passed several resolutions, we have lamented. Is there any way now that we can ensure enforcement of our resolutions? Cant we as a House take more drastic action?

If our resolutions cannot work, is it not possible to close this chamber and join ASUU, and say we are not resuming here until the Commander-in-Chief (of the Armed Forces) performs his duty? I am not directly accusing him but the buck stops at the table of the Commander-in-Chief. If there is success, he will be the first to take the glory. Now that there is complete failure, the Commander-in-Chief must take responsibility.

And we have powers to drive this process to ensure that Mr President takes responsibility, otherwise it will be difficult for us to go back and speak to our people that we have debated on the floor of the House and we have passed resolutions. These are academics; our people are not used to these. You have passed resolutions; you have debated, what is the effect? Have these issues been arrested? Have they been overcome?

The lawmaker added, I urge us, we must do something practical, dramatic and serious to show to the government and to the people that we are doing our best, otherwise when resolution starts some of the innocents may be the victims.

Also, Chike Okafor said the country has not fared better under the Buhari-led regime since it took power in 2015. He added that security had not improved despite changing the service chiefs. It is not about the failure of anyone in particular; all of us have failed and we must acknowledge that the failure is that of all of us, he stated.

Okafor added, I want to align with the last speaker that we have to go beyond just speaking from this place and do something drastic; something more revolutionary. I think that if we wake up one day and say we are not opening the doors of this chamber; until something drastic is done, Nigerians will not take us seriously.

I want to believe that the security chiefs are overwhelmed in this situation. Something drastic has to be done. Let us not wait until we are completely overwhelmed.
Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Wednesday, said he was frustrated and helpless, adding that the military knew the location of th...

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, on Wednesday, said he was frustrated and helpless, adding that the military knew the location of the bandits wreaking havoc in the state, but was refusing to bomb their hideouts.

Five months after a Federal High Court designated bandits as terrorists, the Nigerian military had yet to deploy the Super Tucano aircraft in the North-West.

Recall that the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami (SAN), had on November 25, 2021 obtained a judgment designating all gunmen in the North-West as terrorists. This was said to be a condition by the United States government for the deployment of the aircraft outside of the North-East.

However, top sources confirmed that the Super Tucano had not yet been deployed in the North-West.

Addressing journalists on Wednesday when the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, visited the state to assess the situation following a terrorist attack on a Abuja-Kaduna train that left at least eight persons dead, El-Rufai said the terrorists hideouts should be bombed.

He said the location of the terrorists was public knowledge and even the Department of State Services usually monitors their telephone lines.

The governor stated, We have enough intelligence for us to take action. The Air Force undertakes enough ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance); and the DSS has informants all over the place.

We know what they (terrorists) are planning. We get the reports. The problem is for the agencies to take action. Dont wait until they attack before you respond. The Army should go after their enclaves to wipe them out. Let the Air Force bomb them.

Before, they were categorised as bandits and if you bombed them, you would have issues with human rights organisations and international criminal courts and so on. But, now that they have been declared terrorists by the court, they can be legally killed without any consequences from international human rights organisations.

The governor insisted that the camps and phone numbers of the terrorists were known by the military agencies, stressing that Kaduna State was currently in a state of war.

We know where their camps are, we know where they are; the SSS have their phone numbers, they listen to them, and they give me the report. We know what they are planning. We shouldnt be waiting for them to attack; why cant we go after them? El-Rufai asked.

The governor said the bandit areas should be declared a warzone, adding that he was ready to allow a few innocent people to lose their lives in the process.

We are in a state of war; this place should be declared a warzone. The Army, Air Force, and the police should go in there and kill them. Will there be innocent casualties? Yes! In every war situation, there are casualties, he added.

The governor stated that train services should stop at 4pm as night time had become too dangerous.

El-Rufai stated, We have written to the Nigerian Railway Corporation twice to stop the evening service. The last train from Kaduna to Abuja should leave by 4pm so that it will get to Abuja in daylight.

If anything is to happen, the response time will be quick, maybe in 30 minutes. When something happens, the response time will be faster in the daytime. We were lucky the military response was just within an hour, because it (attack) was dead in the night.

The governor expressed his frustration about the situation, saying, Im angry, frustrated and feel totally helpless. Let us establish military bases within Katari and Rijana (in Kaduna).

On his part, Amaechi said the Nigerian Air Force would start escorting trains, adding that repair works on the bombed rail track would commence immediately as efforts were now on to install security sensors on the tracks.

He said, I will speak with the President. He is already giving directives. Im sure by the time we finish the repair of the rail tracks, we would have got approval for the security equipment and we would possibly have installed it.

But even if it hasnt been installed yet, we have spoken with the management of the Nigerian Air Force to escort the trains. They were previously escorting the trains, but recently the weather has been very bad and visibility dropped to below 500 metres, so they couldnt fly.

So, theyve not been flying and this is why this (the attack) was successful. They have resumed flying and will escort the trains when we resume.

The minister said the President Muhammadu Buhari, had approved that the ministry should employ people who would work on rail tracks for the next six to seven months until the security equipment was installed.

We intend to employ villagers on the corridor so that they can report any suspicious movement to us and the security agencies, he stated.

Amaechi said the Army had given maximum medical care to the patients, who were brought to the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna.

He stated, They treated the patients with bomb wounds and for the lady with gun wounds in her heart, they are bringing in a specialist, a cardiologist, to attend to her.

They have just seven patients left; the rest have been discharged. The Federal Government is grateful to the military for the assistance. We will liaise with the hospital to see how much money we can contribute to the victims medical bills.

On when the repairs of the bombed tracks would be fixed, Amaechi said, We will commence work immediately and the military has promised us security as we work. It is less than 2km of rail tracks. We will complete the work as soon as possible.

If the Ministry of Finance releases the funds, then we can know the number of those to employ. But we will involve the DSS in screening the people we will employ.

On passengers and other persons on the ill-fated train, who had yet to be accounted for, the minister said, We are still contact-tracing to establish those missing.

The Chief Medical Director, 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna, Col Stephen Onochukwu, said the patients received by the hospital from the incident were all stable.

We had 25 of them that were admitted. We discharged some of them that are stable but we are still following them up. Currently, we have seven of them left in the hospital, he stated.

Attempts to get a reaction from the military proved abortive as the Director of Defence Information, Major General Ohwonigho Akpor, did not respond to calls or a text message.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Thursday, said peace talks with Russia have not led to any concrete results so far. NAN r...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Thursday, said peace talks with Russia have not led to any concrete results so far.

NAN reports that President Zelensky stated this in a video message on Thursday morning.

He said, Yes, there is a negotiation process that will continue. But so far its just words, nothing concrete,

The president noted that Russia is not withdrawing voluntarily from the areas around Kiev and Chernihiv, but is being ousted there by the Ukrainian army.

Kiev is noticing a deployment of Russian troops for new attacks in the Donbass region and we are preparing for that, Zelensky said.

The President vowed that the country wont give up anything and we will fight for every metre of our land, for every one of our people.

Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine is fighting for freedom and to protect democracy and has the right to ask for help from partners for tanks, aircraft and artillery systems.
Watertown, NY (13601)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. High 63F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low 39F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph.
A Marrero man was sentenced Wednesday to a year in prison for his part in a wide-ranging staged accident scheme that bilked insurance companies out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to court records.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance, whom President Bill Clinton nominated to the court, also ordered Dewayne Coleman, 22, to serve three years of supervised release, pay $121,076 in restitution and perform 100 hours of community service. He had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud, and the government on Wednesday dismissed three counts of mail fraud.

Thirty-two defendants have pleaded guilty in the federal government's Operation Sideswipe investigation of 77 bogus wrecks, in which "slammers" intentionally collided passenger automobiles into commercial vehicles such as 18-wheelers and buses on New Orleans roads in order to collect hefty settlement checks from insurers.

Coleman admitted to being a passenger in a Sept. 6, 2017, crash staged on Interstate 10 near the Almonaster Avenue exit. The slammer, Cornelius Garrison III, left after smashing a 2015 Toyota RAV4 sport utility vehicle owned by co-defendant Erica Lee into a tractor-trailer owned by Averitt Express. Coleman and Lee lied to police, saying Lee had been the driver. Coleman also lied about his injuries in a deposition.

Lee, Coleman and two other passengers made a claim for damages from the trucking company, collecting $30,000. Coleman endorsed a settlement check for $7,500, although his attorney, Andrew Duffy, said in an emailed statement that Coleman "netted nothing from that payout ... as the attorney fees and medical providers' costs and reimbursements assumed the entirety of the funds."

Garrison was shot dead four days after a federal grand jury indicted him in connection with staging more than 50 wrecks. His killing remains unsolved.
The killing of a New Orleans cabbie more than 20 years ago has led to the arrest of a man who lived at the last address that the taxi driver was dispatched to, according to newly released criminal court records.

Louis Alexander, 49, faces a count of first-degree murder in the Aug. 5, 1997, shooting death of Westbank Cab Co. driver Jesse Resendez.

An arrest warrant that New Orleans police obtained in 1999  after Alexander had been sentenced to prison for an unrelated series of armed robberies in Jefferson Parish  contains few details about the evidence tying Alexander to Resendezs slaying.

On the day he was killed, Resendez, 55, was sent to pick up a fare at Alexanders apartment in the 2900 block of East Monterey Court in Terrytown, investigators wrote in court records. The was last time his employer heard from him.

Resendezs cab turned up the next morning abandoned in the middle of the intersection at Pace Boulevard and Vespasian Street, with the meter still running. His body was in a patch of tall grass nearby, and he had been shot at least once.

A tip led police to book a man who lived in the 900 block of East Monterey as the prime suspect. But prosecutors dropped the charge against him two months later.

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Police have never publicly specified what later caused them to focus on Alexander as the suspected killer. But, in an arrest warrant obtained on Oct. 20, 1999, they noted that Alexander lived at the apartment where Resendez had been dispatched and had been positively identified as the person who robbed and shot the cab driver.

Alexander was not immediately booked because he was already in state prison. He had been convicted of several armed robberies in Jeffersons 24th Judicial District Court and sentenced to 250 years in prison on April 1999, records show. State officials granted him parole on Jan. 21 this year, but rather than go free, he was transferred Monday to the New Orleans lockup to be booked with Resendez's murder.

Orleans Parish Magistrate Court Commissioner Albert Thibodeaux set Alexanders bail at $500,000 during a brief hearing Tuesday. He faces life imprisonment if convicted as booked. He could also technically face the death penalty, but prosecutors rarely pursue that option.

At the time he was killed, Resendez had driven a taxi in New Orleans for 20 years. After roughly a dozen cab drivers were killed during a three-year stretch leading up to his slaying, Resendez switched to a job on the West Bank hoping it would be safer.

The father of six was killed a couple of months later, according to newspaper reports at the time.
Bokio Johnson took it hard when his two eldest children, Breyiana Brown and Caleb Johnson, were slain last year at an Algiers apartment complex, allegedly over a gun sale gone bad.

For six months, "he was in a state of just not moving," said Courtney Brown, the mother of victim Breyiana Brown, 25. "I used to tell him, Please go back to work.

Johnson, a 46-year-old electrician, considered it a further insult when Hollis Carter, the man indicted in August for killing the siblings and shooting a third person, left the Orleans Parish jail a month later on $375,000 bond, she said.

He felt like Hollis Carter should have never been out on two bodies and an attempted murder, Brown said. He was depressed. He knew they was playing games.

On Monday, Courtney Brown spent the anniversary of that double killing seeking legal advice for her ex, as Bokio Johnson sat jailed on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.

Johnson is accused of rolling up to Carter and his mother in his truck last week as they drove to court and blasting rifle fire into the car.

Carter, 21, died in the Acura TLX sedan, shot in the head and body. His mother was shot multiple times, fell out onto the road and was taken to the hospital. Bond for Johnson was set at $1 million.

The latest killing has left families on both sides of the courtroom aisle wanting for proper justice, they said.

Courtney Brown pointed to what she called strong evidence in the murder case against Carter, including an admission that he was there and the account of a third victim who was shot and survived.

According to police, Carter initially claimed he was provoked before firing. But the evidence of his guilt, along with any defense, is now for naught, one of Carters family members told WWL-TV this week.

My nephew didn't have a chance to have his day in court for his attorney to prove his innocence, said the family member, speaking anonymously.

Police released jarring video of the March 23 roll-up shooting of Carter and his mother at Chef Menteur Highway and Providence Place, showing the assailant driving a dark Ford F-150 pickup.

Bokio Johnson was arrested two days later after Carter's family members linked him to the vehicle. They claimed they recognized the F-150 from outside the courthouse. They said the truck would follow them after court dates. Police say another video, recorded a half-minute before the shooting, captured the pickup's license plate, which was registered to Johnson. A search of his home turned up a rifle magazine and an empty rifle box.

Even so, Courtney Brown said in an interview that she doesn't accept the revenge-killing narrative, at least without proof.

No, we didnt want that lady to be shot up. No, we didnt want her son to die. That is not the justice our family wanted," she said. "We wanted him in jail. Were not murderers.

She insisted that the justice system failed them by granting Carters release on bond  even if it ends up that police got it right about Bokio Johnson.

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If he did, hes a mentally ill person, a grieving father, a hurting father. He was out of his mind, she said. Who wants this kind of life? There is nothing positive that this young man is dead.

Carters attorney, John Fuller, described the killing as street justice, saying it resulted in an assurance that there would never be any closure in this case. Fuller said he'd planned to argue that someone else pulled the trigger at the Algiers complex last year. That person has never been identified or arrested by police.

Bokio Johnsons attorney, Michael Kennedy, said in a statement after the killing that Johnson would plead not guilty if hes charged with murder and attempted murder. Kennedy urged the public to wait for the evidence.

We want to make a call for peace. There does not need to be retaliatory shootings back and forth, Kennedy said on Wednesday. Theres not one, but two families grieving, and two families looking for answers. The answer is not vigilante justice, its to let the police and courts do their job.

Kennedy described Johnson as calm in jail.

He understands the system and is prepared to move forward, Kennedy said.

Courtney Brown sat in her living room in New Orleans East on Tuesday, facing a cardboard cut-out of her daughter that has remained standing since her memorial a year ago.

She said Breyiana and her half-brother, 18-year-old Edna Karr High School senior Caleb Johnson, were close, and that Bokio Johnson doted on them.

Breyiana was his baby girl, and she never wanted for a thing, Brown said.

Johnson owns an electrician business as well as a donut shop on Gen. De Gaulle Drive in Algiers that he was converting into a restaurant for them to run before they were killed, she said. He planned to call it BreCal's, a mashup of their names.

Brown said Johnson also helped pay the legal bills for Breyiana, who was convicted of manslaughter in 2018 and received a 30-year prison term.

She admitted she sold drugs and was there when 19-year-old Michelle Verasmende was shot dead but blamed the killing on a fellow drug dealer.

A jury convicted her on the lesser charge of manslaughter in a 10-2 vote, and an appeals court upheld the verdict. The U.S. Supreme Court handed her a reprieve when it outlawed future non-unanimous juries and those from cases still on appeal.

Breyiana Brown had been free for a month on $50,000 bond while awaiting a possible retrial when she and her brother were slain.

WWL-TV reporter Mike Perlstein contributed to this story.
A New Orleans man who apprehended a trespasser inside his Mid-City home said he "had no other choice but to tie him to a post until police got there."

Using half of a ratchet strap, some electrical wire and other construction-related items, Eric Hernandez, 45, bound the intruder against a set of outdoor steps at around noon Wednesday - and said he waited 90 minutes for police to arrive. In the meantime, he got a haircut.

A real estate broker, Hernandez said he received word of the intruder from one of his employees. He dashed home to find the man rummaging through his toolbox in a bedroom and immediately called 911.

"The 911 operator didn't sound that enthused," he said.

New Orleans police said the 911 dispatcher prioritized the disturbance as Code 1 at 12:52 p.m. A Code 1 merits a routine response with no emergency lights.

Delayed response

At 1:08 p.m., the dispatcher changed the signal to trespassing and raised the priority to Code 2, which requires sirens and lights, police said.

But because the dispatcher didn't tell 3rd Police District officers of the higher priority, their response was delayed. Police said officers were dispatched at 1:34 p.m. and arrived at Hernandez's property at 1:43 p.m. - 51 minutes after the first designation.

While Hernandez was waiting for officers, the trespasser entered a neighbor's residence. When he took a swing at the neighbor with a radio, Hernandez decided to step in. He overpowered and bound the man, whom he estimated to be 5'5", 140 pounds.

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Experienced with knots

"He did struggle, but he wasn't a very big guy. I'm a fisherman, so I know how to make knots," said Hernandez, who has practiced martial arts and measures 5'8" and 300 pounds. Asked whether he had tied anyone up before, Hernandez said, "No comment."

After restraining the man, Hernandez agreed to release him in hopes that he would flee. But the man went straight back into Hernandez's backyard, so Hernandez "tied him to a post really good."

Hernandez used what appear to be shibari ties - two-column ties with an attached shoulder harness - to secure the man. JonGunnar Gylfason, owner of Happy Kitten Ropes and a specialist in shibari, or Japanese rope bondage, says the art came from situations just like this one.

"Shibari originated from hojojutsu, a method of restraining captives and a form of torture," Gylfason said.

Mental case

New Orleans police took the man into custody. They reclassified the incident as a mental disturbance, and the man was taken away for further evaluation, police said. Nobody was injured, and no charges have been filed.

Hernandez said he's grateful for police and the work they do, but he wishes their response times were faster. He'd never been in a situation like this one.

"I had no other choice but to take it into my hands," he said.
While Samsung's new top smartphone is a tour de force in our test, it also shows some weaknesses. Find out here where exactly the problems lie and why this probably won't really be such a big deal.

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The Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra is one of the top smartphones of 2022. It offers a 6.8-inch dynamic AMOLED display with a high QHD Plus resolution as well as a refresh rate of up to 120 Hz. In Europe, it is run by the in-house Exynos 2200, and in most other countries of the world, by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Depending on the configuration, there are either 8 or 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and between 128 and 1024 GB of internal storage. The Android 12 smartphone is water and dust proof according to IP68, supports wireless charging, and offers USB 3.2, UWB, NFC, Wi-Fi 6E, and an S Pen that can be stored in the case. Samsung doesn't leave much room for complaints, particularly since the 5000-mAh battery also ensures a really good battery life. The only thing one could complain about would be the lack of expandable storage.

With this, Samsung offers a very powerful smartphone on paper, and in most areas it is also able to fulfill the high expectations. But unfortunately not in all of them. This starts with the Exynos SoC: even though it is able to produce a convincing system performance, it also has a significantly weaker GPU than the Qualcomm SoC. The Xclipse GPU, which was highly praised and created in cooperation with AMD, is unable to really convince in practice. This is particularly the case in games, where the usual High-Res and HFR options that are required in this performance class are often unavailable. While this can probably be remedied with some future updates, it is a limitation at this point.

The occasional micro stutters can probably be traced back less to the Exynos 2200 but more to Samsung's inability to cleanly implement the adaptive refresh rate control. The fact that instead of the promised refresh rate between 1 and 120 Hz, only the range between 24 and 120 Hz is used, also indicates this.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra shows high transfer rates in the WLAN, but only in the 6-GHz net. When the 5-GHz band is used, the transfer rates remain more in the range of mediocre WLAN modules with Wi-Fi 5 or 6, depending on the transfer direction. The Galaxy S21 Ultra does a better job in this regard, offering really good transfer rates in the Wi-Fi 6 net.

The camera also doesn't look as if it can already perform at a level where it will end up at some later point. In the S21 Ultra, Samsung also started out with a rather mediocre daylight performance, but after a few updates this turned into a really good smartphone camera.

We expect a similar behavior in all the areas we mentioned. According to our previous experience, Samsung will take care of the problems and remedy them. However, we find it strange that this wouldn't be possible for a premium product at the time of its introduction to the market.

You can find out more details and extensive benchmark results in our review of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Intel demoed game streaming with hardware-accelerated AV1 video codec that its new ARC graphics chips offer for both encoding and decoding action for the first time on a desktop or laptop GPU. For now, AMD and Nvidia GPUs don't offer native AV1 encoding support, while Intel clearly demonstrates its superiority over the HEVC codec in an Elden Ring game stream demo.

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The new Intel ARC graphics chips offer native, hardware-accelerated support for both encoding and decoding in the free AV1 video codec format for the first time on a desktop or laptop GPU, unlike AMD or Nvidia graphics. Nvidia offers AV1 decoding only in its latest GeForce RTX 30 GPU series, for instance, so the hardware AV1 encoding and decoding support of Intel's ARC GPUs comes as a first.

Top-shelf chips that rely on ARM's architecture, like Samsung's new Exynos 2200 in the global Galaxy S22 Ultra phone version, MediaTek chipsets, or Google's Tensor in the Pixel 6 series, also offer native AV1 decoding support. Qualcomm is rumored to include AV1 decoding in its next mobile chipset denoted as SM8550 which could be called Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 given that the current Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 flagship 2022 mobile chipset carries the internal model number SM8450.

To demonstrate the superiority of its ARC GPU's AV1 video codec support on a hardware level, Intel used an Elden Ring game streaming demo over XSplit. In a common streaming scenario with 5Mbps speeds in a 1080p definition, the AV1 codec proved visually superior to the H.264 codec that AMD or Nvidia desktop and laptop GPUs now support. It shows more detail at the same streaming conditions as it is about 30% more efficient than even the popular High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) codec.

One of the reasons behind the slower AV1 codec adoption is that it requires more powerful hardware to encode or decode than HEVC and takes more time. That is why the native AV1 support Intel is including with ARC could become the catalyst for wider AV1 acceptance. Besides its higher efficiency compared to the alternative HEVC video compression methods, the other big advantage of the AV1 codec is that it is royalty-free.

Google now mandates support for its frugal codec in order to stream YouTube videos in 4K, as does Netflix. Disney+ and HBO Max are exploring their AV1 options, too, so the free codec's native support in Intel ARC on a hardware level comes at an opportune time.

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The Moto G52 4G has leaked, expected to be one of two Moto G52 models that Motorola has up its sleeve. The Moto G52 4G is tipped to launch with a Snapdragon 680 4G chipset, a 50 MP primary camera and a 5,000 mAh battery. The Moto G52 4G will also have an OLED and 90 Hz display, unlike the Moto G51.

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91mobiles has leaked several details about the Moto G52, just a few weeks after Motorola released the Moto G22. Incidentally, OnLeaks revealed the Moto G 5G 2022 this month too, discussed separately. For reference, Motorola announced the Moto G51 in November and only started selling it in December.

According to 91mobiles, Motorola codenamed the Moto G52 'Rhode', which Evan Blass highlighted in February. While Blass did not provide any Motorola 'Rhode' specifications last month, he stated that Motorola would release 4G and 5G models. Reputedly, the 4G model will arrive with the Snapdragon 680, an SoC that Qualcomm unveiled in October. Additionally, 91mobiles alleges that the Moto G52 4G will be available with 4 GB or 6 GB of RAM plus 128 GB and 256 GB of storage.
Shen Yun Performing Arts returned to Honolulu, Hawaii, after two years. Audience members greeted their return with a full house and enthusiastic applause. The performers reciprocated their mahalo with two curtain calls.

Its a really great performance both as a piece of art and also a piece of culture, said Colin Schneider, senior director of kWh Analytics.

Just the level of excellence I think is really impressive and really attracts people to something like this, said his wife, Annie Schneider, CEO of Startup Major.

It was exhilarating, the choreography was on, and the costumes were just amazing, said Christopher Hilacion, owner of WikiWiki Express Delivery.

Its nice to be able to capture the spiritual aspects of Chinese culture as well, said David Stilwell, former assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Shen Yun means the beauty of divine beings dancing. The performance showcases 5,000 years of Chinese civilization through dance and music. Pieces depict subjects ranging from heavenly fairies to palace halls to Mongolian grasslands.

The understanding of Chinathink about the Olympics recentlyis driven by one main message source, and a lot of that information is not  comprehensive, doesnt tell the whole story. And so things like this fill in the blanks, said Stilwell. There was one scene that was fairly harsh about the treatment of the people in China, those who dont necessarily follow the party line.

Under the Chinese Communist Party, people with spiritual beliefs are persecuted for their faith, as depicted in some of the pieces. But it is said the divine inspired most of traditional Chinese culture, which was also nearly lost under the current Chinese regime. Shen Yuns mission is to revive it.

I think its very important to know what the roots of your culture are firsthand so that you have a context for the future as well as the understanding of the past, said Colin Schneider. I think an understanding of the past helps you pave the way into the future.

I think it could be really applicable to any religion and thought processes and cultures and things like that. I also like that they had that dance about food, because I love food. So that was fun, said Annie Schneider.

NTD News, Honolulu, Hawaii
The Chesterton Art Center has launched a new scholarship for art students.

The art center at 115 S. Broadway in downtown Chesterton will offer $1,000 to a graduating Chesterton High School senior who plans to go on to college to study art or art education.

"The Gloria Rector Memorial Scholarship is named in memory of Gloria Rector, the first Executive Director of Chesterton Art Center," Marketing Director Scott Saporiti said. "Gloria was a teacher, artist, and leader in our creative community, and CAC is pleased to offer this scholarship opportunity in her honor to a future creative leader."

Students should submit an application form and a digital portfolio with images of eight to 10 artworks, including both 2D and 3D pieces. They also should submit an artist statement that describes their art, their intention as an artist and how the scholarship would benefit their future as an artist or art educator.

The application form can be found online at https://tinyurl.com/2pta2mad.

The application deadline is April 15.

All materials should be sent to Chesterton Art Center Executive Director Hannah Hammond-Hagman at hannah@chestertonart.org.

Dating back to 1960, the Chesterton Art Center occupies a historic machine shop in downtown Chesterton. It offers more than 200 arts classes for all ages every year and provides artists from across Northwest Indiana a venue to exhibit and sell their works.

For more information, visit chestertonart.org or call 219-926-4711.

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First Financial Bank's employees contributed $3.9 million to charity and volunteered more than 11,000 hours across the Midwest last year.

The Cincinnati-based regional bank has branches in Gary, Hammond, Hobart, Highland, Crown Point and Schererville. In the Northwest Indiana market, its workers donated $138,000 to local nonprofits and contributed more than 390 volunteer hours last year.

First Financial and our associates believe strongly in helping our communities to grow and become stronger, and were thankful for our combined dedication to community service and the benefits it delivers, said Roddell McCullough, chief corporate responsibility officer for First Financial Bank.

The bank has a geographic footprint in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky and its home base in Ohio. The bank said it has far surpassed its original philanthropy goal of $8.5 million for its Community Benefits Agreement for 20182022.

It has now given $14.9 million or 175% more than originally planned.

The bank also encourages employees to volunteer through its Give First program that offers employees up to eight hours of paid time off so they can volunteer during normal working hours. Its workers continued to do remote and virtual volunteering during the pandemic.

Founded in 1863, the bank has $16.3 billion in assets, $12.9 billion in deposits, $9.3 billion in loans and $2.3 billion in shareholders' equity.

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An afternoon packed with art is planned at the Center for Visual and Performing Arts in Munster this Sunday.

This weekend marks the last chance to see two South Shore Arts exhibits, which will have closing receptions. The South Shore Arts Gift Shop will host an artisan fair and the Northwest Indiana Symphony Youth Orchestra will perform at the Center for Visual & Performing Arts at 1040 Ridge Road in Munster.

A closing reception will take place between 1 and 3 for Work in Progress, a group exhibit at the South Shore Arts Gallery that showcases the work of South Shore Arts students and faculty, as well as vendors from the Gift Shop. The vendors will have an artisan market selling crafts, handmade jewelry and artwork in various mediums at the South Shore Arts Gift Shop.

The group show hangs completed pieces by students of all ages who have taken classes at South Shore Arts over the last two years.

A closing reception also will take place from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday for photographer Roland Kullas Bridge Perspectives solo exhibit, which has been hanging in the Atrium Gallery. It features many recognizable Calumet Region landmarks.

"Roland Kulla is a Chicago-based artist with a fascination for built environments, reflecting what structures say about their builders, as well as their interaction with nature and the result of time," South Shore Arts said in a press release. "Kullas photorealistic paintings highlight monumentality of the forms and the creativity necessary for the existence."

The Northwest Indiana Symphony Youth Orchestra also will have a talent show at 3 p.m. at Theater at the Center. Tickets cost $10 and will be available at the door.

"Check out the incredible talent and support the teens who make up the orchestra," South Shore Arts said in a press release.

For more information, email YO@nisorchestra.org or visit southshoreartsonline.org.

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Lawsuits accusing Indiana University and Purdue University of breach of contract for halting in-person instruction amid the COVID-19 pandemic can proceed to trial, according to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

A three-judge panel of the state's appellate court unanimously ruled Thursday there's a sufficient basis for the student plaintiffs to pursue their claims that the universities failed to deliver on their contracted promises to provide an in-person learning experience.

Records show both IU and Purdue stopped in-person instruction in March 2020, with two months remaining in the spring semester, after Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb declared COVID-19 to be a statewide public health emergency.

The schools switched to online instruction but did not provide any tuition refunds to students who expected to learn in-person on the IU or Purdue campuses, according to court records.

In their lawsuits, the students note both universities offer "in-person, hands-on programs," as well as "fully online distance-learning programs," which are marketed and priced "as separate and distinct products."

The students claim they're entitled to prorated refunds of their tuition and fees as a result of the universities switching to online classes when the payments they made were in anticipation of receiving in-person instruction.

"The plaintiffs' complaints ... are sufficient to state a claim that the universities intended to bind themselves to providing in-person education in exchange for retaining plaintiffs' entire tuition payments for traditional on-campus degree programs," wrote Appeals Judge Terry Crone, a South Bend native, for the court.

The universities contend the governors executive orders made it legally impossible for them to fulfill their end of any bargain for in-person instruction, according to court records.

But Crone notes in his ruling that's a defense for the universities to offer at trial. Even if successfully applied, he said it still may require the universities refund a portion of student tuition and fees payments to prevent unjust enrichment.

"The terms of the implied contracts and the parties' intentions can be fleshed out in discovery," Crone said. "But the plaintiffs' breach-of-contract claims are based on more than mere puffery, and, considered as a whole, they are sufficient to allege an implied promise of in-person instruction."

Crone also rejected the universities' attempt to invoke House Enrolled Act 1002, enacted by the Republican-controlled 2021 General Assembly, which retroactively bars litigants from bringing "a class action lawsuit against (the universities) for loss or damages arising from COVID-19 in a contract, implied contract, quasi-contract or unjust enrichment claim."

He said the universities failed to raise this issue at the trial court and therefore waived it on appeal.

Moreover, Crone said the question before the appellate court is whether the students sufficiently state claims for breach of contract and unjust enrichment, which the court said they do.

He said any decision on whether the students' lawsuit is precluded by the retroactive state law must be made on remand by the trial court.

According to court records, a similar student lawsuit is pending against Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

IU and Purdue still can ask the Indiana Supreme Court to consider reviewing the appellate decision and grant their request to toss the students' lawsuits.

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VALPARAISO  A Michigan City man seen climbing out of the driver's side of a vehicle that had crashed into a pond in Pine Township tried to convince police the driver was a female passenger, who drowned in the crash, according to a newly filed charging document.

"Marcus Wright stated that Alisa (Oman) was driving and that she was driving too fast," the document reads. "Mr. Wright stated that he observed Alisa try to stop at the stop sign but believed that there was an issue with the vehicle's brakes."

Wright, 32, is charged with felony counts of operating while intoxicated causing death, OWI causing catastrophic injury and OWI with a passenger who is less than 18 years of age and a misdemeanor OWI charge, records show.

Oman died as a result of the Friday crash and a 1-year-old boy was last reported in critical condition and on a breathing machine at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago after being underwater without oxygen for 15 to 17 minutes.

Police said they were called about 4:40 p.m. Friday to the crash in the 1600 block of Ardendale Avenue in Pine Township.

A resident of the area said she was in her home "when she observed something big fly by her kitchen window," a charging document reads. She found the vehicle in the pond and watched as a man, later identified as Wright, exited the driver's side door "and yell that he needed help for his baby."

Police said an investigation shows the gray 2000 Buick LeSabre was westbound on County Road 1675 North when it failed to stop at the T-intersection at County Road 625 East/Ardendale Avenue. The vehicle traveled through a residential yard and came to rest upside down and submerged in the pond.

Another resident of the area reportedly told police he was standing in his garage cooking on a grill when he heard a vehicle coming at what sounded like a high rate of speed. He found the vehicle in the pond and also watched as Wright climbed out of the driver's side door.

Wright then went back into the flipped and submerged vehicle and re-emerged with a woman later identified as Oman. He was repeatedly yelling that his baby was still inside the vehicle, police said.

Porter Fire Chief Jay Craig waded into the pond, opened a rear door of the vehicle and located an unsecured child's seat floating beneath the surface of water, charges state. He felt the infant's leg and removed the child from the vehicle and took him to a firefighter waiting on shore.

Wright initially refused to identify himself, Oman or the child, charges state. He then identified himself and Oman, and claimed Oman had been driving at the time of the crash.

Police said Wright smelled of alcohol and later testified positive for alcohol consumption and for amphetamines and cannabinoids.

Police also found bruising on Wright's chest that was consistent with a driver's-side seat belt. When confronted with witness statements about him leaving by the driver's side door, Wright denied driving and insisted he exited through the passenger door, police said.

The driver's side seat was found to be in a position inconsistent with Oman's body size, according to the charges.

An autopsy found no traumatic injuries on Oman other than an abdomen/chest abrasion, police said. The cause of her death is listed as asphyxiation secondary to drowning.

Wright's driver's license is suspended, and police said they learned he and Oman had been living on a day-by-day basis at a Michigan City hotel.

An arrest photo is not yet available of Wright. The case has been assigned to Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer.

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VALPARAISO  A decision last summer to pull out of a proposed plea agreement that called for no more than eight years behind bars in a child molesting case failed in a big way Thursday for a 46-year-old Griffith man, who was sentenced to 155 years behind bars.

Jason Gibbs was sentenced to what amounts to a life sentence by Porter Superior Court Judge Mike Fish three weeks after a jury found Gibbs guilty on nine counts of repeatedly molesting two young girls.

Defense attorney Mark Chargualaf declined comment on the sentence, but said Gibbs is appealing.

In the case, which had been pending for nearly six years, Gibbs was accused of sexually abusing two 14-year-old girls in what police said was a repeated pattern of abuse.

He also was accused of trying to bribe one girl to stay quiet.

Gibbs denied the allegations when questioned by police, according to records. When informed a voice stress test showed deception, he reportedly came up with an alternative explanation for one incident.

Gibbs terminated the interview and promised to return the next day, but he did not return, police said. He later was arrested and charged.

Gibbs reportedly did not make a statement Thursday on his behalf during sentencing.

"Needless to say we are very pleased with the outcome of Jason Gibbs, especially the adequacy of the sentence imposed," Porter County Prosecutor Gary Germann said when contacted for comment.

"The prosecution of a child molesting case is extremely difficult, but in this case the success was the direct result of the full and complete investigation by members of the PCSD (Porter County Sheriff's Department)," he said.

Germann further lauded the efforts of deputy prosecutors Rebecca Buitendorp and John Holmen.

Gibbs had pleaded guilty last April to two of the counts and faced up to four years behind bars on each count and a requirement to register as a sex offender, according to court documents.

But before his sentencing hearing in June before Fish, Gibbs recanted his guilty plea, and the judge rejected the proposal. Gibbs then requested his case go to trial.

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CEDAR LAKE  A Schererville man has been charged with a Cedar Lake car theft after police tracked his court-ordered GPS monitor, according to Cedar Lake Deputy Chief Carl Brittingham.

Just after 10:30 p.m. on March 20, Cedar Lake police responded to reports of a stolen Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck on the 7100 block of West 135th Avenue. The truck was recovered in Lake Station on March 25.

Items that did not belong to the truck's owner were found in the vehicle. Brittingham said the items prompted an investigation that lead police to identify Jonathan David Fink, 30, as a suspect.

Further investigation showed that Fink was wearing a court-ordered GPS monitoring device that placed him on the 7100 block of West 135th Avenue during the theft. The GPS device also placed Fink at the location the truck was recovered, Brittingham said.

Fink has been charged with theft of a motor vehicle, and the Lake County Superior Court has issued a warrant for his arrest.

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HIGHLAND  The Town Council on Monday adopted a policy that allows board members to attend meetings electronically within certain restrictions.

Such attendance is usually done over the internet through the Zoom platform.

Initially, during the COVID-19 pandemic, virtually all government meetings in Indiana were done exclusively online.

The policy, which was passed unanimously on first reading, includes all boards and commissions under the umbrella of the Town Council.

"It was raised at one of the meetings about having a policy to do electronic meetings," Clerk-Treasurer Mark Herak said. "This is directly from the (state) statute."

State law requires the council to create an official policy to set the rules for electronic participation.

One of the requirements is for at least 50% of a board's members to physically attend a meeting where one or more participates via electronic communication.

Any member who attends electronically will be considered present to establish a quorum and can vote a final action only if they can be both seen and heard.

All members, both physically and electronically present, must be able to simultaneously communicate with each other and  except for executive sessions  must also allow the public to attend and observe the meeting.

In addition, all votes taken at a meeting with an electronic participant must be via roll call as opposed to a voice vote.

The ordinance also stipulates that a member cannot electronically attend more than 50% of the meetings during a calendar year, except when certain listed exceptions are involved.

A member can electronically attend two consecutive meetings but must be physically present for the third meeting before attending two more remotely except when the same exceptions apply.

The minutes taken for a meeting with electronic participation must list the way each member participated.

Electronic participation will not be allowed in meetings where a final vote takes place to: adopt a budget, reduce personnel, start a referendum, initiate or increase a fee or penalty, exercise eminent domain, or create, raise or renew a tax.

In other business, Public Works Director Mark Knesek announced branch collection will begin next week. He added that leaf collection will also resume until the department feels it is all done.

In another action, the council reappointed Cy Huerter to the Redevelopment Commission.

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CHICAGO  Illinois top Democrats have put together an organized effort to consider pitching Chicago to national party leaders as the site for the 2024 Democratic presidential nominating convention, officials said Wednesday.

The effort is being led by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who is a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. The potential bid is also backed by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and state Democratic Chair and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly as part of a coalition with Chicago business, civic and labor leaders.

The coalition has retained Rise Strategy Group to work on the potential bid. Tarrah Cooper Wright, a press secretary to former Mayor Rahm Emanuel who also worked on the 2012 NATO Summit and other high-profile city events, is founder and CEO of the firm and confirmed Chicagos efforts to be host city.

From previous Democratic conventions to the NATO Summit and annual large-scale events like the Air & Water Show, Chicago has a track record of successfully hosting large-scale events and has the leadership required to make a convention a success, Wright said in a statement.

Our city and state  a vibrant and diverse metropolis, thriving suburbs and strong rural communities  offer proof that our partys policies deliver for American families, and a convention would provide a boost to the local economy, she said.

Wright said a decision on whether to make a formal response to the DNCs request for proposals from host cities will be made in the near future.

Chicago last hosted a national political convention in 1996, using the United Center as the base for a Democratic gathering that nominated Bill Clinton for a second presidential term. Before the 1996 convention, the 1968 Democratic convention held in Chicago was the last national political convention held in town and it resulted in Chicago police and protesters violently clashing in the streets, dealing a blow to the citys reputation. Prior to 1968, Chicago had a long history of being a host city.

The news that Chicago was considering a potential bid to host the convention was first reported by NBC News.

But selecting Chicago to hold the 2024 event, with its dominance by Democrats at the city and state level, would run counter to more recent efforts by Democrats and Republicans to host their showcase presidential nominating conventions in cities in swing states that could affect the national election.

The last time the national political conventions were held in nonpresidential battleground states was in 2004 when Republicans met in New York and Democrats gathered in Boston, where they heard a keynote speech delivered by then-U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama. The speech was widely regarded as helping propel the Illinois senator to the presidency.

Democrats have given cities until October to express whether they will submit a bid to host their convention, with Las Vegas and Nashville also under consideration. Republicans, who have moved more quickly on the selection process, have reportedly settled on Milwaukee and Nashville as convention finalists.

Milwaukee was the host of the 2020 Democratic convention that was drastically scaled back due to the pandemic. Party officials are looking at the chance to return to a more traditional convention in 2024, though they may borrow elements from two years ago, such as satellite convention events in other cities, DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison has said.

Pritzker touted Chicagos potential as a host city to Harrison during a visit last fall. And a convention could provide major economic benefits to a host city, with Harrison noting in the past that economic activity of between $150 million and $200 million during non-pandemic times.

But as much as Democrats in Illinois want to showcase Chicago as an example of Democratic leadership, the city also will have to overcome national perceptions of crime and violence. Republicans locally and nationally have used the issue of outbreaks of violent crime to accuse Democrats of adopting a soft-on-crime posture.

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When his autistic son, Nate, was growing up, Josh Sapan used to take him to the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens where the video game exhibitions helped Nate connect to the world.

Those experiences inspired Sapan, a museum trustee, to help establish a program that would not only acknowledge the important role moving images can play in the lives of those on the autism spectrum, but would also highlight people on the spectrum who create those images.

I was just thinking, wouldnt it be wonderful if there was some recognition for the work being done by people on the autistic spectrum? said Sapan, the executive vice chairman of AMC Networks. In its elevation, it might also stimulate funding and education and awareness.

The result is Marvels of Media, an exhibition, awards ceremony and festival that opens March 31 and celebrates media-makers on the autism spectrum.
Looters and vandals have for decades blighted Cyrene, a coastal city that was once a port of ancient Greece and is now a part of Libya. Two products of the pillaging, marble busts stolen from the citys famed burial grounds and recently seized by investigators, were returned to Libya on Wednesday by the Manhattan district attorneys office.

The more significant of the two items, a mourning sculpture of a veiled womans head dating to 350 B.C.E., when the region was a Greek colony along the Mediterranean, had until February been on loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Valued at about $470,000, officials said it had been seized from the Met in February after having been there since 1998.

The Met declined to identify the lender, who had sought to remain anonymous. The authorities also declined to identify the lender because they said it could impede an ongoing investigation into antiquities looted from the Middle East and North Africa.

Though investigators said it was necessary to keep vague the recent history of the ancient bust, they said they had been able to pinpoint the tomb from which the item, Veiled Head of a Lady, had been taken  one located at the necropolis at Cyrene, near modern-day Shahat, Libya.
Its a tough time for gun safety in general. The Supreme Court decided to take a look at New York regulations that set a pretty high bar on the right to, say, carry a revolver in your pocket when you go out for a walk. Nobody knows whats going to happen. The Supreme Court keeps me up at night. For all kinds of reasons, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut told me.

Lawmakers from Connecticut tend to be very concerned about this kind of issue, an obsession that goes back to 2012, when a 20-year-old stole his mothers gun and then killed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, 20 of them children.

The Newtown shooting shocked the world, and many of us  simpletons that we were  presumed it would be the start of a whole new American attitude toward guns.

Certainly didnt imagine that this month wed be watching activists, many of them survivors of the Parkland high school shooting in 2018, place 1,100 body bags on the National Mall. Each bag stood for about 150 lives lost to guns since Parkland  including homicides, accidental gun deaths and suicides. Organizers said there was no way to include one for each victim since that would have meant 170,000 body bags.

And hows Biden, who clearly sees himself as a champion of gun safety regulation, doing? It depends on what your expectations were, Blumenthal said, carefully. While many anti-gun activists say theyve been disappointed, Blumenthal still has a lot of hope. Hes more passionate and determined than any president in my memory, the senator said.

Definitely more than the guy who came before. Like most New Yorkers, Donald Trump sympathized with gun control for most of his life. Then he began making political speeches and told people he was stunned  stunned!  by how enthusiastic Republican crowds got if you gave a shout-out for the right to bear arms. Instant switcheroo.

Bidens been consistent, if not always successful. His first attempt to name a director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives imploded when the Second Amendment lobby managed to torpedo the nomination of gun control activist David Chipman last year. Either this was impossible to win or the strategy failed, Chipman said afterward  an analysis that could be used for many, many administration encounters with the United States Senate.
The boy dropped to the ground. The men tied his body with barbed wire to the cotton gin fan and pushed it into the river.

Three days later, Tills body  bloated and disfigured  was fished out of the river several miles downstream.

Local authorities sent the boys body back to his mother, Mamie Till, in Chicago in a coffin that was nailed shut. She demanded that it be opened. The body reeked because it had already started to decompose. As his mother later recounted viewing the body for the first time:

I saw that his tongue was choked out. I noticed that the right eye was lying on midway his cheek, I noticed that his nose had been broken like somebody took a meat chopper and chopped his nose in several places. As I kept looking, I saw a hole, which I presumed was a bullet hole and I could look through that hole and see daylight on the other side.

Emmett Till had been lynched, without question, but there had been no mob that did the deed and there had been no hanging. There was a beating and shooting and heinous disposal of the body.

Both men were acquitted of murder, by the way.

Lynching was never only about hanging. It was about a motive and means of injury and death, and lynchings have always needed specific legislation to make them punishable. Finally, on Tuesday, after 100 years of failed efforts on the part of liberal legislators to get such provisions written into law, President Biden signed the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act, which makes lynching a federal hate crime punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

The wording of the bill doesnt specify hanging, but instead defines lynching as a hate crime that results in death or serious bodily injury.

Still, some Americans continue to demonstrate a fundamental ignorance about lynching. Take Fox Newss Jesse Watters, who asked why a hate crimes bill is a priority now, saying, nobody has been lynched in America in decades. This is patently false.
Nine people who blocked access to an abortion clinic in Washington in October 2020 have been charged with federal civil rights offenses, prosecutors said on Wednesday, about six months after the Justice Department signaled it would use a 1994 law to prosecute such cases across the country.

Prosecutors said the nine had used their bodies, furniture, chains and ropes to block clinic doors and had livestreamed their actions on Facebook.

In an indictment returned by a federal grand jury, the nine defendants were charged with engaging in a conspiracy to prevent the clinic from providing reproductive health services and to prevent patients from receiving those services, prosecutors said.

They were also charged with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that makes it a crime to threaten, obstruct or injure a person seeking access to a reproductive health clinic or to damage clinic property.
We are planning for multiple contingencies and we have every expectation that when the C.D.C. ultimately decides its appropriate to lift Title 42, there will be an influx of people to the border, she told reporters at the White House.

In an emailed statement, a spokeswoman for the C.D.C. said, We are finalizing our current assessment and will release more information later this week.

The potential for further overwhelming the long-outdated system for processing migrants at the border, along with the political implications, has been a concern among senior Biden advisers.

The Department of Homeland Security briefed lawmakers and reporters on Tuesday about its preparations for handling as many as 18,000 illegal crossings a day, which it considers a mass irregular migration situation. Officials said that federal agencies were coordinating with state and local officials to put in place additional personnel, transportation, detention facilities and medical assistance along the border. The department also released an official planning document for responding to different scenarios if there is a spike in illegal immigration.

The plans are intended in part to avoid the type of humanitarian crisis that occurred in September, when thousands of undocumented migrants in large groups crossed the Rio Grande into isolated Del Rio, Texas, overwhelming border officials. Images of migrants crowded under a bridge supported Republican claims of an out-of-control border. And scenes of Black migrants being chased by Border Patrol agents on horseback drew outrage from Mr. Bidens own party.

One official familiar with the planning said that a surge of illegal crossings in response to lifting the public health order would likely last a few weeks. The expectation is that migrants who do not request asylum will be swiftly deported, deterring others from trying to cross illegally. Those who do request asylum will be allowed in to make their case, and will either be placed in detention or released into the country while they wait, most likely with a monitoring device.

Delaying the change until later this spring gives the administration more time to prepare. But Brandon Judd, the president of the Border Patrol union, said the agency could not adequately prepare for the change in one and a half months. Expelling migrants under the public health rule takes border officials about 15 minutes, he said, compared to the usual processing, which can take hours per person.
In pursuing Jan. 6 cases, prosecutors have been assembling evidence documenting how defendants have cited statements from Mr. Trump to explain why they stormed the Capitol. And prosecutors have cited in some cases a Twitter post from Mr. Trump weeks before Jan. 6 exhorting his followers to come to Washington, a call that motivated extremist groups in particular.

The expanded criminal inquiry is unfolding as a separate investigation by the House select committee on the Capitol riot is gathering evidence about Mr. Trumps efforts to hold onto power and weighing the possibility of making a criminal referral of Mr. Trump to the Justice Department.

On Monday, a federal judge in California, in a civil case involving the House committee, concluded that Mr. Trump likely engaged in criminal conduct, including obstructing the work of Congress and conspiring to defraud the United States.

Mr. Garland has given little public indication of whether the Justice Department would consider prosecuting Mr. Trump, saying only that the department will follow the facts wherever they lead.

But the expanded inquiry, elements of which were reported earlier by the Washington Post, suggests that prosecutors are pursuing a number of lines of inquiry. Those include any connections between the attack on the Capitol and the organizers and prominent participants in the rally on the Ellipse, and potential criminality in the promotion of pro-Trump slates of electors to replace slates named by states won by Mr. Biden.

The Justice Department previously said it was looking into the slates of electors that had falsely declared Mr. Trump the victor in seven swing states won by Mr. Biden.

Even as election officials in the seven contested states sent official lists of electors who had voted for Mr. Biden to the Electoral College, the fake slates claimed Mr. Trump was the winner in an apparent bid to subvert the election outcome.
As Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson solidifies support for her bid to become the first Black woman to join the Supreme Court, Democrats are still debating an enormously complex and weighty topic: how to talk about race in America.

Its a subject many Democrats would rather avoid, according to strategists and activists who expressed a range of views  and emotions  over days of conversations about Jacksons rough treatment during the confirmation hearings last week.

When issues of race come up, Democrats get scared, said Rashad Robinson, the president of the nonprofit group Color of Change. He lamented that President Biden and Senate Democrats had not more forcefully condemned Republicans for what he said were racist attacks on Jacksons record and identity.

The White House has to engage on these fights, Robinson told us. Republicans will weaponize race and racism to achieve their goals, but Democrats dont elevate racial justice.
Belying its claims of de-escalation, Russia increased bomb and artillery attacks in Ukraine on Wednesday and sent conflicting signals about the prospects for peace, suggesting new tensions in the Kremlin hierarchy about the course of the war.

The contradictory messaging came as a newly declassified U.S. intelligence assessment suggested that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had been misinformed about the wars trajectory by subordinates, who were fearful of his reaction to the Russian militarys struggles and setbacks.

The intelligence, according to multiple American officials, showed Mr. Putins isolation and what appeared to be growing tension between him and the Ministry of Defense, including with his defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, who was once among the most trusted members of the Kremlin inner circle and had been rumored to be a possible successor one day to Mr. Putin.

It was not clear whether the release of the declassified intelligence was intended to sow anxiety within Mr. Putins circle as part of a broader information battle between the United States and Russia over Ukraine, the source of the worst tensions between the two nuclear powers since the Cold War. Nor was it clear if the intelligence was accurate.
For her part, Ripoll created Suave and focused on passinho, or little step, which involves brisk, seamless footwork; dancinha derives from it. Cria, while uneven, is worth seeing simply for the extended opening, in which the dancers take over the horizontal plane of the stage. To throbbing, percussive music, under the direction of DJ Pop Andrade, they cross the space with flying feet. Heels barely skim the floor. One performer flickered so quickly from one foot to the other  twisting his hips with stinging speed  that it seemed his legs were knitted as one.

Amid these brisk entrances and exits is an utter commitment to form: a wild, full-bodied harmony, in which rhythm has no choice but to be ignited from the inside out. May Eassy  who, we learn later in the evening, sings, too  whips her hair from side to side until it resembles a flame. As the performers etch their movement onto the stage, its clear each has something to offer. Certain moments feel lifted out of underground parties, or funk balls, in Rio. But after the dazzling opening, its not always easy for this piece to regain its momentum and power.

The dancers tone can flip like a switch. When the music stops, as it does from time to time, silence becomes a frame for their bodies in space. Hiltinho Fantastico, bare-chested in green leggings, breaks down his footwork, balancing on one foot and then the other with a rippling torso. (The joyful night-out-on-the-town costumes by Raquel Theo are meant to show skin.) He circles his hips at breakneck speed; later, he leans forward, rotating his shoulders while his head seems to float, like an alien trying to escape a body.

As the music cuts in and out, the dancing transforms the stage from one of heat  its embrace of eroticism has a cheeky sensuality  to something icier, with jerky, insistent rhythms and a darker atmosphere. The dancers celebrate their supple, free bodies, but they also live with another reality in Rio. Brazils right-wing president, Jair Bolsonaro, has encouraged police raids in favelas, where many Black Brazilians live  and dance.
African art has had a place at the Museum of Modern Art from its earliest days  though not the African art you might think. In 1935, back when the museum nestled into a townhouse on West 53rd Street, the curator James Johnson Sweeney organized African Negro Art, whose 600 specimens included Dogon painted masks, Baoule ivories and bangles and Congolese seats and spoons. It was one of the most popular exhibitions of MoMAs first decade, and toured the United States.

Why were they at MoMA, and not a museum of ethnography or anthropology (or, worst of all, natural history)? Because, Sweeney maintained, these ritual objects were in fact modern art  the best modern art of the age, in fact. As a sculptural tradition in the last century, Sweeney proclaimed, it has had no rival.

Yet if MoMA could turn these objects  notably pillaged Benin bronze plaques, which the curators borrowed from German ethnographic museums  into modern sculpture, the anonymous Africans who made them certainly did not become modern artists. Even by the 1980s, with the museums notorious Primitivism in 20th Century Art, the African masks and statues that stood alongside Gauguin and Picasso were purged of their historical, legal and religious significance, without even an indication of when they were made. Only in 2002, when the Nigerian curator Okwui Enwezor brought his sweeping exhibition The Short Century to MoMA PS1, would living African artists enter the museum, names known and on equal footing with their Western counterparts.
Every Biennial produces at least one audience favorite, often a video. The Da Corte piece  funny, creepy, lushly produced  is a natural candidate. (By rights, Jacky Connollys four-channel Descent into Hell, comparably weird but, in its tight, wraparound format, harder to watch, should be in the running too.) By contrast, whats less likely to grab attention is work in a different medium  language, visual and spoken  though the show is rich in it. Its in Jane Dicksons paintings of urban signage; in Tony Cokess fast-flashing video texts (How to mourn mass death?, I CNT BRTH), and in Ralph Lemons drawing and paintings suggestive of a kind of cosmic dance notation. Most of these are all on the 5th floor, though the main concentration of word-based art is on the 6th floor, where partition walls are up, gallery lights are low, and the soul of this Biennial is focused.

In a sense, the political spirit of this border-conscious, history-telling Biennial, and like-minded ones that have preceded it, have sprung from a single declarative eight-word sentence  I Cant Imagine Ever Wanting to Be White  which, controversially, was printed on metal admission tags made for the 1993 edition. The phrase and the tags were conceived by the artist and provocateur Daniel Joseph Martinez, who later contributed to the 2008 show, and does again to the present one.

For his 2022 new work, he photographed himself in the (prosthetically enhanced) guise of five pop-cultural post-human antiheroes including Frankenstein, Count Dracula and the Alien Bounty Hunter from The X-Files. But what makes the piece gripping is a statement that accompanies the images, a scathing indictment of the human race as the earths ultimate invasive species, one thats about to self-destruct and take every other living thing down with it.
That grim and giddy slice of existentialism called Samuel Beckett Land doesnt exactly scream out to be musically adapted, but the world of opera, where tragedy and comedy coexist, is exactly where at least one of his plays fits in.

Fin de Partie, the opera of Becketts masterly Endgame, makes its French premiere on April 28 at the Palais Garnier in Paris. It is a sort of homecoming for this adaptation of the four-person, one-act play that he wrote in France, where he lived much of his adult life, after leaving his native Ireland.

Fin de Partie reveals how Becketts play may be ideally suited to operatic interpretation and can now be appreciated anew since his original French words will now be sung, bringing the opera full circle four years after its 2018 premiere to a rapturous reception at La Scala in Milan.

The esteemed Hungarian composer Gyorgy Kurtag, known mostly for extremely short works, sometimes only minutes or seconds long, wrote the opera  his first  in his late 80s. He also wrote the French libretto, which will now be sung for the first time in France.
John Eliot Gardiner has been recording the St. John Passion for so long that the countertenor from his first taping of the work, Michael Chance, has been replaced on this new version  Gardiners third  by Chances son, Alexander. Despite the glimpse of familiarity, Gardiners view of this Passion, the one that best suits his operatic flair for drama, has sharpened in the 35 years since his first take. From the stabbing bass line of the opening chorus to the soaring final chorale, there is an unsparing directness to this latest account, which was set down live in Oxford, England, on Good Friday last year.

Not for Gardiner the pietistically devotional approach that can stultify. His John is now a parable about the ferocity of the mob  one he connects in promotional materials to what were, at the time of recording, recent events in Washington  and it is one he tells with the disturbingly ruthless violence that his formidable control of his forces allows. If the vocal soloists are not quite the stars Gardiner assembled for his 1986 and 2003 accounts, they serve the grittiness of the interpretation perfectly; so, too, does the nastily serrated edge to some of the instrumental playing. Pleasant it is not, but neither is the story  and the moments of seraphic beauty become all the more redemptive. DAVID ALLEN

Johnson: Combinations

Quatuor Bozzini (Dame)
The show around Oldman is not entirely up to the standards set by his performance, but its not too far off  Slow Horses is a highly satisfying celebration and sendup of the John le Carre novels that clearly inspired it. Its a complicated conspiracy thriller crossed with an office comedy, and it lightly dusts grungy realism with off-kilter, absurdist touches that only occasionally misfire. It also showcases a great cast  Oldman is joined by, among others, Kristin Scott Thomas as MI5s steely head of operations, Jonathan Pryce as a retired spymaster and Jack Lowden as a young agent recently arrived at Slough House, and theyre all fantastic.

If theres a problem with the show, its the inverse of whats sometimes referred to as Netflix bloat. Slow Horses demonstrates that six episodes  a standard length for British crime dramas  isnt necessarily enough time to adapt a complexly plotted, fully characterized book. The show is more faithful to Herrons novel than you might expect, with the result that the turns in the story can seem arbitrary and be hard to follow.

The show begins with a breathless action sequence now set at Londons Stansted Airport  a nine-minute scene full of earbud commands, sprinting, yelling, tackling and escalator misbehavior. (The unspoken joke in the book is that nothing nearly as invigorating, or as tritely cinematic, happens again; several subsequent chases have been added in the series, a bit of audience pandering that reads as a failure of imagination.)

The fallout from that scene is what brings Lowdens River Cartwright, who is rash, idealistic and actually highly capable, to Slough House, where hes surrounded by other disgraced agents who are more or less resigned to being sidelined. He chafes against his demotion, which he believes was undeserved, and against Lambs put-downs; when an assignment to go through a journalists garbage appears to be connected to a hostage crisis, he disobeys Lambs orders and investigates, eventually pulling the rest of the Slough House crew with him.

As directed by James Hawes and mostly written by Will Smith, who worked on the Armando Iannucci political satires Veep and The Thick of It, its an enjoyable, acidic but low-key ride through the night streets and dull days of London. Its focused as much on pub dates, office gripe sessions and desultory stakeout conversations as on tradecraft, and every line of dialogue threatens to turn into a creative insult or a bitter joke. (A favorite: Bringing you up to speed is like trying to explain Norway to a dog.)
LONDON  For Rose Matafeo, theres just something about a classic love story. Particularly movies from Hollywoods golden age, featuring heartthrobs with trans-Atlantic accents, witty female leads and zero cynicism.

It follows, then, that theres an air of midcentury romanticism to Starstruck, the HBO Max show Matafeo created and stars in. I totally dont live in reality, I live in fantasy, so its quite natural for me to make a thing that was not realistic, Matafeo, 30, said in a recent video call.

Starstruck explores the fraught and joyfully improbable love story of Jessie (Matafeo), a New Zealander in her twenties struggling to make a life for herself in London, and Tom (Nikesh Patel), a famous British actor. The second season  now streaming  picks up where the first left off, with Jessie having abandoned her plans to move back to New Zealand, and the pair embarking on an official relationship.

Matafeo, who co-wrote episodes with Alice Snedden and Nic Sampson, wanted Starstruck to be a combination of wish fulfillment, fantasy stuff and also realistic dialogue. In a video call, she discussed the inspirations behind that medley. These are edited excerpts from that conversation.
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep  and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.

Poor Sense of Timing

In a new interview with a right-wing news outlet this week, former President Donald Trump called on Vladimir Putin to release damaging information on the Bidens.

Late-night hosts questioned his timing.

Damn, hes asking for Russian help through the TV again? Does this man have no shame? Stephen Colbert said. And I withdraw the question.
A highlight of the art worlds gradual return to business as usual is the reintroduction of the Brooklyn Museums First Saturdays. The institution offered First Saturday Lite events last summer, but on Saturday the treasured monthly tradition returns in full for the first time since March 2020.

This weekends programming, which starts at 5 p.m., includes a performance by the musician Isa Reyes; an hour of 10-minute talks about the history and future of Black representation within the museums American Art galleries, led by its Teen Apprentices; and a town hall with the museums director, Anne Pasternak, and a group of City Council members. A complete list of activities is available at brooklynmuseum.org.

First Saturday is free to the public. Because of Covid-related restrictions on capacity, advance registration for the indoor events is required, but no R.S.V.P. is needed for Fundred Projects Viva Brooklyn! With Mel Chin, a celebration taking place on the museums plaza in honor of Chins initiative to eradicate lead poisoning in children.

MELISSA SMITH
This policing via popular media  comparing womens outfits, judging their beach bodies and speculating as to how and why they were or werent pregnant  served as a warning for less famous women: See what can happen when you leave the house? The subtext was that any woman who put herself out there was asking for whatever she got. Disparagement was the price a woman paid for fame. That not all of these women sought or desired fame didnt seem to matter.

Carolyn Chernoff, a sociologist who researches women and popular culture, said this media scrutiny seemed to worsen in the 1980s, perhaps as a reaction to feminist gains. More and more women are in the workplace, are getting more power, are working visibly in powerful jobs, she said. This led to what she called a correction, with the media coming after any woman perceived as too famous, too powerful, too exposed.

Ironically, the feminist gains of the 80s and 90s werent even particularly sturdy. We had Sally Ride going to space and Toni Morrison winning the Pulitzer, said Allison Yarrow, the author of 90s Bitch: Media, Culture and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality. But what I realize now is that it was one woman per industry who can succeed.

According to Yarrows analysis, famous women who found themselves in the news were the targets of negative coverage. Worse, she said, the narrative became that women purposely engineered negative coverage for personal gain.

Cindi Leive, a former editor of the womens magazines Self and Glamour, said that, in the late 90s, there was definitely a sense in general of celebrity watching as sport. (The magazines she edited werent as brutalizing as the tabloids, but they did reaffirm some of the same biases.) Theres an element of dehumanization that crept into all of our coverage  the industry broadly, Leive said.

If you flipped through certain magazines at this time you could be forgiven for thinking that there was no right way to be a woman, only wrong ones  bimbo or frump, slut or prude, shrew or doormat. The line seemed impossible to walk, especially in heels  although being pretty, white, thin and rich typically gave you a leg up. For women who violated the hegemonic norm in other ways the challenges were much worse, though not necessarily the public scrutiny.
Nancy Milford, the biographer of women who helped light up the Jazz Age  Zelda Fitzgerald, the original flapper and wife and literary muse of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay  died on Tuesday at her home in Manhattan. She was 84.

Her son, Matthew Milford, said the cause had not been determined.

An indefatigable researcher, Ms. Milford brought the chaotic, troubled Zelda Fitzgerald and her world to vivid life in Zelda (1970) through letters, albums, scrapbooks, interviews with her friends and her husbands as well as reports by psychiatrists who treated Zelda for schizophrenia. Her mental health was declining by the late 1920s and led to institutionalizations in the 1930s and 40s.

She haunts our idea of what it is like to be this spirited girl caught in a web of destruction, which ends up being romanticized, Ms. Milford told Interview magazine in 2011.

During one stay at a clinic in Baltimore in 1932, the Alabama-born Zelda quickly wrote Save Me the Waltz (1932), a semi-autobiographical novel about a Southern belle, Alabama Beggs; her husband, a painter; and her attempt to become a ballet dancer. In Zelda, Ms. Milford called the novel a good deal more than the curio of a deranged sensibility working over the grievances of a life with Scott Fitzgerald, or of a life shattered by mental illness.
Haruki Murakamis trilogy 1Q84 kept me spellbound for all of its 1,328 pages, which is unusual for me, says the biologist Frans de Waal, whose latest book is Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist. Such an unrealistic story, yet so realistically told.

What books are on your night stand?

Im reading Paul Therouxs Deep South. Even though Ive lived in Georgia for 30 years, I remain an outsider and still have lots to learn about the region. I am intrigued by its history  from my house I can see Stone Mountain, which features the nations largest Confederate monument  but Therouxs travelogue strikes me as rather cliched. It entirely ignores the vibrant new South seen here in Atlanta.

Whats the last great book you read?

Two totally different books. Haruki Murakamis trilogy 1Q84 kept me spellbound for all of its 1,328 pages, which is unusual for me. Such an unrealistic story, yet so realistically told. I read most books in English, but Murakami and other non-English-language authors I often read translated into my native Dutch. The second book concerns the discoveries behind the spectacular mRNA vaccines that are saving the world of the Covid pandemic. The Code Breaker, by Walter Isaacson, should perhaps be titled The Code Breakers, because its about two women who discovered new molecular gene-editing tools and shared the Nobel Prize for their pioneering work. Science writing at its best.

Describe your ideal reading experience.

I sit comfortably in my leather chair in the center of my office, which is also my personal living space in our home. I listen to music of almost any kind (Bach, opera, pop, rock, Indian raga) and have a cat in my lap, who keeps an eye on the large aquarium in the corner. It will be late, after 9:30 p.m., because in the daytime I do other things. I used to watch late-night political shows, but for my mental sanity I have given up on that. Instead, I read more books. Real books, because I dont enjoy reading on a tablet.
MAMMA MIA What would you give to be able to spend time with your mother as a young woman, before lifes obligations and turning points landed with a thud on her shoulders? In One Italian Summer, now in its fourth week on the hardcover fiction list, Rebecca Serle immerses her protagonist in this fantasy. The circumstances are bittersweet for Katy Silver, who proceeds with a long-planned vacation to the Amalfi Coast after Carol, her mother and intended traveling companion, dies of cancer. There, in the lobby of her hotel in Positano, she runs into a 30-year-old incarnation of Carol.

Serles mother is very much alive; in fact, Ranjana Serle recently surprised her daughter in Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., at the last stop on her book tour. But One Italian Summer has a back story thats partially grounded in reality, Serle explained in a phone interview. In the summer of 2019, I went to Rome and then Positano with my mom. She had spent time there after her second year of college; she had fallen in love and had this magical summer. She had always, always talked about this time.

While they were traveling, the Serles tracked down Remo Pizotti, Ranjanas long-ago Italian boyfriend, and arranged to meet him at the Trevi Fountain. They recognized each other immediately, which was so sweet, Serle said. They saw each other and embraced and he brought my mother this charm that said love on it that she had given him almost 50 years beforehand. With the help of Google Translate, the trio chatted at a coffee shop that was once the bar where Ranjana and Remo first crossed paths.

Serle explained that her parents have been married for 40 years, and that her father endorsed this reunion even though it took place on his birthday. When she and her mother said goodbye to Pizotti at a bus stop, Serle glanced back and noticed him watching Ranjana walk away. It was very sweet and also a bit sad, she said. It got me thinking about the women our mothers are before we meet them. There are moments in life if youre a writer where the moment is just shrieking at you to pay attention. I knew I wanted to tell a mother-daughter story and this one sort of laid itself out for me. (No spoilers, but Katy and Carol spend time with a heartthrob named Remo.)
The short-term and long-term flaws with the countrys current Covid-19 policy are quite different.

In the short term, the main problem is a lack of demand for Covid vaccines and treatments: Not enough people are trying to get them. In the longer term  by the second half of this year  the bigger problem may end up being a lack of supply, especially if cases surge again.

I think this distinction has gotten lost in some of the public discussion. Yesterday, President Biden called for additional Covid funding, after Congress had left out such money from its most recent spending bill because of a disagreement over how to pay for it.

We need to secure additional supply now, Biden said in a brief speech, shortly before receiving his second booster shot onstage. We cant wait until we find ourselves in the midst of another surge to act. Itll be too late.

Biden is right that the lack of funding creates problems. To ensure an adequate supply of vaccines and treatments later this year, the government probably needs to take action soon. Democrats and Republicans have been negotiating over a possible deal this week.
Tensions in Russia over the war in Ukraine

A day after Russia made claims of de-escalation, it increased bomb and artillery attacks in Ukraine and sent conflicting signals about the prospects for peace, suggesting new tensions in the Kremlin hierarchy about the course of the war. Follow the latest updates from the war.

New declassified U.S. intelligence assessment suggested that Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, had been misinformed about the wars trajectory by subordinates, who feared his reaction to the Russian militarys struggles and setbacks. Tensions appear to be increasing between Putin and the Ministry of Defense.

It was not clear whether the release of the declassified intelligence was intended to sow anxiety within Putins circle  or indeed whether the intelligence was accurate at all. White House officials said that they had released it to share what they said was a full understanding of how Putin had miscalculated.

Casualties: The U.N. said that at least 1,189 people had been killed so far in the war, although that is almost certainly an undercount.
War roils global energy access

On Thursday, the White House announced a plan to release up to 180 million barrels of oil from U.S. strategic reserves, the largest release since it was created, hoping to push gas prices down. Oil prices, which had been surging since the fighting in Ukraine began, fell modestly on expectations of the announcement. But diesel prices are still soaring.

At the same time, OPEC and its allies, including Russia, decided to stick with their previously agreed-upon plan of modest monthly production increases. Still, European leaders again rejected Russias demand that gas deliveries be paid in rubles.

Food: The U.N. is forecasting the worst global hunger crisis in decades as the conflict constrains grain exports. Ukraine said on Thursday that it had lost $1.5 billion in such exports since the war began.

Saboteurs: Ukrainian fears of Russian spies have led to a rise in checkpoints, hotlines and apps for reporting suspicious activities.
On social media, a growing number of citizens are accusing the Communist Party of breaching its social contract with the people. They had tolerated, and sometimes praised, one-party rule in exchange for economic growth and social stability. But its stringent lockdown measures, which are straining entire cities, and its regulatory crackdowns are costing many of them jobs and income and leaving their futures looking much more uncertain and gloomier than a few years ago.

After one official newspaper, Guangming Daily, published a commentary about the governments persistence in pursuing its zero-Covid policy, which has led to harsh and unpredictable lockdowns, users on the social media platform Weibo posted nearly 10,000 comments, with the vast majority urging the government to end the strategy. Please read these comments. Please look at the lives of ordinary people, wrote a user called Diqiuren1990. All the comments disappeared the next day after the commenting function was disabled.

After the Chinese ambassador to the United States wrote an opinion piece for The Washington Post about Chinas position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, tens of thousands of social media users on WeChat rushed to post comments on a Chinese translation. The vast majority of those posts criticized Chinas position, which is pro-Russia under a veneer of neutrality. Theres no neutrality in the struggle between justice and evil, one comment said. Straddling between two boats will only end up in falling in the water. All of those comments ended up censored, too.

And a viral video with the headline The demise of Chinas glory and dream lamented the disastrous impact of the governments crackdowns on the private sector. It was liked by many of the countrys top investors, scholars and entrepreneurs, including a co-founder of Tencent, Chinas biggest internet company, who had left the company. The video has been deleted.
Under growing pressure to bring down high energy prices, President Biden announced on Thursday that the United States would release up to 180 million barrels of oil from a strategic reserve to counteract the economic impact of Russias invasion of Ukraine.

With midterm elections just months away, gasoline prices have risen nearly $1.50 a gallon over the last year, undercutting consumer confidence. And the cost of diesel, the fuel used by most farmers and shippers, has climbed even faster, threatening to push up already high inflation on all manner of goods and services.

I know how much it hurts, Mr. Biden said Thursday as he announced the plan. As youve heard me say before, I grew up in a family like many of you where the price of a gallon gasoline went up, it was a discussion at the kitchen table.

Mr. Biden has few tools to control commodity prices that are set on global markets, so he is turning to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, ordering the largest release since that emergency stockpile was established in the early 1970s. But the move will most likely have a modest impact because it cannot make up for all the oil, diesel and other fuels that Russia used to sell to the world but is no longer able to.
BERLIN  European Union and German regulators carried out unannounced inspections at several companies involved in the supply, transmission and storage of natural gas, on suspicion of violating E.U. competition regulations, the authorities said on Thursday.

None of the companies targeted in the raids, which took place on Tuesday, were identified, and both the European Commission, the executive arm of the bloc, and Germanys antitrust regulator, the Bundeskartellamt, refused to comment further.

Reuters and German media reported that two companies subjected to the inspections were Gazprom Germania and Wingas, both subsidiaries of Gazprom, Russias state-owned gas supplier. Neither company responded to requests for comment.

The commission said the surprise raids were part of a preliminary investigatory step into suspected anticompetitive practices. If sufficient evidence of wrongdoing is found, a formal investigation can proceed.
With analysts warning of a coming oil supply crunch, OPEC and its allies, including Russia, decided on Thursday to stick with their previously agreed plan of modest monthly increases. The group, known as OPEC Plus, said it would increase oil output in May by 432,000 barrels a day, a slight uptick from the usual increase of 400,000 barrels a day for technical reasons.

In a news release after what was probably a very brief meeting, OPEC Plus repeated its thinking of a month earlier. The group said that the outlook was for a well-balanced market and that recent volatility in prices was not caused by fundamentals, but by ongoing geopolitical developments, apparently meaning the war in Ukraine.

In contrast, many analysts are warning that with oil storage tanks at low levels, sanctions over the war in Ukraine and a kind of buyers strike underway against Russian oil, a major supply crunch could develop, lowering global economic growth and stoking inflation.

OPEC Plus acted just before the White House made public plans to release up to 180 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves in response to the rising oil prices and in anticipation of possible spikes in demand or drops in supply. White House officials said they expected other countries to announce additional contributions at a meeting of the International Energy Agency on Friday.
Adriana Hoffmann, a botanist who roamed Chile deciphering its flora and who as a scientist, activist, author and policymaker tirelessly sought to protect her countrys vast forests from big-business exploitation, died on March 20 at her home in Santiago, the capital. She was 82.

She had been struggling with health problems for the last several years, her daughter Leonora Calderon Hoffmann said, and died of an acute clot in a lung.

The presence of two Chilean cabinet ministers at her funeral made clear the importance of her legacy to the country, where scientists-turned-politicians are helping to make a new constitution shaped by the climate crisis.

Her friends and colleagues said Ms. Hoffman had a well-trained eye for identifying rare plants as she traversed the deserts and forests of Chile either on foot or in her Jeep. She classified more than 100 species.
Most of the supporters Ive spoken to at Zemmours events since last fall have tried to convince me that he is a mainstream conservative, as if by virtue of not being a Le Pen, he couldnt possibly be on the far right. In reality, Zemmour is one of the most prominent promoters of grand remplacement. He has asked whether young French people will accept to live as a minority on the land of their ancestors, a concern Marechal shares. Recently, she noted that it was possible that in 2060 the historic native people could be minorities on French territory. Marechal told me that the identity question is central to the election, that for the French it is a vital question, they feel it in their flesh, a vital threat that gives them anxiety. She explained that it was because they have the feeling that in several years France will no longer be France, because the population will have largely changed, it will be majority-Muslim, it will no longer be France as weve known it. She went on: Often, Muslim women who wear the full-body veil or burqa are reproached: If you want so much to live like in Afghanistan or in Iraq, then go live in Afghanistan or Iraq.

This kind of provocation, she continued, gives the French the feeling that theyre trying to impose a foreign culture, against the most basic traditions, the visibility of the face in public, and the equality of men and women. So, if you want to attack that on the pretext of individual liberty, its an insult to what we are, to our way of life, to our country.

Officially, France promotes an assimilationist model. This means that anyone can be French, so long as they adopt French cultural norms. The origins of this code date to the 19th century, when the French government, in order to form a cohesive nation-state, imposed unifying measures on different regional identities. French culture, in other words, was created. This history has made the French more willing to accept that the state should play a role in countering fragmentation and individualism. This helps explain why centrists like Macron inveigh against American identity politics even when they dont embrace far-right talking points. We have a need for unity, Bastie, the conservative journalist, told me, noting that the role of the Catholic church in public life had also been reduced in the name of these principles. In this context, the fact that Zemmour is of North African Jewish heritage works to his advantage. He knows what hes talking about, Marechal told me. He has legitimacy. He is the son of immigrants, he knows what it means to assimilate, to give up part of your identity in order to become French.

But it would be a mistake to conclude from this that the emerging French right is interested in neutral statism; on the contrary, it wants to assert the primacy of a particular notion of Frenchness  part historical, part phantasmagorical. I think people on the right are exasperated by the idea that we put all the religions on the same level, Bastie said. The right has turned the page on this kind of relativism. We have a specific Judeo-Christian heritage that we must assume. Only Europe and the West refuse to assume their own heritage. A Muslim country would never say that its heritage isnt Muslim.

The French far right, like its American counterparts, has taken an interest in the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban. Orbans calls for a Europe that rejects multiculturalism and asserts its Christian heritage were always meant to attract the attention of Western European conservatives. Zemmour and Marechal visited Budapest together last fall, and Marine Le Pen made a showy campaign stop there. But their support for Orban and his allies in the Polish government goes beyond rhetoric. On matters of immigration and asylum, E.U. law, which regulates the qualifications for asylum in member states, takes precedence over the laws of nations. The right claims that this prevents France from enacting the kinds of immigration controls it believes are necessary. As a result, many right-wing politicians support the Central European governments refusal to abide by E.U. directives on immigration and their fight to assert their sovereignty, currently playing out in E.U. courts. Right-wing candidates have promised that, if elected, their first move would be a referendum to insert a national-sovereignty clause into the Constitution. We need to offer a democratic response to people on all these questions of immigration, security, crime, Bastie told me. If theres no democratic response, there could be a temptation to topple over into something else  a refusal of democracy.

The French electoral system is set up in such a way that Zemmour almost certainly cannot win. If no candidate gains an outright majority in the first round of voting, the two top candidates move on to a second round of voting, in which the winner must clear 50 percent. It is highly unlikely that Zemmour, or any far-right candidate, can cross that threshold. But he may accomplish his goals nonetheless. The real reason for Zemmours candidacy, Lejeune, the editor of Valeurs Actuelles, told me, was to lay the foundation for a future movement. The defections from Le Pens party were happening because they think that even if Zemmour loses, Le Pen is going to lose no matter what, Lejeune told me. So he will leave behind a base thats much more inclusive than the National Front on its own. Pecresses center-right party has also been sinking in the polls and is at risk of becoming obsolete. Which makes it even more likely that Zemmour and Marechal, whether she runs again for public office or not, and regardless of vote tallies, are setting the tone for whatever comes next.
There are some people out there who insist that the moon landing never happened. As far as I know, the director Richard Linklater is not among them, but his new movie whimsically proposes its own revisionist account of what NASA was up to in the summer of 1969. Before Neil Armstrong took his giant leap, it seems, a Texas fourth grader named Stan stepped out of the landing module and onto the lunar surface.

Stans story is narrated by his grown-up self (voiced by Jack Black). It isnt really a full-blown conspiracy theory, but more what Tom Sawyer might have called a stretcher  the kind of yarn it might be fun to pretend to believe. The full title of the film, which debuts on Netflix this week, is Apollo 10: A Space Age Childhood, and Stans astronaut fabulations are bright threads in a cozy fabric of baby-boomer nostalgia.

Plenty of kids dreamed of going to the moon back then. Stans imaginary adventures are filtered through animation techniques that are both dreamlike and precise, so that they blend seamlessly into his meticulously rendered suburban reality. (The head of animation is Tommy Pallotta, whose previous collaborations with Linklater include Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly.) And thats what the movie is really about: remembering what it was like to be a young American in the 60s. Blacks voice-over has a wry, can-you-believe-it quality, as if Stan were a dad (or even, at this point, a grandpa) regaling the youngsters with stories about the old days. Or maybe boring them stiff, if theyve heard this stuff before.
Over two days in September, 1941, German soldiers, assisted by Ukrainian collaborators, murdered 33,771 Jews at the Babi Yar ravine outside Kyiv. The massacre was one of the earliest and deadliest episodes in what is sometimes called the holocaust by bullets, a phase of the Nazi genocide that took place outside the mechanized slaughter of the death camps. These mobile killing squads, known as Einsatzgruppen, are estimated to have taken at least 1.5 million lives.

The Ukrainian-born filmmaker Sergei Loznitsas new documentary, consisting of archival footage interspersed with a few tersely informative title cards, is called Babi Yar: Context. Whats meant by context isnt so much a broad, explanation of the event  such as one finds in the historian Timothy Snyders book Bloodlands  as a detailed visual narrative with a hole in the middle.

When the Germans invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, they brought movie cameras as well as rifles. So did the Soviet Army when it took back Kyiv in 1943. Some of those cameras were instruments of propaganda; others were wielded by amateurs. The two sides left behind an extensive cinematic record, a pool of images that have mostly languished unseen since the end of the war. Weaving them together and dubbing in sound (the rumble of tanks and the murmur of crowds, with an occasional snippet of intelligible speech), Loznitsa has assembled a wrenching and revelatory collage.
My, what sharp teeth he has  and what lovely skin, too. One of the revelations of Morbius  the latest movie to take a marginal Marvel character out of mothballs for his blockbuster close-up  is that regular blood smoothies do wonders for the skin. To judge by the chiseled planes of Morbiuss arms and torso, pounding shots of the slurpy stuff also builds muscles much faster than mainlining anabolic steroids can.

Still, the bigger surprise about Morbius is that it doesnt suck, at least as a movie. Against the odds and despite the insufferable persona that its star Jared Leto has cultivated, it provides all you want from a diversion about a brilliant scientist with bottomless financial resources (as well as a hot but smart assistant) who, after refusing his Nobel for his genius scientific invention, secretly develops a serum that turn him into a batlike creature with razor nails, great powers and a hunger for human blood. It also runs under two hours, i.e., a full hour less than that recent slugfest The Batman. I mean, whats not to like?

As usual, it opens with some temporal scrambling in the present-day Costa Rica, where the adult Morbius (Leto) swoops in on a helicopter, a darkly romantic vision with a curtain of jet-black hair, billowing clothes and hired guns. There, he embarks on a close encounter with vampire bats, as one does when swimming with dolphins has become too pedestrian. Slicing open his palm, he draws first blood and is inundated by a cloud of bats. After a leisurely flashback to his sad childhood, Morbius is back in his New York lab, experimenting and knitting brows alongside a colleague, Monica (Adria Arjona).
Chris Pine often seems too pretty, too nice, decent and, well, intelligent for his movies. Hes comfortable sharing the screen with both men and women, and can persuasively shift registers, all while letting you see him thinking, not just emoting. His range elevates action movies like Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, a 2014 take on the Tom Clancy property. Even so, I forgot that Id reviewed Jack Ryan until I looked it up recently. Like too many of Pines movies, it just didnt stick.

Multiple knowns and unknowns shape the careers of actors  the choices that they make and the good and baffling ones that are made for and despite them. For whatever reason, Pine has never taken off the way he should have. One obvious explanation is that unlike, say, Andrew Garfield or the Marvelites named Chris (Evans, Hemsworth, Pratt), Pine hasnt slipped on a superhero suit. He did voice one of the title characters in the animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, but that was a collective rather than self-aggrandizing endeavor.

And while Pine has done time in the superhero world (including as Wonder Womans squeeze), his biggest franchise turn as a headliner has been in the uneven Star Trek series, in which he plays Captain Kirk. (A fourth is apparently in the works.) Pine has made Kirk his own with a deft balance of personality and character homage that holds the center even when the movies collapse around him. He has also appeared in a raft of fine and middling smaller movies. Whats missing from his resume is more work thats sharp and distinctive enough to rise above the gray middle, the way that his 2016 western Hell or High Water did.

Which brings me to Pines latest, The Contractor, a thriller that yearningly evokes the Bourne series while never approaching its level. (Pine even mentions that franchise in this movies production notes.) He plays James, an Army Special Forces officer recovering from a serious injury that he suffered out in the field, and that has nearly ruined one of his knees. Its a character-defining detail (hes vulnerable, physically and otherwise) that also works as a convenient plot device. But Jamess struggles also extend to the home front: Like many American families, his is badly in debt and the bills keep coming.
The judge also tossed out fresh State Senate and Assembly districts that he said were the product of an irrevocably tainted mapmaking process. He ordered Democrats to come up with new bipartisanly supported maps by April 11.

If they fail, Justice McAllister said he would appoint an independent special master to draw them, raising the possibility that candidates already campaigning could be left in limbo for weeks, and that primaries scheduled for June could be delayed.

The ruling, which Democrats predicted would be overturned on appeal, was the latest setback for their party in what has become a high-stakes national redistricting battle that may help determine which party controls the House of Representatives next year.

Last week, a judge in Maryland ruled that district lines that would have given Democrats an advantage in at least seven of eight districts were an extreme gerrymander and gave lawmakers just a few days to attempt a new configuration. Just days earlier, the United States Supreme Court struck down a Wisconsin legislative map that would have created a new majority Black district. And it now appears that a new Ohio House map that heavily favors Republicans will stand for 2022, despite a state court ruling that declared it a partisan gerrymander.

Democrats view New York as perhaps the best opportunity for the party to use its unified control of a large blue state to flip a handful of congressional seats as it tries to stave off a Republican takeover of the House of Representatives this November.
Voters  especially Democrats  appear to disagree. A recent Rutgers Eagleton poll found that 73 percent of people surveyed said they preferred having someone else pump their gas. Roughly 82 percent of Democrats preferred full-service, compared with 64 percent of Republicans. And nearly 90 percent of women said they would rather have an attendant pump their gas, compared with 55 percent of men, the poll found.

The bill would require owners of stations with more than four pumps to offer a full-service option between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. It was introduced in the Assembly, but is unlikely to advance in the Senate without Mr. Scutaris support.

The people of New Jersey are very clear in wanting to keep the system we have now, Mr. Scutari said in a policy position first reported by the New Jersey Monitor. He also said he was not convinced that the addition of self-service lanes would lead to lower gas prices.

Still, he did leave open a small window of hope for supporters of self-service gasoline. If the public sentiment changes or there is in fact data showing that it would dramatically reduce costs, Mr. Scutari said in a text message, I would reconsider.

In 2016, a former Republican governor, Chris Christie, offered a similar argument for not supporting self-service gas.

The last poll we did on this question, 78 percent of New Jersey women said they were opposed to self-service gas. Seventy-eight percent! he reportedly said at the time. You cant find 78 percent of people in New Jersey who agree on anything!
After 30 days, a book would be deemed lost and a replacement fee would be charged. Fines didnt accrue forever, but anyone owing $15 or more in fees would be blocked from checking out materials. In 2019, the New York, Brooklyn and Queens Public Libraries collected more than $3 million in late fees, according to Angela Montefinise, the vice president of communications and marketing for the New York Public Library.

When Tony Marx joined the New York Public Library as president in 2011, it was his mission, he said, to eliminate fines for good. Amnesty programs were put in place and, in Brooklyn, a study was conducted on the effectiveness of fines and the barriers that patrons faced in returning books.

Then, in 2017, the public library in Nashville eliminated fines, and those in Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco followed two years later. It wasnt until the pandemic hit, and fines were temporarily suspended in New York, that Mr. Marx saw a clear opportunity to change the citys system permanently.

We learned that we could adjust our budget to do everything we needed to do and cover the lost revenue, because were not in the revenue-generating business, Mr. Marx, a former president of Amherst College, said in an interview. We are not in the fine-collection business. Were in the encouraging-to-read-and-learn business, and we were getting in our own way.

For some city residents, the fines had been particularly discouraging. Dominique Gomillion said she stopped going to her library in Jamaica, Queens, after books she had taken out for her 8-year-old daughter, Ariel, left her with more than $50 in late fees  a substantial sum for her as a single parent.

Its just me and her, Ms. Gomillion, a 32-year-old supervisor at UPS, said in a phone interview. Theres not really much other support that we have.
Also in The Times, Ligaya Mishan, contemplating lentils, had lyrical leguminous fun: They start out as pebbles in the hand, hard and tiny  in certain parts of the world, they are the size against which all small things are measured. Then, in the pot, their little stony hearts melt. They soften, loosen up and let other flavors in. Theyre still discrete, still individuals, but now joined in common cause, and they swell and grow plump, so you end up with more than twice as much, velvety and lush. (Stella Liu, Manhattan)

Paul Krugman noted: Putins response to failure in Ukraine has been extremely Trumpian: insisting that his invasion is all going according to plan, refusing to admit having made any mistakes and whining about cancel culture. Im half expecting him to release battle maps crudely modified with a Sharpie. (Avi Liveson, Chatham, N.J., and Valerie Masin, Boston, among others)

And Bret Stephens, in his weekly back-and-forth with Gail Collins, wrote: It looks like we have a new superinfectious subvariant of Covid to keep us awake at night. Forget Omicron, now weve got Omigod. (Kris Schaff, Omaha, Neb., and Larry Berman, Westfield, N.J.)

In National Parks magazine, Jacob Baynham reported on a positive reaction to the meatless, fungus-based breakfast patties he cooked for his family one morning: Our disobedient dog begged at my feet, an endorsement tempered by the fact that he also eats mouth guards, used tissues and socks. (Peter Alexander, Longmont, Colo.)

In a review of Brezhnev: The Making of a Statesman, by Susanne Schattenberg, in The London Review of Books, Neal Ascherson wrote: Polish communism was dead, though it took nearly eight years for the nation to wriggle out from under the corpse. (George Milman, Beverly Hills, Calif.)

And in his Weekly Dish newsletter on Substack, Andrew Sullivan pondered the rebirth of imperial Russia with this observation: The greatest mistake liberals make when assessing reactionaryism is to underestimate it. There is a profound, mesmerizing allure  intensified by disillusion with the shallows of modernity  to the idea of recovering some great meaning from decades or centuries gone by, to resurrect and resuscitate it, to blast away all the incoherence and instability of postmodern life into a new collective, ancient meaning. (Stephen Ranger, Toronto)

To nominate favorite bits of recent writing from The Times or other publications to be mentioned in For the Love of Sentences, please email me here, and please include your name and place of residence.
To the Editor:

Re The Covid-19 Pandemic Didnt Have to Be This Way (column, March 12):

Zeynep Tufekci demonstrates how it is much easier to understand an epidemic in hindsight. She takes the public health community to task for not recognizing that Covid-19 was spread by asymptomatic people earlier, but doesnt mention that a severe shortage of test kits during the early months of the epidemic in the U.S. meant that testing was focused on symptomatic people who needed hospitalization. This clearly delayed the recognition of asymptomatic transmission.

She also urges us to be more like Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, but there are some important differences between those societies and ours. First, mask wearing is traditionally practiced by many people in those countries to avoid spreading illness even when there is not a pandemic. Second, those societies place a greater value on the individuals responsibility for others.

There is no question that the U.S. needs to be better prepared for the next pandemic, and that lessons can be learned from this one. However, scolding top public health officials, high-level scientists and state governors for missteps they allegedly made while trying hard to limit viral spread under challenging conditions does not point the way to improvement.

The U.S. needs to recognize the importance of health to our national well-being and prioritize funding to develop (and then sustain) a credible public health infrastructure. Moreover, this infrastructure will need to develop strategies that are compatible with the nature of our society, and likely different from the strategies of countries in the Pacific.
But over the years Mr. Putin became increasingly less tolerant of dissent, especially as color revolutions and pro-Western leanings swept through Ukraine and Georgia and protests over dubious elections filled Russian streets. Independent media was steadily choked off, and nonprofit groups receiving funding from outside the country were required to identity themselves as foreign agents.

A growing number of educated Russians began flowing out of Russia, some to Kyiv. When I visited there some years ago, I met several prominent Russian journalists who were, in effect, living in exile, such as Yevgeny Kiselyov, a pioneering Russian television journalist in the 1990s. One Russian reporter told me then that his dream was to build in Ukraine the democracy they were now blocked from building in Russia.

When the word spread that the invasion had begun, the brain drain became a rush for the doors. With flights to more than 30 countries stopped, the twice-daily trains to Finland were full, and many more Russians fled south to Georgia, where they dont need a visa, or through Gulf States. Their stories are painfully similar, a sense that they have no future in a Russia that has been cast out of the civilized world, and that they are helpless to stop Mr. Putin. One friend, who had been visiting the United States, is applying for political asylum.

Not that Mr. Putin cares. He wields his power through a coterie of strongmen, the siloviki, who still view the world through the old Soviet prism of paranoia and ignorance. Many, like Mr. Putin, were officers in the security services, the elite shock troops of the omnipotent State. They never reconciled themselves to the loss of Russias status as a great power or bought into the notion that the people, the faceless narod, could be anything other than their subjects. And if the nettlesome liberal intelligentsia, or the new breed of wealthy business tycoons, didnt like it, let them go.

If the polling figures are right, a majority of Russians accept the tough line of their leaders. Unlike the urban intelligentsia, many people spread across Russias vast expanse, and especially the elderly, get their information solely from the governments television stations. The support is not only in the provinces: Thousands of Russians, according to the Moscow police, packed the Luzhniki stadium there for a pro-war rally on March 18, with banners reading For a world without Nazism.

However strong that support looks on paper, it could be brittle. A provincial Russian knows the right answer when asked by a pollster whether he supports the president, and many of the participants at the Luzhniki rally were likely state employees or nationalist groups bused in by the Kremlin. And Mr. Putins extraordinary efforts to deny there is any war and to minimize Russian casualties speaks to his awareness that if the truth about the special military operation and its cost came out, support would likely crumble.

When Mr. Putin recently met with women employed by Russian airlines, they all loyally declared full support for the military operation, but their questions reflected disquiet. What is in store for us at the end of this road? Will there be martial law? Will people employed in the private sector receive support? What will we do now that many Russian carriers cant fly abroad?
[MUSIC PLAYING] (SINGING) When you walk in the room, do you have sway? [MUSIC PLAYING]

kara swisher

Im Kara Swisher, and youre listening to Sway. In the past five weeks, its become increasingly dangerous to report on Russias invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainian journalists have had to flee their homes while trying to cover the war, and in Russia, the government has cracked down on any reporting that doesnt parrot its official version of events. Today we wanted to get the view from both sides of the border by talking to two journalists  one Russian and one Ukrainian. In a bit youll hear my conversation with Tikhon Dzyadko. Hes the editor-in-chief of T.V. Rain, which was the last independent television station in Russia before they suspended operations there. Tikhon has left Russia for his own safety. But first, I talked to Olga Tokariuk. Shes an independent Ukrainian journalist and a researcher whos followed Putins escalating disinformation campaign. Olga and her family left their home in Kyiv not long before Russias invasion, but they stayed in the country.

olga tokariuk

Im in western Ukraine in a location that I prefer not to disclose due to safety reasons, and Im actually speaking to you from a basement of a house where Im staying because, you know, we have sirens quite often.

kara swisher

So tell me, what is it like where you are right now on a day-to-day basis?

olga tokariuk

Well, it is difficult to call it normal life, of course. But still this part of Ukraine is safer  relatively safer  than other parts of Ukraine. There are sirens and air raid alerts daily and sometimes in the middle of the night. But still, you know, its quieter than most of the country. And actually, here in the place where Im staying, we havent had Russian airstrikes or missile strikes yet. There were targets hit about 100 kilometers from here, but here its so far relatively calm. So the main like, reminder of war, of course, is these alerts and sirens, and also the fact that there are a lot, a lot of internally displaced people. If you go on the streets of the town, youll see a lot of cars with different numbered plates from all regions of Ukraine. And while part of people has left, more and more people are arriving. So its like this constant movement of people transiting through this area  some of them staying, some of them leaving and new people arriving. And actually, its almost impossible to find an apartment for rent or even a room for rent. So people are staying at schools, they are staying at gyms. Some local residents, of course, they are sheltering people for free. But those facilities are running out. Theyre filling up very quickly. And thats also a reason why a lot of people are  even if they would have maybe preferred to stay in Ukraine, in this relatively calm part of Ukraine, but they cant find a place to stay. Thats why they are crossing the border, they are moving west, you know, in order to find maybe a safer  but also just a free place to stay.

kara swisher

Right. What is the mood of the people on the street, if theres more and more coming and as theyre moving through? Whether theyre moving on or trying to figure out what to do, what is the attitude?

olga tokariuk

Well, you know, for those who fled Kharkiv or Mariupol or other areas that have been heavily bombed by Russia, you can see relief on their faces, obviously. They are relatively safe here, and they are the first also to rush to the bomb shelters when there is an air raid alert. If you go to a bomb shelter in the center of town, youll listen to their conversations. And these are people who fled from Kharkiv, who fled from southern Ukraine, from eastern Ukraine, and they are telling their stories, you know, of how bombs were falling on their houses. And of course, there is a huge feeling of uncertainty for them. For many of them, they dont know what tomorrow will bring. But this is, I think, common for all Ukrainians now. We are living by the day. The goal is to survive by the end of this day, and hope that nothing happens overnight, that tomorrow we will wake up and somehow normal life will be restored soon. But as for now, you know, its not normal life, obviously.

kara swisher

So youre usually based in Kyiv, right? When did you decide to leave?

olga tokariuk

Yes. I lived in Kyiv for 20 years, basically. I moved there to study at the university and I lived there ever since after I graduated. And I worked there as a journalist. And I got married there. I got my child there. And I call Kyiv my home. Thats the city I love, thats the city I want to live in, I want to return to. And actually, me and my family  my husband and my daughter  we left a little bit earlier than the Russian full-scale invasion started. Because of the news that we were receiving, we thought, OK, well just go to western Ukraine on a vacation. Well stay for a couple of days, and then if everything is calm, well return. So now weve been staying here for more than a month, and we dont know when we will be able to go back home. And of course, we miss it. And my daughter is already starting the school here in western Ukraine  online school  because I thought, you know, I have to give her some sort of resemblance of a normal life. Shes not going to meet her schoolmates from Kyiv anytime soon, so maybe in the meantime, shell make new friends here.

kara swisher

Right. There obviously are two competing narratives of whats going on here  one being broadcast in the West and in Ukraine, and one in Russia and China and other places. Explain to people  youre a disinformation expert  how we got to a world with such different internets? So talk a little bit about that, the difficulty of getting news while youre in Ukraine, the news that the West is getting and the news thats happening in Russia.

olga tokariuk

Well, what the Russian state media are doing, this is not news. Well, they are broadcasting propaganda, as theyve been for many years since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. It started constructing the narrative back then about, you know, some kind of mythical Ukrainian Nazis that Russians are fighting  first in Donbass. Now they basically say that all Ukrainians are Nazis and they are fighting them in all Ukraines territory. These claims, of course, have no basis in facts because far-right groups in Ukraine are marginal. They are much less prominent than they are in many E.U. countries.

kara swisher

Or the U.S. Weve got lots of them here.

olga tokariuk

Or the U.S, yes. So its a myth that Russian propaganda was using to justify its aggression against Ukraine, starting in 2014. And they are continuing to do it now, adding more and more outrageous lies in an attempt to justify the war and the invasion that Russia launched without any, you know, action from Ukraine that might somehow justify it. So basically, one of the major differences between Ukraine and Russia, are that Ukraine has free media and Russia doesnt. In Ukraine, we have plenty of T.V. stations broadcasting different points of view. We have a lot of online media  private, public media. Of course, during the war like, you have to be careful, obviously because the government has an interest into making the population believe that things are better than they are  Im speaking about Ukraine now. So of course, when we are reading the news now, especially the news coming from official sources, I think we should be careful, maybe taking them with a grain of salt here in Ukraine. So they might be maybe emphasizing successes and not disclosing losses.

kara swisher

Can you give me some examples of that? Obviously, the reports of the ghost of Kyiv, the rogue pilot in the old fighter jet  is that useful for the government? Or is it something that could chip away at trust in the government?

olga tokariuk

Well, its still not very clear what actually happened, the story about the Ghost of Kyiv. There are some doubts, but we are not 100 percent sure that these are all false stories. So they might be partially true and they might be these urban legends that are needed, also, during the war times in order to boost peoples morale. And people would be even willing to accept these exaggerated stories because they want to believe these things. So I do not see that it could undermine trust in Ukraines government at the moment. I would generally say that the way that the government communicates with Ukrainians is very efficient, and most people trust it because their communication is very transparent. And thats also, you know, another huge difference with Russia, because Ukrainian officials are speaking to their citizens on a daily basis. President Zelensky, every day he records usually at least two videos addressing Ukrainians, in which he summarizes latest news. And he also sends messages of  boosting the morale of the people. And the same goes not just for the president  the Minister of Foreign Affairs is doing the same. And the same goes also for local governors.

kara swisher

Right. Talk about some of the other outrageous lies from Russia, besides the de-Nazification. are there others that are popping up that youre seeing?

olga tokariuk

One of the most outrageous lies is that Ukrainian armed forces are intentionally bombing their own cities and their own citizens. This is something that Russia was spreading about Mariupol. They said that, for example, the maternity hospital  well, later they admitted that Russia bombed it, but they tried to justify it by saying that there were some far-right groups inside and thats why it was bombed while Russians were also spreading lies that, in fact, there were no pregnant women, that those were actors, and that, for example, Marianna, a woman  pregnant woman  pictured after that bombing of a maternity hospital in Mariupol, that she was a crisis actor, that she was wearing makeup, that she wasnt pregnant in fact. Well, I spoke to her relatives who confirmed me that she gave birth two days after the bombing, and they sent me photos so I can double-check and see that its actually her. What Russia is doing  they are manufacturing these huge lies because their reasoning is that the bigger is the lie, the more people are likely to believe it because they would think, well, its such a huge thing, it cannot be a lie. There should be at least some truth to it.

kara swisher

Is that getting through at all in the Ukraine? Is that for people there? Or they see what they see  they can see with their eyes.

olga tokariuk

Well, of course, Russians are trying to reach Ukrainians with these lies, and theyve been doing that since 2014. This is not something new. Russians have been targeting audiences inside Russia, in Ukraine, but also in the West, with the goal to undermine support for Ukraine. So what theyve been doing in Ukraine, theyve been trying to push narratives  like that Ukraine is a failed state, that Ukraine is controlled by external forces  and trying to undermine the confidence of Ukrainians into their own government, and the support of Ukrainians into their own government. So in Kherson, in southern Ukraine, well, Russians, immediately when they enter there, they disconnect the population there from Ukrainian media and they start broadcasting on those airwaves  radio and T.V.  Russian state radio and T.V., Russian propaganda. And people in Kherson, from what Im hearing, their main source of information about Ukraine is online media and Telegram channels with the news coming from Ukrainian sources because what they hear on radio and on T.V. is Russian propaganda.

kara swisher

Theyre very effective at using the Ukrainian  using social media and cell phones and et cetera. Theyve used them quite adeptly, I would say.

olga tokariuk

Yeah. I would say that especially middle-aged and young people, everyone is glued to their smartphones. And the younger people, they educate, also, the older ones to use mobile phones, to use smartphones, to install apps where they can follow the news. Even for the sirens, we receive the alerts on phones, you know. There is this wail in an app that goes with this wailing sound of a siren. Sometimes even before you hear, actually, the siren outside, you hear it on your phone in the middle of the night.

kara swisher

Whats it called in Ukraine? Whats the name of the app?

olga tokariuk

Its called, like, Trevoha. Trevoha  actually, the literal translation is anxiety, but in fact its like an alert, an alert. So it has multiple meanings. So yeah, in general, Ukraine is quite a tech-savvy country. People are used to  they rely on using smartphones, using internet. And also in Ukraine, there is a booming I.T. sector. And a lot of these people  some of them have joined the army, but a lot of them are contributing. Not fighting, but they are staying in Ukraine in the areas that are safe and trying what they can in order to contribute, also, to this resistance effort  online, digital, using various tools.

kara swisher

Right. But there are two version of whats happening in Ukraine. What does that mean for divided families in the countries? Because theres lots of reports of families where people in the Ukraine are hearing from family in Russia who deny that any of it is actually happening. Can you talk a little bit about that phenomena?

olga tokariuk

Yes. Its quite common, actually. Especially in the first weeks of war, a lot of Ukrainians were very surprised with the fact that their friends or those who used to be their friends in Russia, and relatives, they were in complete denial of what their country was doing in Ukraine. So when they were sent photos and videos of the bombings of Kharkiv and Mariupol, many of those people just said, well, these are all fakes, staged videos. Or later, when they were not able to deny that it actually happened, they were saying, well, you are doing it to yourselves. These are your armed forces that are doing that. Or some of them also said, well, you deserve it because you have  there are Nazis in Ukraine and Russia has to protect itself. And Russia was forced to launch this war to protect itself from the threat coming from Ukraine. Its all really, really surreal conversations. And the ties between Russia and Ukraine, they were already damaged since 2014. And a lot of people stopped speaking to their friends in Russia because a lot of  the influence of propaganda in Russia. And now the situation is  this is just exacerbated, of course. And now a lot of ties are being severed between relatives, also, and families splitting, falling apart. And I dont know how these ties can be rebuilt. Because its increasingly clear that a lot of people in Russia actually support this war, and its not just Putins war  its the war that is supported by a lot of people in Russia, whether they do not really know what is happening, or if they know but they just dont want to believe that Russia has any responsibility or any guilt for this, they might actually think that Russia is doing the right thing. So it will be very difficult to rebuild these ties, regardless of the outcome of this war.

kara swisher

So what is critical to get the truth of whats happening in Ukraine out there, besides European, U.S., and other reporters from democratic countries writing about it? But what needs to be done to protect that information war that Ukraine is definitely winning  at least, across most of the world?

olga tokariuk

Well, my personal concern is, of course, that if this war goes on for a long time, the attention will inevitably wane, you know, and there will be less presence of international media in Ukraine. And also, the audience and the people across the world, they will somehow get used to this news coming out of Ukraine. And in the meantime, there will be other crises in the world in other places of the globe, and the attention will switch elsewhere. Thats something that happened in many other parts of the world. But I think what is important is that there is still a presence of international media in Ukraine. And actually, its very encouraging that a lot of journalists from different countries, they have been covering Ukraine since 2014. So this is not a spot that suddenly emerged on the map which wasnt there before. And there are a lot of really competent reporters who know Ukraine well, who didnt just discover Ukraine a month ago. Its very important that they continue reporting. And those who just discovered Ukraine recently  I hope they also being here, got a sense of the importance of this particular war. Because its not just some sort of regional conflict that doesnt affect other parts of the globe. Russia is a global nuclear power, a U.N. Security Council member, a country which has a lot of influence in the world. And what its doing, it will reverberate in other parts of the globe. And of course, China is watching what is happening here in Ukraine and the reaction to Russias actions. And it has in mind, maybe should it move on, on Taiwan or not, what kind of consequences it might face. So I think in that context, its very important to keep the attention on what is happening here and keep the presence of the media here, although its very dangerous. I have to admit that this war has been very, very dangerous for journalists.

kara swisher

So in that regard, my last question  have you considered leaving the country yourself? What would go into that decision for you to do so?

olga tokariuk

Well, Im determined to stay as long as I can and as long as it is safe. And I hope  I very much hope  that there will be parts of the country that will be safe. Im prepared to maybe move from the location where I am now to another location if this one is not safe. But I really wouldnt want to leave because as a journalist, I feel its my duty to stay in Ukraine and report from here. I also feel this is my contribution to Ukraines resistance as a Ukrainian citizen  not as a journalist, but as a citizen. Because, you know, this country is dear to me. Its my home. I didnt want to leave it, although I have an opportunity to go somewhere abroad. But I dont want to. I really want to be here. Yeah, I want to be here. I want my child to grow here. And once this war is over, I want to contribute to help to rebuild Ukraine.

kara swisher

All right. On that note, Olga, thank you so much, and please stay safe.

olga tokariuk

Thank you, Kara.

kara swisher

I hope you dont have to stay in the basement for too long, but stay there until its safe.

olga tokariuk

Yeah. [MUSIC PLAYING]

kara swisher

Well be back in a minute with my conversation with Russian journalist Tikhon Dzyadko. If you like this interview and want to hear others, follow us on your favorite podcast app. Youll be able to catch up on Sway episodes you may have missed, like my conversation with Clint Watts, and youll get new ones delivered directly to you. More on the information war surrounding the invasion of Ukraine and how its affecting both Ukrainian and Russian journalists after the break. [MUSIC PLAYING] My next guest is Tikhon Dzyadko. Hes the editor-in-chief of T.V. Rain, which was the last independent television station in Russia. Days after the invasion, Russias media regulator blocked T.V. Rains website, and they were ordered to toe the official Russian line about the war or face jail under a new law. T.V. Rain made the decision to stop operating, and the video of their last broadcast went viral. They played Swan Lake, and the news anchors said, No war before walking off the set together. Then Tikhon left Russia, but that hasnt stopped him from doing interviews. He, along with three other Russian journalists recently interviewed Ukrainian President Zelensky. I wanted to ask him about that interview, Russias crackdown on independent media, and what information is actually getting through to the Russian people. Tikhon, welcome to Sway.

tikhon dzyadko

Thank you so much for having me.

kara swisher

So about a week after the invasion, T.V. Rains site was blocked. Can you talk a little bit how you learned that was happening, and your reaction at the time?

tikhon dzyadko

Well, I was on air, and I started receiving messages from our viewers on the YouTube chat that they did not have access to our website. And I asked our team whether everything was fine or not because we were thinking that something like this could happen. And in 10 minutes, I guess, we received news from a state news agency that the regulator of media in Russia  Roskomnadzor  decided to block our website, alongside with a website of radio station, Echo of Moscow. That was something that we were waiting for because the situation was getting worse and worse. And finally, unfortunately, it happened.

kara swisher

So what was your reaction? Were you surprised by what happened?

tikhon dzyadko

I would say that I was not surprised. When the war started, I realized two things  first, that we should broadcast 24 to 7, and the second, that it is the beginning of the end of T.V. Rain. The first day of the war, all the media in Russia received a letter from Roskomnadzor that we should not spread so-called fake information about activities of Russian military in Ukraine, which means that we should not report anything but the information provided by Russian Ministry of Defense. But still we continued to work as we used to work. But we understood that again, this was the beginning of the end. I was more surprised that it only happened on the  I think it was the fifth day of the war, not on the second or on the third. Unfortunately, it was obvious that it was going to happen.

kara swisher

So why did they allow you to.  tolerate you at all? Because most  at least Americans think its all state T.V. But it isnt. There was a lot of independent sites like yourself there broadcasting. Why was that, I guess, tolerated by the government, which controls most avenues of communication in the country?

tikhon dzyadko

Its hard to understand what is going on in their heads, but I think that till February 24, they continued to pretend that there still was some limited democracy in Russia. The situation for media in Russia after the beginning of the presidency of Vladimir Putin has never been easy, and it was getting worse and worse every year. And two last years were catastrophic for Russian independent media because they started to use this so-called law on foreign agents. And a lot of news outlets and journalists were designated as foreign agents, and our T.V. station, for example, as well. But still, we were able to broadcast. And for example, our T.V. station was very active on YouTube, and we had something like 16 million viewers every month. And these first days of war, every day we had 25 million views. Our audience was huge. But with the beginning of the war, I think that Russian government and Russian President Vladimir Putin decided that these games of democracy are over, and that its a new page of Russian history. And when you start such war, its impossible to have independent media in your country when you are bombing cities with civilians.

kara swisher

So you had gotten through on YouTube with 25 million  this was a way you were already broadcasting as a business, correct?

tikhon dzyadko

Yes, thats correct. So our TV station was founded in 2010. But last years, it was the time of YouTube in Russia, when politics and news came to Russia on YouTube, and politician shows and interviews got tens of millions of views. And two years ago, we decided to be active there as well. And now Facebook is blocked, Twitter is blocked, Instagram is blocked. For some reason  I dont know why  YouTube is not blocked yet. Maybe the reason is that a lot of people who are not interested in politics, they are using YouTube to watch movies with their kids, to watch cartoons, et cetera, et cetera. And maybe Kremlin just doesnt want to make them angry.

kara swisher

Right. So you said it was the end of T.V. Rain.

tikhon dzyadko

Yes. And now I am with my wife, who used to be our news director at T.V. Rain. We launched our own YouTube channel to do livestreams and to do interviews. But T.V. Rain does not exist anymore. After our website was blocked, we continued to operate for a few more days. But then a new law was adopted in Russia, so its actually impossible to say anything. We had a choice whether we would become the part of Press Office of Russian Ministry of Defense, or we would continue doing what weve been doing over the last 12 years, and face up to 15 years in jail. So we decided that we should stop operating. A lot of our journalists left the country. And we are planning to relaunch something somewhere. But we think that its better for us and our families, and its better for our audience if we are free than when we are in jail.

kara swisher

OK. So when you talked about Putins regime cracking down on journalists, when did it really start to feel different? You said every year it got worse.

tikhon dzyadko

I think it started to change very fast two years ago, or a year and a half. The first important moment was when Vladimir Putin changed the constitution and allowed himself to stay in power up to 2036. The second thing  very important  were protests in Belarus, which showed to Vladimir Putin that even in such strong authoritarian state as Belarus, hundreds of thousands of people would go out in the streets and protesting the frauds on the elections. The third thing is the attempt to kill Alexei Navalny, the leader of Russian opposition. He survived and he returned to Moscow, and he was arrested. And a lot of people went out onto the streets to support him, and a lot of people were arrested. Then they started to use this so-called foreign agent law and designate journalists as foreign agents, et cetera, et cetera. But also, I think the very important thing is coronavirus. Vladimir Putin is very paranoid about coronavirus. If you look at how he meets with his, for example, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense, you would see that there is a huge table between them.

kara swisher

Yes, we noticed. We made memes just to fight him. Were totally useless. But go ahead.

tikhon dzyadko

So I think coronavirus changed a lot. I think he started to get less real information than he used to get, and thats how he changed.

kara swisher

And so he became more paranoid, is essentially what youre saying?

tikhon dzyadko

Yes, yes, thats what Im saying, yeah.

kara swisher

With less information and more need to hold onto power more viciously. You were one of four Russian journalists to recently interview Ukrainian President Zelensky. Talk to us about how the interview came about.

tikhon dzyadko

Well, I was invited to take a part in it. As long as I understand, the idea was to talk to the Russian audience, and I think its an important thing.

kara swisher

What struck you most about what he said and what he was trying to say to the Russian people?

tikhon dzyadko

Well, it was a very tough conversation because it doesnt make you feel optimistic  for example, about the relations between Russians and Ukrainians. And Volodymyr Zelensky, he told us that, guys, we all understand that me and you, there is no way we could be friends with you, meaning our generations. Maybe our grandchildren will have the opportunity to talk normally. But what is more important were words about what is happening now in Ukraine, in Mariupol, in eastern Ukraine, what is happening with the kids, what is happening with the families. Its just so devastating. Its so terrible.

kara swisher

So the Kremlin responded to the Zelensky interview by telling outlets involved not to publish the interview. How did you respond? Because they said they were launching an inquiry into the reporters involved.

tikhon dzyadko

Well, I think it was made to threaten the remaining media in Russia not to quote Volodymyr Zelensky. And they succeeded because not a lot of media outlets quoted him. As for me and other journalists who participated in this interview, its a choice for us. On the one hand, we could obey this stupid, weird demands, or we could say to us, and to our viewers, that it is absurd. They told not to publish this interview before this interview was even published. I mean, they didnt know whats in it. They didnt know whether there is something which  breaking the law. It is a pure censorship. And what Ive been doing over 18 years of my career as a journalist, I was trying to be honest with my audience and with myself. So I did not even think about how to react to these demands. Of course, I just did not care about it.

kara swisher

Yeah, but youre still a Russian citizen, and your family are still Russian citizens.

tikhon dzyadko

Yes, of course, sure.

kara swisher

Do you feel that there is any threat, or that you cant go back?

tikhon dzyadko

I think I cannot go back now unfortunately. And it makes me feel bad. It makes me feel sad because I have all my life there. I have a lot of friends. I have my apartment there. So I dont know  my car, all my clothes and stuff. All my life is there. And I consider myself as a patriot. And I feel humiliated because Im not a criminal. I did nothing wrong to be forced to leave the country. But that are the circumstances in which we unfortunately have to live now.

kara swisher

Yeah. What kind of response has the interview gotten inside of Russia? Has it gotten through?

tikhon dzyadko

Yes. I saw a lot of feedback. A lot of people posted it on the social media, et cetera, et cetera. Look, its  a lot of journalists always dream to make interviews with people who decide, with the presidents and prime ministers. And it is always the privilege. And when you do such interview, you always get a lot of quotes in different media, et cetera, et cetera. And now it is like we did something wrong, like we broke the law or something. And I see that professional media which have been operating in Russia over the years  they just pretend like nothing happened. They just dont quote it. Thats something crazy.

kara swisher

But people are accessing the journalism. How are they doing that, do you think? VPN use in the country has skyrocketed. Is independent reporting getting through anyway?

tikhon dzyadko

Yes. Independent journalism gets there. But its obvious that if you compare what was happening before the beginning of the war and what is happening now, these are two different stories. I mean, the level of access to the independent media is different. For example, I have never been using VPN while I was living in Russia. And I think that a lot of people, they are just too lazy to download a VPN and to use it. So the number of those who get access to the independent media has gotten smaller.

kara swisher

Yeah. Is it mostly state-controlled media that people are consuming in Russia right now?

tikhon dzyadko

I think yes. I dont have any numbers. I know that the request to the independent information is huge. I know it because I know how many viewers T.V. Rain used to have. But also, I understand that there is places in Russia where people only have access to the state T.V., and they are turning it on only because they are used to. And when they have only one source of information, by the end of the day, they start to trust it.

kara swisher

Do you have a sense of whether people in Russia believe this propaganda thats going on? And it is propaganda  thats all it is. Or do they really know whats going on? Because Russia has a history of this with, you know, things that were distributed  journals and articles  physically for decades. So do you think they have a sense of whats going on, or do they believe this propaganda?

tikhon dzyadko

I think there are several Russias in Russia. For example, if we are speaking about the war, there is a group which does not support the war. There is a group which just does not care. There is a group which actually believes in what Russian propaganda is saying. And also, there is a big group which is in denial because its hard for them to admit that their country  our country, my country  is doing some bad things. So answering your question, I think that some people, they do actually trust and believe in propaganda, and some people choose to believe in propaganda because its easier. Because otherwise, they would have to ask tough questions, and ask these questions to themselves.

kara swisher

Yeah. But what is the version of it? Is it samizdat, as I recall when 

tikhon dzyadko

Yes, it was called samizdat.

kara swisher

 the clandestine literature that was banned by the state when it was a communist country. What is the version of that right now?

tikhon dzyadko

I think now its not time of samizdat yet. But I think VPN services are something like samizdat, and Telegram and YouTube is something like samizdat. But I think that the time of new samizdat, unfortunately, will come soon. And it will be, again, our goal  the goal of independent journalists  to make the samizdat work, to break this digital Iron Curtain which could happen in Russia, and to get to as many people as is possible.

kara swisher

So is there any way to combat this disinformation?

tikhon dzyadko

Just to spread real information. Thats it.

kara swisher

Right.

tikhon dzyadko

And Ive been always for this idea. When different governments before the war were banning, for example, RT 

kara swisher

Yeah, the Russian state media.

tikhon dzyadko

 I felt that it was a mistake because I think the only way to combat disinformation is to make your information better.

kara swisher

Yeah, but youve called it brainwashing, that people in Russia are brainwashed. Do you think that?

tikhon dzyadko

A lot of people are brainwashed there, of course. Look, I understand that white is white and black is black. Even if I call it green, it is still white. But unfortunately, a lot of people, they turn on the state T.V. and they hear and see that white is red, or maybe a little green, and maybe a little yellow. And then we see that its not a joke at all, that a lot of people, for example, they watch the state T.V.  all this information about how U.S. wants to defeat Russia, and how neo-Nazis are in Kyiv, and how they hate all the Russians, et cetera, et cetera. And a lot of people, they are brainwashed and they decided not to choose how to live in their country because they are being told on all the T.V. that everyone is lying, you cannot change anything, democracy is broken, look at what is happening in the West, look at how Europe is collapsing, Biden is old and hes going to die and hes out of his mind, et cetera, et cetera. And so people, they just dont have a normal view of what is happening in the world. And what is interesting  they have two different realities. The first reality is the reality that they see while they are watching the T.V. The second reality is the reality that they see when they open the door and go to the streets. But they have the explanations of this bad reality that they see on the streets. Because if the roads are broken, this is because of NATO wants to defeat Russia, et cetera, et cetera.

kara swisher

Where do you think the pressure on Putin will come  from the inside or the outside? Or will none of it work? Youre sort of saying the Russian people are not paying attention to this in the way they need to, or enough of them arent. Is there a place to apply pressure besides sanctions?

tikhon dzyadko

I think its really impossible to predict anything. One month ago before February 24, we lived in a completely different world. This world does not exist anymore. And every new day brings us some crazy news which were not possible a month ago. As for the sanctions, I think we should wait and see. We have the example of Iran, where sanctions actually did not change anything, but we dont know how it will work out in Russia. All the serious experts, they are saying that these sanctions are really serious for Russian economy. But we dont know how it will work out. As for situation inside the country, I think that Russian propaganda will now work more and more, and will explain to the people that their economical problems, they are not because of the war which was started by the Russian President. But these problems are because of the West, which wants to destroy great Russia. And I think that at least at the beginning, it will work, and the propaganda will work. But lets see what will happen a few months later, yeah.

kara swisher

So I have a last question. How worried are you about your own safety, and your career as a journalist going forward?

tikhon dzyadko

Well, I think my own safety is OK. I dont really think about it. As for my career, I would really love to continue my career in Russia as an independent journalist, but its not possible now, unfortunately. I will continue my career as a journalist somewhere else. But I really hope that one day  rather sooner than later  I will get back to Russia, and I will continue working as an independent journalist there at my home. [MUSIC PLAYING]

kara swisher
Now, would it have killed these people to spend a few bucks more on a present? Probably not. (And a few gifts may still roll in. Etiquette rules give people a year to send them.) But they may have decided theyve spent enough on your wedding already  in dollars, time and effort. So, I hope you can appreciate what they did to help celebrate your big day without focusing exclusively on the gifts. Id thank them for joining you.

Image Credit... Miguel Porlan

Roommate Rules

My roommate and I are six months into a one-year lease. We were friends before we were roommates, but Ive seen some troubling behavior since we moved in together: He shoplifted from a department store, for instance, and registered with a website to be a companion for sugar daddies. At the same time, hes been a helpful sounding board and emotionally supportive of me. Should I renew our lease? If so, may I set rules for his behavior?

ROOMIE

I cant tell you whether to renew your lease. But I will note that your roommates good qualities  his generous ear and emotional support of you  seem more relevant in evaluating a roommate than his so-called troubling behavior.

Shoplifting is wrong, obviously. You can discuss that with him. Personally, though, I am unwilling to make harsh judgments about his choices around sex and dating without a fuller understanding of the situation or his perspective on it. These issues dont affect you directly as his roommate. You share a space; you dont control his life. But if they really trouble you, dont renew the lease.

Sorry, but My Wife Said No 

My wife and I make plans with others separately or together, as we wish. Im more dutiful, so I join in plans with her friends more often than she does with mine. The problem: This dynamic has damaged my relationships with friends my wife doesnt click with. Specifically, I let a friendship lapse when I wasnt sure how to tell my friend that I wanted to see him one-on-one after he continued to bring his talkative girlfriend to our meetings, even in my wifes absence. Any ideas for rekindling this friendship?
Regardless of the final outcome, workers here have shown what is possible, said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which sought to organize the workers. They have helped ignite a movement.

Speaking in a videoconference with reporters after the vote count, Mr. Appelbaum said the organizing in Bessemer had helped spark union campaigns at other companies, like REI and Starbucks, and in other parts of the country.

Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.

The labor board is also counting votes in another high-profile election, at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island. At the end of the first day of counting on Thursday, 57 percent of the ballots supported being represented by Amazon Labor Union, and 43 percent were opposed. The N.L.R.B. said the count should be finished Friday.

Workers who supported the union in Bessemer cited frustrations over low pay, inadequate breaks and overly aggressive productivity targets. Amazon has said its pay  just under $16 per hour for full-time, entry-level workers  is competitive for the area. It has also pointed to a benefits package that it says is attractive, including complete health care benefits for full-time employees as soon as they join the company. The company has said its performance targets reflect safety considerations and individual employees experience.

Several employees who backed the union said co-workers were generally less afraid to question management or show their union support this year than during last years election. People are asking more questions, Jennifer Bates, an employee who helped lead the organizing effort both last year and this year, said in an interview this month. More employees are standing up and speaking out.
Products for cubicle dwellers may not be the whiz-bang miracles that we imagine from Silicon Valley, but the world runs on boring technology that boring organizations need in order to do boring but important things. Many of the companies that sell this technology make rivers of cash, even if only five humans are capable of explaining what, for example, the software giant SAP makes.

My mission is to take a few minutes to help us appreciate the dullness that makes the world go round.

I dont know what technology my employer uses to process my paychecks. Most of us will never see the Amazon computer servers that fire Netflix to our TVs. The U.S. health care system largely relies on patient records from a software company called Epic. You might not know what Oracle is, but you have probably indirectly interacted with one of its databases if you have bought anything online.

Well never write a valentine to that kind of boring software, but we need it to function. The dull stuff can also make what we do better, like enable telemedicine calls or help us check whether diapers are in stock before we drive to the store.

A lot of technology designed for businesses stinks or is stuck in the past, but its the nuts and bolts of everything. Companies that make dull technology for organizations will probably last longer than the dozens of Doritos-on-demand start-ups. And its a gold mine. Businesses and governments are expected to spend about $4.5 trillion on technology this year. Some of the worlds most valuable technology companies, like Microsoft, SAP, Adobe, Oracle, Salesforce and ServiceNow, are boring.
WINDHOEK, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The liquidation of Namibia's national rail operator, TransNamib is not on the table, a government official said Wednesday at an event in Windhoek.

Namibia's Minister of Works and Transport, John Mutorwa said this in his keynote address at the confirmation announcement of a loan of about 2.6 billion Namibia dollars (about 179 million US dollars) for the struggling rail operator.

"This is indeed a major milestone for this national company, as it will bring much-needed strategic and monetary support towards the vision of transforming TransNamib into a profitable company," he said.

The loan from the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN) and Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) will be used for remanufacturing of rolling stock, acquisition of new rolling stock, acquisition of 10 new locomotives, modernization of the TransNamib Workshop, upgrading of signaling equipment, including spares and associated equipment.

According to Mutorwa, the announcement comes almost four years after the company's Integrated Strategic Business Plan was approved by the cabinet, but fulfilling the strategic vision was attainable due to funding.

"The ultimate success and its ability to become a logistics hub for southern Africa and beyond heavily depends on the country having an efficient rail infrastructure," he said.

The DBSA Head of SADC Coverage, Davies Pwele said that in line with DBSA's mandate of regional integration, the repositioning of TransNamib as a logistics hub comes at a critical time when the SADC rail network needs to gear itself to respond to the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement.

TransNamib CEO Johny Smith said the rail operator is starting a new chapter and hopes the funding will fulfill its strategic vision.

During the 2019 Investment Summit, in Windhoek, DBN and DBSA jointly pledged 8 billion Namibia dollars to infrastructure development in Namibia. Among these was the pledge of about 2.6 billion Namibia dollars to TransNamib. 
Today marks the final day of Californias rainy season.

December, January and February are typically the wettest months in the Golden State, with 75 percent of the states annual precipitation falling between November and March.

Now were about to enter our dry season, and the drought is nowhere near over. Gov. Gavin Newsom this week, in an attempt to curb water usage, proposed banning businesses from watering their lawns. More than 93 percent of California is considered to be in severe or extreme drought.

We are definitely very much at the tail end of our wet season in California, Jeanine Jones, drought manager with the California Department of Water Resources, told me. We are not expecting any significant amount of additional precipitation  certainly not something that would make any difference for the drought.

Jones added: In other words, most of what were going to get, we have gotten.

So where does that leave us?
WASHINGTON  At 12:01 a.m. on Friday, precisely 72 years after enumerators began knocking on the doors of some 46 million American houses and apartments, the federal government made public what they learned: the ages, incomes, addresses, ancestry and a trove of other facts about the 150.7 million people who were counted in the 1950 census.

Those millions of census forms, painstakingly filled out by hand in ink, were posted online by the National Archives and Records Administration, which by law has kept them private until now. The records, searchable by name and address, offer an intimate look at a nation on the cusp of the modern era  for the merely curious, a glimpse of the life parents or grandparents led, but for historians and genealogists, a once-in-a-decade bonanza of secrets unveiled.

This is the Super Bowl and the Olympics combined, and its only every 10 years  its awesome stuff, Matt Menashes, the executive director of the National Genealogical Society, said in an interview. Whats so great about these points of data is that it helps you paint a picture  not just relationships, but what society was like.

The last release of similar data was in 2012, when the National Archives made details of the 1940 census public. The government has imposed a 72-year ban on the release of census records since 1952, when the Census Bureau turned over to the National Archives all the data it had collected since the first census in 1790.
Although nearly half the states have embraced similar initiatives that seek to cover at least some tuition expenses for some students, New Mexicos law goes further by covering tuition and fees before other scholarships and sources of financial aid are applied, enabling students to use those other funds for expenses such as lodging, food or child care.

The New Mexico program is very close to ideal, said Michael Dannenberg, vice president of strategic initiatives and higher education policy at the nonprofit advocacy group Education Reform Now. Considering the states income levels and available resources, he added that New Mexicos program is among the most generous in the country.

Mr. Dannenberg emphasized that New Mexico is going beyond what larger, more prosperous states like Washington and Tennessee have already done. Programs in other states often limit tuition assistance to community colleges, exclude some residents because of family income or impose conditions requiring students to work part time.

Some supporters and critics of the New Mexico law warn that it could be more of a trial run than established practice. Building on earlier tuition-assistance programs, the measure allocates $75 million during the 2023 fiscal year, of which $63 million comes from pandemic relief funds. Beyond its first year, legislators will need to draw funds from other sources to keep the program going.

Even so, prominent backers in both parties express confidence that the program is here to stay in a state where Hispanic and Native-American residents together account for more than 60 percent of the population. In a sign that consensus on tuition-free college is building around New Mexico, a group of Republicans in the Democratic-controlled legislature crossed party lines to support the measure.
A federal judge in Florida ruled on Thursday that sections of the states year-old election law were unconstitutional and racially motivated, and barred the state from making similar changes to its laws in the next decade without the approval of the federal government.

The sharply worded 288-page order, issued by Judge Mark E. Walker of the Federal District Court in Tallahassee, was the first time a federal court had struck down major elements of the wave of voting laws enacted by Republicans since the 2020 election. Finding a pattern of racial bias, Walker in his ruling relied on a little-used legal provision to impose unusual federal restrictions on how a state legislates.

For the past 20 years, the majority in the Florida Legislature has attacked the voting rights of its Black constituents, Walker wrote in the decision, which frequently quoted the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Walker argued that the attacks were part of a cynical effort to suppress turnout among their opponents supporters. That, the law does not permit.

Judge Walkers decision is certain to be appealed and is likely to be overturned either by the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, which tends to lean conservative, or the Supreme Court, which has sharply limited the federal governments power to intervene in state election law.
WASHINGTON  In the wake of revelations about incendiary text messages from Virginia Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, to the Trump White House, mostly in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, Democrats in Congress urged Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. to take action.

But the chief justice is powerless to force Justice Thomas to recuse himself.

The messages, which embraced conspiracy theories about the election and urged Mark Meadows, President Donald J. Trumps chief of staff, to work to overturn the results, may well mean that Justice Thomas should disqualify himself from cases on the 2020 election and its aftermath.

Indeed, legal experts said that is not a close question. But it is one that the Supreme Courts norms and structure leave to the justice in question.

His title notwithstanding, the chief justice is not the boss of the other members of the court. He has some administrative responsibilities and the power to assign the majority opinion when he is in the majority. He presides at the impeachment trials of sitting presidents. He makes $12,500 more than his colleagues.
WASHINGTON  Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said on Thursday that he planned to vote against the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court, calling her an activist judge who ignored the law to achieve the outcomes she wanted.

In a lengthy presentation on the Senate floor, Mr. Graham painted Judge Jackson  President Bidens nominee for the court and the first Black woman to be put forward for the post  as dangerous and motivated by progressive bias. It was a reversal for the senator, who has prided himself on his past willingness to support Supreme Court nominees chosen by Democrats, and who was one of three Republicans who voted less than a year ago to elevate Judge Jackson to the influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

At the time, Mr. Graham said he was convinced that Judge Jackson will not be deterred by the plain meaning of the law when it comes to liberal causes. But on Thursday, he branded her as a partisan, saying she was an evasive witness during her confirmation hearings. I now know why Judge Jackson was the favorite of the radical left, he said.

Heres where were at in 2022, Mr. Graham continued. The only person qualified to go to the Supreme Court as an African American woman is a liberal. You can be equally qualified as a conservative, but you need not apply because your ideology disqualifies you.
I know that others have already made their decisions; thats good for them, Ms. Murkowski told reporters on Wednesday, hours after Ms. Collins announced her position. The Alaskan indicated that she was not close to a decision ahead of a vote that Democrats are planning for late next week, and that she still intended to get more into my process.

Ms. Murkowskis process is known to be unpredictable, and this year it involves some tricky political calculations.

The three-term senator has the distinction of being the only Senate Republican who voted to convict former President Donald J. Trump in his second impeachment trial who is also facing voters this year. Back home in Alaska, she is confronting a feisty challenger on her right who has been endorsed by Mr. Trump. A no vote on Judge Jackson could shore up her standing with conservatives who may have been alienated when she broke with the former president.

But new election rules in Alaska have scrambled the political calculus. For the first time, candidates will compete in an open primary regardless of party, and the four top vote-getters will advance to the general election, where voters will rank them to determine a winner. The system gives candidates an incentive to appeal to the broadest possible constituency in both parties, rather than their own partys narrow set of core supporters.

For Ms. Murkowski, a vote to confirm Judge Jackson could potentially help her cobble together a coalition of centrist Republicans, independents and Democrats to make up for those on the right who may have abandoned her because of her frequent defections from the party line, and from Mr. Trump.
WASHINGTON  Russia is running its military campaign against Ukraine out of Moscow, with no central war commander on the ground to call the shots, according to American officials who have studied the five-week-old war.

That approach may go a long way to explain why the Russian war effort has struggled in the face of stiffer-than-expected Ukrainian resistance, the officials said.

The lack of a unifying military leader in Ukraine has meant that Russian air, ground and sea units are not in sync. Their disjointed battlefield campaigns have been plagued by poor logistics, flagging morale and between 7,000 and 15,000 military deaths, senior U.S. officials and independent analysts say.

It has also contributed to the deaths of at least seven Russian generals as high-ranking officers are pushed to the front lines to untangle tactical problems that Western militaries would leave to more junior officers or senior enlisted personnel.
Then Mr. Trumps team asked Ms. Craighead to hold off on her book project to allow the former president to take Ms. Craigheads photos and those of other White House staff photographers and publish his own book, which is now selling for as much as $230 a copy.

That the profits from Ms. Craigheads labor are now going into Mr. Trumps pocket has left several of Mr. Trumps former aides upset  but not exactly surprised.

Sheas a very talented photographer and this was really all of her hard work, said Stephanie Grisham, who served as the White House press secretary for Mr. Trump and wrote her own book, referring to Ms. Craighead by her nickname. I just keep thinking: What a shame that he is actually now profiting off of it. But then again, this is the guy who is hawking caps and all kinds of stuff right now to raise money for himself.

Eric Draper, who was the chief White House photographer during Mr. Bushs tenure, said the move was disrespectful to Ms. Craighead.

Its a slap in the face, Mr. Draper said, adding that he had spoken with Ms. Craighead last year about her plan to do her own book. I would be disappointed if I were in her shoes.
Last April, the Department of Homeland Security said it would make available an additional 22,000 seasonal worker visas after U.S. employers expressed a need for additional workers. And in December, the administration moved to make available an additional 20,000 of the visas  the first time that the number was expanded for the winter season, which typically sees less demand than the summertime.

Of the 35,000 additional visas made available for this summer, 23,500 will be available to returning workers from the last three years, while 11,500 will be reserved for foreign nationals from Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

While the expansion is likely to be welcomed by employers that are looking to fill lower-wage jobs, some labor groups and those who want to restrict immigration argue that the visa program takes away opportunities from American workers and depresses wages. In order to hire foreign workers on an H-2B visa, employers must first prove to the Labor Department that they are unable to find American workers to meet their needs.

U.S. businesses as varied as landscaping companies, amusement parks, restaurants and crab trappers have described how they continue to struggle to hire Americans to fill open positions. The coronavirus pandemic also disrupted the flow of foreign workers into the United States over the last two years. But as the job market has rebounded, many employers have contended with job seekers within the United States with more leverage and less of an appetite for low-level jobs.

Even with these additional visas, theres not nearly enough visas for all of the types of workers that employers want to hire on the H-2B program, said Stephen W. Yale-Loehr, an immigration lawyer who teaches at Cornell Law School. But in the short term, at least, this is something the administration can do to help immediately.
William J. Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, tested positive for the coronavirus on Thursday, a day after meeting with President Biden.

The meeting was not considered a close contact for Mr. Biden because the two practiced social distancing and Mr. Burns was wearing an N95 mask, according to a C.I.A. statement. Mr. Biden tested negative on Wednesday when he was screened as part of regular health monitoring, an administration official said.

Mr. Burns, who is 65, fully vaccinated and boosted, is experiencing mild symptoms, the C.I.A. statement said, adding that he is now isolating and will work from his home. He will return to the agencys headquarters in Virginia after isolating for five days and then testing negative for the virus.

The positive test will prevent Mr. Burns from briefing lawmakers on Capitol Hill or attending White House briefings while he remains in isolation. Though Mr. Burns attends intelligence briefings at the White House several times a month, Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, has primary responsibility for Mr. Bidens regular intelligence sessions.
Its still uncertain how effective using psilocybin to treat addiction is in the long-term and whether some individuals are more likely to benefit than others. Some study participants have had troubling experiences during their trips, and experts say that people should not be taking the drug outside of legitimate research studies or without medical supervision.

The five-hour duration of the experience will also make it costly in a health care setting, which could limit its use in lower-income communities disproportionately affected by drug and alcohol abuse. Still, many experts hungry for new addiction therapies say that psilocybin represents a new and potentially exciting treatment for people suffering from a disease that is difficult to address.

Treating more than a chemical dependency

One of the reasons addictions are so hard to treat is that most are more than chemical dependency. Long after the short-term withdrawals have waned, people suffering from addiction often face living without the stress release valve that their habit gave them. Those wishing to quit may persevere for a few weeks or months, but when stressed or upset, their brains often divert them back to the familiar territory of their addiction.

Some experts say psilocybin addresses that psychological need. Along with LSD and mescaline, it is known as a classic psychedelic, which activates switches in the brains visual cortex, the serotonin 5-HT2a receptors, producing hallucinations. Back in the psychedelic heyday of the 1950s and 1960s, such drugs were evaluated for treating depression and addiction with mixed results.

But that work was put on ice in the 1970s with the passage of the Controlled Substances Act, which placed LSD and psilocybin in the most restrictive legal category, known as Schedule 1.

Thirty years later, in 2000, Roland Griffiths, a psychopharmacologist at Johns Hopkins, received the green light from the Food and Drug Administration to study the psychological effects of psilocybin on 30 volunteers. In a survey given to participants two months after their session, more than half ranked it as among the most meaningful experiences of their lives.

Psychedelic research has blossomed since then. A British study published earlier this year found that people with severe alcohol abuse disorder who received ketamine-assisted therapy abstained from drinking 10 percent more over six months than those who received just a placebo along with therapy or education.
NAIROBI, Kenya  Kenyas top court on Thursday quashed an initiative by the president to amend the Constitution, dealing a major blow to a plan that could have cemented his ability to shape the countrys political future ahead of an election that will decide his successor.

The decision by the Supreme Court comes several months after two lower courts  the High Court and the Court of Appeal  both declared the initiative unconstitutional, on the grounds that Kenyan law did not allow a sitting president to initiate and promote amendments to the Constitution.

President Uhuru Kenyatta did emerge victorious on one front, however, with the Supreme Court ruling that he could not be sued because as president he has legal immunity  overturning the judgment of the two lower courts that Mr. Kenyatta had violated the countrys laws and could be sued.

The presidents initiative would have introduced a series of constitutional amendments that broadened the scope of the executive branch, adding new positions for prime minister, two deputies and a leader of official opposition. It would also have created 70 new constituencies, adding dozens of new lawmakers to a Parliament that already has 349 members.
The military junta that seized power in Myanmar 14 months ago is now detaining 10,000 political prisoners, a rights organization that monitors detentions said on Thursday. Many of the prisoners have been tortured and are being held in deplorable conditions, according to the group.

The regimes crackdown has been so harsh that more political prisoners are now being held in Myanmar than were imprisoned in total throughout the half century of military rule that ended in 2010, said U Aung Myo Kyaw, a spokesman for the rights group, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.

We have the largest number of political prisoners in Myanmars history in barely a year, he said.

Myanmar reached the grim milestone of 10,000 political prisoners held at a single time as the regime continues to imprison suspected opponents at a rate of about 20 people a day, according to A.A.P.P., which has closely tracked arrests since the coup on Feb. 1 last year.

That figure does not include the more than 3,000 political prisoners who were arrested and released, often after enduring brutal interrogations and many months in prison. Nearly 2,000 more opponents of the regime are evading arrest warrants, including many who have fled to the jungle to join an armed resistance against the junta.
SEOUL  When North Korea conducted its most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile test to date last week, it said it launched the Hwasong-17, its newest and biggest ICBM. In a propaganda blitz, the countrys state media released a Hollywood-style video of its leader, Kim Jong-un, personally guiding the test launch in a sleek leather jacket and sunglasses at Pyongyang International Airport.

South Korea now says it may have been a ruse.

In a report to the National Assembly on Tuesday, the South Korean Defense Ministry endorsed what some analysts had already suspected: North Korea actually fired its older Hwasong-15 ICBM  which was tested in 2017  and exaggerated Mr. Kims weapons achievements by falsely claiming a successful Hwasong-17 launch.

Mr. Kim badly needs to strengthen his diplomatic leverage with the United States and South Korea, and a successful new launch may have helped. But more important, South Korean officials said, Mr. Kim used the launch and a crude, fake presentation of video and photos to demonstrate his infallible leadership to the long-suffering people of North Korea.

The country will celebrate the 110th birthday of Kim Il-sung, Mr. Kims grandfather and North Koreas founder, next month. With his economy hobbled by international sanctions and the pandemic, Mr. Kim has often used such occasions to focus on his growing nuclear capabilities and to show off his power.
BUDAPEST  During the dark winter of the 2020 coronavirus wave, the Hungarian government set up a website so anxious residents could sign up for the news on the pandemic. For months, the system sent out updates about the virus, testing and where to get vaccinated.

But last month, long after the vaccination drive had peaked, the system blasted out a very different type of alert: an email claiming, falsely, that opponents of Prime Minister Viktor Orban were agitating to drag Hungary into the war in Ukraine.

This is cheating, said Klara Dobrev, a Hungarian member of the European Parliament and one of those accused in the email. Using public money for obviously party propaganda? This is obviously election fraud.

In more than a decade in power, Mr. Orban has not hesitated to use the levers of government power to erode democratic norms and cement one-party rule. He has rewritten the Constitution, remade the courts and used state-run and privately owned television stations  even school textbooks  to advance his agenda or push misinformation about his rivals.
Im not the one who signs the contracts, Mr. Macron said during a campaign stop in Dijon, eastern France this week, adding, a lot of stupid things have been said in recent days.

But as the issue stuck, the government went on the defensive, scheduling a news conference for Thursday and then moving it up to Wednesday evening at the last minute.

Chloe Morin, a political scientist at the Jean-Jaures Foundation, a Paris-based think tank, said that the issue struck several sensitive chords among the French public and played on a particular vulnerability for Mr. Macron, a former investment banker who as a politician has made it his mission to bring businesslike efficiency to the structures of the state.

One of the criticisms leveled at Emmanuel Macron since 2017 is that he is the president of the rich, a president of the private sector, a president whos from the world of finance, and in France, there is a great distrust of the world of consultants and finance, Ms. Morin said. And so this revives the image of a president serving the interests of big donors and big banks.

Before entering politics, Mr. Macron worked at the investment bank Rothschild. As president, while the overall economy has grown, his policy mix of tax cuts and deregulation has tended to favor the wealthy.

Mr. Macrons presidency is also remembered for a series of disdainful comments he has leveled at ordinary people and their everyday concerns  an attitude that fueled the Yellow Vest movement of demonstrations against Mr. Macrons economic policies.
BRUSSELS  Despite Russian statements that it would radically reduce its military activity around Kyiv, Ukraines capital, to concentrate on the war in eastern Ukraine, Western governments see little evidence of that, Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary-general, told a news conference on Thursday.

According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning, he said, echoing the views of the U.S. and British governments. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, Mr. Stoltenberg said.

At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities, so, we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering, he said.

Mr. Stoltenberg cautioned skepticism about Russian statements about its plans. Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions, he said. So we can only judge Russia on its actions, not on its words.
The gay panic playbook

It would be easy to start this newsletter by commenting on how odd it was that Putin took time out of a televised address, in the midst of a war, to complain that the West was being too mean to J.K. Rowling. During a speech on Friday, he claimed that Western elites had canceled the Harry Potter author because she did not please fans of so-called gender freedoms. (In fact, though Rowlings views have led many to accuse her of transphobia, her career is just fine.)

But the truth is that I dont think it was odd at all.

Putins claim was just the latest minor addition to a yearslong pattern of scaremongering politics. For the past decade, as he has carried out an authoritarian crackdown on Russians political rights and freedoms and concentrated power in his own hands, he has also repeatedly claimed that shadowy Western elites are trying to destroy traditional Russian family values, impose gay ideology on unsuspecting Russian children, or even subject children to sexual abuse.

Taken together, Putins message has been clear: Without him, Russias traditional values would be erased, and Russian children would be in danger. And so any sacrifices needed to maintain his power were worthwhile.

It worked. That campaign brought Putin crucial support as he dismantled Russias nascent democracy, with consequences now playing out in Ukraine, as well as within Russia itself.
But Ukraines request, which took many in Washington by surprise and sent the pulses of some American diplomats racing with alarm, has raised questions as to how such an arrangement would work and whether it would ever really be palatable for the Kremlin.

The senior Ukrainian negotiator, Mykhailo Podolyak, told the Turkish broadcaster NTV on Thursday that security guarantees could help end the war. He said so-called guarantor countries would have legal obligations under international law to provide weapons, military personnel or financial help if conflict involving Ukraine erupted. He said preliminary talks were already underway with the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Turkey, and asserted that those countries had shown willingness to accept the terms.

This is the meaning of this pact: A country who considers to attack will know that Ukraine is not alone, and other countries are with Ukraine with their armies and their weapons, he said.

But such an arrangement would face many hurdles, not least of which is the reluctance of Western powers to become ensnared in armed conflict with Russia. It is not clear that any of the countries cited by Mr. Podolyak have signed on to such guarantees or would do so. Mr. Podolyaks assertions about their willingness to defend Ukraine against Russia in the future have also not been confirmed.

Above all, the prospect of outside countries committing to Ukraines defense echoes one of the main concerns that Russia invoked before invading Ukraine. The Kremlin has fumed over the idea of Ukraine, a former Soviet Republic, joining NATO. The countrys request for security guarantees evokes the alliances collective defense doctrine: that an armed attack against any of the allies in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.
LVIV, Ukraine  Two weeks after Valeriy, an actor and amateur photographer, settled in western Ukraine after fleeing his home in Kyiv, he was stopped and questioned by the local police.

Someone had reported him as he strolled around the city photographing its squares, churches and other landmarks  many now buttressed with sandbags.

The police officers took him to their car and scrolled through the recent photos on his mobile phone, leafed through his sketchbook, and checked what channels he subscribed to on the social messaging app Telegram.

They were even reading my memes to check if I am making fun of us or them, he said in an interview, meaning Ukrainians or Russians. Luckily for him, the officers found a meme of ragtag Russian soldiers with televisions for heads  an allusion to the intense propaganda Moscow is churning out  and let him go.
HORSHAM, England  As they returned from playing tag at recess on a recent sunny morning, the red-cheeked children had lots of questions.

Russia is big enough, why does he want more land? Max, 11, his eyes on an atlas, asked his teacher about President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Jessica, 11, stood with a knee on her chair. Why are most crazy people men? she wondered. Issy, 11, turned to the teacher: Would you stay and fight for your country?

Tara Harmer, a teacher of 36 years, paused to think. Its a difficult one, isnt it? she said in her elementary school classroom in Horsham, a town in southern England. My instinct would be to protect you, she reasoned. Yes, I think I would fight for my country.

As Europeans have grappled with the shock of facing a war on their doorstep and a frenzied news cycle, many teachers have had little time to process what was happening  they had to provide answers, and fast.
Unless you have been on the battlefield in Syria, Libya or the Central African Republic, you most likely have never heard of the Wagner Group, a private military force with close links to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.

Wagner forces have appeared in Ukraine, presumably to fight alongside Russian troops in Mr. Putins war. In the past month, the number of Wagner troops in the country has more than tripled to over 1,000. Their presence, in the eastern region known as Donbas that is home to Russia-backed separatist groups, raises concerns, given the groups history. U.N. investigators and rights groups say Wagner troops have targeted civilians, conducted mass executions and looted private property in conflict zones.

Heres what to know about Wagner:

How did Wagner get its start?

The entity first emerged in 2014, during Russias annexation of Crimea. The U.S. government has said that the organization is financed by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, a Russian businessman and a close associate of Mr. Putin. He has been referred to as Putins chef because of his catering business, which has staged elaborate state banquets for Mr. Putin.

How did the group get its name?

The group reportedly took its name from the nom de guerre of its leader, Dmitry Utkin, a retired Russian military officer. Mr. Utkin is said to have chosen Wagner to honor the composer, who was a favorite of Hitlers. Despite the Kremlins denial of any ties to Wagner, Mr. Utkin has been photographed next to Mr. Putin.
BEIRUT, Lebanon  Hundreds of Syrian fighters are en route to join Russian forces in Ukraine, effectively returning the favor to Moscow for helping President Bashar al-Assad crush rebels in an 11-year civil war, according to two people monitoring the flow of mercenaries.

A first contingent of soldiers has already arrived in Russia for military training before heading to Ukraine, according to a Western diplomat and a Damascus-based ally of the Syrian government. It includes at least 300 soldiers from a Syrian army division that has worked closely with Russian officers who went to Syria to support Mr. al-Assad during the war.

And many more could be on the way: Recruiters across Syria have been drawing up lists of thousands of interested candidates to be vetted by the Syrian security services and then passed to the Russians.

Syria has grown in recent years into an exporter of mercenaries, a grim aftereffect of years of war that gave many men combat experience but so damaged the countrys economy that people now struggle to find work. So they have deployed as guns-for-hire to wars in Libya, Azerbaijan, the Central African Republic  and now Ukraine.
Jackie Peskin

Working with strategic partners is one of the most valuable ways to drive brand loyalty, foster engagement with existing customers and reach new ones. But identifying the right partner is like dating: Sharing common interests and values are a great starting point before getting too deep into the relationship, which will benefit both parties in the long run.

Our agency helps clients in various capacities along this journey, from amplifying existing partnerships to recommending partners and developing the activations that maximize value. Lets examine some key factors that may help you evaluate your next partnership.

Eyes on the prized partner

Are you looking to raise brand awareness? Introduce a product? Reinforce category expertise? Reach a niche demographic? Theres a partner for that. Partnership is a fairly broad term encompassing brands, non-profits, organizations, academic institutions, specialized experts and influencers.

This article is featured in O'Dwyer's Mar. '22 Food & Beverage PR Magazine

(view PDF version)

Before reaching out to anyone, its critical to identify the goal of the partnership. It sets the stage for the nature of the relationship, lays the groundwork for the guiding strategy and helps weed out or zero in on potential partners. Also, think through the duration: Is the goal a limited time offer, an extensive campaign, or a multi-year program? Our agency uses a results first framework with clients; weve found that asking a lot of questions upfront can avoid people searching for answers later.

A match made in insights

Once you figure out your goals, its time to take a deeper look at prospective partners. Beyond like-minded audiences, goals and values, understanding consumer behavior can take a collaboration to a whole new level of success.

For instance, we know people who work out generally tend to eat healthier. Faced with the challenge of getting health-conscious consumers to consider choosing more nutritious Egglands Best eggs, Coyne PR went in search of a partner that would build brand awareness and drive trial for our client. While digging through potential partner consumer research and data, we uncovered that two out of three members at Life Time gyms go grocery shopping after visiting the gym. Bingo. Not only did this potential partner check the boxes on common interests, values and potential to reach a shared target demographic, but this insight also revealed we could reach consumers at the exact moment when purchasing healthier products was top of mind. The team built a robust program with multiple touchpoints, including customized coupons to drive trial. The partnership ended up being one of the most successful campaigns for both Egglands Best and Life Time, resulting in a 16.5 percent coupon redemption rate

Leveraging assets

Beyond the traditional cross-promotion efforts, the right partner can bring their unique set of assets to add value. One example is a partnership we proposed and implemented for our client Castello Cheese, a brand that continually looks for ways to educate consumers on Havarti cheese. The target audience over-indexes on the use of charcuterie boards and DIY projects. We combined both interests into a partnership with Board & Brush Creative Studio, a company that organizes workshops for DIYers around the United States, Canada and Japan (we utilized the U.S. system for this campaign). The Castello and Board & Brush target audience overlapped perfectly.

The initiative called on consumers across the country to attend Board & Brush cheeseboard workshops where they had the opportunity to discover Havarti along with other Castello varieties while learning how to create their own custom cheese tray. Castello Havarti was able to utilize the large built-in network of Board & Brush to deliver its message and encourage trial. For Board & Brush, the partnership provided attendees with a unique workshop experience that helped drive additional foot traffic.

Commit to collaboration

Just as you know your brand better than anyone, so does your partner about their brand. Accept and embrace this fact. This means being open to compromise, to doing things slightly different than youre accustomed to, or moving in different directions than initially anticipated (which is perfectly fine if it continues to meet your original objective).

At Coyne, our goal is to be an extension of a clients internal team. Likewise, you and your partner should work as one team. Keep an honest and open dialogue. Communicate frequently. Be respectful of each others internal structure and timing for approvals.

As part of our ongoing work with Just Borns PEEPS brand, Coyne provides media relations and social media support for the brands limited-time partnerships during the Easter season. Past collaborations include a whos who of iconic brands in their own right: Oreo, Kelloggs, Dunkin and Crocs, to name a few. In every instance, our PR and social media teams collaborate with the corresponding brand team, melding together best practices, creative muscle and media relationships to drive attention.

Watchouts and pitfalls

We can all agree that even the most thoughtfully designed program will encounter a hiccup or two along the way. Its no different with partnerships, but there are steps that can reduce the risk.

When vetting partners, brands should be clear about their expectations and ensure partners can deliver on the established objectives. Ask for case studies, sample content and referrals to better understand expected results and the experience of working with the potential partner.

If partnering with an individual, a thorough audit can help reveal any potential issues. Take note of your initial communications with the partner and most importantly, listen to your gut. Whether its a question of culture compatibility or issues that may arise later down the line, if something feels off, chances are it is. A partnership can leave lasting impressionsboth good and, unfortunately, sometimes bad.

Avoid the trap of the shiny new object syndrome, where you jump headfirst into a partnership without proper vetting or collaborating for the wrong reasons. Wrong reasons include, They get lots of press! and Everyone I know knows them! Unfortunately, shiny new object syndrome will inevitably increase your chance of heartbreak, to use our dating analogy.

Once a partner checks all the boxes, make sure to establish ownership roles ahead of time. Confusion over who is owning what during the execution phase can impact timelines, budgets and the overall success of the campaign.

Finding the right partner may seem like a lot of work. Thats because it is. But the right partner paired with a well-executed plan will without a doubt deliver great results and set a blueprint for successful collaborations in the future. To end with our dating analogy, the result will be true love for everyone involved.

***

Jackie Peskin is VP, Food & Nutrition, at Coyne PR.
Marilyn Horn,

Georgella Muirhead

Lambert forms a strategic partnership with Van Dyke Horn Public Relations, the largest minority public relations agency in Michigan. The firms have previously shared clients and campaigns in the non-profit and corporate sectors. Joining VDHs current owner, president and CFO Marilyn Horn, Lambert will invest a less-than-majority stake in the agency, which will to be run by VDHs current leadership. The joint go-to-market plan and growth strategy for collaborative projects between the two firms will be co-led by Lambert CEO Michelle Olson and chairman Jeff Lambert along with Horn and VDH chief executive officer Georgella Muirhead. Weve been minoring in DEI consulting and multi-cultural marketing, but this is an opportunity to major in it and to help the Van Dyke Horn team scale their services nationally and into fast growing sectors like private equity, public companies and ESG mandates, said Olson.

GLOBALHealthPR, a network of independent healthcare agencies, rebrands as Global Health Marketing & Communications. The new identity, which launches across the networks worldwide headquarters and partner agencies in the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific, reflects what it says is the evolution and expansion of communications and marketing capabilities driven by the changing media landscape. "In a world where media and channels are becoming more blended, we continue to invest in our strategy-first approach to drive behavior-changing campaigns, said Jonathan Wilson, GMHC chairman and CEO as well as owner/CEO of U.S. partner Spectrum Science. Our new identity reinforces GHMC's laser-focus on healthcare while reflecting the increasingly diversified offerings within our network across partner agencies and around the world."
ICR Inc. was the big gainer among the top 10 tech PR firms in ODwyers 2022 rankings, racking up a 209.1 percent increase that took their 2021 net fees to $57 million, making it #2 on the list.

The top spot went to Edelman, which was up 12.2 percent to $281.2 million. Hotwire (up 15.1 percent to $48.2 million) took the #3 spot.

Other big gainers included #4 Finn Partners (up 53.6 percent to $46.2 million), #5 Zeno Group (up 44.7 percent to $30.2 million), #7 Walker Sands (up 40.2 percent to $28.5 million) and #9 The Hoffman Agency (up 33.4 percent to $20.2 million).

Highwire PRs 21 percent jump to $29. 2 million brought it in at #6. PAN Communications, whose net fees held steady at $19.9 million, was #10.

Ruder Finn, which did not break out its tech numbers last year, came in #8 with $21.3 million, and APCO Worldwide, which also didnt list in the tech section in 2021, was #11 with $16.1 million in net fees.

At Highwire, Tech and Healthcare Join Forces

Carol Carrubba

In 2021, Highwire saw tremendous growth across all our core sectors including enterprise technology, cybersecurity, commerce and especially in digital health, said agency principal Carol Carrubba.

As the reality of the permanently hybrid world became apparent, both the complexities and the new opportunities necessitated strong communications strategies for all stakeholders, Carrubba said.

She noted that capital markets were ripe again for public offerings, and that Highwire supported companies including GitLab, Qualtrics and Digital Ocean before, during and after IPOs.

Following Highwires 2020 acquisition of Wonderscript, which accelerated the firms ability to deliver full digital programs, its digital team expanded tremendously in 2021, and now leads strategic programs for more than half of Highwire clients.

Carrubba sees the growing connection between healthcare and technology as a prime mover for growth in the coming year. We are energized by the unstoppable technology transformation in healthcare that is creating new models for care and ultimately better outcomes for patients, she said

She also anticipates a heightened focus on cybersecurity driven by geo-political issues and fresh attention from the White House, as well as a shift toward companies doubling down on data and new technology in the enterprise, from accelerating AI projects to staking a claim in the metaverse.

Strong Organic Growth at Walker Sands

Andrew Cross

New clients such as commercetools, Outseer (formerly RSA Fraud & Risk Intelligence) and SambaNova Systems contributed to a healthy jump of more than 40 percent (as well as a move from the #29 spot to #7 on O'Dwyer's tech list) for Walker Sands last year, according to executive vice president, services Andrew Cross.

"We continue to see strong organic growth through new client wins, particularly in HR technology, logistics, cybersecurity, AI and healthcare," Cross said.

He noted that client budgets showed strength in the second half of 2021 and into 2022.

The agency acquired March Communications in 2021, giving it a presence in Boston and Atlanta.

Walker Sands also worked to deepen its capabilities in such areas as branding, marketing strategy, and multichannel creative production and execution.

"Looking ahead to the rest of 2022," Cross said, "I expect sectors like cybersecurity, energy and supply chain to continue growth in terms of mindshare and investment dollars."

We were extremely pleased to see our business continue to grow over the past year as we added strong talent and experience to our teams across the globe and expanded our client roster of innovative tech brands.

Hotwire Looks Toward the Future

Heather Kernahan

Hotwire global CEO Heather Kernahan says "a spike in demand for lead generation, account-based marketing, and sales activity" were key elements in the agency's move up the O'Dwyer's tech list from #9 to #3.

"Tech CMOs were under pressure to deliver immediate results today and continue building their brands for the future," Kernhan says. To respond to the shift, Hotwire acquired McDonald Butler and "added extensive account-based marketing and channel marketing experience."

The additions "gave us expanded capabilities designed to address tech CMOs challenges and help them build brand reputation, strengthen stakeholder relationships, and ultimately deliver revenue growth."

Kernahan says Howtire "saw more innovation and tech headquarters going into key European cities and an unprecedented level of VC investment." Because of that, the agency named Ute Hildebrandt as managing director of a newly created Continental European organization.

Hotwire also launched key programs to further the agency's goals around diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Hotwire Ignite Possibility Program was started up last summer as a way to direct more of the firm's resources "towards people and organizations creating sustainable change in the world through technology innovation." The agency also committed $1M globally in services to tech and tech-enabled organizations led by or supporting people of color.

Other new programs include Hotwire Into Tech, a free skill-building course for experienced marketing and communications professionals who may be interested in transitioning to a job in the tech industry, and a think-tank developed by its Spanish team focused on "paving the way for future female tech communicators."

PAN Rides the Start-Up Wave

Mark Nardone

A significant move from start-up (emerging growth) to mid and later-stage brands characterized the tech sector in 2021, according to PAN Communications chief marketing officer Mark Nardone.

We definitely exceeded expectations for new business following the previous years unsettling environment around the pandemic, and saw clients sign on with PAN specifically during their companies critical growth stages, Nardone said.

PAN rose from #25 on last years list to #10 this year, which Nardone says was mainly due to how we reacted in order to better accommodate the shifting market.

New clients at the firm included IPOs Weave and Braze, along with Booz Allen Hamilton, Toshiba, Amwell, BitDefender, Quickbase, Algolia and Collibra.

In 2021, PAN launched its strategic consulting group, which looks looks at strategic storytelling through the lens of messaging/positioning. The agency also expanded its media department, which helps media-train executives, brainstorm creative stories or angles, and lean into trending topics, among other functions.

Over the coming year, Nardone says he sees significant growth and investment in Cybersecurity, Web 3.0, Commerce, and future of work (HR tech) and DEI initiatives.

Ruder Finn Capitalizes on Cyber and Privacy Expertise

Robin Kim

Thanks to clients incuding Amazon and Elastic, revenues for Ruder Finns tech pratice jumped by 34 percent in 2021.

"Growth was driven by a combination of big brand multinationals and nimble start-up disruptors in the hottest areas of emerging tech," said global head of technology Robin Kim. Hot sectors included cyber, AI, fintech, open source, edge computing, web3, NFT marketplace, crypto exchange, synthetic biology and eCommerce.

Kim says that the digital transformation spurred by the pandemic "has disrupted every business model," making communications "essential to building trust, navigating risk, and driving sales and adoption."

Factors that Ruder Finn leveraged to fuel its growth included "specialized offerings in supply chain disruptions requiring nuanced storytelling, virtual collaboration platforms transforming how businesses work and partner, the convergence of technology and healthcare and the subsequent new marketplace for AI-driven wearables and digital health therapeutics."

In the coming year, Kim sees growth in the "next internet era," which she says is "defined by Web3, blockchain, metaverse and NFTs generating a new suite of experienced-based tools and platforms which are redefining how companies communicate with their customers and stakeholders. "

Hoffman Hits Hyper-Growth

Lou Hoffman

We feel good about our 2021 performance, one that showed us shifting into hyper-growth modedefined as increasing revenue over 30 percent, said The Hoffman Group CEO Lou Hoffman.

"The top tech shops found demand for their services outstripping supply in 2021, according to Hoffman. The previous year found buyers with a mindset that simply maintaining the status quo or even retrenching was a win. By the time 2021 rolled out, these same buyers had decided it was time to get on with it and invest in communications.

Another factor in 2021s growth spurt: employee communications and a renewed emphasis on corporate communications with an eye on demonstrating purpose

Hoffman also cites the outsized impact that startups had on the tech PR market, with ne companies hiring seasoned PR pros much earlier in process  often after raising Series A funding  and allocating larger budgets for sophisticated programming.

Since the US remains ground zero for the tech industry, Hoffman says that the leadership position for his firms U.S. team is critical to its global strategy. You can see how this played out in 2021 with revenue in APAC and Europe derived from programs that started in the US coming in at $1.93 million, roughly 10 percent of global revenue. This number will grow significantly in 2022.

Finally, he stresses the importance of the employee experience at his firm, which includes a strong focus on staff wellness. Theres no magic wand to getting this right, Hoffman says. It requires informal and formal mechanisms to ensure were hearing the employees voice and acting on this feedback.

Clarity Expands Its Range

Sami McCabe

Clarity founder CEO Sami McCabe says that the agency scaled nearly 60 percent globally in 2021, working with such clients as What3Words, OpenWeb and Pay Zilch.

With $14.4M in net fees (up from $9M last year), Clarity moved up one spot to #13 on this years tech list.

Incredible advances in technology, both from a product innovation standpoint as well as the impact the sector has on the world at large spurred the growth wave, McCabe said. He singled out sustainability, fintech, enterprise and consumer as being especially important.

Clarity acquired digital agency 3WhiteHats in May 2021, a move that McCabe says is the next step in our journey to provide a robust and comprehensive range of marketing communications services to our clients.

He adds that clients are looking for a true partner that can bring a broad range of tools to bear on solving their most pressing business challenges and seizing their biggest opportunities.

As regards the future of the sector, McCabe says he is optimistic that technology industry leaders will prioritize making a positive impact on society and build a fairer, cleaner, healthier, and more equitable future.
Lou Hammond Group signs on to represent Wellby, a Houston-based credit union that serves 130,000 members from 20 locations. LHG supports Wellby with a range of services that includes PR, member communications and marketing strategy. Wellby was formed in 1961 as JSC Federal Credit Union to serve the employees and families of Johnson Space Center. LHG has also added Visit Athens GA, Vintage Hospitality Group, Venterra Realty and The Ryder Hotel to its client roster for public relations/corporate communications, strategic planning, branding and digital marketing services.

Hemsworth Communications is named agency of record for LiveTrends Design Group and its three brandsLiveTrends and Urban Jungle, which specialize in plants, and BeYou, a collection of products set to launch later this year. The firm is responsible for crafting and executing a national media relations and influencer marketing strategy to drive consumer awareness and sales for the company. It is also developing a launch strategy for the company's new website, which will be introduced in the coming weeks. Headquartered in Orlando, FL, LiveTrends Design Group sells its products in Lowe's, Target, Trader Joe's, Kroger and over 200 retailers nationwide.

Pace Public Relations is selected to lead media efforts for Greater New Orleans, Inc., the regional economic development non-profit organization serving the 10-parish region of Southeast Louisiana. The agency will execute a strategic media relations plan for GNO focused on bolstering the region's profile as a tech and startup hub with a thriving business economy. GNO works to attract, retain and develop businesses in New Orleans as well as create, promote and advocate for programs that improve business conditions and career opportunities within the region. "Pace is well-equipped to bring our vision for Greater New Orleans to national level  with a proven track record of press success and a team with a vast array of media experience," said GNO president and CEO Michael Hecht.
Egads.... Mark Zuckerbergs Meta, parent of Facebook, is funding a bare-knuckle grassroots campaign to turn public opinion against TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, according to a breathless report in the Washington Post.

Meta is using Targeted Victory to place articles and op-eds in regional papers promoting dubious stories about alleged TikTok trends that actually originated on Facebook and working to amplify negative coverage.

Targeted Victory, which WaPo notes is a Republican aligned firm, is lining up proactive coverage about Facebook.

The Post put a negative spin on a basic tool of PR: grassroots outreach.

One wonders if the liberal WaPo post took a shot at Targeted Victory because its goal is to bring a right-of-center perspective to solve marketing challenges.

Zac Moffatt, who was digital director for Mitt Romneys 2012 presidential run, launched Targeted Victory.

Hes been working for Facebook since at least 2016, along with blue-chip clients such as AT&T, Gillette and FedEx for years.

The Post failed to note Targeted Victory is a unit of Stagwell Group.

Mark Penn, who advised Bill and Hillary Clinton, helms Stagwell. His name has graced the pages of the Post for years.

Damn the Oligarchs Full Speed Ahead, says Alberto Galassi, CEO of Italian yacht maker Ferretti, paraphrasing the command given by Admiral David Farragut, the hero of the Battle of Mobile Bay.

Ferretti has just gone public on the Hong Kong stock in a deal valued at just shy of $1B.

Its prospectus eases the fears of potential investors who thought the sanctions slapped on Russian oligarchs in the aftermath of Putins invasion of Ukraine would sink its sale of super-yachts, which are boats from 39 to 95 meters long.

Fear not. Ferretti says sales to Russian and Ukrainian customers only accounted for three percent of 2021 sales.

To its best knowledge, there are no pending sales to Russians or Ukrainians on the books.

And beside the point: Due to the nature and uniqueness of the luxury industry, we did not experience in the past, nor do we expect to face in the future any material difficulty in selling our yachts to other customers, Ferrettis said.

The company, which is controlled by Chinas Weichai Group, sees a bright future in the APAC market.

It posted a 63 percent rise in nine-month revenues to $775M. It earned $42M compared to a $12M year ago loss.

Let them eat cake, indeed.
A UKRAINIAN refugee who has moved to Offaly has told of how relieved she is that her daughter is smiling again after they fled their home to escape the war.

Tetiana Komarova, 41, and her six-year-old daughter Yana are currently staying with a family in the Durrow area.

Tetiana was living in Kyiv and first sought refuge in central Ukraine before deciding it would be safer to join the millions of others on the move to elsewhere in Europe.

Speaking to the Tribune this week as Yana enjoyed herself in the Tullamore Town Park playground, Tetiana said she had been hoping she would not have to leave her own country but was forced to make a decision when they heard the sounds of rockets.

We hear it, we hear a lot of (imitates explosive noises) and then we decided to [move]. But all this time, we hoped that it will stop tomorrow, and tomorrow, and every day we waited, it will stop, it will stop, she said.

But the bombing did not stop. We go to the central part of Ukraine and from there I decided to take my child to the safe place. It was my only motivation to go.

Her husband Sasha, an IT engineer, has stayed behind and continues to work but has also signed up for the Ukrainian territorial defence.

She keeps in regular contact with him because they all fear nowhere in Ukraine is safe from Russian bombing, either near Kyiv, in the east of the country, in the centre, or near the Polish border at Lviv.

We were near a little town about 50km from this village. It was bombed. There is no safe place. Yesterday they bombed Lviv.

Tetiana, a university graduate who has studied Russian literature, worked as a journalist, editor, publishing designer and in internal corporate communications, had her bags packed even before the Russian invasion on February 24.

She had two bags ready on February 21 and when she finally decided to leave Ukraine, she said Yana cried: She cried in the bus and she understood that Father will stay and will not go with us. After this she did not cry.

But only now will she let me go from her more than a metre. When she doesn't see me she starts to cry 'Mam, Mam', she needs to be near.

Yana was not like that before the war. She was independent and liked to run and play and though they tried not to show her what is happening she saw armed men at a checkpoint on the journey to central Ukraine.

She saw everything and she asked me what is it. I have to explain to her there is a war, these people are our hope, they protect us, it is our army or it is our territorial defence. But for a child I think it's bad to see this.

Tetiana, who learned English when she was 10, said she was very grateful to all the Irish people who have helped her, especially the woman in her host family.

Because they take so much care about me, about Yana, she said. She has become friendly with the woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, and laughs that her Offaly host refers to herself as a crazy woman.

But she is the best woman I know. Now I see that my child can smile, she can play, she plays with [the] dogs. She is feeling safe.

Tetiana came to Ireland after receiving responses from people here through online enquiries and part of her trip was documented in a video published by the Irish Times.

She was originally scheduled to stay with a family in the Killeigh area first but that was postponed because of a positive Covid test in the house.

Both families are liaising closely with each other to ensure the transition will be as smooth as possible for Tetiana and her daughter.

Tetiana said she hopes to be able to work in Ireland and contribute to society when she is more settled.

I hope that Yana will go to school... it's my first task, she needs to communicate, to get education. After this I hope I will try to find some work. In Ukraine almost all people work hard, we are used to living like [that], I can't do nothing. It's very hard for me.

I hope that I will find work and I will be useful for this country. All the time I stay here I will try to be useful here.

She repeatedly thanked the Irish people and the people in countries like Poland, Hungary and Romania for their help.

An appeal for clothing and essentials at the Central Hotel in Tullamore, where some refugees are staying, was so well supported that donors were asked not to bring anything else and were referred on to the Offaly Volunteer Centre.

I hope that the whole world will see that Ukrainians are united, that we can be very grateful for everything, that we will, all [during the] time we have to stay somewhere, not at home, we will do our best for our country and other countries.

She very much misses her home life and her husband. I work, my husband works, we have some plans, we have some dreams, we thought about Yana's future. And I don't know how... to leave everything we love behind, it's very difficult.

All my friends, they are now waiting for our victory [so they can] come back, get home.

She agrees with the government's decision to prohibit men aged between 18 and 60 from leaving Ukraine.

If you are a man, even if you don't want to fight, you can help, you can build, you can do something that women can't... try to build... help with somewhere where there is ruins, take away people. You can do something else, she said.

I hope that this war will not only change Ukraine but the whole world will be changed. Only our all work will help. We all will work for our victory. We are here and they are in Ukraine.

She said would have seen herself as a political person before the invasion and was especially moved when she saw police beating students during the Maidan revolution (an uprising against the government after it decided not to sign a free trade agreement with the EU) in 2014.

Her opinion was: What, they beat our children?

Tetiana explained: I am an educated person and I know that if you will not be interested in politics, politics will be interested some time in you. That's why I tried to understand what happens in my country before the war. I have a child, I know that she must have some possibilities in life, she must have a future.

The woman hosting Tetiana and Yana said she was motivated to take in refugees after seeing civilians being bombed and families trying to escape.

I think a mother's or a family's greatest fear is of anything happening to their child or losing their child. It sounds like nothing but it's a huge thing to protect a child. So how can you not help? How can you not help somebody who wants to save their child from an atrocity?

She said Tetiana had the heart of a lion and was glad to see Yana becoming more comfortable as the days in Ireland passed.

What is more important really than the life of a child? Whatever happens in that child's life makes them an adult. These are their formative years so we have to try and protect them and support the mothers.

When Tetiana and Yana move to Killeigh she will take in another family.

Looking at Yana on a swing in the playground, she observed: That is the calmest I have seen her.

Tetiana continues to look forward to a day when the war will end and her family can be reunited. But she does not believe Russian forces should be permitted to stay in the east of Ukraine.

She said she believes Putin's view is: If I can have this, then I will have this, and more and more and more.

She added: Russia understands only the speech of force.

She hopes the Ukrainian army will be able to push the Russian forces out of the eastern region of Donbas.

Don't let them stay in Donbas, I hope, I pray for it. Don't let our politicians say 'Ok, they may stay in Donbas'. No, because too many people lost their lives there, in Donbas, in Luhansk.

She says she and her husband have family connections right across Ukraine. Her grandmother was from the Luhansk region in the east, her father's area is Kyiv, her husband is from a little town near Lviv and his father's family on his grandmother's side were from central Ukraine.

We are from all Ukraine.

Her cousin is with the territorial defence and his wife and three children are in Poland. Yesterday he sent me a photo and I am so happy to see he is alive... Very many of my friends are now in army, they are fighting. Every day I am trying to know if everything is ok, if they're alive.

She added: My friend from school, he's lost, we don't know where he is. He was in Irpin and we don't know what has happened.

I understand, that in some time... I hope, war will end. We will come back to our country and I hope that all around the world, all people will see Ukrainians and you will think good about us. I want them to remember us as good people.

Tetiana had heard of Tullamore prior to coming here because her husband was once presented with a gift of Tullamore DEW at work.

So I knew there was some place like Tullamore. I like this country, I like England, Scotland and Ireland, I read about these countries and history and we know there is 'Tullamore'. And then all this happened and I find myself in Tullamore and it was some kind of shock!

She thought to herself: What is Tullamore really? How can this happen? We know about Tullamore DEW and we have only one sort of this whiskey in Kyiv. Here there is so many.

Laughing, she concluded: It was very tasty whiskey.
A WOMAN who had a heart transplant in January is one of over 130 displaced Ukrainians who are being accommodated in Tullamore's Central Hotel.

Ilona Klymko, 32, is in Tullamore with her husband Mohammed Salous, their two-year-old daughter Kamillia, Ilona's mother Iryna and Mohammed's 25-year-old son Kasim.

Mr Salous learned English in his country of birth, Kuwait, and he told the Tullamore Tribune about how his wife's medical needs are now the family's priority.

Her heart transplant went well but like many who undergo such an operation, she developed skin cancer afterwards.

Everything was okay [for] one month, and then they find that she had melanoma, said Mr Salous.

Russia invaded Ukraine soon after that diagnosis and the family had to leave their Kyiv home, travelling first to Poland and on to Berlin before deciding to come to Ireland.

From the beginning I wanted to be here because my uncle in England said the hospitals here are very very high [standard], Mr Salous explained.

He knew the health service in Germany is also very good but opted for an English speaking country because he believed it would be easier to speak to doctors and eventually, to find employment.

Though he has not used his English for about 28 years, he remarked: I speak English very well. I want to work.

Ilona was seen by Dublin-based oncologist, Professor Oscar Breathnach, on Monday and the family were being assisted on Wednesday evening with transport from Tullamore for further appointments.

Mr Salous said Professor Breathnach told them they might have to seek accommodation in Dublin: We will have to go to Dublin because he said he wants us to be near him to help us.

Mr Salous, 50, was in the clothing trade in Kyiv before the invasion and he hopes to to find a good life" for his family.

I know that life is in the hand of God but I have to do something, he said. Until this war happened, all the time [Kyiv] is beautiful, with lights [at night], and all the people go here and there. Now, nobody. It is a city without any people. I don't know why this war has to be.

He said disputes between countries and people should be resolved in other ways: Because we are human we can find a solution, we have a mind.

Mr Salous' family and all the other Ukrainians who are staying in the Central Hotel were formally welcomed to Offaly on Wednesday evening by local representatives, including Cllr Declan Harvey, Cathaoirleach, County Council, Cllr Tony McCormack, chair, Tullamore Municipal District, and other councillors.

Cllr Harvey said: Hopefully they will settle in, be happy and get over the trauma that they are going through. It's an ongoing situation with the war in Ukraine and it's humanitarian aid for these people.

Cllr Harvey added: Not as Cathaoirleach, but as Decky Harvey, a Tullamore born and bred man I'm glad that Tullamore can offer these people safe refuge, somewhere nice, clean, and warm to stay.

They are happy but you can see that they are frightened. You can see it in their eyes, genuinely there's a fear there of the war.

Cllr McCormack said it is important for the Ukrainians to know the people of Tullamore and Offaly are delighted to help them.

We understand where they're coming from. We understand that they've come from a war torn country. We also know they have left some loved ones behind, some family and friends, and hopefully the war situation will be resolved fairly quickly, he said.

At the same time, we'll look after them here in Tullamore, in Offaly, in Ireland, for as long as they need to be looked after, and we'll share our culture and heritage with them while they will share their culture and heritage with us.

He said Ireland and Ukraine had similar histories because they were both controlled by a bigger neighbour and he believed Ukraine will not want to give up its independence.

They got a taste of freedom... and now they have matured as a nation and were enjoying their freedom and their democracy and they are going to fight all the way to the bitter end to ensure they maintain that.

And we wish them all the best in doing that and if there is anything we can do as a council or individual councillors for them while they're here to make their stay better or if we can integrate them into society or help them getting jobs, or being involved in different organisations in the community, we'll be there for that in any way we can.

Deirdre Fox, manager of the Offaly Volunteer Centre, has been helping the new arrivals since they first came to Tullamore.

We were involved in the original loading of the trucks that went to Ukraine, Ms Fox explained.

As a result of that some displaced Ukrainians joined us and said they would like to have an opportunity to meet with other Ukrainians so we provided a space for them to do that.

A shop  where the Ukrainians can browse and choose what they want free of charge  has been set up in the Volunteer Centre premises on Bury Quay.

An appeal for donations of essential items prompted a massive response and volunteers took note of individual requests from the refugees.

When they arrived here last Wednesday week late at night we had Ukrainian flags hanging outside our building and they were attracted by that when they were walking up to the canal. So they popped in, said Ms Fox.

Requests vary from adaptors for plugging in electrical devices to queries about local pharmacies.

Some people are unwell from having been living in the bunkers, said Ms Fox.

Education of the children has been emphasised by many of the mothers, and volunteers from a pre-school in Durrow were helping set up a playroom in the hotel this week.

Though they are still settling in, some of the new residents have already signed up as volunteers with the Offaly Volunteer Centre themselves.

They want to be part of what ever is going on to make their life easier here, said Ms Fox.

Martin Buckley, chair of the Volunteer Centre board said ongoing support will be given to the Ukrainians.

As a volunteer and an Offaly man myself I'm proud to be part of a project to help our European neighbours to settle in for as long as they need to settle in and be part of this community, said Mr Buckley.

A 21-year-old university student from Dnipro, Vlas Novokhatnii, is in Tullamore with his mother Oksana.

He was studying maths and statistics hundreds of kilometres away in Kyiv and because his father works as a first responder, his mother was often at home alone with missiles flying over the building.

They decided to come to Ireland through Poland and is in regular contact with his father, who had to stay behind.

A fluent English speaker who is interpreting for many of his fellow nationals, the student said he always loved Irish culture.

I love to be here, I love to be a part of this place, to help my Ukrainian community but also help the Irish community to integrate all the people from Ukraine, he said.

He said they were all very grateful for the help they are receiving in Ireland.

It's hard for us to believe how kind you are... I want to give back, I want to make this place grow, I want to make this place prosper.

He sees English language lessons as crucial if his compatriots are to realise their ambition to get employment here.

Without English it's really hard to get a job, he said. Everyone would be eager to work and not just receive financial support.

While happy to be in a safe country, he says many of those staying in the hotel feel bittersweet.

They think this is some kind of dream because before [the invasion] it seemed to be a dream because of how horrible it was. You couldn't imagine that something like that can actually be happening, he said.

But right now it seems to be a dream because of how great it is. It still seems surreal to be honest. At the same time most of these people do not take it for granted.

They really understand how much they are being helped and they are so grateful. They are really happy. But at the same time it's kind of bittersweet because when you think about what is happening right now in Ukraine, what is happening to families you feel guilty about it because you have everything here and the people there have no electricity or no safety.

All of the accommodation in the hotel will be available for displaced people for at least six months.

Brian Reynolds, hotel manager, said about 103 adults and 31 children have moved in and the hotel is now full.

The dining room is used to serve the new guests breakfast, lunch and dinner but the restaurant, coffee shop and meeting rooms will still be available for public use.

We're very lucky that we've teamed up with Offaly Local Development and Offaly Volunteers. They have been a massive support to us, said Mr Reynolds.

He has noticed that many of the new residents are anxious to get their PPS numbers as soon as possible so that they can seek work.

Mr Reynolds also thanked the local public for their support: The local support has been phenomenal with the amount of donations that people have brought in. We're very lucky with the community that we live in.
Irish Water has today announced plans to upgrade twelve wastewater treatment plants that will benefit rural communities and protect local rivers, including Cloneygowan in Offaly.

This project will be funded by the European Union under Irelands National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Once complete, the newly upgraded plants will provide additional treatment capacity to support housing and growth, improve water quality in rivers and safeguard water supplies.

Supporting the objectives of Irelands River Basin Management Plan, this 20m investment will improve water quality in local rivers. A key tool in the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, the River Basin Management Plan aims to protect, improve and sustainably manage our water environment. Achieving good water quality in our rivers, lakes and coastal waters is essential for protecting Irelands drinking water sources, the environment and peoples quality of life.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage Darragh OBrien TD said, Last year, as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Government committed to upgrading a minimum of 10 wastewater treatment plants not currently scheduled for upgrade whose discharges have been identified as being significant pressures on receiving water bodies  the announcement today brings that commitment to life.

This investment in Irelands wastewater treatment capacity will bring great benefits to rural communities surrounding the locations of the 12 sites. Not alone does access to clean and healthy water support jobs and industries in these areas but investment in our wastewater treatment, in turn, improves the quality of water in our rivers, supporting biodiversity. I welcome todays announcement and the benefits that improved water quality will bring to people living in these communities, the Minister said.

Ted OReilly, Asset Planning Lead with Irish Water said, We are delighted to announce upgrades to 12 wastewater treatment plants across the country today under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Once upgraded, these plants will help support the recovery of rural areas from the economic impacts of the pandemic. The plant upgrades will result in improvements to water quality in local rivers and support social and economic growth within these areas.

Public expenditure in wastewater infrastructure will have positive impacts on the economy, supporting growth and helping to facilitate social and affordable housing. Investment in public projects will provide the infrastructure needed to help with economic recovery, said Ted.

The following wastewater treatment plants will be upgraded as part of this project: Ballymoe in Galway, Ballintra and Pettigo in Donegal, Galbally in Limerick, Clonea Power in Waterford, Grangemockler in Tipperary, Kilmaganny in Kilkenny, Tinryland and Kildavin in Carlow, Cloneygowan in Offaly, Millview (Milltownpass) in Westmeath, and Kilmihil in Clare.

This project will be funded through the European Unions Recovery and Resilience Fund. It will ensure that the treatment of wastewater from these plants will be fully compliant with the Environmental Protection Agencys wastewater discharge authorisations.

The plant upgrades are due to be completed by 2025.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation representing nurses in Emergency Departments and overcrowded wards and the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine representing doctors working in Emergency Departments are jointly calling for Government assistance to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Higher rates of infection are causing high rates of hospital admission. Both groups say that hospitals are overwhelmed and staff need real assistance.

This comes as over 10,000 patients have been without a bed since the mask mandate was lifted on February 28 and over 1,601 patients are in hospital currently with COVID.

"In addition to the very serious patient risks, there are very significant risks for medical and nursing staff who are now exhausted from being on the front line, dealing with wave-upon-wave of patients diagnosed with COVID and the other drivers of increased attendances, including a significant increase in acute mental health emergencies and increased paediatric admissions, while dealing with their own personal and family anxieties," a joint statement continued.

"We are now calling on Government, public health officials and HSE senior management to take action:

"Public health measures must be revisited, particularly the simple ones: mask-wearing in indoor and congregated settings and working from home

"There should be adherence to the advice from the World Health Organisation," they said.

They added that from HPSC figures it is clear that 89,432 of the pandemics total 1,442,877 cases had occurred within the 2 weeks prior to March 27, meaning that 6.2% of COVID infections had occurred in approximately 1-2% of the pandemics timeframe.

"58% of all COVID deaths in Ireland have been linked to outbreaks, with over 90% of those linked to outbreaks in healthcare facilities."

INMO General Secretary, Phil Ni Sheaghdha said: The INMO and our colleagues in the Irish Association for Emergency Medicine have come together today to call on the Government and public health teams to review measures ahead of the peak of the latest wave of the COVID virus. Wearing Masks and working from home will assist, they will not stop the spread, but have and will reduce the intensity of infection and reduce cross-infection. Mandating these measures is now a matter of urgency.

Predictable overcrowding in winter, mixed with higher community spread of an airborne contagious infection means decision-makers are not in the dark. Abandoning our public acute hospitals is a decision that Government cannot make, this would be the wrong decision for patients and the wrong one for staff.

Hospitals are currently not safe for patients or for staff because of the level of overcrowding and COVID infection levels. We need clear and coherent public health advice from Government and senior public health officials. The public need to be made aware of why we need them to once again step up to the plate in order to protect those who are working on our frontlines.

Karen McGowan INMO President and an Emergency Department nurse said: When senior clinicians from a medical and nursing perspective sound the alarm to this extent someone must stop and pay attention. Between both of our organisations, we have been calling on Government and senior public health officials to act when it comes to implementing public health advice. Our members currently feel like they are getting no support and are being left to deal with the worst of this virus by themselves. If staff are saying this is how unsafe it is, well, then everybody cant remain silent.

The Government cannot put their heads in the sand, COVID is still a very dangerous and highly transmissible virus that over 1,600 in hospitals are infected with the virus. Our members feel like they have been thrown to the wolves. They were already burned out after two years of COVID but now we are back to the bad old days of serious hospital overcrowding, by the time this month is over we will have had the worst March since the INMO began counting trolleys in 2006. Not only do we have record overcrowding, if the trends continue as predicted then we will have record levels of staff out sick from COVID."

Irish Association of Emergency Medicine President, Mr Fergal Hickey said: The situation in Irish hospitals at present is the worst that many of my colleagues and I have seen in our careers. The situation at present is intolerable for all who work in our hospitals. Our hospitals have been hanging together by a thread of goodwill of staff but that is about to snap.

The problem of overcrowding at this level is not a new phenomenon in our hospitals. Medical professionals have been sounding the alarm for a long time now. Immediate stronger public health measures are needed - not doing so and abandoning the hospitals to the inevitable will lead to preventable unnecessary higher levels of illness requiring hospital admission and, sadly, for some a fatal outcome. Hospitals are currently not safe for patients or for staff because of the level of overcrowding and COVID infection levels.

It has been repeatedly and robustly proven over recent decades that ED crowding results in an excess 30-day mortality for all patients and the recently published UK research confirms that delay to admission is, of itself, a cause of avoidable mortality to the patient subjected to this long wait, irrespective of overall levels of crowding.
Independent TD for Laois-Offaly Carol Nolan has called on Taoiseach Micheal Martin to clarify if Government has conducted any assessment around the potential impact on adult and child disability respite services here following a commitment to provide services and disability-specific accommodation to citizens fleeing war-torn Ukraine.

Deputy Nolan raised the issue with the Taoiseach during Leaders Questions in the Dail earlier this week.

As difficult as it is, we must have the difficult but important debate around how Government intends to match its rhetoric on this issue with the plain reality that our existing respite services for disabled adult and children are already under severe and chronic pressure, Deputy Nolan said.

Deputy Nolan went on to say that she commended Minister of State Anne Rabbitte for her commitment to improving the challenges around the respite issue and that she also welcomed the statement from Minister Roderick OGorman last week that Ireland will not leave people with disabilities behind as we respond to the crisis.

The Independent TD further noted, however, that while leaving no disabled person behind is exactly the type of ambition we need, there are very many families out there who will have heard or read that statement and questioned, not the will or whether it was the right thing to do, but the capacity of the state to deliver on that promise.

They will have looked at their own children and young adults who are falling between the cracks in terms of child and adult disability services and they will have wondered if the Government's commitments will lead to an even greater level of strain and further delays in accessing limited services.

Those are perfectly understandable fears and concerns, and they need to be addressed candidly and honestly.

How can we talk of leaving no disabled person behind when it is clear that we already have a system that is manifestly unable to provide even the most minimal levels of respite care for significant numbers of adults and children languishing on respite and disability lists? Deputy Nolan said.

Deputy Nolan concluded by asking the Taoiseach if he agreed with her that our rhetoric should be shaped by our capacity to deliver on the promises that we are making to disabled persons, irrespective of where they are coming from.

The Taoiseach in his reply said that Ireland must rise to the challenges presented by the Ukrainian conflict.
MBABANE  There will be no vaccination sites at entry points.

The above was said by Ministry of Health Principal Secretary (PS), Dr Simon Zwane, in an interview yesterday. Dr Zwane said there had been assumptions from some members of the public that the entry points in the country would have vaccination centres, yet this would not be the case for now. To cross the border, you need to be fully vaccinated. There will be no vaccination sites at any entry point, that would be an expense to the government, said Dr Zwane. He further said people needed to take advantage of the vaccinations sites around towns and government hospitals.

In addition to that, he said the available vaccines required two doses for one to be fully vaccinated. We have two vaccines currently, the Pfizer and AstraZeneca. These are available in two doses, so there is no way they could be made available at the borders, said Dr Zwane. This clarification comes after the Prime Minister, Cleopas Sipho Dlamini, announced on Tuesday that travellers could now produce proof of full vaccination for COVID-19 or a negative PCR test of not more than 72 hours at the countrys borders.

Travellers

The PM further said this would be effective immediately, further stating that fully vaccinated travellers entering and leaving the country would no longer need a PCR test. Government emphasised that for now, when they said fully vaccinated, they meant complete doses of a vaccine. Meanwhile, Dr Zwane cleared the confusion between a vaccination card and vaccination certificate. He said the two documents were totally different. The PS said a vaccination certificate was the one required at entry points and a vaccination card was the one obtained on site when vaccinating. We are still making means to make accessing the vaccination certificate easier because we have relied on technological means for now, he said. For one to access the vaccination certificate, they can log onto their email address and retrieve the certificate for printing. The PS said if both methods failed or were inaccessible to people, especially the elderly, they could visit their nearest health centre.
MBABANE  A primary school teacher has been arrested for allegedly killing his brother by hitting him with a glass on the neck at a drinking spot.

Colani Siphithi Ngwenya (31) of Mgofelweni is a teacher at Mseni Primary School in the Manzini Region. According to the charge sheet, Colani is alleged to have unlawfully and with intent to kill, assaulted Thokozani Joseph Ngwenya with a glass on the left side of his neck. He purportedly committed the offence on March 28, 2022 at Mgomfelweni. He yesterday moved an urgent bail application at the High Court, where he argued that he acted in self defence as he was allegedly being attacked by Thokozani and his friends. The accused narrated to the court that on March 27, 2022, he was arrested by police officers based at Mankayane Police Station on allegations that he had committed an offence of murder. He contended that the facts of the matter were that he was attacked by Thokozani and his friends.

Provoked

I had not provoked Thokozani or his friends. I fought back, defending myself. As to how Thokozani suffered the fatal injury, I do not know, submitted Colani. He argued that he was innocent of the charge preferred against him as he did not intentionally kill Thokozani. He also brought it to the attention of the court that during his trial, he would plead not guilty as he was allegedly innocent. I do concede that murder is a despicable offence; however, the prospects of being convicted of violence are non-existent. I am not in any way afraid of sentence that may be meted against me. I have a right which is guaranteed in the Constitution that I must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, he argued. The accused went on to submit that on March 29, 2022, he appeared at the Manzini Magistrates Court where he was informed of his rights, including to seek bail at the High Court.

He implored the court to admit him to bail based on the grounds that he was allegedly not guilty of the offence and that he did not intentionally kill Thokozani but acted in self defence.

Special circumstances exist for me to be admitted to bail. I am employed as a teacher by the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) and based at Mseni Primary School. My continued incarceration will result in me losing my employment as my employer may be forced to find a replacement, he argued. In motivating his bail application, Colani also told the court that he had one minor who was dependent on him and her (minor) mother was unemployed. It was also his humble submission that if admitted to bail, he would not evade trial and that his release would not disturb the public order or undermine the public peace and/or security. I am aware that the charge I am facing is serious, however, I believe that it is not just the seriousness of same that matters, but it is the evidence against the person that is crucial. There is no evidence against me that can influence me to flee the country and leave my family that is dependent on me, argued the accused.

Violence

He also highlighted that although he had been charged with an offence where violence was a subject, he had no propensity to violence. Colani submitted that he had not been violent to anyone or threatened anyone with violence. I have responsibilities. I have a minor child who is dependent on me as the mother is unemployed. I cannot evade trial if admitted to bail as that can put a huge strain on my child. All my properties are within the Kingdom of Eswatini, submitted the teacher. The bail application is being met with resistance from the Crown as the court was yesterday informed that it was being opposed. Siphephile Hlatshwayo, from the chamber of the director of public prosecutions (DPP), told Judge Bonginkhosi Magagula that the Crown would be filing comprehensive papers outlining why it would not be in the interest of justice to release the accused on bail. The accused is represented by Human Rights Lawyer Sipho Gumedze of V.Z Dlamini Attorneys.
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LOBAMBA  Manzini Region MP Busisiwe Mavimbela caused a stir in Parliament yesterday when she claimed that head teachers burnt schools in order to conceal evidence of misuse of funds.

This was during the debate of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Recommendations on the Auditor Generals (AG) Audit Report of Funds in Public Schools. Mavimbela first mentioned that head teachers worked hard but that in many instances funds went missing and they (head teachers) disappeared when the time to audit the schools came. She said when the head teachers disappeared, their offices were burnt out of the blue and the information needed by auditors got lost. Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo seemingly took the submission seriously as when his chance to debate came, he mentioned that such an allegation was serious. I noted with concern that a member of the PAC talked about schools being burnt by head teachers in order to destroy evidence of misuse of funds. You cannot make such an allegation in Parliament and not state a recommendation. I would suggest that you show us the schools since we heard the news from you, said Khumalo.

Promotions

Meanwhile, Shiselweni I MP Sipho Mndzebele said he was concerned with promotions in the teaching service. He said in his view, those teachers who were abusive in schools were promoted the most. On another note, the issue of the term of office for school chairpersons seemingly divided the MPs. This is because while some said it was crucial to ensure that chairpersons did not stay in office for long, others submitted that such individuals were chosen by the parents. Motshane MP Robert Magongo was one of those who opposed the idea, saying chairpersons did not elect themselves but by parents. However, he invited the wrath of some MPs who stood up to ask him to declare his interests as he was known to be a chairperson in one of the schools in the Hhohho Region. Magongo then informed the MPs that indeed he was once a chairperson but that his term ended. While the debate of the report lasted till after 5pm, it was not passed by the MPs as they requested the PAC to go and look into some of the issues they raised. PAC Chairperson and Gege MP Musa Kunene became emotional as he was made to agree to the proposal that the report should not be passed.
While frequent explosions can be heard coming from the direction of the suburban town of Irpin, to the northwest of Kyiv, Ukrainian forces have said they are in control of the town but emergency services believe that it is still too dangerous for civilians.
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LOBAMBA  The manner in which the inquiry into the controversial tender awarded by the Ministry of Home Affairs will be conducted has been questioned by MPs.

Motshane MP Robert Magongo yesterday sought clarification regarding a recommendation that was made to the effect that a controversial tender, which was awarded by the Ministry of Home Affairs, should be investigated. This is the Design, Development and Implementation of a Modernised Integrated System Tender No.22 of 2021/2022. It should be noted that in the report of the ministrys portfolio committee on the ministrys annual performance for 2021, it was noted that there were suspicions that a tendering process was handled irregularly.

The MP said he heard that the same portfolio committee would be responsible for conducting the investigation of the tender. Magongo said such news worried him as it was initially advised that it should not be the portfolio committee that should conduct the investigation, but instead a select committee should do the job.

Recommendation

What is happening now is a conflict of interest because the portfolio committee is the one that made the recommendation that the tender be investigated. It cannot then be the one that conducts the investigation, Magongo stated. He requested that the Office of the Speaker should comply with the recommendation that was given by the attorney general (AG) that a select committee should take over the task. The investigation is misdirected because even the Ministry of Home Affairs should not be involved because the issue of tenders lies with the Ministry of Finance. I request that this issue be sorted out, he said.

Deputy Speaker and Mhlangatane MP Madala Mhlanga, who was on the Speakers chair yesterday, requested to address the issue. He said he was doing so in his capacity as a presiding officer and not as the chairperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs Portfolio Committee. Mahlanga said if there were irregularities with the investigation, Magongo should feel free to report, so that it could be corrected. A motion can still be moved to order that the decision to give the responsibility to the portfolio committee be rescinded. I will check with the Office of the Speaker, especially to ascertain if there was advice given by the Office of the AG that a select committee should do the job, said Mhlanga. Kwaluseni MP Mabhanisi Dlamini also stood up to support Magongo, saying it would be wrong for the Ministry of Home Affairs Portfolio Committee to probe the tender.

Overtaken

However, Dlamini was stopped by Mhlanga who said the submission had now been overtaken by events as he (Mhlanga) had responded to Magongo. Mhlanga also advised that MPs should cite the Standing Order they were using whenever they stood up on a point of order. Meanwhile, Nhlambeni MP Manzi Zwane submitted that he was disappointed as the deputy Speaker had, during the start of the sitting, informed the House that there were no announcements. It is the procedure that after leading the MPs in prayer at the start of a sitting, the Speaker, or his deputy if he is absent, then reads out announcements. Yesterday, Mhlanga, who was on the Speakers chair, informed the MPs that there were no announcements.

MP Zwane said he was disappointed to hear Mhlanga say that. He mentioned that he expected feedback on a pending issue regarding the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA).

According to Zwane, MPs had been promised that they would be given feedback on some concerns they had regarding the CPA. We were promised that we will get answers on when the CPA would meet so I am shocked today that you are saying there are no announcements. There was also a submission to the effect that there was something that the Office of the Speaker had not done properly and that we needed a caucus in order to resolve such issues, said Zwane. He mentioned that the Office of the Speaker was supposed to plan for the caucus and give feedback to the MPs. In response, Mhlanga advised the MPs to always use the right channels whenever they had concerns. He mentioned that there were bodies such as sessional committees, which were there to address concerns and provide clarity to MPs. He said the issue of the caucus lied with the sessional committee and that the Speaker had no control over that. The Speaker cannot just wake up and say today he feels like calling a caucus, he said.

He also mentioned that there were also Standing Orders in place which allowed MPs to move motions whenever they did not get satisfactory answers on issues or clarifications they requested. The statement by Mhlanga seemingly touched Lobamba Lomdzala MP Marwick Khumalo, who submitted the emphasis on Standing Orders and procedural practices concerned. Khumalo said since Mhlanga had said that Parliament was conducted through following procedural practices, he wondered if such was the true picture.

Opposite

I wish what you have said is the path we have been using all along. Today we open and follow the Standing Orders like you say, but tomorrow you will not be on that seat and we will do the opposite. The practice should not be followed only when you are on that seat but all the time. It is a good practice but its not what usually happens once the substantive Speaker is here, said Khumalo. He mentioned that the wisest thing to do would be for the Speaker and Mhlanga to sit down and work on the uniform arrangement in the House. Let us all be inducted in this kind of practice because right now some members do not even have the Standing Orders, while others they have but do not come with them. That is the wrong practice that we have been accustomed to yet what you are saying is that we need to cite the Standing Orders as it is the correct thing to do, submitted Khumalo.
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Chris Rock arrived for a performance at Wilbur Theatre on Wednesday - his first appearance since actor Will Smith slapped him at the Oscars. (March 30)


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Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early Thursday, setting off a gun battle in which two Palestinians were killed and 15 were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
MBABANE  While preparations for the Sibaya National Dialogue are at an advanced stage, government is expecting divergent views and robust debates.

It is expected that the discourse will be held soon. This was confirmed by the Prime Minister, Cleopas Dlamini, who said the King had committed to making sure that every voice was heard and respected during the process of the dialogue. Dlamini said it was appreciated that there would be divergent views and robust debates, which would all be welcomed since free and full expression was at the heart of the dialogue process. He pointed out and emphasised on what the Constitution stipulated regarding Sibaya on Section 232 (1), which stated that the people, through Sibaya, constituted the nations highest policy and advisory council.

Controversial

Dlamini said Section 232 (3) also read; Sibaya functions as the annual general meeting of the nation, but may be convened at any time to present the views of the nation on pressing and controversial national issues. Considering the above, he said all citizens were, therefore, encouraged to participate in the dialogue and take full advantage of their constitutional rights to be heard at Sibaya and any other platforms that may be availed. The PM explained that a technical committee had been set up to prepare for the dialogue. He said the committee would ensure that the dialogue was conducted in line with the relevant constitutional frameworks, which had always encouraged dialogue and resolution of issues under Sibaya.

The PM, when asked about the members who make up the technical committee, could only confirm that he was part of the committee. He said the other members would be revealed in due course. According to the PM, it was regrettable that there were people who were trying to undermine the dialogue process by being involved in criminal acts such as arson, violence and terrorism. These individuals, he said, were supported by subversive foreign entities and revolutionary groups and had waged a campaign of violence against emaSwati with guns, petrol bombs, explosives and other weapons in order to destabilise the country.

Furthermore, he stated that the consequences of the attacks were blamed on government in a relentless campaign of disinformation. It is painful that emaSwati have been victimised by terrorist acts, reduced to poverty, and bear the brunt of intimidation and disinformation, noted the PM. He said violence, intimidation, burning, looting and terrorism was not consistent with the path to dialogue that the country had chosen and had always embraced. Dlamini further encouraged emaSwati to jealously guard and protect the peace and security that the country had always enjoyed. He mentioned that it must be emphasised that violence would not be tolerated in this process and that all peace-loving emaSwati should shun and condemn those who sought to incite it.
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Opalesque Industry Update - Hull Street Energy, LLC, the Washington D.C. area-based energy transition investment firm, today announced the final closing of its second institutional fund, Hull Street Energy Partners II, L.P. The Fund, which targets investments in the North American power sector as the economy electrifies and decarbonizes, was oversubscribed and closed at its hard cap of $1.125 billion. Hull Street Energy received strong interest from a diverse and highly regarded group of institutional investors, including endowments, foundations, insurance companies, leading consultants, pension plans, funds of funds and family offices. Hull Street Energy is composed of a long-standing investment team including Sarah Wright, Michael Booth, Mark Orman, Matthew Willis, Steve Morris, David Meeker, Kevin Telford, and Scott Hofmeister. The firm is differentiated by its deep understanding of local and regional physical electricity markets and grid operations, and its highly quantitative approach to evaluating and managing power sector assets and businesses. Hull Street Energy targets undermanaged middle-market electricity businesses. Its first fund is fully deployed, having acquired an attractive portfolio of hydroelectric assets, thermal power plants, and solar projects throughout the U.S. In January of this year, the Fund made its inaugural capital commitment to SunGrid Solutions, a growing Battery Energy Solutions Service (BESS) company. Eaton Partners served as global placement agent for the Fund and DLA Piper served as fund counsel.
Opalesque Industry Update - An increasing number of Chinese investors are buying into the concept of diversified fund asset allocation, spurring demand for funds of funds (FOFs). The interest could persist over the next few years, thanks to prospects in third-pillar pensions and the shift towards buyer-side investment advisory. According to Eastmoney statistics, FOF assets under management (AUM) more than doubled to RMB194.3 billion (US$30.5 billion) over 2021, recording a three year-CAGR of 128.0%. This was driven by exponential growth in balanced FOFs, which occupied the biggest marketshare of FOF AUM, rising from 72.2% in 2017 to 96.2% in 2021, suggesting that investors are seeking diversification across various assets. A few factors have contributed to FOFs' growth, some of which could continue to spur their expansion. In terms of product features, FOFs provide a higher degree of diversification and low maximum drawdowns amid heightened market volatilities. Flagship FOFs with star manager teams from leading FOF managers have also earned investors profits over the past two years and built product recognition. The distribution focus on assets under administration (AUA) has also boosted FOF prospects. In March 2021, the industry's self-regulatory body, the Asset Management Association of China, disclosed distributor rankings by non-money market AUA as well as equity and balanced fund AUA for the first time. Such disclosures underscore the regulators' intention to encourage longer-term holdings of fund investments, measured by AUA rather than gross sales volumes, which can be highly associated with fund churning. In addition, the introduction of the pilot fund investment advisory scheme in China has enhanced investors' awareness of proper asset allocation, which many balanced FOFs can achieve. As many FOFs show their merits with longer investment horizons, distributors could pay more attention to these products to grow their AUA. For example, they could focus on pension target-date funds (TDFs), as many of them are associated with mid-to-long-term regular investment or saving plans. Moreover, some banks' wealth management subsidiaries have been subscribing to FOFs as underlying assets for their banks' wealth management products. Managers have developed ordinary FOFs as well as pension target funds-FOFs adopting either TDF or target-risk fund strategies for the purpose of retail retirement-to build track records in preparation for an upcoming top-level system design for the nation's third-pillar pensions. Adding to the variety of FOFs, several asset managers rolled out China's first batch of FOF-listed open-end funds last October. These funds, which trade on local stock exchanges, provide alternatives for investors who want to redeem earlier from existing closed-ended FOF products. "There is great growth potential for China's FOF sector in terms of assets and product variety, thanks to investors' demand, solid long-term returns, and managers' focus," said Ken Yap, managing director, Asia. "Managers are likely to continue their efforts at innovation and roll out more FOF products amid current market uncertainties."
Opalesque Industry Update - Global investment firm Carlyle and FGH Parent, L.P., the parent company of Bermuda's largest multiline reinsurer, today announced significant milestones that advance Carlyle's Insurance Solutions strategy and position Carlyle and Fortitude Re for insurance industry leadership. Carlyle has raised $2.1 billion in equity capital for Fortitude Re from existing investors, including strategic co-investor T&D Insurance Group, underscoring their support for the strategy and Fortitude Re's prospects. Carlyle expects to contribute up to $150 million from its balance sheet to this capital raise. The new capital will strengthen Fortitude Re's position to pursue further growth and provide innovative solutions to the global insurance industry. In addition, Carlyle has entered into a new strategic advisory services agreement with Fortitude Re through a newly formed insurance advisor, Carlyle Insurance Solutions Management L.L.C. Under the agreement, Carlyle will provide Fortitude Re with M&A, transaction origination and execution, and capital management services, as well as source new growth opportunities. Fortitude Re will pay Carlyle's new advisor a recurring fee based on all of Fortitude Re's general account assets. This fee will adjust within an agreed range based on Fortitude Re's overall profitability. Investors participating in the capital raise will also make a minority investment in the newly formed advisor and share in the fees under the strategic advisory services agreement, creating further alignment among Carlyle and its investors. It is expected that the new strategic advisory services agreement with Fortitude Re will increase Global Credit's Fee-earning AUM by $50 billion and incremental annualized Fee Related Earnings by $50 million, each effective April 1, 2022. Carlyle's Fee-earning AUM and FRE are expected to grow as Fortitude Re delivers on its growth strategy. If Fortitude Re grows as anticipated, Carlyle expects to more than double the FRE generated by this advisory relationship by 2025. Mark Jenkins, Head of Global Credit at Carlyle, said, "Our approach is all about creating alignment and building a structure that benefits Carlyle, Fortitude Re, our investors and Fortitude Re's policyholders. These transactions position us to accelerate Fortitude Re's growth while meaningfully increasing Global Credit AUM and FRE to deliver shareholder value." Brian Schreiber, Head of Carlyle Insurance Solutions, said, "These milestones significantly accelerate our Insurance Solutions strategy and enhance our capabilities to pursue the multi-trillion dollar global market opportunity for legacy liabilities. We made great strides in 2021 with several transactions across all of Fortitude Re's lines of business and are honored to have the support of a world-class group of counterparties and investors." James Bracken, CEO of Fortitude Re, said, "We are very pleased to expand our successful partnership with Carlyle, strengthening Fortitude Re's capabilities to serve our insurance clients and their policyholders. We expect this strategic agreement with Carlyle, including the significant capital raise, will support our continued growth as a leading global reinsurer of legacy insurance portfolios." Fortitude Re will have substantial financial flexibility arising from adjusted equity capital of more than $6 billion inclusive of this capital raise. Including the previously announced acquisition of Prudential Annuities Life Assurance Corporation, Fortitude Re will manage a general account of approximately $55 billion across life, annuity and property casualty insurance products. Led by a team of seasoned insurance executives with deep expertise and decades of experience in underwriting, policy administration, claims management and risk management, Fortitude Re provides bespoke transactional solutions for leading insurers around the world.
New Managers

Editorial

Dear Opalesque Reader,

Welcome to the March issue of New Managers!

In Bulletin, updates from two funds. Portal Asset Management has launched a new multi-strategy fund. And, dutch fund Savin has won the Eurohedge award for its multi-strategy fund.

In Profiles, we have an update on metals and mining shop Delbrook Capital, which is cautiously optimistic on metals this year despite recent volatility. Digital assets fund Balliol Road Investments discusses the recent innovations in the digital assets space.

Hedge fund data provider With Intelli......................

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MR.BLACK x TESLA | Lift Your Energy | watch: https://youtu.be/IEIxNm0aJ7M Esteemed Israeli producer MR.BLACK gives a unique display of electronic music powered by the clean energy of the future from electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla. MR.BLACK is no stranger to innovation, releasing an iconic remix of Tiesto's 'BOOM' as the first-ever hybrid between Big Room and Trance on the Musical Freedom label. He once again takes a step into the future and 
MBABANE  Three emaSwati and one South African have been arrested in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) in connection with a car hijacking.

This was revealed by the South African Police Service (SAPS) Spokesperson, Lieutenant General Mkwanazi, yesterday in an interview. The quartet was arrested by Reaction Officers on Tuesday for a hijacking which occurred last Friday at approximately 11pm. The victim, a Zimbabwean national, arrived at Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) Headquarters requesting assistance after he noticed four men in a Nissan NP 200 bakkie parked outside a bottle store in Redcliffe, KZN. The names of the suspects were not revealed as they are yet to appear in court.

Hijacked

According to a statement by the Reaction Unit, the Zimbabwean national informed the officers that the occupants of the bakkie had hijacked him of his white Opel Corsa bakkie on Friday.

He managed to record the registration of the suspects vehicle on the night of the incident. He was in the company of a witness who confirmed that the Nissan NP 200 bakkie, with the registration provided, was used in the commission of the crime, stated the Reaction Unit. It was further reported that Reaction officers proceeded to the bottle store, where they noticed four males consuming alcohol next to the vehicle. Officers approached the males and interviewed them. They behaved suspicious and repeatedly contradicted themselves with regard to their location on the night of the hijacking. They were positively identified by the victim and the witness as those involved in the hijacking, further read the statement.

According to Mkwanazi, one of the Eswatini nationals arrived in South Africa late Saturday afternoon and he was expected to return to the kingdom later yesterday. The Reaction Unit alleged that this liSwati had crossed the border on Saturday to drive the hijacked vehicle back to Eswatini yesterday. The Durban SAPS K9 Unit was called to the scene and on arrival, searched the stolen vehicle and the surrounding area with a specialised explosive detecting dog. The firearm was not located. While attending to the scene, several individuals informed Reaction officers that the occupants of the bakkie were terrorising residents in the area, stated the SAPS. All four suspects and the bakkie were handed over to the Verulam SAPS in KZN for further investigation. In a previous report, a routine patrol by the South African soldiers near Mboloba temporary base brought an unexpected find in the form of an abandoned plastic bag. A closer look revealed that it was packed with just under a kilogramme of dagga valued at E2 640.
Huron Countys years-long dispute about wind turbine taxes is finally coming to an end.

Commissioner Mary Babcock announced this week that a draft agreement has been reached between DTE and 17 townships to resolve the issue of wind turbine taxation.

Babcock said key elements of the agreement were negotiated by the Michigan Renewable Energy Collaborative, which include a refund of a fraction of the outstanding claims of between the years 2016 and 2021. The new multiplier table used for assessing taxable values for turbines will be used for existing appeals and through 2036, which would include any new DTE wind parks.

Once approved by the townships and DTE, the final terms will be entered before the state tax tribunal, Babcock said. The proposed settlement ends six years of litigation with DTE and for the next 15 years.

Babcock also said this would provide the local taxing entities dependent on wind turbine taxes, including the county, townships, the Huron Intermediate School District, other school districts, and libraries with certainty in their budgets.

Babcock said the final details of the agreement were not ready yet for public viewing. When asked by Commissioner Steve Vaughan if other utility companies would follow this agreement, she said she does not know.

This past June, the Michigan Tax Tribunal issued an opinion and judgement on this issue in favor of DTE, which had sued to lower its tax commitments to the townships, county, and schools, the first such commercial wind turbine tax appeal in the state to proceed to hearing. The ruling stated that the county would have to pay back taxes at 6% interest for 2016 and 2017, which would be between $60,000 and $70,000 for both Bloomfield and Sigel townships.

The ruling potentially had taxing units owe over $1 million to DTE for the time period of 2016-2021.

Bloomfield and Sigel townships filed an appeal against the ruling, saying they were owed back taxes. Bloomfield has 41 turbines between three different wind farms within its borders, while Sigel has 24 as part of the DTE Sigel wind farm.

New uniform statewide turbine taxation rules were also introduced in September in the state House of Representatives, which sets a table of decreasing value of 5% per year over a 15-year period, then has the turbines taxed at 30% their original value after 15 years until they are decommissioned. It has since been referred to the tax policy committee, with no vote taken on it yet.

Huron County has been dealing with taxation issues surrounding the turbines since 2011, when the state tax commission lowered the taxable value of wind turbines to 80% of their value on initial assessment, with a depreciation value to 30% their value after six years.

Babcock said that this week, the townships involved would all be getting this information and make the decision on signing the agreement at their meetings.
The following list includes recent reports from the Midland County Sheriffs Office and the Midland Police Department. Compiled by reporter Collin Periatt.

Tuesday, March 29

9:24 p.m.  A deputy along with EMS was sent to a Mt. Haley Township home for a report of a 62-year-old deceased man. There are no signs of foul play.

7:58 p.m.  Officers investigated a verbal domestic dispute and ultimately conducted a warrant arrest on Universal Drive.

11:26 a.m.  Deputies and Michigan State Police were dispatched to a Jerome Township residence for a civil dispute between a 33-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman.

10:40 a.m.  Deputies were dispatched to a Lee Township residence for multiple 911 hang-ups. Deputies responded and discovered young children were playing with a cell phone and called 911 by accident.

9:55 a.m.  Officers investigated a case of larceny on Dublin Avenue.

6:04 a.m.  Deputies were dispatched to a Lee Township residence in regards to a 29-year-old man violating his conditional bond. Deputies arrested the man, and he was transported and lodged at the Midland County Jail without incident.

3:19 a.m.  Deputies spoke with a 32-year-old Lee Township woman regarding suspicious people in her yard. No further help was requested.
ULAN BATOR, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has recorded 112 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, bringing the national caseload to 469,394, the country's health ministry said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, no new related deaths were reported in the past day, leaving the death toll unchanged at 2,108.

Life has essentially returned to normal in Mongolia due to high vaccination coverage and declining daily infections.

Almost 67 percent of the country's population of 3.4 million have received two COVID-19 vaccine jabs, while 1,032,644 people have received a third dose and nearly 115,000 have received a voluntary fourth shot.

The Asian country has resumed in-person classes for all educational institutions and fully opened its borders to foreign tourists, who are no longer required to have a polymerase chain reaction test or be quarantined. 
MANZINI - The wait is over!

Results for the Eswatini Primary Certificate (EPC) and Junior Certificate (JC) external examinations will be out today. They will be released in the afternoon. In addition, the opening date of schools, which is April 5, still stands. This has been confirmed by both the Examinations Council of Eswatini (ECESWA) and Ministry of Education and Training. ECESWA, through its Communications Officer Hlengiwe Ndlovu yesterday, said: The Examinations Council of Eswatini would like to inform the public that JC and EPC results will be released tomorrow (today), Thursday March 31, 2022, by the Minister of Education and Training Lady Howard Mabuza. Ndlovu elaborated that this followed an ECESWA Council Board meeting with management yesterday, where council approved the results. She revealed that the minister would release the results after lunch.

Confirmed

In the same breath, Ministry of Education and Training Principal Secretary Bhekithemba Gama confirmed same. He mentioned that the results would not be published in the media, but rather it (media) would only be furnished with a summary of the results. Gama alluded to that the ministry still maintained the date for schools opening, which was April 5. He had been asked if government would postpone the schools opening date in light of the delay in results release, to allow both parents and teachers ample time to prepare for the reopening. When schools open next week, Form II, III, as well as Form V will be learning, as they will be continuing from previous classes. The same applies to Grade II to VII. Admissions will be done in Form I the entire week, while (the other teachers) will be busy teaching, he explained.

The PS mentioned that this was not rocket Science, but was basic logic. He said while other learners would be in class learning, admissions would be done concurrently. Gama reiterated that this was a peculiar year and parents should be mindful of this. He advised them to adjust to the unusual conditions. That is why we have issued results in a short period of time, he said. Worth noting is that the release of external exams results today will leave parents and guardians of pupils with only two days to find spaces for their children who were doing Grade VII and Form III. This has had many parents up in arms about the delay in the release of the results. This publication was inundated with calls from parents, asking when the results would be released as the ministry had announced that schools would open on April 5.

Government is really not considerate and has no regard for the difficulties we go through while searching for spaces for our children, one parent lamented. She shared that it was a challenge to secure space for a child at a good school, as most children were bright and competition was high. Another parent was of the view that government was only doing what suited it, but was inconsiderate of the troubles they had to go through when looking for spaces for their children. It (government) really needs to consider postponing the date of schools opening, he said. Another parent was of the view that it wouldnt hurt for government to give them another week to get their house in order.

Pressure

I fully understand that government is also under pressure that more time is wasted and that is commendable. But we cannot turn a blind eye to the challenges that some parents face, such as not getting spaces for their children, never mind the financial burden. Let us hope things will run smoothly, he said. The complaints by parents on the delay of the release of results comes at a time when government recently declined a proposal by Eswatini Principals Association (EPA) to defer the opening of schools for the 2022 calendar year, especially the first term.

The principals association had officially written a proposal to the Ministry of Education and Training, in particular to the office of the principal secretary (PS). The letter, which was signed by EPA Secretary General Mduduzi Masilela was dated March 8, 2022 and titled; Re; proposal to review the school calendar - 2022. EPA President Welcome Mhlanga had mentioned that the national executive committee (NEC) of the association had been inundated with concerns from their members regarding foreseen challenges, which might be the result of the dates of the 2022 school calendar - in particular, the start of the first term. He said in their submissions to the ministry; they mentioned that they were of the view that the one-week school break (March 25, 2022 and April 5, 2022) was not reasonable for them. He said teachers needed time to rest as they were overwhelmed. One reason he mentioned was that delivering on the compressed syllabus under intense pressure to cover most of it, balancing teaching and also supervising the classes of their colleagues who were away to mark the external examinations, was and continued to be strenuous. Furthermore, Mhlanga said teachers who remained behind still had to prepare and mark the internal examinations, as well as compile progress reports for the learners.

Energy-consuming

Again, he said marking of the external examinations was energy-consuming and exerted further stress to meet the set deadlines. In that regard, the teachers will need to rest and rejuvenate the mind in preparation for the first term of 2022, the EPA president said. Once more, he said some teachers would be marking the Form V external examinations after March 31, 2022, and they would need to rest thereafter. On another note, he said the admission process of new learners required time and was undertaken by both the school management and the admissions committee, which comprised of teachers. On top of that, he argued that parents also needed sufficient time to look for spaces and make the necessary arrangements as per the school requirements for admission, like payment of school fees and submission of proof of payments to the school. The one week is not sufficient to carry out this activity, he said.
Four Lakes Task Force members are feeling grateful after the governor signed an infrastructure package Wednesday that will send in $200 million to aid the restoration of the lakes following the May 2020 dam failures.

This is great news for our region, said Stacey Trapani, who is the task force's Communication Consultant. This is very good.

The states 4.7 billion infrastructure package includes $210 million to the four lakes are for repairing of the dams. Another $15 million goes to the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy for environmental restoration pertaining to the dam breaches.

We are thrilled, Trapani said Thursday.

A look at the price tag

According to the task force's restoration plan, recovery and restoration of the four dams and the respective lakes was estimated to cost between $250 and $300 million. With the state's anticipated funds, Trapani said the bottom line is less than they were hoping for, but there were many other important state programs that needed support.

Trapani said the task force knew it would have to contribute more funding toward the dam repairs. The contribution will take the form of a special assessment district.

While the boundaries have been established, the cost for property owners of the four lakes is still tentative.

Operating and maintenance costs are expected to show on property owners winter taxes, Trapani said, and will remain for the life of the dams. Yet, with the influx of state money, property owners may not see a capitol for construction special assessment district until 2024.

Still, Trapani noted the financial gap wont stall progress on repairing the dams because the task force is pursing other means.

This will do a lot for us to help the community recover and take a huge burden off the property owners, she added.

The task force is working to issue anticipation notes while it seeks $10 million of interim financing in early April. The interim funding further allows them to continue dam work without delays, before the state funds arrive.

The bill also includes $59.9 million in federal disaster recovery to assist local families impacted by the dam failures. Its not immediately known how this funding assistance will be divided up.

If the lakes are not restored, the cost for dam removal and environmental mitigation alone could cost $125 million, according to the task force's restoration plan.

"The impact on the economy of the four communities that have lost their lakes is incalculable," reads the restoration plan by the task force.

Residents will have an opportunity to better understand the financing status of the task force during an upcoming meeting from 5 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

This will offer a lot more clarity, Trapani said of the scheduled informational session.

The task force will continue sharing updates to the community via weekly newsletters, which they send out more frequently as needed.
Gusty blowing winds across Michigan are wreaking havoc and leaving some residents in the dark, and prompting several weather advisories.

According to the National Weather Service offices in Detroit, Gaylord and Grand Rapids, most of the state was under a weather advisory with some areas seeing wind gusts in excess of 50 mph.

The Consumers Energy Outage Map showed nearly 25,000 of their customers were without power across Michigan as of 10 a.m. March 31. The majority of those customers were in the Midland, Lansing, Flint, Battle Creek and Holland, although there were pockets of customers in other regions of the state as well.

DTE Energy, which primarily delivers electricity in Southeast Michigan and portions of the Thumb, was reporting approximately 60,000 customers are without power, with the primary region impacted in the greater Detroit and Ann Arbor area.

The NWS Gaylord Office was reporting the high winds will continue in the northern region through Friday morning, with winds slowly tapering down. The region is also dealing with mixed winter weather, with snow showers continuing through midnight Thursday. In addition to mixed weather, some portions of the region are dealing with flooding, including on the Manistee River near Sherman.

National Weather Service/Courtesy Image

The NWS Pontiac Office was also reporting high winds across southern Michigan, with the situation improving throughout Thursday afternoon and into Friday.

National Weather Service/Courtesy Image

The high winds also prompted a marine hazard warning throughout Michigan, with gale warnings until 10 p.m. from Mackinac Bridge to Sturgeon point until 10 p.m. Thursday and Sturgeon Point to Port Huron and Saginaw Bay until 4 p.m. today. There was also a small craft advisory in Lake St. Clair until 4 p.m.

The NWS forecasted waves in Lake Huron of 5-10 feet with maximum waves of 12-16 feet.
BIG RAPIDS  For barbecue lovers, this week will mark an opportunity for a unique cuisine with the official opening of the new Jack & The Bear restaurant in Big Rapids on Thursday, March 31.

The result of a lifetimes work in culinary arts and a love of barbecued and smoked foods, chef Billy Abbotts new restaurant is aiming to ignite residents and visiting tastebuds.

The new restaurant will be located in the old Arbys location at 525 South Third St. at the southeast end of Big Rapids. Abbott has been hard at work perfecting his menu and renovating the guts of the building.

The Jack & The Bear restaurant will include menu options like smoked chicken, pulled pork, beef brisket, corned beef and St. Louis ribs. Options will also include sides like mashed potatoes, black beans and rice, coleslaw, potato salad, and creamed corn.

Abbott recently held a taste test event at the location with friends and family and got positive reviews.

Things have been going good, Abbott said. We've had a lot of hurdles to jump over, I think we've done pretty good with that, considering we have (our son) Leo, to take care of, as well as our everyday life to live. I had had a group of friends and clients and family last weekend to just kind of test things out and sample some of the menu items, and everybody was just raving about the food.

I'm pretty confident, but I'm human, he added. So you always wonder like, oh, is this going to be good? What can I do better? I constantly challenged myself, and that served me well in my career. To hear that everybody was just really excited about the simplicity of the flavors and how everything came together, really, really got me excited.

The restaurant will also have sweeter offerings for deserts like malts, shakes, and ice cream sandwiches.

The restaurant will likely have specialties that will utilize some of the more refined cooking skills that Abbott has gained.

STARTING SIMPLE

Abbott said he has kept things simple and focused on heightening flavors in his signature dishes.

I pretty much trust my instinct, Abbott said. I've been smoking meat since I was a teenager, that was when I first started firing up the grill. So I was pretty confident in my smoking ability, and my understanding of it. I think what I'm most excited for people to try is when we get into the main menu and we start doing our weekly features where I can really take some big swings.

Well start doing our crafted ice creams that we make from scratch and we're going be making shakes and malts, he added. I just feel like in today's food genre, it's hard to find something old school and craft like that. It's very hard to find, even in the city. I'm really excited to bring that to Big Rapids. I don't think (this town) has had a lot of that up here. And I'm excited to see what you think of it.

Abbotts goals for the restaurant include becoming familiar with what the community already succeeds at and to help it grow by bringing people to town with his quality unique food.

With renovating the new space to his liking and mastering his menu options, Abbott and his team have been hard at work making a dream come true.

Abbott said hes looking forward to hearing live customer feedback in the coming weeks.

I'm always accepting criticism, Abbott said. Of course, everybody loves to give criticism, so I don't always listen, but I definitely want to hear what people think. That's going to be part of developing the menu. That's why I decided to have just a simple menu is one, it'll be easier for us to execute and just give you guys some awesome food. It gives me the opportunity to listen to the community and listen to my customers see what they want. Then I can start working on those things, too, before I just decide what everybody gets.

The restaurants grand opening also hits home for Abbott with his family, as the name comes from his love of Jack Russell terrier dogs, of which he has owned several, and his newborn son who he and his wife affectionately nicknamed baby bear.

Abbott said there is still much improvement work on his mind, but that family support has been crucial in his success.

There's a ton that we want to do yet, Abbott said. We had some great friends come in last week for the tasting, and they just wanted to help and so they brought in decorations, paintings, all kinds of cool stuff. We just want kind of an effective place, something different when you walk in. We have paintings we have old school blue collar sayings that kind of rile you up, get you motivated, but there's still a ton we want to do.

We have a thing for Jack Russells, (my wife) Carrie and I, he added. So Jack & The Bear just kind of seemed fitting to my loves, that motivates me. And we kind of just had this up-north eclectic vision for the space. This has been a dream of ours for years, we actually met at Red Lobster years ago while Carrie was still in college. Carrie is no stranger to restaurant food service. She's worked with me at three or four other restaurants as well as her career on the side. So this is something we've always wanted to do. We both love food and we both love serving people, so we can't wait.

Opening hours of operation are noon-8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and noon-6 p.m. Sunday.

For updates on the restaurant's opening and menu, visit its Facebook page under the name 'Jack & The Bear BBQ.'
MANISTEE  April Fools Day has a long tradition of celebrating tricks, pranks and hoaxes.

The Manistee County Library has compiled a list of funny stories for all ages to help tickle your funny bone this year.

Adult

 Attempting to get his hometown put back on the map, a man goes to extreme lengths and ends up in front of the Supreme Court. The Sellout by Paul Beatty is a satirical story about fathers and sons, and race relations. It won the Man Booker Prize in 2016.

 What if the British Monarchy were no more? The Queen and I by Sue Townsend (CD Book) focuses on the aftermath of a failed election, at least for the royal family. Their lives are upended as they must learn to cope without assistance in public housing, with hilarious results.

Young Adult

 This Will Be Funny Someday by Katie Henry finds Izzy pretending to be someone shes not. After performing at a comedy club, shes mistaken as a college student and accepted into a new group of friends. Its everything shes always wanted, until it becomes difficult to keep her two lives separate.

 Take a trip through the universe with Arthur, Ford and their friends. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams is a science fiction story about surviving the demolition of Earth.

Juvenile

 Diary of a Worm by Doreen Cronin views life from the worms perspective. Join him as he goes through his days at school, playing with friends, arguing with family, and realizing his place in the world.

 Telling the reader Dont Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late by Mo Willems lets children see themselves as they haggle about bedtime.

 Making use of the passports they found on the African plain, the two hyenas disguise themselves as a British couple and move to England. Things are going well for them as they have children and good jobs, but when people become suspicious, what can the hyenas do? Find out what happens next in The Bolds by Julian Clary.

 Blended families come in all forms. Wedgie & Gizmo by Suzanne Selfors is the story of the pets in a blended family. Gizmo is a guinea pig with a brilliant mind who views humans as a means to an end  world domination. Wedgie is a dog who loves everyone and everything. When their households are combined, Gizmo must find a way to eliminate the distractions but when that doesnt work, he decides to run away. Can self-proclaimed super-hero Wedgie save the day?

Available from Melcat

 Employed as a lecturer at a university, Jim Dixon must endure a daily routine of bores, frauds and more to retain his position and win the girl of his dreams. Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis (1954) highlights social circles in the postwar era.

 Carry On, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (1927) is a collection of short stories in the Jeeves series. Full of rich characters and British humor, this book finds Jeeves pulling his employer out of one mess after another.

 Spending the summer before college working as a personal assistant, Briggs Henry finds himself in expected situations. Set on the shores of Lake Michigan, The Lake Effect by Erin McCahan (Young Adult 2017) follows Briggs as he bumbles after his elderly employer at the beach, at funerals and after the girl next door.

 Starting over after a break-up, Mallory decides to use a list of goals her grandmother made in 1962 as a guide. Going Vintage by Lindsay Leavitt (Young Adult 2013) is easier said than done. Swearing off technology, she begins remaking her life but finds the complications a bit too much.

 Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty McDonald (Juvenile 1947) is a journey back to the 1950s when mom stayed home, dad was at the office and families ate dinner together. What hasnt changed in this charming book is the behavior of the children. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is a widow (she was married to a pirate). She knows all about children and willingly helps desperate parents with discipline, in her own special way.

 Trying to get out the door with children climbing on them, causing distractions and whatnot, All In One Piece by Jill Murphy (Juvenile 1987) shows family life at its best.

Visit the Manistee County Library Facebook page and let us know your favorite funny title. Manistee County Librarys hours of operation and links to our online catalog and MeL are also found on our website, manisteelibrary.org.
BIG RAPIDS  With Big Rapids city officials facing significant budget shortfalls in the coming years due to the decline in population from the 2020 Census, Michigans marijuana industry looks to offer some reprieve.

The city was notified recently that they will be receiving $677,441 from the state for their portion of the excise tax collected on marijuana sales in 2021.

Anytime marijuana is purchased, there is an excise tax that is collected on the purchase which goes into a fund at the state. There is money that comes off the top of that for education and roads, among other things, city treasurer Aaron Kuhn said. A portion, 35% goes to the Michigan Transportation Fund for roads, another 35% goes to the School Aid Fund for K-12 education and the remaining 30% is split between municipalities and counties. The city of Big Rapids will receive $677,000 and some change for its proportional share of the adult-use marijuana licenses statewide.

According to information provided by the Michigan Department of the Treasury, each eligible municipality and county will receive approximately $56,400 for every licensed retail store and microbusiness located within its jurisdiction. The city of Big Rapids held 12 such licensures.

Kuhn said the money the city receives from the marijuana excise tax will be put into the citys general fund to cover budget shortfalls for this fiscal year.

Ultimately, it is the commission that weighs in on how the money is spent, but generally it will be used to fund the general operations of the city, he said. In theory, it will replace lost revenue resulting from the decline in our Census figures. The amount we are receiving covers our budget shortfall that we were facing, but it just gets worked into the course of our general fund budget process. I anticipate we will use the money we receive to balance our budget.

He added that the commission would need to weigh on all of those decisions and staff will be giving an update during the next commissioners meeting regarding the marijuana funding, as well as the financial impacts of the Census, and ways to solve the budget shortfall.

Kuhn said there is always the potential that some of the funds could be used to support various community projects that are in the works, such as the Hemlock Park project and the Mechanic Street project, but again that would ultimately be the decision of the commission.

There is always the potential for that, but we have not identified any one project or another for funding, Kuhn said. Last year, because the timing worked out right, we were able to use a portion of it for the library park project, but there hasnt been anything earmarked or set aside from this funding for any particular project.

Last year the city received approximately $84,000 from the marijuana excise tax distribution.

There will be an opportunity for the public to provide feedback regarding use of the funding during a public input session on the upcoming budget proposal as part of the next board meeting, Kuhn said.

The board of commissioners will meet at 6:30 p.m. April 4 at the Big Rapids City Hall, 226 N. Michigan Ave., Big Rapids. For information on how to access the meeting remotely, visit cityofbr.org or call 231-592-4020.

Mecosta County is set to receive their own $677,441 from the state as part of the marijuana excise tax distribution.

County administrator Paul Bullock said the county has no specific plans for how the funds will be used, as they just received notification of the funding, and it will be a topic of discussion during upcoming board of commissioners meetings.
Courtesy photo/U.S. Congress

Congressman John Moolenaar, this week, announced he is running for re-election for the U.S. House of Representatives in Michigan's new Second Congressional District.

Petition signatures from across the Second Congressional District were filed with the Secretary of State in Lansing on Wednesday ahead of the states April 19 deadline, according to a news release.
BIG RAPIDS  Residents waited in a long line in cold bitter temperatures Saturday to receive food assistance as the Spectrum Health YMCA Veggie Van distributed fresh produce and canned goods at the Mecosta County Fairgrounds.

The Veggie Van program, developed by the Young Mens Christian Academy of Greater Grand Rapids, and sponsored by Spectrum Health, brings fresh produce to communities throughout Michigan to assist those in need.
One of the benefits of attending Midland High School in the early 2000s was the possibility of going off campus to eat lunch.

Jumping into an upperclassmans car, going through drive-thrus and splurging on fast food was considered a treat. At least twice a month my friends and I would simply walk across the street to Eastlawn Plaza to buy some TCBY frozen yogurt or a sandwich from Subway  both long gone now.

Another common sighting was when fellow students walk into Golden Buffet and come out carrying Styrofoam containers. Since schools are on Spring Break this week, I figured it would be safe to return to Golden Buffet  I havent been there in a few years  for a buffet lunch of my own, bringing along my parents for the experience.

Golden Buffet, located at 979 S. Saginaw Road, is tucked into the corner of a small collection of restaurants and shops, but is easily identified by its large sign out front. Inside, a host ushered my family into the dining room, took our drink orders and allowed us to make our lunch selections from the buffet.

Partaking in a buffet meal of any kind is to walk a thin line between delightful and disastrous. I tend to take the cautious approach, taking a little bit of dishes that sound appealing, going off of the labels and the look of the food.

My mom, on the other hand, was a bit more adventurous, not looking at the identification cards located above the glass and taking what simply looked appealing. Thankfully, everything turned out well for the both of us.

My dad is the most daring of us all, trying a selection of dishes that were either spicy or unique.

I ended up going with a collection of chicken dishes, accompanied by rice, an egg roll, sushi and crab rangoon. When eating Chinese, I have a personal ritual, starting with crab rangoon  which I consider an appetizer  rotating through the different dishes and ending with rice as a palate cleanser before having a fortune cookie for dessert. To be fair, it was only until I was formulating this weeks column that I realized that I had this habit.

Typically, when I have crab rangoon, the crispy wonton wafer is full of mostly cream cheese with miniscule dots of crab. Golden Buffets rendition mixed almost equal parts of crab with the cream cheese. With a generous drizzle of sweet and sour sauce, it was a good start to the meal.

Among the types of chicken that ended up on my plate were chicken and broccoli, orange chicken, coconut chicken, teriyaki chicken and chicken balls  a type of fried sphere of ground chicken, breading and seasonings. The chicken and broccoli was a nice staple, with strips of grilled chicken and broccoli florets covered in a mild brown sauce.

The orange chicken provided more of a zing to my tastebuds with breaded chicken covered in a tangy citrus concoction. The coconut chicken took me by surprise and quickly became a top favorite. The breaded bite-size chicken pieces were covered in a white, sweet sauce that left a light aftertaste.

The teriyaki chicken consisted of a grilled piece of chicken skewered on a long toothpick, basted with sauce. Although it didnt taste like traditional teriyaki, it was nicely seasoned. I felt a little self-conscious eating this particular chicken, as it was too big to consume in one bite and I didnt spot knives on the buffet until well into my meal. So, instead, I treated the teriyaki chicken as a rib, taking dainty bites. My parents didnt chastise me and I didnt notice any of the other diners looking my way, so I made do.

The chicken balls were a close second in my book. The consistency reminded me of a hushpuppy, just with meat. Upon further research, I realized that diners may drizzle them with sauces. While I had a plentiful supply of sweet and sour sauce at the ready, Golden Buffets chicken balls needed no extra flavoring.

I introduced some green to my palate with the egg roll, which consisted of mostly cabbage and other vegetables. Everything from the crusty wonton to the crisp contents gave a nice crunch factor to the lunch.

I rounded out the meal with a single roll of crab and cream cheese sushi roll. As I couldnt find any labels for the half dozen varieties of sushi at Golden Buffet, I was less bold than I couldve been, going just on sight to make my choice. Still, with a bit of soy sauce carefully administered to the roll, it was a good choice.

Golden Buffet provides a diverse and savory selection of Chinese cuisine  a great place for the indecisive diner. Those who visit with family or friends have the added bonus of not only admiring others choices, but having the opportunity to try those same dishes in a second or third course. Cheers!
Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - The Gambia has ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), raising the total number of ratifying states to 171 and bringing the Treaty another step closer to universality
Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Gambias National Human Right Commission (NHRC) has said dozens of women in the West African nation have raised concern about access to maternal health facilities, especially during and after delivery
Logistics solutions provider PostNL Belgium has released a statement after the Belgian legal authorities raided and sealed off two PostNL Belgium depots on March 28.

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Though PostNL has said that a number of staff were arrested, it has not confirmed which staff were implicated. According to the local newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, the Belgian police arrested Rudy van Rillaer, the CEO of PostNL Belgium. The NL Times has since reported that van Rillaer has been released with conditions, while the other staff arrested have been released without conditions.

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In a letter addressing the issue, Liesbeth Kaashoek, director of parcels and logistics, Benelux, PostNL, said, This course of action by the Belgian legal authorities is extremely intimidating for our people, of course, while prosecutor for the employment courts Gianni Reale has used the media to accuse us of people trafficking, being a criminal organisation and forgery.

There has been no official notification whatsoever of the serious allegations, that are being aired without any evidence. We are totally in the dark as to what these suspicions are based on, making it very hard for us to defend ourselves against these persistent allegations.

We emphatically deny such major allegations, and would point out that the picture being painted does not resemble our daily work practices. As far as were concerned, there are no grounds whatsoever to besmirch PostNLs good name in this fashion, and we consider this action out of all proportion and unacceptable.

The way this situation is being handled raises major questions about the arbitrariness displayed by the relevant authorities in their actions. I should reiterate that, over the past few months, we have consistently provided our full cooperation with the authorities investigations and questions, and that no major or structural wrongdoing in our way of working has come to light. Meanwhile, we have further enhanced our controls and taken additional measures to ensure compliance with the countrys social legislation.
Photo: (Photo : Getty images )

New details have been released involving the accident of 14-year-old Tyre Sampson, who died after falling from the FreeFall Drop Tower on Thursday at Orlando's Icon Park. The report indicated that the harness was still down and locked when the ride stopped.

The Independent said that the investigation also indicated that Sampson came out of his seat when the magnets began slowing down the ride as the riders were descending. The report also showed that Sampson died from "multiple injuries and trauma."

The family says Sampson may have been too big for the ride

Although the investigation of the incident is still ongoing, the boy's family has raised concerns that the boy may have been too large for the ride.

On Thursday, March 24, Tyre Sampson visited ICON Park in Orlando when he boarded the Orlando Freefall ride, a 430-foot drop tower, at around 11 P.M.

Shay Johnson, Sampson's cousin, said they spoke by phone before he got into the FreeFall Drop Tower ride. Johnson said he dropped Sampson off at the park and told her he wanted to ride the swing.

According to CNN, Sampson called back about seven minutes later, saying that he could not ride the swing as it was too big. Johnson suggested that he try another slingshot, but operators also told him that he was too big. He said that there was one more ride that he would try.

He later called Johnson that they allowed him to ride the Orlando FreeFall. Johnson said she did not expect it was the last time she would talk to him.

Sampson's father, Yarnell Sampson, told CNN that their son was 6'5" and 340 lbs, saying he is a big guy.

Read Also: Toddler Fights for Life After Swallowing a Rock While Playing at Daycare

The ride's operation and maintenance manual, posted online by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, says that the maximum passenger weight is 130 kilograms or 287 lbs.

The manual also indicated that operators must be careful in seeing if large guests fit into the seats. The contours of the seat and the bracket should also fit properly.

The instruction indicated that if the person does not fit, do not let them ride.

However, it is not clear if Sampson fits the seat's contour and the bracket properly.

A video circulating on social media, purportedly of the ICON Park incident, shows a person falling from the seat about five seconds into the ride's drop.

Suspended Ride Operations

The Orlando Freefall ride is closed while the accident is under investigation. On Monday, ICON Park said that the ride operators would suspend another ride at the park, the Orlando Slingshot until the authorities' thorough investigation has been completed and "all parties are satisfied that the ride is safe for the public."

ICON Park said that they continue to "fully cooperate" with the authorities, People reports.

Related Article: Shropshire Maternity Scandal: 300 Babies Died or Had Brain Damage Due to Denied Caesarian Births
Photo: (Photo : Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)

Eat lunch or go to the toilet. Parents of pupils attending Woodchurch High School in Liverpool, Merseyside are angry because their kids have to choose between the two options, according to a report by the Daily Mirror.

The loos at the academy school have been locked because of vandalism leaving students with a difficult choice come lunch time. Parents are now frustrated, claiming that their children must now choose between eating food during the break or going to the toilet instead.

One of those parents is Emma McGiness. She said that their children are suffering without toilet use which she believes is a basic human right. McGiness added that school officials have closed pretty much all of the student toilets, leaving only one open.

Students left with stark choice during lunch time

This has become a nightmare scenario for students during lunch break as they have to decide whether to eat or to go to the toilet. McGiness said she already asked the school what is in place to help the children with their predicament, even bringing up the possibility of the students being handed a toilet pass but she has yet to hear back from officials.

She added that there are a lot of angry parents because of this issue. McGiness said that some children suffer heavy periods or end up with a UTI because they are holding it in. McGiness told the Liverpool Echo that one woman's son has become picky with the food he eats during the evening as he does not want to need to use the toilet in school.

McGiness said her daughter came home last week with a huge complaint, saying that she asked to use the toilet pass in the school and had to spend 20 minutes looking for one that was open. McGiness said her child got told off because she took so long.

Read Also: Georgia Teenager Makenzie Thompson Accepted in 49 Colleges, Gains $1 Million in Scholarship Offers

McGiness argues human rights of students being taken away

The irate mother asks the question "What is she meant to do there?" McGiness said there is just no positive reinforcement in the school and that the pupil's basic human rights are being taken away. She added that the school's rules are affecting the children's behavior, especially her daughter, who is suffering from ADHD and autism.

McGiness said that her daughter often chooses to go the toilet during lunch time and misses out on eating food at the break as there is just not enough time to do both activities over the allotted period.

McGiness explained that Woodchurch High School recently had an assembly and told the students that the toilets would be closed because of vandalism. For McGiness, that is not a valid excuse, saying that the school cannot punish the children like that and close them without alternative arrangements.

According to The Sun, McGiness has taken her fight to social media, asking other parents if their children were experiencing the same thing in that school and what their thoughts are regarding the issue.

Related Article: Shropshire Maternity Scandal: 300 Babies Died or Had Brain Damage Due to Denied Caesarian Births
Photo: (Photo : Getty images )

A baby boy in Bridgeton made an unconventional entrance to the world when a hospital turned down a woman in labor. Although the boy and the mother seemed fine now, the mother said they could have avoided the traumatic event.

CarolinaEast Hospital had refused to admit Lauren Banks not just once but a couple of times despite being in obvious labor.

The numerous trips to CarolinaEast Medical Center

The baby's father, Steve Banks, said that Lauren was 39 weeks pregnant and was contracting, so they headed to CarolinaEast Medical Center for the baby's delivery.

Steve said Lauren was denied admittance to the hospital's labor and delivery several times despite being in obvious pain and labor. They headed home and waited as the hospital said Lauren was only four centimeters dilated. They went back again, but even when she reached five centimeters, the hospital would not consider her for admittance, the KKTV11 said.

The couple went home again, and within 30 minutes of being home, her water broke. Steve said he asked a neighbor to watch their daughter, who was asleep, and they rushed back to the hospital an hour after being turned away.

It took the couple 30 minutes to get to CarolinaEast from their home. However, the baby had no intentions of holding back. Steve said he called for an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT).

Just as his wife was about to give birth, the emergency services pulled into the parking lot. Steve said they saw what was happening and jumped into action.

The baby was born between pumps four and five at Handy Mart Station. He watched his wife give birth to his son in the parking lot. He said he was concerned because his son came out purple, and he was not making a lot of noise. The family was then taken to CarolinaEast by ambulance.

He credits the EMT as his wife and their newborn son are okay. He said he could not thank them enough.

Read Also: Fathers Taking Metformin While Trying for Babies May Triple Birth Defect Risk

Hospital's explanation

In an interview with WITN, Steve said, "can someone please explain to me how that happened?"

When they asked the hospital about its prior judgment, Steve said the hospital offered to detail their car as an apology. The couple agreed as the car needed it.

WITN also asked the hospital what happened, to which the hospital said that it could not legally comment on patient matters or concerns. He said that the hospital follows all protocols and guidelines for such circumstances.

On Tuesday, the hospital said they would not turn away anyone and that an obstetrician evaluated the pregnant woman. Unfortunately, the hospital added that babies do not always cooperate with expectations, and the baby made an unexpected entrance. They also congratulated the Banks family and wished them the best, the WMBF News reported.

Related Article: Mom Develops Infant Formula Close to Breastmilk After Not Finding the Right Formula Milk for Daughter
Photo: (Photo : Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Critics Choice Association)

Last Sunday, March 27, Hollywood's Oscar Awards brought to light a condition that McKenna Reitz, a mom with alopecia, has been dealing with for more than five years. She has the same autoimmune disorder as actress Jada Pinkett Smith, who figured in a controversial Oscar joke about her hair loss.

Reitz saw what happened at the Oscar Awards after Jada's husband, Will Smith, physically hit the host, Chris Rock, because he made a joke about Jada's lack of hair. In an interview with WTOL11, Reitz said that the shocking moment on TV could raise the opportunity for people to be aware of alopecia.

The mom from Ohio learned of her alopecia diagnosis in 2015, after she had her first child. She said that she was scared and confused at first because she always found clumps of hair on the bathroom drain whenever she showered.

Read Also: Will Smith Reveals Thoughts of Killing His Father for Abusing His Mom in New Memoir

After her six-year ordeal with the autoimmune disorder, Reitz, a teacher, said that she has been trying to inspire and educate other people on her condition. She is seizing the chance to talk about it in light of the Oscar controversy. She implied that the Oscar event must be a teaching moment, even for those who may be going through the same thing.

"I do not support violence," Reitz wrote on Facebook. "I do, however, support the unconditional love you have for your wife and for your words during your acceptance speech that we must LOVE one another and be empowered BECAUSE of our adversity!"

What is Alopecia?

Alopecia areata translate to bald patches. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, people who suffer from this condition develop unpredictable hair loss at any age. They may also develop brittle nails that could turn red.

Only two percent of the world's population suffers from alopecia areata. Dr. Ali Jabbari, a dermatological expert at the University of Iowa, said that this condition isn't just about hair loss as the patients also experience some mental health issues like anxiety and depression because of what they are going through. While there are treatments available, hair loss may persist for months, impacting a person's quality of life.

Ella Wilson, a 14-year-old from North Carolina, also suffers from alopecia and her mother, Ashely Wilson, told WRAL that she understood Smith's emotions during that outburst on the Oscar stage. She said that people don't see the tears that alopecia patients like her daughter go through. The child started experiencing hair loss when she was nine years old.

Ashley thought that Jada was a brave advocate and should not have been "knocked down" with a joke about her appearance. She said she would also go off like a Mama Bear if anyone would talk about Ella in an ugly way. However, part of her is glad that people are likely googling about alopecia areata after the Oscars because the public needs to learn more about this condition.

Jada Pinkett Smith's Alopecia Struggles

Jada went public with her alopecia diagnosis in 2018. She said that the bald patches appeared so sudden one day that it was becoming more difficult to hide from the public.

However, in 2021 the actress said that she reached a point where she could laugh about her bald head, and she has learned to highlight her baldness with some hair ornaments like rhinestones or tiaras. The mom said she has made peace with her condition and has been vocal about it after fearing what would happen in the beginning.

Related Article: After Will Smith Slaps Chris Rock, Son Jaden Smith Backs Father in Oscar Shocker
Google said Thursday that its bringing Google Meet video calls directly into Docs, Sheets, and Slides within the coming weeks, adding a new mode for collaboration.

Like its rivals, Google periodically updates its upcoming feature roadmap, specifically with regards to the various elements of Workspace, its collaborative environment for productivity that evolved from G Suite in 2020. The idea is to facilitate collaboration across various mediums: first by making Docs, Sheets, and Slides shared documents, then to provide various ways to jointly produce them. The most recent evolution of that was Spaces, the equivalent of Google Rooms for  again, more collaboration.

Spaces may be the endgame for Docs, Sheets, Slides and so on, but for now, development is proceeding along parallel tracks. Googles main announcement today involves how Google Meet, the video chat solution, is being brought alongside Docs, Sheets, and Slides. The idea is that you can begin a Meet, then bring it to a collaborative Docs document and begin working on it together  the difference being that youre visually chatting about the document, rather than simply leaving notes on the page.

Google Meets upcoming picture-in-picture functionality, arriving next month. Google

Meet is also receiving picture-in-picture functionality, allowing you to float the video chat in a small window. Meets are also being optionally encrypted on the client side beginning in May, helping to secure them. Full end-to-end encryption will come later, Google said.

Notes on the page is one of the principles of Spaces. Organizing them, however, remains a challenge. Google is implementing threading within Spaces. The company also said that its improving search within Chat and Spaces to actually find what was being discussed, a key improvement as conversations become more fragmented across chat, email, voice, and video calls. Eventually, executives implied that youll be able to search via Meet transcripts as well, but thats still in the future.

Threading in Google Spaces is due in the coming weeks. Google

Google will also expand the size of Spaces to teams of 8,000 and even 25,000 later this year, and will support announcements across organizations and teams. Finally, Spaces users will be able to assign moderators to help rein them all in.
Government is to begin construction of five new technical institutes in the country.



The construction is to boost technical education and technical know-how in the country.



President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo disclosed this in the 2022 State of the Nation Address in Parliament Wednesday March 30, 2022, saying that Within the next few months, the construction of five technical colleges will begin in various parts of the country.



Three technical institutes will be upgraded to tertiary status.



In addition to that, the President said The initial phase for the construction of nine TVET campuses will commence next month in Bosomtwe, Akyem Awisa, Boako, Kenyasi, Patuda, Dambai, Larabanga, Guabuliga and Tolibri. These campuses will have academic facilities, workshops, laboratories, hostels and staff accommodation, and provide further access for training.



He indicated that some technical institutes will be upgraded into tertiary status.



On the youth, the President Akufo-Addo stated that some youth will be given training in creative arts to unearth their talents.



This government remains alive to its responsibilities to the Ghanaian people. The difficulties of the time notwithstanding, we intend to continue to grow this economy and bring prosperity. That will only happen when we continue to invest in the future.



Our children will continue to be educated and be equipped to run a modern and digitalized economy. The Free SHS and Free TVET are the best vehicles we have devised to take us to the realization of our goal of an educated and skilled workforce. The computerized school placement is currently ongoing and the latest batch of JHS students will soon embark on their Free SHS and Free TVET education.



The TVET institutions are being upgraded and equipped to enable them train the increased numbers of children that we want to be attracted to that sector to meet the modern needs of our economy. This year, I will be commissioning some of the 34 refurbished National Vocational and Technical Institutes (NVTIs) across the country. The refurbishment comprised the construction, rehabilitation and equipping of laboratories, workshops, additional classrooms, hostels, and administrative offices.



Government is in the process of securing financing for the construction of five STEM universities in five new Regions, that is Western North, Savannah, North East, Ahafo and Oti regions. Steps are being taken to turn the planned Bunso campus of the University of Environment and Sustainable Development into a standalone, independent University focused on the study of Engineering. Construction of this campus is set to begin within the next three months.

Source: daily guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Pupils of Tusuk D/A primary school in the Bunkpurugu-Nakpanduri district of the North East region have been forced to sit on the bare floor to learn due to the lack of furniture in the school.



The school with 246 enrollment runs a multi-graded system where two classes were combined into one class.



The school lacks some infrastructure which is causing overcrowding affecting teaching and learning.



The entire Tusuk community does not have a Junior High School and the nearest JHS is located at Nabulik about 6km from the community which does not have a professional teacher at the school.



Some teachers who spoke to DGN Online on condition of anonymity attributed the lack of accommodation to the reason teachers posted to the school refuse adding that few who report stay at Nakpanduri , a far distance and commute every day to the school.



Ghana has signed onto SDG 4 which calls for ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and the promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all.



Mr. Gordey Konyennu, an old student of the school called on the old students, MP for Bunkpurugu constituency, the government, and philanthropists to come to the aid of the school.



According to him, the provision of additional classrooms, furniture, teachers bungalow, borehole, and some teachers will enhance teaching and learning in the school for the betterment of the community and district as a whole.

Source: daily guide









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Speakers at the first virtual African Conference on Uterine Fibroid have called on African countries to allocate funds to a study on uterine fibroids, a public health burden in the region.

They explained that research investment was crucial to managing the scourge across the continent.



They added that in spite of the widespread occurrence, research deficit and lack of data on fibroids had created a gap that hindered evidence-based interventions and policy decisions in addressing the needs of women with the disease.



Conference



The speakers included the Team Lead for Reproductive, Maternal Health and Aging at the World Health Organisation African Regional Office (WHO, AFRO), Dr Triphonie Nkurunziza; Dr Chris Opoku Fofie of the Ghana Health Service (GHS); Dr Essam Othman of the University of Assiut, Egypt; a fertility specialist in Nigeria and the USA, Dr Prosper Igboeli; Dr John Jude Annan, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi; Dr Daniel K. Yeboah, Hawa Memorial Saviour Hospital, Osiem, Ghana; Dr Al- Hendy, University of Chicago, USA, and Tanja Hohenester, Tigovit, Germany.



The conference was organised by the Fibroid Foundation Africa, Ghana Office, in partnership with the Campion Fund, USA, on the theme: Uterine Fibroid: The Science, the Treatment and the Myths.





It was attended by clinicians, researchers, policy makers and survivors from Tanzania, Cameroun, Senegal and Zimbabwe.



Speakers on uterine fibroid



At the conference, Dr Nkurunziza noted that the disease burden was generally high in Africa, afflicting over 40 per cent of women of child-bearing age.



She indicated that a lot of women suffered more significant morbidity and higher mortality rates from the disease because of delayed diagnosis and treatment.



The delayed diagnosis results from social representation, ignorance on the part of patients, fear of intervention, lack of financial means and the recourse to traditional remedies, she noted.



Dr Fofie indicated that uterine fibroid had featured among the top 10 causes of hospitalisation in GHS facilities across the country over the past five years.



In a six-month review at the premier teaching hospital in Ghana, the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, 26 per cent of gynaecological admissions were fibroid issues. It is also the leading indication for gynaecological surgeries nationwide, he said.



Dr Othman, for his part, urged patients and clinicians to change their mindset about surgeries, noting that there was over-utilisation of surgery in Egypt, which was the negative part of care for fibroids.



He, therefore, called on the medical community and patients to consider other non-surgical options.



Green tea



Meanwhile, Dr Al-Hendy and Tanja Hohenester shared their findings on Green Tea Extract and Vitamin D as natural remedies for uterine fibroid, indicating that clinical trials had proved their effectiveness as long-term natural remedies for fibroid and the results documented.



Dr Igboeli, who has handled many fibroid cases, agreed to the use of Vitamin D and proposed a daily dose of Vitamin D supplementation from age 18 and above as a preventive strategy against fibroid development and growth.



Dr Annan, for his part, expressed concern over the negative impact of myths on the treatment-seeking behaviour of women with fibroid.



He emphasised the need for education and advocacy programmes to debunk the myths and save women from the activities of quack doctors and herbalists.



Participants in the conference called for the adoption of technology to increase early detection and treatment and also encourage inter-continental collaboration to advance research into natural remedies.

















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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As part of an initiative to give back to the community, EcoZoil Services (formerly Zoil Eco Brigade), a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies (JGC), has taken its coastal clean-up exercise to the Central Region.



The Central Region exercise came off on Tuesday, March 29, 2022, at the Elmina and Moree beaches.



At both Elmina and Moree beaches, workers of EcoZoil cleaned landing sites and beaches. The workers also picked plastics littered at the beaches and landing into trash bins.



Among the sanitation equipment used during the operation were wheelbarrows, rakes, shovels, broomsticks, compactors and trash bins.



And it is to support communities along the coastal stretch of the country to have clean beaches and landing sites.



Speaking to the media, the Business Development Manager of EcoZoil, Mr. Daniel Lamptey, said the nationwide clean-up exercise was being organised along the coastal stretch of the country, adding that Western Region is next after Central.



He bemoaned the deplorable state of coastal communities across the country, and thus encouraged residents in these areas to be actively involved in the exercise.



We are calling on Ghanaians to be involved in the cleaning of our beaches and landing sites, he appealed.



However, Mr. Lamptey expressed disappointment about the desecrated state of the Moree beach which was littered with so much filth.



"Join us as we strive to keep our beaches and its surroundings clean," he charged.



He, therefore, called on state agencies and owners of private beaches to come on board to ensure that our beaches and coastal communities are rid of filth.



He also indicated that his outfit will do more sensitisation programmes on the need to always ensure that the beaches and landing sites were healthy.



For her part, the National Coordinator for Coastal Sanitation Programme EcoZoil, Mrs. Dianah Ackwonu-Mensah, said it was sad that our beaches are in a state of a mess.



This explains the reason why we are partnering with community members who are ready to collaborate to make our beaches clean and healthy, she noted.



EcoZoil, she contended, is here to stay and also help keep our environment clean.

To this end, she appealed to the government to give them the mandate to work effectively to improve sanitation in the coastal areas.



we just hope and hope again that we will be given the mandate to work effectively so that we can really keep these beaches clean. Sometime ago we were doing it and we did it and everybody at the beach could really attest to it that when we left a lot of things have been happening at our beaches. And all our beaches are really in a state of a mess, she bemoaned.



She indicated that EcoZoil was undertaking this exercise to help restore sanity at the countrys beaches, adding that they were ready to work with everyone including chiefs, fisher-folks, assembly members, mothers to enable them achieve their target.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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Doosan Heavy Industries and Construction has announced the groundbreaking of the Tuwaiq Casting & Forging factory in Ras Al Khair region of the kingdom with a total capacity to produce 60,000 tonnes of castings and forgings per year.

Tuwaiq Casting & Forging is a joint venture between Doosan Heavy, Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Company (Dussur) and Saudi Aramco Development Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of global energy giant Saudi Aramco, which was set up in January this year.

The foundry and forging plant is being set up at the King Salman Shipbuilding Complex near Jubail area in eastern Saudi Arabia at an investment of 1 trillion-won ($834 million). It is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025.

The factory, , will manufacture cast and forged materials used for pumps and valves for petrochemical plants in Saudi Arabia, and equipment for shipbuilding and offshore plants, said a spokesman from Doosan.

Equipped with integrated production lines, including steel making, casting and forging and processing, the new Tuwaiq plant will come up on a 400,000 sq m area. Once operational, it is set to become Saudi Arabias largest casting and forging facility, he stated. Major product lines from the facility will include casting and forging materials for pumps and valves used at petrochemical plants and for equipment used in shipbuilding and offshore plants in Saudi Arabia, stated the spokesman. In the long term, the partners intend to expand the product mix of the facility to cover power generation plants and wind power plants, he added. Speaking at the groundbreaking, Ras Al Khair Industrial Park CEO Ahmed bin Mohammed Hassan said: "The foundry and forging plant construction is the kingdom's first project and is part of a joint effort to build a complete value chain with coastal industrial production, thereby extending this value chain from Saudi raw materials on land to end products such as excavators and ships."

"With this project, not only are we casting basic steel parts for the offshore yards of the industrial city of Ras Al Khair, but also the entire kingdom. We have confirmed that we are aiming to mold the general energy products and service requirements of," he noted.

Mohammed Hassan said through this project, Saudi Arabia aims to create 1,400 new job opportunities in the local community with a Saudiization ratio of more than 50%.

The plan is to contribute to the increase of domestic products in the kingdom, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Chief Executive Officer of Farmhouse Productions, Ivan Quashigah has admonished the youth to work for free, noting that working for free and volunteering will pay them for the rest of their lives.



In a statement that many young people will find debatable and controversial, especially in the wake of the current economic hardships, the versatile filmmaker and creative director asserted that when young people offer their time and volunteer in jobs, in line with their career aspirations, they gain hands-on experiences that remain unmatched when they eventually launch their careers.



Ivan Quashigah told Rev Albert Ocran in a Springboard Virtual University interview that will be aired on Joy FM on Sunday, April 3rd, and subsequently on Joy Prime, that young entrepreneurs must look around for problems and solve them. According to him, the entrepreneurship journey begins when many young people identify a problem, solve it, and get paid for it.



He also reiterated the important role of volunteerism in the entrepreneurship journey.



Volunteering to work for an established organization is an important part of a young entrepreneurs training. You cant just come out of school and, because you were the best student, decide to start a business. You need to learn from others. Volunteering will give you the experience you need to achieve something for yourself., He stated.



Growing up, Ivan Quashigahs journey to becoming a filmmaker could best be described as the divine hand of destiny. First, he was raised in Keta between two cinema halls - Croydon and Premier. As a child, he sold movie tickets to willing patrons in exchange for the opportunity to watch the movies for free. He later started acting his own version of movies with other colleagues and got children in the neighborhood to pay in kind to watch them.



Ivan was mentored by the late Ato Yanney, another movie filmmaker and director, who helped deepened and shape his love for reading and African writers. Through Ato Yanney, he had the opportunity to be on set for the film, The Last Show, directed by Allen Gyimah, which saw the likes of David Dontoh, Grace Omaboe, George Williams, Lola Everett starring.



His journey to becoming a filmmaker had its own challenging moments. His father was detained just before going to NAFTI and he resorted to selling soft drinks to finance his education till he eventually got a scholarship. His decision go to film school was met with ridicule and even after NAFTI, he was disappointed when he was posted to the National Service Secretariat for his service. But what was supposed to be a disappointment turned out to be a great blessing for him.



While at the National Service Secretariat, we were asked to do a documentary as part of their 20thAnniversary celebration. That documentary enabled me to travel around the country for free, build relationships and appreciate different cultures. Till today, it has been a blessing in my business, he stressed.



From Things we Do for Love to YOLO, Ivan Quashigahs works in the creative media space are the silent standard most of his colleagues and other budding filmmakers aspire to. He was also the brain behind sika ooo sika, a commercial he did for UAC Textiles whiles working with the late Jake Obetsebi Lamptey at Lintas.



Behind his cool and calm personality is a tough and decisive leader who would not hesitate to call a colleague at 2am to enquire about why a task has not been executed. He attributes this side of his personality to the training he received from his late father, Major Courage Quashigah, a former military officer, and a Minister of Agric in the erstwhile Kufuor administration.



When COVID-19 ravaged businesses worldwide, and many corporate organisations laid off their staff, Ivan, determined to do otherwise. He, together with his team at Farmhouse, set up an App, the Farmhouse Movies App, to create movie content for young people. At the time of its launch in December 2020, the App had already garnered over 50,000 downloads



Ivan believes there are two possible outcomes to every pitch in life  A yes or no. A yes means you can proceed, whiles a no gives you an opportunity to learn. He admonishes youth interested in entrepreneurship to find what they love or what makes them happy and be ready to sacrifice time and money to learn and grow in it.





Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









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President Nana Akufo Addo says the Creative Arts Senior High School, in Kwaadaso in the Ashanti Region is 70 percent complete.



He said the school would serve as a beacon for many young and talented people, seeking a fulfilling career in the field.



Delivering the State of the Nation Address, on Wednesday in Parliament, the President observed the enormous potential for Ghanaians in the creative arts, fashion, and film industry.



Government intends to unleash the creativity, enterprise and innovation of the youth, by giving them education and skills training in the Creative Arts.



He said government was also undertaking a comprehensive renovation and modernization of tourist attractions across the country, including the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles, Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, which would help in positioning Ghana as the preferred tourism destination in West Africa.



President Nana Addo said Ghana led the push for African renaissance through the decade-long Beyond the Return Project and the December in GH component of the project had positioned Ghana as the destination to visit every December.



Last year, the country recorded 623,523 visitors, up from the 355,108 visitors, the year before, signifying a marked rebound of our tourism sector. We should recapture those glorious moments and build on them as we work hard to reclaim what we lost to the COVID years, he added.

Source: GNA









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Mr Ambrose Dery, the Minister of the Interior, has called on all partners in Regional Border Management to join hands to address the challenges facing effective border management in the sub-region.



He said border management in the sub-region was confronted with common traditional and perennial challenges including many porous and unmanned borders characterized by numerous unofficial crossing points, inadequate equipment and infrastructure, and the collection of migration data.



He said the current COVID-19 Pandemic also brought to the fore the role that borders play in the national public health system, particularly in responding to pandemics of international concern.



Mr Dery made the call in a speech read on his behalf at the Regional Border Management Workshop, organised by the International Organisation on Migration (IOM) in Accra, for the Gulf of Guinea countries and their neighbours in the Sahel, with funding from the German Federal Office.



The workshop, to serve as a platform for the targeted countries to share experiences and develop recommendations to improve border management and border security, in the region, also aimed at fostering regional and cross border corporation, including improving information management and data sharing, and strengthening cross border cooperation.



The Interior Minister also mentioned limited access to social amenities such as potable water and health care and high youth unemployment rate, which he said, remained factors that increase the vulnerability of the border communities across the region, adding, We must not lose sight of the insecurity in the Sahel and its related humanitarian effects on the coastal countries of the Gulf of Guinea.



We, therefore, have to join hands to address the situation that makes our sub-region susceptible, he added.



Mr Dery announced that the government is responding to challenges facing border management within its jurisdiction through strategic policy facet as well as operational measures.



He said the development of frameworks such as the National Framework for the Prevention of Violent Extremism, the draft of national border Management Strategy, the Northern Border Security Strategy, the Security Government Initiative, and the Accra Initiatives were strategic responses to those challenges.



He noted that the government acknowledged the immense support of the IOM over the years to improve border management in the country through interventions such as the Ghana Integrated Border Management Approach (GIMMA) and ongoing Integrated Border Management Programmes specifically the Screening the Northern Border of Cote dIvoire, Ghana and Togo project, aimed at improving border security along the northern borders of the countries.







Source: GNA









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Tunisian President Kais Saied has dissolved parliament, which he suspended eight months ago following mass protests.



It came after MPs convened online on Wednesday and voted to repeal presidential decrees that have given him near total power since last year.



The president termed the parliament's move a "coup attempt".



He said parliament had "lost its legitimacy" and had "betrayed" the nation - and the MPs responsible would be prosecuted.



Mr Saied suspended parliament, assumed executive powers and moved to rewrite the constitution eight months ago. He has since ruled by decree.



Since then, anger at economic conditions in Tunisia has sparked street protests, some involving clashes with the police.

Source: BBC









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More than a dozen people including women and children fleeing attacks by armed gangs have drowned in the central Nigerian state of Niger when their boat capsized.



Emergency officials say eight bodies, including those of two women and six children, have been recovered while five people are still missing.



A search and rescue operation is underway.



The victims from the village of Galkogo were fleeing a deadly attack by gunmen on their community on Tuesday.



Their boat then capsized on a major river. Some managed to escape but many drowned. Officials say the boat was weak and overloaded.



Armed gangs, locally known as bandits, have stepped up attacks in northern Nigeria displacing nearly a million people.



On Monday, they attacked a busy passenger train travelling from the capital, Abuja, to the northern city of Kaduna killing, nearly a dozen people and kidnapping others.



The government is facing severe criticism for failing to tackle the worsening violence despite deploying thousands of troops.

Source: BBC









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Addressing the 1.7 million housing deficit in Ghana requires a robust real estate sector driven by highly-rated professionals, a finance expert, Professor Joshua Y. Abor, has observed.



The former Dean of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), stressed that it was important for a stronger collaboration between real estate industry players and academia to produce a generation of real estate experts who would revolutionarise the sector.



He added that there ought to be a paradigm shift from the theoretical approach to training of real estate professionals in the country to a more practical approach that combined banking, finance and other modules.



Real estate programme



Prof. Abor made the observations at a workshop organised by the UGBS to discuss steps being taken to introduce a new masters programme in real estate at the university.



The workshop brought together the academia, industry players and a section of the public.



The former UGBS dean explained that the executive masters in real estate programme was being introduced to address knowledge gap between industry and academia.



New approach



In a presentation on the proposed real estate programme, a retired professor of urban development and management, Prof. K.C Serbeh-Yiadom, explained that the executive masters in real estate were rooted in finance, banking, securities and other disciplines with the overall objective of ensuring that products of the course were on top of all aspects of the real estate business.



He said the country's real estate industry had been struggling from inadequacies such as poor land market information, absence of an enabling legislation, unresponsive capital market, poor competition and absence of expert knowledge.



The urban development and management professor, said the new approach to real estate education, as contained in the new programme, was "a purposeful academic or professional education to endow the industry with an elite of experts exceptionally knowledgeable in global-standard real estate investment and financing.



"It is not the usual Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme where graduates from first-degree programmes can enrol. It is meant for professionals in the banking, finance, securities, labour unions, pensions and insurance who want to get expert knowledge in real estate," he said.



Real estate sector key



For his part, a Deputy Director-General in charge of Finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Paul Ababio, said the programme in real estate by the UGBS was timely.



He said that was because the sector was one of the most profitable aspects of the economy and served as one of the key indices for measuring economic growth.



"The sector's multiplier effect in terms of job creation and services is significant," he said.



According to the United Nations (UN) African countries with rapidly growing populations will have 50 per cent of its population living in cities.



For Ghana, the 2021 PHC showed that 56.7 per cent of the population lives in urban areas.



Against that backdrop, Mr Ababio said it was important to prioritise the development of the critical human resource needed to build the sector.









Source: graphiconline.com









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President Akufo-Addohas highlighted some infrastructural and logistical investments being made in the law enforcement as well as security agencies of the country to make them more efficient.



The President,who revealed this in his State of the Nation Address (SONA) yesterday in Parliament, pointed out how government was, for the first time, improving on the infrastructural needs of the judiciary on a major scale.



He disclosed that 100 courthouses and accompanying residences for judges and magistrates were being provided, with 50 of these near completion. These would be handed over to the judiciary soon.



He also indicated that another 121 residential units for the judiciary were also being built across the country, whilst 22 new modern townhouses were also being constructed at Danyame in Kumasi, to address the accommodation challenges facing Court of Appeal judges assigned to the northern sector.



Again, the President revealed work was ongoing on the abandoned Law House, a 12-storey edifice consisting of ten (10) floors above ground and two (2) storeys underground office accommodation for the Office of Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice, and would be completed by the end of this year.



Mr. Speaker, whilst on the subject of law enforcement, the passage of the Right to Information Act, the Witness Protection Act, the amendment of the Criminal Offences Act, and other laws has enhanced significantly the capacity of the state in the fight against corruption. It is also an undeniable fact that budgetary allocations for institutions actively engaged in public sector accountability, i.e., the Office of the Auditor-General, the judiciary, Parliament and the Ghana Police Service, have witnessed significant increases since I assumed office in 2017, the President stated.



He added that, We now have a new Special Prosecutor who appears to have the entire wherewithal necessary to exercise vigorously the prerogatives of his office.



Military



The President said the first stage of the Military Housing Project, dubbed the Barracks Regeneration Project, has started with construction ongoing at all garrisons across the country.



He also indicated that the Military Training Academy at Teshienear Accra was being modernised, while the Armed Forceswas being retooled and equipped to enable them live up to their duties.



Each of the different branches of the Armed Forces  the Army, Navy and AirForce  has received significant financial assistance to upgrade its logistical bases, and strengthen its capabilities. Its welfare requirements are being substantially addressed. We are building modernised Armed Forces, with higher numbers of personnel, that will be fit to meet the demands of the 21st century, the President added.



Police



The President also disclosed that government has been able to provide the much-needed modern equipment for the service, adding governmentwas tackling their accommodation needs as well.



We are constructing three hundred and twenty (320) housing units at the National Police Training School, which are at an advanced stage of completion. Work is also ongoing on the construction of a huge barracks complex at Kwabenya, to replace the one adjacent to the DVLA at 37, where the conditions of living are poor, he added.

Source: daily guide









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Russian hackers have been scanning the systems of energy companies and other critical infrastructure in the United States, and state-sponsored hacking by Russia presents a "current" threat to American national security, a top FBI official told lawmakers on Tuesday.



"The threat from Russia in a criminal sense, in the nation state sense, is very, very real - and current," said Bryan Vorndran, an assistant director in the FBI's cyber division, during a hearing before a U.S. House of Representatives panel.



In the weeks since Russia's unprovoked attack against Ukraine, the White House and the Justice Department have been warning U.S. companies about intelligence suggesting that Russia has been taking early steps toward possibly launching cyberattacks.



Vorndran told lawmakers that "instances of Russian scanning" networks in the U.S. energy sector have increased recently, and he said such activity represents a "reconnaissance phase" by Russia to try and understand a company's defenses and whether it has vulnerabilities that could be exploited.



"It's an extremely important part of the overall attacks," he noted, adding later in his testimony that Russia represents "one of the two most capable cyber adversaries we face globally," and is "a formidable foe."



Last year, well before Russia's attack on Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden openly warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that certain critical infrastructure should be "off-limits" to cyberattacks.



That warning applied to 16 different kinds of infrastructure - an apparent reference to the 16 sectors designated as critical by the U.S. Homeland Security Department, including telecommunications, healthcare, food and energy.



Since that time Vorndran told lawmakers he was aware of software companies, among others who have been targeted with attacks.



"There are compromises against some of those 16 critical infrastructure sectors," he said. "I can't speak specifically to which ones."

Source: REUTERS









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The Minority Members in Parliament have dragged the Attorney General to the Supreme Court over the approval of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy).



Parliament on Tuesday approved the e-levy bill with only the Majority caucus present in the House following a walkout by the Minority.



The Minority has insisted the passage of the bill is illegal because the Majority didn't have the numbers to form a quorum to pass the bill.



Led by its Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, the Minority is asking the court to declare that the passage of the bill "null and void and of no legal effect".



But reacting to this in an interview on Peace FM's morning show 'Kokrokoo', Deputy Minister of Finance, John Kumah has insisted that there was a quorum.



"It's not true; there was a quorum . . . at the time the Speaker was putting the question, half of the minority members were in the chamber and so there was a quorum. In the process of walking out, the speaker put the question to the House; if you're on your way out but in the chamber, you are counted," he pointed out.



Speaking to the 'e-levy suit', Mr Kumah who doubles as the Member of Parliament for Ejisu said, "they should help us expand the law; there's no problem with that (going to court).







Meanwhile, the Minority is seeking the following reliefs:a. A declaration that on the authority of the Supreme Court case of Justice Abdulai v. Attorney-General, Writ No. J1/07/2022 dated 9th March, 2022, the constitutional quorum number for decision-making and voting within the meaning of Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution is 138 Members of Parliament out of the 275 Members of Parliament and not 137 Members of Parliament.b. A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of articles 2(1)(b) and 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, there was no quorum to enable the 137 Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus present in Parliament on 29th March, 2022 to pass the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy).c. A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the passing of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) by the 137 Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus present in Parliament on the 29th March 2022 without the requisite quorum number of 138 Members of Parliament present in Parliament, is null and void and of no legal effect.d. An order of the Honourable Court setting aside the passing of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) by the 137 Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus present in Parliament on the 29th March, 2022 as a nullity.e. Any other order(s) the Honourable Court may deem fit.

Source: Peacefmonline.com









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Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Majority Leader, Hon. Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has dared the minority in parliament to go to court over the passage of the controversial E-levy bill.



He says they will be strongly met in court.



Speaking on Okay FM's 'Ade Akye Abia' programme, he wondered why his colleagues from the minority who he believes know the laws and standing orders of Parliament will think resorting to court is the best option to register their displeasure over the passage of the bill.



"You people have been part of the process from day one and even made major contributions to it. Why do you want to all of a sudden make the public feel you are sympathetic to them and against the passage of the bill?" he rhetorically asked.



"No one can stop you from going to court but I can assure you that you are going to be schooled again on the standing orders of the House if you have forgotten," he added.



"I can tell you that we did not breach any parliamentary procedure in the lead-up to the passage, we followed the parliamentary procedure and the standing order of the House."



We Will Go To Court - Minority Assures Over Passage Of E-Levy



The Minority is not backing down on their bid to prevent the implementation of the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) Bill.



Parliament is now waiting on President Akufo-Addo to assent to the approved tax.



The Majority in Parliament approved the E-Levy after the Minority walked out saying the tax is a tool to exacerbate the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian.



Yesterdays decision was reached after the Consideration Stage was completed under a certificate of urgency.



But the Minority has given an indication to contest the decision at the Supreme Court.



Even as we prepare to challenge the matter in the Supreme Court, a judicial determination has been made on Article 104 of the Constitution. Clear cut. Anything to the contrary is a sin to Article 104 of the 1992 Constitution and the ruling of the Supreme Court, he said on Tuesday.



Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu insists that the parliamentary procedure was breached in the lead-up to the passage.



Parliament Passes E-levy Bill . . . Minority Stages Walkout



The rubicon has finally been crossed with the passage of the controversial Electronic Levy (E-Levy) bill, despite a spirited attempt by the Minority caucus in Parliament to shoot it down, including the obvious staging of a walkout.



According to the Minority, the Majority pulled a surprise one on them because E-levy was not listed in Parliaments business statement for this week.



According to the Minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu: We have time and again warned and cautioned that we never want to be taken by surprise on a major economic policy bill of government and we will not accept that culture."



So when you (Majority Caucus) did not have the numbers, you were hesitant, you wont come before the House, now that you think that you have some reasonable numbers then you say go to the business of item 27.



However, by a voice vote by the Majority caucus after the Speaker of Parliament suspended sitting for 30 minutes, the second reading of the bill was approved.





Watch Video Below





Source: Isaac Kwame Owusu/Peacefmonline/[email protected]









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A climate paper launched by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the World Government Summit (WGS) 2022 provides stark statistics on the regions climate vulnerability.

Reacting to it speakers stressed the importance of including traditional knowledge in designing climate change adaptation measures.

Launched by Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of IMF, the paper will serve as a valuable tool to help the vulnerable regions of the Middle East and Central Asia address the severe impacts of climate change.

Feeling the heat

At a press conference, she unveiled the departmental paper titled Feeling the Heat: Adapting to Climate Change in the Middle East and Central Asia in the presence of several regional ministers.

Georgieva said that she was more optimistic than at the start of the session, but she stressed that the knowledge of communities and the determination of policy makers must be brought together to guard and nurture the planet for the future.

Speaking alongside Georgieva, Mariam bint Mohammed Almheiri, UAE Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said: The publication of the Funds climate adaptation paper comes at an opportune time in climate action, and highlights the urgency of boosting climate adaptive capacity.

Balancing climate agenda with growth

The Minister highlighted the UAEs efforts to balance its climate agenda with economic growth. She added: In light of the devastating climate change impacts witnessed all over the world, adaptation gains a paramount importance. One of the key recommendations of COP26 is to place as much importance on climate change adaptation as on mitigation.

We aim to build on that and to work closely with our regional partners, particularly Egypt  the host of COP27  to share expertise, identify common goals, and explore areas of collaboration to build climate resilience capacities in the Middle East and Africa, one of the most vulnerable regions to the impacts of climate change.

Also speaking at the session, Dr Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment of Egypt, echoed her colleagues remarks. She said: You cannot detach doubling adaptation finance from what is really happening on the ground.

The human element of climate change adaptation was of as much importance to the speakers as the economic element. The UAE is leading the region with a $160 billion investment in renewables pledged to help achieve the countrys climate goals by 2050.-- TradeArabia News Service
Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, George Mireku Duker, has exposed the rationale behind the Minority's law suit against the government regarding the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) Bill.



Minority Leader of Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, and his colleagues Mahama Ayariga and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa have dragged the Attorney General to the Supreme Court over the approval of the Bill.



They contend that Parliament did not have the required number of at least half of its members present when the controversial tax policy was approved.



In their reliefs, they are praying the Apex Court for a. A declaration that on the authority of the Supreme Court case of Justice Abdulai v. Attorney-General, Writ No. J1/07/2022 dated 9th March 2022, the constitutional quorum number for decision-making and voting within the meaning of Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution is 138 Members of Parliament out of the 275 Members of Parliament and not 137 Members of Parliament.



"b. A declaration that on a true and proper interpretation of articles 2(1)(b) and 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, there was no quorum to enable the 137 Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus present in Parliament on 29th March 2022 to pass the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy).



They also are pleading with the court for a declaration that "on a true and proper interpretation of Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the passing of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) by the 137 Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus present in Parliament on the 29th March 2022 without the requisite quorum number of 138 Members of Parliament present in Parliament is null and void and of no legal effect".



The Minority further asks for an "order of the Honourable Court setting aside the passing of the Electronic Transactions Levy (E-Levy) by the 137 Members of Parliament of the Majority Caucus present in Parliament on the 29th March 2022 as a nullity".



But to Mireku Duker, the Minority is using the suit to calm down the pressure on them as their plans to thwart the passage of the Bill have failed.



"I know this is a way of suppressing the pressure on the ground . . . but I know we've passed the E-Levy. In a week's time, the President, His Excellency will sign it. Ghanaians should have hoped that the money they're paying will inure to the benefit of all," he said on Peace FM's ''Kokrokoo''.



He also ridiculed them for resorting to the Supreme Court after making disparaging remarks about the Judiciary.



"They say they are going to court. It's good but I want them to be consistent. At a point, they say they don't believe in the judgement of the court. Consistency is very relevant because it bothers on conscience and people are watching as well as listening to us. You claim you don't believe in the Supreme Court but now you're sending your case to the Supreme Court. Let's accord respect to the institutions that we, as Parliamentarians, have built . . . we should note that, at a point, we can't lambast and disgrace them, then on another leg, we stand somewhere and say we are going to court," he stated.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu, and two other NDC MPs, have gone to the Supreme Court to challenge the passage of the Electronic Transaction Levy (e-levy) by Parliament into law.



Mr Iddrisu, Mahama Ayariga and Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, want the court to declare the passage of the e-levy as unconstitutional and therefore null and void.



It is their case that Parliament did not have the right quorum to pass the e-levy as stipulated under Article 104(1) of the 1992 Constitution which had recently been interpreted by the Supreme Court.



According to them, as of the time the second reading for the passage of the e-Levy was done, there were only 136 MPs present in Parliament instead of the required 138.



They want the court to therefore declare the whole proceedings including the second reading, third reading and voting to pass the e-levy as unconstitutional, null, void and of no effect.



The plaintiffs are also seeking an order from the court to set aside the passage of the e-levy by Parliament.







Source: graphiconline.com









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The Minority in Parliament has described the Presidents State of the Nation Address (SONA) as not reflecting the true hardships and sufferings facing Ghanaians presently.



Seconding the motion for the House to adjourn after the President had delivered the SONA on the floor of Parliament, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said with the rising cost of living that had affected the prices of fuel, foodstuffs and services, the President downplayed the harsh reality of the Ghanaian economy during his address.



We expected the President to deliver the true state of the nation address which would reflect the growing hardships and sufferings of Ghanaians, he said.



Lack of confidence



Mr Iddrisu said regrettably, the President did not have the confidence to talk about the economy.



"So he is continuing with his promises and slogans, but as a constitutional imperative, we the Minority are ready to debate our Majority counterparts and prove a credible alternative government, led by former President John Mahama.



"So, Mr Speaker, with our President wilfully downplaying the hardships, I beg to second the motion for adjournment, " he said.



Chants



After President Akufo-Addo had presented the SONA, the Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, moved the motion to adjourn sitting, and the National Anthem was played to signal the end of the event.



However, when the military brass band concluded the performance, the Minority side, who were earlier chanting, resumed, singing out the last stanza of the anthem: And help us to resist oppressors rule  With all our will and might for evermore.



President was sincere



In a reaction, the Deputy Majority Leader, Alexander Afenyo-Markin, said the President had been very sincere and clear with the facts, as he had admitted the challenges in the economy.



He said President Akufo-Addo had said the things Ghanaians were well aware of.



He, therefore, called on all Ghanaians to work together to help surmount the challenges facing the economy.



No propaganda



Mr Afenyo-Markin added that the President demonstrated competence and capacity to be able to resolve the issues that confronted the nation.



"For me, the main issue is that he came to Parliament to deliver the State of the Nation Address, not to do propaganda," Mr Afenyo-Markin, who is also the NPP MP for Effutu, said.



He added that he was not surprised by the Minoritys reaction to the SONA delivered by the President.



"You should be well aware that we are politicians and others will disagree with him, he said.



Commitment to health care



The NPP MP for Kwesimintsim, Dr Prince Hamidu Armah, said the President outlined his commitment to improve healthcare delivery in the country.



He said the government's decisions had been apt in addressing the ravages brought about by the COVID-19.



He said the swift and specific policy interventions and policy decisions that were made addressed, to a large extent, the impact of COVID-19 on the people.



He added that the incentives given to frontline health workers, the PPE that was procured, the restrictive and preventive measures that were put in place went a long way to control the pandemic.



"These interventions have had a significant impact," he said.



Before all these, the members of the Majority side displayed their singing skills on the floor of Parliament as they sang the popular birthday tune in celebration of the Presidents birthday which fell last Tuesday (March 29).



The Majority MPs, most of who wore all-white apparel, rose from their seats and sang to the President, who celebrated his 78th birthday.



These actions from both sides of the House made the occasion lively to the amusement of some visitors who sat at the public gallery.



Among the guests who were in the House to listen to the SONA were members of the diplomatic community, the country's development partners, civil society organisations and members of the Council of State, led by their Chairman, Nana Otuo Siriboe II.











Source: graphiconline.com









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The Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, has said that there is no perfect votes and proceedings, an official report capturing Parliamentary debate, anywhere in the world.



Errors, he said, are anticipated to occur hence, provisions have been made available to correct those mistakes.



Mr Bagbin said this in the House on Thursday March 31 after the Minority had said errors were made on the votes of proceedings for Tuesdays sitting when the e-levy was approved by the House.



The Speaker commended the Minority lawmakers for bringing this up for the necessary corrections to be made.



There is not votes and proceedings anywhere that is perfect, Mr Bagbin said adding that the draft is brought to the house giving opportunity to members to right the wrongs that they have been captured on the votes and proceedings.



So rightly, you have come and corrected, what you have done is right, we will go through properly and correct the errors, he said.



The National Democratic Congress (NDC) lawmakers have sued the Attorney General following the approval of the e-levy by Parliament on Tuesday March 29.



The Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu described the approval as illegal and unconstitutional because in their view, the Majority did not have the right numbers to pass it.



This is a charade, he said at a press conference in Parliament, adding that there is no E-levy.



The majority of less than 137 conducting businesses only proceeded on illegal and unconstitutional business. Parliament did not have the numbers to take any decision that should binding Parliament and Ghanaians, he added.



They therefore decided to sue over the development.













Source: 3news.com









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Sources close to the Presidency, have revealed that President Akufo-Addo has signed the E-levy Bill into law.



Speaking t o Joy News, Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, confirmed that, the President assented to the Bill on Thursday, March 31, 2022.



As a result, the Bill, which was passed by Parliament on Tuesday, has now become a binding law which will be operationalised as a revenue measure across the country.



Meanwhile, the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori-Atta has hinted that the implementation of the levy may commence in May, 2022.



According to him, the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) will have all the systems in place for the operationalization of the levy by then.



We had a key meeting with the Controller General and the GRA and they have indicated to us that right at the beginning of May, they should be able to get the systems altogether, he said.



Background to the Presidential assent



Parliament approved the controversial Electronic Transactions (E-Levy) Bill on Tuesday afternoon. This decision was reached after the Consideration Stage was completed by a Majority-sided House on Tuesday, March 29, 2022.



It was considered under a certificate of urgency.



The Bill was adopted at a reduced rate of 1.5% from the initial 1.75% amid a Minority walkout. The tax, which has become a subject of debate among Ghanaians is expected to rake in close to 6 billion in tax revenue for the country.



The Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) has already hinted that its structures have been revised and ready to ensure mobilization of the income. The Finance Minister was in Parliament to push for the Bills passage a day to President Akufo-Addos State of The Nation Address.



From the onset, the Minority had accused the Majority Caucus of smuggling into the Order Paper the consideration of the controversial Electronic Transaction Levy (E-levy).



According to the Tamale South MP, E-levy was not enlisted in Parliaments business statement for this week. He questioned why the Majority will pull such a surprise on the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) legislators.



But Deputy Finance Minister, Abena Osei-Asare, urged Members of Parliament to join hands in passing the Electronic Transaction Levy (E-Levy) Bill to enhance the countrys economic recovery process.



According to her, Ghanaians have already accepted the tax revenue measure and expect its passage.



This, she stated, will help address domestic challenges derailing growth of the local economy, a development which has led to a high cost of living in the country.



But after a 30-minute break, the Minority Leader announced that his side will have nothing to do with the Bill.

He maintained that the outcome will bring untold hardship to the populace. On that note, he led the NDC MPs to vacate the chamber.



After this development, the House, despite the Minoritys absence embarked on a speedy consideration and effected a few changes in the Bill following which the motion was moved to accept it.



In a voice vote, the Minority sided Parliament admitted the E-Levy Bill.



Speaker, Alban Bagbin therefore ruled, Honourable members, the Electronic Transfer Levy Bill 2021 duly read the third time and passed.

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Source: UTV/Joy News









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Sean Fraser stands during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. The Immigration Minister says Canada will extend some settlement services to Ukrainians fleeing to Canada, but they will not receive all the same supports as refugees. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Saudi Arabia and Egypt have signed an agreement with regard to the Public Investment Fund's (PIF) investment in Egypt, aiming to enhance trade exchange between the two countries.



The agreement was signed by Saudi Minister of State and Cabinet's Member for Shura Council Affairs Dr. Essam bin Saad bin Saeed and Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development Dr. Hala Al-Saeed, who is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt in the presence of Egyptian Prime Minister Dr Mostafa Madbouly, reported Saudi Press Agency.



The signing of the agreement comes as a culmination of the meetings held between the two countries, to complete the procedures related to investment in Egypt, through the PIF, within the framework of the two countries desire to strengthen economic ties and based on the directives of the two countries leaderships in this regard.



The agreement aims to contribute to the expansion of the two countries' activities and investments in other countries at the regional and international levels.
SALLEY  A resolution naming a portion of Hollow Creek Road the Chief Glenn Poole Memorial Highway has made its way through the South Carolina House and has been sent to the Senate Transportation Committee.

S.C. Rep. Bill Taylor, R-Aiken, is sponsoring the resolution to honor Poole.

Poole, the longtime chief of the Hollow Creek Fire Department and also a former Savannah River Site firefighter, died in January.

Taylor called Poole the "mayor" of Hollow Creek.

Hollow Creek is located near the area where Aiken, Lexington and Orangeburg counties meet.

He added Poole was a great public servant who was truly dedicated to improving the area he lived in.

"He just helped," Taylor said.

The resolution requests the South Carolina Department of Transportation name Hollow Creek Road in Salley from its intersection with Clinton Church Road until the road enters Orangeburg County the Chief Glenn Poole Memorial Highway.

The church Poole attended and is buried at, the Clinton United Methodist Church, is located at the intersection.

Taylor said if the resolution is approved, a sign naming the road after Poole would be located directly across the street from the church.

Taylor introduced the bill into the South Carolina House of Representatives on Feb. 22. It was sent to the House Memorials and Resolutions Committee on the same date. On March 15, it was reported favorably by the committee.

The resolution was adopted by the House on Tuesday and sent to the Senate.

Senate President Thomas Alexander, R-Walhalla, referred it to the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday.
Four budding artists from Bahrain have won the Regional Edition of the 15th Toyota Dream Car Art Contest.

Ebrahim K Kanoo, the sole distributor of Toyota vehicles in Bahrain, announced that four of the nine talented winners from Bahrain were nominated at the regional contest to participate in the Global edition of the worlds largest art contest.

The Toyota Dream Car Art Contest is an international platform where budding young artists are encouraged to unleash their creative imagination and help shape the future of mobility with Toyota.

Winning children

Jawaher Bader Aldoseri and Kartiki Singh won in the category of seven years and under, Shambhavi Jha won in the eight to eleven years old category and Thridev Karun Ambayapurath won in the twelve to fifteen years old category.

Renowned local Bahraini artists, Ali Mirza and Amina Al Abassi supported this years edition of the contest and provided inspiring tips and techniques to the participants through informational videos released on Toyota Bahrains social media channels. Each winner was presented with a cash cheque of $3,000 from Toyota for their successful participation this year.--TradeArabia News Service
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MOUNT PLEASANT  The shabby building that for nearly 30 years housed an iconic roadside dive bar is now a memory, and plans to redevelop the site are in the works.

Demolition crews reduced the former Richard's Bar & Grill next to a large Home Depot store on U.S. Highway 17 to a pile of rubble this week, less than two weeks after longtime proprietor Richard M. Ruth Sr. died on March 15 at the age of 82. Ruth did not own the property.

Trey Sedalik with Prospect Real Estate Partners, the firm representing the site, said timing of the demolition work was coincidental, but he said plans are underway for a new project.

"We will be going to the town with an impact assessment soon," Sedalik said.

He declined to identify the proposed uses for the property, citing a confidentiality agreement, but he said the site is larger than the small parcel where Richard's once operated.

The former bar and restaurant property, as well as a larger adjoining tract, are owned by a Utah-based firm, according to Charleston County land records.

The total 8.5-acre site sits between Christ Church and the Home Depot store.

Sedalik said the development plan involves the entire tract.

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During the past couple of years, Mount Pleasant officials received tentative reuse plans for the property, but nothing materialized.

At one point, a grocery-anchored, mixed-use shopping center was proposed, according to town spokesman Eric LaFontaine. More recently, the Greenville-based Spinx convenience store chain wanted to develop a single parcel within the tract.

"Nothing progressed past conceptual discussion," he said in an email.

The landmark East Cooper bar opened in 1989. It was shut down in late 2018, when officials padlocked the building after the state revoked the bar's liquor license as the fiercely independent Ruth vowed to fight multiple misdemeanor gambling charges related to video poker machines while also facing tax issues.

He also clashed with Charleston County over its indoor smoking restrictions and ignored the ban altogether.

The ramshackle pub was a hangout for a wide variety of patrons and was among the last watering holes in South Carolina to keep serving hard liquor drinks from mini-bottles.

Ruth was eulogized March 18 by family and well-wishers through a bar crawl at different drinking venues in East Cooper.
MOUNT PLEASANT  The shabby building that for nearly 30 years housed an iconic roadside dive bar is now a memory, and plans to redevelop the site are in the works.

Demolition crews reduced the former Richard's Bar & Grill next to a large Home Depot store on U.S. Highway 17 to a pile of rubble this week, less than two weeks after longtime proprietor Richard M. Ruth Sr. died on March 15 at the age of 82. Ruth did not own the property.

Trey Sedalik with Prospect Real Estate Partners, the firm representing the site, said timing of the demolition work was coincidental, but he said plans are underway for a new project.

"We will be going to the town with an impact assessment soon," Sedalik said.

He declined to identify the proposed uses for the property, citing a confidentiality agreement, but he said the site is larger than the small parcel where Richard's once operated.

The former bar and restaurant property, as well as a larger adjoining tract, are owned by a Utah-based firm, according to Charleston County land records.

The total 8.5-acre site sits between Christ Church and the Home Depot store.

Sedalik said the development plan involves the entire tract.

During the past couple of years, Mount Pleasant officials received tentative reuse plans for the property, but nothing materialized.

At one point, a grocery-anchored, mixed-use shopping center was proposed, according to town spokesman Eric LaFontaine. More recently, the Greenville-based Spinx convenience store chain wanted to develop a single parcel within the tract.

"Nothing progressed past conceptual discussion," he said in an email.

The landmark East Cooper bar opened in 1989. It was shut down in late 2018, when officials padlocked the building after the state revoked the bar's liquor license as the fiercely independent Ruth vowed to fight multiple misdemeanor gambling charges related to video poker machines while also facing tax issues.

He also clashed with Charleston County over its indoor smoking restrictions and ignored the ban altogether.

The ramshackle pub was a hangout for a wide variety of patrons and was among the last watering holes in South Carolina to keep serving hard liquor drinks from mini-bottles.

Ruth was eulogized March 18 by family and well-wishers through a bar crawl at different drinking venues in East Cooper.
Greenville, SC (29601)

Today

Cloudy this morning. Strong thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 78F. Winds SW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy. Low 58F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph.
The S.C. Department of Health and Human Services has extended Medicaid coverage for mothers who have just had a child from 60 days to 12 months postpartum.

The extension could affect approximately 5,000 women per year, according to the agency.

The coverage extension to 12 months will include benefits for women who qualify for Medicaid because they are pregnant, including all medical and mental health services. The news comes after the passing of a 2021 budget proviso introduced by Rep. Bill Herbkersman for funds to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage.

"As the health care coverage payor for 60 percent of the births in South Carolina, SCDHHS is well-positioned to use this investment in the traditional Medicaid population to help improve the states maternal mortality rate, the agency said in a recent press release.

The latest data from the S.C. Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Review shows 14 percent of pregnancy-related deaths occurred between 43 days to one year after giving birth, but a majority occurred within a month after labor.

According to the report, nearly 70 percent of all pregnancy-related deaths were deemed preventable.

Chief of quality for DHHS, Jordan Desai, told The Post and Courier one in six Medicaid patients who are new moms have a mental health condition or chronic medical condition.

"They're not just dealing with obstetrics and gynecology issues," Desai said.

In fact, Amber Pendergraph, a lead doula for Spartanburg nonprofit BirthMatters, said close to 40 percent of her patients experience postpartum complications, such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes and mental health issues.

"A lot goes on in the fourth trimester," Pendergraph said, referring to the emotional and physical shifts mothers endure after giving birth. "Women need continued care, just in case anything arises after the pregnancy."

Continued care is especially important for Black women, who accounted for the largest portion of pregnancy-related deaths in the state between 2016 and 2020, at 43 percent.

White mothers accounted for 27 percent of pregnancy-related deaths in the same period. The remainder of pregnancy-related death cases are other women of other races, or the race is unknown.

Significant loss of blood was the most common cause of death among Black women, while cardiomyopathy and infection were the leading causes of White maternal deaths.

Dr. Dawn Bingham, local gynecologist and legislative chair for the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said that historically, extended Medicaid coverage is associated with improved access to health care and with reports of less delay when seeking care.

It is also associated with reduced maternal mortality rates.

"A lot of things that can happen postpartum go unevaluated because women don't have ongoing insurance, unless they have this continuation in Medicaid coverage," Bingham said.

"We know how much this will help women avoid adverse health outcomes," Bingham added.

Medicaid members can call 888-549-0820 for more information related to this policy change.
The city of Charleston says it has unknowingly owned a valuable property since 2011, despite moving forward with negotiations to allow the Charleston School of Law to sell the tract to a hotel developer and give the city a portion of the proceeds.

"The City believes it is the rightful owner of this property and plans to show that in Court," Brian Quisenberry, an attorney representing the city, wrote in an email.

The city had sold that property to for-profit Charleston School of Law 17 years ago with the understanding that it would be used to build a law school. Charleston bought the corner lot from the federal government for $1,170,500 and immediately sold it to CSOL for $875,000. The city loaned CSOL the money to buy the property. CSOL was only required to put $10,000 down, and for 14 years made no other payments to Charleston except for interest, at a below-market rate.

The law school has sued the city for holding up the sale of the property. The property at the corner of Meeting and Woolfe streets has been under contract for a $12.85 million sale to a hotel developer since 2018.

According to a filing March 25 in Charleston County civil court, city officials say they should never have moved forward with a series of negotiations throughout the past decade under the assumption that the Charleston School of Law was the owner of the property.

Under former Mayor Joe Riley, the city sold the land to the CSOL at a discount in 2005 with the understanding that the school would use the property for law school purposes and permanent development or construction to facilitate such usage," the agreement states. After six years, with no school built, the contract between the city and the school stated that the property would be transferred back into the city's possession.

Instead, city officials extended the agreement for another six years. In 2017, the city again negotiated with the law school and allowed it to sell the property. Under this deal, the city would receive 25 percent of the proceeds of the sale. In 2019, the city attempted to renegotiate the terms of the sale. Now, the city claims that every agreement negotiated after the original 2005 deal was done improperly.

City Council approved the agreements through resolutions, not ordinances, as required by state law, the filing states. So the original contract still stands, the city claims, and the property reverted back to the city's ownership in 2011 because a law school was never built and it has remained in the city's possession ever since.

"The city is all over the place. One day they claim this, the next day they claim something else," CSOL President Ed Bell Bell told The Post and Courier.

Over the past 17 years, the series of agreements have spanned two mayors' administrations and several iterations of City Council. Mayor John Tecklenburg recused himself from the issue beginning in 2018, when his son became a partner at the real estate firm Clement, Crawford & Thornhill. CC&T represents the law school in the deal with the hotel developer.

Escalating to court

The recent filing is the latest in a legal saga that began in 2019, when Charleston officials sought a larger piece of the windfall profit from the pending land sale.

After getting permission from the city to sell the property in 2017, CSOL signed a contract in 2018 to sell the property for $12.85 million to OmShera Hotel Group. Then, in 2019, the city attempted to negotiate a better deal with CSOL by requiring the law school to pay off the remaining money owed to the city for the original purchase of the property, which amounted to $865,000. Bell paid off the loan.

In 2021, CSOL asked the city to eliminate the reverter clause on the property's deed, which was the part of the original agreement that stated the city would regain ownership of the property if it was not used for law school purposes. Doing so would clear the way for the sale to the hotel group. Instead, City Council has held closed-door meetings with legal counsel about the sale but has not taken a vote on the matter.

CSOL filed a lawsuit for breach of contract at the end of 2021, alleging that City Council is illegally holding up the nearly $13 million sale.

OmShera is a party to the lawsuit, and wants the city to either honor the agreements or pay the hotel group for the money spent on plans for a hotel.

The city's response to the school's lawsuit calls the extension of the original deal and the 2017 and 2019 agreements to divvy up proceeds of the land sale "illegal and unenforceable."

The property's problems

The core reason CSOL officials cite for not building anything on the property is that the 1-acre site is too small for a law school campus.

"If we put a law school there it would be a multitiered law school," Bell said. "It would interfere with the ability of the students and faculty to interact in the way they need to at a law school."

Instead, school officials want to use the proceeds of the land sale to build a larger campus elsewhere, ideally on the peninsula. Students currently study at a temporary location at 385 Meeting St.

But city legal counsel also argues that law school leaders withheld information about a feasibility study that the school commissioned for the site in 2013. The study is included in the case file and includes preliminary drawings and plans for a three-story building on the property that would house both classroom and faculty space. Meeting notes in the case file indicate that Bell was "pleased with the plan."

The filing states the city was not aware of the study until 2021.

"The City would never have entertained CSOLs 2017 proposal to sell the Property to a third party if the City knew of the existence and contents of the 2013 Feasibility Study," the filing states.

Bell said although the school's leaders did commission the 2013 study, they later decided the property was not large enough for the type of campus they were looking to build.

"The city knew that we had done all kinds of work, and I am surprised to hear them say they weren't aware of the drawings," Bell said.

David Slade contributed to this report.
Charlestons statue of Denmark Vesey was returned to its original location in Hampton Park on March 28 after undergoing two months of restoration work.

It was damaged by vandals in May and taken down for repairs in January.

The statue was unveiled in 2014. It honors the formerly enslaved man who bought his freedom, opened a carpentry shop in the city and was later hanged in 1822. He was one of 35 people executed for a foiled plot to free enslaved people from the city and escape to Haiti.

When the plaque on the front of the statue was vandalized, local contractor James C. Meadors offered to replace it for free.

Damage to the statues granite pedestal was believed to have been caused by a large hammer or other object.

After Meadors removed the plaque, he discovered that the statues steel support frame was rusted, requiring more-extensive repairs, a city press release stated. The statue was taken down in January to begin the repairs.

"Our goal was to get it repaired, refurbished and reinstalled," Charleston Parks Director Jason Kronsberg told The Post and Courier.

Meadors and city parks staff worked together to replace the support frame with a more durable stainless steel frame and new center supports. They also replaced the descriptive plaque on the front of the statue's base that had been vandalized.

"It's pretty much repaired to its original state," Kronsberg said. "There was a lot of the work done that you cant see."

Meadors covered the cost of the repairs, which totaled an estimated $20,000.
COLUMBIA  The state branch of the NAACP believes there are injustices to be unearthed in the stream of eviction cases filtering into courthouses across South Carolina.

But the civil rights organization says that S.C. Court Administration has stymied its efforts to collect data on distressed tenants, even as the state is in the throes of an eviction crisis that disproportionately impacts Black residents, according to a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in Columbia.

The NAACP asked a federal judge March 30 to rule that it has a constitutional right to use "data scraping" to speedily access and record public information from the state's court filings website.

The information would allow the NAACP to identify new eviction filings in courthouses across the state and quickly provide resources to tenants.

The organization would also be able to use the data to identify discriminatory eviction practices that could be addressed through advocacy or litigation, the lawsuit states.

S.C. Court Administration has banned data scrapers on the state's Public Index, a county-by-county online repository for court-docket filings. The NAACP said they asked the government agency for help obtaining eviction data without using a scraper, but the administration refused.

The lawsuit represents another shot fired in the ongoing legal battle among government agencies, Big Tech companies, open-internet activists and privacy-rights advocates over the use of data scrapers to vacuum up large amounts of information from the web.

Data scrapers are computer programs that automate the collection of online information. The programs interact with a website much like a human would  clicking on links or inputting search terms, but the machine moves through the web much faster than any human, collecting a plethora of information that can be stored by the user for later access.

The NAACP said in the suit it received grant funding to expand its advocacy and outreach work on behalf of tenants facing eviction amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which has made housing problems worse in a state that has the highest eviction rate in the country.

In South Carolina, unlike other states, tenants must request a court hearing within 10 days of receiving notice of eviction or forfeit their right to challenge it in court.

The law means that advocates need to get ahold of tenants quickly after an eviction case is filed so they can help preserve their right to a hearing, the lawsuit states.

A data scraper would allow the organization to trawl the state's court website for eviction filings and record the names and addresses of the impacted tenants  already public information.

The organization could also analyze the eviction filings to find patterns of discriminatory housing practices.

The tool would not burden the state website, the lawsuit contends, but Court Administration would not grant them permission to use a data scraper. Court officials also refused to provide regular updates on eviction filings in the state, claiming it would interfere with the S.C. Judicial Branch's operations.

The NAACP claims in the lawsuit that the ban on data scraping violates the organization's right to access information under the First Amendment.

The NAACP names Supreme Court Justice Donald Beatty and State Court Administrator Tonnya Kohn as defendants in the suit.

Ginny Jones, a spokeswoman, said Court Administration does not comment on pending litigation.

The American Civil Liberties Union is representing the NAACP in the lawsuit.

Allen Chaney, legal director for the ACLU of South Carolina, said in a statement that modern courts churn out case filings at an unimaginable rate.

For the public to have a meaningful discussion about the role our courts play in matters of public concern, the right to use noninvasive technical means to capture public court information must be protected," Chaney said.

Data scraping tools have been used by researchers, journalists and advocacy groups for years to collect data that can reveal important trends or expose wrongdoing, such as the eyebrow-raising financial ties between drug companies and doctors. Companies also use data scrapers to amass information that can give them a competitive edge in the marketplace.

But opponents argue that the mass collection of online information can infringe on privacy rights.

The ACLU made such a claim in a lawsuit filed in 2020 in Illinois against Clearview AI, a facial-recognition company that used data scraping to collect more than 3 billion photos of individuals from social media sites. The company's software is used by some law enforcement agencies in criminal investigations.

The ACLU said the mass collection of faceprints, or digital images of faces, without permission violated Illinois law, and posed a risk to the public's security, privacy and safety. Clearview AI argued it had a First Amendment right to collect the publicly available information.

ACLU spokeswoman Eva Lopez said the civil rights organization agreed that Clearview had a right to scrape photos from the internet, but the company's use of the photos violated Illinois' privacy law.

Attorney Mukund Rathi from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties organization that has also raised alarm bells over Clearview AI's data collection, said organizations like the NAACP have a stronger claim to First Amendment protections than private companies.

Rathi said that scraping data to further public discussion on issues is more important than using it for commercial purposes. The NAACP is also asking to collect public government records, rather than a person's photos on social media.

The EFF supports the use of data scraping tools, Rathi said, but, like any tool, it can be used for good or bad. Determining whether data collection crosses the line into a violation of privacy has to be determined on a case-by-case basis, he said.

"What the NAACP wants to do here, I think, is Exhibit A of why data scraping is potentially so valuable," Rathi said.
Middle East Energy, a leading global energy industry event, facilitated business deals worth more than $705 million during its three-day run from March 7-9 at the Dubai World Trade Centre, said event organisers Informa.



Welcoming attendees back to the live, in-person format for the first time since 2020, 20,331 trade and buyer visits took place, with more than 600 exhibitors from 80 countries providing an insight into the latest energy innovations while 113 expert speakers outlined how to develop a diverse, digitised and sustainable future.



The event, formerly known as Middle East Electricity, focused on five key sectors, including Transmission & Distribution, Smart Solutions; Renewable & Clean Energies; Backup Generators & Critical Power; and Energy Consumption & Management, each providing the necessary tools to understand more about energy alternatives and solutions, including digitalisation, solar, wind, and hydro energy solutions, among others.



Azzan Mohammed, Exhibition Director, Global Energy & Utilities Forum and Middle East Energy, said: This years event has been a resounding success which has seen key energy industry players come together to network and do business while also providing a platform to discuss how we adapt and adopt new strategies to make the energy transition a reality.



There has been clear pent-up demand within the industry to get back to meeting in person, which is reflected in the 40% increase in visits and the volume and value of deals signed. This also serves as a timely reminder of the drive from the sector to achieve sustainable growth while reducing emissions.



Through the Global Utilities and Energy Forum, 3,500 delegates had the opportunity to participate in high-level strategic panels, technical sessions, roundtable discussions and workshops. The focus centred on developing a roadmap to decarbonisation and provided insight into the energy systems of the future, the green hydrogen opportunities in the Mena region, funding of the energy transition, the rise of sustainable finance, powering the African continent with renewable energy, grids of the future, energy efficiency focus and decarbonising industries.



The forum was complemented by the Intersolar Middle East Conference and the Technical Hub, where visitors had the opportunity to learn more about industry best practices across key pillars of the energy sector, including Digitalisation and Smart Grids, Renewables, Green Hydrogen, and Energy Storage, and photovoltaics, PV production technologies and solar thermal technologies.



International participation also witnessed a spike in participation, with 139 countries represented through visitor and exhibitor participation. Exhibitors from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, China, the UK and the US presented their latest advances in the energy sector. At the same time, Algeria, Morocco, Kenya, Lebanon, Iraq, and Jordan provided representation from the Mena region.



Some of the innovations being showcased included those from Swiss-headquartered Statron, which also have regional headquarters in Dubai. The company showcased the worlds first mobile energy storage system for the heavy-duty sector. The emost Butler S provides a better price/performance ratio, has no CO2 emissions and is easy to transport and use. One of the main advantages is zero noise emissions, meaning the battery storage system can be used indoors and outdoors and in built-up environments without causing disturbances.



Other exhibiting companies included Lucy Electric, Jubaili Bros, Ducab, Rittal, Volvo Penta and NAFFCO.



During the event, Ras Al Khaimah Municipality announced the launch of the first RAK Energy Summit, which will take place in October and bring together international and regional experts and leaders from the government and the private sector to discuss emerging trends and initiatives in the field of sustainable energy.



The French marine and power generation diesel and gas engine manufacturer, Baudouin, signed an MoU with Power Solutions International (PSI). The agreement will see the company expanding its product range, offering the PSI rich burn gas engine range to the European, Middle Eastern and African markets.



This years event sponsors were Perkins, Baudouin, Newage Stamford AVK, and Riello UPS.



Middle East Energy returns to the Dubai World Trade Centre from March 6  8, 2023.  TradeArabia News Service
The trial of Maurice Prioleau began March 30 with emotional testimony from a woman who says the 46-year-old man sexually assaulted her at knifepoint outside a North Charleston shopping center.

Katie McCarthy told jurors she was raped in August 2018. Her assailant approached her at about 9 p.m. near the Liberty Mall Shopping Center on Rivers Avenue and Harley Street, according to a police report in the case. She said she was assaulted in her car and then behind a nearby building.

McCarthy, 35, is one of three women whom authorities say Prioleau sexually assaulted during violent encounters that occurred years apart.

As reported March 20 by The Post and Courier, Prioleau's DNA was linked to a sexual assault that occurred in 2006, but Charleston County sheriff's detectives failed to follow-up on the lead for more than a decade.

Prioleau was not charged in that case until December 2018. By then, authorities say he had sexually assaulted McCarthy and a third woman.

Prioleau is on trial this week in McCarthy's case. He is charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, kidnapping and possession of a weapon during a violent crime.

Three people testified before a 12-person jury on the first day of the trial, including McCarthy, who was put on the stand for more than five hours. Judge R. Kirk Griffin is presiding.

Prioleau was dressed at the trial in a brown suit, wearing black glasses with gold temples. He sat between his two defense attorneys, and mainly stared down at his table throughout the testimony.

He knew he could overcome her, Anne Williams, 9th Circuit deputy solicitor, said in opening statements, referencing McCarthys 4 '11 stature. What he did not know was that she was brave and she was smart.

While in the car, McCarthy was able to distract her assailant and call her ex-boyfriend, John Willis. Willis recorded the call with his tablet, he testified at the trial, listening while McCarthy was assaulted.

She was frantic, Willis said. She sounded like she was in trouble.

The prosecution played that recording three times. In the recording, McCarthy is heard saying: I am Katie. What is your name? Can you please tell me your name before you kill me?

The prosecution and defense had McCarthy explain every intricacy of the moments before, during and after her assault. She occasionally had to pause to stop herself from crying.

McCarthy said the defendant forced her into her car and assaulted her at knifepoint. McCarthy then testified that Prioleau forced her out of her car after breaking her phone, and sexually assaulted her again.

The defense argued in opening statements that McCarthy had sex with Prioleau in exchange for drugs.

You will hear a lot of emotion, Karla Martinez, Prioleaus public defender, said to the jury in opening statements. But we think, as the trial goes on, you will realize the real reason why Ms. McCarthy was upset.

Rodney Davis, Prioleaus other public defender, asked McCarthy whether she told a North Charleston detective that she had asked Prioleau for ecstasy when the two entered her Buick that night.

At first, McCarthy repeatedly said no to Davis. Then after watching a recording of her conversation with the detective, McCarthy told Davis she had said that.

I asked for ecstasy as a diversion, McCarthy said later in her testimony. "I asked him for a diversion, to keep him talking and keep the bad stuff from happening. McCarthy said she never wanted ecstasy from Prioleau or anyone else that night.

At one point, 9th Circuit Assistant Solicitor Jennifer Shealy asked McCarthy why she kept popping the latch to her trunk, asking Prioleau to rummage through the contents in her trunk while they were in her car. McCarthy said she asked him to grab a bottle of vodka, knowing that there was none.

I wanted his fingerprints to be all over because I thought he was going to kill me, McCarthy said.

The defense and prosecution sparred before 12 jurors and two alternate jurors  eight White and four Black; seven women and seven men  at the Charleston County Courthouse.

Prioleau awaits trial in the two other sexual assault cases.

Prioleau was charged in December 2018 with the kidnapping and first-degree sexual assault of 60-year-old Lee Ansaldo. That alleged assault dates back to September 2006.

In the third case, Prioleau is charged with kidnapping, first-degree sexual conduct and a weapon offense on allegations he assaulted Cindy Hunt, 58, in June 2018 in Berkeley County. Charges were filed in that case in 2019.

On March 28, Prioleau appeared ready to enter a guilty plea that would resolve all three case. But as prosecutors recounted the allegations in Ansaldo's case, Prioleau told the court he wished to withdraw the plea and proceed to trial.

The trial is scheduled to continue through the week.
Charleston, SC (29403)

Today

Scattered clouds with the possibility of an isolated thunderstorm developing this afternoon. High around 85F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 30%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A few storms may be severe. Low 66F. Winds WSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
COLUMBIA  Several Republicans who want to be South Carolina's next public schools chief do not meet a little-known, almost forgotten job qualification signed into law four years ago, potentially whittling down the 12-candidate field before their names ever go on a ballot.

That 2018 law requires candidates for state superintendent to hold a master's degree, along with "broad-based experience" in either public education or financial management.

At least three of the eight GOP candidates who filed for their party's nomination by the March 30 deadline do not hold a master's degree, though one of them  top fundraiser Ellen Weaver  says she will by Election Day in November.

After a candidate forum March 31, Weaver told The Post and Courier she's pursuing a master's in leadership at Western Governors University, adding she enrolled "within this last month."

According to the website of the private, online university based in Utah, the degree is obtainable "in as little as 12 months," and students can start the program on the first of each month, indicating she could be starting her coursework April 1.

Weaver said she took no issue with the master's requirement.

"I think its perfectly reasonable that we have qualifications for the state superintendent of education," she said after the forum at the S.C. Public Charter School District headquarters in Columbia. She was among six candidates who attended.

Weaver, president of Palmetto Promise Institute, a conservative think tank founded by her previous boss, former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Bob Jones University in Greenville.

The superintendent's race is the most crowded of any statewide office in South Carolina following Molly Spearman's announcement last fall that she wouldn't seek a fourth term.

All three Democrats, as well as the Green Party candidate, have at least one advanced degree.

Other GOP candidates to confirm they lack a master's degree are Charleston County school board member Cindy Bohn Coats and longtime GOP activist Sheri Few, who said she has no intentions to exit the race regardless.

It is unclear if Charleston-area businessman Travis Bedson has a master's. He did not return phone and email messages March 31.

Like other candidates, Few said she knew nothing about the qualification until this week and said she learned about it through an opponent's supporter.

"I looked it up and was shocked," she said, adding she's hired a lawyer.

She said she thinks what she called unfair limitations on who can run for the post will benefit her campaign.

"My whole campaign is about 'I'm not part of the system.' The system is horribly flawed," said Few, who founded the nonprofit Parents Involved in Education and has previously run unsuccessfully for superintendent, Congress and for a S.C. House seat representing northeast Columbia suburbs.

"I will not abandon my campaign," she said. "If voters elect me, we'll have to go to court."

At issue is a law signed by Gov. Henry McMaster in May 2018 that added qualifications for the job. It accompanied a separate law that asked voters on the ballot that November whether the governor should appoint the superintendent instead of the post continuing to be filled by popular partisan vote.

Voters soundly rejected the idea, with 60 percent saying "no" to removing the superintendent from future ballots.

But the qualifications, approved overwhelmingly by legislators as a way to assure voters the governor would pick someone with at least those minimal skills, became law for all future superintendent candidates beginning this year, despite the referendum failing.

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"Regardless of how it came to be," those qualifications are state law, said Chris Whitmire, spokesman for the State Election Commission.

The mandatory master's requirement for the job has been displayed since on the agency's website under the heading "candidate qualifications."

Greenville County school board member Lynda Leventis-Wells, who holds a master's in guidance and educational psychology, said it's highly disappointing that people who want to lead South Carolina's public schools didn't do their homework for what the job requires.

"If you're not reading those simple guidelines, that's like going to take a test and not reading the directions," said Leventis-Wells, adding that's the first thing she did before entering the race.

"All they had to do is read and see. It's just a no-brainer," she said. "I'm extremely disappointed in what has occurred. I hope they withdraw. They weren't qualified when they filed."

As part of the filing process, each candidate signed an oath that they already meet, "or will meet by the time of the general" election, all qualifications required by law. It is up to each party to verify its candidates meet those qualifications.

The state's political parties have until noon April 5 to certify to the Election Commission who is qualified to be listed on the primary ballots, Whitmire said.

GOP spokeswoman Claire Brady said the party will do that next week. It is unclear if the party will reject any of the eight Republicans who filed and, if so, return the $3,680 filing fee to anyone not certified.

Beyond Leventis-Wells, other Republican candidates reporting they hold a master's degree are Kathy Maness, director of the Palmetto State Teachers Association and longtime Lexington Town Council member; elementary school teacher Kizzi Gibson, who has a doctoral degree in online learning; and Florence One school board member Bryan Chapman, a pastor who holds master's degrees in divinity and religious education.

"I am qualified, and I think it's important that people who are running for the office of superintendent be qualified based on the law," said Maness, who has a master's in early childhood education.

Weaver, who announced her run in November, is way out in front in the fundraising race, with $126,000 as of Jan. 10, according to last quarter's ethics filings. Reports for the first quarter of 2022 are due in the coming days.

Screenshots of her campaign website show it was recently updated to include her pursuit of a master's degree.

"As a lifelong learner, Im pursuing a Masters degree in Management and Leadership that I will complete this year," it read as of March 30.

Her public education experience comes from her six years on the Education Oversight Committee, including as past chairman of the legislative-appointed board that oversees a watchdog agency independent from the state Education Department. She's also been a chief advocate at the Statehouse for school choice legislation that uses state taxes to help parents pay private tuition  proposals long opposed by public school teachers and administrators.

A key vote March 30 in the Senate puts advocates' nearly two-decade effort steps away from becoming law, though it still doesn't go far enough for some backers. The bill approved 25-15 provides parents up to $6,000 yearly, with a total cap of $90 million once fully implemented. Beyond tuition, the money could also go toward textbooks, materials, education services or equipment for disabled students.

The House has advanced a separate voucher proposal that creates a pilot funded through $75 million in unspent reserves. It would provide $5,000 for up to 5,000 students annually over three years.

In concluding her introductory remarks at the charter school forum, Weaver told the audience to focus on candidates' leadership skills.

"We all present slightly different strengths, probably slightly different weaknesses too. But, if I could leave you with one thing, I think what we really have to focus on in this race is who is going to be ready to lead from day one," she said.
Nikki Haley, former S.C. governor and U.N. ambassador, is publishing her third book  this one focusing on inspirational female leaders.

"If You Want Something Done: Leadership Lessons from Bold Women," comes out in October from St. Martins Press.

Promotional material for the book says the writing "celebrates women who dared to be bold."

Featured subjects include British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; Israels Golda Meir; Jeane Kirkpatrick, the first female U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; human rights activist Cindy Warmbier; education advocate Virginia Walden Ford.

"Haley offers inspiring examples of a range of women who worked against obstacles and opposition to get things done  including Haley herself," the media announcement says.

Pre-orders can be made at http://NikkiHaleyBook.com.

Haley, who is Indian American, grew up the daughter of immigrants in Bamberg to become the first minority female governor in the United States and also the first female and first minority governor of South Carolina.

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She served in office from 2011-17 until being named then-President Donald Trump's U.N. ambassador, serving from 2017 through 2018.

Long-speculated to have an interest in the White House, Haley in April said she would not launch a campaign in 2024 if Trump were to run again.

Haley's other two published books include "Cant Is Not An Option," about her time as governor and was released in 2012, and 2019's "With All Due Respect" about her time in the United Nations.

Last year, she released a book online which lays out a roadmap for conservative policies ahead of the 2022 election cycle.

The free e-book, American Strength: Conservative Solutions Worth Fighting For, features excerpts on a variety of foreign and domestic policy issues from a wide range of GOP political voices, such as conservative commentator Dennis Prager, retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster and South Carolinas own U.S. Sen. Tim Scott.

Haleys Stand for America nonprofit advocacy organization published the book, available for download on the groups website.
COLUMBIA  A state House panel advanced legislation that would give coroners more leeway in deciding whether to release autopsy photos after concerns were raised that gruesome images from the examination table could make their way onto social media.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Todd Rutherford, D-Columbia, would end the practice of coroners being required to release all autopsy photos to the families and legal representatives of the deceased and, instead, allow them the ability to pick and choose the images they let out.

Some autopsy photos are benign, and family members of the deceased would request them to be used as memorials or for tattoos, according to Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford. But many of the images are particularly gruesome, documenting the process of a corpse being dissected by a coroner to determine a cause of death.

In the past, those photos would rarely be released for anything other than medical research, Todd Rutherford said. But in the era of social media, there have been incidents where photos have been released by family members who might not have the deceaseds best interests at heart or if the family is looking for shock value, proponents of the bill say.

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Its a very gruesome sight. You cant ever unsee it," said Naida Rutherford. "And if it makes its way to social media, some people who are angry will release those photos, and we want the discretion to release those.

Laura Hudson of the South Carolina Coroners Association said her clients have desired some clarity in the statute for some time, and proposed an amendment that allowed crime victims additional confidentiality under the bill that was adopted.

It is the belief of the coroners office that the decedent still has dignity even in death, and this would allow coroners to decide what photos go to the family, Todd Rutherford, ex-husband of Naida Rutherford, said.

The bill now goes to the full House Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs Committee for a vote.
There have been contradictions about our local government's strategy on COVID-19 testing and limitations for those who have come in close cont Read more
Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), the government of Ugandas destination marketing organization, launched its new destination brand Explore Uganda, The Pearl of Africa, as part of a tourism and media event in Dubai.



The launch at the Sheraton Jumeriah Beach Resort was conducted in the presence of Tom Butime, Ugandas Cabinet Minister for Tourism, and resulted in the United Arab Emirates becoming the first international market to experience the launch of Ugandas new and improved brand.



The extravagant open air evening event saw an impressive turnout with more than 90 key industry stakeholders, professionals, media and travel bloggers flocking from around the Emirates and GCC countries, to learn more about the intriguing destination that is Uganda.



Speaking at the launch, Minister for Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities Tom R Butime said: Uganda is extremely excited to launch our revitalized brand and travel offering to the world, and we are thrilled to do that here in Dubai, where the UAE and surrounding Gulf States are a priority tourism market for Uganda.



Through our continuous promotional efforts in the region and participation in Expo 2020 Dubai over the last six months, we have developed the necessary networks and offerings to ensure Uganda is positioned as a top holiday destination for travellers from the UAE and GCC seeking meaningful and unique once in a life time experiences.



Lilly Ajarova, Chief Executive Office, Uganda Tourism Board added: The new brand promise seeks to re-emphasize Ugandas rare and precious range of tourism attractions that can all be found in one destination and based on pillars of sustainability, clarity, consistency, collaboration and empowerment. To this end we are targeting travellers, rather than tourists, that are ready to explore Uganda based on their own personal interests.



Uganda is home to an array of bucket list experiences that in combination cant be experienced in any other one country on earth. These include the Big 5 (Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Lion and Leopard) safari experiences, mountain gorilla trekking, chimpanzee trekking, river cruises at the source of the Nile River and a myriad of action-adventure activities such as white-water rafting, bungy jumping and mountaineering to name just a few.



In addition to the launch of the new promotional video by Minister Butime, the event also featured traditional dancing, Ugandan coffee tasting, a talk show discussion with Dubai residents that have previously visited Uganda, and the announcement of three influential content creators that have been nominated as Uganda Goodwill Travel Ambassadors, and will visit Uganda in the coming months to showcase the best that Uganda has to offer.



Uganda has exceptional direct flight connectivity between Uganda and the UAE, with Ugandas national airline, Ugandan Airlines flying 4 flights a week from Dubai, in addition to Emirates flying 5 times a week and flydubai operating daily flights from Dubai, and Air Arabia operating daily flights from Sharjah.



Using the wide variety of carriers and flight options available, the Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), has been launching a number of partnerships and activations in the region to ensure UAE and Gulf travellers enjoy meaningful holiday experiences in the stunning Pearl of Africa. Special holiday packages have also been created just in time for Ramadan, Eid Al Fitr holidays and for throughout the summer season.  TradeArabia News Service
Perhaps the most damaging of all anti-covid measures over the last two years were the public school closures. Children fell behind academically and socially, and multiple studies have documented serious mental health issues in a large number of children. Meanwhile, the data indisputably showed that schools were not a significant source of covid transmission, and covid is virtually harmless to children.

How did this public policy disaster come about? A just-released report by Republicans on the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis suggests that the cause was inappropriate and perhaps unprecedented influence on the Centers for Disease Control exerted by the teachers unions, specifically the American Federation for Teachers.

Sworn testimony by Dr. Henry Walke, a career CDC scientist, indicated that CDC largely gave editorial control over its guidance on public school re-openings to AFT.

Documents and testimony show, contrary to the CDCs long-standing practice of keeping draft guidance documents confidential, senior agency officials shared a draft copy of the Operational Strategy with the American Federation for Teachers (AFT) a political union with no scientific expertise but an extensive record of support for the Biden campaign. After reviewing the draft, AFT staff asked CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to install a trigger in the guidance that would cause schools to close automatically if COVID-19 positivity rates reached a certain threshold [Ed.: A ridiculously low covid positivity rate of three percent]. The CDC obliged, and thousands of schools across the country remained closed throughout the 2020-2021 school year.

The committee obtained emails between CDC and the AFT in which CDC gave AFT an advance look at its proposed school re-opening guidance in draft form. The testimony indicated that this in itself was unusual. Worse, the teachers union was allowed to suggest edits in the guidance that in more than one instance were adopted virtually word for word. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky tried to mislead the House committee about AFTs role:

The documents show the CDC was not merely providing the Operational Strategy to AFT as a courtesy to an end user, as Director Walensky indicated. In fact, the documents show the White House and CDC staff engaged in extensive discussions with AFTs senior leadership about the contents of the draft guidance and indicated a willingness to accept near verbatim edits to the Operational Strategy.

The committee minoritys report includes side by side texts, showing the changes proposed by AFT and the document as it emerged in final form, adopting the AFTs language nearly word for word.

The teachers unions are the number one source of support for the Democratic Party and the most powerful political entities in the U.S. How unusual is it for political players like AFT to be given this kind of influence in formulating scientific guidance from the CDC? My guess is that it is unprecedented, but Dr. Walke was prevented from answering such questions by Biden administration lawyers:

RepublicanCounsel. So, if [incorporating line-by-line edits] is so uncommon, why did it happen with the American Federation of Teachers? BidenAdministration Counsel. Im going to instruct Dr. Walke not to answer that question.

I would be curious to know on what basis that instruction was given by the Biden administration. I dont see any recognized privilege that could apply. It looks like pure obstructionism arising from the fact that the administration does not want voters to know that it devastated the futures of millions of American children at the behest of its political masters, the teachers unions.

The Centers for Disease Control is not a scientific agency, it is a political bureaucracy. That fact has become painfully evident throughout the covid fiasco. These latest revelations indicate how far gone in Democratic Party politics the agency is.
You might call the Washington Posts attention to the riches inside the Hunter Biden laptop a day late and a dollar short, but it does not do justice to the facts. It is a considerable understatement, akin to the Black Knights Tis but a scratch and a Its just a flesh wound to describe his dismemberment in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Indeed, its worse than that. Reading the linked Post story by Matt Viser, Tom Hamburger, and Craig Timberg yesterday, I wondered what the Post had to say about the New York Posts timely and accurate coverage of the laptop story in advance of the 2020 presidential election. The same question must have occurred to FOX News media reporter Joseph Wulfsohn. Wulfsohn conducted the archival research necessary to answer it in Hunter Biden saga: Washington Post authenticates laptop after dismissing fake scandal in 2020 (also linked in the tweet below).

As you may have guessed, the Washington Post defamed and disparaged the bona fide coverage of the New York Post. Wulfsohn cruelly names names among the herd of Democratic hacks at the Washington Post, identifying reporters and columnists including Matt Viser, Paul Sonne, Annie Linskey, Philip Bump, David Ignatius, Greg Sargent and, of course, fact-checker Glenn Kessler. By my lights, Wulfsohn all but dismembers the Post himself. He lops off its left arm, its right arm, and cuts it in half.

Students of ancient history may recall that the Washington Post shared the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting with the New York Times for expertly channeling the Russia hoax (i.e, [f]or deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that dramatically furthered the nations understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the President-elects transition team and his eventual administration).

The injustice rankles. The Posts work in the 2020 campaign to suppress the coverage of the Biden laptop was at least equally deserving.

NOTE: New York Post columnist Miranda Devine mops up in The media avoided the ties between Joe Biden and Hunters laptop.

Quotable quote (the Washington Posts Greg Sargent writing about the New York Posts laptop coverage in October 2020): There are all kinds of problems with the new allegationsthe sourcing of the emails is hilariously suspect.
As part of efforts to mitigate the impact of climate change in the country, the Nasarawa State government has promised to plant at least 5 million trees by the end of 2023.

The exercise is aimed the regenerating the states forests and biodiversity.

The State Commissioner of Environment and Natural Resources, Kwantu Yakubu, said this Tuesday in Keffi at a stakeholders workshop organised by the Federal Ministry of Environment.

The event titled, Stakeholders Engagement on National Implementation of Nigerias Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), was for climate change stakeholders in the North-central region to meet and deliberate on ways to curtail the impact of climate change in the area.

The commissioner said climate change is important to the region considering its location.

The issues of climate change are of great concern to us in view of our strategic location as a belt and the ever fast depletion of our natural resources, that is used mainly to serve a bigger metropolis in the face of poverty that has continued to circle around the greater majority of our people, Mr Kwantu said.

Climate change is a long term shift in normal weather and temperature conditions, believed to be caused by human activities such as carbon emission and fossil fuel burning. It poses a big threat to livelihoods as it affects almost all sectors of the global economy.

Currently, the world is moving towards limiting global warming to 1.5 degree through different climate actions such as reduction in the fossil fuel usage, smart approach of farming, mass transit, among others.

The Nigerian government has already pledged to cut down its GreenHouse Gas (GHG) emission and attain net zero emission by the year 2060.

Mr Yakubu said that in trying to control some activities that will help in emission reduction in Nasarawa, the state will intensify its ban on charcoal production in order to prevent deforestation.

The Nassarawa State Government through the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources in collaboration with security agencies and relevant stakeholders is intensifying the enforcement of the ban on charcoal production and the use in commercial quantities to curb forest depletion and save biodiversity, he said.

We are confident that in the next three years, so much result will be demonstrated in Nassarawa State as we strive to achieve net-zero long before 2060.

We are confident that in the next three years, so much result will be demonstrated in Nasarawa State as we strive to achieve net-zero long before 2060.

The director, Department of Climate Change in the Federal Ministry of Environment, Iniobong Abiola-Awe, in her opening address assured that several engagements with relevant stakeholders have been ongoing at the national level for effective implementation of the NDC which will help to mitigate the impact of climate change.

She added that one of the key objectives of the workshop is to obtain inputs and project ideas from the states to be incorporated in the NDC implementation plan.
The Nigerian government has said it will no longer be able to revitalise the Ajaokuta Steel Company in 2022 as it earlier pledged, citing the impact of COVID-19 and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Olamilekan Adegbite, said the project will also likely not be completed by the Buhari administration before it leaves office in 2023.

The minister told journalists on Thursday during a weekly ministerial briefing in Abuja that before the pandemic, the government had successfully convinced Russia, the original builders of the steel complex, to evaluate its status and consider completing the steel facility, but could not proceed with the negotiations due to force-majeure caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Adegbite said the deal with Russia involved a $2 million fee for technical audit to ascertain the state of the facility before work could begin, and that President Muhammadu Buhari approved the payment.

We made frantic efforts to continue the negotiations with Russia after the lockdown, but progress was stalled again due to the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the minister added.

Mr Adegbite had said in December 2021 that the technical assessment would be conducted early in 2022. The audit was to check any equipment or processes that could have become obsolete during the more than 40 years the facility has been in existence, he told SPGlobal.

The multibillion-dollar Ajaokuta mill was built by the Soviets between 1979 and the mid-1990s, but has never produced steel as the project was never completed. It was also mismanaged.

A concession of the facility Indias Global Steel Holdings was terminated, and the government said it plans to bring in new investors to take a percentage of the mills equity.

Mr Adegbite said the government would initiate irreversible processes to ensure the resumption and eventual completion of the steel facility, possibly, beyond the Buhari administration.

Gold Mining

Similarly, when asked about gold mining activities in Zamfara State, the minister said the government halted mining activities in the area because the conflict in Zamfara has gone beyond mining.

We try to nip them in the bud wherever they rear their heads. With the community reporting to us, we have a quick intervention force. We cant be proactive, it is too expensive to maintain. But we have a quick intervention force, he said.

If we hear any mining happening in any nook and cranny, we move in there and dislodge them. Those that are arrested, we confiscate their equipment and they are prosecuted.

Barite production

Meanwhile, the minister also revealed that the country has attained self-sufficiency in Barite production and would no longer need imports from October 2022.

He explained that Barite is a mineral that is used in the oil and gas industry, and that Nigeria imports about $300 million worth of barite every year from Morocco.

So when we came into office in 2019, we set up a body and said we must have made in Nigeria barite, to save us that kind of money and also possibly to export barite, the official said.

In October last year, he said, made in Nigeria Barite was launched and that it is only produced in Nigeria up to industrial standard which meets international standards and is measured by the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Since it meets all international standards, the minister said nobody had to import barite into Nigeria from October last year and that the system is still in place.

He said there will be one transparent platform, where you put in your request from the miners to the processors and people who will bag it, and that everything is done online.

We are now sufficient in barite production and we can now export to places like Ghana and South Africa, where they dont have barite and they also do exploration. At least we are closer to them than Morocco, he added.

Barite is one of the seven strategic minerals set to unlock the potentials of Nigerias solid minerals sector.

It is a key material used in the oil and gas industry as a weighting agent to increase the density of drilling fluids, principally for oil and gas exploration in order to minimise the incidence of blowouts.

The mineral, which can be found in Nasarawa, Plateau, Taraba, Benue, Adamawa, Cross River, Gombe, Ebonyi, and Zamfara States is estimated to have a proven reserve of 15 million metric tonnes.
Wisdom Macaulay, the elder brother of Nollywood actress Annie Macaulay-Idibia, has publicly called out his famous sister for threatening his life.

In an Instagram video posted on his Instagram page on Wednesday evening, Wisdom claimed Annie is a drug addict and had introduced him to drugs.

Wisdom, who said he was hired to manage his sister, claimed he has never been paid for the service he rendered to his sister.

He said Annie occasionally pays him a paltry sum of N20,000 or N30,000.

He also accused his sister of enslaving him.

He said due to the poor income he earns from his sister, he has struggled to take care of his family and pay his wifes bride price.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cbwp6cfjHhN/?utm_medium=copy_link

But in a swift reaction in the comment section of the post, Annie dismissed the allegations as lies and reeled out all she has done for her brother.

She said her brother became angry and decided to tarnish her name because she told him he cannot be her manager.

Allegations

Hello Nigerians, my name is Wisdom Macaulay, I am the elder brother of Annie Macaulay Idibia. Im crying out for help at this moment because my life is being threatened, Wisdom wrote.

I have been working with my sister for some time, but she would never pay me my dues, she would rather send me N20,000 or N30,000turn me to her slave and she can decide when she is angry to end it.

Some weeks back, her husband sent me some money that I have been begging him for years. The money wasnt so much, but I used it to settle my home. I have a wife from Imo State and I am yet to pay her bride price because I dont have money.

Annie introduced me to drugs, hard drugs, Annie takes drugs, she is a drug addict, she takes it every day, she is so violent, she doesnt have peace with anyone, she fights everybody.

I wasnt around for two weeks and when I came back, she took everything from me. Annie lied in her story that I beat her in her husbands house, how can I do that?

Annie insults my wife, she insults everybody. I begged for her to give me money to buy a car so I can use it for Uber yet she refused, she doesnt want me to stand on my feet.

Today, she drove me out of her house and sent boys to waylay me when I took her car. Now my life is at risk. Annie is so ill-tempered.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CbvKNa4DnGf/?utm_medium=copy_link

History

This is not the first time Annie would be having a feud with members of her family.

In September 2021, Annies eldest brother, Uduak Macaulay, publicly disowned her during the controversy that plagued her marriage where she called out her husband for sleeping with his baby mama Pero Adeniyi.

Uduak warned the public not to associate him with the actress.

He stated in a video that he no longer wants to be associated with the actress and asked his family and friends never to hit him up about anything that involves the actress.

This is for mutual friends and family, I just want to announce that the entity and actress known as Annie Idibia has ceased to be friend, family, sister. Dont hit me up, dont DM me about her, I have nothing connected with Annie or that brand whatsoever, he said.

Annie reacts

Reacting to her brothers allegations, she noted all that she had done for him and his family, including paying the childrens school fees since they started schooling.

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She said: Oh Wizy.why big bro why

Wisdom.why all these lies against your ONLY sisteryour younger sister, all I ever did was protect you and your kids

Since we grew up bro, have you ever paid for house rent in your entire life? You live in a three-bedroom flat fully furnished with everything you need for you and your kids.

Wisdom you have three kids, have ever paid for their school fees since they were born? Your oldest nine, for nine years since your wife started making babies..have you ever paid for hospital bills for any of your kids? Have you ever paid school fees? Oh Wizy, how many cars have I bought for you..since God started blessing me! You say work for mehow??? Where????

After dad diedthe car I had bought for him told u to service the jeep.. you sold the car without telling me..all I have was love you and your kids!! Every Christmas I make sure they all get something newI even make sure your wife isnt aware! How many times have I given you millions Wizy, how many times? But you are way too irresponsible because I dont have the heart to watch your kids go hungry!

Keep blackmailing me that you will kill yourself! I have receipts on my online banking and proof! Why do you wanna destroy this little career I have worked so hard to make? This is where I make 80 per cent of my money! Same money I used to send your kids to school..pay your rent! All your hospital bills! Why would you want to destroy your sister.

She added: Just yesterday your wife called crying they sent your kids home.for school busmoney I already gave you since! I paid straight to the school. Why Wizy! I want to be my manager I said I am sorry I dont think its something I can dotill you get the help you need How many cars have I bought for you bro? How many?

You duped my friend and I had to pay! You took two different loans from banks I had to pay for you just so it doesnt get out of this space! Wizzy what more can a sister do? What? I have my family too. I hate all these lies why?! I am at the peak of my career! Please browhy these lies!!!

Just because I said You cant be my manager! I have so many voice notes from your wife! I wont disgrace you and put it out here! I am tired! Do as you like! The universe will protect me, my hard work, my kids, my family. Let the world believe anything! My name is Annie! I am not the lies you are saying! I work hardnot lazy! Entitlement! Wow, bro! I wish you well

2baba reacts

Also reacting to Wisdoms allegation on his Instagram Story, her husband, Innocent Idibia, said: Its funny how some people react when you tell them the truth. Even though I am guilty of it sometimes, that is no excuse. I pray for Wisdom. LYTIDAwanaa.

May Allah guide our path. One love from me and Annie. Respect to family, but sometimes, some family is your worst enemy.
With the absence of safer alternatives for travel especially following Mondays attack on a Kaduna-bound train by gunmen, many commuters from Kaduna have now resorted to travelling to Abuja, the countrys capital city, via the kidnappers-infested Kaduna-Abuja Expressway.

Mondays attack on the train which lasted for almost two hours led to the death of eight persons while several were either injured or abducted by the gunmen.

After the attack, the Nigerian Railway Corporation suspended operations on the route to enable it to fix the rail track which was destroyed by explosives planted by the assailants.

Frantic rush

On Wednesday residents of Kaduna travelling to Abuja thronged motor parks within the Kaduna metropolis.

At Kawo motor park, PREMIUM TIMES reporter saw a crowd of Abuja-bound passengers looking helpless as there were no commercial buses in sight.

Lawal Yero, a National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) official told our reporter that due to the scarcity of commercial buses, owners of the private cars made brisk business ferrying commuters to the countrys capital city.

Since the train attack on Monday, we witness(ed) more people coming to board cars to Abuja. Before the attack, we hardly get 10 cars a day travelling to Abuja as people used the train to travel to Abuja, he said.

But only on Tuesday, more than 30 cars conveyed passengers to Abuja before 1 p.m. Today Wednesday and this is just 8 a.m. about 10 cars have left, he added.

Elated drivers

At the Command Junction motor park, travellers were seen rushing to board cars to Abuja.

We are here and everything is going on well. The traffic is so heavy and we dont even have cars to convey travellers to Abuja. We have to wait for our cars to come back because over there too passengers are rushing back to Kaduna, Friday Michael, a union leader said.

Bayo Ade, a driver told our reporter on his trip to Abuja from Kaduna that he had made good returns in the last 24 hours.

I have travelled to Abuja twice and passengers are still calling. It is good for us who have suffered because of the train. We dont use to get passengers. Everybody uses the train. Only a few travellers patronise the road transport again from Abuja-Kaduna.

Heightened security

Meanwhile, the road appeared safe as security personnel were seen patrolling known trouble spots along the road.

The situation was no different in Abuja as crowds of commuters were seen trying to get vehicles to travel to Kaduna.

Aminu Wali, an official of the NURTW, and a driver who plies the Kaduna-Abuja road said drivers had witnessed a massive rush from passengers travelling to Abuja.

I am not sure the cars we have here will be enough for the passengers coming, he said.
The Governor of Benue State, Samuel Ortom, has told residents of the state to defend themselves after the state government said that several people were killed by suspected herders who attacked farming communities in three local governments in the state.

Mr Ortom made this call in a statement released on Wednesday by his media aide, Nathaniel Ikyur, according to a report by Channels Television.

There were coordinated attacks on Guma, Kwande, and Gwer West local government areas of the state on Tuesday, March 29th, 2022.

A report from the team leader of security agencies in Kasekyo near Tse Torkula village in Guma local government said that suspected Fulani herders at about 0930 hours on Tuesday, March 29th, 2022 shot one Turner Ajar and an unidentified elderly man who were on a motorcycle going to the farm.

The team of Agro Rangers who were on patrol in the area tried to rescue the situation but unfortunately many had already been killed. Their corpses were taken and deposited at a hospital in Gbajimba, Guma local government area of the state, the statement read.

Mr Ikyur also said that in Kpankeeke, a suburb on the outskirts of Naka, the headquarters of Gwer West Local Government Area, gunmen, whom he claimed to be herdsmen, attacked the community killing several people.

Gory images of persons killed by another set of herdsmen littered the streets.

The Agro Rangers team were alerted and they moved to the location alongside the Army and Police. The patrol team found the body of one Ahemba Apeelu, an aged man at a sawmill from Saav/Ukusu council Ward who was slaughtered, and his throat slit.

Others identified to have been killed by the invaders include Tersoo Yasough and that of a young lady known as Martha Ukange, the statement added.

Benue State, an agrarian state, has been a hotbed of clashes between pastoralists and farmers for decades with hundreds of lives lost and several communities and farmland destroyed.

In 2017 Mr Ortom signed anti-open grazing law which is aimed at putting a stop to the incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the state but the clashes continue.

In January he signed an amendment to the law with more stringent penalties for violators of the law. He described the amended law as a child of necessity, following killings, maiming and destruction of villages by militia herders.
A security guard was feared killed when gunmen razed the headquarters of Nnewi South Local Government Area in Anambra State, Nigerias South-east.

The incident is said to have happened in the early hours of Thursday.

The council headquarters is located at Ukpor community of the state, home town of the First Republic aviation minister, Mbazulike Amaechi.

A resident of the area, Ifeanyichukwu Ezefunamba told PREMIUM TIMES that a security man was killed by the gunmen during the attack.

It is true. It happened this morning. One person was killed, a security man, he said of the attack.

A Facebook user, Ugochukwu Nduaguba, believed to be a resident of the area, said the gunmen razed all the buildings in the council headquarters.

Its terrible. All the buildings are on fire. I pray God to take control, Mr Nduagha said in response to a Facebook post about the incident.

The police spokesperson in Anambra State, Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed the attack in a statement on Thursday.

Mr Ikenga said the attack was a suspected case of arson. He said the command had deployed police operatives to restore normalcy in the area.

Fire service has also been contacted. The area has been cordoned off, the police spokesperson said.

A video clip circulated on various WhatsApp groups, showed a man, said to be the slain security man, lying in a pool of his blood at the entrance of the council headquarters, while a building was engulfed in flames.

The attack is coming 14 days after Governor Charles Soludo announced his administrations plan to engage in a dialogue with the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other disparate groups in order to restore peace and security in Anambra.

IPOB, a group seeking the creation of an independent state of Biafra which they want carved out from the South-east and some parts of South-south, has been linked to deadly attacks across the two regions.
The Federal High Court in Abuja, on Thursday, discharged and acquitted Andrew Yakubu, a former Group Managing Director (GMD) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) of fraud relating to $9.8 million seized from his home in 2017.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), acting on a tip-off in 2017, stormed Mr Yakubus residence at the Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna State and found $9,772, 800 and 74,000 in a safe.

The commission arraigned him before Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court in Abuja, on March 16, 2017, on six counts of money laundering and other offences.

But the Court of Appeal, ruling on a no-case submission filed by the former NNPC boss, struck down the charges to counts 3 and 4, which border on money laundering offences.

Judgement

In the courts judgement, on Thursday, the judge, Mr Mohammed, said the prosecution failed to establish the necessary ingredients of the charges to warrant Mr Yakubus conviction.

The evidence of the defendant (Mr Yakubu) was not only credible but reliable, the judge said, adding The prosecution failed to contradict the evidence as required by law.

Mr Mohammed said the EFCC ought to have investigated Mr Yakubus claims that the monetary gifts he claimed to have received came from his friends, but unfortunately for reasons best known to it, the prosecution did not do that, the judge said.

To worsen the situation, the prosecution assumed that the money was accepted in one fell swoop as against the evidence of the defendant that he got the money in piecemeal as gifts from his friends when he retired from service in 2014.

It is a huge error that the prosecution did not tender the money as Exhibit throughout the trial, but made futile efforts after it had closed its case, the judge noted

In all, Mr Yakubus evidence cast a huge doubt on that of the EFCC and the doubt must be resolved in his favour, Mr Mohammed said.

The judge agreed with Mr Yakubus defence that the funds were received as gifts in aggregate form and not as a whole that could have offended the Money Laundering Prohibition Act of 2011.

Mr Mohammed dismissed the EFCCs argument that the funds were proceeds of crime because they did not go through a financial institution.

As a result, the judge ordered the immediate refund of the confiscated sum of $9,772, 800 and 74, 000 to Mr Yakubu.

Backstory

EFCC had on March 16, 2017, arraigned Mr Yakubu on six counts of money laundering and other offences.

On October 17, 2018, the prosecution closed its case after calling its seventh prosecution witness, Suleiman Mohammed, an operative with the commission.

In its ruling on May 16, 2019, the trial court struck out two of the counts. Dissatisfied with the refusal of the court to dismiss all the counts, Mr Yakubu had further appealed at the Court of Appeal.

Delivering judgement on the appeal, on April 24, 2020, the Court of Appeal in Abuja also struck out two additional counts, and asked the defendant to defend only the two remaining counts  Counts 3 and 4.

The two counts had to do with the defendants failure to make full disclosure of assets to EFCC upon his arrest, receiving cash without going through a financial institution in alleged violation of Section 1(1) of the Money Laundering Act, 2011 and punishable under Section 16(2)(b) of the Act.

After the Court of Appeals decision, the EFCC, on March 10, 2021, sought an amendment of the charges pending at the Federal High Court.

But, on June 17, 2021, the Federal High Court dismissed the request for the amendment of the charges, saying granting the application would amount to breaching the decision of the Court of Appeal that had specified the charges on which the defendant should be tried on.

Mr Yakubu denied the charges in his testimony while testifying for himself as a defence witness in the case. He claimed that the money seized from him was an accumulation of gifts he received at different times after leaving office.

The trial court acquitted Mr Yakubu on the two remaining charges on Thursday.
Governor Charles Soludo of Anambra State has condemned the Thursday attack on Nnewi South Council headquarters by gunmen.

Gunmen attacked the council headquarters in Ukpor and killed a security guard on duty. They also razed several buildings within the secretariat.

Mr Soludo, accompanied by his aides and some security agencies, visited the council headquarters to inspect the structures and assess the level of damage in the area.

He described the incident as a very sad moment.

The governor said there is a need to find out what caused the attack.

The gunmen invaded the council headquarters around 12:30 a.m. and killed the security guard to gain access to the secretariat, the governor said.

Whatever may be the motive, whatever may be the cause, whatever may be the thing or protest, arson and bloodletting cannot be part of it, Mr Soludo said.

He said the state government would have to deploy money meant for other projects to rebuild the destroyed building.

Who is the loser? The common man on the street. My heart bleeds, Governor Soludo said.

Governor Soludo said the security agencies would get to the bottom of the incident. He expressed his resolve to restore law and order in the state.

This is the first attack in Anambra State since Mr Soludos inauguration as the governor on March 17.

The governor, during his inaugural address, promised to engage in a dialogue with the outlawed Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and other disparate groups to restore peace and security in the state.

IPOB, a group seeking the creation of an independent state of Biafra which they want carved out from the South-east and some parts of South-south, has been linked to some of the deadly attacks across the South-east and South-south regions.
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Brunei recorded 2.64 billion Brunei dollars (1.95 billion U.S. dollars) in the total trade for December 2021, a 74.1 percent year-on-year increase.

The latest International Merchandise Trade Statistics released on Thursday by the Department of Economic Planning and Statistics at the Ministry of Finance and Economy showed that Brunei's exports increased by 90.3 percent year on year to 1.52 billion Brunei dollars due largely to an increase in mineral fuel exports.

Mineral fuels saw a record 80.4 percent contribution to the total exports, with a value of 1.22 billion Brunei dollars.

Imports increased by 56 percent year on year to 1.12 billion Brunei dollars for December 2021.

The highest share of Brunei's exports in December went to Japan, at 25.5 percent, followed by Australia, at 18 percent, and China, at 15.2 percent. The largest export commodity for Japan and Australia was mineral fuels.

The highest share of imports in December was recorded with Russia, at 32.4 percent, followed by Malaysia's 27 percent and Australia's 10.2 percent. (1 Brunei dollar equals about 0.74 U.S. dollar) 


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The United States government says it is committed to strengthening the enduring U.S.-Nigeria relationship, investing in the partnership for the benefit of our two nations.

At a historic groundbreaking ceremony highlighting the enduring bilateral friendship and partnership between the country and Nigeria, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State joined U.S. Ambassador Mary Beth Leonard and U.S. Consul General Claire Pierangelo on Thursday to mark the beginning of construction of a new U.S. Consulate General in Lagos.

On a 12.2-acre site in the rapidly developing Eko Atlantic City, the new U.S. Consulate General in Lagos will support diplomatic and commercial relations between the United States and Nigeria and will provide American and Nigerian Consulate employees with a safe, sustainable, and modern workplace.

The $537 million new Consulate construction project will directly benefit the Nigerian people, according to a statement by the U.S. Consulate.

Throughout the project, the U.S. government will invest an estimated $95 million in the local economy, and the project will employ approximately 2,500 Nigerian citizens, including engineers, architects, artisans, construction workers, and administrative staff, the Consulate added.

These workers will learn new technical skills and safety awareness that will help distinguish them in the local market.

In her remarks at the ceremony, Ms Leonard expressed appreciation to the Nigerian and Lagos State government for their support.

Our vision for this remarkable Consulate campus is to create a facility that both honors the vibrant relationship between the United States and Nigeria and communicates the spirit of American democracy, transparency and openness, Ms Leonard said.

Nigeria and the United States have a long-standing history of people-to-people engagement fostering bridges between our two nations. We look forward to the many accomplishments we will continue to achieve together in the future, Consul General Claire Pierangelo said.

The statement said the new Consulate will provide a modern space for the largest consular operation in Africa, including improved public-facing interview and waiting areas.

When completed, the statement said, it will be the largest U.S. Consulate in the world, demonstrating the importance of the relationship between the United States and Nigeria.

The construction project targets Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification  a globally recognized designation for achievement in high performance, best-in-class, green buildings  and incorporates many features designed to make the building more sustainable.

Ennead Architects LLP of New York is the design architect, Pernix Federal, LLC of Lombard, Illinois, is the design/build contractor, and EYP, Inc. of Albany, New York, is the architect of record. The construction project will take approximately five years, with completion expected in 2027, the statement added.
A member of the House of Representatives, Ahmed Nasir (APC, Kano), has called for the sack of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Mohammed Monguno, over the spike in killings across the country.

Mr Nasir made the call on Thursday while speaking on a motion of urgent public importance moved by Shehu Balarabe (APC, Kaduna) on the floor of the House.

Mr Balarabes motion was on the renewed killings in Birnin Gwari Local Government of Kaduna State.

Mr Balarabe said over 150 persons have been killed in his constituency.

Debate

In his contribution, Mr Nasir lamented the insecurity across the country, saying that nowhere is safe in the country, including the National Assembly.

Do we have a national security adviser? he asked.

Are we saying the Army, the Nigerian navy, Air Force, Police and DSS with all the training that they have had, with all the international training that they have gone to  they have gone to peacekeeping. That a ragtag army of 16 to 17 year-old-boys is more powerful than them?

Mr Speaker this madness has to stop. It simply has to stop. You travel by road you are kidnapped; you go by train, you are kidnapped, last week the airport was attacked by bandits; you sit at home you are kidnapped, you send your children to school they are kidnapped.

Mr Speaker, a few weeks ago somebody was kidnapped in a hospital. Where are you going to stay? You can be kidnapped right in this chamber, he said.

What do we tell our people that elected us? Do we just fold our arms? I want to use this opportunity again and I am calling on the national security adviser  he must be removed.

The deputy speaker, Idris Wase, who presided over the session, said the House should be allowed to carry out a proper investigation on the matter.

The National Security Adviser

Mr Monguno was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 to replace the disgraced former NSA, Sambo Dasuki.

Mr Monguno, a retired major general, was involved in a row with former Chief of Staff to the President, Abba Kyari, over the procurement of arms for the police.

The NSA had in a series of memos in 2019, accused Mr Kyari of overriding the president on key decisions.

PREMIUM TIMES had published a series of memos detailing how Mr Monguno accused Mr Kyari of hampering efforts to resolve insecurity in the country, sparking nationwide uproar and calls for the president to take charge of his administrations security measures.

During the face-off, the then Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, sided with the Chief of Staff and withdrew the officers attached to the office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) without replacement.

In 2021, a few weeks after the sack of the Army Chiefs, Mr Monguno alleged that billions spent on procurement of arms under Mr Buhari by the former service chiefs had been stolen.

Mr Monguno later denied the report, saying he was misrepresented.
The Taraba State High Court in Jalingo has convicted a former bursar of the Federal Government Girls College, (FGGC), Jalingo, Ezekiel Oparinde, for N16,500,000 fraud.

The judge, F. J. Agya, sentenced Mr Oparinde to two years imprisonment with an option of a N250,000 fine, according to a statement by the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC), on Thursday.

The commission had filed three charges against Mr Oparinde accusing him of holding private interests in two companies to which he awarded contracts while being bursar of the FGGC.

He allegedly awarded the contracts, cumulatively worth N16 million, to the companies on three occasions between 2011 and 2014.

The statement by ICPCs spokesperson, Azuka Ogugua, revealed that the convict in 2011 awarded a contract to renovate a burnt bursars quarters in the school to his company, Rajoseph Nigeria Enterprise, for N3,787,000.

Within the same year, Mr Oparinde also awarded the completion of a perimeter fence in the school to another of his companies, Taidebo Nigeria Enterprise, for N7,721,731, the statement added.

The agency also accused him of awarding a contract to his company, Rajoseph Nigeria Enterprise, to renovate a dilapidated block of Agriculture Laboratory for N5,000,000, in 2014.

ICPCs prosecuting counsel, Mashkur Salisu, told the court that the offences contravened section 12 of the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2000.

Mr Oparinde, the commission also said, pleaded guilty to all the charges during his arraignment in November 2021.

Convict pleads for leniency

Following his clients guilty plea, the defence counsel, Umaru Fonga, in his allocutus (plea of mercy), pleaded with the court to temper justice with mercy by considering the fact that the convict was a first-time offender.

He also urged the judge to consider the convict as a senior citizen whose health was failing as well as his status as a husband and father of five to tamper justice with mercy.

In his judgement, Mr Agya sentenced the convict to one years imprisonment with an option of a N100,000 fine on counts one and two each, and two years imprisonment with N150, 000 fine on counts three.

The sentences are to run concurrently, the court ruled. This implies that the convict can pay the N250,000 fine in place of going to jail for two years, the longest sentence attracted by any of the three counts.
The President of Niger Republic, Mohamed Bazoum, has thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for the Kano-Katsina-Maradi railway. He said the project will integrate the economies of Nigeria and Niger.

Mr Bazoum said this in Abuja Thursday during an official visit to his Nigerian counterpart.

On economic issues, we discussed the Kano-Katsina-Maradi railway project. And this project is an infrastructure that will integrate the economies, the economies of Nigeria and Niger, he said. He spoke to journalists after his meeting with the Nigerian leader at the State House, Abuja.

So Im here to thank President Buhari for his effort at ensuring that this project has taken off and I hope that it will be sustained because this project will radically change the trading exchange between the two countries.

We also spoke about the gas pipeline in the sense that gas and oil now have become an issue in world politics, in the world economy.

President Buhari and visiting President, Mohammed Bazoum of Niger Republic. pic.twitter.com/YGnPljLd8o  Bashir Ahmad (@BashirAhmaad) March 31, 2022

The rail project links Kano State in Northern Nigeria with Maradi, a city in southern Niger.

The project, being financed by the Nigerian government, has generated controversy, with some Nigerians questioning the logic behind it. The government has, however, defended the project, saying it will boost the existing trade between the two neighbouring countries.

The Nigerien leader also thanked Mr Buhari for the Multinational Joint Task Force, which is largely funded by the Nigerian government.

My visit coincides with the very big operation that is taking place jointly today in the Lake Chad Basin region against the terrorist and this big operation is being conducted by MNJTF  the Multinational Joint Task Force.

And as you will know very well, the operations of the Multinational Joint Task Force is funded almost entirely by Nigeria. And this operation is meant to help in providing security challenges that both of our countries are facing.

I want to reiterate my recommendation and thanks to President Buhari, who because of his support this operation is going on and will be very much continuing in future, he said.

Mr Bazoum also said he and Mr Buhari have agreed to cement the ties that exist among them in the areas of security and economic development.

The Visit

President Bazoum, who arrived at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, around 11:00 a.m., was received by his host, President Buhari. Shortly after exchanging pleasantries, the visiting president inspected a guard of honour mounted by officials of the Presidential Guard Brigade.

Shortly after that, the two leaders went into a closed session, where they discussed bilateral issues and later had lunch.

The visiting president later interacted with journalists covering the State House, where he thanked his host for his show of hospitality.

He said the two countries would continue to strengthen ties on security and the economy.

Its my pleasure to be here today and I want to say thank you very much to President Muhammadu Buhari and then thank him from the bottom of my heart for the hospitality and for the warm reception that myself and my delegation have benefitted since we arrived.

Im happy to be here and our discussions with President Buhari centred on issues that relate to the economy and the security situation in our countries in a manner that we push these issues to be of mutual benefit to both countries, Niger and Nigeria.

The visiting president has since returned to his country. Top government functionaries from Niger accompanied him for the visit.
The newly elected National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, on Wednesday, admitted that he never knew he would occupy the partys top seat a month before the partys National Convention.

The ruling party held its national convention on March 26 after controversies and two postponements.

Having been named President Muhammadu Buhari anointed candidate, the former two-term governor of Nasarawa State, emerged the partys consensus candidate after six other aspirants reluctantly withdrew from the race hours into the convention.

Mr Adamu officially assumed office by receiving instruments of office from the immediate-past interim chairman of the party and Governor of Yobe State, Mala Buni, at the partys national headquarters in Abuja.

In his address at the ceremony, attended by one of his predecessors, John Oyegun, and other elected National Working Committee (NWC) executives, the new APC chairman said he never thought he would be the party chairman 30 days to the convention.

He said he was determined to live up to the presidents trust.

A month ago, I didnt know I would become the Chairman of APC. Here I am today, receiving the instrument and authority from the outgoing Chairman. Only God can do this. It is not my personal wisdom nor my charisma. It is not by my personal doing. There may be elements on the way but all these were made possible by the endorsement of Almighty God.

Let me thank President Muhammadu Buhari who gave us a lot and so much that happened during the convention. First, my address goes to God Almighty then to our Leader and father of the nation, President Muhammadu Buhari and other eminent leaders of this party that put heads together to make this possible. May God reward them, he said, noting the possible challenges his team may face as the party prepares for the 2023 general poll.

Dont begrudge me if I make mistake  Adamu

Mr Adamu promised to give his best in his service to the party and urged his colleagues in the NWC not to begrudge him in case of any mishaps as he aspires for the collective good of the party.

We have a major event that is going to test the water on how stable we are as a party. That is the general election that is coming. For me, by the time we start working, our main task will be how we handle the elections as a party, and how we will win the general election.

People are talking, APC does not have an incumbent on the ticket. We will have the honor of the integrity and the legacy of the current president on the ticket.

We will work day and night. We have less than 12 months to face the general election. So, everybody should buckle up. The little I have heard about the President is that he has a complete allergy for failure. So, failure will not be in APC from today. We will work for success together. To my colleagues, if there is any issue, dont begrudge me, let me know, he statedfurther.

Mr Buni, in his remarks, emphasised the need for teamwork and encouraged the NWC to build on the gains his administration has recorded so far.

Against the six months of his interim tenure, the Yobe State governor spent over 18 months at the helm of the APCs affairs, an elongation which sparked shades of internal crisis.

Admitting to the twist of events at the convention, Mr Buni advised Mr Adamu to be guided by the presidents speech.

Part of democracy is to agree and disagree at some points. But it is all about human management. The ability to manage the situation is what will keep this party together and stronger again, and again.

So, as it is and as members of NWC, you should study Mr. Presidents speech and that should be your guide. And also, I want to thank you most importantly for this opportunity for all your efforts both individually and collectively for making our task easier throughout our stewardship, the former interim chairman told the elected party officials.
The Nigerian Police Force has acquired additional high-powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), popular known as drones, to improve surveillance operations across the country.

The police spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, disclosed this on Wednesday in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES.

He said the new equipment were acquired in line with vision and mission statements of the Inspector General, Usman Alkali, which include technology-driven policing.

The unveiling of the new equipment comes a few days after terrorists rigged the tracks of the Abuja-Kaduna rail lines with explosives, causing damage to a Kaduna bound train, while also shooting sporadically at the passengers on board the train.

At least eight people have been confirmed killed in the attack while others are still missing, according to the Kaduna State Government.

The incident occurred on Monday evening a few days after the Kaduna airports security was breached.

While revealing the features of the drones, the police said some of the aircraft are capable of covering up to 150km in a single flight with high endurance of up to 14 hours while others are capable of covering up to 92m altitude with high endurance of up to 50 hours and other sensitive and forensic-based features.

While seeking cooperation from the public, the police vowed to apply cutting-edge technology in the fight against crime and criminality in Nigeria.

Read the full statement by the police below.

INSECURITY: IGP ADOPTS TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN POLICING APPROACH, ACQUIRES FIVE ADDITIONAL HIGH-POWERED UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES (UAVs)

 As police pilots conclude specialized training on operations, deployment.

The Inspector-General of Police, IGP Usman Alkali Baba psc(+), NPM, fdc, has acquired five (5) additional high-powered Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to improve surveillance operations to checkmate criminal activities in the country in line with the IGPs vision and mission statements which include technology-driven policing.

The acquisition is the manifestation of the IGPs determination to integrate the use of innovative technology in the law enforcement duties of the Nigeria Police Force and ultimately enhance its intelligence gathering and operational capabilities. The drones will assist the Police in monitoring active crime scenes, coordinating response operations, and providing aerial support to responding officers.

The UAVs include an ALTI Transition, capable of covering up to 150km in a single flight with high endurance of up to 14 hours, and an Elistair Orion fixed-wing aircraft, capable of covering up to 92m altitude with high endurance of up to 50 hours and other sensitive and forensic-based features. These UAVs will be remotely operated by police pilots from the Police Airwing who have undergone specialized training from Engineers of the Elistair company, who were flown in from France at the instance of the IGP, for a week-long training schedule, and have acquired technical skills and requisite know-how in the operation and maintenance of the procured UAVs.

The IGP has however directed the immediate, adequate, and strategic deployment of these drones to areas prone to high-security breaches, for monitoring and intelligence gathering to tackle criminality headlong.

The Inspector-General of Police has further reiterated the firm determination of the Police leadership to continue to explore avenues to enhance police intelligence-gathering capabilities and engage the application of cutting-edge technology in the fight against crime and criminality while seeking full cooperation from members of the public on intelligence gathering and vigilance.

CSP OLUMUYIWA ADEJOBI, mnipr, mipra

Ag. FORCE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICER

FORCE HEADQUARTERS

ABUJA

March 30, 2022
The House of Representatives Public Account Committee has queried the N2.6 trillion tax rebate approved for telecoms giant, MTN.

The committee raised the query during the investigative hearing into the audit report of the Auditor-General for the Federation on Wednesday.

Capital allowance rebate refers to tax relief a company gets for buying assets that are used for production.

Oluwole Oke (PDP, Osun), the chairman of the committee, directed the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to produce all the needed documents to back up the rebate.

Mr Oke explained that to approve capital allowance, the ministry must have inspected the assets of the company to determine the rebate.

So the question we are asking Federal Ministry of Industry is to produce records, evidence that they inspected their assets based on which they issued the certificates, which MTN has taken to FIRS to secure a tax rebate.

It is expected of the Industry (Federal Ministry of Industry) to have inspected the assets before they issue the certificates. If the Ministry is in default, then we might be thinking of collusion between the beneficiary of the certificate and the Federal Ministry of Industry which will amount to undermining Nigeria; which will amount to loss of revenue.

And like Ive said earlier, when you first appeared, we are not witch-hunting any person. We speak to law, we speak to facts, we speak to issues. And thats why Im making this clarification. So the angle that concerns MTN is that we are trying to extract evidence from you to justify the certificates that you have been issued because you are the beneficiary and we asked if the assets were indeed inspected?

We also asked for proof, the dates because you cant enter MTN premises without records. The assets claimed by MTN can be categorised into two: you have local content and you have the foreign content. We have written Nigeria Customs to give us records of the imports, the assets imported by MTN and proof of duty payment. Because if they (MTN) dont pay the duty as expected, it also amounts to loss of revenue to the federation.

Earlier, Anas Galadima, the head of public affairs of MTN, presented a letter from MTN requesting an extension of time.

We are currently reviewing the content of the letter and require more time. In this regard, we, therefore, request for your kind consideration to revert to the committee on April 21st, with our position, the letter read in part.

Reacting to the request by MTN, Mr Oke said the committee will grant the request of MTN because fair hearing is a Constitutional gift.

So that is the stage we are and MTN has now written a letter that they should be given more time to compile their record. Fair hearing is a constitutional gift, right. So even though the date you are asking for, April 21st is far in our opinion, honestly for justice, for equity, for fairness, we will accede to your request, Mr Oke said.
Turkey is not a new actor in Africa but is an increasingly important one. Its presence in West Africa has aroused widespread attention and even concern. Talks about win-win policy and equal partnerships seem positive, especially as existing collaborations on peace and security, such as with France, have not produced the expected results.

Ankaras opening to the continent started officially in 1998, but the real work began later when Turkey announced the year of Africa in 2005. Since then, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has visited Africa over 40 times, and three Turkey-Africa summits have framed economic and political cooperation. Many presidential level visits to and from the country were undertaken, and 43 embassies were set up, including in West Africa.

After reinforcing its presence in East Africa and strengthening its political and military influence in North Africa, Ankara is expanding its political, economic and military influence across the continent. West Africa was central to Turkeys decision to transform its soft power into political and security influence in the Libyan crisis. Ankaras West Africa policy is shaped by lessons from its relations with Africa overall and its approach to Libya.

Turkeys foreign policy has become more outward-looking since the 2010 Arab Spring. North Africa has always been part of the Turkish social and cultural sphere of influence. The geopolitical crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean, Frances perceived double-dealing in Libya, and Gulf countries stance on Libya offered Turkey an opportunity to get involved more actively.

Turkeys military cooperation with several West African and Sahel countries aims to secure their support in solving the Libyan crisis. There are signs that the low interest in Turkeys Africa initiative among crucial states such as Ethiopia and Nigeria is now changing.

In March 2018, Turkey supported the G5 Sahel Joint Force with a $5 million contribution to reinforce the fight against terrorism. In 2020, Ankara signed a military cooperation agreement with Niger with a possible opening of a military base in the future. That same year, Turkey signed a defence pact with Nigeria, and talks on deepening relations were held during Erdogans state visit to Nigeria in October 2021.

Similarly, military cooperation with several West African countries exists at different levels, including the education and training of military personnel. Turkey signed military cooperation agreements with Togo in August 2021 and Senegal in February 2022. This could mark the beginning of a new era in security relations between Ankara and West Africa.

Turkeys Africa policy mixes elements of soft and hard power. Along with helping to combat terrorism, Ankara invests in the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) to tackle the economic and social drivers of violent extremism in West Africa. TIKA has 22 coordination offices across the continent and runs projects in several West African countries, including Senegal, Chad, Niger and Togo.

Similarly, the Turkish Maarif Foundation now has schools in 26 African countries, including Chad, Gabon, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan and Tunisia.

Three dimensions explain Turkeys relations with Africa. The first is trade and the economy. Trade between Turkey and African countries increased from $5 billion to $25 billion after 1998, with 43 Turkish business councils set up across the continent.

The second is political. Compared to 2005, relations with Africa have skyrocketed. Although most interactions are bilateral, Ankara collaborates with organisations such as the African Union, Economic Community of West African States and Intergovernmental Authority on Development. At the last Turkey-Africa summit, no fewer than 16 heads of state and 102 ministers were present.

The third dimension is security. Ankara has been positioning itself as a political-security actor since its involvement in Somalia in 2011. In the past few years, African states have become increasingly interested in buying Turkish military equipment, especially its more affordable drones, adding a new feature to relations.

Turkish unmanned drones have been successfully deployed in various conflicts, including the Azerbaijan-Armenia war, Libya, Ethiopia and recently Ukraine. In November 2021, Niger signed an arms contract that included the acquisition of Bayraktar TB2 drones.

To many in West Africa, Ankara seems to be competing with international partners already active in the region. As a result of its rivalry with France over Libya and the Eastern Mediterranean crisis, tensions increased in West Africa between Turkey and France, making European partners in the region reluctant to work with Turkey.

Ankaras economic and military power may not be comparable with Western countries and China. But Turkeys involvement in Africa has shown how a mid-sized country can build relations from scratch in a short time and establish itself as a key actor in various countries.

As global interest and involvement in West Africa rise, there are lessons from Turkeys rapid expansion in Africa for countries in the region looking to diversify their partnerships.

Professor Dr Mehmet Ozkan, Turkish National Defence University, Istanbul and Aissatou Kante, Researcher, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Office for West Africa, the Sahel and the Lake Chad Basin

(This article was first published by ISS Today, a Premium Times syndication partner. We have their permission to republish).
The police said they have recovered the N1.2million extorted from a music producer in Lagos and have returned the money to its owner.

The music producer, Emmanuel Chibuze, was whisked away on Wednesday by about six armed police officers at Alakpere, Lagos, after the officers flagged down the Uber he was inside.

The officers did not accuse Mr Chibuze of any crime, rather he was taken to some destination and forced to wire N1.2million to a POS agent who apparently was working in connivance with the officers.

He was threatened with (an) AK-47 rifle and out of fear, (he) transferred (the money) as they instructed, said the leader of a human rights group, the Society Against Brutality, Harrison Gwamnishu who published the incident on Facebook.

Mr Gwamnishu had uploaded on Facebook the transaction receipt as evidence against the officers, and appealed to the police authorities in Nigeria to take action.

The police spokesperson in Lagos State, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the incident, Wednesday, to PREMIUM TIMES.

He said the officers have been identified and that the matter would be resolved by Wednesday night.

By 9.04 p.m. on Wednesday, Mr Hundeyin, a superintendent of police, tweeted that the N1.2million had been recovered from the officers.

The officers have been identified. The money has been fully recovered and handed over to the victim. Disciplinary procedures commence in earnest.

Rotten eggs will not be allowed in the Force. Well weed them out one at a time, he said.

The police spokesperson did not, however, disclose the identity of the six officers.

A video clip posted on Facebook by Mr Gwamnishu showed Mr Chibuze collecting his money  some wads of naira notes  at a police station.
The World Bank Group on Wednesday announced the suspension of SoftTech IT Solutions and Services Ltd. (SoftTech) for 50 months over corrupt allegations in the National Social Safety Nets Project.

The Washington-based institution also announced a 60-month debarment of Isah Kantigi, the companys managing director.

According to the bank, the debarment make both Nigeria-born Mr Kantigi and SoftTech, an information technology solutions company based in Nigeria, ineligible to participate in projects and operations financed by the bank.

The bank said its decisions are parts of settlement agreements under which the company and Mr Kantigi acknowledged their responsibility for the underlying sanctionable practices and agree to meet specified corporate compliance conditions as a condition for release from debarment.

The project is designed to provide access to targeted cash transfers to poor and vulnerable households under an expanded national social safety nets system, the bank said.

Conduit

World Bank noted that SoftTech, acting under the direction of Mr. Kantigi, who is also the companys Managing Director, served as the conduit through which he and the other individual consultants made the payments to project officials.

Under the arrangement, it disclosed that SoftTech received into its bank accounts multiple payments from the individual consultants and then transferred the funds into the personal accounts of the project officials, effectively serving as a financial intermediary for these consultants.

This constitutes a corrupt practise under the World Banks Anti-Corruption Guidelines, the bank said.

The settlement agreements provide for reduced periods of debarment in light of Mr. Kantigis and SoftTechs cooperation and acknowledgement of the misconduct. As conditions for release from sanction under the terms of the settlement agreements, Mr. Kantigi commits to undertaking corporate ethics training that demonstrate a commitment to personal integrity and business ethics, while SoftTech commits to implementing a code of conduct that reflects the relevant principles set out in the World Bank Group Integrity Compliance Guidelines and a corporate ethics training program.

In addition, any affiliate that Mr. Kantigi or SoftTech controls, directly or indirectly, will be required to similarly implement a Code of Conduct and corporate ethics training program. Mr. Kantigi and the company also committed to continue to fully cooperate with the World Bank Group Integrity Vice Presidency.

In 2019, PREMIUM TIMES reported how the African Development Bank and the World Bank blacklisted 15 Nigerian firms doing businesses with them over allegations of fraud and procurement malpractices.
Cape Town  More than four million people have now fled Ukraine for neighbouring countries amidst the Russian invasion. However, black and brown students who have fled have been detained by EU border authorities in what has been condemned as clearly discriminatory and not acceptable, reports Democracy Now.

Although all neighbouring EU countries pledged to accept refugees from Ukraine, as people flee across borders, a complicated story emerges of who is perceived and received as good, bad, and ideal refugees in modern Europe, reports Yvonne Su for The Conversation Africa.

An collaborative investigation, by The Independent, Lighthouse Reports and other media partners, revealed that Ukraine residents of African origin who have crossed the border to escape the war have been placed in closed facilities, with some having been there for a number of weeks.

Maud Jullien, an investigative editor at Lighthouse Reports, explains how the European Unions temporary protection directive creates a double standard by permitting Ukrainian citizens to enter neighbouring countries but barring third-party nationals from entering. Jullien has said that four students who have fled the Russian invasion are being held in a long-term holding facility Lesznowola, a village 40km from the Polish capital Warsaw, with little means of communication with the outside world and no legal advice. Polish border police confirmed that 52 third-country nationals who have fled Ukraine are currently being held in detention facilities in Poland.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said they were aware of three other facilities in Poland where people who are not Ukrainian, and who have fled the war, are being detained. This is despite an EU protection directive dated March 4, 2022 which states that third-country nationals studying or working in Ukraine should be admitted to the EU temporarily on humanitarian grounds. It states that it also applies to nationals of third countries other than Ukraine, residing legally in Ukraine, who are unable to return in safe and durable conditions to their country or region of origin.

Jeff Crisp, a former head of policy, development and evaluation at UNHCR, said it was clearly unsatisfactory and discriminatory for third-country nationals who have fled from Ukraine to be held in detention centres in EU states, not least because of the trauma they will have experienced in their efforts to leave Ukraine and find safety elsewhere. He added: They should be released immediately and treated on an equal basis with all others who have been forced to leave Ukraine, reports The Independent.

In March, some African countries intensified efforts to evacuate their nationals from Ukraine amid reports of mistreatment and racial profiling of Africans in war-ravaged Ukraine. The African Union urged governments to respect international law and assist all those fleeing from the war in Ukraine after African students raised concerns of discrimination at border points.

Deutsche Welle reported that some students are happily back with their families, but many remain stranded inside Ukraine and at border points with neighbouring Poland. Other Africans have chosen to stay inside Ukraine, particularly those without residency permits.
A serving officer of the Nigerian Customs Service, Muawiya Gambo, and a Catholic priest, Felix Zakari, were among those abducted when bandits attacked the Kofar Gayan Low Cost and Gwangwaje areas of Zaria in Kaduna State.

Multiple sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the bandits, who arrived on motorbikes, attacked Kofar Gayan Low Cost some minutes after 9 p.m.

A resident of Zaria, Aminu Dogo, told PREMIUM TIMES over the phone that the bandits fully equipped with guns and took away the customs officer and his son, Khalifa, after the sporadic shooting. They came to the same area last year in and wounded women and children.

Another resident, Musa Abdulmalik, said the abducted customs officer, Mr Gambo, had always been the bandits target.

I cant say whether it was a chance or planned abduction, but he had always been their target. Twice they targeted him, but he escaped. Thats why we keep saying these people (the bandits) have informants around us. They came into the area around 9 p.m. and coordinated the attack, he said.

A local journalist working with Queen FM radio, Saifullahi Lawal, said some of those abducted include a woman named Jamila Abbas.

Immediately the soldiers came, the bandits regrouped and stormed Gwargwaje and continued the attack. It was there that they killed one woman in her home. Ive sent you her picture. The bandits shot her to death. I was in the area when they came, he said.

Mr Lawal said the bandits abducted several people.

Mohammed Jalige, the command spokesperson, didnt respond to calls and SMS sent to him during the attack.

Kaduna State and some parts of the North-west region are swarming with Islamist gunmen who have caused unprecedented mayhem in the areas. The gunmen have killed and maimed hundreds of residents in the areas. They have also abducted several others for ransom.
The Nigerian Police has said it received at least 10,122 fake alerts in four days on its newly developed citizens app, Rescue Me.

Force spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, stated this via his Twitter handle on Thursday.

The police had last year introduced the software, rescue me app, to aid the timely arrival of officers at crime scenes anywhere in Nigeria.

It said at the time that the app was developed to tackle insecurity through technology.

The application was designed to improve the response time of police officers to emergency situations in real time.

It uses internet services and is global position satellite (GPS)-based.

The police, however, lamented the misuse of the app by Nigerians, stating that raising false alarms could jeopardise rescue efforts for genuine reports.

On our NPF Rescue Me App, we want to urge Nigerians to please stop fake alerts. These are causing more harm to the system and jeopardise it. In the last four days, we have received more than 10,122 fake alerts.

And thats why we have heavy traffic on the system, thereby affecting the genuine callers. We have more than 5,000 pending or awaiting OTP to proceed on the app; its due to this unnecessary heavy traffic on the system. We are sure the app is good, efficient and helpful;

Thats why we initiated it to improve our security network. Pls, cooperate with us on this. Thanks, the PRO said.

The rescue me app was designed for effective reporting of emergencies, criminal activities and professional misconducts of police officers to ensure rapid and immediate response by operatives of the force.

It was recently improved to redefine security and personalise policing by enabling android and ios users to download the app from the various app stores.

Users are expected to register with their details and have access to a variety of features including emergency services, crime reporting, navigation and ambulance services.
The governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El Rufai, on Wednesday, admitted that the Nigerian authorities know the camps, the identities and listen to the conversations of the armed groups that are terrorising large swaths of the North-west region.

The governor, who was speaking after some bandits, ambushed and attack a train bound for Kaduna to Abuja on Monday evening.

At least eight people were killed during the attack which lasted for almost two hours. Several passengers sustained gunshot injuries while a yet to be determined number of people were kidnapped by the gunmen.

Mr El-Rufai was speaking at an event attended by the transportation minister, Rotimi Amaechi, to update Nigerians on what the government was doing to stem the tide of banditry in the state after Mondays deadly attack.

The governor explained why the military has not bombed the bandits despite knowing their whereabouts and listening to their conversations.

We know where their camps are. We know their camps, we have the maps; we know everything. We have their phone numbers and listen to their conversation sometimes. But it has to be done across the five states, he said.

The governor explained the military was originally reluctant to bomb the camps of the bandits to avoid civilian collateral damage but added that since a Nigerian court has declared them terrorists, the rule of engagement has changed.

This is war,  he said.

We know what they (terrorists) are planning. We get the reports. The problem is for the agencies to take action. Dont wait until they attack before you respond. The Army should go after their enclaves to wipe them out. Let the Air Force bomb them, he said.

The visibly angry Mr El Rufai lamented the SSS has informants all over the place sourcing information for the service, but such attacks still happen.

I warned NRC against late evening shuttle

Mr El-Rufai then said the attack could have been avoided if the Nigerian Railway Corporation had listened to his warning to end late evening shuttles.

He said the state security council wrote twice to the NRC on the possibility of suspending the nighttime shuttle, but the NRC did not listen.

The last train from Kaduna to Abuja should leave by 4 p.m. so that it will get to Abuja in daylight, he said.

If anything is to happen, the response time will be quick, maybe in 30 minutes. When something happens, the response time will be faster in the daytime, he said.

The managing director of the NRC, Fidet Okhiria, confirmed that the Kaduna State government warned the corporation. He told Daily Trust that if the corporation stops the evening shuttle; it means the bandits have won against the country.

They wrote to us they suspected they wanted to attack the train, but that was in December/January. But we looked at it and said if there is something like that, they should find a solution to it and stopping the train is not the solution.

And we dont run night train. The last train leaves in the evening. We believe if we stop the running of trains, it means the terrorists have won.
Nigerian women are deploying strategies to penetrate the grassroots to garner their support ahead of the 2023 general elections, Ebere Ifendu, President Women in Politics Forum, Nigeria said.

Through awareness on the rejected gender bills by the National Assembly, she noted that women are educating local people on the impacts of the bills with their dialect.

Ms Ifendu disclosed this on Thursday at the launch of a three report series interrogating 20 years of democracy in Nigeria which was compiled by Centre for Democracy and Development.

Earlier in March, the National Assembly voted against five constitution bills that supported women on citizenship, 111 seats for women at the Federal parliament, 35% Affirmative Action for women in political party leadership and more appointive positions for women.

Thereafter, Nigerian women held a series of protests at the gates of the National Assembly for reconsideration of the bills.

The protests were suspended following a promise by the House of Representatives to look into the said bills.

Despite the rejection, Nigerian women are working en masse to get more support to secure more political seats.

Looking at the failed (gender) bills, the National Assembly did something good for us. They didnt know they were opening our eyes for women to begin to think as an entity. What we are looking at now is how we (will) work more with the network and begin to go to the grassroots.

We were able to also talk about the (gender) bills in our local dialects. Last time, I was on a radio programme, we used Igbo to break down the five (gender) bills and we had people ask questions. They are understanding it better when they feel the impact of what is happening at the National Assembly, Ms Ifendu said.

Additionally, she informed that Nigerian women across the 36 states formed groups to take letters to their respective state assemblies, traditional and religious leaders within their communities.

So the grassroots people are beginning to feel the impact. We have used every skill that we can so that grassroots people can have an understanding and they are with us, she said.

More solutions to help women

Fatoumata Tambajang, a former Vice President of Gambia at the event, proposed that political parties democratise activities such that they allow young people and women to be involved.

She further indicated the need for political leadership to be held accountable to make political declarations concerning the participation of women.

Ms Tambajang also stressed the need to mobilise men to champion womens issues.

On her part, Sintiki Ugbe, Director of Humanitarian and Social Affairs at Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) asked that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) publish the number of female voters after an election.

Launch

Giving the welcome address, Africa Director of MacArthur Foundation, Kole Shettima, on behalf of the Executive Director of CDD, Idayat Hassan, lamented the prolonged marginalisation of Nigerian women.

He said any politics that disenfranchises 50% of the population cannot operate optimally.

Mr Shettima added that the reports were produced to seek inclusion of more women in governance as countries led by women perform better.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has vowed to appeal against the acquittal of a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Andrew Yakubu.

PREMIUM TIMES reported, on Thursday, how the Federal High Court in Abuja discharged and acquitted him of the money laundering charges filed against him after EFCC recovered huge cash in foreign currencies from him in 2017.

But the EFCC said, in a statement by its spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, on Thursday, that the trial judge, Ahmed Mohammed, erred in law in his decision, vowing to challenge it at the Court of Appeal.

However, the commission believes the trial judge erred in dismissing the charge and has resolved to test the ruling at the appellate court, the statement said.

EFCC, acting on a tip-off in 2017, had stormed Mr Yakubus residence at the Sabon Tasha area of Kaduna State and found $9,772, 800 and 74,000 in a safe.

The commission subsequently filed money laundering charges against him. Both the trial court and the Court of Appeal later struck out four of the six charges after EFCC rested its case with seven prosecution witnesses.

The trial court, on Thursday, discharged and acquitted the defendant on the two remaining charges.

In the courts judgement, on Thursday, the judge, Mr Mohammed, said the prosecution failed to establish the necessary ingredients of the charges to warrant Mr Yakubus conviction.

The evidence of the defendant (Mr Yakubu) was not only credible but reliable, the judge said, adding The prosecution failed to contradict the evidence as required by law.

Mr Mohammed said the EFCC ought to have investigated Mr Yakubus claims that the monetary gifts he claimed to have received came from his friends, but unfortunately for reasons best known to it, the prosecution did not do that, the judge said.

To worsen the situation, the prosecution assumed that the money was accepted in one fell swoop as against the evidence of the defendant that he got the money in piecemeal as gifts from his friends when he retired from service in 2014.

It is a huge error that the prosecution did not tender the money as Exhibit throughout the trial, but made futile efforts after it had closed its case, the judge noted

READ EFCCS FULL STATEMENT

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, will appeal the ruling today by Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court, Abuja, quashing the money laundering charges preferred by the Commission against Mr Andrew Yakubu, a former Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC.

Yakubu was arraigned by the Commission in March 2017 following the discovery of $9.8million stashed in his property located in the Sabon Tasha Suburb of Kaduna. He had pleaded not guilty upon arraignment. In the course of trial, the Commission called witnesses and tendered documents in evidence, but the defendant filed a no case submission. Based on the submission, the court struck out two of the six counts. Two further counts were chalked off upon appeal by the defendant while the appellate court ordered his continued trial on the remaining two counts.

Delivering judgment today, Justice Mohammed held that the prosecution failed to prove the ingredient of the offence beyond reasonable doubt. He held that the Commission ought to have investigated the defendants claims that the monetary gifts he claimed to have received came from his friends, and tender the recovered cash before the court.

Consequently, he discharged and acquitted the defendant,

However, the Commission believes the trial judge erred in dismissing the charge and has resolved to test the ruling at the appellate court.
The Kwara State House of Assembly has declared the seat of its member representing the Ojomu/Balogun Constituency of Offa Local Government area, Saheed Popoola, vacant.

The Speaker of the House, Yakubu Danladi, announced the development on Thursday during the plenary session of the House.

The Speaker said the declaration aligned with Section 109 (1) G of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria as amended.

He said Mr Popoola ought to have vacated his seat, having defected from All Progressives Congress (APC), on whose platform he was elected, to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Mr Danladi said since there is no division in the APC, the lawmaker had no basis to dump it for another party.

He said the House had informed the Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state of the development.

However, in his reaction to the decision of the House in an interview with the National Pilot newspaper, Mr Popoola said only the court can declare his seat vacant.

Mr Popoola added that the House acted in disobedience of an order he had earlier secured from the State High Court to stop the move against him.

I have told the court on Monday to stop them and they were served an injunction from the court yesterday, there was a court order by Justice Yusuf of the State High court, and they were properly served at the House, but they have declined and disobeyed the court order. It is them and the court that will face the whole thing now, not me, he said, according to the Ilorin-based newspaper.
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a new board for the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).

This follows the expiration of the four-year tenure of the former board.

The new board is headed by the minister of state for labour, Festus Keyamo, according to a statement by presidential spokesperson Garba Shehu.

Read Mr Shehus full statement below.

PRESIDENT BUHARI APPROVES RECONSTITUTION OF THE BOARD OF THE NATIONAL DIRECTORATE OF EMPLOYMENT

Following the expiration of the tenure of the former Board of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the reconstitution of the new Board as follows:

1. Mr Festus Keyamo, SAN  Chairman (As statutorily provided for Supervising Ministers of the Agency)

2. Chris J. Maiyaki (Member), representing the National Universities Commission.

3. Mallam Lawal Y. Hafiz (Member), representing the National Board for Technical Education.

4. Prince Tony Omoaghe  Member

5. Mrs Obiageli B. Orah  Member.

6. Yamah Patience J. (Mrs.) (Member), representing the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

7. Mrs Didi Walson-Jack, MCIPM, mni  representing the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.

8. Mr Mohammed Ndadoko  Member- representing the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment Industry.

9. Dr Yerima P. Terfa  Member- the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.

10. Mr Rasaq Bello-Osagie  Member

11. Mrs Olubunmi Osuntuyi (Member), representing the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association.

12. Comrade Amechi Asugwuni (Member), representing the Nigeria Labour Congress.

13. Mr Collins Iriferi Umukoro  Member

14. Mr Andrew Obukohwo Egunoma  Member

15. Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo, the Director-General of National Directorate of Employment  Member

The Board will be inaugurated by the Supervising Minister of the NDE, and Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo, SAN, on a date to be communicated to all appointees.

Their appointment is for a period of four years.

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Garba Shehu

Senior Special Assistant to the President

(Media and Publicity)

March 31, 2022
The Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ado Doguwa (APC, Kano), has called for firearms permits for Nigerians willing to defend themselves in the face of the failure of security agencies to protect lives and properties.

Mr Doguwa made the call on Thursday during a debate on a motion of urgent importance moved by Shehu Balarabe (PDP, Kaduna) on killings in Kaduna State.

Terrorists have killed scores in Kaduna, and other northern states in addition to killings by armed groups in other parts of Nigeria in recent years.

On Monday, an Abuja-Kaduna train was attacked by terrorists resulting in the deaths of at least eight persons.

The incident occurred a few days after the security at Kaduna airport was breached.

If the agencies of security have failed, then Nigerians should not be seen as failures, Mr Doguwa said, noting that the option would be for Nigerians to be allowed to defend themselves.

Speaking further, the House Leader said if the issue of insecurity could be addressed democratically, Nigerians should be allowed to return to the jungle.

Mr Doguwa, who usually defends the executive on the floor of the House, said Nigerians could no longer run away from fight but must be given what it takes to defend themselves.

With all sense of responsibility, I think Nigerians should at this moment be allowed to also take arms. Nigerians must be allowed to take up arms in defence of their innocent souls, defend their hard-earned properties because it is like a monumental failure.

If the agencies of security have failed, then Nigerians should not be seen as failures. Let Nigerians organise themselves in the way of civil defence. Let Nigeria organise defence for their innocent souls because if the responsibility of the government cannot be carried out democratically, then we return to the jungle, he said.

Govt that cannot protect lives should not last  APC lawmaker

Another principal officer of the House, Mohammed Monguno (APC, Borno), the Chief Whip, said any government that cannot protect lives and properties should not last longer than necessary.

Any government that fails or neglects to secure the lives and properties of the citizens, that government is not supposed to last longer than absolutely necessary. Because that is the primacy of governance, he said.

Terrorism as cash cow for military

Ahmadu Jaha (APC, Borno), who represents Damboa/Gwazo/Chibok federal constituency, an area ravaged by terrorists, accused the military of intentionally prolonging the fight against insurgents and bandits due to financial reasons.

Mr Jaha argued that as long as the country continues to pump money into defence, the military will continue to see the fight against terrorists as cash cow.

In 2021 we budgeted N460 billion for the Nigerian Army alone, only N29 billion was for capital expenditure, the remaining was for recurrent expenditure. In 2022, we budgeted N571 billion for the Nigerian Army alone, only N37 billion is capital expenditure, the remaining were recurrent expenditures.

Mr Speaker, the truth of the matter is security in Nigeria has become a cash cow business. I am not willing to go without taking my own and he is not willing to go with taking his own and the other person is not willing to leave until he gets his own.

It just like a medical doctor putting professionalism aside. You presented a patient, as a patients relative you say okay every month Ill give you N100 million until when the patient recovers or otherwise. The doctor will make sure that the patient does not die and will continue to maintain that he does not recover because he will keep collecting the money. It is a simple analysis every person can understand.

Mr Speaker, it is a cash cow business, they dont want it (insecurity) to finish. Because they will realize that everybodys attention was diverted towards the North-east. Okay, let them release North-east to some extent and go to North-west after North-west they move to South-west. Before you realize what is happening, the whole country is gutted with security challenges.

Mr Jaha also accused a lawmaker of writing a commendation letter to one of the service chiefs, that he is doing good. Although Mr Jaha did not disclose the name of the lawmaker, he, however, said he will deal with the lawmaker and scandalise the lawmaker.

At this point, the Presiding officer, Deputy Speaker Idris Wase (APC, Plateau), cautioned Mr Jaha for using strong words on the floor of the House. Consequently, Mr Jaha withdrew the statement.

Also contributing to the motion, Dahung Bagos (PDP, Plateau), asked for the suspension of allocation of money to the defence sector which he said gets the allocations without anything to show for it.

Incompetent security committee chairman

While the debate was going on, the deputy speaker called out the Chairman House Committee on National Security and Intelligence, Shaaban Sharada (APC, Kano), accusing him of failing to do his job.

Mr Wase said the Committee on National Security and Intelligence is yet to submit a single report to the House, despite several referrals to the committee.

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I dont know one report that has been turned in by the Committee on National Security and Intelligence, I dont know, he said.

Corroborating the alleged inefficiency of Mr Sharada, the Chief Whip of the House, said his bill was the first to be considered by the 9th House, yet Mr Sharada failed to deliver the report until the committee was discharged of that responsibility.

With regard to the committee, I can also recall that the first bill that was passed for second reading is my bill, which is the bill on small arms and light weapons. That bill was referred to the national security committee, but up till now, there is no report up to the extent that had to go and appeal to Mr Speaker, which he had to set up an ad hoc committee. That is the extent the committee has not performed, he said.

Mr Sharada is a first-time lawmaker without any prior experience in intelligence or security, but served as media aide to Mr Buhari. He was elected into the House in 2019.

Following the debate, the House resolved that the Inspector General of Police, Usman Akali, deploys personnel to the region.

In addition, the government was directed to establish IDP camps in Kaduna State.

After the motion was put to vote, Mr Wase said the House should suspend all items on the order paper and adjourn plenary.
A court has barred the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, from taking over the Garki Hospital, one of the major government-owned hospitals in the capital city, from a firm managing it based on a concession agreement.

PREMIUM TIMES, Thursday, obtained a copy of the FCT High Courts order issued on Wednesday.

The judge, Charles Agbaza, gave the order specifically restraining the FCT minister, Muhammad Bello, and the FCT Administration (FCTA), from taking over the hospital fom the concessionaire, Nisa Premier Hospital Limited.

Nisa Premier Hospital had, on March 22, 2022, filed an application for a restraining order, following a March 1, 2022 letter by the authorities threatening to take over the hospital.

Ruling on the claimants application, the judge issued an interim injunction specifically barring the minister and the FCTA or their agents from taking custody of the hospital as threatened in the said letter.

He barred the two defendants and their agents from implementing, effecting, actualising or giving any effect to the letter.

The interim injunction also barred the authorities from taking any action or step whatsoever as contained or expressed in their March 1, 2022 on the concession agreement and taking custody of Garki Hospital Abuja.

The court also restrained the minister and the FCTA from interfering with, disturbing, hindering or obstructing the activities, business, or services of the hospital

The order, according to the judge, would last till the hearing and determination of a pending application by the claimant.

Firms right over hospital has expired

But the minister explained Thursday that the concession agreement giving Nisa Premier Hospital Limited the right to continue managing the hospital had expired.

So, by virtue of the agreement, it is supposed to expire on Thursday, 31st March 2022, a natural termination. So, its not the FCT terminating the agreement. Thats what we need to understand, FCTAs chief press secretary, Anthony Ogunleye, quoted him as saying.

The statement said the minister spoke at a meeting with a delegation of the FCT branch of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) led by its chairman.

No shutdown

The minister made no mention of the court order barring him and the FCTA from taking custody of the hospital.

He dispelled rumours about any plan to shut down the hospital as a result of the expiration of the concession agreement.

The minister said that the government had the responsibility to provide healthcare to residents of the FCT, therefore the government would never have considered shutting it down.

He said, So, how could we just shut our hospital, while we have been given a mandate to provide healthcare.

So many people tell me that Garki hospital will be shut down, so many people will lose their jobs, I just find it difficult to comprehend, quite frankly. How can a government just shut a hospital?

He insisted that the FCTA did not terminate the concession agreement, which it said ran its full tenure of 15 years.

The FCT Administration is not terminating the Garki District Hospital Concession. Even our distinguished Chairman here said terminate, but its not so.

The situation is that an agreement was entered 15 years ago and mutually accepted by the FCT Administration and the Nisa Medical Group. It was an agreement that has a commencement date and an expiration date, he said.

Alternative plan

He also explained that the authorities were working on a model where certain specialised departments would be run on PPP (Public-Private Partnership) arrangement.

The whole idea is to expand the hospital space, to expand the specialty space. So, we are not terminating anything. Its an agreement that is going to lapse, he said.

Read FCTAs full statement

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FCTA PRESS RELEASE

WE HAVE NO PLANS TO SHUT DOWN GARKI DISTRICT HOSPITAL  FCT MINISTER

1. The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello has said that the FCT Administration has no plans whatsoever to shut down the Garki District Hospital, explaining that the 15 year concession agreement signed between the FCTA and the Nisa Medical Group on the management of the hospital expires on the 31st of March, 2022 after which the hospital reverts back to the FCTA to enable the Administration provide for more public hospital bed spaces.

2. Malam Bello stressed that contrary to rumours making the rounds, the FCTA has no plans to disrupt the operations of the hospital even for a single day following the expiration of the 15-year concession agreement.

3. The Minister who gave the assurance when he received the Executive members of the FCT branch of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) led by its Chairman, Dr. Enema Job Amodu, on a courtesy visit to the FCTA, said the concession agreement had an expiration date as assented to by both parties.

4. In the words of the Honourable Minister: The FCT Administration is not terminating the Garki District Hospital Concession. Even our distinguished Chairman here said terminate, but it not so. The situation is that an agreement was entered 15 years ago and mutually accepted by the FCT Administration and the Nisa Medical Group. It was an agreement that has a commencement date and an expiration date.

5. So, by virtue of the agreement, it is supposed to expire on Thursday, 31st March 2022, a natural termination. So, its not the FCT terminating the agreement. Thats what we need to understand.

6. Speaking further the Minister said, The whole idea of PPP arrangement is very good. It was the first that was done and as a matter of fact, after that, we have done a couple of PPPs in infrastructure. Even within our existing hospitals, we are now working on a model where certain specialised departments would be run on PPP arrangement. The whole idea is to expand the hospital space, to expand the specialty space. So, we are not terminating anything. Its an agreement that is going to lapse.

7. The Minister said that the government has the responsibility to provide health care to residents of the FCT and shutting down the hospital will go contrary to that responsibility.

8. He said So, how could we just shut our hospital, while we have been given a mandate to provide healthcare. So many people tell me that Garki hospital will be shut down, so many people will lose their jobs, I just find it difficult to comprehend, quite frankly. How can a government just shut a hospital?.

9. The Minister assured that FCTA officials and the Nisa Group would work on modalities moving forward adding that whatever arrangement was reached thereafter will be in the best interest of residents of the Territory and other patrons of the hospital outside the FCT.

10. He also assured that all medical professionals working or training at the hospital who wish to remain there were free to do so as the administration does not have any intention to disrupt any activity at the hospital.

11. Malam Bello used the occasion to commend the NMA for the support that the FCT Administration had always enjoyed from the body and its members.

12. Earlier, the leader of the delegation, Dr Amodu expressed concern over FCTAs decision to terminate the concession agreement of the Garki District Hospital with NIA Medical Group. However, he noted that if for other reasons, the FCTA deems it fit not to renew the concession, with NISA Medical Group, the FCTA should consider the doctors and other health workers presently working in the hospital with a view to retaining their services and to complete their programmes such as residency training, internship etc.

13. While commending the Honourable Minister on achievements in infrastructural development in the FCT, Dr. Amodu reaffirmed NMAs commitment in partnering with the FCTA and identifying with its goals and aspirations.

14. Present at the meeting were the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusade Adesola, Chief of Staff to the Honourable Minister, Malam Bashir Mai Borno, Secretary, Health and Human Services Secretariat, Dr. Abubakar Tafida, Secretary, Economic Planning, Revenue Generation and PPP, Hon. Lukman Dabiri, Director General, Hospital Management Board, Dr. Muhammad Kawu, SSA Health and Hospital Matters, DR Ejike Orji, General Counsel, Barr. Muhammed Umar and other senior officials of the FCTA and Executives of the FCT NMA.

ANTHONY OGUNLEYE

CHIEF PRESS SECRETARY

31/03/2022

FCTA/OCPS/PR/317
Will Smith would have better served himself, Jada and millions around the world watching, by taking the stage not twice, but once, to express his displeasure and demand an apology for Rocks rotten joke. And even if Will Smith didnt step up, Jadas extraordinary career and sterling social work are legacies that cannot be diminished by the unguarded moment of a chatterbox.

One week before Hollywood, Nigeria hosted a different kind of Oscar moment. At the swearing-in ceremony of Charles Soludo, former governor of the Central Bank and new governor of the most commercially significant South-East state, the wife of the outgoing governor, Ebele Obiano, staged an unusual drama.

Ebele, Nigerias modest answer to Kenyas tempestuous Lucy Kibaki, floated across the dais to where Bianca Ojukwu, Nigerias former ambassador to Spain, was sitting to mockingly question what she was doing at the ceremony, after years of being a thorn in the governments side. What followed wasnt as pretty as Ebeles butterfly-sleeved pink dress.

Right there before hundreds of guests and hundreds more watching on TV and following on social media, Bianca, a former beauty queen, landed the outgoing governors wife a slap and ripped her wig. Nollywood may have called it, Fury of The Fish Wives. But this wasnt a movie; it was real.

The solemn handover ceremony instantly became a footnote. It was supplanted by an excited public that obviously judged Biancas assault excusable recompense for a provincial First Lady whose contempt for the State, apart from purchasing a pair of Gucci glasses worth $2,755, also included shopping for personal designer COVID-19 vaccines when the State could not afford a single jab for its citizens.

Biancas slap rocked social media. Even though she responded by claiming she had acted in self-defence, questions are still being asked about what kind of example she had set, whether she did not go too far and whether, in fact, the public had not been unfair in judging Ebeles record.

We had barely recovered from the Ebele-Bianca face off when Will Smith happened thousands of miles away, momentarily giving the impression that Hollywood had taken a leaf from Nollywood, except that even Woody Allen might have been hard pressed to script this. What was Will Smith thinking when he leapt to the stage and decked Chris Rock in reaction to the latters joke about Jada Pinkett Smiths hair loss?

Some might say this question puts the cart before the horse. That the joke should not be on Will Smith but on Rock, who chose the Smiths day of joy to crack a poor, tasteless joke, with no regard whatsoever for the misery that Jadas hair loss (a medical condition), must be causing the family.

And a tasteless joke by popular Nigerian comedian, Basketmouth, in 2014 comparing dating experiences between white girls and African girls, with a primer on which variety required a bit of rape to straighten out, was filed away until 2019 when he was chosen as an influencer for an EU-sponsored campaign against gender-based violence. The joke came back to haunt him. In spite of his apology, it cost him his EU endorsement as well.

Unfortunately, comedians, like most creative people, get paid to trade not only in others foibles, quirks or pet peeves, but in their misery as well. In his final days, Saddam Hussein served an Iraqi cabaret a death sentence for making him the butt of their jokes. For years, South Africas President Jacob Zuma was the subject of scathing jokes, and was in fact crowned with a shower head, a cartoon caricature from the presidents testimony during his rape trial.

Five years ago, American comedian, Katty Griffin, thought it was funny when she posed for a photo with the replica of Donald Trumps tomato-splattered head. But the backlash was more than she bargained for. In spite of her apology that it was in the nature of her business to constantly move the line and then cross it and that she didnt mean any harm, she lost her tour dates and endorsements, apart from being fired by CNN.

And a tasteless joke by popular Nigerian comedian, Basketmouth, in 2014 comparing dating experiences between white girls and African girls, with a primer on which variety required a bit of rape to straighten out, was filed away until 2019 when he was chosen as an influencer for an EU-sponsored campaign against gender-based violence. The joke came back to haunt him. In spite of his apology, it cost him his EU endorsement as well.

I dont think theres too much disagreement about whether Rocks joke on Jada crossed the line. Alopecia, a general term used for any form of hair loss, is not a laughing matter. While the disease is not medically serious, sufferers endure different levels of psychological discomfort, which like talking about periodontal disease or tooth loss in the presence of the elderly, can only compound their misery.

Some have said that a balding man would have taken the joke on his chin and that, in fact, Will Smith laughed momentarily before he caught the joke. But Jada is not a balding man and didnt need to be. She is an actress who has struggled with a medical condition. She has not been shy to acknowledge her condition and it was maliciously cynical of Rock to exploit it for a laugh.

The relationship between the Smiths and Rock is also fraught. After Rocks 2016 swipe at the Smiths that Jada boycotting the Oscars is like me boycotting Rihannas panties, and his comment that the Smiths went mad that there were no Black nominees that year, you would expect Rock to make his mickey elsewhere. But not only did it have to be the Smiths again, it had to be Jadas hair this time.

Unfortunately, however mildly the Academy may have responded to this embarrassing moment of one Black man striking another on stage, it just feeds the prejudice of a few who would use the incident to justify sleepwalking on demands for a more diverse, inclusive Oscars.

Rocks joke was disagreeable and deeply offensive. But in taking the law into his own hands and responding in a violent way, Will Smith modelled the worst excesses of modern pop culture  broken, out-of-control and narcissistic. Its part of the reason why we do our best to keep our children as far away from that space as we can. To watch, on live TV, one celebrity decking the other suggests that its OK to smash the next fellow if you dont like his or her joke.

There have, in fact, been insinuations that the Academys reluctance to press charges, which is possible under California laws, is not necessarily for Smiths sake but more for its own enlightened self-interest. How does going from #OscarsSowhite to #OscarsBlackfights help the Academy, for example? And would Will Smith have responded the same way if Rock was a Caucasian comedian? Or did the joke only suddenly become insensitive and bad because he was at the receiving end?

Medieval literature is replete with fighting for love or chivalry, which not only ended in personal tragedies but sometimes in ghastly blood feuds like the Spanish succession wars. But the world has come a long way since. Jada didnt need Will Smith to take us back to Lancelot or Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet.

Rocks joke was disagreeable and deeply offensive. But in taking the law into his own hands and responding in a violent way, Will Smith modelled the worst excesses of modern pop culture  broken, out-of-control and narcissistic. Its part of the reason why we do our best to keep our children as far away from that space as we can. To watch, on live TV, one celebrity decking the other suggests that its OK to smash the next fellow if you dont like his or her joke.

Will Smith didnt help Jada either. His action, like the unintended consequence of all chivalry, is to portray women as weak, defenceless and incomplete without male approval and protection, even when it is as foolish and needless as it was in this instance. In restraining himself after he was slapped, Rock looked the more admirable of the pair in the disgusting spectacle, somehow redeeming himself even in his moment of insane ribaldry.

Will Smith would have better served himself, Jada and millions around the world watching, by taking the stage not twice, but once, to express his displeasure and demand an apology for Rocks rotten joke. And even if Will Smith didnt step up, Jadas extraordinary career and sterling social work are legacies that cannot be diminished by the unguarded moment of a chatterbox.

We see from the crime scenes  whether at the slapping drama at the Nigerian handover ceremony or at the Oscars in California  that politicians and celebrities are human and like most humans would in a moment of insanity say or do the wrong things in total disregard of their social statuses or the values we hold dear.

Will Smiths assault on Chris Rock wont be the last unscripted highlight of the Oscar and other Hollywood big nights. Even if the world turns the other cheek, celebrities would deck it because they assume that their status entitles them to do so.

Azu Ishiekwene is Editor-in-Chief of LEADERSHIP.
We keep replacing tragedy with tragedy. The painful thing is that most often, the solutions to our problems are too cheap and you just wonder why we are not interested in cheap solutions but keep choosing the expensive alternatives. Take the case of Oluwabamise Ayanwola, the lady killed in a Lagos mass transit bus for example, a simple installation of CCTV cameras could have cautioned drivers and regulated social behaviour in the buses, but that cheap option was jettisoned for an expensive one  the death of a promising Nigerian youth.

Another sad story from motherland was told early Tuesday with the death of an alumnus of the University of Port Harcourt, Chinelo Megafu Nwando, a young medical doctor, who should be in her late 20s. She was one of the passengers killed by terrorists in the ill-fated Abuja-Kaduna bound train on Monday night.

She wasnt the only one gunned down by terrorists in that horrific attack, but the desperate call for prayers in her last tweet at about 9.43pm, drew attention to her. Many were not really sure of what to believe  whether the attack was real or fake until she tweeted: Im in the train. I have been shot please pray for me.

I dont know how many people eventually prayed for her, if any did, the prayers apparently failed to deliver the expected answer, as the news of her death was shared on Tuesday morning by her friend. That was also when we were told that she was billed to travel out of Nigeria this Friday.

She wasnt the only youth wasted in that incident. Twenty-nine-year-old Farida Sule Mohammed, a lawyer, and daughter of the National Organising Secretary of the Peoples Redemption Party, Mallam Sule Mohammed, was also killed in the Monday night train attack.

Several others, including a director with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Abdu Isa Kofa Mata, and the Secretary-General of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) of Nigeria, Barrister Musa-Lawal Ozigi, were also killed by the terrorists.

Expectedly, Nigerians have been wailing, mourning and condemning the unfortunate incident. Politicians have been competing among themselves on who would write the best wailing script, as it were. The Nigerian government also held a minute of silence in honour of the lost souls during its Federal Executive Council meeting on Wednesday. This has always been the pattern. It is our own way of responding to monumental tragedies. In fact, the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Kaduna State chapter, says mourning has become a normal occurrence in the State.

We live in a country where the leadership places zero value on citizens lives. Our leaders dont give a damn in sacrificing the citizenry on the altar of politics. In 2014, Nasir el-Rufai, the same governor of Kaduna State, where mourning has now been described as a daily affair, said terrorism had become an industry in Nigeria, while marketing the present governments CHANGE agenda. Seven years after, terrorism has moved beyond being an industry to being the government. Terrorists are now in charge. El-Rufais Kaduna seems to be the headquarters of kidnapping and terrorism now. The governor recently withdrew his son from a public school to prevent him from being kidnapped. In the last one week, nearly 100 people have been killed in Giwa Local Government Area (LGA) of the State. Fifteen villagers were reportedly killed when bandits invaded Hayin Kanwa village, Yakawada ward, in Giwa Local Government Area of the State on Sunday. Three days earlier, about 50 people were reportedly killed across nine villages in the same LGA.

All lives matter and no Nigerian, no matter how old, deserves to be wasted as it is currently being witnessed. The rate at which this country is cutting down the lives of its promising stars is worrisome. We have not only ruined our present, we are destroying our future. I ask myself what should these two young ladies have done for themselves that they hadnt done? These are young bright stars  a lawyer and a doctor  two of the most competitive courses in our universities.

Imagine the terrorists response to the order of Nigerias president and commander-in-chief, Muhammadu Buhari, to service chiefs to deal with them ruthlessly  they reportedly ambushed another passenger train along the beleaguered Abuja-Kaduna track, as the train was returning to Abuja from Kaduna. If we think this is one of the fake stories out there, what about the report in the Daily Trust on Wednesday morning that terrorists have again killed another set of 23 people and injured many others in two villages in Giwa Local Government Area of Kaduna State. This is the fourth attack in a row by terrorists within a week in villages across the local government area.

In Nigeria, security operatives help in picking up dead bodies. They did from the Kaduna-Abuja bound train, they also did on Tuesday night at Anguwar Maiwa and Anguwar Kanwa. Although, the villagers duly informed the security agents when they saw that the terrorists were regrouping on motorbikes as early as 5 pm on Monday evening, the security personnel did nothing about the information. They, however, helped in discovering 22 bodies, out of the 23 said to have been killed, and subsequently assisted in burying them according to eye witnesses.

All lives matter and no Nigerian, no matter how old, deserves to be wasted as it is currently being witnessed. The rate at which this country is cutting down the lives of its promising stars is worrisome. We have not only ruined our present, we are destroying our future. I ask myself what should these two young ladies have done for themselves that they hadnt done? These are young bright stars  a lawyer and a doctor  two of the most competitive courses in our universities. Aside the huge cost of studying these courses and the tough hurdle that must be crossed to gain admission, the courses place a lot of demands on ones mental faculty. You have to read volumes of books, combined with lots of practical, etc. To imagine that these young ladies went through all of that only to be killed by some illiterate blood-thirsty beings is unimaginable. Very sad!

I cant count the number of young Nigerians that I know who have left this country in the last few months. You cant blame them. They are tired. It is becoming increasingly frustrating to remain in this country. Unfortunately, our leaders dont care. They are insensitive. Right now, the only thing that matters to them is who gets what in 2023.

We keep replacing tragedy with tragedy. The painful thing is that most often, the solutions to our problems are too cheap and you just wonder why we are not interested in cheap solutions but keep choosing the expensive alternatives. Take the case of Oluwabamise Ayanwola, the lady killed in a Lagos mass transit bus for example, a simple installation of CCTV cameras could have cautioned drivers and regulated social behaviour in the buses, but that cheap option was jettisoned for an expensive one  the death of a promising Nigerian youth. Never mind that the countries where Lagos imported these buses from have cameras in their own mass transit buses.

Why are we always reluctant in using available technology to solve our problems? For example, we know that satellite images can help in fighting insecurity. That is why countries like the U.S., U.K., and China have many satellites in orbit. But Nigeria has just two satellites. One of them is on the verge of shutting down due to its expired battery. Meanwhile, we ought to have about 15 to 30 satellites orbiting the earth and performing different functions.

We invested billions of naira in building train tracks and getting locomotives and gave no consideration to the security of the passengers. This is simply because we dont put people at the centre of our planning. When Bill Gates advised Nigeria to concentrate on building its human resources, some people in government criticised him. If our government had cared about the people these trains are meant for, they would have spared some money to mount security surveillance along the tracks. Was there any on board radio communications/GPS with control centre or track cameras in the trains?

The minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, on Tuesday said he predicted the Monday attack, lamenting that he had requested digital security apparatus to forestall such an incident. Amaechi said that the attack would have been foiled if government had procured N3 billion high-capacity rail track cameras and sensors. He said the equipment would eliminate all blind spots on the train corridors across the country.

Well, the ministers disclosure has further confirmed that people were not at the centre of our planning. The issue of in-built security devices in the trains was an after-thought. Otherwise, those locomotives wouldnt have commenced operations at all without the security devices in place in the first instance. That is what nations that value human lives do. The president has just ordered the installation of these devices now-after a huge sacrifice of deaths!

Why are we always reluctant in using available technology to solve our problems? For example, we know that satellite images can help in fighting insecurity. That is why countries like the U.S., U.K., and China have many satellites in orbit. But Nigeria has just two satellites. One of them is on the verge of shutting down due to its expired battery. Meanwhile, we ought to have about 15 to 30 satellites orbiting the earth and performing different functions. Security operatives can use satellite imagery to monitor all exit and entry borders and gather intelligence. Satellites can monitor the movement of terrorists. Of course, there could still be pockets of attacks here and there, but we can nip many in the bud with the use of technology.

Perhaps, things will get better in this country when we all realise that a functional society serves the good of all. Lets remember that terrorists shut down the Kaduna airport before the attack on the train, so let no one think they are invincible. As Bill Gates rightly noted, Nigeria will thrive when every Nigerian is able to thrive.

Olabisi Deji-Folutile is editor-in-chief, franktalknow.com and member, Nigerian Guild of Editors. Email: bisideji@yahoo.co.uk.
What is the worst-case scenario? Is the fear that women would no longer be responsible for domestic chores and child-rearing? Or that they would take control of decision-making in the domestic sphere too? Is the fear that men would be expected to take paternity leave, and put their careers on hold while taking care of their babies?

It was a colourful gathering of women, and woke men sympathetic to the cause, from different parts of Nigeria, organised under the aegis of the United States Agency for International Developments Democracy and Governance programme. Although it was unbearably hot that sunny day in November 1998, you could not tell the discomfort the two thousand plus crowd faced, including those who were pregnant, as we marched in unison, propelled by the passion we felt for the messages we held aloft on our placards: Let Women Lead Too and Give Women a Voice in Decision-making.

We were headed to the Constitution Debate Co-ordinating Committee led by the late Justice Niki Tob,i with the mandate to make a case for affirmative action to enable at least one-third (35 per cent) representation of women in decision-making in our beloved country. The womens lobby was strong and well-worded, led by erudite professor of Law, late Jadesola Akande, amongst other equally learned representatives.

We were very hopeful. After all, Nigeria was on the threshold of history, about to embrace democratic rule again, with the scheduled 1999 elections, after so many years during which the military passed the baton from one officer to the next via a series of military coups, interspersed with very brief spells of democratic governance. Some of the women who made up the ranks of the rally were going to have the opportunity for the very first time, to elect their own leaders in the 1999 elections. Our hope was palpable; hope in a more democratic process and a more equitable, peaceful, progressive Nigeria.

Fast forward to 2022. It is March  the month in which International Womens Day is celebrated worldwide  and another group of Nigerian women have gathered in the streets outside the National Assembly. The torment of the gruelling hot sun searing through them was no match for the intense passion knitting them together, as they marched on the streets of Abuja, day after day, holding aloft their placards that said, Let Women Lead Too and Give Women a Voice in the Senate.

Twenty years after that first womens march, women are still marching on the same streets, holding the same placards, demanding the same exact thing.

In March 2022, Nigerias Senate voted against bills intended to provide a minimal number of seats to women to enable them to participate in decision-making in Nigeria  a country that is currently bedevilled by solvable developmental challenges, including how to provide consistent power supply, potable water, gas, petrol, motorable roads, decent public hospitals, transportation and schools, amongst a myriad of other issues.

One of the bills  to provide for special seats for women in the National and State Houses of Assembly  if passed, would enable one additional Senator for each State and the Federal Capital Territory, who shall be a woman. The current structure already has three senators from each State and one from the Federal Capital Territory. In the House of Assembly, if the bill was passed, it would provide two additional members for each State and the Federal Capital Territory, who shall be women, in addition to the already existing three hundred- and sixty-members

There have been protests, outcries and several headlines and reports about the injustice of the whole thing.

Im here to ask just one question: What is the big deal about women occupying these seats of power? What are the Nigerian men in power so scared stiff of anyway?

What is the worst-case scenario? Is the fear that women would no longer be responsible for domestic chores and child-rearing? Or that they would take control of decision-making in the domestic sphere too? Is the fear that men would be expected to take paternity leave, and put their careers on hold while taking care of their babies?

Would the government pay attention to very important issues that fall on the blind side of policy and intervention, where men predominate (a ratio of seven per cent female to 93 per cent male, as we currently have in the Senate and House of Representatives combined)? Would diversity not enable decision-makers to have a more balanced and progressive view?

Lets imagine the less petrifying narrative together for a moment. What if women occupied more seats in the Senate? Would it be so bad for the government to pay attention to some issues that affect women, and children (the so-called vulnerable groups), for a change?

Would the government pay attention to very important issues that fall on the blind side of policy and intervention, where men predominate (a ratio of seven per cent female to 93 per cent male, as we currently have in the Senate and House of Representatives combined)? Would diversity not enable decision-makers to have a more balanced and progressive view?

Lets consider this seriously:

Would we have more dignified public transportation? (I saw this recently, and my heart bled: A boy of about 10 years was returning from school on a very hot afternoon, and in the intense traffic he was wedged between adult bodies so tightly glued together, that he was fast asleep standing).

Would Nigeria relinquish her shameful position as one of the countries with the highest maternal mortality rates in our 21st-century world? (Reports indicate that one in 22 Nigerian women die in the process of childbearing. This makes Nigeria home to 20 per cent of all maternal deaths in the world!).

Would women-owned businesses produce more wealth for the country because they are not hindered by land ownership/inheritance/cultural challenges, among others?

Would we have fewer out-of-school children (especially girls), fewer child brides and unemployed young people?

Would women who need to use public toilets more frequently and are not wired to pee on the streets and highways be given consideration in urban planning?

Would corruption, the bane of development and growth, be more rigorously tackled?

I am not saying that accepting a minimum number of female candidates into this revered, big boys club, sorry assembly, would solve all of Nigerias problems, but shouldnt we at least have the benefit of alternative voices, male and female?

In the debilitating heatwave that the country is currently experiencing, would we have electricity supply that lasts even up to two days at a stretch, to keep hospitals and other life-saving services and businesses running, even if not to fan the hot air circulating in our homes without public pipe-borne water?

Would we be assured that when young people exercise their right to peaceful protest over the violation of their rights, they would not be gunned down with our national flag draped around their shoulders?

Just food for thought.

PS: Apparently, due to the protests by womens groups and other concerned parties, the House announced the decision to rescind three out of the five gender-related bills that were rejected. The two bills, not on the table for reconsideration, are those offering affirmative action, in terms of women accessing 35 per cent of positions in political parties and in appointive positions at the state and federal levels.

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The bills to be re-tabled include that which provides for citizenship by registration for foreign spouses of Nigerian women and another that provides for a Nigerian woman married to an indigene of a state different from her state of origin for at least five years, to become an indigene of her husbands state and to be entitled to all rights and privileges of an indigene of that state.

Frankly, I would consider the passage of these bills justice in action, which needs no further queries, given that male citizens already have been enjoying these rights without debate.

Listen, I am not saying that accepting a minimum number of female candidates into this revered, big boys club, sorry assembly, would solve all of Nigerias problems, but shouldnt we at least have the benefit of alternative voices, male and female?

Just more food for thought.

After all, as they say, what is good for the goose is good for the gander.

Arit Oku, a gender and development specialist, writes from Lagos.
The Governor of Niger State, Abubakar Bello, has confirmed the report that several residents, including women and children fleeing from gunmen, drowned in the Guni-Zumba River.

The victims were inhabitants of Guni and Kurgbaku communities in Munya local governments of the state.

The governors media aide, Mary Noel-Berje, in a statement on Thursday described the incident as painful and disturbing.

He condoled with the family members of the deceased and the entire people of Munya Local Government Area.

The attacks which were said to be simultaneous forced the people to flee in an overloaded boat which later capsized killing all on board as no one was said to be rescued, the official said.

The governor has directed the state emergency agency to immediately commence search and rescue operations as well as provide succour to people in the affected communities.

Residents said they fled to Zuma, a neighbouring community when they got a hint of the mass movement of gunmen towards their community.

They hastily gathered some of their belongings into wooden boats to cross to the relatively safe Zuma community.

Many others reportedly arrived at Zuma on Wednesday morning.

Gunmen are active in Shiroro, Munya, Paikoro and Gurara and have invaded several communities in the areas with several residents reportedly killed or kidnapped.

Meanwhile, Mr Bello decried the unprovoked attacks on innocent citizens of these communities.

The governor stated that no matter how hard the criminals sustain their activities, the government will remain steadfast and will not be discouraged in its efforts to end criminality in the state.

The government did not give the number of those who died in the boat mishap.

But locals divers have reportedly rescued at least 16 bodies while others are still missing.
The Nigerian Airforce will provide surveillance services on the Abuja- Kaduna railway when operations of the railways, which were suspended after gunmen attacked a Kaduna-bound train on Monday, resume, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said.

Mr Amaechi said the air force surveillance will be in place until the government procured the digital surveillance system which is needed to improve security along the route.

The Nigerian government, in a meeting after Mondays attack finally approved the immediate procurement of the surveillance system, whose approval had lingered for more than five months.

Mr Amaechi also stated that the government is working to fix the damage caused by the attack on the Kaduna-bound train and that services will resume immediately the repairs are completed.

In a tweet via his official Twitter handle, Mr Amaechi said he has spoken with the Chief of Air Staff on the development.

Ive spoken with the Chief of Air Staff; once we are done fixing the rail track, the trains will resume service with aerial security from the Airforce until the Integrated security surveillance & monitoring solution for the rail line is implemented as ordered by the @NGRPresident, he Tweeted.

He, however, did not give a timeline for the completion of the repair on the track and on the train.
Armed gunmen popularly called bandits on Tuesday attacked Several communities in Talata Mafara and Bakura Local Government areas in Zamfara State killing scores of people.

PREMIUM TIMES gathered that the affected communities are Ruwan Gora and Ruwan Gizo (Talata Mafara) and Yar geda (Bakura).

Local sources told this newspaper that the village head of Yargeda, Abdu Umaru, was killed by the bandits.

Kabiru Muhammad, a civil servant and resident of Bakura town, told this reporter that the attackers arrived in the community around 11:45 p.m.

As usual, they came on motorcycles and started shooting sporadically the moment they entered the village. You could hear the gunshots from Talata Mafara main town. After the attack, four people were killed including the village head, who was killed inside his house. Others were killed throughout the community. A local trader, Malami Shehu and several other persons were kidnapped, he said.

Mr Muhammad, however, said they could not ascertain the number of those killed because according to him some residents might have run into the bush during the attack.

The local governments sole administrator of Talata Mafara, Dahiru Maiyara, confirmed the attacks on the communities.

Yes. Ruwan Gora and Ruwan Gizo were attacked so also Yargeda under Bakura. We know so far that the village head of Yargeda has been killed alongside other residents. Overall, weve not gathered the number of those killed and those abducted. The attacks were simultaneously carried, he said.

Mr Mai Yara promised the numbers of those killed and abducted are confirmed.

He also confirmed that the deputy governor, Hassan Nasiha, Commissioner of police, Ayuba Elkana among others have visited the communities attacked.

A House of Representatives member, representing Anka/ Talata Mafara, Kabiru Yahaya, has also condemned the attacks, calling on the government at all levels to protect its citizens.

Police authorities are yet to release an official statement on the attack and an SMS sent to the command spokesperson, Mohammed Shehu, was not replied to.

States in the northwest like Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina Sokoto and Kebbi and Niger in the North-central region have become a hotbed for gunmen locally referred to as bandits, who go on regular killing sprees on unprotected communities. The bandits also abduct people for ransom and force villages to pay protection levies.
A 20-year-old girl (name withheld) on Thursday told an Ikeja Special Offences Court how her father, Akin Isaac, allegedly impregnated her and aborted the pregnancy.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the survivor said, while being led in evidence by State Prosecutor, Y. A. Alebiosu, that prior to living with her father, she was staying with her grandmother.

The survivor said her father raped her at age 17 during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 at their residence in Alapere, Lagos.

She said her father had asked her to come and live with him in 2019 so she could go to secondary school and to enable him to take proper care of her.

The witness said her father, who had two wives, began touching her body suggestively.

I was scared, so I begged him to leave me, but he went to buy a cane, put it on the table and later beat me with it in order to have sex with me.

He threatened to kill me if I tell anyone. I was 17 years old at that time. I was in JSS 3 and I am a kind of person that used to sing but I changed suddenly.

I begged him one morning that I do not want my life to spoil but he ignored my plea and had sex with me again. When he did it again, I did not go out, she said.

The survivor further told the court that her father stopped her from attending her church.

I used to go to C&S church. He stopped me from going to the church but pastor came to beg him to let me attend church.

The second Sunday, I went to church, but he stopped me again and said I should be attending Redeemed church and I told him I do not want to go to there.

My father seized my phone, broke the SIM so that I could no longer communicate with my 27-year-old half-brother whom I usually confided in.

He also used Gotv iron to beat me and some neighbours even said I should come and live with them while others are afraid of him because he is an OPC man, the survivor said.

She told the court that after she missed her period and found out she was pregnant, her father tried to abort the pregnancy by giving her drugs and injections but to no avail.

I received 15 injections for abortion. He bought a medicine, the drug was not working. A nurse asked me who got me pregnant, but I could not tell her it was my father.

He later took me to a place where there was no light and the pregnancy was terminated, she said.

The witness further told the court that her father also tried to have sex with her again while she was sleeping in July, 2020, after the abortion, but she objected, leading to the intervention of the neighbours.

That night, he came and started beating me and when neighbours intervened, he told them that I am his daughter and he can choose to do whatever he likes with me, even saying that if he wishes he could kill me because I am his daughter, she said.

Another prosecution witness, Modupe Aladelusi, a social worker with the Ministry of Youth and Social Development, who handles cases related to violence, abuse and neglect of children, told the court that she received a call on June 17, 2020 on the agencys hotline.

She said she received a call from a man who said the girl said she would commit suicide, that she did not have anywhere to go to.

The social worker said she went to a police station and a police woman accompanied her to the girls house.

She added that they later took the survivor to the police station where they took her statement, and while at the station, her father came and they arrested him.

When we got to the office, she said her father has once impregnated her and took her somewhere to abort it, the social work told the court.

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Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo adjourned the case until April 13 for continuation of trial.

(NAN)
Government Congratulates Royal Gibraltar Regiment on Grant of New Colours

Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar proudly congratulates the men and women of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment on the grant of their new Royal colours.

The Chief Minister, the Hon Fabian Picardo QC MP, said: "Today has been one of my proudest moments as Chief Minister and the whole of the Government, and the Cabinet in particular, express our most sincere congratulations to all current and former members of the Regiment on this important day.

"Seeing the Regiment at Windsor, receiving their new, blue Royal colours was a quite magnificent moment.

"The ceremony, carried out by His Royal Highness the Earl of Wessex, was as symbolic as it was emotional.

"The emotive words of the Earl evoked the depth of the loyalty of the People of Gibraltar and were reciprocated by the excellent response from the Regiment's Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Simon Dyson.

"It was particularly poignant that the ceremony was taking place at Windsor, within earshot of Her Majesty The Queen herself, where she is in residence, with the Royal Standard consequently flying above Windsor Castle.

"The nature of the colours ceremony and the mounting of the guard at Windsor and other Royal Palaces by the Regiment is a vivid, technicolour demonstration of the relationship between our Sovereign and the British Crown and the Regiment.

"It is therefore also an indelible demonstration of the undeniably British sovereignty of Gibraltar which has once again been evidenced in this important moment in the history of the Regiment.

"I want to also thank the members of the Bermuda Regiment who have been joining their Gibraltarian colleagues in the ranks of the Regiment on these ceremonial duties. They too should be very proud of the work they have done in these deeply symbolic events that carry such meaning for our People.

"Finally, I want to thank the families of the members of our Regiment for coming out to London to support those on parade and for their constant, enduring backing for the work of the Regiment. I know they are a sine qua non for each and every member of the Regiment at every rank.

"The pride we feel today in the Regiment will be in display in Gibraltar when we welcome 'the Barbarians' back home to the Rock with their new colours, something I know we will all be looking forward to."
Plans for development of iron ore mine, rail enhancements from Guinea to Liberian coast and port development at Buchanan to enable exports

CONAKRY, Guinea, March 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Nimba Development Company, "NDC", a modern mining company focused on resource development in West Africa, is pleased to announce that it has been transferred control of Societe de Developpement Nimba ("SDN"), formerly Zali Mining S.A. and prior to that West African Exploration S.A. ("WAE"), the owner of the Nimba Iron Ore Project. Alongside NDC, which has an 85% shareholding, the Government of Guinea holds the remaining 15% in SDN.

NDC and the Government of Guinea have agreed to work together to advance the development of the Nimba Iron Ore Project and associated transport infrastructure so as to encourage responsible economic development in the Nimba region of Guinea.

NDC is a UK registered company with an international, mining experienced management team and Guinean and International shareholders. SDN is a Guinean registered company with rights to develop the iron ore assets adjacent to, but not intruding into, the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve. It is a priority of SDN and its shareholders to ensure that the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve and its flora and fauna are protected. All mining development will be subject to stringent international environmental protection standards with adherence monitored by UNESCO to ensure there is no negative impact.

In addition to the development of the mine, and in order to ensure that the iron ore accesses global seaborne markets, a rail extension will be developed to connect the Nimba region to the existing railroad in Tokadeh and the port of Buchanan on the Liberian coast. It is intended that this transport infrastructure will also be made available to other users in order to encourage increased investment in South-Eastern Guinea as well as to increase connectivity for individuals across Guinea and Liberia.

The executive management of NDC is led by Chief Executive Officer, Steven Din, and includes, Paul Wilson (Chief Financial Officer), Alexander Pouget (Chief Marketing Officer) and Gert Buelens (Chief Legal Counsel).

Steven Din, Chief Executive Officer of Nimba Development Company, commented:

"On behalf of everyone at the Nimba Development Company, I would like to express how honoured we are to be working alongside the Guinean Government and representatives of the community in the Nimba region. Together, we have an opportunity to accelerate economic development in South-Eastern Guinea and develop an iron ore facility that will, for the first time from this region, export iron ores from Guinea through Liberia to the coast.

"We are excited about developing a modern, 21st century mining company that holds the environment and local communities at the core of its identity. The executive management team at NDC is world class, bringing skills and experience from across the industry to be combined with local talent to ensure timely delivery of our maiden project.

"The next step in our journey is to work with our development and infrastructure partners to finalise the necessary feasibility studies and agree detailed, future plans. I look forward to implementing NDC's long-term strategy and helping catalyse the creation in West Africa of a third, global iron ore province. Alongside Western Australia and Brazil, West Africa can be a globally important iron ore producer, delivering long-overdue economic development for Guinea and Liberia."

Enquiries:

Yellow Jersey (PR advisor)

Tom Randell

Henry Wilkinson

Annabelle Wills



Nimba@yellowjerseypr.com

Tel: +44 (0) 20 3004 9512

Notes to Editors

Nimba Development Company ("NDC") is a modern mining company focused on resource development in West Africa.

Further information on Nimba Development Company can be found on the Company's website: www.nimbadevelopment.com.

SOURCE Nimba Development Company
CALABASAS, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH) (the "Company") today announced that its operating partnership, American Homes 4 Rent, L.P. (the "Operating Partnership"), has priced an offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of 3.625% Senior Notes due 2032 (the "2032 Notes") and $300 million aggregate principal amount of 4.300% Senior Notes due 2052 (the "2052 Notes" and together with the 2032 Notes, the "Notes"). The 2032 Notes will be issued at 97.517% of par value with a coupon of 3.625% per annum. The 2052 Notes will be issued at 97.237% of par value with a coupon of 4.300% per annum. Interest on the Notes is payable semi-annually in arrears on April 15 and October 15 of each year, commencing October 15, 2022. The 2032 Notes will mature on April 15, 2032 and the 2052 Notes will mature on April 15, 2052. The offering is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and is expected to close on or about April 7, 2022.

The Operating Partnership intends to use the net proceeds from the offering to repay amounts outstanding on its revolving credit facility and any remaining net proceeds for general corporate purposes, including, without limitation, property acquisitions and developments, the expansion, redevelopment and/or improvement of existing properties in its portfolio, other capital expenditures, the redemption of its Series F preferred shares, the redemption of its other preferred shares, the repayment of outstanding indebtedness, working capital and other general purposes.

BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan and PNC Capital Markets LLC are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering, and Wells Fargo Securities, BMO Capital Markets, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Raymond James are acting as book-running managers for the offering. Mizuho Securities, Scotiabank, US Bancorp, Regions Securities LLC, Ramirez & Co., Inc. and RBC Capital Markets are acting as co-managers for the offering.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any offer or sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such an offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful before registration or qualification thereof under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction.

The offering is being made pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and only by means of a prospectus and prospectus supplement. Copies of the preliminary prospectus supplement relating to the offering and the final prospectus supplement, when available, may be obtained by visiting EDGAR on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov or from BofA Securities, Inc., 200 North College Street, NC1-004-03-43, Charlotte, NC 28255-0001, Attn: Prospectus Department, by telephone at 1-800-294-1322 or by email at [email protected]; J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, Attn: Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, or by telephone at 1-866-803-9204; and PNC Capital Markets LLC, The Tower at PNC Plaza, 300 Fifth Avenue, Floor 10, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, or by telephone at 1-855-881-0697.

About American Homes 4 Rent

American Homes 4 Rent (NYSE: AMH) is a leader in the single-family home rental industry and "American Homes 4 Rent" is a nationally recognized brand for rental homes, known for high-quality, good value and resident satisfaction. We are an internally managed Maryland real estate investment trust, or REIT, focused on acquiring, developing, renovating, leasing, and operating attractive, single-family homes as rental properties. As of December 31, 2021, we owned 57,024 single-family properties in selected submarkets in 22 states.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" that relate to beliefs, expectations or intentions and similar statements concerning matters that are not of historical fact and are generally accompanied by words such as "estimate," "project," "predict," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "intend," "potential," "plan," "goal," "outlook," "guidance" or other words that convey the uncertainty of future events or outcomes. These forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, the Operating Partnership's ability to complete the offering and the intended use of net proceeds. The Operating Partnership has based these forward-looking statements on its current expectations and assumptions about future events. While the Operating Partnership's management considers these expectations to be reasonable, they are inherently subject to risks, contingencies and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Operating Partnership's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These and other important factors, including "Risk Factors" disclosed in, or incorporated by reference into, the prospectus from the Company's and the Operating Partnership's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, and in the Company's and the Operating Partnership's subsequent filings with the SEC, may cause the Operating Partnership's actual results to differ materially from anticipated results expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Investors should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform to actual results or changes in expectations, unless required by applicable law.

Contact:

American Homes 4 Rent

Investor Relations

Phone: (855) 794-2447

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE American Homes 4 Rent
ATLANTA, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Artivion, Inc. (NYSE: AORT), a leading cardiac and vascular surgery company focused on aortic disease, today announced that it will participate at the upcoming 21st Annual Needham Virtual Healthcare Conference. The Company's virtual fireside chat is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, April 14, 2022.

A live webcast of the virtual fireside chat will be accessible through Artivion's website, www.artivion.com, on the Investors page. An archived copy of the webcast will be available for 90 days on the same website.

About Artivion, Inc.

Headquartered in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, Artivion, Inc. is a medical device company focused on developing simple, elegant solutions that address cardiac and vascular surgeons' most difficult challenges in treating patients with aortic diseases. Artivion's four major groups of products include: aortic stents and stent grafts, surgical sealants, On-X mechanical heart valves, and implantable cardiac and vascular human tissues. Artivion markets and sells products in more than 100 countries worldwide. For additional information about Artivion, visit our website, www.artivion.com.

Artivion Gilmartin Group LLC D. Ashley Lee Brian Johnston / Lynn Lewis Executive Vice President & Phone: 332-895-3222 Chief Financial Officer [email protected] Phone: 770-419-3355



SOURCE Artivion, Inc.
Leah is a graduate of Harvard University, and the University of Wisconsin  Madison. She has also been a scholar at Oxford University, a fellow at the University of Chicago and a fellow at Harvard University Law School. She has been recognized by the White House as a leader in climate and energy, and was honored as one of "40 under 40" by Crain's Chicago Business.

"Leah's experience understanding the intersections between energy research and environment, agriculture, transportation and other elements of critical infrastructure make her a valued contribution for AST's clients" says AST President and COO, Scott Heefner. "She knows the players, she knows the data and she will help set a future-forward path for AST, particularly in the energy RD&D sector."

Leah was drawn to AST largely because of its highly regarded reputation in the energy sector, but was just as thrilled about joining a woman-owned, CMMI Level 3 and ISO 9001 certified small business. "Working with the diverse and dynamic staff that have a variety of backgrounds and professional experience is exciting. After my initial conversations with the team, I knew AST was where I wanted to land", said Leah. "AST is a special company. Through their unique entrepreneurial spirit and family-oriented atmosphere, they remain true to their West Virginia roots."

Leah is particularly passionate about seeing novel research and development technologies turn into commercialized solutions that make an impact on energy, climate, and national security. It has been her lifelong belief that if you have the skills and ability to make positive change, environmentally or otherwise, push forward and just do it.

During her free time, Leah is a champion in STEM often volunteering to students in the community. Whether she is invited to speak or through hands-on learning opportunities in an actual lab and research setting, she utilizes her knowledge to provide awareness and cultivate a future of STEM equity.

Allegheny Science & Technology (AST) is an energy solutions firm with expertise in applied science & technology, mission assurance and data and decision analytics. Through our team of consultants, AST delivers solutions that drive innovation and #EMPOWER government and commercial clients.

For more information visit: www.alleghenyst.com ; For media inquiries contact Stephanie Pethtel, Director of Public Relations, 304-657-9107, [email protected]

SOURCE Allegheny Science & Technology
COLUMBUS, Ohio, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Overlooked Ventures , a Columbus, Ohio-based firm, today announced an initial investment by Bank of America to help advance capital investments in businesses established by historically ignored entrepreneurs. The bank's support is part of its commitment to invest $350 million in minority-focused funds to support minority entrepreneurs.

Founded in May 2021, Overlooked Ventures is led by General Partners, Janine Sickmeyer and Brandon Brooks, and focuses on investing in diverse founding startup teams whose companies are comprised of one or more historically ignored founder(s). The company has already established Fund I, a $50MM fund investing in industry-agnostic startups in tech/tech-enabled companies at the pre-seed/seed stage.

"Overlooked Ventures is honored to have received our first institutional check from Bank of America, a financial institution that has and continues to make such a positive impact to advance minority groups. We admire the bank's commitment to underserved communities and its support of Overlooked Ventures, a firm led by first-time fund managers," said Janine Sickmeyer, Founding and General Partner at Overlooked Ventures, Janine Sickmeyer.

Overlooked Ventures is classified as a 506(c) and has invested in eight companies across six industries including Fintech, Mobility Tech, Femtech, and Age Tech. The portfolio has the following diversity breakdown: 42% Black, 16% Hispanic-Latino, and the remaining 42% are Indian, Iranian, Syrian, and Ashkenazi Jew. Investments include:

Blooming Health  New York, NY .

. CarpeDM  Washington, D.C.

College Cash  Dallas, TX.

 Femly  Baltimore, MD .

. Govalo  Atlanta, GA. and Palo Alto, CA.

and Lalo  Seattle, WA.

Moment.ai  Washington, D.C.

The Difference  New York, NY .

Bank of America is joining Overlooked Ventures as the firm's first institutional investor.

"Bank of America's equity investment in Overlooked Ventures reinforces our ongoing efforts to address the continual gap in access to capital and to deploy more into emerging companies led by diverse entrepreneurs," said Kelly D'Ambrosia, President, Bank of America Columbus. "Access to capital is key to participation in economic growth and wealth creation, and Overlooked Ventures is uniquely positioned to provide funding and make introductions for underrepresented fund managers and founders."

Investments like the one made to Overlooked Ventures are one component of Bank of America's $1.25 billion commitment to advance racial and ethnic equality, and create economic opportunity. As part of its broader commitment, Bank of America made a $350 million commitment to support minority and women-led companies through capital investments in mission-focused venture funds. In just over one year, more than $300 million of that funding has been committed across 100+ minority-focused and minority-led equity funds.

Overlooked Ventures

Overlooked Ventures is a venture capital firm focused on supporting and investing in early-stage companies with one or more historically ignored founder(s) and provides them with capital, resources, and connections to scale their businesses. General Partners Janine Sickmeyer and Brandon Brooks are non-consensus and the first-check fund managers committed to backing underserved founders. Overlooked Ventures is actively raising capital for its $50MM Fund I, under 506(c), and deploying capital into pre-seed and seed startups in tech, tech-enabled, and D2C companies with one or more historically ignored founder(s) with check sizes between $100-500K.

If you are a startup founder who fits within the Overlooked Ventures thesis, you may apply here.

If you're interested in investing in Overlooked Ventures alongside Bank of America, express interest using this form.

For more on Overlooked Ventures, visit the website at https://www.overlookedventures.com/ and follow us on Twitter ( @OverlookedVentures ).

Media Contacts

Overlooked Ventures: Janine Sickmeyer, [email protected]

Bank of America: Diane Wagner, [email protected]

SOURCE Overlooked Ventures
TEL AVIV, Israel, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- BIRD Energy announced its next funding cycle for U.S.-Israel joint project proposals with a focus on Renewable Energy, Efficiency, and Technologies that reduce carbon emissions.

To be considered, a project proposal must include joint R&D cooperation between two companies or between a company and a university/research institution (one from the U.S. and one from Israel). The proposal should demonstrate significant commercial potential and the project outcome should lead to commercialization.

Examples of research and development topics within the scope of this call are Solar and Wind Power, Advanced Vehicle Technologies and Alternative Fuels, Natural Gas and other associated technologies that reduce its climate impact, Smart Grid, Storage, Water-Energy Nexus, Advanced Manufacturing, AI for energy management or any other Renewable Energy/Energy Efficiency technology.

New to this year's Call for Proposals are technologies that scale-up carbon-free technologies and reduce carbon emissions. This is part of an effort by both the U.S. and Israeli governments to address the global climate emergency and grow the clean energy and carbon-free economy.

The conditional grant is up to 50% of the combined project R&D budget, up to a maximum of $1 million per project.

The application process is web-based and requires prior discussion with BIRD Foundation staff. The deadline for submission of the Executive Summary is June 30, 2022. If approved, the deadline for full-scale proposals is August 16, 2022. Projects will be selected for funding in November 2022. Please refer to BIRD's website for submission details - https://www.birdf.com/bird-energy-call-proposals/.

Limor Nakar-Vincent, Deputy Executive Director for Business Development and BIRD Energy said: "BIRD Energy, established in 2009 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Israel Ministry of Energy jointly with the Israel Innovation Authority, supports initiatives that promote innovative technology in clean energy that combat climate change. The program provides funding for cooperation to advance sustainable and renewable sources of energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. BIRD can assist U.S. and Israeli companies and universities in their search for potential partners and support them in their proposal submissions."

BIRD Energy was launched in 2009 under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which supports research and development that benefits both the United States and Israel. The BIRD Foundation administers BIRD Energy along with the general program that promotes and supports joint projects between U.S. and Israeli companies in a variety of technology sectors. To date, BIRD Energy has funded sixty joint US-Israel clean energy projects for a total investment of approximately $47.5 million and approximately $62 million in funds matched by the private sector to commercialize clean energy technologies.

Visit us at - http://www.birdf.com

For more information, please contact:

In Israel: Ms. Limor Nakar-Vincent, Deputy Executive Director of Business Development and BIRD Energy,

Tel: +972-3-698-8310,

Email: [email protected].

In the U.S.: Ms. Andrea Yonah, Director, Business Development, East Coast/Midwest,

Tel: +1-609-356-0305,

Email: [email protected],

Ms. Shiri Freund-Koren, Director, Business Development, South,

Tel: +1-512-436-1609

Ms. Maya Vardi Shoshani, Director, Business Development, West Coast,

Tel: +1-650-752-6485

Emali: [email protected]

SOURCE The BIRD Foundation
Our AR authoring and deployment technology will allow Air Force and Space Force experts to deliver AR training materials. Tweet this

"We are extremely honored to extend our work with the United States military through this Phase II contract," said BUNDLAR CTO, Matthew Wren, "Our simplified AR authoring and deployment technology will allow Air Force and Space Force experts to deliver augmented reality training materials with critical information at the speed and scale the military needs to support warfighter readiness."

AFRL and AFWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) process in an attempt to speed up the experience, broaden the pool of potential applicants and decrease bureaucratic overhead. Beginning in SBIR 18.2, and now in 21.1, the Air Force has begun offering 'The Open Topic' SBIR/STTR program that is faster, leaner and open to a broader range of innovations.

About BUNDLAR

BUNDLAR helps organizations augment existing training programs to increase efficacy, track completion/status, and provide faster problem resolution than traditional training methodologies. BUNDLAR's accessible cloud-based platform provides a no-code, drag-and-drop interface for authoring, editing, and publishing augmented reality experience bundles to any supported mobile device. BUNDLAR's end-to-end solution reduces the time, cost and complexity of implementing AR into existing communication channels. Recipient of the TechConnect Defense Innovation Award 2021. Visit our website and connect with us on LinkedIn , to learn more about our innovative no-code AR platform.

About AFWERX

Established in 2017, AFWERX is the Air Force's team of innovators who encourage and facilitate connections across industry, academia, and the military to create transformative opportunities and foster a culture of innovation. Their mission is to solve problems and enhance the effectiveness of the service by enabling thoughtful, deliberate, ground-up innovation.

For more information on AFWERX, please follow these links:

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/afwerx-usaf/

Website - https://afwerx.com/

SOURCE BUNDLAR
How China's experience boosts Africa's sustainable development

 00:00:00



* Experts said China's conspicuous success in alleviating poverty could be of valuable guidance for Africa in its fight against poverty and pursuit of sustainable development.

* "Give people fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach them how to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime." This is an old Chinese saying which best captures the essence of China's assistance to African countries.

* China's initiative to build a community with a shared future for mankind has the potential to significantly reduce poverty in Africa and elsewhere across the developing world

In spite of abundant resources, a large population and a vast market, Africa is still the world's least developed continent, beset by continuous poverty and hunger.

Sharing a similar underdeveloped past with Africa, China achieved its ambitious goal of eliminating extreme poverty in 2020, improving the living standards of hundreds of millions of people through decades of development.

Experts said China's conspicuous success in alleviating poverty could be of valuable guidance for Africa in its fight against poverty and pursuit of sustainable development.

Chinese experts work in a paddy field in the demonstration area of Nariou village in Burkina Faso, July 13, 2021. (Xinhua)

CHINESE MODEL OF ENDING POVERTY

In sub-Saharan Africa, most people live on less than 1.9 U.S. dollars a day, the World Bank's extreme-poverty benchmark.

According to the United Nations (UN), because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economy of sub-Saharan Africa is expected to see serious deterioration, with an additional 26 million people living below the international poverty line.

Cavince Adhere, a Kenyan international relations expert, said that China's success in alleviating rural poverty through leveraging technology-led farming methods is an inspiration to Kenya and other developing countries.

"Contrary to many countries where development is often associated with investments in cities and other urban centers, China prioritized rural areas in its poverty reduction efforts where agriculture played a major role," Adhere said in a recent commentary.

He said that China has become the first developing country to achieve the first of the UN's 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs), adding that modern farming has hastened the realization of that feat.

"China's efforts offer good insights for Kenya's socio-economic transformation," he said.

Paul Zilungisele Tembe, a researcher at the University of South Africa's Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute, said China's experience is a model to the world about what is possible when there is decisive leadership, uninterrupted legal and policy continuity, bottom-up people's empowerment, solid intergovernmental relations and private sector partnerships, and leveraging contextual circumstances including geography, politics, technology.

All these factors have coalesced and translated into "poverty eradication with Chinese characteristics," said the expert, adding that "it is not inconceivable for South Africa to replicate the Chinese model of ending poverty in all its forms."

A Chinese expert helps locals in mechanized harvesting of rice in the demonstration area of Nariou village in Burkina Faso, Oct. 8, 2021. (Xinhua)

HELP FROM CHINA

"Give people fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach them how to fish, and you feed them for a lifetime." This is an old Chinese saying which best captures the essence of China's assistance to African countries.

In Burkina Faso, national rice production met only 30 percent of the population's consumption needs in 2018.

"Based on the actual needs of the Burkina Faso people, our mission is to develop rice cultivation, increase rice production, while expanding the cultivation area and promoting new technologies," said Hu Yuzhou, head of a Chinese agricultural technical assistance team in the country.

Chinese experts not only provide seeds, fertilizers and agricultural machinery, but also participate in the whole farming process.

According to Gaoussou Sanou, national coordinator of the Burkina Faso-China agricultural cooperation program, thanks to China's help, the rice output in the demonstration area of Nariou village in 2021 reached 5-6 tons per hectare, which is two to three times that of the previous year, and the quality of rice has also been significantly improved.

In Guinea-Bissau, over the past three years, experts of the 11th Chinese agri-technical team to the country, based in 13 rice production areas in the three provinces of Bafata, Gabu and Oio, have carried out "technology plus material" aid to this west-African country and achieved remarkable results.

In Madagascar, the average yield of hybrid rice produced with Chinese technologies is two to three times more than that of local ones.

Photo shows a China-aid milling plant in Lusaka, Zambia, on March 9, 2022. (Photo by Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua)

In Zambia, China-funded milling plants reduced the price of mealie meal used in making Zambia's staple food Nshima.

In Tanzania, the government has used funds from China to develop the Juncao technology for livestock fodder and mushroom production.

"The Juncao technology will increase mushroom production and consumption which will contribute to food security in the country," Tanzanian Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Mashimba Ndaki has said.

Melaku Mulualem, a senior international relations and diplomacy researcher at Ethiopia's Institute of Strategic Affairs, emphasized the need for African countries to make full use of China's technology transfer and capacity building support to Africa as a springboard to replicate its success in poverty alleviation.

Mulualem said Africa and the rest of the least developed countries should also learn from China about how to tap its human resource potential.

"Especially for least developed countries, high population can be a curse; but for China, it is an opportunity, because they are using the brain and hands of the people to innovate and produce new things," said Mulualem.

During the 8th Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation held in late November 2021, China announced nine programs to strengthen China-Africa cooperation in such fields as poverty reduction, agricultural development and digital innovation.

Photo shows products made by a China-aid milling plant in Lusaka, Zambia, on March 9, 2022. (Photo by Martin Mbangweta/Xinhua)

A SHARED FUTURE

Commending China's poverty alleviation endeavors, the African Union (AU) Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture Josefa Sacko said Africa should replicate China's success in reducing poverty, with particular emphasis on rural development.

"I had the opportunity to go to China and I saw the way they transform the rural areas into urban areas," said the commissioner.

"The Chinese practice in poverty reduction shows that high and sustained inclusive development is critical to reducing poverty," said the AU Commissioner for Trade and Industry Albert Muchanga, adding that he believes that poverty reduction in Africa also requires the same strong political commitment and will as China has demonstrated.

According to Muchanga, one of the key elements that African countries can learn from China's extraordinary experience in ending extreme poverty is the establishment of township industries where poverty was most pronounced.

Chinese experts help locals in mechanized harvesting of rice in the demonstration area of Nariou village in Burkina Faso, Oct. 8, 2021. (Xinhua)

Muchanga highlighted the AU's keen intent to partner with China in realizing the targeted average annual growth of over 7 percent set by the AU's Agenda 2063, noting that it is also necessary to learn from China's sustainable eco-friendly development endeavors.

"Sustainable development simply means development without compromising the environment. When China comes to the second position in global economy, it is not by compromising the environment. So, the experience of China is helpful for Africa to alleviate poverty and drought," Muchanga stressed.
NEW YORK, March, 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bureau Veritas today announced that Rebecca Bratton has been appointed Vice President of Health and Safety in North America, effective immediately. Bratton is responsible for driving the health and safety efforts of Bureau Veritas for 6,500 employees in 150 locations across North America.

Bratton will have oversight and leadership responsibility for all aspects of the company's health and safety operations in North America. Bratton will report directly to Shawn Till, EVP and CEO of Bureau Veritas North America.

"We are pleased to welcome Rebecca to our Bureau Veritas family, and I am excited for her to lead our best-in-class safety program that communicates, manages, and respects the risks of each of our 20+ business units in North America," said Shawn Till, EVP and CEO, Bureau Veritas, North America. "I am confident that Rebecca's tenacity, and positive attitude will help her lead our safety team and program as we continue our safety journey towards zero injuries."

As part of Bureau Veritas' commitment to making Safety an Absolute, Bratton will play a critical role to support the organization's health and safety effortswith responsibilities for shaping internal policies, processes, compliance, training, and overall performance of health and safety goals.

"I'm proud to assume the role of vice president of health and safety at Bureau Veritas and look forward to supporting our mission to lead our industry in health and safety performance," said Rebecca Bratton, Vice President, Health and Safety, Bureau Veritas, North America. "I'm truly grateful for the opportunity to be part of an organization that makes health and safety a priority for every employee, client, and community we serve!"

Bratton comes to Bureau Veritas with over sixteen years of health and safety experience from various industries, including environmental, heavy machinery, and food and agriculture. Her extensive knowledge of health and safety, continuous improvement, process safety management, risk management, and compliance will help advance Bureau Veritas' health and safety performance and journey toward zero injuries.

Bratton holds a B.A. in Natural Resources Management & Policy from Drake University and spent over nine years in the Army National Guard.

About Bureau Veritas

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in laboratory testing, inspection and certification services. Created in 1828, the Group has close to 80,000 employees located in nearly 1,600 offices and laboratories around the globe. Bureau Veritas helps its 400,000 clients improve their performance by offering services and innovative solutions in order to ensure that their assets, products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environmental protection and social responsibility.

Bureau Veritas is listed on Euronext Paris and belongs to the CAC 40 ESG, CAC Next 20 and SBF 120 indices.

Compartment A, ISIN code FR 0006174348, stock symbol: BVI.For more information, visit www.bvna.com, and follow us on Twitter (@bureauveritasNA) and LinkedIn.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Theresa Anderson +1 917 344 4593 [email protected]

SOURCE Bureau Veritas
LONDON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The CRM Software Market Size is expected to record a valuation of USD 100.63 Billion by 2028, Registering to Accelerate at a 12.34% CAGR, According to the most recent study by Brandessence Market Research & Consulting Pvt ltd.

The Global CRM Software Market size was Valued at USD 44.57 Billion in 2021. Rising prevalence of Covid-19, increasing need for customer engagement, and growing development in cloud technology are some of the major factors driving the growth of Global CRM Software Market.

Get Sample of [email protected] https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestSample/PostId/1921

The Covid-19 pandemic which has been a bane for many businesses but a boon for the CRM market. Because of the social distancing norms, a lot of organizations have adopted the work from home module for its employees. This has led to shift of all conventional on field marketing to online modules and CRM has ameliorated the hardships faced by online modules as it provides marketing and interacting platform between customers and business management. Hence, Covid-19 has lead to increase the demand of CRM solutions and services.

Global CRM Software Market Dynamics:

One of the major factors driving the growth of the global CRM software market is rising prevalence of Covid-19. For instance, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), on February 11th, 2022, there are about 404,910,528 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 5,783,776 deaths, globally. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the government imposed lockdown conditions which result in a shutdown of all business sectors. Hence, most of the companies offered work from home to their employee. During this pandemic, the number of people working from home are exponentially increased. Work from home has resulted in converting all offline business operations including the sales and marketing avenue in a mode that is compatible in remote locations. The increase in CRM usage due to increase in Covid-19 which has led to work from home can be seen in a blog in SuperOffice which states that use CRM has increased. Therefore, the inevitable work form homes conditions have resulted growth of CRM Software market as it provides a suitable online sales and marketing platform.

In addition, another major factor supplementing the growth of global CRM software market is increasing need for customer engagement. Customer is the main stakeholder of any business. Hence answering to customers any and every need, improving post sales services and considering customer feedback has been an avenue which provides great profits to the businesses. CRM stores all the customer information for management in one location which can help in finding out preferences and needs of customers and assist them accordingly. CRM also stores customer feedback and complaints which can be reviewed by the business management. For instance, as per the report by Hubspot, the businesses can grow revenues between 4% and 8% above their market when they prioritize better customer service experiences. Software CRM provides a setting to improve customer experience vastly. The improvement of customer services can be seen in a report by nomlays which states that CRM improves customer experience and hence sales by 40 %.

CRM Software Manufacturers : Some of the key players for CRM Software are

Microsoft Corporation

SugarCRM Inc.

Zoho Corporation Pvt. Ltd

Insightly Inc.

Copper CRM, Inc.

Salesforce.com, Inc.

Oracle Corporation

SAP SE

ADOBE INC.

And More

Global CRM Software Market Segmentation:

By Component:

Software

Services

By Deployment Mode:

On-Premise

Cloud

Hybrid

By Organizational size:

Large Scale

Small & Medium Scale

By Application:

Customer Service

Customer Experience Management

CRM Analytics

Marketing Automation

Salesforce Automation

Other

By Industry Vertical:

BFSI

Healthcare

Energy & Utility

IT & Telecommunication

Get Methodology @ https://brandessenceresearch.com/requestMethodology/PostId/1921

Recent Development:

Freshworks Launched Unified Product Suite for Start-Ups: On November 11th, 2021; Business software provider Freshworks announced Freshstack, a unified customer relationship management (CRM) offering for customer support, sales, and marketing teams at startups, as it doubles down on its efforts to grow its pipeline of young, but fast-growing customers.

Pipeliner Launched Kepler, a New Version of its CRM Solution: On September 2nd, 2021; Pipeliner CRM announced the launch of Kepler, the 4.0 version of its sales enablement tool and CRM software. The update brings a suite of new project management capabilities, key account management functionalities, and Salesforce Automation tools to the company's platform, which will help Pipeliner's clients create a unified revenue engine.

Kylas Launched in India to Help SMBs Grow: On June 2nd, 2021; Kylas, a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) product launched in India. Kylas will help small and medium businesses streamline their sales efforts, engage with customers effectively and grow faster. Kylas was launched with a dream to make excellent CRM software open to small companies so the attention is on restoring their organizations without the extra burden of expanding its innovation.

Reginal Analysis:

North America is expected to dominate the global CRM software market within the forecast period attributed to the rapidly increasing number of organizations, rising adoption of advanced technologies and presence of key players in this region. One of the main factors is rising adoption of advanced technologies in the North America region attributed growth of the market. For example; in May 2021, SugarCRM launched Artificial Intelligence (Al) controlled SugarPredict that works for promoting, service, and sales groups.

SugarPredict gives lead scoring utilizing Al to examine transformation and commitment data from SugarMarket and allows the stage to accomplish the work. Presence of key companies also drives the market in this region. For example; in November 2020, Microsoft Corporation declared a strategic alliance with C3.ai and Adobe Systems, Inc. to give progressed and AI- powered CRM arrangements. This best in class offering is relied upon to give enhanced predictive capacities.

On Special Requirement CRM Software Market Report is also available for below region:

North America

U.S, Canada

Europe

Germany , France ,U.K., Italy , Spain , Sweden , Netherland, Turkey , Switzerland , Belgium , Rest of Europe

Asia-Pacific

South_Korea , Japan , China , India , Australia , Philippines , Singapore , Malaysia , Thailand , Indonesia , Rest Of APAC

Latin America

Mexico , Colombia , Brazil , Argentina , Peru , Rest of Latin America

Middle East and Africa

Saudi Arabia , UAE, Egypt , South Africa , Rest Of MEA

Get Full Access of all Report: https://brandessenceresearch.com/technology-and-media/crm-software-market-size

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SOURCE Brandessence Market Research And Consulting Private Limited
New clinical data shows Cardiologs' deep learning model can predict the short-term risk of atrial fibrillation (AFib) based on 24-hour Holter recordings that show normal sinus rhythm

PARIS and BOSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardiologs today announced a poster presentation at the 2022 American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting in Washington, DC, from April 2-4, 2022.

The poster entitled "Short term prediction of Atrial Fibrillation from ambulatory ECG using deep learning" presents results of a clinical study demonstrating that Cardiologs' AI algorithm can predict the short-term risk of atrial fibrillation (AFib) based on single-lead Ambulatory electrocardiograms (ECGs) that show normal sinus rhythm.

Previous studies have assessed the long-term possibility for future AFib using AI-based prediction algorithms based on normal 12-lead ECGs. This study shows Cardiologs' deep neural network can reliably predict whether Afib will occur in the near future (i.e., within 6 to 14 days) with an area under the curve of 0.79, a ten-point improvement over a basic age and sex-based model.

"In most countries, the short-term Holter is the first ambulatory arrhythmia diagnostic test and, too often, the last. By bringing predictive AFib capabilities to the Holter test, we empower cardiologists to pursue the search for AFib without changing the care pathway. Cardiologs' AI can predict the presence of AFib, even when there are no visible signs in the ECG recordings. The algorithm can detect subtle symptoms that suggest future onset, giving much more value to the Holter and helping physicians determine which patients may benefit from long-term monitoring." said Cardiologs CEO and Co-Founder Yann Fleureau.

AFib remains the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, affecting 46 million individuals worldwide. Identifying patients with AFib is a growing priority given the high association with stroke and heart failure, but symptoms often come and go  making the condition challenging to catch. Though convenient, short Holter recordings (24-48 hours) commonly used to confirm suspected AFib have a low detection rate and cannot predict future occurrences.

For more information on the Cardiologs' platform, visit: www.cardiologs.com

Tweet This:

Cardiologs will present a poster at @ACCinTouch on using #AI to predict the risk of short-term future atrial fibrillation #aFib for the first time using data from 24-hour Holters. #ACC22 #AI #cardiology #electrophysiology #aFib

About Cardiologs

Cardiologs is a medical technology company committed to transforming cardiac diagnostics using medical-grade artificial intelligence and cloud technology. Developed in partnership with leading physicians, the Cardiologs Holter Platform empowers clinicians worldwide to deliver expert cardiac care faster and more efficiently. CE-Marked and FDA cleared for detection of 14 cardiac arrhythmias, the Cardiologs Holter Platform is built on a growing database of more than 20 million ECG recordings and is supported by a number of clinical publications.

In November 2021, Cardiologs announced that they were being acquired by Philips to expand their cardiac portfolio.

Media Contact:

Andrea LePain

eMedia Junction

[email protected]

617-894-1153

SOURCE Cardiologs
One of the "Most Innovative Colleges" and the company built by educators for educators are committed to co-creating collaborative and engaging learning opportunities for online learners.

BURLINGTON, Vt., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Champlain College Online (CCO) and edtech company InSpace Proximity, Inc . have announced a partnership to launch InSpace to provide students studying online at CCO with an innovative new approach to asynchronous online learning that increases virtual engagement and support for students, staff, and educators. The two organizations are working together to set a new standard for asynchronous online learning  pushing it to a new level.

InSpace is designed to mimic the fluid, personal, and interactive nature of in-person learning experiences where students can create knowledge together through teamwork and collaboration using the first of its kind video collaboration platform. InSpace, which is currently being used in more than 120 institutions, will give CCO students the opportunity to build relationships through purpose-driven, frictionless collaboration, in a fully virtual asynchronous environment.

"We received feedback from our students that their sense of community and having a connection to the physical campus is important to them," said Vice President of Online Learning at Champlain College Online Johnna Herrick-Phelps, Ph.D. "Using InSpace, students are able to communicate in new dynamic ways, create and foster collaboration, and a sense of community and connection to the brick-and-mortar college."

Currently, InSpace is being incorporated at CCO for faculty and student communication, peer collaboration, and networking. New courses are being created that reshape how online content is designed and delivered with the focus on peer collaboration and teamwork first, resulting in highly engaging learning experiences. In the next phase of the partnership, use of the platform will be expanded across all asynchronous courses and added to the academic advising process. Once complete, the full virtual campus will allow online students to experience all aspects of the Burlington, Vermont campus including a variety of campus buildings with event live-streaming, library spaces, staff and databases, orientations, panel discussions, wellness events, and more.

"When we started InSpace two years ago, our mission was to take the technology out of the way and let instructors and students connect and learn virtually," said Narine Hall, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of InSpace. "The most innovative and forward-thinking institutions are seeking differentiated and effective video collaboration and learning partners like InSpace as a competitive advantage for their online courses."

Both CCO and InSpace will be at the ASU + GSV Summit and the Online Learning Conference (OLC) this spring to share their vision for the future of asynchronous learning.

ABOUT CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE ONLINE

A division of Champlain College, Champlain College Online is an accredited, 100% remote college designed for adult learners. We offer 60+ career-focused associate, bachelor's, master's, and certificate programs across four main areas of study: business, cybersecurity, healthcare, and information technology.

ABOUT INSPACE

InSpace is a video collaboration platform built by educators for educators. Our mission is to cultivate engaging learning experiences, where people learn and create knowledge together through authentic visual collaboration. InSpace's research-informed design, created with input from more than 500 educators, gives educators and students the freedom to move around the screen, to join side conversations, to enter and leave visually-connected breakout rooms at any time, and to collaborate effectively with peers.

SOURCE Champlain College
Non-Executive Director Oliver Buck to retire at the Annual General Meeting

Tiffany Olson , experienced U.S.-based pharma executive appointed as independent Non-Executive Director

MELBOURNE, Australia and INDIANAPOLIS, March 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: TLX, Telix, the Company) today announces that Tiffany Olson has been appointed to the Board, as a U.S.-based independent, Non-Executive Director.

Ms. Olson brings a depth of experience in commercialisation and corporate strategy in oncology, including in the radiopharmaceutical sector. Her most recent executive role was with Cardinal Health, the largest provider of radiopharmaceuticals in the United States, where she was President of Cardinal Health Nuclear & Precision Health Solutions overseeing Cardinal's radiopharmaceutical manufacturing and nuclear pharmacy network. During her eight-year tenure in this role she led a major business transformation which led to increased market share and profit growth. Prior to her role at Cardinal Health, Ms. Olson served as President of NaviMed and in executive roles at Eli Lilly and Roche, where she attained the position of President and CEO of Roche Diagnostics Corporation.

Ms. Olson currently serves as a Board member for Castle Biosciences; ERF, Education & Research Foundation for Nuclear Medicine & Molecular Imaging; and is on the Langham Logistics Advisory Board. Tiffany holds a Bachelor of Business from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from St. Thomas University in Minnesota. Ms. Olson has received many recognitions for her work in healthcare. She was named one of the "10 Best Women Leaders of 2020" by Industry Era and was the first woman to receive the Life Science Alley Luminary Award.

Telix Chairman, Kevin McCann AO said, "Tiffany is an outstanding addition to our Board of Directors. Her appointment supports our governance principles and continues to ensure that the Board has the right mix of skills, diversity and independence. An accomplished leader with a strong track record in commercialisation and building large-scale businesses in the radiopharmaceutical sector, Tiffany's deep operational understanding of radiopharmaceutical manufacturing, distribution networks and customers will be invaluable as Telix rolls out its first commercial product."

Ms. Olson added, "I am delighted to join the Board of Telix at this exciting phase in the Company's journey. I look forward to working with the Telix team to leverage my experience and networks to guide the Company through the next phase of its trajectory, in particular the launch of Illuccix and the commercialization of follow-on diagnostic and therapeutic products."

Ms. Olson will join Telix as an independent Non-Executive Director and will be a member of the Audit and Risk Committee. Her appointment is effective 31 March 2022. Ms. Olson will stand for re-election as a Non-Executive Director at Telix's Annual General Meeting, to be held on 18 May 2022.

Telix advises that Mr. Oliver Buck will retire from the Board at the Company's 2022 Annual General Meeting. Having served on the Telix Board since 16 January 2017, Mr. Buck has taken the decision to retire from the Board due to the increasing time commitment associated with his portfolio of global Board and advisory roles.

"On behalf of the Board and the Company I sincerely thank Oliver for his five years of service to Telix. His technical expertise and industry knowledge has been essential during Telix's early, formative years, and we remain very grateful for his contributions to the Company." concluded Kevin McCann.

In accordance with ASX Listing Rules, an Appendix 3X Initial Director's Notice for Ms. Olson accompanies this announcement.

About Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited

Telix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialisation of diagnostic and therapeutic products using Molecularly Targeted Radiation (MTR). Telix is headquartered in Melbourne, Australia with international operations in Belgium, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States. Telix is developing a portfolio of clinical-stage products that address significant unmet medical need in oncology and rare diseases. Telix is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX: TLX). For more information visit www.telixpharma.com and follow Telix on Twitter (@TelixPharma) and LinkedIn.

Telix's lead product, Illuccix (kit for preparation of gallium-68 (68Ga) gozetotide (also known as 68Ga PSMA-11) injection) for prostate cancer imaging, has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA),[1] and by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).[2] Telix is also progressing marketing authorisation applications for this investigational candidate in Europe[3] and Canada.[4]

This announcement has been authorised for release by the Disclosure Committee.

Legal Notices

This announcement may include forward-looking statements that relate to anticipated future events, financial performance, plans, strategies or business developments. Forward-looking statements can generally be identified by the use of words such as "may", "expect", "intend", "plan", "estimate", "anticipate", "outlook", "forecast" and "guidance", or other similar words. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from any future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's good-faith assumptions as to the financial, market, regulatory and other considerations that exist and affect the Company's business and operations in the future and there can be no assurance that any of the assumptions will prove to be correct. In the context of Telix's business, forward-looking statements may include, but are not limited to, statements about: the initiation, timing, progress and results of Telix's preclinical and clinical studies, and Telix's research and development programs; Telix's ability to advance product candidates into, enrol and successfully complete, clinical studies, including multi-national clinical trials; the timing or likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals, manufacturing activities and product marketing activities; the commercialisation of Telix's product candidates, if or when they have been approved; estimates of Telix's expenses, future revenues and capital requirements; Telix's financial performance; developments relating to Telix's competitors and industry; and the pricing and reimbursement of Telix's product candidates, if and after they have been approved. Telix's actual results, performance or achievements may be materially different from those which may be expressed or implied by such statements, and the differences may be adverse. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Telix disclaims any obligation or undertaking to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or a change in expectations or assumptions.

The Telix Pharmaceuticals name and logo are trademarks of Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited and its affiliates (all rights reserved).

[1] ASX disclosure 20 December 2021.

[2] ASX disclosure 2 November 2021.

[3] ASX disclosure 10 December 2021.

[4] ASX disclosure 16 December 2020.

SOURCE Telix Pharmaceuticals Limited
One of the first restaurant companies to pilot RFID label system to optimize operations and trace ingredients at select restaurants

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) today announced it is testing radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to enhance its traceability and inventory systems at its Chicago distribution center and approximately 200 restaurants in the greater Chicago area. A leader in food safety, Chipotle is one of the first major restaurant companies to leverage RFID case labels to track ingredients from suppliers to restaurants via serialization.

Chipotle is testing radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to enhance its traceability and inventory systems. A leader in food safety, Chipotle is one of the first major restaurant companies to leverage RFID case labels to track ingredients from suppliers to restaurants via serialization.

"RFID labels transform inventory management into an automatic, digital function that optimizes restaurant operations and gives our Restaurant Support Centers access to inventory data in real-time," said Scott Boatwright, Chief Restaurant Officer. "This integrated technology is improving our employee experience in participating restaurants while also benefiting our supply partners."

Committed to rigorous Food with Integrity standards, Chipotle purchased more than 35 million pounds of locally grown produce in 2021 and has spent more than $400 million in food premiums over the last two years to buy responsibly sourced and humanely raised ingredients. The brand is giving further transparency into the direct source of its ingredients. The company has worked closely with the Auburn University RFID Lab to refine the pilot program, which is being tested on meat, dairy, and avocados from five Chipotle suppliers. Ingredients in the test arrive at Chipotle restaurants affixed with RFID enabled case labels and are scanned by RFID readers, which complement existing scanners in the restaurants, requiring minimal incremental investment. The tech-enabled traceability system is designed to allow the company to act on food safety and quality concerns swiftly, efficiently, and precisely.

Participating suppliers have invested in RFID technology using Chipotle specifications, which is anticipated to save suppliers time on inventory management and stock rotation, mitigate human error, and increase expiration date visibility and accountability. Chipotle invited key supply partners to participate in the test and provided partners with an RFID playbook with best practices and benefits of the program. The brand is leveraging its stage-gate process to test, listen and learn from employees and suppliers before deciding on a system-wide rollout of RFID labels.

"We have been developing our RFID program for two years and see this innovation as the next evolution of traceability and food safety," said Laurie Schalow, Chief Corporate Affairs and Food Safety Officer. "We are excited to test this innovation in the field with our suppliers and restaurants to enhance our robust traceability program."

Chipotle teamed up with industry-leading RFID partners including RFID software provider Mojix, materials science and RFID innovator Avery Dennison, and RFID reader and encoder solutions provider Zebra Technologies.

About Chipotle

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE: CMG) is cultivating a better world by serving responsibly sourced, classically-cooked, real food with wholesome ingredients without artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Chipotle had over 2,950 restaurants as of December 31, 2021, in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Germany and is the only restaurant company of its size that owns and operates all its restaurants. Chipotle is ranked on the Fortune 500 and is recognized on the 2021 lists for Forbes' America's Best Employers and Fortune's Most Admired Companies. With nearly 100,000 employees passionate about providing a great guest experience, Chipotle is a longtime leader and innovator in the food industry. Chipotle is committed to making its food more accessible to everyone while continuing to be a brand with a demonstrated purpose as it leads the way in digital, technology and sustainable business practices. For more information or to place an order online, visit WWW.CHIPOTLE.COM.

SOURCE Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc.
Merging under the Interaxis brand, the deal forms the premiere digital asset education and certification platform for financial planning and accounting professionals.

HOUSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PlannerDAO co-founders Adam Blumberg, CFP and Steve Larsen, CPA, CFP today announce the merger of their respective cryptocurrency and digital asset education companies, Interaxis and CPE World, forming the nation's most comprehensive crypto education platform for financial planners and accountants. In this deal, CPE World has merged with Interaxis under the Interaxis brand.

Founded in 2019 by Blumberg and Ron Dixon, FMVA, Interaxis began as a collection of financial advisors and entrepreneurs committed to educating others in the field on cryptocurrency and its underlying technology, blockchain, through online videos and education courses. In 2021, Blumberg and Larsen teamed up to launch the Certified Digital Asset Advisor (CDAA) designation, a program providing financial advisors with in-depth training and education in five core aspects of cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and decentralized finance so they can provide investors with the highest level of service and advice.

With this merger, Interaxis gains continuing professional education courses for accountants developed by CPE World, founded by Larsen in 2001, along with other key assets and content. In bringing cryptocurrency education to both financial planners and accountants, Interaxis is committed to elevating crypto awareness and adaptation across the financial services spectrum.

"Blockchain technology is increasingly capturing the interest and imagination of forward-thinking financial services professionals and the clients they serve," said Blumberg. "This merger is our response to the incredible demand we're seeing across the financial planning and accounting professions. By combining our platforms, we are in position to scale the distribution of our programs to meet these demands while pioneering even more new programs and offerings."

Blumberg and Larsen are co-founders of PlannerDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization and community also committed to bringing crypto awareness and education to financial services professionals. PlannerDAO's fast-growing membership includes Certified Financial Planners, Certified Public Accountants, Chartered Financial Analysts and Certified Digital Asset Advisors. PlannerDAO is currently accepting registrations to Crossroads, the financial services industry's first decentralized conference, at Hotel Philips in Kansas City, Missouri on April 25th and 26th.

"There is a movement happening across financial services," said Larsen. "We're seeing interest and excitement rise month-over-month around digital assets and blockchain technology. At the core of it, we're building communities and platforms to bring the crypto-curious together with the true believers to share ideas and become as knowledgeable as possible so they can best serve their clients during this transformative moment."

Interaxis and PlannerDAO today also announce a partnership with Rice University, which will now offer the CDAA program through the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies. Visit the course overview page to learn more and register.

About Interaxis: Interaxis is the nation's most comprehensive crypto education platform for financial planners and accountants, offering content, courses, certifications and continuing education programs focused on cryptocurrency, blockchain technology, and decentralized finance. To learn more about Interaxis, please visit interaxis.io.

About PlannerDAO: PlannerDAO is a decentralized community of financial planners promoting economic freedom, universal fiduciary standards, and permissionless access to financial services. To learn more about PlannerDAO, please visit plannerdao.com. Follow PlannerDAO on Twitter at @PlannerDAO.

Brian Hart

Flackable

(866) 225-0920 ext. 101

[email protected]

SOURCE Interaxis
Cordero combines her passion, values, and craftsmanship to help guide the family-owned distillery, which dates back 157 years with six generations of rum makers. Don Q rums range in notes from the rare, limited edition, ultra-premium rums like La Reserva de la Familia, to the warm and smoky oak finish of the Gran Reserva XO to the smooth, clean taste of the award-winning Don Q Cristal .

"I'm pleased to see Liza take on this new role aptly coinciding with Women's History Month, when we celebrate the accomplishments of women past and present," says Santiago. "The face of the spirits industry has evolved since I started working at the Distillery and I am honored to work with Liza and thrilled to see another female take the reins."

In her new post, Cordero will be responsible for developing new products and expressions, fostering continued innovation and creativity, ensuring consistency in quality and flavor profile throughout the Don Q Rum portfolio, working with the manufacturing team to provide support during each of the stages of rum manufacturing as well as throughout the aging process and more. Cordero's dedication to the fermentation and distillation processes spans nearly two decades at Destileria Serralles.

"I am so proud to work for a company and produce a rum that is invested in our Island, the environment and our future," remarked Cordero. "I am most excited to work with our talented team at Destileria Serralles and continue innovating and finding new blends to share with all rum enthusiasts, from the novices to the connoisseurs."

Cordero's drive and thirst for knowledge began at an early age when she embarked on a career in chemical engineering and it was when she applied her penchant for science to the spirts industry that Cordero found her true calling in working with rum at Destileria Serralles. Born in San Juan, Cordero's connection with Puerto Rico's beloved beverage runs deep, and she is most proud about the memories she's helping forge between friends and family when they share a glass of Don Q.

"Women are redefining the category with their innovative vision for managing, blending, and creating products that will continue to capture the hearts and minds of rum enthusiasts," remarked Destileria Serralles President and CEO, Philippe Brechot. "I'm proud that Don Q Rum has been a forward-thinking company, ahead of the times and that we've had well-deserving women, such as Silvia and Liza, at the helm of our production team for decades."

For more information, visit https://donq.com/ or follow Don Q on social media: Facebook.com/DonQ and @donqrum.

About Destileria Serralles:

Destileria Serralles is one of America's oldest family-owned businesses with a rum making tradition that spans six generations and 157 years. Based in Ponce, Puerto Rico, the distillery produces its flagship product, the award-winning Don Q rum brand, the #1 selling rum on the island. The Distillery has been awarded the "Green Award" from The Drinks Business, which recognizes leaders in environmental practices within the beverage industry, and more recently was recognized as "World Class Distillery" by World Spirits Awards. For additional information, visit us at https://donq.com/ and follow us on social media: Facebook.com/DonQ and @donqrum.

About Serralles USA :

Serralles USA, based in Stamford CT, is the USA distribution company of Destileria Serralles. Serralles USA's portfolio includes: Don Q Cristal, Don Q Gold, Don Q Gran Reserva XO, Don Q Reserva 7, Don Q Signature Release Single Barrel 2005, 2007 & 2009, Don Q Double Aged Vermouth Cask Finish, Don Q Double Aged Sherry Cask Finish, Don Q Oak Barrel Aged Spiced, Don Q Limon, Don Q Coco, Don Q Pasion, Don Q Pina, Don Q 151, Reserva de la Familia Serralles, Palo Viejo & Caliche Rum; as well as a sales and marketing alliance with Barrow's Intense Ginger Liqueur. Please visit us at https://donq.com/ and follow us on http://facebook.com/DonQ and @donqrum.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT DON Q RUM, PLEASE CONTACT BALTZ & COMPANY:

SARAH ABELL (917.584.8567; [email protected]) OR

ANNETTE MALKIN (212.600.5828; [email protected])

SOURCE Don Q Rum
TUCSON, Ariz., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Because of alarming recent reports about the increased incidence of serious illnesses in members of the armed forces, and statements that figures from 2016-2021 were "erroneous and incomplete" so comparisons are invalid, Doctors for Disaster Preparedness writes that further data are needed, in a letter to Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).

"We urge Congress to expeditiously investigate the procedures for collecting this vital information, and direct appropriate agencies to determine true disease prevalence and trends as accurately as possible," the letter states.

DDP notes that servicemembers' current health is even more important. Early detection of abnormalities might enable preventive treatment.

Suggested screening tests include D-dimers to look for blood clotting abnormalities and C-reactive protein (CRP), an indicator of inflammation.

To allay concerns about peri- and myocarditis, a significant number of members, especially pilots and divers, might have a cardiac ultrasound.

"Such a program could be implemented immediately at minimal expense and could result in tremendous medical benefits as well as cost savings from preventing serious disability or illness," DDP states.

Doctors for Disaster Preparedness is an organization of physicians and scientists, founded in 1984, to provide life-saving information concerning natural and man-made disasters.

Contact:

Jane M. Orient, M.D.,

(520) 323-3110,

[email protected]

SOURCE Doctors for Disaster Preparedness
Hometown Revitalization grants will provide funding for 20 local microgrant programs for second consecutive year.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy is continuing its investment in North Carolina's downtown communities by awarding $500,000 in grants to help strengthen small businesses.

This is the company's second year supporting local businesses through the Hometown Grant Revitalization Program, and it has contributed more than $1.5 million to small business recovery in North Carolina since the start of the pandemic.

"The pandemic brought unprecedented challenges to small businesses, and reminded us all how important they are to creating and sustaining vibrant downtowns," said Stephen De May, Duke Energy's North Carolina president. "Our Hometown Revitalization grants were very well-received across our communities last year. We hope this new wave of funding will continue to help local businesses and storefronts recover from a difficult few years and position them for a more prosperous future."

Hometown Revitalization grants will be awarded in 20 communities across the state. Each community will be awarded $25,000 through a partnership with a local 501c3-administering nonprofit. The administering nonprofit will establish a microgrant program to deploy the funding to their local small business community. Microgrants may range from $500 to $2,500 per individual business.

The grant application is open now through May 31  the application and program details are available at duke-energy.com/2022. Grant decisions will be announced in August.

The Hometown Revitalization Grant Program helped over 380 small businesses in 2021. The grants enabled these establishments to create outdoor dining options, improve online sales opportunities, upgrade health and safety elements, and refresh their storefront appearance.

"Receiving a grant from the Duke Energy Foundation through the Uptown Roxboro Group gave us an opportunity to make much-needed improvements to our store during the pandemic," said Megan Gilbert, owner of The Exchange Consignment in Uptown Roxboro. "We were able to purchase a display case and two outdoor benches, all of which improved our overall customer shopping experience. We're grateful for everything these grants have done to lift up our uptown community."

Bonita Garner, owner of Crown Slayer Salon and Oasis Natural Hair Salon in downtown Gibsonville, shared a similar story. "My salon closed for two months when the pandemic hit, and when we reopened our doors, it was hard to keep up with the demand. The Hometown Revitalization grant made it possible for me to invest in the mirrors and styling booths I needed to open a second salon. The best part is many of my fellow downtown store owners received the same support. I'll always be thankful to Duke Energy for investing in small businesses."

Duke Energy Foundation

The Duke Energy Foundation provides philanthropic support to meet the needs of communities where Duke Energy customers live and work. The Foundation contributes more than $30 million annually in charitable gifts, and is funded by Duke Energy shareholder dollars. More information about the Foundation can be found at duke-energy.com/foundation.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America's largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 51,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 28,000 people.

Duke Energy is executing an aggressive clean energy strategy to create a smarter energy future for its customers and communities. The company has goals of at least a 50% carbon reduction from electric generation and net-zero methane emissions from its natural gas business by 2030, and net-zero emissions by 2050 from its electric and natural gas businesses, including Scopes 1, 2 and certain Scope 3 emissions. The company also is investing in major electric grid upgrades and expanded battery storage, and exploring zero-emitting power generation technologies such as hydrogen and advanced nuclear.

Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2022 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' "America's Best Employers" list. More information is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center contains news releases, fact sheets, photos and videos. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Emily Kissee

800.559.3853

SOURCE Duke Energy
Feature: Chinese-built port, highway in Cameroon boost economy, regional trade

 00:00:00



Photo taken on March 15, 2022 shows a boat docking at Kribi Deep Seaport, Kribi, Cameroon. (Photo by Kepseu/Xinhua)

When the Chinese arrived in Cameroon in 2011 to begin building the first phase of Kribi Deep Seaport, the Central African nation was hopeful of having a new transport corridor that would link its vast southwestern coastal area and neighboring nations.

The main existing port in the commercial hub of Douala, some 150 km to the north of Kribi was virtually worn out by congestion. To increase transport capacity, the China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) set out to construct the Kribi port, and in three years works were completed.

The new port has stimulated the country's economy and provided relief for the harbor at Douala port, the country's most populous city, while also providing dock space for larger ships, said Alain Patrick Mpila Ayissi, Manager of Land development and Environment department of Port Authority of Kribi.

"Since the construction works ended in 2014 and the start of port operations in 2018, there has been notable increase in economic growth. The first indicator is the hikes in the custom revenues as a result of the port. We left from 750 million XAF (about 1.26 million USD) to practically 150 billion XAF per annum," said Ayissi.

As a cheap logistics mode, the port is a fundamental foundation of Cameroon's industrialization process, said Xu Huajiang, general manager of China Harbour Central Africa Division of CHEC who oversaw the construction of the first phase of the port.

"So far, after Kribi (port) was founded, it has attracted a lot of external investment. For example, there is already a cocoa factory invested by Cote d'Ivoire. There are two cement plants under construction. Many logistics enterprises have settled in to build their own yards and warehouses. There are also some Chinese enterprises coming to discuss investment with them in this area," Xu said.

Kribi port is located on the Atlantic coast some 285 km from the capital Yaounde. It is strategically positioned in the center of the Gulf of Guinea and is surrounded by the 262 square km Kribi Industrial Area, destined to host new industrial and logistical developments.

With Cameroon being a growing market, Kribi is expected to become a regional hub for the African Atlantic coast. Ship-owners will no longer run the risk of offloading part of their cargo elsewhere before docking in Cameroon, said Ayissi.

"With the coming of the Kribi port, Cameroon has once again placed herself as the port entry to the sub-region. This (the port) has added more value to certain industrial projects in Chad, Central African Republic and Congo," he added.

As part of the project, CHEC also constructed the Kribi-Lolabe highway that will cater to the requirements of the port transportation and logistics and make a contribution to local prosperity.

The highway which includes the construction of 20 bridges, the total length of which is 2 km will serve as an important traffic artery in the Kribi region.

Currently, CHEC is busy constructing the Kribi Deep Sea Port Phase II. After the completion of the project, it is expected to become a large container transit port and comprehensive hub port in Central and West Africa.

Xu revealed that during the process of port and highway construction, over 1,000 jobs had been provided. Cameroonian workers employed by CHEC, including Eric Defo Fotso, Larissa Ekale Koule and Fran Mbofris told Xinhua that building their country's largest port is an opportunity to update their own skills and contribute to the country's industrialization.

"We have project coordinators with a lot of experience be it in administrative affairs, project management and I got to live the Chinese culture. We get to see different things from what we heard since childhood. Just working with them is like you travelled to China to learn about this (skills)," said Fotso, 32, who coordinates projects at the site.

"Every nation, like Cameroon aspires to emerge. So it's an honor for us to have China and her expertise and who willingly accepted to share it with us," added 26-year-old Koule whose main assignment is to ensure that all onsite workers are in good health and that there are no job-related illnesses.

"They (CHEC) have given us a great opportunity. Our livelihoods have improved significantly," said Mbofris who spent seven years in China teaching the English language and now works as an interpreter with CHEC.

Ayissi said the Kribi port project is a glaring example of Cameroon's participation in the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative, adding that the country is committed to unlocking the potential of interlinked production networks and value chains.
BOGOTA, Colombia, March 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ecopetrol S.A. (BVC: ECOPETROL;NYSE: EC) reports that the ordinary General Shareholders' Meeting, held on March 30, 2022, approved the amendment to the Bylaws proposed by management.

Once the amendment is duly solemnized and registered before the Commercial Registry, Ecopetrol will notify the public of this event by this same means.

The text of the approved amendment can be consulted in the following link: https://files.ecopetrol.com.co/web/esp/cargas/aga2022/220330%20Bylaws%20Ecopetrol%20(2%20columnas).pdf

Ecopetrol is the largest company in Colombia and one of the main integrated energy companies in the American continent, with more than 17,000 employees. In Colombia, it is responsible for more than 60% of the hydrocarbon production of most transportation, logistics, and hydrocarbon refining systems, and it holds leading positions in the petrochemicals and gas distribution segments. With the acquisition of 51.4% of ISA's shares, the company participates in energy transmission, the management of real-time systems (XM), and the Barranquilla - Cartagena coastal highway concession. At the international level, Ecopetrol has a stake in strategic basins in the American continent, with Drilling and Exploration operations in the United States (Permian basin and the Gulf of Mexico), Brazil, and Mexico, and, through ISA and its subsidiaries, Ecopetrol holds leading positions in the power transmission business in Brazil, Chile, Peru, and Bolivia, road concessions in Chile, and the telecommunications sector. This press release contains business prospect statements, operating and financial result estimates, and statements related to Ecopetrol's growth prospects. These are all projections and, as such, they are based solely on the expectations of the managers regarding the future of the company and their continued access to capital to finance the company's business plan. The realization of said estimates in the future depends on the behavior of market conditions, regulations, competition, the performance of the Colombian economy and the industry, among other factors, and are consequently subject to change without prior notice.

This release contains statements that may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All forward-looking statements, whether made in this release or in future filings or press releases or orally, address matters that involve risks and uncertainties, including in respect of the Company's prospects for growth and its ongoing access to capital to fund the Company's business plan, among others. Consequently, changes in the following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those included in the forward-looking statements: market prices of oil & gas, our exploration, and production activities, market conditions, applicable regulations, the exchange rate, the Company's competitiveness and the performance of Colombia's economy and industry, to mention a few. We do not intend and do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

For more information, please contact:

Head of Capital Markets

Tatiana Uribe Benninghoff

Email: [email protected]

Head of Corporate Communications

Mauricio Tellez

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Ecopetrol S.A.
Pickle brings 30+ years of geospatial and open source software industry experience to the Postgres provider.

CHARLESTON, S.C., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Crunchy Data  the leading provider of trusted open source PostgreSQL technology, support, and training  is pleased to welcome Eddie Pickle to the team as Senior Vice President of Public Sector. In this role, Pickle will be leading Crunchy Data's continued impact and engagement with US government organizations and agencies.

Pickle joins Crunchy Data from Maxar Technologies, where he served as Senior Director of Insight Solutions following Maxar's acquisition of RadiantBlue, where Pickle served as Managing Director, Open Source Programs. Pickle brings a wealth of executive leadership and open source industry expertise to Crunchy Data, as he previously served as CEO of Boundless (acquired by Planet), a leading provider of open source product support, training, and core development to meet geospatial requirements. Prior to Boundless, Pickle was Chief Operating Officer of OGC Web Services pioneer, IONIC Enterprise, and served as a senior executive at geospatial data companies Claritas and IXI. Pickle is the founder and leader of the popular FedGeoDay conference featuring open ecosystem technologies (open source software, open mapping, open science) used to build Federal Government programs. Additionally, Pickle has worked with commercial, government, and non-profit organizations worldwide, and serves as Counselor of the American Geographical Society.

"We are very proud of our relationships with the United States Government. We have worked collaboratively with both DOD and civilian missions since the founding of Crunchy Data in 2012," said Paul Laurence, President of Crunchy Data. "With Eddie's experience and knowledge, I expect we will grow and enrich our value to these important customers. I couldn't be more pleased that he will be leading our government team."

"I've been privileged to work with the Crunchy Data team for a number of years as a part of the open source software community. Crunchy Data's work with the US government has brought great value and technical innovation in database and geospatial technologies, and I am very excited to have the opportunity to help grow that work," said Pickle.

Crunchy Data has a track record of providing trusted open source PostgreSQL in support of mission critical systems within the United States Department of Defense. PostgreSQL is a robust open source database with over 32 years of development, and was ranked as the #1 growing database in 2017, 2018 and 2020 by DB-engines. Crunchy Data's cloud-native PostgreSQL technology enables enterprises to deploy open source PostgreSQL on their choice of public, private, or hybrid cloud infrastructure. In 2017, Crunchy Data announced the release of the Crunchy Data PostgreSQL Security Technical Implementation Guide (STIG) by the United States Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).

PostgreSQL is a powerful, open source, object-relational database system with more than 20 years of active development and a strong global development community. Commercial enterprises and government agencies with a focus on advanced data management benefit from PostgreSQL's proven architecture and reputation for reliability, data integrity, and cost effectiveness.

About Crunchy Data

Crunchy Data allows companies to build with confidence as the leading provider of trusted Open Source PostgreSQL and enterprise technology, support and training. Crunchy Data offers Crunchy Certified PostgreSQL, the most advanced and true open source RDBMS on the market. The company also offers Crunchy Bridge, a fully managed cloud Postgres service available on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. PostgreSQL's active development community, proven architecture, and reputation for reliability, data integrity, and ease of use makes it a prime candidate for enterprises looking for a robust relational database alternative to expensive proprietary database technologies. Learn more at www.crunchydata.com.

SOURCE Crunchy Data
FH Healthcare Indicators FH Healthcare Indicators reveal trends and patterns in the places where patients receive healthcare. Focusing on alternative places of serviceretail clinics, urgent care centers, telehealth and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs)as well as emergency rooms (ERs), FH Healthcare Indicators evaluate changes in utilization, geographic and demographic factors, diagnoses, procedures and costs.

Among the other key findings:

Telehealth utilization increased nationally 41,919 percent from 2015 to 2020, a more than 40-fold increase over the growth of 1,019 percent from 2014 to 2019 reported in last year's edition.

In all other places of service studied for changes in utilization, utilization decreased from 2019 to 2020, probably due to the impact of COVID-19. Utilization fell 38 percent in ASCs, 30 percent in ERs, 16 percent in urgent care centers and 4 percent in retail clinics.

In 2020 as in previous years, more claim lines were submitted for females than males in most age groups in the places of service in which FAIR Health studied gender-related patternsretail clinics, urgent care centers, telehealth, ASCs and ERs.

However, in some places of service, such as retail clinics, urgent care centers, ASCs and ERs, the gap between males and females narrowed. For example, in ERs, in the age group 61-70, the male and female shares were approximately equal (50 percent) in 2020, a change from 2019, when the female share had been 52 percent and the male share 48 percent. This trend bears monitoring in the future.

In 2020, exposure to communicable diseases joined the list of the most common diagnostic categories in retail clinics, urgent care centers and telehealth. This category largely was associated with testing and/or treatment for COVID-19 when a patient was exposed to the condition.

Across offices, urgent care centers and retail clinics in 2019, urgent care centers had the highest median charge amount for CPT2 99203 (30-44-minute new patient office visit), but in 2020 the median charge for an office ($226) was slightly higher than that for an urgent care center ($221) .

FH Medical Price Index

FH Medical Price Index reports shifts in costs and facilitates useful comparisons among medical prices in six procedure categories from May 2012 to November 2021:

Professional evaluation and management (E&M 3 ; excluding E&Ms performed in a hospital setting);

; excluding E&Ms performed in a hospital setting); Hospital E&M (excluding E&Ms performed in a professional setting, such as typical office visits);

Medicine (excluding E&Ms);

Surgery (procedures for which the physician would bill);

Pathology and laboratory (technical and professional components, e.g., both equipment and professional services); and

Radiology (technical and professional components).

The reports reflect professional fees and related costs; they do not reflect facility fees.

For the period November 2020 to November 2021:

Of the six procedure categories, hospital E&Ms had the greatest percent increase in charge amount index, seven percent, and in allowed amount index, five percent.

Radiology and medicine each had the smallest percent increase in charge amount index, two percent.

Radiology had the smallest percent increase in allowed amount index, one percent.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "This year's edition of FH Healthcare Indicators and FH Medical Price Index opens a window on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the nation's healthcare system. We hope that this new edition, like those in previous years, continues to inform decision making throughout the healthcare sector by payors, providers, government officials, policy makers, academic researchers and others."

For the new white paper, FH Healthcare Indicators and FH Medical Price Index 2022: An Annual View of Place of Service Trends and Medical Pricing, click here.

Follow us on Twitter @FAIRHealth

About FAIR Health

FAIR Health is a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. It is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 36 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of over 2 billion claim records a year. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed data and data productsincluding benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indicesto commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D; FAIR Health includes among the private claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish, which enables consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offers a rich educational platform on health insurance. An English/Spanish mobile app offers the same educational platform in a concise format and links to the cost estimation tools. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Dr. Marty Makary's book The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Careand How to Fix It and Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal's book An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

Contact:

Rachel Kent

Senior Director of Marketing

FAIR Health

646-396-0795

[email protected]

1 Utilization in this study is a relative, normalized measure, not an absolute one. See Methodology section of the white paper.

2 CPT  2021 American Medical Association (AMA). All rights reserved.

3 An E&M is a patient-provider visit, such as for an examination, to diagnose illness or to determine or manage treatment. Professional E&Ms are typically done in a professional setting, such as a doctor's office, while hospital E&Ms are done in a hospital setting.

SOURCE FAIR Health
Finc3's Expanded Suite of Services Accelerates Fortress's Vision of Transforming Into a Global Omni-Channel Marketplace Platform

NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fortress Brand, a leading full-service marketplace accelerator based in New York City, is joining forces with Finc3, a Germany-based international online marketing group headquartered in Hamburg.

As Finc3 becomes a part of Fortress Brand, the companies become one, uniquely global organization offering worldwide direct-to-consumer (D2C) e-commerce services that help brand partners strategically grow on Amazon and other e-commerce marketplaces on a global scale, from the United States and Canada to the European Union, United Kingdom, and Japan.

Fortress CEOs and brothers Matt Beer and Alex Beer state, "This marks a monumental day in the history of Fortress. As part of our mission to continue to be a meaningful partner to our clients, we've taken a big step across the Atlantic Ocean to partner with the Finc3 Group to offer our brand partners full-service Amazon and digital capabilities expanding from Europe to Japan. From our humble first office to a worldwide organization, we have the deepest gratitude for our team and our clients and welcome every member of the Finc3 Group into our family of companies."

Finc3 founders Jan Bechler, Tim Nedden, Bjorn Sjut, as well as the entire management team, are staying on board and have exchanged the majority of their shares for equity stakes in Fortress Brand. Additionally, all of Finc3's managing directors are remaining on board alongside their teams to help strengthen the vision of creating one global organization. All other details of the transaction remain undisclosed and confidential.

Together, with more than 200 diverse team members and over 300 active brand partners across the international consumer product goods (CPG) sector, the agency's fully in-house services include full marketplace management, data analytics, creative, branding, photography, customer relationship management (CRM), and digital marketing services. Existing and future brand partners now gain access to the expanded suite of international services, regional access to markets including Europe, the United Kingdom and Japan, and localized capabilities to support their businesses and channels.

"E-commerce  whether via marketplaces, D2C channels or in a B2B context as well as CRM are becoming increasingly international businesses. That's why we already work internationally for most Finc3 clients  for many even on several continents," reports Jan Bechler, co-founder of Finc3. "Modern e-commerce needs to be thought of globally and implemented regionally," adds co-founder Tim Nedden.

Founded in 2014, Finc3 is a top European digital agency whose capabilities include digital marketplace marketing, CRM, data analytics, and business-to-business (B2B) performance marketing under their own group of companies Finc3 Commerce, Finc3 Marketing Group, and BizMut Marketing. Finc3's team of data-driven digital marketing experts has forged longstanding deep relationships with its clients that stretch across multiple business verticals including brands like Unilever or Bosch, global service providers, and some of the world's fastest-growing technology companies like Mailchimp, Asana or Pipedrive. With offices in Hamburg and Bratislava, Finc3 supports the growth of multinational clients representing more than $1 billion of the retail value on the marketplaces it supports.

Finc3 joins the Fortress Brand family of companies which includes New York-based School House, a leading creative agency known for their cut-through branding strategy and dynamic storytelling. Supported by its partnership with Trivest Partners, a Florida-based private equity group, as well as significant organic growth in its own core business, Fortress plans to continue to accelerate its vision through acquisitions and strategic brand investments. Solomon Hedaya, Fortress's VP of Corporate Development says, "The Finc3 partnership represents one very important piece of our long-term goal to create a global end-to-end growth accelerator for brands at any stage in their lifecycle."

For more information, visit https://fortressbrand.com/.

For press inquiries, contact [email protected] and [email protected].

About Fortress Brand

Fortress Brand is a global digital marketplace accelerator that represents acclaimed brands across a multitude of industries, including beauty and personal care, health and wellness, and consumer product goods. Founded in 2012 and headquartered in New York, Fortress, along with its family of companies, School House and Finc3, offers its clients a dynamic suite of best-in-class digital services at any stage in their brand's lifecycle including full-service marketplace management, strategy and creative services, 360-degree performance marketing, data analytics, and international strategy all under one roof. With an extensive roster of client partnerships including Glow Recipe, Youth to the People, and HUM Nutrition, the agency's core strength is to help brands grow their e-commerce business across all global channels including Amazon and other e-commerce marketplaces. Fortress has been recognized as one of Inc.'s 5,000 Fastest-Growing Companies in 2020 and 2021 and also trusted by Amazon as a verified agency partner.

Madison Reynolds

BLND PR

310.616.3049

[email protected]

SOURCE Fortress Brand
Returning to the site and sound of MLK's legendary 'Beyond Vietnam' speech to examine the enduring evils of racism, materialism, and militarism 55 years later

NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- This Saturday, April 2 at 4:00 pm ET, the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft is co-hosting an event marking the 55th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Beyond Vietnam" speech in the place where he delivered itthe historic Riverside Church in New York City.

In April 1967, at a time when the justness and necessity of the Vietnam War was broadly accepted, Dr. King issued a stirring rebuke of the U.S. establishment . He was criticized heavily for challenging US foreign policy; he was told to stick to civil rights. Yet he understood even back then that America's endless pursuit of war and domination abroad is directly tied to the violence and oppression visited upon Black, Brown, and poor people at home.

To mark the anniversary, King Center CEO Rev. Dr. Bernice King will headline an event"Can the Church Study War No More"exploring the connections her father made in that historic speech between the three evilsmilitarism, racism, and materialismand their impact on the lives of Black, Brown, and poor people today.

At 4:00 pm ET, King will join national faith, justice, and peace movement leaders to read selections from Dr. King's "Beyond Vietnam" speech from the stage where he first delivered it.

At 5:00 pm ET, Dr. Bernice King will lead a discussion on the impacts of U.S. militarism at home and abroad with QI President Andrew Bacevich, United Church of Christ's Rev. Traci Blackmon, and Dream Defenders Phil Agnew. QI Board Member Pastor Mike McBride will moderate.

Special musical guests Brian Courtney Wilson and Common Hymnal will perform.

The event is organized and sponsored by the United Church of Christ, LiveFree, Black Church Action Fund, Red Letter Christians, and the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.

Proof of vaccination or negative PCR test (within 72 hours of event) is required for entry to Riverside Church.

WHO: Rev. Dr. Bernice KingCEO, King Center; Andrew BacevichPresident, Quincy Institute; Pastor Mike McBride,Director, LiveFree Campaign; Phil AgnewFounder, Dream Defenders; Rev. Traci BlackmonAssociate General Minister of Justice, United Church of Christ; Rev. Liz Theoharris Director, Kairos Center; and many more.

WHERE: The Riverside Church, 490 Riverside Dr, New York, NY.

WHEN: Doors open at 3:30 ET on Saturday, April 2; the event will run from (approx.) 4-6 ET.

RSVP: Email [email protected]

CONTACT: Jessica Rosenblum, [email protected] , 202.279.0005

Alex Jordan, [email protected] , 404.558.3581

SOURCE Quincy Institute
AUSTIN, Texas, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- With legacy pet food contributing substantially to increasingly dire climate change outcomes, Austin, Texas is emerging as a hub for the pet industry's sustainable future.

Neo Bites , which makes functional dog food toppers and treats from insect protein, and Springer Pets , an innovative maker of sustainable pet products, represented the industry during SXSW earlier this month. Neo Bites co-founder Wesley Cooper represented the pet food industry in the Future of Food session . Neo Bites and Springer co-hosted a Pets & Planet Movement Party for SXSW attendees the next day. The duo lead a pack of companies based in Austin that also includes Wondercide and YayHound who are ushering the pet industry into an era of sustainability.

"Austin's spirit of innovation and ecological resilience has given rise to a movement among smart and sustainable startups that are leading the way in reversing the tide of destruction wreaked by legacy pet food," says Neo Bites co-founder Wesley Cooper, whose startup became the first pet food company to be certified carbon negative .

"We're accelerating the shift toward sustainable animal nutrition with insect protein. In addition to providing more nutritional benefit than typical pet food proteins, insect protein produces virtually zero greenhouse gases and uses far less water and land than animal protein."

The latest International Panel on Climate Change report , released in February, announced that human-induced climate change is already causing dangerous and widespread disruption in nature and affecting billions of people and animals globally. From heatwaves to droughts and floods, increasing impacts from climate change are driving mass mortalities in species like trees and corals.

Animal agriculture is responsible for approximately 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions , similar to the emissions from all global transportation. America's pets contribute up to 30% of animal agriculture's emissions, and if they were their own country, its meat consumption would rank fifth in the world. Meanwhile, pet ownership surged during the pandemic, with one in five U.S. families acquiring a dog or cat in the last two years. With more pets  and more humans  to feed, it's more important than ever for the pet industry to act with purpose.

"Our products better connect humans and pets and we also do everything in a way that protects and nurtures their best playground, Mother Earth," says Springer Pets CEO and Co-founder Shannon Ross. Her company's products are BPA-free and reduce the reliance on single-use plastic bottles while also conserving water.

"We are at a critical juncture in the fight against climate change and we know the path we must take is toward products and solutions that prioritize the health of our shared environment."

Both Neo Bites and Springer Pets are members of 1% for the Planet and donate 1% of annual gross sales to impactful environmental nonprofits. Wondercide, which makes plant-based and chemical-free, is a Green America Certified business, while Yayhound, which makes sustainable dog toys, offset the equivalent of 80 tons of CO2 in 2021 alone.

About Neo Bites: Neo Bites is changing how dog lovers feed their pets by creating sustainable, healthy, and great-tasting dog food products that harness the unique functional benefits of insect protein. Their signature toppers aim to make high-quality nutrition attainable for all - not just those who can afford fresh dog food. All products are made from whole food ingredients and are produced in small batches in Austin, TX. More at www.eatneobites.com .

About Springer Pets: Springer is a women-owned startup built on the legacy of a family business and backed by 35-plus years of innovation in product design. We share a lifelong love of the animals, people, and places that make up our community. Read our Guide to Sustainable Dog Ownership here . For more on our products, visit our website at www.springerpets.com.

Media Contacts

Wesley Cooper

[email protected]

Winslow Marshall

[email protected]

508.207.0538

SOURCE Neo Bites
Get a free sample of this data, download our sample report: https://spendedge.com/procurement-report/employee-relocation-services-sourcing-procurement-intelligence-report

Who are the Top Suppliers in the Employee Relocation Services Market?

The report analyzes the market's competitive landscape and offers information on several top suppliers. Some of the leading Employee Relocation Services suppliers profiled extensively in this report include:

Realogy Holdings Corp

Graebel Companies Inc

Madison Dearborn Partners LLC

These are a few of the key suppliers in Employee Relocation Services market. Discover more about these vendors, including the detailed analysis of procurement strategies deployed by major category end-users across several industries while sourcing for Employee Relocation Services requirements.

Download a free sample of this report: https://spendedge.com/procurement-report/employee-relocation-services-sourcing-procurement-intelligence-report

What are the Most Adopted Procurement Strategies for the Employee Relocation Services Market?

The research includes a complete analysis of the most commonly used procurement strategies by buyers across sectors, as well as an insight into these strategies' innovation, regulatory compliance, quality, supply, and cost. Adopting these procurement tactics would enable buyers to minimize category TCO and achieve cost savings while sourcing Employee Relocation Services.

What Are the Most Effective Price Strategy That a Vendor Can Adopt and What is The Forecasted Incremental Spend?

It is critical to monitor current and future pricing changes in order to maximize the value of the purchase. Price forecasts can assist in purchase planning, especially when combined with constant monitoring of price-influencing factors. The market expects an incremental spend of USD 6.57 billion over the forecast period as a result of several market drivers prevalent across multiple geographies. In addition, the sourcing and procurement report discusses different cost-cutting factors by analyzing the following criteria:

Identify favorable opportunities in Employee Relocation Services TCO (total cost of ownership)

Expected changes in price forecast and factors driving the current and future price changes

Identify pricing models that offer the most rewarding opportunities

Download the free sample report to get detailed insights into few more pricing strategies.

Which are the Key Regions for Employee Relocation Services Market?

The Employee Relocation Services market will register an incremental spend of about USD 6.57 billion during the forecast period. However, only a few regions will drive the majority of this growth. Moreover, on the supply side, North America, Europe, and APAC will have the maximum influence owing to the supplier base. The growth is expected to be primarily driven by increasing demand and adoption of the category across those few regions.

To get more information on the volume drivers that are driving the adoption of the category across regions, download our free sample report.

Smart Procurement Starts Here:

SpendEdge's procurement intelligence platform is the go-to tool for companies looking to access latest procurement research insights and supplier data on an easy to use platform:

Subscribe now for free, to get instant access to over 1000 market-ready procurement intelligence reports without any additional costs or commitment.

Table of Content

Executive Summary

Market Insights

Category Pricing Insights

Cost-saving Opportunities

Best Practices

Category Ecosystem

Category Management Strategy

Category Management Enablers

Suppliers Selection

Suppliers under Coverage

US Market Insights

Category scope

Appendix

About SpendEdge:

SpendEdge shares your passion for driving sourcing and procurement excellence. We are the preferred procurement market intelligence partner for 120+ Fortune 500 firms and other leading companies across numerous industries. Our strength lies in delivering robust, real-time procurement market intelligence reports and solutions.

Contacts

SpendEdge

Anirban Choudhury

Marketing Manager

Ph No: +1 (872) 206-9340

https://www.spendedge.com/contact-us

SOURCE SpendEdge
NEW DELHI, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The study undertaken by Astute Analytica foresees a tremendous growth in revenue of the market for global teeth whitening products market from US$ 4998.05 Million in 2021 to US$ 8316.50 Million by 2030. The market is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 6.03% during the forecast period 2022-2030. Teeth whitening is also known as cosmetic tooth bleaching and it is the most common cosmetic dentistry operation because it improves the appearance of stained or discolored teeth. For whiter teeth, oxidation breaks down the coloring substances deep within the pores of the enamel. Dentists utilize whitening substances that are more powerful than over-the-counter options and are carefully developed to reduce tooth sensitivity. In the recent years, activated charcoal powders have grown fairly popular. They're used to scrape stains off with a toothbrush. For decades, whitening trays and strips have been the industry standard and they typically use carbamide or hydrogen peroxide. Moreover, a teeth whitener must contain hydrogen peroxide or carbamide peroxide as an active component in order to be effective.

Request a Sample Report of Global Teeth Whitening Products Market: https://www.astuteanalytica.com/request-sample/teeth-whitening-products-market

On the basis of solution, supplies/material segment is estimated to project the highest market share during forecast period owing to the increasing adoption of products such as gels, powders and toothpaste among others for whitening of teeth. Moreover, in terms of composition, glycerine segment is expected to register the highest CAGR during forecast period as it is being used a lot for preventing tooth from drying out. Also, based on treatment option, professionally dispensed take home kits segment holds the major share in the global teeth whitening products market in 2021. In addition to this, online segment sales channel is expected to project the highest CAGR during forecast period due to the easy and quick accessibility by online purchase. Furthermore, household segment dominated the market in 2021 owing to increasing adoption of teeth whitening products at homes. Whereas, based on region, Asia Pacific dominated the global teeth whitening products market in 2021 owing to increased knowledge of dental aesthetics and presence of various manufacturing plants of market players in the Asia Pacific region.

Market Dynamics and Trends

Drivers

Growing consciousness and awareness about oral health and hygiene and increasing influence of social media about esthetic will boost the global teeth whitening products market during forecast period. Further, the easy availability of teeth whitening products such as toothpaste and gels through both online and offline platform further boost the market growth. Also, advancements in technology have brought an array of options for teeth whitening market which further widens consumer choice and Enhances interest of consumers towards aesthetic dental practices. Moreover, consumers are becoming more aware to have a healthier and white smile in order to add charm to their personality and this increases consciousness about oral health and hygiene. Furthermore, Social media act as a great impacting force in modern society. Social interactions through photos, videos increase attention of consumers towards dental appearance. Dental appearance is an important feature in determining the attractiveness of a face and thus plays a key role in human social interactions.

Restraints

Restrictions on usage of teeth whitening products is a restraining factor which inhibits the growth of the market during the forecast period. As teeth whitening products started gaining popularity among the people, several regulatory regimes are imposed worldwide for their usage. A wide array of products under teeth whitening produced are under restricted practices with regard to their sale by manufacturers and brands. The restrictions are applied for sale or distribution of bleaching products involved in manufacturing of teeth whitening products. For instance, the use of hydrogen peroxide is restricted with only a specific amount that can be sold openly.

Regional Analysis

The US holds a major share in terms of revenue in the North America Teeth Whitening Products Market in 2021

The US dominated the North America teeth whitening products market in 2021 owing to rising demand for innovative and technologically advanced teeth whitening products in the region. Whereas, Mexico is projected to grow with the highest CAGR during forecast period due to the rise in oral health and hygiene practices. In terms of sales channel, online segment is expected to project the highest CAGR during forecast period due to the easy and quick accessibility by online purchase through e-commerce and brand websites.

Italy is expected to project the highest CAGR in the Europe Teeth Whitening Products Market during forecast period

Italy is expected to witness the highest CAGR during the forecast period. In terms of treatment option, professionally dispensed take-home kits segment holds the highest market share in Europe teeth whitening product market owing to their increasing demand.

China is the highest share holder region in the Asia Pacific Teeth Whitening Product Market

China holds the major share in the Asia Pacific market in 2021 due to increased knowledge of dental aesthetics and presence of various manufacturing plants of market players in the region. Whereas, India is expected to project the highest CAGR in the Asia Pacific teeth whitening products market during the forecast period. Moreover, household segment is predicted to grow at the highest market share during forecast period owing to increasing adoption of teeth whitening products at homes.

South Africa is the highest share holder region in the MEA Teeth Whitening Products Market in 2021

South Africa is expected to project the highest CAGR in the MEA teeth whitening products market during the forecast period. Also, it holds the major share in the MEA teeth whitening products market in 2021. In terms of solution segment, supplies/material is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period owing to increasing adoption of products such as gels, powders, stripes and toothpaste among others for whitening of teeth.

Brazil is projected to grow with the highest CAGR in the South America Teeth Whitening Product Market over forecast period

Brazil held the major share in the South America teeth whitening products market in 2021. Also, it is expected to project the highest CAGR in the South America market during the forecast period. Moreover, on the basis of composition, hydrogen peroxide is dominating the teeth whitening product market owing to its cleaning properties.

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Report Attribute Details Market Size Value in 2021 US$ 4,998.5 Million Market Outlook for 2030 US$ 8,316.5 Million Expected CAGR Growth 6.03% from 2022  2030 Base Year 2021 Forecast Period 2022-2030 Top Market Players Colgate Palmolive, Unilever, GloxosmithKline Inc., Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson among others. Segments Covered By Solution, By Composition, By Treatment, By Sales Channel, By End-User, By Region Geographies Covered North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, South America Customization Options Get your customized report as per your preference. Ask for customization

Competitive Insight

Global Teeth Whitening Products Market is highly competitive in order to increase their presence in the marketplace. Some of the key players operating in the global teeth whitening products market include Colgate Palmolive, Unilever, GloxosmithKline Inc., Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson among others.

Segmentation Overview

Global Teeth Whitening Products Market is segmented based on solution, composition, treatment option, sales channel, end user and region. The industry trends in the global teeth whitening products market are sub-divided into different categories in order to get a holistic view of the global marketplace.

Following are the different segments of the Global Teeth Whitening Products Market:

By Solution segment of the Global Teeth Whitening Products Market is sub-segmented into:

Supplies/Material



Powder





Strips





Rinses





Gels





Floss





Toothpaste





Sugar free chewing gum



Equipment/Device



Toothbrush





Teeth whitening pen





Tooth polisher cleaner whitener





Teeth bleaching machine





Teeth LED bleaching accelerator

By Composition segment of the Global Teeth Whitening Products Market is sub-segmented into:

Hydrogen Peroxide



Carbopol



Glycerine



Others

By Treatment Option segment of the Global Teeth Whitening Products Market is sub-segmented into:

In-office whitening



Professionally Dispensed Take-home Kits



Over-the-counter Products

By Sales Channel segment of the Global Teeth Whitening Products Market is sub-segmented into:

Offline



Medical Stores





Supermarkets





Others



Online



E-commerce





Brand Website

By End User segment of the Global Teeth Whitening Products Market is sub-segmented into:

Dentist (Clinical use)



Household



Kids





Adults





Old Age

By Region segment of the Global Teeth Whitening Products Market is sub-segmented into:

North America



The U.S.





Canada





Mexico



Europe



The UK





Germany





France





Italy





Spain





Poland





Russia





Rest of Europe



Asia Pacific



China





India





Japan





Australia & New Zealand

&



ASEAN





Malaysia





Singapore





Thailand





Philippines





Indonesia





Vietnam





Rest of Asia Pacific



Middle East & Africa (MEA)



UAE





Saudi Arabia





South Africa





Rest of MEA



South America



Argentina





Brazil





Rest of Latin America

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Astute Analytica is a global analytics and advisory company which has built a solid reputation in a short period, thanks to the tangible outcomes we have delivered to our clients. We pride ourselves in generating unparalleled, in depth and uncannily accurate estimates and projections for our very demanding clients spread across different verticals. We have a long list of satisfied and repeat clients from a wide spectrum including technology, healthcare, chemicals, semiconductors, FMCG, and many more. These happy customers come to us from all across the Globe. They are able to make well calibrated decisions and leverage highly lucrative opportunities while surmounting the fierce challenges all because we analyze for them the complex business environment, segment wise existing and emerging possibilities, technology formations, growth estimates, and even the strategic choices available. In short, a complete package. All this is possible because we have a highly qualified, competent, and experienced team of professionals comprising of business analysts, economists, consultants, and technology experts. In our list of priorities, you-our patron-come at the top. You can be sure of best cost-effective, value-added package from us, should you decide to engage with us.

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SOURCE Astute Analytica
LANSING, Mich., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Jay Rosen, founder, president, and co-chairman of Health Management Associates (HMA), announced the firm's acquisition of Cirdan Health Systems and Consulting (Cirdan).

Founded in 2001, Cirdan is a Minnesota-based healthcare consulting and data services firm. A partner to both payers and providers, Cirdan has extensive experience working with health plans that serve Medicare and Medicaid members. Their experts provide a wide range of actuarial and financial services in addition to data management. Their encounter data submission clients realize exceptional encounter data outcomes to improve member services and experiences, business operations and finances.

"Cirdan combines exceptional actuarial and data management expertise with a passion for being a true partner clients count on for insights that help them achieve their goals. Exceeding client expectations is the norm at Cirdan," Rosen said. "I am excited to welcome this talented group of new colleagues to HMA's growing team of actuarial and data experts."

"Cirdan is excited to join HMA and believes the mission and values of the two companies are well aligned with both companies serving organizations that ensure healthcare is available for vulnerable populations," said Nancy Nelson, Cirdan principal and managing actuary, who will serve as CEO moving forward. "Access to HMA's broad policy, clinical and operations expertise will benefit our clients and our staff."

Cirdan will continue to operate as Cirdan Health Systems and Consulting, an HMA Company. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1985, HMA is an independent, national research and consulting firm specializing in publicly funded healthcare and human services policy, programs, financing, and evaluation. Clients include government, public and private providers, health systems, health plans, community-based organizations, institutional investors, foundations, and associations. With offices in 25 locations across the country and over 500 multidisciplinary consultants coast to coast, HMA's expertise, services, and team are always within client reach.

HMA: https://www.healthmanagement.com/

Cirdan Health Systems and Consulting: https://www.cirdanhealth.com/

SOURCE Health Management Associates
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Supporting women's inclusivity in healthcare leadership, Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) recently participated in Chaffey College's Center for Culture and Social Justice Panel titled, "Celebrating Women in Healthcare Leadership," which educated students of the current roles and contributions made to healthcare by women in the Inland Empire.

Supporting womens inclusivity in healthcare leadership, Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) recently participated in Chaffey Colleges Center for Culture and Social Justice Panel titled, Celebrating Women in Healthcare Leadership, which educated students of the current roles and contributions made to healthcare by women in the Inland Empire.

The panel, conducted over Zoom, included several IEHP leaders, including Susie White, Chief Operating Officer; Dr. Priya Batra, Senior Medical Director for Family and Community Health; Shelly LaMaster, Director of Integrated Care; and Anna Wang, General Counsel.

"The event was wonderful and hearing from IEHP's women leaders was impactful for all who attended," said Dr. Leticia Romo, Chaffey College's Director of Student Equity and Engagement. "We had the opportunity to hear real and authentic stories, wisdom, and encouragement. Our students learned about mentorship, management responsibilities, leadership development, and overcoming imposter syndrome. We definitely look forward to connecting with the IEHP leaders in the future."

The panel also provided students with stories about their own educational journey and career background and offered advice for future healthcare leaders. "Our work as a community-based health plan goes well beyond traditional health services," said White. "It also includes making sure the next generation of leaders are equipped with the necessary support, tools and information to make even greater contributions to the healthcare space in the future."

In 2020, the health plan launched a Healthcare Scholarship Fund, partnering with Loma Linda University Medical School, University of California Riverside, and California University of Science and Medicine, to help remove the barrier of debt for local medical students and develop a growing workforce for healthcare professionals to care for the Inland Empire's growing Medi-Cal population.

In addition, amid the pandemic, IEHP provided internships to local public health students at Claremont Graduate University and Western University of Health Sciences to assist in developing program curricula at the plan's Community Resource Centers.

"Sharing knowledge and guidance with Inland Empire learners just entering the health care workforce is another way we can positively impact health and wellness," said Dr. Priya Batra, IEHP's Senior Medical Director for Family and Community Health. "Supporting the advancement of diverse health care professionals will help us achieve vibrant health in our region."

About IEHP

With a mission to heal and inspire the human spirit, Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) is one of the top 10 largest Medicaid health plans and the largest not-for-profit Medicare-Medicaid plan in the country. In its 25th year, IEHP is supporting more than 1.5 million residents in Riverside and San Bernardino counties who are enrolled in Medicaid or Cal MediConnect Plans and has a growing network of over 7,800 providers and nearly 2,500 Team Members. Through dynamic partnerships with Providers and Community Organizations, paired with award-winning service and a tradition of quality care, IEHP is fully committed to their vision: We will not rest until our communities enjoy optimal care and vibrant health. For more information, visit iehp.org.

SOURCE Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP)
Chinese vice premier calls for enhanced cooperation with Turkmenistan

 00:00:00



Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, meets with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov via video link in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Ding Haitao)

Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng Wednesday met with Turkmen Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov via video link, calling for enhanced cooperation in specific fields, including natural gas, security, and people-to-people exchanges.

Calling China and Turkmenistan strategic partners working for win-win results based on mutual respect and trust, Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said with personal care of the two countries' leaders, China-Turkmenistan relations have realized leapfrog development, and cooperation in various fields has attained a historical high.

China is willing to work with the Turkmen side to promote comprehensive cooperation for more new achievements, Han added.

Han proposed China and Turkmenistan take collaboration on natural gas as the priority of pragmatic cooperation to elevate natural gas cooperation to a new high and actively expand cooperation in developing renewable energy such as wind and solar power. He also called for enhanced cooperation in agriculture, transportation, finance, and other fields.

The two sides should deepen security cooperation to enhance the capacity of guarding against and responding to significant security incidents and work to promote people-to-people exchanges.

China is ready to strengthen cooperation with Turkmenistan in COVID-19 response, including in vaccines, to jointly build the immunity barrier, Han added.
DUBLIN, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Big Data Analytics in Education Market By Sector, By Application, By Component, By Deployment Mode, By Regional Outlook, Industry Analysis Report and Forecast, 2021 - 2027" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global big data analytics in education market size is expected to reach $47.82 billion by 2027, rising at a market growth of 20.79% CAGR during the forecast period.

Big data analytics has made it possible to achieve academic goals as well as improve the learning skills of the students. The performance of students should not be limited only to conventional exams and tests. With the help of big data analytics, the data of every student can be easily tracked and analyzed to know about their weaknesses, strengths, and answer times for different subjects, and questions they are unable to answer. Mentors and teachers can create an environment that enables the students to improve their skills by getting the information and giving feedback, instruction, and extra support to those students who need it.

In the education sector, online courses, learning and teaching activities produce a large amount of data. By having appropriate data, teachers can know about the academic performance of students and provide instant feedback and draw out learning patterns.

COVID-19 Impact Analysis

This pandemic has affected almost all industries, but big data analytics is expected to have a positive impact because of the adoption of digital mode and increased investment in big data analytics by the education sector. This is because of the various restrictions imposed by the governments across various nations, such as lockdown, social distancing norms, closure of all educational institutions, which resulted in the adoption of an online mode of teaching by various educational bodies and learners.

Through the adoption of advanced technologies in education, both educators and students get connected with each other in order to get knowledge and skill. Teachers are using innovative methods to teach their students through audio and visuals. However, it is estimated that this market is expected to continue to grow even after the pandemic.

Market Growth Factors:

Reduce the risk of student attrition

Big data can be used for predicting the number of students who may dropout in future from the courses they are pursuing. By using big data analytics, educational institutions can evaluate the way a student performs during the whole year and then predict whether they is expected to drop or not. Moreover, by conducting such analysis educational institutions can also predict the number of students interested in a particular course before introducing it.

Enhance learning procedure

Use of big data analytics in education provide learner with the access to more information which enables them to gain more knowledge and skills. Additionally, the availability of appropriate data also let the teachers improve the reading material they provide in terms of quality and thus helps the learners to overcome the issues they are facing during the learning process. Moreover, big data analytics help students to enhance their learning by getting advantage of customized modules as per their requirements. These customized modules is expected to further help the learners to be more attentive to the particular portion they are required to learn more and result in more productivity.

Market Restraining Factor:

Obstacles in training teachers and educators

Training teachers and educators for operating big data analytics is one of the major challenges faced by the educational institutions since teachers were well versed with the conventional way of teaching, it is difficult for them to adapt according to these advanced technologies. Although big data analytics offers multiple benefits and advantages over conventional methods of teaching, some educators might not be comfortable with changing their pedagogy style. Their reluctance to learn may come from a strong belief in their self-developed techniques and strategies.

Sector Outlook

Based on Sector, the market is segmented into Higher Education, K-12 and Preschool. The K-12 segment is projected to register a promising growth rate over the forecast period. K-12 schools are kindergarten schools that collect a huge amount of data using a predictive model.

Application Outlook

Based on Application, the market is segmented into Skill Assessment, Behavior Detection, Course Recommendation, Student Attrition Rate Detection and Others. Student Attrition means the number of dropouts before completion of particular programme. Many educational bodies use big data analytics to get an estimation of the students' attrition risk as to reduce the risk of dropout from courses.

Component Outlook

Based on Component, the market is segmented into Software and Services. The service segment is expected to display the highest growth rate during the forecast period. It is owing to the continuous increase in the adoption of big data analytics services in the education sector. These services ensure the effectiveness of big data analytics software and platforms among educational institutions.

Deployment Outlook

Based on Deployment Mode, the market is segmented into On-premise and Cloud. Cloud-based data analytics does not include maintenance and capital costs, it is more accessible to middle-sized educational institutions. These cloud-based big data analytics can be used via various device and from any location.

Regional Outlook

Based on Regions, the market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, Middle East & Africa. North America emerged as the leading region in the big data analytics in the education market. This is because of the high adoption of digital technologies like big data analytics and artificial intelligence among the educational institutions.

The market research report covers the analysis of key stake holders of the market. Key companies profiled in the report include IBM Corporation, Oracle Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, Verisk Analytics, Inc., SAP SE, Salesforce.com, Inc., Alteryx, Inc., SAS Institute, Inc., Blackboard, Inc. (Providence Equity Partners), and Tibco Software, Inc. (Vista Equity Partners).

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Market Scope & Methodology

Chapter 2. Market Overview

2.1 Introduction

2.1.1 Overview

2.1.1.1 Market Composition and Scenario

2.2 Key Factors Impacting the Market

2.2.1 Market Drivers

2.2.2 Market Restraints



Chapter 3. Global Big Data Analytics in Education Market by Sector

3.1 Global Higher Education Market by Region

3.2 Global K-12 Market by Region

3.3 Global Preschool Market by Region



Chapter 4. Global Big Data Analytics in Education Market by Application

4.1 Global Skill Assessment Market by Region

4.2 Global Behavior Detection Market by Region

4.3 Global Course Recommendation Market by Region

4.4 Global Student Attrition Rate Detection Market by Region

4.5 Global Others Market by Region



Chapter 5. Global Big Data Analytics in Education Market by Component

5.1 Global Software Market by Region

5.2 Global Services Market by Region



Chapter 6. Global Big Data Analytics in Education Market by Deployment Mode

6.1 Global On-premise Market by Region

6.2 Global Cloud Market by Region



Chapter 7. Global Big Data Analytics in Education Market by Region



Chapter 8. Company Profiles

8.1 IBM Corporation

8.1.1 Company Overview

8.1.2 Financial Analysis

8.1.3 Regional & Segmental Analysis

8.1.4 Research & Development Expenses

8.1.5 SWOT Analysis

8.2 Oracle Corporation

8.2.1 Company Overview

8.2.2 Financial Analysis

8.2.3 Segmental and Regional Analysis

8.2.4 Research & Development Expense

8.2.5 SWOT Analysis

8.3 Microsoft Corporation

8.3.1 Company Overview

8.3.2 Financial Analysis

8.3.3 Segmental and Regional Analysis

8.3.4 Research & Development Expenses

8.3.5 Recent strategies and developments:

8.3.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements:

8.3.5.2 Acquisitions and Mergers:

8.3.6 SWOT Analysis

8.4 Verisk Analytics, Inc.

8.4.1 Company overview

8.4.2 Financial Analysis

8.4.3 Segmental and Regional Analysis

8.4.4 Research & Development Expense

8.5 SAP SE

8.5.1 Company Overview

8.5.2 Financial Analysis

8.5.3 Segmental and Regional Analysis

8.5.4 Research & Development Expense

8.5.5 Recent strategies and developments:

8.5.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements:

8.5.6 SWOT Analysis

8.6 Salesforce.com, Inc.

8.6.1 Company Overview

8.6.2 Financial Analysis

8.6.3 Regional Analysis

8.6.4 Research & Development Expense

8.6.5 Recent strategies and developments:

8.6.5.1 Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreement:

8.6.6 SWOT Analysis

8.7 Alteryx, Inc.

8.7.1 Company Overview

8.7.2 Financial Analysis

8.7.3 Regional Analysis

8.7.4 Research & Development Expense

8.8 SAS Institute, Inc.

8.8.1 Company Overview

8.8.2 Recent strategies and developments:

8.8.2.1 Partnerships, Collaborations, and Agreements:

8.9 Blackboard, Inc. (Providence Equity Partners)

8.9.1 Company Overview

8.9.2 Recent strategies and developments:

8.9.2.1 Acquisitions and Mergers:

8.9.2.2 Product Launches and Product Expansions:

8.10. Tibco Software, Inc. (Vista Equity Partners)

8.10.1 Company Overview

8.10.2 Recent strategies and developments:

8.10.2.1 Partnerships, Collaborations and Agreements:

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/ofdqvv

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Research and Markets

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SOURCE Research and Markets
This agreement will bring new business to the biotech company, which is expanding its manufacturing capabilities and maintains its identity, brand, and complete team

The transaction validates mAbxience differentiated core competencies in the development, manufacturing and commercialization of biopharmaceutical products

With this strategic transaction the Spanish group Insud will also have resources to increase its current growth investments' worldwide

MADRID, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Insud Pharma announced today that it has entered into an agreement with Fresenius Kabi. Under the terms of the agreement Fresenius Kabi will acquire 55% of mAbxience, the global fully-fledged biotech company of the Spanish group.

Founded in 2010, mAbxience has over a decade of experience in the development, manufacture, and commercialization of biopharmaceuticals. The company operates three state-of-the-art and R&D manufacturing facilities, located in Spain and Argentina, and has been developing a range of biopharmaceutical products focused on multiple therapeutic areas. mAbxience also offers contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services to customers.

The company has successfully established alliances with key partners which have enabled multiple biosimilars to be launched across international markets allowing patients access to high quality biopharmaceutical products on a global basis.

As a result of this agreement, mAbxience will continue its ambitious growth plans and will keep its well-defined corporate identity, and team of around 600 professionals, ensuring continuity of its current business strategy. The boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved the transaction, which is expected to close by midyear 2022, subject to regulatory and other conditions customary for a transaction of this type.

With this alliance, Insud Pharma plans to accelerate its biotech unit, bringing new and exciting opportunities to mAbxience customers and increasing its research activities - at the beginning of May, it is expected to open a new R&D facility in Spain-.

Furthermore, this transaction will be meaningful for the Spanish group Insud Pharma, which will continue to grow and invest worldwide, whilst entering into new activities.

"We're delighted to announce our combination with Fresenius Kabi for the future development of mAbxience. This collaboration recognizes mAbxience' s capabilities in biopharmaceuticals and our strong team of dedicated employees. This transaction is a tremendous opportunity to add further value to the industry, to make mAbxience bigger and stronger and to collaborate and work together with a company such as Fresenius Kabi," stated Lucas Sigman, CEO at Insud Pharma.

"mAbxience is the perfect example of how innovation, cutting-edge R&D and manufacturing platform technology is used to deliver high quality medicines to patients, provide cost-effective alternatives to healthcare systems and guarantee its sustainability. Today's announcement is testament to the hard work of our people that have grown mAbxience from its inception to the leading business it is today," stated Sigman.

He continued, "Furthermore, this is also great news for Insud Pharma. This transaction will give our company the chance to continue investing more and to open the door to faster expansion into new areas and opportunities. As joint partners with Fresenius Kabi, we fully expect to further accelerate our mission to deliver affordable medicines to patients worldwide."

Emmanuelle Lepine, mAbxience CEO, said, "We believe this new strategic partnership with Fresenius Kabi represents the best possible next step in line with mAbxiences strategic growth plan. This partnership will allow the further progression of our development pipeline and will enable the acceleration of our capacity expansion, both of which will benefit patients, customers, and health systems. This new stage in the evolution of our company will bolster opportunities to grow our biopharmaceutical platform in key areas of high technological development and manufacturing, as well as accelerate access in strategic markets, adding a key collaboration to our already strong global partnership base."

She continued, "Driven by a shared value in people and purpose, this partnership with Fresenius Kabi will enable mAbxience to advance towards its vision of bringing biopharma solutions that are Affordable, Accessible and Across the globe. We are convinced that this partnership will enhance our commitment to the long-term sustainable growth potential for the business and will be highly beneficial to the growth and development of the whole team."

Goldman Sachs acted as exclusive financial advisor to Insud Pharma, while Baker McKenzie acted as legal advisor.

About Insud Pharma

Insud Pharma is a leading Spanish company with a track record in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry spanning over 40 years. With 7,000 employees in 40 countries, Insud Pharma's contribution to global public health is enormous, thanks to the medicines and APIs developed and manufactured at its three highly synergic business units: industrial (Chemo), brand (Exeltis) and biotechnology (mAbxience).

About mAbxience

mAbxience is a fully integrated global biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development, manufacture and commercialization of monoclonal antibodies, and forms part of the pharmaceutical group Insud Pharma. Founded in 2010, mAbxience operates three state-of-the-art facilities, located in Spain and Argentina. mAbxience is developing, registering globally and commercializing through its B2B partners several biopharmaceutical products spanning to different therapeutic areas.

Furthermore, mAbxience offers an independent CDMO (Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization) platform, providing clients with end-to-end solutions.

In 2014, mAbxience launched Rituximab, which is now approved and marketed in a range of markets worldwide.

Biosimilar to Avastin (Bevacizumab), was first developed and launched in Latin America in 2016.The European Commission (EC) approved in Europe in 2021 and after launching in collaboration with commercialization partners, mAbxience got a key market share.

In 2020, mAbxience CDMO was chosen by AstraZeneca to produce drug substance of its Covid-19 vaccine in Latin America in its plant in province of Buenos Aires (Argentina).

mAbxience has under development six new biosimilars, an original MAB and several new CDMO agreements. The mAbxience team is passionate about patient care and expanding access to its high quality and safe affordable biopharmaceutical medicines all over the world. The Company's mission is to improve patient access to quality treatments for conditions that require costly medications, contributing to the sustainability of healthcare systems.

SOURCE Insud Pharma
BOSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund (NYSE: BTO) (the "Fund"), a closed-end fund managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC and subadvised by Manulife Investment Management (US) LLC, announced today sources of its quarterly distribution of $0.5500 per share paid to all shareholders of record as of March 11, 2022, pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan. This press release is issued as required by an exemptive order granted to the Fund by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Notification of Sources of Distribution

This notice provides shareholders of the John Hancock Financial Opportunities Fund (NYSE: BTO) with important information concerning the distribution declared on March 1, 2022, and payable on March 31, 2022. No action is required on your part.

Distribution Period: March 2022

Distribution Amount Per Common Share: $0.5500

The following table sets forth the estimated sources of the current distribution, payable March 31, 2022, and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short term capital gains; net realized long term capital gains; and return of capital or other capital source. All amounts are expressed on a per common share basis and as a percentage of the distribution amount.





For the period 01/1/2022-03/31/2022

For the fiscal year-to-date period

1/1/2022-03/31/2022 1 Source

Current

Distribution ($)

% Breakdown

of the Current

Distribution

Total Cumulative

Distributions ($)

% Breakdown

of the Total

Cumulative Distributions Net Investment Income

0.2018

37%

0.2018

37% Net Realized Short- Term Capital Gains

0.0082

1%

0.0082

1% Net Realized Long- Term Capital Gains

0.1733

32%

0.1733

32% Return of Capital or Other Capital Source

0.1667

30%

0.1667

30% Total per common share

0.5500

100%

0.5500

100%

















Average annual total return (in relation to NAV) for the 5 years ended on February 28, 2022

9.30%





Annualized current distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of February 28, 2022

5.39%





Cumulative total return (in relation to NAV) for the fiscal year through February 28, 2022

2.46%





Cumulative fiscal year-to-date distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of February 28, 2022

1.35%





















___________________________________ 1 The Fund's current fiscal year began on January 1, 2022 and will end on December 31, 2022.



You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's managed distribution plan.

The Fund estimates that it has distributed more than its income and net realized capital gains; therefore, a portion of your distribution may be a return of capital. A return of capital may occur, for example, when some or all of the money that you invested in the Fund is paid back to you. A return of capital distribution does not necessarily reflect the Fund's investment performance and should not be confused with "yield" or "income."

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this Notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The Fund has declared the March 2022 distribution pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan (the "Plan"). Under the Plan, the Fund makes fixed quarterly distributions in the amount of $0.5500 per share. Effective with the June 2022 distribution, the Fund will make fixed quarterly distributions in the amount of $0.6500 per share, which will continue to be paid quarterly until further notice.

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact your financial professional or call the John Hancock Investment Management Closed-End Fund Information Line at 1-800-843-0090, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time.

Effective October 1, 2021, copies of all notices informing shareholders of distributions made by the fund in excess of accumulated net investment income will be posted on John Hancock Investment Management's public website (jhinvestments.com) and on the Legal Notice System (LENS), a service offering of the Depository Trust Company (DTC) accessible by broker-dealer firms. To the extent required, notice may also be provided via press release. John Hancock Investment Management will continue to distribute paper copies of these notices by mail until March 30, 2022, after which date the notices will be delivered exclusively via the methods described above.

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

An investor should consider a Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.

About John Hancock Investment Management

A company of Manulife Investment Management, we serve investors through a unique multimanager approach, complementing our extensive in-house capabilities with an unrivaled network of specialized asset managers, backed by some of the most rigorous investment oversight in the industry. The result is a diverse lineup of time-tested investments from a premier asset manager with a heritage of financial stewardship.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

SOURCE John Hancock Investment Management
Vertical-farming technology is changing traditional farming as we know it

TORONTO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Why would Martian Farms land in Orange, N.J.?

Easy answer: To help feed the world.

Martian Farms had landed

The next question is: Do you want to join our mission?

With our proprietary technology originally intended for use in outer space (on space stations), we are turning farming upside down using up to 99% less land and 98% less water than traditional methods. And we are doing it with a vertical-farming, LED-light technology that has blockchain traceability; and, according to available information, 73% improved productivity; and 80% less labor than other vertical farms. These results are based on 26 years of research and testing by the company under the guidance of - dare we say - some of the best scientists who have done similar work for NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

A key component of this mission is to find people to join our community as like-minded supporters who want to bring nutritious, organic produce to every corner of the Earth - including urban areas that are traditionally scarce in natural resources. We have launched a new website, MartianFarms.co, including informative updates to highlight progress and innovation, and a call to action to help us stay connected. Soon to come is Martian merchandise so we can spot members of our community in an intergalactic crowd.

"People say it takes a village to have a positive impact. Just imagine for a minute what you could do with a whole planet. We believe that Martian Farms is at the intersection of best-in-class technology and real humanity," said Amin Jadavji, co-founder and chief executive officer. (You can call him our fearless leader.)

He added: "In our humble opinion, there's no one else out there actively using technology to the best of its capability to help feed the world. We believe we have the solution to feed the masses."

Martian Farms broke ground on our first U.S. facility in February. The expectation is for our first crops of leafy lettuce in New Jersey to be harvested in the second half of this year.

"Our primary goal is to cultivate a community to support an other-worldly approach to bring scalable, affordable and sustainable nutrition to everyone," Jadavji said. "If it takes a technology intended for Mars or the Moon or beyond to feed the Earth, we're here for it."

To join the mission, follow Martian Farms on social media:

IG @martian___farm

FB Martian Farms

TW @martian__farms

TikTok @martian__farms

For more information on how Martian Farms is helping to provide sustainable farming on Earth, visit MartianFarms.co

ABOUT MARTIAN FARMS

Martian Farms is using its space-age technology to change farming as we know it on Earth. We grow locally, sustainable, zero-pesticide greens that are blockchain tracked from seed to sale in proprietary, closed-loop, state-of-the-art vertical farming facilities that use up to 99% less land and water than traditional farming. Join our mission at MartianFarms.co.

CONTACT:

Brian Kukon

[email protected]

617-575-9199

SOURCE Martian Farms
LexFin launches first-of-its kind fintech lending and payments platform for legal services in partnership with Coastal Community Bank.

TACOMA, Wash., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LexFin has entered a partnership with Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC ("Coastal"). LexFin provides a first-of-its-kind digital lending and payments platform that engages lawyers, clients, banks, and capital markets to make legal services more affordable for millions of people. Coastal has partnered with LexFin to be the lender for legal service loans in Washington State and across the country. Coastal provides a range of banking products and services to consumers and small to medium-sized businesses, and partners with innovative fintech companies in delivering next-generation banking and financial services through its fintech division, CCBX.

"Affordable access to legal services is essential to fair and just outcomes under the law, and many people simply don't have affordable access," said Sands McKinley, LexFin's Founder and CEO. "Our platform model is unique and designed specifically for the legal vertical. Coastal Bank is the ideal partner for us because they excel at working with unique companies like LexFin."

"We're excited to partner with LexFin in supporting its mission to make legal services more accessible, both here in Washington and throughout the country," said Eric Sprink, Coastal Bank's CEO. "This collaboration also further expands the reach of CCBX, which we launched in 2015 to partner with innovative companies like LexFin."

Currently, Coastal Community Bank's CCBX division has 28 fintech partners, including LexFin.

About LexFin

LexFin is a financial services technology company founded in Tacoma, Washington in 2020. The company's mission is to help people afford legal services and help law firms thrive. LexFin, LLC is regulated by the Washington Department of Financial Institutions. NMLS ID 2023310. For more information about LexFin, visit www.lexfin.com.

About Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC

Since 1997, Coastal Community Bank has helped small businesses fight to win. As the largest community bank by deposit share in its primary market, Coastal Community Bank delivers a full range of financial services to small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, and individuals and 14 full-service branches in three counties.

In addition to community banking, the Bank also provides banking as a service ("BaaS") through the company's CCBX Division, partnering with broker-dealers and digital financial service providers as they achieve their vision. For more information about Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC, visit www.coastalbank.com.

Tags: Fintech/BaaS/Legaltech

SOURCE LexFin
STOCKHOLM, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Medius, a leading provider of accounts payable (AP) automation solutions, has been named a Microsoft Gold Partner for the 10th year in a row.

Medius earned Microsoft Gold Partner status in three competencies - Cloud Platform, Application Development, and Data Analytics. In addition, Medius achieved Silver Partner status for Application Integration, for the first time this year.

Assessed yearly, the award is testament to Medius's continued commitment to innovation.

Medius is a longstanding partner of Microsoft and hosts its spend management solutions on the Microsoft Azure platform. During 2021, Medius extended its Microsoft Azure footprint by listing on the Azure Marketplace and was awarded Co-sell status-a status Microsoft awards to a select number of SaaS vendors on its Azure platform, only when commercial and technical conditions are met.

The Microsoft Azure platform is a key component of Medius's cloud-based accounts payable automation platform. Customers can access the applications from anywhere at any time, and Medius rolls-out monthly updates with new functionality.

The partnership enables Medius to offer greater flexibility, connectivity, and high-quality services to their global customer base. Being a Microsoft Gold Partner also allows Medius to test and develop new technology and to meet the changing needs of their clients.

Matt Rhodus, VP of Business Development and Strategy at Medius, comments: "With remote and hybrid working here to stay, cloud solutions will continue to play a crucial role in businesses of all shapes and sizes. Whether this is enabling customers to source new suppliers, purchase goods, or process payments - cloud solutions have been put to the test and have demonstrated how critical they are to business.

The Microsoft Azure platform is a key component of our cloud solution, and we are proud to be named a Microsoft Gold Partner for the tenth year in a row, a testament to our commitment to the partnership, and to the value the partnership brings both to Microsoft, and to Medius."

CONTACT:

For more information, please contact:

Dan Bird, Fight or Flight for Medius

[email protected] +44 7885 670798 / [email protected] +44 330 133 0985

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/medius/r/medius-named-microsoft-gold-partner-for-the-10th-year-in-a-row,c3536407

SOURCE Medius
SoftBank Vision Fund 2 leads round with participation from all existing investors

Company expects to bring LRRK2 candidate into the clinic for Parkinson's disease by end of 2022

Valentin Barsan, M.D., and Jim Scopa join Neuron23 board of directors

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuron23 Inc., an early stage biotechnology company focused on developing precision medicines for genetically defined neurological and immunological diseases, today announced it has closed a $100 million Series C financing round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, bringing the company's total financing raised to date to $213.5 million. Neuron23's Series A and B investors  Westlake Village BioPartners, Kleiner Perkins, Redmile Group, Cowen Healthcare Investments, Acorn Bioventures, HBM Partners, Perceptive Advisors, and Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company)  also participated in the Series C financing round.

Proceeds from the Series C financing will be invested in the company's lead programs against leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2), a gene associated with Parkinson's disease and systemic inflammatory diseases, and tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2), a JAK family protein that plays a role in pathological immune signaling. The funds will also be used to build Neuron23's clinical development team, precision neuroimmunology platform, and data sciences capabilities.

"This round represents a strong endorsement of Neuron23's approach to precision neurology which is extremely gratifying," said Nancy Stagliano, Ph.D., CEO of Neuron23. "As exemplified within our LRRK2 Parkinson's disease program, we intend to identify patients, using state-of-the-art machine learning tools, who are most likely to respond to our therapies, increasing the likelihood of success in the clinic and bringing the right medicines to the right patients. The time to innovate in neurodegenerative disease drug development is now, and I am grateful to SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and all our existing investors for their support."

Neuron23 Nominates NEU-723 as a Clinical Candidate for Parkinson's Disease

Neuron23 expects to begin clinical trials for NEU-723, a best-in-class brain-penetrant LRRK2 inhibitor indicated for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, by the end of 2022. NEU-723 is a highly potent and selective LRRK2 inhibitor.

LRRK2 is a complex, multidomain protein found in neurons and many other tissues and cell types throughout the body. Variants in the LRRK2 gene are the most common mutations found in inherited Parkinson's disease, and there is also emerging evidence that LRRK2 activity may play some role in a subset of the larger population of patients with non-familial Parkinson's. Neuron23 has numerous LRRK2 candidates in its pipeline, including a subset indicated for the treatment of systemic inflammation.

Neuron23 Adds Valentin (Vali) Barsan, M.D., and Jim Scopa to Board of Directors

Valentin (Vali) Barsan, M.D., an investor for SoftBank Investment Advisers and attending pediatric oncology physician at Stanford University School of Medicine, will join the Neuron23 board of directors. At Stanford, Dr. Barsan is focused on developing and translating genomic technologies in oncology to implement personalized therapy and study mechanisms of effective cancer immunity.

"While identifying targetable molecular variants has become the standard of care across many cancers, the incorporation of genetics in clinical neurology and immunology has only recently become tractable," said Dr. Barsan. "We're amazed by Neuron23's capacity to redefine molecular landscapes that can personalize neurological and immunological medicines. We believe this will enable a pipeline of novel precision medicines that will have a profound impact on patients."

Dr. Barsan earned his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine, completed residency in pediatrics at the University of California San Diego, and completed fellowship in pediatric hematology and oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

In addition to the appointment of Dr. Barsan, Jim Scopa, a longtime investor in innovative life sciences companies, also joins the Neuron23 board of directors.

Mr. Scopa serves as a board member of several life sciences and venture capital companies, including Dice Molecules, Adverum Biotechnologies, One Ventures, and Blade Therapeutics. From 2005 to 2017, he was managing director of MPM Capital, where he led investments in biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, and diagnostics.

Prior to joining MPM, he spent 18 years in health care investment banking, advising emerging growth companies on public and private financings as well as mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Scopa graduated from Harvard College and has a joint J.D. and MBA from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School.

About Neuron23

Neuron23 Inc. is an early stage biotechnology company focused on developing precision medicines for genetically defined neurological and immunological diseases. Neuron23 leverages recent advances in human genetics, combined with their state-of-the-art artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled drug discovery and biomarker platforms, to advance therapeutics for devastating diseases. The company's focus areas are neurodegenerative diseases, neuroinflammatory diseases, and systemic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Founded in 2018, Neuron23 has assembled a world-class team of experts and entrepreneurs located in South San Francisco, CA. For more information, please visit www.neuron23.com.

SOURCE Neuron23
Rainy River Mine Life Extended to 2031

(All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated)

TORONTO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - New Gold Inc. ("New Gold" or the "Company") (TSX: NGD) (NYSE American: NGD) reports the filing of a Technical Report for the Company's Rainy River Mine (the "Technical Report"). The Technical Report was prepared in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101") and has an effective date of March 28, 2022. The Technical Report is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.newgold.com.

The primary objective of the Technical Report is to provide an update on the open pit and expanded underground mine plans. The life of mine ("LOM") has extended to 2031 with the conversion of an additional 569,000 gold ounces in the underground main zones to Mineral Reserves. The remaining open pit will be mined using an optimized selective mining approach which, combined with stockpile movement, leads to both a smoother and sustainable mill grade and gold production profile, before transitioning to a cost-effective batch processing underground operation. The updated Technical Report was prepared using the Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources as at December 31, 2021 and assuming metal prices of $1,400 per gold ounce and $19.00 per silver ounce, and a foreign exchange rate of $1.25 Canadian dollars to $1.00 US dollar.

Rainy River Updated Technical Report Highlights



Units 2022 NI 43-101 (LOM 2022-2031) Production Summary Mine Life Years 10 Open Pit Tonnes Ore Mined kt 43,755 Open Pit Gold Grade Mined g/t 0.98 Open Pit Strip Ratio Waste/Ore 2.32 Underground Ore Tonnes Mined kt 12,657 Underground Gold Grade Mined g/t 3.05 Tonnes Ore Processed kt 70,220 Combined Average Gold Grade g/t 1.24 Average Gold Recovery % 89% Total Gold Production Ounces 2,524,612 Average Annual Gold Production  2022-2027 Ounces 302,090 Average Annual Gold Production  LOM Ounces 252,461 Total Gold Equivalent1 ("gold eq.") Production Ounces 2,579,893 Average Annual Gold Eq. Production  2022-2027 Ounces 309,265 Average Annual Gold Eq. Production  LOM Ounces 257,989 Operating and Capital Costs Summary Open Pit Mining Costs $/t mined $4.18 Underground Mining Costs $/t mined $52.73 Processing Costs $/t processed $7.42 Site G&A Costs $/t processed $3.44 Operating Expenses Per Gold Eq. Ounce $ per ounce $749 All-In Sustaining Cost Per Gold Eq. Ounce2 $ per ounce $1,047 Total Capital $M $718 Sustaining Capital2 $M $647 Growth Capital2 (Referred to as project capital in Technical Report) $M $71



"The filing of the updated Rainy River Mine Technical Report is another positive milestone towards delivering sustainable production", stated Renaud Adams, President & CEO. "I am confident that our updated approach for mining the remaining open pit should lead to a smoother, more consistent grade and production profile. The successful efforts to convert underground Mineral Resources to Mineral Reserves in 2021, which added meaningful gold ounces to the life of mine plan, has also extended the mine life to 2031 with low upfront underground development capital. Further, all-in sustaining costs continue to remain attractive and decrease significantly after 2023, providing for strong margins and free cash flow over the next decade."

Mining and Processing Summary

Open pit mining has historically focused on segregating higher grade ore and medium grade ore ("direct processing ore") from lower grade ore ("LGO"), which has allowed for higher grade ore being milled and the LGO material being stockpiled for future processing. In 2021, this approach was particularly challenging with reconciliation issues and with the ability to selectively mine and recover material from certain peripheral ore zones within the open pit. As the open pit continues to deepen, mining areas become narrower and the selective mining approach becomes more difficult and less efficient, resulting in an impact on productivity, costs increases, and potentially an inability to recover all ore material. In order to minimize the challenges from the segregation approach, the updated mine plan was prepared using the following approach:

For the open pit mine plan, the direct processing ore cut-off grade has been lowered providing for an optimized selective mining approach when direct feed ore material will continue to be mined separately from the LGO.



Direct processing ore and LGO to be mined together when efficient selective mining is no longer possible.



The updated approach, along with processing of the stockpile ore material, produces a balanced average mill grade to support a smoother and sustainable gold eq. production profile. Annual gold eq. production is expected to average approximately 310,000 ounces per year during the 2022 to 2027 period.

The updated mine plan predominately focuses on the remaining ounces from the main ODM zone, which has historically reconciled well with the resource model, from the second half of 2022 to 2025. The previously reported correction factor has been applied on the ODM East Lobe zone, which is expected to be completed in 2023.

Production from the Intrepid underground zone has been accelerated compared to the 2020 technical report. Development of the main ramp and the first ore panel continues to advance on plan with initial production commencing in 2022.

The underground main zones have been incorporated via two in-pit portals (previously four), as well as the Intrepid underground zone portal located to the east of the open pit. The development of the first in-pit portal is expected to be initiated in the first quarter of 2023 with the second portal planned to be initiated in the first quarter of 2026. The underground production profile has extended to 2031 with the conversion of Mineral Resources to Mineral Reserves in the underground main zones and their inclusion into the mine plan.

Mill throughput is planned to average approximately 27,000 tonnes per day during the 2022 to 2027 period, with LGO stockpile supplementing underground mill feed from 2026 to 2028.

Beginning in 2029, a cost-effective batch processing approach is expected to be implemented to mill the underground material.

The updated Technical Report utilized an average gold recovery factor in line with the 2020 technical report of 89%.

The Company continues to look for and identify opportunities to further optimize the mine plan and resource model. Underground stope design optimization will be undertaken with the support of data collected through delineation drilling already planned and budgeted within the updated Technical Report.

Operating and Capital Costs Summary

LOM sustaining capital 2 is estimated to be $647 million , primarily consisting of:

is estimated to be , primarily consisting of: $193 million is related to open pit stripping and mobile maintenance. Approximately 90% of these costs occur in 2022 and 2023 with sustaining capital significantly decreasing beginning in 2024.

is related to open pit stripping and mobile maintenance. Approximately 90% of these costs occur in 2022 and 2023 with sustaining capital significantly decreasing beginning in 2024.

$110 million is related to tailings construction, which is planned to be completed in 2025.

is related to tailings construction, which is planned to be completed in 2025.

$326 million is related to underground mining, primarily for underground ramp development, ventilation and pumping requirements.

is related to underground mining, primarily for underground ramp development, ventilation and pumping requirements. LOM growth capital 2 is estimated to be $71 million , primarily related to complete pre-production development of the underground Intrepid and main zones from 2022 to 2024.

is estimated to be , primarily related to complete pre-production development of the underground Intrepid and main zones from 2022 to 2024. LOM operating expense and all-in sustaining costs2 are expected to be $749 and $1,047 per gold eq. ounce, respectively. All-in sustaining costs2 are expected to significantly decrease beginning in 2024, consistent with the sustaining capital profile.

Technical Information

The scientific and technical information in the Technical Report was developed through the combined efforts of the Company's internal technical team and several independent consultants. InnovExplo Mining Consultants led the preparation of the underground portion of the mine plan while AMC Mining Consultants led the preparation of the open pit portion of the mine plan. A full list of Qualified Persons for the Technical Report can be found in that document available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.newgold.com. The Qualified Persons for this news release are set out below under the heading, "Technical Information and Qualified Persons".

About New Gold

New Gold is a Canadian-focused intermediate mining Company with a portfolio of two core producing assets in Canada, the Rainy River gold mine and the New Afton copper-gold mine. The Company also holds a 5% equity stake in Artemis Gold Inc. and other Canadian-focused investments. New Gold's vision is to build a leading diversified intermediate gold company based in Canada that is committed to the environment and social responsibility. For further information on the Company, visit www.newgold.com .

Endnotes

1. Total gold eq. ounces include silver produced/sold converted to a gold equivalent ratio based on $1,400 per gold ounce and $19.00 per silver ounce for the LOM. 2. "All-in sustaining costs", "sustaining capital" and "growth capital" are all non-GAAP financial performance measures that are used in this news release. These measures do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. For more information about why these measures are used by the Company, how they provide useful information to investors, and an explanation of the composition of each measure, please see the "Non-GAAP Financial Performance Measures" section of this news release.

Non-GAAP Financial Performance Measures

Total Cash Costs per Gold eq. Ounce

"Total cash costs per gold equivalent ounce" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that is a common financial performance measure in the gold mining industry but does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold reports total cash costs on a sales basis and not on a production basis. The Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, this measure, along with sales, is a key indicator of the Company's ability to generate operating earnings and cash flow from its mining operations. This measure allows investors to better evaluate corporate performance and the Company's ability to generate liquidity through operating cash flow to fund future capital exploration and working capital needs.

This measure is intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. This measure is not necessarily indicative of cash generated from operations under IFRS or operating costs presented under IFRS.

Total cash cost figures are calculated in accordance with a standard developed by The Gold Institute, a worldwide association of suppliers of gold and gold products that ceased operations in 2002. Adoption of the standard is voluntary and the cost measures presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Total cash costs include mine site operating costs such as mining, processing and administration costs, royalties, and production taxes, but are exclusive of amortization, reclamation, capital and exploration costs. Total cash costs are then divided by gold equivalent ounces sold to arrive at the total cash costs per equivalent ounce sold.

In addition to gold, the Company produces copper and silver. Gold equivalent ounces of copper and silver produced or sold in a quarter are computed using a consistent ratio of copper and silver prices to the gold price and multiplying this ratio by the pounds of copper and silver ounces produced or sold during that quarter.

Notwithstanding the impact of copper and silver sales, as the Company is focused on gold production, New Gold aims to assess the economic results of its operations in relation to gold, which is the primary driver of New Gold's business. New Gold believes this metric is of interest to its investors, who invest in the Company primarily as a gold mining business. To determine the relevant costs associated with gold equivalent ounces, New Gold believes it is appropriate to reflect all operating costs incurred in its operations.

All-In Sustaining Costs per Gold eq. Ounce

"All-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold calculates "all-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" based on guidance announced by the World Gold Council ("WGC") in September 2013. The WGC is a non-profit association of the world's leading gold mining companies established in 1987 to promote the use of gold to industry, consumers and investors. The WGC is not a regulatory body and does not have the authority to develop accounting standards or disclosure requirements. The WGC has worked with its member companies to develop a measure that expands on IFRS measures to provide visibility into the economics of a gold mining company. Current IFRS measures used in the gold industry, such as operating expenses, do not capture all of the expenditures incurred to discover, develop and sustain gold production. New Gold believes that "all-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" provides further transparency into costs associated with producing gold and will assist analysts, investors, and other stakeholders of the Company in assessing its operating performance, its ability to generate free cash flow from current operations and its overall value.

"All-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" is intended to provide additional information only and does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other mining companies. It should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The measure is not necessarily indicative of cash flow from operations under IFRS or operating costs presented under IFRS.

New Gold defines "all-in sustaining costs per gold equivalent ounce" as the sum of total cash costs, net capital expenditures that are sustaining in nature, corporate general and administrative costs, capitalized and expensed exploration that is sustaining in nature, lease payments that are sustaining in nature, and environmental reclamation costs, all divided by the total gold equivalent ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce figure. The definition of sustaining versus non-sustaining is similarly applied to capitalized and expensed exploration costs and lease payments. Exploration costs and lease payments to develop new operations or that relate to major projects at existing operations where these projects are expected to materially increase production are classified as non-sustaining and are excluded. Gold equivalent ounces of copper and silver produced or sold in a quarter are computed using a consistent ratio of copper and silver prices to the gold price and multiplying this ratio by the pounds of copper and silver ounces produced or sold during that quarter.

Costs excluded from all-in sustaining costs are non-sustaining capital expenditures, non-sustaining lease payments and exploration costs, financing costs, tax expense, and transaction costs associated with mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, and any items that are deducted for the purposes of adjusted earnings.

Sustaining Capital and Sustaining Leases

"Sustaining capital" and "sustaining lease" are non-GAAP financial performance measures that do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold defines "sustaining capital" as net capital expenditures that are intended to maintain operation of its gold producing assets. Similarly, a "sustaining lease" is a lease payment that is sustaining in nature. To determine "sustaining capital" expenditures, New Gold uses cash flow related to mining interests from its statement of cash flows and deducts any expenditures that are capital expenditures to develop new operations or capital expenditures related to major projects at existing operations where these projects will materially increase production. Management uses "sustaining capital" and "sustaining lease", to understand the aggregate net result of the drivers of all-in sustaining costs other than total cash costs. These measures are intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Growth Capital

"Growth capital" is a non-GAAP financial performance measure that does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. New Gold considers non-sustaining capital costs to be "growth capital", which are capital expenditures to develop new operations or capital expenditures related to major projects at existing operations where these projects will materially increase production. To determine "growth capital" expenditures, New Gold uses cash flow related to mining interests from its statement of cash flows and deducts any expenditures that are capital expenditures that are intended to maintain operation of its gold producing assets. Management uses "growth capital" to understand the cost to develop new operations or related to major projects at existing operations where these projects will materially increase production. This measure is intended to provide additional information only and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

For additional information with respect to the non-GAAP measures used by the Company, refer to the detailed "Non-GAAP Financial Performance Measure" section disclosure starting on page 33 of the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the year ended December 31, 2021filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information contained in this news release, including any information relating to New Gold's future financial or operating performance are "forward-looking". All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, which address events, results, outcomes or developments that New Gold expects to occur are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "targeted", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", "projects", "potential", "believes" or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "should", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved" or the negative connotation of such terms. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others, statements with respect to: the Company's expectations regarding production, costs, capital investments, expenses, margins and free cash flow for the LOM, and the factors and timing contributing to those expected results; the anticipated LOM of Rainy River extending to 2031 and the intended mining approach during such period; statements under the heading "Rainy River Updated Mine Plan Key Highlights"; planned mining operations and development and exploration activities and the associated timing and costs thereof; expectations regarding production timing; the Company's predictions regarding gold grade, gold production profile and gold recovery; the Company's estimates regarding Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources; the Company's anticipated approach to milling and the associated timing and throughput rates; and plans to further optimize the mine plan and resource model and undertake underground stope design optimization.

All forward-looking statements in this news release are based on the opinions and estimates of management that, while considered reasonable as at the date of this news release in light of management's experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, are inherently subject to important risk factors and uncertainties, many of which are beyond New Gold's ability to control or predict. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements are discussed in this news release, New Gold's latest annual management's discussion and analysis ("MD&A"), its most recent annual information form and technical reports on the Rainy River Mine filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. In addition to, and subject to, such assumptions discussed in more detail elsewhere, the forward-looking statements in this news release are also subject to the following assumptions: (1) there being no significant disruptions affecting New Gold's operations other than as set out herein; (2) political and legal developments in jurisdictions where New Gold operates, or may in the future operate, being consistent with New Gold's current expectations; (3) the accuracy of New Gold's current mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates and the grade of gold, silver and copper expected to be mined and the grade of gold, copper and silver expected to be mined; (4) the exchange rate between the Canadian dollar and U.S. dollar, and to a lesser extent, the Mexican Peso, and commodity prices being approximately consistent with current levels and expectations for the purposes of 2022 guidance and otherwise; (5) prices for diesel, natural gas, fuel oil, electricity and other key supplies being approximately consistent with current levels; (6) equipment, labour and materials costs increasing on a basis consistent with New Gold's current expectations; (7) arrangements with First Nations and other Aboriginal groups in respect of the Rainy River Mine being consistent with New Gold's current expectations; (8) all required permits, licenses and authorizations being obtained from the relevant governments and other relevant stakeholders within the expected timelines and the absence of material negative comments or obstacles during any applicable regulatory processes; (9) there being no significant disruptions to the Company's workforce at the Rainy River Mine due to cases of COVID-19 (including any required self-isolation requirements due to cross-border travel to the United States or any other country or any other reason) or otherwise; (10) the responses of the relevant governments to the COVID-19 outbreak being sufficient to contain the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak; (11) there being no material disruption to the Company's supply chains and workforce that would interfere with the Company's anticipated course of action at the Rainy River Mine; and (12) the long-term economic effects of the COVID-19 outbreak not having a material adverse impact on the Company's operations or liquidity position.

Forward-looking statements are necessarily based on estimates and assumptions that are inherently subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, without limitation: price volatility in the spot and forward markets for metals and other commodities; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, between actual and estimated costs, between actual and estimated Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources and between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries; equipment malfunction, failure or unavailability; accidents; risks related to early production at the Rainy River Mine, including failure of equipment, machinery, the process circuit or other processes to perform as designed or intended; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, including the risks of obtaining and maintaining the validity and enforceability of the necessary licenses and permits and complying with the permitting requirements of each jurisdiction in which New Gold operates, including, but not limited to: obtaining the necessary permits for the New Afton C-Zone; uncertainties and unanticipated delays associated with obtaining and maintaining necessary licenses, permits and authorizations and complying with permitting requirements, including those associated with the C-Zone permitting process; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; changing costs, timelines and development schedules as it relates to construction; the Company not being able to complete its construction projects at the Rainy River Mine or the New Afton Mine on the anticipated timeline or at all; volatility in the market price of the Company's securities; changes in national and local government legislation in the countries in which New Gold does or may in the future carry on business; controls, regulations and political or economic developments in the countries in which New Gold does or may in the future carry on business; the Company's dependence on the Rainy River Mine and New Afton Mine; the Company not being able to complete its exploration drilling programs on the anticipated timeline or at all; disruptions to the Company's workforce at either the Rainy River Mine or the New Afton Mine, or both, due to cases of COVID-19 or any required self-isolation (due to cross-border travel, exposure to a case of COVID-19 or otherwise); the responses of the relevant governments to the COVID-19 outbreak not being sufficient to contain the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak; disruptions to the Company's supply chain and workforce due to the COVID-19 outbreak; an economic recession or downturn as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak that materially adversely affects the Company's operations or liquidity position; there being further shutdowns at the Rainy River Mine or New Afton Mine; significant capital requirements and the availability and management of capital resources; additional funding requirements; diminishing quantities or grades of Mineral Reserves and Mineral Resources; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; uncertainties inherent to mining economic studies including the Technical Reports for the Rainy River Mine and New Afton Mine; impairment; unexpected delays and costs inherent to consulting and accommodating rights of First Nations and other indigenous groups; climate change, environmental risks and hazards and the Company's response thereto; tailings dam and structure failures; actual results of current exploration or reclamation activities; fluctuations in the international currency markets and in the rates of exchange of the currencies of Canada, the United States and, to a lesser extent, Mexico; global economic and financial conditions and any global or local natural events that may impede the economy or New Gold's ability to carry on business in the normal course; compliance with debt obligations and maintaining sufficient liquidity; taxation; fluctuation in treatment and refining charges; transportation and processing of unrefined products; rising costs or availability of labour, supplies, fuel and equipment; adequate infrastructure; relationships with communities, governments and other stakeholders; geotechnical instability and conditions; labour disputes; the uncertainties inherent in current and future legal challenges to which New Gold is or may become a party; defective title to mineral claims or property or contests over claims to mineral properties; competition; loss of, or inability to attract, key employees; use of derivative products and hedging transactions; counterparty risk and the performance of third party service providers; investment risks and uncertainty relating to the value of equity investments in public companies held by the Company from time to time; the adequacy of internal and disclosure controls; conflicts of interest; the lack of certainty with respect to foreign operations and legal systems, which may not be immune from the influence of political pressure, corruption or other factors that are inconsistent with the rule of law; the successful acquisitions and integration of business arrangements and realizing the intended benefits therefrom; and information systems security threats. In addition, there are risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development, construction, operation and mining, including environmental events and hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations, pressures, cave-ins, flooding and gold bullion losses (and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks) as well as "Risk Factors" included in New Gold's most recent annual information form, MD&A and other disclosure documents filed on and available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and actual results and future events could materially differ from those anticipated in such statements. All forward-looking statements contained in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements. New Gold expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Technical Information and Qualified Persons

The scientific and technical information contained herein has been reviewed and approved by Andrew Croal, Director, Technical Services for the Company. Mr. Croal is a Professional Engineer and a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. Mr. Croal is a "Qualified Person" for the purposes of NI 43-101. To the Company's knowledge, Mr. Croal holds less than 1% of the outstanding securities of the Company. No limitations were imposed on the Qualified Person with respect to the verification of the data contained herein. Further detail about the Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates, including assumptions, parameters, risks and data verification measures, is available in the updated Technical Report.

SOURCE New Gold Inc.
STAMFORD, Conn., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Stamford, CT based private equity firm Olympus Partners has acquired Omega Environmental Technologies ("Omega"), the market leading aftermarket distributor of climate control products and other mission-critical components across the light and heavy-duty automotive sectors, from AEA Investors, which will remain a minority equity investor and retain a board position in the Company. Omega serves thousands of customers globally across the wholesale distribution, OE service, and automotive retail channels. The Company is headquartered in Irving, Texas and has over 20 distribution centers across the United States and Canada.

"The replacement air conditioning market is very attractive, with steadily growing demand and high barriers to entry due to the technical nature and SKU intensity of the product. Omega is the leader in this category with a portfolio of powerful brands and complete end market coverage. We look forward to working with Peter, Randy, and the rest of the management team to continue grow the Company," said Jason Miller, Partner at Olympus.

Peter Butterfield, Chairman of Omega, added, "I would like to thank AEA for their support over the past few years and look forward to partnering with the Olympus team. I have never been more excited about the prospects of the Company."

Founded in 1988, Olympus Partners is a private equity firm focused on providing equity capital for middle market management buyouts and for companies needing capital for expansion. Olympus is an active, long-term investor across a broad range of industries including business services, consumer products, healthcare services, financial services, industrial services, and manufacturing. Olympus manages in excess of $8.5 billion mainly on behalf of corporate pension funds, endowment funds and state-sponsored retirement programs.

The Olympus team included Jason Miller, Matt Bujor, and Alex Pollera. Olympus was represented by Ben Clinger, Adam Wexner, and Kat Murphy from Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Antares Capital LP led debt financing for the transaction.

AEA Investors LP was founded in 1968 by the Rockefeller, Mellon and Harriman family interests and S.G. Warburg & Co. as a private investment vehicle for a select group of industrial family offices with substantial assets. AEA has an extraordinary global network built over many years which includes leading industrial families, business executives and leaders; many of whom invest with AEA as active individual investors and/or join its portfolio company boards or act in other advisory roles. Today, AEA's approximately 100 investment professionals operate globally with offices in New York, Stamford, San Francisco, London, Munich and Shanghai. The firm manages funds that have over $14 billion of invested and committed capital including the leveraged buyouts of middle market companies and small business companies, growth capital and mezzanine and senior debt investments. AEA Small Business is a strategy within AEA that currently manages $1.9 billion of invested and committed capital. The team seeks to help grow and transform companies at the lower end of the middle market by sponsoring growing companies with proven management teams and superior business models.

About Olympus Partners

Olympus Partners is a private equity firm focused on providing equity capital for middle market management buyouts and for growing companies. Olympus manages in excess of $8.5 billion mainly on behalf of corporate pension funds, endowment funds and state-sponsored retirement programs. Founded in 1988, Olympus is an active, long-term investor across a broad range of industries including business services, food services, consumer products, healthcare services, financial services, industrial services and manufacturing.

SOURCE Olympus Partners
TEL AVIV, Israel, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ratio Energies partnership (TASE: RATI-L), which holds 15% of the Leviathan natural gas reservoir, reports record revenues in 2021. The revenues and operating profit in this year reached 293 million dollars and 171 million dollars respectively, an increase of 50% in revenues and 60% in operating profit year-over-year. Ratio's net profit for 2021 amounted to some 77 million dollars, and adjusted net profit, excluding deferred taxes, amounted to some 102 million dollars.

In 2021, a record year in sales, 10.7 BCM of natural gas were sold. 4.5 BCM of which to the Israeli market and 6.2 BCM to the export markets in Egypt and Jordan, an increase of 48% compared with 2020. From the beginning of the year until the report release date 2.7 BCM of natural gas were sold from the Leviathan reservoir. Last month an agreement was signed that enables the opening of another natural gas transmission route to Egypt via Jordan, maximizing the capacity for export to Egypt in accordance with the agreements signed. The Leviathan reservoir continues to be positioned as the strategic reservoir for the export markets.

In 2021, Ratio continued to maintain its high cash balances which amounted, as of the end of the year, to 201 million dollars. Ratio's stable cash flow in 2022 allows continued leverage reduction. In 2021, Ratio reduced its net debt by 95 million dollars compared with year-end 2020. The partnership intends to commence profit distribution to unit holders based on the financial results for the year 2022.

At the start of 2022, and to mark its 30th anniversary, the partnership announced a change of name to "Ratio Energies" to better reflect its activities and initiatives in the field of natural gas production, clean and renewable energies, and energy innovation.

Yigal Landau, CEO of Ratio Energies : "2021 was an excellent year for Ratio with record demand in the export markets and sales that exceeded forecasts. These impressive results will allow us to distribute profits to our investors based on the results of FY 2022. In the first quarter of 2022, we continue to see significant sales, and the Leviathan reservoir continues to prove itself as a strategic asset to Israel, facilitating highly available and reliable natural gas supply along with price stability for the domestic economy during a turbulent period in the global energy sector. Furthermore, last month we started to successfully transmit gas to Egypt also via Jordan, in a move that enables maximization of sales from Leviathan and creates geopolitical advantages while strengthening the position of the State of Israel. We continue to work with the Leviathan partners on the selection of the best possible alternative for the development of Phase 1B, which will allow a considerable increase in production and sales from the reservoir. The constantly growing demand for natural gas from countries in the region and now in Europe too, create the optimal environment in which to take an investment decision for continued development of the reservoir."

SOURCE Ratio Energies Limited Partnership
The World Customs Organization (WCO) in collaboration with the United Nations Environment Program (Ozone Action) and the Basel Convention Secretariat, has conducted virtual Workshops for the Eswatini Revenue Service (ERS) and the Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA) during February and March 2022 respectively, to raise awareness on the Basel Convention and the Montreal Protocol Agreements. A combined total of forty-four (44) participants representing Customs officers from ERS and ZRA and their counterparts from respective national environment agencies of Eswatini and Zambia, have been sensitized on the role of Customs in the control of transboundary movement of hazardous waste and substances that deplete the ozone layer.

The two workshops, were delivered under the auspices of the SidaWCO Trade Facilitation and Customs Modernization (TFCM) Programme for Sustainable Development in SubSaharan Africa, with funding from the Government of Sweden. To that end, the contribution of Customs administrations to the fight against climate change and ensuring greater sustainability of the environment through effective implementation of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), such as the Basel Convention and the Montreal Protocol was emphasized during the workshops.

Working collaboratively with the secretariats of the MEAs and other international organizations, the Customs administrations and the national environment agencies; namely, Eswatini Environment Agency (EEA) and Zambia Environment Management Agency (ZEMA), conducted interactive discussions and presentations to address the critical areas and issues that affect Customs and Environment agencies to efficiently implement controls for the transboundary movement of hazardous waste, and ozone depleting substances regulated by the two agreements. This has enabled the Customs officials to become better aware of and knowledgeable in the policies, trends and enforcement controls related to the Basel Convention and Montreal Protocol, and also fostered the commitments between Customs Administrations and Environment national agencies, to collaborate better at the borders.

Based on continued technical collaboration with the WCO Environment Programme, UNEPOzone Action, and the Basel Convention Secretariat, the Sida-WCO TFCM Programme will be providing further technical assistance to Customs administrations in the SADC and EAC regions to address identified areas of needs and subsequent support to implement the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. Similar activities are planned by the Programme for other beneficiary countries.

For more information on the Sida-WCO TFCM Programme, kindly contact: capacity.building@wcoomd.org
IBHS gathers industry panel to discuss making affordable housing climate ready

RICHBURG, S.C., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) gathered affordable housing and resilience leaders for its first "Making Affordable Housing Climate Ready" roundtable. Participants discussed the growing importance of climate resilience for affordable housing to better prepare communities for the future. The virtual event included private and public sector representatives highlighting tools available to encourage, support, incentivize and finance resilient construction that can withstand the storms of today and tomorrow.

"To be a climate ready nation, all our buildings need to be resilient against the conditions they will face. We have the science to build our homes to better withstand severe weather. Yet, that's not always possible for individual homeowners. We must find the needed financial avenues to bring resilience into every construction project, every re-roofing project and every community," explains Roy Wright, president and CEO of IBHS.

Following the launch of FORTIFIED Multifamily in January, a program to bring resilience to the twenty-six percent of American households living in multifamily housing, the roundtable discussion furthered IBHS's commitment to affordable resilience as the need for climate adaptation grows. Wright opened the event by detailing the need for resilience across all types of housing to keep communities thriving for decades to come.

During the event, a fireside chat featuring Wright and Pat Forbes, executive director of the Louisiana Office of Community Development (OCD), highlighted Louisiana's leadership in connecting federal and state initiatives to break the cycle of damage, disruption and displacement the state is far too familiar with after disasters.

"Many of Louisiana's most disaster-prone geographies are also where our most vulnerable populations live," Pat Forbes said. "Often these populations do not have the resources to rebuild in a way that withstands the increasing frequency and severity of storms that we're seeing."

"This means public-funded rebuilding efforts must incorporate building standards like FORTIFIED to help protect all our residents, including those living in affordable housing, against future damage," Forbes said. "For some time now, OCD has been using resilient standards for construction in its state-funded affordable housing developments, such as the resettlements at Audubon Estates, The New Isle and Les Maisons de Bayou Lafourche."

"The Louisiana Office of Community Development is leading the way in making communities stronger by bringing resilience to single family and multifamily housing projects across the state and setting an example of what is possible for the nation," added Wright.

The event, moderated by Michael Newman, senior director for law and public policy at IBHS, included a panel discussion with insights from others who are leading the to charge to help ensure affordable housing is climate ready:

Jennifer Landau , Senior Program Manager, Multifamily Housing Division at the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority

, Senior Program Manager, Multifamily Housing Division at the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority Chris Monforton , CEO of Habitat for Humanity Mississippi Gulf Coast and Vice-Chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas Advisory Council

, CEO of Habitat for Humanity Mississippi Gulf Coast and Vice-Chair of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas Advisory Council Laurie Schoeman , Director, Capital Climate and Sustainability at Enterprise Community Partners

, Director, Capital Climate and Sustainability at Enterprise Community Partners Molly Simpson , Program Manager for Multifamily Green Financing Business at Fannie Mae

Bringing together leaders in this space who are working to make affordable housing climate ready allows communities nationwide to better understand how to create a more resilient future and reduce the impact of severe weather.

For more information on the event and the FORTIFIED program, visit ibhs.org.

About the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS)

The IBHS mission is to conduct objective, scientific research to identify and promote effective actions that strengthen homes, businesses and communities against natural disasters and other causes of loss. Learn more about IBHS at DisasterSafety.org.

SOURCE Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS)
In November 2003, Mary Anne became the fourth employee recruited by Santa Cruz County Bank in its pre-startup phase. Mary Anne is responsible for marketing, advertising, corporate messaging, community development, donations, media relations, shareholder relations, and serves on the Bank's Executive Management team. She was instrumental in creating and launching Santa Cruz County Bank's iconic brand, logo, website and early product offerings. She has also spearheaded projects including public and private stock sales, and has overseen the openings of seven of the Bank's locations.

In her 30+ year banking career, Mary Anne has acquired firsthand knowledge of nearly every aspect of banking from the ground up, in positions beginning as a teller and advancing into operations, lending, financial service management, marketing and advertising, public relations, and corporate affairs.

Mary Anne is actively involved with the local community and non-profit organizations, and currently serves in board, committee and advisory roles with Santa Cruz Shakespeare, the Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County and Santa Cruz Gives. In previous years she has served with Santa Cruz Local, Cabrillo College Women's Educational Scholarship (WES), Santa Cruz Chamber of Commerce and Santa Cruz Cancer Benefit Group. Mary Anne was recognized for her community involvement by the Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce as "Volunteer of the Year" in 1998 and by the Aptos Chamber of Commerce as "Woman of the Year" in 2009. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz and is also a graduate of Leadership Santa Cruz County and Focus Agriculture.

Santa Cruz County Bank's President and Chief Executive Officer, Krista Snelling, commented, "Mary Anne has been an asset to the Bank since before its inception and she has successfully led countless and significant projects during her eighteen-year career here. Foremost, she is responsible for the genesis of the iconic Santa Cruz County Bank brand and has been the Bank's chief spokesperson since we opened our doors. She is a creative and innovative problem solver, and her leadership continues to be a cornerstone of our success. We look forward to her future triumphs and the continuation of her steady management as the Bank grows in new markets."

Mary Anne Carson, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, stated, "I'm honored to be recognized by the Bank's leadership and Board of Directors. To be the spokesperson for the Bank with our partners and the community is a privilege. It's a great source of pride to have helped build a community bank from the de novo stage to a successful, top performing financial institution and trusted community partner. I'm constantly inspired and energized by our continued ability to be nimble, innovative, forward looking, and responsive to the communities we serve."

ABOUT SANTA CRUZ COUNTY BANK

Santa Cruz County Bank was founded in 2004. It is a top-rated, locally-owned and operated, full-service community bank headquartered in Santa Cruz, California. The bank has branches in Aptos, Capitola, Cupertino, Monterey, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley and Watsonville. Santa Cruz County Bank is distinguished from "big banks" by its relationship-based service, problem-solving focus and direct access to decision makers. The bank is a leading SBA lender in Santa Cruz County and Silicon Valley and a top USDA lender in the state of California. As a full-service bank, Santa Cruz County Bank offers competitive deposit and lending solutions for businesses and individuals; including business loans, lines of credit, commercial real estate financing, construction lending, agricultural loans, SBA and USDA government guaranteed loans, credit cards, merchant services, remote deposit capture, mobile and online banking, bill payment and treasury management. True to its community roots, Santa Cruz County Bank has supported regional well-being by actively participating in and donating to local not-for-profit organizations.

Santa Cruz County Bank stock is publicly traded on the OTCQX US Premier marketplace under the symbol SCZC. Stock purchase orders may be placed online, through a brokerage firm, or through Market Makers listed in the Investor Relations section of the bank's website. For more information about Santa Cruz County Bank, visit www.sccountybank.com .

This release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties may include but are not necessarily limited to fluctuations in interest rates, inflation, government regulations and general economic conditions, and competition within the business areas in which the Bank is conducting its operations, including the real estate market in California and other factors beyond the Bank's control. Such risks and uncertainties could cause results for subsequent interim periods or for the entire year to differ materially from those indicated. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements, which reflect management's view only as of the date hereof. The Bank undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

SOURCE Santa Cruz County Bank
PITTSBURGH, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The CASTUS Fellowship for Minority Business Owners is searching for the next cohort of entrepreneurial leaders in the Pittsburgh Area. The program's aim is to help local Minority Business Owners achieve their goals by providing access to financial and business advisory resources.

Last year, Kin of Duncan Founder, Jazmiere Bates, received the CASTUS Fellowship Award consisting of $5,000 grant funding and a Business Identity Workshop from CASTUS. "Visiting CASTUS wasn't your normal meeting because it was hands-on! I really enjoyed putting phrases together that sum up what my business stands for that I can use for much more than marketing such as, branding, grant applications, and website design."

The 2022 cohort of Fellows will have access to three workshops focusing on Legal, Finance, Marketing, Ecommerce, and Business Strategy led by local experts Frost Brown Todd LLC., Schneider Downs &Co., Inc., The Motherhood Inc., Responsival, and CASTUS. One winner will be selected to receive funding via the Fellowship Award grant.

Applications open April 1st. Businesses are eligible to apply if they are Minority Owned , have an established product or service that they are actively selling, and headquartered in the Greater Pittsburgh Area.

To apply for the 2022 Fellowship and stay informed on the latest information, visit www.castusglobal.com/castus-fellowship.

Contact Us: [email protected]

SOURCE CASTUS
Developed by leading plastic surgeons to help accelerate the learning curve in cleft lip and palate reconstructive surgical training, the Simulare Medical Bilateral Cleft Lip and Palate Simulator is an anatomically accurate, lifelike, and invaluable training tool that will reduce patient risk, decrease training costs, and elevate the skills and confidence of surgeons globally.

Smile Train is the world's largest cleft-focused organization. For more than 20 years, Smile Train has supported safe and quality cleft care for 1.5 million+ children globally.

"This latest innovation advances our vision of providing care for every cleft-affected person and demonstrates our commitment to leveraging technology to further education and change lives," said Susannah Schaefer, President and Chief Executive Officer at Smile Train. "We're deeply invested in continuing to evolve training that creates more sustainable health systems. We look forward to seeing this Simulator have a positive impact on cleft surgeons at the beginning of their career and longtime professionals looking to refine their skills as well as on our beneficiaries  regardless of the type of cleft they have."

Though children around the world suffer from both unilateral and bilateral clefts, traditional cleft lip/palate simulators have only addressed unilateral clefts. This Simulator goes beyond that, introducing a tool that can address bilateral clefts (i.e., involving both sides of the mouth). This additional functionality opens the doors for surgeons and trainees to be able to treat more children with refined techniques.

Built with 3D technology, the Simulator uses printed materials to resemble the anatomy and different kinds of tissue, such as skin, muscle, and fat, found inside the mouth to create one of the most realistic models available today. In addition to the advanced technology, the musculature and soft-tissue layers were developed from literature descriptions and consultations with expert cleft surgeons. When local surgeons have access to the most advanced tools, it builds their capacity to provide the best care possible and empowers them to perform surgery safely no matter where they are in the world.

"Surgeons in low- and middle-income countries often face significant barriers to ongoing training. This simulator is more than just a revolution in training technology," said Dr. Roberto L. Flores, the Joseph G. McCarthy Associate Professor of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, Director of Cleft Lip and Palate at NYU Langone Health, and Member of Smile Train's Global Medical Advisory Board. "It's a way to advance equity, ensuring that a talented surgeon in Malawi has the same training opportunities as a surgeon in Dallas, and that babies born with a unilateral or bilateral cleft lip/palate have access to the same standard of care no matter where they live."

With Simulare Medical handmaking its Simulators at its facilities in Canada, the division can ensure that each product is high-quality and will have an even greater impact on the patients who benefit from it. In international studies and training workshops, Simulare Medical surgical simulators are consistently recognized as a high-impact, hands-on, and low-cost way to develop and enhance surgical skills with no risk to patients.

Read more about access to safe, high-quality surgical training at smiletrain.org/simulare. To learn more about Smile Train's global efforts, please visit smiletrain.org. Follow @SmileTrain on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram for updates on Simulare technology and training.

About Smile Train

Smile Train empowers local medical professionals with training, funding, and resources to provide free cleft surgery and comprehensive cleft care to children globally. We advance a sustainable solution and scalable global health model for cleft treatment, drastically improving children's lives, including their ability to eat, breathe, speak, and ultimately thrive. To learn more about how Smile Train's sustainable approach means donations have both an immediate and long-term impact, please visit smiletrain.org.

For press inquiries, please contact: [email protected]

To learn more, contact us:

Toll free: 1 888-892-9477 ext. 5 or [email protected]

Simulare Medical, A Division of Smile Train, Inc.

Toronto, ON Canada

smiletrain.org/simulare

Copyright 2022. Smile Train, Inc.

All rights reserved.

SOURCE Smile Train
CAN/CIOSC 104 is Canada's National Standard for Baseline Cyber Security Controls for SMOs and Businesses Should Comply

SURREY, BC, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Surrey Board of Trade and its member CyberCatch announced the introduction of CAN/CIOSC 104 Compliance Manager, an innovative, cost-effective cybersecurity Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution, to businesses in Surrey.

CAN/CIOSC 104 is Canada's new national standard for baseline cyber security controls for small and medium sized business organizations (SMOs). The Standard was published by Canada's CIO Strategy Council with support from Standards Council of Canada (SCC) to help SMOs. The national standard is specifically tailored for SMOs and prescribes up to 55 cybersecurity controls to mitigate cyber risk so the SMO can operate successfully in the digital world.

A CyberCatch study revealed that 84% of SMOs in Canada are vulnerable to 'spoofing' & can easily be attacked digitally. Tweet this

The CAN/CIOSC 104 Compliance Manager is a state-of-the-art cybersecurity SaaS solution, powered by CyberCatch. The solution comprises of a toolset to implement the necessary cybersecurity controls, with the help of a team of industry-leading cybersecurity experts. It also provides training to all employees and automatically and continuously tests controls so the SMO can fix security holes so an attacker cannot exploit and break in and steal data or infect ransomware.

"The Surrey Board of Trade is pleased to take the lead in Canada and partner with CyberCatch to introduce an innovative and comprehensive cybersecurity solution to businesses in Surrey, especially as we have seen so many cybersecurity concerns that businesses have and will continue to face," said Anita Huberman, President & CEO, Surrey Board of Trade. "We will encourage businesses in Surrey to adopt the standard so they can stay safe and continue to be successful."

The Small and Medium-Sized Businesses Vulnerabilities Report (SMBVR) revealed that 84% of SMOs in Canada are vulnerable to 'spoofing' and can easily be attacked digitally.

"Our mission at CyberCatch is to protect businesses from cyber threats so they can be safe, thrive digitally and grow the economy," stated Sai Huda, Founder, Chairman and CEO, CyberCatch. "SMOs in Surrey can easily and cost-effectively comply with CAN/CIOSC 104 and maintain compliance and security. Our team of industry-leading cybersecurity experts will guide SMOs to cybersecurity success."

The Surrey Board of Trade and CyberCatch will deliver an educational webinar on Canada's new national standard and how businesses can comply and mitigate cyber risk on April 27, 2022, from 10:00 am  11:00 am. Register at businessinsurrey.com.

For more on CAN/CIOSC 104 Compliance Manager, watch a demo and download a copy of a brochure, visit website.

About Surrey Board of Trade

Surrey Board of Trade, also known as the Surrey Chamber of Commerce, is a not-for-profit organization serving over 6,000 member business contacts, representing over 60,000 employees, in Surrey, Canada. The city-building business organization attracts business to Surrey and supports businesses in Surrey. They provide businesses and other organizations with economic opportunity, workplace development and education, international trade, government advocacy and business connections. Surrey is undergoing rapid development. Residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional development has accompanied significant population and employment growth. Surrey will be the largest city in BC within the next 10 years, growing by 1200-1400 people a month. For more information on Surrey Board of Trade, visit website.

About CyberCatch

CyberCatch is a unique cybersecurity Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) company that protects small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) from cyberattacks by focusing on the root cause of why SMBs fall victim: security holes. It provides an innovative cloud-based SaaS platform coupled with deep subject matter expertise to help SMBs implement just the right type and amount of cybersecurity controls. The platform then performs automated testing of controls from three dimensions: outside-in, inside-out and social engineering. It generates the Cyber Breach Score to continuously measure cyber risk, and finds security holes and guides the SMB to fix them promptly, so attackers can't exploit any missing or broken controls to break in and steal data or infect ransomware. CyberCatch's continuous value proposition: Test. Fix. Secure. For more information, visit website.

Media Contact

For CyberCatch

[email protected]

SOURCE CyberCatch
Swvl received gross proceeds from the transaction of approximately $164.8 million from its upsized, fully committed $111.5 million PIPE and the receipt of approximately $53.3 million of cash from Queen's Gambit's trust account net of redemptions. In addition, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain closing conditions, after the closing of the business combination Swvl will have access to additional capital via an additional PIPE commitment of $10.0 million, which it expects to close in the second quarter of 2022, and a $471.7 million equity financing facility.

Mostafa Kandil, Swvl Founder and CEO, said, "Completing our business combination with Queen's Gambit is a tremendous milestone for Swvl and for sustainable mass transit globally. Mobility and the empowerment that comes with it should be a fundamental right for all. As a public company, we plan to build on Swvl's exponential growth to date and proprietary tech-enabled platform, ensuring that underserved populations have access to solutions that are safe, convenient and affordable. In turn, we will leverage our best-in-class team, established partnerships and proprietary tech stack with differentiated solutions."

Victoria Grace, Founder and CEO of Queen's Gambit Growth Capital and Board Member of Swvl Holdings Corp, said, "We have been proud to partner with Swvl, and are very excited to continue our relationship after the closing of this momentous business combination. Since announcing our merger last year, Swvl has flawlessly executed on its business plan. During such time it has strategically expanded its market-leading presence in existing geographies across Africa and Asia, while expanding into other high growth locations across Europe and Latin America through a combination of organic launches and strategic M&A. With an established leadership position in key emerging markets and market presence across more than 100 cities in over 20 countries on four continents, we believe Swvl will continue to capitalize on the truly global $1 trillion mass transit market opportunity with massive growth at scale."

Youssef Salem, Swvl CFO, said, "On behalf of the entire Swvl organization, we would like to thank our riders, captains, colleagues, investors and business partners for their trust and partnership. With clear strategic direction, a proven execution track record and a demonstrated business model, Swvl is poised to take the next step in its historic evolution. With our public currency and access to substantial pools of capital, we plan to build on our recent expansions into Europe and Latin America, major acquisitions of controlling interests in Shotl, door2door and Viapool, and investments in the UK and Mexico, and execute further strategic initiatives creating compelling value for investors and all stakeholders alike."

Appointment of Gbenga Oyebode to Board of Directors and Audit Committee

Swvl Holdings Corp has selected Gbenga Oyebode to serve as a Class I director on Swvl Holding Corp's Board of Directors and as a member of the audit committee.

Gbenga Oyebode, age 62, is the co-founder and former chairman of Aluko & Oyebode, one of the largest law firms in Nigeria. Mr. Oyebode currently serves on the boards of Nestle Nigeria Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, Socfinaf SA, Okomu Oil Palm Company and PZ Cussons Nigeria PLC. In addition, Mr. Oyebode embodies a spirit of philanthropy through his service as the chairman of Teach for Nigeria, director of Teach for All and as a member of the Global Advisory Council of the African Leadership Academy. Mr. Oyebode also sits on the boards of Jazz at the Lincoln Center, the African Philanthropy Forum, Carnegie Hall and the Ford Foundation. Mr. Oyebode has previously served on the boards of Access Bank Plc and MTN Nigeria Plc.

Mr. Oyebode holds bachelor of laws degrees from the University of Ife and the Nigerian Law School and a master of laws degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He also holds one of Nigeria's highest honors, the Member of the Order of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, and is a recipient of the Belgian royal honor of Knight of the Order of Leopold.

About Swvl

Swvl is a global provider of transformative tech-enabled mass transit solutions, offering intercity, intracity, B2B and B2G transportation across more than 100 cities in over 20 countries. The Company's platform provides complimentary semi-private alternatives to public transportation for individuals who cannot access or afford private options. Every day, Swvl's parallel mass transit systems are empowering individuals to go where they want, when they want  making mobility safer, more efficient, accessible, and environmentally friendly. Customers can book their rides on an easy-to-use proprietary app with varied payment options and 24 / 7 access to high-quality private buses and vans.

Swvl was co-founded by Mostafa Kandil, who launched Carmudi in the Philippines, which became the largest car classifieds platform in the country in just six months. He then served as Rocket Internet's Head of Operations. In 2016, Kandil joined Careem, a ride-sharing company and the first unicorn in the Middle East, where he launched services in multiple new markets.

For additional information about Swvl, please visit www.swvl.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements made herein are not historical facts but are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements generally are accompanied by words such as "believe," "may," "will," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "expect," "should," "would," "plan," "predict," "potential," "seem," "seek," "future," "outlook" and similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding future events, the business combination among Swvl, Pivotal Holdings Corp ("Holdings") and Queen's Gambit, the estimated or anticipated future results and benefits of the combined company following the business combination, future opportunities for the combined company and other statements that are not historical facts.

These statements are based on the current expectations of Swvl and/or Queen's Gambit's management and are not predictions of actual performance. These forward-looking statements are provided for illustrative purposes only and are not intended to serve as, and must not be relied on, by any investor as a guarantee, an assurance, a prediction or a definitive statement of fact or probability. Actual events and circumstances are difficult or impossible to predict and will differ from assumptions. Many actual events and circumstances are beyond the control of Swvl and Queen's Gambit. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties regarding Swvl's business and the business combination, and actual results may differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: general economic, political and business conditions, including but not limited to the economic and operational disruptions and other effects of the COVID-19 pandemic; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against the parties following the consummation of the business combination; failure to realize the anticipated benefits of the business combination; certain risks that may later arise as a result of the limited time Queen's Gambit had to conduct due diligence; the risk that the business combination disrupts current plans and operations as a result of the consummation of the business combination; the ability of the combined company to execute its growth strategy, manage growth profitably and retain its key employees; competition with other companies in the mobility industry; Swvl's limited operating history and lack of experience as a public company; recent implementation of certain policies and procedures to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including with respect to anti-bribery, anti-corruption, and cyber protection; the risk that Swvl is not able to execute its growth plan, which depends on rapid, international expansion; the risk that Swvl is unable to attract and retain consumers and qualified drivers and other high quality personnel; the risk that Swvl is unable to protect and enforce its intellectual property rights; the risk that Swvl is unable to determine rider demand to develop new offerings on its platform; the difficulty of obtaining required registrations, licenses, permits or approvals in jurisdictions in which Swvl currently operates or may in the future operate; the fact that Swvl currently operates in and intends to expand into jurisdictions that are, or have been, characterized by political instability, may have inadequate or limited regulatory and legal frameworks and may have limited, if any, treaties or other arrangements in place to protect foreign investment or involvement; the risk that Swvl's drivers could be classified as employees, workers or quasi-employees in the jurisdictions they operate; the fact that Swvl has operations in countries known to experience high levels of corruption and is subject to territorial anti-corruption laws in these jurisdictions; the ability of Holdings to maintain the listing of its securities on a U.S. national securities exchange following the business combination; costs related to the business combination; Swvl's acquisitions of controlling interests in Shotl Transportation, S.L., Viapool Inc. and door2doorGmbH may not be beneficial to Swvl as a result of the cost of integrating geographically disparate operations and the diversion of management's attention from its existing business, among other things; and other risks that will be detailed from time to time in filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The foregoing list of risk factors is not exhaustive. There may be additional risks that Swvl presently does not know or that Swvl currently believes are immaterial that could also cause actual results to differ from those contained in forward-looking statements. In addition, forward-looking statements provide Swvl's expectations, plans or forecasts of future events and views as of the date of this communication. Swvl anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Swvl's assessments and projections to change. However, while Swvl may elect to update these forward-looking statements in the future, Swvl specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Swvl's assessments as of any date subsequent to the date of this communication. Accordingly, undue reliance should not be placed upon the forward-looking statements.

Media Contact

Daniel Yunger

Kekst CNC

[email protected]

917-574-8582

Investor Contact

Youssef Salem

Swvl CFO

[email protected]

SOURCE Swvl Inc.
BENGALURU, India, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tejas Networks (BSE: 540595) (NSE: TEJASNET) today announced that it has signed definitive agreements to acquire 64.40% of shares of Saankhya Labs Private Ltd. Bangalore ("Saankhya") for INR 283.94 Cr in cash. The initial acquisition of Saankhya shares is expected to close within the next 90 days. Tejas Networks, upon procuring all necessary consents and approvals, also intends to proceed with acquiring the balance 35.60% shares through a merger process or a secondary acquisition.

Saankhya was founded in 2007 by technology entrepreneurs with global experience and has developed a wide range of system and semiconductor products for cellular Wireless, Broadcast radios and Satellite communication ground-terminal, which are deployed by customers in India and in international markets. With a rich IPR portfolio and 73 international patents (41 granted, 32 filed), Saankhya is a pioneer in building software defined radios (SDR), powered by its own SDR chipsets. Saankhya has a strong technology team of more than 250 engineers, with deep expertise in wireless communication systems and fabless-semiconductor design.

Mr. Sanjay Nayak, CEO & MD of Tejas Networks said, "We are committed to our vision to create a global telecom equipment company from India, which will provide an end-to-end stack of world-class products and solutions based on latest technologies and customer requirements. This acquisition shows our continued commitment to expand our wireless product offerings to address the growing market opportunity. Saankhya's products would complement our existing 4G/5G Radio Access Network (RAN) products and positions us well for the emerging opportunities in the O-RAN and 5G Broadcast space. We are excited to welcome the highly talented and experienced team of Saankhya and the intellect and domain expertise they bring for wireless as well as semiconductor design. We expect that this acquisition will accelerate our roadmap to create a full range of trusted and secured, world-class telecommunication products."

Mr. Parag Naik, Co-founder and CEO of Saankhya Labs said, "We are delighted to become a part of Tejas Networks, which is India's leading telecom equipment company. Being part of Tejas Networks gives us a strong platform to scale up the business for our wireless products and technologies in India as well as in to international markets. Our customers and partners will also benefit from a larger product portfolio and an accelerated roadmap of our products. This merger will further Saankhya's founding team's vision to build a world class technology company from India."

ONE Media 3.0, LLC ("ONE Media") which is the largest shareholder of Saankhya, will sell majority of its shareholding in Saankhya and post merger, will retain a minority shareholding in Tejas. Mr. Mark Aitken, ONE Media's President said, "Our close relationship with Saankhya has been critical to moving our company forward in the world of NextGen Broadcasting. Saankhya has delivered world-class products, technology and solutions, spanning across communication as well as semiconductor domains. From mobile phone design to low-cost, efficient broadcast radio heads enabling single frequency networks, its contributions have been a strategic key for us. We look forward to continuing our business and technology engagement with Tejas Networks, in opportunity areas such as cellularized 5G broadcast infrastructure."

About Tejas Networks Limited

Tejas Networks designs, develops and sells high-performance wireline and wireless networking products to telecommunications service providers, internet service providers, utilities, defence and government entities in over 75 countries. Tejas products utilize programmable, software-defined hardware architecture with a common software code-base that delivers seamless upgrades of new features and technology standards.

For more information, visit Tejas Networks at http://www.tejasnetworks.com or contact

Investor Relations:

[email protected]

About Saankhya Labs (Private) Limited

Saankhya Labs is a 5G disruptor with a breadth of wireless communication system and semiconductor expertise. Saankhya offers a wide range of communication semiconductor products and solutions for 5G NR, Broadcast and Satellite Communication applications. With several International technology patents and unique 'chips-to-systems' expertise, Saankhya's solutions include world's first production SDR, next gen open RAN Solutions for 5G networks, multi-standard direct to mobile broadcast solutions, and Satellite-IoT products. For more details visit www.saankhyalabs.com

Media contact:

Mr. Santosh Kesavan:

[email protected]

Tejas Networks

SOURCE Tejas Networks Limited
New platform provides additional avenue for treating severe genetic diseases, joins Tevard's tRNA-based platforms in broadly applicable suite of technologies

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tevard Biosciences, the pioneer of tRNA-based treatments for severe genetic diseases, today announced an agreement to exclusively license "mRNA Amplifier" technology from the Johns Hopkins University. The technology will help form the basis of Tevard's third platform for addressing diseases in which a mutation has caused a reduction in or loss of a vital protein.

The technology, created in the lab of Jeff Coller, Ph.D., a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is designed specifically to help people whose gene mutation has resulted in insufficient levels of a crucial protein, despite the patient having a healthy copy of the genea condition known as haploinsufficiency. Coller is a scientific co-founder of Tevard.

"People afflicted by a haploinsufficient disease are already making the protein they need, just not enough of it," said Tevard Chief Scientific Officer Gopi Shanker, Ph.D. "By targeting the mRNA from the healthy gene copy, we aim to amplify protein production back to normal levels," he said.

Modulating the function of mRNAsmolecular intermediaries between genes and the proteins they encodeis at the heart of all three of Tevard's drug platforms. While the company's first two platforms employ RNA-based molecules called tRNAs, the new mRNA Amplifier platform is based around specially engineered proteins.

"mRNA modulation offers the possibility of profoundly improving or even curing a number of very serious genetic diseases without some of the technical limitations and risks of modalities like gene therapy, gene editing, and oligonucleotides," said Tevard co-founder Harvey Lodish, Ph.D., who chairs the company's SAB and sits on its board of directors.

"We believe mRNA Amplifiers will be a key tool in a suite of mRNA modulation technologies that will make a real difference for people living with severe genetic diseases," said Daniel Fischer, Tevard's co-founder, president, and CEO.

About Tevard Biosciences

Tevard Biosciences is pioneering mRNA-modulating therapies to cure a broad range of genetic diseases. The privately held biotechnology company was founded by MIT Professor and Whitehead Institute Founding Member Harvey Lodish, with life science entrepreneurs and executives Daniel Fischer and Warren Lammert, fathers of children with rare genetic diseases, and scientific co-founder Jeff Coller, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Tevard is exploring the use of its novel Suppressor tRNA, Enhancer tRNA, and mRNA Amplifier platforms in neurological disorders, heart disease, and muscular dystrophies; the company has partnered with Zogenix to develop therapies for Dravet syndrome and other genetic epilepsies. For more information, please visit tevard.com.

CONTACT:

Tevard Biosciences

Rebecca Zacks

[email protected]

Disclosure

Dr. Coller is a paid consultant to and holds equity in Tevard. Dr. Coller is an inventor on a patent for the mRNA regulation therapy for the treatment of haploinsufficiency disorders. Under a license agreement between Tevard Biosciences and the Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Coller, and the University are entitled to royalty distributions related to the technology referenced in this press release. These arrangements have been reviewed and approved by the Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict-of-interest policies.

SOURCE Tevard Biosciences
SCHAUMBURG, Ill., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Actuarial Foundation is proud to announce the finalists in the 2021-2022 Modeling the Future Challenge, a national scholarship competition giving high school students the opportunity to predict the future and solve world problems. Student participants in the Challenge take on the role of aspiring actuaries by completing a math modeling project and presenting their research to a panel of actuary judges for an opportunity to win up to $55,000 in scholarship awards.

Selected from a total of 197 teams of high school juniors and seniors from across the country, 54 students making up 13 teams have qualified to present at the 2022 Modeling the Future Challenge Virtual Symposium on May 3-5, 2022. The finalists are: Anand Advani, Shyla Bisht, Alyssa Gorbaneva, Owen Rollins, and Lillian Sun from Thomas Jefferson High School in Alexandria, Virginia; Aishwarya Chakravarthy, Joanna Cheng, Diya Dinesh, and Hari Gajjala from Connecting Communities to Tech in Aldie, Virginia; Spandan Goel, Andrew Liu, Joy Qu, Greycen Ren, and Gabriel Visotsky from Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Illinois; Alexis Eskenazi, Miraya Rehman, and Joanne Zhao from Castilleja School in Palo Alto, California; Sam Lichtman, William Pardo, Eric Qian, Jack Simmons, and Albert Tang from Maggie L. Walker Governor's School in Richmond, Virginia; Aditya Chattopadhyay, Philip Guo, Jihwan Kim, Jason Liu, and Dhruv Pai from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring, Maryland; Luther Busching, Sheldon Fields, Luke Hanson, Johnny Hill, and Aaron Johnson from Stevens High School in Rapid City, South Dakota; Yuta Ioriya from SAT Professionals in Diamond Bar, California; Jack Chen, Collin Fan, Aadit Juneja, Aayush Kashyap, and Nathan Ma from Stevenson High School in Lincolnshire, Summer Flowers, Chelsea He-Chen, Cindy Ho, Jackson La Vallee, and Philip Li from Walter Payton College Preparatory High School in Chicago, Illinois; Ashwin Bardhwaj from Mission Hills High School in San Marcos, California; Ace Chun, Daniel He, Steven Wang, Michael Wang, and Isabelle Yang from Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring Maryland; and Alena Chao, Anh Do, Jua Ellie Ha, John Lee, and Michelle Thurber from Santa Teresa High School in San Jose, California.

The 2021-2022 Modeling the Future Challenge was once again an open-theme, allowing students to identify their own topics for their research projects. Topics for this year's Challenge range from a cost-benefit analysis of melanoma screenings to greenhouse gas emissions to analysis of costs and solutions to homicides in Chicago. Teams were tasked with analyzing historic data and making models following the Actuarial Process. Of the 197 teams that registered and completed Phase One of the Challenge, 101 semi-finalist teams made it to Phase Twothe Project Phase. During the Project Phase, each team was matched with an actuarial mentor to provide the students with guidance on their project. Mentors met virtually with their teams three times during the project period to answer questions and help the team develop an actuarial report and presentation.

Finalist teams will present their models at the Virtual Modeling the Future Challenge Symposium on May 3-5, 2022. The Virtual Symposium is the culminating event of the competition, providing an immersive learning experience for students and giving them the opportunity to participate in career sessions, problem-solving activities, virtual tours, and other unique experiences created in partnership with the Foundation's corporate supporters and volunteers. Finalist teams are excited and up for the Challenge! As finalist team member Spandan Goel from Stevenson High School said during the Finalist Announcement ceremony, "We would like to first and foremost thank The Actuarial Foundation for their efforts and resources dedicated to the Modeling the Future Challenge this year. We are excited to present at the Symposium in May. We congratulate all the other finalists, and we wish everyone luck in the next stage of the Competition. We are looking forward to seeing everyone's work!"

The Modeling the Future Challenge is made possible with the generous support of Pathfinder Sponsor RGA Foundation, Pacesetter Sponsors Lincoln Financial Group, and Principal Foundation, Builder Sponsors Nationwide, Helen & James C. Galt and Rick & Beth Jones, and Founding Sponsors Roy & Georgia Goldman.

About The Actuarial Foundation

The Actuarial Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, is the philanthropic institution for the actuarial industry in the United States. The mission of the Foundation is to enhance math education and financial literacy through the talents and resources of actuaries. The Foundation's vision is an educated public in pursuit of a secure financial future. Further information is available at: actuarialfoundation.org

About the Institute of Competition Sciences

Since 2012, the Institute of Competition Sciences (ICS) has been defining best practices in competition strategy, design and operations. ICS aims to spark a new level of community engagement in science, technology and education by supporting a network of educational competitions. For more information, please visit: https://www.competitionsciences.org/

CONTACT:

Holly Monahan

The Actuarial Foundation

(847) 706-3659

[email protected]

SOURCE The Actuarial Foundation
FORT WORTH, Texas, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As of March 1, 2022, the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) has successfully disbursed $30,840,857 to eligible applicants and assisted 4,785 families. Since November 2021, the City of Fort Worth's ERAP program has averaged expenditures of $4.5 million per month, continuing the fight against the impacts of the pandemic within the city.

The City of Fort Worth partnered with Fort Worth Housing Solutions to disburse federal ERAP funds to help keep families in their homes and receive help with utility bills to counteract the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of applications currently in the ERAP portal exceeds the amount of available funds, and the City of Fort Worth has decided to close the ERAP portal and program on March 31, 2022.

To date, more than 1,900 applications currently are being reviewed by eligibility staff to determine applicants' eligibility. Families who applied prior to the deadline will still have an opportunity to receive assistance based upon their eligibility. However, new applications will only be accepted if the applicant has had an eviction filed against them in the courts.

For new applications to be considered tenants must provide:

the eviction documents

the court docket number

and the Justice of the Peace (J.P.)/precinct number in section G of the application.

Funds are still available through other resources, and the city will direct applicants who cannot be helped by the city's ERAP program to those resources.

"The City of Fort Worth is wholly committed to its residents and has worked tirelessly to provide help to the community post-COVID-19. Our immediate focus is addressing the applications in the portal and directing applicants to other resources," said Terrance Jones of the City of Fort Worth Neighborhood Services.

The City of Fort Worth Neighborhood Services acknowledges any concern the closure of the ERAP portal may cause. However, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email [email protected] or call 817-392-7540 between the hours of 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. for more information.

About ERAP Program

The goal of this program is keeping families in their homes. Help is available for rent, past due rent, utilities, past due utility payments and other housing expenses resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. Funding was provided by the U.S. Treasury Department and the Texas Department of Housing & Community Affairs.

Contact Information:

City of Fort Worth Neighborhood Services

Terrance Jones

(817)  614  5651

[email protected]

SOURCE City of Fort Worth
On 7 March 2022, a meeting was held between the Intendent of the Customs Administration of Guatemala (SAT) and WCO Vice-Chair to the Americas and the Caribbean, Mr. Werner Ovalle, and the SECO-WCO Global Trade Facilitation Programme (GTFP) at the WCO Headquarters in Brussels.

Within the framework of an official visit of the Superintendent of Guatemala to the WCO, this meeting provided the opportunity to exchange views on the successful closing of the GTFP Light-Touch Intervention (LTI) in Guatemala, where the GTFP supported the Customs modernization of Guatemala to close its compliance gaps and accede the Revised Kyoto Convention (RKC). As a result, the Customs Administration has enhanced its trade facilitation measures and was able to reach such important milestone with the deposit of their instrument of accession to the RKC in 10 March 2022.

Also, this encounter allowed both parties to coordinate the future implementation of a Regional LTI to provide support for enhancing RKC compliance in Central America, where Guatemala accepted to serve as regional contact point for this Intervention, involving not only its capacity as WCO Regional Vice-Chair, but also within the Customs Committee of the Secretariat for Central American Economic Integration (SIECA, for its Spanish acronym).

For more information on the GTFP, please, contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org
The EDEN competition awards small, sustainable tourism pioneers

BRUSSELS, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the European Commission launches the European Destination of Excellence (EDEN) 2023 competition. This initiative rewards the best achievements in sustainable tourism and green transition practices in smaller destinations across Europe.

The European Destinations of Excellence is an EU initiative, implemented by the European Commission. Its aim is to recognise and award smaller destinations that have in place successful strategies to boost sustainable tourism through green transition practices. The competition is founded upon the principle of promoting the development of sustainable tourism in destinations which brings value to the economy, the planet, and the people. The current 2022 European Destination of Excellence, Middelfart (Denmark) serves as the inaugural holder of the new and improved initiative and as a sustainable tourism pioneer throughout Europe.

In order to compete for the 2023 European Destination of Excellence title, destinations are asked to demonstrate their best practices in sustainable tourism and green transition. The competition covers EU countries as well non-EU countries participating in the COSME programme1. Applications will first be evaluated by a panel of independent sustainability experts. In the second step, 3 shortlisted cities will be asked to present their city's candidature in front of the European Jury. The European Jury will select one winner, the European Destination of Excellence 2023, which will be announced in November 2022.

The winning destination will be positioned as a sustainable tourism pioneer committed to the European Green Deal objectives and will receive expert communication and branding support at the EU level throughout 2023.

To apply, destination representatives are asked to complete an online form. The deadline for applications is 1 June 2022 at 17:00 CET.

For all the latest news visit the European Destinations of Excellence website.

Contact

European Destinations of Excellence Secretariat:

Antigoni Avgeropoulou, [email protected], +49 (0) 30 70 01 86 390

Notes to Editors

1. Since 2007, the European Commission supported EU Member States and other countries participating in the COSME programme to reward non-traditional, emerging sustainable tourism destinations in Europe through the 'European Destination of Excellence" (EDEN) award. This action aimed to foster sustainable tourism destination management models across Europe by selecting and promoting EDEN destinations. To date, 175 destinations from 27 different countries have received the award under different annual themes.

2. In 2019 the "Study on EDEN evaluation" was carried out to assess the continued relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and impact of the EDEN initiative and the various actions implemented in its framework, as well as its coherence with other EU initiatives. Following the results and recommendations of the evaluation study, the European Commission relaunched the initiative, which is renewed, taking into account European Green Deal goals. In addition to the EU countries, it also covers non-EU countries participating in the COSME programme. The competition addresses smaller tourism destinations which can showcase their outstanding achievements in sustainability and inspire other tourism destinations in their green transition.

3. In 2021, Middelfart (Denmark) was selected as the 2022 European Destination of Excellence from among 50 other destinations that applied. Watch here the EDEN video for Middelfart.

4. The EDEN Award was implemented first as a pilot project and as a preparatory action initiated by the European Parliament and since 2011 has continued under the CIP/COSME programmes.

5. The competition for the European Destination of Excellence 2023 opened on 31 March 2022. Details on how to apply and terms and conditions can be found at https://ec.europa.eu/eden. The deadline for applications is 1 June 2022 at 17:00 CET.

6. The competition is open to cities and towns in the EU Member States and non-EU countries participating in the COSME programme, with a population between 25,000 - 100,000. For small states with total population below 1 million, destinations with above 5,000 inhabitants are eligible to apply. Please refer to the Guide for Applicants for more information.

7. Eligible applications will be evaluated against a set of established assessment criteria, by a panel of independent sustainability experts. The European Commission, based on the evaluation by experts, will shortlist 3 cities, which will be invited to present their candidatures in front of a European Jury. The European Jury will select one European Destination of Excellence 2023.

8. Destinations shortlisted as finalists will be announced in September 2022 and the winner will be revealed in November 2022.

1 Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine and United Kingdom. https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/39579

SOURCE EDEN - European Destinations of Excellence
Company Will Continue Strategic Expansion in 2022 With 60+ Team Additions

SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Totus Medicines, the drug discovery company harnessing proprietary chemical biology and AI to address previously untreatable cancers, today announced the relocation of its headquarters to Emeryville, California. The company is investing heavily in R&D in the coming months, including hiring for 60+ roles across several disciplines, including data science, machine learning, clinical development, and chemistry.

Totus Medicines' platform uses proprietary molecular tags that track drug binding in individual cells to screen billions of drug molecules across thousands of genes in parallel. By combining this approach with breakthrough machine learning techniques, the company has developed the next generation of cellular analysis. Totus aims to screen two billion compounds throughout the human genome within the next two years to unlock precise, effective drugs across hundreds of high-value drug targets.

"We are thrilled to announce our move to the Bay Area, a transition that sets the stage for our planned rapid growth," said Totus CEO and founder Neil Dhawan, Ph.D. "The Bay Area is a hub of innovation with a wealth of high-impact talent. I am confident that this new base for our growing team will provide a solid foundation as we further advance and scale our drug discovery platform."

Totus Medicines' new 35,000-square-foot facility will include office and lab space for the company's research and development efforts. The company plans to fill 60+ new roles in R&D, data architecture, machine learning and AI, computational chemistry, and clinical development. Totus' first drug program, TOS-358, will enter clinical trials in 2022. TOS-358 targets the PI3K mutation, which impacts more than 500,000 people in the U.S. every year and drives a significant percentage of breast, colon, lung, bladder, stomach, and other cancers.

"Team Totus is composed of the best and brightest in the life sciences field that embody our values  humility, collaboration, urgency, focus and agility," said Totus Chief People Officer Daisy Chhokar. "We greatly look forward to expanding our team of industry leaders in the Bay Area, and in doing so, bring the world one step closer to finding treatments for the world's most complex and hard-to-treat diseases."

About Totus Medicines

Founded in 2019, Totus Medicines uses the next generation of cellular analysis to create life-changing therapies to treat previously untreatable diseases through proprietary molecular tags that track drug binding in individual cells to screen billions of drug molecules across thousands of genes in parallel. Totus is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

For more information, please visit totusmedicines.com and follow Totus on LinkedIn and Twitter .

SOURCE Totus Medicines
OAK BROOK, Ill., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TreeHouse Foods, Inc. (NYSE: THS) will host an audio webcast of its first quarter earnings results conference call on Monday, May 9, 2022 at 8:30 a.m. ET. Steve Oakland, Chief Executive Officer and President, and Bill Kelley, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, will discuss the results for the first quarter and the outlook for the balance of the year. An earnings release will be issued before the market opens on the same date, and the accompanying slides will be posted to the "Investors" section of the website at approximately 8:15 a.m. ET. The webcast will be accessible by visiting http://www.treehousefoods.com under "Investors", "Events & Presentations".

In order to listen to the webcast, users will need to have installed either Real Player or Windows Media Player software, which can be detected and downloaded by visiting the site. A webcast replay will be available under the "Investors", "Events & Presentations", "Archived Events & Presentations" section of the Company's website.

ABOUT TREEHOUSE FOODS

TreeHouse Foods, Inc. is a leading manufacturer and distributor of private label foods and beverages in North America. We operate in 29 product categories across two divisions and have approximately 40 production facilities across North America and Italy. Across our diverse portfolio, we have a private label leadership position in many categories and offer a range of better-for-you and nutritional solutions, such as items considered to be organic, or gluten-free, across nearly every category. Our purpose is to make high quality food and beverages affordable to all. Our mission is to create value as our customers' preferred manufacturing and distribution partner, providing thought leadership, superior innovation, and a relentless focus on execution.

Additional information, including TreeHouse's most recent Forms 10-Q and 10-K, may be found at TreeHouse's website, http://www.treehousefoods.com.

SOURCE TreeHouse Foods, Inc.
Tyson 2.0 Cannabis Products Are Now Available At Retailers Across 8 States, Including California, Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada and Washington D.C.

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Tyson 2.0 ("The Company"), iconic boxer, entrepreneur and cannabis advocate Mike Tyson's cannabis brand, today announced that Tyson 2.0's premium range of cannabis products are now available at retailers across Delaware, Illinois and Washington D.C. This multi-state market launch, in partnership with Columbia Care, one of the largest and most experienced cultivators, manufacturers, and distributors of cannabis in the U.S., will bring Tyson 2.0 branded cannabis products including premium proprietary strains, flower, concentrates and consumables, to fans and consumers across all three regions. In addition to the markets announced today, Tyson 2.0's high-quality cannabis products are available in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan and Nevada with plans for more states coming online in Q2.

"Cannabis has been a game changer for me both physically and mentally, and I'm excited to share the healing benefits of this miracle plant with Tyson 2.0 fans in Delaware, Illinois and D.C.," said Mike Tyson, Chief Brand Officer of Tyson 2.0. "Through Columbia Care's retail network, we are expanding our market presence and gaining nationwide distribution."

Tyson 2.0 products are available for purchase at all three Columbia Care dispensaries in Delaware, located in Rehoboth Beach, Smyrna, and Wilmington. These dispensaries are offering 3.5g flower and Bubble Hash of Mike Tyson's all-time favorite strain Sour Diesel, and vapes and pre-rolls of Sour Diesel Coma and Fruit Punch vapes. Products available to consumers in Washington D.C. include 3.5g flower of Mega Runtz and kief in Mega Runtz at Capital City Care, DC.

Tyson 2.0's premium products are also available in Illinois at Columbia Care's Chicago location and select retail locations of Zen Leaf, Windy City, and Ascend. Currently in stores are 3.5g flower of Mac 7 and the fan-favorite Toad line including 3.5g flower of East Coast Toad and Sonoran Toad. Tyson 2.0 products will also be available at Medmen, Cresco, and Green Thumb Industries in Q2.

"Each of our markets are clamoring for the Tyson 2.0 products, with lines around the blocks when we launch. This speaks directly to the power of the brand and the thoughtfulness for the consumer that goes into creating each product," said BJ Carretta, SVP, Marketing, Columbia Care. "We are proud to partner with the Tyson 2.0 team and help further their vision."

For more information on Tyson 2.0, visit Tyson20.com . Tyson 2.0-branded merchandise is available for purchase at shoptyson20.com . Product photos are available upon request.

About Tyson 2.0

Tyson 2.0 is a premier cannabis company formed with legendary boxer, entrepreneur and icon Mike Tyson. The company's mission is to produce innovative, high-quality cannabis products known for purity, precision, and wide accessibility. Providing consumers an outstanding selection of products, Tyson 2.0 is an extraordinary balance of premium and affordable, full-spectrum cannabis flower, concentrates and consumables available at retailers nationwide. Learn more at Tyson20.com .

About Columbia Care

Columbia Care is one of the largest and most experienced cultivators, manufacturers and providers of cannabis products and related services, with licenses in 18 U.S. jurisdictions and the EU. Columbia Care operates 131 facilities including 99 dispensaries and 32 cultivation and manufacturing facilities, including those under development. Columbia Care is one of the original providers of medical cannabis in the U.S. and now delivers industry-leading products and services to both the medical and adult-use markets. In 2021, the company launched Cannabist, its new retail brand, creating a national dispensary network that leverages proprietary technology platforms. The company offers products spanning flower, edibles, oils and tablets, and manufactures popular brands including Seed & Strain, Triple Seven, gLeaf, Classix, Press, Amber and Platinum Label CBD. For more information on Columbia Care, please visit www.col-care.com .

SOURCE Tyson 2.0
Only approximately 3% of American lawyers are board certified

DALLAS, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bradley Arant Boult Cummings is pleased to announce that partner Dick Sayles has earned National Board Certification as a trial lawyer advocate by The National Board of Trial Advocacy (NBTA).

National Board Certification is the highest, most stringent and most reliable honor an attorney can achieve. Board certifications are the only distinctions awarded by non-profit organizations. The NBTA as well as all board-certifying organizations are committed to safeguarding the public's ability to choose a good attorney.

Mr. Sayles has been board certified in Texas for more than 30 years in both civil trial law and personal injury trial law, and now has the honor of being nationally recognized for his dedication to the legal profession. The extensive screening that NBTA board certified attorneys must complete includes demonstrating substantial trial experience, submission of judicial and peer references, attendance in continuing legal education courses, submission of legal writing documents, proof of good standing and passing of an examination.

The NBTA was formed out of a strong conviction that both the law profession and its clients would benefit from an organization designed specifically to create an objective set of standards illustrating an attorney's experience and expertise in the practice of trial law.

Mr. Sayles has been honored as the Dallas Bar Association's Trial Lawyer of the Year and recognized by Benchmark Litigation and The Best Lawyers in America. He is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers, the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and the International Society of Barristers. Mr. Sayles also was featured in Texas Lawbook's "Lions of the Texas Bar" and has been selected among the Texas Super Lawyers "Top 10 Lawyers in Texas" multiple times. Mr. Sayles was previously recognized in the 2020 edition of the Lawdragon 500 Leading Lawyers in America and the Lawdragon's Hall of Fame.

About Bradley

Bradley combines skilled legal counsel with exceptional client service and unwavering integrity to assist a diverse range of corporate and individual clients in achieving their business goals. With offices in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and the District of Columbia, the firm's nearly 600 lawyers represent clients worldwide in a wide range of professions, including financial services, healthcare, construction, technology, energy, insurance, and many others.

Media Contact:

Alyssa Woulfe

800-559-4534

[email protected]

SOURCE Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
NANJING, China, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- YKC Clean Energy Technologies (YKC Charging), a leading provider of electric vehicle (EV) charging network and energy AI, plans to grow further its EV charging business in 2022 as the country's EV sector continues to develop apace. As of February, YKC Charging has expanded its footprint into more than 360 cities countrywide through its proprietary third-party EV charging SaaS platform, serving over 3,600 charging station operators, signaling robust growth. According to the latest data from the China Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure Promotion Alliance (EVCIPA), YKC Charging ranks number two in the country's public EV charging station sector in terms of the number of charging stations on its platform.

At the 8th China EV100 Forum held on March 26, Miao Wei, deputy director of the Economic Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), highlighted that China has established the world's largest EV charging network. Furthermore, he commended the top 4 industry players, including YKC Charging and State Grid, for their remarkable achievements.

China's EV sector is in a solid upward trend, with more EVs rolling off production lines and being sold than in any other country for the last seven years. By that token, China has become a vital driver of the industry's transition worldwide to pure electric vehicles. Combined with the construction of the charging infrastructure, China had, as of the end of 2021, built the world's largest EV charging ecosystem, with a fast-charging network aligning the country's national highway network, including the Capital Ring Expressway, the Hangzhou Bay Ring Expressway as well as ten north-south and ten east-west highways. As of 2021, the number of public charging piles had reached 1.147 million, including 470,000 DC and 677,000 AC charging units. In addition, Miao said at the meeting, "some firms engaged in EV charging have begun to stand out, with TELD, State Grid, Star Charge, and YKC Charging having taken the lead."

Among the top four, YKC Charging is the only third-party SaaS platform company that drives industry innovation with technology and data. Since its founding in 2016, YKC Charging has adopted a unique business model that focuses on technology and industry empowerment without becoming involved in the manufacturing of charging stations or the construction of charging sites, making it the largest third-party EV charging SaaS platform.

As China's leading EV charging and energy AI service provider, YKC Charging has secured investments from GLP's Hidden Hill Capital, G2link, CATL, Empower Investment, NIO Capital, and OPPO. The company plans to continue providing technology-driven products and services across the entire industry chain, including charging networks, software solutions, energy storage, and carbon trading, to achieve industry innovation while supporting the country's carbon peak and neutrality targets.

SOURCE YKC Clean Energy Technologies (YKC Charging)
Crypto World, the 1st brick and mortar store focused on education, mining, & staking has announced they will do a community raise using Wefunder on April 5th 2022.

ST. CHARLES, Mo., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Crypto World, the first of its kind brick and mortar store that provides crypto education, mining, and staking, announced today the launch of a crowdfunding campaign on Wefunder on April 5th, 2022 to raise the necessary capital in order to open new locations and expand their mining & staking pools. Ryan from Wefunder said, "Crypto is a hot industry right now, this will be one of the hottest companies to invest in. They are first to market and they have a great business model."



Crypto World has chosen Wefunder, a popular crowdfunding platform with over a million angel investors, in order to raise up to $5 million on SEC Regulation CF, also known as crowdfunding. The regulation is part of the previously enacted JOBS Act, providing a viable alternative around the previous "accredited investor" limitation that kept smaller investors and entrepreneurs from making investments in startups and private companies.



Crypto World founder Jeff Wade said, "Our business model is simple; people come to Crypto World because we offer trust and confidence. They come to learn, get help, and also network with others in the crypto community. We have free weekly events, like Crypto Over Coffee in the mornings and Bitcoin Over Beer in the evenings, where speakers come to talk about relevant crypto topics. Beyond that, we sell, service, and manage mining equipment & we also have staking pools where you can stake your tokens."



Opened on Aug 24, 2021 and defying the odds, as brick and mortar stores are on the decline, Crypto World opened up during COVID to help educate the community on everything crypto. "The idea of a crypto brick and mortar store that focuses on mining, staking and education was a new concept. There was nothing else like it anywhere in the world, so I decided to build it myself," said Jeff Wade. The company's mission is to educate the crypto community, but revenue mostly comes from selling mining equipment, hosting miners, and our staking pools which combined is a $26 billion industry with projections of $70+ billion by 2025. Crypto World also sells crypto merchandise like branded caps, t-shirts, hardware wallets, art work, pillows and much more. They also have Bitcoin ATM's in the store. Wade intends to accelerate the mass adoption of crypto by opening brick-and-mortar stores in cities all over the world in an effort to give everyone an opportunity to learn, understand, and embrace the emerging and exciting world of cryptos.



With a minimum investment of only $100, Crypto World is offering equity to virtually anybody who shares their excitement and passion for crypto on their launch date April 5th 2022. Because of popularity, they are offering a VIP option for $5 which gives investors 48 hours before the Wefunder campaign goes live. The Wefunder raise will be set up as a popular silicon valley startup strategy called SAFE, Simple Agreement for Future Equity. This is common if a startup plans on doing a series A raise or IPO. Since it's difficult to properly valuate a startup, the SAFE has made it possible for investors to connect with very early-stage startups that have big promise.



Jeff Wade believes that the ethos of crypto itself is being inclusive not exclusive. That is the reason the he decided to do a crowdfunding campaign instead of working directly with a VC. He wants hundreds of people to benefit when Crypto World goes for IPO. Wade says, "We want the community to invest in us, root for us, and profit with us. That is why you should participate in our Wefunder campaign."



Contact Information:



Jeff Wade : [email protected]

Address: 2788 Muegge Rd, Saint Charles, MO 63303

URL: https://shopcryptoworld.com

Wefunder Campaign Link



Media Contact:

Jeff Wade

3148026228



Photos:

https://www.prlog.org/12911353



Press release distributed by PRLog

SOURCE Crypto World
Employees appreciate company culture, growth opportunities and work-life balance

SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- 6sense , the leading platform for B2B organizations generating predictable revenue, today announced that it has received six awards from the employee-review website Comparably for Q1 2022. Notably, 6sense received the Best Company Outlook award which measures how confident employees feel about the future success of their company.

This recognition further cements the reputation of 6sense as one of the best places to work. Comparably awards are based on verified, anonymous employee feedback and reviews collected from more than 60,000 companies. Besides the Best Company Outlook award, 6sense also received:

Best Places to Work in the Bay Area

Best Engineering Teams

Best Product & Design Teams

Best Marketing Teams

Best Sales Teams

The awards follow a series of company announcements highlighting the increasing momentum for 6sense that include three acquisitions and doubling the number of customers and revenue in 2021. This momentum was followed up with achieving a $5.2 billion valuation after raising a $200 million Series E round of funding while surpassing 1,000 employees to kick off 2022.

"We are truly committed to creating and maintaining a great workplace that nurtures wellbeing and provides professional development opportunities for everyone, and that is evident in our recognition from Comparably," said Jason Zintak, CEO of 6sense. "These awards represent feedback from the people who know us best - our employees - and have the most impact on the organization. My belief is that happy employees are passionate about delivering value to customers."

The following are examples of employee feedback via Comparably:

"Really a dream company to work for. If you need a true work-life balance then go for 6SENSE."

"I feel happy to be part of 6sense. The best part is the culture, people which keeps me up and motivated at work. There is empathy and understanding and flexibility which makes me look forward to work here. Fantastic Company and Indeed a great place to work."

"Has been fast paced, filled with learning and career development. I am happy and excited to come to work and feel like I have a true career home."

"Super exciting. There's no day I feel like not going to work. People are amazing and the work is great. Love that the PMs get autonomy to build/make decisions. Leadership is empathetic, and down to earth. Couldn't ask for more."

This isn't the first time 6sense has been recognized by Comparably. In 2021, the company was noted for having the Best Company for Diversity, Best Company for Women, Best CEO, Best Company Culture, Best Company Perks & Benefits and Happiest Employees. In addition, 6sense has also won several accolades that demonstrate its reputation as an employer of choice including the Glassdoor Best Place to Work (2022), TrustRadius Tech Cares (2021), Inc. Best Places to Work (2021) and Glassdoor Best CEO (2021).

6sense continues to expand its team across a number of exciting roles you can explore at the 6sense careers website . To learn more about life at 6sense, read the employee feedback at Comparably .

About 6sense

6sense reinvents the way organizations create, manage, and convert pipeline to revenue. The 6sense B2B platform captures anonymous buying signals, predicts the right accounts to target at the ideal time, and recommends the channels and messages to boost revenue performance. Removing guesswork, friction and wasted sales effort, 6sense empowers sales, marketing, and customer success teams to significantly improve pipeline quality, accelerate sales velocity, increase conversion rates, and grow revenue predictably. 6sense has been recognized for its market-defining technology by Forbes Cloud 100, G2, TrustRadius, Gartner, and Forrester, and for its strong culture by Glassdoor, Inc. Magazine, and Comparably. Learn more at 6sense.com .

SOURCE 6sense
Student Loan Hero report finds that figure jumps to 86% among borrowers whose income was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As the Biden administration weighs whether to extend the current moratorium on federal student loan payments beyond May 1, Student Loan Hero , a LendingTree company, sought to gauge American debtors' feelings towards a potential resumption in loan payments.

The online student debt education platform today announced the findings of its latest survey of more than 1,050 student loan borrowers, and found that 72% of federal loan borrowers say they're not financially ready to resume monthly payments.

Key Findings

72% of federal loan borrowers say they're not financially ready to resume submitting monthly payments. That jumps to 86% among borrowers whose income was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and hasn't returned to normal.

That jumps to 86% among borrowers whose income was impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and hasn't returned to normal. More than half of borrowers who haven't made federal loan payments put their monthly savings toward necessary expenses, such as housing costs or groceries (52%). Others used the money to pay off other debts (30%) and get back onto their feet financially (28%).

Others used the money to pay off other debts (30%) and get back onto their feet financially (28%). 78% of borrowers with federal or private student loans that don't qualify for the moratorium have faced difficulty making their monthly payments throughout the pandemic. And crippling student debt isn't a new trend: 39% of all borrowers had significant trouble affording their student loan payments even before the pandemic.

And isn't a new trend: 39% of all borrowers had significant trouble affording their student loan payments even before the pandemic. One possible solution: 73% of those who have refinanced their student debt say doing so made their payments more manageable. However, just 12% of borrowers have refinanced.

"The White House is undoubtedly weighing a potential uptick in defaults as part of its decision on whether to extend the moratorium yet again or offer mass student loan forgiveness, " according to Student Loan Hero certified student loan counselor and education finance expert Andrew Pentis. He adds, "Many borrowers were confident that the President Biden-directed Department of Education would offer meaningful student loan support, according to our January 2021 survey ."

To view the full findings, visit: https://studentloanhero.com/featured/resuming-payments-survey/

Methodology

Student Loan Hero commissioned Qualtrics to conduct an online survey of 1,050 student loan borrowers aged 18-55 from March 2-11, 2022. The survey was administered using a nonprobability-based sample, and quotas were used to ensure the sample base represented the overall population. All responses were reviewed by researchers for quality control.

We defined generations as the following ages in 2022:

Generation Z: 18 to 25

Younger millennial: 26 to 35

Older millennial: 36 to 41

Generation X: 42 to 55

About Student Loan Hero

Student Loan Hero , a subsidiary of LendingTree, combines easy-to-use tools with financial education to help the millions of Americans living with student loan debt manage and pay off their loans. The website provides information about repayment options, including refinancing, income-driven repayment, and deferment. Student Loan Hero has helped more than 250,000 borrowers manage and eliminate over $3.5 billion in student loan debt since 2012 and assists over 3.5 million people in becoming more financially healthy every year.

Founded in 2012 by CEO Andrew Josuweit, who himself had over $100,000 in student loans, Student Loan Hero operates on the belief that all loan help and recommendations should come with honesty and no hidden agenda.

For more information, visit https://studentloanhero.com .

MEDIA CONTACT

Frankie Rendon

[email protected]

SOURCE Student Loan Hero
DALLAS, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Academic Partnerships (AP), a leading higher education online facilitator, is proud to announce it is the recipient of two awards from workplace culture site Comparably. AP was selected out of tens of thousands of companies across the U.S. and won in two of this quarter's categories including Best Places to Work in Dallas and Best Marketing Teams.

Comparably Awards are based on sentiment ratings anonymously provided by employees about their workplaces in multiple categories on Comparably.com during a 12-month period. Rankings were determined based on a combination of questions in 20 core culture metrics, from compensation and career growth to leadership and work-life balanceproviding a comprehensive look at what it's like to work at AP.

"It's an honor to be recognized by Comparably, and we're excited that our employees have expressed their enthusiasm for the AP culture," said Fernando Bleichmar, CEO of AP. "As a mission-driven company, a thriving culture is critical for success. These awards demonstrate that we put our values into action every day, and we're proud to help the universities we serve expand access to high-quality, affordable online education to students across the country."

"Based on AP's top ratings from employees across multiple culture dimensions, the company stands out as one of the best workplaces in Dallas," said Comparably CEO Jason Nazar. "The organization's marketing talent also rated their experiences as top-notch, making it a great place to work if you're a marketer."

"It's wonderful to have our employees publicly recognize the incredible AP culture, and especially highlight the marketing team. We have a special group of people at AP, and I couldn't be prouder of my team and the amazing work they do to help bring the AP mission to life," said Karmela Gaffney, AP's Chief Marketing Officer.

Comparably is a leading workplace culture and corporate brand reputation platform with over 15 million anonymous ratings on 70,000 companies. With comprehensive data on organizations in nearly 20 different workplace categories  based on gender, ethnicity, age, experience, title, industry, location, and education - it is one of the most used SaaS platforms for employer branding and a trusted third party site for workplace culture and compensation.

AP is a leading online facilitator focused primarily on adult learners and a partner to more than 55 universities, primarily regional universities, across North America. AP helps these universities expand access to their top-quality, affordable and workforce relevant education, delivered online.

AP is actively recruiting for a variety of rewarding roles. To learn more about the open opportunities, please visit the Academic Partnerships careers page.

About Academic Partnerships

Based in Dallas, Texas, Academic Partnerships is an online facilitator that assists primarily public institutions of higher education across North America in taking their academic programs online and recruits and retains qualified students through program completion. AP's mission is to expand access to top quality, affordable and workforce relevant education, especially for working and adult students. Founded in digital innovation more than a decade ago, Academic Partnerships brings single-minded dedication, an integrated set of services and data-driven performance to our collaboration with university partnerseven more so as we all face the ongoing challenges brought on by COVID-19. For more information on innovative online learning solutions, please visit www.academicpartnerships.com.

SOURCE Vianovo, L.P.
From 15 to 17 March 2022, the SECO-WCO Global Trade Facilitation Programme (GTFP) team deployed a follow-up mission to the Customs Administration of Bolivia, aiming to verify the progress achieved in the implementation of the Programme.

This mission sets an important milestone for the Programme, as it marks the resumption of in-country missions after the COVID-19 Pandemic began back in 2020. The fruitful agenda with the Customs Administration of Bolivia, along with a meeting with the Chairs of all 7 technical groups of the Bolivian National Trade Facilitation Committee allowed the GTFP to review the countrys progress pertaining trade facilitation.

On this regard, important progress has been recorded on enhancing risk management effectiveness and establishing a national procedure for advanced rulings, to among others, and further steps were identified to continue support in Bolivia on key topics such as the Authorized Economic Operator and establishing a National Trade Single Window.

Also, within this mission, the GTFP had the opportunity to meet with a Delegation from the International Cooperation of Switzerland, to discuss about the future of the cooperation in Bolivia, as well as the progress achieved by the Programme in its third year of implementation.

For more information on the GTFP, please, contact capacity.building@wcoomd.org
Alexandria has been at the vanguard and heart of the agrifoodtech ecosystem since 2000, investing in and providing its sophisticated infrastructure to highly innovative companies that are developing groundbreaking technologies to meaningfully improve human health and nutrition and tackle climate change

PASADENA, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Alexandria Venture Investments, the strategic venture capital platform of Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an urban office REIT and the first, longest-tenured and pioneering owner, operator and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, agtech and technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, today announced that it was recognized by AgFunder in its "2022 AgriFoodTech Investment Report" as one of the top five most active U.S. investors in agrifoodtech by number of companies in which it invested (2021) for the second consecutive year. This significant recognition demonstrates Alexandria's leadership in venture activity that supports the next generation of companies in agrifoodtech. These impactful companies are accelerating and scaling technological innovation and broader transformations in the agrifoodtech sector, which are critical for the long-term health, accessibility, sustainability and resilience of the global food supply. Since 2000, Alexandria has diligently invested in and provided state-of-the-art infrastructure for innovative agrifoodtech companies advancing novel approaches with vast potential to address challenges related to sustainability, agriculture, food and nutrition.

"Food and agriculture are fundamental to society and humanity, intrinsically linked to our health, well-being and security. In addition to having to meet the food requirements of a rapidly growing population in more nutritious and responsible ways, our food system is facing serious threats from climate change, infectious diseases and geopolitics, which has made more urgent the need to dramatically accelerate the pace of innovation in the agrifoodtech sector," said Blake Stevens, PhD, vice president of Science & Technology at Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. and Alexandria Venture Investments. "Our investment thesis remains 'go long on ag' because it is imperative to provide investment capital to disruptive companies solving these pressing and difficult challenges. Venture capital investment in the agrifoodtech sector continues to surge, with $51.7 billion invested in 2021  an 85% increase over 2020  as the broader investment community continues to recognize the range of opportunities within this industry to harness its potential to improve nutrition, enhance quality of life and combat climate change. We are thrilled to be counted as a leader in this mission-critical field."

Alexandria Venture Investments' key agrifoodtech investment areas, which span the production-distribution-consumption continuum, include crop protection, gene editing, artificial intelligence, carbon sequestration, food waste mitigation, alternative proteins, the microbiome and indoor agriculture. As part of Alexandria's continued strategic investment in trailblazing companies transforming the ways we produce, deliver and eat food, the company has deepened its focus on the food technology area in 2022. Some of the company's most noteworthy recent investments in this area include its participation in the financings of Atomo, Mori and Umaro Foods, each of which is leveraging its own technology platform to create more sustainable food and supply chains and reduce the food and agricultural systems' carbon footprint.

About Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. (NYSE: ARE), an S&P 500 urban office REIT, is the first, longest-tenured and pioneering owner, operator and developer uniquely focused on collaborative life science, agtech and technology campuses in AAA innovation cluster locations, with a total market capitalization of $44.0 billion as of December 31, 2021, and an asset base in North America of 67.0 million SF. The asset base in North America includes 38.8 million RSF of operating properties and 4.8 million RSF of Class A properties undergoing construction, 8.7 million RSF of near-term and intermediate-term development and redevelopment projects and 14.7 million SF of future development projects. Founded in 1994, Alexandria pioneered this niche and has since established a significant market presence in key locations, including Greater Boston, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, San Diego, Seattle, Maryland and Research Triangle. Alexandria has a longstanding and proven track record of developing Class A properties clustered in urban life science, agtech and technology campuses that provide our innovative tenants with highly dynamic and collaborative environments that enhance their ability to successfully recruit and retain world-class talent and inspire productivity, efficiency, creativity and success. Alexandria also provides strategic capital to transformative life science, agtech and technology companies through our venture capital platform. We believe our unique business model and diligent underwriting ensure a high-quality and diverse tenant base that results in higher occupancy levels, longer lease terms, higher rental income, higher returns and greater long-term asset value. For additional information on Alexandria, please visit www.are.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements regarding the likelihood of continued investment activity by the Alexandria Venture Investments platform and the potential impacts of such investments on Alexandria's business, the companies in which it invests, the current and future development and effectiveness of agrifoodtech and the impact of such agrifoodtech on climate change and nutrition. These forward-looking statements are based on the Company's present intent, beliefs or expectations, but forward-looking statements are not guaranteed to occur and may not occur. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in or implied by the Company's forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors, including, without limitation, the risks and uncertainties detailed in its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and the Company assumes no obligation to update this information. For more discussion relating to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in the Company's forward-looking statements, and risks and uncertainties to the Company's business in general, please refer to the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent annual report on Form 10-K and any subsequently filed quarterly reports on Form 10-Q.

CONTACT: Sara Kabakoff, Vice President  Communications, (626) 7885578, [email protected]

SOURCE Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc.
NEW YORK, March 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- American Jewish Committee (AJC) announced today additional grants from its #StandWithUkraine Fund to organizations providing direct humanitarian relief to Ukrainian refugees and to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine following Russia's unprovoked, violent invasion.

The fund has raised more than $2.1 million to date and was highlighted in interviews with Warsaw-based AJC Central Europe Director Sebastian Rejak on CNN and local TV and radio stations across the United States.

"We are compelled by our tradition and humanity to do whatever we possibly can to assist the people of Ukraine as they valiantly fight for their freedom and democratic, independent country," said AJC CEO David Harris, who led an AJC delegation to Poland earlier this month to meet with Ukrainian refugees and deliver relief supplies at several border crossings and refugee reception centers.

The latest #StandWithUkraine Fund recipients are:

Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) received a grant to help provide food, health supplies and other humanitarian relief to Ukrainians adversely affected by the Russian invasion.





Polish Center for International Aid received a grant for providing cash assistance to Ukrainian refugees in Poland and subsidizing their employment.





and subsidizing their employment. Ukrainian House of Poland received a grant for a hotline Ukrainian refugees can use to find accommodations and other services in Poland .





received a grant for a hotline Ukrainian refugees can use to find accommodations and other services in . Jewish Community of Warsaw received a grant to support its provision of food and health supplies to Ukrainian refugees in Poland .





received a grant to support its provision of food and health supplies to Ukrainian refugees in . Wadi, an organization in Germany , received a grant to support its creation of an online platform to allow Ukrainian refugees to be sure they are seeking shelter in safe places, receiving food and health supplies.





, received a grant to support its creation of an online platform to allow Ukrainian refugees to be sure they are seeking shelter in safe places, receiving food and health supplies. Jewish Community of Moldova , an AJC international partner, received a grant to support its efforts to provide food, health care, and transportation for Ukrainian refugees in Moldova .





, an AJC international partner, received a grant to support its efforts to provide food, health care, and transportation for Ukrainian refugees in . JCC Budapest received a grant to support the Hungarian Jewish community's efforts to provide Ukrainian refugees with food and health supplies in Hungary .





. Hillel Deutschland received a grant to support the provision of medical supplies for a hospital in Lysyanka, Ukraine .

AJC #StandWithUkraine Fund grants were distributed earlier this month to the Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), and IsraAID.

AJC has stood in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and staunchly supported a free and democratic Ukraine for more than 30 years. In 1991, AJC became the first Jewish organization outside Ukraine to call on the United States to recognize the country's independence from Moscow. AJC was the only group in the world to set up a temporary office in Kyiv during the Maidan Revolution in 2014.

Harris expressed AJC's "full, unreserved support for American leadership in mobilizing global solidarity and assistance for Ukraine," in a March 7 letter to President Biden. "The stakes could not be higher for the very future of a democratic country, which was assured of its sovereignty and territorial integrity when it signed the Budapest Memorandum in 1994, together with the United States, United Kingdom, and Russian Federation."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee
"We are pleased to add the 12 mcg/2 mL (6 mcg/mL) single-dose vial of Selenious Acid to our family of FDA-approved products. Both Selenious Acid products available from American Regent have been developed to align with the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (ASPEN) Dosing Recommendations for trace elements supplementation. This launch demonstrates our continued commitment to the needs of special patient populations through the expansion of the Selenious Acid product line," stated Joann Gioia, Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at American Regent, Inc.

This product is available for immediate shipment. Customers can order Selenious Acid Injection, USP through their wholesaler/distributor, or by contacting our Customer Support Group at 1-800-645-1706.

Selenious Acid Injection, USP is supplied as follows:

Pack NDC# Strength Supplied as Shelf pack 0517-6502-10 12 mcg/2 mL

(6 mcg/mL of selenium) 2 mL Single-dose vial 10

See the following Important Safety Information, in addition to the product's Full Prescribing Information.

For additional information, please visit www.americanregent.com.

REFERENCES:

1. Selenious Acid Injection, USP [package insert]. Shirley, NY: American Regent, Inc. 2020

2. American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. Appropriate dosing for parenteral nutrition: ASPEN Recommendations. November 17, 2020. Accessed October 22, 2021. http://www.nutritioncare.org/uploadedFiles/Documents/Guidelines_and_Clinical_Resources/PN%20Dosing%201-Sheet-FINAL.pdf

For intravenous use

INDICATIONS AND USAGE

Selenious Acid Injection is indicated in adult and pediatric patients as a source of selenium for parenteral nutrition (PN) when oral or enteral nutrition is not possible, insufficient, or contraindicated.

Important Administration Information

Pharmacy Bulk Package or Single Dose Vial: Not for direct intravenous infusion.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION

CONTRAINDICATIONS

None

WARNINGS AND PRECAUTIONS

Pulmonary Embolism due to Pulmonary Vascular Precipitates: If signs of pulmonary distress occur, stop the infusion and initiate a medical evaluation.

Vein Damage and Thrombosis: Selenious Acid Injection has a low pH and must be prepared and used as an admixture in PN solutions. Solutions with osmolarity of 900 mOsm/L or more must be infused through a central venous catheter.

Aluminum Toxicity: Selenious Acid Injection contains aluminum that may be toxic. Aluminum may reach toxic levels with prolonged parenteral administration if kidney function is impaired. Preterm infants are particularly at risk for aluminum toxicity because their kidneys are immature, and they require large amounts of calcium and phosphate solutions, which also contain aluminum.

Monitoring and Laboratory Tests: Monitor selenium concentrations, fluid and electrolyte status, serum osmolarity, blood glucose, liver and kidney function, blood count and coagulation parameters throughout treatment.

ADVERSE REACTIONS

No selenium-related adverse reactions have been reported in clinical studies or postmarketing reports in patients receiving intravenously administered PN solutions containing selenious acid within the recommended dosage range.

USE IN SPECIFIC POPULATIONS

Pregnancy: Risk Summary: Administration of the recommended dose of Selenious Acid Injection in PN is not expected to cause major birth defects, miscarriage, or adverse maternal or fetal outcomes.

Lactation: Risk Summary: Selenium is present in human milk. There is no information on the effects of selenious acid on milk production. The developmental and health benefits of breastfeeding should be considered along with the mother's clinical need for Selenious Acid Injection and any potential adverse effects on the breastfed infant from Selenious Acid Injection or from the underlying maternal condition.

Pediatric Use: Safety and dosing recommendations in pediatric patients are based on clinical experience.

Geriatric Use: Dose selection should be individualized based on the patient's clinical condition, nutritional requirements, and additional nutritional intake provided orally or enterally to the patient.

REF-1167 10/2021

For additional safety information, please see Full Prescribing Information.

You are encouraged to report adverse drug events (ADEs) to American Regent:

T 1.800.734.9236; E [email protected] ; F 1.610.650.0170

ADEs may also be reported to the FDA:

1.800.FDA.1088

or www.fda.gov/medwatch

Medical information:

T 1.888.354.4855 (9:00 am  5:00 pm Eastern Time, Monday  Friday)

www.americanregent.com/medical-affairs

For medical information outside of normal business hours

that cannot wait until the next business day, please call 1.877.845.6371

About American Regent

American Regent, Inc., a Daiichi Sankyo Group company, is a top-10 injectable manufacturer. For over 50 years, American Regent has been developing, manufacturing and supplying quality generic and branded injectables for healthcare providers. For nearly 20 years, we have been a leader in IV iron therapy.

American Regent is committed to US-based manufacturing. To that end, over the last several years, we have made significant investments in expanding and modernizing our manufacturing facilities in Ohio and New York. This expansion will nearly double our capacity and allow us to better serve our customers now and in the future.

Speed counts. Flexibility matters. Reliability and quality are paramount. Because patients should never have to wait for the medications they need.

For more information, please visit www.americanregent.com.

About Daiichi Sankyo Group

Daiichi Sankyo Group is dedicated to the creation and supply of innovative pharmaceutical therapies to improve standards of care and address diversified, unmet medical needs of people globally by leveraging our world-class science and technology. With more than 100 years of scientific expertise and a presence in more than 20 countries, Daiichi Sankyo and its 15,000 employees around the world draw upon a rich legacy of innovation and a robust pipeline of promising new medicines to help people. In addition to a strong portfolio of medicines for cardiovascular diseases, under the Group's 2025 Vision to become a "Global Pharma Innovator with Competitive Advantage in Oncology," Daiichi Sankyo is primarily focused on providing novel therapies in oncology, as well as other research areas centered around rare diseases and immune disorders.

For more information, please visit: www.daiichisankyo.com.

Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., headquartered in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, is a member of the Daiichi Sankyo Group.

For more information on Daiichi Sankyo, Inc., please visit www.dsi.com.

SOURCE American Regent, Inc.
MELVILLE, N.Y., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Micross Components, Inc. ("Micross"), a leading global provider of mission-critical microelectronic components and services for high-reliability aerospace, defense, space, medical, and industrial applications, is pleased to announce the appointment of Valli Murugappan to the position of Sales Director for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region.

Mr. Murugappan comes to Micross with over 25 years of experience in serving the APAC region for Microelectronic product solutions and systems for the Aerospace, Defense, and Space markets, with deep experience in the key APAC markets of India, Taiwan, Korea, China & Malaysia. Valli will operate from Singapore, and will be responsible for leading and coordinating all sales and customer success activities within the APAC region.

Prior to joining Micross, Valli served as the Senior Director of APAC at Data Device Corporation for 12 years, and prior to DDC as the APAC Regional Manager for Curtis Wright for 2 years. Mr. Murugappan holds a Master of Science(M.S.) in Systems and Information from Birla Institute of Technology & Science in Pilani, and a Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.) degree in Mechanical Engineering from Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering and Technology.

Graham Jefferies, Managing Director of Micross Components Limited, stated, "Valli's appointment will further reinforce the Micross presence in the region, providing customers with a local executive resource for program development, sustainment, and technical support. We are excited to have such a capable and accomplished leader as Valli serve and expand our semiconductor and microelectronic distribution and supply chain services for the Asia Pacific market."

In addition, we are also pleased to announce the opening of a new Micross Sales Office in Bangalore, India, led by Anand Panneer, that will provide customer success services, including Customer Service and Applications Engineering support.

Related Link: https://www.micross.com/APAC-SD

For questions regarding article development, please contact:

Chris Stabile, Director of Corporate Marketing Communications

Micross Components

[email protected]

About Micross

Micross is the most complete provider of advanced microelectronic services and component, die and wafer solutions. With the broadest authorized access to die & wafer suppliers, and the most comprehensive advanced packaging, assembly, modification and test capabilities, Micross is uniquely positioned to provide unparalleled high-reliability solutions from bare die, to fully packaged devices, to complete program lifecycle sustainment. For more than 40 years, Micross has been a trusted source for the aerospace, defense, space, medical and industrial markets.

For more information about Micross, please visit www.micross.com.

Follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn.

SOURCE Micross Components
"This new order is an important element of our fleet renewal programme, and we are delighted to expand our partnership with Boeing on the 737-800BCF," said Dave Andrew, Chief Executive, ASL Aviation Holdings. "The 737-800BCF offers increased reliability and performance, and equally its lower fuel burn reduces our environmental footprint. This is very important to ASL as an aviation group committed to environmental sustainability in aviation."

This is ASL's second order for the 737-800BCF and including options, will bring the organization's total 737-800BCF orders and commitments with Boeing to 40 aircraft. The aircraft will be converted by Boeing at approved MRO sites including STAECO in Jinan, China and at Boeing's London Gatwick MRO facility in the United Kingdom.

"We are honored to play a crucial role in the fleet renewal underway across ASL Aviation Holdings' operation," said Jens Steinhagen, director of Boeing Converted Freighters. "Boeing Converted Freighters support progress towards sustainability goals by providing operators like those under the ASL Group umbrella an economical way to replace less efficient, older-generation freighters."

The 737-800BCF carries more payload  up to 23.9 tonnes (52,800 lbs.)  and flies farther  2,025 nautical miles (3,750 km) compared to 737 Classic freighters.

Boeing has more than 40 years of experience in passenger-to-freighter conversions, relying on original design data and a deep understanding of the needs of the air cargo industry to deliver a superior, integrated product, including fully integrated manuals and world-class in-service technical support. Boeing Converted Freighters also come with the advantage of being associated with the industry's largest portfolio of services, support and solutions. Learn more about the 737-800BCF and the complete Boeing freighter family here.

About ASL Aviation

ASL Aviation Holdings, a global aviation services company with airlines based in Europe, South Africa and Asia, is a world leader in ACMI airline operations serving major cargo and passenger airlines. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, ASL's six airlines include ASL Airlines Ireland, ASL Airlines Belgium, ASL Airlines France and ASL Airlines United Kingdom in Europe. ASL also have joint venture and associate airlines FlySafair in South Africa and K-Mile Asia in Thailand. The group also includes several leasing entities. Learn more at http://www.aslaviationholdings.com/

About Boeing

As a leading global aerospace company, Boeing develops, manufactures and services commercial airplanes, defense products and space systems for customers in more than 150 countries. As a top U.S. exporter, the company leverages the talents of a global supplier base to advance economic opportunity, sustainability and community impact. Boeing's diverse team is committed to innovating for the future and living the company's core values of safety, quality and integrity. Learn more at www.boeing.com.

Contact

Charles Kauffman

BGS Communications

1+206-321-8658

[email protected]

Andrew Kelly

[email protected]

+353 85 711 7711

SOURCE Boeing
New "Life's Great Adventures Begin From Within" Video Leads New Marketing Campaign

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Taking the Atlas Ocean Voyages brand to the next level, the luxe-adventure expedition line announced today a new marketing campaign called "Discover Yourself  Discover the World Anew." The new campaign focuses on new travel experiences that redefine luxury and adventure as guests immerse in new travel experiences aboard Atlas' luxe-adventure voyages. A new brand video, called "Life's Great Adventures Start From Within," spearheads the new campaign and showcases shipboard and shoreside experiences depicted with new, spectacular footage captured aboard the newly launched World Navigator. Both Inspirational and aspirational, the nearly three-minute video shows the glamorous and exciting day-in-the-life aboard an Atlas luxe-adventure voyage. To view the new "Life's Great Adventures Start From Within" video, please visit www.AtlasOceanVoyages.com.

"We are proud to present Atlas Ocean Voyages' new marketing campaign," said Alberto Aliberti, President of Atlas Ocean Voyages. "Discover Yourself  Discover the World Anew is the next rendition of Atlas' marketing campaign to inspire travelers to embark on a luxe-adventure voyage of a lifetime to remote and captivating destinations around the world. On board, guests enjoy all-inclusive luxury and Atlas' signature casually elegant ambience."

The new "Life's Great Adventures Start From Within" video features the Atlas experience in three parts: the luxurious onboard amenities of World Navigator and World Traveller, the casually elegant shipboard guest experience, and Atlas' exhilarating shoreside adventures. Travelers will find the new "Discover Yourself  Discover the World Anew" campaign in a variety of channels, including consumer and trade magazines, newspaper inserts, outdoor and online channels.

Atlas Launches New Marketing Campaign  Page 2

"The new Discover Yourself  Discover the World Anew campaign captures the essence of our brand in a fresh, exciting way," said Colleen Rodriguez, Vice President of Marketing, Atlas Ocean Voyages. "Our young brand stirs the soul and inspires travel. Every touchpoint of our campaign is about connecting back to our guests in a meaningful and genuine way and helping them find their "self" and the adventurer within."

Atlas Ocean Voyages is a luxe-adventure, expedition cruise line designed for discerning, fun-seeking travelers to immerse in unique and awe-inspiring moments in remote and captivating destinations. World Navigator, launched in August 2021, and World Traveller, launching October 2022, both feature 98 suites, solo suites with no single supplements, and staterooms, and is the line's first two small expedition ship, bringing travelers to smaller, authentic and exclusive locales. World Navigator will cruise the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, and Iceland, Greenland and The Arctic in summer 2022; Central and South America in the autumn; and return to Antarctica for her winter 2022-23 season. In winter 2023, World Traveller will sail her inaugural season in Antarctica. Three additional sister ships, World Seeker, World Adventurer and World Discoverer, will join the fleet through 2024.

For more information, please visit www.AtlasOceanVoyages.com. Please also follow Atlas Ocean Voyages on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AtlasOceanVoyages), Twitter (www.twitter.com/atlascruises), Instagram (www.instagram.com/AtlasOceanVoyages), and LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/company/atlascruises). Travel Advisors can call 1.844.44.ATLAS (1.844.442.8527) to book their clients on an unforgettable luxe-adventure expedition.

SOURCE Atlas Ocean Voyages
"Where is the fairness and equality if the United States and each of its States hand out de facto death sentences for crimes largely stemming from mental health problems, poverty, and/or racial inequalities," states Daniel J. Simms, 42, author of "Hopeless in Seattle: A Fosterkid's Manifesto," who struggled with a substance abuse disorder that resulted in a botched drug deal, where no one was shot, murdered, or severely hurt, yet Daniel was given a de facto death sentence. www.RailroadedinSeattle.com .

Emblematic of this fact is the tragic case of Gregory Dickerson, 44, a Washingtonian incarcerated for robbery, he did not shoot or murder anyone, and after virtually twenty years in prison Gregory petitioned for clemency through Washington Governor Jay Inslee Parole and Pardons Board. Gregory struggled vigorously to meet the artificially high and harsh hurdles the parole board placed in front of him to obtain mercy and clemency. Despite being subjected to cruel over-sentencing similar to Daniel J. Simms, Gregory highlighted remarkable and extraordinary signs of rehabilitation yet the Parole Board denied his petition suggesting he try back in three years. Soon thereafter, as Gregory was exercising, he suffered a massive stroke and died, never again experiencing freedom, mercy, or getting a second chance.

This level of injustice is no anomaly. In fact it is happening before our eyes in the outrageously unfair case of Daniel J. Simms. Vast amounts of Americans believe Daniel was railroaded by the previous King County Prosecutor's Office into a de facto death sentence. The current King County Prosecutor Daniel Satterburg and his office was given the chance to remedy the injustice through Daniel J. Simms' petition for 6164 re-sentencing in December 2021. Beyond the fact that Daniel J. Simms has been incarcerated for almost twenty years, is fully rehabilitated, and a prime candidate for early release the King County Prosecutor has failed to re-sentence him.

"I am scared that I will be murdered by Seattle, King County, and the State of Washington," states Daniel J. Simms, "my crimes were the product of self-medicating for the trauma and abuse I suffered during childhood, as readers of my book, Hopeless in Seattle: A Fosterkid's Manifesto, have discovered."

Daniel J. Simms has demonstrated extraordinary rehabilitation and the ends of justice would only be met if he was given a second chance. Nevertheless his petitions for Clemency and Re-sentencing have both gone ungranted. Daniel has some past infractions for his craft of tattooing, marijuana usage, and other similar offenses, yet Daniel has no extreme violence such as stabbings or multi-man fights on his record. Furthermore Daniel has completed numerous self-help courses and certificate programs. Including certificates in computer programming languages HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and MySql. Daniel dreams of being a father to his sixteen year old son, starting an ecommerce website, and recording his reentry into society on social media if he is released.

"I worry that they will try to use my institutional infraction history as a pretext to deny me justice, freedom, and a second chance," states Daniel J. Simms, "a couple more years I will be the same age as Gregory and his murder makes me worry I could be killed too."

The United States has a dilemma on its shores, do we as a country value human life or not? If we do, we must rethink the extremely long sentences which are killing Americans across this beautiful country. Daniel J. Simms did not shoot, murder, rape, or maim anyone, yet as a society are we willfully blind to him being murdered by the State of Washington and King County? The silence is deafening. Are we complicit in his murder when we remain deliberately indifferent to it? That is the question. We already know he had troubled childhood, had a mental health substance abuse disorder, an unfair trial, has spent seventeen years in prison, and is extraordinarily rehabilitated therefore, it is extremely clear to many Americans that Daniel should be freed immediately.

"If you believe in freedom and second chances, please email me directly at www.jpay.com, to volunteer for my social justice campaign," states Daniel J. Simms, "you can also sign up for my blog, www.RailroadedinSeattle.com, or get my book, Hopeless in Seattle: A Fosterkid's Manifesto, on the website www.DanielJSimms.com, any effort taken will be a loud statement that murdering troubled Americans like Gregory Dickerson and I with de facto death sentences is anathema to your sense of fairness, justice and equity and should be remedied."

Stars Behind Bars, LLC

We at Stars Behind Bars, LLC work with creative incarcerated individuals to publish and promote their works so all voices in our society can be heard.

Media Contact:

Bruce L. Little

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Stars Behind Bars, LLC
In addition to wheel and brake maintenance services for Avelo's B737NG aircraft, Collins will retrofit Avelo's fleet with state-of-the-art carbon brakes

CHARLOTTE and HOUSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Avelo Airlines and Collins Aerospace announced today an agreement to retrofit Avelo's fleet of Boeing Next-Generation (NG) 737 aircraft with new wheels and carbon brakes. The comprehensive agreement includes wheel and carbon brake maintenance services and logistics support for the new U.S. airline.

"Collins' world-class reputation and broad capabilities made them the right partner for Avelo," said Avelo Airlines Head of Technical Operations Gary Martin. "Delivering a reliable, on-time experience for our Customers is a top priority. Avelo's partnership with Collins ensures we will continue to live up to that commitment."

Collins' 737NG brake features the company's advanced DURACARB carbon friction material that delivers an average 35% longer brake life over competing carbon materials, allowing for decreased maintenance time and increased cost savings. The brake also includes Collins HTx oxidation protection system, providing improved thermal oxidation protection and resistance to damaging runway deicers. Collins wheels and carbon brakes have been selected on more than 3,000 737NG and 737 MAX aircraft to date.

"As a world leader in carbon brake technology, Collins is proud to support Avelo," said Collins Aerospace Vice President of Aftermarket Landing Systems Matt Maurer. "This agreement is a testament to our superior wheel and brake solutions, and unwavering commitment to excellent customer service. We look forward to building on our relationship with Avelo in the years to come."

Avelo currently operates six 737 NG aircraft. Three 737-800s serve the airline's West Coast network based at Los Angeles' most popular airport Hollywood-Burbank Airport (BUR). Additionally, three 737-700s serve Avelo's East Coast network based at Southern Connecticut's most convenient airport Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN). Avelo expects to take delivery of nine additional 737 NG aircraft in 2022, expanding the airline's fleet to 15 airplanes by the end of this year.

About Avelo Airlines

Avelo Airlines was founded with a simple purpose  to Inspire Travel. The airline offers Customers time and money-saving convenience, surprisingly low everyday fares, and a refreshingly smooth and caring experience through its Avelo Soul of Service culture. Operating a fleet of Boeing Next-Generation 737 aircraft, Avelo serves 18 popular destinations across the U.S., including its West Coast base at Los Angeles' Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) and its East Coast base at Southern Connecticut's Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN). For more information visit AveloAir.com.

About Collins Aerospace

Collins Aerospace, a Raytheon Technologies business, is a leader in technologically advanced and intelligent solutions for the global aerospace and defense industry. Collins Aerospace has the extensive capabilities, comprehensive portfolio and broad expertise to solve customers' toughest challenges and to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving global market. For more information, visit CollinsAerospace.com.

Media Contacts:

Avelo Airlines

Courtney Goff

[email protected]

Collins Aerospace

Al Killeffer

[email protected]

SOURCE Avelo Airlines
Betterleave's category-defining solution for bereavement includes personalized funeral, memorial and estate coordination, life & financial planning, and integrated grief resources

AUSTIN, Texas, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Betterleave Bereavement today announced the launch of its bereavement care platform for employers and health plans, built to support employees experiencing the death of a family member, friend, colleague, pet or pregnancy loss. Companies use Betterleave to help employees navigate the complex bereavement landscape with the help of care coordinators and top death care experts, products & services together in one place, saving time and money. Betterleave's program delivers bereavement care through personalized funeral, memorial and estate coordination, life & financial planning, and integrated grief resources.

"Betterleave is addressing a critical gap in employer support by offering a platform that equips HR partners and managers with the tools & insights to support employees experiencing bereavement" said Tracy Desmond, Head of Global Benefits, Wellbeing & Mobility at Airbnb.

Betterleave is the only comprehensive bereavement benefit for employees, disrupting how the market and employers are approaching bereavement leave & support for working families. By offering tech-enabled, personalized coordination through the Betterleave platform, companies are able to support the wellbeing of their employees.

"At a time when the best talent is looking for more, Betterleave is offering employers a way to demonstrate that they truly care about their employees," said Dana Zachgo Wright, Managing Director at MATH Venture Partners. "We are excited to be part of Betterleave's quest to modernize the death care industry."

While the death care industry continues to take steps forward, the majority of providers are still stuck in the past. The experience individuals have today is fragmented, expensive and time consumingtaking over 500 hours to settle affairs after the death of a loved one. Driven by the mission to make understanding and navigating death care effortless, Betterleave has created a platform to help with the administrative, financial, and emotional impact of bereavement.

"We believe that bereavement care is a core and essential component of health and wellbeing," said Cara McCarty, Founder & CEO, Betterleave. "We are not solving for a temporary need or trend, but a fact of life. Bereavement impacts all of us and we plan to drive meaningful, digital & sustained change to the industry."

Founded in 2022, Betterleave is backed by HR Leaders, Strive Ventures, Math Venture Partners, and The Fund.

Learn more at www.betterleave.com .

Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Betterleave Bereavement
WARREN, R.I., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bierman Autism Center is excited to announce that they will be hosting an Open House for their Warren, Rhode Island center on April 30th. This event will provide parents, guardians, and caregivers of children diagnosed with autism an opportunity to tour their facilities while the Bierman team provides sensory friendly activities for the kids and watches them as they play in Bierman's gym.

This event will be on April 30th between 10am and 1pm EST. The Bierman Warren Center is located at 91 Main St Suite 115, Warren, RI 02885.

"As it is Autism Acceptance Month, we thought it was a great opportunity to open our doors to the Warren and Rhode Island community to come tour our facilities. It will allow families the opportunity to explore while their kids get a chance to experience all the joy and fun of our center!" said Amanda Jacquart, Bierman's Regional Manager of Operations in Rhode Island.

The open concept of the facility allows kids the opportunity to learn and play in a safe and engaging environment. Bierman opened the doors to the Warren center in 2019, which joined their other center in Cranston. Bierman will be expanding further in Rhode Island when they open their center in Warwick later this summer.

Anyone interested in the center but cannot attend the Open House is welcome to schedule a tour of the facility by calling 800-931-8113.

ABOUT BIERMAN www.biermanautism.com

Bierman Autism Centers is a place where kids as young as 18 months to 9 years of age engage in play to learn foundational skills they can build on such as self-advocacy and communication. They recognize that every kid's success is unique, and their one-on-one approach allows them to drive progress, measurable outcomes, while each child is advancing on their own terms.

With over 150 graduations, BIERMAN currently has centers, and is expanding in: Arizona, Indiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. For more about Bierman Autism Centers visit www.biermanautism.com or contact Alexis Ducharme at [email protected].

Media Contact:

Alexis Ducharme

[email protected]

SOURCE Bierman Autism Centers
GENEVA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The CEO of the world's leading agriculture innovation company Syngenta Group on Thursday called on governments and the private sectors to step up their cooperation to avoid food shortages and a humanitarian crisis triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Erik Fyrwald told Xinhua in an email that he was very concerned about the consequences of the ongoing conflict for the global food supply chain.

"Ukraine and Russia are two of the world's most productive wheat-growing nations. For decades, they have exported a large portion of their annual output to places that lack a self-sufficient farming sector," the CEO wrote.

"According to the United Nations, 45 nations import at least a third of their wheat from Ukraine or Russia. Together with other food and agriculture companies we have to work hard to avoid another humanitarian crisis," said Fyrwald.

David Beasley, head of the United Nations' World Food Program, said on Tuesday that the conflict will have a global impact "beyond anything we've seen since World War II" and has turned Ukraine "from the breadbasket of the world to breadlines."

He told the UN Security Council that Ukraine and Russia combined produce 30 percent of the world's wheat supply, 20 percent of its corn, and between 75-90 percent of sunflower seed oil.

Fyrwald stressed that the stakes for global food security are even greater in an era when climate change is threatening the long-term viability of many farms around the world.

"The current growing season has already been challenged by unprecedented flooding, drought and high levels of pest destruction. Drought in South America has reduced crop yields in key growing regions, especially Argentina, the largest soybean processor in the world," he warned.

Fyrwald also called on governments and regulators to use more modern digital technologies to improve food security and the productivity of farmland.

"The world needs to work together to find ways to grow more and to do it without using more land. We need better seeds and more efficient crop protection."

Syngenta Group is a global market leader in crop protection, a global number three in seeds, a market leader in fertilizer in China, and the leading agricultural services provider in China.

The Swiss company, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is owned by ChemChina and has a global footprint with 53,000 employees across more than 100 countries. 
BUCHAREST, Romania and SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Bitdefender, a global cybersecurity leader, today announced it achieved among the top scores of the 30 participating cybersecurity vendors in MITRE Engenuity's recent independent ATT&CK Evaluations for Enterprise cybersecurity solutions. Bitdefender scored 97 percent in overall analytics insights and 95 percent in technique-level descriptions, the most in-depth detection metric identifying specific steps of how attackers breached the environment and moved laterally.

"This achievement, in identifying the precise techniques adversaries use to move through networks, validates Bitdefender's position as an industry leader in threat prevention and detection technology," said Dragos Gavrilut, director of cyber threat intelligence at Bitdefender. "Excelling in these capabilities is vital for enterprises to counter the sophisticated multi-stage attacks carried out by today's cybercriminal groups and nation-state actors. Independent tests like the MITRE ATT&CK Evaluations are essential for helping organizations evaluate the effectiveness of cybersecurity technologies against complex attacks."

The 2022 ATT&CK Evaluations tested cybersecurity vendors for their ability to detect techniques and tactics used by Wizard Spider and Sandworm, two advanced threat groups that employ ransomware and wiper malware targeting businesses and government organizations worldwide. Vendor participants were evaluated using emulations of the Data Encrypted For Impact technique used by Wizard Spider to deploy ransomware including Ryuk and Sandworm to encrypt and destroy data with their NotPetya malware. Each participant was evaluated based on detection rates across 19 total steps and 109 sub-steps in the framework's attack kill chain from initial compromise through final stage of execution.

MITRE Engenuity evaluated Bitdefender GravityZone Ultra , the company's unified security platform incorporating endpoint protection (EPP) and endpoint detection and response (EDR) including cross-endpoint threat correlation and advanced risk analytics. The platform delivers deep context to detections and offers a direct path to Bitdefender managed detection and response (MDR) services.

Bitdefender results include:

Exceptional Detection of Attack Techniques -- Bitdefender GravityZone was among the leaders of vendor solutions tested at identifying 'Technique', the highest-level of context associated with the sub-steps on how the attack was performed. Scoring 95 percent, Bitdefender identified 103 of 109 sub-steps.

-- Bitdefender was among the leaders of vendor solutions tested at identifying 'Technique', the highest-level of context associated with the sub-steps on how the attack was performed. Scoring 95 percent, Bitdefender identified 103 of 109 sub-steps. Outstanding Analytics Performance -- Bitdefender was among the top vendors scoring 97 percent overall in total analytics coverage, providing deep analysis and rich context for 106 of 109 total sub-steps.

-- Bitdefender was among the top vendors scoring 97 percent overall in total analytics coverage, providing deep analysis and rich context for 106 of 109 total sub-steps. Strong Linux Coverage -- Bitdefender achieved 100 percent analytics coverage of attack techniques against Linux systems.

"This latest round indicates significant product growth from our vendor participants. We are seeing greater emphasis in threat informed defense capabilities, which in turn has developed the infosec community's emphasis on prioritizing the ATT&CK Framework," said Ashwin Radhakrishnan, acting general manager of ATT&CK Evaluations at MITRE Engenuity.

To view the full MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Evaluations Enterprise 4 report results, visit https://attackevals.mitre-engenuity.org/enterprise/wizard-spider-and-sandworm/.

About MITRE Engenuity

MITRE Engenuity, a subsidiary of MITRE, is a tech foundation for the public good. MITRE's mission-driven teams are dedicated to solving problems for a safer world. Through our public-private partnerships and federally funded R&D centers, we work across government and in partnership with industry to tackle challenges to the safety, stability, and well-being of our nation.

MITRE Engenuity brings MITRE's deep technical know-how and systems thinking to the private sector to solve complex challenges that government alone cannot solve. MITRE Engenuity catalyzes the collective R&D strength of the broader U.S. federal government, academia, and private sector to tackle national and global challenges, such as protecting critical infrastructure, creating a resilient semiconductor ecosystem, building a genomics center for public good, accelerating use case innovation in 5G, and democratizing threat-informed cyber defense.

About Bitdefender

Bitdefender provides cybersecurity solutions with leading security efficacy, performance and ease of use to small and medium businesses, mid-market enterprises and consumers. Guided by a vision to be the world's most trusted cybersecurity solutions provider, Bitdefender is committed to defending organizations and individuals around the globe against cyberattacks to transform and improve their digital experience. For more information, visit https://www.bitdefender.com .

Contact:

Steve Fiore

Bitdefender

1-954-776-6262

[email protected]

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/833268/Bitdefender_Logo.jpg

SOURCE Bitdefender
New data demonstrate BRII-835 (VIR-2218) was well tolerated with notable reductions in serum HBsAg observed in the Chinese patients infected with chronic hepatitis B

DURHAM, N.C. and BEIJING, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Brii Biosciences Limited ("Brii Bio" or the "Company", stock code: 2137.HK) a multi-national company developing innovative therapies for diseases with significant unmet medical needs and large public health burdens, today presented new data from a Phase 2 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of BRII-835 (VIR-2218) in Chinese patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, at the 31st Conference of Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL) 2022, taking place virtually from March 30 to April 3 in Seoul, South Korea.

The data demonstrate that BRII-835 (VIR-2218), an investigational small interfering ribonucleic acid (siRNA) that mediates RNA interference (RNAi), results in dose-dependent reduction in hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in Chinese patients with chronic HBV infection who received two doses of BRII-835 (VIR-2218). Similar HBsAg reductions were observed in both HBeAg- and HBeAg+ patients. In addition, BRII-835 (VIR-2218) was well-tolerated, with all treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs) reported as mild or moderate, and no clinically significant alanine transaminase (ALT) elevations were observed.

"The dose-dependent reduction in serum HBsAg observed in both HBeAg- and HBeAg+ Chinese chronic HBV patients in this trial after two doses of BRII-835 (VIR-2218) is consistent with previous findings demonstrated in other racial/ethnic groups," said Dr. Jidong Jia, Professor of Medicine at the Liver Research Centre, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University in Beijing, China. "Supported by these data, we believe that novel agents like BRII-835 (VIR-2218) that effectively reduce the high HBV antigen burden has the potential to be the cornerstone of functional cure regimens for patients with chronic HBV infection, thereby facilitating the elimination of this major global public health threat."

"As part of our goal to develop a functional cure for chronic HBV , we are pleased that the data from this trial continue to support the potential of siRNA as the backbone of combination treatment regimens that are being evaluated in several ongoing trials," said Li Yan, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer at Brii Bio. "We look forward to seeing more data later this year from these trials in which BRII-835 (VIR-2218) is being investigated in combination with other agents."

Abstract Number: L-OP-1324

Oral Presentation Title: Safety and antiviral activity of two monthly administrations of BRII-835 (VIR-2218), an X-targeting RNAi therapeutic, in Chinese patients with chronic HBV infection

Presenter: Jidong Jia, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine at Capital Medical University and Director of the Liver Research Centre at Beijing Friendship Hospital in Beijing, China

BRII-835 (VIR-2218) was well-tolerated in 16 virally-suppressed Chinese patients with non-cirrhotic chronic HBV infection assigned to receive two doses of monthly subcutaneous injection of BRII-835

12 weeks post last dose, the mean reductions in HBsAg observed in patients who received 50 mg and 100 mg doses of BRII-835 were 1.02 log 10 IU/mL and 1.22 log 10 IU/mL for HBeAg- patients and 0.70 log 10 IU/mL and 1.15 log 10 IU/mL for HBeAg+ patients, respectively

IU/mL and 1.22 log IU/mL for HBeAg- patients and 0.70 log IU/mL and 1.15 log IU/mL for HBeAg+ patients, respectively In all patients achieving HBsAg decline > 1 log 10 IU/mL at 12 weeks post last dose, serum HBsAg remained below baseline through Week 48

About BRII-835 (VIR-2218)

BRII-835 (VIR-2218) is an investigational subcutaneously administered HBV-targeting siRNA that has the potential to stimulate an effective immune response and has direct antiviral activity against HBV. It is the first siRNA in the clinic to include Enhanced Stabilization Chemistry Plus (ESC+) technology to enhance stability and minimize off-target activity, which potentially can result in an increased therapeutic index. Brii Bio licensed exclusive rights to develop and commercialize VIR-2218 for the greater China territory from Vir Biotechnology, Inc. ("Vir") in 2020.

Meanwhile, BRII-835 (VIR-2218) is being investigated in three additional Phase 2 studies, sponsored by Brii and Vir, respectively, in combinations with BRII-179 (a recombinant therapeutic vaccine), PEG-IFN-alpha and/or VIR-3434 (a monoclonal antibody targeting HBV) as a functional cure regimen for chronic HBV infection.

About Hepatitis B

Hepatitis B is one of the world's most significant infectious disease threats, infected more than 290 million people globally and more than 70 millions in China. HBV infection is the leading cause of liver disease, and, with current treatments, it is very difficult to cure, and many patients develop liver cancers. An estimated 780,000 people die each year from complications of chronic HBV, such as liver decompensation and hepatocellular carcinoma.

About Brii Bio

Brii Biosciences Limited ("Brii Bio", or the "Company", stock code: 2137.HK) is a biotechnology company based in China and the United States committed to advancing therapies for significant infectious diseases, such as hepatitis B, COVID-19, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, multi-drug resistant (MDR) or extensive drug resistant (XDR) gram-negative infections, and other illnesses, such as the central nervous system (CNS) diseases, which have significant public health burdens in China and worldwide. For more information, visit www.briibio.com.

SOURCE Brii Biosciences Limited
The origin story of Casalu begins with three friends, now co-founders, Ricardo Sucre and Gabriel Gonzalez of Venezuela and Gustavo Darquea of Ecuador. The trio first met while attending North Carolina State University. It was throughout college they began to share over their drink of choice: rum. They didn't realize it at the time, but they were on their way to bringing the first authentically Latino owned rum based hard seltzer to the market.

Fast forward a few years, and Ricardo, who was widely known amongst the friend group for his dislike of beer, became the group's expert on hard seltzers, eventually purchasing a soda stream and experimenting at home making his own rum-based hard seltzer. The likes of which didn't exist on the market.

While Ricardo was perfecting his rum based hard seltzer, Gabriel, who has a deep love for reggaeton, had been exploring a way to capture a feeling for when Latino culture is being communicated authentically. In 2013, a friend had asked him if he was feeling "tropical" and the concept just clicked. He created "Tropicalation" to express what for him was the best part of his culture, a feeling people share with each other as time passes by. He started a reggaeton playlist with that name to showcase that feeling in every song. It would become a pillar for Casalu.

Gustavo, regarded as the one who 'gets stuff done' in the crew, could see that the seed for a company was being planted. He received a call from Ricardo telling him that he was perfecting a rum based hard seltzer and wanted him involved. That same week, Gabriel also called Ricardo telling him he needed a way to bring Tropicalation to life. Gabriel had a site already up and running combining Latino culture and an early mockup of a can. The three got together and the rest is history.

Through months of hard work, kitchen research, countless taste testing, parties with friends and family and maybe a blessing from their moms, all named Maria, Casalu is now available, the concept of Tropicalation is no longer just a feeling but an actual product, to be enjoyed by all.

"Tropicalation is an idea that you can feel. You feel it when you are with your grandad playing dominoes, when you are with your friends, or when you listen to good music, and it infiltrates your body. My personal way to express Tropicalation started with a reggaeton playlist. It was my choice of songs that would make the listener feel tropical and lose themselves in a moment. That is Tropicalation, the idea that there is a feeling that can change your vibe for the better in an instant," says co-founder Gabriel Gonzalez.

"When you look at every single category in the alcohol industry, you can find a Latino brand in all of them but one. The fastest growing category in the alcohol industry, hard seltzers, now has a brand for Latinos. Not only a brand but a product that is truly authentic to our roots, a dark aged rum seltzer that both our generation and our grandfathers can share together and be proud of being Latino. That's why we are so proud to bring Casalu to the world," says co-founder Ricardo Sucre.

"One of our main priorities ever since we started this journey of Casalu is making sure we're building our team with the most talented individuals, and experts in the fields of marketing, branding and design, financial planning, and management. And of course, individuals that are passionate about our brand concept and are willing and able to take Casalu into new heights. While Miami is home base for us and the first market, we are launching the brand in on the ground, we're also leveraging DTC (direct-to-consumer), e-commerce, strategies to ship Casalu into different markets and start to generate product and brand awareness in other places apart from Miami," says co-founder Gustavo Darquea.

There are 60 million Latinos in the US alone. As the biggest minority in the country, they are having more impact on pop culture than ever. Casalu aims to represent the roots of these consumers and bridge the gap between them and the hard seltzer market.

However, Casalu's is more than a hard seltzer. Casalu's vision is to be a catalyst for Latino culture. Think the next Red Bull, but Latino.

For additional information and updates please visit DrinkCasalu.com and follow the brand on Instagram @DrinkCasalu .

SOURCE Casalu
CathWorks FFRangio System outcomes study to be presented at ACC 2022

CathWorks announces the completion of more than 5,000 FFRangio cases globally

KFAR-SABA, Israel and IRVINE, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CathWorks announced today that the results of its most recent outcomes study on the CathWorks FFRangio system will be presented by Dr. Guy Witberg from Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel on Sunday, April 3 at the annual American College of Cardiology (ACC) conference in Washington, DC.

Dr. Witberg and his co-investigators in Israel and Japan examined the 1-year clinical outcomes of 492 patients whose treatment decision was based solely on the CathWorks FFRangio System results. "FFRangio has been in use in our cath lab since 2016 and we have taken part in several studies demonstrating its excellent diagnostic performance compared to the gold standard wire-based FFR, culminating in the pivotal FAST-FFR trial and our leading role in conducting a pooled analysis that compared FFRangio to wire-based FFR. Based on the results of these studies, we have been using FFRangio as a standalone tool for physiologic assessment in patients undergoing coronary angiography, and it has become the standard of care in our cath lab replacing wire-based FFR. The data we present at ACC will be the first to examine the clinical outcomes of FFRangio-guided treatment in this population. We are happy to add this outcomes study to the growing body of evidence supporting the broad application of FFRangio in the intraprocedural assessment of patients with coronary artery disease," said Dr. Witberg.

"CathWorks is grateful for the partnership with the study investigators as we continue to broaden the global clinical adoption of FFRangio and work towards our mission of transforming how cardiovascular disease is diagnosed and treated. We are proud to also announce that we surpassed a major milestone for CathWorks this month with more than 5,000 patients having benefited from our FFRangio technology, and we are determined to help many more," said Ramin Mousavi, President and CEO of CathWorks.

Not only will CathWorks have a prominent presence in the exhibit hall at ACC 2022 where healthcare professionals can get hands-on experience with the latest generation of the CathWorks FFRangio System, its technology will also be showcased at the Future Hub for the duration of the conference. Several scientific sessions at ACC will focus on the growing adoption of angio-based FFR and its role in the management of patients with cardiovascular disease.

ABOUT CATHWORKS

CathWorks is the leader in digital health innovations that can improve the lives of patients globally. The CathWorks FFRangio System combines advanced computational science and artificial intelligence, transforming how cardiovascular disease is diagnosed and treated. It provides physicians access to objective drug-free and wire-free intraprocedural multi-vessel physiology guidance that is practical for every patient. For more information, visit www.cath.works and follow us on Twitter @CathWorks.

Contact

Media: Natalie Sickler [email protected]

Investors: Mike Feher [email protected]

SOURCE CathWorks
4135 Park Blvd. is expected to break ground later this month and open its doors 24 months after construction begins. The 205,000 square foot, $74.4 million project includes a 7-story midrise building that will offer a wide range of amenities, including a cafe, fitness center, spacious lounge, game room, and exterior deck with a pool, hot tub, cabanas, and communal kitchen.

4135 Park Blvd. is in a Qualified Opportunity Zone and is one of several CEDARst properties under contract in the San Diego region.

"Opportunity Zones have opened up a unique chance for firms like CEDARst to develop high-quality apartments with top in class amenities at an affordable price point," said Murphy. "We're excited to work in such a dynamic community and look forward to expanding our footprint here in San Diego in the months and years ahead."

Bridge Investment Group is an equity partner in the 190-unit project and BMO Harris Bank is the project lender. Construction will be managed by general contractor Suffolk Construction, and the project's architect is Studio E.

"We are pleased to continue our partnership with CEDARst in a market like San Diego," said David Coelho, Chief Investment Officer of Bridge Investment Group's Opportunity Zone Funds. "The project fits well within Bridge's mandate to focus on multi-family, transit-oriented developments as an avenue to revitalize underserved communities by investing in building sustainable neighborhoods."

CEDARst applies an innovative approach to residential developments with a focus on enhancing resident lifestyles and surrounding communities. Nationally, the firm has amassed a growing portfolio of distinguished and high-quality residential projects, spanning seven states across the country, with a unit count in excess of 5,000.

About CEDARst

CEDARst Companies is a fully integrated multifamily developer headquartered in Chicago Illinois. With over 50 years of combined experience, CEDARst applies a vertically integrated approach to the development of residential assets. CEDARst's $2 billion portfolio is comprised of more than 5,000 units, offering high quality apartments and a luxury experience at an approachable price point in markets across the country.

About Bridge Investment Group

Bridge is a leading, vertically integrated real estate investment manager, diversified across specialized asset classes, with approximately $36.3 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2021. Bridge combines its nationwide operating platform with dedicated teams of investment professionals focused on select U.S. real estate verticals: residential rental, office, development, logistics properties, net lease and real estate-backed credit.

SOURCE CEDARst
San Diego based wealth management firm welcomes Chris Osmond, CFA, CAIA, CFP as their new Partner & Chief Investment Officer

SAN DIEGO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Centura Wealth Advisory is rapidly expanding and welcomes the addition of Chris Osmond, CFA, CAIA, CFP to the firm's ever-increasing sphere of influence to help serve clients through Centura's unique planning and investment strategies. Osmond specializes in creating and managing custom investments and will lead the investment efforts by delivering exclusive access to elite alternative investments.

"We are excited for Chris to join our team. We offer advanced investment, tax, and estate planning solutions and heavily invest in technology to ensure our clients get the best experience. This is a pivotal year in our growth strategy, and Chris is a key addition, along with several new advisory additions," said Derek Myron, CFP, Centura Wealth Advisory CEO.

Osmond has 18 years of experience in direct wealth management. He served as Chief Investment Officer for a multibillion-dollar Registered Investment Advisor in Overland Park, Kansas, where he significantly contributed to the firm's growth from $3.5 billion to more than $17 billion. Chris has worked for some of the most prestigious Trust Wealth Management firms, including Northern Trust, US Bank Private Wealth Management, and BMO Harris Private Bank.

Chris is a regular speaker at industry-specific conferences and is invited by media outlets like Bloomberg, Yahoo! Finance, CNBC.com, and Fox Business News  to name a few  for his insights on investments, the economy, and sustainable and responsible investing.

"I want to be that sought-after industry expert with a genuine commitment to putting clients first and delivering sophisticated wealth management solutions. Joining Centura gives me the opportunity to serve clients in the highest fiduciary capacity, while delivering unique solutions; a combination that very few firms can deliver." says Osmond.

Centura Wealth Advisory has about ten wealth advisors supported by more than twenty staff nationwide. With more than $700 million in assets under management and rapidly growing, Centura is actively hiring knowledgeable advisors from around the US to offer clients greater access to tax planning and advanced wealth management strategies through superior tools and brain-trust.

Click here to contact Chris Osmond or any of our Centura Wealth Advisory Team to meet your planning and investment needs.

Contact: Jonathan Freeman

[email protected]

SOURCE Centura Wealth Advisory
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, has participated in tree-planting activities for 10 consecutive years since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012.

'Sow seeds of ecological conservation'

China designated March 12 as the National Tree-Planting Day in 1979. The National People's Congress, China's top legislature, launched a nationwide voluntary tree-planting campaign in 1981, stipulating that every able-bodied citizen above 11 should plant three to five trees each year.

"I want to do my bit for the Beautiful China initiative, and also to sow the seeds of ecological conservation in the entire society, among Chinese youth in particular," Xi said during this year's activity at an urban recreation park in Huangcun Town in Beijing's Daxing District.

He planted saplings of Chinese pine, flowering peach, magnolia, crab apple and Chinese ash.

"With perseverance and accumulated efforts, we will be able to make our country's sky bluer, mountains lusher, waters clearer and the environment more beautiful," he said.

Describing forests as a "carbon sink," Xi said forests and grasslands are of fundamental and strategic significance for the country's ecological security.

He called for prioritizing ecological conservation and pursuing green development with a "holistic approach."

"We will protect and manage our ecosystems involving mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, grasslands and deserts with a holistic approach, carry out greening programs systematically, and increase both quantity and quality of forest and grassland resources," he said.

Forests' role in carbon reduction

"Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets," a notion raised by Xi, has become a guiding principle in China's ecological conservation endeavors.

In recent years, China made pledges to peak emissions of carbon dioxide before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. It also vows to advance the green transformation of the social and economic development, according to the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) and long-range objectives through 2035, the country's latest development blueprint.

Afforestation plays a crucial role in turning these ideas into reality, as carbon sinks, like forests and grasslands, absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

China's forest coverage and forest reserves have both maintained growth for the last 30 years, and the country has realized the largest growth in forest resources among all countries, according to China's white paper on biodiversity conservation released last October.

At the end of 2020, China's forest area stood at 220 million hectares, with a forest coverage rate of 23 percent, and a forest carbon storage of 9.19 billion tonnes, according to the white paper.

In 2021, China planted 3.6 million hectares of forest and converted 380,800 hectares of farmland into forest, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration said in a bulletin on March 11. The country plans to plant 6.4 million hectares of trees and grass this year.

To support the increase of carbon sink capacity in the forestry sector, China Development Bank recently issued loans worth about 114.1 billion yuan (around $17.95 billion) to promote key ecological areas such as the national reserve forest construction and forest quality improvements.

The bank, one of the country's primary policy banks, has supported the cultivation and maintenance of forests covering nearly four million hectares, which are expected to absorb 72 million tonnes of carbon per year after 2030.

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2022-03-31/China-steps-up-tree-planting-efforts-to-reduce-carbon-emissions-18QrTqA6rHq/index.html

SOURCE CGTN
THUNDER BAY, ON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Clean Air Metals Inc. ("Clean Air Metals" or the "Company") (TSXV: AIR) (FRA: CKU) (OTCQB: CLRMF) is pleased to announce new assay results from the 2022 drill campaign from the Escape PGE-Cu-Ni Deposit at the Company's Thunder Bay North Project near Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada (the "Project").

New assays from the Escape Deposit Steepledge extension includes (Table 1):

Hole ELR22-115 which intersected 15.0m grading 1.73g/t Platinum (Pt), 1.92g/t Palladium (Pd), 0.70% Copper (Cu) and 0.30% Nickel (Ni) from 237.5m - 252.5m downhole including 2.8m grading 2.86 g/t Platinum (Pt), 3.05g/t Palladium (Pd), 1.18% Copper (Cu) and 0.38% Nickel (Ni) from 246.40- 249.18m downhole (Figure 1).

The Escape Deposit also underwent an additional 37,000m of expansion drilling in 2021, which has established continuity between the Escape South High Grade Zone and the Steepledge Extension and may add materially to the Thunder Bay North Project Indicated mineral resource (effective November 1, 2021) of 14,553,324 million tonnes grading 8.12 g/t platinum-equivalents (PtEq) (reported December 1, 2021).

Mineral resource endowment and platinum-equivalents are quoted pursuant to the Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Thunder Bay North Project, Thunder Bay, Ontario, with an effective date of January 20, 2021 (the "Technical Report"). The Technical Report was posted to SEDAR March 4, 2021 and prepared by Nordmin Engineering Ltd., QP Glen Kuntz, P.Geo. Ontario. Nordmin as QP utilized 2-year trailing average metal price assumptions[1] for an updated mineral resource effective November 1, 2021, as a basis for the Preliminary Economic Assessment reported on December 1, 2021 and filed January 12, 2022.

Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA)

The Company announced a comprehensive mine plan and cashflow model for both the Escape Deposit and Current Deposit as part of a PEA for the Current and Escape PGE-Cu-Ni Deposits of the Thunder Bay North Project on December 1, 2021. The related Technical Report was filed on SEDAR on January 12, 2022 https://cleanairmetals.ca/site/assets/files/5750/21015-01-pfs-0000_ni_43_101_pea_12jan2022.pdf

__________________________________

1 CRU 2-year metal price assumptions can be viewed in the following Link (Click Here)

Table 1: New Insitu Assay Results Update  Escape Deposit Steepledge Extension (Figure 1)

Hole ID Company From, m To, m Length, m Pt+Pd (g/t) Cu+Ni (%) Pt (g/t) Pd (g/t) Cu (%) Ni

(%) ELR21-106 AIR 273.6 276.4 2.8 1.52 0.59 0.73 0.79 0.37 0.22 ELR22-110 AIR 177 180 3.0 1.23 0.36 0.58 0.64 0.21 0.15 ELR22-112 AIR 212 214 2.0 1.01 0.31 0.47 0.54 0.17 0.14 ELR22-112 AIR 225.6 229.5 3.9 2.01 0.53 0.93 1.09 0.34 0.20 ELR22-113 AIR 223 236 13.0 2.37 0.58 1.11 1.25 0.39 0.19

**incl. 228 230 2.0 5.07 1.05 2.44 2.63 0.79 0.26 ELR22-114 AIR 184.3 187.15 2.8 2.54 0.17 1.17 1.37 0.09 0.08 ELR22-115 AIR 196.5 203.52 7.0 1.79 0.48 0.83 0.96 0.31 0.17 ELR22-115 AIR 208.9 217.5 8.6 3.01 0.85 1.36 1.65 0.54 0.31 ELR22-115 AIR 229.5 231.5 2.0 1.06 0.30 0.47 0.59 0.17 0.13 ELR22-115 AIR 237.5 252.5 15.0 3.65 1.00 1.73 1.92 0.70 0.30

**incl. 246.4 249.18 2.8 5.91 1.56 2.86 3.05 1.18 0.38 ELR22-123 AIR 189 192 3.0 1.38 0.47 0.65 0.73 0.29 0.18 ELR22-123 AIR 203.1 212.3 9.2 2.55 0.74 1.15 1.40 0.48 0.25 ELR22-123 AIR 230.4 238.4 8.0 2.91 0.74 1.39 1.52 0.53 0.21 ELR22-123 AIR 242 245.3 3.3 1.34 0.46 0.64 0.69 0.28 0.18

Note:

1. All intercepts are estimated to be >95% of true width based on drill hole inclination 2. Mineralized intervals calculated at 1 ppm Pt+Pd cutoff 3. Metallurgical recoveries estimated at 95% Copper; 90% Sulphide Nickel; 87% Palladium; 82% Platinum

Abraham Drost, CEO of Clean Air Metals stated that "there is a total of 37,000m of previously reported drilling results from the Escape Deposit in 2021 which are not yet applied to an updated mineral resource for the Thunder Bay North Project. Assay results to date suggest good continuity of mineralization between sections along the 900m trend of mineralization between the Escape South High Grade Zone (HGZ) (>5g/t Pt+Pd) and Steepledge South Zone (Figure 1).

Previous step-out drilling on the margins of the Escape South High Grade Zone (HGZ) and continuing up trend to the Steepledge area continues to deliver impressive assay results. Under the results of the recent PEA press release, the Escape South High Grade Zone (HGZ) (>5g/t Pt+Pd) is identified as a high value potential mining area at the base of the Escape Deposit in years commencing in Year 4 of the PEA mine plan, pursuant to the recently delivered PEA technical report (filed January 12, 2022)."

Figure 1: Drill Hole Intercepts in the Escape Deposit Area https://cleanairmetals.ca/site/assets/files/5784/pr_elr_20220329_v6_dt.png

COVID Policy

Clean Air Metals continued to apply COVID-19 avoidance and personal protection measures for its geological staff, drilling contractor and service suppliers during the third quarter and has had zero occurrences of workplace COVID-related illness since inception. Personnel have been required to maintain physical distance, use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), self-monitor and self-isolate or elect to work from home. Management had previously eliminated plans for a camp setup to service a planned diamond drill campaign on the Thunder Bay North Project. The Company continues to follow changing provincial government guidelines.

Mineral Exploration and Development continues to be an essential service in the Province of Ontario (http://www.netnewsledger.com/2020/03/23/ontario-covid-19-business-allowed-to-remain-open-list-march-23-2020/).

Qualified Person

Dr. Geoff Heggie, Ph.D., P.Geo., a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 and Vice President - Exploration for the Company, has reviewed and approved all technical information in this press release.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control

Clean Air Metals uses ALS Global ("ALS"), a well-established and recognized mineral assay and geochemical analytical services company. The Thunder Bay laboratory holds ISO-9000 accreditation; the Vancouver facility holds ISO-17025 registration.

All NQ-sized drill core is cut with a diamond-tipped saw blade with half of the core submitted to ALS for sample preparation and analysis. Core samples from selected intervals are individually bagged and tagged, gathered up in larger sealed poly bags and shipped to the sample prep facility in Thunder Bay, ON under custody of Clean Air Metals' personnel at all times. Sample preparation is completed at the ALS sample preparation facility located in Thunder Bay, ON and analysis is completed at the primary ALS assay laboratory located in Vancouver, B.C.

Clean Air Metals follows a documented quality control procedure for its core assay sampling program consisting of the insertion of blind blanks, duplicates, and certified Palladium-Platinum and Copper-Nickel standards into the sample stream. The insertion procedure results in a minimum of 11% to 12% control sample frequency depending on the length of the sampled interval.

Gold, platinum, and palladium are analyzed using fire assay (FA) with an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) finish. Samples with grades above the optimal ICP-MS detection limits are analyzed using an optical emission spectroscopy method (ICP-OES).

Also, thirty-three (33) elements of each sample, including copper, nickel, silver, chromium, cobalt, and sulphur, are analyzed by a multi-element analytical method using the atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) technique following four-acid digestion of the sample. When samples have grades above the optimal detection limits for this analytical method, they are re-analyzed using a high-grade method consisting of either ICP-AES or atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) techniques.

Social Engagement

Clean Air Metals Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiary Panoramic PGMs (Canada) Ltd. acknowledge that the Thunder Bay North Project is on the traditional territories of the Fort William First Nation, Red Rock First Nation and Biinjitiwabik Zaaging Anishinabek. The parties together are the Cooperating Participants in a Memorandum of Agreement dated January 9, 2021.

The Company appreciates the opportunity to work in these territories and remains committed to the recognition and respect of those who have lived, traveled, and gathered on the lands since time immemorial. Clean Air Metals is committed to stewarding Indigenous heritage and remains committed to building, fostering and encouraging a respectful relationship with First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples based upon principles of mutual trust, respect, reciprocity and collaboration in the spirit of reconciliation.

About Clean Air Metals Inc.

Clean Air Metals' flagship asset is the 100% owned, high grade Thunder Bay North Project, a platinum, palladium, copper, nickel project located near the City of Thunder Bay, Ontario and the Lac des Iles Mine owned by Impala Platinum. The Thunder Bay North Project hosts the twin magma conduit bodies which host Current and Escape deposits forming the basis for a positive preliminary economic assessment around a ramp access underground mine filed January 12, 2022.

Executive Chair Jim Gallagher and CEO Abraham Drost lead an experienced technical team who are using the Norilsk magma conduit stratigraphic and mineral deposit model to guide ongoing exploration and development feasibility studies for a low-carbon, sustainable mining operation at Thunder Bay North. As the former CEO of North American Palladium Ltd. which owned the Lac des Iles Mine prior to the sale to Impala Platinum in December 2019, Jim Gallagher and team are credited with the mine turnaround and creation of significant value for shareholders.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

"Abraham Drost"

Abraham Drost, Chief Executive Officer of Clean Air Metals Inc.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note

The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation, including statements regarding the potential of the Thunder Bay North Project and the Escape and Current deposits and timing of technical studies including prefeasibility studies and updated mineral resource estimates. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: political and regulatory risks associated with mining and exploration; risks related to the maintenance of stock exchange listings; risks related to environmental regulation and liability; the potential for delays in exploration or development activities or the completion of feasibility studies; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; results of prefeasibility and feasibility studies, and the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company's expectations or projection.

SOURCE Clean Air Metals Inc.
Over half a million military veterans turn to America's colleges each year to expand their career options after service. Tweet this

"Transitioning to civilian life, and college life, after service can be a challenge for many veterans," says College Consensus founder Jeremy Alder. "But choosing the right college can make this transition much easier, especially when that college offers support specifically to veterans."

To determine the Best Colleges for Veterans, College Consensus considered schools that have significant resources in place to support veterans and their families. From this selection of schools, the results of the most respected college ranking systems were combined with the averaged ratings of thousands of real student reviews to provide the most comprehensive picture of the college landscape for veterans.

The Top 5 Best Colleges for Veterans are:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology University of Michigan-Ann Arbor University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University of Florida Georgetown University

Visit the ranking to see the full list.

The Top 5 Best Online Colleges for Veterans are:

University of Florida Citadel Military College of South Carolina University of Arizona Western Carolina University Saint Louis University .

View the full ranking here.

"Many veterans have families and other obligations that can make it challenging to go to college in-person. A greater number of vets are turning to online education to flexibly advance their careers without having to significantly restructure their life," continues College Consensus founder Jeremy Alder. "These are the schools allowing students to do exactly that"

In addition to offering an innovative approach to college and graduate school rankings, College Consensus also offers expert advice and guidance on all aspects of college life, from finding the perfect college, to getting accepted, paying for it, applying to and attending graduate school, and finding a professional path after graduation.

This list is a feature of our 2022 Consensus Rankings. For information on leveraging this award, winners may contact College Consensus' licensing partner, Wright's Media, at [email protected].

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LinkedIn

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SOURCE College Consensus
Concave places huge emphasis on its community. We are dedicated to forging a positive community space with members who constantly build up one another through the shared goal of driving Concave to greater heights. Each miner's (term used for their community) effort represents the heartbeat of Concave; without it Concave would not exist.

THE CONCAVE MODEL: WHAT DIFFERENTIATES US?

THE SPOON - Unlike legacy bonding models where treasury growth via bonding is prioritized leading to the dilution of stakers, Concave is structured from scratch with both sides taken into consideration, creating a win-win solution for Bonders and Stakers. This balance is achieved by focusing on delivering value to long-term stakers via Bonding and Liquid Staking Mechanisms with anti-dilutive rewards.

BONDING & STAKING MECHANISMS: 2 KEY COMPONENTS

1. Bonding Mechanics

Through an off-chain bonding optimization algorithm, the Concave protocol is able to maximize the value of the Treasury with respect to supply, as opposed to the more widely utilized model (e.g. the legacy bonding model) where focus is placed on maximizing supply with respect to Treasury. In short, through the Concave protocol, maximum returns are ensured for staked investors!

2. Liquid Staking Mechanics

Nothing is free in this world; Under most protocols so far, stakers are diluted in favor of bonders. However, Concave's Protocol solves this imbalance by introducing liquid staking and a cap on the amount of stakers that can enter the longest-term positions (12 months). The problem is solved by splitting stakeholders into different categories, each with its own differentiated rewards. This way, instead of penalizing all stakeholders, the Concave model discourages short-term stakeholders with dilution, rewards long-term stakeholders with non-dilution, whilst attracting bond revenue simultaneously!

RETURNS

Under the Concave Model, returns can manifest in several forms.

1. Non / Anti-Dilutive Emissions

Upon staking, every staker receives an immediate compounded real-time reward redeemable at the end of the users' staking term where the staker with the longest liquid staking position will never be diluted, controlled for by placing a limit on non-dilutive positions and minimum price on bonds.

2. Long-Term Emissions

Staking positions will receive a boost on rewards in accordance to the term length. The longest liquid staking position will receive the highest return whilst the shorter term liquid stakers will receive the lowest.

3. Backing

Any excess rewards (unminted) are controlled by an excess reward rate variable, ensuring greater control on price stability and increased treasury backing per Concave (CNV) token.

4. Treasury Dividend

Concave actively manages and invests its treasury along a number of investment strategies and product lines, distributing returns to stakeholders in the form of dividends at predefined intervals. This amount is based on their staking term.

SECONDARY MARKETS

A secondary marketplace will be made available for all investors where users can trade their individual liquid staking positions (token holders will receive an NFT that represents their liquid staking positions upon activation). This incentivizes investors to enter the most beneficial positions for long-term price stability and protocol health from the get-go while also ensuring additional revenue streams for all participants.

TREASURY MANAGEMENT

Concave dedicates continuous innovation in treasury management strategies to exploit any inefficiencies within the market for the benefit of their stakers. Our strategies can be broken down into 3 key portfolios:

Investment Research: Concave possesses a unique ability to source alpha using a 5-pronged approach. In short, these approaches include automated "machines" and traditional investment research strategies to engage with notable "thought leaders and crypto personalities" all in place to ensure optimized investment tips for our portfolio managers.

Delta Neutral Portfolio: Concave's delta neutral machine generates yield whilst automatically balancing exposure to price volatility in an underlying asset, utilizing multiple positions to reduce directional risk related to price movements. This machine will be deployed across various DeFi protocols.

Stable Farm Portfolio: The stable farm portfolio is set up to ensure yield is generated on stable treasury assets within various market conditions. Through a partnership with Coindix, whitelisted stable farms are continuously monitored through an active data pipeline to ensure additional returns can be generated across all stable farm investments.

In the current climate where DeFi ecosystems are growing rapidly abundant, we would like you to think of Concave as a swiss army knife - versatile, convenient, and effective, the protocol itself brands the methodology as the "Magic Number Machine". Designed to capture sustainable long-term and navigate through all market conditions, Concave is here to stay.

Launch Date: 31st March 2022

Token site: https://concave.lol

For press and media enquiries:

Concave Marketing

Email: [email protected]

Marketing personnel's Discord ID: BENTJ8w7#3763, Jman#0069, Nate The Noble#3017

Other Links:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ConcaveFi

Discord: https://discord.com/invite/concave

Documentation: https://docs.concave.lol/introduction/

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Concavefi/

Telegram: https://t.me/concavefi

ABOUT CONCAVE

Concave is a community funded co-operative which strives to manage your exposure to decentralized finance, seizing its upsides whilst efficiently managing risks through the power of its community. Concave possesses a focused goal of becoming one of the biggest communities in the DeFi ecosystem. The community represents the heartbeat of Concave, and we are enthusiastic about bridging the gap between our core team and community and leveraging on our collective strengths and experiences to craft innovative USPs for our protocol to accrue value back to every single token holder.

SOURCE Concave Marketing
WASHINGTON , March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA and Axiom Space will provide coverage of the upcoming prelaunch and launch activities for Axiom Mission 1 (Ax-1), the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website will provide coverage for docking and undocking operations and some prelaunch and launch activities.

Liftoff is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. EDT Wednesday, April 6, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will travel to the orbiting outpost aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft after launching on the company's Falcon 9 rocket.

The Ax-1 crew members are Commander Michael Lopez-Alegria of Spain and the United States, Pilot Larry Connor of the United States, Mission Specialist Eytan Stibbe of Israel, and Mission Specialist Mark Pathy of Canada.

During the 10-day mission, the crew will spend eight days on the International Space Station, conducting scientific research, outreach, and commercial activities.

NASA coverage of the Ax-1 launch will be available as follows (all times Eastern):

Tuesday, April 5

No earlier than 3 p.m.  Prelaunch News Conference (targeted for one hour following the Launch Readiness Review)

The prelaunch news conference will focus on final preparations for the Ax-1 mission. It will discuss the results of the Launch Readiness Review, which evaluates the mission hardware and its readiness for launch. NASA will provide a livestream of the news conference at:

https://www.nasa.gov/live

Participants include:

Dana Weigel , International Space Station deputy program manager, NASA

, International Space Station deputy program manager, NASA Angela Hart , Commercial Low-Earth orbit (LEO) Program manager, NASA

, Commercial Low-Earth orbit (LEO) Program manager, NASA Michael Suffredini , president and CEO, Axiom Space

, president and CEO, Axiom Space Derek Hassmann , operations director, Axiom Space

, operations director, Axiom Space Benjamin Reed , senior director, Human Spaceflight Programs, SpaceX

, senior director, Human Spaceflight Programs, SpaceX Launch Weather Officer, 45th Weather Squadron, U.S. Space Force

Media must register to participate in this briefing. In-person attendance is possible for a limited number of media who previously have been credentialed to cover Ax-1 launch activities from the press site at Kennedy. For the call-in details, please contact the Axiom Space media team before 8 a.m. Monday, April 4 at: [email protected].

Wednesday, April 6

10:45 a.m.  NASA launch coverage begins

NASA will broadcast the Ax-1 launch on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website. Coverage will join the joint Axiom Space and SpaceX broadcast that begins at about 8:40 a.m. at:

http://www.axiomspace.com/live

The broadcast will end after orbital insertion approximately 15 minutes after launch. As it is a commercial launch, NASA will not provide a clean feed for this launch, neither on the NASA Media Channel nor on site at Kennedy.

1:15 p.m.  Postlaunch Media Briefing (targeted about one hour following launch)

Leadership from NASA, Axiom Space, and SpaceX will participate in a postlaunch media briefing to provide an update on the launch and mission operations.

Participants include:

Kathy Lueders , associate administrator for space operations, NASA

, associate administrator for space operations, NASA Dana Weigel , International Space Station deputy program manager, NASA

, International Space Station deputy program manager, NASA Angela Hart , Commercial LEO Program manager, NASA

, Commercial LEO Program manager, NASA Michael Suffredini , president and CEO, Axiom Space

, president and CEO, Axiom Space Derek Hassmann , operations director, Axiom Space

, operations director, Axiom Space Benjamin Reed , senior director, Human Spaceflight Programs, SpaceX

This briefing will be via teleconference. Media must register to participate in this call. For details, please contact the Axiom Space media team at: [email protected].

Friday, April 8

NASA's mission responsibility is for integrated operations, which begin during the spacecraft's approach to the International Space Station, continue during the crew's eight days aboard the orbiting laboratory conducting science, education, and commercial activities, and conclude once Dragon exits the area of the space station.

1 a.m.  NASA docking coverage begins

2:45 a.m. (approximately)  docking

5 a.m. (approximately)  hatch opening and crew welcome ceremony

This advisory will be updated online as times are confirmed for events related to mission operations.

NASA will release a separate advisory to preview the Ax- 1 farewell event and return coverage.

For more information about NASA's low-Earth orbit commercialization activities, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/leo-economy/

SOURCE NASA
Commencement of the first-in-human clinical trial of CS5001 marks another key milestone for CStone's Pipeline 2.0

Global development of CS5001 is conducted in the form of a multi-regional clinical trial, with sites initiated in the US and Australia , and an IND application accepted by the NMPA in China

, and an IND application accepted by the NMPA in As one of the most advanced ROR1 ADCs in clinical development, CS5001 has demonstrated therapeutic potential in multiple hematological and solid malignancies

SUZHOU, China, March 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CStone Pharmaceuticals ("CStone", HKEX: 2616), a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on the research, development, and commercialization of innovative immuno-oncology therapies and precision medicines, today announced that the first patient has been enrolled in the U.S. in the Phase 1 clinical trial for CS5001. This is a remarkable milestone for CStone's Pipeline 2.0 strategy.

CS5001 is a potential global best-in-class antibody-drug conjugate (ADC), targeting receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1). As one of the three most advanced ROR1 ADCs worldwide, CS5001 has been approved for the initiation of a multi-regional clinical trial in the US and Australia. The China National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) has accepted the investigational new drug (IND) application of CS 5001. This first-in-human Phase 1 study aims to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary anti-tumor activity of CS5001 in advanced B cell lymphomas and solid tumors.

ROR1 is an oncofetal protein with low or no expression in adult tissues but high expression in a variety of cancers including various forms of leukemia and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, breast, lung, and ovarian cancers, making it an ideal ADC target. Results from pre-clinical studies showed that CS5001 exhibited potent and selective cytotoxicity to a variety of ROR1-expressing cancer cell lines and demonstrated remarkable in vivo antitumor activity in both hematological and solid tumor xenograft models. The preclinical data were presented as a late-breaking abstract at the 33rd AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics 2021.

Dr. Archie Tse, Chief Scientific Officer of CStone, said: "We are very glad to have the first patient enrolled in the first-in-human study of CS5001. This potentially best-in-class ROR1 ADC contains a number of differentiated features which may translate into a wider therapeutic window against a variety of cancer types -- a fully human antibody backbone, proprietary site-specific conjugation, and tumor-cleavable linker and prodrug technology. Results from the preclinical studies of CS5001 already showed its therapeutic potential in ROR1-expressing hematological and solid malignancies. We will swiftly execute the global development program of CS5001, starting with this Phase 1 study to characterize its safety and preliminary efficacy in the treatment of advanced B-cell lymphoma and selected solid tumors."

About CS5001ROR1 ADC

CS5001 is a clinical-stage antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) targeting ROR1 (receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1). CS5001 has uniquely designed and LCB's proprietary tumor-cleavable linker and pyrrolobenzodiazepine (PBD) prodrug. Only after reaching the tumor, the linker and prodrug are cleaved to release the PBD toxin, resulting in lethal DNA cross-links in cancer cells. The use of the linker plus PBD prodrug effectively helps addressing the toxicity problem associated with traditional PBD payloads, leading to a better safety profile. Additionally, CS5001 utilizes site-specific conjugation for a precise drug antibody ratio of 2 which enables homogeneous production and large-scale manufacturing.

In October 2020, CStone signed a licensing agreement with LegoChem Biosciences, Inc. (LCB) for the development and commercialization of CS5001 which was originally generated by collaboration of LCB and ABL Bio, both South Korea-based leading biotech companies. Under the agreement, CStone obtains the exclusive global right to lead development and commercialization of CS5001 outside the Republic of Korea.

About CStone

CStone Pharmaceuticals (HKEX: 2616) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on research, development, and commercialization of innovative immuno-oncology and precision medicines to address the unmet medical needs of cancer patients in China and worldwide. Established in 2015, CStone has assembled a world-class management team with extensive experience in innovative drug development, clinical research, and commercialization. The company has built an oncology-focused pipeline of 15 drug candidates with a strategic emphasis on immuno-oncology combination therapies. Currently, CStone has received seven NDA approvals for four drugs. CStone's vision is to become globally recognized as a world-renowned biopharmaceutical company by bringing innovative oncology therapies to cancer patients worldwide.

For more information about CStone, please visit: www.cstonepharma.com.

Forward-looking statement

The forward-looking statements made in this article only relate to events or information as of the date when the statements are made in this article. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or publicly revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, after the date on which the statements are made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. You should read this article completely and with the understanding that our actual future results or performance may be materially different from what we expect. All statements in this article are made on the date of publication of this article and may change due to future developments.

SOURCE CStone Pharmaceuticals
Districts across the state can use the program's Diagnostic and literacy assessments to screen kindergarten and first grade students for risk factors associated with dyslexia

NORTH BILLERICA, Mass., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) recently named Curriculum Associates' i-Ready Assessment to its approved list of dyslexia screeners. With this approval, districts throughout the state can now use the program's online Diagnostic and offline literacy assessment tasks to screen kindergarten and first grade students for risk factors associated with dyslexia. Today, the award-winning i-Ready program serves more than 10 million students and 25 percent of all students in Grades K8 in the United States.

"The recent MDE approval will help streamline the overall assessment process for Mississippi educators as they can now use i-Ready for both universal screening and targeted dyslexia screening," said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. "By eliminating the need for multiple and redundant assessments, educators will have more time to deliver personalized instruction, and specialized supports as needed, to help all students succeed."

According to the MDE, each local school district is required to screen students for dyslexia using an instrument approved by the State Board of Education (SBE) in the spring of kindergarten and the fall of first grade. A panel of reading, dyslexia therapy, and speech-language pathology experts conduct a comprehensive review of all proposed instruments to determine which ones are included on the MDE Approved List of Dyslexia Screeners.

All approved screeners must provide an overall pass/fail score for each student screened, as well as pass/fail criteria for phonological awareness and phonemic awareness, sound symbol recognition, alphabet knowledge, decoding skills, encoding skills, and rapid naming.

Meeting these requirements, i-Ready supports educators in screening for potential risk factors associated with dyslexia. The combination of the Diagnostic and the additional tasks leverages the most current research on dyslexia screening and adheres to recommendations of the International Dyslexia Association. Districts can use the program as a screening tool to help educators determine if further assessment and specialized reading intervention may be appropriate for individual students.

More about i-Ready

i-Ready makes the promise of differentiated instruction a practical reality for Grades K12 teachers and students. It combines powerful assessments and rich insights with effective and engaging instruction in reading and mathematics to address students' individual needs.

The program's Diagnostic provides educators with actionable criterion-referenced and normative data to deliver impactful, equitable learning experiences. Teachers administer the Diagnostic at the beginning of the school year to chart a course for their instruction and to personalize i-Ready instructional paths. A midyear and end-of-year Diagnostic help students and teachers measure growth and engage together in data chats. Teacher-led and personalized instruction continues throughout the year to help students address unfinished learning and access grade-level content.

All i-Ready district partners have ongoing access to Curriculum Associates' award-winning customer service. This includes dedicated support via the company's Customer Service team, professional development experts, account managers, sales representatives, and Technical Support team, as well as access to the free customer service portal.

To learn more about i-Ready, visit CurriculumAssociates.com/i-Ready.

About Curriculum Associates

Founded in 1969, Curriculum Associates, LLC designs research-based print and online instructional materials, screens and assessments, and data management tools. The company's products and outstanding customer service provide teachers and administrators with the resources necessary for teaching diverse student populations and fostering learning for all students.

Contact: Kati Elliott Charlotte Fixler

KEH Communications Curriculum Associates

(410) 975-9638 (978) 901-6066

[email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE Curriculum Associates, LLC
RADNOR, Pa. , March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The law firm of Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP (www.ktmc.com) informs investors that a securities class action lawsuit has been filed against TAL Education Group ("TAL") (NYSE: TAL). The action charges TAL with violations of the federal securities laws, including omissions and fraudulent misrepresentations relating to the company's business, operations, and prospects. As a result of TAL's materially misleading statements to the public, TAL investors have suffered significant losses.

Kessler Topaz is one of the world's foremost advocates in protecting the public against corporate fraud and other wrongdoing. Our securities fraud litigators are regularly recognized as leaders in the field individually and our firm is both feared and respected among the defense bar and the insurance bar. We are proud to have recovered billions of dollars for our clients and the classes of shareholders we represent.

CANNOT VIEW THIS VIDEO? PLEASE CLICK HERE

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT YOUR TAL LOSSES. YOU CAN ALSO CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING LINK OR COPY AND PASTE IN YOUR BROWSER: https://www.ktmc.com/tal-class-action-lawsuit?utm_source=PR&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=tal

LEAD PLAINTIFF DEADLINE: April 5, 2022

CLASS PERIOD: April 26, 2018 through July 22, 2021

CONTACT AN ATTORNEY TO DISCUSS YOUR RIGHTS:

James Maro, Esq. (484) 270-1453 or Email at [email protected]

TAL'S ALLEGED MISCONDUCT

TAL provides K-12 after-school tutoring services in the People's Republic of China. Specifically, the company offers tutoring services to K-12 students covering various academic subjects, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geography, political science, English, and Chinese.

On April 25, 2021, media reports revealed that the city of Beijing had fined four online education agencies, including TAL, the maximum fine of 500,000 yuan (approximately $80,000) each for misleading customers with false advertising. Specifically, regulators found that TAL's VIE, Beijing Xueersi Education Technology Co., Ltd., had been misrepresenting the un-discounted costs of enrollment in its courses to consumers, thereby deceiving customers into paying full price for courses that they believed they were receiving at a discount. Following this news, the price of TAL American Depository Shares ("ADSs") dropped from $53.14 on May 11, 2021, to $46.25 on May 13, 2021, a 13% decline over the two-day period.

Then, on June 1, 2021, Chinese regulators announced they had fined 15 off-campus training institutions, including TAL, for illegal activities such as false advertising and fraud. The offending companies, including TAL, were hit with maximum penalties for their illegal business practices, totaling a combined 36.5 million yuan ($5.73 million). Following this news, the price of TAL ADSs dropped from $40.51 on June 1, 2021, to $33.27 on June 3, 2021, nearly an 18% decline over the two-day period.

Finally, on July 23, 2021, China unveiled a sweeping overhaul of its education sector, banning companies that teach the school curriculum from making profits, raising capital or going public. This drastic measure effectively ended any potential growth in the for-profit tutoring sector in China. Following this news, the price of TAL ADSs fell from $20.52 on July 22, 2021, to just $4.40 on July 26, 2021, a nearly 79% decline.

WHAT CAN I DO?

TAL investors may, no later than April 5, 2022 seek to be appointed as a lead plaintiff representative of the class through Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP or other counsel, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP encourages TAL investors who have suffered significant losses to contact the firm directly to acquire more information.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE CASE

WHO CAN BE A LEAD PLAINTIFF?

A lead plaintiff is a representative party who acts on behalf of all class members in directing the litigation. The lead plaintiff is usually the investor or small group of investors who have the largest financial interest and who are also adequate and typical of the proposed class of investors. The lead plaintiff selects counsel to represent the lead plaintiff and the class and these attorneys, if approved by the court, are lead or class counsel. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision of whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff.

ABOUT KESSLER TOPAZ MELTZER & CHECK, LLP

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP prosecutes class actions in state and federal courts throughout the country and around the world. The firm has developed a global reputation for excellence and has recovered billions of dollars for victims of fraud and other corporate misconduct. All of our work is driven by a common goal: to protect investors, consumers, employees and others from fraud, abuse, misconduct and negligence by businesses and fiduciaries. At the end of the day, we have succeeded if the bad guys pay up, and if you recover your assets. The complaint in this action was not filed by Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP. For more information about Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP please visit www.ktmc.com.

CONTACT:

Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP

James Maro, Jr., Esq.

280 King of Prussia Road

Radnor, PA 19087

(484) 270-1453

[email protected]

SOURCE Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, LLP
Research on student learning in higher education provides significant insights into identifying and solving roadblocks on this front

SHANGHAI, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In the last 20 years, three main trends have had major influence on student learning in higher education: the shift from offline or classroom education to an online or hybrid educational ecosystem (which became more prominent following the COVID-19 global pandemic), increased and more diverse international student mobility in higher education, and extensive international assessment programs on student learning, such as the National Survey of Student Engagement and Student Experience in the Research University.

Student learning is crucial aspect of higher education. Any attempt to better the quality of higher education, therefore, should start with the development of student learning. Photo Credits: cheeweihenryheng from mediafactory.org.au.

But how do these trends influence the development of student learning in higher education? The special issue of the ECNU Review of Education  Empowering Student Learning in Higher Education: Pathways to Possibility  addressed this very question, providing significant insights into the matter. "In light of the reflections and debates surrounding higher education, researchers are required to take a more balanced and comprehensive mindset when conceptualizing and investigating student learning," says Prof. Hongbiao Yin from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, China, author of the editorial. A recent video explains this well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f63CnNsMfU0.

In collaboration with Dr. Lian Shi of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prof. Yin addressed the first trend, i.e., the shift to digital learning in higher education. In their research paper published in this special edition, the duo explored the effects of online education on students from a research university in China. They found that offline interaction between students and professors generated a more desirable academic outcome and perceptions of learning environments, and higher satisfaction. However, online educational interaction performed better in fostering student autonomy and ensuring the completion of an in-depth thesis.

"These observations can significantly contribute to the improvement of learning and teaching in higher education," says Prof. Yin.

Another study interviewing students in a research university in Chile found that high performers frequently used digital library and tended to adopt a deep approach to learning, whereas students with middle-level achievement opted more for physical library and a strategic approach. Finally, students with low levels of achievement showed lower use of both physical and digital library and a surface approach to learning.

Subsequent articles explored the other two trends in detail. Focusing on the second trend, one study revealed increasing preference for Chinese universities among international students. It, however, showed that, despite acquiring good academic skills and abilities, and Chinese proficiency, they were largely unsatisfied with their learning experiences.

Another study dealt with the perspective of lecturers at a Finnish University on the interaction between international, local, and exchange students, and found a hierarchical description of the encounters between these students.

Exploring the third trend, a study in this edition revealed a lack of consistency in the research methods adopted for assessing student learning and insufficient attention towards student assessments. Yet another study explored the risk of "fake-learning," arising from rewarding academic non-achievements, conformity to ideology, and methodolatry, and how universities contribute to it.

Due to be released on March, 2022, this special edition of the ECNU Review of Education breaks geographical barriers and holistically covers the aspects of higher education and its impacts on student learning, providing critical analysis, clues, and pointers for guiding future development.

Reference

Title of original paper: Empowering Student Learning in Higher Education: Pathways to Possibility

Journal: ECNU Review of Education

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/20965311211073971

Media contact:

Li You

[email protected]

+86 (21) 62224545

SOURCE ECNU Review of Education
Mr. Stephens has over 20 years of experience within the global financial services industry and will play an instrumental role in improving upon Komainu's existing offerings and building out the Company's portfolio of custody services. With previous experience at DrumG Technologies, UBS AG, IBM and PwC, Stephens maintained deep focus on capital markets post-trade technology. He holds a Masters of Engineering degree from the University of Leeds.

"Throughout my career, I've been passionate about developing operating standards for emerging technologies, and since its inception, Komainu has done just that," said Stephens. "Komainu's custody solutions meet the security, transparency, and reporting standards set in place by financial institutions and I'm excited to be a part of what the team is building. I am looking forward to working closely with the team to expand Komainu's industry-leading offering and further bridge the gap between traditional finance and digital assets."

Stephens joins Komainu shortly after the Company's introduction of Komainu Yield, a service that provides institutions with the ability to earn yield on assets custodied with Komainu. Currently, Komainu Yield supports staking services for a variety of leading digital asset protocols. Pete will be responsible for expanding the staking services offered by the Company and will lead the buildout of additional yield generating services, as well as further expanding Komainu's technology product offering, aimed at bridging traditional and decentralized finance.

Henson Orser, President of Komainu, commented on today's news, "In order to keep up with client demand and the growing digital asset ecosystem, Komainu has made a commitment to building a strong and experienced C-suite. Only a few months after naming Matthew Chamberlin as CEO, we've made another significant hire in Pete Stephens and his track record in financial services technology make him a great addition to the team. Over the past few months, we have seen an exponential increase in institutions looking to gain exposure to the digital asset ecosystem and I am excited to work alongside Pete to continue enhancing Komainu's technological capabilities."

About Komainu

Komainu is the first hybrid custodian for institutional digital asset investors created by the Japanese investment bank, Nomura, digital asset manager, CoinShares and digital asset security company, Ledger. Komainu is providing secure digital asset custody services through an application-based solution for institutions, offering multi-asset support and regulatory compliance. Headquartered in Jersey, Channel Islands, Komainu merges institutional financial services with leading security standards for the next generation of institutional custody.

For more information, please visit https://www.komainu.com

Media Contact

Peter Padovano

M Group Strategic Communications (For Komainu)

646-859-5953

[email protected]

SOURCE Komainu
LOS ANGELES, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Discovery Cube Los Angeles (DCLA) is proud to recognize its founding Board Chair, Dr. Pedram Salimpour, as a Cube Award Recipient at its annual Inspire Gala. Dr. Salimpour was chosen for his dedication to supporting the organization's mission of engaging children in the sciences, and his pursuits outside of the organization that lend themselves to similar outcomes among young populations in the community and beyond.

Dr. Salimpour is the founding chairman of the board of directors at DCLA. His continued focus on the organization's programs upholds a standard that has helped DCLA educate and inspire countless children. His efforts were recognized at the Inspire Gala with a video from acclaimed surgeon and television host, Dr. Mehmet Oz as well as other dignitaries.

Dr. Oz spoke directly to Dr. Salimpour in the video, saying, "From the moment we met, I've been impressed by your integrity, your passion, and your selfless desire to leave our children with a better planet."

In addition to the active role Dr. Salimpour played in the successes at DCLA, he is the co-founder of two non-profit organizations that dedicate themselves to the welfare of children; NexCare Collaborative and Healthcorps. Dr. Salimpour serves on the board of directors at HealthCorps, the non-profit founded by Dr. Oz and his wife Lisa.

"I grew up in a family where scientific discovery and service to the community went hand in hand. My father is a pediatrician, and both my brother and I followed in his footsteps," says Salimpour. "I'm deeply honored to be recognized with this Award by the Discovery Cube, as I understand how science played a role in my own life. I'm heartened by the enthusiasm I see from children when they engage in programs offered by Discovery Cube. I know in my heart that this place is providing them with a foundation that will provide us with the doctors and scientists of the future."

About Discovery Cube

The Discovery Science Foundation serves as the non-profit and educational program-development arm for Discovery Cube Orange County and Los Angeles. Established in 1989, the Discovery Cube continues to inspire, educate and impact millions of young minds through engaging science-based programs and exhibits. Discovery Cube was named one of the "10 Most Trusted Brands" in Orange County and awarded the National Medal of Service from the Institute of Museum and Library Services at the White House in 2014. Last year, Discovery Cube adopted a digital-first approach to STEM education with the launch of Discovery Cube Connect, a digital platform for the development and distribution of interactive STEM educational offerings, activities, and gameplay. For more information, visit www.discoverycube.org and www.discoverycubeconnect.org.

SOURCE Discovery Cube Los Angeles
PLAINFIELD, Ind., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Duke Energy is awarding nearly $120,000 in strategic grants to 26 economic development groups to spur new jobs and investment across Indiana.

"Duke Energy is working hand in hand with our local and regional economic development partners to accelerate growth and job creation in the communities we serve," said Erin Schneider, director of economic development for Duke Energy Indiana. "We're proud to support these organizations, each of which plays a critical role in marketing Indiana's communities to attract businesses and enhance the quality of life for our customers."

The funding is through Duke Energy's Partnership Program, which supports organizations that increase awareness of a community or region's economic development strategies and product availability. This may include tours and special events to promote business sites and communities; marketing campaigns and promotional materials; and website development and updates.

"Shelby County's highly skilled workforce, affordable utilities and central location make it a really attractive area for large manufacturing operations," said Brian Asher, executive director of the Shelby County Development Corporation. "Duke Energy's support will help fund an advertisement in The Japan Times that coincides with our travel to the country this fall to attract additional jobs and investment to our community as we visit the headquarters of several Japanese companies with facilities in Shelbyville."

Since the program was established in 2017, Duke Energy has contributed nearly $600,000 in grant funding to organizations that are helping create vibrant economies in Indiana.

To qualify for program consideration, each applicant submitted a plan that would have a direct impact on their community's economic growth. These awards help local and regional economic development organizations fund marketing and strategic efforts in the communities they serve. Amounts varied depending on the size and scope of the project.

This year, grants were awarded to the following organizations:

Accelerate West Central Indiana Economic Development  $5,000

Carroll County Economic Development Corporation  $5,000

Cass County Economic Development  $4,200

City of Batesville  $5,000

 City of Madison Economic Development  $5,000

East Central Indiana Regional Partnership  $5,000

Gibson County Economic Development Corporation  $5,000

Greater Kokomo Economic Development Alliance  $5,000

Greater Lafayette Economic Alliance  $5,000

Greater Lafayette Commerce  $5,000

Greencastle /Putnam County Development Center  $5,000

/Putnam County Development Center  Grow Wabash County  $5,000

 Hancock Economic Development Council  $2,500

Indy Partnership  $5,000

Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation  $5,000

Knox County Indiana Economic Development  $5,000

Lawrence County Economic Growth Council  $5,000

Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership  $5,000

One Dearborn  $5,000

 Owen County Chamber & Economic Development Corporation  $1,745

Pike County Economic Development Corporation  $5,000

Shelby County Development Corporation  $5,000

Southwest Indiana Development Council  $5,000

Terre Haute Regional Airport  $5,000

Vermillion County Economic Development Council  $1,200

Vermillion Rise Mega Park  $5,000

Duke Energy Indiana

Duke Energy Indiana, a subsidiary of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), provides about 6,300 megawatts of owned electric capacity to approximately 870,000 customers in a 23,000-square-mile service area, making it Indiana's largest electric supplier.

Media contact: McKenzie Barbknecht

800.559.3853

SOURCE Duke Energy
JACKSON, Miss., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- EastGroup Properties (NYSE: EGP) (the "Company", "EastGroup") announced today that it will hold its First Quarter Earnings Conference Call and Webcast on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time. On the call, Marshall Loeb, CEO, and Brent Wood, CFO, will discuss the Company's first quarter results, current operations, and earnings outlook for 2022.

EastGroup plans to release financial results for the quarter after the market closes on April 26, 2022. The earnings release and supplemental information package will be posted on the Company's website, www.eastgroup.net, at that time.

A live broadcast of the conference call is available by dialing 1-888-346-0688 (conference ID EastGroup) or by webcast through a link on the Company's website at www.eastgroup.net. If you are unable to listen to the live conference call, a telephone and webcast replay will be available on Wednesday, April 27, 2022. The telephone replay will be available until Wednesday, May 4, 2022, and can be accessed by dialing 1-877-344-7529 (access code 4967448). The replay of the webcast can be accessed through a link on the Company's website at www.eastgroup.net and will be available until Wednesday, May 4, 2022.

EastGroup Properties, Inc. (NYSE: EGP), a S&P Mid-Cap 400 company, is a self-administered equity real estate investment trust focused on the development, acquisition and operation of industrial properties in major Sunbelt markets throughout the United States with an emphasis in the states of Florida, Texas, Arizona, California and North Carolina. The Company's goal is to maximize shareholder value by being a leading provider in its markets of functional, flexible and quality business distribution space for location sensitive customers (primarily in the 15,000 to 70,000 square foot range). The Company's strategy for growth is based on ownership of premier distribution facilities generally clustered near major transportation features in supply-constrained submarkets. The Company's portfolio, including development projects and value-add acquisitions in lease-up and under construction, currently includes approximately 52 million square feet.

EastGroup Properties, Inc. press releases are available at www.eastgroup.net .

SOURCE EastGroup Properties
IRVINE, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW) today announced it received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the MITRIS RESILIA valve, a tissue valve replacement specifically designed for the heart's mitral position.

The MITRIS RESILIA valve has a saddle-shaped sewing cuff that mimics the asymmetric shape of the native mitral valve. It also features a low-profile frame that helps avoid obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract by stent posts and is visible under fluoroscopy, to facilitate potential future transcatheter interventions for patients. This therapy is the company's latest innovation offering advanced RESILIA tissue with an anti-calcification technology that also allows devices to be stored under dry packaging conditions, facilitating ease of use.

RESILIA tissue is bovine pericardial tissue and serves as the platform for Edwards' new class of valves. RESILIA tissue has been studied in two robust pre-market clinical trials, as follows: (i) the COMMENCE trial comprised of 694 patients enrolled in an aortic arm who were followed for five years, some of whom will be followed for 10 years, and 83 patients enrolled in a mitral arm who were followed for five years, some of whom will be followed for 10 years, and (ii) the EU Feasibility trial comprised of 133 patients enrolled who were followed for five years. These studies together represent outcomes on 904 patients and more than 3,800 patient years of follow-up.

"For patients who need mitral valve replacement, the advanced MITRIS RESILIA valve is based on a trusted pericardial valve platform, designed to mimic the native valve and incorporating tissue with integrity-preservation technology that will potentially allow the valve to last longer," said Kevin Accola, M.D., Cardiovascular Surgeon, AdventHealth Orlando.

"Mitral valve disease is prevalent, and the patients impacted experience the disease in variable ways," said Daveen Chopra, Edwards' corporate vice president, surgical structural heart. "It was important to design the MITRIS RESILIA valve to perform like the native mitral valve, handling the highest pressures in the heart and offering sustained hemodynamic performance, so that surgeons and patients can have confidence in this new therapy option."

Edwards is dedicated to partnering with clinicians to develop patient-centric innovations for complex surgical structural heart procedures that improve long-term care and outcomes for patients. The introduction of the MITRIS RESILIA valve completes the portfolio of surgical heart valve innovations incorporating the advanced RESILIA tissue, including an aortic valve, an aortic valved conduit and now a mitral valve. Edwards continues to invest in innovations in the surgical structural heart field.

The MITRIS RESILIA valve is built on the trusted Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT platform, which in 2021, celebrated 40 years of innovative valve replacements for patients. In addition to FDA approval, the MITRIS RESILIA valve has also received regulatory approval in Japan, Canada, and other countries globally.

Dr. Accola is a consultant to Edwards Lifesciences.

About Edwards Lifesciences

Edwards Lifesciences is the global leader of patient-focused innovations for structural heart disease and critical care monitoring. We are driven by a passion for patients, dedicated to improving and enhancing lives through partnerships with clinicians and stakeholders across the global healthcare landscape. For more information, visit Edwards.com and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.

This news release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements made by Dr. Accola and Mr. Chopra and statements regarding expected product benefits, patient outcomes, future plans related to the product lines, objectives and expectations and other statements that are not historical facts. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by management of the company and are believed to be reasonable, though they are inherently uncertain and difficult to predict. Our forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of the statement. Investors are cautioned not to unduly rely on such forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements based on a number of factors as detailed in the company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. These filings, along with important safety information about our products, may be found at Edwards.com.

Edwards, Edwards Lifesciences, the stylized E logo, Carpentier-Edwards, Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT, MITRIS, MITRIS RESILIA, PERIMOUNT, and RESILIA are trademarks of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. This statement is made on behalf of Edwards Lifesciences Corporation and its subsidiaries.

SOURCE Edwards Lifesciences Corporation
Aerial photo taken on March 30, 2022 shows a tunnel under construction on the Guiyang-Nanning high-speed railway in Hechi City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

With a length of 482 km, the railway line will cut travel time from Nanning to Guiyang from over 10 hours to 2 and a half hours. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)

Workers work at a tunnel under construction on the Guiyang-Nanning high-speed railway in Hechi City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 30, 2022.

With a length of 482 km, the railway line will cut travel time from Nanning to Guiyang from over 10 hours to 2 and a half hours. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)

Workers work at a tunnel under construction on the Guiyang-Nanning high-speed railway in Hechi City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 31, 2022.

With a length of 482 km, the railway line will cut travel time from Nanning to Guiyang from over 10 hours to 2 and a half hours. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)

Workers work at a tunnel under construction on the Guiyang-Nanning high-speed railway in Hechi City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 30, 2022.

With a length of 482 km, the railway line will cut travel time from Nanning to Guiyang from over 10 hours to 2 and a half hours. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)

Workers work at a tunnel under construction on the Guiyang-Nanning high-speed railway in Hechi City, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, March 30, 2022.

With a length of 482 km, the railway line will cut travel time from Nanning to Guiyang from over 10 hours to 2 and a half hours. (Xinhua/Zhang Ailin)
VANCOUVER, BC, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Elevation Gold Mining Corp. (TSXV: ELVT) (OTCQX: EVGDF) (the "Company" or "Elevation Gold") is pleased to provide an update on the Company's multi-phase infill and resource expansion drilling program at the Moss Mine in northwestern Arizona (see Figure 1: Moss Project Drilling Location ). Results discussed include those from infill drilling below and to the east of the active East Pit (see Figure 2: Drillhole Location Map).

Michael G. Allen, President of Elevation Gold, stated "The East Pit continues to show excellent grades over good thicknesses, below and along strike of the existing operation, as well as in areas between pits that had previously been modelled as waste. The deposit remains open along strike and down dip, highlighting the potential to expand resources at the Moss Mine."

Recent Moss Mine Drilling Highlights

Drilling beneath the eastern edge of the East Pit intersected stockwork and vein-hosted epithermal gold-silver mineralization down to depths of between 55 meters and 205 meters below the current mining surface and up to 130 meters along strike to the east of the active East Pit.

Drillhole AR-544R intersected 3.05 meters grading 5.04 g/t gold and 15.80 g/t silver in the Ruth Vein approximately 145 meters below the current surface and approximately 130 meters east of the East Pit.

Drillhole AR21-457C intersected 31.06 meters grading 0.51 g/t gold and 3.46 g/t silver, including 9.36 meters grading 1.01 g/t gold and 7.03 g/t silver in the Moss Vein approximately 140 meters below the base of the East Pit.

Drillhole AR21-546R intersected 80.77 meters grading 0.87 g/t gold and 9.56 g/t silver, including 4.57 meters grading 9.65 g/t gold and 64.53 g/t silver in stockwork mineralization from a depth of 100 meters below the eastern edge of the East Pit.

Drillhole AR21-475C intersected 29.29 meters grading 1.90 g/t gold and 17.05 g/t silver, including 14.11 meters grading 3.69 g/t gold and 33.37 g.t silver and 1.62 meters grading 27.30 g/t gold and 202.00 g/t silver in the Ruth Vein; and 1.58 meters grading 6.38 g/t gold and 70.40 g/t silver in the Moss Vein at depths of between 125 meters and 200 meters beneath the East Pit. Note that the drillhole was oriented almost parallel to the Ruth Vein while targeting the Moss Vein at depth. The Ruth Vein intercept in hole AR21-475C should not be considered indicative of the true thickness of mineralization. However, it does show that elevated gold and silver mineralization is present in the Ruth Vein in this part of the deposit.

Elevated gold and silver grades were intersected in the Ruth and Moss Veins and associated hanging wall stockwork down to depths of between 80 meters and 345 meters below the current highwall crest between the Center and East Pits:

Drillhole AR21-378C intersected 22.28 meters grading 1.18 g/t gold and 11.81 g/t silver, including 4.21 meters grading 4.98 g/t gold and 49.40 g/t silver in the Ruth Vein, and 16.76 meters grading 1.01 g/t gold and 15.24 g/t silver, including 4.57 meters grading 3.20 g/t gold and 47.62 g/t silver in the Moss Vein.

A complete list of the latest results from Elevation Gold's infill and near-mine exploration drilling at the Moss Mine is provided in Table 1.

Warwick S. Board, Vice President, Exploration of Elevation Gold, commented, "The ongoing infill and resource expansion drilling beneath and to the east of the active Moss Mine continues to indicate that the broader epithermal vein and stockwork mineralization system is open at depth and along strike to the east. We look forward to reporting the results of additional systematic drill testing of the Ruth, Moss, and associated stockwork veining in this part of the deposit during the 2022 exploration program."

Ongoing Drilling Program

Infill and near-mine drilling continues at the Moss Mine with two Reverse Circulation (RC) drill rigs currently active. The drilling is aimed at amalgamating and extending the active pits to the east and west by targeting the Moss and Ruth Veins and associated hanging wall stockwork within and adjacent to the mine. Assay results are pending for numerous additional holes drilled as part of the infill and near-mine drilling program and will be released upon receipt and compilation.

East Pit and Eastern Extension Drilling

This tranche of drilling has successfully intersected the Moss and Ruth Veins and associated stockwork to depths of between approximately 50 meters to almost 205 meters beneath the current East Pit mining surface, as well as along a strike length of almost 130 meters extending from the current eastern crest of the East Pit in the Eastern Extension area (see Figure 3: Cross Section: East Extension, Site S). Assay results for fourteen RC drillholes and three diamond core drillholes from three different drilling locations in the East Pit area are included in this news release (see Table 1). Results from this drilling are being used to inform additional drilling beneath the East Pit and in the East Extension area.

Ruth Vein Metallurgical Drilling

Results from the final diamond core drillhole (AR21-378C) drilled as part of the 2020/2021 Ruth vein metallurgical program are presented in Table 1. The drillhole, which was collared approximately 50 meters to the south of the highwall crest between the Center and East Pits, intersected Ruth Vein-, stockwork-, and Moss Vein-hosted mineralization between depths of approximately 80 m and 345 meters below the current mining surface.

Table 1: Latest Results from Elevation Gold's Infill and Near-Mine Exploration Drilling at the Moss Mine

Location Hole ID Target Az/Dip (Degrees) From (m) To (m) Length (m) Au (g/t) Ag (g/t) AuEq (g/t) East

Extension AR21-537R Moss Vein 000/-45 No significant results AR21-538R

000/-75 89.92 117.35 27.43 0.25 1.21 0.26 incl. 106.68 111.25 4.57 0.69 2.10 0.71 AR21-539R Moss Vein 000/-45 60.96 68.58 7.62 0.22 0.64 0.23 AR21-541R Moss Vein 000/-75 166.12 254.51 88.39 0.33 5.85 0.41 incl. 169.16 173.74 4.57 0.66 8.27 0.77 incl. 181.36 208.79 27.43 0.55 12.81 0.72 incl. 239.27 245.36 6.10 0.57 2.50 0.60 AR21-544R Ruth and

Moss Veins 000/-80 144.78 147.83 3.05 5.04 15.80 5.25 and 158.50 163.07 4.57 0.21 4.03 0.26 and 173.74 176.78 3.05 0.49 25.40 0.83 and 356.62 359.66 3.05 0.51 0.95 0.52 Otto

Load AR21-378C Ruth and

Moss Veins 000/-82 77.72 100.00 22.28 1.18 11.81 1.34 incl. 91.20 95.40 4.21 4.98 49.40 5.64 and 158.04 232.56 74.52 0.23 2.52 0.27 incl. 194.52 203.61 9.08 0.46 10.32 0.60 and 256.95 261.52 4.57 0.30 3.43 0.34 and 334.67 339.24 4.57 0.33 1.20 0.34 and 356.01 372.77 16.76 1.01 15.24 1.22 incl. 365.15 369.72 4.57 3.20 47.62 3.83 Butt

Dumps AR21-457C Moss Vein 025/-62 173.61 204.67 31.06 0.51 3.46 0.55 incl. 190.80 200.16 9.36 1.01 7.03 1.10 and 233.60 238.35 4.75 0.44 1.09 0.46 AR21-475C Ruth and

Moss Veins 025/-68 121.31 124.36 3.05 0.83 6.20 0.91 *and 157.89 187.18 29.29 1.90 17.05 2.13 *incl. 165.35 179.47 14.11 3.69 33.37 4.13 and incl. 168.40 170.02 1.62 27.30 202.00 29.99 and 232.38 233.96 1.58 6.38 70.40 7.32 AR21-476C Moss Vein 025/-74 No significant results

AR21-546R Moss Vein 000/-85 100.58 181.36 80.77 0.87 9.56 0.99 Site S incl. 100.58 105.16 4.57 9.65 64.53 10.51 AR21-547R Moss Vein 000/-85 106.68 143.26 36.58 0.36 6.55 0.45 AR21-548R Moss Vein 000/-60 88.39 96.01 7.62 0.28 2.92 0.31 and 129.54 138.68 9.14 0.44 0.67 0.44 and 196.60 201.17 4.57 0.28 5.20 0.35 AR21-549R Moss Vein 000/-45 No significant results AR21-550R Ruth Vein 180/-85 149.35 153.92 4.57 1.01 19.77 1.28 and 166.12 172.21 6.10 0.79 6.78 0.88 AR21-556R Ruth Vein 180/-75 114.30 117.35 3.05 1.10 38.30 1.61 Site S AR21-557R Ruth Vein 180/-60 No significant results AR21-558R Ruth Vein 180/-45 No significant results AR21-559R Ruth and

Moss Veins 000/-90 121.92 137.16 15.24 0.36 5.37 0.43 and 149.35 163.07 13.72 0.31 2.72 0.34 and 201.17 205.74 4.57 0.84 10.30 0.98

Note: True thickness ranges between approximately 30% of the reported interval thickness for subvertical drilling

and 87% for drilling inclined at -45 degrees to the Moss Vein, and between approximately 35% for subvertical drilling

and 91% for drilling oriented at -45 degrees to the Ruth Vein. *Drillhole AR21-475C was oriented parallel to the

Ruth Vein precluding mineralization true thickness estimation for this vein (157.89-187.18 m interval). Although

true thickness of the variably oriented stockwork system between the Moss and Ruth Veins is more difficult to

assess due to the variably oriented multiple veins and veinlets that make up this zone, stockwork mineralization

intersections reported for this area in the table above are considered reflective of the broader bulk tonnage

mineralization target zone thickness. True thickness of larger discrete veins within this zone range between 25% to

75% for drillholes oriented between -75 degrees to -45 degrees to the stockwork vein system down to less than 5%

for subvertical drillholes. Drillhole AR21-476C was terminated short of the target. Holes are reported as received

and batched geographically for clarity. Assay data are uncapped. AuEq = Au + Ag/75. RC drilling was conducted

by Boart Longyear. RC samples, collected every 1.52 m, were transported in sealed bags to Skyline Assayers and

Laboratories (Skyline) in Tucson, AZ. Field control QAQC samples, including standards, blanks, and field

duplicates, were inserted into the sample stream at a rate of three field control samples every 20 regular samples.

Gold was determined by fire-assay fusion of a 30 g sub-samples with atomic absorption spectroscopy (method FA-

01). Overlimit samples of gold were assayed by gravimetric means (FA-02). Skyline Laboratories is accredited in

accordance with ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and ISO 9001:2015.

Qualified Person

Dr. Warwick Board, P.Geo., Vice President Exploration of Elevation Gold, is the Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101 responsible for the Moss Regional Exploration Project and has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release related thereto.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF ELEVATION GOLD MINING CORPORATION

"Michael G. Allen"

President

About Elevation Gold Mining

Elevation Gold is a publicly listed gold and silver producer, engaged in the acquisition, exploration, development and operation of mineral properties located in the United States. Elevation Gold's common shares are listed on the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV") in Canada under the ticker symbol ELVT and on the OTCQX in the United States under the ticker symbol EVGDF. The Company's principal operation is the 100% owned Moss Mine in Mohave County, Arizona. Elevation also holds the title to the Hercules exploration property, located in Lyon County, Nevada.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

Certain of the statements made and information contained herein is "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this document constitute forward-looking information, including but not limited to statements regarding the Company's plans, prospects and business strategies; the Company's guidance on the timing and amount of future production and its expectations regarding the results of operations; expected costs; permitting requirements and timelines; timing and possible outcome of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimations, life of mine estimates, and mine plans; anticipated exploration and development activities at the Company's projects; net present value; design parameters; economic potential; processing mineralized material; the potential of robust economic potential at the Moss Mine Project. Words such as "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "contemplate", "target", "plan", "goal", "aim", "intend", "continue", "budget", "estimate", "may", "will", "can", "could", "should", "schedule" and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon various estimates and assumptions including, without limitation, the expectations and beliefs of management, including that the Company can access financing, appropriate equipment and sufficient labour; assumed and future price of gold, silver and other metals; anticipated costs; ability to achieve goals; and assumptions related to the factors set forth below. While these factors and assumptions are considered reasonable by the Company as at the date of this document in light of management's experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, these statements are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. Known and unknown factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements and undue reliance should not be placed on such statements and information. Such factors include, but are not limited to: risks inherent in mining, including, but not limited to risks to the environment, industrial accidents, catastrophic equipment failures, unusual or unexpected geological formations or unstable ground conditions, and natural phenomena such as earthquakes, flooding or unusually severe weather; uninsurable risks; global financial conditions and inflation; changes in the Company's share price, and volatility in the equity markets in general; volatility and fluctuations in metal and commodity prices; the threat associated with outbreaks of viruses and infectious diseases, including the COVID-19 virus; delays or the inability to obtain, retain or comply with permits; risks related to negative publicity with respect to the Company or the mining industry in general; health and safety risks; exploration, development or mining results not being consistent with the Company's expectations; unavailable or inaccessible infrastructure and risks related to ageing infrastructure; actual ore mined and/or metal recoveries varying from Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserve estimates, estimates of grade, tonnage, dilution, mine plans and metallurgical and other characteristics; risks associated with the estimation of Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves and the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits, including, but not limited to, models relating thereto; ore processing efficiency; information technology and cybersecurity risks; potential for the allegation of fraud and corruption involving the Company, its customers, suppliers or employees, or the allegation of improper or discriminatory employment practices; regulatory investigations, enforcement, sanctions and/or related or other litigation; estimates of future production andoperations; estimates of operating cost estimates; the potential for and effects of labour disputes or other unanticipated difficulties with or shortages of labour or interruptions in production; risks related to the environmental regulation and environmental impact of the Company's operations and products and management thereof; exchange rate fluctuations; climate change; risks relating to attracting and retaining of highly skilled employees; compliance with environmental, health and safety laws; counterparty and credit risks and customer concentration; litigation; changes in laws, regulations or policies including, but not limited to, those related to mining regimes, permitting and approvals, environmental and tailings management, and labour; internal controls; challenges or defects in title; funding requirements and availability of financing; dilution; risks relating to dividends; risks associated with acquisitions and related integration efforts, including the ability to achieve anticipated benefits, unanticipated difficulties or expenditures relating to integration and diversion of management time on integration; uncertainties relating to interpretation of drill results and the geology, continuity and grade of mineral deposits; uncertainty of estimates of capital and operating costs, production estimates and estimated economic return; uncertainty of meeting anticipated program milestones; and other risks and uncertainties including but not limited to those described the Company's public disclosure documents which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com under the Company's profile. All of the forward-looking statements made in this document are qualified by these cautionary statements. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated, forecast or intended and readers are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive of all factors and assumptions which may have been used. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking information. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate and forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance. Readers are advised not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The forward-looking information contained herein speaks only as of the date of this document. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise forwardlooking information or to explain any material difference between such and subsequent actual events, except as required by applicable law.

SOURCE Elevation Gold Mining Corp.
Emitwise announces $10m Series A funding round led by Xplorer Capital, totalling $17m raised to date

Investment will accelerate impact in industrial sector (the biggest contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions) [1] with best-in-class emissions management platform

Climate tech startup also announces appointment of former Unilever executive, Steve Bianchi , as COO

LONDON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Global carbon management startup Emitwise today announces the closing of its Series A funding round. The climate tech company is aiming to accelerate the rapid decarbonisation of the economy in order to meet global emissions targets.

The $10m investment, led by Xplorer Capital, will enable further development of its AI-driven carbon accounting software and deeper partnership with the manufacturing sector. Alongside Xplorer Capital there was strong participation from Outsized Ventures, True Ventures, and ArcTern Ventures.

With increasing pressure from investors, regulators, customers and stakeholders, businesses urgently need to understand their emissions and how to drive them down if they're to remain competitive in years to come. To have the most significant impact, Emitwise is targeting the largest emitters - in the manufacturing and industrial sectors - first.

Historically, identifying carbon hotspots within large organizations, particularly those with complex supply chains, has proven prohibitively expensive, inaccurate and time consuming. By automating the integration and calculation of carbon data, Emitwise's software allows large multinationals to measure, track and reduce their emissions across their own operations - as well as that of their supply chains - in a cost-effective way.

In an oversubscribed funding round, investors were selected for their strategic insight and market-specific knowledge, as well as strong track records in supporting complex operational delivery.

To further the business' growth ambitions, former Unilever executive, Steve Bianchi, has been appointed Chief Operating Officer. With a career spanning nearly 30 years, including time spent at Unilever, Deutsche Bank and Zalando, he brings a wealth of expertise in talent acquisition, people management and productivity planning. Steve will be instrumental in creating the service and delivery infrastructure required to scale the company, directly managing the Customer Impact Division and the People & Talent team.

Mauro Cozzi, CEO and Co-Founder of Emitwise, commented on the announcement, "Significantly reducing carbon is both a planetary and business imperative. With businesses under ever-increasing scrutiny, the need for accurate and accessible emissions data is critical. Emitwise democratizes carbon information across a business' supply chain so that decision-makers at every level can work towards all-out transformation. Our product has been designed to address customers' pain points around data collection, transparency and analysis, and enables those in the highest polluting sectors to make critical decisions at a micro level.

"To announce this funding round alongside the hiring of Steve Bianchi further highlights the extent of our growth ambitions. Steve brings an extraordinary level of experience in operational development and a passion for attracting and retaining great talent."

Nathan Feltz, Principal at Xplorer Capital said, "Every company needs to execute a decarbonization journey to remain competitive, and Emitwise has built the platform to help them. They have the technology and the team to emerge as the best-in-class standard for carbon management."

About Emitwise:

Emitwise is an AI-driven carbon management platform that empowers companies to automatically measure, report and reduce their carbon footprint across their operations and supply chain, future-proofing businesses for a zero-carbon world.

[1] https://ourworldindata.org/emissions-by-sector

SOURCE Emitwise
Announces retirement of five directors

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Encompass Health Corporation (NYSE: EHC) today announced the appointment of Kevin J. O'Connor to the Encompass Health Board of Directors.

In addition, for some time, its Nominating/Corporate Governance Committee has been focused on crafting an orderly and gradual plan for director succession and refreshment. In connection with Encompass Health's previously announced Board refreshment process, the Company announced that five directors, Yvonne M. Curl, Charles M. Elson, Leo I. Higdon, Jr., John E. Maupin, Jr., and L. Edward Shaw, Jr., will be retiring from its Board at this year's annual meeting of stockholders and will not stand for re-election. Accordingly, following the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders, the Encompass Health Board will be comprised of 11 directors, 10 of whom will be independent and five of whom will have been appointed in the last three years, bringing a broad mix of skills, perspectives, experience, tenure and diversity to promote and support the Company's long-term strategy.

Mr. O'Connor joins the Encompass Health Board with significant experience in compliance, regulatory and governmental affairs matters and risk management. Mr. O'Connor currently serves as senior vice president, chief legal officer of Carrier Global Corporation, a leading global provider of healthy, safe and sustainable building and cold chain solutions. He also brings healthcare experience having chaired the board of Trinity Health of New England, an integrated healthcare system. Prior to joining Carrier in 2020, he served as chief legal officer of Point72 Asset Management. He has also held a number of roles in the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"We are pleased that Kevin, an extremely accomplished and respected executive, will bring a wide and diverse range of skills and experiences to our Board," said Leo I. Higdon Jr., chairman of Encompass Health's Board of Directors. "The appointment of Kevin reflects our commitment to maintaining a strong board and the Company's position as the leading provider of post-acute healthcare services in a rapidly changing healthcare environment."

"I am excited to join the Encompass Health Board and help advance the Company's commitment to delivering high-quality, cost-effective integrated care," said Mr. O'Connor. "The Company is a recognized leader in the healthcare industry."

Mark J. Tarr, president, chief executive officer and a member of the Board, commented: "On behalf of the Board and the Company, I would like to thank Lee, Yvonne, Charles, John and Ed for their many years of distinguished and valuable service on the Encompass Board. Their many contributions, including agreeing to extend their terms to help us recruit and transition to an excellent slate of new directors, have helped to position the Company for continuing success and value creation."

About Encompass Health

As a national leader in integrated healthcare services, Encompass Health (NYSE: EHC) offers both facilitybased and homebased patient care through its network of inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, home health agencies and hospice agencies. With a national footprint that includes 147 hospitals, 251 home health locations, and 96 hospice locations in 42 states and Puerto Rico, the Company provides highquality, cost-effective integrated healthcare. Encompass Health is ranked as one of Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit encompasshealth.com, or follow us on our newsroom, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release which are not historical facts, including the future size of the Board of Directors and the prospects of the Company, are forward-looking statements. In addition, Encompass Health may from time to time make forward-looking public statements concerning the matters described herein. All such estimates, projections, and forward-looking information speak only as of the date hereof, and Encompass Health undertakes no duty to publicly update or revise such forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily estimates based upon current information and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Encompass Health's actual results or events may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors. While it is impossible to identify all such factors, factors which could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated include, but are not limited to, any adverse outcome of various lawsuits, claims, and legal or regulatory proceedings that may be brought by or against the Company; the possibility a project will experience unexpected problems or delays; the expected benefits and costs of Encompass Health's previously announced spin-off transaction; the expected timing of the completion of the spin-off transaction and the transaction terms, and the possibility that Encompass Health may decide not to undertake the spin-off or any separation transaction or that it is not able to consummate the spin-off or other separation transaction or the related rebranding due to, among other things, market, regulatory and other factors; the potential for disruption to Encompass Health's business resulting from the undertaking of any transactions or rebranding; the effect of the transaction and the rebranding on Encompass Heath's ability to retain and hire key personnel and maintain relationships with its referral sources and suppliers; adverse conditions in the healthcare services industry, including any effects associated with the COVID-19 or other pandemic; general conditions in the economy and capital markets; and those factors which may be identified from time to time in Encompass Health's SEC filings and other public announcements, including Encompass Health's current reports on Form 8-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and its latest annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Media Contact

Erin Wendel-Ritter | 205 970-5912

[email protected]

Investor Relations Contact

Mark Miller | 205 970-5860

[email protected]

SOURCE Encompass Health Corp.
Founder James Moretti to Donate Proceeds to Conservation Efforts to Help Future Generations Enjoy These Majestic Creatures

BLACKWOOD, N.J., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A grandfather on a mission to ensure his granddaughters don't inherit a world void of tigers has launched Project Endangered Tigers, an organization that is spreading awareness of the rapidly declining tiger population and raising funds to protect them in the wild. The Project features two unique digital tiger products that aim to keep these majestic creatures at the forefront of minds, with a portion of proceeds going to the WildCats Conservation Alliance in the United Kingdom.

Save the Tigers! Save Tigers App and Screensaver

"The number of tigers remaining in the wild is alarming, with some tiger species already extinct and others dangerously close," said Project Endangered Tigers Founder James Moretti. "We're heading in the direction of the Bengal tiger being the only tiger species left, and the Bengal tiger is also listed as endangered. Would our world be okay with having just one species of bird remaining? It's simply not good enough. Our next generation deserves better."

Endangered tigers face imminent extinction, with approximately 3,900 remaining worldwide. Three tiger species are already extinct  the Bali, Caspian and Javan tigers. The most significant risk to endangered tigers is habitat loss through logging, human encroachment, resource extraction and land converted for agriculture. Poaching is also a major contributor, with tigers illegally traded for their bones, skin, and other body parts.

Project Endangered Tigers features a Windows "Save Tigers" screensaver and Android Live Wallpaper app, featuring stunning HD images of tigers in their natural habitat that bring both screens to life. Available for a bundled price of $17.95, the Android app contains 10 HD tiger images, tiger video wallpaper, the option to add your own images, and settings to create the perfect tiger wallpaper or background on your Android phone. The iPhone app version will be available soon.

The Windows screensaver displays 25 HD images with the option to add your own music soundtrack. Proceeds benefitting the UK's WildCats Conservation Alliance will help fund the organization's carefully selected wild tiger conservation projects.

Additional information about Project Endangered Tigers, including access to download the app and screensaver, is available online at https://endangeredtigers.org . The website also includes access to the organization's merchandise line, with 20 percent of merchandise sales proceeds going to the WildCats Conservation Alliance.

Project Endangered Tigers can be followed on:

Facebook at Project Endangered Tigers, Twitter @ProjectTigers, Instagram @projectendangeredtigers, Pinterest @EndangeredTigers, and Quora at https://projectendangeredtigerssspace.quora.com.

About Project Endangered Tigers

Founded by grandfather James Moretti, Project Endangered Tigers supports a global effort to help save the remaining species of tigers from extinction, ensuring his granddaughters and their generation can enjoy these majestic creatures. Through a stunning HD digital experience and merchandise line, Project Endangered Tigers is raising funds and sharing a portion of its proceeds with UK-based WildCats Conservation Alliance. The organization's website also serves as an informational resource for tiger conservation.

Press Contact:

James Moretti, Founder

215-768-8628

[email protected]

SOURCE Project Endangered Tigers
EQUITY AND TAX-EQUITY FINANCING WITH MULTIPLE PARTNERS CONTINUES TO SUPPORT GROWTH OF 4 GW OPERATING PORTFOLIO IN NORTH AMERICA



HOUSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ENGIE North America ("ENGIE") announced it has successfully completed Tax-Equity financing for its Iron Star and Priddy wind projects and Equity financing for the portfolio of these assets plus the Hawtree solar project which recently declared commercial operations. Together they total approximately 665 MW.

The two wind projects located in Ford County, Kansas and Mills County, Texas, respectively, are owned by affiliates of ENGIE. The Hawtree project is in Warren County, North Carolina. Leading financial institutions participated in the financing which included long-standing Tax-Equity relationships with Bank of America and Wells Fargo among others and a new relationship with InfraRed Capital Partners (US) ("InfraRed") who provided equity investments for the projects.

A wholly owned ENGIE affiliate is operating the Iron Star, Priddy and Hawtree projects pursuant to long term balance of plant operation and maintenance agreements with the project companies. The projects are part of the more than 4 GW portfolio of renewable energy assets currently managed by the company across North America.

"We are excited to again collaborate with Bank of America and Wells Fargo among others to fund our growing renewables portfolio. We are also happy to be joined by a new equity partner in InfraRed  we are creating long-term relationships that are helping to accelerate the journey to carbon neutrality across the United States." said Eric De Caluwe, Head of Acquisitions, Investments and Financial Advisory (AIFA) for ENGIE North America.

"ENGIE's deep operating experience of renewable projects coupled with our relationships with leading financial institutions such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo and InfraRed provides the strongest foundation possible to meet the need for major expansion of wind, solar and storage capacity across North America," said David Carroll, Chief Renewables Officer, ENGIE North America. "With more than 4,500 MW of renewables in operation or construction in North America, building strong collaborations such as these is a cornerstone of our approach".

There are 62 wind turbines capable of producing 4.8 MW each in commercial operation at the Iron Star project and 63 turbines of the same size operating at the Priddy project. The Hawtree project's installed capacity is equal to 65 MWac. The renewable power that is produced at the projects will be sold under previously agreed long-term Power Purchase Agreements. The three projects will become long-term neighbors and members of their Kansas, Texas and North Carolina communities, diversifying and supporting local economic development and putting Ford, Mills and Warren Counties at the heart of the energy transition.

"Wells Fargo is proud to support large scale renewable energy projects like Iron Star and Priddy" said Philip Hopkins, head of Wells Fargo's Renewable Energy & Environmental Finance group. "Providing expertise and capital to important customers like ENGIE is just one way we are helping accelerate the transition to a lower-carbon economy."

Jack Paris, Head of the Americas for InfraRed Capital Partners, said "We are delighted to invest in Iron Star, Priddy and Hawtree and look forward to building a strong relationship with an experienced and industry leading partner, such as ENGIE. This investment expands our activities in North America and supports our significant growth ambition in the clean energy sector."

The three projects were constructed during 2021 and early 2022 and can produce enough renewable power to meet the needs of around 200,000 average American homes.

About ENGIE North America

Based in Houston, Texas, ENGIE North America Inc. is a regional hub of ENGIE, a global leader in low-carbon energy and services. ENGIE (ENGI), is listed on the Paris and Brussels Stock Exchanges. Together with our 170,000 employees around the globe, our customers, partners and stakeholders, we are committed to accelerate the transition toward a carbon-neutral world, through reduced energy consumption and more environmentally friendly solutions. Inspired by our purpose ("raison d'etre"), we reconcile economic performance with a positive impact on people and the planet, building on our key businesses (gas, renewable energy, services) to offer competitive solutions to our customers. In North America, ENGIE helps our clients achieve their energy efficiency, reliability, and ultimately, their sustainability goals, as we work together to shape a sustainable future. We accomplish this through: energy efficiency projects, providing energy supply (including renewables and natural gas), and the development, construction and operation of renewable energy assets (wind, solar, storage and more). For more information on ENGIE North America, please visit our LinkedIn page or Twitter feed, https://www.engie-na.com/ and https://www.engie.com .

ENGIE North America Media Contact:

ENGIE North America: Michael Clingan, [email protected], (832) 745-6057

SOURCE ENGIE North America
Partnership Provides Long Term Financing to North Point Group, a Real Estate Fund., as Ethos Asset Management INC., continues its Investment Drive in Major US Real Estate Projects

SAN DIEGO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- ETHOS ASSET MANAGEMENT INC USA, announced a new long-term financing partnership with North Point Group, a Virginia based property development project. Ethos, a private project financing provider based in San Diego, California, with global operations, has committed to providing significant capital, that will continue for several years.

Carlos Santos, CEO of Ethos Asset Management, stated,

"We are committed to supporting and providing finance to North Point Group a unique and innovative project through our Classic Financing Facility (CFF). Covid19 has driven the current global economic situation and has had a significant influence on property owners, brokers, developers, and real estate entrepreneurs. North Point Group is a well organised and experienced company with a strong management team with specialist skills in investing in US Real Estate. We are honoured and proud to be partnering with Pya Cope, an inspirational strategic leader and entrepreneur and North Point Group. This is an initial investment that we believe will lead to significant future projects and further investments. We whole-heartedly support North Point Group's ambitions to deliver their projects providing new homes, offices and commercial spaces, new jobs and to finally commence operations which have been delayed due to the Covid19 pandemic."

Pya Cope, CEO, North Point Group, stated,

"We thank Ethos Asset Management Inc., USA, for the trust placed in us and our vision. We relentlessly pursue and fulfil the dreams of our clients, who look to us for investment opportunities offer in the real estate market. North Point seeks out real estate in high end markets where appreciation in values will reward clients who put their trust in us. properties to the highest construction standards and the guarantee of a high quality of life living. The partnership with Ethos will be a catalyst for us to maximize the possibilities for us to invest in work with our customers to and to expand into design and build luxury residential properties and in new desirable locations. We are delighted to be associated with Ethos and look forward to forging a long-term relationship with the whole team. Our group objectives are to rapidly invest in the development of in prime, high-quality real estate projects across the North America market with the valued assistance of Ethos, our preferred finance partner."

Ethos Asset Management (Ethos) is an independent, US-based company with a global reach in resource mobilization and project financing. Providing financing to government and privately promoted projects in every continent and every sector, Ethos has developed a unique risk modulation model which allows them to provide financing in terms not available anywhere in traditional financial markets. Additionally, Ethos provides advice to structure projects and restructure debt. Ethos supports and develops their clients to achieve their long-term goals with confidence.

You can hear from Carlos Santos, Ethos CEO, in London where he is Guest Speaker and Panellist at The Leaders Without Borders Leadership Summit and International Honours, the #1 gathering of high-achieving level professionals from all across the World, at THE DRAPER'S HALL, THROGMORTON AVENUE, LONDON, UK, on May 30th and 31st 2022.

For more information about Ethos, please visit https://www.ethosasset.com

About North Point Group LLC:

North Point Group LLC, is a US-based new, dynamic property development and real estate investment company. With decades of experience in investing and project managing real estate projects and developments, North Point is well placed to capitalise on the Post Covid growth and expansion in the construction sector.

Contacts:

North Point Group:

Pya Cope, CEO, North Point Group:

[email protected]

Ethos:

Ethos Asset Management INC:

Press Office

[email protected]

+1 858-535-4814

SOURCE Ethos Asset Management Inc
The additional investment comes part-way through the round and will enable Everli to accelerate its existing international expansion plans and continue to drive forward its mission to build Europe's most-loved grocery marketplace.

Fedrico Sargenti, CEO Everli commented, "Everli has successfully expanded internationally in recent months, making great progress securing international retailer partnerships which are going to help us grow even faster. We are very excited to have United Ventures on board to further accelerate these opportunities in the short term, but also from a longer term perspective the experience and history they have are going to be invaluable as we continue to scale."

Everli has so far fulfilled grocery orders for more than 4 million deliveries in 135 cities in Italy, France, Poland and Czech Republic, partnering with retailers such as Lidl, Carrefour, Conad, Coop and Kaufland. Its model, which relies on a network of more than 3000 Shoppers, enables customers in small and medium density areas to do their same-day delivery large basket grocery shopping conveniently via the Everli app or website. Supermarket partners benefit from an affordable, fast solution to quickly offer an easy to use online and home delivery service that reaches high-value customers and builds loyalty.

Fabio Pirovano, Partner of United Ventures' fund UV T-Growth, commented: "Few sectors have evolved as rapidly as grocery retail in recent years. We've been following Everli's progress with interest for a while, and today we are thrilled to support the company in the next phase of its international expansion through our growth fund. We are looking forward to working together with Federico and the Everli team as they pursue their mission of creating the largest online-grocery European platform."

Everli initially announced its Series C funding last year, and since then expanded into France and the Czech Republic; won additional retail partnerships with retailers such as Kaufland, Carrefour and Casino; hired new key leadership; and grew and developed its team and capability in areas such as tech, product, operations, marketing and finance.

About Everli

Everli is on a mission to help people achieve peace of mind, by simplifying their life when shopping for groceries. No more queuing, no more parking, no more carrying heavy weights: Everli's dream is to bring just the best parts of grocery shopping, directly to your home. Founded in 2014, Everli is now the main European e-grocery marketplace. Headquartered in Milan, with offices also in Paris, Verona and Warsaw, Everli's team has grown to more than 300 people, and has created more than 100 partnerships with retailers and CPG companies, providing flexible employment for over 3,000 shoppers. Everli serves 135 cities around Europe, and has delivered groceries 4 million times. Visit us at https://about.everli.com/ .

About United Ventures

United Ventures is an independent Italian Venture Capital firm investing in digital technologies. Since 2013, it has partnered with over thirty technology startups and scaleups, supporting their growth and international expansion process. United Ventures currently has 300M in assets under management on two early-stage (UV1 and UV2) and one growth (UV T-Growth) venture capital funds. The firm's portfolio includes to date twenty companies across Italy, UK, Switzerland, Israel, and USA. For more information take a look at https://unitedventures.com/

SOURCE Everli
SALT LAKE CITY, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Extra Space Storage Inc. (the "Company") (NYSE: EXR) announced today it will release financial results for the three months ended March 31, 2022 on Tuesday, May 3, 2022 after the market closes. The Company will host a conference call at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 4, 2022 to discuss its financial results. Hosting the call will be Extra Space Storage's CEO, Joe Margolis. Joining him will be Scott Stubbs, Executive Vice President and CFO.

During the conference call, company officers will review operating performance, discuss recent events, and conduct a question-and-answer period. The question-and-answer period will be limited to registered financial analysts. All other participants will have listen-only capability.

To Participate in the Telephone Conference Call: Dial in at least five minutes prior to start time.

Domestic: 855-791-2026 International: 631-485-4899



Conference ID: 2638769





Conference Call Playback:



Domestic: 855-859-2056 International: 404-537-3406



Conference ID: 2638769



The playback can be accessed beginning on May 4, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. ET through May 11, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. ET.

The conference call will also be available on the Company's website under Investor Relations at www.extraspace.com. To listen to a live broadcast, go to the site at least 15 minutes prior to the scheduled start time in order to register, download and install any necessary audio software. A replay of the call will also be available for 30 days on the Company's website.

Full Text of the Earnings Report and Supplemental Data

The full text of the earnings report and supplemental data will be available at the Company's website at http://ir.extraspace.com immediately following the earnings release to the wire services after the market close on Tuesday, May 3, 2022.

For those without Internet access, the earnings release will be available by mail or fax, on request. To receive a copy, please call Extra Space Storage Investor Relations at (801) 365-1759.

About Extra Space Storage Inc.

Extra Space Storage Inc., headquartered in Salt Lake City, is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust, and a member of the S&P 500. As of December 31, 2021, the Company owned and/or operated 2,096 self-storage properties, which comprise approximately 1.5 million units and approximately 160.9 million square feet of rentable storage space offering customers conveniently located and secure storage units across the country, including boat storage, RV storage and business storage. The Company is the second largest owner and/or operator of self-storage properties in the United States and is the largest self-storage management company in the United States.

For more information, please visit www.extraspace.com.

SOURCE Extra Space Storage Inc.
In addition, EZ Blockchain is ready to open its doors to outside customers by introducing its recent product - SmartBox 1500i. This engineering breakthrough has a 20ft container footprint while being a lightweight data center capable of operating up to 288 of the newest generation cryptocurrency miners with the electrical infrastructure that gives hash rate increase up to 40% .

This scalable solution has numerous benefits like significant noise reduction, lower operational costs, longer equipment lifespan, and 10x the heat rejection capacity compared to air cooling crypto-mining containers.

When talking about the new product, Sergii Gerasymovych, the CEO and Co-Founder of EZ Blockchain is enthusiastic about the product. He said " Our team of engineers has spent a lot of sleepless nights trying to figure out how to make this immersion cooling mobile data center efficient, affordable, operationally seamless, and scalable. Finally, we can not only grow our operations in hot climates such as Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma but also provide a viable solution to other market participants".

The company plans to release 10-15 MW worth of mobile data centers to the market monthly. The pre-orders are already open, and the team is excited to serve clients.

ABOUT EZ BLOCKCHAIN

EZ Blockchain is an innovative company that believes in the utilization of waste energy and that solving associated with gas flaring and stranded gas problems is a true win-win for both the energy and crypto industries.

The company's mission is to breach the gap between the energy sector and the blockchain ecosystem by innovative solutions to the global waste energy problems. At EZ Blockchain, crypto mining is transformed through the introduction of immersion cooling containers as well as solar and wind crypto mining services.

https://ezblockchain.net

Media Contact:

Sergii Gerasymovych

[email protected]

SOURCE EZ Blockchain
LOS ANGELES, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Lure Life Inc. ("Lure"), a luxury, joy producing CBD brand has raised $750,000 in a Seed round of funding supported by a diverse group of investors in the beauty, finance and the consumer-packaged goods sectors. The funding will allow the brand to accelerate market expansion, company growth, marketing and product development of the meticulously designed line.

Monica Reese, Summer Rice, Kara Kelly: Founders of Lure

The investors of this landmark raise were composed of over 50 percent women and is of further note since the brand is majority Black-owned and signifies triumph over the clear racial inequities in ownership in the cannabis business. Although funding for Black entrepreneurs has reached an all-time high in the past five years, it still represents just 1.2 percent of the record $147 billion in venture capital invested in the U.S.

"Lure is led by extremely talented founders with an aligned vision to move past the notion of singular need states for CBD. They are answering the call for CBD to be integrated into an overall daily beauty routine and to help shape the conversation around the expanded benefits for women's health. It is really an honor to be invested in this rising brand," says investor and Reel Founder, Derin Oyekan.

Sitting at the nexus of wellness and beauty, the brand touts hard working modern essentials intended to be integrated into a daily routine. In creating Lure, founders Kara Kelly, Monica Reese and Summer Rice, set out to create products that could earn a spot on the discerning consumer's nightstand. In terms of design aesthetic, the brand focused on creating packaging whose sophistication and beauty reflects the organic curated ingredients inside their products. The founders uncovered a lot of common ground around their experiences with a range of women's health needs that weren't being specifically addressed including menopause, sexual wellness, interrupted sleep, and pain points. The brand aims to seize this opportunity, speaking to the highly overlooked 40 plus market with more intention in addition to both men and women of all ages.

"Representing diversity in a newly legalized area is very important to us. African Americans have been heavily impacted by laws against cannabis and there's still a very small number of BIPOC and Black owned luxury CBD brands," says Co-Founder Kara Kelly. "Lure is bringing pride to a space that represented shame for so many years and we want to continue to be a part of changing the way our communities view CBD. We are honored to align ourselves with investors who share in our mission and are excited to see what this next chapter holds for us and our community."

The Lure line is continuing to expand this year, currently it includes three SKU's:

Lure Deluxe Intimacy Oil: $55

All-natural lubrication designed to create a sensual and easy glide for intimate moments. Also great for massage oil, face oil, or post bath moisturizer.

Lure Relief Stick: $75

Topical treatment designed to reduce pain and inflammation. Essential for post workouts. Also used for relieving cramps, to smooth cracked heels, and to rub on chests when you have a cold.

Lure Original Premium Oil (tincture): $95

Luxurious, high end All-Natural CBD oil is designed to be a multi tasker. This oil will bring an overall calmness and will reduce stress, anxiety, pain, and create restful sleep.

Lure products can be found at select stores nationwide in addition to an exclusive online partnership with beloved lifestyle brand Madewell and through strategic affiliate partners. For a full list of retail partners please visit: https://thelurelife.com

ABOUT LURE:

Lure is a luxury, joy producing CBD brand for your daily routine. With clean, high-quality, and organic ingredients, Lure is normalizing the conversation around CBD through aesthetically beautiful, nightstand-worthy packaging and real conversations. Female founded and majority black owned, Founders Kara Kelly, Monica Reese, and Summer Rice believe simple solutions shouldn't mean sacrificing sophistication. From decreasing stress to improving your sleep, recovery and sex life, Lure Life offers modern day essentials made for everyone. https://thelurelife.com

Media Contact:

Alana Wodnicki

646-228-9018

[email protected]

SOURCE Lure Life
A staff member of Sinovac works on the COVID-19 vaccine production line in Beijing, capital of China, July 8, 2021. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang)

Myanmar has received a batch of more than 2.2 million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines donated by China through the COVAX Facility. More than 49.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country so far.

YANGON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- More than 2.2 million doses of Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines donated by China through the COVAX Facility arrived in Myanmar's Yangon on Wednesday, according to the Information Ministry.

According to the figures released by the Health Ministry, more than 49.7 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in the country and more than 21.8 million people have been fully vaccinated as of Tuesday.

A student receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination site in Yangon, Myanmar, Oct. 17, 2021. (Xinhua/U Aung)

Besides, over 1 million people in the country had received a booster as of Tuesday.

The Southeast Asian country reported that the number of COVID-19 infections has increased to 611,448 with 19,430 deaths in the country on Wednesday, the ministry's data showed.
Filter Bags Market by Type (Air Filter Bags, Liquid Filter Bags), Media (Woven, Non-woven), Application (Oil & gas, Mining, Cement, Power Plants, Automobiles, Water Treatment, Aerospace, Defense & marine) & Region - Forecast 2022  2032

DUBAI, UAE, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The global filter bags market is estimated at USD 2.5 Bn in 2021 and is projected to procure USD 2.7 Bn by 2022. The market is anticipated to garner USD 4.3 Bn by 2032 while recording a CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period from 2022 to 2032. Expansion of the market can be attributed to the increasing initiatives of the government to reduce air pollution and the rapid urbanization taking place across various developing countries.

Attributes Details Global Filter Bags Market CAGR (2022-2032) 4.9% Global Filter Bags Market (2032) USD 4.3 Bn Global Filter Bags Market Attraction The environmental and safety regulations of various governments to reduce air pollution is projected to be one of the vital factors driving the market expansion.

Moreover, the growing cement and mining industries are another salient factor augmenting the industry in the assessment period. The growing usage of filter bags in coal-fired power plants is likely to offer significant opportunities for expansion in the industry in the forecast period.

Request a Sample - https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-14436

On the contrary, fluctuating prices of raw materials are expected to be the major factor hindering the market expansion. Moreover, the complexity of pollution control reforms is another factor impeding the industry expansion in the forecast period.

Key Takeaways from the Market Study

The global filter bags market to hold a value of USD 4.3 Bn while recording a CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period.

while recording a CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period. Oil & Gas segment to expand at a CAGR of 5.6% during the forecast period

The U.S market expected to secure USD 716 Mn while expanding at a CAGR of 4.4%

while expanding at a CAGR of 4.4% China to record a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period

to record a CAGR of 4% during the forecast period India to witness a CAGR of 6% during the forecast period

"The global filter bags market is expected to show a remarkable growth in the forecast period owing to the growing environmental concerns and the increasing imposition of stringent rules by the government of several countries to curb the air pollution."

Ask an Analyst- https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/ask-question/rep-gb-14436

Competitive Landscape

Key players in the global filter bags market include Babcock & Wilcox Co., Pall Corporation, Thermax D Ltd., Eaton Corporation, and Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems Ltd.

Some of the recent key developments among the players are:

In May 2021 , Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. disclosed an agreement under which Mitsubishi Power Ltd. would be integrated into MHI. According to the new agreement, the business operations and employees of Mitsubishi Power involved in the sale, design, installation, and engineering of thermal power generation systems would be transferred to MHI.

, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. disclosed an agreement under which Mitsubishi Power Ltd. would be integrated into MHI. According to the new agreement, the business operations and employees of Mitsubishi Power involved in the sale, design, installation, and engineering of thermal power generation systems would be transferred to MHI. In February 2022 , Babcock and Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. disclosed that it had acquired Fossil Power Systems, Inc., an eminent manufacturer of natural gas, hydrogen, and renewable pulp and paper combustion equipment.

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Key Segments Covered in the Filter Bags Industry Report

By Type:

Air Filter Bags

Liquid Filter Bags

By Size:

7" OD x 17" Long Filter Bag

7" OD x 32" Long Filter Bag

4" OD x 10" Long Filter bag

bag 4" OD x 17" Long Filter Bag

6" OD x 20" Long Filter Bag

By Media:

Woven Filter Bags

Non-Woven Filter Bags

By Application:

Filter Bags for Oil & Gas

Filter Bags for Mining

Filter Bags for Cement

Filter Bags for Power Plants

Filter Bags for Automobiles

Filter Bags for Water Treatment

Filter Bags for Aerospace, Defense & Marine

By Region:

North America

Latin America

Europe

Asia Pacific

Middle East & Africa

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Key Questions Answered in the Report

What is the estimated market value of the global filter bags market?

What is the estimated size of the global filter bags market in 2021?

Which region is projected to garner maximum market share?

What is the expected growth rate of China ?

? Which segment is anticipated to dominate the market?

Who are the key participants of the global filter bags market?

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Collation Shrink Films Market: The global collation shrink films market is expected to elevate at a CAGR of 5.9% between 2022 and 2030, reaching US$ 6.5 Bn by the year 2030.

Fiber Drums Market: Fiber Drums Market is expected to reach US$ 1 Bn in 2022, likely to surge at a vigorous 5.5% CAGR during the assessment period 2022-2030

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SOURCE Future Market Insights
"Romin Holdings is a prestigious global investment and business development company with over 30 years' experience, diverse interests and capabilities in the MENA region, and is the perfect partner to expand our digital asset investments in the region with." states Shalom Dodoun, Founder & Director of Fintech Scion Ltd., the holding company of FintechCashier.

According to a recent report by the World Bank on the digital economy in the MENA region, "fully digitalizing the economy could lead to a rise in GDP per capita of at least 46% over 30 years, or in dollar terms a long-term gain of at least $1.6 trillion. During the first year, this GDP per capita gain for the region would be almost $300 billion". MENA countries include Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

Dr. A. Latif Alkhaja, distinguished Founder of Romin Holdings and Shalom Dodoun met at FintechCashier's Head Office in London to confirm the 10 million investment including ongoing discussions with the Central Bank of Bahrain to open a category one investment firm.

This will enable FintechCashier to provide regulated investment services to clients including dealing in financial instruments as principal; dealing in financial instruments as agent; arranging deals in financial instruments; managing financial instruments; safeguarding financial instruments; advising on financial instruments; arranging credit and advising on credit; and operating a collective investment undertaking. They are seeking the highest permission from the regulators in Bahrain as well as partnering with SWIFT.

With their network of financial partners and banks, FintechCashier helps SMEs, Family Offices and next-generation companies to reach the world. They service 150 countries, offer 35 processing currencies, 20 settlement currencies, partner with over 100 banks  all accessible via 1 gateway. Their payment ecosystem offers a variety of payment types, including E-wallets, IBANs, credit cards, open banking, Swift, Chaps, Sepa, Wire Solutions, Settlement Accounts, is crypto friendly and an extensive e-commerce shopping cart, all in a one-step integration.

About FintechCashier

FintechCashier Group is an international financial technology company delivering financial payment services through its ONE Application, ONE Integration, GLOBAL REACH Payment Gateway. Their solution providers include licensed and authorised entities worldwide including UK Fintech Digital Solutions who are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, as an EMD Agent (FRN: 902993) and are permitted to distribute/redeem electronic money (e-money) and can perform certain other payments services, within the United Kingdom under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 and the Payment Services Regulations 2017. FintechCashier guarantees a seamless, transparent, and fast portal for their clients around the world to receive the transaction related funds of their customers, to manage their cash flow, and to make settlements.

FintechCashier supports a wide spectrum of payment services, ranging from credit card processing, foreign exchange, eCommerce and wire solutions. ONE Application, ONE Integration, GLOBAL REACH. https://www.fintechcashier.com/

For more information, please contact:

Christine Kulbas,

Head of Marketing

FintechCashier

+447399837453

[email protected]

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1777794/FintechCashier_Group.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1748815/Fintech_Cashier_Logo.jpg

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1777795/Romin_Holdings_Logo.jpg

SOURCE FintechCashier Group
NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Firedome and Hitachi Solutions Create, Ltd. (HSC), the information technology services arm of Hitachi Group, announced a partnership agreement in which HSC will resell Firedome's IoT Security Platform in Japan.

This partnership culminated after a year-long relationship that included a thorough market feasibility study led by HSC. The purpose of the market feasibility study was to determine market demand in the smart device vendors in Japan to embed a dedicated IoT security solution. The study proved overwhelmingly strong market demand, with Japanese brands and manufacturers initializing projects to address IoT security to both increase product reliability and protect their brand reputation.

Providing a tailored solution for product leaders of smart devices, Firedome provides a security platform for IoT devices which detects and prevents cyber threats and attacks from infiltrating. The first of its kind, lightweight agent built for IoT devices, causes no impact on the user experience, and provides 24/7 monitoring to ensure the device's ongoing security.

Firedome and HSC worked closely throughout the market feasibility study. Presenting to Japanese IoT device manufacturers and leading workshops on the value of the security platform to provide technical expertise on how to embed the agent, its advanced management features, and operations. The Firedome IoT Security Platform received strong market validation and resulted in a number of opportunities from IoT device manufacturers in Japan. HSC will be officially launching a Security Solution for IoT Devices ahead of Information Security EXPO (Spring), which will be held at Tokyo Big Sight in Japan from April 6-8, 2022.

This partnership signifies a major milestone for Firedome as it marks the company's entrance into the critical Japanese market. "We're excited about this partnership with Hitachi Solutions Create. Hitachi has an enormous business network and HSC is perfectly positioned to deliver the value of Firedome's IoT Security Platform throughout Japan," said Moti Shkolnik, CEO and Co-Founder of Firedome. "Furthermore, their vantage point of technical excellence and market knowledge provides profound testimony to Firedome's value and efficacy."

For HSC, this partnership is solidified through the launch of new cutting-edge security solutions for IoT in the Japanese market, to both protect connected devices from cyberattacks while enabling customer growth through superior security. "Our partnership with Firedome followed an extensive process that included global research of the IoT security market and leading a thorough market feasibility study. Our decision to work with Firedome was due to the superiority of their product and the excellent support they provided throughout these processes. They are experts in both cybersecurity and IoT" said Atsushi Kihira, Executive Officer of Hitachi Solutions Create. "Our partnership with Firedome will allow us to address a major market need in the Japanese market to secure connected devices with unmatched 24/7 security."

HSC is launching a Security Solution for IoT Devices ahead of "Information Security EXPO [Spring]", which will be held at Tokyo Big Sight in Japan from April 6 to 8, 2022. For more information: https://www.hitachi-solutions-create.co.jp/seminar/2022/0406_01/index.html .

About Hitachi Solutions Create

Hitachi Solutions Create, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the core IT Companies of Hitachi Group delivering proven business and IT strategies and solutions to companies across many industries. The company provides value-driven services throughout the IT life cycle from systems planning to systems integration, operation, and maintenance. For more information, visit the company's website at www.hitachi-solutions-create.co.jp

About Firedome

Firedome Inc. ( https://firedome.io/ ) is a growth enabler for disruptive IoT brands. Offering a robust IoT security and privacy platform with advanced marketing and cyber services, Firedome enables IoT brands to protect their devices and their users while growing their market share. Firedome is a global company with a presence in North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Media Contact:

Michelle Levy

[email protected]

SOURCE Firedome
DUBAI, UAE, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Crypto market obtained its reverse in March after two months of dropping. When Bitcoin reached its peak at $48,000, the whole capital market focused on cryptocurrency again. The International Ecosystem Plan launched by AEX Global attracted the attention of users worldwide and with the promotion of AEX Vietnam Support Fund of $100 million, AEX Platform Token GAT gained 50% arise in price, getting a near to its ATH.

As a platform token for cryptocurrency exchange that has sprung up in the rebound led by GameFi and SocialFi, GAT is far ahead with a price increase of more than 50%. Leading the rapid rebound of global mainstream exchanges platform token. OKB (19.86%), BNB (16.83%) and KSC (10.19%).

GAT is mainly used to support constructing the ecosystem for AEX Global aex.com, assisting it to build a global crypto financial management platform.This article will bring you the basic cognition of GAT from the angles of the development of platform token, circulation, application scenarios and so on, so that you can have reference in decision-making.

Factors of GAT rally

In the recent market, the prices of mainstream cryptocurrencies represented by BTC, have all lead to a recent rally. GAT has risen 50% in one month, leading the sector of exchange platform tokens. So how did GAT become a hot coin?

In March, AEX accelerated the global ecosystem layout through a series of special plans. On the one hand, AEX has given out more rewards to global ambassadors and started the recruitment of global partners to bring a wider range of people into AEX strategic alliance; On the other hand, AEX Research Institute was built up and AEX upgraded BitTalk, created a user space for professional content output and in-depth communication; AEX team also went to Africa to participate in blockchain meetings and launched 1,000 USDT Novice Benefits and some other events, allowing it to effectively get closer to users.

AEX also launched the Vietnam National Plan in south-east Asia, allowing Vietnamese users to enjoy considerable benefits. Not only has the operation center been established, but also a US $100 million Vietnam special fund has been allocated to construct Vietnam's crypto ecosystem. Besides, AEX opened a green light for Vietnam project listing and sent 200,000 USDT airdrops in the AEX Finance& AEX Trade sectors.

The first free IEO on AEX Listing Desk detonated users' fomo emotion, dual investment and other brand-new financial products provide users around the world with multiple financial management methods.

AEX's rapid expansion and promotion strategy have been trending among users in the AEX Global community, and hundreds of media around the world have reported massively on AEX's recent actions. With the pace of global expansion and the enrichment of financial business models, AEX will become ahead of cryptocurrency exchanges with financial management that breaks through the barrier between fin-tech and blockchain.

AEX, the first platform token creator, powers the GAT token

Global AEX Token is a token issued by AEX and traded worldwide with the GAT symbol, which has a total circulation of 23 billion. At present, nearly 59.95% of the shares (137,893,651) are circulating in the fields of trading, financial management, mining and derivatives, and the total market value reaches to $987 million.

The continually rising of GAT price reflects the fast development of the entire fin-tech industry. The promotion of brand effect has further discovered the value of GAT, and the rapid appreciation of GAT has attracted more investors to join the AEX financial ecosystem. Currently, GAT not only has the functional attribute of participating in financial interaction and platform interest representing, but also truly allows community members to share the dividends of ecosystem development through the repurchase mechanism. As of March 30, GAT had repurchased and destroyed 192 issues, accounting for 11.87% of the total issuance. Phase 192 destruction of GAT

AEX diversified financial model has mobilized the enthusiasm of GAT holders. Multiple value guarantee mechanism enables users to gain more steady returns. Creative diversified asset management services provided by AEX Exchange attracted more and more users to participate in the building of AEX Global Ecosystem. AEX will explore more application scenarios in the future development of global ecosystem layout, adding more values to GAT.

AEX: https://www.aex.com/page/h5/m_regist.html#/newByInvite?from=q0c909

SOURCE AEX exchange
SAN MATEO, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Gastric Cancer Foundation (GCF) has announced the launch of its 2022 grant program. GCF plans to award a total of $200,000 in new grant funding and is now accepting letters of intent from researchers who are working on novel projects aimed at discovering new therapies for this challenging disease. Grant recipients will be awarded one-time grants up to $100,000.

The Gastric Cancer Foundation has prioritized early-stage seed funding, as it enables researchers to generate preliminary data to submit compelling and competitive applications for larger research grants. This type of early funding is often difficult to obtain.

The objective of GCF's grant program is to support research projects that will facilitate the clinical development of new treatments for gastric cancer. Grant applications will be reviewed and rated by scientific advisors, and funding decisions will be made by the GCF Board of Directors no later than September 30, 2022.

Interested researchers should email a letter of intent to GCF by April 29 to [email protected]. Researchers who are selected to submit full applications will be notified shortly thereafter and invited to submit their applications no later than July 15. More information can be found at gastriccancer.org.

Last year, GCF awarded two seed grants. The first went to Dr. Nina Salama, Ph.D., of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who is studying the role of the bacterium Fusobacterium Nucleatum in driving gastric cancer. The second was awarded to Dr. Timothy C. Wang, M.D., of Columbia University, for a project centered around targeting myeloid cells to enhance immunotherapy in gastric cancer.

Since 2009, the Gastric Cancer Foundation has established a track record of strategic investments in early-stage research efforts that have made breakthrough discoveries. The Foundation has granted more than $3 million for gastric cancer research, providing much needed support for this cancer that receives only .04% of all federal funding for cancer research. GCF created the first HIPAA-compliant Gastric Cancer Registry and a perpetual Research Scholar Award to fund talented young scientists who are pursuing research on this often-neglected disease.

About The Gastric Cancer Foundation

The Gastric Cancer Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Since 2009, the Gastric Cancer Foundation has been working to improve the lives of people affected by gastric cancer and supporting innovative research studies in pursuit of a cure. The impetus for the Foundation came from JP Gallagher, a Silicon Valley marketing executive, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer at age 37 and could not find reliable information about the disease. He battled the disease for six years before passing in 2013. Gallagher and other families affected by the disease formed the Foundation to increase research funding and give patients and families a place to turn to find resources.

For more information about the Foundation, visit gastriccancer.org or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Contact:

Stacie Hershman, Executive Director

Gastric Cancer Foundation

919-443-3563

[email protected]

gastriccancer.org

SOURCE Gastric Cancer Foundation
"We are very pleased to invest in new product development for malaria. Existing innovations alone are not sufficient to combat malaria," said GHIT CEO Osamu Kunii. "Continuous R&D efforts for new innovations are essential for malaria elimination. We hope that these new innovations will be important tools in the malaria elimination strategy and bring greater impact for patients."

Preclinical development of a monoclonal antibody to prevent P. falciparum malaria

GHIT will invest 539 million yen (US$4.7 million) for the development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for malaria prevention.. The project is enabled by access to a panel of potent anti-CSP mAbs, identified from volunteers who were protected against P. falciparum challenge following immunization with RTS,S/AS01 (RTS,S), the world's first malaria vaccine recommended for use in young children living in areas of moderate to high malaria transmission by the World Health Organization (WHO). RTS,S functions primarily by inducing high titer antibodies to the invariant repeat region of the P. falciparum CS protein. Highly potent monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in protective antisera are likely to be promising tools for malaria intervention.

Development of a Plasmodium vivax multistage vaccine effective both for protection and transmission locking

GHIT will invest 69.8 million yen (US$604K) in the development of a highly effective and durable next-generation multistage/multispecies malaria vaccine that is effective against both pre-erythrocytic stage and sexual-stage P. falciparum and P. vivax parasites.

Hit-to-Lead development of novel Astellas compounds with antimalarial activity

Finally, GHIT will invest 131 million yen (US$1.1 million) in identification of lead compound series with antimalarial activity that has clear potential for further development and progression to lead optimization. Previous project supported by GHIT, four novel hit compounds with antimalarial activity were identified from screening of Astellas's 20,000 compounds. The compounds will be designed to explore both structure activity relationships and scope for structural modification to improve the compound profile such as potency, DMPK, and safety.

As of March 31, there are 61 ongoing projects, including 28 discovery, 21 preclinical and 12 clinical trials, in the GHIT portfolio (Appendix 3). The total amount of investments since 2013 is 27.6 billion yen (US$239 million).

* USD1 = JPY115.59, the approximate exchange rate on February 28, 2022.

** These awarded projects were selected from a number of proposals to the RFP2021-002 for Target Research Platform, Screening Platform, Hit-to-Lead Platform, and Product Development Platform, which was open for applications from June 2021 to January 2022. The GHIT board conducted in February 2022 approved these new investments.

The GHIT Fund is a Japan-based international public-private partnership fund (PPP) between the Government of Japan, multiple pharmaceutical companies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The GHIT Fund invests and manages an R&D portfolio of development partnerships aimed at neglected diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases that afflict the world's vulnerable and underserved populations. The GHIT Fund mobilizes the Japanese industry, academia, and research institutes to create new drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics for malaria, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases, in collaboration with global partners.

Appendix.1 New Investments

ID/Status Project Title Collaboration Partners Disease/Intervention Stage Awarded Amount G2021-111 New project Preclinical development of a monoclonal antibody to prevent P. falciparum malaria Ehime University, Eisai Co., Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline, PATH Malaria Drug Lead Optimization 538,661,663 (US$4,660,106) H2021-201 New project Hit-to-Lead development of novel Astellas compounds with antimalarial activity Astellas Pharma Inc., TCG Lifesciences Private Limited. (TCGLS), Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) Malaria Drug Lead Identification 131,743,584 (US$1,139,749) T2021-256 New project Development of a Plasmodium vivax multistage vaccine effective both for protection and transmission blocking Hokkaido University, Jichi Medical University, Kanazawa University, Kyoto University, University of Toyama, University of Cambridge, Instituto Leonidas & Maria Deane (ILMD) and The Fundacao de Medicina Tropical Doutor Heitor Vieira Dourado (FMT-HVD) Malaria

Vaccine Antigen Identification 69,817,000 (US$604,006)

*All amounts are listed at the exchange rate of USD1 = JPY115.59, the approximate exchange rate on February 28, 2022.

Appendix.2 Project Details

G2021-111

Project Title Preclinical development of a monoclonal antibody to prevent P. falciparum malaria Collaboration Partners Ehime University, Eisai Co., Ltd., GlaxoSmithKline, PATH Disease Malaria Intervention Drug Stage Lead Optimization Awarded Amount 538,661,663 (US$4,660,106) Status New project Summary [Project objective] The objective of this project is to complete preclinical development work to support future IND submission for a proof-of-concept clinical trial including controlled human malaria infection (CHMI). The long-term goal of this project is to secure a WHO policy recommendation and financing for a monoclonal antibody that prevents P. falciparum malaria in young children, and potentially pregnant women, living in areas of seasonal transmission in sub-Saharan Africa. 1) Manufacture a cell bank for the lead mAb production, and demonstrate the efficacy of the lead mAb in a mouse challenge model 2) Complete process development and manufacture the lead mAb suitable for a GLP toxicology study 3) Complete a pre-IND meeting with the US FDA 4) Complete preliminary Cost-of-Goods (COGs) analysis for anti-malaria infection mAbs, and develop an initial integrated product development and policy plan (iPDPP). [Project design] The project is built on successful completion of prior work including 1) in vitro and in vivo screening for a lead panel of mAbs; 2) engineering the lead panel mAbs to enhance potency and serum stability, and to minimize development risk identified by in silico analyses; 3) minimizing risk of selected mAbs with cross-reactivity to human tissues by early screening for binding to human tissues and human membrane proteins; 4) confirming in vivo protective efficacy and pharmacokinetics of the selected mAbs in mouse models; 5), initiate cell line development and select one to advance; and 6) established capabilities of mAb production process development, optimization, and production. The proposed work will start with production and release of a pre-master cell bank for production of the mAb of final selection. The manufacture process for the mAb will be developed and optimized to confirm conditions for production of the mAb lot suitable for GLP toxicity studies, and to enable future scale up of production for clinical trial materials. In addition, formulation development will be conducted to enable stability of the mAb at high concentration to accommodate potential subcutaneous injection. The mAb materials produced during process development and the mAb lot for the GLP toxicity studies will be evaluated in mouse challenge model to confirm protective efficacy. A pre-IND meeting will be conducted with the US FDA. We will also conduct IND-enabling GLP-toxicology studies to evaluate repeated dose toxicity and tissue-cross reactivity of the mAb. In parallel, a COGs analysis will be conducted with information on methods of production, product configuration (vial type and size), and a competitive landscape analysis will be conducted with information on mAbs in development for malaria prevention. Finally, an iPDPP will be drafted for alignment among clinical, regulatory, manufacturing, and policy strategies for global health deployment of mAbs and alike. Project Detail https://www.ghitfund.org/investment/portfoliodetail/detail/201/en

H2021-201

Project Title Hit-to-Lead development of novel Astellas compounds with antimalarial activity Collaboration Partners Astellas Pharma Inc., TCG Lifesciences Private Limited. (TCGLS), Medicines for Malaria Venture (MMV) Disease Malaria Intervention Drug Stage Lead Identification Awarded Amount 131,743,584 (US$1,139,749) Status New project Summary [Project objective] The objective of the project is to identify at least 1 novel compound series meeting MMV Early Lead Criteria (1) that has clear potential for further development and progression to Lead Optimization. [Project design] The project will consist of two phases. The first 6-month phase will involve the synthesis and profiling of small set of compounds designed around each of the four hit compounds identified in the previous project. The compounds will be designed to explore both structure activity relationships (SAR) and scope for structural modification to improve the compound profile (potency, DMPK, safety, etc.). Two series will be selected for Hit-to-Lead studies. The second 18-month phase of the project will involve the optimization of the series (prioritizing the series with the greatest potential) with the goal of identifying a series with a frontrunner compound meeting the MMV Early Lead criteria. Project Detail https://www.ghitfund.org/investment/portfoliodetail/detail/202/en

T2021-256

Project Title Development of a Plasmodium vivax multistage vaccine effective both for protection and transmission blocking Collaboration Partners Hokkaido University, Jichi Medical University, Kanazawa University, Kyoto University, University of Toyama, University of Cambridge, Instituto Leonidas & Maria Deane (ILMD) and The Fundacao de Medicina Tropical Doutor Heitor Vieira Dourado (FMT-HVD) Disease Malaria Intervention Vaccine Stage Antigen Identification Awarded Amount 69,817,000 (US$604,006) Status New project Summary [Project objective] The project aim is to develop not only a highly effective and durable multistage vaccine against pre-erythrocytic and sexual stages of P. vivax, but additionally, a bivalent vaccine effective both for P. vivax and P. falciparum. [Project design] Two viral-vectored vaccines expressing both pre-erythrocytic-stage and sexual-stage antigens of P. vivax will be generated. Protective and transmission blocking (TB) efficacies of the heterologous prime-boost immunization regimen will be assessed by sporozoite challenge and Direct Membrane Feeding Assay (DMFA) in a robust and proven mouse model, and then the regime will be further optimized (e.g., dose, route, interval and outbred mice). Desired protection rate >90%. Surrogate markers responsible for protection will be identified. This will be key to allow efficient and robust measurements of efficacy. Humoral and cellular immune responses induced by the heterologous prime-boost immunization regimen will be assessed. Meanwhile, a bivalent vaccine harboring the genes encoding antigens of both P. vivax and P. falciparum will be generated. In a non-human primate model, in vitro sporozoite neutralizing assay and in vivo sporozoite challenge test of mice passively transferred with immune monkey IgGs will be performed to evaluate its protective efficacy. For evaluation of transmission blocking efficacy, immune monkey sera will be tested by DMFA using blood of vivax patients in Brazil and of falciparum patients in Burkina Faso. Project Detail https://www.ghitfund.org/investment/portfoliodetail/detail/200/en

*All amounts are listed at the exchange rate of USD1 = JPY115.59, the approximate exchange rate on February 28, 2022.

Appendix.3 Investment Overview (As of March 31, 2022)

1. Investment to date

Total investments 27.6 billion yen (US$239 million*)

Total invested projects 114active projects 61, completed projects 53

*All amounts are listed at the exchange rate of USD1 = JPY115.59, the approximate exchange rate on February 28, 2022.

To know more about GHIT investments, please visit

Investment Overview: https://www.ghitfund.org/investment/overview/en

Portfolio: https://www.ghitfund.org/investment/portfolio/en

Advancing Portfolio: https://www.ghitfund.org/investment/advancingportfolio/en

Clinical Candidates: https://www.ghitfund.org/investment/clinicalcandidates/en

For more information, contact:

Katy Lenard at +1-301-280-5719 or [email protected]

Bumpei Tamamura at +81-36441-2032 or [email protected]

SOURCE Global Health Innovative Technology (GHIT) Fund
Completely re-engineered mobile experience for iOS and Android devices dazzles attendees at AAA 2022 + HearTECH Expo in St. Louis today

AURORA, Neb., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The wait is over: Hamilton Mobile CapTel, a completely new captioned phone experience for iOS and Android, is live and ready for immediate download on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Hamilton CapTel announced the release of the new app today at the AAA 2022 + HearTECH Expo conference in St. Louis, Mo. The conference is the premier event for innovative hearing healthcare solutions, hosted by the prestigious American Academy of Audiology.

"We're extremely excited to release this completely re-engineered app to benefit the millions of Americans with hearing loss," says Dixie Ziegler, vice president of Hamilton Relay, Hamilton CapTel's parent company. "Hamilton CapTel was the first to release a mobile app for captioned phone calls back in 2010. This release represents a milestone in that Hamilton CapTel and Ultratec, Inc., the inventor of captioned telephones, worked collaboratively to deliver this feature-rich, fully functional app for iOS and Android."

Similar to captions on television, Hamilton Mobile CapTel delivers captions for phone conversations. Developed specifically for people with hearing loss, users will have access to a host of powerful features, including:

Fast and accurate captions on incoming and outgoing calls

Seamless syncing with device contacts

Built-in Voicemail with captions

Simultaneous viewing of captions on a larger screen with Browser Caption Viewing

Call Forwarding and Custom Caller ID

Customizable captions  choose font style, color and size

Access call log and review captions

And more

Since 2003, Hamilton CapTel has made more than 250 million captioned phone calls possible. The development team drew from this deep well of experience to design the new app. The result is a stable, secure platform that's easy to use, accurate and faster than ever.

"While all of the features certainly make the app a leader in this space, the real benefit is the increased freedom it provides to people with hearing loss," Ziegler says. "Users can enjoy the same captioned phone experience we've been delivering to our customers at home and in their office for years  now in the palm of their hand."

About Hamilton CapTel

Hamilton CapTel is a service of Hamilton Relay, a division of Hamilton Telecommunications, a diversified communications and technology services provider based in Aurora, Neb. Founded in 1901, Hamilton Telecommunications has grown to encompass eight primary company divisions allowing Hamilton to operate on a local, regional and national basis. For more information, please visit HamiltonCapTel.com.

About Ultratec

Ultratec, Inc., is the inventor of Captioned Telephone technology, for both IP-based and traditional analog line telephone communications and provides a variety of CapTel telephone models. The company, headquartered in Madison, WI, is the world's leading manufacturer of text telephones for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.

About AAA

The American Academy of Audiology is the world's largest professional organization of, by and for audiologists. Representing the interests of audiologists and future audiologists nationwide, the Academy is dedicated to providing quality hearing care services through professional development, education, research, and increased public awareness of hearing and balance disorders. For more information, visit Audiology.org.

FEDERAL LAW PROHIBITS ANYONE BUT REGISTERED USERS WITH HEARING LOSS FROM USING INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP) CAPTIONED TELEPHONES WITH THE CAPTIONS TURNED ON. IP Captioned Telephone Service may use a live operator. The operator generates captions of what the other party to the call says. These captions are then sent to your phone. There is a cost for each minute of captions generated, paid from a federally administered fund. To learn more, visit fcc.gov. Hamilton CapTel may be used to make 911 calls but may not function the same as traditional 911 services. For more information about the benefits and limitations of Hamilton CapTel and Emergency 911 calling, visit HamiltonCapTel.com/911. Voice and data plans may be required when using Hamilton CapTel on a smartphone or tablet. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners. CapTel is a registered trademark of Ultratec, Inc. Copyright 2022 Hamilton Relay. Hamilton is a registered trademark of Nedelco, Inc., d/b/a/ Hamilton Telecommunications.

SOURCE Hamilton CapTel
OAKLAND, Calif. and TORONTO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Harborside Inc. ("Harborside", or the "Company") (CSE: HBOR) (OTCQX: HBORF), a California-focused, vertically-integrated cannabis enterprise, is pleased to announce that it has completed the mandatory conversion of all of its issued and outstanding multiple voting shares (the "MVS") to subordinate voting shares (the "SVS") (the "Mandatory Conversion"). The Mandatory Conversion will result in each holder of MVS being entitled to 100 SVS for each MVS it holds. In addition, all warrants previously exercisable into MVS are now exercisable into SVS. The Mandatory Conversion was approved at the Special Meeting of Shareholders held February 22, 2022.

"The completion of the Mandatory Conversion represents an important milestone for the Company, as we prepare to relaunch as StateHouse Holdings," said Ed Schmults, CEO of Harborside. "Our shareholders strongly indicated their views that the Company should have only one class of shares outstanding and we are pleased to have accomplished this objective, which is also expected to increase trading liquidity and make our shares increasingly attractive to the investment community."

As a result of the Mandatory Conversion, the Company will no longer meet the definition of "foreign private issuer" under U.S. securities laws and will be required to register under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Accordingly, the Company will eventually be subject to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's ("SEC") reporting requirements applicable to U.S. domestic companies. The SEC's reporting requirements require, among other things, Harborside's financial statements and financial data to be presented under U.S. GAAP.

For the latest news, activities, and media coverage, please visit the Harborside corporate website at http://www.investharborside.com or connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Harborside:

Harborside Inc., a vertically integrated enterprise with cannabis licenses covering retail, major brands, distribution, cultivation, nursery and manufacturing, is one of the oldest and most respected cannabis companies in California. Founded in 2006, Harborside was awarded one of the first six medical cannabis licenses granted in the United States. Today, the company operates eleven major dispensaries covering Northern and Southern California and one in Oregon, as well as a manufacturing facility in Oakland, California, distribution facilities in San Jose and Los Angeles, California and an integrated cultivation/production facility in Salinas, California. Harborside is a publicly listed company, trading on the CSE under the ticker symbol "HBOR" and the OTCQX under the ticker symbol "HBORF". The Company continues to play an instrumental role in making cannabis safe and accessible to a broad and diverse community of California and Oregon consumers. Additional information regarding Harborside is available under Harborside's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates, and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements relating to increased trading liquidity due to the Mandatory Conversion, and the impact of the Mandatory Conversion on the Company's reporting requirements under U.S. securities laws.

These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of the Company to materially differ from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include: whether the Company will receive additional voting support agreements for matters to be considered by shareholders at the Meeting; implications of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the Company's operations; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; expectations regarding the size of the cannabis markets where the Company operates; changing consumer habits; the ability of the Company to successfully achieve its business objectives; plans for expansion and acquisitions; political and social uncertainties; inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; employee relations; the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on cultivation, production, distribution, and sale of cannabis and cannabis-related products in the markets where the Company operates; and the risk factors set out in the Company's management discussion and analysis for the period ended September 30, 2021 and the Company's listing statement dated May 30, 2019, which are available under the Company's profile on www.sedar.com. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

The Company, through several of its subsidiaries, is indirectly involved in the manufacture, possession, use, sale, and distribution of cannabis in the recreational and medicinal cannabis marketplace in the United States. Local state laws where the Company operates permit such activities however, investors should note that there are significant legal restrictions and regulations that govern the cannabis industry in the United States. Cannabis remains a Schedule I drug under the US Controlled Substances Act, making it illegal under federal law in the United States to, among other things, cultivate, distribute or possess cannabis in the United States. Financial transactions involving proceeds generated by, or intended to promote, cannabis-related business activities in the United States may form the basis for prosecution under applicable United States federal money laundering legislation.

While the approach to enforcement of such laws by the federal government in the United States has trended toward non-enforcement against individuals and businesses that comply with recreational and medicinal cannabis programs in states where such programs are legal, strict compliance with state laws with respect to cannabis will neither absolve the Company of liability under United States federal law, nor will it provide a defense to any federal proceeding which may be brought against the Company. The enforcement of federal laws in the United States is a significant risk to the business of the Company and any proceedings brought against the Company thereunder may adversely affect the Company's operations and financial performance.

This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities in the United States. The Company's securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available.

The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the CSE nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE Harborside Inc.
The donation, made in December, brought the cannabusiness' total contributions to veterans nonprofits in 2021 to $100,000.

AUSTIN, Texas , March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Hometown Hero CBD , the veteran-supporting manufacturer of hemp-derived THC and CBD products, is pleased to announce its $65,000 donation to the Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). Of this donation, $10,000 went to VFW Post 10427 in Leander, Texas for needed renovations, and $55,000 will go to its parent organization, the Texas VFW for the Military Assistance Program (MAP). Founded in 1899, the VFW is a nonprofit composed of U.S. veterans dedicated to supporting other veterans, service members, and their families. Their services include benefits advocacy, financial grants, scholarships, and mental health intervention.

"We were honored to support a group that has served American veterans for more than 100 years," said Lukas Gilkey, U.S. Coast Guard veteran and CEO of Hometown Hero CBD. "Members of the VFW embody what it is to be a veteran with their continuous service. It was an absolute pleasure to be in a position where we can support them in their mission of fostering camaraderie among veterans and advocating for them as well."

The donation is the largest single contribution made by Hometown Hero since its founding. In 2021, the company donated a total of $100,000 to veteran nonprofits. And despite this achievement, Hometown Hero has its sights set to further increase its donations to organizations dedicated to helping those who served. Along with the Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars, Hometown Hero CBD has made contributions to the following nonprofits:

Disabled American Veterans (DAV)

Soldiers' Angels

Operation Finally Home

Hometown Hero CBD offers complimentary samples of its hemp-derived Delta-9 THC and Delta-8 THC gummies for new customers 21 and older. A military discount is available for U.S. veterans and active duty for all products on HometownHeroCBD.com.

About Hometown Hero CBD

Hometown Hero CBD manufactures and distributes hemp-derived Delta-9 THC, Delta-8 THC, and CBDA + CBGA products. Founded in 2015 by U.S. Coast Guard veteran Lukas Gilkey and Lewis Hamer, the company donates a portion of proceeds from all products sold to various charities and organizations that support veterans. For more information, visit HometownHeroCBD.com, email the company at [email protected] or follow the brand on Facebook and Twitter at @HometownHeroATX and Instagram at @HometownHeroATX.

Media Contact:

[email protected]

SOURCE Hometown Hero CBD
"HOYA Group is pleased to have Mr. Rainer Burkard lead the global division of PENTAX Medical," said Eiichiro Ikeda, Representative Executive Officer and CEO of HOYA Corporation. "Mr. Burkard brings a wealth of knowledge, insight and experience from his various global executive roles within HOYA, especially from our PENTAX Lifecare Division. He has a proven track record of delivering results through developing and implementing strategic and operational changes in a global multicultural environment. We expect his leadership to further advance the PENTAX Medical growth strategy."

Mr. Burkard joined HOYA Lens Deutschland GmbH in 2002 and served as Head of Marketing until 2007. He was then promoted to the HOYA Vision Care global headquarters as General Manager, Business Development. In 2014, he was instrumental in integrating the European operations of SEIKO OPTICAL and led the development of the SEIKO XchangerTM collection which won the prestigious Silmo d'Or award for excellence in optical innovation. He joined PENTAX Europe GmbH as Chief Executive Officer (Europe, Middle East and Africa) in August 2015, and expanded his global role as Chief Commercial Officer of the Americas in July 2020.

"It is an honor taking over the global leadership for our division. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the leadership provided by Mr. Gerald W. Bottero, PENTAX Medical Global President since 2016. Under his leadership, HOYA corporate values were firmly established and will continue guiding us for the future. We wish Mr. Bottero only the best as he begins his well-earned retirement after 34 years with HOYA," said Mr. Burkard.

"Moving forward we are going to develop a unified global PENTAX Medical approach to our customers inspired by our Triple Aim. Many of our current and specifically future product innovations will position PENTAX Medical and its solutions uniquely in the market, specifically to and for our customers. This will provide enhanced competitiveness and growth potential while addressing relevant environmental aspects."

About PENTAX Medical

PENTAX Medical is a division of HOYA Group. The company's mission is to improve the standard of patient care and quality of healthcare delivery by providing the best endoscopic products and services with a focus on QUALITY, CLINICALLY RELEVANT INNOVATION, and SIMPLICITY. PENTAX Medical strives to align with the healthcare community's Triple Aim goals through transparent partnerships with its customers and by providing the highest quality solutions to help them reach their goals, including enabling customers to improve patient outcomes by offering evidence-based solutions across the continuum of care; ensuring value by supporting the customers to improve their efficiency and minimize their healthcare costs; and enriching patient and provider's experience by empowering every member of the care team to achieve optimal outcomes through products, education, and support.

Focused on the outcome instead of technological features, PENTAX Medical listens to the healthcare community and their patients, understands their daily obstacles and helps improve endoscopy with smart innovations.

For more information: www.pentaxmedical.com

About HOYA

Founded in 1941 in Tokyo, Japan, HOYA Corporation is a global technology and med-tech company and a leading supplier of innovative high-tech and medical products. HOYA's divisions and business units research and develop products utilized in the healthcare and information technology fields. In the healthcare field, we provide medical device products such as eyeglasses, medical endoscopes, contact and intraocular lenses, orthopedic implants, surgical/therapeutic devices and medical device reprocessing and disinfection solutions. In the information technology field, we provide products such as optical lenses, photomasks and blanks used in the manufacturing process for semiconductor and LCD/OLED devices, text to speech, human resources and other software solutions and critical components for the mass memory and cloud storage industries. With over 150 offices and subsidiaries worldwide, HOYA currently employs a multinational workforce of 37,000 people. For more information, please visit http://www.hoya.com/.

SOURCE HOYA Corporation PENTAX Medical
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- "An act of kindness, no matter how trivial, is worth performing." President Xi Jinping on Wednesday used this Chinese adage to encourage youngsters to work hard step by step to become the talent needed by the Party and the people.

Participating in a tree planting activity in Beijing, Xi told children nearby to cultivate the awareness of work, environmental protection and thriftiness from childhood, and "not to shy away from good deeds no matter how small they seem."

The quote was taken from an annotation to ancient historian Chen Shou's book "San Guo Zhi," or "Records of the Three Kingdoms."

According to the annotation's account, Liu Bei, founder of the Shu state during the Three Kingdom Period (220-280), told his son and successor Liu Shan that "an act of evil, no matter how small, must be shunned, while an act of kindness, no matter how trivial, is worth performing."

The adage has been quoted for centuries to warn that plenty of small good deeds may add up to great deeds while multiple small evils can pile up to grave evils. 
As merchants look to innovate and improve the shopping experience, I Hate Receipts offers a contactless receipt platform to better engage customers before, during and after their purchases.

AUSTIN, Texas, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- I Hate Receipts (IHR) announced today the launch of its Merchant Alliance Network which gives retailers, brands and technology partners the ability to provide item-level purchase details in a completely contactless receipt. By accessing IHR's newly launched SDK, alliance partners can now engage with and stay connected to customers well beyond the cash register through consumers' mobile devices.

Contactless HD Receipt

"Since the onset of the pandemic and even in the post-pandemic world we live in, merchants and brands have struggled to match the efficiency of online shopping in the physical retail world," said Ryan Greene, Founder and CEO of IHR. "We believe that by providing contactless receipt capabilities to our Merchant Alliance Network, we can improve the in-store and omni-channel experience, while also empowering every consumer with all their purchase data in one easy to use app."

"The IHR Merchant Alliance Network is an essential building block in creating an ecosystem where merchants and brands can optimize engagement with current and prospective consumers," said Doug Buurman, VP of Business Development at 4thID, an IOT payments platform. "IHR is bringing insight into customer purchase behavior in a way that protects privacy while revolutionizing brand targeting and promotions."

Merchants, banks and other fintech providers who join the Merchant Alliance Network will receive Merchant SDK access. Using this SDK will enable them to offer a customized, branded receipt wallet for consumers to store and track in-store and online purchases. The included APIs are available for mobile and web developers and provide an interactive high-resolution receipt directly from the merchant's platform to the consumer's mobile device, eliminating the need for paper or emailed receipts.

This new alliance program will further expand adoption of the I Hate Receipt app and strengthen the connection between the consumers using the app and their favorite merchants and brands.

About IHR

The IHR Merchant Alliance Network enables targeted touchpoints between brands and their current and prospective customers before, during and after their shopping transaction. IHR gives everyone sovereignty over their own purchase data through secure, Contactless HD Receipts. By using the I Hate Receipts app, consumers can "skip the slip," better understand their purchase data and engage with merchants in a new way that extends a delightful shopping experience well beyond their purchase.

For more information about joining the Merchant Alliance Network go to http://ihrmerchants.com.

Media Contact:

Cristi Jakubik

Head of Marketing

[email protected]

(512) 782-8373

SOURCE I Hate Receipts
PHOENIX, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Intelemark, a national leader in the outbound calling and lead generation/appointment setting industry for more than 20 years is pleased to announce J. Patel as the Data Analyst Manager for the company. The role is an important one as Intelemark continuously looks for ways to innovate lead generation campaigns using our proprietary software application in order to provide a competitive advantage for clients.

"Intelemark is thrilled to welcome J. to our team," said Murray Goodman, Intelemark's CEO. "We love his enthusiasm and focus on continuous improvement and streamlining processes that facilitate implementation of successful outbound campaigns. We have a tremendous number of repeat clientele and the ability to continually improve their outcomes is a win-win for everyone. The team has been impressed with the depth of his knowledge and his ability to manage his data analyst responsibilities."
Project with OmniaBio Inc. drives global leadership in cell and gene therapy

HAMILTON, ON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Invest Ontario is supporting OmniaBio Inc. in launching a new biomanufacturing facility that will catalyze Ontario life sciences jobs and innovation while advancing pioneering medicine with the potential to cure, not just treat, many forms of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, Parkinson's and diabetes.

OmniaBio, a Canadian cell and gene therapy contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), will be the anchor tenant in a new biomanufacturing campus being built in Hamilton's McMaster Innovation Park.

Subject to reaching a definitive agreement, Invest Ontario will provide a loan of up to $40 million, contributing to an overall project investment of over $580 million, creating 250 jobs by 2031. Invest Ontario will also be providing non-financial support to OmniaBio, including helping the company meet its future talent needs and promoting opportunities to enhance local skills development partnerships.

As a contract manufacturer, OmniaBio will support a broad range of cell and gene therapy companies  both homegrown and international  by providing process development and clinical/commercial production services in compliance with global health standards.

The OmniaBio investment supports Ontario's new Life Sciences Strategy that will advance the province's leadership as a North American life sciences hub offering a collaborative ecosystem for the development, commercialization and adoption of innovative health products and services.

OmniaBio is being spun out of the Toronto-based Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM), a leader in developing and commercializing regenerative medicine-based technologies and cell and gene therapies. OmniaBio will build on CCRM's existing global client base, with the project ultimately creating a six-fold increase in biomanufacturing capacity.

Ontario's life sciences sector is the largest in Canada (representing more than 50 per cent of related economic activity) and comprises about 1,900 firms employing around 66,000 people.

QUOTES

"OmniaBio Inc. will be a game-changer for Ontario and Canada. It will provide missing infrastructure to allow Ontario and Canadian cell and gene companies to remain here, while also attracting foreign companies. Cell and gene therapy is Canada's opportunity to be global leaders in life sciences. Investing in manufacturing is a key driver, and we're grateful to Invest Ontario for its leadership and foresight."

 Michael May, Chair, OmniaBio Inc.

"As the first facility of its kind to provide commercial-scale cell and gene therapy manufacturing in Canada, OmniaBio will support our pipeline of homegrown life sciences companies, while boosting Ontario's presence in the global biotech industry. This is the kind of value-added, strategic investment that our government is proud to champion  creating skilled jobs, advancing our healthcare and driving innovation."

 Vic Fedeli, Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade

"Invest Ontario welcomes the opportunity to partner with OmniaBio Inc. in this transformative project that will boost life sciences talent, innovation and supply chain capacity. Our team looks forward to building on today's announcement as we pursue strategic investments with homegrown champions and global leaders to drive Ontario growth and innovation."

 Trevor Dauphinee, CEO, Invest Ontario

BACKGROUND

Established in 2020, Invest Ontario is a board-led provincial agency chaired by Elyse Allan, C.M. Its mandate is to attract and secure business investments that create jobs, generate returns to the province and support the sustainable growth and competitiveness of Ontario's life sciences, advanced manufacturing and technology sectors.

Ontario's life sciences industry

Invest Ontario

Centre for Commercialization of Regenerative Medicine (CCRM)

SOURCE Invest Ontario
Novel Structured Product Designed to Generate Compelling Yields While Providing Significantly Lower Volatility and Correlation Relative to BTC or ETH

TORONTO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- InvestDEFY, a sophisticated structured products company making crypto investing simple, today announced the launch of SYGMA, a weekly market neutral yield harvest program. It is uniquely designed to provide significantly lower volatility and a low correlation relative to Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH), without employing leverage. SYGMA is powered by InvestDEFY's Digital Asset Trading Automation (D.A.T.A.) platform and guided by its proprietary DORA Predictive Explorer analytics platform, designed to centralize access to all models and predictive analytics.

Novel Structured Product Designed to Generate Compelling Yields While Providing Significantly Lower Volatility and Correlation Relative to BTC or ETH

SYGMA is ideal for a broad range of investors and clients who are looking to generate attractive returns on their USD, BTC, ETH, and Stablecoins, regardless of the direction of the market. This includes institutional investors, family offices, high-net-worth individuals, Bitcoin miners, and DeFi yield farmers.

"The underlying volatility of BTC and ETH is not for the faint of heart," said James Niosi, CEO and Co-Founder, InvestDEFY. "We witnessed a 50% drawdown since last November's peak-to-trough, which has resulted in inbound calls for asset protection. But asking for protection after a market melt-down is like buying high or selling lowit's going to be very costly. This is why we designed a structured product that offers attractive market neutral returns generated from a combination of yield harvesting and employing downside protection. SYGMA is a fantastic showcase of our D.A.T.A. platform in concert with our predictive analytics."

SYGMA addresses four pain points commonly experienced by investors in crypto assets:

High correlation of BTC and ETH to other crypto assets; Significant volatility on BTC/ETH assets; Low yield generation on BTC/ETH assets; and Downside risk of BTC/ETH assets.

Each week, SYGMA harvests yield in the form of premiums received by entering into one of two custom derivative structures. The structure is determined by harnessing DORA's predictive analytics and its SYGMA machine learning model, which provides a weekly signal. By maximizing yield in the form of premiums while also providing week-to-week downside protection, SYGMA's unique design generates weekly positive returns that can be reinvested to compound over the lifetime of the investment.

SYGMA BTC and SYGMA ETH have been extensively backtested since the beginning of 2021. Their performance is highly defensible and they have become the main allocation of InvestDEFY's treasury and balance sheet. SYGMA BTC generated a 6.06% return on capital from its launch on January 21, 2022 to March 11, 2022, and SYGMA ETH generated a 1.51% return on capital since its launch on February 4, 2022 to March 11, 2022. This compares to a 5.9% return for BTC and a -13.03% return for ETH for the same periods.

The release of SYGMA follows the recent launch of InvestDEFY's D.A.T.A. platform and its two indexes: Equal Weighted Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and Equal Weighted Metaverse + Web 3.0 NFT.

To learn more about SYGMA, visit here.

About InvestDEFY

InvestDEFY is driving the evolution of crypto investing. A merger of TradFi, Crypto and DeFi, InvestDEFY has deep expertise in quantitative trading, digital assets, technology, AI, risk management, derivatives, global equities, regulatory compliance and investment banking. InvestDEFY engineers unique, sophisticated structured products powered by its proprietary technology platform featuring big data and AI.

Members of the InvestDEFY leadership team have designed, launched, and issued over $3.0B of structured products in the last three years while employing predictive-driven trading at an institutional scale in amounts greater than $32B in risk capital across FX derivatives in the last four years.

To learn more about InvestDEFY, go to: www.investdefy.com.

Media Contact:

Alexandra Pony

[email protected]

250.858.0656

SOURCE InvestDEFY
As JCF celebrates its 50th anniversary, new CEO will lead the organization into its next half-century of philanthropic impact

NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Jewish Communal Fund, one of the largest donor advised funds in the country, announced today the appointment of Rachel Schnoll as CEO, succeeding Susan F. Dickman, effective June 1, 2022. Prior to joining Jewish Communal Fund, Ms. Schnoll was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Head of FinLife Partners at Goldman Sachs Personal Financial Management. She brings to JCF more than two decades of experience in asset and wealth management.

Rachel Schnoll, JCF's Incoming CEO

"Rachel is the ideal person for the position," said Michael L. Stern, Co-chair of the Search Committee. "She has a track record of running businesses, and we were all very impressed by her warmth, collaborative leadership style, and deep-felt faith and connection to the Jewish community."

Ms. Schnoll is a graduate of Brandeis University and earned an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. She served on the board of the Foundation for Financial Planning, which helps nonprofits develop and sustain pro bono financial planning programs for financially vulnerable members of our society. She is also an active lay leader in the Jewish community, serving as a trustee of the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) Eisner/Crane Lake Camp Board. She previously was a Vice President of the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, where she co-chaired a successful capital campaign.

"I am excited about taking the mantle of leadership and steering JCF into its next half-century of philanthropic impact," she said. "I look forward to building on the impressive growth and impact that JCF has had under Sue's able leadership."

Today's news comes as Sue Dickman publicly announces her retirement, after more than 20 years at the helm of JCF. Under her leadership, JCF has emerged as the premier philanthropic network for Jewish philanthropists, regularly granting out more than $500 million each year to charities in all sectors. JCF has a long track record of prudent stewardship of philanthropic funds, and is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary.

"It has truly been the honor of a lifetime to serve as CEO of JCF," said Ms. Dickman. "I have had the unique privilege of having a front row seat to our fundholders' generosity and thoughtful philanthropy, which never ceases to inspire me."

During Ms. Dickman's tenure, JCF has been instrumental in providing more than $22 million in grants from its endowment, the Special Gifts Fund, to critical projects and organizations in the New York Jewish community. Over the last two decades, these Special Gifts Fund grants have enriched the lives of so many diverse members of the community, in addition to JCF's yearly $2 million contribution to UJA-Federation of New York's annual campaign.

"Sue has served the JCF with passion and distinction for over 20 years," said Teena Lerner, President of the JCF Board of Trustees. "She has led a period of unprecedented growth in JCF donor funds, donor assets and, most importantly, philanthropic grants awarded to many thousands of charitable causes."

Ms. Dickman will work with Ms. Schnoll to ensure a smooth transition as the organization looks toward its next half century of serving its fundholders and promoting philanthropy.

About Jewish Communal Fund Jewish Communal Fund is one of the largest and most active networks of Jewish funders, currently managing $2.8 billion in charitable assets for more than 4,250 donor advised funds. Learn more about JCF by visiting www.jcfny.org or calling (212) 752-8277.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Tamar Snyder

Senior Director, Marketing & Communications

Jewish Communal Fund

[email protected]

212-752-8277

SOURCE Jewish Communal Fund
BOSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund (NYSE: HEQ) (the "Fund"), a closed-end fund managed by John Hancock Investment Management LLC (the "Adviser") and subadvised by Wellington Management Company LLP (the "Subadviser"), announced today sources of its quarterly distribution of $0.2900 per share paid to all shareholders of record as of March 11, 2022, pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan. This press release is issued as required by an exemptive order granted to the Fund by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund

Notification of Sources of Distribution

This notice provides shareholders of the John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund (NYSE: HEQ) with important information concerning the distribution declared on March 1, 2022, and payable on March 31, 2022. No action is required on your part.

Distribution Period: March 2022

Distribution Amount Per Common Share: $0.2900

The following table sets forth the estimated sources of the current distribution, payable March 31, 2022, and the cumulative distributions paid this fiscal year to date from the following sources: net investment income; net realized short term capital gains; net realized long term capital gains; and return of capital or other capital source. All amounts are expressed on a per common share basis and as a percentage of the distribution amount.





For the period 01/1/2022-03/31/2022

For the fiscal year-to-date period 1/1/2022-03/31/2022 1 Source

Current

Distribution ($)

% Breakdown

of the

Current Distribution

Total Cumulative

Distributions ($)

% Breakdown

of the Total

Cumulative Distributions Net Investment Income

0.1327

46%

0.1327

46% Net Realized Short- Term Capital Gains

0.1573

54%

0.1573

54% Net Realized Long- Term Capital Gains

0.0000

0%

0.0000

0% Return of Capital or Other Capital Source

0.0000

0%

0.0000

0% Total per common share

0.2900

100%

0.2900

100%

















Average annual total return (in relation to NAV) for the 5 years ended on February 28, 2022

4.67%





Annualized current distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of February 28, 2022

8.85%





Cumulative total return (in relation to NAV) for the fiscal year through February 28, 2022

0.54%





Cumulative fiscal year-to-date distribution rate expressed as a percentage of NAV as of February 28, 2022

2.21%

_______________________________ 1 The Fund's current fiscal year began on January 1, 2022 and will end on December 31, 2022.



You should not draw any conclusions about the Fund's investment performance from the amount of this distribution or from the terms of the Fund's managed distribution plan.

The amounts and sources of distributions reported in this Notice are only estimates and are not being provided for tax reporting purposes. The actual amounts and sources of the amounts for tax reporting purposes will depend upon the Fund's investment experience during the remainder of its fiscal year and may be subject to changes based on tax regulations. The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV for the calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions for federal income tax purposes.

The Fund has declared the March 2022 distribution pursuant to the Fund's managed distribution plan (the "Plan"). Under the Plan, the Fund makes fixed quarterly distributions in the amount of $0.2900 per share, which will continue to be paid quarterly until further notice.

If you have questions or need additional information, please contact your financial professional or call the John Hancock Investment Management Closed-End Fund Information Line at 1-800-843-0090, Monday through Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time.

Effective October 1, 2021, copies of all notices informing shareholders of distributions made by the fund in excess of accumulated net investment income will be posted on John Hancock Investment Management's public website (jhinvestments.com) and on the Legal Notice System (LENS), a service offering of the Depository Trust Company (DTC) accessible by broker-dealer firms. To the extent required, notice may also be provided via press release. John Hancock Investment Management will continue to distribute paper copies of these notices by mail until March 30, 2022, after which date the notices will be delivered exclusively via the methods described above.

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined by the United States securities laws. You should exercise caution in interpreting and relying on forward-looking statements because they are subject to uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Fund's control and could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements.

An investor should consider a Fund's investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before investing.

Wellington Management Company LLP is an independent and unaffiliated investment subadviser to John Hancock Hedged Equity & Income Fund.

About John Hancock Investment Management

A company of Manulife Investment Management, we serve investors through a unique multimanager approach, complementing our extensive in-house capabilities with an unrivaled network of specialized asset managers, backed by some of the most rigorous investment oversight in the industry. The result is a diverse lineup of time-tested investments from a premier asset manager with a heritage of financial stewardship.

About Manulife Investment Management

Manulife Investment Management is the global brand for the global wealth and asset management segment of Manulife Financial Corporation. We draw on more than a century of financial stewardship and the full resources of our parent company to serve individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Headquartered in Toronto, our leading capabilities in public and private markets are strengthened by an investment footprint that spans 18 geographies. We complement these capabilities by providing access to a network of unaffiliated asset managers from around the world. We're committed to investing responsibly across our businesses. We develop innovative global frameworks for sustainable investing, collaboratively engage with companies in our securities portfolios, and maintain a high standard of stewardship where we own and operate assets, and we believe in supporting financial well-being through our workplace retirement plans. Today, plan sponsors around the world rely on our retirement plan administration and investment expertise to help their employees plan for, save for, and live a better retirement. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulife.com.

SOURCE John Hancock Investment Management
MINEOLA, N.Y., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- John R. Durso is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Trusted Union President and in acknowledgment of his work at Local 338 and the Long Island Federation of Labor.

John R. Durso

Mr. Durso began his career as a deli clerk at Waldbaum's supermarkets. He provided exceptional service to Waldbaum's and Hills stores for over 15 years. In 1984, Mr. Durso switched to a role as an organizer for Local 338, Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU), and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). The groups represent a collective of 15,000 members in a wide variety of locations and job roles, including supermarkets, drugstores, group homes, medical cannabis dispensaries, non-food retail, bus drivers, school monitors, and more.

In 1999, Mr. Durso took on an executive role as the President of Local 338. He now oversees about 70 employees and manages 130 bargaining agreements with employers throughout New Jersey and New York. In 2005, he became the President of the Long Island Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, one of the top four biggest labor councils in the United States. The Long Island Federation of Labor represents more than 250,000 employees across 180 union groups.

He sits on many boards, including the Nassau Community College Board of Trustees, New York State boards, and the NCC Foundation board, to represent the organization and its members. He is the Chair of pensions, health funds, welfare funds, legal services, medical and dental prescriptions. Mr. Durso is an International Vice President of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Vice President of the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU)  a Council within the UFCW, and Vice President of the New York City Central Labor Council. Actively involved in his community, he also holds positions on the Town of Hempstead Labor Advisory Board, the Nassau County Living Wage Advisory Board, the Town of Oyster Bay Workforce Investment Boards, and the Long Island Regional Economic Development Council. Mr. Durso also serves on the United Way of L.I. and the EAC Network Board of Directors.

He is a member of the Hofstra University Long Island Hall of Fame, and was awarded the Ellis Island Award in 2001 for his support of immigration and diversity. Mr. Durso was honored with the Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award in 2009, the Excalibur Award from the American Cancer Society, and the Environmental Award from the Citizens Campaign for the Environment. These distinguished awards are some of the highlights of Mr. Durso's career.

For more information, visit https://www.local338.org/.

Contact:

Katherine Green,

516-825-5634,

[email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who
KAWASAKI, Japan, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Latest news from institutes affiliated with K awasaki IN novation G ateway at SKYFRONT (KING SKYFRONT) with the launch of the new Tonomachi Business Incubator and opening of the Tamagawa Sky Bridge enabling easy and fast access between Haneda Airport and KING SKYFRONT.

Details

https://tonomachi-ksf.kawasaki-net.ne.jp/ennewsletter/

Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion, TONOMACHI LifeScience Cluster Division

Starts Business Incubator

King Skyfront is located on the opposite bank of Haneda Airport across the Tama River, and is an International Strategic Zone with excellent domestic and overseas transport links. At the King Skyfront and its surrounding areas, the concentration of research and development institutions such as universities and companies is increasing due to the efforts by the Government of Kawasaki City. This trend reflects the value role of King Skyfront as an open innovation hub for the creation of new industries based on the world's highest level of research and development in the life sciences.

The Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion (KIIP) has decided to launch a Business Incubator from April 2022 for the development of an innovation ecosystem in the area and continuous creation of new world-class industries. KIIP will establish laboratories for start-ups in the " Innovation Center of NanoMedicine (iCONM)" operated by KIIP.

In addition to R & D support, KIIP will offer start-ups a lot of support for developing their business and expanding their networks. For business support, KIIP will provide business mentoring and business planning support by experts active in the life sciences, introduce experts in legal affairs/regulation/accounting, and for networking support, will collaborate with overseas ecosystems the USA and Europe. KIIP will hold matching/pitch events and management seminars as points of contact with overseas investors and pharma.

Contact details

KAWASAKI INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL PROMOTION

Innovation Center of NanoMedicine (iCONM)

3-25-14 Tono-machi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture,

Post code: 210-0821

Tel: 044-280-1121 (from April 2022) or 044-589-4780

E-mail[email protected]

Access by train

Take the Keikyu Daishi Line from Keikyu Kawasaki Station to Kojima Shinden Station (10 mins.) Walk 15 mins. to iCONM.

For details, please see the website

https://iconm-service.kawasaki-net.ne.jp/

Lab specifications and vacancy information will be updated from April 1st 2022.

https://tonomachi-ksf.kawasaki-net.ne.jp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Labo.jpg

Tamagawa Sky Bridge opens

The Tamagawa Sky Bridge was officially opened on 12 March 2022. The downstream of the Tama River runs along the prefectural border between Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, and Haneda Airport (Ota Ward, Tokyo), which can be said to be the gateway to the world, and KING SKYFRONT (Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture), which aims to become one of the world's most advanced life science hubs ) is located on both banks. Using the 675-meter bridge it is now possible to walk between the two areas in about 15 minutes, greatly improving mobility and convenience. The bridge is expected to enhance the exchange of people, goods, information, and businesses, and will greatly contribute to the strengthening of Japan's international connectivity and sustainable development of its economy.

The opening was commemorated by a symposium held by Kawasaki City, Kawasaki

Institute of Industrial Promotion, Ota city, and Ota City Industrial Promotion Organization. Experts and business people active in both areas discussed the attractiveness of the areas and the possibility of developing as one of the world's most advanced business areas, and deepened their understanding in a panel discussion. In addition, congratulatory messages were received from overseas (Embassy of Switzerland, BIO-M, etc.), giving the symposium a rich international flavor.

https://tonomachi-ksf.kawasaki-net.ne.jp/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Bridge-picture.jpg

About KING SKYFRONT

The Kawasaki INnovation Gateway (KING) SKYFRONT is the flagship science and technology innovation hub of Kawasaki City. KING SKYFRONT is a 40 hectare area located in the Tonomachi area of the Keihin Industrial Region that spans Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture and Tokyo International Airport (also often referred to as Haneda Airport).

KING SKYFRONT was launched in 2011 as a base for scholars, industrialists and government administrators to work together to devise real life solutions to global issues in the life sciences and environment.

Further information

KING-SKYFRONT iNewsletter Publishing Team

TONOMACHI LifeScience Cluster Division, Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion Life Science & Environment research center (LiSE) 1F,

3-25-10, Tonomachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi,

Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, 210-0821

Email: [email protected]

Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion (KIIP)

Kawasaki Institute of Industrial Promotion was established in 1988 funded 100% from Kawasaki City for the purpose of coping with the hollowing out of industry and changes in the demand structure. In order to realize a higher level of market development, transforming R&D type companies, training technological capabilities to support it, human resources development, understanding market needs, etc., by utilizing the functions of the Kawasaki, KIIP has been contributing to revitalize the local economy by promoting exchanges of local industry information, advancing technology and corporate exchanges with establishment of a R&D institutions, developing creative human resources through workshops and promoting businesses such as expanding sales channels through exhibition business.

https://www.kawasaki-net.ne.jp/

SOURCE KING SKYFRONT
WESTPORT, Conn., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- LCR Capital Partners is happy to announce that Louis Frost has agreed to join LCR full-time as Chief Financial Officer.

Since late 2020, Lou has been working with LCR as a Senior Advisor focused on real estate transactions, but will now take on a broader role managing transactions, finance, offering development, and compliance across the business.

Louis Frost

"Lou has exceptional experience. During his twenty-five-year career, he has closed over $30 billion in transactions while working as a real estate investment banker at Goldman Sachs, a real estate private equity professional at Macquarie, and as KPMG's National Real Estate Advisory Leader. Before business school, Lou trained as a securities lawyer and was General Counsel of a publicly traded company. We have always believed EB-5 investments must be managed like other professional, high-quality investments. Our clients are successful global families that expect a sophisticated team to support them," said Sherman Baldwin, CEO of LCR Capital Partners.

"Having worked with LCR for over two years, first as a consultant and then an advisor, I have been deeply impressed by the LCR team and its real estate development partners. LCR's projects are world class and attract high-quality foreign investors. LCR also has an SEC-registered investment advisor. I believe the whole business should think like a fiduciary when giving advice to our clients," said Lou Frost.

"With the EB-5 Reform and Integrity Act of 2022, the level of professionalism expected in the industry is rising significantly. During the pandemic we maintained our team and expanded our services because we believe highly-skilled families that choose to come to the United States make the country stronger," said Suresh Rajan, Founder and Executive Chairman of LCR Capital Partners. "Lou is an example of the quality of partner our clients can expect to see when they interact with LCR."

Lou has a BA from Princeton, a JD from William & Mary Law School and an MBA from Columbia Business School. He started in his new role on March 30, 2022.

About LCR Capital Partners

LCR Capital Partners is a private investment and advisory services firm that serves families interested in global opportunities. Founded in 2012, the firm's primary focus is working with clients interested in immigrant investor programs. LCR has helped over 850 clients move to the United States via the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa, which grants investors and their immediate family members US Green Cards. LCR also works with the E-2 Investor Visa, the Portuguese Golden Visa, and Grenada's Citizenship by Investment program which are all government-approved investments. Through its affiliates, International Investors Mortgage and LCR Wealth Management , the firm also offers US loan solutions and wealth management to foreign nationals moving to the United States. LCR has built long-term, trust-based relationships with a global client base of high-net-worth families in over 30 countries around the world. LCR is headquartered in Westport, CT, and with teams in Miami, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Dubai, Singapore, and Mumbai.

Website: http://www.lcrcapital.com

Press contact:

John M. Baker

CMO, LCR Capital Partners LLC

[email protected]

+1 (203) 883-1940

SOURCE LCR Capital Partners
Rakuten, a global leader in internet services headquartered in Japan, invests in Leal and the future of Latin American fintech.

BOGOTA, Colombia, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ -- Colombian-based consumer and fintech company Leal has raised a $10 million Series A round co-led by global internet services leader Rakuten Group  through its investment arm Rakuten Capital  and IDC Ventures global fintech investment firm. This capital infusion will enable the company to launch its co-branded credit card and scale its operation in Mexico.

Even before COVID-19, consumers in Latin America struggled to make ends meet. They also lack access to financial services, making their situation even more difficult. The pandemic significantly worsened this situation by increasing social inequities, unemployment and poverty in the region. Leal's cashback and rewards products empower savings by earning money back on everyday purchases.

In 2021, Leal launched new functionality that lets grocery shoppers scan paper receipts and earn Leal Coins that can be redeemed for thousands of goods and services, including gas, cell phone top-ups and food or grocery deliveries at Rappi. This pioneering functionality in Colombia and Latin America has helped hundreds of thousands of Leal users to cope with the economic pressure caused by the pandemic.

The Series A funds will also be used to position the company's digital wallet value proposition as an ecosystem that offers much more than cashback. With this new injection of capital, Leal is positioned for continued growth with plans to invest heavily in technology development over the next year.

Although Leal's core remains rewards and cashback, the company is focusing more on its user base. In 2022, Leal will expand the platform to a new ecosystem of financial services. The company will expand its rewards program, digital wallet, payment ecosystem, user base, merchant network and Leal Coins throughout Mexico, Colombia and Central America.

Leal considers the move to financial services as a logical next step and at the center of its growth strategy. Florence Frech, co-founder and COO of Leal, said, "We're processing over 40 million purchases every year from millions of Latin Americans who are using Leal to be smarter shoppers, save money and feel truly rewarded. Over 80% of these purchases are done in cash. We now want to improve our users' well-being by also giving them access to digital payments and financial services."

Camilo Martinez, co-founder & CEO of Leal adds "we have a unique opportunity to accelerate financial inclusion and serve the latent demand for consumer-facing fintech in LATAM with a very different approach for digitalizing the underbanked."

"Rakuten's success stems from our commitment to providing a rewarding experience for shoppers, which is why we are pleased to invest in a company like Leal that delivers similar benefits to Latin American consumers," said Amit Patel, CEO of Rakuten Americas and Rakuten Rewards. "Shopper rewards are a proven strategy in the U.S. and Canada for driving incremental sales and new customers for merchant partners, while delivering joy to members who shop through our properties. Leal is well-positioned to foster similar win-win relationships for Latin American shoppers and merchants, and we look forward to what we will learn from each other."

Rakuten Capital was launched with the goal of catalyzing market disruption by investing in tech startups in a number of evolving industries. Patel will also join Leal's Board of Directors, lending his extensive professional experience to the consumer and fintech startup.

"Fintech is one such industry that is still very much ripe for innovation and disruption. We recognize the incredible potential in Leal's efforts to use rewards to completely change the way consumers shop  from when and where they shop to what they buy to how they pay for it. We know this will be an exciting and prosperous partnership with Leal, and we look forward to what we can accomplish together," said Alejandro Rodriguez, Managing Partner of IDC Ventures.

About Rakuten Capital

Rakuten Capital is the corporate venture capital arm of Rakuten Group, a global leader in internet services headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. Launched in 2014, Rakuten Capital invests and provides operational support to its portfolio companies worldwide. Rakuten Capital has invested globally in more than 70 companies, including Careem, Carousell, GoTo, Lyft, Pinterest and Upstart. Rakuten Group provides more than 70 services across a wide range of fields, including the following: e-commerce, mobile services, travel, digital content, FinTech services including credit cards, banking, securities, e-money and cashless payments, and professional sports. The Group has formed a truly unique "Rakuten Ecosystem" by seamlessly linking these services through Rakuten membership. For more information visit: https://capital.rakuten.com.

About IDC Ventures

IDC Ventures is an investment fund that finances projects that drive innovation and digital disruption. IDC Ventures focuses on companies in the fintech industry, marketplace, and platforms throughout Europe, the US, and Latin America. To date, it has raised more than USD $400 million for technology companies and supported projects such as Curve, Bipi, RecargaPay, Merqueo, Securitize, and many more. For more info, visit www.idcventures.com.

For more information, visit leal.co.

CONTACT: Ana Maria Ruiz, +57 3152234334, [email protected]

SOURCE Leal
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese military spokesperson on Thursday said that Taiwan question is China's internal affair and urged Japan to stay out of it.

Wu Qian, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, made the comments when responding to a relevant question at a regular press conference.

Lately, there have been repeated dangerous calls in Japan that contravene the country's "Three Non-Nuclear Principles," which give its Asian neighbors and the international community strong reasons to be on high alert, Wu said.

China always opposes the deployment of nuclear weapons by nuclear-weapon states on other countries' territories, he said, adding that Japan, as a non-nuclear-weapon state party to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), should earnestly fulfill its non-proliferation obligations.

"China urges Japan to deeply reflect on its history, respect the security concerns of its Asian neighbors, and stay committed to the path of peaceful development, not the other way around," said Wu. 
BEIJING, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Leju Holdings Limited ("Leju" or the "Company") (NYSE: LEJU), a leading e-commerce and online media platform for real estate and home furnishing industries in China, today announced its unaudited financial results for the second half and full year ended December 31, 2021.

Second Half 2021 Financial Highlights

Total revenues decreased by 47% year on year to $233.0 million .

- Revenues from e-commerce services decreased by 48% year on year to $179.7 million .

- Revenues from online advertising services decreased by 45% year on year to $53.2 million .

. - Revenues from e-commerce services decreased by 48% year on year to . - Revenues from online advertising services decreased by 45% year on year to . Loss from operations was $116.9 million , compared to income from operations of $23.0 million for the same period of 2020.

, compared to income from operations of for the same period of 2020. Non-GAAP [1] loss from operations was $111.2 million , compared to non-GAAP income from operations of $30.0 million for the same period of 2020.

loss from operations was , compared to non-GAAP income from operations of for the same period of 2020. Net loss attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders was $103.2 million , or $0.75 loss per diluted American depositary share ("ADS"), compared to net income attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders of $17.8 million , or $0.13 per diluted ADS, for the same period of 2020.

, or loss per diluted American depositary share ("ADS"), compared to net income attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders of , or per diluted ADS, for the same period of 2020. Non-GAAP net loss attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders was $98.7 million , or $0.72 loss per diluted ADS, compared to non-GAAP net income attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders of $23.5 million , or $0.17 per diluted ADS, for the same period of 2020.

[1] Leju uses in this press release the following non-GAAP financial measures: (1) income (loss) from operations, (2) net income (loss), (3) net income (loss) attributable to Leju shareholders, (4) net income (loss) attributable to Leju shareholders per basic ADS, and (5) net income (loss) attributable to Leju shareholders per diluted ADS, each of which excludes share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets resulting from business acquisitions, and income tax impact on the share-based compensation expense and amortization of intangible assets resulting from business combinations. See "About Non-GAAP Financial Measures" and "Unaudited Reconciliation of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results" below for more information about the non-GAAP financial measures included in this press release.

Full Year 2021 Financial Highlights

Total revenues decreased by 26% year on year to $534.1 million .

- Revenues from e-commerce services decreased by 25% year on year to $411.1 million .

- Revenues from online advertising services decreased by 28% year on year to $122.5 million .

. - Revenues from e-commerce services decreased by 25% year on year to . - Revenues from online advertising services decreased by 28% year on year to . Loss from operations was $166.7 million , compared to income from operations of $24.1 million for 2020.

, compared to income from operations of for 2020. Non-GAAP loss from operations was $154.5 million , compared to non-GAAP income from operations of $38.3 million for 2020.

, compared to non-GAAP income from operations of for 2020. Net loss attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders was $150.9 million , or $1.10 loss per diluted ADS, compared to net income attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders of $19.3 million , or $0.14 per diluted ADS for 2020.

, or loss per diluted ADS, compared to net income attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders of , or per diluted ADS for 2020. Non-GAAP net loss attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders was $141.4 million , or $1.03 loss per diluted ADS, compared to non-GAAP net income attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders of $30.7 million , or $0.22 per diluted ADS for 2020.

"In the second half of 2021, China's real estate industry experienced a steep downturn, with many developers facing severe operational challenges. This had a direct and negative impact on Leju's online advertising and e-commerce businesses," said Mr. Geoffrey He, Leju's Chief Executive Officer. "As certain real estate developers faced deterioration in their creditworthiness, our bad debt provision also continued to increase substantially in the second half of the year compared to 2020, resulting in further losses."

"Rather than being discouraged by the current market downturn and uncertainties, the Leju team is rising to the challenges. In the second half of 2021, we held a series of successful marketing campaigns on our dual Tmall and Leju platforms including our '916 Promotion', 'Double 11 Festival', 'Smile Angel Celebrity Festival', and 'The 5th China Real Estate New Time Gala' which drove business development and strengthened our influence as an industry media."

"In the second half of 2021, our parent company E-House deepened its strategic cooperation with Alibaba. E-House became the controlling shareholder of Tmall Haofang, and Tmall Haofang became the direct and controlling shareholder of Leju. Capitalizing on this opportunity, in 2022 Leju will accelerate the development and integration of the two platforms, seize the opportunities presented by the digitization of the real estate industry, and actively explore new business models and revenue growth areas while consolidating our online advertising and e-commerce services. Amidst the new market situation, Leju will take a result-oriented approach, reinforce process management and further improve operational efficiency to achieve our goals as set at the beginning of this year."

Second Half 2021 Results

Total revenues were $233.0 million, a decrease of 47% from $439.8 million for the same period of 2020.

Revenues from e-commerce services were $179.7 million, a decrease of 48% from $342.4 million for the same period of 2020, primarily due to a decrease in the number of discount coupons redeemed, partially offset by an increase in the average price per discount coupon redeemed.

Revenues from online advertising services were $53.2 million, a decrease of 45% from $96.9 million for the same period of 2020, primarily due to a decrease in property developers' demand for online advertising.

Revenues from listing services were $0.1 million, a decrease of 81% from $0.5 million for the same period of 2020, primarily due to a decrease in secondary real estate brokers' demand.

Cost of revenues was $24.1 million, a decrease of 26% from $32.6 million for the same period of 2020, primarily due to decreased cost of advertising resources purchased from media platforms.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $326.2 million, a decrease of 15% from $384.4 million for the same period of 2020, primarily due to decreased marketing expenses related to the Company's e-commerce business, partially offset by increased bad debt provision. The bad debt provision recorded in the second half of 2021 was mainly attributable to the recognition of additional loss allowance on expected credit loss of the Company's outstanding online advertising related receivables from some customers, whose credit quality has worsened.

Loss from operations was $116.9 million, compared to income from operations of $23.0 million for the same period of 2020. Non-GAAP loss from operations was $111.2 million, compared to non-GAAP income from operations of $30.0 million for the same period of 2020.

Net loss was $103.0 million, compared to net income of $19.1 million for the same period of 2020. Non-GAAP net loss was $98.6 million, compared to non-GAAP net income of $24.8 million for the same period of 2020.

Net loss attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders was $103.2 million, or $0.75 loss per diluted ADS, compared to net income attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders of $17.8 million, or $0.13 per diluted ADS, for the same period of 2020. Non-GAAP net loss attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders was $98.7 million, or $0.72 loss per diluted ADS, compared to non-GAAP net income attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders of $23.5 million, or $0.17 per diluted ADS, for the same period of 2020.

Full year 2021 Results

Total revenues were $534.1 million, a decrease of 26% from $719.5 million for 2020.

Revenues from e-commerce services were $411.1 million, a decrease of 25% from $547.9 million for 2020, primarily due to a decrease in the number of discount coupons redeemed.

Revenues from online advertising services were $122.5 million, a decrease of 28% from $170.8 million for 2020, primarily due to a decrease in property developers' demand for online advertising.

Revenues from listing services were $0.5 million, a decrease of 41% from $0.8 million for 2020, primarily due to a decrease in secondary real estate brokers' demand.

Cost of revenues was $55.8 million, a decrease of 24% from $73.8 million for 2020, primarily due to decreased cost of advertising resources purchased from media platforms.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were $645.6 million, an increase of 4% from $622.0 million for 2020, primarily due to bad debt provision which increased by $106.4 million compared to 2020, partially offset by decreased marketing expenses related to the Company's e-commerce business. The bad debt provision recorded in 2021 was mainly attributable to the recognition of additional loss allowance on expected credit loss of the Company's outstanding online advertising related receivables from some customers, whose credit quality has worsened.

Loss from operations was $166.7 million, compared to income from operations of $24.1 million for 2020. Non-GAAP loss from operations was $154.5 million, compared to non-GAAP net income of $38.3 million for 2020.

Net loss was $149.9 million, compared to net income of $21.0 million for 2020. Non-GAAP net loss was $140.3 million, compared to non-GAAP net income of $32.4 million for 2020.

Net loss attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders was $150.9 million, or $1.10 loss per diluted ADS, compared to net income attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders of $19.3 million, or $0.14 per diluted ADS, for 2020. Non-GAAP net loss attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders was $141.4 million, or $1.03 loss per diluted ADS, compared to non-GAAP net income attributable to Leju Holdings Limited shareholders of $30.7 million, or $0.22 per diluted ADS, for 2020.

Cash Flow

As of December 31, 2021, the Company's cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash were $252.4 million.

Second half 2021 net cash used in operating activities was $78.7 million, primarily comprised of non-GAAP net loss of $98.6 million, a decrease in other current liabilities and accrued expenses of $42.0 million, and an increase in deferred tax assets of $9.6 million, partially offset by provision for allowance for doubtful accounts of $59.6 million, and a decrease in accounts receivable of $15.4 million.

Conference Call Information

Leju's management will host an earnings conference call on March 31, 2022 at 7 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (7 p.m. Beijing/Hong Kong Time).

Please register in advance of the conference using the link provided below and dial in 10 minutes prior to the call, using participant dial-in numbers, Direct Event passcode and unique registrant ID which would be provided upon registering. You will be automatically linked to the live call after completion of this process, unless required to provide the conference ID below due to regional restrictions.

PRE-REGISTER LINK: http://apac.directeventreg.com/registration/event/2294606

CONFERENCE ID: 2294606

A replay of the conference call may be accessed by phone at the following number until April 8, 2022:

U.S.: +1-855-452-5696 International: +61-2-9003-4211 Hong Kong: +800-963-117 Mainland China: 800-988-0601 Passcode: 2294606

Additionally, a live and archived webcast will be available at http://ir.leju.com.

About Leju

Leju Holdings Limited ("Leju") (NYSE: LEJU) is a leading e-commerce and online media platform for real estate and home furnishing industries in China, offering real estate e-commerce, online advertising and online listing services. Leju's integrated online platform comprises various mobile applications along with local websites covering more than 380 cities, enhanced by complementary offline services to facilitate residential property transactions. In addition to the Company's own websites, Leju operates the real estate and home furnishing websites of SINA Corporation, and maintains a strategic partnership with Tencent Holdings Limited. For more information about Leju, please visit http://ir.leju.com.

Safe Harbor: Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "target," "going forward," "outlook" and similar statements. Leju may also make written or oral forward-looking statements in its reports filed or furnished with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about Leju's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements that involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained, either expressly or impliedly, in any of the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to, fluctuations in China's real estate market; the highly regulated nature of, and government measures affecting, the real estate and internet industries in China; Leju's ability to compete successfully against current and future competitors; its ability to continue to develop and expand its content, service offerings and features, and to develop or incorporate the technologies that support them; its reliance on SINA and others with which it has developed, or may develop in the future, strategic partnerships; substantial revenue contribution from a limited number of real estate markets; and relevant government policies and regulations relating to the corporate structure, business and industry of Leju. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All information provided in this press release is current as of the date of the press release, and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable law.

About Non-GAAP Financial Measures

To supplement Leju's consolidated financial results presented in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"), Leju uses in this press release the following non-GAAP financial measures: (1) income (loss) from operations, (2) net income (loss), (3) net income (loss) attributable to Leju shareholders, (4) net income (loss) attributable to Leju shareholders per basic ADS, and (5) net income (loss) attributable to Leju shareholders per diluted ADS, each of which excludes share-based compensation expense, amortization of intangible assets resulting from business acquisitions, and income tax impact on the share-based compensation expense and amortization of intangible assets resulting from business combinations. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP. For more information on these non-GAAP financial measures, please see the table captioned "Unaudited Reconciliation of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results" set forth at the end of this press release.

Leju believes that these non-GAAP financial measures provide meaningful supplemental information to investors regarding its operating performance by excluding share-based compensation expense and amortization of intangible assets resulting from business acquisitions, which may not be indicative of Leju's operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures also facilitate management's internal comparisons to Leju's historical performance and assist its financial and operational decision making. A limitation of using these non-GAAP financial measures is that share-based compensation expense and amortization of intangible assets resulting from business acquisitions may continue to exist in Leju's business for the foreseeable future. Management compensates for these limitations by providing specific information regarding the GAAP amounts excluded from each non-GAAP measure. The accompanying tables provide more details on the reconciliation between non-GAAP financial measures and their most comparable GAAP financial measures.

For investor and media inquiries please contact:

Ms. Christina Wu

Leju Holdings Limited

Phone: +86 (10) 5895-1062

E-mail: [email protected]

Philip Lisio

Foote Group

Phone: +86 135-0116-6560

E-mail: [email protected]

LEJU HOLDINGS LIMITED UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (In thousands of U.S. dollars)



December 31,

December 31,

2020

2021 ASSETS





Current assets





Cash and cash equivalents 284,489

250,314 Restricted cash 1,217

2,082 Accounts receivable, net 202,702

36,071 Contract assets, net 1,884

1,415 Marketable securities 4,304

1,186 Prepaid expenses and other current assets 7,484

25,110 Customer deposits 11,551

784 Amounts due from related parties 9,076

3,913 Total current assets 522,707

320,875 Property and equipment, net 17,002

16,667 Intangible assets, net 34,213

23,298 Right-of-use assets 25,666

23,409 Investment in affiliates 31

18 Deferred tax assets, net 40,905

51,605 Other non-current assets 1,437

1,376 Total assets 641,961

437,248







LIABILITIES AND EQUITY





Current liabilities





Short-term borrowings 

784 Accounts payable 2,834

1,631 Accrued payroll and welfare expenses 29,222

21,517 Income tax payable 63,041

60,952 Other tax payable 21,204

18,046 Amounts due to related parties 7,106

7,632 Advances from customers 95,340

82,788 Lease liabilities, current 5,461

5,582 Accrued marketing and advertising expenses 70,086

43,272 Other current liabilities 22,596

18,504 Total current liabilities 316,890

260,708 Lease liabilities, non-current 21,727

19,438 Deferred tax liabilities 8,559

6,043 Total liabilities 347,176

286,189 Shareholders' Equity





Ordinary shares ($0.001 par value): 1,000,000,000 shares

authorized, 136,326,020 and 136,822,601 shares issued and

outstanding, as of December 31, 2020 and 2021,

respectively 136

137 Additional paid-in capital 799,537

801,477 Accumulated deficit (498,001)

(648,935) Subscription receivables (50)

 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (5,695)

(1,424) Total Leju Holdings Limited shareholders' equity 295,927

151,255 Non-controlling interests (1,142)

(196) Total equity 294,785

151,059 TOTAL LIABILITIES AND EQUITY 641,961

437,248

LEJU HOLDINGS LIMITED UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (In thousands of U.S. dollars, except share data and per share data)



Six months ended

Year ended

December 31,

December 31,

2020

2021

2020

2021















Revenues













E-commerce 342,447

179,696

547,895

411,097 Online advertising 96,854

53,232

170,783

122,522 Listing 509

97

848

498 Total net revenues 439,810

233,025

719,526

534,117 Cost of revenues (32,624)

(24,130)

(73,762)

(55,801) Selling, general and administrative expenses (384,356)

(326,151)

(622,026)

(645,623) Other operating income, net 136

361

381

560 Income (loss) from operations 22,966

(116,895)

24,119

(166,747)















Interest income, net 6,569

1,555

7,268

3,130 Other income (loss), net (413)

(1,919)

300

209 Income (loss) before taxes and income from

equity in affiliates 29,122

(117,259)

31,687

(163,408) Income tax benefits (expenses) (10,047)

14,228

(10,665)

13,498 Income (loss) before loss from equity in

affiliates 19,075

(103,031)

21,022

(149,910)















Loss from equity in affiliates, net of tax of nil (2)

(6)

(24)

(14) Net income (loss) 19,073

(103,037)

20,998

(149,924) Less: net income attributable to non-controlling

interests 1,263

125

1,696

1,010 Net income (loss) attributable to Leju

Holdings Limited shareholders 17,810

(103,162)

19,302

(150,934)















Earnings (loss) per ADS:













Basic 0.13

(0.75)

0.14

(1.10) Diluted 0.13

(0.75)

0.14

(1.10) Shares used in computation of earnings (loss) per

ADS:













Basic 136,249,954

136,818,984

136,070,785

136,652,162 Diluted 138,342,674

136,818,984

137,564,567

136,652,162

The conversion of functional currency Renminbi ("RMB") amounts into reporting currency USD amounts

is based on the rate of USD1 = RMB6.3757 on December 31, 2021 and USD1 = RMB6.4912 for the year

ended December 31, 2021.

LEJU HOLDINGS LIMITED UNAUDITED CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME (LOSS) (In thousands of U.S. dollars)



Six months ended

Year ended

December 31,

December 31,

2020

2021

2020

2021















Net income (loss) 19,073

(103,037)

20,998

(149,924) Other comprehensive income, net of tax of nil













Foreign currency translation adjustments 21,217

1,882

17,938

4,282

Comprehensive income (loss) 40,290

(101,155)

38,936

(145,642)















Less: Comprehensive income attributable to

non-controlling interests 1,239

129

1,703

1,021

Comprehensive income (loss) attributable to Leju

Holdings Limited shareholders 39,051

(101,284)

37,233

(146,663)

LEJU HOLDINGS LIMITED Unaudited Reconciliation of GAAP and Non-GAAP Results (In thousands of U.S. dollars, except share data and per ADS data)



Six months ended

Year ended

December 31,

December 31,

2020

2021

2020

2021















GAAP income (loss) from operations 22,966

(116,895)

24,119

(166,747) Share-based compensation expense 1,742

463

2,978

1,657 Amortization of intangible assets resulting from business

acquisitions 5,279

5,279

11,180

10,558 Non-GAAP income (loss) from operations 29,987

(111,153)

38,277

(154,532)















GAAP net income (loss) 19,073

(103,037)

20,998

(149,924) Share-based compensation expense 1,742

463

2,978

1,657 Amortization of intangible assets resulting from

business acquisitions 5,279

5,279

11,180

10,558 Income tax benefits:













Current 





 Deferred[2] (1,319)

(1,320)

(2,795)

(2,640) Non-GAAP net income (loss) 24,775

(98,615)

32,361

(140,349)















Net income (loss) attributable to Leju Holdings Limited

shareholder 17,810

(103,162)

19,302

(150,934) Share-based compensation expense

(net of non-controlling interests) 1,742

463

2,978

1,657 Amortization of intangible assets resulting from business

acquisitions (net of non-controlling interests) 5,279

5,279

11,180

10,558 Income tax benefits:













Current 





 Deferred (1,319)

(1,320)

(2,795)

(2,640) Non-GAAP net income (loss) attributable to Leju

Holdings Limited shareholders 23,512

(98,740)

30,665

(141,359)















GAAP net income (loss) per ADS  basic 0.13

(0.75)

0.14

(1.10)















GAAP net income (loss) per ADS  diluted 0.13

(0.75)

0.14

(1.10)















Non-GAAP net income (loss) per ADS  basic 0.17

(0.72)

0.23

(1.03)















Non-GAAP net income (loss) per ADS  diluted 0.17

(0.72)

0.22

(1.03)















Shares used in calculating basic GAAP / non-GAAP net

income (loss) attributable to shareholders per ADS 136,249,954

136,818,984

136,070,785

136,652,162















Shares used in calculating diluted GAAP / non-GAAP net

income (loss) attributable to shareholders per ADS 138,342,674

136,818,984

137,564,567

136,652,162

[2] Amount represents the realization of deferred tax liabilities recognized for the temporary difference between the tax

basis of intangible assets recognized from acquisitions and their reported amounts in the financial statements. The

income tax impact on the share-based compensation expense is nil.

LEJU HOLDINGS LIMITED SELECTED OPERATING DATA



Six months ended

Year ended

December 31,

December 31,

2020

2021

2020

2021















Operating data for e-commerce services













Number of discount coupons issued to

prospective purchasers (number of

transactions) 149,621

70,138

243,836

162,196 Number of discount coupons redeemed (number

of transactions) 125,448

60,852

192,716

138,230

SOURCE Leju Holdings Limited
Case Filing Trends Reflect the Impacts of Multiple Factors Including Seminal Case Rulings, Case Migrations, and the Later Stages of the Pandemic

MENLO PARK, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Lex Machina and LexisNexis release their annual Securities Litigation Report which examines securities litigation trends in federal district court. The report focuses on the three-year period from 2019 to 2021 and includes analysis of trends in cryptocurrency cases and the impact of COVID-19. The final section of the report takes a look at the analytics for two recent securities MDL master cases.

"We're seeing several fascinating case filing trends over recent years, including general increases in securities, shareholder derivative, and cryptocurrency case filings, along with general decreases in securities class actions," observed Laura Hopkins, Lex Machina's Securities Legal Data Expert and author of the report. "There are numerous likely drivers of these case filing trends, including a key case decided by the Delaware Court of Chancery in 2016 that has had a ripple effect into the venue and type of securities cases being filed in federal court."

Findings from the report include:

Securities case filings have increased steadily each year since 2016, with 2,670 securities cases filed in 2021 (an increase of 150% since 2016).

The Delaware Court of Chancery's decision in In re Trulia Inc. Stockholder Litigatio n, 129 A.3d 884 (Del. Ch. 2016) likely initiated an ongoing migration of cases from state to federal court. This was likely one of the drivers behind the increases in general securities case filings and shareholder derivative case filings, as well as behind the decline in class action securities case filings.

Court of Chancery's decision in n, 129 A.3d 884 (Del. Ch. 2016) likely initiated an ongoing migration of cases from state to federal court. This was likely one of the drivers behind the increases in general securities case filings and shareholder derivative case filings, as well as behind the decline in class action securities case filings. The number of securities cases caused by COVID-19 that were filed each quarter dropped to 28 in Q4 of 2021, the lowest number of these cases filed in any quarter since the pandemic began in the second quarter of 2020.

Cryptocurrency case filings trended upward by increasing to 136 cases filed in 2021, the highest number recorded to date.

Over the three-year period from 2019 to 2021, the Southern District of New York heard the highest number of securities cases (1,979 cases), while Judge Stark from the District of Delaware heard the highest number of securities cases (248 cases). The top four most active judges were in the District of Delaware .

heard the highest number of securities cases (1,979 cases), while Judge Stark from the District of heard the highest number of securities cases (248 cases). The top four most active judges were in the District of . The Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") was the most active plaintiff and plaintiffs' counsel over the past three years.

The most active defendants in securities cases over the last three years were financial institutions and banks, with J.P. Morgan Securities LLC appearing as the defendant in the highest number of cases (64 cases).

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom represented defendants in the highest number of securities cases filed over the last three years, with 177 cases.

Securities MDL case filings have generally trended downward since 2009, with 305 filed in 2009 and 45 filed in 2021.

Lex Machina's reports and software enable practitioners to devise data-driven litigation strategies. The metrics in this report may help readers assess potential counsel or competitors. This research supplements traditional legal research and anecdotal data for a competitive edge in litigation.

Register here for a copy of the report: https://pages.lexmachina.com/2022SecuritiesLitigationReport.html

Securities Report Webcast

Lex Machina is hosting a webcast to discuss the report on March 31, 2022 at noon ET/9am PT with Rachel Fritzler (Partner in litigation at Kirkland & Ellis), Laura Hopkins (Legal Data Expert at Lex Machina and report author), hosted by Joshua Harvey (Manager of the Customer Success Team). Register for the event or view a recording: https://pages.lexmachina.com/20220331-ReleasingtheNew2022SecuritiesLitigationReport_LP.html

About LexisNexis Legal & Professional

LexisNexis Legal & Professional is a leading global provider of legal, regulatory and business information and analytics that help customers increase productivity, improve decision-making and outcomes, and advance the rule of law around the world. As a digital pioneer, the company was the first to bring legal and business information online with its Lexis and Nexis services. LexisNexis Legal & Professional, which serves customers in more than 150 countries with 10,500 employees worldwide, is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers.

About Lex Machina

Lex Machina fundamentally changes how companies and law firms compete in the business and practice of law. The company provides strategic insights on judges, lawyers, law firms, parties, and other critical information across 17 federal practice areas and a rapidly growing number of state courts. Lex Machina allows law firms and companies to predict the behaviors and outcomes that different legal strategies will produce, enabling them to win cases and close business.

Lex Machina was named "2021 Legal Technology Trailblazer" (National Law Journal Trailblazer Awards, 2021), Winner of the "Media Excellence" Award for Analytics/Big Data (13th Annual Media Excellence Award, 2021), "Best Decision Management Solution" (AI Breakthrough Awards, 2019), and "Disruptor of the Year" (Changing Lawyer Awards, 2019). Based in Silicon Valley, Lex Machina is part of LexisNexis, a leading global provider of legal, regulatory, and business information and analytics. For more information, please visit www.lexmachina.com.

SOURCE Lex Machina
This new investment will allow MycoTechnology to further capitalize on its proprietary fermentation platform, continuing to impact food and nutrition around the world. The company is now positioned to bring its unique product portfolio to even more consumers globally, with a focus on expanding in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

The Series E round was led by a group affiliated with the Oman Investment Authority (OIA), a sovereign wealth fund and first-time investor in the business. Their sights are set on major collaborations around food security and sustainability. In addition to OIA, the Series E funding round attracted several new investors, including Nourish Ventures (Griffith Foods' venture capital group), Rage Capital, Alphacy Investment, and Siddhi Capital. Also contributing were returning investors S2G Ventures, Tyson Ventures, Continental Grain Company, Bunge Ventures, Maple Leaf Foods, Evolution VC Partners, and Gaingels.

Alan Hahn, CEO and Co-Founder of MycoTechnology, commented:

"This fundraise is a validation of the potential of our breakthrough proposition and next-generation ingredients. It will be a catalyst to accelerate our growth further and faster. The investment will power the imagination of our incredible team, driving our plans to add more new-to-the-world ingredients from the fungal kingdom. We have big things coming!"

MycoTechnology is a group of visionaries, scientists, and culinarians working at the forefront of food innovation. The company leverages a proprietary mushroom fermentation process to harness the natural power of mycelia and create transformative food ingredients. Mycelia are the powerful, invisible 'root system' of the mushrooms that consumers know and love. By combining age-old processes with modern-day science, MycoTechnology has developed a range of solutions that address sugar reduction, sustainable protein, nutrient density, and more.

MycoTechnology already has an established legacy of discovery and commercial success, having partnered with emerging and major brands alike to deliver superior foods, beverages, and supplements. Its current ingredient portfolio includes FermentIQ protein, a line of indulgent yet guilt-free plant-based protein products, and ClearIQ flavor, a range of clean-label flavor modulation tools that facilitate sugar and salt reduction and the creation of more nutrient dense products.

For more information contact:

Richard Clarke, Ingredient Communications

Tel: +44 (0)7766 256176 | Email: [email protected]

About MycoTechnology, Inc.

Established in 2013 and based in Aurora, Colorado, MycoTechnology creates products from mushroom mycelia that solve the biggest challenges in the food industry. The world's leading explorer of mycelia, MycoTechnology is dedicated to increasing the availability of healthy, sustainable, clean label and high-quality food options through natural mushroom fermentation. Its product portfolio includes ClearIQ flavor, a line of transformative mushroom-derived flavor modulation tools that decrease the perception of bitter and off-notes, enable the formulation of products with higher nutrient density, and reduce salt and sugar across a broad spectrum of applications. MycoTechnology also offers FermentIQ protein, a line of plant protein products produced via a proprietary fermentation process that harnesses the power of mushroom mycelia to make plant proteins that are more functional, easier to digest, and more delicious. MycoTechnology is a team of near 100 employee-shareholders and continues to recruit additional colleagues to aid expansion and growth.

SOURCE MycoTechnology, Inc.
Leading Pizza Franchise Recognized for Superior Franchisee Financing Support & Performance Excellence

TOLEDO, Ohio, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Marco's Pizza, one of the nation's fastest-growing pizza brands, is named an honorable mention winner of FRANdata's 2022 TopScore FUND Award. The honor was announced today at the Multi-Unit Franchising Conference in Las Vegas. Marco's received the highest FUND rating in the pizza category and second highest across all categories  based on the brands attending the conference. The awards are presented annually to brands that exemplify performance excellence and lender friendliness.

Marco's 890 FUND Score is in the top 1% of all evaluated franchise systems and is among the top three scores for all QSR brands. These impressive rankings are a testament to the brand's commitment to financing guidance as a core focus of its franchise development strategy which has led the 1,000-plus unit brand on a path to explosive growth.

Understanding the challenges surrounding lending, Marco's Director of Franchise Financing, Brad Fletcher, and his team, have established partnerships with eight preferred banks and lending institutions. Through quarterly meetings, the Marco's finance team provides key updates on the state of the business, growth, and performance. As a result, banks are in a better position to lend favorably to individual Marco's franchisees.

"It is an honor to be among those recognized for this award," said Fletcher. "Our FUND score demonstrates not only the results our franchise opportunity provides to franchisees, but the immense attention we place on financing guidance by enhancing access to capital and enabling our franchisees to receive competitive rates. As a people-first organization, it is especially rewarding to be recognized for our commitment to our franchisees and we could not be prouder of their achievements."

The TopScore FUND award was created to highlight those brands that have risen above their peers by simplifying the financing process while understanding and improving key performance metrics that lenders look for when lending. This achievement is based on unit economics, great franchisee/franchisor relationships, and supporting franchisees to perform their best - the scoring system lenders rely on to gauge that in franchising is the FUND score. The FUND scoring system is embraced by banks of all sizes that collectively represent over a trillion dollars in assets. Brands are given honorable mentions for their commitment to strong performance as reflected in their outstanding FUND scores.

"Marco's Pizza's unit economics has shown an outperforming trend among their immediate peers, which is reflected in their excellent FUND score," said Darrell Johnson, CEO of FRANdata.

With strong growth and performance, Marco's is on track to reach $1B in annual systemwide sales in 2022 and sets its sights on becoming the No. 4 brand in pizza. The brand continues to grow at a rapid pace, setting a development goal of 1,500 units open by the end of 2023. There's never been a more opportune time for both existing and prospective franchisees to grow with Marco's. The Top 50% of Marco's franchised stores generated $1,059,574 AUV for 2020*.

For more information on Marco's Pizza franchise opportunities, visit https://www.marcos.com/franchising/ or call 866-731-8209.

ABOUT MARCO'S PIZZA

Marco's Pizza is America's Most Loved and Most Trusted Pizza Brand, according to the 2019 Harris Poll EquiTrend Study. Headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Marco's Pizza is one of the fastest-growing pizza brands in the United States. Marco's was founded in 1978 by Italian-born Pasquale ("Pat") Giammarco and thrives to deliver a high-quality pizza experience, known for its dough made from scratch and its three fresh signature cheeses. The company has grown from its roots as a beloved Ohio brand to operate over 1,000 stores in 34 states with locations in Puerto Rico and the Bahamas. Most recently, Marco's Pizza was ranked No. 2 in the Pizza category on Entrepreneur Magazine's 2022 "Franchise 500" ranking, and No. 4 in the Fastest Growing category on Restaurant Business' 2021 "Top 10 Fastest Growing Chains" ranking. Other recent accolades include a first-time presence on Newsweek's 2022 "America's Best Customer Service" in pizza chains list, ranked No. 42 on QSR's Top 50 and has been featured five consecutive years on Nation's Restaurant News' prestigious "Top 500" ranking.

*Based on the Average Unit Volume of the top 50% of our Franchised Stores for fiscal year 2020. Based on fiscal year 2020, 142 of 369 Franchised Stores in the category (38%) met or exceeded this average. This information appears in Item 19 of our 2021 FDD  please refer to our FDD for complete information on financial performance. Results may differ. There is no assurance that any franchisee will perform as well.

ABOUT FRANDATA

FRANdata is a leading franchise-focused research and advisory company. By leveraging the largest verified database of franchise information and with over 30 years' experience analyzing the franchise market, FRANdata creates targeted business development strategies and actionable solutions that provides their clients with the information they need to understand risk, measure opportunities, and improve performance. FRANdata is the creator of the FUND (Franchise Credit Scoring) report which is relied upon by lenders with over a trillion dollars in assets to assess their franchise credit risks. For more information go to www.frandata.com.

SOURCE Marco's Pizza
The NJWeedman NFT Collection will fall under the categories of Support, Yacht and Membership, with each NFT purchase designated accordingly. A single "Support" category NFT will be made available on 04/20 with the proceeds supporting Forchion's endeavor to produce his streaming platform shows. The 4/20 NFT will continue to stay open for sale with different projects and initiatives being announced by Forchion. The "Yacht" NFT will grant yearly access for two people on Forchion's Cannabis Cruise line. The "Membership" NFT will have multi-utility and serve as different forms of payment for cover charges for parties and special events.

"With my storefront, NJWeedman's Joint in Trenton, now owned and operated by my daughters, and The Joint of Miami, the cannabis friendly art and music lounge, under the direction and ownership of my son and niece, I have more time on my hands to expand and pursue different interests. So, I'm making the leap into NFT's as a viable means for fund raising. NFT art is all the rage right now and I've had several inquiries for NJWeedman NFT's. Given my long-standing legacy, it seems like a great next adventure," offers Forchion.

Ed "NJWeedman" Forchion, has a zealous history of fighting and documenting the inequities in the cannabis industry for over three decades now. As one of the first Black activist in the movement, dating back to the early 90's, Forchion has spent over 1200 days in prison, fighting for the right to smoke and sell pot. Forchion asserts that new laws are being set to criminalize growers and small legacy vendors like him, while awarding billion-dollar contracts to corporations for the sales, distribution, and marketing of the plant.

In the past, Forchion has been vehemently retaliated against by the powers that be and his battle with politicians, the police, the courts, even the DEA are all public record. His legend has grown exponentially like the plant, with mainstream media like NBC News in New York, ABC-TV Nightline, Cheddar News, VICE News, MSNBC, and most recently The Philadelphia Inquirer, all documenting his affairs. As the co-founder of NJWeedman's Joint in Trenton, NJ and the founder of The Joint of Miami in Florida, he is a legacy market success story in the making.

Stay current with him at https://linktr.ee/NJWeedman and view the NJWeedman NFT Collection at http://NjweedmanNFT.com .

jazzmyne Public Relations

323-380-8819

e-mail: [email protected]

web: www.jazzmynepr.com

SOURCE Ed "NJWeedman" Forchion
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Massage Envy, the nation's No. 1 provider of massage in the U.S. collectively across its franchise network, today announced the winners of its annual gala awards program.

"Each year our great brand recognizes the incredible achievements of the most outstanding franchisee and franchised location employees," said Beth Stiller, Massage Envy Franchising CEO. "It's very difficult to choose the best of the best from franchised locations because the stories of the impact they have on their members and their communities is all so inspiring. All of the nominees and the winners personify our brand purpose of helping people feel their best, and I am so proud of every one of them."

The following awards were presented for the 2021 calendar year:

National Franchisee of the Year: Mark Preetorius , Atlanta, Ga. Preetorius, who owns four franchised locations in Georgia , was recognized as an exemplary franchisee who personifies the brand's core values of optimism, gratitude, excellence, consistency, and empathy, and motivates others to adopt those same values. According to an employee who works at one of Preetorius' franchised locations, "Our franchisee's dedication to the ideas of committed teamwork and community outreach have allowed our clinics and the staff to operate with the assurance that they are guided by an individual who sees that the big picture is painted with many different strokes, and no single artist creates a collective masterpiece." With over 7 years as a Massage Envy franchisee, we are thrilled to celebrate Mark's contributions to the brand and his community.





Preetorius, who owns four franchised locations in , was recognized as an exemplary franchisee who personifies the brand's core values of optimism, gratitude, excellence, consistency, and empathy, and motivates others to adopt those same values. According to an employee who works at one of Preetorius' franchised locations, "Our franchisee's dedication to the ideas of committed teamwork and community outreach have allowed our clinics and the staff to operate with the assurance that they are guided by an individual who sees that the big picture is painted with many different strokes, and no single artist creates a collective masterpiece." With over 7 years as a Massage Envy franchisee, we are thrilled to celebrate Mark's contributions to the brand and his community. National Manager of the Year : Dustin Schneider , Charleston, SC . Schneider, who works at the West Ashley franchised location in Charleston , owned by Caitlin Daly , was recognized as the most outstanding franchised location manager because he inspires the best in others and achieves business excellence in the pursuit of helping people feel their best. "Dustin shows up and proves he is a true leader ready to face whatever challenges come his way," Daly said. "He is adaptable, open to change and improvement, continuously optimistic, and consistently leads the team with excellence."





Schneider, who works at the West Ashley franchised location in , owned by , was recognized as the most outstanding franchised location manager because he inspires the best in others and achieves business excellence in the pursuit of helping people feel their best. "Dustin shows up and proves he is a true leader ready to face whatever challenges come his way," Daly said. "He is adaptable, open to change and improvement, continuously optimistic, and consistently leads the team with excellence." National Therapist of the Year: Jing Shi , Mountain View, Ca. Shi, who works at the Mountain View franchised location, owned by Linda Wenge , was recognized as the Massage Therapist who best personifies a commitment to helping members and guests through the power of massage and assisted stretch. Wenge had this to say about Shi, " "Jing stands out as the most productive, the most requested, the most pre-booked massage therapist among all the therapists that I have encountered."





Shi, who works at the franchised location, owned by , was recognized as the Massage Therapist who best personifies a commitment to helping members and guests through the power of massage and assisted stretch. Wenge had this to say about Shi, " "Jing stands out as the most productive, the most requested, the most pre-booked massage therapist among all the therapists that I have encountered." National Esthetician of the Year: Elizabeth Knapik , Henderson, Nev. Knapik, who works at the Lake Meade Crossing franchised location, owned by Marissa and Mario Hawkins , was recognized as the esthetician who best exemplifies the Massage Envy brand's commitment to helping members and guests with their skin care journey. "Excellence is the culmination of a thousand consistent steps. In the past six years with the brand, this outstanding esthetician has made incredible strides," Marissa Hawkins said."





Knapik, who works at the Lake Meade Crossing franchised location, owned by , was recognized as the esthetician who best exemplifies the Massage Envy brand's commitment to helping members and guests with their skin care journey. "Excellence is the culmination of a thousand consistent steps. In the past six years with the brand, this outstanding esthetician has made incredible strides," said." National Sales Associate of The Year: Shawn Remfry , Kansas City, Mo. Remfry, who works at the Tom Watson Parkway franchised location, owned by Les Snyder , was recognized as the extraordinary Sales Associate who develops connections with clients, guides their membership, and delivers on the brand promise of helping people feel their best. According to Snyder, when asked to describe the winner in one word, customers had this to say, "Awesome," "Sweet," "Caring," "Helpful."

This year's awards gala, held March 23 in Oxon Hill, Md., just across the Potomac River from the nation's capital, was sponsored by Jan Marini Skin Research, and PCA Skin. "We deeply appreciate our sponsors for their support of this wonderful event as well as their dedication to this great brand throughout the year," said Stiller.

For more information about Massage Envy, please visit www.massageenvy.com

About Massage Envy

Massage Envy, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a national franchisor and does not independently own or operate any of the Massage Envy franchised locations nationwide. The Massage Envy franchise network, through its franchise locations, is the leading provider of therapeutic massage services. Founded in 2002, Massage Envy has more than 1,100 franchise locations in 49 states that have together delivered more than 190 million massages and facials. For more information, visit www.massageenvy.com, or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at @MassageEnvy.

SOURCE Massage Envy
DENVER, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MDC), one of the nation's leading homebuilders, will release its 2022 first quarter earnings before the market opens on Thursday, April 28, 2022. MDC will host a teleconference the same day at 12:30 pm ET. The live teleconference will be available by calling 844-757-5733 and requesting to join the M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. conference call. A replay of the teleconference will be available through May 5, 2022 by calling 877-344-7529 and entering Access Code # 5572000.

A webcast of the teleconference will be available live at www.mdcholdings.com , and beginning two hours after the call, a replay of the webcast will be available on the website.

About MDC

M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1972. MDC's homebuilding subsidiaries, which operate under the name Richmond American Homes, have built and financed the American Dream for more than 220,000 homebuyers since 1977. MDC's commitment to customer satisfaction, quality and value is reflected in each home its subsidiaries build. MDC is one of the largest homebuilders in the United States. Its subsidiaries have homebuilding operations across the country, including the metropolitan areas of Denver, Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson, Riverside-San Bernardino, Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Washington D.C., Baltimore, Orlando, Jacksonville, Seattle, Portland, Boise, Austin, Albuquerque and Nashville. MDC's subsidiaries also provide mortgage financing, insurance and title services, primarily for Richmond American homebuyers, through HomeAmerican Mortgage Corporation, American Home Insurance Agency, Inc. and American Home Title and Escrow Company, respectively. M.D.C. Holdings, Inc. is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "MDC". For more information, visit www.mdcholdings.com .

SOURCE M.D.C. Holdings, Inc.
Offers Up to 60% Off Vacation Rentals for Last-Minute Travelers

SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Whimstay is calling all spontaneous adventurers and explorers to "seize the stay!" A secret no more, Whimstay offers the best deals out there for last-minute vacation rentals, up to 60% off through exclusive partnerships.

Whimstay, Seize the Stay!

"Whimstay has one simple goal  provide travelers with last-minute deals on vacation rental properties that otherwise go unbooked," shares Whimstay Chief Executive Officer Ben Jamshahi. "These are deals that travelers will not find on any other site or app. Our sweet spot is 21 days. If a property has not been rented or has a cancellation, it can be listed on our site, and Whimstay will get it in front of savvy and spontaneous travelers."

Whimstay, both online and app-based, has agreements with property management companies, offering professionally managed properties at significant discounts for last-minute stays. From beachside gems, cozy mountain cabins to desert retreats, Whimstay currently offers homes, condos, and more in 47 states, Canada, and Mexico and is adding new properties every day.

"Do you ever wonder what happened to that house you were looking at on AirBnB or VRBO but never booked? Do you check Hotels Tonight when you're in the mood for a quick weekend getaway, just to see the deals? If this is you, add Whimstay to the top of your list. We are sure it will quickly become the first site you'll check when making vacation plans," shares Jamshahi. "Last-minute travel doesn't mean high prices anymore  in fact, the opposite. Whimstay secures travelers the best possible deals for vacation rentals three weeks out."

"As a vacation rental property owner myself, I was frustrated when my properties went un-rented. After a lot of research within the travel and tech industry, I realized there was not an effective solution for last-minute property rental deals. I seized the opportunity and started Whimstay," shares Jamshahi. "We closed the gap and created a win-win for owners and travelers."

To make planning and payment easier, Whimstay offers a split payment option at checkout and a TripChat feature, all within the booking platform allowing users to share properties, discuss details, and collaborate on decisions when traveling as a group.

Whimstay is calling on travelers to share their photos and Whimstay rentals through tagging #whimstay and #seizethestay.

About Whimstay

Whimstay is the first-to-market aggregator of unsold vacation rental properties and provides last-minute deals in the fast-growing vacation rental market. Recognized as a Shortyz finalist for Best Online Travel Agency (OTA) in 2021 and Rentals United's Who's Who of new OTA for 2020 and 2021. Whimstay is the exclusive last-minute distribution partner to Vacasa and Turnkey, two of the largest property management companies in North America. Whimstay's properties are available on whimstay.com and the Whimstay app.

Media contact:

Noel Russell

[email protected]

310-936-1712

SOURCE Whimstay, Inc.
The campaign will combat the "Silent Epidemic" of suicide through a grassroots approach to spread awareness and provide education.

CHICAGO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Meridian of Illinois, a leading provider of government-sponsored managed care services in Illinois, and The Jason Foundation, Inc. (JFI), a nationally recognized leader in suicide awareness and prevention, announced today the launch of a statewide initiative to combat suicide deaths: Illinois Won't Be Silent (#ILWontBeSilent).

According to the Jason Foundation, suicide ranks as the sixth leading cause of death for ages 10 to 65 in Illinois, averaging more than three deaths per day in this age group, and their key message is that suicide is preventable. Four out of five individuals considering suicide give some sign of their intentions, either verbally or behaviorally, and it is JFI's mission to make this known to save lives.

The campaign will be focused on building awareness and providing information, tools, and resources to better identify and/or assist an individual who may be struggling with suicidal thoughts.

"We will be working to assemble collaborative partners within business, government, non-profits, and the community to help raise the positive conversation on suicide and mental health across the state," said Clark Flatt, President of The Jason Foundation. "Individuals and organizations alike have the opportunity to make a difference and save a life."

"We are excited about our partnership with The Jason Foundation to continue our efforts to support behavioral health initiatives in the communities we serve across Illinois," said Mayank K. Shah, M.D., and Chief Medical Officer of Meridian of Illinois. "Together with our partners, Illinois Won't Be Silent will support our commitment to helping individuals across the state live safer, healthier lives."

JFI will act as the administrative agency to help coordinate efforts in Illinois. Their Affiliate Office at Timberline Knolls will help supply the state with programs and resources for this cause. Also, JFI will work with local Ambassadors who will aid by raising awareness of the campaign and the organization will offer more details to come over the course of the next couple of months.

As with all programs and resources made available by The Jason Foundation, there is no charge for any material or training offered to the public. Find more information at www.ILWontBeSilent.com.

About Meridian of Illinois

Meridian of Illinois offers three managed care plans: the Meridian Medicaid Plan, the Meridian Medicare-Medicaid Plan, and the Meridian Managed Long Term Services & Supports Plan. We connect members to care and offer comprehensive services to support lifelong health and wellness. Learn more at ILMeridian.com.

About The Jason Foundation

The Jason Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting the "silent epidemic" of youth and young adult suicide through educational programs for young people, educators, parents, and other community groups. Since their inception, The Jason Foundation has never charged a school, family, or community for use of their programs or materials. For more information or to find the closest JFI Affiliate Office, visit JFI's website. www.jasonfoundation.com

SOURCE Meridian of Illinois
"We are thrilled to announce Meta's decision to open a facility in Temple," said Adrian Cannady, President and CEO of Temple Economic Development Corporation. "Texas was recently named the top state in the nation for tech worker migration. When you combine that with Temple's low cost of doing business and central location between major markets, it creates an incredible competitive advantage for our region. The Hyperscale Data Center will have a positive impact on our community not only by creating jobs, but because of Meta's commitment to invest in local schools, nonprofits and community projects."

Meta builds and operates some of the world's most sustainable data centers, which are supported by 100% renewable energy. Meta's data centers use 32% less energy, have achieved net zero carbon emissions, are LEED Gold level certified and are 80% more water-efficient on average than industry standard, with a goal to restore more water than they consume by 2030.

In Texas, Meta has invested in more than 700 MW of new wind and solar energy. The company adds new renewable energy to each data center's local grid.

"Temple is the home of our newest data center, and we are excited to join the community," said Darcy Nothnagle, director of community and economic development at Meta. "We've been welcomed by a strong set of local partners who are committed to the long-term success of the region. This is just the beginning of a strong partnership, and we look forward to working with you to invest in this great community."

In Temple, businesses have access to a prime location between Dallas and Austin and 28 million people within two-and-a-half hours. From logistics and life sciences to the technology and services that support these sectors, Temple is home to a thriving industry base.

"Meta's continued expansion in Texas is a testament to the exceptional business climate and skilled, diverse workforce we have here in the Lone Star State," said Texas Governor Greg Abbott. "It is because of hardworking Texans and our commitment to helping businesses grow that companies continue to move and expand all across Texas. We are excited to welcome Meta to Temple and look forward to the new job opportunities they will bring to the local community, as well as the advancements in technology we will see in the future."

Temple is also a regional employment hub on the rise with 450,000 residents. Expanding career opportunities, diversified industries and a low cost of living are attracting the next generation of skilled workers. Savvy college grads, highly trained military veterans and technical expertise are powering business in Temple.

"The City of Temple is known in the region for its business-friendly environment. Meta's decision to establish a presence here in Temple is a significant win for our community and proof that our process works." said Mayor of Temple, Tim Davis, "We are excited for the opportunities this project will create for our residents and look forward to being a part of Meta's continued growth."

For more information on the data center, please follow facebook.com/TempleDataCenter.

About Temple Economic Development Corporation

The Temple Economic Development Corporation (Temple EDC) is a nonprofit organization that serves as the designated economic development entity for the City of Temple, Texas. Temple EDC strengthens relationships, builds partnerships, and provides solutions that cause entities to choose Temple. To learn more about doing business in Temple, visit TempleEDC.com.

About the City of Temple

Temple, located 45 minutes north of Austin, offers the perfect compromise between welcoming small-town living and the hustle of a big city. Striking a balance between vibrancy and livability, Temple continues to grow its amenities for residents, while maintaining a safe, family-friendly, caring culture. Whether it is the scenic parks and trails, the family friendly atmosphere, or the unique neighborhoods with Texas charm, we think you will find something here that you love! Our vision is for Temple to be a place that you love to call home. Visit templetx.gov for more information.

About Meta

Meta builds technologies that help people connect, find communities, and grow businesses. When Facebook launched in 2004, it changed the way people connect. Apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp further empowered billions around the world. Now, Meta is moving beyond 2D screens toward immersive experiences like augmented and virtual reality to help build the next evolution in social technology. Visit about.facebook.com/meta/ for more information.

SOURCE Temple Economic Development Corporation
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen via video link at the 23rd China-EU leaders' meeting on Friday.

Facing major global changes and the pandemic both unseen in a century, China and the European Union (EU) share much common understanding on promoting peace, seeking development and advancing cooperation.

On various occasions in recent years, Xi has underscored the significance of China-EU cooperation, and urged further efforts in this regard. The following are some highlights of his remarks.

PROMOTING PEACE

June 22, 2020

When meeting with Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen via video link, Xi said China and the EU should serve as two major forces to maintain global peace and stability, noting that China is willing to communicate with the European side on major issues.

"We believe that the EU will continue to move forward in the direction of unity, stability, openness and prosperity. China is delighted to see that the EU makes a constructive contribution to international peace and stability, and is willing to strengthen strategic cooperation with the EU to jointly cope with global challenges," he said.

Sept. 14, 2020

As there are no identical political systems in the world, the coexistence of multiple civilizations represents the normalcy. "The more firm the strength underpinning China-EU peaceful coexistence, the more guaranteed the world peace and prosperity," Xi said at a China-Germany-EU leaders' meeting via video link.

March 8, 2022

During a virtual summit with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Xi emphasized that we need to jointly support the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and encourage the two sides to keep the momentum of negotiations, overcome difficulties, keep the talks going and bring about peaceful outcomes.

We need to actively advocate a vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security, Xi said.

SEEKING DEVELOPMENT

June 22, 2020

China and the EU should serve as two huge markets that promote global development and prosperity, Xi said when meeting with Michel and von der Leyen via video link.

"Our two major economies should play the role as dual engines of the world economy, drive the recovery of global economy, jointly support a scientific and orderly resumption of work and production, strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination, and keep global industrial and supply chains stable and smooth," he added.

Sept. 14, 2020

China is working toward the goal of fostering a new, dual-cycle development architecture with the domestic cycle as the mainstay and with domestic and international development reinforcing each other, Xi said at a China-Germany-EU leaders' meeting.

The Chinese side will, by continuously unlocking the potential of domestic demand, seek better interconnectivity and effectiveness between the two markets and resources on the two sides, to promote common development of China and the EU in a more robust and sustainable way, he added.

Oct. 15, 2021

The EU and its members are invited to actively participate in the Global Development Initiative, and work together with China and other countries to help developing countries achieve the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at an early date, Xi said in a phone conversation with Michel.

PURSUING COOPERATION

July 16, 2018

When meeting with then European Council President Donald Tusk and then European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Xi called on China and the EU to tap the potential for economic cooperation, promote two-way investment, strengthen cooperation in innovation and enrich Belt and Road cooperation, including exploring effective tripartite cooperation.

Sept. 14, 2020

China is ready to work with the EU to step up dialogue and coordination at bilateral, regional and global levels, stay committed to a global governance outlook featuring consultation, contribution and shared benefit, defend the international order and system with the United Nations at the core, promote the political settlements of international and regional hot-spot issues, and build a community with a shared future for mankind, Xi said at a China-Germany-EU leaders' meeting.

Oct. 13, 2021

At a virtual meeting with then German Chancellor Angela Merkel via video link, noting that this is a critical period for the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic recovery, Xi said that China and the EU, as two important forces in the world, have a responsibility to strengthen cooperation and work together to deal with global problems in the face of increasing global challenges and rising instability and uncertainty. 
HollyFrontier automates excise tax compliance with software from Motor Fuel License Center

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Motor Fuel License Center (MFLC), a leading source of data for oil and gas companies to automate fuel tax compliance, today announced its welcoming of the opportunity to work with HF Sinclair Corporation ("HF Sinclair"). HF Sinclair has a strong marketing presence and is leveraging the cloud-based excise tax software to enhance and scale their growing indirect tax reporting operations.

MF License Center Helps HF Sinclair Refine Fuel Tax Reporting

As a leading integrated downstream petroleum and renewable fuels company, HF Sinclair endures exposure to continuous and challenging compliance demands across the country. HF Sinclair utilizes the tax compliance platform from MF License Center to improve tax return filing by more efficiently and accurately sourcing tax licenses. In addition to saving time and cost, the company reduces risk exposure, eliminates manual processes, and streamlines tax operations.

"Sourcing fuel tax licenses to complement their existing filing software provides new opportunities to automate excise tax compliance," said Matthew Schmeisser, founder and developer of the platform at MF License Center. "We are honored to welcome the opportunity to work with the newly formed HF Sinclair Corporation and look forward to supporting their talented tax team as they extend their legacy."

About Motor Fuel License Center

Motor Fuel License Center helps companies source data to automate fuel tax compliance. Its cloud-based software solves a well-known gap in tax compliance for oil and gas companies. As a single data source for preloaded license content, the platform complements any tax software to complete tax determination, return preparation, and reporting compliance. To learn more about its compliance automation capabilities for enterprise, including integration opportunities, visit www.MFLicenseCenter.com .

About HF Sinclair Corporation

HF Sinclair Corporation, headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is an independent energy company that produces and markets high value light products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel, renewable diesel and other specialty products. HF Sinclair owns and operates refineries located in Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Wyoming, Washington and Utah and markets its refined products in 19 states principally in the Southwest U.S., the Rocky Mountains extending into the Pacific Northwest and in other neighboring Plains states. HF Sinclair supplies high-quality fuels to more than 1,300 Sinclair branded stations and licenses the use of the Sinclair brand at more than 300 additional locations throughout the country. In addition, subsidiaries of HF Sinclair produce and market base oils and other specialized lubricants in the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands, and export products to more than 80 countries. Through its subsidiaries, HF Sinclair produces renewable diesel at two of its facilities in Wyoming. HF Sinclair also owns a 47% limited partner interest and non-economic general partner interest in Holly Energy Partners, L.P., a master limited partnership that provides petroleum products and crude oil transportation, terminalling, storage and throughput services to the petroleum industry, including HF Sinclair subsidiaries. Explore more at www.HFSinclair.com .

Media Contact:

Matthew Schmeisser

623-404-0011

SOURCE Motor Fuel License Center
The mistrial was announced on March 29, 2022 after jurors deadlocked and were unable to reach a verdict against any of the poultry executives, following a six-week jury trial before Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado. In December 2021, the first mistrial was declared by Judge Brimmer when jurors deadlocked after a seven-week trial.

A new trial is set for June 6, 2022 in response to the U.S. Department of Justice's (DOJ) request to retry the case for the third time. Judge Brimmer ordered Jonathan Kanter, head of the DOJ's Antitrust Division, to meet next week noting "If the Government thinks that the 10 defendants and their attorneys and my staff and another group of jurors should spend six weeks retrying this case after the Government has failed in two attempts to convict even one defendant, then certainly Mr. Kanter has the time to come to Denver and explain to me why the Department of Justice thinks that is an appropriate thing to do."

"For a second time, after many weeks of trial and a substantial amount of evidence or lack thereof, a jury has been unable to convict our client, or any of the other nine defendants, of any wrongdoing in connection with the allegations involving price fixing," said RJLF partner Michael S. Feldberg, lead counsel for Defendant Roger Austin and head of the Firm's White Collar Defense practice. "The jury should be commended for their commitment to this process and for resisting the Government's efforts to convict these innocent men."

The case stems from a DOJ indictment that charged 10 executives with criminal violations of the Sherman Act, which prosecutors alleged occurred as part of a scheme that purportedly lasted from 2012 to 2019 to fix prices and rig bids for broiler chickensa $28 billion per year industry in the United States. The DOJ alleged the executives kept in close contact through text message, phone, and email to coordinate bids made to restaurants, grocery stores, and buying co-ops, according to prosecutors.

Along with Mr. Feldberg, the RJLF trial team included counsel Julie Withers and associates Laura E. Carwile, David A. King, Jr., and Parshad Brahmbhatt.

The case is U.S. v. Penn et al., case number 1:20-cr-00152, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

About Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP

Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP (RJLF) is a majority women-owned national trial firm that handles high-stakes commercial litigation, intellectual property, and white collar disputes. RJLF's attorneys are diverse, exceptionally credentialed, and passionate about trial advocacy. From offices in Silicon Valley, New York, Washington, D.C., and Atlanta, the firm tries cases and argues appeals throughout the country. For more information, visit www.reichmanjorgensen.com.

Contact :

Jennifer Estremera

[email protected]

(650) 623-1407

SOURCE Reichman Jorgensen Lehman & Feldberg LLP
More than 80% of companies plan to increase their investments in sustainability

But putting ESG at the top of the priority list does not guarantee success

A new BCG article details the digital building blocks for successful corporate sustainability agendas

BOSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Sustainability is at the top of corporate agendas worldwide, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals have become major considerations in companies' digital transformation programs. New research from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) shows that more than 60% of companies consider ESG factors a primary focus or a key criterion for selecting and prioritizing digital initiatives, and more than 80% plan to increase their investments in sustainability.

Digital Capabilities Enable Sustainability Agendas

These are among the findings in a new BCG article, titled "The Five Digital Building Blocks of a Corporate Sustainability Agenda," being published today. The article, which is based on a survey of more than 850 companies worldwide, shows a clear link between digital capabilities and sustainability, and it outlines the digital prerequisites for achieving sustainability goals.

"Companies that are successful in their digital transformations are nearly twice as likely as other organizations to see ESG goals as a key focus of digital initiatives," said Hamid Maher, a managing director and partner at BCG and a coauthor of the article. "One reason is that successful transformers shift from digital reengineering to innovation as they move past the nuts-and-bolts challenges of delivering a transformation and focus on how their new capabilities can help tackle broader opportunities in their company's sustainability agenda."

The article looks at how companies are setting their E, S, and G digital priorities, and it notes significant differences among industries regarding the importance that companies put on ESG and how much each industry emphasizes the E, S, and G. While one in four companies overall makes ESG the primary focus area of its digital transformation, the percentage in individual industries ranges from almost twice that (in medtech, biopharma, and automotive) to about one in ten (for telecommunications, software, fashion, and luxury). But even in the lagging industries, digital leaders put a high priority on ESG: 38% for telecommunications and 64% for software, for example.

"Because climate change is so pervasive as an issue, one might intuitively assume that E dominates over S and G. But company investments cover all three aspects of sustainability fairly equally, and our findings actually show that S and G are becoming higher priorities," said Rich Hutchinson, global leader of BCG's Social Impact practice and a coauthor of the report. "Overall, 80%, 70%, and 69% of companies have digital initiatives that focus on social goals, governance considerations, and environmental programs, respectively." (See exhibit.)

Again, there are significant differences by industry as well as by region that the article covers. Regionally, for instance, social initiatives are the most-pursued priority in North America and Europe, where diversity, equity, and inclusion concerns run high, while governance initiatives rank first in Asia.

Finally, the article details the five prerequisites critical to using digital technologies to move ESG initiatives forward:

Sustainability and growth need to be thought about together.

You cannot systematically reduce what you can't measure.

Dynamic environments mandate digital decision-making support.

Risk tracking, monitoring, and mitigation is more important than ever.

Access to platforms and ecosystems is key.

To learn more, a copy of the article can be downloaded here.

To arrange an interview with one of the authors, please contact Eric Gregoire at +1 617 850 3783 or [email protected].

About Boston Consulting Group

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholdersempowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

SOURCE Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
Through this partnership, Motel 6, the economy lodging brand where pets always stay free, and BestPlaces built a custom methodology that highlights the importance of enjoying the journey to travelers' final destinations. The method considers access to dog parks, greenspaces and hiking trails for furry friends to explore, proximity to pet stores and veterinarians, dog-friendly restaurants, patios in the area and more.

Based on these criteria, the top 10 pet-friendly cities across America are:

Santa Monica, Calif. Rockville, Md. Santa Fe, N.M. Mount Pleasant, S.C. Newport, R.I. Gloucester, Mass. Richmond, Ky. Bend, Ore. Asheville, N.C. Charlottesville, Va.

View the full list here.

"Pets are members of the family, so travelers are eager to bring them along for the ride as they explore the U.S. Thanks to BestPlaces, travelers can now feel confident bringing their pets on their journey," said Rob Palleschi, CEO of Motel 6. "From small towns to beachside escapes and everything in between, Motel 6 will be there to welcome your full family, including those on four legs, at no additional cost."

Motel 6 proudly allows well-behaved pets, such as cats and dogs, and service animals to stay for free at all locations across the country. Conveniently situated along major highways and interstates throughout the U.S. and Canada, Motel 6 will leave the light on for travelers and their four-legged companions. Pets are also welcome at Studio 6 properties across the U.S. and Canada for travelers seeking extended stay options for a nominal fee. Learn more about the Motel 6 and Studio 6 pet policy here.

For travelers getting ready to hit the roads with their pets this year, Motel 6 and partner Patriot PAWS share tips on how to travel with pets safely here.

About Motel 6

Motel 6 is an economy lodging brand with company-owned and franchised locations throughout the United States and Canada. Motel 6 has used the tagline, "We'll leave the light on for you" for more than 30 years, earning the chain the highest brand recognition in the economy lodging segment. Motel 6 offers standard amenities including free Wi-Fi Internet access, free local calls, no long-distance access charges and expanded cable channel line-up. Most locations offer guest laundry facilities. For more information, visit www.motel6.com.

About BestPlaces

With over 3 million monthly users, BestPlaces (www.bestplaces.net) is the nation's premier source for finding your best place to live. Founded by author and researcher Bert Sperling over thirty years ago, BestPlaces helps users make informed decisions about where to live, work, and retire. Bert's bestselling books "Cities Ranked and Rated" and "Best Places to Raise Your Family" are published by John Wiley & Sons, and he was named the "The Guy Who Picks the Best Places" by the New York Times.

Media Contact:

Elise Rose

(312) 918-4223

[email protected]

SOURCE Motel 6
OSLO, Norway, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- MPC Container Ships ASA ("MPCC" or the "Company", and together with its subsidiaries, the "Group") is pleased to announce the following company update. The update includes the following:

Charter update on existing fleet

Over the past weeks, MPCC has concluded five additional fixtures, including four multi-year charters at very favourable rates securing employment up to 2027

The new fixtures add contracted charter revenues USD 220m additional projected EBITDA backlog of USD 180m

MPCC executes on an extraordinary opportunity to expand fleet with eco-design 5,500 TEU vessels

MPCC orders two 5,500 TEU wide beam eco-design vessels with attractive charters to ZIM Integrated Shipping Services (NYSE: ZIM) at favourable pricing, supporting long-term earnings visibility and distribution capacity

The newbuildings are contracted with Korean-based shipyard HJ Shipbuilding & Construction and delivery is expected in early 2024

The transaction adds contracted charter revenues USD 178m and additional projected EBITDA backlog of USD 138m

and additional projected EBITDA backlog of The contract price of USD 72,2m per vessel is covered by the expected cash flow from the initial charter of 7 years with a significantly front-loaded cash flow at an average TC of USD ~39,000/day

per vessel is covered by the expected cash flow from the initial charter of 7 years with a significantly front-loaded cash flow at an average TC of USD ~39,000/day This commitment to newbuilds will have no negative impact on expected distributions in 2022 and 2023, but will support earnings visibility and accretive distribution potential from 2024 and onwards

The newbuilds will offer significant trading benefits under the new environmental regulation, and improve the environmental footprint of the MPCC fleet

CEO Constantin Baack comments in relation to the announcement: "Adhering to MPCC's value strategy, rational decision making and capital allocation, we are pleased to announce the conclusion of additional multi-year charter fixtures on our operating fleet, proving the continued strength in our segments. This is also supported by the execution of this extraordinary newbuilding opportunity as we have ordered two eco-design newbuilding with attractive charters attached, which fully mitigates residual value risk over its initial charter period, and thereafter provides for significant upside potential. This transaction increases the distribution potential in 2024 and onwards, without any impact on the expected distributions from our existing fleet.

This transaction demonstrates the Company's capability to identify and execute transactions that are both accretive in terms of earnings and environmental footprint in line with upcoming de-carbonization regulations. We will continue to execute on our distribution policy to shareholders whilst creating value by seizing selective growth opportunities as they arise."

For further details on the market and company update on the Company, please refer to the attached presentation.

The above information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

Further information and contact:

For further information, please contact [email protected].

About MPC Container Ships ASA:

MPC Container Ships ASA (ticker code "MPCC") is a leading container tonnage provider with a focus on small to mid-size containerships. Its main activity is to own and operate a portfolio of container ships serving intra-regional trade lanes on fixed-rate charters. The Company is registered and has its business office in Oslo, Norway. For more information, please see our website: www.mpc-container.com.

Forward-looking statements:

This announcement includes forward-looking statements. Such statements are generally not historical in nature, and specifically include statements about the Company's plans, strategies, business prospects, changes and trends in its business, the markets in which it operates and its restructuring efforts. These statements are made based upon management's current plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs concerning future events impacting the Company and therefore involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this news release. Consequently, no forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. When considering these forward-looking statements, you should keep in mind the risks described from time to time in the Company's regulatory filings and periodical reporting. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which such statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for the Company to predict all of these factors. Further, the Company cannot assess the impact of each such factor on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to be materially different from those contained in any forward-looking statement.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

https://news.cision.com/mpc-container-ships-asa/r/mpc-container-ships-asa-publishes-company-update,c3536510

The following files are available for download:

https://mb.cision.com/Public/17513/3536510/88329f0d670332a7.pdf 220331 Company Update

SOURCE MPC Container Ships ASA
OKOTOKS, AB, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - (TSX: MTL) Mullen Group Ltd. ("Mullen Group" and/or the "Corporation") intends to release its 2022 First Quarter earnings results after market close on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, and has scheduled a conference call and webcast as follows:

Date: April 21, 2022



Time: 11:00 a.m. ET



Conference Call Dial-in: 1-800-319-4610 (for participants in North America)

416-915-3239 (Toronto or Overseas participants)

403-351-0324 (Calgary or Overseas participants)



Webcast: www.mullen-group.com



A replay of the call will be available approximately two hours after the completion of the call until Thursday, May 5, 2022, by dialing 1-800-319-6413 or 604-638-9010, access code 8671 followed by the pound sign.

About Mullen Group Ltd.

Mullen Group is one of North America's largest logistics providers. Our network of independently operated businesses provide a wide range of service offerings including less-than-truckload, truckload, warehousing, logistics, transload, oversized, third-party logistics and specialized hauling transportation. In addition, we provide a diverse set of specialized services related to the energy, mining, forestry and construction industries in western Canada, including water management, fluid hauling and environmental reclamation. The corporate office provides the capital and financial expertise, legal support, technology and systems support, shared services and strategic planning to its independent businesses.

Mullen Group is a publicly traded corporation listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "MTL". Additional information is available on our website at www.mullen-group.com or on the Corporation's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Contact Information

Mr. Murray K. Mullen - Chair, Chief Executive Officer and President

Mr. Richard J. Maloney - Senior Vice President

Ms. Joanna K. Scott - Corporate Secretary & Vice President, Corporate Services

121A - 31 Southridge Drive

Okotoks, Alberta, Canada T1S 2N3

Telephone: 403-995-5200

Fax: 403-995-5296

SOURCE Mullen Group Ltd.
NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuberger Berman High Yield Strategies Fund Inc. (NYSE American: NHS) (the "Fund") has announced a distribution declaration of $0.0905 per share of common stock. The distribution announced today is payable on April 29, 2022, has a record date of April 18, 2022 and has an ex-date of April 14, 2022.

Under its level distribution policy, the Fund anticipates that it will make regular monthly distributions, subject to market conditions, of $0.0905 per share of common stock, unless further action is taken to determine another amount. The Fund's ability to maintain its current distribution rate will depend on a number of factors, including the amount and stability of income received from its investments, the cost of leverage and the level of other Fund fees and expenses. There is no assurance that the Fund will always be able to pay a distribution of any particular amount or that a distribution will consist only of net investment income.

Due to an effort to maintain a stable distribution amount, the distribution announced today, as well as future distributions, may consist of net investment income, net realized capital gains and return of capital. In compliance with Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, a notice would be provided for any distribution that does not consist solely of net investment income. The notice would be for informational purposes and not for tax reporting purposes, and would disclose, among other things, estimated portions of the distribution, if any, consisting of net investment income, capital gains and return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax characteristics of all distributions paid in 2022 will be made after the end of the year.

About Neuberger Berman



Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategiesincluding equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge fundson behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. With offices in 25 countries, Neuberger Berman's diverse team has over 2,400 professionals. For eight consecutive years, the company has been named first or second in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management survey (among those with 1,000 employees or more). In 2020, the PRI named Neuberger Berman a Leader, a designation awarded to fewer than 1% of investment firms for excellence in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices. The PRI also awarded Neuberger Berman an A+ in every eligible category for our approach to ESG integration across asset classes. The firm manages $460 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2021. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.

Statements made in this release that look forward in time involve risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the adverse effect from a decline in the securities markets or a decline in the Fund's performance, a general downturn in the economy, competition from other closed end investment companies, changes in government policy or regulation, inability of the Fund's investment adviser to attract or retain key employees, inability of the Fund to implement its investment strategy, inability of the Fund to manage rapid expansion and unforeseen costs and other effects related to legal proceedings or investigations of governmental and self-regulatory organizations.

Contact:

Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC

Investor Information

(877) 461-1899

SOURCE Neuberger Berman
NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuberger Berman Real Estate Securities Income Fund Inc. (NYSE American: NRO) (the "Fund") has announced a distribution declaration of $0.0312 per share of common stock. The distribution announced today is payable on April 29, 2022, has a record date of April 18, 2022 and has an ex-date of April 14, 2022.

Under its level distribution policy, the Fund anticipates that it will make regular monthly distributions, subject to market conditions, of $0.0312 per share of common stock, unless further action is taken to determine another amount. There is no assurance that the Fund will always be able to pay a distribution of any particular amount, or that a distribution will consist of only net investment income. The Fund's ability to maintain its current distribution rate will depend on a number of factors, including the amount and stability of income received from its investments, availability of capital gains, the amount of leverage employed by the Fund, the cost of leverage and the level of other Fund fees and expenses.

The distribution announced today, as well as future distributions, may consist of net investment income, net realized capital gains and return of capital. In compliance with Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, a notice would be provided for any distribution that does not consist solely of net investment income. The notice would be for informational purposes and not for tax reporting purposes, and would disclose, among other things, estimated portions of the distribution, if any, consisting of net investment income, capital gains and return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax characteristics of all distributions paid in 2022 will be made after the end of the year.

About Neuberger Berman

Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategiesincluding equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge fundson behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. With offices in 25 countries, Neuberger Berman's diverse team has over 2,400 professionals. For eight consecutive years, the company has been named first or second in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management survey (among those with 1,000 employees or more). In 2020, the PRI named Neuberger Berman a Leader, a designation awarded to fewer than 1% of investment firms for excellence in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices. The PRI also awarded Neuberger Berman an A+ in every eligible category for our approach to ESG integration across asset classes. The firm manages $460 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2021. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.

Statements made in this release that look forward in time involve risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the adverse effect from a decline in the securities markets or a decline in the Fund's performance, a general downturn in the economy, competition from other closed end investment companies, changes in government policy or regulation, inability of the Fund's investment adviser to attract or retain key employees, inability of the Fund to implement its investment strategy, inability of the Fund to manage rapid expansion and unforeseen costs and other effects related to legal proceedings or investigations of governmental and self-regulatory organizations.

Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC

1290 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10104

Tel. 212.476.9000

Contact:

Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC

Investor Information

(877) 461-1899

SOURCE Neuberger Berman
Through Save Legs. Change Lives., Janssen seeks to elevate PAD research, collaboration, education and screening for communities placed at increased risk of cardiovascular disease

TITUSVILLE, N.J., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson today announced the launch of Save Legs. Change Lives. Spot Peripheral Artery Disease Now, a multi-year initiative aimed at creating urgency and action to address the hidden threat of peripheral artery disease (PAD)-related amputation, with an initial focus on reaching Black Americans, who are more than twice as likely to be impacted by PAD.1 Janssen has joined forces with leading professional associations, healthcare systems and community organizations to advance equitable care for individuals and communities placed at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease in the U.S.

Cardiovascular disease  also known as heart disease  is the leading cause of death in the U.S.2 and can affect more than just the heart.3 One serious condition that often goes underdiagnosed and undertreated is PAD,4 a common circulatory condition that causes blood vessels to narrow and reduces blood flow to the limbs, most often the legs.5 PAD affects an estimated 20 million Americans,6 yet only approximately 8.5 million are diagnosed.7 If left untreated, PAD can lead to serious events including heart attack, stroke, acute limb ischemia or amputation.5

Black Americans experience disproportionate rates of cardiovascular disease,8 and  as a result of higher rates of asymptomatic PAD,9 less access to quality vascular care10 and greater risk for delays in care9  are up to four times more likely than white Americans to have a PAD-related amputation.10

"While health inequities have long existed, the last several years have brought them to the forefront of our collective consciousness. Black Americans are placed at disproportionate risk of losing legs and lives  a reality we all must actively address," said Dr. Pernessa Seele*, Founder and CEO, The Balm in Gilead, Inc., a faith-based organization engaged in eliminating health disparities. "We believe the most effective way to eliminate the alarming health disparities within Black populations is for intentional, sustained and compassionate action by the healthcare industry, public health and faith communities."

CLICK TO TWEET: #DYK Black Americans are up to 4X more likely than white Americans to have a PAD-related amputation? Learn more about Save Legs. Change Lives. here: https://bit.ly/3tRmmJo

PAD is a leading cause of amputations in the U.S.,10 with rates continuing to rise.11 Amputations are a devastating complication of PAD and are associated with high mortality, despite being largely preventable.10 Tragically, PAD-related amputations are directly correlated to an increased risk of death, with 70 percent of patients with PAD who have a leg amputation dying within three years.12

Save Legs. Change Lives. has three main areas of focus: driving research, collaborating with powerful partners, and empowering individuals and communities.

Research to Break Down Barriers to PAD Screening and Increase Equitable Care

As part of the initiative, Janssen is supporting, sponsoring and promoting evidence-based research to uncover systemic bias, identify unmet patient needs, and propel healthcare systems toward change. Groundbreaking research already underway includes a data-based tool to help health systems identify groups of patients with inadequate PAD care and better direct efforts toward those placed at the highest risk of amputation, as well as a series of white papers that highlight best practices of leading limb salvage programs for people at risk for amputation.

"Everyone deserves a chance to avoid an amputation. I grew up in my dad's podiatry practice and I saw from a young age what a difference you can make in simply helping people move through the world," said David G. Armstrong**, Ph.D., D.P.M., Professor of Surgery and Director of the Southwestern Academic Limb Salvage Alliance (SALSA), at Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, and President of the American Limb Preservation Society (ALPS). "Limb preservation is of paramount importance, and I believe in the big idea that, together, we can eliminate limb amputations over the next generation. The inspiring thing is that  even with so many factors collectively stacked against our patients, ongoing research, awareness and sharing of best practices is vital to ensure we help people with PAD protect their legs and avoid the devastating consequences of amputation."

Collaboration to Unlock Better PAD Care and Improve Outcomes

Through Save Legs. Change Lives. Janssen is collaborating with powerful partners, including universities, health systems, non-governmental organizations and change makers to break down barriers to equitable and inclusive care, ranging from access and health literacy to health-care provider diversity.

The Company, through Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC, is proud to help support the American Heart Association's PAD National Action Plan, which aims to reduce PAD-related amputation. Additionally, Janssen is sponsoring the American College of Cardiology Foundation's "Change the FIELD" initiative, a major multi-year effort to foster inclusivity, equity, leadership and diversity in the field of cardiology.

Education, Awareness and Screening to Reach Individuals Placed at Greatest Risk

Janssen is supporting grassroots PAD awareness, education and screening that empowers individuals and communities to change the trajectory of their health. These efforts include:

empower PAD : a traveling mobile health unit that brings PAD screening and education directly to communities across the nation;

: a traveling mobile health unit that brings PAD screening and education directly to communities across the nation; The Change Network : a steering committee that convenes healthcare thought leaders and patient advocates to fuel discussion and inform the development of patient-friendly PAD resources, including ArteryAware.com;

: a steering committee that convenes healthcare thought leaders and patient advocates to fuel discussion and inform the development of patient-friendly PAD resources, including ArteryAware.com; Healthy Directions : a community education program designed to raise awareness about PAD with Black Americans and in communities of color; and

: a community education program designed to raise awareness about PAD with Black Americans and in communities of color; and The Balm in Gilead, Inc.: supporting the creation of culturally tailored PAD educational resources and awareness programming for faith-based institutions in the Chicago area serving individuals of African descent with the goals of preventing diseases, improving health outcomes and eliminating health disparities.

"Save Legs. Change Lives. sets in motion a vision for more relevant, trusted and inclusive care for everyone affected by PAD," said Avery Ince, M.D., Ph.D., Vice President, Medical Affairs, Janssen Cardiovascular & Metabolism, Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC. "As part of Johnson & Johnson, Janssen believes that major corporations have the power  and therefore the responsibility  to tackle pressing health challenges and make good health a reality for all people. We hope our efforts will inspire action to reduce amputations among people living with PAD."

Save Legs. Change Lives. is part of Johnson & Johnson's broader initiative, Our Race to Health Equity (ORTHE)  a $100 million commitment to help eradicate racial and social injustice as a public health threat. In the inaugural year of Save Legs. Change Lives., Janssen aims to reach Americans who unknowingly live with PAD through local screening and educational events, grassroots community activations, and a comprehensive online destination of patient-friendly PAD resources, ultimately elevating awareness and action among communities placed at an increased risk of the disease and the healthcare providers and systems that serve them.

About the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson

At Janssen, we're creating a future where disease is a thing of the past. We're the Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson, working tirelessly to make that future a reality for patients everywhere by fighting sickness with science, improving access with ingenuity, and healing hopelessness with heart. We focus on areas of medicine where we can make the biggest difference: Cardiovascular & Metabolism, Immunology, Infectious Diseases & Vaccines, Neuroscience, Oncology, and Pulmonary Hypertension.

Learn more at www.janssen.com . Follow us at www.twitter.com/JanssenUS and https://twitter.com/JanssenGlobal . Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC, is part of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.

Cautions Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The reader is cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations of future events. If underlying assumptions prove inaccurate or known or unknown risks or uncertainties materialize, actual results could vary materially from the expectations and projections of Janssen Scientific Affairs, LLC, any of the other Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies, and/or Johnson & Johnson. Risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: challenges and uncertainties inherent in product research and development, including the uncertainty of clinical success and of obtaining regulatory approvals; uncertainty of commercial success; manufacturing difficulties and delays; competition, including technological advances, new products and patents attained by competitors; challenges to patents; product efficacy or safety concerns resulting in product recalls or regulatory action; changes in behavior and spending patterns of purchasers of health care products and services; changes to applicable laws and regulations, including global health care reforms; and trends toward health care cost containment. A further list and descriptions of these risks, uncertainties and other factors can be found in Johnson & Johnson's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 2, 2022, including in the sections captioned "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and "Item 1A. Risk Factors," and in Johnson & Johnson's subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these filings are available online at www.sec.gov, www.jnj.com or on request from Johnson & Johnson. None of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies nor Johnson & Johnson undertakes to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information or future events or developments.

REFERENCES

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Facts About Peripheral Arterial Disease (P.A.D.) for African Americans. Accessed March 10, 2022 from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/public/heart/pad_extfactsheet_aa_508.pdf Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Heart Disease Facts. Accessed March 16, 2022 from https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm Cleveland Clinic. Cardiovascular Disease. Accessed March 16, 2022 from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/21493-cardiovascular-disease Afzal N, Sohn S, Scott CG, Liu H, Kullo IJ, Arruda-Olson AM. Surveillance of Peripheral Arterial Disease Cases Using Natural Language Processing of Clinical Notes. AMIA Jt Summits Transl Sci Proc. 2017;2017:28-36. Accessed March 16, 2022 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5543345/#r2-2609862 National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Peripheral Artery Disease. Accessed March 10, 2022 from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/peripheral-artery-disease Cardiovascular Coalition. Racial Disparities in Vascular Care. (n.d.). Accessed March 11, 2022 from https://cardiovascularcoalition.com/our-patients/racial-disparities-in-vascular-care/ American Heart Association. PAD Toolkit for Health Care Professionals. Accessed March 11, 2022 , from https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/peripheral-artery-disease/pad-toolkit Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. African American Health. Accessed March 16, 2022 from https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/aahealth/index.html Winta Ghidei, Tracie C. Collins , "African Americans and Peripheral Arterial Disease: A Review Article", International Scholarly Research Notices, vol. 2012, Article ID 165653, 9 pages, 2012. https://doi.org/10.5402/2012/165653 Creager MA, Matsushita K, Arya S, et al. Reducing nontraumatic lower-extremity amputations by 20% by 2030: time to get to our feet: a policy statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2021;143(17):e875-e891. doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000000967 Schuivens PME, Buijs M, Boonman-de Winter L, et al. Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown strategy on vascular surgery practice: more major amputations than usual. Ann Vasc Surg. 2020;69:74-79. doi:10.1016/j.avsg.2020.07.025. Retrieved June 2, 2021 from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7402273/ Jones WS, Patel M, et al. High mortality risks after major lower extremity amputation in Medicare patients with peripheral artery disease. Am Heart J. 2013 May;165(5):809-15, 815.e1. doi:10.1016/j.ahj.2012.12.002

*The Balm in Gilead, Inc. was provided a grant to help support their PAD disease awareness program.

**Dr. Armstrong has served as a paid consultant to Janssen.

SOURCE Janssen
Each year, about 20,000 medical practices and ambulatory surgery centers are sold. Most owners receive far less than market value, say industry experts Ben Brickweg and John White.

CONIFER, Colo., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Physicians and medical practice owners now have access to specialized mergers and acquisitions expertise to guide them through the successful exit of their healthcare business.

Colorado attorney, author, and exit strategy advisor Ben Brickweg and Minnesota medical real estate expert John White today announced they've joined forces to launch Medical Practice Exit Advisors (MPEA). The collaboration is designed to help doctors and practice owners get the highest sale price for their practice and real estate with the least disruption, so they can achieve the retirement they deserve.

White, founder of The ASC Group in Minneapolis, is an entrepreneur and medical real estate broker with nearly a decade of experience facilitating change-of-control of businesses, medical practices, and medical real estate.

Surprisingly, many of White's clients were content to sell their building and close the practice when they moved on. White believed they were leaving significant value on the tablein some cases, millions of dollars.

A mutual acquaintance connected the two serial entrepreneurs. After working together on several exit transactions, the two formed MPEA to advise physicians and healthcare business owners nationwide.

The founder of Sagewood Legal & Business Advisors in Conifer, Colorado, Brickweg helps entrepreneurs create exit strategies to sell their companies on their terms. "Every seller's goals and timelines are unique, so MPEA's strategy is built around each physician's personal retirement objectives," he explains.

The duo quickly saw opportunities to help healthcare company owners exit with more cash. "I was shocked when John said private equity firms had cold-called some of his clients with offersand actually closed deals without the seller exploring all options," said Brickweg

"Ben was even more shocked to discover how many medical practice owners were willing to take the first offer they received, without any idea what their business was really worth," said White. "It would be like performing a knee replacement without imaging. There's no way to know what valuation data you may be missing."

"We believe every physician deserves to have the tools to take charge of the future and legacy of their medical practice," Brickweg proclaims.

Medical Practice Exit Advisors can represent clients throughout the U.S., but is currently focusing on ambulatory surgery centers and physician practices in the Mountain West and South Central U.S. For more information, visit https://medicalpracticeexit.com .

Contact:

Ben Brickweg

970-315-0130

[email protected]

SOURCE Medical Practice Exit Advisors
AMMAN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Analysts have called for more aid to Jordan after a United Nations survey revealed on Wednesday 64 percent of refugees in the kingdom were living on less than 3 dinars (around 4.3 U.S. dollars) a day.

According to the survey, which was conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Bank, 90 percent of refugee families in Jordan said they used at least one negative coping strategy to get through their daily lives, such as reducing food intake or buying household goods on credit.

The survey will aid in efforts to better target assistance for those who need it and what kind of assistance they need, and the data in the survey will help better understand the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on the livelihood of refugees, Dominik Bartsch, the UNHCR's representative in Jordan, told Xinhua.

In both camp and out-of-camp settings, having one family member employed is not enough to meet monthly household necessities for the refugees, the findings of the survey showed.

"To be able to support refugees, Jordan needs continued assistance by donor countries and friendly countries," Abeer Nouman, an economic news editor at the Jordan Press Foundation, told Xinhua Wednesday.

"Jordan cannot do it alone. Jordan needs to provide services to refugees in all sectors, including health, education and infrastructure, which will exert heavy pressure on the country," she added.

According to the UNHCR, 760,000 refugees are currently registered with the organization in Jordan, making it the country with the second highest proportion of refugees per capita in the world. Only 17 percent of refugees live in refugee camps, with the bulk residing in Jordan's towns and cities.

Hosam Ayesh, a freelance economic news columnist in Jordan, believes international crises have overshadowed Jordan's refugee crisis.

The large number of Syrian refugees hosted in Jordan have exerted mounting economic pressure on the kingdom's state budget, according to Ayesh.

"International aid for refugees in Jordan has dwindled, and it must be reinstated to enhance the living conditions of both refugees and host communities," he added.

Funding for the Jordan's response plan for the Syrian crisis during 2021 amounted to about 744.4 million dollars, or 30.63 percent of the 2.43 billion dollars required by the plan, according to figures published by Jordan's Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation. 
Distinguished Group of Leaders Will Help Shape and Guide Noodle's Strategic Initiatives As Well as Advise on How Best to Serve its University and Institution Partners

NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Noodle, the country's fastest-growing online learning network, today announced the formation of a strategic advisory board composed of leaders in higher education. This distinguished group will help shape and guide Noodle's strategic initiatives, as well as advise on how best to serve its university and institution partners.

"We are so grateful that a highly esteemed group of leaders have agreed to serve as our inaugural advisory board," said Lee Bradshaw, Chief Strategy Officer, Noodle. "Each brings a unique expertise and perspective from their respective campus and will be crucial in creating an open and candid community that shares knowledge and best practices that will allow Noodle to continue to iterate and evolve."
Dual Carbon was first written in the Report on the Work of the Chinese Government in 2021 which marks the strategic development direction for the country.

The Dual Carbon Laboratory aims to explore how to deeply integrate blockchain technology and the Dual Carbon economy. As a Technology-as-a-Service provider for financial institutions, OneConnect has world-leading technology capabilities for financial services in AI, Big Data Analytics, Blockchain and Financial Cloud. With expertise in blockchain technology and substantial experience accumulated in Dual Carbon development, the Company is cooperating with members to create standardized products in "Blockchain and Energy/ Dual Carbon" to help meet Dual Carbon Goals and contribute to ESG development.

Blockchain Technology will play a key role in promoting Dual Carbon. For example, the industry has to live up to carbon emission inspections. It is necessary to ensure the authenticity, credibility and effectiveness of basic data. The distributed ledger made possible by blockchain technology is incorruptible and can provide a technical basis for reporting, evaluation, verification and auditing among different institutions.

On the other hand, a carbon trading platform based on a blockchain will support point-to-point and business-to-business trading services and will promote fast, credible and automatic transactions. Such technologies can effectively improve the reliability and credibility of data processing of business flow and settlement. The consensus mechanism based on intelligent contracts can further support flexible transaction rules

Looking to the future, OneConnect will continue to explore application scenarios for achieving "Dual Carbon" within the finance sector, including in the creation of a structural carbon-reduction monetary tool with the People's Bank of China and help banks collect and manage carbon emissions-related reduction data through the dual carbon management platform such that banks can accurately invest funds and effectively implement ESG targets.

Note to Editor: White Paper on Blockchain Empowers "Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality" (Chinese Only) download link

About OneConnect Financial Technology Co. Ltd

OneConnect is an associate of Ping An Group (2318.HK; 601318.SS). The company is a Technology-as-a-Service provider for financial institutions, which listed at New York Stock Exchange (OCFT.US) in 2019. The Company is a Chinese national high-tech enterprise. The Company integrates extensive financial services industry expertise with market-leading technology to provide technology applications and technology-enabled business solutions to financial institutions. The Company' solutions enable its customers' digital transformations, which help them improve efficiency, enhance service quality, and reduce costs and risks. OneConnect is an associate of Ping An Group. By leveraging Ping An Group's over 30 years of extensive experience in financial services. The Company has established long-term cooperation with financial institutions to addresses their needs of digital transformation. The integrated solutions and platform the Company provide include Digital Banking, Digital Insurance and Gamma Platform, which is a technology infrastructure platform for financial institutions. OneConnect has also expanded its services to government, regulatory and enterprises to support the digital transformation of financial services eco-system. In addition, the Company has successfully exported "Made in China" technology solutions to overseas financial institutions.

OneConnect has world-leading technology capabilities for financial services in AI, Big Data Analytics, Blockchain and Financial Cloud. As of December 31, 2021, The Company has submitted 5,652 global patent applications, increased 816 applications year on year. It includes 1,525 overseas patent applications and 4127 domestic patent applications. The Company was ranked among IDC's list of Top 100 Global Fintech Companies (rising to No. 59 in 2021). The Company has won 59 international professional awards, including the BAI Global Innovation Award, 1st prize at the Stanford OMG Micro-Expression Competition and 1st prize in DROP leaderboard "Causal Reasoning in Machine Reading Comprehension" global list and one of KPMG's China Top 50 Fintech Companies in 2020, as well as one of Forbes' Top 50 Global Blockchain Companies in 2021. The Company has also been awarded the CMMI5 international certification.

SOURCE OneConnect
The opening of this new production facility was conducted by Alessandro Chiesi, CCO at Chiesi and Gregg Smith, President at Koura and marks a key milestone in delivering an environmentally-friendly medical propellant, HFA 152a, which has a low GWP (F-Gas AR4 124). This new facility will see commercial-scale HFA 152a availability in the market by mid-2022, allowing pharmaceutical companies to meet 2025/2026 commercial product timeframes.

Chiesi Group, a Benefit Corporation and certified B Corp,[4] plans to bring to market the environmentally friendly pMDI inhalers for patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) by the end of 2025.[5] The innovation from Koura will allow Chiesi to achieve its ambition to reduce its scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions per unit of inhaled products sold by 80% by 2030 and 90% by 2035 compared to 2019.[6]

Gregg Smith, Koura President said: "This is a significant step forward in bringing our sustainable, greener medical propellant HFA 152a to the market. The opening of this facility is part of a series of strategic investments that will deliver secure supply of low GWP propellant to meet regulatory and commercial needs of our customers ahead of low GWP pMDI launches expected during 2025."

Mr Smith went on to say: "2022 is an exciting year for HFA 152a and the pMDI market, with a number of key milestones being met."

Alessandro Chiesi, Chief Commercial Officer at Chiesi said: "Patients should not have to consider the burden of environmental responsibility when choosing treatment options that impact their health. We are proud to supply both pMDI and DPI inhalers and to have taken decisive and ambitious action to ensure patients can continue to access the inhaler options that best suit their needs, whilst innovating to find the most environmentally conscious solution available."

"This step comes as part of Chiesi's commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2035 on all direct (scope 1 and 2) and indirect (scope 3) greenhouse gas emissions. Our carbon neutrality announcement last year called for "action over words" in the fight against climate change, and this announcement is the latest way that we are delivering on that commitment."

For more information about Chiesi's carbon neutrality commitments, visit: www.actionoverwords.org

About HFA 152a

HFA 152a is a new, sustainable medical propellant for use in pMDIs for treatment of respiratory disorders such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). HFA 152a minimises the carbon footprint of pMDIs while safeguarding an invaluable therapeutic option for patients.

About Koura

Koura is a global leader in the development, manufacture, and supply of fluoroproducts that play a fundamental role in enhancing everyday lives. Koura is a part of the Orbia community of companies, working together to tackle some of the world's most complex challenges. Koura's products are used in a vast range of applications including energy storage, construction of towns and cities, keeping homes cool, food fresh and even in the treatment of respiratory conditions. Headquartered in Boston, Koura has commercial activities across the world, with operations in the United Kingdom, Mexico, United States, India, and Japan.

About Orbia

Orbia is a company driven by a shared purpose: to advance life around the world. Orbia operates in the Polymer Solutions (Vestolit and Alphagary), Building and Infrastructure (Wavin), Precision Agriculture (Netafim), Data Communications (Dura-Line) and Fluorinated Solutions (Koura) sectors. The five Orbia businesses and their commercial brands have a collective focus on expanding access to health and wellness, reinventing the future of cities and homes, ensuring food and water security, connecting communities to data infrastructure and accelerating a sustainable, circular economy with basic and advanced materials and solutions. Orbia has commercial activities in more than 110 countries and operations in over 50, with global headquarters in Boston, Mexico City, Amsterdam and Tel Aviv. To learn more, please visit www.orbia.com.

About Chiesi Group

Based in Parma, Italy, Chiesi is an international research-focused pharmaceuticals and healthcare group with over 85 years' experience, operating in 30 countries with more than 6,000 employees (Chiesi Group). To achieve its mission of improving people's quality of life by acting responsibly towards society and the environment, the Group researches, develops and markets innovative therapeutic solutions in its three focus areas: AIR (products and services that promote respiration, from new-born to adult populations), RARE (treatment for patients with rare and ultra-rare diseases) and CARE (products and services that support specialty care and consumer-facing self-care). The Group's Research and Development centre is based in Parma and works alongside 6 other important research and development hubs in France, the U.S., Canada, China, the UK, and Sweden to pursue its pre-clinical, clinical, and regulatory programmes. Chiesi, since 2019, is the world's largest B Corp certified pharmaceutical group. Chiesi Limited is the UK affiliate, for more information please visit www.chiesi.uk.com.

References

[1] Koura. Zephex. Available at: www.zephex.com/zephex-152a/ Accessed March 2022

[2] Koura. Applications. Available at: www.kouraglobal.com/applications/ Accessed March 2022[3] Koura. Koura to supply medical propellant carbon footprint medical propellant to Chiesi Farmaceutici. 2019. Available at: https://www.kouraglobal.com/koura-to-supply-ground-breaking-low-carbon-footprint-medical-propellant-to-chiesi-farmaceutici-for-inhalation-product-development-and-clinical-trials/ Accessed March 2022

[4] Chiesi Limited. We are a B Corp. Available at: www.chiesi.uk.com/we-are-a-b-corp Accessed March 2022

[5] Chiesi Limited. Chiesi Investment into carbon minimal pMDIs. 2019. Available at: www.chiesi.uk.com/img/news/613_final-021219_chiesi-investment-in-carbon-minimal-pmdis-december-2019.pdf Accessed March 2022

[6] Chiesi Group. Action over words. Available at: www.actionoverwords.org Accessed March 2022

SOURCE Koura
VANCOUVER, BC, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Orea Mining Corp. ("Orea") (TSX: OREA) (OTCQX: OREAF) (FSE: 3CG) is pleased to provide an update on exploration at the Antino Gold Project ("Antino"), located in Suriname, South America. As announced on March 17, 2022, Orea has entered into an option agreement to acquire up to a 75% interest in Antino.

Orea has completed the initial data acquisition and compilation that includes:

GIS compilation of historical exploration and drilling data;

Airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) high-resolution topographic and orthophoto survey covering 110 square kilometers;

Re-processing of maiden 1994 airborne geophysical survey data; and

Geological/structural mapping of the gold mineralized zones exposed in open pits and core relogging.

This first phase of exploration by Orea has provided a comprehensive dataset for the planning of a drilling program on select resource definition targets.

Antino Geological Setting, Gold Mineralization and Targeting

Antino lies within the underexplored Southern Greenstone Belt of the Guiana Shield and at the intersection of major deformation corridors known as the CGSZ and NSSZ. Gold mineralization is spatially associated with large-scale shear (ductile fault) corridors. In Precambrian Greenstone Belts, such as in the Guiana Shield, the large-scale shears and associated gold mineralization are known to be vertically extensive (>1 km depth).

Antino project location map is available at the following link:

Small-scale open pit gold mining has been active at Antino since 1999 and mainly in two areas known as Upper Antino and Buese. The open pits are mined to a maximum depth of 50 meters, limited to soft rock at the surface within the weathered saprolite layer. No tonnage/grade data of the mined pits are available.

Geophysical and structural analysis suggest that the Upper Antino and Buese areas are linked by a regional fault named the Antino Main Shear. The Antino Main Shear and associated splays and second order structures are interpreted as the principal conduits/controls for gold mineralization. Very limited exploration has been conducted along the 5-kilometer trend between Upper Antino and Buese.

Upper Antino and Buese location maps are available at the following links:

Two styles of shear associated gold ores are exploited by open pit at Upper Antino and Buese:

North- to northwest-striking, sub-vertically dipping, shear-tension quartz-sulfide vein systems of up to 10 meters in width cutting volcanic and sedimentary units and adjoining porphyritic intrusions; high-grade ore shoots (>10 g/t gold) are recognized; and Quartz-sulfide vein stockworks of several tens of meters in diameter developed in porphyritic intrusive stocks in proximity to shears.

Both styles of gold mineralization are considered to have economic potential for industrial scale mining. The intrusive-hosted stockworks have potential for bulk tonnage gold mineralization.

Structural fabrics within the mineralized shears are consistent at both the Upper Antino and Buese areas and indicate a dominant dip-slip (oblique-vertical) movement along the structures. This implies that the ore shoots within the shear plane would preferentially be elongated in the vertical direction. The first phase of drilling will need to confirm this interpretation, specifically below high-grade historical drill holes intersections.

Although the Antino land holdings remain largely unexplored, Orea's objective is to define economic gold mineralization along the depth and lateral extent of the exploited open pits at Upper Antino, Buese and the immediate surroundings. Both the underground and open pit potential will be considered.

Upper Antino Target

The Upper Antino area offers several targets for resource development in 2022. The geology of the area and extent of gold mineralization remains poorly defined despite past drilling campaigns and mining. Numerous shallow open pits have been exploited over an area of 1,000m by 1,200m along a set north- to northwest-striking splays and second order structures to the Main Antino Shear. Initial drilling targets identified include:

Froyo I and Froyo II pits - The Upper Antino Shear (UAS) was exploited by 4 pits over a strike extent of 1 kilometer, namely the Froyo I, Froyo II, Ginger and E-Clair pits (see link to figure below). Notable historical drill hole intersections along the southern Froyo I and Froyo II pits include: 30.47 g/t gold over 10.5 meters, 8.28 g/t gold over 8.0 meters, 17.37 g/t gold over 2.6 meters, 10.54 g/t gold over 4.0 meters, 4.16 g/t gold over 8.2 meters and 5.47 g/t gold over 4.6 meters. Orea's channel sampling of the quartz-sulfide vein zone exposed on the south wall of the Froyo I pit returned 4.53 g/t gold over 6.2 meters. Orea's drilling will target vertically below historical higher-grade intersections beneath the pits and the south strike extent of the UAS, where historical intersections include 4.16 g/t gold over 8.2 meters.

- The Upper Antino Shear (UAS) was exploited by 4 pits over a strike extent of 1 kilometer, namely the Froyo I, Froyo II, Ginger and E-Clair pits (see link to figure below). Notable historical drill hole intersections along the southern Froyo I and Froyo II pits include: 30.47 g/t gold over 10.5 meters, 8.28 g/t gold over 8.0 meters, 17.37 g/t gold over 2.6 meters, 10.54 g/t gold over 4.0 meters, 4.16 g/t gold over 8.2 meters and 5.47 g/t gold over 4.6 meters. Orea's channel sampling of the quartz-sulfide vein zone exposed on the south wall of the Froyo I pit returned 4.53 g/t gold over 6.2 meters. Orea's drilling will target vertically below historical higher-grade intersections beneath the pits and the south strike extent of the UAS, where historical intersections include 4.16 g/t gold over 8.2 meters. Cup Cake pit - Located to the east of the UAS, the Cup Cake pit exploited a gold mineralized shear that remains untested by drilling within the pit area and along its northern and southern projections.

- Located to the east of the UAS, the Cup Cake pit exploited a gold mineralized shear that remains untested by drilling within the pit area and along its northern and southern projections. Donut pit - Located at the eastern end of the mined area, the Donut pit exploited a vein stockwork hosted in a porphyritic intrusive stock, bordered to the west by a gold mineralized shear revealed by a single fence of 4 historical drill holes, which returned an intersection of 6.19 g/t gold over 5.2 meters. At surface, a nearby trench returned 18.0 meters averaging 6.92 g/t gold. The exploited intrusive-hosted stockwork remains untested by drilling.

Upper Antino Area map is available at the following link:

Buese Target

Similar to Upper Antino, the geology of the area and extent of gold mineralization remains poorly defined despite past drilling campaigns and mining. Shallow open pits at Buese are developed to the north and south of the interpreted trace of the Antino Main Shear over an area of 1500m by 750m. The mined gold ores are similar to Upper Antino consisting of:

Shear-vein systems (Para North and Para South pits), potentially along second order shears to the Antino Main Shear; and

Vein stockworks in porphyritic intrusive stocks (Terzah Bergi, Filuca and Para East pits).

The Terzah Bergi and Para East pits are starter pits currently in exploitation. The Terzah Bergi intrusive-hosted vein stockwork and its potential extensions towards the Para and Filuca pits are a priority target of interest.

Buese Area map is available at the following link:

About Antino

Antino is a resource definition stage gold exploration project located in the Sipaliwini mining district, southeastern Suriname, 275 km of the capital city of Paramaribo. Orea has entered into an option agreement to acquire up to a 75% interest in Antino. The project can be accessed by air from Paramaribo or by barge 250 kilometers up the Maroni/Lawa river bordering French Guiana.

The project consists of Rights to Exploitation of Gold (Suriname mining titles) covering 200 square kilometers. Under Suriname mining regulations, the mining titles allow for exploration, drilling and small-scale mining without any additional permits.

The project is located in a significant area of alluvial and small-scale saprolite open pit gold mining. Alluvial gold was first discovered in the Antino area in 1891. Recorded alluvial gold production from 1895 to 1969 is estimated at 425,430 ounces. Small-scale open pit gold mining at Antino commenced in 1999 and is currently active. The mining is mainly in two areas known as Upper Antino and Buese. The open pits are limited to the surface weathered saprolite layer. Recovered and recorded gold production from 1999 to 2021 is estimated at 105,970 ounces from alluvial and saprolite. Gold recoveries are estimated at approximately 30%, therefore, the total content of gold in the material mined is much higher. Past exploration was conducted by Canadian junior exploration companies during 1993-97 and 2006-07, including over 32,000 meters of drilling. The exploration programs largely predate the open pit mining. The land holdings remain largely unexplored.

Accommodations, communications, equipment, machinery, security and personnel have been established at Antino by the optionor, facilitating logistics for exploration.

Qualified Person

Rock Lefrancois, President & Chief Executive Officer of Orea and Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed this news release and is responsible for the technical information reported herein, including verification of the data disclosed.

About Orea Mining Corp.

Orea is a leading gold exploration and development company operating in a prospective and underexplored segment of the Guiana Shield, South America. Its mission is to develop gold deposits with a reduced environmental footprint using innovative technologies, upholding the highest international standards for responsible mining. In French Guiana, Orea holds a major interest in the world-class Montagne d'Or mine development project and is also advancing the Maripa gold exploration project. In Suriname, Orea is advancing the Antino gold exploration project through its option agreement to acquire up to a 75% interest.

For more about Orea visit the company's website at www.oreamining.com.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD:

Rock Lefrancois

President & CEO

Forward-looking statements

Certain statements made herein, including statements relating to matters that are not historical facts and statements of the Company's beliefs, intentions and expectations about developments, results and events which will or may occur in the future, constitute "forward looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation ("forward-looking statements"). Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance, reflect current expectations or beliefs regarding future events and are typically identified by words such as "anticipate", "could", "should", "expect", "seek", "may", "intend", "likely", "budget", "plan", "estimate", continue", "forecast", "believe", "predict", "potential", "target", "would", "might", "will", and similar words, expressions or phrases (including negative variations) suggesting future outcomes or statements regarding an outlook. These include, but are not limited to, statements and information regarding: the Company's plans to earn into the Antino gold project; the Company's objective to become an emerging gold producer; the acquisition of exploration projects including terms of acquisition, exploration or development plans, intentions to acquire additional exploration or development interests and the implications thereof; the production capacity and potential of future plant and equipment; future exploration and mine plans, objectives and expectations and corporate planning of the Company, future studies and environmental impact statements and the timetable for completion and content thereof and statements as to management's expectations with respect to, among other things, the matters and activities contemplated in this news release.

Forward-looking statements are made based upon certain assumptions and other important factors that, if untrue, could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Such assumptions and analyses are made by the Company's management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believes are reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances. All assumptions and analyses are those of the Company's. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies, local and global economic conditions, and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, including compliance by the Company with regulatory and permitting requirements applicable in Suriname, the sufficiency of Company's working capital; the Company's ability to secure additional funding for the continued exploration and development of its properties; the price of gold and other metals; and the Company's ability to retain key personnel. You are hence cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.

Certain important factors that could cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, among others, political and economic risks in Suriname, regulatory risk including but not limited to unforeseen changes in regulatory requirements, the Company's ability to enforce its contractual and other legal rights to explore and exploit its properties, risks related to exploration and development, permitting and licensing risk, future profitability of the Company, the ability to obtain additional financing on a timely basis, the price of gold and marketability thereof, government regulations including with respect to taxes, royalties, land tenure and land use, title to the Company's properties, currency exchange rates and fluctuations, environmental risks, dilution resulting from the issuance of additional securities of the Company, joint venture risks, the availability of equipment, conflicts of interest, competition in the mining industry, uninsured risks, market fluctuations, global financial conditions, credit risk and risks arising from pandemics and epidemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. These statements, however, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, which contribute to the possibility that the predicted outcomes will not occur. Events or circumstances could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those estimated or projected and expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements are included in the "Risk Factors" section in Company's annual information form dated December 15, 2021 for the year ended September 30, 2021 ("AIF").

Readers are further cautioned that the list of factors enumerated in the "Risk Factors" section of the AIF that may affect future results is not exhaustive. When relying on the Company's forward-looking statements and information to make decisions with respect to the Company, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Furthermore, the forward-looking statements and information contained herein are made as of the date of this document and the Company does not undertake any obligation to update or to revise any of the included forward-looking statements or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. The forward-looking statements and information contained herein are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

SOURCE Orea Mining Corp.
Increase in environmental concerns regarding the use of harmful chemicals in agriculture and farming drive the growth of the global organic food and beverages market.

PORTLAND, Ore., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, titled, "Organic Food and Beverages Market by Product Type (Organic Foods and Vegetables, Organic Meat, Fish and Poultry, Organic Dairy Products, Organic Frozen and Processed Foods, Organic Non Dairy Beverages, Organic Coffee and Tea, Organic Beer and Wine, and Other Organic Food and Beverages), Process (Processed and Unprocessed), and Distribution Channel (Supermarket/Hypermarket, Specialty Stores, Convenience Stores, Online Sales Channel, and Others): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 20222031." According to the report, the global organic food and beverages industry generated $187.48 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach $860.62 billion by 2031, witnessing a CAGR of 14.9% from 2022 to 2031.

Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities

Increase in environmental concerns regarding the use of harmful chemicals in agriculture and farming, surge in prevalence of chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, and increase in healthcare expenditure drive the growth of the global organic food and beverages market. However, high price of organic products and low shelf life restrain the market growth. On the other hand, the trend of health-consciousness and surge in demand for the clean label food and beverage products create new opportunities in the coming years.

Request Sample Report at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/213

Covid-19 Scenario

The Covid-19 pandemic impacted the organic food and beverages market positively. Rise in health-consciousness and focus of consumers towards healthy food intake for improving immunity raised the demand for the organic food and beverages during the pandemic.

According to the Organic Trade Association, the U.S. experienced all-time high sales volume of organic food and non-food items in 2020. The revenue generated in the U.S. was nearly $61.9 billion in 2020.

The organic coffee and tea segment to maintain its leadership status by 2031

Based on product type, the organic coffee and tea segment held the highest share in 2020, contributing to more than one-fifths of the global organic food and beverages market, and is estimated to maintain its leadership status by 2031. This is attributed to the need to maintain the balanced health. However, the organic meat, fish, and poultry segment is expected to witness the highest CAGR of 15.5% from 2022 to 2031, owing to its preference by people looking for weight management and loss as they contain no fats and cholesterol.

The supermarket/hypermarket segment to continue its dominance throughout the forecast period

Based on distribution channel, the supermarket/hypermarket segment accounted for the largest market share in 2020, holding more than one-third of the global organic food and beverages market, and is expected to continue its dominance in terms of revenue throughout the forecast period. This is attributed to increased penetration of supermarkets and hypermarkets in the developed regions and preference for retail outlets for buying all types of food and beverages items. However, the online sales channel segment is projected to register the fastest CAGR of 15.6% from 2022 to 2031, owing to rise in penetration of the online groceries and different e-commerce platforms, improved access to the internet, rise in adoption of smartphones, and increase in internet users.

North America to continue its lead position by 2031

Based on region, North America contributed to the highest market share in terms of revenue in 2020, accounting for nearly half of the global organic food and beverages market, and is projected to continue its lead position by 2031. This is attributed to huge demand for the organic food and beverages products, increased consumer awareness regarding the health benefits of organic products, and increased healthcare expenditure. However, Asia-Pacific is estimated to manifest the fastest CAGR of 18.0% during the forecast period. This is due to rapid surge in the number of agricultural lands dedicated for organic farming, presence of huge population, and rise in awareness about the benefits of organic food products in the region.

For Purchase Enquiry at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/purchase-enquiry/213

Leading Market Players

WhiteWave Foods Co.

Hain celestial Group, Inc.

General Mills Inc .

. United Natural Foods, Inc.

SpartanNash Company

Amy's Kitchen, Inc.

Dean Foods Company

Starbucks Corporation

The Kroger Co.

Whole Foods Market, Inc.

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
- Heather Roxborough PhD, former Partner at Optum Ventures, joins as Partner, Health Tech

- Wallace Wallace MPhil, former Associate at M-Ventures, joins as Associate, Life Sciences

OXFORD, England, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Oxford Science Enterprises, the Science Business Builder and preferred investment partner of the University of Oxford, today announces further strengthening of its investment teams with the appointments of Heather Roxborough PhD as Partner, Health Tech and Wallace Wallace MPhil as Associate, Life Sciences.

As Partner, Heather will lead the Health Tech investment team to identify cutting-edge science and technology from the University's world leading academics, drive investments into new spinouts and support the scale up of existing enterprises. Wallace joins the growing Life Sciences team to support the creation of new businesses and ongoing work across the current portfolio.

Alexis Dormandy, CEO Oxford Science Enterprises, said: "I am thrilled to welcome Heather and Wallace. Heather brings over 15 years of investment and leadership experience, with a strong track record of deal-making and company building to lead the Health Tech team. While Wallace's experience in scientific due diligence and early-stage investing strengthens the Life Sciences team. These appointments continue to demonstrate our commitment and enhanced ability to identify, support and commercialise the University of Oxford's cutting-edge science in order to build world-leading businesses."

Heather Roxborough PhD, Partner, Health Tech

Heather is a highly experienced venture capitalist, with over 15 years of investment and company building experience from across a range of sectors, including health tech, consumer healthcare, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and food technology.

Heather joins Oxford Science Enterprises from Optum Ventures where she was a Partner, responsible for establishing and leading the global health tech investment fund on behalf of Optum, a leading technology-enabled US health services business, part of UnitedHealth Group.

Heather has also held investment roles at J&J Innovations as Senior Director and Tate and Lyle Ventures as Principal. She holds a PhD in Clinical Biochemistry from Queen's University of Belfast.

Wallace Wallace MPhil, Associate, Life Sciences

Wallace joins Oxford Science Enterprises from M-Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA, where she supported the life sciences investment team across scientific due diligence and portfolio management.

Prior to this, Wallace worked at Accenture as a consultant, assisting the Business Strategy and Operation Strategy units, advising financial services clients.

She holds a BSc in Genetics from the University of York and an MPhil in Bioscience Enterprise from the University of Cambridge.

About Oxford Science Enterprises

We are Oxford Science Enterprises, the Science Business Builder. We want to help solve the world's toughest problems for more people, in more places, faster. We do this by transforming world-leading science into world-changing businesses, partnering the best scientists from the world's best university with the best business brains. We grow our companies with care and expertise; in a way that is systematic and scalable. We invest for real-world impact, not only financial returns. And we re-invest proceeds back into the next generation of original research and world-changing businesses.

Our enterprises address problems that affect people in life-changing ways: their health, the availability of food, the survival of the planet. Since 2015, we have received an automatic stake in all Oxford University science spinouts  more than 100 businesses founded by over 200 of Oxford's leading academics. We have taken a leading role in creating and building over 70 of these, adding +55,000 sq ft of lab & start-up space to support them. Today our businesses are worth over 2bn and have created +2,000 jobs.

Follow us: oxfordscienceenterprises.com | Twitter | LinkedIn | Quarterly News

Contacts:

Oxford Science Enterprises

Lisa Bedwell  [email protected]

For media enquiries:

Mark Swallow, Sandi Greenwood, Eleanor Perkin  MEDiSTRAVA Consulting

[email protected]

SOURCE Oxford Science Enterprises
- The powdered version of paprika oleoresin is widely used in the manufacturing of joint pain medications, thereby driving the global paprika oleoresin market

- Growing consumer awareness about the benefits of consuming food products containing natural plant-derived extracts without compromising on flavor and taste is anticipated to drive the global market

ALBANY, N.Y., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The value of global paprika oleoresin market stood at US$ 195 Mn in 2021. The global market is likely to rise at a CAGR of 7.3% from 2021 to 2031. The global paprika oleoresin market is estimated to surpass valuation of US$ 459 Mn by 2031. In a recent clinical study in the field of pharmaceuticals, paprika oleoresin has demonstrated to have numerous advantages for cutaneous functioning. Paprika oleoresin has a synergistic antioxidant action and can help the body to reduce free radicals.

Its anti-inflammation, anti-cancer, and analgesic properties make it useful. Microencapsulation method enhances stability whilst also limiting releasing bioactive. Paprika oleoresin with 1,00,000 CU was encased in three different concentrations depending on carrier: 5, 10, and 15%. Paprika oleoresin in microcapsules with a matrix substance (Gum Arabic) to protect it from oxidation and change it into a free-flowing powder.

Two different treatments were used to investigate the stability of color of co-crystallized paprika oleoresin. One treatment sought to determine how temperature caused deterioration of color, whilst the other sought to determine how light impacted it. The global paprika oleoresin market is likely to expand in the forthcoming years as demand for paprika grows due to its distinctive coloring qualities, which are attributed to the existence of carotenoid pigments, which give substantial health advantages in a number of cuisines.

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Key Findings of Market Report

It has been discovered that a huge percentage of customers throughout the world eat far more salt than is necessary. Salt is colored with paprika oleoresin, and there is a high desire for items with less salt. As a result, paprika oleoresin is being used by a number of food companies to hide the salt reduction. Furthermore, the increasing demand for organic certified paprika oleoresin is likely to propel the global paprika oleoresin market.

Paprika oleoresin manufacturers are investing more on research & development activities for one-drop solutions incorporating natural spice extracts such as paprika oil and black pepper oil. Food and beverage (F&B) goods, nutraceuticals, perfumes, and pharmaceutical products all make use of these extracts.

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The legal distinction between natural food extracts with colorant properties and chemicals classified as food additives can favor paprika oleoresin producers. Paprika oleoresin is included to meals in small quantities of 0.010.05 %. Organic food producers typically depend on an exemption clause under the organic laws, owing to these very low concentrations. They can employ a little amount of non-organic ingredients while maintaining the organic designation.

Chilli oleoresins are used in pharmaceutical applications to manage minor muscle and joint problems, sprains, backaches, and gout, which is expected to drive global market expansion. They contribute to the body's elimination of free radicals. Additionally, dried and ripe capsicum frutescens or capsicum annuum fruits are used to make the product.

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Global Paprika Oleoresin Market: Growth Drivers

Paprika oleoresin offers a range of health advantages, such as decline in cramping, digestive issues, intestinal gas, and stomach discomfort. Paprika oleoresin is a major component in personal care products and cosmetics due to its functional properties.

Manufacturers are ramping up manufacturing of water-dispersible, non-GMO, and palm-free paprika oleoresin, which is likely to give soft drinks a blurry orange hue. This ingredient is being created as a vegan replacement for cochineal extract, and it is projected to drive growth of the global paprika oleoresin market.

Global Paprika Oleoresin Market: Key Players

Some of the key market players are

Chenguang Biotech Group Co., Ltd.

Manohar Botanical Extracts Pvt. Ltd.

Akay Natural Ingredients Pvt. Ltd.

Nature Plus Herbal Cosmetics

AVT Natural Products

Cymbio Pharma Pvt. Ltd.

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Global Paprika Oleoresin Market: Segmentation

Nature

Organic

Conventional

Extraction Method

Solvent Extraction

Supercritical Fluid Extraction [SFE]

End Use

Pharmaceutical

Food & Beverage

Cosmetic & Personal Care

Distribution Channel

B2B

B2C

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Growing Smart(ly) in a Way That Matters

ENGLEWOOD, N.J., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Pathstone, an independently operated, partner-owned advisory firm offering comprehensive customized investment advice and family office services for families, family offices, and foundations and endowments, today announced it entered into an agreement to acquire certain assets of Eaton Vance WaterOak Advisors ("WaterOak")*. WaterOak, based in Winter Park, Florida, provides institutional and private wealth clients with custom investment solutions that leverage WaterOak's thoughtful, technology-driven approach.

The addition of WaterOak delivers advanced technology, systems & process to enhance Pathstone's already-robust platform. Tweet this Matthew Fleissig, President

WaterOak advises on approximately $3 billion in assets, bringing Pathstone's total assets under advisement to more than $35 billion. The combination will significantly expand Pathstone's footprint in Florida; Pathstone will now be in 14 locations in the U.S. with 235 team members, more than 100 of whom are shareholders of the firm.

Like Pathstone, WaterOak offers highly customized solutions and individualized attention to clients, with an emphasis on long-term, multigenerational wealth management. The addition of WaterOak delivers advanced technology, systems and process to enhance Pathstone's already-robust platform. WaterOak clients will gain access to Pathstone's innovative offerings and professional services. Further, the scale of the combined firms will benefit the clients of both organizations by delivering greater access to cutting-edge investment solutions as well as cost efficiencies over time.

"We are very excited to welcome WaterOak to our family," said Matthew Fleissig, President of Pathstone. "They, like Pathstone, are driven by innovation and believe that unique technology and process will keep us a generation ahead of the industry." Matt added, "Our client service strategy at Pathstone is founded on our people. We believe that bringing together talented individuals from different backgrounds will allow us to generate even greater value for our clients."

L. Clarke Lemons, Director, Southeast for Eaton Vance WaterOak Advisors (and founder of WaterOak Advisors), said, "Pathstone represents the culture, vision, and perspective that we so highly value in our care for our people and clients. We share the same values with Pathstone, and we believe Pathstone will be a fantastic partner for our team and our clients for the foreseeable future."

Willkie Farr & Gallagher, LLP served as legal counsel for Eaton Vance WaterOak Advisors. Schulte Roth & Zabel, LLP served as legal counsel to Pathstone.

*WaterOak was acquired by Eaton Vance Investment Counsel, a wholly owned subsidiary of asset management firm Eaton Vance Corp., in November of 2020. Eaton Vance Corp. and its subsidiaries, including WaterOak were subsequently acquired by Morgan Stanley in March of 2021.

About Pathstone

Pathstone is an independently operated, partner-owned advisory firm offering comprehensive family office services and customized investment advice for families, family offices, and foundations and endowments. Pathstone is institutionally backed by Lovell Minnick Partners.

With decades of experience as trusted advisors, we employ an advocacy-focused model that empowers our clients to define and achieve their unique long-term goals and support their legacy. For more information, please visit www.pathstone.com.

SOURCE Pathstone
READING, Pa., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Penske Logistics' work in the automotive sector has been recognized by long-time customer General Motors, with a pair of 2021 Supplier of the Year awards, at GM's recent Phoenix awards ceremony. Penske took home the hardware in the Lead Logistics Provider (LLP) category for services provided in Mexico, and for Dedicated Delivery Service (DDS) efforts to transport service parts to GM dealerships in the United States.

Marc Althen, Penske Logistics president: "I applaud our associates for the creative solutions that they engineered during a trying time. We are very thankful to GM for recognizing our hard work and dedication."

A global cross functional team selected the 2021 Supplier of the Year winners based on performance criteria in product purchasing, global purchasing and manufacturing services, customer care and aftersales and logistics.

GM's Supplier of the Year award recognizes global suppliers that distinguish themselves by exceeding GM's requirements, in turn providing GM customers with innovative technologies and among the highest quality in the automotive industry. This year, GM recognized 134 suppliers from 16 countries with the Supplier of the Year distinction.

"This year's Supplier of the Year event was special not only because it's the 30th anniversary of the program, but because it provided us with the opportunity to recognize our suppliers for persevering through one of the most challenging years the industry has ever faced," said Shilpan Amin, GM vice president, global purchasing and supply chain.

Penske Logistics is a Penske Transportation Solutions company with operations in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Penske Logistics provides supply chain management and logistics services to leading companies around the world. Penske Logistics delivers value through its design, planning and execution in transportation, warehousing and freight management. To learn more visit: www.penskelogistics.com

SOURCE Penske Logistics
SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) will hold a conference call on Thursday, April 28, 2022, at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (8:00 a.m. Pacific Time) to discuss its first quarter 2022 results. The public can access the conference call through a simultaneous webcast. The link is provided below and will also be available from the PG&E Corporation website.

What: First Quarter 2022 Earnings Call When: Thursday, April 28, 2022 at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time Where: http://investor.pgecorp.com/news-events/events-and-presentations/default.aspx

A replay of the live conference call and webcast will be available at

http://investor.pgecorp.com/news-events/events-and-presentations/default.aspx.

Alternatively, a toll-free replay of the conference call may be accessed shortly after the live call through May 5, 2022 by dialing (800) 770-2030. Confirmation code 64421 will be required to access the replay.

Please contact Investor Relations at [email protected] if you have any questions.

PG&E Corporation (NYSE: PCG) is a holding company headquartered in San Francisco. It is the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company, an energy company that serves 16 million Californians across a 70,000-square-mile service area in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit http://www.pgecorp.com.

SOURCE PG&E Corporation
NANNING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The emergency response headquarters' major search and rescue operation for the recent plane crash of China Eastern Airlines has been basically completed, an official said on Thursday.

All emergency response commanders and on-site search and rescue personnel completed the search for the two black boxes of the passenger plane in seven days, while finishing the identification and DNA testing of all the passengers in eight days, Zhu Tao, head of the aviation safety office of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, told a press briefing on Thursday.

A total of 49,117 pieces of wreckage had been recovered as of 4 p.m. Wednesday after a core area covering over 400,000 square meters was searched and 22,700 cubic meters of earth were excavated, said Zhang Zhiwen, an official with the government of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Zhu said preliminary analysis is being carried out now that the site, debris distribution and impact marks have been located and photographed.

He added the data of the black boxes are also being decoded.

The emergency response headquarters had conducted over 7,900 psychological evaluations and provided over 2,900 psychological counseling sessions by Wednesday, according to the press briefing.

A preliminary investigation report on the plane crash is expected to be completed within 30 days of the incident, and a complete report will be released to the public after all investigations are finished, according to Zhu.

"We will leave no stone unturned to find out the cause of the accident and prevent similar accidents from happening again," Zhu said.

A Boeing 737 airplane, which departed from Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, and was bound for Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, crashed into a mountainous area in Tengxian County, Guangxi, at around 2:38 p.m. on March 21. All 132 people on board the plane were killed. 
CARMIEL, Israel, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American: PLX) (TASE: PLX), a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, production and commercialization of recombinant therapeutic proteins produced by its proprietary ProCellEx plant cell-based protein expression system, today reported financial results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 and provided a business update on recent corporate and clinical developments.

"2021 was a year of continued progress towards our key operational, clinical and regulatory goals," said Dror Bashan, Protalix's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We had a productive Type A meeting with the FDA in the fall during which the FDA, in principle, agreed that the data package proposed to the FDA for the anticipated BLA resubmission has the potential to support a traditional approval of PRX-102 for the treatment of Fabry disease. We also, together with Chiesi, submitted an MAA to the EMA, which was subsequently validated by the EMA. The submission followed an October 2021 meeting with the EMA's Rapporteur and Co-Rapporteur at which we and Chiesi discussed the scope of the anticipated submission, and the Rapporteur and Co-Rapporteur were generally supportive of a planned MAA submission."

"We are grateful to all of our key stakeholders for their dedication towards our mission of delivering new medicines to patients with high clinical unmet needs. 2022 has the potential to be a meaningful year for the company as we move towards our BLA resubmission in the United States, await feedback on our MAA submission in Europe and continue to advance our early stage pipeline. We look forward to updating you on our progress as the year moves on."

2021 Full-Year and Recent Business Highlights

Regulatory Advancements

On February 24, 2022, the Company, together with its development and commercialization partner, Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A, or Chiesi, announced the submission and subsequent validation of a Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for PRX-102, the Company's product candidate, for the treatment of adults with Fabry disease. The MAA included final data from the Company's phase III BRIDGE and BRIGHT clinical trials; 12month interim data from the Company's phase III BALANCE clinical trial; and final data from the Company's phase I/II clinical trial data from naive/untreated patients, including the extension study related thereto, using 1 mg/kg every other week dosing.

On October 11, 2021, the Company, together with Chiesi, completed a Type A (End of Review) meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the biologics license application (BLA) for PRX-102 for the treatment of adult patients with Fabry disease, following the complete response letter received on April 27, 2021 from the FDA. The Company gained clarity regarding the FDA's expectations and the FDA, in principle, agreed that the data package proposed to the FDA for the anticipated BLA resubmission has the potential to support a traditional approval of PRX-102 for the treatment of Fabry disease. A BLA resubmission is planned for the second half of 2022.

Clinical Advancements

On March 18, 2022, the Company, together with Chiesi, announced positive final results from the phase III BRIGHT clinical trial, a multicenter, multinational open-label, switch-over study designed to evaluate the safety, efficacy and pharmacokinetics of treatment with 2 mg/kg of PRX-102 administered every four weeks for 52 weeks (a total of 14 infusions) in adult patients previously treated with a commercially available enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) (Fabrazyme  or Replagal  ). Results of the BRIGHT study indicate that 2 mg/kg of PRX102 administered by intravenous infusion every four weeks was well tolerated, and Fabry disease assessed by eGFR slope and plasma lyso-Gb 3 was stable throughout PRX102 treatment in adult Fabry patients.

or Replagal ). Results of the BRIGHT study indicate that 2 mg/kg of PRX102 administered by intravenous infusion every four weeks was well tolerated, and Fabry disease assessed by eGFR slope and plasma lyso-Gb was stable throughout PRX102 treatment in adult Fabry patients. On October 15, 2021, the Company, together with Chiesi, announced the last patient from the phase III BALANCE clinical trial received the final dose in the study. The Company anticipates announcing top-line results from the study next week and final data in the second half of 2022.

On June 2, 2021, the Company together Chiesi, announced topline results from an interim analysis of the phase III BALANCE clinical trial. The initial top-line results show that the lower boundary of the confidence interval for the mean difference between the two treatments (PRX102 and Fabrazyme) was below the non-inferiority margin pre-specified for this interim analysis in the ITT analysis set and above such limit in the PP analysis set. At the time of this analysis, two patients had discontinued participation due to treatment emergent adverse events (TEAEs). Of these two patients, one discontinued participation due to a related adverse event. There were no deaths. Overall, safety data appears favorable and consistent with what was observed in previous clinical studies with PRX-102.

Corporate & Financial Developments

On August 25, 2021, the Company strengthened its balance sheet through exchanges of a substantial majority of its then outstanding 7.50% Senior Secured Convertible Notes due 2021 for a combination of cash and new notes. The Company issued new 7.50% Senior Secured Convertible Notes due 2024 with a $28 .75 million aggregate principal amount, and made principal and interest payments of approximately $27.00 million . The remaining 2021 Notes were repaid on the November 2021 maturity date.

.75 million aggregate principal amount, and made principal and interest payments of approximately . The remaining 2021 Notes were repaid on the maturity date. On July 2, 2021, the Company entered into a Sales Agreement with H.C. Wainwright & Co., LLC, as sales agent, or the Agent, pursuant to which the Company may sell from time to time up to $20 .0 million worth of shares of its common stock in at-the-market transactions through the Agent. Upon execution of the Sales Agreement, the Company terminated the then existing ATM Equity Offering SM Sales Agreement entered into on October 1, 2020 with BofA Securities.

.0 million worth of shares of its common stock in at-the-market transactions through the Agent. Upon execution of the Sales Agreement, the Company terminated the then existing ATM Equity Offering Sales Agreement entered into on October 1, 2020 with BofA Securities. On May 13, 2021, the Company and Chiesi entered into a binding term sheet pursuant to which they amended the two exclusive license and supply agreements for PRX-102 in order to provide the Company with near-term capital. Chiesi agreed to make a $10 .0 million milestone payment to the Company in exchange for a $25.0 million reduction in a longer-term regulatory milestone payments in the Ex-US Exclusive License and Supply Agreement. All other regulatory and commercial milestone payments remained unchanged. The Company and Chiesi also agreed to negotiate certain manufacturing related matters. The Company received the payment in June 2021.

.0 million milestone payment to the Company in exchange for a reduction in a longer-term regulatory milestone payments in the Ex-US Exclusive License and Supply Agreement. All other regulatory and commercial milestone payments remained unchanged. The Company and Chiesi also agreed to negotiate certain manufacturing related matters. The Company received the payment in June 2021. On February 17, 2021, the Company successfully completed a public offering of its common stock raising gross proceeds of approximately $40.2 million at a price equal to $4.60 per share, before deducting the underwriting discount and estimated expenses of the offering, which was led by BofA Securities and Oppenheimer & Co.

Financial Results

For the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to the year ended December 31, 2020

The Company recorded revenues from selling goods of $16 .7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $0 .5 million, or 3%, compared to revenues of $16 .2 million for the same period of 2020.

.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of .5 million, or 3%, compared to revenues of .2 million for the same period of 2020. Revenue from licenses and R&D services for the year ended December 31, 2021 were $21 .6 million, a decrease of $25 .1 million, or 54%, compared to $46 .7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Revenue from license agreements is recognized, mainly, in conjunction with the license and supply agreements with Chiesi. The decrease is primarily due to lower R&D costs related to PRX-102 incurred in the year ended December 31, 2021.

.6 million, a decrease of .1 million, or 54%, compared to .7 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Revenue from license agreements is recognized, mainly, in conjunction with the license and supply agreements with Chiesi. The decrease is primarily due to lower R&D costs related to PRX-102 incurred in the year ended December 31, 2021. Cost of goods sold for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $16 .3 million, an increase of $5 .4 million, or 50%, compared to cost of goods sold of $10 .9 million for the same period in 2020. The increase was primarily the result of certain one-time manufacturing costs incurred while preparing for the then anticipated FDA approval of the PRX-102 BLA and higher manufacturing costs.

.3 million, an increase of .4 million, or 50%, compared to cost of goods sold of .9 million for the same period in 2020. The increase was primarily the result of certain one-time manufacturing costs incurred while preparing for the then anticipated FDA approval of the PRX-102 BLA and higher manufacturing costs. Research and development expenses, net, for the year ended December 31, 2021 were $29 .7 million, a decrease of $8 .5 million, or 22%, compared to $38 .2 million for the same period of 2020. The decrease is primarily due to the completion of the three phase III clinical trials of PRX-102.

.7 million, a decrease of .5 million, or 22%, compared to .2 million for the same period of 2020. The decrease is primarily due to the completion of the three phase III clinical trials of PRX-102. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $12 .7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $1 .6 million, or 14% from $11 .1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase resulted primarily from an increase in corporate costs of $1 .7 million related mainly to insurance.

.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of .6 million, or 14% from .1 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase resulted primarily from an increase in corporate costs of .7 million related mainly to insurance. Financial expenses, net, were $7 .1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, a decrease of $2 .1 million, or 23%, compared to financial expenses of $9 .2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease resulted primary from the exchange of our 2021 notes; a $0 .7 million decrease in interest expenses; a $0 .8 million decrease in amortization of debt discount; and a $1 .3 million decrease in related expenses, offset by a $0 .8 million loss on extinguishment related to the Exchanges.

.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, a decrease of .1 million, or 23%, compared to financial expenses of .2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The decrease resulted primary from the exchange of our 2021 notes; a .7 million decrease in interest expenses; a .8 million decrease in amortization of debt discount; and a .3 million decrease in related expenses, offset by a .8 million loss on extinguishment related to the Exchanges. Cash, cash equivalents and short-term bank deposits were approximately $39 .0 million at December 31, 2021.

.0 million at December 31, 2021. Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2021 was approximately $27 .6 million, or $0.62 per share, basic and diluted, compared to a net loss of $6 .5 million, or $0.22 per share, basic and diluted, for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

The Company will host a conference call today, March 31, 2022, at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time, to review the corporate, clinical and regulatory developments, which will also be available by webcast. To participate in the conference call, please dial the following numbers prior to the start of the call:

Conference Call Details:

Thursday, March 31, 2022, 8:30 a.m. Eastern Daylight Savings Time (EDT)

Domestic: 877-423-9813

International: 201-689-8573

Conference ID: 13727524

Webcast Details:

The conference will be webcast live from the Company's website and will be available via the following links:

Company Link: https://protalixbiotherapeutics.gcs-web.com/events0

Webcast Link: Registration  https://tinyurl.com/bdmsa52p

Conference ID: 13727524

Please access the websites at least 15 minutes ahead of the conference to register, download and install any necessary audio software.

The conference call will be available for replay for two weeks on the Events Calendar of the Investors section of the Company's website, at the above link.

About Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc.

Protalix is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of recombinant therapeutic proteins expressed through its proprietary plant cell-based expression system, ProCellEx. Protalix was the first company to gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of a protein produced through plant cell-based in suspension expression system. Protalix's unique expression system represents a new method for developing recombinant proteins in an industrial-scale manner.

Protalix's first product manufactured by ProCellEx, taliglucerase alfa, was approved by the FDA in May 2012 and, subsequently, by the regulatory authorities of other countries. Protalix has licensed to Pfizer Inc. the worldwide development and commercialization rights for taliglucerase alfa, excluding Brazil, where Protalix retains full rights.

Protalix's development pipeline consists of proprietary versions of recombinant therapeutic proteins that target established pharmaceutical markets, including the following product candidates: pegunigalsidase alfa, a modified stabilized version of the recombinant human GalactosidaseA protein for the treatment of Fabry disease; alidornase alfa or PRX110, for the treatment of various human respiratory diseases or conditions; PRX115, a plant cell-expressed recombinant PEGylated uricase for the treatment of refractory gout; PRX119, a plant cell-expressed long action DNase I for the treatment of NETs-related diseases; and others. Protalix has partnered with Chiesi Farmaceutici S.p.A., both in the United States and outside the United States, for the development and commercialization of pegunigalsidase alfa.

Forward-Looking Statements

To the extent that statements in this press release are not strictly historical, all such statements are forward-looking, and are made pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The terms "expect," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "project," "may," "plan," "will," "would," "should" and "intend," and other words or phrases of similar import are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual future experience and results to differ materially from the statements made. These statements are based on our current beliefs and expectations as to such future outcomes. Drug discovery and development involve a high degree of risk and the final results of a clinical trial may be different than the preliminary findings for the clinical trial. Factors that might cause material differences include, among others: risks related to the timing and progress of the preparation of a Biologics License Application (BLA) resubmission addressing the complete response letter; risks related to the timing, progress and likelihood of final approval by the FDA and European Medicines Agency (EMA) of a resubmitted BLA and of a Marketing Authorization Application, respectively, for PRX102 and, if approved, whether the use of PRX102 will be commercially successful; likelihood that the FDA, EMA or other applicable health regulatory authorities will approve an alternative dosing regimen; failure or delay in the commencement or completion of our preclinical studies and clinical trials, which may be caused by several factors, including: slower than expected rates of patient recruitment; unforeseen safety issues; determination of dosing issues; lack of effectiveness during clinical trials; inability or unwillingness of medical investigators and institutional review boards to follow our clinical protocols; and inability to monitor patients adequately during or after treatment; delays in the approval or potential rejection of any applications we file with the FDA, EMA or other health regulatory authorities for our other product candidates, and other risks relating to the review process; risks associated with the novel coronavirus disease, or COVID19, outbreak, which may adversely impact our business, preclinical studies and clinical trials; risks related to any transactions we may effect in the public or private equity markets to raise capital to finance future research and development activities, general and administrative expenses and working capital; the risk that the results of the clinical trials of our product candidates will not support the applicable claims of safety or efficacy, or that our product candidates will not have the desired effects or will be associated with undesirable side effects or other unexpected characteristics; risks related to our ability to maintain and manage our relationship with our collaborators, distributors or partners; risks related to the amount and sufficiency of our cash and cash equivalents; risks relating to our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on or to refinance our outstanding notes or any other indebtedness; our dependence on performance by third party providers of services and supplies, including without limitation, clinical trial services; delays in our preparation and filing of applications for regulatory approval; the inherent risks and uncertainties in developing drug platforms and products of the type we are developing; the impact of development of competing therapies and/or technologies by other companies and institutions; potential product liability risks, and risks of securing adequate levels of product liability and other necessary insurance coverage; and other factors described in our filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The statements in this press release are valid only as of the date hereof and we disclaim any obligation to update this information, except as may be required by law.

Investor Contact

Chuck Padala, Managing Director

LifeSci Advisors

646-627-8390

[email protected]

PROTALIX BIOTHERAPEUTICS, INC. CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (U.S. dollars in thousands)



















December 31,



2020

2021 ASSETS

























CURRENT ASSETS:











Cash and cash equivalents

$ 18,265

$ 38,985 Short-term bank deposits



20,280





Accounts receivable  Trade



2,000



3,442 Other assets



2,096



1,285 Inventories



13,082



17,954 Total current assets

$ 55,723

$ 61,666













NON-CURRENT ASSETS:











Funds in respect of employee rights upon retirement

$ 1,799

$ 2,077 Property and equipment, net



4,845



4,962 Operating lease right of use assets



5,567



4,960 Total assets

$ 67,934

$ 73,665













LIABILITIES NET OF CAPITAL DEFICIENCY

























CURRENT LIABILITIES:











Accounts payable and accruals:











Trade

$ 7,221

$ 6,986 Other



13,926



16,433 Operating lease liabilities



1,420



1,207 Contracts liability



5,394



8,550 Convertible notes



54,427





Promissory note



4,086





Total current liabilities

$ 86,474

$ 33,176













LONG TERM LIABILITIES:











Convertible notes







$ 27,887 Contracts liability

$ 1,716



11,790 Liability for employee rights upon retirement



2,263



2,472 Operating lease liabilities



4,467



4,376 Other long term liabilities



51





Total long term liabilities

$ 8,497

$ 46,525 Total liabilities

$ 94,971

$ 79,701













COMMITMENTS

























CAPITAL DEFICIENCY











Common Stock, $0.001 par value: Authorized - as of December 31, 2020

and 2021, 120,000,000 shares; issued and outstanding - as of December 31,

2020 and 2021, 34,765,280 and 45,556,647 shares, respectively



35



46 Additional paid-in capital



320,280



368,852 Accumulated deficit



(347,352)



(374,934) Total capital deficiency



(27,037)



(6,036) Total liabilities net of capital deficiency

$ 67,934

$ 73,665

PROTALIX BIOTHERAPEUTICS, INC. CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (U.S. dollars in thousands, except share and per share amounts)

























Year Ended December 31,



2019

2020

2021 REVENUES FROM SELLING GOODS

$ 15,866

$ 16,236

$ 16,749 REVENUES FROM LICENSE AND R&D SERVICES



38,827



46,662



21,601 TOTAL REVENUE



54,693



62,898



38,350 COST OF GOODS SOLD



(10,895)



(10,873)



(16,349) RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT EXPENSES, NET



(44,616)



(38,167)



(29,734) SELLING, GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES



(9,899)



(11,148)



(12,729) OPERATING INCOME (LOSS)



(10,717)



2,710



(20,462) FINANCIAL EXPENSES



(7,966)



(9,671)



(7,521) FINANCIAL INCOME



407



438



401 FINANCIAL EXPENSES  NET



(7,559)



(9,233)



(7,120) NET LOSS FOR THE YEAR

$ (18,276)

$ (6,523)

$ (27,582) LOSS PER SHARE OF COMMON STOCK  BASIC AND DILUTED

$ (1.23)

$ (0.22)

$ (0.62) WEIGHTED AVERAGE NUMBER OF SHARES OF COMMON STOCK

















USED IN COMPUTING LOSS PER SHARE  BASIC AND DILUTED



14,838,213



29,148,047



44,140,233

SOURCE Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc.
HOUSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE: PWR) announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend to stockholders of $0.07 per share. The dividend is payable on April 18, 2022, to stockholders of record as of April 11, 2022.

About Quanta Services

Quanta Services is a leading specialized contracting services company, delivering comprehensive infrastructure solutions for the utility, renewable energy, communications, pipeline and energy industries. Quanta's comprehensive services include designing, installing, repairing and maintaining energy and communications infrastructure. With operations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and select other international markets, Quanta has the manpower, resources and expertise to safely complete projects that are local, regional, national or international in scope. For more information, visit www.quantaservices.com.

Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements

This press release (and any oral statements regarding the subject matter of this press release) contains forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the "safe harbor" from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to expectations regarding the declaration, amount or timing of any future dividends; expectations regarding Quanta's business or financial outlook; and Quanta's ability to deliver increased value or return capital to stockholders; as well as statements reflecting expectations, intentions, assumptions or beliefs about future events and other statements that do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, involve or rely on a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict or are beyond our control, and reflect management's beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the statements are made. We caution you that actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted by our forward-looking statements and that any or all of our forward-looking statements may turn out to be inaccurate or incorrect. Forward-looking statements can be affected by inaccurate assumptions and by known or unknown risks and uncertainties, including, among others, market, industry, economic, financial or political conditions outside of the control of Quanta, quarterly variations in operating results, liquidity, financial condition, cash flows, capital requirements, reinvestment opportunities or other financial results; requirements relating to dividends under Delaware law and the credit agreement for Quanta's senior credit facility; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in Quanta's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2021 and any other documents that Quanta files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For a discussion of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, investors are urged to refer to Quanta's documents filed with the SEC that are available through the company's website at www.quantaservices.com or through the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering and Analysis Retrieval System (EDGAR) at www.sec.gov. Should one or more of these risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are current only as of this date. Quanta does not undertake and expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Quanta further expressly disclaims any written or oral statements made by any third party regarding the subject matter of this press release.

Investors - Kip Rupp, CFA, IRC

Quanta Services, Inc.

(713) 341-7260

SOURCE Quanta Services, Inc.
Under the contract, RMD will produce solid state, fixed-face and rotating SPY-6 variants that will deliver unprecedented integrated air and missile defense capabilities for seven types of U.S. Navy ships over the next 40 years. Those vessels include the Navy's new Arleigh Burke class Flight III destroyers, aircraft carriers and amphibious ships; today's Flight IIA destroyers will be backfit with an upgraded radar.

"There is no other radar with the surface maritime capabilities of SPY-6," said Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Missiles & Defense. "SPY-6 is the most advanced naval radar in existence, and it will provide our military a giant leap forward in capability for decades to come."

Since its inception, more than $600 million has been invested in the development and manufacturing of the SPY-6 family of radars. When compared to legacy radars, SPY-6 will bring new capabilities to the surface fleet, such as advanced electronic warfare protection and enhanced detection abilities.

SPY-6 array radar variants have between nine and 37 radar modular assemblies, known as RMAs. Common RMAs allow SPY-6 to be scalable and modular to support production for the U.S. and partner nations across all variants, to include the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar. This commonality supports standardized logistics and training for those who work on the radars.

SPY-6 radar installation is complete on the Navy's first Flight III destroyer, the USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), which is scheduled to be operational in 2024. Radar array deliveries are complete for the next ship in the class, the future USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128).

About Raytheon Technologies

Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. With four industry-leading businesses  Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense  the company delivers solutions that push the boundaries in avionics, cybersecurity, directed energy, electric propulsion, hypersonics, and quantum physics. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Media Contact

Tara Wood

[email protected]

SOURCE Raytheon Technologies
"Cheer Boxes," Now En Route to Poland, Meant to Bring Joy to the Youngest Who Have Been Displaced

LAS VEGAS, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Realty ONE Group, a modern, purpose-driven lifestyle brand and ONE of the fastest growing franchisors in the world, set off on a crusade only three short weeks ago to collect tens of thousands of shoe boxes of toys, "cheer boxes," for Ukrainian children who have been displaced by the war.

The idea came from the daughters of the company's CEO and founder, Kuba Jewgieniew, who wanted children to help children in need. Jewgieniew's parents and family are from Poland while his wife, Luba Jewgieniew, was born and raised in Ukraine. The family originally hoped to collect just 300 boxes, but the result was well beyond anything the girls or the company could have expected.

"People helping people is what our COOLTURE (cool + culture) is all about," said Kuba Jewgieniew , CEO and Founder of Realty ONE Group. "Our entire ONE family across 45 states shared their love along with local schools, hospitals, neighbors and other real estate companies and it was ONE of the most amazing things I've ever experienced.

In total, Realty ONE Group estimates it collected more than 30,000 cheer boxes stuffed with toys, some clothing and loving, hand-crafted notes to all ages of Ukrainian children. The boxes began to overflow at the company's several hub offices in Orange County, Phoenix and Las Vegas, and now have been crated and shipped to the east coast where they'll make the final trek overseas to the south of Poland where Jewgieniew's family will drive distribution efforts.

Realty ONE Group has a long legacy of giving back through its 501(c)3, ONE Cares, having impacted nearly 300,000 lives in 2021, giving back more than $200,000 to organizations everywhere while planting 139,000 trees through its ONE Tree, ONE World program to make the earth greener as we expand our footprint around the world.

The UNBrokerage, as it's known in the industry, now has more than 17,000 real estate professionals in more than 400 offices in 45 states, Washington D.C. and Canada and will be opening in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Italy, Singapore and Spain, in addition to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

Learn more at www.OwnAOne.com .

For "cheer box" photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.5611210098907890&type=3

About Realty ONE Group

Founded in 2005, Realty ONE Group is an industry disruptor, radically changing the face of real estate franchising with its unique business model, fun coolture, technology infrastructure and superior support for its real estate professionals. The company has rapidly evolved to include more than 17,000 real estate professionals in over 400+ offices across 45 U.S. states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, Canada, Italy, Spain, Singapore and Costa Rica. Realty ONE Group ranks in the top one percent in the nation by REAL Trends, has been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as a Top 5 Real Estate Franchise and has been on Inc. 500's list of the Fastest-Growing Companies for seven consecutive years. Realty ONE Group is surging ahead, opening doors, not only for its clients but for real estate professionals and franchise owners. To learn more, visit www.RealtyONEGroup.com.

SOURCE Realty ONE Group
Technavio analyzes the market by End-user (Electronics and communications, Automotive, Robotics and Automation, Security, and Others) and Application (Temperature sensing, Relay application, and Others). The is expected to have a positive impact on the growth of the reed sensors switches market in France during the forecast period.

This report presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources by an analysis of key parameters.

Reed Sensors Switches Market in France Value Chain Analysis

Our research includes detailed information on the value chain analysis for the French market for reed sensors switches, which manufacturers can use to gain a competitive advantage throughout the forecast period.

The value chain of the industrial machinery market includes the following core components:

Inputs

Inbound logistics

Operations

Outbound logistics

Marketing and sales

Aftermarket and service

Industry innovations

Download Free Sample Report: to know additional highlights and key points on various market segments and their impact in coming years.

Reed Sensors Switches Market in France 2022-2026: Segmentation

Reed Sensors Switches Market in France is segmented as below:

End-user

Electronics And Communications



Automotive



Robotics And Automation



Security



Others

Application

Temperature Sensing



Relay Application



Others

Learn more about the additional trends impacting the future of the market and the positive and negative consequences on the businesses. Download a Free Sample Report

Vendor Insights

Global medical education is fragmented and the vendors are deploying various organic and inorganic growth strategies to compete in the market.

The growing competition in the market is compelling vendors to adopt various growth strategies such as promotional activities and spending on advertisements to improve the visibility of their services. Some vendors are also adopting inorganic growth strategies such as M&As to remain competitive in the market.

Companies Mentioned

CELDUC Groupe

IMI Norgren Herion Pvt. Ltd.

Littelfuse Inc.

Omega Fusibili Spa

PIC GmbH

Reed Switch Developments Corp.

SENSATA TECHNOLOGIES HOLDING PLC

SMC Corp.

Standex Electronics Inc.

TE Connectivity Ltd.

Find additional highlights on the growth strategies adopted by vendors and their product offerings, Read Free Sample Report.

Reed Sensors Switches Market in France 2022-2026: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2022-2026

Detailed information on factors that will assist reed sensors switches market in France growth during the next five years

growth during the next five years Estimation of the reed sensors switches market in France size and its contribution to the parent market

size and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the reed sensors switches market in France

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of reed sensors to switch market in France vendors

Customize Your Report

Don't miss out on the opportunity to speak to our analyst and know more insights about this market report. Our analysts can also help you customize this report according to your needs. Our analysts and industry experts will work directly with you to understand your requirements and provide you with customized data in a short amount of time.

We offer USD 1,000 worth of FREE customization at the time of purchase. Speak to our Analyst now!

Related Reports:

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Reed Sensors Switches Market In France Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2021 Forecast period 2022-2026 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 7.86% Market growth 2022-2026 876.24 th units Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 6.74 Regional analysis France Performing market contribution France at 100% Key consumer countries France Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled CELDUC Groupe, IMI Norgren Herion Pvt. Ltd., Littelfuse Inc., Omega Fusibili Spa, PIC GmbH, Reed Switch Developments Corp., SENSATA TECHNOLOGIES HOLDING PLC, SMC Corp., Standex Electronics Inc., and TE Connectivity Ltd. Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and future consumer dynamics, market condition analysis for forecast period, Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Key Topics Covered:

***1. Executive Summary

**1.1 Market Overview

*Exhibit 01: Key Finding 1

*Exhibit 02: Key Finding 2

*Exhibit 03: Key Finding 6

*Exhibit 04: Key Finding 7

***2. Market Landscape

**2.1 Market ecosystem

*2.1.1 Parent Market

*Exhibit 05 Parent market

*Exhibit 06: Market characteristics

**2.2 Value Chain Analysis

*Exhibit 07: Value Chain Analysis: industrial machinery market

*2.2.1 Inputs

*2.2.2 Inbound logistics

*2.2.3 Operations

*2.2.4 Outbound logistics

*2.2.5 Marketing and sales

*2.2.6 Aftermarket and service

*2.2.7 Industry innovations

***3. Market Sizing

**3.1 Market definition

*Exhibit 08: Offerings of vendors included in the market definition

**3.2 Market segment analysis

*Exhibit 09: Market segments

**3.3 Market size 2021

**3.4 Market outlook: Forecast for 2021 - 2026

*3.4.1Estimating growth rates for emerging and high-growth markets

*3.4.2Estimating growth rates for mature markets

*Exhibit 10: Global - Market size and forecast 2021 - 2026($ thousand)

*Exhibit 11: Global market: Year-over-year growth 2021 - 2026 (%)

***4. Five Forces Analysis

**4.1 Five Forces Summary

*Exhibit 12: Five forces analysis 2021 - 2026

**4.2 Bargaining power of buyers

*Exhibit 13: Bargaining power of the buyer

**4.3 Bargaining power of suppliers

*Exhibit 14: Bargaining power of the supplier

**4.4 Threat of new entrants

*Exhibit 15: Threat of new entrants

**4.5 Threat of substitutes

*Exhibit 16: Threat of substitutes

**4.6 Threat of rivalry

*Exhibit 17: Threat of rivalry

**4.7 Market condition

*Exhibit 18: Market condition - Five forces 2021

***5. Market Segmentation by Application

**5.1 Market segments

*Exhibit 19: Application- Market share 2021 - 2026 (%)

**5.2 Comparison by Application

*Exhibit 20: Comparison by Application

**5.3 Temperature sensing - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 21: Temperature sensing - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ thousand)

*Exhibit 22: Temperature sensing - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**5.4 Relay application - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 23: Relay application - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ thousand)

*Exhibit 24: Relay application - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**5.5 Others - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

*Exhibit 25: Others - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ thousand)

*Exhibit 26: Others - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

**5.6 Market opportunity by Application

*Exhibit 27: Market opportunity by Application

***6 Market Segmentation by End-user

**6.1 Market segments

*Exhibit 28: End-user Market share 2021-2026 (%)

**6.2 Comparison by End-user

*Exhibit 29: Comparison by End-user

**6.3 Electronics and communications - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 30: Electronics and communications - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ thousand)

*Exhibit 31: Electronics and communications - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**6.4 Automotive - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 32: Automotive - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ thousand)

*Exhibit 33: Automotive - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**6.5 Robotics and automation - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 34: Robotics and automation - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ thousand)

*Exhibit 35: Robotics and automation - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**6.6 Security - Market size and forecast 2021-2026

*Exhibit 36: Security - Market size and forecast 2021-2026 ($ thousand)

*Exhibit 37: Security - Year-over-year growth 2021-2026 (%)

**6.7 Others - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

*Exhibit 38: Others - Market size and forecast 2020-2025 ($ thousand)

*Exhibit 39: Others - Year-over-year growth 2020-2025 (%)

**6.8 Market opportunity by End user

*Exhibit 40: Market opportunity by End user

***7. Customer landscape

*Technavio's customer landscape matrix comparing Drivers or price sensitivity, Adoption lifecycle, importance in customer price basket, Adoption rate and Key purchase criteria

**7.1 Overview

*Exhibit 41: Customer landscape

***8. Drivers, Challenges, and Trends

**8.1 Market drivers

*8.1.1 Reed sensor applications in the electronics industry

*8.1.2 Adoption in low-power metering applications

*8.1.3 Adoption of home monitoring and surveillance systems

**8.2 Market challenges

*8.2.1 Technical constraints

*8.2.2 Availability of Substitutes

*8.2.3 Slowdown in the global automotive industry

*Exhibit 42: Impact of drivers and challenges

**8.3 Market trends

*8.3.1 Increase in industrial automation

*8.3.2 Improved cost-effectiveness of reed sensor switches

*8.3.3 Increasing deployment of reed sensors in medical and healthcare devices

***9. Vendor Landscape

**9.1 Overview

*Exhibit 43: Vendor landscape

**9.2 Landscape disruption

*Exhibit 44: Landscape disruption

*Exhibit 45: Industry Risk

**9.3 Competitive Landscape

***10. Vendor Analysis

**10.1 Vendors covered

*Exhibit 46: Vendors covered

**10.2 Market positioning of vendors

*Exhibit 47: Market positioning of vendors

**10.3 CELDUC Groupe

*Exhibit 48: CELDUC Groupe - Overview

*Exhibit 49: CELDUC Groupe - Product and service

*Exhibit 50: CELDUC Groupe - Key offerings

**10.4 IMI Norgren Herion Pvt. Ltd.

*Exhibit 51: IMI Norgren Herion Pvt. Ltd. - Overview

*Exhibit 52: IMI Norgren Herion Pvt. Ltd. - Product and service

*Exhibit 53: IMI Norgren Herion Pvt. Ltd. - Product and service

**10.5 Littelfuse Inc.

*Exhibit 54: Littelfuse Inc. - Overview

*Exhibit 55: Littelfuse Inc. - Business segments

*Exhibit 56: Littelfuse Inc. - Key offering

*Exhibit 57: Littelfuse Inc. - Segment focus

**10.6 Omega Fusibili Spa

*Exhibit 58: Omega Fusibili Spa - Overview

*Exhibit 59: Omega Fusibili Spa - Product and service

*Exhibit 60: Omega Fusibili Spa - Key offerings

**10.7 PIC GmbH

*Exhibit 61: PIC GmbH - Overview

*Exhibit 62: PIC GmbH - Product and service

*Exhibit 63: PIC GmbH - Key offerings

**10.8 Reed Switch Developments Corp.

*Exhibit 64: Reed Switch Developments Corp. - Overview

*Exhibit 65: Reed Switch Developments Corp. - Product and service

*Exhibit 66: Reed Switch Developments Corp. - Key offerings

**10.9 SENSATA TECHNOLOGIES HOLDING PLC

*Exhibit 67: SENSATA TECHNOLOGIES HOLDING PLC - Overview

*Exhibit 68: SENSATA TECHNOLOGIES HOLDING PLC - Business segments

*Exhibit 69: SENSATA TECHNOLOGIES HOLDING PLC - Key offerings

*Exhibit 70: SENSATA TECHNOLOGIES HOLDING PLC - Segment focus

*10.10 SMC Corp.

*Exhibit 71: SMC Corp. - Overview

*Exhibit 72: SMC Corp. - Business segments

*Exhibit 73: SMC Corp. - Key offerings

**10.11 Standex Electronics Inc.

*Exhibit 74: Standex Electronics Inc. - Overview

*Exhibit 75: Standex Electronics Inc. - Product and service

*Exhibit 76: Standex Electronics Inc. - Key offerings

**10.12 TE Connectivity Ltd.

*Exhibit 77: TE Connectivity Ltd. - Overview

*Exhibit 78: TE Connectivity Ltd. - Business segments

*Exhibit 79: TE Connectivity Ltd. - Key offerings

*Exhibit 80: TE Connectivity Ltd. - Segment focus

***11. Appendix

**11.1 Scope of the report

*11.1.1 Market definition

*11.1.2 Objectives

*11.1.3 Notes and caveats

**11.2 Currency conversion rates for US$

*Exhibit 81: Currency conversion rates for US$

**11.3 Research Methodology

*Exhibit 82: Research Methodology

*Exhibit 83: Validation techniques employed for market sizing

*Exhibit 84: Information sources

**11.4 List of abbreviations

*Exhibit 85: List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

Contact

Technavio Research

Jesse Maida

Media & Marketing Executive

US: +1 844 364 1100

UK: +44 203 893 3200

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.technavio.com/

SOURCE Technavio
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Restoration Builders, Inc. ("Restoration Builders" or "The Company") announced today that it has acquired abcSAGE, Inc. ("abcSAGE" or "The Company"), headquartered in Murrietta, CA.

abcSAGE was founded in 2015 by founder and President Steve Fulgham. The Company is a licensed General Contractor in California that specializes in solar and renewable energy systems. Mr. Fulgham brings over Forty years of roofing and construction experience, as well as five California State Contractors Licenses to the company. He is double-certified by the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners [NABCEP], is a registered Subject Matter Expert for the State of California, and serves the California State Contractors Board by helping craft licensing curriculum.

Mr. Fulgham is also the Co-Founder of The Veteran Asset, a non-profit organization which assists U.S. military veterans obtain careers in the renewable energy sector. The organization recruits, facilitates training, and provides placement services for veterans seeking a career in the solar industry. He was selected by the U.S Department of Energy as the official "Solar Ready Vets" trainer for Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Prior to those positions, Mr. Fulgham served as the Chief Executive Officer of Ambassador Energy, Inc. and was a Senior Vice President of Sales for Computer Associates, Inc. He graduated from the University of Washington with a BA in Business Management.

"I'm thrilled to announce that abcSAGE has joined our growing team," said John Lorenz, Chairman and CEO of Restoration Builders, Inc. "Steve is a well-respected industry expert. I believe he is uniquely qualified to help with deploying The Company's strategic plans to expand operations into West Coast markets. His values are well aligned with The Company's values, especially in our mutual commitment to respect and honor our nation's veterans. Steve has excellent leadership skills with direct experience in renewable energy systems and construction. I am delighted to extend him a warm welcome to the Restoration Builders team."

About Restoration Builders, Inc.

Restoration Builders is a residential and commercial contractor operating within the United States. Their mission is to protect, restore and build properties, strengthen families and support the community. They are committed locally and ready to serve wide scale for disaster response. To learn more, please visit their website at www.restorbuilders.com

For further information please contact:

Janet Carnell Lorenz

[email protected]

(425) 999-6508

SOURCE Restoration Builders
Deal to create premier integrated wealth management provider in UK, Channel Islands and Ireland

TORONTO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Royal Bank of Canada ("RBC") today announced that, subject to Brewin Dolphin Holdings PLC ("Brewin Dolphin") shareholder approval and receipt of all regulatory approvals, RBC is acquiring Brewin Dolphin.

RBC Wealth Management (Jersey) Holdings Limited ("Bidco"), a wholly owned subsidiary of RBC, has published a Rule 2.7 announcement in the UK under the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, announcing its recommended cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Brewin Dolphin for 515 pence per share, implying an equity value of approximately C$2.6bn (1.6bn) on a fully diluted basis.

Brewin Dolphin is one of the UK's leading independent providers of discretionary wealth management in the UK and Ireland, with a network of more than 30 offices and Assets under Management of 59bn as at December 31, 2021. Brewin Dolphin has an impressive track record of growth and innovation and a longstanding record of delivering superior client service and robust investment performance.

Commenting on the acquisition, Doug Guzman, Group Head, RBC Wealth Management, RBC Insurance and RBC Investor & Treasury Services, said:

"The UK is a key growth market for RBC, and Brewin Dolphin provides us with an exceptional platform to significantly transform our wealth management business in the region, giving RBC Wealth Management a # 3 market position in the UK and Ireland, in addition to being a market leader in Canada, with a growing position in the United States. By combining two highly complementary businesses, we will increase the depth and breadth of our services and position the combined business as a premier integrated wealth management provider to private and institutional clients.

Both management teams are excited by a shared vision of high quality client service, client-centric culture and the exceptional growth opportunities that we can deliver together. We look to continue investing in the combined business and take it to greater heights. We are confident that this acquisition will deliver benefits to our combined clients, employees and stakeholders."

David Thomas, CEO, RBC Capital Markets Europe and Head, Wealth Management added:

"This is a transformative acquisition for RBC Wealth Management and cements RBC's position as a market leader across multiple business platforms in the UK, the Channel Islands and Europe. We look forward to welcoming Brewin Dolphin's employees and clients and working together to leverage RBC's global reach and significant capabilities to create new opportunities for the combined business to grow."

Robin Beer, Chief Executive Officer of Brewin Dolphin, said:

"The Brewin Dolphin Board is pleased to recommend the offer by RBC in the interests of our shareholders, our clients, our people and our business partners. Building on the strong organic growth that we have achieved to date, the combined businesses will create an attractive platform for future growth. As part of RBC we would be able to provide our clients with a broader range of products and services, and expand our distribution channels through leveraging RBC's global presence. We share complementary values which emphasize the importance of long-standing client relationships and an inclusive culture supportive of employees and local communities. Our focus will be on maintaining continuity, so that we build on what we have already achieved. I am looking forward to us working together to enhance our market position as a leading advice-focused, digitally enabled wealth manager."

The acquisition is anticipated to result in a ~40 bps reduction in RBC's Common Equity Tier 1 ("CET1") ratio1 at the Effective Date2. RBC believes that the acquisition will result in an adjusted EPS accretion for RBC of ~1% in the first year following the Effective Date excluding the benefit of future revenue synergies.3 Over the medium term RBC believes that the combined wealth management business in the UK, Ireland and Channel Islands can generate revenue CAGR of ~9% and achieve adjusted profit before tax of ~C$0.5 billion including the benefit of cost and revenue synergies4. The acquisition is expected to generate a double-digit IRR5 excluding the benefit of future revenue synergies.

The acquisition is subject to a number of customary conditions specified in the Rule 2.7 Announcement, including regulatory approvals and Brewin Dolphin shareholder approval. We anticipate completion of this transaction by end of Q3 2022.

Full details of the acquisition can be found in the Rule 2.7 announcement which is available at: https://www.rbc.com/investor-relations/offer-for-brewin-dolphin.html.

About RBC

Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from the 88,000+ employees who leverage their imaginations and insights to bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada's biggest bank, and one of the largest in the world based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our 17 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 27 other countries. Learn more at rbc.com.

We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. See how at rbc.com/community-social-impact.

About RBC Wealth Management

RBC Wealth Management directly serves affluent, high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients globally with a full suite of banking, investment, trust and other wealth management solutions, from our key operational hubs in Canada, the United States, the British Isles, and Asia. The business also provides asset management products and services directly and through RBC and third party distributors to institutional and individual clients, through its RBC Global Asset Management business (which includes BlueBay Asset Management). RBC Wealth Management has C$1.3 trillion of assets under administration, C$1 trillion of assets under management and over 5,500 client facing advisors globally. For more information, please visit www.rbcwealthmanagement.com .

_____________________________ 1 CET1 is calculated using OSFI's Capital Adequacy Requirements (CAR) guideline. 2 Based on RBC's and Brewin Dolphin's estimated balance sheets at the Effective Date, including transaction related impacts. 3 This is a non-GAAP measure. Adjusted EPS excludes impact of intangibles amortization, dilutive impact of exchangeable shares and certain deal, transaction, integration costs. 4 This is a non-GAAP measure. Adjusted PBT is the statutory profit before tax adjusted for the following items: amortisation of intangibles including client relationships and brand; defined benefit pension scheme past service costs; acquisition costs; incentivisation awards; onerous contracts and other gains and losses. 5 "Internal rate of return".

About Brewin Dolphin

Brewin Dolphin is a UK FTSE 250 provider of discretionary wealth management. With 59.0* billion in total funds, we offer award-winning, personalised wealth management services that meet the varied needs of our clients including individuals, charities and corporates.

Our services range from bespoke, discretionary investment management to retirement planning and tax-efficient investing. Our focus on discretionary investment management has led to significant growth in client funds and we now manage 52.0* billion on a discretionary basis.

Our intermediary business manages 19.0* billion of assets for over 1,700 advice firms either on a discretionary basis or via our Managed Portfolio Service, the MI Brewin Dolphin Voyager fund range and Sustainable MPS.

In line with the premium we place on personal relationships, we've built a network of over 30 offices across the UK and Republic of Ireland, staffed by qualified investment managers and financial planners. We are committed to the most exacting standards of client service, with long-term thinking and absolute focus on our clients' needs at the core.

For more information, visit: www.brewin.co.uk

*as at 31st December 2021.

Brewin Dolphin is authorised and regulated by the FCA (Financial Services Register reference number 124444)

Key performance and non-GAAP measures

We use a variety of financial measures to evaluate our performance. In addition to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) prescribed measures, we use certain key performance and non-GAAP measures we believe provide useful information to investors regarding our financial condition and result of operations. EPS excluding the impact of intangibles amortization, dilutive impact of exchangeable shares and certain deal, transaction and integration costs enhances comparability as some institutions do not utilize such structures.

Readers are cautioned that key performance measures and non-GAAP measures, do not have any standardized meanings prescribed by GAAP, and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures disclosed by other financial institutions.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of certain securities laws, including the "safe harbour" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and any applicable Canadian securities legislation, with respect to RBC's and Brewin Dolphin's financial performance, beliefs, plans, expectations, and estimates. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to plans for the combined operations of RBC and Brewin Dolphin, the financial, operational and capital impacts of the proposed transaction, our strategies or future actions, and our objectives and commitments. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is presented for the purpose of assisting shareholders and analysts in understanding the proposed transaction and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward looking statements are typically identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "foresee", "forecast", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "goal", "plan" and "project" and similar expressions of future or conditional verbs such as "will", "may", "should", "could" or "would".

By their very nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, which give rise to the possibility that our predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that our assumptions may not be correct and that our actual results may differ materially from such predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations or conclusions.

We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements as a number of risk factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors  many of which are beyond our control and the effects of which can be difficult to predict  include, but are not limited to: the possibility that the proposed transaction does not close when expected or at all because of the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the right of one or both of the parties to terminate the proposed transaction, including because required regulatory, shareholder or other approvals and/or other conditions to closing are not received or satisfied on a timely basis or at all or are received subject to adverse conditions or requirements; the possibility that the anticipated benefits from the proposed transaction, such as being accretive to adjusted earnings per share (EPS), creating synergy opportunities and growing our UK operations are not realized in the time frame anticipated or at all as a result of changes in general economic and market conditions, interest and exchange rates, monetary policy, laws and regulations (including changes to capital requirements) and their enforcement, and the degree of competition in the geographic and business areas in which RBC and Brewin Dolphin currently operate; the risk that any announcements relating to the proposed combination could have adverse effects on the market price of the common stock of either or both parties to the transaction; the possibility that the business of RBC and Brewin Dolphin may not perform as expected or in a manner consistent with historical performance; the ability to promptly and effectively integrate Brewin Dolphin; RBC's ability to achieve its capital objectives; RBC's ability to cross-sell more products to customers; reputational risks and the reaction of Brewin Dolphin's customers and employees to the transaction; the possibility that the transaction may be more expensive to complete than anticipated, including as a result of unexpected factors or events; diversion of management time on transaction-related issues; increased exposure to exchange rate fluctuations; material adverse changes in economic and industry conditions; general competitive, economic, political and market conditions; and those other factors discussed in the risks sections and Impact of COVID-19 pandemic section of RBC's 2021 Annual Report and the Risk management section of RBC's Q1 2022 Report to Shareholders, and the factors discussed in Brewin Dolphin's Annual Report and Accounts 2021 all of which outline certain key factors and risks that may affect our future results and our ability to anticipate and effectively manage risks arising from all of the foregoing factors.

We caution that the foregoing list of risk factors is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect our results. When relying on our forward-looking statements to make decisions with respect to us, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Material economic assumptions underlying the forward looking-statements contained in this press release are set out in the Economic, market and regulatory review and outlook section and for each business segment under the Strategic priorities and Outlook headings in RBC's 2021 Annual Report, as updated by the Economic, market and regulatory review and outlook section of RBC's Q1 2022 Report to Shareholders.

Any forward-looking statements contained in this document represent the views of RBC and Brewin Dolphin only as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, neither RBC nor Brewin Dolphin undertakes to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

SOURCE RBC
Dresser brings over 20 years of medical product development experience to guide Rune's brain data platform

SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Rune Labs , a precision neurology software and data platform company, today announced the addition of Mark Dresser, PhD, to its scientific advisory board. Dresser currently is Senior Vice President, Biomarker Sciences & Clinical Pharmacology at Gilead Sciences and was recently elected President of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (ASCPT).

"Mark's experience in developing better biomarkers for drug development will be integral as Rune Labs continues to grow and partner with biopharma companies," said Brian Pepin, CEO of Rune Labs. "We've already shown how to leverage brain data to device-makers, providers and patients, and as pharma companies look to improve clinical trials and patient monitoring, we're looking forward to tapping into Mark's vast understanding of the space as a whole."

Dresser has over two decades of experience in medical product development, spanning all phases of R&D in start-up, biotech, pharma, and academic environments. At Gilead Sciences, Dresser oversees all R&D efforts spanning biomarkers, diagnostics, clinical translational science, clinical pharmacology, pharmacometrics, and clinical bioanalysis. Prior to joining Gilead, Mark served as SVP and a founding member of the executive team at Denali Therapeutics, where he helped build numerous departments, including drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, toxicology and CMC, investigating treatments for neurodegenerative diseases including Parkinsons disease and Alzheimers disease. His expertise in the genetics and biology of neurodegenerative diseases were key to advancing five compounds into clinical development at Denali, and in 2017, he played an integral role in the companys IPO. In addition to his corporate experience, he is also an Adjunct Full Professor in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).

"Rune Labs and my home institution of UCSF have shared a close relationship in driving new research for deeper understanding of how diseases like Parkinson's disease really impact the brain  and a shared goal for developing better biomarkers to improve and accelerate clinical trials," said Dresser. "I'm glad to be part of their scientific advisory board and look forward to sharing my knowledge with Brian and the team at Rune."

Rune's first-in-class precision neurology software platform integrates electrophysiology, brain imaging, and device data together with wearable data and clinical labels. The combination provides researchers, drug developers, and clinicians with the tools to guide treatment, uncover hidden disease phenotypes, and design better-targeted therapies. Its lead product, StrivePD, allows patients to track their symptoms and medication use in advance of clinical visits. The platform also includes a comprehensive dashboard tool that helps movement disorder specialists and neurologists visualize various data sources, to identify patterns within and across patients to tailor and optimize care. For more information, please visit www.runelabs.io .

About Rune Labs

Rune Labs is a software and data analytics company for precision neurology, built to support care delivery and therapy development. StrivePD, our care delivery tool, enables patients and clinicians to better manage Parkinson's disease by providing access to curated dashboards that summarize a range of patient data sources. For therapeutics development, biopharma and medical device companies leverage our technology, network of engaged clinicians and patients, and large longitudinal real-world dataset to expedite their development programs.

Media contacts:

Consort Partners for Rune Labs

[email protected]

SOURCE Rune Labs
For ninth consecutive year, Lead Health & Safety Manager Scott Bicksler serves on committee.

HANOVER, Md., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Aerotek, a leading talent solutions provider, announced today that Lead Health & Safety Manager Scott Bicksler has been appointed co-chairman of the American Staffing Association's Employee Safety Committee. Scott's work with the committee over the last near-decade is a testament to Aerotek's commitment to always placing the health and safety of its contractor population first.

"Scott and his team are at the forefront of evolving safety regulations for our industry," says Tom Kelly, Aerotek President. "We are grateful for Scott's ongoing partnership with ASA, OSHA and fellow committee members, and his dedication to the development of training, resources and materials for strong health and safety infrastructure."

ASA's Employee Safety Committee is a formal alliance between professionals throughout the staffing industry and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Bicksler has partnered with fellow committee members since its creation on providing contractor health and safety best practices and pitfalls to host employers, staffing agencies and contractors themselves. The committee shares their learnings and recommendations through webinars, face to face meetings, emails, conferences and more.

This will be Scott's second consecutive term as committee co-chair, and Scott has served as a member of the committee for nearly a decade since its origin in 2013. Bicksler is also a volunteer with California Staffing Professionals, an ASA-affiliated chapter. His hard work demonstrates Aerotek's commitment to mitigating and eliminating workplace hazards and exposures, guaranteeing employee safety training and orientation, and delivering clear communication between the corporation and its employees.

To learn more about Aerotek, please visit Aerotek.com.

About Aerotek

Our People Are Everything. For more than 35 years, Aerotek Inc. has built a reputation for providing the highest-quality staffing and workforce management solutions. With deep expertise in the manufacturing, logistics, construction, aviation and facility management industries, we partner with 13,000 clients and more than 200,000 light industrial and skilled trades contract employees every year. Our people-focused approach connects quality talent with meaningful work and continuous opportunities. Headquartered in Hanover, Md., Aerotek operates a unified network of over 250 offices across North America. Aerotek is an operating company within Allegis Group, a global leader in talent solutions. To learn more, visit: Aerotek.com | 1-888-AEROTEK.

About the American Staffing Association

The American Staffing Association is the voice of the U.S. staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry. ASA and its state affiliates advance the interests of the industry across all sectors through advocacy, research, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices. For more information about ASA, visit americanstaffing.net.

SOURCE Aerotek
MECHANICSBURG, Pa., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Select Medical Holdings Corporation ("Select Medical") (NYSE: SEM), will release the financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2022 on Thursday, May 5, 2022 after the market closes.

Select Medical will host a conference call regarding its first quarter results, as well as its business outlook, on Friday, May 6, 2022, at 9:00am ET. The domestic dial in number for the call is 1-866-440-2669. The international dial in number is 1-409-220-9844. The conference ID for the call is 5892378. The conference call will be webcast simultaneously and can be accessed at Select Medical Holdings Corporation's website www.selectmedicalholdings.com.

For those unable to participate in the conference call, a replay will be available until 12:00pm ET, May 13, 2022. The replay number is 1-855-859-2056 (domestic) or 1-404-537-3406 (international). The conference ID for the replay will be 5892378. The replay can also be accessed at Select Medical Holdings Corporation's website, www.selectmedicalholdings.com.

Select Medical is one of the largest operators of critical illness recovery hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation clinics, and occupational health centers in the United States based on the number of facilities. Select Medical's reportable segments include the critical illness recovery hospital segment, rehabilitation hospital segment, the outpatient rehabilitation segment, and the Concentra segment. As of December 31, 2021, Select Medical operated 104 critical illness recovery hospitals in 28 states, 30 rehabilitation hospitals in 12 states, and 1,881 outpatient rehabilitation clinics in 38 states and the District of Columbia. Select Medical's joint venture subsidiary Concentra operated 518 occupational health centers in 41 states. Concentra also provides contract services at employer worksites. At December 31, 2021, Select Medical had operations in 46 states and the District of Columbia. Information about Select Medical is available at www.selectmedical.com.

Investor inquiries:

Joel T. Veit

Senior Vice President and Treasurer

717-972-1100

[email protected]

SOURCE Select Medical Holdings Corporation
Malta's Prime Minister Robert Abela (1st R) congratulates the new Foreign Minister Ian Borg (4th R) in the presence of President George Vella (2nd R) during a swear-in ceremony in Valletta, Malta, March 30, 2022. (Photo by Jonathan Borg/Xinhua)

VALLETTA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Malta's Prime Minister Robert Abela on Wednesday appointed his 24-member cabinet of ministers and junior ministers, which includes four newly elected parliamentarians.

The new cabinet has "a mix of youth and experience," the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement minutes before a long ceremony, during which they took their oath of office in the presence of President George Vella.

According to the statement, the new cabinet is charged with implementing the electoral program, whose main goals are a "more beautiful Malta, equal opportunities and better quality of life."

Chris Fearne remains health minister. The new Foreign Minister is Ian Borg after Evarist Bartolo failed to get elected.

The new Justice Minister is newcomer Jonathan Attard, replacing Edward Zammit Lewis, who also failed to get elected. Another newcomer, Jo-Etienne Abela, will be minister for active aging. Silvio Schembri retained the economy ministry; Clayton Bartolo will continue as tourism minister; Clifton Bartolo will remain education minister; and Clyde Caruana will keep the finance portfolio. The Maltese island of Gozo will remain under the remit of Clint Camilleri. 
SALT LAKE CITY, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Salt Lake City based technology company, SixFifty , has launched a free, automated tool to help Ukrainians living in the United States apply to stay in the country during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ukrainians whose visas expireor would otherwise be required to return homehave two options to stay in the U.S. Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and asylum. Both options, however, require complicated applications that are only available in English. SixFifty automated the TPS and asylum applications in English and Ukrainian to help those who may not have easy access to legal help.

"Going home isn't an option for Ukrainians right now," said Kimball Parker, CEO of SixFifty. "Tens of thousands of Ukrainians will need to apply for TPS or asylum over the next several months in order to stay in the U.S. SixFifty is hoping to alleviate the stress of applying during what is surely one of the most challenging moments in their lives."

"I have friends and family who need to apply for TPS or asylum to stay in the United States, including my mother," says Kateryna Kravchenko, a Ukrainian citizen who is studying linguistics at Brigham Young University and has helped with the translation of SixFifty's tool. "This free tool gives me comfort that they can find a way to stay in the United States legally."

SixFifty recommends that applicants use its free tools in conjunction with an attorney, although Ukrainians can use the tool directly. SixFifty's system asks a series of questions in English and Ukrainian that pertain to either the TPS or asylum applications. Based on the user's responses, SixFifty's system fills out the application documents and emails a copy to the user with instructions on how to proceed. For the TPS application, SixFifty's product can also populate a work authorization form and an attorney representation form. SixFifty worked with the Refugee Justice League and other immigration experts to ensure the tool would be as effective as possible in helping those in need.

"We are currently being flooded with requests from various Ukrainian communities seeking legal help," said Jeffrey O'Brien, Founding Partner at O'Brien Immigration. "Using SixFifty's tools will allow us to help Ukrainians apply more efficiently."

"Our pro bono volunteers at Wilson Sonsini are eager to assist in the TPS and asylum process, said Luke Liss, Pro Bono Partner at Wilson Sonsini. "With the help of SixFifty's groundbreaking technology, we hope to help many more individuals stay in the United States in the coming months than would otherwise be possible."

SixFifty works with the law firm Wilson Sonsini to automate employment and privacy paperwork for companies across the United States. SixFifty uses the proceeds from those products to build free tools for people who need legal help. During the COVID-19 pandemic, SixFifty helped tens of thousands of people to avoid eviction and foreclosure for free through www.hellolandlord.org and www.hellolender.org . This is SixFifty's first product helping people with immigration law issues.

SixFifty's free TPS and asylum tools can be found at www.sixfifty.com/ukraine . SixFifty is holding a webinar on April 6, 2022 at 11am MT (1PM ET) about how attorneys can use the tool to help Ukrainians. The webinar is free. Anyone who would like to attend can register using this link.

About SixFifty

Headquartered in the Silicon Slopes of Utah and powered by Wilson Sonsini, SixFifty is a technology company that brings the expertise of the top legal minds to your fingertips.

SixFifty's technology is programmed to take on complex legal issues by providing customized contracts, policies, and documents to people and businesses. We continuously monitor dynamic areas of the law to update our tools in real time so you can too. SixFifty customers enjoy the dual benefit of innovative technology powered by human expertise. For more information, please visit www.sixfifty.com .

About Wilson Sonsini

For more than 60 years, Wilson Sonsini's services and legal disciplines have focused on serving the principal challenges faced by the management and boards of directors of business enterprises. The firm is nationally recognized as a leading provider to growing and established clients seeking legal counsel to complete sophisticated corporate and technology transactions; manage governance and enterprise-scale matters; assist with intellectual property development, protection, and IP-driven transactions; represent them in contested disputes; and/or advise them on antitrust or other regulatory matters. With deep roots in Silicon Valley, Wilson Sonsini has offices in Austin; Beijing; Boston; Boulder; Brussels; Hong Kong; London; Los Angeles; New York; Palo Alto; Salt Lake City; San Diego; San Francisco; Seattle; Shanghai; Washington, D.C.; and Wilmington, DE. For more information, please visit www.wsgr.com.

About O'Brien Immigration Law

O'Brien Immigration's mission is to fight for and to protect the legal rights of those who wish to live in the United States. For more information, please visit: https://www.obrienimmigration.com

About Refugee Justice League

The Refugee Justice League is a group of volunteer attorneys and legal consultants who defend the Constitutional rights of refugees pro bono. The League is founded on the premise that refugees have a right to feel welcome and to be treated with dignity. For more information, please visit: https://www.refugeejustice.org/

CONTACT: Ransom Wydner, (801) 866-5666, [email protected]

SOURCE SixFifty Technologies
"We are excited to take what we've learned and created over the last 20 years in New England, we are ready to grow into new markets," says Todd Snopkowski, Snapchef CEO, "and now, with an urgent need for hospitality staffing across the nation, it feels like the right time."

For more than 20 years Snapchef has provided quality, trained, professional food service and hospitality employees. Snapchef has a true understanding of client needs, and greatly simplifies their employment challenges by providing staff recruiting, training and payroll all under one roof. Clients and franchise owners will both appreciate the proprietary ordering and scheduling technology provided by the SNAPapp and the SNAPware portal.

Snapchef features a unique 20-hour Fast Track training program that gives employees the qualifications for entry-level positions in premier commercial kitchens. Employees can complete additional modules in the Fast Track curriculum to learn new skills and further advance their careers. The offering includes access to Master Service Agreements that provide franchise owners with access to a customer base on their first day of operation. A tremendous benefit to this low cost, recession resistant opportunity.

"Bringing this proven Snapchef formula for success to other cities is really exciting," says Walter Miska, Director of Franchise Development for Snapchef, "Snapchef provides a great entrepreneurial opportunity that not only presents the potential for great income, but also the ability to transform communities through real workforce development."

Todd and the Snapchef team are thrilled to return to this year's in-person New England Food Show April 3-5, 2022, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, to engage with business leaders and entrepreneurs that share a common vision for opportunities in hospitality and foodservice.

For more about Snapchef franchising visit: www.snapcheffranchise.com

For press inquiries contact:

Shelly Andrews, Benchmark Strategies PR Associate

Email: [email protected]

For franchising inquiries contact:

Walter Miska, Snapchef Director of Franchising Development

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Snapchef
Solera has appointed top insurance and automotive business executives to key roles. Tweet this

Bill Brower is a prominent insurance expert, admired for his thought leadership regarding the future of claims. He brings rich insurance experience and has led strategic business units at Liberty Mutual, Nationwide Insurance, and LexisNexis Risk Solutions. As Solera's new Industry Relations leader, Brower will advance its insurance and claims business and help define the future of Solera products and services.

Mike Roberts comes to Solera with a rich background in, and deep knowledge of, the automotive industry. He held various global management positions with OEMs, dealers, and solutions providers, most recently with Cox Automotive as a senior sales executive for Dealertrack DMS. Roberts now heads Sales for Solera's Fleet Business, where he directs the sales function of several key product lines and is responsible for creating a highly disciplined, results-driven sales culture.

Dan Barrington is a successful executive in the automotive insurance space, previously serving in senior roles at Arity (an Allstate Company), CCC Information Services, and LexisNexis Risk Solutions. He has closely partnered with more than 100 insurance carriers during his career and led teams that achieved significant commercial wins in insurance telematics solutions, property and casualty insurance operations, distributions, and claims. Barrington brings a comprehensive view of customer interactions and is a champion of fostering long-term business relationships. He leads the sales for U.S. Claims at Solera and has already achieved incredible traction with customers.

Rounding out Solera's latest leadership hires is Lewis Scott, Solera's new head of Sales, National Accounts and Aftermarket. Before joining Solera, Scott held senior executive positions at Horizon Bank, Allstate Insurance, American Express, and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Scott's passion for collaborating with customers and integrating smart technologies into the customer experience make him a great addition to Solera's team.

All four leaders will work closely with Tony Graham, Solera's Executive Vice President of North American Sales. "Solera looks forward to the positive impact these additions will have on advancing our commitment to continuously improving the experiences and results of our customers," Graham said. "Their exceptional experience and expertise make them valuable additions to our team and will help grow our long-term success."

About Solera

Solera is the global leader in vehicle lifecycle management software-as-a-service, data, and services. Through four lines of business  vehicle claims, vehicle repairs, vehicle solutions and fleet solutions  Solera is home to many leading brands in the vehicle lifecycle ecosystem, including Identifix, Audatex, DealerSocket, Omnitracs, LoJack, Spireon, eDriving/Mentor, Explore, cap hpi, Autodata, and others. Solera empowers its customers to succeed in the digital age by providing them with a "one-stop shop" solution that streamlines operations, offers data-driven analytics, and enhances customer engagement, which Solera believes helps customers drive sales, promote customer retention, and improve profit margins. Solera serves over 300,000 global customers and partners in 100+ countries. For more information, visit www.solera.com.

SOURCE Solera Holdings, Inc.
DALLAS, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- As the Chief Marketing Officer at Solutions by Text, Stacy Adams is responsible for creating and accelerating the company's global marketing strategy and brand development. She is focused on driving the company vision of improving consumer payments via compliance-based, rich messaging by building marketing programs and thought leadership to promote SBT's innovative platform and unique market position.

"We are delighted to have Stacy join Solutions by Text as our new Chief Marketing Officer. Her background and experience is a great addition to the leadership team as we focus on accelerating the growth of SBT 2.0," said David Baxter, Solutions by Text's Chief Executive Officer.

In her previous role as Head of Marketing at Vyond, a market leader in video technology, she played an integral role in overall business growth, product and pricing strategy, and market acceleration into global enterprise organizations. Adams spearheaded the creation of the Vyond brand and helped the company develop its outstanding reputation as a thought leader in corporate training, internal communications, and content creation.

Prior to Vyond, Adams held various marketing leadership positions with global mobile technology and messaging organizations, including heading marketing for Mblox (now Sinch), Air2Web (Kaleyra), and SpinVox North America (Nuance), where she was part of the team that deployed the first voicemail-to-text service to launch with wireless carriers in the US and Canada.

Adams has considerable experience across marketing, branding, demand generation, public relations, content strategy, revenue management, and mobile technology. She is an effective and empathetic leader who takes pride in building strong teams that support high-velocity business growth and brand development. She is an accomplished writer and speaker with bylines, interviews, and presentations across a variety of media, and is recognized as a thought leader in mobile marketing and workplace communications.

Adams holds a master's degree in English and professional certification in behavioral economics from Carnegie Mellon University, and a bachelor's degree in public relations from Westminster College (PA).

ABOUT SOLUTIONS BY TEXT

Solutions by Text (SBT) was founded in 2008 with the mission to deliver impactful conversational messaging and convenient payment partner solutions that are rich, real-time, and compliant. Built on hard-earned trust and SMS industry best practices, the company is the only compliance-first provider of enterprise texting solutions in the market. More than 1400 consumer finance organizations, including leading brands in auto finance, banking and lending, trust SBT to ensure convenient, effective, and compliant relationships with their millions of consumers. SBT is headquartered in Dallas, TX with remote teams and offices around the US and in Bangalore, India. For more information, visit solutionsbytext.com.

Media Contact: Pamela Cross, (214) 695 - 1864, [email protected]

SOURCE Solutions by Text
Stacey Lane named president and CEO of Staffmark Group

CINCINNATI, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Staffmark Group, a family of staffing brands and proud member of RGF Staffing, announced today that Stacey Lane has been promoted to president and chief executive officer. A veteran staffing executive, Lane has been with the company since 2000 and most recently served as their chief operations officer (COO). She succeeds Geno Cutolo and assumes full responsibilities for this role, effective today. Cutolo has departed the company by mutual agreement to pursue other opportunities.

"Stacey is well-respected within our company and the industry, and we are excited about the direction she will take Staffmark Group," said Rob Zandbergen, chairman of Staffmark Group's Board of Directors and CEO of RGF Staffing. "She has a proven track record, and we are confident in her vision and ability to take Staffmark Group into the future."

Lane's career in staffing spans nearly three decades. Prior to joining Staffmark Group, she was the vice president of business development for Advantage Staffing. Since joining Staffmark Group, she has held a number of leadership roles, including executive vice president of field operations, senior vice president of the company's largest commercial business unit, and, most recently, COO.

A testament to her leadership strengths, Lane was named to Staffing Industry Analysts' Global Power 150 Women in Staffing list in 2019 and 2020, and she is an active member in the American Staffing Association and their women in leadership and mentoring programs.

"Staffmark Group is a leader in our industry," said Lane, "and I am honored to be a part of this amazing organization. Our team has the vision, experience, and drive to transform the industry, and I'm looking forward to working together to grow our business and impact more lives."

About Staffmark Group

Staffmark Group is one of the largest staffing companies in the United States and has been providing outstanding service for over 40 years. A proud member of RGF Staffing, Staffmark Group operates in over 400 locations, providing staffing solutions across a comprehensive range of disciplines, including contingent staffing, direct/permanent hire, on-site staffing management services, recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) and master service provider (MSP). To learn more about Staffmark Group, visit www.staffmarkgroup.com.

About RGF Staffing

RGF Staffing is a leading global HR services provider with activities in Asia Pacific, Europe, Japan and North America. Every day more than 300,000 people work for businesses and institutions via the RGF Staffing network. RGF Staffing is part of Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. For further information please visit www.rgfstaffing.com.

SOURCE Staffmark Group
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Stanley Tucci, the respected award-winning actor, director, producer, and writer is joining the Oral Cancer Foundation Advisory Board.

In September of 2021, Mr. Tucci publicly revealed that he had been diagnosed with oral cancer in 2018. For two years prior to his diagnosis, he had suffered from extreme jaw pain that doctors were unable to pinpoint. A dentist in Los Angeles suggested he might have oral cancer, and an oncologist in England, where he lives with his wife and children, finally diagnosed the condition. Having lost his first wife to breast cancer in 2009, Mr. Tucci had some sense of how life for him  and for his family  was about to change, but the experience was even more traumatic than he had feared.

As described in his recently published memoir, Taste: My Life Through Food, Mr. Tucci underwent radiation and chemotherapy treatment five days a week for seven weeks at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, for a tumor at the base of his tongue that was too large to remove surgically. He developed labyrinthitis, an inner ear condition causing nausea and vertigo, lost his sense of smell, and was weakened to the point that he could barely stand. Soon after beginning treatment, food started to taste terrible, and not long after that he was forced to eat by feeding tube because of mouth sores and damage to his salivary glands from his treatments. Never a large man, he lost 30 pounds.

As a lifelong food aficionado with family roots in Calabria Italy, the inability to enjoy or even eat food was particularly agonizing for Mr. Tucci. It was several months after his treatment ended before he began to regain both his strength and his ability to eat. His sense of taste and smell gradually started to return. Over three years later, some foods still taste strange to him, spicy foods are too painful to eat, and a low saliva level caused by treatment damage to his salivary glands forces him to eat slowly. But considering he once feared that he might never be able to indulge his passion for food again, Mr. Tucci considers himself very lucky.

"We are indeed fortunate to have someone with Mr. Tucci's impressive public profile and renowned zest for life become a member of our Advisory Board," said Brian Hill, Oral Cancer Foundation Founder and Executive Director. "His personal experience of having had oral cancer threaten not only his life, but his passion, will enable him to bring a unique and important perspective to our team of advisors. He will be joining other celebrities that help the foundation in that capacity, including actors Michael Douglas, and Blythe Danner-Paltrow, who along with heads of other nonprofits assist us in defining our goals and methods to achieve them."

Mr. Tucci made his film debut in John Huston's Prizzi's Honor in 1985. In 1996, he made his directorial debut with the cult comedy Big Night, which he also co-wrote and starred in alongside Tony Shalhoub. Mr. Tucci also has collaborations with Meryl Streep in films such as The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and Julie & Julia (2009). He gained further acclaim and success with such films as Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), film series (20122015), Spotlight (2015), Beauty and the Beast (2017), and Supernova (2020). In 2021, he hosted a six-part food and travel documentary series on CNN titled Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. The series has been renewed for another season in 2022.

Mr. Tucci has won four Emmy Awards: for Winchell (1998), one for a guest appearance on the comedy series Monk, one for being a producer of the web series Park Bench with Steve Buscemi, and another for hosting and producing Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Lovely Bones (2009) and for a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his performance in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (2003). He and Ms. Streep also received a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children, for The One and Only Shrek! Mr. Tucci is a graduate of State University of New York at Purchase.

About the Oral Cancer Foundation

For the past 23 years, the Oral Cancer Foundation's mission has been to reduce the incidence of oral and oropharyngeal cancers in the U.S. population, reduce treatment related burdens, support those who are currently or have been impacted by the disease, and fund research that furthers these goals. The Foundation's website ( www.oralcancerfoundation.org ) provides the most current and vetted scientific information about oral cancer, with hundreds of pages of regularly reviewed information on the disease, treatments, research, and more. This information can be accessed online by anyone, and is regularly used by patients, students, doctors, researchers, and the members of the public interested in the disease. The Foundation is also the home of the world's largest patient support groups for this cancer. Located online, it currently has about 13,000 registered members. Oncology professionals working as volunteers monitor the forum in an anonymous manner to ensure appropriateness of information exchanged there. Besides direct interaction, the forum contains over 250,000 threads of conversation that can be searched for relevant answers to the problems patients have experienced. The Foundation regularly receives high ratings from leading nonprofit industry oversite organizations.

Source: The Oral Cancer Foundation (www.oralcancer.org)

SOURCE The Oral Cancer Foundation
FRANKFURT, Germany, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Steigenberger Hotels AG is shaping the future of hospitality under a new leadership. In today's supervisory board meeting, Professor Wilhelm Bender has been elected Chairman. Oliver Bonke joins the company and will serve as CEO.

Jihong He, CEO International Business of Huazhu Group, says: "I am pleased to welcome Wilhelm Bender, an internationally highly recognized manager and supervisory board member. His experience in managing complex transformation processes will be essential as we take off again after a challenging period in the market."

Bender served as Chairman of the Executive Board of Fraport AG for seventeen years. He is since then active in various supervisory boards and company advisory boards.

Professor Wilhelm Bender says: "Since my Frankfurt childhood days I am familiar with Steigenberger, and I have been close to the company for my whole career. I feel privileged to serve as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Steigenberger Hotels AG as of today. Mutual trust and respect will be my guiding principles as we kick off our joint mission with the owner Huazhu Group, the executive board and the entire supervisory board."

Oliver Bonke has over 30 years of experience in the hospitality industry. At Shangri-La Group, he served as CEO Middle East, Europe, India, Americas, based in New York, and President & COO, based in Hong Kong. Prior to that he acted as Chief Commercial Officer of the U.S. based luxury hotel chain Loews Hotels & Co. Other career stations included the role of Chief Commercial Officer of InterContinental Hotels Group in North and South America as well as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing EMEA and before that Asia Pacific of Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Jihong He states: "Oliver Bonke is a distinguished expert of the global hotel industry. He has proven his ability to build and grow business on three continents. I got to know Oliver as an inspirational leader who is constantly pushing innovation on all fronts, and I am sure he will make our brands shine brightly."

Oliver Bonke says: "Deutsche Hospitality today is a well-respected, relevant player in the market. It will be an honour to work with Huazhu and the global team to realise the full potential of this remarkable company and its brands."

Andre Witschi had recently resigned from his Chairman position. Also, Marcus Bernhardt leaves the company. "I would like to thank Andre Witschi and Marcus Bernhardt for their work and wish them all the best for their future endeavours,", says Jihong He.

Current press information is available in our press portal.

About Huazhu Group Limited

Originated in China, Huazhu Group Limited is a world-leading hotel group. As of December 31, 2021, Huazhu operated 7,830 hotels with 753,216 rooms in operation in 17 countries. Huazhu's brands include Hi Inn, HanTing Hotel, Starway Hotel, Orange Hotel, Crystal Orange Hotel, Manxin Hotel, Madison Hotel, Joya Hotel, Blossom House, Ni Hao Hotel and CitiGO Hotel. Upon the completion of the acquisition of Deutsche Hospitality on January 2, 2020, Huazhu added new brands to its portfolio, including IntercityHotel, Jaz in the City, MAXX by Deutsche Hospitality, Steigenberger Hotels & Resorts and Zleep Hotels. In addition, Huazhu also has the rights as master franchisee for Ibis, Ibis Styles and Mercure, and co-development rights for Grand Mercure and Novotel, in the pan-China region.

About Deutsche Hospitality

Deutsche Hospitality operates eight hotel brands. The company is represented on three continents with more than 160 properties, around 40 of which are currently in planning or under construction. Deutsche Hospitality/Steigenberger Hotels AG is headquartered in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Press contact

Deutsche Hospitality  Lyoner Strae 25  60528 Frankfurt am Main

Sven Hirschler  Tel: +49 69 66564-422

E-mail: [email protected]

www.deutschehospitality.com

- Picture is available at AP Images (http://www.apimages.com) -

SOURCE Deutsche Hospitality
Shea to receive honorary doctorate in humane letters

Peraton employs more than 450 Mason graduates

HERNDON, Va., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Stu Shea, Peraton's Chairman, President and CEO, will deliver the commencement address for George Mason University's spring graduation at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Va. at 10 a.m. on May 20, 2022. In recognition of Shea's lifetime of learning and contributions to the nation, Mason will present him with an honorary doctorate in humane letters during the ceremony.

Shea has over four decades of experience in the national security community as a business leader, strategist and intelligence professional. As the CEO of Peraton, he leads a $7 billion national security company that is a valued partner to essential government agencies and delivers trusted, highly differentiated national security solutions to customers spanning the globe.

He has previously served in academic advisory roles for institutions including Mason's College of Science, the University of Kansas College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the University of Virginia's Department of Systems and Information Engineering.

"Today's graduates are entering the workforce at a time when the world is grappling with complex questions about how to effectively address evolving threats and challenges that don't respect traditional boundaries and systems," said Shea. "Only now do we understand that our ability to respond to a global pandemic or protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks is just as important as our military strength or intelligence collection capabilities. As digital natives, this generation of graduates possesses a skillset and a mindset that will allow them to adapt to and thrive in this changing world."

More than 450 Mason alumni work at Peraton, one of the largest privately owned employers in the Washington metro area.

"George Mason is a national asset in higher education, and I have tremendous appreciation for the work the university has done over the last 50 years to equip its students with the tools they'll need to solve real-world challenges that affect national security and protect our way of life," said Shea. "This country and the world need college graduates with diverse backgrounds and multidisciplinary talent who can help both government and industry address critical missions of consequence."

Shea is the founder of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation and is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Intelligence University Foundation and the Board of Trustees of Riverside Research. He has served as chairman of the Senior Advisory Group for two Directors of National Intelligence and been a board member of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, Intelligence and National Security Alliance, and the National Academy of Sciences Marine Board.

Shea has earned a Master of Arts from the University of Kansas, a Bachelor of Science from SUNY Albany, and received executive education at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Harvard Business School, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and The George Washington University School of Business.

The live broadcast of the commencement will be available to stream via GMU-TV.

About Peraton

Peraton drives missions of consequence spanning the globe and extending to the farthest reaches of the galaxy. As the world's leading mission capability integrator and transformative enterprise IT provider, we deliver trusted and highly differentiated national security solutions and technologies that keep people safe and secure. Peraton serves as a valued partner to essential government agencies across the intelligence, space, cyber, defense, citizen security, health, and state and local markets. Every day, our employees do the can't be done, solving the most daunting challenges facing our customers. Visit Peraton.com/News and follow Peraton on LinkedIn for news and updates.

SOURCE Peraton
"The First Amendment protects students, and student associations, from censorship by college administrators," said Mike Dean, Executive Director of LeadMN. "This lawsuit is necessary to protect students' right to speak, and to hold leaders accountable for illegal efforts to silence dissent."

Read LeadMN's complaint filed with the Court here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ys3jDHHPcU7ykefnZVXnZQIwiJbQ-dNd/view?usp=sharing

LeadMN has consistently advocated for the students it represents, regardless of whether its positions were popular with the Board of Trustees. In recent years, students were concerned about the rapidly rising cost of Minnesota State college tuition. LeadMN's student leaders advocated for a tuition freeze with Minnesota's elected leaders and the Legislature responded by freezing college tuition. This defense of students frustrated Trustees and Minnesota State's Chancellor.

In 2021, student representatives voted to approve a budget that would empower LeadMN to better represent and advocate for students. By state law, Minnesota State is obligated to collects the funds LeadMN requires for these efforts. Student representatives voted to set LeadMN's student fee at the same level Trustees had approved three years earlier for the student association representing university students.

Instead of collecting the fees approved through the student-led budget process, Trustees and the Chancellor worked covertly to generate opposition to LeadMN's proposed fee from College administrators, employee unions, and others with no proper role in decisions regarding LeadMN's funding. Trustees conferred outside of public meetings, through text and chat messages, expressing their desire to retaliate in response to LeadMN's views and speech. At the end of this process, Trustees simply blocked LeadMN's proposed fee. Trustees apparently believe they have the right to refuse funding for speech, for any reason, without ever disclosing why.

"It is unconstitutional for government leaders to wield unchecked discretion to stifle dissent or retaliate against speech they don't like," said Sam Diehl, attorney representing LeadMN. "LeadMN merely desires to be part of Minnesota's public discourse, not litigate. However, Trustees' illegal conduct has forced LeadMN to seek relief from the Court."

LeadMN will seek an injunction barring Trustees from violating the First Amendment as soon as the Court's schedule allows the motion to be heard.

About LeadMN

LeadMN represents the 100,000 students attending Minnesota's public two-year community and technical colleges. The statewide student association is recognized by the Minnesota State system as the official voice of two-year students on Minnesota's 47 community and technical college campuses. Learn more at https://www.leadmn.org/

SOURCE LeadMN
Vibativ serves as a potentially life-saving treatment in patients with hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated pneumonia resulting from a range of Gram-positive bacterial pathogens, including those that are considered difficult-to-treat and are multidrug-resistant.

As a once-daily dosed antibiotic, Vibativ does not require therapeutic drug monitoring, decreasing health care professionals' exposure to the patient.

"As part of our role and mission in Tabuk to deliver unique health solutions and save lives of people throughout the Middle East countries we operate in, we believe that Vibativ will provide our physicians with a powerful new tool to battle multidrug-resistant infections including MRSA, hospital-acquired pneumonia and ventilator-associated pneumonia," said Mohammed Al Hagbani, president of Astra Industrial Group.

"Vibativ is a life-saving product for certain difficult-to-treat infections and a key addition to Tabuk's anti-infective portfolio, strengthening our leading market position in this therapy area and delivering on our strategy of building our specialty and innovative business while also reinforcing our leading position in the territory," said Wisam Alkhatib, vice president of strategy & business development at Tabuk Pharmaceuticals.

"Tabuk is a well-respected pharmaceutical company with a strong distribution network throughout the Middle East, and we are proud to partner with them to introduce Vibativ to this market," said A.J. Kazimi, CEO of Cumberland Pharmaceuticals. "They have the resources and experience to ensure that Vibativ reaches as many patients within the territory as possible, and we look forward to a successful partnership."

About VIBATIV 

Vibativ (telavancin) Injection was discovered in a research program dedicated to finding new antibiotics for serious infections due to Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and other Gram-positive bacteria, including MRSA and MSSA. Vibativ is a once-daily, injectable lipoglycopeptide antibiotic with in vitro potency, bactericidal activity within six hours, and penetration into target infection sites. The drug is approved in the U.S. for the treatment of adult patients with hospital-acquired and ventilator-associated bacterial pneumonia (HABP/VABP) caused by susceptible isolates of S. aureus when alternative treatments are not suitable.

In addition, Vibativ is approved in the U.S. for the treatment of adult patients with complicated skin and skin structure infections (cSSSI) caused by susceptible isolates of Gram-positive bacteria, including S. aureus, both methicillin-susceptible (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant (MRSA) strains. The product labeling also describes the use of Vibativ in treating patients whose pneumonia or skin infection is complicated by concurrent bacteremia. The product's proven efficacy against difficult-to-treat Gram-positive infections has been demonstrated in several large, multinational registrational studies, which involved one of the largest cohorts of patients with S. aureus infections studied to date. Importantly, these studies demonstrated significantly higher cure rates for Vibativ as compared to vancomycin in HABP/VABP due to any single Gram-positive pathogen or S. aureus with vancomycin MIC 1 g/mL. Additionally, there is extensive and well-documented evidence of the drug's in vitro potency and in vivo activity against a broad collection of Gram-positive bacterial pathogens, including those that are considered difficult-to-treat and multidrug-resistant.

For full prescribing information, including important safety information visit www.vibativ.com.

About Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Co.

Tabuk Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company is a leading Saudi pharmaceutical company with a regional presence in the Middle East and North Africa. Tabuk Pharmaceuticals develops, manufactures, markets and distributes various branded generics, in addition to manufacturing pharmaceutical products for renowned international partners at its manufacturing sites in Saudi Arabia, as part of its continuous efforts to cover the needs of patients by providing high quality medicines. Tabuk Pharmaceuticals is a major player in the pharmaceutical sector not only in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, but also throughout the Middle East and North Africa, thanks to its four state-of-art manufacturing sites located in Tabuk and Dammam in the Kingdom, as well as in Sudan and Algeria, and orchestrated by a team of more than 2,400 employees. Tabuk Pharmaceuticals reaches patients in 17 countries in the Middle East and Africa, in addition to futuristic plans to expand its presence in the region.

About Cumberland Pharmaceuticals

Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the delivery of high-quality, prescription brands designed to improve patient care. The company develops, acquires, and commercializes products for the hospital acute care, gastroenterology, and rheumatology market segments. The company's portfolio comprises eight FDA-approved brands, including Sancuso, which Cumberland acquired in December 2021. The company also has a series of Phase II clinical programs underway evaluating its ifetroban product candidate in patients with cardiomyopathy associated with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, as well as Systemic Sclerosis, and Aspirin-Exacerbated Respiratory Disease.

See more information on Cumberland Pharmaceutical's website at www.cumberlandpharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, which are subject to certain risks and reflect Cumberland's current views on future events based on what it believes are reasonable assumptions. No assurance can be given that these events will occur. As with any business, all phases of Cumberland's operations are subject to factors outside of its control, and any one or combination of these factors could materially affect Cumberland's results of operations. These factors include market conditions, competition, an inability of manufacturers to produce Cumberland's products on a timely basis, failure of manufacturers to comply with regulations applicable to pharmaceutical manufacturers, maintaining an effective sales and marketing infrastructure, natural disasters, public health epidemics, and other events beyond its control as more fully discussed in the company's most recent Form 10-Q and any additional updates filed with the SEC. There can be no assurance that results anticipated by the company will be realized or that they will have the expected effects. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The company does not undertake any obligation to publicly revise these statements to reflect events after the date hereof.

SOURCE Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc.
CAIRO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday received a phone call from his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, the second in one week, during which they discussed "the developments of the Ukrainian crisis," said the Egyptian presidency.

Zelensky briefed Sisi on the latest developments of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine peace negotiations in a bid to end the current conflict, said Egyptian presidential spokesman Bassam Rady in a statement.

During the conversation, the Egyptian president "emphasized the importance of addressing all means leading to calm and a peaceful solution to the conflict."

Sisi also stressed Egypt's keenness to make all efforts, whether at the bilateral, regional or international levels, to achieve a peaceful settlement to the crisis, according to the Egyptian presidency.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict started on Feb. 24 when Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized a "special military operation" against Ukraine.

The two sides have recently been engaged in Turkey-sponsored peace negotiations but no breakthrough has been reached yet. 
Provides Improved Cash Flow and Greater Confidence for Dealers

Further Demonstrates TD Bank's Commitment to Real-Time Payments

CHERRY HILL, N.J. and FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, today announced that TD Auto Finance has launched real-time payments for its network of dealers, becoming the first indirect auto lender to roll out the ability to send real-time payments nationwide.

With real-time payments, TD Auto Finance can fund dealers as contracts are booked throughout the day, rather than sending batch payments overnight via ACH. This provides dealers with improved cash flow management and greater visibility into their financial position.

"We understand how important cashflow is to dealers. Our goal with real-time payments is to make life easier for dealers by eliminating the need to wait for payments overnight and giving them maximum confidence in their cash position and ability to operate their business," said Andrew Stuart, President and CEO of TD Auto Finance. "We're proud to be the first major auto lender to introduce this capability for dealers and we believe our focus on driving payments innovation is critical to deepening our dealer relationships."

TD Auto Finance first introduced real-time payments in October 2021 to a pilot group of dealers. The nationwide rollout is currently underway and will be available in phases over the coming weeks to dealers whose banks are live on the RTP network, the real-time payment system from The Clearing House.

The launch of real-time payments to TD Auto Finance dealers represents a significant milestone in TD Bank's overall commitment to deliver this technology to our commercial and retail customers. Since connecting to the TCH network in November 2019, TD has experienced a substantial increase in demand for real-time payments, and as an owner bank of The Clearing House, will continue to invest in this capability to deliver a legendary experience across our customer base.

"We are excited to see TD Auto Finance bringing real-time payments to its dealer customers through the RTP network," said Steve Ledford, Senior Vice President of Product Development at The Clearing House. "The RTP network is designed to foster innovation so financial institutions can offer their customers value added, faster payment services, such as real-time payments from TD Auto Finance. "

About TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank

TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is one of the 10 largest banks in the U.S., providing more than 9.7 million customers with a full range of retail, small business and commercial banking products and services at more than 1,100 convenient locations throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Metro D.C., the Carolinas and Florida. In addition, TD Bank and its subsidiaries offer customized private banking and wealth management services through TD Wealth, and vehicle financing and dealer commercial services through TD Auto Finance. TD Bank is headquartered in Cherry Hill, N.J. To learn more, visit www.td.com/us. Find TD Bank on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TDBank and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/TDBank_US and www.twitter.com/TDNews_US.

TD Bank, America's Most Convenient Bank, is a member of TD Bank Group and a subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada, a top 10 financial services company in North America. The Toronto-Dominion Bank trades on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges under the ticker symbol "TD". To learn more, visit www.td.com/us.

SOURCE TD Auto Finance
NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conference Board brought together three individuals who played leading roles in the development and passage of groundbreaking federal #MeToo legislation: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Congressman Ken Buck (R-CO), and Gretchen Carlson, Cofounder of the nonprofit Lift Our Voices, whose lawsuit helped ignite the movement.

Paul Washington, Executive Director of The Conference Board ESG Center, moderated the panel, which focused on the historic path to the bipartisan legislation's passage, its implications for business, and prospects for future bipartisan collaboration on issues of economic opportunity and workplace fairness.

Passed with strong support in February, The Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act marks one of the most significant workplace reforms in recent decades. It prohibits companies from forcing those who claim sexual harassment and assault into arbitration, and now provides them with the choice to bring their claim in an open court of law. As the panel noted, this change not only helps to bring individual claims to light, but also can identify broader patterns of sexual abuse and harassment.

The public can view the full panel discussion here. Insights from the conversation include:

How a grassroots movement led to bipartisan action:

The panelists described the slow but steady process of finding common ground among Democratic and Republican lawmakers. They noted key elements that made this new law possible, including:

A willingness to compromise and to make incremental progress. Key amendments to the bill helped to increase support among lawmakers. For example, the final legislation does not address sexual discrimination, considered too broad by some lawmakers. It also leaves the definition of sexual harassment up to the states, instead of providing a federal definition.

Key amendments to the bill helped to increase support among lawmakers. For example, the final legislation does not address sexual discrimination, considered too broad by some lawmakers. It also leaves the definition of sexual harassment up to the states, instead of providing a federal definition. Keeping the rhetoric down. Focusing on the bill's objectivesadvancing safety and fairness in the workplaceproved effective in attracting support across the aisle.

Focusing on the bill's objectivesadvancing safety and fairness in the workplaceproved effective in attracting support across the aisle. Leveraging data was essential. The extensive body of data on sexual assault and harassment in the workplace helped garner support for passing this legislation.

Steps companies can start taking in response to the #MeToo law:

Review company policies. The legislation gives employees a choice between arbitration and recourse in courts. Companies should review their existing policies on arbitration and consider whether to require arbitration in contexts beyond sexual harassment and abuse.

The legislation gives employees a choice between arbitration and recourse in courts. Companies should review their existing policies on arbitration and consider whether to require arbitration in contexts beyond sexual harassment and abuse. Decide what to communicate to employees. With employees now having new rights, companies need to decide how and what they want to communicate to employees about this change.

As Gretchen Carlson noted about arbitration, "Most people have no idea what it means. And that includes not only the millions of employees across the country, but also people who run companies. When I talk to companies every single day, many times C-suite executives have to say to me, 'I need to check my contract.'"

How companies can advance their legislative goals in a polarized environment:

In addition to being willing to compromise and focusing on the facts, the panel suggested steps companies should take to achieve legislative goals.

Step up direct engagement from CEOs. When CEOs speak, policymakers listen.

"Almost half of U.S. corporations say that the environment for corporate political activity in 2022 will be even more challenging than last year. Despite the tough landscape, CEOs shouldn't retreat from the public square. Business leaders can be a moderating influence on partisanship, as they are more concerned about achieving practical policy outcomes," said Paul Washington, Executive Director of The Conference Board ESG Center.

Look beyond just getting a vote. Companies need to provide lawmakers with the information they need to be not just supporters, but ambassadors. Congressman Buck noted the importance of being able to make the case to his colleagues and constituents.

Companies need to provide lawmakers with the information they need to be not just supporters, but ambassadors. Congressman Buck noted the importance of being able to make the case to his colleagues and constituents. Persistence. Carlson stressed how it took time to build a coalition of supporters in Congress. The lawmakers stated companies should not reduce their long-term advocacy efforts, just because it is a mid-term election year.

Bipartisan prospects for achieving greater opportunity and fairness for workers:

Childcare. Senator Gillibrand and Congressman Buck expressed an intereston the spotto work together, in collaboration with their respective parties, on expanding affordable childcare for working parents.

Senator Gillibrand and Congressman Buck expressed an intereston the spotto work together, in collaboration with their respective parties, on expanding affordable childcare for working parents. Age discrimination. Senator Gillibrand and Gretchen Carlson also mentioned the prospect of bipartisanship in addressing age discrimination in the workplace.

"Economic opportunity and fairness in the workplace are a sweet spot for CEOs. This is where business leaders can come together to advance change, including through The Conference Board's Committee for Economic Development. Research by The Conference Board shows that the top two social issues for CEOs globally are economic opportunity and fairness. And the top two sustainability issues that consumers (and therefore, voters) care about are fair wages and fair labor conditions," noted Paul Washington, Executive Director of The Conference Board ESG Center.

The conversation was the first of two webcasts The Conference Board will be hosting on the topic. The next discussion, hosted by the organization's Human Capital Center, will focus on how companies are responding to this law and pressure from stakeholders on workplace harassment concerns.

About The Conference Board

The Conference Board is the member-driven think tank that delivers trusted insights for what's ahead. Founded in 1916, we are a non-partisan, not-for-profit entity holding 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt status in the United States. www.conference-board.org

About The Conference Board ESG Center

The Conference Board ESG Center serves as a resource, platform, and partner to help Member companies address their priorities in corporate governance, sustainability, and citizenship.

www.conference-board.org/ESG

SOURCE The Conference Board
Leading treatment community announces expansion of its Washington, D.C. location with new amenities

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Dorm , a young adult mental health treatment community that has been supporting the needs of youth in the DMV region since 2018, has announced the expansion of its Washington, D.C. location at Dupont Circle, which will open in April 2022. Housed in the heart of the city, the new space will provide D.C.'s population of young adults with a fresh and lively treatment experience with state-of-the-art clinical amenities. This move comes in response to an increased strain on local resources and growing demand for local mental health treatment.

"There is an urgent need for young adult mental health resources not only at home here in D.C., but also across America," shares John McGeehan, LCSW, The Dorms Founder and CEO. "Research shows that young adults in treatment benefit from a model of care that offers holistic, evidence-based services but also fosters community support. And that is exactly what we are doing at The Dorm.

The larger, newly renovated space integrates telehealth technology into the building's design, offering clients and families the ability to experience enhanced virtual and hybrid treatment in an increasingly remote world. Its three dedicated floors of therapeutic facilities also include 14 clinical offices and two spacious communal areas to encourage community-building and socialization. Clients and families will have access to a modern chef's kitchen for cooking groups and nutritional programming, a bright movement studio for wellness and mindfulness modalities, and multiple learning labs and group rooms for studying, creative arts, cognitive remediation, and more.

Were excited to offer our clients the same exceptional care in an inspiring and lively clinical space that will allow us to serve our community for years to come! says Sarah Harte, LICSW, The Director of The Dorm, D.C. site. The team is thrilled to offer such a forward-thinking and comprehensive range of treatment options through this new location," adds Robert L. Johnson, MC, MCAP, CMHP, CST, Assistant Site Director. "We look forward to leaving a bigger clinical footprint in the community and expanding our mission of promoting diversity, openness, and safety for all clients seeking care."



The Dorm provides a full continuum of care with comprehensive day and evening services, supported living opportunities, and individualized life skills training for young adults looking to further their independence.

For more information about The Dorm, please visit https://thedorm.com/dc-new-home/.

About The Dorm

Since 2009, our mission has been to guide young adults towards independence through evidence-based clinical therapies, community support and practical skill-building. As a full-service treatment community with locations in New York City, NY and Washington, D.C., we offer a unique approach to caring for young adults that is both therapeutic and holistic. This includes comprehensive day and evening services with individual and group therapy, wrap-around academic support, independent living opportunities and individualized life skills training. Our holistic health and wellness services span weekly mindfulness, meditation, yoga, nutrition and fitness training. The Dorm's expert therapists and practitioners support the community with tailor-made treatment plans that meet them where they are today - virtually, at home, at school, or out in the community. www.thedorm.com .

SOURCE The Dorm
In an effort to properly honor the 3,189 Retweets and 283 Quote Tweets the legendary tweet received, the 3D NFT collection's size will be limited to 3,189 unique NFTs minted and secured on the Solana blockchain, with each priced at $283. Collectors now have a chance to own a digital piece of history, while helping support The Babylon Bee's ongoing mission to tell jokes and propagate wrongthink.

"The job of the satirist is to speak the truth boldly through humor, poking holes in the popular narrative."

"The job of the satirist is to speak the truth boldly through humor, poking holes in the popular narrative. This tweet represents the moment Twitter tried to put a stop to that. They demanded we delete it from their platform. But we refused," explains Babylon Bee CEO Seth Dillon. "This 'violative tweet'  preserved now as an NFT that can be bought, owned and proudly displayed  represents our defiance, our deliberate refusal to comply with their unreasonable demands and distorted view of reality."

"We believe in more speech at Parler, not censorship, and empowering people to think and share freely. Parler is proud to help mark monumental moments in American history and Free Speech, bring attention to injustice, and bring timely and timeless art to our growing NFT and social communities," added Parler CEO, George Farmer. "This collection is perfectly aligned for our marketplace and with our values and mission, something Twitter sadly doesn't share."

The Banned Bee Collection follows the highly popular initial offering on DeepRedSky, The CryptoTRUMP Club Collection, which debuted earlier this month. More exclusive artwork and commemorative experiences are coming soon, celebrating great moments in politics, pop-culture and pro-sports.

The DeepRedSky marketplace is powered by Parler, the leading viewpoint-neutral, free speech social media platform. Parler revealed this exciting reinvention of the non-fungible token (NFT) space, with great content and a new premium branded marketplace, earlier this year. CEO George Farmer explains,

"Parler values free expression, transparency and data privacy. While our new premium NFT marketplace is working to redefine the opportunities and experiences for both collectors and creators, we are doing so with the same approach to accessibility and security found at Parler."

About the Artist:

The Babylon Bee is the world's best and most accurate satire site, with every article being 100% verified by independent fact-checkers. The Bee is fake news you can trust. Discover Babylon Bee on Parler, Instagram and Facebook.

About DeepRedSky:

The premium marketplace delivers an engaging yet simplified user experience and connects fans and collectors with world-class individuals and brands across politics, media, sports, and the arts. DeepRedSky features creators who share the values of freedom of expression and protection from Big Tech, Big Media, and Big Government. Offering creator-to-peer NFTs with varying degrees of rarity, DeepRedSky is amping up the digital purchase experience through auctions, pack and drops, gumball machine schemas, and instant buys. Collectors can purchase NFTs via credit card and receive the assets through any wallet on the Solana blockchain.

About Parler Inc.:

Parler has a bold vision to make freedom of expression, security, and privacy a reality through social media and blockchain technology. Over 16 million users have chosen Parler as their social media platform to protect against the authoritarian powers of Big Tech, Big Government, and cancel culture. Parler uses the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution as a guide, making it possible for people to speak freely without fear of being suspended or labeled 'dangerous' and banned. Parler is the public town hall where everyone is welcome and civil debate is encouraged around diverse topics. Founded in 2018, Parler is based in Nashville, TN, and has a growing global community of content creators. To learn more visit https://parler.com, follow @Parler, or download on the iOS App Store now.

For Press Inquiries: [email protected]

SOURCE Parler
SAN DIEGO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The McClellan Law Firm is pleased to announce that Attorneys Craig R. McClellan and Conor J. Hulburt have been selected to this year's edition of Southern California Super Lawyers.

In addition, Founding Partner Craig McClellan received special recognition with selections to two of Super Lawyers' coveted "Top" listings:

Top 10 2022 San Diego Super Lawyers

Top 50 2022 San Diego Super Lawyers

Super Lawyers is one of the legal industry's most anticipated attorney ranking publications. It uses a rigorous selection process based on peer review to recognize attorneys who've excelled in their areas of law while garnering the respect and esteem of their colleagues.

In total, no more than 5% of attorneys statewide are named to the Super Lawyers list.

We're proud to congratulate Attorney Craig McClellan, who has now been named to Super Lawyers every year since 2007, and Attorney Conor Hulburt, who marks his first selection to Super Lawyers after several years of inclusion in the Super Lawyers list of Rising Stars. Having both attorneys included in this premier listing speaks volumes about the work they do for clients and the recognition they've earned from their peers.

Learn more about our team, or contact us to discuss a potential case of your own.

Craig McClellan, Conor Hulburt Selected to 2022 Super Lawyers

Attorneys Craig R. McClellan and Conor J. Hulburt of The McClellan Law Firm have been named to the 2022 edition of Southern California Super Lawyers. Mr. McClellan received additional recognition among the Top 10 and Top 50 Super Lawyers in San Diego.

This year, both attorneys at The McClellan Law Firm earned a spot on the final list of Southern California Super Lawyers. Founding Partner Craig R. McClellan received his 16th consecutive selection to the Super Lawyers list while Attorney Conor J. Hulburt marks his first year of Super Lawyers inclusion after previously being named to the Super Lawyers list of Rising Stars.

McClellan also further solidified his stature among the region's most respected plaintiffs' trial lawyers with inclusion in two of Super Lawyers "Top" listings:

Top 10 2022 San Diego Super Lawyers

Top 50 2022 San Diego Super Lawyers

Super Lawyers uses a rigorous selection process weighted heavily on peer review to distinguish attorneys who've demonstrated unparalleled success in their practice areas. In total, no more than 5% of active attorneys in each state are named to the final list.

Nationally Recognized Trial Lawyers

With the latest publication, both The McClellan Law Firm's attorneys are now recognized Super Lawyers.

Craig McClellan has been named to Super Lawyers every year since 2007, in addition to being featured numerous times in the publication's Top lawyer listings. Over the course of his career, he has litigated against some of the world's largest corporations, automakers, and insurance companies and has cultivated a success record that includes more than 140 verdicts and settlements in excess of $1 million each. McClellan is also the first and only personal injury attorney in San Diego to earn a seat among the Inner Circle of Advocates , an elite trial lawyer group that limits membership to the top 100 plaintiffs' attorneys in the nation.

has been named to every year since 2007, in addition to being featured numerous times in the publication's Top lawyer listings. Over the course of his career, he has litigated against some of the world's largest corporations, automakers, and insurance companies and has cultivated a success record that includes more than 140 verdicts and settlements in excess of each. McClellan is also the first and only personal injury attorney in to earn a seat among the , an elite trial lawyer group that limits membership to the top 100 plaintiffs' attorneys in the nation. Conor Hulburt earns his first Super Lawyers selection in 2022 after being named four consecutive years to the Super Lawyers list of Rising Stars. Hulbert has been featured among The Best Lawyers in America and the San Diego Business Journal's "Best of the Bar," and has recovered millions in compensation for clients in claims involving motor vehicle defects, products liability, wrongful death, and serious personal injury.

The McClellan Law Firm is a U.S. News  Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" Tier 1 ranked personal injury practice based in San Diego, CA. Led by one of the nation's most revered plaintiffs' trial attorneys, the firm has cultivated a record of notable recoveries in complex civil claims ranging from auto defects and products liability to aviation accidents, government liability, and high-stakes commercial and insurance litigation. The firm works with clients and counsel across in Southern California and across the country.

For more information about the firm, visit www.McClellanLaw.com.

Media Contact:



Craig McClellan



[email protected]

SOURCE McClellan Law Firm
"The investment UAGC is making in our community will have life-changing impact," Dallas College Chancellor Joe May said. Tweet this

Visit the UAGC  Dallas College Partnerships Scholarships page to apply. The application deadline is April 21, 2022 . Scholarship recipients will be announced in June 2022.

In appreciation of its partnership with Dallas College, the University of Arizona Global Campus encourages Dallas College alumni and current Dallas College faculty and staff to apply for these scholarship opportunities toward a degree offered in programs** through UAGC's Forbes School of Business and Technology or the College of Arts and Sciences.

The available UAGC-Dallas College Partnership Scholarships are:

Four UAGC full-program scholarships for Dallas College Alumni

Three UAGC full-program scholarships for Dallas College Faculty and Staff

Any applicants not selected for a UAGC-Dallas College Partnership Scholarship may be eligible to save up to $6,450 per year on tuition towards a bachelor's degree*** through the UAGC-Dallas College Academic Partnership. Substantial tuition and fee savings are also available at the master's and doctoral levels through the UAGC-Dallas College preferred partnership.

"We are grateful to the University of Arizona Global Campus for extending this generous scholarship opportunity to our family of scholars," said Dallas College Chancellor Joe May. "The investment UAGC is making in our community through this scholarship will likely have a life-changing impact on the scholars and a ripple effect on their families and communities. I look forward to joining the UAGC team in announcing the awardees this June and celebrating them on the next step of their academic journey."

Alumni scholarship recipients can pursue bachelor's degree programs, while faculty and staff may pursue bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees. UAGC has 50+ programs, including these seamless transfer pathways with Dallas College, which give students an opportunity to earn up to 90-credit hours at community college tuition rates on programs such as :

About University of Arizona Global Campus

The University of Arizona Global Campus ("Global Campus" or "UAGC") is an independent university that is operated in affiliation with the University of Arizona. Global Campus is designed to provide flexible opportunities for working students from diverse backgrounds who seek to gain knowledge and skills that will help them to achieve their life and career goals. Global Campus is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) and is one of the nation's most innovative online universities with approximately 30,000 students. UAGC offers more than 50 degrees at the associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. For more information visit uagc.edu.

About Dallas College

Dallas College, formerly the Dallas County Community College District, was founded in 1965, and consists of seven campuses: Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake and Richland. Dallas College offers online learning, and serves more than 83,000 credit and 25,000 continuing education students during the fall and spring semesters. Dallas College also offers dual credit for students in partner high schools and early college high schools throughout Dallas County. Dr. Joe May, the college's 7th chancellor, has established the Dallas College higher education network in partnership with area school districts, colleges and universities, businesses, community organizations and others to support student success and college completion by removing barriers and providing services that help them earn a college credential and start their professional careers.

**Certain degree programs may not be available in all states.

***$6,450 is bachelor's tuition savings based on completing 30 credits per calendar year. Savings will be prorated if students complete less than 30 credits per calendar year.

Savings on tuition and fees available to those who qualify. Benefits vary by degree level.

SOURCE University of Arizona Global Campus
DUBLIN, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global Moist Wound Dressing Market, By Product, By Application, By End User, Estimation & Forecast, 2017 - 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The global moist wound dressing market held a market value of USD 4,353.8 million in 2021 and is estimated to reach USD 7,191.0 million by the year 2030. The market is projected to list a CAGR of 5.7% during the forecast period.



The moist wound dressing industry is projected to grow at a substantial rate owing to the increasing incidences of chronic and acute wounds, and the rising innovations in wound dressings area. For instance, in October 2019, 3M acquired Acelity Inc, a med-tech company focused on advanced wound care products marketed under its KCI brand. Such moves aid the market growth considerably.



The increasing launches of novel therapies and its cost effectiveness is also boosting the market growth. The rising product launches is a lucrative opportunity for the market growth, and is anticipated to contribute significantly for the growth of the moist wound dressing marketspace during the forecast period. Moreover, the surging geriatric population in the developing and developed regions is contributing towards the market growth.



However, the market is expected to be negatively influenced by the high availability of alternative moist wound dressings. Furthermore, the high risk and damage is also expected to hinder the market growth to a limited extent.



Growth Influencers:

Increasing Cases of Acute and Chronic Wounds



The rising cases of chronic wounds in the developing regions is one of the contributing factors for the growth of the moist wound dressing market. For instance, according to the American Burn Association, an approximate of 450,000 patients are hospitalized owing to burns every year and the risk of infection is higher in these patients. Similarly, according to a survey conducted by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in January 2020, surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the highest expensive healthcare-associated infection (HAI) type in the US. Therefore, such rising incidences boost the growth rate of the moist wound dressing market.



Increasing Geriatric Population



The rising elderly population around the world contributes towards the rise in the growth rate of the moist wound dressing market. For instance, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, the geriatric population worldwide (aged 60 years and above) is projected to reach around 2 billion by 2050. Thus, such measures contribute towards the growth rate.



Segments Overview:

The global moist wound dressing market is segmented into product, application, and end user.



By Product,

Foam Dressings

Gauze Dressings

Non- reabsorbable Gauze Dressings

Occlusive wound dressing

Hydrophilic wound dressing

Transparent Membrane Dressings

Alginates Dressings

Composites Dressings

Hydrocolloids Dressings

Hydrogel Dressings

The foam dressings segment is estimated to cross revenue of USD 1,000 million in 2022. The gauze dressings segment held the largest market share with a value of USD 1,727.7 million in 2027. Moreover, the alginates dressings is projected to grow with the highest growth rate of 7.5% over the forecast period.



By Application,

Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Pressure Ulcers

Burns and Scalds

Chronic Leg Ulcers

Surgical Wounds

The diabetic foot ulcers segment is anticipated to grow steadily at the rate of 7% over the anticipated period owing to the rising use of moist wound dressings for the management of diabetic foot ulcers. The pressure ulcers held the market volume crossing USD 500 million by 2023.



By End User,

Hospitals

Homecare

Clinics

Dispensaries

The hospitals segment is projected to hold an opportunity of around USD 1,010.2 million during the period 2022-2030. The homecare segment is estimated to grow fastest with a rate of 6.7% over the forecast period.



Regional Overview

By region, the global moist wound dressing market is divided into North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East & Africa, and South America.



The North America region held the largest market share of more than 35% owing to the increasing strategic as well as research developments by the companies operating in the marketspace. The Asia-Pacific region is projected to grow at the highest rate with a rate of 6.5%.



The European region is anticipated to grow at a steady rate owing to the rising awareness regarding newer launches. Moreover, the Middle Eastern and African region is also expected to grow at a substantial rate.



Competitive Landscape

The prominent players operating in the global moist wound dressing market include 3M Co., Advanced Medical Solutions, B. Braun, BSN Medical, Cardinal Health Inc., Hollister Incorporated, Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp., Laboratories Urgo, Lohmannand Rauscher, Medline Industries. Molnlycke Health Care. ConvaTec Group, Baxter International, Coloplast A/S, Hartmann Group, among others.



The prominent 7 players in the market hold approximately 65% of the market share. These market players are investing in product launches, collaborations, mergers, expansions, acquisitions, in order to produce a competitive edge against their counterparts. For instance, in November 2020, Advanced Medical Solutions Group plc acquired Raleigh Adhesive Coatings Limited, an independent wound care and bio-diagnostics coatings business. This acquisition will improve the product portfolio and enhance the company's market position.

The global moist wound dressing market report answers questions such as:

What is the market size and forecast of the global moist wound dressing market?

What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 on the global moist wound dressing market during the assessment period?

Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the assessment period in the global moist wound dressing market?

What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the global moist wound dressing market?

What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the global moist wound dressing market?

What is the market share of the leading players in the global moist wound dressing market?

What modes and strategic moves are considered favorable for entering the global moist wound dressing market?

Key Topics Covered:



Chapter 1. Research Framework



Chapter 2. Research Methodology



Chapter 3. Executive Summary: Global Moist Wound Dressing Market



Chapter 4. Global Moist Wound Dressing Market Overview

4.1. Industry Value Chain Analysis

4.1.1. Material Provider

4.1.2. Manufacturer

4.1.3. Distributor

4.1.4. End User

4.2. Industry Outlook

4.2.1. Top Moist Wound Dressing manufacturers

4.2.2. Cost analysis of manufacturing process of Moist Wound Dressing

4.2.3. Medical reimbursement system for wound healing devices, by Region

4.2.3.1. Europe

4.2.3.2. SEA

4.2.3.3. US

4.2.3.4. Japan

4.2.3.5. India

4.3. PESTLE Analysis

4.4. Porter's Five Forces Analysis

4.4.1. Bargaining Power of Suppliers

4.4.2. Bargaining Power of Buyers

4.4.3. Threat of Substitutes

4.4.4. Threat of New Entrants

4.4.5. Degree of Competition

4.5. Market Dynamics and Trends

4.5.1. Growth Drivers

4.5.2. Restraints

4.5.3. Challenges

4.5.4. Key Trends

4.6. Covid-19 Impact Assessment on Market Growth Trend

4.7. Market Growth and Outlook

4.7.1. Market Revenue Estimates and Forecast (US$ Mn), 2017 - 2030

4.8. Competition Dashboard

4.8.1. Market Concentration Rate

4.8.2. Company Market Share Analysis (Value %), 2020

4.8.3. Competitor Mapping



Chapter 5. Moist Wound Dressing Market, By Product

5.1. Key Insights

5.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

5.2.1. Foam Dressings

5.2.2. Gauze Dressings

5.2.3. Non- reabsorbable Gauze Dressings

5.2.4. Occlusive wound dressing

5.2.5. Hydrophilic wound dressing

5.2.6. Transparent Membrane Dressings

5.2.7. Alginates Dressings

5.2.8. Composites Dressings

5.2.9. Hydrocolloids Dressings

5.2.10. Hydrogel Dressings



Chapter 6. Moist Wound Dressing Market, By Application

6.1. Key Insights

6.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

6.2.1. Diabetic Foot Ulcers

6.2.2. Pressure Ulcers

6.2.3. Burns And Scalds

6.2.4. Chronic Leg Ulcers

6.2.5. Surgical Wounds



Chapter 7. Moist Wound Dressing Market, By End User

7.1. Key Insights

7.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

7.2.1. Hospitals

7.2.2. Homecare

7.2.3. Clinics

7.2.4. Dispensaries



Chapter 8. Moist Wound Dressing Market, By Region



Chapter 9. North America Moist Wound Dressing Market Analysis

9.1. Key Insights

9.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

9.2.1. By Product

9.2.2. By Application

9.2.3. By End Use

9.2.4. By Country



Chapter 10. Europe Moist Wound Dressing Market Analysis

10.1. Key Insights

10.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

10.2.1. By Product

10.2.2. By Application

10.2.3. By End Use

10.2.4. By Country



Chapter 11. Asia Pacific Moist Wound Dressing Market Analysis

11.1. Key Insights

11.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

11.2.1. By Product

11.2.2. By Application

11.2.3. By End User

11.2.4. By Country



Chapter 12. MEA Moist Wound Dressing Market Analysis

12.1. Key Insights

12.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

12.2.1. By Product

12.2.2. By Application

12.2.3. By End User

12.2.4. By Country



Chapter 13. South America Moist Wound Dressing Market Analysis

13.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

13.2.1. By Product

13.2.2. By Application

13.2.3. By End User

13.2.4. By Country



Chapter 14. Western Europe Moist Wound Dressing Market Analysis

14.1. Key Insights

14.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

14.2.1. By Product

14.2.2. By Application

14.2.3. By End User



Chapter 15. U.S. Moist Wound Dressing Market Analysis

15.1. Key Insights

15.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

15.2.1. By Product

15.2.2. By Application

15.2.3. By End User



Chapter 16. South-East Asia Moist Wound Dressing Market Analysis

16.1. Key Insights

16.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

16.2.1. By Product

16.2.2. By Application

16.2.3. By End User



Chapter 17. India Moist Wound Dressing Market Analysis

17.1. Key Insights

17.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

17.2.1. By Product

17.2.2. By Application

17.2.3. By End User



Chapter 18. Japan Moist Wound Dressing Market Analysis

18.1. Key Insights

18.2. Market Size and Forecast, 2017 - 2030 (US$ Mn)

18.2.1. By Product

18.2.2. By Application

18.2.3. By End User



Chapter 19. Company Profile (Company Overview, Financial Matrix, Sales Composition Ration, Key Product landscape, Key Personnel, Key Competitors, Contact Address, and Business Strategy Outlook)

19.1. 3M Co.

19.2. Advanced Medical Solutions

19.3. B. Braun

19.4. BSN Medical

19.5. Cardinal Health Inc.

19.6. Hollister Incorporated

19.7. Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp.

19.9. Laboratories Urgo

19.10. Lohmannand Rauscher

19.11. Medline Industries

19.12. Molnlycke Health Care

19.13. ConvaTec Group

19.14 Coloplast A/S

19.15. Hartmann Group



For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/xlnex0

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call +1-800-526-8630

For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900



U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907

Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

SOURCE Research and Markets
CHICAGO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Thomas Pontinen, MD, is being recognized by Continental Who's Who as a Top Pinnacle Physician in the Medical field and in acknowledgment of his work at Midwest Anesthesia Pain Specialists (MAPS).

Thomas Pontinen

Thomas Pontinen, MD, is a Medical Professional with over ten years of experience in clinical practice, research, and teaching. He is the Co-Founder of MAPS  Midwest Anesthesia Pain Specialists, with locations in Chicago, Des Plaines, Franklin Park, Hazel Crest, and Woodridge, IL. He is a Staff Member at Advocate South Suburban Hospital in Hazel Crest, IL, and AMITA Health Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, IL.



To begin his education, Dr. Pontinen attended the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. He graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Management and Advertising in 2003. He then completed a medical degree at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine in 2008. To gain further experience, he completed a General Surgery Internship at Albert Einstein Medical Center from 2008 to 2010. Dr. Pontinen next took on an Anesthesiology Residency from 2010 to 2013 and a Pain Management Fellowship from 2013 to 2014 at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Chicago, IL.



Throughout his education, Dr. Pontinen trained with leading US experts in Pain Medicine and Anesthesiology. He also completed residency training in General Surgery, giving him the ability to perform innovative pain medicine procedures for his patients. As a result of his education and training, Dr. Pontinen has been double board-certified in Anesthesiology and Interventional Pain Medicine by the American Board of Anesthesiology since 2014. The American Board of Anesthesiology certifies Anesthesiologists who have completed residency training in their field of expertise as a branch of the American Board of Medical Specialties.



To begin his career, Dr. Pontinen started working as an Anesthesiologist at St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield, IL in 2014. He joined Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago, IL, that same year. In August 2014, along with his friend and partner, Dr. Darrel Saldanha, he co-founded Midwest Anesthesia and Pain Specialists, which is currently the largest interventional pain practice in Chicago.



Outside of his clinical work, Dr. Pontinen has been published numerous times in articles, medical journals, and textbook chapters. He gives public speaking engagements at international conferences - his recent topics covered surgery, anesthesiology, and pain medicine.



Dr. Pontinen is a Principal Investigator on several ongoing FDA trials for medications and treatments. He is passionate about his work and strives to continuously advance the field of pain medicine so that his patients can receive the best care possible for their medical conditions. Dr. Pontinen's research on chronic wound pain was featured in Pain Medicine News, a publication known to be a leading information source for pain medicine healthcare professionals.



He has been acknowledged for his exceptional practice by the official website of Accident Treatment Centers. It states, "Aside from his research, he is a compassionate Physician who works daily to help his patients regain their lives and get back to doing the activities they love. He is passionate about treating the most complex pain cases in a comprehensive integrative and holistic approach, combining multiple treatment modalities with the most innovative minimally invasive procedures."



He is a member of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, NANS (North American Neuromodulation Society), and the American Society of Anesthesiologists. He loves to volunteer and works with multiple organizations. Dr. Pontinen is involved with Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders, providing medical care to underserved groups worldwide. His work with MSF has taken him to unstable areas to serve people who need critical care. Dr. Pontinen loves snowboarding, heliboarding, mountaineering, and playing drums when he isn't working.



He would like to dedicate this honorable recognition to his family, including his parents, Paul and Linda, and Dr. Charles Laurito, his mentor and the best physician he's ever known.



For more information, visit https://www.mwpain.com/doctors/.

Contact: Katherine Green, 516-825-5634, [email protected]

SOURCE Continental Who's Who
SALT LAKE CITY, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Three new Owners have been selected to join the current four Owners: making Hamlet's ownership team seven. The three new owners are Tami Ostmark (VP of Marketing), John Peterson (VP Construction) and Nate Kingdon (Sales Manager/Principal Broker). The previous four owners are Barry Gittleman (President & CEO), Elliot Jenkins (CFO), Jon Southern (COO) and Phil Mosher (VP of Sales).

Barry Gittleman; Hamlet's President & CEO said, "We're looking forward to the future of Hamlet Homes as we add three additional owners to our already talented team. Tami, John and Nate have provided great leadership to Hamlet Homes over the years. We now have seven very smart people that are thinking everyday about how to create a great culture, build great homes and give our homebuyers a first-class customer experience."

John Peterson said; "I'm truly honored to be offered ownership in this great company that I love and with awesome people that I respect and admire. I've worked for many years in this industry and I'm so appreciative that my efforts have been recognized. I'm excited for our future and ready to do my part to keep Hamlet Homes a market leader in this area."

Nate Kingdon said; "I was so happy when I heard the news. I've been in construction for quite some time and the opportunity presented was honestly life changing. I celebrated with my wife, and kids."

Tami Ostmark, joining John and Nate in their announcement to the ownership team, followed by saying; "This is a great opportunity that I feel my entire career has set me up for. I am incredibly lucky to be amongst these amazing people who listen to my voice, respect me, support me and have given me this great opportunity to be their partners in this business. I am excited for the future of this company, my new partnership with six of the greatest men, and for the huge responsibility I feel to my fellow women in this industry. I will do my best to make them all proud and support them in every way I can."

Hamlet Homes was founded in 1995. Hamlet transitioned ownership from the founder in 2017 to the senior leadership team of Barry, Elliott, Jon and Phil. As of January 1st, 2022, the new ownership team is officially seven strong leaders. The addition of Tami, John and Nate, makes this the first time since 2017 that Hamlet Homes has added owners.

Gittleman continued with; "We know that we have done many great things in the past five years with the new ownership team, but adding three more dynamic and strategic thinkers will only add to the foundation we have built. Our homeowners deserve the best we have to give them, and our team is dedicated to making that happen."

About Hamlet Homes: Hamlet Homes (www.hamlethomes.com) crafts quality customer-oriented townhomes and single-family homes located in attractively designed neighborhoods in northern Utah. Since the company's founding in 1995, Hamlet has built over 4,000 homes in 65 communities. The company is a proud recipient of many awards on Sustainable Business & Design, Quality Builder Awards recognized both locally and nationally and was awarded the Salt Lake Chamber's Veteran Owned Small Business of the Year, Best of State in Real Estate Development for the seventh time in 2021, 2019 Best of the West in both Real Estate Services and Architecture and named on the Housing Giants list again this year by Professional Builder Magazine and most recently, named as Utah Business Best Companies to Work For again in 2021. Hamlet Homes celebrates its 27th Anniversary this year.

Contact: Nate Di Palma

[email protected]

435.709.3765

SOURCE Hamlet Homes
SINGAPORE and PARIS, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Thunes , a global cross-border payments platform, announced today a partnership with the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services provider Afterpay Limited , known as Clearpay in the UK and Europe. Via this partnership, Thunes can now offer Clearpay's BNPL solution to their expansive network of gateways, merchants and marketplace partners.

In Europe, BNPL is becoming increasingly popular among consumers and payment adoption is expected to have a compound annual growth rate of 30.8% from 2022 to 2028. In the UK for example, according to a report, commissioned by Clearpay, and produced by Accenture in December 2021, One in every 4 spent on fashion e-commerce, or 25% of fashion purchases in the UK, is now paid with BNPL. Furthermore, according to the latest global payments report , in the UK, the world's third-biggest e-commerce market in approximation at 204 bn transacted in 2020, it is estimated that BNPL will account for 10% of all sales by 2024, when the overall e-commerce market will be worth 280 bn.

"There are many reasons why this partnership is so important for Thunes: BNPL solutions are seeing accelerated adoption and strong consumer demand. Moreover, Buy-Now-Pay-Later solutions also demonstrate significant potential for our merchants and partners: they provide opportunities for revenue growth, enhanced customer experience, and overall generate positive economic impact. And ClearPay is a market leader in this industry, offering easy-to-use solution, so we anticipate significant demand for their service from our merchants," said Christophe Bourbier, CEO, Thunes Collections .

Having acquired major Payment Institution Licences in Europe, Singapore and the UK , Thunes is able to offer global merchants, marketplaces and payment service providers the flexibility to accept and make cross border payments with this new BNPL solution.

"In joining Thunes' Payments ecosystem, we look forward to unlocking even more value for merchants and consumers across the globe. As younger shoppers embrace BNPL as a more convenient and safe form of payment, Clearpay has proven to be the payment platform of choice for these customers who are adverse to using credit products. Merchants too, have benefited greatly with improved basket conversion, brand exposure and lifts in average order value," said Aida Faivre, Country Manager, France, Clearpay.

Press contact: [email protected] [email protected]

SOURCE Thunes
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The 15th round of the China-India Corps Commander Level Meeting has yielded positive and constructive results, Wu Qian, spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, said at a press conference Thursday.

Wu said the two sides focused on promoting the resolution of relevant issues in the area along the Line of Actual Control in the Western Sector of the China-India border.

The two sides have agreed to continue keeping security and stability on the frontline in the Western Sector and maintain dialogue via military and diplomatic channels to reach a mutually acceptable solution to the remaining issues as soon as possible, Wu said.

The China-India border issue is a matter between China and India, and there is no need for any third party to intervene, he added. 
BERWYN, Pa., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Triumph Group [NYSE:TGI] announced that its Actuation Products & Services facility located in Clemmons, North Carolina has extended a contract with a major European aerostructures provider to supply a Boeing 787 Cargo Door Actuation System. Designed, integrated, qualified, and manufactured by Triumph, this product line complements a growing portfolio of cargo door and utility actuation systems used on many transport aircraft in service today.

"This system is an excellent example of the utility hydraulic power generation and actuation capabilities of Triumph," said Scott Ledbetter, President of Triumph Actuation Products & Services. "We strive to provide highly integrated, safe, and reliable system solutions to our customers."

Triumph Actuation Products & Services is a leader in the design, development, manufacture and support of complex hydraulic systems and equipment for the aerospace and defense industry. Products include actuators, uplocks, pumps, motors, reservoirs, and control valves for commercial and military aircraft. Actuation Products & Services operating company has operations in Clemmons, North Carolina, Valencia, California and Redmond and Yakima, Washington.

Triumph Group, Inc., headquartered in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, designs, engineers, manufactures, repairs and overhauls a broad portfolio of aerospace and defense systems, components and structures. The company serves the global aviation industry, including original equipment manufacturers and the full spectrum of military and commercial aircraft operators.

More information about Triumph can be found on the company's website at www.triumphgroup.com .

SOURCE Triumph Group
BOCA RATON, Fla., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Atlantic University students Kate Maier and Samantha Zaninelli have been named 2022 Goldwater Scholars. The Barry Goldwater Scholarship is the most prestigious national research fellowship for undergraduate students.

Maier and Zaninelli were selected from a pool of 1,242 students from 433 institutions across the country. This is the first time in FAU history a student has been named a Goldwater Scholar.

"We could not be prouder of Samantha and Kate," said Donna Chamely-Wiik, Ph.D., associate dean for Undergraduate Research and Prestigious Fellowships and associate scientist in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Their curiosity and passion for research, and determination for making their mark in science is refreshing. As undergraduates, they are already contributing original work to the scientific community as published authors. These scholars are setting the foundation to become successful doctoral students and the next generation of cutting-edge researchers."

Maier, 18, is a junior, pursuing a bachelor's degree in neuroscience from the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College at FAU's John D. MacArthur Campus in Jupiter, and a dual-enrolled FAU High School senior. Her research focuses on computer vision and computational approaches in neuroscience under the mentorship of Salil Bidaye, Ph.D, through the MaryLynn Magar Data Science Fellowship at FAU High School in partnership with Max Planck Academy.

"After obtaining a Ph.D. in computational neuroscience, my goal is to start an independent lab to investigate diverse brain functions through computational modeling," said Maier. "My mentors have been integral in shaping my research trajectory, and I would love to take up the mantle, mentoring the next generation of scientists."

Maier also conducted computer vision research for biomedical and neuroscience applications with Oge Marques, Ph.D., professor in FAU's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and David Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., chief executive officer and scientific director at Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience. Her research accomplishments include first authorship on a publication with Marques, multiple research presentations, along with an impressive academic record.

"This exceptional honor is a testament to Kate's dedication and passion for serving the neuroscience community," said Joel Herbst, Ed.D., superintendent of schools at FAU Lab Schools. "The intersection of investigating brain functions and computational modeling create genuine awe for anybody fortunate enough to see her work. Her body of work is furthered by her desire to give back to the research community both at FAU High School and The Max Planck Academy. Our entire school community is honored by the exceptional impact Kate's work will have on furthering the field of neuroscience."

Zaninelli, 19, is a first-generation college student pursuing a bachelor's degree in neuroscience from the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College. Her research area focuses on behavioral neuroscience, under the guidance of her primary research mentor Erik Duboue, Ph.D. assistant professor of biology in Wilkes Honors College.

Zaninelli was selected as only one of four students to be part of the National Institute of Health (NIH)-URISE training program, an NIH funded program to promote underrepresented minority students in science and prepare them for graduate school. She is also a published author, with a manuscript in the journal Evolution.

"My goal is to obtain a Ph.D. in behavioral neuroscience," said Zaninelli. "I would also like to lead an academic research team conducting evolutionary neuroscience research examining how our brain has evolved in terms of physiology and cognition."

The Goldwater Foundation is a federally endowed agency. The scholarship program honoring U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater was designed to foster and encourage outstanding students to pursue research careers in the fields of the natural sciences, engineering and mathematics. The Goldwater Scholarship is the preeminent undergraduate award of its type in these fields.

Maier and Zaninelli applied for the Goldwater Scholarship with assistance from FAU's Office of Undergraduate Research and Inquiry and Prestigious Fellowships. For more information on Prestigious Fellowships, visit fau.edu/fellowships.

About Florida Atlantic University:

Florida Atlantic University, established in 1961, officially opened its doors in 1964 as the fifth public university in Florida. Today, the University serves more than 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students across six campuses located along the southeast Florida coast. In recent years, the University has doubled its research expenditures and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates. Through the coexistence of access and excellence, FAU embodies an innovative model where traditional achievement gaps vanish. FAU is designated a Hispanic-serving institution, ranked as a top public university by U.S. News & World Report and a High Research Activity institution by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. For more information, visit www.fau.edu.

Media Contacts: Brittany Sylvestri

Media Relations Assistant Director,

Academic Life and University Initiatives

Phone: 561-297-2676

Email: [email protected]

This news release was issued on behalf of Newswise. For more information, visit http://www.newswise.com.

SOURCE Florida Atlantic University
DUBLIN, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The "United States Compliance Management Kit 2022 - Gold Edition" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.



The compliance management kit offers a full range of tools to help enterprises of all sizes to address these issues. The Compliance Management kit provides the infrastructure tools necessary to address these mandated requirements.



Recent ransomware attacks focused most C-Level executives on asset security and compliance as more business is conducted on the Internet. In addition, not meeting compliance mandates exposes enterprises to damaged reputations and fines. The Compliance Management Kit provides tools that are properly implemented minimizes those risks. The Compliance Management Kit is the must-have tool to meet mandated governmental and industry compliance objectives.



The Kit comes in three versions. Each version contains the Compliance Management White Paper, a self-scoring Security Audit Program, a PCI Audit Program, and 25 key job descriptions including one for the Chief Compliance Officer which is six pages in length.



Compliance Management - Gold Edition

Compliance Management White Paper

Security Audit Program

PCI Audit Program

Compliance Management Job Descriptions (25 key positions)

Record Classification and Management

Privacy Compliance Policy that addresses the EU's GDPR and the latest California Consumer Privacy Act

Security Manual Template - Word - 240 plus packed pages which are usable as is. Over 3,000 companies worldwide have chosen this as the basis for their best practices to meet mandated US, EU and ISO requirements

Summary:



Most common fraud is from information theft after a security breach



With the greater dependence by corporations on open INTERNET-based systems there has been a notable increase in fraud and theft. In 2021, 70% of companies were impacted by IT-related fraud. IT-related fraud is now the most common security threat that enterprises of all types and sizes face. IT professionals not only need to be concerned with the protection of sensitive information in the new mobile computing environment.



Janco in its monthly interviews of CIOs found that one in three organizations has experienced some type of fraud associated with their systems.



Janco conducted a security survey of 827 senior executives, 62 percent of them at the C-suite level. They found that over seventy percent of CIOs and CFOs said their companies experienced fraud in the previous 12 months. That is compared to 61% percent in 2021. The fraud they found went beyond IT systems.



Types of Cyberattacks



During the survey the analyst found 7 primary types of cyberattacks including ransomware.

Spam Mass Phishing Impersonation Financial Fraud Vendor Fraud Credential Phishing Account Takeover

Top 10 Enterprise Security Weaknesses



There were a number of enterprise-wide security weaknesses that were drivers in the causes of the breaches. If followed, mandated security and privacy compliance requirements are the best lines of defense.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/8yxf96

Media Contact:

Research and Markets

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BALTIMORE, Md., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Urology Care Foundation, the world's leading nonprofit urological health foundation and official foundation of the American Urological Association, is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2022 Research Awards of Distinction. The awards acknowledge outstanding contributions to urology research, specifically in pediatrics and prostate cancer, and recognize the accomplishments of previous Urology Care Foundation awardees, the dedication of exemplary research mentors and the efforts of talented early- career scholars.

"We're proud to recognize this year's Urology Care Foundation Research Awardees," said Harris M. Nagler, MD, Urology Care Foundation President. "A major component of the Foundation's mission is to support and improve urological care by funding research and these awardees exemplify that mission through their outstanding contributions to the field of urology."

Congratulations to this year's recipients:

John W. Duckett, Jr., MD, Pediatric Urology Research Excellence Award

Christopher Cooper, MD, FAAP, Vice-Chair of Urology and Senior Associate Dean of Medical Education at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine

Established in 2009, the Duckett Award is named in honor of the late world-renowned pediatric urologist and professor and made possible through a fund established by Mrs. Peggy Duckett-Drach and the Societies for Pediatric Urology. The Duckett Award is presented annually to recognize outstanding work in the field of pediatric urology research.

Richard D. Williams, MD Prostate Cancer Research Excellence Award

Natasha Kyprianou, PhD, Professor of Urology, Oncological Sciences, Pathology; member of the Tisch Cancer Institute; and Vice-Chair for Basic Sciences Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Established in 2013, the Williams Award is named in honor of the late urologist, scientist, mentor and humanitarian and is made possible through a fund established by Mrs. Beverly Williams. The Williams Award is presented annually to recognize outstanding and impactful research in the field of prostate cancer over the previous 10 years.

Distinguished Mentor Award

Alan Diekman, PhD, Professor of Urology, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology within the College of Medicine at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Established in 2003, the Distinguished Mentor Award recognizes researchers and physician scientists who have an outstanding track record of fostering the next generation of research by continually providing an excellent training environment and guidance to early-career investigators and is funded by the Urology Care Foundation.

Distinguished Scholar Alumnus Award

Glenn Preminger, MD, James F. Glenn Professor of Urologic Surgery at Duke University Medical Center

Established in 2003, the Distinguished Scholar Alumnus Award recognizes former Urology Care Foundation Research Scholars who have achieved a substantial body of impactful research and demonstrate an unwavering commitment to scholarship and academic leadership in the field.

Outstanding Graduate Scholar Award

Established in 2016, the Outstanding Graduate Scholar Award recognizes one one-year and one two-year Research Scholar Award recipient completing their Urology Care Foundation-funded research. Awardees are chosen based on the quality and difficulty of the applicant's project, the potential impact of their studies, demonstrated research productivity and publications generated during the award period and the Scholars' potential as future research leaders.

Zeynep Gul, MD, Society of Urologic Oncology Fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, has received a 2022 Outstanding Graduate Scholar Award for a one-year research project on The Effects of Telemedicine on Health Disparities in Patients with Urologic Malignancies, conducted under the mentorship of Bruce Jacobs, MD, Jonathan Yabes, PhD, and Benjamin Davies, MD.

Renea Sturm, MD, Assistant Professor of Urology at the University of California Los Angeles has received a 2022 Outstanding Graduate Scholar Award for a two-year research project on Bio-inspired Urethral Design: Scaffold Creation and Evaluation, conducted under the mentorship of Nasim Annabi, PhD, Ali Khademhosseini, PhD, and Isla Garraway, MD, PhD.

The awardees will be celebrated at the Urology Care Foundation Research Honors Program held at the AUA Annual Meeting in May 2022. To learn more, visit https://www.auanet.org/research/research-funding/aua-funding/research-honors-program

About the Urology Care Foundation: The Urology Care Foundation is the world's leading nonprofit urological health foundation, and the official foundation of the American Urological Association. Collaborating with physicians, researchers, patients and the public, the Foundation supports and improves urologic clinical care by funding research, developing patient education and pursuing philanthropic support. To learn more about the Urology Care Foundation and its programs visit: www.urologyhealth.org.

About the American Urological Association: Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology, and has more than 23,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy. www.AUAnet.org.

Contact:

Caitlin Lukacs

410-689-4081

[email protected]

SOURCE Urology Care Foundation
CHICAGO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the new market research report "US Healthcare Environmental Services Market by Type (Janitorial/Core-Cleaning, Infection Control & Prevention, Front-of-house cleaning & Brand Experience), Facility Type (Acute Care, Post-Acute Care, Military & Childrens Hospital) - Forecast to 2026", published by MarketsandMarkets, the market is projected to reach USD 8.7 billion by 2026 from USD 6.6 billion in 2021, at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period.

Browse in-depth TOC on

"US Healthcare Environmental Services Market"

36  Tables

33  Figures

127  Pages

Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=205929082

The Growth in the market is majorly driven by stringent government regulations and the rising prevalence of HAIs. With a surge in COVID-19 cases, there is an increasing focus on hygiene & control practices and the rising need to reduce the spread of infection, thus supporting the market growth.

The pandemic has disrupted healthcare systems worldwide, with hospitals being overwhelmed due to the increasing influx of patients. Temporary hospitals are also being set up to deal with the growing number of cases. Hence, the spread of COVID-19 has spurred a surge in demand for disinfection and infection prevention services due to the growing cases of HAIs in hospital settings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, responding to hospital-acquired infections has become a pressing medical issue worldwide. The overwhelming adoption of strict measures to reduce the infection spread and the government mandates for reducing hospital-acquired infections are likely to drive the growth of the healthcare environmental services market during the forecast period.

The janitorial/ core-cleaning services segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period

Based on type, the US healthcare environmental services market is segmented into janitorial/core-cleaning services, infection control & prevention services, enhanced cleaning technology, front-of-house cleaning & brand experience, and other services. The janitorial/ core-cleaning services segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period, primarily due to the need for regular cleaning and keeping health facility premises clean to prevent the spread of infection among patients and staff.

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The acute-care facilities type segment accounted for the largest share of the US healthcare environmental services market

Based on facility type, the healthcare environmental services market is segmented into acute-care, post-acute care, and non-acute care facilities. In 2020, the acute-care facilities segment accounted for the largest share of this market. The growing adoption of various outsourced cleaning services has helped these facilities reduce in-house administrative costs such as the buying & maintenance costs of various cleaning technologies and supplies. These are the major factors driving the growth of this segment.

The prominent 15 players operating in the US healthcare environmental services market include Sodexo Global (France), Compass Group (UK), Aramark Corporation (US), Hospital Housekeeping Systems, Inc. (HHS) (US), ABM Industries Incorporated (US), Xanitos, Inc. (US), OctoClean Franchising Systems, Inc. (US), AVI Foodsystems, Inc. (US), Jani-King International, Inc. (US), Healthcare Services Group, Inc. (US), ServiceMaster Clean (US), Bravo Building Services (US), and Corvus Janitorial Systems (US)

Speak to Analyst: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/speaktoanalystNew.asp?id=205929082

Browse Adjacent Markets: Medical Devices Market Research Reports & Consulting

Browse Related Reports:

Surface Disinfectant Market by Composition (Alcohols, Chlorine, Quaternary Ammonium), Type (Liquid, Wipes, Sprays), Application (Surface, Instrument), End-User (Hospital, Diagnostic and Research Laboratories), Region - Global Forecast to 2026

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/surface-disinfectant-market-231286043.html

Infection Control Market by Product [Sterilization (Steam, Hydrogen Peroxide, EtO), Disinfection (Wipes, Liquids, Disinfectors), Services, E-beam, Face Masks], End User (Hospitals, Pharmaceutical Companies), COVID-19 Impact - Global Forecast to 2026

https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/infection-control-market-1084.html

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The online on-demand home services market in Malaysia is fragmented and is characterized by the presence of numerous local and international vendors. The vendors in the market are aiming to expand their customer base to increase their revenues. They are also forming strategic alliances with other players to increase their market shares as well as profitability. Search engine optimization and social media advertising are some of the other key strategies adopted by vendors in the market.

Technavio identifies ADVANCE DREAMS VENTURE Sdn Bhd, Breezy Clean Homes, Business Pixel Sdn Bhd, Clinfess Enterprise, EasyFix, Grab Maid Tech Sdn Bhd, Kaodim, LocalService Malaysia, M4U SERVICES Sdn Bhd, and Maideasy Sdn Bhd as dominant players in the market. Factors such as the advantages of online on-demand home services, increasing internet penetration, and the increasing influence of digital media will offer immense growth opportunities to market players. However, the high competition among vendors and the lack of a standard pricing model will challenge the growth of the market participants. To make the most of the opportunities, market vendors should focus more on the growth prospects in the fast-growing segments, while maintaining their positions in the slow-growing segments.

Uncover successful business strategies adopted by vendors and make informed decisions. Download a Free Sample Report Now

Online On-demand Home Services Market in Malaysia 2021-2025: Segmentation

Online On-demand Home Services Market in Malaysia is segmented as below:

Service

Home Care and Design



Repair and Maintenance



HWB



Others

Platform

Mobile Applications



Online Website

By service, the home care and design segment accounted for the maximum market share in 2021. The changes in consumer lifestyles and the rise in disposable incomes are driving the demand for online on-demand home care and design services in Malaysia. Besides, the increasing time spent at home led by the adoption of the work-from-home policy has further increased the demand for on-demand home services in the country, which is contributing to the growth of the segment.

By platform, the mobile application segment will have the largest share of the market. The increased use of mobile applications, high adoption of smartphones, and the rising penetration of the internet is fostering the growth of the segment.

Technavio presents a detailed picture of the market by the way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. Our online on-demand home services market in Malaysia report covers the following areas:

Online On-demand Home Services Market in Malaysia 2021-2025: Vendor Analysis

We provide a detailed analysis of around 25 vendors operating in the online on-demand home services market in Malaysia. Backed with competitive intelligence and benchmarking, our research report on the Online On-demand Home Services Market in Malaysia is designed to provide entry support, customer profiles, and M&As as well as go-to-market strategy support.

Online On-demand Home Services Market in Malaysia 2021-2025: Key Highlights

CAGR of the market during the forecast period 2021-2025

Detailed information on factors that will assist online on-demand home services market growth in Malaysia during the next five years

during the next five years Estimation of the online on-demand home services market size in Malaysia and its contribution to the parent market

and its contribution to the parent market Predictions on upcoming trends and changes in consumer behavior

The growth of the online on-demand home services market in Malaysia

Analysis of the market's competitive landscape and detailed information on vendors

Comprehensive details of factors that will challenge the growth of online on-demand home services market vendors in Malaysia

Related Reports:

Online On-demand Home Services Market in Latin America by Service and Platform - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026

Online Household Furniture Market in the US by Product and Material - Forecast and Analysis 2022-2026

Online On-demand Home Services Market in Malaysia Scope Report Coverage Details Page number 120 Base year 2020 Forecast period 2021-2025 Growth momentum & CAGR Accelerate at a CAGR of 55.29% Market growth 2021-2025 USD 50.49 billion Market structure Fragmented YoY growth (%) 42.93 Regional analysis Malaysia Performing market contribution Malaysia at 100% Key consumer countries Malaysia Competitive landscape Leading companies, competitive strategies, consumer engagement scope Companies profiled ADVANCE DREAMS VENTURE Sdn Bhd, Breezy Clean Homes, Business Pixel Sdn Bhd, Clinfess Enterprise, EasyFix, Grab Maid Tech Sdn Bhd, Kaodim, LocalService Malaysia, M4U SERVICES Sdn Bhd, and Maideasy Sdn Bhd Market Dynamics Parent market analysis, Market growth inducers and obstacles, Fast-growing and slow-growing segment analysis, COVID 19 impact and future consumer dynamics, market condition analysis for the forecast period. Customization purview If our report has not included the data that you are looking for, you can reach out to our analysts and get segments customized.

Table Of Contents :

Executive Summary

Market Landscape

Market ecosystem

Value chain analysis

Market Sizing

Market definition

Market segment analysis

Market size 2020

Market outlook: Forecast for 2020 - 2025

Five Forces Analysis

Bargaining power of buyers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Threat of rivalry

Market condition

Market Segmentation by Service

Market segments

Comparison by Service

Home care and design - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Repair and maintenance - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

HWB - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Others - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Market opportunity by Service

Market Segmentation by Platform

Market segments

Comparison by Platform

Mobile applications - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Online website - Market size and forecast 2020-2025

Market opportunity by Platform

Market drivers

Market challenges

Market trends

Vendor Landscape

Overview

Vendor landscape

Landscape disruption

Vendor Analysis

Vendors covered

Market positioning of vendors

ADVANCE DREAMS VENTURE Sdn Bhd

Breezy Clean Homes

Business Pixel Sdn Bhd

Clinfess Enterprise

EasyFix

Grab Maid Tech Sdn Bhd

Kaodim

LocalService Malaysia

M4U SERVICES Sdn Bhd

Maideasy Sdn Bhd

Appendix

Scope of the report

Currency conversion rates for US$

Research methodology

List of abbreviations

About Us

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focus on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions. With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavio's report library consists of more than 17,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavio's comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

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SOURCE Technavio
LOS ANGELES, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Christine McKay, founder and CEO of Venn Negotiation, a full-service negotiation strategy organization, was named Chair of the Business Alliance Committee for City Club Los Angeles. The committee is a dynamic group of business leaders, entrepreneurs, and changemakers who thrive on shared ideas to grow business and build a stronger business community across LA.

"I am honored and excited to serve as Chair of this dynamic committee," says McKay. "Between the networking, connections, shared resources, and collective wisdom, the Business Alliance Committee is one of the greatest resources in my own business. My intention is to expand this value so that more LA-based business owners and executives can reap the rewards of membership and build stronger alliances throughout our community."

"I am excited for both the committee and City Club LA about the appointment of Christine McKay as Chair of the Business Alliance Committee," says Brent Stokes, Chairman, Executive Board of Governors, City Club Los Angeles. "I am absolutely certain Christine is going to do great things."

McKay's vision as Chair is to unite an even broader community among LA-based business owners and entrepreneurs who seek networking, education, and resources to grow their businesses. Part of Club Corp of America, City Club LA hosts a variety of events including a technology conference geared towards business owners and entrepreneurs, charity events, women-in-business events, and dozens more.

"City Club Los Angeles is excited to announce Ms. Christine McKay as our new Business Alliance Committee Chair!" says Alex Thapar, General Manager. "In a relatively short time, Ms. McKay has become one of our most-engaged members. We can't wait to see the positive impact her leadership will have with this prestigious group."

The committee meets at 6 pm the first Wednesday of each month. Each meeting includes small bites and wine. For information, visit the City Club LA website.

"Owning a business can be one of the most exciting and challenging endeavors one undertakes in life. Having an arsenal of resources to help you succeed is vital," says McKay.

About Christine McKay

Christine McKay is a global negotiation strategist, international speaker, author, and host of Why Not Ask?, a live podcast streamed at 5 pm PST to @VennNegotiation on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Twitch. Visit vennnegotiation.com.

SOURCE Venn Negotiation
Rise in incidence of health failures, dearth of heart donors, surge in patient awareness about health failure treatment options, and technological advancements have boosted the growth of the global ventricular assist devices market

PORTLAND, Ore., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Allied Market Research recently published a report, titled, "Ventricular Assist Devices Market by Product (Left Ventricular Assist Devices (LVADs), Right Ventricular Assist Devices (RVADs), and Biventricular assist devices (BIVADs)), Application (Bridge-to-transplant (BTT) Therapy, Destination Therapy, Bridge-to-recovery (BTR) Therapy, and Bridge-to-candidacy (BTC) Therapy), and Design (Transcutaneous and Implantable Ventricular Assist Devices): Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2021-2030". As per the report, the global ventricular assist devices industry was accounted for $1.23 billion in 2020, and is expected to reach $2.82 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 8.6% from 2021 to 2030.

For Right Perspective, Download Sample PDF at: https://www.alliedmarketresearch.com/request-sample/2024

Drivers, restraints, and opportunities

Rise in incidence of health failures, dearth of heart donors, surge in patient awareness about health failure treatment options, and technological advancements have boosted the growth of the global ventricular assist devices market. However, serious risks involved in the procedure and high cost of devices and procedures hinder the market growth. On the contrary, potential in emerging markets would open new opportunities in the future.

Covid-19 scenario:

During the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for bariatric surgery increased, which favored the ventricular assist devices industry.

Moreover, rise in number of product approvals during the pandemic benefited the market.

However, the prolonged lockdown and disrupted supply chain presented some challenges to the key market players.

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The left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) segment held the largest share

By product type, the left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) segment held the largest share in 2020, accounting for nearly three-fourths of the global ventricular assist devices market. In addition, the segment is expected to register the highest CAGR of 8.7% during the forecast period, owing to rise in prevalence of cardiovascular surgeries. The report includes analysis of other segments such as right ventricular assist devices (RVADs) and biventricular assist devices (BIVADs).

The hypermarket and supermarket segment dominated the market

By application, the bridge-to-transplant (BTT) segment held the lion's share in 2020, contributing to nearly half of the global ventricular assist devices market. However, the destination therapy segment is estimated to manifest the highest CAGR of 9.0% from 2021 to 2030, due to rise in number of approvals of products.

North America held the largest share

By region, the global ventricular assist devices market across North America dominated in 2020, holding more than two-fifths of the market, due to robust infrastructure provided for research activities and presence of key players across the region. However, the market across Asia-Pacific is projected to portray the highest CAGR of 8.9% during the forecast period, owing to rise in use of ventricular assist devices products, R&D activities for new product launch, and surge in investment in the healthcare sector.

Major market players

Abiomed, Inc.

Boston Scientific Corporation

Berlin Heart GmbH

Jarvik Heart, Inc.

Calon Cardio

Medtronic plc

LivaNova PLC

Abbott Laboratories

ReliantHeart Inc.

Terumo Medical Corporation

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SOURCE Allied Market Research
Jeff Turkanis Named Chief Investment Officer

Taryn Fielder Named General Counsel

JERSEY CITY, N.J., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Veris Residential, Inc. (NYSE: VRE), a forward-thinking, environmentally- and socially-conscious REIT that primarily owns, operates, acquires, and develops Class A multifamily properties, today announced two executive appointments designed to further support the company's transition into a pure-play multifamily REIT and drive long-term shareholder value.

Jeff Turkanis, former Head of U.S. Residential at Oxford Properties Group, has been appointed Chief Investment Officer, succeeding Ricardo Cardoso, effective April 4, and Taryn Fielder, former General Counsel at WashREIT, has been appointed General Counsel, succeeding Gary Wagner, effective April 18. Messrs. Cardoso and Wagner will be leaving the company to pursue other opportunities following a transition period.

Mahbod Nia, Chief Executive Officer of Veris Residential, said, "We are pleased to welcome Jeff and Taryn to Veris Residential as we continue to strengthen our team with top professionals who have significant experience working across private and publicly traded residential real estate. Jeff's intricate knowledge of the residential sector and impressive track record of sourcing and executing strategic investments, coupled with Taryn's breadth of experience that includes providing strategic advice for a variety of complex real estate transactions, will be invaluable as we continue our transition to a pure-play multifamily REIT.

"Importantly, I would like to thank Ricardo and Gary for their decades of dedicated service to Veris Residential and wish them all the best as they explore the next chapter of their careers."

Mr. Turkanis' extensive real estate investment experience includes over $15 billion in transactions concluded primarily across the office and residential sectors. He has been focused specifically on the residential sector (predominantly multifamily) for the past 8 years, closing over $4 billion in transactions during this time. As Chief Investment Officer, he will be responsible for overseeing the sale of non-strategic assets, identifying potential value enhancement opportunities within Veris Residential's existing portfolio, and sourcing potential new investment opportunities. Prior to his more than decade-long tenure at Oxford Properties Group, Mr. Turkanis held roles at Putnam Investments and Fortress Investment Group. He earned a BBA from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA, Real Estate from Columbia Business School.

Ms. Fielder has significant experience providing legal counsel for capital market transactions, as well as securities, corporate governance, and regulatory compliance matters. Prior to WashREIT, she served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel for ASB Real Estate Investments and was Assistant General Counsel for publicly-traded REIT DiamondRock Hospitality Company. Earlier in her career, she worked in the Real Estate Group at Hogan Lovells, and practiced corporate and real estate law with Simpson, Thacher and Bartlett LLP. Ms. Fielder earned a BA summa cum laude from Eckerd College and her JD from Harvard Law School.

In connection with the hiring of Ms. Fielder and Mr. Turkanis, and also in connection with the previous hiring of Ms. Amanda Lombard as Chief Accounting Officer, who will assume the role of Chief Financial Officer on April 1, 2022, Veris Residential is also announcing, as required by New York Stock Exchange Listed Company Manual Rule 303A.08, equity awards to be made to those three executives as a material inducement to their entering into employment with the company. All of the awards were approved by the Compensation Committee of the Veris Residential Board of Directors and will be made effective April 18, 2022, or such later date as the Chair of the Compensation Committee may determine. The awards to Ms. Lombard and Ms. Fielder are each in the form of restricted stock units; Mr. Turkanis will receive a restricted stock unit award and a stock option award.

The restricted stock unit award to Ms. Lombard will have a grant date fair value of $150,000 and will generally vest ratably on each of the first three anniversaries of the date of grant. The restricted stock unit award to Ms. Fielder will have a grant date fair value of $400,000 and will generally vest 60% on December 31, 2022, 20% on December 31, 2023 and 20% on the third anniversary of the date of grant. The restricted stock unit award to Mr. Turkanis will have a grant date fair value of $425,000 and will generally vest 50% on the first anniversary of the date of grant and 25% on each of the next two anniversaries of the grant date. The option grant to Mr. Turkanis will cover 250,000 shares, have an exercise price equal to the closing price of the underlying stock on the date of grant, generally vest and become exercisable ratably on each of the first three anniversaries of the date of grant, and have a maximum six-year term. All of the awards are subject to accelerated vesting in certain circumstances. The awards will all be made outside of Veris Residential's existing 2013 Incentive Stock Plan but will be subject to terms and conditions generally consistent with those in that plan, other than with respect to such terms and conditions intended to comply with the NYSE inducement award exception.

About Veris Residential, Inc.

Veris Residential, Inc. is a forward-thinking, environmentally- and socially-conscious real estate investment trust (REIT) that primarily owns, operates, acquires, and develops holistically-inspired, Class A multifamily properties that meet the sustainability-conscious lifestyle needs of today's residents while seeking to positively impact the communities it serves and the planet at large. The company is guided by an experienced management team and Board of Directors and is underpinned by leading corporate governance principles, a best-in-class and sustainable approach to operations, and an inclusive culture based on equality and meritocratic empowerment. For additional information on Veris Residential, Inc. and our properties available for lease, please visit http://www.verisresidential.com/.

For Veris Residential:

Amanda Shpiner/Grace Cartwright

Gasthalter & Co.

212-257-4170

[email protected]

SOURCE Veris Residential, Inc.
Winners received cash prizes, and audience cast their votes in the Audience Choice Award in the online event

LOS ANGELES, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation celebrated Women's History Month by honoring three local leaders and holding a women-owned business competition for startups and small businesses.

VSEDC honored three local Los Angeles leaders Tunua Thrash, Senior Executive Director of LISC-LA, Adriana Cortes, Co-owner of restaurants Delicious Southern Cuisine and Delicious at The Dunbar, and Dr. Kay Ramsey, Deputy Director of Five Keys Schools and Programs.

Chosen from a field of 50 applicants, six finalists pitched their businesses to a panel of judges and an audience of lenders and other small businesses. Finalists were scored by traditional and non-traditional lenders which included representatives from Wells Fargo, Citibank, Union Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Comerica, Silicon Valley Bank, LISC-LA, Clearinghouse, and South Los Angeles BusinessSource (CDFI).

First, second, and third place winners received $1,500, $1,000 and $500, respectively. The Audience Choice Award winner also walked away with an additional $500.

Among the startups, Lura Ball, representing Lura's Kitchen, with a line of 3 ingredient gourmet cookie mixes, won first prize. Kelsey Searles from MiliMili, a lifestyle brand company of nursery products, won second prize, and Tiffany Lauderdale from LipzTalk, an all-natural beauty empowerment company, came in third.

Among the small businesses, first prize and the Audience Choice Award went to Karneisha Christian who pitched Puckerup Lemonade, a family recipe with aspirations to be the Starbucks of lemonade. Second prize went to Melissa Tong, whose company, DuckPunk Productions, strengthens brands through storytelling. Structural engineer, Hispalis "Polly" Blanco, came in third with her construction company, Castor Blanco Construction.

Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation (VSEDC) is a community-based nonprofit and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) recognized for decades of technical and entrepreneurial assistance to South LA small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs. The service VSEDC provides serves to drive community self-sufficiency, facilitate business growth, access to affordable housing, goods and services, and job creation. VSEDC achieves this through youth education and entrepreneurial projects, CDFI programs, and fundraising efforts. Find out more about VSEDC at www.vsedc.org.

SOURCE Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation
Insurance professionals from across the country attended Accelerate, powered by NetVU, for professional development and a first look at InsurTech advances

DENVER, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Insurance professionals from across the country gathered in Denver this week for Accelerate, powered by NetVU, for four days of networking, education and to see the latest InsurTech innovations from Vertafore.

During the conference's general sessions and 130+ education workshops, attendees learned about what's new and what's next for their core insurance technology and how to get the most out of the solutions they already own. NetVU also celebrated the return to an in-person conference with a full curriculum of classes on business development and IT management for agencies.

"The energy at this year's Accelerate was just incredible," said Jessica Jeffress, conference chair and AVP of Peel & Holland. "In an industry defined by relationships, there's nothing like being together to learn and grow as professionals. A huge thanks to the NetVU volunteers and Vertafore experts who made 2022 a success."

In her keynote, Vertafore CEO Amy Zupon showcased the latest milestones in agency modernization and in distribution and compliance management, including:

The expansion of the company's open architecture strategy, with nearly 500 open API end points to drive connectivity and the growth of the Vertafore Orange Partner Program. Many of the Vertafore's 34 Orange Partners were on-hand to meet with users and help agencies find the right complementary solutions for their business.

Updates on Vertafore's tech modernization initiative, including outcomes of its partnership with Amazon Web Services, its long-term investment in user-centric product design and its efforts to simplify and automate the insurance lifecycle.

How Vertafore is empowering agents to build closer connections with their insureds through a robust client digital experience designed specifically for the independent channel. Following the company's acquisition in November 2021 , attendees got an in-depth look at the integration of AgencyZoom into Vertafore's suite of products.

Industry-first solution for commercial lines quoting

A key conference highlight came on Tuesday with Vertafore's launch of its Commercial Submissions platform. This industry-leading market connectivity solution delivers a game-changing experience for commercial quotes by simplifying and automating the entire process. Agencies can get quotes from multiple carriers in the same time it typically takes to get onestreamlining the process and timeline to submit commercial business. Carriers on the platform also benefit with more opportunities to put their insurance products in front of clients.

"Our team is obsessed with creating solutions that deliver real value and simplify our customers' workflows so they can focus on what matters most to their business," said Zupon. "Commercial Submissions is going to give both agencies and carriers a competitive edge to service commercial clients with the best coverage for their needs, at the speed of modern business."

As part of its commitment to improve market connectivity between independent agencies and insurers, Vertafore announced that Commercial Submissions will be available to its customers at no charge through September 30, 2022.

Modernizing the user experience with intuitive design

With the launch of Commercial Submissions, Vertafore showcased its industry-leading efforts to craft InsurTech solutions that are user-centric, innovative and inclusive. As part of its vision for simpler, smarter and more human insurance distribution, the company has embarked on a long-term investment in product design that reflects inclusive principles to eliminate user barriers, improve accessibility and overcome situational challenges that impede user productivity.

Powering the spirit of the independent channel

In addition to a new look to its products, Vertafore also unveiled its bold new branding that reflects the company's obsession with powering the possible of independent agents, MGAs and carriers.

About Vertafore

As North America's InsurTech leader for more than 50 years, Vertafore is modernizing and simplifying the insurance life cycle so that our customers can focus on what matters most. Vertafore's solutions provide end-to-end connectivity across the distribution channel, improve the client and agent experience, unlock the power of data, and streamline essential workflows to drive efficiency, productivity, and profitability for independent agencies, MGAs and carriers. For more information about Vertafore, visit www.vertafore.com.

2022 Vertafore and the Vertafore logo are registered trademarks of Vertafore. All rights reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Liz Reilly

Next PR

[email protected]

SOURCE Vertafore
Tide the appetite of your guests with Spiced Grass-Fed Lamb Over Hummus served with toasted flatbread or tortilla chips before dishing out Overnight Apple Cinnamon French Toast Casserole for a simple centerpiece. Just as those delectable dishes are vanishing, pull Brown Sugar Pound Cake out of the oven and pair with sweetened whipped cream and fresh fruit for a sweet finishing touch.

Visit Culinary.net to find more ways to broaden your brunch menu.

Wake Up to a Wonderful Brunch

Perfect for any brunch occasion is a delicious dish that can be made a day in advance, simplifying your morning prep before guests arrive with growling stomachs.

Prepared the day before and chilled overnight, this Overnight Apple Cinnamon French Toast Casserole is ready to bake to perfection in the morning with a gooey interior and crisp exterior filled with mouthwatering flavor. Drizzle with glaze then dish out to loved ones for a delicious way to make brunch easy.

Find more breakfast and brunch recipes at Culinary.net.

Overnight Apple Cinnamon French Toast Casserole

Servings: 12

Nonstick cooking spray

1 package (20 ounces) French bread, cubed, divided

1 can (20 ounces) apple pie filling

9 eggs

1 cup half-and-half

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 cup powdered sugar, plus additional (optional)

2 tablespoons milk, plus additional (optional)

Spray 8-by-8-inch glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.

In baking dish, add 10 ounces cubed French bread in bottom of dish. Pour apple filling over bread. Top with remaining cubed French bread. Set aside.

In medium bowl, whisk eggs, half-and-half and cinnamon. Pour evenly over bread.

Cover with aluminum foil and chill overnight.

Heat oven to 325 F.

Remove foil and bake 50-60 minutes.

Let cool 10-15 minutes.

In small bowl, whisk powdered sugar and milk. Add additional, if needed, until pourable glaze is reached. Drizzle over casserole before serving.

A Fresh, Flavorful Brunch Bite

Brunch is a perfect opportunity to entertain friends and family with delicious recipes that will delight their taste buds. For example, this smooth hummus is paired with tender New Zealand grass-fed lamb loin chops and fresh toppings for flavor in every bite.

Ready in less than 30 minutes, this Spiced Grass-Fed Lamb Over Hummus recipe is made using Atkins Ranch lamb, which is available at your local Whole Foods Market and hails from New Zealand where the animals are grass-fed 365 days a year and allowed to roam and graze freely over lush green hills and pastures. The result is a lean, finely textured, flavorful meat that tastes just as nature intended.

Visit beefandlambnz.com for more recipes, cooking tips and information.

Spiced Grass-Fed Lamb Over Hummus

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes

Servings: 4-6

Lamb:

4 Atkins Ranch grass-fed lamb loin chops

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Hummus:

1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup tahini

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon paprika

3 tablespoons olive oil

For serving:

1 Persian cucumber, small diced

1 small tomato, diced

2 tablespoons roasted pine nuts (or 2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds)

parsley, chopped

lemon wedges

toasted flatbread or tortilla chips

To make lamb: Remove lamb from bone, dice meat into small cubes and transfer to medium bowl.

Add cumin powder and salt. Toss to coat. Marinate while preparing hummus.

To make hummus: Drain chickpeas, reserving 1 tablespoon liquid. Rinse chickpeas under running water then drain.

In bowl of food processor, pulse chickpeas, chickpea liquid and garlic until chickpeas and garlic are chopped.

Add tahini, lemon juice, salt, cumin, paprika and olive oil. Mix until smooth paste forms. Taste and adjust by adding more salt, lemon juice or olive oil, as desired.

Transfer hummus to large platter and spread it out.

In large skillet, heat extra-virgin olive oil over high heat until hot. Add lamb and cook 30 seconds without moving.

Turn lamb over and cook 30-60 seconds, repeating until all sides are browned. Remove from pan and let rest 5 minutes.

To serve, place cucumbers and tomatoes in well of hummus then top with lamb, pine nuts and parsley.

Top with squeeze of lemon juice and serve with flatbread or tortilla chips.

Satisfy Cake Cravings with a Brunch-Worthy Dessert

Whether your brunch feast consists of bacon and eggs, pancakes and waffles or a combination of favorites, you can cap it off with a sweet treat for the perfect ending. After all, no celebration is complete without dessert.

Once the table is cleared of the main courses, dish out decadent bites of this Brown Sugar Pound Cake baked with high-quality ingredients like C&H Sugars to end the meal on a sweet note. Top with whipped cream and your crowd's favorite fruits like strawberries and blueberries or serve the toppings separately for a customizable treat.

Visit chsugar.com for more brunch recipe ideas.

Brown Sugar Pound Cake

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour

Servings: 8

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for coating pan, divided

1 cup packed C&H Light Brown Sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

sweetened whipped cream, for topping (optional)

fresh fruit, such as strawberries and blueberries, for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Grease and flour 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan. In large bowl, beat sugar and butter until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. In separate bowl, combine 1 3/4 cups flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to sugar mixture. Pour batter into pan.

Bake 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from pan and turn out on rack to cool completely.

Top with sweetened whipped cream and fresh fruit, if desired.

Michael French

[email protected]

1-888-824-3337

editors.familyfeatures.com

About Family Features Editorial Syndicate

A leading source for high-quality food, lifestyle and home and garden content, Family Features provides readers with topically and seasonally relevant tips, takeaways, information, recipes, videos, infographics and more. Find additional articles and information at Culinary.net and eLivingToday.com.

SOURCE Family Features Editorial Syndicate
OTTAWA, ON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Quarterhill Inc. ("Quarterhill") (TSX: QTRH) (OTCQX: QTRHF) subsidiary WiLAN Inc. ("WiLAN") today announced that Kyocera Corporation has entered into another multi-year wireless license agreement with WiLAN. WiLAN first signed a license with Kyocera in December 2015.

"We are pleased Kyocera has entered into another wireless license with WiLAN," said Michael Vladescu, WiLAN's President & CEO. "The signing of this new license agreement with Kyocera further validates WiLAN's wireless patent portfolio."

The specific consideration payable under the Agreement and all other terms and conditions are confidential.

About WiLAN

WiLAN, a Quarterhill company, is one of the most successful patent monetization companies in the world and partners with its customers to unlock the value of intellectual property through various patent monetization models. WiLAN operates in a variety of markets including automotive, digital television, Internet, medical, semiconductor and wireless communication technologies. For more information: www.wilan.com .

About Quarterhill

Quarterhill is a leading provider of tolling and enforcement solutions in the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) industry, as well as, through its Wi-LAN Inc. subsidiary, a leader in Intellectual Property licensing. Our goal is global leadership in ITS, via organic growth of the Electronic Transaction Consultants, LLC (ETC) and International Road Dynamics, Inc. (IRD) platforms, and by continuing an acquisition-oriented investment strategy that capitalizes on attractive growth opportunities within ITS and its adjacent markets. Quarterhill is listed on the TSX under the symbol QTRH and on the OTCQX Best Market under the symbol QTRHF. For more information: www.quarterhill.com

All trademarks and brands mentioned in this release are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Quarterhill Inc.
SANTA MONICA, Calif., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest in a series of bold moves, WR Immigration is adding two partners to its team. Effective April 11th, 2022, leading global immigration lawyer with over 15 years' experience, Audrey Lustgarten, will join to lead the WR Global team in providing comprehensive global visa assistance.

As of March 28th, 2022, Kimberley Best Robidoux, a San Diego-based attorney with over 25 years of immigration law experience counseling corporate clients, becomes managing partner of WR Immigration San Diego.

Kimberley Best Robidoux's practice focuses on counseling corporate clients on employment-based immigration and related nonimmigrant visa matters, as well as worksite enforcement and compliance, including I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification matters. Kimberley understands the broader issues that impact HR and is adept at crafting holistic immigration solutions particularly in the compliance arena. A frequent speaker on business immigration issues to human resource personnel and management, she expands WR Immigration's already deep bench of dynamic and diverse partners in Southern California. Robidoux will also be joined in WR San Diego by Michelle Harmon, an associate attorney with a variety of experience in employment-based immigration matters.

Audrey Lustgarten is a founding member of the paradiGM Global Mobility community and has served as Chair of the American Immigration Lawyers' Association (AILA) Global Migration Section. Ms. Lustgarten is a frequent author and speaker on global immigration topics. She will lead the WR Global team and enhance WRapid Global, the global module of WRapid, the firm's leading immigration management software.

These additions cement the firm's status as a leader in providing global immigration services. "We are thrilled to welcome new law partners Audrey and Kimberley, both of whom are highly respected and well-known for their expertise," said WR Immigration Managing Partner Bernie Wolfsdorf. "With the resuscitation of the global economy, the demand for global relocation services has surged. WR Immigration is similarly surging in lockstep." He continued, "Our clients demand the best talent in the world, and with Kimberley and Audrey joining, we once again show our commitment to providing top-quality compassionate immigration services that will allow these companies to meet their critical needs."

By changing the way that companies process visas, WRapid has transformed the global relocation industry. With its additional global capabilities, WRapid Global continues to set the standard for immigration technology. This cutting-edge software dazzles with its robust analytics, budgeting/forecasting capabilities, and case processing efficiencies, easing day-to-day immigration management for HR professionals worldwide.

Contact:

James Pinedo

310-570-4072

[email protected]

SOURCE WR Immigration
Exclusive Interview

Building a House of Brands, not a House of Cards

VANCOUVER, BC, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - YourWay Cannabis Brands Inc. (CSE: YOUR) (OTC: YOURF) (FSE: HOB) (the "Company" or "YourWay"), a multi-state and consumer-centric House of Brands committed to redefining the way consumers and cannabis brands interact, today announced Executive Chairman Jakob Ripshtein will participate in an exclusive interview at the upcoming Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, the world's biggest and most successful cannabis investing and finance event.

The conference will take place on April 20 and April 21, 2022, at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in Miami, Florida. Mr. Ripshtein will speak on the conference's final day with moderator Scott Greiper, founder and President of Viridian Capital Advisors. Mr. Ripshtein will be discussing YourWay's strategic vision to build a comprehensive family of brands designed to create a sense of belonging for every cannabis consumer.

"At YourWay, we are building a House of Brands, not a House of Cards," said Ripshtein. "The cannabis industry might be new, but building brands isn't. Rooted in a history of CPG brand building, YourWay is taking a proven approach to creating a differentiated portfolio of brands empowering consumers with value and variety, brands with reach and access, and retailers with increased demand and traffic. Utilizing decades of branding expertise and an integral understanding of the consumer experience, YourWay builds brands that align to distinct consumer segments, need states and occasions."

Mr. Ripshtein will be speaking at 3:50 p.m. ET on April 21, 2022. Interested parties can register to attend the conference here.

Members of the YourWay management team will also be holding one-on-one investor and discovery meetings throughout the two-day conference.

About YourWay Cannabis Brands

YourWay Cannabis Brands is a publicly-traded, multi-state and consumer-centric House of Brands committed to redefining the way consumers and cannabis brands interact with sales and operations in Arizona and California. Through building their own brands, partnering with others, and supporting our retail partner's house brand strategy, they are dedicated to expanding their reach, remolding the cannabis industry and ultimately redefining the way consumers and cannabis brands interact.

YourWay aims to connect with the cannabis consumer on a deeper level, utilizing decades of brand-building expertise and an integral understanding of the customer experience to create an intuitive suite of branded products that closely align with consumer need states. The YourWay portfolio is an all-encompassing house of brands designed to create a sense of belonging for every cannabis consumer regardless of their relationship with the plant. Please visit www.yourwaycannabis.com or follow on Twitter at @yourwaycannabis for the latest news and information about YourWay and its brands.

Website: www.yourwaycannabis.com

Twitter: @yourwaycannabis

About The Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference

The premier gathering of cannabis entrepreneurs and investors in North America is returning to Miami.

The next iteration of the famed Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference will gather industry insiders and investors from around the world once again on April 20 and 21 in Miami. Attendees can expect two full days of keynotes, panel discussions, fireside chats, networking, company presentations, celebrity appearances, and more.

CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION:

This news release includes certain "forward-looking information" as defined under applicable Canadian securities legislation, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs, and current expectations of the Company with respect to future business activities and operating performance. Forward-looking information is often identified by the words "may", "would", "could", "should", "will", "intend", "plan", "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect" or similar expressions and includes information regarding: Mr. Ripshtein's speaking engagement at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference; the Company's strategy of building a comprehensive family of brands; the Company's approach to creating a differentiated portfolio of brands; the implementation of the Company's 'House of Brands' cannabis consumer packaged goods strategy; investor and discovery meetings with the Company's management team; and expectations for other economic, business, and/or competitive factors. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

Investors are cautioned that forward-looking information is not based on historical fact but instead reflects management's expectations, estimates or projections concerning future results or events based on the opinions, assumptions and estimates of management considered reasonable at the date the statements are made. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking information are reasonable, such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance, or achievements of the Company. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: regulatory and licensing risks; changes in consumer demand and preferences; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; the global regulatory landscape and enforcement related to cannabis, including political risks and risks relating to regulatory change; compliance with extensive government regulation; public opinion and perception of the cannabis industry; the impact of COVID-19; and the risk factors set out in the Company's annual information form dated August 28, 2020, filed with Canadian securities regulators and available on the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The Company, through several of its subsidiaries, is indirectly involved in the manufacture, possession, use, sale, and distribution of cannabis in the recreational and medicinal cannabis marketplace in the United States. Local state laws where the Company operates permit such activities however, investors should note that there are significant legal restrictions and regulations that govern the cannabis industry in the United States. Cannabis remains a Schedule I drug under the US Controlled Substances Act, making it illegal under federal law in the United States to, among other things, cultivate, distribute or possess cannabis in the United States. Financial transactions involving proceeds generated by, or intended to promote, cannabis-related business activities in the United States may form the basis for prosecution under applicable United States federal money laundering legislation.

While the approach to enforcement of such laws by the federal government in the United States has trended toward nonenforcement against individuals and businesses that comply with recreational and medicinal cannabis programs in states where such programs are legal, strict compliance with state laws with respect to cannabis will neither absolve the Company of liability under United States federal law, nor will it provide a defense to any federal proceeding which may be brought against the Company. The enforcement of federal laws in the United States is a significant risk to the business of the Company and any proceedings brought against the Company thereunder may adversely affect the Company's operations and financial performance.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking information prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated, or expected. Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which speak only as of the date of this news release. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

SOURCE YourWay Cannabis Brands
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese and U.S. securities regulators are both willing to resolve audit oversight differences and problems, China's top securities regulator said Thursday.

The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) said regulators of both sides engaged in "thoughtful, respectful and productive dialogue".

CSRC Chairman Yi Huiman and U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler have held video conferences on three occasions since August last year to discuss the remaining issues regarding audit supervision cooperation, according to the CSRC.

The Chinese side also has had multiple rounds of candid, professional, and efficient talks with the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. The overall progress is smooth and communication between the two sides will continue, said the CSRC.

Both sides have the will to solve their differences, the final results will depend on their wisdom, the CSRC said.

As for the risk of delisting for some companies listed by the SEC, the CSRC said it learned from the SEC that this is normal procedure for the U.S. regulatory authorities to implement the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act.

"Whether the listed companies will be delisted in the next two years will ultimately depend on the progress and results of China-U.S. audit supervision cooperation", according to the CSRC. 
TEHRAN, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Iranian foreign minister said Wednesday that the United States must give up its excessive demands so that "strenuous efforts in Vienna to get all sides to return to their commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal will pay off."

Hossein Amir Abdollahian made the remarks in a meeting with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on the sidelines of a gathering of foreign ministers of Afghanistan's neighbors in China, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry's website.

Elaborating on the present situation of the negotiations in the Austrian capital, the Iranian foreign minister said the achievement of an agreement in the talks hinges on Washington's adoption of a realistic approach.

In terms of bilateral ties between Iran and Qatar, Amir Abdollahian called for expanding bilateral economic cooperation, and following up on the implementation of the previously signed agreements.

For his part, the Qatari foreign minister underlined the need for further activation of bilateral relations, praising Iran for its active participation in Doha Forum international conference.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with the world powers in July 2015. However, former U.S. President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed Washington's unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the Islamic republic to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the agreement in retaliation.

Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks have been held in the Austrian capital between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties, namely China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany, with the United States indirectly involved, to revive the deal. 
Kiev, March 31 : Ukrainian Defense Ministry's spokesman Olexandr Motuzyanyk on Wednesday confirmed that Russia has been withdrawing some troops from Kiev and Chernihiv directions, in central and northern Ukraine respectively, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported.

"The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine notes a certain partial relocation of individual units from the Kiev direction, as well as from the Chernihiv direction," Motuzyanyk told a media briefing.

However, there was no mass withdrawal of Russian troops from those areas, he was quoted as saying Xinhua news agency.

Motuzyanyk suggested that Russian forces may renew their offensive against Kiev and Chernihiv after replenishing the units that suffered the biggest losses in the battles.

On Tuesday, Russia's Defense Ministry announced that Russia has decided to significantly reduce military activity in the Kiev and Chernihiv directions.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Washington, March 31 : The US on Wednesday imposed sanctions on an Iran-based person and his network of companies that Washington accused of facilitating Iran in its effort to get materials for its ballistic missile programme.

The Department of the Treasury said in an announcement that the sanctions are imposed after Iran's missile attack on Erbil, Iraq and an "Iranian enabled Houthi" missile attack against a Saudi Aramco facility earlier this month, as well as other missile attacks by Iranian proxies against Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Xinhua news agency reported.

Specifically, the sanctions targeted an Iranian procurement agent named Mohammad Ali Hosseini and a network of companies, which the Treasury accused him of using to procure ballistic missile propellant and related materials in support of Tehran's missile program.

The department alleged that Hosseini procured materials for the unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - which is under US sanctions -- responsible for research and development of ballistic missiles.

Also hit by the sanctions was P.B. Sadr Co., a procurement intermediary of Parchin Chemical Industries, which is an element of Iran's Defense Industries Organization.

The sanctions came as international efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA), was stalled. The Donald Trump administration pulled the US out of the deal.

"While the United States continues to seek Iran's return to full compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, we will not hesitate to target those who support Iran's ballistic missile program," the Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement accompanying the announcement.

Sergei Ryabkov, Russia's deputy foreign minister, said Wednesday that it will take several more days, or possibly weeks, before an agreement on returning to the JCPOA could be reached, according to Russia's RIA Novosti news agency.

Also on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement following a meeting in China between the foreign ministers of Russia and Iran that Moscow and Tehran intend to "strengthen cooperation in all areas ... despite the illegal restrictive measures introduced against the Russian Federation and the Islamic Republic of Iran by a number of unfriendly countries."

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New York, March 31 : As diplomatic efforts over India's position on Ukraine heat up, US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh is in New Delhi at the same time as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss are expected there on Thursday.

Singh, who is the architect of US economic sanctions on Moscow, "will consult closely with counterparts on the consequences of Russia's unjustified war against Ukraine and mitigating its impact on the global economy", White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said on Wednesday.

India has stayed neutral on seven Ukraine-related resolutions at the United Nations - including one on which the US also abstained - although New Delhi has criticised Russia's invasion obliquely by emphasising "the need to respect the UN Charter, international law and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states".

Also in India is Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon, the Foreign Minister of Mexico which sponsored along with France a resolution in the General Assembly on the Ukraine humanitarian situation.

India abstained on that resolution but it was passed by an overwhelming majority.

All sides to the Ukraine crisis are seeking India's backing and this has led to senior diplomats converging on New Delhi.

Last week, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi went to India and on Wednesday German Foreign and Security Policy Advisor Jens Plotner was there.

Although China has extended an uneasy support to Russia, it has said at the UN that developing countries should not be pressured to pick sides.

Although Singh's role is seen mainly as President Joe Biden's sanctions chief, Bedingfield sought to soften the focus on that aspect indicating that his discussions in New Delhi will go beyond Ukraine.

Despite Biden calling India's position on the Russian invasion "somewhat shaky" and several US politicians criticising New Delhi for not voting at the UN to condemn Moscow and for planning to buy oil from that country, Washington sees India's pivotal role in the Indo-Pacific in its strategy of countering China's aggressive posture.

The Indo-Pacific will figure in the discussions of Singh, said Bedingfield who was substituting at the daily briefing for White House Spokesperson Jen Psaki, who has tested positive for Covid-19 a second time despite being vaccinated.

He will hold consultations "to deepen cooperation to promote inclusive economic growth and prosperity and a free and open Indo Pacific and the development of an Indo Pacific economic framework," she said.

His visit will "continue our ongoing consultations with the Government of India and advance a range of issues in the US India economic relationship and strategic partnerships" and discuss Biden's priorities "including the promotion of high-quality infrastructure to build back better worlds", she added.

On Wednesday, Singh met with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who tweeted that they "discussed at length steps for further deepening India-US economic & strategic ties. Our complementary partnership will help us build resilient economies in a dynamic world order".

Psaki has said that India buying oil from Russia will not violate US sanctions on Russia.

Germany and several European allies of the US continue to buy energy from the US without recriminations.

However, India's purchase of the Triumf S-400 missile defence system from Russia despite US discouragement puts it in the crosshairs of sanctions under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) law.

Reflecting the West's dilemma over India's position of being trapped by its dependence on Russian arms, Plotner told reporters, "We would have welcomed to have India in our camp. This having been said, everybody has his own geography, everybody has his own geopolitical setting in which it must evolve." India's External Affairs Ministry announced the visits of Lavrov and Truss, but was silent on Singh's trip.

(Arul Louis can be reached at arul.l@ians.in and followed @arulouis)

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-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Kiev, March 31 : Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he has discussed support for Ukraine with US President Joe Biden.

"Talked about specific defensive support, a new package of enhanced sanctions, macro-financial and humanitarian aid," Zelensky tweeted after the talks.

The situation on the battlefield in Ukraine and the diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis were other topics of the hour-long conversation, Zelensky was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the White House said Biden and Zelensky discussed delivering "military, economic, and humanitarian assistance" to Ukraine and imposing sanctions on Russia.

In addition, Biden informed Zelensky that the US intended to provide the Ukrainian government with $500 million in direct budgetary aid, and reviewed the additional sanctions and humanitarian assistance announced last week, the statement said.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Riyadh, March 31 : The Joint Incidents Assessment Team (JIAT) in Yemen has said that it has investigated allegations on human-rights violations against the Saudi-led coalition fighting a war in Yemen and found out that the coalition is not responsible for most of them, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

The JIAT is an investigation mechanism created by the coalition to investigate possible human rights violations in its military operations in Yemen, a country that has been locked in a brutal civil war since 2014.

The JIAT said allegations of an attack targeting a house in Taiz Governorate in Yemen in 2015 are wrong as the team found that the coalition did not carry any airstrikes in the area, Xinhua news agency reported.

The closest military target the coalition struck at the time was 18.5 km away from the house in question, said JIAT spokesperson Mansour Al-Mansour.

The JIAT also denied the coalition's accountability for an attack on a health center in Yemen's Saada Governorate in 2015.

Moreover, the team refuted a statement by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator that the coalition conducted an airstrike in Al-Jawf city in 2020, killing a number of civilians.

The forces of the coalition were "correct" in procedures to attack a vehicle and two buildings of the Houthi militia during the airstrike as local intelligence indicated that no civilians were inside, which turned out to be otherwise.

The JIAT recommended prosecuting the field commander who provided the inaccurate information, adding the coalition would provide assistance for the civilian victims.

The outcomes of the investigations were announced on the same day as the launch of the Yemeni talks in Riyadh. The talks, supported by the Gulf Cooperation Council, will continue until April 7 to find a political solution to the Yemeni crisis.

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 coalition intervened in 2015 in the Yemeni civil war in an attempt to reinstate the Hadi government. The coalition has carried out thousands of airstrikes, killing tens of thousands of people, according to the United Nations.
Dubbed China's youngest city and a "city of the future," Xiong'an New Area in north China's Hebei will mark its fifth anniversary on Friday. People from all walks of life there have witnessed the city emerging from a blueprint to reality. #GLOBALink





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
New Delhi, March 31 : The Delhi Police on Thursday said that they have arrested eight persons in a case of vandalism outside the residence of Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

A senior police official confirmed that several teams were conducting raids to nab more people invovled in the case.

"With the help of CCTV footages, we identified the persons behind the incident. We formed several teams and arrested the accused from different places," the official said.

Delhi Police had on Wednesday registered an FIR against unidentified people in this matter.

The FIR was registered under sections 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 332 (Voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Indian Penal Code and under section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

On Wednesday, around 70 people were detained for creating ruckus outside Kejriwal's residence during a protest that was spearheaded by the BJP's Yuva Morcha over the Chief Minister's recent remarks in the Assembly on 'The Kashmir Files' that were deemed as "against the Kashmiri Pandit" community among the saffron clans.

The protest was led by Tajender Singh Bagga and the Yuva Morcha's national president Tejasvi Surya at 10.30 a.m from the IP College to the Chief Minister's residence.

The protesters reached the residence at around 11.30 a.m. and started raising slogans against Kejriwal and his party. It took a violent turn at around 1 p.m., when some of the protestors breached the two barricades that were placed near the CM house and created ruckus there.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Sagar Singh Kalsi had told IANS that the protesters who breached the barricades, were carrying a small box of paint from which they threw paint outside the door.

Kejriwal was not present inside the house at the time of the incident.

The Delhi Police had put up barricades as a precaution and they also used water cannons to prevent the protesters from moving forward.

Police said that they were still working on the matter.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Washington/Islamabad, March 31 : The US government has categorically rejected any kind of involvement in the no-trust motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying the allegations of American involvement are baseless, Geo News reported.

The US government reacted strongly as Khan on Sunday brandished a letter during a power show saying that it contains evidence of a foreign plot hatched against him and the Opposition's no-trust motion is also a part of this foreign conspiracy to topple his government.

On Wednesday, the premier's gist of the 'threat letter' was also shared with senior journalists.

Responding to a question asked by Geo News regarding the letter, the US State Department categorically rejected any kind of involvement in the no-confidence motion against Khan.

"Allegations of US involvement in the no-trust motion and 'threat letter' to PM Imran Khan are baseless," said the State Department.

The US government is monitoring the political situation of Pakistan, however and supports the rule of law in Pakistan, it aded.

Regarding the question of a no-trust motion against Khan, the State Department said that they respect the constitutional process in Pakistan.

On Sunday, the premier, during what the PTI labelled as one of its "biggest" rallies in its history at the Parade Ground in Islamabad, flashed a letter before the public, saying that he has "written evidence" that "money has been pouring in from abroad", while "some of our people are being used to topple the government".

He had said that for months, "plotting and planning is being carried out to influence the foreign policy of Pakistan from outside".

Pakistan's former High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said that state officials issuing such threats to diplomats is completely unheard of.

"Incidents where state officials tell diplomats that they would sever ties if a country's government is not sent packing has never been heard before," he said.

Basit said that "sensitive issues of foreign policies should not be discussed in public".

He said that the memo the prime minister has been referring to most probably carries the minutes of the meeting between US officials and a Pakistani diplomat, adding that along with the minutes, the letter might also include the assessment of the diplomat regarding the future.
March 31 : Kareena Kapoor Khan has always praised her husband Saif Ali Khan for been a wonderful parent to his four children. She has said on several occasions that Saif gives time to all his kids. Saif is father to Sara Ali Khan and Ibrahim Ali Khan from his first marriage with Amrita Singh. With Kareena Kapoor, he has Taimur Ali Khan and Jehangir Ali Khan.

Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan welcomed Jehangir in February 2021 amid the pandemic. They had welcomed Taimur in 2016. Talking to Vogue, Kareena joked that Saif has had a child in every decadein his twenties, thirties, forties, and fifties. The Laal Singh Chaddha actress said that she has forbidden him from having another in his sixties.

Jeh is the youngest of Saifs four children, with a 25-year age difference between Sara and him. Saif has had a child every decadein his twenties, thirties, forties and now in his fifties. Ive told him, in your sixties, thats not happening, she told Vogue jokingly. I think only a man as broad-minded as Saif could be a father of four children at very different stages. He gives his time to them all. And now, with Jeh, we are trying to balance it out. Weve made a pact that when hes shooting for a film, I will try not to work on one at the same time [and vice versa], Kareena said.

Speaking about Taimur, Kareena said, Tim likes people. If there are people at home, he wants to be a part of it. Hes also a mini Saif, wanting to be a rock star, listening to AC/DC and Steely Dan with his father. They have an incredible bond. Tim says, Abba is my best friend, she said.

Kareena further said that Taimur is just four, but knows his mind. Our parenting style is to be open and include him in our lives and respect him as an individual. We try to teach him that when you make decisions, you bear the consequences. And hes a boy, so Im very clear about the consequences!

Meanwhile, Kareena is waiting for the release of her forthcoming film Laal Singh Chaddha with Aamir Khan. The film is an official Hindi remake of the Hollywood film Forrest Gump. The movie is slated to release on April 14 this year. Helmed by Advait Chandan, the film is backed by Aamir Khan Productions, Viacom18 Studios and Paramount Pictures. Kareena has also turned a producer and has signed a new film with Hansal Mehta, and will co-produce the venture with Ekta Kapoor. The actress will soon debut in an OTT film. The Netflix original is helmed by Sujoy Ghosh, and its an adaptation of The Devotion of Suspect X. It stars Kareena Kapoor Khan, Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay Varma among others. It is bankrolled by Jay Shewakramani, Akshai Puri, Sujoy Ghosh and Thomas Kim.
New Delhi, March 31: With Imran Khan's exit now just a formality, the Prime Minister's supporters have trained their heavy artillery at former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is likely to end up as the ultimate winner of the political churn in Islamabad.

On Wednesday, it was the turn of the motormouth Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Khan to attack Sharif with saturation fire. The garrulous Rashid Khan told reporters that it was Sharif who had provided Indian authorities the address of Ajmal Kasab, the brainwashed foot soldier in Pakistan's terror brigade, who had mercilessly killed dozens during the infamous 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Of course, the question arises that when is revealing the address to India of a merciless terrorist who had launched a massacre in Mumbai an act of treason? Or were Rashid Khan's remarks yet another acknowledgement that Pakistan backed terrorism, and in the convoluted if not demented minds of many in the Pakistani establishment a terror attack on India is an act of supreme patriotism? Is support for international terrorism embedded in the DNA of parties such as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)? Not too long-ago Imran Khan, who is departing from Premiership, kicking and screaming, had lionised the biggest terror icon Osama bin Laden as a martyr, and that too in parliament. State patronage to UN proscribed global terrorists - Masood Azhar, head of the Jaish-e-Mohammad, Hafez Saeed the architect of the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, underworld don Dawood Ibrahim - the mastermind of the first Mumbai attack, to name a few- is an established fact.

The voluble Rashid Khan then went on to accuse the "treasonous" Sharif of financially benefiting from Osama bin Laden and hatching conspiracies against the state.

Other luminaries in the Imran Khan cabinet--Federal ministers Asad Umar and Fawad Chaudhry-- claimed on Tuesday that Nawaz Sharif, the PML-N leader was the plotter of and alleged conspiracy hatched with foreign powers, and was behind the so-called "threat letter" sent to the government.

The targeting of Nawaz Sharif is not surprising. Once Imran Khan goes into political oblivion, at least for now, the star of the Sharif clan is set to shine with its ultimate lustre.

Shehbaz Sharif, as the leader of the opposition is set to become the Prime Minister once the no-confidence motion against Khan is passed. That could open the door for Maryam Nawaz, a rising star on the Pakistani political horizon to enter the corridors of power. The stars would be then well aligned for the big Sharif-Nawaz Sharif-elder brother of Shehbaz and father of Maryam, to make a triumphant return from forced exile in London. This is likely to happen provided the Sharifs manage to forge a mutually acceptable understanding with the powerful army Chief, Qamar Javed Bajwa, who has been another winner of the contest with Imran Khan, who had publicly attacked ultimately big boys of the army.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative
Moscow, March 31 : Russia's communications regulator may fine Google over its failure to remove certain "illegal" videos related to Ukraine invasion on the YouTube platform.

In a post on Telegram, Roskomnadzor warned it may fine Google up to 8 million rubles (about $94,675) that will increase to 20 per cent of Google's annual revenue in case of a repeat offence.

"YouTube video hosting, owned by the American IT company Google, has become one of the key platforms participating in the information war against Russia," said the Russian regulator.

"The American platform promotes the dissemination of false content containing unreliable socially significant information about the course of a special military operation in Ukraine," it posted.

This "discredits the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as well as extremist information calling for violent actions against Russian military personnel," the regulator added.

According to Russian law, for failure to remove such illegal materials within the prescribed period, the site owner faces administrative liability.

"The amount of the fine can be up to 8 million rubles, and in the event of a repeated administrative offence, the amount of the fine can be increased to 20 per cent of the company's annual revenue," Roskomnadzor added.

YouTube has already acted against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The Google-owned platform has demonetised the channels belonging to RT and other Russian state-backed media outlets and is barring access to videos posted by these channels.

Facebook and Instagram have taken similar actions to de-platform media outlets run by the Russian government.

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-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
New Delhi, March 31: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's forthcoming India visit, first since the start of conflict in Ukraine, comes during extraordinary uncertainty surrounding the global economy and rapidly changing world scenario.

Lavrov will arrive in New Delhi on Thursday straight after attending the third conference of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan's Neighbouring Countries in China's Tunxi.

"The visit to China will be followed by a regional trip of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, and next week a number of bilateral meetings will be held in Moscow," Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.

Ahead of the two-day meeting on Afghanistan, Lavrov today held discussions with the Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi in Tunxi, the ancient city which is now the central district of Huangshan City in eastern China.

Wang was in Delhi last week to discuss specific regional situations and the bilateral relations that have been disturbed as a result of Chinese actions since April 2020.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that the parties noted the "counterproductive nature of the illegal unilateral sanctions" imposed on Russia by the United States and its satellites.

"A number of important topics on the global and regional agenda were considered, including the current state of affairs in Afghanistan, Central Asia, the situation around the Iranian nuclear programme, and on the Korean Peninsula. On the Russian side, attention has been drawn to the military biological activities of the United States in Ukraine and to our respective efforts on multilateral platforms," said the Russian foreign ministry in a statement.

As both countries praised the current state of Russian-Chinese relations, which "continue to develop dynamically in an unstable and tense foreign policy situation" even as Moscow continues with its 'special military operation' in Ukraine, it is expected that the two foreign ministers would also exchange views on India on the sidelines of their meetings.

As reported by IndiaNarrative.com before, Moscow is especially keen on increasing cooperation with its partners New Delhi and Beijing through the RIC (Russia-India-China) format in the region - hoping to break ice between the two neighbours in the process.

However, India has made it clear to Moscow - and as well to Beijing - that any future cooperation with China through the RIC trilateral would majorly depend on the Chinese military's complete disengagement from all the friction points along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh in accordance with the existing bilateral agreements and protocols.

The topic of cooperation in the Russia-India-China format has also been addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping since Putin's New Delhi visit last December.

Last week, during Wang Yi's visit to New Delhi, India had told China that the completion of disengagement is necessary for discussions on de-escalation to take place.

While National Security Adviser Ajit Doval had told the Chinese Foreign Minister that he would visit Beijing for the next round of talks on the boundary issues only after immediate concerns are addressed, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, in a three-hour meeting with his Chinese counterpart, said that de-escalation progress is happening at a slower pace than desirable.

During his visit to New Delhi, Lavrov is also expected to discuss the situation around Ukraine and brief his Indian counterpart on the military operation of the Russian forces and the dynamics of the negotiation process with the Kiev regime.

India has maintained that diplomacy and dialogue must be the priority while solving the ongoing conflict.

New Delhi has also reiterated time and again that the strategic partnership between the two countries is symbolic of the long standing and time-tested India-Russia relations characterized by mutual trust, respect for each other's core national interests and similarity of positions on various international and regional issues.

It is this cooperation on the bilateral track and in various multilateral formats which could further be strengthened during Lavrov's visit to India.

(The content is being carried under an arrangement with indianarrative.com) --indianarrative

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-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Islamabad, March 31 : Pakistans military The called on Prime Minister Imran Khan and discussed "agreeable options" for the political parties as well as a "face-saving agreement" for the government and the opposition to get out of the current political crisis, Express Tribune reported.

According to sources in the Prime Minister's House, the civil and military officials who attended the meeting on Wednesday mulled over "backdoor talks" for the next general elections.

It was said that the huddle considered giving such options to the government and opposition which would be acceptable to both.

It was reported that the meeting also discussed Khan's remaining tenure and addressed the opposition's reservations on the government's electoral reforms.

The huddle also discussed the holding of the next general elections and the duration of the interim government, The Express Tribune reported.

Sources said, according to the possible "face-saving agreement", general elections would be announced in the National Assembly as well as the four provincial assemblies.

The meeting also maintained that no plan would be finalised until the opposition agreed on it and that a "complete package" would be presented in Parliament after both the government and opposition settled on the deliberated matters.

In case an agreement is not reached, the process of no-trust would move forward.
Colombo, March 31 : Sri Lanka has offered greater use of the Colombo Port by Bangladesh for the country's export and import trade, according to the Foreign Ministry in Dhaka.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa made the offer on Wednesday when meeting with Bangladeshi Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen in Colombo.

Momen is currently in Sri Lanka for the 18th BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) ministerial meeting, reports Xinhua news agency.

"Sri Lankan President offered greater use of the Colombo Port by Bangladesh for transportation of Bangladeshi trade goods," the Ministry said in a statement.

President Rajapaksa thanked Bangladesh for continued support in various multilateral fora and both sides agreed to closely work together in the future.

The two sides also discussed the possible new areas for cooperation including food security, ICT, health care and blue economy.

Both sides also agreed to expedite and complete the negotiations and approval process of pending bilateral instruments for greater benefits of the two peoples, according to the ministry.

In this regard, they welcomed the progress made for an early conclusion of bilateral Preferential Trade Agreement for enhancing and facilitating trade between the two South Asian countries.

Momen also called for enhanced trade and tourism by commercial shipping and cruise shipping lines between Chattogram, Bangladesh's premier seaport, and the Colombo Port, said the foreign ministry.

On Wednesday, Rajapaksa also chaired the virtual 5th BIMSTEC summit while urging enhanced cooperation among the BIMSTEC member countries of India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand.
Moscow, March 31 : Some 45 countries purchase arms and defence systems from Russia, but almost all of them have voted against it at the US in the wake of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The US and the European Union (EU) have all but singled out India for criticism, knowing well what India has been doing for six decades -- when they were not ready to meet India's defence needs.

The fact is that many of them deal with Russia, eager to trade and make investments, to suite their "national interests". They have done that with Myanmar, Libya, Iraq and Iran when there were governments whose policies they did not approve.

The governments imposed sanctions, but their traders and corporates, including multi-national corporations, traded and invested in these 'sanctioned' countries. A similar process is about to begin in Afghanistan, although no government in the world is prepared to recognise the Taliban regime.

As with oil, it is so with arms for which India cannot wish away its dependence on Russia, a friend and an ally that cast its veto and helped India six times in the past at the UN Security Council. India's imports from Russia, besides collaboration of systems like Brahmos missile, are estimated at between 60 to 85 per cent.

US President Joe Biden said that India, an "exception" among major US allies, "has been somewhat shaky" on Western sanctions punishing Russia's war on Ukraine. On the other hand, the US has tentatively said that India's defence purchases do not violate the sanctions, but India should, nevertheless, go slow on it.

India's purchase of the Triumf missile system has been 'cleared', while reservations persist on other defence imports from Russia. In the past, such 'clearance' was demanded of India for its imports of T-90 tanks from Ukraine.

An energy hungry India is also being targeted for purchasing Russian oil to meet its growing demand. It is a repeat story of what had happened when it purchased oil from Iran.

While India imports most of its oil requirements from Saudi Arabia, and only 2-3 per cent from Russia, Indian Oil Corporation, the biggest state-owned fuel retailer, has reportedly bought around 3 million barrels of oil from Russia at a discounted price in the aftermath of the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

Principal sources of import of crude oil by India are: Iraq 23 per cent, Saudi Arabia 18 per cent, the UAE 11.3 per cent, Nigeria 8 per cent and the US 7.3 per cent.

It may be pointed out here that Russia is not in top 10 sources of Indian crude imports.

Again, the fact remains that Europe and parts of Asia are bigger importers of Russian oil and gas even to this date, post-sanctions.

Even with announced reductions by one third, the EU's reliance on Russian gas will still remain significant. Europe is still the largest regional importer of Russia's natural gas, accounting for nearly 75 per cent of the country's total exports. The recipients include Germany and Italy.

Exceptions and exclusions have been built into the design of the sanctions so that Europe can continue to use and pay for Russian crude and gas, sources pointed out.

China and Japan are also among the top 10 destinations, together accounting for approximately 10 per cent or 882 billion cubic feet, of Russia's natural gas exports.

Russian crude imports account for less than 1 per cent of India's consumption. India imported only 0.419 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) of crude oil from Russia, as compared to overall crude oil imports of 175.9 MMT in this FY.

Purchases of two-three million barrels of Russian crude by Indian refiners ignore the fact that two million barrels is not enough to meet consumption requirements for even half a day, experts say.

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-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Bhilwara : , March 31 (IANS/ 101Reporters) "One in three people in Bhilwara seem to be associated with the textile industry," said Nikhil Kabra of Ajay Syntex.

In the district of Bhilwara in Rajasthan, over 70 crore metres of various polyester blends are produced in a year by more than 400 weaving houses that manufacture synthetic yarn and 19 processing houses that turn them into shirts and suits. These MSMEs employ nearly 75,000 individuals.

In India, Bhilwara is synonymous with the textile industry. The story dates back to 1935, when the first cotton mill, the Mewar Textile Mill, was established here. Many other such industries followed suit over time, and Bhilwara earned the title of India's textile city. The Sangam group, established in 1984, became the foremost producer of yarn in the country and brought a lot of business to the region. Mayur Suitings from Bhilwara was also instrumental in expanding the market.

Moreover, with an annual turnover of around Rs 8,000 crore and 19,500 rotors for spinning houses, Bhilwara is one of the largest exporters of polyester and viscose-blended yarn.

According to the government of Rajasthan's Industries Report of January 2021, the textile industries of Bhilwara showed an annual growth rate of 8 per cent to 10 per cent compared to the previous year. However, this progress wasn't without the challenges of the pandemic.

"The factories were shut for three months during the two lockdowns. It was a tough time as we also had to let go of around 20% of our workforce," said Mahendra Singh Nahar, the commercial manager of Sona Processing House.

Ram Lal Mali, a labourer in the processing house, echoed his views, adding that the government should intervene and ensure that labourers' rights are secure.

"We've never seen a worse time than this. Many people were in debt, and we didn't have the means to feed our families," he told 101Reporters. "This is not a work-from-home industry. It's been difficult to recover from the blow of the factory closures (during the lockdowns)." School Uniforms, Taliban & Turbulent Times

As Covid-19 cases dropped in numbers and restrictions eased, Bhilwara suffered another significant blow - one bought on by the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan, one of the 60 countries to which Bhilwara exported its textile products.

"With the Taliban entering Afghanistan, exports to Afghanistan declined by 75 per cent from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 10 lakh a month," Nahar confirmed.

While the industry saw a collective slump in the months of July, August and September 2021, the processing houses have managed to revive and are now running at a 100 per cent capacity.

One of the most significant factors for this revival has been the reopening of schools. This led to an increase in demand for uniforms, which constitute 25 per cent to 40 per cent of the production.

However, not all textile manufacturing sectors in Bhilwara have been as fortunate.

Amit Mehta, who trades in weaving, spinning and processing of yarn, explained: "A couple of months of high isn't enough to offset the damage, and there are reasons for that. Weaving centres are larger in number and have no specific association, unlike processing houses, where workers seem to have more solidarity. These are fewer in number, have more economic stability and, hence, have been able to start making profits sooner." Young Businessmen Spearheading Innovation

Several people within the trading community, including Mehta, found alternative businesses to sustain themselves during the pandemic. And while many others migrated to their native towns, trends show a healthier rate of return back to Bhilwara than in several other industrial districts.

"The textile trade in Bhilwara is more than just an occupation," Kishan Patwari, a manufacturer-turned-marketer told 101Reporters.

"After we went on strike, labourers received partial salary payments from their companies. So when production picked up pace post lockdown, there wasn't much shortage of labour.

"Even folks from this generation return home after studying outside the state because there's an appetite for risk as well as adaptability to innovations and ways to live," he added.

Kabra, 30, a third-generation businessman who returned to Bhilwara after studying in Mumbai, couldn't agree more.

"The textile business in Bhilwara is rooted in families, so there's financial security," he explained. "Millennials have stepped outside the box, learned and brought with them the perks of innovations, which the older generation has accepted." Times have changed for the business, and so has Kabra's outlook. Going for quicker, quarterly turnovers, he feels that the textile industry is vast and expands beyond garments to technical textiles. This includes military tents and the cement fibre used between layers of roads for added stiffness.

"Bhilwara has the machinery and resources to do this. It will also increase our options and allow us to enter different markets in such uncertain times," Kabra said.

According to the Export Survey Potential, the Weaving Mills Association proposed that an Inland Container Depot be set up in the town to export goods to ports from Bhilwara. Kabra believes that this could immensely help the town's businesspeople.

Hopes & Promises Of The Textile Hub While Kabra's young mind spoke of innovation, Sanjay Periwal, president of the Weaving Mills Association in Bhilwara, highlighted the recent addition of 12 per cent GST on clothing.

"We disagree with the central government's decision," he told 101Reporters. "We had asked for a subsidy in yarn GST. Increasing the GST on the final product will pose a burden on buyers." In a recent proposal to the chief minister of Rajasthan, the Weaving Mills Association sought the following: waiver of electricity charges for 2020; minimum electricity unit charges, i.e. Rs 3.20 per unit; a capital subsidy of 25 per cent to 30 per cent; and the establishment of a textile park in Bhilwara to bring it close to global standards.

The association expects compliance, especially given its commitment to high environmental standards. The processing houses use a lot of water to churn out the final product and ensure that they do not release polluted water into the rivers. They also comply with the zero-discharge policy and re-use processed water.

As the industry waits for the government to declare Bhilwara a textile hub, its labourers await a plan that offers them a buffer in case of any unprecedented occasions in future. Mali, who's a husband and a father to one said: "We are still recovering from the debts that arose during the pandemic, and we'd like support in case any problematic economic condition surfaces again."
by Martina Fuchs

ERBIL, Iraq, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Tour agencies and shop owners in Iraq's semi-autonomous Kurdish region see a silver lining in attracting more international travelers to the off-the-beaten-track destination, as the security situation here improved gradually in recent years.

The Kurdistan region, with its diversity of landscapes, culture and heritage, has been looking forward to raising its profile as an adventurous and archaeological tourism destination, but the industry was hit hard by the pandemic like elsewhere in the world.

In 2020, the region's tourism revenue dropped by 75 percent due to the Covid-19 prevention measures, the General Board of Tourism in the Kurdistan Region said.

The sector started to recover last year, when the number of tourists visiting the Kurdistan region reached over four million, with the capital city of Erbil receiving the lion's share, according to the official data.

"The tourism is almost back to normal as the COVID-19 pandemic eased," said Karwan Wahed, owner of Iraqi Kurdistan Tours.

"It's a safe and reliable place for travelers," he told Xinhua in front of the Rabban Hormizd Monastery, an important monastery of the Chaldean Catholic Church, founded about 640 AD and carved out in the mountains about 2 miles from Alqosh, Iraq, 28 miles north of Mosul.

However, a recent ballistic missile attack launched by Iran, which struck the new U.S. consulate building in the Kurdish region's capital Erbil, has dampened hopes and raised fresh security concerns.

Rame Alrawi, a shop owner selling dried fruits, honey and traditional sweets in Erbil's Qaysari Bazaar, said he already witnessed a pick-up in Arab tourists and was now waiting for more international travelers to return.

The owner of the famous Mam Khalil tea house in the Bazaar also agreed that the situation was slowly improving.

"Now it's much better than before," Mohammed Khalil said while sipping a cup of sweetened black tea. The wall behind him is decorated with archive pictures from past visitors and celebrities.

"There are many tourists now from Russia, America and Europe. Every day, I have a lot of visitors who come to drink tea and coffee," he said.

Located atop Mount Alfaf, 20 km from Mosul, the Mar Mattai monastery is recognized as one of the oldest Christian monasteries and is famous for its magnificent library and collection of Syriac Christian manuscripts.

"We now have foreign and Arab tourists again and the situation is very good," Father Joseph Ibrahim told Xinhua. 
Chennai, March 31 : Three Indian fishermen, hailing from Pudukottai in Tamil Nadu, were arrested by Sri Lankan navy for crossing the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) and fishing in Sri Lankan waters, an official statement said here on Thursday.

Apart from arresting the fishermen late on Wednesday night, the Sri Lankans also impounded a mechanised fishing boat, the statement issued by Tamil Nadu fisheries department said.

Fishermen associations have expressed anguish and ire at the incident. A leader of the Fishermen association in Ramanathapuram J. Jesudas told IANS: "This is indeed highly objectionable. Our government is supporting the Sri Lankans during crisis and they are not reciprocating the good will. They are arresting our fishermen and seizing our costly boats. This is not acceptable and the Tamil Nadu government must take this up very seriously with the Centre on priority. People are now scared to go to the sea and several fishing hamlets are in abject poverty." Notably, the Sri Lankan navy had arrested four Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu this week itself and captured their boats also. Since January 2022, 87 Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu were arrested and around 42 were released. This means that around 45 Indian fishermen from Tamil Nadu are under the custody of Sri Lankan authorities.

On Wednesday, the Indian Coast Guard took a Sri Lankan fisherman into custody after he had crossed deep into the Indian marine waters at Nagapattinam.
Addis Ababa, March 31 : The government of Ethiopia has repatriated 498 undocumented migrants from Saudi Arabia as part of its renewed operation to bring back citizens from the kingdom.

Dina Mufti, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said the government will step up the repatriation of Ethiopian nationals without documents from Saudi Arabia, highlighting that the repatriation is being carried out on a voluntary basis, reports Xinhua news agency.

State Minister of Foreign Affairs Birtukan Ayano told journalists during an event held at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport to welcome the latest batch of Ethiopian returnees that the government is set to repatriate all Ethiopian nationals stranded in Saudi Arabia involving up to three flights a day.

"We are planning to finalize the repatriation of Ethiopian nationals from Saudi Arabia within the coming 7-11 months. There are about 100,000 Ethiopian nationals in refugee (camps) and detention centres. Priority is given to women and children migrants," Ayano said.

Out of 498 total returnees, 157 of them are children while the rest are women, said Ayano who is also the chair of a committee in charge of overseeing the repatriation and rehabilitation of Ethiopian citizens from Saudi Arabia.

The Minister said the repatriation was kicked off after the Ethiopian delegation conferred with Saudi Arabian officials regarding the protection of the rights of citizens in the Gulf nation and further facilitated the repatriation process.

According to figures from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 750,000 Ethiopians are living in Saudi Arabia, out of whom 450,000 are residing in the Gulf nation without documents.

Estimates suggest that thousands of Ethiopians are trafficked to the Arabian Peninsula via Djibouti and Yemen every year, in hopes of finding jobs in Saudi Arabia.

Desperate Ethiopian migrants, who attempt to cross the dangerous Red Sea route via neighbouring nation Djibouti, often endure deadly incidents along the Red Sea as well as imprisonment and killings in war-torn Yemen.

In recent months, Ethiopia has stepped up efforts to return home its citizens stranded in various foreign countries, mainly Saudi Arabia, as part of the government's newly unveiled "citizen-centred diplomacy".

The Ethiopian government is also working to dismantle sophisticated human trafficking networks, and create economic opportunities for nationals with low incomes.
Bhopal, March 31 : Mahant Sitaram Das, alias Samarth Tripathi, one of the accused in rape of a 17-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district has been arrested, police said on Thursday.

Das, who was absconding after the incident, was arrested from Singrauli district and brought to Rewa.

According to police, Das's mobile was put on surveillance and his last location was traced in Singrauli, around 150 km farm Rewa. Singrauli district police was alerted and he was arrested from a salon.

He had gone to a salon to get his long hair cut short to change his appearance. However, police reached the location and arrested him. Das is a religious storyteller and was in Rewa to oversee the preparation of Vedanti Maharaj (his grandfather)'s week-long religious event - Hanuman Katha which was scheduled to be held from April 1 to 10.

"We have arrested two of the accused. One was arrested earlier and another called Mahant Sitaram Das, alias Samarth Tripathi was arrested this morning. We are searching for two others who are absconding. Further investigation is underway," a senior police official in Rewa district told IANS over phone.

The development came hours after Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who during a visit to Rewa on Wednesday, asked Superintendent of Police (SP) Navneet Bhaseen to take strict action against those involved in the case.

Chouhan had also directed district collector Manoj Pushp to use bulldozers to demolish houses of all accused in involved in rape case.

The incident allegedly took place in circuit house - a government-run luxury guest house -- located at the district headquarters on March 28. The victim, a student at Government Degree College for Girls (GDC) in Rewa, was allegedly taken to circuit house by one of her known friends saying that a person would help her score well in the exam. There she was forced to consume liquor and was gang-raped.
New Delhi, March 31 : The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought the response of the Central Bureau of Intelligence (CBI) and others on a bail application filed by former BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar convicted for raping a 17-year-old girl in Unnao in 2017.

Issuing notice to the CBI and the survivor in the rape case, a division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Rajnish Bhatnagar slated the matter for further hearing on May 25.

Sengar knocked the doors of the High Court with his pending appeal against the order of the lower court which convicted him for the rape.

During the course of the hearing, Sengar's counsel argued that the victim was not a minor at the time of the offence, stating that the applicants have been seeking her age certificate. On December 20, 2019, a Delhi court sentenced him to life imprisonment, and a fine of Rs 25 lakh, of which Rs 10 lakh would go to the victim and Rs 15 lakh to the prosecution.

"He is a public servant...There was a betrayal of faith that people put in him. All possible coercive measures were taken to harm and silence the victim," Sessions Judge Dharmesh Sharma had said while awarding the sentence.

"Girl and her family have already been provided with a home for one year. Thereafter, I am asking CBI to assess the threat measures and all possible efforts to protect her and provide her a shelter after the current shelter lapses," the court had said in the order.

Notably, on December 20 last year, the court had discharged Sengar, along with five others in a criminal conspiracy case linked with an accidental case of the victim and her family members.

The case pertains to an accident on July 28, 2019, when a truck had rammed into the vehicle in which the rape survivor, her lawyer, and two relatives were travelling to Rae Bareli. The rape survivor and the advocate sustained grievous injuries while the two others were killed on the spot.

However, the court had observed: "No prima facie evidence on record to charge Kuldeep Singh Senger regarding a criminal conspiracy to extend threat to kill the victim or her members. No charges can be framed against him." Also in March 2020, a special court sentenced Sengar, his brother Atul Singh and five others to 10 years imprisonment in two cases linked to the death of the Unnao rape survivor's father in 2018.

Kuldeep Sengar was expelled from the BJP and disqualified as a member of the Assembly after the trial court convicted him.
March 31 : The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has initiated disciplinary proceedings against Will Smith after he had slapped presenter Chris Rock on the stage at the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday.

Moments later Will received a standing ovation after he won the Best Actor Oscar for King Richard. Many questioned the Academy why Smith was allowed to remain seated in the front row at the Academy Awards after the unpleasant incident, and why he was presented the award for that year.

The Academy released a statement on Wednesday and apologised to Chris Rock. Mr. Smith's actions at the 94th Oscars were a deeply shocking, traumatic event to witness in-person and on television. Mr Rock, we apologize to you for what you experienced on our stage and thank you for your resilience in that moment. We also apologize to our nominees, guests and viewers for what transpired during what should have been a celebratory event," the statement read.

The Academys board of governors met on Wednesday and said that they have decided to start disciplinary proceedings against Will Smith for violations of the standards of conduct of The Academy, which include inappropriate physical contact, abusive or threatening behaviour, and compromising the integrity of the Academy.

The Academy also claimed that it had asked the actor to leave the ceremony after the slapping incident took place, but the actor refused to do so. The Academy said in the statement, While we would like to clarify that Mr Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognize we could have handled the situation differently.

The Academy continued in the statement, Consistent with the Academy's Standards of Conduct, as well as California law, Mr Smith is being provided at least 15 days' notice of a vote regarding his violations and sanctions, and the opportunity to be heard beforehand by means of a written response.

At the next board meeting on April 18, the Academy may take any disciplinary action, which may include suspension, expulsion, or other sanctions permitted by the Bylaws and Standards of Conduct, the statement read.

At the 94th Academy Awards ceremony, Will Smith stormed on the stage and slapped Chris Rock after the comedian made a distasteful joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head, the result of a disease.

Meanwhile, Chris Rock gets a standing ovation at his first show since the Oscar slap debacle. Chris Rock returned to the stage on Wednesday night after Sundays incident. At his show in Wilbur, Boston, Chris got a standing ovation that reportedly lasted two minutes. The comedian reportedly said, I dont have a bunch of shit about what happened, so if you came to hear that, I have a whole show I wrote before this weekend, and Im still kind of processing what happened.

Latest updates on Oscars 2022
Mumbai, March 31 : Ahmed Khan, the director of the upcoming action film 'Heropanti 2', has lauded actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui, saying that he always wanted him to play the character of the antagonist 'Laila' in his film.

As soon as the trailer of the much-awaited 'Heropanti 2' was launched, the audience was surprised to see the new avatar of Nawazuddin Siddiqui as 'Laila'.

While talking about the character, director Ahmed Khan said, "When we started work on 'Heropanti 2', in the scripting stage itself we knew that we need a character, an image, a face, a man with a craft, who can stand against the title." Revealing how the 'Gangs of Wasseypur' actor was his only choice to play the part, Ahmed said, "So Nawaz bhai was the first and the only option which I thought could portray the character of 'Laila'. Otherwise it was a tough one, it would look ugly, it would look over the top, but you see his eyes, you can see the pain of 'Laila'.

'Heropanti 2' which is the sequel to the 2014 hit 'Heropanti', also stars Tiger Shroff and Tara Sutaria and is slated to release on April 29, on the occasion of Eid where it will clash with Ajay Devgn's 'Runway 34'.

-- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text
Canberra, March 31 : A new survey on Thursday revealed that the Australian government has failed dismally to do anything to ward off the effects of climate change.

The poll was conducted by the Climate Council, a leading community-funded organisation which draws on scientific advice to advocate on environmental issues, reports Xinhua news agency.

The survey titled the 'Lost Years: Counting the Costs of Climate Inaction in Australia', asked 1,300 people to grade the government's environmental performance, with the average response being three out of 10, while 26 per cent of the group gave the government a zero for its lack of environmental efforts.

Climate Council Emeritus Professor Will Steffen accused the government of putting "Australians, the economy, and the ecosystems we depend on at risk".

"Because of this government's inaction on climate, we now have even less time left to act to avoid catastrophic warming," he said.

"We also need to deal with the accelerating consequences that are already with us, as we've just seen with the east coast floods." Steffen also noted that the government had substantially cut spending on climate science during a time when the nation's fossil fuel production had expanded by 19 per cent.

The report was published less than two days after the government released its budget for the coming year, which has also received a scathing response from Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie, who described it as "mind boggling" that the government was again cutting funding for climate initiatives at a time when Australians were "suffering through the nightmare of an off-the-charts flooding disaster".

"The record is clear, in eight years, the federal government's decisions have exacerbated the climate crisis and they have tried to cover up their policy failings," McKenzie said.

"Australians have lost almost a decade of what should've been our moment to take strong and bold action on climate.

"We could be a nation that has embraced the limitless economic potential of a swift transition to renewables, but instead we're clinging to coal, oil and gas."
Amaravati, March 31 : Andhra Pradesh High Court on Thursday sentenced eight Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers to jail for two weeks in a contempt of court case. But after they tendered an apology, the court revised the order and directed them to serve in social welfare hostels one day every month for a period of one year.

Taking serious note of the officials not obeying its orders, the court sentenced them.

Panchayat Raj principal secretary G. K. Dwivedi, its commissioner Girijasankar, school education principal secretary B. Rajasekhar, its commissioner Chinna Veerabhadrudu, higher education secretary J. Shyamala Rao, its former director Vijay Kumar, present director M. M. Naik appeared and municipal administration and urban development principal secretary Y. Srilakshmi were the officials sentenced by the court.

After the officials apologised, the court withdrew the jail sentence and directed them to serve in social welfare hostels for one day every month. They were also asked to bear the expenses towards mid-day meals and dinner of students and one day expenses of the court.

The court pulled up the officials for not implementing its orders to remove village and ward secretariats from government schools. It observed that the officials deliberately did not implement the orders passed a year ago and have thus committed contempt of court.

A single judge bench of Justice Battu Devanand had heard the contempt case in September last year. At that time officials' counsel and government pleader had informed that that the state government had already issued an order to get the secretariats and Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) in government schools premises vacated. They had told the court that at several premises of schools, such facilities were already withdrawn.
New Delhi, March 31 : As India reopens after a hiatus of two years, cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Pune have seen employees returning to workplaces at a relatively faster rate, a new report showed on Thursday.

Domestic companies have been at the forefront of bringing employees back to offices in a phased manner.

Service-oriented markets such as Bengaluru and Hyderabad, which have a strong technology base, have also seen a steady return of employees to their workplaces, according to the report by global real estate consultancy firm Colliers.

"We are seeing companies opening offices with greater fervour only now. Q2 2022 will be a crucial period as we expect more companies to open up workplaces to their employees through a hybrid model," said Ramesh Nair, CEO, India and Managing Director, Market Development, Asia, Colliers.

"We have already started seeing companies encouraging in-person team meetings, team huddles and brainstorming meets that were done virtually over the last two years," he added.

The overall market is seeing a surge in workplaces opening in the last few months after the diminishing impact of the third wave of Covid-19, and good vaccination coverage among the eligible population.

Beginning March, several technologies and IT companies have started calling employees to the workplace at least two times a week, with most of these majors opting for a hybrid work policy.

Some global companies and MNCs have reopened with a hybrid model of working, but many continue to chalk out their hybrid policies, according to the report.

Indian IT companies have started opening offices in March, with many of the companies planning to return to offices in a phased manner beginning in April.

At some companies, the senior management employees are coming into the workplace a few times a week.

Consulting companies have also adopted a hybrid work model with employees coming into the workplace 2-3 times a week on a rotational basis, said the report.
New Delhi, March 31 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday commended the contributions of all the retiring Members of the Rajya Sabha, and wished them well for the future.

Noting the value of the experience of the retiring members, he said that with their departure, responsibility of the remaining members increases as they have to take forward the legacy of the outgoing members.

Describing that the House reflects the sentiments, spirit, pain and ecstasy of all the parts of the country, he further said that it is true that as a member we contribute a lot to the House but it is also true that the House also gives a lot to us.

"Sometimes academic knowledge has many limitations, it is useful in seminars, but what is gained from experience has simple solutions to solve problems. Mistakes are minimized as it mixes experience with newness. And in this sense experience has a great significance of its own," PM Modi said.

PM Modi also said that some members are retiring from the House but they will take their rich experience to all the corners of the country.

He also suggested that the members should pen down their memories as a useful reference for the future generations. The members shape and impact the direction of the country, their memories can be used for the development of the country in an institutionalized manner, he noted.

Modi also requested the retiring members to inspire the people in the celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. It has been 75 years of Independence. Our great men have given a lot for the country, now it is our responsibility to give them back. We will take that sentiment from here.

"How can you inspire the coming generations by going to a big platform with a very open mind and making this precious festival of freedom the medium, if your contribution will be there, I think the country will get a lot of strength, a lot. You will get a big benefit," he added.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China has demonstrated to the world during the last decade that its promise to reduce emissions and tackle climate change is not empty rhetoric.

On Wednesday, President Xi Jinping planted trees at a park in Beijing's southern district of Daxing. This is the 10th year for him to participate in the annual voluntary tree-planting activity in the capital city.

Speaking on the occasion, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said he did so to make his contribution to building a beautiful China and to encourage the whole of society, especially the young people, to push for ecological advancement so that China's environment will become even better.

During the last decade, China adopted unprecedented measures for safeguarding the environment, from controlling air, water and soil pollution to conserving existing green ecosystems as well as adding new forests, grasslands and wetlands.

Behind China's environmental endeavors is Xi's persistent emphasis on promoting ecological civilization, as his hallmark green development phrase "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" has become a maxim in the country.

Through his active involvement in voluntary tree planting, Xi has set an example of ecological preservation for the whole country. Over the past decade, he planted saplings of various species in different areas across the capital.

It's worth noting that Xi was joined by children in the tree-planting activities. He talked with them, asking about their studies and urging them to boost awareness about environmental protection.

"People plant trees so their offspring can enjoy the shade," he once cited the Chinese proverb during a tree-planting activity.

In Beijing, the forest coverage rate increased from 40 percent to 44.6 percent from 2013 to 2021.

Green trees and blooming flowers can be spotted in a park in Beijing's Tongzhou district. This is where Xi took part in a tree-planting activity in 2019.

"The environment has improved significantly here," said Zhang Hongfeng, a local resident, adding that the area once suffered from pollution but has seen great changes after a set of measures were taken in recent years.

Aerial photo taken on Aug. 23, 2021 shows a view of the Saihanba forest farm in north China's Hebei Province. (Xinhua/Mu Yu)

Thanks to the afforestation efforts, 960 million mu (64 million hectares) of trees have been planted in China over the past decade. The country's forest coverage has now reached 23.04 percent, up 2.68 percentage points from 2012.

The country's environmental efforts have garnered international acclaim. In 2017, China's Saihanba afforestation community won the Champions of the Earth award, the highest environmental honor of the United Nations.

At present, the ecological civilization in China has entered a critical period for eco-environment improvement, Xi said, calling for unswerving implementation of the new development philosophy and following the path of prioritizing ecological conservation and boosting green development. 
March 31 : Shah Rukh Khan has wrapped up the Spain shooting schedule for Pathaan on Wednesday. The actor was in Spain with Deepika Padukone and John Abraham for quite some time. After leaving Spain, the superstar flew to Dubai for a brief stopover, as Deepika returned backed to bay.

On Wednesday, several fans Instagram pages were flooded with pictures from Shah Rukhs Dubai stopover. In some viral photos, Shah Rukh was seen in a hoodie and a cap, surrounded by Dubai police and his body guards. The pictures seemed to be at Dubai airport and at a mall.

After the brief stopover at Dubai, Shah Rukh today returned home in Mumbai. On Thursday morning he was spotted at Mumbai airport as he sported a cool white T-shirt paired with light blue denim pants. He completed his look with a black cap, a pair of sunnies and a black face mask. His hair was tied in a bun. While the actor was escorted by his team, and his body guards, he didnt forget to greet the airport staff at the terminal before boarding his car.

Earlier, Shah Rukhs Pathaan co-star John Abraham said in an interview that Pathaan got delayed, as he was supposed to finish the film in December 2021, but now he will finish it in April. While speaking at a promotional event for his film Attack, John told the media, "I am not in a position to say much about Pathaan. I can only tell you that Shah Rukh is a darling. You all will be excited to see him back."

Directed by Siddharth Anand, Pathaan is a Yash Raj film. The film will mark Shah Rukh's return to the big screen after almost four years as he was last seen in Aanand L Rai's Zero, which was released in 2018.
Bengaluru, March 31 : Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has requested his Andhra Pradesh counterpart to provide protection to the devotees from his state who visit Srisailam.

A midnight altercation between local tea vendor and piligrims from Karnataka spiralled into violence late on Wednesday night. The clashes saw several shops and vehicles gutted while several persons received injuries.

Addressing the media on Thursday, Bommai said that a large number of devotees from Maharashtra and Karnataka visit Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh.

"I have been in constant contact with the Andhra Pradesh officials since yesterday night. The situation is now in control. Two pilgrims were seriously injured and hospitalised. They are recovering. Efforts are on to speak to the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister." Srisailam has a temple of Lord Shiva. Large number of people visit this place regularly.

"Pilgrims from Karnataka have been assaulted at Srisailam. A large number of pilgrims from other states visit Srisailam for the religious Yatra (fair). The pilgrims from outside should be ensured proper protection," the Chief Minister added.
Islamabad, March 31 : Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan seems to be falling out of options to save his position as the Prime Minister against the no-confidence motion, put forward by the opposition alliance, which seems to have gathered a considerable amount of support in favour of the vote.

Khan, during his March 27 public rally in Islamabad, waved a letter, stating that his opposition and the attempt to oust his government, was part of a foreign conspiracy and plot, who he said had issues him a threat letter, warning of dire consequences if he managed to save his seat from the no-confidence motion.

The letter has become the centre of attention, since Khan expressed his desire to make it public and also shared some details with his cabinet members.

In view of the matter falling under the serious parameter of national security, the military's top brass was quick to stop Khan from revealing details of the alleged threat letter and called on the Prime Minister to discuss its sensitivity.

It is said that the top military brass is now engaging with Khan and the opposition parties and are working out a strategy to pan out an agreeable options for the political parties and a face saving agreement for the government and the opposition parties to get out of the current political crisis.

"The civil and military officials who attended the meeting mulled over backdoor talks for the next general elections," said an informed source.

"The huddle considered giving such options to the government and opposition which would be acceptable to both," the source added.

It was also revealed that the meeting also discussed holding of the next general elections and the durations of the interim government.

"The face-saving agreement would include holding general elections in the National Assembly as well as the four provincial assemblies," the source stated.

However, this was also stated that the no-trust voting would proceed as per schedule, making it clear that Khan may be allowed to be de-seated through the voting in the parliament, after which an interim-government would be formed and the country would go into the next general elections within the next three months.

-- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed
Islamabad, March 31 : A fresh wave of terror attacks is geared up to strike Pakistani security forces with full force as the Pakistani Taliban have announced the launch of their spring offensive -- 'Al-Badr' -- during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.

In a statement, the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesperson Mohammad Khurasani said, "The spring offensive will begin on the first day of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and will target security forces and their collaborators." "This mission will include martyrdom (suicide) operations, ambush attacks, mine operations, counter-attacks, target attacks, laser and sniper operations," he added.

The call for a fresh offensive has come in the wake of a recent surge in terror attacks by TTP terrorists against Pakistani security forces.

In the most recent, at least six Pakistani soldiers embraced martyrdom during a major attack targeted at an Frontier Corps (FC) fort in Tank district of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) province.

The attack was part of a chain of a much bigger offensive planned to target the capital Islamabad and the surrounding areas of Tank district.

Pakistani security forces had arrested at least four TTP terrorists from Shakarpariyan area of Islamabad on March 28 and 29, while four more terrorists were arrested from Lakki Marwat, a critical area close to the South Waziristan region, attached with Tank district and about 40 km from Bannu and North Waziristan's Miranshah.

TTP has stepped up its attacks in Pakistan since the Taliban take over of Afghanistan. It is considered as an umbrella organisation of the Afghan Taliban and has been operating in Pakistan in line with the directives from the Afghan Taliban.

It is pertinent to mention that Afghan Taliban had facilitated negotiations between Pakistan and the TTP last year, which resulted in coming to a month-long ceasefire agreement. However, the agreement collapsed after TTP accused Pakistan of not abiding by the terms of the agreement.

Is has been reported that TTP has demanded Pakistan to allow its militants to return to Pakistan, especially after Afghan Taliban directed foreign fighters to return to their respective countries and leave Afghanistan.

Attempts have been made recently to cross over from Afghanistan into Pakistan which have been foiled by the Pakistani security forces, engaging in deadly clashes with the TTP militants.

TTP has claimed many attacks in Pakistan, which have killed dozens of Pakistani soldiers with injuries to many more.

TTP's announcement of a Ramadan spring offensive comes at a time when Prime Minister Imran Khan is faced with a major challenge by the opposition parties, who want to de-seat him through a no-confidence motion, to be voted in the National Assembly of Pakistan in the coming days.
Bhubaneswar, March 31 : Opposition BJP and Congress on Thursday demanded the Odisha government to allow journalists into Lok Seva Bhawan (state Secretariat) and Assembly press gallery and lobby for news coverage.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in Assembly, Congress legislature party leader Narasingha Mishra said: "Media is the fourth pillar of democracy. However, they have denied entry into the state Secretariat or Lok Seva Bhawan and Assembly lobby, which is detrimental to democracy." Why has the government restricted entry of media into the Lok Seva Bhawan and assembly lobby? he asked. It is needed for a journalist to talk to the MLAs and collect information from them during the assembly sessions, Mishra said outside the House.

Joining Mishra, BJP chief whip Mahon Majhi said, "It is true that the journalists are maintaining neutrality. The Covid-19 situation has also improved a lot and the Centre has also revoked the restrictions imposed during the pandemic." Let's allow the journalists to enter the Assembly press gallery and Lok Seva Bhawan to cover news, Majhi demanded in the House.

Commenting on this issue outside the House, state Information and Public Relation Minister Raghunandan Das said this matter comes under the purview of the home minister.

"Though the home minister has not made any specific statement on this issue in the House, I hope this issue will be resolved soon," Das said.

Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the state government has imposed restrictions on entry of journalists into the Secretariat or Lok Seva Bhawan and the order still continued even though the situation has improved significantly.
London, March 31 : Norway has told its citizens to "dust off" their Cold War bunkers and stock medicines in case of a radiation fallout from Ukraine's Chernobyl nuclear plant, Daily Mail reported.

Oslo's Defence Minister Odd Roger Enoksen warned citizens a nuclear disaster could see radioactive materials drift over Norway "if the wind goes in this direction".

He said civilians would be given 72 hours notice to prepare their bunkers and that "if they are using them for storage now they need to make a plan for taking things out".

Enoksen also urged citizens to stockpile radiation medicines for children and suggested civilians should store a three-day supply of thyroid-blocking medicine Jodix in each home in case of a shutdown during a nuclear disaster.

The minister said that the warnings were not related to fears of nuclear war but "linked to the nuclear power plants in Ukraine and the accidents we have seen." "Ukraine has the most production of nuclear power in Europe and if an accident happens, as with Chernobyl, we will all in western Europe be affected by that if the wind goes in this direction," he said, The Times, UK reported.

It comes amid high-level discussions to reimpose Cold War-era building regulations making underground bunkers a requirement for civilian structures, such as hotels, and amid talks about whether some underground shelters needed upgrading.
San Francisco, March 31 : Google's self-driving unit Waymo is reportedly planning to start offering rides in its fully autonomous vehicles -- without human safety drivers behind the wheel -- in San Francisco.

The Google spinoff said its driver-less vehicles are now only available to employees but will soon grow to include members of the company's "Trusted Tester" programme, reports The Verge.

Waymo is also making big moves in Arizona. The company's service area is finally growing to include downtown Phoenix after operating exclusively in the exurban towns of Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Tempe for nearly five years.

Waymo has been running fully driverless rides without a safety driver in those towns outside of Phoenix for more than a year now, the report said.

The company is one of a handful trying to launch a wide-scale commercial service built around autonomous vehicles, like Argo AI (which is backed by Ford and Volkswagen) and Cruise (which is backed by General Motors), it added.

Waymo has been testing AVs in San Francisco for a decade, dating back to when it was still just a quirky project inside Google's X division. In 2017, the company launched a limited ride-hail service outside of Phoenix, which eventually grew to include over 300 vehicles.
San Francisco, March 31 : Google is using its Artificial Intelligence systems to help people get access to critical information while avoiding potentially shocking or harmful content, so that they can stay safe, both online and offline.

Google shows contact information alongside the most relevant and helpful results when people search on suicide, sexual assault, substance abuse and domestic violence. But for people in personal crises it takes the help of machine learning to understand their language.

The tech giant's latest AI model Multitask Unified Model, or MUM can automatically and more accurately detect a wider range of personal crisis searches.

MUM can better understand the intent behind people's questions to detect when a person is in need, which helps us more reliably show trustworthy and actionable information at the right time.

"MUM not only understands language, but also generates it. It's trained across 75 different languages and many different tasks at once, allowing it to develop a more comprehensive understanding of information and world knowledge than previous models," shared Pandu Nayak, Google Fellow and Vice President of Search, in a blogpost.

"And MUM is multimodal, so it understands information across text and images and, in the future, can expand to more modalities like video and audio," he added.

Another feature to keep an individual safe on Search, while also steering clear of unexpected shocking results, is the SafeSearch mode, which offers users the option to filter explicit results.

"This setting is on by default for Google accounts of people under 18. And even when users choose to have SafeSearch off, our systems still reduce unwanted racy results for searches that aren't seeking them out," Nayak said.

Further, Google uses advanced AI technologies like BERT to better understand what an individual is looking for.

BERT has improved the understanding of whether searches are truly seeking out explicit content, helping vastly to reduce the chances of encountering surprising search results.

Nayak said last year, BERT has reduced unexpected shocking results by 30 per cent.

"It's been especially effective in reducing explicit content for searches related to ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender, which can disproportionately impact women and especially women of colour," he added.

Nayak stated that Google is also working with trusted local partners to better detect personal crisis queries all over the world, and show actionable information in several more countries.

"Whatever you're searching for, we're committed to helping you safely find it," Nayak said.
New Delhi, March 31 : Kalanithi Maran and KAL Airways on Thursday reiterated before the Supreme Court that SpiceJet's offer of Rs 300 crore towards full and final settlement of share transfer dispute was not acceptable, noting that as per the arbitral award, it has to pay Rs 995 crore.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing KAL Airways, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice N.V. Ramana that it is not possible for his clients to consider the offer proposed by SpiceJet.

Dave and senior advocate Maninder Singh were assisted by a team of advocates from Karanjawala & Co.

The bench, also comprising Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli, queried SpiceJet's counsel as to why the company was not paying the money to the decree holder to settle the matter.

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing SpiceJet, proposed an offer stating that his client is willing to give Rs 300 crore towards full and final settlement of the dispute and the matter finally gets settled with no further litigation. He added that out of the bank guarantee of Rs 270 crore deposited with the high court, SpiceJet will give Rs 100 crore for now and the order will be passed by the top court to hear Section 34 petitions which are pending before the Delhi High Court expeditiously.

As Rohatgi reiterated that his client is ready to pay Rs 300 crore, Dave replied that the petitioner being such a prominent airline and is doing this, rather they should comply with the award and pay off their dues.

Rohatgi added that the airline is running into losses for the last two years due to the pandemic and it is unable to pay the interest. To this, Dave said that the current market capital of SpiceJet is over Rs 3,000 crore and the amount of Rs 300 crore and Rs 270 crore comprises the money given by the decree holder to the SpiceJet, and even that has yet not come back to the decree holder.

Dave emphasised that, as of date, the award amount is Rs 995 crore and offer of mere Rs 300 crore by SpiceJet is unacceptable.

The bench asked SpiceJet to consider paying the interest component and try to settle the matter.

Scheduling the matter for further hearing on April 12, it asked SpiceJet's counsel to revert with the instructions if his client can pay the full and final settlement proposed by the decree holder.

The top court also asked both the parties to come to a conclusion on the next date of hearing.

The matter was listed on Thursday before the top court for arguments by Kal Airways and for consideration of the counteroffer by SpiceJet.

The top court was hearing special leave petitions filed by the SpiceJet Ltd against KAL Airways and Kalanithi Maran (decree holders), challenging the Delhi High Court, passed on September 2, 2020, which directed SpiceJet to deposit Rs 242,93,70,845.56/- to secure the decree holders to the extent of interest granted to them under an arbitral award.

The top court stayed the operation of this order. The decree holders had filed an application seeking vacation of the stay which was listed before top court for consideration on February 10,2022, wherein the court had directed the counsel for KAL Airways to consider the offer for settlement proposed by counsel for SpiceJet.
Chennai, March 31 : The necessity for a Production-linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the footwear manufacturing sector; setting up of a Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) lab in the state; supply of coal in adequate quantity as agreed; and sharing of cess and surcharge with the states were some of the demands raised by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin during his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital on Thursday.

During his meeting with the Prime Minister, Stalin submitted a memorandum listing out the various demands of the state.

Stalin said Tamil Nadu is a dominant player in the footwear industry at both the national and global level, accounting for 26 per cent of the national manufacturing output and 45 per cent of the national exports.

A PLI scheme for footwear manufacturing will increase the productivity of the existing players and make India the most-favoured destination for footwear exporters.

Further, the PLI scheme will aid in import substitution for input products such as ornaments, zippers, soles, buckles, and embellishments, Stalin said.

Citing the 1,507.23 acre excess land with the Salem Steel Plant, Stalin urged the Central government to transfer the same so that it can be used for a Defence Industrial Park.

Pointing out the shortfall in the supply of coal for thermal plants by Coal India, Stalin said the Ministry of Power/Ministry of Coal may be requested to allocate 4.2 million tonne per annum of coal from the Singareni Collieries Company Limited.

Stalin also urged Modi that the Central government should reverse the levy of cesses and surcharges and all such cesses and surcharges must be merged with the basic rate of tax, so that the states receive their legitimate share of the revenue.
VIENNA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Wednesday called on global leaders to uphold multilateralism to ensure "unhindered, stable and secure" energy flow to the global market.

OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo made the remarks at a virtual meeting of the joint technical committee of OPEC and its allies, a group known as OPEC+.

Barkindo hailed the efforts made by OPEC+ countries in supporting stability in the global oil market and called on them to remain attentive to changing market conditions and keep the focus on balancing the market, according to a statement released by the OPEC.

Wednesday's meeting of the OPEC+ joint technical committee was held to examine the oil market conditions and to provide advice for the OPEC+ ministerial meeting on Thursday. The ministerial meeting, the decision-making body of OPEC+, will announce the alliance's production plans in May.

In July 2021, OPEC+ agreed to raise oil output by 400,000 barrels per day each month to gradually unwind the production cuts made at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The oil-producer group has since been sticking to the plan despite calls from top consumers, including the United States, to further boost supplies to rein in soaring oil prices amid demand recovery and geopolitical tensions. 
New Delhi, March 31 : A brother-sister duo, named in a 2006 kidnapping-cum-rape case of a minor, have been arrested after 15 years by the Delhi Police's Crime Branch, officials said on Thursday.

The duo, who were declared proclaimed offenders in 2009, have been identified as Joginder Singh and Kamaljeet Singh.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Deepak Yadav, told IANS that the case was lodged in 2006 at Nangloi Police Station.

"Joginder, along with his sister, had kidnapped the minor to marry her. He took her to his native place where he offered her expensive things. At that time, the minor was only 13. Later, due to police pressure, he abandoned her in Delhi, and ran away," Yadav said.

According to the FIR, the 13-year-old victim had left her home while informing her mother that she was going to her friend's place.

But when she did not come back till late in the evening, her family searched for her in the area and then lodged a missing report after failing to locate her. The victim's father had alleged that Joginder and his sister Kamlesh had kidnapped his daughter after enticing her.

When the investigation raids were conducted at the hideouts of the accused persons, both remained absconding. During investigation, the victim was recovered and after conducting her medical tests, sections 366 A and 376 of the IPC were incorporated in the said case.

Despite best efforts, none of the accused could be arrested. Later, Tis Hazari Court declared both the accused persons proclaimed offenders in 2009.

"In the last one month, the team of Inter State Cell, Crime Branch, traversed across Delhi and Uttar Pradesh to trace and apprehend the wanted accused," Yadav said.

The parents of the accused had expired after which the duo left their native village. They used to attend family functions but in a clandestine manner.

"We finally arrested Joginder from Aligarh. His sister was held from outside Karkardooma metro station," Yadav added.
Mumbai, March 31 : In a significant decision, the Maharashtra government on Thursday decided to lift all Covid-19 restrictions, two years after the Coronavirus pandemic curbs were clamped, officials said here.

Accordingly, from April 1, there will be no restrictions on public movement, social, religious or political gatherings, weddings, funerals, visits to malls, cinemas, shopping plazas, travelling by trains, buses, among others.

A decision to the effect was taken unanimously at the Cabinet meeting presided over by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray this afternoon in view of the huge decline in Covid-19 cases.

However, the government has recommended physical distancing and voluntary wearing of face-masks as a precaution, though there will be no penalties for defaulters.

Housing Minister Dr. Jitendra Awhad said that with the state becoming free of restrictions, people can celebrate Gudi Padva and Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti with processions and the upcoming holy month of fasting Ramzan in full swing.

The state imposed a lockdown on March 24, 2020, followed by the nationwide lockdown, and after the first few months of stringent restrictions, the curbs were lifted in stages during the first, second and third waves.

Latest updates on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
Kochi, March 31 : Springing a surprise, Actor Dileep on Thursday said he wants the Kerala High Court to either quash the FIR against him or hand over the 'conspiracy' case to the CBI. The new case was lodged following a disclosure by his former friend and director Balachandrakumar that he had conspired to do away with the police officials who probed the 2017 actress abduction case.

The court after hearing all the parties asked, "since the probe is into a conspiracy and it is the police officials who were to be done away, won't it be better if an external agency like the CBI probes it." The Kerala government strongly opposed this and pointed out that so far none has objected to the way the probe in this case was going forward and there was no need for it to be handed over to the CBI.

Finally the court reserved its verdict and wound up the hearing in this case.

Incidentally, it was only on Wednesday night that the probe team ended the questioning of Dileep for over 15 hours spread over two days in the very same case.

The probe team won a moral victory when the High Court first refused to suspend the further probe and later a stay sought by the actor into the probe was also nixed.

The actor suffered a rude jolt late last year when his former friend and director Balachandrakumar came out against him, claiming Dileep said that he would eliminate police officials who had investigated the 2017 actress abduction case in which he is presently out on bail.

The actor's counsel, however, have been arguing that the fresh disclosure were cooked up by the prosecution to book the actor and to fabricate evidence against him after the probe agency failed to find any concrete evidence against Dileep in the abduction case.

A frontline south Indian heroine had complained that she had been abducted and sexually assaulted by a gang of goons in 2017 and certain scenes were filmed to blackmail her. After main accused Sunil was arrested and questioned, Dileep was accused of being the main conspirator in the case and arrested.

According to the prosecution, Dileep, who is presently out on bail after spending two months in jail, had also seen the visuals of the attack on the actress.

Meanwhile the probe team work is going on in full gear as the High Court has given a deadline to finish the probe latest by April 15.

In a related development, IG of Police A.V. George who was SP when he led the arrest of Dileep in 2017, retired form service on Thursday.
Bengaluru, March 31 : Wipro GE Healthcare on Thursday announced the launch of its new manufacturing facility here under the government's production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme with an investment of over Rs 100 crore.

The new 35,000 sq ft plant, called Wipro GE Medical Device Manufacturing factory (MDM), will further boost local manufacturing of medical devices in India.

"Wipro GE Healthcare's new factory, with support from the government's PLI scheme, will aid the health ecosystem in India to realise its true potential in addressing local and global challenges for healthcare providers," said Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro GE Healthcare and Chairman, Wipro Enterprises.

The facility is set up for 24/7 operations for manufacturing CT machines, cathlab equipment, ultrasound scanners, patient monitoring solutions, ECG machines and ventilators.

It is equipped with automated testers to assess performance of the medical devices.

The new greenfield facility, one of the 15 medical device manufacturers approved under the government's PLI scheme, promotes the Electronics System Development and Maintenance (ESDM) sector.

"Through our Karnataka Digital Economy Mission, we will provide continued support to the company's efforts towards augmenting the ESDM sector and providing fillip to the region's digital economy," said C.N. Ashwath Narayan, State Minister of IT-Biotechnology, Higher Education and Science and Technology.

The facility currently has 35 employees in its shop-floor, which is expected to increase to 100 in the next two to three years, the company said in a statement.

"The new draft of the National Medical Devices Policy 2022 provides further impetus towards empowering India's healthcare ecosystem, and we at Wipro GE Healthcare are very optimistic about the future of medtech in India," said Dr Shravan Subramanyam, Managing Director, Wipro GE Healthcare.
Jaipur, March 31 : Five days after it erupted, the blaze in the forests of the famous Sariska Tiger Reserve, located in Rajasthan's Alwar, was finally controlled on Thursday, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said.

The fire-fighting operations by the Indian Air Force helicopters have also been stopped.

Gehlot, in a tweet, said: "Have spoken to Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on phone yesterday regarding the fire in Sariska forest. I had assured him that the fire would be brought under control by evening or tomorrow morning.

"The administration has largely controlled the Sariska fire and now there is little fire left in a limited area which will also be extinguished soon. This is a mountainous area where it is difficult to send fire brigade, but the fire has been brought under control with the use of helicopters. More than 400 forest workers and villagers are continuously cooperating in this work." The fire broke out in the Akbarpur range of Sariska Tiger Reserve on March 27 in the afternoon. It was controlled but flared up again due to the night winds.

This new blaze could not be brought under control quickly and it was spread over an area of 8 to 10 km. During this too, the Forest Department had made efforts to control the fire at its own level. But things didn't work out and the fire spread.

Later, the help of the IAF was sought to control the fire. Two days ago, on Tuesday, two helicopters of the Air Force were sent to help douse the blaze.

As the fire has spread in a radius in an area of about 20 km, the operation was intensified. On Wednesday afternoon, the fire slowly started to subside, and the SDRF personnel were called in too.
Mumbai: A view of the newly launched logo of Nifty50 at NSE building, Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai on May 28, 2019. (Photo: IANS) Image Source: IANS News

Mumbai, March 31 : Subdued global cues dampened India's equity indices -- S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 -- on Thursday.

Both the indices closed marginally lower after opening in the positive territory. Globally, markets tanked after inconclusive talks between Russia and Ukraine and weak Chinese manufacturing data.

On the domestic front, heavy selling pressure was witnessed in the healthcare stocks.

On the other hand, Telecom, FMCG and Power stocks made healthy gains.

Consequently, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 58,568.51 points, down 0.20 per cent or 115.48 points, whereas NSE Nifty50 closed at 17,464.75 points, down 0.19 per cent or 33.50 points.

"Nifty closed marginally in the red on the last day of the financial year after swinging between gains and losses," said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities.

"Nifty seems to be consolidating after a rise. In the new F&O expiry series and a new fiscal year, we could see some upward momentum in the first few days. Whether this will take Nifty beyond the 17,795 mark will be interesting to watch. On downmoves 17,344 could be a support." According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services: "Domestic market opened on a positive note taking cues from global market & FIIs buying. However, the mood turned negative in line with global peers following inconclusive Russia-Ukraine talks." "Plunge in Oil prices on reports that the US will release substantial petroleum reserves & cheaper oil offered to India by Russia will be positive for India in the future."
New Delhi, March 31 : The Supreme Court on Thursday granted time, till May 31, to former Union Minister Sharad Yadav to vacate the official bungalow allotted to him in Delhi in his capacity as an MP.

A bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud took note of Yadav's ill-health and extended the time to vacate the official residence on humanitarian grounds.

The bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Surya Kant, said Yadav, 75, should file an undertaking that he will vacate the premises after May 31, this year.

It clarified that it has not gone into the issue of the validity of disqualification, which is pending before the high court, and disposed of Yadav's plea by granting him time till May 31 to vacate the government bungalow.

On March 28, the apex court asked the Centre to consider, on humanitarian grounds, a plea by former Union Minister against a Delhi High Court order directing him to vacate the house within 15 days.

The high court had noted that he was disqualified as a Rajya Sabha MP in 2017 and so there can be no justification for retaining the official residence.

In the apex court, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Yadav, submitted before a bench headed by Justice Chandrachud that the appeal filed challenging disqualification is still pending. "Anyways his term ends in July. So, he will give an undertaking that he will vacate once the term is over. He was on a ventilator... he had to go for dialysis every day. He couldn't even move," he said.

Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, representing the Centre, submitted that the government is facing shortage of houses for MPs and ministers, and after the expansion of the Cabinet, the shortage is more acute. He added an official residence is allotted to an MP from Bihar, and July is only a couple of months away.

The bench told Jain: "We are not on the politics of it or violation of whip etc.. but thinking of some way out on purely humanitarian grounds based on his medical condition." It asked Yadav's counsel: "Tell us a reasonable time by which you can vacate. We will adjourn the hearing." The bench also asked Jain to take instructions from the government, on considering the matter on humanitarian grounds.

On March 15, the high court had directed Yadav to hand over the bungalow at 7, Tughlak Road here to the government within 15 days. The court noted that more than four years have elapsed since he was disqualified as an MP.

Yadav, in his plea, contended that he has been residing there for 22 years and the challenge to the legality of his disqualification from Rajya Sabha is still pending before the high court.

The plea contended that his case "deserved sympathetic treatment" on account of his ill health and pointed out that he has been hospitalised 13 times since July 2020 and was last discharged in February.
New Delhi, March 31 : About 33.6 per cent of the coastline is under varying degree of erosion, an analysis of the total 6,632 kms long Indian coastline of the mainland from 1990 to 2018 has found, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.

The National Center for Coastal Research (NCCR), an attached office of the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) has been monitoring the shoreline erosion since 1990 using remote sensing data and GIS mapping techniques.

On the western coast, Kerala with 275.33 kms shoreline has lost 46.4 per cent to erosion while on the eastern coast, West Bengal with 323.07 coastline, has lost 60.5 per cent to it.

The reasons for coastal erosions include increase in frequency of cyclones and sea level rise and anthropogenic activities such as construction of harbours, beach mining and building of dams, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences Jitendra Singh said in a written reply to a question in the House.

There are 526 maps prepared for the entire Indian coast for identifying areas vulnerable to coastal erosion in 1:25000 scale along with 66 district maps, 10 state/UTs maps. A Report on 'National Assessment of Shoreline Changes along Indian Coast' was released in July 2018 and shared with various Central and state government agencies and stakeholders for implementing shore line protection measures.

The MoES had successfully demonstrated innovative coastal erosion mitigation measures at two pilot locations: Puducherry Beach Restoration Project, Puducherry and Kadalur Periya Kuppam, Tamil Nadu.

In Puducherry, the project 'Submerged Reef' has been implemented by MoES and beach nourishment is implemented by the government of Puducherry. This helped in restoration of the 1.5 kms long city beach after 30 years and helped in improving tourism and fishing activities in addition to protection of the coast during extreme cyclonic events, the Minister informed.

In case of Kadalur Periya Kuppam, wherein an offshore submerged dyke was implemented, it helped in protection of three fishing villages during extreme cyclonic events and restored lost beach that is being used for landing of fishing boats and other fishing activities.

In addition, the NCCR is also providing technical support to state governments of Kerala (Chellanam, Kollamkode, Poonthura, Varkala and Shangumugham), Odisha (Ramayapatnam, Puri, Konark and Pentha), Andhra Pradesh (Vishakapatnam) and Goa for implementation of coastal protection measures at vulnerable stretches, he added.
Mumbai, March 31 : Abhishek Bachchan is an actor with an impeccable sense of humour and wit.

While he may be known for serious or intense roles, the actor is set to bring in a new flavour with his soon to be released social comedy 'Dasvi', which also stars Yami Gautam and Nimrat Kaur.

In a recent conversation with IANS, Abhishek spoke about collaborating with a first-time director for the film, the changing space of content industry courtesy OTT and his liking towards the genre of comedy.

For him, the script of 'Dasvi' is what did the trick, something that he would love to watch on screen as a part of the audience, "I think it's predominantly the script and the story was very unique. It was so new and fresh and it was all about how you were saying that and it is a film which I really wanted to watch. That is the reason I signed up for it." The film has been helmed by debutant director Tushar Jalota. The actor opines that it's always great to work with first-time directors as they bring a whole different energy to the table.

Abhishek says, "They have a very unique voice and a very unique outlook on life. I feel they don't come with any preconceived notions and that's exciting because it gives you a fresh perspective." Ask him how would he define his character in the film or if there's someone in the history of cinema that he has modelled this character on and pat comes the reply, "I don't think there is anybody like him. I like to think he is very unique. He was a very fun character to play, I had the most fun in front of the camera." The actor loves working in the genre of comedy as it challenges him as an artiste, "I absolutely enjoyed doing comedy. I even feel it is one of the most difficult genres to play. Also, I have come off some very, very intense work and was looking to do a bit of a light-hearted film and I am so glad that this film happened." 'Dasvi' is coming out simultaneously on two streaming platforms, Netflix and Jio Cinema on April 7. With the content industry migrating towards OTT majorly, what future does it hold for the medium of cinema in his opinion. Abhishek feels that cinemas and OTT will co-exist.

He says, "The same debate about cinemas getting finished occurred when VHS came along in the early 1980s. It happened to an extent that I remember the films were released on VHS on the same date they were released in the movies to avoid piracy." "Then came television and the debate was once again renewed. But, the theatres are still operating and have undergone major evolution with regards to multiplexes. The same thing is happening with OTT as well." "However this is a different medium of experience where different stories are to be told. I think the convenience of OTT platforms mixed with the quality of content that's available over it makes it very lucrative to the audience. OTT and cinema would rather compliment each other," he concluded.
Jaipur, March 31 : Rajasthan Police have arrested three persons in Chittorgarh district's Nimbahera town and seized 12 kg explosives and other materials used for making bombs from them, officials said on Thursday.

A preliminary investigation revealed that the arrested individuals -- Zubair, Altmas and Saiful, are associated with the Al Sufa organisation that operates near Ratlam and Dewas in Madhya Pradesh.

They were arrested while they were moving in a Bolero car that had a Madhya Pradesh registration number plate. It is being said that they were going to Jaipur along with explosive materials from Ratlam (Madhya Pradesh).

An FIR has been registered in this regard at the Sadar police station of Nimbahera.

After interrogation of the accused, three more persons from Tonk and Chittorgarh have also been detained in this case.

It was revealed during the questioning that there was a conspiracy of a serial blast in Jaipur, and the arrested individuals were supposed to hand over the explosives to other members of their group.

On the basis of this investigation, five other persons have also been taken into custody from Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Officials suspect there were probably plans to carry out serial blasts at three places.

Meanwhile, the ATS team at Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh has reportedly taken 2 persons into its custody for questioning.

The National Investigation Agency and the Intelligence Bureau are also following this case due to the possibility of the three arrested accused being linked to a terrorist organisation.

Officials said the questioning of the three arrested individuals is underway, and "there is a possibility of them being a part of sleeper cells".
Photo taken on Nov. 28, 2019 shows a view of the Keyakekuduke Watchtower Site in Yuli County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The Keyakekuduke Watchtower Site in Xinjiang was included on the list of China's top 10 archaeological discoveries of 2021 released Thursday. (Xinhua/Zhou Ye)

URUMQI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Keyakekuduke Watchtower Site in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region was included on the list of China's top 10 archaeological discoveries of 2021 released Thursday.

The site, located in the desert 90 km southeast of Yuli County, Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin, dates back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), said the site excavation project's team leader Hu Xingjun from the regional institute of cultural relics and archaeology.

The institute carried out an archaeological excavation on an area of 2,300 square meters from 2019 to 2021 and unearthed dwellings, a wooden fence, steps, ash piles, ponds and over 1,400 cultural relics including paper documents.

The excavation helps reveal a whole picture of the watchtower and provides abundant first-hand materials for the study of frontier military garrisons in ancient China, Hu said.

"The documents are rich in content, involving military, political, economic, cultural, legal, transportation, social life and religious beliefs," Hu said, adding that the documents greatly supplemented details of border defense in Tang Dynasty.

The documents also demonstrate effective administration of the western regions by the central government in the Tang Dynasty, Hu added. 

File photo shows a piece of armour unearthed from the Keyakekuduke Watchtower Site in Yuli County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The Keyakekuduke Watchtower Site in Xinjiang was included on the list of China's top 10 archaeological discoveries of 2021 released Thursday. (Xinhua)
Amaravati, March 31 : Opposition parties in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday staged state-wide protests against hike in electricity tariff announced by the government.

Main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Left parties staged dharnas, took out rallies and organised innovative protests demanding a roll back.

The Electricity Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Wednesday issued the Retail Tariff Order for 2022-23, increasing the tariff for domestic consumers.

The tariff hike ranges from 45 paise to Rs 1.57 per unit in six different slabs for domestic consumption.

The tariff hike triggered protests by opposition parties in the state, which demanded an immediate rollback.

TDP national General Secretary Nara Lokesh held a lantern demonstration in Amaravati on Thursday to highlight the plight of poor households in the state following current charges hikes for seven times in the past three years of the YSRCP regime.

Lokesh arrived at the party office holding the lantern and accompanied by party leaders and cadres. They raised slogans against the YSRCP government.

He slammed the CM for putting undue burden on the poor consumers by hiking Rs 1.40 per unit in 76 to 125 units category. Also, the middle classes were also punished by hiking the unit price Rs 1.57 in 126 to 220 units category. Poor and middle income households are scared to turn on bulbs and fans this summer, he said.

Noting that the Chandrababu regime gave 24-hour quality power without a hike, Lokesh said there would have been no need to hike the current charges had Jagan Reddy honoured the MoUs signed by Chandrababu Naidu with the power companies. If the solar and wind power companies were encouraged like in the TDP regime, it would have given positive results even to reduce power tariff by Re 1 per unit by now, he claimed.

The TDP MLC blamed Jagan Reddy for throwing the power sector into a serious crisis by purchasing in the open market at Rs 9 to Rs 10 per unit. "In his swearing-in rhetoric, the CM vowed not to hike current charges and if possible, he would reduce rates. But in just three years, he hiked charges for over 7 times and imposed a burden of Rs 12,000 crore in the name of true-up charges, dues and so on," he said.

Lokesh said while Chandrababu Naidu gave different benefits as Sankranti, Ramzan and Christmas 'kanukas' (gifts), Jagan Reddy had given a steep hike in current charges as 'Ugadi kanuka' this year.

Accusing the YSRCP of putting AP on top in fuel prices, garbage tax, toilet tax, illicit liquor and cheap liquor brands, he demanded that the slabs in current bills should be taken back to what they were prior to 2019.

TDP state President K. Atchannaidu on Thursday held the Jagan Mohan Reddy government's "inefficiency" responsible for the non-stop hikes in current charges in the past three years.

He said that the latest increase in current charges would put an additional burden of Rs 4,400 crore on the people every year. This was in addition to the Rs 11,600 crore burden already imposed by the Jagan regime through charges hikes for five times in the past.

In Vijayawada, TDP MLA Gadde Rammohan resorted to novel protest. He held a begging bowl seeking alms to pay electricity bill.

CPI state Secretary Ramakrishna led a dharna in Kadapa.

He said people were already burdened with the hike in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG and the state government has now added the burden by hiking electricity tariff.

Left parties staged protest in Eluru, and Vizianagaram. In Visakhapatnam, the CPI-M and its affiliated organisations staged the protest demanding rollback.

Rallies were taken out in Kurnool, Guntur and other places.

--IANS ms/vd

A
Hyderabad, March 31 : Shooting for Prabhas' upcoming movie 'Salaar' has stopped as Prabhas, who had a minor surgery, is still recovering.

The doctors seem to have advised him to rest for the coming months as well.

Helmed by 'KGF' director Prashanth Neel, 'Salaar' is currently in the making, and Prabhas was supposed to join the sets to wrap up an important schedule. Now that the 'Mirchi' actor is advised to take complete rest for a couple of months more, the shooting for 'Salaar' was temporarily cancelled.

The 'Radhe Shyam' actor had left for Spain for his treatment before he resumes shooting for his upcoming movies. He had a simple surgery which he is still recovering from, a close source reports.

With a long line-up, Prabhas has 'Adipurush', 'Project K', and 'Spirit' to be wrapped up in the coming months, before he jumps to give a commitment to other directors.

Prabhas will also star in a movie which will be directed by 'Bhale Bhale Magadivoy' fame Maruthi.
New Delhi, March 31 : Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov landed in New Delhi on Thursday evening to hold talks with Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar over crude oil offer, rupee-ruble payment and arms deals.

It is the first high-level visit from Russia after the country went to war with Ukraine.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Delhi at 6 pm. Lavrov would be meeting Jaishankar on Friday afternoon and by 5.50 p.m. he would be flying for Moscow.

As the US-led sanctions and a few Russian banks being removed from the SWIFT messaging system, Lavrov will deliberate upon the rupee-ruble denominated payment method for crude oil which Russia has offered to India. New Delhi is not averse to buying Russian oil at a discounted rate.

It is also stated that the Reserve Bank of India senior officers are meeting their Russian counterparts to discuss the rupee-ruble payment.

Since the start of war, India has been facing pressure from the West and its allies to take a stronger stand against Russia.

As the war between Russia and Ukraine cost India's military capabilities dearly with delivery of many platforms like nuclear powered submarines, Grigorovich class frigates, Fighter jets, Triumf S-400, AK 203 assault rifle and others were expected to delay. Indian leaders will hold discussion with Lavrov over the issue.

India decided to upgrade its military infrastructure when the country was locked in a major face-off with China along the Line of Actual Control in July 2020. The threat of two-front war - from China and Pakistan - has made India go for large scale arms deals and Russia is still one of India's largest arms suppliers.

India's defence ministry has recently reviewed the status of current deals with Russia and how the war is going to impact the military capabilities.

In December 2021, India and Russia signed more than two dozen deals across a variety of sectors and had also inked a 10-year defence cooperation pact.

India will ensure that these deals do not stuck or get delayed due to the ongoing Russia and Ukraine war.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
Islamabad, March 31 : The Pakistan Opposition on Thursday submitted a petition to include the election of a new Prime Minister in the agenda of the National Assembly, reports said.

The petition, demanding that the election of a new Prime Minister be included in the agenda by issuing a supplementary agenda, was submitted by the PML-N National Assembly member Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, and PPP National Assembly members Naveed Qamar and Shazia Marri on behalf of Leader of Opposition Shehbaz Sharif, Dunya TV reported.

On this occasion, Sadiq stated that they were requesting that the election of a new Prime Minister be included in the agenda by issuing a supplementary agenda.

In the event of the success of no-confidence motion, the election of a new Prime Minister should be on the agenda, he added.

As the Opposition's number game gets stronger, Prime Minister Imran Khan has offered to dissolve the assembly if the no-confidence motion against him is withdrawn, Geo News reported.

According to the sources, an "important personality" has given a message of PM Imran Khan to Shahbaz Sharif.

This was revealed during the meeting of the Opposition leaders today ahead of the crucial National Assembly session for the debate on the no-confidence motion.

It was shared that the Premier has asked for a "safe passage" amid a deepening political crisis.
New Delhi, March 31 : Hollywood star Bruce Willis, known for his role in "Die Hard" series, has been diagnosed with aphasia - a language disorder caused by brain damage that affects a person's ability to communicate.

In a statement posted on Willis' Instagram page on Thursday, the 67-year-old actor's family announced that the actor is retiring from the profession as he was recently diagnosed with aphasia and that it was impacting his cognitive abilities.

"As a result of this and with much consideration, Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him," read the statement signed by Willis' wife, Emma Heming Willis, his ex-wife Demi Moore, and his five children, Rumer, Scout, Tallulah, Mabel, and Evelyn.

The Mayo Clinic defines aphasia as an inability to communicate. The condition can affect speech, as well as the way one writes and understands both spoken and written language.

While aphasia typically occurs suddenly after a stroke or a head injury, it can also develop gradually from a slow-growing brain tumour or a disease that causes progressive, permanent damage (degenerative).

Aphasia can be devastating both for the individual and the family. According to experts, it causes depression in over a third of cases and can lead to personality shifts and can even alienate friends and family from the affected person.

"Imagine being dropped in a country where you do not speak the language -- cannot understand, read, write or speak. It would impact all of your interactions -- this is what it is like to have aphasia," Darlene Williamson, president of the National Aphasia Association, told DailyMail.com.

There are four common types of aphasia that make up a vast majority of cases: Wernicke's, Broca's, anomic, and Primary Progressive Aphasia. These affect speech fluency, understanding of spoken or written words, and the ability to repeat words and phrases.

The condition also affects an individual's expression - thoughts and ideas through speech or writing, as well as reception - understanding spoken language or reading.

It can typically be diagnosed by imaging tests, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) and the main treatment for aphasia is speech and language therapy.

While aphasia cannot be preventable, the risk of brain damage, such as stroke, can be reduced by taking steps to maintain brain health. This includes healthy lifestyle, eating healthy, exercising daily, maintaining a healthy weight, limiting alcohol intake, keeping blood glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol under guideline limits, quitting smoking and getting an adequate amount of sleep.

It is impossible to say for Willis in particular how drastically the condition has affected him and his behaviour, but it is very hard for an actor to continue in his career, as just the process of speaking out lines can become a challenge. Other famous examples of aphasia include former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and "Game of Thrones" star Emilia Clarke.

Willis' acting career started in the early 1980s with uncredited roles in films such as Sidney Lumet's "The Verdict".

His career exploded later that decade thanks to his starring role opposite Cybil Shepherd in the series "Moonlighting" and his performance as John McClane in the 1988 action movie "Die Hard", which gave Willis his first major film franchise. He's been nominated for five Golden Globes and three Emmys.
New Delhi, March 31 : India and South Korean delegates held discussions here on Thursday over disarmament and non-proliferation relating to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said that India-Republic of Korea consultations on disarmament and non-proliferation were held at New Delhi, with the two sides exchanging views on developments in the field of disarmament and non-proliferation relating to nuclear, chemical and biological domains, outer space matters, regional non-proliferation issues, conventional weapons and export control regimes.

The Indian delegation was led by Sandeep Arya, Additional Secretary (Disarmament and International Security Affairs), Ministry of External Affairs, while the Korea delegation was led by Younghyo Park, Director General for Non-proliferation and Nuclear Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The MEA said that India engages in relevant multilateral forums and with partner countries on disarmament, non-proliferation and international security affairs.

India's engagement is based on its longstanding commitment to the goals of universal and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament and the objectives of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems.

India believes that this goal can be achieved through a step-by-step process underwritten by a universal commitment and an agreed global and non-discriminatory multilateral framework, as outlined in India's Working Paper on Nuclear Disarmament submitted to the UN General Assembly in 2006.

With the objective of strengthening the non-proliferation architecture, India has also joined various export control regimes, namely Australia Group, Wassenaar Arrangement, Missile Technology Control Regime and has harmonised its controls with the Nuclear Suppliers Group lists.
New Delhi, March 31 : The Supreme Court on Thursday said caste can be the starting point for identifying backward classes, but cannot be the sole basis as it declared a Tamil Nadu 2021 law on internal reservation of 10.5 per cent in jobs and education to the 'Vanniyar' community ultra vires of the fundamental rights to equality and non-discrimination on the basis of caste.

On the aspect of reservation to Vanniyar community under the most backward classes category, a bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B. R. Gavai said: "We hold that the classification sought to be made under the 2021 Act is unreasonable and, therefore, the 2021 Act is violative of Articles 14, 15 and 16, as there is no substantial basis for differentiating the Vanniakula Kshatriyas and granting them separate reservation." The Tamil Nadu special reservation of seats in educational institutions including private educational institutions and of appointments or posts in the services under the state within the reservation for the Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities Act, 2021 was declared as unconstitutional by the Madras High Court.

Justice Rao, who authored the judgment on behalf of the bench, said the state government has the competence to classify the Vanniakula Kshatriyas or any other community or group of communities within backward classes as a particular class for the grant of special measures.

"There should be a reasonable basis for categorising such communities into a different section from the rest of the communities within the MBCs (Most Backward Classes' and DNCs (Denotified Communities), on grounds which cannot be superficial or illusory," he said in the 87-page judgment.

The bench noted that choosing a particular caste and providing a special reservation of 10.5 per cent out of the 20 per cent to such caste is discriminatory, in the absence of any sound differentiation from communities who are similarly situated and were, therefore, grouped together for the purposes of receiving the benefits of 20 per cent reservation.

The bench said population being cited as the sole factor to support this classification is in the teeth of the judgments of this court in Indra Sawhney (nine-judge, 1992) and Jarnail Singh.

The bench said: "There is no infringement of the equal protection rule, if the law deals alike with all of a certain class, the legislature has the undoubted right of classifying persons and placing those whose conditions are substantially similar under the same rule of law, while applying different rules to persons differently situated." It, however, added: "The classification should never be arbitrary, artificial or evasive. It must rest always upon real and substantial distinction." The bench said there is no substantial basis for classifying the 'Vanniakula Kshatriyas' into one group to be treated differentially from the remaining 115 communities within the MBCs and DNCs. "Therefore, the 2021 Act is in violation of Articles 14, 15, and 16 of the Constitution," said Justice Rao.

The bench upheld the November 1, 2021 judgement of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court, which quashed the Tamil Nadu law that provided 10.5 per cent reservation to the Vanniyar community under the Most Backward Classes category. However, it disagreed with the high court's view on competence of a state legislature to pass such a law.

Citing the Indra Sawhney judgement, the bench said: "Caste can be the starting point for identifying backward classes, but it cannot be the sole basis. Accordingly, while caste can be the starting point for providing internal reservation, it is incumbent on the state government to justify the reasonableness of the decision and demonstrate that caste is not the sole basis." It said the Tamil Nadu government "committed an error", by accepting the recommendations of Justice Thanikachalam, Chairman of the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Commission, forming the basis of the 2021 Act.

"Recommendations have been based on the report of the Chairman of the Janarthanam Commission, which had relied on antiquated data, and there is a clear lapse on the part of Justice Thanikachalam in having readily dismissed the reservations expressed by the majority members of the Janarthanam Commission." It, however, said: "We make it clear that the aforesaid observations do not prevent the state, if it so decides, from undertaking suitable exercises for collecting pertinent, contemporaneous data to determine how demands for internal reservation within the Backward Classes can be justly addressed." The bench noted that Justice Thanikachalam also did not refer to any analysis or assessment of the relative backwardness and representation of the communities within the MBCs and DNCs.

The top court judgment came on appeals filed by the Tamil Nadu government, political party PMK, and others, challenging the high court judgment.
Islamabad, March 31 : There seems to be no respite for the falling Pakistani currency as the rupee continued to decline against the US dollar, amid the ongoing political uncertainty and delays in economic decisions, especially the lingering talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Geo News reported.

The currency surpassed the Rs 183-mark for the first time in the history of Pakistan, shedding over Rs 25 since the start of the ongoing fiscal (2021-22).

The rupee closed at Rs 183.48 against the US dollar in the inter-bank market on Thursday.

In March, the rupee has depreciated by 3.38 per cent (or Rs 6.07) against the US currency.

Meanwhile, as the Opposition's number game gets stronger, Prime Minister Imran Khan has offered to dissolve the assembly if the no-confidence motion against him is withdrawn, Geo News reported.

According to the sources, an "important personality" has given a message of Imran Khan to the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Shahbaz Sharif.

This was revealed during the meeting of the Opposition leaders on Thursday ahead of the crucial National Assembly session for the debate on the no-confidence motion.

It was shared that the premier has asked for a "safe passage" amid a deepening political crisis.

Sources further added that Imran Khan has said that if the Opposition doesn't agree to his suggestion, he is ready to face any situation, Geo News reported.
Bengaluru, March 31 : After a long gap, Kannada superstar Upendra is all set to entertain his fans with his April 1 release 'Home Minister' movie, which is dubbed as the family thriller. Amid the competition of super hit movies 'RRR' and 'James', the team of 'Home Minister' is confident of winning the heart of fans.

The trailer of the movie has become popular and it is expected to get a good opening since there is a huge fan following for superstar Upendra in Karnataka. Actress Vedika is playing the lead role in the movie against Upendra.

The film's team claims that though the title suggests it to be a political story, the narration of the movie is quite opposite to that. Upendra has stated that the fans would find a different home minister on the screen and it won't disappoint the audience.

Sujay K. Srihari has directed the movie. Tamil music composer M. Ghibran is making a debut in the Kannada industry with the movie.

"After a long wait, my debut in the Kannada film industry is happening with 'Home Minister'," he wrote on his social media. Tanya Hope, Suman Ranganathan and Abhimanyu Singh are in the lead roles.
New Delhi, March 31 : Global technology brand OnePlus on Thursday launched its new flagship smartphone -- the OnePlus 10 Pro -- in India, Europe, and North America.

Starting at Rs 66,999, the OnePlus 10 Pro with 6.7-inch QHD+ display will go on sale starting April 5.

The 8GB+128GB variant will cost Rs 66,999 while the 12 GB+256 GB model will come for Rs 71,999.

"With the second-generation Hasselblad Camera for Mobile, super-fast charging, and the best performance in any OnePlus smartphone to date -- we believe the OnePlus 10 Pro is a well-rounded flagship that is extremely competitive at its price point," said Pete Lau, Founder of OnePlus.

The OnePlus 10 Pro offers fastest performance in any OnePlus smartphone to date, and a 120 Hz display with improved LTPO technology and Dual Colour Calibration.

In addition, the device has an array of new gaming features made possible by the HyperBoost Gaming Engine.

In addition, OnePlus announced the OnePlus Bullets Wireless Z2, available exclusively in India.

The OnePlus 10 Pro comes fitted with a new ultra-wide camera offering a 150 degree field of view that can take photos that are four times wider than those captured by 120 degree ultra-wide cameras on other smartphones.

The device houses Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform and is also equipped with a five-layer 3D Passive Cooling System that is the most advanced cooling system ever.

With support for the fastest wired charging speeds ever on a OnePlus phone - 80W SUPERVOOC - the OnePlus 10 Pro's 5,000mAh battery can reach 100 per cent in just 32 minutes, claimed the company.

The OnePlus 10 Pro comes pre-installed with OxygenOS 12.1 based on Android 12.

Just like all other flagship devices, the OnePlus 10 Pro will receive 3 major Android updates and 4 years of security updates.

In India, Europe, and North America, the OnePlus 10 Pro launches in two colours -- Volcanic Black and Emerald Forest.
Patna, March 31 : The fear of avian influenza has spread in Bihar's Supaul district after a large number of crows and ducks were found dead on Thursday.

District Forest Officer Sunil Kumar Sharan said the dead birds were found in large numbers in Chapkahi village under Sadar police station of the district.

"The villagers informed us about a large number of birds found dead in the Chapkahi village. Accordingly, we sent a team of Forest and Animal Husbandry Departments to ascertain the situation. During preliminary investigation, we have detected the symptoms of a disease in the crows and ducks," he said.

The villagers, after seeing birds were restless, had initially given medicines and injections of veterinary doctors but the birds did not recover.

"We have collected the samples of birds and sent them to the lab for testing. The process of burying the birds is currently underway," Sharan said.

"So far, there is no symptom of bird flu in the dead birds. Still, we have taken precautionary measures and alerted poultry forms to take precautions," he said.

"In case any person cooked it for food, the bird which died due to a disease may not affect human health but if birds died 2 to 3 days ago, it may affect human health as the virus may enter into the blood of a person who consumed it," he added.
New Delhi, March 31 : The government has allowed genome-edited plants for regulation with the exemption of Site Directed Nuclease (SDN) 1 and 2 genomes with no foreign DNA, a move that has drawn mixed reactions from academia and activists.

In an office memorandum, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had on Wednesday invoked relevant sections of the Manufacture, Use, Import, Export and Storage of Hazardous Microorganism/ Genetically Engineered Organisms or Cells Rules 1989 and claimed that it empowers the Ministry to exempt any particular micro-organism/genetically engineered organism.

The OM has not just exempted SDN 1 & 2 but does so bypassing the lengthy GMO regulation as monitored by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC). The genome edited plants would be now treated as any other plants.

"The process of genome-edited plants to be carried out under containment until free from exogenous introduced DNA will be regulated by the institutional BioSafety Committee following guidelines issued by the central government under information to the Review Committee on Genetic Manipulation," it said.

The Ministry also said that the step was taken as the Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology and the Department of Agriculture, Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare had recommended that the SDN 1 and SDN 2 genome edited products, free from exogenous introduced DNA be exempted from bio safety assessment in pursuance of the relevant rules.

The difference between genetically modified and genome editing is that the latter is a precise technology with unintended side effects.

"Now, saying that there is no foreign DNA is a specious argument. The point is, you have introduced an aggressive intervention in a natural process," said Suman Sahay of Gene Campaign, an organisaiton that has been opposing GM/Bt seeds.

Kavitha Kuruganti of the 'Coalition for a GM-Free India' said that the Coalition had pointed out earlier that categorisation of genome-edited products by risk categorisation of the end product is a wrong approach. It is contradictory to the legal definition of Generic Engineering and Gene Technology as given in the EPA 1989 Rules and also defies scientific knowledge about process-related risks and "that is exactly what they are proposing now".

However, Rajeev Varshney, Agricultural/Genomics Scientist and Director, SABC, Director CC&FI, Intl Chair Agri & Food Security at the Murdoch University, Australia took to Twitter to welcome the move. "A landmark decision of government of India - 'Exemption of the genome edited plants falling under categories of SD1 and SDN2 from the provisions the Rules, 1989' i.e. not to be considered as GM plants. Many thanks." Sahay, however, said the research should continue with cautious screening and "the regulation must continue to ensure safety of technology".

--IANS niv/vd

A
New Delhi, March 31 : A total of 16,831 Indians have visited Pakistan on pilgrimage in the last five years while 2,119 Pakisatnis have come to India during this period, the Parliament was told on Thursday.

Visits of pilgrims between India and Pakistan are covered under the 'Bilateral Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines, 1974' wherein pilgrimages to 15 shrines in Pakistan and six shrines in India are facilitated Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

In 2017,as many as 2,211 Indians visited Pakistan while 984 Pakistani nationals came to India, while 3,812 and 574, respectively, did in 2018, 4,273 and 242 did in 2019, 1,330 and 248 did in 2020, 5,425 and 70 did in 2021 while no pilgrim from either side visited in 2022 so far.

Muraleedharan also said that India regularly liaises with Pakistan authorities to facilitate pilgrimages including arrangement for transportation, security, accommodation, medical facility etc for the pilgrims during their visits under the above Protocol.

In addition to this, India and Pakistan signed an agreement on October 24, 2019 for the facilitation of pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan. The agreement, inter alia, provides for visa-free travel of Indian pilgrims as well as Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders, from India to the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur on a daily basis, throughout the year.

The Minister also said that some Pakistani nationals belonging to minority communities, mainly Hindus and Sikhs, who came to India on Group Pilgrim Visas have not returned to Pakistan because of "religious persecution".
Bengaluru, March 31 : The MD and CEO of Exide Industries, Subir Chakraborty, met Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries, Murugesh R. Nirani, on Thursday and said the battery major would invest Rs 6,000 crore in a lithium-ion cell manufacturing Giga factory in the state.

During the meeting held at the Karnataka Udyog Mitra office, Chakraborty said the project is expected to generate 1,200-1,400 employment opportunities, and it will be one of India's largest Giga factories for advanced cell chemistry technology.

Exide has requested for 80 acres of land in the Haraluru Industrial Area near the Bengaluru airport.

Stating that the state government would extend all cooperation to the company, Nirani wished that the project would be executed soon.

"The government led by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai is proactive in attracting investments. The investor-friendly atmosphere one finds in Karnataka is not available anywhere else in the country," Nirani said.

The minister also pointed out that Karnataka was first in attracting FDI in the last three quarters.

Gunjan Krishna, Commissioner for Industrial Development and Director, Department of Industries & Commerce, said, "Karnataka provides an excellent industrial environment, infrastructure, and support to the investors. We are very happy to explore bigger investment opportunities in Bengaluru."
Hyderabad, March 31 : Telangana's Energy Minister G. Jagadish Reddy on Thursday alleged that some leaders at the Centre were conspiring against Telangana by threatening power companies not to sell power to the state.

He told reporters that at a time when Telangana is trying to buy power to meet the growing demand in view of summer, some top leaders at the Centre were making phone calls to various power companies and threatening them not to sell power to the state.

The minister said by threatening companies not to supply power to Telangana, the Centre was not only harming the interests of the state but of the entire country.

Reddy also claimed that the Centre also directed financial institutions like the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and the Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) not to release loans to Telangana power projects.

He pointed out that the state has taken up various augmentation programmes like setting up of new sub-stations, transformers and LT and HT lines with an estimated cost of around Rs 35,000 crore. This was planned to provide uninterrupted power to all sectors, even if the demand touched 17,000 MW.

"When we are taking these measures to augment the power sector, the Centre has asked the PFC and the REC not to release the amounts. The financial institutions are not releasing the money, even though the state has already entered into an agreement with them for loans," he said.

The minister condemned the Centre's discrimination against Telangana. He said instead of encouraging a state which is leading in per capita power consumption, the Centre was showing bias.

He said the state would take measures to secure loans as per the agreements entered into with PFC and REC.

The minister was confident that Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao would take all necessary steps to face the Centre's conspiracies and protect the farmers and other consumers.

The peak power demand in Telangana has crossed 14,000 MW due to big surge in consumption in view of severe heat wave conditions prevailing in the state.

The peak demand touched 14,160 MW on March 29, the highest since Telangana became a separate state in 2014.

--IANS ms/vd

A
Thiruvananthapuram, March 31 : The first lot of CSR-funded laptops for students were distributed to students of Government Cotton Hill Girls Higher Secondary School here by Kerala Education Minister V. Sivankutty on Thursday, officials said.

The Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), a special purpose vehicle company of the Kerala Education Department, took the lead in collecting CSR funds and bought 477 laptops.

Of these, 100 such laptops were handed over on Thursday, KITE CEO K. Anvar Sadath said, and the remaining 377 would be given to students in the hill district of Wayanad.

He said that CSR contribution of Rs 85 lakh was received from MIMS Calicut (Rs 35 lakh), the SBI (Rs 20 lakh), Aster DM Health Care, and TJSV Steel Fabrication & Galvanising (Rs 15 lakh each).
Mumbai, March 31 : The 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is just five days into its over two-month schedule and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) are getting ready to play the third match of their campaign.

Having started with a stunning victory against defending champions Chennai Super Kings on the opening day, KKR slumped to a three-wicket defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the D.Y Patil Stadium on Wednesday.

On Friday, the Shreyas Iyer-led KKR will take on Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium, with both teams looking to register their second win in the event.

Punjab Kings had started their campaign with a five-wickets win against RCB in their first match.

Though it is too early in the tournament, Punjab Kings will hope to maintain their good start. The Kings have not been that successful in the IPL, their best season was way back in 2014 when they reached the final, which improved on their third place in the inaugural edition in 2008.

KKR, in contrast, have won the IPL twice -- 2012 and 2014 and also hold a huge advantage in head-to-head encounters, having won 19 of their 29 clashes. Though they had won a match each in the last edition, KKR had finished runner-up while PBKS ended sixth, missing the playoffs once again.

This time both franchises have assembled strong squads and will be hoping to make a good start in IPL 2022.

Chasing 206 for victory against RCB, PBKS rode on useful contributions by skipper Mayank Agarwal (32), fellow opener Shikhar Dhawan (43), Bhanuka Rajapaksa (43) and some quick runs by Odean Smith (25 off 8) to romp to victory.

PBKS skipper Agarwal will be looking forward to a better performance from his bowlers who had conceded 200-plus score in their opening match.

While their batters carried PBKS to victory in a high-scoring encounter, KKR were all out for 128 in 18.5 overs against RCB and skipper Shreyas Iyer will be hoping their batting to click in their next match.

He himself will be hoping to fire in Friday's match and will also be expecting that the likes of Venkatesh Iyer, Nitesh Rana and Sunil Narine too come good early in the tournament.

All in all, Iyer will be happy if KKR manage to capitalise on their head-to-head record against PBKS and record another win.

Latest updates on IPL 2022
New Delhi, March 31 : The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Faridabad Municipal Corporation in Haryana is liable to pay solatium of Rs 2,000 per month to eligible persons, whose unauthorised structures on the Aravali Forest area were demolished.

A bench, headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, said that until permanent accommodation is offered, the Faridabad civic body should pay Rs 2,000 per month, to the eligible persons, until the date of issuance of possession letter by it.

Senior advocate Sanjay Parikh, representing some petitioners, submitted that payment of solatium, which was for a period of six months, must continue till the time the government provides flats in a habitable condition.

The civic body counsel submitted before the bench, also comprising Justices A.S. Oka and C.T. Ravikumar, that 1,027 applicants have been found eligible and they would be allotted flats on permanent basis by end of April.

The bench said: "Until permanent accommodation is offered to the eligible persons, the corporation shall be liable to pay ex-gratia solatium amount of Rs 2,000 per month until the date of issuance of possession letter by the corporation." As Parikh contended that nobody had occupied the flats, as they were in bad condition, the bench observed that the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation should certify that the premises offered to the people are in habitable condition. It further added that the possession letter can be issued, post certification, and then the premises can be occupied.

The civic body's counsel contended that it had earlier informed the court that final possession of the flats will be given by April 30, 2022. The bench emphasized that flats should be made habitable, and those who did not occupy these flats should be compensated.

The bench directed the Superintendent of Police, Faridabad, to assist the civic body to ensure that there is no encroachment on the area, where structures were demolished.

The top court also reserved its verdict on the separate pleas raising issues in connection with forest and non-forest land in Haryana. It will also continue to hear the matter further on April 26.

The top court in June last year, directed Haryana and Faridabad Municipal Corporation to remove all encroachments, which included around 10,000 residential constructions, on the Aravali forest area near the Khori village.
Hyderabad, March 31 : Taking a serious note of rats biting a patient in the ICU of the government-run MGM Hospital in Telangana's Warangal town, the state government on Thursday transferred the superintendent of the hospital and suspended two doctors.

Hours after the shocking incident was reported, the government shunted out superintendent Dr B. Srinivasa Rao and appointed Dr Chandrashekhar as the new superintendent.

The health department also suspended two doctors who were on duty when the incident occurred early Thursday.

Health Minister T. Harish Rao had taken serious note of the incident and promised action against those found negligent.

With the incident leading to public outrage and criticism of the government-run hospitals, the government acted swiftly to control the damage.

The incident dealt a blow to the government's attempts to promote Warangal as Health City by developing best infrastructure.

The incident occurred on Thursday in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of MGM Hospital, which is one of the major state-run healthcare facility in the state.

P. Srinivas, who was undergoing treatment in the ICU, was bitten by rats on hands and legs, leading to bleeding injuries.

The man was under treatment for respiratory and kidney related ailments and is in a critical condition. According to his family members, he was earlier undergoing treatment at a private hospital and as they were unable to bear the expenses, they shifted him to MGM Hospital four days ago.

They alleged that the rats had bitten him on the first day and they had brought this to the notice of the hospital staff, who gave treatment for rat bites. According to them, the rats bitten him again on Thursday morning.

"I was shocked to see blood all over the bed. The rats nibbled his fingers, arms and legs," patient's brother Srikant said. When he informed the hospital staff they questioned him what he was doing.

"We have come here in the hope of some relief but his condition has worsened with the loss of blood," he said.

Some staff members told him that similar incidents happened in the past and they have given written complaints to higher-ups for necessary action.

Resident Medical Officer Murali said the hospital would take steps to control the rat menace in the premises.

This is not the first time that such an incident has happened at MGM premises. Two years ago, rats were found nibbling bodies in the mortuary. The patients were worried as the rat menace has now spread to the entire premises including ICU.
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese health official has warned of the consequences of abandoning epidemic prevention in the fight against COVID-19.

If China gives up on epidemic prevention and relies entirely on treatment of symptoms, the medical system would run the risk of being overwhelmed, said Ma Xiaowei, director of the National Health Commission, in an article published Wednesday.

China has implemented a dynamic zero-COVID strategy. The policy does not seek to pursue absolute zero infections, rather it calls for measures to stamp out infections upon detection and to maintain the red line of no sizeable resurgence of cases, said the official.

Demographics have played an important role in the decision to adhere to the dynamic zero-COVID policy, the official noted. According to the latest statistics, China has 267 million people aged 60 or above and more than 250 million children.

Despite the onslaught of the highly contagious and elusive Omicron variant, the dynamic zero-COVID policy remains the most economical and effective containment strategy for the country to cope with the coronavirus. 
New Delhi, March 31 : The Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the mop-up round counselling held for All India Quota (AIQ) of the NEET-PG courses for year 2021-22, and ordered a fresh mop-up round.

A bench, headed by Justice D.Y Chandrachud and comprising Justices Surya Kant and Bela Trivedi, said: "The All India Quota mop-up round of counselling shall stand cancelled. For the 146 additional seats which became available after AIQ round 2 on March 16, 2022, a fresh round of counselling shall be conducted as a special case. Students who have joined in round 2 either of the state quota or of the AIQ, will be at liberty to participate in the fresh round of counselling without any financial penalties." The bench noted that pursuant to its order on March 30, the Union Government - the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare's Directorate General of Health Services - has proposed to set right the anomalies which were noticed in the order.

It said in order to facilitate the expeditious completion of the process, the DGHS should invite options from students for the 146 new seats within 24 hours of the uploading of the notification and the process shall be completed within a period of 72 hours after the cut off for receipt of options.

The bench said: "A fresh mop-up round for AIQ seats shall be conducted and an endeavour shall be made to complete the process within a period of two weeks; and in line with the regulations which have been notified on April 5, 2018, students who have joined in round 2 of the state quota or round 2 of the AIQ shall not be eligible to participate in the mop-up round for All India Quota." It clarified that the above directions have been issued in pursuance of its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution to resolve the imbroglio which has arisen due to the anomalies which were noticed in the March 30 order.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court asked the DGHS to reconsider the decision of adding 146 new seats, as it directed the Central government to maintain status quo till Thursday on the mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counselling.

The bench had expressed concern at two aspects - the addition of 146 new seats in government college, and the lack of uniform application of March 16 notice of the Medical Counselling Committee barring students who took admissions in state quota from participating in the mop-up round for the All India quota. The bench said the DGHS should examine the issue.

On March 28, the Supreme Court sought response from the DGHS on petitions filed by various groups of doctors seeking participation in mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counselling.

Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, representing some petitioners, submitted before the apex court that after the second round of counselling, his clients were allotted the seats and later, the DGHS issued two notices to bring into the pool some seats which were not available to them. He said hundreds of seats were added to the pool, and as a result, people not on merit were given seats, which were not available to his clients.

Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, representing another set of petitioners, submitted that people who were much lower in rank than his clients would get better disciplines.

The bench noted that staying the process of counselling will be a very extreme step. It added, "If we cancel the seats, then we will have to cancel all the admissions, which would further delay the whole process....".

The apex court order came on petitions filed by a group of doctors seeking to participate in mop-up round of NEET-PG 2021-22 counselling. A group of petitioners contended that after round one of the counselling, they joined a discipline, but were not allowed to upgrade in round two. They sought permission to appear in the mop-up round.
Srinagar, March 31 : The woman who had allegedly hurled a petrol bomb at a CRPF bunker in J&K's Sopore town was arrested on Thursday, police said.

IGP, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar told reporters that the arrested woman has been identified as Haseena Akhtar, an overground worker (OGW) of the proscribed terror outfit LeT.

"She had thrown a petrol bomb at a CRPF bunker in Sopore in which one policeman and a CRPF jawan were injured.

"There are three FIRs under the UAPA against her," he said.
New Delhi, March 31 : A total of 1,33,135 Indian students went abroad for higher studies this year, as on March 20, the Parliament was informed on Thursday.

As per information received from Bureau of Immigration (BoI), the number of Indian students, who departed India for higher education in the current year, is 1,33,135 so far while there were 4,44,553 students in 2021 and 2,59,655 in 2020, Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan told Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

He also said that according to information received from the BoI, the top preferred countries for education in 2021 were the US, Canada, and the UK.

He also said that granting visas is the sovereign right of a country and various countries have been granting visas to Indian students for studying in universities of their countries. However, if there is temporary restriction or delay in the grant of visa then the Ministry and the respective Indian Mission take it up proactively with the country concerned.

Responding to a query from CPI-M member K. Soma Prasad, Muraleedharan said that the Student Module of the MADAD portal, launched on July 15, 2016 enables Indian students studying abroad or aspiring to study abroad to register voluntarily and provide information on their course, institutions, contact details, emergency contact etc.

His Ministry, through its missions/posts abroad have been regularly interacting with Indian students studying abroad to register their details on the student module and also encouraging Indian student organisations and Indian community associations for the same including through social media platforms.

In response to another question, Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi informed the House that overall, 22,500 nationals have returned to India since February 2022 after the Russia-Ukraine war broke out in February.

"Around 40-50 Indian nationals are still in Ukraine, of which only a few are willing to return to India and their return is being facilitated by the Embassy." She also informed that during the global Covid-19 pandemic, the government had launched the Vande Bharat Mission to repatriate Indian nationals and to facilitate the travel of passengers between India and other parts of the world.

"Around 2.97 crore passengers (in-bound and out-bound) have been facilitated in the flights operated under the Vande Bharat Mission and Air Bubble Arrangements till date," Lekhi said Under Operation Devi Shakti, a total of 669 people were evacuated from Afghanistan. This included 448 Indian nationals, 206 Afghans (including Hindu and Sikh community members) and 15 people of other nationalities (Nepal, Lebanon and Uganda) in seven flights (six flights operated between August 16 to 25, 2021 and the last flight on December 10, 2021). All Indian nationals who had sought repatriation to India were evacuated, she added in her reply.

Latest updates on Russia-Ukraine War
New Delhi, March 31 : The apex body of the Central government leading the implementation of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission, the National Health Authority (NHA), on Thursday released a consultation paper on Drug Registry.

Envisioned under the ambitious Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), Drug Registry is intended to be a single, up-to-date, centralised repository of all the drugs across all systems of medicine which are approved and are available in the Indian market.

National Health Authority CEO R.S. Sharma said on the occasion that through Drug Registry, the ABDM aims to provide a standardised, comprehensive set of verified data on all the approved drugs marketed in the country that would enable a more efficient regulatory process.

"To enable inclusivity and widen the perspectives on the table, I urge all stakeholders to go through the shared consultation papers and provide us with their valuable feedback," added Sharma.

The Drug Registry application is proposed be designed using open-source technologies and will be interoperable.

The consultation paper focuses only on Drug Registry within the National Digital Health Ecosystem and offers NHA's current vision on the functionalities of the proposed Drug Registry, the process for its creation and potential benefits to various ecosystem stakeholders.
Mumbai, March 31 : FY22 has brought in healthy appreciation in stock value of two Tata Group companies -- Tinplate Company of India Ltd and Automotive Stampings and Assemblies Ltd.

Stocks of the two firms have seen a massive surge in FY22 on the back of healthy earnings growth, demand and future expansion plans.

In FY22, Tinplate Company of India's stocks rose 150 per cent to Rs 401.45 per share, while those of Automotive Stampings and Assemblies' scrip went up by 1,659 per cent to Rs 587.65.

"The company (Automotive Stampings and Assemblies) manufactures sheet metal components for tractors and chips for the automotive sectors," said Kshitij Purohit, Lead of Commodities and Currencies CapitalVia Global Research.

"Now, China is under a lockdown and this an opportune time for the company to increase world market shares." Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities, said: "Automotive Stampings stock price has been rising and falling circuit to circuit without any major positive or negative news. Hence, the up move over the last few quarters seems to be more due to trader activity in a Tata group company." "Tinplate has shown remarkable improvement in its financial performance since June 2021 quarter. Like a lot of other commodity stocks, Tinplate has also benefited out of resurgence in demand post Covid and the underlying demand from the addressable markets remains buoyant." Jasani pointed out Tinplate, which is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, is looking to ramp up production capacity at an estimated investment of Rs 1,800 crore.

"The company, which has a production capacity of 3,79,000 tonnes per annum (TPA), is looking to put up an additional capacity of 3,00,000 TPA at its existing unit in Jamshedpur." IIFL Securities VP, Research, Anuj Gupta said: "Both companies are manufacturing auto parts and in the last 2 year we have seen a jump in metal prices which has benefited both the companies because of higher prices."
Chennai, March 31 : The Tamil Nadu Police have been conducting raids across the state to curb the growing drug menace, and have so far arrested more than 350 people for peddling drugs such as marijuana, MDMA and other narcotic substances.

The state police have also alerted the Marine Police and the Indian Coast Guard after receiving intelligence inputs of drugs being smuggled into the country from abroad through certain coastal towns.

A senior police officer said that there are several pockets in the state which are used as transport points, and in many cases, youngsters are picked up as carriers.

Speaking to IANS, the officer said, "We have already arrested over 350 people who are part of the drugs syndicates, including peddlers, and major operators in some cases. We are also getting inputs about some coastal towns of the state being used as hubs by international drug racketeers, and hence a major crackdown is on." In December 2021, the Tamil Nadu Police had arrested few former cadres of the LTTE for smuggling drugs into the state through the sea route for raising funds for the activities of the organisation.

The police are, however, tight-lipped about such networks being used for drug transportation.

The crackdown commenced after the intelligence agencies received tip-offs about drug syndicates becoming active in the state.

The narcotics wing of the police had recently conducted raids at certain hideouts in Coimbatore and arrested around 100 people from in and around the city.

The police said that the drug syndicates are using the services of technical persons and social media for the movement of drugs within the state. Several techies are part of the drugs syndicates in the Metro cities of Tamil Nadu and efforts are on to hunt them down.

Tamil Nadu DGP C. Sylendra Babu, who is monitoring the progress of the crackdown, has instructed the officers not to use the local police for the operations out of the fear that some key accused may escape the net.

The Marine Police and the Indian Coast Guard are also monitoring the movement of vessels, including fishing boats, as the possibility of smuggling in drugs into the state from Sri Lanka is quite high.
Chennai, March 31 : AIADMK leader K. Palaniswami has asked Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to clear the 'mystery' behind his ongoing visit to New Delhi, where the latter met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday.

In a statement, former Chief Minister Palaniswami said that Stalin had led a 'Go back Modi' campaign during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but has now gone to New Delhi to meet Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to "protect" him and his family.

Palaniswami also raised doubts over the recent visit of the Chief Minister to the UAE.

In the statement, Palaniswami recalled the visit of Stalin's father late M. Karunanidhi to New Delhi to meet then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and patch up with her 43 years ago.

He argued that Modi would not get carried away by Stalin's 'drama', unlike what happened when Karunanidhi had met Indira Gandhi.

The AIADMK leader had earlier termed Stalin's visit to Dubai as a 'family picnic', referring to the presence of his immediate family with him.
Patna, March 31 : A day after saying that his wish to go to the Rajya Sabha was not fulfilled in his political career, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday clarified that he does not have any personal interest in going to the upper house of the Parliament.

"Actually, the journalists had asked about my interest to go to the Rajya Sabha, and I replied to them that I don't have personal interest in it," he said.

However, journalists on Wednesday had asked him what his stand would be if the BJP sent him to the Rajya Sabha, and he had said that his wish to go to Rajya Sabha was not fulfilled yet.

Following his statement on Wednesday, speculation arose in political circle across Bihar whether Nitish Kumar would go to the Centre and become the Vice President and the post of the Chief Minister will be given to the BJP.

"During my initial political career, I used to visit several places and always thought about going to the Parliament one day. I was elected MLA for the first time in 1985 and Lok Sabha member in 1989. After that I became state and cabinet ministers in the Centre and Chief Minister in Bihar for 4 times," Nitish Kumar clarified on Thursday.

However, RJD leaders reacted strongly to Nitish Kumar's statement.

Chief spokesman Bhai Virendra said: "Nitish Kumar is known as Kursi Kumar in Bihar... that everyone knows. I doubt that he would sacrifice the post of Chief Minister for becoming a Rajya Sabha member. There is a definite internal political pact between him and the top leadership of the saffron party (BJP) for the post of Vice President or President."
Bengaluru, March 31 : Former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Thursday criticised the right-wing activists for seeking ban on Muslim merchants and halal meat, giving a call to farmers in the rural areas of the state "to not encourage the saffron-clad Hindutva activists".

"I will not sit quiet with what is happening in the state," he said.

Kumaraswamy even stated that if Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has "mardaangi" (manliness), he would not sit quiet, but take action.

His statements are likely to create confrontations in the rural areas, especially in south Karnataka where the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) has a strong presence.

The ruling BJP is gaining momentum in the JD-S stronghold areas where Hindutva activists have taken up campaigns by distributing hand bills calling out to impose ban on Muslims merchants.

Kumaraswamy has slammed the BJP for encouraging such developments.

The former Chief Minister even termed the activists of Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajarang Dal, who have taken up halal campaigns, as "anti-social elements".

"The trend of flaunting saffron shawls and creating disharmony has to stop and it won't be encouraged in the state," he said.

"All these years, we have eaten halal meat. What harm has it caused? God did not appear in our dreams, and tell us that we have done wrong. Do not encourage the right-wing activists in the villages," he said.

Kumaraswamy also said that he is not bothered about vote bank politics and he wants peace to be established in the state.

Sources in the ruling BJP, however, claimed that since the Hindutva agenda is eroding the vote base of JD-S in the rural areas of the state, Kumaraswamy is upset as it is the question of survival for him.

Meanwhile, the top leaders of the party pledging their support to ban on halal meat condemned Kumaraswamy for using the word 'mardaangi' for Bommai.

Minister for Revenue R. Ashoka stated that the 'mardaangi' referrence to an incumbent Chief Minister did not suit his dignity and statements like this will spoil the harmony in the state.

National General Secretary and BJP legislator C.T. Ravi, and Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj K.S. Eshwarappa took a dig at Kumaraswamy over the 'mardaangi' remark by indirectly referring to the past relationship of Kumaraswamy with an actress.

The Chief Minister, however, maintained that it is not a question of 'mardaangi'.

"The government has handled issues efficiently and maintained law and order," Bommai said.

Karnataka Congress President D.K. Shivakumar said that Kumaraswamy is a senior politician and he won't answer questions on his comments.

Meanwhile, Kumaraswamy later apologised for his 'mardaangi' comment on Bommai.
Bengaluru, April 1 : Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, who arrived in Bengaluru on Thursday on a two-day visit, paid a visit to Puneeth Rajkumar's residence in Sadashivanagar and paid tribute to the late Kannada superstar.

Rahul Gandhi was accompanied by the state Congress President D.K. Shivakumar and Opposition leader Siddaramaiah.

Rahul Gandhi spoke to Puneeth's wife Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar, daughter Vandita Puneeth Rajkumar and the late actor's brother Raghavendra Rajkumar.

"I paid my condolences to Ashwini Puneeth Rajkumar and other family members of famous Kannada actor late Puneeth Rajkumar after visiting their home. Puneeth left unforgettable memories for all Kannadigas at a young age," Rahul Gandhi tweeted in Kannada.

The Congress leader had earlier taken part in the 115th birth anniversary event of late Siddaganga Mutt seer Shivakumar Swamiji.

"I am happy to be here. I had come here on an earlier occasion. My father and my grandmother had also visited the Mutt. My mother too came here. Our long relationship with the Mutt is respectful. After seeing and understanding the work done here, I am really happy to know that the institution has helped lakhs of children build their careers," Rahul Gandhi said.

"I am remembering the late Shivakumar Swamiji as he showed the way for us. When I came here last time, I had met him. We have to tread on the path shown by him," he added.
Chinese State Councilor Wang Yong delivers a video speech to the opening ceremony of the 11th APEC Small & Medium Enterprises Technology Conference and Fair, in Beijing, capital of China, March 31, 2022. (Xinhua/Zhai Jianlan)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese State Councilor Wang Yong has called for efforts to boost openness and cooperation among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and promote win-win economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region.

Wang made the remarks Thursday in a video speech at the opening ceremony of the 11th APEC Small & Medium Enterprises Technology Conference and Fair.

The Chinese government attaches great importance to and supports the development of SMEs, and has introduced a series of supportive policies and measures, including tax and fee cuts, according to Wang.

China will continue to carry out all-round technical exchanges and economic and trade cooperation with economies in the Asia-Pacific region as well as countries and regions along the Belt and Road, Wang said.

He called for expanding openness and cooperation, firmly opposing unilateralism and trade protectionism, eliminating discriminatory and exclusive practices, and jointly promoting sustained, sound and high-quality development of SMEs in the Asia-Pacific region. 
New Delhi, April 1 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said that they have attached assets worth Rs 243.93 crore belonging to former officials of Amanath Co-operative Bank Ltd, Bengaluru, Mohamed Asadulla, A. Shafiulla and their relatives for cheating the bank to the tune of Rs 68.43 crore by opening fictitious overdraft accounts in the name of themselves, their relatives and their entities.

Initially, Commercial State Police Station, Bengaluru had lodged a case in this connection in 2006. They had also filed chargesheet on this connection against Asadulla (ex-General Manager of Amanath Co-operative Bank, Bengaluru), A. Shafiulla (ex-Branch Manager of Amanath Co-operative Bank, NR Road, Bengaluru) and K. Hidayathulla (then accountant of Amanath Co-operative Bank Ltd) accusing them of misappropriation of the funds of the bank to the tune of Rs 68.43 crore by opening fictitious overdraft accounts in the name of themselves, their relatives and their entities.

The ED initiated a probe on the basis of the FIR filed by Bengaluru police station.

The ED had learnt in the investigation that the accused, between 1997-2002, opened 50 fictitious overdraft accounts in the name of themselves, their relatives and their entities to misappropriate the bank's funds.

The accused then opened another 8 Real Estate Accounts and 165 housing loan accounts to adjust the outstanding amount of the said 50 fictitious accounts and by doing so, the accused persons succeeded in closing 40 accounts out of the said 50 fictitious accounts.

As per the details submitted by the bank, as of now, the said eight Real Estate Accounts, 165 housing loan accounts and previously opened 10 Overdraft accounts (out of 50 fictitious accounts) are still outstanding and the total loan proceeds of these accounts, at the time of the said accounts were declared NPA, was to the tune of Rs 79.30 crore.

The proceeds of crime were utilised in buying immovable properties.

Further investigation into the matter is underway.
New Delhi, April 1 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin is in Delhi for a three day visit and on Thursday, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while also having a surprise visitor when Congress President Sonia Gandhi, walked into the DMK office in the Parliament to meet him.

Stalin, who is also the DMK chief, is in Delhi to inaugurate the party office in the national capital, but the visit comes on heels of the visit of his Odisha counterpart and Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik.

The non-BJP Chief Minister are making a beeline to the national capital as the Presidential elections are slated in June-July.

Incidentally, T.R. Balu from the DMK had met Patnaik during his visit to the Parliament. However, Patnaik, asked about his BJD's preferences in the presidential polls, did not give an unequivocal answer. "There is still time for the Presidential elections so no thoughts on that for the moment," he said.

Telangana Chief Minister and TRS leader K. Chandrasekhar Rao has also been active and had met his West Bengal and Maharashtra counterparts, Mamata Banerjee and Uddhav Thackeray, respectively. Non-BJP or Congress Chief Ministers and leaders can influence Presidential polls as the Congress is reduced to only two states and its strength has reduced in Punjab, Goa, UP, and Manipur.

The BJP has a majority in the Parliament, but in terms of big states - which are key in the election, has seen its strength reduced in UP while several other big states are ruled by opposition parties, whose unity can make the situation tense for the party.

In fact, Banerjee, who heads the Trinamool Congress, had warned the BJP that the Presidential election will not be an easy task for it because they don't have even half of the legislators of the country.

The electoral college, comprising 776 MPs of both the Houses and 4,120 MLAs of all the states and Union Territories, has 1,098,903 votes, and a majority is 549,452 votes. As far as the value of votes is concerned, Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of votes, approximately 83,824, followed by Maharashtra and West Bengal.
New Delhi, April 1 : The National Medical Commission on Thursday issued a circular on the implementation of competency-based medical education in the undergraduate medical programme, which also recommends the Maharishi Charak Shapath for students at the course's onset.

"Maharishi Charak Shapath is recommended when a candidate is introduced to medical education," the NMC said in the circular.

It further said that the new competency-based medical education for undergraduate course curriculum is being implemented with the objectives of covering all three domains of learning - Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor.

"The new course curriculum introduced in August 2019 enriched the medical students with a sound base and balanced approach to overall aspect with the introduction of foundation courses which includes Family Adoption Programme, Yoga, Meditation, Local Language adaptation and skills," reads the circular.

All medical colleges in states and UTs have been directed to implement the new course.

The NMC circular mainly lists the guidelines that need to be followed because of the time redistribution for the course in the professional year of 2021-22 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The duration of the first professional course has been reduced from 14 months to 12 months. The curriculum of UG CBME will be considered from February 14, 2022 in all medical colleges across the country.

The NMC has implemented 'Family Adoption Programme' as a part of curriculum of community medicine which will begin from first professional year and will remain throughout the curriculum. The Family Adoption will include villages which are not covered under PHC.

Yoga training has also been recommended to be initiated during foundation courses.

Reacting to the new curriculum, Dr Rohan Krishnan, President, FAIMA Doctors Association, told IANS that there is nothing new in the inner structure of the curriculum.

"There are some changes academically wherein forensic medicine which was earlier taught in second Professional MBBS, will now be taught at third year and exams will be taken in third year MBBS, and field visits and community medicine which was taught in third year will now start from first year itself," he said.

"There seems to be lack of innovation in the curriculum as even after pandemic there is no extra time or practical skiils allocations in virology, microbiology or handling of a pandemic," he added.
As the world slowly recovers from the pandemic and travel is now made possible, education and migration specialists are experiencing a resurgence.

It's time to use technology to help automate agency's operations.

Because of the global event, every part of a modern business has changed. Whether it's from a procedural or operations standpoint, the circumstance has caused business owners to reconsider their strategies.

With no constraints on international borders, opportunities for education and migration are flowing in from all directions.

Many small-scale consultants, on the other hand, appear to be unsure of where to begin.

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Dharmendra Patel, CEO, KONZE, Australia

Tejas Patel, Director, Aussizz Group, Australia

James McNess, Director, Active Study Australia

Charmaine Bowry, Agent Relationship Manager, Medibank, Australia

Nick Golding, Business Development Director, The PIE

All need to learn from our experiences," the director of the Konze said during a regional gathering.

And the most recent one has taught us that need to bring in additional technological solutions to support business operations. KONPARE is an example of a tool that aids in the automation, repetition, and standardisation of jobs."

KONPARE is a flagship brand owned by Konze Enterprise Pty. Ltd. that was created to assist education consultants in comparing all OSHC (Overseas Student Health Cover) plans from various providers for their clients.

It provides education agencies with a no-cost alternative for providing end-to-end services to customers and overseas students. Business can reach new heights with a simple plug-and-play widget connection.

Join in on an insightful & engaging webinar brought by The Pie News.

Wish to onboard the KONPARE platform, can reach them via email at info@konpare.online or contact them directly here.

Please hurry!!! Now is the time to reserve your spot!
Simfoni's CEO of Spend Intelligence, Jason Stern, will address how procurement can support Corporate Social Responsbility (CSR) goals and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) metrics. Simfonis Spend Analytics platform has helped our procurement team to stretch beyond cost savings and become more strategically aligned with our organizations core strategy and values, said Keith Woody, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer, Fulton Bank.

Simfoni, the next generation digital solutions provider for procurement intelligence and spend automation, today announced that its CEO of Spend Intelligence, Jason Stern, will deliver a keynote address at the upcoming ProcureCon Indirect West 2022 event, April 11-13 in Phoenix, AZ, focused on how procurement can support Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) goals and Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) metrics.

The events of the past few years have led to a titanic shift in perception about the strategic value of procurement and its role in driving a sustainable business, said Jason Stern, CEO, Simfoni Spend Intelligence. Finally, procurement is becoming a board-level strategic initiative. I am pleased to welcome one of our valued customers, Fulton Bank, on stage with me at Procurecon, to discuss how procurement goals can and shouldalign with the values of the company. Fulton Bank, along with many of our customers, is moving beyond tactical cost savings and avoidance to focus on the suppliers they are doing business with and what they are purchasing.

On Tuesday, April 12, ProcureCon Indirect West 2022 will focus on Driving Effective Procurement and Supplier Partnerships. Simfonis Spend Intelligence CEO Jason Stern will at 11:55 am MST/PDT. Entitled See Spend Differently: Procurement with a Purpose, his presentation will provide a practical guide for procurement leaders to leverage their spending practices in support of the priorities of investors, executives and other key organizational stakeholders. Stern will be joined by Keith Woody, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer at Fulton Bank, who will present a case study on how his organization has used spend analytics to increase supplier diversity.

Simfonis Spend Analytics platform has helped our procurement team to stretch beyond cost savings and become more strategically aligned with our organizations core strategy and values, said Keith Woody, Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer, Fulton Bank. Utilizing data has helped us to know our suppliers better, and to evaluate them on the basis of diversity, sustainability and risk. This practice has helped us to elevate and solidify our commitment to tracking CSR goals and ESG metrics.

A recent Forbes article, The Business Benefits Of Corporate Social Responsibility explored the linkage between companies with solid ESG metrics and Investors increased value of said companies. For example, the results of recent research from Project ROI, an endeavor spearheaded by research firm 10 Sustainability and the Babson College Social Innovation Lab, show that CSR practices have great potential to deliver financial Returns on Investment (ROI), as well as related business and competitive benefits. These benefits include increasing a company's market value up to 6% and stakeholder value by $1.28 billion (over 15 years), as well as reducing systemic risk by 4%. Attend the Keynote to learn how Procurement plays a key role in delivering improved ESG metrics.

To register for ProcureCon Indirect West 2022, visit https://procureconwest.wbresearch.com/srspricing. To learn more about Simfoni, please visit https://simfoni.com/, and stop by Booth #24.

About Simfoni

Simfoni provides Spend Analytics, Spend Automation and eSourcing solutions to leading global enterprises. The Simfoni platform utilizes machine learning and artificial intelligence to accelerate and automate key aspects of the procurement process, saving customers time and money and paving the way toward supply chain sustainability. With offices in the USA, Europe, Australia, and the Middle East, Simfoni works with its customers and the wider vendor community to improve vendor diversity and achieve strategic CSR objectives. For additional information, please visit https://simfoni.com/.

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ThreatRecon & Secure Data offer deeper infrastructure solutions The data being generated within any organization on a day-to-day basis can become overwhelming to manage and secure very quickly, Morgan said.

Guidacent Expands its Cybersecurity & Data Analytics Practices

ThreatRecon & Secure Data offer deeper infrastructure solutions

Guidacent, Inc., a leading business operation consulting and advisory firm, announced today its expansion into two highly focused business practices, to address the rapid growth relating to data management and cybersecurity.

To address the crippling threat of a cyber incident, data compromise, and resource inefficiencies, and in response to the rise in industry audit requirements ratcheting down the focus on robust compliance programs that protect customer data, Guidacent has added a portfolio of cybersecurity services under its ThreatRecon practice and has expanded its data analytics services under the SecureData practice.

Adding these new focused practice initiatives into our service lines, which complement our current line of professional consulting and project management services, means offering a deeper view into the integrity and operations of any business infrastructure, said Guidacent CEO and founder, Bob Morgan. Morgan advises interested parties to visit its website, which includes access to its new Two-minute Warnings video series, through which, Guidacent experts provide short, relevant updates, news and advice on current affairs relating to critical infrastructure operations and security.

The data being generated within any organization on a day-to-day basis can become overwhelming to manage and secure very quickly, Morgan said. Guidacents SecureData and ThreatRecon service lines reduce the difficulty in managing and securing business operations while also addressing the rising threat of ransomware becoming a crippling risk for any organization.

Guidacent is a consulting firm that specializes in implementing solutions with seasoned leaders to solve business challenges. The Guidacent team include experienced project leaders, cybersecurity professionals, product managers, and business analysts to achieve business outcomes. Our solutions include ProjectDelta program cloud & project management, SecureData data integrity & business resilience, and ThreatRecon cybersecurity services.

Visit us at Guidacent.com
The United States Navy Memorial will host its annual Blessing of the Fleet ceremony on Saturday, April 9th at 1:00 pm Eastern (ET) on Navy Memorial Plaza. This event will also be streamed online for those who wish to watch the ceremony from home. Click here to register for the online event.

The Blessing of the Fleet is a centuries-old tradition that protects sailors from the dangers of the sea. This tradition goes back to ancient times and is meant to safeguard ships and their crew members after an offering is made at the waters edge.

Each year, starting in 1987 when it was dedicated, the Navy Memorial brings its outdoor fountains to life with water provided by the U.S. Navy from the Seven Seas and the Great Lakes.

This event will also mark the first time the fountains have been "charged" in three years due to the significant amount of work that has been done, along with the Navy Memorials first public event as it comes out of the pandemic.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the beginning of Navy Memorial 2.0 and the reopening of the Navy Memorial Visitor Center, along with a reception featuring Navy Bean Soup from the White House Mess, will follow.

Follow the Navy Memorial on Facebook or visit http://www.NavyMemorial.org for the latest updates on this event.

The Navy Memorial is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to Honor, Recognize and Celebrate the men and women of the Sea Services, past, present, and future; and to Inform the public about their service. Our offices are located at 701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 123, Washington, DC 20004. To learn more, visit us online at http://www.NavyMemorial.org.
Amnon Shashua Named Automotive Hall of Fame 2022 Mobility Innovator Awardee I am honored to have been selected for this recognition. Its a validation of our vision that artificial intelligence and computer vision had a key role to play in making driving safer. Amnon Shashua

Today the Automotive Hall of Fame announced its 2022 Mobility Innovator Awardee  Prof. Amnon Shashua, President and CEO of Mobileye. Introduced last year, this noteworthy award recognizes the outstanding work individuals have accomplished introducing new technologies and services that are redefining mobility.

The automotive industry is experiencing revolutionary change driven by innovators who are shaping the future of mobility. The Mobility Innovator Award celebrates individuals and their impact, said Sarah Cook, president of the Automotive Hall of Fame. We are thrilled to recognize Amnon Shashua for his industry-leading contributions to advanced driving assist systems and other autonomous driving solutions.

In 1999, Amnon Shashua founded Mobileye, an Israeli-based company that develops systems-on-chips and computer vision algorithms for driving assistance systems. Over the years the company, led by Shashuas technology and product strategy, created a portfolio of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and autonomous solutions, with more than 100 million vehicles built with Mobileye technology to date. Mobileye first went public in 2014, in the largest IPO ever for an Israeli company, and was acquired by Intel in 2017.

In addition to Mobileye, the focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a recurring theme in Shashuas other companies as well: OrCam whose MyEye device assists people who are visually impaired or blind; AI21 Labs, which helps AI systems process language as a human mind would, and most recently, Mentee Robotics, which aims to build humanoid robots.

Beyond his AI-based companies, Shashua has announced a new initiative, a digital bank in Israel, which was approved by the Bank of Israel in September 2019. This will be the country's first new bank in 40 years.

Shashua joined Intel as Senior Vice President after its 2017 acquisition of Mobileye. A 2020 Dan David Prize laureate in the field of artificial intelligence, Shashua is also a professor of computer science at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He has published more than 160 scientific papers, holds more than 90 patents and continues to be an active academic researcher in the field of computer vision and machine learning.

I am honored to have been selected for this recognition. Its a validation of our vision that artificial intelligence and computer vision had a key role to play in making driving safer, said Shashua. Today we are on the verge of transforming personal transportation, using Mobileye technologies like autonomous systems on a chip and crowdsourced maps to deliver AVs and ADAS that will further improve safety, efficiency and access for all.

Shashua will be recognized along with the 2022 Automotive Hall of Fame Inductees (previously announced) at the Automotive Hall of Fame Induction and Awards Ceremony held on Thursday, July 21, 2022, at The Icon (200 Walker St. Detroit, MI). Event sponsorships are available and can be purchased online at http://www.automotivehalloffame.org/2022-sponsorships/

For additional questions, please contact: Sara Sporka at mailto:ssporka@thedrivingspirit.org or 313-240-4000, ext.106.

About the Automotive Hall of Fame

Automotive Hall of Fame (AHF) is a non-profit organization that honors and celebrates the automotive/mobility industrys leaders and innovators through awards and programs that challenge young and old alike to higher levels of personal achievement. Founded in 1939, the Automotive Hall of Fame has honored 757 awardees from around the world, who have impacted and influenced the automotive and mobility industries.

The Automotive Hall of Fame is located at 21400 Oakwood Blvd in Dearborn, Michigan and is open to the public Thursdays  Sundays, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. You can also visit the Automotive Hall of Fame online at automotivehalloffame.org or on our Facebook and Instagram pages.
ACPLM is very excited about the opportunity to have Brad and Joe join our team. Their level of professionalism, area knowledge, and experience will be a valuable asset, not only to the company but also to our customers.

Asphalt & Concrete Parking Lot Maintenance (ACPLM) owners Jim Fernandez and Tom Fairfax announced today that local asphalt and concrete service professionals, Brad Thorton and Joe Nagy, have been brought on board to expand services into counties throughout Naples, Florida, and the surrounding counties.

Brad Thorton and Joe Nagy are local asphalt and concrete repair and maintenance professionals with over 30 years of combined experience serving property managers and commercial clients.

Brad and Joe share ACPLMs main goals of providing the highest quality of customer service and full-service asphalt and concrete services to every client.

Counties such as Colliers, Lee, and Charlotte can expect to see ACPLM improving asphalt and concrete conditions for properties throughout the area.

Increasing customer service throughout Naples is one of the many goals ACPLM is poised to accomplish in 2022. Working with Brad and Joe will allow our service teams to expand into these counties and provide knowledge, expertise, and recommendations to existing and potential customers.

Like our office in Tampa, ACPLM is looking to develop and grow long-lasting relationships with customers in Naples and the surrounding areas.

Customer service and satisfaction are top priorities for ACPLM. That's just one of the reasons why the company opened an office in Naples; to better serve customers located in this area.

ACPLM is excited to have Brad and Joe join the ACPLM Team. ACPLM has tremendous faith in Brad and Joe's ability to get these goals accomplished.

ACPLM is a licensed and insured, full-service asphalt and concrete company handling anything from a pothole repair to a new parking lot or roadway. We repair or replace curbing, sidewalks, ADA ramps, and perform sealcoating, mill and paves, overlays, striping and so much more! At ACPLM, we know that no two properties are alike. Every solution we provide is customized to meet our each of our clients specific needs.
Inc. Magazine today announced that MORE Surface Care (MORE), a leading developer and manufacturer of premium water-based chemical solutions designed to care for a wide range of hard surfaces, is ranked 137th on the third annual Inc. Regionals: Pacific list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies based in Alaska, Hawaii, California, Oregon, and Washington. Part of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents the most successful and fastest-growing private companies within the Pacific region economy.

Headquartered in Hayward, California, MORE has a portfolio of products designed to protect, restore, maintain, and enhance the appearance of a wide range of hard surfaces in both the residential and commercial building segments. For a second year in a row, MORE earned a place on the Inc. Regionals list, with a 77% two-year growth rate.

Were incredibly proud to have made the Inc. Regionals list again this year, thanks in large part to our outstanding team and breakout products like AntiEtch, said Steve Wolf, CEO and Co-Founder of MORE. The commitment we have to our partners and customers to put out the highest quality products continues to drive what we do every day.

The companies on this list show a remarkable rate of growth across all industries in the Pacific. Between 2018 and 2020, these 150 private companies had an average growth rate of 195% and, in 2020 alone, they added more than 10,000 jobs and $5.1 billion to the Pacific regions economy. Companies based in the Irvine, Santa Monica, and Venice, California, areas had the highest growth rate overall.

This years Inc. 5000 Regional winners represent one of the most exceptional and exciting lists of Americas off-the-charts growth companies, said Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. Theyre disrupters and job creators, and all delivered an outsize impact on the economy. Remember their names and follow their lead. These are the companies youll be hearing about for years to come.

In addition to MOREs portfolio of care products for natural stone (launched in 2015), AntiEtch has made a notable mark on the natural stone industry since its debut in 2018. AntiEtch is a game-changing technology for marble and similar stone types - the product uses proprietary technology to forms a durable, super-thin coating that prevents etching and staining caused by acidic foods and liquids. And, equally innovative, is that the coating preserves the natural look and feel of the stone itself, which is the reason most people buy marble in the first place.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals: Pacific, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria, can be found at inc.com/pacific.

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Media Contact

Emmi Buck

Zen Media

emmi@zenmedia.com

About MORE Surface Care

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in California, MORE Surface Care develops, manufactures, and markets premium water-based chemical solutions designed to care for a wide range of hard surfaces in residential and commercial environments. The Companys current product portfolio consists of products targeted at both consumers and professionals needing to protect, restore, maintain, and enhance the appearance of natural stone, quartz, ceramic and porcelain, grout, and concrete/masonry.

The MORE-branded line of care products is distributed primarily through natural stone and tile dealers in the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, France, Australia, New Zealand, Macau, Vietnam, and Singapore. The Companys products are also sold online through moresurfacecare.com and Amazon. MORE recently launched a professionally applied UV-cured treatment (AntiEtch) designed to protect marble and other acid-sensitive surfaces from the damaging effects of everyday acidic liquids like coffee, wine, vinegar, and lemon juice. This product has been recognized consistently at key industry trade shows and has been featured on HGTV. AntiEtch is installed by a network of certified professionals around the world and trusted by companies like Restoration Hardware, Daltile, The Venetian Hotel, and the Ritz Carlton.

About Inc. and the Inc. 5000 Regionals

Methodology

The 2022 Inc. 5000 Regionals are ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2018 and 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2018. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2019. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2018 is $100,000; the minimum for 2020 is $1 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.

About Inc. Media

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent.

The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.
MAPUTO, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Wednesday opened the Annual Private Sector Conference (CASP), the country's largest business forum for public-private dialogue, in the capital city of Maputo.

The three-day event, in its 17th edition after a two-year break due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will take place through in-person and online forms with three main sections: promotion of public-private dialogue, investment conference and business rooms.

A combined turnover of 990 million U.S. dollars from 50 projects covering sectors such as agriculture, energy, tourism and infrastructure will be present at the meeting, said the Confederation of Mozambican Economic Associations (CTA), the country's largest employers' association and the event organizer, in a statement.

In his opening speech, President Nyusi appealed to the private sector to diversify investments and to ensure productivity and quality to compete at the international level.

He said the government will continue the work to improve the business environment, especially political stability, and to stop money laundering and terrorism financing.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the Mozambican government and CTA for the Implementation of the Private Sector Economic Recovery Plan was signed on Wednesday's meeting.

The MoU defined the general lines and focus of action to facilitate the recovery of the business fabric and economy, in response to the successive shocks that the economy has been experiencing. 
Today Project Equity launched an initiative to retain legacy businesses in Arizona in partnership with Local First Arizona (LFA) and will be joining LFAs Arizona Good Business Summit April 5 to share more about employee ownership as a business succession, workforce recruitment/retention and pandemic recovery strategy. In Arizona, according to a study by Project Equity, 30,000 businesses are 20 years old or older, accounting for over $100 Billion in revenue. These businesses employ over 500,000 workers in the state. In addition, half the owners of Arizonas job-creating local businesses are at or near retirement age, yet, many have no exit strategy. Notably, only one out of five businesses put on the market successfully sells. Additionally, the pandemic has made recruitment and retention of employees more challenging for business owners, thus slowing the recovery of their operations.

Employee ownership can retain local businesses and build a more resilient local economy, said Project Equity CEO Evan Edwards. By selling businesses to their employees or providing workers equity, owners can preserve their legacies, keep companies rooted in local economies and sustain quality jobs, which is critical in many parts of Arizona, including rural areas, as well as increase productivity and support workforce retention. For employee-owners, household net worth is 92% higher, median job tenure is 53% longer, and median wage income is 33% higher according to a study by the National Center for Employee Ownership.

Every day, more baby boomers retire without a successful plan to sell their businesses. We must turn this vulnerability into an opportunity, said Local First Arizona Founder and CEO Kimber Lanning. Arizona is famous for its climate and natural beauty. But it is the local businesses that make this state so special. We can preserve these local economic drivers and business legacies through employee ownership.

With the vast majority of retiring small business owners having no exit plan, Project Equity and Local First Arizona are raising awareness of employee ownership to strengthen Arizonas economic resilience by protecting local jobs and revenue; and providing business owners a workforce development strategy. In an effort to stem the tide of the Silver Tsunami of retiring baby boomers and the fallout from COVID-19, this initiative will expand the number of employee-owned businessesand workers holding equity in their employersin the state to make Arizona a place where working people can create quality jobs as employee-owners, and support a thriving economy throughout the state.

Providing local business owners with a strategy, hands on support and also potential financing, for transferring ownership to dedicated employees is a powerful economic development strategy. The collaboration will help identify businesses likely in need of succession planning to transition into employee-owned companies, then help support them every step of the way. These businesses stay rooted in the community, driving economic activity and providing frontline workers a path to shared entrepreneurship.

Examples of employee-owned businesses in Arizona include Kitchell Construction, Sundt, and U-Haul.

Very few businesses with retiring owners will be passed on to family members, which leave many at risk for closing. In some instances, these businesses will be sold to someone with no connection at all to the community. Keeping local legacy companies anchored in Arizona, retaining valued employees, and providing opportunity for growth positively impacts the entire state while simultaneously preserving community wealth.

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Project Equity

Project Equity is a national leader in the movement to harness employee ownership to maintain thriving local business communities, honor selling owners legacies and address income and wealth inequality. Project Equity works with partners around the country to raise awareness about employee ownership as an exit strategy for business owners, and provides hands-on consulting, support and financing to companies that want to transition to employee ownership.

Local First Arizona

Founded in 2003, Local First Arizona (LFA) is a community and economic development organization working to strengthen local economies. LFAs areas of focus include developing entrepreneurship, rural and urban community development, racial equity, environmental action and food access. LFA is the largest local business coalition in the U.S. and advocates for independently-owned businesses of all sizes by assisting local owners with technical assistance designed to help them compete and collaborate, which ultimately strengthens Arizona's economy and builds hometown pride. Visit http://www.localfirstaz.com for more information and a directory of more than 3,000 locally-owned businesses.
"Now, as always, we continue to provide top-tier support and solutions to our partners, driven by data intelligence and the expertise of our staff., said Daniel Klein, CEO and founder of Joseph Studios.

After a rigorous 7-month process, Joseph Studios  Atlanta's leading digital marketing firm  was awarded an official certification from the National Veteran Business Development Council (NVBDC) as a Veteran-Owned Small Business (VOSB). The accreditation reassures other Brands and VOSBs that Joseph Studios is a reliable ally and validates our position as a VOSB.

Established in 2013, the NVBDC certification addresses the growing need to identify and verify service-disabled and veteran-owned businesses in the government and corporate marketplace. The NVBDC holds itself to a high standard and administers a rigorous certification process to withstand the scrutiny of governmental and corporate entities seeking to utilize authentic SDVOSBs.

This newly-acquired certification enables Joseph Studios to compete for the 3% of federal government contracting programs set aside for small businesses each year. The conditions of these set-aside contracts allow Joseph Studios to access the federal marketplace, reduce competition, and increase the chances of winning federal contracts for itself and its partners.

Like our clients, we want to provide a brighter future for our community, said Daniel Klein, IRR Army Captain (O3) and CEO of Joseph Studios. By displaying that our business is veteran-owned, we can assure our clients of our commitment to outstanding service while opening doors for other veterans looking to transition into civilian life. Now, as always, we continue to provide top-tier support and solutions to our partners, driven by data intelligence and the expertise of our staff.

Joseph Studios dedication to exceptional service and results has led the organization to shine in the public eye. In the past year, the agency has been recognized as one of the top 5 social optimization companies by PromotionWorld and has seen staggering company-wide growth  expanding 300% in FY 2021, with over 100+ clients.

With their commitment to empowerment, social responsibility, all while providing the highest standard of service, Joseph Studios is proud to be officially certified as a Veteran-Owned Small Business.

For further information, please visit http://www.josephstudios.net.

About Joseph Studios

Founded in 2016, the Atlanta-based brand has made a name for itself in the digital marketing industry through successful strategies, one-of-a-kind marketing services, and a passionate team of experts devoted to client success. Joseph Studios serves clients across multiple states and goes beyond traditional marketing by emphasizing organic marketing and data-driven marketing strategies. They help clients create genuine human engagement and bolster brand loyalty.
Carnegie and Quacquarelli Symonds Partner to Strengthen International Recruitment to the US Market The partnership between Carnegie and QS will assist international offices in navigating the global landscape changes and strategically rebuilding their international enrollment, said Carnegie EVP Melissa Rekos.

Carnegie, a leader in higher education marketing and enrollment strategy, announced today a new partnership with QS Quacquarelli Symonds (QS), the worlds leading provider of international enrollment services, analytics, and insight to the global higher education sector. This partnership will help rebuild the USinternational student pipeline, which, according to Open Door, has suffered a more than 50% decline in new international student enrollment between 20162017 and 20202021a decline likely related to US travel policy and pandemic limitations.

In recent years, weve seen landscape shifts that have caused increased pressure on US institutions international offices and made clear the need for diversification in international student recruitment. The partnership between Carnegie and QS will assist those international offices in navigating the global landscape changes and strategically rebuilding their international enrollment, said Carnegie EVP Melissa Rekos. Carnegie strives to find right-fit students for every type of institution via enrollment and marketing strategies and services, which is why we are excited to provide our clients access to QS international enrollment services.

This is another example of Carnegie's commitment to delivering comprehensive and custom solutions for its university partners. Driven by its mission to connect colleges and students through the power of human connection, Carnegie has pushed the boundaries of innovation for higher education marketing and enrollment strategy since its founding in 1985. Clients have come to rely on the companys prowess in digital marketing, Slate integration, and lead generation services powered by CollegeXpress.

QSs mission is to enable motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfill their potential by providing world-leading end-to-end enrollment solutions for institutions, international students, and counselors. The company also delivers insights to enhance international university performance, partnerships, and reputation. QS World University Rankings have grown to become the worlds most popular source of comparative data about university performance, and its flagship siteTopUniversities.comis a trusted resource for international students and counselors, attracting over 50 million unique visitors annually. Additionally, QS runs over 300 market-leading student recruitment events across more than 50 countries, with additional events focused on diversity and undergraduate recruitment planned for fall 2022 and beyond.

Higher educationand specifically, Carnegies clientswill benefit from leveraging QSs reputation and multichannel enrollment teams abroad. Working with QS and Carnegie, partner universities will be able to expand their recruitment capabilities to include QSs highly knowledgeable enrollment managers, admission and visa teams, vetted recruitment partner networks, college counselors, government relationships, and more. QS combines a global reach with local market expertise to ensure partner universities have a turnkey solution for multichannel recruitment across diverse student markets.

QS is delighted to be partnering with Carnegie, said Nunzio Quacquarelli, Founder and CEO of QS. The two organizations share common values and have evolved over 30 years into market leaders in their respective fields. We admire Carnegies expertise in digital marketing, which complements QSs expertise in data-informed candidate matching and end-to-end enrollment management capabilities, spanning 56 source countries around the world.

QS has a unique capability to drive a diversity of international enrollments for institutions looking to reduce their reliance on China, or those simply looking to increase their international intake at the undergraduate or postgraduate level, Quacquarelli said. We look forward to working with Carnegie to utilize the full potential of QS websites, events, and multichannel enrollment solutions on behalf of US institutions.

About Carnegie

Carnegie (Carnegie Dartlet LLC) is a higher education enrollment marketing and strategy leader that delivers custom marketing and enrollment solutions through integrated research, strategy, digital marketing, lead generation, Slate optimization, Student Search, creative, and web development. By generating quality connections between universities and students, Carnegie drives enrollment growth for its clients. Learn more at CarnegieHigherEd.com.

About QS

QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) is the worlds leading provider of international enrollment services, analytics, and insight to the global higher education sector. Through the use of data and technology, QS delivers on its mission to empower motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfill their potential through educational achievement, international mobility, and career development. QSs flagship website, TopUniversities.com, attracted over 50 million unique visitors in 2021, and more than 96,000 media clippings pertaining to, or mentioning, QS were published by media outlets across the world the same year. QS also supported over 52,000 student enrollments in 2021 through a combination of white-label conversion services and direct recruitment.
Margaret brings to our group a unique corporate, strategic, regulatory and legal experience in her new role as Chief Strategy and Legal Officer, said Jean Chalopin, Chairman and CEO of Deltec International Group.

Deltec International Group (Deltec), a global financial and insurance services group for innovators and entrepreneurs, today announced the appointment of Ms. Margaret Rosenfeld as Chief Strategy and Legal Officer.

Ms. Rosenfeld brings more than two decades of global corporate, financing, securities, banking, blockchain and digital asset expertise to Deltec.

Throughout her career, Ms. Rosenfeld has been integral in structuring and leading IPOs and public company financing, while driving the effective oversight of legal and regulatory matters for both established and emerging growth organizations. She has been consistently ranked as a leading attorney in Corporate / M&A since 2013 by Chambers.

Prior to joining Deltec, Ms. Rosenfeld was a partner at K&L Gates, LLP (K&L), a top 50 law firm spanning 5 continents with offices in key capital cities and financial centers. Ms. Rosenfeld served as K&Ls co-chair of the global Digital Assets, Blockchain and Cryptocurrency practice and as the chair of the corporate department in the Research Triangle Park region. She has also practiced law in Tokyo, London, Frankfurt, and New York, bringing a global perspective.

In her role as the Chief Strategy & Legal Officer, Ms. Rosenfeld will head Deltecs legal department and its global strategic approach towards becoming the leader in financial and insurance services, dedicated to innovative and positively disruptive companies.

"I am honored to join Deltec during this pivotal moment of transformation and growth," said Margaret Rosenfeld. "I look forward to being a part of this dynamic team and strengthen Deltecs leadership position in global financial and insurance services for innovators and trailblazers."

Margaret brings to our group a unique corporate, strategic, regulatory and legal experience in her new role as Chief Strategy and Legal Officer, said Jean Chalopin, Chairman and CEO of Deltec International Group. Margarets broad wealth of knowledge in the blockchain and digital assets space as well as banking and insurance make her a valuable addition to our executive team. Her experience will support us as we strive to provide uniquely designed financial and insurance solutions to the rapidly growing innovation sectors.

Deltec is a global financial and insurance services group for innovators, entrepreneurs, investors and their clients.

Deltec empowers SMEs, their founders, and investors to accelerate in their industries and grow their wealth with access to robust financial and insurance capabilities through its member companies, across private and corporate banking, fiduciary expertise, fund administration, investment management, digital asset financial services, insurance for new and emerging risks and merchant banking.

For more information on Deltec, visit http://www.deltecbank.com.
Congratulations to our Premier Partners for being among the top 3% of Google Partners in the United States. These companies stand out based on their commitment to developing product expertise, building new client relationships, and helping their current clients grow.

Digital agency WebFX has achieved 2022 Premier Partner status in the Google Partners program.

WebFXs team of experts provides Digital Marketing That Drives Revenue for fast-growth companies across the US with a combination of digital services and revenue growth platform MarketingCloudFX.

We're honored to be named a Google Premier Partner for 2022 and look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with Google. Our partnership has been key over the years to helping provide the best ROI for our clients and keeping ahead of the curve with the latest in digital advertising, says Trevin Shirey, VP of business development.

This month, Google recognized the achievements of top-performing digital marketing partners across the globe by awarding Premier Partner status as part of the new Google Partners program.

The Google Partners program has undergone significant changes for 2022, including redefining what it means to be a Premier Partner through new, advanced program requirements and offering new Premier Partner benefits to support growth and success with Google Ads.

Congratulations to our Premier Partners for being among the top 3% of Google Partners in the United States. These companies stand out based on their commitment to developing product expertise, building new client relationships, and helping their current clients grow. We look forward to supporting them as they help their customers succeed online. - Davang Shah, Senior Director, Google Ads Marketing

WebFX is part of a select group of Premier Partners in the Google Partners program. This program is designed for advertising agencies and third parties that manage Google Ads accounts on behalf of other brands or businesses. Its mission is to empower companies by providing them with innovative tools, resources, and support to help their clients succeed and grow online.

WebFX is a tech-enabled digital agency that specializes in revenue generation through SEO, digital advertising, design, and content marketing. In the past five years, theyve driven more than $3 billion in client revenue and more than 7.8 million leads for clients.
Largest producer of specialty brass and copper products Wieland as a global employer recognizes the core value of Safety and Health, aiming for 100% safe work by 2030. In order to achieve this ambitious and vital goal, we decided to partner with SOSPES, said Stefan Delacher, Head of Safety at Wieland Group.

German manufacturing giant Wieland has expanded its relationship with Sospes to support their leading HSE program across the entire company. Wielands operations include nearly 9,000 employees in 75 locations around the world with over 6 spoken languages.

The relationship began when Sospes earned the opportunity to serve Global Brass and Copper, which would later become the North American operations of Wieland through an acquisition. Sospes worked closely with the Global Brass team, establishing itself as a reliable and effective partner for enhancing safety system operations. When Wieland acquired Global Brass and Copper in 2019, an early project was to evaluate choices for combining operations on a single HSE software platform that would meet the companys comprehensive global sustainability strategy, of which health and safety are an important part.

Sospes worked closely with the global head of safety in Germany to ensure that the implementation plan accounted for potential obstacles and that all stakeholders were supportive of the decision.

Wieland as a global employer recognizes the core value of Safety and Health, aiming for 100% safe work by 2030. In order to achieve this ambitious and vital goal, we decided to partner with SOSPES, said Stefan Delacher, Head of Safety at Wieland Group. The overall alignment with our vision and the fact that this software solution was implemented in our US sites about 3 years made SOSPES the ideal candidate for a global initiative. Main aspects like the user-friendly interface, fully adjustable dashboards, in-depth incident follow-up tools and the modular setup allow us to streamline the reporting process and focus on the proactive approach. The journey just started and SOSPES will be a valuable companion along the way: safer work, better life.

Wieland is well-known for their commitments to the environment, safety and sustainability, with an announced goal of being a 100% safe workplace by 2030, said Thomas Carson, President of Sospes. As a successful, 200-year-old company with a rich history as a careful steward of their communities and environment, this is a goal they take seriously, so we were enormously honored when they had the confidence in Sospes to help them meet their goals.

About Sospes, LLC Sospes award-winning EH&S management software makes organizations better by engaging employees with easy incident reporting, accountable actions management and powerful data analytics, all with a single integrated mobile application. The product is easy to learn, simple to use and can be implemented in far less time than typical enterprise systems. The application is hosted in Microsofts Azure Cloud, which allows the company to deliver a secure, robust user experience nearly anywhere in the world. For more information, please visit http://www.sospes.com.

About Wieland Group As the copper and copper alloy specialist at the top of the world league, we provide support for our customers success from many locations and continents  backed by a reliable, flexible supply network and the best services of unvarying quality. In response to the global challenges of our time such as climate change, digitization, and minimized draw on resources, we design our products, services, and technologies to provide sustainable and innovative solutions. For more information, see wieland.com.

Wieland. Empowering Success.

Media contacts:

For Sospes:

Stacey Godbold

Business Development Manager

sgodbold@sospes.com

(812) 459-0289

For Wieland Group:

Stefan Delacher

Leitender Sicherheitsingenieur | Head of Safety

stefan.delacher@wieland.com

+49 731 944 3100
Delgado selects ActiveClass "ActiveClass provides engagement in a familiar format to students. The social media feel allows students and the teachers to contribute content and create communities.

Delgado Community College offers associate level courses and degree programs for close to 19,000 students annually. It was recently named a top 50 community college in the nation by Intelligent.com.

With a mission to provide a learning-centered environment through face-to-face and distance education to prepare students from diverse backgrounds, its imperative that Delgado offers the best and most accessible ways for its students to engage in the classroom and take courses, no matter the mode of learning.

Amanda Rosenzweig, Delgados LMS Administrator and eLearning Trainer, as well as Departmental Chair and Professor of Biology, was on the lookout for ways to improve and better meet the aforementioned mission of the institution.

Rosenzweig said, While I am new to ActiveClass, I have seen great impact on the students at the school. ActiveClass provides engagement in a familiar format to students. The social media feel allows students and the teachers to contribute content and create communities.

ActiveClass intuitive approach to engaging students through social media-like tools right inside the LMS is helping students across the country feel more connected by delivering key functionality for all modes of learning that makes sense to the students and actually gets used and adopted by the instructors.

In addition to the social nature of ActiveClass, Rosenzweig also stated that The instructor can facilitate and mediate learning in an environment that promotes learning through the students immersion. Additionally, the discussion board assignment capabilities allow ease of grading with standards such as word count, comment count, as well as plagiarism detection.

CEO and Co-founder of ActiveClass, Nate Hurst stated We are thrilled to be working with Amanda and the entire Delgado community. As we continue to build and invest in our product, folks like Amanda are instrumental in helping us shape what student engagement can and will look like in the near future.

About Delgado Community College

Delgado Community College celebrates 100 years of service to the New Orleans region in 2021. The oldest and largest community college in Louisiana, Delgado provides instruction online and at seven locations. Delgado offers students the most comprehensive array of education and training services available in the New Orleans region. Additionally, Delgado has articulation agreements with most of the states four-year colleges and universities that allow students to transfer their Delgado credits to bachelors degree programs. As well as offering degrees and transferable college credits, Delgado provides diplomas and certificates in many professional and technical areas. Workforce development is a priority at Delgado, hence the colleges well-known motto: Education that works!http://www.dcc.edu

About ActiveClass

ActiveClass is an edtech company offering simple social experiences from within learning management systems. Featuring a modern, social-media-inspired UI, ActiveClass encourages conversation, supports various learning models, facilitates diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and helps address institutions top engagement and retention challenges. To learn more about ActiveClass or get a demo, visit http://www.activeclass.com.

Contact: Nate Hurst, nate@activeclass.com
1701 Commerce St

Scarlet, a promising new real-estate development and investment company, today announced the kickoff of a landmark retail redevelopment in the heart of downtown Houston. The new project, located adjacent to Minute Maid Park, breathes new life into a historic 1925 red-brick building, and helps revitalize Houstons urban landscape with an innovative retail and office space.

Located at 1701 Commerce St, in Houstons historic warehouse district, the building was originally designed for the J.L. Jones Warehouse company by J.W. Northrop Jr, the renowned architect who oversaw the construction of Rice University and local landmarks including First Evangelical Church. Known for his signature American Georgian designs, Northrop gave 1701 Commerce St. a stark red-brick frontage capped with an eye-catching penthouse, making it a striking presence amidst the neighborhoods commercial properties.

After almost a century of industrial use  including decades of occupancy by the Wilson Stationery & Printing Company, and recent use as a coffee roasting facility by Lola Savannah  Scarlet has reimagined the 20,000 square foot building as an iconic mixed-use space. With exposed brick, dramatic 12-foot ceilings, and a great location just two blocks from Minute Maid Park and a short walk from the George R. Brown Convention Center, the project will add texture to the neighborhood and help inspire other creative projects in the community.

We are proud to restore this landmark to its original beauty. From boutiques seeking a unique space to make their own, to major brands looking for a landmark storefront or office, 1701 Commerce has something special to offer, said Scarlet cofounder Daniel Ron. The energy gravitating to downtown Houston is unprecedented and were thrilled to be contributing to this neighborhood.

This northern pocket of downtown, near Allens Landing, has been at the heart of Houstons economic growth from the beginning, and the projects that bring out the most passion for us have always been adaptive reuse. Its such a beautiful practice to give a second set of wings to these old, grand buildings from Houstons early days, said Scarlet cofounder Alexander Ron. And its such a pleasure to team up with Heather and Eric from HR Design Dept; weve long admired the work and jump at any opportunity to collaborate with them.

Designed by HR Design Dept, the boutique architectural studio known for thoughtful but striking residential, commercial, and multiuse projects around the Houston area, 1701 Commerce brings smart architecture into dialogue with Houstons deep sense of place and the warehouse districts industrial design vernacular.

With appreciation for the minimalist dignity of Northrop's utilitarian box, our approach lightly touches the exterior while adding vibrant accents that activate the original loading dock. Colors derive inspiration from the local context, namely a nod to our beloved Astros' stadium. We acknowledge the deteriorated super graphics that once provided signage, and propose local artist collaboration to reset and redefine the building's outward identity. Years of re-purposing the building have left the original loading dock without a cohesive presence. By giving a new logic to the ground floor openings, and introducing ADA accessibility, we aim to recapture and engage the pedestrian level through a solution that feels both new and familiar to the industrial facade. -- HR Design Department
Agnes Scott students and Incentive Solutions collaborated as part of the Sophomore Class Atlanta Leadership Experience (SCALE) Connecting with these future leaders within our own community is an honor for us and we hope to encourage these curious, strong, enthusiastic students to continue to pursue their dreams and goals and never be afraid to be smart.

Incentive Solutions (based in Atlanta) hosted 20 marketing students from Agnes Scott College for a three-day program, beginning on March 8  International Womens Day. The incentives management company offered the students real-world experience as they worked directly with its leaders to tackle complex business problems.

The program is part of the Agnes Scott Sophomore Class Atlanta Leadership Experience (SCALE), which offers students the opportunity for externships with local corporations and non-profits. Incentive Solutions focused on three areas of interest for students to participate in: marketing and sales operations, marketing communications, and marketing campaigns. The students also had the opportunity to seek career advice from Incentive Solutions leadership and gain perspective on the different positions and roles within the company.

Kicking off these projects on International Womens Day was an especially proud moment for us, said Nichole Gunn, Chief Marketing Officer at Incentive Solutions. Connecting with these future leaders within our own community is an honor for us and we hope to encourage these curious, strong, enthusiastic students to continue to pursue their dreams and goals and never be afraid to be smart.

The Agnes Scott students participating in the program were directly involved with buyer persona research and development and were charged with creating a complete marketing campaign with a goal of generating leads. Project responsibilities included developing asset copy, targeting audience, creating email and social media campaigns, KPI tracking and more.

At the conclusion of the program, students presented their comprehensive campaigns and spoke with the marketing team at Incentive Solutions about working in the industry as part of a Marketing Panel.

Agnes Scott sophomore Audrey Partington commented, I had a great time doing SCALE at Incentive Solutions. I was able to see what it would be like to work at an office as a marketer, and I can see that kind of work in my future now. I am so grateful for the opportunity offered by Agnes Scott College and Incentive Solutions!

About Incentive Solutions/OneAffiniti

Incentive Solutions has provided channel incentive management (CIM) services, technology, and rewards since 1994. OneAffiniti, founded in 2009, offers through channel marketing programs (TCM) that help brands reach a wider channel audience and yield attributable revenue. By joining forces in 2021, Incentive Solutions and OneAffiniti aim to combine their resources, services and products into a complete channel management solution that empowers marketers and drives growth.

About Agnes Scott College

Agnes Scott College educates women to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times. Ranked No. 1 Most Innovative School, No. 1 First-Year Experiences and No. 2 Best Undergraduate Teaching by U.S. News & World Report in its 2022 Best Colleges edition, Agnes Scott is a premier institution known for SUMMIT, its signature approach to a liberal arts education focusing on global learning and leadership development. Learn more at agnesscott.edu.
RangeWater Hires Rob Sucher as Managing Director of Development for Georgia "I've known Rob for years. He's motivated by RangeWaters intentional approach to development and our deeper sense of responsibility to our communities, our team and our partners, Brian Oates, RangeWaters Executive Managing Director of Development.

RangeWater Real Estate has hired Rob Sucher as managing director of development in Georgia.

Sucher is responsible for the companys growth in Georgia and surrounding markets, from identifying development opportunities and raising debt and equity to project execution.

He previously worked at Greystar, Johnson Development Associates and RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. Suchers experience has awarded him a wide range of development expertise across multiple disciplines and product types throughout the Southeast.

A native of Aiken, South Carolina, Sucher graduated from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina and entered the real estate industry during the Great Recession. He said he was able to gain experience on a steady stream of deals thanks to starting his career at RaceTrac, the Georgia-based gas and convenience store company that is now Georgias third largest private company.

There, Sucher met Brian Oates, RangeWaters Executive Managing Director of Development, who recently recruited Sucher to RangeWater.

RangeWater is cultivating communities while continuing to evolve as a company, Sucher said. I really take pride in being part of the opportunity to create quality housing, even more so during the pandemic when people are appreciating their homes and amenities even more. We do not rush our developments. Were very intentional and thats something that drives me.

Georgia is one of RangeWaters most active markets, with more than 60 projects owned, under management or under development. Three are along the popular Atlanta BeltLine corridor  Skylark, which opened in 2020; Maverick, which opened in 2021; and The Vivian opening in 2022  while others expand into Atlantas prominent suburbs including projects in Kennesaw, Suwanee, Roswell and Flowery Branch where the firms first single-family rental neighborhood, Beacon Lake Lanier, a Storia neighborhood, opened last year. Most notably, RangeWater developed and managed Home at The Battery Atlanta, the multifamily communities adjacent to Truist Park in Cobb County.

Ive known Rob for years and followed his growth across multiple industries, Oates said. Were glad he chose to join RangeWater at a time when were experiencing rapid growth due to the demand for housing in Georgia. Hes motivated by RangeWaters intentional approach to development and our deeper sense of responsibility to our communities, our team and our partners.

Sucher lives in Atlanta with his wife, Blair, and two sons, Jones and Steele, and goldendoodle named Penelope. He enjoys the outdoors and spending time with his family and friends.

About RangeWater Real Estate

RangeWater is a fully integrated multifamily real estate company creating fulfilling experiences for its partners, clients, residents and employees across the Sun Belt. The Atlanta-based company has acquired and developed more than 30,000 multifamily units since its inception in 2006 representing in excess of $5.4 billion in total capitalization. RangeWater currently manages a balanced portfolio of over 68,000 multifamily units across 11 states. With offices in Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Tampa and Salt Lake City, RangeWater targets high job growth markets with demand for new housing. For more information, visit http://www.LiveRangeWater.com.
HARARE, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe on Thursday launched its first National Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), designed to measure the size and contribution of the sector to the economy, after getting technical assistance from the International Finance Corporation and the World Tourism Organization.

According to the TSA, Zimbabwe's tourism sector accounted for 4.25 percent of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with a value of 1.03 billion U.S. dollars in 2018.

In 2019, the sector accounted for 6.3 percent of GDP with a value of 1.23 billion dollars.

The data also shows that tourism accounted for 1.56 percent of national employment levels in 2018, with around 100,000 jobs supported and created.

The findings are based on the last available pre-COVID-19 data and on data gathered before the formal transition of national currency from the U.S. dollar into the Zimbabwean dollar in 2018.

According to the TSA, Zimbabwe's tourism sector has been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, following the introduction of travel restrictions and lower demand from tourists, resulting in the loss to the national economy estimated at 690 million U.S. dollars.

Zimbabwe's Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Mangaliso Ndlovu said the country was pleased to have the TSA.

"This inaugural TSA is most welcome by the sector and the nation at large as a tool to guide decision-making and support evidence-based policy formulation, for a sustainable and resilient tourism sector," Ndlovu said.

"It provides us with critical information of the sector's contribution to the economy in terms of expenditure and employment and is therefore critical to policy formulation. More importantly, this data will help us with an important benchmark to use in measuring the tourism impact during and after the COVID-19 era," he added.

He said domestic tourism remains low in Zimbabwe and that there is need for sustained efforts to improve it.

IFC country manager Adamou Labara said by addressing information gaps and supporting a data-driven approach to policy development and investment decisions, the TSA should prove particularly relevant to Zimbabwe's tourism sector as it recovers and grows back from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Tourism has long been a critical driver of Zimbabwe's economy and the country boasts many magnificent sights that attract visitors from around the world," he said. 
Helping our military families is one way of securing America's democracy and our personal freedoms Triple Impact Connections is an outstanding example of how businesses can make a significant impact on the morale and retention of our nations military, stated Tom Bostick, former Director of Personnel for the U.S. Army and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command.

Triple Impact Connections, a first-of-its-kind veteran-owned customer contact center staffed by military spouses, has aligned with the Flagpole of Freedom team.

Flagpole of Freedom has announced the development of a one-billion dollar park and educational/experiential center to honor all 24 million veterans since the founding of our country, showcasing pride independent of party.

"We are truly honored to have been selected by the Flagpole of Freedom organization to serve as their customer support center. We look forward to engaging with their customers and helping them sponsor this exciting initiative by becoming Park Founders", commented Craig Mento, CEO

The Flagpoleoffreedom.com site will officially launch on March 29, 2022 with the goal of unifying our country by connecting our past, present and future. Triple Impact will provide the extensive customer interaction needed by this large-scale startup through its many high-powered contact centers.

Triple Impact Connections' new paradigm brings a highly talented, All-American workforce to the forefront of the Customer Experience marketplace. Triple Impact operates in partnership with the Military Spouse Employment Partnership (MSEP), created by the U.S. Department of Defense and The White House to connect military spouses with employers who are committed to recruiting, hiring, promoting, and retaining military spouses.

With a potential talent pool of 650,000 skilled workers embodying the military values of dedication, loyalty, and efficiency, Triple Impact Connections is delivering a personalized and enhanced experience for customers.

This innovative program and our partnership with MSEP is driving impactful and transformative change by harnessing the ingenuity of the business community to address the family income needs of our military families, said Bob Olds, Chairman of Triple Impact Connections. Our customers are true partners with Triple Impact Connections in the fight to elevate the standard of living for our dedicated military families.

While most military spouses would like to work, frequent family relocation is a barrier to finding and maintaining a lasting and durable career path. The financial security of military families is threatened by the inability of military spouses to obtain and retain fulfilling employment as they relocate with their spouses who bravely serve our country. Triple Impact Connections enables employees to work on site at a call center or remotely, allowing them to raise children or move, as their spouses job requires.

Triple Impact Connections is an outstanding example of how businesses can make a significant impact on the morale and retention of our nations military, stated Tom Bostick, former Director of Personnel for the U.S. Army and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Recruiting Command. I salute their focus on creating jobs for military spouses and supporting our veterans with their unique business platform.

Triple Impact Connections is based in Killeen, Texas, adjacent to Fort Hood, and provides high quality, high-tech, cost-effective customer communications services to U.S. businesses. This unique Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) model incorporates military values as guiding principles which benefit companies, their customers, and military families by empowering military spouses with new skills, free training and well-paying career opportunities. Triple Impact Connections provides military spouses with an accredited certification and provides stable employment that can transform the financial security of military families, in many cases doubling household income.

These strong assets offer brands better solutions and richer customer experiences while overcoming the frequent cultural/language barriers inherent in offshore and near-shore call centers.

Triple Impact Connections embraces and employs the military spouse community and creates enduring value for companies that wish to offer an exceptional Customer Experience to their customers--a workforce based on lower attrition and improved customer engagement equals superior results.

Triple Impact's Mission is three-fold:

1)-Provide client companies superior customer service and engagement that positively connects companies to their customers.

2)-Provide jobs in BPO's for spouses of Military Families to assure them financial support and career opportunities to thrive and achieve.

3)-Provide financial support to severely wounded veterans through the Sentinels of Freedom charity.

Military spouses can apply for new employment opportunities at Triple Impact Connections by visiting https://tripleimpact.com/careers/

###

About Triple Impact Connections

Triple Impact Connections is a minority- and veteran-owned customer communications company founded in 2018 by three West Point classmates to provide employment opportunities for military spouses. Its triple mission is to provide client companies with superior customer service, provide jobs for spouses of military families to assure financial stability and career opportunities, and to give back to severely wounded veterans by pledging a portion of profits to Sentinels of Freedom, a non-profit foundation that helps veterans complete their higher education.

For media inquiries:

David Sawicki, dsawicki@tripleimpact.com

Stacy Bodine, sbodine@tripleimpact.com
The platform can be used with any authoring tools, file formats, or materials We set out to help streamline the highly manual, overly complex, and costly design processes. The key? Leveraging the web for faster product creation in easy-to-use, stunning 3D. Collaborating and communicating online means stakeholders anywhere get to yes much sooner.  Andre Wolper, Embodee CEO

Embodee, the fashion industrys 3D technology innovator, today launched a first-of-its-kind web platform that makes it easy to design fashion products in 3D. The Orchids platform is simple to use  anywhere, anytime, and all online. How simple? It requires little training and no specialized 3D skills, complex software, or powerful computing.

A 12-month beta program proved the platforms rich array of features and functions. In one companys pilot project, two designers without 3D technical skills needed only two days instead of ten to create 250 designs in 3D for presentation to a buyer.

The platform isnt just easy to use but also has configurable pricing to support companies with many or few users. Signing up online takes only minutes, and access starts immediately. The first 15 days are free. Monthly and discounted annual pricing is available based on the number of users and gigabytes of data stored. Find all the details here.

Central to the platform is effortless virtual collaboration and robust communication from any web browser. For example, as designers create products, other Orchids users view them and comment in an ongoing feedback exchange. The vividly detailed 3D product images are also shared via links emailed or texted to colleagues, partners, and vendors.

Other major benefits: Orchids easily connects with the industrys 3D authoring software programs, product lifecycle management systems (PLMs), e-commerce platforms, and digital material libraries. High levels of productivity can be attained in just a few hours, even without dedicated training. A series of tutorial videos shows how the platform works and how to quickly use it.

Three years in development, Orchids highlights Embodees mission to help the fashion industry efficiently create, produce, and sell products. More broadly, the platform adds momentum and new capabilities to fashions digital transformation. Industry insiders describe the platform as the last mile in the long march to full digitization.

We set out to help streamline the highly manual, overly complex, and costly design processes, said Embodee CEO Andre Wolper. The key? Leveraging the web for faster product creation in easy-to-use, stunning 3D. Collaborating and communicating online means stakeholders anywhere get to yes much sooner.

How are designs created? Working with existing 3D models and standards, Orchids users apply materials and different colors from digital libraries with only a few mouse clicks. Uploaded prints and graphics are easily positioned and scaled. Variants take shape in seconds. Consensus builds as colleagues comments influence the process without the usual long back-and-forth. With so many digital design elements available, creating 3D product variants becomes easy, fast, and efficient.

Interactive product renderings play a vital role. High-fidelity virtual garments star in merchandising reviews and sales pitches to buyers. They take center stage on e-commerce sites, in virtual showrooms, and in the Metaverse. Or theyre sent to manufacturers with instructions for making physical versions.

Other Orchids platform features and benefits:



Displaying product lines on virtual assortment boards with 3D images that update in real-time as changes are saved. Adding notes and backgrounds to the boards is a snap.

Digital Asset Management (DAM+): Store and archive all visual and other digital assets, no matter the file type, in one place for easy access.

Spaces: Think of this feature of DAM+ as virtual whiteboards or tabletops, where teams view and brainstorm swatches, inspirations, or draft concepts for a new season.

The beta program involved more than 20 brands, design companies, service providers, and export houses. Key findings include:

The platform reduces the workload of 3D experts, enabling anyone to apply different colors, graphics, and prints to 3D models. This case study has more details.

Small brands lacking technology resources can quickly transition to 3D and accelerate their product development cycles. The platform gives them a single, affordable place where all their key creation data and communication threads come together.

Virtual creation and presentation of 3D samples replace costly manufacturing of physical prototypes and travel for in-person merchandising. Buyers can now easily engage in the creation process online and make product suggestions on the fly.

To learn more about the Orchids platform and to request a demo, visit Embodee.

About Embodee

Founded in 2008, the company helps the fashion industry develop 3D virtual products more efficiently and collaboratively to reduce costs and increase sales for both online and physical stores. Its on-demand renderings of 3D products are unsurpassed in visual quality and interactivity. Headquartered in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the company has employees across the United States and Europe.


Hannah Kain, ALOM President & CEO I built ALOM with the belief that the supply chain solution provider with the best talent and technology will win. This strategy has propelled ALOM to the forefront of supply chain performance excellence for our clients. -- ALOM President & CEO Hannah Kain

ALOM, the global supply chain management leader, is being recognized for its extraordinary industry talent as three key executives are honored as 2022 Supply Chain Pros to Know by Supply & Demand Chain Executive. Announced by SDCE at Modex 2022 in Atlanta, President and CEO Hannah Kain, Vice President Supply Chain Strategy Lisa Dolan, and Director of Operations Eunice Lobo were named to this years prestigious roster of top industry pros  the eighth time for Kain, the seventh for Dolan, and the first for Lobo.

SDCE annually recognizes outstanding executives and practitioners whose accomplishments offer a roadmap for other leaders looking to leverage their supply chain for competitive advantage and prepare for the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Overcoming the challenges impacting global supply chains in 2021  labor and component shortages, as well as strained freight and storage capacity  required industry practitioners to rechart a new course to success, Kain says. I built ALOM with the belief that the supply chain solution provider with the best talent and technology will win. This strategy has propelled ALOM to the forefront of supply chain performance excellence for our clients.

Kain adds: Thanks to Lisa Dolans and Eunice Lobos strategic, results-oriented leadership, our operational teams routinely mitigate temporary challenges while improving overall performance. We at ALOM are incredibly proud of the commitment they inspire daily among all our dedicated employees.

Since founding ALOM 25 years ago, Kain has emerged as a respected industry strategist, thought leader, human rights and environmental advocate, and highly-engaged executive. In 2021, she led ALOM to a year of notable accomplishment  growing its staff by 73% and increasing operational capacity by 47.2%. Most fulfilling was the companys production and distribution of 22.8 million COVID-19 test kits.

Furthering its commitment towards Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG), in 2021 ALOM announced its NetZero Supply Chain Sustainability Initiative to achieve a net zero carbon footprint across its operations by 2030. The company made progress toward this goal by securing 100% renewably generated electric power for all of ALOMs U.S. facilities.

Eunice Lobo plays a vital role in forging actionable, real-time operational solutions that achieve production volume, on-time shipping, and quality goals. She has introduced and driven key initiatives to enhance capacity, quality assurance, data management, sustainability, and staff training/retention.

For example, Lobo anticipated the need for adding operational capacity to meet client program growth forecasts and was an instrumental contributor in selecting an ideal location for the company to expand in a tight real estate market. On February 18, 2022, under Lobos leadership, ALOM cut the ribbon to officially open its newest 90,000 square-foot production and fulfillment facility  just 80 days after receiving the keys.

As an advocate for workplace safety, diversity and inclusion, Lobo has deepened ALOMs culture of employee safety, empowerment, and engagement. In February 2022, ALOM was presented the Excellence in Workplace Safety award by representatives of Heffernan Insurance Brokers for reaching the top Workers Compensation safety tier in the supply chain/manufacturing industry. In designing improvements in promotion, supervisory, mentoring and training processes, along with COVID-19 workplace protective measures, she helped attract and retain new staff, allowing the company to fully meet increasing client order volumes  a notable achievement due to the highly competitive labor market.

Lisa Dolan is a talented supply chain and technology strategist. A 2019 SDCE Supply Chain Pro to Know of The Year, she specializes in developing innovative, technology-driven solutions that solve highly complex supply chain challenges across the automotive, technology, government, and life sciences industries. Firmly believing that collaboration results in the best outcomes, Dolan deftly brings together expert teams of technology, operational, supplier, and client program stakeholders to chart cant-fail product and service delivery solutions unique to each customer. As a visionary in championing supplier diversity as a competitive differentiator, Dolan helped ALOM achieve exceptional 28.6% diversity spend in 2021.

Dolan currently serves on the board of Women in Manufacturing Bay Area and is a past chair of the CSCMP Silicon Valley/San Francisco Roundtable. All three honorees are believers in giving back to the supply chain community through speeches, sharing innovation and insights.

This years winners are reinventing what it means to be a supply chain professional, says Marina Mayer, Editor-in-Chief of Supply & Demand Chain Executive and Food Logistics. These winners are intuitive, adaptive and so super smart, and continue to push the envelope when it comes to everything supply chain-related.

About Supply and Demand Chain Executive

Supply & Demand Chain Executive is the only supply chain publication covering the entire global supply chain, focusing on trucking, warehousing, packaging, procurement, risk management, professional development and more. Supply & Demand Chain Executive and sister publication, Food Logistics, are also home to L.I.N.K. and L.I.N.K. Educate podcast channels, L.I.N.K. Live, SCN Summit, SupplyChainLearningCenter.com and more. Go to http://www.SDCExec.com to learn more.

About ALOM

ALOM is a global supply chain management services and solutions provider serving as a partner to its Fortune 100 clients in the technology, automotive, medical/life sciences, and other regulated industries. Headquartered in Fremont, CA, its expert team of strategists, technology engineers, and supply chain specialists operate globally from 19 locations. ALOM manages the physical supply chain from procurement, inventory management, contract assembly, digital media and print, as well as omni-channel fulfillment. ALOM also manages the digital supply chain with e-commerce solutions, visibility tools, digital delivery tools, data management, and strong back-end systems, as well as the financial supply chain. ALOM is proud to deliver its clients products and services impeccably, enrich the end-user experience, and uphold their brand reputations. http://www.alom.com
The SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity (MOSAC) is an adaptive reuse of the historic 1912-era PG&E Power Station, which sat vacant on the banks of the Sacramento River for 60 years. My grandfather established these core values that we continue with today: hard work, honesty, integrity and compassion for others. Through The Otto Way, weve been changing the landscape for 75 years and will continue to do so for the next 75.

Otto Construction is celebrating 75 years of Changing The Landscape by highlighting decades of community involvement, initiatives and heritage projects locally, as well as previewing key projects in process.

John F. Otto began his construction company in 1947 out of the back of a pickup truck with little more than ability and enthusiasm to his name. A rough and tough construction guy who did business with a handshake, he had a clear vision of what he wanted: a company with a core of skilled professionals that could consistently deliver high-quality construction at a competitive price.

TWEET THIS: Celebrating 75 years of Changing The Landscape, @OttoCons highlights decades of community involvement, initiatives and heritage projects locally, as well as previewing key projects in process. #OttoProud #buildlocal https://www.ottoconstruction.com/history/

Today, under the leadership of Ottos granddaughter, Allison, Otto is marking its 75th anniversary as a company that creates award-winning multimillion dollar facilities throughout Northern and Central California, but still follows the Otto Way John F. Otto implemented at the beginning.

My grandfather established these core values that we continue with today: hard work, honesty, integrity and compassion for others, said Allison Otto. Through The Otto Way, weve been changing the landscape for 75 years and will continue to do so for the next 75.

Otto has a proud legacy of facilities the company has built over the years, including Fairytale Town, the KVIE studios, Sacramento Zoo and the Terminal A parking structure at Sacramento International Airport. Its building on that legacy today with high-profile projects such as the SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity in Sacramento (MOSAC); the California State University, Monterey Bay, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science building; and the California State Lottery Headquarters in Sacramento. Most recently, the company has received impressive accolades for its work, including a AGC Constructor of the Year award and a ULI Vision Honors Awards for MOSAC and a Most Admired CEO award from the Sacramento Business Journal.

Looking forward, Otto has new projects that span from the Pamela Mari Da Vinci Tech Hub building in Davis to an expansion at Fairytale Town, as well as facilities at Florin High School for its agriculture, culinary and engineering career technical education classes. With offices in Sacramento and Monterey, Otto added that the company today is stronger than its ever been, and that it is continuing to grow and evolve by learning new construction methods, leveraging technology and embracing diversity and inclusion.

To learn more about Otto Constructions legacy and history, visit ottoconstruction.com/history/.

ABOUT OTTO CONSTRUCTION

Otto Construction was founded in 1947 by John F. Otto and has remained a family-owned business for three generations, with Allison Otto becoming President and CEO in 2021. For more than seven decades, Otto has upheld their standards of building relationships and delivering quality projects with trust, teamwork, and dedication. With offices in Sacramento and Monterey, Otto Construction builds high-caliber projects including senior living complexes, historical renovations, educational facilities, healthcare buildings and parking structures throughout Northern and Central California. For more information about Otto Construction and its services and project portfolio, visit OttoConstruction.com.
Apocalypses of Cataclysm and the World of Tomorrow!: a potent reminder of Gods power through careful discussion of scripture. Apocalypses of Cataclysm and the World of Tomorrow! is the creation of published author Bishop Dr. Wm. LaRue Dillard.

Dillard shares, If you want to develop a fresh and deeper vision for your life, Wm. LaRue Dillard can help. This book of the Apocalypses of Cataclysm and the World of Tomorrow! The futuristic happening on earth for all humanity is pointed out simplistically.

It gives chronological steps as listed in the book of Revelation starting with the message from Christ Jesus. The book points to the church age from the churchs birth date in the spring of AD 30 in Jerusalem, Israel, to the day of Christ beginning with the raptured hosts catching up of the saints worldwide.

This phenomenon highlights the coming drama of the tribulation judgment period on planet earth ending with the fire baptism of the satanic trinity (Antichrist, false prophet, and Satan), with Satans demons, and all unrighteous people of all the ages from the beginning of time.

Here are the chronological steps:

1) Demonic invasion from the bottomless pit.

2) Antichrists total control on the earth.

3) Unification of the satanic trinity (Satan, Antichrist, false prophet).

4) Four angels of God hold back the winds and dont let them blow until the 144,000 are sealed with the name of God in their forehead.

5) The withholding of death for five months while toucher increases.

6) The war in the second heaven between Michael and Satan who will be cast down from the second heaven to earth.

7) Abaddon and Apollyon followed by darkened sun, bloody moon, fallen stars, and a shaken earth.

This is just the first half of the seven years of judgment following the sixty-ninth week of Daniels prophecy, and now comes the last half of the seventieth week of the prophecy. There is nowhere to run or hide from the terror of God Almighty. Whatever the Holy Bible teaches is believed, or nothing it teaches is believed. This book will help you take the first step toward achieving your impossible task on your pilgrimage with Christ Jesus our Lord. Bishop Dr. Wm. LaRue Dillard is the author of several other books including Biblical Ancestry Voyage.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Bishop Dr. Wm. LaRue Dillards new book is a compelling argument for believers to take Gods word to heart and cast out worldly influences.

Dillard shares from over six decades of dedicated faith and study of the Bible in hopes of empowering others to trust in Gods word wholeheartedly.

Consumers can purchaseApocalypses of Cataclysm and the World of Tomorrow! at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about Apocalypses of Cataclysm and the World of Tomorrow!, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.


This is the type of track record and experience we need to turn around our state and our country. I am asking the voters to support my candidacy and hire me to work for them. We can all realize the American dream. We all deserve a chance at it.

Yesterday evening, Blake Harbin hosted a special fundraising event as part of his push towards Georgias 6th Congressional District. It was a huge success, featuring Brad Parscale, former campaign manager for President Donald J. Trump.

During the event, which took place at the Crooked Creed Community Clubhouse, Harbin talked about what he intends to do on his run, as well as whats at stake for Georgia voters. We are in the fight of our lives, he explained. Our country is under attack and headed in the wrong direction. We need to turn it around. Putting America First is not just a policy agenda, it is a mantra for us to do the right thing for our fellow Americans.

Parscale provided full support for Harbin. Blake is the type of candidate we need to fix the problems in this country, said Parscale. There are too many useless people in Washington that do nothing to help our country. I am here because I believe in him. I am here because of his courage.

During the speech, a video highlighted Harbins climb to the Congressional seat, which was anything but easy. In 2007, he was in an accident that left him paralyzed, redefining his life in several ways. I know what adversity is and how it can impact our lives, he said. When I lost the ability to walk, I had to start life over. Ive been knocked down before and know what it takes to get back up again and again.

Despite the tragic circumstances surrounding the accident, Harbin persevered, embracing the American dream every step of the way. "I've built my life and my home in the 6th district. Raised by a single mother with hardly any resources, I know the importance of community and opportunity and what they can do to help us change our lives. It would be a tremendous honor to serve Georgians, Harbin noted.

Harbin remains focused on winning his seat in Congress. "I've built my life and my home in the 6th district. Raised by a single mother with hardly any resources, I know the importance of community and opportunity and what they can do to help us change our lives. It would be a tremendous honor to help Georgians in the 6th district."

Next up, the primary will decide who the nominee for both parties will be, leading into the midterm elections coming up in November 2022. It looks to be a momentous month for Republican nominees, which could work greatly in Harbins favor.

For more than 20 years Blake has built small businesses in financial management and home mortgages. He has created hundreds of jobs and helped others achieve their dreams saying, This is the type of track record and experience we need to turn around our state and our country. I am asking the voters to support my candidacy and hire me to work for them. We can all realize the American dream. We all deserve a chance at it.

For more information please visit: https://blakeharbin.com/

CONTACT: To schedule an interview with Blake Harbin, contact Jerry McGlothlin at 919-437-0001 or jerry@specialguests.com
Tax season is here. Most people follow the law and file their taxes. However, there are individuals and businesses that try and cheat the system. If caught, they could face fines and/or jail sentence. Depending on the crime, the charge could be a misdemeanor or a felony offense.

Central Florida Bonding announces their newest blog entitled Tax Evasion. This blog is geared at educating consumers about tax crimes and false accounting practices which are both forms of money laundering.

Hadi Khouri, owner of Central Florida Bonding, states, Tax season is here. Most people follow the law and file their taxes. However, there are individuals and businesses that try and cheat the system. If caught, they could face fines and/or jail sentence. Depending on the crime, the charge could be a misdemeanor or a felony offense. Jail time could range from one year to up to 30 years with fines as high as $250,000.

Central Florida Bonding wants to make consumers aware that tax evasion is illegal and carries heavy penalties. Tax evasion, according to the Internal Revenue Service, is the failure to pay or the deliberate underpayment of taxes.

A few examples of tax evasion include:

Paying someone without reporting the wages

Not reporting all income

Intentionally failing to pay owed taxes

Filing a false return

More examples and further information can be found on Central Florida Bondings blog at: https://cfborlando.com/tax-evasion/

Central Florida Bonding bails clients out of jail for numerous charges such as fraud, domestic violence, assault, battery, DUI, drug trafficking, child neglect, and more. A bail bond agent is available to assist with the bail bond process 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days of the year. To start the bail bond process call 407-841-3646.

Central Florida Bonding's bail bond agents are readily available to walk defendants through the paperwork needed for a bail bond. Their agents will also assist with explaining how the court system works. All of their bail bond agents are experienced and knowledgeable and are able to answer questions about the criminal justice system, explain the bail bond process, and lend an empathetic ear. This bail bond agency is also licensed to post bonds across the state of Florida and across the United States with affiliated agencies.

Central Florida Bonding has been serving Metro Orlando since 1979. Khouri adds, We have been in business a long time. We know all of the ins and outs of the bail bond process and are ready to assist you. We have helped many of your neighbors across Central Florida and we can help you too. Please give us a call at 407-841-3646.

Central Florida Bonding serves all of Central Florida including Orange, Seminole, Volusia, Lake, Osceola, and Brevard counties. Khouri states, We offer bail for defendants posting bond from the Orange County Jail/33rd Street Jail, Osceola County Jail, Seminole County Jail, Lake County Jail, Volusia County Jail, and Brevard County Jail. Just give us a call at 407-841-3646 so that we can help you.

Central Florida Bonding is located in the Cox Plaza at 2911 39th Street, Suite 300, in Orlando, Florida. For more information on this bail bonds agency, please visit online at https://cfborlando.com/ or call 407-841-3646.
These ATT&CK Evaluations results validate the superior detection and protection capabilities that Cybereason delivers against the most complex attack sequences," said Cybereason CEO and Co-Founder Lior Div.

Cybereason, the XDR company, today announced that the results of round four of the ATT&CK Evaluations conducted by MITRE Engenuity affirm the superior prevention and detection capabilities of the AI-driven Cybereason XDR Platform. Cybereason achieved perfect scores in nearly every aspect of the evaluations, including:



100% Prevention: Cybereason detected and prevented 100% of the 9 different attack sequences evaluated for both Windows and Linux

100% Visibility: Cybereason exposed 100% of the 109 different attack behaviors evaluated for both Windows and Linux

100% Real-Time Protection: Cybereason had zero delayed detections

99% Analytical Coverage: Cybereason detections mapped back to the key ATT&CK techniques evaluated

Minimal Configuration: Cybereason delivered out-of-the-box protection with minimal configuration changes required

Round 4 of the ATT&CK Evaluations highlights the efficacy of our NGAV and EDR capabilities in protecting against sophisticated attack techniques from threat actors like Sandworm and Wizard Spider. In addition, the Cybereason XDR Platform delivers AI-driven prevention, detection and predictive response protection that identifies and blocks advanced threats at the earliest stages of an attack.

The results from all four years of the ATT&CK Evaluations highlight how the Cybereason solutions map directly to the ATT&CK framework to deliver unparalleled detection of advanced threat actor Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs). The superior out-of-the-box efficacy that the AI-driven Cybereason XDR Platform delivers means there is little need for solution configuration changes at deployment.

Organizations can immediately benefit from exceptional real-time prevention and detection capabilities, automated and one-click predictive response options to stop the most advanced cyberattacks.

What the MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Evaluation Results Mean to the Enterprise

Organizations are increasingly mapping their threat detection strategies to the ATT&CK framework, which provides a common language for Defenders to understand the range of techniques adversaries can use to gain initial access, escalate privileges, steal account credentials, move laterally in the targeted network, and ultimately to exfiltrate sensitive data or disrupt critical business operations.

The MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK Evaluations reveal how vendors approach the same challenges in reducing the time required to identify, understand and respond to malicious actions before material damage occurs. We believe the results highlight the effectiveness of Cybereason under real-world conditions because:

The AI-driven Cybereason XDR Platform identifies attacks earlier by correlating behavioral telemetry across the entire network, including the broad range of device types, user identities, application suites, cloud workloads and more.

The Cybereason MalOp reduces mean time to detection and response (MTTD and MTTR) by immediately providing the complete attack story from root cause without the need for complex queries.

Cybereason delivers actionable detections and predictive response across all measured MITRE ATT&CK evaluation categories without inundating analysts with a barrage of uncorrelated alerts.

These results validate the superior detection and protection capabilities that Cybereason delivers against the most complex attack sequences, said Cybereason CEO and Co-Founder Lior Div. The ATT&CK framework is the go-to standard for assessing solution efficacy today, and we are proud of both our outstanding performance in all four years of the evaluations, and of our ongoing collaboration with MITRE CTID to further improve detection based on the most subtle of attacker behaviors. This is how we begin to defend forward as a community, stop relying so much on reactive approaches and take the fight to the adversary through behavior-oriented predictive response.

Cybereason and MITRE Center for Threat-Informed Defense: Attack Flow Project

Cybereason also collaborates with MITRE Center for Threat-Informed Defense (CTID) on the Attack Flow Project, which seeks to develop a common data format for describing sequences of adversary behavior in order to improve defensive capabilities. The goal of the Attack Flow Project is to generate a machine-readable representation of a sequence of attacker actions and context along with specific descriptive attributes of those actions and assets composed of five main objects: the flow itself, a list of actions, a list of assets, a list of knowledge properties, and a list of causal relationships between the actions and assets.

Cybereason joined the Center as a Research Participant to conduct research and development to support further evolution of the MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK framework. Cybereason and the Center work to provide Defenders with a deep understanding of adversary tradecraft and advances in the development of countermeasures for prevention, detection and response to complex threats.

Defenders often have to track adversary techniques individually, meaning they can only focus on one specific activity at a time, but adversaries use complex sequences in their attack flows to hide in the network seams and avoid detection until its too late, said Sam Curry, Cybereason CSO. Being able to understand the context and correlations across those sequences by chaining together the otherwise disparate Indicators of Behavior (IOBs), allows Defenders to surface complex attacks earlier in the attack sequence and creates the opportunity to respond faster as threats are emerging.

Cybereason is dedicated to teaming with Defenders to end attacks across the enterprise to anywhere the battle is taking place. Contact us today to learn how your organization can benefit from an operation-centric approach through the AI-driven Cybereason XDR Platform.

About MITRE Engenuity

MITRE Engenuity, a subsidiary of MITRE, is a tech foundation for the public good. MITREs mission-driven teams are dedicated to solving problems for a safer world. Through our public-private partnerships and federally funded R&D centers, we work across government and in partnership with industry to tackle challenges to the safety, stability, and well-being of our nation. MITRE Engenuity brings MITREs deep technical know-how and systems thinking to the private sector to solve complex challenges that government alone cannot solve. MITRE Engenuity catalyzes the collective R&D strength of the broader U.S. federal government, academia, and private sector to tackle national and global challenges, such as protecting critical infrastructure, creating a resilient semiconductor ecosystem, building a genomics center for public good, accelerating use case innovation in 5G, and democratizing threat-informed cyber defense.

About Cybereason

Cybereason is the XDR company, partnering with Defenders to end attacks at the endpoint, in the cloud and across the entire enterprise ecosystem. Only the AI-driven Cybereason XDR Platform provides planetary-scale data ingestion, operation-centric MalOp detection, and predictive response that is undefeated against modern ransomware and advanced attack techniques. Cybereason is a privately held international company headquartered in Boston with customers in more than 40 countries.

Learn more: https://www.cybereason.com/

Follow us: Blog | Twitter | Facebook

Media contact:

Bill Keeler

Senior Director, Global Public Relations

Cybereason

bill.keeler@cybereason.com

PH: 929 259-3261
Drucker + Falk Selected to Manage the New Merchant Apartments in Charleston, SC The Merchant is a magnificent property, and we look forward to exceeding the clients expectations of enhancing its value through strengthened occupancy, expense savings and rent escalation.

Blackfin Real Estate Investors, LLC (Blackfin), has selected Drucker + Falk (DF), one of the nations most prominent multifamily management companies, to manage The Merchant, a 231-unit newly constructed luxury apartment community located in Charleston, South Carolina.

Built in 2020 and acquired by Blackfin in December 2021, The Merchant is a modernly designed community featuring studio, one- and two-bedroom apartment homes. Nestled within the heart of Charlestons eclectic NoMo neighborhood and near the Charleston Innovation District, residents are steps from bustling breweries, restaurants, and shops. In addition to its ideal location, The Merchants residents enjoy a state-of-the-art fitness center, unique market-style lounge, resort-style swimming pool with expansive sundeck, and stylish apartment interiors that offer comfort and all the high-end conveniences todays renter would expect and more.

Since Drucker + Falks relationship with Blackfin began at the end of 2020, the company has been awarded five assumptions and/or acquisitions from the real estate investment group with the fifth being The Merchant. The five apartment communities are located across Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, totaling over 1,500 units collectively.

Lisa Narducci Price, Director of Business + Property Development shared, Drucker and Falk is honored to be working yet again on another community with Blackfin Real Estate Investors. The Merchant is a magnificent property, and we look forward to exceeding the clients expectations of enhancing its value through strengthened occupancy, expense savings and rent escalation.

ABOUT DRUCKER + FALK

Founded in 1938, Drucker + Falk is a full-service real estate and investment firm, managing a diverse portfolio of more than 40,000 apartments in 11 states including Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Louisiana. With roots in third party fee management, Drucker + Falk specializes in multifamily management of all asset types, new development construction consultation and lease up, urban revitalization, asset repositioning and stabilization of challenging properties, mixed use management and due diligence services. With more than 3 million square feet under management, Drucker + Falk also offers commercial sales, leasing and management services. For more information, visit Drucker and Falk.


Were excited to exhibit at B2B Marketing Expo and connect with marketing executives looking for new ideas to generate business. At the same time, EMS will provide the opportunity to meet brand experience experts looking to do the same."

Event Architecture, a provider of modular architectural structures and mobile activation solutions for live events, will exhibit at two important industry events this April. The company will first attend the B2B Marketing Expo, the largest co-located event showcasing solutions for marketing, sales, advertising and digital marketing professionals. Later in April, the company will exhibit at the Experiential Marketing Summit (EMS), the worlds largest conference on experiential marketing.

According to Tim Bookout, Vice President of Event Architecture, Were excited to exhibit at B2B Marketing Expo and connect with marketing executives looking for new ideas to generate business. At the same time, EMS will provide the opportunity to meet brand experience experts looking to do the same. Both shows will allow attendees to assess our companies' capabilities and others, as they seek unique solutions to help their companies stand out.

Event Architecture has worked with many innovative brands over the years, providing design services, structures and decor for trade shows, brand activations and corporate events both indoors and outdoors. Bookout and his team will be on hand at both conferences to share insight on the unique solutions Event Architecture has created for brands like Google, Netflix, Nike, HBO, Pepsi, Cisco and others.

We offer a variety of ways to make an activation new and different, including the unique product lines we exclusively represent and strategies we deploy to efficiently meet the maximum number of prospects face-to-face. Event Architecture also provides the flexibility clients and agencies needwith sales, rental and lease optionsand can produce turnkey activations or just shells of structures, which clients can brand and adapt in their own way, Bookout says.

Marketing and branding professionals planning to attend the B2B Marketing Expo can visit Event Architecture at Booth #830, while attendees of EMS 2022 can find the company at Booth #408.

To learn more about Event Architectures innovative mobile structures and solutions for live events, brand activations and experiential retail, please call (972) 245-7325 or email info@event-architecture.com.

ABOUT EVENT ARCHITECTURE:

Event Architecture provides portable, modular architectural structures and Eurodomes that are perfect for indoor or outdoor events, trade shows, festivals, pop-up retail and an endless array of brand activations. Our portable solutions are fully brandable, and they come in sizes to meet any need. Event Architecture is committed to both service and unsurpassed product excellence. Find out more at Event-Architecture.com.

Press Contact:

Sierra Reed

Marketing Director

Event Architecture

(972) 245-7325

info@event-architecture.com
MOGADISHU, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Somalia has inaugurated a high-tech maritime facility for the police to boost security along the coastline as the country continues to expand its blue economy, officials said.

UN Secretary-General's deputy special representative for Somalia, Anita Kiki Gbeho said the facility will provide an operational base from which the Somalia Police Force (SPF) can operate around Mogadishu Port and along the 3,300 km Somali coastline, as well as help build a long-term maritime law enforcement capacity.

"In recent years Somalia has expanded its maritime law enforcement capability, allowing the SPF to deliver safety and security around Mogadishu Port and along Somalia's coastline. This furnished and equipped base will allow the SPF to become increasingly more effective," Gbeho said in a statement issued on Wednesday evening.

She said the 3 million U.S. dollar facility funded by the European Union and developed by the UN will support the development of Somalia's ocean governance structures.

Gbeho said maritime security and law enforcement will need to continue playing an enabling role for Somalia to continue expanding its blue economy and benefit from wealth generating opportunities its vast coast offers.

The UN said the facility whose construction began in 2018, is made up of a furnished headquarters block with information technology equipment, a detention facility, a floating jetty and boat ramp, and an accommodation unit.

The facility has been equipped with maritime communications equipment to enable operational readiness, and 60 maritime law enforcement officers have been provided with training and workshops on maritime law enforcement, marine engineering and maritime communications.

UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)'s regional representative for East Africa, Neil J. Walsh said the facility will support Somalia's fight against transnational and maritime organized crime. 
Utrisha N exemplifies Corteva Agrisciences commitment to provide farmers with sustainable solutions that complement our conventional crop protection solutions.

Corteva Agriscience has been named the exclusive distributor of a nitrogen-fixation product for both specialty growers and row crop farmers by biotechnological company Symborg, the companies announced today. The agreement builds on established collaborations for Corteva to distribute Symborgs unique endophytic bacterium under the brand names BlueN or Utrisha N nutrient efficiency optimizer.

By fixing nitrogen from the air and converting it for plants, the technology provides a sustainable, alternative source of nitrogen that reduces dependency on nitrogen uptake from the soil and ensures the plant has access to nitrogen all season long. This nitrogen management solution can help farmers and growers maximize yield potential for a broad range of crops, including fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, field and row crops, sugar cane, turf and ornamental, and range and pasture.

Utrisha N exemplifies Corteva Agrisciences commitment to provide farmers with sustainable solutions that complement our conventional crop protection solutions. As an alternative, supplemental nitrogen source, its also an innovative resource for farmers to help to mitigate high fertilizer cost and market availability, said Susanne Wasson, President, Crop Protection Business Platform, Corteva Agriscience. Corteva Agriscience is excited to work with Symborg to scale up and bring farmers this innovative, natural-origin solution.

The expanded agreement includes exclusive distribution rights to Corteva in Turkey, Central America, and South America, and expands exclusive distribution rights to add specialty markets in the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Argentina. It also includes an exclusive option for Corteva to add other countries of interest, including additional countries in Latin America and Asia Pacific, pending regulatory approval.

"At Symborg, we help farmers to efficiently adapt to the changes the industry is undergoing worldwide, leading the transformation of the agricultural model towards a profitable and sustainable one. With this global agreement with Corteva, Symborg's disruptive biotechnology and its innovative bacterium Methylobacterium symbioticum will offer a large number of growers the possibility of optimizing the use of nitrogen in their agricultural management. This is one of the great challenges of today's agriculture and biotechnology is undoubtedly part of the solution," said Jesus Juarez, founding partner and CEO at Symborg.

Cortevas global Biologicals portfolio is dedicated to developing biostimulants, biocontrol and pheromone products with proven, predictable performance. Utrisha N, a BlueN technology powered by Symborg, will provide value through integrated nutrition management efficiency and enhancing yield potential and sustainability, in line with the Corteva Agrisciences sustainability commitment.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

About Corteva Agriscience

Corteva, Inc. (NYSE: CTVA) is a publicly traded, global pure-play agriculture company that combines industry-leading innovation, high-touch customer engagement and operational execution to profitably deliver solutions for the worlds most pressing agriculture challenges. Corteva generates advantaged market preference through its unique distribution strategy, together with its balanced and globally diverse mix of seed, crop protection, and digital products and services. With some of the most recognized brands in agriculture and a technology pipeline well positioned to drive growth, the company is committed to maximizing productivity for farmers, while working with stakeholders throughout the food system as it fulfills its promise to enrich the lives of those who produce and those who consume, ensuring progress for generations to come. More information can be found at http://www.corteva.com.

Follow Corteva on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

About Symborg

Symborg is a biotechnological company leader in the agricultural sector that helps farmers maximize their crop yields with minimal resources, contributing to more sustainable agriculture. Symborg develops, produces, and sells biostimulants, biofertilizers, and innovative biocontrol solutions for all types of crops and agricultural systems. Thanks to its commitment to R+D+i, Symborg has a commercial presence in more than 50 countries and 9 subsidiaries, located in Spain and Portugal, France, the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Turkey, and China. More information can be found at http://www.symborg.com.

Follow Symborg on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube

# # #

Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, which may be identified by their use of words like plans, expects, will, anticipates, believes, intends, projects, targets, estimates or other words of similar meaning. All statements that address expectations or projections about the future, including statements about Cortevas strategy for growth, cash flow, product development, regulatory approval, market position, anticipated benefits of recent acquisitions, timing of anticipated benefits from restructuring actions, outcome of contingencies, such as litigation and environmental matters, expenditures, and financial results, as well as expected benefits from, the separation of Corteva from DowDuPont, are forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and expectations of future events which may not be accurate or realized. Forward-looking statements also involve risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Cortevas control. Consequences of material differences in results as compared with those anticipated in the forward-looking statements could include, among other things, business disruption, operational problems, financial loss, legal liability to third parties and similar risks, any of which could have a material adverse effect on Cortevas business, results of operations and financial condition. Additionally, there may be other risks and uncertainties that Corteva is unable to currently identify or that Corteva does not currently expect to have a material impact on its business.

Where, in any forward-looking statement, an expectation or belief as to future results or events is expressed, such expectation or belief is based on the current plans and expectations of Cortevas management and expressed in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis, but there can be no assurance that the expectation or belief will result or be achieved or accomplished. Corteva disclaims and does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, except as required by applicable law. A detailed discussion of some of the significant risks and uncertainties which may cause results and events to differ materially from such forward-looking statements is included in Cortevas Annual Report on Form 10-K, as modified by subsequent Quarterly Reports on Forms 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K.

03/31/22

TM  SM Trademarks and service marks of Corteva Agriscience and its affiliated companies. BlueN is a trademark of Symborg.
To Hell with the Devil: Its Time to Blow the Lid off Lucifers Coffin: a potent exploration of challenges faced by modern Christians. To Hell with the Devil: Its Time to Blow the Lid off Lucifers Coffin is the creation of published author Gary Randall Wallace, a graduate of Pacific Coast Bible College and Missions Director for Calvary Chapel in San Jose, California.

Wallace shares, The devil (Satan) has been able to fool the church and Christians ever since the early church went to bed with Rome around AD 330 under Emperor Constantine, who supposedly had a conversion to Christianity. The pagan religion brought all the false teachings and false gods all the way back to Egypt. And that system is just as false today. Repeatedly God warned the Jews in the Old and New Testaments that there are no gods but He alone. Yet were still taught that by a rebellion Lucifer and Satan fell from heaven, which would make them gods. But the scripture verse in 1 Samuel 15:23 states specifically For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. And there is absolutely no sin in the third heaven or there would be death in heaven. So the title To Hell with the Devil: Its Time to Blow the Lid Off Lucifers Coffin. This will certainly make Satan uncontrollable mad and upset if this book comes to publication. He does not like being exposed as the complete liar that he has been from the beginning.

Unfortunately, because of the past presidential election of 2020, he has managed to get his foot in the door of the US government. But he wont be satisfied until he takes over the entire USA. And as long as Christians and Patriots remain silent, it will all be over but the shouting. What I have written from the word of God only is the absolute truth. But as our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ said to those Serpents (Sadducees and Pharisees) in John 8:40, But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth which I heard of God. And as the apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 4:34, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they will turn from the truth and shall and shall be turned unto fables. That is certainly what has happened in our time. But Satans ultimate goal is the complete destruction of Gods church.

Published by Christian Faith Publishing, Gary Randall Wallaces new book will challenge and excite the spirt in new and established believers.

Wallace shares in hopes of encouraging others to find and nurture a strong connection with their faith.

Consumers can purchase To Hell with the Devil: Its Time to Blow the Lid off Lucifers Coffin at traditional brick & mortar bookstores, or online at Amazon.com, Apple iTunes store, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or inquiries about To Hell with the Devil: Its Time to Blow the Lid off Lucifers Coffin, contact the Christian Faith Publishing media department at 866-554-0919.
Avellum is a leading law firm in Ukraine and we appreciate this opportunity to support and mentor these fine lawyers across our firm," said Richard A. Rosenbaum, Executive Chairman of Greenberg Traurig.

Global law firm Greenberg Traurig is pleased to announce that, in addition to its other contributions and activities in support of the Ukrainian people in response to the improper Russian invasion, the firm has now aligned with leading Ukrainian law firm Avellum, based in Kyiv, by arranging to place a group of Avellum associates in such areas as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), Real Estate, International Arbitration, Competition, and Tax in Greenberg Traurig offices. Initially, Avellum lawyers will be seconded to Greenberg Traurig offices in London, Amsterdam, and Berlin.

Avellum is a leading law firm in Ukraine and we appreciate this opportunity to support and mentor these fine lawyers across our firm," said Richard A. Rosenbaum, Executive Chairman of Greenberg Traurig. When this war successfully ends, we also look forward to playing a role in helping to rebuild this country through our deep global experience in real estate, infrastructure, finance, M&A, capital markets, investment funds, disputes, and other areas, and expect to build on our relationships with Avellum in doing so.

We are extremely grateful to Greenberg Traurig for their invaluable support of our lawyers and our firm in these hard times. We hope that this war will be over soon and all of us will be happy to work hard on rebuilding Ukraine, said Mykola Stetsenko, Managing Partner of Avellum.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2400 attorneys in 42 locations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm, often recognized for its focus on philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono, reported gross revenue of over $2 Billion for FY 2021. The firm is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law 100, Am Law Global 100, NLJ 250, and Law360 (US) 400. On the debut 2022 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard, it is a Top 15 firm. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab and net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com.
Mark S. Weprin, a shareholder in the Government Law & Policy Practice of global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLPs New York office, has been elected to the board of directors of New Yorkers for Parks.

According to the organizations mission statement, For more than 100 years, New Yorkers for Parks has been the champion for the creation, protection, and care of the citys treasured parks and open spaces. We serve, represent and engage all New Yorkers, in all neighborhoods, who value our green environment  spaces that are essential to the quality of life in our great city.

Weprin represents clients in legislative and regulatory matters at various levels of government. He focuses on representing the New York real estate industry as well as important corporate and not for profit organizations. Prior to joining Greenberg Traurig, Weprin served as deputy secretary of legislative affairs for Andrew Cuomo, New York State governor, in addition to having served as a member of the New York City Council. He also served 15 years in the New York State Assembly.

About Greenberg Traurigs Government Law & Policy Practice: Greenberg Traurigs Government Law & Policy Practice combines the capabilities of its Federal Practice in Washington D.C. with its state and local practices across the country. The firms national team of governmental affairs professionals and attorneys spans major political and commercial capitals throughout the United States, including Albany, Austin, Denver, Las Vegas, New York City, Philadelphia, Sacramento, Tallahassee, and Washington, D.C. Most recently, Greenberg Traurigs Government Law & Policy team was Top Listed for Government Relations in Best Lawyers in Americas 2018 edition. The team was also named Law Firm of the Year for Government Relations by the U.S. News-Best Lawyers 2014 edition of "Best Law Firms." The practice also received the most first-tier Government Relations rankings in the U.S.

About Greenberg Traurig: Greenberg Traurig, LLP has more than 2400 attorneys in 42 locations in the United States, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. The firm, often recognized for its focus on philanthropic giving, innovation, diversity, and pro bono, reported gross revenue of over $2 Billion for FY 2021. The firm is consistently among the top firms on the Am Law 100, Am Law Global 100, NLJ 250, and Law360 (US) 400. On the debut 2022 Law360 Pulse Leaderboard, it is a Top 15 firm. Greenberg Traurig is Mansfield Rule 4.0 Certified Plus by The Diversity Lab and net carbon neutral with respect to its office energy usage. Web: http://www.gtlaw.com.
At Samsung we value our partnership with GRUBBRR and the ideas they bring to the table. Over the course of the last year, GRUBBRR demonstrated their dedication to creating innovative Kiosk solutions to support customers.

GRUBBRR, the industry-leading provider of self-ordering technologies that are revolutionizing the way commerce is transacted globally, announced today that it has been named Food & Beverage Emerging Technology Partner of the Year by Samsung Electronics America at Samsungs annual V/X showcase. Samsungs awards program highlights the many contributions that the companys partners make to the display and mobile industry.

GRUBBRR first partnered with Samsung in June 2021 when Samsung expanded the release of their All-In-One Kiosk. In addition to the kiosks, Samsung consumers can integrate their existing ecosystem with GRUBBRRs smart digital menu boards, kitchen display systems (KDS), and food lockers to further revolutionize their business. GRUBBRRs technology can be found in QSRs across the country, from smaller mom-and-pop shops to major chains including BurgerFi, Capriottis, Duck Donuts and more.

The past two years have been particularly challenging for the food & beverage industry. Technology and innovation have been crucial to the survival of many restaurants across the country, said Sam Zietz, CEO of GRUBBRR. Were thrilled that our partnership with Samsung has made it possible for restaurant owners to not just survive, but to thrive during the unprecedented challenges.

We are incredibly proud to be recognized as Samsungs Food & Beverage Emerging Technology Partner of the Year, said Bhavin Asher, Founder and CTO of GRUBBRR. This award is a testament to our capabilities and what weve been able to bring to the industry. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Samsung and bringing more technology solutions to the industry as the sector continues to evolve and adapt.

The past two years saw unprecedented challenges for companies across the board, making it critical for them to stay agile and pivot where needed to continue operating. Samsungs distinguished partners supported customers throughout these challenges and consistently delivered excellent service  all while growing and flourishing in the face of adversity.

At Samsung we value our partnership with GRUBBRR and the ideas they bring to the table. Over the course of the last year, GRUBBRR demonstrated their dedication to creating innovative Kiosk solutions to support customers, said Chris Mertens, Vice President of US Sales, Displays. We are pleased to show our gratitude and honor GRUBBRR for their hard work, and are excited to continue our partnership.

About GRUBBRR

Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, GRUBBRR is a global self-ordering solutions and POS systems provider at the forefront of self-ordering technologies. GRUBBRRs award-winning eco-system, including kiosks, mobile ordering, POS, online ordering, KDS, contactless smart lockers and more, are proven to help businesses maximize revenue, decrease labor costs, and increase operational efficiency while improving the consumer experience. GRUBBRRs solutions are adaptable and beneficial to a multitude of businesses, and power both enterprise-level and small and medium businesses across verticals such as quick-service restaurants, fast casual restaurants, stadiums, movie theaters, casinos, micro-markets, retail, and more. To learn more about GRUBBRR and its products, visit https://grubbrr.com/


Happy Daze Logo "At Happy Daze we embrace the convenience economy. We know that speed, selection, and affordability remain paramount for smoke and vape consumers, and that's why we're proud to launch our new same day delivery service with Smokeshopnear.me," said Mike Menias, Co-Owner of Happy Daze.

HappyDaze Smoke & Vape was first founded in 2013 in Frankfort, Illinois, with a simple mission of offering quality products to customers and introducing vaping as a healthier alternative to smoking. Since 2013, the company has grown to a 10 store chain serving customers throughout Chicago, IL, and surrounding areas.

"At Happy Daze we embrace the convenience economy. We know that speed, selection, and affordability remain paramount for smoke and vape consumers, and that's why we're proud to launch our new same day delivery service with Smokeshopnear.me," said Mike Menias, Co-Owner of Happy Daze.

Happy Daze will offer more than 1,000 items for same day delivery, from key smoke and vape staples including rolling papers, glass, cbd, kratom, delta 8, vaporizers, hand pipes, and hookah. Whether customers are midway through their work day and need a vape pen, or simply need some delta 8 to relax from a hard day, shoppers can now access express same day local delivery through one of Happy Daze local delivery websites.

Happy Daze (Bourbonnais)

643 S Main St, Bourbonnais, IL 60914

https://bourbonnais.happydaze.delivery

Phone: (815) 401-7194

Happy Daze (Crestwood)

13229 S Cicero Ave, Crestwood, IL 60418

https://crestwood.happydaze.delivery

Phone: (708) 954-0100

Happy Daze (Frankfort)

7657 W Saint Francis Rd, Frankfort, IL 60423

https://frankfort.happydaze.delivery

Phone: (779) 333-7220

Happy Daze is one of the largest and most respected vape shops in Chicago. Management and store employees always put our customers first and by offering local same day delivery, we are showing we are listening to their needs says Diah Darwish, Co-Owner of Happy Daze. We are incredibly excited to work with Smokeshopnear.me and offer our customers the convenience of local same day delivery.

About HappyDaze

In 2013, Happy Daze founded its first store in Frankfort, Illinois. Happy Daze set out to bring a higher quality and consistency to the industry than what was currently available at the time. Since then, Happy Daze has expanded to 10 stores, and has helped thousands of people quit smoking cigarettes by providing healthier alternatives. Our stores offer the finest curated selection of glass pipes, kratom, delta 8, vaporizers, kits, CBD and tobacco related items, candles, incense, tapestries, glass art, jewelry, and seasonal items. For more information of local delivery, please visit:

https://myhappydaze.com

https://bourbonnais.happydaze.delivery

https://crestwood.happydaze.delivery

https://frankfort.happydaze.delivery

About SmokeShopNear.me

SmokeShopNear.me is the leading smoke and vape directory and on-demand delivery platform for vape enthusiasts and store owners. Founded in 2021, SmokeShopNear.me enables local smoke and vape businesses to address consumers' expectations of ease and immediacy of product discovery and delivery. SmokeShopNear.me is committed to empowering merchants with the tools and technology they need to meet smoke and vape customers' rising expectations for convenience. For more information please visit http://smokeshopnear.me
Image of the virtual auditorium within the JA Inspire event

Junior Achievement North has announced their JA Inspire Virtual Career Expo, which launched through vFairs on March 28, 2022. This virtual career fair has been designed specifically for students in middle and high school to explore career and education opportunities. The free event will be open for students based in Minnesota, North Dakota and western Wisconsin for the remainder of 2022. With the support of teachers, parents, and community partners, we hope to encourage ongoing student participation. Those interested can register through the event site page.

This powerful program, presented by Bank of America, offers middle and high school students the opportunity to gain insight into careers that interest them, find the connection between educational choices and careers, collect information about the education and skills required to be successful in a job, and practice soft skills, all within an immersive and interactive virtual environment. Students and parents can access the portal at any time to browse exhibit booths and webinars, or download career information to reference in the future.

Connecting educators, students, and employers together makes this a powerful event. Were grateful to our presenting sponsor, Bank of America, and the many other partners investing in students. Using vFairs technology allows us to provide information, resources, and opportunities to students across our region. Together, we can positively impact their futures and empower them to become leaders in their communities, says Sara Dziuk, President & CEO of Junior Achievement North.

We are happy to be able to provide the technology where students in Americas Northern regions can discover what meaningful employment might mean to them in the future, and plan their education around around their goals, said Muhammad Younas, CEO of vFairs.

To learn more about the JA Inspire program or to register your students, please visit the event site page.

About JA North

Junior Achievement North has been serving students in Minnesota, North Dakota and western Wisconsin since 1949. They provide students in grades K-12 with financial literacy, career readiness and entrepreneurship education. Programs are implemented by in-person or virtual volunteers who share their skills and experience to motivate and inspire students to succeed. Learn more at http://www.janorth.org.

About vFairs

vFairs strives to deliver top-class virtual events for all audiences, with an intuitive platform that recreates physical events through an immersive online experience. With a range of powerful features and dedicated support for users around the world, vFairs removes the hassle from organizing, exhibiting at, and attending events such as conferences, trade shows, and career fairs. vFairs is a 2021 Mid-Market Leader in the Virtual Event Platforms Category by G2.
Including language in the fiscal 2023 budget that would disallow deductions generated by these transactions signifies the Administrations strong support for halting this abuse while protecting a critical land conservation incentive.

The Land Trust Alliance, a national land conservation organization working to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America, today applauds the Biden Administration for including in its fiscal 2023 budget a proposal that would tackle abuse of the federal tax incentive for conservation easement donations. The following statement can be attributed to Andrew Bowman, president & CEO of the Land Trust Alliance:

"On behalf of the Land Trust Alliance and its nearly 1,000 member land trusts, I applaud the White House for including in its 2023 budget a proposal that mirrors the provisions of the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act. That bipartisan, bicameral legislation supported by the Alliance would effectively halt the egregious abuse of the federal tax incentive for conservation easement donations.

"For too long and at a terrible cost to taxpayers, bad actors have disguised abusive tax shelters as legitimate conservation donations. Including language in the fiscal 2023 budget that would disallow deductions generated by these transactions signifies the Administrations strong support for halting this abuse while protecting a critical land conservation incentive.

"The White House budget reflects a growing determination by the federal government to stop this abuse: Bipartisan members of Congress released a hard-hitting report on the matter in 2020; IRS officials have repeatedly announced increased enforcement actions against bad actors; and the U.S. Department of Justice is pursuing criminal charges, most recently announcing an indictment charging seven individuals with conspiracy to defraud the United States and other crimes arising from their involvement in these deals.

"While these efforts are welcome and necessary, the abuse continues. We urge Congress to pass the Charitable Conservation Easement Program Integrity Act as soon as possible. This bipartisan, bicameral bill is the most effective and expedient way to halt the abuse, protect a critical land conservation incentive and enact safeguards to protect American taxpayers from bad actors who have made millions turning conservation easement donations into profit opportunities.

More information about this issue is available at https://www.landtrustalliance.org/charitable-conservation-easement-program-integrity-act-advocate-toolkit.

About the Land Trust Alliance

Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. The Alliance represents approximately 950 member land trusts supported by more than 250,000 volunteers and 6.3 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and operates several regional offices. More information about the Alliance is available at http://www.landtrustalliance.org.
bestcompaniesaz The virtual event is April 12, 9:00 a.m.  12:00 p.m. and is open to all veterans  active, separated, retired, reserve or guard -- as well as their spouses and significant others. Register by April 1 to access a Veterans Job Prep Package.

BestCompaniesAZ will host its 8th Annual Veteran Business Networking and Career Event in conjunction with Career Connectors. This event brings together Arizonas award-winning, military-friendly companies with veteran business professionals. All Veterans are invited: United States active duty, Reserve or Guard military members, separated military members, military retirees. Spouses/family members are invited to attend at no charge. Registration is required by visiting MilitaryAZ.org

More than 250 veterans and active service members are expected to turn out for this free virtual business-networking event. Military-friendly employers will be there to interact with all attendees, and lead a special Vet Talks presentation, featuring stories of achievement and career success from veteran presenting sponsors: Axon, Cox Communication, Freedom Financial Network, GoDaddy and Workiva. Additional hiring companies include: ADP, American Express, CDW, Deloitte, Desert Financial Credit Union, KUBRA, Sonora Quest Laboratories, Upgrade, Vanguard, Voya Financial. Many of these hiring companies have won recent workplace awards including Military Times Best for Vets Employers, US Veterans Magazines Best of the Best, Diversity Inc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, Top Companies to Work for in Arizona, FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For in America, and more.

Military men and women are often celebrated and recruited for their leadership, team-building, organizational commitment, decision-making skills and advanced technical training skills, says Denise Gredler, founder and CEO of BestCompaniesAZ. We are bringing together top hiring companies, veteran resource groups and actively connect hundreds of qualified veterans with top-notch career opportunities.

Career Connectors is honored to provide and facilitate the interactive virtual platform which allows for high levels of engagement and excitement in knowing the feature employers. said Jessica Pierce, CEO/Founder of Career Connectors. This event is another example of Arizonas commitment to helping veterans and military spouses build a great civilian career with one of Arizonas veteran committed employers.

The virtual event is April 12, 9:00 a.m.  12:00 p.m. and is open to all veterans  active, separated, retired, reserve or guard -- as well as their spouses and significant others.

Register early at militaryaz.org for event details, companies hiring, open positions, and career resources. Register before April 1, 2022 to access a Veterans Job Prep Package, which includes a Red Hot Resumes Webinar, a one-on-one resume review and a one-on-one mock interview session.

Arizona companies or veteran organizations interested in helping promote this event, contact Denise Gredler at dgredler@bestcompaniesAZ.com or call 480-545-5151 by April 11, 2022.

###

About BestCompaniesAZ:

BestCompaniesAZ specializes in helping corporate clients develop, strengthen and market their unique employer brands through a variety of digital marketing, events, and award programs. Founded in 2002, BestCompaniesAZ pioneered the intersection of recruiting, human resources, marketing, and public relations and has evolved into an exclusive, niche PR, marketing and employer branding firm that specializes in building and promoting strong employer brands. For more information, visit https://BestCompaniesAZ.com, or call 480-545-5151.

About Career Connectors

Career Connectors is innovating how people land careers and how employers build talent. As Arizona's fastest-growing employment services program, check out our unparalleled breadth of offerings @ CareerConnectors.org, or call 480-442-5806.
Physician assistant Wayne Emineth brings more than 30 years of dermatology experience to Olansky Dermatology & Aesthetics. Accomplished physician assistants are invaluable, says Dr. Jodi Ganz, managing partner of Olansky Dermatology & Aesthetics. Thats why were thrilled to align ourselves with a PA of Wayne Emineths caliber. His skills and expertise give patients yet another reason to choose Olansky.

Olansky Dermatology & Aesthetics  Atlantas premier full-service dermatology practice  prides itself on amassing a roster of outstanding dermatologic providers. This tradition continues as the practice welcomes Wayne Emineth, an acclaimed physician assistant with more than 30 years of dermatology experience.

Olansky Dermatology & Aesthetics is a standout among the citys healthcare landscape, says Emineth. Its a privilege to bring my experience and background to the Olansky team, and join the practices mission to deliver best-in-class care to its patients.

Emineth specializes in medical dermatology with an emphasis on psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis, severe atopic dermatitis/eczema, lichen planus, drug rashes, severe acne, and other complex dermatologic and autoimmune conditions. He has vast knowledge treating these conditions using biologic medications, and he has experience as an investigator in studies of biologic medications.

He is one of the most experienced providers in the United States at clearing resistant/recalcitrant warts/verrucae. Additionally, Emineth has extensive experience treating skin infections like MRSA, abscesses, mycobacteria, and shingles, as well as systemic viral and bacterial skin eruptions/rashes.

Emineth has great proficiency with dermoscopy, the use of a handheld skin surface microscope to examine skin lesions and moles to discern and identify atypical lesions for biopsy. He has extensive dermatology surgery experience.

Most recently, he authored a chapter in the textbook Dermatology for Advanced Practice Clinicians.

Accomplished physician assistants are invaluable, says Dr. Jodi Ganz, managing partner of Olansky Dermatology & Aesthetics. Thats why were thrilled to align ourselves with a PA of Wayne Emineths caliber. His skills and expertise give patients yet another reason to choose Olansky.

Beginning April 11, Wayne will see patients at the Roswell (11755 Pointe Place, Suite B

Roswell) and Buckhead (3379 Peachtree Road N.E., Suite 500, Atlanta) locations.

To schedule an appointment with the experts at Olansky Dermatology & Aesthetics, visit OlanksyDermatology.com or call 404-355-5484.

Olansky Dermatology & Aesthetics is your dermatology solution. Our ability to provide full-service dermatology to patients of all ages is a distinct benefit to choosing our 40-year-old practice. We offer medical, surgical, cosmetic, and aesthetic services to our patients, and even same-day appointments when possible. This makes us not only a convenient solution for your family, but a comprehensive one as well. With services ranging from our in-house Mohs surgery for skin cancer, advanced laser therapy for psoriasis or our aesthetic services for skin rejuvenation, Olansky Dermatology & Aesthetics can handle all of your skin concerns. For more details, visit our website at OlanskyDermatology.com or call 404-591-4314.

Interviews are available upon request.


JUBA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations relief agency on Thursday appealed for 1.7 billion U.S. dollars to address the humanitarian needs of 6.8 million most vulnerable South Sudanese in 2022.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) called on donors to fund the South Sudan Humanitarian Response Plan for 2022/2023 to help the affected populations with urgent life-saving assistance and protection.

Sara Beysolow Nyanti, the humanitarian coordinator for South Sudan said some 8.9 million people in South Sudan are estimated to have significant humanitarian needs in 2022.

"The cumulative and compounding effects of years of climate-related shocks such as flooding and drought, conflict and subnational violence have destroyed people's homes and livelihoods, robbing them of the future they deserve," Nyanti said in a statement issued in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

The UN agency said there are over two million people displaced in South Sudan, many of whom have been displaced for years.

It warned that an estimated 8.3 million people, including refugees, are expected to experience severe food insecurity by the peak of the lean season from May to July.

OCHA said large-scale flooding for the fourth year in a row is expected, with the destruction and displacement that comes with it.

In 2021, the UN said more than 5.3 million people were assisted with food, health, water and sanitation, education, livelihoods, nutrition as well as critical protection services in the country.

Nyanti said the 2022/2023 Plan reflects the humanitarian commitment to protect vulnerable people, especially women and girls, the elderly and those with ability challenges. 
Putting tax returns towards a project such as new siding, insulation, or roof repair can pay for itself in value."

With tax season right around the corner, Sam Boak, president and founder of Boak & Sons, Inc. is encouraging both customers and employees to invest their tax returns into their homes. Sam Boak has been a long-time investor with multiple real-estate properties that he maintains and oversees. He continuously encourages his employees to come to him for financial counseling when needed, and with tax returns starting to hit peoples bank accounts, he hopes to have a positive influence on both his employees and customers by helping to show them how to wisely invest their returns into improvements on their homes and commercial buildings.

The pandemic has given everyone plenty of time at home to start thinking about what improvements theyd like to make around the house, says Boak. Putting tax returns towards a project such as new siding, insulation, or roof repair can pay for itself in value. You might not only increase the value of your property, but you could also lower future expenses, such as heating and cooling costs.

According to the Yahoo Finance, the average tax return in the state of Ohio in 2020 totaled $2,510. In Pennsylvania, the average was $2,623. To see a full list of average returns by state, visit the Yahoo Finance website. These returns can cover a large amount of many services provided by Boak & Sons, if not the entire project. Ohio and Pennsylvania fall under Boak & Sons service area for roofing and insulation, but Boak says this advice is valuable to anyone, whether they are a Boak & Sons customer or not. Boak also says that amount of money can make a huge difference in the cost of a home or commercial exterior contracting project.

COVID-19 continues to keep many people at home, giving us all time to take note of any projects that might need done, said Boak. Tax season has always been a popular time for scheduling projects, but even more so after the pandemic. I highly encourage any home or business owner to take advantage of these lump sums to make these improvements to their properties.

Chris White, vice president of operations at Boak & Sons says reinvesting your tax dollars in your home can increase its value by more than your investment; it makes sense to protect your largest investment which is your home.

Boak & Sons is a residential and commercial exterior contracting company in Youngstown, Ohio, specializing in the installation and repair of gutters, roofing, insulation, and sheet metal. The company serves customers from Cleveland, Ohio to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

For more information about Sam Boak or Boak & Sons, Inc., visit http://www.boakandsons.com or call their office at 330-793-5646.

# # #

About Boak & Sons:

Boak & Sons, Inc. was founded by Sam Boak in 1974 as an insulation contractor. With the high energy costs of the 70's, Boak & Sons expanded early on into the roofing business. They offered economical roof installations through cutting edge technology and equipment, allowing customers to recoup even more in energy savings. Today, Boak & Sons is a residential and commercial contractor for roofing, insulation, sheet metal, siding, and gutters. Based in Youngstown, Ohio, the company serves customers in surrounding areas from Cleveland, Akron, and Canton to Cranberry and Pittsburgh. For more information on Boak & Sons, visit their website at: https://www.boakandsons.com/
The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in White Plains, N.Y. Our Environmental Law Program is known globally for its impact on environmental law and policy. Its continued Number 1 ranking reflects the extraordinary depth and breadth of our program and its ongoing focus on innovation. -Pace President Marvin Krislov

Pace Universitys Elisabeth Haub School of Law is once again ranked number one in the country for Environmental Law by the latest U.S. News and World Report rankings, released today.

This is the second year in a row, and the third time in four years, that Haub Law has received the number one ranking for Environmental Law, marking the latest major success for the schools Environmental Law Program. Consistently rated among the very best in the country, the program continues to recruit top faculty, establish leading-edge programs to address the most pressing environmental challenges, and attract students who seek to become the environmental law leaders of the future.

Our Environmental Law Program is known globally for its impact on environmental law and policy, said Pace University President Marvin Krislov. Its continued Number 1 ranking reflects the extraordinary depth and breadth of our program and its ongoing focus on innovation. Congratulations to the faculty, staff, students, and alumni of the Elisabeth Haub School of Law on this recognition, and many thanks to the Haub family for their ongoing commitment to the environment and to our law school.

The Environmental Law Program is widely known for signature programs including the Environmental Litigation Clinic, the Food and Beverage Law Clinic, and the Jeffrey G. Miller National Environmental Law Moot Court Competition. Recently, the program also initiated the Environmental Law and Policy Hack Competition for law schools throughout the country. This year, the Law School launched the Sustainable Business Law Hub, which will create opportunities for training, policy, and research that addresses global environmental challenges. The Law School also hosts lectures and panels throughout the year featuring environmental scholars, advocates, and policymakers, and it recognizes leading international environmentalists through the annual presentation of the Elisabeth Haub Award for Environmental Law and Diplomacy, considered one of the worlds most distinguished awards in the field of environmental law.

"I am thrilled that the work of our Environmental Law Program has been recognized by U.S. News and World Report for the second year in a row with a number-one ranking," said Jason J. Czarnezki, Kerlin Distinguished Professor of Environmental Law and Associate Dean and Executive Director of Environmental Law Programs. "Our program prepares students to hit the ground running once they graduate and begin their careers as environmental lawyers in law firms, non-profits, environmental NGOs, companies and government agencies.

Haub Law offers more than 40 environmental law courses. Students can research emerging areas of environmental law through the Environmental Law Programs various centers and institutes, including the Pace Energy & Climate Center and the Land Use Law Center, and can directly represent clients through the Environmental Litigation Clinic and the Food and Beverage Law Clinic.

Haub Law is one of only two law schools worldwide to be a member of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which provides students with the opportunity to draft memoranda, debate issues, and attend IUCN meetings, including the World Conservation Congress and U.S. National Committee meetings. The Law School is also Co-Secretariat to the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law, helping to nurture environmental legal education and promote the conceptual development of environmental law internationally. Through the United Nations Diplomacy Practicum, students provide assistance to UN country Missions by attending their meetings and preparing research on issues such as climate change, renewable energy, fisheries protection, and forest management. These opportunities provide Haub Law students with the tools they need to be national and international leaders in environmental law.

The Elisabeth Haub School of Laws Dispute Resolution program also rose significantly in the rankings this year, moving up to number 32 from number 67 last year. Haub Law is proud to offer students a wide variety of ADR classes, ranging from Environmental Dispute Resolution to the endowed Amelia Gould Representation in Mediation Clinic, and is a founder of the William C. Vis International Commercial Arbitration Moot. The Schools part-time program increased in the rankings as well, moving up to number 47, a significant increase from prior years rankings. This improvement reflects Haub Laws expansion of its part-time program with flexible scheduling options that enable working professionals and others to take their core law school classes on the evenings and weekends.

Additionally, Haub Laws impressive trial advocacy program once again ranked in the top 15% of law schools, coming in at number 26 this year. Over the last few years, Haub Law has had 28+ Mock Trial and Moot Court Teams, with an average of over 124 student participants on these teams as a whole. The Law Schools Mock Trial and Moot Court teams regularly place at or near the top in competitions. In the fall of 2021, Haub Law hosted its first Advocate in Residence, Gillian More, a lifelong prosecutor with a worldwide reputation in advocacy.

Since its founding decades ago, our Environmental Law Program has been at the forefront of training the environmental leaders and advocates of tomorrow, said Dean Horace E. Anderson Jr. We are very proud of the leadership positions that our alumni have attained at government agencies, law firms, and NGOs, and of our programs consistent recognition as being at the pinnacle of the field. We are also pleased with the strong rankings for our Dispute Resolution program, our Trial Advocacy Program, and our part-time program. I am proud of the work we have done and continue to do each day at Haub Law to provide our students with a stellar legal education.

About Elisabeth Haub School of Law

Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University offers JD and Masters of Law (LLM) degrees in both Environmental and International Law, as well as a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) in Environmental Law. The School, housed on the Universitys campus in White Plains, N.Y., opened its doors in 1976 and has more than 9,000 alumni around the world. The School maintains a unique philosophy and approach to legal education that strikes an important balance between practice and theory. Haub Law launched its Environmental Law Program in 1978, and it has long been ranked among the worlds leading university programs, with a current #1 ranking by U.S. News & World Report. Paces doctoral graduates teach environmental law at universities around the world. Paces JD alumni are prominent in environmental law firms, agencies and non-profit organizations across the U.S. and abroad. In 2016, the Law School received a transformational gift from the family of Elisabeth Haub, in recognition of its outstanding environmental law programs. For more information about Haub Law, visit https://law.pace.edu


Ryan Howard, National Partner Manager for RapidScale RapidScales goals and priorities of empowering partners certainly align with mine as I continue to earn the trust and confidence of partners that I do business with.

RapidScale, a Cox Business company, welcomes Ryan Howard to the team as a National Partner Manager. Reporting to Director of Sales, East Brian Baker, Howard is responsible for growing RapidScales partner program and developing strategic partnerships with technology distributors and trusted advisors in the channel throughout the U.S. He will be supporting RapidScale cloud solutions consultants in developing go-to-market strategies with strategic partners.

We look forward to working with a channel sales veteran to provide continued support and development of our national channel program, said Baker. Ryan has an impressive track record of establishing meaningful industry relationships and meeting the unique business needs of channel partners. He has a great understanding of the market and is skilled at maximizing the efficiencies of his partners businesses.

Howard has over 15 years of experience building channel programs, driving revenue by working to solve mutual business problems with technology solutions and IT services. He has extensive knowledge in IT hardware, software, and consulting services. Howard has worked closely with value-added resellers, manufacturers, and service providers, and his sales leadership has helped accelerate partner ecosystems and strategic alliances. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in History with a concentration in Philosophy which he finds helps in all aspects of business and life.

RapidScales goals and priorities of empowering partners certainly align with mine as I continue to earn the trust and confidence of partners that I do business with, said Howard. Im looking forward to sharing my consultative skills, sales knowledge, and technical expertise within the channel and generating more cloud revenue through our managed cloud services.

About RapidScale

For IT and business leaders looking to scale, secure, and simplify their IT, RapidScale, a Cox Business Company, is the next-generation managed cloud services provider that aggregates best-in-class cloud technology under a single management portal, enabling IT to accomplish more and providing an exceptional end-user experience. By delivering simple and secure access to company data and applications from anywhere, any time, on any device, RapidScale sets itself apart from other cloud providers through its team of technology experts, award-winning end-user customer support, flexible co-management options, and easy-to-use management portal. For more information on RapidScale, visit http://www.rapidscale.net.

About Cox Business

Cox Communications owns Cox Business and is a facilities-based provider of voice, video, and data solutions for commercial customers. More information about Cox Communications, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at http://www.cox.com.

The commercial division of Cox Communications, Cox Business, provides voice, data, and video services for more than 355,000 small and regional businesses nationwide, including health care providers, K12 and higher education; financial institutions; and federal, state and local government organizations. The organization also serves most of the top-tier wireless and wireline telecommunications carriers in the U.S. through its wholesale division. For more information, please visit http://www.coxbusiness.com.

Media Contact

Nikki Salazar

RapidScale, a Cox Business Company

nikki.salazar@rapidscale.net
"Our team took a data-driven approach to the hackathon exercise, using the anomaly detection tools in our AI-powered identity forensics solution."  Martin Rehak, CEO of Resistant AI

Resistant AI, a company dedicated to protecting and safeguarding automated financial services, was awarded Digital Crime Fighter of the Year, for winning the inaugural hackathon challenge at the recent ACAMS Hollywood conference in Florida last week. The hackathon participants were given a large and complex synthetic dataset with more than a million rows that included customer information, wires, credit card and ATM activity and tasked to uncover potential human trafficking activity.

The Resistant AI solution won by quickly assessing data and uncovering anomalous patterns to detect behaviors indicative of human trafficking offences. While its almost impossible to measure the scope and scale of human trafficking, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), there are over 40 million victims of modern slavery worldwide. The prevalence of human trafficking was highlighted further in recent months, as reports circulate of traffickers targeting vulnerable women and children fleeing the crisis in Ukraine.

The hackathon, sponsored by PwC, represents an urgent need to use intelligence in the fight against financial crimes that reach far and wide around the world. Judges for the event were Jim Candelmo, chief bank secrecy act and AML sanctions officer at PNC; Melissa Strait, chief compliance officer at Coinbase; and Scott Nathan, head of AML transaction monitoring at Citi.

The teams participating were nothing short of incredible, said Vikas Agarwa, partner at PwC, Financial Crime Unit Leader. Each group demonstrated multiple unique approaches and attacks -- each of them focused on how, through purpose and innovation, they quickly identified some or all elements of our hidden human trafficking data.

Resistant AI analyzes the hidden relationships between identities and transactions to draw a better decision boundary between legitimate and criminal activities, said Martin Rehak, CEO of Resistant AI. Our team took a data-driven approach to the hackathon exercise, using the anomaly detection tools in our AI-powered identity forensics solution.

Resistant AIs advanced analytics solution helped the hackathon team more effectively pinpoint anomalous and suspicious behaviors and also uncover previously undetected patterns. Through a variety of machine learning techniques, the team produced results that uncovered the chain of human trafficking activity.

The challenge is that many organizations are still relying on traditional scenarios or rule-based systems to find and root out suspicious behavior. While these systems act as a useful baseline, they only look for scenarios that are known as suspicious, and miss the unknown patterns of behavior. Even when new patterns are detected, there is a delay in defining rules that will detect those patterns in the future. The volumes of alerts and false positive rates of traditional systems also make it extremely difficult for investigators to identify true risk amid the noise.

Congrats to the winner, Resistant AI, that showcased the power of innovation with tangible, data driven approaches to uncovering unusual, high-risk behaviors indicative of human trafficking across large complex data sets, said Scott Nathan, head of AML Transaction Monitoring at Citi. Gone are the days of multi-year, linear transaction monitoring system implementations. Today its all about customer interactions across multi-dimensional data constructs (internal and external), agile development, and the confidence to fail-fast while processing petabytes of data at scale.

To learn more about the Resistant AI or to schedule a demo, contact sales@resistant.ai

About Resistant AI

Founded in 2019, Resistant AI uses AI and machine learning to provide identity forensic solutions that protect automated financial services from fraud and manipulation, including customer onboarding, credit scoring, AML and existing fraud detection systems. The Resistant AI founding team has a deep background in machine learning, artificial intelligence and computer security with more than 15 years of experience applying AI in the computer security domain. Backed by GV (formerly Google Ventures), Index Ventures, Credo Ventures, Seedcamp and several angel investors specializing in financial technology and security, Resistant AI is headquartered in Prague with offices in London and New York. Visit https://resistant.ai to learn more.
We are so excited to invite the local Reston community to Roers Zoofari for this years Easter Eggstravaganza.

With the Spring season in full bloom, Roers Zoofari is celebrating the upcoming Easter holiday with two weekends filled with fun activities and animal encounters for the whole family. From 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on April 9th, 10th, 16th, and 17th, guests are invited to the zoo for Easter festivities and up-close experiences with wildlife.

We are so excited to invite the local Reston community to Roers Zoofari for this years Easter Eggstravaganza, said Roers Zoofari CEO Vanessa Roer. As the weather gets warmer, were looking forward to welcoming families across the DMV to enjoy all of the outdoor activities we have to offer.

This years Easter Eggstravaganza schedule is stacked with events and animal encounters perfect for all ages. Visitors can enjoy face painting and temporary tattoos, a moon bounce, and arts and crafts tables set up throughout the pavilion area. Easter egg run races will be held every hour from 10am to 4pm, and on Sundays, guests can join a special one-hour Easter bunny paint session.

Each day at 1:15 pm, visitors can watch the Easter Parade, featuring bunnies, a corn snake, a kangaroo, baby sheep, and more wildlife animals throughout the zoos newest Africa Exhibit.

For adults coming with family and friends, Roers Zoofari is hosting a special adult Easter egg hunt. Participants who find the medium-sized eggs hidden throughout the park have the chance to spin a wheel to win exciting prizes.

To select a timeslot and view ticket prices for adults, children, and season pass holders, click here.

For more information on the Easter Eggstravaganza, please visit https://www.roerszoofari.com/easter-2022/.

About Roers Zoofari

Roers Zoofari is a Zoological Association of America and American Humane accredited petting zoo and safari experience in Reston, Virginia that provides opportunities for visitors to discover and connect with animals through education and hands-on interactions. Roers Zoofari is home to around 500 animals across 73 species of mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, arachnid, and butterfly. For more information on how to visit the zoo, visit http://www.roerszoofari.com.


SGF invites information seekers to join SGF physicians for 10 free, virtual fertility events in support of National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW) from April 25 through April 30, 2022. During NIAW, I invite you to join me for the IVF webinar to gain a better understanding of the IVF process, success rates, and financial programs available to SGF patients.

Shady Grove Fertility (SGF), recognizes National Infertility Awareness Week (NIAW) by hosting ten free, virtual fertility events from April 25 through April 30, 2022. Information seekers are welcome to attend as many events as they wish. Even if theyre not able to attend the live event, SGF encourages attendees to register anyway to receive a follow-up link of the recording.

NIAW is a yearly initiative founded by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, to encourage people to act as their own infertility advocates and to educate legislators and the public about the impact of infertility within our community.

As a home to more than 100,000 babies born to parents overcoming infertility, SGF partners with RESOLVE to further its mission of broadening awareness of infertility and support those facing infertility with compassionate support and information.

For information seekers looking to learn more about the IVF process, Celso Silva, M.D., who sees patients at SGFs Tampa  Westshore, Florida, office, will host an IVF webinar on April 28 at 3 p.m. ET.

While infertility can be lonely and stressful, we are here to connect with our patients and provide them informational resources to offer support and relieve stress, shares Dr. Silva, During NIAW, I invite you to join me for the IVF webinar to gain a better understanding of the IVF process, success rates, and financial programs available to SGF patients.

Among the 10 free, virtual fertility events in April, the webinars about polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and endometriosis hosted by SGF physicians Jennifer Hsu, M.D., and Anate Brauer, M.D., are new to the lineup of webinars this year to offer information about symptoms, diagnoses, and treatments of two of the most common conditions that can impact fertility.

NIAW 2022 events at-a-glance



While SGF fertility webinars are complimentary, interested parties must register to attend by visiting the SGF calendar of events. For more information, visit SGFs growing resource library for free, on-demand webinars, E-books, and other education resources on topics such as endometriosis, PCOS, low-tech treatment options, weight and infertility, and much more. Follow SGF on Facebook and Instagram for the latest updates and events.

For people struggling to conceive, it may be time to consult a fertility specialist. Contact the SGF New Patient Center at 1-888-761-1967 or complete a brief online request form to schedule a virtual fertility consult with an SGF physician. A virtual physician consult is the first step toward pursuing a pregnancy with the help of SGF.

About Shady Grove Fertility (SGF)

SGF is a leading fertility and IVF center of excellence with more than 100,000 babies born and 5,000+ 5-star patient reviews. With 47 locations, including new locations in Colorado and Norfolk, VA, as well as throughout CO, FL, GA, MD, NY, PA, TX, VA, D.C., and Santiago, Chile, SGF offers patients virtual physician consults, delivers individualized care, accepts most insurance plans, and makes treatment affordable through innovative financial options, including 100% refund guarantees. More physicians refer their patients to SGF than any other center. SGF is among the founding partner practices of US Fertility, the largest physician-led partnership of top-tier fertility practices in the U.S. Call 1-888-761-1967 or visit ShadyGroveFertility.com.
IMAPAC is hosting three conferences from the 29th to the 31st of March, 2022, for leading biopharma companies to discuss the future of vaccines. These are the 9th Annual Biologics Manufacturing Asia 2022 Conference, the 6th Annual BioLogistics World Asia 2022 Conference, and the Asia-Pacific Bioprocessing Excellence Awards 2022. While the conferences will take place from the 29th to the 31st of March, the awards will take place on the 29th and 30th of March.

At these events, over 400 leading personnel from the biopharmaceutical manufacturing and logistics industries will be there in person at the Suntec Convention Center, Singapore. The organization is hosting these events in response to the need to discuss vaccine development, key challenges in biologics & vaccine manufacturing, best practices in upstream processing, cost reduction in downstream processing, single-use technologies, and biologics development management. They will discuss these topics in the form of presentations, and with exhibitions about the latest solutions. This will foster growth and development in the industry in Singapore, which is positioning itself as a biopharmaceutical leader.

As these topics are quite relevant globally, the hosts have partnered with vFairs to accommodate over a 1,000 virtual attendees at these events. This will enhance the impact of these events, and make them accessible for a wider audience.

Aloysius Chong, Project Manager at IMAPAC shared a welcome message stating, Welcome to the Asia Pacific's most bioprocessing-focused & vein-to-vein logistics conference for biologics and vaccines.

Muhammad Younas, CEO & Founder at vFairs, added, Biopharmaceuticals is an exciting field, especially in this world where we know how important vaccines are. vFairs is proud to be the technology partner for IMAPAC at this truly innovative series of events.

Virtual attendees can access these events at their respective home pages:



About IMAPAC

IMAPAC Pte Ltd started in Singapore in 2010 with providing quality conference and networking opportunities for businesses in the life science industry. As it has expanded its portfolio by venturing into market research reports, webcasts, and digital solutions, it has now become the one-stop solution for business intelligence and networking activities in the life science industry.

Over the past 3 to 5 years IMAPAC has launched multiple new projects and even moved into newer geographies. In 2017 IMAPAC launched the Logistics portfolio with conferences inSingapore and Korea. In 2018 IMAPAC launched the first event in Northern Europe with a very successful launch of the Biologics World Nordics catering to the Scandinavian market. IMAPAC has also moved the Biologics Manufacturing Asia from China to Singapore and it is now the flagship show for the Industry in Singapore with over 40 exhibitors and 500 attendees. Lastly continuing on our geographic expansion in 2019 IMAPAC has moved into the Japan market with the launch of the Biologics Manufacturing Japan.

We have also launched our market research division in 2019 where we are producing bespoke market Intelligence reports and real-time trackers on the different segments in the Life Science industry. Additionally we have launched our LeadGen 360 digital solutions in aiding the biopharma and life science companies to create brand awareness, generate high quality leads and do top-notch product launches.

About vFairs

vFairs is a virtual & hybrid events platform that helps organizations reach global audiences. We help organizations of all sizes host amazing online conferences, trade shows, job fairs & more. The platform offers an intuitive virtual experience along with interactive features such as audio/video chat, excellent scalability, and several customization options.
Congratulations to Marc and Kirk on this distinguished recognition from Supply & Demand Chain Executive.

Smith, a leading global distributor of electronic components and semiconductors, today announces that Marc Barnhill, Chief Trading Officer, and Kirk Wehby, Chief Operating Officer, have been named among the winners of the 2022 Pros to Know award from Supply & Demand Chain Executive. The award recognizes supply chain executives whose accomplishments guide the industry and its people toward success and resiliency.

Congratulations to Marc and Kirk on this distinguished recognition from Supply & Demand Chain Executive, said Bob Ackerley, Co-Founder and Director at Smith. Their commitment to innovation and growth has helped propel Smith onward and upward as we continue to provide tailored and effective solutions to our customers, who are facing unprecedented supply chain challenges as a result of the ongoing shortage situation.

As Chief Trading Officer, Marc leads Smiths global sales, purchasing, and business development efforts. He joined the company as a buyer in 1990 and has since held numerous management roles, including establishing Smiths distributor sales division and managing the companys top sales team, before being promoted to his current role in 2007. During his tenure, Marc has been instrumental in growing the companys annual revenue from $300 million to $3.4 billion, more than doubling its global office count, and developing custom supply chain solutions and inventory-management programs for the constantly evolving electronics industry.

Kirk joined Smith as Vice President of Global Operations in 2008 and was named Chief Operating Officer in 2014. In this role, Kirk leads Smiths global operations, quality, logistics, security, and facilities using a comprehensive, systems-based approach to guide the companys operational excellence. In 2021, Kirk oversaw a 60-percent increase in the companys operations workforce, a 30,000-square-foot expansion of its Hong Kong distribution hub, and a multimillion-dollar investment in equipment and process automation.

Kirk and Marc have been exemplary leaders  both at Smith and within the greater supply chain industry  for many years, said Lee Ackerley, Co-Founder and Director at Smith. We are so grateful for their passion, knowledge, and dedication, which have helped shape our company and our people to be the best in the business.

About Smith

Founded in 1984, Smith sources, manages, and distributes the electronic components that go into everything from mobile phones and computers to appliances and directional drilling systems. In 17 cities around the world, Smiths legion of employees communicates in 50 languages and dialects and buys and sells components 24 hours per day, generating global annual sales in excess of $3.4 billion in 2021. Smith is always moving: helping manufacturers navigate market shifts; customizing supply chain solutions; testing components using cutting-edge technology. The support of Smiths flexible Intelligent DistributionTM model optimizes customers supply chains from beginning to end, including offering customized options for IT asset disposition that deliver maximum ROI, sustainability, and security. Smiths testing and logistics hubs in Houston, Hong Kong, and Amsterdam cover critical areas like quality management, counterfeit prevention, and environmental safety. Smiths operations, purchasing, and sales worldwide are seamlessly integrated with the companys global IT infrastructure, offering real-time, global inventory and logistics visibility. Smith is the leading independent distributor of electronic components and ranks number eight among all global distributors. For more information, please visit http://www.smithweb.com or reach out to a Smith representative any time of day at +1 713.430.3000.

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2022 Volkswagen ID.4 Vs. 2022 Tesla Model Y The latest comparisons to be added to the dealerships website offer a closer look at how the 2022 Volkswagen ID.4 compares to the 2022 Tesla Model Y and how the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan fairs against the 2022 Kia Sorento.

Shopping for a new vehicle can have its challenges. With so many new cars, crossovers and SUVs to choose from, a drivers decision can be difficult and confusing if they dont have the information they need to make an informed buying decision. A Southern California dealership, Herman Cook Volkswagen, is helping its local customers learn more about how some of their vehicles stack up against their competitors by adding informative model comparison pages to its website. With these side-by-side comparisons, shoppers will have the knowledge they need to make a confident decision. The latest comparisons to be added to the dealerships website offer a closer look at how the 2022 Volkswagen ID.4 compares to the 2022 Tesla Model Y and how the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan fairs against the 2022 Kia Sorento.

The 2022 Volkswagen ID.4 versus the 2022 Tesla Model Y comparison page offers a closer and more detailed look at the how these new electric SUVs stack up against each other. Information available includes both vehicles MSRP, driving range, all-wheel drive availability, cargo space and much more. The detailed comparison also includes a list of some of the technology and comfort features available in the 2022 Volkswagen ID.4 electric SUV.

The 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan versus 2022 Kia Sorento comparison page gives shoppers the information needed to learn more about both crossover SUVs. Drivers can view both vehicles starting prices, passenger and cargo space, and see what features and options are available in the 2022 Volkswagen Tiguan.

To view either or both Volkswagen model comparison pages, interested drivers are encouraged to visit the Southern California Volkswagen dealerships website by going to http://www.cookvw.com. Shoppers may also contact the dealer to learn more about these new Volkswagen models by calling 855-637-8636 or by driving to 1435 Encinitas Boulevard.
Lisa Simon is the CEO of SPRYTE Communications, a WBENC-certified firm. "WBENC certification has lead to some excellent opportunities with local and state government for SPRYTE Communications, said CEO Lisa Simon, "We look forward to new opportunities in the future, especially as a Tier 2 subcontractor to national healthcare public relations agencies."

SPRYTE Communications, a public relations agency that specializes in healthcare and social service providers, was re-certified as a Women's Business Enterprise this month by Women's Business Enterprise Center (WBEC) East, a regional certifying partner of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC.)

"WBENC certification has lead to some excellent opportunities with local and state government for SPRYTE Communications, said CEO Lisa Simon, "We look forward to new opportunities in the future, especially as a Tier 2 subcontractor to national healthcare public relations agencies."

The WBENC standard of certification is a meticulous process including an in-depth review of the business and site inspection. The certification process is designed to confirm the business is at least 51% owned, operated and controlled by a woman or women.

By including women-owned businesses among women-owned businesses among their suppliers, corporations and government agencies demonstrate their commitment to fostering diversity and the continued development of their supplier diversity programs.

About SPRYTE Communications

SPRYTE delivers corporate communications and consumer public relations services exclusively in healthcare. Hospitals and health systems, institutes of healthcare higher education, social service agencies, hospice and palliative care providers. home care companies. medical practices. health causes and health foundations. SPRYTE works with these healthcare industries. Corporate communications, both internal and external, and hyperlocal consumer earned media are SPRYTEs proven healthcare public relations strengths.

About WBENC

Founded in 1997, WBENC is the nations leader in womens business development and the leading third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women, with more than 17,000 certified Womens Business Enterprises, 14 national Regional Partner Organizations, and more than 350 Corporate Members. More than 1,000 corporations representing Americas most prestigious brands as well as many states, cities, and other entities accept WBENC Certification. For more information, visit http://www.wbenc.org.
TUNIS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Tunisia has foiled four illegal immigration attempts to cross the Mediterranean to the Italian coast, private radio station Shems FM reported Wednesday.

"Units of the Tunisian Maritime Guard have secured on Tuesday night, a total of 88 illegal immigrants of different African nationalities, off the country's eastern coast in four illegal immigration attempts," Shems FM quoted National Guard spokesman Houcemeddine Jbabli as saying.

According to the Tunisian official, these illegal immigrants were handed over to the national guard to complete necessary regulatory procedures. 
Stetson University has a long and impressive history of stepping up in times of crisis, and SPREES places Stetson in a position to advance teaching and learning during the war in Ukraine. Stetson President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD.

Stetson University and faculty in its Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, known as SPREES, announced plans to open its doors to Ukrainian students and faculty displaced by Russias war against Ukraine.

The students will be offered housing, room, board, travel expenses and an opportunity to continue their studies in the United States. A university faculty member or recent PhD from Ukraine will receive a yearlong visiting scholar appointment to the Brown Center for Faculty Innovation and Excellence.

Our SPREES faculty have been speaking and engaging nationally and internationally on Ukraine, and they are uniquely positioned to advance this initiative thanks to their expertise and experience, said Elizabeth Skomp, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of World Languages and Cultures (Russian). A campus-wide working group convened by the Provost [Noel Painter, PhD] will structure the initiative and will seek potential students in the near future, utilizing professional channels and our institutional connections to the School of Russian and Asian Studies (SRAS).

SPREES started in 1958, a year after Sputniks orbit and as the Cold War entered a new era.

[The program] has always focused on the diversity of the region, and with three faculty members who have spent extensive time in Ukraine and love it dearly, we are well-positioned to bring students and faculty to our campus, said Mayhill Fowler, PhD, associate professor of history and director of SPREES. Ukraine is not new to us  we discovered it decades ago. And its our turn to give back.

Fowler is currently teaching graduate students still in Lviv. Also, she is affiliated with the Ivan Franko National University and an affiliated researcher for the Center for Urban History in Lviv.

The efforts of SPREES faculty are aligned with the recommendations of the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) to offer placement for a visiting Ukrainian faculty member, and the universitys faculty and SPREES students are already sponsoring two fundraisers for Ukraine.

Stetson University has a long and impressive history of stepping up in times of crisis, and SPREES places Stetson in a position to advance teaching and learning during the war in Ukraine, said Stetson President Christopher F. Roellke, PhD. It is our responsibility to assist Ukrainian faculty and students who have been forced to become refugees. The deep connection and expertise of our SPREES faculty in Ukraine and Russia are making Stetsons contributions to this global challenge a reality.

The working group will be led by Elizabeth Plantan, PhD, assistant professor of political science and a SPREES faculty member; and Martin Blackwell, PhD, visiting professor of history, director of the First-Year Seminar Program and a SPREES faculty member. Plantan is an expert on the comparative and international politics of China and Russia. Blackwell is an expert on the Soviet period and its aftermath, and he is the author of a monograph on Kyiv. The group will work through the academic, legal and political issues that must be addressed as the initiative moves forward.

Fundraising activities underway:



SPREES students are hosting a Eastern European Slavic folk music workshop and concert on Monday, April 11, at Stetsons campus in DeLand Florida, Tinsley Hall, to raise funds for Razom for Ukraine.

Hari Pulapaka, Stetson math professor and award-winning chef, a four-time semifinalist for the James Beard Award, will be cooking and curating a menu to raise money on Wednesday, May 4, for humanitarian relief for Ukraine. The Stetson University Ukraine Fundraiser Dinner (tickets still available) will be held in partnership with SPREES, Pulapakas Global Cooking School and other local partners. A portion of the funds will go to the Nova Mova Language School, a SPREES partner institution. More on Stetson Today.

Stetson University is already raising funds to provide initial financial support for Ukraine students and faculty with an overall goal of $250,000 this upcoming academic year.

Our community has been just fantastic in coming forward to offer its assistance in raising funds to help support this effort, said Krista Bofill, vice president for Development and Alumni Engagement. We really have come a long way in a short time, but there is still more to do.

About SPREES at Stetson

The Stetson Program in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies trains students to analyze and interpret the territory, peoples, history, languages and cultures, and practices of the Eurasian landmass from a multidisciplinary perspective. The history of the program distinguishes Stetson among small colleges in the United States. Half a century ago  soon after the start of the Cold War and the launching of Sputnik  Stetson University was designated as a center for the study of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, and the program was founded in 1958 by late eminent Russian Historian Serge Zenkovsky, PhD. For 50 years, SPREES has excelled at the study of history, geography, politics, economics and cultures in the countries that formed the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. SPREES places an emphasis on experiential learning through study abroad and international internship opportunities. More about SPREES on its department website.

About Stetson University

Founded in 1883, Stetson University is the oldest private university in Central Florida. Stetson focuses on intense learning experiences in a supportive community that allows students to develop their voice in a connected, inclusive environment. Stetson ranks in the top five on U.S. News & World Reports list of Best Regional Universities (South) and is consistently recognized as one of The Princeton Reviews Best Colleges. Stay connected with Stetson on social media.
U.S. Dermatology Partners wins Best Outlook Comparably Award Our team members are the driving force behind the success of our practices, and building a supporting and rewarding work experience for our employees and physicians has been a key priority since I joined U.S. Dermatology Partners, said U.S. Dermatology Partners CEO Paul Singh.

U.S. Dermatology Partners, one of the largest dermatology practices in the country, announced today that the organization has been recognized with Comparablys Best Company Outlook and Best Places to Work in Dallas awards.

Comparably is one of the leading workplace and reputation platforms that recognizes top employee-rated organizations in several categories around culture and compensation. The Best Company Outlook award measures how confident employees feel about the future success of their company and how excited they are to go to work every day. The Best Places to Work in Dallas honor is based on how employees across Dallas rate their overall workplace experience in categories like compensation, leadership, career growth, and work-life balance.

This recognition demonstrates that our team members are optimistic about the future of our organization and are likely to recommend us to a friend, said U.S. Dermatology Partners Chief Executive Officer, Paul Singh. Our team members are the driving force behind the success of our practices, and building a supporting and rewarding work experience for our employees and physicians has been a key priority since I joined U.S. Dermatology Partners.

We are proud to recognize healthcare organizations that prioritize workplace culture, said Comparably CEO, Jason Nazar. Organizational culture is particularly important in the health sector as positive employee experiences are often associated with positive patient outcomes. These awards demonstrate U.S. Dermatology Partners commitment to providing positive experiences for their patients and employees.

Comparably awards are based on sentiment feedback provided by current employees who anonymously rate their employers during a 12-month period on different workplace topics. These answers are meant to give insights into what it's like to work at these organizations.

To view the complete list of winners please visit click here.

For more information on how to join the U.S. Dermatology Partners growing team, please visit the Careers website.

About U.S. Dermatology Partners

U.S. Dermatology Partners is one of the largest dermatology practices in the country with nearly 90 locations across eight states, caring for more than 1.5 million patients each year. U.S. Dermatology Partners patients not only have access to general medical, surgical, and cosmetic skin treatments through its coordinated care network but also benefit from the practices strong dermatology subspecialty thought leaders and medical advisory board. To be the best partner to its patients, U.S. Dermatology Partners is fervently focused on providing the highest level of patient-first care, and its team, therefore, includes recognized national leaders in areas such as clinical research, psoriasis, and Mohs Surgery. To learn more, visit usdermatologypartners.com

About Comparably

Comparably is a leading workplace culture and corporate brand reputation platform with over 15 million anonymous employee ratings on 70,000 companies. With the most comprehensive data on large and SMB organizations in nearly 20 different workplace categories  based on gender, ethnicity, age, experience, industry, location, education  it is one of the most used SaaS platforms for employer branding and a trusted third-party site for workplace culture and compensation. For more information on Comparablys studies and annual Best Places to Work & Best Brands Awards, visit comparably.com/news
If you would like to know more about the Terradyne Engineering, Inc. lawsuit, please contact Attorney Jackland K. Hom today by calling (619) 255-9047.

The Orange County labor law attorneys at Zakay Law Group, APLC and JCL Law Firm, APC, filed a class action complaint against Terradyne Engineering, Inc., for allegedly failing to provide meal and rest breaks. The class action lawsuit, Case No. 30-2022-01250586-CU-OE-CXC, is currently pending in the Orange County Superior Court of the State of California. A copy of the Complaint can be read here.

According to the lawsuit, Terradyne Engineering, Inc. allegedly violated California Labor Code Sections  201, 202, 203, 204, 221, 226, 226.7, 246, 510, 512, 558, 1194, 1197, 1197.1, 1198, and 2802 by failing to: (1) pay minimum wages; (2) pay overtime wages; (3) provide required meal and rest periods; (4) provide accurate itemized wage statements; (5) provide wages when due; and (6) reimburse employees for required business expenses.

As a result of their rigorous work schedules, Terradyne Engineering, Inc.'s employees were allegedly unable to take off duty meal breaks and were not fully relieved of duty for meal periods. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges employees were from time to time interrupted during their off-duty meal breaks to complete tasks for Terradyne Engineering, Inc. Employees were allegedly required to perform work as ordered by Terradyne Engineering, Inc. for more than five (5) hours during a shift without receiving an off-duty meal break. Further, the lawsuit alleges Terradyne Engineering, Inc. failed to provide employees with a second off-duty meal period each workday in which these employees were required by Terradyne Engineering, Inc. to work ten (10) hours of work. Terradyne Engineering, Inc.'s policy allegedly caused employees to remain on-call and on-duty during what was supposed to be their off-duty meal periods. Employees therefore allegedly forfeited meal breaks without additional compensation and in accordance with Terradyne Engineering, Inc.'s alleged strict corporate policy and practice.

If you would like to know more about the Terradyne Engineering, Inc. lawsuit, please contact Attorney Jackland K. Hom today by calling (619) 255-9047.

Zakay Law Group, APLC and JCL Law Firm, APC are labor and employment law firms with offices located in California that dedicate their practices to fighting for employees who have been wronged by their employers due to unfair employment practices. Contact one of their attorneys today if you need help with workplace issues regarding wage and hour, wrongful termination, retaliation, discrimination, and harassment.

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This ranking is an illustration that we are fulfilling our mission to help furbabies live longer, healthier, & happier lives by creating products, services, and an information platform to solve everyday pet parenting needs."

Inc. magazine revealed that Pet Parents is No. 57 on its third annual Inc. 5000 Regionals Midwest list, the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies based in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Born of the annual Inc. 5000 franchise, this regional list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the Midwest region economys most dynamic segmentits independent small businesses.

Blake Anderson, founder and CEO of Pet Parents, commented: "We are honored to be ranked No. 57 on Inc. Magazine's fastest-growing private companies list for the Midwest region for 2022. This ranking is an illustration that we are fulfilling our mission to help furbabies live longer, healthier, & happier lives by creating products, services, and an information platform to solve everyday pet parenting needs."

The companies on this list show a remarkable rate of growth across all industries in the Midwest region. Between 2018 and 2020, these 144 private companies had an average growth rate of 147% percent and, in 2020 alone, they added 19,821 jobs and nearly $11.7 billion to the Midwest regions economy. Companies based in the Chicago, Illinois, Noblesville, Indiana, and Overland Park, Kansas, areas had the highest growth rate overall.

Complete results of the Inc. 5000 Regionals Midwest, including company profiles and an interactive database that can be sorted by industry, metro area, and other criteria, can be found at inc.com/midwest starting March 15, 2022.

This years Inc. 5000 Regional winners represent one of the most exceptional and exciting lists of Americas off-the-charts growth companies. Theyre disrupters and job creators, and all delivered an outsize impact on the economy. Remember their names and follow their lead. These are the companies youll be hearing about for years to come, says Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc.

Pet Parents began its journey in the beginning of 2016 & continues to grow in size every year. Recognized by Inc. 5000 for being one of the fastest-growing companies in America in 2020 and 2021, Pet Parents creates products to help pet parents raise their pets from birth to senior years, keeping their homes clean and pet families happy and healthy. Their brand & product lines are at the crossing point of two macro pet industry trends: the humanization of pets with a focus on healthcare.

Learn more about Pet Parents at https://petparentsbrand.com/.

Follow Pet Parents on social: Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, and LinkedIn.

For more information, contact Sydney Klein. Email: Press@PetParentsBrand.com

More about Inc. and the Inc. 5000 Regionals

Methodology

The 2022 Inc. 5000 Regional are ranked according to percentage revenue growth when comparing 2018 and 2020. To qualify, companies must have been founded and generating revenue by March 31, 2018. They had to be U.S.-based, privately held, for-profit, and independentnot subsidiaries or divisions of other companiesas of December 31, 2019. (Since then, a number of companies on the list have gone public or been acquired.) The minimum revenue required for 2018 is $100,000; the minimum for 2020 is $1 million. As always, Inc. reserves the right to decline applicants for subjective reasons.

About Inc. Media

The worlds most trusted business-media brand, Inc. offers entrepreneurs

the knowledge, tools, connections, and community to build great companies. Its award-winning multiplatform content reaches more than 50 million people each month across a variety of channels including websites, newsletters, social media, podcasts, and print. Its prestigious Inc. 5000 list, produced every year since 1982, analyzes company data to recognize the fastest-growing privately held businesses in the United States. The global recognition that comes with inclusion in the 5000 gives the founders of the best businesses an opportunity to engage with an exclusive community of their peers and the credibility that helps them drive sales and recruit talent.

The associated Inc. 5000 Conference is part of a highly acclaimed portfolio of bespoke events produced by Inc. For more information, visit http://www.inc.com.
Dave is well known and well respected throughout Ohio for good reason, and he will help build relationships and expand the firms aviation services in the Midwest.

David Gotschall, a leader in aviation engineering and construction, has joined Woolpert as a project manager. Gotschall has 34 years of experience in the design and construction of airfields, roadways and underground utilities, as well as in project coordination and communication, contract management and budget management.

Gotschall has managed aviation programs from runway replacements and extensions to terminal apron reconstruction and valve-controlled glycol collection programs. Through his tenure with Columbus Regional Airport Authority, where he worked for more than 30 years, Gotschall managed the Runway 10R-28L replacement program that made John Glenn Columbus International the first commercial airport in the country to go to an all-LED runway lighting system.

Woolpert has a reputation for providing a wide variety of services in the airport environment, from architecture and engineering to geospatial and consulting work, Gotschall said. The teams here understand the bigger picture and know how to evaluate and improve an airport from all perspectives. Im excited to work with Woolpert to help commercial and general aviation airports expand intelligently so they can solve both current and future problems.

Paul Strack, who leads Woolperts aviation design practice in Ohio, said the firm is excited to offer Gotschalls airfield project management, design and construction expertise to current and future clients, as well as assistance with FAA and state of Ohio grants, public bidding and capital project programming.

Dave is well known and well respected throughout Ohio for good reason, and he will help build relationships and expand the firms aviation services in the Midwest, Strack said. In addition to his many years at the Columbus Regional Airport Authority, he has also worked in the general aviation and private industry arenas. He is innovative, resourceful and an expert at what he does. It is great to have him here.

About Woolpert

Woolpert is the premier architecture, engineering, geospatial (AEG) and strategic consulting firm, with a vision to become one of the best companies in the world. We innovate within and across markets to effectively serve public, private and government clients worldwide. Woolpert is an ENR Top 150 Global Design Firm, has earned six straight Great Place to Work certifications and actively nurtures a culture of growth, inclusion, diversity and respect. Founded in 1911 in Dayton, Ohio, Woolpert has been Americas fastest-growing AEG firm since 2015. The firm has 1,900 employees and more than 60 offices on four continents. For more, visit woolpert.com.
Here we round up new and forthcoming childrens titles, including a YA novel about a monster-slaying secret society, a graphic novel focusing on an unexpected friendship in a school band, a picture book about a circus performers big second chance, a feminist YA novel about protesting school dress codes, and many more.

Scouts Honor by Lily Anderson. Holt, $18.99 (416p) ISBN 978-1-250-24673-8. Following the death of her best friend, Prudence Perry quits the Ladybirds, a secret society of young women who protect the world from interdimensional monsters, but makes her return in this book about friendship, inclusivity, and mental health. The YA book earned a starred review from PW.

Scout Is Not a Band Kid: (A Graphic Novel) by Jade Armstrong. Random House Graphic, $20.99 (272p) ISBN 978-0-5931-7622-1. In order to meet the creator of her favorite character at a music festival, Scout joins the school band (despite not playing an instrument) and falls into an unexpected friendship with focused trombone chair Merrin.

The Great Zapfino by Mac Barnett, illus. by Marla Frazee. S&S/Beach Lane, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-1-5344-1154-8. After running away during his performances big leap, circus performer the Great Zapfino gets a stupendous second chance. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.

Does My Body Offend You? by Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt. Knopf, $18.99 (442p) ISBN 978-0-593-42585-5. When Malena is called in by the school administration for not wearing a bra to class, she and new friend Ruby protest their schools dress code, challenging the privileges and expectations of different kinds of bodies.

Show the World by Angela Dalton, illus. by Daria Peoples. Viking, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-593-35139-0. A young Black narrator travels through her neighborhood, showcasing through her friends the varying joyous methods of self-expression.

Fine: A Comic About Gender by Rhea Ewing. Liveright, $21 ISBN 978-1-63149-680-6. In Ewings debut, they conduct and draw dozens of interviews over a decade to demonstrates the diversity of experiences and personal relationships to gender within the trans community. The comic earned a starred review from PW.

Very Bad People by Kit Frick. McElderry, $19.99 (416p) ISBN 978-1-5344-4973-2. Calliope is set to join an exclusive secret society on campus, dedicated to fighting for social justice, but when the societys tactics take a turn for the worse, she must consider the definition of justice. The YA novel earned a starred review from PW.

A Duet for Home by Karina Yan Glaser. Clarion, $16.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-544876-40-8. Following the unexpected death of her father, her mothers subsequent retreat into silence, and an eviction, viola-playing June Yang and her Chinese American family move to Huey House, a Bronx shelter for unhoused people. The middle grade book earned a starred review from PW.

After the Buzz Comes the Bee: Lift-The-Flap Animal Sounds by Rachel Isadora and Robie Rogge, illus. by Rachel Isadora. Holiday House, $17.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8234-4920-0. In this lift-the-flap book, 11 creatures announce their presence, each with their own distinctive noise to a preschool cast.

This Book Will Get You to Sleep! by Jory John, illus. by Olivier Tallec. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-374-31130-8. Directing via megaphone, an orange kangaroo in blue cowboy boots asks what would tire readers, then attempts to induce zzzs by engaging with possible answers to that question. The picture book earned a starred review from PW.

Heartbreak Symphony by Laekan Zea Kemp. Little, Brown, $17.99 (368p) ISBN 978-0-31646-038-5. Chicane teens Aaron and Mia both seek entrance and a scholarship to the Acadia School of Music, and bond over their shared passion for music, and grief after having each lost a parent.

I Will Protect You: A True Story of Twins Who Survived Auschwitz by Eva Mozes Kor with Danica Davidson. Little, Brown, $17.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-316-46063-7. In a powerful telling, the late Eva Mozes Kor (19342019) and Davidson provide as much history lesson as personal recollection and call for human rights.

The Pronoun Book by Chris Ayala-Kronos, illus. by Melita Tirado. Clarion, $8.99 (26p) ISBN 978-0-358-65315-8. Through illustrations relaying the gender identities of a variously inclusive audience, Ayala-Kronos helps young readers answer the question How do you know what someone wants to be called?

She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick. Simon & Schuster, $18.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-5344-9379-7. College freshman Alex plans to get her ex-girlfriend back by assisting Molly, another queer freshman, win over the girl of her dreams, in this YA romance.

This Rebel Heart by Katherine Locke. Knopf, $18.99 (448p) ISBN 978-0-593-38124-3. In Post-WWII Budapest, a Jewish newspaper typist plans to make her escape from Stalins rule to Israel, but when news of revolutions around the world spark talk of revolution in her own city, she must decide whether to stay or go.

I Am!: A Book of Reminders by Juana Medina. Versify, $14.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-358-62125-6. The second in the I Will series, Medinas new picture book inspires young readers to verbalize qualities they love about themselves.

Alone Out Here by Riley Redgate. Disney-Hyperion, $18.99 (400p) ISBN 978-1-368-06472-9. In this futuristic Lord of the Flies retelling, students trapped on a ship prototype must learn to survive together as the world outside burns.

Take a Breath by Sujean Rim. Atheneum/Dlouhy, $17.99 (40p) ISBN 978-1-5344-9253-0. With the help of his friends, Bob the bird learns that before hes ready to fly, hell need to take some soothing breaths.

All You Need by Howard Schwartz, illus. by Jasu Hu. Holiday House/Porter, $18.99 (32p) ISBN 978-0-8234-4329-1. In this picture book, a Chinese girl matures into a successful artist while learning to appreciate the gratifying little things about life.

Hotel Magnifique by Emily J. Taylor. Razorbill, $18.99 (400p) ISBN 978-0-593-40451-5. Two sisters in search of a better life get themselves hired at the magical Hotel Magnifique, only to discover that everything theyve learned about their new home is a lie. The YA book earned a starred review from PW.

Ks Car Can Go Anywhere! by Jonathan Tune and Eleanor Doughty. Penguin Workshop, $17.99 (80p) ISBN 978-0-593-22206-5. Two amphibian siblings undertake an audacious impromptu road trip that teaches the value in enjoying the unexpected.

Nothing Burns as Bright as You by Ashley Woodfolk. Versify, $18.99 (288p) ISBN 978-0-358-65535-0. In a novel in verse that captures the unbalanced experience of an all-consuming love, two unnamed queer Black teen girls move rapidly from strangerhood into a protective best friendship before becoming dysfunctional lovers and mutually destructive partners in crime. The YA book earned a starred review from PW.

For more childrens and YA titles on sale throughout the month of April, check out PWs full On-Sale Calendar.
The employees at Greenlight Bookstores and Yours Truly stationery stores, located in Brooklyn, N.Y., have unanimously ratified their first union contract after joining the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) in August 2021. Maritza Montanez, Greenlight Bookstore worker and member of the bargaining committee, said in a statement that the union was able to negotiate "increasing the base pay for new hires, scheduling annual wage increases, and providing health insurance options that will put money back in workers pockets." In addition, the union negotiated "transparent procedures for discipline, channels for grievances."

This news comes less than two weeks after the National Labor Relations Board rejected Duke University's challenge to the formation of the DUP Workers Union, representing workers at Duke University Press, which was formed last year.

While labor organization remains a relative rarity in the publishing business, unions have blossomed at bookstores over the course of the past decade in particular.

In New York, employees are represented by the RWDSU at stores including Book Culture and McNally Jackson, as well as at Housing Works, the homelessness and AIDS nonprofit that also operates a bookstore and cafe, while employees at the Strand Books Store have been unionized since the 1970s, and are members of the United Auto Workers union.

On the West Coast, numerous stores in California also have unions, including Bookshop Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz, Green Apple in San Francisco, Moe's Books in Berkeley, and Skylight Books in Los Angeles. Workers at Powell's, in Portland, Ore., are also represented by a union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 5. Other unionized stores across the country include Book People in Austin, Tex., and in Canada, workers at several Indigo Books & Music locations have unionized as well.
Robots are on display for the launch of the center for the fourth industrial revolution (C4IR) in Kigali, Rwanda, March 31, 2022. Rwanda on Thursday officially launched the center for the fourth industrial revolution (C4IR). (Photo by Cyril Ndegeya/Xinhua)

KIGALI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda on Thursday officially launched the center for the fourth industrial revolution (C4IR).

A partnership of the World Economic Forum (WEF), the center, which was set up in 2020, intends to advance the fourth industrial revolution which the panelists defined as the "convergence of physical, digital and biological world, changing our ways of life and shaping our future driven by innovation."

"The way we live, work and interact with each other, will keep evolving as technology does. But data governance frameworks have not kept up with the fast pace of digital transformation. I, therefore, commend the center for supporting the development of Rwanda's personal data protection and privacy law," said President Paul Kagame at the launch of the center.

The center has Crystal Rugege as the first managing director.

At the launch, Borge Brende, the WEF president, said "this center for the fourth industrial revolution will play an important role to meet the vision of Rwanda becoming a middle-income country by 2035." 
Children visit a photo exhibition depicting Afghanistan's poverty and economic woes in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 30, 2022. The exhibition, titled "Poverty and Hope" and including scores of photos, was held here on a street to protest against the United States for freezing nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars assets of Afghanistan's central bank. (Photo by Aria/Xinhua)

KABUL, March 31 (Xinhua) -- "Our aim of the photo exhibition is to display the plight of oppressed Afghans to the world community and urge the world community to help get back Afghanistan's assets frozen by the United States," an Afghan photographer Zirak Malyar told Xinhua.

Depicting Afghanistan's poverty and economic woes via photo exhibition, Malyar said that Afghans demand that the United States frees Afghanistan's assets held in its banks.

The exhibition, titled "Poverty and Hope" and including scores of photos, was held here on a street to protest against the United States for freezing nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars assets of Afghanistan's central bank.

In the wake of U.S.-led forces defeat in Afghansitan and Taliban's taking over of the country's power last August, the U.S. government has frozen the Afghan assets, which has worsened the war-torn country's already fragile economy.

U.S. president Joe Biden issued a decree in February, allocating 3.5 billion dollars of the frozen sum to the 9/11 victims' families and earmarking another 3.5 billion dollars to humanitarian assistance in Afghanistan.

The decision has been widely condemned in Afghanistan.

More than 22 million Afghans out of some 35 million of the country's population, according to aid agencies reports, are facing acute food shortage and Afghanistan would face humanitarian catastrophe if not assisted.

"Our country has been facing daunting challenges due to foreign interference over the past four decades of wars," said another Afghan citizen Sayed Shahir.

Looking at the pictures in the photo exhibition, Shahir spoke loudly "Our demand from America is to unfreeze Afghanistan's assets and the photos on display here clearly send the message to the world."

Organizers of the art exhibition, supported by Afghanistan's central bank Da Afghanistan Bank, said in a statement that imposing sanction on the Afghan administration severely affect the living conditions of ordinary Afghan people.

Afghanistan's central bank also noted in a statement that no country including the United States has the right to freeze Afghanistan's national assets.

Da Afghanistan Bank believes in freedom of speech, social justice, service to people and requests the international community to stand with the Afghan people at this moment, the statement said. 

A boy visits a photo exhibition depicting Afghanistan's poverty and economic woes in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 30, 2022. The exhibition, titled "Poverty and Hope" and including scores of photos, was held here on a street to protest against the United States for freezing nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars assets of Afghanistan's central bank. (Photo by Aria/Xinhua)

People visit a photo exhibition depicting Afghanistan's poverty and economic woes in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 30, 2022. The exhibition, titled "Poverty and Hope" and including scores of photos, was held here on a street to protest against the United States for freezing nearly 10 billion U.S. dollars assets of Afghanistan's central bank. (Photo by Aria/Xinhua)
LRGs study, Internet-Delivered Pay-TV Services 2022, was based on an online survey of 4,400 households from throughout the US and is the fifth annual report of its kind, focused on the vMVPD category, along with other direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming video services.LRG found that 83% of US households have at least one streaming video service from fifteen top DTC and subscription video on-demand (SVOD) services, including 67% of all households with Netflix Yet LRG warned that not all Netflix and other DTC services are paid for directly by those who use them. Indeed, only nearly two-thirds (64%) with Netflix fully pay for the service and do not share it with others outside the household.Of the third of Netflix services that are used in more than one household, 15% of Netflix services were used and paid for by those that also share them with someone outside the household and the same percentage were used in one household but also borrowed from another household that was paying for the service. In addition, 3% of services were used by multiple households that share costs and the same percentage said Netflix services were not paid for because they came with another service.Overall, 29% of all DTC services were shared with others outside the household with 12% of all DTC services fully paid for by someone outside the household. Just over a third (34%) of adults aged 18-34 have at least one DTC service that was fully paid for by someone else, compared with 14% of those aged over 35. Adults ages 18-44 account for 65% of all with a vMVPD pay-TV service. Nearly a quarter (23%) of all vMVPD services are shared by multiple households, including 7% of all vMVPD services that are fully paid for by someone outside the household.Nearly four-fifths (79%) of vMVPD subscribers are very satisfied with their service  compared with 76% in 2020, and 69% in 2018. Just 5% of all households had Netflix in the past year, but currently do not. This broke down to 6% for Hulu, 5% for Amazon Prime , and 5% for live pay-TV services.Password sharing is an inherent feature of most streaming services. Sharing helps to expand the user base and retain customers, but it also creates a gap between the number of households that have a service and actual paying subscribers, said Bruce Leichtman, president and principal analyst for Leichtman Research Group commenting on the Internet-Delivered Pay-TV Services 2022 report . For example, about two-thirds of US households report having Netflix, but this includes about 10% of U.S. households that dont pay for the service because it is borrowed from someone elses subscription.
SYDNEY, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A study from international and Australian researchers has found that antiparasitic drug, Ivermectin, is not effective in reducing COVID-19 hospitalisations.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday, was the result of a double-blind trial of a total of 3,515 patients.

Two groups of 679 patients who had been experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 for up to seven days and had at least one risk factor for disease progression, were randomly assigned either Ivermectin once daily for three days or a placebo.

Professor Craig Rayner, Certara Distinguished Scientist and former researcher of Monash University, was involved with the project through international trial platform, TOGETHER ClinicalTrials.

"The study found that, overall, treatment with Ivermectin among outpatients with an early diagnosis of COVID-19 did not reduce the need for medical admissions to hospital settings," he told Xinhua on Thursday.

Rayner said the double-blind nature of the trial ensures results are objective and unaffected by potential stakes in the outcome.

"Double-blind is important, as neither the patient nor the treating healthcare providers knew the identity of the intervention. This is important to remove potential bias," said Rayner.

Misinformation around Ivermectin has been widespread after it was shown to have the ability to kill SARS-CoV-2 in a laboratory setting, however there has been no clinical evidence that it is able to kill the virus in the human body.

Rayner said the study will allow scientists to focus their time and energy on other promising treatments for COVID-19.

"It is hoped that this study will encourage scientists and clinicians to direct their energies to discovering and developing more promising treatments for COVID." 
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Athens, GA (30605)

Today

Occasional thunderstorms - possibly severe. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 77F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. A few clouds. Low 57F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.
On Monday, former Bulldogs wide receiver Ahkil Crumpton was indicted by an Oconee County grand jury on a murder charge of 23-year-old RaceTrac clerk Elijah Wood.

Wood was shot and killed on March 19, 2021, at approximately 1:30 a.m. while he was working at the RaceTrac on Macon Highway in Oconee County.

Crumpton, of Philadelphia, was charged with felony murder, aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit a felony and two counts of possessing a firearm during a felony, according to the Athens Banner Herald.

Crumpton was arrested on March 16 and is currently in a Philadelphia jail where he has opposed extradition to Oconee County. The Western Circuit District Attorneys Office is preparing a governors warrant to have Crumpton extradited, according to the Athens Banner Herald.

Crumpton was identified as the suspect after the Oconee Co. Sheriffs Office received information on Feb. 15 from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives that a ballistic match of shell casings found at the scene matched shell casings found at a crime scene in Philadelphia, said Oconee Sheriff James A. Hale Jr.
ULAN BATOR, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has established a fund to support its national tree-planting campaign, local media reported on Thursday, citing the presidential press office.

The nationwide campaign to plant at least 1 billion trees by 2030 was officially launched last year as Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh told the United Nations General Assembly that the country aims to combat climate change and desertification.

The purpose of the fund is to create a structure and system to provide sustainable financing for afforestation, tree planting and other environmental activities, and member organizations of the Mongolian Bankers Association are expected to donate at least 2 billion Mongolian Tugriks (679,000 U.S. dollars) annually to the fund.

In addition, green loans in the banking sector will be increased to 10 percent by 2030, according to the presidential press office.

Forest only covers 7.9 percent of Mongolia's 1,564,116 square km of land currently.

Around 77 percent of the country's total territory has been affected by desertification and land degradation, according to the country's Ministry of Environment and Tourism. 
Brattleboro, VT (05301)

Today

Partly cloudy skies this morning will become overcast during the afternoon. High 66F. Winds light and variable..

Tonight

Cloudy. Low 44F. Winds light and variable.
Lily Charkey, a senior at Brattleboro Union High School and intern for Rep. Emilie Kornheiser (right), visited the Statehouse last month in support of the Youth Vote.
Vermont is in the process of rolling out the retail cannabis market, but no nonmedical licenses have yet been issued, the state cannabis board chairman said Monday.
In 2016, as thousands fled the horrors of civil war raging across Syria, a young Palestinian musician decided to use his art to remind the wor
YANGON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of Myanmar students wearing face masks started sitting for matriculation examination nationwide on Thursday amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Over 300,000 students including students from overseas exam centers enrolled for this year's matric exam at 1,256 exam centers," U Htay Naung, a deputy director of the Ministry of Education, told Xinhua.

The 10-day matric exam started on March 31 and will end on April 9, the Ministry of Education said in a statement.

Myanmar decided recently to relax the COVID-19 restrictions including lifting travel bans, as daily positivity and mortality rate of COVID-19 has decreased.

The Southeast Asian country on Wednesday confirmed 173 new COVID-19 cases with a daily positivity rate of 1.1 percent, down from 9.45 percent on Feb. 27, according to the Health Ministry. 
One of the states two Connecticut River ferries will be returning for another season, beginning Friday.

The 2022 schedule for the historical ferries was announced Wednesday by the state Department of Transportation.

The Chester-Hadlyme Ferry will operate this year from Friday, April 1, through Nov. 30.

But due to high water levels on the Connecticut River, the Rocky Hill-Glastonbury Ferry will remain closed this weekend, according to the statement. An opening date for that ferry has yet to be determined, DOT said.

The two historical ferries are some of our most popular modes of transportation, whether for recreation, tourism or routine travel. I am excited to welcome back our crew and passengers for another great season, Connecticut Transportation Commissioner Joseph Giulietti said. If you havent yet traveled by ferry, I invite you to make the trip. It is truly a unique experience.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in spring 2020, the ferries halted as well, but they returned to operations later that summer, DOT spokesperson Josh Morgan said. During the 2021 season, the ferries operated on a more regular system.

The Rocky Hill-Glastonbury Ferry is the oldest continuously operating ferry in America, with its service beginning in 1655. The Chester-Hadlyme Ferry launched its service in 1769.

Both ferries will operate from 7 a.m. to 6:45 p.m. weekdays and from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends, DOT said. Pedestrians, cyclists and automobiles are welcome to cross the Connecticut River on both ferries.

The fee is $5 per vehicle weekdays and $6 per vehicle weekends, or $2 per pedestrian and bicyclist.

abigail.brone@hearstmediact.com
Despite an overall decrease in the number of evictions in Connecticut during the pandemic, one type of eviction  the no-cause eviction, typically involving expiring lease agreements  has become increasingly common.

From August 2019 to February 2020, there were 992 no-cause evictions filed, about 9% of total eviction filings. From August 2021 to February 2022, there were 2,511 no-cause evictions filed, nearly 35% of total filings, according to data from the Connecticut Fair Housing Center.

No-cause evictions typically involve expiring lease agreements, when the landlord wants the renter out and didnt make any claims of tenant fault, such as violation of the lease or missing rent payments.

A bill that passed through the Housing Committee earlier this month aims to do away with the practice for larger properties. House Bill 5233 would ban evictions without cause in buildings with five or more units or in mobile home parks and extend requirements that rent increases be fair and equitable to covered tenants.

Rent has spiked in Connecticut and nationally in recent months, which experts say is due in part to a lack of supply.

House Bill 5205, which also passed through the Housing Committee, would establish fair rent commissions in all towns with populations of 25,000 or more. These commissions would have the power to conduct studies and investigations and hold hearings.

Supporters say the eviction bill would keep people who havent done anything wrong in their homes.

I believe that we find a solution that works for all our communities, and this is a bill that will simply make sure there is equal voice between property owners and tenants, said Rep. Quentin Q Williams, D-Middletown.

But landlord advocates say no-cause evictions are used to keep the peace at complexes by evicting tenants who bother their neighbors or to clear apartments for remodeling when tenants leases end. Opponents have also said the bill would violate property owners' rights.

Evictions can have consequences that ripple beyond the loss of a particular apartment  disrupting social connections and school routines and harming mental health, studies have shown.

Displacement of tenants has so many ramifications in peoples lives, said Luke Melonakos-Harrison, a tenant organizer in New Haven.

Once an eviction is filed against a renter, it can also make it much more difficult for them to find a new place to rent in the future, experts have said.

I think one of the biggest benefits [of the bill] is that if people know that they cant be evicted unless there is a reason, it allows them to enjoy a level of housing security that often doesnt exist for tenants otherwise, said Dahlia Romanow, a staff attorney at the Connecticut Fair Housing Center.

Housing advocates say no-cause evictions have been used as retaliation to evict people who complain about sub-par living conditions or who try to form tenant unions.

John Souza, a Hartford County landlord and president of the Connecticut Coalition of Property Owners, said he uses no-cause to improve other tenants experiences at his complexes. Its a last resort, in part because filing an eviction is expensive, he said.

I dont do it lightly. I do it because I have no other choice, Souza added.

Souza said he thinks the number of no-cause evictions has gone up because of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order banning most nonpayment of rent evictions from September 2020 to August 2021. Connecticut also had state-level protections against such evictions.

Nonpayment of rent is among the most common reasons for eviction. The federal government instituted the ban to prevent a wave of evictions and slow the spread of COVID-19 by keeping people out of congregate living settings such as homeless shelters.

The statute that the bill on no-cause evictions would change was instituted in the 1980s to require cause to evict the elderly and people with disabilities.

In written testimony on the bill, Souza said there is no other type of business forced to renew a contract against their will, so why force housing providers?

The Connecticut Realtors also opposed the bill, saying that many property owners put their rental properties on the market only for a set period of time.

Disallowing any property owner from having the rights to make any decisions about their own property at the end of a contractual term is an encroachment on property rights, the written testimony said.

Melonakos-Harrison said since he began working in tenant organizing, hed seen no-cause evictions used as a tool to get union members out of their apartments and to keep people from complaining about living conditions. He said the bill would help even the balance of power between landlords and tenants.

When that threat of eviction can be wielded by landlords, it scares a lot of tenants, even if they are living with really egregious living conditions, Melonakos-Harrison said.
Faced with a surge of new abortion restrictions in Republican-led states, Connecticut lawmakers on Thursday advanced legislation that would shield doctors, nurses and patients from out-of-state penalties associated with abortions performed here.

The legislation  one of a several measures being sought by Democrats this session to ensure ready access to abortions in Connecticut  was described as a response to new laws in Texas and Idaho that impose some of the nations most stringent restrictions on abortions by allowing lawsuits against anyone participating in most of the procedures after the sixth week of pregnancy.

Conservative lawmakers in other states, including Missouri, have proposed taking those restrictions a step further by allowing their residents to sue people in other states for aiding anyone who seeks to access to an abortion by traveling over state lines  outraging many Democrats and pro-choice advocates.

The prospect of American women fleeing from one state to another because of the actions of opportunist politicians is horrifying, said state Rep. Pat Dillon, D-New Haven.

In order to protect those seeking abortions in Connecticut, a bill filed by two pro-choice Democrats would forbid state courts and other agencies from cooperating with out-of-state legal actions related to abortion, including a prohibition against assisting depositions, delivering subpoenas or turning over medical information through legal discovery.

In addition, the proposed law would allow anyone in Connecticut who faces an out-of-state judgment for participating in an abortion to counter-sue in state court to avoid incurring the costs associated with the original lawsuit.

After a public hearing that included opposition from various religious and anti-abortion groups, along with support from pro-choice and civil liberties advocates, the Judiciary Committee voted along party lines Thursday to send the bill to the House floor.

Even Republicans, who voted against the bill, expressed concerns with the actions of their counterparts in other states to go after abortion providers with civil and criminal penalties. One GOP lawmaker, state Sen. John Kissel, R-Enfield, questioned whether laws such as the Texas statute would permit lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies in Connecticut that manufacturer abortion-inducing pills.

In the end, however, each of the Republicans on the committee who spoke said the remedy proposed by Democrats raised its own legal and constitutional concerns by attempting to thwart lawsuits in other jurisdictions.

We are going down a dangerous path here, said state Rep. Doug Dubitsky, R-Chaplin. This sees the problem, and raises an additional problem.

While Connecticut codified abortion rights in state law beginning in 1990, lawmakers are seeking to take those protections a step further this year by enshrining abortion rights in the states constitution through a popular vote.

Such an action could come as the U.S. Supreme Court issues its most significant decision on abortion rights in America since its 1973 decision affirming a persons right to chose in Roe v. Wade. That decision could come before the end of the courts session in July, experts say.

The likelihood of conservative-majority court overruling or at least clawing-back aspects of that decision have led both Republican and Democratic-controlled state legislatures to enact a flurry of legislation either restricting or expanding abortion rights.

Roughly half of the states are likely to ban abortions altogether if Roe is overturned, according to the Pew Research Center, and at least 12 states have so-called trigger laws that would go into effect immediately upon a new Supreme Court precedent.

Those bans, which would cover millions of Americans, would likely cause a surge of people traveling across state lines in search of safe and legal abortions, advocates say.
COLOMBO, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank has pledged to provide assistance to purchase required quantities of essential medicines for Sri Lanka's health sector following a request made by the government, local media reported on Thursday.

During a discussion with World Bank's Regional Director for Human Development in the South Asia region Lynne D. Sherburne-Benz, Sri Lanka's State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Channa Jayasumana had sought the assistance of the World Bank to ensure a continuous supply of medicinal drugs in Sri Lanka.

Considering this request, the World Bank's regional director informed the state minister that the World Bank will take it as a high priority and take immediate measures to provide assistance.

Sri Lanka's health sector is currently facing a shortage of essential drugs due to import restrictions in place following a foreign exchange shortage.

Earlier this week, surgeries at a state hospital in the central hills of Kandy came to a halt for a day due to the lack of necessary drugs to perform operations, but it was resolved after the Health Ministry sent urgent supplies. 
When we were kids in the 50s, in parochial school, the contractor would plow the heavy snow in the schoolyard up against a tall stockade fence; when the snow hardened, it became a fortress and the classes at recess would take turns storming the fortress in attempting to overtake its defenders. The game was called king of the mountain. We had a lot of fun, no one got hurt, the state didnt interfere, no one sued, and in the midst of it all the Supreme Court said that separate but equal in public education was unconstitutional, Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 1954. At the same time, Martin Luther King Jr. was obtaining his doctorate at Boston University.

Dr. King was an accomplished orator, no matter ones opinion of his political views. Rereading his speeches decades following his death, one is struck at how marvelously structured they were. One will mention two, both of which dealt in no small measure with the mountain, almost five years apart, one from the Lincoln Memorial on Aug. 28, 1963, the second on April 3, 1968, in Memphis.

The first, known as I Have a Dream, was set in Washington, D.C., at a huge civil rights rally in the summer of 1963. It followed on the heels of Kings earlier Letter from Birmingham Jail of April 16, and President Kennedys eloquent address to the nation of June 11. Kennedy spoke following the court-ordered admission of two African-American students to the University of Alabama earlier that day. Kennedy saw the quest for civil rights as embracing the idea of equal rights and equal opportunities, reminding us that We are confronted primarily with a moral issue. It is as old as the Scriptures and is as clear as the American Constitution. In August, in the nations capital, King speaks of the unfulfilled dream of America and how Lincolns efforts had not yet been fully achieved. He urges both his followers and the American people as a whole to continue to pursue their efforts at securing rights for the African-American.

King uses mountain as a literal translation but also as a representation, a geographical bridge, a physical venue, a unifying thread and a spiritual quest.

About half way through the speech, King refers to the red hills of Georgia. Then he recalls the biblical prophecy from the Old Testament: I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low  and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. Isaiah 40:3-5. This prophecy is presumably fulfilled in the New Testament. Luke 3: 4-6. It is the idea of moral and spiritual renewal. It includes every hill and mountain, universal as opposed to the particular. So as the biblical prediction had been fulfilled, so too the African Americans dream would be secured through faith and effort.

Then King uses mountain as a physical commodity, and as a representation, saying that with faith the African American will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. He returns to the universal: From every mountainside, let freedom ring! A venue.

Then King shifts from the universal to the particular, as he embraces other parts of the nation in his call for renewal. He proceeds from New England to the Mid-Atlantic, to the West, to the far West: Let freedom ring, he says from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire, from the mighty mountains of New York, from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania, from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado, from the curvaceous slopes of California.

Having gone from East to West, he returns to the South, again with the particular from Stone Mountain of Georgia, from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee, from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. In his peroration, he returns to the universal: From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

In the next five years, the United States went through a transformation, including the assassination of a president, entry into war, disruptions in colleges and within the political process. A part of the African American dream was realized, too, with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Some of Kings dream had been realized.

In 1968, King traveled once more to the South, to Tennessee, to speak on behalf of striking sanitation workers. On April 3, he spoke of the Promised Land  for all the land which you see I will give to you and to your descendants forever. Genesis 13:15. And he speaks again of the mountain, as a geographical bridge. The mountain is part of the dream, both for him in particular on the eve of his assassination, and for the African American in general. For him to see the promised land, he had to go up to the mountain: because Ive been to the mountaintop  And Hes allowed me to go up to the mountain. And Ive looked over. And Ive seen the Promised Land  We, as a people, will get to the promised land! ... Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!

The mountain serves as a connection to the Biblical world, a physical monument, a goal. It is on the path to fulfillment of the American dream, and of the celestial prophecy. With the possible exception of President Kennedy, the Civil Rights leader was the oratorical king of the mountain for his time.

Tom Hogan, of Litchfield, taught American Studies courses at the University of Connecticut's Waterbury campus from 2012-2019.
MAIDAN SHAR, Afghanistan, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Eighteen people were injured when a long-distance bus collided with a truck on a highway in Afghanistan's eastern Wardak province, authorities said on Thursday.

"The accident occurred along the Kabul-Kandahar Highway in Maidan Shar, capital of Wardak province, Wednesday night. The injured were shifted to a main hospital in Maidan Shar," a police official from the provincial Traffic Police Directorate told Xinhua.

According to the source, the injured were in satisfactory condition. The bus driver was arrested for dangerous driving pending further investigation.

Road mishaps are frequent in the mountainous country and occur mostly due to reckless driving or badly maintained roads and vehicles. 
Retno Marsudi said she delivered message to top Russian diplomat because of humanitarian concerns.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (left) talks with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi at her office in Jakarta, Aug. 9, 2017.

During a meeting with her Russian counterpart in China this week, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said she pressed Moscow to end its war with Ukraine, citing the urgent humanitarian situation and the conflicts ripple effects on the world economy.

Her Wednesday talk with Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of an international meeting to discuss the situation in another country scarred by war  Afghanistan  focused on the war in Ukraine, Retno told reporters on Thursday.

Indonesia conveyed the importance of ending the war immediately because of its tremendous humanitarian impact, not to mention its impact on global economic recovery, Retno told a virtual news conference from China.

I reiterated Indonesias consistent position, including respect for international law and the principles of the United Nations Charter such as sovereignty and territorial integrity, she said.

Retno said that, during a separate meeting on Wednesday, she also asked Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to support efforts to end the Russian invasion.

I conveyed the importance of all parties, including China, to push for an immediate end to the war so that the humanitarian crisis does not get worse, Retno said of her meeting with Wang.

Retno talked with Lavrov and Wang on the sidelines of a dialogue between Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and its neighboring Chinese district of Tunxi. The dialogue sought to stabilize Afghanistan, which is known today as an Islamic emirate after the Taliban took over following the withdrawal of U.S. forces last year.

Regarding Ukraine, Indonesian officials hope negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv could be positive, she said.

Flexibility is needed so that negotiations can produce good results. And all parties must strive to end the war immediately to avoid the worsening of the humanitarian situation, she said.

During peace talks in Istanbul on Tuesday, Russian negotiators agreed to fundamentally cut back operations near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv, news agencies reported.

Alexander Fomin, Russias deputy defense minister, said the move was meant to increase trust and create conditions for further negotiations.

Despite those statements, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday dismissed Russias pledge, saying his army was getting ready for clashes in the east, Agence France-Presse reported.

We dont believe anyone, not a single beautiful phrase, Zelenskyy said in a video address to his nation. We will not give anything away. We will fight for every meter of our territory.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, more than 4 million Ukrainians have fled their country, according to a United Nations report.

Shuttle diplomacy

Hikmahanto Juwana, an international law professor at the University of Indonesia, said Jakarta should maintain communication with all parties in the Ukraine conflict.

Indonesia can also send its foreign ministers or a special envoy to engage in shuttle diplomacy to discuss solutions [on ending the war], he told BenarNews.

He noted that Indonesia will be hosting the G-20 summit of the worlds leading economies in October, and that could be spurring the nations interest in seeing fighting end in Ukraine.

Indonesia through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must act immediately to make the G-20 summit a success and ensure that all heads of government and heads of state are present, he said.

Indonesia has sent invitations to all member countries, including Russia, foreign ministry official Dian Triansyah Djani said earlier.

Russias ambassador to Indonesia has said that Putin planned to attend G-20 summit in Bali despite attempts by Western governments to oust Moscow from the grouping.

Ukraine, which is not a G-20 member, had previously urged Indonesia to include discussions on the invasion during the summit.

But Teuku Faizasyah, spokesman for Indonesias Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had said Jakartas stance was that the G-20 summit should focus on global economic issues.

Afghanistan

While attending the gathering of Afghanistan and other countries during the China dialogue, Retno said she stressed the need for the ruling Taliban to open education to all children.

In his own message to dialogue attendees, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged his nations support for Afghanistan but without mentioning the Talibans alleged human rights abuses, the Associated Press reported.

Meanwhile on March 26, Indonesian and Qatari officials signed a letter of intent to provide scholarships and skills training for teen girls in Afghanistan, Retno said.

I expressed my hope that the ban on schooling for Afghan girls at the secondary school level can be reviewed, she said of her statement at the dialogue.

As the largest Muslim country, Indonesia is ready to contribute to helping the people of Afghanistan, including in the field of education, she said.

The Taliban, which returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, had planned to allow teen girls to attend secondary schools, but dropped the plan last week over concerns about uniforms and the dress-code for schoolgirls. Girls can attend school up to grade six.

She said it was important that the Taliban make good on its promises.

The Taliban needs to prepare a road map with concrete steps and timelines for fulfilling promises, Retno said.

BenarNews is an RFA-affiliated online news service.
China looks set to stay with its controversial zero-COVID policy, as residents of the west bank of Shanghai's Huangpu river flocked to supermarkets ahead of 's scheduled lockdown, and patients said they were having trouble getting lifesaving medical treatment due to testing restrictions.



The city, which is home to 26 million people, is under a two-phase lockdown that saw the Pudong financial district locked down for five days, to be followed by Puxi across the river on .



But the Pudong lockdown looks set to be extended as the authorities grapple with a rapidly rising wave of fresh community transmission of the omicron variant of COVID-19.



High-ranking Shanghai government official Ma Chunlei admitted that the government had been taken unawares by the rapid rise in infections, as the city reported more than 5,600 newly confirmed cases, both symptomatic and asymptomatic.



Ma said his government was working hard to address citywide food shortages.



"Our knowledge about the highly contagious omicron variant has been insufficient, we were inadequately prepared for the fast-rising number of infected patients, and our control measures have not been up to speed," Ma told journalists on , in a rare official admission of responsibility.



"We sincerely accept everyone's criticism, and are working hard to improve," Ma said in a briefing, adding that the government is expanding its COVID-19 testing and patient isolation facilities.



'Dynamic clearance'

The Shanghai municipal government also sent the message to the city's residents by mass SMS, a resident surnamed Wang told RFA.



"The Shanghai government was criticized because of the huge number of complaints we have received," Wang said. "They started distributing emergency supplies of food , but it isn't being distributed to every household, only to those in need."



"Actually, every household is having difficulty," he said. "There are many people in my community, and only 100 households have been given a small amount of fresh vegetables."



State news agency Xinhua weighed in on the side of mass testing and lockdown-style restrictions, saying the CCP's preferred method of "dynamic clearance" to contain COVID-19 hadn't changed.



And food supplies aren't the only issue. Many patients are now unable to access life-saving medical treatment as the city's hospitals shut their doors.



A woman surnamed Zhou said her husband had been scheduled to get his weekly hemodialysis at Shanghai's Zhongshan Hospital, but the entire area is now under lockdown.



"Zhongshan Hospital has been helping us find other hospitals to go to," said Zhou, who estimated that around 500 other patients are in a similar situation to her husband.



Tests before appointments

She said the problem is that hospitals require a negative PCR test before patients are allowed to attend their appointments.



"We were notified that we had an appointment at Longhua Hospital this evening, but it takes 24 hours to get a PCR test result back," Zhou said. "The results come out too late, sometimes more than 10 hours too late."



Another resident surnamed Wu said his mother was rejected for treatment for terminal cancer, and local officials didn't allow her to leave until he complained about it on social media.



"My mother was admitted ... they want a [negative] PCR test result to admit you," Wu said. "I would call the neighborhood committee but their phone was constantly busy or rang unanswered."



"Within half an hour [of my social media appeal], they called me," he said.



But Shanghai resident Zhao Ning said he knew of someone who died of an asthma attack due to the lockdown restrictions imposed on medical patients.



"When he was taken ill, he called an ambulance, and his family went to the police [on guard] at the door for help, but the police didn't help them," Zhao said. "Another ambulance came for a COVID-19 patient next door, and they went to ask for help from them, but they couldnt help them. Then the asthma patient died."



Shanghai has seen around 20,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since , although observers believe the true number may be several times higher.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Australian national and Chinese state TV anchor Cheng Lei stood trial behind closed doors at a Beijing court on Thursday for alleged breaches of the national security law.



Cheng was detained on suspicion of "spying" in August 2020, and has been held incommunicado for more than 18 months since.



She stood trial at the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People's Court on Thursday, amid tight security, but accompanied by a lawyer, according to an Australian diplomat at the scene.



Australian ambassador to China Graham Fletcher said he was denied permission to sit in the public gallery for the trial, on the grounds that the case "involved state secrets."



The refusal came despite a public request from Australian foreign minister Marise Payne, who called on Beijing to allow diplomats to observe the trial and observe basic standards of fairness, procedural justice and humane treatment.



Fletcher told reporters he was concerned about the outcome for Cheng.



Beijing-based criminal lawyer Zhang Dongshuo said the harshness of Cheng's sentence -- Chinese courts rarely acquit defendants outright -- would likely depend on how sensitive the "secrets" involved were deemed to be.



"If it is a question of more than one instance, for example, sentencing would be very different if there were more than 10 or less than 10 instances," Zhang said. "Whether it involved the highest-level of classified information, what they call 'top secret,' or a lower level [also affects the outcome]."



He said Cheng's Australian passport is unlikely to help her much.



"Nationality and identity are generally not considered in sentencing, but in some special cases, it could be affected by matters of national defense, foreign affairs and other matters, and special consideration may be given by the court," Zhang said.



Currently, sentencing for those found guilty of "illegally providing state secrets overseas" ranges between five and 10 years' imprisonment, but lighter sentences have also been given, he said.



If Cheng was seen as "cooperative," for example, if she "confessed" to the charges and pleaded guilty, she could be released soon after the trial.



"This possibility certainly exists," Zhang said. "If the number and level of state secrets in Cheng Lei's case aren't high, then she could receive a fairly light sentence with time already served deducted."



But he said there was no guarantee, in the absence of further information about the charges faced by Cheng.



Feng Chongyi, a professor of political science at the University of Technology Sydney, said the existence of any "confession" was the most important factor, however.



"This is very important," Feng said. "This is the scary part of the Chinese criminal law. It requires the person to plead guilty, and it depends on your attitude in making a confession."



"Cheng Lei is a mother of two children. That would make it easier to negotiate with the Chinese authorities and to reach a compromise," he said.



Bloomberg employee



Meanwhile, little has been heard of Bloomberg News employee Haze Fan, who was taken away by state security police in December 2020 on suspicion of "endangering national security."



Chinese authorities have only said that investigation into her case is still ongoing.



Both Fan and Cheng had been friends, helping to collect donations of medical supplies to aid front-line medical workers in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, according to information publicly available on Facebook.



The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for Fan's immediate and unconditional release, saying the allegations against her have no credibility.



Cheng, 47, was born in Hunan and moved to Australia with her parents as a child. She once worked as an anchor on China Global Television News (CGTN), the international arm of CCTV.



She was detained in August 2020 and formally arrested in February 2021.



Cheng's detention came amid increasingly strained ties between Beijing and Canberra, which is taking steps to limit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s propaganda outreach in the country, and which has barred Chinese telecoms giant Huawei from bidding for 5G mobile contracts.



Risks of reporting



While foreign journalists have long faced challenging conditions under CCP rule, now they are also dealing with growing hostility and intimidation, including online stalking, smear campaigns, hacking and visa denials, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC) said in its annual report in February 2022.



More than 60 percent of respondents had been obstructed by police or officials last year, while almost all journalists who went to Xinjiang were visible followed throughout their trips, while more than a quarter said their sources had been detained, harassed or questioned more than once following interviews.



There is also a growing legal threat for journalists working in China, with the authorities encouraging a spate of lawsuits or the threat of legal action against foreign journalists, typically filed by sources long after they have explicitly agreed to be interviewed, the report said.



It said "state-backed attacks" including online trolling of foreign journalists is also on the increase.



Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
MANILA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines announced on Thursday its plan to host U.S. private space company SpaceX's Starlink project, making it the first Southeast Asian country to avail of the technology for better telecommunications services.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said SpaceX's proposed project will provide internet services in the Philippines using its Low Earth Orbit satellite network constellation called Starlink.

Lopez said the launch of SpaceX's Starlink in the country will enable a much faster broadband speed, better connectivity, more capacity for telecommunications service, and more affordable rates for consumers, particularly in areas where connectivity has been difficult or impossible.

He said preparations are underway for SpaceX's registration and the project is expected to be finalized before Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte steps down on June 30 after completing a six-year presidential term.

Discussions on establishing the SpaceX project in the country started last November. Lopez said the recent signing of the amended Public Service Act, which allows up to 100 percent foreign ownership of public services in the country, was a critical factor in its decision to invest.

SpaceX is currently establishing a local Filipino entity that will be its wholly-owned subsidiary and is targeting to deploy three gateways in the first phase. 
An ICBM test fire has been used to praise Kim Jong Un, but soldiers and citizens say it doesn't solve shortages.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reacts next to military officials during what state media reports is the launch of the "Hwasong-17" intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in this undated photo released on March 25, 2022 by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Following North Koreas intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launch last week, its first since 2017, the countrys media has been lauding it as evidence of Kim Jong Uns leadership and bravery, sources in the country told RFA.

But citizens and soldiers alike are beginning to resent the use of missile launches to praise Kim Jong Un, who is reverently referred to as the Highest Dignity, and would rather the government pay more attention to issues like food and supply shortages.

Though it was initially believed that North Korea launched the Hwasong-17 ICBM on March 24, South Korean military authorities reported Tuesday that it was in fact the older Hwasong-15. The Hwasong-17 was involved in a failed launch on March 16 and exploded over Pyongyang, they said.

Today, while I was reading the news report in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper app on my smartphone, there was a report saying the Highest Dignity signed an order to launch an ICBM and I was skeptical whether our leader is the right person, an official of Ryongchon county, in the northwestern province of North Pyongan, told RFAs Korean Service.

This year, the authorities insist that the food problem should be solved by decisively increasing agricultural production. Cooperative farms are struggling because they do not have fertilizer and other materials that are desperately needed for farming preparations, but the authorities do not provide any funds, said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.

He said that the money the government is using for nuclear and missile development could be better used to boost the agricultural sector, but the government keeps launching missiles, so farm officials are angry.

In the city of Chongju in the south of the province, government loudspeakers have been broadcasting propaganda about the missile test.

It says the Highest Dignity directly guided the launch of an ICBM that could stand up to a long-term confrontation with the United States, a resident of the city told RFA. This is the 13th missile they launched this year alone. They are acting like kids playing war games. Is this something we should be proud of?

The authorities propagandize that the launch of the ICBM was carried by the handwritten order of the Highest Dignity, which said to launch bravely for the great dignity and honor of the country and people. The residents find it absurd  expressing anger at authorities who turn a blind eye to their livelihoods, the second source said on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

Soldiers in the military also see through the propaganda, griping that authorities are telling to sacrifice their lives for the nation, just as the soldiers who launched the missile are somehow sacrificing themselves to fulfill the orders of Kim Jong Un.

The soldiers and officers have been attending daily mental education classes where they learn that the Red Flag Company, which launched the ICBM, are elite fighters who follow through on Kim Jong Uns orders.

The ideological education emphasizes that the Red Flag Company is a family that shares joy and suffering with the Supreme Leader. They say the Red Flag Company are dedicating themselves to defending him, the military source said. They are told the Red Flag Company are warriors prepared to sacrifice their lives for the Supreme Commander by following the spirit of defending the leader.

However, the soldiers who listened to the instructor's lecture continued to have expressionless faces as if they did not know what they were willing to sacrifice their lives for. The soldiers griped about the military authorities, who were forcing them to listen to this propaganda when they needed time to rest after their grueling winter training, the third source said.

Another military source, in North Pyongan, told RFA that the officers there are not buying the propaganda.

They know that another intercontinental ballistic missile launch failed on the 16th, so they are wondering how much money was wasted again for this launch, the fourth source said.

Rather than focusing on the development of missiles, officers believe that it is urgent for the authorities to improve the poor supply situation in order to increase the morale of the soldiers. This would also increase the actual combat power of the military, he said.

Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
During state visits in 2012 and 2013, police confiscated Tibetan flags and hid demonstrators behind buses.

Danish Society for Tibetan Culture demonstrates on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Tibetan uprising, in front of China's Embassy in Hellerup, in Copenhagen, Denmark March 10, 2019.

A commission appointed by the government of Denmark this week criticized the countrys Foreign Ministry for giving into Chinese pressure and preventing anti-Beijing demonstrations during state visits in 2012 and 2013.

The Tibet Commission found that Denmarks intelligence and security service used pressure to convince police in Copenhagen to stop all anti-China demonstrations, in violation of the countrys constitution.

Protesters were barred from gathering within sight of the visiting Chinese delegations. The police hid them behind buses and confiscated Tibetan flags.

China had cancelled several official visits to Denmark after a 2009 unofficial meeting between then Prime Minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen and the Dalai Lama. The commission found that the canceled visits caused Copenhagen to pursue China-friendly policies.

This was evident in 2011, when the Dalai Lama visited Denmark to give lectures on management and the meaning of life. The organizers of that visit made it clear that there would be no political meetings during his stay in the country.

This issue is being discussed in the press and its being dealt by many ministerial and politicians. Several ministers have already commented that they will try to remedy these mistakes, Anders Hjmark Andersen, chairman of the Tibet Support Committee in Denmark, told RFAs Tibetan Service.

This is the second report by the Tibet Commission which has dealt with period from 1995 to 2015, so it covers 20 years. There have been more than 200 Chinese official visits to Denmark in this period but it also deals with Tibetans visit to Denmark like His Holiness the Dalai Lamas visit, Andersen said.

Andersen noted that although pro-Tibetan independence groups were allowed to demonstrate, they were often placed in areas where visiting Chinese officials would never run into them.

And thats the problem, he said. During Hu Jintaos visit in 2012, police even took Tibetan flags away from us in the street but we still succeeded in showing the Tibetan flag to the Chinese president fortunately.

I think that now Chinese officials will hesitate before visiting Denmark on a very high level. And I also think they will only send lower-level leaders to Denmark in the future because now they know that they cannot persuade the police to hide us anymore, Andersen said.

He noted that Sino-Danish relations have been good since 2008 when Beijing and Copenhagen entered into a strategic partnership, but things have soured more recently.

The Danish government has realized the worsening human rights record in China and the attempt by the incumbent President Xi to assume lifelong leadership, said Andersen.

China routinely pressures foreign governments to silence criticism of Beijing, Mandie McKeown, executive director for the UK-based International Tibet Network

International, told RFA in an email.

We have seen this kind of influence many times before. Most notably back in 1999 when Metropolitan Police broke U.K. law in their handling of demonstrators during the state visit of then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin, she said.

In a high court case brought by the Free Tibet Campaign (where I worked), the police agreed they had policed Free Tibet demonstrators "unlawfully" by removing Free Tibet banners and Tibetan National flags from people solely on the basis that they were protesting against the Chinese President's visit, said McKeown .

She said Beijing has tried to bully other governments into silence, recalling that in 2016 at least 12 governments issued a joint statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council saying they had been targeted by Chinese pressure.

Ireland was threatened with the cancelling of a multi-euro trade deal. The Irish Times reported that the Irish government had been warned by the Chinese authorities that a vote by Ireland at the United Nations Human Rights Council could have consequences for a multi-million-euro beef trade deal, she said.

Notably we have seen China move towards a more sophisticated plan to build influence by doubling down on building their soft power and its ability to influence other countries, communities and individuals, McKeown said.

RFA attempted to reach the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Justice Department in Denmark for comments but received no reply.

Written in English by Eugene Whong.
Chinese paramilitary police march past a Chinese police officer on duty outside the Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi, northwestern China's Xinjiang region, in a file photo.

Police in Chinas far-western Xinjiang region ranked first in the country in 2021 for solving all homicide cases, while the regions High Peoples Court was hailed as a model for concluding the greatest number of cases last year, according to a Chinese state media report that prompted political and legal analysts outside the country to raise questions about the results.

Xinjiangs Public Security Bureau achieved a 100% resolution rate in current murder cases for six consecutive years, ranking first in the country, while the regions High Peoples Court handled 17,600 cases related to peoples livelihoods in 2021, the highest number in all of China, said the March 25 report by the China News Service in Urumqi (in Chinese, Wulumuqi), Xinjiangs capital.

For six consecutive years, the police detection of number of homicides in Xinjiang has increased to 100%, with the number of homicides in Xinjiang falling to its lowest level in history, with the highest number of homicides detected in the history, the report said.

The Xinjiang Public Security Bureau (PSB) has in recent years launched a mechanism of average people collectively assisting the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region [XUAR] public security bureaus criminal investigation team in investigating major cases, it said.

The report also stated that the PSB had implemented a one file per case standard, and through gathering complete past records of crimes, were able to find murderers from cases dating back 20 years.

Xinjiang police have been using a one tactic per person, one plan per person, one measure per person system for detecting criminals by using advanced technology and information, and identifying and analyzing suspicious activities, the report said.

Ilshat Hassan Kokbore, a political analyst based in U.S., said that such Chinese reports are unreliable because the Chinese polices handling of cases is completely obscure.

We cannot just trust the numbers provided by the Chinese government in their reports, he told RFA. This is always the case because Chinese police statistics or figures are unreliable.

Second, they dont disclose their records, said Kokbore, who is also vice chairman of the Executive Committee of the World Uyghur Congress. They always keep it all the evidence undisclosed. No one can question the credibility of their findings or evidence. To sum up they detect their cases in the dark, not in the open.

Chinese human rights activist and lawyer Teng Biao said that while the Chinese police in Xinjiang did not disclose the number of cases they have detected, the fact that they ranked first in the country is concerning.

[Xinjiang police] saying that in six years they have raised the case clearance rate to 100% and reduced the crime rate to its historic low has a scary reality behind it, he told RFA.

Setting up internment camps and installing high-tech surveillance cameras everywhere has helped in authorities efforts to expose crimes and to reduce the crime rate, Teng said.

In the Chinese judiciary, on the other hand, the power of the police is greater than the power of the judge and the prosecutor, he said. If the police suspect someone, the judge and prosecutor will also convict him.

Teng noted that the Xinjiang police were able to report a 100% case clearance rate and rank first in China because police routinely use torture to obtain confessions, which then are included in court verdicts.

In China, the law enforcement agencies have a lot of power, the judiciary is not independent, and there are a lot of wrongdoing and murder cases that have been suppressed because of the lack of freedom of the press, Teng said.

Justice in todays world

Speaking about the Xinjiang High Peoples Courts achievement, Teng told RFA that judicial standards should be fair, and pursuing speedy outcomes should not be priority.

Chasing speed is a sign that China has turned its own judicial system into something else. It is incompatible with the idea of justice in todays world, he said.

Officials have conducted a major shakeup of judges and prosecutors who work in the Xinjiang judiciary, according to a March 28 report by the Bingtuan News Network, run by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC).

A state-owned economic and paramilitary organization, the XPCC, also known as the Bingtuan, has been sanctioned by the U.S. for its involvement in human rights violations against Uyghurs.

On Monday, the Standing Committee of the XUARs Peoples Congress issued a list of more than 120 officials who have been dismissed or appointed to serve in the regions courts.

Experts say that it is rare for so many judges and prosecutors to be replaced in Xinjiang at the same time, but that the Chinese government is likely refreshing the judiciary and prosecutors as it prepares for an upcoming visit by a U.N. delegation led by Michelle Bachelet, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, to Xinjiang.

Bachelet announced earlier in March that she had reached an agreement with the Chinese government for a visit foreseen to take place in May to China, including the turbulent Xinjiang region.

Her office is under pressure from rights activists to issue an overdue report on serious rights violations by Chinese authorities targeting Uyghurs and other Turkic communities in the XUAR.

Up to 1.8 million Uyghurs and others have been held in a vast network of internment camps operated by the Chinese government under the pretext of preventing religious extremism and terrorism among the mostly Muslim groups.

In preparation for the U.N. rights chief visit in the region, the Chinese government may have removed the politically unreliable judges and prosecutors and replaced them with judges and prosecutors loyal to the Chinese Communist Party, Teng said.

Reported and 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 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed hope a cease-fire 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 country's most patriotic holiday, commemorating the Soviet Union's 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."

Mariupol's 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 under way 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 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. 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.

Skepticism 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
Russian visits to the Uzbek capital of Tashkent are in high demand, travel agencies say, since they started offering "debit-card" tours with the aim of obtaining Mastercard and VISA cards from Uzbek banks.



Mastercard and VISA cards issued in Russia cant be used abroad for international online payments since the U.S. card giants suspended their operation in the country on March 6 due to Moscows war in Ukraine.



The VEDI Group, which has offices in Moscow and 10 other Russian cities, became the first Russian travel agency on March 23 to offer its clients a special package called "For VISA to Uzbekistan."



The tour operator was once known for organizing COVID-19 vaccine tours abroad for Russians who preferred a Western-made jab to their homemade Sputnik ones.



The VEDI Groups Uzbekistan package -- at a fixed price of 23,000 rubles (about $280) for two nights and three days -- does not include any sightseeing in Tashkent.



Instead, it organizes a visit to a local bank where clients open an account and get their debit cards. Applications and appointments are all arranged in advance by the travel agency and its Uzbek partners.



The first VEDI Group debit-card tourists are scheduled to fly to Tashkent on April 3. Prices for flight tickets are charged separately.



Meanwhile, several other Russian travel agencies, such as BSI Group and Russky Express, have already begun offering similar packages to Tashkent.



Demand for such trips is high, with customers contacting tour agencies with enquiries, Russian media reported, citing travel agents.



Agencies are also exploring other destinations for "credit-card tourism," such as Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Turkey.



Why Uzbekistan?



Factors such as simple requirements, speed, and affordable fees have made Uzbekistan the most popular choice so far for debit-card hunters.



According to a VEDI Group ad, it takes only a day for Russian clients to get their cards.



The travel agent organizes the paperwork and bank appointments in advance. All the clients are required to do is to show up in person with their passports and sign documents. Customers also dont need to have a valid address in Uzbekistan.



After returning to Russia, the clients can top-up their bank balance, when needed, transferring money by various means including the Russian payment system Zolotaya Korona.



Uzbek banks also offer Russian-language mobile applications as well as 24-hour customer service hot lines, the ad says.



The list of Uzbek banks willing to open accounts for Russian clients include Asaka Bank, Kapital Bank, and Ipak Yoli.

The clients are free to open an account in the local currency, the som, or choose dollar or euro accounts.



In the Kapital Bank, for example, the fee for applying for a Mastercard or VISA card is $2.50 and $5, respectively. It also requires a symbolic deposit of $5 for a VISA and 10 euros for a Mastercard.



Russian media reports that it takes much longer -- up to six working days -- to get a card from local banks in Armenia. Armenian banks also often require a local home address or a six-month lease contract as proof of an address in Armenia.



Some banks in Georgia and Turkey also require foreigners to have a local address in order to open a bank account. Other difficult requirements include a high deposit for nonresidents.

Kazakh Mediators



Some Kazakhs are also offering to be a mediator for Russians who want to get cards in Kazakhstan.



They claim that a Russian can open bank accounts through a third party in Kazakhstan without having to leave Russia.



The mediators service includes applying for a local individual identification number and a Kazakh phone number before applying for a bank account and subsequently getting a card. Biometrics and other details can be submitted online, various articles and blogs claim.



Some bloggers say mediators have already helped dozens of Russians to successfully receive debit cards in Kazakhstan.



But Russian experts warn the customers to be cautious with services being offered by unknown individuals or firms. They urge Russians to carefully choose their tour operators in their debit-card journey, and to only work with reputable companies.



Russians can use their new cards only while traveling abroad, as Mastercard and VISA cards issued in Uzbekistan or any other foreign country cannot be used inside Russia.



Russian officials also remind people to inform the tax authorities about their foreign bank accounts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin barred residents from transferring money abroad, including to their own bank accounts, as of March 1.



But it seems the ban doesnt apply to countries that are not party to the sanctions on Moscow, such as Uzbekistan. Russian residents have a monthly limit equal to $5,000 that they can transfer abroad.



VISA and Mastercard were among hundreds of Western companies that halted their operations in Russia due to the sanctions precipitated by the war in Ukraine.



Their existing cards issued by Russian banks can only be used inside the country until they reach their expiry dates, as they will not be renewed.



Cards issued by Russias domestic system, Mir, are only accepted by a small number of countries, including Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Vietnam.



Meanwhile, along with the Uzbek cards some travel agencies also note the opportunity for designer shopping and to explore the real estate market in Uzbekistan.



It seems aimed at appealing to the new realities that Russians face: Because of the sanctions, many of those who like designer goods will be deprived of their favorite brands as the big international companies leave Russia.
Officials from Russia and Ukraine said they have agreed on a temporary cease-fire in the besieged southeastern port city of Mariupol to allow civilians to evacuate and humanitarian aid to enter.



The city has borne the brunt of Russias invasion, with much of Mariupol destroyed by artillery and rocket attacks. Previous attempts to help civilians through humanitarian corridors in the country have mostly failed but the March 31 announcement comes as the war continues to shift gears.



Ukrainian forces have begun retaking some Russian-controlled areas, just as Moscow said it would scale back operations around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv. U.S. and Ukrainian officials say the repositioning of forces is part of Moscows effort to refocus toward the eastern Donbas region and an intention to refit and resupply troops.



As Russian forces regroup and readjust their goals in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on March 31 ordering 134,500 new conscripts into the army as part of the countrys annual spring draft. The class of conscripts could potentially provide new forces for Russia, although their involvement in the war is highly sensitive. Moscow had previously said only professional soldiers and officers had been sent to fight in Ukraine, but the Russian Defense Ministry later acknowledged that some conscripts had been deployed.

RFE/RL spoke with retired U.S. Army Major John Spencer, chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Madison Policy Forum and author of Connected Soldiers, to find out more about the current situation.



RFE/RL: Russia announced some sort of pullback of forces around Kyiv and previously said that the first phase of the war was over. Maps show they were already losing ground in those areas and there continues to be some fighting. So, how should we view this pullback? Is this truly voluntary? Is it meant to give Russia time to regroup or something else?



John Spencer: I think we should all view it for what it is -- a failure of Russia to achieve what it wanted to do -- which was from day one to quickly get into Kyiv and remove President [Volodymyr] Zelenskiy and install a new government to make Ukraine essentially part of the Russian Federation.

[That failed], so Plan B was just to isolate [Kyiv] and then that failed. Plan C was to hold [the area] for a while, and that failed. What we're seeing now is clearly Plan D, which is to make a message saying that that was never the goal [and] we're going to move [and] reposition [forces] to the Donbas, which would take weeks [to do], to be honest. This should be viewed for what it is, which is the success of the Ukrainian people in defending Kyiv.



RFE/RL: It seems that Russia is planning to focus its attention toward the east and southeast. Given what youre seeing, can Russia achieve what appear to be its new goals and what many analysts have theorized about, which is a land bridge connecting Crimea, likely through Mariupol and also gaining the full territory in Luhansk and Donetsk that the separatists claim? What does this actually mean practically on the ground?



Spencer: Again, lets call it what it is. Theres been a reduction in the objectives from Russia.

You could take those forces that are in the northern part of Ukraine [and] pull them back and move them into the eastern front. But you can't do that next week. You can't do it two weeks from now. For one, just to drive from Kyiv to Luhansk or Donetsk would take you days, and your vehicles would break down and we've already seen that [the Russian military] is logistically incompetent.

But these [Russian] forces have also been engaged in hard combat for a month.

Their casualty rates are high. Their morale is low. Their equipment is bad, they're frozen. Yes, it's possible, and this is not the end of this war, clearly, but that would take weeks [to do] properly.



There are also issues with conscripts [timelines] running out very quickly, and the [Russian forces] will have to possibly integrate other conscripts [into their forces], which is a nightmare as a military organization to do.

So, I say "no," it's not possible just to rapidly reposition those forces and integrate them into any type of fight in the Donbas, which also has one-third of the Ukrainian military fighting [there] as a coherent, hard fighting unit. You can't just throw those [troops] in as reserves into the fighting that's going on there.



Could you eventually do it? Yes. Pull them back into Belarus, [or] pull them back into Russia, [and then] reconstitute, refit, rearm, and reorganize them all and then push them back into [Ukraine] in a month from now? Maybe.



RFE/RL: In the meantime, it does seem that Russia's strategy is to keep a distance and we see that with intense shelling and rocket attacks. There has been lots of talk about Moscow invoking a Chechnya or Syria playbook in Ukraine, which means essentially leveling cities. Do you think that Russia is following the strategies it used in Chechnya and Syria or is it doing something different in Ukraine?



Spencer: I think it's something different. Having studied urban warfare and studied both battles of Grozny in both Chechen wars and all the Syrian battles, you have to look at it through [the lens] of the political objectives. You believe what [Moscow] does, not necessarily what it says, and we can see here that this is the product of its objectives in Ukraine changing.

[Starting] on day one, the objective was Kyiv, so you had to view all operations as in support of that objective. Now you have to look at everything in view of the new objective of taking the east. Whether its a land bridge through Mariupol up into the Donbas or something else, I think the shelling is just in support of eventually what will be a repositioning or a withdrawal of Russian forces from where they currently sit, and the shelling is to keep Ukrainian forces occupied.



You can't reposition Ukrainian forces at this moment. All the cities are still under threat and it is normal to bomb in support of what we call retrograding, which is pulling back to fight somewhere else. That is normal in war. Of course, Russia is committing war crimes [in the way] they're doing it, but I think the [artillery] is in support of this new objective [for Russia].



RFE/RL: Where do you think the repositioning might take place? Wherever Russia is repositioning its forces, it still looks to be trying to keep its distance and is avoiding close combat or anything that would be street-to-street fighting. So where does that leave Russia in the upcoming weeks?



Spencer: I think they're going to concentrate, unfortunately, on the massacre that is Mariupol, where it is a close-quartered fight at this point.



You can't bomb urban areas into submission. You can't even bomb entrenched soldiers into submission. Military history proves that you have to eventually close the distance and take what you want. They're in a close fight in Mariupol [and] that close fight could last for weeks.

Keeping their distance [is] normal for militaries to do, in a way its just common sense. But if you're going to take something from somebody, you have to close the distance and eventually go in like we're starting to see in Mariupol today [and] that I think we're going to continue to see.



[Russia] would like to get reinforcements and resupply the southeastern fight. If they really want that objective of connecting the separatist areas [to Crimea] and pushing back the Ukrainian military and [that] being what theyre able to negotiate as their win, that's still a tough fight that [they will] have to close the distance for.



RFE/RL: With all that in mind, to what degree can fighting on the battlefield decide the end of this war? Or is it ultimately going to end in a negotiating room somewhere?



Spencer: All wars are politics by other means. This ends with a political solution; it doesn't end with either side destroying the other enemy force. That's just not the way war works across time.

I don't think we're anywhere near the fighting being done. If you look at the red dots on the map, that's a lot of red. That's a lot of Russian forces sieging urban areas still. [Russian forces] are being attacked, they're taking high casualties, and that's going to continue even if there isn't a political settlement that creates a cease-fire, which I honestly, don't think is in the near-term future.



So, there's a lot of fighting thats still going to happen.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity
In Ukraine's eastern Kharkiv region, the Ukrainian military shows off armor and equipment that was left behind by invading Russian troops after a battle. Some will be reused by Ukraine's armed forces, while other pieces will be left where they are. RFE/RL correspondent Roman Pahulych and cameraman Pavlo Kholodov spoke to Mykhaylo, a Ukrainian serviceman, on March 30.
VIENTIANE, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Laos and Thailand intend to increase two-way trade to 11 billion U.S. dollars by 2025 by promoting bilateral economic cooperation at all levels.

Trade officials of Laos and Thailand are also keen to boost trade and economic cooperation to overcome the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected economic linkages over the past two years due to the closure of borders, local daily Vientiane Times reported on Thursday.

Lao Minister of Industry and Commerce Khampheng Saysompheng and Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Commerce Jurin Laksanawisit co-chaired a video conference on Tuesday to discuss ways to boost trade.

The meeting also discussed plans for cooperation this year and other future plans.

Khampheng raised four specific issues related to future cooperation, including the reopening of borders to facilitate bilateral trade in order to achieve the target of 11 billion U.S. dollars for two-way trade by 2025, and facilitating trade at the borders through documentation process based on the ASEAN Single Window agreement.

The value of exports from Laos to Thailand was 2.509 billion U.S. dollars and the value of imports from Thailand was 2.933 billion U.S. dollars, according to the figures reported at an annual meeting of the industry and commerce sectors. 
HANOI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- With proactive and continuous efforts, Vietnam is stepping up the resumption of international tourism while flexibly adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Taking place here from Thursday to Sunday after two years of suspension, the Vietnam International Travel Mart 2022, the largest annual tourism trade fair in the Southeast Asian country, marked the reopening of the Vietnamese tourism sector in the new normal context.

On another positive note, the country welcomed roughly 91,000 international arrivals in the first quarter of this year, surging 89.1 percent against the same period last year, said its General Statistics Office.

Over the past few weeks, promotion activities have been accelerating across localities including the Vietnamese capital Hanoi, northern Quang Ninh province, and central Quang Nam province to welcome tourists back.

Several new products like marine tourism, cultural tourism and eco-tourism with unique features of localities have been launched as highlights for the upcoming summer travel season.

On March 15, the country fully reopened its borders to foreign visitors after nearly two years of COVID-19 disruption. Accordingly, most traveling restrictions had been removed for international arrivals to Vietnam.

Visitors now only need to prove that they have been fully vaccinated or recovered from COVID-19, with a negative test result as per requirements by local health authorities. They are also required to have insurance coverage of at least 10,000 U.S. dollars for possible COVID-19 treatment in Vietnam.

Also from March 15, immigration procedures for foreigners have been restored like before the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that citizens from a list of 80 countries and regions can now apply for an e-visa for a stay of up to 30 days. The Vietnamese government reiterated its stance to treat foreign and domestic tourists as the same.

Vietnam had resumed the visa exemption policy for citizens from 13 countries including Japan, South Korea, and Russia, its key tourism markets, on the same day. Prior to this, all restrictions on the frequency of international flights were officially removed since Feb. 15.

The country hosted a record number of more than 18 million visitors in 2019, the last full year before the coronavirus outbreak, compared to just 157,000 foreign arrivals in 2021 due to border closures. It has set a target of receiving over 5 million foreign tourists in 2022, according to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT).

At a recent meeting on reopening the sector, Deputy Minister of the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Minh Vu assessed that an assertive door-opening policy is giving Vietnam the advantage of being among "the first movers."

When many countries and regions have not yet opened, the choices of tourists cannot be as diverse as before the pandemic. The advantage will, therefore, belong to the destinations that open early, actively promote and refresh their tourism image to attract tourists' attention.

However, insiders have largely agreed that the reopening does not mean foreign tourists will immediately flock to Vietnam like before the pandemic.

"Opening at this time is to resume the market so that we can welcome international visitors between this September and March 2023, our annual peak season," VNAT general director Nguyen Trung Khanh told local media.

Local experts view that it may take months or even years for the number of visitors to recover to the pre-pandemic level, citing their financial and health concerns when traveling.

At this point in time, it is a big challenge to reach customers from several important markets due to certain traveling restrictions, Khanh noted, adding that Russia, as another key market, is also affected by the pandemic and the current Ukraine conflict.

According to Khanh, other obstacles come from the industry's serving capacity, technical facilities and human resources.

In the past two years, many tourist areas have closed, and the facilities have been degraded. Personnel in the sector are also dispersed as they were forced to switch to other occupations.

Between 2020 and 2021, nearly 30 percent of travel firms nationwide had their operating licenses withdrawn, leaving only about 2,000 ones to continue to operate, Khanh said.

"They are facing difficulties, especially the shortage of skilled and high-quality personnel," he said. 
YANGON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's Central Committee on Prevention, Control and Treatment on Thursday issued an order to extend the period for preventive measures against the pandemic until the end of April.

The extension will be applied to all orders, announcements and directives previously issued by the respective union level government organizations and ministries, the announcement said.

According to the Ministry of Health, Myanmar reported 139 new COVID-19 cases with a daily positivity rate of 1.07 percent on Thursday.

The number of COVID-19 infections has reached 611,587 in the country, including 589,312 recoveries, the ministry said.

The country's death toll remains at 19,430 as no new deaths from COVID-19 have been reported for four consecutive days, official data showed.

Over 21.8 million people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of March 29.

The virus was first detected in Myanmar in March 2020. 
Should the precepts and political ideals of the "Green New Deal," and the 2 year Democratic Socialist politicization of Covid Response continue to take precedent over cogent economic foundational norms?

Yes, we must save the planet, and we must take whatever measures necessary to control the populations of the World to do so.

No, the People should continue to have the freedom to make the correct decisions, as afforded to US by God, guaranteed by the Constitution, and beyond all manner of Authoritarian control.
MOSCOW, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A Russian parliamentary commission held its first meeting on Thursday, announcing the establishment of four working groups to investigate U.S.-controlled biological laboratories in Ukraine.

The commission heard information from the Russian Defense Ministry on the investigation into biological research by American specialists in Ukraine, the Russian State Duma or the lower house of the country's Federal Assembly said in a statement.

During Russia's special military operation, the dangerous biological activities of the United States on the territory of Ukraine were revealed, said Irina Yarovaya, co-chair of the commission and deputy chairperson of the State Duma.

"Dangerous both for Russia and for Ukraine itself. We are talking about secret activities controlled by the U.S. Department of Defense, with signs of the development of biological weapons," she said.

The four working groups will conduct a detailed analysis of all documents and facts, including at the expert level, the senior lawmaker noted.

"Today the commission has instructed the working groups on defense, security and international law to start working on materials on the involvement of Hunter Biden in the project in Ukraine, as well as an invitation for explanations from him and Victoria Nuland," Yarovaya said.

The investment fund Rosemont Seneca, currently managed by U.S. President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden, financed the Pentagon's military biological program in Ukraine, the Russian Defense Ministry said last week.

U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland has admitted that "Ukraine has biological research facilities."

The Russian parliamentary commission, which was founded last week, will report its findings to President Vladimir Putin, the government and international organizations. The next meeting of the commission will be held on April 4. 
LISBON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- New opportunities for investment and enhanced economic ties between China and Portugal are on the horizon thanks to the Portuguese Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), said Chinese Ambassador Zhao Bentang on Wednesday.

Discussing the PRR at a webinar organized by the Association of Chinese Enterprises in Portugal, Zhao said that Chinese-Portuguese economic relations have been steadily advancing in the last few years.

Last year in particular, there was a peak in goods trade between the two countries, which amounted to over 8.8 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. This represented an increase of 28.1 percent.

Meanwhile, China has become the fifth largest investor in Portugal, with cumulative investments of 10.6 billion euros.

The Ambassador said that China and Portugal share the same post-pandemic economic goals of promoting development, stabilizing jobs, guaranteeing people's livelihoods and restructuring the economy.

Zhao expressed confidence that Portugal's PRR, created by the European Union (EU) to revitalize member states' economies in the post-pandemic period, will be fully implemented after the new government swears in on Wednesday. This will bring new opportunities for Chinese-funded enterprises, both in Portugal and China, Zhao added.

Fernando Alfaiate, president of the mission for recovery in Portugal, the body responsible for the technical coordination and monitoring of the PRR, said its goal is to prepare Portugal for the future via a set of reforms and investments that will promote sustained economic growth. The plan is focused on three elements: resilience, climate transition, and digital transition.

Meanwhile, Bernardo Mendia, secretary-general of the Luso-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that economic growth is "only possible with the movement of globalization."

"Foreign investment is fundamental for Portugal. After the 2008 crisis, Portugal went through its most difficult moment, with the risk of bankruptcy."

However, he added: "Thanks to partnerships and foreign investments, we managed to recover."

The country is now seeking more investment, he said, expressing his gratitude to the Chinese companies who helped Portugal to survive the financial crisis. (1 euro = 1.12 U.S. dollars) 
San DiegoBased Muralist Celeste Byers Spills on Her Career and a Few of Her Favorite Things
Breaking up schoolyard fights is a scary but necessary part of an educators job, said several local school officials, following an Escondido middle school brawl that led to the reassignment this week of three administrators at the campus.

A video of the fight at Rincon Middle School showed one student beating another on Friday while an assistant principal looked on. The footage, circulated on social media and aired in news reports, raised questions about the role of school officials in violent incidents.

In the Rincon case, the video shows a male student repeatedly punching another boy, as Assistant Principal Mike Brinkley is nearby with his hands in his pockets. After the victim walked away, the other boy followed him and pummeled him again, knocking him to the ground.

After the video surfaced, Brinkley was placed on administrative leave and two other Rincon administrators were moved to other schools. On Monday, a new principal and two new assistant principals were reassigned to Rincon.

Escondido Unified School District Superintendent Luis Rankins-Ibarra declined to talk specifically about the incident, but said Wednesday that school employees have a responsibility to treat brawling students as if they were their own children, .

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If your daughter or son was involved in that fight what would you do? Rankins-Ibarra asked. You would intervene. Theres no recipe for a fight. Theyre ugly. To do nothing is not acceptable.

That principle  called loco parentis  is codified in a state law that recognizes educators responsibility to maintain order, and relieves them from liability for doing so. The California education code says a teacher, vice principal, principal... shall not be subject to criminal prosecution or criminal penalties for the exercise... of the same degree of physical control over a pupil that a parent would be legally privileged to exercise, in order to protect student health and safety and maintain a proper learning environment.

Teachers and administrators are typically well trained in how to react in such situations  but that doesnt mean its easy, officials said.

Our obligation is to not let students hurt each other, but we need to protect ourselves also, said Barbara Dawson, a Vista-based board member for the California Teachers Association. You dont want the teacher to be injured trying to stop a fight.

Dawson, who has taught at Roosevelt and Washington Middle Schools in Vista Unified School District, said stepping into the fray is not always the best starting point.

I dont know that I would get in the middle of two middle school boys punching, she said, although acknowledging that she has done so on occasion.

My first instinct as a teacher is to say stop. Get in the middle, put my hands up, say stop, Dawson said. But if you grab a students arm in a fight, they might punch you, or they might blame you.

Bob Mueller, interim director of the County Office of Education, said school officials can maintain a physical presence in a scuffle without laying hands on the kids.

Im going to give loud verbal commands, call the students by name if I know their names, he said. Im going to put my body in close proximity. And Im going to determine based on the surroundings, if its safe for my to physically intervene. If I dont take the full surroundings into account it could make it worse.

An adult could fall on a student, unintentionally provoke other kids to join the brawl, or leave a student vulnerable by restraining him or her. In most cases, he said, it takes two adults to pry fighting students apart. The best defense, he said, is to establish strong school relationships and a respectful environment.

As a school community we care about each other, we act to protect each other, Mueller said. To the extent that we have schools like that, we have fewer fights, we have students coming to us for help. We have students working to create their own skills at resolving conflict. What makes a school safer is working hard to create a positive school climate.

Rankins-Ibarra said thats what he aimed for in the administrative changes instituted this week. The new Rincon principal, Jason Wrzeski, has a background in special education, and experience in dealing with students behavioral issues, Rankins-Ibarra said. Former Rincon Principal Beth Crooks was reassigned to Juniper Elementary School, where Wrzeski had been stationed.

Administrators Chris Harris and Johnnie Landreth have also moved to Rincon as assistant principals. Former Rincon assistant principal Kim Comes will split her time between Mission Middle School and Orange Glen Elementary.

Rankins-Ibarra agreed that physical intervention when students are fighting is a last resort. He said the district trains its administrators in a series of steps to follow during an altercation.

Could you use a whistle? he asked. Use your voice or authority. Grab one of the offenders, and move them out of the way. Call for backup. Have kids run to the office. Its ultimately a staff responsibility, but specifically on the administration. And thats my responsibility.

deborah.brennan@sduniontribune.com Twitter@deborahsbrennan
A National City woman who was forced to demolish her house is suing the city, claiming it broke the law by strictly enforcing her code violations while ignoring the violations of a local politician.

The lawsuit, filed in San Diego Superior Court on Nov. 9, stems from a September 2017 incident in which National City building official Luis Sainz told Elizabeth Lopez that she needed to demolish her house immediately because of serious code violations that threatened the integrity of the property.

Sainz allegedly told Lopez that if she didnt file demolition permits right away, National City would demolish the house for her and charge Lopez $30,000 on top of the demolition costs, according to the lawsuit.

Lopez asked the city to give her time to hire an engineer to try to save the property, but the city wouldnt budge, according to Lopezs attorney, Francisco Javier Aldana.

My client was emotionally devastated, Aldana said. She had purchased the house two years earlier and she borrowed money for the remodeling.

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Lopez paid $17,000 to demolish her own home to avoid getting stuck with a $30,000 bill.

She currently lives with relatives in San Diego and is still on the hook for mortgage payments and remodeling loans. Meanwhile, her lot in National City remains empty, Aldana added.

Lopez didnt think the city treated her differently than anybody else until April 2018, when The San Diego Union-Tribune published a story detailing how Councilman Jerry Cano went five years without paying fines for housing violations.

Cano was originally issued a notice of violation in June 2013 for building patio extensions in his back yard. The city followed up with three warning letters and even put a lien on his property in 2015. But by the spring of 2018, Canos home was still out of compliance and the councilman had not been fined.

So basically, this Jerry Cano guy, the council member, got treated differently, Aldana said. He has several violations for years.

Lopez was one of several National City residents who complained that Cano seemingly received preferential treatment.

The citys Building Department is understaffed and lacks proper policies and protocols to follow up on cases, forcing staff to use their discretion to prioritize certain work, according to a report from third party investigators who looked into the building violations.

Cano and National Citys city attorney did not respond to requests for comment. Frank Parra, the citys top building official, referred questions about the lawsuit to the city attorney.

Following the newspapers reporting, National City hired an outside law firm to investigate whether Cano broke any laws.

That investigation was inconclusive because Cano refused to participate and the investigators had no subpoena power.

The investigation noted that passive influencing of city staff may have happened, meaning that Councilmember Canos status as a member of the Citys City Council may have had some influence on the Citys staff exercise of its discretion, according to the report.

Cano was ultimately forced to pay late fees and eventually demolished the structures in question, Parra told the Union-Tribune Thursday.

Lopezs lawsuit argues that the difference in treatment between her and Cano show how National City violated her rights. Specifically, the lawsuit claims National City violated her equal protection and due process rights.

The complaint asks a judge to award compensatory damages but does not specifically provide a dollar figure.

They should treat people the same, Aldana said.

Contact Gustavo Solis via Email or Twitter
LONDON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- China, the world's largest new electric vehicle maker and market, is playing a leading role in the electrification of the car industry, a British leader of the auto industry told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"If you look at the moving away from petrol and diesel to electrification, all markets in the world are making that at different paces. China was one of the first markets to be and still is in the front," said Mike Hawes, chief executive officer of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, a leading British automotive trade body.

"Obviously given China is the world's largest new car both in manufacturing and market," he said, "It has that lead role."

Hawes's remarks came after an analysis from his society showed manufacturers have committed 10.8 billion pounds (about 14.2 billion U.S. dollars) in Britain's electric vehicles and batteries since 2011.

"China also makes investments in Britain, especially in terms of research and development, and increasingly that is around electrifications," Hawes said. "It is something that both countries would want to work on because delivering zero-emission mobility is the entire world needs."

Hawes welcomed China's battery manufactory Envision Group partnering with Japanese auto company Nissan to build a "gigafactory" in Sunderland, a port city in England. He said this sets a good example of international cooperation and technology implementation.

Envision AESC, the battery division of Envision Group, announced last October that they got formal planning permission for Britain's first at-scale battery manufacturing plant.

The 9GWh-capacity gigafactory will form part of a 1 billion pounds (about 1.3 billion dollars) partnership with Nissan UK and Sunderland City Council to create an electric vehicle hub.

Hawes also noted that Britain and China have a "good foundation" in cooperation in the car industry, saying "UK is a competitive market. We are seeing increasing Chinese brands coming to Britain's market, and British companies also have been invested in China around production and taking British brands into China."

When talking about the challenges in global car industry cooperation, Hawes said the international relationship is in a difficult situation, but it will be overcome.

"I think from the UK's perspective, what we always want is free and fair trade. We can overcome these problems and as long as know the benefits for both countries and both markets," said Hawes. 
Earlier this week I reported that we were not seeing huge changes yet for the March 2022 Google Products Reviews update. Well, it seems like some of the tools and a number of SEOs are now noticing larger changes specific to sites that would match the product reviews categories.

I am seeing some more chatter and some SEOs, like Glenn Gabe and also Lily Ray, are posting screenshots of sites they track in the sector seeing larger changes. Also, the tracking tools, some of them, are starting to show a larger upswing in volatility.

Charts Of Specific Sites

Here are some charts from Glenn Gabe, Lily Ray and Marie Haynes of specific sites they track in the product reviews sector showing changes - likely from the product reviews update:

I mentioned yesterday the March 2022 Product Reviews Update was mild so far. Well, I'm seeing more movement now (with some seeing initial movement this week). Still not like the previous two PRUs volatility-wise (yet), but more movement for sure. Just a heads-up. :) pic.twitter.com/fBhBlNi1me  Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 30, 2022

And here is more movement I'm seeing across sites with reviews content. Some sites are surging after dropping with previous Product Reviews Updates, or vice versa. And like I saw with the December PRU, there are dueling machine learning systems at play (core updates vs. PRU). pic.twitter.com/p3t2IfP3LB  Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 31, 2022

And remember, just because a site surges doesn't mean it's back to where it once was. Here's an example of a nice surge, but it's only a partial recovery. The drop from the December Product Reviews Update was huge... We'll see where it ends up once the March PRU is done. pic.twitter.com/kLPepIxnlJ  Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) March 31, 2022

More examples of Product Review sites starting to make a comeback, after being hit by the December PRU.



I actually think most of these sites do go above and beyond to meet Google's product review content quality guidelines, so I think the new update is "working" pic.twitter.com/Qa9s93Sc7L  Lily Ray  (@lilyraynyc) March 30, 2022

What's interesting is that with the December Product Review update, many transactional, head-term rankings shifted in favor of major ecommerce retailers



That trend seems to be reverting back to top rankings for many Product Review sites with this recent update pic.twitter.com/vV2mqAkVHY  Lily Ray  (@lilyraynyc) March 29, 2022

Another affiliate site.



They are also seeing increases for searches containing "best".



Content speaks of personal expertise..."We tested these and analyzed them for comfort, durability, strength, etc." pic.twitter.com/ACZPpmoi3I  Dr. Marie Haynes (@Marie_Haynes) March 29, 2022

The Tracking Tools

Like I said above, some of the tracking tools are starting to show some more widespread changes in the Google search results. I suspect many of the tools that have not shown the swings yet, will do so soon.

Here are some screenshots from the tools showing the volatility and I'll update this story throughout the day as the other tools update.

Semrush:

Cognitive SEO:

SERPmetrics:

Advanced Web Rankings:

Accuranker:

RankRanger:

Mozcast:

Google weather for Wed 3/30 - 99 deg. F and Stormy (https://t.co/cOmqWYr560)  MozCast (@mozcast) March 31, 2022

The last two should update later today with new data - I'll be updating them as I see them change.

SEO Chatter

So the ongoing WebmasterWorld has had some chatter since the update, he is the chatter specific to the product reviews update:

Very big drop (-40% to 50%) since 2 weeks now. Serps itself doesnt seem to have changed so it could be some super AI that is going wild.

Wow today for some of my searches im seeing position 1-6 all YouTube, I had to triple check i wasn't in the video section! Website traffic continues to decline and according to my YouTube analytics traffic from google to my channel has improved by 46% since this time last year!

I am seeing continuing increases in top 3 ranking, but English language traffic is weak. USA is consistently weak every day for about 10 days now, UK also lower most days but not as much. Today Canada is also off by 37%. The theory about the war in Ukraine having an impact might be true, but if so why not lower traffic from continental Europe? Also, why the sudden shift and decline...if it were news related it would be more gradual, not overnight. The sudden declines in traffic following the same patterns indicates to me that it's all manipulation on the part of Google. They are once again experimenting with page layout and other ways to ensure that website don't get any traffic and they keep it all. I see some sites that were major competitors reduced to running ads for everything now...which is exactly what Google wants of course. They won't make any profit at $5 per click with all the fraudulent clicks too. I tried it last year...Google's traffic from adwords is pure crap.

According to SEMrush I had a very large boost in visibility today, now passing or on part with my top competitor. Yet my home page traffic is down 71% and my USA traffic is down 56% so far this morning. Ranking really is not correlating with traffic. I wish I had the time and skills to analyze why, but I can't afford to hand Google more of my time, I'm busy looking for ways to diversify away from search. I have to say, social isn't much better. If you aren't paying FB or Instagram you will get nothing from those platforms either.

Something happened on Saturday 26th March for me: Global site 1-25 March 100% The last 4 days 83.6% and today looking lower however enquiries stil good. UK site 1-25 March 112% The last 4 days 81% and, as above, today looking lower.

Today it's even lower and still dropping...home page -61%, USA - 40%, UK -27%. Many of my landing pages are down exactly 17% at the same time, others down 45%, and the most highly trafficked -60%+. This has been getting worse for ~10 days now and business has vanished completely.

So it seems like this update may be finding its legs? What are you all noticing?

Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
Getty Images/Getty Images

A California couple will serve months in jail after they admitted to cheating at a card game in a Livermore casino and making off with more than $500,000 in sham winnings, officials said.

Eric Nguyen and Khan Tina Tran were indicted in 2020 on charges that they conspired to steal roughly $4 million from the Casino 580 in Livermore. They recently pleaded guilty to felony grand theft in connection with the gambling scheme, Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Wednesday.
As a professor at San Francisco State University, Julie Marshall taught her students to use art to work through personal issues, a process she employed during her own four-year struggle with a bone marrow disorder.

During long treatment sessions, shed take the intravenous infusion in her left arm to leave her right arm free to draw interpretations of the IV drip bag that was her inescapable companion. Her goal was a triptych of paintings that reimagined the drip bag as personal totem. Each painting was offset by a mouse, a rabbit and a canary to symbolize her own vulnerability.

Marshall finished the first two and was at work on the third when she went into the hospital on Feb. 10. She died five days later at UCSF Parnassus from complications related to aplastic anemia, a disease in which bone marrow is unable to adequately produce blood cells. She was 74.

Julia had always used visual imagery to extend her verbal ways of thinking about issues that concerned her, both involving the world at large and her own thoughts, said her husband, Leonard Hunter, retired professor of art at S.F. State. Once she got terminally ill, her emotions overwhelmed her logical mind, and the paintings represent her sense of urgency and what fate held for her.

Marshalls approach to art education is now spread far and wide, both through the art teachers and professors she trained in her 20 years at S.F. State and in the textbooks she wrote and co-wrote.

Her main courses at S.F. State were art for children, plus curriculum and instruction in art, both requisites for the K-12 single-subject teaching credential in California. Her classes were always full, usually with a waiting list.

The thing that was so cool about it is that we were making art at the same time we were learning how to be teachers of art, said Lisa Hochtritt, who studied under Marshall and went on to teach art at Half Moon Bay High School.

Julia had a kiln, she had paints, she would bring in tons of art-making materials. And she didnt just give us assignments. Shed do the work with us, too. She was curious about everybody and everything and made it so much fun, Hochtritt said.

When Mozelle da Costa Pinto got her credential at S.F. State and was hired at Sequoia High School in Redwood City 26 years ago, she structured her introductory art class in the thematic style that Marshall trained her in. Current events, history, science and student curiosity all melded into the creative process. To guide her, da Costa Pinto keeps two of Marshalls textbooks on the shelf in her classroom.

I literally carry her with me every day and every time I think about lesson development, da Costa Pinto said. If the students are laughing or finding joy in the creative process, thats how I know that Julia is there.

Julia Newell Marshall was born Dec. 9, 1947, in Red Wing, Minn., a small town south of Minneapolis. As a child, Marshall wrote and illustrated an accordion book called Arbutus the Turtle, and she was on her way.

She never stopped. Almost daily she was making art or teaching art, said her older sister, Caroline Marshall. She had a little art school in the basement of our house where she taught neighborhood kids to make art.

Marshall attended boarding school at the artsy Barlow School in Amenia, N.Y., and from there went to George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she got her bachelors degree in studio art in 1969. Her master of fine arts in sculpture came from the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Her masters project was a life-size Egyptian sarcophagus.

She was quirky and had a wonderful sense of whimsy, her sister said.

This became evident in the summer of 1973, when Marshall persuaded her to tour Europe in a Volkswagen bus they bought at an Army base in Germany. The sisters started out in May and by the end of the summer had made it as far as Venice. Caroline had to get home to her job, so Julia drove her to the airport and then kept going. She drove that VW bus through Italy and Turkey and all the way to Kathmandu, meeting traveling companions at campsites along the way.

When she finally returned to the U.S., she moved to San Francisco to meet up with high school friends from Barlow. One of these, Barlovians as they called themselves, was Peter Sawyer. In 1977, they were married on the banks of the Brule River in Northern Wisconsin, where her family had a summer home. Marshall and Sawyer settled in a converted storefront in the Mission District. They got around by riding double on a motorcycle that was garaged in the living room.

Marshall found work through Leap Arts in Education, a nonprofit that dispatches art teachers to schools hit by budget cuts. This compelled her to go back for her doctorate in art education at the University of San Francisco.

She really began to believe that art teachers were going about it the wrong way, said her sister, also an art educator. They were teaching students how to hold a brush. Julia thought the ideas you were trying to express were what art was all about.

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Marshall was hired as a lecturer at S.F. State in 1988. The next year she and Sawyer were divorced. Marshall and then-faculty colleague Leonard Hunter began a long dialogue on the changing world of art education. That conversation lasted through Marshalls promotion to assistant professor, in 1998, through her wedding to Hunter at San Francisco City Hall, on May 3, 2006, and was still going.

The day before she died, we were still talking about things in art education, Hunter said.

They settled in a house in Merced Heights, a 10-minute walk to campus. If Marshall was not in her home studio, she was in her campus studio, next to her classroom.

Julia was always available and never said no, said Hochtritt, who was so inspired by Marshalls process that she ended up earning her doctorate and is now a professor of art education at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. Everybody in art education has a Julia story about how she affected their life in some way.

In 2014, Marshall retired as a full professor and moved into the Faculty Early Retirement Program, which allowed her to teach part time for four more years, before finishing in 2018.

Marshall liked to say teaching is my art form, but so was painting and sculpture in wood and bronze. Her work was exhibited at community centers and galleries, and a few years ago she began work on a career survey that she hoped to stage at the University of San Francisco, where she got her doctorate.

That survey, 20 of her works including the final triptych, will be displayed in the Student Art Gallery within the Cesar Chavez Student Center at S.F. State. It opens June 4.

Survivors include her husband, Leonard Hunter of San Francisco; son Doug Berlin of Herndon, Va.; sisters Caroline Marshall of Washington, D.C., and Morley Knoll of Portland, Ore.; and brother Paul Marshall of Wayzata, Minn.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@samwhitingsf
The terminated deputy chief of Oaklands Department of Violence Prevention demanded that the city hire her back as the head of the department and alleged that her firing was retaliatory after she accused the current chief of harassment and discrimination.

Sarai Crain, who was hired in 2020 to lead the departments work on gender-based violence, accused the chief of the department of bullying and dismissive behavior. Guillermo Cespedes, the chief of the department, and an employee relations director fired Crain on Jan. 22, according to Crains attorneys.

Her attorneys sent a demand letter on March 25 to Mayor Libby Schaaf, the City Council and the city attorneys office detailing Crains allegations. They called on the city to reinstate Crain with an immediate promotion as the chief of the department, reimburse her for attorneys fees and two months of unemployment pay, or to pay her a sum of $268,104 to make up for one year of lost work and emotional damages.

Her attorneys said they will bring a lawsuit alleging unequal pay, wage loss and retaliation, gender discrimination, harassment, and retaliation, unless the city settles the matter.

Cespedes, reached by phone Wednesday evening, said he was dealing with the city attorneys office and at this point, I have no comment to make.

City Administrator Edward Reiskin said in a statement to The Chronicle that the administration takes harassment and discrimination seriously, and its policies prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender and race.

I do not condone discrimination in any form; this administration is proudly anti-racist; dedicated to lifting up Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous women and men and other people of color; and committed to justice, Reiskin said. And this administration is zealously engaged in efforts to end systemic racism and promote equity at all levels and in all forms.

Reiskin said the law prevents him from sharing confidential personnel information, but I can say that there were circumstances and facts that led to the personnel decision in question and that I supported it.

We continue to stand by the decision, and we continue to stand behind Chief Cespedes and the work he and the Department of Violence Prevention are doing on behalf of the people of Oakland, he said.

The accusations come less than a year after the City Council bolstered the departments budget by nearly $18 million to fight gun violence. The department faced added pressure to boost its efforts amid increasing violence and committed to working with the Police Department.

Attorneys wrote in their letter that Cespedes told Crain they would not work with the Police Department due to political issues and interfered with her work.

The Department of Violence Prevention planned to invest about 25% of its budget on gender-based violence, which includes domestic violence, sexual assault and sexual exploitation.

In an interview with The Chronicle in July, Crain said, Sexual exploitation in Oakland is rampant.

Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan released the demand letter in a press release. Kaplan, Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas, Council Members Carroll Fife and Sheng Thao, who is running for mayor, criticized Crains dismissal.

They plan to introduce an item in a council committee Thursday to direct the city administration to investigate and rectify the abrupt termination.

These claims are deeply troubling and must be investigated and resolved immediately, said Fortunato Bas. Dr. Sarai Crain is a well-respected advocate against gender-based violence. Her departure has been deeply felt by those of us working to end human trafficking, which is centered in my district in the San Antonio neighborhood. Having championed last years investment in expanding the Department of Violence Prevention, I want to ensure we have strong leadership to implement Oaklands vision for community healing and safety.

In his statement, Reiskin criticized the council.

Its deeply troubling and puzzling that anyone would call for an investigation into allegations and, at the same time, jump to the conclusion that the allegations were true and propagate them as facts, he said. This helter-skelter and irresponsible approach undermines the important violence-prevention work that Oaklanders expect their leaders to support.

The demand letter states that shortly after her hiring, Cespedes began telling her about other employees supposed sexual interest in him. In addition, the letter accused Cespedes of using homophobic language but did not specify what he said. It also stated that he told Crain he was happy he did not have to give blow jobs in the back seat of a car for employment.

Last July, Crain discovered that a male employee in a similar position was paid nearly $30,000 more per year for similar work, according to the letter. When she confronted Cespedes, he told her he didnt understand why unequal pay was offensive, the letter stated.

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Attorneys alleged that Cespedes prevented the city and Crain from studying her claims and increased his hostility toward her. Crain reported the treatment to the citys employee relations department in January and was terminated eight days later, according to her attorneys.

The letter did not specify why she was terminated but states that Crain was told it was Reiskins decision.

Prior to working for the city, Crain was the executive director of Bay Area Women Against Rape.

Kaplan said in a statement that we must take action to undo inappropriate actions and ensure that race and gender discrimination are not tolerated.

She also accused the city administration of discrimination and said, It is essential to end all acts of discrimination by this administration  and these allegations of misconduct and pay disparity  and alleged retaliation  warrant a direct response, investigation, and remedy.

Fife said its important to examine the claims in the letter to ensure we avoid perpetuating a practice of diminishing talented, experienced women, particularly women of color, in leadership positions.

Thao echoed the other council members and called for a thorough investigation.

It is my hope that this matter can be settled quickly and Dr. Crain can return to the critical work of violence prevention in Oakland, Thao said.

Sarah Ravani (she/her) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sravani@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SarRavani
Jacom Stephens / Getty Image

A San Jose high school was put under lockdown for three hours on Thursday while police searched for suspects in a nearby shooting.

Officers arrived around 10:45 a.m. in the vicinity of Lucretia Avenue and Taji Drive, to find a male juvenile with a non-life threatening gunshot wound. Within minutes a suspect was located and a firearm recovered.
One bite of the vegan ceviche at San Francisco restaurant West of Pecos is an eerie experience. The slippery cubes feel like raw tuna, with a similar briny, oceanic flavor. But they actually consist of bamboo, pea protein and algae, produced by a process that its creator, a local food tech startup, wont disclose.

The faux fish dish is a sign that the plant-based food industry is moving far beyond veggie burgers and soy nuggets. While the main players are focused on replacing products made from beef, chicken and pork, several new Bay Area companies are branching out. Theyve been quietly developing products, such as a surprisingly gamy lamb alternative, for years before finally hitting the market.

Analysts say the industry is at a turning point, and consumer demand for more variety is high. In 2021, retail sales of plant-based foods grew by 6.2% over the previous year, according to data released by the Plant Based Foods Association, the Good Food Institute and data technology company Spins. The year saw $1.4 billion in vegan meat sales  the same as 2020, but 74% more than three years ago.

Meanwhile, investment in food tech is surging: The industrys deal value from mergers and acquisitions more than doubled from $6 billion in 2020 to $13.1 billion in 2021, according to a new report from Deloitte. Investors pooled more than $2 billion into plant-based proteins in 2021, said Heather Gates of Deloitte, with the industry expected to surpass $15 billion in value by 2026.

Fascinated by the food technology world, West of Pecos owner Tyler MacNiven said hed been searching for the first great vegan tuna when he heard about Current Foods, formerly known as Kuleana.

I was shocked at how convincing it was, he said. Its not the same (as tuna) but when its surrounded by accompanying flavors, the texture is so close.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

Current Foods CEO Jacek Prus said he entered the plant-based seafood realm because relatively few companies were tackling it. While its easy to find faux fish sticks and vegan crab cakes, whole cuts are rare. Prus said his company uses novel machinery and a secret process to turn bamboo fiber into a fillet.

West of Pecos became the first Bay Area restaurant to carry the tuna in November and is seeing rising sales every month, MacNiven said. Diners can expect the tuna-less tuna  and a smoked salmon-esque product  in more restaurants this year, Prus said, and the company is in the process of building a production facility in San Francisco.

Other plant-based meat options abound as well. The new vegan lamb from San Franciscos Black Sheep Foods, for example, is more widely available: tucked into wraps at Greek mini-chain Souvla, as a kebab topped with pickled persimmon at high-end Indian restaurant Rooh, and paired with labneh at a couple of Peninsula locations of Israeli spot Orens Hummus.

Courtesy Nicola Parisi

Black Sheep co-founder Sunny Kumar sees opportunity in wild game. After perfecting lamb  it took 2 years to develop the first version  he plans to tackle duck and wild boar.

To make the lamb, Black Sheep takes animal tallow from Tunis lamb, a New Zealand breed, through a biopsy to understand its fat and mouthfeel. The company determines which flavor compounds it needs to replicate and then finds plants that produce those compounds as well. Black Sheep then sources those compounds from plants, ending up with a ground meat-like product bulked up with pea protein.

At first, Kumar said, his team put in all of the compounds before realizing they could actually improve the flavor of lamb. They could skip the pastoral, barnyard notes while still making sure you get the lamb burps, he said. Were not going to be shy.

Janelle Bitker / The Chronicle

At hip San Francisco wine bar Chezchez, chef Timmy Malloy serves the lamb in meatball form with a spiced tomato sauce and garbanzo beans. He said he likes trying different vegan burgers. But at no point do I bite into them and think, This is cow, he said. Tasting Black Sheep, I went cross-eyed.

Perhaps the most stunning animal-free product being made in the Bay Area right now is the mozzarella from New Culture in San Leandro. While there are plenty of plant-based cheese outfits, theyre typically unable to produce the meltable, stretchy quality of real cheese. Thats because they lack casein, one of the proteins in cheese that co-founder Matt Gibson said allows milk to curdle.

New Cultures mozzarella melts because it contains real casein, though no cows are involved. Instead, the company uses microbes, genetic engineering and fermentation.

Microbes already produce proteins  can we convince microbes to produce casein for us? said co-founder Inja Radman.

Provided by New Culture

The process  called precision fermentation  is an emerging sector of the food tech world. Its also used by Berkeleys Perfect Day, though that company is focused on whey, which can produce milk and cream cheese. Animal-free dairy is seeing rapid growth, according to Deloittes Gates, with $90 million invested in companies focused on vegan cheese in 2021.

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New Cultures cheese is already virtually indistinguishable from real dairy. Raw, its bouncy and mildly sweet. In a 750-degree oven, it bubbles like lava in just one minute, sticking to a pizza wheel as its cut. The company is talking to San Francisco pizzerias, with plans to debut next year.

In Gibsons view, nut-based cheeses arent winning enough people over. He argued that the current array of plant-based foods is a stepping-stone to better products. The only problem is these products wont reach the masses quickly, he said. It takes time to scale up; Black Sheep, for example, produces about 500 pounds in 90 minutes, which is already not enough to meet the demand from the many Indian, Middle Eastern and African restaurants that have been waiting for a lamb option, according to Kumar.

For now, however, there are still a lot of burgers. Theyll remain the industrys core, said Julie Emmett, the Plant Based Food Associations senior director of marketplace development. At the same time, theres the boredom factor, she said, with consumers wanting to see new options across every category.

Lea Suzuki/The Chronicle

Despite promising sales data for the overall industry, not all players are finding continued success. Beyond Meat made headlines last fall when its stock fell by 48%. Some major chains are removing or looking into dropping the companys vegan meats, citing a niche market. Adam Parrish, a partner with Deloitte, chalked it up to larger food manufacturers entering the scene.

Some plant-based companies have done better. Some have had challenges, he said. Certainly, the competition is increasing.

And with those new competitors pitching themselves to Bay Area restaurants, the default vegan menu item may no longer be Impossible Burger in the not-too-distant future. MacNiven of West of Pecos said hes seeing a steady rise in diners scanning his menu specifically for plant-based options.

The tidal wave of plant-based customers, its coming. We feel it, he said. Everyone with a head start now is very wise.

Janelle Bitker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: janelle.bitker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @janellebitker
Ask a vintner whats the hardest part about starting a winery, and one answer they might give is: choosing a name.

All the good ones have been taken, basically. And dont even think about coming up with a name that sounds similar to an existing wine. Youll be fighting a court battle in no time.

American wine nomenclature is a trademark-lawsuit minefield: Seemingly every week, another wine business is taking legal action against a competitor for alleged infringement. Sometimes, theyre relatively small fries, as was the case recently with a Paso Robles winery called Hawks Hill taking arms against a Sonoma County vineyard called Hawk Hill.

Other times, its titans against titans. Last year, Jackson Family Wines filed a lawsuit claiming that Gallos Cask & Cream wine label was an imitation of Jacksons popular La Crema. My personal favorite, as regular readers may recall, was when JaM Cellars, producer of a Chardonnay called "Butter," sued Franzia over a Chardonnay with "Rich and Buttery" emblazoned on its box. (The judge presiding over that case, I was flabbergasted to learn, appeared not to grasp how commonly Chardonnay is associated with butteriness.)

Trademarks and brand names are contentious in all sorts of businesses, but theres a unique trickiness to their role in the wine industry. As the cases of Hawk(s) Hill, La Crema and Butter all illustrate, the wine lexicon is fairly limited. In many cases, Im willing to bet, vintners arent consciously copying each other; theyre simply reaching for the obvious words at hand. Everythings a hill or a ridge or a creek or a valley. The cheap wines are all either buttery or creamy or jammy; the expensive wines are all claiming to be "cult," which, by the way, is the subject of another 2021 lawsuit.

If an entire industry is throwing the same words around all the time, is it any wonder that a lot of those words appear repeatedly on different labels?

Its not just words  its images too, as two recent trademark disputes illustrate. A Solano County winery is in court with a Napa County winery over its use of a shovel on its wine label. Meanwhile, the wine corporation Delicato has sued a Chilean wine company over its depiction of a "bird of prey" (another hawk!) flying in the night sky near mountains (another hill!).

Sometimes wine companies end up sparring with non-wine companies. Famously, in 2013, Napas Duckhorn sued Duck Commander, a wine label owned by the "Duck Dynasty" people (remember them?). And in 2020, Bota Box, which Delicato owns, sued the Bay Area maker of a product called Bota Backpack.

Occasionally, the disputes are legitimately thorny. For decades, stakeholders have been battling over the right to the name To Kalon Vineyard  a historic site in Oakville, considered to produce some of Napa Valleys finest wines. There, the various legal confrontations have involved considerations of which parcels were part of the original vineyard planting, way back in the nineteenth century, and the precise degree of the vineyards fame. Some have argued that To Kalon is more like a place than like a brand name, and that it shouldnt be trademarked any more than "Yosemite National Park" should be. The latest court decision, however, sided with the To Kalon-as-brand concept, when a federal judge upheld the trademark that Constellation Brands, owner of Robert Mondavi Winery, holds for To Kalon.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

The state of affairs could get slightly easier, thanks to a new law. The Trademark Modernization Act of 2020, which went into effect in December, creates a pathway for clearing the federal register of trademarks that havent been used for a long time. This will theoretically prevent people from holding trademarks that they dont intend to actually use, which is a good thing.

But it still doesnt help with the wine industrys basic issue: Lots of people own vineyards that happen to have hills and hawks.
Mask mandates have ended in all states, and in his State of the Union address earlier this month, President Biden effectively ended the countrys emergency approach to COVID-19, outlining various steps the U.S. will take toward returning to work and accepting the disease as endemic. Although there are still widespread disputes over these shifts in pandemic policy and concerns about the omicron subvariant BA.2, many Americans believe the viral emergency has ended.

For Americas most vulnerable, however, the social emergency that COVID-19 ignited is far from over.

In the first year of the pandemic, low-income households and people of color were disproportionately impacted. Two months into the pandemic, more than half of Latinx and Black households had experienced a decline in employment income, far greater than any other racial groups. Four months later, 43% of Black adults and 37% of Latinx adults struggled to pay their bills.

To help offset these challenges, the federal government spent $1.8 trillion on stimulus checks and increases in unemployment payouts, food stamps, childcare and housing assistance. This support worked. Hardship rates, measured by the inability to pay bills, get enough food and catch up on rent, fell after the enactment of the American Rescue Plan.

But as news surfaced this month that Senate Democrats dropped a $15.6 billion pandemic aid package because Republicans and Democrats couldnt agree on how to fund it, many states and municipalities began fighting over remaining COVID relief funds. Why? Because low-income communities and people of color are still in desperate need of assistance.

Nationally, nearly 6 million households are behind on rent, owing more than $16 billion. Of these households, 80% are low-income, 65% are people of color and 54% are unemployed. Meanwhile, gas and food prices continue to rise, and debt has mounted due to lost work wages and medical bills. According to a recent report from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, debt to asset ratios for Black and Latinx families are 50% higher than for white families.

Add to all of this unemployment rates that havent recovered from the pandemic and are disproportionately high among Black and Latinx residents. The December jobs report from the Bureau of Labor found that from December 2020 through December 2021, 17% of Black and 15% of Latinx people experienced unemployment compared to just under 11% of white people. Black womens unemployment was particularly high. Its not unsurprising then that a Census Bureau survey from October 2021 found that Black and Latinx adults were more than twice as likely, and native tribal citizen, Alaskan and Hawaiian; Pacific Islander and multiracial adults were three times as likely than their white counterparts to say that their household did not have enough to eat.

The statistics track with my own research. Since August 2020, I have interviewed over 100 residents of racially marginalized, working-class neighborhoods in Chicago. In the dozens of interviews from January and February, I found that lower-income families are desperately struggling and angry that relief has ended. Many are in debt or behind on bills. Still others remain unemployed. One woman told me that the additional stimulus, housing and food support helped, but it did not cancel her debt. We still have to eat and support our kids. Food prices gone up 30%. We still have our lives. We need help to get by.

Even for lower-income residents who are employed, they are often working in low-wage jobs that make it impossible to pay their rent, utility, health insurance and food bills, and meet their childrens needs. Another woman I interviewed works 40 hours a week at minimum wage  which is $15 an hour in Chicago  and has subsidized housing. But she still struggles to make it every month and had to sign up for a payment plan with the hospital because she has extensive medical debt. She echoed other interviewees saying, and now the price of food is steady going up, and the price of gas is steady going up. And those are the things we need, not the things that we want ... Now its all about survival. People are not living life, they surviving.

All of us are COVID-fatigued and ready to move on, but some Americans are trapped by income inequality and systemic racism that the pandemic has only exacerbated.

The federal government provided extensive stimulus payments, unemployment benefits and rental assistance at the height of the pandemic, and for many, this made survival possible. But unfortunately, it did not extend far enough or last long enough, and many families are struggling to get back on their feet.

A California Assembly bill passed Monday that awaits Senate approval would extend eviction protection until June 30, as some 275,600 people are still waiting for their applications for rent assistance to be processed. Other states should move to extend protections as well.

Extending eviction moratoria, increasing the federal minimum wage, increasing benefit levels for food assistance and unemployment, providing direct cash assistance and ongoing rental assistance to those living in poverty may sound like a lot, but if we want the pandemic and its enduring affects to be over, well never get there if we allow the most vulnerable to be left behind.

Claire Decoteau is a professor of sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a Public Voices fellow with the Op-Ed Project.
Proposals to redraw the boundaries of San Franciscos 11 supervisor districts have drawn fierce backlash over the past few weeks, and advocates for the Tenderloin and South of Market neighborhoods are now the latest groups to protest possible changes.

The group in charge of updating the boundaries may split the two neighborhoods into different districts, a potential change that could have big political implications.

Exactly where the new lines are set could help determine whos elected in Board of Supervisors races and therefore the political balance of the board.

A preliminary map under consideration by the citys redistricting task force would remove the Tenderloin from District 6, where it is currently located, and place it into District 5, where it would join the Western Addition, Fillmore, Hayes Valley and other neighborhoods.

District 5 would no longer include Haight-Ashbury, the area north of the Panhandle and other neighborhoods on its current west side.

The proposal was advanced by the task force in a close vote last week. It has drawn intense blowback from community leaders who say the Tenderloin and SoMa have strong ties to each other and fear that separating them would dilute their political power.

Samantha Laurey / The Chronicle

While the task force is not finished with its work and can still change course  new boundaries need to be in place by April 15  the latest controversy further reflects the political sensitivities the group faces as it tries to update district boundaries to reflect a decades worth of population shifts.

And it shows continuing concerns about how the process would affect the LGBTQ community, coming after an earlier  now outdated  version of the map suggested controversial changes to the district that includes the Castro.

We need comprehensive district boundaries to ensure vulnerable communities are represented adequately, Jupiter Peraza, director of social justice and empowerment initiatives, said at the citys Transgender District. Without proper representation, we run the risk of being overlooked in the decision-making process that molds the future of our communities.

LGBTQ activists are particularly incensed at the idea of putting the Tenderloin and SoMa in different supervisor districts, given the communitys historical presence in each. The transgender district includes parts of both neighborhoods, while the Leather and LGBTQ Cultural District is in SoMa.

Peraza and others who spoke at a Wednesday news conference in the Tenderloin voiced strong objections to the potential new district boundaries, saying they could hurt the neighborhoods ability to effectively advocate for its interests.

Samantha Laurey / The Chronicle

At a Friday meeting where the task force voted 5-4 to advance the map that would put the Tenderloin in District 5, the Rev. Arnold Townsend, the groups chair, said the proposal could create a stronger Black voting district by joining Black Tenderloin residents with voters in the Fillmore area.

I predict that, if we dont do something real, that in about four to eight years, you wont be able to elect an African American supervisor unless they can attract themselves to a whole lot of people that dont have African American interests in mind, Townsend said.

But Bob Brown, board president of the leather and LGBTQ district, pushed back on that claim.

Its very important that all sections of the city be represented as best they can, Brown said at the Wednesday news conference. By splitting up one group to support another, I dont think thats very progressive.

District 6s boundaries will need to shift because new developments in the area produced a surge in population growth between the 2010 and 2020 censuses.

The task force must ensure that supervisor districts are roughly the same size, although some variation is permitted if necessary to keep neighborhoods intact.

District 6 is currently represented by Supervisor Matt Haney, who lives in the Tenderloin and is running for election to the state Assembly seat vacated by now-City Attorney David Chiu.

If the task force moves the Tenderloin to District 5, and Haney loses the Assembly race, he would no longer live in his district and if Haney wins, future District 6 supervisor candidates would not live in  or campaign for votes from  the Tenderloin.

Haney could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

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.

Scott Strazzante / The Chronicle

District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston said the proposed map makes no sense, particularly given his districts scant population change.

Its clearly not just trying to obliterate District 5, but trying to take the folks removed from District 5  who are extremely progressive and have many votes  and move them into small pieces into districts where their vote will have less of an impact, Preston said.

Regarding the possibility of putting the Tenderloin in his district, Preston said it would be an honor to represent the neighborhood but not at the expense of losing half of District 5, and most importantly, not over the strong objections of virtually everyone in the Tenderloin whos spoken up.

The map moved forward by the task force last week is not the only one being contemplated by the group.

One of the alternate versions drawn by consultants would keep the Tenderloin and west SoMa in District 6, while preserving parts of District 5s current west end. Another would put both the Tenderloin and part of SoMa into District 5.

Neighborhood groups in District 3, which includes North Beach and Chinatown, are also watching the process closely, with many of them advocating in favor of a district that would fully encompass Russian Hill by extending the west boundary all the way up Van Ness Avenue.

Several maps being weighed by the task force would accomplish that, but the districts existing southern boundary in the Financial District may be adjusted as well.

The task force is expect to revisit the potential boundaries of new supervisor districts when it meets again Saturday at 10 a.m. in Room 400 of City Hall.

J.D. Morris is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jd.morris@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @thejdmorris
Stephen Lam/The Chronicle

San Francisco electronics retailer B8ta dissolved its operations last month after pandemic challenges including outstanding rent payments, a robbery at gunpoint last year and security costs at its Hayes Valley store that exceeded $30,000 per month.

Former CEO Vibhu Norby confirmed to The Chronicle that the company went out of business. He previously told Modern Retail, an industry publication, that B8ta wasnt able to negotiate settlements with all of its landlords after some stores closed permanently but leases were still active. That made the companys survival impossible.
I recently took a long walk with my newborn and two test smartphones. I wanted them to tell me: Is his stroller being tracked?

I'm not just being paranoid. Last May, I dedicated this column to my concerns about a new kind of Bluetooth lost-item tracking device from Apple called AirTags. I documented how frighteningly easy it was to use a product designed to find lost keys to instead stalk people.

A year later, Apple along with similar tracker-tag makers Tile and Samsung have introduced a host of product updates to deter stalking and help victims learn if they're being followed. But what I discovered from my stroller test was a patchwork of apps that work better for engineers than for domestic abuse survivors.

Digital stalking is an expression of humanity's worst impulses but is a problem of the tech industry's own creation. And tech fixes for it won't really work until the industry starts working together - something there's a glimmer of hope might happen.

At least tech companies are now acknowledging the problem. Since my first column, we've heard report after report of people finding these poker-chip sized wireless devices hidden in coat pockets and taped under cars, allowing someone to easily track them without their consent. Just last week, Ukraine issued a warning that AirTags and similar devices called Tiles might be used by Russian saboteurs, secretly putting them into humanitarian aid packages.

Apple included some anti-stalking deterrents for iPhone owners in the product's original 2021 release, but in response to the incidents, last month announced a slew of changes to how they work. Apple has now addressed some of the specific problems I highlighted last year. Most encouraging, Apple and Tile have - better late than never - given advocates of domestic abuse survivors a seat at the table in product discussions.

Now Samsung and Tile also offer apps for a victim's phone that are supposed to help her or him identify trackers that are following them.

"The reality is that this is a very complicated problem to solve," Tile CEO CJ Prober told me in an interview after launching the company's long-awaited Scan and Secure software last week. "This is our first launch. We wanted to get something out that wasn't confusing and works."

My job is to hold tech companies accountable. So I slipped an Apple AirTag, Tile and Samsung SmartTag in my son's stroller to see how useful each company's anti-stalking features actually are.

Bottom line: I'm glad I wasn't reliant on some of this tech to combat a real-life crime. Even Apple's tech, which is by far the most sophisticated, shifts too much work onto the shoulders of abuse survivors who might be stalked by other brands of trackers or, heaven forbid, use Android phones.

- - -

My stroller test helped me understand how this technology works, but of course the experience was nothing like actually being stalked. Tracking people's location without their consent is a frightening way to exert control that's often linked to physical abuse. It's never OK.

To conduct my test, I mirrored how a stalker might use tracker tags to follow his victim. I set up an AirTag, Tile and SmartTag linked to test phones and slipped each into my baby's stroller. Then I grabbed a different iPhone and Android phone unknown to any of the tags - and went for a 45-minute walk.

Out on the sidewalk, only one of the tiny trackers indicated something might be amiss. After we started moving, the AirTag played a few seconds of chirping, though hard to hear along a busy road. (Apple has announced it will improve the sound but wouldn't play me a sample.) I heard not a tinkle from the Tile and the SmartTag.

When I returned home, I received one other warning, only on my iPhone and only about the AirTag. After a few minutes passed, an alert read, "AirTag Found Moving With You." Back when AirTags launched, you'd only get this alert after three days of tracking; now Apple has dramatically shortened that window. This is extremely valuable even if it results in the occasional false positive (like if you're borrowing a friend's keys with an AirTag keychain).

The bad news is: This was the only proactive alert I received on either phone.

To discover anything about the Tile, the SmartTag or even the AirTag on my Android phone, first I had to download different apps and master each of their peculiarities. Even for me - a professional gadget guy - it was a lot.

- Tile

Tile's anti-stalking software, now embedded in a "Scan" button in the app's login screen, let me hunt for unknown Tiles nearby. But it comes with an odd requirement: Those Tiles have to be moving with you over a 10-minute period, so you actually have to go on a walk or drive. Tile said this was to make the app produce fewer false alerts about Tiles that weren't actually dangerous - but it feels like a strange hoop to make victims jump through.

- Samsung SmartTag

Samsung's SmartTag detector is buried so deeply in the settings of its SmartThings app, I had to ask the company where to find it. Then on my first stroll, the app failed to find my test SmartTag. Later, Samsung told me that its software wouldn't identify a tag until it had been separated from the phone that owned it for a full 24 hours. (How does this make sense, if domestic violence victims live with their stalkers?) Worse, Samsung's software doesn't work on iOS, so I never located the SmartTag with my test iPhone.

- Apple AirTag

To find the Apple AirTag on my Android phone, I had to download an app called Tracker Detect that Apple released late last year. I opened the app and tapped scan, and after a few seconds, it reported an Unknown AirTag and gave me the option to make it play the warning sound after 10 minutes passed. Sometimes it actually reported two AirTags, a bug Apple was unable to explain.

Quirks aside, each of these apps suffered from a bigger problem: What if I hadn't known to be looking for a tracker in the first place?

None of them offer background monitoring or alerts, like with AirTags on the iPhone. Each could only scan at that moment, one at a time.

"It's a nightmare scenario that's not practical for most people. It's barely even practical for the people who work regularly with the survivors of domestic abuse," said Eva Galperin, the director of cybersecurity at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Erica Olsen, Safety Net director at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said, "It's better than not having any safeguards, but there is still a significant amount of work that has to be done to address it in a comprehensive way."

Google, which makes Android, said it's already possible for Apple's app to run in the background. "Domestic violence advocacy groups have raised valid concerns about these products, and we encourage the manufacturers to update their apps to improve proactive scanning," said spokeswoman Kaori Miyake.

Apple spokesman Alex Kirschner said: "We're committed to making improvements that continue to guard against unwanted tracking, and we are evaluating ways to make unwanted tracking features stronger for Android users. Continuous background scanning with Tracker Detect on Android would negatively impact battery life and other features that use Bluetooth. The most power-efficient way to enable this type of background scanning for AirTag is to implement it at the Android operating system level."

Unraveling all of this was frustrating enough for me - but Olsen encouraged me to imagine it through the lens of someone in trauma. How does trying to download and figure out all of these apps work for someone who's trying to escape their abuser?

- - -

I've heard the argument that a flurry of news reports about AirTag stalking are a sign that the current technological deterrents are working.

I'm very glad Apple's tech enabled people to discover these crimes - but we have no idea how many people it didn't work for. The current landscape of tech means the bad guys need only mismatch brands, or use the tracker with the worst deterrents and they'll never be caught.

I know the tech industry can do better because even students have done better. An Android app called AirGuard made by students at the Technical University of Darmstadt offers protections none of the official Android apps do, including background scanning and detecting multiple brands of trackers. When I took it on a walk with my stroller, it popped up alerts to report it discovered the AirTag and Tile, complete with a map of where it spotted the tracking.

How'd they do that? Project leader Alexander Heinrich told me that his team documented the Bluetooth signals from different kinds of tracker tags, then taught their app to log and sort through the relevant ones.

The tech industry can, and should, follow their road map: building the capability to sense for known Bluetooth trackers right into smartphone operating systems like iOS and Android. It could be passive, so you didn't have to download an app or even know the stalking protections existed on your phone - it just worked when you needed it.

"It would be really good if the industry came up with a shared standard," said Galperin of the EFF.

Tile's Prober told me this makes the most sense to him, too. "It's actively being worked on and discussed," he said. "Where I get concerned is that Apple does not have a history of participating in these type of cross-platform enablements that take away from their platform lock-in."

Apple wouldn't answer questions about its involvement in cross-industry efforts. That seems strange to me, for a company that has staked its brand on privacy and security. Apple has worked with competitors before, including developing Bluetooth-based covid-19 exposure notifications that work on Android and iOS devices alike.

Google is already at work. Earlier this week, sleuths at the blog 9 to 5 Google spotted test code in a work-in-progress version of Android that includes "Unfamiliar device alerts" and an "Unfamiliar Tag Detected Notification" for Bluetooth.

Google wouldn't comment on that discovery, but Miyake said the company encourages tracker makers "to work with the ecosystem and advocacy groups on a long-term solution with safety built in."

An industry that likes to push for self-regulation needs to demonstrate it can summon the will to work together at least to conquer this common enemy. Lives depend on it.
There was chatter about a magazine and whether anybody read it, about a letter to the governor of South Dakota, about the small mining town where the president's wife was born. Then, suddenly, there was only a persistent humming sound.

The recorded June 20, 1972, conversation between President Richard M. Nixon and Chief of Staff H.R. "Bob" Haldeman was drowned out from there - the precise moment, prosecutors said, that the two turned to the meatier subject of Watergate. The just-over-18-minute gap in Tape 342 would become a defining point in the scandal and contribute to Nixon's resignation. What exactly was said remains a mystery to this day.

Almost 50 years later, Washington is again abuzz over a hole in presidential conversations turned over to investigators - this time involving former president Donald Trump. Records provided to the House committee probing the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol list no calls for more than seven hours, The Washington Post reported Tuesday. The unexplained gap has raised the specter of a potential coverup.

It has also revived the strange saga of 18 missing presidential minutes.

The damaged Nixon recording became public knowledge Nov. 21, 1973, months into a slow-burning congressional investigation of the bugging of the Democratic National Committee Headquarters at the Watergate complex. That day, White House lawyers told Judge John Sirica, of the U.S. District Court in D.C., that a portion of the subpoenaed tape was blank, and special counsel J. Fred Buzhardt said it had deteriorated into "an audible tone and no conversation." He said the cause was unknown, calling it a "phenomenon."

"It was a huge revelation," John Dean, who served as White House counsel for Nixon, told The Post on Tuesday.

"It was the timing of the story that made it a big story," said Dean, who was involved in the Watergate scandal and later became a witness for the prosecution. "Nixon had promised that he would get things squared away, and he was going to be cooperative and he was going to start turning over the tapes."

The conversation between Nixon and Haldeman about 11:30 a.m. on June 20, 1972, was of particular interest, The Post reported at the time, because it happened three days after arrests were made in the break-in at Democratic headquarters. It was their first chance to talk about the incident. Notes jotted down by Haldeman suggested that after banter about the New Republic, South Dakota Democratic Gov. Dick Kneip and the first lady's birthplace of Ely, Nev., Watergate became the topic of discussion.

Scrawled on the lined piece of paper were hints of the words exchanged between the two men: "What is our counterattack?" and "PR offensive to top this" and "We should be on the attack for diversion."

But Tape 342, played to a hushed Washington federal courtroom later that November, didn't include those bits. Instead, it captured chatter "about elections and presidential speeches, press conferences and cans of soup," The Post wrote, declaring it "an anticlimax." In audible snippets of dialogue, Nixon professed that "presidential speeches are dull" and told a steward, "I'd like a little bit of that consomme." Then the humming took over.

"The hum sounded very much like the noise on a television set after a station has signed off for the night," The Post reported.

When it receded, the president and his chief of staff were talking about the upcoming Democratic convention.

White House Chief of Staff Alexander M. Haig Jr. testified in federal court that the lost portion of tape was "a source of great distress." He said White House lawyers discussed the possibility that "some sinister force" bore responsibility, but he did not elaborate on what that force could be.

It was Nixon's intensely loyal secretary, Rose Mary Woods, who ultimately took some of the blame. She testified that while reviewing the recording at her White House desk the previous fall, the phone rang. She reached over to answer it, and, "through some error, in some way," hit the record button rather than the stop button. As she took the call, she said, she "must have" kept her foot pressed on the machine's pedal, accidentally recording over the tape.

She was adamant, though, that the interruption lasted five to six minutes.

"All I can say is that I am dreadfully sorry," said Woods, who had spent decades working for Nixon and become close with the family.

In a maneuver dubbed the "Rose Mary Stretch," she reenacted the moment when she supposedly erased the conversation. The image, which showed the secretary straining to keep her foot on the pedal while reaching behind her for the phone, was not considered convincing. It made the cover of Newsweek, accompanied with the headline "Rose Mary's Boo-Boo."

She was "white-knuckled" and "almost at a 45-degree angle," assistant Watergate special prosecutor Jill Wine-Banks told ABC News in 2017.

In January 1974, experts convened by Sirica, the judge overseeing the Watergate criminal investigation, determined that there were five or more erasures, suggesting it was deliberate. But the question of how it happened - and what was erased - remained unanswered.

It was a different conversation between Nixon and Haldeman, recorded June 23, 1972, that became the "smoking gun." In it, the two came up with a plot to tell FBI Director L. Patrick Gray to drop the Watergate burglary over national security concerns. Nixon's public support cratered, and under threat of impeachment, he resigned on Aug. 8, 1974.

Decades later, Nixon, Haldeman and Woods have died, but the mystery of the 18-minute conversation endures in the American consciousness.

Dean dug deeper in his book "The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It." His conclusion? Woods probably thought she had caused the erasure, but someone else did it - and did it on purpose.

He also says the conversation probably wasn't as important as people imagine.

"The person who heard it and erased it - it was clearly an intentional erasure - thought it was important," Dean said. "But Nixon tended to repeat things that were really important."

Still, efforts to fill in the gap have continued over the years. The National Archives tried to recover the inaudible words in 2003 with help from audio experts, but it was unsuccessful. Tape 342 is kept in a climate-controlled vault in the archives, preserved with the hope that its secrets might one day be unlocked.
From revising marijuana business rules and bill allowing cobblers to donate shoes, to high school diploma rules and free snowmobiling weekend  see how Manistee area lawmakers voted on recent measures.

 2022 House Bill 5696, Let minors age 16 stock liquor store shelves



To permit minors age 16 and up to stock shelves and do related functions in a business that manufactures or sells liquor.

Passed 86 to 17 in the House

State Rep. Jack OMalley, R-Lake Ann, supported the measure.

 2021 House Bill 4205, Authorize a no-fee snowmobile weekend



To designate one weekend each winter in which the states snowmobile trails would be open with no requirement to register and pay fees.

Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate

Sen. Curt. VanderWall, R-Ludington, supported the measure.

 2021 House Bill 4994, Authorize unclaimed shoe repair contributions

To create a new state law prescribing that a cobbler or other person engaged in the business of shoe repair may donate unclaimed shoes to a charitable organization registered with the state after six months.

Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate

Sen. Curt. VanderWall, R-Ludington, supported the measure.

 2021 Senate Bill 726, Authorize more school pension double dipping



To reduce from a year to four months the time period a former public school employee must be retired to be eligible to collect a paycheck as a substitute teacher while also collecting pension checks.

Passed 34 to 2 in the Senate

Sen. Curt. VanderWall, R-Ludington, supported the measure.

 2021 House Bill 5525, Authorize supplemental state spending



To appropriate $135.7 million to state's unemployment compensation fund and agency for benefits and specified operations including fraud investigations, and $4 million to the attorney general to help with the epidemic-related unemployment fraud issues.

Passed 98 to 5 in the House

State Rep. Jack OMalley, R-Lake Ann, supported the measure.

 2021 House Bill 5525, Authorize supplemental state spending



To appropriate $135.7 million to state's unemployment compensation fund and agency for benefits and specified operations including fraud investigations, and $4 million to the attorney general to help with the epidemic-related unemployment fraud issues.

Passed 36 to 1 in the Senate

Sen. Curt. VanderWall, R-Ludington, supported the measure.

 2021 Senate Bill 565, Appropriate federal money to water programs



To appropriate $4.7 billion to spend on water and wastewater infrastructure programs and grants. Of this $4.13 billion comes from federal stimulus and relief dollars, with the rest money collected by the state.

Passed 95 to 7 in the House

State Rep. Jack OMalley, R-Lake Ann, supported the measure.

 2021 Senate Bill 565, Appropriate federal money to water programs



To appropriate $4.7 billion to spend on water and wastewater infrastructure programs and grants. Of this $4.13 billion comes from federal stimulus and relief dollars, with the rest money collected by the state.

Passed 34 to 3 in the Senate

Sen. Curt. VanderWall, R-Ludington, supported the measure.

 2022 House Bill 5695, Let minors age 16 stock liquor store shelves



To permit minors age 16 and up to stock shelves and do related functions in a business that sells liquor.

Passed 83 to 19 in the House

State Rep. Jack OMalley, R-Lake Ann, supported the measure.

 2021 Senate Bill 302, Republican election rules package



To add to the declarations an individual makes when registering to vote a statement that the individual "understands it is a felony to offer to vote or attempt to vote more than once at the same election, in either the same or another voting precinct. This is part of a Republican election integrity package that comprises Senate Bills 273 to 311.

Passed 62 to 40 in the House

State Rep. Jack OMalley, R-Lake Ann, supported the measure.

 2022 House Bill 5871, Revise marijuana business rule detail



To revise a provision of the complex, highly detailed  and profitable to the state  marijuana business licensure regime, so as to permit transferring medical marijuana from one form of licensed facility to another.

Passed 101 to 2 in the House

State Rep. Jack OMalley, R-Lake Ann, supported the measure.

 2022 House Bill 5726, Revise restrictions on minors working in liquor industry

Passed 84 to 19 in the House

State Rep. Jack OMalley, R-Lake Ann, supported the measure.

 2021 House Bill 4811, Remove assessment scores from public school transcripts



Passed 104 to 1 in the House

State Rep. Jack OMalley, R-Lake Ann, supported the measure.

 2021 House Bill 5384, Revise high school diploma rule details



To exempt certain "specialty schools" from certain curriculum requirements.

Passed 103 to 2 in the House

State Rep. Jack OMalley, R-Lake Ann, supported the measure.

 2022 House Bill 5704, Ease state restrictions on home-based cottage food operations



To authorize and define the "third-party food delivery platforms" that House Bill 5671 would mandate home-based cottage food operations would have to use to make internet or mail-order sales.

Passed 61 to 44 in the House

State Rep. Jack OMalley, R-Lake Ann, supported the measure.

 2021 Senate Bill 247, Mandate standard electronic prescription authorization process



Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate

Sen. Curt. VanderWall, R-Ludington, supported the measure.

 2022 Senate Bill 940, Waive certain school funding requirements post-2020-2021 school year



To waive in the 2021-22 school year certain hours of instruction and attendance requirements a public school must meet to obtain full state funding, if it met those requirements in the 2020-21 school year. The bill would also authorize giving schools permission to not administer the annual Michigan Merit Examination given to 11th graders to assess what they have learned.

Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate

Sen. Curt. VanderWall, R-Ludington, supported the measure.

 2022 Senate Bill 941, Create exception for school violating teacher rating requirement



To exempt in the 2021-22 school year a particular school district from a rule that requires each public school to assess the performance of its teachers after each school year.

Passed 37 to 0 in the Senate

Sen. Curt. VanderWall, R-Ludington, supported the measure.
WASHINGTON  As President Donald Trumps tenure came to an end, the chief White House photographer, who had traveled the world with him and spent countless hours inside the White House snapping pictures, notified Trumps aides that she intended to publish a book collecting some of her most memorable images.

This was hardly a radical idea: Official photographers from every White House since President Ronald Reagans have published their own books. Barack Obama and George W. Bush were so supportive that they wrote forewords for them.

But like so much else involving Trump, the plan by his chief photographer, Shealah Craighead, did not follow this bipartisan norm.

First, aides to Trump asked her for a cut of her book advance payment, in exchange for his writing a foreword and helping promote the book, according to former associates of Trump.

Then Trumps team asked Craighead to hold off on her book project to allow the former president to take Craigheads photos and those of other White House staff photographers and publish his own book, which is now selling for as much as $230 a copy.

That the profits from Craigheads labor are now going into Trumps pocket has left several of Trumps former aides upset  but not exactly surprised.

Sheas a very talented photographer and this was really all of her hard work, said Stephanie Grisham, who was the White House press secretary for Trump and wrote her own book, referring to Craighead by her nickname. I just keep thinking: What a shame that he is actually now profiting off of it. But then again, this is the guy who is hawking caps and all kinds of stuff right now to raise money for himself.

SARAH SILBIGER/NYT

Eric Draper, who was the chief White House photographer during Bushs tenure, said the move was disrespectful to Craighead.

Its a slap in the face, Draper said, adding that he had spoken with Craighead last year about her plan to do her own book. I would be disappointed if I were in her shoes.

Taylor Budowich, a spokesperson for Trump, did not dispute that an aide had discussed the possibility of Trump writing a foreword for Craigheads book and perhaps taking a cut of her advance. Her tentative deal with a publisher involved an advance in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, one industry executive said.

Instead, Budowich said, Trump decided to first do his own book, a separate deal that came with a much bigger, multimillion-dollar advance.

President Trump has always had an eye for beautiful and engaging curation, which came alive through the pages of his book, he said in a statement.

Craighead said she did not want to publicly comment on matters involving a former client. But she did confirm that she has decided, at least for now, to kill her own book project.

I stay apolitical as possible, as I am a neutral historical documentarian, she said. By staying neutral I am able to remain a keen observer.

SAM HODGSON/NYT

The 317-page book Trump published in December, titled Our Journey Together, includes no photo credits. It does not mention any of the photographers who took the images until the last page, where he briefly offered a grateful acknowledgment to all the phenomenal White House photographers, listing them by name, including Craighead, whose pictures make up much of the book.

There is no legal prohibition on Trump assembling and publishing photographs that a White House staff member took during his tenure; under federal law, those photographs are considered in the public domain and not subject to copyright. There is a public Flickr account, now managed by the National Archives, that has 14,995 photos from the Trump White House, one-third of them listing Craighead as the photographer.

But in dealing with Craighead, Trump appears to have become the first former president to try to make money from a book by a former White House photographer, said John Bredar, a documentary filmmaker and author who has studied the history of White House photographers. (Profits from the book published by George H.W. Bushs chief photographer, David Valdez, were donated to his presidential library, Valdez said.)

The first volume of the memoir written by Obama after leaving office included a selection of nearly 50 photos taken by the White House photographer during his tenure, Pete Souza. George W. Bush and Bill Clinton also published autobiographies that included some White House photos.

But there has been a long tradition of former White House photographers separately assembling their work into books.

Its valuable for each chief photographer to do a book just for the historic record and put it together in a way that it tells sort of their story and contextualizes images, said Souza, who worked as a White House photographer under Reagan as well as under Obama, and who has published several books of White House photos.

Craighead had been a White House photographer during the tenure of George W. Bush and was known for her work with mostly Republican politicians including Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Joni Ernst of Iowa.

But unlike most of her predecessors, who had built relationships with presidents before they arrived at the White House, Craighead had not worked closely with Trump when she was hired just before his inauguration after his first pick for the job fell through.

Trump at times would say insulting things about Craighead, telling other White House guests that he questioned her skills as a photographer, surprising other White House officials and photographers present.

Trump, former White House aides said, was intensely involved in selecting photos of himself that would be released to the public, with Grisham recalling how during long flights on Air Force One, he often set aside time to review folders of photographs, after demanding that they be first printed so he could hold them and pick winners one at a time.

Since leaving office, Trump has sought multiple ways to monetize his presidency, from charging supporters to attend an event and take photos with him to selling MAGA merchandise. He also has a long history of disputes from before his political career with business partners and over the years faced regular accusations that he did not properly compensate contractors.

The plan to publish Our Journey Together came together quickly, after Craighead had already selected a book agent and negotiated a contract to publish her own book and secured a commitment from Trump to write the foreword, former White House officials said.

Craighead had some questions about whether she wanted to move ahead with her own book, telling others she was not comfortable publishing a book that would be seen as an endorsement or a disparagement of Trump.

It was while Craighead was debating this question that she heard from a representative for Trump that he would no longer be able to provide her right away with a foreword to the book, because Trump had a noncompete clause with his own publisher.

Donald Trump Jr. and Trumps campaign apparatus soon started to send out emails to his political fundraising list, urging his supporters to buy Our Journey Together perhaps as a Christmas gift  an example of how Trump has mixed his political efforts and his pursuit of personal profit since he left the White House.

Trumps book was published by Winning Team Publishing, a company only incorporated in October, and which was co-founded by Donald Trump Jr. and Sergio Gor, a former Capitol Hill aide and Republican campaign operative.

Gor said the company had sold out the first 300,000 copies  which at $75 a piece for the unsigned version suggests gross sales of at least $20 million, assuming many were not given away. In addition to his advance payment, Trump is likely to earn a share of all book sales.

The book is not the only way that the Trump family is cashing in on photos by White House photographers. On Presidents Day, Melania Trump opened sales of a series of digital images from Donald Trumps White House tenure  photos of him at Mount Rushmore, exiting Air Force One and in a tuxedo for a White House dinner  for $50 apiece.

This week, after The New York Times asked his office questions about the book, Trump called Craighead. It was the first time they had spoken directly since he left the White House. Trump told her he was still prepared to write a foreword for a photo book they could do together in the future, Budowich said.

It would be fun to do so, Trump told her.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
LVIV, Ukraine  President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned his compatriots Thursday of a buildup of Russian troops in eastern Ukraine and of more bloodshed to come as he and Western officials continued to cast doubt on Moscows pronouncements of a partial military pullback around the capital of Kyiv.

Speaking in an overnight video address, Zelenskyy said there was an accumulation of Russian troops in Donbas, a region in eastern Ukraine claimed by pro-Russian secessionists, and cautioned his people not to read too deeply into recent peace talks.

The president criticized Russias verbal constructions this week that it would initiate a drawdown of forces in the north, near Kyiv and Chernihiv, where local officials have described shelling this week to have taken place all night.

Russian troops are not conducting a withdrawal but facing the the consequences of exile at the hands of Ukrainian fighters, Zelenskyy said. Yes, there is an ongoing negotiation process. But these are still words.

In the east, Ukrainian military leaders said they were preparing for an all-out assault by Russian forces.

We clearly feel that the transfer of (military) technology in our direction is beginning now, Serhiy Haidai, the head of the regional military administration in Luhansk, said on Ukrainian television. And as the equipment and personnel are being turned over, our enemies are simply firing more densely, powerfully.

Everything is already involved here: aircraft, artillery, heavy-caliber weapons, mortars  all settlements are being shelled.

The British Ministry of Defense on Thursday predicted heavy fighting in and outside the capital, saying that Russian forces continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv despite the withdrawal of a limited number of units.

Despite Russian statements indicating an intended reduction of military activity around Chernihiv, significant Russian shelling and missile strikes have continued, the ministry said.

In the battered city of Mariupol, where government officials have described scenes of desperation as residents struggle to leave for safe zones and wait hours in line for food and water, Russia and Ukraine agreed to a temporary cease-fire to evacuate civilians, both sides said Thursday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its troops, which have set up checkpoints on a main artery, would allow Ukrainians to transit inland to Zaporizhzhia via the Russian-controlled port city of Berdyansk. Russia said it would cooperate with the United Nations and Red Cross to allow for the evacuations.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 45 buses were ready to transport families. We will do everything possible to ensure that buses arrive in Mariupol today and pick up people who have not yet been able to get out of the city, Vereschuk said in a Facebook video.

It was unclear how long the evacuation route from Mariupol, where the mayor has said the death toll tops 5,000 and satellite images show entire neighborhoods razed, would stay open. About three-quarters of the citys prewar population of 430,000 have already fled.

Ukraine has accused Russia of routinely blocking aid routes into the city, where Russian troops are spread out, although Ukraine still controls the city center. Local officials also said this week that Russians had shelled a Red Cross building that bore a red cross against a white background on the roof.

If overtaken, Mariupol could form a key part of a strategic passageway for Russia to Crimea. Russia seized the peninsula in 2014 but has no land routes connecting to it.

In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Ukraines second-most populous, regional Gov. Oleh Synyehubov said there was shelling overnight.

Over the past day, Russian troops have struck 47 times with artillery, mortar, tank, and strikes around the city, Synyehubov said on the Telegram messaging app.

In the southeastern city of Dnipro, a major humanitarian hub, local government officials said that a strike destroyed an oil terminal. They reported no injuries or deaths.

After the talks with Russians on Tuesday in Istanbul, Zelenskyy said he was open to negotiating the status of Crimea as part of a peace process to end Russian aggression. The president said he was also ready to talk about Donbas, and indicated a willingness to give up Ukraines aspirations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Zelenskyy said a national vote would be required on NATO and territorial changes.

In exchange, Russia said it would drastically reduce its troops around Kyiv and Chernihiv, a hard-hit northern city, but missiles have continued to rain down.

That has led Ukrainian and Western officials to doubt Russian intentions.

The White House on Wednesday described Russian President Vladimir Putins drawn-out war, which has led to a historic humanitarian crisis with more than 4 million Ukrainian refugees, as a strategic blunder. White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said U.S. intelligence officials have information that Putin has been misled by the Russian military about setbacks.

Speaking on Thursday in Canberra, the Australian capital, a top British intelligence official echoed the analysis.

Putin has massively misjudged the invasion, said Jeremy Fleming, who leads Britains electronic surveillance agency.

Putin overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory, Fleming said, adding that weve seen Russian soldiers, short of weapons and morale, refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

Russian and Ukrainian representatives are set to meet again Friday via video conference. It will be the sixth round of negotiations since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.



(McDonnell reported from Lviv and Kaleem from London.)
The Bay Area dance scene is pretty darned impressive all year round (well, except when there's a pandemic going on; don't you hate it when that happens?). And then you run into a jam-packed weekend like this.

Throughout the Bay Area, there is a wide variety of performances to be savored by talented and iconic local and touring companies.

In Berkeley, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to stage a Cal Performances residency for the first time in two years. From Wednesday through Sunday, the renowned New York company, which is celebrating Robert Battle's 10th year as artistic director, will perform five programs featuring more than 20 works during seven recitals (tickets range from $37-$150; go to https://calperformances.org/).

Meanwhile, San Francisco's ODC/Dance company, celebrating its remarkable 50th anniversary, kicks off its annual "Dance Downtown" series on Thursday, featuring performances this weekend and next at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. There are two programs blending a pair of world premieres and favorite works by company founder Brenda Way ($25-$150; https://odc.dance/).

In San Jose, New Ballet presents "Fast Forward," a program in which company dancers perform brand-new works by such choreographers as Amy Seiwert, Duncan Cooper, Marika Brussel, Mariana Sobral and Dalia Rawson (7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hammer Theatre Center; $10-$250; https://newballet.com/).

And for those who like dances with meaty ideas, Robert Moses presents his latest thought-provoking multimedia work, "The Soft Solace of a Slightly Descended Lost Life (Suck It)." Performances are Friday through Sunday at San Francisco's Presidio Theatre ($15-$45; https://www.robertmoseskin.org/). It's a good idea to check your event's website for COVID precautions before you go.

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.
Evan King never saw it coming.

The owner of Route 101 on Van Ness Avenue was checking IDs outside of his dive bar on a brisk Wednesday night in February when a white minibus emblazoned with the spiderlike scrawl of a metalcore logo pulled up and three musicians hoisted open the doors.

Inside the hollowed vehicle, instruments replaced the bench seating, the spray-painted walls were lined with merch and string lights glistened from the DIY stage. The bandmates rigged up the sound system and tested their mics as they eyed passersby.

A block away, the Baltimore-based punk band Turnstile, arguably one of the biggest names in the hardcore scene right now, had just wrapped up its show at the Regency Ballroom. As the sweaty throng of concertgoers filtered out of the venue and spilled into the street, a grimy guitar riff echoed from the bus, immediately capturing their attention.

Then came an outburst of cymbal clashes and a guttural war cry from Jon Orc, the vocalist and guitarist of the three-piece San Francisco thrash metal band Hemorage. As the band kicked off its first song, people started to converge around the bus, frantically bobbing their heads and flinging their limbs in every direction. An explosive mosh pit broke out right there on the sidewalk, matching the bands harsh breakdowns and in-your-face lyrics about gentrification, otherness and breaking away from the system. The chaotic hooks and snarled taunts were like an unyielding typhoon leaving behind a trail of debris in its wake.

Image courtesy of Hemorage Image courtesy of Hemorage Charles Russo/SFGATE Image courtesy of Hemorage Have bus will thrash: San Francisco-based metal band Hemorage has converted a shuttle bus into a mobile performance space. (Photos by Sarah Darling, Charles Russo and courtesy of Hemorage) Have bus will thrash: San Francisco-based metal band Hemorage has converted a shuttle bus into a mobile performance space. (Photos by Sarah Darling, Charles Russo and courtesy of Hemorage)

The crowd eventually swelled to roughly 100 people  kicking, swinging, falling down and pulling each other back up. Though other businesses might have objected to the guerrilla show, King saw it as an opportunity.

I try to play music that complements the crowd [coming from the Regency] anyway, so I decided, whats the point in playing music at the bar myself? I turned it down and let these guys play the show, said King, who later invited Hemorage to come back to play in front of his bar again and sell merch there. It was a natural renegade moment.

Last week, the video of the mobile gig blew up on Instagram, garnering more than 19,000 likes and counting.

It came out of nowhere, said Orc, 32, who founded the band with guitarist Bona Pak, 32, in 2007, when the pair met as teenagers at International Studies Academy in Potrero Hill. We just didnt see it go[ing] like this. It feels surreal.

Now, the band is preparing to embark on a weeklong bus-only tour from San Francisco to Las Vegas  no venues, no promoters  and if it proves successful, it hopes to tour with the bus across the country.

Charles Russo/SFGATE

We cut out the middle man, Orc said. Its just us, and the people that like our music, and thats it.



Hemorage usually finds its audience in the parking lots of other shows, building its schedule around touring bands with a similar sound. In recent months, its made appearances outside of Chase Center and Oakland Arena, playing to crowds that were there to see Tool, Metallica, Korn and System of a Down. Its even crashed tourist hubs like Pier 39  that show was inevitably shut down by a security guard who pulled the plug on the bands power supply, much to the chagrin of the booing crowd, but instead of ticketing the band, he let the members off with a warning and asked if he could have some of their stickers.

Were like the fog. Sometimes we show up where you least expect us, said drummer Ron Roussell, 37, who joined the band last year after meeting and becoming friends with Orc and Pak in their early days at Lennon Studios. Its so chaotic. We dont know where were going to play most of the time. We have to just scout it out. Its invigorating, I suppose, because its like a mission. You want to go do this thing were not really supposed to do? Its fun but stressful at the same time, at least in my opinion.

It wasnt always like this, but Orc said that over the years, he was growing increasingly frustrated by playing and touring at traditional venues. Not only did loading in and out take hours, but he frequently felt that he was being taken advantage of by bookers and promoters, some of whom enforced pay-to-play models, making them sell their own tickets in exchange for a deposit. Others took a cut of the bands merch, leaving them with no compensation at the end of the night. Sometimes, theyd travel to another city or state for a show, only for a promoter to tell them that it was canceled at the last minute.

Orc, who moved to San Francisco from the Philippines in 2004, also addressed the growing gentrification of the city, which he said caused some of the venues that nurtured the local DIY music scene to close, including SUB/Mission Art Space, the Hemlock, Slims and Elbo Room. The issue of shuttering venues was only exacerbated by the pandemic and complicated permitting restrictions that made it technically illegal for them to bring their music to public spaces.

Charles Russo/SFGATE

We didnt have any places to play, he said. We thought, How are we going to continue as a band?

It was a situation the band felt it had no control over. It did everything it could to promote the shows it did book, posting flyers and spreading the word to crowds after big concerts in the area.

But people didnt care, Orc said. And we were like, fk it. If we bring our actual music to these people, then they would really know whats up.

Taking matters into his own hands, Orc got in touch with a friend who was moving from Santa Rosa to San Francisco and needed to get rid of a minibus he had originally planned on using as a mobile store to sell his art.

I said, Give me two weeks, and Ill buy it, said Orc, who purchased the vehicle for $5,000 last September.

From there, Orc and Pak constructed the stage inside the bus using the technical savvy they had developed from their previous day jobs  working as the project manager and crane operator for Tom Taylor and Dr. Jerome Jerry Goldstein at the nationally renowned Tom and Jerry Christmas house, a gig they held for nine years before Taylors death in 2020, in addition to overseeing their other properties. They also helped to plan the couples block party wedding in 2013.

[Taylor] taught us everything we know  from electronics to how to wire up lights, and how to make it all look really good with a very small amount of funding. He always said, Its cheap, but we make it look expensive, Orc said with a laugh.

The gig is also where Orc and Pak first learned how to screen-print  a skill that would eventually become the bands bread and butter as they formed their own business and clothing brand, Savage People.



Photo by Zac Zavala/Courtesy of Hemorage Charles Russo/SFGATE Charles Russo/SFGATE Photo by Zac Zavala/Courtesy of Hemorage Scenes from Hemorage HQ, including live performances, the band's converted heavy metal bus parked, appropriately, in an industrial yard and its DIY T-shirts in the "gift shop." (Photos by Charles Russo & Zac Zavala) Scenes from Hemorage HQ, including live performances, the band's converted heavy metal bus parked, appropriately, in an industrial yard and its DIY T-shirts in the "gift shop." (Photos by Charles Russo & Zac Zavala)

I met up with Hemorage on a sunny Tuesday afternoon at its warehouse tucked away on Egbert Avenue between the Bayview and Portola. Though nondescript from the outside, its home to the heart of its operation, which includes a colorful gift shop where it sells its merch  Orc says online sales have doubled since the video of their February gig gained widespread attention. Theres also a room dedicated to their screen printing setup, where they also take care of merch orders for other bands, and a studio apartment-sized practice space upstairs, where they sometimes host shows. Its a six-minute walk from the Bayview Police Station, but the band said the cops are cool with them playing.

Baby, a 5-year-old border collie wearing a hot pink spiked collar, trots next to Orc as he describes the story behind each T-shirt design hanging on the wall, including a bootleg Run the Jewels graphic (which just so happens to share the same acronym as each band members first name). Their most popular item is a Bay Area metal logo that they also sell on patches, pins and cloth masks.

Charles Russo/SFGATE

We were eating dinner one night, and [Orc] looked down into a bowl of pho and imagined this curved Golden Gate Bridge, Pak said.

Orc scribbled the warped design on a napkin, and Pak went home and sketched it out later that night. Its become a ubiquitous symbol of the local scene, adorning scrappy denim jackets and beanies at shows.

We have to restock it constantly, Orc said.

Since they built the DIY stage in the converted bus parked outside of the warehouse, theyve played more than 50 shows throughout the Bay Area. All of the bands funding comes from Savage People and their screen printing business, which made it financially viable for them to pay for their space, buy the bus and go on tour.

But that doesnt mean they havent had their fair share of challenges along the way. Hemorage and Savage People faced eviction at their original headquarters in Oakland when a new landlord bought the building and tried to kick everybody out, Orc said. The band fought it in court and was eventually provided with the funding to rent out a new space, but just before the pandemic began, they experienced a break-in and lost everything, including their screen printing press and instruments.

Charles Russo/SFGATE

Its been tough, but we just keep persisting, Orc said.

He added that the band cant believe how supportive its fan base has been, but it makes sense  San Francisco is starved for this kind of independent venture, one reminiscent of its bohemian roots and a sign that the DIY music scene will always find a way.

Seeing a band doing what theyre doing feels nostalgic in a way, said King, who was born and raised in San Francisco. You can never expect everything to stay the same forever. But I think for a lot of kids who grew up here, theres fewer and fewer signs of the San Francisco we grew up in. It is what it is, but its nice, and cool, and noble to try and share a little bit of what we all remember about the city.

Charles Russo/SFGATE

The bands upcoming bus tour, which begins in San Francisco on April 8, has five other stops in San Luis Obispo, Anaheim, Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas. Itll announce the location on the date of each show, but it plans to host pop-ups and play other surprise gigs along the way, Orc said.

Maybe well crash Coachella, he said, half-jokingly. Well be in the area.

Theyre up against a number of obstacles  among them soaring gas prices, the cost of a tuneup and an ignition key repair and, of course, the possibility of getting shut down, though Orc said the band tries to be careful to schedule its gigs around other shows to avoid noise complaints and subsequent citations.

Still, its a risk theyre willing to take.

We want to be one of the greats, Orc said. When people talk about the Bay Area, they talk about Green Day, or Metallica, or Faith No More. We want to be part of that conversation. We want to be the band that broke boundaries and changed the game by doing everything ourselves.
Three driving mode options  smooth, swift or sprint  appeared on the touch screen inside the ultramodern dream edition of a Lucid Air electric vehicle, a chic car that makes a Tesla feel like a simple sedan.

Andre Haddad, CEO of the car rental marketplace company Turo, opted for smooth and glided his EV around turns in the Presidio in swift silence as the vehicle emits nearly no noises. Its an amusing detail considering how the present state and future of car rentals is anything but muted.

Over the past decade, Haddad and the company he oversees have uniquely disrupted the car rental marketplace. Once called RelayRides, the San Francisco-based startup defines itself as a peer-to-peer company, offering car owners a platform to share their cars with drivers who need a rental.

Coming out of the pandemic, when some rental car companies sold off their fleet to stay financially afloat, Turos popularity accelerated as a low-cost option for travelers.

Haddad called it the rental car crunch and noted that Turos popularity was apparent especially in places like Hawaii, where there was a shortage of rentals. He explained that prices on Turo remain competitive compared with traditional car rental companies because the platform offers an untouched marketplace.

We allow our hosts to price their cars as they want, he said. Its an open marketplace where prices will find their equilibrium. We dont force a price point but provide our hosts with recommendations.

In response to Turos gradual rise, the traditional car rental industry is actively working to rein in the tech company by calling for regulations like the ones that already apply to rental car companies. Turo, however, remains defiant and insists its not a car rental company.

Ultimately, theres a car and youre going places, but it kind of stops there, Haddad says.

We dont have the same price structure as a rental car. They have to maintain a fleet, a retail network with agencies and parking lots. We dont have that model with peer-to-peer car sharing. Because of that, our fixed costs are pretty low. Its essentially just the software.

Charles Russo/SFGATE Charles Russo/SFGATE Turo CEO Andre Haddad pictured in his Lucid Air electric vehicle, near Fort Point in San Francisco, on Friday, March 18. (Photo by Charles Russo/SFGATE) Turo CEO Andre Haddad pictured in his Lucid Air electric vehicle, near Fort Point in San Francisco, on Friday, March 18. (Photo by Charles Russo/SFGATE)

The differentiation hasnt convinced the American Car Rental Association (ACRA) and its spokesperson Greg Scott.

They are renting a motor vehicle to another person for compensation. If thats not what Avis and Enterprise are doing, then I dont know what it is, he told SFGATE.

Scott added that while ACRA welcomes innovation to the industry, it challenges the limits of how innovators are perceived and regulated.

Ive heard it from other peer-to-peer companies and it seems to be the backstop: Were new, therefore were different, therefore we should be treated differently, Scott said. It didnt fly very long for Airbnb and Uber. Yes, they are different, but the fundamental concept of giving someone a ride is the same even if you do it in [an Uber]. Eventually the state catches up with regulations.

One particular battleground over regulations has been at the San Francisco Airport. Turos users vary, from car enthusiasts seeking to check off a dream mobile to test drivers wanting an informed experience before making a purchase, but about a third of Turos users are connected to airports.

One of the company's tag lines tells consumers to skip the rental car counter and book anything with Turo.

The company has an extensive history in its efforts to work out of SFO. In November 2016, then-City Attorney Dennis Herrera mailed a letter to Turo about its business with the airport.

According to the letter, the company attempted to invoke Section 230 of the United States Communications Decency Act to absolve it from any responsibility of the conduct of its car owners and renters, a claim that Herrera called misplaced.

Turo continued to clash with the airport. According to a complaint filed by Herrera's office in 2018, the company operated at SFO from 2013 to August 2017 under an off-airport rental car company permit that required Turo to pick up its customers at a remote rental car center.

Charles Russo/SFGATE

In August 2017, Turo canceled its off-airport rental car permit and announced that it would stop operating at the airport. However, as the complaint states, the company continued to advertise and promote SFO car rentals on its website. "Turo's deliberate flouting of SFO's permit and fee requirements ... constitute unlawful and unfair business practices," the complaint said. The company was asked to pay an AirTrain fee and a gross receipts charge on its SFO revenues.

Theyre not paying 10% of its gross receipts at SFO which supports the entire airport infrastructure, Scott said.

Haddad said that Turo is still in litigation with SFO and its car owners are offering cars at the airport by arranging off-site pickups.

He said that SFO is one of the few airports we haven't yet been able to find an arrangement for permitting. Turo has bypassed the need to obtain a rental car permit at other airports across the country. It has reached agreements to work out of Tampa and Orlando airports and entered a pilot program at Denver International. Haddad said Turo should operate under a peer-to-peer car-sharing permit, instead of a traditional rental car permit.

We strongly believe that we dont fit in that category, Haddad said. The rental car permit is designed for companies with hundreds or thousands of cars garaged at the airport. Theyre paying for all the costs to use maintenance stations and have a car cleaning infrastructure. Its a big chunk of real estate. We dont benefit from this infrastructure. Our hosts meet their guest at the curb, hand over the keys, say hi and then off they go. We have argued that the model is different and that we need a peer-to-peer permit.

In the face of its setbacks at SFO and other airports, including Boston Logan International Airport, Turos business model is proving successful, confirming its status as a unicorn company.

Image courtesy of Turo

According to its recent form S-1 filing, used by companies planning on going public to register their securities with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company grew substantially during the pandemic.

The filing shows that in the year 2021 through September, Turo more than doubled its yearly earnings for a net revenue of $330.5 million, boasting a usership of 1.3 million "guests" and 85,000 active "hosts."

One of these active hosts is Haddad himself, who offers five of his own cars to rent on Turo. In March, he added the Lucid Air to the companys vehicle repertoire for $699 a day. Its a far cry from the first car he ever owned, a 1989 Opel Corsa.

Currently available on Turos platform is a 2017 Opel Corsa in Madrid, Spain. Its offered through a Spanish car rental company called Carflet Rent a Car, furthering the complicated relationship between car rental and peer-to-peer car companies.
Google algorithms place innocuous subtitles on prominent conspiracy theorists, which mislead the public and amplify extremist views, according to Simon Fraser University researchers.



Someone like Gavin McInnes, creator of the neo-fascist Proud Boys organization  a terrorist entity in Canada and a hate group in the United States  isnt best known simply as a Canadian writer but thats the first thing the search engines autocomplete subtitle displays in the field when someone types in his name.



In a study published in M/C Journal this month, researchers with The Disinformation Project at the School of Communication at SFU looked at the subtitles Google automatically suggested for 37 known conspiracy theorists and found that, in all cases, Googles subtitle was never consistent with the actors conspiratorial behaviour.



That means that influential Sandy Hook school shooting denier and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is listed as American radio host and Jerad Miller, a white nationalist responsible for a 2014 Las Vegas shooting, is listed as an American performer even though the majority of subsequent search results reveal him to be the perpetrator of a mass shooting.



Given the heavy reliance of Internet users on Googles search engine, the subtitles can pose a threat by normalizing individuals who spread conspiracy theories, sow dissension and distrust in institutions and cause harm to minority groups and vulnerable individuals, says Nicole Stewart, a communication instructor of communication and PhD student on The Disinformation Project.



According to Google, the subtitles generate automatically by complex algorithms and the engine cannot accept or create custom subtitles.



The researchers found that the labels are either neutral or positive  primarily reflecting the persons preferred description or job  but never negative.



Users preferences and understanding of information can be manipulated upon their trust in Google search results, thus allowing these labels to be widely accepted instead of providing a full picture of the harm their ideologies and belief cause, says Nathan Worku, a Masters student on The Disinformation Project.



While the study focused on conspiracy theorists, the same phenomenon happens when searching widely recognized terrorists and mass murders, according to the authors.



This study highlights the urgent need for Google to review the subtitles attributed to conspiracy theorists, terrorists, and mass murderers, to better inform the public about the negative nature of these actors, rather than always labelling them in neutral or positive ways.



Led by assistant professor Ahmed Al-Rawi, The Disinformation Project is a federally-funded research project that examines fake news discourses on Canadian news media and social media.



Al-Rawi, Stewart, Worku and post-doctoral fellow Carmen Celestini were all authors of this latest study.
While the Finance Ministrys announcement regarding linking PAN with Aadhaar has reached its last day. The Finance Ministry has declared that Non-linking of PAN with Aadhaar number by March 31, 2022, would attract a penalty of Rs 500 up to three months from April 1, 2022, and a fee of Rs 1,000 after that. Nevertheless, the non-linked PAN will remain operational till March 31, 2023. Though have you noticed how do technologies make the process flexible and safe?

In 2003, the Aadhaar card was rolled out as a first initiative, as a 12-digit unique identification number issued by the Indian government to every individual resident of India that can be used to access a variety of services and benefits. The technology behind the Aadhaar card project is Hadoop. Hadoop, an open-source big data processing framework, has been customized excessively by the firm named MapR to upgrade performance.

The Aadhaar card project has been developed using MapRs customized Hadoop and its ecosystems. The design principle of distributed data storage mechanism and parallel data processing made it possible to store billions of identities and would continue to grow as the resident population expands. The Aadhar card project established network and data center load balancing and a multi-location distributed architecture for horizontal scale to achieve such massive scalability.

Security and privacy is the key fundamental of the Aadhaar card project. Resident data and raw biometrics are always kept encrypted, using 2048-bit PKI encryption and tamper detection using HMAC.

Using the parallel data processing paradigm, Aadhaar card systems can handle millions of transactions across billions of records doing hundreds of trillions of biometric matches every day.

Hadoop is a combination of two core components, viz. Hadoop distributed file system (HDFS) and Map Reduce. HDFS is responsible for storing the data distributed across thousands of physical servers, and Map Reduce, a computing framework, processes the data-parallel across the physical servers.

Benefits of linking of PAN with Aadhaar

As per the current laws, linking PAN with your Aadhaar number has become mandatory. The public should know the reason and the benefits of the linking. So, it is required to complete income-tax-related tasks like filing returns on income. Everyone who has been rationed a PAN and is eligible to get an Aadhaar number has to link them.

Aadhaar, also known as a Unique Identity number, is a 12-digit number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). PAN is a 10-digit alphanumeric number allotted by the Income Tax (I-T) department. It will also avail monetary benefits from the government such as a pension, scholarship, LPG subsidy etc.

Here is how you can link your PAN with Aadhaar.

If you are already a registered user of the income tax e-filing website

For anyone who is already filing income tax returns, the chances are that their PAN is already linked with Aadhaar if they have mentioned it previously while filing ITR in the previous assessment years. It is done by the income tax department in case details of both are already available with it.

In case you can check if your Aadhaar is already linked to your PAN by visiting the income tax e-filing website www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in

Login to the website by entering PAN (User ID) and password. Once you are logged in, and your account opens, click on 'Profile Settings' by clicking the arrow next to your name. The profile will show your Aadhaar number partially as linked.

For non-registered users

For those who don't want to register themselves at the e-filing website, there is another way using which you can link your PAN and Aadhaar. A hyperlink has been provided on the homepage of the new income tax portal: www.incometax.gov.in

Need to click on 'Link Aadhaar' on the e-filing website. A new form will appear where you must provide details - PAN, Aadhaar number, Name as per Aadhaar and mobile number.

If your Aadhaar card has only year of birth, then you must also tick the option: 'I have only year of birth in Aadhaar card'. You must also agree to validate my Aadhaar details. Click on 'Link Aadhaar'.

Once the submission is successful, a message will be displayed on your screen showing your PAN is successfully linked to Aadhaar.

PAN Card can be easily linked to the Aadhaar number online as the Income Tax department permits users to link the two unique identification numbers through its website.

Some Points to Note:

1. If using online methods, an Aadhaar OTP will be generated if your name does not match that on your PAN card, whereas your date of birth and gender match. The OTP will be sent to the mobile number registered/linked to the Aadhaar number entered online. You will have to enter that OTP online to continue and complete the linking process.

2. You should get it corrected before trying to link the two numbers in case there is a mismatch in the data of PAN and Aadhaar.
Microsoft on Thursday launched its 'Startups Founders Hub' in India to support founders at every stage of their journey with access to more than $300,000 in benefits.

Startups in the country will also be able to gain mentorship and skilling opportunities with industry experts and 'Microsoft Learn' initiative.

The company said that the Hub is available to all startups in India, including those without third-party validation or funding.

"As a platform company, our cloud services and solutions are designed to empower founders to concentrate on what they do best - innovate at their own pace," said Sangeeta Bavi, Director-Startup Ecosystem, Microsoft India.

Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub has been created following extensive research and conversations with hundreds of founders who explicitly shared their need for access to a digital ecosystem.

"We look forward to how our new offering will support more founders in Asia and provide access to the technology, tools, and resources they need to build and run their business," Bavi added.

As the third largest ecosystem for startups in the world, India is home to nearly 100 unicorns with a total valuation of over $320 billion.

To date, the country has close to 67,000 startups that are officially recognised by the Department for Promotion and Internal Trade.

Microsoft is also partnering with companies like OpenAI, a global leader in AI research and deployment, that develops AI systems to provide startups with exclusive benefits and discounts.

The Hub is designed specifically for early-stage startups to lower the barriers of business creation, said Microsoft.
Fintech unicorn slice is reportedly gearing up to enter the crowded Unified Payments Interface (UPI) market dominated by PhonePe and Google Pay.

With over 8 million registered users, slice is India's best credit card challenger to pay bills, manage expenses, and unlock rewards.

According to a TechCrunch report, citing sources, slice plans to introduce "UPI payments for its users within weeks".

The platform is currently "testing the new payments method within the firm", the report said on Wednesday.

Responding to an IANS query, the company said it is unable to divulge any further details at the moment.

slice is backed by leading investors such as Tiger Global, Insight Partners, Advent International, Blume Ventures, and Gunosy Capital, has cumulatively raised $240 million and is currently valued at over $1 billion.

The current UPI market is led by Walmart-backed PhonePe, Google Pay, and Paytm.

In the month of February, India's cashless retail transactions on UPI platform were worth Rs 8.27 lakh crore, slightly lower than the previous month, according to latest data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

There were a total of 452 crore (4.52 billion) transactions in February.

In January, the value of cashless retail transactions on the BHIM UPI platform were Rs 8.32 lakh crore while the total number of transactions was at 461 crore, the NPCI data showed.

The Indian UPI market may soon see another new competitor in the Tatas, which is reportedly seeking clearance from the NPCI to start UPI operations as a third-party payments service provider.
CompCiti Business Solutions Sam Vohra, CEO CompCiti has been providing IT auditing, compliance, and security and management services for over 20 years. Their clientele includes private businesses, publicly held companies, government agencies and educational institutions. The companys mission is to help stakeholders achieve their business goals by maintaining the integrity and availability of their IS infrastructure. CompCiti can conduct a risk assessment of organizations complex systems of multi-layered networks, cloud services, mobile offices, social media, mobile apps, and other integrated communication systems to provide a clear picture of their cyber security status

IntelliSoft Technologies Satish Manduva, CEO IntelliSoft Technologies, a global technology IT consulting firm, delivers a wide array of solutions, products, service and software development in telecom, insurance, travel and financial industries. Founded in 1997, the company specializes in providing software products & integrated solutions to deliver full software development life cycle support to telecom industry. From a vendor neutral perspective, the company helps clients to evaluate, select and integrate leading edge technologies. They take a reliable, innovative partner to design and implement solutions that enable telecom industry to do business better regardless of their geography, or maturity

VoIP Office Sunny Reddy, Founder and CEO VoIP Office, a leading provider of Cloud based communications, makes it affordable and easy to connect to anyone, anywhere in the world. Their communications solutions meet the needs of any type of business in any industry, from home offices to large enterprises. VOIP OFFICE is a new-generation cloud based communications provider that offers all the features of your traditional PBX along with the latest functionality enabled by the use of VoIP technology. Global Businesses are now choosing VoIP services because of its cutting edge technology, Smart features, perfectly designed system that fits exactly with customers current industry. With VoIP Office Business communications, one can stay connected with the workplace wherever and whenever customers are ready.

Vitel Global Praveen Andapalli, CEO Vitel Global is a leading Cloud based VoIP PBX systems provider at reasonable rates to businesses of any size, including small businesses can easily upgrade to high end VoIP phone and PBX system. Notably, the company integrates internet and telecommunications to provide a seamless and powerful mode of communication with all the latest features that one can expect from a high-end sophisticated VoIP system. By offering Hosted VoIP PBX systems, companies having offices in multiple cities, countries or employees working remotely can connect all their employees through the system. Besides, the company provides seamless integration of voice, presence, chat, data, applications, and other technologies that help drastically improve communication processes and business productivity. This, in turn, enables business to access the account remotely from anywhere, in any time and seamlessly adopts high-quality cloud communication services

AmeriTel Chaz Chahal, CEO AmeriTel has established itself as one of the leading voice and data service providers in Southern California. Over 7,500 businesses have trusted AmeriTel to design, install and support their most important link to their own clients, the Business Telephone System. We are at your service. Today AmeriTel continues to provide its clients with support for both conventional and Voice Over IP Telephone Systems, on premise, and in the cloud. It has become one of the most trusted partners for all the business telecommunications needs and beyond. Their team of integration specialists can tackle any project, large or small

Elisiontec Mehul Shah, CEO & MD Elision Technologies Pvt. Ltd is the leading supplier and pioneer of VoIP solutions all over the world. The company consists of a team of very skilled individuals who offer and implement solutions in network, data, video and voice infrastructure  hence, they are a one-stop provider for other companies technology needs. Here at Elision, they have the expertise, experience and the latest technologies to make customers business communication simple, better, and faster. They have catered need of different scaled businesses across the globe with their client centric approach and VoIP expertise.

Falkon Systems Suresh Gadiraju, Founder & CEO Falkon Systems is an ecosystem composed of a suite of products, that are combined to provide specific solutions across industries in making business communication seamless. They empower organizations to make their legacy networks efficient and increase their workforce productivity. Enable Direct routing for MS Teams or any PBX with Falkon VoIP and experience quality calls at better prices. With Falkon SMS, send and receive texts from clients existing landline or MS Teams number and never lose a business opportunity

VoIP Connections Balaji NJL, CEO #Directrouting on Microsoft Teams #M365 made easy; they can enable #PSTN calling for Microsoft Teams in less than 36 hours, provide a free #pilot and experience our - VaaS, Voice as a Service - Scalable infrastructure - Communication Competency - Industry experience  Their Customer-centric approach Message us now for the complete list of 260 clients. Their service is an add on service. Customers can continue working with existing #Microsoft licensing #partners. They bring forth the #Phone Service, both local and international plans, a right end to end technology partner helping #migrate phone systems to #Cloud.

Voitekk SoftSol Anup Singh, CEO Voitekk Softsol Pvt. Ltd. provides solutions to IT Infrastructure development and support, headsets supplies, software development, Dialer software products, networking and telecom solutions and Business Process Management (BPM/BPO) to prospective clients business processes.They combine leading edge business strategy & IT knowledge to develop efficient and effective solutions that keep businesses one step ahead. They build innovative products that enable customers to communicate better with their leads, and contacts all over the world.
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Labour shortages, depleting coal fields and an investor-led retreat from fossil fuels are restricting Australian coal miners ability to increase supplies despite the stunning rally in commodity prices since Russia invaded Ukraine.

As Europe scrambles to find non-Russian supplies of coal, oil and gas, the extra demand has added to a global energy crunch and pushed the price of high-quality power-station coal at the Port of Newcastle up 40 per cent to a record $US446 a tonne in March. The price of Queensland coking coal, used for steel-making, has risen 33 per cent and peaked above $US660 a tonne.

Coal miners in NSW were hampered by heavy rains in recent months, but are enjoying bumper prices. Credit:Bloomberg

UBS analyst Lachlan Shaw said shunning Russias significant coal sector, which supplied 10 per cent of the worlds traded power-station coal and 15 per cent of coking coal, had triggered dramatic impacts across the market and was generating strong cash flow for ASX-listed producers including BHP, South32, Coronado and Whitehaven.

Prices have come off a bit from those levels recently as we see trade patterns realign, but they are still at very, very attractive levels, he said.
The Australian stock market edged lower again on Friday, but it capped off a period which saw the bourse rise 6.4 per cent for the month of March, the markets best performance since November 2020.

Saxo Markets strategist Jessica Amir, said the market was on track for its longest winning streak since 2017 on Thursday before professional investors started taking profits off the table, rebalancing portfolios at the end of the March quarter.

The Australia share market (ASX200) is getting closer to hitting its all time high, led by iron ore and lithium stocks rallying, she said.

Two days of losses cant disguise the boost the ASX received in the March quarter from booming commodity prices. Credit:Rob Homer

In a sign of just how much the local markets are benefiting from the commodities boom, triggered by the Ukraine crisis, and the rolling impact of the pandemic, the energy and materials sector up around 10 per cent for the month.

The biggest lift this week has come from Australian miners with the iron ore price rising on optimism Chinese demand will pick up as the government flags an economic boost to blunt the impact of pandemic lockdowns.

BHP edged closed to last years record high, up 1.2 per cent on Friday to $52.39.

Chinas sentiment towards steel is positive as the market looks past current Covid lockdowns and expects Beijings efforts to boost economic growth will lift steel demand, said Credit Suisse analyst Matthew Hope.

Critical mineral stocks also received a boost late in the week after US President Biden announced it would invest to boost production of rare earth producers.

It lifted stocks like Lynas, which has already received funding from the US Department of Defence, and lithium producers like AVZ Minerals which hit a record high of $1.31 on Friday and has risen more than 1,000 per cent over the past year.

Lithium giant Allkem rose 8.5 per cent on Friday, having hit a record high of $12.47 during the day.

In other news, The Star Entertainment Group continued to dominate the headlines after confirming its chairman John ONeill would take the CEO duties while the casino operator finds a replacement for Matt Bekier.

The company also acknowledged the need for accelerated board change after a disaster of a week with damaging allegations at a probity inquiry that triggered Mr Bekiers resignation.

In other corporate news on Friday, real estate listings portal Domain announced plans to buy real estate technology platform Realbase for $180 million.
Chris Rock wasnt defiant, but he was clear: if you came to his first gig since the Oscars looking for him to riff about the slap seen around the world, you might want to ask for your money back.

Let me do a show, yall, Rock mock-pleaded after being greeted by a lengthy standing ovation. Dont get all misty and s--t.

Will Smith and Chris Rock at 2022 Oscars. Credit:Getty and AP Photos

And after a slight pause, Rock looked out into the sold-out Wilbur Theatre in Boston on Wednesday night local time and asked: How was your weekend?

Busy Tremont Street in downtown Boston was lined with press, from local TV reporters to even Agence France-Press. Tickets were going for more than $US1000 ($1330) on resale sites. And a pair of Boston ministers gathered to make a sidewalk speech calling for more attention to Black-on-Black crime.
A fire has broken out at an oil facility in Belgorod, a Russian city near the Ukrainian border.

Russia claimed two Ukrainian helicopters crossed the border and attacked the oil-storage facility in the city of Belgorod, causing a large fire early Friday, Moscow time (Friday evening AEDT).

The Russian news agency Tass quoted Belgorod Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov as saying the aircraft flew in at low altitude.

Eight oil fuel tanks were burning and authorities said the fire might spread. Two workers were reported injured and nearby residents were being evacuated.

Twitter users in the vicinity posted videos of what they said were Ukrainian helicopters.

The information could not be immediately independently verified. The United States has repeatedly warned Russia uses false flag events as pretext for attacks.

Focused on fighting Russian troops on their own territory, Ukrainian forces havent claimed any strikes on the other side of the border since the start of the war.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv on the Belgorod fire.

With Bloomberg
A Federal Court judge has said it beggars belief that Attorney-General Michaelia Cash did not mention the mental health situation experienced by Arsalan Khawaja when she rejected his parole for the second time.

Khawaja, 42, the brother of cricketer Usman Khawaja, was jailed in 2020 after he attempted to frame two perceived love rivals as terrorists by writing fake threats in a notebook and making a lengthy phone call to a national security hotline.

Arsalan Khawaja pictured in 2018. Credit:Lucy Cormack

In 2018, Khawaja wrote 20 pages of threats in a book belonging to his University of NSW colleague Mohamed Kamer Nizamdeen and handed it to his project manager, resulting in Mr Nizamdeen being charged and held in maximum-security prison.

Authorities later determined the threats were fake.
NSW hospitals face months of disruption as nurses warn they will strike again and again unless the state government agrees to meet demands over pay and staffing levels.

About 5000 nurses and midwives marched on Macquarie Street on Thursday morning as health workers at more than 160 hospitals across the state went on strike for 24 hours.

Nurses and midwives marched on Macquarie Street on Thursday morning. Credit:Louise Kennerley

If they dont negotiate, we will be back here again and again, NSW Nurses and Midwives Association general secretary Brett Holmes told the crowd in Sydney, referencing the unions talks with the state government.

Mr Holmes said the unions key demand was nurse-to-patient ratios on every shift, a system which exists in Victoria and Queensland and has been promised by the new South Australian government.
Kevin Harriss claim for Tooleybucs Sporting Club burgers as unarguably the best in Australia (C8) is a bold claim, says Janice Creenaune of Austinmer. By contrast, a less audacious freestanding sandwich-board in Thirroul proclaims: The second best burgers in 2515 (the postcode). Hard to dispute that one.

Brought up in a Lea and Perrins (C8) family, and now in his 70s, Les Brennan of Newcastle East considers himself to be the antithesis of a fickle person, but even I changed brands last year after they widened the hole in the top of the bottle.

According to Charles Pope of Morpeth, the fax (C8) is alive and well in the medical profession for prescriptions and referrals. Faxes have far outlived that three-day wonder, the telex.

Currently in Kodzko (Poland), our regular Seattle correspondent Chris Keane reports that he keeps access to a fax machine (C8) for those rare occasions on which I need to send a missive to 1997.

Moving into temporary rental accommodation during house renovations three years ago, Greg Rutter of Musk (Vic) was surprised when he was required to pay the bond by Bank cheque or Post Office money order. No electronic transfer accepted. Welcome back to 1980!
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As a second wave of flooding wreaked havoc across northern New South Wales this month, emergency services have enlisted the help of infrared imagery to help discern the extent of the damage.

As the water darkens during a flood event, it can become difficult for first responders to differentiate a muddy stream from the streets it envelops. To combat this, the NSW Department of Spatial Services uses an aircraft to shoot infrared images which transform the murky hues into vibrant shades of pink and blue.

Infrared imagery such as this photograph from Lismore this week assists first responders in flood events. Credit:Chad Ajamian

Photographer Chad Ajamian, who works for the department, identifies scenes from hundreds of images taken by aircraft that are then used by first responders.

Inspired by the war photographer Richard Mosse, Mr Ajamian enjoys analysing infrared imagery because it allows him to see the unseen. Based in Sydneys northern beaches, he was surprised by how much he had been able to learn about the flood-affected regions through the photographs.

Lismore during the second wave of floods in March, 2022. Credit:Chad Ajamian

Mr Ajamian first became interested in infrared photography during university, where he researched the way drones could identify invasive species in Kosciusko National Park.
Universities are sacrificing student experience and the quality of their teaching in the pursuit of research ranking and grant-seeking imperatives, the head of the Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation says.

Centre chief executive Professor Simon Haines said some university academics should be incentivised to put teaching at the top of their career development.

Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation CEO Simon Haine. Credit:Edwina Pickles

Speaking at the launch of sociologist Salvatore Babones book, Australian Universities: Can they reform? , Professor Haines said the centre had been cautious in its public comments because of the public furore surrounding its formation five years ago.

However, he said the institution now attracts the most competition for a humanities course entry in Australia.
Police are investigating the suspicious death of a woman in Bondi on Thursday after she was found inside a home with severe facial injuries.

Emergency services were called to the apartment complex on OBrien Street at 5am to reports that a woman was unresponsive.

NSW Police at the Bondi property on Thursday. Credit:Janie Barrett

NSW Ambulance paramedics attempted to revive the 38-year-old, but she died at the scene.

Investigators are now working to determine how the woman sustained the facial injuries, with officers involved in the investigation keen to stress that it may have been accidental or the result of a medical episode.
Four weeks before Hannah Clarke and her three children were burnt alive, a psychologist said she had no concerns about the killers mental health, that he was coping remarkably well with his marriage breakdown, and that restarting contact with his children would be ideal.

Psychologist Vivian Jarrett struggled to explain her assessment of Rowan Baxter, and she was clearly shaken when she left the coronial inquest on Thursday, which is coming to a close after almost two weeks of evidence.

Hannah Clarke with her three children  Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey.

Ms Clarke, 31, and her children  daughters Aaliyah, 6, Laianah, 4, and son Trey, 3  died after Baxter doused the inside of the familys SUV in petrol and ignited it in Camp Hill in Brisbanes south on February 19, 2020. Baxter died at the scene from self-inflicted wounds.

Ms Jarrett was one of several professionals to have contact with Baxter in the weeks before the killings. He had repeatedly insisted he did not have a problem.
Most West Australians in hospital with COVID-19 are being treated for unrelated conditions, with incidents of severe lung disease very rare, a leading Perth emergency physician has revealed.

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine WA chair, Dr Peter Allely, said the lack of patients presenting with COVID-symptoms had been a pleasant surprise for healthcare workers, who had been bracing for the worst.

The Australasian College for Emergency Medicine WA chair said most COVID-19 patients in hospital were being admitted for unrelated illnesses.

Were seeing substantial numbers of COVID patients, but the majority are coming in with COVID, rather than for COVID, he said.

Its often for something completely unrelated, like a sprained ankle or appendicitis or something that has happened, rather than because COVID was giving them symptoms.
Experts say a new port could replace the US militarys main fuelling station in the Pacific region after the closure of a storage facility at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.

The federal budget allocated $1.5 billion to build new port infrastructure, such as a wharf, an offloading facility and dredging of the shipping channel in the Northern Territory.

The Port of Darwins 99-year lease with Chinese company Landbridge has attracted criticism since 2015. Credit:Glenn Campbell

Infrastructure Department Secretary Simon Atkinson told a Senate estimates hearing on Thursday the new port would be built at Middle Arm in Darwin Harbour.

The government has been in discussion with Defence officials for five months, the hearing was told, and the new port would be open to naval ships as well as private industry for minerals exports and energy exports.
The first is simple and essential to Morrisons defence: that Fierravanti-Wells lost a preselection for the Senate last Saturday and is out for revenge. Morrison deployed this argument on Wednesday when his media blitz to sell the budget was knocked off course by her claims. I understand shes disappointed, he said. Liberals know she turned against Malcolm Turnbull after he did not promote her to federal cabinet in 2017 and they see the same pattern now. One of Morrisons supporters, NSW Liberal Senator Hollie Hughes, backed him by saying he was a good friend and leader. Hughes added that Morrison had asked her to step aside from a preselection in 2016 to make sure Fierravanti-Wells could keep her place  or, in other words, he was now being stabbed in the back by someone he had saved. Prime Minsiter Scott Morrison in question time on Thursday. Credit:James Brickwood This is not how others remember things. In his memoir, Turnbull says Morrison urged him to drop Fierravanti-Wells but he resisted the advice. Turnbull is no friend to her these days  he describes her as a case study in treachery, ingratitude and bitterness  but his memoir makes the Morrison camp look like they are twisting the truth. Surprise. The second force runs deeper even if it seems mundane. Raised in the NSW industrial city of Wollongong to an Italian migrant family, Fierravanti-Wells does not belong to the comfortable world of Liberal Party clubs and elite city schools. She is an outsider who has put years into the party and seen others lifted ahead of her. To be blunt: the ones without the migrant backgrounds moved up. When she goes on the attack she does not hold back.

The third factor at work is an old wound that seems deadlier the longer it festers. Fierravanti-Wells supported a conservative ally, Michael Towke, as the candidate for the federal seat of Cook in 2007 and helped him win a ballot among party members. His rival? Scott Morrison, among others. The outcome? Towke 82, Morrison 8. Loading That set off one of the dirtiest campaigns in living Liberal memory. Morrison and his supporters fought to overturn the ballot by alleging Towke had paid membership fees when recruiting mates to the party, breaking party rules. Under parliamentary privilege, Fierravanti-Wells says Morrison suggested the electorate would not want a candidate who was Lebanese. Morrison denies the claim. (Towke, who works in business these days, does not return calls about this. He grew up as a Maronite Catholic and went to Marcellin College in Randwick. He has two degrees from the University of Sydney, in arts and engineering, and served in the army reserve.) Liberal headquarters backed Morrison, overturned the ballot and handed the safe seat to the future prime minister but the anger about what happened has followed him throughout his career. It helps explain why Fierravanti-Wells wanted Peter Dutton to gain the Liberal leadership in August 2018 and why Morrison would not have her in his ministry after he won.

The partys current internal dispute over choosing federal election candidates, pitting Morrison against the conservatives in the High Court over whether branch members get a vote, only adds to the bitterness over the past. Loading Fierravanti-Wells makes one of the most explosive claims possible in the current political environment  that Morrison is a bully  and will not stop. Even worse for the Prime Minister is that other women agree with her, including Jacqui Lambie and Pauline Hanson in recent days. That could look like a problem with women. Morrison rejects these slurs on his character. Ministers such as Josh Frydenberg, Simon Birmingham and Jane Hume have insisted he is a good leader. Yet the claims cannot be pushed back into a toxic bottle once they have been aired. They are out now and every mention of them, even when someone is trying to defend Morrison, only spreads them further. The claims will be heard even if Morrison and his supporters convince voters that Fierravanti-Wells is motivated by a grudge. In fact, most Australians know how to separate someones history from their opinions and make a character assessment for themselves, and they have a chorus of voices suggesting to them that Morrison is a bully.
Australia has promised another $25 million in military aid to Ukraine, including drones, tactical decoys and rations, and announced it will apply hefty tariffs to all imports from Russia and its supporter Belarus.

He also issued a veiled warning during an address to a joint sitting of Parliament that if Russia is not stopped and punished for its invasion, China could take heart and seek to launch its own incursions on its neighbours.

Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked Australia for its armoured vehicles, the Bushmasters, and more weapons in a direct plea to Federal Parliament that drew on the two nations shared history over the downing of the MH17 almost a decade ago.

Mr Zelensky said he was grateful for Australias support but this is only the beginning; we can and need to do more.

He said Bushmasters could help Ukraine substantially and also asked for other pieces of equipment that could strengthen our position in terms of armaments.

If you have an opportunity to share this with us, we would be very grateful. In Ukraine they will do much more for our common freedom, common security, than staying in parts on your land, he said.

The Ukrainian, wearing his now-trademark khaki t-shirt and addressing Parliament via video link, warned that although his country was thousands of kilometres distant from Australia, there was no such thing as distance from the brutality Russia was wreaking.

Whatever is happening in our region ... has become a real threat to your country and your people as well, he said.
Leaders of many of the great countries of the world from the US to China have addressed the Australian Parliament but few of them could rival the impact of a 20-minute speech via video on Thursday by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Speaking from his embattled headquarters in Kyiv, as bombs still fell around him, Mr Zelensky appealed for Australias support in defending his country against Vladimir Putins aggression.

While Australia is geographically far away from Ukraine, Mr Zelensky wanted to show how close our two countries should be. Where there are common values, distance does not matter, Mr Zelensky said.

Mr Zelenskys description of the women and children living in terror and the destruction of Ukraines cities as its people fight to save its democracy is argument enough to help him.

But his speech also made clear that, in helping Ukraine defend itself, Australia is defending its own interests. For example, Mr Zelensky highlighted the fact that Russia has blocked the sea lanes to Ukraines Black Sea ports, causing huge economic damage. His point is that Ukraine is fighting for the same principles of freedom of the seas that we seek to defend against China in the South China Sea. If Mr Putin wins, other countries might well be emboldened to follow his example.
The housing market pendulum is starting to swing back in favour of buyers, as new data shows double-digit falls in one measure of buyer interest in Sydney and Melbourne homes for sale.

After a COVID-19 boom in 2021, the markets in Australias two most populous capitals have started to soften, though other major cities were still recording more interest from buyers than they did in March last year.

Domain chief of research and economics Nicola Powell said Sydney had the biggest fall in views per property listing, down 31 per cent in March compared to a year earlier. The volume of new homes for sale rose over the same time, by 13 per cent.

In Melbourne, even a fall in supply could not offset the drop in buyer interest. Views per listing fell 16 per cent, despite a 22 per cent drop in new listings.
London: Frances military intelligence chief has been sacked after just seven months following a series of failures, including being blindsided by Australias plan to scrap its multibillion-dollar submarine deal for a new alliance with the United States and Britain.

General Eric Vidaud, who has led the Direction of Military Intelligence since only last northern summer, will step down with immediate effect, with the final straw reportedly failing to predict Russias invasion of Ukraine.

His departure was first reported by lOpinion citing an internal defence ministry investigation that criticised insufficient briefings and failure to master the issues.

General Eric Vidaud. Credit:Internet

In the months leading up to the invasion on February 24, France played down the imminence of a full-scale attack - in stark contrast to allies, notably the US and Britain.
London: Indias Foreign Minister says it is only natural for a country to seek cheap oil, amid criticisms that India is exploiting bargains offered by Moscow and undermining Western sanctions to stop Russias war on Ukraine.

Australia, US, UK and Canada have banned all imports of Russian oil and gas. The European Union has stopped short of joining because many member countries are dependent on Russian hydrocarbons.

Indias Foreign Minister S. Jaishankars, Dean Godson from the Policy Exchange and Britains Liz Truss speak in Delhi,

India, which sources the bulk of its defence weapons from Russia, has refrained from joining in Western sanctions. It has refused to condemn Russian President Vladimir Putins war, instead cashing in on the bargains that are being offered.

According to Bloomberg, Russia is offering India discounts of as much as $US35 ($47) a barrel on prices before the war.
SABA:--- Members of the Island Council visited the hydroculture facility of Gezondheid Farms at Rendez-Vous on Tuesday, March 29, 2022.

Members of the Island Council Carl Buncamper, Eviton Heyliger, and Esmeralda Johnson received an update about the new agricultural project from the CEO of Gezondheid Farms Jim Garza. They were able to see the progress that has been made and the view the development of the showroom where lettuce mixes are cultivated.

Island Councilmember Johnson asked Garza how long the plants stayed in the rack. Garza explained that the plants started in the germination trays and were then transferred to the rack system pipes after 7 days, where they remain for 27 days until they are fully grown.

Island Council Member Buncamper wanted to know how the farm contributed to Sabas Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Garza explained that the hydroculture farm contributed to Sabas development in several ways, both direct and indirect. Every dollar spent on the farm rolls back 100% into the GDP tax base, said Garza.

Several other topics were discussed during the Island Councils visit. These included the priorities of the farm to meet the deliverables of the funding provided by the Dutch Government, the crop production to make fresh, healthy produce accessible to the community, the creating of educational programs to inspire the youth to look at a career in agriculture, and the providing of awareness programs to help the community eat healthier to combat heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.

Garza said the visit was educational and informative and allowed the Island Council Members to see firsthand the development of the project to date, the farms crop production in action, and its potential for growth.

Also present during the tour of the Island Council Members were Agriculture and Nature Management Policy Advisor Justin Simmons-de Jong and Head of the Agricultural Department Randall Johnson.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The General Audit Chamber presented its audit report entitled Compliance Audit: 2019 Financial Statements St. Maarten to Parliament today. By law, the General Audit Chamber examines whether Government is legally compliant and effective in its spending of St. Maarten's public funds. Our report is a critical element for understanding Government's financial results. The Financial Statements optimally should provide a clear picture of the Government's financial management and position over 2019.

Our opinion is that the 2019 Financial Statements are not a true and fair representation of the Government's income and expenses or the financial position as of December 31, 2019. We found irregularities and deficiencies in the 2019 Financial Statements. There are expenses without a corresponding budget, and revenue was either unrealized or under budget.

For 2019, the shortcomings and errors resulted in an adverse (negative) opinion from the Government's internal auditor, SOAB. This means that the financial statements failed to comply with legal requirements. The General Audit Chamber agrees with the opinion of the internal auditor.

There is some optimism to report. The 2019 Financial Statements are the third set of statements presented within a year. Despite the delayed presentation of the current financial statements, the Government is working on reducing the backlog.

We hope that with the plans defined in the Country Packages, Government's financial management will systematically improve and, by extension, the quality of the financial statements.

The report is published in both English and Dutch and is available on the website of the General Audit Chamber (www.arsxm.org).
The crewmembers of the Apollo 13 mission step aboard the USS Iwo Jima, after splashdown and recovery operations in the South Pacific Ocean on April 17, 1970. Exiting the helicopter from left to right are Fred Haise, James Lovell and John Swigert.

Apollo 13 was NASA's third moon-landing mission, but the astronauts never made it to the lunar surface.

During the mission's dramatic series of events, an oxygen tank explosion almost 56 hours into the flight forced the crew to abandon all thoughts of reaching the moon. The spacecraft was damaged, but the crew was able to seek cramped shelter in the lunar module for the trip back to Earth, before returning to the command module for an uncomfortable splashdown.

The mission stands today as an example of the dangers of space travel and of NASA's innovative minds working together to save lives on the fly. The Apollo 13 mission celebrated its 50th anniversary on April 11 2020.

Related: NASA's moonwalking Apollo astronauts: Where are they now?

Apollo 13 crew

The Apollo 13 astronauts were commander James Lovell, lunar module pilot Fred Haise, and command module pilot John "Jack" Swigert.

At age 42, Lovell was the world's most traveled astronaut when he joined the Apollo 13 mission, with three missions and 572 spaceflight hours under his belt. Lovell participated in Apollo 8, the first mission to circle the moon, and flew two Gemini missions  including a 14-day endurance run.

Prior to the Apollo 13 mission, 36 year-old Haise served as the backup lunar module pilot for the Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 missions. Haise was a fighter pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps before joining NASA as a test pilot. He was selected for the manned space program in 1966, at the same time as Swigert. Apollo 13 was Haise's only trip to space.

Apollo 13 was Swigert's first trip to space, at age 38. He had been part of the support crew for Apollo 7 and was initially Apollo 13's backup command module pilot. He was asked to join the crew 48 hours before launch time after the original command module pilot, Ken Mattingly, was exposed to German measles.

Jim Lovell (left), Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise pose for their official portrait. Swigert had just replaced Ken Mattingly as command module pilot after Mattingly was exposed to German measles. (Image credit: NASA/JSC)

Apollo 13: "Houston, we've had a problem"

Apollo 13 launched on April 11, 1970. The Apollo spacecraft was made up of two independent spacecraft joined by a tunnel: orbiter Odyssey, and lander Aquarius. The crew lived in Odyssey on the journey to the moon.

On the evening of April 13, when the crew was nearly 322,000 kilometers (200,000 miles) from Earth and closing in on the moon, mission controller Sy Liebergot saw a low-pressure warning signal on a hydrogen tank in Odyssey.

The signal could have shown a problem, or could have indicated the hydrogen just needed to be resettled by heating and fanning the gas inside the tank. That procedure was called a "cryo stir", and was supposed to stop the supercold gas from settling into layers.

Related: This stunning 4K video re-creates Apollo 13's perilous trip around the moon

A view of the damaged Apollo 13 service module after separation. (Image credit: NASA)

Swigert flipped the switch for the routine procedure. A moment later, the entire spacecraft shook. Alarm lights lit up in Odyssey and in Mission Control as oxygen pressure fell and power disappeared. The crew notified Mission Control, with Swigert famously saying, "Houston, we've had a problem." (Note that the 1995 movie "Apollo 13" took some creative license with the phrase, changing it to "Houston, we have a problem" and having the words come out of Apollo 13 commander James Lovell's mouth).

Much later, a NASA accident investigation board determined wires were exposed in the oxygen tank because of a combination of manufacturing and testing errors before flight. That fateful night, a spark from an exposed wire in the oxygen tank caused a fire, ripping apart one oxygen tank and damaging another inside the spacecraft.

Since oxygen fed Odyssey's fuel cells, power was reduced as well. The spacecraft's attitude control thrusters, sensing the venting oxygen, tried to stabilize the spacecraft through firing small jets. The system wasn't very successful given several of the jets were slammed shut by the explosion.

Fortunately for Apollo 13, the damaged Odyssey had a healthy backup: Aquarius, which wasn't supposed to be turned on until the crew was close to landing on the moon. Haise and Lovell frantically worked to boot Aquarius up in less time than designed. Aquarius didn't have a heat shield to survive the drop back to Earth, so as Lovell and Haise got the lunar module up and running, Swigert remained in Odyssey to shut down its systems to conserve power for splashdown.

Apollo 13's cold, miserable trip home

The crew had to balance the challenge of getting home with the challenge of preserving power on Aquarius. After they performed a crucial burn to point the spacecraft back towards Earth, the crew powered down every nonessential system in the spacecraft.

Without a source of heat, cabin temperatures quickly dropped down close to freezing. Some food became inedible. The crew also rationed water to make sure Aquarius  operating for longer than it was designed  would have enough liquid to cool its hardware down. And Aquarius was pretty cramped as it was designed to hold two people, not three.

On Earth, flight director Gene Kranz pulled his shift of controllers off regular rotation to focus on managing consumables like water and power. Other mission control teams helped the crew with its daily activities. Spacecraft manufacturers worked around the clock to support NASA and the crew.

It was a rough journey home. The entire spaceflight crew lost weight, and Haise developed a kidney infection. But the small vessel protected and carried the crew long enough to reach Earth's atmosphere.

In the hours before splashdown, the exhausted crew scrambled back over to the Odyssey powered it up. The craft had essentially been in a cold water soak for days, and could have shorted out, but thanks to safeguards put in place after the Apollo 1 disaster, there were no issues.

Lovell, Haise and Swigert safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa, on April 17.

Staff members in Mission Control celebrate the safe return of the Apollo 13 crew. Dr. Thomas Paine (center) applauds the successful splashdown while Dr. George Low (right) smokes a cigar. (Image credit: NASA/JSC)

Apollo 13's legacy

Numerous design changes were made to the Apollo service module and command module on subsequent missions in the Apollo program. According to former mission controller Sy Liebergot in an article by collectSPACE the changes included:

Another cryo oxygen tank that could be isolated to only supply the crew.

Removing all cryo tank fans and wiring.

Removing the thermostats from cryo tanks, and changing the type of heater tube.

Adding a 400-amp-hour lunar module descent stage battery.

Adding water storage bags to the command module.

A group of flight controllers gathers around the console of Glenn S. Lunney (seated, nearest camera), Shift 4 flight director, in the Mission Operations Control Room during Apollo 13. (Image credit: NASA/JSC)

As for the astronauts, Haise was assigned to command the Apollo 19 moon mission. However, it and two other missions were canceled after NASA's budget was cut. He later piloted the space shuttle Enterprise during its test flights.

In 1982, Swigert was elected to Congress in his home state of Colorado. However, during the campaign, he was diagnosed with bone cancer, and he died before he could be sworn in.

In 1994, Lovell and journalist Jeffrey Kluger co-wrote a book about Lovell's spaceflight career that primarily focused on the events of the Apollo 13 mission. The book, "Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13" (Houghton Mifflin, 1994), spurred the 1995 movie "Apollo 13," starring actor Tom Hanks. The movie won two Academy Awards and was filmed in cooperation with NASA.

The agency gave the movie crew access to the 1960s-era Mission Control in Houston to reconstruct the site as a set, and also let the actor "astronauts" fly aboard NASA's Vomit Comet airplane to simulate weightlessness. Lovell made a cameo at the end of the film as the captain of the U.S.S. Iwo Jima; Marilyn Lovell and Gene Kranz made short appearances as well, according to the Internet Movie Database.

Other biographical accounts of the Apollo 13 mission include Liebergot and David Harland's "Apollo EECOM: Journey of a Lifetime" (Collector's Guide Publishing, 2003) and Kranz's "Failure Is Not An Option" (Simon & Schuster, 2000). Several non-fiction books have also examined Apollo 13, such as Andrew Chaikin's "A Man On The Moon" (Penguin Books, 1994), which included interviews with all of the surviving Apollo astronauts.

Additional resources

Read more about Apollo in this in-depth article from NASA. Explore the "successful failure" mission with this virtual exhibit from Space Center Houston. Discover other great stories from the Apollo missions with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Bibliography

"Space is hard - mission control after Apollo 13". 17, April. 2020. ESA

Lovell, Jim, and Jeffrey Kluger. Apollo 13. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2006 .

Kauffman, James. " A successful failure: NASAs crisis communications regarding Apollo 13. " Public Relations Review 27.4 (2001): 437-448.
A false-color image of Mercury taken by the MESSENGER spacecraft highlights the physical variation across the planet.

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and the smallest planet in our solar system. The tiny planet has no moon of its own and zips around the sun faster than all the other planets, which is why the Romans named it after their swift-footed messenger god.

The Sumerians also knew of Mercury since at least 5,000 years ago. It was often associated with Nabu, the god of writing, according to a site connected to NASA's MESSENGER (Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging) mission. Mercury was also given separate names for its appearance as both a morning star and as an evening star. Greek astronomers knew, however, that the two names referred to the same body, and Heraclitus, around 500 B.C., correctly thought that both Mercury and Venus orbited the sun, not Earth.

Mercury is the second densest planet after Earth, with a huge metallic core roughly 2,200 to 2,400 miles (3,600 to 3,800 kilometers) wide, or about 75% of the planet's diameter. In comparison, Mercury's outer shell is only 300 to 400 miles (500 to 600 km) thick. The combination of its massive core and composition, which includes an abundance of volatile elements, has left scientists puzzled for years.

Related: What is Mercury made of?

Mercury: Temperature, size and surface activity

Because the planet is so close to the sun, Mercury's surface temperature can reach a scorching 840 degrees Fahrenheit (450 degrees Celsius). However, since this world doesn't have much of a real atmosphere to entrap any heat, at night temperatures can plummet to minus 275 degrees Fahrenheit (minus degrees 170 Celsius), a temperature swing of more than 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit (600 degrees Celsius), the greatest in the solar system.

Mercury is the smallest planet  it is only slightly larger than Earth's moon. Since it has no significant atmosphere to stop impacts, the planet is pockmarked with craters. About 4 billion years ago, an asteroid roughly 60 miles (100 km) wide struck Mercury with an impact equal to 1 trillion 1-megaton bombs, creating a vast impact crater roughly 960 miles (1,550 km) wide. Known as the Caloris Basin, this crater could hold the entire state of Texas. Another large impact may have helped create the planet's odd spin, according to research in 2011.

As close to the sun as Mercury is, in 2012, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft discovered water ice in the craters around its north pole in 2017, where regions may be permanently shaded from the heat of the sun. The southern pole may also contain icy pockets, but MESSENGER's orbit did not allow scientists to probe the area. Comets or meteorites may have delivered ice there, or water vapor may have outgassed from the planet's interior and frozen out at the poles.

Mercury seen in silhouette as it transits across the face of the sun. (Image credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls)

Fast facts Average distance from the sun: 35,983,095 miles (57,909,175 km). By comparison: 0.38 Earth's distance from the sun Perihelion (closest approach to sun): 28,580,000 miles (46,000,000 km). By comparison: 0.313 times that of Earth Aphelion (farthest distance from sun): 43,380,000 miles (69,820,000 km). By comparison: 0.459 times that of Earth Day length: 58.646 Earth days Color: Gray

As if Mercury isn't small enough, it not only shrank in its past but is continuing to shrink today, according to a 2016 report. The tiny planet is made up of a single continental plate over a cooling iron core. As the core cools, it solidifies, reducing the planet's volume and causing it to shrink. The process crumpled the surface, creating lobe-shaped scarps or cliffs, some hundreds of miles long and soaring up to a mile high, as well as Mercury's "Great Valley," which at about 620 miles long, 250 miles wide and two miles deep (1,000 by 400 by 3.2 km) is larger than Arizona's famous Grand Canyon and deeper than the Great Rift Valley in East Africa.

"The young age of the small scarps means that Mercury joins Earth as a tectonically active planet with new faults likely forming today as Mercury's interior continues to cool and the planet contracts," Tom Watters, Smithsonian senior scientist at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., said in a NASA statement.

Indeed, a 2016 study of cliffs on Mercury's surface suggested the planet may still rumble with earthquakes, or "Mercuryquakes." In addition, in the past, Mercury's surface was constantly reshaped by volcanic activity. However, another 2016 study suggested Mercury's volcano eruptions likely ended about 3.5 billion years ago.

One 2016 study suggested that Mercury's surface features can generally be divided into two groups  one consisting of older material that melted at higher pressures at the core-mantle boundary, and the other of newer material that formed closer to Mercury's surface. Another 2016 study found that the dark hue of Mercury's surface is due to carbon. This carbon wasn't deposited by impacting comets, as some researchers suspected  instead, it may be a remnant of the planet's primordial crust.

Mercury's magnetic field

A completely unexpected discovery made by Mariner 10 was that Mercury possessed a magnetic field. Planets theoretically generate magnetic fields only if they spin quickly and possess a molten core. But Mercury takes 59 days to rotate and is so small  just roughly one-third Earth's size  that its core should have cooled off long ago.

"We had figured out how the Earth works, and Mercury is another terrestrial, rocky planet with an iron core, so we thought it would work the same way," Christopher Russell, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a University of California, Los Angeles statement.

An unusual interior could help to explain the differences in Mercury's magnetic field when compared to Earth. Observations from MESSENGER revealed that the planet's magnetic field is approximately three times stronger at its northern hemisphere than at its southern. Russell co-authored a model that suggests that Mercury's iron core may be turning from liquid to solid at the core's outer boundary rather than the inner.

"It's like a snow storm in which the snow formed at the top of the cloud and middle of the cloud and the bottom of the cloud too," said Russell. "Our study of Mercury's magnetic field indicates iron is snowing throughout this fluid that is powering Mercury's magnetic field."

The discovery in 2007 by Earth-based radar observations that Mercury's core may still be molten could help explain its magnetism, though the solar wind may play a role in dampening the planet's magnetic field.

Although Mercury's magnetic field is just 1% the strength of Earth's, it is very active. The magnetic field in the solar wind  the charged particles streaming off the sun  periodically touches upon Mercury's field, creating powerful magnetic tornadoes that channel the fast, hot plasma of the solar wind down to the planet's surface.

Does Mercury have an atmosphere?

Instead of a substantial atmosphere, Mercury possesses an ultra-thin "exosphere" made up of atoms blasted off its surface by solar radiation, the solar wind and micrometeoroid impacts. These quickly escape into space, forming a tail of particles, according to NASA.

The atmosphere of Mercury is a "surface-bound exosphere, essentially a vacuum." It contains 42% oxygen, 29% sodium, 22% hydrogen, 6% helium, 0.5% potassium, with possible trace amounts of argon, carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, xenon, krypton and neon, according to NASA.

Mercury's orbit

Mercury speeds around the sun every 88 Earth days, traveling through space at nearly 112,000 mph (180,000 km/h), faster than any other planet. Its oval-shaped orbit is highly elliptical, taking Mercury as close as 29 million miles (47 million km) and as far as 43 million miles (70 million km) from the sun. If one could stand on Mercury when it is nearest to the sun, it would appear more than three times as large as it does when viewed from Earth.

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and has a thin atmosphere, no air pressure and an extremely high temperature. Take a look inside the planet. (Image credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com)

Oddly, due to Mercury's highly elliptical orbit and the 59 Earth-days or so it takes to rotate on its axis, when on the scorching surface of the planet, the sun appears to rise briefly, set, and rise again before it travels westward across the sky. At sunset, the sun appears to set, rise again briefly, and then set again.

In 2016, a rare transit of Mercury happened, where the planet crossed the face of the sun as seen from Earth. Mercury's transit may have yielded secrets about its thin atmosphere, assisted in the hunt for worlds around other stars, and helped NASA hone some of its instruments.

As Mercury takes just Earth days to orbit the sun and Earth takes 365 days, approximately three or four times a year Mercury overtakes Earth during its trip around the sun and an optical illusion occurs, according to The New York Times. Mercury appears to move "backward" across the sky for about three weeks, it is during this time Mercury is said to be in retrograde. Astrologers consider Mercury in retrograde to be a time of misfortune and miscommunication as the perceived backward motion interferes with the planet's rules, according to Dictionary.com. The retrograde motion is explained in this YouTube video from Vox.

Research and exploration

The first spacecraft to visit Mercury was Mariner 10, which imaged about 45% of the surface and detected its magnetic field.

NASA's MESSENGER orbiter was the second spacecraft to visit Mercury. When it arrived in March 2011, it became the first spacecraft to orbit the planet. The mission came to an abrupt end on April 30, 2015, when the spacecraft, which had run out of fuel, purposely crashed onto the planet's surface for scientists to observe the results.

In 2012, scientists discovered a group of meteorites in Morocco that they think could have originated from the planet Mercury. If so, it would make the rocky planet a member of a very select club with samples available on Earth; only the moon, Mars and the large asteroid Vesta have verified rocks in human laboratories.

In 2016, scientists released the first-ever global digital-elevation model of Mercury, which combined more than 10,000 images acquired by MESSENGER to take viewers across the wide-open spaces of the tiny world. The model revealed the planet's highest and lowest points  the highest is found just south of Mercury's equator, sitting 2.78 miles (4.48 km) above the average elevation of the planet, while the lowest point resides in Rachmaninoff basin, the suspected home of some of the most recent volcanic activity on the planet, and lies 3.34 miles (5.38 km) below the landscape average.

In 2018, a new Mercury explorer was launched. The BepiColombo mission jointly operated by the European and Japanese space agencies is composed of two spacecraft  Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter  that, after a long trek to Mercury, will split up to better understand the tiny world. The European Space Agency's segment of the mission will focus on studying Mercury's surface while the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's portion will focus on the planet's strange magnetosphere.

In 2021, BepiColumbo captured its first views of Mercury during a gravity assist flyby. BepiColumbo is scheduled to arrive at Mercury in late 2025, and gather data during its one-year nominal mission with the possibility of a one-year extension, according to ESA.

Mercury quiz

Additional resources

Learn more about Mercury at NASA's Solar System Exploration website. Read about MESSENGER's top science results via Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. See MESSENGERs crater on Mercury, made when the spacecraft deliberately crashed into the planet

Bibliography

Strom, Robert G., and Ann L. Sprague. Exploring Mercury: the iron planet. New York: Springer, 2003.

Charlier, Bernard, and Olivier Namur. "The origin and differentiation of planet Mercury." Elements: An International Magazine of Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Petrology 15.1 (2019): 9-14.

Mangano, Valeria, et al. "BepiColombo science investigations during cruise and flybys at the Earth, Venus and Mercury." Space Science Reviews 217.1 (2021): 1-81.

Hauck, Steven A., and Catherine L. Johnson. "Mercury: Inside the iron planet." Elements: An International Magazine of Mineralogy, Geochemistry, and Petrology 15.1 (2019): 21-26.
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NEWTOWN  Alex Jones wants Connecticuts highest court to overturn potential fines of $1.65 million for relying on a doctors note and skipping his deposition in the defamation case he lost to eight families whose loved ones were killed in the Sandy Hook shooting.

The defendant in this case is Alex Jones, and, to many, that is reason enough to uphold any fine or sanction (but)  our law is better than mere vendetta, New Haven attorney Norm Pattis wrote in an appeal filed Thursday with Connecticut Supreme Court, one day after state Superior Court Judge Barbara Bellis sanctioned Jones with an escalating daily fine of $25,000 for intentionally failing to comply with the orders of the court.

The law is at its best when tested and applied to the damned and despised. In the consolidated actions at issue here, Jones and others are sued for comments they made denying that the shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012 took place, Pattis argues in his petition to the states highest court. For many Connecticut residents, that is reason enough to hate Jones. One suspects Judge Bellis has succumbed to that hatred.

Pattis is asking the Supreme Court to stop Bellis escalating fine from going into effect on Friday, and to overturn what he calls an extraordinary order (that) works a substantial injustice.

Pattis on Thursday appealed to Bellis herself to stay her own order until Jones appeal is heard because The terms and severity of this courts sanction are undeniably extraordinary, and the Jones defendants are entitled by law to seek review of the order.

Bellis, who could have issued an arrest warrant for Jones, acknowledged during her ruling on Jones contempt sanctions Wednesday that the fine was coercive, but reasonable and necessary to compel Jones to complete his pretrial deposition as soon as possible.

Jones faces three trials here and in Texas where juries will award damages in three defamation cases he lost last year after he went on his Infowars internet program and called the 2012 slaying of 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School staged, synthetic, manufactured, a giant hoax, and completely fake with actors.

Jones story made more national headlines this week when he offered an FBI agent and 18 members of 10 families who lost loved ones in the school shooting $120,000 each to settle defamation lawsuits here and in Texas.

In Connecticut, the FBI agent and 14 people from eight families rejected Jones offer, calling it an attempt by Jones to escape a public reckoning under oath with his deceitful, profit-driven campaign against the plaintiffs. The four other parents in the two Texas defamation cases have yet to respond officially to Jones offer, but one parent told Hearst Connecticut Media he would reject it.

The first of two trials to determine damages in Texas is set for April 25. The trial in Connecticut to determine damages is set to begin Aug. 2.

Meanwhile, the soonest Jones attorneys say he can sit for two days of pretrial questioning under oath is April 11. That would make Jones running fine total $525,000, Pattis said.

If the Plaintiffs counsel insist on delaying his deposition further, he will be compelled to pay additional daily amounts  $175,000; $200,000; $225,000; $250,000; $275,000 - for a total fine total of $1,650,000, Pattis wrote in his appeal to the Supreme Court, noting the ultimate fine total would be about the same amount Jones offered in settlements to the 15 people in the Connecticut suit.

The court apparently took the position that, if Jones had the money to settle the claims, he could pay this fine, Pattis argued. Such reverse engineering of the fine is suspect.

Pattis who called the fine wholly disproportionate, boundaryless and confiscatory, said it violated the 14th Amendments due process clause that prohibits courts from depriving a person of property through a coercive fine.

Jones in his own defense told viewers late last week in an audio message that he had cardiovascular symptoms from a COVID-19 infection and was under a lot of stress.

Pattis argued that Jones was right to listen to his doctors advice and skip the court-ordered depositions last week.

The trial courts orders created an unconscionable choice for Jones, Pattis wrote. Facing an all-day deposition conducted by a former federal prosecutor in a hotly contested case is no walk in the park.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
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BRANFORD  Bob Child, who photographed half a century of history in Connecticut, died Wednesday at the age of 86.

Child died in hospice care in Branford of complications from several illnesses, his family told the Associated Press.

Before joining the Associated Press in 1972, Child worked for the New Haven Journal-Courier and Hearst Connecticut Media Groups New Haven Register.

Child, who retired in 2009, developed relationships over the years with fellow journalists, photographers, law enforcement, politicians and others.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., was among them and knew Child for decades.

When he showed up for a story, it was like seeing an old friend, Blumenthal said Wednesday. He was more than a pro with a camera. He was a person of real depth who had endless insight and real intelligence within the endlessly diverse topics that he covered.

He really cared about people, he added.

Passionate about his work, Child often knew more of what was going on than most reporters, said Peter Hvizdak, a former photojournalist at the New Haven Register.

Hes a legend, Hvizdak said. Bob was a part of Connecticut history for 50 years.

Child always seemed to have a sense of knowing how a story would unfold, and where to position himself to capture the moment, Hvizdak recalled.

He was an empathetic photographer, said Don Heiny, who worked for Child as a frequent freelance photographer at the Associated Press Hartford bureau in the 1980s and early 90s. He understood what he was photographing and that gave his photographs such strength.

Bob was a humanist at heart and his photographs showed that; honest, respectful, insightful of feelings, zest for life, Heiny added. He was in the moment when his eye was in the viewfinder of those Nikons.

Child was a mentor for many photojournalists, including Hvizdak, Heiny and Jessica Hill, a freelance photographer for the Associated Press and other outlets.

Child took a chance on Hill 20 years ago.

If he hadnt hired me, my life would have been very different, Hill said. Theres only a few people on this journey where you can pick that point in the road where they gave you options for your entire life story. I wouldnt be where I am without Bob.

Heiny met Child like a lot of photographers met him: On the job. In Heinys case, it was at a street demonstration in 1981 in Meriden. Heiny cherished his friendship with Child and did his best to earn his respect.

I learned how to shoot news photography through Bob, Heiny said.

Heiny remembered how Child was in the dark room. Despite taking what many called the best shots, Child wouldnt praise his own work. He simply said: Thatll do, Heiny recalled.

Because tomorrow you go out again, Heiny said. You go on and do the next one.

Child was also tough on the streets.

When photographing, he wasnt afraid to jut out his elbows at other photographers to make room and get in the best spot. Other photographers soon learned to throw their elbows in return, but it was out of love, Hvizdak recalled.

Robert Child III was born in Boston and raised in New Haven. He attended Yale University on a music scholarship and graduated in 1958, the Associated Press reported.

Childs twin brother, Pat, worked for decades as a video journalist at WTNH-TV. Pat died in 2004.

Childs wife, Joan Child, died in 2008.

In his 11 days in hospice, Child had a stream of visitors come to rehash memories. Child met his visitors with a huge smile, Hvizdak said.

Child is survived by his three children, Sara Child Stevens, Robert and Emily Child Smith; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren, according to the Associated Press.

A memorial service will be held in Childs honor at Trinity Lutheran Church on 292 Orange St. in New Haven on April 23.
NORWALK  A series of changes among the citys school administrators were set in motion this week, but it remains unclear why the moves were abruptly made.

In an email Tuesday to Tracey Magnet School families, Superintendent Alexandra Estrella said Marie Allen, an assistant principal at Brien McMahon High School, will serve as the interim principal for the elementary school for the rest of the academic year.

Allen replaces Brenda Brush, who is transferring to the Curriculum and Instruction Department in mathematics at Central Office.

Joe Devellis, an assistant principal at Roton Middle School, took over for Allen at Brien McMahon on Tuesday, according to a message from Interim Principal Barbara Wood to Brien McMahon parents.

Messages for a school district spokesperson were not returned and it remained unclear why the changes were made this week.

Allen has worked in Norwalk Public Schools since 2008, previously serving as an assistant principal at Ponus Ridge Middle School and principal at Norwalk Pathways Academy at Briggs.

Brush was named the principal of Tracey Magnet in August. The Norwalk resident previously worked for Greenwich Public Schools, where she served as an assistant principal at the Julian Curtiss Magnet School. She also served as the districts math coordinator.

Allen will work with Curriculum and Instruction Site Director Lindsay Esposito to ensure a positive finish to the school year, Estrella told parents in the email. Over the summer, Allen will help Lynne Moore, an assistant principal at Norwalk High School, transition into the principal position for the 2022-23 school year.

Moore joined Norwalk Public Schools in 1998 as principal at West Rocks Middle School. She was reassigned to Norwalk High School in 2018. She also serves as the union president of the Norwalk Association of School Administrators.

Moore recently settled her federal lawsuit of racial discrimination against the city of Norwalk, the Board of Education, and former Superintendent Steven Adamowski in January. Details of the settlement have not been released.

Allen also has a federal lawsuit pending against the same three defendants, also claiming racial discrimination.

emily.morgan@hearstmediact.com
Press Release

March 31, 2022 De Lima hits China's reiteration of its claim over Panatag Shoal Re-electionist Senator Leila M. de Lima slammed China's reiteration of its claim over Panatag Shoal, which is within the Philippine's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). De Lima maintained that China's latest reiteration that its claim over Panatag Shoal is based on international law is "nothing more than a lie that if repeated several times, China hopes to become true." "Unfortunately for China, international law cannot be based on mere propaganda. There is nothing in international law that allows international waters to be owned as part of the territory not only of an adjacent country, much less one that is hundreds of kilometers away," she said. Reportedly, China recently warned the Philippines against "interfering" with its patrols at Panatag Shoal, baselessly claiming that China has sovereign rights and jurisdiction over the shoal and its adjacent waters. The warning came after The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reported that a China Coast Guard (CCG) vessel came dangerously close to one of its patrol ships near the shoal in a "close distance maneuvering" incident on March 2. De Lima noted that Panatag Shoal is within the Philippine 200 nautical mile EEZ, and in that portion that is not overlapped by any EEZ of any other country. "As part of its EEZ, the Philippines has exclusive sovereign rights over the exploration and exploitation of marine resources in Panatag Shoal. "The Philippine EEZ is solidly based on an international treaty, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which China also signed and which it also uses to claim exclusive use of its own EEZ that surrounds its coastal areas," she explained. The China continues to deprive the Philippines the same right over its EEZ under UNCLOS by virtue of what De Lima called an "imaginary Nine-Dash Line" it has arbitrarily drawn on a map to claim the whole of the South China Sea (SCS), including Panatag Shoal and the Spratly Islands. De Lima said the country does not even have to argue what international law is on the issue of Panatag Shoal because it has already been settled in the July 2016 decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) declaring that China's Nine-Dash Line claim over the whole SCS as bereft of any legal basis under international law. "China denies all these facts, of course, because one day it hopes to realize its claim over the South China Sea, Panatag Shoal, and the Spratly Islands not through international law, but through stealth or even force, just like what Russia did to Ukraine," she said. "Only then, China has to deal with the international backlash that comes with the illegal annexation of territories, similar to what Russia has to deal with now in its invasion of Ukraine," she added. De Lima, who was then justice secretary, was part of the Philippine delegation who argued the Philippines' case before the PCA. Last year, she filed Senate Resolution (SR) No. 694 urging the government's Executive branch to exert all legal and diplomatic actions on the Chinese government in asserting Philippine sovereign rights in the WPS. De Lima is also among the 11 Senators who filed SR No. 708 urging the Upper Chamber to "condemn in the strongest possible terms" the illegal activities of China in the disputed waters.


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This is archive content that is no longer updated. Go to the up-to-date statistics page.

Published: 31 March 2022

Comprehensive schools had 562,400 pupils in 2021

According to Statistics Finlands education statistics, comprehensive schools had 562,400 pupils in 2021. The number of pupils in comprehensive schools fell by 0.7 per cent from the year before. Forty-nine per cent of the pupils were girls and 51 per cent were boys. A total of 366,900 pupils attended grades 1 to 6 of comprehensive schools and 185,300 pupils grades 7 to 9. The number of pupils in pre-primary education was 58,600, of whom 9,700 were in pre-primary education in schools and 48,900 in day care. A total of 1,000 pupils attended additional education (grade 10), of whom 400 in comprehensive schools.

Comprehensive school pupils in grades 1 to 9 in 2021

In autumn 2021, a total of 445 pupils were being home-schooled. There were 342 pupils temporarily residing abroad. Time series data on students not studying in comprehensive schools can be found in the database table of this publication .

A total of 4,600 students were studying in basic education of adults. Of them, 54 per cent were men. Until 2019, data on basic education of adults have been published in the statistics on adult education of educational institutions .

The number of pupils in comprehensive school is derived by adding up pupils in the following types of educational institutions: comprehensive schools, comprehensive school level special education schools and comprehensive and general upper secondary level schools. Data can be retrieved from database table 133w. Pupils in comprehensive schools, 2020 to 2021 .

Data on the development of the number of comprehensive schools can be found in the statistics on providers of education and educational institutions .

Source: Education. Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Vesa Hamalainen 029 551 2594, Anna Loukkola 029 551 3678, koulutustilastot@stat.fi

Head of Department in charge: Hannele Orjala

Publication in pdf-format (152.5 kB)

Updated 31.3.2022

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Students and qualifications [e-publication].

ISSN=2737-0410. 2021. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 6.5.2022].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/opiskt/2021/opiskt_2021_2022-03-31_tie_001_en.html
This is archive content that is no longer updated. Go to the up-to-date statistics page.

Published: 31 March 2022

Preliminary data: Turnover of construction enterprises grew in February

According to Statistics Finland's preliminary data, the working day adjusted turnover of construction enterprises grew by 12.3 per cent in February 2022 compared with February 2021.

Annual change in working day adjusted turnover of construction, % (TOL 2008)

Turnover decreased compared with the previous month

According to the preliminary data, seasonally adjusted turnover in construction decresed by 0.1 percent in February 2022 from January. In January, seasonally adjusted turnover increased by 2.0 per cent and in December decreased by 0.1 per cent from one month ago.

Change in seasonally adjusted turnover of construction from the previous month, % (TOL 2008)

The calculation of indices of turnover of construction is based on the Tax Administrations data on self-assessed taxes, which are supplemented with Statistics Finlands sales inquiry. The monthly turnover of construction enterprises can have even large variations due to invoicing practices. The final invoice for major projects may be recorded in the sales of one month, even if the project had required the work of several months or years.

The factors caused by the variation in the number of weekdays are taken into account in adjustment for working days. This means taking into consideration the lengths of months, different weekdays and holidays. In addition, seasonal variation is eliminated from seasonally adjusted series, on account of which it makes sense to compare observations of two successive months as well.

The data for the latest month are preliminary and are released at a delay of around four weeks. The data may become significantly revised particularly in coming months.

Source: Index of turnover of construction, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Toni Kellinsalmi 029 551 3801, Lauri Pullinen 029 551 3043, rakennus.suhdanne@stat.fi

Head of Department in charge: Katri Kaaja

Publication in pdf-format (236.3 kB)

Updated 31.3.2022

Referencing instructions: Official Statistics of Finland (OSF): Index of turnover of construction [e-publication].

ISSN=1798-5935. February 2022. Helsinki: Statistics Finland [referred: 6.5.2022].

Access method: http://www.stat.fi/til/rlv/2022/02/rlv_2022_02_2022-03-31_tie_001_en.html
The fertilizers market has been hit hard by the soaring gas prices, and counteracting solutions are now being sought, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Adrian Chesnoiu said during his official visit to Jordan, a Ministry release informs.

"Whereas more than two thirds of the amount of fertilizer needed this year has been secured, for the next agricultural year we must take all the measures to keep at bay a fertilizer shortage in Romania. We want a collaboration with Jordanian fertilizer producers to ensure the access of Romanian farmers to these products for the most affordable prices," Adrian Chesnoiu said.

As part of his five-day official visit to Jordan, the Agriculture Minister met on Thursday with Jordan's Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply, Yousef Mahmoud Al Shamali, with talks focusing on stepping up trade, given that the Jordanian Ministry regularly holds tender sessions for wheat and barley imports, and Romanian wheat is high-quality and complies with Jordanian standards, Agerpres.ro informs.

"The international situation calls for the improvement of direct dialogue between countries with strong trade relations, such as those connecting Romania and Jordan. New challenges also create new opportunities, and Romania can become a reliable supplier of sunflower oil and wheat flour for the Jordanian people. Increasing Romania's sunflower seed processing capacity can make up for the amount of oil Ukraine used to supply to Jordan. We have a stable partnership that can be developed in the future through direct cooperation among our agricultural producers," said Adrian Chesnoiu.

The Agriculture Minister also visited two fertilizer plants that use innovative technologies, where he discussed with management representatives, the main topic being the Romania - Jordan potential trade exchange.

At the end of his visit to Jordan Adrian Chesnoiu will meet with Jordanian livestock importers as well as with other business people interested in investing in Romania.
More than 8,600 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania on Wednesday, the number increasing by 4.7pct compared to the previous day, informs the General Inspectorate of the Border Police.

According to a press release sent to AGERPRES on Thursday, within 24 hours, 59,829 people entered Romania through the border points, out of whom 8,650 Ukrainian citizens (increasing by 4.7pct compared to the previous day).On the border with Ukraine, 4,883 Ukrainian citizens entered Romania (up 7.9pct), and on the border with Moldova, 1,993 Ukrainian citizens entered (up 2.1pct).Since the beginning of this crisis, until March 30, at 12.00 am, 587,478 Ukrainian citizens have entered Romania, in total.Currently, the control at the entrance to Romania through the border crossing points is carried out with efficiency, in accordance with the provisions of the national and community laws, the control lanes being covered with Romanian border guards up to the maximum capacity.Similar measures to strengthen control and increased surveillance have also been put in place along the land border, with additional crews carrying out missions in their areas of responsibility. The border police operates in an integrated system with the other institutions with responsibilities in the field, with a view to an operative exchange of data and information, as well as to the joint adoption of the necessary measures for the management of the various cases.
The president of the Social Democratic Party (PSD) National Council, Vasile Dincu, Minister of Defence, declared on Thursday, in Cluj, regarding the possible change of Florin Citu from the position of National Liberal Party (PNL) chairman, that he does not believe this would affect the ruling coalition because "targets are more important than people."

He also said that PSD is working "better with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca" if he is the new chairman of PNL.

He added that the current governing program could be implemented by any of the parties in the coalition.

According to information published in the press, 40 liberal leaders signed a letter intending to ask Florin Citu to resign from the position of PNL chairman.

Vasile Dincu participates, on Thursday, at the "Avram Iancu" International Airport, in the International Conference "Aviation-Event 2022 CLJ", one of the most important events of European aviation, held for the first time in Romania and in Eastern Europe, Agerpres informs.
Romanian Energy Minister Virgil Popescu, on a visit to Istanbul, said he encouraged Turkish companies to invest in the Romanian energy sector, according to a post on his Facebook page.

"Today [Thursday - ed.n.] I am in Istanbul where I am participating in the 27th Meeting of the Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation Romania-Turkey, together with Deputy Prime Minister Sorin Grindeanu. In relation Energy, we agreed to intensify bilateral relations, by setting up a joint working group, included. The agenda of the energy talks will include regional energy projects of common interest with the potential to diversify energy sources and supply routes, cooperation in the Southern Gas Corridor (GSC), the LNG sector, cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, as well as the exchange of expertise and technologies," the minister wrote.

He also attended a meeting with Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay during which co-operation to optimize the use of energy resources was also addressed.

"And this means completing interconnectivity and diversifying transportation routes, by developing the Southern Gas Corridor. We conveyed that we encourage companies in Turkey to invest in energy, to contribute to the modernization of the Romanian energy sector," Popescu added, Agerpres informs.
European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit pays a visit to Romania on March 31 and April 1, 2022.

"Romanians have welcomed into their homes those fleeing the brutal war in Ukraine, which is why we express our gratitude to them and our solidarity with Romania. During my two-day visit, I will have the opportunity to explain the EU funding options for the reception of refugees and for their integration into the education system, their training and getting access to labour market. I will also discuss Romania's economic and social situation with the Government, Parliament and social partners, especially such measures meant to strengthen social cohesion. And I will underscore how important it is to complete the national plan for the implementation of the European Child Guarantee," stated Nicolas Schmit, according to a press release of the EC Representation in Romania.According to the same source, during his visit, the high dignitary will express the Union's solidarity with Romania regarding the reception of refugees from Ukraine, and he will hold talks on social reforms and investments in Romania's recovery and resilience plan, as well as Romania's national action plan for the implementation of the European Child Guarantee.Commissioner Schmit will meet with representatives of the Government, Parliament, non-governmental organizations, the social partners and he will visit two social projects. He will have meetings with Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca, the Minister of Labour and Social Solidarity, Marius Budai, and with the Minister of European Investments and Projects, Dan Vilceanu.He will also attend a joint meeting of the Committee on Labour and Social Protection and the Committee on European Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The European official will also hold meetings with local authorities and NGO representatives.On Friday, April 1, the Commissioner will meet with social partners (representatives of employers and trade unions), visit a school in Bucharest that received children who fled Ukraine invaded by Russia, and Sorin Cimpeanu, the Minister of Education. The Commissioner will then visit the Concordia Vocational School, an NGO co-financed by the European Social Fund, which supports children, young people and families in need so that they can have a more independent life and which currently support Ukrainian refugees.
The Minister for European Investments and Projects, Dan Vilceanu, had a working meeting on Thursday with the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, during which they discussed the measures to combat the negative effects of the Ukraine crisis, according to a release of the Ministry for European Investment and Projects (MIPE) sent to AGERPRES.

"The two officials discussed about the crisis generated by the war in Ukraine and the massive refugee flow from this country during the first four weeks since the start of the conflict. They discussed and analyzed the efficient organization and coordination on the part of the EU, together with Romanian authorities and other neighboring member-states and the measures adopted or had in view to diminish the negative effects of this crisis," the release mentions.

Another subject on the agenda of discussions regards the programming of the financial allotment of Romania in the European Social Fund. On this occasion, Minister Dan Vilceanu emphasized that approval of the Partnership Agreement and the 2021-2027 Operational programs is the main priority for Romanian authorities, in view of starting implementation of the new measures in complementarity with the reforms and investments of the National Resilience and Recovery Plan (PNRR).

At the same time, Dan Vilceanu thanked the European Commissioner for the progress recorded in negotiations with regard to the transfer of financial resources from the European Social Fund (ESF) to the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), in order to support investments in social infrastructure at the national level. During the meeting appreciation was shown for the intense negotiations between the MIPE representatives and the European Commission representatives following which a transfer rate of 11% was established from the ESF to the ERDF, Agerpres.ro informs.

The two officials also discussed the reform of the Public Employment Service and the implementation of the Youth Guarantee.

"Minister Dan Vilceanu emphasized that investments for the Public Employment Service will be supported through the Education and Employment Operational Program. Investments will support this institution to respond proactively to the new challenges, depending on the real needs of the employers and the persons looking for a job and in order to become, together with other relevant actors, the focus point in view of implementing the Youth Guarantee," the release also mentions.
The 9.4% threshold of the GDP which limits expenses with pensions will be made more flexible, said the Minister of Labor and Social Solidarity, Marius Budai, during a press conference organized at the end of the meeting he had with the European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit.

"I discussed with the commissioner an extremely important aspect about the pension system and explained to him why it is imperative when I am requesting for the 9.4% percentage to be made more flexible. This is how it will be in the future, this 9.4% percentage will be made more flexible, from several reasons. We both agreed that making the public pension system more sustainable is very important, as it should be, and we support this," Marius Budai said, Agerpres.ro informs.

The Minister of Labor mentioned that he will prove to the European Commission that placing pensions in the 9.4% percentage will lead to the impoverishment of the population. He said that "we will keep proving in the talks that we will have with the European Commission, why we cannot fall under that percentage. (...) because in the end that is the essence of the European Union, fighting against poverty and personally, I will fight as long as I will be minister and I will not sign any reform (...) which will maintain or lead to impoverishing the Romanian citizens. That is what I told the commissioner and I will keep going to any discussions," Marius Budai specified.

The Minister of Labor considered that the most important achievement during Thursday's discussion with the European commissioner is the fact that the 9.4% percentage no longer represents a non-negotiable aspect.

"No date has been established (for renegotiating GDP percentage allocation for pensions, ed. n), whether it is April 1, or May 1. We said that we are carrying out discussions during the assistance contract with the World Bank and we will see, throughout the technical assistance, where we are headed (...) the world is changing, the situation is changing. I presented this to the commissioner, who will present it to the European Commission and so on, the exact income structure from the Romanian pension system, the reason why that percentage is not plentiful for solving inequities from the public system and because it no longer allows further increases," Marius Budai declared.
It is necessary to transform and strengthen NATO's deterrence and defense posture in the long term, especially on the Eastern Flank and the Black Sea, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu said on Thursday at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Bucharest Format 9 (B9), which took place in Bratislava, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAE) informs.

The discussions were also attended by NATO's Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana and assistant to the US Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Karen Donfried. The meeting also held a special session dedicated to support for Ukraine, during which Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba presented a message, Agerpres.ro informs.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bogdan Aurescu stressed the negative impact of this crisis generated by Russia on security in the Eastern Neighborhood of the Alliance, especially upon the Black Sea region, and at European and Euro-Atlantic level, stressing that the Kremlin's military action in Ukraine has generated an increased military presence of Moscow in the Black Sea. At the same time, he reiterated the importance of the Allied unity and the strengthening of the Alliance as a whole.

"Minister Bogdan Aurescu welcomed the decisions of the NATO extraordinary summit on March 24, especially regarding the creation of the four Battle Groups, including the one in Romania, but also those regarding the long-term adaptation of the NATO posture and noted that the next period is particularly important for the advancement of the Alliance's strategic projects, including from the perspective of the decisions that will be taken at the NATO Summit in Madrid in June," the MAE informs.

Minister Aurescu also stressed that the NATO adaptation process must be carried out and continued in a sustained manner, with the Madrid Summit in June representing an important moment for ensuring a consolidated, efficient and coherent NATO position, especially on the Eastern Flank, in the long term.

Moreover, Aurescu mentioned the importance of some actions supported at national level to ensure security and recalled, in this context, the announcement of President Klaus Iohannis regarding the increase of the national defense budget from 2 pct of GDP to 2.5 pct of GDP.

The Romanian chief of diplomacy also referred to the need to continue the support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. Minister Aurescu stressed the constant and substantial support provided by Romania to Ukraine and the humanitarian assistance provided to Kyiv and to the Ukrainian citizens who have been in refuge since the beginning of the conflict, both on the territory of our country and through the donations sent to this neighboring country. In this context, Aurescu also presented the results of the northeastern Suceava hub and encouraged the continuation, by the Allies, of a committed approach in relation to Kyiv, as well as towards the partner states in the Eastern Neighborhood, especially the Republic of Moldova and Georgia.
Romania had a massive inflow of Ukrainian refugees on its hands and has handled the situation remarkably well, European Commissioner for Employment and Social Protection Nicolas Schmit told a news conference in Bucharest on Thursday.

"We had a discussion about the social and economic situation and the refugees in Romania. I think I expressed the Commission's gratitude and high appreciation for what the Romanian government and the Romanian people are doing for these refugees. Romania has been faced with a huge inflow of people from Ukraine who flee this criminal war and I think the way this situation has been handled is really remarkable. I can only thank you, the government and the people of Romania," Schmit said, Agerpres.ro informs.

European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit was on a working visit to Romania on Thursday, meeting on the occasion with Minister of Labor and Social Solidarity Marius Budai.

The main topics of discussion were the EU's response to the military conflict in Ukraine and refugee support, social reforms under the Recovery and Resilience Facility: labor and skills shortages in Romania, the reform of the public employment service, the public pension system, as well as the national targets for 2030.

The European official assured that Romania and the countries facing the crisis of Ukraine refugees will receive support from the European Commission, so that these efforts do not affect assistance to vulnerable groups affected by poverty and social exclusion.
At the Government House on Thursday, Romania's Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca welcomed European Commissioner for Employment and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit, to underline the need for Romania to enjoy European solidarity both in terms of managing the flow of refugees from Ukraine, and in order to protect the Romanian economy and the citizens from the effects of the multiple crises they are going through.

According to a government press statement, analysed at the meeting was the European Union's response to the crisis generated by the Russian military aggression in Ukraine.

"The more than 620,000 refugees who have entered Romania since the beginning of the conflict, many of whom are children, have benefited from the support of the local government and civil society, who have provided shelter, food and integrated social services, including securing children's access to formal education. Special attention was paid to the need for support for the Republic of Moldova, which is affected by the influx of refugees, given the economic problems it is facing," the statement says.

Ciuca presented Romania's strategy to develop its economy and secure its energy independence through the use of nuclear energy, the development of renewable energy production facilities and the exploitation of new offshore natural gas fields, at the same time with connecting to supply routes via Bulgaria and Greece.

Also, the use of European money for the modernisation of the country and the creation of new jobs, in an integrated manner, bringing together both the funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) and the Multi-Annual Financial Framework, together with the programmes allocated at European level for the management of refugees, were mentioned as important opportunities for the actual manifestation of European solidarity.

In his turn, Commissioner Schmit thanked Romania for its swift and effective response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine, underscoring the effectiveness of efforts to receive more than half a million refugees.

"A special mention was made of the support given to Ukrainian children in need of access to education. The European official mentioned the European Commission's support for quick access to funds already available to member states, which will be supplemented with new resources," the release reads.

As far as employment in Romania is concerned, Schmit mentioned a low unemployment rate in the country and the quality of social dialogue, pointing out that investment is needed in the digital sector and in education to increase the level of training of the workforce, Agerpres informs.
Romania's outgoing ambassador in Chisinau Daniel Ionita was decorated by the Republic of Moldova's Defense Minister Anatolie Nosatii with the 'For Cooperation' medal of the National Army in sign of gratitude and appreciation for his contribution to the development of cooperation between the Embassy of Romania and the Moldovan Defense Ministry, Radio Chisinau informed on Thursday.

Also present at the ceremony were Romanian Defense attache, Colonel Cristi Ladaniuc, and his deputy, Captain Alexandru Panturu, the Republic of Moldova's Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Anatolie Nosatii thanked the Romanian diplomat for the receptiveness shown and the assistance provided to the defense institution throughout his activity in the Republic of Moldova and stressed that Romania is and remains a valuable neighbor and strategic partner for Chisinau, Agerpres.ro informs.

The Moldovan Minister remarked that the support received from the Romanian colleagues has had a powerful positive impact over the years, especially on strengthening efforts to ensure peace and stability in the region, as well as in the development of the defense sector.

In this regard, Nosatii referred to the efforts to promote the strategic dialogue within the Moldovan-Romanian Joint Commission, the assistance provided for the fight of the COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation of the projects related to the European integration of the Republic of Moldova and the Defense Capacity Building Initiative.

At the same time, the Moldovan Minister thanked the Romanian government for the assistance provided in the field of military education and the training of the Moldovan troops in various national and international exercises.

In his turn, Daniel Ionita said that the Romanian state will continue to assist the Republic of Moldova's Defense Ministry with projects and programs aimed at transforming the National Army into a modern institution, in accordance with international standards.
As many as 2,972 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in the last 24 hours in Romania, down 611 from the previous day, with more than 32,000 RT-PCR and rapid antigenic tests performed, the Health Ministry informed on Thursday.

Of the new cases, 377 were in re-infected patients, who tested positive more than 90 days after the first time they recovered from the disease.

Most of the newly confirmed COVID-19 cases in Romania since the previous reporting were recorded in Bucharest City - 1,004, and in the counties of Cluj - 318, Timis - 246, and Brasov - 136.

As of Thursday, 2,853,570 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus were confirmed in Romania.

- Hospitalisations -

As many as 2,517 people with COVID-19, down 70 from the previous reporting, including 159 children, are hospitalised in Romania at specialist care facilities.

Out of the total number of hospitalised patients, 403 patients, up eight, including two children, are in intensive care.

Of the 403 patients admitted to ICU, 352 are unvaccinated against COVID-19.

- Deaths -

According to the ministry, another 21 Romanians infected with SARS-CoV-2 - nine men and 12 women - are reported dead in the last 24 hours.

Out of the total 21 patients who died, 16 were unvaccinated and five vaccinated. Three of the vaccinated patients who died were 70-79 years old, and two were over 80 years old. All the vaccinated patients who died had comorbidities.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 65,015 people diagnosed with the SARS-CoV-2 infection have died in Romania, Agerpres informs.
The military invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation in what represents "the worst attack on European and Euro-Atlantic security since WWII" was the main topic of the meeting between the chair of the Senate's Defense Committee, Nicoleta Pauliuc, and the special representatives of the President of Ukraine for the coordination of the Romania - Ukraine defense cooperation, the Senate said in a statement.

Talking to the Ukrainian President's special representatives Yulia Hryshyna - deputy in Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada, and Oleksandr Bankov - Secretary of State with the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Senator Nicoleta Pauliuc expressed concern about the pace and direction of Ukraine developments and the situation of the refugees.

Pauliuc said that Romania has adopted a set of measures to meet the immediate needs of Ukrainian refugees, most of them women and children. The most important actions taken by Romania in this regard are: the adoption of administrative measures to facilitate the entry of Ukrainian refugees and third-country nationals, the fast implementation of a set of measures for better accommodation of the refugees, guaranteeing access to health care, education, free rail travel etc, Agerpres.ro informs.

The Senate official highlighted Romania's substantial contribution to international humanitarian assistance efforts - the establishment and operationalization of a humanitarian hub in Romania's northeastern city of Suceava, as well as the readiness of the Romanian state to receive wounded from Ukraine.

Nicoleta Pauliuc stressed the need to further uphold Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and to support this country's democratically elected representatives, as well as the right of the Ukrainian people to freely decide on its own foreign policy.
Seven Ukrainian men who crossed the Tisza River were found by the border police on Romanian territory, spokesperson for Maramures Emergencies Committee Dan Buca said on Thursday.

They applied for asylum in Romania.

"Maramures border police found on the border of Maramures county with Ukraine seven Ukrainian citizens who crossed from Ukraine to Romania, in the area of competence of the Sighetu Marmatiei Border Police Sector. All the Ukrainian citizens, men between the ages of 18 and 59, applied for a form of protection for the Romanian state. Specific procedures have been initiated," said Dan Buca.

Maramures firefighters also transported seven people with the special vehicle, accompanied by gendarmes, from the Sighetu Marmatiei Border Checkpoint to the Sighetu Marmatiei Municipal Stadium.

At the same time, another seven people, accompanied by gendarmes, were transported from the Sighetu Marmatiei Territorial Border Police Inspectorate to the Maramures Regional Center for Accommodation and Procedures for Asylum Seekers in Somcuta Mare.

Also, 25 people were transported by special vehicles, accompanied by gendarmes, from the Sighetu Marmatiei Border Checkpoint to the Sighetu Marmatiei Railway Station, from where they left by train to Bucharest, Agerpres informs.
Liberal MP Pavel Popescu, chairman of the Chamber of Deputies' Defense Committee, announces that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address Parliament on Monday evening.

Pavel Popescu showed that he had a meeting with a Ukrainian delegation on Thursday, consisting of special representatives of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as members of the Ukrainian diplomatic corps - Secretary of State of Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs Oleksandr Bankov, Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Hryshyna Yuliia, Ukrainian Charge d'Affaires in Romania Paun Rohovei and Second Secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine in Romania Petro Stoian, Agerpres.ro informs.

"During the meeting, I reiterated my solidarity with the brave people of Ukraine, as well as the full and unconditional support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within the internationally recognized borders. We remain firm in our support for all sanctions imposed on Russia by the international community, and we have expressed our desire to be more proactive on a number of concrete issues. The Ukrainian side sent us greetings and thanks from President Zelensky. At the same time, the delegation expressed its gratitude for the humanitarian assistance that has come from Romania and for the ongoing steps aimed at supporting more specifically the Ukrainian people in defending the country and its democratic values. The struggle of the Ukrainians is not just theirs. It is also a fight for freedom for all peace-loving states and peoples. We look forward to President Zelensky's speech, who will address the Romanian Parliament on Monday evening, next week," wrote Pavel Popescu.
DES PERES  A pair of developers is proposing to build 180 apartments and retail space on Manchester Road  which, if approved, would be the first apartments in the city.

Dan Thies of Thies Group and Central West End developer Sam Koplar have teamed up to develop 6.5 acres of vacant land situated behind Sams Club and just west of Trader Joes. They have the land under contract to buy from the owner, Ernest Paul Wright Trust, according to documents filed with the city of Des Peres.

Brinkmann Construction has been hired to start planning. Chris Cedergreen is the designer. The project will be in the $50 million-range, Koplar said.

The developers will have to petition the city to change its zoning laws to allow for the apartments, and will have to seek a waiver for density; their proposal is 55% over the citys current limit, Des Peres planning department said in documents.

We understand the challenges going in but we feel like this is the site to do it, Koplar said. Were committed to delivering a high-quality project the city will be proud of.

The Des Peres planning and zoning commission will review the proposal at 7 p.m. on April 13 at Des Peres City Hall, 12325 Manchester Road.

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Ian Froeb Ian Froeb is the restaurant critic for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Ian Froeb Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Without question, Sureste is the best restaurant in St. Louis that offers its customers a spork. Youll probably need one, especially if you order tacos guisados here. The goofy utensil, already partly redeemed by its star turn in Toy Story 4 a few years back, proves ideal for scooping both cochinita pibil and some of the meats citrusy juices from your bowl into the tortilla cradled in your other hand.

Those tortillas are very good, by the way: made in-house, a little toasty-sweet, with the just-right tensile strength to hold their form without becoming chewy. Youll dispatch the tortillas that come with your cochinita pibil as tacos guisados  three to a small order, six to a large  before you finish the bounty of succulent pork Alex Henry has roasted in banana leaves for 14 hours and garnished with a neon-pink blanket of macerated red onion and a nudge of habanero dust that has been fermented for a week and then dehydrated.

Henry is the chef and owner of Sureste, which debuted in October in the Food Hall at City Foundry in midtown. Whether my visits caught Henry on a quiet Monday or during a Friday rush, he swiveled between cooking and plating in the restaurants open kitchen with a determined but calm efficiency. It wont surprise you to learn he made his bones working for some of St. Louis top chefs, including the late, sustainability-minded Rob Uyemara at Yia Yias Euro Bistro in Chesterfield and the forward-thinking Michael Gallina at Vicia.

(Speaking of sustainability, Henry told me in a phone interview that he chose sporks as a utensil because this particular variety is corn starch-based.)

In late 2017, Henry succeeded Tello Carreon as the executive chef of Ben Porembas acclaimed Mexican restaurant Nixta. A native of Merida, the capital of the Mexican state of Yucatan, Henry brought the fare of that region to Nixtas menu and attracted national notice. The influential dining site Eater named him a semifinalist for its annual Young Guns honor in 2018. Later, as the executive chef of Cleveland-Heath in Edwardsville, he found a way to work a few Yucatecan touches into that restaurants established upscale comfort-food menu, like a sandwich featuring his cochinita pibil.

At Sureste, Henry once again focuses on the cuisine of the Yucatan peninsula. His cochinita pibil is a familiar starting point, but he follows the regions foodways by featuring turkey. The bird can be the filling for both the relatively compact tamal vaporcito and the plumper tamal colado. The latter, made with masa mixed with stock that has been strained and then cooked with a bit of lard, steams inside banana leaves to a custard-like texture. You still have that spork handy, right?

For what you might consider the central part of Surestes menu, or at least the part that offers the most choices, Henry prepares two different turkey dishes. For pavo en chilmole, he stews turkey in a burnt-chile mole. The sauce is smoky, as you might expect, and peppery (though only moderately so), but with an earthiness and a mellow sweetness that gives it extraordinary depth.

For pavo en escabeche, which the menu alternately and accurately describes as tangy citrus turkey, Henry begins by poaching turkey with citrus juice and spices. Before the meat is entirely done, he takes it out of the poaching liquid and fries it. He then returns the turkey to the poaching liquid to finish. The carnitas-like texture might rewire how you approach turkey. Youll at least think twice before just plain roasting a bird next Thanksgiving.

These two dishes and a few others are available as the aforementioned tacos guisados, in a bowl with tortillas alongside; as a pibihua, a Mayan fried roll; or as a panucho, atop a tortilla stuffed with refried black beans. You might find it difficult to resist building your own tacos with Surestes tortillas, but the pibihua and the panucho each make a compelling case.

The pibihua is a crisp, corn-shaped masa fritter that Henry fills with both the dish of your choice and toksel, a Mayan dish of toasted lima beans, ground shell-on pepitas and Mexican garlic chives that acts a delicate counterpoint, buttery and nutty. For the panucho, the main attraction is the restaurants frijoles colados. Henry cooks black beans with onion, epazote and habanero, pureed and strained until just the bean starch remains. This is combined with more onion, epazote and habanero cooked together in lard for an exceptionally creamy, flavorful version of refried beans.

Menu options can change daily, but besides the turkey dishes, you will likely find a vegetarian dish (chayote squash en chipotle on my visits) as well as pescado al tikin-xik, roasted fish. This fish is similar to cochinita pibil: marinated with achiote and citrus and then roasted (for a considerably shorter period) in banana leaves. For the tacos guisados version, Henry evokes both just-caught brightness and a beachfront barbecue with garnishes of roasted Anaheim chiles, a dust of smoked serrano chiles and xni-pec, a tangy and feisty habanero-tomato salsa. (Watch out for tiny bones in the fish, though.)

If Surestes cooked fish tastes bright, its ceviches and aguachiles are incandescent or possibly beyond the visible spectrum. The ceviche rojo cooks the fish of the day  golden tilefish when I ordered it  in a blend of orange, lime and grapefruit juices with tomato water, achiote and habanero. The combination of citrus and chile is electric and eye-watering, even more so in the shrimp aguachile. Here Henry dresses raw shrimp in a green aguachile, tart with lime juice and very hot but with an appealingly crisp and cooling note of cucumber. Pieces of compressed cucumber tossed with the shrimp intensify the effect, while pieces of avocado tame the heat somewhat.

Sureste is both another winning restaurant in City Foundrys Food Hall and proof of its broader, democratic concept. Henrys cooking would draw the same accolades in some sleek, dark dining room attached to a gleaming modern kitchen as it does on a tray next to a spork. Here, though, it is accessible to those of us who have waited for Henry to open an excellent restaurant of his own, and to those who dont know him or Sureste but happen to be walking by and hungry.

Where Sureste, Food Hall at City Foundry, 3730 Foundry Way  More info cityfoundrystl.com/directory/sur-este  Menu Mexican cuisine with a focus on the Yucatan peninsula  Hours Lunch and dinner daily (closed Tuesday)

How much Cochinitia pibil tacos guisados (small)  $11.99 Shrimp aguachile tostada  $12.99 Roasted fish tacos guisados (small)  $13.99

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Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

Terrell Robinson wanted to be a boxer.

In 1985, he won a Golden Gloves tournament for beginners. Two years later, his life took a turn for the worst. He was 17, living near Union Boulevard and Natural Bridge Road in north St. Louis, when he got busted for robbing a coin-operated laundry while with some other teens.

A police officer, Jeffry Kowalski, happened upon the teens car. They ran, he chased. Somebody fired a gun toward Kowalski and hit him. The officer fired back and hit Robinson.

By early 1988, Robinson was being sentenced to 50 years in state prison on felony robbery and armed criminal action charges. It was a harsh sentence for a 17-year-old, but he, or his buddy, shot a cop.

Kowalski retired after serving 20 years in the police department. He died of cancer in 2008. A year later, the Board of Police Commissioners declared his death was in the line of duty, connecting his cancer to the original shooting.

Robinson served about 20 years of his sentence. He was paroled and came back to St. Louis. He attended classes at Vatterott College. He worked with young boxers. He met with his parole officer. He sometimes self-medicated with alcohol and marijuana to deal with his lifetime of trauma. Those were potential parole violations, and he admitted them to his parole officer. He planned to seek treatment for substance abuse. He was arrested a couple of times, but never charged with any new crimes.

Then, in November 2009, his parole was revoked. Hes been back in prison for 12 years.

To this day, he doesnt know why. His freedom was snatched from him without due process. That is one of many confounding details outlined in a petition filed Tuesday in St. Francois County Circuit Court by his attorneys, Shubra Ohri and Amy Breihan, of the MacArthur Justice Center, a nonprofit law firm that has been battling the state of Missouri over its unconstitutional probation and parole practices for several years.

Robinson is a textbook case, Breihan says, of the failures in the parole system already found unconstitutional by a federal judge in a separate case. For years, the system has been re-imprisoning parolees on alleged technical violations without proper notice, without giving them access to counsel, and without proper consideration of alternatives to incarceration.

The result is that more than half of the detainees in Missouris prisons are there on probation or parole violations, a percentage topped by just one state in the country.

If, indeed, Mr. Robinsons parole was revoked based on alleged violation of the pre-arrest special conditions and drugs parole violations, it would have been a text book example where alternatives to incarceration would have been more appropriate, Ohri and Breihan wrote in their petition seeking Robinsons freedom. The Missouri Supreme Court held that violation of probation conditions does not automatically result in imprisonment without reflection on alternatives.

Two years ago, Robinson married his longtime sweetheart, Lawanda. They have a child and two grandchildren together. She visits him twice a week in Bonne Terre, where he is incarcerated.

They never told him why he was revoked, she says. He doesnt even know. He never went to court.

To this day, even Robinsons attorneys say the record isnt clear why hes been locked up for 12 years after he got paroled the first time.

He never saw written notification of what his parole had been revoked for. He was never apprised of his rights. He was never told about his right to an attorney, Ohri says. Its still unclear to us as attorneys what his parole was revoked for. We just have no idea. We have no way of knowing.

More than a year ago, U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough ordered the state to reform its parole practices to include the due process elements required by the constitution, but the ruling has been delayed because Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has appealed it, despite an admission from the state that the previous parole process was horribly flawed.

The Court finds troubling the pressure placed on parolees to waive preliminary and revocation hearings, sometimes based on false and misleading information, Bough wrote in his still-not enforced ruling. The issue is exacerbated by evidence that some parolees waive their right to hearings before receiving their violation reports and without an adequate explanation of their rights in the process.

So Robinson, and others like him, people who have served their time, and then are locked up again for either technical or unexplained reasons, sit behind bars, awaiting action.

He was my first love, says his wife, who hopes the petition is successful. I need my husband home with me.

Editor's note: This column has been updated to correct the spelling of Jeffry Kowalski's name and to add that Kowalski's death in 2008 was ruled to have been in the line of duty.

From City Hall to the Capitol, metro columnist Tony Messenger shines light on what public officials are doing, tells stories of the disaffected, and brings voice to the issues that matter. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
CARLINVILLE, Ill.  On a clear and sunny Sunday, Angela Anderson saw a small plane doing dips in the air. Dillon Wiser pointed to the sky to show his son the planes tricks. Nearby, Danette Edwards thought the maneuvers were by an aerobatics pilot or crop duster.

But the scene soon turned horrific.

The four-seater aircraft, its engine revving loudly, began a nosedive. It spiraled straight down. The wings came off and the plane broke apart before slamming into a livestock ranch 3 miles southwest of Carlinville.

Its been one year and 10 months since the plane went down, killing the pilot and his three friends. The men were heading from Creve Coeur to Michigan on the afternoon of May 31, 2020.

In the National Transportation Safety Boards final report released this month, investigators determined that the decision making/judgment of the pilot, Joshua Sweers, was the probable cause of the crash.

The NTSB noted the plane was in a steep spiral dive. The steep descent was likely an intentional action by the pilot, but for reasons that could not be determined, the investigators said.

Sweers was no stunt pilot or crop duster, just an engineer on a trip with fraternity brothers. There is no recording of any conversations in the plane that could explain what happened.

Sweers tried to recover from that steep descent but couldnt, the report said. The excessive speed was beyond what the plane was built for and it broke apart mid-air, the investigators said. Debris on a Macoupin County farm scattered along a path some 400 feet long.

The father of one of the passengers who died takes issue with the federal agencys findings. Charles Shedd said reading between the lines of the report it appears federal investigators are saying the pilot may have been showing off with risky flight maneuvers.

The NTSB is saying the dive was intentional, like a rollercoaster, watch what I can do, Shedd told the Post-Dispatch. But he (the pilot) wasnt that kind of guy. He was well aware he was a novice, he knew he had his friends safety  their lives  in his hands.

Sweers had about 93 hours of flight experience, 38 of those as pilot-in-command.

Killed that day were Sweers, 35, of Lansing, Michigan; and his three passengers, Daniel A. Shedd, 37, of St. Charles; Daniel Schlosser, 39, of Mount Morris, Michigan; and John S. Camilleri, 39, of Grand Island, New York.

They were in a single-engine Piper Cherokee PA 28-235 fixed wing plane. All four of the men were engineering graduates from Kettering University in Flint, Michigan. They had all belonged to the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Shedd, the only one with ties to the St. Louis area, grew up in Chesterfield and graduated from Parkway Central High School. Shedd worked for the Defense Contract Management Agency at Boeing, where he was an engineer.

Shedd texted his mom a photograph of the four friends, all smiles, moments before takeoff.

In the wreckage, investigators found a GoPro camera that Shedd had used to record more than five minutes of the flight. The footage they recovered showed Sweers performing a pre-takeoff checklist, making a radio transmission to enter the active runway and taking off.

The footage showed nothing unusual, and Shedd shut off the camera before the crash, the investigators said.

Another GoPro camera was mounted to the planes windshield, facing forward. That camera wasnt recovered.

Witnesses reported the crash at 3:45 p.m., about 25 minutes after takeoff from Creve Coeur Airport.

According to the report, the weather was fine, experts ruled out mechanical and structural issues with the plane, and toxicology results showed no drugs in the pilots system.

Position data showed the planes route, speed and angles. Sweers did two controlled turns, not too fast, and the plane didnt stall.

Then, at the end of one turn, the plane entered a nosedive at 63 degrees. The last data measurement showed the speed at 237 mph and the pilot was unable to pull out of it, the report said.

Every plane has a never-exceed speed, above which structural damage can happen. Experts say most pilots never get close to that. For this Piper, the never-exceed speed was 196 mph.

The report includes the accounts of seven people on the ground who saw the plane in a nosedive. At least three of them saw what the plane was doing before its nosedive.

Anderson, the woman who reported the plane making dips, told authorities the plane made five or six dips but would come back up each time. Then she saw it begin the nosedive.

After examining photos of the debris field, the NTSB said, It is clear that the pilot attempted to pull out of the dive and, in doing so, reversed course.

That maneuver resulted in the pilot inadvertently exceeding the ultimate load factor for the airframe, the report said. The excessive load factor caused the separation of the wings and stabilator, and a loss of control of the airplane.

Sweers was a project manager at audio electronics company Harman International, in charge at one point of technology in automobiles for the clients in Asia. He enjoyed skydiving, motorcycle riding and climbing buildings; he lived every single day of his life on full throttle and arms wide open, his obituary said.

Sweers mother, Georgeann Ricketts of Flushing, Michigan, told a reporter Wednesday that the agency must have missed the real cause and shouldnt suggest her son made reckless moves.

That is not the personality or actions of my son, she said.

Ricketts said her son was cautious with the aircraft, built in 1964, and particular with his safety, including refusing to drink 24 hours before he planned to fly. She is raising money for a scholarship fund at Kettering University in honor of her son.

Charles Shedd of Chesterfield, the father of front-seat passenger Dan Shedd, said he doesnt fault the NTSB, just disagrees with the findings. Shedd said the federal agency tends to blame pilots when the investigation comes up with no other cause. Its the agencys default finding, he argued.

I believe they had to blame Josh, he added. They had no other choice. They had no other evidence.

Shedd said he does not believe the pilot was taking risks, stressing that Sweers was a serious man engaged to be married.

These guys were not that type, Shedd said. They were not risk-takers. He later added that a more nuanced description was better: They werent reckless risk-takers, he said, meaning they were willing to take measured risks commensurate with their abilities.

What then does Shedd think caused the plane to go down?

That certainly is a mystery, he said. Im no more qualified to speculate than anyone else.

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ST. CHARLES COUNTY  Two men have been charged in connection with a woman's death that authorities believe resulted from a road rage altercation on U.S. Highway 61.

The St. Charles County prosecuting attorney on Wednesday charged Daniel Glennon Loeffler, 35, of St. Peters, and Joseph Faupel, 63, of Troy, Missouri, with first-degree involuntary manslaughter and second-degree assault.

Multiple witnesses told authorities that Loeffler and Faupel, who were in separate vehicles, were driving recklessly in an apparent road rage incident around 3:45 p.m. Tuesday on northbound Highway 61, according to a statement from the prosecuting attorney's office.

Faupel, who was driving a Dodge Charger, was using the far right turn lane for Highway W in an attempt to pass Loeffler, who was driving a Chevrolet Equinox, authorities said. When Loeffler sped up to prevent Faupel from passing, Faupel veered hard to the left, hitting Loeffler's vehicle, according to the prosecutor's statement.

Loeffler then lost control of his vehicle, which struck a Honda CRV in the lane to his left, the Missouri Highway Patrol said in its report on the crash.

The Honda CRV veered off the road, striking a telephone pole and flipping over. A 69-year-old female passenger in the CRV was killed and the driver, 70, suffered serious injuries, the highway patrol report said.

The passenger who died was identified as Patricia Brummel of Moscow Mills, the highway patrol report said. Everyone in the three vehicles was wearing a seat belt.

Loeffler and Faupel were in custody at the St. Charles County Department of Correction as of Wednesday afternoon. Bail was set for each of them at $50,000, cash only.

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JEFFERSON CITY  A Democrat running in the Aug. 2 primary against incumbent St. Louis County Executive Sam Page says she has no current plans to open a campaign account for her bid.

Jane Dueker, a local police union attorney and registered lobbyist, would have to do so under Missouri law if she raises more than $1,000.

But because she is a registered lobbyist, she isnt allowed to operate a campaign account, according to Missouri law.

You dont need a campaign committee to run for office, Dueker said on Wednesday, adding she could end her registration as a lobbyist and start an account at any time.

Dueker said her candidacy wasnt just to make a point, noting the results of the August 2020 Democratic primary, in which Page garnered 38% of the vote in a four-way contest.

I feel like I have a really good shot, she said.

Sixty-two percent of Democrats didnt want Sam Page two years ago, Dueker said. His fortunes are no better now.

I do think it can be an effective challenge despite the fact of not spending money, Dueker said, adding theres nothing illegal about a third-party PAC or independent expenditures playing a role in the race.

There are many ways people can support getting rid of Sam Page, Dueker said.

Im certainly not setting up any of these things, she said. Im just saying its possible.

Town and Country Mayor Jon Dalton in 2019 signed a consent order with the Missouri Ethics Commission acknowledging a 2016 change to Missouri law barring lobbyists from operating campaign committees.

The MEC last year ordered Columbia Mayor Brian Treece, also a lobbyist, to shut down his campaign committee.

According to MEC records, Dueker is currently a registered lobbyist for the Missouri Internet and Television Association, the Missouri Fraternal Order of Police, Noahs Arc Foundation of Missouri, Robertson Fire Protection District, the St. Louis County Police Association, and the St. Louis Police Officers Association.

Posted at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 30.

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JEFFERSON CITY  The Missouri House on Thursday jettisoned a Senate-approved blueprint for the states congressional maps, with House members again urging senators to meet to work out differences.

The 26-129 vote Thursday on the Senate map followed the upper chambers refusal on Wednesday to meet with House mapmakers in a conference committee.

Following the Thursday vote against the Senate map, the House voted again for a conference committee.

They (senators) dont want to talk about it. They dont want to continue the process. They choose to let us  or to force us  to vote on (the Senate map), said Rep. Dan Shaul, R-Imperial, the chairman of the House Redistricting Committee.

They basically said to us take it or leave it, Shaul said.

Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake Saint Louis, who had held out for changes to the House map, on Wednesday said that if the House rejected the Senate map, it would effectively send the issue to the courts.

This is not a vote to go to court, Shaul said on Thursday.

House GOP leaders  House Speaker Rob Vescovo, House Majority Leader Dean Plocher, House Speaker Pro Tem John Wiemann and Shaul  issued a joint statement after the Thursday action.

Todays vote was a vote to continue the process and to continue the discussion so we can reach a compromise that will provide the best possible map for the state of Missouri, they said.

We will continue to work toward a compromise with our Senate colleagues so that we can pass a map that fairly and accurately reflects our state, the statement said.

Senate leaders said they hope to continue negotiations with the House over the map.

Were still not giving up hope, said Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia. Were just trying to get it done.

Rowden said he expects additional lawsuits will be filed heading toward the Legislatures scheduled May 13 adjournment date.

Rowden dismissed comments from Gov. Mike Parson, who said Wednesday he was disappointed that lawmakers had not found agreement on the new boundaries.

Theres plenty of blame to go around everywhere, Rowden said.

House Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said he considers the maps to be done and offered little hope that continued negotiations would help end the stalemate. He said any further discussion about the map would become the legislative equivalent of a food fight.

The maps are where they are. I think we should stand firm in the position were at, Rizzo said. At this point, youre trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip. We toiled and toiled and toiled and toiled to get this map.

As one of the leaders of the Senates hard-line faction, Onder said he found himself agreeing with the Democratic leader.

The Senate map represents a compromise, Onder said.

The Senate map drew criticism from House Republicans who raised concerns about where their communities ended up under the plan.

Rep. Mike McGirl, R-Potosi, in Washington County, complained about the shape of the 2nd District earlier this week. The district, held by U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, would stretch from St. Louis County south to Iron County under the Senate plan.

To me District 2 looks like gerrymandering on steroids, he said this week.

Rep. Sara Walsh, R-Ashland, who is running for Congress in the 4th District, raised concerns about a split through Boone County under the map.

Rep. Shamed Dogan, R-Ballwin, called the Senate map hideous in an interview after the House vote on Thursday.

Like the House map, the Senate map would likely deliver six districts for Republicans and two districts for Democrats.

Lawmakers from St. Charles County, including Onder, had pushed for major changes to how their home county was split under the scheme. The map that ultimately cleared the Senate places four-fifths of the countys residents in the 3rd District.

Not all House lawmakers opposed the plan. Three St. Charles County Republicans  Reps. Nick Schroer, Adam Schnelting and Phil Christofanelli  all voted for the map.

Seventeen Black lawmakers broke with other Democrats to back it. Members of the Legislative Black Caucus huddled in a side gallery prior to the vote.

Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, a St. Louis Democrat and one of the Black lawmakers who backed the Senate plan, said it strengthened the 1st Congressional Districts minority-majority status.

I dont want to gamble by sending this to the courts when we have a map in front of us that benefits CD1, he said.

Aldridge said he worried a court could take minority voters from the 1st and place them in the 2nd to make that district more competitive for Democrats.

He said that even though the 2nd District is more gerrymandered under the Senate plan, it is winnable.

Originally posted at 1 p.m. Thursday, March 31. Updated at 2:30 p.m.(tncms-asset)3b00104c-af7a-11ec-91fe-00163ec2aa77[0](/tncms-asset)(tncms-asset)3a81adc2-b044-11ec-bd3c-00163ec2aa77[1](/tncms-asset)(tncms-asset)aa3b33f0-aef4-11ec-a82e-00163ec2aa77[2](/tncms-asset)(tncms-asset)441a6688-ab96-11ec-8de5-00163ec2aa77[3](/tncms-asset)

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JEFFERSON CITY  Missouri police could begin ticketing motorists for using their phones while driving under the latest attempt to bring state traffic laws in line with nearly all other states.

Current state law bars cellphone usage while driving for people younger than 21, as well as people operating commercial vehicles.

But two bills moving through the Legislature would expand that prohibition to all drivers.

Rep. Jeff Porter, R-Montgomery City, is sponsoring House Bill 1487, that could bar the use of an electronic wireless communication device while operating a vehicle unless it is being used for navigation purposes.

While it should be common sense that we should be focused on driving when were behind the wheel of a 4,000-pound machine, unfortunately, not everyone gets that, Porter said. Cellphones are a serious traffic problem and action is needed.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2024, a violation of the offense would be a moving violation for purposes of point assessment. If a violation includes property damage or harm or death to a person, it would be a misdemeanor or felony.

Its not the first time bans have been proposed. Previous attempts failed to advance to the full House or Senate.

Porter said there is ample proof the change is needed.

Distracted driving, for example, caused 87 fatal accidents, more than 4,300 injury crashes and 11,000 property damage only crashes last year, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.

Its horrible. I hope we can get this passed this year, said Rep. Gretchen Bangert, D-Florissant.

Rep. Tony Lovasco, R-OFallon, said he was skeptical about how police could enforce the law, particularly when it came to determining whether people were using their phone prior to being pulled over.

Are we creating a law here that actually would be enforceable? Lovasco said.

Debate on the legislation came as a new study found that 70% of drivers used a mobile device while driving in the past 90 days.

The survey commissioned by Selective Insurance and Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety also found among Americans who drive for work, 86% used a mobile device when operating their vehicle.

Angela Nelson, vice president for government affairs for AAA Missouri, told members of the House Committee on Downsizing State Government that the law will pay dividends in making roads safer.

Were working very hard to get that message out so we can save lives, Nelson said.

Richard Brownlee, representing State Farm Insurance Cos., said it took 12 years to get a seatbelt law on the books in Missouri.

I think of all the bills in the Capitol this session this is probably the most important one that affects the most constituents. Everyone has a phone. And, all distractions are deadly in cars, Brownlee said.

Nicole Wood, a Missouri Department of Transportation traffic engineer, said the change could help protect MoDOT workers in construction zones.

It is a good first step to encouraging safe driving behavior, Wood said.

A Senate panel has already heard testimony on Senate Bill 713.

The Senate version would allow people to use a device if it can be used without being held and doesnt take a motorists attention away from the road.

Drivers would face a $50 fine, but the violation would not count as a moving violation against a persons license.

Posted at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, March 30.

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WASHINGTON  Trudy Busch Valentine, a Missouri Democrat running for U.S. Senate, says she is sorry she participated in an exclusive St. Louis ball hosted by an organization that did not have Black members until 1979.

Busch Valentine, a daughter of beer baron Gussie Busch, was crowned the Queen of Love and Beauty at the 1977 Veiled Prophet Ball. She was 20 at the time.

For more than 50 years, the Veiled Prophet Organization has been under fire for its exclusionary policies and what some people saw as racist imagery, including the prophets hooded attire.

Busch Valentines participation in the Veiled Prophet Ball was highlighted on social media and by The Intercept, a nonprofit news organization, after she announced her Senate candidacy. She responded Wednesday with an apology, saying she needed to acknowledge her past shortcomings.

I failed to fully grasp the situation, Busch Valentine said in a written statement. I should have known better, and I deeply regret and I apologize that my actions hurt others. My life and work are way beyond that, and as a candidate for Missouris next U.S. Senator, I pledge to work tirelessly to be a force for progress in healing the racial divisions of our country.

The Intercept also found that she appeared at the ball in 1979 and 1990. Her daughter, Christina Valentine Cammon, was at the 2010 Veiled Prophet ball, escorted by her uncle Peter Busch.

Busch Valentines participation in the ball came at a time when it was repeatedly protested by civil rights activists in St. Louis. A group called ACTION  Action Committee to Improve Opportunities for Negroes  crashed the ball in 1972 and unmasked the Veiled Prophet.

The group apologized for its history in 2021, after a controversy over images of actress Ellie Kemper being crowned Queen of Love and Beauty at the ball in 1999. Kemper, too, issued a lengthy apology, saying on Instagram that she wanted to apologize to the people Ive disappointed and to use her privilege in support of the better society.

Busch Valentine, 64, entered the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate on Monday and officially launched her campaign Tuesday, after former state Sen. Scott Sifton said he was withdrawing from the race in support of her candidacy. Kansas City activist Tim Shepard on Tuesday also said he was withdrawing from the race to support Busch Valentine.

Retired Marine Lucas Kunce, 39, criticized her entry into the race, saying his campaign was about fundamentally changing who has power in the country. He has run a populist campaign focused on working class voters and has converted television appearances on MSNBC into a significant fundraising lead over other Democrats in the race.

Republicans are considered likely to keep their control of Missouris Senate seat come November. But with former Gov. Eric Greitens  who resigned in 2018 amid a sexual blackmail scandal and was recently accused of domestic violence by his ex-wife  leading in the polls, Democrats see an opportunity to make the race competitive.

The Veiled Prophet Organization traces its start to 1878 when St. Louis businessmen and other civic leaders sought to lift the citys profile as a growing, affluent commercial hub in the wake of a violent railroad strike in 1877 that had convulsed the city.

Led by Confederate veteran Alonzo Slayback and his brother, grain merchant Charles E. Slayback, the organization modeled its efforts on carnival activities in other cities, including New Orleans annual Mardi Gras celebration.

2022 McClatchy Washington Bureau. Visit at mcclatchydc.com. The Post-Dispatch added to this report.

Updated at 9:11 a.m. Thursday, March 31.
President Joe Biden learned the hard way Saturday about the dangers of going off script at the end of a speech heavily criticizing Russian leader Vladimir Putin for his unprovoked war against Ukraine. At the end of the speech, Biden blurted out, For Gods sake, this man cannot stay in power. The words themselves were spot on. The only problem was the person speaking them.

As the United States learned during four years under Bidens predecessor, a president who doesnt carefully measure his words, especially in times of crisis, can easily get himself and the country into deep trouble. President Donald Trump potentially incriminated himself on a few occasions and created headaches for his aides when his off-the-cuff remarks insulted foreign leaders, wrecked alliances and inspired people to experiment with dangerous, bogus coronavirus remedies.

For all of Bidens careful pronouncements and wartime decisions designed specifically to avert a direct superpower confrontation that could provoke World War III, he managed with a nine-word sentence to confirm Putins warnings that the United States seeks to dominate Russia and install a U.S.-friendly regime.

Putin warned as recently as February that there should be no doubt that any potential aggressor will face defeat and ominous consequences should it directly attack our country. As if to raise the specter of nuclear retaliation, he added, All necessary decisions have been taken in this regard.

Its a safe bet that any American move toward regime change in Russia would, in Putins mind, constitute a direct attack. Biden, who insisted Monday that his words were personal feelings and didnt reflect a policy change, had the effect of bringing the world a step closer to the very danger he most feared: a provocation that leads to World War III.

In truth, Russia is long overdue for a new leader  a sane leader who doesnt keep a 30-foot conference table between himself and his guests, and who doesnt concoct bizarre scenarios of denazification to justify invading a neighboring country headed by a Jew.

Putin took control of a nascent, far-from-perfect post-Soviet democracy in 2000 and, in the course of a few years, converted it into a full-fledged dictatorship. He has deployed Russian agents to assassinate his critics. He has banned use of the word war to describe the slaughter in Ukraine. Press freedoms have been annihilated. On Sunday, Russian media were banned from carrying reports from four Russian journalists who interviewed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

This madman deserves to be replaced  by his own people. The way to do it is to flood Russians with the truth about their presidents war-crime atrocities via the internet, broadcast media, printed information and any other available means. Putin didnt hesitate to meddle in 2016 to help put Trump in office. Its only fair that the United States should return the favor against Putin.
Regarding The Activist: Why Cori Bush wont back off her call to defund the police (March 19): In my opinion, theres a serious disconnect between actual harm done in communities and crime committed by individuals. By focusing on weeding out criminals, we dont change a toxic society-wide culture. We need to shift our attention from individual criminals to what causes the most suffering and damage.

Im not saying that we should do away with the criminal justice system, I just dont think thats the best way to generate safety. By shifting the focus away from crime means we can address actions, policies and behaviors that are most harmful. I believe we should focus on the psychological harm, environmental damage and social and economic suffering.

Growing up in such a high-poverty St. Louis neighborhood exposed me and other children to multiple, ongoing traumas. The trauma we are left with then manifests as mental illness, broken families, poverty and crime. Instead of continuing to fund law enforcement, we should put that funding into our communities. Much of the billions that we currently spend each year on law enforcement can be reallocated and used as investments in programs and services that keep us all healthy and safe.

Jasmine Hollywood  St. Louis
Moody's withdraws credit ratings

Moscow, Russia - 31 March 2022 - Metalloinvest ("the Company"), a leading global iron ore and HBI producer and supplier, and one of the regional producers of high-quality steel, today announces that Moody's Investors Service ("Moody's") withdraws the Company's credit ratings, including long-term corporate family rating of JSC Holding Company Metalloinvest and backed senior unsecured rating of Metalloinvest Finance D.A.C.

According to Moody's statement, the agency withdraws its credit ratings, together with all associated inputs to rating services, on multiple Russian entities - financial institutions and corporates. Earlier today, the agency withdrew the ratings of the Government of Russia and Russian sub-sovereign entities. Moody's has decided to withdraw the ratings for its own business reasons.

# # # #

If you have any questions, please contact us:

Artem Lavrischev

Investor Relations

E: ir@metalloinvest.com

T: +7 (495) 981-55-55, ext. 7243

About Metalloinvest

Metalloinvest is a leading metals and mining company with the largest proven iron ore reserves on a JORC-equivalent basis (15.4 billion tonnes and about 150 years of reserve life). The company is the world's largest producer and supplier of merchant hot briquetted iron (HBI) products, a low-carbon raw material used to produce green steel; Metalloinvest holds a leading position in the production of pellets, iron ore concentrate and high-quality steel.

In 2021, revenue amounted to USD 10.6 bn; EBITDA - USD 5.75 bn. The company has 10+ years track record on public debt capital markets.

Alisher Usmanov is the main beneficiary of the company (with a 49% stake) through Holding Company USM LLC.

Ticker (Bloomberg): METIN RU; official website: www.metalloinvest.com
Ukrainian forces have captured a lot of modern Russian weapons and military equipment and made these discoveries available to Western countries that are supplying Ukraine with modern weapons and economic and diplomatic pressure on Russia.

This loot includes largely intact Iskander short range ballistic missiles, new EW (Electronic Warfare) equipment that had proven effective in Syria and Ukraine and new Azart combat radios and associated equipment. Some defective Islander missiles were recovered largely intact, which allowed close inspection of the missile design and the countermeasures Russia often spoke of but never provided details of. The countermeasures were, as expected, small decoys deployed as the Iskander came within range of the targets, as well as Western ABM (anti-ballistic missile) systems like Patriot, Thaad or the naval Standard missile defense system. Now that there were undamaged examples of these decoys available, Western ABM systems can be modified to defeat them.

The situation is much the same with captured EW and communications equipment. Another valuable item captured on the battlefield was the state of Russian training and the ability to maintain modern equipment. The most modern Russian vehicles and weapons were used in Ukraine and the Ukrainians and NATO experts had been jointly studying them intently since 2014, but from a distance. Once the Russian equipment was captured you could reach some useful conclusions about their operation. This was enhanced when Russians who used this equipment were also captured. The findings so far presented painful, for the Russians, revelations about how ineffective their expensive military reform and modernization efforts were. Examining Russian vehicles, both tanks and other armored vehicles as well as military trucks, revealed design defects and the traditional Russian inability to perform regular maintenance during peacetime or even when preparing for large scale exercises or combat. Some largely intact Russian helicopters were also examined as well as the wreckage of Russian fighters and transports. Some of these were designed and built in Ukraine before the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991. The Ukrainians learned from these bad Cold War habits and offered to refurbish older Russian aircraft and other equipment to eliminate some of these design flaws. Russia thought they had done the same, but they had not.

Russia also discovered that its SEAD (suppression of enemy air defenses) tactics and equipment did not work very well against the air defense systems the Ukrainians were using, many of them older Russian models, like the updated S300. Control of the air over Ukraine is still disputed and Russia has not been able to muster sufficient SEAD efforts to change that. Ukraine is succeeding in persuading NATO to turn over the dozens of MiG-29s some of the new East European NATO members still have. The Mig-29 owners are willing to do this but the U.S. has been blocking the effort. The Americans finally seem to be convinced that this will prolong Ukrainian efforts to prevent Russian warplanes from freely operating over Ukraine. NATO, including the Americans, are receiving a steady supply of secret components taken from captured Russian ground-based electronic warfare equipment and vehicles, plus downed jet fighters, and that is a major plus for NATO air forces. The Ukrainian Air Force would like something in return, like those old MiG-29s as well as spare parts and ammunition for their aircraft.

All this is news the Russian leadership does not want made public, if only because many Russian commanders and the Russian public were unaware of how bad it is and getting worse.
FILE PHOTO: A Russian state flag flies on the top of a diesel plant in the Yarakta Oil Field, owned by Irkutsk Oil Company (INK), in Irkutsk Region, Russia March 10, 2019. Picture taken March 10, 2019. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko/File Photo

By Nidhi Verma

NEW DELHI (Reuters) -A significant increase in Russian oil imports by India could expose New Delhi to a "great risk" as the United States prepares to step up enforcement of sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, a senior U.S. administration official said.

While the current U.S. sanctions against Russia do not prevent other countries from buying Russian oil, the warning raises expectations that Washington will attempt to restrict other countries' purchases to normal levels.

The U.S. official's comment comes ahead of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's two-day visit to New Delhi and during the ongoing visit of U.S. deputy national security adviser for economics Daleep Singh.

Refiners in India, the world's third biggest oil importer and consumer, have been snapping up Russian oil through spot tenders since the war broke out on Feb. 24, taking advantage of deep discounts as other buyers back away. India has purchased at least 13 million barrels of Russian oil since Feb. 24, compared with nearly 16 million barrels in all of 2021.

"U.S. has no objection to India buying Russian oil provided it buys it at discount, without significantly increasing from previous years," said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Some increase is allowed," said the source, who did not offer more detail.

The State Department is aware of talks between Russia and India concerning the purchase of oil, a spokesperson said. "We continue to engage our partners in India and around the world on the importance of a strong collective action, including strong sanctions, to press the Kremlin to end its devastating war of choice against Ukraine as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.

The Biden administration is coordinating with India and European countries to mitigate the impact of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on energy markets, while encouraging steps to reduce dependence on Russian energy, the spokesperson said.

The U.S. Treasury Department declined comment and the White House's National Security Council did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. sanctions are reducing the ability of Russia, which normally produces about 1 in every 10 barrels of global oil, to get crude to market. The Paris-based International Energy Agency has estimated that sanctions and buyer reluctance could remove 3 million barrels per day from global markets of Russian crude and refined products from April.

The source said Washington has no problems if India settles trade with Russia in rupees or continues to pay in dollars, provided the transaction are sanctions-compliant and with permitted entities.

India is devising a mechanism to settle trade with Russia, including through payment in rupees.

"Whatever they are paying, whatever they are doing, needs to be in compliance with sanctions. If not they are exposing themselves to a great risk", the source said.

"As long as they are compliant with sanctions and not significantly raising purchases, we are okay," the source said.

Russia is facing an onslaught of international sanctions led by Western countries aiming at isolating it from the global economy, including shutting it out of the SWIFT global bank messaging system and restricting dealings by its central bank. [

The White House has slapped sanctions against Russian entities and individuals among others, crippling Moscow's economy.

The Biden administration has also banned U.S. imports of Russian energy, including oil. But it has so far not targeted Russia's oil and gas exports to other countries, as the administration weighs the impacts on global oil markets and U.S. motor fuel prices.

New Delhi has called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine but has refused to explicitly condemn Moscow's actions. It has abstained from voting on multiple U.N. resolutions on the war.

U.S. President Joe Biden said this month India was "somewhat shaky" in acting against Russia.

The U.S. official said India should use the mechanisms created by the United States that exempt energy transactions, and import oil from the 'permitted entities'.

"We, over the next several days and weeks, are going to be stepping up enforcement of sanctions. We are telling everybody, everywhere around the world to ensure you are compliant with sanctions  this is the message to everyone".

The U.S. sanctions have granted a waiver till June 24 for settling energy trade with the Central Bank of Russia.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; additional reporting by Timothy Gardner in WashingtonEditing by Nick Zieminski)
Program provides support and education families need, when they need it

March for Babies: A Mother of a Movement Event Set for April 9

ARLINGTON, Va. , March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- While the U.S. grapples with a maternal and infant health crisis and the rate of preterm births increase in Arizona, March of Dimes is launching a NICU Family Support Program and gearing up March for Babies: A Mother of a Movement in Phoenix to support families throughout their pregnancy journey and raise critical funds to improve health outcomes for moms and babies.

Maternal mortality rates are on the rise nationwide and the latest March of Dimes Report Card shows Arizona has a 9.5% preterm birth rate, earning the state a C+ grade. The preterm birth rate for Black women is 41% higher than the rate among all other women.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the maternal and infant health crisis. In Phoenix, 1 in 11 babies is born too sick and too soon and babies of color are disproportionately impacted," said Deena Bradford, Executive Director, Market Impact for Arizona. "March for Babies is an opportunity for our community to unite to end preventable preterm birth and maternal death so that every mom and baby gets the best start possible."

March of Dimes is spearheading several initiatives in the state, including a partnership with Banner Health Foundation to bring the NICU Family Support Program to Banner - University Medical Center Phoenix. The program supports more than 50,000 families each year in more than 70 hospital partner sites by increasing families' knowledge and confidence to care for their baby while in the NICU.

"We are proud to work with the March of Dimes to help support more families at Banner University  Medical Center Phoenix through the NICU Family Support Program," said Andy Kramer Petersen, President & CEO for the Banner Health Foundation. "Together, we can provide much-needed help to ensure families and our littlest patients have access to best-in-class care and resources."

Additionally, March of Dimes Mobile Health Program is providing free health care to uninsured and underinsured patients in Southern Arizona. To date, over 35,000 COVID-19 vaccines have been provided at 81 events to a largely (86 percent) uninsured patient population. This is in addition to the program's work in prenatal care, family medicine, acute care for the homeless and more.

March for Babies -- which will feature the Mobile Health Program and the bus -- is a time to honor motherhood, babies and families and come together with thousands of others to share experiences while raising vital funds to help every mom and baby.

March for Babies is scheduled for Saturday, April 9 at 9:00 am at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza, 1700 W Washington Street in downtown Phoenix. The Color Street Foundation, a National Signature Partner, has graciously pledged to match donation to the March for Babies campaign up to $1 million through April 8. For those interested in participating or donating, please visit marchforbabies.org.

About the March of DimesMarch of Dimes leads the fight for the health of all moms and babies. We support research, lead programs and provide education and advocacy so that moms are healthy and every baby can have the best possible start. Building on a successful 80-year legacy of impact and innovation, we empower every mom and every family.

Visit marchofdimes.org or nacersano.org for more information. Visit shareyourstory.org for comfort and support. Find us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram and Twitter.

About Banner Health FoundationEstablished in 2001, the Banner Health Foundation engages the community and stewards charitable contributions to advance Banner Health's nonprofit mission of making health care easier so life can be better. Contributions are invested locally to support patient care programs and services operated by Banner's many hospitals and health care facilities across Arizona. For more information, please visit www.bannerhealthfoundation.org.

About Banner  University Medical Center PhoenixBanner  University Medical Center Phoenix is a large teaching hospital that has provided medical care to Arizona and the Southwest since 1911. It is part of Banner  University Medicine, a premier academic medical network. The institution, which has trained thousands of doctors over decades as a teaching hospital, is the academic medical center for The University of Arizona College of Medicine  Phoenix. The hospital, recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of the nation's best hospitals, specializes in heart care, cancer care, high-risk obstetrics, neurosciences, organ transplants, medical toxicology and emergency care, including a Level I trauma center. Banner  University Medical Center Phoenix is part of Banner Health, a nonprofit health care system with 30 hospitals in six states. For more information, visit bannerhealth.com/universityphoenix.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/march-of-dimes-launches-new-nicu-family-support-program-in-phoenix-301515074.html

SOURCE March of Dimes Inc.
The Army identified Capt. James Bellew, 26, as the aeromedical evacuation officer killed in a helicopter crash at Wright Army Airfield at Fort Stewart, Ga., early Wednesday, according to a 3rd Infantry Division news release.

Bellew was found dead at the site where two UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters crashed around 2 a.m., according to 3rd ID. The Armys Criminal Investigation Division and Combat Readiness Center are investigating the incident.

The airfield was closed Wednesday morning following the crash. The Army release said nothing about possible injuries to other soldiers.

Bellew, a native of Charlottesville, Va., began his career in the Army as a medical service officer in 2017 and has been attached to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment, 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade since March 2020, according to the release.

His duties included providing medical evacuation support for the Fort Stewart community, including airlifting critically ill COVID-19 patients to higher levels of care across the country, brigade commander Col. Eric Vanek said in the release.

The loss of James is an immeasurable tragedy to his family, friends, crew and fellow soldiers, Vanek said. James was a part of one of the noblest professions imaginable; he dedicated his life to serving our country and did so in a role where he was constantly helping, and saving the lives of others.

Bellew completed a one-year tour at Camp Casey, South Korea, as a field medical assistant in September 2018. His awards include the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Expert Field Medical Badge and Army Aviator Badge.
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Army leaders discharged another 63 soldiers for refusing the coronavirus vaccine, its busiest week for involuntary separations since the service began kicking out troops about two weeks ago for not taking the mandated shots, according to data published Thursday.

The new discharges bring the number of inoculation-refusing active-duty soldiers dismissed from the military to 90, the data showed. The service, which ordered commanders in January to boot most soldiers who outright refused the vaccine, announced March 18 that it had kicked out its first three soldiers for refusing a lawful order to take the shots.

Active-duty soldiers were required to be fully inoculated against the coronavirus by Dec. 15, 2021. Army National Guard and Reserve troops have until June 30 to complete a full vaccination regimen.

Those who have not taken the vaccine can seek waivers for religious or medical exemptions, but approvals of such requests have proven rare.

To date, the Army has approved 20 permanent medical exemptions to taking the vaccine, denied 664 and 12 cases remained pending as of Thursday. Service officials had only approved two religion-based exemptions as of Thursday, the data showed. Meanwhile, it had denied 834 requests, and 3,230 cases were still under consideration.

Those denied waiver requests have seven days to begin the vaccination process or file an appeal of their denial before commanders are to begin the separation process, according to a January order from Army Secretary Christine Wormuth. As of Thursday, the Army listed 2,569 active-duty soldiers as outright vaccine refusers.

The service also said Thursday that 97% of active-duty soldiers had been fully vaccinated against the virus. About 87% of the Reserve force had been fully inoculated as of this week. The Army has declined to provide updated vaccination rates for National Guard troops.

The Army was the last of the Defense Departments military services to remove troops for refusing the coronavirus vaccine. The Air Force had separated 236 active-duty airmen as of Tuesday. The Navy had separated 689 active-duty sailors and the Marine Corps had removed 1,049 Marines from the service as of Thursday, according to the most recent data from those services.

A federal judge in Texas on Monday ordered the Navy to halt discharge proceedings or other punishments against all sailors who had sought a religious exemption to the coronavirus vaccine. The order does not impact the other military services, including the Army.
U.S. Navy warships would be welcome at a $7.5 billion navy base that Australia is building to support a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, according to Australian security experts.

Plans for the eastern Australian facility, to complement Australias Fleet Base West at HMAS Sterling near Perth, were announced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in a March 7 speech to the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank.

The government is investing $578 billion in the nations defense force over the next decade, including over $280 billion in enhanced defense capability, Morrison said, according to a transcript of the speech posted on the think tanks website.

A new $7.5 billion submarine base, at either Brisbane, Newcastle or Port Kembla, will support nuclear-powered submarines that Australia plans to acquire under the AUKUS defense pact reached last year between Australia, the United Kingdom and the U.S., Morrison said.

The prime minister made the announcement while addressing the impact of the war in Ukraine on the Indo-Pacific.

A new arc of autocracy is instinctively aligning to challenge and reset the world order in their own image, Morrison said. We are concerned at the militarization of disputed features in the South China Sea, where international law should apply  as it does everywhere else. And we are concerned about growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait.

Leaders in Australia and New Zealand reacted with alarm this week after opponents of a security agreement between China and the Solomon Islands leaked a draft of the proposed agreement online. Officials worry that it could allow China to base warships 1,200 miles off Australias east coast.

Australias new eastern navy base will help service and distribute a fleet of a minimum eight nuclear submarines, Lowys International Security Program director Sam Roggeveen told Stars and Stripes by phone Thursday.

The submarines are a signal that the Royal Australian Navy is integrating itself more tightly with the U.S. Navy, he said.

Its hard to mistake the symbolism, he said, adding that he expects U.S. submarines to use the new base as well as the existing facility in the west.

HMAS Sterling will continue to launch patrols into the Indian Ocean while submarines operating out of the new facility could patrol into the South China Sea and around Taiwan, Carlyle Thayer, an emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales and lecturer at the Australian Defence Force Academy, said by phone Thursday.

Kembla seems like the frontrunner to host the new base, according to Ross Babbage, a former Australian assistant defense secretary.

The port meets Australian safety standards for nuclear-powered vessels, its only an hour from central Sydney and its close to Wollongong, a city with ample industrial capacity as well as good housing and schools, he said by phone Thursday.

The area has beautiful beaches and would likely be popular with visiting U.S. sailors, Babbage said.

There would be few constraints to U.S. nuclear-powered vessels visiting the port, he said.

Darwin, where a rotational force of U.S. Marines is based for six months each year, lacks infrastructure to support more than temporary visits by nuclear-powered vessels, Babbage said.
Growing up in the Philippines, Jules Amores loved to read about science and medicine, thinking he might become a doctor one day. But he also pined for life in America, which was fueled through copies of the U.S. Navys All Hands magazine that his uncle would bring home from his job at the American Embassy.

Amores would pour over photographs of ships and planes, daydreaming about life aboard an aircraft carrier. He never imagined he would one day enlist in the U.S. Navy himself and that his 1992 enlistment ceremony would be featured in that magazine.

Along the years, I kind of wished I could be there. Life in the Philippines is hard, he said. Going to the U.S. has always been my dream.

Amores, then 21 years old, earned his shot through a competitive recruitment program that enlisted Filipino men into the U.S. Navy. He took the oath on March 13, 1992, as part of the last group to do so. All Hands magazine ran a short article about the program, which began in 1947 and enlisted more than 35,000 Filipino men into the Navy, with the headline, The last recruits.

Amores said only the sleeve of his shirt is visible in the far-left edge of the accompanying photo of men with their right hand raised as they recite the oath of enlistment.

Thirty years later, Amores, an aircraft mechanic, retired March 25 as a chief warrant officer 4, and believes he might be the last person recruited from the Philippines program who was still serving on active duty. The Navy couldnt verify if that is correct.

The retirement ceremony was held at Naval Air Station Lemoore, Calif. Standing by his side were his wife, Jennifer, their three children, Jules, Julianna and Jerrick, and their dog CoCo.

Im an example of an American dream. From E-1, I made it to a [warrant] officer, coming from a third-world country, he said last week as he prepared for the ceremony. Im not doing this [ceremony] for myself. Im doing for my family, and for the Navy as well, to put a spotlight on what its done for me and for my family.

Recruiting abroad

While immigrants legally living in the U.S. can enlist in the military, the Navys recruitment of Filipino citizens living in their own independent country was unique, said Chris Capozzola, professor of history at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of the book, Bound by War: How the United States and the Philippines Built Americas First Pacific Century.

This was a pipeline for ambitious, young, usually super-talented sailors to enlist directly into the U.S. Navy, he said.

The only similar program that Capozzola said he has seen among the service branches is the U.S. Armys ongoing partnership in Korea that allows Korean soldiers to augment American troops. However, they are not direct members of the Army, as the men recruited out of the Philippines were in the Navy.

The partnership developed out of an agreement in 1947 between America and the Philippines that allowed several U.S. military bases to operate on the island. It was a year after the Philippines became independent from the U.S., and there had already been an established history of service dating back to 1901, when President William McKinley authorized up to 500 Filipinos a year to join U.S. forces as part of the Philippine Scouts.

The Philippine islands were then a U.S. territory, and the scouts were considered part of the U.S. Army. The units were disbanded when the Philippines became independent in 1946.

During World War II, Filipino service members were instrumental in supporting American efforts in the Pacific, said Cecilia I. Gaerlan, executive director of the Bataan Legacy Historical Society. The organization was founded, in part, to work with educators to tell the story of Filipino military service, and their impact on the war.

What [Filipino troops] did between January and April 9, [1942,] was to delay the timetable of the Imperial Japanese Army, which was supposed to take the Philippines in 50 days and they held on for 99 days, despite suffering from massive starvation, disease and fighting without any air support, Gaerlan said.

That dedication to service inspired generational military service for many Filipinos, she said.

We're not talking just about a few, but several generations have served and are continuing to serve not just the Navy, but the U.S. armed forces, because of this tradition, Gaerlan said. Filipinos take great pride in serving in the armed forces.

Initially following World War II, the Navys program only allowed Filipinos to serve in service roles, such as cooks and stewards for officers, mainly because they couldnt get the necessary security clearance for other jobs, Capozzola said. It didnt draw huge numbers until about the time of the Korean War and the expansion of U.S. military bases in the Philippines.

In the 1970s, the Navy began to allow Filipinos to serve in more job positions, which might have also played a role in the programs increasing popularity, he said.

In return, Filipino sailors have also influenced the Navy. Pancit, a traditional noodle dish from the Philippines, is commonly prepared on Naval ships, Capozzola said.

It's hard to find a U.S. Navy sailor who hasn't eaten pancit, he said.

The Navy also manages the White House Mess, a small dining facility in the basement of the West Wing, and many Filipino sailors have earned a spot this high-profile kitchen.

One of the first people that every American president in the 20th century saw when he woke up in the morning, was a Filipino sailor, Capozzola said. That's huge, and far out of proportion to the number of Filipinos who serve.

The classifieds

By the time Amores looked to enlist in the Navy, it had become highly competitive, with about 250 men applying for each of the 400 slots available per year, according to an LA Times article published in 1992 about the end of the program.

During his first year of college in 1988 in Cebu, Amores and his brother decided to apply. They responded to a small, classified ad in the newspaper that instructed them to send in a 2x2 photograph of themselves with specific information written on the back.

And then they waited.

About a year later, Amores older brother got called to report for testing, but didnt make the cut. Amores finally got a call more than six months later, arriving to the base with thousands of other men. After a test weeding out many of the applicants, he said he then had to be interviewed.

Amores had attended an English-language high school and worked part-time as a radio DJ, playing rock music for two hours in the evenings. He said he believes his language skills helped him through the interview process to earn a spot among the final 10 that day. He was scheduled to come back later to continue the vetting process.

But in June 1991 the volcano Mount Pinatubo erupted, devastating much of the Philippines, and closing the roads to Subic Bay, the Navy base handling Amores enlistment.

Our process stopped for almost a year, he said.

Eventually, Amores made it back, and after more testing and interviews, he was able to enlist on March 13, 1992. The group of 29 men were the last Philippine citizens to enlist through the program, according to the All Hands magazine article.

It only took about a minute, but a single oath ended a 92-year U.S. Navy program that was like no other, the article stated.

In the months that followed, the Philippines ended the base agreement with the U.S. military, which closed Subic Bay. However, it remains a functioning base under the Philippines navy and an important site for visiting U.S. personnel, Capozzola said. The end of that agreement is also what brought an end to the enlistment program.

But for Amores, the story continued. He earned recognition in basic training, which allowed him to select a rating, he said. He chose structural mechanic for aircraft, and took every opportunity that he could to serve at sea.

When he boarded an aircraft carrier for the first time, the USS Kitty Hawk, the moment brought to reality what he had dreamed about as a child.

It was a different feeling because you used to just be watching this huge, extraordinary machine that floats in the ocean, he said. Now you're actually on it. I was happy, but at the same time I had anxiety of what to expect.

Over time, Amores climbed the enlisted ranks to senior chief petty officer and earned his American citizenship, a bachelors degree and a masters degree. He commissioned as a warrant officer, serving in his final days as Lemoores site leader of the Naval Aviation Technical and Engineering Command.

While he will miss the Navy, retiring after 30 years, that should be enough, he said. Its been a long time coming. I had fun. I had some bad experiences and good experiences as well. Its all up to how you face the challenges of the military, being away from family and stuff like that.

Amores plans to stay in the Lemoore area and take some time to decide on his next chapter in life. In the meantime, he plans to dedicate more time to a group he founded, the Filipinos of Kings County. Like other areas around Navy bases, there is a sizeable community of Filipinos living in the county, he said.
On a small island off the coast of Ehime prefecture on Shikoku is a small island where cats clearly rule.

Approximately 200 semi-feral cats live on Aoshima, according to Nippon News. The feline population makes a likely attraction for cat lovers who come just to interact with them. The fishing village imported cats to keep the rodent population at bay, according to lore. Eventually the human population declined to the point where its outnumbered by their cats.

Stepping off the ferry, youll notice blue lines on the pavement that will guide you to the areas designated for feeding and playing with the cats. Several benches are set aside for visitors, provided the cats havent already claimed them.

Youll make plenty of new friends if you remember to pack plenty of cat food on your trip. I brought several different cans of cat food with me; it was a big hit. There are no restaurants or vending machines on the island, so pack a lunch and drinks for yourself.

To reach Aoshima, take the ferry from Nagahama town on Shikoku, one of Japans four main islands. Free parking is available in a lot near the Nagahama ferry dock, which is also a five-minute walk from the Iyo-Nagahama Station.

The ferry schedule allows visitors two options for day trips to Aoshima. The first boat leaves at 8 a.m., which allows about seven hours on the island; a 2:30 p.m. boat will give you about an hour before boarding time for the last ferry of the day, which departs for Nagahama at 4:15 p.m.

If the 40-minute ferry ride is full in the morning no tickets will be offered for the afternoon ferry.

A round-trip ticket costs 1,400 yen, about $11.90 per adult and 350 yen, about $5.95, per child. Dont miss the last ferry; no overnight lodging is available on Aoshima. If the weather is too rough for passage, ferry service may be suspended.

If you plan on staying for the whole day, there are some other activities on the island. A hike on the back part of the island will take a few hours to complete. Bring some fishing gear and drop a line from the pier; horse mackerel are commonly caught here.

You could share your days catch with the cats; Im sure they would appreciate it. There is also a small stone beach where you can swim.

A small building next to the ferry dock has public restrooms. A metal cabinet there has drawers full of cat toys for visitors to entertain the cats. Visitors also deposit surplus cat food there.

ON THE QT

Location: Aoshima, a small island of the coast of Shikoku

Directions: Aoshima Ferry location - 10303 Nagahama, Ozu, Ehime 799-3401; free parking at 1030-16 Nagahama, Ozu, Ehime 795-0000

Hours: 8 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. departures from Nagahama

Costs: Round-trip ferry tickets cost $11.90 adult and $5.95 children

Food: None

Information: Online: www.city.ozu.ehime.jp/soshiki/nagahamash/0375.html
The blossoms beckoned.

For the past two years, Taylor Busse, a newly minted nurse in Indianapolis, has marked time in pandemic surges.

She enrolled in nursing school in January 2020 just before coronavirus overtook the nation. A year later, she started working as a patient care tech during the first winter surge in a hospital crammed with COVID-19 patients.

On short-staffed days when Busse felt exhausted, she sustained herself with the knowledge that she was saving lives. But she knew she needed a break to help her feel human again.

Last week, Busse spread out a colorful cloth on a patch of ground with a commanding view of the Potomac Tidal Basin ringed with shimmering cherry trees. She stretched her legs out, smoothed her long red hair back from her face and tilted her head toward the sun. Like the cherry tree buds beginning to flower, the moment felt full of yearning and possibility.

"Obviously, it's almost spring literally right now, but it also feels like the spring of COVID," Busse, 25, said. "We're coming out of winter. You feel the sun, and you feel so awake and alive."

Busse was joined by thousands of people from around the Washington region, the country and the world who are swarming the Tidal Basin for the National Cherry Blossom Festival, raising cameras, sprawling beneath bowing branches and sitting in contemplation on the basin's banks.

There was much to contemplate, after two years of sickness, isolation and death that had canceled one of Washington's signature events - the festival drew 1.6 million people in 2019 - due to fear of contagion. Even so, the symbolism of the cherry tree, rooted in the Buddhist theme of the transience of life, is made for this pandemic moment.

As he stood alone on the other side of the Tidal Basin mesmerized by the ethereal glow of the pale pink blossoms, Chris Cheng, a Buddhist who immigrated in his youth from Taiwan, searched for the words to express its meaning.

Cheng, 67, had journeyed from his home in North Potomac, Md., to see the cherry blossoms every year he was able before the pandemic prompted the cancellation of the festival. For him, its beauty has always gone beyond the sheer visual delight of the flowering trees.

"You really enjoy the moment here. You look at each blossom and you think this one is pretty, that one is not pretty, this one is the most beautiful," said Cheng, a retired computer scientist. "And at the same time, you also sense that the blossoms are blooming not because you are watching but because the time is right and that after a short period the petals will fall everywhere. Sometimes you feel they are like lives, floating down from a tree to the ground."

The cherry blossoms' perennial lesson on the impermanence of life is underscored this year, he said.

"You cannot say I just watch the cherry trees as usual because you have encountered the pandemic for so long, and you still feel pain," Cheng said. "But maybe you also feel you cherish every moment because you never know what will happen in the future."

Geoffrey Axe, 72, visiting from Bucks County, Pa., did not need to be a Buddhist to feel the symbolism of the cherry trees. "It's an ephemeral beauty," he said. "The blossoms open and within a short period of time, they are done. The trees are still here, but the blossoms are no longer. But fortunately, they come back every year."

"You don't know when the cherry blossoms will bloom," his daughter, Jennifer Axe, added. "It's a reminder that you're on nature's time. So get on board or you'll miss it."

Around the basin curve again, not far from where Busse was sprawling, a young Black woman in a striking, long pink flowered kimono smiled beatifically, an antidote to lingering pandemic sadness.

Lianne St. Jules, a 32-year-old from Gaithersburg Md., had lost no person dear to her to COVID. She quit her job as a supervisor at a pet resort due to an injured shoulder, then relished the time spent at home cooking and organizing with her longtime boyfriend, keeping guard over her health. But there was one thing she did miss: attending the Cherry Blossom Festival, which she had been doing annually since she was as a teenager.

St. Jules became so enraptured by Japanese culture that she joined the Japan-America Society of Washington D.C. and paid for lessons from a Japanese sensei, or teacher, in the proper way to wear a kimono. The festival had become an opportunity to demonstrate her knowledge and share it with the public. She has a clear preference for the casual Yukata, made of unlined, summer-weight fabric with shorter sleeves, despite the urging of her sensei to up her game.

"I didn't want to go into formal kimono because of how much I run around. The more formal your kimono gets, the less you move," said St. Jules, who credits her West Indian heritage for her interest in foreign cultures.

"The present is a gift," she said, fan tucked in her obi - the wide kimono sash - pink and white parasol in her Hello Kitty shoulder bag. "Every day of your life should be a celebration. ... I'm not going to wait for the proper occasion to have a special glass of wine. We are only here for so long, and you never know when it's going to end."

For Ro Sood and Natasha Sidhu, the festival marked the beginning of what they hope will be the rest of their lives together.

Sood, 35, a growth manager at a small start-up in the San Francisco Bay area, saw his opportunity when Sidhu was scheduled to speak at a conference in Baltimore before beginning her medical residency in psychiatry.

Nearby D.C. is one of their favorite cities, he said, so it was easy enough to tag along. In late February, Sood started compulsively checking cherryblossomwatch.com to find the perfect day to carry out his plan. He purchased a round-cut diamond solitaire and hired a photographer to scope out an ideal spot.

The couple had known each other since they were children growing up in California and began dating a few years ago. Cooped up in their parents' houses, which happened to be just a mile apart, their deepening love for one another was an unexpected pandemic gift.

Sidhu, 32, observed the way Sood was quick to pick up on their parents' needs without being asked, grocery shopping to protect them from infection, making them elaborate treats to ease their isolation - overnight baked French toast, homemade biscuits with gravy, blueberry coffee cake.

"I learned that he is deeply loyal and makes sure his family is taken care of," Sidhu said.

Sood admired Sidhu's gift for nurturing plants, monstera and aloe vera, cilantro and sage. "She has such a caring hand," Sood said. "She would understand when a plant was sick and what it needed. . . . I really learned how caring she was."

So a proposal in nature made delightful sense. As the expected peak bloom day of March 23 approached, Sood suggested they visit the Tidal Basin to view the cherry trees. After a bit of a detour to explore, the couple wound up at the predetermined cherry tree near the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, not far from where Cheng had looked out on the basin. Behind them, the Washington Monument pierced the sky.

Sidhu bent to pet two passing dogs and when she rose and turned around, Sood was on one knee, looking up at her.

"She smiles with her eyes very big and she had had a huge smile on her face," Sood said. "She knows me very well, and I didn't have to say anything. She just held my face and said 'Yes.' "

The photographer snapped away.

Later, after the newly engaged couple returned home, the image would linger indelibly in their minds. In a matter of days on the Tidal Basin, though, the petals would begin their gentle fall to the ground.
Billed as the first summit of the Abraham Accords, the gathering in the Negev desert Monday of foreign ministers of Israel, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was certainly unprecedented. Two years ago, the three Arab foreign ministers wouldnt have agreed to pose for photographs with their Israeli counterpart at the United Nations, never mind on his home soil.

There was more to it than a photo-op. Although the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett basked in his countrys newfound convening power, the meeting also demonstrated that the 2020 accords  under which four Arab states normalized relations with Israel  are a practical framework for cooperation on mutual benefits, such as trade ties, as well as common threats, such as Iran. (Egypt, which made peace with Israel in 1979, sent its foreign minister to the gathering, too.)

It is also a useful platform for the country that midwifed the accords. Blinken used the opportunity to try to reassure the other attendees that the countries wont be imperiled if the U.S. rejoins the 2015 nuclear pact with the Islamic Republic, a foreign-policy priority of his boss, President Joe Biden. Blinken also implored them to take a firmer line against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. (On both scores, they responded with varying degrees of skepticism.)

Yet while symbolizing the progress that has been made under the accords, the meeting served as a reminder that the Israeli-American diplomatic initiative has made no headway in more than a year. Biden and Bennett have been unable to add a single nation to the normalization papers since their predecessors, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, left office.

This is especially galling for Bennett, who talked up the accords in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last fall, adding that more is to come.

Not only has the Israeli leader failed to deliver on that promise, at least one of the existing signatories may be developing second thoughts: Sudan chose not to send a representative to the Negev event. Ahead of the meeting, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the military strongman in Khartoum, was at pains to deny that there had been any top-level official visits in either direction. Abdalla Hamdok, the civilian leader who signed the accords, was arrested, then reinstated and finally squeezed out by the military, with little protest from Israel.

Burhan hasnt repudiated the accords, but has made it clear he wishes to keep Israel at arms length by limiting cooperation to security matters.

The three other Arab signatories to the pact are keen on deeper relations, including tourism and cultural exchanges, but their enthusiasm hasnt been as contagious as Israeli and American officials might have hoped. Indeed, the countries that had seemed the most likely to join the bandwagon a year ago  Oman and Qatar  are no closer to signing up. Both countries are content merely to maintain unofficial relations with Israel. Others, like Kuwait, have made it clear they wont contemplate normalization before Israel has come to a settlement with the Palestinians.

And the prospects of a breakthrough with Saudi Arabia, briefly raised by Netanyahus poorly kept secret visit to the kingdom in late 2020 to meet the de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, now seem remote. The prince, resentful of being snubbed by the U.S. president, is in no mood to give Biden the opportunity to match Trumps bragging rights by joining the accords.

Nor is Biden, who has made pivoting away from the Middle East a foreign-policy priority, likely to invest much diplomatic capital in entreating other Arab states to recognize Israel.

Might he enrage them into doing so? There is a double bank-shot of a chance that could happen. If Biden does bring the U.S. back into the nuclear deal and allow Iran to acquire more military means with which to menace its Arab neighbors, some of them might just make common cause with Israel. Sowing discord is hardly the most auspicious way to promote the accords. But the Israelis would probably take it.

Bobby Ghosh is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering foreign affairs. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
A sailing boat off the coast of Guam capsized amid strong winds and rough seas Saturday, but a joint effort by the U.S. Navy, Coast Guard and Guam first responders led to the safe rescue of the boats crew.

A crew of four boaters called the Guam Fire Department at 12:55 p.m. by cellphone to report their catamaran had capsized in the open ocean, department spokesman Kevin Reilly said by email Thursday to Stars and Stripes. The National Weather Service earlier Saturday issued a variety of warnings for Guam, including a small craft advisory, due to high winds.

Working with Coast Guard Sector Guam, a Navy MH-60R Seahawk helicopter crew and a fire department rescue boat responded to the call, the U.S. 7th Fleet said in a Wednesday news release.

The Seahawk crew included Lt. Kristopher Appel, from Knoxville, Tenn.; Lt. Quoc Duong, from King George, Va.; Petty Officer Second Class Baldwin Switzer, of Ocala, Fla.; and Petty Officer Second Class Kaimana Rodriguez, from San Dimas, Calif.

You always have to be prepared for the worst case possible, Switzer said in the news release. Luckily in this case it was a very straightforward search with the survivors being in contact with emergency personnel.

The Seahawk crew, part of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 51 attached to the guided-missile destroyer USS Dewey, was already in flight when they received the call from Sector Guam. The crew was taking part in a surface warfare training drill, 7th Fleet said.

After about 30 minutes, the Seahawk crew located the boaters approximately 1.5 nautical miles from their capsized catamaran.

Once I had sight of all four of the survivors and saw that none of them were struggling to stay afloat, I was relieved, said Switzer. Next on my mind was getting the Guam Fire and Rescue boat to the survivors as quickly as possible.

The Seahawk then radioed the fire department crew, who arrived within 10 minutes. They pulled the boaters from the water and carried them to Hagatna Marina, Reilly said.

All four boaters were rescued without injury within less than an hour of the initial report.

The key to our success was our outstanding crew resource management, Appel said in the news release. I cant express how proud I am of the professionalism and the efficiency my crew demonstrates when tasked with a high-stress mission change.

wilson.alex@stripes.com

Twitter: @AlexMNWilson
STUTTGART, Germany  Defense spending increased for the seventh consecutive year within the NATO alliance, with the United States picking up much of the tab, according to figures in NATOs annual report released Thursday.

In 2021, the U.S. accounted for 69% of defense expenditures within the NATO alliance while only accounting for 51% of allied gross domestic product. By contrast, Germany  the second largest economy within NATO  represented 5% of allied defense spending while accounting for 10% of NATO GDP.

Still, defense spending has risen across the alliance and larger increases are anticipated in the year ahead as European countries react to Russias war on Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

Allies agreed that we must redouble our efforts to invest more, and more quickly, in our defense, Stoltenberg told reporters following the release of the NATO report. We face a new security reality and there is a new sense of urgency.

After Russias full-fledged invasion of Ukraine in late February, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that his country would move quickly to hit a NATO defense spending benchmark that calls for 2% of GDP to be dedicated to military matters. Germanys failure to invest more on defense has long been a point of tension between Washington and Berlin and was a focal point for criticism during the Trump administration.

In 2021, German spending stood at 1.49% of GDP, up from about 1.2% in 2014 when allies made a pledge to hit the 2% target by 2024, according to NATO figures.

Eight allies  the U.S., the United Kingdom, Greece, Poland, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia  met the 2% mark in 2021, up from just three in 2014.

NATOs annual report also indicated that public support among member states for the alliance held steady in 2021, with 62% of allied citizens polled across 30 countries saying they would vote to remain in the pact, while 11% said they would leave.

Support for NATO was strongest among eastern flank states, such as Poland, the Baltic countries and Romania, where concerns about Russian aggression have traditionally been stronger. Support was strongest in Poland, with 84 % saying they would vote to remain in NATO.

Slovakia had the least support, with 46% voting to stay, 28% to go and 26% unsure. In the U.S., 55% would vote to stay, 11% to leave and 34% werent sure.

The NATO polling, which carried a margin of error of 3%, was conducted before Russias invasion of Ukraine.
The stories from people fleeing Mariupol are harrowing: Dwindling food supplies. No electricity or water. Russian tanks roaming the streets. Nights punctuated by shelling.

For Syrians, the accounts of life in the southeastern Ukrainian city, besieged by Russian forces, sound eerily familiar. Rights groups, officials and observers have drawn comparisons to the brutal tactics Russia deployed to turn the tide of the Syrian civil war in favor of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"We're staggered by really the amount of similarities," said Daniel Balson, advocacy director for Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International.

The conflicts are not the same: In Ukraine, Russia launched a ground invasion and has sustained significant casualties, while in Syria, where Russia intervened in 2015, it mostly offered air support.

But Russia continues to employs weapons and strategies honed on Syrian cities to deadly effect.

Syrians "have the best experience in dealing with the Russian targeting of civilian neighborhoods," said Farouq Habib, deputy chair of external relations for the Syrian Civil Defense, the volunteer search-and-rescue group known as the White Helmets.

Ukrainian officials have warned that Mariupol is "becoming a second Aleppo." Manolis Androulakis, Greece's consul general in Mariupol who became the last European Union diplomat to leave the city this month, said it will join Aleppo as "part of a list of cities that were completely destroyed by war."

The Syrian metropolis came to symbolize the willingness of Russian and Syrian forces to use ruthless tactics against civilians.

In 2016, during a nearly six-month siege of opposition-held parts of Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war, Russian forces attacked factories and water stations and cut off supply lines, leaving 250,000 residents with severe shortages of food, medicines and fuel. Humanitarian catastrophe followed.

In Mariupol, Russian forces have surrounded and bombarded the city, cutting off communications, water, gas and electricity, and preventing aid convoys from entering. Reports have emerged of residents melting snow for drinking water, rationing food among hungry children and running out of vital medicines.

Other Ukrainian cities, such as Chernihiv, face similar conditions. Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia this month of "starving" Ukrainian cities.

Russia has attacked medical facilities in both Aleppo and Mariupol, as well as schools and buildings where civilians had taken refuge  such as the theater Ukrainian authorities say Russia bombed in Mariupol  in a "complete violation" of the international principle that "belligerents have an obligation to distinguish between military and civilian targets," Balson said.

Syria also provided a testing ground for weapons Russia is using in Ukraine. Russian Defense minister Sergei Shoigu said in August that Russia had tested more than 300 weapons in Syria, Russian state media reported.

As in Syria, "a lot of the civilian casualties that we're documenting [in Ukraine] are being caused by dumb bombs  not targeted weapons," Balson said. "It's impossible to use such weapons in these heavily built up areas while ensuring that no civilians lose their lives."

In 2016, Human Rights Watch accused Russia and Syria of killing more than 440 civilians, among them more than 90 children, in a month-long bombing campaign in Aleppo.

Civilian harm monitor Airwars said in a report published last week that nearly 25,000 civilians have allegedly been killed by Russian strikes in Syria since 2015.

Russia and Syria deliberately bombed civilian areas, including medical facilities, and used indiscriminate weapons such as cluster munitions and incendiary bombs, HRW found. Russia's alleged use of "vacuum" and cluster munitions in Ukraine have drawn scrutiny, in part because of the damage the weapons wreaked in Syria.

Five years after Russia began bombing Syria, the United Nations' Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria accused Russia of committing war crimes through its indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas. But no Russian officials have faced trial.

Russia has also been accused of violating international law in Ukraine. Moscow has denied committing war crimes in Syria and said its forces are not targeting civilians in Ukraine.

Russian and Ukrainian officials said they had agreed to a temporary cease-fire Thursday, to allow aid in and evacuees out.

Habib argued that fixating global attention on the establishment of humanitarian corridors, and away from efforts to end hostilities or to establish safe zones, plays into Moscow's hands, in strategic terms.

"They want to empty those cities of their population, so it will be less costly for Russia to take over," Habib said of Russian authorities.

The war in Syria has forced 6.6 million Syrians to flee the country, according to the United Nations, with large numbers heading to Europe following Russia's intervention in September 2015. More than 4 million people fled Ukraine in just over a month of fighting, the U.N. said Wednesday. Three-quarters of Mariupol's population have left the city, according to some estimates.

The refugee exodus is a sign of Russia "exporting the problem," Habib said. As it did in Syria, Russia will seek to portray civilians who stay behind as either Russian allies or enemy combatants  and therefore legitimate targets, Notte warned.

Another element of Russia's Syria playbook on display in Ukraine: disinformation. In Syria, Russia and allies portrayed the White Helmets as terrorists. In Ukraine, the Kremlin has cast Ukrainian officials and soldiers as Nazis.

International law and conflict experts have raised concerns that the lack of accountability for Putin's actions in Syria emboldened the Russian leader. Balson pointed to what he described as a broader pattern of Russian forces killing civilians with impunity, stretching back to its siege of Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, in 1999.

"When the Russian government has intervened," he said, "there has been long-standing, well-documented incidences and patterns of human beings losing their lives, losing access to their resources, losing access to their homes."

In the lead-up to the Ukraine invasion, observers speculated that Putin may be less willing to kill Ukrainians because of the cultural and family ties they share with Russians.

That hasn't proved to be the case. The U.N. said 1,189 civilians had been killed as of Wednesday in Ukraine, in what officials say is a vast undercount. Local officials in Mariupol estimate that 5,000 people have been killed in that city alone.

Still, Ukraine is in many ways better positioned to counter Russian attacks than Syrians were. Ukrainians have taken refuge in bunkers and deep subway systems built to withstand missiles and bombs. And they've put up a fierce and unified resistance, defying Russian and Western expectations.

Unlike the Syria conflict  which Russia fought at relatively low cost by attacking from the sky while Syrian forces and allied militias attacked from the ground  Russia has sent tens of thousands of ground troops into Ukraine, where they are suffering heavy losses.

But as Russian casualties mount and ground offenses falter, experts said, Putin may continue to pivot toward fighting the type of air war he waged in Syria.

"He's started to resort to the Syria low-cost tactics," said Natasha Hall, senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

But Ukraine has received greater international attention and backing than did opposition groups and civilians in Syria, she said  and Russia has already faced greater consequences.

The surprise of some Western observers about Russia's willingness to attack Ukrainian cities has frustrated many Syrians.

"We as Syrians are really saddened to see the same atrocities that we have been suffering from, and we have been calling for the world to stop, are now repeated," Habib, of the White Helmets, said. "And we see that as a direct result for the lack of accountability for what happened previously in Crimea and in Syria."

Syrians who survived Russian bombardment have offered Ukrainians practical tips: Don't respond to bombing scenes until you're sure a second bomb isn't coming, and stock up on food.

The White Helmets, meanwhile, are sharing lessons learned from Syria with Ukrainian partners and translating into Ukrainian its safety guidebook for civilians under attack, Habib said.

"I don't see this ending soon, so they need to be prepared for a long-term war," he said.

Th Washington Post's Miriam Berger contributed to this report.
LVIV, Ukraine (Tribune News Service)  First he missed his flight. Then his gear got lost somewhere between Little Rock and Warsaw. Finally, after traveling thousands of miles to help Ukraine fight the Russian military, the countrys foreign legion rejected him.

Cody Heard, a 29-year-old U.S. Army veteran from Arkansas, was undeterred. He and three other young volunteers  a Brit and two Dutchmen  were headed to the Ukrainian capital the next day to try to hook up with a military reserve unit.

They will take us  I hope, said Heard, hanging outside a hostel in Lviv with his three comrades, all bedraggled after days on the move, their packs lying on the ground. I mean, I messaged them. But I havent heard back yet.

Heard is among hundreds or possibly thousands of foreign nationals who have swooped into Ukraine in recent weeks to join the battle against the Russians. Some are ex-soldiers. Many are not.

They come from the United States, Europe, Asia and across the globe. With their military packs, bundles of gear and self-assured struts, they are conspicuous crossing the border from Medyka, Poland, into

Shehyni, Ukraine, and hanging out on the streets and in the cafes of Lviv, 40 miles east of the Polish frontier.

As Ukrainian refugees continue to flow westward, the would-be fighters stream in the opposite direction.

After Russias Feb. 24 invasion, it was Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy who opened the doors. He invited foreigners to join the new International Defense Legion of Ukraine, a force whose grandiose title recalled the venerable International Brigades that fought for Republican Spain in its doomed bid against fascist forces in the 1930s.

The Ukrainian incarnation got off to a difficult start, to say the least.

In the predawn hours of March 13, a volley of Russian cruise missiles struck a military base about 30 miles from Lviv that was a training hub for both Ukrainian troops and foreign volunteers. Authorities say more than 40 Ukrainians were killed.

No foreign recruits were reported lost, but several survivors posted graphic video of the destruction and said they barely escaped.

I ran out and saw a pillar of fire  I couldnt believe it, recalled Hieu Le, 30, a volunteer and former U.S. Army soldier in Afghanistan. It was a madhouse.

Fearing Russian paratroopers were going to drop in, the volunteers took up defensive positions in the adjacent forests.

Shaken by the experience, many at the base left the country, according to volunteers and various social media accounts. Le spoke by telephone from Croatia, where he was unwinding after his ordeal.

Foreign fighters here have complained of a lack of proper weapons, body armor and other supplies, along with a faulty command structure and shoddy discipline.

Some say they were dispatched to the front unprepared for the intensity of battle.

The general attitude among legionnaires was low morale and a feeling that the Ukrainians were just using us as cannon fodder, said Le, who fought in the bloody battle for Irpin, north of the capital, Kyiv.

Understandably, the Ukrainians have a lot on their hands. They dont want to put too much effort into this force.

The Ukrainian military did not respond to requests for comment and has not said how many foreigners have enlisted, how many have left, how many have been wounded or how many have been killed.

The government of Georgia, the former Soviet republic, has said that three of its citizens  part of a separate Georgian legion  have been killed in Ukraine fighting Russia.

From the outset, volunteers said, the recruitment drive was disorganized.

Ukrainian embassies across the globe were supposed to be the initial point of contact. But many would-be fighters found embassies unresponsive, or simply decided to come to Ukraine without checking in. Volunteers pooled information in online chat rooms and on other social media sites directing them to Poland and across the border to Ukraine  a country that few had contemplated much before the invasion.

The embassy website in Oslo was down when I tried  I heard it was a cyberattack, said a 26-year-old Norwegian volunteer who declined to give his name, citing concerns about his security.

Turning to a Facebook group for guidance, he flew to Warsaw but could find no one to direct him to the border and boarded a train going the wrong way. He finally made it to the Ukrainian border, but was unable to find lodging in a zone overflowing with refugees and slept out in the cold for a night. Finally, he walked to the Ukraine side.

I feel Im sharp now, ready to go, said the Norwegian, who had one year of military service at home, adding: From what I understand, Ill get some training and be ready to fight.

The ranks of volunteers also include medics, search-and-rescue experts and others offering specialized skills.

All express outrage at what they call Russian abuses and a deep admiration for the Ukrainian resistance.

When I started seeing civilians getting hurt, little kids  the same ages as my kids  I was like, This isnt right, said Heard, a father of two, ages 4 and 12.

A warehouse worker at Amazon in Arkansas, he said he left the Army in 2020 after eight years of service without any deployments overseas.

Many of those arriving have no relevant skills  just a profound desire to help Ukraine.

If they have room for one more, Im here, and Im ready to sign up and go, said Jeffrey Trautmann, 50, a retired chemistry professor from the Chicago area who was waiting on a recent afternoon outside the foreign legion welcome tent on the Ukrainian side of the border with Poland.

I would fight for Ukraine. I would. These are good people.

His lack of military experience will probably be an issue for Ukrainian officers, who do initial vetting at the border post. Some volunteers are rejected outright. Others are sent for up to four weeks of training. Those deemed battle-ready are quickly incorporated into fighting units, volunteers said.

Many have encountered logistical and financial hurdles coming here. In Heards case, his luggage was lost on flights between Little Rock and Warsaw, including his body armor, helmet and other gear, all worth more than $1,000.

He said the legion turned him down at the border because he refused to sign a contract that would have bound him until the conflict ended.

I told them, Im not signing a contract, he said Im here to help you guys. I can give you a month. But I have a job and family to get back to. I have a life.

He and his three comrades were hoping for better luck once they got to Kyiv.

At least one foreign fighter has become something of an online celebrity.

James Vasquez, a 47-year-old home building contractor and Army veteran from Connecticut, has been drawing millions of views on Twitter by posting videos from undisclosed front lines.

On March 24, he tweeted that his unit had destroyed seven Russian tanks and liberated a village that had been occupied for a month by Russians who terrorized the people and took their food.

Its been a long day, baby, he wrote.

Vasquez said the attention has helped raise almost $50,000 to purchase Kevlar helmets, rifle parts, uniforms and other much-needed equipment.

On March 17, when he still was at the Polish border, Vasquez tweeted that some volunteers were being barred entry to Ukraine because of a couple of incidents where foreign soldiers turned on Ukraine soldiers.

But Vasquez said his U.S. passport was well-received at checkpoints.

They let me right through because they think its awesome an American soldier is here to fight along side them, he wrote.

2022 Los Angeles Times.

Visit latimes.com .
A federal commission created by Congress has published for the first time its official list of Defense Department assets it will consider for name changes over links to the Confederacy.

The so-called Naming Commission on Wednesday released the list of 758 Defense Department items at U.S. military installations around the world that it said likely honor Confederate officials and causes, including hundreds of signs, roads, memorials, vessels and buildings on posts in the U.S., Germany and Japan. The commission, which was created in 2020, said decisions about which items the panel would recommend for changes or estimated costs associated with those actions had yet to be determined.

We will update the inventory list in collaboration with the Department of Defense, including its sub-agencies and the military branches, as we continue to identify assets within our area of consideration, said retired Navy Adm. Michelle Howard, the Naming Commissions chairwoman. This work is vital to understand the scope and estimated cost of renaming or removing Confederate-named assets and will enable us to provide the most accurate report possible to Congress.

The commissions final report is due to Congress on Oct. 1, a deadline the commission said it is likely to meet. A spokesperson for the commission said cost estimates for the name changes, which include nine Army installations across the U.S. southeast, would not be released until that report was provided to lawmakers. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is expected to make final decisions on renaming installations and other Defense Department assets as soon as next year, based on the commissions work.

Earlier this month, the panel announced it would formally recommend changes for those nine Army posts  Fort Polk in Louisiana, Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia, Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett in Virginia, Fort Rucker in Alabama, and Fort Hood in Texas. The installations, each in former Confederate states, were named for Confederate officers during the 1910s and 1940s during the souths Jim Crow era. The commission said last year that it would not recommend a name change for Camp Beauregard in Louisiana, which was also named for a Confederate general, because it is owned by that states National Guard and is not within the commissions authority to consider.

The vast majority of the items the commission labeled for potential change are owned by the Army, including dozens of signs bearing the names of the nine installations that it will recommend for renaming. For example, of the 31 items that it is considering on Fort Bragg  named for Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg  only 10 are unrelated to the posts name. Those include streets named for Confederate generals Thomas Stonewall Jackson, Lewis Armistead and George Randolph.

The list includes 10 items at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., primarily streets, signs, paintings and buildings honoring Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, who was an 1829 West Point graduate. Lee later served as the institutions superintendent before resigning his commission in 1861 to lead the Confederate Army during the Civil War.

It also includes three memorials at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia  one each honoring Lee and Jackson and another dedicated to Confederate soldiers.

In Germany, the commission is looking at seven streets likely named for Confederates on U.S. Army Garrison Bavaria and U.S. Army Garrison Rheinland-Pfalz.

In Japan, the commission is considering the names of three Army boats  LCU-2022 Harpers Ferry, LCU-2025 Malvern Hill and LCU-2027 Mechanicsville  based at Yokohama North Dock, which were likely named for Confederate battlefield victories. It is also looking at two Navy vessels stationed at Yokosuka Naval Base for different reasons. The commission is considering recommending changes to the USS Shiloh  named for U.S. Gen. Ulysses S. Grants first major victory during the Civil War. It features crossed and furled U.S. and Confederate flags on its crest. It is also considering a recommendation to rename the USS Chancellorsville, which is named for a Confederate victory.

Congress mandated the commission in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, which sets annual spending and policy priorities for the Defense Department. Lawmakers did so as Army and Pentagon leaders began looking at stripping bases of Confederate-linked names in mid-2020 amid a nationwide racial reckoning after the Memorial Day killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Then-President Donald Trump vetoed the law, objecting to the renaming commission, but Congress overrode his veto.

Commissioners  appointed last year by the Pentagon and lawmakers  have spent recent months touring military installations and meeting behind closed doors with community leaders. The panel said it received tens of thousands of public suggestions for new names for the Army posts. It has since narrowed its potential name recommendations to 87.

The list includes fallen Army Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe, who was the only Black service member to receive the Medal of Honor for actions in Iraq or Afghanistan; Audie Murphy, the most decorated U.S. soldier during World War II who went on to become an actor; Army Gen. Colin Powell, the only Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and former secretary of state; and Mary Walker, the Armys first female surgeon who was awarded the Medal of Honor for lifesaving actions during the Civil War and remains the woman in U.S. history to earn the nations highest military honor.
WASHINGTON  House lawmakers are urging the Pentagon to provide generous access to a new basic needs allowance for low-income service members, arguing wide eligibility and enrollment is needed to combat food and financial insecurity in the military.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Democratic lawmakers this week asked for housing stipends to be excluded from eligibility calculations to the greatest extent possible and recommended eligible families automatically receive the stipend unless they specifically opt out of it.

We look forward to working with the [Defense] Department to ensure that no one who serves our country has to worry about putting food on their table, wrote Reps. Adam Smith, D-Wash., Jackie Speier, D-Calif., David Scott, D-Ga., and Jahana Hayes, D-Conn.

An estimated 160,000 active-duty service members, particularly those in junior ranks, struggle to feed themselves and their families, according to a 2021 estimate by the nonprofit organization Feeding America. Low pay, high rates of unemployment for military spouses, and high costs of living all contribute to food insecurity, the organization said.

In November, Austin announced new guidelines to help military leaders identify service members who experience hunger and connect them to support programs. He also tasked Pentagon officials with drafting a long-term plan to strengthen food security.

Congress authorized the basic needs allowance last year to help the militarys most vulnerable families, targeting households with incomes that fall below 130% of the federal poverty level. For a family of three, that amounts to $28,550 in 2022.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that 10,200 service members would receive the new benefit, which would average $400 per month. Rules for how allowances will be calculated are still being drafted and the first checks are not expected to be distributed until next year.

Lawmakers are also recommending the Defense Department certify eligibility for the allowance annually to remove administrative burdens for the neediest members of the armed services.
Troops will soon have a new way to spice up their rations in the field.

The batch of Meals, Ready to Eat in production this year will include powdered hot sauce for the first time, military officials told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.

The iconic tiny bottles of Tabasco sauce will be phased out by 2024, said Julie Smith, senior food technologist for the Armys Combat Feeding Division.

The hot sauce shift is one of several changes to MREs approved in February. The 2022 batch will introduce fruit pouches, a coconut almond bar, and a Mexican-rice-and-bean-bowl meal, an Army document summarizing the changes said.

The military also approved 10 new items for MREs in the coming years. Chicken stir-fry meals with carrots, bamboo shoots and ginger soy sauce are slated to arrive by 2024. A new recipe for spaghetti with beef and sauce, granola, lemon cheesecake, an apple dessert spread and larger portions of jalapeno cashews and smoked almonds are also on the way within the next two years.

Subtractions from this years menu include the creamy spinach fettucine meal, wheat snack bread and flavored cappuccino powder, the document said.

The changes were the result of troop feedback and an emphasis on reducing weight in MREs, Smith said.

Military rations have featured mini bottles of Tabasco for decades. Generations of troops have used the iconic red pepper sauce to liven up field rations.

But the glass bottles add up in weight and cost when produced by the millions, Smith said.

The military tried to wean itself off the bottles in 2011 by sealing the hot sauce in plastic packets. But the company that produced these pouches stopped making them, Smith said, so the military reverted to the glass bottles in 2019.

The powdered hot sauce received higher ratings by troops during testing, and it is lighter and cheaper, Smith said.

The military tests each item in MREs via questionnaires and focus groups. The Armys consumer research team provides MREs to troops in training and asks them to rate each item on a scale of 1 to 9.

The highest-rated entree is usually the chili macaroni, and the lowest is often the egg omelet, which received a rating of 2 one year, said Wendy Johnson, a research psychologist on the team.

Troops also give high ratings to the bottles of Tabasco but dont always actually use them, Johnson said.

In addition to administering surveys, researchers sift through the garbage after meals to see what was left behind.

We had a lot of unopened bottles of hot sauce, Johnson said, which led them to conclude that some troops want more options for their hot sauce.

The military hopes to have two kinds of powdered hot sauce available by 2024, Smith said, adding they are still researching better ways to put liquid hot sauce into packets.

Theres also ongoing research on special rations for troops working in extremely hot or cold weather, Smith said, and some troops are now trying out rations that include high-carbohydrate energy gels and protein packs.

The most common feedback from troops is that they crave variety and tire of repetition, said Caelli Craig, another research psychologist on the consumer research team.

Its just more exciting for them to see a new item or something they havent seen a hundred times before, Craig said. I think thats where its going, just increasing that variety.
ATLANTA (Tribune News Service)  The Sons of Confederate Veterans plan to return to Stone Mountain Park next month for their (mostly) annual celebration of Confederate Memorial Day.

State officials denied the Confederate groups request to gather for a ceremony last year, citing the possibility of a clear and present danger to public health or safety among the reasons.

But records obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution showed this years permit application  submitted by Richard K. Straut, a SCV representative whos also running for a seat in the Georgia state Senate  was approved earlier this month.

Activists called the Stone Mountain Memorial Association allowing the event a tone deaf decision for a state entity thats purportedly taking steps to soften its ties to the Confederacy.

Memorial association CEO Bill Stephens, meanwhile, said the Sons of Confederate Veterans have gathered for years in front of the mountain and its massive carving of Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. The event is usually small and respectful and pre-event news coverage and social media have more recently inflamed tensions, he said.

He also reiterated that COVID-19 was a factor in last springs permit denial.

At that time, societal tensions over racial justice, white supremacy and Confederate monuments were at a fever pitch.

Tributes to the Lost Cause were coming down across the country and advocates had renewed their push for changes at state-run Stone Mountain Park. A few months earlier, far-right militia groups and leftist counter-protesters had clashed in the streets of the nearby city of Stone Mountain.

With the volatile nature of events of the immediate past and ongoing today, there is a clear and present danger to members of the [Sons of Confederate Veterans], potential counter protesters, park employees and guests, Stephens wrote in denying last years permit.

Several dozen members of the Confederate groups mechanized cavalry ultimately rode motorcycles around the park in lieu of holding a ceremony.

Responding to questions about the decision to allow the event this time around, Stephens said First Amendment rights and state law (which mandates that Stone Mountain Park be maintained as a monument to the Confederacy) had to be considered.

As we continue to move back towards a new normal, Stephens wrote in an emailed statement, we will begin to receive more requests for gatherings and parades from all quarters, and unless law enforcement intelligence issues us a warning of potential violence or a clear and present danger, then we will err towards maintaining an open and welcoming environment.

The Stone Mountain Action Coalition is an activist group that continues to push for changes to Confederate tributes at the park, up to and including the removal of the carving  the creation of which spanned decades and has ties not just to the Jim Crow Era and the Ku Klux Klan but also to white Georgia leaders resistance to federally mandated desegregation.

This is yet another example of the Stone Mountain board prioritizing the glorification of the Confederacy over the desire of Georgia taxpayers to simply enjoy their public park, the activists said.

Straut, the Sons of Confederate Veterans representative who filed for the event permit, had not responded to phone calls or emails at the time of publication.

The website for the Georgia division of the SCV listed him as an adjutant for the group. He was also a named plaintiff in a 2021 lawsuit that sought  and failed  to re-erect a Confederate monument that had been removed from the downtown Decatur square.

Straut is one of three Republican candidates seeking the Gainesville-area state Senate seat left up for grabs when incumbent Butch Millers decided to run for lieutenant governor. Former Hall County Commissioner Scott Gibbs and current Hall County Commissioner Shelly Echols are also on the ballot for the May primary.

On his campaign website, Straut, a retired cop, touts his nearly three-decade career with the Atlanta Police Department and vows to never bow to the threats and bullying tactics of the liberal mob.

The site did not appear to mention his involvement with the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The groups Confederate Memorial Day event is scheduled to take place on Stone Mountain Parks memorial lawn on the morning of April 30. Documents suggest up to 200 people could attend.

Martin OToole  an SCV member who is also a leader with the Charles Martel Society, an Atlanta-based white nationalist organization  is listed as the keynote speaker.

(c)2022 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Atlanta, Ga.)

Visit at www.ajc.com
WASHINGTON  The United States is delivering military aid to Ukraine at record rates despite criticism from some congressional lawmakers that supplies are moving too slowly, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.

All of the equipment and supplies included in an $800 million military aid package approved by President Joe Biden on March 16 will be in Ukrainian hands in roughly two weeks, the official told reporters at the Pentagon.

The first delivery arrived on the 20th  four days after the president signed [the order], the official said. That's fast for any measure by which we are doing that.

The aid package, which includes nearly 17,000 weapons such as anti-aircraft, anti-armor and anti-tank systems, tactical drones and small arms, makes up almost half of the $2 billion in security assistance that the U.S. has sent Ukraine since January 2021, according to the White House.

We expect that well be able to finish the delivery of the $800 million by the middle of April, the defense official said. I dont know how anyone can describe that as anything other than expeditious and aggressive.

The comments follow those by Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., who said Wednesday during a House Armed Services Committee hearing that deliveries to Ukraine should be made faster as the country enters its fifth week defending against a Russian invasion.

The issue that has come up is a delay in providing the equipment to the people of Ukraine, Wittman told Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, commander of U.S. European Command, and Celeste Wallander, assistant defense secretary for international security affairs. We need both of you with the positions you have to act quickly.

At the same hearing, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., questioned the officials about the timeliness of getting these munitions and supplies to the Ukrainians.

We know that's particularly important as we are working to get those 1,000s of stinger missiles and javelins to the forces there, he said. There is, I think, sometimes a lack of clarity about how that's being accomplished and what the urgency is with that.

Wilson said delivery speed is especially critical now as some Russian troops begin to regroup after weeks of failing to achieve progress toward Ukraines capital Kyiv.

The Russians right now are limited in their maneuver[ability,] which is a big advantage for the Ukrainians, he said. The problem is that we're at one of those tipping points that [if] we really don't go all in to help them, then they won't have a chance to defeat the Russians.

Chief Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Thursday that the Defense Department would not agree that [shipments have] been slowed, noting the military has delivered six shipments of military material in about 11 days.

I will tell you that things aren't sitting long at these intermediate staging shipment sites before they're getting picked up by convoys and taken into Ukraine, he said.

The Defense Department is breaking delivery time records when it comes to Ukraine shipments. For example, a $350 million military aid package approved Feb. 26 was delivered in three weeks, "which is unheard of," Kirby said.

Still, he acknowledged reports that some Ukrainian lawmakers have asked their U.S. counterparts in Congress to hasten the U.S. militarys deliveries.

We appreciate and respect that the Ukrainians want this stuff, and they want it like yesterday, Kirby said. We know time is not on their side  we don't think it's on our side either, which is why we're working really, really hard.

The full aid package includes 800 Stinger anti-aircraft systems, 2,000 Javelin anti-tank missiles, 1,000 light anti-armor weapons, 6,000 AT-4 anti-armor systems, 100 tactical drones, 100 grenade launchers, 5,000 rifles, 1,000 pistols, 400 machine guns, 400 shotguns, more than 20 million small arms ammunitions and mortar rounds and 25,000 sets of body armor and helmets, the White House has said.

Were going to get these materials in as fast as we can, Kirby said. It's happening as you and I are actually talking right now.
(Tribune News Service)  The U.S. Army has granted a Maryland veteran the Prisoner of War Medal, ending a battle hes fought with the Armys bureaucracy for 18 years and opening the door for other veterans who have been denied the award under similar circumstances.

Ron Dolecki, 76, was part of an Army team carrying out a classified mapping mission in Ethiopia in 1965 when armed guerrillas ambushed him, his helicopter pilot and a local translator and forced them to march 155 miles across the Sahara desert to a spot were they were held captive under harsh conditions for two weeks.

Dolecki managed to escaped from the guerrillas, members of an anti-Ethiopian rebel group known as the Eritrean Liberation Front, and made his way to the Sudanese-Ethiopian border, where friendly forces rescued him.

In 2004, Dolecki, who is also a retired CIA employee, applied for the POW Medal for the first time. The award is for those who have been taken prisoner and held captive while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States and who meet other criteria.

But the Army Awards and Decorations Branch rejected his application because of a dispute over how his captors should be characterized.

Branch officials told Dolecki the Eritrean Liberation Front did not qualify as an armed enemy force because the U.S. had not declared war with Eritrea or Ethiopia at the time.

Dolecki applied for the award three subsequent times, each time providing more documentation to contest the branchs accounts. Along the way, his cadre of backers grew to include four U.S. senators, two battalion commanders and military historians, but still the Army denied each appeal.

However, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland confirmed Wednesday that the Army had finally granted the POW Medal to both Dolecki and Jack Kalmbach, the pilot who was captured with him. Kalmbach died in 2015 at age 87.

Army officials did not respond to requests for comment.

The decision came after Van Hollen, who has been supporting Doleckis cause for years, wrote new language into the National Defense Authorization Act for 2022 that he crafted with the specific aim of making it clear that Dolecki qualified for the award. President Joe Biden signed the act into law in December.

Finally theres some measure of justice for Ron Dolecki, Van Hollen said. He was on duty with the U.S. military when he was taken prisoner. The Army needs to recognize his service and sacrifice and recognize the hardships he endured as part of that service. This is great news, and its long overdue.

Historians say the Prisoner of War Medal, a military honor authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1985, was written with the broad intent of recognizing brave and honorable conduct on the part of captive U.S. soldiers. It was meant to recognize qualifying soldiers taken prisoner as far back as April 5, 1917, the day before the U.S. entered World War I.

According to its original version, the medal was to be awarded to anyone taken prisoner or held captive while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing Armed Force; or while serving with friendly forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing Armed Force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.

Military historian Joseph Kaufmann, who wrote a book on Doleckis unit, the 64th Topographic Engineer Battalion of the Corps of Engineers, which carried out the top-secret Ethi-U. S. Mapping Mission in the 1960s, said Doleckis previous rejections miss the spirit of the medal.

These field parties  often supported by aircraft  crossed deserts, mountains, and jungles, operating in areas that included everything from deadly snakes to lions and an array of diseases, he told The Baltimore Sun in 2020, adding that the then-20-year-old faced grave perils and handled himself courageously while crossing the desert.

He had absolutely nothing with him, including nothing to protect himself with, Kauffman said. Unless you have been in the field and surrounded by hyenas, and hear their whooping noise, you dont know how dangerous that can be.

In 2013, an amendment to Title 10 of the United States Code made the criteria for the medal less legalistic. But in December 2020, Van Hollen, then a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, argued on the Senate floor that the Army continued to incorrectly apply the previous standard to Doleckis case.

Van Hollen then wrote language for the military funding bill aimed at clarifying that Dolecki qualifies. It became part of current National Defense Authorization Act.

Doleckis case eventually made its way to the desk of Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, who has authority to award the medal.

The Army had not contacted Dolecki about the matter as of Wednesday night, but Army officials did contact Van Hollens staff by email to relay the news, which Van Hollens office shared with the veteran.

The Army also mailed the medal to the senators office in Rockville, and an Army official let Van Hollens staff know that if Dolecki wished to have a ceremony marking the occasion, the Army would provide one.

Dolecki has told the staff he would indeed enjoy such an occasion, and he hopes theyll be able to set it up with the military before too long.

As far as the medal goes, it has been a long, long struggle to obtain it, he said. After all this time, Ill certainly treasure it all the more.

2022 Baltimore Sun.

Visit baltimoresun.com.

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Press Release

March 31, 2022 Dispatch from Crame No. 1240:

Sen. Leila M. de Lima on China's reiteration of its fallacious claim over Panatag Shoal 3/31/22 China's claim that Panatag Shoal is part of Chinese territory is more absurd than Russia's assertion that Ukraine is part of Russia. Panatag Shoal consists of rocks that cannot sustain human habitation or economic life of their own that are found in international waters. During high tide, Panatag Shoal becomes almost indistinguishable from the featureless waters surrounding it. The international waters surrounding Panatag Shoal cannot be owned by any nation, least of all by one whose nearest shore is almost a thousand kilometers away and whose claim at best is based on a self-serving historical narrative that has no currency whatsoever under international law. On the other hand, Panatag Shoal is within the Philippines' 200 nautical mile Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), and in that portion that is not even overlapped by any EEZ of any other country. As part of its EEZ, the Philippines has exclusive sovereign rights over the exploration and exploitation of marine resources in Panatag Shoal. The Philippine EEZ is solidly based on an international treaty, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which China also signed and which it also uses to claim exclusive use of its own EEZ that surrounds its coastal areas. However, by some twisted logic, China deprives the Philippines the same right over its EEZ under UNCLOS by virtue of an imaginary Nine-Dash Line it has arbitrarily drawn on a map to claim the whole of the South China Sea, including Panatag Shoal and the Spratly Islands. China's latest reiteration that its claim over Panatag Shoal is based on international law is therefore nothing more than a lie that if repeated several times, China hopes to become true. Unfortunately for China, international law cannot be based on mere propaganda. There is nothing in international law that allows international waters to be owned as part of the territory not only of an adjacent country, much less one that is hundreds of kilometers away. The Philippines does not even have to argue what international law is on the issue of Panatag Shoal. This has already been settled in the July 2016 decision of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the case of Philippines v. China that declared China's Nine-Dash Line claim over the whole South China Sea as bereft of any legal basis under international law. China denies all these facts, of course, because one day it hopes to realize its claim over the South China Sea, Panatag Shoal, and the Spratly Islands not through international law, but through stealth or even force, just like what Russia did to Ukraine. Only then, China has to deal with the international backlash that comes with the illegal annexation of territories, similar to what Russia has to deal with now in its invasion of Ukraine.
Winston Watusi

Music Plus

All of us have wished, sometime, for a time machine.

It would come in handy for many a situation: the brief instant you realise you have just fallen out of a tree; the moment after you fail that breathalyser test; Im sure you can all think of something

But I was musing in line with that old dinner party game: If you could go back anywhere in time, where/when would you go?

Recently Peter Jackson helped out, taking us back to the Beatles sessions for Let It Be, allowing us to be flies on the wall as music long part of the soundtrack of our lives was created in front of our eyes.

It was immersive. It was amazing. It went on for bloody ages.

Yes, albeit fascinating for devotees, for the more casual music fan, spending more than nine hours hanging with the Beatles was a bit much.

I loved it, every engrossing second. But at the end I must confess I had no desire to see more Beatles for the indefinite future. So, imagine my delight when, as a birthday present, my brother presented me with a new 640-page book about The Beatles: One Two Three Four by Craig Brown.

Beatles books

The last thing I wanted was another deep Beatle dive and its not like theres a shortage of Beatles books: there are hundreds of them. Phillip Normans 1981 biography Shout!: The True Story of the Beatles was once considered definitive; though he followed it with John Lennon: The Life in 2008, and Paul McCartney: The Biography in 2016. There have been scurrilous scandalmongers such as Albert Goldman, and the vast and official Anthology. Possibly the most extreme is Mark Lewisohns The Beatles Day by Day, chronicling every single day of the bands activities. There are even books assessing the merits of Beatles books.

So this was not the present I most desired. But, colour me seven shades of surprised, its fantastic!

It comprises 150 short chapters, each with a theme, acutely-observed and beautifully-written: from guided tours of restored Beatles homes to the story of Melanie Coe, who inspired She's Leaving Home and the Singing Nun, it takes many paths less travelled, following others who shared the Fab Fours orbit, building almost a societal kaleidoscope, with a real feel for the times. And those times were a while ago: Ive been luxuriating in 1962 and 1963, the years the Beatles made it, 60 years ago.

Pete Best

It was in November 1962 that they callously had their manager fire original drummer Pete Best, replacing him with Ringo. And Pete had been through a lot with the band.

They would regularly freeze half to death driving to gigs in small halls and would occasionally play schools at lunchtime. They were unknown outside Liverpool. Playing in Hamburg had not advanced their careers but they hoped that the chance to record for EMI (they had been turned down by Decca and others) might help. That manager, Brian Epstein, ran his parents local record shop, and paid them 50 to 60 pounds each a week.

Then Brown writes: Just six days after Petes dismissal John, Paul, George and Ringo are filmed by Grenada TV at a lunchtime concert in the Cavern. Pete goes along to watch them. On his way out Pauls father Jim spots him and exclaims triumphantly Great isnt it? Theyre on TV!

Sorry, Mr McCartney, replies Pete. Im not the right person to ask.

During the next two years, the Beatles collectively gross 17 million pounds.

Wow. This book keeps smacking you with mind-boggling details, and delightful tangents. For instance, this is from New Musical Express (that paper that did so much to promote punk rock): His violent hip-swinging was revolting, hardly the performance any parent would wish her children to see.

Elvis? PJ Proby? Nah, the Beatles rival, Cliff Richard in 1962, king of the charts. Yet by the end of 1963, a music critic described it as a bent-kneed shuffle, not so much a sexual courtship dance as a suggestion that hed wet himself. Cliff had become a family entertainer; the Beatles had taken over rock n roll.
Angie Warren-Clark

Labour MP

When it comes to the health and wellbeing of our communities its our local organisations who really understand their needs, whats working and what needs tweaking. Its so important to have our government in Tauranga seeing whats happening on the ground, hearing from their frontline staff and local MPs. We recently had the honour of hosting our Minister of Health Hon Andrew Little. He requested this because he was really keen to hear how our Integrated Primary Mental Health and Addiction Service funding is going in our community. Amongst our visits was Pathways, who provide community-based mental health, addiction and wellbeing services. To be in the presence of such a dedicated and skilled team was truly humbling! Their Youth brand Real runs Whetu Marewa, a youth service supporting 12 to 24 year olds living with mild to moderate mental health and addiction-related issues and social stressors. This has been running almost a year now and has been a game-changer for those they support. The youth we heard from shared their journeys from feeling helpless to having hope, goals and dreams of a future.

We can breathe a little easier now the peak of Omicron is in sight and were expecting a countrywide plateau, then a drop in case numbers. Its the right time to review the framework, adapting our restrictions. A number of the tools we developed to face COVID-19 were designed to protect an unvaccinated population from earlier variants. With such high vaccination rates, and the immunity acquired from the current outbreak, we can manage future waves of Omicron with less restrictive settings.

Now at RED, face masks are required for indoor venues but no longer required outdoors. Indoor capacity limits where My Vaccine Pass is used have gone up to 200 people. On April 4th, My Vaccine Passes will no longer be required. There are no capacity limits for outdoor settings which I know is a relief to so many locals in our arts sector. The art, entertainment and culture you bring to the table does wonders for the health and wellbeing of our community. Now we can look and ahead and plan for those big events with confidence.

At ORANGE, we see no capacity limits indoor or outdoor, with face masks required in many indoor settings. At GREEN there will no longer be face masking requirements though they are encouraged as we want people to keep up good health habits, and look after those that are higher-risk. We know that face masks help reduce the spread, especially in indoor settings as its supported by a significant body of international evidence.

QR scanning is also no longer required. On April 4th vaccine mandates will not be required for education, police and defence workforces and businesses who had previously been using My Vaccine Passes. Its comforting to now be able to look ahead to a new beginning. Of course, if another variant emerges that is more severe, we will understandably take public health advice as to the best approach.
One of the 13 defendants accused of health and safety breaches in the lead up to the deadly Whakaari eruption has pleaded guilty and been ordered to pay more than a quarter of a million dollars.

Inflite, a scenic flight operator based in Auckland, changed its plea to guilty today.

Judge Evangelos Thomas fined the company $227,500 and ordered it to pay prosecution costs of $40,000.

There were 47 people on the volcano when it erupted in December 2019, most of them international tourists.

Twenty-two people were killed and many others were seriously injured.

The others charged were: the island's owner Whakaari Management Limited and its directors Andrew, James and Peter Buttle; GNS Science; the National Emergency Management Agency; White Island Tours Limited; Volcanic Air Safaris Limited; Aerius Limited; Kahu NZ Limited; I D Tours New Zealand Limited; and Tauranga Tourism Services Limited.

The remaining 12 defendants have all pleaded not guilty and a four-month trial has been set to start in July 2023.

Inflite did not operate the tours itself, but promoted and sold tour packages to the island off the Whakatane coastline.

The day of the eruption, Inflite operated a tour to Whakaari using Kahu as the tour provider. However, no Inflite tourists were on the island when it erupted as they returned shortly after midday.

Judge Thomas told the court at an earlier sentence indication hearing it was only "luck" that Inflite did not have customers on the island at the time of the eruption.

WorkSafe lawyer Steve Symon told the court that at the time Inflite failed in its obligation to ensure adequate risk assessment and provide clear communication on the risks to its customers when booking.

Inflite's lawyer Alistair Darroch argues its role was as a "ticketing agency" and the obligation fell on those contracted to do the tour.

He maintained the company was entitled to rely on GeoNet's risk assessments.

However, today Darroch said the guilty plea was in recognition of the business's shortcomings.

"It is appropriate for all those involved in the island to reflect on what happened and look at what might have been done better.

"Inflite had a limited and specific role in the island. It acknowledges it did not do all it should have done and its guilty plea is a recognition of that.

"It regrets it did not achieve the high standard it attempts to in all its operations."

Judge Thomas said today, Inflite failed to ensure reasonably practical steps were taken.

"The failures it has pleaded guilty to are that it failed to undertake an adequate risk assessment, or implement itself, appropriate controls to ensure the health and safety of tourists to Whakaari.

"This includes a failure to ensure that its subcontractors were ensuring the health and safety of its customers."

He said Inflite failed to monitor and review known hazards after the changes in volcanic alert levels.

"Thirdly it failed to ensure there was adequate risk information was available to its customers so that its customers could make an informed decision, whether or not, to go on the island."

The charge carried a maximum penalty of $1.5 million.

The summary of facts

The summary of facts said Inflite did not have a safety management system or any safe operating procedures for conducting guided tours on Whakaari.

The summary also said Inflite did not provide adequate safety information to tourists, at any stage of the booking and tour process.

It said Inflite's PPE for tourists, including gas masks, was "inadequate".

"They did not provide adequate protection against the high concentrations of hydrogen sulphide and sulphur dioxide on Whakaari. The masks were also 'one size fits all' yet did not fit all face shapes, people with small faces or those with beards."

Just before the volcanic eruption on December 9 2019, Inflite operated a tour to Whakaari using the helicopter business Kahu NZ as the provider.

The group spent an hour and a half on the tour and returned to Whakatane shortly after midday.

-RNZ/Leah Tebbutt.
Police and Parliament are on alert for more protest action from the anti-mandate movement.

Following the 23-day occupation a new group has sprung up demanding an end to all Covid-19 restrictions.

It is collecting donations to fund more demonstrations and despite claiming to be transparent and open, members have registered their website through anonymising services and are using codenames like Alpha, Echo, Charlie and Guerilla.

Ten days ago a group calling itself Unite announced on the social media app Telegram it intended to carry out more protests in Wellington.

The group's website was registered through an anonymising third party to domain host Epik.

Epik is known for previously hosting controversial clients such as the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer and the notorious 8chan message board.

RNZ identified some of those involved in Unite, including Tessa Jefferis.

Jefferis told RNZ there was nothing nefarious about the secrecy surrounding the group and she has a right to privacy.

"On a personal level we're all interested in the subject of privacy, which is another very big and broad-sweeping human rights question and might not be something the average person thinks about a huge amount," she says.

"But you can't conflate the desire for privacy in your personal life with this idea of having anonymity and having something to hide. They really can't be conflated."

The protest at Parliament is supposedly about vaccine mandates, and those outside of health, Corrections and border control are set to scrapped on April 4, along with vaccine pass requirements.

But the legal framework for them will remain as does the ability for businesses to choose to use them.

That's why protests will continue, Jefferis says.

"There'll be protest action until we, first, get an acknowledgement. Second, we get an apology. Third, we get justice. And fourth . . . personally, I'm not stopping until the Covid-19 Health Response Act legislation is obliterated."

Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver.

The group is also collecting donations through a bank account listed on its website.

Jefferis says they are committed to keeping precise financial details and being transparent with donors, though she would not commit to publicly releasing them.

"That bank account will be going purely to the protest events in the short-term, and actually I don't believe we've actually received too many donations yet because we haven't really put it out there much. We just kind of slipped it on to the website."

Call for law change around donations

But National Maori Authority chairperson Matthew Tukaki, who raised his concerns about the financing of the 23-day occupation at Parliament, warns people to think carefully about giving money.

"I just urge everybody, all New Zealanders, to be aware of where your money is going. There is no transparency whatsoever around these calls for donations."

He wants a law change to ensure absolute transparency.

"Whether that be about entity establishment, whether that be about the ability to raise donations, including foreign donations coming in as well, because the reality is when you fundraise these sorts of activities we have no transparency over money coming in from overseas and therefore what entities they're coming from as well.

"So we really do need to ensure there is reform in this space."

Photo: Supplied.

Anti-misinformation group FACT Aotearoa's spokesperson Stephen Judd says he questions Unite's motives as Covid-19 legislation and controls have been thoroughly examined.

"They talk about a government that is tyrannical and they talk about gross human rights violations, and that just doesn't sit with observable reality from our point of view," he says.

"Obviously there are issues with mandates, even though they are becoming historical, and there are issues with process and legality throughout the Covid response, but they've been dealt with in the courts and they've been dealt with through normal democratic means.

"So if people are still claiming there's tyranny and using words like complicit, you've got to suspect there really is a conspiracy theory core to what these people are thinking.

"I think this is borne out by the activity we've seen today, which is largely driven by people who believe in the so-called sovereign citizen conspiracy theory and what's been left after the first round of protests have shaken out is the conspiracy theory core and people who just don't really believe in democracy."

One person was arrested on the forecourt of parliament yesterday afternoon for breaching his bail conditions after a group of about 15 protesters briefly gathered.

Police say they left peacefully after discussions with officers.

'Low tolerance' of disruption - police

Security has been stepped up at Parliament and people have been advised to work from home until further notice due to the spectre of protest.

"As a precaution, additional police staff have been called in from outside of the Wellington Police District and plans are in place to respond if required," a police spokesperson says.

"Police have a low tolerance of any activity that could lead to disruption of Parliament, critical roads or residents.

"While police will respect the right to lawful protest, any behaviour deemed unlawful or that disrupts people from going about their lawful business will not be tolerated.

"As we have done since the end of the last protest at Parliament, police will maintain a high visibility in the area."

-RNZ/Tim Brown.
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WTF?! Are you a long-time user of Wyze cameras? Then here's some bad news: a vulnerability was discovered that could allow strangers unauthorized, remote access to the company's home security cameras, and it took Wyze three years to fix it.

Bitdefender security researchers found three vulnerabilities in Wyze cameras back in 2019. One allowed hackers to bypass the authentication process to gain remote connection and control of the cameras, including tilting and turning them off, though they couldn't view the encrypted remote feed. However, the second issue was one of the standard stack buffer overflow variety, allowing attackers access to the live feed combined with the remote authentication bypass.

The third vulnerability allowed access the contents of the SD card within the camera via a webserver listening on port 80 without requiring authentication. Some users avoid the company's cloud subscription fees and instead store their recordings on a local SD card, which also contains device log files such as the UID (unique identification number) and the ENR (AES encryption key).

Bitdefender first contacted Wyze in March 2019 and shared information about these proof-of-concept vulnerabilities. The authentication bypass flaw (CVE-2019-9564) was addressed by a Wyze security update on September 24, 2019, and it wasn't until November 9, 202021 months after its discoverythat an app update fixed the remote execution vulnerability (CVE-2019-12266).

The SD card issue appears to have been dealt with in an even worse manner by Wyze. It was addressed in a firmware update that was pushed out on January 29, 2022, and that was only available for Wyze Cam v2 and v3, which were released in February 2018 and October 2020, respectively. The Wyze Cam v1 that launched in August 2017 was left vulnerable, writes Bleeping Computer. Wyze discontinued this first-gen camera in January without saying why.

Wyze did tell its customers that "your continued use of the WyzeCam after February 1, 2022 carries increased risk, is discouraged by Wyze, and is entirely at your own risk."

Most researchers give companies a grace period, often 30 to 90 days, to disclose any discovered vulnerabilities before doing it themselves. Sometimes those who discovered the problem jump the gun; back in 2018, Epic Games blasted Google for disclosing a Fortnite Android exploit early. So why did Bitdefender wait so long? Company PR director Steve Fiore told The Verge:
In a nutshell: Apple and Facebook parent Meta handed over customer data to a group of hackers who were masquerading as law enforcement officials, according to a new report. Using Emergency Data Requests, the criminals were able to gather customers' physical addresses, phone numbers, and IP addresses.

Citing three people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg writes that Apple and Meta were responding to forged Emergency Data Request (EDR) forms. While standard data requests are only provided by a warrant or a judge, EDRs, used in cases where there is an imminent danger, don't require a court order. According to the report, the stolen information has been used for fraud schemes, to access accounts, and to enable harassment campaigns.

Snap Inc. reportedly received one of the forged legal requests, but it's unclear whether the company also provided information to the hackers.

Cybersecurity researchers suspect that some of those responsible for sending the forged requests were minors from the US and UK, one of whom is said to be the same mastermind behind the notorious Lapsus$ group. The teenager was recently identified and could have been one of the seven people that were later arrested.

Apple's guidelines say that the company may contact a law enforcement official's supervisor to check a request is legitimate, and Meta said it reviews "every data request for legal sufficiency and use advanced systems and processes to validate law enforcement requests and detect abuse." Snap said it also had safeguards in place to detect fraudulent requests.

The hackers behind the forged requests, part of a months-long campaign that targeted several tech companies, are believed to have been affiliated with a group called Recursion Team. While that's no longer active, former members have become parts of other groups, including Lapsus$.

The requests appeared authentic as hackers compromised law enforcement email systems to steal the document templates and often forged signatures of real or fictional officers. Krebs on Security writes that the group submitted one of the requests to Discord, which it fulfilled. The company says that while its "verification process confirmed that the law enforcement account itself was legitimate, we later learned that it had been compromised by a malicious actor."
What just happened? Remember Stretch, the Boston Dynamics robot designed for warehouse operations that was unveiled last year? The firm has announced that it is now available for purchase, though you won't get one until 2023 and 2024 as pre-orders have been so strong, with the likes of DHL snapping up the robots for its warehouses.

It was almost exactly one year ago when Boston Dynamics introduced Stretch. Unlike some of the company's other machines, such as the quadrupedal Spot and humanoid-like Atlas, Stretch has a specific use case. Its robotic arm and smart vacuum gripper allow it to pick up, move, and put down warehouse boxes weighing up to 50 pounds, while the base lets it move in any direction and even tackle ramps. But no backflips or parkour.

TechCrunch reports that several firms have secured Stretch robots. Hyundai-owned Boston Dynamics signed a massive deal with DHL in January that will see the delivery company purchase $15 million worth of robots. Other clients on the pre-order list include clothing giants Gap and H&M. Boston Dynamics says ongoing labor shortage and supply chain issues have helped spur interest in its machine.

Another factor behind Stretch's popularity is its easy setup, allowing the robot to be installed and ready to work within existing warehouse infrastructure in just a few days. Stretch doesn't need to be pre-programmed with SKU numbers or information on box sizes, works autonomously without the need for supervision or explicit directions, and has an advanced vision system that gives it the power to identify boxes and its surroundings. The machine can also work more than a full shift on a single charge, or up to 16 hours with a high-capacity battery option.
(Photo : Karol Serewis/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images) GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN - 2019/09/14: An American automotive and energy company that specialises in electric car manufacturing Tesla logo seen in Gothenburg.



Nickel, a key component in batteries for EVs, has been extremely limited for manufacturing purposes since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Several Russian sanctions have made acquiring valuable and expensive metals even more difficult (and more expensive) for those in desperate need of it for manufacturing.

Tesla has been among the most affected due to the nickel mining crisis, most expressed in repeated Tweets via the company's CEO, Elon Musk, who has consistently relayed the importance of nickel production. Musk and Tesla have been busy scrounging for new plays in the nickel mining field over the past year, brought on mostly by the ever-increasing need to enhance raw material supply chains.

A newly signed secret deal with a Canadian-based nickel mining corporation, Vale SA, may alleviate said concerns for the EV manufacturer. According to Bloomberg, as the agreement between Vale SA and Tesla has yet to be officially announced, the multi-year deal will see Tesla receiving said valuable nickel supplies from Canada as opposed to regions in and around Russia.

Related Article: Tesla EVs No Longer Have California Rebates Available, $2,000 Discount Void Due to Expensive Cars

In an earnings call made in 2020, the CEO relayed the intense need for more nickel output:

"Please min more nickel. Tesla will give you a giant contract for a long period of time if you mine nickel efficiently and in an environmentally sensitive way."

BloombergNEF highlights that nickel in the battery sector will grow exponentially into 2030, specifically from the current 400,745 tons to a whopping 1.5 million. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, Class 1 nickel prices have leaped to a record 30% high. Russia is the world's foremost supplier of nickel, holding a 17% share of the world's capacity for refined material.

Any signs of the war slowing or stopping may allow prices to fall, but little in the way of movement on that front proves Tesla and all other assorted EV manufacturers, including even typical batteries, are in for a very expensive allocation process for the time being. Tesla operates a battery-cell plant alongside Panasonic Corp near Reno, Nevada, which aids in its own manufacturing of cells for its cars, but isn't enough.

Vale SA currently only operates with a 5% stake in the EV market, which it plans to exponentially grow over the next several years with the help of Tesla. The nickel miner expects to gain between 30% to 40% of sales interest in EVs. But, while incredibly important to the EV manufacturer, Vale isn't the only one lending its supply to Tesla.

Both Talon Metals Corp. and BHP Group both have signed deals with Tesla in the past few months. The former lent 75,000 metric tons of nickel to Tesla following a joint agreement made in January, while the latter has been supplying the company with its deposits in Australia. The EV manufacturer has yet another agreement with New Caledonia-based miners, proving its reach is quite substantial.

Read Also: Elon Musk Announced Humanoid Robot Commercialization in 2023: Brain and Personality Download

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Waymo's driverless rides will soon arrive in San Francisco. The American autonomous driving tech firm announced this effort as it wants to compete against Cruise, another self-driving company.

However, driverless car services are not open to the public. The giant tech firm will only offer autonomous rides to the official Waymo employees.

"Here in San Francisco, we are privileged to share the road with everyone who makes up this city," said Waymo's co-CEO, Tekedra Mawakana, via their official press release.

Waymo's Driverless Rides To Arrive in San Francisco

According to Bloomberg's latest report, the driverless services of Waymo will come to San Francisco so that they can test the efficiency of their technology.

Also Read: Elon Musk Reveals Tesla FSD Beta Coming to Europe this Summer for LHD Cars, RHD Coming Soon

Waymo expects that its autonomous car services will allow it to catch up to its main rival. As of the moment, the driverless services of the company are still in the early stage of development.

San Francisco's Bay Area has been quite helpful for various auto companies, including Cruise, Waymo, and Amazon's Zoox. For the past six years, these firms have been using this area to test their technologies' efficiency.

Thanks to the residents of San Franciso, who joined Waymo's Trusted Testers program, the autonomous company was able to test its driverless technology.

Mawakana said that the arrival of their new driverless car services is quite meaningful to their team.

Waymo's Driverless Services To Expand in Phoenix

Aside from San Francisco Bay Area, Waymo also said that its autonomous car services would expand in downtown Phoenix.

The company announced this detail after operating exclusively in the exurban towns of Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, and Gilbert for the past five years.

Aside from this, the company also said that its Trusted Testers members would also have access to its driverless services sooner than they think.

However, the exact date is not yet confirmed. If you want to see more details about Waymo's latest autonomous effort, you can visit this link.

Aside from Waymo, other automakers are also making their own efforts to enhance their businesses.

Recently, Volvo Trucks received more than 110 electric truck units from Maersk.

Meanwhile, CAKE's electric bikes are expected to have paper fairings instead of plastic ones.

For more news updates about Waymo and other tech firms in the auto industry, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Lotus Eletre: Company Reveals New EV; World's First Hyper SUV? Everything You Need to Know

This article is owned by TechTimes

Written by: Griffin Davis

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
(Photo : Unsplash/ Andre Francois McKenzie) bitcoin

On Mar. 30, the Financial Conduct Authority of the United Kingdom announced that it gives crypto companies more time to register with the regulator. The original deadline for the registration was Mar. 31.

UK FCA to Extend Registration Deadline

A select few firms, including Revolut, a fintech company, and crypto start-up company Cooper, will be allowed to continue trading after a temporary registration regime closes, according to an update posted by the FCA on its official website.

Copper counts the former finance minister of the United Kingdom, Philip Hammond, as an advisor, according to The Financial Times.

The temporary register closes on Apr. 1 for all but for a small number of firms where it is strictly necessary to continue to have temporary registration, according to the FCA. This is needed where a firm may pursue an appeal or have particular winding-down circumstances.

The crypto firms operating in the United Kingdom are required to be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority under the money laundering regulations.

Also Read: Britain Pushes Through Various Crypto Curbs - Gives Warning To Unregistered Crypto Companies?

However, several companies have yet to make the cut. The Financial Conduct Authority set up a temporary register to allow crypto firms to continue trading while seeking full and legal authorization.

The list of firms on the temporary register of the UK's FCA has decreased considerably in the past few weeks, with market maker B2C2 and trading app Wirex among the firms withdrawing their applications.

B2C2 is reportedly changing its spot trading operations at an entity in the United States. Meanwhile, Wirex plans to offer crypto services to its British customers via a Croatian subsidiary.

Now, only 12 businesses remain on the temporary regime, including Revolut, Copper, and Blockchain.com, a crypto wallet platform, according to Bloomberg.

Red Flags That Authorities Missed

Paysafe, a massive fintech firm that is on the full register of the Financial Conduct Authority has said that it welcomes heightened regulatory oversight of the crypto industry.

Chirag Patel, the CEO of Paysafe's digital wallets division, said that the United Kingdom's registration regime would mean that a number of companies will eventually need to exit the country's market because they are unable to meet the needed standards in terms of risks and compliance.

Still, there has been a backlash from the crypto industry over the Financial Conduct Authority's handling of the registration process. Industry insiders told CNBC that the regulator is understaffed and has been very slow to approve the applications.

For its part, the FCA said that a high number of crypto firms are not meeting the needed anti-money laundering standards. Just 33 companies have made it onto the FCA's full register.

An FCA spokesperson said through email that while they have registered 33 firms, they have seen too many financial crime red flags missed by the cryptoasset businesses seeking registration.

Worse, the FCA has seen examples where companies do not have the controls needed to raise red flags in the first place.

The watchdog's deadline extension comes as UK officials are set to announce a new regulatory regime for crypto next week. The Treasury Department is yet to make a statement regarding the extension.

In March, the UK's watchdog sent notices to 50 crypto firms because of misleading ads.

Related Article: UK Watchdog Declares Bitcoin ATMs Illegal; Forces Shut Down or 'Face Punishment'

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Canadian Tesla testers are now complaining about a new FSD bug that prevents them from accessing the popular autonomous feature. The affected consumers are specifically located in Toronto, the largest city in Canada.

Recently, the giant automaker launched the Full Self-Driving Beta into some Canadian EV markets. Tesla did this by releasing the software version via over-the-air installations.

The error message that the affected Canadian Tesla testers are the following:

Autosteer temporarily unavailable.

Full Self-Driving unavailable at the current location.

Canadian Tesla Testers Suffer From FSD Bug

According to Driving CA's latest report, Canadians are hoping that the advanced Tesla FSD will soon arrive in their locations.

Also Read: Tesla Giga Shanghai Production to Pause AGAIN as COVID-19 Cases Skyrocket in China

Right the autonomous feature is only available to certain Tesla testers. Those who were able to use it see around 98% to 100% safety score on their Tesla Safety Score application.

However, not all Canadian Tesla testers are lucky, especially those residing in Toronto.

"Why is Downtown Toronto geofrenced off for FSD Beta. It's the best training ground," said a Toronto resident.

He even tagged Elon Musk and Andrej Karpathy, the current Tesla Director of Artificial Intelligence and Autopilot Vision.

Elon Musk Blames Toronto Streetcars

Since many Canadian Tesla testers are asking why the bug is happening, Elon Musk decided to answer their questions. However, his response is not actually pertaining to a new bug.

The billionaire said that the issue involves the Toronto streetcars. The popular tech CEO explained that the current Tesla Full Self-Driving feature is still having a hard time handling the cars in the giant city.

Since the Canadian Tesla testers are also tagging Karpathy, Musk said that the AI director is actually on a 4-month sabbatical (paid leave).

Toronto streetcars are not yet handled well by FSD. Btw, @karpathy is on a ~4 month sabbatical.  Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 27, 2022

With his statement, it seems like the FSD issue in Toronto will take time since Karpathy is not working yet. If you are one of the affected Canadian Tesla testers, the best thing you can do right now is to wait for Elon Musk's further announcements.

Last week, a new Tesla OTA update was launched since some Model S and Model X experienced a rearview display issue.

On the other hand, Elon Musk also announced some new improvements in the Tesla FSD Beta v10.12.

For more news updates about Tesla FSD and other car technologies, always keep your tabs open here at TechTimes.

Related Article: Tesla EVs No Longer Have California Rebates Available, $2,000 Discount Void Due to Expensive Cars

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The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) expressed their observations in the current market that focus on the lower demand for smartphones among the public. TSMC is famous for being Apple's supplier for its chips and internal components that focus on the many designs by the company.

It may also mean that the company may be looking into less chip production in its operations due to this trend.

Apple Supplier, TSMC Say There Is Less Demand for Smartphones

TSMC revealed (via Nikkei Asia) that demands for smartphones and PCs are starting to slow in the present market, and it may mean a lot of implications for the company's career. The semiconductor manufacturing company talked about how it is now different from the past demands for the devices available to the public.

It may mean that TSMC is expressing that its chip production will slow down with this shift on the curve, as demand is a massive factor that affects its manufacturing and timeline for its products. TSMC Chairman Mark Liu said that many factors affect this trend, including the geopolitical issues that the world faces and China's present lockdown due to COVID-19.

Read Also: Apple, TSMC To Produce 3nm MacBook, iPhone Chips: More Advanced SoCs Could Arrive by 2023! Leaked Codenames and MORE

TSMC: Is It Lessening Chip Production for Apple?

Mac Rumors reported that Liu claimed that TSMC is still adjusting its manufacturing for the many demands in the market. Despite it being less compared to before, the company aims to deliver the ample amount needed, particularly as it is facing many obstacles on its end, still not yet capable of fulfilling the component demands.

Apple and TSMC

TSMC focused on bringing smartphone semiconductors to many users in the market, fulfilling its role as a manufacturing company for many services and companies it partnered with in the past and present. The company knows the market on an enormous scale, and they previously said that the chip shortage is a significant problem in 2022.

Apple and TSMC both worked together to deliver the famous chip that powers the iPhone and iPads now, with the A-series bionic chips in the market. The collaboration does not stop there, as Apple's design with the M-series chip also came from TSMC's production and manufacturing, making the relationship mutual.

The computer and smartphone components are facing a shortage now, particularly with the raw materials needed for the company's manufacturing. However, that may not be the issue now, especially as the demand for smartphones is less, based on what TSMC observed in the market.

It may mean that the company will produce less as the demand may not require them for the massive needs.

Related Article: TSMC's Budget for Upgrading Capacity in 2022 Shoots to $44 Billion After Record Profits





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(Photo : Unsplash/Christian Wiediger) Google

Google is scheduled to add a new highly cited label to search results often sourced by other publications.

According to the announcement made by the search giant, anything from local news stories, announcements, stories, and press releases will be eligible for the new label being added to the preview image of the search result, as long as other websites are linking to it.

More information is also being added to the search result's fast-evolving topics and "About This Result" notices.

Google to Add Highly Cited

The search giant's goal is that the new highly cited feature will help highlight original reporting, including important context stripped out when a story is spread around.

But it should also be helpful to find press releases, where you can get information straight from the companies themselves.

Google stated that it hopes the label will help the readers find the most relevant and most helpful information for a news story, according to The Verge.

Also Read: Soon You Might See 'Buy Button' On Google Search Results: Should Amazon And eBay Worry?

Google also added that the label will launch soon in the United States on mobile for English-speaking users and will begin appearing globally in the next few weeks.

Aside from the highly cited label, Google is also expanding its attempts to help users evaluate the results that they are being shown.

The notice that it shows on the searches linked to fast-evolving topics will now remind users to check whether a source is trusted. It will also remind users to come back later when more reliable information is added, according to Axios.

The change is scheduled to launch on Mar. 31 for English searches in the United States. In the next few weeks, it is also rolling out improvements to its "About This Result" feature announced in 2021, which offers more context about each website in search results.

Reducing Irrelevant Search Results

According to Search Engine Lands, Google Search has successfully reduced the irrelevant results shown in the search results by more than 50% in the last seven years. Google also stated that it had seen a more than 60^ increase in natural language queries.

Google is constantly making changes in the search results. In 2021, the search giant said that it made more than 5,000 improvements to search and ran more than 800,000 experiments. For comparison, in 2020, Google revealed it made 4,887 changes to the search results.

Google's changes are all aimed at improving search relevancy and quality. The search giant said that the 50% decrease in irrelevant search results over the past seven years is measured based on internal metrics based on quality rater data.

The other metric, which is the natural language queries, has increased 60% in the Google search box. The search giant said that they have also seen people's search queries evolve.

Since 2015, Google has seen a more than 60% increase in natural language queries in search.

If you write your content exactly like how people write and speak, then you will do well in the search results. This means that people can find what they need faster and easier and use language closer to the way that people normally write and speak.

In 2021, Google Search added a notice in the results with an update showing if the results came from reliable sources.

Last week, Google changed the way that product reviews show up in the results.

Related Article: How to Disable Google SafeSearch to See Mature Search Results

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 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Announcing March's Blockchain Leader!

Congratulations to Angelina Gomez, Counsel at Clifford Chance for for being chosen as techUK's Blockchain Leader! You can read her exclusive interview with techUK below. #BlockchainUK

The purpose of techUK's Blockchain Leader of the month campaign is to showcase tech leaders that are playing a crucial role in driving forward the development of emerging enterprise solutions that can establish trust, help organisations with adoption and bring to life use cases across sectors.

This is also an opportunity to learn from those working in Blockchain about the latest developments and trends in this exciting, emerging and potentially transformative technology.

What are your current responsibilities in your role and what does a typical day involve?

My day job is that of a lawyer with Clifford Chance advising on commercial and equity Court proceedings and arbitrations in Australia and internationally. Together with a group of other tech minded lawyers, I co-founded the Digital Law Association (DLA), an all-volunteer organisation established to promote diversity at the intersection of technology, law and policy. My typical day involves finding opportunities to promote education, diverse discussion and collaboration in emerging tech. This includes running seminars and participating in panels on blockchain, digital assets, AI and quantum computing and organising/working on submissions on emerging tech issues to governments, international bodies etc.

Recently I co-led a submission to the Australian Commonwealth Attorney-General on Privacy and emerging technology. The DLA's submission focussed on personal information, identifying:

key principles to be used to guide decisions around the protection of privacy, including, encouraging the move to digital identity management systems through Self Sovereign Identity  which would enable distributed ledger technology to be used to create a permission-less, interoperable and decentralised digital identity framework; and ways to protect an individual's right to privacy through legal guardrails to ensure transparency and due process, for example, in areas of automated decision making, to ensure that a person has a right to reasons and of appeal when their legal rights are affected.

The DLA has also recently published an open Discussion Paper on First Nations representation in the Metaverse, which I co-authored with another DLA director and two First Nation Cultural Brokers, Dr Vanessa Lee-Ah Mat of the Yupungathi and Meriam Nations and Bibi Barba of the Darumbal  Biri Gubi  Gadigal  Yuin Nations. In the Paper, we discuss the importance of promoting recognition of First Nations culture and connection to Lore in the metaverse, through for example, the setting up of First Nation cultural embassies in the various platforms of the metaverse.

What do you most enjoy about your work?

Encouraging diverse discussion in the areas of law and emerging tech. Being able to discuss with my peers and publishing on the next frontiers of tech, web 3.0, the metaverse, AI, quantum computing and the legal issues that arise at the intersection of law and technology, to:

protect the rights of individuals; ensure operational transparency; determine liability, for example, at various points in the AI quantum chain; create ethical standards for regulating the research and application of emerging technologies; and create international standards, for example, to ensure equitable access.

Why is Blockchain so important to UK right now and what does the future hold for adoption and maturity of Blockchain in the UK?

Blockchain, with its elements of immutability, transparency and traceability, is an important base from which new technologies and use cases can develop and grow, for example, allowing for smart contracts to automate supply chain relationships, and to create greater security with regards to personal data.

What industries or sectors of the UK economy do you think could benefits from adopting and using Blockchain technology and why?

Decentralised services are the future. Blockchain is not confined to just one particular use case. It can be used in almost every industry/sector that can benefit from permanent, immutable, decentralised and transparent verification to share/track information or anything of value (in trade, finance, property, banking, government, mining resources etc.).

Blockchain has clear advantages over other tech especially when it comes to commercial relationships as it creates trust with its verifiable immutable audit trail and this can be used, for example, to record every action in a supply chain, for regulatory compliance, contract management, identity management, etc.  consequently, its potential uses are endless.

What do you think is the key challenges, issue or barriers that needs to be broken down if we are to make the UK Blockchain ready?

Energy consumption is a key challenge. Blockchains consume enormous amounts of energy. For example, with Bitcoin, the security of the system is built into the enormous amount of computing power that is required to run it. According to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance, Bitcoin currently consumes an estimated yearly amount of 137.67 Terawatt Hours (https://ccaf.io/cbeci/index). In 2021, the BBC reported that if Bitcoin was a country, it would be in the top 30 energy users worldwide, and was using more energy than Argentina (Cristina Criddle," Bitcoin consumes 'more electricity than Argentina'", BBC, 10 February 2021). In 2022, Forbes reported that Ethereum and Bitcoin mining operations together were responsible for "emitting more than 78 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, equal to the annual tailpipe emissions of more than 15.5 million cars" (Ted Knutson, "Crypto Energy Consumption Enormous But It Neednt Be, Congressional Panel Hears", Forbes, 20 January 2022).

Reducing blockchain's carbon footprint, especially in the crypto community, is key to ensure its benefits are worth the resources needed to sustain it. We need to look at answers to the following: How much of the mining can be done using renewable energy, like wind, solar or hydropower? Is proof of stake (as opposed to proof of work) the solution to the energy concerns?

How can the Blockchain industry and market equip organisations with the understanding, skills and knowledge to make the right Blockchain decisions for now and for the future? Do we have everything we need?

Education is key. Increasing the number of people with the right skills-set and knowledge, will lead to a greater overall understanding of how blockchain will be able to benefit organisations, by making their day to day transactions more efficient, reliable and secure.

Also the blockchain industry and market could be more proactive in seeking better (and adaptable) regulations to provide guardrails for responsible research and use cases (see below section on DAOs below).

What is your prediction for how Blockchain and DLT Technologies will change the way organisations operate in 2021 and beyond?

Blockchain technology which has allowed for the development of Decentralised Autonomous Organisations (DAOs), has, in my opinion, the potential to revolutionise company law, moving it from a hierarchical system of governance, with a board of directors, to one that is decentralised, democratic and transparent. With its rules encoded on a blockchain, DAOs remove the need for third party interference in, for example, a financial transaction, by automating those transactions through the use of smart contracts, when approved by its members, who vote on decisions as to what enterprise the DAO should undertake, to achieve the DOA's agreed common purpose.

The DAO concept stumbled in 2016 with the unfortunately named, "The DAO", when a hacker exploiting an issue with its code base, managed to draw $50 million worth of ether from the DAO before it was stopped by Ethereum having to hard fork its blockchain to restore the siphoned funds, creating concerns around security and debate as to whether code should be law.

Today, due to the explosion of Decentralised Finance (DeFi) in 2020, there is renewed interest in DAOs, and its limitless possibilities for actors to act with common purpose, for example, to invest, fundraise and to collect NFTs and other assets.

However, DAOs in most jurisdictions are not supported by any regulatory structure (addressing issues of taxation and other legal uncertainties, as to member responsibility and potential liabilities), bearing in mind that these entities are not homogenous in their operation. In order to truly flourish, establish on a large scale and give long term benefit to its members, a DAO needs to be wrapped in legal personality for example, that of a limited liability company. This, in my opinion, is what we need to be working on now.

Chris Hazell Chris is the Programme Manager for Cloud, Tech and Innovation Email: [email protected] Read lessmore

Laura Foster Laura is techUKs Head of Programme for Technology and Innovation. She supports the application and expansion of emerging technologies across business, including Geospatial Data, Quantum Computing, AR/VR/XR and Edge technologies. Before joining techUK, Laura worked internationally in London, Singapore and across the United States as a conference researcher and producer covering enterprise adoption of emerging technologies. This included being part of the strategic team at London Tech Week. Laura has a degree in History (BA Hons) from Durham University, focussing on regional social history. Outside of work she loves reading, travelling and supporting rugby team St. Helens, where she is from. Email: [email protected] LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lauraalicefoster Read lessmore

Sue Daley Sue leads techUK's Technology and Innovation work. This includes work programmes on cloud, data protection, data analytics, AI, digital ethics, Digital Identity and Internet of Things as well as emerging and transformative technologies and innovation policy. She has been recognised as one of the most influential people in UK tech by Computer Weekly's UKtech50 Longlist and in 2021 was inducted into the Computer Weekly Most Influential Women in UK Tech Hall of Fame. A key influencer in driving forward the data agenda in the UK Sue is co-chair of the UK government's National Data Strategy Forum. As well as being recognised in the UK's Big Data 100 and the Global Top 100 Data Visionaries for 2020 Sue has also been shortlisted for the Milton Keynes Women Leaders Awards and was a judge for the Loebner Prize in AI. In addition to being a regular industry speaker on issues including AI ethics, data protection and cyber security, Sue was recently a judge for the UK Tech 50 and is a regular judge of the annual UK Cloud Awards. Prior to joining techUK in January 2015 Sue was responsible for Symantec's Government Relations in the UK and Ireland. She has spoken at events including the UK-China Internet Forum in Beijing, UN IGF and European RSA on issues ranging from data usage and privacy, cloud computing and online child safety. Before joining Symantec, Sue was senior policy advisor at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). Sue has an BA degree on History and American Studies from Leeds University and a Masters Degree on International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of Birmingham. Sue is a keen sportswoman and in 2016 achieved a lifelong ambition to swim the English Channel. Email: [email protected] Phone: 020 7331 2055 Twitter: @ChannelSwimSue Read lessmore
On Thursday, Vice Minister of Industrial Development Cesar Basanta reported that Venezuela evaluated different areas of cooperation and industry with Indonesia and Lebanon, with the aim of finalizing a list of products with potential for export and trade.

During a meeting with the person in charge of Indonesian Commercial Affairs Aris Munandar Kusumah, the Bolivarian diplomat presented the characteristics of different sectors of the Venezuelan industry and agreed on technical tables to establish a "concrete agenda" of work.

For his part, the Indonesian official provided information about potential products that Indonesia could export to Venezuela, "a procedure that will be consolidated in the coming technical roundtables that seek to satisfy the needs of both nations."

Basanta also met with the Lebanese ambassador to Venezuela, Elias Lebbos, with whom he agreed that he would send him the portfolio of companies from the Caribbean country, after reviewing the commercial proposals of Venezuelan entrepreneurs "that allow investment in national territory in a safe way."

Expandimos la organizacion operativa con el viceministro de Desarrollo Industrial Cesar Basanta en avances sobre el proyecto de Integracion del Tren Nacional y planificacion estructural de ambito industrial y desarrollo cientifico tecnologico.@PresidencialVE pic.twitter.com/IZG3uvWMFi  FERROVEN (@ferrovenvzla) March 22, 2022

The tweet reads, "Along with Industrial Development Deputy Minister Cesar Basanta, we expanded the operations of the national train integration project and the planning for industrial and scientific-technological development."

The Lebanese diplomat presented the portfolio of articles that his country considers it can export to Venezuela, among which are food and pharmaceutical products.

In both meetings, Basanta presented investment opportunities in Venezuela in activities related to forestry production, textiles, plastics, glass, and metalworking.

The meetings, both with the Indonesian official and with the Lebanese ambassador, concluded with the agreement to continue working "hand in hand" to promote possible investments "that are favorable to the interests of the Caribbean nation and that make it possible to strengthen the cost structures of affiliated companies.
Diagnosed without my knowledge? "The number of infected is four times higher than the count"
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Minutes after the Louisiana Legislature overrode Gov. John Bel Edwards veto of a congressional map that he had labeled an egregious violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, a coalition of civil rights groups filed a lawsuit in federal court arguing that the newly drawn districts illegally dilute the voting power of Black residents.

The congressional map enacted Wednesday by a supermajority of White lawmakers maintains the status quo of one majority-Black district out of six, despite the fact that one-third of Louisianas population identifies as Black.

The lawsuit filed in Baton Rouge federal court demands that new, fair boundaries be drawn that give Black voters the opportunity to elect their candidate of choice in two of the states six congressional districts.

But given recent rulings from the United States Supreme Court, its unlikely the legal challenge in Louisiana will lead to a new map ahead of Novembers midterm elections, according to Michael Li, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice in New York City.

Take what happened in Alabama: a three-judge panel there ruled in January that the states congressional map likely violated the Voting Rights Act for failing to include a second majority-Black district.

Black people make up 27 percent of Alabamas population, but under the map passed by the Republican-dominated Legislature have control over just 14 percent  or one of seven  of the states congressional districts. The district court ordered Alabama to draw a new map before the 2022 election.

Lawsuit challenging Louisiana congressional district maps Complaint in Robinson, et al., vs Ardoin, et al., filed by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in Baton Rouge federal court on March 30, 2022

However, in February, the U.S. Supreme Courts conservative majority stayed the lower courts order, saying it came too close to the start of absentee voting in Alabamas primary election. The court agreed to hear the Alabama case on its merits in its next term, and in the interim, it ordered Alabama to conduct its congressional elections with the existing map.

Li said a district court in Baton Rouge may be reluctant to issue a ruling on Louisianas maps given that the Supreme Court is going to hear a very similar Alabama case that will have a lot to say about what the Voting Rights Act means.

He pointed to a ruling from a federal judge in Georgia, who determined that certain aspects of that states congressional map likely violated the Voting Rights Act but ordered that it remain in place for the midterm election so as not to cause disruption.

But attorneys with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which is suing over Louisianas congressional redistricting, arent ruling out the possibility that the maps will be redrawn ahead of the midterms.

Victoria Wenger, an LDF attorney, pointed out that the election timetables are different in Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. The congressional primary in both Alabama and Georgia is on May 24. In Louisiana, with its jungle primaries, its on November 8.

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Were exploring all options and certainly dont see why a remedy couldnt be imposed in 2022, Wenger said.

Li said no matter what happens, a map will need to be in place by the middle of September, when ballots are sent out by mail. That only gives you about five months to resolve the case, he said.

The lawsuit filed Wednesday argues that the new congressional map continues Louisianas long history of maximizing political power for White citizens by disenfranchising and discriminating against Black Louisianans.

It notes that while Black residents make up 31.2 percent of the states voting age population, Black voters control around 17 percent  or one of six  of the states congressional districts.

Meanwhile, White voters, who make up 58 percent of the population, form a majority in 83 percent  or five of six  districts.

I cannot imagine theres a more compelling case for the courts to look at and overturn than the congressional map here in Louisiana, Edwards said at a press conference Wednesday following the override.

Decades ago, the U.S. Supreme Court established a three-part test to determine whether a districting plan violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. First, plaintiffs must prove that the minority population is sufficiently large and geographically compact to support a map with a second majority-minority district.

Next, they must prove that Black voters are politically cohesive and that White voters tend to vote as a bloc to defeat candidates preferred by Black voters. In essence, the courts are asking whether voting is racially polarized, or in simpler terms, whether Black and White voters in Louisiana consistently vote for opposing candidates.

The 55-page lawsuit challenging Louisianas maps walks through the three-part test, noting that Democrats proposed several maps that are more compact and provide for two majority-Black districts.

But with the Supreme Court scheduled to hear Alabamas case next term, additional tests could be added, Li said.

This is a court that seems very skeptical about the use of race in American life generally, including in redistricting, and they clearly want to say something about when it is and is not appropriate, Li said.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences said that Will Smith was asked to leave the Oscars ceremony after hitting Chris Rock but refused.

Many have questioned why Smith was allowed to remain seated in the front row at the Academy Awards after the incident. On Wednesday, the academy suggested that it attempted to remove the actor from the audience.

Will Smith, right, hits presenter Chris Rock on stage. Credit:Chris Pizzello

Things unfolded in a way we could not have anticipated, the academy said. While we would like to clarify that Mr Smith was asked to leave the ceremony and refused, we also recognise we could have handled the situation differently.

The academys board of governors met on Wednesday to initiate disciplinary proceedings against Smith for violations against the groups standards of conduct. The academy said Smith has the opportunity to defend himself in a written response before the board meets again on April 18. The academy said disciplinary action for Smith could include suspension, expulsion or other sanctions.
Its a canonical checklist: The episodes are 22 minutes long, with fade-to-black commercial breaks. The setting is a workplace or family space inhabited by a cross-section of pals, kin or eccentrics. The stakes are based on understanding and idiosyncratic competition. It is, of course, the classic American sitcom, the staple of network programming for decade upon decade that has given us long-running staples such Friends, Modern Family, and The Big Bang Theory. Its the same for 2022s best new sitcom: Abbott Elementary.

The rumours of the sitcoms demise have been greatly exaggerated  you just have to know where to look for them. Abbott Elementary isnt screening at 9pm on a commercial network as a chaser to an overblown reality show, its streaming on Disney+. The show, which debuted in January on the Disney-owned American network ABC and has become a critical and commercial success, is both a terrific tribute to the pleasures of a well put together sitcom and a welcome update of the formats legacy. It looks back, but it leaps forward.

Abbott Elementary creator and star Quinta Brunson. Credit:Liliane Lathan/ABC

Created by its star, 32-year-old writer and actor Quinta Brunson, Abbott Elementary knowingly works in the mockumentary tradition of The Office and Parks and Recreation. The everyday characters eye off the camera catching their inopportune moments and awkwardly explain themselves in sideline interviews. But here theyre surrounded by children  its set in a West Philadelphia primary school, where the teachers plug away five days a week and the staffroom is in turn a lunchtime sanctuary and an inquisitors den.

The demographics arent make believe. The student body is almost entirely black, as are the majority of teachers. Brunsons Janine is a chatty, optimistic sparkplug, determined to make a difference even when everyone else says shes going to make things worse, which draws both side eye and eventually support from veterans such as Ms Howard (Sheryl Lee Ralph)  who is so imposing even colleagues and television critics address her formally. Janines fellow newcomer, Jacob Hill (Chris Perfetti), gets called white boy at the local lunch joints. Hes hopeful its affectionate.
Bong Go says PRRD to continue pursuing PH rights in West Philippine Sea amid incidents with Chinese vessels

Following reports of continuing presence of Chinese vessels into Philippine waters, Senator Christopher "Bong" Go said that President Rodrigo Duterte will continue to fight for the rights of the country in the West Philippine Sea to the final day of his term.

"Alam niyo si Pangulo, 'yung independent foreign policy niya eh friendly po 'yan si Pangulo sa lahat, enemies to none," said Go in an interview after visiting fire victims in Maharlika, Taguig City on Tuesday, March 29.

"Pero siyempre ipinaglalaban niya po always 'yung karapatan natin. Kita mo nagagalit 'yan kapag inaapi na ang ating bansa," he assured.

On March 2, the Philippine Coast Guard reported that a Chinese vessel approached BRP Malabrigo, which was conducting a maritime patrol operation near Bajo de Masinloc.

The incident was described as a "close distance maneuvering" that limited the Filipino vessel's maneuvering room. This was a "clear" violation of the 1972 International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, according to the PCG.

On March 14, the Department of Foreign Affairs also summoned the Chinese ambassador to the country to explain the "illegal intrusion and lingering presence" of a Chinese navy ship detected off the Cuyo Group of Islands near Palawan, and Apo island off Mindoro from January 29 to February 1.

Meanwhile, Go has urged restraint and expressed hope that the claimant countries will resolve the dispute through diplomatic means. He did, however, stress the need for the country to promote its rights in its territorial waters and special economic zone.

"So kung puwede naman pong pag-usapan... diplomatikong pamamaraan, pag-usapan na lang po natin ito," said Go.

"Pero importante pa rin ang ating... kung ano ang atin, atin po 'yon, atin talaga 'yon. Ipinaglalaban natin dapat 'yan," he added.

When asked if Duterte has given any explicit instructions to deal with the situation, Go replied that the President will meet with his cabinet to discuss it, assuring the Filipino people that Duterte puts premium on matters that are crucial to the country's national interest.

"Eh kapag interes na po ng Pilipino ... 'yung national interest, ay binibigyan po kaagad ni Pangulong Duterte ng halaga," he assured.
The resumption of some summer trade of live exports is set to resume after being stopped following the Awassi Express disaster in 2017, when 2400 sheep died from extreme heat stress on a ship heading to the Middle East.

Animal welfare groups said sheep would once more be sent to suffer during some of the hottest parts of the Middle Eastern summer, including in the months of June and July in Kuwait where average temperatures reach 41 degrees

The summer ban was first proposed by the Australian Live Exporters Council (ALEC) in late 2018 in a bid to prevent the entire industry from being made illegal, following the Awassi Express scandal.

But Mark Harvey Sutton from ALEC told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age the industry wanted to be allowed to transport live sheep to the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea until 21 June and from August 23 to the Red Sea.
Five people have died in a helicopter crash in remote bushland on Mount Disappointment, 60 kilometres north of Melbourne.

Victoria Police confirmed the news just before 8pm on Thursday night, almost 12 hours after the helicopter went down in dense bushland. One pilot and four adults were on board the chartered aircraft. The passengers were part of a business group, police said.

Police have set up a command centre at Blairs Hut, about 8 kilometres from the crash site. Credit:Marta Pascual Juanola

Those dead include a 32-year-old man from Cheltenham, a 50-year-old woman from Inverloch, a 73-year-old man from Albert Park and two men from NSW, aged 59 and 53.

The cause of the crash is yet to be determined. Police will remain at the site overnight.
Rasa Piggott, the first Ambulance Victoria paramedic to speak publicly about entrenched harassment and sex discrimination at the service, said the report reflected the culture accurately. Three years ago, I was told by a manager that if I were a six-foot-tall, white male with blond hair, my professional perspectives would be heard and I would not be facing the same workplace challenges regarding career opportunity, she said. The report noted that despite a big increase in female employees since 2016, men dominated leadership roles. Men hold between 60.3 per cent and 69.5 per cent of managerial roles in operations support, as team managers, senior team managers and senior managers and also dominate specialist clinical roles. The commissions first report, released in late 2021, found 12 employees had reported rape or attempted rape or sexual assault at work, after which two men were referred to Victoria Police for alleged sexual offences against colleagues. It found that 348 people said they were still experiencing unlawful conduct when surveyed by the commission.

More than one in five employees said they do not feel safe at all at work; more than half (52.4 per cent) said they had been bullied; nearly half (47 per cent) said they had experienced discrimination; and 33 people reported pressure for sex or requests for sex acts at work. The commission made 24 recommendations for change. Stereotypes that remain in Ambulance Victoria culture include that to work in Air Ambulance or MICA, paramedics are macho and alpha white men. Credit:Paul Rovere On Tuesday, The Age confirmed the organisations director of people and culture, Rebecca Hodges, had resigned. Ambulance Employees Australia Victoria secretary Brett Adie wrote to Mr Lay on Friday criticising Ms Hodges team. On Thursday, acting CEO Libby Murphy said this was not related to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission report. In the letter seen by The Age, the union claimed Ms Hodges department had failed to identify and resolve fundamental issues relating to the organisations harmful culture. The [Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission] review details an [Ambulance Victoria] culture that has contributed to the establishment and maintenance of the boys club, the letter said, and integral to the preservation of that culture were allegations of recruitment based on personal preferences rather than merit.

Loading Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill said on Wednesday the union was receiving fresh sexual harassment complaints from Ambulance Victoria staff, regarding events at work that happened after the commissions first report. Ms Murphy has said she was aware of these. The union said it was also receiving complaints from members about past workplace incidents that were not adequately addressed by their employer. The new report noted staff who wanted flexible work agreements faced barriers getting promoted because shift adjustments were frowned upon by managers. It also found some breastfeeding mothers said they were discriminated against for wanting flexibility to allow them to keep feeding. The report acknowledged that change was under way at the service and that stereotypes were starting to wane, though still existed.

It noted some improvements and suggested 19 more strategies to further support equality of opportunity, promotion and pay, and fairer prospects for those from diverse backgrounds. Ambulance Victoria CEO Tony Walker says the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission has nailed its assessment of the services culture. Credit:Paul Jeffers Ambulance Victoria chief executive Tony Walker, who is currently on leave, said the commission had nailed its assessment of cultural stereotypes. The reality is Ambulance Victoria has been built for people like me, it is a historically male-dominated organisation where people, through privilege, often have partners at home caring for kids, and you work full time. Thats not the world you live in today, he said. As weve tried to address equality over time, weve bolted on equal opportunity [measures] rather than stepping back and saying, we need to design a whole new ambulance service.

Loading Mr Walker said a case study in the new report based on how BHP addressed rostering was good example for the organisation to follow. [It] shows us there are ways of doing this; we dont need to preserve the past and add to it, we need to step back and design a new system. We shouldnt think paternally about what the workplace should look like, Mr Walker said. Commissioner Ro Allen said it had been distressing for us and everyone in Ambulance Victoria that ... there hasnt been a silver bullet to solve inequality issues, but change was possible. The commissioner was pleased to see the organisation intended to remove provisions requiring manager endorsement for staff to apply for promotional opportunities.
American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, in his famous I Have a Dream speech, declared that people should not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character. He believed it was character above all else that revealed the true worth of a person.

Politics is tough, and personal failings do not mean politicians cannot achieve much in the public interest  recall former Labor PM Bob Hawke. But things such as trustworthiness, honesty and empathy do matter to citizens, and so when Prime Minister Scott Morrisons character is called into question, it matters not just for him, but for the Coalition.

On budget night this week, outgoing Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, in a blistering late-night broadside, described Mr Morrison as an autocrat who is not fit to be leader, a bully with no moral compass and someone who uses his faith for marketing purposes.

The following day, Senator Pauline Hanson wanted to add her own appraisal of the Prime Minister: He is a bully and I back the senator up completely with that. He is a bully because I have experienced it myself. Senator Jacqui Lambie also waded in: There is many of us females here that have had to be in and sit with Scott Morrison and I can tell you what, hes probably one of the most unpleasant men Ive ever had to sit in front of.
The Morrison government says Victorian Labors multibillion-dollar Suburban Rail Loop does not stack up, raising questions about the state governments ability to pay for the project if forced to go it alone.

Urban Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher also hit back at attacks from the state government, which has criticised the Commonwealth for only allocating 6 per cent of the budgets infrastructure funding to Victoria, which is home to 26 per cent of the nations population.

Infrastructure Minister Paul Fletcher. Credit:Dominic Lorimer

We dont work on the basis of total national funding being divided by population and writing a cheque, Mr Fletcher said on Thursday. We exercise independent policy judgment on where we think investment is required.

The Age can reveal the Andrews government sought new federal infrastructure funding for only two projects, an upgrade to Mickleham Road in Melbournes north, to which the Commonwealth agreed to contribute $109.5 million, and $11.5 billion over 10 years for the Suburban Rail Loop  a mostly underground railway running from Cheltenham to Werribee via Melbourne Airport.
The Tony- and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical Next to Normal is getting an immersive makeover in Spain this summer. Producers Pablo del Campo and Jordi Sellas have announced that the piece will be adapted in a live immersive musical theater format  set to premiere at the Festival Grec de Barcelona this July  and will bring along its original Tony-winning star.

Alice Ripley will reprise her 2009 Tony-winning performance as Diana, a mother struggling with her worsening bipolar disorder. Joining her in the cast will be Andy Senor Jr., Jade Laurel, Eloi Gomez, and Lewis Edgar. Tony nominee Adam Pascal will play Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine in a virtual format.

Directed by Simon Pittman, this 60-minute immersive rendering of Next to Normal is officially blessed by the show's award-winning writers Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. Tommy Mayer Wolf will provide music direction.

With no sets or props, Next to Normal will play a 20,000 square-foot venue, utilizing a surround-sound system and 360-degree projections to create an immersive experience that places the audience alongside the actors. Performances will take place at IDEAL, a European incubator art center led by executive producer Jordi Sellas.

Next to Normal opened on Broadway in April 2009, and was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, winning three: Best Original Score, Best Orchestration, and Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Ripley).

For more information, click here.
Musical-theater writers are dreamers looking to build worlds for themselves and the audience. New musicals take substantial amounts of energy and time to craft the emotional core, structural mantle, and spectacle crust. Conception to production could often take up to a decade.

With a songwriting career that spans two decades, Carrie Rodriguez steps into a relative yet new dream for herself. She is the composer of the new musical Americano!, a story based on the life of Tony Valdovinos, a man who discovered he is an undocumented immigrant when trying to enlist for the Marines. Goombay, norteno, ranchera, reggaeton, and salsa flow in its musicality.

We recently spoke to Rodriguez about being a musical theater newcomer who's getting ready to give New York audiences a sound they've never heard, as previews begin at New World Stages on March 31.

Carrie Rodriguez

(image provided by the production)

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Could you share your experience of entering into musical writing?

I'm new to musical-theater writing. I generally wrote songs about my own personal experiences. This has been very different. Being a songwriter writing about my own experiences and then transforming that into writing about Tony and his family and their life has been an incredible journey.

Culturally, I'm in a Mexican American neighborhood. The diesel truck in the house next to me fires up at 4am in the summer because it gets so hot here. I'm taking my own experience of where I live in Austin, Texas, and imagining that we're in Phoenix and this is Tony's family and his father's firing up that diesel engine early in the morning to go to work and Tony's going with him. I drew a lot on watching Mexican American families around me. On a Saturday night, you might find 5-year-olds with sparklers in the yard with their grandmas and everyone all having a family party.

So, you've learned plenty about yourself that you didn't know before?

I did really grow as a songwriter to be able to speak in someone else's voice. It took a lot more research than I was used to. I've always been an organic songwriter. It's springing from an observation or an inspiration I certainly have. But in this case, I need to write about Tony's excitement to become a Marine, and about Marines and I don't know much about Marines. All of a sudden, I'm researching everything about Marine terminology: "Devil Dogs," "code of honor," "got your six." I had to learn about what day-to-day life is like. I never pictured myself writing a song like that, and it was great for my songwriting chops to be put to that challenge.

The cast and team of Americano!

( David Quang Pham)

What other non-theater artists did you also bring along to help develop the sound of your score?

When it was time to find an arranger, I called someone who I've looked up to for years. We share the same booking agent, his band is called Orkesta Mendoza, and his name is Sergio Mendoza. He writes in the Mambo-Colombia-type music and has a big band that plays all over the world. He also was a member of Calexico, one of my favorite bands. I called and said: "Hey, have you ever arranged music for a musical before?" He's like, "No." And I said, "Well yeah, I've never written one either, but I did." And he was excited. It's an all-new territory. It has brought new challenges, but his sound is so fresh and it's a unique voice to musical-theater.

The sound of the band for this show is so rocking. You cannot keep your butt still in the seats. It makes you want to dance the whole time. It's beautiful arranging. The instrumentation is beautiful. That's going to be a new sound especially for New York.

Jonathan Ivie informed me of the last-minute tempo changes to "Come Join the Marines." What theatrical aspects did you retool or redo during the lockdown?

We were lucky we got to do the show right before the lockdown. We had a three-week run in Phoenix. There were things we wanted to change after that. And we did change the storyline in the second act. I ended up writing two new songs, which I didn't expect to, but they turned out to be some of my favorites. One is called "Familia." It speaks to taking on a family when you're away from your home country and you come to a new country and your closest friends become your familia. Then "For Today." That comes at the end of Act 2. It's very powerful about letting hope replace fear and letting your hope lead, instead of having fear stop you. I'm grateful we had those two years to tweak and write a couple new songs.

What advice would you give an emerging musical-theater writer?

My biggest piece of advice is to go back to that emotional content of the song. There is so much cerebral that goes into musical-theater songwriting. There has to be because it's part of this big show. They're all these different elements. But at the same time, the most important thing about songwriting and about songs, is that you're moving people, you're giving them an emotional push to really feel. Does this song have the thing that is like making us really feel in that moment, whether it's about subatomic particles or DACA rules? The crafting and figuring out the details and how it fit into the story, all that comes later. That emotional core is really important.
Dozens More Staterooms for Solo Travelers + New Sustainability-Focused and Architectural Tours

MIAMI, Fla., March 30, 2022 -- Oceania Cruises, the world's leading culinary- and destination-focused cruise line, announced the addition of dozens more dedicated staterooms for solo travelers along with the debut of the line's Go Green and Beyond Blueprints shore excursion series as part of its industry-leading OceaniaNEXT initiative.

Each of the four ships will feature 14 Solo Oceanview Staterooms, which debut aboard Regatta on September 25, 2022; Nautica on September 26, 2022; and Insignia and Sirena on October 1, 2022.With the addition of these 56 staterooms, plus those that debuted to a sell-out success on Vista earlier this year, Oceania Cruises is reinforcing its commitment to solo travelers. The line also revealed two new shore excursion series  Go Green and Beyond Blueprints  to provide curious travelers with even more options for discovery, exploration, and personal connections with the destinations visited.

"One of the greatest factors in Oceania Cruises' success is that we not only listen to the feedback our guests and travel partners provide, we act on it. Our guests and travel partners wanted more options for solo travelers and more diverse tour offerings, and we are delighted to deliver," stated Howard Sherman, President & CEO of Oceania Cruises.

Solo Oceanview Staterooms aboard Regatta, Insignia, Nautica, and Sirena

Bathed in soothing tones with multiple layers of luxurious furnishings, accents and artwork, these charming staterooms are the perfect retreat for the solo traveler. Centrally located on Deck 6, each is an inviting home away from home, providing guests with a blissful and welcoming space to relax and rejuvenate as they explore the world's most fascinating destinations. All are amply spacious and equipped with a sublimely plush Tranquility Bed, refrigerated mini bar, cozy seating area and abundant storage space.

"These new single-occupancy staterooms are ideal for guests seeking the joy of traveling solo while experiencing all the comfort, cuisine, and destination expertise that Oceania Cruises is renowned for," added Sherman.

Pricing and availability for the new Solo Oceanview Staterooms will be available on April 11, 2022, for sailings beginning on or after September 25, 2022 - Regatta on September 25, 2022; Nautica on September 26, 2022; and Insignia and Sirena on October 1, 2022.

New Go Green and Beyond Blueprints Tours

With more than 150 Go Green tours to choose from around the globe, travelers may engage with residents and businesses to learn about how they are working to conserve and sustain their surrounding environment. The tours, many of which provide an educational element, offer guests the opportunity to take part in a variety of experiences, such as visiting a sustainable vineyard in Almeria, Spain; learning the fascinating aspects of hydroponic farming in the rainforests of St. Kitts; discovering the world of eco-conscious art in Buenos Aires, Argentina; or imbibing in zero-emission rum in the world's only carbon-free distillery in Dartmouth, United Kingdom. Oceania Cruises' Go Green tours span the globe in a wide variety of destinations across Africa, Alaska, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Northern Europe and South America.

The Beyond Blueprints tours offer a rare and in-depth look behind the scenes at some of the world's most iconic architectural landmarks such as The Royal Library and The Blue Planet aquarium in Copenhagen, Denmark; the Equinor office building and the Munchmuseet in Oslo, Norway; and La Villa Mediterranee and MUCEM Marseille, France. The line is showcasing a total of 10 Beyond Blueprints tours in Europe for 2022 and additional global destinations are expected to be unveiled later in the year. All offer special, little-known stories and information from insightful guides about the inspiration, reasoning and genius that brought these marvels to life. Other Beyond Blueprints tours being launched focus on sites in Barcelona, Spain; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Glasgow, Scotland; La Coruna, Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; and Sete, France.

"Whether guests are visiting a destination for the first time or the tenth, our new Go Green and Beyond Blueprints tours offer fresh perspectives and unique insights to enhance their destination experience," added Sherman.

Go Green Tour Examples

Bordeaux Wines and Sustainability: Bordeaux, France

On this tour, guests will discover how converting to biodynamic and organic farming has further elevated the quality of the esteemed wines at Chateau de La Dauphine. The first vineyards in the Fronsac region of Bordeaux were planted about 2,000 years ago, so this appellation has a long-distinguished history. Even so, in 2015 the new owners of Chateau de La Dauphine sought to improve its wines by adopting sustainable, biodynamic practices that go far beyond organic pesticide-free agricultural methods. Biodynamic farming takes a holistic, ethical approach that follows the harmonious cycles of nature, specifically the movement of the moon and planets. As guests tour the vineyards, they will learn more about biodynamics and how it affects the terroir and the taste of the wines. The sampling that follows will lend even more insight. The exact wines will be chosen on arrival, but will likely include an elegant, deep-scarlet merlot.

A Sloth Paradise  Give Back to Nature: Puntarenas, Costa Rica

Visiting a sanctuary for sloths that have been orphaned or injured or lost their habitat due to deforestation, guests will have a close-up look at the animals as they are rehabilitated in hopes of returning them to the wild. Sloths are the world's slowest animals and spend nearly all-day hanging upside down in trees, rarely traveling more than 125 feet. If their habitat is disturbed or destroyed, the sloths are at great risk. Guests can expect to observe baby sloths and plenty of adults in various stages of rehabilitation. The guide will describe the habits of sloths in the wild and how they easily adapt to the sanctuary environment that replicates a tropical forest. Deforestation is one of the biggest threats to sloths, so to help their cause, travelers may plant a tree in a nearby forest reserve.

Bach Ma National Park Ecosystem: Hue, Vietnam

Guests can hike through Bach Ma National Park with a naturalist who will point out and describe the remarkably diverse flora and fauna. As an introduction to the natural wonders, travelers will first browse the exhibits in the visitor center, which detail the park's mountainous topography. Bach Ma means "white horse," a reference to the clouds that ride the wind around the granite summit. As the trail ascends, the forest will become denser and the air cooler. Although the ruins of homes that the colonial French built to escape the summer heat are still visible, most every other sight will be natural. Birds are abundant, including red-headed trogons and scarlet minivets, which are easy to spot because of their bright coloring. A fifth of all the plant species found in Vietnam flourish in the park, and rare orchids may be seen. The summit will afford panoramic views of the mountains, Tam Giang Lagoon and Hue.

Beyond Blueprints Tour Examples

Beyond Blueprints: Copenhagen, Denmark

The Royal Library & The Blue Planet

Browse two radical, modernistic buildings with an architectural historian that will reveal little-known facts about their extraordinary designs. The Black Diamond extension to The Royal Library is as revolutionary as it looks. The irregularly shaped monolithic prism is clad in black granite and leans toward the river to capture as much natural light as possible. The building's significant tilt, wave-like balconies and expanding form as it rises from bottom to top presented a slew of design challenges that the guide will explain. The Blue Planet may be even more striking as it is the largest aquarium in Europe and resembles a giant whirlpool  a design inspired by the shape of water in endless motion. The building's exterior is covered in aluminum panels that are reminiscent of fish scales, while the interior curved ceiling evokes images of the baleens of a massive whale. The guide will further elaborate on the technological challenges of constructing The Blue Planet seaside.

Beyond Blueprints: Oslo, Norway

Equinor & Munchmuseet

Discover how two extraordinarily modern buildings have transformed Oslo's skyline and pushed the boundaries of design. An architectural historian guide will elaborate on the buildings' advanced technologies and present a rare insider's perspective of their construction. The iconic Equinor office building consists of five separate rectangular modules stacked on top of each other at different angles, all to optimize daylight and views. Guests will also learn fascinating details about how the atrium's propeller-shaped glass roof was designed to withstand months of extra weight from snow. Similarly, climate conditions influenced the design of the Munchmuseet, a 13-story museum dedicated to the works of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. It is constructed with low-carbon concrete and aluminum cladding that reflects harsh sunlight and is cooled with seawater. The top of the building intentionally tips forward as if bowing to Oslo in homage.

Beyond Blueprints: Marseille, France

La Villa Mediterranee & MUCEM

Gain an insider's understanding of the challenges in building two avant-garde landmarks by touring them with an architectural historian. Perched along the waterfront, La Villa Mediterranee was designed to embody Marseille's deep bond with the sea. Instantly recognized for its prominent cantilevered overhang, this three-level public space also features a conference center with portholes beneath the sea. As guests will discover, that lower floor presented all sorts of unusual circumstances that pushed the boundaries of architecture. The building faces MUCEM, a national museum devoted to Mediterranean civilizations. Its audacious design includes elements such as tree-like columns, a lacy facade that resembles a fishnet and a slender footbridge that connects it to the towering ramparts of Fort Saint-Jean. The square-within-a-square shape of MUCEM is classical in one sense but radically different because of the building materials. The concrete filigree that shields much of the structure is particularly stunning.

Full tour details and pricing will be available online at OceaniaCruises.com when the new shore excursions are opened for sale at the end of April.

For additional information on Oceania Cruises' small-ship luxury product, exquisitely crafted cuisine, and expertly curated travel experiences, visit OceaniaCruises.com, call 855-OCEANIA, or speak with a professional travel advisor.

About Oceania Cruises

Oceania Cruises is the world's leading culinary- and destination-focused cruise line. The line's seven small, luxurious ships carry a maximum of 1,210 guests and feature the finest cuisine at sea and destination-rich itineraries that span the globe. Expertly curated travel experiences aboard the designer-inspired, small ships call on more than 450 marquee and boutique ports across Europe, Alaska, Asia, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, New England-Canada, Bermuda, the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, Tahiti and the South Pacific in addition to the epic 180-day Around the World Voyages. The brand has a second 1,200-guest Allura Class ship on order for delivery in 2025. With headquarters in Miami, Oceania Cruises is owned by Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd., a diversified cruise operator of leading global cruise brands which include Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises.

About Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. is a leading global cruise company which operates the Norwegian Cruise Line, Oceania Cruises and Regent Seven Seas Cruises brands. With a combined fleet of 28 ships with nearly 60,000 berths, these brands offer itineraries to more than 490 destinations worldwide. The Company has nine additional ships scheduled for delivery through 2027, comprising of approximately 24,000 berths.

SOURCE Oceania Cruises
Authorities work the scene outside the Rosemont Outlet Mall in Rosemont, Ill., where a fatal shooting occurred inside, on March 25, 2022. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

18-Year-Old Arrested in Fatal Shooting at Chicago-Area Mall

ROSEMONT, Ill.Police have arrested an 18-year-old Chicago man wanted in last weeks fatal shooting of a man and wounding of a girl at a suburban Chicago shopping mall.

Rosemont police said the suspect was taken into custody Wednesday without incident in the March 25 shooting that killed Joel Valdes, 20, of Skokie, at the Fashion Outlets of Chicago in Rosemont, just northwest of Chicago.

A second shooting victim, a 15-year-old girl, was treated and released from a hospital, police said.

Authorities did not immediately announce formal charges against the suspect or say when he would be in court.

Rosemont Police Sgt. Joe Balogh also did not disclose details of the suspects capture, but told the Daily Herald that the man was apprehended by Rosemont officers. A nationwide arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for the suspect.

Police said the shooting occurred near the malls food court during an argument that escalated into violence. Frightened shoppers ran for cover and the mall was locked down.

Authorities said surveillance video shows the suspect pulling out a weapon and shooting at Valdes, striking him. Valdes was later pronounced dead at a hospital.

After the shooting, the suspected gunman fled in a car with other people, police said.
Flags of Taiwan and the United States are placed for a meeting in Taipei, Taiwan, on March 27, 2018. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

200 Lawmakers Support Taiwans Inclusion in US IndoPacific Economic Framework

Two hundred members of the U.S. House of Representatives have shown their support for Taiwans inclusion in the IndoPacific Economic Framework (IPEF) that the Biden administration plans to launch early this year.

In a letter (pdf) sent to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, the bipartisan group of lawmakers said there are a compelling number of reasons in favor of Taiwans participation in the IPEF, part of the Biden administrations vision to ramp up economic engagement in that vital region.

The letter was led by Reps. Albio Sires (D-N.J.), Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Fla.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), and Steve Chabot (R-Ohio), along with co-chairs of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus.

As Taiwan is a major economy in the IndoPacific region, we strongly believe that Taiwan should be invited to participate in the IPEF, the lawmakers wrote.

The authors also noted that Taiwan has already expressed an interest in participating in the IPEF.

On March 9, Taiwans Chief Trade Negotiator John Deng said Taiwan is looking to be a full member of a U.S.-led economic framework in the IndoPacific region, noting that the self-ruled island is a reliable and stable partner politically and economically and a key part of the global supply chain.

Taiwan is very willing to support the U.S. IndoPacific Economic Framework, Deng said during a virtual webinar on Taiwans role in global supply chains, hosted by the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank. We believe our participation will further strengthen this framework, Deng added.

In their letter on Wednesday, representatives noted that Taiwan has long been an important trading partner of the United States, serving as its eighth largest in 2021 with $114 billion in total trade.

They also referred to its key role in diversifying the U.S. supply chain away from China, and the U.S.Taiwan Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue through which Taiwan and the United States have discussed multiple economic issues such as digital commerce, 5G networks, telecommunications security, supply chains, infrastructure cooperation, renewable energy, global health, and science and technology.

Many of those same issues will be addressed by the IPEF, the representatives noted.

House members also pointed to Taiwans active membership in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) group since 1991 and close work with countries in the region to facilitate trade and liberalize investment.

Also, Taiwan has built up its partnerships with regional countries under the Global Cooperation and Training Framework (GCTF), a platform co-founded by the United States and Taiwan which Japan and Australia subsequently joined as full partners, members said.

Since its founding in 2015, GCTFs international workshops attract thousands of participants from the regional countries that benefit from Taiwans expertise. That expertise would also enhance the likelihood of a successful outcome of the IPEF deliberations.

House members concluded that for these reasons, Taiwan should be at the front of the line to be invited to participate in the IPEF and its inclusion would also send a clear signal that the United States stands with its allies and partners, and will not be bullied by the PRC, referring to the Peoples Republic of China.

Amid Russias invasion of Ukraine, House members asserted that it is critically important for the United States to unequivocally support Taiwan as it confronts an increasingly bellicose PRC.

Taiwan has been on a heightened state of alert since Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine that Chinawhich views Taiwan as its own territorymay make a similar move.

Taiwans admission to the IPEF would be an essential step in demonstrating Americas resolve to protect, defend, and strengthen that key partnership, they concluded.

President Joe Biden says the IPEF is focused on sustained and creative collaboration with allies, partners, and institutions, within the region and beyond it and aims to more firmly anchor the United States in the IndoPacific and strengthen the region in the process while pushing back on what the United States sees as Chinas attempts to become the worlds dominant power.
Tugs guide China's first domestically manufactured aircraft carrier, known as "Type 001A," as it returns to port in Dalian in China's northeastern Liaoning province after its first sea trial, on May 18, 2018. (AFP via Getty Images)

A Manufactured World Crisis

Commentary

Few people today ask the most important question about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Many people want America to stay out of the fight, but even they dont ask the vital question. Why does the world face a crisis today? Why has a border dispute between Russia and Ukraine escalated to the point where people fear nuclear war?

The answer is simple. America, under the leadership of President Joe Biden and the forces controlling him, has done this and, by doing so, brought the world to the brink of disaster. As always, the great Dr. Ron Paul gets it right: Three weeks into this terrible war, the U.S. is not pursuing talks with Russia. As Antiwar.com recently reported, instead of supporting negotiations between Ukraine and Russia that could lead to a ceasefire and an end to the bloodshed, the U.S. government is actually escalating the situation which can only increase the bloodshed.

The constant flow of U.S. and allied weapons into Ukraine and talk of supporting an extended insurgency does not seem designed to give Ukraine a victory on the battlefield but rather to hand Russia what Secretary of State Blinken called a strategic defeat.

It sounds an awful lot like the Biden Administration intends to fight Russia down to the last Ukrainian, wrote Paul. The only solution for the United States is to get out. Let the Russians and Ukrainians reach an agreement. That means no NATO for Ukraine and no U.S. missiles on Russias borders? So what! End the war then end NATO.

Lets look at an analogy that will help us understand Pauls point. For years, the Ukrainian government has attacked an area in the Donbass region that has seceded from Ukraine and formed an independent, pro-Russian, republic. Just before Putin moved against Ukraine, Ukrainians increased the scale and scope of their attack. Rick Rozoff describes what they did: Two-thirds of Ukrainian army servicemen have been amassed along the Donbass contact line, Eduard Basurin, spokesman for the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic (DPR) militia, said on Thursday.

Another three brigades are on their way [to Donbass], which is 20,000 to 25,000 troops more. The total number will reach 150,000, not to mention the nationalists. This is about two-thirds of Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel, Basurin said on the Rossiya 1 television channel (VGTRK) on Thursday.

Ukrainian troops are stationed along the 320-kilometer front line, he said.

Unlike what has just happened, the Ukrainian attack did not result in U.S. sanctions on Ukraine. There were no meetings of the U.N. to condemn Ukrainian aggression. There was no talk of world war. On the contrary, the Ukraine government used American weapons in its attack and asked America for more weapons to continue their attack. Lets listen to Rozoff again: The Armed Forces of Ukraine used the American anti-tank missile system Javelin in the hostilities in Donbass. This was announced by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov in an interview.

Budanov said that ideally, the U.S. would help deter any Russian incursion, through additional military aid and increased diplomatic and economic pressure, including more sanctions against Russia and the seizure and blocking of Russian banking accounts.

Also, in addition to U.S. aid already promised and delivered, including Mark VI patrol boats, Javelin anti-armor systems and AN/TPQ-53 light counter-fire radar systems, Ukraine seeks additional air, missile and drone defense systems and electronic jamming devices, Budonov said. Patriot missile batteries and counter rocket, artillery and mortar systems are on Ukraines wish list.

The AN/TPQ-53 systems were used to great effect, Ukraine military officials have previously reported. Budanov said the Javelin systems have also been used against Russian forces. Those, along with Turkish-manufactured drones, used against Russian-aligned separatist artillery troops, have a significant psychological deterrent value, said Budanov.

Why the difference? We think that the U.S. should not have shipped arms to Ukraine. Doing this made the situation worse. But for what were saying now, it doesnt matter what you think of the policy. The key point is that because there was no international outcry and no sanctions, the matter remained a local fight. If Biden and his team had reacted to the so-called Russian invasion in the same way, the matter would have remained a local quarrel. Russia and Ukraine would have made a deal and that would be that.

The neocon warmongers and other defenders of democracy, who unfortunately include some deluded libertarians object. Dont we have a duty to resist aggression? The answer is clear: No, we dont. We do not have a duty to evaluate every foreign quarrel and assess who is at fault. We do not have a duty to require leaders of regimes we, or rather our masters in Washington, dont like to accept existing boundaries of countries as unchangeable. We should reject the false doctrine of collective security, which makes every border dispute a world war.

The great American historian Charles Beard recognized what was wrong with collective security in the 1930s. In his article, Giddy Minds and Foreign Quarrels, he asked: On what  should the foreign policy of the United States be based? Here is one answer and it is not excogitated in any professors study or supplied by political agitators. It is the doctrine formulated by George Washington, supplemented by James Monroe, and followed by the Government of the United States until near the end of the nineteenth century, when the frenzy for foreign adventurism burst upon the country. This doctrine is simple. Europe has a set of primary interests which have little or no relation to us, and is constantly vexed by ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice. The United States is a continental power separated from Europe by a wide ocean which, despite all changes in warfare, is still a powerful asset of defense. In the ordinary or regular vicissitudes of European politics the United States should not become implicated by any permanent ties. We should promote commerce, but force nothing. We should steer dear of hates and loves. We should maintain correct and formal relations with all established governments without respect to their forms or their religions, whether Christian, Mohammedan, Shinto, or what have you.

Beard then responded to those who wanted to scrap our traditional policy of non-intervention with collective security: In the rest of the world, outside this hemisphere, our interests are remote and our power to enforce our will is relatively slight. Nothing we can do for Europeans will substantially increase our trade or add to our, or their, well-being. Nothing we can do for Asiatics will materially increase our trade or add to our, or their, well-being. With all countries in Europe and Asia, our relations should be formal and correct. As individuals we may indulge in hate and love, but the Government of the United States embarks on stormy seas when it begins to love one power and hate another officially.

We should heed Beards wisdom today. Otherwise, the world may go up in flames.

From Mises.org

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. Follow Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., is founder and chairman of the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, editor of LewRockwell.com, and author of "Fascism versus Capitalism."
A Moral Journey From Revealed Law, To the Constitution, To Capitalism

Few words have so many different meanings that are so incongruous with one another as the word freedom.

At first, the expectation is that freedom equates to no rules. Its a fallacious notion, for real freedom has rules  ones that are necessarily fair, moral, even metaphysical  and, like all time-honored traditions, they took eons for humans to extrapolate, to create civil order out of primal chaos.

No rules negatively (though accurately) connotes a Mad Max-like world of lawless, base immorality, where one may pursue selfish gain without restraint, rob and steal others property, engage in extramarital affairs, or wantonly harm our fellow man. Typically, people of conservative persuasion around the globe have found such acts repugnant; some even misjudge or malign Western freedom on such bases.

Yet, those who are well versed in Western traditions know that such repulsive acts as theft, adultery, and murder could never produce real freedom, but just the opposite. For in truth, as self-contradictory as it seems, freedom has rules.

People gather around the Robert E. Lee statue on Monument Avenue in Richmond, Virginia, on June 20, 2020. (Ryan M. Kelly/AFP via Getty Images)

If the idea of a freedom with rules sounds unreasonable, thats because it is! As Scottish philosopher David Hume wrote: The rules of morality are not the conclusions of our reason. One may find it perfectly reasonable to steal to satiate hunger or feed ones family, for example, yet theft is justifiably a crime. Somehow, though, these customs and traditions, irrational as they may be, whatever their form, prove important  nay, indispensable  to a free society. Thus, we unintentionally reap the blessings of freedom by following its customs and rules.

But what are these customs? Where are they to be found in Western tradition? And once found, how is freedom to be extrapolated from them? Exploring this is the chief aim of this article.

The Biblical Bedrock of Freedom

One of the earliest promulgations of this tradition was set down in one of the worlds oldest books: The Bible. In Genesis, God creates man in His own image, signifying the sanctity of human life  that life is sacred. The purpose of life, too, is sacred: to love as God loves, offer salvation to our fellow humans, and return to Heaven. This sanctity of life clarifies why killing is a crime (and bequeaths a natural right to protect life), as we shall see.

Another biblical example is Exodus, where the Israelites, enslaved under Pharaoh, are destined to be freed by divine intervention. Moses leads those who would follow him into the desert, pursued by Pharaoh, to the Red Sea where, seemingly trapped, their faith proves well placed; God parts the Red Sea and they cross to the other side, while Pharaohs pursuing forces are swallowed up as the corridor of water closes behind their former slaves.

An illustration depicts God parting the Red Sea, allowing Moses and the Israelites to cross the corridor of water. (Illustration  vlastas/Shutterstock)

Exodus illustrates freedom from tyranny, but also another form of freedom  one that addresses the rules vs no rules disparity. For, on the other shore, on Mount Sinai, God gives Moses the stone tablets known as the Ten Commandments, on which are inscribed such revelations as Thou shalt not kill and Thou shalt not steal  expounding moral laws from above. In other words, freedom isnt absolute, but on condition of following moral laws. Such God-given laws came to be called revealed laws.

The idea is thus: freedom from the tyranny of slavery, and freedom for obedience to moral laws.

A third example lies in what is oft called the greatest story ever told: the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Charged with sedition by the Romans, He was tortured and crucified, which, the Bible says, atoned for the sins of all humanity (Jesus has been likened to the sacrificial lamb during Passover, which sanctioned the Israelites from disease and death in Egypt), so that man might live forever  meaning return to the Kingdom of Heaven.

Though casting a slightly different light on the subject of freedom, the crucifixion mirrors Exodus: whereas the bondage of mans sins, the chains upon his eternal existence, are unfastened by Jesus, the slaves under Pharaoh were freed in Exodus. In both cases, the adherents are delivered so they may obey moral laws given them by their Lord.

Here, again: freedom from what is wrong and freedom to do what is right.

Crucifixion of Saint Peter (circa 1600) by Caravaggio. (Public Domain)

Speaking of Christianity, lets turn to the early Christians who followed in Jesuss footsteps and were persecuted by the Romans for 300 years. Some suffered the same fate as their Master  crucifixion. This persecution grew more systematic as the centuries wore on: the religion was made illicit, with many Christians being made into martyrs by the Romans. Yet, Love thy enemy and Turn the other cheek, as preached by Jesus, were shown by his followers, resulting in a redemption of sorts.

For Christianity was legalized in A.D. 313 by Constantine, the emperor famous for signing the Edict of Milan and converting to Christianity himself in 317. Its not hard to see the parallels here: As the Israelites, armed with faith, found deliverance, and as Jesus redeemed mankind, so did the early Christians atone; so were they delivered.

A Trend of Tolerance

Constantines edict led to the formation of the Catholic Church, which opened its doors to the mainstream, including the powerful and elite. And so did the church increase in power across Europe. Yet the call for freedom would echo resoundingly from within  against the very church from which it sprang. Various ecclesiastics, nobles, religious thinkers, and groups in Europe pushed against papal dominance, favoring a more pluralistic religious freedom.

Around the time of the signing of Magna Carta (1215)  an historic contract between King John and his subjects, limiting the power of the monarchy  the Church of England claimed that religious rights were being infringed upon by the papacy, and saw to it that protections were written into that agreement.

Three centuries later, a German priest named Martin Luther protested against corruption in the Catholic Church, and opposed its practice of selling indulgences (exchanging forgiveness like a common commodity). In 1517, he famously nailed his 95 Theses to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, airing his grievances. Luther would lead a movement that forever fractured the Churchs monopolistic hold over Europe, in favor of a freer approach to religion  a more personal spirituality. Despite opposition from the Church, he found support, and, thanks to the advent of the printing press, which amplified free speech, his ideas took hold throughout Europe, inspiring church reform and the founding of Protestantism.

It wasnt no rules that Luther and his followers wanted, but the freedom to practice moral laws uninfringed.

Luther Hammers His 95 Theses to the Door (1872) by Ferdinan Pauwels. (Public Domain)

This reformation would spark a religious war across the continent, The Thirty Years War (16181648), which ended with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, ushering in a novel religious toleration while diminishing papal dominance forevermore. Stemming from the movement Luther started, Protestant Puritans and Calvinists seeking religious freedom would, echoing Exodus, cross the Atlantic to become a mainstay in the colonies. The culture and morals they brought with them were cornerstones for what some call the greatest experiment in freedom the world has ever seen: the founding of America.

English Common Law: A Cornerstone for Freedom

In the centuries following Jesuss crucifixion, European civilizations came to call both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible the revealed law  or God-given law. Built on this bedrock legal foundation, various customs sprang up throughout Europe, which evolved over the centuries. Eventually, they were loosely compiled within the feudal system to form what is called the common law  which is congruous with revealed law. Together, they set a powerful precedent for freedom.

Distinct from civil (or municipal) laws, common laws werent written as acts of parliament but germinated in the local customs of early Europe. In England, Anglo-Saxon King Alfred the Great (871 to 899) was one of the first to gather this hodge-podge of customs to form a common judicial system. His code of laws Doom Book contains the Ten Commandments and Christian code of ethics. Centuries later, Magna Carta, signed in 1215, strengthened this system; and 500 years later, it was systematized and taught by Sir William Blackstone (1723 to 1780), whose Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765) became the foundation for the American legal system.

Sir William Blackstone by an unknown painter (circa 1755). (Public Domain)

Blackstone explains that English common law is rooted in natural and revealed laws, but emphasized revealed law as the most perfect and superior of all. He writes:

[I]f our reason were always, as in our first ancestor before his transgressions, clear and perfect, unruffled by passions, unclouded by prejudice, unimpaired by disease or intemperance, the talk would be pleasant an easy; we should need no other guide but this. But every man now finds the contrary in his own experience; that his reason is corrupt, and his understanding full of ignorance and error.

This has given manifold occasion for the benign interposition of divine providence; which, in compassion to the frailty, the imperfection, and the blindness of human reason hath been pleased, at sundry times and in divers manners, to discover and enforce its laws by an immediate and direct revelation. 

[U]ndoubtedly the revealed law is of infinitely more authenticity than that moral system, which is framed by ethical writers, and denominated the natural law. Because one is the law of nature, expressly declared so to be by God Himself; the other is only what, by the assistance of human reason, we imagine to be that law.

Moses with the Tables of the Law (1624) by Guido Reni. (Public Domain)

Blackstone further explicates the elevated, more superior jurisdiction of revealed and natural law over the more inferior civil law, as written in the legislature. He writes:

[T]he declaratory part of the municipal law  depends not so much upon the law of revelation or of nature, as upon the wisdom and will of the legislator.  Those rights, then, which God and nature have established, and are therefore called natural rights, such as are life and liberty, need not the aid of human laws to be more effectually invested in every man than they are; neither do they receive any additional strength when declared by the municipal laws to be inviolable. On the contrary, no human legislature has power to abridge or destroy them, unless the owner shall himself commit some act that amounts to a forfeiture. Neither do divine or natural duties (such as, for instance, the worship of God, the maintenance of children, and the like) receive any stronger sanction from being also declared to be duties by the law of the land.  For that legislature in all these cases acts only as was before observed, in subordination to the great lawgiver, transcribing and publishing his precepts. So that, upon the whole, the declaratory part of the municipal law has no force or operation at all, with regard to actions that are naturally and intrinsically right or wrong.

In addition to trumping legislation, this superiority of divine law extends over court rulings  where the former determination is most evidently contrary to reason; much more if it be contrary to the divine law, Blackstone writes. For if it be found that the former decision is manifestly absurd or unjust, it is declared, not that such a sentence was bad law, but that it was not law; that is, that it is not the established custom of the realm, as has been erroneously determined.

The front gate of Parliament of Canada is covered with banners, as demonstrators continue to protest the vaccine mandates implemented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on Feb. 7, 2022, in Ottawa, Canada. (Dave Chan/AFP via Getty Images)

Thus, in our common law inheritance, our forebears impart to us a barometer for reading the fairness or unfairness of an act or rule, and the clairvoyance to see what is right, with recourse to follow our conscience to stand against what is wrong.

Nevertheless, civil laws ought to be followed, as is custom, as forfeiture in exchange for the benefits of living in a community (i.e. the social contract)  but only as far they do not transgress natural rights. Though powerfully enforced by governments they may be, edicts, civil laws, and rulings, we ought remember, are inferior, null, or not law at all when contrary to those higher laws.

Havent we witnessed today such brazen violations as: government health mandates abridging the right to gather and worship freely? Edicts preventing protest against draconian mandates? Usurpation of peoples rights to select their government freely? Suppression of free speech without remedy? And murder without penalty? As these infringements go unchecked, so does the solution  knowledge of customs  evaporate. With each generation, our traditions are exiled from schools and presses by those who would, for whatever reason, have us forget.

This is the first article in the trilogy A Tradition Called Freedom: The People, The Times, The Belief. Part 2, which you can find here, will dive into how revolutions and freedom relate, leading up to and including the American Revolution.

Share your stories with us at emg.inspired@epochtimes.com, and continue to get your daily dose of inspiration by signing up for the Bright newsletter at TheEpochTimes.com/newsletter
Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet rises during Question Period in the House of Commons, in Ottawa, on May 13, 2021. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Able-Bodied White Men Need Not Apply: Federal Diversity Standards in Research Cause Concern in Quebec

The hiring practices of Universite Laval are raising eyebrows in Quebec after it was revealed that, for research chair openings, the university wont hire white men unless they have a disability.

Its current openings for the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) are limited to women, people with disabilities, indigenous, and members of visible minorities.

The CRC is a federal program and funding is withheld for institutions that do not follow its diversity and inclusion policy, which includes quotas to increase the representation of certain groups.

The issue was raised by Bloc Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet during question period in the House of Commons on March 31.

The Canadian government is promoting inclusion and I fully subscribe to that, he said. To do that, there are positive measures, for example, anonymous candidacy when youre looking at assessing candidates or subsidies for some candidates.

Exclusion, however, is unhealthy and it is divisive. Does the prime minister agree that when it comes to research, exclusion is not the solution?

We will provide the additional resources necessary to all researchers and scientists and to position Canada as a leader in innovation, Justin Trudeau answered. Well continue to support a scientific and research ecosystem that is solid and that reflects all of the talents of all Quebecers and all Canadians.

Quebec Premier Francois Legault has yet to comment on the issue, but he has previously resisted pressure to recognize the existence of systemic racism and has spoken in favour of protecting academic freedom in the face of rising censorship, self-censorship, and cancel culture.

Lavals chair openings include the notice that it cannot submit other types of application profiles until its representation targets are met, in accordance with the requirements of the CRC Program.

This is contradicted by the universitys hiring policy a few lines above, which states that Universite Laval is committed to promoting excellence in research and research training and guaranteeing equal opportunity for all qualified candidates.

The CRC website says that all institutions that accept agency funding must make concerted efforts to meet their equity and diversity targets, and provide a supportive and inclusive workplace.

A section of the website is also dedicated to keeping a list of universities that stray from the diversity mandate, listing consequences for not meeting the requirements.

Universite Lavals requirement to not hire outside the designated categories of people is listed there.

Its a similar situation for other institutions, such as Trent University, Laurentian University, Royal Military College, and the University of Northern British Columbia.

But those are dealing with an additional consequence: Peer review decisions for all nominations submitted to the program (and, where applicable, associated funding for chair awards) will be withheld until the EDI [equity, diversity, and inclusion] plan is resubmitted and found to meet the requirements.
Senate Speaker Leo Housakos speaks with the media in the Foyer of the Senate on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 26, 2015. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Address Foreign Interference in Meaningful Way or Lose Public Trust: Tory Senator

A Conservative senator says its time Canada tackles the issue of foreign interference in a meaningful way, for any effort contrary to that will only lead to the public losing trust in the countrys institutions.

Canadas intelligence agencies have long been warning about this threat of malign foreign influence toward our democracy and our society, Sen. Leo Housakos told the Senate on March 29. The truth is, if we dont start addressing it in a meaningful way, it will absolutely erode public trust in our elected officials and our processes and institutions.

Housakos warning came as he moved second reading of a bill he introduced last month, calling for the establishment of a registry that identifies agents of foreign influence in Canada.

Known as Bill S-237, the legislation aims to establish a Foreign Influence Registry and to amend the Criminal Code. It would impose an obligation on individuals acting on behalf of a foreign principal to file a return when they undertake specific actions with respect to public office holders.

The bill also seeks to increase sentencing for intimidation if an offender, acting on behalf of a foreign government, attempts to stop someone from doing anything they have a legal right to do, or to make them do anything unlawful.

Foreign interference and influence are real, and it is very much happening right here in Canada, Housakos said. In many cases, it is financial and, in other cases, it comes in the form of disinformation; sometimes both.

Conservative MP Kenny Chiu rises during question period in the House of Commons on April 13, 2021. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

Housakos cited the example of former Conservative MP Kenny Chiu who lost his seat in the B.C. riding of StevestonRichmond East in the 2021 federal election.

Mr. Chiu lost his seat in the 2021 election in large part because of a disinformation campaign about his bill [C-282]a disinformation campaign that was clearly linked to a foreign power, he said.

Bill C-282, which received its first reading in the previous Parliament on April 13, 2021, is a private members bill that sought to increase transparency by compelling anyone working on behalf of a foreign entity to register as a foreign agent.

Referring to a January article titled Misinformation and Chinese interference in Canadas affairs published in Policy Options, Housakos said the authors detailed how various tactics were deployed by pro-Beijing groups to smear Chiu and his bill.

Chius pro-democracy and anti-Chinese communist party background were being used as justification for the accusation and argument that the proposed Foreign influence Registry Act was indeed racial discrimination against the Chinese, and that the bills prime objective was to suppress pro-China opinion, as well as to operate surveillance on organizations and individuals in the overseas Chinese community, the authors wrote.

Elaborating on their findings, the authors noted that the use of fake news is widespread in overseas Chinese communities via social media such as WeChat and WhatsApp.

Research indicates that people tend to accept misinformation as fact if it comes from a credible and trustworthy source, and so-called trust can also be based on feelings of familiarity, the article said.

In its 2020 annual report, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service cautioned that foreign state actors are increasingly targeting Canadas electoral system to undermine the countrys democracy.

Although Canadas electoral system is strong, threat actors have sought to target its politicians, political parties, elections, and media outlets in order to manipulate the Canadian public and interfere with Canadas democracy, the report said.

Certain states may seek to manipulate and misuse Canadas electoral system to further their own national interests; others may seek to discredit key facets of Canadas democratic institutions to reduce public confidence in the democratic system.

Housakos said since there is evidence that countries like China, Iran, and Russia are engaged in foreign interference and influence operations against Canada, setting up the registry is critical.

Why shouldnt we have such a registry? Do Canadians not deserve to know who is lobbying their public officials on behalf of foreign entities? he asked.

Sen. Yuen Pau Woo participates in a TV interview in the Senate foyer on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 19, 2018. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

Bill S-237 was challenged by Sen. Yuen Pau Woo, who argued that the bill is overreaching such that it would also require individuals representing alumni associations, sporting groups, municipalities, and cultural institutions under the direct or indirect control of Beijing, to be registered.

That is not at all the essence of this bill, Housakos said. When you have organizations that are funded directly by Beijing, which are here promoting the agenda of that tyrannical organization to government agencies, to our institutionsparticularly in commerce, trade, science, technology, energy sectorsthose are the ones that are of serious concern when it comes to dealing with this issue.

Woo also differed in his view that China is a tyrannical state.

You have been quite clear in saying that China is an authoritarian state, which I entirely agree with, he told Housakos. You also described it as tyrannical. Im not sure I would go that far, but its certainly a Leninist state.

Housakos replied that its unfortunate that a Canadian senator wouldnt recognize the tyranny China has committed over the years, noting the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and the persecution of Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang.

To stand up and say that you take exception to the comments of me referring to the administration and the regime in China as tyrannical is in itself outrageous, he said.

The debate on Bill S-237 was adjourned without a second reading vote.
A woman reads the signboards placed by Freedom Convoy protesters outside Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Feb. 17, 2022 (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)

Allegations of Firearms at the Ottawa Convoy Protest: A Look at Claims and Facts

News Analysis

Since the arrest in February of a small group of individuals in Coutts, Alta., on serious charges, including conspiracy to commit murder and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, some media reports and politicians have made claims linking the Ottawa protest to the same group, with some alleging there were firearms at the Ottawa site.

This claim is vehemently denied by Freedom Convoy organizers, who say their three-week protest against COVID-19 mandates in the nations capital was peaceful.

The issue of firearms possession was recently raised again during a House of Commons committee hearing, with a Conservative MP alleging that those making the claim were attempting to spread misinformation.

Heres a look at the background and some of the claims made.

Allegations and Contradictions

A widely shared Toronto Star article published on March 19 cited an anonymous police source claiming there were loaded shotguns inside some trucks at the Ottawa protest.

Police cleared the protest on the Feb. 18, after the government invoked the Emergencies Act on Feb. 14, with law enforcement in some cases breaking into trucks parked on the streets.

Its legal for a licensed gun owner to have unloaded firearms in a vehicle, but its illegal to store loaded firearms anywhere.

Fears that there were weapons inside some of the trucks proved prescient: A police source said loaded shotguns were found, the Toronto Star article said. The quote and the article were shared on Twitter by Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations Marc Miller.

This claim, however, was contradicted by the testimony of Ottawa Police Service (OPS) interim chief Steve Bell when he appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety on March 24.

Thousands gather around Parliament Hill in support of the Freedom Convoy truck protest in Ottawa on Feb. 5, 2022. (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

Under questioning by Conservative MP Dane Lloyd, Bell was asked repeatedly whether the allegation in the article was true.

Were loaded firearms found, yes or no? said Lloyd.

Bell replied: In relation tono, not relating to any charges to this point.

Bell also said in his testimony that investigations into weapons possession at the protest site are ongoing. However, he didnt say the investigations were related to firearms possession, instead using the word weapons, without specifying which kind.

In response, Lloyd contended that the Star articles claim that loaded shotguns were found in some trucks, and the retweeting of the quote by the federal minister, amount to misinformation.

This is misinformation, chief, and I submit to the committee [it is] misinformation being spread by a journalist and misinformation being spread by a member of this government, he said.

Following the committee hearing, the Toronto Star added an editors note to its article, stating that the article had been updated with Bells comments about the ongoing investigation. The Star also added a new paragraph in the article below the original claim, stating: On March 24, Bell confirmed police received information and intelligence pertaining to firearms in the occupation, but would not confirm whether firearms had been seized and said investigations are ongoing.

The new paragraph still makes reference to firearms, even though Bell only mentioned weapons.

This is not the only time a media outlet had to issue an update related to weapons.

The Canadian Press issued a correction on Feb. 3 for a story it ran a day earlier related to the Jan. 30 arrest of Ottawa resident Andre Lacasse for carrying a weapon to a meeting related to the protest. The correction said that the earlier article had reported erroneous information, saying that police alleged the person charged had planned to attend the rally downtown with a long gun, but was intercepted before that could happen.

In fact, police allege Lacasse carried a knife and a baton. Ottawa police said Thursday [Feb. 3] that Steve Bell, the deputy police chief, had been talking Wednesday about a different, ongoing investigation when he mentioned the long gun, reads the correction.

The same claim linking the long gun with the Jan. 30 arrest was published by other media outlets as well, some of which didnt issue an update.

Protest organizers often stated that the Freedom Convoy was peaceful and that all they wanted was an end to COVID-19 mandates, including mandatory vaccination, and to speak with government representatives, a request that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeatedly denied.

Freedom Convoy organizers (LR) Chris Barber, Benjamin Dichter, and Tamara Lich speak at a press conference in Ottawa on Jan. 30, 2022. (Limin Zhou/The Epoch Times)

We will remain peaceful, but planted on Parliament Hill until the mandates are decisively ended. We recognize that there is a democratic process within which change occurs. We have never stepped outside of that process, nor do we intend to, protest organizer Tamara Lich said at a press conference on Feb. 14.

But some reporters kept the focus on firearms allegations following the arrests in Coutts.

At the same Feb. 14 press conference, a CTV reporter asked whether the organizers could give assurance that no protesters had firearms in their vehicles. Organizers refuted the claim, and being wary of media and critical of many outlets portrayal of the protest, ended the press conference following the question.

The Epoch Times asked the OPS in an email if there are any ongoing investigations relating to firearms possession at the protest site. The police force didnt answer the question but instead replied that there are multiple ongoing investigations related to the convoy and new charges being laid.

We are holding people accountable. In the past few days, you have seen multiple new charges laid against organizers or key organizing voices, the OPS spokesperson said, citing a quote from interim chief Bell.

A police task force continues to comb over social media, video, and other evidence gathered.

Alleging Links Between Ottawa and Coutts

In a Feb. 16 press conference justifying the use of the Emergencies Act, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino claimed that the individuals arrested in Coutts had ties to the protest leaders in Ottawa. But when pressed for details on how he reached that conclusion, he cited information from social media instead of law enforcement or intelligence agencies, despite the fact that his ministry is in charge of these bodies.

The arrests in Coutts occurred on Feb. 14, with the RCMP announcing that a small organized group within the larger Coutts protest  had access to a cache of firearms with a large quantity of ammunition. The RCMP said the group was said to have a willingness to use force against the police if attempts were made to disrupt the blockade.

The arrested individuals were charged with serious offences, including conspiracy to commit murder. The arrests were made at a property in the village of Coutts.

The Coutts protesters, who had blocked the border crossing to protest COVID-19 mandates, dispersed after the RCMP made the arrests in order to distance themselves from those charged, saying they wanted to ensure the movement maintained its peaceful nature.

In the image released of the RCMP arrests in Coutts, two small black flags with a white diagonal line appear on a tactical vest that can be used to carry body armour plates.

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN) says this is the symbol of Diagolon, which it describes as a militia-like network that has often expressed sentiments akin to accelerationism, an extremist doctrine that seeks to accelerate the downfall of society by generating chaos.

An RCMP helicopter flies over as a truck convoy demonstrating against COVID-19 mandates continues to block the highway at the U.S. border crossing in Coutts, Alta., on Feb. 2, 2022. (The Canadian Press/Jeff McIntosh)

Articles in the Toronto Star and CBC on the Coutts arrests cover the Diagolon connection and give background on its founder, Nova Scotia resident Jeremy MacKenzie. The articles note that MacKenzie was at the Ottawa protests, with the Star mentioning Mendicinos allegations of links between the Ottawa protests and the Coutts arrests in that context.

MacKenzie was arrested on Feb. 2 by the RCMP in Nova Scotia, following an investigation that started on Jan. 10, on allegations he waved a handgun in a reckless manner in a video.

MacKenzie, a military veteran and podcaster, told The Epoch Times that Diagolon started as an internet meme or joke. He said the idea came to him about a year ago while improvising on his podcast and reflecting on how, from Alaska down to Florida, there were jurisdictions more resistant to COVID-19 restrictions, and hence that diagonal of states, including Alberta and Saskatchewan, should create a fictitious country free from far-left communists.

He said that Diagolon is a community and not a militia group, and said accusations of being neo-fascist or white supremacist are false, since he considers himself a libertarian against government overreach and points to his community as being diverse.

But MacKenzie used extreme language and called for violence against the enemy occupied government during an April 2021 podcast. He called the government criminal opportunists that need to be executed for treason for stealing our money and forcing medical experimentation, in a likely reference to vaccine mandates. He said he was in a bad mood when he made the comments.

Daniel Bulford, a former RCMP sniper who helped the Freedom Convoy as a volunteer coordinating security and who often appeared in media conferences with convoy organizers, says MacKenzie wasnt affiliated with the organizers. The Epoch Times asked MacKenzie if he had any organizing role, but didnt receive a response.

Bulford says if there were weapons involved or any intention to use force against the government, he wouldnt have been part of the protest in Ottawa.

At no point in time did I ever believe any of the convoy participants or supporters were in possession of firearms with intentions of doing anything that would be dangerous to public or police safety. And if I had believed that, I would never have been involved in the manner in which I was, he said in an interview.

(LR) Military veteran Eddie Cornell, former Ontario Provincial Police officer Vincent Gircys, and former RCMP officer Daniel Bulford hold a press conference organized by Freedom Convoy in Ottawa on Feb. 16, 2022. (NTD)

What happened in Coutts was my greatest concern here, that some group, some lone actor, or some small groupwhether it be extreme left or extreme right, doesnt matterwould use the convoy as an opportunity to try and infiltrate and either commit some kind of violent attack  or plant evidence to discredit the convoy.

Besides distancing themselves from the arrests in Coutts, Freedom Convoy organizers have also said they had no role in the protest blockades that occurred across the country.

I wish we could take credit for the blockades, but we cannot, organizers Dagny Pawlak and Benjamin Dichter said in a Feb. 13 statement. We of course encourage all demonstrations across the country to be peaceful just like we have been and continue to be here in Ottawa.

The Epoch Times asked the RCMP for comment on the weapons possession allegations in Ottawa, but was referred to the Ottawa police.

Claims and Facts

Besides the issue of firearms versus weapons, there have been a number of other claims that have been either corrected via media updates or contradicted by facts that later came to light.

One is the claim by the federal government as well as various politicians, without providing supporting information, that the movement was largely foreign-funded.

These illegal blockades are being heavily supported by individuals in the United States and from elsewhere around the world. We see that roughly half of the funding that is flowing to the barricaders here is coming from the United States, Trudeau said in the House of Commons on Feb. 17.

However, GoFundMe, which hosted a Freedom Convoy fundraiser amounting to over $10 million before it was removed, said at a Public Safety committee hearing on March 3 that 88 percent of the funds originated in Canada and 86 percent of the donors were from Canada.

People demonstrate as part of the trucker convoy protesting COVID-19 mandates and restrictions in Ottawa on Jan. 30, 2022. (Jonathan Ren/The Epoch Times)

And CBC has corrected or retracted two reports about the Freedom Convoy that contained false claims, one claiming that the fundraiser was shut down due to the suspicious nature of its donations, and the other claiming that Russia could be backing the protest movement.

In addition, Mendicino alleged that local residents around the protest site were subjected to harassment, and even threats of rape. The claim was challenged by the Conservatives, who said such allegations werent cited when the Emergencies Act was invoked.

Moreover, several politicians, including Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson, linked an alleged arson in an Ottawa apartment building in February to the convoy protesters, but the OPS said on March 21 that the suspect charged with the incident was not connected to the protest activity.

Noe Chartier Follow Noe Chartier is an Epoch Times reporter based in Montreal.
CEO of Apple Tim Cook attends the 2022 Vanity Fair Oscar Party following the 94th Oscars at the The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Calif., on March 27, 2022. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Apple CEO Tim Cooks Alleged Stalker Agrees to Give up Guns, Stay Away for 3 Years

By Ethan Baron

From The Mercury News

SAN JOSE, Calif.A woman accused by Apple of stalking CEO Tim Cook for more than a yearemailing him photos of a loaded pistol and traveling across the U.S. to trespass at his homeagreed Tuesday in court to stay away from the tech chief, Apple employees and properties, and give up any guns she may possess.

Apple had received a temporary restraining order against the woman this January, after alleging erratic, threatening, and bizarre behavior. The company included in the application copies of photos, emails and tweets purporting to come from the woman.

Apple said in the application that it believed the woman may be armed and is still in the South Bay Area and intends to return to (Cooks) residence or locate him otherwise in the near future. Apple said it believed she drove a Porsche Macan SUV from Virginia to Palo Alto and showed up at Cooks home Oct. 22.

The temporary order prohibited the woman, 46, from possessing guns, approaching any Apple employees including Cook, entering any Apple property or going to Cooks Palo Alto residence. The order was to expire at the end of the hearing Tuesday.

Last week, Apple and the womanwho was representing herself, without a lawyerjointly filed for a permanent restraining order that she keep away from Cook and any other Apple employees, and that she sell or surrender to authorities any guns she possessed, a court filing showed.

Apple had tracked her down to a house near I-280 in San Jose, a court filing showed. However, Judge Carol Overton in Santa Clara County Superior Court in San Jose declined to sign the order, saying the woman would be questioned in court at the already-scheduled hearing Tuesday, according to a filing.

On Tuesday, a different Santa Clara County Superior Court judge signed a new order that Apple and the woman had agreed upon, with the same terms as the proposed temporary order but lasting for just three years. The woman, dressed in a medium-length wrinkled coat, plaid-patterned white pants and black wedge heels, answered briefly with yes and yes, sir when Judge Erik Johnson asked her questions to confirm she understood the terms of the order.

Apple security specialist Jose Barrera had said in a January court filing that he works closely with Cook and feared the woman posed a threat to the CEO and all Apple employees, including himself and the companys security team. Outside the courthouse Tuesday, Barrera said, Were happy with the outcome.

Cook did not attend Tuesdays hearing.

The three-year order also bars the woman from contacting the CEO or Apple employees directly, indirectly, or electronically through email, social media or other means.

Cook first learned in late 2020 that he was the subject of the womans obsession because he receives alerts when hes tagged on Twitter, the initial application said. The woman, using the last name Cook, claimed she was the Apple CEOs wife and that he fathered twins with her.

She tweeted about the purported relationship a dozen times on Halloween 2020, and from late October to mid-November of that year emailed Cook about 200 times, the messages showing a significant escalation in tone, becoming threatening and highly disturbing, the restraining order application said. A series of missives contained photos of a snub-nosed revolver and bullet cartridges. In an email expressing a desire for a sexual relationship with Cook, she said her patience was almost done, the application said.

Meanwhile, she was registering fake corporations, some with highly offensive corporate names, in California, Virginia and New York, naming Cook as a corporate officer, director or agent, according to the application. The three-year restraining order requires her to remove all mention of Cook and Apple from any corporate entities she has registered.

By September last year, the woman became obsessed with Cooks Palo Alto condo and sent him an email applying to be his roommate, the application said. When she arrived at the property and told security she wanted to speak with Cook, they asked her to leave; she complied but soon returned, then left and waited in her car, according to the application.

Palo Alto police responded to the alleged trespassing, and the woman was stopped after attempting to flee, the application said. She allegedly told police she was staying in Palo Alto and could get violent. No weapons were found during a search of her Porsche, which police had towed because the womans drivers license had expired, the application said.

She continued emailing Cook, the application said. Because she provided a San Jose address, San Jose police responded and found it to be an Airbnb where the woman was not present, according to the application.

A week before Christmas the woman emailed Cook again, with a demand for hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the application. On New Years Day, she tweeted, again with violent language about Cook, from a new account, the application said. The most recent email, sent a few days later, ordered Cook to move.

#YR@ MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at mercurynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
A file photo of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) headquarters in Washington DC. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

ATF Revokes License of Gun Manufacturer Following Lawsuit

In a rare move, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) revoked the firearm manufacturing license of Nevada-based JA Industries last week in response to a lawsuit, according to a new court filing.

ATF did not specify in the filing on what grounds the license was revoked.

The bureaus decision came after a months-long inspection of JA Industries, which was prompted by a lawsuit alleging ATF violated federal laws by granting the license to the company.

JA Industries was founded by Paul Jimenez weeks after he filed bankruptcy for his problematic gun manufacturing company Jimenez Arms in Jan. 2020, according to the lawsuit.

Jimenez, through Jimenez Arms, allegedly mailed handguns across states to a gun trafficker, mispresented facts of operations to ATF, and violated its recordkeeping rules, which would have disqualified him from being granted a new license the lawsuit alleged.

The lawsuitfiled by Illinois, Kansas City of Missouri, and gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fundseeks a judges order to invalidate JA Industries manufacturing license.

This is the first time we are aware of that the ATF has reversed a licensing decision in response to litigation, according to Noah Levine, deputy press secretary at Everytown for Gun Safety.

In Illinois and Kansas City cheap handguns made by Jimenez Arms turned up at crime scenes at a rate disproportionate to the companys market share, according to the lawsuit.

Between 2014 and 2018, Chicago police recovered 378 Jimenez Arms pistols, while Kansas City police recovered, seized, or held as evidence at least 166.

In Kansas City, Jimenez did business with convicted gun trafficker James Samuels for years. Of the 77 firearms that Samuels is known to have trafficked between 2013 and 2018, 57 were Jimenez Arms pistols.

When Jimenez Arms went bankrupt, Everytown for Gun Safety purchased the entire inventory of pistols and pistol frames, valued at $12,571, to prevent Jimenez from purchasing it himself to start a new manufacturing firm, according to the lawsuit.

Then Everytown for Gun Safety worked with professionals to destroy the weapons it had purchased, which cost an additional $6,850.

The three plaintiffs alleged that ATF unlawfully allowing Jimenez to continue his manufacturing businesses through a new license hurt their interests.

Also, the lawsuit alleged that Jimenez made false and misleading statements to the bureau about his business involvement with a convicted felon Bruce Jennings.

In addition, ATF cited Jimenez Arms with recordkeeping violations during two routine inspections in 2012 and 2017, according to the lawsuit.

Now the bureau has revoked JA Industries license, the lawsuit is expected to be dismissed, according to the court filing.

Just days ago, President Joe Biden called for a 13 percent budget increase, or $1.7 billion, for ATF in his 2023 fiscal budget.

Part of the funding will be used to hire 300 agents, investigators, and personnel to crack down on the pipeline of illegal firearms used in crimes, according to a White House press release.
Australian Ambassador to China Graham Fletcher, left, is turned away by court officials and police as he tries to enter the trial of Chinese Australian journalist Cheng Lei at the Beijing Number 2 Intermediate Peoples Court in Beijing, China, on March 31, 2022. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Australian Ambassador Denied Entry to Chinas Secret Trial of Journalist Cheng Lei

Court officials in Beijing have denied Australias ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher, entry to the closed-door trial of Chinese-born Australian journalist Cheng Lei on March 31.

A court official at the No. 2 Peoples Intermediate Court in Beijing reportedly told Fletcher that he couldnt enter because the court case involved state secrets.

This is deeply concerning, unsatisfactory and regrettable, Fletcher told Bloomberg reporters after being turned away from the court.

We can have no confidence in the validity of a process which is conducted in secret. Nevertheless, we will continue to advocate strongly for Ms. Cheng Leis rights and interests.

Australian Ambassador to China Graham Fletcher (L) is not allowed entry by court officials and police as he tries to enter the trial of Chinese Australian journalist Cheng Lei at the Beijing Number 2 Intermediate Peoples Court in Beijing on March 31, 2022. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Bloomberg and The Guardian reported that plain-clothed police roped off areas outside the No. 2 Peoples Intermediate Court in Beijing and were checking journalists credentials before moving them away.

Cheng worked as a news anchor for CGTN, the international arm of the Chinese regimes state broadcaster, CCTV, before she was detained in Beijing in August 2020 amid testy relations between Canberra and Beijing.

She was formally arrested six months later on Feb. 5, 2021, on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas.

Australian journalist Cheng Lei is seen on a television set in Beijing in this still image taken from undated video footage. (Australia Global Alumni-Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade/Handout via Reuters)

After graduating from the University of Queensland, Cheng returned to China to become a business analyst for a SinoAustralian joint venture in 2001. She 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 on vague charges of endangering national security.

Australian officials have visited Cheng a number of times since her detention in accordance with bilateral consular agreements with China, but have previously decried the lack of transparency surrounding her case.

Cheng was the second Chinese Australian to be detained by Chinese authorities since 2019. Her detention came months after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

After this, Beijing began to impose trade tariffs and restrictions on Australian exports in retaliation as a form of economic coercion to bend Canberras knee.
Austria Announces Emergency Measures, Follows Germany as Apprehension Grows Regarding Russian Gas Supply

The Austrian government and E-Controlthe countrys regulatory agency for gas and electricityhave announced a stage one alert with regard to the supply of natural gas as European countries rejected Moscows push for gas to be paid in rubles.

Austrias gas emergency plan has three levels. The first level is triggered if there are reliable indications that gas supplies could deteriorate while the second is activated when the gas supply actually deteriorates. In this scenario, the government will encourage industries to use alternative sources of power.

The third level gets triggered when gas can no longer be supplied and current market demand cannot be met. In addition to encouraging the industry to adopt alternatives, the government will likely enact other energy control measures at this stage.

We will do everything to ensure the gas supply for Austrias households and businesses. Deliveries are currently arriving reliably and without restrictions. That can of course change. The early warning stage ensures that the monitoring of the supply situation is intensified in order to be prepared in the event of changes and to be able to react quickly, Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer said in a March 30 press release by E-Control.

The reason for sounding the warning is due to Russias announcement that future gas deliveries will only be paid for in rubles, the regulator said.

As the early warning stage has been activated, surveillance and monitoring of the gas situation has tightened. E-Control and the Austrian Gas Grid Management will deliver daily reports to the federal government and the climate protection ministry on the matter.

Gas deliveries from Russia to Austria have not been disrupted and are continuing without restrictions, E-Control stated. The countrys gas storage tanks are currently only 13 percent full, which the regulator claims corresponds to the average of recent years.

If there is a total failure in securing Russian gas supplies, stages in the emergency plan may be skipped, the regulator added.

Though Austria is looking for alternative suppliers, the countrys dependence on Russian gas supplies is so high that it cannot be reduced overnight, not even from one year to the next, Wolfgang Urbantschitsch, Chairman of the Austrian energy regulator E-Control has said, according to Euractiv.

The Austrian industry has also expressed opposition to the European Unions plan to cut down Russian gas imports by two-thirds in 2023. Russia accounts for 80 percent of Austrias gas imports.

Earlier, Germany had triggered the first stage of its three-stage gas supply emergency plan. Russia accounted for 55 percent of Germanys gas imports last year.

Germanys actions followed Putins announcement that unfriendly nations should buy Russian gas in rubles. Russia had previously designated the EU, including Germany, as unfriendly due to the blocs sanctions on Moscow imposed in retaliation to the Kremlins war against Ukraine.

Putin and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke by phone on March 30 to discuss the issue. The Russian president reportedly reassured Scholz that payments for Russian energy could continue to be made in Euros.

The money would be transferred to Gazprom bank, which would then convert it into rubles. Scholz did not agree to this procedure in the conversation, but asked for written information to better understand the procedure, said a German spokesperson.

However, Putin announced on March 31 that he has signed a decree mandating unfriendly nations pay rubles for Russian gas. If payment is not made in rubles, contracts will be stopped, including existing ones, the president said. According to the new system, buyers will have to open ruble accounts in Russian banks. This will allow them to buy Russian gas from April 1.
A bridge is decorated with the logo of a Bayer AG, a German pharmaceutical and chemical maker in Wuppertal, Germany on Aug. 9, 2019. (Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters)

Bayer to Invest 2 Billion Euros in Drug Production Over Next 3 Years

FRANKFURTGerman drugmaker Bayer said it would invest around 2 billion euros ($2.23 billion) at pharmaceutical manufacturing sites over the next three years, mainly to bolster production of biotechnology drugs as well as cell and gene therapies.

The sites to be upgraded include Berkeley, California, as well as Berlin, Leverkusen, and Bergkamen in Germany.

In addition, Bayer will transfer a manufacturing plant in Sao Paulo Cancioneiro, Brazil, as well as parts of the infrastructure and services at the German sites in Bergkamen, Wuppertal, and Berlin to new operators.

By Ludwig Burger
President Joe Biden delivers remarks on COVID-19 in the United States in the South Court Auditorium in Washington on March 30, 2022. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Biden to Release 180 Million Barrels of Oil From Reserve

President Joe Biden announced on March 31 that the United States will release an unprecedented 180 million barrels of oil from the nations Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over the next several months.

The oil will be put out into the market at a pace of 1 million barrels per day on average for the next six months starting in May, and this will come in concert with releases from other countries around the world, according to a senior administration official on a call with reporters ahead of the presidents announcement.

The administration plans to restock the reserves when oil prices come down, to prepare for future emergencies, and also to provide the right signal to the market, a senior administration official said.

News of the announcement caused oil prices to take a plunge on March 31 while the oil-producing nations of OPEC+, which includes Russia, stuck to their existing deal for May output of 432,000 barrels per day.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for May delivery fell $6.06, or 5.62 percent, to $101.76 per barrel, off a low of $100.16.

U.S. gas prices remain elevated at an average of $4.225 per gallondown slightly from the record high of $4.331 reached on March 11, according to the American Automotive Association.

This marks the third time the Biden administration has tapped into the SPR in the past six months, and it will be the largest release in the reserves nearly 50-year history.

To date, the administration has released 90 million barrels of oil from the reserve. The United States consumes an average of about 20 million barrels of oil per day.

Phil Flynn, a senior account executive at The Price Futures Group and author of The Energy Report, refers to Bidens move as a desperate measure in his daily blog on energy markets, noting that it comes on the same day OPEC+ will ignore Bidens call to up production.

So what a coincidence that Biden announced the biggest release from the SPR ever on the day that OPEC is going to shun the Biden administration by sticking to their 400,000 barrel a day script, Flynn wrote. Yet OPEC will laugh it off. They know that this move will only increase the demand for their product. They also know that it will further encourage less U.S. oil production as it will discourage oil investment in shale.

On March 8, Biden announced a ban on Russian energy imports as part of a list of U.S. sanctions meant to isolate Russias economy in response to its military invasion of Ukraine.

Gas prices have been on the rise since dropping below $2 per gallon during the COVID-19 lockdown measures in 2020. Those increases have accelerated since around the start of 2022 as Russian tensions with Ukraine escalated and Russia later invaded.

Some in Congress have called for Biden to allow for leases of federal land to allow for greater domestic oil production.

Biden signed an executive order during his first days in office, putting a halt to new fossil fuel drilling leases, prioritizing goals that were meant to mitigate climate change.

Still, the White House has repeatedly denied that its policies are limiting oil production, pointing to an increase in production compared to President Donald Trumps first year in office and 9,000 unused permits for oil companies to drill on federal land.

On March 31, officials renewed calls for oil companies to step up production.

We do think that there should be consequences if youre sitting on unused, approved permits for production on federal lands and also undeveloped acres of land that have been leased, a senior administration official said on March 31.

Thats why the president will today call for a use-it-or-lose-it policy that will charge companies if theyre sitting on wells that arent producing and leases that theyre not developing.

On March 8, American Petroleum Institute spokesman Kevin OScannlain called the White Houses argument on nonproducing leases a red herring, a smokescreen for energy policies that have had a hamstringing effect on U.S. natural gas and oil production.

OScannlain said the use-it-or-lose-it requirements that oil companies produce gas or return leases to the federal government are already in place. He also noted the significant time and financial investment needed to lease land and search for oil, as well as federal limits on companies locking up excess unproductive land.

Reuters contributed to this report.
Ukraine takes back several cities, as the countrys president asks Australia for more help. What does he warn might happen?

Western officials say Putin is misinformed about the reality of the war in Ukraine, and a British agent says Russian soldiers are refusing to carry out orders.

A group of Russian programmers respond to the governments ban of Instagram by releasing an alternative app. The app is in black and white, and it asks users to post sad photos.
President Joe Biden announced on March 31 a new plan to ease prices at the pumpan unprecedented release of emergency oil. Multiple reports citing unnamed sources claim that a federal investigation into Hunter Biden, the presidents son, is ramping up.
President Joe Biden's proposed new "billionaire's tax" would dramatically increase taxes for United States' households "worth" more than $100 million, but critics say its expansion in defining "income" will affect more than just 700-800 billionaires, such those above, and Republicans say it is a gimmick to boost Democrats' 2022 midterm prospects. (AP/Getty Images)

Billionaire Tax Expands Taxable Income, Should Be Dead on Revival Say Critics

President Joe Bidens proposed billionaire tax may sound good to many voters, but it is fraught with vagaries that could redefineand expandthe nations tax code, according to first-look analyses across a range of publications and sites, from The Wall Street Journal to the Heritage Foundation.

The tax proposal was included within Bidens $5.8 billion Fiscal Year 2023 budget request to Congress.

It would levy a new income tax of 20 percent for households worth more than $100 million.

The aim is to chip away at the nations spending-over-revenues deficit by increasing revenues by more than $360 billion between 2023 and 2032 rather than scaling back spending, according to a White House Fact Sheet entitled, Presidents Budget Rewards Work, Not Wealth with new Billionaire Minimum Income Tax.

Flanked by Office of Management & Budget Director Shalanda Young, when Biden introduced the 149-page proposed budget blueprint on March 28, he said only 100th (0.01 percent) of 1 percent of United States taxpayers would be affected by the new levy.

Budgets are statements of values, and the budget I am releasing today sends a clear message that we value fiscal responsibility, safety and security at home and around the world, and the investments needed to continue our equitable growth and build a better America, Biden said. The billionaire minimum tax is fair, and it raises $360 billion that can be used to lower costs for families and cut the deficit.

The fact sheet adds the projected $360 billion in revenues generated by the billionaire minimum income tax would come from households worth more than $1 billion and would make sure that the wealthiest Americans no longer pay a tax rate lower than teachers and firefighters.

In 2021 alone, it continues, Americas more than 700 billionaires saw their wealth increase by $1 trillion, yet in a typical year, billionaires like these would pay just 8 percent of their total realized and unrealized income in taxes. A firefighter or teacher can pay double that tax rate.

That realized and unrealized component of the billionaire minimum income tax is raising eyebrows because, in essence, it is a first-of-its-kind tax on unrealized capital gains, according to a budget breakdown by five fiscal policy analysts and researchers posted by the Heritage Foundation.

Falsely billed as a billionaire minimum income tax, this convoluted wealth tax proposal would result in less investment in America, reduced income for workers, and more power for bureaucrats, lawyers, and accountants, they maintain.

Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.), ranking House Budget Committee Republican, is among critics noting the proposed billionaires tax changes the definition of income by making unrealized capital gains taxable for the first time. The current United States tax code taxes assets when they are sold; increases in asset values are not taxed until then.

Analysts also cite vagaries in how the tax would be assessed and levied, noting the proposal does not lay out a process for ascertaining how to define the $100 million in worth threshold, especially in calculating the taxable value of accrued savings that have not been taxed before.

Therefore, Bidens proposal is a 20 percent tax on all income plus unrealized capital gains for households where that income and those assets are worth at least $100 million.

Under the plan, capital gains would be taxed as a prepayment on the sale of the capital gains, which defines it as income for the first time. It could also expand the taxable beyond the 700-800 megawealthy taxpayers the Biden administration claims would pay the tax.

Many wealthy people own closely-held businesses and artworks that can be hard to value, so it could be tricky to determine who faces the tax, writes Michael Rainey in a Fiscal Times analysis.

Constitutional scholars and tax law attorneys also question if the billionaires tax is legal under the 16th Amendment, which established an exemption in the United States Constitutions direct taxes requirementtaxes apportioned among states according to their respective numbers, or populationthat ultimately allowed the federal government to levy taxes based on an individuals income.

Any attempt to assess unrealized gains on assets as income is certain to be challenged in courts with rulings potentially expanding the range of what can be taxed, critics contend.

Taxing 700 fat-cats is not going to erase the towering debt of the government. That would require exploiting new, untapped sources of income, writes George Washington University Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law Jonathon Turley in The Hill. Unrealized gains would open up a massive amount of potential taxable assets. Moving from 700 billionaires to 22 million millionaires would be based on the rationale of rich people not paying their fair share.

Republicans also argue that Bidens new tax is nothing more than a gimmick forwarded by a president heavily criticized for his handling of the nations economy to boost his parties prospects in the 2022 midterms.

Tax the rich more proposals have consistently garnered at least 68 percent approval responses by Americans since 2020.

Bidens billionaire tax is also not necessarily new, with previous similar efforts failing to gain traction in Congress over the years.

The latest is a proposed 2021 bill filed by Senate Finance Committee Chair Sen Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that would apply to taxpayers with more than $1 billion in assets or more than $100 million in income for three consecutive years.

Wydens bill has idled since Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V) said hed vote against it as a divisive revision of the nations tax code.
Bird Flu Confirmed in Five More States: USDA

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed cases of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in five more states across the country after officials warned that the recent outbreaks could see Americans paying more for poultry.

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) said in a March 30 news release that the cases have been confirmed in a commercial poultry farm in Johnston County, North Carolina, and in noncommercial backyard flocks in Berkshire County, Massachusetts; Kidder County, North Dakota; Franklin County, Ohio; and Johnson County, Wyoming.

HPAI, also known as bird flu, is a highly contagious viral disease that mainly affects birds, although it has been discovered in other animals such as pigs and dogs in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, as well as domestic cats in Germany, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

It spreads easily among birds through nasal and eye secretions, as well as manure, and it can prove deadly in domestic poultry.

APHIS said it is working closely with state animal health officials on a joint response.

Meanwhile, the affected areas have been quarantined and birds on the properties will be depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. Birds from the infected flocks will not enter the food system, officials said.

These latest cases were detected just days after the Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA) announced on March 22 that a commercial flock of 570,000 broiler chickens in Butler County were set to be euthanized after bird flu was detected in the flock.

Broiler chickens are bred specifically for meat production.

NDA said the birds would be humanely depopulated and disposed of in an approved manner, and that the farm had also been quarantined immediately.

The virus was initially discovered in Nebraska on March 7 in a wild goose in Lincoln, Lancaster County, before additional cases were confirmed in Merrick, Cedar, and Douglas counties, according to an earlier NDA news release.

Federal and state officials are surveilling and conducting testing in the areas surrounding the outbreak locations.

Several outbreaks have also occurred among commercial flocks of chickens and turkeys in Iowa, two of which were announced March 29 by state agriculture officials.

In total, the outbreaks have been reported across 17 states and resulted in the U.S. poultry industry having to kill more than 15.6 million chickens and 1.3 million turkeys since Jan. 1, 2022.

The United States has the strongest AI surveillance program in the world, and USDA is working with its partners to actively look for the disease in commercial poultry operations, live bird markets and in migratory wild bird populations, the USDA said.

The USDA has said it expects food pricesincluding chicken and eggsto surge 5 percent on average in 2022, in part due to the avian influenza outbreak and historically low levels of frozen chicken stocks in recent months.

The bird flu outbreaks could contribute to poultry and egg price increases through reduced supply or decrease prices through lowered international demand for U.S. poultry products or eggs, the USDA said.

While an Asian HPAI virus has resulted in high deaths in poultry and wild birds throughout Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa since 2003, the risk of humans contracting the virus still remains low and no cases of avian influenza infection have been detected among humans in the United States.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The seal of the United States Department of Justice is seen on the building exterior of the United States Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, N.Y., on Aug. 17, 2020. (Andrew Kelly/Reuters)

Californian Businessman Sentenced to 1 Year in Prison for Illegal China Arms Deals

A businessman in southern California was sentenced on March 30 to one year and one day in prison for illegally brokering sales of embargoed arms from China to the United States, and for falsifying the correlating tax returns.

Xie Tuqiang pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act and filing a false tax return in 2019, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Under the scheme, Xie used his California-based company, Bio-Medical Optics LLC, to broker the shipment of defense equipment listed on the U.S. Munitions List and U.S. Munitions Import Lists.

Those lists identify the regulated components and systems used in American military and space-based equipment. Federal law requires that those who manufacture or export the items on those lists obtain a license and register with the State Department.

Xie never obtained a license nor registered with the State Department, the DOJ said.

Additionally, the import of the defense articles violated an arms embargo imposed on China in 1989, which restricts the import and export of arms between both nations.

According to the DOJ, Xie admitted under a plea agreement that he had located a manufacturer in China to produce defense articles for his clients, and imported them in violation of the embargo.

His illicit earnings brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of several years, as he charged commissions or other fees for his role in facilitating shipments to and from China and the United States, the department said.

He also admitted to falsifying his tax returns to cover up the ill-gotten gains, which the DOJ estimated to have cost the IRS more than $100,000 in revenue.

The sentencing is just the latest in a large uptick of China-related crime and espionage prosecuted in the United States. The DOJ has been eager to highlight its successes in combating the issue since its controversial decision in February to terminate the Trump-era China Initiative, an anti-espionage program.

The DOJ unsealed charges against six men in four separate high-profile cases in March, all of whom were accused of carrying out the dictates of the Chinese Communist Party on American soil.

The cases include alleged conspiracies to attack and smear a U.S. Army veteran running for Congress, to stalk an American Olympian and her father, and to spy on a dissident artist.

In discussing these cases, I want to reiterate that the department remains focused on the actions of the [Chinese communist] government and its agents, not the Chinese people or those of Chinese descent, who are often the victims of these crimes, said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen on March 16.

It is unclear if Xies crimes were related to any state-owned enterprises in China.
A police officer wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) carries food and daily supplies that will be distributed to residents at a restricted residental area due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in Manzhouli in China's northern Inner Mongolia region on March 15, 2022. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

CCPs Lockdown Propaganda Ignites Fury Among Sealed-In Chinese Residents

As many locals struggled to secure their next meal under Chinas harsh COVID lockdowns, officials urged calm by launching a social media campaign aimed at showing how well stocked sealed-in residents were. It didnt end well.

It started with a leaked official memo instructing Chinese Communist Party officials in a northeastern Chinese city to flood Chinese social media with upbeat content in a bid to counter the prevailing negative sentiment and display the alleged real situation about food supplies.

The outbreak control task in our city has moved into a critical stage, read a leaked memo from Changchun city authorities.

In a campaign dubbed show off your pack of vegetables, the officials went on to task all Party cadres across city agencies to begin posting vivid short videos and photos of the food supplies they received through their personal accounts on platforms such as Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, the Facebook-like Moments app, and the countrys second-largest short video app Kuaishou.

Their goal, it said, is to promote a positive outlook to life and to show that the populace enjoys ample food supplies with no concerns, so that people would be content staying in their homes.

Please rally your family and friends to actively participate and make their contribution to the outbreak containment work, it added.

Health workers wear protective suits as they disinfect an area outside a barricaded community that was locked down for health monitoring after recent cases of COVID-19 were found in the area in Beijing, China, on March 28, 2022. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

The official hastened to add that any photos posted must be authentic, and warned that the memo should not be made public.

The memo, undated but released sometime after the city locked down its 9 million residents on March 20, circulated like wildfire on Chinese social media as soon as it was posted online.

The media kept saying food supplies are plentiful. We commoners demand to know: where are these supplies? wrote a user on Chinas popular microblogging site Weibo.

We know they are lying. They know themselves they are lying. They also know that we know they are lying  but they are still lying, wrote another.

It has especially struck a chord when tens of millions across the country are sealed inside their homes, with many complaining about difficulties in securing adequate food supplies.

Recently, a video of a man in his 70s from northeast Chinas Changchun who was begging to be allowed to buy food at a supermarket in his neighborhood had stirred nationwide outrage.

The man, who has been forced to live by himself away from his children due to the pandemic, had run out of provisions. He was told he had to place his order on a mobile app despite his apparent ignorance of the technology.

A worker, wearing a protective gear, walks next to barriers that separate from the street of a neighborhood in lockdown as a measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus in Jingan district, in Shanghai on March 30, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

But even for those knowing how to make an online purchase, there is still no guarantee of getting them.

Its not even a matter of price. You simply cant get any even if you fight for them, a migrant worker in Changchun, who recently helped build the citys largest makeshift hospital, told The Epoch Times. To put it bluntly, no one cares even if you starve to death.

Many have shared his frustrations.

In the central part of China, thousands from Taikang county in Henan Province have been hauled away to surrounding areas for quarantine. Several locals who are healthy and confined to their homes said they are rationing food.

We lack everything, a woman surnamed Liang told The Epoch Times. No supplies are being sent into the county because delivery services have stopped, she added. We need to eat sparingly.

When a sudden lockdown was announced in the international business center Shanghai, panicked residents in the Pudong district had only a few hours to stock up, leading to brawls in supermarkets as shoppers stripped shelves bare of food.

Shoppers rummage through empty shelves in a supermarket before a lockdown as a measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus in Shanghai on March 29, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Wang Wanying, an activist in Shanghai, said she had called the neighborhood committee officers for help after finishing the last of her vegetables at home. They told her to order takeout. I dont have money to buy those, she told The Epoch Times. They are basically telling me to live or perish on my own.

By Thursday, most angry comments in response to the propaganda campaign seemed to have been wiped from the Chinese internet.

On Weibo, where the memo first appeared, no hashtags relating to the campaign were found despite the term having generated 1.4 million views over the past four days. Featured prominently on the platform instead are posts from Chinese state media, informing the public that the city has held two officials responsible for causing a negative impact.

Gu Xiaohua and Hong Ning contributed to this report.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang shows the way to Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, in Beijing on Oct. 9, 2019. (Thomas Peter/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

China Takes Over the Solomon Islandsand the Pacific

Originally published by Gatestone Institute

Commentary

On March 25, the Solomon Islands announced that it was expanding security arrangements, diversifying the countrys security partnership including with China.

The announcement was defensive. The day before, opponents of a security pact with China leaked what was labeled a draft agreement. Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavares government didnt confirm the authenticity of the leaked document, but observers believe he intends that version to be final. Australia, which has expressed great concern over the agreement, confirmed the draft as authentic.

The pact, Framework Agreement Between the Government of the Peoples Republic of China and the Government of Solomon Islands on Security Cooperation, highlights a disturbing trend: China, after years of persistent commercial, diplomatic, and military efforts, is taking over the Pacific.

Beijing is moving from island group to island group, and soon, the Peoples Liberation Army will be within striking distance of Hawaii.

Cleo Paskal of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies told Gatestone that the framework agreement was a unilateral decision by Sogavare.

There has been no public consultation, she said.

The five-year deal, subject to automatic renewals, will allow Beijing to use the islands to base its military and to do pretty much what Chinese generals and admirals want.

China, the pact states in Article I, 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.

If implemented to its full extent, the framework agreement will give China the ability to sever shipping lanes and air links connecting the United States with its treaty ally Australia and partner New Zealand.

For decades, Washington allowed Canberra and Wellington to manage the Solomons and its region, and both Western powers, through the corrosive combination of neglect and condescension, allowed China to make significant inroads. Beijing, through payoffs now detailed in public, essentially owns Sogavares government.

Sogavare, not surprisingly, is doing Beijings bidding. He switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 2019, and has, at home, opened the door wide to Chinese investment.

The prime minister has also mismanaged the country, for instance, marginalizing the countrys most populous island, Malaita, and threatening its premier, Daniel Suidani. Putting his life at risk, Suidani has resolutely opposed the Chinese takeover of the Solomons.

In November, Sogavares misrule resulted in deadly riots in the capital of Honiara, on the island of Guadalcanal, where 1,600 Americans died in 1942 and 1943 while freeing the island from Japanese control.

Australia sent police and troops to restore order and thereby saved Sogavares government, which then seemed to be on the verge of failure. Canberras misguided intervention made it easy for Sogavare to then invite Chinese police in February. Beijings presence solidified his hold on power.

The framework agreement also provides, in Article 1, that the Solomon Islands, may, according to its own needs, request China to send police, armed police, military personnel, and other law enforcement and armed forces to Solomon Islands to assist in maintaining social order, protecting peoples lives and property, providing humanitarian assistance, carrying out disaster response, or providing assistance on other tasks agreed upon by the Parties.

Honiara stated on March 25 that it would keep its 2018 security agreement with Canberra in place, but its evident that Sogavare is looking only to China for police and military assistance.

Sogavare, backed by Beijings military and the framework agreement, can effectively end democracy in the Solomons. Paskal, who closely follows the Pacific, reports that the prime minister is trying to postpone elections.

If Sogavare can trigger a domestic security crisis, he will use that as an excuse to keep himself in power, she said. China will help the prime minister provoke a civil war. That war will provide Sogavare an excuse to call in the Chinese military, according to the new agreement.

As Paskal told Gatestone, Beijing has already exacerbated tensions so that it could come to the countrys rescue.

The inter-island tensions that fuel the ongoing crisis arent new. In 2000, similar disputes were ended by the Townsville Peace Agreement, which Sogavare, also then prime minister, didnt implement. Paskal suggested that the deal could be the basis of another settlement.

The Solomons arent an isolated instance of Chinese penetration of Pacific governments. Theres now talk that China will ink a security agreement with Papua New Guinea, just north of Australia.

China wants to upgrade an airstrip in Kiribati. Beijing says the improvements are for civilian purposes only, yet the military uses are apparent and no one believes the Chinese assurances.

The facility is just 1,900 miles south of Hawaii. In Pacific terms, Kiribati is Americas next-door neighbor.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Gordon G. Chang Follow Gordon G. Chang is a distinguished senior fellow at the Gatestone Institute, a member of its Advisory Board, and the author of The Coming Collapse of China. Website
An airline worker checks her phone at the Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan, China, on Oct. 25, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinas Civil Aviation Losing Billions Amid COVID-19, Ukraine War

Chinas airline industry has borne the full brunt of the tough COVID-zero policy. The Aviation authority said it may have lost billions since the epidemic began. The Russia-Ukraine war has also impacted flights that usually travel over Russian airspace.

The impact of the epidemic on civil aviation in China has far exceeded expectations. Airline transportation plummeted, and business operations continue to be under heavy pressure, said Zhang Qing, deputy director of the Development Planning Department of Chinas Civil Aviation Administration at a March 18 meeting, according to China Times on March 22.

The top aviation official revealed that from 2020 to this February, Chinas civil aviation industry has suffered a cumulative loss of 211.1 billion yuan ($33.1 billion), of which 97.4 billion yuan ($15.3 billion) was lost in 2020 and 84.2 billion yuan ($13.2 billion) was lost in 2021.

This is equivalent to depleting five years of the aviation industrys profits in two years, Chinese civil aviation commentator Zhang Zhonglin told China News Weekly.

China tamped down entry and quarantine restrictions as part of its zero-clearance strategy, which resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of flights.

In 2020 China saw 272 flights canceled, which grew to 529 flight cancelations in 2021. The number of travels completed through Chinese civil aviation dropped by 37 percent and 33 percent in 2020 and 2021 respectively compared to 2019, according to data by the civil aviation authority.

International Flights

An airline worker wearing a safety mask and shield as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus waits with alcohol gel for passengers to sanitize their hands at Tianhe International Airport in Wuhan, on Feb. 12, 2021. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) laid out tough anti-COVID-19 prevention and control measures targeting both internal rebound and external virus importation. For internal control, region-wide nucleic acid testing is implemented immediately when an infection is detected in a region, and people are restricted from moving freely.

For external importation risk control, the Five Ones measure was introduced to reduce international flights starting in March 2020, requiring each Chinese domestic airline to reserve only one route to any one country and to operate no more than one flight per week on each route, the so-called one carrier, one country, one route, one flight per week policy.

In addition, in June 2020, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) implemented circuit-breaker measures on international passenger flights. The measure stipulates that if the number of infected passengers on the same route reaches five after arrival, the airlines route must be suspended for one week; if the number of positive cases reaches 10, the airlines route must be suspended for four weeks. After the circuit-breaker period is over, the airline is allowed to resume its one flight per week schedule.

In April 2021, CAAC escalated the circuit-breaker measures, such that if the number of infected passengers in two consecutive flights reaches 10 each, an eight-week suspension of operations is required based on previous measures.

In addition, the standard for a negative test in China is set even higher than in other countries. The cycle threshold (Ct) value for a positive PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test in China is 40. Therefore, more people may test positive in China.

However, in the run-up to the Winter Olympics, Beijing, after being pressured by the Olympic Committee, lowered the Ct to 35 or less to avoid a more stringent standard that would have prevented some athletes from competing according to Canada-based CBC on Jan. 23. Those with a PCR of less than 35 were considered positive.

Strict quarantine standards coupled with the circuit-breaker measures resulted in a large number of flight cancellations and a sharp drop in passenger traffic.

Since the Omicron variant resurfaced in China this year the CAAC has issued successive contain orders. In the first half of January, at least 140 international flights were canceled.

China Violates Global Aviation Regulations: US Official

The CCPs excessive zero-clearance on the epidemic has sparked discontent and countermeasures from other countries.

The United States announced on Jan. 21 that it would suspend 44 U.S. flights to China operated by China International Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines in response to the CAACs suspension of some U.S. airlines on the grounds of epidemic prevention, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Chinas unilateral actions against the named U.S. carriers are inconsistent with a bilateral air transportation agreement, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Transportation said.

In July 2021, the German government also criticized the China sides cancellation of German airline flights as a distortion of competition, so Germany will also reciprocate by canceling the flights of some Chinese airlines.

The Chinese carriers also harbored grievances against the authorities arbitrary cancellation of flights. Wang Yu, chairman of Spring Airlines, suggested at a civil aviation meeting on March 18 that the CAAC should urge local governments to not arbitrarily restrict flight operations in order to protect the rights of passengers and airlines.

During the meeting, Qi Qi, an associate professor of Guangzhou Civil Aviation Vocational College, mentioned that, besides reducing demand, the long-running epidemic has changed the consumer habit of buying advance tickets, while aircraft manufacturers, leasing companies, aviation fuel and materials, and other aviation service providers have not changed their procurement and settlement methods, which would lead to a lack of liquidity becoming the biggest operational problem for airlines and airports, Qi said.

Ukraine War Impacts Chinas Civil Aviation

A traveler has a temperature check before checking in for a China Airlines flight at the Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) amid a COVID-19 surge in Southern California on Dec. 22, 2020. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

After Russia invaded Ukraine many countries imposed sanctions on Russia, who then closed its airspace to 36 countries in response to the sanctions, resulting in a significant reduction in international flights on China-Europe routes, Airport Technology reposted on March 1.

According to the statistics from VariFlight, a Chinese flight travel service app, on Feb. 28, China operated 62 international flights on the China-Europe route, while on Feb. 21, before the Russia-Ukraine war, it operated 97 international flights. The number of flights operated by foreign airlines to China and Europe was reduced from 12 to 3 due to the need to bypass Russian airspace.

Except for the reduction in flights, the soaring crude oil prices brought about by the Russia-Ukraine war added to the woes of Chinas civil aviation.

According to Qi, aviation oil consumption accounts for more than 95 percent of the energy consumption of the entire civil aviation industry. Global oil prices are expected to remain high due to the U.S. economic sanctions against Russia, which will increase airline operating costs. Although airlines can partially offset the impact of high fuel prices by imposing aviation fuel surcharges, sluggish market demand prevents airlines from raising fares to relieve the pressure.

Qi suggested that Chinese airlines should give priority to China-controlled aircraft leasing services, and seize the opportunity to expand amid the reorganization of the global civil aircraft leasing landscape triggered by the disposal of Russian aircraft assets.

The impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on Chinas civil aviation industry and the global civil aviation industry has just begun, Qi said.
Chinas Food Silk Road: Who Controls the Crops Controls the Future

Commentary

Of all the things in the world, food is one of the few things capable of uniting the masses. A shortage of it, however, has the power to do the very opposite, driving people to the brink of madness.

Julian Cribb, a distinguished science writer and author of The Coming Famine, states that a global food shortage is just around the corner. Because of shortages of water, land, and energy combined with the increased demand from population and economic growth, the world is ill-prepared for the horrors that await.

According to the academic Monica Caparas, the probability of crop yield failures is projected to be as much as 4.5 times higher by 2030 and up to 25 times higher by 2050 across global breadbaskets. The most at-risk crops are rice, maize, soybeans, and wheat.

Several countries around the world are at significant risk of crop yield failures. China is one of them.

Right now, from Guilin to Guangzhou, food shortages exist, and the people are far from happy. Hungry people are dangerous people. In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis said, There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) knows this only too well, hence its desperate attempt to establish some form of food security.

Last year, just before the start of the autumn harvest season, Bloomberg published a piece documenting the state of affairs in Jilin, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang provinces, where about half of Chinas corn and soybeans are grown.

Chinas interminable energy crisis, the authors wrote, was creating another crisisa food crisis. Combine the countrys energy issues with its significant air pollution problems, and you have a recipe for harvest-driven disaster. Thats why the CCP has, for quite some time, been scrambling to form alliances around the world, relying on foreign lands to provide some much-needed sustenance.

Youre no doubt aware of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative (BRI, also known as One Belt, One Road), a global infrastructure development strategy adopted by the CCP. This road is treacherous, paved with the regrets and tears of heavily indebted countries.

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping (front C), South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (front-L), Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (front R), Kenyas President Uhuru Kenyatta (2nd row L), Togos President Faure Gnassingbe (2nd row C), Malawis President Arthur Peter Mutharika (2nd row R), Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio (last row L), Liberian President George Weah (last row C), and other African leaders applaud during a group photo session during the Forum on ChinaAfrica Cooperation (FOCAC) 2018 Beijing Summit in Beijing on Sept. 3, 2018. (How Hwee Young/Pool/Getty Images)

But what about the Food Silk Road, a Beijing-backed venture that seeks to reshape global food supply chains?

This particular road is being financed through agricultural investments around the world, as well as the acquisition of new agricultural technologies. This road starts in China, enters Europe, then penetrates the continent of Africa, passing through cities such as Kigali, Rwanda; Lagos, Nigeria; Lome, Togo; and Maputo, Mozambique.

The ChinaAfrica Alliance

Launched in 2017, the ChinaAfrica Agricultural Cooperation Strategy seeks to leverage Chinas public and private resources (funding, product, and technology, knowledge) to catalyze, scale, and sustain inclusive agriculture transformation, according to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africas website.

Considering that 60 percent of the worlds arable land is in Africa, the alliance is a blessing for Beijing. After all, China, home to 19 percent of the worlds population, has just 10 percent of the worlds arable land.

The three African countries with the most arable landMauritius, Rwanda, and Togohave received significant investments from Beijing.

In January 2021, the ChinaMauritius bilateral free-trade agreement (FTA), the first-ever FTA between China and an African state, was signed into effect. Both parties, were told, recognize that agriculture constitutes a core activity for both Parties, and that enhancing this sector can improve quality of life and economic development.

In Rwanda, China has investedand continues to investheavily in agri-related products and services. In 2020 alone, Chinese companies invested more than $300 million in the landlocked country, with the agriculture sector receiving plenty of attention.

In Togo, similar deals are playing out. In the first half of 2021, trade between Togo and China amounted to $380 million.

China relies on the above African countries (and others) to import a whole host of food items, from avocados to sesame seeds to chilies to cashews, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). This past December, as the SCMP noted, the CCP pledged to open several green lanes for African agricultural products into the country to meet a US$300 billion import target.

A man wears a protective face mask as he works at a vegetable market in Cyrildene, South Africa, also known as Johannesburgs China Town on Feb. 7, 2020. (Luca Sola/AFP via Getty Images)

Between January and July of last year, trade volume between China and Africa reached $139.1 billion. Chinas reliance on Africa for various fruits and vegetables, as well as nuts and seeds, not to mention its agricultural technologies, cant be emphasized enough.

Nigeria, the fastest growing country in Africa and home to one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, has become a salient destination for Chinese manufacturing foreign direct investment, according to researchers at the International Food Policy Research Institute. The Chinese appear to be particularly interested in technology transfer and technical partnerships between firms.

Last year, Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria H.E. Cui Jianchun said the CCP had identified agriculture as the primary sector for considerable investments. According to Jianchun, We have already identified four areas to substantially invest in, which are fishing farming, rice, cassava, and plantain cultivation.

Research published by De Boeck Superieur outlines how the CCP has been aggressively investing in African agriculture for the better part of 30 years, planning for the day when the countrys farmers can no longer grow enough crops to feed its people. That day is fast approaching.

Will the Food Silk Road be enough to avert a crisis of epic proportions? In truth, only time will tell.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
People wait in line to give a sample for nucleic acid testing for COVID-19 at a testing site in Beijing, China on March 17, 2022. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Hospitals in Chinese City Fall Short of Promised PCR Testing Services: Leaked Document

Chinas zero-COVID policy has triggered a new round of draconian lockdowns along with mass PCR testing of tens of millions of people. A government agency in Qingdao city, Shandong Province, conducted an undercover telephone survey of 77 hospitals in the city that advertise a variety of PCR testing services to check if they could provide those services. The findings were far lower than expected. One-third of the hospitals did not even answer the phone calls.

The Epoch Times obtained a Qingdao Health Commission leaked document, dated Feb. 28, 2022, saying that the Commission made several rounds of phone calls to 77 hospitals in the city to check if they could provide the PCR testing services they advertised. Twenty-five hospitals could not be reached via their published customer service numbers. None of the hospitals that answered the calls could do all the services they promised.

The advertised services include 24-hour testing, pooled sampling, results provided in 6 hours, reports in English, digital reports, testing appointments, and others.

The document concluded that the hospitals did not fulfill their PCR testing responsibilities and the monitoring agencies have been too lenient in following PCR testing guidelines.

A leaked document of a Health Commission of Qingdao, Shandong province report. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times)

Touted as the Solution

The Chinese National Health Commissions Guideline for Mass COVID-19 PCR Testing dictates cities with under 5 million people to complete mass testing within two days, and cities with over 5 million to finish within three days.

Since 2020, Chinese state-run media and academic research papers have hailed mass PCR testing as the strategy that kept China nearly COVID free.

A research article published in Nature Medicine in April 2021, by authors from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said that the first city-wide mass screening was completed between May 14 and June 1, 2020, in Wuhan city, where nearly 10 million people were tested.

The article also claimed that 10.9 million in Qingdao city were tested from Oct. 11 to Oct. 16, 2020.

A report by Xinhua, the official Chinese state-run media, dated Oct. 15, 2020, praised Qingdaos ability to test 10 million people in five days.

While Qingdao has been depicted as the model of mass PCR testing, the 2022 survey done by its own agency shows none of its 77 hospitals is capable of fulfilling the testing responsibilities they promise. These hospitals range from large public general hospitals to district clinics.

Facilities Overwhelmed

Due to the huge demand, third-party testing facilities have been requested by all levels of local government to perform more testing than they are capable of handling.

A Feb. 14 report by Chinese media Caixin said that the third-party testing contractors have limited personnel as well as equipment, the huge amount of testing exerts pressure on them, and they had to make up results for samples that were not tested.

Political commentator Tang Jingyuan said that mass testing is at the core of the Chinese regimes zero-COVID policy, and has been highly politicized. To test millions or tens of millions of people in a short time frame is all but impossible, but since its linked to the jobs of those in charge, cheating is inevitable.

Sean Lin, a microbiologist and former lab director at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, told The Epoch Times that mass testing is not feasible to begin with. Not only does it waste a huge amount of medical supplies, it also exhausts the medical personnel.
Police officers are checking information with a truck driver (L) at a checkpoint in Ningbo in eastern China's Zhejiang Province on Dec. 18, 2021. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Chinas Truckers Using Incomplete Records to Dodge COVID-19 Restrictions

Chinese truck drivers have been using separate cell phones to record different legs of their travel histories, allowing them to get through checkpoints and avoid possible quarantine, state-run media reported on March 30. Many have now been fined or detained for doing so.

According to Chinas COVID-19 rules, a person who has visited a city with a COVID-19 outbreak cant visit other cities, even if returning home. People have to present their cell phones, which automatically record their travel histories, in order to travel past checkpoints.

Desperate travelers have also been using the sleight of hand to get through checkpoints when they want to enter or leave a city.

The Chinese regime announced COVID-19 outbreaks all around the country in March, and tightened controls on free movement in an attempt to curb further spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant. On March 30, the nations economic center Shanghai and northeastern Chinas Jilin Province were under lockdown.

Beijing, Chongqing, Tianjin, and at least 68 other cities in Anhui, Fujian, Gansu, Guangxi, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hainan, Hebei, Henan, Heilongjiang, Hubei, Hunan, Inner Mongolia, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Liaoning, Shandong, Shanxi, Xinjiang, Yunnan, and Zhejiang provinces reported new infections on March 30 and were placed in partial locked down.

A health worker goes through a bag in a compound as residents are tested as a measure against the Covid-19 coronavirus inside of a compound in Jingan district, in Shanghai on March 29, 2022. (Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)

Under the regimes rules, all citizens travel histories are to be recorded on their cell phones. Those who visit neighborhoods with an infection in the past few days will have their health code on the cell phones turn yellow or red, and will need to quarantine in different places.

Those who passes by cities with infections without entering risky neighborhoods will have a star added to their green code on their cell phone, which means they wont be allowed through checkpoints on highways until the star disappears, which happens after 14 days.

Truckers

Truckers are without an income if they dont drive and many dont have much savings. Making sure their cell phones generate green codes without a star as they travel long distances has become essential for Chinas truckers.

The state-run news outlet Xinhua reported on March 30 that nearly 100 truckers in Shenyang, the capital of northeastern Chinas Liaoning Province, used illegal means to make sure they could continue their work.

Truck drivers take two or more cell phones with them. They hide the cell phone they use and present another cell phone loaded with travel histories without a star to get through the checkpoints, the Liaoning Provincial Public Security Department said.

The report explained that the truckers would keep an inactive spare cell phone, and turned on their main cell phone when traveling through cities with an outbreak. After leaving the risky cities, their main cell phones would record the trip with a star. The truckers would then turn off their main cell phone, and turn on the spare phone, which would have a green code without a star to get through the checkpoints on highways.

Chinese police search the booth of a car at a checkpoint along a highway into Beijing, China, on March 2, 2010. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

The report revealed that a logistics company in Liaonings Jinzhou city helped their truckers dodge the checkpoints.

The company provided a local cell phone number and a pin code for the drivers to use when they got through checkpoints. Then, the checkpoints treated the truckers as local residents and allowed them to drive through the checkpoints, the report said.

The report said all these truckers were punished by the regime, without providing details, and added that regime would do more to capture the truckers who use incomplete travel histories.

The local regime fines and detains citizens who dont follow the governments COVID-19 rules.

On Jan. 8, the Dongming county police fined a local man 200 yuan ($31.50) and detained him for five days because he didnt report to the regime that he took a flight on which one passenger was diagnosed with COVID-19.

Travelers

People who become locked down while visiting another city or who needed to take care of family members in another city have also been detained by the regime for breaking the travel restrictions.

State-run Beijing Daily reported on March 26 that the nations capital city had detained 223 travelers in the past six days. Those travelers had tried to enter the city illegally in three ways.

The first and most popular method used was hiring a substitute driver.

Qi Shiming, deputy chief of the criminal investigation department at the Beijing Police Bureau, told the Daily that the travelers would drive their private cars to Beijing, where they would use substitute drivers to pass through checkpoints. They would then have to sneak through the woods or climb fences to meet the drivers on the other side of the checkpoints. Some would try to hide inside the cars.

The substitute drivers were paid 300 to 2,000 yuan ($47 to $315) on the other side of the checkpoints, according to Qi. The Daily reported that the police in Beijings Fangshan district captured a four-member group dedicated offering substitute driving services for travelers who wanted to but couldnt enter Beijing. One of the members would search for potential clients, while the other three drove cars for customers.

Police officers check drivers at a checkpoint before they enter Wuhan, in Chinas central Hubei Province on April 6, 2020. (HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images)

The second method used by travelers was to fake documents, including negative COVID-19 test reports.

Others chose to walk dozens of miles through fields and woods without checkpoints to find a way to enter the city.

The same stories have been heard in other Chinese cities.

On March 28, state-operated website Hangzhou Net reported that two men were detained in Jiashan, a county next to Shanghai in Zhejiang Province. The Hangzhou city regime accused one of them of illegal entry due to their starred green code status. He had hired the second man to drive his car through the checkpoint while he walked through the woods to meet the car on the other side.
A man talks to health workers dressed in protective clothing as he asks a question at a mass COVID-19 testing site at an office building in Beijing on March 14, 2022. (Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Chinese Residents Seek Help Online Amid Draconian COVID-19 Policies

Chinese residents living in the northeastern city of Changchun are pleading for help online after being told by local authorities not to step outside their homes because of COVID-19 prevention measures.

One resident seeking help was Mr. Zhao. Writing on Chinas Twitter-like Weibo on March 30, he stated that his mother tested positive for COVID-19 two days earlier, while he, his wife, and their baby all had COVID-19 symptoms.

Now, three adults and a 5-month-old child are all having a fever of 38.8 degrees Celsius [101.8 F], he wrote, adding that he had made numerous calls, but neither his community committee nor the local disease prevention authorities offered any help.

We dont have any medicine or food at home.  [Our front door] has been sealed for four days. And our community committee has not sent us any supply, he said. I dont want to see my child die at home. I hope people share my post so we can get some help.

Hours after putting up his online post, Zhao told The Epoch Times that local authorities had totally ignored them.

We asked that our child undergo a nucleic acid test, but the community committee refused. My wife and I also asked to be tested, but the request was turned down, he said. Our symptoms are just like what my mother had when she first tested positive.

He said he suspected all of them had the CCP virus, which causes COVID-19.

Zhao was also critical of how his mother had been treated. He said nobody had come to move his mother to an isolation ward or send her to a medical facility for treatment.

Community officials have also refused to send them food, according to Zhao.

Changchun has been one of many areas in China hard hit by the spread of the Omicron variant of the CCP virus. In March, the city reported over 10,000 infection cases, though the actual number is likely much higher, as experts and some Chinese residents have previously expressed skepticism about official Chinese figures amid the pandemic.

A spike in infection cases prompted health officials in Changchun to announce harsh lockdown measures on March 11, placing all communities under seal-off management and requiring businesses to suspend their operations. Additionally, all residents in the city were to be tested for COVID-19.

Such mass testing is not limited to Changchun but has been seen throughout China. The Chinese regime is using mass testing to go after every virus case, isolate people exposed to the virus, and lock down areas where cases are reported, in a policy known as zero-COVID.

However, the policy has fueled rising discontent in China, as residents are upset that they have to shoulder the economic and psychological costs that come with such methods.

One resident in Changchun got the attention of local health officials after asking for help online.

Mrs. Sun put up a Weibo post on March 30, saying that her husband had already tested positive for COVID-19. However, local officials hadnt come to her home to screen family members. Now she had COVID-19 symptoms, and so did her four children.

Sun expressed hope that everyone in her family would soon be tested for COVID-19 and receive medical treatment.

Lin Wei (pseudonym), a relative of Sun, told The Epoch Times that local officials went to Suns house and tested everyone after Sun posted her demands online.

Lin said that if officials had acted more quickly, going to Suns house sooner and isolating everyone, the children might not have been infected.

Her husband was confirmed to have contracted the virus on March 28, Lin said. The next day, an official went to Suns home but was only willing to screen two of the four children. The very same day, local authorities sealed off the front door of Suns home, preventing the family from going outside.

Then Sun began calling multiple government offices seeking help, including the mayors office, but nobody was willing to address her familys problems, Lin said.

According to Lin, Sun, her husband, and their children remain in a dire situationthey are short on food and medicine, and they have no idea if theyll get medical treatment.

Lin criticized officials in Suns community, saying they dont really care what happens to Sun and her family.

Zhao Fenghua and Hong Ning contributed to this report.
Chinese TV Producer Disappeared After Accusing Authorities of Covering Up Facts About Chained Woman

A Chinese TV producer and director disappeared after revealing the identity of the chained woman in mainland China and later accusing local authorities of covering up the truth on Chinese social media.

The chained woman case in Feng county of Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province still remains unsolved despite public outrage, including her true identity. Wang Shengqiang, producer and director of China Networks Interview with Famous Experts, whose home town is Feng county, revealed on Chinese social media that the local people in Feng County all know that it is Li Ying, but some people cant let her be Li Ying.

He recently continued to question the authorities for covering up the facts and was threatened by the Chinese communist regimes police. Currently, Wangs whereabouts are unknown.

On March 27 and 28, Wang, posted on Chinese social media Weibo in succession to reveal that the police had gone around asking where he lives, and finally came to his home in Beijing in the middle of the night.

Wangs last Weibo post was in the early morning of March 28, lawyers, come and look through my Weibo posts, which one is illegal, and which law is violated, that is worth the police coming to arrest me in the middle of the night?

In his previous Weibo posts, he said: they asked about my address, and they even went to my sisters home in my hometown. Are they going to arrest me? Is it a crime to tell the truth? If I stop posting on Weibo, it must be [because] Jiangsu police took me away. This is our so called rule of law society. What crime will they convict me of?  Telling the truth.

In another Weibo post that the regime deleted, he said: I dont know how many leaders are behind the operation of this matter [covering up the facts about the chained woman], I want to tell you that what you are doing is wrong and violates the rule of law society. It has become rule of man, and rule of man is very scary. They can kill whoever they want, maybe one day it will be you

The chained woman incident was revealed and continued to cause public outcries during the Beijing Winter Olympics. There was a rare fight between the regimes stability maintenance and people asking for the truth. The public believed that the chained woman was actually Li Ying, a Sichuan girl who was abducted by human traffickers at the age of 12, but the officials denied the claim. The Jiangsu authorities put out five announcements that contradicted each other, and were unable to quell the publics suspicions of a government cover up.

In front of the Graumans Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, Chinese nationals support the chained woman and hope that she will be free as soon as possible. March 8, 2022. (Supplied)

Wang questioned in one of his posts, She was abducted and sold to Feng County, who changed her name? Who did the household registration for her? Who issued the marriage certificate? Can the buyers get all those done without the help of government officials? Many officials are involved in the crime, so it mustnt be Li Ying!

Netizen Jiang Lijun, who is concerned about the incident, posted a screenshot of Wangs Weibo post on Twitter and said: In China, there are few people with such a backbone. Brother Wang is a real man!

Wangs Weibo updates stopped in the early morning of March 28, Beijing time. The Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times could not reach him, and his whereabouts and condition remain unknown.

On March 26, mainland human rights lawyer Lu Tingge tweeted that he submitted an information disclosure application form to the Jiangsu provincial government on February 24, requesting that the truth about the chained woman incident be disclosed. The Jiangsu provincial government received the application form on February 25, but 15 working day later, March 19, and there is still no notice or reply to Lu.

Ni Haizhong contributed to the report.
Lhakpa Tshoko, retired Representative of HH the Dalai Lama in Australia (left), and Karma Singey, current Representative of HH the Dalai Lama (right), attend Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Canberra Theatre, Australia, on March 31, 2022. (Steve Xu/The Epoch Times)

CANBERRA, AustraliaKarma Singey, the representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Australia, praised Shen Yun Performing Arts and its presentation of China before communism after attending the March 31 performance in Canberra, the countrys capital.

It was New York-based Shen Yuns opening performance to kick off its 2022 tour Down Under that will bring the magical world of ancient China to audiences in Sydney, Melbourne, Bendigo, Toowoomba, the Gold Coast, and Adelaide through May 15.

The performance was very good; it has a lot of message, said Mr. Singey, who enjoyed the performance with the former representative of Tibet in Australia Mr. Lhakpa Tshoko.

Mr. Singey remarked at how well the performance brought to life Chinas century-old traditions for the audience to experience.

Preservation of our old culture is very important, he said.

In addition to paying tribute to Chinas 5,000-year-old divinely-inspired culture, Mr. Singey added that Shen Yun had a powerful message for the world.

We believe in the message of peace, non-violence. In that case, [Shen Yun] sends a strong message to the people of the world, he said.

Amazing Spectacle

John Worldon at Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Canberra Theatre, Australia, on March 31, 2022. (NTD)

Former ABC radio presenter for the Tropical North, John Worldon, was also in the audience at the Canberra Theatre.

Im absolutely amazed at the talent and discipline, he said of the dancers. Im just in awe of, not only the dancers, but the musicians as well and the orchestra.

Shen Yun tours with a live orchestra that features a unique blend of classical Western and traditional Chinese instruments that have found harmony with each other.

Its just an absolutely amazing spectacle, and Im very privileged to have been here to see it for at least one night tonight, Mr. Worldon said.

Full of Life and Emotion

David Smith, who attended the performance with his wife Julie, also expressed his appreciation for Shen Yun.

I think its very vibrant, very colourful. Its full of life and emotion, Mr. Smith, an IT professional, said.

David Smith attends Shen Yun Performing Arts at the Canberra Theatre in the Australian capital on March 31, 2022. (Steve Xu/The Epoch Times)

I really do love and appreciate Chinese culture and heritage in history. So this is really bringing me to that place.

If youre interested in China, its a must, must see.

Reporting by Steve Xu, NTD, and Melanie Sun.

The Epoch Times is a proud sponsor of Shen Yun Performing Arts. We have covered audience reactions since Shen Yuns inception in 2006.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis displays the signed Parental Rights in Education bill flanked by elementary school students during a news conference at Classical Preparatory school in Shady Hills, Fla., on March 28, 2022. (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP)

Discriminatory: First Lawsuit Filed Against New Florida Law Barring Sex Talk in Early Grades

A federal lawsuit filed on March 31 against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other officials in the state alleges that newly enacted legislation discriminates against gay and transgender students.

Equality Florida, students, and parents say the Parental Rights in Education Act treats gay and transgender students, and students with certain parents, unequally.

The ban on classroom discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade is too vague and runs afoul of constitutional protections, including the free speech protections in the First Amendment, plaintiffs assert in the 80-page suit.

One might even ask: Would it violate H.B. 1557 for a teacher to discuss with their students this very lawsuit and the public controversy surrounding H.B. 1557? Under the plain language of the law, the answer might well be yes,' the suit states.

The law also prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in other grades, plaintiffs noted.

The group includes Dan and Brent VanTice, parents of two first-grade students in Saint Johns.

Already, our children have told us that they are afraid that they will not be able to talk about their family at school, the pair said in a statement released by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, which filed the complaint with the Kaplan Hecker & Fink law firm.

We are heartbroken that our children are already feeling isolated and stigmatized by this law.

Plaintiffs are asking the court to enjoin enforcement of the law and award damages.

The legislation is slated to take effect on July 1.

Defendants include DeSantis, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran, and school boards in several counties.

Taryn Fenske, a spokesperson for the governor, told The Epoch Times in an email that the lawsuit is a political Hail-Mary to undermine parental rights in Florida.

Fenske asserted that the suit includes erroneous claims, including the notion that a person has a right to instruct another persons child about sexuality and gender.

Before DeSantis signed the bill this week, Chris Sprowls, Floridas House speaker, said its aim was to prevent little children, 5- and 6-year olds, from walking into a classroom and being indoctrinated on radical concepts like extreme gender ideology.

DeSantis added, Its about protecting parents ability to be involved, and its making sure that the classroom instruction, particularly at these very young ages, are focused on math, science, and reading, and whats not on the page is not whats going to be done.
White House director of communications Kate Bedingfield speaks during a briefing in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, on March 30, 2022. (Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images)

Ending Title 42 May Bring an Influx to the Border, White House Says as DHS Prepares Contingency Plan

The White House was asked on Wednesday to comment on a report that said the Biden administration is expected to end a Trump-era immigration policy, known as Title 42.

The Title 42 policy implemented under the Trump administration in March 2020 enabled border agents to expel illegal immigrants back to Mexico immediately if they potentially pose a health risk amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Thursday, the Associated Press reported, citing anonymous sources, that the Biden administration, which has continued the policy, is expected to end it by May 23.

White House director of communications Kate Bedingfield was asked by a reporter whether the administration is prepared to deal with the aftermath of ending Title 42 and the expected influx of migrants.

Bedingfield did not confirm the AP report. She responded that the decision as to whether the administration would end Title 42 is not an immigration or migration enforcement measure but a public health directive.

So the decision on when to lift Title 42 we defer to the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)], she said.

The CDC is currently weighing up whether or not it will end Title 42 policy, and has until March 30 to complete its review.

Border Patrol agents apprehend a group of Cubans and Venezuelans that just waded across the Rio Grande from Mexico into Eagle Pass, Texas, on Jan. 25, 2022. (Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times)

Influx of People to the Border

She continued, That being said, of course we are planning for multiple contingencies, and we have every expectation that when the CDC ultimately decides its appropriate to lift Title 42, there will be an influx of people to the border.

Bedingfield said the administration is doing a lot of work to plan for the contingency. She noted that on Tuesday the Department of Homeland Security held a briefing to review the plans it has to prepare for a potential spike in illegal immigrants at the border.

So you heard from them yesterday on some of the planning that theyre doing more broadlynow, not specifically tied to Title 42 or an ultimate decision to lift it, but just more broadly to the work that theyre doing to continue to build up our migration system and ensure that we are restoring order at the border.

DHS officials told reporters on Tuesday of contingency plans which include a scenario in which up to 18,000 border crossings could be seen per day. Currently, Border Patrol is seeing about 7,100 illegal immigrants a day.

We need to be prepared for what were considering a potential contingency, which is that the lifting of Title 42 could increase flows, a senior DHS official told reporters during the background briefing, multiple outlets reported.

The DHS on Wednesday released a fact sheet titled DHS Preparations for a Potential Increase in Migration. Without citing Title 42, the department noted unprecedented levels of migration to the border and that it is implementing a comprehensive strategy to address a potential increase in the number of border encounters.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said on March 29 that the United States is on track to soon hit a million illegal alien encounters at the U.S.Mexico border. The United States logged over 2 million illegal immigrant arrests in 2021.

Previously, Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) led a group of Republican senators in issuing a letter (pdf) to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on March 24, urging the department to prepare in case Title 42 is lifted by the CDC. They said Title 42 is an effective deterrent to illegal border crossings and that lifting it would threaten to overwhelm the already strained immigration system and will exacerbate the situation at the border.

Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) also expressed concerns, writing in a March 24 letter (pdf) to President Joe Biden that the administration should, before making changes to Title 42, coordinate a comprehensive plan that ensures a secure, orderly, and humane process at the border.

The two Arizona senators on Wednesday discussed with Mayorkas about the prospect of ending Title 42 and the effects on local communities in the state if there is no plan to handle the influx of illegal immigrants. Sinema called for DHS to coordinate communications between federal, state, local, and non-governmental partners to strengthen cooperation, a strategy Mayorkas agreed to.
Expert Panel Announced to Advise Government on Online Harms Bill

A panel of experts that will make recommendations to the government on how to curtail online harms through legislation was revealed on March 30 by Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez.

The internet has allowed for more mis- and disinformation, more polarization than ever before, and were much more likely to be exposed to and hurt by unacceptable hateful content, said Rodriguez in a press conference.

The governments previous attempt to regulate online communications relating to hate speech, Bill C-36, died when the last Parliament was dissolved. The panel of experts will now provide advice on how to frame the new legislation.

Rodriguez said that based on consultations held last year to solicit Canadians views on the subject, Canadians want the government to take action by passing laws to address harmful online content.

He said thats especially the case when it comes to standing up for the communities who suffer the most from this harmful content online, such as racialized Canadians, LGBTQ+ communities, and religious minorities.

Some of the findings from the governments consultations were published in a Feb. 3 report What We Heard: The Governments proposed approach to address harmful content online. The report doesnt provide the raw data that its conclusion is based on, and says the majority support the government regulating content online.

The report notes that many respondents cautioned against opening up the categories of harmful content to speech that, though harmful, would nevertheless be lawful.

Concerned stakeholders expressed that requiring the removal of speech that would otherwise be legal would raise risks of undermining access to information, limiting Charter rights, namely the freedom of expression, and restricting the exchange of ideas and viewpoints that are necessary in a democratic society.

Focus-group research conducted by the Privy Council Office last year found that most Canadians did not want the federal government to regulate the internet.

Most participants rejected the idea of placing limits on or regulating what is said online, said the report published in February 2021. They generally favoured an environment in which free speech is promoted even if that meant offensive comments or material may appear online.

The report also noted subjects concerns over who would make the decisions as to what is or is not allowed and that they viewed this as a step toward censorship.

In their previous Bill C-36, the Liberals had identified five types of online content as of particular concern: hate speech, child exploitation, the sharing of non-consensual images, incitements to violence, and terrorism. Some critics have pointed out that Canada already has laws against hate speech as well as terrorist financing, child pornography and obscenity.

Panel Members

A review of the panel of 12 experts shows they mostly share the governments ideology on different issues such as COVID-19 measures, advocating for more vaccine mandates, labelling alternative viewpoints conspiracies, and criticizing the recent freedom-themed protests.

Some of the panel members already work for entities that are financed by the federal government, such as Ghayda Hassan of the Canada Practitioners Network for the Prevention of Radicalization and Extremist Violence (CPN-PREV), or Bernie Farber of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network.

Farber was recently criticized for saying on Twitter that an anti-semitic flyer had been found on the site of the Ottawa Freedom Convoy protest, whereas it was pointed out the image of the flyer related to another event in the United States two weeks earlier.

Other panel experts like Pierre Trudel, a law professor at Universite de Montreal, has tweeted in favour of the governments Bill C-11 which seeks to regulate internet content and impose on it a progressive framework, which some critics say will amount to censorship.

Among many other things, Bill C-11 says that the Canadian broadcasting system should serve the needs and interests of all Canadians, including Canadians from racialized communities and Canadians of diverse ethnocultural backgrounds, socio-economic statuses, abilities and disabilities, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and ages.

The Trudeau government is throwing its cloak over the online world by granting the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) authority over the global internet and, likely, adding a second regulator to squelch Canadian speech it deems problematic, wrote Peter Menzies, a former vice-chair of the CRTC, in a column published in The Epoch Times.

The government is also seeking to act against child exploitation online with the bill that will be informed by the expert panel.

Lianna McDonald, executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, is the only panel expert specialized in that field.

Other panel members include Amarnath Amarasingam, Queens University professor specializing in terrorism and extremism; Chanae Parsons, a community and youth engagement specialist; David Morin, Universite de Sherbrooke political science professor; Emily Laidlaw, University of Calgary law professor; Heidi Tworek, UBC professor in the departments of public policy and history; Signa A. Daum Shanks, University of Ottawa law professor; Taylor Owen, McGill University media professor; and Vivek Krishnamurthy, University of Ottawa law professor.

The advisory panel will hold nine workshops to discuss the framework for online safety and also discuss with online platforms, said Heritage Canada in a statement. Non-attributed summaries of discussions will be made available, says the department.

Rodriguez said all the meetings have to be held in the next two months to work on the bill as soon as possible.
Voters prepare to turn in their mail-in ballot at the Miami-Dade County Elections Department in Doral, Fla., on Oct. 6, 2020. (Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo)

Federal Judge Rules Floridas New Election Law Unconstitutional

On March 31, a federal judge ruled Floridas new election law, SB 90, to be unconstitutional.

As The Epoch Times reported May 1, 2021, the Republican-controlled state Senate previously approved SB 90 (pdf), which overhauled Florida election law ahead of the 2022 midterm elections and 2024 presidential election.

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill into law May 6, 2021, with immediate effect.

The law was immediately challenged by multiple liberal advocacy groups, including the Black Voters Matter Fund, the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the League of Women Voters of Florida, and the NAACP.

On March 31, 2022, Chief Judge Mark Walker of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2012, said the law is discriminatory and ruled the measure to be unconstitutional. Walker also issued a permanent injunction barring enforcement of the bulk of the new rules.

Walker further ordered Florida to get pre-approval from a federal judge for its election law changes, an order the Columbia Law Review defines as a seldom used path to federal preclearance of changes to state and local voting practices provided by Section 3(C) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which allows courts to force jurisdictions to get pre-approval on election law changes.

Upon finding that a jurisdiction violated the 14th or 15th Amendment, this rarely-used measure requires the cited jurisdiction to submit for preapproval any voting qualification or prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or procedure with respect to voting.

The new rules determined by Walker to be discriminatory are:

When making an address change to their voter registration by phone or electronically, voters must provide their date of birth and their Florida drivers license number or Florida ID card number, or the last four digits of their social security number.

When making a name or party affiliation change, voters must submit a Florida Voter Registration Application that includes their Florida drivers license number or Florida ID card number, or the last four digits of their social security number.

To receive a vote-by-mail ballot, a voter must have a request on file to receive one.

Voters requesting a vote-by-mail ballot for themselves, either in-person or by phone, must provide their name, address, date of birth, a Florida drivers license number or Florida ID card number, or the last four digits of their social security number. For written requests, the voter must provide a signature.

If an immediate family member or legal guardian needs to request a vote-by-mail ballot on a voters behalf, the requester must provide their name, address, date of birth, a Florida drivers license number or Florida ID card number, or the last four digits of their social security number. The requestor must also define their relationship to the voter, and for written requests, they must provide a signature.

Secure ballot drop boxes must be continuously monitored by elections personnel and will only be available at the Supervisor of Elections office and at all early voting sites during early voting hours.

The ruling will likely be appealed.
Feds Sued for Banning Swimming With Dolphins, Hurting Hawaiian Economy

A businesswoman in Hawaii is suing the Biden administration for hurting her business by banning swimming with spinner dolphins, a popular tourist and therapeutic activity that generates a living for many residents of the 50th U.S. state.

Spinner dolphins are called such because they are often seen leaping and spinning out of the water, even up to seven times  before falling back into the water, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported.

The legal problem is that the low-level federal bureaucrat in the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) who issued the new regulation had no authority under the U.S. Constitution to make the rule, according to the Sacramento-based Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a nonprofit national public interest law firm thats representing the plaintiffs.

PLF attorney Michael Poon said the authority to issue regulations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act is vested in the U.S. commerce secretary. However, in September 2021, NMFS Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs Samuel Rauch, who wasnt confirmed by the U.S. Senate, is purported to have issued the regulation under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

But Mr. Rauch is a career civil servant, Poon told The Epoch Times. Hes an employee. He is not a political appointee.

This makes Rauch accountable to no one, according to the PLF attorney. Rauch is certainly not appointed as an officer of the United States, even though he has rulemaking power.

People in the executive branch who wield significant federal power, are officers, and officers have to be fireable by the president so that they remain accountable to him, and he [the president] remains accountable to the American people, Poon said.

Rauchs employer, the NMFS, is an agency within NOAA, which itself is an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Congress never gave this rulemaking power to Rauch, according to Poon. Congress gave the power under the act to the secretary of commerce, whos someone way, way higher up.

A previous secretary of commerce delegated this rulemaking power to the NOAA administrator  [who] delegated it to the head of the National Marine Fisheries Service, who was called the Assistant Administrator for Fisheries, and the head of the National Marine Fisheries Service delegated that power to Mr. Rauch, according to Poon.

Rauchs regulation prevents humans, vessels, and objects from swimming with or coming within 50 yards of the dolphins. Rauch had decided that the dolphin encounters constituted harassment under the Marine Mammal Protection Act because they could alter the dolphins natural behavior.

The PLF stated that the rule will destroy an entire industry without regard for the value individuals receive from interacting with the playful animals, and that the rule even forces people who are approached by dolphins to swim away and ignore the animals natural curiosity.

Swimming with spinner dolphins is central to the livelihoods of many Hawaiians, significantly contributes to the states economy, and enriches the lives of individuals worldwide, according to the foundation.

The legal complaint (pdf) in the lawsuit Wille v. Raimondo was filed on March 21 in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, the state in which the fisheries service is headquartered. Defendant Gina Raimondo is being sued in her official capacity as U.S. secretary of commerce.

The plaintiffs are Eliza Wille, Shelley Carey, and Lisa Denning, all of whom reside in Hawaii and participate in commercial or professional activities directed toward Hawaiian spinner dolphins.

Wille is a psychotherapist with a masters degree in psychology from the London School of Economics and a bachelors degree in psychology from the University of Hawaii. Her career has included eight years of cognition research on dolphins.

Recently, she conducted her psychotherapy practice at Hawaii Island Recovery, a residential treatment center that deals with substance abuse, addiction, and related mental disorders, according to the legal complaint.

Wille began employing dolphin encounters in her experiential therapy practice 10 years ago, creating turning points for many patients mental health journeys.

Such encounters can help to bring to the surface anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed and losing control, which she can then help patients process and overcome, according to the complaint.

Wille engages with the dolphins respectfully, according to the PLF.

She and her patients approach the dolphins on the animals termsin the morning when the dolphins are most active and near the shore, and the dolphins initiate contact, not the other way around, the foundation stated.

The Epoch Times reached out to NMFS, which is also known informally as NOAA Fisheries, for comment.

We cannot comment on matters of ongoing litigation, NOAA Fisheries Public Affairs Director Lauren Gaches replied by email.
A logo of CVS Health is displayed on a monitor above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shortly after the opening bell in New York, on Dec. 5, 2017. (Lucas Jackson/Reuters)

Florida Reaches $878 Million Opioid Settlements With CVS, Teva, Others

Florida has reached more than $878 million in settlements with CVS Health Corp and three drug companies to resolve claims and avert a trial next month over their roles in fueling an opioid epidemic in the third most populous U.S. state.

CVS will pay $484 million, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd will pay $194.8 million, Abbvie Incs Allergan unit will pay $134.2 million and Endo International Plc will pay $65 million, Floridas attorney general Ashley Moody said in a statement on Wednesday.

Most of the money will be spent on opioid abatement. Teva will also provide $84 million of its generic Narcan nasal spray, which can temporarily reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.

The four companies denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle. Endos accord had been reached in January.

Moody said pharmacy chain Walgreens is the only remaining defendant in Floridas opioid litigation, with jury selection scheduled to begin on April 5.

Walgreens said its 2012 opioid-related settlement with Florida covered the states latest claims, and that it will defend against unjustified attacks on its pharmacists.

CVS and Teva said they would defend against other opioid lawsuits, and Teva said it is actively negotiating a national settlement of similar claims. Allergan said its settlement also covers claims for generic opioids it sold to Teva in 2016.

Endo did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Florida announced the settlements nine days after Rhode Island reached similar accords with Teva and Allergan valued at $107 million.

More than 500,000 people have died from opioid overdoses in the past two decades nationally, including 75,673 in the year ending April 2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Feb. 25, Johnson & Johnson and drug distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and McKesson Corp reached final settlements worth $26 billion over their roles in the nationwide epidemic.

State, local and Native American tribal governments in the United States have filed more than 3,300 lawsuits accusing drugmakers such as OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma of fueling opioid abuse, including by downplaying the risks of addiction.

By Jonathan Stempel and Dietrich Knauth
When her little sister fell into their backyard pool at home in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, this heroic 3-year-old wasted no time screaming for help. Her father, who was sweeping leaves nearby, was able to save the struggling toddler from drowning in the nick of time.

Now he is using his familys ordeal to urge parents to watch their kids when theyre around water.

Sisters Kana and Kaning Kanuengnit, aged 3 and 2 years old, were happily playing around the family pool with inflatable toys on Feb. 25 when Kaning lost her footing. She toppled sideways into four feet of water; home security footage recorded the stomach-lurching moment.

I was sweeping near the pool and my wife was cooking in the kitchen behind the house, the girls father Apisit Kanuengnit, 29, told Newsflare, as translated from Thai. My younger daughter carried an inflatable swimming ring around the swimming pool, while my elder daughter just played near the pool. We werent planning for any pool activities so I didnt notice  I didnt hear anything.

However, Kana did. After standing in shock for just a second, she realized that her little sister was under water and not resurfacing on her own.

She began screaming for her father, who, at that moment, was sweeping with his back turned to the pool. She then ran to get his attention.

Apisit dropped his broom and jumped into the water without hesitation, pulling the child to safety. In his rush to save Kaning, Apisit forgot to think about his phone and other items in his pocket, thinking only of his daughters safety at that moment.

Moments later, the stunned toddler caught her breath and began to cry. She was unharmed thanks to her sisters, and fathers, lightning-quick responses to the accident.

Security footage shows Apisit retrieving the sodden phone from his pocket only after pulling Kaning out of the water, then turning his attention straight back to his child.

Apisit reflected: It is partly my mistake for being careless, but luckily I have a little hero: my eldest daughter  they dont know how to swim, but they are in the water often so they know a little bit.

Having faced this tribulation, he is now using his story as an example to remind parents to be more vigilant.

You cannot take your eyes off, even for a split second, when there are children and water, he said. I want to stress this to parents with small kids and a pool to put up a barrier around the pool. If not, they should always be careful.

(LR) Apisit with his daughters, Kaning and Kana. (Screenshot/Newsflare)

In matching striped blouses, sisters Kana and Kaning joined their father to be interviewed by the news media, both healthy, happy, and smiling shyly after recovering from their ordeal.

Watch the video:

(Video Credit: Newsflare)

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History Should Be Our Guide in Ukraine

Commentary

There are several historical referents we should keep in mind about the Ukraine war.

First, no-fly zones. Lots of Westerners are calling for NATO aircraft to establish a no-fly zone above Ukraine to stop the Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities.

That is a terrible idea. Russian planes can still launch missiles from the nearby airspace of Russia and Belarus. No nation in history has declared a no-fly zone against an adversarial nuclear power.

No-fly zones are best known from the 12-year air block over Iraq in between the two Gulf Wars.

NATO also imposed a no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina in the 1990s and again over Libya in 2011.

These efforts were aimed respectively at the bloody, though small-time dictators Saddam Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, and Muammar Gaddafi. None had nuclear weapons.

Eventually, the air patrols withered away. Often, allies bickered about their relative contributions. Sometimes the zones failed to stop ongoing anarchy on the ground. Enemies often still used low-flying ground assault helicopters.

The United States never attempted a no-fly zone against either nuclear Russia or China during the Cold Wardespite a long history of these countries supplying wartime enemies of ours.

No nation wishes to risk Armageddon over the skies of a third party.

Second, regime change. There has been a lot of wild talkfrom Joe Biden and various U.S. senators on downabout removing or assassinating Russian President Vladimir Putin to achieve regime change in Russia.

Here too, the United States has a mixed record, at bestfrom the engineered ouster of Vietnams President Ngo Dinh Diem to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Efforts to kill Cuban President Fidel Castro boomeranged in ways that likely still remain classified.

Dozens of Cold War-era forced removals of hostile heads of state in Asia, Africa, and Latin America often did not achieve objectives that were in long-term U.S. interests, much less did they achieve regional stability. Such coups and hit jobs did, however, tarnish Americas claim to the moral high ground.

In chicken-and-the-egg fashion, do odious dictators really hijack power from oppressed societies, or are they simply emblematic of them? Before Putin, were there democratically elected czars, Soviet premiers, or post-Cold War Russian strongmen?

Once Western liberals talk sloppily about removing heads of states, such authoritarians naturally will do the same. Do we really want Putin threatening Western presidents, given the past propensity of his political enemies to disappear?

Third, nation-building. Western powersfor a timecan nation build abroad. But recreating nations in our image requires terrible cost in blood and treasure.

Even idealists are branded as neocolonialists and imperialists. Even the beneficiaries of liberal democracy still feel it was imposed and any gratitude or warm feeling for America is short-lived.

The American public, meanwhile, rails that the trillions of dollars spent abroad could be better used at home. Witness the recent failed 20-year mess in Afghanistan.

Fourth, moral hysteria. The United States does not have a good record of turning wars into moral crusades by branding our allies divine and our enemies satanic.

America was wrong to have banned German language instruction during World War I. It should never have put Japanese legal residents and patriotic Japanese Americans in detention camps during World War II.

For years, the United States has seemed unhinged as it caricatures Russians as subhuman thugsfrom crudely stereotyped tattooed, shaved-headed villains in Hollywood movies to mythical bogeymen who supposedly engineered the Russian collusion hoax, the Russian Alfa Bank hoax, and the Hunter Biden laptop Russian disinformation hoax.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has shown himself to be a gifted and courageous leader who, logically, we should support and supply. But he is not an archangel pitted against evil Russian 18-year-old conscripts or necessarily the moral superior to Russian pianists and tourists.

Millions of impoverished Russians had no say about Putins savage misadventure in Ukraine.

That Ukraine is morally in the right and certainly deserves Western help does not mean that all Russians should be demonized or an often-corrupt Ukrainian government that just suspended its opposition parties should be deified.

Fifth, the Russian military abroad. The Russian army is historically unbeatable on its home soil. Charles XII of Sweden, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Adolf Hitler all wrecked their once indomitable militaries once they crossed into Russia.

But the expeditionary armies of a multiethnic, disparate Russia have never done well abroad in major foreign invasions against determined enemies.

Moscow faced a series of embarrassing and utter defeats in the RussoJapanese war of 19041905. The czars 1914 invasion of German East Prussia ended in catastrophe. Russia invaded Poland and lost the Polish war of 19191921.

Stalins attack on tiny Finland in 1939 soon turned into a bloody quagmire. The decade-long invasion and occupation of Afghanistan ended in defeat.

Given these past realities, Ukraine can defeat Putins expeditionary army if the United States and its NATO allies increase aid, do not embrace no-fly zones or other provocative trajectories to World War III, cease crazy talk of killing or removing Putin, stop whipping up hatred of all things Russian, and remember that history was never on Putins side when he invaded Ukraine.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Former national chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Phil Fontaine, stands outside St. Peter's Square at the end of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, on March 31, 2022. (Andrew Medichini/AP Photo)

First Nations Delegates Meet With Pope Francis

First Nations chief Gerald Antoine said Thursday that the meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican marks the beginning of a partnership, as Canadian indigenous communities call for an official apology from the Catholic Church over residential schools.

We very much hope that these discussions will be the beginning of continued dialogue and partnership in which we can learn from the past and share our vision for a hopeful future, the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) delegation lead said in a press conference on March 31 after meeting the pontiff.

The meeting with the head of the Roman Catholic Church lasted for close to two hours, exceeding the originally scheduled time of one hour.

Antoine, who is the Dene national chief-elect and AFN regional chief of the Northwest Territories, called on Pope Francis to revoke two-centuries-old papal decrees issued in 1455 and 1493, in which the church gave blessings to explorers on colonial expeditions.

The delegates also urged the pontiff to travel to Canada to apologize for the churchs role in the construction of the Indian residential school system.

It marks the second time Phil Fontaine, the former national chief of the AFN, has met with a pope and requested an apology. He said circumstances have changed since he requested an apology from Pope Benedict in 2009.

While Pope Francis has not committed to an apology or a trip to Canada, Fontaine said it has been suggested that the Holy Father could travel this summer.

The Canadian Press contributed to this article.
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos addresses the Assembly during a legislative session in Madison, Wisconsin, on Dec. 4, 2018. (Andy Manis/Getty Images)Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos addresses the Assembly during a legislative session in Madison, Wisconsin, on Dec. 4, 2018. (Andy Manis/Getty Images)

Judge Holds Wisconsin Speaker in Contempt Over Election Records

A judge in Wisconsin held state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in contempt of court for allegedly failing to produce emails and text messages related to an investigation he ordered into the 2020 election.

Dane County Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihn wrote on March 30 that Vos, a Republican, and the Assembly have chosen to willfully violate a court order and are held in contempt. American Oversight, a Washington-based anti-Trump group that has previously sought records from Republicans, filed a lawsuit seeking a contempt order earlier this month after it didnt obtain records from Vos and contractors.

Bailey-Rihn told Vos and the Assembly to turn over records within 14 days and to pay $1,000 per day if they fail to do that. They also will have to pay some of American Oversights legal bills, the judge said.

That testimony revealed a collective and abject disregard for the Courts order: Robin Vos had delegated the search for contractors records to an employee who did nothing more than send one vague email to one contractor, the judge wrote in her order (pdf).

Vos attorney Ronald Stadler told Bailey-Rihn a week ago that the work to retrieve Voss emails from his legislative account was ongoing and he would need up to two weeks to review whatever was found. Stadler also said he had an expert witness who would testify that deleted text messages couldnt be recovered.

The judge further wrote, Vos did not tell that contractor which records to produce, did not ask any of the other contractors to produce records, and did not even review the records ultimately received. Still worse, the assembly did nothing at all.

Voss office didnt respond by press time to a request for comment.

Earlier in March, Vos told local media that he doesnt believe the 2020 presidential election can be decertified, after meeting with Republican activists.

I still believe that the Constitution and my oath that I took as an elected official does not allow me to decertify any election, whether I want to or not, Vos told reporters in Madison. Thats not going to happen.

Some Republicans in the state, however, said at the time that they believed Voss assertions were incorrect.

This isnt a Democrat or Republican issue, and I think some of the people inside that are accountable are in that room right now, state Rep. Timothy Ramthun, a Republican, told NBC15 in mid-March. I think those people dont want to see closure on this. Thats why theyre dragging us all along.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Parents and students of West Chester Area School District in Pennsylvania protesting during the mask mandate. (Courtesy of Beth Ann Rosica)

Pennsylvania Judge Ousts 5 School Board Members After Parent Petition

A Pennsylvania judge ordered on March 29 that five elected school directors be immediately kicked off the nine-member West Chester Area School board.

On March 30, the same judge, William P. Mahon in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas, ordered the parties to meet on April 1 for an argument.

Its all in response to a February petition filed by West Chester Area School District parent Beth Ann Rosica. In the petition, Rosica calls for the removal of five school board members: Sue Tiernan, Joyce Chester, Karen Herrmann, Kate Shaw, and Daryl Durnell.

Students returning to in-person classes after two years of remote learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic were required to wear masks over their mouths and noses. When Pennsylvania ended mandatory school masking, the West Chester Area School District was among a handful of schools that kept masking in place.

When that was lifted, all of us parents started emailing, calling, showing up at school board meetings, asking our school board to amend their health and safety plan and allow for optional masking, Rosica told The Epoch Times. They didnt lift it for the West Chester School District, so we began to work on a petition to remove school board members because we believed that their actions were illegal and unconstitutional.

Eventually, the district did lift the mask mandate, but the petition request remained relevant because, in August, the board passed a new health and safety plan which allows the board to impose future mandatory masking at various levels of COVID-19 transmission.

For high levels of transmission, our current approved health and safety plan still requires masking, and we believe that that is illegal. We want this answered because we dont want them to impose it come next fall or any point in time when cases start [going] up again, Rosica said.

The petition was based on a seldom-used Pennsylvania education statute that allows for the removal of school directors for failure to organize or neglect of duty.

The statute says that any 10 resident taxpayers in the district may present a petition to the court to have them removed. But that argument wasnt addressed in the March 29 decision.

The court ruled in favor of Rosica, citing West Chester Area School Districts failure to respond. It also ordered Rosica and the four remaining board members to each submit a list of five proposed replacements for the board to be appointed by the court to fill out the exiting board members terms.

Attorney Kenneth Roos of the Wisler Pearlstine law firm in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, represents the school board. He told The Epoch Times that he filed a motion for reconsideration of the decision on the night of March 29. He had no other comment on behalf of the school board.

The motion disputes the time frame that the school had to respond, arguing that it should have had until April 4 to answer. The judge agreed.

Rosica is more than a mother of two students in the district. Shes executive director of Back to School PA, a political action committee that advocated for reopening schools closed by COVID-19 mitigation measures. It aims to get pro-parent and pro-student candidates elected to school boards.

Correction: Judge Mahon didnt vacate his previous order. The Epoch Times regrets the error.
Laundrie Parents Want Civil Suit Over Petitos Death Dismissed

The family of Brian Laundrie, who was subject to a multistate manhunt in connection to the disappearance of fiancee Gabby Petito, filed court papers to dismiss a Petito family lawsuit against them.

Laundrie family attorney Steve Bertolino filed a 20-page motion to dismiss the lawsuit from Petitos parents and step-parents that alleged Chris and Roberta Laundrie were aware that Brian killed Gabby and helped him evade capture.

Bertolino, however, wrote that Chris and Roberta Laundrie were exercising their Constitutional right to remain silent.

Further, he told Fox News that the lawsuit against his clients is baseless and frivolous, adding: This is not only common practice in our civilized society, but it embodies the exercise of fundamental rights under the United States and Florida Constitutions.

The gravamen of the claimed wrongdoing is that the Laundries exercised their constitutional rights and essentially made no statements to Plaintiffs or law enforcement, their motion read. While the [Petito-Schmidt families] allege some facts, those facts could never establish a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress because the Laundries actions were legally permissible, constitutionally protected, not outrageous, and do not give rise to any cause of action.

The motion further contends that compelling individuals to respond to inquiries by private citizens or law enforcement through a civil action like this would turn our entire constitutional system and the freedom afforded individuals in this country on its head, reported the New York Post.

Petito and Laundrie took a cross-country trip in the summer of 2021. However, weeks later, in September, Petitos family filed a missing person complaint, while Laundrie returned home alone to Florida.

The FBI has identified Laundrie as the only person of interest in the case. After Petito was found dead in Wyoming, authorities began a search for Laundriemainly focusing on a wildlife preserve near his family home in North Port, Florida.

Eventually, the FBI concluded Laundrie died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. And investigators claimed that materials found near his body suggested he took responsibility for Petitos slaying, although that evidence has not been made public.

But Petito family attorney Richard Stafford told news outlets that there were multiple conversations between Brian, his parents, and their lawyer Steven Bertolino before Brian left Wyoming on August 30, 2021.

Christopher and Roberta (Petito) had multliple opportunities to disclose to Joe, Nichole, or the authorities that Gabby was no longer alive and to direct them to her body, the lawyer said. Their lawsuit also contends the Laundries were trying to arrange a way for their son to leave the United States.
Press Release

March 31, 2022 Senate awarded Safety Seal certification The Senate has been awarded with a Safety Seal certification by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), signifying its compliance with the minimum public health standards set by the government. Senate Secretary Myra Marie Villarica said the Senate has been complying with health standards set by the government since the start of the pandemic. Upon the instruction of Senate President Vicente Sotto III, the Senate Medical and Dental Bureau instituted protocols to ensure that employees are safe from COVID-19 when they report for work. Dr. Renato Sison Jr. of the Medical and Dental Bureau said the award was granted on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. "This is our way of ensuring that the Senate is a safe place to work. It is part of our campaign to assure our workforce that it is safe to come back to work," Sison said. The Safety Seal program is an inter-agency initiative launched by the DILG, the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Trade and Industry DTI), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and the Department of Tourism (DOT). Public and private establishments or buildings with a Safety Seal indicates that a particular building or establishment is compliant with health protocols against COVID-19. According to Sison, the Senate had applied for the Safety Seal certification and complied with all requirements, including daily disinfections of the building, availability of thermal scanner or thermal gun to assess employees and visitors' temperature, availability of health declaration sheets, availability of isolation area for identified symptomatic employees, referral system to hospitals and contact tracing, among others. He said the Senate was lauded for having its own contact tracing and referral system. While other institutions usually rely on the government for contact tracing and referrals, Sison said the Medical and Dental Service assisted the admission of Senate employees infected with COVID-19 to hospitals, particularly during surges. The Medical Services had also managed mild infections of COVID-19 cases and done its own contact tracing. A team from the DILG, Bureau of Fire and Protection and the Philippine National Police had inspected the Senate building and awarded the Safety Seal certification to Senate officials led by Deputy Secretary for Administration and Finance Arnel Banas. Under the guidelines, a seal shall be valid for six months upon issuance and shall be renewed not later than one month before its expiration.
John Durham speaks to reporters on the steps of U.S. District Court in New Haven, Conn., on April 25, 2006. (Bob Child/AP Photo)

Michael Sussmanns Lawyers Try Convincing Court to Dismiss John Durham Charge

Lawyers for an attorney who was representing Hillary Clintons campaign when he fed information to the FBI ahead of the 2016 election have attempted to get a judge to dismiss the case.

Michael Sussmann, the attorney, was charged in September 2021 with making a false statement to the bureau. When he met with then-FBI lawyer James Baker, he allegedly denied representing any client as he fed evidence purportedly linking then-presidential candidate Donald Trumps company to a bank in Russia.

A grand jury brought the indictment as part of an investigation being conducted by special counsel John Durham into the origins of the probe into Trump and his campaign. Sussmann has pleaded not guilty.

In court on March 31, Sussmanns lawyers told U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama appointee, that he should toss the charge.

To our knowledgeand the special counsel hasnt found otherwisenever before has as an individual provided a tip to the government and been prosecuted for making a false statement thats ancillary to the tip itself, Sean Berkowitz, one of the lawyers, said during the hearing.

None of the allegations made in the indictment or more recent filings show an impact that isnt trivial or negligible, he said.

According to charging documents, Sussmann requested a meeting with Baker in September 2016 and handed over three white papers and data files that allegedly contained evidence showing a secret communication channel between the Trump Organization and servers at a Russian bank, believed to be Alfa Bank.

During the meeting, Sussmann stated falsely that he was not doing his work on the aforementioned allegations for any client,' the documents say, which led the FBI general counsel to understand that Sussmann was acting as a good citizen merely passing along information, not as a paid advocate or political operative.

Michael Sussmann in an undated interview. (CNN/Screenshot via NTD)

In reality, Sussmann was representing the campaign of ClintonTrumps rival for the presidencyin addition to Rodney Joffe, an executive at Neustar Inc.

The lie misled the FBI, prosecutors say. If known, the bureau might have asked which clients Sussmann represented and taken additional or more incremental steps before opening an investigation, Andrew DeFilippis, a prosecutor on Durhams team, told the judge.

The defendant didnt just affect the course of investigation. He prompted an investigation. He triggered an investigation, which in the governments view multiplies the materiality of the false statement because he caused the FBI to initiate a new investigation based on misleading information, DeFilippis said.

Cooper rarely interjected during the hearing, but did question both parties multiple times, including asking Sussmanns lawyers whether the fact that the data came as a result of a request from a competing presidential candidate was relevant, to which lawyer Michael Bosworth said it wasnt.

Data is data no matter where it comes from, Bosworth said.

Cooper didnt rule on the motion to dismiss, and its not clear when hell make a decision.

The case currently is scheduled to go on trial on May 13, with the parties attempting to come to an agreement on the questions that potential jurors will be asked.
An AirBridgeCargo Airlines Boeing 747-87U arrives at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, on May 25, 2020. (Charles Platiau/Reuters)

Lessor BOC Aviation Repossesses 747-8 Cargo Plane From Russian Operator

A Boeing 747-8 freighter leased to Russias AirBridgeCargo has flown to California from Hong Kong, according to FlightRadar24, after a U.S. judge signed an order allowing lessor BOC Aviation Ltd. to repossess it.

The order was unsealed and made public on Tuesday, court documents showed and the aircraft arrived in the United States on March 25, according to the flight tracking service.

BOC Aviation and its lawyers declined to comment.

Singapore-based BOC Aviation is one of many global aircraft lessors that had planes on lease to Russian airlines before sanctions over Russias invasion of Ukraine forced the cancellation of leases and insurance policies.

More than 400 leased planes worth almost $10 billion remain in Russia despite a Monday deadline for contract cancellations, though the Interfax news agency last week reported that 78 had been seized abroad.

BOC Aviation shares closed 4.4 percent higher on Wednesday, outpacing a 1.4 percent rise in the Hong Kong index. The lessor on March 10 said its 18 planes leased to Russian airlines had a book value of $935 million and could be affected by insurance policy cancellations.

In court documents filed on March 14, BOC Aviation sought orders for one of three 747-8 freighters on lease to AirBridgeCargo that was in Hong Kong to be repossessed and flown to the United States for storage.

BOC Aviation said the aircraft was worth $148 million and that AirBridgeCargo had breached leases for two other 747-8s when it flew the planes, which were in mainland China, back to Russia despite the lessors explicit instructions to ground them on March 5 after insurance coverage was cancelled.

One of the planes returned to Russia even after its airworthiness certificate was suspended by Bermuda, the location of registry, BOC Aviation said.

Those two freighters remain in Russia, according to FlightRadar24 data.

Volga-Dnepr Group, the owner of AirBridgeCargo, said on March 18 it had grounded the subsidiarys fleet of Boeing planes because of Western sanctions, according to media reports.

A Volga-Dnepr spokesperson on Wednesday declined to comment on the situation, citing ongoing negotiations with lessors.

By Jamie Freed
People who fled the war in Ukraine arrive by bus in Krakow, Poland on March 29, 2022. (Omar Marques/Getty Images)

Russia-Ukraine War (March 31): Russian Forces Block Buses Leaving Mariupol: Ukraine Government

The latest on the RussiaUkraine crisis, March 31. Click here for updates from March 30.

Russian Forces Block Buses Leaving Mariupol: Ukraine Government

The Ukrainian government said Russian forces blocked 45 buses that had been sent to evacuate civilians from the besieged port city of Mariupol, and only 631 people were able to get out of the city in private cars.

Twelve Ukrainian trucks were able to deliver humanitarian supplies to Mariupol, but the supplies were seized by Russian troops, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said late Thursday.

According to Ukrainian officials, tens of thousands of people have made it out of Mariupol in recent weeks along humanitarian corridors, reducing the prewar population of 430,000 to about 100,000 by last week.

Vereshchuk said about 45,000 Mariupol residents have been forcefully deported to Russia and areas of eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

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Russia Bars More Top EU Officials in Response to Sanctions

Russia said on Thursday it had greatly expanded the number of European Union officials, lawmakers, public figures, and journalists barred from Russia for allegedly being responsible for sanctions and stoking anti-Russian feelings.

The restrictions apply to the top leadership of the European Union, including a number of European commissioners and heads of EU military structures, as well as the vast majority of members of the European Parliament who promote anti-Russian policies, Russias foreign ministry said.

The EU, the United States, and numerous other Western countries have imposed sweeping economic and political sanctions on Russia, some Russian media, and prominent or wealthy Russians in response to Moscows invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Moscow said its blacklist also included representatives of some EU member states as well as public figures and journalists who it said were personally responsible for promoting illegal anti-Russian sanctions, inciting Russophobic sentiments and the infringement of the rights and freedoms of the Russian-speaking population.

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Russian Forces Have Left Chernobyl Plant: Ukraine State Nuclear Firm

The Ukrainian state nuclear company said on Thursday that all of the Russian forces occupying the Chernobyl nuclear power station had withdrawn from the territory of the defunct plant.

There was no immediate comment from the Russian authorities. The U.N. nuclear watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said it is preparing to send a mission to the radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine.

Though Russian soldiers seized control of Chernobyl soon after the Feb. 24 invasion, the plants Ukrainian staff continued to oversee the safe storage of spent nuclear fuel and supervise the concrete-encased remains of the reactor that exploded in 1986, causing the worlds worst nuclear accident.

According to the staff of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, there are now no outsiders on site, Energoatom said in an online post. State-owned Energoatom had earlier said most troops had gone, leaving only a small number behind.

Russian forces have also retreated from the nearby town of Slavutych, where workers at Chernobyl live, the company said.

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Britain, Allies to Send More Lethal Aid to Ukraine

Britain and its allies have agreed to send more lethal military aid to Ukraine to help defend it against Russias invasion, British defense minister Ben Wallace said on Thursday.

Therell be more lethal aid going into Ukraine as a result of today. A number of countries have come forward either with new ideas or indeed more pledges of money, Wallace told reporters after hosting over 35 international partners at the second International Defense Donor Conference for Ukraine (IDDCU).

The aid will include the provision of air and coastal defense systems, longer-range artillery, and counter battery capabilities, armored vehicles, as well as wider training and logistical support.

Todays donor conference demonstrates the international communitys determination to support Ukraine in the face of President Putins illegal and unprovoked invasion by Russian forces, Wallace said in a later statement.

We are increasing our coordination to step up that military support and ensure the Armed Forces of Ukraine grow stronger as they continue to repel Russian forces.

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US State Department Urges Americans to Leave Russia

The U.S. State Department this week warned that Russia may detain Americans and urged U.S. citizens to leave the country amid the conflict in Ukraine.

In a travel advisory warning on Wednesday, the agency said that Russian officials may single out and detain U.S. citizens in Russia before repeating earlier warnings for citizens not to travel to Russia.

Without providing examples, the advisory said that Russian security services have arrested U.S. citizens on spurious charges, singled out U.S. citizens in Russia for detention and/or harassment, denied them fair and transparent treatment, and have convicted them in secret trials and/or without presenting credible evidence.

The alert also said Moscow may unreasonably delay U.S. consular assistance to detained Americans, adding that Russian officials arbitrarily enforce local laws against U.S. citizen religious workers and open questionable criminal investigations against U.S. citizens engaged in religious activity.

Read the full article here

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Ruble Rebounds After Sanctions

Russias currency, the ruble, has recovered from much of the devaluation suffered in the aftermath of Western sanctions imposed due to Moscows attack on Ukraine.

On Feb. 24, when Russia invaded Ukraine, the ruble was trading against the U.S. dollar at an exchange rate of around 81. After the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions, the exchange rate spiked to about 158 rubles on March 7. As of March 31, 16:58 UTC, the ruble was trading at around 83 against the dollar, almost reaching back to the level at which the currency was trading when the war began.

The market movements of the ruble are, to an extent, decided by artificial forces. The currency is being influenced by state capital controls, including a ban on buying dollars and euros. The Russian central bank has demanded that exporters exchange 80 percent of their hard-currency revenue for rubles, thereby creating new demand for the currency.

Read the full article here

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Biden to Release 180 Million Barrels of Oil From Reserve

President Joe Biden announced Thursday that the United States will release an unprecedented 180 million barrels of oil from the nations Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) over the next several months.

The oil will be put out into the market at a pace of 1 million barrels per day on average for the next six months starting in May, and this will come in concert with releases from other countries around the world, according to a senior administration official on a call with reporters ahead of the presidents announcement.

The administration plans to restock the reserves when oil prices come down, to prepare for future emergencies and also to provide the right signal to the market, a senior administration official said.

Read the full article here

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Ukraine Reveals How Badly Its Defense Industry Is Destroyed

Russian forces have almost completely destroyed the Ukrainian defense industry and are finishing off the civilian one, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Alexey Arestovich, said.

Commenting on the most recent round of the negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv, which took place on Tuesday in Istanbul, Arestovich underlined that any large-scale military aggression and peace agreement are always compromises between the sides.

Because both sides suffer losses. If you think that we do not suffer losses, then you are deeply mistaken. They have practically destroyed our military industry and in many ways are finishing it off. And in many ways they are finishing off the civilian one, deliberately destroying it, he explained.

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Ukraine Nuclear Operator Claims Russian Troops Leave Chernobyl

Russian troops were leaving the Chernobyl nuclear power plant and heading toward Ukraines border with Belarus, the Ukrainian nuclear operator company claimed on Thursday.

The operator, Energoatom, claimed that the Russian military was also preparing to leave Slavutych, a nearby city where power plant workers live.

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Red Cross Prepares for Mariupol Evacuations

A team with the International Committee of the Red Cross has arrived in a Ukraine-held city where staff are preparing to take civilians out of the beleaguered port city of Mariupol.

Julien Lerisson, deputy director of operations for the ICRC, said Thursday that the team assembling in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, has medicines, food, water, hygiene items and other essentials.

He said the organization has high-level agreement for the mission but is focused on making sure the order trickles down the chain of command, allowing the team to enter and leave Mariupol safely.

The Russian military has said it committed to a cease-fire along the route from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian authorities have said 45 buses would be sent to collect citizens and provide resources to those who remain.

Lucile Marbeau, a staff member with the ICRC team hoping to enter Mariupol, said on Thursday: Were here because really, we hope to be able to facilitate safe passage for civilians desperately wanting to flee Mariupol.

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Germany and France React to Russias Gas-for-Ruble Demand

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday that their countries wont buy Russian gas with rubles, insisting that gas contracts in euros must be observed. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Berlin that payments in euros would be converted to rubles upon arrival in Russia.

Speaking at a press conference in Berlin, Habeck said that Europe would not be blackmailed by Russia into using Russian currency to buy gas. Putin has demanded that, as of Friday, unfriendly countriesthose who illegally sanctioned Russias central bank in response to the conflict in Ukrainewill have to pay for Russian gas in rubles or have their supply cut off.

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Talks Between Ukraine and Russia Will Resume on Friday by Video

The talks between Ukraine and Russia will resume on Friday by video, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia.

The delegations met in-person on Tuesday in Istanbul, after two weeks of meeting by video, and the faint outlines of a possible peace agreement seemed to emerge.

The Ukrainian delegation offered a framework under which the country would declare itself neutraldropping its bid to join NATO, as Moscow has long demandedin return for security guarantees from a group of other nations.

Russian diplomats responded positively to Ukraines proposal.

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Germany and Austria Reject a Halt to Russian Energy Imports

The Austrian and German leaders have underlined their rejection of a halt to Russian energy deliveries at this point.

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer noted that several central and eastern European countries depend to one extent or another on Russian gas deliveries.

He and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz argued that existing sanctions already are having a significant effect and said they need time to switch to new providers and renewable energy sources.

Nehammer said that sanctions only make sense  when they hit those they are supposed to hit, and dont weaken those who carry out sanctions.

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German Officials Calls for More Sanctions

Germanys economy minister says Europe should impose additional sanctions on Russia to prevent what he described as a barbaric war in Ukraine.

Robert Habeck said he discussed what further measures could be taken with his French counterpart during a bilateral meeting in Berlin on Thursday.

The last package [of sanctions] doesnt need to be the final one, it should not be the final one, he told reporters, adding that he and French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire had identified additional points that could be included in a [sanctions] package.

Habeck declined to elaborate on what those points might be.

Speaking ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putins announcement on new rules requiring countries to pay for Russias natural gas sales in rubles, Habeck insisted that contracts would be adhered to. These stipulate payment in euros or dollars.

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Kremlin Decree: Foreign Currency Can Still Buy Natural Gas

A Kremlin decree says unfriendly countries can continue to pay for natural gas in foreign currency through a Russian bank that will convert the money into rubles.

The decree published Thursday by state media came a day after the leaders of Italy and Germany said they received assurances from President Vladimir Putin.

Putin talked tougher, saying Russia will start accepting ruble payments starting Friday for Western countries that imposed sanctions over its conflict with Ukraine. He said contracts will be stopped if buyers dont sign up to the new conditions, including opening ruble accounts in Russian banks.

European leaders had rejected paying for deliveries in rubles, saying it would undermine sanctions imposed because of the war in Ukraine.

The decree Putin signed and published by state news agency RIA Novosti says a designated bank will open two accounts for each buyer, one in foreign currency and one in rubles. The buyers will pay in foreign currency and authorize the bank to sell that currency for rubles, which are placed in the second account, where the gas is formally purchased.

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Putin Says Russian Gas Must Be Paid for in Roubles From Friday

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he had signed a decree saying foreign buyers must pay in roubles for Russian gas from April 1, and contracts would be halted if these payments were not made.

In order to purchase Russian natural gas, they must open rouble accounts in Russian banks. It is from these accounts that payments will be made for gas delivered starting from tomorrow, Putin said in televised remarks.

If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity eitherthat is, existing contracts will be stopped.

Putins decision to enforce rouble payments for gas has boosted the Russian currency, which fell to historic lows when the West applied sweeping sanctions after he sent his army into Ukraine on Feb. 24.

But Western companies and governments have rejected the move as a breach of existing contracts, which are set in euros or dollars.

Putin said the switch was meant to strengthen Russias sovereignty, and it would stick to its obligations on all contracts. Russia supplies about a third of Europes gas.

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Kremlin Responds to US Intelligence Claims on Putin

The Kremlin has expressed regret and concern over U.S. officials reports that the Russian president is being misinformed by advisers about his militarys performance in Ukraine.

Vladimir Putins spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that neither the State Department nor the Pentagon possess the real information about what is happening in the Kremlin.

They simply dont understand whats going on in the Kremlin, they dont understand President Putin, they dont understand the mechanism of decision-making, they dont understand the way we work, Peskov said.

It is not just regrettable, it elicits concern, because this complete lack of understanding leads to erroneous decisions, tragic decisions that could have very bad consequences, he added.

U.S. intelligence officials said Putin is being misinformed by advisers about his militarys poor performance in Ukraine, according to the White House. The advisers are scared to tell him the truth, the intel says.

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said Wednesday the United States believes Putin was being misled not only about his militarys performance but also how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions because, again, his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth.

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Ukraine Expects Russian Assault in East

Ukrainian forces are preparing for new Russian attacks in the southeast region where Moscows guns are now trained after its assault on the capital Kyiv was repelled, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday.

Moscow says it is now focusing on liberating the Donbass regiontwo southeastern provinces partly controlled by separatists Russia has backed since 2014.

In an early morning video address, Zelenskyy claimed Russian troop movements away from Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv were not a withdrawal but rather the consequence of our defenders work.

Ukraine was seeing a build-up of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas and we are preparing for that, he said.

That includes Mariupol, once a city of 400,000 people, where most buildings have been damaged or destroyed in four weeks of Russian bombardment and siege. A convoy of Ukrainian buses set out for the port city on Thursday to try to reach trapped civilians, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

The past week has seen a Ukrainian counteroffensive, recapturing destroyed suburbs of Kyiv and strategic towns and villages in the northeast and southwest. Russia declared on Monday that it was scaling back its offensive near the capital and the city of Chernihiv in the north, in what it called a trust-building gesture for peace talks.

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Convoy of Buses on Way to Besieged Mariupol, Ukraine Says

A convoy of Ukrainian buses set out for the southern port city of Mariupol on Thursday to try to deliver humanitarian supplies and bring out civilians, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk and the Red Cross said.

Vereshchuk said 45 buses were on their way to Mariupol after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed Russia had agreed to open a safe corridor.

In Geneva, the ICRC said its convoy was on the way to the besieged city, but called on both sides to agree the exact terms for the safe passage of civilians.

For logistics and security reasons, well be ready to lead the safe passage operation tomorrow, Friday, provided all the parties agree to the exact terms, including the route, the start time and the duration, ICRC spokesperson Ewan Watson said.

Robert Mardini, ICRC director-general, in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, called on Ukraine and Russia to agree on safe evacuation of civilians from Mariupol and other frontline areas, where vital supplies are running out.

To date in the five-week-old conflict, the ICRC has led two evacuations of civilians from the northeastern city of Sumy.

The Mariupol mayor said this week that up to 170,000 residents were trapped there with no power and dwindling supplies.

There are 45 buses en route to Mariupol, Vereshchuk said in a statement on Thursday.

The city, which usually has a population of more than 400,000, has been a strategic focus of Russias invasion of Ukraine and has suffered near-constant bombardment.

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NATO: Russia Repositioning, Not Scaling Back

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg claims Russia does not appear to be scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead redeploying forces to the eastern Donbas region.

Russia promised during talks in Istanbul on Tuesday that it would de-escalate operations near Kyiv and Chernihiv to increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the West were skeptical.

Stoltenberg told reporters Thursday that Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions, and must be judged on its actions alone, not the word of its leaders.

According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region, he said.

At the same time, he said pressure is being kept up on Kyiv and other cities and we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering.

The U.S. claims Russia has begun to reposition less than 20 percent of its troops that had been arrayed around Kyiv. The Pentagon says that most moved north, although some crossed into Belarus where they could be resupplied and sent back into Ukraine.

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NATO Bases in Central Asia Unacceptable, Moscow Says

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that any NATO military presence in Central Asia will undermine the security of the Russian-led bloc in the region.

We believe its unacceptable to have any US and NATO military infrastructure, or their Afghan helpers, on the territory of neighboring states, especially in Central Asia, Lavrov said during an Afghanistan-themed summit in Tunxi, China, adding that such designs go against the security interests of our countries.

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Italy Urges Europe to Use All Farming Land

Italys leader is urging Europe to cultivate all available land as a partial remedy to reductions in agricultural imports, especially of Russian grain, due to the war in Ukraine.

Premier Mario Draghi told reporters on Thursday that under existing agricultural practices in the European Union 10 percent of land is purposely left fallow, but that must now change as European countries search for ways to reduce dependency on farm imports.

Its not clear whether Ukraine, one of the worlds largest exporters of wheat, maize and sunflower oil, might be able to salvage any of this planting season.

Meanwhile, Draghi noted that Western Europe will be looking to food producers like Canada, the United States and Argentina to help make up the shortfall of imports from Ukraine and Russia.

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20 Dead in Strike on Mykolaiv Government Building

The Ukrainian emergency services claim the death toll after a Russian missile strike Tuesday on the regional government headquarters in the southern city of Mykolaiv has risen to 20.

The emergency services claimed rescuers had now found 19 bodies in the ruins since the strike devastated the government building Tuesday morning. One other person died in hospital.

Emergency services said they are still working at the scene.

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Europe Pushing for Gas Price Cap With Russia

Italian Premier Mario Draghi says Europe is pushing for a cap on gas prices with Russia because its payments are financing the war in Ukraine.

Draghi told foreign reporters Thursday that the prices that Europe is paying are out of line with the global market.

We, Germany and Italy, along with other countries that are importers of gas, coal, grains, corn  are financing the war. There is no doubt, Draghi said. For this reason, Italy along with other countries are pushing for a cap on the price of gas. There is no substantial reason that the price of gas is so high for Europeans.

Draghi noted that Russia has no other market for its gas, giving Europe room to maneuver. Asked about the risk that Russia would simply respond by turning off the taps, Draghi claimed, no there is no danger.

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Britain Imposes Sanctions on Russian Media Figures, Organizations

Britain has imposed sanctions on more than a dozen Russian media figures and organizations accused of spreading propaganda and disinformation about the war in Ukraine.

The latest group subjected to asset freezes and travel bans includes Rossiya television anchor Sergey Brilev, who previously lived in the U.K., Gazprom-Media chief executive Aleksandr Zharov and Alexey Nikolov, managing director of Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT.

Sanctions have also been slapped on media organizations TV-Novosti, which owns RT, and Rossiya Segodnya, which controls the Sputnik news agency.

The U.K. also said it was sanctioning Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, chief of Russias National Defence Command and Control Center, accusing him of orchestrating atrocities including the siege of Mariupol.

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Draghi Says Putin Agreed to Keep Payments for Gas in Euros

Italian Premier Mario Draghi says the Russian president told him during a 40-minute phone call Wednesday evening that European companies can continue to pay for existing energy contracts in euros and dollars.

Draghi also indicated that Russias desire for payments in rubles remained intact, but it may be the case that the currency conversion would take place in Russia. Draghi said he is referring the discussion to experts and that analysis was under way on whether European companies can continue to pay as foreseen, if this means something for the ongoing sanctions.

It is absolutely not simple to change the currency of payments without violating the contracts, he said.

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Ukrainian President Urges Dutch Parliament to Stop All Trade With Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked the Dutch parliament on Thursday for weapons, reconstruction aid and a halt to all business with Russia in response to the invasion of his country.

Stronger sanctions are needed so that Russia doesnt have a chance to pursue this war further in Europe, he told lawmakers via video link. Stop all trade with Russia.

Zelenskyy, the first foreign head of state to address a plenary session of the 150-member Dutch lower house of representatives, said the Netherlands must be prepared to stop the energy from Russia so that you do not pay billions for the war.

Roughly 20 percent of Dutch natural gas comes from Russia, which has become an increasingly important trading partner for the Netherlands in recent years.

The Dutch, along with other EU countries including Germany, are looking for other energy sources, but quick alternatives are few and global supplies limited.

Zelenskyy asked the Dutch to adopt a city in Ukraine to focus post-war reconstruction efforts.

The Netherlands has supplied Ukrainian forces with military equipment, including anti-tank rockets and Patriot air defence systems and is also supporting NATOs increased presence along the military alliances eastern flank.

The Dutch have so far been unable to effectively freeze or seize tens of billions of euros (dollars) in Russian assets registered in the Netherlands, due to complex tax structures that make it difficult to identify ultimate owners of corporate holdings and property.

A letter to parliament from the Finance Ministry on March 22 said 392 million euros ($431.24 million) in Russian assets and transactions had been frozen under EU sanctions imposed since the invasion on Feb. 24.

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Austria Declares Gas Emergency

The Austrian government has declared a stage-one alert regarding the supply of natural gas, shortly after Germany did the same on Wednesday. Vienna made the move fearing shortages should Russia insist on payments in rubles, rather than dollars or euro, due to Western sanctions.

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Russia Drafts 134500 Conscripts

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on the spring draft, with 134,500 new conscripts to be added to the Russian army amid the countrys war on Ukraine.

Both Putin and Russias Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu have said that conscripts will not be taking part in the operation in Ukraine. Earlier this month, however, the Russian military admitted that a number of conscripts ended up in Ukraine and were even captured there.

The decree signed on Thursday outlines the draft which will kick off on April 1 and last through July 15.

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Moscow Orders Foreign Software Ban

Russian President Vladimir Putin has passed an executive order banning the purchase of foreign software for use in critical infrastructure projects by state agencies and semi-government entities, in an apparent bid to make the country less vulnerable to further Western sanctions and potential cyberattacks.

Effective from Thursday, the order allows for the purchase of foreign software for key infrastructure purposes only if permitted by a federal executive body duly authorized by the Government of the Russian Federation. Additionally, any government body or customer must phase out the use of foreign software on their sensitive systems by no later than the start of 2025.

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Ukraines Zelenskyy Tells Australia Russia Must Be Held Accountable

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Australias parliament on Thursday (March 31) that Russia must be held accountable for past wrongs, warning that a failure to punish Moscow may encourage other countries to wage war against their neighbors.

Zelenskyy called for new and tougher sanctions to retaliate against Russias invasion of Ukraine and suggested that years of failure to rein in the global power had emboldened Moscow.

If we dont stop Russia now, if we dont hold Russia accountable, then some other countries of the world who are looking forward to a similar war against their neighbours will decide that such things are possible for them as well, Zelenskyy said in the video address, according to an official translation. Zelenskyy, seated at a desk wearing his trademark khaki t-shirt, did not specify which countries he feared would be inspired by Russia.

Australia and its allies in the West have raised concerns about increasingly aggressive language by China regarding Taiwan, whose independence it disputes.

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UK Military Intelligence Claims Russian Shelling, Missile Strikes Continue in Chernihiv

Russian shelling and missile strikes have continued in Chernihiv despite Russian statements indicating an intended reduction of military activity around the area, British military intelligence claimed on Thursday.

Russian forces continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv despite the withdrawal of a limited number of units, the Ministry of Defence said in a statement. Heavy fighting will likely take place in the suburbs of the city in coming days.

Heavy fighting continued in Mariupol, a key objective of Russian forces, the ministry said, claiming that Ukrainian forces remain in control of the centre of the city.

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Russian Hackers Targeted Nato, Eastern European Militaries: Google

Russian hackers have recently attempted to penetrate the networks of NATO and the militaries of some eastern European countries, Googles Threat Analysis Group claimed in a report published on Wednesday.

The report did not say which militaries had been targeted in what Google described as credential phishing campaigns launched by a Russian-based group called Coldriver, or Callisto.

These campaigns were sent using newly created Gmail accounts to non-Google accounts, so the success rate of these campaigns is unknown, the report said.

Russia, which is now under heavy Western economic sanctions following its decision to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24, regularly denies accusations of mounting cyber attacks on Western targets.

In 2019, Finnish cybersecurity firm F-Secure Labs described Callisto as an unidentified and advanced threat actor interested in intelligence gathering related to foreign and security policy in Europe.

The group also targeted a NATO Centre of Excellence, Wednesdays Google report said, without elaborating.

In a statement, NATO did not directly address Googles report but said: We see malicious cyber activity on a daily basis.

NATO Centres of Excellence work alongside the Alliance but they are not part of NATO as such. We are in touch with them on this issue, the statement said.

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Georgia Says Breakaway Regions Referendum on Joining Russia Unacceptable: TASS

Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said on Thursday that talk of a referendum in the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia on joining Russia was unacceptable, TASS news agency reported.

The separatist president of South Ossetia said on Wednesday that the territory would take steps in the near future to become part of Russiawhich has recognised it as independent, provided it with extensive financial help, offered its people Russian passports and stationed troops there.

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UK Spy Chief Says Russian Soldiers Disobey Orders in Ukraine

Demoralized Russian soldiers in the Ukraine were refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their own equipment and had accidentally shot down their own aircraft, a UK intelligence chief said on Thursday.

Jeremy Fleming, who heads the GCHQ electronic spy agency, made the remarks at a speech in the Australian capital Canberra.

Russian President Vladimir Putin had apparently massively misjudged the invasion, he said.

Its clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people. He underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanize. He underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions regime, and he overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory, Fleming said.

Weve seen Russian soldiers, short of weapons and morale, refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment, and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft, Fleming added.

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Russia Bombards Areas Where It Pledged to Scale Back: Ukrainian Officials

Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and another city just hours after pledging to scale back operations in those zones to promote trust between the two sides, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday.

The shellingintensified Russian attacks on other parts of the countrytempered optimism about any progress in the talks aimed at ending the war.

The Russian military announced Tuesday that it would deescalate near the capital and the northern city of Chernihiv in order to increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations. But the announcement was met with deep suspicion from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the West.

Soon after, Ukrainian officials reported that Russian shelling hit homes, stores, libraries, and other civilian sites in and around Chernihiv and on the outskirts of Kyiv. Russian troops also stepped up their attacks on the Donbas region in the east and around the city of Izyum, which lies on a key route to the Donbas, after redeploying units from other areas, the Ukrainian side said.

Olexander Lomako, secretary of the Chernihiv city council, said the Russian announcement turned out to be a complete lie.

At night they didnt decrease, but vice versa increased the intensity of military action, Lomako said.

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Germany Says to Still Pay for Russian Gas in Euros/Dollars After ScholzPutin Call

Germany will continue to pay for Russian gas in euros or dollars, a government spokesman said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin had told the German chancellor that nothing would change for European partners despite his plan for rouble payments.

Russia has said that because of Western financial sanctions over Ukraine, it plans to require payment for its energy exportsespecially the gas that Germany depends onin roubles rather than the usual euros or dollars.

In a phone call between the leaders, Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz that nothing would change for European partners and payments would be made in euros and transferred to Gazprom bank, which would convert the money into roubles, said the German spokesperson.

Scholz did not agree to this procedure in the conversation, but asked for written information to better understand the procedure, said the spokesperson.

He added that a Group of Seven agreement, stating that energy supplies from Russia would be paid for only in euros or U.S. dollars, remained.

Germany has triggered an emergency plan to manage gas supplies that could see Europes biggest economy ration power if the standoff over Russias demand to pay for fuel with roubles disrupts supplies.

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Pentagon Sees Russia Starting to Reposition Under 20 Percent of Forces Around Kyiv

Russia has started to reposition under 20 percent of the forces arrayed around Ukraines capital Kyiv, the Pentagon said on Wednesday, but cautioned Russia was expected to refit and resupply them for redeployment, and not bring the forces home.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said some of the Russian forces may have already moved into Belarus, as opposed to their home garrisons.

Kirby also told a news briefing Russian contractor Wagner Group had deployed about 1,000 contractors into Ukraines Donbas region, which Moscow has declared a priority.

Jack Phillips, Nick Ciolino, Naveen Athrappully, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
A sign stating proof of a Covid-19 vaccination is required is displayed outside of Langer's Deli in Los Angeles, California on Aug. 7, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)

Los Angeles Ends COVID-19 Vaccine Verification Mandate for Businesses

The Los Angeles City Council voted March 30 to lift its mandate requiring those ages 12 and up to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination before entering indoor businesses.

The motion was approved 131, with Councilman Mike Bonin dissenting and Councilman Paul Koretz absent.

The mandate, which was enacted in November amid the surge of the Omicron variant, also required people to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to attend outdoor events with 5,000 or more people.

The motion included an urgency clause, which means it will go into effect as soon as it is signed by the mayor and published by the city clerk, though it is not immediately clear when the mayor will sign the ordinance, according to a spokesperson for Council President Nury Martinez, who introduced the motion March 9.

Los Angeles City Hall on Nov. 8, 2021. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

During a council meeting last week, Bonin said he was against lifting the mandate because of a new Omicron sub-variant, called BA.2.

I know it feels like were out of the woods. It feels like were all going back to normal. But theres new variants and new strains all the time, he said. This BA.2 [variant] is spreading, and we really dont know what the variant a month from now, or two months, are.

Angelenos, however, signaled that they were ready for the vaccine mandates to be over for good in submitted public comments.

Council members, its time Los Angeles dropped the vaccine check, resident Mariett Bennington said in a written comment to the council. Its clear that [everyone who] wants to be protected by the vaccine has chosen to receive it  everyone has access to it. Let people choose.

Los Angeles resident Donna Baker commented that the vaccine requirement was hurting small businesses in the city and that peoples god-given rights to choose should be respected.

You [city councilors] are single-handedly ruining small businesses  Do you want to be left with nothing but big corporations and watch the small mom and pop stores shut down? Baker wrote. People do not like being asked to show vaccine cards, people do not like being asked to put on masks. Do you not see small businesses closing everywhere you look?

Baker urged the council to stand for freedom and follow the science and move on.

There was no public commenter against removing the indoor vaccine requirement at last weeks meeting.

Under the mandate, businesses that violated the vaccine mandate by not checking vaccination status were to be fined, with total amounts increasing for each violation.

However, a spokesperson for the citys Department of Building and Safety told The Epoch Times it sent notices of violation to just six businesses, and no fines or citations were issued.

Though the mandate is lifted, businesses can still voluntarily require proof of vaccination, and COVID-19 vaccine verification or a negative test is still required by the city for healthcare facility employees.
A girl waits in a car at an evacuation point in a convoy of cars and buses carrying hundreds of people evacuated from Mariupol and Melitopol, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on March 25, 2022. (Chris McGrath/Getty Images)

Mariupol Evacuation Effort Resumes as Ukraine Braces for Renewed Russian Offensive

A fresh effort is underway to evacuate trapped civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol as Ukrainian forces brace for a renewed Russian offensive in the east.

Ukrainian officials said theyre sending a convoy of buses to evacuate people from Mariupol on Thursday after Russia said it was ready to observe a one-day ceasefire in the city, where tens of thousands of civilians remain trapped after weeks of heavy bombardment.

Ukraines Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereschuk said that 45 buses were being sent to Mariupol after the Red Cross notified Ukrainian authorities Russias defense ministry had agreed to open access for a humanitarian convoy.

We will do everything possible so that buses enter Mariupol today and pick up people who have not yet been able to get out of the city, Vereschuk said, Interfax reported.

The Mariupol mayors office estimates that nearly 5,000 people have been killed in the besieged city and about 170,000 people remain trapped amid ruins without food, heat, power, or running water.

A service member of pro-Russian troops walks near a destroyed apartment building in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 28, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Russian President Vladimir Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron in a phone call on Tuesday that Russian shelling of Mariupol would continue until Ukrainian troops surrendered, according to a Kremlin statement.

French officials later said Putin had agreed to consider plans to evacuate civilians from Mariupol, with Russia later proposing a one-day ceasefire for Thursday.

In an early morning video address, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that we will not give up anything and that we will fight for every meter of our land, for every our person.

Zelenskyy added that Ukraine was seeing a build-up of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas, adding that we are preparing for that.

People dig a grave for victims killed in the UkraineRussia conflict in a street in the besieged city of Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 20, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Russia has withdrawn a limited number of its units from Kyiv but they continue to hold positions to the east and west of the city, British intelligence said, adding that it expects heavy fighting in Kyiv in the coming days.

Heavy fighting continues in Mariupol, a key objective of Russian forces, however Ukrainian forces remain in control of the center of the city, UK intelligence said.

Capturing Mariupol is a key aim for Russia, which would allow it to control the Azov Sea coastline between Russia and Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

General view of the remains of a theater that was reportedly hit by a bomb when hundreds of people were sheltering inside, in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 18, 2022. (Azov/Handout via Reuters)

Russia said its forces have completed regrouping operations around Kyiv and the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv and are poised for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine.

The objective of the regrouping of the Russian Armed Forces is to intensify action in priority areas and, above all, to complete the operation for the total liberation of Donbas, the ministry said.

The Donbas region in eastern Ukraine encompasses the two separatist-controlled so-called peoples republics that Russia claims it is helping to liberate.

As part of its renewed offensive, Russias defense ministry said its forces have broken through heavily fortified defenses on the approach to the town of Velikaya Novoselka, around 75 miles northwest of Mariupol, and were engaging with a Ukrainian mechanized brigade.

A senior Ukrainian official said that Russia and Ukraine plan to resume peace talks online on April 1.
The Maryland State Capitol Building in Annapolis, Md., in a file image. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)

Maryland Lawmakers Approve New Congressional Map After Judge Tossed Old Version

Lawmakers in Maryland have approved a congressional map to replace a version deemed unconstitutional by a judge, even as the states attorney general is appealing the judges ruling.

Both chambers of the Maryland General Assembly this week approved the new map, contained in Senate Bill 1012. The state Senate passed the measure 3010 and the state House of Delegates passed it 9441. Most lawmakers who supported the legislation are Democrats; most Republicans remained unsatisfied and opposed it.

Anne Arundel County Senior Judge Lynne Battaglia ruled on March 25 in favor of two groups that sued over the previous map, finding that it was unconstitutionally aimed at reducing the power of Republican voters because it shifted the only Republican member of Congress representing Maryland, Rep. Andy Harris, into a different district, where he was likely to lose.

The map was a product of extreme partisan gerrymandering, according to Battaglia.

Lawmakers, facing a March 30 deadline to enact a new map, introduced one on March 28 (pdf) and passed it after airing supportive and opposition views in Annapolis.

This map makes every effort to meet the judges requirements in the order. It is a map that I think the people of Maryland can be proud of, House Majority Leader Eric Luedtke, a Democrat, said before the vote.

Sparring with critics, including one that asked about communities of interest allegedly not being placed in the same districts, Luedtke said Battaglia outlined a number of requirements and that you cant meet every possible criterion all at once.

Republicans largely decried the map.

The maps are prettier, but they still violate the constitution of Maryland. Theyre still engaging in extreme gerrymandering, Del. Mark Fisher, a Republican, said prior to the vote.

In a statement to media outlets, Doug Mayer, spokesman for Fair Maps Maryland, one of the groups that successfully challenged the previous map, said: Hypocrisy continues to reign supreme in the Maryland General Assembly.

On the same day they pass court-ordered new maps, they are still clawing with their fingernails to hold on to one of the most gerrymandered maps in the history of this country. Apparently, voter suppression is a hard habit to kick.

Boundaries in the approved version would make the race for one of the Democrat-held seats more competitive, according to political experts. The seat representing Marylands 6th Congressional District is held by Rep. David Trone, a Democrat, who said in a statement that he didnt disagree, but that he would do everything in my power to retain the seat.

The new map was approved on the same day that Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, a Democrat, filed an appeal to Battaglias ruling.

Battaglia is expected to review the new version in a hearing on April 1.

Gov. Larry Hogan, once presented with the new map, can sign it or veto it.

Hogan, a Republican, had urged lawmakers to adopt a map drawn by a commission he created, but they declined.
Missing 18-Year-Old Woman Abducted From Walmart Parking Lot Found Dead

Nevada authorities have recovered the body of 18-year-old Naomi Christine Irion on Wednesday after she was abducted from a Walmart parking lot more than two weeks ago, local police said.

Irion was last seen in the Walmart parking lot in the city of Fernley in Lyon County, Nevada, on March 12 at approximately 5 a.m. Fernley is approximately 30 miles east of Reno.

The Churchill County Sheriffs Office confirmed in a statement that remains recovered from a gravesite in a remote area in Churchill County have been identified as the missing teen and her family has been notified.

An autopsy conducted by the Washoe County Medical Examiners Office confirmed Irions identity.

Naomi Irion, 18, of Fernley, Nev., makes a purchase shortly before authorities say she disappeared before dawn, on March 12, 2022. (Lyon County Sheriffs Office via AP)

We would like to extend our sympathy and condolences to the Irion family and thank all the volunteers for their hard work in trying to find Naomi and bring closure to the family, the sheriffs office said.

Irion was catching an employee bus to work at a Reno-area Panasonic facility close to her home in Casey Valley where she lives with her older brother, officials said.

Detectives located her vehicle three days after she disappeared near the Sherwin-Williams Western Emulsion Plant and said forensics teams and officers found evidence leading investigators to believe Naomis disappearance was suspicious in nature, the Lyon County Sheriffs Office said in a press release.

Surveillance video showed a man wearing a mask and hooded sweatshirt getting into Irions car outside the Walmart store having previously paced up and down around the parking lot.

On March 25, Lyon County authorities said they have arrested Troy Driver, 41, from Fallon, Nevada, in connection with Irions disappearance.

Troy Driver, 41, from Fallon, Nevada, was arrested on kidnapping charges on March 25, 2022. (Courtesy of Lyon County Sheriffs Office)

Irions older brother, Casey Valley, reported her sister missing when she didnt return home on March 13. Irion had been living with her brother after moving to Nevada from the South African capital of Pretoria in August 2021.

Naomis father, Herve Irion, works for the U.S. State Department in the foreign service and is currently stationed in South Africa alongside his wife, Diana. Irions parents have both flown to Nevada to help search for their daughter.

Meanwhile, an online fundraiser has been launched to help assist Irions parents with the travel costs and other expenses related to the search for Irion and has so far raised over $38,000.

Katabella Roberts contributed to this report.

From NTD News
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a press conference ahead of the alliance's Defence Ministers' meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, on March 15, 2022. (Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP via Getty Images)

Russia Not Withdrawing, but Repositioning, NATO Chief Says

Russian forces arent withdrawing from certain areas in Ukraine and are instead regrouping, said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on March 31.

Earlier this week, Russian Defense Ministry officials said its military forces would be scaled down around the capital Kyiv and Chernihiv to the north, which was met by skepticism by U.S. and Ukrainian officials. And last week, Moscow said it would focus its operation in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply, and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas region, Stoltenberg told reporters in Belgium. At the same time, Russia maintains pressure on Kyiv and other cities. So we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering.

Stoltenberg echoed comments made by U.S. officials that Russia isnt negotiating with Kyivs government in good faith and are using the talks to merely regroup. He affirmed that NATO members will continue to provide Ukraines military with weaponry and other equipment.

We have no real change in the real Russian objective.  They continue to pursue a military outcome, he said.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin announced on March 29 that amid UkraineRussia peace talks in Istanbul, the Russian military would scale down its presence near Kyiv. The Russian negotiators also claimed an increase [in] mutual trust has been developed after Ukraine said it wouldnt try to join NATO.

Ukrainian service members walk on the front line near Kyiv as Russias invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 29, 2022. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

Reporters in Kyiv said that heavy fighting occurred on the outskirts of Kyiv on March 31, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in the morning that Ukraine is seeing a buildup of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas, and we are preparing for that.

Britains Defense Ministry also claimed there were significant Russian shelling and missile strikes around Chernihiv. Russian troops were on the move but may not be withdrawing, according to the areas governor, Viacheslav Chaus.

Russian forces continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv despite the withdrawal of a limited number of units, Britains Defense Ministry said in a statement. Heavy fighting will likely take place in the suburbs of the city in coming days.

Russias Defense Ministry also reported new strikes on Ukrainian fuel stores late on March 30, and Ukrainian officials said there were artillery barrages in and around the northeastern city of Kharkiv over the past day.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Emergency workers confer near Stockton, Md., on March 30, 2022, after a U.S. Navy E2-D Hawkeye aircraft crashed in waters near the Eastern Shore boundary of Virginia and Maryland. (Ryan Whittington/Ocean City Fire Department via AP)

Navy Aircraft Crashes in Virginia Waters: 1 Dead, Two Rescued, Official Says

One person has been killed and two others rescued after a U.S. Navy aircraft crashed in Virginia waters on Wednesday evening, according to local reports.

Lt. Cmdr. Rob Myers, a public affairs officer with Naval Air Force Atlantic, confirmed that a Navy E2-D Hawkeye with three people on board crashed during a routine exercise, WAVY reported.

Myers confirmed the fatality and the rescue of the two remaining people on board.

The Coast Guard told Fox News that it received a call to assist around 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The time of the crash on the eastern coast of Virginia near the Maryland border remains unclear.

A spokesperson for the Coast Guard told the news outlet that it dispatched a motor lifeboat from Chincoteague and a helicopter from Elizabeth City to the scene.

According to WAVY, two people were found injured on the top of the wreckage. Naval Air Force Atlantic Public Affairs said the pair do not have life-threatening injuries.

The two people who were rescued had broken legs, and the third was last seen strapped in for flight and went down with the aircraft, the local Coast Guard told WRIC in Richmond.

The injured pair were taken to the Wallops Flight Facility, and subsequently transported to Tidal Health Hospital in Salisbury, Maryland, DailyMail.com reported.

The identity of the crew member killed in the incident will be released once the next of kin has been notified.

Emergency workers take part in a rescue operation after a U.S. Navy E2-D Hawkeye aircraft crashed in waters near the Eastern Shore boundary of Virginia and Maryland, near Stockton, Md., on March 30, 2022. (Ryan Whittington/Ocean City Fire Department via AP)

Keith Koehler, a spokesperson at the Wallops Island NASA facility, told WRIC that its emergency personnel was responding to the situation.

According to Shore Daily News, a call was issued over the emergency radio for anyone in the Virginia waters to lookout for survivors.

Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria said in a statement on Twitter that she was continuing to monitor the crash.

Im keeping our naval aviators, their families, and our first responders in my thoughts and prayers tonight as rescue and recovery efforts continue, Luria said.

A spokesperson for Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said his office is monitoring the situation.

The governor is monitoring the situation, the spokesperson told WRIC-TV. The governor and the First Lady are keeping the aviators, their families, and the first responders in their thoughts and prayers.

The Navy said the incident is under investigation.

The Epoch Times has contacted the Naval Air Force Atlantic for additional comment.

In a separate incident in Virginia on Jan. 12, one person was injured after a Navy Seahawk helicopter was forced to make an emergency landing near Smithfield, the Navy said.

We can confirm that a Navy MH-60S helicopter experienced a hard landing in a field in the vicinity of Smithfield, VA, Myers said in a statement at the time.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp speaks to the media outside of the Chatham County Health Department in Savannah, Ga., on Dec. 15, 2020. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

New Georgia Law Allows Parents to Opt Their Children Out of School Mask Mandates

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Tuesday signed a bill giving parents the option to choose against masking their children at school.

Dubbed the Unmask Georgia Students Act, the Republican-backed bill passed the state legislature on a largely party-line vote. It states that school officials should not impose any mask mandate on students, unless they make sure parents who dont want their children to wear masks have an option to opt out without needing to provide a reason.

The new law takes effect immediately and will last for five years until June 30, 2027.

This will ensure that parents have the final say when it comes to the health and well-being of their child, Kemp said at a press conference before signing the bill. Its a common-sense measure that puts the parents in chargenot the government. As we work to overcome the lingering affects of the pandemic in our daily lives, its time for a complete return to normalcy for Georgia students.

Many of Georgias 180 school districts never required students to wear a mask, and most of those that did have since made masks optional as the number of new COVID-19 cases dropped earlier this year, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eased their guidelines.

We led the way on getting our kids back in the classroom because thats where the data and the science had always said they should be, Kemp said.

On Tuesday, the House also approved Senate Bill 345, which bans state and local government agencies from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination, or a vaccine passport, to enter their facilities or to receive a service.

I think everybody should have vaccinations, said Republican state Sen. Jeff Mullis, the bills sponsor. I just dont think that state government should mandate it.

Georgia is also among 21 states that have joined a Florida-led legal challenge over the federal governments mask mandates on public transportation. The mandate was originally set to expire on March 18 but has been kept in place for another 30 days.

The Transportation Security Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation, extended the mandate through April 18, citing a recommendation from the CDC. The suing states argue that the move is not only a violation of the 10th Amendment, but also lacks scientific basis.

Although even some of the most restrictive states are starting to repeal vaccine passports and some of these mandates, you still have this federal rule that was just extended, forcing people to wear masks on airplanes, Florida Gov. Ron Desantis said. And its not something thats grounded in any science.
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, Pool)

Nurses: Guilty Verdict for Dosing Mistake Could Cost Lives

NASHVILLE, Tenn.The moment nurse RaDonda Vaught realized she had given a patient the wrong medication, she rushed to the doctors working to revive 75-year-old Charlene Murphey and told them what she had done. Within hours, she made a full report of her mistake to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Murphey died the next day, on Dec. 27, 2017. On Friday, a jury found Vaught guilty of criminally negligent homicide and gross neglect.

That verdictand the fact that Vaught was charged at allworries patient safety and nursing groups that have worked for years to move hospital culture away from cover-ups, blame and punishment, and toward the honest reporting of mistakes.

The move to a Just Culture seeks to improve safety by analyzing human errors and making systemic changes to prevent their recurrence. And that cant happen if providers think they could go to prison, they say.

The criminalization of medical errors is unnerving, and this verdict sets into motion a dangerous precedent, the American Nurses Association said. Health care delivery is highly complex. It is inevitable that mistakes will happen.  It is completely unrealistic to think otherwise.

Just Culture has been widely adopted in hospitals since a 1999 report by the National Academy of Medicine estimated at least 98,000 people may die each year due to medical errors.

But such bad outcomes remain stubbornly common, with too many hospital staffers convinced that owning up to mistakes will expose them to punishment, according to a 2018 study published in the American Journal of Medical Quality.

More than 46,000 death certificates listed complications of medical and surgical carea category that includes medical errorsamong the causes of death in 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions National Center for Health Statistics.

Best estimates are 7,00010,000 fatal medication errors a year. Are we going to lock them up? Who is going to replace them? said Bruce Lambert, patient safety expert and director of the Center for Communication and Health at Northwestern University.

If you think RaDonda Vaught is criminally negligent, you just dont know how health care works, Lambert said.

Murphey was admitted to the neurological intensive care unit on Dec. 24, 2017, after suffering from a brain bleed. Two days later, doctors ordered a PET scan. 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 the paralyzing drug vecuronium instead.

Such mistakes often end up in malpractice lawsuits, but criminal prosecutions are rare. After Vaught was charged in 2019, the Institute for Safe Medical Practices issued a statement saying it had worrisome implications for safety.

In an era when we need more transparency, cover-ups will reign due to fear, the statement read. Even if errors are reported, effective event investigation and learning cannot occur in a culture of fear or blame.

Many nurses are already at their breaking point  after a physically, mentally and emotionally exhausting two years caring for patients with COVID, said Liz Stokes, director of the American Nurses Associations Center for Ethics and Human Rights. Vaughts prosecution gives them one more reason to quit, she said.

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, Pool)

This could be me. Im an RN as well, she said. This could be any of us.

Vaught was steeped in the idea of Just Culture and says she has zero regrets about telling the truth, but her candor was used against her at trial. Assistant District Attorney Brittani Flatt quoted from her interview with a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent in closing arguments: I definitely should have paid more attention. I should have called the pharmacy. I shouldnt have overridden, because it wasnt an emergency.

It is easy to judge Vaughts actions in retrospect, Lambert said, but overrides and workarounds are an extremely common part of healthcare, he said: This is typical, not aberrant or bizarre, behavior.

Meanwhile, Vaughts honesty about her mistake has already brought about safety improvements, and not just at Vanderbilt. Because vecuronium should only be used on patients who have a breathing tube inserted, some hospitals have moved it and other paralytic drugs out of automatic dispensing cabinets.

At my hospital, theyve changed their policy and put paralytics into a rapid intubation kit because of this, said Janie Harvey Garner, who founded the nurse advocacy organization Show Me Your Stethoscope. She said that because Vaught owned up to the mistake, Murpheys death has probably saved lives.

While Murpheys death may serve as a cautionary tale for other nurses, Vaught, now awaiting a sentence of up to eight years, told The Associated Press in an interview that she thinks about her patient every day.

Vaught, 37, discovered that she and Murphey lived in the same small community of Bethpage, about an hour northeast of Nashville, and that she and members of Murpheys family have mutual friends. It would only be a matter of time before she met one of them in person.

Ive imagined so many times how I would feel if this were my grandma, my family member, my husband, she said.

Recently, while buying farm supplies, she was talking with the young man behind the counter when he recognized her, and told her he was Murpheys grandson. Instead of reproaching her, he ended up comforting her and patting her on the shoulder, she said.

He was so kind. He was so incredibly kind, Vaught said. I took his grandma away, and he just kept telling me to take care of myself. There are good people in this world.

By Travis Loller
Ozone, a common air pollutant, could be one of the causes behind depressive symptoms in adolescents, according to a new study.

The pollutant could have especially profound effects on mental health during the onset of puberty, raising concerns about youth exposure to the chemical.

Researchers at the University of Denver and Stanford University found evidence that exposure to ozone in adolescence is linked to depressive symptoms, such as feeling sad or tearful, withdrawing socially, and losing interest or pleasure in activities. The researchers followed the mental health symptoms of 213 adolescents (9 to 13 years old) living in communities with various levels of ozone exposure and determined that those adolescents with higher levels of exposure were more likely to have an increase in depressive symptoms over a four-year period.

The study is important as depressive symptoms among youth have become more common in the past two decades, especially among girls. The COVID-19 pandemic and its related challenges have also increased rates of depressive symptoms among adolescents; globally, the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents has doubled since pre-pandemic estimates.

In recent years evidence has accumulated that air pollution, and ozone in particular, can cause adverse mental health effects, lead author and professor of psychology at the University of Denver, Erika Manczak, said. For example, hospitals in cities with high levels of ozone pollution prescribe more antidepressants than other hospitals, according to past research. Last year EHN reported on the growing link between air pollution and mental health, highlighting the anxiety that comes from dealing with air pollution-related health problems, as well as the increased risk of diagnoses like schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression for people living under poor air quality conditions.

This new study, published by the American Psychological Association, provides the first data on individual mental health, rather than community trends.

Ozone is a chemical by-product released when other air pollutants that come from combustion sources, like car exhaust and manufacturing, are exposed to sunlight. Three of every eight Americans live in counties with ozone levels rated F by the American Lung Associationmeaning these places experience an unusually high number of unhealthy air days. Cities in the West and Southwest record the highest levels of ozone pollution.

Researchers are still trying to determine how ozone in particular spurs depressive symptoms. However, inflammationa well-documented cause of adverse mental health symptomsis a likely culprit: When people breathe in ozone, it can disrupt certain cellular processes and lead to changes in the brain that cause inflammation. Beyond mental health issues, ozone pollution has been linked to other human health problems, such as increased susceptibility to respiratory viruses, asthma, and premature death.

Environmental Injustice Because the sources of air pollution are disproportionately located in lower-income neighborhoods and communities of color, ameliorating air pollution is an issue of environmental justice. For example, said Manczak, a community near a freeway might be at a higher risk of ozone-related mental health issues than a community with less exposure to car exhaust. Such communities, referred to as environmental justice communities, are often at risk of other stressors that can lead to mental health issues, like poverty, noise pollution, and difficulty accessing goods and services. Ozone is yet another burden. Air pollution is one additional contributor to mental health disparities, Manczak told EHN.
Search and rescue workers conduct search operations at the China Eastern flight crash site in Tengxian County in southern China's Guangxi Province on March 26, 2022. (Lu Boan/Xinhua via AP)

Pilots Mental State a Potential Cause of Crash of Chinas Eastern Airlines Flight MU5735, Expert Says

An exclusive interview with a senior Chinese-American pilot with extensive experience flying the Boeing 737

New Analysis

A plane crash in China that is believed to have killed all 132 people onboard has baffled aviation experts as many struggled to explain the Boeing 737s sudden nosedive into the ground. Given Beijings history of non-transparent disclosure, The Epoch Times interviewed a senior Chinese-American pilot with extensive experience flying the Boeing 737, who has given a unique take on the incident.

Gao Fei is a Chinese-American pilot with 26 years of flying experience and has a deep understanding of the culture and management in Chinas aviation industry. He has piloted Boeing aircraft in both China and the United States, including the same model as the one that crashed.

Gao expressed major doubts in regards to the flight crew designation and said he does not rule out the hazardous potential of an emotionally distressed first officer, who was possibly demoted from check airman for unknown reasons, an observation based on information released by Chinese authorities.

On March 21, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) confirmed a China Eastern Airlines flight MU5735 carrying 132 people crashed in Wuzhou, Guangxisoutheast China. Five days later, on March 26, the Chinese authorities said that all 123 passengers and nine crew members were killed in the crash and that the two black box recorders were recovered on March 23 and 27, respectively, but in severely damaged condition.

The so-called black boxesusually painted orange for visibilityare considered key to determining what caused the crash. The boxes typically contain the cabin voice and flight data, although it wasnt clear if the damages to the recovered boxes would limit their usefulness.

Flight records revealed the plane plunged more than 26,000 feet in the span of about 95 seconds, according to Flightradar24.

As many aviation experts called the incident odd, former National Transportation Safety Board investigator Benjamin Berman told Bloomberg News that its still too soon to make a conclusion on what caused or led to the crash. He said that the 737-800 is designed so that it will normally not dive at such steep angles, saying that it was either caused by a highly unusual malfunction or a serious effort by the planes pilot.

According to Gao and several experts, the crashed aircraft was appropriately maintained, and the weather was typical on the day of the incident. Everything appeared normal except for the rank designation of the flight crew, mainly the first officer.

According to official information made available to the public, Yang Hongda, the captain of the crashed plane, was 32 years old with a total flight time of 6,709 hours, while Zhang Zhengping, the first officer, was 59 years old with a total flight time of over 32,500 hours. Zhang was also a five-star captain and a recipient of the Chinese pilots medal of honor.

Gao said, according to the culture of the Chinese aviation industry, it is highly unusual for Zhang to still be ranked as a first officer when he has flown over 32,500 hours and worked for the same company his entire life. Furthermore, Yang was a student of Zhang.

A Veteran Pilot Demoted from Captain

In December 2018, CAAC News published an article on Zhangs career, calling him a 40-year veteran pilot and a mentor to young pilots. According to the article, Zhang is one of the few veteran pilots of China Eastern Yunnan Airlines and has piloted four different types of aircraft.

According to China Eastern Airlines official website, Zhang is a CAAC designated check airman, one of the highest positions to be given to a pilot. However, all information regarding Zhang has now been removed from the official site.

An old apprentice of Zhang, Li Ming, told the Chinese state-owned Phoenix Weekly that he was shocked and also saddened when he saw Zhang listed as a first officer on the crew manifest. In his eyes, Zhang, who has 40 years of flying experience, is a highly decorated veteran pilot, and many of his old students are now industry leaders.

According to Lis recollection, Zhang once served as a captain instructor, a squadron captain, as well as a check airman.

Aside from working for an airlines management, the highest position of a pilot could be a CAAC designated check airman. However, somehow Zhang was demoted to a first officer, losing his decorated status and taking a significant hit on his salary, Gao said, suggesting a potential cause for emotional distress and a safety hazard for the airline.

According to public information, the average annual salary of a captain or a check airman in China was at least $120,000, while a co-pilots average annual salary was about $46,000, a drastic difference.

A former insider in Chinas aviation industry told The Epoch Times that Zhang was a senior pilot of the former Yunnan Airlines, which was later forced into a merger with China Eastern Airlines. After the merger, the former employees of Yunnan Airlines, including Zhang, had a highly complex relationship with the upper management of China Eastern Airlines. Their disputes were said to be beyond personal grievances.

Long-term Conflict Between China Eastern Airlines and the Yunnan Branch

According to a 2008 report by the Chinese travel news site TravelDaily, the long-term conflict between China Eastern and Yunnan Airlines began with their government-forced merger in 2002. Yunnan Airlines used to be one of Chinas most profitable airline companies, and its pilots were fairly well-treated. However, the pilots have reportedly experienced significant salary cuts and poor treatment after the merger.

Yunnan Airlines was forcibly merged with China Eastern Airlines [by the Chinese regime]. Merging a profitable company with a loss-making company was unprecedented. This move has caused much dissatisfaction among Yunnans original employees, a former employee of Yunnan Airlines told TravelDaily.

Due to long-term dissatisfaction, from March 31 to April 1, 2008, pilots of the former Yunnan Airlines launched a protest against the newly merged company. Many pilots refused to land at their destinations upon arrival, citing bad weather, and flew their planes back to their origins. After 21 flights refused to land, the company punished 13 pilots and grounded one captain. The report did not mention whether the company has improved its treatment of employees after the protest.

Cant Rule Out Pilots Emotional Distress as a Potential Cause

Gao said that demoting a decorated pilot without a reasonable cause could seriously affect the pilots mental state and pose a safety hazard. Most airlines take their flight crews mental health extremely seriously. This sort of demotion is very unusual.

In the United States, pilots can easily change jobs, but job changes in China are highly restricted and usually coupled with huge fines, Gao said. In a free world, with Zhangs qualifications, any airline will offer him a high salary. But Im afraid, [in his case], it was difficult for him to escape the job.

In November 2014, 42 airlines in China signed the Convention on the Orderly Flow of Airline Pilots, a pact that stipulates that the outflow rate of pilots from each company should not exceed 1 percent, seriously limiting the pilots from changing jobs. As a result, Chinese pilots who apply for job changes usually have to go through a lengthy litigation process without guarantee of success or are forced to hand back a massive portion of their compensation.

For example, in 2017, Ma Qiang (pseudonym), a former pilot of China Eastern Airlines Yunnan Branch, was sued by China Eastern Airlines for $864,000 due to his resignation request. In June 2019, the court ordered Ma to compensate China Eastern Airlines $604,800.

For a pilot, any emotional distress could pose a safety risk, affecting the pilots concentration, reflexes, and reaction speed during the flight, Gao emphasized.

According to TravelDaily, the Chinese travel news site, the pilots emotions significantly impact aviation safety, suggesting that it is part of the airlines responsibility to monitor the pilots mental state and make every effort to ensure flight safety.

Li Jiaxiang, a former director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), also said that pilots have great characteristics such as their attention to detail and calm personality and are always active in thinking. But their professional traits may result in a low tolerance for personal setbacks, thus needing to be closely monitored.

The pilots mental state is an important aspect of the incident investigation. I analyzed it from the perspective of the [flight] crews designation. I hope the Chinese authorities can disclose the real investigation results and provide a reasonable explanation instead of [covering up facts], Gao added.

So far, there has been no official explanation for Zhangs demotion or why he was on that flight as a first officer.

China Eastern Airlines has yet to respond to The Epoch Times request for comment at the time of this report.

Joyce Liang contributed to this report.
An Israeli policeman stands as guard near the West Bank city of Nablus, Israel, on Dec. 31, 2015. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP via Getty Images)

Police Update After at Least 4 Shot Dead in Central Israel

Police officers managed to shoot dead a gunman who killed at least four people in a central Israeli city on Tuesday, preventing a much more serious attack, a police spokesperson said.

The officers had been at routine work, they encountered the terrorist (and) managed to neutralize him, said the spokesperson, Eli Levy.

The attack by the man on a motorcycle was Israels second mass shooting rampage this week.

While circumstances were not immediately clear, the shooting appeared to be the latest in a string of attacks by Arab assailants ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the anniversary of last years Gaza war.

Tuesdays shootings occurred at two locations in Bnei Brak, an ultra-Orthodox city just east of Tel Aviv.

Police said in a statement that a preliminary investigation found that the gunman was armed with an assault rifle and opened fire on passersby before he was shot by officers at the scene.
Inspector General Finds Significant Problems With Postal Services Surveillance Program

IG findings include postal service illegally monitored protests

Days after its sweeping covert internet surveillance operation was exposed through media reports, the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) changed the programs name and told analysts to stop monitoring the keyword protest, according to a recently released inspector generals report.

The March 25 IG report comes nearly a year after the USPIS Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) was revealed by Yahoo News. The iCOP program alarmed both sides of the political aisle due to its surveillance of right- and left-wing protest movements, prompting the House Committee on Oversight and Reform to request the IG audit.

The IG report said iCOPrenamed the Analytics Team in April 2021, the same month as Yahoo published its exposeused an automated intelligence tool that scoured the internet for keywords. But more than 25 percent of the cases reviewed had no relation to postal crime, the IG said.

The keywords iCOP used for one of the profiles during this time did not include any terms related to the mail, postal crimes, or security of postal facilities or personnel, the IG said. Examples of the keywords include protest, attack, and destroy.

One keyword that posed particular concern was protest. Following Yahoos April 21, 2021, report, a USPIS internal counsel advised nine days later for analysts to stop monitoring the term protest.

The IG also said the USPIS does not document the surveillance activities that underpin its various intelligence reports.

As a result, we could not confirm whether the work associated with these reports was authorized, the IG said.

Further, the IG criticized analysts for failing to protect privacy rights.

Specifically, analysts stored sensitive information on their work computers and did not document how they used the information to respond to requests for assistance or develop reports, the IG report said.

This information frequently contained significant amounts of PII [personally identifiable information] obtained from public sources, such as social media, and from contracted investigative tools that provide detailed background information such as addresses, birth dates, and Social Security numbers.

The USPIS vigorously disagreed with the inspector generals findings in written comments attached to the report.

According to the USPIS, it has the authority to conduct intelligence-gathering operations, regardless of any relation to postal crimeso long as it has some connection to how the Postal Service operates.

We strongly disagree with the overarching conclusion that the USPIS exceeded its authority and conducted improper intelligence searches, wrote Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale and general counsel Thomas Marshall.

[USPIS] is authorized  to research a wide range of topics extending to conduct that could reasonably be said to impact or impair the proper operation of the Postal Service, they argued.

We therefore assert that every search conducted by the agency  had a postal nexus.

Barksdale and Marshall also defended the practice of monitoring protests on the grounds that Postal Service property was damaged during the summer of 2020.

By reviewing this publicly available, widely shared, non-postal term content, the Inspection Service was able to prevent mail carriers from delivering mail on routes that would be unsafe, they said. The search terms were not unnecessarily restricted to those only having postal terms.

The IG report addressed the Postal Services criticisms of its findings, explaining why Barksdale and Marshalls arguments are flawed.

As noted in the report, the Postal Inspection Service does not document the purpose of proactive intelligence gathering assignments in any specific way, the IG report said. Without information about why the keyword search profile was developed or a direct postal nexus in the keywords, there is no evidence to support managements claim that the Postal Inspection Service was within its law enforcement authority in carrying out these automated searches.

The IG report noted that the USPIS did agree to review its practices.

We will keep the recommendations open until the initial review of the online analytical support activities and procedures is conducted and changes are made, the report said. At that time, we will address any remaining recommendations in the audit resolution process, as appropriate.

Along with identifying flaws within the USPISs surveillance operations, the IG report also provided a brief history of iCOP/Analytics Team.

According to the report, iCOP started as the Dark Web Program, which provided postal inspectors with open source and dark web intelligence, cryptocurrency management, online undercover methods and tools, and dark web and online undercover training.

In October 2018, the Dark Web Program was renamed the Internet Covert Operations Program (iCOP) and expanded to provide support for all online covert operations. iCOP also began providing other analytical support, including facial recognition and social media monitoring services, the report said.

On April 28, 2021, the Postal Inspection Service announced internally that the group of analysts responsible for these online analytical support activities would be referred to as the Analytics Team.

The USPIS did not respond to questions from The Epoch Times about why it changed the names and internal policies governing its surveillance operations within days of being publicized in the media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with his Azerbaijani counterpart at the Kremlin in Moscow on Feb. 22, 2022. (Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

Putin Signs Order Demanding Gas Payments in Rubles

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday he signed a decree that mandates unfriendly foreign buyers must pay in rubles for Russian gas starting on April 1.

If payments arent made in Russias currency, contracts will be halted, the Russian president said. A number of European countries rely heavily on Russian gas and oil, meaning that a halt in gas exports could plunge those countries into a significant energy crisis.

In order to purchase Russian natural gas, they must open ruble accounts in Russian banks. It is from these accounts that payments will be made for gas delivered starting from tomorrow, Putin said in televised remarks.

If such payments are not made, we will consider this a default on the part of buyers, with all the ensuing consequences. Nobody sells us anything for free, and we are not going to do charity either  that is, existing contracts will be stopped.

In the decree, according to state media, the new system of payment entails buyers having to open ruble accounts in Russian banks, which will allow them to pay for gas supplied starting from April 1.

What has already happened? We supplied European consumers with our resources, in this case, gas, he said, according to Ria Novosti. They received it, paid us in euros, which they then froze themselves. In this regard, there is every reason to believe that we delivered part of the gas provided to Europe practically free of charge.

But existing contracts will be kept, however, if customers follow the new rules, Putin also said Thursday.

The Group of Seven of advanced countriesthe United States, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, and Japanhas so far refused to meet Russias demand to pay for gas in rubles. Germany and Austria have already started making preparations to deal with a possible gas crisis, activating emergency plans to deal with any disruptions.

What his ideas are for how this can happen is what we will now look at closely, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters in Berlin after Putins announcement. But in any case, what goes for companies is that they want to and will be able to pay in euros.

Italian Prime Minister told reporters earlier Thursday that he received assurances from Putin that Europe wont have to pay in rubles.

After a call with Putin on Wednesday evening, Draghi claimed that existing contracts remain in force.  European companies will continue to pay in dollars and euros, reported The Associated Press.

WeGermany and Italy, along with other countries that are importers of gas, coal, grains, cornare financing the war. There is no doubt, Draghi also told reporters. For this reason, Italy along with other countries, are pushing for a cap on the price of gas. There is no substantial reason that the price of gas is so high for Europeans.
Two RCMP officers observe a moment of silence to honour slain Const. Heidi Stevenson and the other 21 victims of the mass killings at a checkpoint on Portapique Road in Portapique, N.S. on April 24, 2020. (The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan)

RCMP Officer Hesitated After Speeding by NS Mass Shooter on Second Day of Killings

In the seconds after a Mountie sped past a gunman wanted for a murderous rampage in Nova Scotia two years ago, the officer hesitated about whether to give chase, and by the time he did the suspect was gone.

Public inquiry documents released Thursday describe in detail for the first time an encounter between Cpl. Rodney Peterson and the killer on April 19, 2020. The two menone a real Mountie and the other an impostor in a police uniform driving a replica RCMP vehiclepassed in opposite directions just before 9:48 a.m. on Highway 4 in the community of Glenholme.

Peterson radioed to other RCMP members that the driver was wearing a reflective vest and smiled as he went by, prompting another officer to say, Thats him. Thats got to be him.

The corporal had come on shift that morning with instructions to look out for a patrol car and to wear his body armour. Originally bound for Portapique, N.S., where the first 13 murders occurred on April 18, he had been diverted to the roadside scene where Lillian Campbellthe killers 16th victimhad been murdered that morning in Wentworth, N.S.

Moments after the killer went by him, fleeing the scene, Peterson struggled to determine his next move.

Im trying to decide, should I stop, slow down, talk to this person, or keep going? Peterson would recall in an interview with commission lawyers.

So, I said, If I stop and this is the bad guy, Im going to get shot here, Im going to get killed. If I continue on, that will give me a chance to turn around and pursue him, or to do something,' he told the interviewer.

However, in the seconds that followed, the officer found the road too narrow for a quick U-turn. He said he was worried that if he was too long in making the turn, the killer might return to shoot him, or oncoming traffic could hit him. According to the commissions summary, Peterson turned around to give chase about 1.2 kilometres past where he and the gunman had crossed paths.

At this point, Im thinking, Im going to get shot if I dont do this correctly, the officer said in the interview with the commission, explaining his decision to delay the turn. Later that day, in Enfield, N.S., Const. Chad Morrison would be shot and seriously injured in his car by the killer, while Const. Heidi Stevensons vehicle was rammed and she was fatally shot.

Meanwhile, unknown to Peterson, a second, tense drama was unfolding for a couple who lived along the highwaywhich would throw the officer off the chase.

According to the commissions summary, the killer, Gabriel Wortman, turned into the driveway of Carole and Adam Fisher less than a minute after Peterson passed him.

Wortman knew Adam Fisher, an excavator, from a quote the contractor had provided at his residence in Portapique. The killer had also been at the Fishers Glenholme house once before, according to the summary.

He pulled up his replica RCMP vehicle at the end of their long driveway, behind the couples two vehicles where it was not easily visible from the highway. A grainy image captured by the couples video surveillance system shows him standing near the car, carrying what appears to be a rifle.

The killer knocked at the Fishers door and rang the doorbell, but they had both seen a warning on social media identifying Wortman and knew the danger he posed, a document tabled at the inquiry says.

Adam Fisher grabbed his 12-gauge shotgun, loaded it and he and his wifeboth on the phone with 911found hiding places at around 9:49 a.m. If he comes up to my house, Im going to blow his  head off, Adam Fisher told the 911 operator.

The commission hasnt provided an exact time for how long Wortman stayed around the house, but estimatedbased on the travel time to the next destinationsit was about two minutes.

As this was occurring, the commissions narrative indicates Peterson drove by the Fishers residence, travelling south on the highway, not realizing Wortman was there.

The officer continued on to Highway 4s intersection with the Trans-Canada Highway, arriving around 9:50 a.m., when he heard from police dispatchers that Wortman had turned off to the Fishers house.

Meanwhile, the inquirys narrative suggests the killer got back in his replica RCMP car, drove north on Highway 4 and turned onto Plains Road, towards the small community of Debert, again eluding officers and emergency response teams racing toward the Fishers house.

He killed two more people on Plains Road, Kristen Beaton and Heather OBrien, who were in their vehicles.

Beaton, who was pregnant with her second child, was a continuing care assistant with the Victoria Order of Nurses, on her way to work, while OBrien, who was a licensed practical nurse with the VON, was on her day off.

By Michael Tutton
When fathers had used metformin within the three months before conception, their babies' risk of birth defects was about 40% higher. (Shutterstock)

Rise in Birth Defects for Babies Whose Fathers Took Common Diabetes Drug

Babies born to fathers who were taking the common diabetes drug metformin may have a slightly increased risk of certain birth defects, a large new study suggests.

Among over 1 million babies born in Denmark, just over 3% had a birth defect of some kind. But that rate was roughly 5% among babies whose fathers had used metformin in the three months before they were conceived, the findings showed.

In particular, the medication was tied to a higher risk of genital birth defects, all in baby boys, according to the report published March 28 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Experts stressed that the study does not prove metformin is to blame, and there is no known mechanism to explain the connection. And men should not stop using their medication based on a single study, they added.

We know metformin works well for controlling diabetes, said senior researcher Dr. Michael Eisenberg, a professor of urology at Stanford University School of Medicine in California.

But the results do bring up a signal that should be studied further, Eisenberg said. On a broader level, he added, the study highlights the importance of understanding fathers influence on birth defect risks.

Metformin is an oral medication widely used for controlling high blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes  a common disease that is often related to obesity.

In the United States alone, more than 37 million people have diabetes, most of whom have type 2, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While it is most common in people older than 45, the agency says, type 2 diabetes is increasingly being diagnosed in younger adults and even children and teenagers.

Studies have found that when pregnant women have poorly controlled diabetes, their babies risk of birth defects rises.

Meanwhile, some research has tied diabetes in men to poorer sperm quality. But it has not been clear whether fathers diabetes is related to the odds of birth defects in their children.

Even then, Eisenberg said, a key question would be whether it is because of the diabetes or the medications used to treat it?

For the new study, the researchers turned to Denmarks national birth registry, analyzing data on over 1 million babies born between 1997 and 2016.

The investigators found that when fathers had used metformin within the three months before conception, their babies risk of birth defects was about 40% higher, on average, versus the study group as a whole.

There was a particular link to genital birth defects, all among boys: Of all babies whose fathers used metformin in the three months before conception, 0.9% had a genital birth defect, versus just over 0.2% of the overall group.

That three-month window is critical, Eisenberg said, because sperm take roughly that long to develop.

The researchers dug into other factors that might explain the link, including parents age, education level and smoking habits. But fathers metformin use remained tied to birth defect risk.

That still left the question of whether it was the medication or the diabetes.

There were some strikes against that notion, Eisenberg said. For one, there was no clear link between birth defects and fathers metformin use in the year before or after the three-month window before conception.

The researchers also looked at two other types of diabetes medication used by fathers in the study: insulin and drugs called sulfonylureas. Insulin use was not tied to birth defects.

On the other hand, there was an elevated rate of birth defects when fathers used sulfonylureas. But the finding was not statistically significant once the researchers weighed other factors  meaning it could have been due to chance.

However, an expert not involved in the study said the metformin finding could also easily be due to chance, or confounding due to other factors.

Dr. Anthony Scialli is a member of the Organization of Teratology Information Specialists. The group runs MotherToBaby, a free service that provides research-based information on the effects of medications during pregnancy.

Scialli explained that the study made many different comparisons, which increases the odds of chance findings. Beyond that, he said, genetic factors could be at play.

Scialli noted that the genital birth defects in boys would mostly be hypospadias, where the opening of the urethra is on the underside of the penis rather than the tip. And hypospadias, he said, often runs in families.

The researchers did do a comparison to try to account for genetics: They found that babies exposed to fathers metformin use had a higher rate of birth defects than their siblings who were not exposed.

But, Scialli pointed out, that difference was not statistically significant once the researchers adjusted for other variables.

So both chance and confounding could explain these results, Scialli said. Causation seems unlikely given the lack of a plausible mechanism.

Eisenberg agreed that the mechanism is unknown, and more research is needed. He also said the findings need to be replicated in other countries, including ones more diverse than the relatively homogenous Denmark.

The bigger point is that fathers health and exposures, and their potential impact on their children, should not be ignored, Eisenberg said.

The health of fathers matters, too, he said.

More Information

MotherToBaby has more on fathers exposures and pregnancy.

SOURCES: Michael Eisenberg, MD, professor, urology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, Calif.; Anthony Scialli, MD, reproductive and developmental toxicology specialist, member, Organization of Teratology Information Specialists, Brentwood, Tenn.; Annals of Internal Medicine, March 28, 2022, online.

Amy has been a medical journalist since 1999. She was a staff writer and editor for Physicians Weekly, Medical Tribune and Reuters Health, and has written on health and medicine for MSNBC, The Scientist, Prevention and other publications. When shes not writing, she is teaching yoga or dancing.

This story was originally published by HealthDay site.
Russia Paid Coupons on Seven OFZ Bond Issues: Finance Minister

Russias finance ministry has paid 50.2 billion roubles ($616 million) in coupons on seven OFZ treasury bond issues, data on its website showed.

The payments come as the finance ministry is due to make a $447 million coupon payment on Thursday on a dollar Eurobond that matures in 2030.

Investors are watching closely Moscows servicing of its debt after Western sanctions aimed at isolating Russia economically.

The sanctions have led European clearing houses Euroclear and Clearstream to limit their business with Russian clients. This has left foreign OFZ investors cut off from their rouble bond holdings and local sovereign Eurobond holders, in turn, from interest payments in hard currency.

The National Settlement Depository (NSD), a Russian national clearing house, citing a central banks order, said this month that foreign OFZ bond holders are barred from receiving coupon payments until further notice.

NSD, which processes OFZ interest payments on behalf of the finance ministry, did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for information on which investors received the coupon payouts.

OFZs are used by the government to finance some of its budget needs. Before a growing standoff between Moscow and the west made the bonds a risky asset, they were popular with foreign investors thanks to their lucrative yields and Russias then-strong economic fundamentals.

The share of foreign investors among OFZ holders declined to 17.8 percent in February, the lowest since late 2012, from 19.1 percent a month earlier.

This week, Russia has offered to repay in roubles part of a $2 billion Eurobond that matures on April 4, to secure payments for local investors who may not be able to receive dollars.

($1 = 81.5000 roubles)
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby speaks during a news briefing at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia on March 29, 2022. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Russia Repositioning Small Percentage of Troops From Kyiv: Pentagon

The Pentagon said Wednesday that it believes Russia has started to reposition a small percentage of its troops that had been arrayed against Ukraines capital Kyiv, but that none of them appear to be returning home.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby issued an update after Russia announced Tuesday it will significantly scale back military operations near city.

On the withdrawal, we have seen over the last 24 hours the repositioning of a small percentage of the troops and the battalion tactical groups that Russia had arrayed against Kyiv, said Kirby.

He said that based on early assessments, Russia has started to reposition some 20 percent of its forces.

Some of those troops we assess are repositioning into Belarus. We dont have an exact number for you, but thats our early assessments, Kirby told reporters during a press briefing.

We have seen none of them reposition to their home garrison, and thats not a small point, said Kirby.

The Pentagon spokesman said that if Russia is serious about de-escalating, then they should send them home.

But theyre not doing that, at least not yet, Kirby continued. So thats not what were seeing.

Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said on Tuesday that Moscow had decided to fundamentally  cut back military activity in the direction of Kyiv and Chernihiv to increase mutual trust and create conditions for further negotiations amid ongoing negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

Russian troops in uniforms without insignia are seen atop a tank with the letter Z painted on its sides, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on March 1, 2022. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)

Kirby said the Pentagon believes Russia may refit these repositioned troops and move them elsewhere, although he offered no evidence to support the assessment.

Russia could resupply them and then probably importemploy them elsewhere in Ukraine, said Kirby.

But I dont believe that at this stage, weve seen the refitting going on with any specificity, he added.

Russias announcement on Tuesday was initially met with skepticism from the United States and others.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia cannot be trusted. Although the signals from the talks are positive, they cant silence explosions of Russian shells, he said in a video address.

Zelenskyy said it was Ukrainian troops who forced Russias hand, adding that we shouldnt let down our guard because the invading army still has a great potential to continue attacks against our country.

Ukraine will continue negotiations, he said, but officials do not trust the word of the country that continues fighting to destroy us.

Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday that Russian forces bombarded areas around Kyiv and another city just hours after pledging to scale back operations in those zones to promote trust between the two sides.

Negotiations between Ukraine and Russia were set to resume Friday by video, according to the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Russian Oil Tankers Going Dark, Turning Off Transmissions Deliberately to Avoid Sanctions

Following international sanctions, tankers from Moscow carrying oil and other petroleum products are increasingly going darkthe practice of switching off the ships transpondersand vanishing from tracking systems.

Were seeing a spike in Russian tankers turning off transmissions deliberately to circumvent sanctions, Ami Daniel, CEO of predictive intelligence company Windward, said in an interview with CNN. The Russian fleet is starting to hide its whereabouts and its exports.

Ever since the RussiaUkraine war began on Feb. 24, there has been a 600 percent spike in dark activity among Russian oil tankers. Russian tankers went dark 33 times during the week of March 12, which is 236 percent higher than the weekly average for the previous 12 months, Windward said. The company uses artificial intelligence to track activity in the maritime industry.

International maritime law requires commercial vessels to have the ships automatic identification system (AIS) switched on while at sea. The U.S. Treasury Department has classified the disabling or manipulation of AIS as a top deceptive shipping practice.

Western sanctions have put pressure on the Russian economy, and multiple banks have been banned from the SWIFT international payment system, affecting the countrys ability to make cross-border payments. Nations and businesses are increasingly avoiding doing business with Russia to prevent being in violation of the sanctions.

As such, Russias fleet will be under pressure to persist in dark activity and engage in illicit shipping, said Ian Ralby, CEO of the maritime law and security consulting firm I.R. Consilium, in an interview with Bloomberg.

Russia has quickly become a pariah state so they are obscuring some of their activities because a lot of people on both ends of a transit dont want any association to Russia, Ralby said.

Anywhere that Russia appears in the overall management or operation and ownership of the vessel, there are concerns about dark activity right now. Almost anything that they are going to be doing is gaining scrutiny and legal concerns because of all the various sanctions, he added.

According to Windwards data, the number of ship-to-ship meetings between Russian and non-Russian vessels lasting at least three hours has remained almost unchanged. Three hours is enough time for Russian oil tankers to transfer goods to other vessels not subject to economic sanctions.

Some vessels have also entered Russian waters and visited the countrys ports for the first time, the company said. Since Feb. 24, Windward has identified 22 such vessels, which includes those belonging to companies registered in the United States, Germany, and the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Russia is planning on making unfriendly nations pay for oil in rubles. Russian President Vladimir Putin had issued an order in this regard on March 23. However, implementing ruble payments for international trade on Russian energy will take some time, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov recently said.
Santa Ana City Council Considers Art Murals to Cover Graffiti

The City of Santa Ana is considering using murals as a graffiti prevention tool, both to cover up existing graffiti and to give artists a creative and legal source of expression.

The idea was initially introduced by Santa Ana City Councilman Ryan Hernandez in a Dec. 21 council meeting as city officials were discussing increased graffiti removal costs.

Its absolutely important to have graffiti removal, but I see that the future annual costs increased  which indicates a recurring problem, Hernandez said during the meeting. This could ultimately just continue to be a waste of taxpayer money if we dont divert this graffiti. Theres clearly a need; for one reason or another, theres people that are painting on walls.

Santa Ana planned to spend $1.71 million on graffiti removal services in fiscal year 2021-22, and increase that amount to $2.06 million for the next annual contract.

Hernandez then brought up a San Francisco-based Graffiti Art Program (GAP) by the Mural Music & Arts Project, which allows youth to positively express themselves using graffiti art as an alternative to illegal graffiti and other unsafe behaviors. Hernandez suggested the city could develop their own graffiti art program.

If we dont create an alternative, divert these behaviors, and give kids a safe place to do it, theyll continue to write on train tracks, theyll continue to ride on our walls, and that doesnt help anybody, he said. We can develop a really, really great program for community members if we get creative with some of these funds here.

Graffiti in Santa Ana, Calif., on March 25, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

According to a staff report, the pilot program could cost around $50,000, though staff has not yet given a presentation to the council yet on the subject, which will happen at a later date.

The murals, painted by community artists, could be used to both paint over existing graffiti, and on walls that do not have any graffiti on them but could use a touch-up.

They dont have to be professional artists, they can be students and residents who are hobbyists and really promote that kind of work throughout the city, Councilwoman Thai Viet Phan said in December. But having these blank, sad, pinkish-beige walls have murals and art on them, I think really helps prevent this type of graffiti, especially when we can get those artists from our local community.

Santa Ana had a similar program in the past where electrical boxes could be painted to make them more lively. They are also considering a different graffiti art program in combination with Santa Ana Unified School District to help prevent graffiti within parking structures.

City Spokesman Paul Eakins told The Epoch Times that the community enjoys murals and often will work together on upkeep for them.

Theres no guarantee, but hopefully it will discourage graffiti. People, even graffiti artists will see the value of the community murals, and when you have these community murals, the community takes ownership of them and takes care of them and that makes it more of a positive piece of public artwork that everyone can support, Eakins said.

Graffiti in Santa Ana, Calif., on March 25, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)

If the program is approved at a later date, the city will let the community and local artists know about it prior to any murals being painted, Eakins said.

We want the community to be involved, he said.
Breaking up Is Hard to Do, but When You Realize Your Life Is at Stake, Suddenly the Choice Becomes Crystal Clear.

There may be no greater contributor to the #2 cause of deaths across the United States (cancer) than the sweet but far-from-innocent ingredient that has found its way into most of the pre-packaged foods that line our grocery aisles and are stashed away in our kitchen cabinets.

Hiding in Plain Sight

Before you pat yourself on the back for avoiding the obvious culprits (cookies, cakes, and pies), take a long look at the hidden forms of this enemy that robs us of our health and steals years from our life.

Dont kid yourself. Sugar is not just present in those cookies, candies, and desserts that are easily recognizable as villains. Sugar is also present in a whopping 74% of a variety of savory packaged goods like breads, pasta sauce, and even so-called healthy foods like yogurt or those handy breakfast bars made with not-so-real fruit and whole grains.

Just a glance at the ingredients of many of these common foods that unaware shoppers consider healthy  reveals a staggering unhealthy amount of sugar. And for cancer patients, this is a deadly decision.

How Much Sugar Are You Eating?

A lot has changed, and not for the better. Over 200 years ago, the average American consumed an average of 2 lbs. of sugar per year. Now, the average American consumes an average of 152 lbs. of sugar in one yearor 3 lbs. of sugar in one week!

And while we may kid ourselves that were avoiding added sugar by foregoing that teaspoon or two of white granulated sugar into our coffee or tea, were often sabotaging our own efforts by not recognizing the hidden sugar content in a variety of common foods.

For example:

12 oz. sodas contain upwards of 11 teaspoons of sugar

Quaker Chewy Yogurt Granola Bars contain 10 grams of added sugar per bar

Dannon Strawberry Fruit on the Bottom yogurt contains 15 grams of added sugar per 5.3 oz. container

Monster Energy drinks contain 54 grams of sugar per 16 oz. can

Honey Nut Cheerios contain 12 grams of added sugar per cup

Yogurt-covered raisins contain 64 grams of total sugar per 100 gram serving

A 20-ounce bottle of Heinz tomato ketchup contains about 2/3 cup sugar

Jack Daniels barbecue sauce contains approximately 1 cup sugar in each 19 oz. bottle

One cup of regular baked beans contains about 5 teaspoons of sugar

Dont Be Fooled  Know the Names of Sugar

Always check the ingredients on the packaged foods and drinks you buy. Look for and avoid sugar in all its forms: glucose, maltose, sucrose, lactose, dextrose, fructose (basically anything that ends in -ose), raw sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, fruit juice concentrate, high-fructose corn syrup, sorghum syrup, corn sweetener, molasses, alcohol, and synthetic sugars such as sorbitol, mannitol, xylitol, NutraSweet, and Equal.

Cancer is Fueled by Sugar

If youve read my book, I Used to Have Cancer, then you know that I learned quickly that cancer feeds on sugar of all kinds. Not only does sugar have a negative effect on the bodys pH, scientists have discovered that proteins linked to cancer can be activated by glucose (remember, that is a form of sugar).

Once youve got sugar out of your system, you wont miss it! Your taste buds will begin to re-set and your sugar cravings will become a thing of the past. Youll discover the sweetness of vegetables, and your body will thank you.

Learn more about how saying goodbye to sugar can be a powerful deterrent to cancer. Check out I Used to Have Cancer, available online and at your favorite bookstore. Learn how to avoid common pitfalls when dealing with cancer, as well as how to substantially increase your odds of beating this disease!

Also see my latest video interview with cancer survivor and former World Champion extreme skier Alison Gannett. Her battle with cancer included her discovery of the role glucose played in the formation of a very large brain tumor. I think youll find the interview fascinating.

And remember, if we can beat cancer (and we did), YOU can, too!

References:

Hidden in Plain Sight, University of California San Francisco, Sugar Science. https://sugarscience.ucsf.edu/hidden-in-plain-sight.

How Much Sugar Do You Eat? You May Be Surprised!, NH DHHS-DPHS-Health Promotion in Motion. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/nhp/documents/sugar.pdf.

14 Health Foods That May Not Be as Nutritious as You Thought, Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/junk-health-foods.

17 Foods and Drinks That Are Surprisingly High in Sugar, Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/18-surprising-foods-high-in-sugar.

Hollis Johnson and Talia Lakritz, Photos show the surprising amount of sugar in 14 of Americas favorite condiments, Insider.com. https://www.insider.com/sugar-in-condiments-nutrition-facts-2019-8.

T. Nakagawa, M.A. Lanaspa, I. San Millan, et. al., Fructose Contributes to the Warburg Effect for Cancer Growth, Cancer Metab (2020);8,16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40170-020-00222-9.

James Templeton founded Uni Key Health Systems in 1992 and now the Templeton Wellness Foundation as a way of giving back and helping others achieve the health and wellness they are seeking. This story was originally published on the Templeton Wellness Foundation Blog.
Conservative MP Kenny Chiu rises during question period in the House of Commons on April 13, 2021. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Senator Apologizes for Accusing Former MP Kenny Chiu of Lying About Falling Prey to Disinformation Campaign

A Conservative senator has apologized to a former Conservative MP after accusing him of lying to another senator about a disinformation campaign that he says cost him his seat in the last election.

I would like to apologize to former MP Kenny Chiu, Senator Leo Housakos, and to all my colleagues here in the chamber for making an unsupported claim during my questioning of Senator Housakos yesterday, Victor Oh told the Senate on March 30, making reference to his exchange with Conservative Senator Leo Housakos on the issue in the Senate.

I disagree with Mr. Chiu and Senator Housakos about the issue of disinformation during the last general election but should not have said that Mr. Chiu lied.

On March 29, Oh told Housakos in the Red Chamber that Chiu, a former Conservative MP, has been lying to you about how he fell victim to a disinformation campaign set up by pro-Beijing groups in the country.

Chiu, known for his pro-Chinese democracy stance and an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party, lost his seat in the B.C. riding of StevestonRichmond East in the 2021 federal election.

During the election campaign, Chiu told The Epoch Times he has been a target of misinformation in previous election campaigns, but in 2021, it has been exceptional.

Its nothing compared to what Ive seenits multi-dimensional, Chiu said, referring to social media posts, radio commentaries, and online articles in pro-Beijing media that portray him negatively.

As an MP, Chiu had introduced Bill C-282, a private members bill that sought to compel those working on behalf of foreign entities to register as foreign agents in order to increase transparency.

But the bill, meant to combat foreign interference, was deliberately misrepresented to mislead those in the Chinese community to believe its against their interests, Chiu said.

Housakos, who introduced Bill S-237 last month, a bill similar to Chius, told the Senate on March 29 that the disinformation campaign against the former MP and Bill S-282 was clearly linked to a foreign power.

Disinformation Effort

The disinformation effort against Chiu was also documented by the Atlantic Council think tanks Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), in an article published through Medium, an online publishing platform, in November 2021.

The article noted that HuayiNet, a private translation service with deep ties to the Chinese consulates in Canada, has been taking cues from Chinese state media to spread disinformation through its official WeChat accounts to influence the minds of the Chinese Canadian diaspora community.

One such official WeChat account bears the name of torontolingshiguan or Toronto consulate in translation. The author Kenton Thibaut said the account, however, was run by an employee of HuayiNet and not directly by the Chinese authorities, as the name would imply.

This fact appears to be intentionally obscured to give users the initial impression that it is a formal part of the Chinese government, as opposed to being connected tobut not a direct part ofit, said Thibaut, a resident China fellow with the DFRLab.

Thibaut noted that on September 10, 2021, torontolingshiguan posted an essay it lifted from an article posted a day earlier on jiarenjiashi, an official WeChat account run by Today Commercial News, a media outlet purported to share business and lifestyle-related news to Chinese speakers in Canada.

Thibaut pointed out that the essay urges readers to spread the word that if Chiu got elected and his bill passed as law, it would result in widespread suppression and monitoring of the Chinese community in Canada.

I Warned Him

In the Senate on March 29, Oh accused Chiu of going bizarre and acting like a Minister of Foreign Affairs while he was still in office. Chiu was vice-chair of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development from Oct. 20, 2020 to Aug. 15, 2021.

Chiu has cast supportive votes in Parliament to recognize Chinas persecution of Uyghur Muslims as genocide and called for Magnitsky sanctions on officials responsible for rights violations in Hong Kong.

Oh, however, told the Senate that Chiu was supposed to work for Canadians, and not Foreign Affairs, and recounted advising Chiu this in a previous conversation if he wanted to get re-elected.

But he chose to jump to a different way, and I warned him, and finally, enough. So what happened to the result? Oh told the Senate.

The Globe and Mail reported that Oh is a frequent traveler to China who accepted an all-expense-paid trip by the Chinese authorities in 2017.

In February 2014, Oh, together with former Canadas ambassador to China John McCallum, and former Ontario Liberal cabinet minister Michael Chan, were also among a group welcoming Qiu Yuanping, then head of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office (OCAO) when she visited Toronto, according to reports on the website of the Chinese Consulate in Toronto.

Federal Court Justice Vanessa Rochester affirmed in January that the OCAO, which operates under Chinas United Front apparatus, engaged in espionage activities that are contrary to Canadas interest.

In a document removed from the website of Independent Senator Yuen Pau Woo, but that was publicly archived in 2019, it appears that Oh had joined Woo in leading a forum discussion in 2018 in a manner biased against proposed foreign agent registration laws in Canada.

According to the document, the panel discussion was co-sponsored by Liberal MP Joyce Murray, NDP MP Don Davies, Conservative Senator Victor Oh, and Independent Senator Yuen Pau Woo.

This was a non-partisan event that was designed to advance parliamentarians understanding of the issues in order to minimize the risk of politicization and public over-reaction to concerns about Chinese influence and interference, the document said.

In the Senate on March 29, Woo again questioned the need for establishing a foreign registry proposed by Housakos through Bill S-237.

Omid Ghoreishi contributed to this report.
The app logo of Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi is seen reflected on its navigation map displayed on a mobile phone in this illustration picture taken on July 1, 2021. (Florence Lo/Illustration/Reuters)

Senators Urge Prohibiting Military Personnel Use of CCP-Linked Ride-Hailing Platform Didi

A pair of Republican lawmakers wrote a letter to the Departments of State and Defense warning of the risk posed by the Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing over its links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, and Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler, Sens. Todd Young (R-Ind.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged prohibiting military personnel and diplomats from using digital transportation platforms such as Didi Chuxing over security concerns.

Such platforms collect users personal information and sensitive geo-location data and are obligated to share that data with Beijings intelligence and security services, the pair said.

Didi Chuxing has expanded its presence in a number of countries around the world, including in key ally nations, the senators said in a news release. The CCP is known to possess de facto control over Chinese companies, requiring the collection of sensitive data for Beijings intelligence agencies and security services on demand.

The senators also urged the state department to update its travel advisories to U.S. citizens traveling to countries in which any such digital transportation platform operates, especially where these platforms may be operating under a different local brand from their parent company.

The senators urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to ensure that issuers on U.S. exchanges fully disclose their legal obligation to assist Beijings intelligence agencies and security services.

We also urge that any future SEC rulemaking or guidance on environmental, social, and governance reporting requires companies to fully report any such legal obligations to assist Beijings intelligence agencies and security services, given these entities extensive record of human rights abuses and repression both inside and outside of the PRC, they wrote, referring to the Peoples Republic of China.

Young, a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the CCPs ability to exploit this data poses an immediate threat to U.S. national security, the stability and sovereignty of U.S. allies and partners, and the defense of democracy and human rights around the world.

For the past several years, the CCP has worked steadily to build an expansive legal framework that explicitly requires any Chinese company, even nominally privately-owned ones, that collects sensitive data to turn it over to Beijings intelligence agencies and security services on demand, the pair wrote.

Didi operates its ride-hailing platform in 17 countries beyond China, including key U.S. allies and partners such as Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. It is also preparing to soon begin operations in the United Kingdom and across the European Union.

The Epoch Times has contacted the Biden administration and Didi Chuxing for comment.
A rainstorm along I-55 southbound in Jackson, Miss., during the outbreak of severe weather in the state, on March 30, 2022. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo)

Severe Storms Pummel South Killing at Least 2 in Florida

A line of severe storms packing isolated tornadoes and high winds ripped across the Deep South overnightkilling at least two in the Florida Panhandle, toppling trees and power lines, and leaving homes and businesses damaged as the vast weather front raced across several states.

In Florida, the Washington County Sheriffs Office said Thursday morning that two were killed and two injured when a tornado touched down in the western Florida Panhandle.

The sheriffs office also said the tornado destroyed homes there. Its Facebook page showed at least one home that was obliterated, as well as trees down on another home. No other details were immediately available.

At least two confirmed tornadoes injured several people Wednesday, damaged homes and businesses and downed power lines in Mississippi and Tennessee after earlier storm caused damage in Arkansas, Missouri and Texas.

About 185,000 customers were without electricity Thursday morning in the wake of the storm along a band of states: Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utilities.

The trunk of this downed tree that was felled by strong winds on the grounds of the Mississippi Governors Mansion onto a main intersection of downtown Jackson, awaits removal during an outbreak of severe weather in the state, on March 30, 2022. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP Photo)

The worst of the weather Thursday morning appeared to be at the southern end of the storm front, which was expected to bring heavy rain and high winds all along the U.S. East Coast later in the day. Much of the Florida Panhandle was under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service in Tallahassee.

Widespread damage was reported in the Jackson, Tennessee, area as a tornado warning was in effect. Significant damage occurred to a nursing home near Jackson-Madison County General Hospital and the Madison County Sheriffs Office in Jackson, said Madison County Emergency Management Director Jason Moore.

In Nashville, Tennessee, paneling fell five stories from the side of a downtown hotel Wednesday evening and onto the roof of a building below. The fire department warned that debris could become airborne as high winds continued, and some hotel guests were moved to other parts of the building due to concerns the roof would become unstable. No injuries were immediately associated with the collapse.

Daylight revealed widespread wind damage across Alabama.

One person was hurt when a storm hit the University of Montevallo campus south of Birmingham, damaging a dormitory, officials said, and a woman was injured when a manufactured home rolled over in rural Bibb County. A school bus was flipped at a high school in south Alabama, and part of the roof was missing from a church in northwest Alabama.

Elsewhere, a warehouse roof collapsed as the storms moved through Southaven, Mississippi, near Memphis, police said. The building had been evacuated and no injuries were reported.

The Mississippi Senate suspended its work Wednesday as weather sirens blared during a tornado watch in downtown Jackson. Some employees took shelter in the Capitol basement.

Rander P. Adams said he and his wife, Janice Delores Adams, were in their home near downtown Jackson when severe weather blew through during a tornado warning Wednesday afternoon. He said their lights flashed and a large window exploded just feet from his wife as she tried to open their front door.

The glass broke just as if someone threw a brick through it, he said. I advised her then, Lets go to the back of the house.

Adams said the storm toppled trees in a nearby park, and a large tree across the street from their house split in half. We were blessed, he said. Instead of falling toward the house, it fell the other way.

Earlier Wednesday, a tornado that struck Springdale, Arkansas, and the adjoining town of Johnson, about 145 miles northwest of Little Rock, shortly after 4 a.m. injured seven people, two critically, according to Springdale Mayor Doug Sprouse.

Workers begin cleanup at the George Elementary School gym in Springdale, Ark., on March 30, 2022. (Flip Putthoff/The Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette via AP)

Sprouse said in a statement that one of those critically injured had improved and was in stable condition and the other five were released from a hospital.

Our first responders have completed door-to-door searches, and we believe everyone has been accounted for, Sprouse said.

The National Weather Service in Tulsa said Thursday that the tornado has been rated an EF-3, up from an initial assessment of EF-2, with wind speeds between 136165 mph. The tornado reached a peak speed of about 145 mph and 5 miles while on the ground for about eight minutes, according to the weather service.

In northwest Missouri, an EF-1 tornado with wind speeds around 90 mph struck St. Joseph on Tuesday night, damaging two homes.

A small tornado also touched down briefly on the eastern edge of Dallas, according to the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. The tornado struck just after 4:30 a.m. Wednesday near McClendon-Chisolm with top winds of about 100 mph and damaged homes, but no injuries were reported, according to the weather service.

The storms come a week after a tornado in a New Orleans-area neighborhood carved a path of destruction during the overnight hours and killed a man.

Strong winds in Louisiana overturned semitrailers, peeled the roof from a mobile home, sent a tree crashing into a home and knocked down power lines, according to weather service forecasters, who did not immediately confirm any tornadoes in the state.

Firefighters, meanwhile, have been trying to get handle on a wildfire spreading near Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee, amid mandatory evacuations as winds whipped up ahead of the approaching storm front.

The fire, which was not contained, had expanded to about 250 acres as of Wednesday afternoon. One person was injured, and a plume of smoke rose above one community not far from where 2016 wildfires ravaged the tourism town of Gatlinburg, killing 14 people and damaging or destroying about 2,500 buildings.

By Emily Wagster Pettus and Jonathan Mattise
Supreme Court Reins in Federal Courts Ability to Handle Arbitration Disputes

The Supreme Court reversed the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals by 81 on March 31, limiting when federal courts have jurisdiction to confirm or vacate an arbitration award under the Federal Arbitration Act.

The case is Badgerow v. Walters, court file 20-1143. Oral arguments were heard on Nov. 2, 2021. The majority decision, joined by seven justices, was written by Justice Elena Kagan. Justice Stephen Breyer was the sole dissenter.

According to Kagans opinion (pdf) in the case, petitioner Denise Badgerow was a financial adviser for REJ Properties, a firm run by respondent Greg Walters and two others. Her contract required her to bring any employment claims to arbitration, instead of court. She was fired and launched an arbitration action against the company. Arbitrators ruled for the company.

Badgerow pressed her claim, arguing the arbitration process was tainted by fraud, and sued in state court in Louisiana. Walters had the case removed to federal district court, which confirmed the award in favor of the company, reasoning it had jurisdiction because Badgerows employment suit raised federal-law claims.

Badgerow then applied to remand the case back to state court, arguing that the federal court lacked jurisdiction over the parties requests under Sections 9 and 10 of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), either to vacate or confirm the award. Under Sections 9 and 10, a party may apply to the court to confirm, or alternatively to vacate, an arbitral award. When an appeal came before the 5th Circuit, that court sided with the company.

But federal courts, as the Supreme Court has often held, may or may not have jurisdiction to decide a request under the FAA, Kagan wrote. The high court held in Hall Street Associates v. Mattel Inc. (2008) that a federal court must have an independent jurisdictional basis to resolve the matter. The following year, the Supreme Court ruled in Vaden v. Discover Bank that Section 4 of the FAA instructs a federal court to look through the petition to the underlying substantive controversy between the partieseven if that controversy is not before the court.

If the underlying dispute falls within the courts jurisdictionfor example, by presenting a federal questionthen the court may rule on the petition to compel, Kagan wrote.

That is so regardless whether the petition alone could establish the courts jurisdiction, the justice wrote. The question presented here is whether that same look-through approach to jurisdiction applies to requests to confirm or vacate arbitral awards under the FAAs Sections 9 and 10. We hold it does not.

Those sections lack Section 4s distinctive language directing a look-through, on which Vaden rested. Without that statutory instruction, a court may look only to the application actually submitted to it in assessing its jurisdiction.

It is a normal and sensible judicial division of labor to direct Section 9 and 10 applications to state, rather than federal, courts when they raise claims between non-diverse parties involving state law. Even if the claims were raised in the arbitration of a federal-law dispute, that underlying dispute is not now at issue.

Rather, the application concerns the contractual rights provided in the arbitration agreement, generally governed by state law, and such cases should usually go to state courts. Just because Congress created the Section 4 exception, that does not mean the exception is extended everywhere, Kagan wrote.

Congress chose to respect the capacity of state courts to properly enforce arbitral awards. In our turn, we must respect that evident congressional choice, she concluded, as the Supreme Court remanded the case to the lower courts for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

In his dissenting opinion, Breyer argued that the majoritys interpretation of the law was creating unnecessary complexity and confusion.

I suggest that by considering not only the text, but context, structure, history, purpose, and common sense, we would read the statute here in a different way, and allow the law to work better and more simply for those whom it is meant to serve.

The considerations here all favor a uniform look-through approach, Breyer wrote.
Two armed US-made F-16V fighters fly over an air force base in Chiayi, southern Taiwan on Jan. 5, 2022. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukraine War Making Beijing More Cautious; May Delay Taiwan Invasion Plan For Years: Taipei

Military lessons from Russias failures in its war on Ukraine will make the communist regime in Beijing more cautious about Taiwan, possibly delaying its invasion plan by years.

Beijing is learning from Russias combat experience, Ukraines resistance, and global sanctions to deduce the possible situation of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait, Taiwans Mainland Affairs Council said in a March 30 statement following a meeting.

The Chinese Communist Party will not abandon its plan to seize Taiwan by force, the islands senior China policy advisers were cited as saying during the meeting on the Ukraine war.

Russia-Ukraine was a great lesson for Chinas Peoples Liberation Army (PLA). Russia misjudged the war situation, did not properly analyze intelligence, and its generals were promoted based on personal relationships, not expertise, they said.

These will also affect [the] CCP leaders trust in their army, and they will be more cautious when using force.

The meeting came amid growing concerns that the Ukraine crisis could embolden the communist regime in China to attack Taiwan, a self-ruled island China claims as its own territory.

A Peoples Liberation Army H-6 bomber flies on a mission near the median line in the Taiwan Strait, which serves as an unofficial buffer between China and Taiwan, on Sept. 18, 2020. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense/via Reuters)

While Taiwanese officials reject the parallels between the island and the invasion of Ukraine, the possible impact on its giant neighbor was widely discussed.

Chen Ming-tong, the director-general of Taiwans National Security Bureau (NSB), told lawmakers in Taipei that Beijing wouldnt invade the island during President Tsai Ing-wens term, which ends in 2026.

The lesson from the Ukraine war for Beijing is that they shouldnt easily start a war, Chen said on March 28.

However, Should it [Beijing] launch a war, it would be a comprehensive one, said Chen.

The Chinese regime has escalated military harassment toward Taiwan since last year, continuing to send warplanes to fly near the island on a regular basis. The latest incursion occurred on March 31, when 11 Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwans southwest air defense identification zone.

11 PLA aircrafts (KJ-500 AEW&C*1, H-6*2, J-10*4, and J-16*4) entered #Taiwans southwest ADIZ on March 31, 2022. Please check our official website for more information: https://t.co/5Gllgbdbh4 pic.twitter.com/VrOEcTFLaN   Ministry of National Defense, R.O.C.  (@MoNDefense) March 31, 2022

While the island reported there are no signs that the conflict is about to happen, Taiwan has ordered its forces to strengthen their combat readiness when the war unfolded thousands of miles away in Ukraine.

Taiwans Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said on March 23 that the government is considering extending the four-month compulsory military service to a year.

Last October, Chiu warned that Beijing would be fully capable of mounting a full-scale invasion of Taiwan by 2025.

Reuters contributed to the report.
Ukrainian service members walk on the front line near Kyiv as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine, on March 29, 2022. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

Ukraines NATO-Style Security Guarantee Request Meets With Lukewarm Responses

Ukraines recent proposal for NATO-style security guarantees, in which guarantor countries would commit to military intervention if Ukraine is attacked, has so far been met with little enthusiasm and few details.

Germany said its willing to provide some form of security guarantees but stopped short of committing to military intervention, while the White House said its in constant discussions with Ukraine on ensuring the country remains sovereign and secure, but it, too, has not made any military intervention pledge.

Poland has said its willing to serve as a security guarantor, and other Western countries have expressed broad support for some kind of security guarantees for Ukraine, but with few specifics so far, as discussions continue on a formula that would leave Kyiv assured it wont be abandoned in case of a future attack.

No Repeat of Budapest Memo Mistake

Ukrainian negotiators on March 29 put forward a proposal for a mechanism similar to the Article 5 mutual-defense clause of the NATO treaty that considers an attack on one member to be an attack on all.

We insist that this must be an international treaty signed by all countriesguarantors of security, which will be ratified, so as not to repeat the mistake that was once in the Budapest Memorandum, said David Arakhamia, head negotiator for Ukraine, according to a statement.

Arakhamia was referring to the 1994 Budapest Memorandum signed by Russia, Ukraine, the United States, the UK, and others. The document pledged to ensure Ukraines territorial integrity in exchange for Kyiv agreeing to give up its vast nuclear arsenal. At the time, Ukraine had the worlds third-biggest cache of nuclear weapons.

But the Budapest pact stopped short of requiring guarantors to provide military assistance to Ukraine. As a consequence, Russias 2014 invasion, in which Crimea was seized and Russian troops entered Donbas, was met with a toothless response, in Kyivs view.

Wary of a new pact that would stop short of committed military assistance, Ukraine wants any security guarantees that are signed as part of a peace deal with Russia to be concrete and feature legally binding commitments from guarantors to intervene militarily.

We want it to be a working international mechanism of concrete security guarantees for Ukraine, Arakhamia said.

Only Real Protection From Future Attack

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyys office said in a statement that its only interested in a security treaty that would give it reliable allies and real protection from any new aggression in the future.

Under the proposal, an attack on Ukraine would require guarantor countries to provide military assistance to Kyiv, including via arms shipments and enforcing a no-fly zone.

In the current conflict, Ukraines Western allies have been providing defensive weapons to Kyiv but have stopped short of shipping arms normally considered offensive, such as tanks and the much-discussed Polish MiG-29 jet fighters.

Zelenskyy has repeatedly called on Western allies to close the skies over Ukraine, but they have been unwilling to do so on the premise that it could lead to a direct confrontation between NATO and Russian forces and spark World War III.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in an online press briefing on March 30 that Ukrainian officials and a team of international lawyers were consulting with Ukraines potential future security guarantors.

While the pact would be open for any country to join, Ukrainian negotiators have specifically requested that permanent members of the U.N. Security Council serve as the main guarantors, as well as Turkey, Germany, and Poland.

Broadly Willing but Few Details

Zelenskyy said he spoke by phone to U.S. President Joe Biden on March 30 and that they discussed military aid to Ukraine as well as security guarantees.

While Biden has yet to comment on the security guarantee proposal, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said the same day that the administration is in constant discussion with Ukrainians about ways that we can help ensure that they are sovereign and secure but that there was nothing specific about a security guarantee that I can speak to at this time.

Germanys Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock told state broadcaster ARD on March 30 that if guarantees are needed, then Germany will be there and give guarantees, adding that Berlin was in full solidarity, 100 percent with Kyiv.

But she didnt specify whether the guarantees would extend to a NATO-style commitment to military intervention.

A German government spokesman said on March 30 that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Zelenskyy that Berlin was broadly willing to act as a security guarantor for Ukraine but that it was too early to discuss the details of what that would entail.

Britains ambassador to the U.N., Barbara Woodward, said her country is open to providing Ukraine with security guarantees, but UK Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab expressed some reluctance.

Well consider anything Zelenskyy says he needs very carefully, Raab told BBC radio on March 30. But were not going to, I think, replicate unilaterally the NATO commitments that apply to NATO members.

Were not going to engage Russia in direct military confrontation.

Polands secretary of state at the Chancellery of the President, Jakub Kumoch, told Polish media outlet TVP on March 30 that Poland stands ready to serve as a guarantor, though details remained scant.

Poland is a responsible country, a brotherly nation to Ukraine, so weve agreed for Ukraine to include us in their proposal as one of the security guarantors, Kumoch said.

Kumoch said that other NATO allies would be included in the group of guarantors and that, if push came to shove, Poland would not be the only one defending Ukraine.

Poland has been a staunch ally to Ukraine in the conflict, taking in the largest number of refugees fleeing the fighting as well as being a key supplier of arms to Kyiv.

Vladimir Medinsky, an aide of Russian President Vladimir Putin, confirmed that the Russian negotiators have received Ukraines proposal, Russian state media TASS reported.

The proposal will be studied in the near future and reported to the president, and then Moscow will come back with a response, he said.

A senior Ukrainian official said on March 30 that Russia and Ukraine would resume their peace talks online on April 1.
Terminated NYC Workers Ask Mayor to Spare Them From Vaccine Mandates Since Athletes Are Now Exempt

NEW YORKAmid record-cold temperatures, hundreds gathered in Flushing Meadows Corona Park on Tuesday to protest against the citys COVID-19 vaccine mandates, imploring Mayor Eric Adams to allow city workers who were fired for not taking the jabs to be rehired. Adams recently granted vaccination exemption for the citys athletes and performers.

We are not anti-vaxxers, we are opposed to the mandate and we believe that every person has the right to medical privacy and choice. We currently have lawsuits in place to put an end to the unethical mandates that are currently threatening our livelihoods, said an FDNY member who was born and raised in a multiracial immigrant family.

On March 26, Adams denied accusations of being lobbied by economic groups to nullify the mandate for athletes.

New York City Council member Vickie Paladino, a Republican representing Queens, organized the rally.

Paladino said she hopes Adams will allow the average Jane and Joe who didnt get vaccinated to get their jobs back.

New York City Council Vickie Paladino supports protestors at a rally against vaccine mandates in Flushing, New York, on March 29, 2022. (Enrico Trigoso/The Epoch Times)

Bravest For Choice organizer Matt Connor, an FDNY member, told The Epoch Times: In the interests of economic opportunity and equity, New York City has recently provided exemptions from mandated COVID-19 vaccines for high level-performers in the arenas of professional sport and the arts, those of us in the fire service are seeking an extension of those same exemptions so that we can return to the performance of our duties to protect life and property in this great city. The ball is in the citys court.

Firefighters rally against vaccine mandates outside Mayor Bill de Blasios residence in Manhattan, New York, on Oct. 28, 2021. (Enrico Trigoso/The Epoch Times)

Former NYC mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa was also present.

[Im] just here to support the workers, as I did all during the mayoral campaign. The mayor needs to roll back all the mandates now, Sliwa told The Epoch Times.

We feel that every individual should have a choice to get vaccinated or not. We should have been given the option for weekly testing in the event that you did not want to get the mandate. There are state workers like those in the legislative and the executive branch who are not mandated, said a vaccinated member of the New York State Court Officers Association who spoke at the protest.

We worked tirelessly to keep the judicial system running, and it never stopped. Terminating us now will only slow down the judicial process. Our state deserves to have fair and just courthouses. By terminating court employees, the justice system will be negatively affected. We urge all politicians to stop this mandate.

One lady who had been with the NYPD for 16 years, plus two years of cadet time, is waiting for a religious or medical exemption while doing weekly testing.

Its just nerve-racking because you dont know what to expect. And you have to pretty much plan for a Plan B, she told The Epoch Times.

Its not what it seemsthat people are just getting terminated. People are actually resigning and putting their papers in to protect their pensions, because you have to. Im gonna do it under duress, because I have no choice, she uttered with a lamentable look on her face.

She already started applying for another job, and if things dont work out, will move out of New York City.

One of the featured speakers was a Department of Education teacher who has since founded Teachers For Choice. Michael Kane told The Epoch Times that these gatherings are necessary because he thinks the mayor is under pressure from both sides of the political spectrum.

We are calling for all city workers to be rehired and to end the mandate. But were also calling for an end to all private employer mandates, and most importantly, no forced COVID vaccination for the kids, Kane said amid supportive cheers.

A private employer vaccine mandate for NYC workers is still in effect.

Kane is the lead plaintiff of a lawsuit titled Kane vs. De Blasio, which in December 2021, won a preliminary relief by the 2nd Circuit that will allow 15 teachers to reapply for a religious exemption from former Mayor Bill de Blasios vaccine mandate.

He is hoping to secure a permanent injunction this week.

Matthew Giunta of the Department of Sanitation feels disappointed, saying that he had worked 6 days a week during the pandemic while other New Yorkers were working from home.

Im so disappointed that the previous administration, as well as the current, would punish me and others like me by placing us on leave without pay, or even worsetermination, Giunta said.

My religious beliefs have guided me my entire adult life. And what I found to be very unsettling is that my identical twin brother, who is here supporting me today, was granted a religious exemption while I was denied.

On March 24, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams questioned the mayors decision to exempt athletes but not the city workers, calling it a step away from following sensible, public health-driven policies that prioritize equity, the New York Post reported.

Im worried about the increasingly ambiguous messages that are being sent to New Yorkers about public health during this continuing pandemic, Adrienne Adams said.

This exemption sends the wrong message that higher-paid workers and celebrities are being valued as more important than our devoted civil servants, which I reject, she added.

Mayor Adams downplayed her comments, saying that its only normal to disagree.

We have 8.8 million people and 30 million opinions. We only have one mayor. Shes the speaker of the City Council, were going to agree and disagree sometimes. Thats all right. I dont agree with myself all the time, the mayor said during a press conference in Brooklyn. She has the right to her opinion, and I have the right to carry out whats best for the city of New York.

The Epoch Times reached out to the mayors office for comment.
The Canadian Metric System

Commentary

In January 1970, with its White Paper on Metric Conversion in Canada the government of that country engaged in a radical measurement alteration. It started moving the entire nation from the imperial to the metric system. Those opposed to this alteration created a great hue and cry against it; there was much gnashing of teeth throughout the land.

Why the change? First, theres so-called rationality. Metric makes use of decimals; imperial does not. The politicians in charge also sought to tailor the system so as to be congruent with that used in much of the world, particularly in Europe. This was despite the fact the biggest Canadian customer, and supplier, lay directly to the south of it. Canada represented about 18 percent of total U.S. exports in 2020. In a recent year, the United States accounted for some 73 percent of total Canadian exports. Almost $2 billion worth of goods and services cross the mutual border every single day of the year.

One of the hopes, moreover, was that with this demonstration, the United States would fall into line with Canada and the rest of the world. A sort of mouse that roared phenomenon was the aim, at least on the part of many supporters.

Over a half-century has passed since that event. It may now be time to assess this alteration. For one thing, its clear that the United States has not followed the Canadian lead. The nation to the south still wallows, or, if you wish, exults, in its original system of weights and measures. For another, these two countries are still each others best customers, despite the fact that they still remain on two different systems. Not enough attention was paid to the sheer inertia affecting the United States in this regard. It takes miles for a battleship or gigantic cruise liner to turn around; the same, apparently, applies to U.S. measurement policy.

But was this one-size-fits-all policy justified in the first place? It was widely thought to be the case. After all, if some Canadians reckon on the basis of pounds and miles, while others base their decisions on grams and kilometers, economic coordination would be all but impossible. But this is clearly not the case. Even today in Canada, groceries are sold both by the pound and the gram.

Matters are not like time zones or daylight saving time changes (spring forward and fall back). In those cases, everyone, simply everyone, has to be on board, otherwise total chaos (not anarchy!) ensues. The present issue is more akin to language. Yes, you likely pay both a financial and personal price if you speak only French and reside in British Columbia, or only English in Quebec, but people are legally free to do so. The government is thereby in effect saying to the people: You may communicate in one or the other of these languages, or both, of course. However, social intercourse occurs smoothly despite these divergences. The government of Canada would have been wise to adopt the same policy regarding measurement.

Its still not too late for the state to take its big fat thumb off the scales of the nation, and its measuring rods, and operate a laissez faire policy in this regard.

Canada is happily bilingual. It should also adopt a bi-measurement policy.

We shouldnt all have to march to the same drummer. We do not do so when it comes to music, sports, movies, novels, vacations, and pretty much everything else under the sun, certainly including language. Theres simply no justification for compelling the entire nation to march in lock step concerning measurement. Then and only thenunder a system of free competitionwill we find out which system is more conducive to economic progress. QWERTY may not be the most ideal system for keyboards, but no one, even the most blatant interventionist, favors a compulsory move to a supposedly more rational system.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
People vote at a voting station during a special election in Santa Clarita, Calif., on May 12, 2020. (Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images)

The Washington Post Accepts Hunter Biden Laptop Story

Dems in disarray leading into midterm and presidential elections

News Analysis

The Hunter Biden laptop story has just blown up from the New York Post, which broke the story to the mainstream liberal media.

Almost two years later, the media finally accessed a copy of the purported laptop and expertly verified the authenticity of much of its most important material, including evidence of millions of dollars in payments to the Biden family from a Chinese conglomerate and the apparent involvement of President Joe Biden himself in some of Hunter Bidens foreign business maneuvers.

According to two March 30 Washington Post articles, which reported the verification of 22,000 emails on the laptop and newly discovered financial and government documents, CEFC China Energy and its executives paid $4.8 million to entities controlled by Hunter Biden and his uncle [James Biden].

The laptop only purportedly belonged to Hunter Biden because The Washington Posts expert authenticators couldnt verify all data on the laptop copy and claimed that some of it appeared irregular.

In their examinations, according to The Washington Post, the two experts found evidence that people other than Hunter Biden had accessed the drive and written files to it, both before and after the initial stories in the New York Post and long after the laptop itself had been turned over to the FBI.

Nevertheless, the New York Post is legitimately cross that The Washington Post and The New York Times took so long to access and verify the email data.

The closely fought presidential election was likely thrown to Joe Biden because these pro-Democratic outletsplus Twitter, Facebook, and dozens of former intelligence officialsdownplayed the original reporting, including calling it Russian disinformation.

Hunter Biden arrives at the inauguration of Joe Biden on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 20, 2021. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Now, they are mostly admitting, one by one, to the legitimacy of the main outline of the story.

The NY Times buried its reporting of the authentication of the emails within a long story whose headline provides information that could bias jurors against any future conviction of Hunter Biden on tax-related criminal offenses.

That is, that after a reported failure to pay all his taxes, Hunter Biden did, in fact, paywhich wouldnt change any actual fraud. Any competent prosecution of Hunter Biden would try to keep his later payment, likely seen as exculpatory by average citizens, from the jurors.

As noted by the New York Post on March 30, The Times buried its verification of the emails in the 24th paragraph of a 38-paragraph story that said Hunter Biden had paid off a significant tax debt to the IRS, potentially making it harder for prosecutors to win a conviction or a long sentence against him for tax fraud.

That the NY Times and Washington Post are addressing the issue at all, however, especially when the president had a record-low approval rating of just 40 percent on March 27, does not augur well for a second term.

Fifty-one percent of Democrats in a recent CNN poll would prefer a different candidate than Joe Biden for their party in 2024. Of those, 72 percent wanted anyone other than Joe Biden, while those potential candidates most frequently named were Bernie Sanders (5 percent), Michelle Obama (4 percent), Pete Buttigieg (2 percent), and Kamala Harris (2 percent).

The Democrats arent expected to do well during the midterms. They could easily lose the presidency in 2024 to Donald Trump if he decides to run or someone that Trump anoints during the 2024 Republican National Convention. Fifty percent of Republican respondents in the CNN poll preferred Trump as the presidential nominee for 2024, while 49 percent preferred someone else.

In the latter category, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got the most support (21 percent), with most other potential candidates getting just 1 percent, including top-runners Donald Trump Jr., Rep. Dan Crenshaw, and Sen. Rand Paul.

While DeSantis has not been as tough on China as other leading Republicans, including Mike Pompeo and Sen. Marco Rubio, he has supported decoupling from China and reshoring American jobs.

On March 29, DeSantis counterattacked Disney, which criticized Floridas new law against teaching sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom, by pointing out that the California-based company self-censors for China and hasnt condemned the Uyghur genocide.

Democrats are finally recognizing the authenticity of the most important China-related parts of the Hunter Biden laptop story. We need better protection against the foreign influence of our highest politicians, including through their families. But we already knew that.

It also suggests that coming into the 2022 midterm elections and 2024 presidential elections, the Democrats are entirely disorganized. Based on what the presidential field looks like today, Trump and DeSantis both have a good shot at being our next American president.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
President Joe Biden (2nd R), together with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken (3rd R) and U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin (R), attend a meeting on Russia's war in Ukraine with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (2nd L) and Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov (L) in Warsaw, Poland, on March 26, 2022. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Three Red Flags in the Biden Administrations Ukraine Policies

Commentary

With the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 in direct violation of Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter, Washington has shifted into overdrive to marshal support for Ukraine.

This includes an avalanche of speeches and the rapid passage of a $13.6 billion Ukraine military aid bill that was, fittingly (and ironically), the Potemkin facade for the Biden administrations $1.5. trillion spending bill that funds the government through Sept. 30.

As posted on the House Appropriations Committee website, of that $13.6 billion Ukraine supplemental appropriation, only $6.528 billion goes to the Department of Defense:

$3.028 billion for European Command operations mission support, the deployment of personnel to the region, and intelligence support.

$3.5 billion to replenish U.S. equipment stocks sent to Ukraine through drawdown.

The U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development received the bulk of the rest of the funding (around $6.77 billion), aimed at a plethora of humanitarian assistance and migration assistance for refugees fleeing Ukraine.

Migration assistance is a red flag, especially given the wide-open southern border of the United States. And sure enough, the Biden administration has announced plans to admit some 100,000 Ukrainians into the United States.

As a reminder, the above actions were reactivenot proactivein nature, with the Ukraine supplemental funding driven by domestic politics as much as it was to actually support Ukraine.

Ukrainians 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)

World history did not start with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Biden administrations deterrent actions leading up to the invasion were paltry and ineffective and may have encouraged Russian President Vladimir Putin to act.

It is entirely possible to contemplate, suggest, and advocate for the necessary ways, means, and actions by which Ukrainian sovereignty should be restored to pre-war conditions while, at the same time, questioning how and why Putin ordered the invasionas well as to demand some accountability for ineffective U.S. actions to deter Russia.

Both sets of activities can be supported concurrently. Russia invaded a sovereign country, and the invasion must be reversed, and Putin (and others) should be held accountable. At the same time, several red flags associated with the Biden administrations conduct need to be critically analyzed, and political and personal accountability administered as required.

Red flags abound in the administrations actions related to Ukraine. They include the migration assistance cited above, dangling NATO admission to Ukraine (a Russian hot-button), slow-rolling the provision of military defense aid to Ukraine, the apparent absence of direct Biden-Putin communications during the Russian buildup (what is that Moscow-Washington hotline for if not to deter war?), and the Polish MiG (fighter jet) fiasco.

Three of the most glaring red flags are further summarized below.

False Deterrence

According to Rand Corporation, a key aspect of deterrence turns out to be about much more than merely threatening a potential adversary: It demands the nuanced shaping of perceptions so that an adversary sees the alternatives to aggression as more attractive than war.

Real deterrence requires strong measures taken, not just vapid words. Putins perceptions were shaped by the weak and feckless actions (and non-actions) by the Biden administration from August 2021 through February 2022 (and continuing) that include the following:

The debacle of the retreat and withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The absence of any strong defense guarantees to Ukraine during the Russian buildup.

The delay in providing defensive military equipment to Ukraine.

The reliance on ineffective sanctions as the primary means of deterrence.

The evacuation of the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

The shutting down of U.S. domestic energy production while increasing Russian imports of oil and gas.

The above actions were more like encouragements to Putin than deterrent actions!

What pain was promised to Putin?

What use of force by the United States/NATO was threatened?

Were the consequences of escalation clearly communicated to Putin?

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 21, 2022. (Alexey Nikolsky/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images)

Washingtons pre-war sanctions against Moscow were advertised as the main component of deterrence by Vice President Kamala Harris, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics Daleep Singh, White House press secretary Jen Psaki, and Pentagon press secretary John Kirby, as reported by Townhall.

Yet, in a stunning reversal, President Joe Biden responded to a reporters question about the effectiveness of sanctions.

He said: Lets get something straight. You remember if you covered me from the very beginning, I did not say that, in fact, the sanctions would deter him [Putin]. Sanctions never deter. You keep talking about that. Sanctions never deter.

Putin would wholeheartedly agree with Biden on that score!

Keeping the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv open would have been a critical deterrence action, signaling to Putin that the United States was serious about supportingand enforcingUkraines sovereignty. Shutting down that embassy just ten days before the Russian attack could only have been viewed by Putin as a weak and feckless action indicating that the United States would not strongly respond to Russian military activity in Ukraine.

Those same indications and warnings of an imminent Russian attack that led to the decision to shut down the embassy should have concurrently led to an urgent provision of defensive military equipment to Ukraine. But the U.S. response was too little and too late to deter Putin.

Given the above actions and non-actions, this question must be asked: did the Biden administrations decisions coax Putin to invade Ukraine?

Apply Occams razor to answer that.

Unprecedented Sanctions

Despite the admission of the ineffectiveness of sanctions by Biden, several unprecedented additional sanctions were enacted against Russia after the invasion. The sanctions under Executive Order 14024 and other subsequent actions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) have targeted individuals, banks, and other financial institutions, for example:

Blocking the assets of Russians and Russian companies involved in the breakaway Ukrainian provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Sanctioning several state-owned financial institutions like Vnesheconombank (VEB), Promsvyazbank Public Joint Stock Company (PSB), and their subsidiaries in order to block access to their assets.

Sanctioning several major private Russian financial institutions, including Russias second-largest financial institution, VTB Bank.

Sanctioning individuals close to Putin, such as Director of the Federal Security Service (FSB) Alexander Bortnikov, Chairman and CEO of PSB Petr Fradkov, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Restricting U.S. financial institutions from extending loans to or purchasing debt from designated major Russian banks and financial institutions.

Imposing export controls on Russias defense, aerospace, and maritime sectors.

Removing designated Russian banks from the SWIFT interbank messaging system, which effectively takes them out of the international banking system.

Preventing Russias central bank from accessing its substantial foreign exchange reserves at private institutions and central banks in the European Union and the United States.

The main VTB Bank building (C) rises between skyscrapers in Moscow, Russia, on July 29, 2014. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP Photo)

Why are the above considered to be unprecedented? By way of example, during World War II, the financial assets of German companies and banks were not subject to crippling sanctions. And banks in neutral countries like Sweden and Switzerland earned handsome fees for managing those assets.

For example, as previously discussed in an excerpt from the Aug. 15, 1945 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Swedish banking house Wallenberg (through Stockholms Enskilda Bank) played both sides during World War II and accepted large commissions for safeguarding the stocks of German companies.

Questions abound that need to be answered by the Biden administration: what is the express purpose of these crushing sanctions on Russia in response to a regional war when Germany was not similarly sanctioned during a global war?

Why is a de facto all-out global economic war being waged against Russia without a public airing of the potentially adverse effects of those sanctions and actions on the United States and world economies?

Is the economic warfare and sanctions policy intended to force change in Russia through a color revolution?

How effective will these sanctions be when Russia requires EU nations to pay for Russian gas with Russian rubles, China continues to exploit lucrative trade deals with Russia, and India is potentially willing to import more Russian oil through a ruble-to-rupee exchange?

Is the real purpose of these unprecedented sanctions regime change in Russia? Read on.

Regime Change

Biden is continually verbalizing classified thoughts and discussions that have to be retracted later by his White House staff.

For example, during a recent speech to the 82nd Airborne Division in Rzeszow, Poland, he implied that U.S. troops would be on the ground in Ukraine, as Express (UK) reported on March 26.

His ad lib statement to the troops was clearly at odds with the existing response that is limited to economic sanctions against Russia and sending non-personnel military aid and economic aid to Ukraine. The White House staff was forced to quickly clarify that no policy change had been made to deploy U.S. troops to Ukraine.

But did the feckless remarks telegraph to Putin that this was indeed being considered?

Here is another gaffe that had to be clarified (corrected) by the White House staff. Biden stated that any Russian use of chemical weapons would trigger a response in kind that would depend on the nature of the use. One widely debated inference is that Biden suggested that he would consider the use of U.S. chemical weapons (nonexistent) in response.

President Joe Biden delivers a speech about the Russian war in Ukraine at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland, on March 26, 2022. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

Bidens worst gaffe yetand the worst red flag of allwas this one. During that same trip to Europe, he made off-script remarks that appeared to advocate regime change in Russia.

From Fox News: For Gods sake, this man cannot remain in power, Biden said to conclude his speech in front of the Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland.

Is the U.S. goal a regime change in Russia but not an alleviation of the suffering by Ukrainians?

Again, these remarks were also walked back, including by Blinken.

Here is an example of how the foreign press viewed the gaffe and its walk-back: Farce as White House clarifies Biden assertion that Putin must be toppled. President was not referencing regime change, says statement, The Times of London wrote.

It has recently been reported that Ukraines leader is carefully considering Russian demands for ending the war.

According to Financial Times, Ukraine is ready to declare neutrality, abandon its drive to join NATO and vow not to develop nuclear weapons if Russia withdraws troops and Kyiv receives security guarantees, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the eve of a new round of peace talks in Turkey.

This new position is also surprisingly close to Putins oft-stated goals in Ukraine.

Did Bidens regime change gaffe throw a monkey wrench into those potential peace talks?

The bottom line about Bidens regime change gaffe was expressed by U.S. Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) in a statement [emphasis added]: My gosh, I wish they would keep him on script. Any time you say or even, as he did, suggest that the policy was regime change, its going to cause a huge problem. Theres not a whole lot more you can do to escalate than to call for regime change.

Conclusion

The Biden administrations actions on Ukraine are a collection of red flags. Did Bidens public ruminations on Russian regime change reveal his real policy (fomenting regime change in Russia)?

Were the administrations deterrence actions purposely doomed to fail in order to entice a Russian invasion of Ukraine?

All of the administrations sanctions-related actions are focused on destabilizing Russia and its economy, with the inference that the Russian people would somehow act as a whole to end the war. And now a public statement that can only add to Putins paranoia and already significant concerns about his own personal safety.

What does Putin have to gain by ending the war except on his own terms if the U.S. policy is regime change in Russia?

Was regime change in Russia the plan all along?

What could possibly go wrong?

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Trump: Fines Paid by Clinton Campaign, DNC Show Corruption

The fines paid by Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) show corruption, former President Donald Trump says.

The Clinton campaign and the DNC agreed to pay a combined $113,000 to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), according to documents made public on March 30, after the commission found probable cause that the entities had violated federal law by describing payments that ultimately went to the Fusion GPS research group as going toward legal services and consulting.

Fusion used the funds, funneled through the Perkins Coie law firm, to pay for the compilation of a dossier riddled with unsubstantiated claims saying that Trump and his campaign had ties to Russian actors ahead of the 2016 election.

Clinton was the Democrat nominee in the election, while Trump, the Republican nominee, won the presidency.

The operation was done to create  a hoax funded by the DNC and the Clinton campaign, Trump said. This corruption is only beginning to be revealed, is un-American, and must never be allowed to happen again.

Where do I go to get my reputation back? he added.

The Clinton campaign and the DNC didnt respond to requests for comment.

According to conciliation agreements the parties entered into with the FEC, they didnt admit to misreporting the expenditures that funded the dossiers creation. But they agreed to, in the future, abide by federal law that mandates reporting and accurately describing the purpose of disbursements of more than $200 per year.

Additionally, the election commission may, on the request of anyone filing a complaint, review compliance with the agreements. If the commission comes to believe the agreement has been violated, it can trigger a civil action in federal court.

Trump recently filed a federal suit against Clinton, the DNC, and others who helped create and disseminate the dossier, such as former government employee Bruce Ohr and Glenn Simpson, an ex-Wall Street Journal reporter who co-founded Fusion.

Dan Backer, an attorney who lodged the complaint with the election commission against the Clinton campaign and the DNC, told The Epoch Times that its the first time Clinton has actually been held accountable for misconduct, calling the fines a great step for accountability.

The amount of the fines was tied to the amount of money disbursed through Perkins Coie, or just over $1 million.

Federal law prohibits making false statements to the government, with violators facing up to five years in prison, but there are no signs at this time that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is pursuing charges, though the DOJ has charged a lawyer who represented Clintons campaign.

What they did was very straightforwardthey wanted to pay somebody to do some bad stuff, and they didnt want anybody knowing that they were doing it and so, rather than disclose the payment as theyre required to do under the law, they hid it and reported it as something else, Backer said.

That is a violation of federal law. And the DOJ is regularly prosecuting individuals and organizations for this exact act. But for the Democrats, the rules are different.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin walk toward a hall in the Kremlin to hold talks, in Moscow on June 5, 2019. (Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool, File/AP Photo)

UK Intelligence Chief Warns China Not to Be Too Closely Aligned With Russia

The Chinese regime is at risk of being too closely aligned with Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, a UK intelligence chief said on March 31.

In a rare public address during a visit to Australia, Sir Jeremy Fleming, head of Britains GCHQ intelligence agency, said China wouldnt be well served by a close alliance with a regime that wilfully and illegally ignores all global rules and norms.

Jeremy Fleming attends an event at Watergate House in London on Feb. 14, 2019. (Niklas Hallen/AFP via Getty Images)

His intervention comes after Prime Minister Boris Johnson last week directly confronted Chinese leader Xi Jinping over Beijings stance on the conflict in Ukraine in what was described as a frank and candid discussion.

Speaking at the Australian National University in Canberra, Fleming said Russia has made a strategic choice to align with China as China has become more powerful and in direct opposition to the United States.

In the current crisis, Russia sees China as a supplier of weapons, as a provider of technology, a market for its hydrocarbons, and as a means to circumvent sanctions, he said.

Fleming said Xis calculus is more nuanced.

Hes not publicly condemned the invasion, presumably calculating that it helps him oppose the U.S. And, with an eye on retaking Taiwan, China doesnt want to do anything which may constrain its ability to move in the future.

At the same time, Beijing is taking the opportunity to purchase cheap Russian hydrocarbons while Moscow provides additional impetus and support to its digital markets and technology plans.

But Fleming suggested that Russia understands the risks of an overly close relationship with China. Russia understands that, long term, China will become increasingly strong militarily and economically. Some of their interests conflictRussia could be squeezed out of the equation.

On the conflict in Ukraine, Fleming said Russian President Vladimir Putin had massively misjudged the situation.

He said: Its clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people. He underestimated the strength of the coalition his actions would galvanise. He underplayed the economic consequences of the sanctions regime. He overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory.

The intelligence chief said there have been reports of Russian soldiersshort of weapons and moralerefusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment, and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

And even though we believe Putins advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, whats going on and the extent of these misjudgements must be crystal clear to the regime, he said.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Vehicles of Russian state-controlled broadcaster Russia Today (RT) are seen near the Red Square in central Moscow on June 15, 2018. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)

UK Sanctions Russian TV Figures in Bid to Crack Down on Kremlin Disinformation

The UK has imposed new sanctions on a number of Russian propagandists and media organisations for spreading lies and deceit about the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin-backed TV-Novosti, which controls the RT news channel, and the state-owned Rossiya Segodnya, which is responsible for the Sputnik news agency, were among 14 new entries added to the UKs sanctions list on March 31.

Sergey Brilev, a presenter on the Rossiya channel, RTs managing director Alexey Nikolov, Sputniks editor-in-chief Anton Anisimov, and the chief executive of Gazprom-Media Aleksandr Zharov were also sanctioned.

Putins war on Ukraine is founded on lies. Today I have announced new sanctions targeting Russian state media and the Kremlin mouthpieces who spew Putins propaganda. This includes Mikhail Mizintsev, responsible for the appalling shelling of Mariupol  https://t.co/iz1yQh6xgP pic.twitter.com/cpkELBuk1Y  Liz Truss (@trussliz) March 31, 2022

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said: [Russian President Vladimir] Putins war on Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies. Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putins fake news and narratives.

We will keep on going with more sanctions to ramp up the pressure on Russia and ensure Putin loses in Ukraine. Nothing and no one is off the table.

Britains broadcast regulator Ofcom revoked the UK licence of the Kremlin-backed RT TV channel on March 18, citing new laws in Russia that effectively criminalise any independent journalism that departs from the Russian states own news narrative, which made it impossible for RT to comply with the due impartiality rules in the UKs broadcasting code.

The Foreign Office said the new sanctions will ensure RT will not be able to find its way back on UK televisions, and will prevent companies and individuals operating in the UK from doing business with Russian state propaganda vehicles RT and Sputnik, and key figures in those organisations.

Downing Street said the latest sanctions were a sign that we want to continue to further ratchet up the pressure on Putins regime.

The UK has also fast-tracked sanctions against another seven individuals connected to the Strategic Culture Foundationan online journal accused of spreading disinformationwho were recently sanctioned by Australia.

One of the newly announced sanctions was for a Russian military commander linked to the devastation in the port city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine.

Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev, dubbed the butcher of Mariupol, is the chief of the national defence command and control centre, where Russian military operations are planned.

PA Media contributed to this report.
Ukraine Allegedly Interfering in Upcoming Election in Hungary: Minister

Hungarys foreign minister accused Ukraines leadership of trying to interfere in the countrys upcoming election, which was denied by the Kyiv government.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto alleged Wednesday in a video that there is ongoing coordination between the Hungarian left and representatives of the Ukrainian government, while asserting that Ukraine was trying to interfere in the election on April 3 in favor of several opposition parties.

The Hungarian left has been completely exposed. They are busted, as the Hungarian left and representatives of the Ukrainian government are in constant contact, Szijjarto also said,

Szijjarto further asserted that Ukraines foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, contacted the Ukrainian ambassador in Budapest to discuss how to influence Hungarys election.

Meanwhile, left-wing parties, he said, made a promise that if they were in government, they would immediately decide on the transfer of armaments to Ukraine and immediately vote in favor of sanctions on oil and gas shipments to Europe and Hungary.

But Kuleba denied the charges to the Evropeiska Pravda newspaper.

In contrast to the behavior of Hungary in Ukraine, we have never interfered in Hungarys internal affairs and especially not ahead of an election, Kuleba claimed. It is a pity to see how, for the sake of a short-term pre-election advantage, minister Szijjarto is prepared to think up nonsense and destroy our relationship with him which we had spent so long building.

The statements came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made several recent comments that were harshly critical of the Hungarian governments approach to the war.

Hungarys government has opposed placing sanctions against Russian energy imports and also has declined to supply Ukraine, with which it shares a border, with weapons.

However, the Hungarian government has gone along with NATO moves to send troops to western Hungary and didnt oppose the European Unions decision to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine. The Budapest government also supported E.U. sanctions against Russias economy.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who is often criticized by U.S. corporate media outlets for allegedly fostering a close relationship with the Kremlin, and his Fidesz party have campaigned as the guarantor of Hungarys peace and security as the war rages in neighboring Ukraine, while saying opposition parties are trying to drag Hungary into the conflict on Ukraines behalf.

The war has cast a shadow over the whole Hungarian campaign, Orban said in a recent radio interview. The question of peace and security is now also part of whats at stake in the election. And our message is clear: Only Fidesz can create peace in Hungary, only we can guarantee the security of the Hungarian people, he continued.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare (R) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang inspect honour guards during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Oct. 9, 2019. (Wang Zhao/AFP via Getty Images)

Under the Ukraine Cloud, China Makes First Challenge to AUKUS

Commentary

AUKUS, the new global strategic alliance, has been issued its first major challenge by Beijing while the world is preoccupied with the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

A proposed strategic accord between the Solomon Islands and China has emerged as the first great test of the new Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) alliance and how quickly Australia could retrieve the situation within its sphere of responsibility.

The New Zealand government, linked to Australia and the United States through the ANZUS Treaty, shared Canberras concern over the Honiara-Beijing security pact. Australia has civil and military options in dealing with the Solomons Chinese security linkage.

These could be voiced in the run-up to Australias elections to show the firmness of the Liberal-National coalition government of Prime Minister Scott Morrison. The election may be held on May 14. By late March, the opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) had a 55:45 advantage in opinion polls. Morrison could take steps before the election, and an incoming ALP Government would, if elected, probably retain his regional commitments.

The Beijing-Honiara pact would allow Chinas security forces and Peoples Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) to utilize the Solomons ports and other facilities and permit Beijing to deploy security forces into the Solomons to protect Chinese investments. Some of these Chinese investments would be in islands and areas held by opponents of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare so that, effectively, Chinas security forces would be used to suppress Sogavares opposition.

On June 3, 2019, Morrison visited Honiara on his first overseas visit after winning the election as party leader. It was the first visit to the Solomons by an Australian prime minister in more than a decade. It was to try to stop Sogavares government from switching the Solomons diplomatic recognition from the Republic of China (ROC: Taiwan) to China.

It did not sway Sogavare; he switched recognition to Beijing.

Australia has been the most significant economic supporter of the Solomons. And while in Honiara, Morrison pledged $170 million in new infrastructure aid.

China extended its foothold in the South Pacific in 2019, also getting neighboring Kiribati to switch its diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. By 2021, China offered to upgrade a World War II airfield on Kanton Island in Kiribati, the closest South Pacific nation to Hawaii, 1,864 miles to the northeast.

The Solomons and Kiribati moves place China into the South Pacific, beyond the First Island Chain. This would inhibit AUKUS ability to protect Taiwan in the event of war. It would also put China astride the junction of major undersea communications cables near the Solomons.

The aftermath of a looted street in Honiaras Chinatown, Solomon Islands, on Nov. 27, 2021. A leaked document indicates China is looking to boost its military presence in the Solomon Islands, including ship visits, in a development raising the alarm in nearby Australia and beyond. (Piringi Charley/AP Photo)

Ironically, Australia sent troops to the Solomons in November 2021 to save Sogavare after protestors stormed the parliament to remove him. Sogavare, who had taken substantial secret funding from Beijing, had called for Australia (not China) to save himunder the 2017 Australia-Solomons Security Pactwhen the protests became violent. That pact allows Australian forces to be deployed to the Solomon Islands in times of emergency.

Significantly, the Australian deployment of 2021 caused Sogavare to bring in Chinese advisers; perhaps he sensed that Canberra would not tolerate much more.

By 2017, Australia had spent $3 billion and 14 years in peacekeeping in the Solomons.

Australia, some 2,000 miles from the Solomons, has legitimate cause to pressure the Honiara government as a result of the Oct. 15, 2000, Townsville Agreement, which ended hostilities between the Malaita Eagle Force (Malaita Province), the Isatabu Freedom Movement (Guadalcanal), and the government.

The Solomons government never implemented its commitments in Part Four of that peace accord to stop the civil war. But the Australian government, in particular, funded the Solomons government based on that peace agreement.

Canberra could now threaten a range of sanctions against Solomons politicians, including withdrawal of aid and a ban on Solomons officials transiting Australia or holding their assets in Australia (the closest haven for many Solomon politicians).

Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama may emerge to spearhead mediation. Like New Zealand and Australia, Fiji has deployed peacekeeping forces to the Solomons in recent years.

Meanwhile, the United States announced plans in February to reopen its embassy in the Solomons.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Irans paramilitary Revolutionary Guard conducted a drill on Jan. 16, 2021, launching anti-warship ballistic missiles at a simulated target in the Indian Ocean, state television reported, amid heightened tensions over Tehrans nuclear program and a U.S. pressure campaign against the Islamic Republic. (IRG/Sepahnews via AP)

US Imposes Sanctions on Multiple Entities Accused of Supplying Irans Ballistic Missile Program

The United States on March 30 announced new sanctions on a number of entities it says are involved in efforts to obtain materials for Irans ballistic missile program.

In a statement, the U.S. Treasury Department said the sanctions target an Iran-based procurement agent, Mohammad Ali Hosseini, and his network of companies: Iran-based Jestar Sanat Delijan, Sina Composite Delijan Co., Sayehban Sepehr Delijan, and P.B. Sadr Co.

Hosseini and his companies have been involved in efforts to procure equipment used to produce ballistic missile propellant and related materials in support of Irans missile program, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement on March 30.

The department said the materials were procured for an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps unit responsible for research and development of ballistic missiles, as well as Parchin Chemical Industries (PCI), which is part of Irans Defense Industries Organization and subject to U.S. sanctions.

Irans ballistic missile-related activities continue to destabilize the Middle East region, and the United States will continue to use every tool at our disposal to disrupt them, Blinken said.

The United States will not stand by while Iranian networks support U.N.-designated entities such as PCI, he said.

Hosseini and his network of companies are being sanctioned pursuant to Executive Order 13382, which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery for their involvement in Irans ballistic missile-related activities.

The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets belonging to those targeted, including entities 50 percent or more owned either directly or indirectly by them, and generally prohibits Americans from dealing or transacting with them.

Those that engage in certain transactions with the sanctioned individuals and entities may themselves be subject to law enforcement action or sanctions.

The Treasury Department said the sanctions were in response to Irans recent missile attack on Erbil, Iraq, as well as missile attacks by Iranian proxies against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on March 13 that Irans missile attack on Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, had targeted a civilian residence without any justification.

No injuries or deaths have been reported from the attack.

This action reinforces the United States commitment to preventing the Iranian regimes development and use of advanced ballistic missiles, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson said.

While the United States continues to seek Irans return to full compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, we will not hesitate to target those who support Irans ballistic missile program. We will also work with other partners in the region to hold Iran accountable for its actions, including gross violations of the sovereignty of its neighbors.

The latest sanctions come as talks to revive Irans tattered 2015 nuclear deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, appear to have stalled.

The United States withdrew from the 2015 deal under President Donald Trump, who then imposed tight sanctions on Iran.

Responding to Washingtons sanctions on March 31, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said they prove the U.S. governments malice toward the Iranian people.

He accused the U.S. government of continuing to violate the deal and U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231 despite claiming its ready and willing to return to the Iran nuclear deal.
en. Tim Kaine (D-VA) speaks during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing to examine U.S.-Russia policy at the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 7, 2021 in Washington .(Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)

US Must Provide Alternative to Rising Chinese Influence in Latin America: Lawmakers

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is expanding its footprint in Latin America, using economic enticements, propaganda, and infrastructure projects with hidden price tags to influence the governments and populations in the region, U.S. lawmakers and officials described at a March 31 Senate subcommittee hearing.

Senator Marco Rubio (R.-Fla.) said that, contrary to CCP rhetoric, Beijing does not expand its presence in Latin America with a view to promoting stability and economic development, but to build Chinese influence and to foster dependence on the regime.

The CCP is taking advantage of its economic importance and political relationships to encourage governments across the region to make decisions that favor the CCP and undermine democracy and free markets, Rubio said at a subcommittee hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator Tim Kaine (D-Va.) provided an account of a trip he took last year with a bipartisan group of fellow lawmakers to Mexico, Ecuador, Columbia, and Guatemala. In the course of the trip, they surveyed a region devastated by COVID-19 and desperately hoping for vaccines as well as a stronger American presence, he said.

But we also saw how China has increased its own engagement throughout the region, accompanied by an aggressive public diplomacy campaign promoting Chinese propaganda, the lawmaker said.

China pushes the narrative that its a benevolent patron or a template for long-term economic development and social stability. The Chinese genocide against the Uyghur people and harassment of Uyghurs abroad clearly shows the rest of the world what its vision of social stability looks like, he continued.

In Kaines view, the Coca Codo Sinclair Dam in Ecuador, financed and built by China, stands as an example of Beijings approach to wooing governments in the region with the promise of projects whose long-term costs the local officials may not fully comprehend. He described Rafael Correa, Ecuadors president from 2007 to 2017, as a politician who bought into Chinese promises and pledged to modernize Ecuador with the help of the regime. As part of the deal, Beijing would provide loans and infrastructure projects in return for Ecuadors oil.

Today, six years after its opening, Ecuador is saddled with a dam that is still not fully operational, questionably situated next to an active volcano, Kaine said. The dam has required over 7,000 repairs which have still not stopped erosion, and in 2020 it was the cause of an oil spill that has posed dangers for indigenous peoples living downstream from the Coca Coda Sinclair project, for which Ecuador still owes China billions of dollars, Kaine added.

Learning From Mistakes

As China continues its aggressive pursuit of lithium deposits in Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile, and copper in Peru, those nations need to consider the example of Ecuador, Kaine warned.

Beyond its economic engagement, we know that China wants to increase diplomatic and security engagement, [as part of] an effort to exert soft power, Kaine said.

Kaine added that he and his colleagues often hear from political leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean that they would rather work with the United States than China, but it is the latter power that puts itself forward aggressively in the region.

Kerri Hannan, deputy assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy, policy, planning, and coordination, described the effort that she and her colleagues have undertaken to help women entrepreneurs, introduce businesses and the public to the economic opportunities that U.S. agencies can help foster. The United States is also working to counter CCP propaganda in Latin America as well as pushing back against Beijings efforts to get the handful of South American countries that diplomatically recognize Taiwan to switch their recognition to China.

Hannan described an active Chinese campaign of propaganda and disinformation in the region, including, in recent weeks, disinformation about Russias invasion of Ukraine.

Hannan noted the existence of 63 Confucian Institutes throughout Latin America. These Beijing-funded language centers have been widely criticized for their role in promoting CCP propaganda and silencing free academic discourse on college campuses around the world.

But to call out the CCPs role in spreading propaganda in the nations of Latin America and the Caribbean does not capture the full extent of the problem. Hannan noted the issue of the regimes ties with figures in the media industry, skewing China-related coverage in the region.

They have established media cooperative agreements with partners [in Latin America], and we have seen journalists self-censor or be encouraged by embassy officials not to tell the truth or shine a light on PRC [Peoples Republic of China] activities, Hannan said.

In light of the CCPs efforts to quell independent inquiry into its various activities, the United States has fostered programs aimed at bolstering the resilience of civil society and investigative journalists in particular, as well as pushing back against CCP propaganda, according to Hannan.

Fostering Growth

The economic woes of the region, compounded by the pandemic, may partly explain why some governments and businesses have proven so susceptible to Chinese loans. Like Kaine, Hannan highlighted the urgency of providing economic opportunities that might prove more alluring to entities in the region than those that Beijing peddles.

Theres $150 billion of infrastructure deficit in the region right now, and low-cost state-backed loans are very appealing to our partners. We focus on [fostering] an investment climate where U.S. and trusted private-sector-led investments can take place, she said.

Andrew Herscowitz, chief development officer at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), outlined his agencys role in providing financing to businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean, with a view to alleviating the persistent inequality and pressing development needs that characterize the region. His agency specializes in providing equity investments, loans, loan guarantees, and political risk assessments, with a particular focus on credit to foster economic growth.

The DFC last year provided $2.2 billion more, he said, identifying energy, transport, agriculture, and financial services as core areas of investment.

While the PRC largely finances the work of Chinese companies, the DFC provides financing directly to the people and businesses of Latin America and the Caribbean, Herscowitz said.

The PRC prioritizes only the prosperity of the PRC, often to the detriment of the local people. The DFC helps cement market reforms and the rule of law, he added.

Peter Natiello, senior deputy assistant administrator in the U.S. Agency for International Developments (USAID) Latin America and Caribbean bureau, highlighted the prominent role of USAID in providing COVID-19 relief. He noted that USAID has provided 65 million vaccine doses in the countries that his purview includes. No other country has delivered so many in the region, Natiello said.

Governments and citizens are increasingly aware of the downsides of working with the Chinese, while trust in the U.S. is growing as a result of USAID efforts, Natiello commented.
Sandra Oudkirk, the new director of the American Institute in Taiwan, speaks during her first public news conference held in Taipei, Taiwan, on Oct. 29, 2021. (American Institute in Taiwan via AP)

US Says Chinese Regimes Pressure on Taiwan A Threat to All Democracies

TAIPEIThe Chinese regimes diplomatic and military pressure on Taiwan represents a threat to all democracies and the United States is committed to helping the island defend itself, Washingtons top diplomat in Taipei said.

Speaking at an American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan event late on Wednesday, Sandra Oudkirk, director of the American Institute in Taiwan which handles relations in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, said managing U.S. differences with the Chinese regime faces distinct challenges.

The PRCs increasingly aggressive behaviour is nowhere more evident than in relation to Taiwan, where the PRC has continued to exert military, diplomatic, and economic pressure, she said, referring to the Peoples Republic of China, in remarks released by her office on March 31.

The PRCs provocative military activities near Taiwan are destabilizing, risk miscalculation, and undermine regional peace and stability, Oudkirk added, at the event also attended by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

Continued efforts by Beijing to choke Taiwans international space, pressure its friends, and interfere in Taiwans democratic system represent a threat to all democracies.

An H-6 bomber of the Chinese army flies near a Taiwan F-16 on Feb. 10, 2020. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense/Handout via Reuters)

The communist regime in China claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory, and has over the past two years or so ramped up military and diplomatic pressure to assert those claims.

The United States is Taiwans most important international supporter and arms supplier, a source of constant friction between Washington and Beijing.

Oudkirk said that in order to strengthen Taiwans role as a regional security partner, the United States remains committed to helping Taiwan maintain its ability to deter aggression and to defend itself.

We have a shared and abiding interest in peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. We consider this central to the security and stability of the broader Indo-Pacific region and are deeply concerned by ongoing PRC efforts to undermine that stability.

An U.S.-made F-16V fighter jet lands on the freeway in Changhua county, central Taiwan, during the 35th Han Kuang drill, on May 28, 2019. (Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)

Taiwan rejects the regimes sovereignty claims and says only the islands people can decide their own future.

The United States has also been working with Taiwan on supply chains, the island being a major producer of semiconductors.

Oudkirk said both sides were working on diversifying supply chains and to facilitate investment in sectors like chips, electric vehicles, cybersecurity, 5G, and renewable energy.

AITs commercial section is now organizing visits by robust industry-focused delegations to many parts of the United States this summer, she added, without giving details.

By Ben Blanchard
Students play at recess at Lysterfield Primary School, in Melbourne, Australia, on May 26, 2020. (Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

Victoria Boosts Mental Health Support Following Federal Budget

The state Victorian government has announced a boost to mental health and wellbeing to support for Victorian schools following the 2022 federal budget announcement.

We want all Victorians to have access to the tools they need to be happy and resilientand thats why were bolstering mental health and wellbeing support at schools right across Victoria, said James Merlino, the states education and mental health minister.

Premier Daniel Andrews said in a release on March 31 that the extra mental health support came as a key response to the Royal Commission into Victorias Mental Health System.

The Royal Commission into Victorias Mental Health System, established in February 2019, recently released its report with 65 recommendations for Victoria (pdf).

The top 30 recommendations included regional integrated governance of mental health, support in wellbeing services, as well as social and emotional wellbeing support for young Australians and students.

In response, Merlino announced boosts to the Schools Mental Health Fund Menu, inviting more wellbeing providers to sign up and deliver their services.

The $86.9 million (US$65.25 million) Menu, is part of Labors $200 million Schools Mental Health Fund, and is a program that features positive mental health promotion items for school students and staff.

Items currently listed include wellbeing dogs, arts therapy, training for teachers in trauma-informed practice, and many more.

The $200 million Schools Mental Health Fund is expected to be rolled out to all government schools in regional Victoria mid-year and across the state by 2024.

The menu will allow schools to select evidence-based programs and initiatives from across three tiers of intervention, including positive mental health promotion, early intervention, and cohort specific initiatives and targeted support.

I would encourage providers in the student mental health and wellbeing sector, who would like to deliver services as part of our Schools Mental Health Menu, to apply to be part of this important initiative, Merlino said.

News of increased Victorian mental health support came following the Coalitions 2022 budget announcement on March 29.

Mental Health Victoria (MHV) on March 30 criticised the 2022 federal budget for mental health as a missed opportunity, and called for more reform.
Night time image of Yallourn Power Station in the Latrobe Valley in Victoria, Australia, on July 15. 2014. (AAP Image/David Crosling)

Victorias Electricity Supply Not Affected by Power Station Fire: AEMO

Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has confirmed that Victoria still has enough power supply to meet demand after a fire caused the Yallourn Power Station to slash its generation capacity.

A small fire broke out in one of the coal storage facilities at Victorias largest power station in the Latrobe Valley at about 6.30 a.m. on March 30, prompting an urgent response from Fire Rescue Victoria.

The blaze was put under control by 1 p.m. after about 40 firefighters spent six hours fighting it. However, the station had to shut down two power generation units as the burnt coal bunker no longer supplied fuel to their boilers.

We estimate we will be ready to safely return them to service within the coming week, operator EnergyAustralia said in a statement.

Despite the reduction in the Yallourn Power Stations generation capacity, the AEMO said that there was sufficient supply to meet forecast demand in Victoria at this stage.

We continue to monitor the issue, an AEMO spokesperson said.

Paramedics treated one injured employee at the scene and had to transfer the person to Traralgon Hospital as they reacted to a breathing machine. The employee later went back to the station to finish their shift.

EnergyAustralia said the company had regained control of the site and would carry out an inspection to figure out the scale of maintenance and repairs needed before investigating the cause of the blaze.

Meanwhile, residents in the surrounding areas of the station, including Moe, Morwell, and Yallourn, received a community information alert about the fire.

The incident happened not long after severe floods damaged the town of Yallourn in June 2021, prompting a declaration of state emergency as there were fears that the Yallourn coal mine could be flooded.

Yallourn Power Station can generate up to 1,480 MW of electricity and supplies about 20 percent of Victorias energy and eight percent of the countrys, with an average workforce of 500 employees.

It has been in service for 100 years.

In March 2021, EnergyAustralia announced that it would shut down the power station by mid-2028, four years ahead of the schedule to speed up its transition to clean energy.

The company said it would build the worlds largest battery with a capacity of 350 MW in the Latrobe Valley by 2026 to secure Victorias energy supply and allow more renewables to enter the grid.

A state parliament committee is examining the economic impacts resulting from Yallourn Power Stations closure being brought forward, while EnergyAustralia has pledged to settle workers employment issues with a $10 million (US$7.5 million) support package.
People talk before the start of a rally against "critical race theory" (CRT) being taught in schools, at the Loudoun County Government center in Leesburg, Va., on June 12, 2021. (Andrew Cballlero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

Washington State School District Adopts Culturally Responsive Student Discipline Policy

A school district in Washington state has adopted what it calls a culturally responsive student discipline policy that takes into account race and ethnic background in doling out punishment.

On March 14, the policy was passed by a vote of 3-2 by the Clover Park School District Board of Directors in Lakewood.

The boards two conservative members voted against the policy.

Until we, the five of us, have discussed all these definitions at workuntil we do that, I think we are negligent to send this forward, Paul Wagemann said at the videotaped meeting.

Lets say we both commit the same offense. Then the question should be what are the consequences of that offense and how do we go through that process? And to be fair, if we both did the same thing, we should get the same consequence the way I see it, Wagemann said.

The aim of the new policy is to promote fairness, equity, and due process in the administration of discipline, according to the policy.

At the same time, it seeks to implement a culturally responsive policy that provides every student the opportunity to achieve personal and academic success.

Deputy Superintendent Brian Laubach said at the March 14 meeting the policy is to promote student equity across the ethnicities.

So, are you disciplining African-American boys more than [you are] disciplining white boys? So, are you paying attention to all of that in your data? Laubach said.

Laubach did not respond to a question from The Epoch Times asking how student discipline can be applied equitably if punishments are decided based on a students race, ethnicity, or cultural background.

Superintendent Ron Banner also did not respond to an email seeking comment on the new policy.

Board president Alyssa Anderson Pearson, however, said the district policy does not make race the basis for student discipline.

Contrary to recent inaccurate news coverage and social media posts, Clover Park School Districts student discipline policy does not make race the determining factor for administering discipline, Pearson said in a statement.

It contains no such provision. The recent update of our policy is based on a Washington State School Directors Association model policy. It has been adopted by multiple school districts and is in alignment with state law.

Our district has high standards for student behavior. It is the intention of the school board that discipline policies and procedures be implemented in a manner that supports a positive school environment, maximizes instructional time, and increases educational opportunity for all.

The student discipline process is a learning opportunity for students to improve behavior and contribute to a safe and respectful learning environment, Pearson added.

Student enrollment in the Clover Park district, the states 28th largest, stands at 35 percent Hispanic, 28 percent white, 13 percent black, and 4 percent Asian.

According to the new policy, culturally responsive has the same meaning as cultural competency in accordance with state law regarding equity and cultural competency, and dismantling institutional racism in the public school system.

The Democrat-sponsored law was signed by the governor in April 2021.

Among other things, the law requires [the Washington State School Directors Association] to identify or develop and periodically update governance training programs that align with cultural competency, diversity, equity, and inclusion standards for school director governance, according to an association June 2021 fact sheet.

The bill provides training opportunities for school directors to increase their personal cultural proficiency, understand the terminology, and learn about the impacts of equity, diversity, and inclusion on student outcomes.

Training focuses on the role of the school board and how, through policies and practices, school directors can use their leadership position in education to close the gaps in various success factors for their students.

It also calls for the training of school district staff and superintendents as well as other education groups to promote diversity and cultural competency in the schools.

Cultural competency includes knowledge of student cultural histories and contexts, as well as family norms and values in different cultures; knowledge and skills in accessing community resources and community and parent outreach; and skills in adapting instruction to students experiences and identifying cultural contexts for individual students, the fact sheet added.

Wagemann told The Epoch Times his goal as a school board director is to provide opportunities for students to achieve educational competence and/or receive an excellent education.

Unfortunately, our board rules prevent us from giving opinions that differ from the majority vote of the board, Wagemann said.
Nurses and midwives hold placards during a nurses strike rally at NSW Parliament House in Sydney, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi)

We Deserve More Than Thanks: Thousands of Nurses Strike in Australian State Over Staffing, Pay

Thousands of nurses in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) have taken the streets of Sydneys CBD to urge the state government to accept their demands for a pay rise, improved maternity staffing, and mandated nurse-to-patient ratios.

The 24-hour state-wide strike began at 7 a.m. on March 31 for most nurses and midwives taking part, while life-preserving services will be maintained in all public hospitals and health services.

The nurses gathered outside the Supreme Court holding signs that read: Stop exploiting my empathy, Healthcare is not a business, and We deserve more than thanks.'

The main rally at Macquarie Street saw members of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association (NSWNMA) from 170 hospitals marching to state parliament.

Meanwhile, 20 smaller rallies were held in regional locations, including Wollongong, Newcastle, Orange, Port Macquarie, Gouburn, Wagga Wagga, Dubbo, and other areas.

NSW Health has obtained an order from the NSW Industrial Relations Commission last week to prohibit the strike, but the union has defied the decision.

It is the second protest held by the union in seven weeks for better pay and staff conditions.

Nurses and midwives plan to walk off the job for 24-hours after the NSW government failed to address ongoing staffing issues at public hospitals. (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi)

Nurses and midwives hold placards during a nurses strike rally at NSW Parliament House in Sydney, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi)

In a statement to The Epoch Times, NSWNMA General Secretary Brett Holmes said their health staff members are increasingly frustrated at the governments unwillingness to address the serious issues of patient care.

Despite their pleas for more support from the government, nurses and midwives are extremely fatigued from working double shifts and increased amounts of overtime, because of the growing gaps in staffing rosters, he said.

What nurses and midwives are asking for is not unreasonable.

The union demands a nurse-to-patient ratio of one-to-four on hospital wards and a midwife-to-patient ratio of one-to-three, as well as a 4.75 percent pay rise versus the 2.5 percent a year allowed by the state government.

The NSWNMA has received no offer from the government since meeting with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet on Feb. 21, six days after the unions previous strike, Holmes added.

On March 16, NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary Shaye Candish stated that the ongoing Omicron strain inside emergency departments has added to the moral and excessive workloads nurses have to take on.

The pressure on ambulance services and emergency departments has continued to build during the pandemic and its taking a toll on health staff. Again and again nurses, midwives and other hospital staff are expected to absorb these increased workloads, Candish said in a statement.

Its unsafe for patients and its unsafe for staff. The NSW government is stubbornly relying on a staffing model that can be manipulated and doesnt reflect the volume of work required to care for patients safely.
'The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Raphael' at The National Gallery, London

When darkness seems to shroud the world, traditional art can help. Arts ultimate role is to uplift us by reminding us of how to be good, true, and the best we can be. When traditional artists create such enduring art, it can awaken our innate goodness. The works of Italian Renaissance master Raffaello Sanzio (better known as Raphael) reach the epitome of such art. And more than five centuries after his death, Raphaels art is relevant now more than ever.

The Madonna and Child With Saint John the Baptist and Saint Nicholas of Bari (The Ansidei Madonna), 1505, by Raphael. Oil on poplar; 85 3/8 inches by 58 1/8 inches. The National Gallery, London. (The National Gallery, London)

A new and ambitious exhibition at The National Gallery, London, highlights Raphaels oeuvre and shows how his sensibility and artistic brilliance in multiple mediums transcend time.

Opening on April 9, The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Raphael is one of the first shows to concentrate on Raphaels entire career. Raphael is known by many as a painter, draftsman, and architect, but some may be surprised to learn that he was also a poet, an archaeologist and a keeper of antiquities, and a designer of prints, sculpture, tapestry, and applied arts.

The Incredulity of St. Thomas, circa 151112, by Cesarino Roscetti, after Raphael. Bronze; 34 7/8 inches. Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Italy. (Courtesy of Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Italy)

The Descent Into Limbo, circa 151112, by Cesarino Roscetti, after Raphael. Bronze; 34 7/8 inches. Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Italy. (Courtesy of Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Italy)

Vision of Ezekiel (after Raphael), circa 1521, by Pieter Coecke van Aelst, after Raphael. Tapestry; 14.4 feet by 11.4 feet. National Museum of Decorative Arts, Madrid. (National Museum of Decorative Arts, Madrid)

Ninety exhibits will be on display, many by Raphael, and some works made from his designs in media that he didnt practice in, such as bronze. Together the images and objects tell the story of Raphaels life, his art and designs, and his development as an artist.

The Procession to Calvary, circa 150405, by Raphael. Oil on poplar; 9 5/8 inches by 33 5/8 inches. The National Gallery, London. (The National Gallery, London)

Saint John the Baptist Preaching, 1505, by Raphael. Oil on poplar; 10 1/4 inches by 20 1/2 inches. The National Gallery, London. (The National Gallery, London)

Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael

Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci have long been seen as the greatest artists of the High Renaissance. What Raphael does, more than the others, is work with idealism, exhibition co-curator Matthias Wivel said in a phone interview. Raphaels idealism is not only in the religious sense; he invites us to be good, individually and together. Wivel explained that thats why Raphael has been regarded as central to the Western canon of visual arts more than Michelangelo and Leonardoa remarkable feat considering that Raphael died young, at 37 years old, and his career lasted just two decades, whereas Michelangelo, for instance, worked until his death at 88 years old.

Raphael first studied Leonardos and Michelangelos art in Florence, and he worked hard to refine their techniques. Raphael may have been seen in the shadows of his older and more established peers; Leonardo was 31 years Raphaels senior, and Michelangelo was 8 years older than Raphael.

Raphaels peers differed in their styles. In general, Leonardo approached his art as a scientist; he observed nature and tried to suppress the subjectivity when he worked. Whereas, Wivel explained, Michelangelos art is the opposite. Its extremely emotionally engaging and is about his experience of being embodied in the world and the problems that that entailed.

Besides observing his older peers artistic style and technique, he learned from Leonardos interest in human psychology and from Michelangelos ability to articulate emotionally through his art.

The Madonna of the Pinks (La Madonna dei Garofani), circa 150607, by Raphael. Oil on yew; 11 inches by 8 7/8 inches. The National Gallery, London. (The National Gallery, London)

Raphael integrated other artists ideas into his works so well that he made them his own. That talent made him rivals, most notably Michelangelos. For instance, before Michelangelo had a chance to paint his composition The Creation of Adam in the Sistine Chapel, Raphael adapted Michelangelos preparatory drawing and included it in his fresco The Parnassus in the Vatican. Michelangelo mustve been fuming.

Wivel believes that Leonardo had the most profound influence on Raphael. Exhibition visitors can see Raphaels sketch of Leda and the Swan, the only surviving direct copy (except for a more sketchy form on a sheet with other studies) that he made of Leonardos work. Ledas contrapposto pose, where the body weight is concentrated on one leg, comes from classical art. Raphael referenced both ancient art and Leonardos Leda in his Saint Catherine of Alexandria, which is also in the exhibition.

Saint Catherine of Alexandria, circa 1507, by Raphael. Oil on poplar; 28 3/8 inches by 21 7/8 inches. The National Gallery, London. (The National Gallery, London)

Oh! The Secret of Raphaels Sweet Madonnas

Raphael is popularly known as the painter of sweet Madonnas and for his painting The School of Athens at the Vatican. Raphaels Madonnas may hold the key to why his work is universally affecting.

In his painting The Garvagh Madonna, Raphael rendered a confident Christ child. The childs mother, Mary, has just released him from her arms so that he can pass a carnation to the toddler who will later become St. John the Baptist. Mary pulls John close to her, encouraging him to take the flower. Take away the classical Roman costumes and we could simply be looking at a loving family portrait of a mother and her charges.

The Madonna and Child With the Infant Baptist (The Garvagh Madonna), circa 150910, by Raphael. Oil on wood; 15 1/4 inches by 13 inches. The National Gallery, London. (The National Gallery, London)

Raphael made the scene relatable to us all by its emotionality, but the image means more. It crosses the divide between heaven and earth. There are tender moments between a mother and child that, at the same time, reinforce the Christian message. It is a way of communicating the Christian message through a quasi-universal experience, which everybody recognizes and which engages people emotionally more than anything else, Wivel said.

The Christ child appears wise beyond his years. He knows that hes on earth for something greater. He sits in his mothers lap but she doesnt support him. While John wears a fur for warmth, the Christ child is naked; he wants nothing of this world, except to teach others to follow God.

Clearly, Raphaels The Garvagh Madonna is a religious scene, but what seems to come forth, as in many of his paintings, is grace and also the harmonic tension between the spiritual and the earthlythe divine and the human realm.

Raphaels Appealing Art

Raphael rendered beauty where graceful figures harmoniously gather. Whether he painted figures alone, or in small or complex groupings, each painting conveys solemnity and calls us to reflect. His art overflows with grace and harmony. Both qualities are inherent in the natural order of all things; one only has to look at nature to see that.

Portrait of Pope Julius II, 1511, by Raphael. Oil on poplar; 42 3/4 inches by 31 7/8 inches. The National Gallery, London. (The National Gallery, London)

Raphael used grace and harmony throughout all his work, whether he was working as an architect, a designer, or a painter, Wivel said. Thats what makes Raphaels art universally appealing and enduring.

For Christians, Christ is the advent of grace, Wivel explained. But grace, in a general sense, pleases, harmonizes, and makes sense. [Raphaels] very good at making things seem natural, even things that are really very contrived, he said.

Virgin and Child With the Young Saint John the Baptist (The Esterhazy Madonna), circa 1508, by Raphael. Tempera and oil on wood; 11 1/4 inches by 8 1/2 inches. Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest. (Museum of Fine Arts Budapest)

Wivel cited another aspect of grace: the idea of decorum and how a perfect gentleman is supposed to behave. Although orphaned at 11, Raphael had the gentlemanly ways instilled in him at the Urbino court by his father, a court painter, who introduced him to the courts humanistic philosophy. The court was the center of humanist learning and aspiration. He was also dear friends with the courtier and scholar Baldassare Castiglione who went on to publish The Book of the Courtier.

An Allegory (Vision of a Knight), circa 1504, by Raphael. Oil on poplar; 6 3/4 inches by 6 3/4 inches. The National Gallery, London. (The National Gallery, London)

Raphaels charisma and good nature shines through the many accounts of his life. Artist and art historian Giorgio Vasari, who was about 9 years old when Raphael died, praised Raphael the most. Raphael enjoyed working with many artists and craftsmen, and it seemed they loved him. He was never seen to go to court without having with him, as he left his house, some 50 painters, all able and excellent, who kept him company in order to do him honor. In short, he lived not like a painter but like a prince, Vasari wrote.

Direct accounts of Raphaels character are sparse. Only two personal letters written by him survive. Both are to his maternal uncle who raised him, and they reveal Raphael as an extremely ambitious and socially adept man, Wivel said.

Raphael embodied decorum in his art by not exaggerating the emotions. He doesnt become expressive in the way Michelangelo does. He is quite restrained, Wivel said.

Some people see Raphaels work as too sentimental. But Wivel sees Raphaels restraint throughout his work, something the artist learned from classical forms and art. Raphaels restraint was to use sentiment righteously in his works rather than using emotions for manipulative purposes. His art had to be authentic to be so affecting.

Raphael excelled in creating subjects where restraint is necessary, such as in painting the Virgin and Child or the complex figure groupings in his School of Athens composition, as opposed to Michelangelo who excelled at expressive compositions, Wivel explained. Michelangelos influence can be seen in Raphaels Study for the Massacre of the Innocents, and both the drawing and the finished print are in the exhibition. For Wivel,Raphaels Massacre of the Innocents, is an impressive composition, but overall Raphaels a little out of his element.

Study for the Head of an Apostle in the Transfiguration by Raphael. Private Collection, New York. (Private Collection)

Raphaels work is appealing because he reminds us of the best in ourselves and who we might aspire to be. He provides us with an ideal of civilization that we may aspire toward, he said. Raphaels The School of Athens shows this well, Wivel said of the fresco. It really is about the building of knowledge in the way that enlightenment is furthered by communication and exchange.  And ultimately, thats what we depend on for our survival.

An Angel, by Raphael. Pen and brown ink over geometrical indications in blind stylus; 7 inches by 8 1/8 inches. The Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. (Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford)

The long awaited The Credit Suisse Exhibition: Raphael at The National Gallery, London, was meant to open in 2020, to commemorate 500 years since Raphaels death in 1520, but the pandemic led to its postponement. The exhibition opens on April 9 and runs through July 31. To find out more, visit NationalGallery.org.uk

The exhibition is curated by David Ekserdjian, professor of history of art and film at the University of Leicester; Tom Henry, professor of history of art (Emeritus) at the University of Kent; and Matthias Wivel, the Aud Jebsen curator of 16th-century Italian paintings at The National Gallery, London.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus gestures during a daily press briefing on COVID-19 at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on March 2, 2020. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images)

WHO Outlines Strategy to End Global COVID-19 Emergency in 2022

The World Health Organization on Wednesday unveiled an updated plan for COVID-19 that, if implemented rapidly and consistently this year, will allow the world to end the emergency phase of the pandemic.

The planthe WHOs third on COVID-19includes three potential scenarios for how the virus might evolve in the next 12 months: a base case, a best case, and a worst case. Key objectives include reducing COVID-19 infections, and effectively diagnosing and treating COVID-19 cases to reduce deaths.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in the plans foreword that the world now stands at a pivotal and dangerous moment in the fight against COVID-19.

Although it is impossible to predict precisely how the SARS-CoV-2 virus will evolve, we know that new variants will arise as transmission continues and, in many cases, intensify, he wrote. And yet, we can look to the future with a sense of hope that we can end the COVID-19 pandemic as a global emergency through our actions.

The world now has the tools to plan for and respond to every eventuality, he said.

The director-general said during a press briefing that, based on current research, the most likely scenario is that the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to evolve, but the severity of COVID-19 disease reduces over time as immunity increases due to vaccination and infection.

In the WHOs base case planning scenario, which serves as the WHOs working model, the virus continues to evolve, but causes less severe outbreaks due to sustained and sufficient immunity against severe disease and death. There will likely be periodic spikes in transmission as immunity wanes. Booster shots might be needed periodically for those most at risk. The virus would likely fall into a seasonal pattern, with peaks in colder monthssimilar to influenza.

The WHOs best case scenario envisions future variants as being significantly less severe, while protection from severe disease would be maintained without the need for periodic boosting or significant changes to current vaccines.

The worst case scenario sees the emergence of a more virulent and highly transmissible variant against which vaccines are less effective, and/or immunity against severe disease and death wanes rapidly, particularly in the most vulnerable groups. This would require significant changes to current vaccines and full redeployment and/or broader boosting for those most at risk.

To help end the emergency phase of the pandemic, WHO called on countries to continue or increase their virus surveillance capabilities to allow for early warning signs of significant changes in the virus. It also called for improved detection of long COVID, to track and reduce long-term disability after the pandemic has ended.

Countries also must continue to do diagnostic testing for the novel coronavirus, which helps identify leading strains causing infections and guide community-level decision making. Countries also must track virus evolution within animal populations, according to the WHO.

We have global systems to better understand the virus as it changes, and we have the vaccines, diagnostic tools, treatments, and other public health and social measures to end the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, the director-general said.

Focus, vigilance, and commitment now will end the emergency of the pandemic and lay the foundations for a more effective response to the future threats that will undoubtedly emerge. But the pandemic remains far from over, he added.

Reuters contributed to this report.
After all the fanfare, its just a matter of hours now before the start of Connecticuts three-month gasoline tax holiday, a suspension of the 25-cent-per-gallon charge from April 1 to June 30.

Simple, right? Wrong. Easy question: Will retailers actually lower the price at the pumps by 25 cents at 12:01 a.m. Friday?

That would make sense. And thats what the bill  hurriedly and unanimously adopted by both chambers of the state legislature a week ago and signed the next day by Gov. Ned Lamont  seems to require.

The answer is, many will. Some wont. Maybe theyll lower the gallon price by a smaller amount, or a larger amount. Maybe theyll wait a couple of days.

That should frustrate and annoy you as a motorist. It definitely frustrates and annoys the people who sell gasoline.

Part of the issue is market forces, which dont take a holiday. Prices go up, prices go down  even on Thursday night when were looking for a clean, 25-cent break.

And part of it, as you know if youve been following this issue for the last 10 days, is that retailers pay the 25-cent tax when they receive delivery of a load into their underground tanks  not when they sell the product to you and me. That load typically totals 20,000 gallons, or $5,000 in state taxes that theyd like to recoup by charging us the tax.

Trouble is, the tax they pay continues right through Thursday night.

The confusion over this quirk is the result of a bill, and a planning process, that glossed over the details in the name of fast action. There was an easy way around it and we are not using it.

As for that price cut, Gov. Ned Lamont indicated to me Wednesday that a delay of a day or more might reasonably happen at retailers that have paid the state tax for gasoline but have not yet sold off all that taxed product.

I dont love it but thats the way the world works. Theyre not going to sell it at a loss but they know theyre going to have cheaper gasoline within a few days, Lamont said.

Will the state go after them? Youve got to give people time, Lamont said  noting that customers will make their decisions based on posted prices, which could force the issue for retailers.

Butting heads with Tong

Attorney General William Tong issued a harder-line statement when I asked whether retailers were expected to lower prices on Day 1, Friday.

The statute says gas stations may not charge the tax as of April 1. Period. Thats what the law says, and that is what we will follow, Tong said.

Indeed, the law does seem clear. Starting April 1, ... each retail dealer shall reduce the per-gallon price of fuels or gasohol sold by such retail dealer in an amount equal to the amount of the reduction in such tax.

Adding fire to the gasoline, Tong gave some interviews in which he warned that his office would be vigilant against price gouging  which the industry took to mean the attorney general was accusing them of seeking to profit unfairly. That led Michael J. Fox, executive director of the Gasoline & Automotive Service Dealers of America, which represents many Connecticut retailers, to blast off a letter to Tong over the weekend saying he was unfair to the working class, essential service gasoline retailers.

We are being attacked from both sides, Fox wrote.

Aside from their hurt feelings, the industry groups want to know from Tong how he will respond to the inevitable consumer complaints that come in. But that guidance isnt coming, Fox and Chris Herb at the Connecticut Energy Marketers Association say.

The attorney generals office is going to be flooded with requests on Friday that the dealers did not go down in price and the state is going to investigate them, Fox told me. Why will he not give us a straight answer?

Tong, in his written statement, said, Every complaint will be investigated on a case-by-case basis and gas station owners will have the opportunity to show us their receipts and costs and we will consider all the facts and circumstances.

That means that if a retailer didnt lower prices right away because it had paid the tax, or because its costs were higher for some other reason, it will beat back a price-gouging complaint. But that will cost everyone a lot of time and money for no good reason.

The fix we will not see

Heres what happened in Maryland, and what should have happened here: Last thing Thursday night, every retailer measures the amount of gasoline it has on hand, for which it has paid a tax. It then sells that fuel without the tax starting Friday and bills the state for the difference.

Then on June 30, every retailer measures its gasoline on hand again, fuel for which it has not paid a tax. It starts charging that tax on July 1 and pays the state that tax amount. The industry, already heavily regulated, has the equipment to make and report those verifiable measurements.

Connecticut has done that before with gasoline and cigarettes, when tax rates change. Its not hard. Instead we will live with a little more confusion than is necessary  although nothing compared with the coronavirus chaos.

The main event remains market forces, not the tax break, which will save you $3.75 for every 15-gallon fillup.

Prices shot up until March 11, when 87-grade petrol hit an average of $4.486 a gallon in Connecticut according to AAA. That happened because of all sorts of forces, only a bit of it linked to current supply and current demand for gasoline.

By Wednesday, the statewide average was $4.302, AAA reported. So it looks like a nice, smooth decline of 18.4 cents a gallon in just about that many days. (By coincidence, thats exactly the federal tax.) In fact, the average decline masks a lot of movement up and down within the market.

So the price might rise or fall Friday morning, totally apart from the tax issue. We are seeing price changes two, three, four times a day, Fox said. We dont know until we actually pick up the gas in New Haven.

And market forces apply to the tax break, as well, as Lamont noted. Customers will reward the lowest prices regardless of the reasons. The customer may say, This guy dropped it by 25 cents, hes eating a little bit of this. Maybe we want to go visit this gas station and say thanks.

dhaar@hearstmediact.com
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NORWALK  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport is moving forward with plans to build a new administrative office building at St. Johns Cemetery, one of the citys two Catholic graveyards.

The Norwalk Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously this month to approve a proposal from the diocese to construct a 1,700-square-foot building at the West Norwalk cemetery.

Albert Vasko, an attorney representing the diocese, told the commission that the church needs the modest two-story building to help accommodate the cemeterys staff of administrators, maintenance workers and other church officials.

Currently on the site, they have a chapel and a maintenance building, Vasko said. The maintenance building has a small office in it as does the chapel, but it doesnt really suit the dioceses needs so they want to construct an office building.

Vasko said the structure will be built with clapboard siding and feature stone veneer at its base. Site plans filed with the city show it will include seven offices, two conference rooms and a bathroom on each of its two floors.

The building will look like a small residence and it will fit in with the neighborhood, a diocesan official wrote in the application.

Bryan Smith, an engineer hired for the project, said the cemeterys entrance on Richards Avenue will be reconstructed as part of the proposal. Church officials will also build 10 new parking spaces next to the building to serve staffers and visitors.

St. Johns, which stretches across 60 acres, sits just north of Norwalk Community College on Richards Avenue and is adjacent to the Temple Israel Cemetery, a Jewish graveyard.

The Catholic cemetery, according to the diocese, is the final resting place for thousands of people from the greater Norwalk area, including two former U.S. congressmen who also both served as mayor of the city.

The cemetery features special sections such as the priests circle where deceased clergy are interred and the military section where more than 360 members of the armed forces are laid to rest.

Last year, Louis S. Doddo, a U.S. Army staff sergeant who was killed by Japanese soldiers during World War II, was buried at the cemetery after his remains were identified more than seven decades after the Norwalk natives death.
With the newly redrawn congressional maps, the central Illinois and Metro East areas have seen some reorientation of U.S. representatives, with Rep. Darin LaHood moving further north in Illinois to District 16, while Reps. Mary Miller and Rodney Davis will contend for District 15, including parts of both eastern and western Illinois, while parts of the Metro East and Springfield will be part of the new District 13, which currently sees no incumbents running. Further south, Rep. Mike Bost will be running for District 12.

With primaries on June 28, candidates have already been raising funds for some time. For instance, LaHood has raised $2,050,964 during the 2021-22 Campaign Committee Fundraising cycle, according to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. LaHood has spent $897,502. LaHood's top individual contributor is Marquis Energy ($23,200) while insurance has been LaHood's top industry contributor ($112,260).

Here's where incumbents running for state office have gotten their funding, as well as a look at where races stand as of right now.

District 12

Bost currently has raised $690,043 through 2021-22 Campaign Committee Fundraising, with $741,402 cash on hand, according to Open Secrets. Bost's top individual contributor is Veterans United Home Loans, which has contributed $10,400, while Leadership PACs have been Bost's top industry contributor, with $51,200 contributed.

Two Democrats are seeking the party's nomination for District 12, Homer "Chip" Markel of Carbondale and Joshua Qualls of Centralia. FiveThirtyEight currently lists the district as heavily Republican, with a plus-46 percentage point advantage.

District 13

In District 13, there are seven candidates running for office, including Nikki Budzinski, David Palmer and Ellis Taylor on the Democratic side and Regan Deering, Matt Hausman, Terry Martin and Jesse Reising on the Republican side.

FiveThirtyEight currently lists District 13 as slightly Democratic, with a plus-seven percentage point advantage.

District 15

Miller has so far raised $771,137 for the 2021-22 fundraising cycle and has spent $475,042 with $414,795 cash on hand, according to Open Secrets. Miller's largest individual contributor so far is Thompson Thrift Development ($29,000) while the retired industry has been Miller's largest industry contributor ($63,572).

Davis has so far raised nearly $1.8 million for the 2021-22 fundraising cycle and has spent $694,670, with more than $1.2 million cash on hand, per Open Secrets. Davis's largest individual contributor so far is the Marcus Foundation ($17,400) while the retired industry is also Davis's largest industry contributor ($140,471).

District 15 sees Paul Lange as the lone Democrat seeking the nomination. District 15 is listed as heavily Republican by FiveThirtyEight, with a plus-42 percentage point advantage.

Senate

Sen. Tammy Duckworth is the lone Democrat seeking the party's nomination for the 2022 Senate race and has raised $13.8 million since 2017 for the race, spending $7.5 million with more than $6 million cash on hand according to Open Secrets. Duckworth's largest individual contributor is EMILY's List, ($32,282) and the largest industry contributor has been the retired industry ($1,996,332).

Eight Republicans are seeking the party's nomination for Senate, including Casey Chlebek, Matthew Dubiel, Peggy Hubbard, Maryann Mahlen, Bobby Piton, Kathy Salvi, Jimmy Lee Tillman II and Anthony Williams. Bill Redpath is also seeking an independent nomination under the Libertarian Party.

Duckworth won her first election for Senate with 54.9% of the vote, with 828,248 more votes than then-incumbent Mark Kirk.

Governor

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is seeking re-election in 2022, facing a primary challenge from Beverly Miles. Pritzker, one of the richest people in Illinois with a net worth of $3.6 billion according to Forbes, has thrown $90 million of his own money into his re-election, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Ten Republicans are seeking nomination to run against Pritzker, including Darren Bailey, Cheryl Erickson, Richard Irvin, Emily Johnson, Gary Rabine, Christopher Roper, Paul Schimpf, Keisha Smith, Max Solomon and Jesse Sullivan.

Pritzker won the 2018 election with 54.5% of the vote over then-incumbent Bruce Rauner, with 713,995 more votes than Rauner.
EDITORS NOTE: The Intelligencer requests briefs be submitted at least 10 days prior to the desired publication date. Due to the volume of community-submitted briefs, the content may be published within 10 days of submission. Holidays and weather forecasts may impact some events. The Intelligencer cannot guarantee that submission will be published.

Forest Park Owls: Hiding in Plain Sight

6 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Mark Glenshaw, award-winning naturalist, will discuss his fascination with the Great Horned owls at St. Louis Forest Park. Hes been covering them since 2005, and his enthusiasm, expertise and great photos make this program a patron favorite.

Free COVID-19 Testing

9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. at the Tyrone Echols Senior Center, 1302 Klein Avenue, Venice, in Madison County. Members of the community can go to Portal.shieldillinois.com to register and make an appointment.

Adult Zumba with Aimee

6-7 p.m. at Glen Carbon Library via Zoom. Join in for an evening workout with a Zumba Fitness instructor. Come in comfortable exercise clothing and bring a water bottle. Space is limited. Requires Registration. To register call 288-1212, register at the Help Desk or go online to www.glencarbonlibrary.org.

NAMI Meeting

7-8:30 p.m via Zoom. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois (NAMI SWI) family support meetings may also be in person. To receive the link for a Zoom meeting or address for an in-person meeting contact Pat Rudloff, silverlining6@charter.net.

Preschooler Story Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library, 112 S Kansas St. If youre ready for a story, clap your hands. Ms. Megan will be sharing fun tales & tunes, and dont forget, bubbles. Ages three - five. Registration required.

Chicken Dinner Every Thursday

4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two or four pieces of chicken and vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit. 618-656-9774

Friday, April 1

Fish Fry Every Friday

11 a.m.-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two pieces of cod or one catfish filet and sides. 618-656-9774

Fish Fry

4:30-8 p.m. at the Edwardsville Moose, 7371 Marine Road, Edwardsville. Dine-in and carryout options. 618-656-5051

Knights of Columbus Fish

4:30-7 p.m. at The Knights of Columbus at Rt. 143, 7132 Marine Road, Edwardsville. For call in orders the phone number is 656-4985. Carryout or inside seating is available. Menu consists of cod, catfish, shrimp and a variety of sides. There is also a children's menu.

Free COVID-19 Testing

9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. at the Tyrone Echols Senior Center, 1302 Klein Avenue, Venice, in Madison County. Members of the community can go to Portal.shieldillinois.com to register and make an appointment.

Book Sale

9 a.m. - noon at Tri Township Library, 209 South Main, Troy. Book donations are accepted during the book sale and on Tuesdays from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. The book sale is sponsored by the Friends of the Library. Masks are required at the Book Sale.

Saturday, April 2

Rummage Sale

7 a.m. - 1 p.m. at Edwardsville Moose Lodge at 7371 Marine Road, Rt. 143.

The Illinois Nut Tree Association Meeting

10 a.m. at 6801 Strieker Road, Aviston. Registration from 9-10 a.m. Open to members and interested public. Speaker Elizabeth Wahle, Illinois State Horticulturist. Donuts and coffee will be available during registration. Sandwich, chips and a cookie served at noon by the organization. Freebie and attendance prize items included. For more information call 618-594-4122 or email vosspecans@hotmail.com.

Smash Bros. Showdown

1-4 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Enter the tournament to test your Super Smash Bros. skills against opponents on the Nintendo Switch. Registration Required.

Sunday, April 3

Chicken Dinner

11 a.m. - 3 p.m. at Edwardsville Moose Lodge at 7371 Marine Road, Rt. 143. Dinners are $10 for adults and $5 for children 10 and under. Dine-in dinner includes all you can eat chicken as well as mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, salad, tea and coffee. Carry-out also available for  chicken and sides. 656-5056.

Monday, April 4

Bingo Every Monday

7 p.m. at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Features 21 games including Racehorse, Bonanza, Eds Lucky Number, Lightning Round and $500 Cover All. Food and drinks are available.

Free COVID-19 Testing

9 a.m. - 7 p.m. at the Tyrone Echols Senior Center, 1302 Klein Avenue, Venice, in Madison County. The NAACP Madison Branch in Venice is offering free saliva-based COVID-19 testing to the general public through a partnership with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and SHIELD Illinois. Members of the community can go to Portal.shieldillinois.com to register and make an appointment.

Tuesday, April 5

National Library Week: Breakfast Book Browse

9-11 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. 16+. Visit the Rotunda to see the library staffs all time favorite book recommendations. While you browse, enjoy complimentary pastry and coffee or tea.

Cribbage Club

6 p.m. at Camelot Bowling Alley, 801 Beltline Road, Collinsville. Beginners welcome, free to attend. Contact Phil (618) 288-7910 or Susan at (618) 978-1664 for more information.

Pasta Dinner Every Tuesday

3-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. Edwardsville. Pasta of the week served with salad. 618-656-9774

Toddler Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Ages 0-2. Theyve got the books, bops and bubbles. Bring your babies and toddlers to share stories and songs with Miss Kristen and all the Story Time friends. Registration Required.

Teen Game Night

6-7 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Grades 6-12. Game Night is back every week. Go on a quest with fellow players in Dungeons & Dragons or choose from a variety of board games to play with friends.

Southern Illinois PAL

7-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. The Southern Illinois Parents of Addicted Loved Ones group meets each week to provide hope through education and support. For parents and loved ones over the age of 18 who have someone in their life who is struggling with or recovering from substance use. PAL respects anonymity and is free of charge. Contact Craig at 618-567-6095 to receive the link for the Zoom meeting or for questions. More information can be found at www.palgroup.org.

Free COVID-19 Testing

9 a.m. - 7 p.m. at the Tyrone Echols Senior Center, 1302 Klein Avenue, Venice, in Madison County. Members of the community can go to Portal.shieldillinois.com to register and make an appointment.

Wednesday, April 6

Food on the Move

11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. at New Shining Light HDNC at 740 Broadway Ave., Venice. Free food distribution. Snap support and referrals provided.

Red Cross Blood Drive

1-6 p.m. at St. Johns United Methodist Church at 7372 Marine Road, Edwardsvillle. To sign up go to redcrossblood.org and look for the drive date and location or contact Michelle Babb at michellebabb@thenewstjohns.com or 618-656-1853.

Free COVID-19 Testing

9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. at the Tyrone Echols Senior Center, 1302 Klein Avenue, Venice, in Madison County. The NAACP Madison Branch in Venice is offering free saliva-based COVID-19 testing to the general public through a partnership with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and SHIELD Illinois. Members of the community can go to Portal.shieldillinois.com to register and make an appointment.

Thursday, April 7

National Library Week: Congratulations, You are a Library Lover

All day at the Edwardsville Public Library. Libraries are a reflection of the people who use and enjoy them, so stop by Edwardsville Public Library for a complementary cookie and a sticker proclaiming your love of libraries.

NAMI Meeting

7-8:30 p.m via Zoom. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois (NAMI SWI) family support meetings may also be in person. To receive the link for a Zoom meeting or address for an in-person meeting contact Pat Rudloff, silverlining6@charter.net.

Preschooler Story Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library, 112 S Kansas St. If youre ready for a story, clap your hands. Ms. Megan will be sharing fun tales & tunes, and dont forget, bubbles. Ages three - five. Registration required.

Chicken Dinner Every Thursday

4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two or four pieces of chicken and vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit. 618-656-9774

Free COVID-19 Testing

9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. at the Tyrone Echols Senior Center, 1302 Klein Avenue, Venice, in Madison County. Members of the community can go to Portal.shieldillinois.com to register and make an appointment.

PFLAG Edwardsville Meeting

7-8:30 p.m. at Rainbow House on Main, 808 North Main Street, Edwardsville. PLFAG offers support, education and advocacy for LGBTQ people and their allies. Contact Amy for more information at (618)977-5078 or pflagedwardsville@outlook.com.

Friday, April 8

Fish Fry Every Friday

11 a.m.-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two pieces of cod or one catfish filet and sides. 618-656-9774

Fish Fry

4:30-8 p.m. at the Edwardsville Moose, 7371 Marine Road, Edwardsville. Dine-in and carryout options. 618-656-5051

Knights of Columbus Fish

4:30-7 p.m. at The Knights of Columbus at Rt. 143, 7132 Marine Road, Edwardsville. For call in orders the phone number is 656-4985. Carryout or inside seating is available. Menu consists of cod, catfish, shrimp and a variety of sides. There is also a children's menu.

Free COVID-19 Testing

9 a.m. - 7 p.m. at the Tyrone Echols Senior Center, 1302 Klein Avenue, Venice, in Madison County. Members of the community can go to Portal.shieldillinois.com to register and make an appointment.

Saturday, April 9

Saturday Story Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Can't make it to story time during the week? Join the library on a Saturday morning for fun stories, songs and bubbles. This program will be geared toward preschool age, but everyone is welcome.

National Library Week: Kids Story Time & Party on the Patio

10-11:30 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Kids and their caregivers are invited to join in for a story and then venture out on the newly updated patio for games, activities & treats, weather permitting.

Monday, April 11

Free COVID-19 Testing

9 a.m. - 7 p.m. at the Tyrone Echols Senior Center, 1302 Klein Avenue, Venice, in Madison County. The NAACP Madison Branch in Venice is offering free saliva-based COVID-19 testing to the general public through a partnership with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and SHIELD Illinois. Members of the community can go to Portal.shieldillinois.com to register and make an appointment.

Tuesday, April 12

Cribbage Club

6 p.m. at Camelot Bowling Alley, 801 Beltline Road, Collinsville. Beginners welcome, free to attend. Contact Phil (618) 288-7910 or Susan at (618) 978-1664 for more information.

Pasta Dinner Every Tuesday

3-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. Edwardsville. Pasta of the week served with salad. 618-656-9774

Toddler Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Ages 0-2. Theyve got the books, bops and bubbles. Bring your babies and toddlers to share stories and songs with Miss Kristen and all the Story Time friends. Registration Required.

Teen Game Night

6-7 p.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library. Grades 6-12. Game Night is back every week. Go on a quest with fellow players in Dungeons & Dragons or choose from a variety of board games to play with friends.

Southern Illinois PAL

7-8:30 p.m. via Zoom. The Southern Illinois Parents of Addicted Loved Ones group meets each week to provide hope through education and support. For parents and loved ones over the age of 18 who have someone in their life who is struggling with or recovering from substance use. PAL respects anonymity and is free of charge. Contact Craig at 618-567-6095 to receive the link for the Zoom meeting or for questions. More information can be found at www.palgroup.org.

Free COVID-19 Testing

9 a.m. - 7 p.m. at the Tyrone Echols Senior Center, 1302 Klein Avenue, Venice, in Madison County. Members of the community can go to Portal.shieldillinois.com to register and make an appointment.

Wednesday, April 13

Free COVID-19 Testing

9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. at the Tyrone Echols Senior Center, 1302 Klein Avenue, Venice, in Madison County. The NAACP Madison Branch in Venice is offering free saliva-based COVID-19 testing to the general public through a partnership with the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and SHIELD Illinois. Members of the community can go to Portal.shieldillinois.com to register and make an appointment.

Thursday, April 14

NAMI Meeting

7-8:30 p.m via Zoom. The National Alliance on Mental Illness Southwestern Illinois (NAMI SWI) family support meetings may also be in person. To receive the link for a Zoom meeting or address for an in-person meeting contact Pat Rudloff, silverlining6@charter.net.

Preschooler Story Time

10 a.m. at the Edwardsville Public Library, 112 S Kansas St. If youre ready for a story, clap your hands. Ms. Megan will be sharing fun tales & tunes, and dont forget, bubbles. Ages three - five. Registration required.

Chicken Dinner Every Thursday

4-8 p.m. Dine-in or Carryout at the Edwardsville American Legion Post 199, 58 South State Rt. 157, Edwardsville. Two or four pieces of chicken and vegetables, mashed potatoes and gravy and a biscuit. 618-656-9774

Ongoing Events

Al-Anon

For information call 618-463-2429. For more information, visit SIAFG.org and District-18.org.

Youth Take Home Crafts

Pick up a take-home craft bag at the Edwardsville Public Library with all the materials to make the project. A new craft will be available each month at the Youth Desk.
Head down to Recess Brewing as early as Friday to sample Sneaky's Burger Truck. Co-owner Tyler Ottwein said Wednesday if all goes according to plan, Sneaky's will open April 1, no fooling.

Ottwein said the business will serve customers its 100% wagyu beef burgers and plant-based impossible burger patties at Recess Brewing in downtown Edwardsville. He said they will have a small menu - burgers and hot dogs with toppings such as mushrooms and fried green tomatoes.

"We use the best beef you can find in the world," he said. "It's high-fat luxury beef."

He said the truck will be open at Recess Brewing, located at 307 N. Main Street, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 4 to 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from noon to 11 p.m. and from noon to five p.m. on Sundays. Mondays they will be closed. The truck will not remain in the same location each day, sometimes it will be out front, some days it will parked in the back. Ottwein said they are in the vicinity to feed Recess' customers since the brewery has no kitchen of its own.



Ottwein and co-owner Casey Hinman are clients of the Illinois Small Business Development Center (SBDC) for the Metro East at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and have benefited from Director Jo Ann Di Maggio Mays business know-how and connections.



The owners described opening a business as stepping into a new world.



Di Maggio May put Ottwein and Hinman in contact with business lawyers and certified public accountants and assisted in completing a business plan with a forward-thinking mindset.



The SBDC connected the owners with CorkTree Creative, who completed a logo that is being used for branding across all platforms including the exterior of the companys new food truck.



Sneakys Burger joint has partnered with a local farm, raising full-blood wagyu cattle. The owners describe the ranch as a small farm run by passion.



We are incredibly lucky to have Miller Wagyu Ranch accessible and located here in Illinois, Ottwein said.



Almost all other wagyu farms raise American Wagyu, which is cross-bred with American Angus, a much less marbled breed of cattle. It is estimated that there are fewer than 5,000 full-blood wagyu cattle in the nation.



The owners learned about kitchen and restaurant management through first-hand experiences over the last 25 years. Ottwein was a busboy and server in high school. He quickly transferred to the kitchen where he gained his passion for cooking. Six years ago, Ottwein started working full-time in the kitchen. Hinman is a veteran who began working with Ottwein after he left the U.S. Marine Corps. The duo met each other almost a decade ago while working together at a beer restaurant in Nashville, TN.



The business partners hit it off immediately and have worked together in a variety of restaurants to create the perfect burger. In the end, they found that a quarter-pound smashed Wagyu beef patty on a soft potato bun is the best way to enjoy a burger. Simple but luxurious, according to the owners.

Tyler and Casey have worked hard to make their dream a reality, said Di Maggio May. It has been a pleasure assisting and guiding them along the way. I am excited to see where the future takes them and their business, and I look forward to being a part of the journey.



For more information and the upcoming schedule, visit Sneaky's Burger Truck website. Visitors may also contact Ottwein on Facebook @SneakysBurgerTruck and on Instagram @SneakysBurgers.



The Illinois SBDC for the Metro East assists start-up ventures like Sneakys Burger Truck, as well as existing businesses headquartered in the nine-county region of Calhoun, Jersey, Madison, Bond, Clinton, St. Clair, Washington, Monroe and Randolph. It is funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and SIUE as a service to Illinois small businesses.



To learn about the SBDC, contact the IL SBDC for the Metro East at SIUE at 618-650-2929.
This is my ninth update to the citizens of the 111th district, as your state representative. Ive been in Springfield each week since Feb. 15 after having some January and early February session weeks cancelled.

We are working to meet deadlines to get bills heard, amended and passed out of committees, therefore much of our time has been spent in committee meetings. Committee work has all been virtual since I took office, but I finally got to experience a few in-person hearings in the Capitol this month.

The ability to quickly speak with our colleagues during meetings instead of texting, and not having to be on more than one meeting at a time, was a vast improvement over virtual meetings. In the House most committees are still virtual, but the Senate has had in-person committees more frequently recently.

The legislature plans to adjourn on April 8. This is much earlier than the usual May 31 adjournment. Schedules have been compressed to get our work done quicker this year, and so far we have met the established deadlines.

There are some issues and bills which are not subject to the deadlines. This is how controversial bills get through at the last minute with little notice.

One notable bill that passed on March 23 and was signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker is SB2803 which uses $2.7 billion in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to deposit into the Unemployment Insurance trust fund. Unfortunately, the deficit in the trust fund is $4.5 billion. I advocated using ARPA funds to fill the entire deficit.

We now have no definitive plan to plug the remaining gap of $1.8 billion, plus reestablish the balance that existed before COVID lockdowns and job losses. Advocates from business and labor are negotiating how much will be charged to businesses in the form of higher employment taxes, and how much will be in the form of lower unemployment benefits to workers who lose their jobs in the future.

I do not support either of these options since we still have additional ARPA funds available to pay off the full debt. This is now a lose-lose situation. Businesses and workers suffered through the pandemic and are beginning to recover, now is a terrible time to add additional taxes on every job.

Also notable to watch over the last two weeks of session will be legislation regarding public safety and police officer recruitment and retention. We have been working with police chiefs and associations to change some of the bad legislation that went through in the January 2021 lame duck session. We have been meeting in the public safety task force to bring some of the issues to the forefront.

Democrat leadership may not allow any penalty enhancements to go through for a vote. I have a bill regarding penalty upgrades for fleeing and eluding police (HB4585), and it did not receive a committee hearing because it is a penalty enhancement. Many lawmakers have other public safety proposals that are not receiving a committee hearing. I am hopeful that an omnibus bill will be allowed to go to a vote that will encompass many of the proposals we are advocating with the support of our police.

Finally, former Speaker of the House Michael Madigan was indicted on March 2. That day we were on the House floor working bills when House members began getting tweets and texts that he was to be the subject of the U.S. Attorneys press conference that afternoon. We soon adjourned session and went back to our offices to watch the press conference and there we learned the extent of the charges against Madigan.

The case against him will take a very long time to proceed through the court system. Although he has denied any corrupt practices, after 50 years of his reign in the House, he will finally face the consequences of his alleged corrupt practices.

Please contact my office at 618-433-8046 if we can help you in any way, or visit my website at RepElik.com.
That release could not be found.
A drug kingpin, Yunana Fidelis operating at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Ikeja Lagos State has been apprehended by the operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

He was arrested alongside five other members of the drug syndicate.

Fidelis, a member of staff of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) was arrested following his complicity in the smuggling of 1,584,000 tablets of Tramadol earlier seized by NDLEA operatives in collaboration with Aviation Security (AVSEC) and Customs service personnel at the airport.

The NDLEA in a statement said the substance, imported into the country from Pakistan was smuggled through the airport tarmac using one of the vehicles of the Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO). It was intercepted at the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Personnel Yard.

The seizure includes 17 cartons of 250mg Tramadol branded as Tamra weighing 669.70kg and five cartons of 225mg Tramadol under the brand name Royal with a gross weight of 217.15kg.

The NDLEA had initially arrested two suspects: Ofijeh John Mowa, a SAHCO driver and Nyam Gazu Alex, a security guard with NAHCO in connection with the seizure.

But further investigations by NDLEA operatives led to the arrest of Fidelis, Adesanwo Temitope; Owoseni Taiwo Temidayo; Fasoranti Shola and Bamigbade Jonathan.

The anti-drug agency disclosed that Fidelis had fled Lagos to Kaduna the moment their lid was blown open. He was said to have also deposited N19.8m cash with a BDC operator to be paid later into his bank account.

After tracking him for days in Kaduna, on Friday 25th Fidelis relocated to Abuja where he was eventually arrested by NDLEA operatives at 7pm on Sunday 27th March while he was trying to collect N1, 000, 000.00 cash from an undercover agent who posed as a BDC operator.

In addition to recovering the cash Fidelis deposited with the BDC operator in Lagos, the Agency had also placed a post no debit order on his identified bank accounts, a statement by the agencys spokesperson, Femi Babafemi said on Wednesday.

Also, a professional methamphetamine cook, Reuben Bekweri, 34, has been arrested in Owerri while trying to distribute a kilogram of the illicit drug he cooked and packaged in seven nylon sachets in the Irete Area in Imo on March 26.

In Ado Ekiti, NDLEA operatives arrested one Mayowa Oluwanisomo, 42, in Zone 4, Embassy Island, Moferere area of the Ekiti state capital following credible intelligence that he deals in psychotropic substances.

Oluwanisomo was arrested on March 28 after his residence was searched and a total of 11, 570 tablets of Tramadol weighing 7.3kilograms were recovered.

The suspect had admitted ownership of the drug exhibits, adding that he graduated from Ekiti State University, Ado Ekiti and Abuja campus of the Nigerian Law School in 2016.

Chairman/Chief Executive of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Mohamed Buba Marwa (Retd) commended the officers and men of MMIA, Imo and Ekiti state Commands for sustaining the offensive action against drug cartels in their respective areas of responsibility, Babafemi said.
President Muhammadu Buhari will be hosting President Mohammed Bazoum of Niger today on a State Visit in the State House, Abuja.

Garba Shehu, the President's Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, made this known in a statement he signed on Wednesday, titled President Buhari hosts Bazoum, his Nigerien counterpart in Abuja Thursday.

Shehu said, the two leaders are expected to deliberate on joining hands in tackling challenges of security and strategic stability affecting the sub-region and the globe.

While President Bazoums visit is expected to last for a few hours, the neighboring leader will be received with full military honours, including a 21-Gun Salute, Shehu added.
Fidelity Bank Plc has tutored 4,000 students in 36 schools across Nigeria on the value of managing financial resources effectively in order to improve their economic well-being. This initiative, organized in collaboration with Junior Achievement Nigeria (JAN), is part of the activities celebrating the Central Banks (CBN) annual Global Money Week (GMW), which promotes financial literacy on a global and local scale.

The theme of this year's GMW, "Build your future, be smart about money," emphasizes the importance of ensuring that young people are financially conscious from an early age. It also aims to ensure that they gradually acquire the knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors required to make sound financial decisions, achieve financial well-being, and develop financial resilience.

Mrs. Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe, Managing Director/CEO of Fidelity Bank Plc, kicked off the seven-day celebration on March 24, 2022 by speaking about money matters at Bestline Distinct College in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital. Staff of the bank would also teach in select schools across the country during the celebrations.

Regional Operations & Service Supervisor (ROSS) - South-West 2, Fidelity Bank Plc, Ayoola Alabi (3rd from Right) presenting a gift to the Proprietor, Bestline Distinct College, Ado-Ekiti Pastor Omodara David (3rd from left) and his Wife, Margaret Omodara as Programs Officer, Junior Achievement Nigeria, Chiamaka Nwokenna (1st left); Team Lead, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Fidelity Bank Plc, Victoria Abuka (2nd left); Branch Leader, Ado-Ekiti Branch, Fidelity Bank Plc, Ikeolu B. Akinropo (2nd right) and the School Principal, Mrs. Igwe Chioma Nkechiyere look on during a training workshop for students of Bestline Distinct College to commemorate Global Money Week 2022 in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State recently.

Mrs. Onyeali-Ikpe, who was represented by Mr. Ayoola Alabi, Regional Operations & Service Supervisor (ROSS) for South-West 2, Fidelity Bank Plc, pointed out that the financial institution would not relent in its efforts to actualise the federal government's financial inclusion objectives by enabling more young Nigerians, particularly those in underserved communities, to participate in the formal banking system.

Our children are the future and sharing such information with these young ones will help them develop into better adults. It will give them the ability to plan for their financial independence. For us as a bank, education and youth empowerment are major pillars of our Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy. We are always searching for opportunity to give back to communities where we operate, said Alabi.

While reiterating the bank's unwavering commitment to educating Nigerian children on money matters, Alabi stated that financial literacy among Nigerians, particularly the youth, would promote economic growth and development. Students who paid close attention to the lecture were then tested orally and subsequently asked questions to gain a better understanding of various financial topics.

Pastor Omodara David, Proprietor of Best Distinct College, stated that the program would broaden the minds of both students and teachers for the future. "The knowledge gained here will make them successful in the future. What I have learnt has opened my eyes. Immediately after the program, I will open accounts in the bank and allow Fidelity to manage the school's account, said David.

Speaking in the same vein, the senior prefect of Best Distinct College, John Chinmaya, who thanked the bank for the gesture, stated that the program will teach students how to save, budget, and bank properly to save for the future, as well as assist them financially and academically. We are going to tell our parents about the things we learnt here today and it will surely be beneficial to them, he explained.

On her part, Victoria Abuka, Team Lead, CSR, Fidelity Bank Plc, emphasized the importance of financial literacy, stating that children need financial education to bring about economic change in the country and around the world. "If you have financial awareness, you will be able to manage money, know about money, invest, and become self-sufficient, as well as contribute to the economic development of the country."

Fidelity Bank concluded the event by presenting corporate gifts to the school's administrators.
Blue Dragon lottery network raids reach Phuket

PHUKET: The governments crackdown on the sale of overpriced lottery tickets reached Phuket yesterday (Mar 30) when three locations on the island were raided for selling tickets sold through the Blue Dragon Lottery online platform.

crimepolice

By Eakkapop Thongtub

Thursday 31 March 2022, 09:30AM

The people arrested worked as agents selling tickets bought through the Blue Dragon online platform. Photo: PR Phuket

Computers and bankbooks were seized as evidence. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Officers arrive at one of the homes, located ni a housing estate in Rassada. Photo: PR Phuket

Lottery tickets were posted for sale in front of one of the homes. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

Officers seize a computer at one of the homes yesterday (Mar 30). Photo: PR Phuket

Region 8 Police Commander Pol Maj Gen Naphanwut Liamsanguan led the raids, one at a home in Moo 6 Rassada, another at a home in Moo Baan Thanthong also in Rassada, and a third at a home on Patak Rd, Karon.

Maj Gen Naphanwut said that the raids in Phuket were part of coordinated raids at 13 locations in seven provinces: Phuket, Chumphon, Krabi, Nakhon Sri Thammarat, Surat Thani, Ranong and Phang Nga.

The raids were ordered by assistant police chief Pol Lt Gen Prachuap Wongsuk, Maj Gen Naphanwut explained.

Lt Gen Prachuap led the raid on the offices of Lottery Online Co in Bangkok on Monday, where millions of lottery tickets were seized.

The raid in the capital followed similar raids last Friday on offices in Nonthaburi and Loei operated by lottery middleman company Mungkornfa.

The raids were executed under search warrants issued, Maj Gen Naphanwut said.

The people arrested at the three locations in Phuket were not representatives of Blue Dragon Lottery, Maj Gen Naphanwut noted.

They worked as a type of agent whereby Blue Dragon sold lottery tickets to them at B90-97 each, which the agent had to sell for B100-105, or more, he said.

Blue Dragon is involved in selling overpriced lottery tickets to agents, and agents themselves are selling overpriced ticket.,

Regardless of where Blue Dragon gets the lottery tickets from, Blue Dragon sells overpriced lottery tickets to agents and the general public, he said.

Evidence seized, including computers adn bankbooks, were handed over to the Tha Chatchai Police, who are stationed near the Region 8 Police headquarters at the northern end of the island.

Officers are now investigating whether the people arrested would face any charges, Maj Gen Naphanwut said.

Seksakol Attawong, a deputy minister at the Prime Ministers Office who is spearheading the government crackdown, earlier this week said the aim was to deter ordinary people from engaging in selling overpriced tickets.

Meanwhile, companies set up to make millions out of the practice stood to face prosecution, he said.

After the raid in Bangkok on Monday, Lt Gen Prachuap said that evidence had been found of ticket transactions of more than B100 million baht per lottery draw.

The vendors involved who had lottery ticket quotas with the Government Lottery Office (GLO) would lose their quota, he said.
Fighting rages in Ukraine, US says Putin being misled

KYIV: Fighting raged yesterday (Mar 30) in Ukraine despite Russias indication that it planned to deescalate, and US intelligence claimed Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin is angry after being misled by his own military.

RussianUkraineviolencedeathmilitarypolitics

By AFP

Thursday 31 March 2022, 07:56AM

This aerial view taken near Kyiv yesterday (Mar 30) shows a destroyed house in the village of Lukianivka. Photo: Ronald Schemidt / AFP

Hopes that negotiations in Istanbul could open the door to relative calm in pro-Western Ukraine evaporated in a series of battles, including more Russian bombing of civilian areas and advances by Ukrainian fighters.

As the number of refugees estimated by the United Nations topped four million - close to one in 10 inhabitants - there was no sign of Russia making good on its promise during the talks Tuesday to pull back from the city of Chernigiv and capital Kyiv.

AFP reporters heard frequent explosions coming from the direction of the strategic town of Irpin to the northwest of Kyiv.

And Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address that we dont believe anyone, vowing Ukrainians will continue to fight for every metre of our territory.

There was hope at least for some of the civilians caught under horrific Russian bombardments in the southern city of Mariupol after Russias defense ministry said it had accepted a Ukrainian plan to open temporary evacuation corridors.

The ministry said a local ceasefire would take effect at 10:00am (1pm Phuket time) today in Mariupol.

As Russias assault on populated areas continued, the head of the UN Human Rights Council said that indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes.

Putin misled?

More than a month after Russian troops poured into Ukraine, Ukrainian forces have inflicted heavy casualties and destroyed startling quantities of Russian tanks and aircraft with the help of donated US and European weaponry.

Parallel to the fighting on the ground, Moscow is reeling under unprecedented Western sanctions designed to cripple the ruble, block high-tech imports and punish the Russian elite.

US officials said yesterday that Putin is angry after being shielded from the truth.

Citing US intelligence, White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said he felt misled by the Russian military.

A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described persistent tension between Putin and military staff, with Putin now having mistrust in his generals.

Western pressure

At the Istanbul talks, Russian officials pledged to radically reduce their attacks because of progress in negotiations on the neutrality and non-nuclear status of Ukraine - two central concerns for Moscow.

Both sides initially said the Istanbul meeting had made progress, but the Kremlin on yesterday played down hopes of a breakthrough.

We cannot state that there was anything too promising, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian was similarly pessimistic, saying the war continues.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that Western sanctions should remain in place until every single one of the Russian troops has left.

Johnson spoke of British military aid going up a gear and the White House said that President Joe Biden discussed additional capabilities in an almost hour-long phone call with Zelensky.

Bedingfield said it could include anti-ship capability to hit Russian vessels in the Black Sea.

On a visit to China yesterday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov looked to boost support from Moscows most important ally.

Lavrov will also go this week to India, which has abstained from UN resolutions censuring Russia and continues to buy Russian oil, despite pressure from Washington.

Shelling and redeployments

There were signs that the Russians were shuffling units around, rather than withdrawing from key areas.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said there had been repositioning away from the Hostomel airport near Kyiv and also from around the Chernobyl nuclear power facility, with Russian troops crossing back into neighboring Belarus, an ally of Russia.

However, we have seen none of them reposition to their home garrison, he said.

There is little independent information about fighting in the east of Ukraine where Ukrainian forces face a powerful array of Russian regular and Russian-organized local militias.

Russian forces also shelled a factory in the city of Novomoskovsk as well as a fuel facility in the regional capital, Dnipro, said regional officials.

The eastern Donetsk regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, wrote on Telegram that Russian forces had used phosphorous shells in the town of Maryinka.

In Mariupol, Russian forces bombed an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) building, Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova said in a statement on social media.

Russian energy demands

Germany and Austria have raised the alarm over fears Russia could cut gas supplies to countries that refuse its demand to be paid in rubles.

But Putin yesterday told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gas payments could continue in euros.

EU member Slovakia, meanwhile, announced it would expel 35 Russian diplomats based on information provided by intelligence services.

And in a development in the cultural world, Russian superstar soprano Anna Netrebko condemned the war and said she would return to the stage after cancelling concerts in the wake of criticism that she was close to the Kremlin.

Dazed survivors and corpses

In the town of Trostyanets, just 30 kilometres (20 miles) from the Russian border, AFP reporters saw dazed residents emerge from their homes as Ukrainian soldiers salvaged abandoned Russian vehicles.

There was nothing left to eat in the town, no water and no electricity, said Pavlo, who spent the past month hunkered down in his basement.

In Irpin, a gateway to Kyiv, officials said they were recovering bodies in the streets and the area was still being shelled by Russia.

Irpins mayor Oleksandr Markushyn said at least 200 people had been killed there since the war began.

On the eastern outskirts of second city Kharkiv, AFP correspondents witnessed a dozen corpses of Russian soldiers lying scattered in fields and houses after Ukrainian soldiers regained control of a highway.
Phuket as a special administration area tabled at official meeting

PHUKET: The future of Phuket as a special administrative area, entertaining the prospect of Phuket residents being entitled to elect their own Governor, was discussed at a meeting at Phuket City Municipality yesterday (Mar 30).

economicspolitics

By The Phuket News

Thursday 31 March 2022, 04:25PM

The meeting was held at the Phuket City Municipality offices in Phuket Town yesterday (Mar 30). Photo: PR Phuket

The meeting was held at the Phuket City Municipality offices in Phuket Town yesterday (Mar 30). Photo: PR Phuket

The meeting was held at the Phuket City Municipality offices in Phuket Town yesterday (Mar 30). Photo: PR Phuket

The meeting was held at the Phuket City Municipality offices in Phuket Town yesterday (Mar 30). Photo: PR Phuket

The meeting was held at the Phuket City Municipality offices in Phuket Town yesterday (Mar 30). Photo: PR Phuket

The issue was tabled during a two-day visit by Prof Kowit Phuangngam, Chairperson of the House of Representatives Extraordinary Committee established to consider the problems and obstacles in the provision of public services and public activities.

Prof Kowit was investigating the issues involved in allowing local administrations more authority in dealing with water supply problems, said a report by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department (PR Phuket).

By extension, the discussion yesterday involved the committee investigating the issues involved in the establishment of a special form of local government organization and self-management provinces and supervision of local government organisations, said the report.

Among those present for the discussion were Phuket Vice Governor Pichet Panapong and Phuket City Mayor Saroj Angkhanapilas.

The purpose of the discussion was exchanging opinions, the PR Phuket said.

However, the report made no mention of any suggestions proposed.

The committee listened to the opinions of the local administrators and local government officials yesterday and today [Mar 29-30] heard information from the central government, the report said.

Local authorities in Phuket are to collect information for further action on their relevant parts, the report concluded.

Phuket formally being designated a Special Administrative Area has been proposed many times over the past two decades as a way for the province to cope with rapid growth in tourism that before COVID-19 saw the island each year generate billions of baht for the national economy.

Current proponents for Phuket having more autonomy include Phuket Chamber of Commerce President Thanusak Phungdet along with Rewat Areerob, a former MP representing Phuket now currently serving as President of the Phuket Provincial Administration Organisation (PPAO, or OrBorJor).

Mr Thanusak submitted a formal request to Cabinet in November 2020 to have Phuket declared a Special Administrative Area. Until the meeting yesterday, more than a year later, the central government had remained silent on the request.

The issue of Phuket being left helpless to help itself while being ignored by the central government, which for decades reaped the economic benefits of Phukets success as a tourism destination, became a key sore point in July 2020 when the islands economy was crushed by the economic impact of the COVID-19 policies.

Deputy Prime Minister Jurin Laksanawisit bore the brunt of the anger from local representatives pointing out the lack of support for Phuket residents left without any income, and dependent on food handouts from private sources to survive.

The issue reared its head again in April last year when Phuket was refused permission to buy its own vaccines in order to be able to reopen to tourism as quickly as possible.

Korn Chatikavanij of the recently formed Kla Party (Brave Party) in October last year confirmed in an exclusive interview with The Phuket News that the Kla Party had become the first national political party to make a more autonomous Phuket with Phuket people being able to elect their own Governor official party policy.

As such, if the Kla Party wins the next national election, making Phuket a Special Administrative Area will be part of the partys mandate.

Mr Korn, who served as Finance Minister under the Abhisit Vejjajiva government, was in Phuket to confirm Thames Kraitat as the Kla Party candidate for Phuket in the next general election, currently expected to be held in November this year.

The two current Members of Parliament representing Phuket  Sutha Goh Tui Pratheep Na Thalang and Nattee Thinsakhu  are both representatives from the ruling military-aligned Palang Pracharath Party, led by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Police probe into deadly rafting accident continues

PHUKET: Police are continuing their investigation into the death of an Iranian tourist in a rafting accident in Phang Nga on Tuesday(Mar 29).

tourismaccidentsdeathSafetypolice

By The Phuket News

Thursday 31 March 2022, 01:29PM

Col Ekkachai Siri, of the Phuket Tourist Police, reported that officers today will be questioning four Israeli tourists who were in the raft when the accident happened.

Col Ekkachai also confirmed that the body of the tourist, 42-year-old Iranian national Javad Behzadifar, will be repatriated to Iran tomorrow, as requested by his widow, Atiyeh Elahi.

Ms Elahi and Mr Behzadifars body will depart Thailand via Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Col Ekkachai noted.

Mr Behzadifars body was found on a bank of the Klong Ra stream about two kilometres from where the raft struck a large rock and bridge pylon, causing the raft to capsize, Col Ekkachai confirmed.

The location of the body was about seven kilometres from where the rafting journey began, he wrote.

Initial reports said that Mr Behzadifars legs were tied to the boat with rope when the raft, a rubber dinghy, capsized. Other reports said his legs were just tangled up with rope in the boat.

Col Ekkachai has now confirmed that one of Mr Behzadifars feet was caught in the rope the runs along the side of the boat, usually used for carrying the boat and for passengers to hold onto.

When people rushed to rescue Mr Behzadifar, they were able to free the boat from where the fast-moving water had pinned it against a large rock, but they were unable to free Mr Behzadifar.

Col Ekkachai confirmed that at this stage police have not pressed any charges against any party involved in the incident.

He did confirm that the tour company that provided the tour, Multi Adventure Limited Partnership, is fully legally licensed and registered, and has accident insurance coverage through Tokio Marine Life to the amount of B1 million for death of a person through an accident.
Winners of Phuket Red Cross fair lucky draw announced

PHUKET: Phuket Governor Narong Woonciew led a prize-giving fiesta at the old Phuket Provincial Hall yesterday (Mar 30), leading with the presentation of 10 bahtweight in gold worth more than B300,000 as the top prize in the Dee Phuket Fair lucky draw.

charity

By The Phuket News

Thursday 31 March 2022, 12:45PM

The lucky numbers were drawn on Monday night, the final night of the festival, held at Saphan Hin. The fair was held as the de facto Phuket Red Cross Fair, which before the COVID-19 outbreak two years ago served as a key fundraising event for the local Red Cross branch.

At the prize-giving ceremony yesterday, Suthida Kranokfoi was gifted 10 bahtweight of gold for winning the top prize with lucky draw ticket number 49664.

Wisanu Meekham was presented 5 bahtweight of gold worth about B155,500 for winning the second prize with ticket number 11470.

The prizes were handed over by Governor Narong, joined by his wife Wandee Woonciew, who as the wife of the current Governor of Phuket is the current President of the Phuket chapter of the Red Cross.

Winners of any of the other lucky draw prizes have yet to be named.

Third prize is a 2 bahtweight of gold worth more than B62,000, with three third-place prizes up for grabs. The winning numbers are 45875, 16988 and 18452.

The fourth prize is 1 bahtweight of gold worth about B31,100, with five fourth-place prizes up for grabs. The winning numbers are 27961, 43327, 51797, 53119 and 49032.

The fifth prize in the lucky draw is 2 salung bahtweight of gold worth just over B15,000 each, with 20 fifth-place prizes up for grabs. The winning numbers are 46864, 50269, 11898, 41966, 49563, 37887, 37829, 54654, 11716, 52126, 26267, 12634, 22750, 23425, 18605, 16671, 33052, 55884, 41289 and 39589.

For those with the correct last three numbers in the lucky draw  number 595  can claim their prize of 50 16-inch fans to be won.

Winners have until April 25 to claim their prizes by contacting the Phuket Red Cross office at 076-211766 or through the Phuket Provincial Office website www.phuket.go.th

OTHER PRIZES

Also presented at the ceremony yesterday were a slew of awards presented to officials and members of the community for their achievements.

Among the awards, plaques and certificates presented was a license to establish four service centers for the disabled, and certificates presented to two provincial officials recognised for their performance in their roles: one as a coordinator for a land fund; and the other for operating an outstanding community fund management center.

Certificates were also awarded to a group who took part in a Buddhist prayer contest, youths in Phuket who have been selected as model youth representatives and the youths who represented Phuket in the national To Be Number One Idol contest, receiving a plaque issued by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Interior.

Plaques were awarded to six athletes, unnamed, for their achievements, and an award was handed to Phuket City Municipality for operating what was deemed to be a Distinguished DEP Center and Distinguished DEP Foundation for the year 2022.
Southern Pines, NC (28387)

Today

Cloudy early, then thunderstorms developing this afternoon. A few storms may be severe. High 87F. Winds SSW at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 60%..

Tonight

Thunderstorms early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A few storms may be severe. Low around 60F. Winds SW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Press Release

March 31, 2022 Tolentino leads inauguration of Casiguran naval operating base intended to guard Philippine Rise CASIGURAN, Aurora - Senator Francis 'Tol' N. Tolentino on Thursday led the inauguration of the Casiguran, Aurora Naval Operating Base (NOB) intended to strengthen the country's naval presence in the 13 million-hectare Philippine Rise. Tolentino, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Defense, said the newly-launched naval facility will enhance the Philippine Navy's capability to ensure that the country's territories remain "guarded and free." The base, constructed through a pact between the Philippine Navy and Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport (Apeco), would multiply the Philippine Navy's force in defending the country's waters and preserving resources, Tolentino said. "Itong ating pinapasinayaan will play a crucial role in safeguarding marine treasures that are unique to the Philippines, hindi lang sovereignty and national security ang pangangalagaan nitong estruktura na ito, bahagi na rin ang likas na yamang dagat na wala sa ibang lugar," Tolentino said. "10 years from now, 15 years from now, I envision this to be a multi-structured area, napakaraming buildings dito balang araw. Nakikita ko po, ito 'yung magiging pahingaan kapag tayo ay may Balikatan exercises sa Philippine Rise," he added. The base, which would serve as a naval support facility and naval air detachment in Casiguran, Aurora, is close to Philippine Rise, a 13 million-hectare undersea region east of Luzon. "For countless years, the Hukbong Dagat ng Pilipinas has been a formidable bulwark that protected the nation and the people from maritime intrusion, encroachment, aggression and such other acts that impinge upon the freedom and independence of the Filipino people," Tolentino said. Tolentino also emphasized that his office has "diligently worked to enhance the capabilities of the Philippine Navy, our armed forces as a whole, in order for them to serve the country and the people with greater efficiency and dedication." In 2019, Tolentino filed Senate Bill 1143 or the Philippine Archipelagic Defense Act seeking to allocate funds for the creation of a 'naval chain' from Batanes to Tawi-Tawi. The bill tagged the Casiguran, Aurora naval operating base as a 'priority site' of the Philippine Navy's forward operating bases under the Strategic Basing Plan 2040. Plans to construct the naval operating base in Casiguran town began in May 2017 when Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana announced that the government will boost its efforts to secure the resource-rich Philippine Rise. Likewise, Tolentino said "a number of other infrastructure and capacity building projects for our military personnel are already in the pipeline, or have already been included in the 2022 national budget." "Rest assured that we continue to advance the interests and welfare of the Philippine Navy as well as the rest of our national defense force. As your fellow uniformed personnel, my unwavering commitment is to be your partner in strengthening our national defense capabilities," the Senator said. "Let us continue to serve our country and our people in the traditions of honor, integrity and valor. May you all remain faithful to your sworn duties to protect Philippines seas and to secure our future," he added. Present during the inauguration were Rear Admiral Antonio Palces, Acting Flag Officer in Command of the Philippine Navy; Commodore Francisco Tagamolila Jr. commander of the Naval Forces Northern Luzon (NFNL); Israel Manucdoc, President of Apeco; Kirby Tolentino, Operations Manager of Apeco; Roynald Soriano, Vice Mayor of Casiguran; Antonio Chua, representative of Casiguran Mayor Ricardo Bitong; Dr. Cesar B. Chavez, Vice President of Manila Broadcasting Company and Station Manager of DZRH; and several representatives of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and PNP Casiguran.
Today

Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 76F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 49F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph.

Tomorrow

Wind increasing. A few clouds from time to time. High 69F. Winds W at 20 to 30 mph. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.
EDWARDSVILLE  A Cottage Hills man pleaded guilty and was sentenced Wednesday in two sex assault cases involving young children.

Devin P. Brazier, 28, also referred to as Deven Brazier, has pleaded guilty to one county of predatory criminal sexual assault against an 8-year-old girl and one count of attempted predatory criminal sexual assault against an infant.

A number of other related charges were dropped as part of the plea.

Brazier was sentenced to 37 years for the sex assault and 15 years for the attempted sex assault. He must serve at least 85 percent of the sentence. If he had gone to trial and been convicted, he could have been sentenced to natural life in prison.

The plea and sentencing were conducted Wednesday in front of Circuit Judge Kyle Napp.

Brazier was originally charged May 24, 2021 with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and attempted predatory criminal sexual assault of a child relating to a May 20, 2021 Alton incident involving the infant.

The second case was filed Nov. 10, 2021. Brazier was charged with three counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child, all Class X felonies with mandatory life sentences; and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, a Class 2 felony. Those incidents occurred in East Alton.

According to additional court documents, Braziers girlfriend contacted Alton Police when she entered their home and found Brazier standing over the 11-month-old infant with his pants and boxers pulled down.

When officers arrived Brazier allegedly put his arms behind his back and requested officers arrest him.

He later told investigators there would be saliva DNA evidence on the infant.

While being questioned, Brazier was asked about the East Alton incident. He told police his relationship with the 8-year-old was consensual and there was a mutual relationship with the child.

Other court documents stated East Alton Police were contacted in August 2020 regarding allegations of sexual abuse, but after a brief investigation the Illinois Department of Children and Family services indicated the allegations were unfounded.

This does not necessarily mean that an incident did not occur, a letter dated Aug. 12, 2020 to Brazier from DCFS stated. An incident may have occurred but the evidence did not rise to the level required to indicate for abuse or neglect.

At the time the first charges were filed, Madison County States Attorney Tom Haine released a statement that, crimes against innocent children are truly the worst."
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Housing Development Authority announced Wednesday that the Illinois Homeowner Assistance Fund will open April 11 to help homeowners who fell behind on mortgage payments and related housing expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The same day, Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity encouraged families in need to apply for $150 million in utility bill assistance through the Help Illinois Families Program.

Applying for free homeowner assistance

Eligible households under ILHAF will be able to apply for up to $30,000 in free assistance to pay past-due mortgage payments, property taxes, property insurance and delinquent homeowner and/or condo association fees. Applications for ILHAF will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, May 31 at ILHAF's website.

"Illinois was the fastest state in the nation to respond to the housing crisis brought on by the pandemic, and with the need still high, were building on that legacy of leadership in 2022," Pritzker said in a statement. "Another $309 million to struggling mortgage owners in their homes is going out the door this spring. A good life, a good job, the ability to focus in a classroom  it all starts with a roof over your head. And thats what every Illinois resident deserves."

ILHAF is designed to help homeowners avoid mortgage delinquencies, defaults, foreclosures, and help prevent displacement of households experiencing financial hardships caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the state wrote in a press release. Homeowners in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the health and economic effects of the pandemic will be prioritized in the distribution of assistance, the IHDA said, and IHDA has partnered with organizations across the state to help homeowners in hard-hit communities apply and receive their fair share of support.

"With the support of Governor Pritzker, IHDA has delivered emergency housing payments on behalf of 120,000 Illinois renters and homeowners since the pandemic began, and the ILHAF program will build on these efforts to provide much-needed relief to households who need it most," IHDA Executive Director Kristin Faust said in a statement. "The next few weeks are critical for homeowners to become informed and collect the documents they need to apply. If you are behind on your payments, dont wait. Reach out to a counselor and prepare for your application today."

To qualify for ILHAF, Illinois homeowners must have experienced a financial hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as lost income or increased expenses, on or after Jan. 21, 2020. They must also currently own and occupy their home in Illinois as their primary residence, be at least 30 days late on their mortgage or other homeowner expenses, and have a household income at or below 150% of the area median income.

With the ILHAF application date approaching, there are important steps homeowners can take today to prepare. Homeowners should consult with a HUD-certified housing counselor or talk to their mortgage servicer about mitigation options as soon as possible. A certificate from a HUD-certified housing counselor or a letter from a mortgage servicer detailing efforts to resolve the delinquency is required to apply for ILHAF assistance.

When applying for ILHAF assistance, homeowners should also have the following ready:

Proof of identification, including but not limited to a driver's license, state ID, permanent residency card or other form of ID

Proof of household income, including but not limited to tax returns, pay stubs or other documentation

Proof of occupancy, including but not limited to a bank statement, cell phone bill, credit/debit card statement or other documentation

Proof of ownership, including but not limited to a property tax bill, property deed or other documentation

Delinquency statement, including but not limited to a mortgage statement, property tax statement, insurance statement or HOA/Condo Association statement

ILHAF is funded by $309 in federal funds allocated to the state by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. After seeking input from a range of stakeholders including members of the Illinois General Assembly, municipal officials, housing advocacy organizations, and Illinois residents, IHDA submitted an ILHAF plan to the U.S. Department of the Treasury and received approval to build the proposed program in December 2021.

The initiative builds upon several homeowner and renter assistance efforts undertaken by the Pritzker administration, including the Emergency Mortgage and Rental Assistance Programs in 2020 and the Illinois Rental Payment Program in 2021. Together these programs will aim to deliver more than $1 billion in emergency rent and mortgage payment assistance to Illinois households during the pandemic, the state wrote.

Applying for utility assistance

All families who meet the criteria and provide required documentation are eligible to receive utility bill assistance for natural gas, propane and electricity through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). More than 230,000 households have already received utility assistance so far, according to DCEO data.

In addition to utilities benefits available each year, the $150 million in available benefits includes an additional $80 million for the Utility Disconnection Avoidance Program for current year LIHEAP recipients in imminent threat of utility shut-off. This is expected to support over 50,000 additional resident accounts currently on Illinois Commerce Commission utilities disconnect lists across the state.

"Support for families struggling to pay their household bills is still available through our Help Illinois Families program." DCEO Director Sylvia I. Garcia said in a statement. "I urge all Illinois residents in need to visit our website or call our hotline today to apply for assistance; its not too late to enroll and receive help with your utility costs."

The voluntary winter utility shut-off moratorium facilitated by the Illinois Commerce Commission ends March 31. Families in need of help with utility bills should visit the LIHEAP website.

"The COVID-19 pandemic combined with high energy prices has put a tremendous financial strain on many consumers. The Illinois Commerce Commission remains very concerned and continues to work with utilities and advocacy groups to protect low-income customers from losing vital utility services," ICC Chairman Carrie Zalewski said in a statement. "If you find it hard to pay your utility bills, please contact your utility company immediately, and take advantage of the resources available through the LIHEAP program and act quickly to apply."

UDAP was set up with the aim of providing emergency relief dollars for Illinois customers at risk of service disconnections. More than $110 million was used to help 121,000 residential accounts avoid disconnection of services in 2021 following an initial executive order from Pritzker in April.

To be eligible for UDAP, households need to have received LIHEAP benefits between September 1, 2021 and May 31, 2022, and be in imminent threat of disconnection. A UDAP participant may receive a one-time credit, per utility, based on the utility account balance. Assistance can range from $250 up to a maximum of $5,000.

Illinois offers various programs intended to support eligible low-income families with utility assistance, open to all eligible low-income Illinois families who meet the criteria, including undocumented families. While the amount of support varies based on the needs of individual families, so far in 2022 LIHEAP recipients have received an average of $930 per household.

For households interested in the LIHEAP program and assistance, the state encourages residents to apply by May 31 at the website or by visiting a local agency, a list of which can be found at the DCEO's website.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Missouri has spent tens of millions through emergency contracts that bypassed the normal bidding process.

Now, some lawmakers are looking to ensure the state moves back to competitive bidding and increases transparency for when the state does use emergency contracts. Such steps are in the best interest of Missouri state government and residents.

The Missouri Independent recently had a story about a House hearing for bills by two representatives. Each would mandate more reporting requirements on state purchasing when normal processes arent used.

Rep. Brad Hudson, R-Cape Fair and the chair of the Subcommittee on Appropriations, said the bills are the beginnings of an attempt at (request for proposal) reform in Missouri, the Independent reported.

The bills would limit no-bid contracts to one year when only one vendor can provide the needed services or when emergency procurements are issues, the news source reported.

It said that when emergency procurements are awarded, the state must plan to implement a competitive bid process within a year, and emergency procurements could be extended if necessary while a competitive bid process is ongoing.

No one opposed the bills at the hearing, and only the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and industry testified in support of them.

We want to make sure that our process is both efficient and effective for taxpayer dollars, said Kara Corches, the chambers vice president of governmental affairs, the Independent reported.

The pandemic forced changes in the way we do many things. Quick action sometimes required bypassing traditional bidding processes.

These bills will help ensure the state returns to a competitive bidding process as it is able to, and offer transparency to Missourians when it isnt.
Scranton, PA (18503)

Today

Periods of rain. High 53F. Winds ENE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..

Tonight

Periods of rain. Low 47F. Winds ENE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch.
Jaguar Land Rover has announced ambitious targets for greenhouse gas emission reductions across both its production process and model range.

The British car maker has committed to slashing emissions across its operations by 46 per cent by 2030, and by 56 per cent across its value chains.

It has also set out to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the vehicles it produces over their lifetime of customer use by 60 per cent before the end of the decade, which will be driven by its switch to battery powertrains, including Jaguar becoming an all-electric brand from 2025.

Jaguar Land Rover make greenhouse gas emission reductions: Car maker promises cuts across its operations by 46% by 2030, and by 56% across its value chains

Land Rover has also pledged to offer an electric version of every vehicle in its line-up by 2030, which will begin in 2024 when a battery-powered Range Rover becomes its debut zero-emission car.

The cuts are compared to JLR's greenhouse gas emissions during 2019.

The new targets have received approval from the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) and meets the most ambitious goal - a 1.5C emissions reduction - set out in the Paris Agreement.

The car maker, which is owned by Indian group Tata Motors, committed to the SBTi during the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last November, for which it was an official vehicle partner providing electric Jaguar I-Pace SUVs to shuttle world leaders to and from the exhibition centre in the Scottish city.

The company has manufacturing sites in six different countries, including Austria, Brazil, China, India, Slovakia and Great Britain - as well as research and innovation sites in Hungary and the US.

Of all the vehicles it built at UK plants, which include Castle Bromwich and Solihill in the midlands and Halewood in the north west, four in five are for overseas markets.

Some 220,554 motors were produced at these UK factories by JLR last year, which is 50 per cent of its global 2021 output and also makes it the biggest manufacturer in Britain accounting for a quarter (26 per cent) of all cars built here.

JLR has also set out to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the vehicles during lifetime of use by 60% per cent before the end of the decade

Bosses have already committed to Jaguar becoming an all-electric luxury car brand from 2025

JLR says its greenhouse gas emission targets will be a stepping-stone to achieving its total net zero emissions pledge for 2039, as part of its Reimagine strategy.

To achieve this, the company will decarbonise across design and materials, manufacturing operations, supply chain, electrification, battery strategy, circular economy processes, and up to end-of-life treatment.

However, no intricate details for how it will achieve any of the above has been published.

The car maker has taken steps by creating a new role of 'Sustainability Director', appointing Rossella Cardone in the position.

'As we move from climate ambition into action, we are now embedding sustainability into the Jaguar Land Rover DNA to minimise our carbon footprint across our value chain,' she said.

'Science-based targets tell us how much and how quickly we need to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions as well as keeping stakeholders informed about our progress.'
Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has made an agreed 1.6billion all-cash offer for British wealth manager Brewin Dolphin.

Brewin shareholders will be offered 515p per share, representing a 62 per cent premium on Wednesday's closing price of 318p.

That values Brewin Dolphin at 2.8 per cent of its 55 billion in assets under management as of 28 February.

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has made an agreed 1.6 billion all cash offer for British wealth manager Brewin Dolphin

Directors of Brewin Dolphin have given unanimous backing for the deal, which is expected to complete at the end of the third quarter of this year.

Commenting on the acquisition David Thomas, CEO of RBC Capital Markets Europe, said: 'The UK is a key growth market for RBC, and Brewin Dolphin provides us with an exceptional platform to significantly transform our wealth management business in the region.

'Both management teams are excited by a shared vision of high quality client service, client-centric culture and the exceptional growth opportunities that we can deliver together.'

Thomas highlighted that the combination would make RBC Wealth Management the third biggest wealth manager in Britain and Ireland, as well as a market leader in Canada and with a growing position in the US.

Directors of Brewin Dolphin (headquarters pictured) have given unanimous backing for the deal

'The Brewin Dolphin Board is pleased to recommend the offer by RBC in the interests of our shareholders, our clients, our people and our business partners,' said Brewin Dolphin CEO Robin Beer.

On news of the buyout offer, Brewin Dolphin shares surged 61 per cent on Thursday to hit a record high.

Last November, the firm revealed it had attracted record discretionary fund inflows of 4billion in the year to 30 September, with income of more than 400million.

Income growth was driven by a significant surge in fees from private clients, expanding demand for financial advisory services 1762 and wealth core, and a 1billion increase in discretionary net flows.

Brewin Dolphin also noted the strong performance by its Irish division, which saw total fund growth of 800million and a 30 per cent jump in income on the back of Brexit-related transfers and a one-off corporate transaction in the third quarter.

British investment firms have benefited heavily from gaining hundreds of thousands of new customers during the pandemic, many of whom were young and trying investing for the first time.

AJ Bell's results for the 2021 fiscal year showed it attracted 87,000 more customers to its platform, while Hargreaves Lansdown added another 233,000 clients.

Both firms noted that trading activity has slowed down as restrictions have loosened, but are confident they will continue to do well out of long-term changes affecting the investment sector.
Diageo has taken over female-owned tequila brand 21 Seeds.

The Guinness and Johnnie Walker maker bought 21 Seeds in a bid to take advantage of the fact that tequila is now the fastest-growing spirits market in the US.

Tequila sales in the States are growing at 16 per cent each year, compared with 6 per cent for the general spirits market, according to the IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.

Tequila brand 21 Seeds was founded in 2019 by sisters Nicole Emanuel (left) and Kat Hantas (centre) and their friend Sarika Singh (right)

The award-winning 21 Seeds was founded in 2019 by sisters Kat Hantas and Nicole Emanuel, and their friend Sarika Singh.

The founders will continue working for the business under Diageo, which also owns Captain Morgan, Baileys, Smirnoff and tequila brands Casamigos and Don Julio.

Diageo North America president Debra Crew said they were delighted to welcome 21 Seeds into their tequila portfolio.

Hantas said: Its been a thrill to watch consumers embrace our brand, and we are excited about the future for 21 Seeds.
One of the City of Londons oldest firms looks set to fall into foreign hands in a 1.6billion deal.

Brewin Dolphin, which dates back to 1762 and looks after 55billion of funds for more than 80,000 clients, has agreed to a takeover by Royal Bank of Canada (RBC).

The 515p-a-share offer was 62 per cent higher than the closing price on Wednesday before the deal was announced.

Deal agreed: Brewin Dolphin, which dates back to 1762 and looks after 55bn of funds for more than 80,000 clients, has agreed to a takeover by Royal Bank of Canada

The Brewin Dolphin board urged shareholders to back the takeover.

Shares jumped 61 per cent, or 194p, to 512p, and FTSE 250 rival Rathbones was up 12.2 per cent, or 216p, to 1980p on speculation that others in the sector could become bid targets.

The proposed Brewin takeover  which needs to be ratified by shareholders  is likely to lead to a number of job losses and comes as RBC looks to beef up its operations in the UK.

And it is just the latest in a wave of consolidation in the wealth management sector in London as firms face mounting costs over technology and compliance.

Brewin Dolphin rival Charles Stanley  a fixture of the Square Mile since 1792  was bought by US investment bank Raymond James for 279million.

FTSE 100 group Abrdn has snapped up stock trading website Interactive Investor for 1.5billion and JP Morgan bought wealth management platform Nutmeg for 700million.

The deals have come amid a spree of foreign buyers taking over British companies since the pandemic struck, with Morrisons, John Menzies, Ultra Electronics and Meggitt all targeted.

RBC, one of Canadas largest banks, plans to combine Brewin Dolphin with its existing UK wealth business to create a group that manages around 64billion of savers cash  making it the third biggest player in the UK and Ireland.

It warned there would be limited headcount reductions among Brewin Dolphins workforce of over 2,000 staff.

Analysts at Jefferies said the price offered by RBC demonstrates the attractiveness of the UK wealth market, with long-term, stable income streams and the potential for growth and higher operating margins.

Founded in 1864, the Royal Bank of Canada has a market value of around 121billion and employs 88,000 people worldwide.

RBC chief Doug Guzman said: The UK is a key growth market for RBC and Brewin Dolphin provides us with an exceptional platform to significantly transform our wealth management business in the region.

Now one of the largest wealth managers in the UK, Brewin Dolphin traces its roots back to when John Dawes from Cumbria set up as a stockbroker in London in 1762.

The company grew into Wontner, Dolphin & Francis and eventually became Brewin Dolphin in 1974 following a merger with Brewin & Co.

Chief executive Robin Beer said: The Brewin Dolphin board is pleased to recommend the offer by RBC in the interests of our shareholders, our clients, our people and our business partners. The combined business will create an attractive platform for future growth.

He added: As part of RBC we would be able to provide our clients with a broader range of products and services.
Kingsport, TN (37660)

Today

Strong thunderstorms likely. Damaging winds, large hail and possibly a tornado with some storms. High 74F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%..

Tonight

Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Thunder possible. Low around 55F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 80%.
Hector Vivas | Getty Images

If you plan to start a business or open another branch of the one you already have, perhaps this is your opportunity, especially if your line of business is restaurants, fast food, coffee shops, fashion and retail stores, self-service stores, banks and exchange houses; crafts, car rental, airport and complementary services, since they are the lines of business that the Felipe Angeles International Airport (AIFA) is looking for.

The commercial area of AIFA told El Financiero that the rent per square meter starts at $488.10 Mexican pesos, from which interested parties make offers to open their business in the facilities and sell their merchandise.
ALBANY  Any city thoroughfare changes over time, and Albanys Pearl Street is no different.

But poor urban planning coupled with racial and urban stereotypes tied to demographic changes contributed to the transformation of a once-thriving downtown artery into a bisected corridor where stark differences between its north and south ends remain.

For Pearl Street, the shift in the areas residential population from being predominantly white to people of color contributed to disinvestment stretching back generations. But as one city planner notes, the communitys diversity should be viewed as its strength.

That diversity is nothing new: In the 1950s, South Pearl Street was predominantly a German, Irish, Italian and Jewish community fed by migration after two world wars.

City census data from 1950 showed that one large neighborhood including Pearl Street  census tract 25  was inhabited by 5,706 white and 667 non-white residents. It also detailed how the majority of people living there were of German, Irish, Italian and Polish descent.

In one area around North Pearl Street, the neighborhood at midcentury was home to 2,226 white and 926 non-white residents.

Mary Ellen OConnor said Pearl Street was an immigrant neighborhood back then. To her and others living in the South End, immigrant was a word that didnt have stigmas associated with it as it does in some quarters today, she explained.

We felt like a lot of people in the other parts of the city looked down their nose on us in the South End because we were blue-collar, she said.

And it wasn't just people like Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, who considered these neighborhoods The Gut of the city. Media outlets, including the Times Union, would often refer to them as slums.

Still, the community thrived for as long as it could, and in time, the population and prejudices associated with it gradually changed.

Paul Buckowski/Times Union Shayla Colon / Times Union LEFT: Alice Green stands on South Pearl Street outside the African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region, a place she has seen evolve tremendously and become a hallmark community for people of color over time. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union) RIGHT: The Rev. McKinley Johnson Sr.s relatives migrated to the South End of Albany, near South Pearl Street, when it was predominantly an Irish, Italian and German community. (Shayla Colon / Times Union) TOP: Alice Green stands on South Pearl Street outside the African American Cultural Center of the Capital Region, a place she has seen evolve tremendously and become a hallmark community for people of color over time. (Paul Buckowski/Times Union) BOTTOM: The Rev. McKinley Johnson Sr.s relatives migrated to the South End of Albany, near South Pearl Street, when it was predominantly an Irish, Italian and German community. (Shayla Colon / Times Union)

Time and travel

Alice Green, director of the Albany-based Center for Law and Justice and a founder of the South End Scene newspaper, still recalls immigrant groups relocating to the city just as easily as she remembers them leaving in the 1960s when she worked at the human services agency thats now called Trinity Alliance.

By that time, Green was beginning to see many Italian and Irish families leave South Pearl and move up to northern Albany into neighborhoods such as Arbor Hill.

As well, more people of color escaping the Jim Crow South began settling around South Pearl Street, changing the areas demographics. The Rev. McKinley Johnson Sr.s ancestors were some of those Black migrants.

Johnsons father, John Jack Johnson, came to Albany in 1931 from Mississippi with 15 others in a single car. They migrated into what was called Albany down by the river, which connects to South Pearl Street. And for generations to come, many of them stayed in the area. He and his son are living proof.

All my life Ive been here, the Rev. Johnson said.

The Times Union tracked demographic data from the 1970s onward in three census tracts that include Pearl Street  tracts 11, 25 and 26  and created graphics demonstrating the transition over time. It's important to note that from 1980 onward, the U.S. Census began asking respondents to identify their race and ethnicity, which included Latino and Hispanic populations, that were previously separate.

Census tract demographics 1980 to 2020

By the 1980s, the white population in these tracts had dwindled while the number of people of color, particularly Black people, grew and in some cases becoming the majority population. According to 2020 U.S. Census figures, of the three tracts, only census tract 11 showed more white residents than people of color.

Stigmas and racism

Community organizations and city planners began noticing the change and stereotypes surrounding South Pearl long before the 1980s.

A 1961 study of the South End conducted by the Council of Community Services in the Albany Area and Albany College of Education (now the state University at Albany) made assertions about the neighborhood that can sound shocking today. Perhaps the most stark example was its description of the South Ends population, which the reports authors said was overrepresented by ethnic and racial minorities.

The stereotype is of the poor, the uneducated, the foreigner, the Negro, the unskilled, the study concluded. The stereotype is too broad, but the data do indicate the basis for such beliefs.

Just as more Black residents were putting down roots, the urban renewal project that created the government center called the Empire State Plaza and the raised arterial highway that bisected Pearl Street just north of Madison Avenue ushered in a new era of disinvestment for the street that some think was rooted in discrimination against the areas more diverse population.

Luanne Ferris/Times Union Historic Images Jack Madigan/Times Union Historic Images Left: Looking north on South Pearl Street toward Port of Albany Grocery Store; undated. Right: Steelwork construction over Pearl Street for the South Mall Expressway over South Pearl Street in Albany on April 22, 1969. (Times Union archives) Top: Looking north on South Pearl Street toward Port of Albany Grocery Store; undated. Bottom: Steelwork construction over Pearl Street for the South Mall Expressway over South Pearl Street in Albany on April 22, 1969. (Times Union archives)

Elaine Frazier, a lifelong city resident and Greens former co-worker, believes that when urban renewal took hold, the city gave up the Pearl Street communities and others for all things related to the Plazas expansion. She described it as the death of a city as public officials disinvested in its greatest asset, the people.

What had once been a corridor where different races and ethnicities mixed with relative ease quickly changed.

Vacant buildings were left in unkempt conditions, businesses closed and South Pearl Streets commercial district became a red-light district where police officers frequented the homes of prostitutes, Green explained.

Classist and racist stereotypes fed discriminatory lending practices codified by redlining, the Depression-era federal practice of marking certain neighborhoods as too risky for investment. Development was hobbled, hurting Pearl Streets growth  particularly on the southern end.

UAlbany urban planning Professor David Lewis contends that urban renewal projects, such as the Empire State Plaza construction, also altered social conditions for the Pearl Street community.

The combination of those things really tore the fabric of that community apart, he said. You cut off communities and people got displaced; you broke up families; you broke up the social capital (of) neighborhood associations, and then you physically cut them off in disinvestment.

Lewis said such actions were intended to promote segregation, even if it was a less visible form than the whites-only accommodations familiar in the South.

Its a hard thing for America to swallow, but thats the reality  our federal government, our state governments and our local governments acted in concert to segregate housing, he said.

Frazier saw something similar: an effort to remove people of color from the area in order to encourage the return of white residents. She remembers a board member of the Albany Interracial Council at a meeting in the early 1970s stating that everything being done to improve Arbor Hill  including part of North Pearl Street  was in anticipation of the great white return.

I looked down the table to a couple of the board members who were African American, she said, and they looked like somebody just put a knife through their heart.

David Hochfelder, an associate professor of history at UAlbany, said there were a variety of motivations behind urban renewal in the country  racism included. But since about 85 percent of those displaced by the South Mall Arterial project that bifurcated Pearl Street were white, he doesnt think race was a primary motivator.

Green looks at Pearl Street today and can still see the lingering effects of what was done to the street.

Theres still that division there, that people are more likely to visit North Pearl Street and the stigma thats attached to South Pearl Street, I hear it all the time, she said.  You dont want to go down to South Pearl Street. Theres violence down there, theres crime, there are all kinds of things. 

In interviews with individuals who have at one time or another lived or worked on Pearl Street, negative views persist, even as people voice their hopes to see it prosper end to end.

Samuel Wells, the citys neighborhood stabilization coordinator, said racist and urban stereotypes absolutely resulted in disinvestment along South Pearl in comparison to its northern counterpart.

Wells said there were many decisions made by earlier planners that he wishes the city could take back.

There's much more to the South End than some really outdated, old stereotypes that really dont serve to help anybody, he said.

I think immigrants and refugees can only provide a boon to all of our neighborhoods in the city of Albany, he said.

What do you wonder? Two Sides of Pearl Street Two Sides of Pearl Street benefits from a unique collaboration between the Times Union and Albany Public Library. This partnership, supported by the nonprofit Library Futures with assistance from Hearken and made possible by support from the Google News Initiative, aims to amplify the voices of community members in shaping and telling these stories. What do you want to know about Pearl Streets past, present and future? Submit your questions through this form or at an Albany Public Library branch. Learn more
SARATOGA SPRINGS  In his decades in the comedy business, Tommy Nicchi has never seen a comic slapped or attacked onstage. He does, however, know a comedian who was punched after a show, resulting in an ugly black eye.

The attacker just didn't like the comic's political point of view, Nicchi said. So she felt justified in responding with violence.

That incident isn't perfectly analogous to THE SLAP that has dominated conversation in recent days, of course. Will Smith wasn't upset about a political joke when he delivered that blow across Chris Rock's face.

But the punch Nicchi described and the Oscars slap witnessed by the world do share a certain disrespect for the freedom of comics to speak freely and for the difficult work of attempting to make us laugh. As Nicchi noted, this isn't an easy time to do stand-up comedy.

"There's a percentage of the audience that judges material based on their own personal feelings and sensitivities instead of on the humor value," said Nicchi, owner of The Comedy Works in Saratoga Springs, adding that "the comedy community is solidly behind Chris Rock and the ability to make a joke, whether somebody likes it or not."

Nicchi noted that if the intro of a joke is about Donald Trump, some chunk of the audience is immediately unwilling to hear the punch line. (The same is be true for jokes about Democrats, of course.)

We seem increasingly willing to accept only comedy that makes us feel good or confirms what we already think, which makes it difficult for a comic to deliver broad laughs.

We may also be losing the ability to laugh at ourselves, which makes it nearly impossible to approach life with humility and perspective.

I wasn't among the 16.6 million watching the Oscars Sunday night, given that I find the show's blend of celebrity worship and self-congratulation about as repellant as anything on TV. (I prefer to watch overpaid athletes kicking a ball around, which, admittedly, is just as frivolous.)

But it wasn't long before I saw the video of the now-infamous sequence that included Chris Rock telling a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith's shaved head; Will Smith's initial laughter before strolling with purpose toward Rock; the blow itself and Rock's shocked reaction; and Smith yelling from his chair in anger.

The scene was weird and awful and sad and depressing. I found myself strangely affected by it, even though it obviously ranks low among the world's continuing horrors. In the bigger scheme of things, it would seem to be an unimportant story that amounts to red meat for social media outrage but little more.

But I think Nicchi's point of view helps to explain, at least in part, why THE SLAP bothered so many people.

It was the sense that Smith's misguided attempt at chivalry (or toxic masculinity, if you prefer) was about more than his pomposity or mental health. It was the sense that what happened said something disconcerting about where we're headed.

It didn't help that Smith returned to his seat without consequence  he should have been escorted from the building  or that the teary-eyed actor, uttering nonsense lines about "what God is calling me to do" and his desire to be "a vessel for love," received a standing ovation soon afterward.

Yeah, I know. Hollywood should never be a yardstick for ethics, given how audiences at the Oscars, predictably sycophantic to power and celebrity, cheered for a creep like Harvey Weinstein for so long.

Still, what is happening? Why did people see violence as a justifiable response to a joke? Note: It isn't.

The argument here isn't meant to be supportive of bigoted or vicious humor or even Rock's quip about a woman's hair (He reportedly was unaware of Jada Pinkett Smith's alopecia.)

Nor is the argument that everybody should have equally thick skin. If some people prefer to keep their skin thin, well, that's their choice.

But here's a suggestion: If you don't want to be the butt of jokes, don't sit right up close to a working comic.

As Nicchi noted, the schtick at shows like the Oscars is usually the same, with the comedian targeting the big shots near the stage. It seems as though the Smiths wanted the publicity and ego gratification that comes with a prominent place in front of the cameras but wouldn't tolerate the flip side.

Thus, THE SLAP.

Remember when people just heckled comics they didn't like?

cchurchill@timesunion.com  518-454-5442  @chris_churchill
For months Central Hudson customers have been complaining of erratic and outrageously high energy bills, prompting a New York State Senate investigation and Public Service Commission audit into the energy providers billing operations. But even as spring brings 60-degree days, customers, including City of Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey, are still reporting exorbitant energy bills.

Harvey in March was backbilled $708,000 by Central Hudson for heat and electricity at his familys 3-bedroom, 2-bath ranch home. I saw it on my account and said, Woah, said Harvey, who has served as mayor since 2018.

The next day, he said his account was credited $707,621, with no detailed explanation from the utility as to why he was originally charged a six-figure amount.

Even barring this outrageous one-time charge and quick reversal, Harvey has seen an uptick in his Central Hudson bills. In March, he was also charged over $4,000 as his regular utility bill, up from around $2,000 the months before. On a budget billing plan, he pays $400 per month and tries to pay off his balance when he can.

A lot of times people dont know how these things work and you feel defenseless, said Harvey. Here Im the mayor of a city and I feel defenseless. I have a platform and different voice. If I feel defenseless and vulnerable, imagine someone thats not an elected official? How do they feel? They dont know where to start.

This bill is more than my mortgage

Torrance Harvey

Residents across the Hudson Valley have shared their frustration and anxiety surrounding their Central Hudson bills.

Kim VanAusdle, a Greene County Central Hudson customer, said that she also has sticker shock over her energy bills. I was told I owe $1,730.27  This bill is more than my mortgage.

Jared Pardi, who lives in a small one-bedroom apartment in Fishkill, said his bill has gone up over 50 percent since January to $180 a month. He said the company overestimated his bill by roughly 80 percent in March, which he only learned because meter readers came to his home.

A resident in Wappingers Falls said hes struggling with bill fluctuations. In February, Christopher OConnors bill was $2,400 and then in March it was $340. He contracted an independent electrician to run an audit to see where he might be using too much heat or electricity. Nothing was out of the ordinary to explain a high bill, he said. After three weeks of trying to get connected with someone at Central Hudson, he said he was able to schedule an appointment for an actual meter reading soon.

A lot of the elevated bills are a result of supply prices, said Central Hudson spokesperson Joe Jenkins. We expect the prices to remain elevated throughout the summer and possibly the end of the year. A lot of it has to do with factors beyond our control, like [the war] in eastern Europe. Theres so many factors that go into it, its like trying to predict the stock market. We have historic trends we can lean on and hope things moderate a little, but with so many factors feeding into it, its hard to predict.

Those impacted by the utilitys billing system change  which took effect in August 2021  should be back to their regular billing cycle by the end of April, said Jenkins, who also predicts that warmer weather and longer hours of daylight will help. There will be downward pressure resulting from that, he said.

On Wednesday, the New York State Public Service Commission opened an investigation into Central Hudsons customer information system and billing practices. And on March 4, Sen. James Skoufis, a Hudson Valley Democrat who chairs the senates investigations committee, opened a formal investigation into not only Central Hudson, but also Orange and Rockland Utilities, ConEd and other power suppliers.

Central Hudson, which has has offered no-cost and interest-free extended payment options to customers, hosted a community forum on Tuesday to address billing and energy concerns. About 800 people attended. We tried to provide them with answers to the most common concerns we had seen over the last few months. We know our customers are upset and want to be heard, Jenkins said.

Communication by phone, email, Reddit

But getting in touch with the utility by phone or email, however, has proven difficult for customers like Newburgh resident Kurt Lueken.

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In December 2021, he said he prepaid $4,500 to Central Hudson to heat his commercial business for the winter season. At the end of February, he was issued a bill for $5,627 and said since then the communication has been abysmal. He has not heard back from Central Hudson in response to emails sent to the utility on February 25 and March 10, and no corrections to his bill have been made.

Their communication options for consumers is totally unacceptable, said Leuken.

Ryan Simmons, who moved into his 2,700-square-foot home in New Windsor in May 2021, said he also had trouble connecting with Central Hudson until he shared his bill on the social media site Reddit. After receiving estimated bills of around $28 for eight months, on March 11, he received a bill for $2,825.63, followed by fluctuating bills that Central Hudson automatically reversed after they posted. A call to customer service was no help.

The folks I spoke to said they had no idea what was going on, and ... I got a new bill every few days with so many insanely different amounts and so little explanation as to why it kept changing that I have no idea how much I actually owe.

After posting a screenshot of his bill on Reddit on March 29, he said he finally received a call from Central Hudson. The utility gave him 20 percent off his current balance and offered him as much time as needed to pay off the remainder.

But obviously I have zero trust in their bookkeeping and plan on not paying for as long as I can, while getting in touch with my state senator and awaiting the results of the states Public Service Commissions current audit, he said by email.

Sen. Michelle Hinchey in December introduced new legislation that would protect residents from unfair billing by reducing the number of months a utility can estimate billing down from six months to three per calendar year.

If passed, the legislation would direct the Public Service Commission to create a best practices estimation formula as an industry standard by Nov. 1, 2023.
Ramadan, the annual month of daytime fasting and reflection for Muslims, will begin at sundown Friday, April 1, with the appearance of the crescent moon and the first day of fasting will be Saturday, April 2.

The fast begins at dawn, following an early breakfast called suhoor. In the diverse community of American Muslims, there is no one meal common to all those observing the fast. For American-born Muslims, the meal may be cereal and fruit or bagel and coffee. Those of Turkish or Indonesian or Bangladeshi backgrounds may prefer ethnic dishes.

Those who fast do not eat or drink all day, not even a sip of water. At sunset, the fast is traditionally broken with sweet dates and water, followed by prayers and the evening meal, called iftar. Nightly prayers, taraveeh, are observed in mosques, where a part of the Quran is recited every night. This is also an occasion to bond with fellow Muslims.

Fasting is mentioned in the Quran. "O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you as it was prescribed for those before you, that you may develop God-consciousness." (2:183)

"Fasting has layers of meaning as well as benefits. The main two directly flow from Islams two most important teachings: belief in the oneness of God and expressing that by practicing justice with all else," said Genghis Khan, an engineer at GE and the Muslim student adviser at the Office Of Religious and Spiritual Life at Union College in Schenectady.

Celebrating on campus

Students observing Ramadan on campus have an experience very different from that at home, where they may eat and pray with family.

"In college, fasting is an act of vulnerability, being surrounded by so many who eat and drink in front of you unknowingly. We pray between classes or alone in a dorm room," said Hannah Soliman, president of the Muslim Students Association at Union College in Schenectady, where there are 40 to 50 Muslim students. Originally from Charlotte, N.C., she is a senior at the college and a cognitive neuroscience major.

"Union College has many international students," she said.

Many had not even heard of the MSA before coming to America and don't have the footing that American Muslims do, she said.

"But Ramadan events are a lot more personal because the students are able to rest their hearts during this holy month with fellow Muslim students after spending so much of the year trying to either assimilate or get accustomed to living in a foreign country as a fulltime student, alone."

Xia Bolun Namir, 23, is president of the Muslim Students Association at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, working on his master's in computer science.

For those observing Ramadan at RPI, the college arranges to-go suhoor boxes. Students fasting grab those from the dining hall and eat in their rooms pre-dawn.

Students wishing to pray will have access to the Islamic prayer room in a gym on weeknights and taraveeh at the mosque on 15th Street, he said. "We are also planning a study circle for Quran text and explanation," he said.

The college's MSA plans to offer rides to Al Hidaya Center in Latham on weekends for students to have a community experience during the month.

Xia, who is from Beijing, came to New York University for undergraduate studies. "I converted halfway into undergrad. I was agnostic previously," he said.

A time for charity

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 Union College MSA hasn't had an in-person Ramadan event in two years, Soliman said, but turnout has been much greater online because of accessibility. "International students, commuters, students living on campus, all have had the same opportunity to attend. The need for a spiritual voice of reason was much higher during the pandemic and more desired. Before the pandemic, many non-Muslim students who were friends with Muslim students would participate in fasting and prayer just as diligently as their Muslim counterparts."

Soliman said the Union MSA is active in interfaith dialogue. "We are incredibly proud to say that we host interfaith dinners every academic term with Christian Protestant students and Jewish students. Interfaith dinners during Ramadan start at sundown and are open to all."

Ramadan in college forces you to contemplate what kind of person you are, as a Muslim, when youre practicing as an independent adult with nobody around you holding you accountable. "Its the best and most humbling test of character that I couldnt have gotten fasting from home," said Soliman.

Khan echoed similar sentiments. "Acting justly is not inherent human nature so training is required, specifically in self-restraint, and Ramadan is boot camp for that. As the day drags on, a fasting person can easily drink or eat without anyone knowing, but their consciousness of God stops them. So, when faced with committing injustices, it is that same consciousness that will stop them then. As food is necessary for our survival, many subconsciously justify injustices for their survival. Yet if we can stop ourselves from eating because of God-consciousness then we can dip into that same strength to stop ourselves from acting unjustly."

Ramadan is a time for charity and Muslims tend to support many causes for the less fortunate, including refugees. The ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, it begins earlier than the previous year.

Ramadan ends at sunset May 2 this year. The next day is Eidul Fitr, celebrated with prayers giving thanks to God, gifts and money to children and gathering with family and friends.

Pre-COVID, Muslims and non-Muslims would rent a bus from Union to go to Eid prayer in the early morning, said Soliman. "We would rush back to our morning classes together. Although we all desired the holiday off, the adrenaline of spiritual and academic productivity with my best friends is such a beautiful memory," she said.
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ALBANY  State employees, beware.

The city Common Council is considering an ordinance that is meant to crack down on commuters who abuse a loophole in the citys residential parking permit system, crowding out residents.

The ordinance isnt changing much about the permit system itself, rather it is meant to reinforce the intent of the original legislation.

The changes will ban drivers who dont have a residential permit from parking within a residential zone for more than two hours, even if they change their parking spot.

The tension over parking between out-of-town commuters and city residents isnt new. City residents have complained about commuters flooding residential street parking, especially around large employers such as state government and Albany Medical Center Hospital, for years.

The permit parking system, which was passed in 2010 and took effect in 2013, was meant to fix that issue by creating three zones around the state Capitol where residents could apply for a limited number of parking permits. Since then, the state has also built new parking garages for employees.

Council members said they have received complaints over the years from residents about out-of-town drivers who abuse the system by parking in a spot for two hours and then moving their cars to another spot during a work break.

The point of the legislation is to protect residents who live in highly-congested areas, said Tenth Ward Councilman Alfredo Balarin, the legislations sponsor.

The councils law committee approved the ordinance at a Tuesday meeting, 4-1.

Sixth Ward Councilwoman Gabriella Romero, was the sole no vote. Romero explained that she opposed the legislation on two fronts. Her main concern was that the legislation created a criminal liability for people who violated it  something she personally opposed, she said. She added she was also concerned about college students or others who might come down to the Lark Street area businesses and spend more than two hours studying or getting other work done.

The parking permit system runs from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. The system is divided into three zones around the state Capitol, with a total of 3,500 spots available for residents. Zone A includes portions of Center Square, Washington Park, Hudson/Park and Park South neighborhoods. The other two zones include parts of the Mansion, Pastures and Ten Broeck Triangle neighborhoods.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Matthew Peter, executive director of the Albany Parking Authority, said if the ordinance is passed, authority employees will use license plate readers to track how long cars are parked in a zone. If the reader spots a license plate that isnt in the permit system and then reads the same plate anywhere else in the same zone more than two hours later, the employee can issue a ticket.

The ordinance will take effect 60 days after the full council passes it. Peter said the authority will give commuters a two-week grace period to adjust to the new rules, with employees leaving a note on violators windshields before starting to write tickets.

The problem with prior enforcement was in part due to technology, Peter said. Employees used to chalk the tires of cars that werent in the permit system and could issue tickets if they saw them beyond the two-hour mark.

Now with the license plate readers we can enforce with the intent behind it, he said. I do think this will alleviate at least some of the problems.

He added that commuters who are concerned about parking and do not want to use employer provided options do have other choices, including CDTAs park-and-ride system.

*This story has been updated to clarify Councilwoman Gabriella Romero's concerns on the legislation.
ALBANY  In a split verdict following more than a week of deliberations, a federal jury on Thursday convicted a former General Electric engineer from Niskayuna of conspiring to commit economic espionage, but acquitted him on four other counts and deadlocked on seven other charges in a case that alleged the scientist schemed to steal trade secrets to benefit himself and the Chinese government.

Xiaoqing Zheng, 59, a Chinese-born U.S. citizen considered one of the worlds leading experts in the field of turbine-sealing technology, was facing the potential of more than 10 years in prison if convicted on all charges in the four-week trial in U.S. District Court.

The scientist was relieved following the verdict, which was delivered before U.S. District Judge Mae DAgostino on Thursday morning, said Kevin Luibrand, one of Zheng's attorneys. He technically faces up to 15 years in prison but could face far less time under federal sentencing guidelines when he is sentenced Aug. 2 on the conspiracy charge.

"You've got to put yourself in his situation. For the past 3 years, his life has been turned inside and out," Luibrand told the Times Union. "He's devoted all his energy to trying to defend himself and the federal government threw everything they had, without limits, at him ... and they got one count of conviction."

In a statement, U.S. Attorney Carla Freedman said the verdict held Zheng accountable "for betraying his employer and trying to help China cheat in the global marketplace." She promised to continue to prosecute people who "connive to steal trade secrets and valuable technology from the innovative companies doing cutting-edge work in our district.

It remained unclear if that meant Freedman's office would retry Zheng on the deadlocked counts.

Janeen DiGuiseppi, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Albany field office, said in a statement: Dr. Zheng used his status as a trusted engineer with GE to conspire to commit economic espionage on behalf of the Peoples Republic of China. This conviction should send a strong message that the FBI will continue to vigorously investigate economic espionage cases .... to ensure the protection of American technology and American jobs.

The jury began deliberating at 3:45 p.m. on March 22. The deliberations lasted throughout last week, stopped for the weekend, and continued until Thursday morning. The panel had sent several notes, including a request on Wednesday to hear legal definitions of trade secrets.

It was one of the longest deliberations in a local federal trial in recent memory.

Zheng was charged with 12 counts that included economic espionage; conspiracy to commit economic espionage; theft of trade secrets, and making a false statement. Jurors convicted him of the one count of conspiring to commit economic espionage. By doing so, jurors determined that between 2016 and 2018, Zheng and his nephew, Zhaoxi Zhang, conspired with others to steal GE trade secrets involving gas and steam turbine technologies and knew or intended the theft to help the Chinese government,

Zhang, a Chinese citizen, was indicted along with Zheng, but is believed to be in China.

Jurors Thursday acquitted Zheng of two counts of committing economic espionage and two counts of theft of trade secrets. The jury could not reach a verdict on seven other counts, which included additional charges of economic espionage, conspiracy to steal trade secrets, theft of trade secrets and making false statements to the FBI.

Evidence at the trial showed that on July 5, 2018, Zheng emailed 40 files from his GE email account to his private Hotmail account, encrypted the password and disguised the files under an innocent-looking computer screen image of a sunrise. In a closing argument, Assistant U.S. Attorney Rick Belliss told jurors it was one of seven emails that Zheng emailed himself containing the company's trade secrets, also known as intellectual property.

Belliss prosecuted the case with Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Powers, and Matthew Chang, a U.S. Department of Justice trial attorney with the office's National Security Division.

Belliss painted Zheng, a married father of three, as being motivated by greed, calling him devious and sneaky. Belliss said Zheng conspired to steal GE's trade secrets to help his business interests in China, which he said had reasons to want Zheng's services. Belliss said China hoped to transform its economy from a place that made goods such as clothes to one that designed and innovated technology, such as power-generating turbines. Zheng's expertise in seals, the prosecutor said, stood to land him a potential windfall in China.

Bradley L. Henry, a Manhattan attorney also representing Zheng, told the jury during closing arguments that every action his client took was to benefit GE. He said prosecutors were attempting to confuse them in what he suggested was a nearly four-year legal witch hunt.

"It's lunacy, frankly, that the government is trying to paint that picture and you should see right through it," Henry said.

The criminal investigation into Zheng began in 2016 when FBI agents in Cincinnati, working on another case, saw a recording of Zheng on a website delivering a July 1, 2016 presentation at the Jiangsu Province Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics College of Energy and Power Energy Engineering in China. Zheng, they learned, was a member since 2012 of the Thousand Talents Program, a Chinese government initiative intended to recruit talented researchers to China.

Given that Zheng had since 2008 been employed at GE in Schenectady, the agents notified GE security. The agents discovered that in 2016, Zheng informed GE of his business interests in two Chinese companies: Nanjing Tianyi Aeronautical Technology and Lioning Tianyi Aviation Technology. The first business dealt with the same turbine-sealing technology that Zheng worked on for GE.

Even though Zheng had disclosed the potential conflict, the agents alleged Zheng's involvement was far deeper than he had let the company know. In June 2018, the company's security placed a monitor on Zheng's work computer. The next month, Zheng emailed the 40 files to himself, then traveled to China for more than three weeks. While in China, Zheng spoke to the Communist Party secretary for Liaoyang Province, in northeastern China, at a signing ceremony tied to an agreement involving a Zheng-managed business.

On Aug. 1, 2018, when Zheng had returned from China, federal agents went to his home on Cephalona Drive, seizing evidence that included his desktop computer, iPhone and publications, including one that detailed how accredited companies could get financial breaks on certain technologies important to the Chinese government. And the FBI seized $50,000, of which $20,000 was hidden in a wall, the rest in a travel bag in a closet.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Agents interviewed Zheng over several hours, took his statements and arrested him.







.
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TROY  Before she became a trailblazing physicist and revered university leader, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) President Shirley Ann Jackson endured painful discrimination as a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) student in the 1960s.

Addressing students, faculty and staff at a final town hall meeting, Jackson on Wednesday reflected on her 23-year legacy at the Troy research university and opened up about some of those early challenges.

Jackson officially retires June 30 and former MIT provost Martin A. Schmidt will become RPI's 19th president.

She recalled that there were about 43 women and just a handful of African-American students in her 900-student freshman class at MIT.

"It was a different time and very lonely time because fellow students wouldn't sit next to me in lectures," Jackson said. "They wouldn't sit at the dinner table. When I came and sat down, they'd get up. Even the professors were less than friendly. And one could get very sad and down."

It was a janitor who cleaned the dorms who got her through, Jackson said. They didn't talk much, but every time he cleaned Jackson's room he left her a Hershey's chocolate bar, a gesture she never forgot.

"I didn't have an academic problem  I did very well  but it was very difficult socially and psychologically. So this gentleman leaving me the Hershey bar helped me a lot ... it taught me that we are all a community of people forwarding the mission and intent of the university."

Jackson would go on to become the first Black woman to receive a doctorate from MIT in any field as well as the first Black woman to lead a top-ranked research university.

At 75, Jackson is credited for modernizing the campus, bringing in research funding, and raising the university's international profile. She is one of the Troy institution's longest-serving leaders.

At Wednesday's meeting, some students challenged Jackson on controversies associated with her administration over the years such as the university's stringent COVID-19 protocols, a sometimes tense university climate and her seven-figure salary.

A student questioned why the school's ranking has dropped  it fell from No. 50 to No. 55 in US News & World Report in 2022  and whether it related to universities' spending on art facilities and Jackson's pay.

Jackson has long been one of the highest-paid college leaders in the nation, with her total annual compensation at one point topping $7 million.

Jackson stated that the Board of Trustees has full control over salary decisions, which are based on national standards, the board's expectations of the president and whether the president is meeting those expectations.

"I want to dispel that idea. If I paid myself, I'd make a whole lot more money," she said.

A university's ranking is largely a reflection of its impact and the size of its endowment, Jackson said. Most top-ranked universities have larger endowments than RPI, she said.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

"My degree is from MIT. I happen to think our undergraduate programs are stronger and I've told them that ... MIT's endowment is $31 billion dollars and ours has $1 (billion)," she said. "So, help your alma mater when you graduate."

She defended her administration's top-down management style and its overhaul of Greek life and student activities which has caused tension with students and alumni.

The RPI Board of Trustees hired her in 1999 to be a "change agent" at a difficult time for the university. Applications were falling, students' academic credentials were weakening and facilities desperately needed repairs.

The board "wanted me to build on its historical legacy to elevate Rensselaer after 15 years of many turnovers in university leadership," Jackson said.

Her vision was captured in the Rensselaer Plan and later, in the Rensselaer Plan 2024, blueprints that she said were so strong that other universities attempted to imitate them.

She also reflected on other difficult periods such as the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the 2007 financial recession and the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a final message to students, Jackson offered a lesson on resilience.

"If the journey forward takes you to a place where you become tired or fearful or just worn down, just consider the rivers you already have crossed, the mountains you already climbed, and look up, not down, look forward, not back," Jackson said. "Don't hold on to grievances. Forgive and help someone else along the way."
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SCHENECTADY  Global superstar Will Smith, known better this week for crashing the live Oscar stage to slap comedian Chris Rock in the face, has a connection with Schenectady.

In his 2021 memoir, Will, Smith describes how he wanted to meet now-wife Jada Pinkett in the early 1990s when he saw her on the set of the sitcom A Different World.

So he and his Fresh Prince of Bel-Air co-star Alfonso Ribeiro went to a taping.

Between scenes, he saw his writer friend, Orlando Jones, talking to a gorgeous, caramel-skinned woman in the front-row center.

Shes clearly not from L.A., either, Smith wrote. I can tell by her slight discomfort with the grandeur of everything.

Smith went over and introduced himself to Sheree Zampino, who told him she was from New York. But in reality, she was from Schenectady  near Albany, damn near Canada, he wrote.

Now, heres the deal, Smith recounted telling Zampino. Were just meeting, so Im-a give you a pass on this one. But the next time somebody asks you where youre from, you are forbidden to say New York when you know damn well you are from Schenectady.

The reaction?

Smith said Zampino wouldve done a spit take if shed been drinking water.

Then the Philly-born actor leaned into her ear and kept going.

Its misleading and an utter misrepresentation of the truth, Smith told her. If you tell people youre from New York, theyre thinking the Bronx, Brooklyn  I mean hell, even Staten Island  then they find out youre from Schenectady?

Smith went on to further rib Zampino, who attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in Midtown South.

F__ing Schenectady is not New York, he reiterated. Youre sitting here representing  Canada. You should be wearing a maple leaf sweater and handing out sap.

(Schenectady is 163 miles from the Bronx and 173 miles to Rouses Point at the Canadian border.)

Smith said Zampino was laughing, her eyes red and totally out of breath.

"You are a dumb man," Zampino told him.

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 Zampino family owned an L&M Supermarket in Schenectady, according to Smith, and when they started dating, food played a dominant role in their relationship, including at viewing parties for Fresh Prince episodes.

The pair married in 1992, and split in 1995. They have one child together, 29-year-old Trey Smith.

Smith married Pinkett in 1997, while Zampino went on to fame with the The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Shes also an entrepreneur with her own skin care business, among other pursuits.

The pair apparently remain on good terms.

Zampino attended an Oscars night viewing party on Sunday, according to the New York Post, and dashed out after Smith slapped Rock after he joked about Pinkett Smiths bald head  which the actress has frequently said is because she suffers from alopecia.

Zampino later posted a picture on Instagram with Smith, her arms cradling his Oscar.

Epic Night! she wrote. Congratulations again  when 1 wins we all win! #family1st.
SCHENECTADY  School leaders by a 4-3 vote approved a resolution to add four more community engagement officers to the two police officers already working at the high school, capping off a weeks-long debate focused largely on whether armed police bolsters school safety or causes more trauma to Black and brown students already fearful of them.

Critics maintained the $300,000 initial annual cost to the district with 2 percent increases each academic year over three years is money that could be better spent on social workers, counselors and other professional staff to help teenage students still grappling with the ongoing strain of the coronavirus pandemic.

Several police officers reflected Monday night about growing up in the city and graduating from the high school. They spoke of their commitments to the teenagers and hopes of forging a stronger bond with them and the community.

Sgt. Adriel Linyear, one of the two officers at the high school, said growing up poor in a single-parent household with family and friends who have or are incarcerated is similar to the experience of some of the youngsters he comes in contact with.

My workdays have been spent as a law enforcement officer, an informal counselor, and a role model, he told the crowd at Wednesday's board meeting. In addition to accident and incident reports, Ive assisted both staff and students with issues related to eviction, domestic violence, community and social services as well as other life tasks and obstacles.

Sgt. Mike Dalton, who went through the Schenectady school system, said his involvement in an after-school club at the high school has been instructive.

Those kids really taught me some lessons, getting to know them on a personal level, seeing them person-to-person, human-to-human is a really important to see their struggles, see what they go through helps us in dealing with the community and puts us in better position to help them," said Dalton.

Police Chief Eric Clifford put the board on notice that safety concerns have been brought to us and thats why were here  and we are prepared to partner with you to solve them.

Citing several big financial settlements the city has paid out in lawsuits involving the police department, Kelly OBrien-Yetto said a partnership with the department sounds like a financial gamble, not an investment in school safety

Mikayla Foster, a civil rights activist, took issue with language in the contract between the district and police department, stating that police deter crime. Foster argued that police respond to crime, and that families in Schenectady, not police and school leaders, should be the ones dictating if they want to foster a relationship with law enforcement.

Donna Fowler, the districts assistant director of student support services, said all the talk about the need to hire is a little misleading.

From 2015 to 2021, the district she said, has gone from hiring 20 to 34 certified school counselors and from 34 social workers to 58.

Our office has called upon our community engagement officers several times this year to work with students and family members who have been victims or to help us work through some challenging threat assessments, said Fowler.

A high school senior suggested holding a public referendum on the issue.

Decisions like this shouldnt be made by a select few, this is something that the community should be voting for especially since this will be affecting those in the community for the foreseeable future, may that be positive or negative, she said.

Trey Tillman, who is also in his last year at the high school, said he is conflicted by the issue but totally disagrees with having police officers in our school this year because theres just too much trauma, theres no relationship building  but for the foreseeable future I believe we should do things for cops to build that relationship with the community.

The dissenting votes came from board members Erica Brockmyer, Jamaica Miles, and Nohelani Etienne.

The results are in See the winners of each category of the 2022 Best of the Capital Region contest, as determined by popular vote.

Brockmyer said that while she is all for strengthening relationships with the police, some of the language in the contract like deter criminal behavior and maintaining order gave her pause and made her nervous.

Before speakers took to the microphones, board President Cathy Lewis said that the letters and emails on the controversy would be entered into the record but not read aloud as had been the previous practice.

Miles apologized for those voices that have been silenced before asking and following up on a broad range of questions ranging from the districts possible liability for negligence on the part of the school officers to arguing that a survey by the district about the program was not equitable in a district that talks a lot about equity.

School district Superintendent Anibal Soler, Jr. noted the contract, which stipulates officer evaluations be done every June, gives us the flexibility as well as the police chief to stick with the two officers at the school or terminate the deal if the agreement is not working out.

The goal here is to try to maximize the right people around our kids and provide that layer of support, added Soler, who has been leading the district since July. He said so far officers in the school have not made any arrests during their five months in the high school and currently don't work in the building with their body worn cameras, which could change at the department's discretion.

Were trying to train and have the [community engagement officers] be familiar with the school district, be familiar with our professional development and the things that the teachers and the staff go through, the relationship piece, building relationships with the community and the students, said Board Vice President Bernice Rivera.

Miles remained circumspect, pointing out there is no "quantitative data" that police in schools makes them safer.

"There is no data that shows police officers inside our schools make them safer, there is data that has been shared repeatedly that shows the harm that is caused to our students when police officers are inside our buildings," said Miles. "I appreciate that there is a goal for the Schenectady police department to change who they have been historically as an institution ... We're not there yet, and this contract is us saying that we are willing to risk some of our children so that others might feel safe with no fact-based data that supports that they will be."




The deep involvement of Virginia Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in Donald Trumps efforts to overturn a free and fair election is not just a passing political kerfuffle. It raises some of the gravest concerns Americas founders had in trying to design a government incapable of infringing on liberty.

The judiciary, as Alexander Hamilton wrote in the Federalist Paper No. 78, was the weakest of the three branches, with no power of the purse, no control of armed forces, unable even to enforce its rulings. That was why it needed to be independent of the legislative and executive branches, with lifetime tenure and guaranteed continuing compensation for judges.

Mr. Hamilton wrote that liberty can have nothing to fear from the judiciary alone, but would have every thing to fear from its union with either of the other departments.

Justice Thomas, of all people, ought to be familiar with these concerns, casting himself as one of the courts originalists who profess to divine and adhere to the original intent of the Constitutions framers.He ought to know, too, how antithetical it would be to the very principle of independence for a justice to be perceived as being in league with a president  even a former one  seeking to subvert a democratic election.

Ms. Thomas has fully supported Mr. Trump in that effort, promoting wild conspiracy theories including the lie that the 2020 presidential election was rife with fraud, participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Trump rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, and using her access to pressure Mr. Trumps chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to work to overturn the election.

Its important to note, too, that Justice Thomas is not detached from his wifes activism; he joins her at events and has said, We believe in the same things. To suggest he has no connection to her political activity would be absurd.

The problem for Justice Thomas is apparent: The many legal issues stemming from Mr. Trumps effort to overturn the election could well come before the Supreme Court. In fact, they have already begun to. The court in January rejected an emergency application by Mr. Trump to block release of White House records, with one dissenter: Justice Thomas.

Theres a problem for the high court here, too. While federal judges are subject to a code of ethics that would certainly require recusal in such matters so close to their personal lives, Supreme Court justices are exempt from those rules and guidelines.

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In Federalist 78, Mr. Hamilton cited the need for justices to maintain good behavior, which he described as the best expedient which can be devised in any government, to secure a steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws.

Two things, then, need to happen  and fast.

Justice Thomas must recuse himself from any case having to do with the 2020 presidential election, the Jan. 6 insurrection, and Mr. Trump.

And the Supreme Court must finally adopt for itself a judicial code of ethics that would include requiring recusal in cases of conflicts of interest, real and potential.

After 234 years, guidelines for the good behavior Mr. Hamilton wrote of are long overdue.
Tipperarys Corabella House, Newcastle, and Padraig O Cuinneains, Thurles, have been awarded funding to conserve notable historic structures under the Historic Structures Fund 2022.

The sites have been awarded funding for diverse reasons including remoulding original Gaelic writing, repair/replacement of defective windows, repair of weather slating, internal plastering and check source of water ingress at failed plaster.

A total of 4m was awarded nationwide through the Historic Structures Fund (HSF), administered by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in partnership with the 31 Local Authorities.

The announcement follows that of 4m in funding under the Departments other built heritage grant scheme, the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, earlier this month. The award to Padraig O Cuinneains is being made in conjunction with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under a special initiative to encourage the preservation of shopfronts in the Irish language.

In addition to supporting owners and custodians of historic and protected structures to safeguard and maintain their properties, this funding will also provide a welcome boost to conservation professionals and tradespeople, including in specialist heritage roles such as thatching and stone work.

Following on from the successful introduction of the Historic Shopfront Stream last year, the HSF has again made funding available for a range of shopfronts including bars and pubs which operate in buildings of historical significance.

Through grants of between 15,000 and 200,000, the HSF assists owners of heritage structures  including those on the local authorities Record of Protected Structures and those in Architectural Conservation Areas  to meet their obligations to care for their properties.

The scheme provides assistance to a wide range of heritage structures  this years HSF includes awards to historic bridges, castles, churches, mills, libraries, shopfronts, and an old forge, as well as to private houses.



Announcing the awards today, Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan TD, said:

"I am delighted to announce another 4m investment in our built heritage. This years Historic Structures Fund will assist 78 owners and custodians of historic and protected structures across the country as they carry out hundreds of conservation projects to repair and safeguard our built heritage. I am particularly pleased to announce the awards made to vernacular structures and historic shopfronts following their successful pilot schemes last year.

"These awards celebrate the richness and diversity of our built heritage and help to preserve our connections to past generations, in particular through their support of traditional building skills, which this Government is committed to investing in. These actions also help us to deliver on our commitments to built heritage under Heritage Ireland 2030, the national heritage plan which I launched earlier this year."

Commenting on the announcement, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh OBrien, TD, said:

It is great to see the number and range of projects which will be supported by this investment of 4m under the Historic Structures Fund. These schemes help to safeguard our rich built heritage, keeping many buildings in use and helping to bring many others back into use. The awards announced today also have a welcome knock-on economic benefit by generating employment for heritage contractors and other skilled crafts and tradespeople across the country.

Minister of State for Local Government, Peter Burke, TD, also welcomed the announcement, stating:

As with the Built Heritage Investment Scheme, the success of the Historic Structures Fund is a result of the close working relationship between the Department and the Local Authorities, particularly the Architectural Conservation Officers, Heritage Officers and planning and administrative staff who make these schemes possible.

"I am particularly pleased to note the continuation of the Historic Shopfront stream, investing in our historic townscapes in line with this Governments commitment of putting Town Centres First.
Today, a scathing letter was put on blast by a lesser blog and a bunch of social media citizen journalists. We stole quoted it because they're ignoring the most important part of the screed.



What's important here is an African-American led political coalition confronting Mayor Q despite his consistent demands to defund the police that weren't backed up by much legislative fortitude. Reality: Support for Mayor Q is fading within the Black community and this critical voting bloc is unlikely to rush to the ballot box in order to vote for the upcoming tax increase . . . And THAT balancing act FAIL will likely make reelection harder for Mayor Q in the event that he confronts a credible opponent.



Whilst it's true that writing an entire metro-newspaper or anything beyond a blog for this faction of activists is an exercise in failure . . . We don't doubt their ability to impact low turnout Kansas City elections amid the ongoing urban decline that has accompanied the Biden years.



Take look beyond the lame anti-police rhetoric and note political implications . . .



Dear Mayor Quinton Lucas and affiliated parties,



By moving forward with this violent ordinance, you have demonstrated your allegiance to a racist and corrupt police department.



The same police department whose Chief called Cameron Lamb a bad guy and said every officer on his force would have murdered Cameron too. The same police department that has received over $1 billion dollars over the past 6 years, only for Kansas City to be the 8th most deadly city last year. The same department that was ranked Top 5 Worst Police departments in the country last year.



From 2012 to 2018, KCPDs budget grew an absurd 28% (an increase of over $50 million) while the violent crime rate rose 47%. It is clear: increasing an already bloated police budget does not reduce crime.



Under your watch, KCPD continues to criminalize poverty, addiction, and illness instead of creating resources to help those suffering. We spend millions policing and incarcerating the most vulnerable members of our community instead of investing in treatment or housing. Meanwhile, police officers overwhelmingly patrol our citys poorest neighborhoods, targeting and abusing already marginalized, primarily Black and brown people.



Rather than hold them accountable, you gave them a raise and a blank check.



Amidst our citys vicious housing crisis, the ongoing pandemic, a food shortage in public schools, and horrifically underfunded mental health services, you have chosen to turn away from the People who elected you, and specifically away from the Black community  to instead side with a department that is not only already overfunded, but lies about how it spends our tax dollars.



You have ignored us, you have lied to us, and now you have betrayed us.



We, the civil rights leaders and community organizers who are closest to the problems in our community, have pleaded with you and told you how we best believe public safety to be achieved. Rather than listen and act on our wisdom and recommendations, you act as a lone authoritarian accountable to no one.



We acknowledge that interpersonal violence is a real threat to the safety of Kansas City, but more blank check police funding will only reinforce the system that has already caused us so much harm. More police funding will not prevent harm. More police funding will increase their capacity to criminalize, terrorize and destroy our most vulnerable communities. Whether local or federal, we do not need more policing. We need health care. We need housing. We need jobs. We need justice.



Your actions indicate that you are no ally to the Black, brown and poor people of our city, and you have given us no choice but to publicly indict you for selling us out for your own political gain.



Signed,



Urban League of Greater Kansas City

National Black United Front

Operation Liberation KC

SCLC Greater Kansas City Chapter

Sunrise Movement Kansas City

Reale Justice Network

MORE2

Developing . . .
Denizens of our blog community said this deal was doomed last year.



Today the newspaper offers off-record quotes from employees and bad journalism to come to this obvious conclusion.

Take a look . . .



They were told, Nordstrom has renewed its lease at the Overland Park mall.



It would be a major coup in the ongoing competition between the rival shopping centers.

Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com link . . .
Police are appealing for help in finding a missing woman who hasn't been seen for nearly two weeks.
Registered Nurse Daniela Graziano, one of 43 pandemic surge nurses hired by Inner City Health Associates, will be working her last shift for the organization on March 31 after provincial funding ended. - Daniela Graziano photo
Toronto police are alerting the public to a "grandparent scam" happening in the GTA and asking anyone targeted by the phone scam to contact police. - Metroland file photo
Free COVID-19 rapid tests will be available until at least July 31, Ontario says

Free rapid antigen tests for COVID-19 are being extended until "at least" July 31 as infection levels jump following the end of vaccination certificates and mandatory masking in most indoor public spaces in Ontario.
Ontarios sixth wave is here, and so are anti-viral Paxlovid pills. But theyre not getting to enough high-risk people

Only a few hundred out of the 40,000 courses of pills received from the federal government have been given, and many dont know theyre eligible.
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Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it.





I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends.





More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it.





The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity.





About me:

I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS.

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed.





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
In Luhansk region, two people were killed and five others were wounded in enemy shelling over the past day.

Head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration Serhiy Haidai wrote this on Facebook, Ukrinform reports

"A difficult day. The Russians have intensified the so-called liberation. Honestly and openly: this is an escalation, the situation is difficult. Orcs began to fire en masse at 06:00, and have not stopped. All the cities came under fire. Aviation is used in Popasna, artillery in Lysychansk. There are two dead, five wounded. 21 were rescued, he wrote.

Haidai also told about one-year old and two-year old children that are in critical condition and might need leg amputation. According to Haidai, they were taken to a hospital in the neighboring region.

In connection with the intensification of hostilities, Haidai called on civilians to leave the city while it is possible.

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.

Martial law was imposed in Ukraine and general mobilization was announced.
Russian troops began using Brest airport in Belarus to launch attacks on Ukraine.

An adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, Vadym Denysenko, said this on the air of Ukrainian TV channels.

The offensive from Belarus is actually underway. Moreover, the Russians have started using the Brest airport to shell our territories, he said.

Denysenko noted that the situation is such that Lukashenko is not ready to deploy his ground forces in Ukraine. However, the pressure on him from the Russian Federation seems to be very serious, so it is still impossible to rule out such a possibility.

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.

Martial law was imposed in Ukraine and general mobilization was announced.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine are successfully holding back Russian troops across all directions.

The relevant statement was made by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

The Ukrainian defense forces continue to keep the defense in the Eastern, South-Eastern and North-Eastern directions. The Ukrainian Army is successfully holding back Russian troops across all directions and launching counter attacks in certain areas.

In Donetsk Region and Luhansk Region, the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) group has repelled five enemy attacks over the past day. Ukrainian defenders destroyed 10 enemy tanks, 18 armored vehicles and 13 motor vehicles, 15 artillery systems. The enemys losses also included manpower.

The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have destroyed seven enemy air targets over the past day, namely four planes, one unmanned aerial vehicle and two cruise missiles. The Ukrainian Air Force continue to launch missile and air strikes on the groups of enemy vehicles and manpower.

The moral and psychological condition of Russian troops is remaining low and continues to deteriorate.

According to the data from the General Staff, two commanders were dismissed in the subdivisions of the 60th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade of the 5th All-Military Army of the Eastern Military District, as they refused to conduct military actions.

The deputy commander for military and political work is expected to arrive and carry out explanatory work among the battalion and tactical group in Yasynivka, Donetsk Region.

Within the units of the Baltic Fleet, namely the 79th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade of the 11th Army Corps, conscripts are massively refusing to continue service and sign contracts.

The movement of Russian military vehicles was recorded within the territory of Belarus, presumably to regroup units and create reserves in order to replenish manpower, ammunition and equipment losses suffered by Russian troops in Ukraine.

In Kyiv Region, the numerous cases of mining within the areas and buildings left by the enemy were reported.

Currently, Russian leadership is considering the establishment of occupation authorities within the temporarily captured areas. According to the data from the General Staff, they are now selecting the employees of law enforcement agencies, prosecutors offices and courts to be sent to Ukraine.

In order to create another pseudo-republic within Kherson Region, the Russian Federal Security Service, the 652nd Information and Psychological Operations Group and officers from the 12th Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation are carrying out activities in Ukraine. In particular, they are focusing on explanatory work with local self-government authorities and local residents. As part of the information campaign, they are spreading staged videos.

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German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has accused Moscow of intending to destroy the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, and made another attempt to call on Russia to return to humanity.

The top diplomat said this in a statement on the situation of Mariupol on March 31, Ukrinform reported.

"In my opinion, Russia is determined to conquer the city or destroy it, no matter the human cost," the German Foreign Minister said.

According to Baerbock, despite the fact that the terrible reports remain unchanged from day to day, it is impossible to lose sight of the people and the situation in this Ukrainian city and to think less of it.

More than 100,000 civilians remain trapped in Mariupol  including children, women, men, the elderly; for weeks they have experienced an almost unbelievable nightmare without electricity, water, or heating in the city, constantly attacked by Russian bombs, where rockets and grenades are falling, and which is being razed to the ground," said the minister.

"The attacks must stop immediately. International humanitarian law must be respected. Therefore, I call on the Russian government to provide safe corridors for the voluntary evacuation of civilians and to deliver humanitarian aid to those who cannot or do not want to leave," Baerbock urged the Moscow authorities.

As Ukrinform reported, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock at the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue forum confirmed Germany's intention to completely abandon Russian energy sources.

Photo: Press Service of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
Approximately 17,500 Russian invaders were killed in action from February 24 to March 31.

Thats according to the General Staff of Ukraines Armed Forces, Ukrinform reports.

The enemy also lost nearly 614 tanks, 1,735 armored combat vehicles, 311 artillery systems, and 96 MLR systems.

As reported, 54 air defense systems, 135 aircraft and 131 helicopters have been destroyed by the Ukrainian troops.

The aggressor power also lost 1,201 motor vehicles, seven ships/cutters and 75 fuel tank trucks. Some 83 operational and tactical level UAVs, 22 units of special equipment and four operational-tactical missile systems have been annihilated.

Data are being updated. The calculation is complicated by highly intense hostilities.
Eleven civilians, including four children, sustained injuries as Russian invaders launched white phosphorus munitions in Donetsk region at night on March 30-31. Another two injured were reported Thursday morning, March 31.

This was announced by Donetsk Regional Military Administration chief Pavlo Kyrylenko on Telegram, according to Ukrinform

At night, the Russians continued shelling the central part of the region. The enemy once again used phosphorus bombs against Mariinka, Krasnohorivka, and Novomykhailivka. Eleven wounded civilians from the Mariinka community, including four children, were admitted to the Kurakhove City Hospital, the head of the region wrote.

He noted that the enemy attack on the Ocheretyne community this morning left two persons wounded.

Pavlo Kyrylenko also said that drinking water and food supplies are being delivered to the settlements on the front line, while civilians wishing to flee the area are being evacuated.
The Czech news agency Ceske noviny (CTK) has launched a Czech-language news section on major events in Ukraine from the Ukrainian National News Agency Ukrinform in a special section on the war in Ukraine.

"This section brings original news from the Ukrainian agency Ukrinform. To give the Czech reader an idea of the agency's products, we have prepared an automatic translation of news stories into Czech using the Lingea Translator tool," Czech friends said, presenting a new section.

Earlier, almost immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrinform's news stories began to be published in Ukrainian on the CTK website in the same section on the war in Ukraine.

CTK also provides its own coverage of events in Ukraine using other sources.

In addition, during the war, CTK assists Ukrinform on other issues related to the functioning of the agency.

"We appreciate and are deeply grateful for the broad support of our Czech colleagues at a time when the Russian invaders are trying to destroy our state, its culture and one of the greatest achievements of democracy -- freedom of speech. We will definitely win together!" said Ukrinform Director General Oleksandr Kharchenko.

According to him, the Czechs are well aware of what it means to live under Russian/Soviet occupation as they experienced this in 1968-1991.

The Czech News Agency, headquartered in Prague, was founded in 1918. Interestingly, the Ukrainian Telegraph Agency -- a forerunner of today's Ukrinform -- was established in the same year. Both media outlets are currently members of the European Alliance of News Agencies.

Ukrinform reported earlier that the Czech Republic, which has a population of 10.7 million people, had become one of the countries to take in the largest number of Ukrainian refugees since the beginning of the war. At present, almost 250,000 Ukrainian refugees have officially received special protection visas. The actual number of Ukrainians seeking asylum in the Czech Republic may be significantly higher.
Turkey is initiating and making efforts to ensure that a new meeting between the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Russia is held within the next two weeks.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said this in an interview with Turkish TV channel A Haber, Ukrinform reports.

"We are working to hold a meeting between the foreign ministers. [] As a host party, as a mediator and as an honest negotiator, we cannot say the exact date. I can only say that this meeting may take place in the next two weeks," Cavusoglu said.

The minister also suggested that Putin may visit Turkey in the near future.

"We expect Putin to come to Turkey for a high-level meeting on cooperation," Cavusoglu said.

Ukrinform reported earlier that the Ukrainian and Russian delegations held talks in Istanbul on March 29. After the meeting, the Ukrainian delegation made a number of proposals to end the Russian-Ukrainian war, including the proposal to sign an international treaty on security guarantees for Ukraine.

The Ukrainian side proposed that Russia choose a venue for a meeting between Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Putin, but this should not be Russia or Belarus.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the Netherlands to force Russia into peace and punish it with sanctions.

He stated this in his address to the Parliament of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, according to Ukrinform's correspondent in The Hague.

"We have no right to give this war another 36 days. We must all work together to force Russia to seek peace as soon as possible. Hundreds of children were killed, thousands of people were killed, tens of thousands of houses were destroyed, cities and villages were burned. The Russian occupiers rape women in the occupied areas and steal everything they find," Zelensky said.

He also called on the Netherlands to make a decision to give Ukraine the weapons it needs for protection against the aggressor and strengthen sanctions against Russia.

The speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before the Parliament of the Netherlands is a unique event, as the head of a foreign state has never addressed the House of Representatives before.

After his speech, Zelensky was given a standing ovation. Almost everyone present wore a blue and yellow ribbon on their clothes.

Those present at the event included Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra and Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren, as well as Ukraine's Ambassador to the Netherlands Maksym Kononenko and Dutch Ambassador to Ukraine Jennes de Mol.

At the same time, the far-right party PVV (Party for Freedom), led by Geert Wilders, and the FVD (Forum for Democracy), led by Thierry Baudet, who are occasionally criticized for their pro-Russian views, ignored a speech by Zelensky in the Dutch parliament.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of an all-out invasion of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling and destroying critical infrastructure, residential areas of Ukrainian cities, towns and villages using artillery, multiple rocket launchers, ballistic missiles and air bombs.

Martial law was imposed in Ukraine and general mobilization was announced. The country is repelling the invaders.

Main photo: President's Office

Photo credit: Iryna Drabok, Ukrinform
Belgium was one of the first countries to provide Ukraine with defense weapons and it can inspire all Europeans to do more to help Ukraine fight Russian aggression.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said this in a video address to the Belgian parliament, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"Belgium was one of the first to provide defense assistance. This is a historic moment, a historic gratitude, and we will never forget it. You have already warmly received more than 30,000 Ukrainians, who have left their homes because of this war," the Ukrainian president said.

At the same time, Zelensky stressed that Belgium, as the "heart state" of Europe, could inspire all other Europeans to do more to help drive Russian invaders out of Ukraine and restore precious peace.

A peace that is worth more than anything, than any values, any diamonds. More than any agreements with Russia. More than any vessel in European ports. More than any barrel of Russian oil," the President stressed.

Zelensky called on Europeans to provide Ukraine with weapons, EU membership, impose sanctions on Russia, and then "the future will soon thank us."

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.

Martial law was imposed in Ukraine and general mobilization was announced.

The United States, the European Union, and other countries impose sanctions on Russia as an aggressor whose international isolation is growing by the day.
Russian invaders are attempting to create a new group of troops in the Slobozhanskyi direction.

The relevant statement was made by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

Russian occupation forces are attempting to create a new group of troops in the Slobozhanskyi direction to partially gain control over Kharkiv Region, Luhansk Region and Donetsk Region, including the blockade of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the report states.

The enemy continues to attack the city of Popasna, presumably in order to divert the attention of Ukraines military leadership from attempts to gain control over Izium and Mariupol.

In the Siverskyi direction, mercenaries from the Middle East were transferred to the Belarusian city of Gomel.

According to the available data, on March 29, 2022, a total of 200 mercenaries were transferred to the Gomel military airfield. In addition, Russia continues to transfer missile units to Belarus in order to increase the intensity of ballistic missile strikes on Ukrainian settlements and infrastructure facilities.

In particular, three Iskander missile systems and two S-300 air defense systems were detected to cover them near Gomel.

Leaving their military equipment on the territory of Ukraine, the occupiers are increasingly resorting to its mining. In addition, the use of mine traps by the enemy became more frequent.

Within the temporarily occupied territories, the enemy continues to restrict the movement of local residents. Russian invaders are taking Ukrainian citizens hostage and exporting goods looted from civilians, the General Staff noted.

Meanwhile, relatives of Russian servicemen killed in the war with Ukraine have started to file lawsuits in court against the Russian military leadership.

In particular, one of such lawsuits was filed against the commander of the 752nd Motorized Rifle Regiment of the 3rd Motorized Rifle Division of the 20th All-Military Army of the Western Military District.

A reminder that, on February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, starting a war. Russian troops are shelling and destroying the key infrastructure facilities, launching missile and air strikes on Ukrainian cities and villages, killing civilians.

mk
The Ministry of Energy does not yet have fully confirmed information that Russian troops have pulled out of the territory of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

This was stated by Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko, who spoke on the air of a national telethon on March 31, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We are watching whats happening there now. So far, we do not have such 100% information that they (Russian troops - ed.) have left the NPP," Halushchenko said.

At the same time, he confirmed the information that the administration of the Chornobyl NPP had signed an "act drawn up by the Russian invaders confirming that the control over the plants safety has been handed back to the Ukrainian side.

According to NNEGC Energoatom, Ukraines national operator of nuclear energy facilities, the occupiers, who seized the Chornobyl NPP and other sites within the Exclusion Zone, were heading in two convoys towards the Ukrainian border with Belarus on March 31.

The Chornobyl nuclear power plant was seized by Russian troops on the first day of the invasion, February 24. Only on March 20 was it possible to partially rotate personnel at the Chornobyl NPP and evacuate the previous shift.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has briefed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in detail on Russia's war crimes against Ukraine's civilian population.

Reznikov said this in a statement posted on Facebook, Ukrinform reports.

"Today in Istanbul I had the honor to be hosted by the President of the Republic of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan. I took this opportunity to thank the Republic of Turkey for the support of Ukraine, including political and diplomatic support. We discussed the situation at the front line. I provided the leader of the Turkish state with detailed information on the war crimes committed by Russia against the Ukrainian civilian population and on the destruction of infrastructure," Reznikov wrote.

According to him, particular attention was paid to matters of humanitarian aid and the possibility of evacuating civilians from Mariupol, first of all, those wounded.

"I am sincerely grateful to the President of Turkey and to all Turkish people for their support of our country and for the help granted to all Ukrainian citizens who were forced to leave their homeland and flee to Turkey due to the war launched by Russia against Ukraine," Reznikov added.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on further joint steps towards achieving peace in Ukraine.
More than 21,000 Ukrainians fleeing Russia's war in Ukraine have been officially received in the Netherlands.

Thats according to NOS, as reported by Ukrinform.

"So far, the Netherlands has received more than 21,000 Ukrainians, according to the Ministry of Justice and Security. However, the actual figure is probably higher, because there are people who take care of Ukrainians at home purely at their own expense," the statement said.

Authorities are urging all Ukrainians who have been forced to flee their homes and are currently in the Netherlands to officially register so that they can receive assistance.

As reported, a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has been ongoing since February 24. The invaders have been destroying infrastructure and massively shelling residential areas, killing Ukrainian civilians, using artillery, rockets, and ballistic missiles, as well as dropping bombs.

According to the UN, since the beginning of the war, nearly 4 million people have crossed out of Ukraine, while another 6.5 million Ukrainians have become internally displaced persons. At the same time, 13 million citizens are unable to flee the war zones.
Ukrainians living in Vienna held a picket outside a hotel, where the annual general meeting of the Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) took place on Thursday, demanding that the institution quit the Russian market over the Kremlins invasion of Ukraine.

Thats according to Ukrinforms own correspondent in Austria.

We gathered today as Raiffeisen Bank International's shareholders are holding an annual general meeting. We handed out leaflets to the shareholders as they were arriving. We saw that about half of the shareholders are happy to take them. If we manage to reach out to at least a third of the shareholders who will raise the issue of pulling out of Russia, then it can finally move from reflection and discussion to concrete action," said Andrii Karioti, an activist with the local Ukrainian community, who organized the rally.

Read also: UK foreign secretary lists conditions for lifting sanctions against Russia

Despite rainy weather, dozens of Ukrainians carrying national symbols rallied at the entrances to the Hilton hotel complex, located next to the RBI office, handing out leaflets urging the bank to suspend operations in Russia and thus cease co-financing bloodshed in Ukraine.

They also carried posters reading "Raiffeisen, stop supporting Putin!", "No business with dictatorship!", "Raiffeisen, stop all operations in Russia!", "Raiffeisen, stop sponsoring war in Ukraine!" etc.

According to Karioti, the RBI shareholders' meeting is a perfect moment to "take a step towards ensuring that the strategic decision to pull out of Russia is not just words."

Statements about Raiffeisen Bank International considering leaving the Russian market are not enough. At a time when Ukrainian military and civilians are dying from Russian strikes, RBI is co-financing Putin's military machine. Today they have to decide whether theyre willing to further finance Russian bombs or to distance themselves from these humiliating actions," the activist said.

No incidents occurred at the rally, while Austrian police were monitoring the observance of public order.

As Ukrinform reported, on March 21, a picket was held near the headquarters of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) in Vienna demanding the closure of RBI's subsidiary in Russia.

Against the background of the withdrawal of many international banks from Russia due to the ongoing war against Ukraine, Raiffeisenbank Russia continues to operate on the Russian market. The RBI only said it was considering all strategic options for its daughter companys future in Russia, including a carefully planned exit. However, the banking group has not yet made a move to suspend operations in Russia.

As reported, a large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has been ongoing since February 24. The invaders have been destroying infrastructure and massively shelling residential areas, killing Ukrainian civilians, using artillery, rockets, and ballistic missiles, as well as dropping bombs.

The entire Ukrainian people stood up against the enemy and gave the Russians a decent rebuff.
Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia  UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and Islamic Development Bank (IsDB)s poverty alleviation arm, the Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD), have signed an agreement to launch the Global Islamic Fund for Refugees, an innovative, sustainable and Sharia-compliant resource mobilization instrument that will open new Islamic philanthropy funding in support of millions of forcibly displaced people.

The agreement comes at a time when forced displacement has reached unprecedented levels and has become a critical global humanitarian and development crisis, requiring intensive, comprehensive and collaborative international action.

Forced displacement needs are at a record high and continue to rise. No institution alone could carry the burden. We need to strengthen existing partnerships and explore innovative solutions for the plight of the forcibly displaced, said IsDB Group President, H.E. Dr. Muhammad Al Jasser. We are proud of our partnership with UNHCR and are confident that our joint efforts will provide the necessary mechanisms to assist those in need.

The initiative stems from ISFD and UNHCRs respective mandates. It aims to provide effective, efficient, and predictable support to programs and projects for refugees, IDPs and host communities in Organisation of Islamic Cooperation member states, which are concentrated in regions that produce and host high numbers of refugees.

Millions continue to be forced from their homes due to war, violence, persecution and discrimination and they need and deserve our support, said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. Innovative sources of Islamic social financing, such as this groundbreaking agreement with the Islamic Development Bank, will enable UNHCR to help refugees and other forcibly displaced people with the protection and assistance needed to live in better, more dignified conditions. We are grateful to ISFD for its steadfast support and ongoing partnership. This initiative will unlock much-needed financial support to address the acute needs of those forcibly displaced.

The agreement to launch the Global Islamic Fund for Refugees is an important step towards diversifying humanitarian funding sources and bolstering humanitarian relief efforts. The Fund will help mobilize immediate and multi-year funding in support of humanitarian programs and operations, in situations of forced displacement and across sectors.

For more information on this topic, please contact:

UNHCR

Khaled Kabbara; Communications Officer- GCC Countries; [email protected] ; +971 50 641 0868

ISFD/IsDB
UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi meets families displaced by war inside Ukraine.  UNHCR/Alex St Denis

Lviv, Ukraine  Visiting Ukraine for the first time since the Russian military offensive, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi appealed today in the strongest terms for an end to the war, while calling on the international community to provide sustained support to the millions of civilians impacted by the fighting.

The speed of the displacement, coupled with the huge numbers of people affected, is unprecedented in Europe in recent memory, Grandi said, concluding the visit.

Civilians are suffering and more than 10.5 million people have been displaced either within Ukraine or abroad as refugees, around a quarter of the population. In total, 13 million people are estimated to be in urgent need of humanitarian assistance across the country.

I have spoken with women, with children, who have been gravely affected by this war, he added. Forced to flee extraordinary levels of violence, they have left behind their homes and often their families, leaving them shocked and traumatized. The protection and humanitarian needs are enormous, and continue to grow. And while critically urgent, humanitarian aid alone cannot give them what they really need  and that is peace.

Following meetings with Ukrainian Government officials, Grandi added, I am deeply impressed by the humanitarian leadership and response from all levels of government in the country, as well as the selflessness and resilience of the Ukrainian people, who are hosting millions of their displaced compatriots.

Grandi reiterated UNHCRs commitment to stay and deliver for the people of Ukraine: in neighbouring countries, and inside their country. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has been operating in Ukraine for 28 years, and is focusing its response on protection, emergency shelter, cash and in-kind support, under the overall leadership of the government and in coordination with the entire United Nations system.

With local authorities and community representatives, Grandi visited a reception centre for internally displaced people that was established and run by the authorities with UNHCR support. It is one of 70 centres that have already been assessed and equipped while others are being identified for refurbishment. UNHCR is expanding the capacity and improving the living conditions of reception centres so that they may host more internally displaced Ukrainians in need of shelter.

At the centre, Grandi witnessed people enrolling for cash assistance, a UNHCR programme launched to help particularly vulnerable displaced people - such as those with disabilities and elderly  to cover the costs of basic needs like accommodation, food, clothes and hygiene items. UNHCRs program, which is being rolled out in multiple oblasts, aims to reach 360,000 people with US$80 million worth of support over an initial three months to complement the Governments own social assistance programme.

But to respond at the scale needed, Grandi said, humanitarians must be able to deliver assistance safely to Ukrainians in need wherever they are.

The entire humanitarian system is doing everything it can to reach people in need throughout the country, but the safety of aid workers and civilians receiving assistance must be guaranteed. This is a fundamental principle of International Humanitarian Law which must be respected. Lives are depending on it, he said.

Grandi also appealed to the international community to provide even greater resources to the humanitarian response. The support and solidarity shown so far by donors, neighbouring countries, and private individuals from around the world has been remarkable, he said. But the needs here in Ukraine are growing and the international community must continue to stand with Ukrainians in need.

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Ciudad Cuauhtmoc, Mxico, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2022 ) :A rising TikTok star from a Mennonite community in Mexico that once shunned rubber tires and electricity is embracing technology to give a glimpse of her life through social media.

A century after her ancestors arrived, Marcela Enns, 30, shares anecdotes and answers questions from her more than 350,000 followers with a mixture of pride, humor and sarcasm.

Known on social media as Menonita Mexicana, Enns tries to dispel misconceptions, such as that all Mennonites are religious fanatics or members of an ultra-conservative group cut off from civilization.

She describes her community as a "smoothie" -- a blend of "conservatives" living frozen in time; "traditionals" who wear typical Mennonite clothes but also use technology; and "moderners," who due to their appearance and lifestyle are not visibly Mennonites.

Despite their differences, all Mennonites "live happily as they are," she says.

In her videos, she sometimes dances or mimes to Rihanna songs in a break with the customs of a community that in certain parts of Mexico still rejects the trappings of modern life.

In some of her videos shot in Ciudad Cuauhtemoc in the state of Chihuahua -- where her ancestors settled in 1922 -- she wears traditional dress and a headscarf.

In others, she appears in modern clothes, sunglasses and makeup, speaking in Spanish, English or Low German, the community's native language.
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Hong Kong, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2022 ) :Nine foreign judges from Britain, Australia and Canada confirmed Thursday they will stay on Hong Kong's top court after two senior British justices resigned to avoid endorsing China's crackdown on political freedoms in the financial hub.

Judges from common law jurisdictions are invited to sit as non-permanent members at Hong Kong's top court, which is separate from mainland China's opaque, party-controlled legal system.

UK Supreme Court President Robert Reed and fellow judge Patrick Hodge resigned from the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal on Wednesday, saying the government had "departed from values of political freedom and freedom of expression".

Nine of the ten remaining overseas judges -- who unlike Reed and Hodge are retired -- have said they will remain, including five from the UK, three from Australia and one from Canada. British judge Robert Walker is yet to declare his decision.

The five British judges who will stay are Leonard Hoffman, Jonathan Sumption, Lawrence Collins and two former presidents of the UK Supreme Court, Nicholas Phillips and David Neuberger.

In a joint statement sent to AFP, the five British judges said they were "entirely satisfied" with the independence and integrity of the Court of Final Appeal.

"At a critical time in the history of Hong Kong, it is more than ever important to support the work of its appellate courts in their task of maintaining the rule of law and reviewing the acts of the executive," they said.

Australian judges William Gummow, Anthony Murray Gleeson and Robert French as well as former Canadian chief justice Beverley McLachlin would also retain their seats.

"We do not intend to resign and we support the judges of the Court of Final Appeal in their commitment to judicial independence," Gummow, Gleeson and French told AFP in a joint statement.

McLachlin also told Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper that said she would remain.

City leader Carrie Lam described the resignations on Thursday as a "political plot" by the British government which has repeatedly criticised China's clampdown in Hong Kong.

"I remain very confident that we still have very fine judges in the judiciary, both local and from overseas. Hong Kong will continue to benefit significantly," she told reporters.

- 'Systematic erosion of liberty' - UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Wednesday that Hong Kong's national security law -- imposed by China in 2020 after months of democracy protests in the city -- had led to a "systematic erosion of liberty and democracy".

Truss added it was "no longer tenable" for serving British judges to sit on Hong Kong's top court, as it would risk "legitimising oppression".

Legal analysts say the remaining British justices could come under pressure to follow Reed and Hodge in stepping down.

"I would be surprised if this very significant step... did not give the others very serious pause for thought," British lawyer Schona Jolly wrote on Twitter.

However because those judges are retired they will have to make up their own minds individually.

China said it "strongly deplored" the resignations, which were also criticised by Hong Kong's two professional legal bodies, the Law Society and the Bar Association.

The British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong also hit out at the move.

In a statement it urged remaining foreign judges to stay on saying they "would be greatly valued by our business community".

But local lawyer and former student leader Kenneth Lam said Hong Kong had become a place where "speech can be criminalised, critics of the regime can be jailed, and those awaiting trial can be kept behind bars for years.""How much of a price must we pay before we are willing to face the fact that Hong Kong, once an international city that respects free speech and personal freedom, has become unrecognisable," he wrote on Facebook.
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Riyadh, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 31st Mar, 2022 ) :Talks on Yemen's devastating war started in the Saudi capital Wednesday, but without the Huthi rebels, hours after the Riyadh-led coalition announced a ceasefire for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

The week-long discussions in the Saudi capital are hosted by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council headquartered there and include United Nations envoy Hans Grundberg and Washington's Tim Lenderking.

The talks come after the Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government said it would cease military operations during Ramadan, which starts when the crescent moon is spotted on Friday or Saturday.

The Iran-backed Huthis -- who rejected joining talks held on the territory of its enemy -- said Wednesday that while they "regretted the absence of a clear and transparent response" to their own ceasefire initiative, they would welcome "any positive response" from the Saudis.

The rebels nonetheless reiterated demands for lifting the "siege" on Yemen, saying they reserved the right to take whatever "political and military measures" are deemed necessary.

The Huthis had days ago also made a surprise offer of a truce and of a prisoner swap.

On Tuesday night, the Saudi-led coalition announced a "cessation of military operations in Yemen beginning at 6:00 am (0300 GMT) Wednesday".

The ceasefire, the first since April 2020 in Yemen, has been respected so far.

The recent flurry of statements brings a glimmer of hope in a brutal war that has killed hundreds of thousands and left millions on the brink of famine in Yemen, long the Arab world's poorest country.

"The success of Yemeni consultations is not an option but a reality that must be reached," said GCC secretary-general Nayef al-Hajraf in opening remarks at the talks.

- 'Sense of urgency' - Both the UN and US envoys welcomed the GCC initiative and praised the warring sides' pledges to temporarily cease hostilities.

Lenderking said the US supports UN efforts to advance a "durable, inclusive resolution" and backs the truce proposal "as a first step towards a comprehensive ceasefire and a new, more inclusive, political process".

Grundberg said he continues to engage "with the parties with a sense of urgency to reach this truce by the beginning of Ramadan".

The rebels had on Saturday called a three-day truce and offered peace talks, but only on condition the Saudis end their blockade and air strikes and remove coalition forces from Yemen.

A day later they said a prisoner swap was agreed that would free 1,400 of their fighters in exchange for 823 pro-government personnel -- including 16 Saudis and three Sudanese.

The last prisoner swap in Yemen's war was in October 2020, when 1,056 were released on each side, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Yemen's devastated economy and its complex political situation as well as military matters and humanitarian aid are all on the table at the talks in Riyadh, even as possible outcomes remain unclear.

"It is not clear where the Riyadh consultations will lead," said Maged al-Madhaji, director of the Sanaa Centre for Strategic Studies.

"The meeting's agenda is still very general, and the discussions will be limited to one party and will not include the Huthis.

"With regard to the peace track, it will not lead to anything because the Huthis are not there." - An 'absent party' - In the Huthis' view, the meeting in Riyadh "has nothing to do with the issue of peace", Ahmed Al-Emad, a spokesman for the rebels' foreign ministry, told AFP.

With the rebels absent, the talks "are missing an important part of the equation", a Riyadh-based Arab diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

According to the diplomat, the talks are "an attempt to unite all the forces within the pro Saudi-led coalition camp against the absent party".

That view was shared by Ahmed Nagi of the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie middle East Center in Beirut.

"The main goal of these consultations is to arrange the anti-Huthi side so that there is a shared position and some clarity of vision," he told AFP.

"These talks do not aim to reach a settlement with the Huthis as much as they aim to rearrange the pro-Saudi coalition side."Yemen's 30 million people are in dire need of assistance. A UN donors conference this month raised less than a third of the $4.27 billion target, prompting dark warnings for a country where 80 percent of the population depend on aid.
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WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st March, 2022) US President Joe Biden on Wednesday met with the parents of former American Marine Trevor Reed, who is serving a nine-year term in a Russian correctional colony in Mordovia for assaulting police officers, and vowed to continue working on their son's release, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.

Reed, 30, a US student, was arrested in Moscow in 2019 after getting drunk and picking a fight with two women, authorities said. Police said he then attacked two policemen who were called to the scene, punching one of them during a car ride after detention and nearly causing the car to crash.

He was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2020, but has denied the charges.

"President Biden met today with Joey and Paula Reed, the parents of Trevor Reed, who is wrongfully detained in Russia," according to Psaki's statement.

"During their meeting, the President reiterated his commitment to continue to work to secure the release of Trevor, Paul Whelan, and other Americans wrongfully held in Russia and elsewhere, and to provide all possible assistance until they and others are free and returned home to their families who are advocating so passionately for their release," it said.
The Ukrainian Navy placed 420 anchor mines in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea from February 25 to March 4, Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday, denying claims by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russia was allegedly mining the Black Sea

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st March, 2022) The Ukrainian Navy placed 420 anchor mines in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea from February 25 to March 4, Russian defense ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday, denying claims by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russia was allegedly mining the Black Sea.

"Taking into account Zelenskyy's ignorance of the real situation outside Kiev and the activities of his own subordinates, we officially announce. From February 25 and March 4, ... (the Ukrainian Navy) set up about 420 marine anchor mines of the outdated YM-1type in the waters of the Black and Azov Seas," Konashenkov told reporters.

As a result of a storm in the Black Sea and due to unsatisfactory technical condition, cables with bottom anchors broke at about 10 Ukrainian mines.

"Since then, under the influence of wind and surface currents, Ukrainian mines have been drifting freely in the western part of the Black Sea in the southerly direction," Konashenkov said, noting that no one can know where the remaining Ukrainian mines are drifting today.

The Russian official also denied Zelenskyy's statement alleging that about 100 foreign ships are blocked in Ukrainian ports, saying that it is Kiev that is currently forcibly keeping 68 ships from different countries in the ports of four cities.

Russia opens every day a safe corridor for the exit of these vessels from the territorial waters of Ukraine in the south-western direction, but their crews told Russian military that the ships are banned from leaving the Ukrainian ports "under the threat of immediate flooding," the official added.
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 01st April, 2022) US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that he believes Russian President Vladimir Putin has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers over matters related to the special military operation in Ukraine, but admitted he lacks "hard evidence."

"I'm not saying this with certainty, (Putin) he seems to be self isolated and there's some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers," Biden told a press conference when asked if he believes Putin is being misinformed by some of his advisers.

However, Biden admitted there's a lot of speculation and there's not too much hard evidence to back up those claims.

Earlier in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that Putin is not being fully informed of the Ukraine situation by the military, while reacting to similar claims made by the Pentagon. He noted that the State Department and the Pentagon have no real information about decision-making in Russia.

On February 24, Russia launched a special military 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 and the civilian population is not in danger.
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The United States has expanded sanctions authorities to apply to Russia's aerospace, marine and electronics sectors, the Treasury announced on Thursday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st March, 2022) The United States has expanded sanctions authorities to apply to Russia's aerospace, marine and electronics sectors, the Treasury announced on Thursday.

"In addition to the sanctions imposed on Russian actors today, Treasury is also enhancing and expanding its Russia sanctions authorities," the press release said.

"Today, the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, determined that sanctions apply to the aerospace, marine, and electronics sectors of the Russian Federation economy pursuant to section 1(a)(i) of Executive Order (E.O.) 14024."

The Treasury explained that the move will allow for sanctions to be introduced against any person or entity determined to operate or have operated in any of those sectors and provides powers to promptly impose additional economic costs on Russia over its special operation in Ukraine.
The University of South Florida today unveiled a new state-of-the-art research center that will deepen the connection between university innovation and the business community and help advance the Tampa Bay regions growing startup ecosystem. Located at the USF Research Park on the Tampa campus, the three-story, 120,000-square-foot mixed-use building features advanced laboratory facilities, as well as office and meeting spaces for new and established companies.

"The University of South Floridas new Research Park building marks a new era in the universitys robust and renowned research enterprise  the opening of a vibrant home for solving problems in our community, our state, our country and beyond," said USF President Rhea Law. "It will serve as a catalyst for bringing together leading researchers, entrepreneurs, financial investors and corporations at an ideal time for USF and the Tampa Bay regions rapidly expanding innovation economy."

The $42 million project will allow the university to significantly expand its Research Park, providing much-needed space. Its currently home to more than 65 companies and dozens of additional student-led startups and has been consistently at full capacity in recent years. The new building increases the parks space by 34 percent.

Visitors receive demonstrations inside the new facility. Guests gather on the Research Park building's rooftop. Drone photo of the Research Park building (photo taken Feb. 2022).



This expansion comes at an advantageous time for the university and Tampa Bay, as nationally leading innovators, entrepreneurs, along with science and technology firms are being drawn to the area, often citing the talent pipeline generated by USF as a reason for their decision.

The USF Research Park has long been a thriving community bridging research and innovation for our faculty, students and partners, said Sylvia Wilson Thomas, interim vice president for research & innovation. Bold, ambitious new technologies have always found a home here. This incredible new building is going to be a catalyst for our inventors and partners, helping them flourish in a modern marketplace and contribute to an innovation ecosystem to change the world.

USFs innovation and economic development efforts generate more than $582 million in statewide impact each year, sustain more than 4,000 jobs and return more than $71 million in tax revenue to local, state and federal coffers, according to a 2019 analysis from the Washington Economics Group, a leading national firm. Eighty-two percent of the jobs created by USF innovation statewide are in the knowledge-based services sector. The research enterprise is a key element to USFs annual economic impact of more than $6 billion.

The innovation facility marks the first new building in the Research Park since 2005.
Fr. Andriy Zelinskyy SJ, chief military chaplain of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, invites solidarity for Ukraine and calls for a return to humanity in the face of the loss of lives and massive devastation caused by the war.

By Benedict Mayaki, SJ

The war in Ukraine has now continued into its sixth week since it began on 24 February, when Russia launched an attack on its neighbour. Thousands of civilians have been killed according to conservative estimates and about 4 million people have been forced to flee for their lives from Ukraine into neighbouring countries.

The fighting, that has pitted the military forces of both countries against each other, has also registered thousands of military casualties. While it is difficult to secure accurate fatality numbers from the war zone, it is clear that the soldiers, some of them drafted ad hoc, daily face the risk of death as the war drags on.

Ukrainian military chaplain, Father Andriy Zelinskyy, has had to tailor his ministry to respond to the needs of the soldiers in the trenches as they fight to defend their country. The Jesuit priest is an Advisor to the head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic church and chief military chaplain of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church since 2018. He is also a lecturer at the Ukrainian Catholic University, a political scientist and author of a number of books on spirituality in times of war.

Fr. Zelinskyy with a serviceman of the Ukrainian military

A war that began 8 years ago

For Fr. Zelinskyy and the Ukrainian soldiers he ministers to, the war in Ukraine really began in 2014, with the invasion of Russia and Russian-supported forces in the southeastern part of Ukraine, and the annexation of Crimea.

During these 8 years, four of which the priest spent in the war zone and three of them in the trenches, about 14,000 civilian and more than 4000 military lives were lost in the fighting, he said. However, the conflict took place in a relatively small territory and people could always move to other parts of the country to get some reprieve.

Linking the 2014 invasion with the war which began in late February, he notes a difference: that the battlefront has extended over most of the country, with the fighting extending from the easternmost cities, and spreading towards the western part of Ukraine.

Listen to our interview with Fr. Andriy Zelinskyy

Devastation and violence

Fr. Zelinskyy expresses grief for the loss of lives and massive devastation caused by the war, saying that it is cruel, and is one of the most absurd, senseless wars in the history of Europe.

According to him, there is no reason for the violence and Russias excuse of demilitarization and "denazification" of its neighbour holds no water. He insists that Ukraine is a peaceful nation, though it is capable of resisting aggression when the situation calls for it.

In his years as a chaplain, he had not imagined that in the 21st century he would witness such violence. The military chaplain laments the destruction of large cities in the nation of over 40 million people, including Mariupol, Kharkiv and Kyiv, where bombs have caused massive destruction, death and displacement.

For example, narrates the priest, in Mariupol - one of the cities that has been under constant siege  international organizations estimate that more than 5,000 people have died and more are at risk due to lack of electricity, heat and food.

All of this, the Jesuit priest notes, poses philosophical questions for society: Where have we failed?  As Europeans? As a Christian tradition?... That human beings from the culture of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy can create this kind of violence!

Fr. Zelinskyy in his ministry to the Ukrainian military

Ministry to the trenches

I asked the chaplain what kind of ministry he offers to the soldiers at the war front who are faced with the high risk of death.

Fr. Zelinskyy explained that it all depends on the unit and the formation received by the soldiers. With the professional military who are formed and prepared for battle, the approach is different. However, the conflict has necessitated a national draft and ministry has to be tailored to meet the needs of someone who, until recently, was a teacher or electrician and has had to become a soldier because of the war.

The chaplain structures his ministry along three major broad lines. First, the creation of spiritual and psychological resilience for the units who run the risk of exhaustion from the relentless fighting that has continued into its second month. Another focus of the ministry is teambuilding and responsibility for one another. Fr. Zelinskyy highlights that this is essential as your neighbour is the most important means of your safety and security, especially on the battlefield. Thus, it is necessary to work to build respect and responsibility among the soldiers.

The third focus is hope. Keeping hope alive that the war will come to an end and evil will never prevail, especially in the face of death and the loss of people who contribute to culture and society, including actors, poets, among others.

He further notes that the ministry to the soldiers is supported by spiritual means: prayers, being present for those who seek the sacrament of reconciliation, having a listening ear for those who wish to talk and a general ministry of presence.

The Churchs presence

In the face of the war and the massive refugee and humanitarian crisis it has created, the Church has been present, joining forces with state agencies, volunteer support groups and NGOs to respond to the situation.

Fr. Zelinskyy adds that the Jesuit community in Lviv where he is, is not left out in efforts in this regard. The community has a refugee center where it receives and provides help to Ukrainians fleeing the atrocities of war.

Fr. Andriy Zelinskyy SJ

Appeal

Reflecting on the war, the military chaplain holds that society ought to have learned its lesson from the Second World War which taught us that we can only win evil if we work together.

But, we find ourselves at a time when the greatest gift we have is in danger, that is, our humanity, Fr. Zelinskyy says, inviting everyone to come back toward this gift of humanity because it is something we need to treasure.

In this regard, he calls for countries to stand by Ukraine, highlighting that the ongoing war has consequences that will affect many processes and peoples, including European countries and others in the West, some of which may feel that this will pass them by.

Please wake up! urges Fr. Zelinskyy. We are stronger together!
Only a few more hours remain before the start of the 36th Apostolic Journey of Pope Francis, a two-day journey taking place Saturday and Sunday. Welcoming and faith are the themes of this visit in the footsteps of St Paul, while at the same time the journey will inevitably be marked by the war in Ukraine.

By Michele Raviart

Europe's southernmost country is preparing to welcome a Pope for the third time in its history. in its history. After St John Paul II, who came to the Republic of Malta in 1990 and 2001; and Benedict XVI, who made the journey in 2010, Pope Francis is now set to visit the archipelago on Saturday and Sunday. Its a trip the Pope has been looking forward to. Previously planned for May 2020, the journey was postponed because of the pandemic; now, it will inevitably be marked by the war in Ukraine and the incessant flow of refugees fleeing the bombings.

At the source of the Gospel proclamation

Today more than ever, Malta  a luminous land, as Pope Francis described it at last Wednesdays General Audience  is committed to welcoming so many brothers and sisters seeking refuge. The theme of hospitality is also symbolised by the journey's logo, which depicts hands outstretched towards others emerging from the boat on which St Paul was shipwrecked on the island more than two thousand years ago, on his way to Rome. an opportunity to go to the wellsprings of the proclamation of the Gospel, and for the Pope, to know at first hand a Christian community with a lively history stretching back thousands of years. The community has 408,000 baptised members, 85% of the total population of 478,000 in the island chain of Malta, Gozo and other smaller islands.

The programme for Saturday 2 April

Pope Francis will land at Malta's international airport on Saturday morning at around 10am and, after the welcome ceremony, will head to the Grand Master's Palace in Valletta. In what was once the seat of the Grand Masters of the Knights of St John, who built the building in 1571. There Pope Francis will meet the President of the Republic of Malta, George William Vella, and then Prime Minister, Robert Abela, who has just been re-elected to lead the country's government. The speech in the Great Council Hall to the Maltese authorities and the diplomatic corps will close the first part of the day which, after a stop at the Apostolic Nunciature, will continue with a visit to the Marian shrine of Ta' Pinu on the sister island of Gozo. In the large square in front of the shrine, Malta's most important place of pilgrimage, the Pope will preside over a prayer meeting with the faithful, together with Maltese Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, who will be in the papal retinue, along with Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, and Bishop Anton Teuma of Gozo.

Sunday visit to the Grotto of St Paul and Mass in Floriana

On the morning of Sunday 3 April Francis will meet privately with members of the Society of Jesus and then, at around 8.30am, he will go to the Grotto of St Paul in Rabat. It was there, according to tradition, that the Apostle of the Gentiles landed after being shipwrecked in 60 A.D.  a decisive event for the Christianisation of the island. The Grotto had already been visited by St John Paul II in 1990 and later by Benedict XVI in 2010, on the occasion of the 1950th anniversary of the event. After lighting a votive lamp, Francis will say a prayer to St Paul and greet the 14 religious leaders who will be present, as well as a number of sick people assisted by the local Caritas organization. One of Malta's largest open spaces, the Piazzale dei Granai in Floriana  the city that extends beyond walls of Valletta  will later host the Holy Mass celebrated by the Pope at 10.15, followed by the recitation of the Angelus.

The welcome at the Peace Lab

They showed us unusual kindness is the motto of this 36th apostolic journey of Francis, which will conclude at around 6:15 pm with a visit to the "John XXIII Peace Lab" Migrant Centre in Hal Far, which hosts people from Somalia, Eritrea, and Sudan who embarked in Libya to cross the Mediterranean. It is a place where great educational work is carried out in the field of human rights, justice, solidarity, and medical assistance. About 200 migrants will meet the Pope in the structure's open-air theatre. The farewell ceremony at the airport is scheduled to take place at 6:15 pm, with the return to Rome expected at 7:40 pm.
Shortly after finishing her lunch at a Malaysian food court, Emily Lee, a 21-year-old university student, stepped outside, pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. I usually smoke one pack per day, she said. I almost always smoke right after a meal.

Lee said she started smoking when she was 17, a year below the legal age to smoke in Malaysia. I had a bunch of friends who were smoking, so I started and quickly got addicted to the nicotine.

Government statistics show that 1 in 5 Malaysians 15 years of age and older smoke, including about 40% of the men. There are more than 27,000 smoking-related deaths in the country annually.

This is a major problem because a lot of people are losing their lives because of smoke-related lung cancer, said Azrul Mohd Khalib the chief executive officer of the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy, a nonprofit health and policy research organization. However, Malaysias health minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, has announced plans to permanently ban the sale of all tobacco and smoking products including vapes as well as e-cigarettes to anyone born after the year 2005 as part of a generational end game for smoking in the country.

This proposal comes after New Zealand announced plans to raise the legal smoking age by one year each year to permanently ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2008.

Malaysias proposal has drawn praise from many of the countrys leading health advocates. It means theres going to be a lot fewer new smokers in the years to come, said Azrul calling the proposal a great idea.

But theres a lot of skepticism that it will actually work.

The intention is good, but I dont know if it will actually stop anyone from smoking, Lee said. Stores dont always check IDs; older people will buy for someone whos underage, plus, so many smokers just buy cigarettes under the table because theyre so much cheaper.

Its widely known across Malaysia that theres a thriving black market for tobacco products. A study conducted in 2020 by the Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manufacturers concluded that more than 60% of cigarettes consumed in the nation were from the black market.

In several convenience stores, employees, upon request, brought out from under the counter illegally imported cigarettes. They often sell for less than half the price of legal ones.

Its [the proposed ban] not going to reduce consumption its only going to increase the illegal consumption of cigarettes, which in Malaysia is already extremely high, said Carmelo Ferlito, chief executive officer of the Center for Market Education, a libertarian think tank in Malaysia.

Ferlito thinks if Parliament passes the proposal it will lead to a situation similar to what happened during prohibition in the United States during the 1920s when a ban on alcohol led to a massive underground market run by organized crime.

So, we [Malaysia] will have our very own Al Capone [crime boss] for tobacco smuggling, Ferlito told VOA.

Azrul acknowledges the challenges the countrys black market poses towards the proposals chances of preventing a significant number of Malaysians from starting to smoke or vape. The policy will succeed if we are able to crack down on the issues of corruption, of lack of enforcement but also political will, Azrul said. But it will fail if society fails to support the policy.

The proposed age ban also raises financial concerns for many businesses as the country tries to bounce back from the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors General Association, whose membership includes many owners of semi-enclosed open-air food courts that are popular across Malaysia, released a statement calling the plan a step in the right direction but Malaysia is not ready.

The association said the proposal will drive more smokers to the black market and severely jeopardize the livelihood of our 20,000 merchants. The association said cigarette sales account for about 30% of the revenue of its members.

Ferlito said people smoke for pleasure and the government wont be able to stop this. A more successful strategy would be eventually to direct people toward less harmful products such as vaping, Ferlito said.

But Azrul of the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy disagrees.

We see smokers who are transitioning to vape thinking that they can quit smoking that way but end up with another form of addiction for which they need treatment for, said Azrul. Today we are treating both smokers and vapers in our smoking cessation clinics.

Among the public, the proposed age ban for tobacco and smoking products is getting mixed reviews.

Its not going to work, said Ni Aliah Amira a 21-year-old university student who vapes regularly. People are going to find all of those [loop] black holes.

Jordan Lee (no relation to Emily), a 25-year-old non-smoker, supports the proposed age ban. If society at large wants it to work it will work, Lee said. We should give it a try.
Carol Liao, a 30-year vendor of herbs and massage chairs in Oaklands Chinatown, opens her shop doors only for customers she knows, those who have visited before, or better, placed a phone order for one of her $9,000 massage chairs.

Some shopkeepers and restaurant owners in Chinatown say business is gradually improving so far this year. Liao isn't so sure. She was broken into once last year. Two immediate neighbors have boarded their stores and two more have moved out for safety reasons.

Even as COVID-19 abates, Liao said, the threat of crime deters commerce. She still has repeat customers, so she stands out at the curbside to make sure no suspicious people enter the shop. So far, so good.

The reason (business) is lower this year is, first off, because of the safety, too many bad incidents, the shootings, said Liao, whos from Taiwan. This year is worse than last.

The mostly Cantonese, 20-block tract of Oakland businesses has become safer since the city police department stationed cars and foot patrols there in August last year, Chinatown Chamber of Commerce President Carl Chan said. No violence targeting shoppers has been reported since then, he said. Robberies, assaults and a killing had been reported in the months prior.

He said some of the roughly 300 shops and eateries in the zone, which was not known for high crime before 2020, have lengthened their hours to compensate for an estimated 15% loss of business in 2020-21. The crime rate rose between March 2020 and August 2021, coinciding with COVID-19 and the backlash against Asians.

California-based advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate recorded 10,905 hate incidents against Asian Americans and Pacific islanders in the U.S. from March 19, 2020, to Dec. 31, 2021.

The second quarter of 2021 saw a spike of 2,478 cases, compared to 1,289 in the third quarter and 535 in the fourth, Stop AAPI Hate data show. Verbal anti-Asian incidents make up 63% of reported cases, and 16% of reports were of physical violence. Chinese Americans made up 42.8% of the people reporting incidents.

Overall, we know that the top cities are San Francisco and New York, which have high concentrations of low-income Asian Americans in dense areas, and thats correlated to more hate incidents, said Russell Jeung, the Stop AAPI Hate founder and a professor in the Asian American Studies Department at San Francisco State University.

Crimes targeting Asians rose by 150% in 2020 over 2019, when former U.S. President Donald Trump blamed China for the coronavirus outbreak that began sweeping the United States about two years ago.

Liaos fears still resonate around much of the United States, where anti-Asian sentiment remains a threat one year after a bellwether Atlanta-area spa shooting.

The shooting of March 16, 2021, killed six Asian women. The shooter was sentenced to life in prison. The crime drew widespread attention to a growing rash of violence and slurs against Asians nationwide during the COVID-19 pandemic that had begun a year earlier in China.

Killings of Asian women in New York City in January and February 2022 show that the attacks haven't ended, Jeung said. In San Francisco's Chinatown this month, a camera store was robbed during the daytime. In another incident, on an early March morning in Oakland, two Chinese-owned shops -- closed at the time -- were hit by bullets during a gun battle, alarming Liao and her customers.

Chinatown veterans attribute the continued crime wave to friction in Sino-U.S. relations, the high number of cash-only transactions and a sense that its easy to avoid arrest due to defunding of some urban police departments since mid-2020 in response to the Black Lives Matter movement.

Chinatowns in Oakland and San Francisco have higher-than-normal numbers of cash transactions.

Veteran San Francisco restaurateur George Chen said violent crime such as robberies against Chinese-owned businesses had almost become normalized because China is deemed to be an enemy and not just a competitor.

Chens comment echoes a foreign policy speech given by U.S. President Joe Biden in February in which he called China the most serious competitor to the United States.

The chief executive officer of the high-end China Live restaurant uses surveillance cameras and employs a security manager to keep his staff of 100 safe. San Francisco's Chinatown is an upmarket area that is popular with tourists.

There are more police patrols, but we basically need more self-surveillance as we cant be relying on more cops to solve the problems, Chen said.

Liao attributes the criminal activity to non-Asians targeting more successful Asians in her district where merchants often prefer cash over more theft-proof forms of payment.

Today's anti-Asian crimes and remarks can be traced back to the previous century, when Asian immigrants were seen as second-class citizens and barred from citizenship until 1952, Columbia University professor Jennifer Lee wrote in a January 2021 study.

Trump's China virus comment reanimated a century-old trope that Asians are vectors of filth and disease, exposing not only the precariousness of their status but also the country's nativist fault line, Lee wrote.

The COVID-19 coronavirus was discovered in late 2019 in the Chinese city Wuhan, sparking the worlds first outbreak.

If the anti-Asian crime rate does eventually fall, just the fear of it will persist as long as images of any lingering attacks make the television news, Jeung said.

Thats the fear paradox, he said.
President Joe Biden is commemorating Transgender Day of Visibility by celebrating prominent transgender Americans and advocating against what his administration terms "dangerous anti-transgender legislative attacks" that have passed in statehouses across the country.

Biden on Thursday is announcing new measures aimed at making the federal government more inclusive for transgender people, including a new "X" gender marker on U.S. passport applications beginning on April 11 and new Transportation Security Administration scanners that are gender-neutral.

The Democratic president's administration is working to expand the availability of the "X" gender marker to airlines and federal travel programs and will make it easier for transgender people to change their gender information in Social Security Administration records.

Visitors to the White House will soon also be able to select an "X" gender marker option in the White House Worker and Visitor Entry System, which is used to conduct screening background checks for visitors to the executive mansion.

"Transgender Americans continue to face discrimination, harassment, and barriers to opportunity," Biden wrote in a proclamation marking the day. "In the past year, hundreds of anti-transgender bills in States were proposed across America, most of them targeting transgender kids. The onslaught has continued this year. These bills are wrong."

Biden also planned to release a video message to transgender Americans on Thursday.

"Jeopardy!" champion Amy Schneider, the first openly transgender winner on the quiz show, will visit the White House on Thursday to meet with second gentleman Doug Emhoff. Emhoff, along with Admiral Rachel Levine, the assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health and Human Services, will also host a conversation with transgender kids and their parents at the White House.

In Florida, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona will meet with LGBTQ+ students in the wake of the state's new law that bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through the third grade. Republicans argue that parents should broach these subjects with children. Democrats have said the law demonizes LGBTQ people by excluding them from classroom lessons.

"Their conversation will focus on the impacts of Florida's so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill, students' experiences at school and, in particular, support for LGBTQI+ student mental health and well-being," the White House said.

HHS, the White House said, will also be the first agency to fly a trans pride flag.
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President Joe Biden urged U.S. lawmakers to approve tens of billions of dollars to fight the coronavirus, of which $5 billion is earmarked for Americas global response. VOAs Anita Powell reports from Washington.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up a three-nation tour of the Middle East and North Africa on Wednesday with appeals for Algeria to limit ties with Russia and look to improve relations with neighboring Morocco.

"The countries of North Africa and the Middle East have experienced themselves the consequences of Russia's military campaigns before," Blinken said, noting Russian interventions in Syria and Libya and the impact on energy and food security that the Ukraine conflict is having.

"The international community must increase the pressure on Russia to end this unprovoked and unjustified war," he said.

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has in the past referred to Russia as a "brotherly country," and has maintained pressure on Morocco over its claim to the disputed territory of the Western Sahara, where Algeria backs independence fighters.

'Stand with the victim'

After meeting with Tebboune, Blinken said the Ukraine conflict should cause all countries to re-evaluate relations with Russia and express their support for the territorial integrity of other states.

"I know that that's something Algerians feel strongly about," he said.

"There are times when one issue emerges that is so clearly black and white," he said. "It's important to stand with the victim and to stand with the principles that have also been violated."

Algeria has had close ties with Russia since its independence from France in 1962 and is a major purchaser of Russian weaponry.

It is also locked in a bitter dispute with Morocco over the status of the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara. Algiers opposes a plan by Rabat to retain control of the territory while granting it semi-autonomous status.

Algerian officials provided no immediate readout of Tebboune's meeting with Blinken.

Blinken and other U.S. officials have praised the Moroccan plan as "serious, realistic and credible" but have not explicitly endorsed it as the path to a resolution. Earlier this month, Algeria angrily recalled its ambassador to Spain after the Spanish government offered the same assessment  an enormous departure from its earlier stance of considering Morocco's grip on Western Sahara an occupation.

Blinken did not repeat the phrase at his news conference in Algiers and instead said only that the U.S. fully supports U.N. efforts to resolve the situation.

"We're very focused on diplomacy," he said.

Blinken came to Algeria a day after meeting senior Moroccan officials in Rabat, where he praised Morocco's improvements in ties with Israel.

And on Monday, Blinken had been in Israel's Negev Desert where he and the Israeli foreign minister participated in a historic gathering with their counterparts from Arab nations, including Morocco, that have normalized relations with Israel.

'Abraham Accords'

Morocco, along with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, was one of the countries to fully normalize relations with Israel during the Trump administration's push to negotiate the so-called "Abraham Accords," in which the U.S. pledged significant support in exchange for such recognition.

For its part, Morocco won U.S. recognition for its claim to Western Sahara in return for its agreement with Israel.

In a rare endorsement of a Trump foreign policy initiative, the Biden administration has signaled its full backing for the Abraham Accords and pledged to try to expand and strengthen them.

But, while the administration has not revoked Trump's decision on Western Sahara, it has taken few steps to advance it, and plans to build a U.S. consulate there have not advanced since Trump announced them in 2020.

That has led to questions about whether Washington is fully on board with Moroccan sovereignty over the former Spanish colony.
Britain announced sanctions on 14 more Russian entities and people on Thursday, including state media organizations behind RT and Sputnik and some senior figures, saying it was targeting those who push out President Vladimir Putin's "fake news and narratives."

Britain is acting in concert with its Western allies to try to cripple Russia's economy as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine and has already sanctioned more than 1,000 individuals and businesses.

Among those sanctioned on Thursday were RT's managing director, Alexey Nikolov; Sergey Brilev, a prominent news anchor at the state-owned Rossiya Television and Radio network; and Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Anton Anisimov.

The government said it was also directly sanctioning state media organizations, including Kremlin funded TV-Novosti, which owns RT, and Rossiya Segodnya, which controls news agency Sputnik.

"Putin's war on Ukraine is based on a torrent of lies," Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a statement.

"Britain has helped lead the world in exposing Kremlin disinformation, and this latest batch of sanctions hits the shameless propagandists who push out Putin's fake news and narratives."

RT said the sanctions showed the imminent end of media freedom in Britain.

"We will continue to bring the news to audiences that wish to seek it, and prevent a media echo chamber from being orchestrated by blinkered officials hell-bent on conflating anything remotely Russian with wrong," Anna Belkina, RT's deputy editor in chief, told Reuters.

Brilev did not respond to requests for comment.

The Russian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Russian officials say RT  which had its UK broadcasting license revoked earlier this month  is a way for Moscow to compete with the dominance of global media companies based in the United States and Britain that Moscow says offer a partial view of the world.

Moscow calls the invasion it launched on February 24 a "special military operation" aimed at demilitarizing and "de-Nazifying" its neighbor  which Ukraine and the West have dismissed as a baseless pretext for war.

Britain's new sanctions also include seven individuals connected to Russian think tank Strategic Culture Foundation, who were recently sanctioned by Australia for their role in spreading disinformation.

The government said it had also sanctioned Russia's Chief of the National Defense Command and Control Center Mikhail Mizinitsev, who it said had been "responsible for planning and executing the siege and bombardment of Mariupol"  a southern Ukrainian port city that has been bombarded for weeks.

Britain has used sanctions to target Russia's access to the international financial system, as well as industries such as shipping and defense, and wealthy elites close to Putin.
Two senior British judges resigned from Hong Kong's highest court on Wednesday as part of a broader British rebuke of the territory's claim that its courts are independent of political interference.

In a prepared statement released by Lord Robert Reed and his colleague Lord Patrick Hodge, the judges cited the territory's Beijing-imposed National Security Law (NSL) as central to their decision, which followed discussions with Dominic Raab, the U.K. lord chancellor and justice secretary.

"I have concluded, in agreement with the government, that the judges of the Supreme Court cannot continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to endorse an administration which has departed from values of political freedom, and freedom of expression," said the statement. "Lord Hodge and I have accordingly submitted our resignations as non-permanent judges of the HKCFA with immediate effect."

Britain, which handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, has said the security law that punishes offenses like subversion with up to life imprisonment has been used to curb dissent and freedoms. London also says the law is a breach of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration that paved the way for the handover.

British officials on Wednesday issued comments explaining their decision to withdraw the judges from Hong Kong's highest court, calling their presence untenable.

"The situation has reached a tipping point, where it is no longer tenable for British judges to sit on Hong Kong's leading court and would risk legitimizing oppression," said British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss in a statement. "I welcome and wholeheartedly support the decision to withdraw British judges from the court."

Raab said, "I thank our judges for being a bastion of international rule of law in Hong Kong over the past 25 years."

Brian Davidson, the British Consul General to Hong Kong and Macao, also echoed the announcement in a video posted on Twitter.

Hong Kong government officials, however, were quick to respond to the resignations, calling the national security law typical for any country seeking to defend itself. In a harshly worded statement, officials called the British decision "appalling."

"We take strong exception to the absurd and misleading accusations against the NSL and our legal system," the statement said. "Every country around the world would take threats to its national security extremely seriously."

Some observers not surprised

Hong Kong legal and political experts have said the action was expected because rule of law in the city has deteriorated in recent years.

Democracy advocate and political scientist Joseph Cheng told VOA in an email that the decision of the two British judges shouldn't come as a surprise.

"This is expected as the international community becomes aware of the deteriorations in the rule of law in Hong Kong," he told VOA. "Western societies know very well that the rule of law can hardly be maintained effectively when freedom of media and civil society are suppressed.

"Within the judiciary, the implementation of the National Security Law has been quite damaging," added Cheng, who was secretary general of the Civic Party, a pro-democracy liberal political party in Hong Kong, and a member of various pro-democracy groups.

"A special group of judges have been chosen to adjudicate national security law cases, no juries are provided for such cases, and those prosecuted normally cannot seek bail. ... The situation is expected to further deteriorate in the near future."

Eric Yan-Ho Lai, a law analyst and fellow at Georgetown University, wrote on Twitter that the judges' decisions were "respectable."

"The resignations of Lord Hodge and Lord Reed from Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal are respectable moves in light of the ongoing political suppressions in the city," he tweeted. "Yet it's uncertain whether the remaining (Non-Permanent Judges) NPJs, who are retired judges, will follow so."

He added that the U.K. Supreme Court's statement "appears to imply the resignations are votes of no confidence to the city's administration that does not respect political freedom and free speech anymore, and the Court does not want to collaborate with the Hong Kong administration anymore."

The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal website, which has yet to be updated, lists 12 overseas non-permanent judges including the departing Lord Hodge and Lord Reed. Judges from Britain, Australia and Canada make up the list.

Chan-Chak Ming, president of the Law Society of Hong Kong, issued a statement to regional media outlets calling the criticism of Hong Kong's judiciary system "unfair and unfounded."

Six-month report

Wednesday's announcement is the latest development in an increasingly strained relationship between Britain's legal professionals and officials in Beijing.

In December, Britain released a six-month report about Hong Kong that outlined the eroding freedoms that have taken place since the enactment of the security law. The report included the accusation that Hong Kong's judicial independence was at risk.

But Hong Kong's chief of justice, Andrew Cheung, hit back in January stating that Hong Kong's judiciary independence is a "fact." Hong Kong legal experts disputed that in interviews with VOA.

Former Democratic Party leader Emily Lau hopes the judiciary can remain uncompromised.

"The foreign judges sitting in the Court of Final Appeal as stipulated in the Basic Law has been regarded as a sign of international confidence in the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law in Hong Kong, which is vital to the city as an international financial center," she told VOA.

"I hope the legal profession and the judiciary can remain independent and professional and can resist pressure from the powerful sectors, to ensure the rule of law, due process and to safeguard the Hong Kong people's human rights and personal safety."

Following Hong Kong's 2019 pro-democracy demonstrations, Beijing implemented the national security law, arguing that it was required to bring stability to the city. Critics, however, point out that the law prohibits secession, subversion, and collusion with foreign forces, criminalizes dissent, and makes it easier to punish protesters and reduces the city's autonomy.

Under the new law, authorities have waged a political crackdown on dozens of civil society groups and independent media outlets. At least 150 dissidents have been arrested since the law was implemented, including dozens of democratic lawmakers and political figures.

In landmark cases, some dissidents have faced trial without a jury and with specially enlisted national security judges.

British judges have long served among the foreign jurists appointed to Hong Kong's highest court, an arrangement that London had long described as a way to maintain confidence in the city's legal apparatus amid Beijing's tightening political grip on the territory.

Fourteen non-permanent judges remain at the Hong Kong court, including 10 from other common law jurisdictions such as Australia and Canada.

The Hong Kong Bar Association called Britain's decision "a matter of deep regret" and appealed to the Court of Final Appeal's remaining overseas judges to stay and serve the city and help uphold its judicial independence.

Some information for this report came from from Reuters and The Associated Press.
China on Thursday said it would impose visa restrictions on U.S. officials in retaliation for the U.S. restriction of visas for Chinese officials.

Earlier this month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the restriction on Chinese officials who he said had been involved in "repressive acts" against ethnic and religious minorities.

Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, did not say who the U.S. officials were, but said they had lied about China's human rights record.

"The United States uses the pretext of so-called human rights issues to concoct malicious lies and uses them as excuses to interfere in China's internal affairs, smear China's image and suppress Chinese officials," said Wang. "These actions have no moral bottom line and seriously violate international law and the basic norms of international relations. China firmly opposes this.

"In order to safeguard China's sovereignty, security and development interests, and to protect the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese officials  China has decided to impose reciprocal visa restrictions on U.S. officials who concocted lies on human rights issues involving China, advocated sanctions on China and harmed China's interests."

Earlier this month, Wang demanded the U.S. lift its restrictions on Chinese officials or face "countermeasures."

The U.S. and other Western countries have accused Beijing of conducting genocide against the Muslim Uyghur minority in China's western Xinjang province. Beijing has denied the accusation.

Blinken last week accused China of attempting to "harass, intimidate, surveil and abduct members of ethnic and religious minority groups, including those who seek safety abroad, and U.S. citizens who speak out on behalf of these vulnerable populations."

Some information for this report came from Reuters.
Foreign ministers from Afghanistans neighbors met in China on Thursday to reaffirm support for the war-torn country and stress how important it is for Taliban rulers to protect rights of all Afghans, including womens rights to an education.

Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and host China attended the meeting in the central Chinese city of Tunxi. Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov were also among the participants.

A post-meeting statement noted "the importance of taking necessary, continuing steps in Afghanistan on ensuring womens rights and childrens education, among others  safeguard the fundamental rights of all Afghans, including ethnic groups, women and children.

It also noted Taliban commitments and pledges made to the global community that Afghan soil would not pose any threats to the neighboring countries nor will it give space to terrorist groups.

China has not yet recognized the Taliban government nor has the world at large.

Analysts say the regional conference and multilateral sideline huddles underscore ramped up Chinese diplomatic engagement with de facto Afghan authorities to shore up bilateral relations after the United States and NATO-led troops withdrew from Afghanistan last August.

Chinese and other regional officials fear that continued instability in the troubled neighboring country could encourage terrorist groups to use Afghan soil for cross-border attacks.

Earlier, in a message to the regional huddle, Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed support for Afghanistan, calling for coordinated efforts to build a brighter future and promote the steady transition there.

China always respects Afghanistans sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and has committed to supporting its pursuit of peace, stability and development, Xi said.

The country has come to a critical point of transition from chaos to order, he said in the statement that Chinese Embassy officials in Islamabad shared with reporters.

Xi stressed that a peaceful, stable, developing and prosperous Afghanistan is what all Afghans aspire to. It is also in the common interests of regional countries and the international community.

However, the Chinese leader made no mention of human rights abuses the Taliban have allegedly committed against Afghans since the Islamist group seized power and established an interim government in Kabul seven months ago.

The China-hosted talks come just days after the male-only hardline Taliban leadership enacted a series of edicts, raising concerns the group is reintroducing the harsh Islamist rule it employed from 1996 to 2001, when human rights abuses such as the barring of women from education and work led to the country's international isolation.

The Taliban have banned girls and women from attending school beyond the sixth grade. Women are not allowed to board planes or taxis unless accompanied by a male relative.

Men and women must visit public parks on separate days, and the use of mobile telephones in universities is prohibited. Male government employees have been instructed to wear a beard and adhere to a Taliban-authorized traditional Afghan dress code.

The de facto Afghan authorities have blocked international media broadcasts, including VOA and the BBC's Pashto and Dari news programming. They have also banned foreign drama series on Afghan television channels.

The controversial actions have drawn global condemnation and demands that the Taliban immediately reverse them, warning it would undermine the groups attempts to develop ties with the international community.

The Taliban's Muttaqi told Thursdays meeting that the group is working to make their government more inclusive, saying they have also effectively reduced the threat of Islamic State through military actions, claiming the terrorist group exists in the country only symbolically.

The Taliban official added that his government is ready to address concerns of other nations seeking increased foreign cooperation with Kabul.

Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov told the conference in China that Moscow has accredited a Taliban-appointed diplomat to engage with Kabul. Other regional countries also have accredited Taliban envoys, including Beijing, Islamabad, Turkey, Tehran, Tashkent and Turkmenistan.

Lavrov reiterated concerns about the threat of terrorism from groups such as Islamic State spilling over into Russia through Central Asian countries.

The Russian foreign minister noted growing trade and economic ties between Afghanistan and regional countries were contributing to the potential international recognition of the Taliban administration.

I would like to note that the first Afghan diplomat who arrived in Moscow last month and was sent by the new authorities has received accreditation at the Russian Foreign Ministry," he said.

"The plans of the Islamic State and its supporters to destabilize Central Asian states and export instability to Russia are of particular concern," Lavrov said.

Participants at the regional conference called for unfreezing billions of dollars in Afghanistans foreign currency reserves, mostly held in the United States, to enable the country to deal with humanitarian and economic upheavals. The United Nations says more than half of Afghanistans estimated 40 million population face acute food shortages.
China is making efforts to block Taiwan from the United Nations that run deep into the organizations bureaucracy, systematically blocking Taiwanese from engaging with the international organization, according to a German Marshall Fund report.

The March 24 report claims China has made use of tools such as specialized funding schemes, signing memoranda of understanding and strategic hires as U.N. staff to keep Taiwan out of the international body, even though the U.N. has made no official ruling on Taiwans political status.

Taiwan, with a population of 23.5 million, is neither a member nor observer at the U.N. because of the objections of China, which claims Taiwan as a province. In the past, it has been given observer status at some bodies, such as the World Health Organization, but since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016 it has been blocked by Beijing.

These methods have kept NGOs, civil society representatives, and even high schools, from accessing UN resources or attending U.N.-organized forums and events if Taiwan features on their websites or organization materials as Taiwan, as opposed to Taiwan, Province of China. the written report said.

Individuals may be barred from entering the U.N. without identification issued from Beijing, even though they have Taiwanese passports or ID cards.

Beijings policies have also been enforced by the growing number of Chinese staff in U.N. agencies, who numbered 1,300 in 2019, the report said. Many Chinese nationals also hold "senior positions across UN funds and programs, its principal organs, and other UN-affiliated international organizations."

At the crux of the issue, the report said, is how China has used a 50-year-old U.N. resolution to promote its sovereignty claims. Formally known as the Republic of China, Taiwans government fled from mainland China the island in the late 1940s, after losing the Chinese Civil War to the Communist Party.

The ROC government held the seat of China at the U.N. until 1971, when its one-party state was expelled from the U.N. under Resolution 2578, as many countries became less comfortable with Taipei representing hundreds of millions of Chinese in continental Asia.

Resolution 2578 has instead become synonymous with Beijings policy that there is only one China in the world, Taiwan is a part of China and the government of [China] is the sole legal government representing the whole of China.

The text of the resolution, however, mentions neither Taiwan, the Republic of China, nor any definition of China. Instead, refers simply to the expulsion of the Chiang Kai-shek regime, which at the time headed Taiwan as a one-party authoritarian state.

In the years since the resolution passed, however, China has become a major global power while Taiwan shifted to democracy and all but dropped its claims to represent China. Many countries, such as the United States, have supported Taiwans further inclusion at the U.N. for this reason.

Chiang Kai-shek passed away in 1975, 47 years ago, said James Lin, a historian specializing in Taiwanese history at the University of Washington. Since then, Taiwan has undergone a 180-degree turn after democratization and decolonization, with the ordinary Taiwanese fully dismantling the authoritarian laws, institutions, and controls from the Chiang era. Taiwan today does not claim to represent China, which was the original historical context that 2758 ruled on.

Concerned that democratic Taiwan is now acting in less predictable ways, Beijing has worked to retroactively change U.N. documents and signed agreements with U.N. bodies, that were not made public, to limit Taiwans access, the report further noted.

They range from barring Taiwan as an observer to the International Civil Aviation Organization to requiring that Taiwan be referred to as Taiwan, Province of China by the International Organization for Standardization, an international organization that works with the U.N.

Many of these agreements have not been made public, the report said, but a leaked 2005 memorandum of understanding between Beijing and WHO details how the health organization should interact with Taiwan and channel any communication through Chinese representatives.

The MOU, included in the reports appendix, includes requirements that Taiwanese experts must be invited to WHO through the Permanent Mission of China in Geneva, while WHO can only send staff to Taiwan below the level of director.

Taiwans exclusion from WHO and its governing World Health Assembly came under scrutiny during the COVID-19 pandemic. Taiwan says it was one of the first to raise alarm about the virus based on its experience containing the similar and highly contagious SARS virus 20 years ago.

Taiwan, however, has been barred from attending meetings during the pandemic. In 2020, Taiwan also claimed that WHO ignored an early warning that the virus could be transmitted between humans, although in the media, WHO has disputed the contents of its communication with Taiwan.

China is not the first country to try to block recognition of a disputed territory. The Palestinian territories and Kosovo have been blocked from formal recognition at the U.N. by Israel and Serbia, even though they have found broad support among other members.

These two campaigns, however, have been conducted largely in public, said Julian Ku, a law professor at Hofstra University whose research includes China and international law, while China has worked hard behind the scenes.

Ku said what is unusual about China is the way it has leveraged its influence publicly and more quietly within the U.N.

"China is unique, because its a [Security Council] member, it has a very singular focus on one issue, and then theyve been really focused on the U.N. agencies that are kind of flying below the radar for a lot of the public, he said.
War crimes happen whenever there is war, but seldom have they been investigated in real time and within weeks of the outbreak of hostilities, as is happening with Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

After a brief initial hesitation to publicly brand the architects of the Ukraine invasion as war criminals, the United States and its European allies began issuing explicit statements about what they were seeing before the war was one month old.

"We've seen numerous credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week.

"Russia's forces have destroyed apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, critical infrastructure, civilian vehicles, shopping centers and ambulances, leaving thousands of innocent civilians killed or wounded."

Normally, investigations into such allegations take place after the guns go silent so that investigators can inspect war-torn regions, document evidence, talk to victims and substantiate crimes.

But in the case of Ukraine, even the normally cautious International Criminal Court has been moved to action within the first week. "I have decided to proceed with opening an investigation," ICC prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan announced on February 28.

Khan's probe into possible Russian war crimes in Ukraine must be authorized by the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber, and there appear to be many legal and political obstacles in the way.

Last resort

In July 1998, more than 100 countries signed the so-called Rome Statute, creating an international judicial institution that would investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity internationally. It would also prosecute individuals responsible for such crimes.

Since it began operations in July 2002, the ICC has handled 30 cases, resulting in 10 convictions, 35 arrest warrants and four acquittals. From those convictions, 17 individuals have been incarcerated at an ICC detention center in the Netherlands.

Only an ICC member state, of which there are 123, can refer a case to the court for investigation and prosecution.

Ukraine is not a member. Neither is the U.S., Russia or China.

However, Ukraine has accepted ICC's jurisdiction to investigate alleged war crimes on its territory.

"The ICC is a court of last resort," said Jamil Dakwar, director of the human rights program at the American Civil Liberties Union. He told VOA that the court acts after it has determined that the country where the crimes were perpetrated is unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute war criminals.

U.S. laws even limit the ways the U.S. can support ICC investigations, according to Alex Whiting, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School.

"The U.S. has actually taken the position that there are different ways to hold alleged Russian perpetrators to account, citing Ukrainian law and the possibility of prosecutions under that law, prosecutions by third states with jurisdiction, and then finally the ICC," Whiting told VOA.

U.S. President Joe Biden has called his Russian counterpart "a war criminal" who should not "remain in power."

Double standards

As of now, the ICC has 17 open investigations, mostly in Africa and Asia. The U.S. government has strongly opposed two ICC investigations  in Afghanistan and in the Palestinian territories.

In Afghanistan, a state member of the ICC, the U.S. conducted its longest foreign war for about two decades. The ICC has a long list of crimes allegedly committed by warring parties, including U.S. forces and Taliban fighters, against Afghan civilians from 2003 onward.

The U.S. government, under former President Donald Trump, went as far as to impose sanctions on an ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.

Successive U.S. administrations have also objected to the ICC's probing of alleged crimes committed by Israeli forces against Palestinians.

"I think the U.S. is still seen as hypocritical in the way that it's engaging with the ICC, because it says as long as the ICC is not addressing or not dealing with accountability for our own conduct, we will be fine with that," said the ACLU's Dakwar.

He said that policy has undermined the ICC. "Either you are on the side of international justice, or you are on the other side," Dakwar added.

The Biden administration has lifted the sanctions on the ICC prosecutor tasked to investigate the Afghanistan case, but the U.S. government says it still disagrees "strongly with the ICC's actions relating to the Afghanistan and Palestinian situations."

Dakwar said the U.S. "is really standing at a juncture here because it has to decide on which side of history or which side of international justice it wants to be."

Bargaining chip?

Lea Brilmayer, a professor of law at Yale University, told VOA there is no way to bring Russia into the criminal court. "It's wishful thought by politicians when they say Russia should be held accountable for the war crimes in Ukraine," she said.

In general, she said, only defeated leaders face trials, such as the Nazi generals and politicians who were tried in Nuremberg after World War II. But Russia is unlikely to face the fate of Hitler's Germany.

While waging the war in Ukraine, Russian officials have held talks with representatives from Ukraine and other countries.

Some experts see the accusations of war crimes against Russian President Vladimir Putin as political rhetoric and a possible bargaining chip in future peace talks, rather than a viable effort to bring the Russians before any legal forum.

They note that in the brief history of the ICC, no world power has yet been investigated and tried for the wars it has conducted or sponsored in other countries.
The Democratic Republic of Congo this week became the seventh country to join the East African Community. The regional trade bloc, which includes Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda, now reaches a quarter of Africa's population, stretching from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic.

The 90 million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo will be able to move freely and do business in six other African countries.

The leaders of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda welcomed Congo to the East African Community in a ceremony Monday.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta spoke, stressing cooperation as the group's cornerstone.

I proudly and warmly welcome our brothers and sisters from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the East African Community. We look forward to joining hands in strengthening our community together. Working together, we have more to gain than when we are separate, Kenyatta said.

Ezra Munyambonera, an economic researcher at the Economic Policy Research Center, says Congos addition to the EAC will benefit all the countries in the bloc.

It (the DRC) has a lot of resources [and it] joining the East Africa Community adds more to microeconomic conditions and microeconomic stability of the region in terms of foreign earnings and attracting investments in the region for wider economic growth, Munyambonera said.

The mineral-rich nation is a member of two more regional blocs, the Southern African Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, or COMESA.

Erastus Mwencha, a former secretary-general of COMESA, says the continent needs to scale up its production capabilities to benefit from integration and take advantage of its natural resources.

The tradable is not that much and so the region needs to develop trade with production, to really go beyond just looking at trade within but also to cater [to] the production aspect. The economies are not deep enough, we tend to produce primary products and because of that, they are not very much integrated, Mwencha said.

The countries in the EAC bloc have not been able to fully establish a customs union, and while they are working on having a common currency by 2023, experts say that deadline likely will not be met.

Mwencha says the DRC technology sector will provide more opportunities for entrepreneurs.

Whether you are looking at banking industries, fintech, because its a big country, which requires the banks to communicate throughout the country, or other services such as the education sector, health sector, there is a lot, in other words, of e-services," Mwencha said.

As part of the East African Community, the DRC will enjoy lower tariffs and administrative barriers, something it hasnt experienced for decades, despite using the ports of Mombasa, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to import most of its goods.
Fighting between Ethiopias federal government and forces from the countrys Tigray region has displaced more than two million people since November 2020, according to the U.N. This year, the fighting has shifted in the countrys Afar region, displacing more Ethiopians as well as refugees from neighboring Eritrea seeking safety. For VOA, Vinicius Assis reports from Afdera in Ethiopias Afar region.
Ethiopian authorities and rebels in the Tigray region are accusing each other of blocking aid deliveries to Tigray that had been agreed to a week ago. The ongoing fighting comes as the U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia visited the Afar region, where the aid trucks have been held up.

Days after announcing a humanitarian truce, the Ethiopia government accused the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front of blocking trucks carrying critical food aid to Tigray.

More than 40 trucks were due to depart this week from Semera, capital of the Afar region. But a government statement says the trucks have not left because Abala Road is closed to traffic by TPLF forces.

In its own statement, the TPLF said nothing about the trucks but said the government is not committed to implementing the truce it announced, mainly the delivery of humanitarian aid to Tigray.

Writing on Twitter, Kindeya Gebrehiwot, a member of the Tigray regional government, accused Ethiopian authorities in Addis Ababa of deception and criticized the international community for welcoming the truce without ensuring the government would follow through.

Speaking on TPLF media, Getachew Reda, the head of external affairs for the Tigray regional government, said tens of thousands of people in Tigray are on the brink of starvation. He said the regions population needs urgent, unfettered access to food aid.

Meanwhile, Tracey Jacobson, the U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, visited the Afar region on Thursday. The ambassador met with Afar regional president Awol Arba and community members to discuss fighting, which has spilled over from Tigray into Afar.

According to the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa, Jacobson pledged continued support from the U.S. toward the regions recovery, including direct humanitarian aid for those displaced by the conflict.

It says that in 2022 alone, the U.S. committed more than $90 million for development of the region and urgent humanitarian aid.
Plans for a European Union-China summit were already laid before Russia invaded Ukraine last month  although Beijings formal announcement it would attend only came this week. On the agenda are issues like climate change, trade and what the EU describes as universal values. But the Ukraine conflict tops it.

Eric Mamer, spokesman for the European Commission, the blocs executive arm, says:

We consider that the duty or all countries in the U.N. is to work to stop this conflict, to get Putins troops to withdraw and to respect the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine. This is a message which I think is addressed not just to China but to every country in the world that believes in the principles of the UN charter.

China casts itself as a neutral party to the Ukraine conflict. While Beijing says it's 'grieved' by the war, Chinese and Russian foreign ministers meeting this week reaffirmed their strategic ties.

These messages arent new. But they offer an awkward backdrop for Fridays virtual summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and top EU officials Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel.

China and the EU want very different things out of this summit.

Francesca Ghiretti is an EU-China analyst at German think-tank, the Mercator Institute for China Studies. She says China hopes the summit will offer insights into the EUs more geopolitical nature, and its closer ties with Washington under the Biden administration.

She says the EU wants China to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine  or at least guarantee humanitarian corridors. Like the U.S., Europe also wants to ensure Beijing does not provide Moscow with military or economic support

They want one thing that is common to both of them  and that one thing is keep the communication between Beijing and Brussels going.

The EU and China are major trading partners but their ties have frayed over the years. Finalizing an investment pact between the two is on hold.

The (EU) Commission decided in 2019 to deem China a systemic rival.

Tara Varma who heads the Paris office for the European Council on Foreign Relations policy institute, says:

It was not even about values, but it was the idea that our systems of governance were not compatible.

More recently, China has blocked imports from EU member Lithuania for drawing closer to Taiwan. Earlier this month, Lithuania called for scrapping the summit, until Beijing indicates whether it stands with Russia or the West. Still, experts say the 27-member bloc is not in lock step on China.

Again, analyst Ghiretti:

So both parties actually enter the summit knowing that there wont be any deliverables, and they know that probably there will be no joint statement at the end of it.

The summits biggest takeaway may be that the EU and China have agreed to keep talking.
Thousands of people remain under evacuation orders Thursday as major flooding again hits parts of eastern Australia. For some communities, it is the second time in a month they have been inundated. At least two people have died and a third is missing.

Intense and heavy rainfall Tuesday and Wednesday have brought the threat of flooding to parts of New South Wales, Australias most populous state.

The main street in Byron Bay, a popular seaside town 750 kilometers north of Sydney, was underwater for the first time in decades.

Some areas have seen 430 millimeters of rain. Up to 30,000 residents have been ordered to leave their homes and many are without power.

Emergency services have received hundreds of calls for help and 19 people have been rescued from floodwaters.

Near the city of Lismore, 700 kilometers north of Sydney, the search continues for a nurse who has been missing for two days. It is thought she was trapped in her car by rising floodwaters.

Lismore was inundated by the worst floods on record earlier this month.

Janelle Saffin, a lawmaker in the New South Wales parliament, says local people have had enough.

That is very much the local reaction  oh, my goodness, no, no, no. In town, the CBD [central business district], a lot of it is cleaned up but not all of it. There is that feeling of what now? Some of us have dried our houses, knocked the walls out, done a range of things and now they are inundated again, she said.

The low-pressure system that left entire towns flooded has moved offshore, but the entire New South Wales coast has been warned Thursday to expect high waves, powerful winds and coastal erosion.

Sydney, Australias most populous city, has had its wettest March on record, according to the weather bureau. 537 millimeters of rain has been recorded.

Summer in eastern Australia was dominated by the La Nina weather system that typically brings wetter conditions to eastern Australia. It is a naturally occurring pattern.

However, experts believe the wet conditions are also related to climate change.
A pregnant U.S. citizen was held in China for eight months and threatened that she couldn't leave unless she convinced her mother to return to China, authorities revealed Wednesday as they criminally charged a man who they said enlisted a U.S. law enforcement officer and others to help repatriate Chinese individuals facing trouble at home.

Sun Hoi Ying, 53, was charged in a criminal complaint in Manhattan federal court with failing to register as an agent of the People's Republic of China as he allegedly pursued about 35 individuals described as fugitives from China.

The charge came in an FBI probe of individuals working at the direction of China government officials to pressure others in the U.S. and elsewhere to return to China to face charges or reach financial settlements with the government there.

According to a release by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, Sun is at large in China after operating in the United States from February 2017 to February 2022 as he hired private investigators in the U.S. to gather personal information on targets of the Chinese government.

In one instance, Sun met with an individual in New York City along with a local U.S. law enforcement officer to threaten and pressure the individual who was targeted by the Chinese government with claims that she'd face adverse and retaliatory actions if she didn't comply with the Chinese government demands, the complaint said.

In another, a pregnant U.S. citizen got ensnared in Sun's pursuits when she traveled to China in October 2016 with her spouse and a child to visit relatives, the complaint alleged.

After the visit, the woman's spouse and child were permitted to leave the country, but the woman was told by a prosecutor that she was banned from leaving until she caused her mother to return to China to resolve a criminal case stemming from alleged corruption at a property management company where she had worked, it said.

The complaint said she was held against her will.

The woman was allowed to leave China in May 2017 after U.S. officials in China were notified that the ban would be lifted if she carried certain documents from China to give to her mother, the complaint said.

"We allege Mr. Sun, as part of that campaign, attempted to threaten and coerce a victim into bending to the PRC's will, even using a co-conspirator who is a member of local U.S. law enforcement to reinforce that the victim had no choice but to comply with the PRC Government's demands," Williams said.

Williams said the man's actions were part of what the PRC government labeled "Operation Fox Hunt" when it announced in July 2014 that it was going to pursue and repatriate Chinese nationals.

Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said Sun "enlisted others, including a sworn law enforcement officer, to spy on and blackmail his victims. Such conduct is both criminal and reprehensible."

The complaint said Sun posed as the owner of a China-based insurance loss-adjusting company that aided a Chinese court in finding fugitives who had fled from economic crimes so they wouldn't face lawsuits.

The latest case is part of a trend of what the FBI and Justice Department have described as "transnational repression"  episodes in which agents of a foreign government have sought to silence dissidents living in the United States. The pattern is alarming enough to federal law enforcement officials that they have launched a section on the FBI website dedicated to highlighting the problem and the cases that have been brought.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department charged five people with acting on behalf of the Chinese government in a campaign to stalk, intimidate and silence activists or dissidents of the government, including a congressional candidate in New York. In a 2020 case introducing the Fox Hunt investigation, prosecutors charged eight people in a Chinese government pressure campaign aimed at coercing a New Jersey man who was wanted by Beijing into returning to China to face charges.

The Chinese government is not alone in such efforts. Other transnational repression cases, for instance, have involved the Iranian government.
Georgia on Thursday denounced as "unacceptable" plans announced by pro-Moscow separatists in the breakaway South Ossetia region to hold a referendum on joining Russia.

South Ossetia was in the center of the Russian-Georgian war in 2008 after which the Kremlin recognized the territory -- along with another separatist region, Abkhazia -- as an independent state and stationed military bases there.

On Wednesday, South Ossetian separatist leader Anatoly Bibilov said the statelet would hold a referendum on joining Russia shortly after the April 10 "presidential election" there.

Georgian Foreign Minister David Zalkaliani said Thursday "it is unacceptable to speak of any referendums while the territory is occupied by Russia."

"Such a referendum will have no legal force," he told journalists. "The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the Georgian region is occupied by Russia."

Also on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow hasn't taken any "legal" steps on the matter.

"But at the same time, we are talking about people of South Osseita expressing their opinion and we treat it with respect," Peskov told reporters.

Bibilov's spokeswoman Dina Gassiyeva told Thursday Russia's RIA Novosti news agency that the decision to hold the referendum was "linked with the window of opportunity that opened in the current situation", referring to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Last week, Bibilov said that South Ossetia had sent troops to fight alongside the invading Russian troops in Ukraine, where thousands of people were killed and more than 10 million displaced.

In August 2008, Russia launched an assault against Georgia which was battling pro-Russian militia in South Ossetia, after they shelled Georgian villages.

The fighting ended after five days with a European Union-mediated ceasefire but claimed more than 700 lives and displaced tens of thousands of ethnic Georgians.
The political opposition in Ghana has filed a lawsuit with the country's Supreme Court after lawmakers passed a controversial tax despite the partys walk-out from parliament. Ghana's government says the new tax on electronic transactions and transfers will raise money for the pandemic-hit economy. But critics say the tax will discourage trade and adds to the publics economic burden.

Ghanas opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Wednesday filed suit with the Supreme Court to block the government-backed tax on electronic transfers and transactions.

The NDC has called the so-called E-Levy of 1.5% regressive and unlawful because there was no quorum in parliament when it was passed. Opposition lawmakers had walked out of the proceedings in protest.

NDC lawmaker Mahama Ayariga, one of the plaintiffs, told VOA he is hopeful the Supreme Court will declare the tax unlawful.

The speaker and the majority side knew they didnt have the number; they hadnt met the quorum and yet they proceeded and purported to have voted to pass the E-Levy... And if there wasnt a quorum, there couldnt have been a decision and so there could also not have been an E-Levy passed. So, the president has nothing before him to sign into law, he said.

In his state of the nation address on Wednesday, Ghanas President Akufo-Addo said the new tax would boost the economy as it recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite the protracted and sometimes acrimonious nature of proceedings, I am happy that the House has, finally, found it possible to pass the E-Levy," he said. "I believe the levy is going to make a significant contribution to revenue mobilization and the management of the economy, and I want to thank members of the House for making this possible.

Authorities say the tax is expected to raise about $900 million by the end of the year.

But most ordinary Ghanaians are opposed to the new tax, which will affect anyone using mobile money services.

Accra-based second-hand clothing trader Sophia Anane says it will harm her business.

What are they using the revenue we generate from cocoa and oil for? The government wants to tax them on what little money theyre making in addition to what the telecommunications companies also deduct as commission. What is our fate?" she asks.

Some economists argue the government is wrong to burden Ghanaians with new taxes while they are still recovering from pandemic restrictions and disruptions.

Director of research at the Accra-based Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) John Kwakye the government should instead focus on improving tax collection.

There are several loopholes in our tax system that if they were plugged, well be able to raise our tax to GDP ratio to something like 20%. Were now doing just about 12%. So, to me, if these other measures were being taken, I dont think that even the E-Levy will be necessary, he said.

Ghanas Supreme Court is expected to hold a hearing on the oppositions challenge to the new tax in the coming weeks.
Yulia isnt convinced Ukraine should give up any part of its territory to Russia  even if by doing so it could end the war.

The 25-year-old from Bucha on the outskirts of Kyiv is now living in a shelter in the western Ukrainian town of Lviv, and her life is on hold while the conflict rages.



She fled Bucha as there were bombardments and stuff like that. And a lot of times it was really scary. Her mother went to Germany, but Yulia decided to remain in Ukraine because it is my country. She doesnt want Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to offer any concessions to Russia, including territorial ones, even to stop the fighting.

Many Ukrainians feel the war is going their way following Russian reversals northwest and east of Kyiv. They are heartened by Russian announcements that military operations around Kyiv and some other northern cities will be scaled back and the focus now will turn fully on liberating the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainians see that as a statement of the obvious and one forced on Moscow by the valor and effectiveness of Ukraines defense forces, which have stymied all of Russias efforts to advance on Ukraines capital.

With the Russian invasion faltering, Ukrainian confidence is soaring despite continued missile barrages, and talk is turning to how this war may end.

Neutrality, with guarantees

This week, Ukrainian and Russian diplomats met in Turkey. Ukraine said it was ready to become a neutral state  with security guarantees  to disarm Russian fears it might join the NATO military alliance. And the proposals included a 15-year consultation period on the status of the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow seized from Ukraine and illegally annexed in 2014.

The status of the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk would be discussed directly by Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy at a later date, according to the Ukrainian proposal. Any peace deal would then have to go to a referendum, under Ukraines draft proposals.

Yiannis Valinakis, Greeces former deputy foreign minister, said Kyiv might have come up with this sequence to alleviate public opinion pressure on Zelenskyy. If that is the plan, it might not work  even if the Russians eventually accept something along the lines Kyiv is proposing.

Zelenskyy may face a big challenge in persuading Ukrainians to approve the proposals in a referendum, judging by interviews VOA conducted in western Ukraine. Said Yulia, I dont agree with giving land away because Ukraine is one country in terms of our Constitution and the territory defined by the Constitution. She said she believed the Ukrainian army could overrun the Moscow-controlled regions in the Donbas, and she isnt alone. Many Ukrainians say they are braced for the war to go on for a long time.

Archbishop Vasyl Semeniuk, a Greek-Catholic prelate in the western Ukraine town of Ternopil, said Ukraine has a sacred duty to vanquish the Russian army on the battlefield, and he said Kyiv should not give up on the Donbas or Crimea.

Why should we give any land away, what for? he asked. So many people have died. So many cities have been destroyed. Those territories belong to us, and they grabbed them.

Mariupol has been destroyed. Kharkiv is destroyed, and other towns near Kyiv, Semeniuk told VOA. There are dead bodies in the street; they run over them with tanks. The war will continue. We have to stop this army that attacked Georgia, Syria and Transnistria.

Both Washington and Moscow have cast doubts about the prospects for the peace talks, and U.S. officials are questioning the Kremlins sincerity, saying actions speak louder than words. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said midweek that he hadnt noticed anything really promising in the talks so far.

Taken a turn

Nonetheless, there is a feeling in Ukraine that the war is entering a new stage. Ukrainians suspect it might be the endgame; others think it will mean fighting continues but almost exclusively in eastern Ukraine.

They echo remarks made Thursday by Britains Chief of the Defense Staff, Admiral Tony Radakin, who said Putin has lost his war on Ukraine through a series of catastrophic misjudgments. Radakin said Russian officers had taken soldiers into combat without their realizing what they were undertaking  a move he described as insane and morally bankrupt.

Radakin said there were early indications that Russian forces were retreating, a move that was making Putins military open to attack from Ukrainian defenders. I think we are seeing that Russias ambitions to take Kyiv and Russias ambitions to take the whole of Ukraine and do that in a very swift and impressive fashion, those ambitions have fallen apart.

Ukrainians put more emphasis on the courage of their army for Putins setback.

So far, the guns have not been silenced around Kyiv, and British intelligence officials said they expected some heavy fighting around the capital in the coming days. Russian forces blasted Kharkiv Oblast midweek with Grad rockets, and Russian rocket strikes hit a Red Cross building in besieged Mariupol in southern Ukraine. Dnipro in central Ukraine suffered a missile strike, and Chernihiv in northern Ukraine came under colossal attack, according to local officials.

But this has done nothing to stop more normal life from reappearing in much of western Ukraine, and slowly in parts of central Ukraine. In Lviv, most stores have reopened, including shopping malls, and there is bustle on the streets. Just three weeks ago, pharmacies were running low on antibiotics and even painkillers. Now they are well stocked, thanks to supplies from Europe. The occasional air raid siren doesnt prompt people in any large numbers to rush to bunkers as they did a few weeks ago.

Outside Lviv, on highways and in nearby towns and villages, there are still checkpoints, but many are unmanned and at others traffic is waved through with few document checks. Part of the reason is farmers have been putting away their guns to focus on planting crops with the sowing season beginning.

It is also a sign that people in western Ukraine are becoming more relaxed. Many Kyivans are starting to head back to their homes, and the refugee flow across the border into Poland has decreased from a flood to a trickle.
Iraqi lawmakers Wednesday failed for a third time to elect a new national president for lack of a quorum, officials said, prolonging the war-scarred country's political crisis.

The continued failure by parliament to select a president after last year's elections reflects a deep schism between Shiite political groupings, with one bloc boycotting proceedings.

"The assembly adjourned its session until further notice," the parliament's press service said without giving a new date.

Iraq's federal court has given lawmakers until April 6 to choose a new president.

If that deadline is missed, said political scientist Hamza Haddad, "we could reach a point where new elections are decided to break the deadlock.

The judiciary can only determine "a violation of the constitution" and cannot take any initiative to break the political deadlock, according to legal expert Ahmed al-Soufi.

A parliamentary source told AFP that only 178 out of 329 lawmakers were present in parliament Wednesday, far short of the two-thirds quorum required for the vote.

As in the previous two aborted votes, last Saturday and Feb. 7, Wednesday's session was boycotted by a major Shiite coalition bloc in parliament.

Six months after October 2021 legislative elections, Iraq still does not have a new president or prime minister, keeping the country in a state of political paralysis.

Parliamentarians must first elect the head of state, by convention a member of the Kurdish minority, with a two-thirds majority. The president then appoints the head of government, a post still held by Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who headed the previous government.

Among the 40 candidates for the presidency, two are considered the front-runners: incumbent Barham Saleh of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and Rebar Ahmed of the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP).

On Feb. 13, Iraq's supreme court ruled out a presidential bid by KDP-backed veteran politician Hoshyar Zebari, after a complaint filed against him over years-old, untried corruption charges.

Iraqi politics were thrown into turmoil following October's election, which was marred by record low turnout, post-vote threats and violence, and a months-long delay before the final results were confirmed.

The largest political bloc, led by firebrand Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, had backed Zebari for the presidency before moving its support to Ahmed.

The failed votes in parliament have underscored the gulf in Iraqi politics between Sadr, the general election's big winner, and the powerful Coordination Framework, which called the boycotts.

The Coordination Framework includes former premier Nuri al-Maliki's party and the pro-Iran Fatah Alliance -- the political arm of the Shiite-led former paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi.

Alongside backing Ahmed for the presidency, Sadr intends to entrust the post of prime minister to his cousin and brother-in-law Jaafar Sadr, Iraq's ambassador to Britain.

That prospect is unpalatable for the Coordination Framework.

Sadr on Wednesday ruled out any compromise, warning that a consensus government would spell the "death" of Iraq.
Israelis on Wednesday mourned five people killed by a Palestinian gunman, the third deadly attack in a week, as Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned of a "wave of murderous Arab terrorism."

"The pain is great," Bennett wrote on Twitter as several victims were laid to rest, police forces were placed on the highest alert and the army said it would deploy extra units in and around the West Bank.

The shooter, Diaa Armashah, 27, from the West Bank village of Yabad, opened fire on Tuesday evening with an M-16 assault rifle in Bnei Brak, a mostly Jewish Orthodox city near Tel Aviv, police said.

Armashah killed two Ukrainian men and two Israeli civilians before police confronted him, authorities said. An Arab-Israeli officer died of wounds sustained in the ensuing gunfight that also killed the assailant.

In a statement after a meeting with security officials Wednesday, Bennett said more than 200 people had been arrested or questioned by the security forces.

He called on Israelis who own arms to ensure that they carry them when out, adding that "Israeli society, when it is tested, knows how to stand up and mobilize."

Defense Minister Benny Gantz meanwhile said at a press conference that he had authorized the detention of two residents of east Jerusalem who were suspected of being Hamas members.

He added that he was considering putting out a call for army reservists.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas issued a rare condemnation, saying the killings "will only lead to further deterioration of the situation, while we are all striving for stability."

But Ismail Haniyeh, leader of the Islamist group Hamas that rules the Palestinian coastal enclave of Gaza, praised what he described as a "heroic operation" and "legitimate and moral valiant resistance to end the occupation."

U.S. President Joe Biden expressed his "deepest condolences" during a phone call with Bennett and said that his country "stands firmly and resolutely with Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats to the state of Israel," according to the White House.

A spokesperson for U.N. chief Antonio Guterres meanwhile said, "such acts of violence can never be justified and must be condemned by all."

'Heinous terrorist attack'

As one of the slain Israeli civilians, Avishai Yehezkel, 29, was laid to rest in Bnei Brak, his relative David Numa remembered him as a young yeshiva student and family man.

"He got married about a year and a half ago," Numa told AFP. "He has a 2-year-old son and his wife is eight months pregnant."

Yaakov Shalom, 36, of Bnei Brak and Amir Khoury, 32, an Arab Christian policeman from Nof Hagalil, also died in Tuesday's attack.

Bennett tweeted a salute to Khoury, saying he "sacrificed himself heroically to save human lives, leaving behind a grieving and wounded family."

The Ukrainian embassy condemned the "heinous terrorist attack" without immediately naming its two nationals, men ages 23 and 32.

Israel was home to around 15,000 Ukrainians before Russia invaded Ukraine last month. It has since received nearly 20,000 refugees from Ukraine, an interior ministry spokesperson said.

A Ukrainian diplomatic source told AFP the men killed were workers who had been in Israel for several years.

"Israel is facing a wave of murderous Arab terrorism," said Bennett, whose disparate coalition government ranges from Jewish nationalists to Arabs.

Tuesday's shooting brings to 11 the total deaths from attacks in Israel over the past week, excluding the perpetrators.
Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early Thursday, setting off a gun battle in which two Palestinians were killed and 15 were wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian stabbed a 28-year-old Israeli man on a bus in the West Bank before being killed by a bystander, the Israeli military said. The Magen David Adom emergency service said the stabbing victim was treated and taken to a hospital.

Videos circulated online showed smoke rising from the center of the Jenin refugee camp as gunfire echoed in the background. Others appeared to show Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen moving through the narrow streets.

The raid came two days after a Palestinian from a village near Jenin shot and killed five people in central Israel, part of a wave of attacks in recent days that have left a total of 11 people dead.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 17-year-old Sanad Abu Atiyeh and 23-year-old Yazid al-Saadi were killed. It said 30-year-old Nidal Jaafara was shot and killed near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, apparently referring to the stabbing incident.

The Israeli military said troops came under fire after entering Jenin to arrest suspects. It said one soldier was wounded and evacuated to a hospital for treatment.

The Jenin refugee camp was the scene of one of the deadliest battles of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising. In April 2002, Israeli forces fought Palestinian militants in the camp for nearly three weeks. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers and at least 52 Palestinians, including civilians, were killed, according to the U.N.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and coordinates with Israel on security matters, appears to have had little control over Jenin in recent years. Israeli forces operating in and around the city and refugee camp often come under fire.

The Islamic Jihad militant group announced a "general mobilization" of its fighters after Thursday's raid.

In Tuesday's attack, a 27-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank village of Yabad, near Jenin, methodically gunned down victims, killing five. On Sunday night, a shooting attack by two Islamic State sympathizers in the central city of Hadera killed two police officers. Last week, a combined car-ramming and stabbing attack in the southern city of Beersheba  also by an attacker inspired by IS  killed four. The two attacks claimed by IS were carried out by Arab citizens of Israel.

President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday. Biden expressed his condolences after the recent attacks and said the U.S. "stands firmly and resolutely with Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats to the state of Israel," the White House said.

The recent wave of violence has brought the Palestinian issue back to the fore at a time when Israel is focused on building alliances with Arab states against Iran. There have been no serious Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in more than a decade, and Bennett is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leaders have held a flurry of meetings in recent weeks, and Israel has announced a series of goodwill gestures, in an effort to maintain calm ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend.

They hope to avoid a repeat of last year, when clashes in Jerusalem set off an 11-day Gaza war, but the recent attacks have sent tensions soaring. After a Security Cabinet meeting late Wednesday, Israel nevertheless decided to carry on with plans to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally. In the West Bank, it is steadily building and expanding Jewish settlements, which most of the internationally community views as illegal.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the Palestinian militant group Hamas seized power there two years later. Since then, Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and Israel and Egypt have maintained a blockade on the territory, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.
In a ruling Thursday, Kenyas Supreme Court blocked changes to the constitution initiated by President Uhuru Kenyatta. Six of the seven judges ruled constitutional amendments must come from ordinary citizens, not the president.

Following the hotly-contested 2017 election that almost split the country apart, Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga unveiled a plan they called the Building Bridges Initiative.

The initiative would introduce the permanent office of prime minister and create 70 new constituencies.

The two leaders argued the best way to avoid election-related violence that has plagued Kenya is to create more political positions.

But the Supreme Court shot down changes in its ruling Thursday. Chief Justice Martha Koome read the verdict of the judges.



The president cannot initiate constitutional amendment and changes through the popular initiative under Article 257 of the constitution, Njoki Ndungu Supreme Court Judge dissenting," Koome said. "Issue 2 the president initiated the amendment process initially, Njoki Ndungu and Lenaola Supreme Court Judges dissenting.

The Supreme Court agreed with the previous ruling of the two lower courts, the high court and the court of appeal, declaring the initiative unconstitutional.



Odinga served as prime minister under a power sharing agreement that followed Kenyas disputed 2007 elections. However, the position was abolished after the 2012 polls.
His body pressed flat to the ground, Andriy Tsaplienko covered his head with his hands as wave after wave of shells exploded around him.

An experienced war correspondent, he hadn't been too worried about an assignment covering the evacuation of civilians from Chernihiv. Now he was in the middle of a Russian bombardment.

As the shells fell, he felt a jolt to his leg. He had been hit.

Tsaplienko had been following a tip that day. It was March 25 and local authorities in Chernihiv alerted him to an evacuation in the northern Ukrainian city.

The 53-year-old, his cameraman and a driver from the 1+1 news channel immediately left Kyiv and headed for the city.

But shortly after they reached Anysiv, a village on the southern outskirts of Chernihiv, a Russian bombardment started, wounding the journalist and many civilians.

"When we came to Anysiv  we saw smoke rising on the other bank of the river," Tsaplienko told VOA during a call from his hospital bed in Kyiv. "There were three columns of smoke after shelling and we also heard another shelling in the distance, maybe five kilometers away."

Still, Tsaplienko says, he "determined in this instance there were no danger for us." The shelling seemed far enough away to not be a risk.

The situation quickly changed and within about 10 minutes Tsaplienko was struck by shrapnel as he ducked for cover.

"At first glance, the wound didn't look serious, but after we came to the hospital, they told me there were two wounds in my upper thigh," Tsaplienko told VOA.

He escaped lightly. While nobody was reported killed, several civilians were wounded, according to a local military official.

And despite Moscow's pledge to scale down military operations, Chernihiv's governor, Viacheslav Chaus, said Wednesday there has been no pause in Russian attacks.

Tsaplienko hadn't expected the area he was in to be targeted. The village didn't appear to have any military target, he added. Just civilians.

"Chernihiv is surrounded by Russian forces from three sides," Tsaplienko said. "There is only one passage into Chernihiv through the village of Anysiv."

The Russians destroyed the main bridge over the Desna River, leaving a small pedestrian bridge from Anysiv as the main route out for those fleeing.

"Now there is no safe place in Ukraine," he said. "Any point of Ukrainian territory is a potential site for attacks by Russia, whether by artillery or rockets."

Before the war, the city population was nearly 285,000. Local officials, however, say that number has halved since February 24.

Ukrainian officials, Western governments and international human rights bodies accuse Russia of targeting civilian infrastructure in Chernihiv and elsewhere in Ukraine. Hospitals and places where residents were sheltering were bombed.

Russia denies targeting civilians and says the evidence collected by media and other independent bodies is "fake news."

Second attack

Tsaplienko has covered hostilities in Ukraine since 2014. That year, while covering Crimea for the Inter news channel, Russian forces detained him along with two other journalists and two cameramen.

"It was such an experience," Tsaplienko said. "My crew and I were taken hostage. They kept us for several hours and beat us. They actually tortured us. They broke my ribs, and the rest of my crew was also beaten. They broke some of our equipment and took the rest."

"We were just reporting news to the mainland in Ukraine and the FSB [Russia's Federal Security Service] thought we posed a danger to them," he said.

It was with that experience in mind that Tsaplienko approached the Chernihiv assignment.

When they arrived in Anysiv, about 50 civilians were there: some leaving Chernihiv, others trying to go back to the city to retrieve relatives and belongings.

Then, Tsaplienko says, they heard a drone.

A member of the Ukrainian military approached. "He was a bit nervous. He told us, 'Look guys, there is a Russian UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] above us! Can you hide your car as far as possible from the street? Because normally when we see a Russian drone, it means they could possibly start the shelling.'"

Tsaplienko says he figured the drone was for reconnaissance. No military targets were in the area, except for less than a dozen military personnel with small arms. The rest, he said, were civilians.

"Since we were wearing bulletproof jackets and helmets and our car had the press mark on it, I think the military guy  thought they would make us a target," Tsaplienko said. "So perhaps the Ukrainian military officer thought the press could be a target for the Russians."

At least five journalists have been killed and several wounded since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Others have been detained, including by Russian forces.

The U.N. and other bodies have repeatedly called on all sides in the conflict to ensure the safety of media, who are civilians, not targets.

Under fire

After moving the car, Tsaplienko and his colleagues headed to where civilians were still gathering.

Then the shelling began.

"There were explosions over us. It sounded like a huge wave," Tsaplienko said. "I fell down, and I held my helmet with both hands," he added. "I think everybody fell down at this moment."

In addition to his cameraman and driver, Tsaplienko was accompanied by a correspondent for Turkish state television TRT World, and his cameraman.

"I felt a huge hit on my thigh. Like somebody hitting you with a long metal stick," Tsaplienko recalled.

A military officer ordered them to seek shelter in the basements of nearby houses.

"We started going door to door, but the doors were locked, and [a soldier] kept yelling at us to lay our heads down and quickly look for shelter.

"Then my Turkish colleague told me, 'Andriy, you're bleeding!' I didn't feel anything  I was in shock, I don't know, perhaps it was my adrenaline," the journalist said.

The crew managed to find shelter, but the bombing lasted about 90 minutes.

"There was no break," he said. "You hear an explosion, then about 10 seconds later you hear something like this 'bam, bam, bam!'"

Tsaplienko was later transported to a hospital, so he didn't see what happened to the residents who were trying to flee.

But, he says, a doctor told him of a 46-year-old woman severely injured.

Tsaplienko has covered conflicts in more than a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But he says it's different when the conflict hits close to home.

"I haven't seen before so much sophisticated weapons used against civilians," he said.

That's why once fully recovered, "I should go back to the job and continue telling the world what's going on in this war."
Mali's military government this month banned popular French radio and TV broadcasts after Radio France Internationale reported on alleged rights abuses by the Malian army and Russian mercenaries. The restrictions come as press freedom advocates cite a worrying trend of pro-Russian propaganda in countries where the mercenaries are working with government forces.

On March 18, the director of information at Joliba TV News, Mohamed Attaher Halidou, made a televised address from the stations Bamako studio.

Halidou asserted that a free press plays an important role in democracy, and he criticized the lack of condemnation by Malian media organizations over the ban of French broadcasts.

This came days after Radio France Internationale and France 24 television were taken off the air in Mali. The government banned the broadcasts in response to reports by RFI on human rights abuse accusations against Malis army and mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a private Russian military contractor.

Speaking to VOA, Halidou said there is widespread self-censorship in Mali, as both civilians and journalists fear reprisal from Malis military rulers.

Today, he said, fear has changed everything, because journalists, even before writing an article, start to think: What am I going to say in this article? Is it going to bother those in power? There is this pressure now that weighs on journalists, he says. Freedom of expression is threatened. There is nothing worse for a journalist than to self-censor, he said.

Malis government has refused to grant accreditation to foreign journalists in recent months, deported a French reporter, and imprisoned an economist after he spoke to the press about international sanctions that have been imposed on Mali.

Arnaud Froger, head of the Africa desk at Reporters Without Borders, speaking from Paris, said the current situation in Mali strongly resembles what happened in Central African Republic in recent years, with Russian mercenaries on the ground, government restriction of media, and self-censorship among journalists.

Journalists were targeted, and media outlets were not really allowed to operate and to tackle sensitive issues such as human rights abuses and also particularly what the Russian mercenaries were doing, he said.

Froger also said that fake news targeting France and in favor of the mercenaries was widespread.

Abdoulaye Guindo is the coordinator of Malian news website Benbere, which has a platform that debunks false reports and propaganda that circulate online in the country. Speaking from Conakry, Guinea, where he is attending a conference, Guindo said that he first noticed a spike in disinformation after the 2021 coup, when the current military leaders took power for the second time in less than a year.

He said, we have noticed an increase in fake news directed against European forces, notably Barkhane and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali, and weve also noticed a lot of fake news which he said was meant to glorify Wagner troops and to push the population to applaud and to accept the arrival of the Wagner force in Mali.

Operation Barkhane is the French anti-insurgent military operation that is in the process of withdrawing from Mali.

Froger said that though the situation is tense for now, Mali is not as isolated as the Central African Republic, and he believes that press freedom in the country will eventually improve, either through a change in policy or the handing over of power.
Teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross are poised to facilitate the safe passage of civilians from Ukraines strategic port city of Mariupol, the aid agency said Thursday, after a local temporary cease-fire agreement was reached.

For logistics and security reasons, well be ready to lead the safe passage operation tomorrow, Friday, provided all the parties agree to the exact terms, including the route, the start time and the duration, the ICRC said in a statement.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Thursday several dozen Ukrainian buses would transport civilians from the besieged city after Russia's military pledged a cease-fire from the southern Black Sea port city to the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia beginning Friday morning.

Vereshchuk said Wednesday the two sides had agreed to open three evacuation corridors and that one corridor would be used for the evacuation of Mariupol and delivery of humanitarian aid to Berdyansk, about 85 kilometers southwest of Mariupol.

Similar evacuation plans collapsed over accusations of fighting along the corridor to Mariupol, where tens of thousands of people have been trapped for weeks without food, water and heat while under attack.

Its desperately important that this operation takes place, the ICRC said. The lives of tens of thousands of people in Mariupol depend on it.

Russian forces also damaged a Red Cross warehouse in Mariupol, the Ukrainian government and the ICRC said Wednesday. The agency said it distributed all the supplies from the warehouse earlier in March and that no staff members have been at the site since March 15.

Continued Russian attacks

One day after Ukrainian officials said Russia has violated its promise to scale back military operations on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv, Britains defense ministry said Thursday that significant Russian shelling and missile strikes have continued in Chernihiv.

Britains defense ministry also said Russian forces continue to hold positions to the east and west of Kyiv, despite the withdrawal of a limited number of units.

Heavy fighting continued in Mariupol but Ukrainian forces remained in control of the citys center, the ministry said.

In an early Thursday morning video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his countrys forces are preparing for more Russian attacks in southeastern Ukraine after Russias attacks on Kyiv were repelled.

There is a build-up of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas and we are preparing for that," Zelenskyy said of the southeastern region that Russia has demanded from Ukraine.

Newly declassified U.S. intelligence suggests that Russias invasion of Ukraine, now in its sixth week, is causing rifts between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his senior military advisers.

There is now persistent tension between Putin and the MOD (Ministry of Defense) a U.S. official confirmed to VOA on Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the information.

White House communications director Kate Bedingfield expanded on that to reporters Wednesday.

We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions, because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth, Bedingfield said. So, it is increasingly clear that Putin's war has been a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term, and increasingly isolated on the world stage.

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke Wednesday with Zelenskyy about U.S. fulfillment of the main security assistance requests by Ukraine, the White House said in a statement.

The two leaders also discussed continued efforts by the United States with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country, according to the statement.

President Biden informed President Zelenskyy that the United States intends to provide the Ukrainian government with $500 million in direct budgetary aid, the White House added, noting the Ukrainian leader updated Biden on the status of negotiations.

In a video address Wednesday, Zelenskyy said, I've thanked the U.S. for the new package of humanitarian aid worth $1 billion dollars and an additional $500 million in direct budgetary aid. I've also underlined that now is the turning point.

Peace talks

On the diplomatic front, Russia said Wednesday there was no sign of a breakthrough in in-person peace talks with Ukraine hosted earlier this week by Turkey in Istanbul.

Turkey's top diplomat, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said in a televised interview Thursday that Turkey is working to bring the two sides back to the bargaining table within two weeks. But the head of the Ukrainian delegation, David Arakhamia, said Thursday that talks would resume Friday by video conference.

VOA national security correspondent Jeff Seldin, Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb, United Nations correspondent Margaret Besheer and White House correspondent Anita Powell contributed to this report.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is warning of a burgeoning health crisis in Ukraine, which is likely to last longer than the conflict itself.



Francesco Rocca, president of the Red Cross Federation, recently visited Ukraine and Romania to see conditions in the region since Russias military invaded Ukraine five weeks ago.



He says no one in Ukraine is left unscathed by the ongoing conflict. He estimates 18 million people, or one-third of the population, will require humanitarian assistance. Additionally, he says about 6.5 million displaced people inside the country and more than 4 million refugees in neighboring countries will need international aid.

He expresses particular concern about what he sees as an emerging health crisis. He says millions of people no longer have access to medical care and treatment because of attacks against hospitals, ambulances, and medical personnel.



The World Health Organization says more than 70 health care facilities have been attacked. Some have been destroyed. At least 71 people have been killed and 37 injured.



Rocca says violence has discouraged many people from leaving the safety of their bunkers to seek health care.



Many are also cut off from regular access to clean water, leaving them at an elevated risk of infectious diseases. People who are on the move are also at greater risk, as living conditions can be overly crowded and access to proper water and sanitation facilities lacking. Outbreaks of respiratory and water-borne diseases are highly likely.



Federation President Rocca says Red Cross volunteers are working to rehabilitate and provide safe toilets and shower facilities. He says they are distributing water and hygiene supplies.



Across the country, volunteers are providing first aid and psychosocial support, transporting people to hospital, helping to reunite families through the Red Cross hotline, and delivering humanitarian aid to bomb shelters, medical facilities, and temporary accommodations for those who are displaced.



Rocca notes Red Cross volunteers themselves are affected by the conflict. Many, he says, have lost homes, communities, and loved ones. Despite their personal grief and the many dangers, he says they continue to do what they can to aid and comfort victims of this terrible war.



Since the beginning of the war on February 24, he says Red Cross volunteers have assisted more than 400,000 people across Ukraine.
Years after atrocities took place in Sudans Darfur region, one of the key suspected perpetrators is about to face trial.

Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, goes on trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague on April 5.

An arrest warrant was issued by the ICC for the paramilitary leader in 2007. He faces 31 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in 2003 and 2004. He surrendered in 2020 and was brought to The Hague, which confirmed his indictment the following year.

Kushayb has denied the charges and unsuccessfully challenged the courts jurisdiction.

The ICC says Kushayb was one of the most senior leaders in the tribal hierarchy in the Wadi Salih locality and member of the Popular Defense Forces, a paramilitary group. He allegedly commanded thousands of janjaweed militias from August 2003 until March 2004 under former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was ousted in 2019.

Kushayb is alleged to have implemented the counterinsurgency strategy of the government of Sudan, resulting in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, according to the ICC.

Kushayb is accused of personally participating in some of the attacks against civilians between August 2003 and March 2004, when civilians were killed, raped and tortured, the ICC says.

On April 5, ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah told VOA, The chamber will hear the prosecution's opening statement first, followed by a short, unsworn statement by the accused and a short remark presented by the representative of victims.

The first prosecution witness and experts will testify on April 6, he added.

Elise Keppler, an official with the Human Rights Watch International Justice Program, underscores the trials significance.

Its the first time that a leader is being held to account for massive crimes committed in Darfur, Keppler told South Sudan in Focus. This is a rare opportunity for accountability, a first crucial opportunity.

Keppler said she hopes the trial will be the beginning of achieving justice in Sudan for victims as well as the perpetrators.

This trial shows that even though it can be incredibly slow going for accountability to advance, it can and does happen. And she warned that would-be-perpetrators should take note that this person, Ali Kushayb, is being held to account.

The delay in trying Kushayb and other accused individuals in Sudan is mainly because of former President Bashirs refusal to cooperate with the court, Keppler said. She pointed out that Bashir also is accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide committed in Darfur.

Adam Rijal, a spokesperson for internally displaced persons in Darfur says war victims are excited that Kushayb is finally held to account.

This is a triumph for all the victims, and it shows that their patience all these years, in the face of continued crimes committed against them, will be rewarded with justice, Rijal said.
China has paused construction of an attack submarine earmarked for Thailands navy following Germanys refusal to export the top-end engines the plans call for, a Thai naval official confirmed.

The work stoppage could strain Thailands military relations with China, which has replaced the United States as Thailands biggest arms supplier.

The Royal Thai Navy and Chinas state-owned China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co., or CSOC, signed the $402 million deal for the Yuan-class S26T submarine in 2017, with delivery originally expected by the end of next year.

Citing an anonymous Thai navy source, though, local media reported in February that construction of what would be the countrys first submarine had stalled.

In confirming the delay and its cause, Rear Admiral Apichai Sompolgrunk, director general of the Thai navys acquisitions management office, told VOA that the submarine was unlikely to arrive next year.

Right now the process of building the submarine is stuck because the engine is not concluded yet, he said.

Finish the [engine] process, and building will start again, he added.

Apichai said the deal specified three MTU396 diesel engines from Germanys Motor and Turbine Union company to run the submarines electric generator set.

Germanys defense attache to Thailand, Philipp Doert, confirmed his governments decision to deny China the engines in an open letter to The Bangkok Post in February.

The export was refused because of its use for a Chinese military/defense industry item, he wrote. China did not ask/coordinate with Germany before signing the Thai-China contract, offering German MTU engines as part of their product.

Germany is bound by a European Union arms embargo imposed on China in 1989 after the Tiananmen Square massacre, when Chinese security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters in Beijing demanding greater political freedom. China claims that 200 civilians died in the crackdown; some independent estimates put the number of dead in the thousands.

Engine trouble

Despite the embargo, Germany and other EU countries have been supplying Chinas military with engines and other equipment for decades, said Jon Grevatt, a Bangkok-based analyst covering the Asia-Pacific region for Janes defense industry publications.

Swedens Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, which tracks arms transfers around the globe, says MTU alone has fitted Chinese destroyers and submarines with over 100 of its engines from 1993 through 2020.

Grevatt said they do it by passing off items with the potential for both military and civilian applications, so-called dual-use items not explicitly excluded by the EU embargo, as commercial exports, even when destined for military hardware. He said Chinas sale of the Yuan-class submarine to Thailand, however, made the ruse harder to pull off.

If this submarine wasnt being exported to Thailand, no one would know about it and therefore it would go ahead. But the fact that it is being exported, its in the news, is cause for the German government to say, oh, no, no, no, were not allowing that, he said. You cant deny that that system is a defense system.

A spokesperson for MTU, a brand of Rolls-Royce Power Systems, confirmed that the company has supplied Chinese shipyards with engines but said they were not considered dual use items.

The engines supplied to China under the product brand mtu are not controlled as dual-use goods and are, therefore, not subject to a licensing requirement. Rolls-Royce complies with all relevant national and European export control regulations and maintains a regular dialogue with the German government on our business with China, Christoph Ringwald told VOA by email.

He refused to comment on why Germany would block the export of MTU engines for the submarine CSOC is building for Thailand after not intervening in past exports for Chinese navy vessels.

The German embassies in Thailand did not reply to VOAs requests for comment. The Chinese embassy did not reply either.

Reporting on the submarine deal earlier in March, The Wall Street Journal said Chinas Foreign Affairs Ministry told the paper the EU embargo was inconsistent with the current international order and that it hoped the bloc would make the correct decision regarding the engines.

If Germany holds firm, Grevatt said CSOC will have a hard time replacing the MTU396.

Should CSOC manage to find another willing foreign supplier, theres the matter of compatibility.

If you take out one of those German engines from that submarine and say, 'OK, lets fit another one in there,' its not like a car, you cant just do that  it has to be integrated into the whole system; that is just not possible, Grevatt said.

Thailand, he said, either manages to get the [MTU] engine or sees if China can produce one on its own.

That poses its own problem. For all the gains Chinas military-industrial complex has made in recent years, Grevatt said it still cannot match the propulsion systems of the United States and Europe, and Germany especially, for power and reliability.

Deal or no deal

Apichai said CSOC has offered to build another engine for the submarine but the Thai navy was not yet convinced the proposed replacement would do the job.

This engine is not well proven yet, so the Royal Thai Navy is still waiting for the answer from the shipyard [CSOC] to ensure that this engine is as good as the MTU, he said.

Apichai would not confirm or deny reports that China has also offered to transfer two decommissioned submarines to Thailand as another possible alternative, but he insisted the Thai navy would accept nothing short of the Yuan-class model it ordered. He said there was also far to go before any talk of scrapping the deal altogether.

But the embarrassment of the deals engine troubles seems to be straining Thailands military relations with China already, said Paul Chambers, a lecturer and international affairs adviser at Thailands Naresuan University who studies the countrys armed forces.

He said the submarine is one of the most expensive purchases the Thai navy has ever made. It also underscores Thailands growing penchant for Chinese arms. According to SIPRI, China has been the countrys top weapons supplier over the past few years, replacing the United States.

Chambers said a series of arms embargoes the United States placed on Thailand after military-led coups in 2006 and 2014 helped drive the shift away from U.S. suppliers. But China could start to lose some of its new-found sheen should Thailand ultimately fail to get what it wants out of the submarine deal, he added.

Such a strain will likely make Thailand take another look at other countries for weapons purchases. But China is too important to Thailand, at least economically, for the sub incident to irreparably harm Thai-Chinese relations, Chambers said. This incident, however, represents a definite glitch in the two countries' ties.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met Wednesday with an Indigenous community that recently identified 93 graves at a former residential school, part of a series of similar discoveries that shocked the country.

His visit to the Williams Lake First Nation in British Columbia came days after a delegation spoke with Pope Francis at the Vatican about the horrors of abuse committed at the former church-run schools that were set up by the government to forcibly assimilate Indigenous peoples.

"I am moved to be here," Trudeau told a gathering of tribal leaders, elders and former students after watching a traditional dance and receiving an eagle feather blessing.

"All of Canada grieves with this community at the feelings of loss that have come since the discovery ... but also the deep loss that this community has felt over generations because of the legacy of residential schools," he said.

Trudeau and Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller later sat down with former students who shared their "painful" experiences at the St. Joseph's Mission residential school.

"This is our history as a country, and until we properly grasp it ... and commit ourselves to [do] better, we're not living up to the kind of country we all like to think we are," Trudeau commented afterward.

"We have work to do," he said, adding that reconciliation "also requires a response and an apology from the Catholic Church and the pope."

Searches conducted nationwide

The Williams Lake First Nation announced in January that a geophysical survey revealed "93 reflections" with characteristics "indicative of potential human burials" at the former school, which thousands of Indigenous children attended between 1886 and 1981.

The site is about 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of Kamloops, where the remains of 215 children were found last May, kicking off searches nationwide for more unmarked graves and leading to the discoveries of 1,300 so far.

From the late 1800s to the 1990s, some 150,000 Indigenous, Metis and Inuit children were enrolled in 139 of the residential schools across Canada, spending months or years isolated from their families, language and culture.

Many were physically and sexually abused by headmasters and teachers, and thousands are believed to have died of disease, malnutrition or neglect.

A truth-and-reconciliation commission concluded in 2015 that the failed government policy amounted to "cultural genocide."

The 32 delegates visiting the Vatican have said an apology from Francis in Canada would be "an important step" in the healing process.
The United Nations said Thursday it is asking for a record $4.4 billion for assistance for millions of Afghans who need food, shelter, medical care, and other essentials, its biggest-ever appeal.

With more than 24 million Afghans, 60% of the population, needing humanitarian assistance, the United Nations calls Afghanistan one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world.

The U.N.s humanitarian chief and emergency relief coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has been in Kabul for several days. He says the lives of tens of millions of people are hanging by a thread. He says he visited a childrens hospital soon after he arrived and was deeply shaken by what he saw.

Tiny, listless newborn babies. Two to an incubator, suffering from acute, and sometimes severe, acute malnutrition. A mother caring for her severely malnourished baby after having already lost two children before, Griffiths said.

Since the Taliban takeover in August, Afghanistans economy has gone into freefall. Billions of dollars in international aid have dried up, leading to the collapse of government services. People with no access to work have been forced to take out loans to survive, leading to a debt spike.

In addition, Afghanistan is suffering from its worst drought in 30 years.

The U.N. is urgently appealing to international donors for support for the Afghan people. This is a hard sell, though, as few countries have confidence in the intention of the Taliban, Afghanistan's de facto rulers. This trust was recently tested when the Taliban reversed its pledge to allow girls a secondary school education.

Qatar is a co-host of Thursdays pledging conference and long-time facilitator in the political and humanitarian affairs of the people of Afghanistan. Adviser to Qatars deputy prime minister Majed Mohammed Al-Ansari says his government condemns the Taliban decision and hopes it will reconsider that position very soon.

We have stressed that this decision will have ramifications on the human rights of Afghani people and on the economy of Afghanistan. And we stressed the importance of talking to the Taliban government and making it very clear to them that this is unacceptable, and it needs to be settled as soon as possible, Al-Ansari said.

U.N. officials urge donors to swallow their political differences with the Taliban. They say the core of the pledging conference is to save lives and to give Afghans hope for the future.
The U.S. government has announced sanctions on 21 entities and 13 individuals involved in the Russian technology sector that it says are evading already existing sanctions to prevent the country from accessing western technology for military purposes.

The U.S. Treasury said on Thursday the sanctions are "part of its crackdown on the Kremlin's sanctions evasion networks and technology companies, which are instrumental to the Russian Federation's war machine."

Russia not only continues to violate the sovereignty of Ukraine with its unprovoked aggression but also has escalated its attacks striking civilians and population centers, said Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen in a statement. We will continue to target Putins war machine with sanctions from every angle, until this senseless war of choice is over.

On March 24 the United States sanctioned dozens of Russian companies in the defense-industrial base for supporting the invasion of Ukraine.
A Vietnamese automaker announced plans Tuesday to build a plant in North Carolina to manufacture electric vehicles, promising to bring 7,500 jobs and ending the state's streak of near-misses for landing carmakers.

VinFast will build its first North American plant in Chatham County southwest of Raleigh, with production expected to start in 2024. It expects to employ 7,500 by 2027 with average salaries of $51,000, according to the state Commerce Department.

VinFast's transformative project will bring many good jobs to our state, along with a healthier environment as more electric vehicles take to the road to help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement.

The company is expected to invest $4 billion in building the plant on a nearly 800-hectare site about a 30-minute drive southwest of Raleigh. The plant is planned to be able to manufacture 150,000 cars per year. The state has agreed to use job development grants to reimburse $316 million over 32 years if it hits job-creation and investment goals. The state is also planning to provide as much as $450 million for site preparation, road improvements and other infrastructure work.

A release from the state Commerce Department said the manufacturer considered sites in 12 states before narrowing its search to North Carolina and a site in Savannah, Georgia. The release said the workforce, incentives and site preparation were key factors in its choice.

North Carolina's strong commitments in building a clean energy economy, fighting climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in transportation make it an ideal location for VinFast to develop its premium, smart and environmentally friendly EVs, VinFast Global CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy said in a statement.

The United Auto Workers union has plans to organize workers at the new VinFast plant, as well as other electric vehicle and battery factories that are locating in Southern states, union President Ray Curry said Tuesday. The union has funding available now to start organizing efforts, Curry told the Automotive Press Association in Detroit.

The union, he said, already has a presence in North Carolina.

We believe that we are the preferred union, Curry said. We are the auto workers, and our goal would be to be able to represent any auto work assembly that would take place in the country, especially EVs that are transforming right now.

The UAW also will try to organize Ford and General Motors battery plants in Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as factories run by Tesla and electric vehicle startup Rivian. Both have plants that were represented by the union under previous owners. Such campaigns, depending on their duration, could cost tens of millions of dollars, he said.

Landing the car manufacturing plant is considered a major accomplishment for Cooper, legislative leaders and economic recruiters following a series of disappointments stretching back decades.

In the early 1990s, North Carolina lost out to South Carolina for BMW's first full-service factory outside of Germany, then later to Alabama, which landed Mercedes-Benz's SUV plant. More recently, the state fell short in competing for new plants by Tesla and Rivian Automotive.

Freightliner already operates truck production plants in North Carolina, and Volvo Trucks' North America headquarters is based in Greensboro.

The VinFast plant acquisition is the latest in a string of significant economic victories for the state over the past 12 months.

Apple announced plans last April to build its first East Coast campus in Research Triangle Park between Raleigh and Durham, creating 3,000 new jobs over the next decade.

Toyota revealed in December it will build a $1.3 billion battery plant near Greensboro that will employ at least 1,750 people and help fulfill the automaker's plans to drastically increase electric vehicle sales in the U.S.

And Boom Supersonic announced in January that Greensboro would be the home for its first full-scale manufacturing facility for next-generation supersonic passenger jets. That also comes with a goal of more than 2,400 new jobs by 2032.

VinFast is part of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, which is providing capital to expand electric vehicle sales to the U.S. and eventually Europe. The company already is selling vehicles with internal combustion engines and electric powertrains in Vietnam.

In November, the company introduced the VF e35 midsize and VF e36 large electric SUVs at the Los Angeles Auto Show, but it did not reveal prices.

The company's former chief executive said last year that VinFast plans to start taking orders in the spring and delivering vehicles in the U.S. in the fall. Initially the SUVs would be built at a new factory in Vietnam, but VinFast was planning to build a U.S. factory that would start producing in the second half of 2024.

VinFast, with a U.S. headquarters in Los Angeles, plans to sell vehicles through its own network of stores, with much of the order process done online. Already the company has plans for 60 stores in California alone. It also will have some service centers and mobile service.
An unusually large joint military exercise being held by the United States and the Philippines answers what Manila regards as a growing threat from China, according to some analysts.



U.S. military personnel joined troops from the Philippines on Monday for scheduled exercises called Balikatan, meaning shoulder to shoulder. A U.S. defense official called it the largest ever with 3,800 Philippine participants and 5,100 from the United States.



Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has pivoted toward the United States over the past two years after attempting a friendship with China.

China offered billions of dollars in development aid to the relatively impoverished Southeast Asian country, but it used its military, the worlds third largest, to keep up pressure on disputed islets and contested tracts of sea between the two nations.



This years Balikatan shores up a Philippine-U.S. military alliance that began with a mutual defense treaty in 1951 and grew with a visiting forces agreement inked in 1999. Duterte had threatened to scrap the 1999 deal as he grew closer to Beijing but agreed last year to keep the deal in place.

The U.S. consistently valued and embraced the relationship, and so I think that also had some effect on Dutertes thinking, said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, in Hawaii.



He called the Philippines a swing state in the Indo-Pacific and said its swinging toward the U.S. side to ensure access to the South China Sea, a source of fish and energy reserves.



Philippines-China tensions



In March and April 2021, Manila fumed when more than 220 Chinese boats moored off a South China Sea reef thats disputed by the two countries. It protested, too, against a Chinese research vessel that stayed for three days earlier this year in the Sulu Sea near the Philippines.



Chinese and Philippine officials exchanged competing claims of sovereignty this week over the South China Seas fishery-rich Scarborough Shoal after Manila cited a violation by a passing Chinese coast guard vessel.



Chinese officials point to historic records as support for their claim to about 90% of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer South China Sea, while the Philippines cites a United Nations convention. Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam claim all or parts of the sea, which is valued for fisheries, fossil fuel reserves and marine shipping lanes.

Crisis planning



The exercises are scheduled to cover amphibious landings, airstrikes and ship movements at two locations before ending April 8, the Armed Forces of the Philippines said via Facebook. Humanitarian work is also on the agenda.



Balikatan enhances crisis action planning and crisis response capability, the U.S. defense official said.



The exercises are especially crucial if China plans to push the Philippines away from Scarborough Shoal, said Ramon Casiple, an independent political analyst based in Metro Manila. China had taken control of the South China Sea feature in 2012 after a two-month standoff.



If the U.S. is going back to the region and making it an important affair, the Philippines will have something to stand on in the contested area, Casiple said. The Philippines never conceded Scarborough Shoal to the Chinese.



The U.S. government has counted the Philippines as one in a chain of Asia-Pacific allies and asked its old Cold War foe Beijing to keep the South China Sea open for international use.



Balikatan is going on per schedule but comes at a time when both Manila and Washington have things to prove, said Aaron Rabena, research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation in Metro Manila. These things, theyre for  I think, territorial posturing, and it coincides with Russias invasion of Ukraine, Rabena noted.



U.S. officials oppose Russias war in Ukraine and have kept a wary eye on China as a Russian ally.

Chinese state-monitored media outlet the Global Times said Sunday that the U.S. and Philippine armed forces were conducting extensive drills with new tactics to contain China against the rapid development of the Chinese People's Liberation Army.

Filipinos are watching their relations with the United States ahead of a May 9 presidential election, Casiple said. Duterte must step down because of term limits.



Ferdinand Marcos Jr., son of ex-President Ferdinand Marcos, is leading other candidates, according to a February survey by the polling agency Pulse Asia. He has called China a friend and domestic media report that he has advocated setting aside a 2016 world arbitration court decision that rejects the legal basis for Beijings claims to the South China Sea.



Filipinos dont normally select presidential candidates based on foreign policy statements, and Marcos has not said he would reject the United States in favor of China, even if he pursues friendly relations with Beijing.

The annual exercise between the U.S. and the Philippines was canceled because of the pandemic in 2020 and was scaled back last year.

Editors note: An earlier version of this story had a headline that incorrectly referred to China. It should have said: Why US, Philippines Are Staging Large-Scale Military Exercises.
By Nelson Banya and Helen Reid

(Reuters) - A Zimbabwean company that had been banking on Chinese financing to build a major coal-fired power plant says it is now looking for alternative backers as China pulls back on funding such projects overseas.

The effort by RioZim Ltd RTNR.ZI, one of Zimbabwe's biggest mining and energy companies, reflects how China's recent U-turn on foreign coal financing is forcing developing nations across Africa and Asia to rethink their energy plans. China, which had been a top funder of coal power projects around the globe, announced in September it would not build new coal projects abroad as part of efforts to curb future carbon emissions.

Energy and climate specialists are watching to see the impact, including whether it will force a speedier shift to cleaner energy, result in other funders stepping in or lead to power shortages. Zimbabwe, which already suffers from a lack of electricity, has among the biggest coal reserves in Africa.

"The energy policy juncture Zimbabwe now finds itself at is emblematic of what many developing countries around the world are facing," said Leo Roberts, UK-based research manager who focuses on coal transition at climate think tank E3G.

Plans for the multi-billion dollar Sengwa power plant in northwest Zimbabwe involve more than doubling the country's current electricity capacity.

RioZim's energy division, Rio Energy, had been hoping for funding for the planned plant and associated coal mine from Chinese banks Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and China Minsheng Banking Corporation Ltd.

Now, Rio Energy is considering alternative financing plans. "We are still in the market to fund the project and we will work with all possible funders, including the Chinese," parent RioZim told Reuters.

The company said another option under consideration is to transform the project to a gas-powered plant, but that idea is "subject to the outcome of feasibility studies" and no time frame for those has been set.

RioZim told Reuters that ICBC and Minsheng Bank "came in to play a supporting role" but that it can't comment on the current status of their involvement because it doesn't have a direct relationship with the companies. Chinese bank financing for coal power plants overseas has often been arranged to support Chinese construction companies, which then enter into building contracts with the company planning the power plant.

ICBC told representatives of environmental non-governmental organisations in a June 2021 meeting that the bank would no longer finance the Sengwa project, according to two people who attended the meeting.

ICBC did not respond to requests for comment, including about the meeting or whether it plans to fund the Sengwa project. Minsheng Bank also didn't respond to Reuters questions about funding plans.

Plans for another large coal power project in Zimbabwe, known as Lusulu, are also up in the air, according to PER Lusulu Power, the Harare-based energy company behind the plant which had been planning on Chinese backing.

A Zimbabwe government spokesperson declined to comment on the status of either project. He said Zimbabwe has the right to exploit its coal resources if needed and would not "sacrifice growth prospects on the altar of arguments to do with the environment."

China's foreign ministry didn't respond to questions about the status of the funding of the Sengwa and Lusulu projects. But it said Beijing will support developing countries in shifting to greener energy.

The foreign ministry added that China, which has close economic and diplomatic ties with Harare, "will increase its support to Zimbabwe's development of renewable energy power projects, and help Zimbabwe's sustainable development."

HANGING IN THE BALANCE

Christine Shearer, programme director for coal at U.S. think tank Global Energy Monitor, said Chinese financing for coal power appears to be frozen.

Despite the lack of clarity about what Xi's announcement means for planned projects, no new coal plants have since publicly announced Chinese support, "suggesting the international financing tap for new coal projects from China has indeed been turned off," said Shearer.

Globally, some $63 billion of Chinese state financing across 57 projects could be at risk from China's withdrawal from coal financing overseas, according to Global Energy Monitor. The pullback could cut Africa's pipeline of coal power projects by two thirds to 3.6 gigawatts (GW), estimates think tank E3G.

In Zimbabwe, less than half the population has access to electricity. The country has been betting on coal-fired power to address chronic electricity shortages and create jobs.

RioZim has talked about building the Sengwa plant for more than a decade. Plans include adding 2.8 gigawatts (GW) to the grid and restarting the adjacent coal mine, which has been closed since 2014. Currently, Zimbabwe has the capacity to generate around 2.3 GW, which comes mostly from a large hydroelectric power plant but also four coal-fired power stations.

The planned Sengwa plant, near the town of Gokwe, would create 1,100 permanent jobs and nearly four times as many temporary construction jobs, according to Rio Energy. Sedeya Jetro, head of a local primary school, said the jobs would enable parents to pay school fees and "mean a lot to this community."

Rio Energy told Reuters that ICBC had in 2019 provided an expression of interest - or non-binding commitment - to a Chinese construction company to fund the first phase of the Sengwa project. Neither the construction company, PowerChina International Engineering Co., nor its parent, Power Construction Corporation of China, responded to requests for comment.

Minsheng Bank also provided a non-binding commitment to RioZim to fund a second phase of the Sengwa project, according to Rio Energy and an August 2020 letter of interest from Minsheng Bank that Reuters reviewed. The pledge expired in February 2021, according to the letter.

A Minsheng Bank official who signed the document said in an emailed response to Reuters that the letter of interest was "a trade secret" and didn't respond to questions about funding plans. Spokespeople for Minsheng Bank and ICBC didn't respond to requests for comment.

Rio Energy was hoping for $3.4 billion of funding for the second phase of the power plant, according to a draft contract with a unit of engineering and construction company China Gezhouba Group Corporation (CGGC). The contract, which was reviewed by Reuters, was dated November 2020 and drafted by both companies.

In response to questions about the planned Sengwa plant, CGGC's parent company China Energy Engineering Corporation told Reuters that a subsidiary signed a construction cooperation agreement in 2020. "There is no progress on this project currently," it said, citing a lack of financing commitments.

PER Lusulu Power plans to build the 2.1 GW Lusulu plant in Zimbabwe's western province of Matabeleland North. It announced in 2015 that Chinese financial institutions had agreed to fund its construction, subject to conditions. PER Lusulu Power's website says the company entered into a construction contract with China State Construction Engineering Corporation, which would secure debt finance from Bank of China.

PER Lusulu Power had also sought financing of up to $2 billion for the project from ICBC, according to extracts of a term sheet dated August 2020 viewed by Reuters. The term sheet is a non-binding agreement setting out the terms and conditions for an investment. It was unsigned, and was prepared by ICBC, according to a person familiar with the document.

Bank of China said in a statement that it doesn't have any electricity projects in Zimbabwe and has no plans to develop any. ICBC and China State Construction Engineering did not respond to questions about the Lusulu project.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

One Chinese-funded project that is progressing is in the northwestern town of Hwange, where construction was already well underway when China announced its coal-funding freeze. The project involves the expansion of an existing coal-power plant and has been financed by a loan of roughly $1 billion from Export-Import Bank of China, the Zimbabwe government has said. Zimbabwe Power Company, which manages the plant, said in a November statement that the expansion "continues to progress well" and was more than two thirds complete. China's EximBank didn't respond to a request for comment.

The project is expected to increase employment by nearly doubling the current 2,853-strong workforce, while also sustaining the town's coal-mining industry, which employs thousands more people. The Zimbabwean government spokesperson said the country will be much better placed to meet electricity demand once the expansion - which is due to add 600 megawatts - is complete.

Renewable power advocates in Africa and elsewhere say China's pullback from coal power provides an opportunity to clean up. Zimbabwe is expanding its plans for generating renewable energy, such as solar power, but such projects can require fewer permanent employees than coal, making them less attractive for governments keen to generate employment.

Sydney Gata, executive chairman of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority, said that an instant switch to solar and wind isn't feasible given the scale of the country's power needs.

"Renewables are not an immediate plan B for Zimbabwe," he said.

(Reporting by Nelson Banya in Hwange, Zimbabwe and Helen Reid in Johannesburg. Additional reporting by Cheng Leng, Muyu Xu, Gabriel Crossley, Emily Chow, and Beijing newsroom. Editing by Cassell Bryan-Low and Richard Valdmanis)
Russia has violated its pledge to scale back military operations on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and the northern city of Chernihiv, Ukrainian officials said Wednesday, as little progress was reported in the latest round of peace talks between the two countries.

The Pentagon said Wednesday Russia had repositioned a small number of troops around Kyiv in the last 24 hours, but added, "None of them have repositioned to their home garrison."

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said those troops are not headed to a home garrison. "They're leaving Kyiv (and) heading more to the north  away from the city," he noted, adding that the majority of Russian forces are still around Kyiv as airstrikes continue.

Russia said Wednesday there was no sign of a breakthrough in peace talks with Ukraine.

The apparent impasse comes as U.S. President Joe Biden spoke Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"The leaders discussed how the United States is working around the clock to fulfill the main security assistance requests by Ukraine, the critical effects those weapons have had on the conflict, and continued efforts by the United States with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country," the White House said in a statement.

"President Biden informed President Zelenskyy that the United States intends to provide the Ukrainian government with $500 million in direct budgetary aid," the White House added, noting the Ukrainian leader updated Biden on the status of negotiations.

The call and the impasse in peace talks come as newly declassified intelligence suggests Russia's more than monthlong invasion of Ukraine is causing rifts between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his senior military advisers.

"There is now persistent tension between Putin and the MOD [Ministry of Defense]," a U.S. official confirmed to VOA on Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss the information.

"His senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth," the official said, noting the intelligence indicates Putin's aides have misinformed him on the progress of Russian troops as well as the impact of sanctions on Russia's economy.

"We believe that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the Russian military is performing and how the Russian economy is being crippled by sanctions, because his senior advisers are too afraid to tell him the truth," White House communications director Kate Bedingfield told reporters Wednesday. "So, it is increasingly clear that Putin's war has been a strategic blunder that has left Russia weaker over the long term, and increasingly isolated on the world stage."

In an interview Wednesday with CNN, Chernihiv Mayor Vladyslav Atroshenko said Russia's attacks had escalated over the past 24 hours.

"This is yet another confirmation that Russia always lies," Atroshenko said. "They actually have increased the intensity of strikes," with "a colossal mortar attack in the center of Chernihiv" that wounded 25 civilians.

Russia did not immediately comment on the reports and accusations that it has violated its commitment to reduce operations around Kyiv and Chernihiv.

Russian forces also damaged a Red Cross warehouse in the besieged southern port city of Mariupol, the Ukrainian government and the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday. The aid group said it did not immediately know the extent of the damage or if there were any casualties. Mariupol is a strategic city where officials have warned of a humanitarian disaster.

Humanitarian challenges

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk earlier Wednesday announced the two sides had agreed to open three evacuation corridors. Vereshchuk said one corridor would be used for the evacuation of Mariupol and delivery of humanitarian aid to Berdyansk, about 85 kilometers southwest of Mariupol.

Another corridor would allow humanitarian aid deliveries to the city of Melitopol, as well as evacuations from the city, while a third would open for people traveling from Enerhodar to Zaporizhzhia, both in southern Ukraine.

Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said Wednesday the number of Ukrainians who have fled to escape what he called a "senseless war" has now exceeded 4 million people.

"Many in this region are feeling the pain of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in another way with rising food prices, especially wheat. Farmers in Ukraine, instead of tending to their crops, are forced to fight for their country's future for independence or to flee," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at a press conference in Algiers on Wednesday.

"Ships with grain are not getting out from Black Sea ports because they're blocked by Russia's aggression," he added. "Countries around the world, including North Africa and the Middle East, import significant amounts of wheat from Ukraine, and of course when food prices rise, so do the numbers of people suffering from hunger."

The U.S. State Department issued a new advisory Tuesday urging U.S. citizens either traveling to or residing in Russia to leave the country immediately.

The State Department designated Russia a "Level 4: Do Not Travel" nation on its travel advisory list shortly after the February 24 invasion of Ukraine.

VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin, Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb, United Nations Correspondent Margaret Besheer and White House Correspondent Anita Powell contributed to this report.
GENEVA  The U.N. high commissioner for human rights on Wednesday called Russia to immediately withdraw its troops from Ukraine and stop the war that she said had caused immeasurable suffering and grief for millions of people.

In a dramatic rendering of conditions in Ukraine to the U.N. Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet described the living nightmare Ukrainians have endured for more than a month and said the war must end.

She said at least 1,189 civilians had been killed and 1,900 injured. She said relentless bombing raids and the persistent use of explosive weapons by Russian military forces had caused massive destruction and damage to homes, infrastructure, hospitals and schools. She noted cities such as Mariupol had been nearly razed, while others had been mercilessly pummeled and no longer existed.

Bachelet said her office had credible allegations that Russian armed forces have used cluster munitions in populated areas at least two dozen times. She said her office also was investigating allegations that Ukrainian forces have used such weapons.

"Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law and may amount to war crimes," she said. "The massive destruction of civilian objects and the high number of civilian casualties strongly indicate that the fundamental principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution have not been sufficiently adhered to.

Ukraines ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Yevheniia Filipenko, condemned Russias unprovoked aggression against her country. She called Russias actions against a sovereign state an attack against the norms of the worlds rules-based order.

'Flagrant violation' of charter

This step by the country occupying a seat in the U.N. Security Council and in the Human Rights Council has become a flagrant violation of the U.N. charter and fundamental principles of international law, which will have long-lasting implications for the future of the world order and humanity, she said.

Yaroslav Eremin, first secretary at the Russian Mission in Geneva, dismissed the conclusions of multiple investigative bodies that have found Russia guilty of widespread violations and abuse.

He listed a litany of alleged crimes committed by Ukrainian soldiers. He said these included preventing civilians in Mariupol from seeking safety in Russia, using civilians as human shields, and blowing up a factory and blaming it on Russia. Speaking through an interpreter, he accused the Ukrainian military of torturing Russian prisoners of war and innocent civilians.

"All these atrocities against civilians were carried out with the use of weaponry supplied by the Western countries," he said. "We urge the high commissioner and OHCHR [Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights] to give a due assessment of these facts.

Nearly 50 countries that participated in the interactive discussion on Ukraine did not buy into Russias viewpoint. One by one they stood up and demanded that Russia stop what they called an illegal war.
The business undertakings of Hunter Biden (son of President Joe Biden) have turned into a trendy soap opera for American Republicans.

Senators Chuck Grassley (Republican-IA) and Ron Johnson (Republican-WI) have just disclosed evidence of money transfers from Chinese companies close to the Communist Party to Hunter Biden, addressed either to him personally or to companies controlled by him.

Sums of $100,000 here, $5 million there, plus a few additional million elsewhere.

It has so far been established that the presidents son controls the main Ukrainian gas companies, and acts as an intermediary between Ukrainian biomilitary laboratories and the Pentagon.

In addition, emails and text messages released by The Epoch Times (Falun Gong) shine a light on various frauds and on the involvement of the President of the United States.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Update, Wednesday April 20 at 1:30 a.m.: Ezra Miller has been arrested again in Hawaii, this time for second-degree assault, according to Variety. They were arrested Tuesday morning after an incident at a private residence in Pahoa. The Hawaii Police Department reported that Miller allegedly was upset at being asked to leave a gathering and threw a chair that hit a 26-year-old woman on the forehead, leaving her with a half-inch cut on her face. Miller was released several hours after they were arrested, with the investigation remaining active.

Update, March 31 at 1:08 p.m.: Ezra Miller had been the cause of ten separate calls to police in Hilo since March 7, Hawaiian police told the Associated Press on March 31. According to assistant chief Kenneth Quiocho, Millers altercation at the karaoke bar was prompted by a performance of Shallow by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, from the movie A Star Is Born. Shortly after Miller paid bail for the karaoke incident, Quiocho said, police had to escort them away from a hostel on March 29. A restraining order was filed, per the AP, claiming Miller had threatened and stolen from two people after breaking into their room.

Original story follows.

Ezra Miller was arrested for disorderly conduct and harassment in Hawaii on March 28. The actor, 29, reportedly took a microphone from a 23-year-old woman singing karaoke at a bar in Hilo late Sunday. They also tried to attack a 32-year-old man playing darts, per a tweet and post by the Hawaii Police Department. Miller, described in the report as visiting from Vermont, posted $500 in bail and was released. Miller plays the Flash in DC superhero movies  a role they were recognized for at the Oscars the same night as their arrest with The Flash Enters the Speed Force from Zack Snyders Justice League voted the No. 1 most cheer-worthy moment by fans.

The arrest is not Millers first recorded aggressive moment at a bar. In April 2020, video surfaced of the actor appearing to choke a woman at a bar in Iceland. Miller is set to star in a stand-alone film, The Flash, which has already been shot and is out in 2023. The news comes as Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, the third movie in the Harry Potter spinoff series featuring Miller, is set to hit theaters next month.

An earlier version of this post used incorrect pronouns to refer to Miller.
ITA Airways to expand to Japan, US and South America, with Qantas to launch direct flights from Rome to Australia.

Air travel in Italy shows hopeful signs of recovery from the impact of the covid-19 pandemic as Rome's Fiumicino airport unveils a range of new international destinations ahead of summer 2022.

The new routes were announced by Aeroporti di Roma (AdR), the company that manages Fiumicino airport - officially known as Leonardo da Vinci - along with Rome's other airport, Ciampino.

Among the big travel news this summer is the launch of Qantas flights between Italy and Australia, offering a non-stop service for the first time between Rome and Perth, and onwards to Sydney.

ITA Airways, successor to Alitalia as Italy's flagship carrier, will offer flights to Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Tokyo, in addition to New York, Miami and Boston, from June.

WizzAir is to launch 18 new routes, including London Gatwick, Madrid, Marrakesh and Amman, as well as new destinations for Rome including Yerevan (Armenia) and Turku (Finland).

The summer will also see the resumption of direct connections to Asia and South America with flights operated by Singapore Airlines, Aerolineas Argentinas and Latam.

WestJet will launch flights between Rome and Calgary, Canada, while Gulf Air will launch a direct connection to Bahrain, and Icelandair will offer flights to Reykjavik.

There will also be new destinations on offer from low-cost airlines Ryanair (Tangier, Girona and Figari), Volotea (Strasbourg) and Transavia (Montpellier).

According to a statement from AdR, this summer will see the launch of 25 new connections, 13 of which were not served by direct flights from Rome even before the pandemic.

"Despite a still complex situation" - said Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma - "there are conditions in place for 2022 to be a year of resumption of traffic", with the prospect of Rome's two airports playing a "crucial role" in the development of Italy's tourism sector.

Troncone also cited an "unprecedented summer season" for US companies which will offer a 15 per cent overall increase in seats compared to the same period in 2019.

In addition, AdR identifies two important future developments that present a "crucial opportunity for growth for the two Roman airports": the Jubilee Year 2025 and Expo 2030, if Rome's bid is successful.

Photo credit: Nataliya Pylayeva / Shutterstock.com.
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Billed as the first summit of the Abraham Accords, the gathering in the Negev desert Monday of foreign ministers of Israel, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, along with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, was certainly unprecedented. Two years ago, the three Arab foreign ministers wouldnt have agreed to pose for photographs with their Israeli counterpart at the United Nations, never mind on his home soil.

There was more to it than a photo-op. Although the government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett basked in his countrys newfound convening power, the meeting also demonstrated that the 2020 accords  under which four Arab states normalized relations with Israel  are a practical framework for cooperation on mutual benefits, such as trade ties, as well as common threats, such as Iran. (Egypt, which made peace with Israel in 1979, sent its foreign minister to the gathering, too.)

It is also a useful platform for the country that midwifed the accords. Blinken used the opportunity to try to reassure the other attendees that the countries wont be imperiled if the U.S. rejoins the 2015 nuclear pact with the Islamic Republic, a foreign-policy priority of his boss, President Joe Biden. Blinken also implored them to take a firmer line against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine. (On both scores, they responded with varying degrees of skepticism.)

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Yet while symbolizing the progress that has been made under the accords, the meeting served as a reminder that the Israeli-American diplomatic initiative has made no headway in more than a year. Biden and Bennett have been unable to add a single nation to the normalization papers since their predecessors, Donald Trump and Binyamin Netanyahu, left office.

This is especially galling for Bennett, who talked up the accords in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last fall, adding that more is to come.

Not only has the Israeli leader failed to deliver on that promise, at least one of the existing signatories may be developing second thoughts: Sudan chose not to send a representative to the Negev event. Ahead of the meeting, Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, the military strongman in Khartoum, was at pains to deny that there had been any top-level official visits in either direction. Abdalla Hamdok, the civilian leader who signed the accords, was arrested, then reinstated and finally squeezed out by the military, with little protest from Israel.

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Burhan hasnt repudiated the accords, but has made it clear he wishes to keep Israel at arms length by limiting cooperation to security matters.

The three other Arab signatories to the pact are keen on deeper relations, including tourism and cultural exchanges, but their enthusiasm hasnt been as contagious as Israeli and American officials might have hoped. Indeed, the countries that had seemed the most likely to join the bandwagon a year ago  Oman and Qatar  are no closer to signing up. Both countries are content merely to maintain unofficial relations with Israel. Others, like Kuwait, have made it clear they wont contemplate normalization before Israel has come to a settlement with the Palestinians.

And the prospects of a breakthrough with Saudi Arabia, briefly raised by Netanyahus poorly kept secret visit to the kingdom in late 2020 to meet the de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, now seem remote. The prince, resentful of being snubbed by the U.S. president, is in no mood to give Biden the opportunity to match Trumps bragging rights by joining the accords.

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Nor is Biden, who has made pivoting away from the Middle East a foreign-policy priority, likely to invest much diplomatic capital in entreating other Arab states to recognize Israel.

Might he enrage them into doing so? There is a double bank-shot of a chance that could happen. If Biden does bring the U.S. back into the nuclear deal and allow Iran to acquire more military means with which to menace its Arab neighbors, some of them might just make common cause with Israel. Sowing discord is hardly the most auspicious way to promote the accords. But the Israelis would probably take it.

More From Writers at Bloomberg Opinion:

 U.S. and Europe Should Stop Congratulating Themselves: Pankaj Mishra

 Chechen Wars Offer a Glimpse of Putins Next Move: Clara Ferreira Marques

 Russia Exploits Two Big Holes in Financial Sanctions: Paul J. Davies

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Bobby Ghosh is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering foreign affairs. A former editor in chief of the Hindustan Times, he was managing editor of Quartz and Time magazines international editor.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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On Feb. 24, 2022, hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine, I happened to put a stick of butter in my fridge. The butter is still fresh  thats how recent this was. And yet that time already seems to belong to a distant and long-gone era. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight As war rages once again in Europe, many other problems suddenly look smaller, or at least different. But they havent gone away. One is the question of what the European Union should do about Hungary and Poland.

Yes, Putin is obviously the single biggest menace to freedom on the continent today. But before he launched his war, the EU worried just as much about the populist, far-right and quasi-authoritarian governments in Warsaw and Budapest. Their threat against European democracy looked more insidious in part because it was internal.

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For years, both member states have been undermining judicial independence, checks and balances, freedoms of the press and academia, gay rights and other norms Europe considers fundamental to its raison detre. Brussels has launched disciplinary proceedings against them and wants to withhold cash until they restore the rule of law. Some European leaders have even mused about kicking one or both of them out of the bloc.

For a while, hopes in Brussels, Berlin, Paris and other capitals were high that Hungarians might solve their part of the problem by voting their strongman, Prime Minister Viktor Orban, out of office in the general election on April 3. The optimism seemed justified because six opposition blocs ganged up on his Fidesz party and appeared within reach of a majority. Since Putins invasion, however, Orban is once again odds-on to win a fourth term.

If that seems strange, it is. Orban has long been best buds with other autocrats, including Putin. In the past, hes been a pro-Russian voice inside the EU. Since the current Russian onslaught began, hes come around and backed the EUs sanctions against Russia. But he doesnt want to go much further  he opposes boycotting Russian energy or sending big weapons to Ukraine, for example.

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Youd think that would hurt Orbans image. And yet he has somehow convinced a lot of Hungarians that in this time of crisis, only he can protect them from disorder, chaos and war. In polls, Fidesz is on top again.

In its own way, Polands populist government has also continued its democratic backsliding. Last week, four leaders of the European Parliament charged that the strong-arming of judges in particular has been deteriorating rather than improving.

The EUs two black sheep are therefore once again putting the bloc in a bind. Since Putins invasion, both countries form part of Europes  and NATOs  front line. And whereas Poland and Hungary showed no solidarity at all in the migrant crisis of 2015, theyre now welcoming more than their fair share of 4 million Ukrainian refugees. Poland alone is accommodating more than half.

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So the EU, like the larger West, is naturally keen to support Poland and Hungary. The priority now is signaling to Putin that Europe and NATO stand united against him. But that mustnt be confused with discreetly forgetting the pre-existing intramural conflict about democratic standards.

One reason for optimism is that Putins war has opened up cracks between Poland and Hungary. So far, theyve always had each others back in Brussels  each promising to veto any disciplinary measure against the other, for example. But now Warsaw, one of Europes most strident anti-Kremlin hawks, is furious at Orban for soft-pedaling the resistance against Putin.

The bigger hope  and opportunity  is that Putins atrocities remind ordinary Poles and Hungarians why they wanted to join the European Union in the first place. They sought protection from Russia, yes. But above all they yearned to join a zone of freedom, justice, democracy, prosperity and progress. Thats exactly what Ukrainians are fighting for, and what Putin wants to deny them.

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Poles and Hungarians must understand  and the EU should never be coy to repeat  that the two struggles are related. Europe and the West must stand for liberty. Thats just as important at home as in Ukraine.

More From This Writer and Others at Bloomberg Opinion:

 What If Russia Destroys Ukraines Cell Networks: Tim Culpan

 Beware an Isolated Russias Splinternet: Parmy Olson

 Fight Putin First, Climate Change Second: Andreas Kluth

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Andreas Kluth is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. He was previously editor in chief of Handelsblatt Global and a writer for the Economist. Hes the author of Hannibal and Me.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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Europes governments are arguing over how to tighten their economic sanctions on Russia. The main gap in their punitive system is their continuing payments for Russian gas. Germany, especially, has been reluctant to impose a ban because its economy would struggle to cope with the consequences. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight Economics suggest a much better approach: Instead of making Russian gas illegal, Europe should make it expensive.

Germanys reluctance to adopt an outright ban is understandable. It imports almost all its gas, and the supply from Russia usually accounts for about half. Sources are difficult to switch (harder than for oil or coal) because the supporting infrastructure is relatively fixed. Businesses and consumers can adapt over time, buying other fuels or economizing, but still: According to one set of estimates, abruptly ending Russian supplies would cut Germanys gross domestic product by between 2% and 3%. (For comparison, the pandemic caused a contraction of about 4.5%.)

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Daniel Gros of the Centre for European Policy Studies has been making the case for a high tariff, as opposed to an outright ban. His logic is compelling. A tariff would raise prices for Europes consumers, but they would not have to bear its full cost. To maximize its profits, Gazprom would have to absorb some of the increase. In effect, the tariff would scoop up some of its so-called rent  arising from the difference, at the margin, between what it gets paid and its costs of production. Europe could then use these tariff revenues for other purposes, including compensating consumers for having to buy more expensive gas.

The ideal tariff would be calculated in two stages. First, work out what maximizes the difference between the revenue collected and the economic losses imposed on consumers; second, factor in the desire to punish Russia above and beyond what that first calculation requires. For instance, suppose Europe were willing to surrender one euro of net economic benefit to raise the penalty on Russia by one euro: Gros calculates the tariff would be 60%.

A tax that high would be enough to cut the income of Gazprom, the sole supplier of Russian gas, by more than three-quarters. The fall in the amount of Russian gas imported would be much smaller, reducing the initial blow to consumers, and the revenues collected would still be sufficient to make Europes consumers whole. By making Russian gas more expensive to consumers, the tax would also create longer-term incentives to switch to other suppliers.

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Whats the case against? Its hard to see one. True, on the face of it, discriminatory tariffs of this kind are illegal under the terms of the World Trade Organization  but the rules provide an exception for national security. Russias war on Ukraine, not to mention threats of nuclear retaliation against its allies, would seem to qualify. Maybe Russia would sue for remedies, casting itself a defender of international laws and norms. That would be worth a laugh, at least.

More likely is that Russia would retaliate by cutting off supplies. But things could be moving in this direction regardless. Russia recently told the EU to pay for its gas with rubles, which would help support Russias currency and evade sanctions on its central bank. So far, Europe has said no, and Germany is now wondering about rationing in anticipation of a ban imposed not by Europe but by Russia. If Europe imposed a punitive tariff and Russia then halted supplies, Germany and its partners would indeed be hurt  though not as much as Russia. In effect, Russian President Vladimir Putin would be enforcing much tougher sanctions against himself.

For the moment, the main channel allowing Russia to avoid the full impact of the allies sanctions  the gas market  remains open. For as long as thats true, Europe should be looking at a tariff on gas, not a ban, as the most cost-effective way to hit Russias economy.

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Related at Bloomberg Opinion:

 Oil, Gas and Commodities Arent Being Weaponized  for Now: Javier Blas

 Reducing Dependence on Russian Energy Is More Realistic Than You Think: Liam Denning

 Russia Is No Longer Europes Reliable Gas Supplier: Julian Lee

 Russia Needs European Cash More Than Europe Needs Russian Gas: David Fickling

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Clive Crook is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and member of the editorial board covering economics, finance and politics. A former chief Washington commentator for the Financial Times, he has been an editor for the Economist and the Atlantic.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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As U.S. president, Joe Biden has a rarely used but potentially powerful tool to make up for energy supply shortages or economically damaging price spikes: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, or SPR. Set up in the aftermath of the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s as a national energy safety net, its the worlds largest supply of emergency crude, stored in deep and heavily guarded underground salt caverns along the U.S. Gulf Coast. The Biden administration is weighing a plan to release a million barrels a day for several months -- as much as 180 million barrels total, which would be by far the largest SPR release ever -- to combat high gasoline prices following Russias invasion of Ukraine, according to people familiar with the matter.

1. How much oil is in reserve?

The reserve stood at 568 million barrels as of March 25. Thats about 80% of its maximum authorized storage capacity of 714 million barrels and enough to replace almost half a years worth of U.S. crude net imports.

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2. In what circumstances can presidents release stockpiled oil?

Its pretty much the presidents prerogative. But the 1975 law that established the reserve says a president can order a full drawdown in the event of a severe energy supply interruption that threatens national security or the economy. A limited drawdown (up to 30 million barrels) can be ordered in the event of a domestic or international energy supply shortage of significant scope or duration.

3. How have presidents tapped the reserve?

Beyond ad hoc responses to localized oil disruptions, the U.S. has tapped its oil reserve only a handful of times. Biden did so late in 2021, authorizing the release of 50 million barrels as part of a coordinated multi-nation bid to lower surging fuel costs. In 2011, President Barack Obama released 30 million barrels as part of a joint effort with other nations to counter supply disruptions from Libya. In 2005, President George W. Bush released 11 million barrels in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. And in 1991, under President George H.W. Bush, 17 million barrels were released during the first Gulf War. In 2017, the Energy Department authorized the release of 5 million barrels to Gulf Coast refineries when Hurricane Harvey wreaked havoc on the region. Such arrangements are designed to address short-term emergency needs, and the crude is repaid, in kind, at a future date. Test releases take place from time to time, as well as limited releases in the form of swaps.

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4. What does a release entail?

The maximum drawdown capability is 4.4 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Departments website, and it takes 13 days for SPR oil to reach the open market after a presidential decision. But the mere announcement that the SPR is being deployed could have an immediate, if short-lived, effect on oil prices.

5. Which other countries have reserves?

China, India, Japan and South Korea are among Asias major stockpilers of oil. Member states of the European Union held a combined 112.5 million tonnes (825 million barrels) of emergency oil stocks as of June 2021, according to Eurostat, the EUs statistical office.

6. Whats the outlook for the U.S. stockpile?

The domestic shale boom has allowed the U.S. to join the ranks of the worlds biggest oil producers, lending weight to arguments that the emergency reserve is past its sell-by date. But U.S. crude production has only grown modestly in recent months, despite a big rally in prices, while demand has increased and imports have been trending upward. In the past the reserve has been used to pay government bills ranging from roads to deficit reduction and drugs, and current plans are for the stockpile to be cut almost in half over several years. But periodic use of the reserve after natural disasters may be the most effective rebuttal to the case for doing away with it.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

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The results are in, and it looks as though the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been about as big a public opinion success as anything can be. No, it isnt likely to matter in November, let alone in November 2024. But for whatever its worth, Jackson polls well  and the Republican attacks on her poll badly.

Oh, and meanwhile, she has the votes to be confirmed.

Many pundits correctly predicted her confirmation. But many also said that President Joe Biden had hurt his own cause by explicitly pledging to nominate a Black woman for the Supreme Court, and that the Republican attacks during her confirmation hearings were at least potentially damaging. Indeed, some activists said that Democrats on the Judiciary Committee did too little to defend the nominee.

Now there are polls. One from Marquette Law School reports that 66% of respondents would vote to confirm Jackson, against 34% who would oppose. The margin in a Quinnipiac University poll is slightly less favorable, with 51% to 30% in favor of confirmation. Meanwhile, those Republican attacks? Heres Quinnipiac:

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Americans disapprove 52 - 27 percent of the way Republican Senators are handling the confirmation process of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, while 21 percent did not offer an opinion.

On the other hand, Americans approve 42 - 34 percent of the way Democratic Senators are handling the confirmation process of Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, while 23 percent did not offer an opinion.

Both of these surveys, mind you, are high quality polls. Quinnipiac has been one of the worst of the major polls for Bidens approval, suggesting it tilts a bit Republican (although the big difference here appears to be that Marquettes question forces respondents to answer one way or the other).

Its also worth noting that a bit of a tilt is not of itself a sign of poor quality. Every pollster has a different method of sampling the public and adjusting for various hard-to-handle issues. Generally the best way to interpret these differences is to look to polling averages, not single polls, and to look at the general direction of pubic opinion, not the specific numbers in any particular poll. A pre-hearings Gallup poll showed strong support for Jacksons confirmation, with 58% in favor and 30% opposed, so its hard to say that the hearings changed much of anything  other than modestly helping Democratic senators and hurting Republican ones.

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Republican senators who see themselves as possible presidential candidates, however, are likely far more interested in impressing the 27% who approved of their handling of the confirmation hearings than they are worried about alienating the 52% who disapproved. Its that first group which will be voting in Republican primaries in less than two years, and some of those voters will remember the senators they saw as tough on a liberal judge. Its also possible that some of those senators are running for vice president and trying to impress the audience of one watching Fox News at Mar-a-Lago.

What else motivated Republicans who claimed they would be respectful to Jackson and then smeared her as (at least) pedophile-friendly on extremely flimsy evidence? Voxs Ian Millhiser suggests that they were aware that such attacks could backfire, but they just couldnt help themselves. Plausible! Its also plausible that some Republican senators are so deep in the conservative echo chamber that they simply didnt see how their attacks could be seen as personal.

My favorite theory, however, is that this was all jockeying for the presidential nomination, and these Republicans werent concerned with the effect on the general public. To be clear, this is a dynamic that also exists on the Democratic side. Just look at Texas gubernatorial candidate Beto ORourke, who is currently trying to appeal to his states swing voters while having to answer for a bunch of policy positions he took in 2020 to appeal to Democrats in Iowa and New Hampshire.

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Still, many Republicans seemed to sincerely believe that they had damaged Jackson. Again, its not apt to matter for future elections, but for the record? They didnt.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com/opinion

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People look at their phones on a subway train in Brooklyn in April. (Ed Ou for The Post)

The billionaire wants to turn Twitter into a free-speech haven. But he's thrown Twitters content moderation policies in question, leaving experts to wonder what the platform will look like in the future and who will suffer most.
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The first of a trio of deluges to hit Ellicott City since 2011 was enough to make Vince Saulsbury buy flood insurance for his 122-year-old rowhouse atop Main Street. So when devastating surges of storm water roared down the old mill towns steep hillsides in 2016 and 2018, the insurance paid Saulsbury more than $30,000. He used the money to clean out muck, replace insulation, water heaters and furnaces, and line the dirt floor of his basement with concrete. He has done whatever he can, such as storing boxes and tools high on shelves, to cut his losses the next time the Tiber Branch overflows in his backyard.

I lost tons of stuff over three floods, he said. Ive learned to just not put anything down there.

But he knows even his best efforts wont stop the next flood. That predicament highlights a problem across Maryland as climate change makes coastal waters rise and storms intensify.

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High waters have caused repeated damage to more than 1,300 flood-insured homes, businesses and government buildings in the state in recent decades, according to data obtained by the Baltimore Sun. But only about 1 in 8 has been improved in ways likely to prevent significant future flood losses  and those are costs that taxpayers eventually could shoulder.

Preparing more of those homes and buildings to withstand floods is necessary to protect lives and properties from disasters, with as much as $19 billion worth of flood damage expected in Maryland by 2050. It is difficult for a number of reasons, starting with that high cost.

The locations of the properties are often unclear. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, citing privacy concerns, holds information on federally backed flood insurance claims so tightly that even local government officials often cannot get the addresses.

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The full toll of floods is hard to gauge because many flood-prone properties dont carry flood insurance. That means they dont file claims that can be tracked. One estimate suggests the number of repetitively flooded properties  those that have received multiple payments of $1,000 or more under a federal flood insurance program  is three times higher than FEMA data reflects.

The challenge is so expansive and daunting that there is no guiding plan or budget to help residents avoid enduring flood losses, though a recent report card on climate change resiliency gave Maryland failing grades for its handling of repetitively flooded properties. A new state loan program is on the way that aims to draw more federal investment for resilient infrastructure, but other policies are still being developed and considered.

The slow action frustrates residents like Saulsbury. He wishes more could be done to rein in development and reduce the runoff that comes like an avalanche down Ellicott Citys rocky slopes, sending the Tiber and Hudson branches of the Patapsco River overflowing onto Main Street.

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Meanwhile, his National Flood Insurance Program premium has grown from $680 a year to more than $2,500, although that doesnt begin to cover what he has collected in claims from the federal insurer.

Its still a net loss for them, he said. Its still a net loss for everybody.

For most residents whose homes face any amount of flood risk, the federal flood insurance program is the only way to protect against losses when disaster hits. It was established within FEMA in 1968 as a backstop insurer after many private companies dropped flood zone coverage because it was too costly.

But because its a government program, rather than a business, even the most flood-prone properties can file claims again and again. Historically, repetitively flooded properties have accounted for 1 percent of flood insurance policies, while estimates of their share of the claims paid range from about a fifth to a third.

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As climate change makes floods more frequent and storms more potent, the insurance programs proponents and critics agree its broken. Its losses have mounted so much that in 2017, after hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria, Congress had to step in to cover $16 billion of its debt. Yet FEMA still owed the U.S. Treasury more than $20 billion in flood insurance claims as of March 2020.

In Maryland, the situation is as unsustainable as anywhere. As of November 2020, there were 1,342 repetitively flooded properties. Meanwhile, only 173  about 13 percent  have made improvements to prevent losses. Such improvements often include raising a building several feet off the ground, installing flood vents in foundations, or elevating water heaters, furnaces and air conditioning units.

Another prevention against repeated losses is using government money to buy flood-prone properties and tear them down. But thats a strategy that, in even the most flood-weary parts of Maryland, many consider too extreme.

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Maryland leaders acknowledge more action is needed. They said they hope the recent Coastal Adaptation Report Card, which the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science released this year, will help spur it. The report card gave the state a B-minus overall for its planning and preparations around coastal flooding. But the state received failing grades for two categories measuring risks to repetitively flooded properties and to critical facilities, including police and fire stations and hospitals.

I hope itll mean even greater investments in smart coastal management and investing in infrastructure that . . . is not going to be underwater imminently, state Environment Secretary Ben Grumbles said when the evaluation was released.

More of those investments could come as FEMA and the state seek to better communicate flood risk and the importance of flood insurance to property owners in places that previously might not have been considered at risk.

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To improve the federal flood insurance programs finances, new rates are set to take effect next month that better reflect current risk. That means about 3 percent of the 65,000 policyholders in Maryland will pay at least $120 more per year in premiums, according to FEMA. Instead of simply basing premiums on a structures location in a flood zone, FEMA will begin taking into account variables including the type of foundation and the elevation of its lowest level.

Those changes give property owners an incentive to take a more proactive approach, potentially reducing their insurance bills by raising their homes or flood-proofing their basements.

Maryland, meanwhile, soon could afford to do more large projects to prevent floods. The state was the first in the country to establish a loan program tied to a new $500 million federal initiative on climate change resiliency.

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The General Assembly approved the Resilient Maryland Revolving Loan Fund last year with $25 million for such projects. That amount is designed to help secure investment from the federal initiative, created through the Safeguarding Tomorrow through Ongoing Risk Mitigation Act, or Storm Act.

Sen. Katie Fry Hester, a Howard County Democrat whose district includes Ellicott City, said she hopes there is more beyond that. Projects funded through the Resilient Maryland fund and Storm Act could compete for a separate federal infrastructure program  through which Baltimore soon could receive $32 million to prevent flooding. That would mean the states initial $25 million investment could translate into hundreds of millions of dollars more in federally funded resiliency work.

Hester also is sponsoring legislation in the current General Assembly session to establish a state chief resilience officer. A new office within the Maryland Department of Emergency Management would oversee disparate efforts to prepare for climate change.

We need to take a whole-state approach to dealing with these problems so the next floods not as bad as the last, Hester said.

Baltimore Sun

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For the first time in two decades, Minskys pub, one of Sydneys famed late-night drinking holes, where everyone gathered around the piano to sing with John Watson, is being put up for sale with a price guidance of around $35 million.

Given the lack of pubs along what is termed the Lower North Shore, Minskys was the place to gather and party on into the early hours.

Minskys Hotel and commercial suites in Cremorne on Sydneys Lower North Shore is being sold with a price tag of about $35m

Under the deal, Redcape Hotel group is selling the freehold of the pub, retail suites and first floor commercial office suites, formerly known as the Metropole and now the Cremorne Plaza, and covers 3344 square metres on Military Road.

Redcape chief executive Dan Brady called Minskys a meeting place but said with the high demand for pubs, it was time to sell to a buyer that could take the asset into its next phase.
A month ago, Vladimir Potanin sat alongside the worlds financial and business elite on the advisory board of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations and among the trustees of the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan.

Those power circles, which included Tom Hill, the former Blackstone executive, and billionaires from Brazil and India, were cultivated over decades. Now, theyre closed off to Potanin, Russias richest man. Over the past two weeks, hes dropped off both boards.

Vladimir Potanin, with wife Yekaterina, has not faced sanctions since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Credit:Alamy

The nickel and palladium magnate, who is among the few original oligarchs who remain active in business in Russia, hasnt been sanctioned. Potanin, with a net worth of $US24.5 billion ($32.7 billion), is referred to as the mastermind behind the controversial loans-for-shares program that led to the privatisation of natural resource companies after the Soviet Unions collapse.

For much of the past two decades, US cultural institutions in the arts, non-profits and education were willing to look past the history of how billionaires with ties to Russia amassed their fortunes. In Potanins case, he was seen publicly years ago with Vladimir Putin, including in an exhibition hockey game with the Russian leader in Sochi.
Former AFL player Brennan Stacks bid for bail has been denied due to the very strong prospect he will be imprisoned over the shocking bashing of two women in a Perth carpark earlier this month.

CCTV and vision taken by several witnesses captured the ex-Western Bulldogs player, 33, and his brother Shai Martin, 26, repeatedly punching, kicking and stomping on the heads of two 24-year-old women after leaving a Northbridge nightclub on March 20.

Former Western Bulldogs player Brennan Stack will remain behind bars after being charged with bashing two women. Credit:Gett Images

The violence was allegedly sparked when Mr Stacks partner became involved in a physical confrontation with the women after two car doors collided around 2am in a multi-level carpark.

Mr Stacks lawyer Abigail Rogers had argued Mr Stack could be released on bail with a strict curfew and protective measures for the victims in place, however WA Police opposed the application.
Comprehensive research has confirmed that the drug ivermectin, formerly touted by some as a wonder drug against COVID-19, has no medical benefit in treating the disease.

The TOGETHER study was a major worldwide project involving a series of clinical trials designed to test the effectiveness of a range of drugs against COVID-19.

The TOGETHER trial found ivermectin has no use as a COVID-19 treatment. Credit:iStock

Co-author Craig Rayner, a scientist at drug development company Certara, said the researchers conducted a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial of ivermectin involving 3515 COVID-19 patients at clinics in Brazil.

Dr Rayner said they found no clinical evidence that ivermectin had any effect on treating COVID-19 symptoms.
A former elite soldier has told the Federal Court that his troop commander, Ben Roberts-Smith, told him to shoot a soldier posing as a detainee during a training exercise and punched him in the jaw after a subsequent mission in Afghanistan.

Person 10, a former Special Air Service soldier whose identity cannot be revealed for national security reasons, told Mr Roberts-Smiths defamation case in Sydney on Thursday that the decorated former soldier called him into a compound during a mission rehearsal exercise in Perth in 2012 and ordered the mock execution.

Ben Roberts-Smith outside the Federal Court earlier this month. Credit:Louise Kennerley

There was a PUC, person under confinement, who was bound. He was on his knees facing the corner, Person 10 said. He said another soldier, Person 9, was playing the role of the prisoner.

Person 10 said Mr Roberts-Smith told him to shoot the prisoner.
Western Australias daily COVID case numbers are yet to crack 10,000, with 9727 cases detected overnight as the state eases back to level one restrictions.

There are seven people in intensive care with COVID, and 219 in hospital.

The deaths of three people with COVID which occurred over the past two weeks were also reported, including a woman in her 40s, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 90s. There were 17,787 PCR tests conducted on Wednesday.

Premier Mark McGowan said so far the experience in WA showed unvaccinated people were 31 times more likely to need hospital care than those who had received some level of protection through at least one dose of a vaccine.
WSU Professor Uses Fulbright to Help Community Radio in Tunisia

March 31, 2022

OGDEN, Utah  Selected as a Fulbright Scholar for 2022, Weber State University communication professor Sheree Josephson will spend several weeks in May working to support and expand a public radio station in Tunis, Tunisia, that focuses on serving the needs of listeners in underserved and disadvantaged communities.

Josephson said because of COVID, the options available for Fulbright projects this year were limited and very competitive, but fortunately this opportunity fit perfectly with her interest and background.

With a doctoral degree in communication, and a lifelong passion for media, Josephson will spend several weeks at the station, helping the radio staff launch a website with live streaming while bolstering their social media presence. Shes already collaborating with the station manager, Sara Fourti, to craft a mission statement and write grant proposals. Fourti, the second youngest person to be awarded a broadcast radio license in North Africa or the Arab world, has big plans for the station. With help from Josephson to secure funding and increase visibility, she wants to expand the reach of the station beyond its 40,000 listeners in Tunis.

The radio station is ML 102.3 FM. The call letters ML stand for Media Libre (free media) in French and sound like the Arabic word Amul, which means hope.

It is a radio station that gives voice to the voiceless in North Africa and the Arab world, Josephson explained. One group that Sara and her staff of volunteers focus on is people with disabilities because they often dont go to school and they dont get out. The radio is their lifeline to the world.

The radio station has live programming from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a variety of weekly shows, including living with disabilities, raising families, fighting corruption, and improving local government. They also air local music and interviews with artists as well as opinion shows to give space for people to express their views and feel heard.

I am so excited to work with this group of devoted community radio volunteers, Josephson said. We have much in common with our devotion to free speech, open and transparent government, and serving disadvantaged communities.

Josephson, who was selected as a 2018 Brady Presidential Distinguished Professor, has been a faculty member in the Department of Communication for nearly 30 years and served as department chair for nine.

A teacher at heart, Josephson has often looked for opportunities to engage students in her research. She has taught 23 different courses at WSU, including Honors and Master of Professional Communication classes.

She served as the founding director of the universitys Master of Professional Communication program. She also served as founding advisor for WSUs student chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and the universitys chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the national honor society for communication students. She was the faculty advisor for The Signpost, WSUs student newspaper, for six years. Her students won the national SPJ award for college journalism three of those years.

Josephson has been a pioneer in applying eye-tracking research to visual communication. Shes co-edited and co-authored two books: Handbook of Visual Communication: Theory, Methods, and Media and Visualizing the Web: Evaluating Online Design from a Visual Communication Perspective. She has published approximately 25 scholarly pieces, including book chapters and journal articles. According to Google Scholar, her work has been cited in almost 700 published scholarly articles.

Fulbright, which was established in 1946, is the most widely recognized and prestigious international exchange program in the world. The program awards approximately 8,000 grants annually between scholars and students from the United States and other participating countries. Weber State faculty have received 15 Fulbright Teaching and Research appointments in the past 23 years.

Visit weber.edu/wsutoday for more news about Weber State University.
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Archaeologist, Nicosia, Cyprus

Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme

Country: Cyprus

City: Nicosia

Office: UNDP Cyprus

Closing date: Thursday, 14 April 2022

Job Identification : 3033

Locations : Nicosia, Cyprus

Posting Date : 03/30/2022, 01:49 PM

Apply Before : 04/14/2022, 03:59 AM

Degree Level : Secondary School Leaving Certificate

Job Schedule : Full time

Agency : UNDP

Grade : NB2

Vacancy Type : National Personnel Service Agreement

Practice Area : Governance

Bureau : Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS

Contract Duration : 9 Months

Education & Work Experience : High School certificate

Required Languages : Fluency in English and Greek is required

Vacancy Timeline

2 Weeks

Mobility required/no mobility

no mobility required

Job Description

Background

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

The UNDP Projects Management Office (PMO) in Nicosia, Cyprus, seeks to contract on behalf of the Committee on Missing Persons in Cyprus (CMP) two Archaeologists to contribute to CMPs mandate.

The principal mandate of the CMP is to establish the fate of the people that went missing as a consequence of the tragic events of 1963-1964 and 1974 and to provide answers to anguished families. One important aspect of this work is to exhume, identify and return remains of missing persons. This process enables the relatives of the victims to recover the remains of their loved ones, arrange for a proper burial and provide closure to a long period of anguish and uncertainty, thereby promoting a process of reconciliation, healing and dialogue between both communities. This project also aims to strengthen the capacity for civil society to engage in sustained cooperation and reconciliation, through the important participation of bi-communal scientific teams in all stages of the process. This bi-communal cooperation will strengthen civic participation toward an issue that is critical for the healing of old wounds, and will sustain partnerships of cooperation and trust between both sides.

The CMP Project includes the following phases:

Investigation: Information is collected and analyzed in order to identify potential burial sites.

Excavation: Potential burial sites are excavated and human remains are recovered.

Anthropological Analysis: The biological profile of the exhumed remains is established through scientific anthropological analysis.

Genetic Testing and Matching: DNA analysis is conducted on exhumed remains and relatives of missing persons.

Identification and Return of Remains: Formal identification of a missing person is concluded, the family is informed, remains are returned and psychological support is provided

The Archaeologists are based in the CMP Greek Cypriot Members Office. The incumbents report to the Project Associate and works in a close contact with the CMP and UNDP teams.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

Support in excavations on suspected burial sites, record on findings and briefing of relative

Support to knowledge building and knowledge sharing.

1. Support in carrying out excavations of suspected burial sites and exhumation of remains, support in recording on findings and briefing of relatives focusing on achievement of the following results:

Participate to excavations in suspected burial sites of missing persons, including excavations at wells with drilling method.

Conduct exhumation of remains found in sites.

Support in the contribution to the procedures for excavations in line with evolving scientific practice.

Prepare sketches at excavation area and take photos of the area and any findings.

Record and elaborate on findings on the computer; provide inputs for excavation reports

Participate in scientific briefing to relatives of missing persons.

Ensure safe and efficient use of excavating machinery and equipment.

Record witness and informants information on sites.

The Archaeologist may be asked to work under hazardous conditions, including asbestos environment, provided with the equivalent protection, and under directive 2009/148/EC of the European Parliament and of the council of 30 November 2009 on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work.

2. Supports knowledge building and knowledge sharing in the office focusing on achievement of the following results:

Participation in the trainings for the staff related to the duties performed.

Institutional Arrangement

The Archaeologist will be based at the CMP Greek Cypriots Members Office in Nicosia. He/She will be reporting, under the supervision of the UNDP Cyprus Project Associate.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Achieve Results: LEVEL 1: Plans and monitors own work, pays attention to details, delivers quality work by deadline

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 1: Open to creative ideas/known risks, is pragmatic problem solver, makes improvements

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 1: Open minded and curious, shares knowledge, learns from mistakes, asks for feedback

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 1: Adapts to change, constructively handles ambiguity/uncertainty, is flexible

Act with Determination: LEVEL 1: Shows drive and motivation, able to deliver calmly in face of adversity, confident

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 1: Demonstrates compassion/understanding towards others, forms positive relationships

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 1: Appreciate/respect differences, aware of unconscious bias, confront discrimination

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies

Business Direction & Strategy - Effective Decision Making: Ability to take decisions in a timely and efficient manner in line with ones authority, area of expertise and resources

Business Direction & Strategy - System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system

Business Development - Knowledge Generation: Ability to animate individuals and communities of contributors to participate and share, particularly externally

Business Development - Collective Intelligence Design: Ability to bringing together diverse groups of people, data, information or ideas, and technology to design services or solutions

Business Management - Working with Evidence and Data: Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making

Communications- Writing and editing: Ability to create and/or edit written content in different UN languages

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Secondary education

Bachelors Level Degree in archaeology or equivalent would be desired, but it is not a requirement.

Experience:

Five years of graduate work experience in a relevant discipline would be required

Alternatively, if in possession of Bachelors degree, two years of relevant experience would be required (in archaeology)

Desired skills in addition to the competencies covered in the Competencies section:

Work experience in the application of archaeology toward individual identification in mass fatality settings or large-scale human identification projects is considered as an asset.

Education in the application of archaeology toward individual identification in mass fatality settings or large-scale human identification projects is considered as an asset.

Good understanding of the sensitive and bi-communal work of CMP is an asset.

Demonstration of bi-communal actions, such as participation in bi-communal groups, events and activities is an asset

Required Language(s):

Fluency in English is required.

Fluency in Greek is required.

Professional Certificates:

Nationals or permanent residents in Cyprus are eligible.

The incumbent will travel in Cyprus and a valid drivers license is a requirement.

The following documents shall be required from the applicants:

Personal CV or P11, indicating all past positions held and their main underlying functions, their durations (month/year), the qualifications, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate, and at least three (3) the most recent professional references of previous supervisors. References may also include peers.

A cover letter (maximum length: 1 page) indicating why the candidate considers him-/herself to be suitable for the position.

Managers may ask (ad hoc) for any other materials relevant to pre-assessing the relevance of their experience, such as reports, presentations, publications, campaigns or other materials.

Disclaimer

Important applicant information

All posts in the NPSA categories are subject to local recruitment.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Scam warning

The United Nations does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or recruitment process. Should you receive a solicitation for the payment of a fee, please disregard it. Furthermore, please note that emblems, logos, names and addresses are easily copied and reproduced. Therefore, you are advised to apply particular care when submitting personal information on the web.

Link to the organizations job offer: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1648659772441
WASH Officer, Tarawa, Kiribati

Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Childrens Fund

Country: Kiribati

City: Tarawa

Office: UNICEF Tarawa, Kiribati

Closing date: Wednesday, 13 April 2022

Re-advertisement - WASH Officer, NO2, (TA) Kiritimati (Christmas) Island, Kiribati (#: 118003)

Job no: 549354

Position type: Temporary Appointment

Location: Fiji/Pacific Island Countries Division/Equivalent: Bangkok (EAPRO), Thailand

School/Unit: Fiji (Pacific Islands) - MCP

Department/Office: Tarawa, Kiribati

Categories: WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene)

UNICEF works in some of the worlds toughest places, to reach the worlds most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, a good life

UNICEF works with and for disadvantaged children and adolescents across 14 Pacific Island Countries and Territories. Our ambition is to get each entire country, and the entire Pacific Region, working together - as one - on behalf of its most vulnerable children. Explore the different areas of our work in the link provided here https://www.unicef.org/pacificislands/what-we-do

How can you make a difference?

Under the guidance of the WASH Specialist, the WASH Officer provides technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the WASH programming process. The Officer prepares, manages and implements a variety of technical and administrative tasks, related to the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the WASH output results of the country programme.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

Programme development and planning

Programme management, monitoring and delivery of results

Technical and operational support for programme implementation

Humanitarian WASH preparedness and response

Networking and partnership building

Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have...

A university degree in one of the following fields is required: public health, social sciences, behavior change communication, sanitary engineering or another relevant technical field including education and health and nutrition.

Additional relevant post-graduate courses that complement/supplement the main degree are a strong asset.

A minimum of two years of professional work experience in WASH-related programmes for developing countries is required.

Fluency in English and i-Kiribati is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEFs values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

Formulating strategies and concepts (I)

Analyzing (II)

Applying technical expertise (II)

Learning and researching (II)

Planning and organizing (II)

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEFs values and competencies.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

This position is not considered an elevated risk role. However, UNICEF reserves the right to conduct further vetting/ assessment within the scope of child safeguarding as appropriate.

UNICEF 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 at http://www.whed.net/

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

The VA is open to all (internal and external candidates)

Advertised: Mar 29 2022 Fiji Standard Time Application close: Apr 13 2022 Fiji Standard Time

Link to the organizations job offer: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1648672996775
Senior Budget Associate, Lilongwe, Malawi

Organization: UNICEF - United Nations Childrens Fund

Country: Malawi

City: Lilongwe

Office: UNICEF Malawi

Closing date: Wednesday, 13 April 2022

Senior Budget Associate, (GS7), Lilongwe, Malawi #68511 (Open to Malawian Nationals Only)

Job no: 549665

Position type: Fixed Term Appointment

Location: Malawi Division/Equivalent: Nairobi Regnl(ESARO)

School/Unit: Malawi

Department/Office: Lilongwe, Malawi

Categories: Programme Management

UNICEF works in some of the worlds toughest places, to reach the worlds most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, a future...

UNICEF Malawi Country Programme (2019-2023) is aligned with the Government of Malawis Growth and Development Strategy (MDGS III) and the United Nations Sustainable Development and Coordination Framework (UNSDCF). The programme supports the Government of Malawi to meet its commitment to respect, protect and fulfil childrens rights in line with international conventions and standards. The country programme is guided by the principles of childrens rights, equity, gender equality, inclusion and resilience, and supports evidence-based, integrative and innovative programming. The vision is that all girls and boys in Malawi, especially the most disadvantaged and deprived, realize their rights. The programme focuses on: early childhood (parenting, high-impact social services, early stimulation and learning), middle childhood and adolescence (learning, multi-sectoral services, active citizenship), communities (decentralized services and systems, community ownership, social norms), programme effectiveness (monitoring, evaluation, HACT, Innovation, Social Protection and Social Policy and External Communication. The programme is based on leaving no child behind, realizing rights for all children in Malawi.

Under the programme effectiveness outcome for the UNICEF Malawi Country Programme (2019-2023), the Programme Planning and Monitoring (PPM) section provides guidance, tools and resources to effectively design, coordinate and manage the country programme. It uses an integrated approach to risk-informed programme planning, budgeting, monitoring, reporting and quality assurance for results for children to further strengthen synergies between the different functions and the capacity of the Country Office and as the Senior Budget Associate, you will play a critical role in supporting the budget management function.

How can you make a difference?

The Malawi Country Office offers an exciting and rewarding career opportunity for you to join our dynamic Programme Planning and Monitoring team as Senior Budget Associate where you will be responsible for preparation, reporting, monitoring, and control of the budget, involving several different sources of funds and programmes; payroll cost distributions; funds management and management of donor (PBA) Programme Budget Allotment files. Your expertise in the provision of specialized activities pertaining to programme budgets, grants and financial reporting will be of great advantage to the team. You will furthermore support the teams commitment to financial integrity by acting as a responsive service provider with a focus on results that are driven by UNICEFs mission and values.

In your role, you will report to and be under the overall guidance and supervision of the Programme Budget Specialist.

This job therefore presents a unique and significant opportunity for a qualified, vibrant, motivated and committed person to contribute to the overall achievement of transformative results for children by delivering on the following key responsibility areas, but not limited to - you are however encouraged to read the attached and detailed job description JD Senior Budget Associate GS7 68511.pdf in order to view the full role and its requirements:

Payroll cost distributions

Budget monitoring and control

Grants management

Funds management

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have...

Education:

Completion of secondary education. Additional training in Accounting, Finance or Business Administration

Experience:

A minimum of seven years of relevant professional work experience is required in budget, finance and accounting activities

Experience working in a developing country is considered as a strong asset

Background and/or familiarity with emergency is considered as an asset

Technical knowledge and skills:

Knowledge of automated budgeting and accounting systems is desirable

Budget preparation and implementation processes in the organisation is desirable

Language:

Fluency in English and Chichewa, both strong verbal and written skills, is essential.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEFs values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

Core Competencies

Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)

Works Collaboratively with others (2)

Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)

Innovates and Embraces Change (2)

Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)

Drives to achieve impactful results (2)

Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

The position is not considered an elevated risk role. However, UNICEF reserves the right to conduct further vetting/assessment within the scope of child safeguarding as appropriate.

UNICEF 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 at http://www.whed.net/.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

The vacancy announcement is open to all candidates - both internal and external candidates

Furthermore, applications from suitable female candidates as well as suitable persons living with disabilities are strongly encouraged.

Advertised: Mar 30 2022 South Africa Standard Time Application close: Apr 13 2022 South Africa Standard Time

Link to the organizations job offer: https://unjobs.org/vacancies/1648673261548
On performance nights, the cast of Doodle Pop get dress in identical monochrome outfits right down to their toes: black trousers, held up with black suspenders, paired with white shirts, feet shod in black sneakers.

On performance nights, the cast of Doodle Pop get dress in identical monochrome outfits right down to their toes: black trousers, held up with black suspenders, paired with white shirts, feet shod in black sneakers.

They leap onto the stage armed with marker pens, ready to conjure a magical underwater world drawing out the story of a tiny lost turtle embarking on a grand adventure as it tries to make its way home.

A giant white board is the perfect blank canvas for the magical show where scribbles come to life with the clever use of lighting, live music and sound effects (plus a healthy helping of imagination).

Produced by BRUSH Theatre, a company based in Seoul, South Korea, Doodle Pop opens to Winnipeg audiences on Thursday, March 31 at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People (MTYP), and is its first international performance in two years.

"Doodle Pop is a lovely show, its full of joy and excitement, its playful, its imaginative and it brings such a different perspective on that style of theatre," says Pablo Felices-Luna, the artistic director of MTYP.

"It was originally planned for the 2020-2021 season. The pandemic meant that it got cancelled. As soon as we knew that we were going to welcome audiences back to the theatre I invited them to perform this year," he says.

Young audiences will be enthralled during the 50-minute production as they embark on an adventure with two friends, Boogie and Woogie, who get up to all kinds of mischief in their attempt to return the lost turtle back to the ocean.

The mostly non-verbal performance  "there is some gibberish, there are a few lines and words"  is aimed to appeal to children between the ages of three to eight.

"We wanted to produce a show to present to the audiences all around the world, no matter what language or backgrounds they speak or have," explains Hyun Joon Moon, the company and stage manager.

The very first Doodle Pop, previously known as Boogie Woogie, opened in Edinburgh in 2018 to rave reviews and since then the company has toured all over the world, including Mexico, India, Spain and China.

"BRUSH Theatre has been in Toronto and Brampton, but its our first time in Winnipeg. And other than the shows, our team is really excited to see the northern lights when we are staying there," Moon says.

The show is developing continuously as the company tries to produce an experience the whole family can enjoy, he says.

"We like to try new ideas and improve the show," he explains.

"If anyone comes up with an interesting idea, we experiment during rehearsals before including it in the actual show. But even with the same version, as all theatre plays will be, every show is a new show."

And whilst it is aimed at young children, its important that Doodle Pop isnt considered a show just for kids.

"We dont want our show to end up as a children show that the parents or the adults find it too childish and trifling. But at the same time we dont want it to be too seriously artistic that the children will find it hard and boring," Moon says.

"Creating something in between to impress and satisfy both sides of the audiences is always a big challenge for us."

Whilst MTYP was able to continue with some of its workshops and productions online during the pandemic, Felices-Luna says theres nothing like real-life experiences to "recharge our social batteries.

"Its been such a strange time for children throughout the whole pandemic," he says, "and we have been trying to remain connected with families and with children.

"Even hearing somebody close to you laughing and enjoying themselves makes that experience more potent and thats what coming together does to all of us: its re-energizing."

Moon too stresses the importance of live theatre. "Being able to experience and explore diverse art is very important for children in developing their endless imaginations and possibilities.

"At the theatre performances, children can experience and feel what they are watching by interacting and becoming a part of the performance," he says.

Doodle Pop will be performed at various times at the MTYP from Thursday, March 31 through Wednesday, April 13. Tickets are available from www.mtyp.ca.
The Free Press has been nominated for a prestigious national journalism award.

The Canadian Journalism Foundation has nominated the newspaper for its CJF Jackman Award for Excellence in Journalism.

"Im honoured the foundation has again recognized what our newsroom produces as among the best in the country," Free Press editor Paul Samyn said on Thursday.

"The nomination for this prestigious award speaks to our commitment to deliver the best possible journalism for those who put their trust in the Free Press."

Shelley Cook | Uplift A weekly review of funny, uplifting news in Winnipeg and around the globe that is delivered to your inbox each Wednesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

The Free Press was nominated for three stories written by reporter Ryan Thorpe in an eight-part investigative series on prison conditions at Stony Mountain Correctional Institution.

Other finalists are the Globe and Mail, Le Devoir, Global News and the Clean Water, Broken Promises Consortium. The consortium, made up of 75 student journalists and more than 125 students, instructors, and journalists, worked together on an investigation into water issues at First Nations.

Journalism foundation jury chairman Christopher Waddell, professor emeritus at Carleton Universitys school of journalism and communication, said "the second year of the pandemic didnt stop Canadian news organizations, both large and small, from doing excellent work on a wide range of national and international issues.

"The compelling stories chosen as finalists covered subjects from across the country and beyond: social policy, policing, prisons, Indigenous affairs, environmental concerns and Canadas obligations to Afghans fleeing their country. Cumulatively, they highlight some of the major issues that captured attention last year as Canadians took the first steps towards a post-pandemic world."

The award has been handed out yearly since 1996; the Free Press won it in 2009 and 2013.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
ROME  When he came to Rome in 2009 to meet Pope Benedict XVI, former Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine asked for an apology to Indigenous people. The Pope declined to do that.

Members of a delegations by the Assembly of First Nations meet the journalists outside St. Peters Square at the end of a meeting with Pope Francis at the Vatican, Thursday. (Andrew Medichini / The Associated Press)

ROME  When he came to Rome in 2009 to meet Pope Benedict XVI, former Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine asked for an apology to Indigenous people. The Pope declined to do that.

"Im back today for another shot at convincing Pope Francis to apologize," Fontaine said with a smile.

Former AFN national chief Phil Fontaine speaks to reporters in St. Peters Square after a two-hour meeting between First Nations people and the Pope on March 31. (John Longhurst / Winnipeg Free Press)

Speaking in St. Peters Square after a two-hour meeting between First Nations people and the Pope  an hour longer than planned  Fontaine described the meeting as "a profound moment."

The delegation gave the Pope "a plateful of critical issues for our people" to think about, he said, including healing for residential school survivors, dealing with the Doctrine of Discovery, following up on the actions of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, reparations and the return of land.

The Pope did not say whether he would apologize. But, Fontaine said, during the meeting the delegates "did most of the talking."

It was "very clear" to Fontaine that the Pope was listening and reflecting on what they were saying.

The Pope told delegates he will "take the rest of today and this evening to reflect, then come back to us tomorrow at the general audience to tell us what he thinks," Fontaine said.

"Im pretty optimistic we are moving forward with an apology," he added.

Fontaine also suggested to the Pope that he come to Winnipeg, to "make it a central part of the papal tour."

When it was his turn to speak, AFN Regional Chief Gerald Antoine called the meeting "a special divine moment."

Antoine said the meeting reminded him of Michelangelos famous painting on the ceiling of the nearby Sistine Chapel of God reaching down to Adam.

"There are two fingers coming together," Antoine said, adding the meeting of Indigenous people from Canada and the Pope "was like that painting."

The meeting itself was "long overdue," Antoine said, but it brought together First Nations people from across Canada to speak to the Pope about the need for truth and justice.

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.

Europeans tried to destroy Indigenous people, Antoine said, including through the Doctrine of Discovery.

"They denied our existence as human beings. But were still here, our languages and cultures are strong," he said.

Despite the grief and pain Indigenous people have suffered over the generations, "there is hope," Antoine said, adding all Canadians now have a chance to work together as Indigenous people build a "future of respect and self determination."

"Assist us to thrive in our culture and our beautiful languages," he said. "This wont happen overnight, but we must start now so all may flourish."

The delegates were led into the square from the Vatican by drummers and singing.

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 www.winnipegfreepress.com/papalvisit
Growing cases of bird flu across Canada have left scores of chickens and turkeys dead, poultry farmers devastated, and Canada's top veterinarian seriously concerned about the weeks ahead.

Chickens are shown at an egg-laying chicken farm in Amritsar, India on April 17, 2018. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says bird flu has been found on a third farm in southern Ontario. The agency says the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of avian flu was found in a poultry flock in Woolwich, Ont. on Wednesday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Aleksandra Sagan

Growing cases of bird flu across Canada have left scores of chickens and turkeys dead, poultry farmers devastated, and Canada's top veterinarian seriously concerned about the weeks ahead.

In less than a week, the H5N1 strain of avian influenza has ripped through three commercial poultry farms in southern Ontario, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

Those cases were confirmed after a red-tailed hawk in the Waterloo, Ont., region was found with bird flu 10 days ago.

The CFIA has placed those three Ontario farms under a strict quarantine and set up a 10-kilometre control zone to limit movement of animals. It's also helped nearby farms put enhanced biosecurity measures in place to control the spread of the virus.

Dr. Mary-Jane Ireland, chief veterinary officer for the CFIA, said she's worried about the days ahead given that it's migration season for many wild birds that can spread the disease.

"It's quite a devastating disease," Ireland said in an interview.

"We are concerned, this is a high-risk period, and birds are migrating. We have detected it in Canada and more recently in Ontario ... and that is why we're asking people to take precautions."

The bird flu outbreaks have led to 24 countries temporarily banning imports of birds or poultry products from parts of Canada and in some cases from the whole country, the CFIA said, although a farm stakeholder group has noted that Canada's poultry production is largely for domestic purposes.

The risk to the general public is low. Bird flu is not a significant public health concern for humans, Ireland said, and food safety is not an issue, either.

The impact on farm operations, however, can be severe.

Avian flu began ripping through commercial farms in Europe last year and then hit the United States. It was confirmed in Canada on Dec. 22, 2021, with the CFIA saying it was detected on an exhibition farm on the Avalon Peninsula in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The virus was then found on Jan. 11 in a small flock on the same peninsula. The agency found it again in two commercial farms in Nova Scotia in February and a backyard duck and chicken flock in March.

Bird flu was first detected on a farm near Guelph, Ont., last Sunday. It was then found on a farm near London, Ont., on Monday and on another farm, in Woolwich, Ont., on Wednesday.

The H5N1 virus is highly contagious, Ireland explained.

"Infected birds can shed the virus in their saliva, their natal secretions and their feces," she said. "And it can spread through contact with surfaces."

Those surfaces can include shoes, litter, bedding feed and water, she said.

Anyone who has birds should keep them away from wild birds; frequently clean poultry coops, water, feeders and clothing; and control what goes in and out of a coop or barn, Ireland said.

Wild migratory aquatic birds are the major reservoir for the bird flu virus, she said.

"These birds, we think, have brought the disease into the area," Ireland said. "And wild birds are migrating right now."

The virus can also be brought into farms from contaminated manure and contaminated litter, she said.

Anyone who observes wild birds showing neurological symptoms, or farms that see sudden bird deaths, should contact the CFIA or a local vet, Ireland said.

The Feather Board Command Centre, a group of poultry farmers and members of the feed, process and service industries, helps respond to such emergencies, said its chair, Ingrid DeVisser.

"There's a lot of stress on farmers, not just on the infected premises, but in the control zones right now," DeVisser said.

With much of southern Ontario part of a natural flight zone for migrating aquatic birds, she said more outbreaks are expected.

"Farmers everywhere should be very aware of what is going on and be extremely vigilant on their farms with their biosecurity measures, whether they're commercial farms or whether they're backyard farms.

The board is helping affected farmers with cleaning measures and helping them navigate the paperwork involved with the CFIA and insurance companies after bird flu is found in their flocks.

She said all farmers, not just ones in the control zone, should be using dedicated clothing and boots when going into the areas where the birds are kept, using hair nets, masks, hand sanitizers and lots of cleaning.

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Lisa Bishop-Spencer, a spokeswoman for the Feather Board Command Centre, said Canada doesn't export much poultry so the temporary import bans as a result of the outbreaks aren't having a significant impact.

"The Canadian poultry and eggs sector is a supply-managed sector, which means it provides for the domestic market primarily," she said.

Ontario has recommended small flock owners and other zoological institutions avoid attending shows, swaps and sales at this time.

The Feather Board's DeVisser, who is also a turkey farmer in Bruce County, Ont., said she's constantly worried about the virus.

"We are just doing our utmost to be as vigilant as we can on our farm," she said. "Watching our birds, keeping them healthy and doing whatever we can."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2022.
EDMONTON - Alberta is proposing rules that would make it easier for entrepreneurs to test products in the emerging field of cryptocurrencies and online banking.

Alberta Finance Minister Travis Toews delivers the 2021-22 budget in Edmonton on Feb. 25, 2021. Alberta is introducing rules that would make it easier for entrepreneurs to test products in the emerging field of cryptocurrencies and online banking. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

EDMONTON - Alberta is proposing rules that would make it easier for entrepreneurs to test products in the emerging field of cryptocurrencies and online banking.

Finance Minister Travis Toews says a bill before the legislature calls for setting up what is known as a regulatory sandbox.

Companies would be allowed to temporarily break or ignore select financial rules and regulations under close government supervision to test new programs.

Companies would also be able to get access to Albertans private information, but only within strict parameters and only with that persons permission.

Toews says the "sandbox" is being used in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom to help create tech jobs and to keep those regions on the cutting edge of financial technology.

If the bill passes, companies could look at innovations in everything from cryptocurrencies to financial apps, security protections and real-time, multi-user financial accounting.

The government hopes to begin taking applications on July 1.

This will be a strong incentive for fintech companies to move to Alberta and create jobs, Toews said Wednesday before introducing the bill in the legislature.

In turn, it will further help diversify our economy and add to our growing reputation as a hub for world-class financial services.

The government says the legislation would make Alberta the first such sandbox jurisdiction in Canada.

Companies would have to have some physical presence in the province, such as an office or senior staff.

They would be offered certificates granting them permission to perform tests or functions normally declared out of bounds under the Loan and Trust Corporations Act, the Credit Union Act and other related rules governing finance.

The companies would have their names, details and programs on a public website.

The government would be free to change the rules to adjust to changing circumstances during testing.

Albertas information and privacy commissioner would have to sign off on exemptions.

(The bill) is carefully designed to ensure any companies participating in the sandbox operate in a safe and sound manner, said Toews.

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Breaking the rules could result in fines up to $100,000 for a first offence and up to $200,000 for subsequent violations.

Toews said the province is seeking a higher profile and to gain benefits from the emerging fintech industry.

The province expects interest in a range of technologies, including blockchains, which are decentralized online record- keeping and authentication programs for cryptocurrency transactions.

There are also developments in software allowing apps to talk to each other and security precautions such as fingerprint and facial recognition.

There is emerging work in database accounting programs that can be shared in real time across multiple platforms.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2022.
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden vastly overpromised Thursday when he told Americans they can expect savings of $500 a month by transitioning to renewable energy. It's possible they might save that much over a year, not per month.

President Joe Biden speaks about his administration's plans to combat rising gas prices in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus, Thursday, March 31, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden vastly overpromised Thursday when he told Americans they can expect savings of $500 a month by transitioning to renewable energy. It's possible they might save that much over a year, not per month.

Biden addressed the subject while announcing plans to order the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day from the strategic petroleum reserve for the next six months.

Biden is grappling with fallout from surging energy prices, including gasoline that has reached an average of $4.23 per gallon, after the United States banned imports of Russian oil and gas.

Its unclear how much gasoline prices might dip from Bidens new order, but the president did promise immediate savings from adopting renewable energy:

BIDEN: If your home is powered by safer, cheaper, cleaner electricity like solar or heat pumps, you can save about $500 a month on average.

THE FACTS: Not so. The average person in the U.S. spends far less than that every month on electricity.

The average electric bill for homeowners was $115 per month in 2019, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Between 2009 and 2019, the average monthly electric bill for a U.S. homeowner never surpassed $120.

In a statement released to support his order Thursday, the White House predicted his energy plan would save people $500 a year from using clean electricity like solar and heat pumps to power their homes.

Earlier this year Biden himself promised to save families an average of $500 a year by combatting climate change. But in a fumble, he cast the savings this time as monthly. The White House corrected Bidens remark in a transcript, making clear he meant to say the savings he predicted would be over a year.

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Even yearly savings, though, would take years for homeowners to realize, given the upfront cost of installing solar panels and heat pumps in homes.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE  A look at the veracity of claims by political figures.

___

Find AP Fact Checks at http://apnews.com/APFactCheck

Follow @APFactCheck on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APFactCheck
NEW YORK (AP)  Marjorie Miller, vice president and global enterprise editor at The Associated Press, has been named as the new administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes.

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Associated Press Vice President and Global Enterprise Editor Marjorie Miller stands for a portrait in the news agency's New York City headquarters, Tuesday, Mar., 29, 2022. On Thursday, March 31, 2022, the Pulitzer Prize Board and Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia University, which hosts the prestigious journalism awards, announced Miller has been named as the new administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes. (AP Photo/J. David Ake)

NEW YORK (AP)  Marjorie Miller, vice president and global enterprise editor at The Associated Press, has been named as the new administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes.

Miller spent 27 years at the Los Angeles Times as a correspondent in Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. She was the newspaper's foreign editor when it won a Pulitzer Prize for Russia coverage and was a finalist for Iraq War coverage.

She joined AP in 2010 as the regional editor for Latin America, where her team produced award-winning coverage of cartel violence. In 2015, she moved to New York to help lead daily news coverage and enterprise. Two years later she became the founding leader of AP's Global Enterprise Team, overseeing reporting projects in all formats, including work from Yemen that won the 2019 Pulitzer for International Reporting.

Her appointment was announced Thursday by the Pulitzer Prize Board and by Lee C. Bollinger, president of Columbia University, which hosts the prestigious journalism awards.

I cannot think of a better steward for the Pulitzer Prizes, which celebrate excellence in journalism, arts, and letters and recognize the powerful, public service role they play in promoting tolerance, advancing the search for truth, and protecting the free exchange of information and ideas," Bollinger said.

Miller succeeds acting administrator Edward Kliment, who will stay on as Millers deputy. She begins her new role on April 11.
CALGARY - De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited says it is reviving a water bomber aircraft manufacturing program that will bring 500 jobs to Calgary, Alta.

CALGARY - De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited says it is reviving a water bomber aircraft manufacturing program that will bring 500 jobs to Calgary, Alta.

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The company says it has launched the De Havilland DHC-515 Firefighter program to build on the history of the Canadair CL-215 and CL-415 aircraft. Both aircraft types have been used to fight forest fires in Europe and North America for over 50 years, but are no longer in production.

A De Havilland DH-515 firefighting aircraft is shown in a company handout photo. De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Limited says it is reviving a water bomber aircraft manufacturing program that will bring 500 jobs to Calgary, Alta. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-De Havilland Aircraft of Canada **MANDATORY CREDIT**

The company already has signed letters of intent from European customers to purchase the first 22 aircraft, and expects to make its first deliveries by the middle of the decade.

De Havilland Canada acquired the Canadair CL program in 2016 and has been contemplating returning the water bombers to production since 2019.

It says final assembly of the aircraft will take place in Calgary, where support for CL-215s and CL-415s already in service takes place.

The company says it expects the DHC-515 to be an important tool for countries around the globe as climate change increases the intensity and frequency of forest fires.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2022.
BERLIN (AP)  Authorities in Germany said Thursday they have detained six men on suspicion of planning to sabotage overhead power lines in order to disrupt the country's electricity supply.

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BERLIN (AP)  Authorities in Germany said Thursday they have detained six men on suspicion of planning to sabotage overhead power lines in order to disrupt the country's electricity supply.

Police said hundreds of officers on Wednesday raided apartments that were linked to the men in the southeastern town of Neumarkt. Officers found several illegal guns and rifles, as well as tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition, police said.

Bavaria state police said the behavior of the suspects, who range in age from 34 to 59, indicated they belonged to the prepper scene - a loose movement of people who believe in preparing for societal collapse.

There have so far been no concrete indications of terrorist motivations or a terrorist organization, police said.

Bavaria's top security official, Joachim Herrmann, said the police operation had dealt a sore blow to a group with reckless and anti-constitutional aims.

Thanks to resolute police work, planned acts of sabotage on major power lines were successfully prevented, he said.
BERLIN (AP)  Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree Thursday demanding payment for natural gas in rubles but appeared to temper the order by allowing dollar and euro payments through a designated bank, the latest twist over energy supplies that Europe relies on to heat homes and generate electricity.

Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a press conference at the Foreign Press Club in Rome, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Draghi said that the Russian president told him during a 40-minute phone call Wednesday evening that European companies can continue to pay for existing energy contracts in euros and dollars. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

BERLIN (AP)  Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a decree Thursday demanding payment for natural gas in rubles but appeared to temper the order by allowing dollar and euro payments through a designated bank, the latest twist over energy supplies that Europe relies on to heat homes and generate electricity.

The measure got a cautious reception from European leaders who insist payment will remain in euros and dollars and want to see the fine print of how the decree will be implemented.

Countries deemed unfriendly" for imposing sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine can continue to pay in foreign currency through a Russian bank that will then convert the money into rubles, according to a Kremlin decree published by state media Thursday. It came a day after the leaders of Italy and Germany said they received assurances from Putin about gas supplies.

Putin talked tougher, saying Russia will start accepting ruble payments Friday and contracts will be stopped if buyers dont sign up to the new conditions, including opening ruble accounts in Russian banks.

If these payments are not made, we will consider it a failure of the buyer to fulfill its obligations, with all the ensuing consequences," Putin said.

Italian Premier Mario Draghi attends a press conference at the Foreign Press Club in Rome, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Draghi said that the Russian president told him during a 40-minute phone call Wednesday evening that European companies can continue to pay for existing energy contracts in euros and dollars. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis)

His proposal has caused natural gas prices to gyrate and raised fears it could be a prelude to an interruption of supplies to Europe, which is heavily dependent on Russian natural gas and would struggle with a sudden cutoff. The German government on Wednesday declared an early warning of an energy emergency, the first step toward authorizing government-imposed gas rationing for industry to spare homes and hospitals.

At the same time, Russia depends on oil and gas sales for much of its government revenue at a time its economy is under severe stress from Western sanctions. Economists say the switch to rubles would do little to support the battered Russian currencys exchange rate, since gas exporter Gazprom has to sell 80% of its foreign currency earnings for rubles anyway.

The decree Putin signed and state news agency RIA Novosti published says a designated bank will open two accounts for each buyer, one in foreign currency and one in rubles. Buyers will pay in foreign currency and authorize the bank to sell it for rubles on Moscow's currency exchange. The rubles would then be placed in the second account, where the gas is formally purchased.

People are wondering what Putin is up to, said Tim Ash, senior emerging markets sovereign strategist at BlueBay Asset Management. Putin may have read the German governments unwillingness to boycott Russian energy as weakness and is now trying to engineer this energy crisis ... the solution here is to call Putins bluff and say, sure, cut off energy supplies and see who breaks first.

Speaking shortly after Putins announcement, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz gave a noncommittal initial response to Russias new conditions. He said gas contracts stipulate payment mostly in euros and sometimes in dollars. He said he made clear to Putin in a phone call Wednesday that it will stay that way.

What his ideas are for how this can happen is what we will now look at closely, Scholz told a reporters in Berlin. But in any case, what goes for companies is that they want to and will be able to pay in euros.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with top officials on support to aviation industry in Russia amid western sanctions vis videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (Mikhail Klimentyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

Putin announced last week that Russia will demand unfriendly countries pay for natural gas only in Russian currency, instructing the central bank to work out a procedure for buyers to acquire rubles in Russia. The Group of Seven major economies, including Italy and Germany, rejected the demand.

Before the decree was announced, Italian Premier Mario Draghi said Thursday he had received assurances from Putin that Europe would not have to pay in rubles and played down fears that Moscow would cut off supplies.

Draghi said Putin told him during a 40-minute phone call Wednesday evening that existing contracts remain in force. ... European companies will continue to pay in dollars and euros.

Draghi said he referred the discussion about how it would work to experts and that analysis was underway to understand what it means, including whether European companies can continue to pay as foreseen, if this means something for the ongoing sanctions.

The feeling is one I have had since the beginning, that it is absolutely not simple to change the currency of payments without violating the contracts,'' Draghi said.

The French and German finance ministers also said after meeting in Berlin that contracts can't simply be altered and that they would examine what Putin has proposed.

Meanwhile, Draghi also told the foreign press corps that Europe is pushing for a cap on gas prices with Russia, saying its payments are funding the war in Ukraine and the prices being paid by Europe are out of line with the global market.

We  Germany and Italy, along with other countries that are importers of gas, coal, grains, corn  are financing the war. There is no doubt, Draghi said. For this reason, Italy along with other countries, are pushing for a cap on the price of gas. There is no substantial reason that the price of gas is so high for Europeans.

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Draghi noted that Russia has no other market for its gas, giving Europe room to maneuver. Asked about the risk that Russia would respond by turning off the taps, Draghi said, no there is no danger.

The prospect of continued gas deliveries in exchange for euros drew a cautious welcome from German industry.

Its good news at least in the short term, because Russian gas deliveries cant be replaced in the short term, Achim Dercks of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry told RBB24 Inforadio.

He noted that companies are concerned that any cutoff would affect industry in particular, but ultimately that would have severe economic effects for us all.

___

D'Emilio contributed from Rome. AP reporter Colleen Barry in Milan contributed.
TORONTO - The Ontario Real Estate Association says London, Ont. broker Stacey Evoy is its new president.

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New homes are built in a housing construction development in the west-end of Ottawa on Thursday, May 6, 2021. The Ontario Real Estate Association says London broker Stacey Evoy is its new president. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

TORONTO - The Ontario Real Estate Association says London, Ont. broker Stacey Evoy is its new president.

The housing organization says Evoy, who has 19 years of experience in real estate, assumed the role today, following an annual general meeting it hosted.

It says Evoy has served as director and president of the London St. Thomas Association of Realtors and on an OREA committee tasked with reviewing the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act.

Evoy is taking over the position from David Oikle at a time when housing prices are soaring, bidding wars are still frequent and a federal budget and Ontario election are impending.

She will represent OREA's members, including 92,000 realtors across 36 real estate boards.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2022.
TORONTO - Some of the most active companies traded Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange:

Toronto Stock Exchange (22,075.96, down 11.26 points.)

TC Energy Corp. (TSX:TRP). Energy. Down $1.27, or 1.7 per cent, to $71.36 on 11.5 million shares.

Bank of Nova Scotia (TSX:BNS). Financials. Down 76 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $91.41 on 9.6 million shares.

Suncor Energy Inc. (TSX:SU). Energy. Up 54 cents, or 1.3 per cent, to $41.27 on 6.9 million shares.

Cenovus Energy Inc. (TSX:CVE). Energy. Down eight cents, or 0.4 per cent, to $20.81 on 6.5 million shares.

Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ). Energy. Up 39 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $78.19 on six million shares.

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Tilray Inc. (TSX:TLRY). Health care. Down 23 cents, or 2.2 per cent, to $10.13 on 5.8 million shares.

Companies in the news:

Dollarama Inc. (TSX:DOL). Up $2.47 or 3.6 per cent to $71.19. Canada's largest dollar store is introducing a new $5 price tag as it looks to recoup higher costs and bring in new products. Dollarama Inc. said Wednesday the rollout of additional price points up to $5 will help the retail chain maintain and enhance its product assortment and value. CEO Neil Rossy said there will be a gradual ramp-up starting mid-year that brings additional flexibility to manage cost pressures. His comments came as the retailer raised its dividend and reported its fourth-quarter profit and sales rose compared with a year ago. The company reported a profit of $220 million or 74 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Jan. 30 compared with a profit of $173.9 million or 56 cents per diluted share a year earlier. Sales totalled $1.22 billion, up from $1.1 billion in the same quarter last year, helped by an increase in the number of stores and a 5.7 per cent uptick in comparable store sales.

Air Canada. (TSX:AC). Down 39 cents or 1.6 per cent to $24.33. Air Canada plans to more than double its capacity this year compared with 2021, but says that is still below its pre-pandemic level. In its outlook for this year, the airline says its capacity, measured by available seat miles, for 2022 will be up about 150 per cent compared with last year. However, Air Canada says its capacity will still only be about 75 per cent of where it was in 2019 as it continues to account for passenger demand, public health guidelines and travel restrictions. The airline says it expects its adjusted cost per available seat mile for 2022 to increase about 13 to 15 per cent when compared with 2019. Looking further into the future, Air Canada says it expects its capacity for 2024 to be about 95 per cent of its 2019 level. Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau says with the pandemic receding and travel returning, the airline has put in place a strategy to return to profitability and increase long-term shareholder value.

High Tide Inc. (TSXV:HITI). Up 17 cents or 2.9 per cent to $6.07. Cannabis retailer High Tide Inc. has signed a deal to buy Livonit Foods Inc., which operates two stores in Ontario under the Bud Heaven banner. The company is paying $2.8 million in shares for the stores located in Bracebridge, Ont. High Tide CEO Raj Grover says the deal helps it become a meaningful player in Ontario's cottage country, a region where it did not have a presence. The deal, which is subject to regulatory approval and other conditions, is expected to close in the coming weeks. High Tide has more than 100 locations across Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Its banners include Canna Cabana, Meta Cannabis Co. and Meta Cannabis Supply Co.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2022.
VANCOUVER - A new government office dedicated to hydrogen projects and proposals could help British Columbia reduce greenhouse gas emissions and bolster the economy, the premier says.

B.C. Premier John Horgan talks about the government's plan to implement the United Nations Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples during a ceremony at the legislature in Victoria, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. Horgan has announced the creation of a new government office aimed at helping hydrogen projects and proposals. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

VANCOUVER - A new government office dedicated to hydrogen projects and proposals could help British Columbia reduce greenhouse gas emissions and bolster the economy, the premier says.

John Horgan said the BC Hydrogen Office will allow government to create framework that doesn't exist, making the province a leader in hydrogen use.

"We currently have a surplus of clean, green electricity, but as we electrify our economy further, we're going to see a requirement for more clean energy," he said Thursday.

Developing a hydrogen strategy could lead to a 30 per cent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, Horgan said.

The previous Liberal government announced plans for a so-called hydrogen highway shortly before the 2010 Winter Olympics with plans for hydrogen fuel stations between Vancouver and Whistler, but the idea fizzled.

Horgan said the difference is that then it was a novelty, now it's imperative.

Ravi Kahlon, the minister of jobs, economic recovery and innovation, said development in the hydrogen sector will bring more investment to the province.

"Hydrogen development helps B.C. meet our climate change commitments, it fosters innovation in B.C.'s economy, and positions B.C. as a leader in environmental and social responsibility," he said.

The province said in a news release there are currently 40 hydrogen projects proposed or under construction, representing $4.8 billion in investment.

A 2019 study done by the province showed by 2050, B.C. could expect hydrogen to provide $2.5 billion to its annual gross domestic product and create 3,750 jobs.

Because of B.C.'s close location to export markets, the government said the province could capture a "significant portion" of the global hydrogen market, which is estimated to be worth more than $305 billion by 2050.

The province's hydrogen strategy, released last year, includes increasing the production of renewable hydrogen, establishing regional hydrogen hubs, and using medium- and heavy-duty fuel-cell vehicles.

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The announcement comes as the province received a new report on ensuring economic stability in a post-pandemic world.

The report, titled Inclusive and Sustainable British Columbia, was produced by economics professor Mariana Mazzucato from the University College London for the provincial government.

Mazzucato, Horgan and Kahlon took part in a panel discussion at the Globe Forum 2022 climate conference in Vancouver, just before the premier announced plans for the hydrogen office.

Her report says B.C. can achieve higher productivity, investment and equitable growth, while also tackling social inequalities.

"But this requires a massive redirection of the economy and a new approach to economic policy," the report says.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2022.
FREDERICTON - A New Brunswick judge on Thursday denied a motion to suspend the province's ban on the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes, ruling that the plaintiffs failed to prove irreparable harm.

In this Friday, Oct. 4, 2019, file photo, a woman using an electronic cigarette exhales a puff of smoke in Mayfield Heights, Ohio. A New Brunswick judge has denied a motion to suspend the province's ban on the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Tony Dejak

FREDERICTON - A New Brunswick judge on Thursday denied a motion to suspend the province's ban on the sale of flavoured e-cigarettes, ruling that the plaintiffs failed to prove irreparable harm.

The province banned e-cigarette flavours, except for tobacco flavour, last September, but the plaintiffs  a vape store and five individuals  wanted sales to resume pending a full court challenge to the legislation. They were also seeking the suspension of a requirement for specialty vape stores to obtain a licence. That requirement is due to come into force April 1.

Mel Norton, the plaintiffs' lawyer, argued that vape stores in New Brunswick are suffering financially because of the law and that without flavoured e-cigarette options, people trying to quit smoking would go back to smoking tobacco, which poses a greater health risk.

Judge Terrance Morrison of the Court of Queen's Bench said the government's intent with the legislation was to protect the health of residents, particularly young people.

"When one places economic interests of the applicants on the scale against the public interest, the scale tips dramatically in the favour of the public interest," Morrison told the court. "In my view, the balance of convenience weighs strongly in favour of not granting the injunction."

The judge denied the motion and ordered the plaintiffs to pay the province $2,500 in court costs.

Outside the court, Norton said his clients are disappointed with the ruling.

"This was brought because they have identified a serious issue that impedes their ability to not only quit smoking but to stay away from cigarettes," Norton said. "Also, there are the economic impacts to not only the businesses but also the people who work in their businesses."

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Meanwhile, Rob Cunningham, a lawyer for the Canadian Cancer Society who was observing the hearing, applauded the ruling.

"It's an extremely important judgment for public health to be able to protect youth and to control youth becoming addicted because of favoured vaping products," he said.

Similar bans on flavoured e-cigarettes are in place in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories. Last year, a motion to suspend Nova Scotia's legislation was dismissed by the Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

Norton said lawyers on both sides of the issue will now prepare for a full constitutional challenge of the province's ban on flavoured e-cigarettes.

While no dates have been set, Norton said the case needs to be heard sooner rather than later because the legislation has dramatically reduced sales and led to the closure of one vape store in the province and to the owner of another store declaring bankruptcy.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2022.
A new partnership between Treaty One Development Corp. and an Indigenous-owned travel agency looks to further reconciliation and create over 100 jobs.

A new partnership between Treaty One Development Corp. and an Indigenous-owned travel agency looks to further reconciliation and create over 100 jobs.

"We never really had a footprint in the travel industry as Indigenous people, but I think the whole mindset of that is changing," said Long Plain First Nation Chief Dennis Meeches.

The corporation is now part owner, and will work closely with, Indigeno Travel, it announced Wednesday.

"Indigenous people have a lot to offer in tourism  through our culture, our traditions, our customs and our heritage  and I think people are fascinated with that, and they want to learn more about Indigenous people," said Meeches, who is part of Treaty One Development Corp.s team.

Indigeno Travel touts itself as Canadas first national and full-service Indigenous-owned travel agency. It offers corporate and leisure trip planning, and it highlights Indigenous tours in Canada and abroad, including a four-day trip on Manitoulin Island.

More options are coming, Meeches said.

"Definitely with Long Plain, we already have important events that happen, so (its) just being able to foster that and grow that tourism sector," he said. "Its been lacking for many, many years."

Showcasing Indigenous culture  like inviting visitors to powwows and campgrounds  is gaining traction, Meeches said.

"Ecotourism is huge, so I think well be able to provide a lot of that service to our Indigenous community and our non-Indigenous community," he said.

Indigeno Travel had 42 employees in 2019 and didnt lay anyone off during the pandemic, according to Chris Maxfield, the companys co-founder.

He plans to hire 100 more in "the coming years," though theres no publicized end goal.

"It used to be easy to forecast that," Maxfield said. "Travel comeback is fairly spotty right now, so its a big goal, but it is definitely attainable."

Indigeno Travel is working with Red River College Polytechnic on a course to produce Indigenous travel advisers, Maxfield said. Its where the primary hires will come from, he added.

"Weve got (the program) developed," he said, adding he couldnt provide more information.

Corporate travel has been booming lately as companies look to support Indigenous-owned businesses, Maxfield said.

"Theres a lot of good will out there, so were banking on that," Meeches added. "I think its going to bode well for Winnipeg to have a first-class Indigenous travel company."

The agency looks to tackle Truth and Reconciliation Call to Action 92, a call for businesses to involve Indigenous people, Maxfield said. Clients will deal with Indigenous advisers, and it might be the only time they do, Maxfield said.

"We think that by having a business relationship even with an Indigenous company will help break down stereotypes and negative preconceptions just by simple interaction," he said.

Online sites like Expedia detract customers from travel agencies, providing a challenge for Indigeno, Meeches noted.

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But, the pandemic may have brought awareness to the importance of using travel agents, Maxfield said.

"When you have an agent and an agency behind you, then you know you have somewhere to go," he said. "Somebody has your back."

Treaty One Development Corp. has 35,000 members, and its ready to spread the word about Indigeno, said Whelan Sutherland, the corporations CEO.

"One of the things we want to bring to our First Nations communities is the ability to say, Yes, if (you) want to travel, here you go  heres a venue."

The Tribal Councils Investment Group of Manitoba has been an Indigeno Travel investor for years.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
A Winnipeg restaurants newest waiter has four wheels and a battery life of 16 hours.

A Winnipeg restaurants newest waiter has four wheels and a battery life of 16 hours.

Dirk Wang hasnt yet named his robotic assistant. Still, the automaton has become well-known at Hong Du Kkae, a Korean eatery, this winter. Its creating an in-person dining presence that has lacked over the past two years, Wang said.

"(The) last couple days, since we have the robot, weve got some more traffic here," he said. "Im glad about that."

Wang called the bot "easy to use" at his 2241 Pembina Hwy. space Wednesday.

Hong Du Khae owner, Dirk Wang and his son Ricky Wang, hang out with their newly hired robotic server. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press)

He presses a button on the robots screen  "table4"  and the machine rolls off to the corresponding table.

As it moves, it plays soft music and exhibits a digital face, complete with blinking eyes and smiling mouth. It can hold four trays, meaning Wang could program it to visit four of the restaurants 13 tables in one trip.

"Your delicious meal is here," a womans voice announces as the bot reaches its destination.

It will wait for guests to grab their trays and press "OK" on the screen before wheeling back to Hong Du Kkaes front counter.

Wang got the idea while on a family vacation in Vancouver last summer. He visited a restaurant with similar bots; the children he was with were thrilled.

Wangs friend, who lives in Vancouver, offered to sell him one. Keenon Robotics makes the machines.

"I did some research, saw theyre working well, and we just purchased (one)," Wang said.

He had to shell out $26,000, so it wasnt a snap decision.

The newest hire at the Hong Du Khae restaurant, delivers food to patrons Kyle Penner and Frances Magnaye. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press)

Wang and his wife Michelle bought Hong Du Kkae in the summer of 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. They own a nearby logistics store.

"When they (were selling), we just thought, Well, OK, should we get it?" Wang said.

Theres been little dine-in traffic over the past two years, he said. But, the robot seems to be creating a buzz.

The non-human server is about 4 ft. tall and has sensors near the ground. Hong Du Kkae also has sensors attached to its ceiling; GPS helps the bot get around. It will stop if something comes in its way, and if theres space, it will manoeuvre around the object.

"If its busy, the robot can help (the waiter) to make his life better." Dirk Wang, owner of Hong Du Khae

Wang said its the first of its kind in Winnipeg. It was programmed last month, and its not a replacement for red-blooded staff, he said.

"We dont have issues (with) hiring," he said, adding theres a crew of 12 people.

Often, only one server is working due to few dine-in customers, Wang said. They must answer the phone and take orders in addition to bringing out food, getting patrons bills and cleaning.

"If its busy, the robot can help (the waiter) to make his life better," he said. "The robot can directly go serve the people."

John Ru, who works at Hong Du Kkae, calls the automaton "a really good partner."

"Especially in rush times, its really efficient," Ru said.

John Ru, a cook at Hong Du Khae, loads up the un-named robot server to take an order to a table. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press)

Hed like to see the machine converse with diners in the future. It can be programmed to say different things  on Wednesday, it said "Blah, blah, blah, I am a robot"  and humans can speak through it by inserting a USB with their voice recordings.

Wang said he doesnt plan to buy another bot of this kind  theres no room. But, he has friends with bigger restaurants who are looking at doing so, he said.

"If (its) difficult to find people, (a) robot may be another option," he added.

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Automation has been in the restaurant industry for many years, but there will always be a need for human servers, according to Shaun Jeffrey, the CEO of the Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association.

"Automation will never replace the hospitality part of the hospitality industry," he said. "Most people go to restaurants for that one-on-one interaction with a person you havent seen in a while, and a lot of times, you even have those favourite servers."

Robots are more present in the fast-food sector, where an emphasis is on quick orders, Jeffrey said.

"I dont know how or where Id even start in putting this type of technology into some of the restaurants I worked in," he said, adding some full-service spaces have too much bustle.

Still, its something to look at for the future, he said. Each business is different and would need to see if automation suits them, he added.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com
PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  The worldwide seafood industry is steeling itself for price hikes, supply disruptions and potential job losses as new rounds of economic sanctions on Russia make key species such as cod and crab harder to come by.

FILE - In this Oct. 29, 2015, file photo, a cod to be auctioned sits on ice at the Portland Fish Exchange, in Portland, Maine. Russia, along with Iceland and Norway, remains a major producer of the white fish, which it harvests from the Barents Sea and other frigid oceans. The U.S. is clamping down on trade with Russia, and is targeting seafood in particular. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  The worldwide seafood industry is steeling itself for price hikes, supply disruptions and potential job losses as new rounds of economic sanctions on Russia make key species such as cod and crab harder to come by.

The latest round of U.S. attempts to punish Russia for the invasion of Ukraine includes bans on imports of seafood, alcohol and diamonds. The U.S. is also stripping most favored nation status from Russia. Nations around the world are taking similar steps.

Russia is one of the largest producers of seafood in the world, and was the fifth-largest producer of wild-caught fish, according to a 2020 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Russia is not one of the biggest exporters of seafood to the U.S., but it's a world leader in exports of cod (the preference for fish and chips in the U.S.). It's also a major supplier of crabs and Alaska pollock, widely used in fast-food sandwiches and processed products like fish sticks.

The impact is likely to be felt globally, as well as in places with working waterfronts. One of those is Maine, where more than $50 million in seafood products from Russia passed through Portland in 2021, according to federal statistics.

If youre getting cod from Russia, its going to be a problem, said Glen Libby, an owner of Port Clyde Fresh Catch, a seafood market in Tenants Harbor, Maine. Thats quite a mess. Well see how it turns out.

Russia exported more than 28 million pounds (12.7 million kilograms) of cod to the U.S. from Jan. 1, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2022, according to census data.

The European Union and United Kingdom are both deeply dependent on Russian seafood. And prices of seafood are already spiking in Japan, a major seafood consumer that is limiting its trade with Russia.

In the U.K., where fish and chips are a cultural marker, shop owners and consumers alike are bracing for price surges. British fish and chip shops were already facing a squeeze because of soaring energy costs and rising food prices.

Andrew Crook, head of the National Federation of Fish Friers, said earlier this month that  even before the war  he expected a third of Britains fish and chip shops to go out of business. If fish prices shoot up even higher, we are in real dire straits, he said.

In mid-March, the U.K. slapped a 35% tariff hike on Russian whitefish, including chip-shop staples cod and haddock.

Were a massive part of U.K. culture and it would be a shame to see that go, he told broadcaster ITV.

U.S. consumers are most likely to notice the impact of sanctions via price and availability of fish, said Kanae Tokunaga, who runs the Coastal and Marine Economics Lab at Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland.

Because seafood is a global commodity, even if they are not harvested in Russia, you will notice the price hike, Tokunaga said.

In the U.S., the dependence on foreign cod stems to the loss of its own once-robust Atlantic cod fishery that cratered in the face of overfishing and environmental changes. U.S. fishermen, based mostly in New England, brought more than 100 million pounds (45.4 million kilograms) of cod to the docks per year in the early 1980s, but the 2020 catch was less than 2 million pounds (900,000 kilograms).

Regulators have tried to save the fishery with management measures such as very low fishing quotas, and many fishermen targeting other East Coast groundfish species such as haddock and flounder now avoid cod altogether.

Seafood processors in Massachusetts are concerned about job losses due to loss of Russian products, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, who does support sanctions on Russia, said.

I have heard from seafood processors in my home state with concerns about potential sudden effects of a new, immediate ban on imports on their workforce, including hundreds of union workers in the seafood processing industry, he said on the Senate floor in February.

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For U.S. producers of seafood staples such as fish and chips, the lack of Russian cod could mean pivoting to other foreign sources, said Walt Golet, a research assistant professor at the University of Maines School of Marine Sciences.

We might be able to bring in more from Norway, a little more from Canadian fisheries, Golet said. It really is driven by the price of those imports.

As an alternative, producers and consumers could try underutilized fish species caught domestically, such as Atlantic pollock and redfish, said Ben Martens, executive director of Maine Coast Fishermen's Association.

Maybe this is a time to use haddock or hake or maybe monkfish, something different, Martens said. If its going to disrupt supply chains it does present an opportunity for other species to fill that void.

___

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
BERLIN (AP)  The head of the United Nations announced the appointment Thursday of an expert panel led by Canada's former environment minister to scrutinize whether companies' efforts to curb climate change are credible or mere  greenwashing.

FILE - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during interview at the United Nations headquarters, Jan. 20, 2022, in New York. The head of the United Nations announced the appointment Thursday, March 31, 2022, of an expert panel led by Canada's former environment minister Catherine McKenna to scrutinize whether companies' efforts to curb climate change are credible or mere greenwashing. (AP Photo/Robert Bumsted, File)

BERLIN (AP)  The head of the United Nations announced the appointment Thursday of an expert panel led by Canada's former environment minister to scrutinize whether companies' efforts to curb climate change are credible or mere  greenwashing.

Recent years have seen an explosion of pledges by businesses  including oil companies  to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions to "net zero" amid consumer expectations that corporations bear part of the burden of cutting pollution. But environmental campaigners say many such plans are at best unclear, at worst designed to make companies look good when they are actually fueling global warming.

Governments have the lions share of responsibility to achieve net-zero emissions by mid-century, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, adding that this was particularly true for the Group of 20 major emerging and industrialized economies that account for 80% of greenhouse gas emissions.

But we also urgently need every business, investor, city, state and region to walk the talk on their net-zero promises, he said.

The 16-member panel will make recommendations before the end of the year on the standards and definitions for setting net-zero targets, how to measure and verify progress, and ways to translate that into international and national regulations.

FILE - Catherine McKenna speaks at the Turning the Paris Climate Agreement into Action panel discussion, on April 14, 2016, at the World Bank in Washington. The head of the United Nations Antonio Guterres announced the appointment Thursday, March 31, 2022, of an expert panel led by Canada's former environment minister Catherine McKenna to scrutinize whether companies' efforts to curb climate change are credible or mere greenwashing. (AP Photo/Sait Serkan Gurbuz)

In addition to examining net-zero pledges by the private sector, it will also scrutinize commitments made by local and regional governments that don't report directly to the U.N. However it will not name and shame individual companies, U.N. climate envoy Selwin Hart said.

The panel includes prominent Australian climate scientist Bill Hare, South Africa-based sustainable finance expert Malango Mughogho and the former long-time governor of the Peoples Bank of China, Zhou Xiaochuan.

It will be chaired by Catherine McKenna, who was Canadas minister of environment and climate change from 2015 to 2019.

McKenna urged businesses not to view net-zero pledges as a get out of jail free card, and said she backed the idea of including all emissions in the new standards, including those resulting from the use of a companys product.

One outside expert called the creation of the new panel well overdue, noting that targets such as net zero are interpreted in different ways by companies and officials.

Harry Fearnehough, a policy analyst at the NewClimate Institute, said the think tank had recently reviewed several major companies and found a number of critical issues with net-zero pledges, many of which are misleading consumers, regulators and shareholders.

Gilles Dufrasne of the non-profit organization Carbon Market Watch also welcomed the U.N. new expert group, but urged it to issue clear and meaningful recommendations.

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Just like the targets it will aim to regulate, this group needs to go from words to actions, and deliver strict criteria that put an end to greenwashing, he said.

A report last month by the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that more than three billion people worldwide are already at risk from global warming.

The panel will publish another report next week which is expected to confirm that the world is not on track to meet the goal of capping temperature rise at 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) by the end of the century, which was laid down in the 2015 Paris climate accord.

If we dont see significant and sustained emissions reductions this decade, the window of opportunity to keep 1.5 alive will be closed -- forever, said Guterres. And that will be disaster for everyone.

___

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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  U.S. officials on Thursday adopted a rule aimed at reducing deaths and environmental damage from oil and gas pipeline ruptures  a long-delayed response to fatal explosions and massive spills that have occurred over decades in California, Michigan, New Jersey and other states.

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2010, photo, a massive fire roars through a neighborhood in San Bruno, Calif. U.S. officials on Monday, March 28, 2022, adopted a long- delayed rule aimed at reducing deaths and environmental damage from oil and gas pipeline accidents. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP)  U.S. officials on Thursday adopted a rule aimed at reducing deaths and environmental damage from oil and gas pipeline ruptures  a long-delayed response to fatal explosions and massive spills that have occurred over decades in California, Michigan, New Jersey and other states.

But safety advocates said the move by the U.S. Transportation Department would not have averted the accidents that prompted the new rule. Thats because it applies only to newly constructed or replaced pipelines  and not to hundreds of thousands of miles of lines that already crisscross the country, many of them decades old and corroding.

The rule requires companies to install emergency valves that can quickly shut off the flow of oil, natural gas or other hazardous fuels when pipelines rupture. It came in response to a massive gas explosion in San Bruno, California, that killed eight people in 2010, and to large oil spills into Michigans Kalamazoo River and Montana's Yellowstone River and other spills.

The National Transportation Safety Board since the 1990s has recommended the use of automatic or remote controlled valves on large pipelines  whether they are existing or new  to reduce the severity of accidents. Following a 1994 gas pipeline explosion and fire that destroyed eight buildings in Edison, Jersey, the safety board urged the Transportation Department to expedite requirements for shut-off valves in cities and natural areas.

FILE- In a July 13, 2011, photo, cleanup work continues on the Kalamzoo River almost a year after a spill near Marshall, Mich. Critics say a requirement finalized Monday, March 28, 2022, for companies to install safety valves on new pipelines won't prevent accidents on existing lines. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond, File)

But pipeline companies for years resisted new valve requirements because of the expense of installing them and concerns they could close accidentally and shut off fuel supplies.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the more stringent regulations for the industry were needed because too many people have been harmed by pipeline failures.

He said installation of the valves would also protect against large releases of methane, a highly potent greenhouse gas blamed for helping drive climate change.

"Today we are taking an important step to protect communities against hazardous pipeline leaks  helping to save the lives, property, and jobs of people in every part of the country while preventing super-polluting methane leaks. Buttigieg said.

The Pipeline Safety Trust, a Bellingham, Washington-based advocacy group, said the rule marked progress since Congress mandated more stringent pipeline regulations over a decade ago.

FILE - In this July 6, 2011, photo, cleanup workers use oil absorbent materials along side the Yellowstone River in Laurel, Mont., to clean up an oil spill. Federal officials say companies must install valves on new hazardous fuel pipelines so can close off quickly in the event of an accident. (AP Photo/Jim Urquhart, File)

But the group said exempting pipelines that are already in the ground means it would not prevent a repeat of the accident at San Bruno, which involved a pipeline that was more than 50 years old.

This rule falls far short of the NTSB recommendation and will offer no additional safety to communities living near existing pipelines," said Bill Caram, executive director of the safety trust.

The government estimated it would cost a combined $5.9 million annually for companies to comply with Thursdays rule. By comparison, industry representatives said a single valve on an existing line could cost up to $1.5 million and it would take billions of dollars to retrofit lines nationwide.

Industry representatives were closely involved in crafting the rule. Their request to allow valves to be more widely spaced along pipelines and remove the requirement for some low-risk pipes was rejected. However, transportation officials adopted some of industry recommendations that will give operators latitude to make adjustments to where valves are placed.

Association of Oil Pipe Lines Vice President John Stoody said the final rule still contains arbitrary requirements for pipeline operators that don't reflect real-world operating conditions or the low risk of spills in some scenarios.

Amy Andryszak, president of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, said her organization and companies it represents were still reviewing the rule but were generally supportive" of rules that encourage safety.

Experts say automatic valves can help eliminate some human-caused errors that contribute to accidents, such as a delay of more than 17 hours to confirm the 2010 Kalamazoo, Michigan, pipeline rupture because workers ignored alarms indicating a possible spill. The break released more than 800,000 gallons (3,600,000 liters) of crude oil and caused roughly $1 billion in property and environmental damage.

In San Bruno, a 30-inch (76-centimeter) gas pipeline exploded and burned like a massive blowtorch in a suburban California neighborhood for 89 minutes before a manual valve was used to shut it down. An AP investigation found that pipeline operator Pacific Gas & Electric Co. agreed as far back as 1997 that remotely operated valves did a better job of protecting public safety, but opted against using them widely because they werent necessary or required.

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Officials with the Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration did not immediately respond to questions about the new rule.

Also missing from the new rule are standards for equipment that can detect when and where leaks hit, a recurring problem in pipeline accidents, Caram said.

Instead, the rule says pipeline companies must quickly take steps to confirm a spill if they get an alarm or other notification, but the confirmation process itself remains up to the company.

Faulty leak detection systems played a role in recent accidents including a 350,000 gallon diesel oil spill in December into a wetlands outside New Orleans and an underwater rupture off California's coast last October that fouled the ocean with tens of thousands of gallons crude oil.

___

Follow Matthew Brown: @matthewbrownAP
OTTAWA - Canada is extending its military mission in Iraq and the Middle East for another year.

Canadian special forces man an observation bunker in Northern Iraq, Monday, Feb. 20, 2017. Defence Minister Anita Anand says Canada is extending its military mission in Iraq and the Middle East until 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

OTTAWA - Canada is extending its military mission in Iraq and the Middle East for another year.

Defence Minister Anita Anand announced the 12-month extension on Thursday evening, only hours before the current mandate was set to expire.

It comes even as Canada has steadily reduced its military footprint in the region as the focus in Iraq, in particular, has shifted from defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant to countering Irans growing influence.

The Canadian Armed Forces, which first deployed troops to Iraq in October 2014 as ISIL threatened to take over the country and neighbouring Syria, previously had a high of more than 800 soldiers in the region.

The Canadian mission at different times included fighter jets, transport and surveillance aircraft, helicopters as well as military trainers and special forces troops working alongside Kurdish and Iraqi forces as they fought ISIL.

But the mission has since shrunk in size and prominence as concerns about ISIL have been replaced with fears about Irans growing influence in Iraq and the region, and as other crises and threats such as Russia, China and the COVID-19 pandemic have emerged.

Canada in February had only about 300 Armed Forces members assigned to what is known as Operation Impact, with about 250 intelligence, logistics and command staff in Kuwait, 50 trainers in Jordan and Lebanon, and only a handful of troops in Iraq.

"The Canadian Armed Forces have been working with partners and allies since 2014 to improve Iraqi security forces capabilities," Anand said in a statement.

"The Canadian Armed Forces have also been providing training and capacity-building assistance to the Jordanian Armed Forces and the Lebanese Armed Forces."

The decision to extend Canadas military mission in Iraq comes as the Armed Forces is being asked to contribute additional troops and equipment in eastern Europe in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine, and as it struggles with personnel shortfall.

It also coincides with a political deadlock in Baghdad over repeated failures to elect a new president and escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, with the latter having launched ballistic missile attacks in the region in recent weeks.

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Bessma Momani, one of Canadas top Middle East experts at the University of Waterloo, said the decision to extend the mission comes at a critical time for Iraq as the country teeters toward collapse amid a proxy war between the United States and Iran.

While Canadas contribution is largely symbolic at this point, Momani said, "this is not a time to pull out. It just sends all the wrong messages. Iraq's just way too fragile to pull out at the moment."

Canadas mission has largely slipped from public view, but it has seen its share of controversies over the years. Those include questions about whether Canadian troops were in combat, and concerns about the screening of Iraq troops trained by Canada.

The Liberals were also criticized for withdrawing Canadian fighter jets after taking power in 2015, while Canadas partnership with Iraqs Kurdish minority put this country into an awkward position when faced with Kurdish calls for independence from Iraq.

One Canadian soldier was killed while serving on Operation Impact. Sgt. Andrew Doiron died after Kurdish forces mistakenly shot the Canadian special forces member. Three other Canadians were injured in the "friendly fire" incident.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 31, 2022.
OTTAWA - Canada will extend some settlement services to fleeing Ukrainians, but they will not receive all of the same supports as typical refugees, the federal immigration minister said Wednesday.

Sean Fraser stands during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, March 29, 2022. The Immigration Minister says Canada will extend some settlement services to Ukrainians fleeing to Canada, but they will not receive all the same supports as refugees. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

OTTAWA - Canada will extend some settlement services to fleeing Ukrainians, but they will not receive all of the same supports as typical refugees, the federal immigration minister said Wednesday.

Many Ukrainians who've applied to come to Canada are doing so under a special visitor visa program that would allow them to work and study for three years while they decide whether or not to return home.

So far about 60,000 Ukrainians and their families have applied to come to Canada under that program, and another 12,000 have come under traditional immigration streams since January.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser said one of the challenges is figuring out how much support people will need when they arrive. The United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates four million have fled Ukraine in the last five weeks and most are older people, women and children.

"Typically, when we bring people in as refugees, when we are selecting people on the basis of their vulnerability, we know that theyre going to need extensive supports," Fraser told reporters on his way out of a Liberal caucus meeting Wednesday.

"With the situation in Ukraine, there are some people who are going to have that same level of vulnerability and there are others who may not need the same scale of services."

The minister's office says the government is working with the Canadian Red Cross and 550 settlement agencies to deliver language training, help finding a job and orientation services.

The government said Settlement Program services, which are typically only available to permanent residents, will be extended until March 31, 2023, for temporary residents in Canada eligible under the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel.

Starting in early April, the Canadian Red Cross will provide arrival services at the Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver international airports.

The government said this support will include providing translation services, as well as information in their language of choice to help connect Ukrainians with government and community services.

Canada has opened the program to an unlimited number of applicants, and also plans to launch a family reunification program to allow people who fled Ukraine to become permanent residents of Canada if they have relatives in the country.

Typically refugee resettlement begins years after a conflict, as people wish to remain close to their home country in case they are able to return.

Those who arrive under refugee resettlement programs are offered temporary housing, help to find permanent accommodations, financial assistance, and sponsorship, either through the government or private groups.

So far, Fraser says, the government has opted not to provide temporary accommodation or financial assistance for Ukrainians.

"Were continuing to have conversations right now about what other measures we may advance. As you can appreciate, we continue to do more and more as time goes on, as we understand the unique needs of different groups that are going to be arriving," he said.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has called for the government and its partners to offer financial assistance to support Ukrainian newcomers through their first 90 days in Canada, and possibly even emergency shelter space for those who do not have anywhere to go once they arrive.

"They're going to be traumatized, we know that they are going to have needs that are not going to be able to (be) immediately met," said Ihor Michalchyshyn, CEO of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. "They can't find a job or an apartment that next day."

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It's not clear just how many people will actually choose to come to Canada. Though tens of thousands have so far applied, they may just be keeping their options open, Fraser said.

"They are in love with the idea of returning home to Ukraine when its safe, but they want to make sure that theyre exercising what options they have to find safe haven, should it be needed. So, its difficult to say with precision."

The congress, as well as several other advocacy groups, report long waits in Poland and other countries to complete the biometric requirement to verify the identity of potential newcomers in order to come to Canada.

Fraser said Canada dropped the biometric requirement two days ago for younger people, senior citizens, and people with a travel history to Canada to speed up the process.

"Were taking an evidence-based approach to make sure were not jeopardizing the security outcomes, but are still having a process that will allow as many people to get here as quickly as possible," he said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2022.
OTTAWA - Afghan interpreters who helped the Canadian military say the federal government has lied to them about bringing family members to Canada, and that people have died while waiting for paperwork to be processed.

OTTAWA - Afghan interpreters who helped the Canadian military say the federal government has lied to them about bringing family members to Canada, and that people have died while waiting for paperwork to be processed.

At a press conference Wednesday organized by the NDP, interpreters said they planned to hold a hunger strike Thursday in protest.

NDP MP Jenny Kwan rises during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Friday, May 17, 2019. NDP Jenny Kwan says the government should treat families of Afghan interpreters, who were promised a route to Canada, in the same way as Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, and bring them to Canada and process their paperwork later. CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Their plea for urgent action comes as the government revealed it has now welcomed 10,000 Afghans to Canada since the Taliban took control of Kabul.

Immigration Minister Sean Fraser met a plane carrying nearly 300 Afghans at Toronto airport on Wednesday. He said "the hope and optimism to be in Canada was written all over their faces" when they arrived.

Fraser said the government was facing unprecedented logistical challenges getting people out of the country, but he said he was determined to make good on the commitment to bring the families of Afghan interpreters to Canada and said the government has "a moral obligation" to get them here.

"We are not going to go back on our commitment," he said in an interview.

He said "our dedication has not changed one bit," despite the unique challenges on the ground  including ensuring those fleeing have travel documents.

In December last year the government introduced a special immigration stream to bring the families of Afghan interpreters to Canada.

Hundreds have applied to join the program since then and filled in the paperwork, but none have made it Canada, according to the NDP.

Speaking at Wednesday's NDP press conference, interpreters said their loved ones are fleeing from house to house to evade door-to-door searches by the Taliban and are burning documents showing links to Canada in fear of reprisals, as they wait to come to Canada.

Ghulam Faizi, a former Afghan interpreter who is now a Canadian citizen, says Afghans who have applied for passports to leave the country, following Canadian government instructions, have been interrogated by the Taliban.

"The Taliban  the first question is, 'Why do you need a family passport? Who did you work for and who did your family work for?'" he said.

Others have waited so long for Canada to process their papers in neighbouring countries, such as Pakistan, their visas are expiring and they face deportation back to Afghanistan where they could face persecution by the Taliban.

Safiullah Mohammad Zahed, who is among those planning to take part in a hunger strike in protest, accused the Canadian government of misleading Afghan interpreters about measures to swiftly bring their families to Canada.

"We feel like we have been lied to from day one," he said.

New Democrat MP Jenny Kwan said the government should treat Afghans the same as Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion, and speed their entry to Canada, processing their papers and biometric data once they are here.

The NDP immigration critic said no Afghan families have so far joined interpreters in Canada under special immigration measures introduced last year to bring in their relatives.

She said interpreters met with the government, including officials and the immigration minister, 25 times about the delays and logistical problems.

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"They were promised that they would bring their family members here to Canada within weeks," she said. "It has now been almost three months since they submitted their applications following the government's instructions. Three hundred families have submitted their applications. Not one family member has made it to Canada."

Aidan Strickland, spokeswoman for Fraser, said the government remains firmly committed to bringing in the Afghan families, and is "doing everything we can" and "using all available avenues" but the process is mired in obstacles.

"The Government of Canada remains firm in its commitment to resettle at least 40,000 Afghan nationals and is working to bring as many vulnerable Afghans as possible to safety in Canada as quickly as possible," she said.

Afghan interpreters said while they wait for their applications to be processed their families are being hunted by the Taliban because they helped Canadian Armed Forces before the fundamentalist regime regained control in Kabul.

They said several died before they could board a plane to Canada, with others losing their jobs, buying papers on the black market to make it to Pakistan or living in hiding in Afghanistan.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2022.
Manitobas most powerful Indigenous leader, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a female colleague, is facing a non-confidence vote in May.

Manitobas most powerful Indigenous leader, who has been accused of sexually assaulting a female colleague, is facing a non-confidence vote in May.

Grand Chief Arlen Dumas will face a special meeting of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, which has postponed its general assembly planned for April.

The assemblys cabinet announced the measure Thursday, one day after deciding a non-confidence vote would be held.

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No date or location have been confirmed.

Dumas will be able to address concerns around whether he breached the assemblys code of conduct.

"The chiefs-in-assembly wish to vote determine whether Grand Chief Arlen Dumas should continue in his position as grand chief, as soon as possible," the release read.

A separate workplace investigation is underway; it started two weeks ago after the Free Press reported a senior employee had filed a police report alleging Dumas had sexually assaulted and harassed her. Her claims have not been tested in court. After the allegations were made public, Dumas was suspended.

Dumas was re-elected as grand chief last summer despite allegations he had sent text messages to younger women that made them feel uncomfortable. He was first elected in 2017.

Eric Redhead, chief of Shamattawa, has been made acting grand chief as the assembly deals with the situation.
Itll be the largest tin for the bin site in the city.

Itll be the largest "tin for the bin" site in the city.

A former auto dealership slated for demolition next month will become a Manitoba Harvest site.

JESSICA LEE/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Vince Barletta, president and CEO of Harvest Manitoba, is looking forward to the pop-up food drive. (Jessica Lee / Winnipeg Free Press)

A food drive will take over the former Subaru dealership, at 2537 Pembina Hwy., from April 18 to 30.

South end residents will be able to drop off canned food, non-perishable items, and even cash, to help the people the food bank assists.

"I want to fill that building (with donations) before we tear it down," said Waverley West Coun. Janice Lukes, who is spearheading the venture.

The idea started after area residents began asking what they could do to help Ukrainians and assist refugees already here, Lukes said.

When she called the Toronto developer that will tear down the dealership  and replace it with an 18-storey building with businesses on the main floor and 397 suites above  it agreed to allow the food drive, she said.

"Weve got refugees here already from Afghanistan. Weve got Ukrainians coming. Weve got our own people in Winnipeg whove lived here all their life who are really feeling the pinch for food. Harvest is a wonderful organization who can distribute (donations)," Lukes said.

"There are a lot of wars. Its not just Ukraine. Its Afghanistan. Weve got horrible stuff in Yemen, Syria, and Ukraine. Weve got people in Winnipeg living in bus shelters. The pandemic has (particularly) impacted women and seniors. Its just so sad. What can we do?

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"Everyone needs food, so I called up a whole pile of people."

Several organizations have joined in, including the Whyte Ridge and South Winnipeg community centres, ecole South Pointe School, the Manitoba Islamic Association, and the Winnipeg Chinese Seniors Association.

Vince Barletta, president and CEO of Harvest Manitoba, said "were so happy to see a tremendous group of Winnipeg organizations come together to support Harvest.

"There are many challenges around the world  Ukraine and the Middle East  but we knew there are hungry people in our own backyard, too. Events like this food drive are vitally important."

The location will be open weekdays from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Maggie Macintosh

Reporter Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Winnipeg Free Press. Funding for the Free Press education reporter comes from the Government of Canada through the Local Journalism Initiative. Read full biography
OTTAWA  Environment Canada is predicting Manitobas fall from climate champion to one of the countrys also-rans by 2030.

OTTAWA  Environment Canada is predicting Manitobas fall from climate champion to one of the countrys also-rans by 2030.

According to one of two models the federal department developed as part of the emissions-reductions plan the Liberals tabled Tuesday in Parliament, Manitoba is set for a reduction of just seven per cent of its emissions under planned, clearly measurable interventions from 2005 to 2030.

Ottawa projects a 32 per cent drop nationally in the same time frame.

That so-called "bottom-up" model looks at existing provincial climate measures. The other "back-casting model estimates the impact of policies that are still under development, such as subsidies for green products and building retrofits but does not include provincial projections.

In a media briefing, officials said Manitobas reliance on hydroelectricity even back in 2005 means it had less room to drop by 2030, a period in which other provinces are switching to greener sources of electricity.

Nunavut is the only jurisdiction with emissions projected to increase; territorys government says it anticipates increased emissions from mining and new infrastructure, but hopes to reduce emissions through projects still under design that werent included in this projection.

Advocates argue it also reflects limited action on emissions that Manitoba has planned for the rest of this decade.

Federal officials said the data could be correlated with Statistics Canada population projections, to see get a sense of per capita emissions.

A Free Press analysis suggests the average Manitobans emissions could amount to 12.6 tonnes per year by 2030. That would move the keystone province from having below-average emissions per capita in both 2005 and 2019, to being slightly worse than a national average of 11.9 tonnes per person.

Manitoba would go from the eighth out of 13 for emissions per person in 2005, to the fifth most-polluting in 2030.

A Free Press analysis suggests the average Manitobans emissions could amount to 12.6 tonnes per year by 2030. That would move the province from having below-average emissions per capita in both 2005 and 2019, to being slightly worse than a national average of 11.9 tonnes per person in 2030.

The advocacy group Climate Action Team of Manitoba says the federal data reflects more promised climate action by Quebec and British Columbia, which are the other two large provinces with a majority share of their electricity coming from hydro.

"Its reflective of the level of effort and planning that the provincial government has undertaken so far," said Curt Hull, an engineer who oversees the groups own climate plan.

"Were below the national average on per capita emissions. But the powers that be have used that as an excuse to not really take the action thats necessary."

The Progressive Conservative government insists Manitoba will play a key role in Canadas climate pledges at the Paris and Glasgow summits, citing existing programs to reduce emissions in trucking, and looming plans for greener agriculture and carbon sequestration.

"Were below the national average on per capita emissions, but the powers that be have used that as an excuse to not really take the action thats necessary, said Curt Hull, the engineer who oversees climate plans for Manitobas Climate Action Team. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

The provinces submission for Tuesdays plan noted an energy policy review announced in February, and argues hydroelectricity exports are helping reach national goals.

"Manitoba is well-positioned to contribute to Canadas target of a net-zero-emissions grid by 2035."

Yet a year ago, Hulls group called on Manitoba to drastically drop its own carbon emissions by switching vehicles and home heating off of gas and toward electricity. The group argued those are more realistic and impactful changes than actions such as overhauling agriculture.

The group said in order to do that, Manitoba would need to direct its massive hydroelectricity capacity internally, to get people charging electric cars instead of sending power outside the province.

Manitoba Hydro in 2018 had estimated how much energy would be needed to make that shift, which Hull said could be fulfilled by keeping hydro within the province instead of building more dams or a nuclear plant.

The province would also need to speed up efforts to update its relatively outdated building codes, and retrofit buildings to create better insulation and regional geothermal systems.

Virtually every building in this province will have to become more efficient, and so thats the most expensive and disruptive.  Curt Hull

"Virtually every building in this province will have to become more efficient, and so thats the most expensive and disruptive," he said, arguing that initiative would require a Crown corporation to administer those retrofits.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca

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Local support for humanitarian and military efforts in Ukraine continues to rally as the Russian invasion rolls into its sixth week.

Local support for humanitarian and military efforts in Ukraine continues to rally as the Russian invasion rolls into its sixth week.

In Winnipegs Transcona neighbourhood, Sevalas Ukrainian Deli serves up borscht, perogies and cabbage rolls  but now, with a side of support for the war-torn eastern European nation patrons can wear on their wrist.

Bernie Demchuk, who co-owns the deli with husband Del, said customers have been coming in hungry to help since the war began.

"We have a young Ukrainian girl that works for us, and her family  she has her brother and sister-in-law and two nieces, among other family and lots of friends  it was really hard for her working the first few weeks," said Demchuk, who married into her husbands Ukrainian culture.

"We were hearing her side, too. Its terrible to watch and we really just thought, were sitting comfortable in our own homes, eating, fresh water, everything, freedom. We definitely had to do something."

The restaurant has partnered with Hilary C. Maxim law offices Yvonne Maxim to sell "Glory to Ukraine" wristbands for a minimum $5 donation. The cash goes to the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Manitoba councils efforts to help refugees.

The Demchuks handed over $5,953 on Wednesday, with the promise of more to come.

The first 1,000 wristbands sold out in less than a week, and the second 1,000 are already spoken for, Demchuk said, adding she expects the next 1,000 will sell quick, too.

Zoloto Ukrainian Dance Ensemble & Company knew it had to help, too, said board member Scott Gordon, who also married into a Ukrainian family. One of its efforts came with the assistance of Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman, who reached out to the group to express condolences and gauge how the community was handling the overseas crisis.

"We wanted to see what the city might have that could be practical in a (military) situation, so we pleaded and implored on him to have an audit of the emergency services department to see what items could be declared surplus and be donated. Our initial intent was focused on medical supplies," Gordon said.

RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The first 1,000 wristbands sold out in less than a week, and the second 1,000 are already spoken for, Demchuk said, adding she expects the next 1,000 will sell quick, too.

City staff instead found some Winnipeg Police Service officers were rotating out body armour. Now, 126 law enforcement-grade vests are set to be shipped to Ukraines defence forces from local licensed body armour retailer Urban Tactical, via Svitoch Ukraine Import and Export of Winnipeg.

"The protection it could offer could be tremendous, especially when youre looking at residential areas that are being indiscriminately targeted with missile and artillery strikes. Youre seeing first responders, fire paramedics rushing in not knowing when the next bomb might go off," Gordon said.

"Even if one life is saved, its worth the effort."

Charlie Johnston is also among those aiming to help the Ukrainian people. Working with the Interlake Art Board, Johnston and Brad Lent painted a 2.5-metre by five-m mural of the worlds nations as a pysanka (Ukrainian Easter egg).

The piece will be unveiled Friday on Selkirks downtown Main Street.

"Like so many other creatives in the world, my thoughts are with Ukraine and the assault upon their culture, which is actually not a new phenomenon, its a centuries-old struggle," Johnston said.

"Part of my core philosophy is the power of creativity At the heart of it is that creativity is the greatest force, creativity trumps destruction, the forces that destroy."

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Johnston, 59, is not Ukrainian but grew up in the Interlake with many Ukrainian friends. He has painted murals across Canada and the United States.

"The practice of inscribing  pysanka literally means to inscribe upon it told of an old legend about the eggs being representative of the rebirth of life and the spring," he said.

"The old legend goes theres an evil serpent thats chained to the rocks, and the serpent sends out his minions to see how many eggs have been painted, and if there arent enough Easter eggs painted the serpent breaks free from his chains to wreak havoc on the earth Isnt that, in a way, exactly whats happening? An evil serpent in the form of greed."

The pysanka globe mural is just one of five pieces hes planning, one of which Johnston will auction for cash to send to Ukrainian relief efforts.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera
The first woman to hold the role of Manitobas top cop is hanging up her stetson.

The first woman to hold the role of Manitobas top cop is hanging up her stetson.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Jane MacLatchy, who also served as the commanding officer for D Division, is stepping down from her role after 34 years as a Mountie. She came to Manitoba for the job, starting as D Division commander in February 2019.

MacLatchy, 57, is the first woman to lead Manitobas Mounties, which didnt allow female officers until 1974  a point of both pride and trepidation when she started in the position.

When I got this job, there was already a number of female commanding officers across the country, and I just became part of that sisterhood, for lack of a better term, she told the Free Press on Thursday. But I was aware and I was nervous.

MacLatchy said she made the decision to retire to spend more time with her husband, children and grandson.

Her career had her providing police service across the country, including leading security on Parliament Hill on Canadas 150th birthday in 2017.

In Manitoba, she often took questions from media and addressed the public on some of the most notable rural investigations in the province.

In summer 2019, the RCMP conducted a nationwide manhunt for a pair of B.C. fugitives  A bit of an exciting time, MacLatchy said.

The bodies of the two suspects in three homicides were found in northern Manitoba. Their deaths were determined to be due to self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

More recently, the tragic cold-weather deaths of an Indian family of four in a Manitoba field near the Canada-U.S. border, broke my heart, she said.

And then, of course, we have people out there in those conditions, doing the investigation, trying to find if theres more people, those are the ones that really stand out for me.

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Asked if there was anything she regretted from her time in leadership, MacLatchy said while she had made some mistakes, I think Im leaving the division in a better shape than I got it in. It wasnt in bad shape, but I think Ive made some real progress.

Canadians view of RCMP conduct toward marginalized groups has dropped in the past year. Just 39 per cent of people surveyed in an annual review by the RCMP said they believed the national police force treated women fairly, while 34 per cent said the RCMP were advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in Canada  compared to 47 per cent and 43 per cent, respectively, of those surveyed saying the same the year prior.

MacLatchy said she hopes whoever is next to take up the top Manitoba role would move forward to do what (they) can to right past wrongs and move forward in a united fashion with the communities served.

That would be my hope, is that whoevers sitting in this chair is a capable and a caring leader and I have no doubt that will be the case.

MacLatchys final day on the job is June 3. A new commanding officer has yet to be chosen, according to a news release from the RCMP.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca
Karma came knocking in record time for a thief who poached a package from the porch of a St. Boniface couples home.

Karma came knocking in record time for a thief who poached a package from the porch of a St. Boniface couples home.

A box of hot tub water testing strips from Amazon was lifted from the front steps of the Maes home Sunday afternoon  the first package the family lost to theft. Javan Maes, 32, and Rachel Maes, 30, werent upset about the loss, which set them back about $15. Amazon agreed to refund the purchase.

"Nobodys going to buy hot tub test strips from some guy," Javan said, with a laugh.

Nevertheless, the husband and wife did some sleuthing to put a face to the crime.

Maes said home security footage showed the cellphone falling from the thiefs pocket. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press)

They broke the case almost immediately. The familys security camera footage showed a person approaching the home shortly after the testing strips had been delivered. The man crept to the side of the porch before scaling the railing and ducking low to the ground to avoid the cameras gaze.

He then left with the box in hand.

With the testing strips out of the picture, the familys focus shifted to a second delivery  a set of chairs  set to arrive the next day. Via the security camera, Javan saw a Canpar courier drop off the packages and he went to retrieve them right away, to avoid a repeat theft.

To his surprise, a cellphone was on top of one of the boxes. He called Canpar to see if its employee had left it behind. No luck.

A closer inspection of the previous days video showed the cellphone falling from the thiefs pocket.

"I thought, Of course thats his phone; its exactly where he bent over to steal our Amazon package," Rachel said.

Later, the second courier picked it up and placed it on one of the boxes of chairs.

"We just found it hilarious because what a twist of fate," Javan said. "He lost something worth way more than what he stole."

Hey man, if you want your phone back, come and get it. Javan Maes

Const. Jay Murray, public information officer for the Winnipeg Police Service, said in an email Wednesday that anecdotally, hes seen theft numbers grow with the increase of parcel shipping in general.

The WPSs property crime unit investigates all thefts, including package thefts. These cases are typically assigned to a detective, Murray added.

Accurately tracking thefts of this nature can be challenging, he explained, as the crimes often go unreported. Sometimes they are reported by both the buyer and the seller. Other times, its simply the case of an item lost in transit.

The Maes didnt file a police report for their stolen package.

Instead, Javan had this message for the thief: "Hey man, if you want your phone back, come and get it."

Javan, whos a mental health therapist, said he feels bad for the thief, who he worries may have been experiencing homelessness, as it appeared he was sporting a backpack full of possessions.

Javan Maes found a cellphone Wednesday which he believes belongs to the thief who took his parcel. (Mike Sudoma / Winnipeg Free Press)

"When people are hurting for a hit of meth or a hit of crack, its really urgent. Theres a lot of causes that drive people to steal," Javan said.

If the thief doesnt return to retrieve his property  and the family doubts he will  Javan plans to wipe the Samsung Galaxy A11s data clean then gift it to one of the youth in care he knows through work.

"In case they need it for emergencies, just give it to someone in need," Javan said.

Police offered a few tips on how to avoid falling victim to package thefts. Consider having an item delivered to a neighbour, friend or secure location if youre not home when the courier arrives. Another idea is to create areas outside the home where couriers can tuck boxes out of view from the street.

Police also recommend using video surveillance to track the arrival of ones package  or, in the case of the Maes family, to solve a mystery, too.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca
THE images from Ukraine are startling, horrifying and heart-wrenching and so senseless and wrong. More than three million children displaced by war, and hundreds killed.

Opinion

THE images from Ukraine are startling, horrifying and heart-wrenching and so senseless and wrong. More than three million children displaced by war, and hundreds killed.

It has often been said that the measure of our regard for humanity is reflected in our attitude toward our children. Recent, enduring and past atrocities visited on the worlds children would suggest we have little respect for the human condition, the gift of human life and humane living. The Ukraine atrocities are just the latest cause for justified rage.

Its time the world took more seriously the responsibility we have for our children, which is significantly different than that we adults have for each other. While we watch the lives of children wantonly snuffed out and their futures irreparably compromised, I perceive little will to consider their suffering as crimes against humanity, which they undoubtedly are.

We know the consequences of adult actions regarding childrens lives. Children living with loving caring adults in safe homes and schools usually thrive and flourish, themselves turning into great friends, good neighbours and contributing citizens. Children surviving wars, exploitation and abuse often do not, too often suffering from mental health issues and substance abuse, perpetuating abuse, engaging in criminal activity and resorting to other forms of violence visited on themselves and others, including their own children.

In his 1982 book The Disappearance of Childhood, American media theorist and cultural critic Neil Postman attributed the difficulties children are experiencing to their being thrust into the adult world before they were ready. Even before the era of social media, he worried about the indiscriminate exposure of children to the adult world.

In 2006, in the same vein, teacher and sociologist Sue Palmer wrote Toxic Childhood: How the Modern World Is Damaging Our Children and What We Can Do About It. In it she outlined how our worlds are not preparing our children, by teaching or through example, to maintain the mores, norms and values of healthy societies, also emphasizing the devastating effects of "adult" childhood experiences.

Although neither of them touched on children as survivors of wars, residential schools or sexual exploitation, both were clear that when childhood is compromised, not just the children suffer  so do present and future generations. It is not just the children directly impacted by adult actions, or prematurely thrust into adult situations, but also those children who observed what was happening to other children. And in our world, there is lots to see and fear.

From Ukraine, media images show thousands of children, some killed by random bombing, some walking to the border unaccompanied by adults, some crying as they leave their fathers behind, and busloads of orphans being transported to safety.

Cancer patients are being moved back and forth to wards and shelters, children taken from their schools and separated from their friends, all traumatized by the wail of sirens and the destruction of their homes and schools. And mothers traumatized because they cannot shield their children from the present horrors, further traumatizing children who sense, more than understand, their parents desperation and despair.

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There seems no end in sight to the human tragedy being visited on the young in this war, as in all conflicts, such as those in Afghanistan, Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Myanmar, Yemen the list goes on.

There are ongoing consequences for those who survive, and for their parents and families. And of course, the consequences of war for children and young people will not end if, and when, the war does, just as it did not end for those subjected to residential-school abuse when the schools were forced to close. Missing healthy childhoods causes unhealthy, dysfunctional adulthoods.

Interrupting childrens lives and education, and compromising their safety and well-being for questionable, unjustifiable adult whims, is simply wrong and destructive of humanity, including our own.

Meanwhile, our children are watching adults "indulge" ourselves with unwarranted wars, overblown mandate grievances, intercultural and racial hatred, religious intolerance and gender discrimination, justifying violence toward them and each other, and lying to cover our toxic inclinations while pretending to do so for their sakes. Even if they dont articulate it, children feel their unfairness, wrongness and indifference.

Safeguarding all children and supporting healthy childhoods is the moral obligation of every adult. The current inhumanity perpetrated on children in Ukraine and elsewhere deserves global international attention and condemnation.

John R. Wiens is dean emeritus at the faculty of education, University of Manitoba. A lifelong educator, he has served as a teacher, counsellor, work education co-ordinator, principal, school superintendent and university professor.
Everybody  even elected politicians and senior government officials  is entitled to hopes and dreams. They are a big part of what makes waking up and facing the world each day worthwhile.

Everybody  even elected politicians and senior government officials  is entitled to hopes and dreams. They are a big part of what makes waking up and facing the world each day worthwhile.

But hopes and dreams should not  indeed, cannot  be the primary foundational elements of public policy, particularly when it relates to the health and well-being of the public a government serves.

Sadly, it is becoming increasingly apparent with each passing announcement related to COVID-19 that the strategy of the current Manitoba government is to wish very hard for the pandemic to go away and then act as if it has.

Premier Heather Stefanson declared on Feb. 11 that it was "time for a new normal to begin in Manitoba," after which the public-health restrictions that had been in place for the better part of two years, in the interest of saving lives and averting a health-system collapse, were summarily rescinded.

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Manitoba Premier Heather Stefanson declared on Feb. 11 that it was time for a new normal to begin in Manitoba, after which the public-health restrictions were summarily rescinded.

Proof-of-vaccination requirements ended on March 1, and virtually all other restrictions, including the face-mask mandate for indoor public places, were lifted on March 15. This, despite clear evidence that a new and virulent strain of the Omicron variant was taking hold in other jurisdictions and would inevitably make its way to Manitoba.

Ideological imperative  a fervent desire by the provinces newly minted premier to "end the divisiveness" created by public-health restrictions (and the irrational objections thereto by a small but vocal fraction of the population) and "bring Manitobans back together again"  had clearly supplanted the previously preferred reliance on data and science for the preparation and execution of the pandemic response.

With Ms. Stefanson and her government having washed their collective hands of the messy exercise of limiting public exposure to the virus, its up to individual Manitobans to make the best decisions possible to protect themselves from COVID-19 in our suddenly (and, many argue, prematurely) restriction-free province.

With Ms. Stefanson and her government having washed their collective hands of the messy exercise of limiting public exposure to the virus, its up to individual Manitobans to make the best decisions possible to protect themselves from COVID19.

Except, the information that allows for "informed" decisions is no longer in ample supply, thanks to the provinces decision to cease publication of regular updates on its COVID-19 dashboard. Having long since abandoned early-pandemic measures such as widespread testing and contact tracing, the government has now essentially abdicated any responsibility for providing Manitobans with the current and complete data that could allow for informed decision-making.

"We are living in the dark in terms of what is happening with COVID in Manitoba," said Dr. Julie Lajoie, a University of Manitoba research associate in virology and immunology. "I think there is no way were not going to see (the next wave). It is coming or it is already on us."

MIKE DEAL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES I think there is no way were not going to see (the next wave). It is coming or it is already on us, said Dr. Julie Lajoie, a University of Manitoba research associate in virology and immunology.

The province this week also announced changes to the way it reports COVID-19 fatalities, to include only those whose deaths occur within 30 days of testing positive for the virus  a move that will undoubtedly result in fewer deaths being attributed to the pandemic.

Its as if someone in government wished not so many people would die of COVID-19, and then dreamed up a way to make it statistically so.

Its as if someone in government wished not so many people would die of COVID19, and then dreamed up a way to make it statistically so.

The reality is this: a new pandemic wave, driven largely by the BA.2 subvariant of Omicron, has taken hold in many parts of Canada. Infection rates are rising, and a similar pattern will play out on a delayed basis here, as has been the case with every previous wave.

And despite any eyes-tightly-shut whispered wishes that ours is a province that has left COVID-19 behind, the virus is not finished with us. We would be better served by a government less reliant on hopes and dreams and more committed to facts and data.
It has become patently obvious that Manitobas vaunted surgical and diagnostic recovery task force has no quick fixes.

It has become patently obvious that Manitobas vaunted surgical and diagnostic recovery task force has no quick fixes.

The task force, struck in December, was asked to find ways of alleviating Manitobas backlog of surgical and diagnostic procedures as quickly as possible. A backlog that Doctors Manitoba has estimated at nearly 170,000 procedures and growing.

On Tuesday, during the task forces first full update in nearly two months, it became patently evident that immediate options for alleviating the backlog are few and far between.

Health Minister Audrey Gordon speaking to the media on Wednesday. During the task forces first full update in nearly two months, it became patently evident that immediate options for alleviating the backlog are few and far between. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

There are ideas and initiatives coming forward. For example, there is a plan to build a new operating room at Concordia Hospital to perform 1,000 additional hip and knee surgeries, a promise of additional money for the Spine Assessment Clinic to more quickly determine surgical candidates, and new MRI and CT scanners to reduce diagnostic backlogs.

Unfortunately, it is unclear when  or even if  these measures will start to apply downward pressure on the backlogs.

For example, to build the new OR, the Concordia Foundation will have to raise about half of the $700,000 cost of renovating an existing structure, with the province paying the other half. Faced with a less urgent need for surgeries, this might be an acceptable way of proceeding. Facing a crisis, it seems penny wise and pound foolish.

To build the new OR, the Concordia Foundation will have to raise about half of the $700,000 cost of renovating an existing structure, with the province paying the other half.

The province has been able to send nine Manitobans to a private, not-for-profit hospital in North Dakota for spinal surgeries, with more surgeries planned. And there are plans to contract out other elective surgeries to the private sector. However, many of the other ideas floated Wednesday came across as half-baked.

The pledge to increase the number of surgeries performed during the summer months  a time when traditionally fewer procedures are done to accommodate vacation time for those working in health care  seems tenuous at best. The Manitoba Nurses Union confirmed nurses have been told some summer vacations will be cancelled unless volunteers step forward to cover off the new surgical slates.

There is no doubt the backlog is an all-hands-on-deck kind of problem. However, over the past two years, no single group within the health-care system has carried as much of the pandemic burden as nurses. Forcing nurses to give up summer vacations may be a necessary evil given the size of the backlogs. But its also a strategy that threatens to drive more nurses out of a system that is already struggling with a nursing shortage.

(Pictured) Dr. Ed Buchel, diagnostic and surgical recovery task force provincial surgery lead. The task force has been silent on a range of other ideas that seem to be low-hanging fruit in the battle to contain the backlogs. (Ruth Bonneville / Winnipeg Free Press)

Meanwhile, the task force has been silent on a range of other ideas that seem to be low-hanging fruit in the battle to contain the backlogs.

Doctors Manitoba has been proposing for many months now a program to move certain diagnostic procedures, including some endoscopies, from hospitals to doctors' offices. There was nothing on this at Tuesdays briefing, although there was a promise that more ideas on improving access to endoscopies was coming "soon."

Doctors Manitoba has been proposing for many months now a program to move certain diagnostic procedures, including some endoscopies, from hospitals to doctors' offices.

Its also worth noting the task force stated its overarching goal was to reduce the backlog to pre-pandemic (2019) levels, although it did not specify when that benchmark would be met. Few Manitobans should take comfort from that pledge.

In 2019, the crippling austerity imposed by former premier Brian Pallister was just starting to reveal cracks in the health-care system. The wait times for hips, knees and cataracts skyrocketed in Manitoba to levels well above those in 2016, when the Progressive Conservatives won back the right to govern from the NDP.

The current government may think that going from worse to plain old bad is a step in the right direction. But its no comfort to Manitobans languishing on wait lists.

Taken together, the ideas raised this week confirm an inescapable truth about the task force and its work to date: this is a group of well-meaning health professionals who have been dealt a very bad hand.

Taken together, the ideas raised this week confirm an inescapable truth about the task force and its work to date: this is a group of wellmeaning health professionals who have been dealt a very bad hand.

The task force can only work with the resources and commitment provided to it by the government of the day. And day after day, this is a government that has demonstrated it simply does not know how to fix all of the problems in health care it has created since coming to power in 2016.

The pandemic arrived in Manitoba to find the hospital network in Winnipeg, and relationships with nurses and other health-care professionals, in tatters. Years of cost control resulted in a reduction in service and a massive increase in wait times. The system was short-staffed, under-resourced and demoralized.

In fact, many of the initiatives being announced now by the task force  the construction of new operating rooms, purchase of additional MRIs and CTs, and a central information technology system intake to manage surgical wait lists  are things the health-care system has needed for years but was denied by a government focused single-mindedly on balancing the budget while simultaneously cutting taxes.

Yes, the pandemic has largely driven the backlogs to astronomical heights. But it has been the inability of this government to manage health care that laid the groundwork.

And when all is said and done, it may be unfair to ask one task force to repair all that damage.

dan.lett@winnipegfreepress.com

Dan Lett | Not for Attribution A weekly look at politics close to home and around the world that is sent every Tuesday. Sign Up I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russian troops handed control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant back to the Ukrainians and left the heavily contaminated site early Friday, more than a month after taking it over, Ukrainian authorities said, as fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other fronts.

A soldier walks the amid the destruction caused after shelling of a shopping center last March 21 in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP)  Russian troops handed control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant back to the Ukrainians and left the heavily contaminated site early Friday, more than a month after taking it over, Ukrainian authorities said, as fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other fronts.

Ukraine's state power company, Energoatom, said the pullout at Chernobyl came after soldiers received significant doses" of radiation from digging trenches in the forest in the exclusion zone around the closed plant. But there was no independent confirmation of that.

The withdrawal took place amid growing indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation in Ukraine as cover while regrouping, resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in the eastern part of the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian withdrawals from the north and center of the country were just a military tactic and that the forces are building up for new powerful attacks in the southeast.

We know their intentions, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation. We know that they are moving away from those areas where we hit them in order to focus on other, very important ones where it may be difficult for us.

A relative mourns on the coffin with the body of 3 year-old Mykola Goryainiv, who died with his parents as they were driving a car trying to evacuate from a fighting zone in Kharkiv region, during a funeral ceremony in Kramatorsk, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)

There will be battles ahead, he added.

Meanwhile, a convoy of 45 buses headed to Mariupol in another bid to evacuate people from the besieged port city after the Russian military agreed to a limited cease-fire in the area. But Russian forces blocked the buses, and only 631 people were able to get out of the city in private cars, according to the Ukrainian government.

Twelve Ukrainian buses were able to deliver 14 tons of food and medical supplies to Mariupol, but the aid was seized by Russian troops, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said late Thursday.

A Ukrainian serviceman walks by an animal which was killed during fighting at a heavily damaged private zoo while soldiers and volunteers attempted to evacuate the surviving animals to safety in the village of Yasnohorodka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. The evacuation was halted before completion as shelling resumed between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the area.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

The city has been the scene of some of the worst suffering of the war. Tens of thousands have managed to get out of Mariupol in the past few weeks by way of humanitarian corridors, reducing its population from a prewar 430,000 to an estimated 100,000 as of last week, but other relief efforts have been thwarted by continued Russian attacks.

A new round of talks was scheduled for Friday, five weeks into the war that has left thousands dead and driven 4 million Ukrainians from the country.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it had been informed by Ukraine that the Russian forces at the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster had transferred control of it in writing to the Ukrainians.

A Ukrainian serviceman tries to avoid being bitten by an ostrich at a heavily damaged private zoo as soldiers and volunteers attempted to evacuate the surviving animals to safety in the village of Yasnohorodka, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, March 30, 2022. The evacuation was halted before completion as shelling resumed between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the area.(AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

The last Russian troops left the Chernobyl plant early Friday, the Ukrainian government agency responsible for the exclusion zone said.

Energoatom gave no details on the condition of the soldiers it said were exposed to radiation and did not say how many were affected. There was no immediate comment from the Kremlin, and the IAEA said it had not been able to confirm the reports of Russian troops receiving high doses. It said it was seeking more information.

Russian forces seized the Chernobyl site in the opening stages of the Feb. 24 invasion, raising fears that they would cause damage or disruption that could spread radiation. The workforce at the site oversees the safe storage of spent fuel rods and the concrete-entombed ruins of the reactor that exploded in 1986.

Territorial Defense of the Armed Forces, 21-year-olds Svitlana, right, and Myroslava, pose for a photograph, in Lviv, western Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Both Svitlana, and Myroslava, who studied at the same university in Kyiv, decided to leave academia and serve their country by joining the TDF only one month ago. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty)

Edwin Lyman, a nuclear expert with the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists, said it seems unlikely" a large number of troops would develop severe radiation illness, but it was impossible to know for sure without more details.

He said contaminated material was probably buried or covered with new topsoil during the cleanup of Chernobyl, and some soldiers may have been exposed to a hot spot of radiation while digging. Others may have assumed they were at risk too, he said.

Early this week, the Russians said they would significantly scale back military operations in areas around Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv to increase trust between the two sides and help negotiations along.

Ukrainian soldiers collect bodies of civilians killed by the Russian forces at the destroyed bridge in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

But in the Kyiv suburbs, regional governor Oleksandr Palviuk said on social media Thursday that Russian forces shelled Irpin and Makariv and that there were battles around Hostomel. Pavliuk said there were Ukrainian counterattacks and some Russian withdrawals around the suburb of Brovary to the east.

Chernihiv came under attack as well. At least one person was killed and four were wounded in the Russian shelling of a humanitarian convoy of buses sent to Chernihiv to evacuate residents cut off from food, water and other supplies, said Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmyla Denisova

Ukraine also reported Russian artillery barrages in and around the northeastern city of Kharkiv.

A Ukrainian soldier stands one top of a destroyed Russian tank on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said intelligence indicates Russia is not scaling back its military operations in Ukraine but is instead trying to regroup, resupply its forces and reinforce its offensive in the Donbas.

Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions, Stoltenberg said. At the same time, he said, pressure is being kept up on Kyiv and other cities, and we can expect additional offensive actions bringing even more suffering.

The Donbas is the predominantly Russian-speaking industrial region where Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014. In the past few days, the Kremlin, in a seeming shift in its war aims, said that its main goal now is gaining control of the Donbas, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, including Mariupol.

Ukrainian soldiers pass on top of an armored vehicle in the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

The top rebel leader in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, issued an order to set up a rival city government for Mariupol, according to Russian state news agencies, in a sign of Russian intent to hold and administer the city.

With talks set to resume between Ukraine and Russia via video, there seemed little faith that the two sides would resolve the conflict any time soon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that conditions werent yet ripe for a cease-fire and that he wasnt ready for a meeting with Zelenskyy until negotiators do more work, Italian Premier Mario Draghi said after a telephone conversation with the Russian leader.

Ukrainian soldiers assist an elderly woman who has hidden from the Russian shelling in a shelter for weeks without food and water, in Irpin close to Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. The more than month-old war has killed thousands and driven more than 10 million Ukrainians from their homes including almost 4 million from their country. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

In other developments, Ukraines emergency services said the death toll had risen to 20 in a Russian missile strike Tuesday on a government administration building in the southern city of Mykolaiv.

As Western officials search for clues about what Russia's next move might be, a top British intelligence official said demoralized Russian soldiers in Ukraine are refusing to carry out orders and sabotaging their equipment and had accidentally shot down their own aircraft.

In a speech in Australia, Jeremy Fleming, head of the GCHQ electronic spy agency, said Putin had apparently massively misjudged the invasion.

Ukrainian servicemen ride on an armored transporter driving through a Russian position overran by Ukrainian forces outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 31, 2022. Heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kyiv and other zones Thursday amid indications the Kremlin is using talk of de-escalation as cover while regrouping and resupplying its forces and redeploying them for a stepped-up offensive in eastern Ukraine. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

The Pentagon reported Thursday that an initial half-dozen shipments of weapons and other security assistance from the U.S. have reached Ukraine as part of an $800 million aid package President Joe Biden approved this month.

The shipments included Javelin anti-tank weapons, Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, body armor, medical supplies and other materials, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

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U.S. intelligence officials have concluded that Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about how badly the war is going because they are afraid to tell him the truth.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the U.S. is wrong and that neither the State Department nor the Pentagon possesses the real information about what is happening in the Kremlin.

___

Karmanau reported from Lviv, Ukraine. Associated Press journalists around the world contributed to this report.

___

Follow the APs coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
A Madison man wanted on outstanding warrants allegedly led Columbia County deputies on a chase Monday before being arrested the next day at a Wisconsin Dells hotel on several tentative charges, including manufacturing/distributing methamphetamine.

Paul Ripp, 49, Madison, remains in custody following his arrest Tuesday morning.

In a media release, Columbia County Sheriff Captain Jason Kocovsky said Ripp was staying a hotel in Caledonia. When deputies responded to the hotel for outstanding warrants, Ripp allegedly fled the scene in a 2008 Chevrolet Silverado after he saw deputies.

The deputies attempted a traffic stop but Ripp failed to stop and led authorities on a pursuit over 7 miles, the release said.

During the pursuit a female passenger called the Sheriffs Office to say she was going to jump out of the vehicle once it slowed down. Deputies reported seeing a woman jump from the vehicle after the vehicle slowed down, the release said.

Deputies immediately stopped and checked her welfare and once it was determined that she was not seriously injured, they stayed with her until arrangements were made for a friend to pick her up, Kocovsky said.

Ripp allegedly continued to refuse to stop for law enforcement. Deputies lost sight of his truck on Tritz Road, the release said, and the vehicle was later located in a wooded area in the vicinity of Tritz and Mainstreet roads.

Deputies from Columbia County Sheriffs Office and Sauk County Sheriffs Office utilized many resources to include searching on foot, drones, and K-9s, but despite these efforts, Ripp was not located that evening, Kocovsky said.

On Tuesday morning, Ripp taken into custody at a hotel in Wisconsin Dells.

The Sheriffs Office said Ripp was booked on these tentative charges:

Vehicle operator flee/elude officer

Manufacture/deliver methamphetamine (338 grams or  pound)

Possession of cocaine

Possession of drug paraphernalia

Second-degree recklessly endangering safety

Felony bail jumping

Misdemeanor bail jumping

Numerous traffic citations

Active warrant arrest

Kocovsky said the Sheriffs Office was assisted by the Wisconsin State Patrol, Sauk County Sheriffs Office, and Wisconsin Dells Police Department.

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Breakfast enthusiasts and nature lovers alike are preparing for the return of the MacKenzie Centers Maple Syrup Festival.

On Saturday, Center employees will celebrate maple season with members of the public for the first time in two years, featuring live music, horse-drawn wagon rides and a scavenger hunt, among other things. Park manager Aaron Loenhorst compares the event to the end of a long winter.

It is just a great experience to be able to get outdoors, he said. It is wonderful to have the students back on property, to have volunteers who love to be involved.

The event is the highlight of the Centers maple program, which dates back over 40 years, according to Loenhorst. Wisconsins maple syrup tradition has been in place much longer though, spanning thousands of years.

Educators at the center spend much of their time teaching visiting students about the Ho-Chunk and Ojibwe tribes among others, and their methods of collecting and processing maple sap into syrup through cooking and filtration. In 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture ranked Wisconsin fourth out of the 50 states in maple syrup production. Loenhorst said its important that Center visitors understand the history of the states maple tradition.

We try to highlight that heritage as best we can, said Loenhorst. Our hope is that our program helps to teach about the wonder of processing maple syrup and the rich history thats involved.

Every year in March, Center visitors are led past about 120 maple trees, which are made up of several varieties of maple trees. The visitors observe the taps drawing the sap from the trees and the buckets it drips into. Typically, the maple program brings in around 1,300 students each March, and up to 200 gallons of sap.

Its really quite labor intensive, Loenhorst said.

The educators themselves say they come away with new knowledge each maple season.

Austyn Long started as an educator at the Center in August, and has been learning about Wisconsins maple season and all it entails since then.

Im learning so much about how maple syrup is made, Long said. Im excited to kind of see it all happen.

Saturdays forecast calls for a chance of rain, so Center employees recommend coats and boots for those planning to attend the festival. The festival runs from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Concessions will be available, and raffles will take place throughout the day, with funds supporting the Friends of the MacKenzie Center organization.
Accountants should take the lead in fighting climate change

Incorporating climate change accountability into integrated reporting can trigger a global change in climate change thinking.

A recent report suggested that climate change promises by many countries at the Global Climate Change Summit of 2021 have been put on the backburner in the face of other national and international crises.

While many climate change initiatives are often confined to well-meaning groups that are truly passionate, they lack financial muscle or strategic plans. The accounting profession in South Africa, led by institutions like the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) and the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) can take the lead in demonstrating exactly how a strategic, sustainable climate change project can be initiated and executed.

The clock is ticking as the impact of climate change mounts in floods, drought and/or famine. A recent Reuters report, for instance, illustrated that deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in February 2022 had reached an all-time high.

Sadly, reporting and focus on climate change issues are transient and other crises like the Russia-Ukraine standoff or the Covid-19 pandemic often and easily distracts the worlds focus to what has been called one of the biggest risks the world faces in the not too distant future.

It is for this reason, that I  as a 73-year-old professor in accountancy at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University), will undertake a 1100km paddle down one of the worlds most iconic rivers  the Rio Madeira, which is a southern tributary of the Amazon River. By recreating the trip that I undertook 50 years ago, I hope that this initiative will spark a long-term climate change project for accountancy SA.

While situated in distant South America, the Amazon Rainforest can be seen as the worlds lungs, contributing to regulating the global climate. If it is destroyed, the rest of the planet cannot breathe. Since paddling down the Rio Madeira in 1972, the region has changed dramatically. Large-scale deforestation has destroyed thousands of acres of rainforest. What used to be virgin forest on the banks of the river have been completely stripped. By undertaking this journey, me and my fellow adventurists, are hoping to highlight the changes that have occurred in this region in the 50 years and try to commit corporate SA to funding a reforestation project in the Brazilian Amazon.

Our commitment goes far beyond paddling down a river to fund a climate change project, however. This project provides a unique opportunity for the accountancy profession in South Africa to initiate a global climate change initiative. It is important for the corporate world to fully understand that climate change has no geographic borders. What happens in South America, will undoubtably be felt in South Africa  and this will happen sooner than any of us thinks.

Accountancy SA is a world leader in the development of accounting standards, which corporate South Africa must comply to when they develop their annual reports. These integrated reports are designed to include a focus on the corporate social responsibility they bear as the captains of industry.

This responsibility extends to the environment and its natural resources and how they manage these in a responsible manner. Accountancy SA has a unique opportunity to persuade its members to expand this reporting to cover their role to address climate change beyond just their use of natural resources.

In other words members should be asked to account for what they are doing that adversely affects climate change and what they are doing about it. And that especially goes for a global context.

In the words of the famous naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, it is the duty of mankind to save our planet and its diverse fauna and flora. It is even more incumbent on the corporate world to take the lead because they have both the skills and the finances to initiate long term sustainable climate change projects.

Although this project may not evoke the same emotion as an ardent naturalist addressing a crowd with the annual Norwegian seal hunt taking place in the background, it has the possibility to be far more successful. Over time, the enormous cumulative impact of corporate focus in their reporting on climate change will translate into visible progress.

To make this happen, however, the accountancy profession must take the lead. To encourage this, they can push the integration of climate change and corporate risk in their reporting, as well as ensure that corporate social responsibility indexes include climate change as part of the weighting that determines company rankings.

By taking these small, practical steps, Accounting SA can trigger a global change in climate change thinking that has the corporate world and the accountancy profession at its center.

Professor Kurt Sartorius is a Professor in Accounting at Wits University.
Mapping mosquitoes to combat malaria

Theresa Mazarire in the Wits Institute for Malaria (WRIM) combines environmental science and public health to control malaria mosquitoes.

She was one of just 20 laureates selected from 440 applications in 17 African countries to receive the LOreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Sub-Saharan Africa Young Talents Award.

Mazarire came to Wits in 2016 to pursue her MSc in Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping and Remote Sensing.

Geographical information systems are able to integrate, store, analyse and display geographical data. GIS incorporates spatial data (geographical features) in the form of maps, and descriptive data in the form of relational databases linked to mapped features.

GIS is used to understand patterns, relationships, and geographic contexts based on their location and spatial characteristics. It is known for its sophisticated spatial statistical analysis and visualisation capabilities, which can be applied as an intelligent and accurate decision-making tool in a wide range of global phenomena.

My GIS skills cut across all fields; for example, it can be applied in peace keeping initiatives and for life-saving aid provisions such as those in the Russia/Ukraine conflict-affected communities, in the humanities, in public health for disease mapping, as well as in agricultural industry to improve food security, says Mazarire.

Her Masters, awarded in 2019 by the Wits School of Geography, Archaeology, and Environmental Studies (GAES) focused on mapping crop types to inform strategies for precision agriculture, crop monitoring, crop yield estimation, and food security management.

From maize to mosquitoes

For my PhD, I wanted to do something in public health, and improve the way that we study and understand environmental issues that cause diseases, says Mazarire, now in the third year of her doctoral studies in the Division of Virology, School of Pathology at Wits and based at the Vector Control Research Laboratory, National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

Mazarires doctoral research focuses on malaria vector control. A vector is an organism that carries and transmits an infectious disease, as mosquitoes do for malaria.

I use geotechnology to study the interaction between the environment and mosquitoes, explains Mazarire.

Her research seeks to analyse the geographical phenomena that contribute to mosquitoes prevalence and spatio-temporal distribution over space and time.

This is done by using satellite remote sensing data to map the climate, land cover and ecological variables that promote the emergence/survival of malaria vectors in an environment.

"The success of vector control strategies depends on timely and accurate knowledge of the distribution of vectors spatially and temporally. This knowledge is crucial in designing mosquito control strategies and developing suitable frameworks for monitoring and evaluating the success of control approaches."

It is also essential to understand the interaction between the environment and the mosquito so that vector control strategies are specifically targeted where they are needed, saving resources and time and thereby aiding to eliminate malaria.

Mosquito-hunter

My PhD research forms part of a bigger project in which male mosquitoes [male mosquitoes are not involved in malaria transmission] are mass-reared in the laboratory, sterilised and released into the wild so that when they mate with native wild females, the offspring from such mating are not viable and thus do not transmit malaria. This novel technology is called the Sterile Insect Technique, explains Mazarire.

The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), often referred to as birth control, is an environmentally-friendly biological control method based on population suppression. The technique involves releasing mass-reared, sterile male insects into the wild. These released sterile males compete with wild males to mate with native females. Females that mate with a sterilised male produce unviable offspring, thus reducing the next generations population.

Mazarire says the most exciting thing about her research is working with these little critters. We keep live mosquito colonies at the NICD, and when you see a mosquito, you cant just kill it  you have to do further analysis on it, she laughs. My field research is in Mamfene in KZN. We go there to catch mosquitoes. I like it! Its laborious, but you actually then understand their environment.

Women in science for sub-Saharan Africa

Mazarire is jointly supervised by Dr Givemore Munhenga, a Principal Medical Scientist in the Vector Control Reference Laboratory, Centre for Emerging, Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases at the NICD, and Professor Solomon Newete, a Senior Researcher at the Agricultural Research Council-Natural Resource and Engineering, and a Visiting Associate Professor in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences (APES) at Wits, for GIS and remote sensing data analysis

Munhenga heads the SIT project in which Mazarires PhD studies are nested. He also suggested that Mazarire apply for the LOreal-UNESCO For Women in Science Sub-Saharan Africa Young Talents Awards.

These awards are given to women involved in novel science research in sub-Saharan Africa that is going to help communities, says Mazarire. Dr Munhenga told me about the awards originally and encouraged me to apply.

Mazarire was named an awardee in 2021 after her second attempt. She is one of 20 laureates selected from 440 applications in 17 African countries.

Science is the key to sustainable development and economic growth, says Mazarire, who advocates for women scientists to help lead the transformation of global health systems.

Bad air malaria

In 2021, there were an estimated 241 million malaria cases globally with more than 95% of these cases reported in Africa.

Globally every year more than 200 million acute malaria episodes occur and about 438 000 people, mainly in sub-Saharan Africa, die because of malaria.

The first reports of human malaria infections appeared in Chinese medical texts as far back as 2700 BC. Initially it was thought that the air around salt marshes played a role in the spread of the disease, hence the name malaria, (derived from the Italian words mal [bad] and aria [air]).

What I like about working with mosquitoes is that theyre such small and minute organisms, but theyre making a big difference in peoples lives through malaria. People die from this, says Mazarire  who has good reason to work towards ridding the world of malaria: She married in October 2021 and is expecting a baby in June.

Malaria transmission in South Africa is seasonal, with malaria cases starting to rise in October, peaking in January and February, and waning towards May.

In this country, malaria is mainly transmitted along with the border areas, and malaria is endemic in some parts of Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal). Approximately 10% of the population are at risk of contracting malaria, which can be fatal if not diagnosed early.

In her (free) time, the Zimbabwean native who now lives in Pretoria enjoys roaming around the internet to see whats happening in international affairs and applying GIS to all sorts of global phenomena  for fun! Mazarire also consults to a climate change non-profit, Rabia Transitions Initiative, on how financial institutions can manage climate change in South Africa.
Podcast Investigating the Terri Schiavo Case Released on 17th Anniversary of Her Death

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network

March 31, 2022



WASHINGTON, March 31, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- The family of Terri Schiavo is encouraged that Lynn Vincent is reinvestigating the Terri Schiavo case with Lawless, a new true crime podcast that examines a frightening fact of American life: That not every crime is against the law.



World Radio, part of the World News Group, and Mrs. Vincent, a #1 New York Times best-selling writer of eleven nonfiction books with more than 16 million copies in print, will be producing and narrating the podcast.



Today, March 31st is the release of Episode 1, which also marks the 17-year anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death. However, what most people don't know is what happened between 1990  1992, before the case gained international publicly. Thirteen episodes will investigate Terri's case and what has been an accepted version of history since her death in 2005.



It was in 1990 when Terri, at the age of 26, sustained a suspicious brain injury while home alone with her husband, Michael Schiavo. Terri's brain injury affected her ability to swallow and so she required a feeding tube to receive nourishment.



Terri did not have a medical directive, so it was Michael who became her court appointed caretaker. At the time, Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, did not anticipate there would be issue with Michael being Terri's caretaker. However, in 1993, barely three months after a million-dollar medical trust was established for Terri's lifelong rehabilitation, Michael had a change of heart, and decided to end Terri's life.



After a protracted legal battle, on March 18th, 2005, Terri's feeding tube was removed, beginning a sickening death lasting almost two-weeks, thus fulfilling Michael's premeditated plan to put his wife to death. Terri's family stood helpless as Terri experienced an agonizing demise.



Bobby Schindler, Terri's brother and President of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, states,

"We continue to witness the effects of a culture rife with evil and immorality. For decades, it has been the insurance industry, hospital administrators, government elites, medical ethicists, lawmakers, and others who are determining who lives and who dies.



"I ask that you please remember that Terri was killed by a horrible injustice and pray for the families who are witnessing their loved one's death as my family did. It is heartbreaking to live in a world with such an apparent lack of compassion for persons with brain injuries. My family and I welcome the attention this podcast will bring to my sister's story, and we hope that it saves the life of another innocent victim like my sister, Terri."

You can listen to Lawless, the new WORLD Radio podcast about the Terri Schiavo case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, WORLD Radio, or wherever you get your podcasts!



SOURCE Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network

CONTACT: Bobby Schindler, President, 813-766-6239, bschindler@lifeandhope.com


This detailed view highlights the star Earendel's position along a ripple in space-time (dotted line) that magnifies it and makes it possible for the star to be detected over such a great distancenearly 13 billion light-years. Also indicated is a cluster of stars that is mirrored on either side of the line of magnification. The distortion and magnification are created by the mass of a huge galaxy cluster located in between Hubble and Earendel. The mass of the galaxy cluster is so great that it warps the fabric of space, and looking through that space is like looking through a magnifying glassalong the edge of the glass or lens, the appearance of things on the other side are warped as well as magnified. Credits: Science: NASA, ESA, Brian Welch (JHU), Dan Coe (STScI); Image processing: NASA, ESA, Alyssa Pagan (STScI)

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has established an extraordinary new benchmark: detecting the light of a star that existed within the first billion years after the universe's birth in the big bang - the farthest individual star ever seen to date.

The find is a huge leap further back in time from the previous single-star record holder; detected by Hubble in 2018. That star existed when the universe was about 4 billion years old, or 30 percent of its current age, at a time that astronomers refer to as "redshift 1.5." Scientists use the word "redshift" because as the universe expands, light from distant objects is stretched or "shifted" to longer, redder wavelengths as it travels toward us.

The newly detected star is so far away that its light has taken 12.9 billion years to reach Earth, appearing to us as it did when the universe was only 7 percent of its current age, at redshift 6.2. The smallest objects previously seen at such a great distance are clusters of stars, embedded inside early galaxies.

"We almost didn't believe it at first, it was so much farther than the previous most-distant, highest redshift star," said astronomer Brian Welch of the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, lead author of the paper describing the discovery, which is published in the March 30 journal Nature. The discovery was made from data collected during Hubble's RELICS (Reionization Lensing Cluster Survey) program, led by co-author Dan Coe at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), also in Baltimore.

"Normally at these distances, entire galaxies look like small smudges, with the light from millions of stars blending together," said Welch. "The galaxy hosting this star has been magnified and distorted by gravitational lensing into a long crescent that we named the Sunrise Arc."

After studying the galaxy in detail, Welch determined that one feature is an extremely magnified star that he called Earendel, which means "morning star" in Old English. The discovery holds promise for opening up an uncharted era of very early star formation.

"Earendel existed so long ago that it may not have had all the same raw materials as the stars around us today," Welch explained. "Studying Earendel will be a window into an era of the universe that we are unfamiliar with, but that led to everything we do know. It's like we've been reading a really interesting book, but we started with the second chapter, and now we will have a chance to see how it all got started," Welch said.

When Stars Align

The research team estimates that Earendel is at least 50 times the mass of our Sun and millions of times as bright, rivaling the most massive stars known. But even such a brilliant, very high-mass star would be impossible to see at such a great distance without the aid of natural magnification by a huge galaxy cluster, WHL0137-08, sitting between us and Earendel. The mass of the galaxy cluster warps the fabric of space, creating a powerful natural magnifying glass that distorts and greatly amplifies the light from distant objects behind it.

Thanks to the rare alignment with the magnifying galaxy cluster, the star Earendel appears directly on, or extremely close to, a ripple in the fabric of space. This ripple, which is defined in optics as a "caustic," provides maximum magnification and brightening. The effect is analogous to the rippled surface of a swimming pool creating patterns of bright light on the bottom of the pool on a sunny day. The ripples on the surface act as lenses and focus sunlight to maximum brightness on the pool floor.

This caustic causes the star Earendel to pop out from the general glow of its home galaxy. Its brightness is magnified a thousandfold or more. At this point, astronomers are not able to determine if Earendel is a binary star, though most massive stars have at least one smaller companion star.

Confirmation with Webb

Astronomers expect that Earendel will remain highly magnified for years to come. It will be observed by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. Webb's high sensitivity to infrared light is needed to learn more about Earendel, because its light is stretched (redshifted) to longer infrared wavelengths due to the universe's expansion.

"With Webb we expect to confirm Earendel is indeed a star, as well as measure its brightness and temperature," Coe said. These details will narrow down its type and stage in the stellar lifecycle. "We also expect to find the Sunrise Arc galaxy is lacking in heavy elements that form in subsequent generations of stars. This would suggest Earendel is a rare, massive metal-poor star," Coe said.

Earendel's composition will be of great interest for astronomers, because it formed before the universe was filled with the heavy elements produced by successive generations of massive stars. If follow-up studies find that Earendel is only made up of primordial hydrogen and helium, it would be the first evidence for the legendary Population III stars, which are hypothesized to be the very first stars born after the big bang. While the probability is small, Welch admits it is enticing all the same.

"With Webb, we may see stars even farther than Earendel, which would be incredibly exciting," Welch said. "We'll go as far back as we can. I would love to see Webb break Earendel's distance record."

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy in Washington, D.C.



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Children are drawn to a demonstration of Chinese calligraphy at the Confucius Institute at the Saint Joseph University in Beirut on March 22. [Xinhua]

BEIRUT  An increasing number of Lebanese students have become interested in learning Chinese and exploring China's culture and civilization, says Nisrine Abdel Nour Lattouf, director of the Confucius Institute at the Saint Joseph University.

"Lebanese parents are keen to let their children learn the Chinese language  for good job opportunities in the future as China is an economic superpower and attracts a lot of businesses from all over the world," Lattouf said at the sidelines of a ceremony held on March 22 at the university to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its Confucius Institute.

During the celebration, students expressed their great interest in Chinese culture by giving speeches in Chinese and performing Chinese calligraphy.

The annual enrollment on the Confucius Institute has increased to about 400, Lattouf says, adding the university will offer a new one-year diploma program in Chinese culture and translation in September, mainly the studies of Chinese-English translation and Chinese-Arabic translation.

The Chinese embassy in Lebanon "has showed great support and promised to find training centers for students graduating from the program", the institute's director notes.

At the ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Qian Minjian praised the institute's role in promoting people-to-people exchanges and mutual understandings between China and Lebanon.

"We encourage and support the two countries to further strengthen cooperation in culture, education and youth so that more Lebanese friends, especially the young people, can experience and understand the unique charm of Chinese culture and deepen people-to-people exchanges and friendship between the two countries," Qian says.

(Source: Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Huang Jingwen]

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua)  President Xi Jinping on Wednesday planted trees in Beijing, marking the 10th year of his participation as the top leader in the annual tree-planting activity in the Chinese capital.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said he did so to make his contribution to building a beautiful China and to encourage the whole of society, especially the young people, to push for ecological advancement so that China's environment will become even better.

The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan.

The leaders planted trees with people from Beijing at a city park in the southern district of Daxing.

While planting saplings of different types of trees, Xi asked the young students around him about their studies, motivated them to foster a sense of hard work, and told them to boost their awareness of the need to protect the environment and conserve resources.

"Since the 18th CPC National Congress, we have adhered to the notion that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets to fully promote the development of ecological civilization, advance afforestation and improve living environment in both urban and rural areas," Xi said. "A beautiful China is becoming a reality."

The president also stressed continuous and arduous efforts to protect and restore the ecological system and achieve the fundamental improvement of the environment.

Contribute to Global Climate Governance

Noting that forests are crucial to conserving water, obtaining economic benefits, and safeguarding grain security, Xi stressed that their vital role as carbon pools should also be valued.

Forests and grasslands play a fundamental and strategic role in ecological security, Xi said, adding that thriving forests and grasslands are essential for a sound ecosystem.

At present, the ecological civilization in China has entered a critical period for eco-environment improvement, Xi said, calling for unswerving implementation of the new development philosophy and following the path of prioritizing ecological conservation and boosting green development.

The president called for efforts to coordinate the protection and systematic management of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, lakes, grasslands and sandy lands, advance scientific afforestation, increase the quantity and quality of forest and grass resources, and consolidate and enhance the carbon sink capacity of ecosystems.

In doing so, we will make greater contribution to global environmental and climate governance and to the modernization featuring harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, Xi said.

Xi also urged more efforts to promote voluntary tree-planting activities, raise public awareness, and carry out such activities in a scientific, thrifty and pragmatic manner.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, holds a shovel as he attends a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Yin Bogu]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with the officials, people and school children on-site during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Ju Peng]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Huang Jingwen]

Li Keqiang plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Wednesday planted trees in Beijing, marking the 10th year of his participation as the top leader in the annual tree-planting activity in the Chinese capital. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Ding Lin]

Li Zhanshu plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Wednesday planted trees in Beijing, marking the 10th year of his participation as the top leader in the annual tree-planting activity in the Chinese capital. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Wang Ye]

Wang Yang plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Wednesday planted trees in Beijing, marking the 10th year of his participation as the top leader in the annual tree-planting activity in the Chinese capital. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Ding Lin]

Wang Huning plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Wednesday planted trees in Beijing, marking the 10th year of his participation as the top leader in the annual tree-planting activity in the Chinese capital. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Ding Haitao]

Zhao Leji plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Wednesday planted trees in Beijing, marking the 10th year of his participation as the top leader in the annual tree-planting activity in the Chinese capital. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Yin Bogu]

Han Zheng plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Wednesday planted trees in Beijing, marking the 10th year of his participation as the top leader in the annual tree-planting activity in the Chinese capital. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Ding Haitao]

Wang Qishan plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District in Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Wednesday planted trees in Beijing, marking the 10th year of his participation as the top leader in the annual tree-planting activity in the Chinese capital. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Yin Bogu]

(Source: Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Huang Jingwen]

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua)  Participating in Beijing's tree planting activity on March 30, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that he had participated in such activities for 10 consecutive years. "I want to do my bit for the Beautiful China initiative, and also to sow the seeds of ecological conservation in the entire society, among the Chinese youth in particular," he stressed. Xi said that he intends to call on all Chinese people to act as participators and promoters in the endeavor for ecological conservation. "With perseverance and accumulated efforts, we will be able to make our country's sky bluer, mountains lusher, waters clearer and the environment more beautiful," he said.

Spring has come and everything takes on a fresh look. At 10:30 in the morning, Party and state leaders including Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan arrived at a tree planting site in Huangcun Town, Beijing's Daxing District, and joined volunteers from the capital city to plant trees.

The trees were planted in an urban recreation park in the southern district, which covers an area of about 1,500 mu (100 hectares). The site was originally a reservoir mudflat, but is now designed as an urban park. Upon completion, it will become an ecological space for the residents nearby to relax and get close to nature.

Seeing the general secretary's arrival, those who were planting trees greeted him warmly. Xi waved to them, picked up a shovel and walked to the planting site. Then he got down to work along with the leading officials of the Beijing Municipality and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, as well as officials, members of the public and Young Pioneers from the capital.

Digging holes with a shovel, building soil berms, watering the trees...Xi planted saplings of Chinese pine, flowering peach, magnolia, crab apple and Chinese ash. While working on the trees, he inquired about the children's study and living conditions, telling them to attain a well-rounded development in terms of moral grounding, intellectual and physical ability, aesthetic sensibility, and work skills. In particular, the role of work skills cannot be underestimated. Xi told them to cultivate the awareness of work, environmental protection and thriftiness from childhood, not to shy away from good deeds no matter how small they seem, and work hard step by step to become the talent needed by the Party and the people. In an atmosphere full of liveliness and vigor, all the participants worked together and had cordial exchanges.

During the break, Xi stressed to all on the site that to achieve sustainable development of the Chinese nation has always remained a goal of ours. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Party has united and led the people from all ethnic groups in nationwide greening programs, made historic achievements and created impressive ecological miracles. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, adhering to the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, we have taken comprehensive steps to advance ecological conservation, promoted afforestation and improved the urban and rural living conditions. Beautiful China has been becoming a reality. Meanwhile, we must also be aware that protecting and restoring the ecosystem and fundamentally improving the environment cannot be accomplished at one stroke, but still requires consistent and arduous efforts, so we must work hard and long without letup.

Xi noted that forests have the capacity to conserve water, bring in economic benefits, and boost grain production, and now serve well as a carbon sink. Forests and grasslands are of fundamental and strategic significance for our country's ecological security; when forests and grasslands flourish, the environment thrives. Now China's ecological conservation endeavors have entered a crucial moment when environment protection is progressing from quantitative to qualitative changes. We must apply the new development philosophy and follow a path of prioritizing ecological conservation and pursuing green development. We will protect and manage our ecosystems involving mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, grasslands and deserts with a holistic approach, carry out greening programs systematically, and increase both quantity and quality of forest and grassland resources. All these will help consolidate and enhance the carbon absorption capacity of ecosystems, and make greater contributions to global environmental and climate governance as well as achieving China's modernization featuring harmony between humanity and nature.

Planting trees, protecting forests, and embracing nature are traditional Chinese virtues, Xi stressed. We will carry forward the spirit of Saihanba, a model in afforestation, and continue to launch nationwide initiatives to plant trees. We will create new ways, improve publicity and communication, and carry out tree planting activities in a systematic, economical, and practical manner. Leading officials at all levels should remain committed to greening programs and all other ecological conservation efforts to ensure that our people live on a land of beauty, charm and fortune.

Members of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, members of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and State Councilors in Beijing also attended the activity.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, holds a shovel as he attends a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Yin Bogu]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Huang Jingwen]

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with the officials, people and school children on-site during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. [Xinhua/Ju Peng]

(Source: Xinhua)
Named after the Seminole Native American tribe, Lake Seminole is a human-made lake created at the convergence of Spring Creek, the Chattahoochee River, and Flint River. With its rich history and deep swamps, the lake serves as an ecological haven and recreational destination.

Geography Of Lake Seminole

Forests along the shores of Lake Seminole.

Lake Seminole is an expansive stretch of water that is created where the Chattahoochee River, Flint River, and Spring Creek meet. This 37,500-acre lake borders the three US states of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama and is situated between St. Petersburg and Clearwater, Florida. Impounding the lake is the Jim Woodruff Dam, which serves as a hydroelectric dam on the Apalachicola River. Moreover, the dam is situated at the border of Georgia and Florida. The US Army Corps of Engineers maintains ten parks along the lake's shores. Two such parks are the Three Rivers State Park which covers 686 acres of wetland, and the Seminole State Park, which covers 604 acres. Reaching a maximum depth of 30 feet, Lake Seminole's geographic coordinates are 30.77573576N and 84.8-587006W (30.77573576, -84.8-587006). In addition, the lake has a shore length of 376 miles.

History Of Lake Seminole

Birds in Lake Seminole.

Before the lake was formed in the 1950s, the area served as the junction between the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers. Thousands of years before the arrival of the Spanish, Native American civilizations flourished in this region. Proof of this is evident through the many uncovered archaeological sites in the area, including village sites, ceremonial sites, and burial mounds. It was not until 1674 that the Spanish settled in the junction region. Within the land created by the fork of the two rivers, the Spanish established the Mission Santa Cruz de Sabacola.

In time, the British and Americans also came to settle within the area. However, this happened only after many bloody wars had taken place over this strategic piece of land. In fact, proof of the land's strategic nature was evident throughout the War of 1812 and the First Seminole War of 1817-1818. Many battlefields, forts, and Seminole village locations survive as historical sites. One such fort is Fort Scott, which was constructed in 1816 to defend the border from the Spanish. As Florida became a US territory, any use for the fort ceased by 1821. Upon the lake's creation in 1958, remains of this fort were completely submerged in the water. During the years before the American Civil War, this region became well known as an extensive and rich agricultural district. Thus, dotting the riverbanks were several forgotten communities and some large plantations.

In 1958, the lake came into existence when the Jim Woodruff Dam was constructed at the confluence of the Flint River, Spring Creek, and the Chattahoochee River. Therefore, the lake was filled by the US Army Corps of Engineers after the dam's construction and authorization by the US Congress in 1946. This navigational and hydroelectric dam was named after the Georgia businessman, James W. Woodruff, who led the project.

The Seminole Tribe

Old huts of Seminole peoples.

Lake Seminole is named after the Seminole tribe of Native Americans who historically dwelled in the area. Often referring to themselves as the "Unconquered People", the Seminole people are descendants of the Creek people. In the 1700s and early 1800s, their ancestors migrated to Florida. The US military waged three wars against the Seminoles during the first half of the nineteenth century. Following these wars, the Seminoles lived in isolation within the Everglades. Throughout the years, the Seminole people persevered in spite of the many economic, political, and social pressures set up against them. Numbering approximately 3,200 members today, they succeeded in adapting to the new circumstances placed upon them while maintaining and preserving much of their unique cultural heritage.

Ecology Of Lake Seminole

Alligator in Lake Seminole in Florida.

Despite being human-made in nature, the lake serves as an ecological wonderland given its subtropical setting, natural springs, and deep swamps. The areas around the lake consist of a mixture of pine and hardwood forests. These forests are perfect habitats for a variety of songbirds. Waterlilies, hydrilla, pondweeds, and waterlilies can be frequently encountered in the lake's shallower areas. In terms of aquatic fauna, the lake is teeming with a plethora of fish species: striped bass, black crappie, bluegill, and chain pickerel. Other commonly seen fauna are several species of waterfowl that typically wade and dive in and out of the lake. Moreover, this ecosystem's apex predator, the American alligator, is often seen floating around the lake.

Full of history and natural wonder, Lake Seminole's beautiful waters, and its lush surrounding forests serve as a haven to many key species. Furthermore, the reservoir lake provides various popular recreational opportunities such as hunting, fishing, boating, and camping.
President Joe Biden meets with Ukrainian refugees and humanitarian aid workers during a visit to PGE Narodowy Stadium, Saturday, March 26, 2022, in Warsaw. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
2:48PM It appears it was Ruabon being recounted possibly 3-4 times at the end there.

2:24PM Some new councillors floating around outside and some old ones, some group leaders as well. Word is talks will now take place over the coming days to see who offers whom what to form up an administration. Who has the biggest group? Who wants what job? Who gets to chair Scrutiny committees?

and perhaps most important, who can work with who?

2:01PM

A run down of the overall figures:

Independent 21

Labour 15

Conservatives 9

Plaid Cymru 9

Liberal Democrats 1

Non stated 1

2PM The sports hall goes quiet

The community council count will take place from 3pm  but the main event is complete, and Wrexham has a new council, just how it will shape up is yet to be known as there is no overall control. pic.twitter.com/JQVvnX8KIl  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 6, 2022

1:52PM That wraps up the County Council count!

1:50PM David A Bithell hangs on to his seat by 15 votes in Johnstown in what was a tight race.

1:47PM Just three more wards to go!

So far our tally has 14 Independents, one lib dem, nine Plaid Cymru, nine conservatives, 13 Labour, one non-alligned and five Wrexham independents.

1:40PM Just inputted the data for that load of results. Looks like the Johnstown huddle has just taken place, so could see a result there soon. If you see winning candidates exiting sharply, they are going to get a picture taken and get given a welcome pack!

1:28PM COUNT COMPLETE  apart from the one ward recounting.

1:25PM Possible recount on one ward underway  or some ballots being reinspected

1:23pm Count still going on in Johnstown. No sign of one of the incumbents, David A Bithell.

1:20 PM .and there was the flurry of results. Wrexham council stalwart for decades Alun Jenkins loses his seat by 6 votes.

1:03pm Looks as though Johnstown is the only ward still counting.

Results seem to be coming in a flurry after a few minutes break..

12:44PM Big batch of results in Mr Bancrofts hands.

12:40PM Thought there was a sniff of a recount in Cefn West, two animated candidates talking to the returning officer.

12:28pm: Heres how the results are looking so far.

Two new Plaid Cymru Councillors elected  Emma Holland for Gwersyllt North and Pete Howell for Gwersyllt South. Conservative Beverley Parry Jones Holds Bryn Cefn for the Conservatives.

Phil Wynn and Frank Hemmings both re-elected. Fred Roberts elected for the new Rhos ward as an independent

12:11PM Only four wards still counting.

12:05 PM It looks like the only wards counting now are the dual member ones  so could be wrapped up by 1pm possibly with a pile of results this hour.

11:59am: Three more votes in  Carrie Harper (Plaid) HOLDS Queensway, Graham Rogers (LAB) holds Hermitage and Paul Williams (Plaid) Regains Smithfield for Plaid from Labour

11:47am: Flurry of votes through, all incumbents holding their seats in those four announcements. Paul Blackwell, Marc Jones, Jeremy Kent and Brian Cameron all re-elected

11:40AM We have had a huddle for Grosvenor and now Gresford East. Results soon on those  the latter being a head to head Jeremy Kent (Cons) v Aimi Waters (Plaid Cymru).

11:32AM The Returning Officer Ian Bancroft is walking around with lots of papers going to some candidate groups  looks like things are picking up in terms of confirming results and possible further announcements shortly. Huddles of candidates some looking happier than others.

11:24AM: The first two results are in. Labour HOLD Wynnstay and Cefn East. Malcolm King and Derek Wright both re-elected.

11:15AM You might see some tables with big white sheets, they are being used in wards where there are two councillors being elected. People there have had two votes to use, so it makes things a little more complicated for the count. There does certainly seem to be inactivity on more tables, perhaps we are waiting for a fifth before the first declaration

11:03AM Looks like we could have a result soon, Wynnstay candidates being gathered

10:56am For those who are just joining us, welcome to the Wrexham Council count 2022!

Results will be announced in groups of five and this time, due to covid, there will be no candidates going up to the stage.

Once the winners are announced theyll be taken for the photos taken and given election packs.

Interesting counting method going on for the dual councillor wards which you should be able to see on our livestream.

10:43am: It looks as though the counting on some tables has begun. Still no indication when results will start being announced.

10:40AM Lots of clear tables as the verification process draws to an end.

10:21: Neighbouring Flintshire has started to announce votes. Still at the verification process here in Wrexham.

For coverage of Flintshire elections check out our sister site, Deeside.com

10:08am Apologies for the dodgy stream today  connection issues meaning the feed is buffering a fair bit.

10am: Voting and verification is now underway.

Clwyd South side of the hall, a few tables still waiting to be given votes to verify and count pic.twitter.com/hLldnVZrE2  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 6, 2022

9:40am: And were off! The counting and verification is about to get underway

Returning Officer Ian Bancroft is just outlining how the count will take place. County council first and then the community councils will begin at 3pm

There will be about five election announcements in one go, so theyre going to come through thick and fast today.

9:36am: Returning Officer Ian Bancroft has just announced the count will begin in five minutes time

Current council leader Mark Pritchard  who is also unopposed  has just arrived pic.twitter.com/ddim6bSYB2  Wrexham.com (@wrexham) May 6, 2022

9:30am: We finally have audio on the election feed. For those watching the tables nearest the camera are the votes for Wrexham wards and the ones at the other end are Clwyd South:

9:26am: The counting room is starting to fill up, so far everyone seems in good spirits.

Its a bit odd seeing some of these councillors in person for the first time in two years after all meetings were held remote since the start of the pandemic.

9:06am: The first of the candidates have started being left into the main count hall.

Our live video coverage of the count has also started for all those who enjoy watching our live feed.

8:49am: We are live from the count! Another day time count so hopefully no one was sat waiting at 10pm last night for the results to start coming through.

Candidates are starting to arrive but theyre being kept outside until 9am, when the verification and voting will take place.



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.
In a budget that included major cuts to healthcare, public education, the arts, climate-change mitigation and other key areas of social spending, the Liberal-National Coalition government has allocated tens of billions of dollars to the military, on top of unprecedented spending on the war machine over the past decade.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Defence Minister Peter Dutton declared that the budget represented a record investment in defence. All up, $48.6 billion was handed to the Department of Defence and the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), the electronic spying agency, representing a 7.4 percent increase on spending in 202122.

A Royal New Zealand Air Force NH90 helicopter and an Australian Defence Force MRH90 land at Sam Hill Airfield in Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area in Central Queensland [Source: Australian Department of Defence]

The budget provides for military expenditure over the coming year at over 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The annual spending is part of a far broader build-up. The 202223 allocations are in keeping with government declarations that some $575 billion will be spent on defence over the decade, including $270 billion on military hardware. They lock in measures announced by Morrison over recent weeks, including a $38 billion fund over 20 years to pay for the largest increase of military personnel since the Vietnam War, from roughly 60,000 to around 80,000.

The budget papers state that the military spending is necessary because the world has entered a period of profound uncertainty and disruption. Morrison likewise declared: In these uncertain times it is vital that Australia is well-positioned to tackle the challenges our country and our region face.

The references to safety and defence are a sham. The vast expansion is aimed at deepening Australias frontline role in the aggressive, US-led confrontations with Russia, and above all China, aimed at ensuring the geo-strategic hegemony of American imperialism. The 2 percent of GDP is in line with the public insistence of senior US politicians and military figures that no less can be allocated to the military by key American allies.

Notably, the budget papers explicitly refer to an increasingly assertive China, dispensing with the previous norm of bland references to mounting tensions with unnamed foreign adversaries.

The bellicose character of the military expansion is summed up by one of the headline spends, a $10 billion increase to ASD funding over the decade. The allocation, hailed by the spying agency as the biggest in its 75-year history, will contribute to the development of its REDSPICE (resilience, effects, defence, space, intelligence, cyber and enablers) program.

Strikingly, no attempt is made to hide the fact that the primary focus of REDSPICE is offensive cyberwarfare. Previously, the ASDs cyber operations have been falsely presented as defensive, but now the agency and government ministers are openly bragging of plans for cyber attacks.

A vague ASD outline of the REDSPICE program leads with a declaration that it will triple current offensive cyber capability. The global footprint of the ASD will be quadrupled, while its staff will be doubled, from 1,900 to 3,800.

The boasts underscore the utterly hypocritical condemnations by the US and its allies, including Australia, of purported Russian and Chinese hacking. Publications by WikiLeaks and US National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden have already exposed American agencies and those of its allies as the biggest purveyors of malware viruses, hacking activities and mass spying operations in the world, all of which are being increased.

The joint US-Australia base in Pine Gap plays a central role in the interception of foreign satellite data, and in the planning of US drone strikes and operations throughout the Indo-Pacific and the Middle East. Together with at least three ASD facilities, it is crucial to the global activities of the US-led Five Eyes intelligence network.

The ASD announcement, coming on the heels of a government-media campaign over purported Chinese cyberware, is clearly directed against Beijing. The major expansion of the ASD is also a warning of escalating surveillance within Australia, directed against social and political opposition, including to war.

Another $1.2 billion has been allocated to a national space mission, in line with the growing militarisation of outer space.

Australian aid to the right-wing, US-backed Ukrainian regime is listed in the budget at $156.5 million. That includes almost $100 million spent on two military shipments dispatched to the country over the past month, as part of the US-NATO confrontation with Russia that threatens to widen into a world war.

The budget papers also hint at the central importance of AUKUS, the aggressive military pact announced between the US, Britain and Australia, directed against Beijing. Unveiled last September, AUKUS provides for the ever-greater integration of the three countrys militaries across the board, openly preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific.

A key measure was the announcement that Australia will acquire nuclear-powered submarines. The budget papers make no mention of the cost of acquiring these submarines, which will likely be bought off the shelf from the US or Britain. Previous estimates, however, have put the purchase and running of the vessels at over $100 billion.

The government provoked a major diplomatic clash with France by abandoning an existing contract with a French company to construct 12 diesel-powered vessels. The budget reveals that the decision cost $3 billion last year, and another half billion dollars in contract fees over 202223, indicating the high priority given to acquiring nuclear powered subs.

Some $882 million, of a projected $45 billion, is allocated over the coming year to the construction of nine Hunter-Class frigates.

The budget also does not mention the spending associated with the expansion of military personnel over the next 20 years. Some analysts, however, have indicated that the initial stages of the program are factored into existing defence force funding.

The government has also pledged to develop a submarine base on the Australian east coast in Brisbane, Newcastle or Port Kembla that can host both Australian and allied nuclear-powered subs. That base is tipped to cost $10 billion over a decade. Another $4.3 billion has been pledged to build a large-vessel dry dock berth in Perth to aid the stationing and construction of warships on the Australian west coast strategically located on the Indian Ocean.

None of those projects is explicitly referenced, pointing to the far greater allocation of public funds to the military that is to come.

Other, ostensibly non-defence, budget measures have clear military implications. Under regional development, $1.5 billion is allocated for the construction of new port infrastructure in the Northern Territory. Defence Minister Dutton has hinted at the construction of a new port in Darwin that would rival the existing facility, which is under lease to a Chinese companya move opposed in Australian and US military circles. Another $9.2 billion has been allocated to maritime surveillance.

The response to the budgets military expenditure has been mixed, with the most hawkish figures declaring that it does not go far enough.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a think-tank that has continuously agitated for a more aggressive stance against China, complained that the governments megaprojects, including the acquisition of major offensive weapons such as the submarines, simply arent delivering in relevant capability in meaningful timeframes. At the same time, it praised the ASD expansion as a promising step in the development of asymmetric approaches to warfare.

An article in the Australian similarly complained that AUKUS remains a statement of intent rather than a pact that will deliver any quick defence capability to Australia. The first of the nuclear submarines are decades away, if they arrive at all.

[G]iven Chinas rapid rise as a naval power, why doesnt the government buy far more anti-ship missiles and more long-range land-based missiles? it asked.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese has repeatedly stressed that the government and Labor are as one on all national security issues associated with the drive to war against China. To the extent that he has criticised the Coalition, it has been from the standpoint that Labor is better placed to preside over the vast military build-up.

Albanese has committed a Labor government to spend 2 percent of GDP on the military. He has announced his own funding initiatives, including a plan to fit tomahawk missiles to the existing fleet of Collins Class submarines while preparations are underway to acquire the nuclear-powered vessels.
The Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee (PWRFC) opposes the US-NATO war drive and the Russian governments invasion of Ukraine. We call on workers at Australia Post (AP) and throughout the transport sector, as well as the broader Australian and international working class, to take up a fight against the escalating threat of global conflict between nuclear-armed powers.

Direct responsibility for the Ukraine-Russia war lies with US and European imperialist powers and the multi-decade expansion of NATO as part of a large-scale military buildup directed against Russia.

Australia Post delivery van [Source: Wikimedia/Orderinchaos]

The US and NATO are seeking the dismemberment of Russia to exploit its natural resources and working class, in line with the geo-strategic aim of American imperialism to control the whole Eurasian landmass. This perspective of world domination is bringing the US into military conflict with both Russia and China, as well as anyone else that stands in its way.

Goaded by US-NATO aggression, including the massive supply of arms to Ukraine, the Russian government of Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion. This reactionary response, based on the interests of Russian capitalism, serves only to drive a wedge between Russian and Ukrainian workers and escalate the threat of world war.

Now it is the working class that will pay the price. Workers on both sides have been dragooned into a war they have no interest in fighting.

The primary victims of brutal economic sanctions designed to crush the Russian economy, launched by capitalist governments including Australias, are workers in Russia and around the world who now face a further increase to already soaring prices for fuel, food and other essentials.

Russian and Ukrainian workers alike have been brutally exploited for decades, both by obscenely wealthy oligarchs who made their fortunes by looting the nationalised industries of the former Soviet Union and by the major imperialist powers.

The utter hostility of the global ruling class to workers has been sharply expressed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments around the world, including in Australia, have refused to fight the pandemic and instead advanced the anti-scientific perspective of herd immunity, causing millions of deaths.

According to Worldometer, around 108,000 Ukrainians, 368,000 Russians and 1,000,000 Americans have died needlessly.

In Australia, more than 3,700 have died in just the first three months of 2022, as a direct result of the let it rip policies of state, territory and federal governments, Labor and Liberal-National alike.

This murderous strategy has been enforced by the unions, including the Communications, Electrical and Plumbers Union (CEPU). In lockstep with management, the CEPU has forced AP workers to remain on the job, risking their health and lives, throughout the pandemic, and opposed any public health measures that would possibly interfere with profit making.

Employers have used the pandemic to accelerate their assault on workers conditions. The unions have loyally enforced management demands and systematically blocked all opposition from workers.

Now, trade unions around the world are openly lining up behind their own nation states demands that workers sacrifice for imperialist war and plunder. This is a logical extension of decades of enforcement by unions of cuts to workers jobs, pay and conditions in order to make their own capitalist class more competitive in the global market.

In a recent letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) called for heightened economic warfare against Russia, including a national embargo on all Russian ships and vessels. This lines up completely with the propaganda and political aims of the ruling class to dismember Russia and turn it into a vassal state for imperialist exploitation.

The Labor Party is also in total agreement with the US-led war drive against Russia and China. In the lead-up to the federal election, Labor leader Anthony Albanese is positioning the party to play its traditional role as a wartime government, criticising Morrisons recent announcements of massive increases to military expenditure only from the standpoint that they are too little, too late.

Imperialist war abroad means war on the working class at home. This is already on display in the stark contrast between the hundreds of millions of dollars in lethal military aid to Ukraine instantly made available by the Morrison government and the pittance afforded to workers and families who have lost everything in recent floods.

The federal budget handed down Tuesday night made clear that further massive increases to Australian military expenditure, along with tax cuts for the wealthy, will be paid for through harsh austerity measures directed at the working class. Funding for health, aged care, education, arts and culture will all be slashed, and nothing will be done to address public sector wages, which are declining rapidly in real terms.

The fight for workers jobs, pay and conditions is inseparable from the fight against war and its fundamental cause, capitalism and the nation-state system. This places such a struggle in direct conflict with the nationalist perspective of the trade unions and bourgeois political parties.

The Postal Workers Rank-and-File Committee calls on workers at AP and throughout the working class to join or form rank-and-file committees, independent of Labor and the unions, to fight for an international mobilisation of workers in a unified struggle against imperialism and war.
The WSWS encourages rail workers, relatives, and safety experts with information to share to contact the CP Workers Rank-and-File Committee at cpworkersrfc@gmail.com.

Canadas Transportation Safety Board (TSB) is scheduled to release today its long-awaited investigatory report into the fatal train derailment in Field, British Columbia, in February 2019. The derailment of Canadian Pacific (CP) Railway Train 301 killed three rail workers: conductor Dylan Paradis, engineer Andrew Dockrell, and conductor trainee Daniel Waldenberger-Bulmer.

CP Rail workers on the picket line in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (Credit: Teamsters Division 510)

The derailment occurred while the train was in emergency. Previous findings released by the TSB confirmed that it was not tied down, which is when the handbrakes are applied for an additional layer of safety. By the time the replacement crew boarded the train, which was parked on a steep slope in extremely cold weather, the air pressure in the air brakes had dropped to such an extent that they were unable to control the train when it began to move.

The families and friends of the deceased rail workers have been waiting for over three years for answers about what precisely happened near Field in the early hours of February 4, 2019. Pam Fraser, Dylans mother, spoke to the World Socialist Web Site recently about her familys struggle to find out the truth about her sons death.

Our whole family was devastated by Dylans death. We are all plagued by questions that remain unanswered, she said. My dad was a railroader too, but he cant reconcile the different facts about the derailment. I have PTSD now stemming from how Dylan was killed, the state of his body and the manner of his death.

Three wonderful, proud, sincere and dedicated human beings were killed needlessly that day, due to the greed of their employer. What happened to my son and his crewmates never should have happened.

Pam recalled the ordeal of the derailments immediate aftermath, commenting, I first learned the manner of Dylans death from Keith Creel [Canadian Pacifics CEO]. He came to Dylans home at the memorial and he said he had been to the crash site. Theres that bond and pride in the railroader family, so when he shows up after such a horrific and tragic event, our first thought was how much he must care. We deferred to him, but he gave us incorrect information that the coroner clarified with me later that night. He was angry that Creel gave us false information. It was not right, and we should never have gotten it.

CBC reported that Dylan was crushed to death. On another occasion, I learned that the train ran off the mountain, turned over and landed nose down. CP Rail said one thing, then Transportation Canada said something else. So there are discrepancies among the various reporting agencies.

Part of my devastation is learning of four different ways that Dylan may have died. But how can there not be absolute confidence in what happened to my son? Thats an incredible problem. To this day, we still dont know what really happened.

Pam likened the subsequent investigation to a cover-up and addressed an incident that filled her with rage towards Canadian Pacific Railway, Canadas second-largest railroad. A month after the accident, Keith Creel was interviewed in Bloomberg, she recalled. Up until then I was still in deep grief and bewilderment. So hes talking about how well the company is doing and how they are working with the employees. Then he says something like, Ive gotta say, we didnt get it all right, we may have broken a few eggs and I immediately saw my sons crushed head. This was the first time I felt really angry.

As the CEO, Creel is personally in charge of repealing the handbrakes rules that led to the accident. I think about the callousness and arrogance coming from that guy, floating around a crime scene he should have never have been at, and showing up at my sons house and misinforming us. The inhumanity in it.

Pam detailed how CP Rail has persistently stonewalled efforts to investigate the derailment. Its easy to see the blatant callousness of CP Rail, she said. Even after the accident, when Transport Canada recommended handbrakes be used, CP rail appealed the order immediately.

The TSB is a formally independent federal agency reporting to Parliament through the President of the Queens Privy Council for Canada. However, the agencys behaviour since the Field derailment has raised serious questions about its role. In late 2019, Don Crawford, the original TSB investigator on the case, said he suspected negligence and requested that the RCMP, Canadas federal police, take over the investigation.

While an RCMP investigation could result in criminal prosecutions, the TSB has no power to file any civil or criminal charges. As its website notes, (I)t is not the function of the Board to assign fault or determine civil or criminal liability. Additionally, (f)indings of the Board are not binding on the parties to any legal, disciplinary, or other proceedings.

CP Rail responded to Crawfords call for the RCMP to intervene by threatening the TSB with a lawsuit. The independent federal agency reacted to this threat by removing Crawford from the inquiry, rejecting its own findings, and issuing a private apology to CP Rail, which was delivered by TSB chair Kathy Fox in January 2020.

Canadian Pacific also succeeded in removing Mark Tataryn, a lead investigator for the Canadian Pacific Police Service (CPPS), after he demanded to see critical evidence related to the derailment. The CPPS is a company police force tasked with enforcing the law across CPs rail network in Canada and the United States.

Pam commented, The investigation feels like a conspiracy to cover up the truth. Just a week after the accident, the facts we were given kept changing. When the train was put into emergency; when the crew was called out; when the train ran away; when the crew died. All these times are not cohesive or synchronistic. Several different organizations have different time records for the same events.

She continued, The only entity that can investigate the Train 301 derailment, which is classified as a class 2 event, is the TSB. So it has a lot of power and autonomy. But it has been found that TSB bowed to pressure from CP Rail.

How is it possible that CP has any influence over the TSB, who, by their own mandate, clearly and loudly state that they are only answerable to the Privy Council of Canada? Its like these people are operating above the law, and unanswerable to the people who pay them.

We are very anxious to see the final TSB report into the Train 301 derailment, especially given their previous history with following CPs instructions.

Pam discussed at length how she and her relatives have fought, largely alone, to get to the bottom of what happened. Before my mother died, she wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, begging him to please help make changes, she stated. She said, I dont have a lot of time left on this earth but before I go I would do Dylan a disservice if I didnt do something to evoke change.

If my sons legacy could be the change of the very things that led to his killing then I can live with that. I can put this to rest and finish grieving. I can look at photo albums again. I would just like to see my boy in the picture on his altar and look at that fondly with love. I could give the accident some meaning. Dylans death should be the impetus for change. Something for the greater good.

With the help of a legal team, she sought to pressure CN Rail, Canadas largest railroad, to improve its health and safety record. She chose CN because she is a shareholder.

I made a shareholder proposal to CN: Get rid of private rail police, and protect whistleblowers who speak out against the railways, she said. My lawyer had to push against their legal counsel because they tried to deny my presentation of the proposal. In its circular, the company voted that my proposals be voted down. Because I had legal representation, I was able to present and my proposal received about 2 percent of the vote. We showed in our petition that we had remedies, policies that better served the company, but they refused to listen.

I think if the management/corporate bonuses were tied to injury and death, it could lead to a motivation for safer practices. There needs to be some way of reminding corporations that the workers are human beings.

NDP MP Nicki Ashton sponsored our two petitions with the same demands to the government which was hopeful and promising. We gathered the minimum 5,000 signatures needed to present it before government, and we followed the steps down to the letter and by the law. But when it came time to go to the floor, the government did not acknowledge it and it was never brought to the House of Commons. It sat for 10 days before it was meant to be heard. Then an election was called and it went up in smoke.

The lawsuits we have filed are not about the money. How else is there any other way to hold these elites accountable? We cannot have these railway barons policing themselves. We just cannot ignore it any longer. These crews horrible and gruesome deaths should not be for nothing. There needs to be a reckoning.

The trade unions have been just as disinterested in improving safety conditions as the corporate and political establishment. We thought that the Teamsters union would be a supportive partner in our initiatives to effect change but they went by the wayside, Pam noted.

Unions dont seem to have any power anymore. Workers cannot even strike. In the early days, the unions had teeth and the railroaders negotiated contracts and worked to rule. You cannot do that anymore. Hunter Harrison changed everything with his fancy term Precision Railroading. Keith Creel was his prodigy. So the workers cannot work-to-rule anymore because they have found questionable ways of getting rid of them instead. Everyone is in fear of losing their job because it is abundantly clear the company does not value them personally as human beings, as valued members of society.

The young ones are coming in green to the culture of precision railroading. The old guys had years of experience before the Hunter Harrison years. But CP wants an entire workforce that doesnt know what the previous conditions were like, because the work was much better then.

Pam emphasized that uncovering the truth about how Dylan and his two colleagues died is not only an urgent concern for their relatives, but a critical issue for working people everywhere.

If only workers knew they were not alone, she said. If they knew that thousands and thousands of workers like them feel the same way. Thousands are afraid for their livelihoods, a roof over their heads, and gainful employment. Unfortunately, they only know the crews they work with, and there is no great gatherings or public forums where they can speak out safely.

There is a small army that believes as earnestly as I do that these changes are imperative. We are the little ants that make this country run, but our government and extremely powerful corporations walk all over us. But we count. We, the employees, the railroaders, count.

The public needs to know that if the railroad runs through your town, your family and community are always at risk. Its not a benign entity. We get complacent in railroad towns. We get used to it. But with Lac-Megantic, Quebec, at one end and Field, British Columbia, on the other, there are constant derailments, spills and mishaps, injuries and fatalities that the public knows little about. Train 301 was not an isolated event. It was a culmination of 25 years of bad safety and corporate greed.
Only four weeks after record-breaking floods in Australia devastated cities and towns in New South Wales and Queensland, areas of northern NSW are again being severely impacted by torrential rains and flash flooding.

Flood damaged furniture and household goods in Phyllis Street, Lismore [Credit: WSWS Media]

Just as quickly, the renewed emergency has exposed the lack of government assistance, resources and basic infrastructureeven rain gauges, pumps and warning signalsthat has now twice thrown thousands of residents into danger in low-lying areas.

People who were just starting to recover, and partly restore homes where possible, have again been inundated, causing further hardship and distress, as well as anger over the inadequate and indifferent official response.

Communities throughout northern NSW have experienced as much as 200-300mm of rainfall in just a few hours, leading to destructive and sometimes unprecedented rapid flooding. Alstonville, a town between Ballina and Lismore, received 431mm in 24 hours.

Ballina experienced just short of a metre of rain in one week, with around half that amount falling in 24 hours. Similarly heavy rain was recorded in Byron Bay, Coffs Harbour, Dorrigo and Bellingen.

So far, about 20 evacuation orders are in place across the Northern Rivers region of NSW, affecting around 28,000 people. The largely-volunteer State Emergency Service (SES) carried out 55 flood rescues in 24 hours. Searches are continuing for a missing aged care worker, feared drowned in her car.

In the regional city of Lismore, one of the worst-hit areas of the previous floods, there was again widespread fury over the response of governments and authorities as the towns levee was overtopped by floodwaters from the Wilsons River for the second time within a month. The rivers level peaked at over 11 metres last night, engulfing the central lower parts of the city.

Nearby towns, including Casino, Coraki, Evans Head, Yamba and Bungawalbin, were also inundated. The central business district of Byron Bay was submerged in what long-time residents described as some of the worst flooding they had experienced in half a century. At least three metres of water have been recorded in the area during the past 24 hours, overloading the towns drainage system and damaging dozens of shops.

The flooding also occurred in parts of southern Queensland, with 170 road closures reported to date. In the Gold Coast, 300mm of rain fell on the city in 24 hours to early Tuesday morning, while in Dalby, west of Brisbane, 2,000 homes were damaged by floodwaters after the Myall Creek peaked just under the record level from the 2011 floods.

Despite continuous severe storm warnings from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, evacuation orders issued on Monday by the NSW SES for thousands of residents in northern parts of the state were rescinded on Tuesday afternoon, only to be reimposed in the early hours of Wednesday morning due to an overnight spike in rainfall, much to the anger and bewilderment of residents.

Furthermore, because of faulty communications systems, the SES had to use Facebook to alert people to evacuate, and some were not told directly to leave their homes until 9 a.m. on Wednesday, giving them only a couple of hours to collect their possessions and flee.

The chaotic emergency response was also hampered in Lismore by the failure of the towns flood evacuation sirens, pumps and rain gauges, which had not been repaired or replaced since being put out of action by the February 28 flood disaster.

Ballina residents also said they were never notified in advance as to when flooding would occur and many were then cut off from evacuation centres. Even by early Wednesday, neither Ballina nor Byron Bay had received evacuation orders or warnings from the SES.

Yet the acting NSW premier Paul Toole defiantly defended the state governments performance when it was criticised at a press conference on Wednesday. When you have a look at the rainfall, no one could have predicted some of the amounts we have seen, he insisted. Four weeks ago, these communities were impacted no one could have predicted that we would be back here again.

In Lismore, the trauma was intensified by the piles of debris still sitting outside homes and businesses from the February 28 catastrophe, not yet collected. People who had camped inside their ruined houses were forced to hurriedly evacuate again.

This time, the flood levels were somewhat lower, so mass rescues by volunteers were not needed, but bitter memories remain about the way in which thousands of people had to be saved by fellow residents on February 28, unable to even contact emergency services.

Campervan accommodation in Alstonville near Lismore for homeless flood victims [Credit: WSWS Media]

An evacuated Lismore resident spoke to the WSWS yesterday from nearby Alstonville. Some people who lost their homes on February 28, and who were eventually allocated small government-supplied camper vans, were shifted there as the floodwaters rose again.

The rain was so bad last night, she said. It was so relentless. It went on for hours and hours with a double lightning strike and triple thunderclap at one point uprooting a tree and people were starting to get anxious.

We were taken to a site on the [Alstonville] Showground where we each had to stay in a van, with the government paying $375 a night for us to stay in those vans. There were about 4060 vans on the site for one person each, although some allowed for two. You had to walk for a mile in the rain to access toilets and showers, which some people had to drive in their cars to get to. We also get food donations, but its pretty much all we have.

Even before this weeks floods, the previous ones had devastated the lives of thousands of households in northern NSW, with the SES estimating that 3,600 homes in Lismore, Murwillumbah, Ballina and Coraki were uninhabitable, with some being condemned to demolition because of extensive flood damage.
Despite ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine that has killed thousands and led millions to flee, the United States is continuing and escalating its arms transfers to Kiev.

On Wednesday, the White House announced it would provide an additional $500 million in budget aid to Ukrainemoney that Bloomberg reported could be used for military purposesamid ongoing discussions on intensifying arms shipments to the country.

A Ukrainian soldier fires an NLAW anti-tank weapon during an exercise in the Joint Forces Operation, in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, February 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

This funding comes in addition to the $1 billion in military aid announced by Biden earlier this month. According to the Washington Post, since January 2021 alone, the US has provided Ukraine with $2 billion of assistance, including Stinger and Javelin missiles.

In a phone call between Biden and Zelensky on Wednesday, The leaders discussed how the United States is working around the clock to fulfill the main security assistance requests by Ukraine, the critical effects those weapons have had on the conflict, and continued efforts by the United States with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country, the White House said.

Responding to the announcement, members of Congress pressed for further arms shipments. Dithering needs to end. We need to flip the script and make Putin afraid of escalating against the West, said Republican Representative Mike Rogers at a hearing of the House Committee on Armed Services Wednesday. That means, he said, Giving the Ukrainians the resources to drive out every last Russian on Ukrainian soil.

General Tod Wolters, the U.S. European Command Chief, told a hearing of the House Committee on Armed Services, We cant rest for one second. Weve got a lot of work to do out in front of us to make sure that the Ukrainian armed forces are getting the right gear at the right time.

Speaking for the United States European Command, Wolters demanded, should deterrence failwe remain ready to respond with lethal and resilient force in all domains.

Celeste Wallander, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, told the hearing that the US should be prepared to send weapons to Ukraine for a long-term fight.

Not just days and weeks, but months of sustainment, perhaps longer for the Ukrainian military and Ukrainian people, Wallander said.

At the hearing, Wallander reported that the United States is delivering 100 kamikaze drones to Ukraine.

We have committed 100 Switchblade tactical unmanned aerial systems to be delivered in the most recent package of presidential drawdown, Wallander said.

The calls for further arms shipments came as Ukraine, Russia and the United States poured cold water on press reports of a diplomatic breakthrough in negotiations.

There is no sign of a breakthrough yet in ongoing peace talks, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov stated Wednesday.

No one said that the sides have made headway, he said. We cant point to anything particularly promising.

On Tuesday, Moscows chief negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, had described proposals from Kiev in the negotiations as a step forward. He announced that Russia would limit its military operations around Kiev.

Just 24 hours later, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, a close confidante of Putin, said, [W]e are not making any kind of retreat, Mr. Medinsky is somehow mistaken.

Speaking Wednesday, Zelensky referred to Russian troop movements away from Kiev and said that was not a withdrawal but rather 'the consequence of our defenders work.

U.S Secretary of State Antony Blinken also played down any talk of a peace agreement. There is what Russia says and there is what Russia does: Were focused on the latter, adding, we have not seen signs of real seriousness from Russia.

The United States, for its part, is committed to prolonging the conflict as long as possible. As Edward Luce wrote earlier this week in the Financial Times, domestic US pressure is tilting towards escalation. In marked contrast to US post-Vietnam history, Americas liberal consensus is today at least as gung-ho as on the conservative right.

Rather, all factions of the US political establishment are intent on using the crisis that has erupted in Ukraine to massively expand US military spending.

Earlier this week, the Biden administration announced a $813 billion budget proposal, up from $782 billion in 2022.

Commenting in Newsweek, Lindsay Koshgarian of the Institute for Policy Studies noted that Bidens military budget is $42 billion higher than where former President Donald Trump left it, and nearly 30 percent larger than under former President Barack Obama.

She added that Over the past 10 years, more than half of the military budget has gone to for-profit contractors. In 2020, the U.S. already spent more on one military contractor, Lockheed Martin, than Russia spent on its entire military.

Koshgarian noted, The U.S. alone already spends 12 times more on its military than Russia. When combined with Europes biggest military spenders, the U.S. and its allies on the continent outspend Russia by at least 15 to 1.

She added, The U.S. spends more by far on defense than any other country, with watchdogs such as the Project on Government Oversight estimating an annual budget of over $1 trillion on national security. That estimate includes the Department of Veterans Affairs and the cost of servicing debt from previous defense spending.

Yet despite this massive budget proposal, there is every indication that defense spending for the new year will only grow as the budget proceeds through Congress.

Republican Senator Jim Inhofe, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, declared that there was need for real growth in the defense budget and a sense of urgency and willingness to take risks both at the Pentagon and here in Congress.

Inhofe declared, We just received the Presidents FY23 budget, and it does not request the real growth we need. Well do our due diligence and our constitutional duty, as we did last year.

These themes were echoed in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal, which complained that Defense spending will still be about 3.1% of the economy under Bidens budget.

The Journal complained, To this end, the 298-ship U.S. Navy would buy only nine ships next year while retiring 24. The fleet would shrink to 280 ships in 2027, even as the Navy says it needs a fleet of 500 to defeat China in a conflict. That trend wont impress Xi Jinping as he eyes Taiwan.

Worse, the Journal wrote, The Administration appears to have canceled a program to develop a nuclear sea-launched cruise missile, precisely the kind of weapon designed to deter Mr. Putin from using tactical nukes in Europe.

The newspaper declared, Congress can do a lot to improve the Pentagon request, which should be a baseline. Republicans are suggesting the military budget needs to grow 5% in real terms. Congress should set a goal of returning the U.S. to its deterrent strength of the Cold War years, when defense spending was 5% or more of the economy.

In other words, under conditions in which funding is on the verge of running out for basic measures to fight COVID-19, powerful sections of the US political establishment are demanding a 70 percent increase in military spending.
Workers including bus drivers, healthcare staff and teachers active in rank-and-file committees in the UK were invited by the Socialist Equality Party to discuss a fight against war based on the working class and socialism.

Opening the meeting last Saturday, SEP National Secretary Chris Marsden drew attention to a point made in the February 28 World Socialist Web Site Editorial Board statement, NATO goes to war against Russia: The essential causes and interests of wars are often not at first apparent. They are concealed by an avalanche of propaganda. However, sooner or later, the real and more profound driving forces and significance of the conflict emerge.

Three weeks later, Marsden said, it was now clear that what is involved is not only a war in Ukraine, but a campaign by the US and NATO imperialist powers for war against Russia and a redivision of the world that also has China in its sights.

We were now at the most dangerous point in history, he continued, where the use of nuclear weapons was not only being considered but planned.

The US and the other imperialist powers were being driven by an acute crisis that was economic, social, and political.

During the pandemic, the major corporations and oligarchs had been given trillions of dollars, euros, and pounds, and now this must be clawed back. Price rises and spending cuts were adding to a social and political catastrophe under conditions where people are already desperate. Everything is set to get worse. War abroad means class war at home.

Preventing war meant facing up to the absence of a mass anti-war movement. The old anti-war movement has collapsed; the Stop the War Coalition (STWC) and Labour lefts do not offer any genuine means for opposing the escalating war danger.

Our answer to war, Marsden concluded, is the development of a mass anti-war movement, based on the international working class. The fight against imperialist war must be developed as a conscious and international political movement for socialism.

Introducing the discussion, SEP Assistant National Secretary Tom Scripps stressed that the question of the war was not exhausted simply by pointing to who fired the first shot. What was necessary was to understand the context, all the players involved, their interests and objectives, and where these events are threatening to take us.

The present conflict, said Scripps, followed 30 years of uninterrupted US-led wars and interventions, many involving NATO or NATO powers: Iraq, Yugoslavia, everything done in the name of the war on terror, Afghanistan, Iraq again, Libya, Syria.

All those military campaigns were about gaining geostrategic advantage for the US for the benefit of its banks, its corporations. That objective had now turned US predatory attentions towards Russia and China. US strategy documents had been talking about the need to prepare for great power conflict.

Tanks uploaded on military truck platforms as a part of additional British troops and military equipment arrive at Estonia's NATO Battle Group base in Tapa, Estonia, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Sergei Stepanov)

In the discussion, Jude argued, We should also link into the fight for Julian Assanges freedom. He represents the stance of opposition to war through his exposures on WikiLeaks.

Marsden said Assanges fate was the personal embodiment of the collapse of the anti-war movement, He represents everything the anti-war movement has abandoned. If there was an anti-war movement today worth of the name, it would be carrying placards with Assanges picture on them. Instead, the Stop the War Coalition wanted to make their figurehead the Corbynite Labour MPs.

Jude asked how to counter government and media propaganda.

Marsden answered, We have to start from where we are. The anti-war movement has collapsed, a new one has to emerge. An objective conflict is developing between the working class and ruling class. What we must do is fight for clarity. We must explain as clearly as possible what is actually happening. In these circumstances, knowledge is the most essential weapon the working class can have.

Several participants spoke on the domestic crisis. Laura noted that the previous Wednesday had been National Covid Remembrance Day and there wasnt even a minutes silence in parliament because they are too busy preparing a world war.

Adam commented, I feel that an anti-war movement is vitally important as the war is going to have a knock-on effect on our standard of living globally.

Jay added, Working people will be forced to pay for this war like they are for Covid.

Scripps replied that the war had been going for a month and already massive social fault lines were opening up. Forecasters were saying that there would be a collapse of living standards in Britain in the next months, double what we saw after 2008.

Education workers Chris P and Ruth referenced the censorship of material critical of NATOs warmongering or the governments pandemic policy on social media.

Katrina, a nurse, described how as a healthcare professional social media is banned. People have been sacked for comments on Facebook. Its policed by the employers. We cant even say what sort of day weve had, or we get hauled into the office. As nurses, we are silenced.

In the last month, we have shed about half a dozen senior members of staff who have been there quite a while. This leaves it all on the shoulders of junior staff, which can put patients at risk. The NHS [National Health Service] is shedding staff left, right and centre. It is a nightmare.

National Health Service workers at a hospital in southern England (WSWS Media)

Medical student Sanya said, Like frontline workers, medical students are being forced into high-risk environments.

Laura thanked Katrina, adding, Patients are the collateral damage from decades of relentless cuts and underfunding. The connection between war abroad and war at home could not be clearer, with what millions of people have suffered in the pandemic.

Chris D added, Here in Northern Ireland the COVID cases are rising rapidly, and the hospitals are on the brink again, but the media are acting like the pandemic is over.

Stephen, a care worker, said he had not detected any major susceptibility to pro-war hysteria among those he worked with, or at least none that could not be dispelled by explaining the background to the current situation.

Tim, a secondary school teacher, said he had been struck by how his Year 12 pupils quickly understood that there was a bigger picture than just Putin ordering the invasion of Ukraine. Straight away they said, well the US and NATO have provoked this.

Tony Robson said members of the London Bus Workers Rank-and-File Committee shared a broad anti-war sentiment. They had not forgotten or forgiven these previous illegal wars. They live in a country where war criminals get knighted, not sent to The Hague [for prosecution].

The fundamental issue was to give a lead to anti-war sentiment, which meant a reckoning with Labour and the unions. Referring to the mass P&O sackings, he said workers knew that if this is not defeated then it will provide a pretext for a wholesale attack, But there was no expression given to that sentiment by these organisations. Instead, they were waging a nationalist campaign, lining up workers behind their ruling class in a race to the bottom, when workers only way forward is an international struggle.

Protesters in Dover march in protest at the 800 job losses at P&O (WSWS Media)

Shortly after the meeting, bus worker Jason sent in his thoughts. Calling the meeting insightful, he said, Young people deserve better than the decades of inter-generational war that has been waged on them. He added, There is no effective voice for the working class. Where I live the local Labour party/supporters walk around with placards that say, give our young people the skills for tomorrow. Yet they helped defund and turn it into what it now is.

Katrina commented, Im really glad I came online. I wasnt going to but actually what is the point in moaning if you're not prepared to do something about it? It was so informative and has definitely changed some of my way of thinking.

Closing the event, Marsden said that developing an anti-war movement ultimately meant building an anti-war party. This meant joining and funding the Socialist Equality Party.
Four weeks ago, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced tripling of the military budget, Germany's biggest rearmament offensive since the end of the Second World War. Since then, things have proceeded rapidly. The decision to procure dozens of nuclear-capable F-35 stealth bombers is now being followed by a plan to establish a national missile defence system.

Launch of an Arrow 3 missile (United States Missile Defense Agency, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

On Tuesday, a parliamentary delegation from the Bundestag's defence committee travelled to Israel to explore the purchase of the US-Israeli Arrow 3 system, which has been in operation in Israel since 2017. It is designed to destroy enemy long-range missiles in the upper atmosphere or even in space. The range of the approximately seven-metre-long missiles is put at about 2,400 kilometres.

Plans for the installation of the multi-billion-dollar system are already well advanced, apparently. The missile radar systems would be set up at three locations in Germany and report their surveillance data to the National Command Post in Uedem (Lower Rhine), Bild am Sonntag reported on 27 March. The radars are so powerful that the protective screen could also cover Poland, Romania or the Baltic states.

The procurement of the system is part of the NATO war offensive against Russia and the assertion of German imperialism aiming to organise Europe under its leadership. Bild am Sonntag quotes the main spokesman on the defence budget committee, Andreas Schwarz (Social Democratic Party, SPD), saying, We must protect ourselves better against the threat from Russia. To do this, we need a Germany-wide missile defence shield quickly. The Israeli Arrow 3 system is a good solution. We can also stretch the Iron Dome over our neighbouring countries. This would give us a key role in Europe's security.

On Sunday evening, Scholz also confirmed the plans. He had resolved not to divulge the details of a plan that has not yet been finalised, but he explained on the ARD television channel that the missile defence system was certainly one of the things we are discussing. It was urgently necessary that we provide the Bundeswehr [Armed Forces] with more resources, with more tanks, more air defence capabilities, and enable it in many other ways so that it can perform the task it has to perform.

As in his war speech to the Bundestag on February 27, the chancellor justified the planned arms build-up by the supposed threat from Russia. We must all prepare ourselves for the fact that we currently have a neighbour who is prepared to use force to assert its interests, he stressed. And thats why we have to join forces to make sure that doesnt happen.

This is the familiar propaganda. In fact, the imperialist powers use force all the time to advance their economic and geostrategic interests. The wars of aggression and regime change operations in Serbia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria in the last 30 years alone, which violated international law, have destroyed entire countries and cost millions of lives.

The turning point in foreign policy proclaimed by Scholz was prepared for a long time. The systematic military encirclement of Russia by NATO and the imperialist powersabove all Germany and the USAhas deliberately provoked Putins reactionary attack on Ukraine. Now, the German ruling class is using the situation to reassert itself as the dominant power in Europe and organise the continent under German leadership.

Germany was the country with the largest military expenditure in the European Union, Scholz said. He went on to cite the NATO target of each member states spending two percent of its GDP on the military. If we now meet the two percent, we will be the country in the European NATO alliance with the highest military expenditure and with the strongest defence infrastructure, Scholz boasted on television. The Bundeswehr would play a central role for alliance and national defence, especially with our capabilities on the ground. Along with the USA, only Germany would have the force that is necessary for the entire alliance. And we will have to organise it accordingly.

Scholz repeatedly threatened Russia. Germany would make itself so strong that no one will dare to attack us. And that is the message we are also sending to the Russian president: Dont you dare! He said he had repeatedly emphasised what President Joe Biden has now also said in Poland: NATO's mutual assistance commitment applies to us. We will defend every inch of NATO territory. An attack on the Baltic states, on Poland, on Slovakia or other countries would be like an attack on ourselves.

Neither his interviewer nor Scholz explained to the television audience what these statements meant. The so-called mutual assistance obligation, governed by Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, states that an armed attack against one or more parties shall be considered as an attack against them all and that in the event of such an armed attack each of them ... shall render assistance to the party or parties under attack ... including the use of armed force.

In other words, if the Ukraine war, which is being systematically fuelled by the imperialist powers through arms deliveries and the massive build-up of NATO troops in Eastern Europe, spreads to an Eastern European NATO country, Scholz and the German government are committing themselves to going to war against Russia. The consequence would be a devastating third world war.

Unlike during the German invasion of the Soviet Union in World War II, which cost between 30 and 40 million lives, Russia today has nuclear weapons. These could be used in the event of a threat to Russias existence, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and former Russian President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, currently deputy head of the Russian Security Council, warned a few days ago. Influential circles in the NATO powers openly regard the use of nuclear weapons as a legitimate option.

An article on the World Socialist Web Site posed US President Biden two questions that Chancellor Scholz should also answer: 1) When in your election campaign did you state that you would risk a nuclear war with Russia? 2) 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?

If the German ruling class has its way, the working class must bear the cost in every way, as cannon fodder on the battlefield and in the form of massive social attacks. To his interviewers question whether he could promise that the debt ceiling will be reintroduced in 2023, Scholz replied succinctly, Its in the constitution. That is as brief as it is clear. Every cent that flows into military rearmament will be squeezed out of the population again--even if it means impoverishing the majority of working people.

Todays speeches by German leaders are increasingly reminiscent of the belligerent tirades during the First and Second World Wars. Yes, there are tougher days ahead for us in Germany, too, declared German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday. And the whole truth is: many hardships still lie ahead... Our solidarity and support, our steadfastness, even our willingness to make restrictions, will be required for a long time to come.

The working class must reject the despotic rearmament and war plans of the ruling class as well as its demand to endure hardships and restrictions for the sake of German imperialism. Not a cent for German militarism! Never again war! There is only one way to prevent a relapse into world war and barbarismthe building of an anti-war movement of the international working class that abolishes the cause of warcapitalismand fights for a global socialist society.
A senior Old Bailey judge ruled last month that Chris Mullin, the investigative journalist who exposed the frame-up and torture of the Birmingham Six, falsely accused of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings, will not have to hand over source material to the West Midlands Police (WMP).

Mullin was contesting a Production Order under the Terrorism Act 2000 demanding he hand over material given to him in confidence decades ago, which was central to the eventual release and exoneration of the six innocent Irish workers. The order, which could have resulted in Mullin, a former Labour government minister, going to jail, was a blatant attack on journalism and democratic rights.

In a written ruling, Judge Mark Lucraft, considered that Mullin did have evidence in his possession with reasonable grounds to consider would be of substantial value to WMP. However, Lucraft wrote there was not an overriding public interest that might displace Mullin's rights as a journalist to protect his sources.

Speaking after the ruling, Mullin noted, My actions in this case were overwhelmingly in the public interest. They led to the release of six innocent men after 17 years in prison, the winding up of the notorious West Midlands Serious Crimes Squad and the quashing of a further 30 or so wrongful convictions. This case also resulted in the setting up a Royal Commission which, among other reforms, led to the setting up of the Criminal Cases Review Commission and the quashing of another 500 or more wrongful convictions.

Chris Mullin in 2009 (Credit: Creative Commons)

Mullin also made clear that he had co-operated with the police investigation as much as he could, to the extent that the journalist principle of protecting sources was not compromised. He had provided notes to the police of his interviews, only redacting those which identified sources who were still alive.

In 2019, Mullin named two of the four men he believed were responsible for the bombing in an article for the London Review of Books. These were James Francis Gavin, who died in 2002, and Michael Murray who died in 1999. Mullin wrote, I no longer have any compunction about identifying two of the men involved, who are now dead  but the man described in my book [Error of Judgement: The Truth] as the young planter is still alive, and I will not name him.

The pub bombings

In November 1974, the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) exploded two bombs in Birmingham, England in pursuit of their campaign to expel the British Army from Northern Ireland. The bombs were aimed at prominent locations in the city, the famous Rotunda and the Tax Office in New Street and were left in public houses in the same buildings. Warnings were given to police but were unclear and not given early enough. As a result 21 people, mostly young, were killed and 182 injured. A third bomb was defused.

A case study in the bankruptcy of terrorist methods, the attacks came amid profound class tensions in Britain which only months previously had seen Edward Heaths Conservative Party government driven from office by the working class. The attacks assisted in dividing the working class, alienating and disgusting broad sections of workers in England, many of whom might otherwise have been sympathetic to opponents of British rule in Ireland, and triggered factory walkouts. The new Labour government seized on the atrocity to pass the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act 1974 which proscribed the IRA, among others.

Innocent men tortured and jailed

The Birmingham Six, Hugh Callaghan, Patrick Joseph Hill, Gerard Hunter, Richard McIlkenny, William Power and John Walker were born in Northern Ireland but lived in the city. All six were en route to the funeral in Ireland of IRA member James McDade, who had blown himself up planting a bomb at a telephone exchange when they were arrested by Special Branch.

As recounted in Mullin's 1986 book about the Birmingham bombings, Error of Judgement: The Truth, the six innocent men were arrested, beaten, tortured, threatened with being killed for days by both police and prison officers. False and contradictory confessions were extracted from four of them, while scientific evidence, later discredited, was used to claim some had explosive residue on their hands. In an atmosphere of anger and hysteria, the six, protesting their innocence, were convicted August 1975 and each sentenced to 21 life sentences. The six mounted an initial appeal against their convictions and took legal action against the assaults on them by the authorities, all of which were rejected, as were concerns raised over the forensic evidence.

Mullin's team, working for ITV's World in Action found, based on the work of distinguished forensic scientists that perfectly innocent explanations could be found for the alleged explosive residue found by Dr. Frank Skuse of the North West Forensic Laboratories. Playing cards could return a positive result for the presence of nitro-glycerine using the Greiss technique employed by Skuse.

Error of Judgement gave an account of the local IRA operation in Birmingham. It placed it in the context of escalated IRA activity in England, following Bloody Sunday on January 30, 1972, when the British Army's Parachute Regiment shot down peaceful civil rights demonstrators in Derry, Northern Ireland. The first bomb attack, on the HQ of the Parachute Regiment in Aldershot took place a month later. A succession of bombing and incendiary attacks followed.

Mullins interviews

Mullin was able to interview, after providing guarantees of anonymity, members of the IRA including some who had had a role in the Birmingham pub bombings. He interviewed one of those who, having first denied it, admitted to having planted the bombs. Specific details of the bags carrying the bombs, and where the devices were located in both pubs dramatically contrasted with the confessions beaten out of the arrested men. Even then, another appeal in 1987 was thrown out.

It took a further documentary interviewing one of the bomb planters, giving specific details of the pub interiors, as well as the ongoing collapse of similar frame-ups against the Guildford Four, the Maguire Seven and massive worldwide public outrage before the Home Office conceded another inquiry which identified police notebooks revealing the confessions were false. The Birmingham Six were finally released March 14, 1991, after more than 16 years in prison. Their sentences were formally overturned seven years later.

The relatives of the bombings victims waged a determined effort over decades to establish how their loved ones died. Inquests into the Birmingham deaths were not announced until 2016. Hearings did not finally open until 2019, 45 years after the bombings. The inquests were opposed by West Midlands Police.

Limitations placed on the inquest ruled that both the question of perpetrators and of any possible role played by agents or informers were out of bounds. While large volumes of documentation were handed over, crucial material was not. According to Christopher Stanley, a lawyer at KRW Law representing the families, these included files from the British government's Joint Intelligence Committee, and which were reported in the Guardian as containing movements of the IRA', which had mysteriously gone missing.

Files were also requested from the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Foreign Office among others. Only an affidavit was offered from the government Legal Department assuring that none of these bodies held relevant material. No explanation was offered of what searches were carried out. Neither was any material offered to explain which policies and practices had been set in motion in response to the IRA campaign. Yet, in Birmingham alone, there had been at least 20 bombing and incendiary incidents before November 21, 1974.

Following this official stonewalling, no evidence was presented on which WMP could be found at fault by the inquest jury, despite an anonymous Witness O, giving, with approval from the IRA, the names of four of five attackers. The inquest jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing.

Stanley noted that before, during and after the collapse of the frame-up of the six men, WMP had at no time undertaken a serious investigation to identify the attackers or the circumstances around the attacks. Just about the only line of inquiry being followed by WMP was, after the inquest, to demand Mullin hand over unredacted notes of his interviews.

There are a series of ongoing investigations into Northern Ireland's Troubles, many of which continue to shed light on the role of British government agents and informants within and around Irish republican and pro-British loyalists paramilitary organisations. In that light, the judge's decision, far from arising from concern for democratic rights and journalism from the same judiciary which has incarcerated WikiLeaks founder and journalist Julian Assange for over a decade, amounts to a consideration that sleeping dogs should be let lie.
Throughout the pandemic, COVID-19 in Peru has claimed more lives per capita than in any other country in the world. Only recently was its death rate surpassed by Bolivia.

Figures announced on March 23 by Perus Health Ministry, Minsa, indicate that since the beginning of the pandemic there have been 3,542,602 positive cases and 211,944 deaths.

Between March 14 and Monday, March 28, all Peruvian public schools have reopened. By March 28 more than 8 million students already had returned to classrooms (75 percent public and 25 percent private).

Line for vaccinations and tests at army barracks in Lima (Credit: ANDINA/ Vidal Tarqui)

Perus Ministry of Education (Minedu) announced that the reopening is mandatory for all students: With the new regulation we are working on, the principles of voluntariness and gradualness will no longer apply; therefore, it will be a massive and mandatory return for all.

To support the back-to-school push, Perus bourgeois media has cited statistics from the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Research Center as of March 22 that COVID deaths over a seven-day average were 39, a significant drop from this years peak of 135 on January 22, which was mostly due to the BA.1 Omicron subvariant. This is compared to the worst trimester of the Delta strain, which saw an average of over 700 deaths per month in February-April 2021.

Such figures only provide an illusion that the coronavirus crisis is abating. A deeper look shows the current danger from COVID-19 remains high, particularly at schools.

First, although Minsa announced some minor steps to protect students from contracting COVID-19, they have been effectively eroded by the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) permitting 100 percent occupancy in school buses, and 100 percent class occupancy if a one-meter distance is somehow able to be implemented. Confining students together in close proximity creates a ready transmission belt for spread of the virus, even with masking.

Second, recent figures indicate severe failures in Minsas strategy to fight the pandemic, particularly on the vaccination front.

La Republica recently characterized the fight against the pandemic as directionless, specifically referring to gross errors in the governments vaccination program.

According to Minsa, out of a population of 32.9 million inhabitants, 25,188,282 have been fully vaccinated. The number of doses administered is claimed to be 64,576,385.

Minsa had asserted that vaccination numbers are not going down. But data analyst Juan Carbajal told La Republica he has calculated that since the current Minister of Health Hernan Condori took office on February 8, the vaccination rate has dropped by 54 percent at the national level, and that the decrease since February includes the first, second and third doses.

Carbajal added that while pediatric vaccinations had begun on January 24, such is the drop that we are at the level of the first days and we have yet to give 46 percent of children their first dose.

The Ombudsmans Office offered another piece of information pointing to the precariousness of Minsas program: there are 15 million Peruvians who have not had a third dose, another indication that vaccinations are in decline.

Condori initially stated that further vaccinations were on schedule, but recently admitted that 2 million vaccines will expire on March 31 before they are administered. The health minister then tried to wash his hands of the matter, stating that throughout the pandemic there have been expiring vaccines, and that his predecessors had received the COVID-19 vaccines with two-month expiration dates.

The Comptroller General of the Republic has confirmed that 2,449,000 Astra-Zeneca doses expire March 31, and that an additional 2.6 million will expire April 30.

Third, Perus National Health Institute detected cases corresponding to the subvariant Omicron BA.2 beginning in the first half of February. Full opening of schools is especially irresponsible given evidence of its health dangers and its rapid spread in other countries.

As CNN recently reported, the BA.2 strain is on the rise in the United States and already accounts for one-third of COVID-19 infections. Moreover, it can cause more serious disease and appears capable of thwarting some of the key weapons we have against COVID-19 new research suggests  and like Omicron, it appears to largely escape immunity created by vaccines.

The BA.2 Omicron subvariant is already sweeping Europe and Asia. A massive increase in COVID-19 in Austria has been reported since January, after protective measures were ended, largely due to BA.2. France, Germany and the UK likewise have seen COVID surges due to Omicron BA.2. And the BA.2 subvariant is fueling a new COVID surge in Australia.

Minsa, Minedu and Perus bourgeois press appear to be oblivious to all of the above risks. The Peruvian ruling class is all in with the strategy of learning to live with the virus and let it rip.

According to the World Bank, Peru already lags other countries in the region in education spending as a percentage of GDP at 3.9 percent, well behind Brazil (6.2 percent), Argentina (5.5 percent), Chile (5.4 percent), Ecuador (5 percent), and Colombia (4.5 percent).

Also, according to UNESCO, with data adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP), Peru invests $3,471 per student, less than most South American countries: Chile $8,933, Argentina $7,752, Brazil $6,674, Uruguay $6,192, and Colombia $4,807.

The health of Perus students, like education spending, has now become an entirely secondary concern, subordinate to profit interests.



Behind the reopening of schools and relaxing sanitary measures is the Peruvian bourgeoisies desperate need to revive the economy by any and all means, as the country faces its greatest economic and political crisis in recent times.

The only serious attempt to organize teachers, students and the working class as a whole to fight and defeat the pandemic has been initiated by the World Socialist Web Sitethe website of the International Committee of the Fourth International. The WSWS launched an inquest into the COVID pandemic, its biological basis and spread, its economic and political causes, while fighting for the only viable strategy to end it. For a Global Workers Inquest into the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The International Socialist Organisation (ISO) in New Zealand has joined other pseudo-left groups throughout the world in lining up unambiguously behind the US and NATO imperialist powers in their proxy war with Russia over Ukraine.

A speech published on March 8, by ISO member Cory Kinnunen entitled No War! Stop the Invasion of Ukraine! argues in favour of Ukraine joining NATO and glorifies its war against Russia. The speech starkly demonstrates the gulf that separates the ISO from socialism: this is a middle-class tendency that backs imperialist war.

Ukrainian servicemen sit atop armored personnel carriers driving on a road in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022 [Credit: AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda]

The World Socialist Web Site opposes Russias invasion of Ukraine, which is the Russian ruling classs reactionary, nationalist response to military encroachment and threats from the US and European powers. The ISO seeks to obscure the predatory aims of Washington and its allies by presenting the war as the product of Putins drive to expand Russias power and influence. In fact, the principal responsibility for the war rests with the US and NATO, which deliberately provoked Russia in order to drag it into a drawn-out and debilitating conflict.

US imperialism seeks nothing less than the reduction of Russia as well as China to subservient, semi-colonial status. The American ruling class views this as the only way to reverse its long-term economic decline and maintain its global dominance. President Joe Biden has ratcheted up tensions with reckless threats against Putin, making clear that Washington wants nothing less than regime change in Moscow.

The only way to stop the war, which threatens to become a Third World War involving nuclear-armed powers, is through the mobilisation of the working classes of Russia, Ukraine, Europe, the Americas and internationally against the capitalist system that is the root cause of war.

This socialist and internationalist strategy is diametrically opposed to the ISOs embrace of the Ukrainian government and its imperialist backers. Kinnunen insists that Ukraine must have the freedom to join NATO, which would directly involve the European and American powers in a war with Russia. He declares that to deny the right of Ukraine to choose its own security arrangements and foreign policy is to make concessions to Russian imperialism.

In other words, anyone who refuses to support the expansion of the NATO military cabal dominated by the US is a tool of Russian imperialism. There is no difference between the ISOs position and the propaganda being churned out by the US State Department and the corporate media, depicting the US/NATO support for Ukraine as legitimate and defensive.

The war in Ukraine has been prepared for years. In 2014, the US supported a coup in Ukraine, which removed a pro-Russia government. The fascist thugs of the Svoboda Party and Right Sector played a central role in the putsch, which sparked the civil war with separatist movements in the Donbas, and Russias annexation, following a referendum, of Crimea. For the past eight years the US and NATO have flooded Ukraine with weapons, while tens of thousands of NATO troops have been stationed throughout Eastern Europe.

In fact, the ISO is supporting more direct imperialist intervention. On social media, it has promoted protests outside the Russian embassy, as well as a church service to stand with Ukraine, organised by the Ukrainian Gromada of Wellington. This NZ-based organisation calls for NATO to intervene directly in Ukraine to impose a no fly zone, which would mean shooting down Russian planes and greatly escalating the war.

The ISO paints the Ukrainian regime led by Volodymyr Zelensky in the brightest of colours, as progressive and even internationalist. Kinnunen dismisses claims that the government is a far-right clique that exploits its people as lies spread by Putin.

He claims that the Zelensky government has emphasized that they are not the enemy of ordinary Russians. Referring to reports that the Ukrainian forces set up a telephone number which Russian people can call to find information on the fate of servicemen in Ukraine, Kinnunen bizarrely declares: This is genuine internationalism in actionand it gives us a glimpse at what a freer world looks like.

These are grotesque lies. The Kiev government represents the countrys capitalist oligarchy, which has been working for decades with the US and EU and driven the working class into poverty. The median household income in Ukraine is around $4,400 a year, about on par with that of Iran. Meanwhile the countrys richest 100 people, according to Forbes, grew their wealth by 42 percent in the space of one year.

Zelensky recently banned 11 opposition parties for the crime of supporting a negotiated peace with Russia. Far-right forces murder and terrorize political opponents, and whip up anti-Russia and anti-Semitic hatred to divide the working class. The commander of Ukraines special forces has publicly stated that captured Russian artillerymen will be killed and cut up like pigs. This is the ISOs freer world.

Contrary to the rose-tinted fantasy presented by the ISO, it is a well-known fact that the Ukrainian state and armed forces are full of fascists. The neo-Nazi Azov battalion and similar groupswhich helped to inspire Christchurch terrorist Brenton Tarrant to carry out his massacre in 2019are playing a major role in Ukraines war machine, armed with an endless supply of weapons from the US and its allies. The militias are recruiting fascists from around the world to join the war.

Ukrainian nationalism, which the ISO glorifies, has its roots in the countrys extreme right-wing movements, which collaborated with the Nazis in World War II and then with US imperialism during the Cold War. While denouncing Stalinist oppression of Ukraine, Kinnunen makes no mention of Nazi Germanys invasion and its slaughter of millions of people, including the countrys Jewish population. The ruling elites in Kiev are now seeking to rewrite the history of WWII as a war for freedom from the Soviet Union, led by Nazi collaborators like Stepan Bandera, who has been elevated to the status of a national hero.

In justifying support for this reactionary regime and its US/NATO imperialist backers, Kinnunen declares that socialists stand for the rights of the Ukrainian people for freedom and independence from their former oppressors, adding that this means principally Russian imperialism.

The ISO is continuing the role that it and other pseudo-left groups played in promoting the US-backed Islamist forces in Syria, which continue to wage a civil war aimed at overthrowing the Assad regime. The New Zealand pseudo-lefts organised protests in 2016 accusing Russia of genocide for intervening in support of Assad.

The claim that Russia is imperialist is not backed by any economic or historical analysis. As Lenin, explained, a defining feature of imperialism is the domination of finance capital. The Russian economy, while certainly capitalist, is based mainly on the export of oil and natural gas; it is not a significant centre of finance capital, and is utterly dependent on the major imperialist powers. This is demonstrated by the fact that Russias economy has been crippled virtually overnight by sanctions imposed by the US and its allies; the value of the ruble has fallen to less than one US cent.

As can be seen from the ISOs statements on Ukraine, the pseudo-lefts designation of Russia as imperialist serves a definite political purpose: to justify political support for US imperialism.

The ISOs position has evolved from its false characterization of the former Soviet Union as state capitalist. The organisation has its roots in a split from the Socialist Workers Party, the US section of the Fourth International, in 1940. The tendency led by Max Shachtman rejected Leon Trotskys definition of the Soviet Union as a degenerated workers state that had to be defended against imperialism, in spite of the reactionary Stalinist bureaucracy.

The Shachtmanites claim that capitalism had been restored in the USSR served as a means of adapting to the anti-communism that dominated middle class layers in the US and Europe. The reactionary character of these positions found expression in Shachtmans open support for US imperialism during the Korean War.

Revolutionary socialists fight for the unity of the Ukrainian and Russian working class, along with workers throughout Europe and internationally, to put an end to capitalist oppression. They do not fight for the freedom of the Ukrainian peoplethe ISO doesnt mention the working classto join an imperialist bloc against Russia.

Like its counterparts internationally, the ISO in New Zealand is part of a tendency within bourgeois politics. It speaks for layers of the middle class who orbit the trade unions, academia and the political establishment, and aim to secure their privileged position within capitalism.

In the United States, the ISOs main centre imploded in 2019, and several of its leading members then joined Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which functions as a faction of the Democratic Party. Prominent DSA and ex-ISO members have denounced socialist opposition to the US-NATO arming of Ukraine.

In New Zealand, the ISO promotes illusions in the Labour Party-Greens government, which has used the COVID-19 pandemic to engineer the biggest transfer of wealth to the rich in New Zealands history. Social inequality is soaring and the government is now allowing Omicron to spread out of control.

Jacinda Arderns government has joined in the US-led sanctions against Russia and is sending aid, including military gear, to Ukraine. New Zealand is a US ally and a minor imperialist power in the Pacific region, where the Ardern government also supports the US military build-up, aimed against China.

Workers and young people seeking to build a genuine anti-war movement should reject the pro-imperialist politics of the ISO. The first duty of socialists is to oppose their own ruling elites war plans. In New Zealand, this means opposing the Ardern governments own military build-up and its support for US and NATO wars.

A genuine anti-war movement can only be based on a socialist program aimed at unifying the working class internationally. Workers and young people must reject the demands that they sacrifice their living standards, and their lives, to defend the profits of a tiny handful. The drive to another world war can only be halted by revolutionary struggle, aimed at abolishing capitalism and its reactionary division of the world into rival nation states.
Weapons sent to Ukraine by Spains progressive Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government are being used by a neo-Nazi militia, the Azov Battalion.

In a March 15 video posted on YouTube by the National Corps, the political wing of the Azov Battalion, a militia member can be seen unwrapping and demonstrating how to use weapons. The video explains that these anti-tank missiles are Instalaza C90 grenade launchers from Spain, RPG-75 grenades from Czechia and Pansarskott m/86 portable missiles from Sweden.

The description of the video reads: Azov video instructions on how to use disposable rocket-propelled anti-tank grenade launchers to destroy light armoured vehicles and enemy tanks.

Spains Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (PSOE), second left, walks next to Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias, second right, and First Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo, left, at the Moncloa Palace in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday, Jan. 14 2020 [Credit: AP Photo/Manu Fernandez]

The arming of neo-Nazi groups gives the lie to the absurd claims made by Spain and the other imperialist powers that they are defending democracy and freedom in Ukraine against the dictatorial and expansionist ambitions of Vladimir Putins Russia. Russias invasion of Ukraine was desperate and reactionary, but it is a response to decades of imperialist encirclement, threats and provocations. NATO is waging a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, with far-right paramilitary units like Azov acting as imperialisms shock troops.

The Azov Battalion was founded in 2014 by the anti-Semite Andriy Biletsky. It incorporated many members of Biletskys former ultra-nationalist, white-supremacist organisations, Patriot of Ukraine and the Social-National Assembly. These tendencies traced their political roots back to the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists, headed by Nazi-collaborationist Stepan Bandera, and its affiliated Ukrainian Insurgent Army.

Azov, which uses Nazi insignia and openly glorifies Ukrainian Nazi collaborationists, was officially incorporated into the Ukrainian National Guard in November 2014, months after a far-right coup in Kyiv toppled pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, in which Azov had played a key role. Since then, it has received arms and training from the government.

It is only one of the more prominent of around 80 far-right militias in Ukraine built and equipped to fight Russian-speaking separatists in the east of the country. Many of these organisations are now fully integrated into the Ukrainian army.

Another of these groups is the neo-Nazi C14, led by Yevhen Karas. In a speech at the start of February at a seminar named after the Nazi-collaborationist Bandera, Karas gloated of having received large quantities of weaponry from the West. He said they were being armed because of their eagerness to kill Russians.

We are now being given so much weaponry, Karas declared, not because as some say the West is helping us, not because they want the best for us, but because we perform the tasks set by the West, because we are the only ones who are ready to do them. Because we have fun: we have fun killing and we have fun fighting  That is the reason for the new alliance [with] Turkey, Poland, Britain and Ukraine.

The NATO powers arming of neo-Nazi groups is not an unfortunate and unforeseen side-effect of a supposed defense of the Ukrainian people, but a deliberate policy choice. These forces are being armed and emboldened because of their rabid Russophobia and willingness to act as pawns for imperialism.

Spains PSOE-Podemos government has fully involved itself in the imperialist war drive against Russia. There are around 800 Spanish troops deployed in Eastern Europe against Russia, including a detachment of 130 airmen and four Eurofighter jets that regularly mount provocative missions from Bulgaria into the Black Sea near the Russian coast. There are also three Spanish warships patrolling the waters of the eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea with NATO naval groups.

According to a communication from Spains Defence Ministry at the start of March, Madrid has sent 1,370 C90 grenade launchers, 700,000 rounds of ammunition and an unspecified number of machine guns and light machine guns. Many of these arms will have ended up in the hands of the neo-fascist militias.

It is a very important delivery because it allows a very individualised defence and can be used even by people who dont have much experience in using weapons, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said in a television interview in early March. Ukraine is a country which is being attacked and Ukrainians are carrying out a legitimate defence of their lives, which are the most important things we have, she added.

Asked last week about whether Spain will send more weapons to Ukraine, Robles refused to rule this out. During a visit to the Albacete-Los Llanos air base in the east of Spain, she stated: In principle it is a possibility, as long as Ukraine needs them and asks us for them.

When these deliveries are carried out, she continued, it will be done in the same way as last time, with much carefulness and discretion, because there is a great risk for the people that make these transfers and for the countries which received this material.

No care or discretion was exercised to prevent weapons from being funneled to neo-Nazis.

According to right-wing newspaper Okdiario, dozens of former Spanish soldiers have also travelled to Ukraine to join in the war against Russia. Figures from the Ukrainian governments International Brigades website, which encourages foreigners to come to Ukraine to fight, indicated that more than 12,000 Spaniards had searched for information on how to enlist.

The PSOE-Podemos government has tacitly encouraged civilians and retired soldiers to travel to Ukraine. Asked about the consequences of fighting in Ukraine, Spains Justice Minister Pilar Llop replied, It is possible that people from different nationalities can go.  Our justice system does not prohibit this possibility. Spains National Intelligence Centre (CNI) is reportedly monitoring the activity of Spaniards fighting in Ukraine in case they become radicalised.

Pablo Iglesias, the founder and former leader of left populist Podemos party has responded to revelations of his partys arming of Ukrainian neo-Nazis with mealy-mouthed criticism.

Taking to Twitter on 16 March, Iglesias declared, It is very serious that arms sent to Ukraine by our government have ended up in the hands of a neo-Nazi group. If this is true, the poor argument that these Nazis only had British arms falls to pieces. Condemning the invasion of Russia does not justify arming Nazis.

Iglesias did not draw broader conclusions from the fact that the party he led is arming neo-Nazis. His empty criticisms notwithstanding, Podemos parliamentary spokesperson Jaume Asens said this month that it is legitimate for the international community to provide aid to the [Ukrainian] state under attack.

Spains own armed forces are riddled with fascists. In December 2020, WhatsApp messages from top retired air force officers were leaked in which they threatened mass murder and called for a coup. As a good fascist, one declares, [I believe] there is no choice but to start shooting 26 million sons of b*tches, their estimate of how many left-wing voters there are in Spain.

A few weeks later, a WhatsApp chat of 121 active-duty soldiers was released in which they denounced communism and voiced their support for the fascist retired officers. At the same time, numerous videos emerged of Spanish soldiers singing fascist songs while making the fascist salute.

Iglesias downplayed the issue at the time, responding to the fascistic coup threats by saying: What these gentlemen say, at their age and already retired, in a chat with a few too many drinks, does not pose any threat.

Podemos is a pro-war party tied to all Spanish imperialisms recent crimes. Before taking power with the PSOE, it recruited leading officers, including former Air Force General and Chief of the Defence Staff Julio Rodriguez, who led the Spanish armys participation in the US-led neo-colonial wars in Libya. Rodriguez is now a leading member of Podemos and Podemos Deputy Prime Minister Yolanda Diazs chief of staff.

An anti-war movement of the working class internationally must urgently be built to prevent the ruling class from plunging the planet into a potentially nuclear conflict. This requires a ruthless break with middle class, pro-imperialist parties like Podemos, and the building of sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in Spain and in every country.
RaDonda Vaught trial. Source Courtroom TV.

The WSWS is organizing the working class to defend RaDonda Vaught and all health care workers against victimization for the crisis of the for-profit health care system.

Send in your statement of support by filling out the form at the bottom of this article. Sign up for our Health Care Workers Newsletter for the latest on this struggle and others like it.

There has been a tremendous outpouring of support from nurses and other health care workers for former Vanderbilt nurse RaDonda Vaught, who was convicted for a medical error which led to the death of her patient. As of this writing, an online petition on Change.org calling for clemency for Vaught has been signed by more than 152,000 people. She is due for sentencing on May 13, 2022.

The petition reads:

RaDonda Vaught is a previous Registered Nurse who worked at Vanderbilt Medical Center. She made a medication error, eventually leading to the death of the patient. Vanderbilt failed to report this incident to the Tennessee Department of Health and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS was anonymously informed of this error, and recently RaDonda Vaught was found guilty of negligence of an impaired adult and criminally negligent homicide. She can face up to 6 years in prison. RaDonda was honest with her mistake and took the necessary steps of reporting the incident. She, unfortunately, is the only one being held accountable for this mistake. Many have attested to her character, compassion, professionalism, and skills during her nursing career. She is not a threat to society and does not deserve to be criminally charged for a mistake. The patients family states the patient [Charlene Murphey] would not want RaDonda to be prosecuted for this mistake. RaDonda Vaught has made it clear that she takes accountability for her medication error. She has expressed her remorse to the patient and her family. Granting clemency for her mistake is absolutely what she deserves as she is the only person in this situation who has been up front and honest. She did not handle this situation out of greed and fear of scrutiny like the hospital she worked for. She needs the communitys support! She needs fellow nurses support! We have power in numbers.

On March 25, 38-year-old Vaught was convicted of the lesser charge of criminally negligent homicide and abuse of an impaired adult. The jury found her not guilty of reckless homicide, yet she still faces years of jail time as a felon. Not only has her nursing career abruptly and permanently ended, but she and her family also face untold consequences and hardships. As many nurses have said, the profession of caring for patients is not a job but a calling.

By her own unwavering account, she inadvertently gave 75-year-old Charlene Murphey vecuronium bromide, a potent paralytic agent, instead of Versed, a sedative, on December 26, 2017. Murphey had been admitted on Christmas Eve at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) for a brain bleed and had made a quick recovery after two days. Before her discharge, her doctors had ordered a PET CT scan. The sedative was intended to treat Murpheys anxiety as she had claustrophobia. The imaging she was to undergo to look for cancer required her to remain still in an enclosed tube for several minutes.

As a result of the medication error, Murphey could not breathe and suffered an irreversible brain injury. Several hours later, her family decided to remove all life support. Repeatedly, Vaught has taken responsibility for this tragic death, stating that she will forever carry the heavy burden upon her shoulders.

RaDonda Vaught trial. Source Courtroom TV.

After the verdict, she told the Tennessean, We have not forgotten about Miss Murphey and her family. Not at all. Not at all. This is about creating a safer environment so that things like this dont happen again.

Prosecutors in the case, led by District Attorney Glenn Funk, whose conflict of interests includes being on the faculty at Vanderbilt University Law School, had attempted from the beginning to place the entire blame for the case on Vaught. They completely ignored VUMCs failure to protect patients and the subsequent coverup that was only brought to light when an anonymous tip to the Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) in October 2018 led to a surprise inspection of the facility.

In their strategy, the prosecutors spared no punches in defaming her. Nashville Assistant District Attorney General Debbie Housel went so far as remarking, RaDonda Vaught recklessly ignored everything she learned in school when she administered vecuronium, a drug sometimes used in executing prisoners. The immediate association was that Vaught executed Murphey. Housel then emotionally provoked the jury by adding, Vecuronium is only given when someone is intubated because it paralyzes the body. A person cant breathe, cant move, cant shout for help.

After a scathing CMS review and the embarrassing public exposure in November 2018, VUMC and the district attorneys office pursued criminal charges against Vaught. She was arraigned in February 2019 charged with two counts of reckless homicide and abuse of an impaired adult. However, due to the COVID pandemic, the trial was delayed.

None of these issues, including the systemic problems uncovered by the CMS, were ever raised at the trial. Nor was the tragic death of Miss Murphey placed into any context by the prosecution. Medical errors have remained unfortunate but expected. In 2020, more than 46,000 deaths listed complications associated with medical and surgical care, including medication errors. However, more and more health care workers have become convinced that owning their mistakes will inevitably lead to their punishment.

Bruce Lambert, a patient safety expert and director of the Center for Communication and Health at Northwestern University told CBS News, Best estimates are 7,000 to 10,000 fatal medication errors a year. Are we going to lock them up? Who is going to replace them? If you think RaDonda Vaught is criminally negligent, you just dont know how health care works.

Indeed, the attempt by the prosecution to assert that their case against Vaught did not imply they were opposed to nurses and health care workers is totally false. Her criminal trial and conviction have set new precedents that all health care workers are now on notice. The almost universal response by health care workers defending Vaught and demanding clemency is because they feel in every fiber of their body that the attack on Vaught is an attack on them and their profession by the profit-driven health care systems and the legal system that defends it.

Nancy K, an Arizona nurse, wrote on Facebook in response to the verdict, This hospital has shown its true colors. If you think they [VUMC] are the only ones that would do this, youre delusional. I cant tell you how many times Ive heard how the hospital would always stand behind their nurses in my long career. Otherwise, who would ever agree to work for them? Not only did they not stand behind her, but they also threw her to the wolves. Nurses have as long a memory as they have a sense of dedication. Vanderbilt is forever off my list of potential employers!

Susan P commented, I believe the focus needs to be on the system that cultivated the mistake and how they get away with it. While we are all responsible for our actions, we also live in systems that influence those decisions.  However, we no longer have a sense of community and common good unless a corporation can find a way to profit off it.

Richard W from New York, with 40 years of experience in nursing, spoke on the broader issues facing health care workers. The general public has no idea just how bad nursing has become. Its even worse if you work at a Veterans hospital.  Nurses are overworked in severely understaffed units. There are policies and procedures in place, but management knows that if the staff followed those policies and procedures, nothing would be able to be accomplished, and they, therefore, encourage shortcuts.

After explaining how overworked nurses are threatened to take more shifts and skip their breaks, he added, It is time to hold these hospital administrators accountable for the dangerous conditions they cause by pinching pennies. Shorting units and overworking staff.

Even the American Nurses Association and Tennessee Nurses Association have acknowledged the convictions dangerous precedence. We are deeply distressed by this verdict and the harmful ramifications of criminalizing the honest reporting of mistakes, they wrote. However, they stopped short of demanding opening an investigation into VUMCs cover-up, overturning the conviction and reinstating her nursing license. This only underscores the impotence of the unions, which have long collaborated in the cost-cutting campaigns of the for-profit health care companies.

RaDonda Vaughts defense is paramount. The spontaneous movement by nurses and health care workers in support of her cause is a healthy and progressive response to the deepening crisis in health care which the pandemic has exposed in its most malignant form. The campaign to defend her should be the starting point for a powerful counter-offensive of health care and all workers against the subordination of human life to corporate profit.

The WSWS is organizing the working class to defend RaDonda Vaught and all health care workers against victimization for the crisis of the for-profit health care system. Send in your statement of support by filling out the form below.
Federal prosecutors rested their case after calling a final witness on Wednesday in the trial of four men who are accused of conspiring to kidnap and kill Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer prior to the 2020 presidential election.

It was the 13th day of the jury trial in US District Court in Grand Rapids, Michigan, of Adam Fox, 38, Daniel Harris, 24, and Brandon Caserta, 33, from Michigan, and Barry Croft Jr., 46, from Delaware. The men were arrested on October 8, 2020, for plotting to take Whitmer hostage, tie her up and execute her in a tribunal in response to the governors COVID-19 policies.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer [Credit: AP Photo Paul Sancya]

Chastity Knight, 40, answered questions from prosecutors about Croft, her longtime companion, telling them he was antigovernment and thought the governments not for him. The government doesnt help the people out. They like to line their own pockets.

Knight, who is from Bear, Delaware, cried on the stand when she identified Crofts daughter as the person who offered him something to eat while he was preparing an explosive during training in Luther, Michigan. During that training session, Croft was recorded saying to his young daughter, Honey, Im making explosives. Can you get away from me, please?  I love you. Get out of here.

On Tuesday, the prosecution presented the jury with Crofts Facebook posts from 2020, including one from Memorial Day that had a photo of a noose and said, Which governor is going to end up dragged off and hung for treason first? Its really a spin the bottle match at this point and Im sure a few mayors are in the running!!! God bless the constitutional republic!!!

Several days later, he posted on Facebook about seizing state capitols and putting these tyrants addresses out here for rioters. According to the FBI this post was liked by accused coconspirator Fox.

Other Facebook posts from defendant Caserta were presented. In March 2020, shortly after Whitmer imposed a statewide lockdown order, Caserta wrote, The government has stolen enough from me. Theyve claimed ownership over my body and my property. Now they take away my place to live and source of income because of this?

Caserta called the governor a psychopath and wrote that the purpose of the Second Amendment is the ability to kill agents of the government when they become tyrannical. In May 2020, Caserta posted, I may kill dozens of agents but eventually die in the process. I will not be chipped and I will not be vaccinated even if that means losing everything I have.

In August, Caserta wrote that he would shoot tyrants after beating them with his hands and feet, letting them beg til they couldnt beg any more because their mouth is so full of blood.

He continued, There is no remorse for immoral cowards. Empathy is only reserved for the good.

In response, Casertas attorney, Michael Hills, said that none of the messages presented by the prosecution referred to kidnapping. The lawyers for the four defendants have argued that their clients were frequently high on marijuana and easily manipulated by the FBI. They claim the men would never have followed through on their wild verbal threats if they had not been goaded along by government informants.

On Monday, undercover FBI agent Tim Bates who was known to the group as Red, testified that he fooled the others into believing that he knew someone in the mining industry who could get high-grade explosives.

He described Fox and Croft as leaders of a plot to kidnap Whitmer and said they were thrilled as they watched videos of powerful explosives, before driving north to scout her vacation home. The plans to make a bomb is key to the prosecutors case because it was to be used to blow up a bridge near Whitmers second home in northern Michigan to divert police response to the kidnapping. The men were arrested when they attempted to purchase the explosives they intended to use in the bomb-making.

A total of 14 men, some of whom were members of the militia group Wolverine Watchmen and linked to the fascist Boogaloo movement, were arrested and charged. Six were indicted on federal crimes and the remaining eight were charged with state offenses. Two of the six charged by the US Justice Department, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, subsequently pleaded guilty and testified against their codefendants during the trial.

In their testimony, both Garbin and Franks said they willingly participated in the development of the kidnapping plan and trained for it. Garbin revealed that the kidnapping plot was intended to ignite a civil war in the US involving antigovernment groups that would prevent Joe Biden from winning the presidential election. Franks said he planned to sacrifice his life in an armed confrontation with the governors security team and law enforcement officers.

Other key prosecution testimony was provided by several FBI informants who joined the Wolverine Watchmen after law enforcement officers were alerted to discussion of violence against government officials by members of the militia group.

When the prosecution rested the defense moved for a direct acquittal on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence against the men to move the case to jury deliberations. This standard motion in a criminal trial was quickly denied by US District Judge Robert Jonker, who said the testimony of Garbin and Franks was sufficient evidence to move forward.

The seriousness of the case and its connection with the wider threat of fascism in the US was highlighted on Wednesday when FBI agents raided a home in the Detroit suburb of Hazel Park following alleged death threats made against trial participants. According to an FBI representative, threats were made against Judge Jonker, two defense attorneys and one witness. The FBI said no arrests have been made and gave no details about the nature of the threats.

The plot against Whitmer was part of a broader conspiracy by fascistic militia elements to kidnap and/or kill governors who opposed Donald Trumps attempt to lift all pandemic restrictions and force workers back into unsafe work locations, factories and schools in 2020. In addition to the plot against Whitmer, plots were also reported against Virginia Democratic Governor Ralph Northam and Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine.

Following demonstrations on April 15 at the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing and the Capitol buildings in Virginia and Minnesota, Donald Trump notoriously tweeted: Liberate Michigan, Liberate Minnesota, and Liberate Virginia. Trump and other fascistic figures within the Republican Party encouraged the protests that included Confederate flags and Nazi emblems. These demonstrations and the plots against the governors were dress rehearsals for the attempt to overturn the results of the November 2020 elections that culminated in the mob assault on the US Capitol in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021.
FILE - In this March 2, 20217, file photo, Tucker Carlson, host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," poses for photos in a Fox News Channel studio in New York.

Russian President Vladimir Putin makes it nearly impossible for Russians to learn the truth about his unprovoked war in Ukraine that is targeting civilians and causing a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.

Independent media outlets have been shut down leaving only Russian state-run outlets to saturate the airwaves with lies and propaganda. And if a Russian dares to call Putin's invasion into Ukraine a war, they face 15 years in prison.

But one employee of state TV risked the consequences to get a tidbit of truth to the people. She interrupted the evening news by holding a sign behind the anchor that said: Stop the war and Don't believe propaganda. They're lying to you.

She later admitted she was very ashamed to have contributed to the Kremlin's propaganda and the zombification of Russian people during her time at the TV station.

I wonder if Fox News pundits and guests will ever feel ashamed for spewing the Kremlin's propaganda so effectively that their rants are often aired on Russian TV to help Putin cover-up his atrocities.

For example, translated video clips from a Fox interview with Ret. Col. Douglas Macgregor, an ex-Pentagon official in the Trump administration, was shown on Putin TV arguing that the U.S. demonized Putin, and that Ukrainians should lay down their arms and let Putin have their country.

Also, excerpts from Fox interviews with former Democratic U.S. representative Tulsi Gabbard are often used.

Once Gabbard blamed President Joe Biden for not preventing the war by giving in to Putin's demand to keep Ukraine out of NATO forever. No amount of rubles could buy propaganda that persuasive.

The Kremlin is frustrated by the global condemnation of Putin's invasion, but Russia's foreign minister applauded Fox News for presenting alternative points of view.

However, Russia's Must See TV is Fox host Tucker Carlson who has been spewing pro-Russian propaganda for years.

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In 2019 when Ukrainians were already fighting Putin's aggression, Comrade Carlson said, Why do I care what is going on in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia? And I'm serious. Why do I care? Why shouldn't I root for Russia? Which I am.

The Kremlin is obviously so impressed with Comrade Carlson's ability to shamelessly shill for Putin, even after he threatened the world with nuclear war, that they dispersed talking points to their media to Use more Tucker Carlson.

Mother Jones obtained a leaked Kremlin memo to the media stating in part, It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO.

But the most despicable thing that Comrade Carlson has done (so far) is to echo Russian propaganda accusing the United States and Ukraine of conducting chemical and biological weapons activities.

Comrade Carlson took comments from Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victory Nuland's testimony, and twisted it to parrot Russia's lie.

According to the New York Times, there are biological laboratories inside Ukraine that the U.S. has backed to prevent the production of biological weapons.

The State Department said Ms. Nuland was referring to Ukrainian diagnostic and biodefense laboratories, which are different from biological weapons facilities.

Ms. Nuland warned it is classic Russian technique to blame the other guy what they're planning to do themselves.

Comrade Carlson has perfected Putin's technique for laying the groundwork to blame the victim for what you are planning to do to them.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian propagandists will be held responsible for complicity with war crimes.

I hope U.S. propagandists will be held responsible for their complicity as well.

Ashbrook is a contributing columnist for the Advertiser. She is a retired school teacher and may be reached at trublu795@gmail.com.

Joni Ashbrook is a contributing political columnist for the Bastrop Advertiser.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Opinion: Fox News  America and Russia's Newsroom
Kohls is calling on its shareholders to reject activist investor Macellum Advisors proposal ahead of its annual meeting in May amid pressure for the retailer to sell itself.

Meanwhile, Macellum Advisors, which owns nearly 5% of shares at Kohls, continues to call out Kohls for mismanagement and is also asking shareholders to elect its own director candidates to the board.

More from Footwear News

In a new letter sent to the Kohls board on Monday, Macellum urged the board to disclose details related to bids from potential buyers and how the process is being managed by Goldman Sachs, the companys financial advisor. Macellum is also calling on Kohls to deliver a transparent update on the companys recent financial performance and pre-release results for the first quarter of this fiscal year.

The letter comes after a Thursday letter sent to investors from Kohls, where the company pushed back on Macellums campaign to add new directors to the retailers board, calling Macellums nominees an unqualified slate.

Macellum is attempting to take control of your board with an inexperienced, unqualified slate, Kohls wrote in the letter. Six of 10 nominees have never served on a public company board, and none have served on a retail company board of comparable size to Kohls. In addition, Macellum is promoting an ever-changing narrative, misinformed claims, and value-destructive proposals, all of which reveal a reckless and short-term approach that is not in the interest of driving long-term, sustainable value.

The Wisconsin-based retailer went on to state that Macellum has offered virtually no new ideas, with the few ideas they have presented are short-term focused and likely to destroy significant value.

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The sale leasebacks that they are demanding are an inefficient source of financing that would negatively impact margins by adding unnecessary rent expenses in perpetuity and risk Kohls investment-grade rating, Kohls added.

Macellum Advisors has previously expressed skepticism about the future of Kohls, given its current board of directors and performance compared to retail peers. Macellum, which has asked Kohls to consider taking an offer to sell its business, in February said that it would nominate 10 candidates for election to the companys board of directors at the annual shareholder meeting on May 11, 2022.

In Late March, Kohls confirmed that it was weighing offers from multiple parties that were interested in purchasing the company. The department store chain hired Goldman Sachs to engage with potential bidders and discuss alternatives for the business. Kohls said in a separate letter to shareholders that it has engaged with over 20 parties. These proposals, Kohls said, are non-binding and without financial commitment.

One of the rumored bids were from Saks Fifth Avenue parent company Hudsons Bay Co. Private equity firm Sycamore is also rumored to be in the mix of potential buyers.

Kohls said it is continuing with its examination into potential bidders, adding in Thursdays letter that Macellum is advocating for a quick sale of Kohls at any price. Macellums push for a hasty sale at any price reveals a short-term approach that is not in the best interest of Kohls shareholders, the retailer stated. Macellum has repeatedly criticized Kohls for rejecting an offer to acquire the company at $64 per share, a price that is well below the value that Macellum itself publicly declared. Their focus on short-term value is further evidenced in the selling of stock in the low $60s over the last month.

Kohls said in March that the restructuring of its business has helped it achieve profitability and record earnings per share in 2021. The retailer said it hit an all-time record of adjusted earnings per share of $7.33 in 2021, with an operating margin of 8.6% that surpassed its goal of 7% to 8% two years ahead of schedule.

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A mural praises the Russian Wagner group and its mercenaries fighting in Ukraine on March 30, 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia. Pierre Crom/Getty Images

Western officials say the Russian-backed private military The Wagner Group is deploying as many as 1,000 mercenaries to eastern Ukraine.

An official told Insider that the Wagner fighters won't turn the tide for Russia but show Putin's "desperation."

Western officials say they're expecting the Wagner Group  a private military company with close ties to the Russian leadership  to deploy as many as 1,000 mercenaries into eastern Ukraine.

The Wagner Group has been tied to Russian separatists in the Donbass region since 2014. Despite the influx of Wagner Group fighters, Western officials don't expect them to help Russia turn the tide.

"I am not necessarily convinced that 1,000 Wagner troops are going to change the tide of operations in the Donbass," one Western official told Insider.

Russia has sustained heavy losses in nearly five weeks of combat, with NATO officials estimating nearly 40,000 troops have been wounded or killed of an initial invasion force of roughly 160,000. They've been forced into a retreat near Kyiv but are continuing their increasingly indiscriminate attacks on cities like Mariupol.

Former Wagner Group mercenaries told the BBC they were contacted weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine began and that the group was "recruiting anyone and everyone," including those who had been banned from other mercenary groups.

The Wagner Group has a "fearsome" reputation, according to a Western official who told Insider that the groups mercenaries being sent to eastern Ukraine include senior leaders of the organization; the official asked for anonymity to discuss analysis of the war. They said these additional troops come at the expense of the Wagner Group's operations in Africa and Syria.

In Dec. 2021, the Wagner Group was sanctioned for "serious human rights abuses in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan and Mozambique which include torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and killings."

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The Western official told Insider that the Wagner Group's reputation comes from not adhering to the rule of law and the rules of armed conflict and that involving them in the war in Ukraine is a "significant" risk for Russia that might not prove to be worth it.

"If you're reaching for 1,000 Wagner troops thinking that is going to be crucial to succeeding in operations in the Donbass, it should give you pause for thought into how capable your broader force is," the Western official told Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Shawn Mendes returns with When Youre Gone (via Island), his first release of 2022.

A dreamy love song with a punchy chorus, Gone is his first release since Itll Be Okay, which dropped in December 2021.

More from Billboard

Long-time collaborator Jay Martin (Itll Be Okay, Mercy, Stitches) shot the official music video, filmed across several days of recording, rehearsing in Toronto, Canada. The visual builds to Mendes live debut of the song at SXSW in Austin, Texas.

When Youre Gone was produced by the Canadian heartthrob and Jonah Shy, and was co-written by Mendes, Jonah Shy, and Scott Harris.

All four of Mendes four full-length studio albums have debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, including his most recent effort, Wonder, from 2020.

Mendes will perform When Youre Gone and his bank of hits when he returns to the road for Wonder: The World Tour, his biggest tour yet. The North America leg kicks off June 27 in Portland, OR and wraps Oct. 26 in Newark, NJ.

Watch the music video below.

Click here to read the full article.
If you have afro curly hair, youll most likely have used a particular type of hair scale to try and identify just how curly your hair is. Designed by Oprah Winfreys hairdresser Andre Walker in the 1990s, the 1a-4c hair chart has become a staple way for many Black women to categorise their natural curls. When going natural  breaking away from chemicals and regular usage of heat-based tools to manipulate your hair  one of the first questions posed to you will be: what is your hair type?. Everyone from professional Black hairstylists, beauty influencers and TikTok creators, to what feels like the whole natural hair movement seems to use this scale. But the scale has not been without its controversies. How useful is Andre Walkers hair scale in measuring the variety and totality of afro hair? And does it create more issues than it solves?

The hair scale was originally used as a marketing tool for Andre Walker to sell his hair products. The scale is broken into four overall categories; 1a-c are straight hair textures, 2a-c are wavy hair textures, 3a-c are curly hair textures and 4a-c are kinky hair textures. The concept was that you would be able to choose from his line of products, based on how your hair was categorised. The scale was created long after the 1970s natural hair movement, where for the first time Black people were being encouraged to embrace and buy products that complement their natural hair texture. Andres scale was created during a resurgence of high manipulation of Black hair, such as a return to relaxers and the Jerry Curl boom.

Walker himself has claimed in a 2011 interview with Elle Magazine that, unlike looser 1a-3c hair, kinky hair can have limited styling options. Thats the only hair type that I suggest altering with professional relaxing, he said at the time. Rather than apologising for what are clearly texturist remarks, he doubled down on those comments when critiqued, adding my advice is based on how to best achieve strong, healthy hair. So for those who would like to engage me in a debate about who has more racial pride and self-esteem, based on hairstyle preference and use or non-use of chemical relaxers, know that I believe in personal freedom, and in the use of advanced technology when it yields positive results, which many of todays (versus yesterdays) chemical relaxers do deliver. Sadly, his emphasis on personal freedoms does nothing to acknowledge that his recommendations for kinkier hair contribute to a wider beauty standard that kinky Black hair in its natural state is inferior and incapable of being manageable and beautiful on its own terms. This makes it very difficult for Black women with kinkier hair to simply choose to be natural when even professional hairstylists dont recommend it.

Perhaps the natural hair movement being so dominated by this scale is one of the reasons why Black women with kinkier hair feel they need to manipulate their curls into a looser texture.

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Perhaps Walkers problematic views are impossible to separate from the scale itself. Many have remarked that the chart encourages whiteness or euro centricity as the default. It is easy, particularly in a society that already views kinkier hair as inferior, to see hair that is the furthest away from the white ideal of 1a-2c, as the most difficult or least desirable  something Andre Walker has refuted. In an episode of the podcast 99% Invisible, the hair chart is explored and one woman interviewed refers to it as a modern-day pencil test in reference to a test used in apartheid South Africa, to determine someones race. If you put a pencil in someones hair and the hair held the pencil, you were considered Black, and therefore a second class citizen. Perhaps the natural hair movement being so dominated by this scale (whatever Andres Walkers intentions) is one of the reasons why Black women with kinkier hair feel they need to heavily manipulate their curls into a looser texture.

Its also interesting to note that the origins of the chart were about selling hair products. Creating a simple chart (initially the 3c and 4c categories werent even included) to determine your curl pattern is an easy way to persuade people to buy your products, by finding a category that you neatly slot into with a selection of products tailored to the category. But, historically capitalist endeavours to help us manage and style Black hair, often lead back to the same ideas of inferiority, lack of nuance in advice about Black hair care and a need to fundamentally change or manipulate our hair texture. The emergence of Black hair capitalists in the early 20th century such as Madam C.J Walker and Annie Malone helped soften the often aggressive language used in beauty advertisements to describe Black hair, but ultimately the sentiment was very similar: that manipulating your hair was necessary. We can see this playing out today with the use of the hair scale; though some of the language used to market it seems self-empowering, and centred on maintaining healthy hair, its use does seem to often come back to texturist ideas. There is probably more money to be made in telling Black women they need a whole host of products to manage their hair, than telling them their natural hair is good on its own.

Black hair textures should not be viewed as something alien or unruly, but as hair that is completely normal.

Another critique is how little the hair scale tells us about other aspects of our hair that are just as important as the curl pattern, if not more so. Subrina Kidd, a Black hairstylist based in London with 20 years of experience styling a variety of hair textures, told Unbothered that personally Im about 50-50 with [the hair scale]. The scale has been helpful as a quick reference point, so on the one hand it gives me a rough parameter Ill be able to know prior to a hair consultation if the texture is loosely or tightly coiled.

However, she also emphasises there are many other important considerations to take on board to really know and understand a clients hair. No two heads are the same, our hair is unique! When I consult with a client I want to know what their lifestyle is like their routine, their hair density, hair health, how they feel about their hair, whats their budget in terms of products, and if they are time-sensitive in terms of maintenance. Theres a non-exhaustive list of attributes to explore. Its often the case when scrolling through social media apps like TikTok, where there will be disagreements in the video comments section about whether the creators hair is, for example, really 4a or 4c partly because the hair scale doesnt focus much on other aspects of afro hair. The scale assumes we all fit neatly into these constructed groups, when that isnt always the case, leading to disagreements about whether youre really representing a certain hair type.

Subrina Kidd emphasises building a relationship with clients based on trust and exploring the history of how they feel about their hair. Sometimes its important to interrogate how the client feels and understand them personally, otherwise styling suggestions I make might trigger them, and make them think of a time when they werent feeling great about themselves. Dryness, porosity, differences in length, shrinkage, heat damage, hormonal changes, chemical changes and our own internalised psychology about our hair, are all important factors beyond the shape of our coils.

So, are there any alternatives to this hair scale? The LOIS scale is more complex, taking into account sheen, shine, and frizz, as well as the texture or strand thickness of hair. Category L are hair strands with all bends, right angles and folds with little to no curve. O is if the strand is rolled up into the shape of one or several zeros like a spiral. I is if the hair lies mostly flat with no distinctive curve or bend. S is if your strands are a wavy line with hills and valleys. The LOIS scale has no obvious hierarchy and makes it easier to see if you have a combination of different curls and textures, as many of us often do.

Walkers hair scale clearly has benefits as well as several pitfalls in categorising Black hair, but admittedly it would always be tricky to create a perfect hair categorisation system in a wider cultural and political environment that simply doesnt value Black hair. Black hair textures should not be viewed as something alien or unruly, but as hair that is completely normal. A better understanding of our hair has to come with dismantling beauty standards and expectations, especially in terms of institutional policies, and even government legislation. If we can dismantle this framework, we can truly allow Black women to understand and love their hair without shame, and give Black women the true freedom to style their crown however they would like to.

Like what you see? How about some more R29 goodness, right here?

The Natural Hair Space Excludes Women With 4C Hair

Afro-Approved Hair Salons All Over The UK

I Bleached My Natural Curls Blonde  I'm Obsessed
Looking Glass Falls, locatedin the Pisgah National Forest, in North Carolina

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At a time when we're inundated with constant information and technology seems inescapable, there is something sacred about heading into the forest to unplug. Admittedly, there are fewer and fewer places where it's possible to step off the grid. Luckily, Pisgah National Forest remains a perfect destination for peace, quiet, and abundant nature.

The national landmark in Asheville, North Carolina, is so beloved that it was recently named "America's Most Popular National Forest" by Musement. And although it's the most Instagrammed forest in the country, Pisgah is large enough that its popularity won't get in the way of your commune with nature.

Pisgah National Forest in the fall seen from the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Getty Images

The national forest stretches more than 500,000 acres, with no shortage of activities and sights to explore. Visitors to Pisgah can hike one of the many trails leading to mountain peaks more than a mile high, or trek around the forest's many waterfalls.

The waterfalls are what make Pisgah a particularly beloved destination during the dog days of summer. Be sure to swim in one of the natural pools beneath Pisgah's cascades. The forest's natural water features are known for remaining extremely cool even when temperatures soar.

Hiking trail through Pisgah National Forest

Tyler Tomasek/Getty Images

Another visitor-favorite feature is "Sliding Rock," a 60-foot natural waterslide that locals refer to as "the original Slip 'n' Slide." Although entrance to the forest is free, there is a $1-per-person charge to slip down Sliding Rock between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Because it is an extremely popular attraction, try to visit before 10 a.m. or in the middle of the week to avoid the crowds.

The forest was founded in 1916 (it was purchased from the Vanderbilt family) and has since become famous as the home of the first school of forestry in the U.S., which you can honor at the Cradle of Forestry in America historic site.

Misty path in Pisgah National Forest

Robert Cable/Getty Images

And when you're ready to head back to civilization, the forest is located only a 10-minute drive from downtown Asheville.

Cailey Rizzo is a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure, currently based in Brooklyn. You can find her on Twitter, Instagram, or at caileyrizzo.com.
The moment the Russian Soyuz capsule touched down in Kazakhstan at 5.28pm local time on 30 March, 2022 (Nasa)

A Nasa astronaut has returned to Earth aboard a Russian craft after breaking the record for the longest single spaceflight by an astronaut.

Mark Vande Hei spent 355 days aboard the International Space Station (ISS), breaking the previous record by 15 days.

In that time he orbited the Earth 5,680 times, covering a distance of more than 150 million miles.

Vande Hei was joined by two Roscosmos cosmonauts  Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov  on the return journey from the ISS, which touched down in Kazakhstan on Wednesday afternoon.

The US space agency broadcasted a live stream video of the parachute-assisted landing on its Nasa TV platform, which was controlled by the Russian mission control centre in the town of Korelev on the outskirts of Moscow.

Russian Soyuz rocket carrying astronauts is expected to land back on Earth in the steppe of Kazakhstan on Wednesday (Nasa)

The capsule landed upright but tipped onto its side after strong winds blew the parachute.

Recovery teams on the ground assisted the space farers off the craft before they boarded a helicopter for a two-hour flight to the city of Karaganda.

Mr Vande Hei will then catch a flight from there to Houston in the US, where he will be reunited with friends and family.

Marks mission is not only record-breaking, but also paving the way for future human explorers on the Moon, Mars, and beyond, Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

Our astronauts make incredible sacrifices in the name of science, exploration, and cutting-edge technology development, not least among them time away from loved ones. Nasa and the nation are proud to welcome Mark home and grateful for his incredible contributions throughout his year-long stay on the International Space Station.

The trip was put into doubt when the Russian space agency appeared to threaten to not allow Vande Hei to travel aboard its Soyuz craft, after the US imposed sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

The ISS astronauts and cosmonauts said they did not discuss the issues and continued to operate as usual while working on the orbiting laboratory.

People have problems on Earth. On orbit we are... one crew, like space brothers and sisters, Mr Shkaplerov said on Tuesday.
Have you ever boarded a flight, walked past the passengers in first class, and wished you were sitting in their seats? We've all been there. Fortunately, there are ways to live the high life at the front of the plane  without having to pay up for the expensive tickets.

Here, we break down how to score free upgrades on domestic and international flights, plus bust some common myths about the process.

How to Get an Upgrade on a Domestic Flight

Row of airplane windows during golden hour in a first class section of airplane cabin

Getty Images

Most airlines market their premium cabin on domestic flights as "first class," and these are typically spacious armchair-like seats on narrow-body aircraft (those with one aisle).

The best way to get upgraded to first class for free is to earn elite airline status. Complimentary upgrades are offered to frequent fliers on all the major airlines, although not necessarily on every route. United, for instance, does not offer its elite members a free upgrade on its "premium" transcontinental routes, which include NewarkLos Angeles, NewarkSan Francisco, and BostonSan Francisco  these routes have flat-bed business-class seats rather than first-class armchair seats. Delta, on the other hand, does offer free upgrades on transcontinental routes with lie-flat seats, including flights to Hawaii.

If you have elite status with your airline, all you have to do is make sure to request a complimentary upgrade for your booking before your flight or as you're checking in (specific methods vary by airline).

Upgrades are given out based on availability, and the list for those limited seats has a specific hierarchy. Top-tier elites rank highest, while other factors like having an airline-branded credit card come into play, too. Your complimentary upgrade could clear any time from a few days before your flight to the moment you scan your boarding pass. In some rare cases, you might even be called to the front after you've taken your seat in economy.

If you don't have status, you can still score an upgrade, but you'll have to pay for it. Many airlines offer upgrade deals if there's availability in the first-class cabin, which can be paid in money or miles  choosing to pay with miles means you'd technically be getting the upgrade for free. Keep an eye out on your booking online or via your airline app to spot potential paid upgrades, or enquire at the desk if you're checking in in person.

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How to Get an Upgrade on an International Flight

First class seating on airplane allows for more room to sleep

Fabien Gysel/Getty Images

Airlines often brand their premium cabin as "business class," with special names like Polaris (United), Delta One, Flagship Business (American), and Mint (JetBlue). Some airlines also have a class even more luxurious than business, which is, confusingly, also called first class. But in all these cases, the seats are lie-flat (or close to it).

Unlike domestic flights, upgrades on international flights are very rare. Most elites are not eligible for free upgrades to business class, except for some short-haul international flights to the Americas on some U.S.-based airlines. (Delta, for instance, offers free upgrades to elites on some flights to Central America, South America, and the Caribbean  usually on planes with first-class cabins, not business-class ones.)

There is one other exception: Top-tier elites are often gifted systemwide upgrades for their loyalty, and those certificates are redeemable for upgrades to business class on international flights, pending availability in the cabin. They can sometimes be used on partner airlines, like Copa for United and Air France for Delta.

If you're not in possession of a systemwide upgrade, then you're pretty much limited to paying with money or using miles, which, as with domestic flights, you can do before your trip or during the check-in process.

If you're willing to pay for an upgrade, but are looking for a good deal, there are a few methods you can try. Some airlines, including Etihad and Hawaiian, allow passengers to bid for an upgrade before the flight, while others, like KLM and Qatar, sometimes offer upgrades at a sizable discount if you ask an agent at the airport.

A first class seat during dinner service meal on an airplane

Getty Images

Why You Might Get a "Surprise" Upgrade

In rare circumstances, a flight may be oversold in the economy cabin, but there could be some space in first or business class. In that case, some very lucky passengers might be bumped up to first or business class for free in what's known as an operational upgrade. Airlines won't pick passengers out of a hat, though  these upgrades are typically offered to elites first.

On a similar note, if your plane is overbooked and the airline is asking for volunteers to take a later flight, passengers willing to do so might have a bit of negotiating power to score an upgrade. "If you volunteer to take a 'bump' to the next flight, you can negotiate your way into a first-class seat. I did it for a flight from Phoenix to San Diego," Bobby Laurie, the host of The Jet Set and a former flight attendant, tells Travel + Leisure. "I took a flight two hours later, got upgraded, and got a lounge pass to eat and pass the time."

FAQ

Can I get a free upgrade on my birthday or honeymoon?

No, sadly those days are long gone. Telling the agent at the check-in desk that it's your birthday or that you're traveling for your honeymoon isn't going to score you a free upgrade.

Can I ask a flight attendant or gate agent to give me an upgrade?

This policy varies by airline. "At Virgin America, it was a big no, no  a fireable offense," says Laurie. "But at other airlines I've worked for as a flight attendant, we were allowed to do it once the cabin door closed. At that point, all of the elites that should have been upgraded were, and we'd use the upgrade for service recovery had something gone wrong." In essence, there's no harm in politely asking, but don't hold your breath for that upgrade.

Does dressing up help my chances of an upgrade?

No, it does not. Upgrades for paying passengers do not depend on wardrobe choices; they're primarily based on elite status. Airlines do have dress codes, though  you're not allowed to wear clothing with offensive language, for instance. But there's no requirement to wear business attire in business class.

However, there is a scenario where clothing might matter. "This is more of a 'thing' if you're traveling on a space-available ticket or an employee pass. If it's the only seat left on the plane, they will put you in the seat so long as you 'look the part,'" says Laurie.
Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness speaks following a meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex, in Washington, Wednesday, March 30, 2022.

Vice President Kamala Harris met on Wednesday with Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness at the White House today, a significant if not historic meeting between the first Black woman vice president who is the daughter of a Jamaican national and the Caribbean nations leader.



The meeting came after Holness told Englands Prince William in a letter last August that Jamaica, like other former British colonies in the Caribbean, planned to sever its remaining ties to the British crown and become independent. That letter set the state for a meeting in which Holness is expected to continue his push for stronger diplomatic and economic ties to the United States, where nearly 1.2 million people reported having Jamaican ancestry in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.



From the Miami Herald A senior Biden administration official told McClatchy that Holness visit will underscore the importance of the relationship with Jamaica and the region to the Biden administration. The official said the discussion will include the COVID-19 pandemic, economic growth and recovery, and climate and energy security, among other issues.... Jamaica under the Trump administration sought closer ties with the U.S. much to the dismay of some of its fellow Caribbean neighbors. Holness was among a handful of Caribbean leaders who met with former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2019.

Its unclear whether Holness letter to Prince William means Jamaica intends to become a republic and remove Queen Elizabeth, Prince Williams grandmother, as Jamaicas official head of state. Barbados, another member of the bloc known as the Caribbean Community, or Caricom, did so in November. Jamaica has been officially independent from Britain for 60 almost 60 years, but it remains a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, a group of 54 former British colonies around the world that still have the queen of England as their titular head of state.



Thirty-two of those countries are in Africa and the Caribbean.



Prince William condemned slavery in Jamaica and elsewhere in response to protests in the country over his visit to the Caribbean with his wife, Kate Middleton, last week for celebrations commemorating the 75th anniversary of Queen Elizabeths reign in England.



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Doug Ducey

Matt York/AP/Shutterstock Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill banning abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy on Wednesday, with no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

Ducey, a Republican, has signed every bill aimed at restricting abortions during his eight years as governor, according to the Arizona Republic, with this being the strictest yet. Under the new law, which passed through Arizona's legislature with no votes from Democratic lawmakers, doctors who perform an abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy could be prosecuted for a felony and could lose their medical license.

There are no exceptions for victims of rape or incest, but in cases of life-threatening medical conditions or anything that creates "serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function" to the mother, it could be allowed.

"In Arizona, we know there is immeasurable value in every life  including preborn life," Ducey wrote in a letter after signing the bill. "I believe it is each state's responsibility to protect them."

RELATED: Arizona Governor Signs Bill Banning Women from Aborting a Fetus with Genetic Abnormalities

Arizona Sen. Nancy Barto, a Republican who sponsored the bill, said in a statement that the bill limits the "horrors of abortion."

"We won't stop fighting until every preborn child is protected, but this is a step in the right direction," she said.

Arizona's bill mimics Mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks, which is in violation of the right to abortion set by the landmark 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. The current Supreme Court is in the process of hearing arguments about Mississippi's ban, and the newly conservative-leaning bench could overturn the right to abortion by the end of their session in June.

RELATED VIDEO: 'I Pray for All ... Who Will Suffer': Many Stars Are Outraged at Sweeping Alabama Abortion Ban

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Abortion rights supporters such as NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood decried Arizona's ban.

"The people of Arizona don't want this abortion ban. Medical professionals in Arizona are against this ban. Nobody asked for this. But Arizona politicians  including the governor today  are willfully ignoring both public opinion and science with the sole goal of stripping constituents of their constitutional rights," Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement. "With this ban in effect, countless Arizonans and their families will suffer."

RELATED: 31 Celebrities Who Have Shared Their Abortion Stories to Help Women Feel Less Alone

Along with this ban, Arizona has several other abortion restrictions in place, including a mandatory 24-hour waiting period and a required pre-abortion ultrasound.

The ban will go into law 90 days after the Arizona legislative session ends, which is typically at the end of June.
Doja Cat is continuing to insist that shes retiring from her music career, but not without tying up loose ends.

The star took to Twitter on Thursday (Mar. 31) to share that she will still be joining The Weeknd as the opening act on his upcoming tour, despite her plans to disappear right after.

More from Billboard

For those who are seeing me at the after hours tour, im not bailing, she wrote. But me not bailing doesnt mean my a isnt gonna disappear right after. i still got s i gotta do. and a lot of yall think cuz i post a fin picture it means im not out. Pic doesnt = music GOOFY.

She continued, noting that she still got videos to film i got performances to do and I got content to drop, adding that shes pooping it out and dippin.

for those who are seeing me at the after hours tour, im not bailing. But me not bailing doesnt mean my ass isnt gonna disappear right after. i still got shit i gotta do. and a lot of yall think cuz i post a fuckin picture it means im not out. Pic doesnt = music GOOFY  sausage toes (@DojaCat) March 31, 2022

so yes that still means i got videos to film i got performances to do and I got content to drop so im pooping it out and dippin. i aint gone yet.  sausage toes (@DojaCat) March 31, 2022

The controversy began last week when Doja sent out a storm of angry tweets after her headlining set at Paraguays Asuncionico festival was canceled due to flooding. Its gone and i dont give a fk anymore i fkin quit i cant wait to fking disappear and i dont need you to believe in me anymore, she wrote, followed by, Everything is dead to me, music is dead, and im a fking fool for ever thinking i was made for this this is a fking nightmare unfollow me.

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Since then, she said she wont be taking photos with fans, expressed disappointment in the performance she put on during the first weekend of Lollapalooza Brazil, and exchanged terse words with NBCSports/TelemundoSports production assistant Roberto Rojas.

The Weeknds After Hours Til Dawn stadium tour begins July 8 in Toronto.

Click here to read the full article.
CHICAGO  The subject of a nationwide arrest warrant has been taken into custody Wednesday in connection to the fatal shooting of a Skokie man and the wounding of a 15-year-old girl in a mall in Rosemont, police said.

Jose G. Matias, 18, was taken into custody without incident around 3:15 p.m. Wednesday in connection to the shooting where Joel Valdez was killed around 7 p.m. Friday at the Rosemont fashion outlet mall, Rosemont Police Sgt. Joseph Balogh said in a statement.

On Tuesday, an arrest warrant was issued, naming Matias as a suspect.

Rosemont paramedics treated and transported Joel Valdes to Lutheran General Hospital, where he was pronounced dead soon after.

The shooting stemmed from an argument between two people, police said. A 15-year-old girl who was an innocent bystander was also wounded and was taken to the same hospital. She has since been released.

The mall was locked down and frantic shoppers described terrified moments.

The shooter fled in a Maroon 2008 Honda with other unknown subjects, Balogh said that night.

A person of interest who police were questioning shortly after the attack has been released without being charged, Balogh said.

Balogh did not make clear what Matias was charged with or when he will appear before a judge.

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Podcast Investigating the Terri Schiavo Case Released on 17th Anniversary of Her Death

NEWS PROVIDED BY

Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network

March 31, 2022



WASHINGTON, March 31, 2022 /Standard Newswire/ -- The family of Terri Schiavo is encouraged that Lynn Vincent is reinvestigating the Terri Schiavo case with Lawless, a new true crime podcast that examines a frightening fact of American life: That not every crime is against the law.



World Radio, part of the World News Group, and Mrs. Vincent, a #1 New York Times best-selling writer of eleven nonfiction books with more than 16 million copies in print, will be producing and narrating the podcast.



Today, March 31st is the release of Episode 1, which also marks the 17-year anniversary of Terri Schiavo's death. However, what most people don't know is what happened between 1990  1992, before the case gained international publicly. Thirteen episodes will investigate Terri's case and what has been an accepted version of history since her death in 2005.



It was in 1990 when Terri, at the age of 26, sustained a suspicious brain injury while home alone with her husband, Michael Schiavo. Terri's brain injury affected her ability to swallow and so she required a feeding tube to receive nourishment.



Terri did not have a medical directive, so it was Michael who became her court appointed caretaker. At the time, Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, did not anticipate there would be issue with Michael being Terri's caretaker. However, in 1993, barely three months after a million-dollar medical trust was established for Terri's lifelong rehabilitation, Michael had a change of heart, and decided to end Terri's life.



After a protracted legal battle, on March 18th, 2005, Terri's feeding tube was removed, beginning a sickening death lasting almost two-weeks, thus fulfilling Michael's premeditated plan to put his wife to death. Terri's family stood helpless as Terri experienced an agonizing demise.



Bobby Schindler, Terri's brother and President of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network, states,

"We continue to witness the effects of a culture rife with evil and immorality. For decades, it has been the insurance industry, hospital administrators, government elites, medical ethicists, lawmakers, and others who are determining who lives and who dies.



"I ask that you please remember that Terri was killed by a horrible injustice and pray for the families who are witnessing their loved one's death as my family did. It is heartbreaking to live in a world with such an apparent lack of compassion for persons with brain injuries. My family and I welcome the attention this podcast will bring to my sister's story, and we hope that it saves the life of another innocent victim like my sister, Terri."

You can listen to Lawless, the new WORLD Radio podcast about the Terri Schiavo case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, WORLD Radio, or wherever you get your podcasts!



SOURCE Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network

CONTACT: Bobby Schindler, President, 813-766-6239, bschindler@lifeandhope.com


To the editor -- Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Rural America's news "drought" has created a news "desert" populated, if at all, by "ghost newspapers" stalked by media moguls astride hedge fund vultures poised to swoop down, drop the gate, drain the lines, steal the rugs.

The Washington Post says that since 2005, more than 2,200 local newspapers have posted a final-30-30-.

But not right here in River City.

The decision by the YH-R to plumb into an all-digital / town crier / water master / reservoir ensures Yakima's future as an oasis.

The Herald is my pipeline from our village and from the rest of the world. If hot money and a parched market welds the spigot shut, the responsible community-centered terrestrial sources of news evaporates.

Then we drink with the dust devils. "News" served in a heat mirage refracted by QAnon prophets, barkers, faux Greek choruses -- "Gong Show" redux.

So, if you're gulping from a firehose spewing "news" pulled from their Salton Sea, let's be careful out there. Desert floors are also littered with chiggers, thorns, scorpions, vipers -- ouch!

JOHN EUTENEIER

Nile Valley
The Dallas Morning News

While the U.S. casts about for some way to bring more pressure on Russia without joining the war in Ukraine, Bing West, former U.S. assistant secretary of defense under President Ronald Reagan, has a plan. We think the Biden administration should listen.

In an interview with Dallas Morning News contributor Michael Judge last week, West suggested that NATO countries should publicize the names of Russian military commanders who have authorized attacks on civilians, and promise to investigate them for war crimes. Further, West suggested that those commanders and their families should be barred from entering NATO countries.

What makes such an action possible is the close cultural connections between Russia and Ukraine, which makes it possible to identify military officers responsible for attacks on civilian targets.

This information is out there, West said. The Ukrainians have the names of every single one. There isnt a Russian battalion commander or above in Ukraine right now whose name is not known.

The Western intelligence community could vet those names, and any member of the list should be entitled to due process. Further, we would add that this action should come with an offer of clemency for any of those officers who obstruct the execution of war crimes or who cooperate with Western authorities.

By many accounts, Russian forces are rife with disunity and low morale. And Russias top-heavy command structure means more high-ranking officers are being sent to the front lines to sort out problems and revitalize the effort, according to Reuters. Last week, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak named six Russian generals who he said have been killed in action. Measures like this could fuel disharmony in the ranks, further weakening the Russian attack.

President Joe Biden has publicly called out Russian President Vladimir Putin, labeling him a war criminal. But thats not likely to do much good. Putins hubris is too far gone for that. But Putins generals and colonels might be a different story.

To date, the effort to weaken resolve among Putins supporters has focused on political and financial targets. On Thursday, Biden announced more sanctions, this time against the Russian Duma and more than 40 defense companies. Bringing action against active-duty military officers dovetails with that approach.

As Western nations look for meaningful ways to support Ukraine without military escalation or sending troops into battle, this is a savvy tactic worth exploring.
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The Ship of Fools, the Paris Louvres only title by Hieronymus Bosch (ca. 1450  1516), arrived in Budapest to be put on display in the upcoming exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts which will be one of the most significant Bosch shows in the international museum world in the last fifty years.

Hieronymus Bosch produced one of the most exciting and emblematic artistic achievements in the world; his paintings have captured peoples imagination for centuries, Laszlo Baan, the director general of the museum, told journalists while unwrapping the painting.



The exhibition entitled Between Hell and Paradise. The Enigmatic World of Hieronymus Bosch will present almost half of the masters painted oeuvre including ten autograph paintings with the Ship of Fools among them, Baan said.



Other highlight titles include the Last Judgement triptych from Bruges Groeningemuseum, the Adoration of the Magi from the New York Metropolitan Museum, Saint John the Evangelist on Patmos from Berlins Gemaldegalerie and the Ecce Homo from Frankfurts Stadel Museum, he said.



The show will altogether feature close to 90 works on loan from some 50 public and private collections including the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the National Gallery in London, the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and the Prado in Madrid, Baan said. The exhibition will run from April 9 until July 17.



Click here to read more about the exhibition

Museum of Fine Arts

1146 Budapest, Dozsa Gyorgy ut 41.

Phone number: +36 1 469 7100*
Hungarys foreign minister, citing press reports and communications between the Ukrainian foreign minister and Kyivs ambassador in Budapest, has accused the Hungarian opposition of being in constant contact with the Ukrainian government.

The Hungarian opposition also promised to send weapons to Ukraine and to vote in favour of sanctions on Russian oil and gas deliveries to Hungary and Europe if they won Sundays ballot, Peter Szijjarto said.



Also, Szijjarto said the Ukrainian foreign minister had called Ukraines ambassador to Hungary to discuss options on how to influence the results of the Hungarian elections.



He insisted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys international speeches in which he constantly attacks Hungary and its government for refusing to send weapons to Ukraine or to vote for sanctions endangering our energy supplies also corroborated that such talks had taken place.



He said that whereas Zelenskys requests were understandable, as it was in Ukraines interest for as many European countries as possible to ship weapons there and to vote for sanctions on Russian crude oil and gas, they were diametrically opposed to Hungarys interests.



Hungarian politicians must represent Hungarys interest and stay out of this war, Szijjarto said.





MTI Photo: Tamas Vasvari
State-owned Hungarian postal company Magyar Post has issued a 145 forint (EUR 0.40) semipostal stamp with a 100 forint surcharge that will go toward supporting refugees from the war in Ukraine.

Magyar Posta has issued over 400,000 of the For one another! stamps, available at post offices across the country from Wednesday.



An image of interlocking hands over a letter  the winner of a childrens drawing contest  is displayed on the stamp.



Proceeds from the surcharge will go to the Hungarian Ecumenical Charity.



Magyar Posta has already made some of its logistics capacity available to the charity for storing donations it has collected.
YORK  Sentencing proceedings were held in York County District Court this past week for Victoria Gilbert, 31, of Benedict, on convictions of possession of a controlled substance and first offense resisting arrest.

A deputy was on regular patrol on Highway 34 when he saw a strange light coming from a vehicle, in the construction zone, in the middle of the night. The light was blinding and then the vehicle turned onto Road H.

A traffic stop was initiated and Timothy Welch was found to be the driver.

When the deputy, according to court documents, told Welch he was going to write him a warning for a traffic violation, Welch threw open the drivers door and began yelling in the deputys face. The deputy said he was trying to calm Welch down when Gilbert, who was a passenger in Welchs vehicle, attempted to exit the vehicle and another deputy informed her to stay in the vehicle.

While they were arresting Welch, who was allegedly being very agitated and aggressive, it is alleged Gilbert again opened the passenger door, leaned out and yelled at the deputies. They said she leaned herself out of the passenger window yelling obscenities at the deputies.

After Welch was arrested and secured in the cruiser, Gilbert told the deputies she was late for work. When she was asked if she had any weapons, she stated she had a knife on her hip, which was concealed under a jacket and her shirt, in a sheath.

The deputys canine indicated to the presence of narcotics.

When she was informed a search would be taking place, she was said to have sworn at the deputies before attempting to walk away. She also resisted as she was being arrested, according to court documents.

During a search of the vehicle, deputies found a machete, a bag containing a glass smoking pipe and three plastic bags with methamphetamine residue, a tooter straw used for methamphetamine, two THC container pucks, one THC vaporizer, one marijuana pipe, a dugout containing marijuana, one plastic container of marijuana, another machete, a yellow-handled pocket knife with a two-inch blade and a Gerber folding knife with a 3 -inch blade.

This week, Judge James Stecker sentenced her to five months in jail for the conviction of possession of a controlled substance and two months for resisting arrest. She was also given credit for 152 days already served in the York County Jail.
YORK  It was early on a school day when more than 200 teenagers entered the Holthus Convention Center for the annual York County Development Corporations Career Day.

YCDC partnered with the York Area Chamber of Commerce, the Henderson Chamber of Commerce and 10 area high schools for the seventh annual event.

Keynote speaker for the event was Taylor Siebert, founder of Striv Inc.

In addition, 29 area business professionals from six different industries were in attendance to discuss what they do within their careers and what opportunities are available to the students, in York County.

The professionals were divided into panels, based on their industries, and were available for break-out sessions. They were broken into the following categories: Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; Human Services and Education; Communications and Information Systems; Business, Marketing and Management; Skilled and Technical Sciences; and Health Services.

YCDC Director Lisa Hurley said the job fair portion was included this year, but with a twist. The job fair was a breakout session featuring employers who could hire any of the attending students while in school, or immediately following graduation.

Participating schools were Centennial, Cross County, Dorchester, Fillmore Central, Hampton, Heartland, McCool Junction, Nebraska Lutheran, Shickley and York Public.

The goal of the career day is to expose students to the various careers in our region and connect them to businesses, Hurley explained. The ultimate goal is to show students not only that we do have and will have jobs in the area when they are ready, that it is okay to come home after college or the military to pursue their careers. Last year, a student remarked, I never knew that was what they did there, after hearing Erin Holtzen of Cyclonaire explain the companys processes. I knew that building was there but had no idea what was inside. It is cool to hear what is happening there, the student said. This was a common theme as students asked questions to the panelists about their careers.

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SEWARD COUNTY  Two people were killed early Thursday morning, March 31, in an accident on Interstate 80, near Milford.

The Seward County Sheriffs Department says at approximately 3:15 a.m., their department was dispatched to a single vehicle crash. The preliminary investigation shows a tractor-trailer occupied by two individuals was traveling westbound on Interstate 80 when the driver lost control, causing the rig to overturn.

Officials say road conditions are expected to be a factor.

The crash resulted in two fatalities, with both individuals pronounced dead at the scene. Identification of victims is still pending, as next of kin are still being contacted.

The accident is being investigated by the Seward County Sheriffs Department and the Nebraska State Patrol. The Milford Police Department, the Seward Police Department and the Milford Fire and Rescue Department responded to the crash.
Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor recently bought a brand new Mercedes-Maybach S580 on his 41st birthday. The actor was seen taking a test-drive of the black-coloured Maybach with the Mercedes sales person from Auto Hangar in Mumbai, a dealership of the German brand. Now, the company has delivered the car to Shahid Kapoor and Mira Rajpoot, however the vehicle gets Diamond white colour.

As seen in the social media post by Mercedes' Mumbai based dealership Auto Hangar, the couple took delivery of their brand new Mercedes-Maybach S580. The Mercedes-Maybach S580 luxury saloon starts at Rs 2.79 crores (ex-showroom) in India.

Also read: Bollywood actor Shahid Kapoor buys Mercedes-Maybach on his birthday

This is not the actor's first Mercedes-Benz S-Class, as he has been spotted driving a Mercedes-Benz S400 (previous-generation S-Class), which had an AMG kit to give it a sportier appearance. The Mercedes-Benz S400 was powered by a 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine which made 334 PS of power and 480 Nm of torque.

The Maybach S580 is assembled at Mercedes's Chakan plant and is powered by an AMG sourced 4.0-litre twin turbocharged petrol engine making 503 PS of power and 700 Nm of torque. This powerful engine is mated to a 9-speed automatic transmission, which powers all four wheels.

Being a luxury saloon, it has a premium interior with a new vertical mounted touchscreen infotainment system which measures 12.8-inches in size and runs on the second-gen MBUX system. Drivers get a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster. There are also reclining rear seats with massaging functions, ambient lighting, noise cancellation, four-zone climate control, rear tray tables and a rear refrigerator with their own custom made solid metal flutes.

Some other cars owned by Shahid Kapoor are Land Rover Range Rover Vogue, Jaguar XKR-S, Porsche Cayenne GTS, Mercedes-Benz GLS and a Harley Davidson Fatboy.
Passing through the Delhi-Meerut Expressway and Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway will become more expensive from April 1. While Delhi-Meerut Expressway toll fare will increase by at least 10 percent from April 1, the Kherki Daula toll plaza, located on the Delhi-Jaipur highway will increase by 14 percent, and Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway will increase the toll fare by 8-9 percent.

Delhi-Meerut Expressway

The concerned authority was supposed to start collecting toll from commuters on the 59.77 km Delhi-Meerut Expressway (DME) from December 25 last year, but the plan was put on hold. According to NHAI, the annual toll collection potential on the expressway is estimated to be about Rs 111.39 crore, with cars/jeeps/light motor vehicles accounting for about 82 percent of the traffic and bus/trucks accounting for 14 percent.

The 14-lane DME comprises four phases  phase 1 links Sarai Kale Khan in Delhi and UP Gate in Ghaziabad, phase 2 connects UP Gate and Dasna in Ghaziabad, phase 3 connects Dasna to Hapur, while phase 4 is a six-lane 32-km access-controlled alignment between Dasna and Meerut.

Also read: Upto 8 times increase in registration renewal fees for 15-year-old vehicles from April 1

As per the notice issued by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the toll tax for light motor vehicles such as cars and jeeps starting on the expressway from Sarai Kale Khan till the end of it at the Kashi toll plaza will cost Rs 155 instead of Rs 140. The new rate from Sarai Kale Khan to Rasoolpur Sikrod plaza will be Rs 100 and Rs 130 to go to Bhojpur.

From Indirapuram, the toll for light motor vehicles will be Rs 105 till Kashi, Rs 80 to Bhojpur and Rs 55 to Rasoolpur Sikrod.

According to official estimates, phase 1 caters to the movement of about 120,000 passenger car units (PCUs) per day, while phase 2 in Ghaziabad caters to the movement of about 60,000 PCUs per day. The PCU for phase 4 is estimated at about 40,000.

The DME, which was fully opened for the public in April last year, was formally inaugurated by Union minister Nitin Gadkari on December 23, 2021.

Also read: Chetak completes 60 years in Indian Air Force: All you need to know about the HAL Helicopter

Kherki Daula toll plaza and Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway (KMP)

According to the Kherki Daula toll plaza management, from April 1, large commercial vehicles (trucks, buses and similar vehicles) will be charged Rs 235 per trip instead of Rs 205 earlier.

The regular toll charges for cars and jeeps have been increased by Rs 10 from Rs 70 to Rs 80. For minibus-type vehicles, Rs 115 instead of Rs 100 will be charged, it said.

On average, more than 80,000 vehicles pass through the Kherki Daula toll plaza every day. The monthly rates have also been hiked, the management said. The revised rates have irked the local residents.

Also read: PM Narendra Modi applauds Konkan Railway for reaching 100 percent electrification

We are demanding the removal of toll plazas, instead toll rates are being increased year after year, said Yasheesh Yadav, a local resident.

The newly constructed toll plaza near Ghamdoj on Sohna road is also expected to start functioning from April 1 with the amended rates. The increased rates will be applicable from April 1 as well.

(With inputs from PTI)

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More than three years after the company stopped producing its double-decker A380 aircraft, Airbus is now using this jumbo-jet as a test-bed for new aviation technologies. The A380 test aircraft flew for some three hours on March 25 using Sustainable Aviation Fuel for one of its four engines.

Airbus ZEROe demonstrator aircraft took off from Amsterdam at 8:43 am local time in the morning. As part of the company's plan to build a zero-emission aircraft by 2035, it will include an additional hydrogen-powered test engine mounted towards the aft end of the fuselage in the future.

whos the next to take off with 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuelits the #A380! After the #A350 and the #A319neo last year, were so proud to continue our 100% SAF journey with this iconic aircraft that will remain in our skies for decades to come https://t.co/l3WS4fmiJM pic.twitter.com/PShaVbTMLh  Airbus (@Airbus) March 28, 2022

Total Energies, the French oil and gas company, which has a refinery in Le Havre, a major port in the Normandy region, provided the 27 tons of SAF for the flight. HEFA, which stands for Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acid that is totally aromatic and sulphur-free, is the SAF used by Airbus. The HEFA is primarily made up of used cooking oil.

Also read: Thai Airways to resume flight operations between India and Thailand during Summer 2022

In a 12-month period, it is the third Airbus aircraft type to be operated on 100% SAF, following an Airbus A350 in March 2021 and an A319neo single-aisle aircraft in October 2021. In November, another Safran Makila 2 engine was powered by 100% SAF on an Airbus H225 helicopter. Commercial Airbus aircraft are certified to burn 50% biofuel blends, according to certification standards.

According to the Air Transport Action Group's second edition of Waypoint 2050, which was released last September, the use of SAF could constitute a third to a half of the carbon emissions reductions that the aviation industry would have to make for net-zero emissions by mid-century.

By 2050, a scenario in the report referred to as 'Aggressive Sustainable Fuel Deployment' is expected to see 90 per cent of our fuel supply switch to SAF. This would require 445Mt of SAF and an increase of 89.9% in sustainable fuel consumption.

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The national carrier of Thailand, Thai Airways is ready to resume flight operations between India and Thailand after India lifted its international flight restrictions on March 27. A popular destination for Indian travellers, Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) Global, expects a surge in demand for its e-Visa on Arrival service for Thailand.

"Starting of Thailand electronic-Visa on Arrival (eVOA) services through VFS Global will provide great convenience to customers travelling to Thailand. Thai Airways will be operating 35 flights a week between India and Thailand during the Summer of 2022. We sincerely hope 2022 offers tremendous travel opportunities for customers," said Sunil Kumar, Sales Manager, North India, Thai Airways.

Cholada Siddhivarn, Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand, Mumbai, said, "India remains an important source market for Thailand, and we are excited about the resumption of Thailand eVOA services through VFS Global. Thailand looks forward to welcoming many more Indian travellers in 2022."

Also read: Rajkot to get new greenfield airport, set to be inaugurated by August 2022

Vachirachai Sirisumpan, Director, Tourism Authority of Thailand, New Delhi, added, "VFS Global has been a strong partner for Thailand as a destination, and we are pleased to share news of the restart of Thailand Immigrations eVOA services through them. We hope 2022 will be the year we truly begin to travel again."

Noel Swain, Business Head, Passport Services, eVisa & Tourism services, VFS Global, said, "VFS Global appreciates the constant support and faith of the Thailand Immigration Authority, even during the challenges faced in the last two years. We have seen an uptick in demand for our Thailand eVOA since we resumed the service in January 2022, and we expect a further increase in these numbers once the Tai Airways flights resume at the end of the month."

India is one among nine countries whose nationals are eligible for Thailand eVOA services, along with Bhutan, Bulgaria, China, Cyprus, India, Malta, Romania, Saudi Arabia, and Taiwan.

Also read: Tata, Hero among other automakers to hike vehicle prices from April 1; full list here

VFS Global commenced Thai eVOA services in February 2019, providing travellers from 21 countries online pre-departure travel authorisation within 24 to 72 hours of their application being submitted. Additionally, an Express eVisa On Arrival service was introduced, enabling approval within 24 hours. Customers availing of the EVOA service undergo a faster immigration process at the dedicated Immigration counters at major airports in Thailand.

VFS Global also manages the online booking of Covid-19 RT-PCR tests at government-approved medical laboratories or homes. This service has been rolled out in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Chennai, Pune, and Kochi.

Customers can apply for their e-Visas on Arrival (eVOA) at thailandevoa.vfsevisa.com or at their nearest VFS Global Visa Application Centre.

(With inputs from IANS)

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New Delhi: The Union government is looking to raise Rs 8.45 lakh crore through borrowings in the first half of 2022-23 to fund the revenue gap for reviving the economy, the finance ministry said on Thursday.

Out of the gross market borrowing of Rs 14.31 lakh crore estimated for the next financial year, Rs 8.45 lakh crore is planned to be borrowed in the first half or April-September period.

The government has front loaded its borrowing programme as the 60 per cent of the record borrowing planned for the financial year beginning April 1 would be complete in the first six months itself.

Front loading of borrowing will be done with the objective of pushing capital expenditure which will have a multiplier effect on the economy.

As per the Union Budget document, the gross market borrowing through dated securities for 2022-23 will be Rs 14,95,000 crore. Taking into account the switch operations conducted on January 28, 2022, the gross market borrowing through dated securities for 2022-23 is expected at Rs 14,31,352 crore, the ministry said in a statement.

The gross borrowing for 2021-22 was Rs 12,05,500 crore.

The borrowing is scheduled to be completed in 26 weekly tranches of Rs 32,000-33,000 crore, the ministry said.

The borrowing will be spread under 2, 5, 7, 10, 14, 30 and 40 year securities and Floating Rate Bonds (FRBs) of various tenors. Long term securities, including the 14, 30 and 40 year ones, will make up for a significant chunk of the borrowing.

FRBs of various tenors will be issued on a fortnightly basis.

The government will continue to carry out switching of securities to smoothen the redemptions, the statement said, adding that it may continue to exercise the greenshoe option to retain an additional subscription up to Rs 2,000 crore against each of the securities indicated in the auction notification.

Weekly borrowing under treasury bills in the first quarter of 2022-23 is expected to be Rs 33,000-34,000 crore, with net borrowing of Rs 2.40 lakh crore during the quarter.

There will also be an issuance of Rs 13,000 crore under 91 DTBs, Rs 12,000-13,000 crore under 182 DTBs and Rs 8,000 crore under 364 DTBs in each auction to be held during the quarter.

To take care of the temporary mismatches in government account, the statement said the Reserve Bank of India has fixed the Ways and Mean Advances (WMA) limit for H1 of FY'23 at Rs 1,50,000 crore.

The government and the RBI are working jointly to bring a framework for issuance of sovereign green bonds.

In her Union Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced that the government proposes to issue sovereign green bonds to mobilise resources for green infrastructure.

The net borrowing during 2022-23 would be Rs 11.6 lakh crore, which is nearly Rs 2 lakh crore higher than the current year's budget estimate of Rs 9.7 lakh crore. Also Read: OnePlus 10 Pro 5G with 6.7-inch QHD+ display launched in India: Price, specs

Gross borrowing includes repayment of past loans. The government raises money from the market to fund its fiscal deficit through dated securities and treasury bills. Also Read: Nykaa, founded by self-made billionaire Falguni Nayar, enters TIME100 most influential companies list

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New Delhi: In a huge relief to the common public, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on Thursday reached a consensus for scraping the fines imposed on violators for not wearing masks in public places in view of fast-declining Covid-19 cases in the national capital, the sources said. The DDMA is likely to do away with the fines soon, they added.

In the last DDMA meeting, the fine for not wearing masks was reduced to Rs 500 from Rs 2,000. The Delhi government in its earlier order issued in February withdrew the compulsion of wearing a mask in a private car.

In early February, the COVID-19 restriction was relaxed when solo drivers were given exemption from wearing the mask inside the car. Notably, the daily COVID-19 infection in Delhi has witnessed a declining trend. Delhi on Wednesday reported 123 new COVID-19 cases and one death with a daily positivity rate of 0.5 per cent.

Delhi reported 113 fresh COVID-19 cases with a positivity rate of 0.49 per cent and zero death due to the viral disease on Thursday, according to data shared by the city health department. With these fresh cases, the national capital's tally of cases has increased to 18,64,970. The death toll stands at 26,152, it stated.

As many as 23,094 COVID-19 tests were conducted the previous day, the department said in its latest bulletin. The number of daily Covid-19 cases in Delhi has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13. Delhi had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the third wave of the pandemic.

The surge in Covid cases in Delhi during the third wave of the pandemic was largely due to the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra has also exempted people from wearing masks in all public places. Maharashtra Minister Jitendra Awhad on Thursday tweeted that the state cabinet decides to lift all the existing COVID-19 restrictions in the state.

Now all festivals can be celebrated enthusiastically, wearing masks will be compulsory, he said.

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Just 500 metres away from POK, a lot of activities can be seen happening nowadays in Jammu and Kashmirs Titwal village. An ancient temple and gurudwara along with a mosque are being constructed, which is becoming an example of brotherhood.

After the partition in 1947, the ancient Sharda Peeth temple and its compound and gurudwara were damaged in tribal attacks ( mostly known as Kabali attack). Since then, this land was lying deserted. But the majority community, who are Muslims, kept this piece of land as it is. In the year 2021, the villagers handed over this land to Kashmiri Pandits when they reached the Neelam river for the annual Sharda Peeth Yatra and worship.

In the month of December 2021 traditional worship was done on this land and the Save Sharda Committee constituted a temple construction committee, to renovate this temple. The committee included three local Muslims, one Sikh and Kashmiri Pandits.

On March 28, the construction of Mata Sharda temple has started in this Titwal village of North Kashmir, but along with this temple, construction of a Gurudwara and a mosque has also been started. Officials of save Sharda Committee (SSC) said that we want to set an example of brotherhood here.

Ravindra Pandita says, We have found the remains of the damaged temple and Dharamshala and Gurudwara which was damaged by tribles in 1947, and it would be good if we re-build temple, Dharamshala and Gurudwara again, this was base camp here of annual sharada peeth pilgrimage. He added people and the administration are fully supporting. When we came here for annual pilgrimage, people gave us this land back and we demarcated it and decided to build temple and again. We formed temple construction committee in which three are Muslim, one is Sikh and rest are Kashmiri Pandits.

Adding to that he said, I can see the full support of the people here. It can also be a rehabilitation plan because temples and shrines are our nerve centres. We want that Sharda Center should also be made here so that people will come to know about its historic background.

Not only it were Muslims who maintained the brotherhood, but Kashmir Pandits also answered in the same language, the ancient temple land, not only renovations of temple and gurudwara is happening but a mosque is also being built, so that the message of brotherhood goes to the world from this small village. The plan is to build a Sharda Peeth Center also here so that people from all over the world come here because Sharda Peeth isn't only connected to Hinduism but the people of following buddhism also believe in this a lot.

Surinder Mirza (Kashmiri Pandit) says, "Good work always creates history and we see a ray of hope here. It looks like a small village but what is happening here is part of a much bigger campaign and message. There is a desire in the hearts of the people here that once again the same era should come when Hindus and Muslims lived together. And we have plans that there should be a study center attached to Shardah Peeth so that many people visit this place and it becomes the center of attraction like It was before Partition."

The plan and model of the temple has already been approved by the Sringeri Dakshin Math and the granite stones used in the temple are being brought from Karnataka. The interesting thing is that this temple, gurudwara and mosque is being construted by a local Muslim of Titwal who thinks that it is a rewarding work and only the people of the villages are involved in its construction.

Ajaz Khan Titwal resident who is constructing it said, I am a member of Sharda Mandir Construction Committee. We are three Muslims and five Pandits in this committee. We are very proud, we want to go back in 1947. Before 1947, there was a temple here, there was also a Dharamsala and there was also a Gurdwara, now we want that the old tradition should be restored, we Hindu Muslim Sikh Christian should live together" adding to that he said, "I want creat history after years people should say that Ajaz Khan was a Muslim who built a temple, a gurudwara and a mosque."

The residents of Titwal believe that it was a trust of a Hindu community which we kept alive and we guarded this land for seven decades and gave them back when they came here. Locals want that once again all religion people should live together here. It is believed that by the construction of this temple, Titwal, who has lost its glory and is a backward village now a days , will be prosperous again in the same way as it was before the partition.

Zameer Ahmed local resident said, We have heard from our forefathers, they always remember these people, there used to be a big brotherhood but when (Kabali) tribal from Pakistan came here, they did not deatroyed only Hindus properties but also the Muslims properties. He added, "Titwal happened to be bussiness Center before partition Khatri and Sikh people had a big business here. Here Hindus and Muslims used to live like brothers but unfortunately the country was divided.

We are very happy that today our neighbors came back, today a temple is also being built in our neighbourhood. we want our village to be like that what it was before partition. The government should do efforts to get them settled back here."

Sharda Peeth is the Kashmiri name of Goddess Saraswati. And it is in POK's Sharda district. This place is the highest pilgrimage place for Kashmiri Pandits and followers of Adhi Shankariyachariya. There used to be an annual pilgrimage till 1947. It is not only a temple but Sharda Peeth is considered in one of the worlds oldest and ancient universities. The Save Sharda Peeth Committee says that it was earlier a pilgrimage site for the folliwers of Buddhism, but Adhi Shankaracharya gave a new birth to Hinduism there. This committee is fighting from last 15 years that annual pilgrimage should be started again like Kartarpur corridor is opened. They want there should be pilgrimage tourism between India and Pakistan.

Ravindra Pandita (President of the Save Sharda Peeth Committee) says, It is my demand and I fight that the Shadarah Peeth Yatra should be opened because the Sharda Peeth has become a ruin now. We want PoK permit should be amended. Those whose relatives are not on that side should also be allowed to go because our faith is attached there with this temple."

Sharda Peeth is considered as the "Maha Shakti Peeth," most powerful it is worshiped as the greatest religious place. The demand for restarting the yatra which stopped since 1948 is now gaining momentum. On the annual journey from Titwal, like the Amarnath Yatra, Chadi Mubarak was taken to the Sharda Peeth temple and Save Sharda Peeth Committe is planning a huge festival on the annual pilgrimage day in titwal. Many central and state politicians are also supporting for reopening of Shardah Peeth pilgrimage.
New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday (March 31) announced that disturbed areas under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) in Nagaland, Assam and Manipur will be reduced.

Announcing the decision, Shah in a series of tweets called it a momentous occasion that resulted due to "improved security situation and fast-tracked development" in the Northeast.

"In a significant step, GoI (Government of India) under the decisive leadership of PM Shri @NarendraModi Ji has decided to reduce disturbed areas under Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the states of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur after decades, the Union Home Minister tweeted.

He further said, "Reduction in areas under AFSPA is a result of the improved security situation and fast-tracked development due to the consistent efforts and several agreements to end insurgency and bring lasting peace in North East by PM @narendramodi government."

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "unwavering commitment", Shah said the North-Eastern region, which was "neglected for decades is now witnessing a new era of peace, prosperity and unprecedented development."

Government of India decides to reduce disturbed areas under Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the states of Nagaland, Assam and Manipur after decades: Union Home Minister Amit Shah pic.twitter.com/2WDCJmp9gI  ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2022

"I congratulate the people of North East on this momentous occasion," the home minister added.

As per PTI, a home ministry spokesperson has clarified that the decision does not imply that the AFSPA has been completely repealed from these three states but will continue to be in force in some areas of the insurgency-afflicted states.

The AFSPA has been in place for decades in the three Northeastern states empowering security forces to conduct operations and arrest anyone without any prior warrant. It also gives immunity from arrest and prosecution to the security forces if they shoot someone dead.

Due to these "draconian" provisions, there have been many protests and demands for the complete withdrawal of the law.

(With agency inputs)

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Patna: The Bihar Legislative Assembly on Wednesday passed the Bihar Prohibition and Excise (Amendment) Bill, 2022 which seeks to make the liquor ban less stringent for first-time offenders in the state. The bill comes after the criticism of the Nitish Kumar government over the continuous increase in the number of cases pending in courts and undertrials in jails.

Under the new provisions of the bill, the state government is empowered to impose penalties for certain categories of offences instead of direct imprisonment. It also permits the state government to prescribe fines, and imprisonment (in case of repeat offenders) for the consumption of liquor, said an ANI report.

First-time offenders will be penalised instead of imprisonment

After the amendment, the offender will be presented before a duty magistrate, which will decide the seriousness of the offence. After going through the circumstances, the magistrate can just impose a fine on the offender instead direct imprisonment, as prescribed earlier.

If the offender fails to pay the penalty then he/she will be liable to face a one-month jail term. The government, however, has not divulged the amount of the fine to be imposed on first-time offenders.

Notably, the vehicles used for the liquor trade would also be confiscated and will be later auctioned.

Third amendment in the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016

This is the third amendment in the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016. The first amendment to the act was brought in 2018 and then subsequently in 2020. The Bill seeks to amend the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act, 2016 which enforces the complete prohibition of liquor and intoxicants in Bihar.

The House passed the bill, tabled by Prohibition and Excise Minister Sunil Kumar, after rejecting several amendment proposals moved by opposition members.

Introducing the bill, the minister is quoted by PTI as saying, "Innocent persons will not be harassed, while the guilty ones will not be spared."

Talking to reporters outside the assembly, opposition Congress Legislative Party leader Ajeet Sharma reportedly said, "The amended law will further strengthen the nexus between the police and liquor mafia in the state. The bill was passed without accepting amendment proposals moved by us."

The Nitish Kumar government has been reportedly planning to amend the prohibition law amid allegations of "ineffective implementation" of the legislation and hooch tragedies in Bihar.

The chief minister has come under attack from both alliance partner BJP and opposition RJD following hooch tragedies in the state that claimed more than 60 lives in the last six months of 2021.

A large number of people are in jail only for liquor consumption and the majority of them belong to economically weaker sections of society.

Last year, the Supreme Court had remarked that the liquor law was impacting the functioning of the judiciary in Bihar with 14-15 Patna High Court Judges only hearing the bail pleas relating to arrests made under the Bihar Prohibition and Excise Act.

(With Agency Inputs)

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BSEB Bihar Board 10th Result 2022: The Bihar School Examination Board (BSEB) will release the Bihar Board Class 10th Results 2022 today (March 31, 2022). The Bihar Board 10th Result 2022 will be declared on the BSEB's official website.

The BSEB will release the Bihar Board 10th Result 2022 around 1 PM. Once announced, the students can check the results for the Bihar Board Class 10th online at biharboardonline.bihar.gov.in. Bihar Education Minister Vijay Kumar Chowdhary will announce the Matric results tomorrow at 3 pm, according to media reports.

How to download Bihar Board 10th Result 2022:

The Bihar Board Class 10th Result 2022 will be available on BSEB's official website.

To check Bihar Board Matric results, students need to visit biharboardonline.bihar.gov.in.

On the homepage, students need to click on the 'result' link.

Students then need to enter their details including their roll numbers.

The Bihar Board Class 10th Result 2022 will be displayed on the screen.

Websites to check Bihar Board 10th Result 2022:

1. biharboardonline.bihar.gov.in

2. onlinebseb.in

Over 17 lakh students are said to have appeared for the Bihar Board Class X exams this year. The Bihar Board Matric exams were held from February 17 to February 24, 2022 in the state at various exam centres.

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New Delhi: If the country's biggest party indulges in hooliganism, it will send out a wrong message and the country cannot progress in such a scenario, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday, a day after BJP's youth wing members allegedly vandalized property outside his residence. The BJP's youth wing damaged property outside the residence of Kejriwal on Wednesday during a protest against his remarks on 'The Kashmir Files' film.

"Arvind Kejriwal is not important but the country is. I can lay down my life for the nation. India will not progress through such hooliganism. If the biggest party of the country, which is in power at the Centre, resorts to such hooliganism, it will spread a bad message among people. People will think that this is the right way (to deal with anything)," he said at an event.

Also read: AAP, BJP workers clash over Arvind Kejriwal's comments on 'The Kashmir Files'

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Wednesday had lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party, alleging it was a "conspiracy to kill" Kejriwal as the saffron party is unable to defeat the Aam Aadmi Party in elections. The BJP, however, has accused the AAP of scripting a drama and playing the "victim card" after the ''public anger'' against Kejriwal's remarks "mocking" displaced Kashmiri Pandits. The Delhi Police has arrested eight people in connection with alleged vandalism at Kejriwal's residence here.

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New Delhi: Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is scheduled to meet on Thursday (March 31, 2022) to discuss the current coronavirus situation in the national capital. The DDMA meeting to be held at 3:30 pm today and will be chaired by Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, Health Minister Satyender Jain, Revenue Minister Kailash Gahlot and other senior officials are expected to attend the DDMA meeting.

Meanwhile, the Centre, earlier this month, advised the states and UTs to consider discontinuing containment measures in view of the sharp decline in fresh Covid-19 cases.

As the national capital witnessed a decline in Covid-19 cases last month, the DDMA had lifted all Covid restrictions in the city, however, wearing of masks in public places, including buses and metro trains continued.

According to an official notice issued on Monday, apart from the prevailing Covid situation, the meet will also review the vaccination programme.

Meanwhile, Delhi on Wednesday reported 123 new Covid-19 cases and one death with a daily positivity rate of 0.5 per cent. According to the Delhi government`s Covid-19 bulletin, the national capital had 106 recoveries in the last 24 hours mounting to a total of 18,38,246.

Delhis death toll reached a cumulative tally of 26,152 with a cumulative case fatality rate of 1.4 per cent. 18,395 tests were conducted in thennational capital on Wednesday to detect the presence of the virus.

The number of daily Covid-19 cases in the national capital has been on the decline after touching the record high of 28,867 on January 13. Delhi had recorded a positivity rate of 30.6 per cent on January 14, the highest during the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Srinagar: An encounter is underway between terrorists and security forces in Turkwangam village of Shopian district in South Kashmir, the Jammu and Kashmir police said on Thursday (March 31).



A police officer said, "On the input gathered by Jammu and Kashmir police about presence of terrorists in the village, a joint operation was launched by Shopian police, CRPF and Army." He added that as the suspected spot was cordoned exchange of fire started and the encounter broke.



IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar confirming the gunfight said, "Input was gathered by Jammu and Kashmir police then along with army and CRPF, a joint operation was launched which turned in an encounter."



As per sources, 2-3 terrorists are believed to be trapped, all the entry and exit points are sealed and lights are installed in the area.



It's pertinent to mention that this is the 31st encounter of this year in the union territory. Earlier security killed 41 terrorists in these 30 encounters. Moreover, 26 active terrorists, over 150 terrorist associates have been arrested, while 18 youngsters joined terror outfits ranks.

ALSO READ: Two terrorists, including one former journalist, killed in encounter in Jammu and Kashmir

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After Biocon chief Kiran Majumdar Shaw mentioned `growing religious divide` in her tweet, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday said that everyone should show restraint.

"We have been living with our beliefs on various issues over the years. Karnataka is known for peace and progress. It is possible to resolve the social issues through peaceful talks. So everyone should behave with restraint and cooperate to maintain peace and order," Bommai said.

Unfortunately, vested interests are hijacking the issue, he said.

Bommai was speaking to mediapersons at Vidhana Soudha.

Reacting to the tweet from Biocon chief Kiran Mazumdar Shaw advocating the need to avoid communal animosity for the development of the state, Bommai said, the school uniform issue has already been resolved.

"I am confident that our CM Bommai will resolve the matter peacefully. I am a proud Kannadiga and don`t want to see these incidents detract from economic progress. All parties need to work towards this," Kiran Mazumdar Shaw later said.

Earlier, she had tweeted, "Karnataka has always forged inclusive economic development and we must not allow such communal exclusion." Shaw had urged Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to resolve this growing religious divide in the state.

"If IT-BT becomes communal it would destroy our global leadership," she had warned.

Kiran Shaw`s tweet came after right wing groups in Karnataka intensified their call to boycott buying halal meat and Muslim merchants from carrying out business within temple premises and religious fairs.
Jaipur: Gurjar leader Kirori Singh Bainsla, who led agitations in Rajasthan to demand reservation for the caste in government jobs, passed away on Thursday (March 31, 2022)at the age of 81.

His son, Vijay Bainsla, confirmed the demise of the Gurjar leader. He said that his father passed away following a prolonged illness in the early hours of the day at a Jaipur hospital. The protest marches organised by Kirori Singh Bainsla at times led to violent clashes with civil authorities and were accompanied by extensive property damage.

In 2007, as many as 27 people were killed in clashes with police during a protest led by Kirori Singh Bainsla. Similarly in May 2008, a total of 43 people had died in such clashes, of which most were protesters.

The Gurjar leader had blamed the police for the violence and loss of lives during the agitation. Leading the `Gurjar Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti`, Kirori Singh Bainsla gave the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan an ultimatum in 2020 to accept their demands, including reservation in jobs and education, by creating a category of "most backward class" (MBC) for the caste, or face large-scale agitation.

In February 2019, he had given a call for `rasta-roko` dharna on railway tracks across Rajasthan, demanding five per cent reservation for Gurjars. The nine-day protest ended after a bill was passed in the state Assembly, earmarking five per cent reservation for the community in government jobs and educational institutions.

Notably, the Rajasthan government on October 26, 2018, passed a bill that increased the `Other Backward Classes (OBC)` quota from 21 per cent to 26 per cent. In December 2018, the Rajasthan government also approved one per cent reservation for Gurjars and four `Other Backward Castes (OBCs)`.

These communities are getting one per cent separate quota within the limit of 50 per cent reservation. Born in Mundia village of Karauli district of Rajasthan, Kirori Singh Bainsla was a teacher, but following the footsteps of his father, he soon joined the Indian Army.

Recruited in the Rajputana Rifles, Colonel Kirori Singh Bainsla had fought in the 1962 Indo-China war and the 1965 Indo-Pakistani war.

A prominent face of the Bharatiya Janata Party`s Gurjar vote bank in the state, Kirori Singh Bainsla, and his son had joined the party in 2019, after being actively involved in the movement for over 14 years.

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New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday issued a notification in which it declared the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF) an unlawful association and banned it for five years for allegedly radicalizing the Muslim youth.

The MHA notification stated that the speeches of Zakir Naik, founder of the IRF, were objectionable as he has been extolling known terrorists, and also proclaiming that every Muslim should be a terrorist.

The notification further stated that the IRF founder has also been promoting forcible conversion of the youth to Islam, justifying the suicide bombings, posting objectionable comments against Hindus, Hindu Gods and other religions, which are derogatory to other religions.

"Naik has also been further inspiring the Muslim youth and terrorists in India and abroad to commit terrorist acts," added the notification by the MHA.

The notification also stated that the unlawful activities of IRF, its members as well as sympathizers were noticed in Gujarat, Karnataka, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra and Odisha.

Before the anti-terror tribunal, Solicitor General submitted that there is overwhelming evidence on record to show that Zakir Naik continues to reach out to his followers in India by propagating his teachings through videos and making provocative speeches and lectures disseminated via various social media channels.

The MHA notification further stated that the material on record before this Tribunal by a senior government officer in sealed cover shows that trustees of IRF and especially Zakir Naik continue to travel to Gulf Countries for the purpose of raising funds and have opened trusts, NGOs, shell companies, all of which are being used for the sole purpose of radicalizing individuals and especially the youth of Muslim community.

"These activities constitute a form of symbolic yet manifested invasion through the deliberate perpetuation of hate in the community done by IRF and its office bearers. Therefore, the aforesaid material shows that there exists sufficient cause to hold IRF an unlawful association," added the notification.

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New Delhi: The National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval on Thursday met Geoffrey Van Leeuwen, Security and Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and discussed geopolitical developments. Doval and Leeuwen had an intensive discussion covering a wide range of bilateral issues as well as major regional and global developments. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations between the two sides. To commemorate this milestone, the President of India Ram Nath Kovind is paying a State visit to the Netherlands (April 4-7) at the invitation of the King and Queen of the Netherlands.

The NSA Doval and his Dutch counterpart discussed recent geopolitical developments in their respective regions. Both of them underlined the importance for India and the Netherlands to remain engaged on these issues and intensify their contacts, including through policy dialogues on issues of mutual interest, sources said. Resolving to stay in close touch, they agreed to strengthen the partnership between the two countries by expanding the ongoing defense, security and counter-terrorism cooperation, sources added.

Netherlands is a key trade and investment partner of India in the European Union. The Virtual Summit between Prime Minister and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on April 9 last year marked the high point of India-Netherlands interactions in the year 2021. They also agreed on instituting a 'Strategic Partnership on Water' to further deepen the Indo-Dutch cooperation in the water-related sectors and upgrade the JWG on the water to ministerial level. They had also exchanged views on regional and global challenges including climate change, counter-terrorism, Covid pandemic, and agreed to leverage the emerging convergences in new areas of Indo-Pacific, resilient supply chains and global digital governance.

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New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha on Thursday bid an emotional farewell to 72 members, including A K Antony, P Chidambaram, Anand Sharma, Jairam Ramesh and Subramanian Swamy, whose terms are coming to an end, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging them to take their experience across the country.

The terms of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharman, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in the Upper House are coming to an end as well. However, they are likely to be re-elected.

Members cutting across party lines shared memories of their retiring colleagues and hoped that they would return to the House. While most MPs were emotional, there were some lighter moments as well.

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu asked the lawmakers to desist from disrupting law-making bodies while upholding the honour and privilege bestowed on them by the people, while Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge emphasised that the numbers on the Opposition benches may be less, but they have strength in their argument.

Sixty-five speakers, including those who are retiring, shared their experiences. The speakers included the chairman, the Prime Minister, the deputy chairman, the leader of the opposition, the floor leaders of nine other parties, 11 other members and 40 retiring Members. In the end, Goyal, who is the leader of the House, responded to the day-long proceedings.

A total of 72 Rajya Sabha MPs, including seven nominated members, are retiring between March and July, which is one-third of the strength of the House. Among them, some may return to the Rajya Sabha.

The retiring members represent 19 states. Those retiring also include Ambika Soni, Kapil Sibal, Suresh Prabhu, Praful Patel, Prasanna Acharya, Sanjay Raut, Naresh Gujral, Satish Chandra Mishra, MC Mary Kom, Swapan Dasgupta and Narendra Jadhav.

Chidambaram, Patel and Sibal were not present in the House when the Prime Minister, the chairman and the leader of the opposition spoke in the morning session. In his speech, Modi emphasised that experience has more power than knowledge and the MPs should take it forward in the service of the nation.

"We may be moving out of these four walls, but we should take this experience from here to all the four directions in the best interests of the country," he said. He told the retiring members to come to the House again and to pen down their experiences. "I would want you to put in words the memories gained here to help serve as a reference point for the coming generations," PM Modi said.

The House and the nation feel the loss and some sort of shortcomings in decision making for the coming generations when experienced colleagues retire, he added. "When experienced people retire, a lot would be said about them in the House, but the responsibility of those remaining increases. The members who remain have to take forward the tales of experience left behind by those retiring," PM Modi said.

Naidu asked the lawmakers to be propelled by "passion, performance and procedural integrity" and desist from disrupting law-making bodies, while upholding the honour and privilege bestowed on them by the people.

He called upon them to ensure that the expectations and aspirations of people are incorporated in designing laws and policies. Naidu also voiced concern over the House having lost more than 35 per cent of the functional time due to disruptions since 2017.

Kharge said after listening to the Prime Minister and the other members, "I realised how important the Rajya Sabha is." "The Upper House is a chamber of ideas and a house of intellectuals from varied fields. Ex-chief ministers, ex-prime ministers and many ministers are part of the House. We have gained from their experience," he said.

"The numbers on the Opposition benches may be less, but they have strength in their argument. The problem is that arguments are not considered, but voices are counted. This is what Atalji had said, not me," he recalled. Goyal expressed gratitude to Naidu and former president late Pranab Mukherjee for motivating him when he was first elected to the Upper House in 2010.

"Retirement certainly is a time of mixed feelings and we will miss the contributions of all our esteemed colleagues who may not come back," he said. Deputy Chairman Harivansh expressed confidence that the retiring members, through their pubic engagement, would continue to work to increase the confidence of citizens and students in politics and parliamentary democracy.

Congress leader Anand Sharma, who too is retiring, said he never trooped to the Well of the House during his entire tenure. He also said he never used impolite words in his speeches and no word of his was ever expunged from the House records.

Derek O'Brien of the Trinamool Congress said he would tell his grandchildren that when he was in Parliament, there were two former prime ministers -- Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda -- and the Prime Minister was Narendra Modi.

DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said farewell moments are "always emotional and painful". "I would only like to say one thing to my colleagues who are retiring...This is not the end of the road, only a bend," he said.

Recollecting that Sharma often used to borrow a pen from him, Siva said, "Yesterday, he told me that he won't be asking for a pen from tomorrow." Naidu talked about his earlier days when he and former Union minister Jaipal Reddy often used to borrow pens from their fellow lawmakers. "Later, I found out that whenever both of us were moving towards them, many of the members would hide their pens," he said.

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New Delhi: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in India on Thursday on a two-day official visit, his first trip to the country since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine last month.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Lavrov will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar on Friday. A media advisory on Lavrov's visit issued by the Ministry of External Affairs has not mentioned any meeting between the Russian foreign minister and the prime minister.

#WATCH | Foreign Minister of Russia, Sergey Lavrov arrives in New Delhi for an official visit (Video Source: MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi) pic.twitter.com/6kM1nJRYli  ANI (@ANI) March 31, 2022

People familiar with the preparations for the talks said India is also likely to press for ensuring timely delivery of various military hardware as well as components of the S-400 missile systems by Russia.

The Russian foreign minister arrived in India after concluding a two-day visit to China. His visit to India coincides with that of US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh and British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss.

Last week, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited India. EU Special Envoy for the Indo-Pacific Gabriele Visentin visited New Delhi this week. Unlike many other leading powers, India has not yet criticised Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and it abstained from the votes at the UN platforms in condemning the Russian aggression.

However, last Thursday, India abstained on a resolution pushed by Russia on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, which was seen as reflective of its neutral position on the conflict.

India has been pressing for the resolution of the crisis through diplomacy and dialogue. Modi has held phone conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, March 2 and March 7.

PM Modi had spoken to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy twice. Last week, Jaishankar said in Parliament that India's position on the Ukraine conflict has been "steadfast and consistent" and that it has been seeking immediate cessation of violence.

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New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will embark on a two-day visit to Karnataka beginning today (March 31, 2022) with an aim to strengthen the party and prepare for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections, scheduled to be held in 2023.

According to the sources, many meetings are scheduled for the Congress leader. The former Congress president will hold the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee's (KPCC) extended executive meeting, where he is expected to exhort party leaders to gear up for Assembly elections due next year, Congress sources said.

The former Congress president will also hold a meeting with the party's frontal organisation before flying back to Delhi, according to the leader's programme shared by the state unit.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge also informed that Rahul Gandhi will be meeting senior leaders and will be looking to strengthen the party for the upcoming polls.

"He will be meeting senior leaders, frontal organisation, party executive committee. He will also visit the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee office," Kharge said.

During his visit, Gandhi will also pay obeisance to late Shivakumara Swamiji of Siddaganga Math in Tumakuru on his 115th birth anniversary, who had earned the recognition of 'Walking God.'

On Thursday, Gandhi is likely to visit Sree Siddaganga Math in Tumkur at around 4 pm by road. He is likely to pay respects to Dr Shri Shivakumara Swami on the occasion of his Jayanti. The Congress leader is scheduled to hold a meeting with the Bengaluru leaders.

On Friday, the Congress leader will visit the KPCC office and attend the executive meeting with the frontals.

(With agency inputs)

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Srinagar: The woman who was involved in the petrol bomb attack at CRPF bunker in Sopore on March 29 has been arrested, Jammu and Kashmir Police said on Thursday (March 31).

Vijay Kumar IGP Kashmir confirming the development said that the woman who hurled a petrol bomb at Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Sopore has been arrested.

"Police arrested the petrol bomb thrower, who was involved in an incident happened at main Chowk area of the Sopore town on March 29," he said.

"Investigations are on", Kumar added. IGP Kashmir identified the lady as Haseena wife of Mohammad Yousuf, a resident of Sheeri Baramulla.

Haseena has been arrested in past also in many anti-national activities said Kumar, adding that she is pro-separatist and many cases are already registered against her.

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New Delhi: Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is looking to hire professionals for multiple posts in various Union ministries and government departments. Interested candidates can apply on the official website at upsconline.nic.in on or before April 14, 2022.

The recruitment drive will fill a total of 28 vacancies.

UPSC Recruitment 2022: Vacancy details

Deputy Director of Mines Safety (Electrical) 8 posts

Assistant Director Grade II (Economic Investigation) 15 posts

Senior Lecturer (Ophthalmology) 2 posts

Assistant Engineer (Civil)/Assistant Surveyor of Works(Civil) 3 posts

UPSC Recruitment 2022: Age limit

Deputy Director of Mines Safety (Electrical) 40 years

Assistant Director GradeII (Economic Investigation) 30 years

Senior Lecturer (Ophthalmology) 50 years

Assistant Engineer (Civil)/Assistant Surveyor of Works(Civil) 33 years

For eligibility criteria and more details, direct link to official notification HERE.

UPSC Recruitment 2022: Application fees

Candidates will have to pay an application fee of Rs 25 either by "remitting the money in any branch of the SBI by cash or by using net banking facility of the SBI or by using visa/master credit/debit card," the official notification read. Only SC/ST/PwBD/Women candidates of any community are exempted from paying the application fees.

ALSO READ: BEL recruitment 2022: Apply for Project, Trainee engineer posts on bel-india.in, details here

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NEW DELHI: In an extremely shocking incident, three men allegedly gang-raped a heavily pregnant goat in Keralas Kasaragod district and later murdered the poor creature.

According to reports, the shocking incident took place on Tuesday night. The four months pregnant goat belonged to Elite Hotel in Kottachery where the main accused Senthil used to work.

According to the hotel owner, his employees heard a commotion in the backyard around 11 pm on Tuesday. When they came out to find what was happening, they saw the pregnant goat bleeding outside its cage.

The hotel staff also noticed three persons trying to flee from the spot. One of them  Senthil - was caught by them and handed over to the police later.

Senthil had been working with the hotel for almost two years. He was arrested after the hotel owner lodged a formal complaint in this regard.

The Kasaragod police have registered an FIR in connection with the case and the accused have been charged under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code in relation to animal cruelty. If convicted, the accused may face imprisonment for life or up to 10 years.

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New Delhi: Benchmark BSE Sensex gave up its early gains to settle lower by 115 points on the last day of 2021-22 fiscal on Thursday, dragged down by profit-taking in Reliance Industries, Infosys and HDFC Bank after a three-day rally.

The 30-share barometer declined by 115.48 points or 0.20 per cent to settle at 58,568.51 in choppy trade due to the expiry of monthly derivatives contracts. During the day, it touched a high of 58,890.92 and a low of 58,485.79.

The broader NSE Nifty declined by 33.50 points or 0.19 per cent to settle at 17,464.75.

For the fiscal 2021-22, the BSE Sensex jumped 9,059.36 points or 18.29 per cent, while the Nifty rallied 2,774.05 points or 18.88 per cent.

"Even as markets ended the last day of the financial year in a rather quiet mood, it has delivered a 19 per cent return this year on the Nifty with two sectoral indices - metals and media returning over 50 per cent this year.

"On the broader market as well, both the midcap-100 and smallcap-100 delivered over 25 per cent return this year. Such returns in a year when FPI's have pulled out big money highlights the confidence of the Indian investor amidst a slew of headwinds," according to S Ranganathan, Head of Research at LKP Securities.

Among the 30-share pack, M&M, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, ITC and Titan were among the lead gainers.

In contrast, Reliance Industries Limited, Wipro, Dr Reddy's, UltraTech Cement, Infosys were among the major laggards.

In the previous trade, the 30-share BSE barometer index surged 740.34 points or 1.28 per cent to settle at 58,683.99. Similarly, the NSE Nifty climbed 172.95 points or 1 per cent to settle at 17,498.25.

Elsewhere in Asia, equity exchanges in Shanghai, Tokyo and Hong Kong ended lower, while Seoul settled with gains. Markets in Europe were mostly trading lower.

Stock exchanges in the US ended on a negative note in the overnight session.

Meanwhile, international oil benchmark Brent crude tumbled 5.09 per cent to USD 107.68 per barrel on reports that the US was considering releasing a record 180 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves. Also Read: ONGC share sale fully subscribed, Centre to get Rs 3,000 crore next fiscal

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were buyers as they bought shares worth Rs 1,357.47 crore on net basis on Wednesday, according to stock exchange data. Also Read: Lux Soap, Surf Excel, Rin will cost you more; heres why HUL is increasing prices

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New Delhi: Filmmaker Karan Johar was brutally roasted for promoting a matrimonial platform recently. He took to social media and shared the video teaser of him talking about a new concept matrimonial site where IIT-IIMs and other top 15 colleges alumni can connect.

Karan Johar wrote in the caption: A matrimonial platform like no other - IITIIMShaadi.com! And I'm super excited to see some 'real' love come to life, not just reel! If you are looking for your life partner, https://www.iitiimshaadi.com/ should be your go-to site. They invite alumni of the top 10-15 colleges from all fields to register and find a match amongst each other! @iitiimshaadi__ puts it well - Alma Mater Matters #iitiimshaadi #ad

The advertisement got netizens furious and he got to be at the centre of their anger. Some felt the whole concept offensive whereas other called out KJo for being the 'brand manager for elitism'.

In the clipping, Karan said, "Hum ek baar jeete hai, ek baar marte hai. Aur shaadi bhi ek hi baar karte hai. Isliye, bahot zaruri hai ki life partner ka decision humara correct ho. Aur yeh aasan nahi hai, especially for highly-educated. Kyunki agar aap highly educated ho toh aap age, caste, height, vagera dekhne se pehle, ek partner me mental compatibility dhundte ho."
NEW DELHI: Actress Kareena Kapoor Khan, a mother of two - Taimur Ali Khan and Jeh Ali Khan, has warned her husband Saif Ali Khan against having another baby in his sixties. The couple tied the knot in 2012 after dating each other for almost four years.

Saif has two children - Sara Ali Khan and Ibrahim Ali Khan, from his first marriage with Amrita Singh. In a recent interview, Kareena shared her observation that Saif has had a kid in every decade of his life - 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s.

Kareena is an avid social media user and she often drops photos and vidoes that feature her husband Saif and sons - Taimur and Jeh. The actress often hails her husband for raising his kids in the best possible manner. In a recent interview with Vogue, Kareena said, "Saif has had a child every decadein his twenties, thirties, forties and now in his fifties. Ive told him, in your sixties, thats not happening."

She further added, "I think only a man as broad-minded as Saif could be a father of four children at very different stages. He gives his time to them all. And now, with Jeh, we are trying to balance it out. Weve made a pact that when hes shooting for a film, I will try not to work on one at the same time [and vice versa]."

Kareena also spoke about the bond that Saif shares with their son Taimur. She said, "Tim likes people. If there are people at home, he wants to be a part of it. He's also a mini Saif, wanting to be a rock star, listening to AC/DC and Steely Dan with his father. They have an incredible bond. Tim says, 'Abba is my best friend.'

For the unversed, Sara, who is Saif's eldest child from Amrita, has a 25-year difference with Jeh.

Speaking on the work front, Kareena will next be seen opposite Aamir Khan in 'Laal Singh Chaddha'.

Kareena is also set to make her Netflix debut with an untitled murder mystery series, based on Japanese author Keigo Higashino's novel, 'The Devotion of Suspect X. The series will also stars Jaideep Ahlawat and Vijay Varma. Streaming platform Netflix announced the film through a video of Kareena, Jaideep and Vijay during a script reading session for the film led by the director.

Reports are there she has been approached for a project opposite Hrithik Roshan. While there is no official confirmation on the same A Bollywood Life report caimed that a renowned filmmaker approached the two for a project that will be produced by Junglee Pictures. The title of the film is 'Ulaj' and the film is under a very initial process.

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Mumbai: Veteran actor Randhir Kapoor is currently battling dementia.The news of his diagnosis was revealed by his nephew and actor Ranbir Kapoor in a recent interview with NDTV. During the interaction, Ranbir mentioned that Randhir recently watched his father Rishi Kapoors last film Sharmaji Namkeen and had been asking for him.

"My uncle Randhir Kapoor, who is going through an early stage of dementia, came to me after the film and said, `Tell dad that he is amazing, and where is he, let's call him`. Art crosses the boundaries of medical conditions... And a good piece of storytelling really embodies that," Ranbir shared with NDTV.

Rishi Kapoor had died due to cancer on April 30, 2020, just before he could complete filming for `Sharmaji Namkeen`.

Thankfully, Paresh Rawal stepped into his shoes to finish the film.

Earlier, Ranbir had opened up about how keen his father was to complete his film `Sharmaji Namkeen` while battling cancer. In a video, he had said, "The show must go on -- you all have heard it but I have seen my father live that. After his demise, we thought the film wouldn`t get completed. We thought of trying VFX or I could wear prosthetics and complete the role but nothing was working out. It was a tough time for all of us. And that`s when Mr. Paresh Rawal stepped in. It was very generous of him to take up this challenge."

Helmed by Hitesh Bhatia, `Sharmaji Namkeen` is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
New Delhi: The highlight of the prestigious Oscars 2022 event remained 'Best Actor' winner Will Smith slapping host Chris Rock over his joke on Jada Pinkett Smith, who suffers from Alopecia Areata. Back home, actress Sameera Reddy broke her silence on the matter and revealed that she too battled the illness.

Sameera in a long note shared on Instagram wrote how she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease of Alopecia Areata in 2016. She wrote: The current #oscar controversy made me want to shed light that we all have our individual battles we are fighting and healing from and we need to create a positive safe space for one other

What Is Alopecia Areata? It is an autoimmune disease. When you have Alopecia Areata, cells in your immune system surround and attack your hair follicles. This causes the attached hair to fall out which causes patches of bald spots. I got diagnosed with it in 2016 when Akshai saw I had a 2-inch bald spot at the back of my head. In one month I discovered two more patches. It was really hard to deal with. Alopecia Areata does not make people sick, nor is it contagious.

It can, however, be difficult to adapt to emotionally. For many people, Alopecia Areata is a traumatic disease that warrants treatment addressing the emotional aspect of hair loss, as well as the hair loss itself. The doctor told me that in most cases the hair can grow back and with Corticosteroids injections in the scalp my three patches grew back slowly. But Im very aware there is no cure. And there is no particular reason why a person gets Alopecia Areata.

Other types of alopecia arealopecia totalis (when entire scalp turns bald); alopecia ophiasis (when even the hair loss is also on occipital, temporal, and parietal regions of the scalp); and alopecia universalis (when the hair loss happens across the entire body) And though right now i have healthy hair with no patches ( that I am grateful for everyday ) Ive been told I have to be aware it can come back at any point in my life. I do take homeopathy and i holistically hope to keep it at bay. In this fast paced world i pray people will pause , reflect and be sensitive to each other #healing #positive #imperfectlyperfect #alopeciaareata

JADA PINKETT SMITH SUFFERS FROM ALOPECIA AREATA

Will Smith's wife Jada Pinkett Smith opened up about battling Alopecia Areata back in 2018. She keeps sharing inspiring posts on her social media handle as well.

Meanwhile, the Academy has initiated a formal review of the Will Smith-Chris Rock slap incident. Will Smith also issued a public apology to Chris.

The Academy also released a statement regarding the incident shortly after the awards ceremony concluded on Sunday evening: "The Academy does not condone violence of any form. Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our 94th Academy Awards winners, who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and movie lovers around the world."
MUMBAI: After shooting for 'Pathaan' for over a month in Spain, superstar Shah Rukh Khan is finally back home. On Thursday morning, SRK was spotted at the Mumbai airport along with his manager Pooja Dadlani.

Several pictures and videos have been doing the rounds on the internet in which King Khan can be seen sporting a white tee, a pair of blue denim jeans and a black cap.

He also wore a mask and had his shoulder-length hair tied in a ponytail. Before moving into his car, Shah Rukh greeted his staff, hugged them, and then he settled inside.

His airport look has left his fans in awe of him."SRK slaying," a social media user commented.

"He is looking so hot in a white T-shirt," another one wrote.

A few days ago, he surprised everyone with his BTS picture from the shooting schedule in which he flaunted his eight-pack abs and long hair look.

For the unversed, SRK's 'Pathaan' will hit theatres on January 25, 2023.

The film also features Deepika Padukone and John Abraham.

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New Delhi: Actors Shehnaaz Gill and Siddharth Shuklas chemistry was loved by audiences in the Salman Khan hosted reality show Bigg Boss 13. The two met for the first time inside the Bigg Boss house where they developed a strong connection with each other. Their pair was fondly referred to as SidNaaz. While Siddharth emerged as the winner of the show, Shehnaaz was the second runner-up. They continued being close to each other even after the show ended.

Shehnaaz was also inconsolable at Siddharths funeral. The actor died suddenly on September 2 last year at the age of 40. He died due to a cardiac arrest, leaving his family, friends and fans in a state of utter shock and disbelief.

Talking about the hashtag SidNaaz, Shehnaaz told Face Magazine, " A big thank you to the audience who loved our pairing together and the hashtag as well. But for me it was not just a hashtag, it was my everything."

Earlier, in an appearance on Shilpa Shetty's chat show Shape of You, Shehnaaz opened up about her bond with Sidharth. "Why should I tell anyone about my relationship with Sidharth? What was my connection with him, what was my relationship with him, I don't need to be answerable to anyone. How important he was to me, how important I was to him, that I know. So I don't have to give any explanation to anyone," she said.

Shehnaaz also spoke about getting trolled for looking happy. Sidharth never told me to stop laughing. He always wanted to see me laughing, and I will always laugh. And I will continue my work because I want to move far ahead in my life," said the actress.
New Delhi: After staying hush-hush about their relationship, actors Katrina Kaif and Vicky Kaushal made their fans go weak in the knees when they got married in an intimate yet lavish ceremony on December 9 at Hotel Six Senses, Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan, in the presence of their family and close friends. Vicky and Katrinas family members also took to their social media accounts to welcome a new member in their respective families. Now, Vickys younger brother, actor Sunny Kaushal, opened up about his parjai ji and what she has brought into the Kaushal family.

It's pretty cool. She is such a nice and positive person. She brings positive energy into the family. It's a very nice feeling to have a new member in the family. She is very very grounded, he told ETimes.

Sunny also shared that before he knew Katrina, he would get overwhelmed by her star status. But at the end of the day, everyone is a human being," he added.

When asked about Katrina Kaif's first halwa ceremony, Sunny shared, "I was not in town for it but mom kept a little bit for me and it was very tasty."

Katrina and Vicky shared the news of their wedding with identical posts that read, Only love and gratitude in our hearts for everything that brought us to this moment . Seeking all your love and blessings as we begin this new journey together.

Kat also celebrated her first Christmas, Lohri and Holi with Vicky. In fact, the entire Kaushal family celebrated Holi together. Sharing photos of the same, Katrina had captioned the post, Happy holi.

On the work front, Sunny will next be seen in Hurdang with Nushrratt Bharuccha. He also has Mili with Janhvi Kapoor.
New Delhi: Basking in the success of his latest release 'The Kashmir Files', filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri is on cloud nine. The director, however, is already busy with his next 'The Delhi Files', and is these days globe-trotting for 'The Kashmir Files' promotions.

After 'The Kashmir Files' hit screens and got a massive response from the audience, actress Kangana Ranaut too extended her wishes to the director and called the film a must-watch. However, soon afterwards reports of Kangana Ranaut and Vivek Agnihotri working together started doing the rounds. But looks like, there is no truth to such claims, as of now. The two have not collaborated on any project yet.

Talking about working with stars in general, Vivek Agnihotri told Bollywood Hungama, "My films dont need stars. They need actors. When I started my journey 12 years ago I decided I will make my kind of films and I will never make a star-driven film. I firmly believe cinema is the writer and directors medium."
New Delhi: Axis Bank will acquire US-based Citi's consumer business in India for Rs 12,325 crore in one of the largest deals in the Indian financial services space which will help it close the gap with larger peers like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.

Axis Bank will takeover loans, credit cards, wealth management and retail banking operations of Citibank. The deal will lead to acquisition of 30 lakh unique customers and 3,600 in-scope consumer employees of Citibank in Axis Bank.

Citi has been in India since 1902 and started its consumer banking activities in 1985.

But After Axis-Citi take over, what will happen to Citi bank customers, bank branches and its employees? Check 10 big points here

1. Axis Bank has said that all the Citi Banks 21 branches in prime locations will be retained.

2. Axis Bank is also keen to absorb nearly all the 3,600 employees working for the consumer banking business of Citi and will be eventually making offers to them at par with their current emoluments, and also raise the payouts to its existing employees for parity, Chaudhry said.

3. With Axis Bank taking over retail banking operations of Citibank in India, 30 lakh account and credit card holders of the US banking giant will have to indicate if they are willing to migrate their business to the new owner, Axis Bank said.

4. If the customers agree to Axis managing their business, their accounts, credit cards and other business will change over, else the relationship will terminate and they can exit with their deposits, it added.

5. Axis Bank managing director Amitabh Chaudhry said Citibank's customers will continue to avail all the rewards, privileges and offers to which they were previously entitled.

6. Axis Bank and Citibank together will ensure continuity of superior customer service levels, even post-closing of transaction, across all customer channels.

7. All Citibank customers will have to give consent to become Axis Bank customers after the deal gets regulatory approval.

8. The transaction is expected to take 9-12 months to complete. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of calendar year 2023, subject to requisite regulatory approvals, according to a statement by Citibank.

9. Customers will specifically benefit from Axis Bank's wider geographical reach and comprehensive service offerings, along with One Axis capabilities that extend across all its subsidiaries, said Axis Bank.

10. Digital banking and the highly rated Axis Mobile app offering 250+ services will be an added advantage for customers having immediate access to view and transact across product categories such as deposits, investments, payments and protection solutions.

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New Delhi: Realme has launched the Realme C31 smartphone in India with a 5000 mAh battery. The affordable smartphone comes with a 13MP AI triple camera on the back and is powered by the 12nm Unisoc T612 octa-core processor.

Madhav Sheth, CEO realme India, said, that the realme C-series has been well received by the companys customers across the world.

The company has now announced the debut of the Realme C31 smartphone to meet the growing demand from its customers. Sheth reportedly said that the Realme C31 is the most stylish entry-level smartphone, adding that the device is made to fulfil the expectations of the users.

Realme C31 Price

Realme C31 is launched at a starting price of Rs 8,999 for the base 3GB+32GB variant. The 4GB+64GB variant of Realme C31 is priced at Rs 9,999. The company has launched Realme C31 in two colour variants  Light Silver and Dark Green.

Realme C31 Availability

Customers will be able to buy the newly launched smartphone starting from 12 noon on April 6, 2022. The smartphone will be available on realme.com, Flipkart and other retailers.

Realme C31 Specs

Realme C31 is powered by the 12nm Unisoc T612 octa-core processor, coupled with up to 4GB of RAM and 64 GB of storage. The smartphone is backed by an impressive 5,000mAh battery. Also Read: WhatsApp sees 7 bn voice messages daily, unveils new tools

The device packs a triple camera setup, with a 13MP main shooter, coupled with a 2MP macro lens and a B&W camera. On the front, the startup comes with a 5MP camera for selfies and video calls. The smartphone also comes with a side-mounted fingerprint scanner. Also Read: Last day today for PPF, Sukanya Samriddhi scheme subscribers to deposit minimum balance

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New Delhi: WhatsApp will stop working on select smartphones starting April 1, 2022, the messaging platform had said previously. The Meta-owned popular messaging will reportedly stop functioning on these smartphones as the software will stop supporting earlier versions of Android and iOS.

According to the official website, WhatsApp is expected to stop working on smartphones and other devices running Android 4.1 or early versions, iOS 9 or prior versions, or older versions of KaiOS 2.4.

From time and again, WhatsApp stops offering support to older versions of operating systems to ensure its users privacy and security. In the past, the messaging platform has announced the termination of its services for handsets with older versions of operating systems. The Meta-owned platform is likely to make such changes in the coming future as well.

According to WhatsApp, the app could continue to function on the devices, but they will face issues as there will be no updates from the instant messaging platform. The older the smartphone, the more issues it will face while running WhatsApp. Also Read: Nykaa, founded by self-made billionaire Falguni Nayar, enters TIME100 most influential companies list

So, itll be better to change your smartphone to a later version of Android to continue using WhatsApp messaging platform without many hiccups. Moreover, WhatsApp is reportedly expected to bring upgrades to the messaging platform in the month of April to make the platform more secure. Also Read: Centre to borrow Rs 8.45 lakh crore from market during April-September period

Heres the complete list of smartphones on which WhatsApp will stop working from April 1:

LG Optimus F7

LG Optimus L3 II Dual

LG Optimus F5

LG Optimus L5 II

LG Optimus L5 II Dual

LG Optimus L3 II

LG Optimus L7 II Dual

LG Optimus L7 II

LG Optimus F6, LG Enact

LG Optimus L4 II Dual

LG Optimus F3

LG Optimus L4 II

LG Optimus L2 II

LG Optimus F3Q

Motorola Droid Razr

Xiaomi Mi 2a

Xiaomi Mi 2s

Redmi Note 4G

Huawei Ascend D

Huawei Ascend D1

Huawei Quad XL

Huawei Ascend P1 S

Samsung Galaxy Trend Lite

Samsung Galaxy S3 mini

Samsung Galaxy Xcover 2

Samsung Galaxy Core

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Lucknow: Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party - Lohia (PSPL) president Shivpal Singh Yadavs meeting with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has triggered intense speculations that all is not well between him and his nephew Akhilesh Yadav.

Speculations are rife that the PSPL chief is all set to break his alliance with the Samajwadi Party led by Akhilesh Yadav. Amid reports about the growing differences between the two, Shivpal on Thursday said that he ''will take a decision regarding his political future at the appropriate time.''

Shivpal, the younger brother of SP patron Mulayam Singh Yadav, told reporters that he would take a decision, keeping in mind the welfare of his party.

The PSPL chief has been reportedly sulking ever since he was not invited to a Samajwadi Party (SP) meeting last week. Though he was invited to the meeting with other SP allies, Shivpal skipped the event.

Shivpal had also met his elder brother and Samajwadi patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav in Delhi and is believed to have discussed the political scenario with him.

According to a senior PSPL leader, Shivpal has "already burnt his hands" in the alliance with SP that gave him only one seat. "His priority is now to strengthen his own party and launch his son Aditya`s career in politics. He is also concerned about his supporters," he said.

A key leader of the opposition alliance Om Prakash Rajbhar, however, sought to downplay the issue saying there are "some issues" within their family and he was making all efforts to ensure that they remained together.

Reports suggested that the distance between Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav has been widening ever since the former was not invited to the meeting of newly elected SP MLAs on March 26.

PSPL chief Shivpal Yadav had contested the recent state polls on the bicycle symbol of the SP. He had skipped the opposition alliance's Monday meeting called by Akhilesh Yadav and also "delayed" taking oath as a member of the new assembly, indicating that all is not well between the uncle-nephew duo.

Besides Shivpal Yadav, the alliance's other key leader Pallavi Patel of Apna Dal (Kamerwadi), who had humbled Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya from Sirathu seat, also did not attend the meeting of the SP-led coalition partners on March 28.

Shivpal Yadav took oath on Wednesday in the chamber of Speaker Satish Mahana and later went to 5, Kalidas Marg residence of the CM to meet Adityanath, fuelling speculation of his changing sides.

The crossover, if materializes, would not surprise many as on many occasions, Akhilesh Yadav himself has accused his uncle of being in touch with Adityanath and soft towards the saffron party. Talks are doing the rounds in the political circles that as part of the plan, the BJP might send Shivpal Yadav to Rajya Sabha and give his Jaswantnagar seat to his son Aditya Yadav.

Akhilesh Yadav had denied a ticket to Aditya Yadav in the February-March elections. Eleven Rajya Sabha seats would be falling vacant from UP between April and July. Shivpal Yadav himself has not been speaking much. On Wednesday he had told the media persons that he would tell everything at the right time.

After remaining at loggerheads since 2017, Akhilesh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav had decided to mend fences just before the recent state assembly elections. Their estrangement had resulted in Shivpal Yadav launching his own party before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In the just-concluded assembly polls, the uncle-nephew had put up a united front appearing together at the residence of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav on election eve. Shivpal himself won from his traditional Jaswantnagar seat for the sixth time.

(With Agency Inputs)

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Pakistan's National Assembly session was on Thursday adjourned abruptly till Sunday after opposition lawmakers demanded an immediate vote on a no-confidence motion against embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan who has effectively lost majority in the lower house.

In today's DNA, Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary analysed Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khans speech, in which he said many big things.

Imran said that General Pervez Musharraf made a big mistake by being an advocate of the USA.

Imran Khan also attacked former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. He said that Nawaz Sharif used to meet Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi to save his government.

Imran Khan said that he will not resign and will fight till the last ball. He also said that his government's policies were not against India or any other country.

When India was partitioned after independence, Pakistan came into existence. But unlike India, Pakistan could never achieve political stability. Since 1947, no government in Pakistan has completed its five-year term till date. Pakistan has had 21 Prime Ministers since independence. But none of them could complete the term of 5 years. Imran Khan is the 22nd Prime Minister with whom the same thing is expected to happen.

The total number of members in the National Assembly of Pakistan is 342. But after the death of an MP of Imran's party, this number has now come down to 341. To prove majority, 172 MPs would be needed. In the current situation, Imran Khan has the support of 163 MPs, while as many as 178 MPs are against him.

There are 155 MPs belonging to Imran's party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. While Pakistan Muslim League-Q has 4 MPs and the Grand Democratic Alliance has 3 MPs. An MP of Awami Muslim League is also with Imran. In this way, the total number sums up to 163.

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Porn star Carol Maltesi's alleged killer has admitted that he struck her with a hammer before slitting her throat, as per media reports.

Police arrested the alleged killer, Milan-based 43-year-old bank employee Davide Fontana, on Tuesday after her 15 body parts were found in garbage bags in Northern Italy on Sunday. Police later identified the body as Carol Maltesis - a porn star.

As per a report, he apparently confessed his crime in police custody and also gave details of how he committed it.

"I started hitting her with a hammer all over her body, not hard. Then when I got to her head I started hitting her hard, I'm not sure why," he said.

"I don't know what happened to me. I think she was already dead but not knowing what else to do with her, I cut her throat with a kitchen knife. I told you all this because I wanted to take off this burden and tell the truth."

According to him, he dismembered her body so that she wouldn't get identified. He said that he murdered her on January 10 or 11 in the morning.
Islamabad: Pakistan's embattled Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday (March 30) effectively lost the majority in Parliament after a key partner of the ruling coalition joined the ranks of the Opposition, which has tabled a no-confidence motion against his government in the National Assembly. Formally welcoming the key former Imran Khan ally, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) into the Opposition fold, the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said that Imran Khan has lost the confidence of the country's National Assembly, and therefore, should resign.

Shehbaz Sharif is being touted to be the next PM of Pakistan. Here are 10 key facts about him:

1) Shehbaz Sharif is the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, who has been Pakistan's prime minister for three terms.

2) Born on September 23, 1951 to a Punjabi-speaking family of Mian clan in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan, Shehbazs father was an industrialist. The family had emigrated from Anantnag in Kashmir for business and then settled in Jati Umra village in Amritsar. After Partition, his parents migrated from Amritsar to Lahore.

3) He has been the leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly since August 2018. Shehbaz was nominated as the PML-N president after his brother Nawaz was disqualified from holding office.

4) Shehbaz was a businessman whose political journey began after he was elected to the Provincial Assembly of Punjab in the 1988 general election.

5) Shehbaz became the chief minister for the first time in 1997 of Punjab, a politically important province of Pakistan. But a 1999 military coup deposed the national government, forcing Shehbaz and his family to spend years in self-exile in Saudi Arabia.

6) Shehbaz returned to Pakistan only in 2007. In 2013, he was elected as the CM of Punjab and served his term until the 2018 general elections, when his party was defeated in general elections.

7) In 2019, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) seized 23 of his properties, accusing him and his son, Hamza Sharif, of money laundering. He and his family members were accused of accumulating assets worth Rs 7,328 million. In September 2020, the NAB arrested him at the Lahore high court and indicted him on charges of money laundering. In April 2021, the Lahore high court released him on bail.

8) He did his BA from Lahore's Government College University.

9) Shehbaz Sharif has challenged Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to resign from office.

10) Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that Shahbaz Sharif, "will soon" become the prime minister of the country.

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A senior minister in the Nepal government on Thursday extended his support to a demand to declare Nepal a Hindu state, saying if the majority of the population are in favour, it can be done through a referendum.

Minister for Tourism and Culture Prem Ale, addressing the opening of the two-day Executive Council meeting of the World Hindu Federation in Kathmandu, said the demand to declare Nepal a Hindu state can be considered and if such demand comes he "will play a constructive role".

Minister Ale was responding to the demand raised by the World Hindu Federation here during the programme. More than 150 representatives from 12 countries, including Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, United States, Germany and UK, are attending the two-day Executive Council Meeting.

"As the present five-party coalition government enjoys close to two third majority in Parliament, the demand to declare Nepal a Hindu state can be put into referendum," he pointed out.

"Although our Constitution has declared the country as a secular state, if the majority of the population are in favour of a Hindu state, then why not declare Nepal a Hindu state through referendum," he asked?

Nepal was declared a secular state in 2008 after the success of the people's movement of 2006 that saw the abolition of monarchy. Hinduism is the largest religion of Nepal. During the programme, World Hindu Federation International President Ajay Singh demanded that Nepal be declared a Hindu state as the country is inhabited by a huge majority of Hindu population.

"I was surprised to learn that the erstwhile Hindu state Nepal was suddenly declared as a secular one," he pointed out.

"If some countries can be declared as Islamic states and still adopt democratic system and other countries can be declared as Christian states and still adopt democratic system, then why not Nepal be declared as a Hindu democratic country?'' he questioned.

He called all the parties of Nepal to come together putting aside their political ideology and declare Nepal as a Hindu state.

"I ask the Nepali Congress, CPN-Maoist Centre, The CPN-UML and the Madhesi parties to come forward to declare Nepal as a Hindu state," he said.
Islamabad: The Pakistan National Assembly will discuss the no-confidence motion against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan during the Lower House Session at 4 pm.

The NA Secretariat issued the order on Wednesday night, with a discussion on the no-trust motion against the Pakistani PM on today`s (Thursday) session`s agenda, Geo TV reported.

Earlier, on Monday, Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif tabled the no-confidence motion against the Pakistani PM. With this move, Imran became the third Pakistani PM to face the no-confidence motion.

Following the tabling of the resolution, the deputy speaker announced that the debate on the resolution would begin on March 31. "The session is adjourned until 4 pm on March 31," he said.

This is a key development as the political fate of Imran Khan hangs in the balance amid the changing power equations. Deputy NA Speaker Qasim Suri, during the session, asked the members of the Parliament who are in favour of the motion, to stand up so that the total number of supporting members of the motion could be counted.

ALSO READ | Meet Shehbaz Sharif, former Punjab chief minister touted to be next Pakistan prime minister - 10 points

After counting the members who stood in favour of the motion, the Deputy NA speaker approved the discussion on the no-confidence motion and also scheduled it for March 31, at 4 pm. However, the voting on the resolution will take place between April 1 - 4.

The no-confidence motion was submitted on March 8 after the PPP`s long march in Islamabad. The Opposition is confident that its motion would be successful as many PTI lawmakers have come out in the open against PM Imran Khan.

Earlier today, the second phase of polling of local government in the remaining 18 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) is underway.

In the first phase of the election, the ruling party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) suffered a major setback as the opposition parties won the clear majority, especially Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F).

Meanwhile, Muttahida Qaumi Movement - Pakistan (MQM-P) joined hands with the opposition to support them in the no-confidence motion against Imran Khan, the Pakistani government lost its majority in the lower house of the Pakistan parliament, Geo TV reported.

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, but now, after MQM-P left the party, PTI is standing with 164 members in support and the Opposition has now 177 members of supporters in the national assembly and they don`t need the support of disgruntled PTI MNAs.

Live TV
New Delhi: Russia has been withdrawing some troops from Kiev and Chernihiv directions, in central and northern Ukraine respectively, confirmed Ukrainian Defense Ministry`s spokesman Olexandr Motuzyanyk on Wednesday (March 30, 2022).

"The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine notes a certain partial relocation of individual units from the Kiev direction, as well as from the Chernihiv direction," Motuzyanyk told a media briefing.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry`s spokesman also stated that there was no mass withdrawal of Russian troops from those areas. Motuzyanyk further said that Russian forces may renew their offensive against Kiev and Chernihiv after replenishing the units that suffered the biggest losses in the battles.

Russia`s Defense Ministry, earlier on Tuesday, had announced that Russia has decided to significantly reduce military activity in the Kiev and Chernihiv directions.

Ukraine preparing for new Russian offensive in the east: Zelensky

Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said that the Ukrainian forces are preparing for new Russian attacks in the east of the country as Moscow builds up its troops there after suffering setbacks near the capital Kyiv.

In an early morning video address, Zelensky referred to Russian troop movements away from Kyiv and Chernihiv and said that was not a withdrawal but rather "the consequence of our defenders` work."

ALSO READ | US, EU in first high-level talks on Russia discussed steps to further 'isolate' Moscow

Zelensky added that Ukraine is seeing "a build-up of Russian forces for new strikes on the Donbas and we are preparing for that."

Offensive operations intensifying

The leader of the Donetsk People`s Republic, Denis Pushilin, said on Wednesday that offensive operations were intensifying.

"We are well aware that the longer it takes us to liberate our territory, those settlements that are now under control of Ukraine, the more victims and destruction there will be," he said.

Donetsk includes the besieged port city of Mariupol, which has seen some of the war`s heaviest fighting and bombardment and where some 170,000 people are trapped with scarce food and water.

ALSO READ | Russia says it will drastically cut military activity near Kyiv, Chernihiv

"We cook what we find among neighbours. A bit of cabbage, a bit more of potatoes, we`ve found tomato paste, some beetroot," said former steel worker Viktor from Mariupol. They cook using a rudimentary barbecue and sleep in a basement, which he termed their "peaceful oasis."

Global restrictions

Global restrictions on exports to Russia over its invasion have shut down a carmaker, halted work on tanks, and cut off a Russian computer maker`s access to circuits used in communications equipment, a US official said.

"Necessity brought together this unprecedented collaboration on export controls and other measures that are having a meaningful impact on Putin`s war," said Thea Kendler, an official with the U.S. Commerce Department.

Russia says the West has effectively declared economic war on Russia and so it will now turn eastwards, away from Europe to build a partnership with China.

The head of Britain`s GCHQ spy service said there were risks to both Russia and China in being too closely aligned.

"Russia understands that long term, China will become increasingly strong militarily and economically," Jeremy Fleming said in a speech in Canberra.

"Some of their interests conflict; Russia could be squeezed out of the equation," Fleming said.

(With agency inputs)

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By Azernews





By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijans Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov and International Renewable Energy Agencys (IRENA) Director-General Francesco La Camera have discussed potential directions for deepening bilateral cooperation.

The discussion took place on the sidelines of the 8th Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue held in Germany.

During the meeting, the minister briefed on the projects implemented and planned in Azerbaijan in the field of renewable energy.

The parties discussed promoting investors in various directions related to the use of renewable energy in the Karabakh and East Zangazur economic regions. In this regard, Shahbazov mentioned that in accordance with the green energy zone concept, the energy demand of residential houses in the liberated territories will be provided at the expense of renewable energy sources.

He noted that solar collectors, solar panels with a capacity of more than 300 kW and 3 Archimed devices with a total capacity of 3 kW were installed on all houses in the first village.

It is planned to continue this experiment in the future, to install solar panels and collectors in individual apartments to be built, as well as to implement projects using the potential of renewable energy sources in the area, he said.

The sides also underlined the importance of evaluating possible cooperation in these areas.

In turn, Francesco La Camera expressed his satisfaction with the organization's cooperation with Azerbaijan and said that the organization he represents would support to assess the current opportunities.

The minister also held a meeting with the delegations led by Romanian Energy Minister Virgil-Daniel Popescu and DENU Chief Executive A.Kuhlmann.

Natural gas supply from Azerbaijan

During the meeting with Romanian Energy Minister, they discussed the future projects on the supply of natural gas from Azerbaijan and the cooperation between the relevant companies of the countries.

The parties also exchanged views on the Black Sea submarine power and digital connectivity project between Azerbaijan and Georgia and Romania. They reviewed the steps to be taken within the working group on the project.

This project was evaluated in the aspect of the export of electricity through the realization of the wind energy potential in the Caspian Sea.

Renewable energy cooperation

During the meeting with DENA Chief Executive Andreas Kuhlmann and Managing Director K.Haverkamp the parties focused on renewable energy cooperation.

The sides highly appreciated the cooperation with the agency on the development of decentralized renewable energy in Azerbaijan with the development of four pilot project proposals.

During the discussions, issues and recommendations on the implementation of pilot projects were considered, and maintaining intensive contacts was agreed upon.

In addition, the parties expressed interest in expanding cooperation with DENA on renewable energy.

Green electricity export

Parviz Shahbazov also met German Deputy Minister for Economic Affairs Jorg Kukies.

During the meeting, Shahbazov stated that the construction of new cable transmission lines along the Black Sea's bottom will allow Azerbaijan to export green electricity produced to Europe. He added that the Caspian Sea's wind energy potential, which is estimated at 7.2 GW, will be realized by 2036.

"Along with green electricity, the possibility of exporting hydrogen to Europe will be considered," he said.

Furthermore, he emphasized that Azerbaijan, which has been a supplier of oil for many years, has become a gas exporter to European countries via the Southern Gas Corridor, one of the largest projects of the 21st century.

In this regard, the parties noted that the expansion of this corridor requires the solution of a number of necessary issues on the basis of multilateral cooperation.
By Azernews





By Ayya Lmahamad

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide a $23.2 million loan to Masdar Azerbaijan Energy for the construction and operation of the 230 MW Garadagh solar power plant in the country, local media has reported.

It should be noted that Masdar Azerbaijan Energy is a company registered in Azerbaijan to implement the project for the construction and commissioning of the Garadagh solar power plant.

Based in the UAE, Masdar is a regional leader and a major international player in renewable energy and sustainable urban development.

Earlier, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) also expressed readiness to grant a long-term loan of up $51 million for the development, construction and operation of the Garadagh solar power plant. The Banks board of directors will consider the approval of the loan on April 27.

On March 15, Baku's Gulustan Palace hosted the groundbreaking ceremony for the 230 MW Garadagh solar power plant.

Masdar, a company based in the United Arab Emirates, will construct the plant. The project's investment cost will be around $225 million.

The plant is designed to produce 500 million kWh of electricity per year and supply it to approximately 110,000 households. Furthermore, the plant will reduce gas consumption by 110 million cubic meters and environmental emissions by 200,000 tons. Over 500,000 solar panels are expected to be installed.

The solar power plant is scheduled to be put into operation by the end of the first half of 2023.
By Azernews





By Ayya Lmahamad

Deputy Energy Minister Elnur Soltanov has said that Azerbaijani oil and gas products exports are expected to grow in the near future, Trend has reported.

He noted that Azerbaijan exports gas mainly on the basis of long-term contracts.

"As Azerbaijan's gas production grows, so does its export potential. Based on our existing contracts with EU countries, the export of Azerbaijani gas to these countries is growing," he said.

Soltanov added that new opportunities are opening up for Azerbaijan as part of cooperation with partners, noting that the relevant consortium takes all measures on gas exports and its financing.

"These steps correspond to Azerbaijan's national and economic interests," he said.

Speaking about the growth of oil and gas exports in the short term, the deputy energy minister mentioned that these figures are growing in accordance with the existing contracts and interests of Azerbaijan's partners.

Gas supplies increase

Moreover, speaking at the international conference at the ADA University, dedicated to the discussion of a global challenge, Soltanov noted that Azerbaijan has the potential to increase gas supplies.

"Azerbaijan is the main supplier of energy resources in our region. Local production and use of natural gas in the domestic market of Azerbaijan is growing and this is good both for our state and for Azerbaijans State Oil Company (SOCAR)," Soltanov said.

The deputy minister highlighted that Azerbaijan plans to significantly increase the production of electricity from renewable energy sources in the next 10 years.

"Azerbaijans liberated territories from Armenian occupation will become a completely green zone until 2050," he said.

Moreover, noting that Azerbaijan aims to meet the needs of its foreign partners in natural gas to the maximum he underlined that requests are being received from various countries for the import of Azerbaijani gas.

"As you know, we mainly export gas through pipelines, but work is underway in connection with alternative routes. The demand for Azerbaijani gas is great, this is a big responsibility, work is underway to attract additional investments to the country," he said.

Replacement of outdated power plants

Elnur Soltanov also mentioned that Azerbaijan's Energy Ministry plans to soon replace all outdated Soviet-era power plants with new ones.

He noted that 93-94 percent of the electricity produced in Azerbaijan comes from thermal power plants, requiring the use of a large amount of gas.

"In this regard, there is a plan, namely a government program aimed at increasing the production of electricity from renewable energy sources," he said.

The deputy minister also added that the price for electricity in Azerbaijan is much lower than in many other countries.

Caspian Sea

Answering the questions of reporters, Soltanov stated that the Caspian Sea has great wind power potential for electricity production. In this regard, he noted that the wind power potential of the Caspian Sea is estimated at 157 gigawatts.

"The potential of the Caspian Sea in the field of renewable energy is much greater than the total energy potential of Azerbaijan in terms of other types of alternative sources. This sea ranks second in the world for its wind energy potential. The fact suggests that the Caspian Sea is famous not only for its oil and gas resources but also clean, alternative energy, he said.

The deputy minister stressed that the wind turbines planned for installation in the Caspian Sea will have a height of more than 90 meters.

"The installation of offshore turbines requires large investments, but the above potential makes them the most attractive for investors, and this wont lead to an increase in electricity tariffs," he said.
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

The Greater Caucasus Cup 2022 Regional Art Competition has been successfully held in Shaki.

For two days, 1351 participants from 22 regions showed their dance skills at the Heydar Aliyev Center and the School of Arts No. 4.

The large-scale regional competition was initiated by the Azerbaijan Youth Union The Culture Ministry provided the organizational support to the contest.

"I am happy to be involved in such a grand celebration of the Azerbaijani culture. Frankly speaking, we did not expect such a response from all corners of our homeland, and we did not quite clearly imagine what kind of competition the participants would face. I would like to personally thank the leadership of the Shaki Regional Department of Culture represented by Tarlan Nasibov for his excellent attitude towards young cultural figures. His personal contribution, as well as the leadership of the art center where the competition was held, are simply invaluable," said the contest organizer, the head of the Youth Union's Art Department Aziz Azizov.

The head of the judge panel Ayten Ahmadova noted the increased interest in art in the country's regions.

" We were very surprised by how much the level of art in the regions has grown in recent years. This also applies to academic areas, and in particular to the folk instrument. Greater Caucasus Cup 2022 was an incredible holiday for the soul," she said.

The panel of judges also included Sabina Mehdiyeva, Aflaruz Mammadov, Aziz Azizov, Ulviya Hasanova and Farhad Aliyev.

The nominations included solo, duets, small groups (up to 8 people), ensembles (up to 24 people), large ensembles (25 or more participants), age categories - kids (up to 7 years old), children in the 1st age category (7 -8 years old) and in the 2nd age category (9-10 years old), juniors in the 1st age category (11-12 years old) and in the 2nd age category (13-15 years old), adults (16 years old and older).

The contestants competed in dance art (all directions), piano, classical instrument, folk instrument (tar, kamancha, saz, canon, accordion, balaban, etc.), academic vocals, pop vocals, mugham, artistic reading, acting skills, etc.

Media partners of the event are Azernews.az, Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az.
By Azernews





By Laman Ismayilova

A press conference has been held in Baku prior to the Days of Francophonie.

Francophonie Days are celebrated annually all over the world, in French-speaking countries, as well as in countries where French is taught and studied, including Azerbaijan.

This year, the Francophonie Days will be held in Baku on April 1-22 under the motto "Future Francophonie", to highlight the support of young people and their aspirations, especially in the fields of entrepreneurship, digital technologies and sustainable development.

The heads of the diplomatic missions took part in the press conference held at the Baku French Lyceum.

The French Ambassador to Azerbaijan Zacharie Gross noted that after a two-year break amid the coronavirus pandemic, the Days of Francophonie will be held in Azerbaijan.

The French Ambassador said that the Days of Francophonie and the competition for schoolchildren are expected to arouse great interest among the guests of the festival. He expressed his gladness with the fact that the French language has become popular in Azerbaijan.

Over the past five, the number of people studying French has increased by 40 percent. French is third, after English and Russian, a foreign language studied in secondary schools in Azerbaijan.

In his speech, the Latvian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Dainis Garancs noted that the film "Four White Shirts"(1967) filmed by director Roland Kalnins will be screened on April 13 as part of the event.

This film was censored, and only in 2018 its world premiere took place. The film tells about a young worker who in his spare time is passionately engaged in music.

Many creative projects, film screenings, exhibitions, competitions and conferences will be held as part of the Francophonie Days.

The film screenings will take place at Cine club Landmark, Park Bulvar Cinema and Art Tower Gallery.

The Lithuanian Ambassador to Azerbaijan Egidijus Navikassaid that Lithuania will present a photo exhibition within the Francophonie.

The photo exhibition is dedicated to the city of Kaunas - the European Capital of Culture in 2022.

The photographer Martynas Plepis presents a look at the modern architecture of the city. The exposition is called "My Optimism" and will be held at the Art Tower Gallery on April 6-8.

The Moroccan Ambassador to Azerbaijan Mohamed Adil Ambarch underlined that the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) unites over 80 countries.

Speaking about the event program, the diplomat said that Morocco will present two films- "Au Pays Des Merveilles" on April 1 and "Hayat" on April 2.

Both films are about traveling and have received multiple international awards.

The Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Azerbaijan Milan Ekert stressed that the screening of the film "Zert" will take place on April 2. The film is based on the work of the French prose writer of Czech origin Milan Kundera.

The First Counselor of the Mexican Embassy in Azerbaijan Alberto Aura Gonzalez stressed that his country is showing great interest in the French language. Speaking about the program of the Days of Francophonie, he noted that the documentary film "Visa To Paradise" directed by Lillian Lieberman will be screened on April 7.

The Cultural Adviser of the French Embassy Jerome Kehl said that five French films "Calamity", "La croisade", "Rouge", "Le mystere Henri Pick"and "Le Quai d'Orsay" will be of interest to viewers of all ages.

In addition, Rovshan Agayev's book "French Lessons" in French will be presented on April 8. A conference dedicated to the study of French will be organized as well.

Deputy director of the French Institute in Azerbaijan Jonathan Unlu informed the media representatives that a speech competition will be held for students of the Azerbaijan University of Languages, Ganja State University and Nakhchivan State University as part of the Days of Francophonie.




71 parliamentarians voted in favor, 32 against, and 13 abstained. Thus, it was possible to censor the health sector's head, who will have to step down.





"This agreement will be communicated to the President of the Republic so that the provisions of Article 132 of the Political Constitution of Peru and Section b) of Article 86 of the Regulations of Congress of the Republic are complied with," its Chairwoman Maria del Carmen Alva expressed after announcing the voting results.













The aforementioned motion was supported with the signatures of legislators from parties: Avanza Pais, Renovacion Popular, Juntos por el Peru, Alianza para el Progreso, Somos Peru, Accion Popular, as well as non-grouped legislators Carlos Anderson, Enrique Wong, Susel Paredes, Flor Pablo, and Edward Malaga Trillo.





The official letter presented by Bazan stated that Condori "was exercising the profession in an inappropriate manner by promoting the sale of Cluster X2 ('clustered water') attributing to it medicinal properties which have not been verified or certified by any official or academic authority."





Condori was also questioned for promoting a cervical cancer diagnostic service within one minute, as he might not have expertise in gynecology or oncology.
10:34 | Lima, Mar. 31.

"In practical terms, not to make a legal explanation, I believe that President Fujimori will not be released from prison until what is finally decided on the 6th (of April)," Nakazaki told RPP Noticias.





The lawyer specified that the Inter-American Court will discuss on Friday whether or not the provisional or precautionary measures proceed; that is, whether the execution of Peru's Constitutional Court sentence must be suspended until the hearing scheduled for the coming date.





Next Wednesday, it will be assessed whether or not the Constitutional Court 's ruling violates what the Inter-American Court determined during its last supervision procedure.





In Nakasaki's opinion, the Inter-American Court will be surprised to notice that the Peruvian State did not do what it had been ordered in 2018 when it indicated that, through an amparo proceeding and with the intervention of physicians, it should be checked whether Fujimori has illnesses which justify the granting of a humanitarian pardon.





In this sense, he stressed that the only matter the international court can point out is whether or not what had been ordered in 2018 was fulfilled.





"Given a host of errors, that has not been done; I hope the Court says: do what we ordered in 2018," he expressed.





The lawyer argued that his client's health problems, which according to him motivated the pardon in 2017, have now worsened and prompt him to require (additional) oxygen all day long.








This way, the official underlined that it was possible to position our exportable, tourist, and investment offer in the important markets of the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia region.

Trained companies

Likewise, a seminar on access to the United Arab Emirates market was held, presenting commercial opportunities offered by said markets.

Among the Peruvian foods that were promoted in Dubai, quinoa, kiwicha, maca, turmeric, chia, yacon, camu camu, lucuma, nuts, ginger, purple corn, avocados, grapes, specialty coffees, and cocoa stood out.

Furthermore, products from the clothing industry, meaning cotton and alpaca garments, as well as accessories made from this fiber, were presented.

Decoration items

Concerning the home decoration category, products such as mirrors, fur, embroidered cushions, table runners, pillows, toys, alpaca fur-stuffed animals were showcased.

Meanwhile, the diverse manufacturing sector was present with cosmetic products, such as jojoba oil, creams, sunscreens, and clay, among others.

Regarding our tourist offer, the destinations most demanded by foreign buyers were Lima, Nazca, Arequipa, Cusco, Puno, Loreto, and Madre de Dios, PromPeru highlighted.

On average, the trips might last 10 days and generate the growth of tourism also known as Soft Adventure, as it has a greater demand due to moderate physical activities, an important connection with nature, and a strong learning or cultural exchange element.

In this sense, tour operators and Peruvian destinations will be granted an excellent opportunity to reposition themselves in these markets.

ORGULLO PERUANO! ?? ????

Nuestro pais se llevo el oro en la categoria Pabellones Medianos en la @expo2020dubai. ??#PROMPERU #PeruEnExpo2020Dubai pic.twitter.com/ISIclWQ1er
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. The Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs Assistant Hikmet Hajiyev in Brussels on March 30, the European Union External Action Service said in a press release.

The European Union hosted a meeting of high-level officials from Armenia and Azerbaijan in Brussels today to advance joint efforts to find solutions to a range of issues between both countries. In particular, discussions focused on preparations for the upcoming meeting between President Charles Michel of the European Council, President Ilham Aliyev of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of the Republic of Armenia in Brussels on 6 April 2022.

The meeting between Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, and Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Hikmet Hajiyev, was facilitated by EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar.

During substantive discussions, which also included a separate bilateral conversation between Mr Hajiyev and Mr Grigoryan, the participants reviewed the political and security situation and the full spectrum of issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan as a follow-up to the understandings reached during the meeting of leaders of both countries and President Michel, held in Brussels on 14 December 2021.

The participants agreed to meet again over the coming weeks in order to continue discussions, among others on issues raised during the leaders meeting of 14 December 2021. Armenia and Azerbaijan will also address issues related to prospects for a peace agreement between them.

The European Union remains committed to continue its engagement towards sustainable peace and stability in the South Caucasus, the European Union External Action Service said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Lilit Makunts Armenian Ambassador to the United States met with Chairman of House Democracy Partnership, Congressman David Price (D-NC), the Armenian Embassy said in a statement on social media.

Ambassador Makunts emphasized the membership of National Assembly of Armenia as a partner to HDP and highly assessed the effective cooperation between two legislative bodies.

Ambassador Makunts briefed about the security environment around Armenia and Artsakh and stressed the need for active engagement by the US and other Co-Chairs of Minsk Group to restrain the further escalation by Azerbaijan in the region.

During the meeting Ambassador Makunts by the order of the President of the National Assembly of Armenia, handed over to Congressman Price the Medal of Honor for his significant contribution to the development and strengthening of the Armenian-American inter-parliamentary friendly relations.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Armenia responded to the five-point proposal presented by Azerbaijan both publicly and through working-diplomatic channels. Bakus claim that Armenia left the proposals without response absolutely has nothing to do with the reality, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the Cabinet meeting today.

Perhaps, the most exploited topic by Azerbaijan for provoking regional escalation is the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan continues to claim that Armenia leaves that issue without response. Whereas, this information absolutely has nothing to do with the reality because I have repeatedly publicly expressed the readiness of Armenia to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan.

But the thing is that today as well Azerbaijan continues announcing that it has transferred a five-point proposal to Armenia, but we have allegedly left these proposals without response. At the previous Cabinet meeting, I have thoroughly touched upon this issue live and stated that on March 10, a 5-point proposal of Azerbaijan was handed over to Armenia, and on March 14, four days later, two of which were non-working days, we responded in writing to that proposal, and handed over that response in the same way we received it.

It was conveyed to us by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing country, we transferred the response through the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries. We have also publicly announced that there is nothing unacceptable for us in the proposals of Azerbaijan. The Foreign Minister of Armenia announced on March 21, 2022: (I quote):

There is nothing unacceptable for us in the proposals submitted by Azerbaijan on March 10. Its another thing that these proposals do not address all the issues on the Armenia-Azerbaijan comprehensive peace agenda. With our response conveyed to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship we have completed that agenda and thus, are ready to the launch of peace talks on this basis (end of quote), Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan emphasized that this is Armenias official position and Armenia responded to Azerbaijans five-point proposal both publicly and through working-diplomatic channels.

This response means that the principle of mutual recognition of territorial integrity and inviolability of borders is acceptable for Armenia, he said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Member of Italian Chamber of Deputies Alvise Maniero commented on the current humanitarian problems in Artsakh caused by the actions of Azerbaijan.

In a statement on social media, the Italian lawmaker said the people of Artsakh have been left without heating for days because of the disruption of the gas supply by Azerbaijan.

We condemn the systematic violations of human rights, the military aggression and the destruction of the cultural heritage of Armenians living in Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh).

While international attention is focused on the conflict in Ukraine, the hostility has been resumed in Artsakh. And while in Italy and Europe we are concerned about the gas supplies, Azerbaijanis blew up the pipeline supplying gas to Artsakh, leaving the local people in cold, without hot water and without a chance of cooking a hot meal, under -8 temperature. Lets not forget about the many ongoing conflicts, he said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan tries to keep the tension on the border and the opportunity of resuming the military operations also during the demarcation process, to present territorial claims against Armenia and resort to military provocations if those demands are not met  this is an unacceptable approach, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the Cabinet meeting.

He said Azerbaijan is using the Armenia-Azerbaijan border demarcation and delimitation issue for forming a speech justifying escalation.

Based on the results of the trilateral meeting held in Sochi on November 26, 2021, the President of Russia, the Azerbaijani President and the Prime Minister of Armenia adopted a statement which says that they agreed: to take actions to raise the level of stability and security on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and push forward the process to the creation of a bilateral commission dealing with the delimitation and then the demarcation of the state border between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

I dont think that this statement could be misinterpreted, and its obvious that the creation of the commission on demarcation and delimitation issues must be preceded by steps aimed at raising the level of stability and security on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border, the Armenian PM said.

Pashinyan said Azerbaijan hasnt made any proposal over these steps, whereas Armenia made a proposal over withdrawal of troops in mirrored fashion from the Armenian-Azerbaijani border and giving the protection of that border to a limited number of border troops, as well as conducting an international monitoring of the border.

Azerbaijan hasnt given an official response to this proposal yet, according to the information received by the third countries, our proposal is not acceptable for Azerbaijan, Pashinyan said. He added that Armenia has been and will be maximally flexible on this matter and has also proposed several formulas for withdrawal.

Azerbaijan either does not accept or does not respond to these proposals. What does it mean? In fact it means that Azerbaijan is trying to keep the tension in the border and the opportunity of resuming military operations also during the demarcation process, in order to present territorial claims against Armenia and if these demands are not met, to resort to military provocations. This is an unacceptable approach, the Armenian PM added.

He said it is necessary to launch an international monitoring mechanism of border situation.

We proposed several such options also to Azerbaijan, and any of these options, that Azerbaijan accepts, will be acceptable for us, he said.
By Azernews









By Laman Ismayilova

Shusha has been named the Turkic World Cultural Capital for 2023.

The decision was made at a meeting of the Permanent Council of Ministers of Culture of the International Organization of Turkic Culture (TURKSOY) member states held in Bursa, Turkey.

Culture Minister Anar Karimov represented Azerbaijan at the meeting.

Azerbaijani ambassador to Turkey Rashad Mammadov was among the delegation members.

A video presentation about Shusha which highlighted the city's rich culture, history, geographical location as well as reconstruction was held as well.

Bursa - Turkic World's 2022 Cultural Capital

The Azerbaijani delegation led by Culture Minister Anar Karimov attended various events held in Turkey.

The delegation attended the inauguration ceremony of the Bursa 2022 Cultural Capital of the Turkic World.

TURKSOY Secretary-General Dusen Kaseinov, Secretary-General of the Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic Speaking Countries (TURKPA) Mehmet Sureyya Er, International Turkic Culture and Heritage Foundation President Gunay Afandiyeva, the culture ministers, the heads of diplomatic missions of TURKSOY member countries and other officials attended the event.

The artistic part of the event was held in the central square. The colorful parade was held as part of the celebration. The actors of the Azerbaijani State Song and Dance joined the parade.

The Turkish national anthem was performed at the event. The dance group of the cultural center of Bursa performed with a concert program.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, the chairman of the Busra municipality Alinur Aktash stressed the importance of such events for promoting the cultural heritage of the Turkic-speaking peoples worldwide as well as further developing ties between these peoples in the fields of culture and art. Furthermore, the guests enjoyed a gala concert.

Meanwhile, the 4th World Nomad Games, the 2nd Dede Gorgud Film Festival, the 5th Ethnosport Cultural Festival, the 3rd Busra Book Fair will also be held as part of the events in Bursa.

Partnership with Yunus Emre Institute

Azerbaijani Culture Minister Karimov met Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy.

The parties also signed a protocol among the Turkic-speaking states' culture ministries and the Yunus Emre Institute on the implementation of the "Turkish Residence Program".

The meeting continued with a discussion of a number of important issues.

The sides stressed the importance of joint cooperation in various fields of culture.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. In addition to invading the area of responsibility of the Russian peacekeepers in Nagorno Karabakh, the Azerbaijani troops continue to terrorize the population of several villages in Nagorno Karabakh on a daily basis by using loudspeakers to make threats, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

This too is happening before the eyes of the peacekeepers. [The Azerbaijani side] is telling the villagers through loudspeakers to abandon their homes or else they will be taken out by force, Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan said that the Azerbaijani troops are even playing the Islamic Adhan on the loundspeakers at nights in the direction of the villages, whose population is Armenian Apostolic Christian.

We certainly have great respect for the Islamic religion and civilization, but Azerbaijans actions against the people is violence against the freedom of conscience and religion, a means of inciting religious hatred, and after all it is offending the religious emotions of our compatriots, Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan also addressed the Azerbaijani policy of eradicating anything Armenian from Nagorno Karabakh.

Pashinyan mentioned the infamous February 23 statement by Azerbaijans Minister of Culture, who set up a task force to deal with the removal of Armenian traces from spiritual monuments, which the Azeri minister falsely described as Caucasian Albanian. Pashinyan described this statement as Azerbaijans public and official launch of destruction and distortion of Armenian cultural heritage.

And the statement of the Azerbaijani minister of culture isnt a coincidence. On March 16, 2021, during a visit to Hadrut, the Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, speaking about the Surp Astvatsatsin Armenian Church of Tsakuri, said: Just like the Armenians desecrated our mosques, they desecretated the Caucasian-Albanian temples. But we will restore. All these writings are fake, these are made afterwards. These actions of Azerbaijan are an overt challenge to the UNs International Court of Justice 2021 December 7 decision on provisional measures, which clearly obliges Azerbaijan to take all necessary measures to prevent and punish acts of vandalism and desecration affecting Armenian cultural heritage, including but not limited to churches and other places of worship, monuments, landmarks, cemeteries and artefacts.

PM Pashinyan emphasized that all these situations must receive a proper international probe and assessment.

We expect from the international community a targeted assessment to Azerbaijans actions in Nagorno Karabakh because the Armenian population in Nagorno Karabakh is being terrorized every day, literally every single day, including the gas supply cut-off terror, and its goal is to displace them from their homes and their homeland, Pashinyan said.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. The government of Armenia approved today the proposal to sign a memorandum of understanding with the United Arab Emirates about regulating the working activity of Armenian citizens in the UAE.

The signing of the memorandum will contribute to settling the working relations of Armenian citizens, who work or are ready to work in the United Arab Emirates, as well as protecting the rights and interests of working migrants.

In 2017 the UAE came up with an initiative to sign a memorandum of understanding about the use of labor force between the Armenian and the UAE governments. The Armenian Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs completely amended and submitted a draft memorandum to the Foreign Ministry, including key provisions for the settlement of working relations.

During the visit of the UAE delegation to Armenia in August 2021, the provisions of the draft memorandum were discussed in details and were amended as a result of the talks.
TEHRAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. During a visit to Iran, the Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyans advisor Artashes Tumanyan held several meetings with a number of Iranian government officials from May 27 to 30.

Tumanyan held meetings with Iranian Minister of Energy Ali Akbar Mehrabian, Minister of Petroleum Javad Owji and Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Safari.

During the meeting with the Minister of Energy the opportunities of implementing joint projects and the efficient use of investment potential was discussed. Tumanyan and Ali Akbar Mehrabian attached importance to organizing Iranian President Ebrahim Raisis visit to Armenia.

A number of issues relating to long-term bilateral and regional cooperation in gas and energy sector was discussed at the meeting with the Minister of Petroleum.
YEREVAN, MARCH 31, ARMENPRESS. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke about the Armenia-Turkey contacts and the stabilization of the situation in the region, saying that now the course is positive. However, he said, it is impossible to normalize everything at once in one day.

He said that mutual steps must be taken.

In an interview with Ahaber media outlet, Cavusoglu also spoke about Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyans visit to Antalya.

What did we do? On top of the positive signals after the elections [in Armenia] we appointed special representatives. Theyve met twice in person, but they also have phone talks all the time, but we didnt limit ourselves with the appointment of the special representatives, we made steps for increasing trust. For example, we launched flights, on the other hand some steps are being taken regarding trade, Cavusoglu said.

Cavusoglu said that when the borders will be opened there are works in both sides that need to be done regarding roads and railway.

The Turkish FM said his meeting with Armenian FM Ararat Mirzoyan in Antalya was positive. He added that hed wanted a trilateral meeting to take place with participation of Azerbaijans FM Jeyhun Bayramov, but it was not possible.

Cavusoglu once again said that Turkey holds consultations with Azerbaijan regarding the process of normalization with Armenia. The Turkish FM said that it is not possible to make any fundamental step without consulting with Azerbaijan. The war is over, lessons must be drawn from it, and steps must be taken for the stability of South Caucasus, our region. If Armenia has this same perception, both us and Azerbaijan will normalize relations with Armenia, borders will be opened, trade will start, and on the other hand regional development, logistical matters and so on, Cavusoglu said.
YEREVAN, 31 MARCH, ARMENPRESS. Member of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Giulio Centemero referred to the issue of depriving the population of Nagorno-Karabakh of gas, violation of the trilateral statement, called to restart peaceful negotiations of the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, ARMENPRESS reports, the Embassy of Armenia in Italy informs.



Centemero informed that cases of violation of the ceasefire of November 9, 2020 took place, which resulted in victims and wounded.



Currently we face a very serious humanitarian crisis, from which the population of Nagorno-Karabakh suffers because of the damage of the only pipeline transferring gas, who remained without gas for nearly a month. It is necessary to constructively restart peaceful negotiations and refuse the violent way, member of the Chamber of Deputies of Italy emphasized.



He also called on to stop the violence, restart peaceful negotiations on his Twitter page.

The authorities of Artsakh said that the main pipeline supplying gas from Armenia to Artsakh was damaged on March 7 and the supply stopped. The Artsakh authorities had said the area where the damage occurred was in Azerbaijani-controlled territory. It was reported that the Azerbaijani military deliberately damaged the pipeline. The Azerbaijani authorities obstructed repair works for days. Only on March 16 the authorities in Artsakh announced that the Azerbaijani side itself began the repair work. However, days later, the gas supply was cut again. Authorities said they have reasons to believe that during the repairs the Azeri authorities installed a valve on the pipeline in order to shut it down whenever they want. On March 28 it was again restored.
The Secretary of the Security Council of Armenia Armen Grigoryan met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs Assistant Hikmet Hajiyev in Brussels on March 30, the European Union External Action Service said in a press release.

March 31, 2022, 10:03 EU hosts high-level Armenia-Azerbaijan meeting ahead of Pashinyan-Aliyev-Michel talks

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 31, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: The European Union hosted a meeting of high-level officials from Armenia and Azerbaijan in Brussels today to advance joint efforts to find solutions to a range of issues between both countries. In particular, discussions focused on preparations for the upcoming meeting between President Charles Michel of the European Council, President Ilham Aliyev of the Republic of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of the Republic of Armenia in Brussels on 6 April 2022.

The meeting between Secretary of the Security Council of the Republic of Armenia, Armen Grigoryan, and Assistant to the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Hikmet Hajiyev, was facilitated by EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus Toivo Klaar.

During substantive discussions, which also included a separate bilateral conversation between Mr Hajiyev and Mr Grigoryan, the participants reviewed the political and security situation and the full spectrum of issues between Armenia and Azerbaijan as a follow-up to the understandings reached during the meeting of leaders of both countries and President Michel, held in Brussels on 14 December 2021.

The participants agreed to meet again over the coming weeks in order to continue discussions, among others on issues raised during the leaders meeting of 14 December 2021. Armenia and Azerbaijan will also address issues related to prospects for a peace agreement between them.

The European Union remains committed to continue its engagement towards sustainable peace and stability in the South Caucasus, the European Union External Action Service said.
In the night of March 30 to 31 and as of 10 AM, the operative-tactical situation along the entire frontline of Artsakh did not change, remaining tense. No significant ceasefire violations were registered, Artsakh Information Center informs.

March 31, 2022, 10:11 The operative-tactical situation along the entire frontline of Artsakh did not change, remaining tense

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 31, ARTSAKHPRESS: "The authorities of the Artsakh Republic continue to exert all efforts to withdraw the Azerbaijani Armed Forces from the eastern direction of the line of contact to their original positions.
South Ossetia will take legal steps for joining the Russian Federation in the near future, its president, Anatoly Bibilov, has said according to the press-service of the United Russia party, informs Tass.

March 31, 2022, 10:45 South Ossetia to take legal steps soon for joining Russia  President Bibilov

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 31, ARTSAKHPRESS: "I believe that unification with Russia is our strategic goal. This is our way and an aspiration of our people. We should move forward along this path. The corresponding legal steps will be made in the near future. The Republic of South Ossetia will become part of its historical motherland - Russia," he said.

Bibilov stressed that South Ossetia, Russia and the whole world were living through an epoch-making period.

"The Russian world today is defending the interests of its adherents, those who are opposed to Nazism, who respect universal humanitarian values and the fundamental rights and norms shared by the entire international community," Bibilov said.

He stressed that the first act of revival of the Russian world occurred in South Ossetia in 2008, when Russia decided to recognize the republics independence.

"It was a historical decision that granted the people of South Ossetia the guarantees of peace and a chance to develop. However, the main historical and strategic goal of the Ossetian people - a divided people - is unification within one state - Russia. Our people has repeatedly confirmed this goal," Bibilov said.

Russia recognized the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on August 26, 2008 after Georgias armed aggression against Tskhinval. The leaders of Russia have said more than once that the recognition of independence of these two former autonomies of Georgia reflected the existing realities and was not subject to revision. Tbilisi has refused to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to this day.

South Ossetias Central Election Commission on March 15 completed the registration of presidential candidates. In the April 10 presidential election the position of the head of state will be contested by the incumbent, Anatoly Bibilov, the republican parliaments deputy speaker Alexander Pliyev, leader of the political party Nykhaz, Ruslan Gagloyev, parliament member Garry Muldarov and former parliament member Dmitry Tasoyev. Bibilov was elected president in April 2017. Starting from June 2014 he had held the position of parliamentary speaker.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed decrees recalling Ukraine's ambassadors to Georgia and Morocco. He informed this in a video message on the results of the 35th day of the war with Russia, news.am informs, citing UNIAN.

March 31, 2022, 12:46 Ukraine recalls ambassadors to Georgia, Morocco

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 31, ARTSAKHPRESS: "There are those who work together with everyone for the defense of the state so that Ukraine can capture its future. We appreciate the work of each such person. But there are those who waste their time and work only to stay in office. Today I signed the first decree on the recall of such a person. Such an ambassador of Ukraine to Morocco. The ambassador to Georgia also has been returned. With all due respect, but there will be no weapons, there will be no sanctions, there will be no restrictions for Russian business. Please look for another job," said the president of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy added that he expects concrete results in the coming days from the work of Ukraine's representatives in Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and African countries.

"I am expecting results also from the military attaches in the coming days. The diplomatic front is one of the key fronts. And everyone there must work as effectively as possible to win and help the armyas each of our defenders on the battlefield, as well as each on the diplomatic front," said Zelenskyy.
Armenia responded to the five-point proposal presented by Azerbaijan both publicly and through working-diplomatic channels. Bakus claim that Armenia left the proposals without response absolutely has nothing to do with the reality, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the Cabinet meeting today.

March 31, 2022, 11:36 Armenia repeatedly responded to Azerbaijans proposals. Nikol Pashinyan

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 31, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: Perhaps, the most exploited topic by Azerbaijan for provoking regional escalation is the peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan continues to claim that Armenia leaves that issue without response. Whereas, this information absolutely has nothing to do with the reality because I have repeatedly publicly expressed the readiness of Armenia to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan.

But the thing is that today as well Azerbaijan continues announcing that it has transferred a five-point proposal to Armenia, but we have allegedly left these proposals without response. At the previous Cabinet meeting, I have thoroughly touched upon this issue live and stated that on March 10, a 5-point proposal of Azerbaijan was handed over to Armenia, and on March 14, four days later, two of which were non-working days, we responded in writing to that proposal, and handed over that response in the same way we received it.

It was conveyed to us by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing country, we transferred the response through the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairing countries. We have also publicly announced that there is nothing unacceptable for us in the proposals of Azerbaijan. The Foreign Minister of Armenia announced on March 21, 2022: (I quote):

There is nothing unacceptable for us in the proposals submitted by Azerbaijan on March 10. Its another thing that these proposals do not address all the issues on the Armenia-Azerbaijan comprehensive peace agenda. With our response conveyed to the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship we have completed that agenda and thus, are ready to the launch of peace talks on this basis (end of quote), Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan emphasized that this is Armenias official position and Armenia responded to Azerbaijans five-point proposal both publicly and through working-diplomatic channels.

This response means that the principle of mutual recognition of territorial integrity and inviolability of borders is acceptable for Armenia, he said.
By Trend

Armenia and Russias unwillingness or inability to ensure the withdrawal of the Armenian armed groups from Azerbaijan's Karabakh undermines the peace process and jeopardizes regional stability, Trend reports citing the Jamestown Foundation.

This is envisaged by Senior Research Fellow at the Azerbaijani Center for Analysis of International Relations (AIR Center) Vasif Huseynov's article, published in the Jamestown Foundation.

The article noted that on March 26, the Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan called on the Russian side to complete the withdrawal of illegal Armenian armed detachments from the Azerbaijani territories under the control of Russias peacekeeping mission.

Referring to the fourth article of the trilateral (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Russia) agreement that ended the Second Karabakh War, Azerbaijan stated that this was at least the second instance since the wars end that the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry had publicly appealed to Moscow to ensure the full implementation of the article. This time, however, the appeal occurred against a background of intense political and geopolitical significance, said the article.

According to the author, the security situation in the Azerbaijan-Armenia state, as well as in Azerbaijans Karabakh region, has remained strained since the beginning of March, amidst the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine.

"Baku reported increasing numbers of provocations by the Armenian armed detachments while Russia has been distracted by the situation in Ukraine. Azerbaijani media published video evidence of the pullout of part of Russias military equipment from the Azerbaijani territories, where Russian peacekeepers are temporarily deployed. It was noted that the withdrawn equipment was allegedly transferred to Ukraine," Huseynov wrote.

The article stated that against this background, the clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which in early March were mostly confined to areas along the interstate border, have now slowly been shifting to the region under the control of the Russian peacekeeping mission.

The situation escalated further in mid-March when Armenia blamed Azerbaijan for an explosion (March 7-8) involving the natural gas pipeline from Armenia to Karabakh, the article stressed.

On March 24, the Armenian side accused Azerbaijan of entering the village of Farrux (Khojaly district), which is inside the zone temporarily under the control of Russias peacekeepers. On the evening of March 26, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced violations of the terms of the trilateral statement of November 9, 2020, and an incursion into the zone of responsibility of the Russian peacekeeping contingent, the author emphasized.

The Azerbaijani government harshly rebuked the calls by Moscow and other OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs for the withdrawal of Azerbaijani troops from the village of Farrukh since the area in question is part of the internationally recognized territory of Azerbaijan and the Armenian armed formations remain there in violation of the aforementioned trilateral agreement, the article said.

Vasif Huseynov outlined that the full implementation of November 9, 2020, trilateral accord was the only way to assuredly prevent new escalations in the region. In turn, Armenias and Russias unwillingness or inability to ensure the withdrawal of the Armenian armed groups from Karabakh undermines the larger peace process and jeopardizes regional stability.
Armenia is proposing concrete and reasonable solutions for demarcation and delimitation, opening of regional connections and ruling out military escalation in Nagorno Karabakh, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting.

March 31, 2022, 12:32 Pashinyan hopes to agree issues relating to launching peace talks at upcoming meeting with Aliyev

STEPANAKERT, MARCH 31, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS: Pashinyan reiterated that there are no grounds or substantiations for Azerbaijan to accuse Armenia in rejecting or breaching any agreement.

I once again express the readiness of the Republic of Armenia to sign a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. Armenia is ready to immediately launch peace talks. My meeting with the President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev is scheduled for April 6 in Brussels. And I hope to discuss and agree at that meeting with the President of Azerbaijan all issues relating to the launch of peace talks, Pashinyan said.
CBSs hit comedy Ghosts reveals the backstory of Trevors missing pants. Young Sheldon marks its 100th episode. British actress Sarah Lancashire is delightful as TV cooking legend Julia Child in an HBO Max dramedy. In TBSs Rat in the Kitchen, a comedic cooking competition embeds a saboteur among its contestants.

9/8c

However did Wall Street bro-ghost Trevor (Asher Grodman) get caught with his pants (and boxers) down through eternity? This eternal mystery of sartorial humiliation is finally addressed in another fun episode of the freshman hit comedy. As is often the case, the catalyst for the backstory involves a visit to Woodstone Mansion by someone with a shared pastthis time, one of Trevors more obnoxious bros (Rob Huebel), who was there the night Trevor died half-naked (though somehow with shoes and fancy socks intact). As the truth spills out, it wont be just Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) reacting with dramatic gasps.

8/7c

A longer-running CBS hit is a kid no longer. Young Sheldon marks its milestone 100th episode with some significant moments for the Cooper family. At college, Sheldon (Iain Armitage) is surprised with a visit by fellow prodigy Paige (McKenna Grace), who may be even less well adjusted to college social life than our favorite officious brainiac. Back home, theyre dealing with the fallout from Meemaws (Annie Potts) breakup with Dale (Craig T. Nelson), and Georgie (Montana Jordan) is in hot water with older girlfriend Mandy (Emily Osment) after he finally levels with her.

Series Premiere 9:30/8:30c

Even Ghosts as a lead-in might not be able to float this middling sitcom based on the life of pro bowling world champ Tom Smallwood. A sheepish Pete Holmes (Crashing) stars as Tom, a devoted family man who decides to chase his dream of PBA stardom after being laid off from a factorys assembly line. Hairstylist wife Jen (Scandals Katie Lowes) has his back, though his snappish mom (Julie White) has always cautioned him to play it safe. Chi McBride steals his scenes as the bowling-alley mentor who urges Tom to go for it, but there are too few strikes of genuine humor to keep you from drifting to your own snack bar.

Series Premiere

As TV cooking legend Julia Child of The French Chef fame, Sarah Lancashire serves up a four-course banquet of sheer joy in a delightful dramedy inspired by Childs pioneering start in public TV in the early 1960s. With creative liberties and a light comic flair, Julia dramatizes the challenges she faced convincing producers and executives that a middle-aged woman with a high voice and ungainly frame could become a TV star by demystifying French cuisine in front of a camera. Thankfully, she has loving support from David Hyde Pierce as her diplomat husband Paul and fellow Frasier alum Bebe Neuwirth as her widowed best friend Avis. (See the full review.)

Series Premiere 9/8c

Im not sure Julia Child would approve of this comedic twist on cooking competitions, which adds elements of The Mole and The Hustler to the basic recipe. Still, its fun to play along with the hostscomedian Natasha Leggero and celebrity chef/judge Ludo Lefebvreas six ambitious chefs take on culinary challenges, always with an eye on who among them is the secret mole dedicated to sabotaging their dishes. If the rat successfully ruins a dish, Ludo will fail the team, putting more money in the moles coffer. (The bank starts at $50,000 for the chefs.) At the end, the players reveal who they think is responsible for such mishaps as a fruit-less cobbler or an undercooked steak. If theyre right, they keep what money theyve earned. If the rat escapes undetected, he or she wins the cheddar. (I guessed right in the premiere.)

10/9c

Now in the U.K., Earn (Donald Glover) and his crew have another encounter with the surreal as they accept an invitation to a billionaires most unusual home for a party that goes sideways fast. The most disturbing encounter, once again, involves Darius (LaKeith Stanfield), whos unnerved when spectators take a perceived racial insult way out of proportion.

The streamer appears to have another sci-fi hit with its series based on the Xbox game. In the second episode, Master Chief John (Pablo Schreiber) learns more about the mysterious object that keeps triggering his human emotions, while Dr. Halsey (Natascha McElhone) hatches a plan to control his newly unpredictable behaviors.

Also On the Stream:

Inventions That Changed History (streaming on discovery+): A new series explores the origins of pop-culture curiosities from waterbeds and barf bags to rubber chickens, Easy Bake ovens and vending machines, with celebrities sharing their own fond childhood memories.

The Dropout (streaming on Hulu): In the penultimate chapter of the gripping docudrama, tension is high as Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried) and Sunny (Naveen Andrews) ramp up the legal pressure on any potential whistleblowers who could confirm the Wall Street Journals pending expose on fraud within Theranosand this puts young Tyler Shultz (Dylan Minnette) in the hottest seat imaginable.

(Amanda Seyfried) and Sunny (Naveen Andrews) ramp up the legal pressure on any potential whistleblowers who could confirm the Wall Street Journals pending expose on fraud within Theranosand this puts young (Dylan Minnette) in the hottest seat imaginable. The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder (streaming on Paramount+): A revival of the popular Nickelodeon animated childrens show (2001-17) now focuses on Timmy Turners 13-year-old cousin Viv, relocated to a new town with stepbrother Roy as they inherit Timmys fairy godparents Wanda and Cosmo.

Wisting (streaming on Sundance Now): The second season of the Norwegian crime drama puts Detective Wisting ( Sven Nordin ) on the trail of an escaped convict who planned his getaway while leading the police on a crime-scene inspection.

(streaming on Sundance Now): The second season of the Norwegian crime drama puts Detective Wisting ( ) on the trail of an escaped convict who planned his getaway while leading the police on a crime-scene inspection. First Day (streaming on Hulu): The timely and topical Australian high-school drama returns for a second season, with transgender teen Hannah (Evie Macdonald) running for Class Captain and starting an LGBTQIA+ group. Doubt this will be required viewing in Florida classrooms.

Inside Thursday TV:

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A Democratic congressman is speaking out against a wage board's plan to lower the overtime threshold for New York farmworkers.

In a letter to Gov. Kathy Hochul, U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado relayed his opposition to the wage board's recommendation, which calls for lowering the overtime threshold from 60 to 40 hours over an eight-year period.

Delgado, who represents the 19th district, said the plan "is not mindful of the dynamics of farming."

"Agriculture already faces a growing labor crisis, and lowering the farmworker overtime threshold to 40 hours puts farm operations in New York state at serious risk," he continued. "Many farmers and producers have expressed concerns that the resulting increase in costs will put them out of business."

The letter refers to a study conducted by Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences that found two-thirds of dairy farms would either move out of state, close or shift to a different form of farming.

A separate report released by Farm Credit East found farms, especially smaller operations, would have a reduction in earnings if labor costs increase.

Many farms have criticized the wage board's recommendation. The three-member wage board was part of the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act that was signed in 2019. That law granted farmworkers many labor rights already given to employees in other industries.

The law established a 60-hour overtime threshold for farmworkers, but tasked the wage board with determining whether it should be lower or remain the same.

The wage board  the members were New York Farm Bureau President David Fisher, former New York State AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes and former Buffalo Urban League President Brenda McDuffie  held public hearings and gathered feedback, with most witnesses testifying against lowering the overtime threshold.

Hughes and McDuffie favored lowering the threshold, while Fisher voted against it.

Delgado raised another concern mentioned by some farmers  that a 40-hour overtime standard would put New York's farms at an economic disadvantage. Since neighboring states don't have the same threshold, he said workers could go to farms in those states.

"New York farms represent over $37 billion in economic impact, and employ over 55,000 employees," Delgado said. "These farms have faced a difficult farm economy in recent years, and severe market disruptions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lowering the overtime threshold from 60 to 40 hours adds another hardship for our farmers, and may cause many to close their doors."

There is no timetable for a decision on lowering the overtime threshold. After the wage board's recommendation, it is now up to state Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon. She could accept the recommendation or reject it.

If Reardon adopts the plan, the phased-in process would not begin until January 2024. Between that date and January 2032, the overtime threshold would be lowered by four hours every two years.

Politics reporter Robert Harding can be reached at (315) 282-2220 or robert.harding@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter @robertharding.

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A day after Gov. Kathy Hochul strong-armed $564.8 million in casino revenues out of the Seneca Nation and targeted it to the new Buffalo Bills stadium, the tribe's president Wednesday reacted with an angry statement that attacked the governor's husband for his employer's potential ties to the new facility.

But the Seneca president treated Hochul's stadium funding plan as all but inevitable, even though other Senecas proposed renewing a legal battle that the tribe has repeatedly lost in the past in an effort to get back that money.

That split reflected a longstanding divide in Seneca Nation politics over how hard the Indian tribe should fight to retain the casino revenues it sent to Albany this week only after the state froze its bank accounts. But there was also agreement from both sides of that divide that Hochul did a terrible thing when she forced the tribe's hand.

New Yorks hostile and shameless greed was laid bare for the world to see yesterday," Seneca Nation President Matthew Pagels said in a statement.

Hochul administration officials approached KeyBank last week and, using a longstanding state law, asked that the Seneca's bank accounts be frozen in an attempt to force the casino money out of the Senecas. The move came after the Senecas lost repeated legal battles as courts said they owe the money.

Members of the tribe discovered the frozen accounts on Saturday when they couldn't even withdraw any money from ATMs, thereby leading the Seneca Nation Council to vote on Monday to send the payment to the state.

But Pagels clearly wasn't happy about it, calling the payment "ransom money for a new stadium."

Moreover, Pagels took a shot at Hochul's husband, William J. Hochul Jr., senior vice president and general counsel at Delaware North Cos.  a giant concessions and gaming firm based in Buffalo that handles food service at Highmark Stadium, the Bills' current facility. Gov. Hochul has recused herself from any state actions involving Delaware North, but Pagels indicated that the company would benefit from Hochul's decision to steer the Seneca money to the stadium project.

"Im sure that was welcome news to the governors husband, whose company not only operates video lottery terminals within the Seneca Nations supposed gaming exclusivity zone with the states blessing, but the company will also make millions of dollars in concession business inside the state-owned stadium," Pagels said. "And its being paid for on the backs of the Seneca Nation. Quite a sweetheart deal."

Asked for a reaction to Pagels' comment, Hochul's spokeswoman, Hazel Crampton-Hays, said: Gov. Hochul is committed to the strictest ethical standards and restoring trust in government. Delaware North is not a party to the stadium negotiations and any future decisions about vendors at the new stadium would be made by the Bills alone.

Crampton-Hays also noted that Hochul has worked to amicably resolve the issue of the Seneca payment since she became governor last August.

"The courts have consistently ruled in the state's favor, and the state has negotiated in good faith and met every hurdle," Crampton-Hays said. "Time and again, the nation failed to fulfill their court-ordered obligations."

The $564.8 million delivered to the state amounts to 25% of the slot machine revenues at the Senecas' three casinos between 2017 and 2021. Under the 2002 compact that led to the construction of the casinos, the Senecas agreed to pay that 25% share to the state during the last half of the 14-year casino deal. But the two sides have been at odds as to whether the Senecas have to continue paying that 25% share under the seven-year compact extension that took effect in 2017.

Hochul wants to devote about $418.2 million from the Seneca payment to the $600 million state share of the Bills stadium project announced Monday. Other money from the Seneca payment would go to the communities that host the tribe's casinos and surrounding counties.

Despite Pagels' obvious anger, there was nothing in the Seneca president's statement that indicated that the Seneca Nation planned to try to stop the state from spending the Seneca casino revenues on a new Bills stadium.

Instead, he spoke of Hochul's plan as if it were a done deal.

"The governors new stadium wont be a product of progress," Pagels said. "It will be a monument to Albanys vindictive desire to punish the Seneca people. Ultimately, its something were all too familiar with.

But Robert Odawi Porter, a lawyer who previously served as the tribe's president, argued that the Senecas should fight to get back the money that they just sent to the state.

"To me, it's a fraud," Porter said of the state's move to force the Senecas to pay up. "Then just like any fraud, we know who did it, and if it's an illegal payment, we're going to get it back."

Porter noted that the U.S. Department of the Interior never approved the compact extension that the Seneca casinos have been operating under since 2017  and that on Monday, the federal department that oversees Native American affairs proposed new regulations that would force it to review compact extensions and any related documents.

"If those regulations were in effect tomorrow, they would serve as an independent basis for the nation to knock down this payment," he said.

And while the Senecas have lost their earlier battles aimed at keeping the casino money out of the state's hands, Leslie Logan  a founding member of the Seneca Mothers of the Nation, a group that has resisted paying the funds to the state  had a message for Hochul.

"Tell the governor there's more hell to come," she said.

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With Gasgoo Daily, we will offer daily important automotive news in China. For those we have reported, the title of the piece will include a hyperlink, which will provide detailed information.

NIO's smartphone project in phase of investigation and research: NIO's chairman

William Bin Li, chairman and CEO of NIO, recently said in an interview that NIOs smartphone development project is currently in the stage of investigation and research, in response to the rumor saying the startup intended to enter the smartphone market.



BYD releases images of Seal

BYD recently released a set of photos of the Seal all-electric sedan, one of the future EVs under BYD's Ocean series.



Seal; photo credit: BYD



China-made BMW X5L to hit market tonight

The made-in-China BMW X5L is about to go on sale tonight. It is 3,105mm longer than that of the imported version.

Wuling Motors Holdings Limited records net loss of 24.148 million yuan in 2021

Wuling Motors Holdings Limited announced today that it faced an annual net loss attributable to shareholders of 24.148 million yuan ($3.8 million), narrowing from the loss of 33.403 million yuan ($5.253 million) for the year-ago period.

Dongfeng Motor to launch premium brand M in June

Dongfeng Motor plans to launch its all-new premium brand M, which focuses on electric off-roaders, in June this year. Reportedly, the testing results of the brands prototypes met the automaker's expectation.

SVOLT, BASF Shanshan sign agreement for strategic investment in Yongshan Lithium

On March 30, Chinese battery manufacturer SVOLT and BASF Shanshan, the joint venture between German chemical producer BASF and Chinese lithium battery materials supplier Ningbo Shanshanon, signed an agreement under which both parties will hold 10% equity interests in Hunan Yongshan Lithium Co., Ltd. (Yongshan Lithium), an affiliate company of Ningbo Shanshan, according to a post on SVOLT's WeChat account.

GAC Group scores double-digit YoY growth in 2021 revenue, net profit

GAC Group announced earlier this week its annual gross revenue jumped 19.82% year on year to around 75.676 billion yuan ($11.9 billion) in 2021. Meanwhile, the full-year net profit attributable to shareholders also leapt 22.95% to 7.335 billion yuan ($1.154 billion).

NavInfo delivers turnaround with 140% YoY soar in net profit in 2021

China's navigation player NavInfo delivered a turnaround from loss to profit in 2021, with a 139.26% year-over-year soar in net profit, according to its 2021 annual performance report released on March 30th.

Aiways raises price of U5 model in China

On March 30th, local EV startup, Aiways, announced a price increase in China of its only model on the market, the U5, effective April 6th.

Beijing to start road tests for intelligent connected bus from Baidu, QCraft and SenseTime

On March 31st, the office of the Beijing high-level automated driving demonstration area issued a management and enforcement regulation on intelligent connected bus road tests and pilot demonstrations.

Sixents' location service-powered WM Motor M7 makes debut

On March 31st, WM Motor officially introduced its M7 battery-electric sedan model powered by Sixents high precision location service.

Great Wall Motor to build first zero-emission factory in 2023

As an effort to achieve carbon neutrality, Great Wall Motor plans to build its first zero-emission factory in 2023, the automaker disclosed in its 2021 CSR Report (Corporate Social Responsibility Report) on March 30th.
LOS ANGELESMalik Delgaty and Clark Delgaty reunite in new two-part Men.com featurette "Jackhammered & Drilled," kicking off Friday, April 8 on the site.

Also in the cast are Dane Jaxson, Bo Binn and newcomer Chris Cool in his Men.com debut.

[Chris] brought an energy and an enthusiasm for the work which made the day go by so easily," Men.com production director Ryan Cash said.

According to a company synopsis, "The first scene follows Bo Sinn as he is hard at work, drilling and screwing ... construction, that is, when a hot blonde admires his smile and invites him to the bathroom to fuck! She puts Bo in a stall and gets into the next one to wait for the tattooed hunk's cock through the glory hole ... but Bo picks the wrong hole, sliding his dick through to where Dane Jaxson is jacking off watching porn in the next cubicle. Dane eagerly wraps his lips around Bos monster cock, while the blonde starts getting impatient and rips open the curtain to see Bo getting head from someone else. When she storms off, Dane suggests they might as well finish off, so Bo fucks him merciless."

"In the second scene," the synopsis continues, "construction workers Malik Delgaty and Clark Delgaty are hard at work on the job doing some drilling and looking for just the right screw, but their coworker, played by porn newcomer Chris Cool, would rather interrupt their work by swinging his cock and balls around or showing his spread ass. When Chris jizzes all over their freshly painted wall, the muscle hunks vow to teach him a lesson."

"Malik and Clark are both at the top of their game, said Cash. It's not often you get to work with models who really know how to work with the camera.

Catch episode one of "Jackhammered & Drilled" April 8 exclusively on Men.com.

Follow Men on Twitter @Men, Instagram @themenaccount and TikTok @themenaccount.
By Azernews





By Vafa Ismayilova

Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov paid tribute to Azerbaijanis who were massacred by Armenian nationalists on March 31, 1918.

He made the remarks on his Twitter page on March 31, which marks the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

"On the day of the March 31 'Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis' we remember victims of the march massacre and reiterate the importance of ceasing impunity of Armenia to prevent reoccurrence of such inhumane crimes," Bayramov tweeted.

On March 31, Azerbaijan commemorates the 104th anniversary of the genocide committed by Armenians against Azerbaijani civilians in the early 20th century.

In 1918, the Armenian nationalists committed acts of genocide against the civilian population almost on the entire territory of Azerbaijan. More than 50,000 Azerbaijani citizens became victims of Armenian fascism over five months.

Azerbaijanis were exposed to a genocide in Baku, Guba province, Shamakhi, Gusar, Erivan, Nakhchivan, Zangazur, Karabakh, Lankaran and practically all Azerbaijani lands.

Throughout history, Armenian nationalists with the dream of establishing a "Greater Armenia' state purposefully pursued a policy of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and deportation of the Azerbaijani people.

Human Rights Commissioner Sabina Aliyeva earlier urged the international community and international organizations to conduct the necessary fair and transparent political and legal assessments of the genocide against Azerbaijanis in order to protect human rights and prevent future occurrences.

The Guba genocide cemetery was discovered on April 1, 2007, during excavations in the area. After that, the staff of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences conducted extensive research on the mass grave. As a result of the research, it was determined that the cemetery was connected with the genocide committed by Armenians against the local civilian population in 1918.

The Guba Genocide Memorial Complex, established with the support of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, opened on September 18, 2013.
POMPANO BEACH, Fla.  Swiss Navy on Thursday announced it has certified its domestic sales team, those individuals who provided the most in-person retailer and distributor trainings throughout the past year.

A high-value certification ensures that we maintain a high level of knowledge in those areas that can successfully assist our customer-partners, said Briana Watkins, M.D. Sciences vice president of sales and marketing. We felt it was important to have the first wave of our domestic sales representatives certified to show how committed we are to mastering our skills in this field. We hope to have our international and sponsorship team members certified in the future as well.

The American College of Sexologists International announced earlier this month that four of Swiss Navys domestic team had earned their certifications as Certified Sex Educators. Briana Watkins, Cheryl Flangel, Janet Tamborelli, and Rocky Bowell will all now add the post-nominal letters ACS to their names to recognize their achievements.

We know that our customer-partners are our family, Watkins said. We want them to know that we are continually finding ways to help them with their trainings and strive to support their sales efforts. All of us learned quite a lot, despite each of us having decades of experience in this industry. We are all looking forward to sharing our guidance and wisdom.

The American College of Sexologists International is a non-profit association that provides professional standards and guidelines to the sexology community and is recognized worldwide for its rigorous standards in granting certification for sex educator training. It certifies practitioners and organizations that meet the requirements of a certification training program.

Im extremely proud of all the members of our Swiss Navy family for their commitment to our customers and am looking forward to announcing even more valuable resources that we currently have in the works, Watkins said.

To view the Swiss Navy collection, visit swissnavy.com.

To visit Swiss Navys Business-to-Business (B2B) Resource Center, visit B2BSwissNavy.com.

Swiss Navy said it has continually been on the cutting edge of support for their customer-partners. 2021 brought the addition of Rocky Bowell as Brand Ambassador, which has allowed Swiss Navy to visit hundreds of stores and provide more trainings than ever before. Bowell recently expanded his offerings with Rockys Top Tips via weekly videos aimed at helping share more knowledge with brick and mortar and online retailers.

Early in 2022 Swiss Navy introduced their online B2B Resource Center to help retailers find support, product information, printable sell sheets, downloadable training videos, ads, posters, and much more. This site provides retailers with up-to-date information.
Coconino Countys top speller of 2022, eighth-grader Nathan Finney of Flagstaff Home Educators, placed 14th at the state bee on Saturday, March 19.

Finney was one of 27 regional competition winners from across the State of Arizona. He was eliminated in round six of the state spelling bee, missing the word "bittern."

He had won Coconino County's spelling bee on Saturday, Feb. 5, by correctly spelling the word defiant.

The regional winners competed at the Madison Arts Center in Phoenix Saturday for the chance to go on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in June.

Arizona has one of the largest spelling bee participation rates in the nation, with close to 300,000 students competing each year, according to a press release on the Arizona Educational Foundations website.

This years state spelling bee winner was Aliyah Alpert, a sixth-grader from Alpert Homeschool in Yavapai County. She won in the 29th round, correctly spelling foudroyant.

She will be competing in the Scripps semifinals June 2 in Washington D.C.

The other spellers in the top five were all from Maricopa County: Srihaas Ghanta of Trivium Preparatory, Vibhav Athreya of Basis Ahwatukee, Jacob Sajan of Highland Lakes School and Ethan Greenwood of Coyote Hills Elementary.

Its thrilling and inspiring to see the dedication and determination of these students, spelling bee coordinator Teresa Hill said in the release. Being a champion speller takes thousands of hours of hard work, and its exciting to see all of the students showcasing their talents at the bee.

A recording of the event will be available on the Arizona Educational Foundations YouTube page.

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At 99, Don McPherson has outlived many of the men he served alongside in World War II, though, some times in the fighting, it was a wonder he even made it through the day.

McPherson, a former Navy pilot, walked the 50 people gathered in the Adams Community Center on Wednesday, March 30, through the timeline of his involvement in World War II.

His memory, clear as the tropical waters his F6F-Hellcat roared over in the Pacific, summoned the smallest details: the speed at which an aircraft catapult could hurl a plane over the ocean, the nicknames he and his fellow fighter pilots came up with for the hard-to-pronounce Japanese planes.

The event was the first in a series to highlight Gage County residents contributions to the war effort and was put on by the Gage County Historical Society. Cassandra Dean, executive director of the Gage County Historical Society, said the events will complement the Gage County Museums summer exhibit, which will start on May 28: The Homefront: Gage Countys Contributions to WWII.

A lot of people dont realize that Gage County contributed a lot during World War II, Dean said. In fact, the USS Gage was named after Gage County for their contributions, and the USS Beatrice Victory was named because of the contributions Theres always those metal drives, those rubber drives. A lot of it was money fundraising as well as agriculture. There was a lot of farmers who didnt go overseas because they were so crucial in making sure that everyone was fed.

McPherson came from a farming background, but his contribution to the war quickly became more direct. He joined the Navy, opting to pick his preferred branch over getting a call from the government. During his time in the Pacific, he notably offered air support during the invasion of Okinawa.

McPherson served on the aircraft carrier USS Essex and became a Combat Ace on May 5, 1945 after shooting down five enemy aircraft in aerial combat. But you dont become an ace without a few close calls.

His first mission brought him to the Japanese island of Kyushu. He lobbed rockets and strafed a grounded Japanese bomber, but then his engine gave out. His propeller hadnt gone out yet, but the plane was teetering to a slow.

I could see tracer rounds shooting in front of me, he said.

He pumped the gas, and the engine grunted back to life just in time to fly into more enemy flak. He made it back alright, but a 20-millimeter shell had cut through his fuselage.

Another close call came when he earned his first aerial victories. He saw two bombers flying low, just above the ocean. He shot one down, and he pursued the other as it zoomed toward an island.

Just as I was starting to squeeze the trigger, over the radio, my division leader was hollering at me, saying Don, get out of there; theyre shooting at you from the shore batteries, he said. I did some of the most violent maneuvers I had ever done to keep from getting shot down and get away from there. So those were my first aerial victories.

McPherson said he isnt a natural speaker, but he enjoys sharing his stories, especially to school students.

When Im talking at schools, I always tell kids that theres nothing fun about war, he said. But I did get to do one fun thing.

McPherson then described flying low over Japan after the ceasefire to air-drop care packages and leaflets to U.S. POWs.

McPherson said history, like the stories he shared, is crucial for understanding the world.

People should understand history so they can make decisions in their lives, he said. Everyone has something to learn from history.

McPherson will turn 100 on May 25. Area veterans groups are sponsoring a birthday party for him on May 15 in the Adams Community Center, and all are welcome.

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People in the US won't face a shutdown like the one currently in place in Shanghai, where no one is allowed to leave their residential compounds, Covid testing is mandatory and food supplies are running low. It's unlikely most Americans will see local governments bring back even moderate pandemic restrictions. That leaves it mostly to individuals to protect themselves.

After three years, most people know how to do that: vaccines, masks, physical distancing, handwashing and -- let's not forget -- ventilation.

But as we head into offices, schools and public spaces, there are some things we can control -- like masking -- and others that are not in our control, such as whether our offices have improved ventilation.

How should people weigh which precautions they want to follow? Should indoor mask mandates come back? Are there settings where people should consider masking outdoors? What if you have to go back to the office, and others aren't masking? And should we skip large indoor events again?

To help us with these questions, I spoke with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is also author of "Lifelines: A Doctor's Journey in the Fight for Public Health."

The following conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

CNN: Can you give us a quick refresher -- what protective measures are effective against this very contagious BA.2 variant?

Dr. Leana Wen: BA.2 is a subvariant of the Omicron variant. It appears to be even more contagious than Omicron. Like previous variants, it's spread through direct contact and is airborne. Someone coughing and sneezing will exhale droplets that can transmit the virus. The virus can also be carried on microscopic aerosols that are expelled by breathing. In addition, surfaces may play a greater role in Omicron transmission. Someone who coughed onto their hand and then touched a door could seed virus there and transmit it to you if you touch that door and then your nose or mouth.

The protective measures we talked about early in the pandemic still work against Omicron. Masks work very well, though here I would urge that people wear an N95 or equivalent mask, such as a KN95 or KF94. A simple cloth mask is much less effective, especially against a variant as contagious as BA.2.

Ventilation is very important. The risk of outdoor transmission is exponentially lower than indoor transmission, and a well-ventilated, less crowded space also has much lower risk than people packed together in an unventilated space. Surfaces play less of a role than aerosol transmission, but it's still good practice to wash your hands well or to use hand sanitizer if you shake people's hands and touch frequently used surfaces. That will reduce not only this coronavirus transmission but other respiratory and gastrointestinal pathogens, too.

We also have more tools at our disposal than we did in 2020. Namely, we have vaccines and boosters, which protect very well against severe illness and also reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection. Testing prior to getting together with others tells people if they are infectious and need to avoid the gathering. That's another key preventive measure that we now have access to.

CNN: What should people consider when deciding what precautions they want to bring back, like canceling restaurant reservations or masking up indoors?

Wen: I'd consider three things. First, what is the Covid-19 risk in your community? I've talked before about how the new guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention can be used here. If your community is in an orange, or "high risk," area by the CDC's metrics, you should mask indoors. If it's in green or yellow -- or "low" or "medium" risk -- you could choose not to, depending on the other two factors.

The second thing to think about is, what is your medical situation and the circumstances of others in your household? If you are generally healthy and fully vaccinated and boosted, your chance of severe illness from Covid-19 is very low. That's different if you are immunocompromised or live with someone who is elderly with multiple medical conditions. You would want to have a higher threshold for caution depending on your family's medical situation.

Third, how important is it to you to continue to avoid Covid-19? Of course, none of us want to get infected by the coronavirus, and no one should be trying to get it. But there are some people who want to avoid it at all costs and others who accept that if they engage in travel, resume parties, dine in restaurants and engage in other pre-pandemic activities, they will have some level of risk. That's a personal decision that will differ from person to person.

CNN: Does it make sense to mask in some situations but not others?

Wen: Absolutely. Risk is additive. You can bring back some things that are lower risk or higher value but still take some precautions. For example, if you work in an office that has pretty good ventilation and is well-spaced, and requires proof of vaccination, you may consider not masking in that setting. But you might still decide to mask in crowded, indoor places like grocery stores and train stations. Again, I'd urge that if you are wearing a mask, wear an N95 or equivalent mask, because it will be your best chance of protecting against the very contagious BA.2 variant.

CNN: What about outdoors? Is BA.2 so contagious that it could transmit there?

Wen: The risk of outdoor transmission is very low to the point that it's virtually nonexistent. Outdoor social gatherings are very safe, and certainly lower risk than the equivalent setting indoors. I do not think that people need to mask outdoors, but there may be situations where someone is extremely vulnerable -- for example, a cancer patient on chemotherapy -- and wants to be extra careful. In that case, they should definitely feel free to wear a mask when in outdoor and more crowded settings.

CNN: What if you have to go back to the office, and others aren't masking?

Wen: You need to decide what's best for you, with the understanding that one-way masking with an N95 or equivalent works very well -- that is, even if others around you aren't masking, you are still well-protected if you wear a well-fitting, high-quality mask at all times.

It also depends on the specifics of your workplace. Let's say you work in a well-ventilated office, everyone around you is vaccinated, and you are well-distanced from the next person. You could decide to remove your mask when sitting at your desk, but put it on again to go into a crowded elevator or a conference room where you're sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with other people. You could decide to go to an outdoor lunch with your colleagues, but skip the happy hour in a packed bar. These are all reasonable decisions depending on how you think about your own risk.

CNN: Should people avoid indoor gatherings, knowing that outbreaks can happen?

Wen: Not necessarily. It again depends on what's going on in your community, what your medical situation is, and how much you want to keep avoiding Covid-19. For me, my area, in Baltimore City, is in a green or "low-risk" area for Covid-19 transmission, according to the CDC. My husband and I are vaccinated and boosted. We have two little kids who are too young to be vaccinated, but we also recognize that it's going to be very difficult to keep them from getting the coronavirus given how transmissible this new variant is.

As such, I am attending large events, including indoor conferences and meetings. I'd prefer that these events require proof of vaccination and same-day negative test result. If they don't, they are less safe, and I certainly understand if others want to avoid them for the time beingjust as I understand if others will want to keep attending them. This, to me, is no different from a decision to go back to the gym, resume travel or dine indoors in restaurants. Some will think those activities are worth the risk. Others will not.

The-CNN-Wire

 &  2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson has endorsed Jim Pillen in his bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

"When considering Jim's life accomplishments, it's evident that he is very talented in developing a successful business, making payroll every week for over a thousand Nebraska employees and generously giving back to his community," Peterson said.

"It is one thing to talk about success; it is another to show a history of success," the attorney general said.

Pillen, a Columbus pork producer, is a member of the University of Nebraska Board of Regents and has been endorsed by Gov. Pete Ricketts.

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Major water development bills, including a proposal for creation of a 4,000-acre lake between Lincoln and Omaha, sailed Tuesday through second-stage floor consideration in the Legislature on their way toward final enactment.

Tagging along was the major plan to launch an ambitious $500 million project for development of a South Platte River canal and reservoir system to capture water that Nebraska is entitled to under the terms of a century-old interstate compact with Colorado.

The lake project, part of the Jobs and Economic Development Initiative, or JEDI Act, proposed by the Legislature's so-called STARWARS study committee, would become reality only if it clears a hydrology study designed to assure protection of the water supply interests of Lincoln and Omaha, Speaker of the Legislature Mike Hilgers of Lincoln said.

It also must pass an environmental study, he said, and attract sufficient private investment to make it a reality. It is envisioned as a billion-dollar project with a lake larger than Lake Okoboji in Iowa.

Hilgers won 32-2 approval of an amendment that would assure continuing public access to the proposed lake, addressing the concerns of some senators who said it might turn into a private playground for the wealthy.

Sen. Michaela Cavanaugh of Omaha attempted to scuttle the lake proposal, but her proposed amendment was defeated 25-6 before senators advanced the bill (LB1023) by a 29-4 margin.

Other projects proposed in the water development bill include marina development at Lake McConaughy near Ogallala, marina and site improvements at Lewis and Clark State Recreation Area and creation of an event center at Niobrara State Park.

How they voted Senators voted 29-4 Tuesday to advance LB1023 that could lead toward development of a 4,000-acre lake between Lincoln and Omaha. For (29): Aguilar, Bostar, Bostelman, Brandt, Brewer, Briese, DeBoer, Dorn, Erdman, Flood, Gragert, Halloran, B. Hansen, Hilgers, Hilkemann, Hughes, Jacobson, Kolterman, Linehan, Lowe, McCollister, McDonnell, Murman, Pansing Brooks, Sanders, Slama, Wayne, Williams, Wishart. Against (4): Albrecht, M. Cavanaugh, Friesen. Hunt. Present, not voting (11): Blood, J. Cavanaugh, Clements, M. Hansen, Lathrop, McKinney, Morfeld, Moser, Stinner, Vargas, Walz. Excused, not voting (5): Arch, Day, Geist, Lindstrom, Pahls.

The projects carry a $200 million price tag.

The South Platte River proposal (LB1015) was advanced to final reading on a voice vote after several senators, including Hilgers, argued that it is essential for Nebraska to claim its water rights now in the face of rapid population growth along Colorado's Front Range and the accompanying demand for water.

Under terms of the century-old compact, Nebraska will not have legal entitlement to the water until it builds the proposed canal, Hilgers told his colleagues.

"If we don't build now, if we continue to drag our feet, we lose that water forever," Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte said.

While Gov. Pete Ricketts proposed $500 million in ultimate state funding for the project, the Legislature's Appropriations Committee launched the effort with $22.5 million for a feasibility study and $31 million to acquire options for the land.

Supplying that irrigated land with a guaranteed flow of water will increase the tax base and accelerate economic activity, Sen. Dan Hughes of Venango said.

"It's a huge deal," he said. "We need to capture this water."

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

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NEWS PROVIDED BY

Catholic League

March 31, 2022



NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 /Christian Newswire/ -- Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Jon Stewarts remarks about racism on his Apple TV + show:

It seems everything about Jon Stewart is phony. His real name is Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz. He rails against "white privilege" yet he enjoys a net worth of at least $25 million. He hates white people who make racist comments about black people yet he is known to make racist cracks about blacks. He proclaims tolerance for everyone yet his serial hate speech directed at Catholics proves otherwise. Now he is libeling Andrew Sullivan, suggesting that the writer is a white racist.

In a recent episode of "The Problem With Jon Stewart," the host featured a panel discussion on white racism, one of the most popular topics these days for white people who feel guilty about being white. Two of his guests, both white, agreed with him that America is irredeemably racist, but Andrew Sullivan, the Irish immigrant writer, disagreed.

Sullivan is a lot brighter than Stewart, so it was not hard for him to make the host look like a fool.

"America in 2022 is the most multiracial, multicultural, tolerant, diverse, melting pot that has ever existed on planet Earth, and there is no other place on Earth even like it. That's why 86 percent of our immigrants are non-white. Do you think they want to come to a white supremacist country?"

Stewart was tongue-tied. He couldn't offer a riposte so he settled on making a throw-away comment about blacks being brought here as slaves. He couldn't even get that right. No, blacks were not "kidnapped"the whites bought slaves from their African slavemasters. More important, Stewart depicted Sullivan as a white racist.

Stewart is no virgin. In 2008, before he came on stage for his "Daily Show," a comedian warmed up the crowd. He picked on a black couple in the audience, making racist remarks about their sex life. Alison Kinney, an Asian writer, was there, and in 2014 she wrote about what happened.

Stewart had a few exchanges with the audience before the show started. Kinney asked, "Why does your warm-up comedian use ethnic humor?" Here is how she characterized Stewart's response. "Stewart's face creased with annoyance. He said, shortly, loudly, glaring at me, 'BECAUSE IT'S F***ING FUNNY.'"

"Meanwhile, he stared at me with palpable hostility." She added, "People sitting around me stared at me and whispered."

In 2015, a black former writer for Stewart, Wyatt Cenac, was upset about a racist voice impression that Stewart did of presidential candidate Herman Cain. According to the Hollywood Reporter, when Cenac complained, "Stewart blew up at him in front of the entire Daily Show staff." Cenac said he was the only black person in the room and it made him feel uneasy.

Then Cenac brought the issue up again at a writer's meeting. He recalled that "Stewart got riled up," becoming "incredibly defensive." Stewart stood up screaming "Foff. I'm done with you." He then "stormed out."

This incident caused Cenac to have an emotional breakdown.

According to Stewart's position today, it was his white racist tirade that led to this black man's collapse. Is he going to make reparations? Maybe by ridding himself of some of his stash he can shed some of his white guilt.

Stewart's visceral hatred of Catholics requires him to do much more than make reparations. Here's a sample of his hate speech.

In 1999, he mocked the pope when the Holy Father visited the U.S.



In 2001, he compared the pope to the Grand Wizard of the KKK



In 2002, he questioned whether Mary and Joseph had oral sex



In 2007, he made a gay joke about a bishop



In 2008, he made a gay joke about the Holy Family



In 2008, he ridiculed priestly celibacy



In 2011, he mocked the Body and Blood of Jesus



In 2011, he claimed that a Norwegian madman was acting like a Christian



In 2012, he said Our Blessed Mother was "knocked up"

None of these cruel statements can compare with what Stewart did on his April 16, 2012 show. It was so obscene that I wrote an ad about it titled, "Jon Stewart's Legacy." Here is the first paragraph from the May 21, 2012 ad in the New York Times.

"Five weeks ago today, Jon Stewart did something that will forever stain his legacy. After making fun of Fox News for not addressing the 'war on women,' Stewart said, 'Maybe women could protect their reproductive organs from unwanted medical intrusions with vagina mangers.' On the screen behind him was the picture of a naked women with her legs spread and a nativity scene ornament in between. How ironic that in the name of defending women, he grossly degraded them, while also insulting Christian sensibilities."

Jon Stewart has no moral authority to lecture Andrew Sullivan, or anyone else, about their alleged bigotry. He has proven to be the Master of Bigotry, many times over.

Contact Stewart's agent, Steve Levine: slevine@icmtalent.com
By Azernews





By Sabina Mammadli

Baku has pledged to take all necessary legal measures to ensure peace and end Armenia's impunity to prevent the recurrence of inhumane crimes against Azerbaijanis.

The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry made the remarks in a statement issued on the commemoration of the Day of the Genocide of Azerbaijanis, March 31.

"We strongly condemn the deliberate policy pursued by Armenia, based on genocide, crimes against humanity, racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing, committed so far against the Azerbaijani people, and we emphasize the importance of ceasing Armenia's impunity in order to prevent the recurrence of these inhumane crimes in the future. Azerbaijan from its side will take all necessary legal measures to ensure peace and end impunity," the ministry said.

It stressed that the commemoration of the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis plays an important role in informing the world community about the massacre and ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis in the past and present.

"March massacres of 1918 were well prepared and ruthlessly implemented act by radical nationalist Armenians against Azerbaijanis on the grounds of racial discrimination and ethnic cleansing," the ministry said.

Bloody massacres

The ministry said that in March-April 1918, massacres were committed with utmost cruelty in the city of Baku, as well as other towns and districts of the Baku Province by the dashnak-bolshevik armed groups operating under the mandate of the Baku Council (Baku Soviet), and tens of thousands of civilians were killed only for their ethnic and religious affiliation.

We commemorate the victims of these events and consider it important to preserve this memory in order to prevent similar tragedies in the future, the statement noted.

Ethnic Armenian Stepan Shaumian, the Commissar Extraordinary for the Caucasus, had admitted that 6,000 armed soldiers of the Baku Soviet and 4,000 from the Dashnaksutyun party had participated in the massacres against the Azerbaijani people, the statement added.

Further, the ministry stressed that the genocide carried out against the Azerbaijanis along with Baku covered also Shamakhi, Guba, Iravan, Zangezur, Karabakh, Nakhchivan and Kars regions.

During the first five months of 1918, more than 16,000 people were murdered with utmost cruelty in Guba province alone; a total of 167 villages were destroyed. Mass graves discovered in Guba region in 2007 constitute clear evidence of the inhumane acts committed by Armenians, the statement added.

Through the policy of military aggression against Azerbaijan, which lasted for almost 30 years, Armenia continued to commit crimes against Azerbaijanis on ethnic grounds. One million Azerbaijanis fell victim to ethnic cleansing in Armenia and on occupied territories of Azerbaijan.

The ministry stressed that Armenia also committed numerous war crimes, crimes against humanity, and acts of genocide, including the Khojaly Genocide of February 1992.

During the 44-day war, the Armenian armed forces deliberately targeted the peaceful population of Ganja, Barda, Tartar and other cities of Azerbaijan with missile attacks. In doing so, Armenia has brought back the memories of a century ago March Massacre, the statement emphasized.

Investigation of Armenian crimes

According to the statement, the Government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic established in 1918 the Extraordinary Investigation Commission in order to investigate the serious crimes perpetrated by Armenians and has taken a number of measures to preserve the true facts revealed by the Commission in the memory of the people and to inform the world community about these atrocities.

"The Extraordinary Investigation Commission which was comprised of the best lawyers of that time representing different nationalities  Russians, Jewish, Polish, Georgians and even Armenians, based on the evidences launched criminal cases against 194 individuals accused of different crimes against the peaceful population; 24 individuals in Baku and about 100 individuals in Shamakhi had been arrested for perpetrated crimes," the ministry said.

The ministry emphasized that despite that, this process had been suspended after the demise of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, a full investigation of the events and its political-legal assessment had been prevented.

It added that only after 80 years  on March 26, 1998, an adequate political assessment was given of these horrific events by the Azerbaijani presidential decree "On the Genocide of Azerbaijanis", signed by National Leader Heydar Aliyev and March 31 was declared the Day of Genocide of Azerbaijanis.

We commemorate the innocent victims of the March massacre with grief and mercy, the statement finalized.
A Billings man died Tuesday after fire crews rescued him from a mobile home that caught fire.

Edward J. Rykowski, 66, was being treated for his injuries at an out-of-state hospital at the time of his death, according to a statement Friday from Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Billings firefighters and county deputies arrived at a single-wide mobile home on Kimble Drive early Monday after a neighbor reported a fire, Linder said. Inside the home, they found Rykowski, who was taken to a local hospital for immediate care, then transported out of state. Linder wrote the exact cause of his death, and the extent of his injuries has not yet been reported to his office.

He was taken to a burn center in ColoradoI dont know how much has been done as far as an autopsy goes, but well have to wait for the reports from their medical professionals, Linder told The Gazette.

Rykowski suffered burn injuries, according to a media release from the Billings Fire Department published earlier this week. Although the structure remained standing by the time crews extinguished the blaze, it still caused an estimated $40,000 in damage.

Linder wrote Friday that Yellowstone County detectives are working with the BFD and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to determine the cause of the fire. Yellowstone County Sheriffs Office is the lead investigating agency, and frequently collaborates with ATF investigators when assigned to find the cause of a fire, Linder said. No foul play is expected at this time.

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A Red Lodge man is facing the possibility of a second trial after he was acquitted on one charge of felony assault on a minor and a hung jury led a Carbon County judge to declare a mistrial on a second charge earlier this month.

Nathan Samuel Polakoff was charged in May 2019 with two counts of felony assault on a minor after police found him holding the naked unconscious body of his girlfriends infant son in April that same year, court docs stated. Polakoff pleaded not guilty to both counts later that same month.

Despite filing charges in 2019, Polakoff did not stand trial until March 8, 2022 due to numerous motions and postponements. The three-day trial concluded with a five hour and 17 minute jury deliberation after which the jury voted to acquit Polakoff on count one and its alternative charge, but failed to reach a unanimous verdict on count two leading the judge to declare a mistrial.

On March 17, Carbon County Attorney Alex Nixon requested the judge set a scheduling conference and jury trial on count two, and on March 28, Judge Matthew J. Wald set a tentative jury trial date for Aug. 22.

Neither Polakoff nor Nixon returned calls for comment by press time.

On April 19, 2019, Red Lodge police responded to Polakoffs residence after a 911 call said an infant was not breathing, charges alleged. When Sgt. Matt Greishop arrived at the residence he saw Polakoff carrying a naked child." The police sergeant noted the child appeared lifeless at the time. Polakoff told the cop the boy was not breathing, charges alleged.

Greishop laid the boy on the ground and noted shallow breathing before calling for an ambulance. Polakoff told police he and the boy had been in the shower when he noticed the baby wasnt breathing. Greishop noted Polakoff and the baby were both dry. The boy was taken to a local clinic and eventually flown to Salt Lake City for trauma care where a doctor determined the nine-month-old had two skull fractures, retinal trauma and a brain bleed she believed to be caused by two separate but recent injuries.

But police and doctors began questioning Polakoffs story while the child was still at the clinic in Red Lodge. Polakoff and his girlfriend said the injuries occurred from a fall off a futon mattress approximately a foot off the ground. Doctors told police the injuries were too severe to have occurred from such a low fall. Instead doctors said the cause of the traumatic brain injury was a quick acceleration and sudden stop. The Salt Lake City doctor would later describe the injuries as consistent with child abuse.

Doctors also told police the infant had been brought into the emergency room the day before for nausea and a bruise to the head.

The boys mother told investigators that on April 17, 2019, her son was alone with Polakoff when he fell off the futon. The baby was nauseous and the couple took the boy to the ER. Charges say the doctor treated the boy for flu-like symptoms and sent him home.

Two days later, Polakoff and the boys mother were in the kitchen when Polakoff said he heard gurgling and went into the other room to check on the boy. The mother told police she heard a thump and went into the room to find the baby covered in vomit. Polakoff took the baby to the shower to clean him off. While in the bathroom he yelled to the mother the boy wasnt breathing. The two called 911.

The Salt Lake City doctor told police the boy had two separate skull fractures likely from two distinct injuries but both recent. The baby also suffered a brain bleed and damage to the eyes. The doctor told police the injuries were not consistent with an approximate one foot fall onto a carpeted floor but rather the result of being violently slammed into something causing an acceleration/deceleration injury with impact. This is consistent with child abuse.

At the time of the doctors report in 2019, the injuries were potentially life-threatening. The doctor said the injuries were far in excess of what would be expected from falls or accidental trauma, according to charging documents.

Nixon charged Polakoff with two counts felony assault on a minorone for the April 17 incident and another for the April 19 incident. Jurors found Polakoff innocent of the April 17 incident. If the new trial occurs, Polakoff faces count two, or the April 19 incident, only. He faces 20 years in prison if convicted.

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In a strongly-worded letter this week to the Billings parents of a special-needs West High student, school Superintendent Greg Upham said the district cannot grant a waiver that would allow the girl to continue attending after she turns 19.

The parents of the girl, who has Down syndrome, have petitioned to have the school board extend her education at West High School and allow her to graduate with her classmates.

District policy prohibits enrolling students for another year who would turn 19 by Sept. 10 of the previous school year. The student, Emily Pennington, is a junior and will turn 19 in July, about two months before the deadline.

The policy does not allow exception or waiver of this denial of enrollment, Upham wrote in a Monday letter to Emilys mother, Jana Pennington.

Emily faces aging out because she repeated kindergarten. Her parents held her back because she had numerous serious health conditions and medical operations as a child, including open heart surgery, a seizure disorder and leukemia. At one point, she spent six months in a childrens hospital in Salt Lake City.

She could have died from any one of those three things, Jana Pennington said Wednesday. By the time she got to kindergarten, she had missed so much, she just needed another year to catch up. It wasnt her fault she needed more time.

Why Emily was held back isn't a factor in the district's position, Upham argues.

You have been aware since your daughters first IEP (Individualized Educational Plan) meeting in April of 2010, when she was in kindergarten, that your familys decision to have her repeat kindergarten will cause her to age out before her fourth year of high school is completed, he wrote in the letter.

IEPs are developed through collaboration of parents or guardians and school officials to ensure the needs of a child needing special education are met. The plans are typically reviewed regularly to make sure the childs education is on track.

In the letter, Upham goes on to tell the mother that the districts age-out policy was discussed repeatedly over the course of your daughters education, including in 2016 when the family was given the option to advance Emily ahead one year.

Your family made the decision to reject the districts recommendation to advance your daughter forward a year, Upham wrote.

In a separate interview with The Gazette, Upham said the board cannot take action on Emilys situation until it looks at the district's policy 2050 in conjunction with a revised state law passed as House Bill 233.

With HB 233, a state law was amended last summer to offer funding allowing school districts to extend high school education for special-needs students up to age 21.

But Pennington may be the first student to qualify for the funding, or at least the first to challenge the board under the new law.

A fiscal analysis within the bill shows that about 23 students statewide may qualify for such additional funding, according to the state Office of Public Instruction. That would come at a cost to the state of approximately $136,000, the fiscal note suggested.

The district is currently tallying how many students would qualify in School District 2.

Were saying that that (23 students statewide estimate) is woefully low. As we do our review right now, well have more than what the state even said for the entire state, Upham said.

The new law, however, does allow districts to stick to their existing age-out policies if they choose.

Or, the district can amend their policies to allow for engaging the state money, said HB 233 sponsor, Fred Anderson, a Republican legislator from Great Falls.

Montana is a local-control state. Local boards and governments have tremendous authority to change policy, Anderson said Wednesday. A district changing its own policy is its prerogative. This law is not a mandate. Its an opportunity for districts.

Jana Pennington said she has been striving since October to get the school district and board to consider allowing Emily to remain at West High another year and graduate. After the issue failed to be added to a board meeting agenda, Pennington decided to take the matter public with a Facebook post about the familys plight that immediately went viral. By Wednesday afternoon, more than 400 emails supporting Emily had been submitted to the school board, some from out of state.

In response to the enormous community outcry over the controversy, the school board called a special meeting for Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Lincoln Center, 415 N. 30th Street. During the meeting, the board will examine the districts policy, and the state law allowing for funding. The board is unlikely to make a decision on the policy, but will take public comment.

Emily has been active throughout her school years and recently has been participating on West Highs cheer squad. She also sometimes works at her mothers boutique in Billings and participates in numerous community and church projects.

We wont be the only district that has to go through this, Upham said. Im sure theyll be watching us and how the decisions are made, and how to navigate this.

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In the wake of a 2018 lawsuit, the Bureau of Land Management is proposing changes to how it defines genetic diversity in the Pryor Mountain wild horse herd.

Some of the herd have hereditary ties to Spanish breeds brought to North America in the 1500s. How to preserve that lineage, while also reducing the number of horses to meet management goals, has caused problems between the agency and horse advocates.

The Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range is spread across 38,000-acres. The majority of the range is on BLM land, but it also crosses onto the Custer Gallatin National Forest and the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in south-central Montana and north-central Wyoming.

Definition

According to a BLM press release, the existing plan directs the BLM to manage for all genetic representations in the herd but does not define what that means.

By amending the existing Resource Management Plan, the BLM is attempting to address the risks associated with inbreeding, including the use of genetic information to determine management actions. Comments are being taken on the proposal through April 29.

The main thing that could lead to confusion is this comment period is limited to the amendment to the Resource Management Plan, said Dave Lefevre, manager of BLMs Billings Field Office. Were correcting the existing language to be more consistent with [Wild Horse and Burro Handbook] language.

The new language will ensure future management decisions are based on field monitoring and genetic assessments, he added.

Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center executive director Nancy Cerroni said, Our primary concern is to ensure that the herd's genetic integrity is maintained, and we feel this is best accomplished with proper maintenance of the bloodlines.

The center is based in Lovell, Wyoming.

Lawsuit

In 2018, wild horse advocates won a temporary restraining order halting the BLMs proposed removal of 17 wild horses from the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range. The Cloud Foundation, a Colorado-based wild horse advocacy group, argued that removing the horses would irreparably destroy the genetic viability of the herd.

U.S. District Court Judge Susan Watters ruled the BLM may have acted arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to consider the ramifications of the loss of horses it chose to remove.

Overgrown

By last fall, the horse herd grew to 195 animals. The appropriate management level the BLM established for the herd in 2009 was 90 to 120 animals. The agency was ordered in a 2016 court case to recalculate the AML before another gather, something the BLM failed to prove to Judge Watters in the 2018 lawsuit.

Lefevre said the BLM will recalculate the AML based on the capacity of the horse range, and by looking at the population through a different lens. Yet he added its not likely to change much.

The BLM justified the 2018 removal of horses saying the population was degrading the horse range, but Judge Watters said the agency failed to show that at least some of the damage to the range is attributable, at least in part, to [the BLMs] failure to implement range-land improvements.

Theres not a lot of food left for them, Lefevre said. They are looking in new areas for feed.

Since the horses are wild, its against national policy and regulations to supplement the horses' food.

Bloodlines

The BLMs plan requires the agency to manage for Colonial Spanish type horses, for a balanced sex ratio, for a core breeding population of mainly 5- to 10-year-old horses, to maintain rare or unusual colors and to prevent the elimination of bloodlines.

The Cloud Foundation argued in its 2018 request for a temporary restraining order that the BLM had miscounted the herd, partly because horse deaths were outnumbering births. The group also claimed BLMs proposal did not take into account the matrilineal and patrilineal lines of each animal, wild horse bloodlines could accidentally be eliminated.

The Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center also challenged the 2018 horse removal saying the BLMs historic management actions, combined with natural loss, were starting to result in a negative population effect given the Pryor Herds declining growth rate.

Diversity

In its current proposed plan amendment, the BLM said maximizing genetic diversity at the expense of ecosystem sustainability was not a goal or directive for the herd. The amendment goes on to say the intent of its own management decision was too broad and not practical to implement.

The BLM cannot cause all patrilineal or matrilineal lines to be propagated, the document stated.

Although each individual represents a unique combination of available genetic material, maintaining a herd that largely retains the genetic material and diversity presently in the herd does not depend on each individual reproducing with each possible mate, the amendment goes on to state.

To rewrite the rule to be consistent with its Resource Management Plan, the BLM is proposing to maintain desirable levels of genetic diversity as measured by observed heterozygosity. Observed heterozygosity is a measure of how much diversity is found, on average, within individual animals.

Cerroni, of the Mustang Center, said, In regards to using heterozygosity as a metric for the herd's health, we will continue to investigate that as an option and will support management strategies that we feel are going to be effective in the long term.

To reduce possible risks associated with inbreeding, the BLM is proposing to: 1) maximize the number of fertile, breeding age wild horses (6-10 years) within the herd; 2) adjust the sex ratio in favor of males (but with not more than approximately 60 percent males); or 3) introduce mares or stallions from other wild horse (Herd Management Areas). Animals would be sought that have characteristics similar to the Pryor Mountain horses, such as the Sulfur herd in Utah, the Cerbat Mountain herd in Arizona, or others.

According to the BLMs website, the agency has removed nearly 450 horses from the Pryor Mountain Wild Horse Range since 1971.

Nationally

In a January news release, the BLM said it planned to increase wild horse and burro gather and fertility control operations across the nation this year to reduce the risk of starvation, thirst, and habitat destruction as climate change and extreme drought continues to impact the West.

As of March 1, 2021, the wild horse and burro population on BLM public lands was estimated at more than 86,000 animals  which is more than three times the appropriate management level, though slightly less than the 95,000 animals that were estimated in 2020.

In total, the BLM plans to gather at least 22,000 wild horses and burros from overpopulated herds, remove at least 19,000 excess animals, and treat at least 2,300 animals with various forms of fertility control and release them back on to public lands through the end of September 2022. If achieved, this would be the largest number of animals ever treated with fertility control in one year  nearly double the previous record of 1,160 treatments set in 2021  as well as the largest number of animals ever gathered and removed in one year.

On its website The Cloud Foundation criticized the BLMs plans, saying the agency is ignoring habitat degradation by livestock and called the claims about starvation unsubstantiated.

Cerroni said the BLM proposed changes to the Pryor plan could be a means to remove horses from the range this year, something that the Wild Mustang Center board is concerned about.

More information, relevant documents, instructions, and a venue for submitting comments regarding the BLM's proposal are available online at https://eplanning.blm.gov. Search using the NEPA number: DOI-BLM-MT-C010-2020-0004-EA.

Although this comment period focuses on one issue, the BLM is also in the process of writing a new Joint Management Area Plan for the entire horse range. A draft environmental assessment for that document is expected out this year.

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James Boyettes Republican candidacy for Montanas Eastern U.S. House district started at the kitchen table talking to his wife about their disappointment with public schools.

Boyette, 29, was experiencing public schools as parent for the first time, not as the father of a kindergartner but rather as the parent of a middle schooler. James Boyette's stepdaughter was 12.

This was kind of a mixture between my wife and daughter kind of pushing me to do something, Boyette said. And I felt like, if Im going to do this, I want to at least be in a position where I'm able to make the biggest impact to help the most people and kind of go about it that way.

Much of Boyettes concerns about education center on sex education curriculum and discussion about gender identify or sexual orientation. These are mainstream concerns among Montana Republicans, who in the 2021 state Legislature overwhelmingly supported a law requiring advance notice to parents whenever the topics come up in classrooms and allowing the parents who object to remove children from school.

Also peppered into the Bozeman residents platform are concerns about Critical Race Theory, a 40-year-old approach to considering the presence of racism throughout American history, past and present. CRT is a complex legal theory that is rarely taught below the graduate level in universities.

But, it has become a hair-trigger conservative issue nationally and in Montana, where the states highest educational authority, Superintendent Elsie Arntzen, opposes CRT, but also hasnt cited examples of it being taught in any Montana public schools.

Boyette works for Hologic, a medical technology company focused on womens health with products such as three-dimensional mammography and tests for detecting cervical cancer, or sexually transmitted disease. The work brought Boyette to Montana several years ago from Idaho, where he is a native of Emmett. His travels through a service area that includes Montanas Eastern U.S. House District, as well as Wyoming, has helped shape his opinions on health care.

One thing Boyette has noticed is that Medicaid and Medicare are the determining factors for what insurance covers and for how much. As a result, small rural hospitals and care providers tend to defer treatment to big city hospitals when coverage isnt strong enough to support the service being provided on a smaller scale locally.

Lower cost is not a bad thing, especially for patients who are struggling. But they're not focusing near as much as on the aspect of how do we support the actual facilities, and the doctors, to make sure that they have the resources available to treat the patients to the best of their abilities, Boyette said.

Illegal immigration is a big part of Boyettes platform and dovetails with his belief that Democrats are trying to win elections by allowing non-U.S. citizens to vote. President Joe Bidens administration ending construction of Donald Trumps wall across the border with Mexico is a concern, as is the flying of undocumented immigrants to detention facilities throughout the United States. These flights known on conservative cable news as ghost flights have been used for years, including during the Trump era, but have been characterized more ominously lately as a Biden attempt to embed illegal immigrants across the US.

This immigration policy directly coincides with the Democratic agenda to take complete and total control of the government, Boyett explains on his website. There is this idea that the Democrats have, which is that if they let these illegal immigrants in, they will turn into Democratic voters and keep the Democrats in power. The immigration policies of the Biden Administration has resulted in not only record-setting illegal immigration, but also record-setting drug trafficking, human trafficking, crime rates and so much more. This needs to stop. We need to protect Americans and put an end to these horrible policies.

More than any candidate running for the states Eastern U.S. House District, Boyette has targeted fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale for relying heavily on donations from out-of-state contributors. Some of those out-of-state contributors have also been associated with scandal, specifically employees of the brokerage Cantor Fitzgerald, which was investigated for money laundering and illegal gambling. More than 80% of Rosendales money is coming from out of state, Boyette said.

That's where, for me personally, I don't agree with affiliating yourself with companies that are involved in any sort of illegal activity like that, Boyette said. And to be accepting that kind of money from people you're not even technically representing. For me personally, I feel like the biggest responsibility is to the people who are electing you within your district. And that's who you should be getting most of your support from.

There are other candidates in Montanas Republican primary, including Kyle Austin of Billings and Charles Walkingchild of Helena. Rosendale is the only Republican candidate reporting donations at this point. As Montanas current at-large representative, Rosendale has most of the benefits of incumbency, even though the newly created Montana U.S. House District 2 is an open seat.

In January, Rosendale reported $916,775 cash on hand. None of his Republican rivals have reported a single dollar.

Editor's note: This is one in a series of profile stories on the candidates running for Montana's Eastern U.S. House district. These stories are being written as the candidate interviews occur.

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A state district court judge has denied a request to remove the ankle-monitoring bracelets of a Plentywood man accused of raping two developmentally disabled women.

Judge Brenda Gilbert said Wednesday that Timothy Ray Marsh is presumed innocent of the pending charges, but the allegations are serious and warrant the pre-trial conditions as set by the court."

Marsh, who is awaiting trial, had asked for the bracelet to be removed, noting the $350 monthly expense of the monitoring device. He has been on an ankle bracelet since September, his attorney, Samantha Howard, said.

Marsh pleaded not guilty Aug. 25 to three counts of sexual intercourse without consent with two women. Marsh, who was 62 at the time of his August arraignment, had been held on $150,000 bond and was out of jail since Aug. 19. 2021.

The trial is now set for Aug. 12. At one time, the trial was scheduled for February.

The alleged incidents occurred in 2015 and in 2018, according to court documents. Marsh at one time worked as a maintenance worker at Glenwood Inc., a facility for adults with disabilities. He is no longer employed there.

The defense has asked for competency evaluations for the two alleged victims. The state did not object but sought the following conditions: that the evaluations be recorded, that the evaluator may not ask questions about the allegations, and that both women can have a support person in the room.

The state also said the defense must provide reports and if a rebuttal evaluation is necessary, the state will provide that report to the defense.

A competency hearing is set for July 7.

Gilbert, a Livingston-based judge, is presiding in the case in the 15th Judicial District in Sheridan County, after the previous judge recused himself. The state attorney generals office, who is prosecuting the case, asked Judge David Cybulski to step down, saying there was a specter of a conflict as he and Marsh are longtime residents of the community of 1,669.

Assistant editor Phil Drake can be reached at 406-231-9021.

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A former longtime businessman and entrepreneur in the manufacturing and power distribution industries has been chosen as the next leader of the North Dakota State College of Science.

The State Board of Higher Education on Thursday selected Rod Flanigan as the 10th president of the two-year Wahpeton school that had a fall 2021 enrollment of 2,802 students.

Flanigan worked in private industry for more than a quarter century before moving into higher education. He was a professor at the University of Nebraska-Kearney before becoming the dean of business and technology at Cochise College in Arizona.

He holds a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University, a master's from the University of Utah and a doctorate from Utah State.

"I feel strongly about the community college mission," he said during his interview for the NDSCS presidency. "We help students achieve their dreams; this is what we do for people.

Twenty-one candidates were initially reviewed, with four moving on as finalists after in-person interviews. Flanigan will assume office no later than July 1. His three-year contract has a base salary of $210,000 for the first year, with the amount for successive years to be set by the Board of Higher Education. He's getting another $20,000 in moving expenses.

Former President John Richman retired last year after about 15 years at the helm.

A critical state audit in 2019 concluded that there were conflicts of interest in the college's hiring of a firm to promote a proposed career workforce academy. There also were questions about whether the school withheld records from state auditors. Richman disputed those claims. Prosecutors did not pursue any charges.

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Bismarck Mayor Steve Bakken has announced a bid for reelection.

"After an in-depth conversation with and support of my wife, Wendy, I believe that I have more work to do for the residents and city of Bismarck," he said in a statement Thursday.

Bakken, a Grand Forks native, was elected in 2018, defeating incumbent Mike Seminary with 58% of the vote.

He said his focus, if reelected, will be continuing economic development, ensuring Bismarck is financially solvent in the future and working with the Legislature to help alleviate the city's water capacity and wastewater issues.

The mayor has touted the city's recent two-year budget plan and the Together 2045 long-term plan as accomplishments during his tenure. The latter plan will guide Bismarck's growth over the next 25 years.

Bakken voted in favor of two budgets that raised property taxes by a total of about $8 million in 2021 and 2022, in moves that city officials said would keep Bismarck financially stable.

He said he looks forward to developing the Missouri riverfront and potentially using the revenue to eliminate property taxes. The mayor said the riverfront development plans took a back seat during the coronavirus pandemic, but he's looking to get that project back on track. He added that he wants to encourage sustainable growth in the city.

He thinks the city's relationship with local legislators has improved during his administration, and he hopes those connections help the city access state funding for water infrastructure projects.

"Our Bismarck caucus had never been utilized because nobody had asked them," he said.

Bakken served on the Burleigh-Morton COVID-19 Task Force during the coronavirus surge in the region in the latter half of 2020. The task force's goal was to reduce the two counties' positivity rate.

Throughout the surge, the mayor said that a mask mandate should come from Gov. Doug Burgum, and that any mandate without a punishment for noncompliance would not be effective. The city commission in October 2020 implemented a mask mandate with no penalties for those who did not comply. Bakken voted against it. The mandate is no longer in effect.

Bakken said that reflecting on his term, he wishes things did not have to be shut down because of COVID-19, but that the state constrained what the city could do. He praised the city's ability to serve residents during the pandemic.

Bakken attended the University of North Dakota and worked as a broadcaster for 40 years. He has also worked in consulting and logistics. He moved to Bismarck in 2011.

He is the director of business strategy with McGough Construction.

Mike Schmitz, a Bismarck certified public accountant, announced his candidacy for mayor in early December. He submitted enough signatures Monday to place him on the June 14 ballot.

Schmitz and Bakken are running for a four-year term. The mayor's 2022 salary is $28,806.

Reach Sam Nelson at 701-250-8264 or sam.nelson@bismarcktribune.com.

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The Missouri Slope Areawide United Way celebrated record-breaking fundraising years and outlined future plans to serve the community at its annual meeting Thursday.

Hundreds gathered for the luncheon in the Ramkota ballroom. The meeting was the first since January 2020; the event was not held in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Lt. Gov. Brent Sanford opened the event by thanking members of MSA United Way for their work.

"As you can see, the needs in our community are numerous, but so are the community members willing to step up and help out," he said.

Videos showcasing agencies and people supported by the United Way played at different points throughout the luncheon. Members of organizations such as the Abused Adult Resource Center and the YMCA spoke about how the United Way enables them to assist the community.

The event celebrated the accomplishments of the organization's partners, volunteers and donors. This past year, 44,000 books were mailed to area preschoolers, 2.6 million meals were offered to those in need and more than 35,000 nights of shelter were provided through United Way's emergency homeless shelter.

MSA United Way raised just over $3 million in 2020 and $3.1 million in 2021, each of which were record-breaking.

"Our community is full of generous individuals who understand that they are part of the solution when they join with MSA United Way," Executive Director Jena Gullo said. "This is a community that steps up to take care of each other, and Im proud to be a part of it."

Gullo spoke about MSA United Way's plans to establish a permanent homeless shelter and create a place to connect people in need with various resources such as financial literacy information, mental health care or assistance for victims of domestic violence.

The luncheon also acknowledged people and businesses for their contributions during the year. MDU Resources Group donated the most of any area company to the United Way in 2021.

Reach Sam Nelson at 701-250-8264 or sam.nelson@bismarcktribune.com.

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By Trend

Azerbaijan has offered Armenia a comprehensive peace agreement, Turkey's Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu said, Trend reports referring to A Haber TV channel.

The minister noted that in the process of normalizing relations with Armenia, Ankara did not take serious steps without consulting Baku.

"Azerbaijan put forward a comprehensive peace accord. Armenia must accept this proposal," Cavusoglu stated.
North Dakotas initiated measure tradition is full of intrigue this season.

Mere weeks ago, a petition for term limits seemed well on its way toward certification for the November ballot. But with only 17,265 signatures accepted by the secretary of state, the North Dakota for Term Limits petition was about 14,000 signatures short of the 31,164 required. Over 29,000 of the petitions signatures were rejected by Secretary of State Al Jaeger, and the Bureau of Criminal Investigation is investigating the committees campaign.

At this point, its uncertain whether well see any statewide measures on our November ballot. One petitions committee is still gathering signatures with hopes of meeting its April 22 deadline with the secretary of state. The petition seeks to change the criteria for constitutional measures by amending Articles III and IV of the state constitution. If unsuccessful, the statewide petition would be the third and final one to fail this year.

Adding to the intrigue of this political season is the main argument made by Mike Haugen, Jeff Zarling and this petitions other sponsors. They claim that its too easy to change North Dakota's constitution. But in their own attempt to change it, they find themselves dangerously close to missing their signature deadline with the secretary of state.

Perhaps changing North Dakotas constitution isnt so easy after all.

The truth is, potential ballot measures are vulnerable to various pitfalls. Petitions clearly can and will fail at any stage of the initiated measure process.

A potential measure begins as a policy idea shared by multiple electors, American citizens with residency in North Dakota. If these individuals can form a committee of 25 sponsors and come to consensus on their policy idea, they may advance to the next step. Petition groups often struggle with consensus, and this struggle impacts many efforts.

If a sponsoring committee does come to consensus, the petition committee must submit its petition for review by the secretary of state. This step is yet another opportunity for failure, as petitions that arent in compliance with proper form wont be approved for circulation.

If a petition is approved for circulation, its sponsors and their affiliates can begin gathering qualified signatures from other North Dakota electors. This step is particularly daunting, especially with proposed constitutional amendments. If a sponsoring committee isnt dedicated to the effort, members are unlikely to recruit the resources needed to gather enough signatures. Thats because collecting over 31,000 valid signatures for a constitutional measure is a significant undertaking. Campaigns lacking enough volunteers, staff or other resources will fail at this step in the initiated measure process.

Another pitfall for petition committees is what we recently witnessed with the term limits petition. If a campaign doesnt ensure that all signature gatherers are qualified electors who obey North Dakota law, its sponsors may find themselves in hot water -- and with no ballot placement to show for it.

Finally, constitutional measures that make it onto our ballots can still be rejected by us, the voters. Passing the hurdles of the initiated measure process is one thing. Educating and appealing to voters is a story of its own. North Dakotans are perfectly happy to reject constitutional amendments that we dont like.

Lets be skeptical of the claim that its too easy for us to shape our own state constitution. We do impose quality control in our initiated measure process. We do filter out efforts that are unserious or unethical. And finally, we do know how to reject constitutional measures on our ballots if we dont like them  we vote "No."

Ellie Shockley is a political psychologist, social scientist and education researcher. This column represents her personal views and not the views of any organization. She completed a doctorate at the University of Chicago and postdoctorate at Nebraska. She lives in Mandan. Find her past columns at EllieShockley.com

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A woman who worked as an administrator at Yale University lived the high life as she cheated the school out of more than $40 million. For more than ten years, 42-year-old Jamie Petrone enjoyed three homes in Connecticut, real estate in Georgia, and many luxury cars (two Mercedes-Benz, two Cadillac Escalades, a Range Rover, and more) while she sold stolen electronics  including computers, iPads, and Microsoft Surface Pros  from Yale University's School of Medicine.

On Monday she pleaded guilty in federal court to "two counts of wire fraud and a tax offense for her role in the plot," according to NPR.

From NPR:

Petrone's ploy started as far back as 2013 and continued well into 2021 while she worked at the university, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Connecticut. Until recently, her role was the director of finance and administration for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale. As part of this job, Petrone had the authority to make and authorize certain purchases for the department  as long as the amount was below $10,000. Starting in 2013, Petrone would order, or have a member of her staff order, computers and other electronics, which totaled to thousands of items over the years, from Yale vendors using the Yale School of Medicine's money. She would then arrange to ship the stolen hardware, whose costs amounted to millions of dollars, to a business in New York, in exchange for money once the electronics were resold.  Her scheme continued successfully until August 2021, when Yale officials received an anonymous tip that Petrone was ordering "suspiciously high volumes of computer equipment," court records state. These orders were made more suspicious by the fact that Petrone was putting some of the packages in her own car. Later that month, Yale auditors dug into Petrone's purchase orders and her emails, among other things  eventually turning over their findings to law enforcement. At the time of her guilty plea, she agreed to forfeit the luxury vehicles as well as three homes in Connecticut. A property she owns in Georgia may also be seized.

So far Petrone has agreed to turn over at more than $560,000 stole  a mere pittance compared to the approximately $40,504,200 she swindled from the university.
With Jen Psaki and Karine Jean-Pierre both out with Covid, Pres. Biden's communications director Kate Bedingfield made her debut in the White House press room today. And it might as well have been Psaki in there with the way she skillfully dropped her very own Psaki, er, Bedingfield bomb  not on the reporter, but on Donald Trump.

When asked what the reaction was to "former president Trump calling on Putin to release information about Hunter Biden," Bedingfield  like the great Psaki  didn't miss a beat.

"What kind of American, let alone an ex-president, thinks that this is the right time to enter into a scheme with Vladimir Putin and brag about his connections to Vladimir Putin? There is only one, and it's Donald Trump." (See video below.)

She then mimicked Psaki's signature "time's up!" move by immediately pointing to another reporter.

Bedingfield has shown interest in the job of White House Press Secretary should Psaki move on (to perhaps cable television), according to Politico, and if this clip is representative of the broader scope of her skills, it looks like she could be a contender.
A Houston-area student won a $90,000 settlement after being "harassed and bullied" by a teacher there over her refusal to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

The student abstained, according to her lawsuit, because she objected to the addition of "Under God" to the pledge in the 1950s and her belief that "liberty and justice for all" has not been secured for people of color.

Despite knowing that the student was exempt from the pledge, the teacher, identified in the suit as Benjie Arnold, singled out the student and threatened to fail her for not observing the pledge. According to the release, Arnold told the student that what she did left him "no option but to give you a zero, and you can have all the beliefs and resentment and animosity that you want." Arnold also offered to pay students to move students to Europe if they didn't like living in America, as evidenced by an audio recording of the incident. Due to the incessant harassment, the student temporarily withdrew to be homeschooled. However, the harassment continued and intensified when she returned to Klein Oak, the release said.

Benjie Arnold tried to assert qualified immunity during the lawsuit, but the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals said it was well-established that teachers cannot retaliate against a student for refusing to participate in flag ceremonies.

On one occasion, Arnold played Christian music in the classroom and "stared at [her] continuously as the song played."

On another, Arnold tried to force the teen to recite out the pledge by assigning it to her as a class projectdespite being warned by the school principal not to do so.

Arnold gave her a zero for the assignment. Arnold then went into a diatribe in class about lack of patriotism, as well as about communism, supporters of Sharia law, foreigners who do not assimilate into American culture, and sex offenders.

Arnold was the lone defendant in the casea judge removed the school from the case in an earlier hearingand the Houston Chronicle reports that an association representing Texas school districts agreed to the settlement and paid for his defense.
Two years ago, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to enact a ban on conversion therapy, describing it as "abhorrent" and having "no place in a civilized society." But today it emerged that his government would allow it to continue, breaking years of promisesnot least one they put in the Queen's own mouth. Conversion therapy refers to various pseudo-scientific procedures which claim to change or suppress someone's sexual orientation and is already banned in several countries.

The document advises announcing the U-turn as part of this year's Queen's Speech in early May, suggesting: "This will allow us to position the decision as prioritising our legislative programme, and reduces the risk of looking like we have singled out an LGBT issue." It sets out how the government should respond to critical questions about the decision. It suggests the justification that: "Given the unprecedented circumstances of major pressures on cost of living and the crisis in Ukraine, there is an urgent need to rationalise our legislative programme". However, the document warns that those involved in designing a ban have not yet been informed about the change of policy, including the Equalities Minister, Liz Truss.

British right-wingers saw the stunning return of overt homophobia to U.S. politicsFlorida governor DeSantis signed the "Don't Say Gay" bill just days agoand are realizing that the culture war around trans and gay issues is politically expedient.

(In the U.S. it's more obvious that the fight against trans rights and for religious "freedom" extends the same old anti-gay crusade; Britons participating in that fight seem to find it mysterious that they are suddenly being lumped in with the groomers.)

Update: in a quick U-turn, the British government has reportedly agreed to ban conversion therapy after allbut it will still be permitted for trans people.

 U-TURN ON THE U-TURN 



The Prime Minister has changed his mind off the back of the reaction to our report and he WILL now ban conversion therapy after all.



Senior Govt source absolutely assures me it'll be in Queen's Speech.



But only gay conversion therapy, not trans.  Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) March 31, 2022

Making an exception for the "aborrhent" treatment for trans people the day you promise to curtail it everyone else seems an object lesson in unmasking hidden agendas.
Former San Angelo, Texas police chief Tim Vasquez was found guilty of receiving a bribe and also mail fraud after a security company paid his Earth, Wind and Fire cover bandFunky Munkyfour times their normal rate to play 10 shows at their company headquarters. Why would they do such a thing? Well, Dailey-Wells Communications was also the longtime provider of the police department's radio communications system thanks to Vasquez's influence, according to the case. From Lubbock Online:

"Tim Vasquez never disclosed these payment to anyone much less to the city council," [state prosecutor Sean] said.

Long said he expected city counselors to testify they would not have approved the contract had they known about Vasquez's relationship with the company.

The three counts of mail fraud relate to the checks the company mailed to Vasquez.

When Texas Rangers began looking into Vasquez's relationship with the company, Dailey-Wells put Funky Munky on retainer for about $50,000, Long said.

Defense attorney David Guinn told jurors the investigation into his client and his relationship with Dailey-Wells was blown out of proportion, saying the payments to Funky Munky were legitimate.
CBSs hit comedy Ghosts reveals the backstory of Trevors missing pants. Young Sheldon marks its 100th episode. British actress Sarah Lancashire is delightful as TV cooking legend Julia Child in an HBO Max dramedy. In TBSs Rat in the Kitchen, a comedic cooking competition embeds a saboteur among its contestants.

9/8c

However did Wall Street bro-ghost Trevor (Asher Grodman) get caught with his pants (and boxers) down through eternity? This eternal mystery of sartorial humiliation is finally addressed in another fun episode of the freshman hit comedy. As is often the case, the catalyst for the backstory involves a visit to Woodstone Mansion by someone with a shared pastthis time, one of Trevors more obnoxious bros (Rob Huebel), who was there the night Trevor died half-naked (though somehow with shoes and fancy socks intact). As the truth spills out, it wont be just Isaac (Brandon Scott Jones) reacting with dramatic gasps.

8/7c

A longer-running CBS hit is a kid no longer. Young Sheldon marks its milestone 100th episode with some significant moments for the Cooper family. At college, Sheldon (Iain Armitage) is surprised with a visit by fellow prodigy Paige (McKenna Grace), who may be even less well adjusted to college social life than our favorite officious brainiac. Back home, theyre dealing with the fallout from Meemaws (Annie Potts) breakup with Dale (Craig T. Nelson), and Georgie (Montana Jordan) is in hot water with older girlfriend Mandy (Emily Osment) after he finally levels with her.

Series Premiere 9:30/8:30c

Even Ghosts as a lead-in might not be able to float this middling sitcom based on the life of pro bowling world champ Tom Smallwood. A sheepish Pete Holmes (Crashing) stars as Tom, a devoted family man who decides to chase his dream of PBA stardom after being laid off from a factorys assembly line. Hairstylist wife Jen (Scandals Katie Lowes) has his back, though his snappish mom (Julie White) has always cautioned him to play it safe. Chi McBride steals his scenes as the bowling-alley mentor who urges Tom to go for it, but there are too few strikes of genuine humor to keep you from drifting to your own snack bar.

Series Premiere

As TV cooking legend Julia Child of The French Chef fame, Sarah Lancashire serves up a four-course banquet of sheer joy in a delightful dramedy inspired by Childs pioneering start in public TV in the early 1960s. With creative liberties and a light comic flair, Julia dramatizes the challenges she faced convincing producers and executives that a middle-aged woman with a high voice and ungainly frame could become a TV star by demystifying French cuisine in front of a camera. Thankfully, she has loving support from David Hyde Pierce as her diplomat husband Paul and fellow Frasier alum Bebe Neuwirth as her widowed best friend Avis. (See the full review.)

Series Premiere 9/8c

Im not sure Julia Child would approve of this comedic twist on cooking competitions, which adds elements of The Mole and The Hustler to the basic recipe. Still, its fun to play along with the hostscomedian Natasha Leggero and celebrity chef/judge Ludo Lefebvreas six ambitious chefs take on culinary challenges, always with an eye on who among them is the secret mole dedicated to sabotaging their dishes. If the rat successfully ruins a dish, Ludo will fail the team, putting more money in the moles coffer. (The bank starts at $50,000 for the chefs.) At the end, the players reveal who they think is responsible for such mishaps as a fruit-less cobbler or an undercooked steak. If theyre right, they keep what money theyve earned. If the rat escapes undetected, he or she wins the cheddar. (I guessed right in the premiere.)

10/9c

Now in the U.K., Earn (Donald Glover) and his crew have another encounter with the surreal as they accept an invitation to a billionaires most unusual home for a party that goes sideways fast. The most disturbing encounter, once again, involves Darius (LaKeith Stanfield), whos unnerved when spectators take a perceived racial insult way out of proportion.

The streamer appears to have another sci-fi hit with its series based on the Xbox game. In the second episode, Master Chief John (Pablo Schreiber) learns more about the mysterious object that keeps triggering his human emotions, while Dr. Halsey (Natascha McElhone) hatches a plan to control his newly unpredictable behaviors.

Also On the Stream:

Inventions That Changed History (streaming on discovery+): A new series explores the origins of pop-culture curiosities from waterbeds and barf bags to rubber chickens, Easy Bake ovens and vending machines, with celebrities sharing their own fond childhood memories.

The Dropout (streaming on Hulu): In the penultimate chapter of the gripping docudrama, tension is high as Elizabeth Holmes (Amanda Seyfried) and Sunny (Naveen Andrews) ramp up the legal pressure on any potential whistleblowers who could confirm the Wall Street Journals pending expose on fraud within Theranosand this puts young Tyler Shultz (Dylan Minnette) in the hottest seat imaginable.

(Amanda Seyfried) and Sunny (Naveen Andrews) ramp up the legal pressure on any potential whistleblowers who could confirm the Wall Street Journals pending expose on fraud within Theranosand this puts young (Dylan Minnette) in the hottest seat imaginable. The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder (streaming on Paramount+): A revival of the popular Nickelodeon animated childrens show (2001-17) now focuses on Timmy Turners 13-year-old cousin Viv, relocated to a new town with stepbrother Roy as they inherit Timmys fairy godparents Wanda and Cosmo.

Wisting (streaming on Sundance Now): The second season of the Norwegian crime drama puts Detective Wisting ( Sven Nordin ) on the trail of an escaped convict who planned his getaway while leading the police on a crime-scene inspection.

(streaming on Sundance Now): The second season of the Norwegian crime drama puts Detective Wisting ( ) on the trail of an escaped convict who planned his getaway while leading the police on a crime-scene inspection. First Day (streaming on Hulu): The timely and topical Australian high-school drama returns for a second season, with transgender teen Hannah (Evie Macdonald) running for Class Captain and starting an LGBTQIA+ group. Doubt this will be required viewing in Florida classrooms.

Inside Thursday TV:
Restaurants want to serve takeout beer, wine and cocktails to their customers again, but liquor stores hope last year remains last call for drinks to-go.

The proposal to allow restaurants to offer alcohol-to-go has a strong advocate in Gov. Kathy Hochul, who toasted the practice in her State of the State address and included it in her proposed 2022-23 budget.

But alcohol-to-go is gone from the Assembly and State Senate's own spending bills. This leaves the policy part of intense negotiations and furious lobbying as the state budget deadline looms Friday  with the possibility that budget negotiations push into the weekend.

Who needs a drink? Hochul aims to cut red tape for craft brewers, restaurants For craft brewers, the changes in a law passed late last year mean a much faster review process to obtain the liquor license needed to open, reducing what can be a six-month waiting period to a matter of as little as three to four weeks.

To restaurants, including those in Western New York, takeout or delivery alcohol is convenient for customers and a financial boon to restaurateurs continuing to recover from the pandemic.

"As of right now, I think the majority of us are going to continue to pray for it and push forward with it and advocate for it," said Jimmy Butera, owner of Buteras Craft Beer & Pizza in Hamburg and president of the local chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association. "I urge all of our lawmakers here locally to give us something because the last 24 months has been devastating for so many."

But to liquor stores, an influential group in Albany, alcohol-to-go siphons sales away from an industry primarily populated by small-business owners operating on a slim profit margin.

"The proposed legislation would take what remains of these small businesses, their regular customers, and hand them over to another industry that is not being compelled to follow the same burdensome regulations for nothing in return," the Metropolitan Package Store Association said in a statement earlier this year.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo temporarily introduced alcohol-to-go in March 2020 while New York was under a formal Covid-19 emergency.

It was an attempt to boost the restaurant and tavern industry at a time when indoor seating was banned.

The policy remained in place even as patrons were allowed back into restaurants and bars on a limited basis.

"Something like this can make the difference of a business  that most people like going to  staying open or closing," said Butera.

Scott Wexler, executive director of the Empire State Restaurant & Tavern Association, said restaurants make their largest profits on the sale of beer, wine and booze. Today, with so many patrons shifting to takeout and delivery service, restaurateurs lose what they'd earn selling alcohol with that meal, Wexler said.

Can WNY restaurants survive on takeout? Don't hold your breath Restaurants are paying Maserati prices for real estate when the business can only do Chevette

"As an ability to generate revenue, drinks-to-go was huge," he said, pointing to data showing that about 40% of takeout orders placed while the policy was in effect included alcohol.

Liquor store owners accepted alcohol-to-go on a temporary basis at a time of pandemic-related restrictions.

"I did support it when the restaurants were shut down," said Lesle Heubach, owner of Gates Circle Wine & Liquor in Buffalo.

Liquor stores never closed because the state considered them essential businesses. Wexler said data indicate liquor store sales boomed during the pandemic, even with alcohol-to-go, citing increases of 15% to 20% statewide between 2019 and 2021.

Takeout alcohol sales replaced spending on alcohol inside taverns, not purchases at a liquor store, Wexler said.

"The restaurant needs that option, and it's not hurting anybody," he said.

The state emergency designation ended last June. The State Legislature needed to approve an extension of the alcohol-to-go policy but let it lapse instead.

This followed pushback from liquor store owners, a powerful force in the state capital known for generous campaign contributions and close ties to lawmakers.

As one sign of the industry's influence, New York continues to bar wine and liquor sales in grocery stores.

Liquor store trade groups cite their own data showing a drop in sales since 2020.

"In sharp contrast to the assumptions of some persons, the pandemic has been responsible for major losses in many of our businesses with a typical neighborhood wine and liquor store seeing foot traffic down 35-50 percent and double-digit sales losses for a sizeable number of our stores," the package store association said in February.

They have also blasted to-go drinks as a public-safety issue, citing the potential for further drunken driving, public inebriation and underage drinking.

Heubach, however, said she doesn't believe to-go sales at bars and restaurants affected her business, mainly because those establishments charge far more for a bottle of wine or a single-serving drink than her store does.

"I personally don't really mind either way," said Heubach, a board member of the New York State Liquor Store Association, which represents upstate stores and has come out in strong opposition to the proposal.

While the Legislature punted last year, Hochul, who took office in August, has made permanently legalizing alcohol-to-go a priority.

She vowed to bring the policy back on a permanent basis and included it in her proposed state budget. At a Brooklyn wine bar earlier this month, Hochul said, This is what kept people afloat during those dark, dark months and years of the pandemic.

Members of the Assembly and Senate, however, did not include alcohol-to-go in their own budget bills, arguing they did not want to include policy provisions in the spending bills.

Inside SLA's new guidance on alcohol sales for breweries, restaurants & more The following guidelines are valid through at least April 15, when the SLA will revisit the situation in light of the COVID-19

"Whenever you're dealing with lawmakers and budgets and stuff, it can turn around at the 11th hour and pass," Butera said.

Can the various parties negotiate an agreement that revives alcohol-to-go in New York in some form by Friday's budget deadline?

"There's always at least two competing interests," Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, D-Buffalo, said of Albany legislative debates, "and sometimes three."

Peoples-Stokes said she supports bringing back alcohol to go and eyes one possible compromise letting individual counties decide for themselves.

State Sen. Tim Kennedy, D-Buffalo, said he would support a change to allow restaurants and bars to purchase alcohol directly from a local liquor store, a boost for the stores and a convenience for bars and restaurants.

"So there's ways to both pass the alcohol-to-go legislation as well as make changes to the alcohol and beverage control laws that, as far as I'm concerned, in many ways are antiquated and need to be changed to help the liquor stores," Kennedy said.

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By Trend

The proposal to meet with the foreign ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia remains in force, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told A Haber TV channel, Trend reports.

"Armenian minister arrived at the Diplomatic Forum in Antalya. I wanted to hold a trilateral meeting. This wasnt possible in Antalya, Cavusoglu said. Armenia isolated itself from us and Azerbaijan by its behavior. Its impossible to normalize everything in one day. Work in this direction continues.

He added that Baku supports the proposal of the trilateral meeting.
The tinted windows on Kente Bell's Jeep Cherokee were what initially caught the attention of two Buffalo patrol officers Tuesday evening.

That was moments before Bell allegedly hit the pedal and led police on a cross-town chase during which he is accused of shooting repeatedly with an illegal gun and wounding three officers before police shot him.

The gun was loaded with a high-capacity magazine, Erie County District Attorney John J. Flynn Jr. said Thursday.

Bell, 28, of Buffalo was arraigned Thursday afternoon in his hospital bed at Erie County Medical Center after awakening from sedation. He was charged with three counts of attempted murder in the first-degree and criminal possession of a weapon. A second hearing is scheduled for Friday for violating his probation from a 2020 conviction on a gun possession charge out of Amherst.

The investigations into the chase and shootings continue.

On Thursday, Flynn gave new details about how it all began  and the wild events that followed:

The officers spotted a Jeep with darkened windows parked at Broderick Park at the foot of Ferry Street.

The pair approached the vehicle and the driver, identified as Bell, was cooperative, Flynn said. A female friend was in the car with him. Bell handed them his license and the officers found that there was "an issue with the registration," Flynn said.

The officers asked Bell to step out of the car and he informed them that he could not. Ten years earlier, Bell was seriously wounded in a shooting. The injuries left him "partially paralyzed" and he needed two crutches to walk, Flynn said.

As the officers began asking more questions, Flynn said, Bell suddenly drove off, heading north on Niagara Street into Black Rock. That was at 5:58 p.m., Flynn said.

'It's a miracle nobody died': Radio transmissions tell tale of gun battle during wild chase On Wednesday, new details about the gun battle that raged from the West Side to several East Side neighborhoods came to light through new information from police, interviews with sources and reviews of recordings of radio transmissions during the incident.

As police pursued him, the woman who had been in the car with him "opened the front passenger door and jumped out of the car while it was moving," Flynn said.

"She was obviously freaking out," Flynn said.

Then at 6:01 p.m., on Austin Street, Bell fired a gun and kept driving, Flynn said.

Police tried to form a roadblock on the southbound lanes of Niagara Street, but Bell was able to get past it and onto the Scajaquada Expressway. As has been reported before, the chase continued east to the Kensington Expressway. Authorities don't believe Bell fired shots while on the highways, Flynn said.

Shortly after he exited at Bailey Avenue, he allegedly fired at a Buffalo police officer, wounding him in the bicep and edge of his ear. The chase continued through side streets of the East Side, at one point entering Cheektowaga, before Bell returned into the city. He is accused of shooting the second police officer while on Genesee Street  that officer took a bullet to his vest.

The chase ended as Bell was driving east on East Ferry Street, where he was surrounded by police who opened fire. Bell was allegedly found holding his gun, which held a high-capacity magazine, when he was pulled out of the vehicle, Flynn said.

The gun was damaged by gunfire. Bell was shot in the neck, shoulder, leg and finger, Flynn said.

Flynn said Thursday he does not yet know how many bullets Bell fired nor how many bullets police officers fired during the nearly 30-minute ordeal. He said he still does not know how many officers fired their weapons or how many officers Bell is believed to have shot at but didn't hit.

Flynn likened the series of events to a scene from a movie.

"You have a high speed chase," noted Flynn, adding, "You got blockades. You got speeding on the highways. You got a girl jumping out of the car. You got, you know, coming to a stop at a gas station and you know, shots, like in a movie."

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Police who raided the Amherst home of State Supreme Court Judge John L. Michalski were looking for evidence of tax crimes, two government sources told The Buffalo News this week.

The sources said law enforcement officials are trying to determine whether an online retail clothing and jewelry business operated in the home has been following state and federal tax laws.

And authorities are now seeking information about another individual  Michalski's wife, Susan  in addition to the judge.

We havent been told what the investigation is focused on, but yes, they did take documents from the home relating to a minuscule business run by Mrs. Michalski, said attorney Anthony J. Lana, who represents Judge Michalski. Its a very small consignment business, selling jewelry, clothes and various knickknacks on eBay. The amount of money involved is very small  pocket change.

No charges have been filed against Michalski or his wife.

Lana added that he is not aware of any violations of law by either the judge or his wife, who now has her own attorney, Daniel J. Henry Jr.

The search warrant indicated that agents were searching for information about both the judge and his wife," Henry told The News. "Right now, were trying to determine, is she a target, a witness, a subject of the investigation? She wants to protect her rights and protect herself.

Judge Michalski's entire court caseload was transferred from him on Friday, one day after the police raid, and officials of the State Office of Courts Administration said no further cases will be assigned to him until further notice.

Michalski, 61, is the judge who suffered injuries in February 2021, when he was hit by a freight train in the Village of Depew. Another judge called the incident a suicide attempt in a court ruling.

The judge was struck days after learning that Buffalo FBI agents wanted to question him about his relationship with strip club owner Peter G. Gerace Jr., a longtime friend and former client of Michalski.

Agents from the FBI and other federal agencies  who also participated in the raid on Thursday  have continued to investigate Michalskis friendship with Gerace, owner of the Pharaoh's Gentlemen's Club in Cheektowaga, said the two government sources with knowledge of the probe.

Michalski was struck by the train on the same day Gerace was arrested on felonies including drug trafficking, sex trafficking and bribing a federal drug agent  charges that Gerace denies.

Federal agents and prosecutors have never publicly disclosed why they want to question the judge about Gerace.

According to Lana and Henry, the warrants that allowed police to search the Michalski home gave no indication that investigators were looking in the home for any evidence relating to Gerace or his strip club.

The warrants made no mention of drugs or weapons of any kind. They were strictly seeking financial information, Lana said.

Search warrants were issued by judges in state and federal court, and the warrants specifically sought information related to a company called Everydaydeals364, said one source who saw the warrants. The source said the warrants gave police permission to search for computers, documents and cellphones.

According to a law enforcement official, Susan Michalskis online company is called Everydaydeals364.

Everydaydeals364 has an eBay shop that has sold about 4,700 items since it became an eBay member in 2007, according to the eBay website. It is currently offering for sale about 1,000 items of men's, women's and youth clothing and accessories, with most costing less than $30.

They were looking for evidence of tax crimes, the law enforcement official told The News. You now have criminal investigations, federal and state, involving the FBI, the U.S. Attorney, the state Attorney Generals Office and State Police.

The official added that the Internal Revenue Service and the State Department of Taxation and Finance are also involved in the investigations of the judge.

They are looking into whether there was income from the business that should have been reported, the official said.

Lana said he doesnt know whether the Michalskis file joint tax returns or whether they have reported income from Susan Michalskis online business.

Michalski is also under investigation by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct, which reviews complaints of ethical misconduct by judges.

As far as I know, the part-time business of a spouse bears no relationship to the qualifications of a sitting judge nor should it, said attorney Terrence M. Connors, who is representing the judge in the commissions ongoing probe.

Financial disclosure forms filed by Judge Michalski from 2014 through 2019 with the Ethics Commission for the states Unified Court System show his wife held several jobs between 2014 and 2019.

The judge did not report any income from everydaydeals364. But Susan Michalski had other employment, according to the disclosure forms. She worked in sales for four companies at different times and earned between $5,000 up to $100,000 annually, depending on the employer.

Judge Michalski listed an outside income of $5,000 to $20,000 a year serving as an adjunct professor at Medaille College during that period.

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For the second time this week, parents, employees and others shared with Interim Superintendent Tonja Williams their concerns about the Buffalo Public Schools.

They talked about the chaos on school buses and the needs of children with autism. They called for better training for teachers and hiring more teachers of color. They asked for more aides on the buses and more equity in the schools.

Although several violent incidents in the schools have made news in recent weeks, security issues did not dominate the conversation Wednesday night at Antioch Baptist Church on Fillmore Avenue during the second stop of Williams listening tour.

Tamitra Miller said her daughter, who has autism and sickle cell anemia, has faced many challenges at school.

She has been locked in the bathroom, leaving her afraid to go to the bathroom by herself, Miller said. She is sometimes on the bus until 5 p.m., and arrives home anxious. But when she asks teachers how her daughter is doing, they tell her things are going well.

Theyre not trained to know whats going on, or how to deal with or talk to these children, she said. Children are being diagnosed more frequently with these issues. I think the schools need more help or training to know how to deal with these children.

The bus driver shortage during the pandemic made an already difficult job that much harder, veteran driver Rickey Carter said. At some points, there would be 60 students on a bus, with no aide.

Too often, before the bus even pulls away from the school in the afternoon, children are cursing at one another or at the bus driver.

We write them up and nothing happens, Carter said. The whole point is, we need aides to watch our backs.

Most of the speakers from among the 20 or so people who attended the forum spoke in general terms about schools in the district.

Kelly Camacho, though, pointed to the lack of equity specifically at her alma mater, City Honors. While the East Side is home to many low-income people of color, she said, many of the students at City Honors are white and from families with more money.

And the resources given to other schools do not seem comparable to those given to City Honors, said Camacho, a community organizer with Citizen Action of New York.

Why are schools like City Honors wondering how theyre going to have a rowing team, she said, while other schools dont have textbooks or computers?

More than one speaker appealed to Williams to hire more Black and Hispanic teachers, and to hire more teachers who live in the city.

The Rev. Brian Robinson of Fillmore Community Church works as a teacher aide in the district.

Students need to see more people that look like them, he said. We need to see more people of color in our schools. And I dont just mean as teacher aides and teacher assistants, but instructors in math and science and history and technology.

Years ago, he said, many teachers lived in the communities where they taught, and that made a difference. Students and their parents would see teachers in church, at the barbershop and in the supermarket, he said.

The parents were on a first-name basis with them, Robinson said. Now you dont have that type of dialogue. We need to try to get back to that.

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A day after Gov. Kathy Hochul strong-armed $564.8 million in casino revenues out of the Seneca Nation and targeted it to the new Buffalo Bills stadium, the tribe's president Wednesday reacted with an angry statement that attacked the governor's husband for his employer's potential ties to the new facility.

But the Seneca president treated Hochul's stadium funding plan as all but inevitable, even though other Senecas proposed renewing a legal battle that the tribe has repeatedly lost in the past in an effort to get back that money.

That split reflected a longstanding divide in Seneca Nation politics over how hard the Indian tribe should fight to retain the casino revenues it sent to Albany this week only after the state froze its bank accounts. But there was also agreement from both sides of that divide that Hochul did a terrible thing when she forced the tribe's hand.

New Yorks hostile and shameless greed was laid bare for the world to see yesterday," Seneca Nation President Matthew Pagels said in a statement.

Hochul administration officials approached KeyBank last week and, using a longstanding state law, asked that the Seneca's bank accounts be frozen in an attempt to force the casino money out of the Senecas. The move came after the Senecas lost repeated legal battles as courts said they owe the money.

Members of the tribe discovered the frozen accounts on Saturday when they couldn't even withdraw any money from ATMs, thereby leading the Seneca Nation Council to vote on Monday to send the payment to the state.

But Pagels clearly wasn't happy about it, calling the payment "ransom money for a new stadium."

Moreover, Pagels took a shot at Hochul's husband, William J. Hochul Jr., senior vice president and general counsel at Delaware North Cos.  a giant concessions and gaming firm based in Buffalo that handles food service at Highmark Stadium, the Bills' current facility. Gov. Hochul has recused herself from any state actions involving Delaware North, but Pagels indicated that the company would benefit from Hochul's decision to steer the Seneca money to the stadium project.

"Im sure that was welcome news to the governors husband, whose company not only operates video lottery terminals within the Seneca Nations supposed gaming exclusivity zone with the states blessing, but the company will also make millions of dollars in concession business inside the state-owned stadium," Pagels said. "And its being paid for on the backs of the Seneca Nation. Quite a sweetheart deal."

Asked for a reaction to Pagels' comment, Hochul's spokeswoman, Hazel Crampton-Hays, said: Gov. Hochul is committed to the strictest ethical standards and restoring trust in government. Delaware North is not a party to the stadium negotiations and any future decisions about vendors at the new stadium would be made by the Bills alone.

Crampton-Hays also noted that Hochul has worked to amicably resolve the issue of the Seneca payment since she became governor last August.

"The courts have consistently ruled in the state's favor, and the state has negotiated in good faith and met every hurdle," Crampton-Hays said. "Time and again, the nation failed to fulfill their court-ordered obligations."

The $564.8 million delivered to the state amounts to 25% of the slot machine revenues at the Senecas' three casinos between 2017 and 2021. Under the 2002 compact that led to the construction of the casinos, the Senecas agreed to pay that 25% share to the state during the last half of the 14-year casino deal. But the two sides have been at odds as to whether the Senecas have to continue paying that 25% share under the seven-year compact extension that took effect in 2017.

Hochul wants to devote about $418.2 million from the Seneca payment to the $600 million state share of the Bills stadium project announced Monday. Other money from the Seneca payment would go to the communities that host the tribe's casinos and surrounding counties.

Despite Pagels' obvious anger, there was nothing in the Seneca president's statement that indicated that the Seneca Nation planned to try to stop the state from spending the Seneca casino revenues on a new Bills stadium.

Instead, he spoke of Hochul's plan as if it were a done deal.

"The governors new stadium wont be a product of progress," Pagels said. "It will be a monument to Albanys vindictive desire to punish the Seneca people. Ultimately, its something were all too familiar with.

But Robert Odawi Porter, a lawyer who previously served as the tribe's president, argued that the Senecas should fight to get back the money that they just sent to the state.

"To me, it's a fraud," Porter said of the state's move to force the Senecas to pay up. "Then just like any fraud, we know who did it, and if it's an illegal payment, we're going to get it back."

Porter noted that the U.S. Department of the Interior never approved the compact extension that the Seneca casinos have been operating under since 2017  and that on Monday, the federal department that oversees Native American affairs proposed new regulations that would force it to review compact extensions and any related documents.

"If those regulations were in effect tomorrow, they would serve as an independent basis for the nation to knock down this payment," he said.

And while the Senecas have lost their earlier battles aimed at keeping the casino money out of the state's hands, Leslie Logan  a founding member of the Seneca Mothers of the Nation, a group that has resisted paying the funds to the state  had a message for Hochul.

"Tell the governor there's more hell to come," she said.

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By Trend

Armenian Dashnaks and Bolsheviks committed genocide in Azerbaijans Baku, Guba, Lankaran, Shamakhi, Zangazur, Khachmaz, Nakhchivan and Karabakh against over 50,000 peaceful Azerbaijanis, mostly women, old people and children, 104 years ago, Yalcin Topcu, the chief adviser to the Turkish President, told Trend.

According to Topcu, defenseless people were shot, burned and buried alive. Dozens of mass graves of these innocent victims were found.

"Although the Ottoman state fought on 10 different fronts during the First World War, it intervened in these events and sent the Caucasian Islamic Army under the command of Nuru Pasha to Azerbaijan to help its brothers, he reminded. The Caucasian Islamic Army, defeating the Armenian and Bolshevik elements in a short time reached Baku and stopped this atrocity.

The diplomat stressed that thanks to the efforts of national leader Heydar Aliyev, the events of 1918 were again objectively studied by independent historians.

According to him, it was established that the atrocities committed against Azerbaijanis in Baku and other cities were a planned genocide.

"On March 26, 1998, by the decree of the national leader Heydar Aliyev, March 31 was declared the Day of the Azerbaijani Genocide and began to be commemorated annually, he said.

March 31 is the Day of the Azerbaijani Genocide, the events of which will never be forgotten by the Turkic and Islamic world. With respect and gratitude, we honor the memory of the victims of the genocide, Nuru Pasha and his heroic soldiers, national leader Heydar Aliyev," added Topcu.




PORTLAND, Maine (AP)  The worldwide seafood industry is steeling itself for price hikes, supply disruptions and potential job losses as new rounds of economic sanctions on Russia make key species such as cod and crab harder to come by.

The latest round of U.S. attempts to punish Russia for the invasion of Ukraine includes bans on imports of seafood, alcohol and diamonds. The U.S. is also stripping "most favored nation status" from Russia. Nations around the world are taking similar steps.

Russia is one of the largest producers of seafood in the world, and was the fifth-largest producer of wild-caught fish, according to a 2020 report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Russia is not one of the biggest exporters of seafood to the U.S., but it's a world leader in exports of cod (the preference for fish and chips in the U.S.). It's also a major supplier of crabs and Alaska pollock, widely used in fast-food sandwiches and processed products like fish sticks.

The impact is likely to be felt globally, as well as in places with working waterfronts. One of those is Maine, where more than $50 million in seafood products from Russia passed through Portland in 2021, according to federal statistics.

"If you're getting cod from Russia, it's going to be a problem," said Glen Libby, an owner of Port Clyde Fresh Catch, a seafood market in Tenants Harbor, Maine. "That's quite a mess. We'll see how it turns out."

Russia exported more than 28 million pounds (12.7 million kilograms) of cod to the U.S. from Jan. 1, 2020, to Jan. 31, 2022, according to census data.

The European Union and United Kingdom are both deeply dependent on Russian seafood. And prices of seafood are already spiking in Japan, a major seafood consumer that is limiting its trade with Russia.

In the U.K., where fish and chips are a cultural marker, shop owners and consumers alike are bracing for price surges. British fish and chip shops were already facing a squeeze because of soaring energy costs and rising food prices.

Andrew Crook, head of the National Federation of Fish Friers, said earlier this month that  even before the war  he expected a third of Britain's fish and chip shops to go out of business. If fish prices shoot up even higher, "we are in real dire straits," he said.

In mid-March, the U.K. slapped a 35% tariff hike on Russian whitefish, including chip-shop staples cod and haddock.

"We're a massive part of U.K. culture and it would be a shame to see that go," he told broadcaster ITV.

U.S. consumers are most likely to notice the impact of sanctions via price and availability of fish, said Kanae Tokunaga, who runs the Coastal and Marine Economics Lab at Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland.

"Because seafood is a global commodity, even if they are not harvested in Russia, you will notice the price hike," Tokunaga said.

In the U.S., the dependence on foreign cod stems to the loss of its own once-robust Atlantic cod fishery that cratered in the face of overfishing and environmental changes. U.S. fishermen, based mostly in New England, brought more than 100 million pounds (45.4 million kilograms) of cod to the docks per year in the early 1980s, but the 2020 catch was less than 2 million pounds (900,000 kilograms).

Regulators have tried to save the fishery with management measures such as very low fishing quotas, and many fishermen targeting other East Coast groundfish species such as haddock and flounder now avoid cod altogether.

Seafood processors in Massachusetts are concerned about job losses due to loss of Russian products, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, who does support sanctions on Russia, said.

"I have heard from seafood processors in my home state with concerns about potential sudden effects of a new, immediate ban on imports on their workforce, including hundreds of union workers in the seafood processing industry," he said on the Senate floor in February.

For U.S. producers of seafood staples such as fish and chips, the lack of Russian cod could mean pivoting to other foreign sources, said Walt Golet, a research assistant professor at the University of Maine's School of Marine Sciences.

"We might be able to bring in more from Norway, a little more from Canadian fisheries," Golet said. "It really is driven by the price of those imports."

As an alternative, producers and consumers could try underutilized fish species caught domestically, such as Atlantic pollock and redfish, said Ben Martens, executive director of Maine Coast Fishermen's Association.

"Maybe this is a time to use haddock or hake or maybe monkfish, something different," Martens said. "If it's going to disrupt supply chains it does present an opportunity for other species to fill that void."

***

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.
PARIS  Not long after Christian Louboutin opened his first boutique on the Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Paris in 1991, his window display caught the eye of Princess Caroline of Monaco, who had been visiting a gallery nearby. She ended up buying several pairs of his shoes that day.

As luck would have it, a journalist from WWD and W magazine, Heidi Lender, happened to be in the shop and mentioned the royals presence in her article rounding up a raft of notable new Paris boutiques.

More from WWD

Louboutin credits that stamp of approval for the rash of buying appointments that followed from American department stores. And Princess Caroline would remain a loyal client.

Suffice it to say, the designers connections with the Principality of Monaco go way back, and these will be exalted in a retrospective exhibition opening this summer at the Grimaldi Forum.

Its billed as Chapter II of the footwear gurus acclaimed 2020 exhibition at the Palais de la Porte Doree in Paris, which endured multiple closures amid waves of pandemic-related lockdowns.

Titled Christian Louboutin, LExhibition[niste], the display recounts an eventful 30-year career and delves into the French designers processes and inspirations, including many from Monaco.

The poster for the Christian Louboutin exhibition in Monaco. - Credit: Courtesy of Christian Louboutin

Courtesy of Christian Louboutin

It will include the Musee Imaginaire from the Paris debut, an area dedicated to artworks and objects from Louboutins personal collection, alongside works loaned from major institutions, including from Monegasque museums.

During a press conference in Paris on Thursday, Louboutin recalled his visit as a child to Monacos Oceanographic Museum, which further fed his fascination with sea creatures.

Among his favorite artworks in all of Monaco is a giant chandelier that looks like a sea urchin conceived by Constant Roux and realized by the Maison Bagues in 1908.

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The exhibition will sprawl over a much larger surface area than in Paris, spanning more than 20,000 square feet, and Louboutin said its soaring ceilings will allow him to include larger artworks, including a giant painting by Gilbert & George. Its open plan will also allow him to group families of signed artworks, found objects and hand-crafted wonders  giving them equal footing.

As in Paris, the Monaco exhibition will explore Louboutins love of dance and the legacy of the Ballets Russes, his passion for African art and Asia, the Pop influence of Warhol, and the nudes of Helmut Newton.

Louboutin collaborated with a host of artisans for the original exhibition, commissioning stained-glass windows from the Maison du Vitrail, a silver Sevillian palanquin and a cabaret sculpted in Bhutan. Also featured are photos by filmmaker David Lynch, a video work of Lisa Reihana and leather sculptures by Whitaker Malem.

New features include a large space dedicated to British sculptor and painter Allen Jones. One of Jones works, a life-sized nude mannequin, lit from inside with eerie green lights and shod in golden booties, stood next to Louboutin at the press conference.

The designer noted that he would add shoes from collections done since the Paris exhibition, and recently acquired pairs from the first five years of his career. By combing through the gold guest book at the Palais de la Porte Doree, he discovered clients who had in their possession his early designs. (He kept no archives initially.)

Sponsors of the display include Monacos government, CMB Monaco, Mytheresa and Sothebys.

Sylvie Biancheri, general director of the Grimaldi Forum, noted that its summer exhibitions, due to their short duration and democratic entry fees, are never profitable, but help burnish Monacos reputation for cultural attractions.

Recent exhibitions at the Grimaldi Forum have been dedicated to the artists Francis Bacon and Alberto Giacometti, while next year Claude Monet will be featured, Biancheri noted.

Monaco is having something of a fashion moment: It is also the site of Chanels cruise 2023 show on May 5.

The Louboutin exhibition opens to the public on July 9 and runs until Aug. 28. It is understood it will next travel to a range of cities in China.

SEE ALSO:

Christian Louboutin Exhibition Has Soles  and Soul

Christian Louboutin Plunges Into Gaming World for Paris Fashion Week

Christian Louboutin Weighs in on Cultural Appropriation vs. Appreciation

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Thai central bank holds fire again, rates likely to stay on hold FILE PHOTO: The new twenty baht polymer banknote is unveiled in Bangkok.

By Orathai Sriring and Kitiphong Thaichareon

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's central bank left its key interest rate unchanged at a record low on Wednesday despite rising inflation, and trimmed its 2022 growth forecast for the pandemic-stricken economy.

The Bank of Thailand (BOT) said it expected inflation to come in above target this year before returning to its 1-3% target range next year.

The BOT's monetary policy committee unanimously voted to hold the one-day repurchase rate at 0.50%, where it has been since May 2020, for a 15th straight meeting, as predicted by all 22 economists polled by Reuters.

"The Thai economic recovery will remain intact in 2022 and 2023, despite impacts from sanctions against Russia which led to higher energy and commodity prices and a slowdown in external demand," it said in a statement after its policy meeting.

While sanctions on Russia have increased the costs of goods, they will not derail the overall recovery path, it said, adding it would focus on supporting the recovery.

As supply-driven inflation is seen as temporary, policy adjustments should be discussed when the economy grows at its potential, which is expected at least late next year, MPC secretary Piti Disyatat told a news conference.

"The key rate is a blunt instrument, so we have to weigh that well before adjusting it," he said.

Economists say policy tightening is unlikely soon because the recovery remains fragile, with the vital tourism industry still struggling.

Kobsidthi Silpachai, head of capital markets research of Kasikornbank, said he expected the rate to stay on hold for the rest of the year until "there are clear signs of a pickup in demand, especially from a recovery in tourism".

The BOT lowered its 2022 economic growth forecast to 3.2% from the 3.4% predicted in December, but raised its headline inflation forecast to 4.9% from 1.7% seen previously. It now predicts inflation will slow to 1.7% in 2023.

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The central bank lowered its economic growth forecast for 2023 to 4.4% from 4.7%.

Southeast Asia's second-largest economy grew 1.6% last year, which was among the lowest growth rates in the region, after a 6.2% contraction in 2020.

On Monday, Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith told Reuters interest rates should stay low to support the recovery.

The BOT maintained its forecast for foreign tourists at 5.6 million this year, after around 428,000 actual visits in 2021. That compared with 40 million foreign tourists in pre-pandemic 2019, when their spending accounted for 11% of GDP.

The BOT raised its 2022 forecast for export growth to 7.0% from 3.5% seen earlier. It predicted exports would rise 1.5% next year, with foreign tourists seen at 19 million.

(Additional reporting by Satawasin Staporncharnchai; Editing by Bradley Perrett & Simon Cameron-Moore)
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - March 28, 2022) - Wealth Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: WML) (OTCQB: WMLLF) (SSE: WMLCL) (FSE: EJZN) (the "Company" or "Wealth"), reports the Company has signed an agreement with the Indigenous Quechua Community of Ollague (Ollague Community), setting the terms of cooperation between the two parties. Wealth is committed to respect community rights and traditions and be open and transparent in all activities regarding the Ollague Project.

The two parties have agreed that Wealth can drill up to five holes in the Ollague salar basin, designed to maximize information to understand the Ollague Project's potential. This drill program will endeavor to have a minimal footprint in the area, use existing roads, and generally have as unobtrusive presence as possible so as not to negatively impact Ollague residents and the surrounding environment. During the course of Wealth's drilling program, the Company will prioritize local service providers for transport, vehicles, consumables, food and lodging.

Wealth's CEO Hendrik van Alphen, commented: "We look forward to implementing the agreement with the Ollague Community and to get to work in the coming months with the planned drill program. We believe that this will be the start of a good long-term relationship with the Ollague Community as the Ollague Project advances and brings benefits to all stakeholders. I would like to thank all the leaders of the Indigenous Quechua Community of Ollague for their guidance and support in reaching this important agreement."

The Ollague Project

The Ollague Project consists of 6,400 hectares located in northern Chile, Region II, near the Chile-Bolivia border and approximately 200km due north from Atacama. Recent drilling activity by a peer company in the area returned lithium grades up to 480 Li mg/l and surface sampling has returned lithium grades as high as 1,140 Li mg/l. Readers are cautioned that the properties held by a peer company are adjacent properties and that Wealth has no interest in or right to acquire any interest in any part of these properties, and that mineral deposits on adjacent or similar properties are not in any way indicative of mineral deposits on Wealth's mineral properties or position in the Ollague basin. Wealth previously conducted a coincident loop Transient Electromagnetic ("TEM") survey on the Ollague Project, which identified very highly conductive zones and are interpreted to represent porous media with high-salinity fluids (potentially lithium-bearing brines) at depth.

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Ollague Project Map



To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4437/118197_96ba5ff4647d0842_002full.jpg

About Wealth Minerals Ltd.

Wealth is a mineral resource company with interests in Canada, Mexico and Chile. The Company's main focus is the acquisition and development of lithium projects in South America.

The Company opportunistically advances battery metal projects where it has a peer advantage in project selection and initial evaluation.

Lithium market dynamics and a rapidly increasing metal price are the result of profound structural issues with the industry meeting anticipated future demand. Wealth is positioning itself to be a major beneficiary of this future mismatch of supply and demand. In parallel with lithium market dynamics, Wealth believes other battery metals will benefit from similar industry trends.

For further details on the Company readers are referred to the Company's website (www.wealthminerals.com) and its Canadian regulatory filings on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors of

WEALTH MINERALS LTD.

"Hendrik van Alphen"

Hendrik van Alphen

Chief Executive Officer

For further information, please contact:

Marla Ritchie or Henk van Alphen

Phone: 604-331-0096 Ext. 3886 or 604-638-3886

E-mail: info@wealthminerals.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 press release, which has been prepared by management.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and US securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, statements regarding the anticipated content, commencement, timing and cost of exploration programs, anticipated exploration program results, the discovery and delineation of mineral deposits/resources/reserves, the Company's expectation that it will be able to enter into agreements to acquire interests in additional mineral projects, and the anticipated business plans and timing of future activities of the Company, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of the financial markets for the Company's equity securities, the state of the commodity markets generally, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, variations in the market price of any mineral products the Company may produce or plan to produce, the inability of the Company to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required, including TSXV acceptance, for its planned activities, the inability of the Company to produce minerals from its properties successfully or profitably, to continue its projected growth, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's latest interim Management Discussion and Analysis and filed with certain securities commissions in Canada. All of the Company's Canadian public disclosure filings may be accessed via www.sedar.com and readers are urged to review these materials, including the technical reports filed with respect to the Company's mineral properties.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/118197
By Azernews





By Ayya Lmahamad

Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov has described as important the fulfillment of conditions of a ceasefire deal signed by Baku, Yerevan and Moscow on November 10, 2020, to normalize Azerbaijani-Armenian relations.

He made the remarks during a joint press conference with Polish Foreign Minister and OSCE Chairman-in-Office Zbigniew Rau in Baku.

Noting the possibility of normalization of Azerbaijan-Armenia relations, the minister emphasized that the time has come to take concrete steps in this direction.

Azerbaijan put forward its proposals for peace, but the Armenian side did not react to it, he said.

OSCE ready to contribute to peace

Zbigniew Rau underlined that the OSCE is ready to contribute to the peace process and dialogue between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

"I will call on Armenia to be careful in restoring peace in the South Caucasus. The OSCE is also ready to promote the demarcation process and clarify the fate of missing persons. Our main goal is to ensure long-term peace," he said.

Bilateral cooperation

Jeyhun Bayramov highlighted that there is a potential for expanding Azerbaijani-Polish economic relations. He underlined opportunities for the development of bilateral ties in the fields of agriculture, tourism and other areas.

The minister recalled that the flights between Warsaw and Baku will be resumed from May.

"Today I discussed with my Polish colleague the prospects for the development of economic relations between Azerbaijan and Poland," he said.

Speaking about the one-on-one meeting between the ministers, Bayramov stated that they have discussed Armenia's long-term occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territory and the end of that occupation as a result of the 44-day war.

The minister mentioned that the meeting was held on Azerbaijani Genocide Day, March 31.

"During the genocide, Armenians killed tens of thousands of Azerbaijanis because of their ethnicity," he said.

Moreover, he said that the restoration of the country's liberated territories and the return of Azerbaijanis to their native lands were also discussed at the meeting.

"The participation of Polish companies in the restoration works is desirable, and this issue was also touched upon at today's meeting," he added.

In turn, Zbigniew Rau stressed that Poland highly values its bilateral relations with Azerbaijan.

EU and Azerbaijan

Bayramov stated that the full agreement on the partnership document between the EU and Azerbaijan is expected in the near future.

The minister noted that cooperation within the framework of international organizations was widely discussed during the meeting.

"Poland as an OSCE member contributes to cooperation between the EU and Azerbaijan," he said.

Additionally, the minister noted that about 20,000 Azerbaijanis have left Ukraine. He added that roughly 4,000 Azerbaijanis left Ukraine due to the strained situation in the country through the territory of Poland.

"We thank the Polish side for the conditions created for this," he said.

Earlier, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev received a delegation led by Zbigniew Rau.
After a few weeks of mate, female penguins nest on a sandy beach. For example, the Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) reaches maturity around 5 or 6 years old, but the little blue penguin does at 2 or 3 years of age . The female goes to sea to feed while the male incubates the egg. The article sums up all the information revolving around the mating behavior of loons, though there is a huge vacuum to be filled yet. Male and female both display courtship acts to gain each other's trust. The female will then lift her tail,. The female will lie down on the ground and the male will climb on her back and walk backward until he gets to her tail. Penguins shout their love for each other by screaming it out loud. Mature penguins trek inland to the nesting areas and form large breeding colonies. According to penguin researchers, oftentimes any pebble will do. penguins mate for life. During the mating season king penguins "flirt . How Do Wolves Choose Their Mates? Distinctive calls. They do so based on the quality and beauty of a bower. The female goes to sea to feed while the male incubates the egg. After choosing a mate the female lays two eggs and returns to sea, leaving the male alone to tend the egg until she returns to take the next shift. To a human, penguins look like clones; a mass gathering of waddling animals in tuxedos. Freshwater crocodiles mate in the dry season whereas saltwater crocs mate during the wet season. Do male penguins scour the beach to find a special pebble to present to their mate, as a cute meme going around Facebook in South Africa says? How Do They Decide Who To Mate With? In both genders when they are ready to mate, their testes and ovaries swell or inflate respectively. In order to tell the difference between the male and female emperor penguins, look at their beaks. To attract them, males fluff up their feathers and emit mating calls. Also, the golden crest on the "breast" areas correspond to gender . During sex, the male peacock . Another difference between fresh- and saltwater crocs is that freshwater crocodiles bury their eggs in the sand . The Gentoo penguin might have one of the most adorable courtship rituals in all of the animal kingdom. When penguins are ready to mate, the male stands with his back arched and wings stretched. How does a penguin get a mate? how many months do the penguins keep their partnership with their mate? If the spot is pink, it's a female. It shows a pair of penguins walking on a beach. The female lifts her tail allowing their cloacas to touch and sperm to be transfered. The offspring stay with the pack until they reach the age of 2 to 3, when they leave to start their own . How do female penguins choose their mate? Most penguins are monogamous.This means that male and female pairs will mate exclusively with each other for the duration of mating season. How do female penguins choose their mate? They all perform a "courtship display" and the one who wins her heart gets the chance to mate that female. Many difficulties during mating, nesting, and hatching come their way which also made their survival highly competitive. If the pebble is accepted, they are mates for life. During the Antarctic winter, which lasts about four months, male emperor penguins huddle in groups, guarding their eggs and keeping them warm. This is why emperor penguins will travel so far inland to breed. . Gentoo penguins choose shallow coastal areas for their breeding grounds, building nests among tufts of grass or rocky ground. Humboldt penguins lay two eggs at a time. they group themselves-also know as joining in a mass to conserve heat. She gives them a try to attract her. The male is slightly larger than the female. They aren't shy about expressing their love for their mate. Once a female chooses her mate, the pair will go through an important courtship ritual, in which the penguins bow, preen and call to each other. For the first two weeks penguin dads do the bulk . Blue penguins are among those who form long-term relationships and their divorce rate is around 6% per year. She returns several weeks later, usually just before the egg is ready to hatch, to relieve her mate so that he may feed. Monogamy isn't for all penguins, though. Both sexes have orifaces called cloacas that are used both for reproduction and for waste. The text reads: "When a male penguin falls in love with a female penguin, he searches the entire beach to find a pebble to present to her.This is the perfect example of true love." When the penguins find a mate, they bond with each other by touching necks and slapping each other on the back with their flippers. Although some have suggested that a male will spend lots of time finding the perfect pebble and females choose their mate on pebble quality, that's not entirely true. She returns several weeks later, usually just before the egg is ready to hatch, to relieve her mate so that he may feed. African, Magellanic, Gentoo and Royal penguins are examples of monogamous penguin species. Ok, ok, bad joke. Answer (1 of 2): I think this question reflects a misunderstanding of the word "monogamous" as it refers to animal behavior. She then transfers the egg to her male mate and leaves to spend the winter in the open ocean in search of food and other resources. The national symbol of the United States of America, bald eagles mate for life with their partner. Male penguins of many species gift their mates with rocks. Emperor penguins do not mate for life, but they only take a single mate for each breeding season. A penguin that has reached sexual maturity is ready to start breeding. How Do Wolves Choose Their Mates? The warmest months of the year are usually the time when female nests. They also "sing" to each other so they learn to recognize each other's voices. Once they have found their mate, what do they do? When Choosing a Mate, These Female Birds Prefer Brains Over Beauty or Brawn . Mate selection is up to the female, and it is the females that compete for the males. Both sexes have orifaces called cloacas that are used both for reproduction and for waste. He makes a loud call and struts about to attract a female. If the male cannot find the perfect rock on his own, he . When you see a penguin mating it means it's happy. However, clutch, egg and offspring size all increase with female body size in seahorses, suggesting that males may obtain fecundity benefits by mating with large-bodied females. Female bowerbirds do all the work: They build the nest, lay the eggs, care for the young. After observing initially scorned male budgies performing complex cognitive tasks, females shifted mating preferences Saying "I love you" is just a normal part of their day, and they're . . It shows a pair of penguins walking on a beach. Saltwater crocs use sticks and grasses to build a nest. The ritual helps the birds get to know one another, and learn their respective calls so that they can always find each other. He makes a loud call and struts about to attract a female.When the penguins find a mate, they bond with each other by touching necks and slapping each other on the back with their flippers.. How do penguins flirt? What month is the one egg of each partner laid? Emperor penguins display elaborate courtship behavior. For the first two weeks penguin dads do the bulk . Once a female chooses her mate, the pair will go through an important courtship ritual, in which the penguins bow, preen and call to each other. Except for emperor penguins, other species of penguins take turns to incubate the eggs. Their weight fluctuates greatly due to fasting while breeding and molting. As a courtship gesture, male penguins may bring pebbles to the females to add to their nests. We've all heard it countless times: Certain species of birds mate for life, including geese, swans, cranes, and eagles. 2. The female lays the egg on the stones depression or dried guano. The male and female penguins will squawk loudly at each other while doing their courtship dance. If penguins are largely monogamous creatures, and they choose to mate for life, then what do penguins do when another penguin dies. These calls show females how fat the male is, and the . The female penguin lies flat on the ground and the male penguin presses his cloaca onto hers and passes the sperms through. The female penguin will typically choose who they mate with. The "Big Bad Wolf" is a monogamous animal. What tasks face a female that is looking for a mate? Sometimes males . The male will choose a female then begin the ceremony, puffing out his chest and doing a mating song and dance. Gentoo penguins reach sexual maturity around 3 years of age, and the macaroni penguins around 5 years of age. Sexual selection refers to an organism's ability to successfully compete for a mate or the ability to choose a mate. Courtship complete, the pair then mates. How do seahorses choose their mate? Although wolves travel and live in packs, there is only one male and female that mate. The king penguins begin to breed at the age of 3; however they do not breed then and the first breeding (normally) starts after they reach 6 years of age. How do penguins find their mate? (Brood patches are flaps of featherless skin some birds have on the underside of their bellies.) Obviously, the stronger one wins and the female goes with that one! Swans going through the mating ritual is rather an elaborate process. Color is also important for certain penguin species in their other key life activity: finding a mate. They can dive deeper than any other bird, including other penguins. Mate selection is up to the female, and it is the females that compete for the males. This process does not take long, often lasting about 10 seconds. Emperor penguins . The macaroni penguins typically lay their eggs in mid-April, and the gentoo penguins lay in early May. Female penguins don't rely on pebble presentation as a key aspect of mate selection;, and penguins don't appear to care as much about the . The eggs laid by sea turtles are similar to those laid by other turtles. Lots of monogamous bird species cheat, and some "divorce"but at rates much lower than humans. In this sense, the size of the body influences the time it takes for an individual to reach maturity or begin to mate. When a male penguin falls in love with female penguin, he will search the entire beach to find the perfect pebble that he will present to his chosen one. In any case, if animals as simple as guppies can consider the opinions of their peers when choosing a mate, imagine how complex the cues must be that guide humans in their search for the perfect mate. Gray Wolves. They start their trek when the Antarctic day lengths are increased, indicating the onset of their breeding season. It's colder, mother is starving, ocean is farther away. When they are choosing mates, penguins give their desired mate the perfect pebble. Bald eagles choose to be faithful until death, or until there is a problem of impotence. Next up are Zimmer (21 years old) and Nadja (16), our only all-female pair (pictured). Dr Peter Dann, Director of the Penguin Foundation, research manager at Phillip Island Nature Parks and an honorary researcher at the University of Melbourne, explains: "Male penguins perform a 'courtship' display in front of nesting . In many cases, the male and female will continue to mate with each other for most of their lives. Do King Penguins Mate For Life. About 90 percent of bird species are monogamous, which means a male and a female form a pair bond. Penguins have a charming tradition of giving a perfect pebble to the mate they choose for life. Once penguins have found their mate, they form a monogamous relationship and will only mate with that penguin. In some penguin species, a female selects the same male from the preceding season to mate with. Nonetheless, the loyalty percent age is only 29%. 1/3. 1. When penguins are ready to mate, the male stands with his back arched and wings stretched.  Do male penguins scour the beach to find a special pebble to present to their mate, as a cute meme going around Facebook in South Africa says? When the penguins find a mate, they bond with each other by touching necks and slapping each other on the back with their flippers. Now comes the most crucial part of the penguin life cycle. When mating begins, the male will approach a female from behind and begin to vibrate his wings against the. Do Male Or Female Sea Turtles Lay Eggs? Summary: Male seahorses select partners based on their body size, according to a new study. in June. Do penguins mate for life? Penguins can sniff out the odor of lifelong mates, helping them reunite in crowded colonies, and also can identify the scent of close kin to avoid inbreeding, scientists said on Wednesday. The yellow and orange accents on king penguins tend to signify the overall health of the animal, and biologists have noticed that females are often drawn to color when they select mates. But as you're about to discover, Mute Swans certainly take a lot longer than a few seconds - the longest I've personally witnessed is about 20 minutes, from beginning to end. The female lies on her stomach while the male climbs onto her back. Male Penguins Do their Part in Penguin Love. So how does a female penguin choose a mate and what makes one male penguin more alluring than the next guy? However, it does not imply that they keep that bond that year-round, and it does not imply tha. When mating begins, the male will approach a female from behind and begin to vibrate his wings against the female's back and neck. 8 months. For example, in emperor penguins each female produces a single egg. While the female Gentoo penguins wait, the males search for the smoothest looking pebble to present as a 'love token' to their chosen females. This selection allows certain members of the population to reproduce more than . Everything you heard in the video is true, penguins do not have penises. Can penguins sit? If a penguin needs to find a new mate, males will try to attract females by swinging their heads up and down while calling out in hopes that a female will choose them as their mate. Cloaca. How much of the female's body weight has been lost? Ethology 121, 1048-1058. doi: 10.1111/eth.12419 The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific . The female lies on her stomach while the male climbs onto her back. How do penguins have sex? Do Humboldt penguins mate for life? Likewise, do penguins fall in love? This male. Females leave the egg to the males and move out for hunting. Once the female 'agrees' to the invitation, the male will pick up a stick and suggest where to build a nest. Sometimes, there is a fight among male penguins for the same female. How do female penguins choose their mate? To examine the nature of the interaction, we reanalyzed the effect of courtship rate on mating success after splitting the data based on male size into males less than the mean pronotum width (<5.00 mm) and males greater than or equal to the mean pronotum width (5.00 mm) (see Figure 3a,b).Nominal logistic regressions were run for both size classes with male size, female size, and courtship . 1 partner- also known as monogamous relationship. Their colonies spread across many of the sub-Antarctic islands as well as the Antarctic Peninsula. When ready to mate, a male Gentoo penguin will scour the entire rocky shoreline in search of the most beautiful, smooth, and shiny rock to present as a gift to a female. Source: zoologyexpert.com Pigeons actually go through a long ritual to decide their mate. Loons do not mate for life as they are more independent in this regard. Mate. Emperor penguins do not build nests. Once a female penguin has chosen a mate, the pair makes braying noises to advertise their companionship. Almost immediately then, the female leaves the male and joins other females from the colony as they make their way back to the sea to feed up. Zimmer also happens to be our oldest penguin: the species can live up to around 20 years in the wild, but can fare significantly better than that in zoos (due to better nutrition, better medical care, lack of predation, and the absence of negative human impact on their environment). they generally raise a small brood, and their parents cooperate in caring for there young Do Emperor penguins mate for life or choose new mates each year? These penguins are a monogamous species, returning to the same mate year after year during the breeding season. These large flightless birds have for the most part one mate for each year, and stay devoted to that mate. The female lifts her tail allowing their cloacas to touch and sperm to be transfered. Wolves choose their mates by sniffing out and examining their mate whether she's ready for mating and then proceeding with courtship and breeding . For many species of bird, the actual mating ritual can all be done in the order of seconds. How do they choose their mate? After all the wooing and courting the female, protecting the nest and territory, the male penguin has to take responsibility of incubating the egg. During the summer mating season, female penguins choose their mate. During the breeding season, it's usually established that the alpha male and alpha female belong to each other. Mate Choice and Colored Beak Spots of King Penguins. True love waits -- for a little while, anyway. The male penguins choose the nesting site before the breeding season. The female then chooses or is surrounded by some male Penguins. Name_____ Questions. How do the mss of penguins keep each other warm? To signal acceptance, the peahen will crouch down on the ground and the peacock will perform what's known as a 'hoot dash', rushing towards the peahen, making a loud call. If it has an orange spot, it's a male.  Emperor penguins are the largest penguins in the world. Once A Penguin Finds A Mate, They Usually Stay Together For Years Or For As Long As They Have Chicks. Occasionally, a penguin will choose two or three partners in a year. Like other penguins, Humboldt penguins are also monogamous, and they mate with one penguin for life. . A peahen will choose a mate based on who has the largest and most colorful feathers, often focused on the lower portion of the train. As soon as the egg is laid it is passed to the male who carefully balances it on his feet and then covers it with an abdominal fold of skin. Well as you can see in the video above, adult penguins will certainly mourn the passing of their babies. Each female will lay 1-2 eggs, and both parents take turns sitting on the eggs to keep them warm and safe. Penguin breeds including gentoo, chinstrap and Adelie mate with the same partner year after year. The female emperor penguins hunt and return to the male to feed the chicks once the eggs hatch. Incubation is generally the warming up the egg so that it could hatch. Gentoos use stones to form a circle for their nests, and fights over those stones can become quite nasty. Instead, their feet and "brood patches" act as nests. The cloaca is a chamber and outlet which both male and female pigeons possess (and most birds), into which the intestinal, urinary, and genital tracts open. Report by Asan. There are saltwater and freshwater crocodiles, each with their own mating season. The male penguin will try to impress the female in hopes of getting chosen by cleaning themselves, building nests, and using mating calls. "Research suggests the quality of his burrow may be a factor in the female's choice as she may inspect the burrow prior to consummating the relationship." Although males and females look alike, the males tend to be slightly bigger and have slightly longer beaks, says Dr Dann. Once the egg is laid, the female Emperor Penguin transfers it very carefully to her mate (if the egg touches the ice, it would freeze and die), who then keeps the egg warm by tucking it under a large fold of skin until it . So how does a female penguin choose a mate and what makes one male penguin more alluring than the next guy? In many bird species males and females look distinctly different  but penguins don't appear to have got the memo. Macaroni penguins are one of the largest crested penguins (the closely-related royal penguin is slightly larger) with an average length of 28 inches (70cm) and an average weight of 12 pounds (5.5kg). . After choosing a mate the female lays two eggs and returns to sea, leaving the male alone to tend the egg until she returns to take the next shift. The female penguin passes the egg . Penguins also use vocal communication during courtship for selecting a mate. A female emperor penguin transfers a single egg to the top of her mate's feet. The text reads: "When a male penguin falls in love with a female penguin, he searches the entire beach to find a pebble to present to her.This is the perfect example of true love." Gentoo Penguins. But they need to choose a mate. Where do female penguins go in the winter? The behavior of nesting is based on the behavior of animals. A fascinating fact regarding the mating of penguins is that both, male and female, are involved in the preparation of the nest and the care of the chicks, a behavior hardly seen in many species of animals. sea A female emperor penguin transfers a single egg to the top of her mate's feet. I think I know the reason why eagles choose who they do as a mate: it's not like you're going to meet a better looking eagle. What happens when a penguin steals a stone from another penguin? During the breeding season, it's usually established that the alpha male and alpha female belong to each other. He makes a loud call and struts about to attract a female. If a partner doesn't show up, the show must go on; most birds will choose another mate. Many species of penguin do form long-term relationships, but some species choose a new mate every year. Why will the trip back to the ocean be harder this time?

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Redistricting is the process of redrawing the state's political boundaries based on the latest census, showing how populations have changed in neighborhoods, cities and counties since 2010. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina Republican legislators have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a congressional redistricting plan that state judges drew this week. The goal of the map is to make it more difficult for the state's only Democrat in Congress, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, to win re-election. towns, as well as the 'block-on-border' and 'town-on-border' rules, shall remain in effect." . Updated September 8, 2020. Welcome to The Hill's Campaign Report, where we'll be tracking all things related to the 2022 midterm elections. The new, downgraded estimate is a sign that Republicans are posed to do better than expected in the redistricting battle. New York would also be required to count incarcerated persons at the place of their last residence for redistricting purposes. Sununu's congressional redistricting map seen as improvement, but raises concerns, too. TOPEKA  Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt wants the Kansas Supreme Court to block a pair of lawsuits challenging the legality of a new congressional map. A hearing is set for today in the Republican-backed lawsuit against Nevada's new state legislative maps drawn based on the 2020 census results. The Supreme Court has turned away efforts from Republicans in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to block state court-ordered congressional districting plans more favorable to Democrats. Senate adopts executive council redistricting. (WASHINGTON) -- Early voting for Ohio's May 3 primary starts in less than a week, and Election Day is just five weeks away. The maps can be viewed in person 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., Feb. 8 to Feb. 16 at Pip Moyer Recreation Center. The administration of President Donald Trump tried to have the Census Bureau not count undocumented immigrants in 2020, which was blocked. Sununu's map moves Democrat strongholds in the Seacoast such as Dover, Durham, and Portsmouth into the 1st Congressional District, making both districts more competitive compared to the Republican-backed map. The ballot measure would remove the block-on-border requirement for state Senate districts. WASHINGTON (AP)  In a victory for Democrats, the Supreme Court has turned away efforts from Republicans in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to block state court-ordered congressional districting plans.. The purple line represents the District 7 border set in 2011  the black is the proposal for the new border in 2021. The number of Ukrainians who attempted to enter the U.S. illegally stands at 5,534 this fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, according to CBP data. That requires moving the borders of districts . Councilwoman Brenda Priestly Jackson, representing a seahorse-shaped district stretching from near the Clay County border to the Trout River, hosted most redistricting meetings for the Northside and Westside districts. ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Canadian truck drivers have been blocking a border crossing with Montana and shutting down traffic in the capital, Ottawa. If there's a topic more sleep-inducing to the general public than redistricting, it should be bottled and sold to insomniacs . Top Video Mar 7, 2022 / 06:16 PM EST. Supreme Court restores Alabama's redistricting plan for 2022. Redistricting Criteria Eliminating the "block on border" rule when drawing districts. The Decennial Census is the nationwide tallying of every person living in the United States, and has been conducted every ten years since 1790. We have also presented voters information on one of the key ballot initiatives, which involves reducing the County Legislature from 25 to 21 seats. COUNCIL REDISTRICTING PROPOSALS. King George residents can comment on the redistricting proposals during Tuesday's public hearing. . WASHINGTON (AP)  The Supreme Court has turned away efforts from Republicans in North Carolina and Pennsylvania to block state court-ordered congressional districting plans more favorable to Democrats. Sarah . The North Carolina legislature on Thursday completed new redistricting plans that Republicans said will meet fairness directives of state . CONCORD - The state Senate's redistricting leader will offer a new map Thursday for the five Executive Council districts that would give some, but not . 1 of 3 FILE- State Sen. Warren Daniel, R-Burke speaks during a House Health Care Committee meeting regarding House Bill 695 in Raleigh, N.C., on July 9, 2013. NC 2nd-chance redistricting finalized; maps now go to court. It would also change the timeline for redistricting, moving up several dates, and remove inoperative language from the . Kansas attorney general asks high court to block redistricting lawsuits. Trucker protest blocks Pembina-Emerson border on Canadian side. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to block a congressional redistricting plan that state judges drew this week, initiating a last-ditch . This map shows current district lines in Albany County along with population deviations derived from the 2020 census. The New York constitution currently requires that towns or blocks that could be placed in multiple districts be kept together and assigned to a single district rather than divided up. Redistricting Criteria Eliminating the "block on border" rule when drawing districts. The lawsuits argue the state constitution's bill of rights provides . In separate orders late Monday, the justices are allowing maps selected . Republican lawmakers have overridden Gov. WFPL. . By Sherman Smith. New York would also be required to count incarcerated persons at the place of their last residence for redistricting purposes. How did this measure get on the ballot See also: Path to the ballot Proposal 1, a constitutional amendment, originated in the New York State Legislature. Yet the state's congressional and legislative maps are still being litigated . well as the 'block-on-border' and 'town-on-border' rules, shall remain in effect. The plaintiffs are asking the court to block the new maps while their lawsuit to overturn them proceeds. The nine-member Redistricting Commission voted 7-2 to adopt a Preliminary Redistricting Map and Plan ("the Preliminary Map and Plan") on November 13, 2021. You can expect this newsletter in your inbox each week leading up to November's . The Census Bureau publishes geographic products, including revised block and block group geographies at least every decennial census, in accordance with Public Law 94-171. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A lawsuit backed by the Tennessee Democratic Party seeks to block new redistricting maps for the state House and Senate, arguing Republican lawmakers who drew the Andrews is a data analyst for the Redistricting Data Hub, a nonpartisan organization that hosts redistricting data for free. The Jacksonville City Council redistricting plans faced their most serious threat of a lawsuit yet: Four local activist organizations have called on the Rules Committee to redraw the plans to avoid the "legal problems that would follow.". RALEIGH, N.C.  North Carolina Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to block a congressional redistricting plan that state judges drew this week, initiating a last-ditch effort to . NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A lawsuit backed by the Tennessee Democratic Party seeks to block new redistricting maps for the state House and Senate, arguing Republican lawmakers who drew the 7. Those who want to call in or participate virtually can get more details at the county's . The state Supreme Court refused to block the use of the map on Wednesday night, less than 12 hours before candidate filing in North Carolina resumed following a 2 1/2-month hiatus. According to the order, the . Redistricting starts with the census, the federal government's comprehensive count of the country's population and its changing demographics. Albany County calls on residents to submit their own redistricting plans. The goal of the map is to make it more difficult for the state's only Democrat in Congress, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, to win re-election. Sununu's map moves Democrat strongholds in the Seacoast such as Dover, Durham, and Portsmouth into the 1st Congressional District, making both districts more competitive compared to the Republican-backed map. and carves Lawrence out of Douglas County to place it in a district that stretches to the Colorado border. The Redistricting Commission then held five additional public hearings as required by the January 21, 2022. . Redistricting committee approves meeting schedule, split of census blocks. The justices split, 5-4, to block a lower court order that said a new map diluted the influence of Black voters. In the lead-up to Election Day on Tuesday, Nov. 2, The Daily Catch has introduced the candidates in contested races, including the race for comptroller, family court judge and State Supreme Court justice. Court rejects GOP redistricting plans in NC, PennsylvaniaBy MARK SHERMANAssociated PressThe Associated PressWASHINGTON. You can expect this newsletter in your inbox each week leading up to November's . A federal judge signed off Thursday afternoon on the new Baltimore County Council redistricting map. DOVER  A closing step in a once-in-a-decade redistricting process was taken Wednesday at Legislative Hall. Andy Beshear's vetoes of new redistricting maps and the Kentucky Democratic Party has filed a lawsuit to try and keep the plans from going into effect. On March 15, the Ward 6 Redistricting Task Force met via Zoom to vote on new boundaries for ANC 6C.. Community Feedback . Thirty-nine states  most recently Wisconsin  have now finished redrawing their congressional maps (not counting the six states with only one congressional district). The Preliminary Map and Plan was filed with the Office of the City Clerk on November 15, 2021. divisions exist in streets that are logical and closely associated with a census block group border. Welcome to The Hill's Campaign Report, where we'll be tracking all things related to the 2022 midterm elections. Meetings are underway to plan the redistricting of the City of Jacksonville now that 2020 Census data has determined the . The stunning development comes after a Maryland judge on Friday struck down a congressional map that bolstered Democrats, ruling the redistricting map violated the state's constitution. Members of North Dakota's redistricting committee sit in a meeting at the state Capitol on Aug. 26, 2021. However, another effect of leaving redistricting to member meetings was the exclusion of public comments. The high court on Wednesday also rejected, in an unsigned opinion, a Republican-led bid to block the map that set boundaries for the state's U.S. House districts.. In separate orders late March 7, 2022, the justices are allowing maps selected by each state's Supreme Court to be in effect for the 2022 elections. Last week, Gov. The Preliminary Map and Plan was filed with the Office of the City Clerk on November 15, 2021. TOPEKA (Kansas Reflector)  Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt wants the Kansas Supreme Court to block a pair of lawsuits challenging the legality of a new congressional map.The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Loud Light filed separate lawsuits Monday in Wyandotte County District Court. Greg Abbott (R) and GOP leaders from redistricting during a special session.The suit filed by state Sens. Two Democratic Texas state senators filed a lawsuit this week seeking to block Gov. Redistricting: A closer look at the few blocks where congressional borders around Capitol Hill and the CD would change. That would keep the old district boundaries in place for the primary election in June. The proposal would remove the "block on border" and "town. Kansas attorney general asks high court to block redistricting lawsuits. At last week's monthly meeting of ANC 6C, the commissioners voted unanimously to send a letter to the ward 6 redistricting task force citing concerns about the proposed boundaries for ANCs 6C and 6E.  Map from Albany County. In drawing senate districts, towns or blocks which, from their location may be included in either of two districts, shall be so placed as to make said districts most nearly equal in . RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  The North Carolina legislature on Thursday completed new redistricting plans that Republicans contend will meet fairness directives of state justices who struck down . The Redistricting Commission then held five additional public hearings as required by the RALEIGH, N.C. (AP)  North Carolina Republicans asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to block a congressional redistricting plan that state judges drew this week, initiating a last-ditch effort to derail a map that likely would give Democrats another seat on Capitol Hill in 2023. Friday's appeal . and carves Lawrence out of Douglas County to place it in a district that stretches to the Colorado border. State law mandates that districts cannot have a difference in population of more than 5 . The Supreme Court has turned away efforts from Republicans in Pennsylvania and North . Andrews is a data analyst for the Redistricting Data Hub, a nonpartisan organization that hosts redistricting data for free. US Supreme Court rejects GOP move to block redistricting in North Carolina . Three redistricting maps proposed by the Annapolis Ward Boundaries and Redistricting Task Force. By Ryland Barton. The plan, importantly, also calls for eliminating what's called the "block on border" requirement in redistricting, a provision that permitted the carving up of city neighborhoods. . . Beshear rejected redistricting plans for the state House of Representatives and Kentucky's six . Office of Sen. James Gray, R-Rochester. MADISON, Wis. (AP)  Wisconsin Republicans on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block a state ruling that would enact legislative maps submitted by Democratic Gov. The Democrat-endorsed map would have created seven safe Democratic seats and one . RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The North Carolina legislature on Thursday completed new redistricting plans that Republicans contend will meet . Chris Sununu released a map with his idea of how New Hampshire's two congressional . Tony Evers, saying . On March 15, the Ward 6 Redistricting Task Force met via Zoom to vote on new boundaries for ANC 6C.. Community Feedback . Lalee Ibssa and Hannah Demissie, ABC News March 30, 2022 0. adamkaz/Getty Images. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)  A three-judge panel has denied a request to expedite a legal challenge seeking to block newly drawn state House and Senate maps in Tennessee. The so-called Freedom Convoy began almost a week ago . The court also sided with Republicans in a redistricting case out of Wisconsin, ruling Wednesday to block Democratic-drawn legislative maps that had been selected by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. It would also change the timeline for redistricting, moving up several dates, and remove inoperative language from the . The nine-member Redistricting Commission voted 7-2 to adopt a Preliminary Redistricting Map and Plan ("the Preliminary Map and Plan") on November 13, 2021.

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Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore Mid Year Research Admissions 2022 https://career.webindia123.com/career/dates_and_events/jawaharlal-nehru-centre-for-advanced-scientific-research-jncasr-admissions.htm Details of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore Mid Year Research Admissions 2022 2021-3-1 2021-4-20 https://career.webindia123.com/career/images/exams.png India India Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore Mid Year Research Admissions 2022 M.Phil/ Ph.D

JNCASR Bangalore Ph.D/ M.S(Research)/M.S(Engg.) Admission 2022

Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore Mid Year Research Admissions 2022 Category : M.Phil/ Ph.D Admissions 2022 Published : On March 1, 2021 By Webindia123 Editor

Important Dates

Last date for submitting duly completed online application for M.S./Ph.D. programme 20th April, 2022 Joining date for selected students

Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bangalore invites online applications for admission to Ph.D/ M.S(Research)/ M.S(Engg.) programmes in Science and Engineering for the session commencing from January 2022.

The research programmes will be offered only in the Units (departments) detailed below :

Ph.D :

Chemistry and Physics ofi Materials Unit.

Engineering Mechanics Unit.

Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit.

Molecular Biology and Genetics Unit.

Eligibility

Candidates with an M Sc., B E, B Tech, M E, M Tech or MBBS are eligible to apply. They should have at least 50% in their highest University examination, and should also have qualified in the GATE / UGC -/ CSIR - NET-JRF/ ICMR - JRF / DBT-JRF/JEST / INSPIRE or any other equivalent national level examination. The certificate of such test should have the validity period for seeking admission to research programme as on 1 January2022. Generally ME/M.Tech students are required to qualify one of the exams mentioned above, however exceptional candidates without these exams may also be considered.

M.S(Engg.)

Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit.

Engineering Mehanics Unit.

M.S(Research)

Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit.

Eligibility for M.S(Engg.)/ M.S.(Research)

Candidates with an M Sc., B E, B Tech, M E, M Tech or MBBS are eligible to apply. They should have at least 50% in their highest University examination, and should also have qualified in the GATE / UGC -/ CSIR - NET-JRF / ICMR - JRF / DBT-JRF/JEST / INSPIRE or any other equivalent national level examination. The certificate of such test should have the validity period for seeking admission to research programme as on 1 January2022.

For more details about the Units, the candidates can go through the information available on the concerned Unit web page and opt for your preferences.

The candidates are requested to go through the following instructions before filling the online application :

Please fill the application form completely; an incomplete application may be rejected.(For a sample filled-in application, Click Here ). Please fill in the details using title case (Eg: Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research) and avoid usage of only capital letters.

No fee is involved to apply for these programmes.

Keep the details/particulars/copy of Xth Std / XIIth Std / Bachelor's / Masters qualification certificates / marksheets and particulars of with you before starting to fill the online application.

Keep the particulars of GATE/JEST/INSPIRE or DBT/ICMR-Jrf or NET-JRF under CSIR/UGC fellows scheme(like the registration number, rank, etc. as applicable)

More Details can be available from the institute website.

Contact Details Address : Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for

Advanced Scientific Research

Jakkur P.O.,

Bangalore - 560064 Phone : 080-22082777 Fax : Mobile : E-mail : Contact I Website : www.jncasr.ac.in

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A Dane County Circuit judge held Assembly Speaker Robin Vos in contempt of court Wednesday for failing to provide requested public documents related to the ongoing GOP-ordered review of the 2020 election.

Judge Valerie Bailey-Rihns ruling followed her previous order that Vos, R-Rochester, and the Assembly produce the records, which were requested last year by liberal watchdog group American Oversight. The requested documents include records created by contractors, including former state Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who is leading the review.

Robin Vos had delegated the search for contractors records to an employee who did nothing more than send one vague email to one contractor, Bailey-Rihn wrote. Putting aside for the moment the impropriety of making a contractor responsible for a records request  Robin Vos did not tell that contractor which records to produce, did not ask any of the other contractors to produce records, and did not even review the records ultimately received. Still worse, the Assembly did nothing at all.

Bailey-Rihn concluded that Vos and the Assembly, after hearing and notice, have chosen to willfully violate a court order and are held in contempt.

Vos and the Assembly have been ordered to pay American Oversights legal fees related to the contempt motion. Vos has 14 days to comply with the judges order or begin paying a $1,000 daily forfeiture. If Vos and the Assembly provide proof they have complied with the states public records law, the contempt ruling will be lifted.

Because of the uncontroverted evidence that the Respondents failed to instruct contractors to preserve records, each Respondent shall submit evidentiary proof of reasonable efforts to search for deleted, lost, missing, or otherwise unavailable records, or provide an explanation of why such a search would not be reasonable, Bailey-Rihn added.

Approached by a reporter following a pair of town halls in western Racine County Wednesday afternoon, during which Vos repeatedly told listeners that the 2020 election could not be decertified, Vos responded to being found in contempt of court.

Its a liberal judge in Dane County trying to make us look bad. I dont know about you, but when you have deleted emails, how do you get deleted emails back if theyre from Gmail? We already have an expert saying they cant be done. You have a judge whos focused on making a name for herself, and thats all shes doing, Vos said.

We have followed the law. There is no problem with what were doing. Its really them trying to stop our investigation. This all focuses on them not wanting to get to the truth of what happened in 2020.  You cant produce emails that you dont have, he said.

When asked how he would legally be responding to being found in contempt of court, Vos said he would have to consult with our attorneys.

Speaker Vos and the Assembly have had ample opportunity to comply with the courts order and produce records, American Oversight senior adviser Melanie Sloan said in a statement. Maybe the threat of a $1,000/day fine until the records are produced will finally encourage compliance and give the people of Wisconsin the answers they deserve.

Bailey-Rihn did not seek sanctions against Assembly Chief Clerk Ted Blazel, who is also named in the lawsuit. Bailey-Rihn determined that the Assembly, and not Blazel, is primarily responsible for the requested records.

The case is one of three records-related lawsuits filed by American Oversight against Vos, the Assembly and Gableman, who was hired by Vos last year to review the election at a cost of $676,000 to taxpayers.

In a separate American Oversight case, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Frank Remington earlier this month ordered the release of hundreds of pages of documents related to Gablemans review. Remington described the records as much to-do about nothing.

Remington ordered Vos, Gableman and the Assembly to each pay $1,000 in damages to American Oversight and cover the groups legal fees  costs that could fall to taxpayers.

Vos has extended Gablemans contract through the end of April. The new contract maintains Gablemans existing budget, but does allow for the possibility of added funds to cover the costs of multiple lawsuits related to the probe.

In addition, Vos said earlier this month he might rescind subpoenas issued to mayors and election officials as part of Gablemans review, but only so that a Republican attorney general elected in November could file criminal charges. Vos has not provided specifics on what criminal charges could be pursued.

(Racine) Journal Times reporter Scott Williams contributed to this report.

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The Legislature has less than two weeks of working days left in this session. This past week we debated the three budget bills and moved them to Final Reading. In addition, we debated LB1014, Speaker Hilgers bill that appropriates funds allocated to Nebraska as part of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Included in this bill is one of my bills, LB1100 which appropriates $1 million for a feasibility study to look at existing electrical generation facilities, and their compatibility with being replaced by advanced nuclear technology.

Last week we also debated LB825, one of the most significant tax relief bills considered by the Legislature. This bill would have phased out the state tax on social security benefits, reduced state individual income taxes and state corporate income taxes while providing significant property tax relief. LB825 was debated for four hours and failed to advance. Why? The bill received 32 of the required 33 votes to end debate and take a vote on the bill. Thirteen mostly urban senators from Lincoln and Omaha were present and did not vote killing the bill. It continues to disappoint me that these Senators continue to oppose property tax and other tax relief that is needed across the state, especially in rural areas that are affected disproportionately. Nebraska has some of the highest taxes in the country and it is troubling to see these Senators continue to stand in the way of bills that would provide the needed tax relief for all Nebraskans.

Last Friday, we debated Senator Albrechts motion to pull LB933 (a bill I have co-sponsored) out of the Judiciary committee in order to be debated by the full Legislature. This bill would adopt the Nebraska Human Life Protection Act, prohibiting the practice of abortion on live, unborn children on the condition that the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade is overturned. The pull motion was successful, and LB933 should be debated on the floor during the remaining days of session.

Registration is now open for the 2022 Unicameral Youth Legislature which will take place June 12th-15th. This is a four-day simulation coordinated by Nebraska State 4-H office and the UNL Extension Youth Development Program where students are given the opportunity to play the role of a state lawmaker. The Youth Legislature is open to all high school students, and provides young Nebraskans who have an interest in government, politics, law, public policy, debate, and public speaking an in-depth learning experience with the Legislatures process, rules, bills, and support from Senators and legislative staff. Students wishing to apply, please visit nebraskalegislature.gov/uyl, or 4h.unl.edu/big-red-camps.

I appreciate hearing from constituents on issues affecting District 23 and encourage you to contact my office on legislation at 402-471-2719 or bbostelman@leg.ne.gov.
Amid an outbreak of bird flu in Butler County, poultry officials are urging increased biosecurity measures for small backyard flocks.

The Nebraska Department of Agriculture announced last week that two flocks of broilers on separate farms in Butler County were confirmed with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI).

That marked the third confirmed case of HPAI in Nebraska this month. The first was announced on March 16 in a backyard flock in Merrick County, the second  known as Butler County 1  was announced March 22 and the third  Butler County 2  was announced two days later.

Butler County 1 impacts 570,000 broilers while the second case affects 400,000 broilers. This second Butler County case is located within the 6.2-mile control zone that the NDA established around Butler County 1.

The locations of the Butler County farms are in close proximity to each other. This further emphasizes continued diligence of biosecurity and timely response to control this highly contagious disease, NDA Director Steve Wellman said, in a provided statement.

On March 26, the NDA reported a fourth case of HPAI in Nebraska in a small backyard mixed flock in Holt County. The NDA also announced that day that all poultry events -- including fairs, expositions, swap meets, exotic sales and live bird auctions -- in Nebraska are canceled in an effort to limit the spread of the virus. This will be re-evaluated May 1, March 26 press release stated.

HPAI is a contagious virus that spreads easily among birds through nasal and eye secretions as well as feces. Wild birds can carry the virus without becoming sick while domesticated birds can become very sick, according to the press release.

Don Reynolds, a poultry veterinarian and Nebraska Extension specialist, said there are two areas to consider when looking at poultry operations  commercial flocks and small backyard flocks.

In commercial birds, they monitor these birds very closely. So anything that they say see that is out of the normal range, then they look at as a disease entity, Reynolds said.

Commercial operation officials monitor the birds food and water consumption. A drop in those consumptions can signify an illness, he said.

Because this is such a rapid onset, one of the things that happens is just a sudden depression. The birds don't move around much, they look droopy so to speak  and increased mortality, Reynolds said.

To get tested for HPAI, the birds receive a tracheal swab, the samples of which are sent to a diagnostic center in Nebraska. At the diagnostic facility, the samples go through polymerase chain reaction (also known as PCR) testing. If negative, the owner of the flock is notified and other diseases will be further considered.

But, if the test reveals another result  known at this stage as non-negative  the samples are immediately transported to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories in Ames, Iowa, for official confirmation, Reynolds said.

They immediately take those samples and run another test, usually a PCR test, and then they confirm that and when they have that as a confirmation, then they call them positive, he added.

Once a positive HPAI case is confirmed, state and federal officials are notified along with the owner of the flock. A quarantine area is set up at the facility in question, as well as a 6.2-mile control area. No birds or poultry products will not be allowed to be moved on or off premises that fall within those areas.

There is no vaccine for HPAI, so depopulating the infected  euthanizing the birds  is the best option to prevent further spread of the virus, Reynolds said.

Usually what they do in terms of what we call meat birds -- broiler chickens or turkeys -- they would compost those birds right within that facility, he added. They're trying to contain that virus, limit the spread of that virus.

Reynolds said the procedure includes disinfecting and removing the bird compost after a certain amount of time. The facility in question must remain empty for a bit before the poultry operation can repopulate the flock, he added.

According to a March 22 NDA press release, Butler County 2 is under quarantine and a 6.2-mile control zone will be established around the premises. The March 26 press release announcing the fourth HPAI stated that compost is in progress at both Butler County farms.

You can see it's a very arduous, costly scenario, Reynolds said. Not only does it cost the companies and the producers, but it costs taxpayers. The government comes in and does this, they do pay indemnities for the birds. Even with indemnity payments, you have people out of work for periods of time, you have all the downtime of that facility not being utilized.

The last major outbreak of bird flu in the United States was in 2015, according to the Lincoln Journal Star, and it had resulted in the deaths of about 50 million chickens and turkeys  more than 5 million in Nebraska.

Reynolds noted that the risk of humans being infected with bird flu is highly unlikely. No human cases of avian influenza viruses have been reported in the United States, according to the NDA press release. But, people can unknowingly transmit the virus to birds, Reynolds said.

People are the transmitter in that they carry the virus on their shoes, their boots, dirty tools, vehicles, etc., and spread it around, he added.

Reynolds said that officials who work in commercial poultry remain vigilant and aware of HPAI. Those people are likely to step up their biosecurity programs even more, he added.

We have more of a problem in the small backyard flocks because these people typically don't have biosecurity programs, don't know much about it and are more susceptible, Reynolds said, noting this is a concern during springtime with migratory fowl.

They become these kinds of what we call Typhoid Mary, these asymptomatic carriers, and they can deposit this in the feces so if they're flying over and have to defecate or come down  in the field or if they're swimming in a pond. That's a real concern to these small producers, small backyard flock types, especially out in these acreages where they tend to let these birds run out and free and oftentimes they share water and things like that with wild birds.

The NDA press release states that people with poultry should keep an eye out for strange behavior, severe illness and sudden deaths; restrict access to their property and poultry; wear clean clothes, scrub boots and shoes with disinfect and wash your hands thoroughly after contact with your flock; clean and disinfect your vehicle tires and equipment when visiting other farms with livestock; dont share equipment, tools or other supplies; and prevent contact between your birds and wild birds.

Symptoms of HPAI in poultry include a decrease in water consumption; lack of energy and appetite; decreased egg production or soft-shelled, misshapen eggs; nasal discharge, coughing, sneezing; incoordination; and diarrhea.

Poultry owners should report unusual poultry bird deaths or sick birds to NDA at 402-471-2351, or through USDA at 866-536-7593.

Reynolds added that the Extension has a Big Red Biosecurity Program that helps poultry producers understand biosecurity and implement strategies to prevent the spread of disease. More information on this program can be found at bigredbiosecurity.unl.edu. Reynolds said that anyone with questions about increasing biosecurity on their farm can contact him at 402-472-2952.

Right now the way we're trying to combat this is with good information and trying to get people to use the best biosecurity they can, Reynolds said.

Hannah Schrodt is the news editor of The Banner-Press. Reach her via email at hannah.schrodt@lee.net.

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Service members returning home from the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1964-1973, were treated poorly  sometimes even being spat on or otherwise not receiving the respect and recognition they deserved.

One woman is hoping to help change that, and did so with seven local Vietnam veterans during a quilt presentation held in Schuyler on March 27.

At a special fundraising event held at The Center, the following men received quilts recognizing them for their service: Richard Knapp, Army, 1968-1969; Thomas Bender, Air Force, 1969; Lee Preston, Army, 1969-1970; Merle Thompson, Marine, 1965-1966; Robert Bender, Air Force, 1967-1969; Ron Henggeler, Army, 1968-1969; and Gary Zeleny, Army, 1968-1969.

Lynn DeShon of Ceresco makes and gives out quilts of honor for solely Vietnam veterans. Shes presented 68 of them so far. Although all veterans deserve quilts of honor, DeShon noted that those who served in Vietnam have a special place in her heart.

DeShon, who grew up as a military brat, had several friends who fought in Vietnam. Its been 53 years, she added, but she still has every single letter she received from Vietnam.

I saw the Vietnam veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice. There were no flag covered coffins or honor guards, DeShon said. Even though the majority of Vietnam veterans were drafted, they answered the call. Our Vietnam veterans did not come home to a welcoming crowd. They could not wear their uniforms, even in their hometowns. The windows  had to be blackened so the protesters could not see them. They were called all kinds of hurtful names they were spit on, and the list goes on.

DeShon noted the importance of apologizing to Vietnam veterans for being part of the silent majority. Although some people may not have participated in protests or treated the service people poorly themselves, it was still a disservice to not stand up publicly and thank these veterans for their service, she said.

She said that the silent heroes need to be thanked as well.

Our wives, our family. They are the silent heroes because they have stuck with us or you guys for the good times and hard times, DeShon said. So please remember to remember to say thank you to our silent heroes. Life can only be understood backwards but life must be lived forward.

Importantly, she told the crowd, wear your Vietnam veteran shirts, hats, etc., with pride. She recounted a time in which she had been visiting Albuquerque, New Mexico, when she saw a man wearing a Vietnam veteran T-shirt. DeShon said she approached the man and gave him a quilt of honor.

When he realized I was serious about giving him the quilt, his eyes filled with tears, DeShon said. He could not believe that someone, a complete stranger, would give him a quilt thanking him for his service in Vietnam.

The seven veterans receiving their quilts of honor on March 27 received a round of applause and a standing ovation from event attendees.

An auction was also held that day, which included military medallions, rib-eye steaks, several tubes of ground beef, gift certificates/cards, containers of sloppy Joe mix and a special Nebraska quilt. It was also the last day that the Remembering Our Fallen honor wall was displayed at The Center. A photographic war memorial from Patriotic Productions, the wall honors fallen service members from Nebraska. The display was set to be in Fremont this week.

Jerry Mundil, an event organizer, said the money raised will benefit The Center. Mundil is also a Vietnam veteran who received a quilt of honor himself a few years ago.

We never got honored when we (got back). It hurt, you know, Mundil said. I feel I need to honor them. Ive been there, I know what it was like. Thats why we need to honor people, some of them have some PTSD and they need to get it out.

Columbus man and governor hopeful Jim Pillen was a guest speaker at the event. Along with talking about his campaign, Pillen also spoke about veterans  his grandfather served in World War I while his uncle was killed in action in World War II.

I think I was 12-years-old after going to Mass and we're downtown and the community found out that some people had gotten killed that kind of thing happens and celebration pleasure. Those were moments that just never leave, Pillen said.

He also noted the importance of giving recognition to Vietnam veterans.

Some of the thank yous are a little too late, but God bless us for finally making sure we tell the Vietnam veterans, thank you and the quilts are a tremendous tribute, he added.

Hannah Schrodt is the news editor of the Schuyler Sun. Reach her via email at hannah.schrodt@lee.net.

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For decades, the abortion industry has pushed the mantra that abortion is a human right. Theyve tried their best to normalize a culture of death, where the most vulnerable among us have fallen victim to the lie that one persons so-called right to privacy trumps the right of another to live. The infamous Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade gave false credibility to their movement. But in less than four months, the Supreme Court could finally overturn Roe v. Wade.

Theres never been a more exciting time to be pro-life.

The Supreme Courts ruling could return the ability to regulate abortion to the states. If they do, Nebraska must be ready to protect the unborn. This week, our Legislature is considering pro-life legislation that will take effect the moment Roe v. Wade is undone.

Senator Joni Albrecht has introduced LB 933, the Human Life Protection Act, which would ban abortion in Nebraska immediately after Roe v. Wade is overturned. Many in our Legislature have recognized its importance. Speaker Mike Hilgers has made it his priority bill, and over 20 additional senators have added their names to LB 933 to show their full support of it. Even so, liberals on the Legislatures Judiciary Committee (Senators Lathrop, DeBoer, McKinney, Morfeld, and Pansing Brooks) are blocking this bill from being debated on the floor. Liberal state senators unsuccessfully tried the same tactic two years ago, in an attempt to stop Senator Suzanne Geists bill to ban the brutal practice of dismemberment abortion (LB 814).

Thankfully, the Nebraska Unicameral has a procedure senators can use to bring a bill to the floor, even when a committee is being uncooperative. Its called a pull motion. The move serves as a check to ensure the will of the people doesnt fall victim to a minority of legislators. A simple majority vote of the Legislature bypasses the committee vote thats traditionally needed to move a bill to the floor. Theres past precedent for using a pull motion to pass strong pro-life legislation. In 2020, Senator Geist successfully used a pull motion to bring LB 814 out of committee for debate. That bill eventually passed by a wide margin, and I signed it into law.

This Friday, on the International Day of the Unborn Child, Senator Albrecht will seek to use the pull motion to overcome the Judiciary Committees obstruction. Senators will have the historic opportunity to extend protections to every preborn girl and boy in Nebraska. I encourage the Legislature to get LB 933 to my desk this session so that Nebraska can uphold the right to life.

Nebraska is a pro-life state. Our citizens have repeatedly elected representatives who have enacted pro-life laws. Nebraskans support expectant mothers and young parents. They give generously to families in need. They volunteer at crisis pregnancy centers. Despite freezing cold, thousands of Nebraskans take part in the annual Walk for Life every January. They form Life Chains and hold prayer vigils. They display their pro-life convictions on license plates, billboards, and yard signs. In word and deed, Nebraskans are champions for life.

Senators can carry on this tradition in 2022. In addition to LB 933, there are two other pro-life bills in the Legislature this year.

LB 781 : Senator Julie Slama is sponsoring the Heartbeat Act. It requires a physician to perform an ultrasound prior to performing an abortion. If a heartbeat is detected, the bill would make it unlawful for a physician to perform an abortion.

: Senator Julie Slama is sponsoring the Heartbeat Act. It requires a physician to perform an ultrasound prior to performing an abortion. If a heartbeat is detected, the bill would make it unlawful for a physician to perform an abortion. LB 1086: Senator Suzanne Geist introduced the Chemical Abortion Safety Protocol Act. Senator John Lowe has prioritized the bill, which prohibits physicians from providing any abortion-inducing drug to a woman whose pregnancy is more than forty-nine days of gestational age. And it requires abortion-inducing drugs to be provided by a physician.

In the coming days and weeks, senators will decide the fate of these bills. The stakes couldnt possibly be higher. I encourage you to contact your state senator to urge them to protect the unborn. You can find their contact information at www.NebraskaLegislature.gov.

If you have questions about my support of pro-life legislation, email pete.ricketts@nebraska.gov or call 402-471-2244. As Nebraskans, we must do our part to protect every preborn girl and boy.

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Local firefighters are hoping to educate the public on the ins and outs of their job during a town hall meeting scheduled for next week.

The Columbus Professional Firefighters Local 1575 is holding the event at 7 p.m. on April 7 at the Columbus Fire Departments main station, 4630 Howard Boulevard.

We're trying to educate the public in what we do, the way we respond to things and why and also why we need as many people on calls, said Jojo Dunn, firefighter and president of the union. We hear a lot of  and so does the city  complaints about why do we take the fire engine to ambulance calls when it's an ambulance call, why are we wasting fuel and all those other things.

The town hall will include videos explaining the procedures for different types of calls.

Dunn provided an example of a cardiac arrest call.

There's a guy who needs to do the airway. There's somebody who needs to do the cardiac monitor, there's someone who needs to do the IV and drugs. There's someone who's got to run the call, he said.

Additional manpower is also needed these days because of a population that is aging and is physically larger. People dont usually have a medical emergency in the middle of a spacious area, he added, it tends to be in a small bathroom or they get wedged in a cramped area.

It's not uncommon for us to have larger people that sometimes we need four people to carry them, Dunn said.

That's the main reason why we're running the fire engine with the ambulance, is for help for manpower. Another reason is that it allows us to keep a fire response ready at all times. If we were to take staff off of the engine and put them on the ambulance as extra help, then that would negate our immediate fire response.

A quick response time is critical, Dunn said, as materials used to build items these days burn more quickly than traditional material like natural fibers and cotton.

Another side of the town hall will be showing the community the need for additional staff. Currently, the Columbus Fire Department has 18 career firefighters, one chief and one assistant chief.

Dunn added that there are about 30 to 40 volunteer firefighters on the books but only about 10 respond to calls regularly. As such, the department can only guarantee that the career firefighters will respond, but it can be difficult for volunteers to do so.

Their jobs don't let them out like they used to. There's the home life, nowadays kids are doing 4,000 events, and so they can't always respond, Dunn said. We're only guaranteed the staff that we have when we leave.

According to Dunn, the Columbus firefighters have a high call volume but the lowest amount of staff of cities of its size in Nebraska. Dunn said previous administration had been resistant to expanding staff, but progress is being made with the current fire chief and city administrator.

Another part of the issue is that while the fire department does receive interest, those applicants dont always meet qualifications. All firefighters need to be an EMT and certain training is preferred, Dunn added.

The town hall is scheduled to last about two hours, and cookies and coffee will be provided.

Aaron Perez, a Columbus firefighter and EMT, said they are hoping to have a large presence from the departments career staff. He noted that hes met people who were unaware that Columbus had career firefighters. The town hall will be a way for people to meet their local firefighters, he said.

If we can meet some of the people from town, they can put a face to us and let them know that we are here for them. We are open to them bringing questions. It doesn't have to be just on this topic specifically, Perez said, noting this can include basic inquires.

We do hear what some of their concerns are and we'd like to know them if they can bring them here, we'd like to talk about it with them.

Dunn said he hopes the event to be an enlightening one for community members.

They will see what it truly takes for us to do our job, the amount of staff needed to do the job and do it the best we can do it and give the public the best service that we can, he added. That is always our goal is to provide the best service to the City of Columbus and the surrounding area with the best service that we can provide.

Hannah Schrodt is the news editor of The Columbus Telegram. Reach her via email at hannah.schrodt@lee.net.

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Mining the territory of any country, including Azerbaijan, is a war crime against the citizens of this country and all mankind, Director of Aljazeera Public Liberties & Human Rights center Sami al-Hajj told Trend's Karabakh bureau during a visit to Azerbaians Aghdam.

He emphasized that such actions are prohibited at the global level in accordance with international law.

"Currently, we are in the city of Aghdam, on the territory of Azerbaijan liberated from Armenian occupation. Azerbaijan is working with international organizations to quickly complete the process of de-mining the territories so that Azerbaijani citizens can soon return to their native lands," Sami al-Hajj said.
Two regional organizations need help from the public to set up a program that would provide free books to preschool children in Cumberland, Dauphin, Perry and northern York counties.

The Capital Area Intermediate Unit is partnering with the Center for Advanced Training and Learning to bring Dolly Partons Imagination Library to the region.

The library is a book gifting program that mails free books direct to children from birth to age 5 no matter their familys income level.

CAIU is getting the word out and will register children for the program once the nonprofit CASTL collects a minimum of $180,000 in pledges and donations to cover the start-up costs, said Beth Cappello, CAIU special projects coordinator.

If the partnership can reach the target goal by late December, the program could start distributing books to children as early as January, Cappello said. To be eligible, families need to provide a name, address and birthdate for each child they wish to register, she said. Once registered, the boy or girl will receive one free book per month until they turn five.

The goal is to reach 30,000 kids, Cappello said, adding that the CAIU works closely with pre-schools throughout its four-county coverage area. We have a lot of students who can sign up right away.

Theres so much research out there that shows that even birth to three is such a crucial time for children to experience reading, literature and a plethora of words, she said. The more words they are exposed to, the better their comprehension, reading and verbal skills.

Paula Bussard serves as both president of the Carlisle Area School Board and as a local representative to the CAIU board of directors.

Dolly Parton is a great believer in literacy, Bussard said at a recent Carlisle board meeting. When she grew up, they didnt have much. Her Imagination Library program exists across the country and around the world.

A flier distributed by CASTL provides background on its growth.

The program started in 1995 with the distribution of books to children in Sevier County, Tennessee, where the country music star grew up. By 2000, it became such a success that a nationwide effort was launched. Three years later, the Imagination Library had mailed 1 million books.

In 2004, Tennessee pledged to pursue statewide coverage. The program was launched in Canada in 2006, the United Kingdom in 2007, Australia in 2013 and the Republic of Ireland in 2019.

Locally, the partnership held a kick-off event in early March at a new pre-school in Camp Hill that raised $5,000 in one day toward the $180,000 goal, Cappello said.

CAIU staff formed CASTL to provide regional educators with advisory services, training opportunities and grant consultation, she said.

There are a number of sponsorship options for those interested in supporting the Imagination Library. For more information, contact committee chairperson Geri Schaffer at 717-832-8400, ext. 8670, or gschaffer@caiu.org.

Joseph Cress is a reporter for The Sentinel covering education and history. You can reach him at jcress@cumberlink.com or by calling 717-218-0022.

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South Middleton School District has developed a strategy to finance an estimated $5.15 million in high priority building projects over the next four fiscal years.

Rather than rely on a bond issue that would drive up long-term debt, the district would phase in the improvements using COVID-19 relief funds to free up money in the general fund budget to augment what is transferred each year to the capital reserve account.

In recent years, the district has been trying to shore up its capital reserve through an annual transfer of money. Another goal of the strategy is to ramp up this base amount from the $550,000 transferred in the current fiscal year to $675,000 earmarked in 2025-26.

During a budget workshop on Monday, Tina Darchicourt, district director of business and operations, briefed the school board on how the strategy could work.

Year one

Based on her projections, the district should have about $1,416,171 in its capital reserve account by June 30, the end of the current fiscal year.

From that, the district plans to allocate $1,199,973 in fiscal year 2022-23 toward a project to seal the roof of the Yellow Breeches Middle School, the highest priority item on the districts top-five project list.

Normally, that would severely deplete the account leaving a balance of $216,198. However, theres flexibility in the rules governing how school districts can spend COVID relief funds.

Under the strategy, the district plans to use relief funds to offset the purchase of instructional devices and to pay the salaries and benefits of three math interventionists and two English-as-a-Second-Language teachers during fiscal years 2022-23 and 2023-24.

In 2022-23, this approach would free up $866,954 that could go toward the capital reserve account. At the same time, the district plans to ramp up the base amount of its annual transfer to $600,000. This twin infusion of funds could result in a projected capital reserve balance of $1,683,152 by June 30, 2023.

Year two

That balance would carry-over into 2023-24 when the district plans to allocate $2.3 million to upgrade the HVAC system at the middle school, another high-priority item.

Normally, that project would completely exhaust the capital reserve account, but the district plans to shore it back up with a base transfer of $625,000 plus $595,397 in supplanted funds from its use of COVID relief money. This could result in a balance of $603,549 by June 30, 2024.

Year three

In 2024-25, the district plans to allocate $250,000 toward renovating the restrooms at Boiling Springs High School, which is also on the top-five list. The district also plans to allocate $325,000 toward the purchase of five acres in the 300 block of West First Street, which includes a single-family home that adjoins the districts main campus.

Though not on the top-five list, the land purchase would enable the district to expand the campus in the future, Superintendent James Estep said Monday. We dont have a contract yet.

The combination of the land purchase and restroom project would reduce the capital reserve to $28,549. However, the district plans to transfer a base amount of $650,000 from the general fund to lift the balance to $678,549 by June 30, 2025.

Year four

That balance will carry over into 2025-26 when the district plans to allocate $1 million toward pool and pool deck repairs at the high school, which is also on the top-five list. That project would exhaust the capital reserve until a base transfer of $675,000 brings the balance back to $353,549 by June 30, 2026.

The fifth project on the list calls for additional security cameras for the middle school and high school at an estimated cost of $300,000. Rather than include that project in the financing strategy, that expense would be included in the general fund budgets for 2023-24 and 2024-25.

What the strategy does not take into account are future increases in the state subsidy for basic and special education, Estep said. In the past, South Middleton School District has been conservative in its state revenue projections, in part because of timing, he said.

School boards are required by law to pass their budgets by June 30. However, approval of the state budget could drag on for months in the Pennsylvania General Assembly.

You are passing a budget blind as far as state help is concerned, Estep said. Future building projects could generate a higher level of energy savings that would allow more money to be funneled into the capital reserve account, he said.

Board questions

Board member Bill Hartman asked whether the middle school roof project could be combined with the middle school HVAC project. Hartman said he was concerned that work crews installing roof-top units would cut into and damage the sealant used in the roof repair project.

Darchicourt said a combination project was considered, but ruled out because of problems with financing and the anticipated delay in the shipment of HVAC equipment due to supply chain issues. Work is underway to get the roof project started this spring for completion by the start of classes in late August.

"The number one priority is the Yellow Breeches roof," Darchicourt said. "It will not survive another year. It [the project] has to happen this summer. We are under a tight timeline."

The roof is original to the middle school, which opened to students in late October 2000. There have been reports of leaks throughout the building following periods of rain.

"In a perfect world, the projects could be done together if you already had a pre-existing capital reserve account of any substance," Estep said.

Concerned about how costs could escalate, board member Tony Lucido asked whether it was prudent to wait until 2025-26 to undertake major pool repairs at Boiling Springs High School.

Board President Brad Group said he doesn't think there's a risk of imminent failure. "It's my understanding what's deteriorating is the deck quality. ... All the things that were glued in place almost 50 years ago. They have to be fixed all the time.

Joseph Cress is a reporter for The Sentinel covering education and history. You can reach him at jcress@cumberlink.com or by calling 717-218-0022.

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An overheard conversation changed the history of dining in Carlisle and ushered in the golden age of the Sunnyside Restaurant, a town institution for six decades.

Hailed as a classic example of living the American dream, the heart and soul of Sunnyside is the story of Charlie Mallios and his family. What follows combines research from the Cumberland County Historical Society and coverage from The Sentinel newspaper.

As the story goes, Mallios was working one day in 1948 at the Famous Texas Lunch, a downtown eatery at the corner of Hanover and Louther streets in Carlisle. A Greek immigrant, he had worked himself up for 13 years, rising from dishwasher to manager of the business.

Mallios overheard a man named Charles Brown mention that the Sunnyside Restaurant was up for sale at 850 N. Hanover St. opposite the main entrance to Carlisle Barracks.

Charlie decided that it was time to open his own business to provide for his family, his granddaughter Lisa Smith wrote in a tribute display ad that was published in The Sentinel on Jan. 2, 2011. Rather than talk to his wife, Mallios jumped at the opportunity by putting $1,000 down on the $34,000 building.

I never went inside, he joked in 1998. I signed the papers on the street. If Id have gone in, I never would have bought it. Then I went home and told my wife. She congratulated me and said she would be behind me every step of the way.

An early travel stop

City directories stored in the CCHS archives mention the Sunnyside property as early as 1936-1937. At the time, it was owned by Charles H. Brown and went by name of the Sunnyside Service Station. It included a Sunoco gas and oil retail business along with rooms for tenants and a light lunch.

Charles H. Brown was the son of Charles Brown, the man who handled the 1948 real estate transaction with Mallios. As with everything in real estate, it was location, location, location.

North Hanover Street becomes the Harrisburg Pike heading out of town. Also known as Rt. 11, the pike was a major road through Cumberland County before the opening of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and later Interstate 81. The existence of a service station, tenant rooms and a light lunch suggests that the Brown family had developed an early pit stop for motorists situated across from a major military installation.

The close proximity of the business to the Army post was played out in display ads that ran in The Sentinel in mid-to-late June 1941  almost six months before Pearl Harbor catapulted the nation into World War II. The ads mention meals of seafood, chicken and waffles, roast beef or pork, steak and pork chops at Sunnyside. The dinners were prepared by a cook named J. Carter Marsh.

Sunnyside Restaurant was first mentioned in print on Sept. 17, 1942, in a help wanted display ad for three waitresses experience not necessaryLive in or out. This suggests that some employees of the pit stop may have lived on the premises.

Enter Charlie

On June 2, 1948, The Sentinel reported that Charles Constantinos, manager of the Famous Texas Lunch, has purchased the Sunnyside restaurant. He will get possession as soon as the license transfer is approved, a matter of a few days, the article reads. The newspaper published Constantinos as the last name, not the first name of Charlie Mallios.

At that time, Sunnyside consisted of a 1-1/2 story stone building and a double garage. The property fronted 46 feet of the Harrisburg Pike and ran to a depth of 175 ft. There was an apartment over the restaurant, the article reads.

This would suggest that Mallios first entered the Sunnyside building sometime in early June 1948. When he walked inside his new establishment, he found a mess  no refrigeration, filth, cockroaches, The Sentinel reported. Within 24 hours the place was clean enough to open. The menu that day: meatloaf and fried fish. The price for a platter was 45 cents plus tax.

For the next 25 years, Charlie and Dixie Mallios grew an enterprise built on friendships and fond memories. They stayed involved even after selling the restaurant to their son Nick in 1973. A Vietnam War veteran, Nick Mallios once worked as the assistant manager at the Officers Club on post.

Nick brought much growth, organization and creativity to the restaurant, Smith wrote in her 2011 tribute. He developed new menus, catering concepts and stayed abreast of the most recent technologies. Charlie continued to greet his friends, filling their plates, their coffee cups and their hearts with his genuine love for people.

In her tribute, Smith shared insight into the management style of her grandfather. Charlie welcomed each customer with Hello my friend, she wrote, mentioning in particular Dr. Robert Frey. They would sit and have homemade soup, coffee and great conversations.

The Sentinel reported that Charlie Mallios continued to meet and greet customers at the family restaurant up to about three weeks prior to his death on April 9, 2004, at age 86.

The last milestone

Over a period of five decades, Sunnyside restaurant went through several expansion and remodeling projects. In 2009, the Mallios family opened an outdoor Mediterranean-style patio area. By November 2010, the building was 22,000 square feet and had 13 different themed dining rooms with seating for over 300 customers. But Sunnyside had also reached a critical milestone.

That month, The Sentinel reported how the family was in negotiations to sell Sunnyside to Patrick LeBlanc, a Carlisle High School graduate and area native. At the time, LeBlanc had worked in the food and restaurant business for several years.

By 2010, Nick and Linda Mallios had been in charge of Sunnyside for about 37 years. He told The Sentinel that they wanted to retire to spend more time with their three granddaughters. Nick Mallios was confident that LeBlanc could make a go of it and carry Sunnyside forward.

A year later, in November 2011, The Sentinel reported that Sunnyside had closed abruptly because of financial difficulties. The newspaper asked Nick Mallios if he and his wife were planning to step back in and rescue the restaurant.

When we decided to retire, it was not because of financial reasons, Nick Mallios said. It was not because of anything other than the time had come for us to have a different day-to-day life. The restaurant was extremely successful for us. It requires the maximum sacrifice. My wife Linda and myself worked our butts off for a long time to satisfy our customers.

Editors Note: This story originally published in The Sentinel in 2020 as part of the Building Blocks series.

Email Joseph Cress at jcress@cumberlink.com.

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President Joe Biden speaks about his proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 in the State Dining Room of the White House





President Biden is set to invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) as early as this week to step up production of minerals used to manufacture electric vehicle batteries, a source familiar the plans confirmed to The Hill.

Biden is set to issue a presidential determination to stoke domestic production of the minerals, which are used for both stationary batteries and vehicles. The person emphasized that the production will not bypass existing permitting or environmental review processes.

The addition of certain minerals, including lithium, cobalt, graphite, nickel and manganese, to the list of items covered under the law could give mining companies access to some $750 million under the DPA's Title III fund, the person told The Hill.

The DPA, initially passed during the Korean War to boost aluminum and titanium production, grants the president authority to order domestic production ramped up of certain supplies. Former President Trump invoked it during the COVID-19 pandemic for meat production, while Biden used it shortly after taking office to ramp up production of pandemic-related supplies.

The person familiar told The Hill the White House will implement the order in collaboration with the Energy and Interior departments. The law will not be invoked for loans or direct purchases but rather funding for "feasibility studies, co-product and by-product production at current operations, and productivity/safety modernizations."

As gas prices increase amid the Ukraine conflict, environmental groups have frequently called for the Biden administration to invoke the DPA to aid the development of alternative and renewable fuels.

Bipartisan members of Congress have also backed the idea. Earlier this month, Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), James Risch (R-Idaho) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) called for Biden to invoke the DPA for battery materials.

They specifically cited the near-monopoly Chinese companies hold on production of the materials in question, writing, "Allowing our foreign mineral dependence to persist is a growing threat to U.S. national security, and we need to take every step to address it."
Tara Laxer

Why has Florida not divested its funds from Russia?

There was an amendment to divest our state pension funds from investing with Russia. On March 3, the amendment failed by a party-line vote.

Floridas public employee retirement fund divested $1.3 billion with 21 companies doing business in Iran and Sudan, leading the way as an example across the country in 2007.

In addition, over a dozen Iran and Sudan divestment laws passed in a bipartisan manner in Florida and across the country over the past decade. There was never any debate on partisan grounds on whether we should do this. At the time, I was staff to then State Sen. Ted Deutch, who sponsored the initial legislation with then-Majority Leader Adam Hasner.

Both parties understood that if we can make a financial statement and impact on these terrorist nations, we should do so. I also was the Florida adviser for United Against Nuclear Iran, where I advised on the passage of similar laws.

Why is there any debate now, if the state of Florida should do the same with Russia?

Russia has unilaterally invaded Ukraine. More than 3 million Ukrainian men, women and children are fleeing for their lives. With an estimated $300 million to be divested from Russia, why would Florida object? Why would Florida not want to lead on divestment again?

Both Charlie Crist and Rick Scott who signed collectively over 10 laws to divest Florida funds from Iran and Sudan are in support of Russian divestment.

Our Agricultural Commissioner, Nikki Fried, has pleaded with her fellow Cabinet members to work with the Legislature and the State Board of Administration to divest such funds. Yet the measure failed.

Governor Ron DeSantis controls the State Board of Administration along with fellow Republicans Jimmy Patronis, the states elected chief financial officer and Attorney General Ashley Moody. They should support such action, as did their Republican and Democratic predecessors who understood when there was a time to govern and a time to campaign.

Story continues

Please divest from Russia. Let Florida be a place we can be proud of again, regardless of political affiliations.

Tara Laxer, a resident of Boca Raton, is a foreign policy adviser with expertise in divestment laws.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Companies in business with Russia should not be in Florida portfolio
An area man is accused of distributing fentanyl that reportedly led to one individual suffering a non-fatal overdose in Washington County.

Lance Charles Hill, 34, of Potosi, was charged with two counts of delivery of a controlled substance and one count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

According to a probable cause statement from the Potosi Police Department, last Friday, a search warrant was executed at the residence where Hill resided. He was reportedly located in the upstairs bedroom of the house.

The report states that during the search of Hills bedroom, police located 22 capsules that contained a powder substance and 21 empty capsules, some with residue and some new. The powder allegedly found inside one of the capsules was tested using a TruNarc device. The powder was determined to be fentanyl, according to the report.

Additional items were reportedly located in the bedroom, including two digital scales, one of which was found with the capsules. Authorities also allegedly discovered zip bags, a mirror with residue, a spoon with residue, a glass pipe with residue, and numerous syringes, both used and new.

The report states police found some Hart Brand saw blades, which were reportedly traded to Hill for fentanyl on March 23.

The criminal complaint filed in the case states that Hills is accused of distributing fentanyl, a very dangerous opioid drug, to the alleged victim in this case, which caused an overdose. The court filing states that the alleged victim survived the overdose.

The residence where Hill was residing was condemned by the building inspector, and no one is allowed inside, according to police.

Hill was booked at the Washington County Jail, and a $75,000 bond was set in the case.

Court records show that Hills has multiple prior felonies and Department of Corrections commitments for theft, domestic assault, and failing to pay child support.

The charging documents filed indicate that Hill potentially faces 20 years in prison if convicted of the newly filed charges.

Bobby Radford is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at bradford@dailyjournalonline.com

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Attorney Blake Dudley officially announced his candidacy for the position of St. Francois County Prosecuting Attorney on Wednesday afternoon.

Dudley has filed as a Republican candidate. He will face incumbent Melissa Gilliam, who also filed as a Republican, in the August Primary.

This decision is not one I made lightly, he stated in his press release.

Dudley grew up in St. Louis, graduating from Ladue High School in 1988. He attended the University of Kansas where he earned his Bachelors Degree in Psychology in 1992. He went on to attend the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law, receiving his Juris Doctorate degree in 1995. He received his law license in October 1995.

I am an avid supporter of the Second Amendment, and support legal gun ownership and possession. Accordingly, I am a member of the National Rifle Association, Dudley said.

He lives just outside Farmington, but has previously lived in Park Hills and Desloge. He is engaged to be married.

Dudley started his legal career as an assistant prosecutor of St. Francois County 26 years ago.

Unlike today, at that time, it was simply expected that to serve this community, you would become a member of it. So, I moved here from my familys home in St. Louis.

I was welcomed as a part of a new family of judges, lawyers, clerks and law enforcement officers. The judges and lawyers taught me the finer points of the law and the decorum of the courtroom.

The clerks taught me better manners. And, the law enforcement officers exemplified for me the meaning of loyalty, sacrifice and service. This community brought me into their homes. We celebrated our victories and consoled each other in our losses.

In his three years with the prosecutors office, he said he tried many jury trials.

I looked into the eyes of countless victims of all types of crime, he said. As a prosecutor should, I advocated for these victims, both in and out of the courtroom.

I helped create a countywide joint task force to address domestic violence, and became a board member of the Southeast Missouri Family Violence Council. To help give our victims a voice, I guest lectured at the police academy on investigating and reporting in domestic crimes.

He said today, he is an established and experienced private attorney, based in Farmington, practicing law throughout Southeast Missouri.

I have maintained a 26-year relationship providing free advice and services to the staff and residents of the womens shelter in Bonne Terre, he said. In the past year, I have also held a contract with the Missouri Childrens Division, pursuing various litigation in order to give stability and permanency to children throughout our court circuit.

For the past 23 years, I have worked with Legal Services of Southern Missouri to provide free legal services to indigent needy persons throughout our region. Having accomplished many of my personal goals in private practice, I can now give back to this community that embraced me.

He said for quite some time, he has been approached by members of the community, colleagues and crime victims about the continuing erosion of trust and respect between the public and the Prosecutors Office.

However, it was not until after I had spent hours seeking out additional perspectives, opinions and concerns, that I decided that I must act to attempt to repair this fractured relationship. The risks and consequences of this dysfunction are too dire to ignore.

He said he seeks the return of trust and respect between the prosecuting attorney, law enforcement, the courts and the public.

Only by working together effectively can we provide safety for our community and justice for our victims. I ask that you help me work toward our common goal by supporting me, Blake Dudley, for Prosecuting Attorney of St. Francois County.

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On Tuesday, members of the Park Hills City Council and multiple citizens hope voters will pass a proposition that would allow for the construction of a new swimming facility as the old pool has been permanently closed.

Proposition SWIM will appear on the ballot requesting Park Hills voters to approve a $3.5 million General Obligation Bond issue from the city, with the funds from the bonds used to build the new aquatic complex at the location of the existing pool in Columbia Park.

A public question and comment forum will be held this Saturday at 10 a.m. in the Central High School Auditorium at 116 Rebel Dr. in Park Hills.

The impact on city residents would come in the form of a $0.41 estimated levy on residential and commercial real estate property.

In Missouri, residential property is assessed at 19% of the market value. The tax levy is calculated per $100 of assessed value.

For a $3.5 million General Obligation Bond issue, the formula for calculating the impact on residents is as follows: ((Value of property x 19% for residential property) / 100) x 0.41, which is the estimated levy amount required.

So for a home that is worth $100,000, the calculation is: ($100,000 x 0.19)/100 x 0.41 = $77.90. For every $0.01 increase in levy for a $100,000 home value, annual payments increase by $1.90. For example, the levy for a home worth $150,000 would come to $116.85 per year. For a home worth $200,000, the levy would be $155.80 per year.

Commercial property is generally assessed at 32% of market value, meaning a property worth $100,000 would have a levy of $131.20 per year, increasing $3.20 from the current rate.

If passed, the relatively small levy increase would provide an aquatic facility designed to offer multiple water-based activities for area residents of all ages.

After careful consideration, the City of Park Hills and the Park Hills Pool Sub-Committee unanimously selected a proposal by local company Brockmiller Construction and Counsilman-Hunsaker for the facility's design and construction.

This multi-purpose pool concepts in the proposed plan include a 6,250 square-foot swimming area, a lazy river, a zero-entry play structure, a separate splash pad, two water slides, state-of-the-art filtration systems, and a new family-friendly bathhouse.

"Rory the Whale," the iconic symbol of summer fun in Park Hills, would also be featured in the middle of the new aquatic center.

The project would take approximately one year to complete. A projected timeline released by the Park Hills Pool Sub-Committee indicates that the facility could be finished by May 2023.

The topic of building a new municipal swimming area has been discussed for some time now, as the old pool was 64 years old and required constant, costly repair before it was permanently closed. The average lifespan of a concrete pool is about 35 years.

"It is not without serious consideration of our current pool that the hard decision was made to close our current pool," the sub-committee stated in an information packet. "It has served our community well since being built in 1958."

Many problems with the old pool had been identified by professionals and citizens alike, including its deteriorating concrete structure; significant loss of water from the system; filtration system requiring expensive upkeep and repair; bathhouse with poor circulation, layout, and rising upkeep costs; pool deck structure failing; and limited access for those with disabilities and age-considerations.

"There are a lot of reasons why Park Hills is such a great place to live, work, and raise a family," the sub-committee stated. "You can see it in how much we care about our community and each other. As proud as we are of what we have accomplished together, it is now time to make an even bigger splash for area residents.

"The Park Hills Aquatics Center will be all about family, fun, and fitness," the group explained. "Park Hills residents are being asked to step forward to help make this center of fun a reality, where we can make wonderful memories of summer days by the swimming pool in Columbia Park. Nothing is more refreshing than a trip to our pool on a hot day for children, young adults, parents, and grandparents."

Members of the Park Hills Citizens for Prop SWIM include Kimberly Bowers, Pool Committee Chair/Councilman Michael Adam Bowers, Pool Committee Member/Councilwoman Stacey Easter, Pool Committee Member/Councilman Brian Whitfield, Jennifer Huff, Carl Courtois, City Administrator Mark McFarland, Harvey Faircloth, Theresa Naucke, Charlie Naucke, Larry LaChance, Mayor John Clark, Denise McFarland, and Mary Lee Faircloth.

For additional information on Prop SWIM, residents can attend Saturday's public forum in the Central High School Auditorium at 10 a.m. Citizens can also call 573-701-8571 for more details, email phpropswim@gmail.com, or visit the dedicated Facebook page: "Park Hills Citizens for Proposition SWIM."

Bobby Radford is a reporter for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at bradford@dailyjournalonline.com

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By Trend

Turkmenistan and South Korea discussed prospects of cooperation in the field of transport during an online meeting, Trend reports via Business Turkmenistan news agency.

The conference was attended by the Turkmendemiryollary Agency with the heads and representatives of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Republic of Korea and the KORAIL Korean Railway Corporation.

During the meeting, the sides discussed the further development of bilateral economic relations. Also, the Turkmen side highlighted its own initiatives in the country's transport system aimed at connecting the main transport routes that connect the South-North and East-West corridors.

At the same time, the participants focused on the construction of railway corridors Kazakhstan-Turkmenistan-Iran, Serkhetabat-Turgundi, Kerki-Imamnazar-Akina, Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Tajikistan, as well as the construction of expressways, airports and seaports.
Utah GOP Sen. Mitt Romney said Thursday that Republicans have struck an "agreement in principle" with Democrats on a $10 billion package to help US efforts to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. Here's that and more COVID news.
By Allison Brophy Champion

Culpeper Star-Exponent

A local judge from Virginias 16th judicial circuit is calling for Orange County elected leaders to consider removal of the Confederate statue that has prominently stood since 1900 on the courthouse lawn at the corner of Main Street in Madison Road in downtown Orange.

Orange Circuit Court Judge David B. Franzen called the statue an obstruction to the proper administration of justice in Orange County, according to a portion of an email from his government account sent Friday to Orange County leaders. Recipients included the sheriff, commonwealths attorney and county administrator. The email was forwarded to various members of the public and press.

It received almost immediate backlash from a group of local residents who showed up at the soldier statue Monday morning to protest.

The judges statements and planned actions also initiated a call for judicial inquiry into Judge Franzens actions by Republican State Senator Bryce Reeves, a congressional candidate from Spotsylvania.

Announcement deferred, protest stirred

Franzen, a former Charlottesville judge appointed last July to an eight-year term on the Orange circuit, had planned to make an announcement Monday morning about the statue prior to the courts normal administration.

He called it off late last week, however, after word got out and opposition mounted.

In the email, Franzen said, the purpose of his planned declaration was to call upon the Board of Supervisors to exercise its legislative power to remove the Confederate statue from the courthouse lawn.

He said it was not his intention to order any action, but rather to defer to the legislative power of the board, the judge wrote.

State law gives local governing bodies the power to remove or relocate war memorials, a thorny issue nationwide especially since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Protesters at the Confederate statue Monday morning felt Franzen was improperly trying to take that power. About two dozen held signs calling for his removal: Remove Judge Franzen! The bench is not for politics! shouted one man during the nearly one-hour protest.

Hes acting like hes above the law, said protest attendee Kerry Sellers, of Orange. He doesnt have the authority to do what hes doing.

Sellers felt the Confederate soldier statue should remain in front of the courthouse.

Its a memorial to the soldiers who died, he said. Its not about the Confederacy or the UnionIts not a race thingits a loss of life thing.

In the email Friday, Franzen said his actions had been misunderstood. He cited credible threats of the possibility of violence Monday morning as to why he was postponing his announcement.

A town policeman across the street said he had heard of no such credible threat.

It had been my hope the issue could be discussed and debated in the public forum of the Board of Supervisors and I was prepared to call upon the board to do so, Franzen said.

It appears such an appeal would have been misunderstood and perhaps manipulated in a manner unintended by me.

The judge said the postponement did not mean he was deferring the issue.

Matters of this kind require urgent, open and honest discussion, Franzen said.

Republican activist Paul Moog, of Orange, attended the protest, saying his family moved from the north and he doesnt have much connection to the Confederacy.

But I think its a beautiful piece history, he added. It reminds us of the sacrifice to remove slaverymost Confederate soldiers were just average soldiers and not slave holders.

Moog accused Judge Franzen of violating the judicial code of conduct and said he should not insert himself into controversial issues.

Its a very foolish move on his part to get involved in this, said Moog. He felt the statue was very popular in Orange County and commented that politicians were afraid of weighing in on it. Moog called it bizarre that Franzen would say the statue was causing an obstruction of justice.

Board chairman: very difficult issue, declines comment

Orange County Board Chairman R. Mark Johnson, reached on his work phone Monday afternoon, was hesitant to weigh in, saying he was aware of Judge Franzens emails about asking the board to address the Confederate statue.

This has not been added to any board agenda and I am not aware of any plans to add it to the agenda, Johnson, of Barboursville, said, adding, Of course, I cant tell what the future may hold.

The county board chairman had no comment when asked about Judge Franzen initiating attention to the statue.

I personally have had about seven or eight people contact me, some would like to move it, some dont want it moved, but I havent had very many people contact me, about the Confederate memorial over the last two years, Johnson said.

Asked his personal opinion of Confederate monuments in public spaces, the board chairman responded, I dont have anything to say about that. This is not on the boards agenda and I am not aware of any potential to put it on the agenda. That is the best answer I can give you on that.

Asked if the statue was obstructing justice in Orange County as the judge asserted, Johnson said he couldnt speak to it.

This is a very difficult issue, not something that I want to talk about on an ad hoc basis, the county board chairman said. At some point I may have something to say, the board may have something to say, but for right now, I dont.

Orange County resident Griffin Floyd started a change.org petition two years ago to remove the Confederate statue that now has close to 25,000 signatures. Johnson said hes aware of the petition and also of another online petition that wants to keep the Confederate figure.

I dont think online petitions are something board members need to be giving opinions on the relative merits of, he said.

Orange County Administrator Ted Voorhees told CBS 19 out of Charlottesville this past August that the local government had not been able to engage in conversations with the public about the monument because of COVID-19. He told the TV station he hopes the dialogue will take place in the community soon because many conversations have happened around the state and country.

Board Chairman Johnson said Monday he didnt think the pandemic insulated local elected officials from the public. Did COVID prevent constituents from talking to the board? No, he said.

Sen. Reeves: will file complaint

Orange County resident D.J. Anglin III attended Mondays protest to keep the statute. He said the law protects it and that if the citizens of Orange County wanted to deal with the war memorial there is a process for that.

Anglin said he felt it was unacceptable for a judge to approach elected board members to ask them to take it down.

The behavior by this judge is despicable, an abuse of power, he said.

Sen. Reeves, Orange Countys state senate representative in Richmond, stood with protesters Monday in the Town of Orange, posing for pictures, giving interviews and waving to passing cars honking their horns.

Reeves said in a statement he intended to file a complaint with the Judicial Inquiry & Review Commission based on alleged violations of the Canons of Judicial Conduct.

In this case, the mere fact Judge Franzen calls to make a declaration from the bench and his actions have called into question his impartiality, tarnished public trust, and ruined his reputation that will affect his ability to deliver justice fairly, the state senator said in a follow-up email to the Star-Exponent.

The courtroom must remain blind to politics and hold to the rule of law. Judges should not be activists.

According to Reeves, Franzen was advised by the Sheriff of Orange County and others not to proceed in his current path and to remain impartial and not put undue pressure on the board of supervisors regarding this issue. Judge Franzen should have to answer for his actions if he has any hope of restoring public trust.

Living history: a symbol of inequality?

Orange County Sheriff Mark Amos was present in the courtroom Monday morning when the judge had planned to issue his announcement. Outside, Virginia State Police troopers were visible on the sidewalk around the courthouse.

Confederate imagery was absent from signs used or clothes worn to Mondays protest almost as if on purpose. As the peaceful protest broke up, all that was left behind was a small battle flag planted in the dirt at the foot of the soldier statue. It was later removed.

The multi-layered stone memorial practically towers over the towns main intersection at Madison Road and Main. It stands in front of the historic courthouse, circa 1858, where Franzen last year oversaw dedication of a portrait of a Tuskegee Airman from Orange, Capt. Andrew Maples Jr.

It was the first portrait in the courtroom of an African-American, displayed in a line of pictures including President James Madison.

Engravings on the side of the base of the soldier state the monument was, Erected by their comrades and friends Oct. 18, 1900.

The names of dozens of Confederate soldiers from Orange who died in the war are listed on both sides of the larger portion of the base. A historical society associate present at the protest could not say exactly how many deaths there were.

The monument is also engraved with, They fought for the Right They died for their country Cherish their memory Imitate their example.

Griffin Floyd, in his two-year-old online petition to remove the monument stated it is a symbol of racial inequality, injustice and oppression.

Having phrases emulating the soldiers of the confederacylike they fought for the right (to keep black men and women enslaved) or imitate their example (of tyranny, injustice, and oppression) is perverse and contradicts our cherished American values like life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Furthermore, it is perverse to have a monument to oppression outside of a courthouse, where justice is supposed to be served.
It was classic courtroom drama in Albemarle County District Court Wednesday as accusers spent hours detailing their experiences with a doctor charged of sexual assault while his attorneys worked hard to undermine their credibility.

Dr. Mark Hormuz Dean was arrested in January 2018 after being accused of sexual assault by several women who were his patients at Albemarle Pain Management Associates. The assaults were reported to have happened between 2011 and 2017.

The cases have been separated, meaning Dean will likely face multiple trials.

In his first trial, Dean is facing a single count of object sexual penetration stemming from a May 2017 interaction with one of his female patients.

The bulk of Wednesdays hearing centered around the accuser as she tearfully recounted her experiences and fended off accusations of inconsistent statements from the defense.

According to the accuser, identified by the initials ES, she visited Dean as part of a treatment for hip pain from a workplace injury. After being taken alone into his exam room, ES said the defendant closed the door and proceeded to examine her hips. He pulled down her leggings and underwear and penetrated her with his fingers.

I wasnt thinking anything, my mind just went blank and I froze, she said. I asked him to stop and he covered my mouth and said shhhh.

After he stopped, ES said she tried to leave but was stopped by Dean who pinned her against the wall and kissed her. She said he grabbed her hand and moved it to his crotch so she was forced to feel his erection through his pants.

After leaving the office, ES said Dean took her to the medical offices checkout where she was set up for another appointment. She said she kept the second appointment, along with two others, because she said she felt like she had to in order to be cleared to return to work and because Deans medical treatments were effective.

He was a good doctor. He was the one who found my injuries and figured out how to treat them, ES said. I had seen lots of over doctors and no one else took me seriously.

She kept her story to herself for years in a bid to protect her family from the scrutiny and attention directed at sexual assault accusers. However, ES said that when negative feelings built up and in the fall of 2020, she told her husband and then went to the police, eventually deciding to pursue criminal action.

Much of the defense cross-examination focused on ESs statements to the police, which were made in November 2020, years after the alleged assault. Deans attorney, Rhonda Quagliana, pointed to various differences between ESs initial statement and her second one, made a couple weeks later.

In her initial statement, ES told an Albemarle County detective that she had not returned to Deans office after the assault.

You said that for a reason, didnt you? Quagliana questioned. You said that because it doesnt make sense for you to go back, didnt you? Because it doesnt make sense to return to a doctor who you claim violently assaulted you.

ES denied the accusation. She said she had largely blocked her return visits from her memory, only returning because she felt that she had to and always with a companion. As she stopped actively repressing her experiences with Dean, ES said other memories returned, thanks largely to their proximity to other notable experiences.

I dont remember all of my appointments from five years ago, but I think we all remember major events, she said. I can clearly remember the assault.

A second accuser, AS, also testified Wednesday. Dean is not facing any charges in this trial related to ASs experiences. The prosecutions questions compared the womens experiences.

Each woman testified that they do not know the other and do not know anything about each others claims.

AS said she began seeing Dean in 2017 after a different pain management physician was unable to help her with her back and neck pains. Like ES, AS said Dean was a good doctor and that the treatments and medication he prescribed helped her pain improve.

During a September 2017 visit, AS said she entered Deans exam room alone. He motioned to her pants and asked May I? Assuming he was going to perform a physical exam, AS said she nodded and Dean proceeded to penetrate her with his fingers and without her consent.

I was shocked and embarrassed and I didnt know what to do so I didnt do anything. I just froze, AS said. I looked at him and he was staring at the wall and that was when I knew this wasnt about me.

AS said Dean made various lewd and suggestive statements to her before telling her that the pain medication she was prescribed was a privilege. She said she took this to be a threat that he would take away her prescription if she told anyone what happened.

As a former drug addict, AS said she knew it would be difficult to find another doctor willing to prescribe her medication and that people would be more likely to believe a doctor than her. Like ES, AS also returned to Dean several times and claimed that on one occasion he made advances on her that she was able to rebuff.

AS came forward in January 2018 after news reports of other women accusing Dean of sexual assault. Details of those other cases were not presented to the jury Wednesday.

Quagliana spent more than an hour examining ASs various statements to police in great detail in an effort to get the accuser to explain why her testimony differed from earlier stories. The exchange was occasionally combative as the witness and attorney clashed over phrasing, timelines and ASs reasons for returning to Dean.

A sticking point for Quagliana was a civil lawsuit filed by AS in 2019 that initially sought $2.5 million from Dean before being amended to seek $5 million. According to a document from a personal injury law firm, AS first began seeking this lawsuit in January 2018, soon after she approached the police with her story.

Quagliana asked AS why she filed this lawsuit and if she knew that a criminal conviction might strengthen her case against Dean. AS denied this narrative but did admit that she sought to gain financially from her experiences with Dean, which as detailed in the lawsuit, include several other instances of sexual misconduct.

I figured if he cant say sorry or take his hands out of my pants then the only thing he could do is give me money, AS said.

AS was also presented with text message exchanges with her son in which she promised he would never want for anything if she won her lawsuit against Dean.

Deans trial is expected to resume at 9 a.m. on Thursday and could stretch past its five-day scheduled timeline.

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Charlottesville and Albemarle County officials pledged support for affordable housing, climate and transportation initiatives this week but said planning and realistic expectations are important.

The officials made their comments at the IMPACT Nehemiah Action conference Tuesday evening. IMPACT is an interfaith social justice organization that pushes city and county officials to take action on social issues.

Close to 200 people gathered in person at the event at the Church of the Incarnation with about 450 people participating virtually.

Were all here because we care. The question is, are we turning that care into action? said Jim Bleakley, co-president of IMPACT and pastor of Charlottesville Vineyard Church.

Sarah Kelley, lead apostle at Faith, Hope and Love Church, led the audience in a thematic rendition of This Little Light of Mine with the lyric for affordable housing, Im gonna let it shine.

While the event was spirited, leaders acknowledged conversations with public officials can be passionate and intense, especially when there are disagreements.

Seeing our spokespersons repeatedly ask or challenge these officials will probably make many of us uncomfortable. There is tension in the air tonight, said Carissa Phillips, treasurer of IMPACT. But every day, there is tension for those of us who battle with these problems daily.

IMPACT is asking the city for an ongoing allocation of $3 million in the Charlottesville Affordable Housing Fund (CAHF) starting in the upcoming Fiscal Year 2023 budget.

I think we can use our surplus money to get $3 million in affordable housing funding, councilor Michael Payne said.

Payne said there are different ways that could happen and that it wouldnt necessarily mean $3 million directly to the fund. It could be a combination of funding, with $1 million to the fund and $2 million to a proposed affordable housing project like the one on Park Street Christian Churchs campus, for example.

Mayor Lloyd Snook voiced support for Paynes idea, but cautioned the future is unknown.

I am all in favor of $3 million [but] a number on a budget isnt a commitment. A number on a budget, for example, did not survive COVID, Snook said. I dont like being asked to make commitments that later circumstances may prove unwise.

Snook said he does want to prioritize funding for affordable housing, but is hesitant to make promises when he cant control outside factors like the pandemic.

Were going to spend that kind of money on new projects. But if you want a commitment, if you want a promise, if you want something you can take to the bank and yell at me when I run for re-election, I dont want to give that to you because thats not how government works, Snook said.

Snook also emphasized the city does not build affordable housing projects, but subsidizes them.

When asked by IMPACT leaders, Payne and Snook both agreed to support Charlottesville Area Transits budget request for 10 new drivers and also support a goal of limiting wait times to 15 minutes by 2025.

IMPACT is asking Albemarle County to fully establish the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and conduct a study to identify and dedicate at least $5 million in additional income sources for the fund.

County supervisors Ann Mallek and Ned Gallaway supported the goal and committed to $5 million but said planning must be done.

Staff will be bringing back the plan to get that created. We still have to figure out the legal creation of it, the governance of it and how it will work to dispense funds, Gallaway said.

There will likely be more than $5 million in the countys Housing Fund reserve by the end of the current fiscal year. That money is made up of existing reserve money and money from the countys last fiscal year surplus.

The recommended budget for the next fiscal year, however, does not include any new transfers into the fund.

According to the countys budget, the reserve is intended to support housing initiatives that are one-time costs.

In the next fiscal year budget the county plans to use $10 million of its American Rescue Plan Act funding to reimburse public safety employee pay. That creates a reserve in the funds for which nonprofits were able to apply.

About $2.4 million is recommended to go to Virginia Supportive Housings Premier Circle permanent supportive housing project. That will provide 80 permanent affordable studio apartments with services for homeless and low-income adults from Albemarle and Charlottesville.

Reporter Allison Wrabel contributed to this story.

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Schools in the Charlottesville area are sending students home early Thursday afternoon as a cold front moves into the area that could bring severe thunderstorms, damaging wind gusts, hail and possibly a few tornadoes.

Thursday's White Hall District Town Hall meeting for discussing the 2023 Budget was also cancelled, due to the closure of the Broadus Wood Elementary School.

The National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather outlook early Thursday morning for portions of eastern West Virginia, northern and central Virginia, and central and western Maryland.

In response to the forecast, the Albemarle County school division said it would dismiss students two hours early. All afterschool activities were canceled along with the Extended Day Enrichment Program. The Charlottesville, Louisa County, Fluvanna County, Nelson County and Greene County school divisions made similar announcements.

Scattered showers are expected for the rest of Thursday morning until about 1 to 2 p.m., but the storm will pick up in the late afternoon and early evening, said Kevin Witt, a forecaster with the NWSs office in Sterling.

Witt said the strongest and most severe storms are expected from 5 to 10 p.m. when a cold front combines with a low-pressure system thats moving quickly across Kentucky and West Virginia. Once that system gets to the mountains, he expects it to produce damaging winds.

He encouraged people to be alert and cautioned that storms could continue overnight.

Any peaks of sunshine [this afternoon] is going to add to the instability and make the storms stronger, Witt said. Theres a lot of wind with the system.

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Two Charlottesville families are going on the trip of a lifetime, thanks to a sweet surprise from a nonprofit that gives memorable vacations to sick kids.

On Monday at Panera Bread in Barracks Road Shopping Center, Baking Memories 4 Kids surprised the Fountain and Resch families with trips to Walt Disney World, Universal Studios, LEGOLAND and SeaWorld.

The trips each came with a giant, stuffed Mickey Mouse almost as big as the children themselves.

Baking Memories 4 Kids is a New York-based nonprofit founded by Frank Squeo, a cancer survivor who wanted to give back to families with kids dealing with severe illnesses and disabilities.

His organization raises money to send families on trips to major theme parks such as Walt Disney World. The trips cost an estimated $15,000 each.

I had advanced-stage cancer 15 years ago and should have not survived. It was only by blessings and a miracle that I was able to get past that, but I knew there was a purpose for it. It wasnt just a lucky break, he said.

I knew that Gods purpose for me was to not only help other people, but more importantly help children and help families that do not have the means to be able to get on the plane and do a life-changing trip, Squeo said.

Levi Fountain, 9, is excited about his trip because hell have the chance to explore new theme parks.

Ive never been to LEGOLAND! he said, while tossing his Mickey in the air. Hes said hes also excited to ride the Spiderman ride at Universal Studios.

His older brother, Benjamin, is most excited to ride the Transformers ride at Universal Studios.

My favorite Transformer is Bumblebee, he said.

Levi and Benjamin both have Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare genetic disorder seen most often in boys. It causes progressive muscle weakness and atrophy. Many people with the condition dont live past the age of 20.

Its been a big adjustment and difficulty for our family, said Stephen Fountain, Levi and Benjamins dad. Every time, every opportunity we get to be together is precious.

Baking Memories 4 Kids primarily fundraises through its own sales of cookies, which are baked by hand in a warehouse in the basement of Squeos home. Since 2014, the organization has partnered with Blue Ridge Bread, a Charlottesville-based franchise of Panera Bread, to provide trips to a dozen local families over the last several years.

Customers are asked to round up their totals as a donation through the restaurants Change 4 Children initiative, which is in turn donated to the organization.

Hudson Resch, 6, has an extremely rare heart condition called hypoplastic right ventricle with pulmonary atresia.

Resch has already had three open heart surgeries and will likely have more down the line. His family is grateful that he is well enough to go on the trip.

They always say it takes a village to raise a child, and it really took UVa Medical Center and the community to raise this child along with us and its really amazing to think about what hes been through, said Jacob Resch, Hudsons dad. To watch him, hes an absolutely normal, soon-to-be 7-year-old but he has a congenital heart defect.

Both families expressed their gratitude to the organization for making the trips possible.

I think that I will always reflect on this and I will always be amazed at the generosity and the kindness and honestly, its a trip of a lifetime, said Celestial Resch, Hudsons mom.

Down the road well think about when we went to Disney and all of these wonderful stories that follow, she said. Were just thankful that people like [Squeo] exist to come alongside us on our journey and give us an opportunity to have so many wonderful memories.

Baking Memories 4 Kids accepts monetary donations at their website www.bakingmemories4kids.com/donate/. Volunteers can also sign up to host bake sales in their own communities to raise money for the organization.

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The saga of Pfc. Edward H. Benson is not a happy one. Benson died March 22, 1945, while serving his country in World War II. The young man from Roanoke was just 22.

A Japanese bombing raid on the Sorido Airstrip in what is now part of Indonesia killed 40 people. But Bensons body and those of two other soldiers were never identified or accounted for after the bloody strike. The whereabouts of Bensons body turned into a mystery that stretched from months to years to decades. It tested the militarys promise to leave no soldier behind and a sons love like very few casualties do.

When the war ended, the American Graves Registration Service began looking for missing and unidentified U.S. personnel. The hunt for identities of unidentified bodies from Sorido grew from three to four, including Benson. The Army and Army Air Force, not then a separate military branch, brought bodies from around the South Pacific to a big cemetery in what is now Papua, New Guinea.

The science of identification was inexact at the time. But the military was nothing if not dogged. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency described an eight-year effort to sort out the Sorido bodies this way:

After several examinations, misidentifications, burials, exhumations and re-examinations between 1945 and 1953, the other three men were conclusively identified, but one set of remains, designated X-188 Finschhafen #3 remains, couldnt be positively identified.

The unidentified remains were buried at Fort William McKinley Cemetery in what became Manila American Cemetery and Memorial in the Philippines. The Army declared Edward Benson non-recoverable.

And thats the way it was for half a century. But Bensons son, James H. Benson, refused to give up. In May, 2003, the younger Benson, who served in the Marine Corps, asked for another check on X-188 to see it was his dad. But digging up buried bodies was not standard operating procedure. So James Benson gained no closure.

A dozen years passed. Still, he wouldnt quit his mission to solve his fathers mystery. He asked the military again for help in 2015, shortly after the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, formed. The DPAA is the only government agency charged with finding and recovering more than 81,600 Americans missing from past U.S. conflicts.

In Bensons case it took five years, but in 2020, the agency exhumed X-188 from the Manila grave. The remains went to an agency laboratory in Pearl Harbor.

In the three-quarters of a century since the bombing of Sorido, technology had come a long way. The inexact science of identifying dead bodies had given way to a precision that no one could have dreamed of in 1945. The Pearl Harbor lab examining X-188 used what it called dental and anthropological analysis, as well as circumstantial evidence. But it also called in the Armed Forces Medical Examiners office to apply 21st century skills. The medical examiners office analyzed mitochondrial DNA and autosomal DNA.

It turned out that Bensons remains were initially identified as belonging to a Sgt. Moynihan.

It is very rare for remains to be misidentified as Pfc. Bensons were back after WWII, a DPAA spokesman told The Daily Progress in an email. We dont have any records of how Bensons remains were initially identified as Sgt. Moynihan.

Whatever happened, in 1951, the military identified Moynihans actual remains someplace else. Because no one knew the identity of the remains thought to be Moynihans, Benson was buried as an unknown soldier.

It could have ended that way, but for a sons determination to solve his fathers mystery and the militarys promise to leave no soldier behind.

I dont believe it ever crossed my mind to cease looking, James Benson said.

Today, the results of that persistence play out overseas and back home. On the Tablet of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, a rosette will be placed beside the name of Pfc. Edward H. Benson, signaling that his remains have been located.

Meanwhile, a son hungry for resolution of a family tragedy trusted his gut and got rewarded. His father will finally be laid to rest on May 14 in Roanoke.
When you fire members of a Conviction Integrity Unit, you raise questions about your commitment to justice. The Virginia Attorney General did that in the case of Terrence Richardson.

Republican AG Jason Miyares withdrew the states support for a writ of actual innocence for Richardson, who was acquitted by a federal jury of murdering a police officer in Waverly. Richardson has spent the past 20 years in state prison for pleading guilty to manslaughter and a drug distribution charge that a judge decided deserved a life sentence.

Richardsons fate remains unresolved despite a yearlong investigation by former Democratic Attorney General Mark Herring. That inquiry resulted in a 78-page decision that supported Richardsons appeal for a writ of innocence. Such a declaration could eventually lead to Richardsons release from prison.

This prospect apparently bothered Miyares so much that he now hopes to wipe out the work of Herrings Conviction Integrity Unit, which ran the Richardson investigation. One way to do that was to replace members of the unit.

Virginia attorneys general enjoy broad latitude in staffing. Still, overruling lawyers whose job is to make sure the legal system works seems a strange and disturbing interpretation of justice. This is doubly concerning after a yearlong investigation determined that the state was holding someone who should be free.

Earlier this week, Richardsons lawyer, Jarrett Adams, filed a legal challenge to Miyares attempt to withdraw state support for the innocence writ, ABC Channel 8 in Richmond reported.

Miyares spokeswoman told The Daily Progress that Miyares has expanded the innocence unit, not eliminated it. It is now called the Cold Cases, Actual Innocence and Special Investigations Unit. The team, she said in an email is led by Theo Stamos, a Democrat and former elected Commonwealths Attorney from Arlington County.

The issue in Richardsons case seems to be that Miyares believes Richardsons acquittal of a federal murder charge does not count, and that he actually did murder a cop. The AG seems to believe that Richardsons state court plea deal that included drug dealing and involuntary manslaughter are tantamount to a confession of a more aggravated crime that should keep Richardson in prison until he dies.

We wonder if the attorney general intends his behavior in the Richardson case to show just how much he supports police and how tough he is on law and order. We also wonder if he wants to be accountable for substituting his judgment for others.

The problem with this reasoning is that last week Miyares new wrongful conviction team backed an innocence writ for Michael Haas, who served a prison sentence from 1994 until 2017 for sexually abusing his two sons when they were nine and 11.

For years, Mr. Haas sons have said they were coerced into testifying against their father, and have repeatedly recanted their 1994 testimony, a news release from Miyares office said. Additionally, the medical testimony relied on for Haas conviction was recently proven unreliable. Due to these developments, the Commonwealth of Virginia has moved to support a Writ of Actual Innocence for Michael Haas.

A reading of a Virginia Supreme Court decision in the Haas case shows just how subjective conclusions of wrongful convictions can be. The 2012 ruling explained why the high court did not grant a new evidentiary hearing to Haas. It recounted testimony from the boys aunt who said Haas told her [H]ell yeah, I did it, Id do it again, I screwed the kids, you can go to hell with the rest of them because you cant prove it.

The decision also includes a footnote on its final page.

The Commonwealths expert medical witnesses at trial presented photographs of the rectal examinations they had made of the boys, showing graphic evidence of chronic sexual abuse. In deciding the case, the trial judge commented: [T]hese pictures here do speak volumes in my opinion. For reasons unexplained, the photographs no longer appear in the record and were not before the Court of Appeals, which ordered the hearing for a new trial.

Talk about unanswered questions.
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Ever wondered what archaeologists do when they are on a site or how evidence is gathered, collected and recorded? How are field operations conducted?
By Trend

U.S. health officials on Tuesday authorized a second COVID-19 booster dose of the two most commonly used COVID-19 vaccines for people age 50 and older, citing data showing waning immunity and the risks posed by Omicron variants of the virus, Trend reports citing Reuters.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration agency said the new boosters - a fourth round of shots for most vaccine recipients - of the Pfizer Inc/BioNTech SE and Moderna Inc vaccines are to be administered at least four months after the previous dose. They are intended to offer more protection against severe disease and hospitalization.

The FDA also authorized a second booster dose of the vaccines for younger people with compromised immune systems - those aged 12 and older for the Pfizer/BioNTech shot and 18 and older for Moderna's.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) backed the FDA's authorization, recommending the additional shot, particularly for older people and those with underlying medical conditions that put them at higher risk.

The decision to offer second boosters in the United States comes as some scientists have raised concern about the highly contagious and newly predominant BA.2 Omicron subvariant, which has driven up COVID-19 cases in other countries.

"If it were my relatives, I would be sending them out to do this," top FDA official Dr. Peter Marks said during a news conference of getting booster shots. "COVID-19 has had a really disproportional adverse effect on people 65 years of age and older and those with comorbidities."

COVID cases in the United States have dropped sharply since a record surge in January, but have seen a small uptick over the past week, according to CDC data.

BROADER BOOSTER CAMPAIGN MAY BE NEEDED

Marks said the FDA will soon weigh the benefits of authorizing another round of boosters - perhaps specifically targeted to combat new variants of concern - to a broader population after the summer.

"There may be a need for people to get an additional booster in the fall along with a more general booster campaign, if that takes place, because we may need to shift over to a different variant coverage," he said.

The FDA said it looked at data from a relatively small, ongoing clinical trial in Israel to help make its decision. In addition, safety data from more than 700,000 people who received second boosters in Israel revealed no new concerns, the agency said.

Scientists and officials have debated for months if and when an additional booster shot would be needed as they parsed data on how long protection from the vaccines and boosters would last.

"It's not clear that now is the right time for people to get a fourth dose," Dr. William Moss, executive director of the International Vaccine Access Center at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said.

If there is a surge in cases in late fall or early winter, as is typical for respiratory viruses and influenza, an additional boost may then be needed, he said. The body's neutralizing antibodies spurred on by a fourth booster given now may decline in just a few months, he said.

It is also unclear whether young, healthy people will need a fourth shot. The study of Israeli healthcare workers cited by the FDA suggested that the fourth dose added little additional protection in the age group.

Biden administration officials have said that the U.S. government currently has enough doses of the vaccines to meet the demand for another round of booster shots in older Americans, even as funding for the U.S. pandemic response has all but run out.

They say that unless Congress approves more spending, the government will not be likely to be able to be pay for future inoculations, if they are needed, particularly if the vaccines need to be redesigned to target new variants.

Around two-thirds of fully vaccinated Americans over the age of 65 and just over half of people between the age of 50 and 64 have gotten their first booster dose so far.
Fundraiser for the Corvallis Sister Cities Association's Uzhhorod (Ukraine) Refugee Fund. Earl Newman, an artist and screen printer who lives in Summit, has created and donated a screen-printed poster illustrating support for Ukraine. Two hundred numbered posters will be printed; several framed posters will be available. The prints will sell for $100 each to be donated to the refugee fund; framed prints will cost extra. Information: 541-760-8081 or caroltrueba@gmail.com.

Fundraiser for Ukrainian refugees, through Thursday, March 31, New Morning Bakery, 219 SW Second St., Corvallis. Owner Keara James will donate 20% of sales off six-packs of Hamantaschen to the Corvallis Sister Cities Association's Uzhhorod Refugee Fund. Hamantaschen are triangular cookies; New Morning's cookies have apricot, marionberry and poppy seed fillings.

Rally to support Ukraine, noon to 2 p.m. Saturdays, Benton County Courthouse, 120 NW Fourth St., Corvallis. All are invited to come show solidarity with Ukraine in an event that is not antiwar or anti-Russia but pro-Ukraine. Those attending can bring Ukrainian flags, sunflowers and signs showing support. Updates on the humanitarian aspect of the war will be given. Information: 7442117@gmail.com.

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Benton Countys proposed new crisis center would give those experiencing mental health crises better help than what they might get from jail or the emergency department.

The crisis center is one aspect of what Benton County calls the Justice System Improvement Plan, which also includes a new correctional facility, courthouse, sheriffs office and emergency operations center.

As it stands, the county has two choices for those in crisis: outpatient behavioral health services and in-patient hospital care. The crisis center would be a step between. County officials hope to see construction, which is expected to take 10 months, begin in late winter or early spring.

Among others, the facility would serve those who are known to have psychiatric conditions and need stabilizing, and also those whove had multiple interactions with law enforcement or emergency responders to which a mental health issue is suspected of contributing, according to Danielle Brown, the countys behavioral health deputy director.

Its really designed for anyone who needs a break from stressors, to be connected to services and support, Brown said. It really will have a no-wrong-door approach to entry where were just supporting adult individuals who are having behavioral health crises for any number of reasons.

Another source for a fair amount of referrals would be the counselor of the day at county behavioral health, Brown said. Currently there is walk-in access for those seeking immediate help and mobile crisis services, whose referrals add to what comes from hospitals and community organizations.

Were really wanting it to have a wide-open door for anybody that needs the services, she said.

The justice center's project manager, Nick Kurth, said the crisis center is a critical component in the revamped approach for how local law enforcement responds to mental health calls.

I would say the need in the community is extreme, Kurth said. Its not something we can afford to wait several years to have. Its a need right now in the same way that correctional facility beds are a need right now.

Kurth said the crisis center has $7.7 million in funding, which consultants said is sufficient for an 8,000-square-foot crisis center. He said Phase 1 of the project wont rely on a bond measure of up to $100 million the county plans to float for most of the justice system improvements, though the bond may include some funding for Phase 2 work.

The state legislature has appropriated $5.45 million for the crisis center.

On top of the state's allotment, U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio and Oregon Rep. Dan Rayfield played key roles in the financing: Rayfield helped secure $1.25 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, designed to deal with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, with DeFazio helping add another $1 million from a federal appropriations bill.

The main focus of the center would be to keep people safe, Brown said. That could mean coordinating with primary care providers or mental health professionals to find out if medication isnt being taken. Or it could mean connecting people to the services they need and arent getting.

The facility wont be a secure site like a jail  people wont be held there but rather will be allowed to stay voluntarily, according to Brown. She said county officials consciously decided against it because Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis has secure in-patient capacity.

There would be two sections to the crisis center: The chairs, as Brown called it, would be a recovery area for those needing 23 hours or less of care; an area with private overnight beds would be for those who need up to 30 days to stabilize their conditions.

In Benton County we have one psychiatric respite bed thats embedded in one of our residential treatment facilities to provide services to our entire county, she said. One bed. Its not even close to enough.

Brown said the value of a local option for those in crisis includes providing a continuum of care while keeping people near their support networks and out of locked-in facilities. She said there is a wealth of research that says putting people unnecessarily into secured settings is counter-therapeutic.

There are always going to be people that need secure settings, she said. Having an alternative for people who need care, but not secure care, is what were really trying to develop because right now we dont have that.

Benton County officials initially planned to use a county building that formerly housed the Board of Commissioners at 205 NW Fifth St. in downtown Corvallis for the crisis center. But prohibitive remodeling estimates led commissioners to choose a new, less-costly building site on Northwest Van Buren Avenue between Northwest Fourth and Fifth streets.

Im very pleased that the commissioners made the decision to keep it downtown for accessibility for our community, Brown said.

Cody Mann covers Benton County and the cities of Corvallis and Philomath. He can be contacted at 541-812-6113 or Cody.Mann@lee.net. Follow him on Twitter via @News_Mann_.

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By Azernews





By Kiymet Sezer

Turkey has made a substantial contribution to the progress of the Russia-Ukraine peace talks by setting up a negotiation table in Istanbuls Dolmabahce Palace, Yeni Shafak daily has reported.

Turkey, via its "constructive neutrality" and "facilitating diplomacy", as perceived by the conflicting parties, has paved the way for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders, following the progress made in the technical negotiations.

When the representatives of both delegations gave the message that a summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was possible in principle, everyone's attention was drawn to the following stages.

Six issues have been raised in the talks between Russia and Ukraine. As soon as Turkey noticed that the parties were getting closer in certain articles, it intervened and pushed them to resume face-to-face negotiations.

The parties had prioritized several issues on which they had not yet reached an agreement.

Russia wished to preserve Ukraine's neutrality, i.e. its refusal to join NATO and its refusal to produce nuclear weapons. In turn, Ukraine sought security assurances, and Turkey largely brought these concerns to light through its facilitative diplomacy.

"Tough" issues such as Crimea and Donbas were not discussed and were instead left to the leaders' discretion, increasing the likelihood of a leaders' meeting.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also announced the roadmap of the process to be brought to the leaders' table as "the meeting of the two countries' presidents after the two countries' foreign ministers came together to finalize the common understanding."

The approaches of the parties to the problem will be learned in the coming period, and shuttle diplomacy for mediation will begin.

In this regard, the road map is expected to be developed during Cavusoglu's meetings with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts.

In response to Zelensky's suggestion for a leaders' summit, Putin demanded that the technical negotiations should produce results. Following the preparation of a trust agreement in Dolmabahce, all eyes are on Putin for the leaders' meeting.

Following the NATO Leaders' Summit, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered Putin a "honorable exit" and stated that he should be remembered as the founder of the peace table.

Ankara maintains a cautious optimism about the upcoming process. According to diplomatic sources, it is still unclear whether the leaders' table will be established, but even the emergence of such a possibility is a significant step forward. The parties will make the final decision on this issue, it is stated.

In this regard, the two-week period set for the continuation of technical talks will be of critical importance in establishing peace and ceasefire.
The last candidate into the race has soared into a commanding lead in Alabamas Senate race.

Huntsville business executive and former Army aviator Mike Durant leads the race by 10 percentage points, according to an independent poll released Wednesday.

Durant leads the Republican primary field with 32.8 percent of the vote, followed by Katie Britt with 22.9% and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks at 11.7 percent.

Emerson College Polling conducted the poll for The Hill, a Washington newspaper. The poll sampled 687 likely voters in the Republican primary and has a margin of error of 3.7%.

The poll was conducted March 25-27  beginning a day after former President Donald Trump withdrew his endorsement of Brooks.

As for Trumps influence in the race, the poll found 52% would be more likely to vote for the candidate he endorsed. Trump has said he will make an endorsement in the Alabama race but has not done so yet.

While the poll indicates Durant has emerged as the clear frontrunner, there is still more ground to cover. The undecided vote, for example, came in second place  the poll finding 26 percent of those sampled were undecided who they would vote for in the May 24 primary.

Candidates in Alabama also need to exceed 50% of the vote to avoid a runoff, otherwise the top two candidates would face off in the runoff on June 21.

Its the second independent poll in a week with Durant, Britt and Brooks, respectively, in the top three. In a poll conducted by Republican firm Cygnal on behalf of Alabama Daily News and Gray Television, Durant had 34.6% of the vote with Britt at 28.4% and Brooks at 16.1%.
Workers at a factory of LeBoucher. Photo courtersy of the firm

GreenFeed Vietnam, a Vietnamese food chain company, has acquired the Mekong Delta-based French chicken supplier LeBoucher.

The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

GreenFeed owns G Kitchen, a meat and processed products retailer.

Quang Thanh Cuong, head of its food segment, said the acquisition would complement the companys ecosystem with a new source of protein.

LeBoucher, a poultry supplier with a factory in the southern province of Long An, is the fifth food brand added to GreenFeeds portfolio, the other three being MaMaChoice (fresh meat), Wyn (processed food) and G.Lala (broken rice).

LeBoucher was owned by Alain Glon Holding Asia, a French food company with $110 million in annual revenue that has been operating in Vietnam for over 25 years. It supplies chicken to McDonalds Vietnam operations.

According to German data portal Statista, Vietnam poultry consumption was nearly 17 kilograms per capita in 2021; and expected to rise to more than 20 kilograms by 2029.
Workers install bored piles to make the foundation for the passenger terminal for Long Thanh airport project in Dong Nai Province, March 30, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Phuoc Tuan

After more than a month of leveling ground for the Long Thanh airport project, contractors have progressed on to the passenger terminal.

The projects investor, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), started work on the terminal on Wednesday.

The phase will start with the foundation work, which will see contractors build nearly 1,600 bored piles with a diameter of 0.8-1.2 meters each.

As scheduled, the pile installation must be completed for the construction of the terminal in October.

Lai Xuan Thanh, ACV chairman, said moving to the stage of building the passenger terminal will create a boost for the construction of Long Thanh to meet its schedule.

Long Thanh in southern Dong Nai Province will replace Ho Chi Minh Citys Tan Son Nhat to become the biggest airport in Vietnam once completed.

Work on the project began on Jan. 5 last year after many years of preparations and lengthy land acquisitions.

In February, a year after work began, only fencing and demining had been done, causing Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh to complain over the progress.

Estimated to cost $16 billion in total, the airport will have an annual capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo.

The first phase is set to be up and running in 2025 to serve 25 million passengers per year.
Vietnam completes evacuation of its people from Ukraine

Vietnamese who fled Ukraine arrive at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi on March 8, 2022.  Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy

Some 5,200 Vietnamese have been evacuated from Ukraine so far, and 1,700 have returned to Vietnam.

The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also assisted dozens of people to return to Vietnam on commercial flights.

Many others, who have valid documents issued by Ukraine, have chosen to go to other countries.

"The evacuation has been basically completed," according to the World and Vietnam Report newspaper.

A few Vietnamese have stayed back in Ukraine for various reasons. In Mariupol, where the fighting has been fierce, there are 17 left after 60 others evacuated.

Vietnam's missions in Europe are monitoring the situation closely, coordinating with local authorities, the Red Cross and foreign agencies to provide further aid if needed.

There were around 7,000 Vietnamese in Ukraine, mainly in Kharkiv, Odessa and Kiev, before Russia launched its attack in late Feb.
Vietnamese rescuers give first aid to a Bangladeshi sailor suffering from chest pain on a ship off the central coast, March 30, 2022. Photo by Vietnam News Agency

Rescuers in central Vietnam returned a Bangladesh sailor to shore for emergency aid after he experienced chest pain early Wednesday.

The sailor, MD Milon, 25, was on his way from China to India on the cargo ship Izumo that is registered in Panama, Vietnam News Agency reported.

When the ship was 103 nautical miles northeast of Nha Trang in Vietnam's Khanh Hoa Province, he started suffering from "a terrible chest pain" on Tuesday, said Nguyen Xuan Binh, director of the maritime search and rescue coordination center in region 4, which oversees the area off Vietnam's south-central coast.

The crew on Izumo contacted the center for help, receiving immediate assistance.

Around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the SAR 27-01 rescue vessel ship reached Izumo and rushed to take MD Milon to a hospital in Nha Trang for emergency aid.

The Bangladesh sailor might have suffered from a heart attack, according to the report.

He is now in stable condition.
A new Memorandum of Cooperation between the United States and the African Union Commission, signed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and AU Commission Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat on March 11 will elevate the partnership between the United Sates and countries and institutions throughout Africa, said Secretary of State Antony Blinken. In November, I laid out five areas where our countries and peoples interests align very powerfully: democracy, peace and security, inclusive economic growth, the climate crisis, and global health security.



And we are working closely with the African Union on each and every one of these issues.

As there continue to be challenges to democracy throughout the continent, the AU has responded with strong action, both through efforts to restore democracy in Mali, in Burkina Faso, in Guinea, and through its decision to suspend the membership of countries where democratic governments have been overthrown.



Challenges in peace to security often stem from  a lack of economic opportunity, said Secretary Blinken.



Were partnering with the AU, African governments and businesses, entrepreneurs, civil society, our own private sector, and international financial institutions to try to make investments that will spark greater growth and opportunity, like access to reliable infrastructure and electricity.

On the climate crisis, we are coordinating our programs to support the AUs Continental Climate Change Strategy, to find new ways to help countries across Africa adapt to and manage the impacts of climate change, said Secretary Blinken.



Finally, were working together to combat the pandemic, he said. The AU is  a vital player in the international communitys efforts to end the pandemic through the COVID-19 Global Action Plan.



Were grateful for the AUs partnership, especially for coordinating vaccine donations and managing the continents COVID response, which the United States has been proud to support with, to date, 166 million vaccines to countries in Africa, guided by the AUs Joint Continental Strategy for COVID-19.



The new Memorandum of Cooperation will expand the public health workforce, establish new institutes for research and development, make it easier for the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. government to work together to stop the next pandemic before it starts, said Secretary Blinken.



Thats how well make progress: as equal partners, working together to deliver concrete results, measurable benefits to our people, on the issues that actually matter the most to them.
By Azernews





By Orhan Orhun Unal

Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) President Ismail Gulle has stated that the country's e-commerce increased fourfold in the last five years, Yeni Shafak newspaper has reported.

Gulle made the remarks at the World Ecom Expo Fair in Antalya, Turkey, which brought together the world's e-commerce titans with Turkish companies to seek new markets.

"In the past five years, the volume of e-commerce in our country has quadrupled. Our total e-commerce volume increased rapidly reaching 225 billion TL ($15.3 billion) in 2020," Gulle emphasized.

He went on to say that the number of global e-commerce users had surpassed 3 billion, with these customers spending $ 4.9 trillion in 2021.

The event, which is Turkey's largest gathering of the e-commerce ecosystem, attracts 1,500 participants and 900 companies from 35 countries.

With market shares totaling $150 billion, the fair attracted a number of major e-commerce businesses, including Wayfair (USA), AliExpress (China), Zalando (Germany), and Allegro (Poland).

In his address to the World Ecom Event, which was organized by the International E-Export Platform WORLDEF with the support of the Ministry of Commerce, WORLDEF President Omer Nart stated that 1.500 participants will evaluate cooperation opportunities over the course of three days.

During the event, 25,000 business-to-business (B2B) meetings will be held, according to him. In Antalya, the number of participants will be 5,000 next year, rising to 100,000 in five years.

Nart emphasized that the World E-Commerce Forum, which will be held in on October 25-26, 2022, will be attended by approximately 300 companies and thousands of people.

"The UK e-commerce market is a massive market worth 700 billion pounds, and we want to increase the share of Turkish e-commerce companies in this market," Nart said.

"We believe the event in London will have a significant impact in France and Germany," Frugoo Director Hakan Thyr stated.

The goal of the London event is to not only promote Turkish companies to Europe but also to open Turkey's doors to our clients there, according to Hakan Aydemir, Channel Advisor MENA Director, who also wanted the event to be held in Germany.

Emre Ekmekci, President of the Electronic Commerce Operators Association, the share of e-commerce in total trade in Turkey has reached up to 16 percent, and this rate will rise as the law changes.

According to ShopiVerse CEO Orxan Isayev, the company's goal is to export high-quality, branded Turkish products to the European market via England.
The U.S. government is concerned by the injustice and lack of transparency on display in the trials of political prisoners in Nicaragua. We remain committed to supporting the people of Nicaragua by fighting corruption and promoting democracy, the rule of law, and accountability, said State Department spokesperson Ned Price in a statement.

This is why the United States has added the following nine Nicaraguan government officials to its Corrupt and Undemocratic Actors list, which generally makes the listed individuals ineligible for visas and admission to the United States.

Cairo Melvin Amador, current Vice President of the Supreme Electoral Council, or CSE, Lumberto Ignacio Campbell Hooker, current CSE member, and Brenda Isabel Rocha Chacon, current CSE President, were added to the list for subverting the November 2021 national election by disqualifying opposition parties and candidates on spurious grounds.

Edwin Ramon Castro Rivera, member of the Nicaraguan National Assembly since 1997, was added for ensuring Ortega-Murillo loyalists won all magistrate positions in the CSE and ensuring the passage of legislation that was used to exclude opposition candidates and parties and harass and jail political opponents.

Karen Vanessa Chavarria Morales, current judge in the ninth district in Managua, was added for abusing her authority and subverting legal processes to act against political opponents of the Ortega-Murillo regime and disqualify opposition candidates from the November 2021 election.

Walmaro Antonio Gutierrez Mercado, current member of the Nicaraguan National Assembly, Carlos Wilfredo Navarro Moreira, current member of the Nicaraguan National Assembly, and Gustavo Eduardo Porras Cortes, current President of the Nicaraguan National Assembly were all added for giving the Ortega-Murillo regime the tools to conduct its brazen assault on democracy by stacking the Supreme Electoral Council with members loyal to Ortega.

Maria Haydee Osuna Ruiz, current member of the Nicaraguan National Assembly, was singled out for conspiring with the Ortega-Murillo regime to subvert the November 2021 Nicaraguan national elections by signing a spurious complaint that served as pretext for the government to disqualify the last legitimate opposition party and hound its leader into exile.

We are standing with the people of Nicaragua, said spokesperson Price, as they strive to restore democratic institutions, select their leaders in free and fair elections, and create the futures they desire for themselves and their families.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a country rich in natural resources, but for reasons which include armed conflict and disease, poverty in the DRC remains widespread.



Another factor is the theft of these Congolese resources by bad actors involved in the illegal minerals trade. That trade also threatens peace, security, and stability in the Great Lakes region.



In line with its commitment to disrupt the illegal minerals trade in the DRC and encourage mining sector transparency, the United States has imposed sanctions on Belgian businessman Alain Goetz and his network of companies. Alain Goetz and his companies trade gold sourced from regions controlled by armed groups engaged in conflict in the DRC, said State Department Spokesman Ned Price in a written statement. These armed groups . . .are implicated in atrocities, including ethnic massacres, rape and forced recruitment of children.



In announcing the sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department wrote that the illicit movement of gold from the DRC that Goetz and his companies are involved in, is valued at hundreds of millions of dollars per year. The network of armed groups, smugglers, and companies, which generates revenue from the gold industry, does so through forced labor, smuggling, or by extorting payments from miners. These actors, the Treasury Department noted, use that revenue to finance armed conflict and enrich themselves, while depriving the DRC of tax revenue and disregarding the environment and local communities.



Conflict gold provides the largest source of revenue to armed groups in eastern DRC where they control mines and exploit miners, said Brian Nelson, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence. "Alain Goetz and his network have contributed to armed conflict by receiving DRC gold without questioning its origin. Treasury has been very clear: global gold markets, at every step of the supply chain, must engage in responsible sourcing and conduct supply-chain due diligence."



The sanctions mean that all U.S. assets of designated individuals or companies are blocked, and U.S. citizens are generally prohibited from doing business with them.



The United States will continue to support the DRC governments efforts to tackle corruption and impunity, promote economic growth and enhance peace and security, said State Department Spokesperson Price. This action underscores our efforts to make sure that the U.S.-DRC Partnership for Peace, Prosperity and Preservation of the Environment delivers for the Congolese and American People.
Ioneer Ltd, the company that is working toward developing the Rhyolite Ridge lithium-boron mine, has announced the completion of a Memorandum of Understanding between ioneer USA Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of ioneer, and NexTech Batteries, a lithium-sulphur battery technology company based in Nevada.

Under the terms of the MOU, the two companies have expressed mutual interest in the acquisition of lithium carbonate and/or lithium hydroxide supply from the Rhyolite Ridge project for NexTechs production facility in Carson City. The lithium would be used to manufacture next generation solid-state batteries for the automotive industry, renewable energy and grid storage applications, portable electronics, drones/eVTOL aircraft and more.

NexTech was founded in early 2016 and was the result of an exclusive license to the rights and patents to the lithium sulphur battery technology developed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Ioneer aims to produce at least 22,000 metric tons of lithium materials per year at Rhyolite Ridge, which is about 37 miles southwest of Tonopah, in Esmeralda County. The two parties intend to discuss the potential for long-term supply to NexTech once production has commenced.

Ioneer has said construction of the Rhyolite Ridge mine is expected to take about two years, and they hope to begin production in 2024.

The US and Nevada have prioritized the need for a domestic battery supply chain, and with little current supply, development of Rhyolite Ridge will be crucial to meeting this important goal, said ioneer Managing Director Bernard Rowe. As ioneer focuses on producing the materials needed for sustainable and clean technologies, its important for companies like NexTech to develop and produce those technologies domestically, and sustainably. This collaboration is supportive of Nevadas clean energy strategy and is yet another example of how the state of Nevada can lead the way to a more sustainable future, while creating jobs across the supply chain from mining to high-tech manufacturing, across rural and urban communities alike.

NexTech is pleased to work with a supplier that is aligned with our mission of making batteries more affordable, more sustainable and safer through patented lithium-sulphur science thats poised to disrupt multiple industries, said NexTech Batteries CEO Bill Burger. The fact that the Rhyolite Ridge Project is located a short distance from our facility will also allow us to lower our supply chain carbon footprint, reduce dependence on foreign suppliers, and create jobs right here in Nevada. Were proud to have ioneer with us on our journey as we look to usher in a new era in energy.

The introduction between the two companies was facilitated by Northern Nevada Development Authority, the state-designated regional development authority for the Sierra Region of Nevada, which includes Carson City.

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SPRING CREEK  Elko County voters have a chance to meet local candidates in this years election at two candidate forums scheduled in April in Spring Creek.

The forums for Elko County sheriff, county commissioner, justice of the peace, and Nevada Assembly are scheduled from 6-9 p.m. April 12 at the Sage Elementary School gym. Candidates for school board will appear from 6-9 p.m. April 21 at the Spring Creek High School gym.

Both events will be preceded by a meet and greet from 5:30-6 p.m. All Elko County residents are welcome to attend the forums or to watch via the live feed on the Spring Creek Associations Facebook page.

The April 12 forum begins with sheriff and county commission candidates from 6-7:30 p.m.

Sheriff Aitor Narvaiza is being challenged by Wells brothel owner Bella Cummins, former deputy John Gaylor, deputy Shawn Sherwood, and Sheriffs Sgt. Mike Silva. The two candidates who receive the highest number of votes in the primary will appear on the November ballot, unless one candidate receives more than 50% of votes cast.

Elko attorney Travis Gerber and Ryndon resident Steven Grimes are Republicans running for county commission. The candidate with the most votes in the primary will be the only candidate on the November ballot, and will replace Commissioner Cliff Eklund, who has termed out. Candidates for justice of the peace and Nevada Assembly are scheduled from 7:30-9 p.m.

Elko Police Officer Bryan Drake, attorney David Loreman and Elko County Sheriffs Lt. Adrienne Parry are vying for the Department B seat currently held by Elias Choch Goicoechea, who is not running for a second term. The top two vote-getters in the nonpartisan race will advance to the general election.

Three candidates are running for the Nevada Assembly seat currently held by John Ellison, who has termed out. Realtor Bert Gurr and licensed nurse and patient advocate Nicole Sirotek are running as Republicans. The winner of the primary will face military veteran John Doc Garrard, a Democrat.

The April 21 forum will feature candidates facing competition for five school board seats. The only candidate who will be on the primary ballot in Adriana Lara, who is running unchallenged for the District 5 seat. Other candidates will be on the general election ballot.

Running for District 1 are Misty Atkins and Susan Neal. District 2 candidates are Joshua Byers and Robert Leonhardt. Competing for District 3 are Lincoln Litchfield and Matthew McCarty. District 6 candidates are Jeff Durham and Brian Gale. And the candidates for District 7 are Brooke Ballard and Brent Kelly.

The public is invited to send questions for consideration in advance of the forums. More details are on the SCA Facebook page.

The 2022 Nevada Primary Election will be held on June 14. Early Voting begins May 28 and runs through June 10.

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ELKO -- Firefighters at Spring Creek Volunteer Fire Department are heading up a local collection to ship gear to Ukraine.

Currently, we are looking for donations to freight the gear to Clifton, New Jersey, said Bret Murphy, chief of the department. We think it is going to be around $3,500, but I am trying to get some of the freight companies to donate the freight.

It all began when Lt. Mark Drew and his colleague Oleg Skachko, who work at Clifton Fire Department in New Jersey, got a call from a friend in Ukraine asking for help from the firefighting community. Clifton Fire Department has teamed up with the nonprofit group New Ukrainian Wave-Passaic and Meest-America, a freight company that specializes in shipping to Eastern Europe, to get the gear to Ukraine.

Firefighters are also collecting axes, Halligan tools, stretchers, long boards, cervical collars, disposable gloves and other equipment.

People who want to donate to the cause can call Cassie Delbridge at 934-0654 or Alan Motley at 208-731-1390.

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March 29 saw the 'city of the world's desire', Istanbul, play host to the most important peace negotiations so far in the Ukrainian war. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is acting as media as high-level talks between the two parties hope to thrash out an agreement.

Some progress has been made so far, but sticking points remain on a number of key issues. One of the latest developments has been the Russian demand for the besieged city of Mariupol to surrender. Under assault for a month, the key city in the Donetsk region is a major Russian target, especially after the supposed abandonment of objective Kyiv.

Russia has been obstinate that the situation in Crimea, occupied by Russia since 2014, and the eastern breakaway provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk is a formality. But Ukrainian negotiators remain tight-lipped on what concessions they will make, if any, at this stage.

Lavrov says Ukraine and Russia have made significant progress and positive movement in peace talks.



He says Ukraine has recognized the need to give up on NATO  but also that Kyiv understands the issues of Crimea and Donbas are settled for good.pic.twitter.com/miIek1CiZb  max seddon (@maxseddon) March 30, 2022

Has anything been agreed in Istanbul?

Ukraine has proposed that they will be a neutral state and not join NATO, though negotiations continue on whether Ukraine could be allowed to join the EU. At the same time, Russia claims it has been moving troops away from the Russian capital of Kyiv in what they described as "decreased activity."

However, 'activity' has continued in the form of rocket and missile attacks. Chernihiv region's governor, Vyacheslav Chaus, said about the supposed pull back of Russian troops, "Do we believe in it? Of course not."

"The 'decreased activity' in the Chernihiv region was demonstrated by the enemy carrying out strikes on Nizhyn, including airstrikes, and all night long they hit Chernihiv," he added.

The US and NATO have also cautioned against believing Russia's word.

"Less than 20 percent" of Russian forces near Kyiv are starting to "reposition", said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby on Wednesday afternoon. So far, no general ceasefire has been negotiated.

Related stories:

What have both sides said about the negotiations?

Russian Deputy Deputy Defence Minister Alexander Fomin told Russian TV that there had been progress on Russia's negotiation aims and the redeployment of troops was to "create the necessary conditions for further negotiations and for the signing of the aforementioned agreement".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that while signs from peace talks were "positive", they do not "drown out" the explosions of Russian shells in the continued Russian attack. In a late-night address, the president said that his country can only trust the final results of any negotiations.

Russia sees no breakthrough in Ukraine's peace proposals.



According to Reuters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia hadnt noticed anything really promising in the proposals Ukraine presented at peace talks on March 29.  The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) March 30, 2022

Why in Turkey?

Though Turkey is a member of NATO, it has so-far refused to sanction Russia while also supporting Ukraine with weapons shipments. This has given the nation the leeway to act as mediator between the two.

Turkey is very vested in being able to broker peace because it would be one of the big winners if peace is able to be established between these two players", Yusuf Erim, editor-at-large at Turkeys English-language state broadcaster TRT World, told Al Jazeera.
Headlines

- Evacuation convoy moves towards Mauripol, where more than 100,000 civilians are trapped

- NATO Secretary-General: "Russian units are not withdrawing but repositioning"

- Biden claims that Putin may have placed some high-ranking Russian military officials under arrest

- UN to investigate Russian war crimes in Ukraine

- Russian claims to withdraw forces from Kyiv and Chernikiv but intelligence suggests they are simply regrouping in Belarus

- Russian shelling continues across Ukraine overnight, despite Kremlin claim that it would reduce military activity

- India begins to set up a new payment system to continue trading with Russia

Russia-Ukraine conflict: Background

- How does the Russian government control media access for citizens?

- Which nations near Russia have a US military base?

- Russia has a clear advantage when it comes to their air force. How many fighter jets do they have?

- Ukraine softens its stance on joining NATO. How many countries are already members?

- Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich, was allegedly poisoned in early March when he attended diplomatic negotiations in Turkey

Related articles:
Poverty is a problem that has long plagued the world. It is a product of increasing economic production without wealth redistribution. With the expansion of capitalism, poverty alleviation has emerged as one of humanity's greatest challenges.

To find ways to address this issue, I began 10 years ago to look at poverty eradication and rural revitalization in China.

Since reform and opening-up, China has lifted about 770 million people out of poverty according to the current standard of the United Nations, accounting for over 70 percent of the global total during this period. From the end of 1978 to the end of 2019, the number of people living in poverty in China dropped from about 770 million to 5.51 million, with nearly 19 million people lifted out of poverty each year on average. The incidence of poverty fell from 97.5 percent to 0.6 percent in this period.

China chose to target the problem of poverty by centering its policies on human development and the promotion of an ecological civilization, rural revitalization and rural-urban integration. The most distinctive feature of China's poverty reduction practice is the State's direction of the social economy. This contrasts sharply with the neoliberal development framework and is endemic to China's development experience. The Chinese government has invested significant human and financial resources in poverty reduction initiatives and has made the fight against hunger and poverty a priority task.

Since 2017, Chinese governments at all levels have sent some 775,000 civil servants to poor villages to support local governments in implementing poverty reduction measures and to monitor progress. In 2019, the central government provided about 126 billion yuan ($19.8 billion) in subsidies for poverty alleviation.

I moved to China four years ago, and during my time living in China, I have seen for myself the daily changes in the cities and witnessed the rapid development of China's economy and society. I was even more surprised by the integration process of China's urban and rural areas, which are full of vitality under the policy of poverty eradication and rural revitalization.

I have visited 27 provinces in China and have been invited by local governments to learn and to help with development issues. However, two experiences stand out. The first was in the Bama Yao autonomous county in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, the second was Xiadang village in Fujian province.

In the Bama Yao autonomous county, I was invited to give advice on the development of the local tourism industry. The county is known as the "hometown of longevity" and is the core area of the Bama Longevity and Health International Tourism Zone in Guangxi.

In the process of promoting poverty alleviation, Bama Yao gives full play to the advantages of its local culture and tourism resources and has taken many measures to develop its tourism industry, achieving remarkable results in poverty alleviation through tourism. Renshou Lodge, one of the key scenic spots, has attracted an annual average of more than 300,000 visitors in recent years. More than 40 households participate in the development of the lodge in the form of sharing land, for which they get dividends, and the lodge provides employment for more than 300 villagers.

In Xiadang village, I was invited to host a documentary on poverty alleviation and rural revitalization. I had the opportunity to interact with local officials and local residents, visited emerging industries and saw the way in which collaboration between the central government, provincial governments, municipalities, communities and companies can improve people's lives.

The cooperation was done with a sense of responsibility and demonstrated how focused integration and modern technology can give good results. I came to understand and appreciate the resilience of the local people, who only got electricity and potable water in the 1990s.

China's poverty reduction strategy is worthy of reference for the majority of developing countries. In the process of poverty reduction, the Chinese government has had a clear overall plan and strategic direction. It has insisted that economic and social development go hand in hand, stimulating economic vitality while insisting on promoting science and technology, education and other development means to revitalize villages and poor areas.

At the level of implementation, China has carried out a policy of precise poverty alleviation, with those involved in poverty alleviation working very carefully to formulate poverty alleviation plans based on specific situations, and using advanced technologies such as big data to enhance the management of funds.

China's practice of eradicating poverty is not just of benefit to developing countries, but also to developed countries as well. As inequality increasingly becomes a social issue, there will be growing resistance to poverty reduction. The agenda of poverty reduction involves the realignment of interests and the allocation of resources and requires a broad and substantial political consensus.

As the pandemic continues to severely test the world's resilience, the future interests of all nations need to be more closely linked to face the challenges that the pandemic continues to pose and to help the millions of people that have been pushed into poverty in recent years. Though the actual situation varies from country to country, China's precise poverty alleviation and bottom-up approach to poverty alleviation can still provide valuable and inspiring experience for other countries.

The author is former minister of tourism of Brazil and a professor at the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai (left) and Prof. Dr. and Meritorious Teacher Nguyen Minh Thuy will receive the 2021 Kovalevskaya Award. (Photo: qdnd.vn)

The awardees are Prof., Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, Vice President of the University of Science at the Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNUHCM); and Prof., Dr. and Meritorious Teacher Nguyen Minh Thuy from the Department of Food Technology, College of Agriculture, Can Tho University, reported VNA.

Mai, from the south-central province of Quang Ngai, graduated from the University of Science, VNUHCM with a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Analytical Chemistry; and earned a PhD in Pharmaceutical at Japans Toyama University. The 50-year-old lecturer was awarded the professor title in 2020.

She has led 14 ministerial and provincial-level research projects, with one of the most outstanding ones on extracting active substances from plants for the development of new drugs for diabetes, gout and melasma.

She was awarded with Ho Chi Minh City Creative Awards in 2019.

Thuy, from the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, graduated from Thailands Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) with a Masters Degree in Post-harvest Technology in 1992 and earned a PhD in Food Technology at KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) in Belgium in 2007.

The 61-year-old lecturer was honoured with the professor title in food technology in 2020. Her research has focused on addressing issues in distribution of agricultural products and provision of support for farmers and agribusinesses hit by natural disasters, fire and epidemics.

The Kovalevskaya Award ceremony is scheduled to be held in Hanoi this May. Three female high school students will also receive Kovalevskaya scholarships, worth 500 USD each, during the event.

The Kovalevskaya Award is named after Russian mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya, and is awarded by the fund of the same name. The fund operates in eight countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

The award was first given to Vietnamese female academics in 1985. By 2020, 49 individuals and 20 groups of female scientists had received the award.

Foreign investment in Vietnam continues bouncing back

Despite the COVID-19 pandemics adverse impacts, foreign investors still put their trust in the economy and investment climate of Vietnam in the new normal context, VNA quoted the saying of Director of the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA) Do Nhat Hoang.

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

A total of 4.42 billion USD of foreign investment was disbursed in the first three months of 2022, up 7.8 percent year on year, the FIA's statistics showed.

The Vietnam Investment Review cited the World Bank as saying that the increased disbursement indicated a strong rebound in foreign investment in the country.

Meanwhile, the FIA held that the Government and relevant agencies continual and effective assistance, along with efforts by enterprises to weather the pandemic and adapt to the new context, have helped firms gradually recover, maintain, and expand operations. Thats why the disbursed capital has been rising over the past months.

Though the registered capital in Q1, 8.9 billion USD, is equivalent to just 87.9 percent of the figure in the same period last year, only investment in new projects declined (by 55.5 percent) while the number of new projects still increased (37.6 percent), and the capital poured into existing projects surged 93.3 percent to top 4.06 billion USD.

Foreign investment through capital contribution and share purchase exceeded 1.63 billion USD, more than doubling the figure in Q1 last year.

Savills Vietnam said apart from favourable macro-factors, the States timely support plays the decisive role in helping consolidate foreign enterprises trust in the country.

Together with economic policies, the quickly implemented mass COVID-19 vaccination campaign has turned Vietnam into one of the six countries with the largest vaccine coverage in the world, a basis for foreign businesses to put their trust in the local markets recovery, according to Savills Vietnam.

The FIA predicted that the full reopening to international tourists since March 15, the visa exemption for citizens from some countries, and European investors shift of capital flows due to the Russia - Ukraine conflicts impacts will also affect foreign investment attraction in Vietnam in the time ahead.

Foreign investment into industrial parks is likely to increase in 2022, with investors mainly coming from Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and the EU, the FIA Director noted.

Coffee exports record impressive growth in first quarter

Following a sharp increase in both volume and price, coffee has risen to quickly become an export agricultural product with strong growth in the first quarter of the year.

Coffee exports record impressive growth in first quarter (Source: VOV)

Since the beginning of the year to mid-March, the whole country shipped 452,163 tonnes of coffee, raking in more than US$1 billion in export turnover, VOV reported the latest information provided by the General Department of Customs.

In comparison to the same period last year, its export volume grew by more than 22%, whilst turnover expanded by 54.44%.

This growth in turnover was higher than the output, serving to drive the average export value of coffee products up to US$2,23 per tonne, a rise of 26.45%, equivalent to an increase of nearly US$500 per tonne.

Vietnamese coffee export markets have so far expanded to include many continents, with major buyers such as Germany, Belgium, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the United States.

With this level positive growth, coffee has surpassed the group of fruit and vegetables to rank third in terms of turnover in the agricultural sector after timber and aquatic products. These also make up the three agricultural commodity groups that have reached the "billion dollar" milestone from early this year.

Nearly 1,700 Vietnamese people return home safely from Ukraine

Nearly 1,700 Vietnamese people in Ukraine have been brought home safely on six flights arranged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in conjunction with relevant ministries, sectors and representative agencies of Vietnam in the country, reported VNA.

Nearly 1,700 Vietnamese people return home safely from Ukraine (Photo: VNA)

About 5,200 Vietnamese people from war areas in Ukraine have so far been evacuated, according to the ministry.

The evacuation has been basically completed

Illustrative image (Photo: VNA)

Currently, only a few Vietnamese people are still in Ukraine for their personal reasons, the ministry said.

Vietnamese representative agencies have kept a close watch on the situation in Ukraine, and actively coordinated with local authorities, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and foreign representative agencies with many citizens in war zones in the European country to help Vietnamese citizens evacuate and return home safely./.
The Vietnam National Trade Repository is launched on March 30. (Photo: VNA)

According to the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement (ATIGA), each member country will build its own national trade repository which will be connected with the ASEAN Trade Repository (https://atr.asean.org/) so as to ensure policy transparency, facilitate regional trade, and support businesses.

The VNTR, at https://vntr.moit.gov.vn, was developed by the MoIT with support from the British Government.

The portal provides updated trade information in both Vietnamese and English, including the schedules of tariff commitments in the free trade agreements (FTAs) that Vietnam has joined within the ASEAN framework, non-tariff measures, legal documents on trade, and customs clearance rules and procedures.

It also introduces the best trade facilitation practices applied by ASEAN members, along with the lists of businesses given priority in handling tax, export, import, and customs clearance procedures in the member countries of the ATIGA and the FTAs between ASEAN and partner countries.

MoIT Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai said the VNTR aims to realise Vietnams commitment to enhance policy transparency, facilitate regional trade, and boost businesses access to regional countries trade policies. It also serves as a search tool for State agencies to grasp the countrys commitments in ASEAN and the FTAs between the bloc and partners, thereby assisting with policy making.

Amanda Milling, Minister of State for Asia and the Middle East at the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, noted the VNTR will help improve the Vietnamese economys diversity and comprehensiveness by supporting micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises, including women-led companies, to benefit from transboundary trade, which will create an impulse for trade and investment in Vietnam.

Country has some 34,600 newly-established enterprises in first quarter

The market also welcomed the return of 25,600 enterprises, up 74% over the same period of 2021, bringing the total number of enterprises entering operations in the first quarter of 2022 to 60,200.

Country has some 34,600 newly-established enterprises in first quarter. (Photo: laodong.vn)

According to the General Statistics Office (GSO), Vietnam saw 34,600 enterprises registering to enter the market with a total registered capital of 471.2 trillion VND, with nearly 243,500 employees in the first quarter, respectively increasing 18% and 5.2%, and decreasing 0.9%, from the same period last year.

Regarding 706.7 trillion VND of additional registered capital of enterprises, the total capital expected to be added to the economy in the first three months of the year is estimated at 1.2 quadrillion VND and a year-on-year increase of 21%.

In March alone, 14,300 enterprises were established with a registered capital of 193.6 trillion VND and 93,800 employees, an increase of 96%, 127% and 29%, respectively, from the previous month.

However, the country also recorded 35,700 enterprises that were not competitive enough and registered to suspend their operation for a definite time, a rise of nearly 50% year on year. At the same time, 11,300 businesses had to stop operation to wait for dissolution procedures.

During the period, the economy also recorded 4,300 enterprises completing dissolution procedures, a year-on-year decrease of 17%; in which 3,800 enterprises had capital scale of less than 10 billion VND. Thus, an average of 17,100 businesses withdrew from the market a month.

Vietnams export revenue to Turkey rises over 16%

Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Trade showed that in the first two months of 2022, Vietnam's export turnover to Turkey reached 189 million USD, up 16.3% over the same period last year.

Introducing Vietnamese goods in Turkey. (Photo: hanoimoi.com.vn)

Vietnam-Turkey bilateral trade balance in recent years has often been in surplus in favor of Vietnam. However, the proportion of Vietnams exports in Turkeys total imports is still low, only about 0.5%. Many of Vietnams products exported to Turkey account for a small proportion, lower than those of direct competitors, except for pepper, cashew nut, fiber and rubber.

According to the ministry, Turkey is now Vietnams second largest export market in West Asia, just behind the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Turkey is considered a potential market, an important gateway to the Middle East, and a transshipment site to the European Union (EU) market for many Vietnamese exports such as rice, milk and dairy products, pepper, furniture, rubber, tea, yarn, fabrics, garments, shoes and electronic goods.

Mr. Le Phu Cuong, Trade Counselor of Vietnam in Turkey, said that Vietnam needs to further encourage domestic enterprises to participate in trade promotion programs in the area, thereby helping them join transactions, and promote and introduce products at large-scale fairs and exhibitions in Turkey to enhance business cooperation opportunities with Turkish distribution enterprises and processors.

High-speed waterway service between Da Nang and Ly Son launched

The high-speed ferry running from Da Nang to Ly Son. (Photo: VNA)

The high-speed ship service connecting Da Nang city with Ly Son Island off the central province of Quang Ngai has been launched by the Phu Quoc Express Joint Stock Company.

The ship route aims to create favorable conditions for the travel of local people and tourists, and at the same time better connects Da Nang with Ly Son Island district.

The high-speed ship named Trung Trac, designed in accordance with European standards, can serve nearly 600 passengers and will shorten the travel time from Da Nang to Ly Son Island to just over 2 hours.

The first ship service is expected to be put into operation on April 9 with four trips per week. The boats depart at 8am on Tuesday and Saturday from Da Nangs Han River Port, and at 2pm on Wednesday and Sunday from Ly Son Island.

The ticket prices range from 590,000 VND (25.8 USD)  900,000 VND. The company is applying a 20-percent discount until April 30.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman of the Da Nang People's Committee Tran Phuoc Son said that the launch of the new tourism product aims to diversify products to attract tourists after being interrupted for a long time due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic.

With the potential and importance of waterway tourism associated with tourism development goals, Da Nang has planned and invested in building ports and wharves, upgrading infrastructure; and developed high quality tourism products and services.

Quang Binh increases number of visitors to Son Doong Cave

Son Doong Cave. (Photo: Ryan Deboott)

The Quang Binh Peoples Committee has just approved increasing visitors who wish to conquer Son Doong, the worlds largest cave, in 2022 to stimulate tourism demand and remove difficulties for businesses affected by the COVID-19 epidemic.

Accordingly, the provincial authority agreed to add 5 visit programs, equivalent to 50 conquerors for the tour to Son Doong with the selling price of 2,500 USD a pax.

Oxalis, the tourism product operator for Son Doong Cave, has sold out all seats of this tour this year with 1,000 tickets for domestic tourists.

In order to continue to serve, fully and promptly meet the travel needs of tourists when participating in this attractive tour, Oxalis has focused on investing in improving service quality and ensuring safety, bringing peace of mind, trust and satisfaction of tourists.

According to the Quang Binh Department of Tourism, along with the attraction of the tourism product, other ecotourism and adventure discovery products in Phong Nha-Ke Bang and the evergreen forest of the Truong Son mountain range in the south of the province are explored by tourists through digital platforms with many bookings for the upcoming holidays of April 30 and May 1./.
Xi Jinping participates in Beijing's tree planting activity

Xinhua) 08:08, March 31, 2022

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022.

The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Participating in Beijing's tree planting activity on March 30, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, President of the People's Republic of China and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that he had participated in such activities for 10 consecutive years. "I want to do my bit for the Beautiful China initiative, and also to sow the seeds of ecological conservation in the entire society, among the Chinese youth in particular," he stressed. Xi said that he intends to call on all Chinese people to act as participators and promoters in the endeavor for ecological conservation. "With perseverance and accumulated efforts, we will be able to make our country's sky bluer, mountains lusher, waters clearer and the environment more beautiful," he said.

Spring has come and everything takes on a fresh look. At 10:30 in the morning, Party and state leaders including Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan arrived at a tree planting site in Huangcun Town, Beijing's Daxing District, and joined volunteers from the capital city to plant trees.

The trees were planted in an urban recreation park in the southern district, which covers an area of about 1,500 mu (100 hectares). The site was originally a reservoir mudflat, but is now designed as an urban park. Upon completion, it will become an ecological space for the residents nearby to relax and get close to nature.

Seeing the general secretary's arrival, those who were planting trees greeted him warmly. Xi waved to them, picked up a shovel and walked to the planting site. Then he got down to work along with the leading officials of the Beijing Municipality and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration, as well as officials, members of the public and Young Pioneers from the capital.

Digging holes with a shovel, building soil berms, watering the trees...Xi planted saplings of Chinese pine, flowering peach, magnolia, crab apple and Chinese ash. While working on the trees, he inquired about the children's study and living conditions, telling them to attain a well-rounded development in terms of moral grounding, intellectual and physical ability, aesthetic sensibility, and work skills. In particular, the role of work skills cannot be underestimated. Xi told them to cultivate the awareness of work, environmental protection and thriftiness from childhood, not to shy away from good deeds no matter how small they seem, and work hard step by step to become the talent needed by the Party and the people. In an atmosphere full of liveliness and vigor, all the participants worked together and had cordial exchanges.

During the break, Xi stressed to all on the site that to achieve sustainable development of the Chinese nation has always remained a goal of ours. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the Party has united and led the people from all ethnic groups in nationwide greening programs, made historic achievements and created impressive ecological miracles. Since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, adhering to the principle that lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, we have taken comprehensive steps to advance ecological conservation, promoted afforestation and improved the urban and rural living conditions. Beautiful China has been becoming a reality. Meanwhile, we must also be aware that protecting and restoring the ecosystem and fundamentally improving the environment cannot be accomplished at one stroke, but still requires consistent and arduous efforts, so we must work hard and long without letup.

Xi noted that forests have the capacity to conserve water, bring in economic benefits, and boost grain production, and now serve well as a carbon sink. Forests and grasslands are of fundamental and strategic significance for our country's ecological security; when forests and grasslands flourish, the environment thrives. Now China's ecological conservation endeavors have entered a crucial moment when environment protection is progressing from quantitative to qualitative changes. We must apply the new development philosophy and follow a path of prioritizing ecological conservation and pursuing green development. We will protect and manage our ecosystems involving mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, grasslands and deserts with a holistic approach, carry out greening programs systematically, and increase both quantity and quality of forest and grassland resources. All these will help consolidate and enhance the carbon absorption capacity of ecosystems, and make greater contributions to global environmental and climate governance as well as achieving China's modernization featuring harmony between humanity and nature.

Planting trees, protecting forests, and embracing nature are traditional Chinese virtues, Xi stressed. We will carry forward the spirit of Saihanba, a model in afforestation, and continue to launch nationwide initiatives to plant trees. We will create new ways, improve publicity and communication, and carry out tree planting activities in a systematic, economical, and practical manner. Leading officials at all levels should remain committed to greening programs and all other ecological conservation efforts to ensure that our people live on a land of beauty, charm and fortune.

Members of the CPC Central Committee Political Bureau, members of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee and State Councilors in Beijing also attended the activity.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, holds a shovel as he attends a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022.

The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022.

The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, talks with the officials, people and school children on-site during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022.

The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
By Trend

On March 29, Minister Ruslan Kazakbaev took part in the opening of the International Conference "Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue" in Berlin, Trend reports citing Kabar.

The press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic said that the Berlin Energy Transition Dialogue is a major international conference hosted by the Federal Government of Germany to jointly address global and local issues of energy transition to green technologies and renewable energy sources, climate and environmental protection.

More than 500 representatives from more than 50 countries, including heads of foreign policy, energy and environmental departments, as well as profile specialists and scientists, take part in the work of the annual Conference, the Foreign Ministry said.

Minister Kazakbaev is expected to speak as a panelist at the Industry and Life Cycle session.
Introducing Vietnamese goods in Turkey. (Photo: hanoimoi.com.vn)

Vietnam-Turkey bilateral trade balance in recent years has often been in surplus in favor of Vietnam. However, the proportion of Vietnams exports in Turkeys total imports is still low, only about 0.5%. Many of Vietnams products exported to Turkey account for a small proportion, lower than those of direct competitors, except for pepper, cashew nut, fiber and rubber.

According to the ministry, Turkey is now Vietnams second largest export market in West Asia, just behind the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Turkey is considered a potential market, an important gateway to the Middle East, and a transshipment site to the European Union (EU) market for many Vietnamese exports such as rice, milk and dairy products, pepper, furniture, rubber, tea, yarn, fabrics, garments, shoes and electronic goods.

Mr. Le Phu Cuong, Trade Counselor of Vietnam in Turkey, said that Vietnam needs to further encourage domestic enterprises to participate in trade promotion programs in the area, thereby helping them join transactions, and promote and introduce products at large-scale fairs and exhibitions in Turkey to enhance business cooperation opportunities with Turkish distribution enterprises and processors./.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai will receive the 2021 Kovalevskaya Award. (Photo: thoidai.vn)

The awardees are Prof., Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, Vice President of the University of Science at the Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (VNUHCM); and Prof., Dr. and Meritorious Teacher Nguyen Minh Thuy from the Department of Food Technology, College of Agriculture, Can Tho University, reported VNA.

Mai, from the south-central province of Quang Ngai, graduated from the University of Science, VNUHCM with a Bachelors and Masters Degree in Analytical Chemistry; and earned a PhD in Pharmaceutical at Japans Toyama University. The 50-year-old lecturer was awarded the professor title in 2020.

She has led 14 ministerial and provincial-level research projects, with one of the most outstanding ones on extracting active substances from plants for the development of new drugs for diabetes, gout and melasma.

She was awarded with Ho Chi Minh City Creative Awards in 2019.

Meritorious Teacher Nguyen Minh Thuy will receive the 2021 Kovalevskaya Award.

(Photo: thoidai.vn)



Thuy, from the Mekong Delta province of An Giang, graduated from Thailands Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) with a Masters Degree in Post-harvest Technology in 1992 and earned a PhD in Food Technology at KU Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) in Belgium in 2007.

The 61-year-old lecturer was honoured with the professor title in food technology in 2020. Her research has focused on addressing issues in distribution of agricultural products and provision of support for farmers and agribusinesses hit by natural disasters, fire and epidemics.

The Kovalevskaya Award ceremony is scheduled to be held in Hanoi this May. Three female high school students will also receive Kovalevskaya scholarships, worth 500 USD each, during the event.

The Kovalevskaya Award is named after Russian mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya, and is awarded by the fund of the same name. The fund operates in eight countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.



The award was first given to Vietnamese female academics in 1985. By 2020, 49 individuals and 20 groups of female scientists had received the award./.


By Trend

US President Joe Biden offered condolences on Wednesday in a call with Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett a day after a Palestinian gunman killed five people in a Tel Aviv suburb, the latest in a string of fatal attacks, the White House said, Trend reports citing The Jerusalem Post.

"Biden ... express(ed) his deepest condolences following the horrific terrorist attacks that have killed 11 people in three Israeli cities," the White House said in a statement.

Biden reaffirmed the US's position that it would stand with Israel in light of these terrorist attacks as well as all threats against Israel.

Other topics that the two discussed in the phone call included the importance of regional partnerships "as exemplified by the Abraham Accords and the Negev Summit" and the promotion of security in the Middle East, according to the White House.
Harvest of grain and oilseeds in Ukraine in 2022 may be half as many as last year  APK-Inform

Production of grains and oilseeds in 2022 in Ukraine is preliminary estimated at 53.3 million tonnes, which is 51% lower than the previous season's record, due to the Russian military invasion and ongoing hostilities, this year's harvest may be minimum for the last 10-15 years.

"We estimate total production of grains and oilseeds in 2022 at 53.3 million tonnes, which is 51% lower than the record figure of the previous season. At the same time, for grains, the harvest may be the lowest over the past 15 years, and for oilseeds  over the last decade," such harvest estimates are given on the website of the APK-Inform agency on Thursday.

The organization clarified that for the 2022 harvest, the area under winter grain crops decreased by 7% compared to last year, to 7.6 million hectares, which practically coincides with the figure for 2020. At the same time, the area under spring grain and leguminous crops, the sowing of which began this month, due to the occupation of part of the territories and hostilities by Russian invaders, can be reduced much more significantly  by 39%, to 4.7 million hectares.

In turn, the total area sown with oilseeds in Ukraine in 2022 may be about 6.8-6.9 million hectares, taking into account the areas already sown under winter rapeseed.

At the same time, a change in the structure of oilseed crops is expected. In particular, the share of sunflower acreage is projected to decrease from 73% in 2021 to 61% in 2022, while the share of rapeseed will increase from 12% to 21%, and soybean from 15% to 17%.

It is specified that as a result of hostilities, the sowing campaign in nine regions of the country looks very dangerous: Chernihiv, Sumy, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson and Mykolaiv. Partially risky areas for sowing are currently noted in Zhytomyr, Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

The agency emphasized that in addition to a decrease in the area under crops, a general decrease in crop yields is expected in Ukraine due to the limited access of farmers to the necessary resources, such as fuel, fertilizers, plant protection products, etc. However, even the projected volumes of crop production are enough to meet the domestic food needs of Ukraine.

As reported, as of March 25, Ukraine sowed 150,000 hectares of agricultural land in regions where there are no active hostilities against the Russian invaders.
The member companies of the Health Committee of the European Business Association (EBA) are looking for new logistics partners to supply medicines to Ukraine.

"The logistical issue of drug supplies to Ukraine is now one of the most painful and, unfortunately, still uncertain. Most international carrier companies refuse to enter the territory of Ukraine, which creates significant difficulties for the import of pharmaceutical products to Ukraine and requires the search for new partners," the EBA health committee told Interfax-Ukraine.

The association reminded that until February 24, 2022  the moment of the Russian attack on Ukraine  most companies had stocks of products at warehouses in Ukraine to meet the needs for an average of 45-60 days, and some companies for a longer period.

"In order to maintain drug stocks and meet the needs of patients at the proper level, the EBA has appealed to international logistics companies and is actively communicating on the resumption of supply chains for pharmaceutical products. We are trying to attract to cooperation those companies that have not previously worked in this logistics sector, understanding the critical humanitarian need to guarantee the supply of medicines and medical devices to Ukraine," the committee said.

The member companies of the committee condemn the Russian aggression.

"In the context of Russia's war against Ukraine, they are taking all possible measures to continue importing and supplying medicines to Ukraine. Companies provide comprehensive support to patients to ensure that patients' therapy is not interrupted and life-saving treatment continues," the committee said.

As noted, the companies do not stop their activities in Ukraine, and are also in constant communication with the country's Ministry of Health, military administrations and volunteer organizations to support requests and provide assistance. In particular, as of March 19, the total amount of assistance from the EBA Committee member companies, including humanitarian aid directly with medicines for the benefit of patients, amounted to about UAH 1.296 billion.

At the same time, the committee noted that the EBA "hopes for a carefully balanced policy of state authorities in relation to world pharmaceutical leaders and the absence of an increase in tax pressure, which would not be justified enough due to possible consequences for the Ukrainian market."

"Such an approach would indicate an understanding of the complex processes that are now taking place on the part of global pharmaceutical companies, including their reassessment of existing business risks in relation to doing business in different markets," the EBA said.
Attorneys for Ukrainian businessman Dmytro Firtash, within the allotted time, filed an appeal against the decision of the court of first instance, the Vienna Regional Court for Criminal Cases, to reject his request for a retrial of the case for his extradition to the United States.

"Surely, the appeal was filed within the time limits stipulated by Austrian law," the Group DF press service told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

Earlier, the Kurier Austrian publication said, citing the court, that Firtash's attorneys were notified of the refusal of the petition on March 16, 2022 after which they had two weeks to file an appeal.

As reported, the head of the board of the Group DF group of companies, Firtash, was arrested in Austria on March 12, 2014 at the request of the U.S. authorities, issued in 2013, but then released on bail of EUR 125 million. Under the U.S. administration of Barack Obama, the Ukrainian businessman was accused of using bribes totaling $18.5 million, he wanted to obtain permits for the extraction of titanium raw materials in India for the subsequent sale of finished products in the United States to Boeing. Firtash denies all accusations and calls them politically motivated, aimed at limiting his influence on the processes in Ukraine.

In April 2015, OG denied the U.S. Justice Department's request to extradite Firtash, pointing out that it was impossible to rule out political motives for the extradition request. However, in February 2017, the Higher Regional Court of Vienna reviewed this decision following a complaint from the prosecutor's office, and in June 2019, the Austrian Supreme Court upheld the legality of the extradition.

After that, the Austrian Ministry of Justice adopted a relevant extradition order, but the process was suspended in July 2019 due to a request from the defense of the Ukrainian businessman in OG for a new consideration, taking into account additional data collected. According to Kurier, OG's decision was delayed due to a large number of submitted documents, communication problems due to coronavirus, and due to a change in judges.
Vodafone Retail, a subsidiary of the Vodafone Ukraine mobile operator, has opened 287 stores - its own and dealer outlets in 176 settlements.

"From its own and dealer stores, Vodafone helped by connecting services, as well as free transfer of smartphones and gadgets for more than UAH 15 million for the needs of volunteers, the army and territorial defense," the company said on Thursday.

The most relevant requests that turned out to be in demand in the conditions of hostilities were SIM cards, routers and modems, power banks, smartphones and push-button phones, as well as chargers and cables.

Since March 1, the company began to open stores, first in the west of Ukraine, and later in other regions: to date, 46 own and 244 dealer outlets have been opened in 24 regions of Ukraine.

"The company continues to work on reopening stores where it is safe for customers and employees. From April 1, some 53 own stores will be open, so the total number of points where you can get Vodafone services will approach 300," the message says.

Vodafone Retail also works to strengthen outlets in western Ukraine, as many Ukrainians who have temporarily moved to the western regions, need quality communications, mobile services and timely service.
Since start of war, 67 ambulances come under fire  Health Ministry

Since the beginning of the war, 67 Ukrainian ambulances have come under fire, the Ministry of Health reports.

"For more than a month of the war, 67 ambulances became a target for the enemy and came under fire," Deputy Health Minister Oleksiy Yaremenko said.

The Ministry of Health also reports that Ukraine received from France 21 ambulances of Fiat, Renault and Citroen brands, which were purchased at the expense of French communities.

Currently, humanitarian ambulances are already being sent to the regions where active hostilities continue. In the coming days, the vehicles will start working in emergency medical centers near the front line.

As reported, on the eve 18 ambulances from international partners were delivered to Kharkiv region. In addition, 50 military ambulances were transferred for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that along with the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kyiv and Chernihiv, their accumulation in Donbas is observed.

"We also see that at this time there is an accumulation of Russian troops for new strikes in Donbas. And we are preparing for this. We don't trust anyone. Not a single 'beautiful' word, in verbal constructions. There is a real situation on the battlefield, and now this is the most important thing. We won't give anything away. And we will fight for every meter of our land, for every person," Zelensky said in a video message on Wednesday evening.

According to him, "the withdrawal of the occupying troops from the regions of Kyiv and Chernihiv and the decrease in their activity in these areas is a consequence of the expulsion by the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

"There are words about the alleged 'withdrawal' of Russian troops from Kyiv and Chernihiv. About the alleged decrease in the activity of the invaders in these areas. We know that this is not a 'withdrawal,' but a consequence of the expulsion. A consequence of the work of our defenders," he said.

The head of state also said that in the situation in which Ukraine currently finds itself, there should not be "discussions" that Ukrainian society and politicians are used to in peacetime.

"If someone pretends that he can teach our Armed Forces how to fight, how to resist the enemy, then it is better to go to the battlefield directly," he said.
U.S. President Joe Biden, in a conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, announced Washington's plans to provide the Ukrainian government with $500 million in direct budgetary aid, according to a press release from the White House.

"President Biden informed President Zelenskyy that the United States intends to provide the Ukrainian government with $500 million in direct budgetary aid," the White House said.

The leaders discussed how the United States is working around the clock to fulfill the main security assistance requests by Ukraine, the critical effects those weapons have had on the conflict, and continued efforts by the United States with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country.

In addition, Zelensky updated President Biden on the status of Ukraine's negotiations with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has signed decrees to recall Ukraine's ambassadors from Georgia and Morocco because "they are wasting time on the diplomatic front" in the countries where they currently serve amid Russian aggression.

"There are those who work together with everyone for the defense of the state. In order for Ukraine to win back its future. We appreciate the work of each such person. And there are those who waste time in vain just to stay in office. I have signed a decree to recall such a person, the ambassador from Morocco. The ambassador to Georgia has also been recalled. With all due respect  there will be no weapons, no sanctions, no obstacles for Russian business  please look for another job," Zelensky said in a video address on Wednesday evening.

He also added that he expects concrete results in the coming days from the work of Ukrainian diplomats in Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa.

"I expect the same results from military attaches every day. The diplomatic front is one of the key fronts. And everyone there must work as efficiently as possible to win and help the Ukrainian army. Just like every one of our defenders on the battlefield. So does everyone on the diplomatic front," summed up the president.
Online negotiations with the Russian delegation will resume on April 1, Head of the Ukrainian delegation at the talks with the Russian Federation David Arakhamia has said.

"At the talks in Turkey, we also announced that a meeting of the leaders of the two states was now required. The Russian delegation replied that first we need to have a more coordinated draft treaty. In a week we will work out what depends on the participants in the negotiation process," he wrote in his Telegram channel.

At the same time, Akharamia expressed the assumption that after that the presidents of the countries would meet. At the same time, according to him, Ukraine insists that such a meeting take place not on the territory of Russia or Belarus.
Ukraine is negotiating with Poland on the issue of closing the borders between Poland and Belarus, Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Andriy Deschytsia has said.

"We are negotiating with the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland, with the government of Poland in order to completely close the borders. Even if the decision is not made at the EU level," Deschytsia said during the national telethon.

He also said that Ukraine appealed to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, "so that at the same time these countries close their borders with the Russian Federation and Belarus."

"I think that this decision will be made. Then we won't have to wait for the EU, and we will completely block any deliveries to the Russian Federation," Deschytsia said.
Saudi Arabian Industrial Investments Company (Dussur), owned by PIF, Aramco and Sabic, has signed five new shareholder deals governing four joint ventures, including $270 million steel pipe plant, and a global acquisition.

In addition, there is an agreement with the Local Content Authority and a Memorandum of Understanding with the Human Resources Development Fund Hadaf.

These agreements and MoU were announced at a special event attended by Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman, Minister of Energy and Investment, Bandar Alkhorayef, Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources, Hamad Al-Sheikh, Minister of Education at King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Centre (Kapsarc) on March 29, 2022.

First local seamless stainless steel pipe plant

The first JV agreement was signed with Korea's SeAH Changwon Integrated Specialty Steel Co Ltd (SeAH) to establish the first local seamless stainless steel pipe production plant in Saudi Arabia in (SPARK). The total investment for the establishment of the joint venture is estimated at $270 million.

SeAH and Dussur will invest up to $140 million with a percentage share of 51% and 49% respectively. The remaining financing for the joint venture will be provided by the Saudi Industrial Development Fund.

The second joint venture agreement was signed between Dussur, Tatweer Educational Transportation Services Company, and CHTC KINWIN Automobile Co to establish the first state-of-the-art bus manufacturing facility in Saudi Arabia with an annual production capacity of 3,000 buses.

Localisation of the automotive industry

This project is in line with the kingdom's Vision 2030 and is significant as it is the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia and will support the localisation of the automotive industry and the development of the automotive ecosystem.

The Jeddah-based joint venture company will manufacture and assemble several bus models in the first phase, using three types of engine technologies: Internal combustion engine, pure electrical, and hydrogen fuel cell. The company will primarily serve the growing local demand, which is currently met by imports, and the growing demand for busses for Hajj and Umrah, schools, tourism and public transportation.

The third JV was between Dussur and 3D Systems to establish the Centre for Innovation and Additive Manufacturing in the kingdom. The joint venture will provide on-demand printing and application engineering solutions for key industries such as energy, aerospace, defence and healthcare.

Localising disruptive technologies

This initiative will support the kingdom's path to industrialisation by localising disruptive technologies, contributing to supply security and building unique capabilities for the jobs of the future.

The fourth joint venture agreement was signed between Dussur and the US company Baker Hughes to build a blending and chemical reaction facility with a production capacity of 30,000 tonnes to produce demulsifiers, scale inhibitors, corrosion inhibitors, biocides, etc.

The facility will be located in Jubail City, Saudi Arabia. The range of products produced at the joint venture caters primarily to the needs of refineries, and oilfield service-related companies.

Global acquisition

Dussur also announced the successful completion of an acquisition agreement with the international private equity consortium BroadPeak Global LP (Broad Peak Global) and Asia Green Fund (AGF) to acquire the Clean Technologies business of DuPont de Nemours.

The new, independent company will be named Elessent Clean Technologies (Elessent). The new company is a global leader in chemical catalysts and advanced equipment, specialising in environmental sustainability technologies in the metals, fertiliser, chemicals and oil refining sectors.

Dr Raed Al Rayes, CEO of Dussur Company, considered that signing these agreements is a remarkable transformation for Dussur and a practical demonstration of its mission of investing in the industrial sector in the kingdom, and bringing technologies and know-how to leverage the kingdom's existing resources and create greater value.

"At Dussur we measure the development impact of projects before investing. The Dussur portfolio has managed to attract more than SR1 billion ($270 million) worth of foreign investment and create more than 2,600 direct jobs by 2030, with an employment nationalisation of no less than 65%, reaching as high as 90% in some projects, in addition to the expected added value to the gross domestic product (GDP), which amounts to SR50 billion in the next twenty years," added Dr Al Rayes.-- TradeArabia News Service
The US president's administration is not yet ready to talk about specific decisions on security guarantees that Ukraine is asking for.

"So we are in constant discussion with Ukrainians about ways that we can help ensure that they are sovereign and secure. But there's nothing specific about a security guarantee that I can speak to at this time," White House Communications Director Kate Bedingfield said at a briefing on March 30.
David Arakhamia, head of the Ukrainian delegation at the talks with the Russian Federation, considers the role of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich in this process to be positive, since he initially acted as an "unofficial channel of communication."

"In fact, to be honest, [the role he plays] is very positive. But I don't understand why he began to play a public role. Because from the very beginning he had such a role that in the negotiations it is called the back channel, that is, an additional communication channel, unofficial, which helps pronounce some complex things in normal human language, and not in diplomatic  what they cannot say officially. Then, thanks to the international press, this hidden channel became known to the whole world in fact. As far as I understand the position, he is no longer hiding and is no longer a back channel, but is another person in the negotiations," he said in an interview on the air of the national telethon.

Arakhamia believes that Abramovich is trying to position himself as a neutral party in the negotiation process.

"Although we do not perceive it as a neutral side. But, we can say that it is, of course, more neutral than the official side of the negotiations," the head of the Ukrainian delegation added.
Zelensky in telephone conversation with Biden: We have the right to demand assistance since we are fighting for freedom

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Ukraine, which is really fighting for freedom and protecting democracy together, has the right to demand help from its partners.

"If we want to fight for freedom together, then we ask our partners. And if we really fight for freedom and the defense of democracy together, we have the right to demand help at this critical and difficult moment. Freedom must be armed no less than tyranny," he said in a video message Wednesday evening.

Speaking about a phone call Wednesday with US President Joe Biden, Zelensky said he thanked the United States for a $1 billion humanitarian aid package and an additional $500 million in direct budget aid.

"I emphasized that now is a turning point. I told President Biden what Ukraine needs and was as frank with him as possible. Now it is especially important to lend a shoulder to Ukraine," he said.
As of March 30, 134 civilians, including six children, had been killed due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Mykolaiv region, Head of Mykolaiv Regional Military administration Vitaliy Kim has said.

"Since the beginning of the Russian aggression in Mykolaiv region, 134 people have died, including six children. Another 415 of our citizens have been injured, including 30 children," Kim said at a briefing on Wednesday.

In addition, shelling damaged 1,622 civilian facilities, including 1,200 housing facilities.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Australia to join the program for the restoration of the regions of Ukraine, in particular, the coast of the Black and Azov Seas.

"We invite the leading states of the world, leading companies and the best specialists to join the project of restoring Ukraine, to help a region, city or industry in our country in need of restoration. Your state granted ours such a special status of a like-minded country. But we are not only like-minded in our thoughts, we are also like-minded in dreams. Therefore, I invite your country to take a closer look at our southern regions, at our coast of the Black and Azov Seas. The restoration of our ports, the development of cities like Kherson, the restoration of the Ukrainian maritime industry can be a special contribution to stability for you after this terrible war," he said in a video message to the Australian Parliament on Thursday.

He also called on Australia to join in arms assistance to Ukraine. "You have excellent Bushmaster armored vehicles that can significantly help Ukraine. As well as other models of equipment and weapons that can strengthen our positions," he said.

"And I hope that the Ukrainian community of Australia, our strong Ukrainian community, will join this work. It will support us now as strongly as in previous years," Zelensky said.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and European External Action Service Deputy Secretary General for Political Affairs Enrique Mora have discussed the coordination of U.S. and EU policies and actions related to Russia in connection with the situation around Ukraine in Washington, the U.S. Department of State has reported.

Nuland and Mora condemned the Kremlin's unprovoked, unjustifiable, and barbaric war against Ukraine, also enabled by the Belarusian government.

The parties said in a joint statement following the meeting that they "the coordination between the United States and the European Union in implementing unprecedented sanctions and export control measures in response to Russias aggression and discussed continued close cooperation in coordination with the G7 to ensure stringent implementation of these measures."

"They also discussed additional steps to isolate Russia further from the U.S. and EU economies and the international financial system to impose severe costs on Russia for its actions," the State Department said in a statement.

The diplomats noted "the necessity of consolidating international support for the government and people of Ukraine and of holding the government of Russia to account," and agreed that they would continue "to urge China not to circumvent nor undermine sanctions against Russia, and not to provide any form of support to Russia's aggression against Ukraine."

Nuland and Mora also discussed issues of "high-level attention and support to the Republic of Moldova and to work together to strengthen its resilience" and "ongoing efforts to support the democratic forces inside and outside of Belarus in defending and advancing human rights," the statement said.

"This high-level meeting follows the commitments taken at the June 2021 U.S.-EU Summit, where both sides resolved to coordinate U.S. and EU policies and actions related to Russia," the statement said.

The parties decided to continue meetings in this dialogue, with the next high-level meeting to take place in late 2022.
MPs proposing to introduce cash payments to Russian military for equipment suitable use by AFU

A group of members of parliament from different factions has proposes to provide cash payments to the Russian military for serviceable military equipment of the Russian Federation transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).

Bill No. 7229 was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on March 30.

The document proposes to establish remuneration for military personnel of the armed forces, other power structures of Russia, and other categories of persons for the military equipment of the aggressor state, suitable for use and voluntarily transferred to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

For example, a combat aircraft (fighter and attack aircraft) would be worth $1 million, combat helicopter - $500,000 and a multiple launch rocket system - $25,000-35,000.

The bill provides the right to keep the fact of the transfer of Russian equipment to the AFU secret.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking in the Parliament of the Netherlands, has said that the war in Ukraine is becoming a routine for the world.

"36 days. That is how long our state and our people face-to-face against the army, which was called the strongest in the world. Russia has been preparing against us, against freedom for decades. They have been accumulating deadly resources as much as every European country can spend on life. And now these Russian resources are working at full capacity. No matter how scary it may sound, people are already starting to get used to it," Zelensky said.

According to him, people "are already beginning to adapt and pass through themselves everything they hear about the war, to the bombings, to the updated lists of the dead."

"Daily reports about the number of destroyed houses, shelled cities, communities no longer evoke emotions. For many others, the war in Ukraine is becoming a routine. Unfortunately. But this is true  a routine. But not for those whose lives are under threat every minute," he said.
We need weapon that help us expel occupiers from our land  Zelensky in Dutch Parliament

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said speaking before the Parliament of the Netherlands that Ukraine needs a weapon that will help drive out the Russian occupiers.

"Tyranny [of Russia] must lose. And for this to happen, freedom must receive all the necessary weapons for victory, for protection. The weapons that you have on the continent," Zelensky said, thanking the Netherlands for the support already provided.

"Ukraine is grateful to you for the support it has already received from you, from your society, from the state. This support is truly unprecedented. But the war is so intense, the Russian troops are so active, we need more... We need weapons that will help us make our skies safe, with which it is possible to unblock our Ukrainian cities, where Russia arranges an artificial famine. We need such a weapon that will allow us to expel the invaders from our land: jets, tanks, anti-aircraft weapons, shells, missiles, etc. I hope you will find an opportunity to help us," he added.

The head of state also called on the Dutch parliamentarians, society and business to strengthen sanctions against the Russian Federation, close ports, stop trade and be ready to give up Russian energy resources as soon as possible.

He also called on the parliament to influence international institutions. "The crimes of the Russian occupiers must get response of a democratic society," he said.
From February 24, 2022, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, to 24:00 on March 29, 2022, civilian casualties amounted to 3,090 civilians (3,039 in the report a day earlier), including 1,189 dead (1,179), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported on Wednesday.

"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 document says.

This concerns, for example, Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Popasna (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 report says.

According to confirmed UN data, 239 men, 172 women, 34 boys and 17 girls died, while the sex of 57 children and 670 adults has not yet been determined.

Among the 1,901 wounded, there are 36 girls and 30 boys, as well as 76 children, the sex of which has not yet been determined.

Compared to the previous day, four children were killed and eight more were injured, according to the UN.

OHCHR indicates that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight March 30, there were 328 (326) dead and 727 (716) injured in government-controlled territory, and 65 (62) dead and 243 (233) injured in territory controlled by self-proclaimed "republics."

In other regions of Ukraine (the city of Kyiv, and Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred: 1,702 casualties (791 killed and 911 injured).

OHCHR notes the report of the Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine, according to which as of 8 a.m. 29 March (local time), 144 children had been killed and at least 220 injured.

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 29, since OHCHR also verified a number of cases that occurred in previous days during the day, the document specifies.
Roshn, a real estate development company wholly-owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, is showcasing its expertise at the International Real Estate Exhibition (MIPIM) being held in Cannes, France, until March 18.

Roshn, which is taking part in the big event under under the umbrella of Invest in Saudi, will be meeting the leaders of the world's real estate development sector, present its vision to develop integrated residential communities through an integrated pavilion with the latest technologies, and participate in five dialogue sessions and lectures at the exhibition, designed to introduce the company to contribute to achieving its goals.

It will be one of six Saudi entities participating in the exhibition, reviewing the company's story and vision for developing residential communities, raising the quality of life in the kingdom, and international partnerships in the exhibition, which covers an area of 22,000 sq m and attracts 480 speakers and 3800 exhibitors from 100 countries, providing unparalleled access to the largest number of development projects and real estate developers from around the world.

Investors represent 24% of the participants, while 15% are leaders and CEOs.

Roschen Group CEO David Grover said the Cannes expo is providing them an ideal platform to highlight the distinguished work that Roshn is doing.

"Our goal is to become one of the largest developers of residential communities in the world, through partnerships and exchange of ideas with international partners," remarked Grover.

According to him, Roshn seeks to build integrated residential communities on an area of 200 million sq m in various regions of the kingdom, inspired by the Saudi architectural heritage and modernity in the design of its residential communities.

Its first project, Sidra, is located south of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

The residential community was engineered upon the integrated Salmani-style, in line with the latest technologies, and with the support of smart city technologies, sustainability and the humanization of residential communities in order to achieve the aspirations of Saudi society, he added.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is preparing to organize a free passage (humanitarian corridor) from Mariupol to Zaporizhia on April 1, the ICRC told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

"For logistical and security reasons, we will be ready to conduct a safe passage operation tomorrow, Friday, provided that all parties agree on the exact terms, including the route, start time and duration," the press service of the committee said.

The ICRC added that their teams are traveling right now with prepared aid and medical supplies in order to be ready for the safe exit of the civilian population from Mariupol.

"It is very important that this operation takes place. The lives of tens of thousands of people in Mariupol depend on it," the ICRC emphasized.
In Dnipropetrovsk region, the enemy launched missile attacks on a military unit, two people have been killed, five have been injured, rescuers continue to put out the fire, Head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration Valentyn Reznychenko has said.

"A few hours ago, missile attacks hit a military unit. The administrative building and a fuel depot have been destroyed. Two people have been killed. Five have been injured. They were hospitalized," Reznychenko wrote on his Telegram channel.

Rescue work and firefighting continue.
The UN is looking into allegations that some Mariupol residents have been forcibly evacuated, either to territory controlled by Russian-affiliated armed groups or to the Russian Federation, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said at 49th Session of the Human Rights Council.

"In the besieged city of Mariupol, people are living in sheer terror. The situation is worsening by the day, with constant shelling, fighting in the streets and people struggling to survive with the bare minimum of lifes necessities including food, water and medical supplies," she said in a statement posted on the website of the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR).

Bachelet said since the beginning of the invasion, Russian armed forces have carried out attacks and military strikes on and near large cities, including Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Severodonetsk, Sumy, and Mariupol, and the capital, Kyiv.

"Across Ukraine, the rights to life, liberty and security are under attack. Detention of civilians who are vocal about their pro-Ukrainian views in territories under control of Russian forces has become widespread," she said, adding that her Office has also received allegations of killings of two civilians considered to be affiliated with Russian armed forces or supporting pro-Russian views.

She said that she is very concerned by the abundance of videos available through open sources depicting interrogations of prisoners of war that have been taken by both Ukrainian and Russian forces.

She also said that every day, many journalists are courageously fighting a crucial battle against mounting misinformation and propaganda, often putting their own lives at great risk. Seven journalists and media workers have been killed since hostilities began, and another 15 have come under armed attack, nine of whom were injured. "We have also documented the arbitrary detention and the possible enforced disappearance of 22 journalists and civil society activists who have been vocal against the invasion in Kyiv, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhia regions," Bachelet said.

She said that the persistent use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas is of immense concern. These weapons include missiles, heavy artillery shells and rockets, and airstrikes, causing massive destruction of and damage to civilian objects. "In addition, my Office has received credible allegations that Russian armed forces have used cluster munitions in populated areas at least 24 times. We are also investigating allegations that Ukrainian armed forces have used such weapons," she said.

Bachelet said that to date the UN has verified 77 incidents in which medical facilities were damaged to various degrees, including 50 hospitals, 7 psycho-neurological facilities and 20 other medical facilities. Overall, 55 medical establishments were damaged, 10 destroyed, and two were looted. Actual numbers are again likely to be considerably higher.

"In several besieged cities, my Office has noted a significant increase in mortality rates among civilians that can be attributed to disrupted medical care coupled with conflict-related deprivation and stress," she said.

She said that people with disabilities and older people face a particularly appalling humanitarian situation. Long-term care facilities are suffering a lack of food, heating, electricity, water and medication. Many residents who have chronic health conditions rely on others for care and are struggling to access bomb shelters or safe areas.

Bachelet stated that nearly a quarter of Ukraine's population have been forced to flee - over 4 million people have fled the country since the attack began, and an estimated 6.5 million are internally displaced.

"For more than one month now, the entire population of Ukraine has been enduring a living nightmare. The lives of millions of people are in upheaval as they are forced to flee their homes or hide in basements and bomb shelters as their cities are pummeled and destroyedThe hostilities must stop, without delay. Today, I call on the Russian Federation to heed the clear and strong calls of the General Assembly and of this Council, and immediately act to withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory," she said.

Bachelet said that the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine will continue its vital monitoring role. Despite the very difficult security context, staff in various parts of the country continue to document civilian casualties, the impact of hostilities and violations of human rights.
Volodymyr Klitschko goes to Germany to hold talks on providing support to Ukraine

Volodymyr Klitschko, as a member of the Ukrainian delegation, left for Germany, where negotiations on political and economic support for Ukraine are planned, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko has said.

"Volodymyr went with a delegation from Ukraine to hold meetings in Germany. The planned meetings with politicians and officials of the Federal Republic of Germany are for political support of Ukraine, economic, humanitarian and military assistance to our state," Vitali Klitschko wrote on his Facebook page.

The mayor of Kyiv stressed the importance of consolidating all efforts to support Ukraine.

"Today, it is very important to unite all forces  in Ukraine and to consolidate the position and actions of the partner countries of our state," he said.
Australia will impose an additional 35% tariff on all imports from Russia and Belarus.

"The Australian Government is taking further action to increase the economic costs to Russia" following the launch of the military operation in Ukraine "supported by Belarus," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a statement.

"On April 1, 2022, Australia will issue a formal notification withdrawing entitlement to the Most-Favoured-Nation (MFN) tariff treatment and applying an additional tariff of 35% to all imports from Russia and Belarus. This will take effect from April 25, 2022 and will be in addition to general duty rates that currently apply," Morrison said.
Since February 24, some 353,663 citizens of Ukraine have arrived in Moldova, now the flow of refugees has significantly decreased, the Secretary General of the Moldovan government has said.

"More than 100,000 refugees remained in Moldova all this time. Now this number has decreased. There are now 96,243 refugees in Moldova, of which 47% are minors. More than 2,000 children went to schools and kindergartens. About 50,000 refugees are placed in more than 100 centers across the country, the rest live in families," he said at a briefing on Thursday.

According to him, more than 60,000 refugees were provided with auto, air and rail transport to travel to the EU countries and Turkey.

"Out of the total number of refugees, 5,918 people requested asylum. More than 3,000 of them are citizens of Ukraine, and the rest are citizens of other states who evacuated from Ukraine," he said.

According to him, since the beginning of the flow of refugees, Moldova has received EUR 7 million in humanitarian aid from the European Union alone, and an amount of MDL 58 million (more than $3 million) has been accumulated on the special account of the Ministry of Finance.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says that Russia is not withdrawing troops, as recently announced, but only moving them in an attempt to regroup and strengthen the offensive in Donbas region.

We have heard the recent statements that Russia will scale down military operations around Kyiv and in northern Ukraine. But Russia has repeatedly lied about its intentions. So we can only judge Russia on its actions, not on its words. According to our intelligence, Russian units are not withdrawing, but repositioning. Russia is trying to regroup, resupply and reinforce its offensive in Donbas region, he said a press conference in Brussels on Thursday.

Stoltenberg also said that at the same time, Russia continues to put pressure on Kyiv and other cities. So we can expect additional offensive actions, bringing even more suffering, - the Secretary General said.

In this regard, he again called on Russia to end this senseless war.

Withdraw all its troops.

And engage in talks in good faith.
Italy may be among the countries-guarantors of the implementation of agreements between Ukraine and Russia, Head of the Italian government Mario Draghi has said on Thursday.

"Ukraine and Russia have requested that Italy be among guarantor of the implementation of an eventual peace agreement between Kyiv and Moscow," he said during a press conference.

Speaking about a recent phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Draghi said that during the conversation"he expressed confidence that a meeting between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky is needed to solve key problems.

"Putin answered me that the time has not yet come for this," the Italian prime minister said. According to Draghi, the Russian leader explained to him that at this stage it is too early to talk about a ceasefire in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Belgium to "inspire all other Europeans to do more" for Ukraine.

Speaking to the Belgian parliament on Thursday, he said "Belgium was one of the first to provide us with defense assistance, this is a historic moment. We will never forget this."

"You warmly received 30,000 Ukrainians who left their homes because of this war. But you as a state, the heart of Europe, may inspire all other Europeans to do more," Zelensky said, adding: "To help us drive the occupiers out of Ukraine, restore a precious peace that is worth more than any valuables, any diamonds, any agreements with Russia, any Russian vessel in European ports, any barrel of Russian oil."

According to him, "our defenders deserve European companies to finally stop making money with those who are trying to destroy us. Our defenders are worthy not to guess about the criteria, but to know that the country will be a member of the European Union. If they lose, if Mariupol and other Ukrainian cities lose, there will be no more strong European Union," the president said.
Stoltenberg on talks in Turkey: As for Russia, one must judge not by words, but by deeds

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg argues that Russia has no desire to find a political solution to the war it is waging against Ukraine and believes that what concerns Moscow should be judged not by words, but by deeds.

This is how he commented on the results of the negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow, which have been recently held in Turkey.

He said he welcomes all efforts to find a political solution to this brutal and senseless war, including the recent talks in Turkey. At the same time, he said, it is quite clear that they hadnt seen much desire on the Russian side to find a political solution.

According to the secretary general of the alliance, instead of reducing the intensity of hostilities on the part of Russia, the military seizure of Ukraine and the shelling of cities continues. He said they see that Russia is moving some troops, most likely in an attempt to strengthen forces in Donbas. He says that Russia should be judged by its actions, not by words. He said the Alliance still needs to see if there is a desire on the part of the Russian side to find a political solution.
Some 88% of business decision makers (BDMs) in the manufacturing industry say they plan to invest in technology to support a hybrid workforce during the next 12-18 months, says a survey.

The Riverbed | Aternity Hybrid Work Global survey reveals that 51% BDMs in the manufacturing industry believe that half (50%) of their workforce will remain hybrid post-pandemic.

Additionally, the vast majority of manufacturing BDMs (96%) believe a hybrid structure would help them recruit talent and remain competitive.

Hybrid a business priority

Offering a seamless hybrid-working environment is not a nice to have anymore, but a business priority as the manufacturing sector looks to recover from Covid-19. However, only a third (33%) of Manufacturing IT Decision Makers (ITDMs) say their current IT estate is completely prepared to support the demands of long-term hybrid work. This has left 85% of Manufacturing BDMs worried about a disparity in network and application performance for hybrid or remote employees versus in-office employees.

Commenting on the report findings, Mena Migally, Regional Vice President, META at Riverbed | Aternity, said: During the last two years, the pandemic has had a significant impact on the Manufacturing sector across the globe, as businesses have had to shift much of their operations to a remote and hybrid working model. For a sector where employees dont traditionally work remotely, these changes have presented an opportunity for manufacturers to take a significant leap forward in their digital transformation journey.

Manufacturers have not only adopted new technologies that will give them a competitive advantage, but increasingly are leveraging visibility and observability solutions to deliver actionable insights that drive business performance and an exceptional digital experience. Especially with the global supply chain disruption, the ability to support a remote workforce can translate to increased productivity as employees can operate from anywhere and at any time. As a result, manufacturers across the META region are working to create environments that will be productive, collaborative and attract the talent that will set their business apart now and into the future.

High-performing hybrid workplaces

The Riverbed | Aternity report revealed that creating sustainable and high-performing hybrid workplaces are critical for business success, and reliant on organisations addressing both human-and technology-related barriers. According to Manufacturing ITDMs, the top five barriers to adopting a sustainable hybrid work model are:

*Expanded security risks (35%);

*Lacking the right technology and equipment in the office (30%);

*Technology disruptions (28%);

*Lacking the right technology in the home set ups (25%); and

*Poor home/remote network performance (24%).

Manufacturing BDMs agree that collaboration and virtual relationship building (31%) is also one of their biggest barriers to adopting hybrid working across their organisation. However, 35% cite poor home/remote network performance as the main reason.

Furthermore, BDMs believe that if we dont act now, manufacturers will begin to fall behind other sectors. Issues such as Wi-Fi not working properly (46%), the inability for employees to connect to corporate networks (41%) and increased network traffic/bandwidth consumption and unreliable application performance (31%), will all have a huge impact on the ability to provide hybrid working over the next 12-18 months.

To identify and troubleshoot these issues, manufacturers need greater visibility and actionable insights. ITDMs identify the top five challenges with current visibility/monitoring solutions as:

*Too much data and not enough context or actionable insight (39%);

*Lack of unified visibility across the entire technology infrastructure (36%);

*Multiple tools that give conflicting data, delaying root cause analysis and issue resolution (34%);

*Lack of visibility into the availability, performance and usage of cloud resources (34%); and

*Data is not accessible or usable by all who need it (30%).

Investing in the future of manufacturing

The majority of Manufacturing ITDMs (92%) agree that their organisations would benefit from having greater visibility into their networks and systems to identify performance or security risks. And 89% believe there should be more investment into performance and acceleration solutions that will help them to increase productivity and allow them to create the experiences that will attract more talent to the sector.

Its encouraging that 92% of Manufacturing ITDMs and 88% of BDMs agree and are committed to investing in new technologies to support a hybrid workforce during the next 12-18 months. Their top areas of technology investments will be:

*Updating company-wide hybrid workplace strategies and policies (44%);

*Investing in application or network acceleration solutions (38%);

*Investing in end-user experience and digital experience monitoring solutions (35%);

*Investing in cybersecurity technology and software (34%); and

*Better visibility of network and application performance (33%).

In 2022, the manufacturing sector must move forward and take positive learnings from the last year of change. By implementing unified observability, full-fidelity visibility and acceleration technologies, they will be able to attract new talent, create new opportunities and build a productive and happy workforce, with hybrid at its core, concludes Migally.-- TradeArabia News Service
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking to the Belgian Parliament, said that Mariupol is by far the most terrible place in Europe.

Addressing the parliamentarians, the head of state said that 90% of the buildings in Mariupol have been destroyed by Russian missiles and artillery, and thousands of civilians have died.

"People are buried right in the city, in the yards of high-rise buildings. More precisely, from what remains of high-rise buildings. For more than three weeks, Mariupol has been in a complete blockade. The Russian military has closed all entrances to the city and blocked the approach from the sea. There is nothing there: water, food, medicines. There is no life. There is not everything that is necessary to maintain any kind of life. But Mariupol does not give up and continues to fight the invaders," Zelensky said.

He also said the defenders of Mariupol had a choice  to leave the city, but they did not.

"Every single day we try to do everything to keep the humanitarian corridors from Mariupol working. To save civilians from there who still remain in the city. Women, children, people of the older generation. We partially succeed. But in most cases, the Russian military does not let people out to the free territory of Ukraine. And do not allow any humanitarian cargo to Mariupol. Today it is the most terrible place in Europe. It was hot there. There is a disaster. Everyone knows about. But no one has enough determination to help stop the catastrophe in this city and in other cities of our state," the president said.

"And now I want to ask all of you: what do the defenders of Mariupol hope for? What do the defenders of other cities hope for? Do the defenders of our cities want to close the skies over Ukraine for Russian missiles and aircraft? They know that there is no courage for this [in the West]. Do they think about whether our state meets the criteria for joining the EU? Do Mariupol residents and defenders count on of any city in Ukraine, the level of losses of European companies after the termination of business in the Russian market? Do they, in principle, think about money? No. They do not hope, they do not consider," he said.
Over the past two weeks, Ukrposhta has delivered 84,000 export items abroad with a total weight of 230 tonnes.

According to the company's press service on Thursday, some of these shipments are commercial exports, the volume of which has been restored to 60% in a month since the start of the war. We are talking about parcels that Ukrainian entrepreneurs selling goods on marketplaces send to customers in other countries.

"There are two key areas in which we are seeing a special demand. This is the delivery of things to relatives who have been evacuated abroad, and the shipments that our entrepreneurs make, selling their goods on world marketplaces and not only," Ukrposhta General Director Igor Smelyansky said, according to the company's press service.

At the same time, he clarified that parcels from home at a discount are "a short-term story for us and for the country, its more about supporting Ukrainians."

At the same time, according to him, commercial export is about the turnover of funds, foreign exchange injections, jobs.

"Therefore, we are expanding the capacity for sorting and processing shipments, connecting the Kyiv hub to strengthen the work of the Lviv hub," Smelyansky added.

Moreover, up to 5,000 stationary branches of Ukrposhta open their doors every day to move the business of Ukrainian entrepreneurs so that they, in turn, "move Ukraine on the economic front, while the defenders defend it on the military one," the head of the company said.

In general, in March, the national postal operator sent 277 tonnes of exports. Most exports for March were sent to Poland. In addition, Ukrainians actively sent shipments to the United States, Canada, Australia, Israel, Great Britain, Japan and Germany, the company says.

"The result is much more optimistic than forecasts for the start of the war thanks to the perpetual promotion 'Parcel from Home,' within which Ukrposhta provides a discount of 70% on the cost of sending to Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia and Moldova," the company added.

Ukrposhta also reminded that due to the lack of air traffic and difficulties with ground transportation, delivery times have increased. Shipments to all countries, including the United States, Japan and Australia, take from two to four weeks.
Australia continues to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia's illegal and unprovoked invasion and will provide Kyiv with another AUD 25 million (about $18.8 million) of military assistance at the request of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Cabinet of Ministers, Australian Ambassador to Ukraine Bruce Edwards said.

"Total Australia's military assistance to date: AUD 116 million (about $87 million)," he said on Twitter on Thursday.

In turn, Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko, who arrived in the destination country only five days ago, noted on Facebook the huge support of the Australian people.

"Managed to get a meeting with the Minister of Defense, Minister of Health, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Prime Minister in one day. President Volodymyr Zelensky's address to two Chambers of the Australian Parliament was a highlight of the day for all the news channels in the country," he said.

Myroshnychenko said that in addition to this support, Australia's humanitarian aid to Ukraine amounts to AUD 65 million, some 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal to meet Ukraine's energy needs. The same list includes temporary protection visas and support for Ukrainian community groups in Australia.

"The new AUD 25 million package of additional defensive military assistance will include tactical decoys, unmanned aerial and unmanned ground systems, rations and medical supplies," the Ukrainian ambassador said.

According to him, the Australian government will continue to identify opportunities for further military assistance where it is able to provide a required capability to the Armed Forces of Ukraine expeditiously.
Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova says that Russian troops shot at a column of volunteers near Chernihiv, as a result of which one person killed and four were severely wounded.

"Russian militants shot at a convoy of volunteers near Chernihiv. Five buses came under targeted enemy fire when they tried to drive into the encircled city to evacuate people. Only civilian volunteers were on the bus. As a result of the shelling, one person was killed, four were severely wounded," Denisova said on Facebook.

She said that one of the buses managed to escape on punctured tires, but the driver was wounded, he was taken to the hospital.

"Russian forces do not give the slightest opportunity to take the civilian population out of besieged Chernihiv, in fact holding tens of thousands of people as hostages, without food, water, heat. At the same time, every day they target residential areas with heavy artillery," the ombudsman said.

She said that such actions constitute yet another war crime and a crime against humanity of the Russian troops under Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

"I appeal to the UN Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights Violations during the Russian military invasion of Ukraine and the expert mission established by the OSCE participating States in accordance with the Moscow Mechanism, to take into account these facts of the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity and violations of human rights in Ukraine by the Russian Federation" Denisova said.
The Ministry of Culture and Information Policy and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine say that under martial law, information must be balanced and portioned, and they call on the media to comply with wartime rules.

"The work of a journalist during the war can hardly be overestimated. Working in war zones, they are constantly in an atmosphere of fear and tension, risking their lives to convey the most complete, truthful and impartial picture of events. It is important to realize the special role of the media in martial law and respect the work of media workers, because it is journalists who can publicize certain facts of war crimes and humanitarian disasters, attracting the attention of the international community," the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Defense said in a joint statement.

It is noted that since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the journalistic community has united and acted as a single front against Russian propaganda, destroying Kremlin narratives.

"The Ukrainian state understands and appreciates the contribution of Ukrainian and foreign media representatives to the country's information policy. After defeating the occupiers, taking into account the experience gained, we will definitely work out the necessary solutions together for more effective interaction and improvement of the work of individual processes," the statement says.

The ministries note that under martial law, information should be balanced and portioned, since the enemy is constantly monitoring the information field to counter Ukrainian defenders.

"Therefore, we urge the media to continue to follow the rules during martial law so as not to endanger themselves and others. We also urge the public to avoid disclosing and leakage into the network of any data related to classified or security information, as this can significantly harm the Ukrainian military," the department said.

The statement also says that society should trust and support journalists and the military in their hard work, and the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Defense thank "representatives of the fourth power for their selfless work, professionalism and fearlessness in covering Russian aggression against Ukraine."
NATO allies will supply weapons to Ukraine in its opposition to Russian aggression for as long as necessary, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said.

"We need to continue to supply weapons to Ukraine. NATO allies will continue to provide, supply weapons to Ukraine as long as necessary. This is extremely important because Ukraine is fighting a war for freedom, for democracy, for our shared values, " he said a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday.

The Secretary General recalled that the alliance had been supporting Ukraine for many years, even before the invasion. Since the invasion, the Allies have provided even more assistance, providing weapons, humanitarian and financial support to Ukraine.

"And it was a strong commitment from the NATO Summit last week to continue to further support Ukraine also with military support, " Stoltenberg said.

"NATO allies have supported the Ukrainian Armed Forces for many years. Allies have trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, and they are now on the front line fighting the invasion and invading Russian forces. Provided modern equipment, different types of weapons, and also supported the modernisation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. And this has helped to make the Ukrainian army stronger, better equipped, better trained than ever before. But of course it is first and foremost the courage, the commitment of the Ukrainian soldiers, men and women in uniform, that has enabled them to resist, to stand up against the invading Russian forces. And, and, and this courage, the strength, the commitment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, has impressed and inspired the whole world, " the Secretary General said.
The ambassadors of the G7 countries condemn the actions of the Russian invaders who kidnap civil activists, journalists and local politicians in the territories of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the invaders.

"G7 ambassadors condemn the continued, abhorrent abduction of civilians by Russian forces in Ukraine, including journalists, civic activists, mayors and local officials. These desperate attempts to undermine Ukraines democracy must be stopped, " the ambassadors said in a statement on Thursday.

It specifies that the ambassadors pay tribute to local officials across Ukraine who protect their communities and support their residents.

"Their [of local officials] resilience under extreme pressure is a shining example of commitment to public service, " the ambassadors said.
The United States expresses its deep regret over the fact that Russia has blocked consensus on the mandate extension of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Michael Carpenter has said.

"It is deeply regrettable that the Russian Federation has blocked consensus on the mandate extension of the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. It is irresponsible and unjustifiably, but I guess it is hardly surprising. No one will ever forget the actions of the Russian Federation that brought us to this point today: its prosecution of an unprovoked and barbaric war of aggression on Ukraine," Carpenter said at a meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on Thursday.

According to him, the United States fully sympathize and concur with the objections expressed by the distinguished Ukrainian ambassador and the host country, to closing the Mission. "We also fully support the Chair's efforts to continue negotiations in search of consensus," Carpenter said.

He said that Western countries will be obliged to help Ukraine after the war.

"When the carnage ends, we will have to help Ukraine pick up the pieces and rebuild. Ukrainians have been fighting not just for their own freedom, but for a free world on behalf of us all. We will need the full and undiminished commitment of all peace-loving states to help them in re-constituting a sovereign, democratic and prosperous Ukraine," Carpenter said.
Since the beginning of the war, Russian invaders have launched 1,370 missiles of various types in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

"Russian soldiers came to Ukraine to kill and destroy. Russia fired 1,370 missiles at Ukraine. Some 148 children were killed by Russian fascists during shelling and air raids. More than 10 million Ukrainians left their homes because of the war. Russia destroyed 15 Ukrainian airports," the report says.
European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson believes that electricity exports from Ukraine have a positive effect on Poland, the Energy Ministry said.

"Kadri Simson said that Ukraine, after synchronization, is already becoming an important factor in the reliable operation of the European energy system. She said the auctions launched for the export of electricity from Ukraine to Poland had a very positive effect on the energy supply of the latter," the ministry said in a statement following an online meeting with European Commissioner for Energy Minister Herman Haluschenko on Thursday.

According to the statment, the parties also discussed issues of compliance with the nuclear safety of Ukraine and Europe in the context of the visit of IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to Ukraine.

Haluschenko, referred to by the ministry's press service, during the meeting said the head of the IAEA recognizes Ukraine's significant potential in nuclear energy.

At the same time, the minister said the presence of Russian troops at nuclear facilities not only threatens nuclear safety, but can also cross out the prospects for the development of the Ukrainian nuclear sector.

In addition, the Energy Minister once again said that Ukraine can help European countries "jump off the hook" of Russian fossil fuels, in particular by providing its underground gas storage facilities and electricity supplies.

"Coordination of the position of Ukraine and Europe is very important for ensuring nuclear and energy security," Haluschenko said.
The Environment Agency, Abu Dhabi (EAD), the Middle Easts largest environmental regulator, has rescued over 200 sea turtles this year.

EADs commendable efforts have been supported by their Wildlife Rescue Programme partner and the largest aquarium in the Middle East, The National Aquarium of Abu Dhabi (TNA).

Ahmed Al Hashmi, Executive Director, Terrestrial and Marine Biodiversity Sector at EAD said: Through our strategic partnership with TNA, we have been able to rescue and rehabilitate a number of turtles to ensure the longevity of several different turtle species found in Abu Dhabi waters. Furthermore, after releasing a large majority of these turtles back into their natural habitat, our specialized research team is monitoring them on a regular basis and frequently studying their behaviour and habits.

As part of our efforts, we have included the rehabilitation of an Olive Ridley Sea Turtle, a species rarely seen in UAE waters; this is a sign of the abundance of our biodiversity, which we aspire to conserve so that future generations can enjoy it for decades to come.

Ramping up efforts

Due to the increasing number of turtles that continue being stranded in Abu Dhabis waters every year, EAD is now ramping up its efforts to further protect and conserve native wildlife. Accordingly, they have now added more manpower and invested in building state-of-the-art facilities; this proactivity reinforces their commitment to providing more efficient and effective rehabilitation for rescued local wildlife, with a specialized emphasis on sea turtles.

Beatriz Maquieira, Curator at TNA added: Sea turtles are amongst the most migratory animals on the globe, and two of the seven marine turtle species found worldwide frequent Abu Dhabi's waters - the critically endangered Hawksbill Turtle and the endangered Green Turtle. With over 5,000 sea turtles residing in Abu Dhabi and a huge number of turtles arriving on a yearly basis, we want to continue providing the finest care possible for these animals.

In 2020, EAD signed an MoU with TNA to birth the Wildlife Rescue Programme, a mission dedicated to rescuing, rehabilitating, and releasing native wildlife in Abu Dhabi. This alignment of objectives has successfully led to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of several species of turtles back into the Arabian Gulf, including rarely seen Loggerhead turtles and the ongoing and successful rehabilitation process of their most recent rescue, an Olive Ridley Turtle, which is the second-smallest of all sea turtles found in the world.

250 turtles rescued in 2021

In 2021, the collaboration between EAD and TNA productively led to the rescue and rehabilitation of 250 sea turtles, of which, 150 were released back into the ocean, and three were satellite tagged. Additional release events took place last summer and now the current rescue of more than 200 turtles, which is the strongest start yet, will soon be released back into the Arabian Gulf; the current rescues can be seen one last time at The National Aquarium before the release commences.

With EAD being the Middle Easts largest environmental regulator, and TNA being the Middle Easts largest aquarium, it is only fitting that the two organisations have joined forces to develop the Wildlife Rescue Programme as the largest of its kind in the region. Their commitment to being the best rehab centre for wildlife in the Middle East maintains a distinct focus on sea turtles in Abu Dhabi.-- TradeArabia News Service
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov discussed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the details of the situation on the front line, Russia's war crimes against civilians in Ukraine and damage to infrastructure.

"Discussed with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan details about the situation on the frontlines, russian war crimes against civilians and damage to infrastructure. I appreciate all the support which Turkey provides, including political and diplomatic," Reznikov said on Twitter on Thursday.
War in Ukraine claims lives of at least 1,232 civilians, 1,935 reported as injured  UN

Losses among civilians from February 24, when Russia started the war against Ukraine, until 24:00 on March 30, 2022, amounted to 3,167 civilians (3,090 in the report a day earlier), including 1,232 dead (1,189), the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) reported on Thursday.

"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 document reads.

This concerns, for example, Mariupol and Volnovakha (Donetsk region), Izium (Kharkiv region), Popasna (Luhansk region), and Irpin (Kyiv 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 report says.

According to the United Nations, a total of 1,232 killed (250 men, 176 women, 18 girls, and 36 boys, as well as 58 children and 694 adults whose sex is yet unknown).

A total of 1,935 have been injured (225 men, 167 women, 36 girls, and 32 boys, as well as 81 children and 1,394 adults whose sex is yet unknown).

Compared to the previous day, four children were killed and seven more were injured, according to the UN.

OHCHR says that in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as of midnight on March 31, there were 338 (328) dead and 743 (727) injured in government-controlled territory, and 66 (65) dead and 245 (243) injured in territory controlled by self-proclaimed "republics".

In other regions of Ukraine (the city of Kyiv, and Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Odesa, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Zhytomyr regions), which were under Government control when casualties occurred: 1,775 casualties (828 killed and 947 injured)

The report also states that, according to the Prosecutor Generals Office of Ukraine, as of 08:00 on March 30, 148 (145) children were killed and 232 (222) injured.

An increase in figures in this update compared with the previous update (as of 24:00 midnight on 29 March 2022 (local time) should not be attributed to civilian casualties that occurred on 30 March only, as during the day OHCHR also corroborated casualties that occurred on previous days, the document reads.
For the second month in our country there is a war. Millions of Ukrainians have become refugees, and the country's largest cities have become a zone of active hostilities. In this situation, many families have been separated, people often lose contact with their closest relatives.

A team of journalists and media workers put forward an initiative to create a project to search for missing people "Find loved ones".

We ask citizens whose relatives do not get in touch to send us all the information they have. We recommend using the following form:

1. Full name of the missing person;

2. Your contact details;

3. Photo of the missing person, description of special features;

4. Approximate place of the last stay of the missing person.

The project is non-commercial, all your appeals will be edited and published free of charge in the media.

We invite colleagues from the media to join the initiative!

The project coordinator is Maksim Urakin, deputy head of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency and publisher of the Open4Business project.

Please send information about the missing to e-mail maksim.urakin@gmail.com
Dear friends! Scientific Lyceum Klym Churyumov International Green School launched the charity project Protection of Children of Ukraine to support Ukrainian pupils affected by the war.

As a part of this project, we have been providing free distance learning possibilities for the high school program, specialized physical and mathematical education and psychological assistance for children since 24 February. Our educators (teachers, scientists, artists, and psychologists) in the conditions of rocket bomb strikes, often from their bomb shelters, conduct lessons for pupils from all Ukrainian regions and abroad, where there is an opportunity to connect to the Internet. According to UNICEF, 2.5 million Ukrainian children have moved away. Some of them will never return to their schools. The problem with psychological support and obtaining state documents on education is of higher importance. As of 28 March, we have already registered 5,626 children. The number is growing every day. Even on the day of resumption of education in Ukrainian schools on 28 March, 20 children were registered to study under the Protection for Children of Ukraine program. We predict that the number of children from the cities where the schools were destroyed will increase  in Irpin, Bucha, Hostomel, Kharkiv, Mariupol, Rubizhne and others.

Our team is working hard to cushion the psychological and emotional trauma experienced by Ukranian children from the these days harsh realities and to give them access to quality distance education. So, our heroic teachers also need your help and support. That is why the Klym Churyumov International Green School has opened an account to raise funds for the charity project Defense of Ukrainian Children. More: https://www.cigs.com.ua

Organizers: Scientific Lyceum Klym Churyumov International Green School, NGO We Are Near, Institute of Social and Political Psychology.

Let's defend our children together and everything for theirs and Ukraines future! #defenseofUkrainianchildren

Donations can be sent to the following bank account of the Scientific Lyceum Klym Churyumov International Green School:

UAN card / UAH : 5574 2800 0084 2396

UAN account :

LLC Scientific Lyceum / Boarding School Klym Churyumov International Green School

USREOU code: 43141885

IBAN: UA873004650000026004300800080

Beneficiary Bank: JSC State OschadBank of Ukraine

SWIFT: COSBUAUK

USD banking account :

Company Name : Scientific Lyceum / Boarding School Klym Churyumov International Green School Limited Liability Company. Company address: 29B Moskovska street, ap. 16, 01021 Kyiv, Ukraine USREOU : 43141885 IBAN Code: UA823004650000026003301800080 Name of the bank: JOINT STOCK COMPANY OSCHADBANK OF UKRAINE Bank address: 12 Hospitalna Street, 01001 Kyiv, Ukraine SWIFT: COSBUAUK

EURO banking account:

Company Name: "Scientific Lyceum/Boarding School "Klym Churyumov International Green School" Limited Liability Company. Company address: 29B Moskovska street, ap. 16, 01010 Kyiv, Ukraine USREOU: 43141885 IBAN Code: UA773004650000026002302800080 Name of the bank: JOINT STOCK COMPANY "STATE SAVINGS BANK OF UKRAINE" Bank address: 12 Hospitalna Street, 01001 Kyiv, Ukraine S.W.I.F.T.: COSBUAUK

More about our needs:

Teachers and the team of the Scientific Lyceum Klym Churyumov International Green School from the first day of the war in Ukraine on 24 February 2022 launched free lessons under the banner Protection of the Children of Ukraine for the pupils affected by the war. In addition to the students of this lyceum who have been studying there before the war, now all children of Ukraine who are in the temporarily occupied territories or were forced to move to safe places in Ukraine, or to other countries, have the opportunity to study. Now the team of the Lyceum works selflessly as volunteers comprising new teachers from other public and private schools, public activists, scientists, artists. These volunteers from other countries (USA, Canada, Israel, Turkey) have organized the Speaking Club.

Funding is required for:

1. Provision of technical support (online platforms, additional licenses Google Workspace for Education, servers; paid interactive learning resources available to children online; remuneration of staff who maintain the work of the platform, including additional hosts who insure and moderate each and meet in case the teacher disappears from the Internet or many students join and you need to connect and coordinate participants; purchase of equipment, as most of this has remained in Kyiv and Kharkiv; assistance in providing the Internet, routers for some teachers etc).

2. Remuneration of teachers and administrators. They have humanitarian needs: payment for housing, food, moving to safe places, and medicine. Most teachers themselves became migrants and refugees, fleeing hostilities with their families. The conditions in which they now work on a volunteer basis require financial investment, as well as ensuring their subsistence level. Payment for mobile communications, Internet, partial coverage of housing costs for volunteers.

3. Providing scholarships for students whose families found themselves in difficult circumstances and with refugee status. Parents lost their jobs and businesses due to hostilities in Ukraine. A separate category - school leavers (4,9, and 11 classes) from schools that are destroyed or do not have the resources to organize distance learning and the issuance of documents on education to the state standard.

Scientific Lyceum Klym Churyumov International Green School is an educational startup and it provides high-quality interactive physics and mathematics education based on selected best programs from around the world.

What makes us unique?

Live learning in real time on a clear schedule in the format of discussions with teachers, a high level of teachers (including well-known scientists and artists), unique authoring techniques, a combination of mathematics and arts. Daily psychological assistance to students from professional psychologists, tools to strengthen mental health in emergencies; there has been training for Ukrainian psychologists by Israeli psychologists (together with MASHAV, Israel). Students study online in their native language and receive government education documents at the end of the school year.

I need money - just to study. I like studying here very much; in the lyceum, we have top-level teachers and we do not have such educators in a regular school. We have long breaks to clear our brains and prepare for the next lesson. I'm glad I have school online and don't need to wake up and go to school early. My favorite subjects are public speaking, engineering, local areas history, astronomy with Arsenii, science, mathematics with NASA. As much as I would like to, I need to study and then get a good job. Stepan, 12 years old.
With the legalization of cryptocurrencies in Ukraine, it is now possible for entrepreneurs and businesses to accept payments in digital currencies. In addition, it is possible to transfer money around the world in a matter of minutes with minimal fees via blockchain. High hopes for the NFT phenomenon, irreplaceable crypto tokens. Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced the launch of the Meta History collection, consisting of 54 historical NFTs captured on a timeline. Income from the sales of the collection will go to support the citizens and the army of Ukraine.

Ukraine is one of the leaders in the field of digital technologies, with international companies often engaging local developers, designers, and marketers. Ukrainian marketing agency Crypto Traffic Market assists international cryptocurrency and blockchain organizations. The agency combines digital technologies, up-to-date creativity, and artificial intelligence to implement best advertising practices, such as Reddit crowd marketing and autonomous social bots for Twitter. In addition, the agency collaborates with bloggers and authors of telegram channels to deal with media promotion. Today, CTM employs onboard 12 people with different skills, and among its clients' are cybersport organization Verasity, Finnish start-up Swash and cryptocurrency exchange AAX.

Alex Promotion, Crypto Traffic Market CEO: "Blockchain technology and digital currencies are the future that has already arrived. We are highly motivated in our job, helping good businesses find their customers, and we want to continue to do it in an honorable way to develop a global culture of cryptocurrencies and blockchain."
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) and PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum), have signed an agreement towards licencing of EGAs smelting technology for a brownfield aluminium smelter expansion in Indonesia.



Husin Bagis, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to the UAE, Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, EGA Vice Chairman, and Musabbeh Al Kaabi, EGA Board member witnessed the signing of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) at the Indonesia pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai.



The agreement was signed by EGAs Chief Executive Officer Abdulnasser Bin Kalban and Inalums President Director Hendi Prio Santoso.



Under the agreement, EGA and Inalum will engage in a feasibility study of the use of EGAs technology in a planned, up to 400,000 tonnes per year expansion of Inalums Kuala Tanjung smelter in North Sumatra.



EGA will also explore the potential to invest in the expansion and off-take metal, should it be developed with renewable energy. The existing aluminium smelter at Kuala Tanjung uses electricity generated with hydropower. The companies will also explore further cooperation opportunities throughout the aluminium value chain.



EGA and Inalum are already working together on the potential upgrade using EGA technological know-how of the existing aluminium smelter at Kuala Tanjung, under an agreement signed in 2020. The project aims to boost production from the existing reduction cells by around 20,000 tonnes per year or approximately 10 per cent. Design work for a pilot section of the project has been completed. EGA has completed a series of similar upgrades across its sites in Jebel Ali and Al Taweelah over recent decades.



EGA and Inalum are also together exploring the potential of developing a greenfield aluminium smelter in Indonesia using EGAs technology.



Abdulnasser Bin Kalban, Chief Executive Officer of EGA, said: This agreement further deepens our cooperation with Inalum, which is based on the potential use of EGAs technology in a number of development projects in Indonesia. Our aim is to grow our position as the technology provider of choice in our industry, developing revenue streams for EGA from technology licensing and potentially further opportunities, while strengthening the relationship between our two countries.



Hendi Prio Santoso, President Director of Inalum, said: We are pleased with the progress of our relationship with EGA, which we are confident will lead to the application of EGAs leading smelting technology in Indonesia. We look forward to further milestones in this brownfield expansion and our other projects in the near future.



EGA has developed its own aluminium smelting technology in the UAE for more than 25 years. EGA has used its own technology in every smelter expansion since the 1990s and has retrofitted all its older production lines.



In 2016, EGA became the first UAE industrial company to license its core process technology internationally, in a deal with Aluminium Bahrain (ALBA). ALBAs Potline 6, built using EGAs DX+ Ultra technology, began production in 2018.



In 2020, EGA signed an agreement with NEO Aluminio Colombia which could lead to the export of EGA technology for the development of the South American countrys first aluminium production facility.  TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabias real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 6.7% in Q4 2021 compared to Q4 2020. This positive growth was to a large extent due to the increase in oil revenues (+10.9% y-o-y), said Al Rajhi Capital Research.

The non-oil revenues also increased strongly by 5.1% y-o-y, while government activities expanded by 2.4% y-o-y, according to data issued by the General Authority for Statistics.

The kingdoms non-oil exports growth for the month of January 2022 increased by 27.5% y-o-y, compared to the increase of 56.1% y-o-y in December 2021. Segment-wise: plastics & rubbers and chemical products rose +28.9% y-o-y and +44.4% y-o-y, respectively.

Merchandise imports

Merchandise imports increased 8.1% y-o-y in January 2022 as compared to the increase of 19.4% y-o-y in December 2021. Meanwhile, China is the top export destination and also continued to be the largest import country in January 2022.

The rating agency S&P affirmed Saudi Arabias rating at A-, but revised its outlook to positive from stable, citing improving gross domestic product growth and fiscal dynamics over the medium term.

Further, The Saudi Central Banks monthly statistics indicated that the macro-economic conditions are healthy in the kingdom.

Money Supply

Money Supply (M3) continued to grow in February 2022 (+7.8% y-o-y) to stand at SR2,330 billion ($621 billion); while M1 and M2 increased 4.3% y-o-y and 5.3% y-o-y, respectively. As per the weekly money supply data by Saudi Central Bank, M3 may be higher in March 2022 than in the month of February 2022.

Credit to the private sector witnessed a growth of 14.9% y-o-y (+1.6% m-o-m) in February 2022; while bank claims on public sector advanced 11.5% y-o-y (+1.6% m-o-m) in the same month. Meanwhile, deposits rose 8.7% y-o-y (+1.7% m-o-m) in February 2022.

Meanwhile, LDR came in at 80.83% in February 2022. Q4 2021 labour data: Saudi unemployment rate came in at 11.0% in Q4 2021 as compared to 11.3% from Q3 2021; while overall unemployment in the kingdom came in at 6.9% in Q4 2021 as compared to 6.6% in Q3 2021.

Labour force

Further, the Saudi labour force participation rate increased to 51.5% in Q4 2021 (49.8% in Q3 2021).

Meanwhile, the average monthly wages of Saudi nationals declined 2.8% q-o-q to SR10,186; while the overall monthly wages fell 6.0% q-o-q to SR6,380.

Banking sector net profit before Zakat and tax increased 55.2% y-o-y to SR4.8 billion in February 2022 as compared to an increase of 5.0% y-o-y in January 2022. However, on a monthly basis, the banking sector profits declined by 10.8% in February 2022 (+5.7% m-o-m in January).

The monthly mortgage disbursement was SR8.8 billion in Feb 2022 (compared to monthly disbursement of SR14.2 billion in Feb 2021).

Foreign reserves

Saudi Central Banks foreign reserves, on an annual basis, rose 0.05% in February 2022 versus decline of 0.7% y-o-y in January 2022. However, the reserves declined 1.2% m-o-m in February 2022 (-1.9% m-o-m in January).

Meanwhile, as of February 2022, government reserves with Saudi Central Bank stood at SR368.1 billion (including government current account), which declined 3.0% m-o-m.

Remittances (Personal Transfers) by Saudi nationals increased 33.7% y-o-y in February 2022 (+45.3% y-o-y in January 2022). However, remittances by non-Saudi nationals declined 0.9% y-o-y in the same month (+3.8% y-o-y in January 2022).-- TradeArabia News Service
The Covid-19 pandemic killed 13.3 to 16.6 million people in 2020 and 2021, the WHO estimated Thursday -- up to triple the number of deaths attributed directly to the disease.
Saudi Arabia, Russia and other key oil producers agreed on Thursday to another marginal increase in output, bolstered by risks to demand amid coronavirus restrictions in China.
Nokia has signed an agreement with Etisalat UAE, the telecoms pillar of e& in the UAE, to deploy 5G private wireless networks to support enterprises across Abu Dhabi.

The two companies will work together to support businesses in various industries, including ports, oil and gas, government and critical infrastructure, by digitally transforming their operations and embracing Industry 4.0 through 5G use cases.

Nokia and Etisalat UAE will offer a variety of solutions, including Mobile Edge Computing (MEC), Modular Private Wireless (MPW) and Nokia Digital Automation Cloud (DAC), to meet the diverse needs of various enterprises.

Developing 5G-enabled use cases

In addition, the framework agreement includes Nokia Group Communications with push-to-talk and push-to-video capabilities, as well as Enterprise Voice Core (EVC). Nokia and Etisalat UAE will be able to develop 5G-enabled use cases to support digital transformation and improve operational efficiency across multiple industries with this broad set of solutions.

To demonstrate these use cases to enterprise customers, a 5G private wireless network based on the Nokia DAC platform has been installed at the Etisalat Innovation Centre in the operators Abu Dhabi headquarters.

Khalid Murshed, Chief Technology and Information Officer at Etisalat UAE, said: We are committed to supporting the government's vision to accelerate digital transformation of businesses so they can capture emerging opportunities. This collaboration with our long-term partner Nokia is in line with this vision and will provide our customers with best-in-class solutions. 5G private wireless networks will allow them to boost productivity, enhance operational efficiency, and grow revenue while improving customer experience."

Field-proven technology

Rima Manna, Vice President of Middle East Business at Nokia, said: With over 75 5G and more than 420 private wireless customers around the world, Nokia offers field-proven technology and expertise in the 5G private wireless networks domain.

Etisalat is a leader in innovation, and we look forward to collaborating on this initiative to provide industry-leading solutions to help enterprises across the country on their digital transformation journeys. This partnership will assist Etisalat in increasing revenue while leveraging 5G spectrum and deployment.-- TradeArabia News Service
A 500-million-euro ($530 million) Lithuanian-Polish natural gas transmission pipeline was inaugurated Thursday, completing another stage of regional independence from Russian energy sources.
Belarus' leader defended Russia's invasion of Ukraine and said he was doing ``everything'' to stop the war in a sit-down interview with The Associated Press on Thursday.
Egyptian Ambassador in Russia Nazih El-Najari visited on Thursday Egypts pavilion in the 28th Moscow International Travel and Tourism Exhibition (MITT), held from 15 to 17 March.

El-Najari's visit was meant to boost Egypts cooperation with Russia in the field of tourism, read a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The MITT is the largest B2B travel and tourism trade show in Russia, receiving thousands of travel industry professionals from around the world.

Egypts pavilion, administered by the Tourism Development Authority, held a number of meetings with representatives of Russian travel and tourism agencies to discuss means to enhance cooperation between Egypt and Russia in the field of tourism, the statement added.

Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, two Russian airlines  Aeroflot and Ural Airlines  have recently suspended flights to and from Egypt and several other countries due to the circumstances that prevent the performance of flights."

Egyptian Cabinet Spokesperson Nader Saad said that the decisions to suspend flights to Egypt from Russia and Ukraine due to the war were a big hit to the Egyptian tourism sector. Both countries are main exporters of tourists to Egypt.

Saad added that the Egyptian government was looking for alternatives to compensate for this loss.

On Thursday, the Egyptian ambassador reviewed with officials from the Tourism Development Authority opportunities to boost Russian tourism to Egypt.

Egypt was one of the three most popular destinations for Russian tourists before the crash of a Russian airliner over Sinai in 2015, with some 3.3 million Russians visiting Red Sea resorts in 2014.

In 2018, Russia resumed flights to Cairo after a three-year suspension while in July 2021 it lifted a flight ban on the popular Red Sea tourist cities of Hurghada and Sharm El-Sheikh.

According to Russian Ambassador to Egypt Georgy Borisenko, about 125,000 Russian tourists visited Egypt during the first two weeks of 2022. Some 700,000 Russian tourists visited Egypt in 2021.

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President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said on Wednesday that Egyptians should rationalise food consumption during the upcoming holy month of Ramadan, which is usually characterised by increased consumption.

However, El-Sisi stressed this does not mean Egyptians should eat less.

No, eat and do what you want... there is no problem with goods inside Egypt, and [will not be] during the month of Ramadan, he said.

El-Sisi made the remarks during a ceremony to honour Egyptian women held on Wednesday in celebration of Mothers Day.

The president said that he himself rationalises consumption.

People think [because I am a president] my dining table looks different, [but] I am responsible before God, he said, indicating that balanced rationalisation is important regardless of the amount of money one has.

There is no problem in our needs, and [by the grace of our Lord] there is abundance thanks to the states effort and yours, he said, citing the role of the states national projects in increasing strategic stockpiles.

"We are dealing with challenges and demands with a country of 100 million [citizens], this is not simple and requires planning, from the wheat shipments to the availability of bread to the people; it is a chain.

He said that the Russian-Ukrainian war is a major crisis with economic impacts on the whole world, expressing his wishes for the war to come to an end.

Had it not been for the implementation of the economic reform program, our situation in light of the current global economic crisis would have been very difficult, he pointed out.

Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said on Monday that Egypt is capable of overcoming the current price hike crisis as well as the repercussions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and is ready for all scenarios, even the worst-case scenario of a prolonged crisis.

Moreover, the Ministry of Finance approved on the same day a package of financial and social protection procedures, worth EGP 130 billion, to address the ongoing global economic challenges and their repercussions.

Ahead of Ramadan, which set to start in early Arpil and typically sees an increase in the rate of food consumption, Egypt has been calling for the rationalisation of consumption to ensure that food commodities are secured in the local market throughout the whole month.

Egypt formed a crisis committee earlier in March to confront the impacts of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, similar to committee formed when the coronavirus pandemic hit the country in 2020, with the aim to continuously assessing the repercussions of the crisis, especially on the countrys strategic commodities.

The emergency plan aims to curb prices and prevent food shortages, while penalising those who exploit the crisis to raise prices unjustifiably.

Egypts Armed Forces has launched a nationwide campaign to provide low-cost food commodities to help reduce the burden of hiking prices on Egyptians ahead of Ramadan.

Nearly 80 percent of Egypts consumed wheat comes from Russia and Ukraine, whereas the latter recently announced that it will no longer be exporting commodities.

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Gulf Arab states were to gather for a summit Tuesday about the yearslong war in Yemen, which the country's Houthi rebels are boycotting because it's taking place in Saudi Arabia, their adversary in the conflict.

The decision by the Iran-backed Houthis to skip the summit, called by the Saudi-based Gulf Cooperation Council, immediately called into question the effectiveness of such a gathering.

The United Nations, diplomats and others have been pushing for another potential cease-fire to mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, similar to efforts for a truce over the past years. Ramadan is likely to start this weekend, depending on the sighting of the new crescent moon.

The GCC - a six-nation club including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates was to hold closed-door talks Tuesday in Riyadh.

On Monday, the GCC's Secretary-General Nayef al-Hajraf held talks with British Ambassador to Yemen Richard Oppenheim and Yemeni officials allied with its internationally recognized but exiled government.

Those talks saw al-Hajraf, a Kuwaiti politician, discuss ``efforts to stop the war and ways to achieve comprehensive peace to alleviate the human suffering witnessed by Yemeni people,'' according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

The Houthis, meanwhile, have rejected the summit because of its venue in Saudi Arabia, as well as the continuing closure of Sanaa's airport and restrictions on the country's ports by the Saudi-led coalition that is waging war on the Houthis.

The rebels, who over the weekend attacked an oil depot in the Saudi city of Jiddah ahead of a Formula One race there, have called for the talks to be held in a ``neutral'' country.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke late Monday with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan. The State Department said the two ``discussed support for the U.N.'s proposal for a Ramadan truce in Yemen and efforts to launch a new, more inclusive and comprehensive peace process.''

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The Gulf Cooperation Council launched the second Yemeni National Dialogue in the Saudi capital Riyadh earlier this week, initially without the participation of Yemens Houthi rebels.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) launched the second Yemeni National Dialogue on 29 March in Riyadh with a view to promoting a new Gulf initiative to end the conflict in Yemen.

The dialogue conference is expected to last ten days until 7 April, and senior officials from the Yemeni Ansarullah (Houthi) Movement have stipulated a number of preconditions for attending.

Speaking from the Yemeni capital Sanaa, Houthi leader Abdul-Malek Al-Houthi and the movements politburo chair Mahdi Al-Mashat said that the Saudi-led Coalition backing the internationally recognised Yemeni government must first lift the blockades on Sanaa Airport and the Hodeida Seaport before it would consider attending the dialogue meeting.

At the time of writing, the coalition has yet to respond officially to these demands.

Meanwhile, last month the Houthis ratcheted up their missile attacks against Saudi Arabia, launching 16 strikes mostly against oil facilities. The strikes took place in two waves, the first coinciding with the announcement of the GCC initiative in mid-March and the second coinciding with the seventh anniversary of Operation Resolute Storm that the coalition launched against the Houthi insurgency in Yemen on 26 March 2015.

After the second wave of strikes, the Houthis declared a three-day unilateral truce, signalling their intention to resume the military offensive when the dialogue begins.

In retaliation against the last rounds of Houthi strikes, which hit an oil storage facility in Jeddah, the coalition has resumed its attacks against the Houthis. Coalition Spokesman Turki Al-Maliki cautioned civilians in Sanaa and Hodeida to stay clear of Houthi weapons depots before strikes were launched against Houthi targets in these cities.

According to a senior Saudi official in remarks to the French news agency AFP, the latest Houthi preconditions constitute their backing down from their initial position. Previously, they had also insisted that the dialogue conference should be held in any other Gulf capital but Riyadh, which they regard as a party to the conflict and therefore unqualified to act as mediator.

The official described the Houthi preconditions as a form of muscle flexing.

Some Yemeni government officials believe that a military option may be the only solution. Yemeni Defence Minister Mohamed Al-Maqdashi is of this view, but he has not clarified how a Houthi military defeat might occur. Yemeni government forces are still on the defensive in the Mareb and Taizz regions of Yemen, and they have only made minor advances on the Jouba front.

Houthi militias have laid siege to areas in the northeast of the Al-Bayda governorate to keep government forces from advancing into Mareb from the Shabwa front that was liberated by the Southern Amaliqa (Giants) forces at the end of last year. The Southern Giants, affiliated with the Southern Movement, have been fighting off and on alongside pro-government forces.

Many observers in Yemen doubt that a national dialogue without the Houthis will lead to a peaceful settlement, but they still believe that it could have some positive outcomes. It could produce new political alignments and reform the government coalition, for example.

One participant in the preparations for the National Dialogue in Riyadh agreed that activities at the conference would focus on ways to reform and restructure the Yemeni government and military. However, he also anticipated a UN-sponsored prisoner swap soon, which would be in keeping with the Ramadan ceasefire that UN Special Envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg has been trying to promote in order to facilitate the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian relief.

Given that the Houthis are Iranian proxies, their strikes against Saudi oil facilities have regional ramifications. Tehran is eager to accelerate a deal to renew the agreement on its nuclear programme, thereby enabling the resumption of Iranian oil exports. International circumstances surrounding the Russian war in Ukraine and the consequent rise in global energy prices have also become additional determinants in this context.

Endangering Saudi oil exports would increase the pressure on the US to accept Iranian conditions at a time when the Western powers are desperate for oil. In the aftermath of the Houthi strikes, the director of the Saudi Energy Agency said that his country would not be able to meet its export commitments but refused to take the blame for this.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said that Riyadh had opened a line of communications with Tehran on the Yemeni crisis and the Iranian connection with the Houthis. While he welcomed this development, it is unlikely that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which often does not see eye-to-eye with the Foreign Ministry, will feel the same way.

Both Yemeni and Saudi officials maintain that the IRGC is directly involved in Houthi military actions targeting Saudi Arabia. Analysts argue that this makes it difficult to delink the Yemeni question from other regional crises involving Iran, though this would make it easier to reach a solution to the Yemeni conflict.

A comparison might be drawn with Iraq, another country where Iran is highly influential. Washington and Baghdad earlier struck an agreement in the framework of their strategic dialogue to bring the US combat mission in the country to a close and reduce the functions of the US military presence there to training Iraqi forces and guarding US interests.

But despite the agreement, pro-Iranian Iraqi militias taking their cue from the IRGC continued to target US locations in the country and to obstruct the Iraqi political process that aims to resolve the tensions the country has experienced since general elections last October. The IRGC remains a key factor in many regional crises, and it is difficult to assess how it will behave after the Iranian nuclear agreement goes into effect again.

Given the overlapping nature of these crises, it seems that some form of understanding will be needed between the US, Iran, and Saudi Arabia in order to resolve them, including the Yemeni conflict. Perhaps the renewed nuclear agreement with Iran will reduce the tensions between the US and Iran, but it is unclear whether this will affect progress towards a settlement in any of the regional crises.

Meanwhile, the Saudis are keeping the doors open in case the Houthis decide to return to the negotiating table. Ten years ago, then Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh initially rejected the first national dialogue and then changed his mind and handed over the government to current President Abd Rabbu Mansur Hadi.

If the Houthis do not take part in the current National Dialogue, perhaps they will come around to negotiating with the Yemeni government bilaterally. Perhaps Riyadh might also wait for conditions to be more conducive to productive talks. This would be conceivable if the Houthis step back from their preconditions, if a truce goes into effect in Ramadan, and in the event of a prisoner-exchange deal, especially one that includes prominent figures such as Hadis brother and former defence minister Mahmoud Al-Subaihi.

A new agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme would also be a game-changer in this context, although given the complexity of the Yemeni conflict, it would still take time to reach a peace agreement.

Another possibility, especially if there are no signs of progress, is that Saudi Arabia, keen to end a war that has entered into its eighth year, might decide to withdraw unilaterally from Yemen, leaving it up to the Yemeni government and its allies to confront the Houthis militarily and politically.

At the same time, the GCC would oversee the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement between the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council, thereby demonstrating Riyadhs continued support for Yemen. Saudi Arabia would also strengthen its defence posture with the addition of the ballistic-missile defence systems it has recently purchased from the US.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 31 March, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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As Russias war on Ukraine enters its second month, there is still much to be done by Western powers with regard to imposing a ban on Russian energy exports, Rob Satloff, the executive director of the Washington Institute for Middle East Policy, said in an interview with Al-Ahram daily newspaper.

The Western response to the illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine with multi-pronged efforts have led to Moscows isolation, notably in what Satloff described as the demonstration of global unity against Russia at the United Nations General Assembly. This has been manifested in the massive sanctions that have effectively cut off a large part of the Russian economy from the world, as well as the dramatic commitments to bolster NATO spending, preparedness, and posture, particularly in countries bordering Russia and Ukraine, Satloff said.

However, imposing a ban on Russian energy exports, Satloff argued, would be a very moving response to Russia's outrageous attack on its peaceful, democratic neighbour.

While he maintained that it is still too early to determine the repercussions of this conflict, he described it is a watershed moment for the global security system, akin perhaps to 9/11 20 years ago.

This war is a transformative event whose repercussions will be felt for decades.

NATOs mobilisation is one facet of these transformations. While careful not to turn the conflict into a war with Russia, NATO has not limited itself to economic sanctions as a way to counter the Russian aggression, he said.

There has now been direct support to, and strengthening of, NATO forces in Poland, Romania and the Baltic states, as well as potential expansion of partnerships and perhaps even the membership of hitherto neutral states like Sweden and Finland are all part of the price Russia is paying for its illegitimacy, Satloff said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin may have thought that a large-scale invasion of Ukraine was a way to bring Ukraine back under Moscow's control and restore a Soviet-style sphere of influence, but he appears to have miscalculated terribly, Satloff stated.

The result is likely to destroy the Russian economy, isolate Moscow in the international community, and harm both the prestige and capabilities of the Russian army.

Meanwhile, China is almost certain to view Ukraine's resilience and NATO unity with concern. The remarkable courage of the Ukrainians would surely give China pause over their aggressive plans for Taiwan.

There are many concerns regarding a prolonged war, including that it could possibly expand to the immediate vicinity of the current conflict in Eastern Europe and possibly other arenas, especially if the Russians choose to escalate the situation, Satloff said.

It is essential that America and the West continue their support for Ukraine, he insisted.

I've seen a number of particularly disturbing war games in which Russia resorts to tactical nuclear weapons, which would drastically change the situation and open up Pandora's horrible box to spread around the world.

On Iran

The Ukraine war has interrupted, yet influenced, talks between Iran  a Russian ally  and Western powers over a new nuclear deal.

Satloff believes such an agreement may be less beneficial than the original deal in 2015, as it cedes what he describes as more advantages to Iran and concessions from the US.

By holding out for the past year, Iran has forced Washington to drop its demands for a longer and stronger agreement and shift the balance of influence so that we needed the deal more than Iran.

Irans wins appear to be reflected in transformations in the Syrian conflict, as Tehran is a major ally of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad.

Assads first visit outside Syria since the 2011 civil war, which took place in the United Arab Emirates last week, is a manifestation of the prevailing wisdom in Syria that the conflict is over and it is time to start returning Assad to the Arab fold, said Satloff. This is happening even though Assad still controls only part of his territory and does so only with Russian and Iranian support.

The idea that embracing him will reduce Iranian influence runs counter to the past 40 years of history.

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The Russian defense ministry announced a ceasefire starting Thursday morning in Ukraine's besieged port city of Mariupol to allow civilians to be evacuated.

"For this humanitarian operation to succeed, we propose to carry it out with the direct participation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross," the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

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Bahrains Information & eGovernment Authority (iGA) highlighted some of the Kingdoms digital transformation successes at the recent World Government Summit 2022 held on the sidelines of Expo 2020 Dubai.



The iGA delegation was led by Chief Executive Mohammed Ali Al Qaed and included Deputy CE for Electronic Transformation, Dr. Zakariya Ahmed Alkhaja, Hesham Al Hashemi, iGA Government Systems Support & Maintenance Director, Abdulla Al Jowder eService & Channel Development Director, Ahmed Ibrahim Al Arabi, Chief, Strategic Planning, and and Chief, IT Policies & Standard, Ibrahim Yousef Al Mahmoud.



They participated in sessions and workshops on advanced infrastructure and ICT capacity and skills-building, among other topics. Al Qaed took part in an Arab Government Administration Forum, entitled Are We Ready for the Digital Leap? during which he highlighted the many factors that contributed to Bahrains successful digital transformation , which benefits from a clear strategic vision, and set of policies and standards, as well as the support of the Kingdoms senior leadership, represented by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.



The Kingdom also provides a comprehensive framework for IT governance and digital transformation through the Supreme Council for Information and Communications Technology, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister, His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa.



This contributed to the adoption of best practices and advanced digital government services policies, as well as the development of government services. The customer experience is recognized and their suggestions, inquiries and observations, directed at government agencies through various electronic channels, are implemented whenever possible.



Al Qaed highlighted some of the Kingdoms digital transformation successes during the pandemic, including the BeAware Bahrain app which is directly linked with all concerned government systems. Artificial Intelligence and Big Data were used to analyze the information of more than 500,000 infected individuals in the Kingdom to determine prevalence rates. This data was used to support the national medical team in their decision-making process.



Al Qaed said that the Kingdom has automated judicial processes and procedures, with more than 93% of the sector being digitized. 100 percent of court session records have been converted from paper to digital. The annual settlement rates for cases have also improved. Al Qaed said that remote work and education processes that utilized Cloud computing technologies helped maintain business continuity for approximately 40,000 government employees, while ensuring education remained uninterrupted.



Al Qaed said that the Kingdoms IT sector investments are essential for improving the quality services and helping to drive the national economy, as per the Kingdoms development plan. Bahrain also emphasizes the importance of adopting high levels of IT governance and encouraging research and development across all fields. IT is also helping to activate partnerships between the public and private sectors, as well as improving the work of higher education institutions.



Al Qaed explained that the amount of time needed for infrastructure preparations for technical government projects has reduced by 60%, and that more than 30% of government agencies have migrated to the government Cloud. This is in addition to the establishment of four government agencies directly on Cloud computing platforms. The transfer of more than 70% of government operations to the Cloud has helped to reduce operating costs and the time needed for government projects by 60 to 80%.



Al Qaed said that institutions specializing in cybersecurity governance have been established, which are represented by the National Center for Cyber Security. Bahrain also has a strong Personal Data Protection Law and digital policies aimed at improving IT security.



He highlighted the role of the Bahrain Open Data Portal, which provides data to investors in a range of sectors, including IT. He said that Bahrain is partnering with the private sector to invest in further developing its Cloud computing capabilities. Instead of focusing on physical infrastructure, this is freeing up resources for the Kingdom to improve skills and competencies, and optimizing the use of resources.



Creating a digital culture was among the themes discussed at the session. Al Qaed explained that Bahraini society is young and highly connected, with the percentage of internet use in Bahrain standing at 99.7% for individuals. This this thanks to the Kingdoms longstanding investments in digital technologies, as well as its focus on training and development. - TradeArabia News Service
Egypts Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry said on Wednesday that Sudans security and stability is an integral part of Egypts security and stability in his meeting with UN Special Envoy for Sudan and Head of United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission (UNITAM) Volker Perthes, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said.

Sameh Shoukry discussed with Perthes the latest developments in Sudan and a number of issues of mutual interest, especially the latest efforts to support the UN initiative to support the dialogue in Sudan.

From his side, Shoukry stated that Egypt supports all efforts to preserve security and stability in Sudan, taking into consideration that those efforts should be based on the Sudanese priorities and visions.

The Egyptian FM added it is necessary to support Sudan internationally at this critical moment and that international economic support to Sudan must resume so the Sudanese people can overcome current economic conditions.

He also added Egypt is confident that Sudan will be able to overcome its economic and political challenges while keeping the Sudanese state and institutions intact

Pethes visit to Cairo comes on the same day Sudans General Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan visited Cairo to meet with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

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Israeli forces raided a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, setting off a gun battle in which two Palestinians were killed and 15 were wounded, as Israel targeted what it said were militant networks after a series of deadly attacks.

In a separate incident, a Palestinian stabbed a 28-year-old Israeli man on a bus in the West Bank before being killed by a bystander, the military said. The Magen David Adom emergency service said the stabbing victim was treated and taken to a hospital.

Videos circulated online showing smoke rising from the center of the Jenin refugee camp as gunfire echoed in the background. Others appeared to show Israeli soldiers and Palestinian gunmen moving through the narrow streets.

The raid came two days after a Palestinian from a village near Jenin shot and killed five people in central Israel, part of a wave of attacks in recent days that have left a total of 11 people dead.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said 17-year-old Sanad Abu Atiyeh and 23-year-old Yazid al-Saadi were killed on Thursday. It said 30-year-old Nidal Jaafara was shot and killed near the West Bank town of Bethlehem, apparently referring to the stabbing incident.

The Israeli military said troops came under fire after entering Jenin to arrest three suspects linked to Tuesday's attack. It said one soldier was wounded and evacuated to a hospital for treatment. The army said it has arrested a total of 31 suspects in recent West Bank raids aimed at preventing more attacks.

The Jenin refugee camp was the scene of one of the deadliest battles of the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising. In April 2002, Israeli forces fought Palestinian militants in the camp for nearly three weeks. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers and at least 52 Palestinians, including civilians, were killed, according to the U.N.

The Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and coordinates with Israel on security matters, appears to have had little control over Jenin in recent years. Israeli forces operating in and around the city and refugee camp often come under fire.

The Islamic Jihad militant group announced a ``general mobilization'' of its fighters after Thursday's raid.

In Tuesday's attack, a 27-year-old Palestinian from the West Bank village of Yabad, near Jenin, methodically gunned down victims, killing five. On Sunday night, two Islamic State group sympathizers shot and killed two police officers in the central city of Hadera. Last week, a combined car-ramming and stabbing attack in the southern city of Beersheba - also by an IS-inspired attacker - killed four. The two attacks claimed by IS were carried out by Arab citizens of Israel.

President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Wednesday to express his condolences, saying the U.S. ``stands firmly and resolutely with Israel in the face of this terrorist threat and all threats,'' according to the White House.

The recent wave of violence has brought the conflict with the Palestinians back to the fore at a time when Israel is focused on building alliances with Arab states against Iran. There have been no serious Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in more than a decade, and Bennett is opposed to Palestinian statehood.

Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian leaders have held a flurry of meetings in recent weeks, and Israel has announced a series of goodwill gestures, in an effort to maintain calm ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend.

They hope to avoid a repeat of last year, when clashes in Jerusalem set off an 11-day Gaza war. After a Security Cabinet meeting late Wednesday, Israel decided to carry on with plans to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza in the 1967 Mideast war, territories the Palestinians want for a future state. Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally. In the West Bank, it is steadily building and expanding Jewish settlements, which most of the internationally community views as illegal.

Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, and the Palestinian militant group Hamas seized power there two years later. Since then, Israel and Hamas have fought four wars and Israel has maintained a blockade on the territory, which is home to more than 2 million Palestinians.

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A senior World Bank official called for more support for poor people globally Thursday as the war in Ukraine sends food prices soaring.

Developing and import-dependent countries have been heavily impacted by Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- the two countries that account for more than a quarter of the world's annual wheat sales.

"It's not so much about food availability," Mari Pangestu, the World Bank's managing director for development policy, told AFP during Middle East and North Africa Climate Week in Dubai.

"The production at the moment is adequate, whether we're talking about wheat, rice or maize, which are the main food products.

"It's more about affordability. Apart from making sure the flow of goods and fertilisers are not impeded, we really need to make sure that affordability of food for the poor households is also going to be addressed."

Net food importers will suffer the most from the economic repercussions of the war, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which lists 36 countries as highly dependent on wheat imports from Ukraine and Russia -- mostly in Africa and the Middle East.

Among those affected are Egypt, Lebanon, Tunisia and war-torn Yemen, whose humanitarian crisis is already considered the world's worst.

Rising climate risks

Supply chain problems caused by the Covid pandemic have quickly worsened since the invasion, further adding to the price of food.

The cost of freight has shot up by 34 percent since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, according to UNCTAD.

Pangestu, a former Indonesian trade minister, said it was important to maintain and expand programmes to provide food support, especially in the face of rising climate risks.

"This really means social protection schemes in countries which are the most affected -- to be able to provide support to the poor households... and then for the farmers, to make sure they can get access to fertilisers and inputs (so) they can produce for the next season," she said.

Pangestu was speaking after an International Monetary Fund report released on Wednesday found temperatures in the Middle East and Central Asia have risen 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) since the 1990s, twice the global average.

It warned that the region is on the "frontlines" of the climate crisis, with food security and public health in danger, and increased risks of poverty and conflict.

"The fall in food production in (the Middle East) region has been an issue related to climate change even before the (current) crisis," Pangestu said, urging governments to focus on sustainable agriculture practises to address food security longer-term.

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Egypt and Norway signed an agreement on Thursday to construct and operate a project to produce green hydrogen with a 100 MW capacity in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) and another agreement on the purchase of hydrogen, the Egyptian Cabinet said.

The deal comes within the framework of an MoU that Egypt signed with Norways Scatec earlier in March for the construction of Egypts first ammonia plant at a cost of $5 billion.

On 10 March, the Cabinet said the project will be constructed in the industrial zone of Ain Sokhna, which belongs to the SCZone, and will have a production capacity of 1 million tonnes annually with a potential to be expanded to 3 million tonnes.

The project, expected to start production in 2025, will mainly export green ammonia to European and Asian markets, according to a statement by Scatec on 10 March.

Egypt is scheduled to host the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November with a vision to promote green energy projects, including green hydrogen projects.

Egypts Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt, who is visiting Egypt for the first time as foreign minister, attended the signing ceremony for the two agreements.

Egypt has been reviewing various offers submitted by international companies to establish green hydrogen projects in the SCZone, as the country seeks to localise the production of clean-burning fuel.

The agreements were signed by the consortium of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, Egypts Orascom Construction, the Norwegian Scatec company, and the UAE-based ammonia producer Fertiglobe, a joint venture between the UAE's Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and the Netherlands chemical producer OCI.

As per the agreements, green hydrogen will be supplied by the Norwegian side to an Egyptian company owned by Fertiglobe, which will use it as a supplementary feedstock to produce green ammonia under a long-term contract.

"In cooperation with our partners in this landmark project, we are pleased to take an important step in bringing low carbon solutions to the world from Egypt, said Ahmed El-Hoshy, CEO of Fertiglobe.

The consortium will work on deploying world-leading technology to ramp up green ammonia production and increase low carbon investments, El-Hoshy added.

Developing green infrastructure in Africa

The Sovereign Fund of Egypt, Norways Government Pension Fund Global, and Scatec also signed a framework agreement on cooperation in developing renewable energy, green hydrogen, and green infrastructure in a number of African countries.

As per the framework agreement, the three signatories seek to enhance cooperation to develop green hydrogen facilities and infrastructure in multiple African countries.

The first phase of the project includes DR Congo, Tanzania, Ghana, South Sudan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Djibouti, and Uganda, the Cabinet said, adding that the parties seek to expand cooperation to include other African countries in the second phase.

Cooperation, as per the agreement, involves the implementation, development, financing, construction and operation of green energy, green hydrogen and infrastructure projects.

It aims to promote diversification of energy supplies in order to enhance energy security, develop new, sustainable and renewable forms of energy, and support access to renewable energy.

The agreement will also enhance technology transfer to produce sustainable energy, achieving energy efficiency, enhancing capacity building, and facilitating investment in green energy in African countries, the statement said.

The framework agreement also includes the formation of a coordinating committee among the three signatories, which will be entrusted with identifying opportunities for developing projects in these countries.

Regional energy hub

In a meeting with Norways FM Huitfeldt today, Madbouly said Egypt is determined to implement huge green hydrogen projects to become a regional hub for energy.

Egypt looks forward to increasing cooperation with Norway within the framework of the agreement signed today to develop renewable energy projects, Madbouly added.

The PM hailed the rapidly increasing Norwegian investments in Egypt, especially in renewable energy, water desalination, and fish production.

Besides huge investments by Norway in fish production and other areas in Egypt, Norways Scatec Solar completed in 2019 the $4 billion, 1.8 GW Benban solar project in Upper Egypts Aswan  one of the worlds biggest solar parks.

Egypt has secured Norwegian investments and projects worth more than $3 billion in 2021, Egyptian Ambassador to Norway Amr Ramadan said in January.

Presser between top diplomats

In a press conference on Thursday with Huitfeldt, Egypts Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said the Norwegian companies are keen to increase their investments in Egypt in light of the economic reforms Egypt has carried out.

Egypt benefits from the experience and capabilities of the Norwegian companies to support areas of priority in Egypt, especially in renewable energy and water desalination, Shoukry said.

He added that Egypt aspires to increase economic cooperation with Norway in the near future.

For her part, Huitfeldt said she discussed with Shoukry issues related to human rights, economic relations, and COP27.

Norway looks forward to seeing Egypts successful hosting of COP27, she said.

Huitfeldt hailed Egypts efforts to search for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including a ceasefire that Egypt brokered between Palestinian factions and Israel in Gaza last May.

Shoukry also praised Norways role in bringing the Palestinian and Israeli views closer as well as the countrys balanced policy that aims to achieve stability, security, and peace at the regional and international levels.

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Kenya's top court ruled Thursday that a controversial bid by President Uhuru Kenyatta to change the constitution was illegal, dealing a blow to him and his allies ahead of key elections in August.

But it left open the possibility for the reforms -- popularly known as the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) -- to be submitted again by parliament or through other means, so long as the president did not have a hand in the changes.

"The constitution amendment bill of 2020 is unconstitutional," the Supreme Court said in a majority ruling, ending a nearly two-year legal battle over the proposals.

"The president cannot initiate constitutional amendments or changes through popular initiative under article 257 of the constitution," it said.

The reforms would have expanded the executive and increased the number of parliamentary seats, in the biggest change to Kenya's political system since the introduction of a new constitution in 2010.

The initiative has left the East African nation's political elite divided.

Kenyatta had argued that the change would make politics more inclusive and help end repeated cycles of election violence.

Thursday's decision came after the High Court and Court of Appeal ruled against the proposed amendments last year.

The appeals court even said Kenyatta could be sued in a civil court for launching the process.

But the Supreme Court ruled unanimously against this idea.

"Civil proceedings cannot be instituted in any court against the president or the person performing the functions of the office of the president during their tenure of office in respect of anything done or not done under the constitution," it declared.

BBI's detractors -- including Kenyatta's estranged deputy William Ruto -- say it is a little more than a naked grab for power by a two-term president who cannot run a third time.

The timing of the reforms spurred speculation in recent years that Kenyatta was seeking to remain in power by establishing the post of prime minister as part of the BBI.

'A dream deferred'

Ruto, 54, was initially anointed by Kenyatta as his successor, but found himself marginalised after a shock 2018 pact between the president and his former foe Raila Odinga, who have a long history of opposing each other at the ballot box.

The pair's spirited pursuit of the BBI since 2018 sparked speculation that Kenyatta may assume the new position of prime minister in a power-sharing arrangement if Odinga, 77, wins the presidency.

Earlier this month, Kenyatta, 60, endorsed Odinga, who will compete with Ruto for the country's top job.

Thursday's session lasted over six hours, with each of the seven judges including Kenya's first female chief justice, Martha Koome, reading out their respective decisions on the case.

Analysts say the decision will jolt political alignments among smaller parties, which are weighing their options ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections barely four months away.

Already, fresh alliances are being forged, with a view to dividing the spoils come election time.

The BBI proposals are likely to be revived through other means and will provide fodder for the election campaign, said Macharia Munene, professor of history and international relations at Nairobi's United States International University.

"Each political side has something to claim. The question is, being the politicians that they are, what will they do to trumpet and say that they won," he told AFP.

Odinga responded to the verdict, writing on Twitter: "We will not stop deliberations on the way forward that will decide on a future course of action."

Although the ruling is likely to weaken Kenyatta's hand ahead of the August elections, Munene said the pair will probably promise to bring the BBI back later and use it to secure alliances in the run-up to polling day.

"A lot of people will be told, 'vote for us because we are going to increase the number of positions'."

Kenyatta has previously vowed to see the constitutional changes instituted in his lifetime.

"Although it encountered some legal obstacles, I can only say that BBI is just a dream deferred," Kenyatta said last December.

"One day, someday, it will happen, because the country cannot survive ethnic majoritarianism and exclusion, just as it cannot survive unfair and skewed representation. This is a design defect that we must fix," he said.

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Heavy clashes between rival groups in Sudan's Darfur have left several people dead, with one local leader on Thursday reporting some 30 had been killed in the latest ethnic violence.

Fresh fighting broke out on Tuesday between the Fallata people and an Arab tribe in villages outside Nyala, the capital of South Darfur state, witnesses said.

"The fighting has continued until Thursday, and has so far killed some 30 people and wounded dozens," a leader from the Fallata said, requesting anonymity.

One resident of South Darfur, Mohamed al-Fatteh, said fighting erupted after an Arab leader was killed.

A leader from an Arab group also said that the fighting continued on Thursday, reporting that there were "multiple killings and wounded."

Sudan's western restive Darfur region was ravaged by a bitter a civil war that erupted in 2003.

The conflict pitted ethnic minority rebels who complained of discrimination against the Arab-dominated government of then-president Omar al-Bashir.

Khartoum responded by unleashing the Janjaweed, mainly recruited from Arab pastoralist tribes, who were blamed for atrocities including murder, rape, looting and burning villages.

The scorched-earth campaign left 300,000 people dead and displaced 2.5 million, according to the United Nations.

The main conflict has subsided over the years, but the region remains awash with weapons and deadly clashes often erupt over access to pasture or water.

Earlier this month, separate clashes broke out among herders and farmers in the rugged mountainous region of Jebel Moon in West Darfur, leaving at least 35 people killed.

Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of houses torched in several bouts of violence in Jebel Moon, as well as elsewhere in Darfur in recent months, the United Nations and medics say.

The violence has reflected a broader security breakdown in Darfur following last year's military takeover led by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, that derailed a transition to full civilian rule.

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Chairman of Sudanese Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan said on Wednesday in Cairo that Sudan looks optimistically at the issue of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).

In press conference in Cairo, the military leader said that Sudan hoped an agreement on the dam is reached soon.

Al-Burhan arrived in a visit to Cairo on Wednesday, where he held talks with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

Both El-Sisi and Al-Burhan issued a joint statement that they would continue consultation and coordination regarding the GERD developments, and that both nations consider water a matter of national security.

The two countries reiterated their wish to reach a fair and legally binding agreement with Ethiopia on the filling and operation policies of the GERD that achieves the common interests of all parties.

In February, Ethiopia announced that it began generating power from the GERD, which Egypt condemned and described as another unilateral move by Addis Ababa. Both Cairo and Khartoum have been negotiating with Ethiopia for 10 years to reach a legally binding agreement on the rules for filling and operating the GERD, but Addis Ababa has repeatedly refused to sign any such deal.

Regarding the situation in Sudan, the chairman of Sudanese Transitional Sovereign Council said that the handover of power must be linked to consensus between the political forces, adding there is dialogue between the military component and the political forces in Sudan

Al-Burhan added that there have been efforts to review the steps of the democratic transition, but some forces did not respond and thought the Sudanese army wanted to seize power, contrary to the truth.

He added that the country was preparing for the elections.

During the press conference, Al-Burhan praised the long historical relations between Egypt and Sudan.

There are four million Sudanese people living in Egypt, with more than 4,000 educational grants and ten thousands of Sudanese people coming to Egypt annually for medical treatment, he said.

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Egypt's Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said and Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea discussed with Israeli Minister of the Economy Orna Barbivai means to enhance commercial cooperation and increase investments.

In the meeting that took place in Cairo on Thursday, the ministers discussed cementing trade cooperation within the framework of the Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZ) agreement to increase exports, a cabinet statement read.

The talks targeted raising economic growth rates through the optimal investment of the QIZ agreement and facilitating the entry of some products in the two countries.

The QIZ concept was introduced by the US in 1996 with the aim of reinforcing peace in the Middle East through regional economic partnerships that benefit both Arab countries and Israel.

In 2004, the Egyptian government signed the QIZ Protocol with the US and Israel that allows for duty-free entry into the US for products manufactured by qualified companies operating within designated geographic locations in Egypt and which satisfy the currently agreed upon Israeli content of 10.5 percent.

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Representatives of Sudanese parties and federal factions have agreed on the formation of a high coordinating committee to manage joint partisan work during a round of dialogue in Cairo.

The Cairo meeting is a continuation of rounds of dialogue between the Sudanese federal factions in Khartoum, an official statement said.

The coordinating committee will be in charge of issuing a decision to form the executive authorities and specialised committees and determine their tasks.

The committee will also communicate with the effective political and social powers to achieve the national interests and mobilise the capacities of the Sudanese youth and women so that they can perform their national and partisan work.

During the meeting, the parties also agreed to work jointly to achieve democratic transformation, guarantee rights and freedoms, respect national sovereignty, and reject foreign interference in Sudanese internal affairs.

They also emphasised the need for achieving justice and social peace and contributing with national forces to complete the ongoing transitional phase in order to reach free, fair and transparent elections.

Sudan has been mired in a political turbulence and economic woes since a military takeover in October last year, which dissolved the government and suspended some provisions of the constitutional document governing the political transition in the country.

Amid near-daily protests calling for the removal of the military from power, Chairman of Sudanese Transitional Sovereign Council Abdel-Fattah Al-Burhan said general elections will be held in 2023, promising that the military will abandon politics afterwards.

The UN envoy for Sudan warned Monday the east African nation is heading for an economic and security collapse'' amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis unless it addresses the political paralysis and moves toward resuming a civilian-led transition.

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Egypt invested $400 billion to create an attractive environment for investors by improving the infrastructure over the past seven years, Egypts Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait told his Qatari counterpart Ali bin Ahmed Al-Kawary in Cairo on Thursday.

Maait added that the government encourages the private sector to increase its contribution in economic activities and the development process.

The government is eager to foster foreign, Arab, and local investment inflows, Maait stated at the meeting held at the finance ministry headquarters.

Al-Kawary told Maait that Egypt is an attractive investment destination for Qatari investors who are keen on exploring the new opportunities Egypt is providing.

The two sides agreed on updating the double taxation treaty (DTT) framework between the two countries to boost bilateral investments.

On Wednesday, Qatar said that it would inject $5 billion in investments into the Egyptian market following talks between Egypts Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdel Rahman Al-Thani, and Al-Kawary.

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Chinese mainland decries DPP's "two states" comments as provocation

Xinhua) 08:13, March 31, 2022

BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese mainland spokesperson on Wednesday said the latest attempt by certain Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) politicians in China's Taiwan to describe ties between the mainland and Taiwan as one between "two states" was nothing short of a provocative and impetuous action.

Zhu Fenglian, a spokesperson for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the statement at a press conference when asked to comment on recent remarks by a politician with Taiwan's DPP authority.

The attempt, which was motivated by the DPP's self-interest, amounted to calling white black and confusing right and wrong, Zhu said.

There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is a part of China, Zhu noted.

"Although the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have not yet been completely reunified, the fact that both the mainland and Taiwan belong to one China has never changed, and China's sovereignty and territory have never been divided," she said.

The DPP authority's actions are extremely dangerous political plots with evil intentions, which seriously endanger the security and well-being of Taiwan compatriots, Zhu said.

She warned the DPP authority "not to misjudge the situation and miscalculate, let alone underestimate our strong resolve, will and ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity."

(Web editor: Xia Peiyao, Liang Jun)
The UAE Government has signed strategic partnerships with five governments to accelerate government modernisation efforts and foster a culture of innovation. The governments are Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, Republic of Maldives, Barbados, Guyana and Seychelles.

Mohammed Al Gergawi, Minister of Cabinet Affairs Chairman of the World Government Summit Organisation signed the partnerships during the World Government Summit (WGS2022); with Masrour Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq, Mia Mottley, Prime Minister of Barbados, Faisal Naseem Vice President of the Republic of Maldives, Deodat Indar, Minister within the Ministry of Public Works, Guyana, and Devika Vidot, Minister of Investment, Entrepreneurship & Industry, Seychelles.

Commenting on the agreements, Al Gergawi said: Our comprehensive strategic agreement with governments around the will accelerate our shared interests in enhancing government modernisation. It also underscores a keenness to work closely with strategic partners in a variety of fields. By deepening cooperation and collaboration with international allies, we can enhance the effectiveness of government services around the world for the benefit of societies and economies everywhere.

Adopting best practices

The agreement will see the five governments benefit from the experience of the UAE in development and modernisation, human capabilities and adopting best practices in government work.

The UAE government will also work together with each government in building government capacities, services, performance and excellence, civil service, competitiveness and statistics, accelerators, business incubators, programming, media, coding, and government innovation.-- TradeArabia News Service
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi encouraged Italy's Eni on Thursday to continue its exploration works in Egypt to guarantee the best exploitation of the country's energy resources.

The president promised to iron out any hurdles facing the company in Egypt, Presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement on Thursday.

Sisi made the remarks during a meeting with a delegation from the Italian company led by CEO Claudio Descalzi in the presence of Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El Molla.

The president lauded the partnership with the Italian company and its activities in Egypt that are carried out in accordance with the latest standards, Rady added.

Descalzi stressed that the Egyptian market is one of the most important markets the company is operating in worldwide in light of the promising investment opportunities now available in the energy sector.

The CEO reviewed the current cooperation between the company and Egypt especially in regard to natural gas production and liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports.

He lauded Egypts boom in the domain of LNG, saying it now occupies a pivotal position in the Mediterranean region.

The meeting further tackled Eni's contributions in the new and renewable energy domain, especially in regard to green hydrogen production in light of Egypt's scheduled hosting of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November in Sharm El-Sheikh city.

In recent years, Eni has taken part in important oil discoveries in the country's the Western Desert as well as the operation of gas plants, as Egypt aims to become a regional energy hub.

In 2015, the Italian energy giant discovered the giant Zohr gas field  the biggest-ever in the Mediterranean  which hold an estimate of 30 trillion cubic feet of gas.

It has also helped Egypt reach self-sufficiency in gas and pursue being a regional hub for gas exports.

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Egypt is launching a set of promotional campaigns in different tourism markets to make up for the loss of Russian and Ukrainian visitors.

Egypts Tourism Development Authority (TDA) has embarked on promotional campaigns in different markets as part of a move meant to increase the number of tourists visiting Egypt and make up for the loss of Ukrainian tourists and some 50 per cent of Russian tourists as a result of the war in Ukraine.

Taken together, Russian and Ukrainian tourists make up one-third of Egypts market.

The campaigns focus on traditional markets, especially those that are easing travel restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, such as Italy and France, said Amr Al-Kadi, head of the TDA.

Egypts Follow the Sun campaign on social media in the UK, Germany, Italy, France, and the US runs through May this year. If successful, it will be extended for a further period, Al-Kadi said.

The European tourist market has not been affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, he told Al-Ahram Weekly, adding that European tour operators have been most concerned by the regularity of flights to Egypt.

Tourist numbers from Germany and the UK have not decreased due to the war in Ukraine, he said. However, cancellations have been reported from countries whose flights pass over Russian or Ukrainian air space, such as Serbia and Belarus.

It is difficult to tell whether the lower numbers of tourists from Eastern Europe is due to the war in Ukraine or the Covid-19 pandemic, Al-Kadi said.

The campaigns were initially planned to target the Ukrainian and Russian markets, but the conflict led to postponed participation in travel shows in the two countries. We are taking it easy in these two markets. The coronavirus pandemic has taught us a great deal about dynamics and tactics, A-Kadi said.

The overall campaign is designed to address each country individually using social-media platforms based on age groups. Young people are more inclined to use Snapchat and TikTok, while the older generations are more attracted to Facebook, he explained, preferring not to disclose the budget allocated.

Egypt is also planning to launch a tourist campaign targeting the Arab world, including countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq and using satellite TV channels and social-media outlets to reach consumers this summer.

Spending on the campaign will be 25 per cent higher than it was in 2021, Al-Kadi said.

He added that the close proximity between Egypt and the Arab countries targeted in the campaign is a great advantage. Direct flights between Saudi Arabia and Sharm El-Sheikh have helped to increase the number of Saudi visitors to the Red Sea resort city, for example, he pointed out.

Egypt will be taking part in Seatrade Cruise Global, an international event dedicated to marine and cruise tourism, taking place in Miami, Florida, in late April, according to Al-Kadi.

During the show, films will be shown on Egypts coastlines and marine activities, with this being a way of paying more attention to the nautical tourism that the country will promote in southern Europe and the Middle East.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 31 March, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly.

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Iraqs parliament failure to elect new president and prime minister is plunging the country into further political chaos.

For nearly two decades Iraq has been ruled by a political system that allows its multiple ethnic groups to share power and wealth. But this system, which cobbles together a rickety coalition of sectarian groups and oligarchs, has gripped the country in a permanent political paralysis.

Iraqs consensual political structure, forged following the US invasion of the country that toppled the Sunni-dominated regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003, has allowed a Shia-majority alliance to lead government coalitions that have also included Kurdish parties and Sunni representatives.

However, more than five months after general elections were held in Iraq last October, the political chaos created by this system of sectarian and ethnic patronage is continuing to grind on, vividly showing that Iraq is threatened to become a stateless nation.

Iraqs parliament failed again this week to elect a new president for the country due to the lack of a quorum, plunging the battered nation into further uncertainty that bodes ill for efforts to form a new government that can tackle Iraqs multiple political, social, economic and security problems as well as foreign interference.

Only 202 MPs out of 329 were reportedly present at Saturdays session, less than the two-thirds quorum needed to choose a new president. According to parliamentary statements, 40 candidates have put themselves forward for this largely ceremonial post, which is reserved by convention for a member of Iraqs Kurdish ethnicity.

The contest this time pitted incumbent President Barham Saleh against Kurdish rival Rebar Ahmed. Saleh, a member of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), is backed by an alliance of his party, the Shia Coordination Framework (CF), and several Sunnis MPs, while Ahmed of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is supported by a coalition of his party with Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr and a Sunni bloc.

Some 126 lawmakers, most of them from the CF bloc or independents, boycotted the Saturday session, depriving it of a quorum and forcing the postponement of the election for the second time since February and throwing Iraqi politics into further turmoil.

The first vote on 7 February failed to materialise after a boycott and wrangle over the PUKs nomination of former foreign and finance minister Hoshyar Zebari, barred by Iraqs Supreme Court over corruption and mismanagement allegations after a parliamentary no-confidence vote.

The election of a new president is an important step towards forming a new government in Iraq following last Octobers parliamentary elections. The two constitutional steps usually require enormous political horse-trading.

In each of its five national elections since Saddams ouster, Iraq has witnessed chaotic scenes over the formation of governments, and Iraqis usually greet the periodic political crises with cynical resignation.

But Saturdays failed parliamentary session underlined the sharp divide in Iraqi politics between Al-Sadr, whose bloc, the Sadrist Movement, emerged as the big winner in the October elections, and the powerful CF, an umbrella alliance of mostly Iran-backed Shia groups.

Iraq held early elections on 10 October 2021 in response to mass protests in the country beginning in October 2019 that were triggered by widespread dissatisfaction with political corruption and the lack of basic services.

Following the elections, Al-Sadr proposed sweeping changes to the way the country has been run since the US-led invasion, including forming a national majority government that would imply the dissolution of the sectarian and ethnic power-sharing quotas that have framed successive post-Saddam governments.

Al-Sadr has also promised that a new government led by his faction would follow a non-aligned line in foreign policy, signalling his intention to stifle Irans influence in Iraq and enhancing national sovereignty.

In order to achieve his goals, Al-Sadr broke away from the main Shia parties and allied himself with a major Sunni bloc led by Parliamentary Speaker Mohamed Al-Halbousi and a Kurdish bloc headed by KDP leader Massoud Barzani.

The Save the Homeland Coalition, as it is known, has so far failed to patch together a majority able to agree on Al-Sadrs cousin Jaafar Al-Sadr as the new prime minister to succeed Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, however.

With the failure to elect a new president and choose a new prime minister, Iraq entered a period of political instability on Saturday after the elections in October that were themselves seen as an existential vote to end Iraqs chronic stalemate.

The key issue in the elections was whether they would bring about a drastic change in Iraqs politics and sound the death knell of the forces entrenched in government that have overseen instability, endemic dysfunction, and deeply entrenched corruption.

Many Iraqis had hoped that Al-Sadr would seize the moment and make the outcome a turning point for Iraqs increasingly dysfunctional and fragmented system that stokes sectarian politics.

Al-Sadrs victory in the elections also reinforced hopes among the international and regional powers that he would stand up to Iran and help to counter the influence of its proxies in Iraq and across the region.

US policymakers showed a clear preference for Al-Sadr and his movement and resorted to the traditional spin of the US media in their efforts to portray him as a strong nationalist leader and Iraqs saviour from Iran.

The US may have even gone beyond mustering this rhetoric by building on the narrative that Al-Sadr is preventing Iraq from tilting further into Irans axis and getting ready to do business with its old foe.

In October, the Saudi-owned Independent Arabia media outlet reported that Al-Sadrs cousin and nominee for the prime ministerial post Jaafar Al-Sadr, Iraqs ambassador to the UK, had made a secret visit to Washington to discuss post-election arrangements in Iraq.

But Al-Sadrs claim of boosted popularity and of his being an instrument of creative destruction in Iraq seems to have failed this week, when he showed that his biggest difficulty is the precarious nature of his parliamentary majority.

The election victory in October gave Al-Sadr a new-found self-assurance that many analysts believed turned him from a kingmaker to Iraqi Shias most-prominent strongmen.

For nearly two decades, Al-Sadr has outmanoeuvred his rivals by upending the countrys Shia political parties and seeking to place himself in a position of power within the community.

Yet, his attempts to isolate his rivals, enforced by his being the largest vote-winner in the new Iraqi parliament, have split the Shia community and stirred fears of Al-Sadrs dream of being fully in charge of the country.

During the latest crisis, Al-Sadr sidestepped the independent MPs and small blocs that had emerged from the October 2019 protest movement and were voted into parliament in the hope that they would make changes to the way Iraq is governed.

Many of these lawmakers, who viewed the response to Al-Sadrs unilateral move as unacceptable capitulation, have reportedly faced bullying and blackmail by members of the Sadrist Movement, who tried to force them to attend Saturdays session in order to achieve the quorum for the election of the president and prime minister.

Al-Sadrs nomination of his cousin, little known to the public, to the powerful post of prime minister has triggered concerns that Al-Sadr intends to build a ruling clan, a move that would cement the grip of the influential Al-Sadr family on the country.

The postponement of the election of the president has now exacerbated Iraqs political problems, with some suggesting dissolving the parliament and forming an emergency government if the lawmakers pass a 7 April deadline announced by the Supreme Court.

Given the new deadlock, many Iraqis now fear that the crisis may go beyond the boundaries of the parliament into the streets and determine not only the government of the country, but also whether it has a viable future as a state.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 31 March, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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Talks took place in Istanbul this week between representatives of Russia and Ukraine, but there may be little chance of an early end to the conflict in Ukraine.

In a frosty atmosphere and with no handshakes, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators began peace talks under the auspices of Turkey this week in the first face-to-face talks in two weeks between the two sides, raising hopes that there could be progress towards ending a conflict that has turned into a war of attrition in Ukraine.

The international powers are hoping for a ceasefire and a political settlement of the conflict that threatens the world with dire consequences if it escalates out of control and expands to neighbouring countries. However, the dynamics on the ground are not encouraging of the chances of success.

The talks started in a surreal atmosphere when the Kremlin was forced to dismiss reports that Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich suffered symptoms consistent with poisoning during an informal round of talks earlier this month, calling the reports part of the information war on the war in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian negotiators are seeking a ceasefire without compromising the sovereignty or territorial integrity of Ukraine, while the Russian negotiators want to ensure Ukraines neutrality, its non-joining of NATO, the recognition of the legality of its annexation of Crimea, and the protection of Russian minorities in eastern and southern Ukraine.

Both sides have played down hopes of an early breakthrough.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the sponsor of the talks, told the two sides that they had a historic responsibility to halt the fighting in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian negotiators have shared details of what has been covered at the talks in Istanbul, stating that Ukraine has proposed adopting a neutral status in exchange for security guarantees, meaning it would not join military alliances or host military bases.

The proposals would also include a 15-year consultation period on the status of annexed Crimea and could come into force only in the event of a complete ceasefire.

Ukrainian negotiator Oleksander Chaly said in comments broadcast on Ukrainian television that if we manage to consolidate these key provisions, and for us this is the most fundamental, then Ukraine will be in a position to actually fix its current status as a non-bloc and non-nuclear state in the form of permanent neutrality.

We will not host foreign military bases on our territory, or deploy military contingents on our territory, and we will not enter into military-political alliances. Military exercises on our territory will take place with the consent of the guarantor countries.

He said there was enough material in the current Ukrainian proposals to warrant a meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraines president and lead negotiator in the talks with Russia, said that a security guarantees treaty with an enhanced analogue of NATOs Article 5 collective defence clause was discussed during the talks, adding that the guarantor states of the US, the UK, Turkey, France, Germany would be legally involved in protecting Ukraine from any aggression. There would be implementation through a referendum and the parliaments of the guarantor states.

There was no immediate Russian response to the Ukrainian proposals.

Meanwhile, European diplomats hope that the negotiations could be a path towards stopping further military and political escalation. French President Emmanuel Macron continued his efforts in this regard in a telephone call with Putin on Tuesday.

At the weekend, Macron warned against the use of inflammatory remarks after US President Joe Biden said Putin cannot remain in power, words he stood by in a press conference at the White House on Monday by saying I make no apologies.

Biden said he was not calling for regime change in Russia but expressing personal moral outrage over Russias invasion of Ukraine, defending the unscripted remarks he made at the end of a speech in Poland at the weekend.

Senior figures in the US administration immediately attempted to play down the comments.

Even at the height of the Cold War, there was red line stopping US presidents from calling for regime change in Moscow, whatever the two countries differences. The fact that this red line has been crossed by Biden is a source of European concern.

The Europeans are also anxious because on his tour in Poland Biden spoke very little about peace and talked instead about a long fight in Europe. We need to be clear-eyed: this battle will not be won in days, or months, either. We need to steel ourselves for the long fight ahead, Biden said.

Zelensky has not hidden his misgivings that Moscow could use the negotiations to re-mobilise its military forces and continue its advances to seize areas of eastern and southern Ukraine. He wants the West to strengthen its sanctions against Moscow and to provide his country with planes, tanks, and other military aid.

Hours before the start of the talks in Istanbul, Zelensky said that his country was prepared to declare its neutrality and was open to compromise over the contested eastern region of Donbas, in essence suggesting a reversion to the 2015 Minsk 2 Settlement.

But he also warned that if the ruthless war continued, the Ukrainian people would continue to pay for the weak Western sanctions with their lives, criticising what he described as the passive sanctions imposed by the West on Russia.

Ukraine cannot and will not agree with the passive sanctions position of some entities towards Russia. There should be no suspended sanctions packages  that if the Russian troops do something, then there will be some answer, he said.

If the sanctions packages are weak or do not work enough, and if they can be circumvented, it creates a dangerous illusion for the Russian leadership that they can continue to afford what they are doing now. And the Ukrainians pay for it with their lives. Thousands of lives, he said.

Urging other countries to act with courage, Zelensky said that Ukrainians should not die just because someone cannot find enough courage to hand over the necessary weapons to Ukraine. Fear always makes you an accomplice.

If someone is afraid of Russia, if he or she is afraid to make the necessary decisions that are important to us, in particular for us to get planes, tanks, necessary artillery, and shells, it makes these people responsible for the catastrophe created by Russian troops in our cities, he said.

However, putting more pressure on Russia could hinder the Istanbul negotiations and make a difficult situation even more difficult. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov made Moscows view clear on Tuesday, arguing that the Western sanctions on trade with Russia were akin to total war and that the West had pushed the Kremlin into the corner with its NATO expansion.

In an interview on the US TV channel PBS, Peskov said that the punitive sanctions levelled against Russia were quite unfriendly and made the country feel as if it were at war with the US and its Western allies.

We entered the phase, the phase of a total war And we have to adapt ourselves to a new reality. You have to understand Russia, he said.

Russias Defence Ministry said Russia will drastically reduce military activity outside the cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv, and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that the main tasks of the first stage of the operation have been completed. The combat potential of the Ukrainian armed forces has been significantly reduced, which makes it possible to focus our main attention and main efforts on achieving the main goal  the liberation of Donbas.

His statement was a sign that Moscow may focus on the strategic Donbas region of Ukraine to ensure the division of the country into east and west, a scenario described as the Korean model after Koreas division of two states in the wake of World War II.

As a result, while the Russians and the Ukrainians may be talking about peace, each side is moving on the ground to tighten the noose around the other.

Because of the complexities of the historical relations between the two countries, the lack of trust, and the divergence of their demands, the expectations are that a new cold war between Russia and the West is inevitable. Regardless of the outcome of the talks, relations with Moscow will enter a phase of strategic hostility that will lead to a significant increase in military spending for the NATO countries and Russia.

This militarisation of Western-Russian relations will have disastrous results in addressing serious problems, foremost among them the challenges of climate change and global warming, the fight against poverty, and stopping conflicts in other regions of the world.

In this depressing scenario, Roman Catholic Pope Francis levelled strong criticism this week against the NATO countries for increasing their defence spending, describing it as madness.

He said the conflict in Ukraine was a product of the old logic of power that still dominates so-called geopolitics.

It is now clear that good politics cannot come from the culture of power understood as domination and oppression, but only from a culture of care, care for the person and their dignity, and care for our common home. The real answer is not more weapons, more sanctions, and more political-military alliances, he added.

What is needed is a different way of governing the globalised world, not by showing your teeth, as is done now, but a different way to frame international relations. I was embarrassed when I read that a group of states has committed to spending two per cent... of GDP on acquiring weapons as a response to what is happening now. Madness, Francis said.

*A version of this article appears in print in the 31 March, 2022 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly

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The Ukrainian government is sending 45 buses on Thursday to evacuate civilians from the besieged city of Mariupol, where the Russian defense ministry has announced a local ceasefire, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

"Tonight, we received a message from the International Red Cross Committee that the Russian Federation confirms its readiness to open access for the humanitarian convoy to the city of Mariupol with transit through the city of Berdiansk," she said in a video posted on Telegram.

"We are sending 45 buses to the Mariupol corridor".

Seventeen buses had already left for Mariupol from Zaporizhzhia, around 220 kilometers (136 miles) to the northwest, she said.

Another 28 were waiting for authorization to pass the Russian checkpoint in Vasylivka, near Zaporizhzhia.

"We will do everything possible to ensure that buses arrive in Mariupol today and pick up people who have not yet been able to get out of the city," Vereschuk said.

So far, with agreements on centralized evacuations not being respected, civilians have only been able to leave Mariupol in their own cars, which is extremely dangerous.

The strategic southern port city has been encircled and shelled by Russian forces since the end of February.

People who have managed to flee and ONGs have described the conditions there as catastrophic, with civilians bunkered down in cellars, deprived of water, food, communication, with dead bodies littering the streets.

Late Wednesday, the Russian defense ministry said that a humanitarian corridor would be opened from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia, via the Russian-controlled port of Berdiansk, from 10:00 am (0700 GMT) on Thursday.

"For this humanitarian operation to succeed, we propose to carry it out with the direct participation of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross," the ministry statement said.

The Russian ministry asked Kyiv to guarantee "unconditional respect" for the ceasefire through written notification to the Russian side, the UNHCR, and ICRC before 6:00 am (0300 GMT) Thursday.

Moscow also asked the Ukrainian army to commit to ensuring the security of the bus convoys along the designated corridor.

Deputy premier Vereschuk said that Ukrainian forces had "confirmed they'll guarantee the ceasefire".

Two other evacuation corridors were agreed for Thursday, from Melitopol to Zaporizhzhia and from Energodar, where Ukraine's biggest nuclear plant is situated, also to Zaporizhzhia.

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Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Hyun-chong told reporters that the limits on the use of solid-fuel rockets have been "completely lifted" in revised missile guidelines agreed by the U.S.

The decision is expected to speed up South Korea's efforts to develop space rockets and bolster military reconnaissance satellites.

The U.S. has removed all restrictions on South Korea using solid fuel to power rockets, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.

In 1979, the U.S banned South Korea from building rockets above a certain range and payload, with restrictions gradually eased in 2001, 2012 and 2017. So far the guidelines limited the thrust of solid-fuel rockets to just 1/10 the level of advanced countries.

Seoul has been complaining that it lags behind the rest of the world in terms of rocket technology even as North Korea is developing its own solid-fuel ballistic missiles.

South Korea failed to launch two liquid-fuel space rockets back in 2009 and 2010.

Solid-fuel rockets are simpler to design, cheaper to build and can more easily be moved around and launched. That could allow South Korea to launch its own military reconnaissance satellites that will monitor the Korean Peninsula around the clock. It will also be able to develop and produce civilian rockets.

"All businesses, research centers and private individuals can now freely research, develop, produce and possess not only liquid-fuel, but solid-fuel and hybrid-type space launch vehicles without any limitations," Kim said.

Asked if the U.S. demanded a quid-pro-quo for giving permission, Kim added, "There was none." When asked about possible protests from China and North Korea, Kim said, "Our regional neighbors have scores of reconnaissance satellites, but we have zero. This is solely a matter and decision for ourselves."
KYODO NEWS - Mar 31, 2022 - 23:35 | All, Japan

The balance of long-term Japanese government debt may have topped 1,000 trillion yen ($8.2 trillion) for the first time at the end of March, officials said Thursday.

The estimate signals that the nation's fiscal health, already the worst among major developed countries, has been further deteriorating on swelling social security costs as a result the aging population, falling tax revenues and emergency spending in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the officials said.

Growing interest payments on the accumulated debt following a recent uptrend in bond yields would be a headache for the government.

The long-term debt balance, which excludes some types of bonds, is likely to have reached 1,030 trillion yen on Thursday, the last day of fiscal 2021. It increased 1.5 times over the last 10 years.

The Finance Ministry will announce the results in May.

For fiscal 2022, which starts Friday, the government plans to spend a record of over 107 trillion yen in the initial budget, largely affected by snowballing welfare costs. While expecting tax revenues of about 65 trillion yen, it plans to issue bonds to help cover the shortfall.

Interest payments in the upcoming year are expected to total more than 8.2 trillion yen, well above the 5.4 trillion yen in defense spending under the budget.

To finance measures to counter the pandemic, the government has compiled supplementary budgets since fiscal 2020, another factor that put pressure on Japan's fiscal health.

The government is already expected to draw up an extra budget for the next fiscal year in a bid to shield the economy from recent oil and other commodity price hikes, and the continued fallout from the COVID-19 crisis.
KYODO NEWS - Mar 31, 2022 - 14:24 | All, World, Japan

Japan will once again describe Russia's decades-long hold over a string of disputed northern islands as an "illegal occupation" in an annual foreign policy report, a draft showed Thursday, as bilateral ties sour following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The classification will appear for the first time since 2003, reflecting Tokyo's shift away from a conciliatory policy stance towards Moscow, taken in the hope that progress in negotiations over the islands off Hokkaido could lead to their return in the future, to a more hostile position.

The draft of the Diplomatic Bluebook for 2022 was obtained by Kyodo News.

The ownership dispute over the islands -- Etorofu, Kunashiri, Shikotan and the Habomai islet group -- stems from their seizure by the Soviet Union, Russia's predecessor state, in the weeks following Japan's World War II surrender on Aug. 15, 1945. It has prevented the two nations from signing a peace treaty.

The draft paper also said the islands, called the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan, are "inherent" part of the territory of Japan, the words that had been absent since the 2011 edition.

"We are not under circumstances in which we can talk" about the issue with Russia, the draft bluebook says, while demanding strongly that Moscow heed criticism from the international community, withdraw its troops from Ukraine, and comply with international law.

Compiled by the Foreign Ministry, the bluebook will be released in late April after gaining approval from the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Japan has condemned Russia's invasion of its neighbor Ukraine which began on Feb. 24 as "a serious violation of international law," and has joined other Western nations in imposing economic sanctions such as freezing assets belonging to its leaders and central bank, and excluding several Russian banks from a major international payment system.

In response, Russia's Foreign Ministry released a list of "unfriendly" countries that includes Japan and unilaterally announced last week it has suspended peace treaty negotiations with Japan, citing Tokyo's anti-Russian position.

Under former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan had hoped negotiations over the territorial dispute would make progress and lead to the return of some of the islands based on a 1956 bilateral treaty in which the Soviets agreed to their partial return upon the conclusion of a peace treaty.

Abe, who made much of the relationship he built with Russia, met with President Vladimir Putin over 20 times during his tenure from December 2012 through September 2020. But no breakthrough came from his trust-building efforts.

Abe's successor, Yoshihide Suga, nor Kishida were able to make progress.

The 2019 bluebook dropped the sentence "the four northern islands belong to Japan" that had been used until 2018, in an apparent effort to appease the Kremlin. Starting in 2020, the report has said Japan has "sovereignty" over the islands.

In 1956, Japan and the Soviet Union signed a joint declaration that ended the state of war between the two countries and restored diplomatic ties.

The Soviet Union agreed then to return Shikotan and Habomai after a peace treaty is concluded. Japan has maintained its position that it aims to sign a peace treaty after the territorial issue is solved.
KYODO NEWS - Mar 15, 2022 - 19:51 | All, Japan, Coronavirus

Japan is considering raising the daily cap on overseas arrivals to 10,000 from the current 7,000 starting in April, further easing its COVID-19 border controls, government sources said Tuesday.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has said the government will relax the border control measures, criticized as being too strict, in stages, taking into account the infection situation at home and abroad and border control steps implemented by other nations.

The spread of Omicron has been apparently slowing in many parts of the country, and some urban areas such as Tokyo want to have quasi-emergency anti-virus curbs end as scheduled next Monday.

Japan effectively banned the entry of nonresident foreign nationals in late November in response to the emergence of the highly transmissible variant.

The government has gradually eased the rules since March and the daily cap on people entering Japan, including Japanese nationals returning from overseas, was raised to 7,000 on Monday. Foreign tourists are still not allowed entry.

April marks the start of Japan's business and school year and demand for travel normally increases at this time of year.

As many foreign students are waiting to study in Japan, the government has unveiled a plan to give them entry priority. Most of them are expected to arrive by the end of May, the top government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno has said.

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KYODO NEWS - Mar 31, 2022 - 22:15 | All, Japan

A Sri Lankan technical trainee working in Japan obtained maternity leave and gave birth to a child in the country in March, her labor union said Thursday.

Foreign trainees who work under the government-sponsored technical internship program are entitled to take maternity and child care leaves just like Japanese workers, but according to the General Support Union to which the 29-year-old trainee belongs, it is rare for foreign trainees to actually take the leave.

The woman, who works for the Tokyo-based Negishi Food Service, the operator of a restaurant chain, wishes to return to work and take child care leave.

The company plans to grant the woman's request, but since foreign trainees are usually not allowed to bring their families to Japan, her child could be sent home soon.

The labor union pointed out that it is difficult for foreign trainees to live with their children while working in Japan under the current internship program, even if they can take child care leave.

The woman was working at a factory of the company in Saitama Prefecture near Tokyo since around March last year and became aware of her pregnancy in July, according to the union.

Since she wanted to give birth in Japan, she consulted with lawyers and the labor union.

The party began labor negotiations with the company in October, making it possible for her to take maternity and child care leaves and continue to work. The woman entered her maternity leave in January.

Her husband, also a Sri Lankan, has been staying in Japan.

According to the Immigration Services Agency of Japan, in principle, children of foreign trainees are allowed to stay in Japan for only six months. However, the woman will ask the agency to grant an extended stay for her child.

Between November 2017 and December 2020, a total of 637 foreign trainees suspended their internship program due to pregnancy and childbirth, while only 11 of them were able to resume the internship, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Japan established the technical internship program in 1993 to transfer knowledge and skills to developing countries, but a lack of support for female trainees has led to tragedy in some cases.

In 2020 in Kumamoto Prefecture, southwestern Japan, a Vietnamese trainee gave birth to stillborn twins and was charged with abandoning the bodies. According to her lawyers, the woman felt she had nowhere to turn to deal with the matter.

She was given a suspended sentence but is appealing it to the Supreme Court.

Related coverage:

Vietnam intern arrested for killing acquaintance in northern Japan

Gov't bans firm from accepting foreign trainees after assault case

Japan foreign arrivals in Feb. over 99% lower than pre-pandemic level
Etihad Rail will build an advanced freight terminal at Dubai Industrial City (DIC) spread across 5.5 million sq ft and with a capacity of 5 million tonnes linking manufacturing centres and warehouses in DIC with an efficient rail network.

Serving vital sectors, including building materials, machinery, cars, metallurgical and chemical industries, the new terminal, which is part of the UAE National Rail Network, will reinforce the UAEs international competitiveness, besides enhancing connectivity between the emirates.

Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAEs National Rail network, and Dubai Industrial City, one of the region's largest manufacturing and logistics hubs and a part of Tecom Group, will thus collaborate contributing to cementing the UAEs position as an international trade hub and boost Dubais global competitiveness in manufacturing, logistics, transport, trade, and investment.

Facilitating trade

This comes in line with the UAEs Railways Programme, which aims to facilitate trade by connecting the countrys industrial and manufacturing centres and opening new trade routes.

The announcement follows Etihad Rails achievement earlier in March 2022, of completing the connection of Abu Dhabi and Dubai with a direct railway within the UAE National Rail Network, in the presence of Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Crown Princes Court and Chairman of Etihad Rail.

They installed the final piece on the railway track, marking the start of a new phase of logistic and economic integration between the two emirates, and in preparation for linking the rest of the emirates to an integrated national railway network in the UAE.

Advanced transportation system

The announcement of the rail freight terminal was attended by Eng Shadi Malak, CEO of Etihad Rail; Malek Al Malek, Director General of the Dubai Development Authority and CEO of Tecom Group; Abdulla Belhoul, Chief Commercial Officer of Tecom Group; Saud Abu Alshawareb, Managing Director of Dubai Industrial City, and other officials and key representatives.

The rail freight terminal will complement Dubai and the UAEs advanced infrastructure and state-of-the-art transport network, cementing the nations position as a gateway to the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia.

The terminal at Dubai Industrial City will deliver a major boost to the UAEs Industrial Strategy, also known as Operation 300bn. Increasing the industrial sectors contribution to the economy by building advanced logistics infrastructure will strengthen the countrys position as the leading Arab nation on the World Economic Forums Global Competitiveness Report.

Supply chain and freight logistics

Eng Malak said: The terminal will contribute to strengthening the supply chain and freight logistics services, in line with the UAEs efforts to develop the countrys transport and logistics sector. The terminal will connect the industrial and manufacturing centres in the UAE, open new trade routes, and support the countrys sustainable development.

He added: The announcement of the new terminal comes in line with the UAE Railways Programme, which aims to enhance the countrys transportation infrastructure through the development of the UAE National Rail Network, which play a key role in the countrys development, modernisation and urban planning. Through our collaboration with Dubai Industrial City, we look forward to providing our local and international customers with logistics and shipping services to support them in achieving their strategic goals and contribute to growing their business.

Al Malek said: "The vision of our leadership has focused on enhancing our robust infrastructure and world-class transport system as they are essential drivers of economic development. Dubai has transformed into a global logistics and industrial hub in recent years, attracting leading regional and international players and enabling them to grow and expand from the emirate. The addition of rail into the UAEs state-of-the-art infrastructure and transportation network will strengthen the nations leading position as a global trade and logistics hub.

Advancing industrial sector

Belhoul added: "Our group has always been a key contributor to achieving the leaderships vision of economic diversification. Over the past two decades, we have focused on advancing the industrial sector through our leading business districts, including Dubai Industrial City, which provides advanced infrastructure and a competitive environment which facilitates strategic partnerships and reinforces the sustainability of supply chains. The addition of the station will support the growth of business partners, expand the emirates logistical capabilities, and attract more investments in the industrial sector, thus consolidating its position globally.

The new terminal builds on Dubai Industrial Citys proximity to Jebel Ali Port and Al Maktoum International Airport, which allows hundreds of companies to reach two-thirds of the world's population in eight hours.

It will provide a range of benefits to the 780 business partners in Dubai Industrial City and the surrounding areas, centred around improving efficiencies and reducing costs.

The environment-friendly terminal will be the newest mode of transport in Dubai and will complete a comprehensive mobility network comprising one of the worlds busiest airports for international travel, the regions largest port and state-of-the-art infrastructure nationwide.

A global industrial and logistics hub

The development at Dubai Industrial City is part of Etihad Rails sustained efforts to generate maximum benefit for the National Railway project. Spread over 550 million square feet, Dubai Industrial City is a major business district for local and regional manufacturing and logistics and is strategically situated adjacent to Jebel Ali Port, Al Maktoum International Airport, and Dubais network of high-speed roads.

The industrial hub provides a range of logistics facilities and substantial storage area covering 4.3 million square feet. With such capacity, the hub offers suitable housing for construction materials and machinery, lowering storage costs and increasing operational efficiency for companies within the district. Dubai Industrial City is expected to attract additional light and medium industries and businesses across a range of sectors.

Facilitating economic and industrial growth

Through integrating Dubai Industrial City into the UAE National Rail Network, more than 780 companies, operating within the industrial hub - which provides direct access to Dubais main lines, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road and Emirates Road - will be able to benefit from Etihad Rails cost-effective, time-saving, and efficient rail solutions. In addition, more than 280 factories in Dubai Industrial City will also be able to benefit from Etihad Rails transport solution, which enhances the transport solutions available for these companies and supports the wider industrial growth in the UAE.

The new terminal is located within the Etihad Rails network which runs from Seih Shuaib to Dubai and Sharjah and forms a critical part of Stage Two of the UAE National Railway. As construction is ongoing in this phase, Etihad Rail continues to pursue strategic partnerships with a range of key entities. Such partnerships align with the companys wider efforts to ensure this national project plays an important role in the sustainable economic development of the UAE.

Sustainable and reliable

The UAE National Railway will deliver wider national economic growth through an efficient, sustainable, safe, and cost-effective transportation network. Locomotives on the network are equipped with advanced emission reduction technology to cut carbon emissions by 70-80%. A single freight train can transport the same amount of goods as up to 300 trucks.

Etihad Rail has also adopted international best practices and carries out constant Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) to minimise the environmental impact of the railway throughout its planning, development, construction, and operation.-- TradeArabia News Service
BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- China's insurance industry is actively settling the insurance claims from the China Eastern Airlines plane crash, the country's top banking and insurance regulator said on Wednesday.

As of Tuesday, four insurance companies underwriting the fuselage of the China Eastern Airlines aircraft, flight MU5735, had advanced the airline 116 million yuan (about 18.2 million U.S. dollars), according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission.

In addition, 11 insurance companies have so far paid 14.85 million yuan to some of the bereaved families.

The regulator said it will make further efforts to advance follow-up work on the insurance claims.

The Boeing 737 aircraft, which departed from Kunming in Yunnan Province for Guangzhou in Guangdong Province, crashed in Tengxian County of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on March 21. All 132 people on board the plane were killed. 
Buyers examine tobacco leaves on the opening day of Zimbabwe's tobacco auction season at Tobacco Sales Floor in Harare, Zimbabwe, on March 30, 2022. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua)

HARARE, March 30 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe's 2022 tobacco auction season officially opened Wednesday with good quality tobacco leaf expected this year.

The highest price was 4.60 U.S. dollars per kg, slightly up from 4.30 dollars last year.

Officially opening the marketing season in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development Minister Anxious Masuka said better quality was expected despite the difficult weather conditions experienced this season.

Masuka said given the importance of the tobacco value chain in Zimbabwe's economy, the government is aiming to create a conducive environment for tobacco growers and the industry at large to boost output.

"Tobacco remains a key crop for the country's economy, contributing exports of more than 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, but this excludes the indirect economic activities that are associated with providing services related to production, logistics, marketing and exporting the crop," he said.

According to the official, this year tobacco farmers will be paid 75 percent of their sales proceeds in foreign currency, up from 60 percent last year.

In addition, the government is spearheading the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan that aims at transforming Zimbabwe's tobacco value chain into a 5-billion-U.S.-dollar industry by 2025. The plan, which was availed last year, focuses on increasing primary production to 300 million kg by 2025, localizing financing for small-scale producers, and increasing value addition from 2 percent of total tobacco produced to more than 30 percent.

Tobacco is Zimbabwe's second foreign currency earner after gold, with China and South Africa being the major buyers of the golden leaf.

Last year, the southern African country sold 211 million kg of tobacco leaves.

The bulk of the crop is sold through contracts as 95 percent of the crop is grown under a contract system while only 5 percent of farmers are self-funded or are able to borrow from banks. 

People work at Tobacco Sales Floor on the opening day of Zimbabwe's tobacco auction season in Harare, Zimbabwe, on March 30, 2022. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua)

A sales floor employee takes records of tobacco crops on the opening day of Zimbabwe's tobacco auction season at Tobacco Sales Floor in Harare, Zimbabwe, on March 30, 2022. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua)

An auction floor employee shows tobacco leaves to buyers on the opening day of Zimbabwe's tobacco auction season at Tobacco Sales Floor in Harare, Zimbabwe, on March 30, 2022. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua)

Buyers examine tobacco leaves on the opening day of Zimbabwe's tobacco auction season at Tobacco Sales Floor in Harare, Zimbabwe, on March 30, 2022. (Photo by Shaun Jusa/Xinhua)
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, plants a tree during a tree-planting activity in Daxing District of Beijing, capital of China, March 30, 2022. The activity was also attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Li Zhanshu, Wang Yang, Wang Huning, Zhao Leji, Han Zheng and Wang Qishan. (Xinhua/Huang Jingwen)

BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday planted trees in Beijing in the 10th year of his participation in the annual tree-planting activity as the top leader, demonstrating how much he values efforts to make the country's land greener.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said he did so to make his contribution to building a beautiful China and to encourage the whole of society, especially the young people, to push for ecological advancement so that China's environment will become even better.

Over the years, Xi has placed ecological protection high on the policy agenda of the world's second-largest economy, emphasizing afforestation.

Xi's thought on ecological civilization is guiding the country towards a green future, with forest coverage expanded, the country's living environment improved, and the economy placed on a more sustainable path.

BUILDING "GREEN GREAT WALL"

As a country troubled by serious soil erosion, land desertification and soil salinization, China faces an arduous task in its afforestation work.

"In general, China's forest resources are still scarce and its ecological system remains vulnerable," Xi said when taking part in a tree-planting activity in Beijing in 2013.

Understanding the key role of a sound ecological environment in supporting China's long-term development, Xi is concerned about land restoration and afforestation.

When working in east China's Fujian Province, Xi inspected Changting County, a mountainous area formerly plagued by severe soil erosion, on five occasions to strengthen soil erosion control work.

In 2017, Xi made instructions on the Saihanba mechanized forest farm in Hebei Province, the world's largest artificial plantation, praising the "miracle" of afforestation created by workers. He visited the farm's forest rangers four years later, urging efforts to sustain the farm's role as an ecological shelter.

During a 2019 visit to another forest farm, this time in the northwestern province of Gansu, Xi operated a plow and participated in the local sand control work.

Building an ecological civilization must be a major task for China as it has grown rich and is becoming strong, Xi said, calling for a solid "Green Great Wall" to protect the ecological environment.

Thanks to afforestation efforts, 960 million mu (64 million hectares) of trees have been planted in China over the past decade. The country's forest coverage has now reached 23.04 percent, up 2.68 percentage points from 2012.

The area of desertified land in the country has shrunk by an annual average of 2,424 square kilometers, indicating a reversal from the late 1990s, when desertified land was expanding by 10,400 square kilometers annually.

GREEN GDP

While attending a tree-planting activity in 2019, Xi planted a magnolia tree in a forest park in Beijing's Tongzhou District. The site was surrounded by a chemical plant and various polluting enterprises in the 1990s, but the environment has improved since the local government started relocating the factories in 2018.

"We've seen a big change in the environment here," said Zhang Hongfeng, a local resident.

Many more places in China have seen improved living environments. In Shanghai, the per capita public green space has grown to 8.5 square meters from just 1.11 square meters in the 1990s.

China needs to provide more quality ecological goods to meet the people's ever-growing demand for a beautiful environment, in addition to creating more material and cultural wealth to meet the people's ever-increasing need for better lives, Xi has said.

Zhou Yizhe, a national lawmaker from north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, was once a logger and is now a forest ranger, as the tree farm he works at completely abandoned timber production, shifting its focus to environmental protection.

When Xi joined Zhou and other deputies to deliberate issues of national importance during the annual "two sessions" in March 2021, Zhou said that more wild animals were coming to the tree farm, and research has shown that the ecosystem in the forests and wetlands there had become a source of wealth.

Maintaining a good ecological environment is of enormous value, Xi said on the occasion, highlighting the concept of a "green GDP."

FORGING A GREEN FUTURE

China's afforestation efforts are part of a push for a greener future for the world amid global challenges such as climate change and environmental degradation.

As a faithful advocate of the Paris Agreement, China has pledged to decrease its carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by more than 65 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels, and increase its forest stock volume by 6 billion cubic meters.

In September 2020, China announced its ambitious targets of peaking CO2 emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060.

Compared to developed countries, China faces a relatively short window of time to reach carbon neutrality after its CO2 emission peak, which will require strenuous efforts from people from all walks of life.

Participating in tree planting, switching to public transportation and practicing waste sorting have become more prevalent among Chinese citizens, who are keen to reduce their carbon footprints.

To make greater contributions to achieving China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, and to safeguarding global ecological security, the country should expand its forest area, improve its forest quality, and increase its ecosystem's carbon sink, Xi has said. 
BEIRUT, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday announced it has noted progress in the negotiations with Lebanon that would lead to the signing of a memorandum of understanding before clinching the final contract to unlock loan, Lebanon's state-owned National News Agency reported.

The announcement was made after a meeting at Baabda Palace between Lebanese President Michel Aoun and an IMF delegation, which was headed by Ernesto Ramirez Rigo, the IMF's head of mission for Pakistan, Middle East and Central Asia.

During their meeting, the delegation and Aoun discussed a recovery plan adopted by the Lebanese government.

The IMF delegation requested a commitment from Lebanon's top leaders to move forward with the required reforms adopted by the plan, including the capital control law, amendments to the banking secrecy law, and the restructuring of the financial and banking sector as well as Lebanon's Central Bank.

On January 24, Lebanon began the first round of talks with the IMF, in the hopes of unlocking aid for the crisis-stricken country. 
A woman and a child returning from Saudi Arabia get on a shuttle bus at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

ADDIS ABABA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The government of Ethiopia on Wednesday repatriated 498 undocumented migrants from Saudi Arabia as part of its renewed operation to bring back citizens from the Gulf nation.

Dina Mufti, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia, said the Ethiopian government will step up the repatriation of Ethiopian nationals without documents from Saudi Arabia, highlighting that the repatriation is being carried out on a voluntary basis.

State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia Birtukan Ayano told journalists during an event held at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport to welcome the latest batch of Ethiopian returnees that the Ethiopian government is set to repatriate all Ethiopian nationals stranded in Saudi Arabia involving up to three flights a day.

"We are planning to finalize the repatriation of Ethiopian nationals from Saudi Arabia within the coming 7-11 months. There are about 100,000 Ethiopian nationals in refugee (camps) and detention centers in (Saudi Arabia). Priority is given to women and children migrants," Ayano said.

Out of 498 total returnees, 157 of them are children while the rest are women, said Ayano who is also the chair of a committee in charge of overseeing the repatriation and rehabilitation of Ethiopian citizens from Saudi Arabia.

According to the state minister, the repatriation was kicked off after the Ethiopian delegation conferred with Saudi Arabian officials regarding the protection of the rights of Ethiopian citizens in Saudi Arabia and further facilitated the repatriation process.

Fetiya Usman, who is one of the returnees, told Xinhua about the appalling conditions in the detention center in Saudi Arabia, as she expressed happiness on returning back home safe.

"I stayed in the detention center for 14 months. We experienced appalling conditions there. Having passed all those challenges, we came home. Thanks to God," Tizita Derbie, another returnee, told Xinhua.

Ethiopian Minister of Women and Social Affairs Ergoge Tesfaye told Xinhua that the safe return of citizens from any corner of the world is the top priority of the government that pursues citizen-centered diplomacy. She said the returnees will be provided with all support from federal and regional governments as well as NGOs until they are well rehabilitated and integrated with their respective communities.

"During their stay in the transit centers, we have to avail the necessary food and non-food items. We need to work with partners like IOM, the whole sector has their own responsibilities and duties," Tesfaye added.

According to figures from the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, more than 750,000 Ethiopians are living in Saudi Arabia, out of whom 450,000 are residing in the Gulf nation without documents.

Estimates suggest that thousands of Ethiopians are trafficked to the Arabian Peninsula via Djibouti and Yemen every year, in hopes of finding jobs in Saudi Arabia.

Desperate Ethiopian migrants, who attempt to cross the dangerous Red Sea route via neighboring nation Djibouti, often endure deadly incidents along the Red Sea as well as imprisonment and killings in war-torn Yemen.

In recent months, Ethiopia has stepped up efforts to return home its citizens stranded in various foreign countries, mainly Saudi Arabia, as part of the government's newly unveiled "citizen-centered diplomacy."

The Ethiopian government is also working to dismantle sophisticated human trafficking networks, and create economic opportunities for nationals with low incomes. 

A woman and children returning from Saudi Arabia arrive at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

An Ethiopian migrant returning from Saudi Arabia prays after arriving at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)

A woman and a child returning from Saudi Arabia arrive at Addis Ababa Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on March 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Michael Tewelde)




ACCRA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on Tuesday commissioned an interchange project constructed by a Chinese company in Tamale, the third-largest city in Ghana.

The interchange project undertaken by Sinohydro Corporation Limited includes a 684-meter-long main bridge. It is expected to significantly improve the traffic condition in the city center.

Lu Kun, the Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, expressed his appreciation to the Chinese company for its arduous work in the past three years.

The ambassador said the Chinese government has been devoted to the development of Ghana's economy and the well-being of the Ghanaian people for years in various ways.

The interchange project commenced in April 2019, which is a signature project in the Master Project Support Agreement between the Ghanaian government and the Chinese company.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
LJUBLJANA, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The Slovenian embassy in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, which reopened on Monday, has removed the Slovenian flag which was hanging in front of the embassy, because of its similarity with the Russian flag, a Slovenian representative in Ukraine said on Wednesday.

Slovenian and Russian flags both carry the same colors in the same order: white, blue and red, with the Slovenian flag carrying the country's coat of arms which consists of stylised symbols of stars, mountains, sea and rivers.

"We raised the Slovenian and the European flags with pride when we returned to Kiev," Bostjan Lesjak, Slovenian charge d'affaires in Kiev, told TV Slovenia.

"But in the morning, representatives of the (Ukrainian) national guard, followed by representatives of the police, visited me and very politely asked me if we could temporary remove the Slovenian flag because it is too similar to the Russian one," he said.

Slovenia reopened its embassy in Kiev on Monday, about a month after the country evacuated all its diplomats from Ukraine on Feb. 26 following the start of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Slovenian ambassador to Ukraine Tomaz Mencin continues to work from the Polish city of Rzeszow which lies close to the Ukrainian border, the Slovenian Foreign Ministry said earlier this week. 
Diesel and gasoline prices are seen on a board at a gas station in Brussels, Belgium, March 29, 2022. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

With the Russia-Ukraine conflict ongoing, prices are expected to stay at high levels or rise even further. "We don't know how long it is going to take," said Alex Ngarambe, a resident in Kigali. "But we are going to feel this pinch for some time to come."

LONDON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Russia-Ukraine conflict has sent commodity prices through the roof over the past month, forcing global consumers to pay more for various goods from energy to food.

Photo taken on March 23, 2022 shows a closed pump in a petrol station in Basingstoke, Britain. (Photo by Tim Ireland/Xinhua)

HIGH PRICES AT THE PUMP

Fears of an oil supply shortage have added to the price volatility. Brent crude, a global benchmark, remains comfortably above 100 U.S. dollars per barrel, which has sent prices at the pump to new highs across Europe.

In Britain, petrol and diesel prices broke records "almost daily," with the cost to fill up a petrol car at over 92 pounds (120 dollars) and a diesel vehicle at nearly 100 pounds, said Nicholas Lyes, head of policy at British automotive services company RAC, earlier this month.

In Greece, Maria Zagka, president of Attica's Gas Station Owners' Association, told Xinhua that the fuel-price situation remains tough. "Things are difficult for the sector, gas station owners and consumers. Fuel is now a sort of luxury product, and we forget that it is a social good. People need it to go to work," Zagka said.

Denmark did not fare well either. Darius Kolodziejski, a customer at a local gas station, told Xinhua that around October or November last year, it cost around 400 Danish Krones (60 dollars) to fill up his small car to the maximum, but in March, the price rose to almost 510 Krones to fill up a full tank.

"I would say it's very high," Kolodziejski said. "I think it is a little bit crazy that the prices just peak up so high."

Amid soaring oil prices, consumers have decided to cut back their spending.

"I had a big surprise going to the petrol station and finding the price going up literally daily. That hurts," Nigel Barnard, a pensioner in Denmark, told Xinhua. "And it means that when you go shopping for other things, you don't want to buy quite so much because you're losing money that way. So, yes, it's a problem."

A man pays at a gas station in Brussels, Belgium, March 29, 2022. Due to rise of high energy prices, Belgium markets witnessed the rise of prices of petrol, diesel, cooking oil, flour, etc, in recent times. (Xinhua/Zheng Huansong)

IMPACT BEYOND EUROPE

Many held that Europe would take the brunt of the spillover due to its proximity to the Ukraine crisis and its reliance on Russian energy. With the conflict evolving and jolting markets worldwide, global consumers are feeling the pain.

In the United States, retail gasoline prices hit record highs in March, reaching well above the previous peak of 4.165 dollars a gallon seen in July 2008. Gas is a big factor in U.S. household budgets, according to Ed Crooks, an analyst at the energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

A glance at the hashtag #gasprices on the social network platform Instagram shows posts from thousands of Americans complaining or making bitter jokes about the cost of fuel, said Crooks. "You can tell that energy has become a significant political issue when it starts showing up on social media."

Motorists in Africa have also felt the sting of rising prices.

"No one can say it doesn't matter. Because it's a big deal these days," said Ishimwe Eric, a resident in the Rwandan capital of Kigali. "You put in 10,000 Frw (about 9.9 dollars) and go a little further to feel that the gasoline is gone. Seriously, it is so frustrating. It is very hard for people who drive."

The fallout of soaring energy prices could quickly ripple, pushing up the costs of living expenses. Kelly Rwamapera, a resident in Kigali, said the prices of many daily products have already surged.

Noting that countries like Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of energy and many agriculture products, Rwamapera said that "we expect more prices to increase."

Several Middle East countries saw cereal, oil and meat prices climb too. In Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, the market price of a ton of flour increased to 11,000 Egyptian pounds (600 dollars) in March, up from 9,000 pounds a month earlier, according to Attia Hammad, head of the Bakeries division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce.

Cristian-Dan Tataru, a guest analyst for the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said that food prices have reached levels comparable to those before the 2011 political turmoil in the Arab world.

A customer walks past empty shelves of flour at a supermarket in Berlin, capital of Germany, March 26, 2022. (Xinhua/Shan Yuqi)

NO QUICK FIX

Analysts noted that sanctions against Russia have come at the expense of Europe. Igor Grozdanic, a Croatian energy expert, told Xinhua in an interview that the sanctions were "problematic," especially for the energy industry.

"The most vulnerable is Germany, which doesn't have enough natural gas," Grozdanic said. "Luckily, Nord Stream 1 is still operating. If Nord Stream 1 is shut down, it would be a disaster for Germany and the European Union, so the situation is not good."

As Europe redesigns its future energy supplies, no easy answers are expected for the region to reduce its dependence on Russian energy in the short term.

"The question that really remains is just about reorienting it away from Russia, which is going to be challenging. It will take years," Michael Bradshaw, professor of global energy at the University of Warwick, told Xinhua. "This is actually at the same time going to deliver an overall reduction in the amount of fossil fuel consumption in Europe."

Divergences within the European Union are not helping. "Each European member state faces a different set of challenges and that's part of the complexity of dealing with EU 27 member states," Bradshaw added.

In the United States, high prices were likely to continue. Noting a Wood Mackenzie forecast that U.S. crude production will grow by 730,000 barrels per day this year, Crooks said even that pace of growth is not enough to calm oil markets that have focused on the impact of sanctions on Russia.

"Realistically, any acceleration would be unlikely to make much difference to production this year," he added. "The industry faces constraints including tightness in the oilfield services supply chain, and there are unavoidable lags between a capex decision and first oil."

With the Russia-Ukraine conflict ongoing, prices are expected to stay at high levels or rise even further. "We don't know how long it is going to take," said Alex Ngarambe, a resident in Kigali. "But we are going to feel this pinch for some time to come."

"The longer it takes, the worse the situation is going to get," Ngarambe said, adding that even the producers of oil are being affected by the conflict "because this is a global problem, a global crisis." 
A freight train heading for the Laotian capital Vientiane, traveling via the China-Laos Railway, is about to leave a logistics base in Baoji City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, March 30, 2022. (Xinhua/Ran Xingjie)

XI'AN, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Wednesday launched its first freight train to the Laotian capital Vientiane, traveling via the China-Laos Railway.

The train loaded with 630 tonnes of condiments, worth nearly 1 million U.S. dollars, departed from the city of Baoji and will exit China via the Mohan Port in the country's southwest Yunnan Province, and this entire journey will take seven days, according to the China Railway Xi'an Group Co., Ltd.

"Our company used to trade with many ASEAN countries mainly through rail-sea transport. But in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak, it is difficult to guarantee timely delivery and safety of cargo transportation," said Liu Haitao, deputy general manager of the cargo supplier in Baoji.

"With international freight trains plying on the China-Laos Railway, goods can be delivered to Vientiane quickly and conveniently following the integrated customs declaration and acceptance in Baoji comprehensive bonded zone," Liu said.

This would effectively help enterprises to accurately connect with the ASEAN international market and achieve high-quality development, Liu added.

Apples, kiwi fruits and other agricultural products from Shaanxi, as well as tropical fruits from Southeast Asia, will also be transported via the international freight train routes.

The China-Laos Railway, which kicked off operation on Dec. 3, 2021, stretches over 1,000 km, linking Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province, with the Laotian capital Vientiane.

Many provinces and cities have launched international freight trains to Laos via the China-Laos Railway, and the categories of goods have expanded from rubber and fertilizer at the beginning to electronic products, cars, and flowers, among others. 
HEFEI, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The third Foreign Ministers' Meeting among the Neighboring Countries of Afghanistan was held in Tunxi, Anhui Province in China on March 31, 2022. Foreign Ministers or senior representatives of seven countries, namely China, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, attended the meeting.

President Xi Jinping of the People's Republic of China sent a congratulatory message to the meeting. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivered remarks via video link.

In a candid and pragmatic atmosphere of mutual understanding, the parties had comprehensive, in-depth and constructive discussions on the situation in Afghanistan and on cooperation regarding Afghanistan, and declared the following:

I. Political and diplomatic fields

Reaffirmed respect for the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity of Afghanistan, support for the Afghan people in independently deciding the future of their country, and support for the basic principle of "Afghan-led and Afghan-owned".

Urged the countries mainly responsible for the current predicament in Afghanistan to earnestly fulfill commitments on the economic recovery and future development of Afghanistan.

Stressed that a peaceful, stable and prosperous Afghanistan serves the common interests of regional countries and Afghanistan, and expressed readiness to jointly play a constructive role to this end.

Noted the importance to achieve national reconciliation in Afghanistan through dialogue and negotiation, and to establish a broad-based and inclusive political structure, adopt moderate and sound domestic and foreign policies, and grow friendly relations with all countries, especially its neighbors, and emphasized the necessity for all sides to strengthen dialogue and communication with Afghanistan for the above purposes.

Noted the importance of taking necessary continuing steps in Afghanistan on ensuring women's rights and children's education, among others, and called for further actions to be taken to improve people's livelihood, safeguard the fundamental rights of all Afghans, including ethnic groups, women and children.

Reaffirmed opposition to attempts at politicizing humanitarian assistance, and reiterated respect and support for the central role of Afghanistan in distributing and using humanitarian assistance to be rendered by international community and international organizations to the people of Afghanistan.

II. Economic and humanitarian fields

Expressed deep concern over the humanitarian situation, economic and livelihood plight in Afghanistan and announced readiness to provide further humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

Expressed appreciation of and support for the key role of the UN in providing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan, and called on the international community in particular the UN agencies and relevant members of the UN Security Council to step up emergency humanitarian assistance to the people of Afghanistan.

Followed with concern the spread of COVID-19 and shortages of medicine and medical equipment in Afghanistan, and expressed readiness to help Afghanistan enhance capacity in health care and COVID-19 containment.

Expressed support for Afghanistan's efforts toward self-generated development, and undertook to support the economic recovery of Afghanistan at both bilateral and multilateral levels, open up ports further, and strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Afghanistan in such fields as trade and economy, energy, agriculture, finance, connectivity and infrastructure, to help Afghanistan build capacity for self-generated development.

Reaffirmed commitment to deepen cooperation within such frameworks as the Belt and Road Initiative, as well as regional cooperation organizations, and to include Afghanistan in the regional connectivity, energy and transport networks, economic and trade systems, in order to help Afghanistan unleash its geographical advantages and economic potential.

III. Counter-terrorism and security

Noted commitments and pledges made by Afghanistan to the international community that the territory of Afghanistan will not pose any threats to the neighboring countries and no place will be given to terrorist groups on the Afghan territory.

Stressed terrorism as a key factor affecting stability in Afghanistan, condemned all forms of violence and terrorist attacks, and reiterated that ISIS, Al-Qaeda, ETIM, TTP, BLA, Jondollah, Jaish-Al-Adl, Jamaat Ansarullah, IMU and other terrorist organizations must not be given any place on the Afghan territory.

Called on relevant Afghan parties to take more visible steps to make a clean break with all forms of terrorist forces, monitor free movement of all terrorist organizations, and to firmly fight and eliminate them including through dismantling of their training camps, to ensure that Afghanistan would never again serve as a breeding ground, safe haven or source of proliferation for terrorism.

Urged relevant Afghan parties to safeguard the security and legitimate rights and interests of foreign citizens and institutions in Afghanistan.

Reaffirmed readiness to strengthen counter-terrorism and security cooperation among neighboring countries, build a united front against terrorism. Noted the initiative of the Republic of Tajikistan on "security belt" around Afghanistan. Tighten border control, prevent terrorist forces from fleeing across borders, and stay committed to safeguarding security and stability in the region. Expressed readiness to conduct counter-terrorism and security cooperation with Afghanistan to help it build counter-terrorism capacity.

Encouraged relevant Afghan parties to take concrete actions against cultivation, production and illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs in order to crack down on organized crime to free Afghanistan from the scourge of drugs.

Reaffirmed readiness to scale up joint efforts to combat cross-border drug-related crime and protect people's health and social stability.

IV. Refugees

Expressed concern over the situation of the Afghan refugee as well as internally displaced people and support for UN agencies in playing an active role in this regard.

Expressed appreciation of the efforts made by the regional countries, in particular Pakistan and Iran, on the issue of Afghan refugees and called on the international community to provide those countries with continuous, sufficient and proportionate financial support for timely return of Afghan refugees with dignity and honor.

V. Institution building

Announced the launch of a mechanism for regular consultations among special envoys (special representatives) for Afghanistan of the neighboring countries and three working groups namely political and diplomatic, economic and humanitarian, security and stability, to follow up on the outcomes of the foreign ministers' meetings among the neighboring countries of Afghanistan.

Expressed appreciation and gratitude to the Chinese side for hosting the 3rd Foreign Ministers' Meeting at the high organizational level, supported Uzbekistan to convene the 4th Foreign Ministers' Meeting in first quarter of 2023 in Tashkent. Enditem
Easa Saleh Al Gurg, a visionary leader who has left an enduring legacy in the business and political world, has passed away.

Al Gurg has significantly contributed towards building the foundation of the UAE as a member of the Trucial States Development Board.

More than six decades ago he embarked on a journey of success with preparedness, foresight and strategy. At the Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group (ESAG), these have led to the path of growth and continued progress, creating a multi-dimensional conglomerate with businesses in retail, building and construction, industrial and real estate. Al Gurgs commitment to operational excellence is also evident in Groups enduring joint venture partnerships like Al Gurg Unilever, Siemens, Al Gurg Fosroc, Al Gurg Smollan, Akzo Nobel Decorative Paints, Siemens Healthcare and Siemens Mobility.

Shaping history

Besides his business interests, he has also played a key role in shaping the history of the UAE as a member of the Deliberative Committee of the Trucial States Development Office. In 1971, he was appointed as the Executive Director of the Trucial States Development Board.

He was Ambassador to the UK and the Republic of Ireland from 1991 till 2009. Al Gurg was awarded CBE (Commander in the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) in 1990. He has also been honoured by Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the late President of the UAE, with the Order of Zayed II in 1997, the highest civilian order in the UAE.

Besides his immense contribution to the nation and its growth, Al Gurg created an enduring legacy of philanthropy. Having been involved with charitable work for several decades, he believed that setting up the Al Gurg Charity Foundation was the best decision he had ever taken.

Stalwart of UAEs business landscape

The Foundation was established in October 2010 under the decree of HH Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai with capital fully financed from the founder's private funds and real estate.

The stalwart of UAEs business landscape will live on in the memories of the many whose lives his philanthropy has impacted and the numerous scholarships that have assisted young students in the various educational institutions that are supported by the Al Gurg family.-- TradeArabia News Service
BEIRUT, March 31 (Xinhua) -- The Lebanese army on Thursday received 80 tonnes of food products and health equipment from Turkey, the National News Agency reported.

Turkish Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Baris Ulusoy said that Turkey will continue to stand beside Lebanon in times of hardship, ensuring the country's stability and security.

"Turkey will continue providing assistance to Lebanese security institutions throughout the year," he said.

Earlier in March, Lebanon's security agencies received 524 tonnes of food aid, including baby formula from Turkey. 
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese military spokesperson said on Thursday that Australia would have to "pay a high price if it insists on going down the wrong path of interfering with China's internal affairs."

Responding to a press question on the AUKUS pact between the United States, Britain and Australia, China's Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Wu Qian noted that some Australian politicians, driven by their selfish interests, had recently been hyping up China-related issues, and repeatedly made false remarks regarding Sino-Australian relations and Taiwan-related issues.

The AUKUS deal, which would enable Australia to build nuclear-powered submarines with technology provided by the United States and Britain, impairs the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, undermines regional peace and stability, and has been widely rejected by the international community, Wu told the press conference.

China deplores and firmly opposes Australia's deliberate attempt to hype up the so-called "China military threat" theory, Wu said, adding that false remarks made by the Australian side on the Taiwan question are extremely "dangerous."

"We hereby warn the Australian side that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory and that Taiwan affairs are China's internal affairs and allow no external interference," he said. Enditem
A toll bridge spanning a local river in Senegal is believed to be the longest of the kind in West Africa.





The 1,600m steel bridge was financed by Senegal and China through the Export-Import Bank of China and built by a Chinese company in four years.





A special ceremony was arranged Saturday, with Senegalese President Macky Sall attending, to celebrate the commissioning.

The bridge was completed late last year and its construction had created 2,000 jobs.





According to a local resident, travel time across the river has been reduced from at least an hour to a few minutes.





Produced by Xinhua Global Service
Members of Israeli emergency services work at the scene of a shooting attack in Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv, Israel, on March 29, 2022. (JINI via Xinhua)

Israel is on heightened alert and has arrested dozens of Palestinians as its government is grappling with the deadliest string of attacks in years.



JERUSALEM, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Israel is on heightened alert and has arrested dozens of Palestinians as its government is grappling with the deadliest string of attacks in years.

Early on Thursday, the Israeli military raided the Jenin refugee camp in the northern West Bank, triggering a gun battle. At least two Palestinians were killed and 15 injured, according to a statement issued by the Palestinian Health Ministry.

"During the activity, Palestinian gunmen opened fire at the troops," the Israeli military said in a statement, adding that the Israeli troops responded with fire and the goal of the raid was to "apprehend suspects."

The Islamic Jihad, a Palestinian armed group, issued a statement calling for a "general mobilization" of its fighters in the wake of the raid.

In another incident, a 30-year-old Palestinian man from Bethlehem city in the West Bank stabbed a commuter on a bus near a settlement before he was shot dead by another passenger on the bus. The hospital said that the injured, a 28-year-old Israeli man, is in critical condition.

Members of Israeli security forces work at the scene of a shooting attack in Hadera, Israel, on March 27, 2022. (JINI via Xinhua)

The latest violence came two days after a Palestinian gunman from the village of Ya'bad near Jenin city in the northern West Bank opened fire in a suburb of Tel Aviv, killing five people before he was shot dead by the police.

The shooting was part of a week-long wave of attacks carried out by Palestinian citizens of Israel or Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, which claimed the lives of nine Israelis and two Ukrainian nationals.

On Sunday night, two Islamic State (IS) sympathizers on a shooting spree in the central city of Hadera killed two police officers. The assailants were Palestinian citizens of Israel.

Last week, a Bedouin citizen of Israel, who also was an IS sympathizer, carried out a combined car-ramming and stabbing attack in the southern city of Beersheba, which claimed the lives of four people.

The attacks came as Israel was holding the first conference with four Arab foreign ministers and the U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken in a bid to strengthen ties in order to build a coalition against Iran in the wake of the looming renewed nuclear deal.

Mourners attend the funeral of a victim killed in a ramming and stabbing attack at a cemetery in Beersheba, Israel, on March 23, 2022. (JINI via Xinhua)

In response, the Israeli government has taken a series of measures to halt the attacks. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett called an urgent meeting of the security cabinet on Wednesday, and the ministers decided to increase the presence of security forces and reinforce troops in the West Bank and the area near the wall separating the West Bank and Israel, according to a statement issued by the PM's office.

The ministers announced a series of measures, including carrying out "extensive counter-terror operations."

The cabinet said that work permits of people "in the close circle of the terrorists" will be revoked in order to "strengthen deterrence."

Israel's Army Radio reported on Thursday that at least 43 people have been arrested over the past week by the Israeli security forces on suspicion of involvement in IS activities.

A woman mourns during the funeral of victims killed during clashes with Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Jenin, March 31, 2022. (Photo by Nidal Eshtayeh/Xinhua)

On Wednesday, President Isaac Herzog flew to Amman to meet King Abdullah II of Jordan to ask him to help curb the violence, according to Army Radio.

In a joint statement, Abdullah condemned the recent attacks and sent his condolences to the victims' families, according to Israeli media reports. He suggested that Israel should avoid measures that could limit access of Muslim worshippers to East Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, a move that could trigger more tensions. 
ALGIERS, March 30 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken concluded a one-day visit to Algeria on Wednesday, where he met with President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra, discussing bilateral security and economic cooperation.

This is the last leg of his tour to the Middle East amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The top U.S. diplomat also visited Israel, Palestine, and Morocco before landing in Algiers, capital of Algeria.

Blinken told a press conference held at the U.S. Embassy in Algiers that security and counterterrorism cooperation remained "the cornerstone" of bilateral relations between Algiers and Washington.

"Algeria plays a key role in improving peace and security in the region," he said, adding "cooperation with Algeria in the Sahel is important for us."

Blinken pointed out that Algeria continues to play a key role in the stability in Mali as well as Libya, which is locked in a political impasse as factions cannot reach an agreement on holding a presidential election.

In addition to the security cooperation, he hailed the "strong" relations that bind Algeria and the United States, stressing his country's desire to work for deepening economic, educational, and cultural ties.

As for the Western Sahara issue, Blinken said "our position did not change; we fully support the efforts of the Special Envoy of the UN aiming at resolving the situation."

Former U.S. President Donald Trump decided in 2020 to recognize Western Sahara as part of Morocco after the kingdom agreed to normalize relations with Israel under the so-called Abraham Accords.

The decision has prompted shrill criticism from Algeria, which has supported the independence of the whole of Western Sahara since 1975.

The Biden administration has voiced its full support for the Abraham Accords while remaining largely silent on the Western Sahara matter.

Blinken also said he discussed with Algerian officials the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, noting it has had an impact on food and energy prices.

The U.S. official arrived in Algeria on Wednesday morning. 
Kedumetse Liphi, the 31-year-old innovative creator of Chedza Solar Backpacks, shows a solar backpack in Gaborone, Botswana, on March 21, 2022. In the first week of April, disadvantaged children in Botswana villages such as Tshono, Mokhomba, Lefoko and Sevrelela will receive Chedza Solar Backpacks that will enable them to study at night. (Photo by Sharon Tshipa/Xinhua)

GABORONE, March 31 (Xinhua) -- In the first week of April, disadvantaged children in Botswana villages such as Tshono, Mokhomba, Lefoko and Sevrelela will receive Chedza Solar Backpacks that will enable them to study at night.

Made by Ked-Liphi, these solar backpacks are manufactured using durable and waterproof canvas and are equipped with a solar panel that absorbs sunlight during the day.

"The battery can power boost electric gadgets such as phones, tablets, as well as the bag's built-in LED flashlight that can last up to 7 hours and can boost charge mobile gadgets to 40 percent," the 31-year-old innovative creator of Chedza Solar Backpacks, Kedumetse Liphi told Xinhua.

The solar backpacks are expected to improve the academic performance of rural students who have no access to electricity while cutting down costs of candles and paraffin for parents and guardians who can barely afford them.

In 2021, Liphi decided to take advantage of Botswana's high solar irradiance levels to make the backpacks. Working with social workers who identified students with the most need, Liphi will donate some of the 80 bags he has produced.

Besides enabling rural students to study at night, Liphi believes this innovation that has since attracted corporates, campers and individuals will reduce Botswana's electricity import bill, as well as pollution.

"Chedza is a Kalanga word meaning light in English or lesedi in Setswana. Our mandate, therefore, is to light up Africa, and the future of children using this innovation," he added.

To influence greater results in the ongoing energy transition, Liphi said his self-financed company could do with funding and support, as he imports most of his electric components from China.

What is limiting his endeavor to produce in mass is the fact that this kind of innovation requires him to have his own manufacturing plant. "This will help us with quality control and will ensure a reduced price of the product," he said.

According to him, self-financing is a challenge, hence things are a bit slow. Though faced with financial challenges, Liphi is not discouraged because from a tender age, he nursed the desire to develop something that will have an impact on the world.

Botswana's electricity is mostly coal-generated. "Renewable energy is the future of energy for our country and Africa as a whole because it is cheap and we have too much sun," he said.

When delivering the State of the Nation Address late last year, the President of Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi, identified clean technologies such as solar energy as key in Botswana's commitment to the reduction of national carbon emissions.

Botswana's Climate Change Policy, which was adopted by Parliament in April 2021, also stresses the need to minimize greenhouse gas emissions in order to achieve a sustainable environment. 

Chedza Solar Backpacks are pictured in Gaborone, Botswana, on March 21, 2022. In the first week of April, disadvantaged children in Botswana villages such as Tshono, Mokhomba, Lefoko and Sevrelela will receive Chedza Solar Backpacks that will enable them to study at night. (Photo by Sharon Tshipa/Xinhua)

Kedumetse Liphi, the 31-year-old innovative creator of Chedza Solar Backpacks, shows a solar backpack in Gaborone, Botswana, on March 21, 2022. In the first week of April, disadvantaged children in Botswana villages such as Tshono, Mokhomba, Lefoko and Sevrelela will receive Chedza Solar Backpacks that will enable them to study at night. (Photo by Sharon Tshipa/Xinhua)
People visit the International Date Palm Festival in Cairo, Egypt, on March 30, 2022. Date is an essential food for breaking the fasting of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

Exhibitors sell dates at the International Date Palm Festival in Cairo, Egypt, on March 30, 2022. Date is an essential food for breaking the fasting of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

A woman selects dates at the International Date Palm Festival in Cairo, Egypt, on March 30, 2022. Date is an essential food for breaking the fasting of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

People visit the International Date Palm Festival in Cairo, Egypt, on March 30, 2022. Date is an essential food for breaking the fasting of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

A visitor prepares to sample a date at the International Date Palm Festival in Cairo, Egypt, on March 30, 2022. Date is an essential food for breaking the fasting of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)

A woman tastes a date at the International Date Palm Festival in Cairo, Egypt, on March 30, 2022. Date is an essential food for breaking the fasting of Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)
Members of a visiting U.S. women's peace and education delegation attend a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 31, 2022. Members of the delegation on Thursday urged the U.S. administration to lift the freeze on Afghanistan's assets. (Photo by Aria/Xinhua)

KABUL, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Members of a visiting U.S. Women's Peace and Education Delegation, an advocacy group, on Thursday urged the U.S. administration to lift the freeze on Afghanistan's assets.

In the wake of U.S.-led forces' withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban's takeover of the country's power last August, the U.S. government has frozen some 9 billion dollars of Afghan assets, which has worsened the war-torn country's already fragile economy.

U.S. President Joe Biden issued a decree in February, allocating 3.5 billion dollars of the frozen sum to the 9/11 victims' families and earmarking another 3.5 billion dollars for humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan.

Kelly Campbell, a member of the group, said on Thursday that the week-long visit was aimed at working for Afghanistan's Central Bank reserves to be returned to the Afghan people.

"It is clear from what we saw this week that Afghanistan needs its funds return as soon as possible to shore up banking system and help cure the economy," she told reporters at a press briefing.

"This money does not belong to 9/11 family members, to the United States, or to the Taliban. The money belongs to the people of Afghanistan," she said.

"While the world attention has turned to the crisis in Ukraine, we felt it was critical to bring attention to the continued plight of the Afghan people by bringing a group of prominent American women," said Masuda Sultan, an Afghan-American who organized the delegation.

The seven-member delegation visited local non-governmental organizations, a health clinic, an orphanage and schools and met with various local leaders during the visit, advocating for education for all girls and for additional humanitarian aid to the country with severe unmet needs, according to Sultan. 
TASHKENT, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Armed forces of Uzbekistan and India held a joint military drill "Friendship-2022" at the Yangiaryk combined training ground in the northwestern Khorezm region, the Uzbek Defense Ministry press service said on Thursday.

During the joint tactical drill "the military personnel of the two countries liquidated a breakthrough of militants of a conditional terrorist group across the border in the desert area," the ministry said.

The Uzbek defense ministry used combat helicopters at the third stage of the exercises, it added.

This is the third joint tactical drill that the two countries have held since 2019. 
ANKARA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Turkey may host Ukrainian and Russian foreign ministers for peace talks within two weeks, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.

"We are working to bring the foreign ministers together," Cavusoglu told A Haber broadcaster, adding that Ankara aims to bring the leaders of Russia and Ukraine together.

The minister said he was in contact with both Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov for the meeting.

"Both sides said they wanted to come when they were ready. It is not possible to give an exact date. They said there might be a meeting in a week or two," Cavusoglu said.

Turkey hosted a face-to-face meeting of Russian and Ukrainian negotiation teams in Istanbul on Tuesday, during which Ukraine presented written proposals.

The Turkish minister reiterated that Moscow and Kiev have achieved progress on some topics of the talks.

The meeting was the first high-level talks between Moscow and Kiev since Russia launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Elaborating on the presence of Russian businessman Roman Abramovich at the peace talks in Istanbul, the minister praised his role as a "backchannel" figure for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

Abramovich was "sincerely" working to end the conflict and making "contributions" to the process, Cavusoglu said. 
UNWTO has been recognized for asserting the values of tourism and promoting the sector as a pillar of peace and recovery.



At an informal meeting of EU Tourism Ministers, the French Presidency of the European Council welcomed the leadership of UNWTO and noted the strong unity of the sector in the face of an historic challenge.



Addressing delegates, the UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili warned of the triple threat of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the climate emergency and war in Europe. Since the start of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, UNWTO has added its voice to the strong condemnation of the wider United Nations system and other international bodies. In Dijon, representatives of the French Presidency were joined by Ministers from across the region in commending the unequivocal stance taken by the UNWTO leadership.



Secretary-General Pololikashvili stressed that, in the face of such challenges, tourism has an active role to play in reasserting our shared values and promoting peace, adding that it is a role the sector is fulfilling. Just as we did during the pandemic, we are seeing the best of tourism, and this support will grow in size, scope and power over the days ahead, he added.



As the Ministers of Tourism of the 27 EU states met in person for the first time since the start of the pandemic, UNWTO also made the case for enhanced cooperation and solidarity. We are stronger together, Secretary-General Pololikashvili told the conference, which also featured the participation of European Commissioner for the Internal Market, Thierry Breton. All of the delegates were urged to recognize the key role that the restart of tourism will play in promoting international solidarity and in providing hope for millions of people in every global region.



UNWTO has welcomed the steady lifting and easing of the travel restrictions introduced in response to the pandemic.



As of March 15, seven countries around the world have completely lifted their Covid-19 related restrictions, fully in line with the recommendations of UNWTO and the World Health Organization (WHO, and Ministers of the 27 EU member states were urged not lose focus on the challenges still standing in the way of the sectors recovery.



The UNWTO Secretary-General called on the EU governments to provide tourism with the support it needs to make a difference, while also commending the recovery plans of many EU member states.



Targeted help for tourism will benefit every level of the sector, most notably small and medium-sized businesses and individual workers, which represent up to 80% of the tourism sector, he said. He also made clear that now is the time for tourism to step up its climate action commitments, with cooperation again cited as the essential foundation for building a more sustainable and resilient sector.  TradeArabia News Service
ANKARA, March 31 (Xinhua) -- Turkish police on Thursday detained seven Syrian Islamic State (IS) suspects in southern Adana province.

After examining the digital documents seized in previous operations, including the IS propaganda photographs and videos, the police determined that seven suspects were residing in Adana, the local DHA news agency reported.

The anti-terror teams launched raids to detain the foreign nationals that allegedly operated on behalf of the group.

The Turkish government designated the IS a terrorist organization in 2013, blaming the group for a spate of deadly attacks in Turkey since 2015.

In a separate operation on Tuesday, Turkish security forces detained four Syrian IS suspects in the central Kayseri province over information that they had carried out armed activities in Syria and Iraq in the ranks of the group. 
LONDON: Researchers in the United Kingdom have identified a link between inflammation and the structure of specific brain regions, which could aid in the treatment of neuro-developmental psychiatric diseases such as autism and schizophrenia.

The findings, according to the study, could open up a whole new target for pharmacological treatment of these diseases, which has remained mostly unchanged since the discovery of antipsychotic drugs in the mid-late twentieth century.

Researchers from the University of Birmingham found that genes connected to inflammation, specifically interleukin (IL) 6, are linked to a decrease in grey matter volume in some brain areas linked to neuropsychiatric illnesses.

The researchers were able to correlate changes in grey matter volume in specific parts of the brain with genetic variations that alter levels of IL-6 and other inflammatory genes in over 20,000 patients. They were able to demonstrate robust connections between IL-6 and brain anatomy, especially in the temporal and frontal areas.

Using the Allen Human Brain Atlas, researchers discovered that genes over-expressed in these locations are linked to epilepsy, cognitive impairment, and schizophrenia.

"This research reveals that the IL-6 gene, which has been linked to systemic inflammation, has an effect on brain structure in areas linked to neuropsychiatric illnesses. This could be the first time in more over 60 years that a new target for serious mental diseases like schizophrenia has been discovered "Professor Rachel Upthegrove of the University's Institute for Mental Health explained the situation.

Ketogenic diet plus triple drug can prevent pancreatic cancer?

Do not eat these things on an empty stomach even by mistake during Navratri

Blue tea is more beneficial than green and black tea, know its benefits
Kathmandu, March 31

The government of India and the Federation of Indian Women Entrepreneurs have honoured Nepali entrepreneur, Prakriti Mainali, with a prestigious award.

Mainali last week received the prestigious Priyadarshani: Made a Difference Award  2022 at a ceremony in New Delhi, India. The award was conferred on her by Indian Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister Narayan Tatya Rane.

It has been said that Mainali, the founder of Shakti Milan, a company that upcycles used rice sacks into bags to export them abroad, was awarded for her efforts in promoting womens entrepreneurship culture in Nepal, particularly among the disadvantaged women communities for their freedom from the fear of abuse and violence through economic opportunities.

Prakriti Mainali is also a recipient of the National Youth Talent Award 2021 by the Nepal government. She is also serving as a board member of the Social Entrepreneurship Fund under the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens in Nepal.
(Adds detail from Norwegian PM's news conference, background)

By Terje Solsvik and Gwladys Fouche

OSLO, March 31 (Reuters) - Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said Vladimir Putin had assured him Russia would contribute to securing humanitarian access to besieged civilians in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.

During a one-hour long phone call with the Russian president, Stoere said he urged Putin to end the war in Ukraine, pull out Russian troops and enable humanitarian access.

"We have very limited expectations of what could be achieved, but nothing should be left untried in the situation we are now in," Stoere said.

Commenting on their discussions about the need for humanitarian access to civilians in the port city of Mariupol, Stoere said: "My impression is that he confirms Russia's intention to contribute to that."

Stoere added, however, that only actions on the ground could tell whether Russia delivers on the promises or not.

A convoy of 45 Ukrainian buses set out for Mariupol on Thursday to try to deliver humanitarian supplies and bring out civilians, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk and the Red Cross said.

The leaders' phone call came at Norway's initiative after Stoere first discussed making such an approach with leaders of countries such as France, Germany and Finland who have been in direct contact with Russia, Stoere said.

"The feedback was it was right to use every occasion to say, from the outside [of Russia] how this is experienced and set some expectations and demands," Stoere told a news conference.

Norway, a NATO member, shares a border with Russia in the Arctic. The nations have never been at war and in 2010 they peacefully negotiated a maritime border that had been disputed for four decades.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" to demilitarise and "denazify" its neighbour. Kyiv and the West say Russia launched an unprovoked war of aggression. (Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
* Street lights to be turned off, trading hours shortened

* Government unable to pay for fuel imports

* Crisis induced by pandemic, tax cuts (Changes dateline to April 1; adds details of curfew)

By Uditha Jayasinghe and Dinuka Liyanawatte

COLOMBO, April 1 (Reuters) - Police imposed an overnight curfew in several parts of Sri Lanka's main city of Colombo early on Friday after protests over the government's handling of the country's worst economic crisis in decades turned violent, an official said.

Hundreds of protesters gathered near President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's private residence in a Colombo suburb late on Thursday and were broken up by police using tear gas and water cannons, a Reuters witness said.

Amal Edirimanne, a senior superintendent of police, said a curfew had been imposed in four police divisions of Colombo, the country's commercial capital.

Protesters, some clad in motorcycle helmets, dismantled a wall and hurled bricks at police, before setting a bus alight on a road leading to Gotabaya's residence, the Reuters witness said.

The island of 22 million people is experiencing rolling blackouts for up to 13 hours a day because the government does not have enough foreign exchange for fuel imports.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will initiate discussions with Sri Lankan authorities on a possible loan programme in coming days, a spokesman said on Thursday, as the government looks for a way out of the crisis.

The government is turning off street lights to save electricity, Power Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told reporters, as a continuing shortage of diesel brought more power cuts and halted trading on the main stock market.

The power cuts add to the pain of Sri Lankans already dealing with shortages of essentials and rocketing prices.

Retail inflation hit 18.7% in March over the same period a year ago, the statistics department said on Thursday. Food inflation reached 30.2% in March, partly driven by a currency devaluation and last year's ban on chemical fertilisers that was later reversed.

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Inflation was at its worst level in a over a decade, said Dimantha Mathew of First Capital Research.

A diesel shipment under a $500 million credit line from India was expected on Saturday, Wanniarachchi said, though she added that would not fix the issue.

"Once that arrives we will be able to reduce load shedding hours but until we receive rains, probably some time in May, power cuts will have to continue," she said.

"There's nothing else we can do."

Water levels at reservoirs feeding hydro-electric projects had fallen to record lows, while demand had hit record highs during the hot, dry season, she said.

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) cut daily trading to two hours from the usual four-and-a-half because of the power cuts for the rest of this week at the request of brokers, the bourse said in a statement.

But shares slid after the market opened on Thursday and the CSE halted trading for 30 minutes - the third time in two days - after an index tracking leading companies dropped by more than 5%.

The crisis is a result of badly-timed tax cuts and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic coupled with historically weak government finances, leading to foreign exchange reserves dropping by 70% in the last two years. (Reporting by Uditha Jayasinghe, Writing by Devjyot Ghoshal, Editing Grant McCool and Alistair Bell)
Over 500% increase in searches to Thailand from Jan 2022 to end March 2022

Top three incoming travellers from Japan, United States and Singapore

Agoda integrates with Thailand Pass application to help streamline booking process

BANGKOK, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to search data from Agoda, Thailand tops global charts as the number one most searched destination for travel in the next six months. Since last year, the country has seen a steady increase in international visitor traffic, with Agoda search data reflecting a 500% spike in interest in the first quarter of the new year to date.

Japan (#1), United States (#2) and Singapore (#3) are the markets most keen to head back to Thailand following the local government's efforts to revitalise international tourism with initiatives such as Thailand Pass and the Sandbox programme. European markets follow closely behind with United Kingdom (#4), France (#5) and Switzerland (#6), while other departure cities in South Korea (#7), Maldives (#8), Philippines (#9) and Indonesia (#10), round up the top ten.

To aid with this anticipated influx of travellers, Agoda has collaborated with Finema, the technology company responsible for the development of Thailand Pass on behalf of the Department of Consular Affairs (under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs), in a joint effort with the Department of Disease Control (under the Ministry of Public Health), Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), and the Digital Government Development Agency (DGA). This collaboration aims to help automate booking data uploads and speed up the Thailand Pass application process and reduce room for error or delays.

"While the government has made great efforts to help streamline the booking experience for travellers gearing to get back out there, with Test & Go, Sandbox and Thailand Pass, it can be daunting and time consuming for international travellers to keep track of these requirements, and the processes needed. That's why Agoda has worked on integrating its booking data seamlessly to the Thailand Pass platform in order to help travellers upload booking details automatically, reducing the room for human error," said Damien Pfirsch, Chief Commercial Officer of Agoda.

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Agoda is offered as a check box option on the Thailand Pass application page . Once a user enters their booking ID, the system immediately pulls all data needed and will autofill the application form. Customers will receive instant booking validation and clear instructions on next steps  helping to speed up the review process.

"At Agoda, we want to make the customer travel experience as hassle-free as possible. We understand that the new world of travel is going to come with its fair share of challenges and want to help make it easier with our tech expertise. With this partnership, and many others we are working on in the region, we hope to help our customers through their pre-departure journeys," added Pfirsch.

Travellers from all corners of the world are more excited than ever before to unwind at all-time favourite beach destinations like Phuket, Koh Samui, Pattaya, Krabi; explore northern hill tribes and heavenly hikes in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Pai; or simply dig into great street food and the endless shopping experience that the much-loved capital of Bangkok has to offer.

Travellers looking for more details and further information on travelling into Thailand, can find relevant hotel packages at discounted rates and information via the Agoda platform here, https://www.agoda.com/thailandreopens.

Notes to Editor:

Agoda Top 10 inbound searches 2022 (Mar 1  30 Sep) Japan

United States

Singapore

United Kingdom

France

Switzerland

South Korea

Maldives

Philippines

Indonesia Top 10 nationalities that travelled to TH since reopening (2021) USA

Germany

UK

Russia

France

Sweden

Israel

South Korea

Australia

Switzerland *Data extracted from TH Pass platform

About Thailand Pass

As part of the Thailand Pass application process, travelers are required to provide accommodation information to verify that their booking follows Thailand entry requirements. This includes sharing booking ID, property name and location, check-in / checkout dates, and booking voucher details. Once submitted, there is a manual process to verify all booking information against the booking vendor (such as Agoda or any hotels). As the number of travellers grow, there is a need to reduce the manual workload on both government agencies and travellers.

About Agoda

From its beginnings as an e-commerce start-up based in Singapore in 2005, digital travel platform Agoda has grown to offer a global network of over 2.5 million properties in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, offering travelers easy access to a wide choice of luxury and budget hotels, apartments, homes and villas, to suit all budgets and travel occasions. In 2019, Agoda added a flight product and packages to help make travel even easier. Headquartered in Singapore, Agoda is part of Booking Holdings (Nasdaq: BKNG) and employs more than 4,000 staff in 30 countries. Agoda.com and the Agoda mobile app are available in 39 languages.

For more information, please contact press@agoda.com

SOURCE Agoda
ST. PAUL, Minn. --News Direct-- Antea Group

St. Paul, Minn., March 31, 2022 /3BL Media/ - Antea Group USA announced today the formation of a Strategic Advisory Board, comprised of leaders across multiple business sectors and applied academia. The purpose of the Strategic Advisory Board is to help proactively track and assess global trends of importance to Antea Group and its clients, as well as act as an incubator of innovation to help drive business strategy.

I was excited to personally endorse the Charter of our new Strategic Advisory Board and will remain personally involved with their critically important work, said Brian Ricketts, CEO of Antea Group USA. The collective insights of these leaders, and their ability to keep their fingers on the pulse of global and local trends, are not only important to drive sustainable and shared value for Antea Group USA, but equally so for our clients across diverse sectors, as well as for the broader society of which we are all a part.

Building upon decades of client successes in the areas of environment, health, safety, and sustainability, Antea Group USA recently launched an ESG Advisory Services offering focused on materiality assessments, goal setting, strategic roadmaps, and disclosures to address global and local ESG challenges. Peylina Chu, Senior Vice President and ESG Strategy Leader, said Ive been at Antea Group for nearly two decades, and I remain humbled by how we remain so closely-connected to, and laser-focused on, the needs of the clients and sectors we serve. The Strategic Advisory Board will add tremendous value to our clients across the business and help set Antea Group apart from others in this rapidly-growing ecosystem.

The inaugural members of the Strategic Advisory Board were carefully selected, based on their wide diversity of expertise, personal passions, as well as their broad recognition within the US and internationally:

Dan Bena

Former Sustainability Executive and Corporate Water Steward, PepsiCo

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Dan is an award-winning ESG/Purpose executive, and former Head of Sustainable Development, Health and Safety, and Corporate Water Steward for PepsiCo. He is an Honorary Professor for Glasgow Caledonian University, and is a Board Trustee of New York College, which houses the Center for Social Impact and Innovation. He also serves as Senior Advisor to Paul Newmans Safe Water Network and has served on multiple other leadership and advisory committees including: World Business Council for Sustainable Development; World Banks 2030 Water Resources Group; United Nations CEO Mandate; Global Agenda Council on Water Security of the World Economic Forum; US Water Alliance; Conrad Foundation; Creative Visions Foundation; and WaterLoop, among others.

Erik Foley

Director, Center for the Business of Sustainability and Instructor of Management and Organization at Penn State Smeal College of Business

In his current role at Penn State, Erick works to accelerate the integration of sustainability in business which is done through a community of scholars, educators, students, and industry partners. He serves on Smeal's Diversity Taskforce and is part of the college's Management Committee. Specific areas of focus include social entrepreneurship, sustainability strategy, and change leadership. Erick also serves on the Board of Directors for ClearWater Conservancy, Network for Business Sustainability, Sustainability Centres Committee, and the Centre County Solid Waste Advisory Committee. Previously, he has served as the co-chair of the Big Ten Sustainability Group, President of the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium (PERC) and on the American Council on Renewable Energy's Higher Education Committee.

Antonio Garcia

Head of Audit and Risk Management, Bodycote

Antonio is a Certified Public Accountant and has worked in senior Audit, Risk, and Compliance roles at Amazon, Siemens, General Electric, Deloitte, and Andersen. He is a Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) expert and has provided risk management and digital transformation advisory to multi-national companies across different industries, including e-Commerce, Logistics, Oil and Gas, Mining, Finance Institutions, Manufacturing, Energy and Telecommunications.

Suzanne Shelton

President and CEO, Shelton Group

Shelton Group is the nations leading marketing communications firm entirely focused in the ESG arena. Suzanne leads Shelton Group in creating a market advantage for the organizations that are creating a sustainable, socially responsible future, and has been an authority on consumers, business decision makers and sustainability for two decades. Suzanne regularly counsels C-level executives at Fortune 1000 organizations on how to best define and leverage their ESG approaches and communications to drive business results.

Kathrin Winkler

Former Chief Sustainability Officer, EMC Corporation (now Dell EMC)

Kathrin currently serves on the Board of Directors for the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a non-profit advancing energy efficiency; Net Impact, an accelerator for change makers mobilizing new generations to use their careers to drive social and environmental change; and the Green Electronics Council (GEC), a non-profit founded to manage the EPEAT eco-label and drive toward more sustainable information technology. She is an editor-at-large for GreenBiz, writing about the ever- changing world of corporate sustainability, and a trained Climate Reality Leader and mentor.

About Antea Group

AnteaGroup is an environment, health, safety, and sustainability consulting firm. By combining strategic thinking and multidisciplinary perspectives with technical expertise, we do more than effectively solve client challenges; we deliver sustainable results for a better future. We work in partnership with and advise many of the worlds most sustainable companies to address ESG-business challenges in a way that fits their pace and unique objectives. Our consultants equip organizations to better understand threats, capture opportunities and find their position of strength. Lastly, we maintain a global perspective on ESG issues through, not only our work with multinational clients, but also through our sister organizations in Europe, Asia, and Latin America and as a founding member of the Inogen Alliance.

View additional multimedia and more ESG storytelling from Antea Group on 3blmedia.com

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Bunker Hill Mining Corporation

TORONTO, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bunker Hill Mining Corp. (the Company) (CSE: BNKR, OTCQB: BHLL) is pleased to announce it has reached an agreement with a subsidiary of Teck Resources Limited (Teck) to satisfy the remaining purchase price for the Pend Oreille Mill, for which an executed Asset Sale and Purchase Agreement (the APA) was announced on March 7, 2022, in an equity issuance of the Company.



Sam Ash, CEO stated, I am very pleased to welcome Teck as a significant shareholder in Bunker Hill while completing our purchase obligations for the Pend Oreille Mill. With the Trail Smelter as the natural home for Bunker Hills future concentrate production, we are excited to lay the groundwork for a potential long-term offtake relationship and broader strategic partnership with Teck.

The APA contemplated a total purchase price to be paid to Teck of US$2,750,000 in cash, or US$3,000,000 in cash and shares. A non-refundable deposit of US$500,000 was previously paid towards the purchase price. Teck has agreed to a non-brokered equity issuance (the Equity Issuance) to satisfy the remaining portion of the purchase price. Teck will receive 10,416,667 Units of the Company priced at C$0.30. Each Unit consists of one common share of the Company (a Common Share) and one Common Share purchase warrant (a Warrant). Each whole Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one Common Share at a price of C$0.37 per Common Share for a period of three years.

The Units and securities underlying them will be subject to a customary four month and a day hold period in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws and to a concurrent six month hold period in accordance with applicable U.S. securities laws. The Equity Issuance is subject to receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals and closing.

The Company has also agreed to grant Teck an exclusive option to acquire 100% of the zinc and lead concentrate production from the Bunker Hill Mine for an initial term of 5 years after the mine has commenced production of concentrates, subject to annual renewal and mutual cancellation rights thereafter. The option will be exercisable at Tecks election until March 31, 2023, with commercial terms to be based on applicable annual benchmarks and other commercially reasonable legal terms as mutually agreed.

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The Equity Issuance is expected to close on or about April 15, 2022. Separately, the private placement of Special Warrants of up to C$15,000,000, as announced in the Companys news release dated March 9, 2022, is expected to close on or about April 1, 2022.

ABOUT BUNKER HILL MINING CORP.

Under new Idaho-based leadership the Bunker Hill Mining Corp, intends to sustainably restart and develop the Bunker Hill Mine as the first step in consolidating a portfolio of North American mining assets with a focus on silver. Information about the Company is available on its website, www.bunkerhillmining.com, or within the SEDAR and EDGAR databases.

For additional information contact:

David Wiens, CFA

CFO & Corporate Secretary

+1 208 370 3665

ir@bunkerhillmining.com

Cautionary Statements

Certain statements in this news release are forward-looking and involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are within the meaning of that term in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, as well as within the meaning of the phrase forward-looking information in the Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 51-102  Continuous Disclosure Obligations. Forward-looking statements are not comprised of historical facts. Forward-looking statements include estimates and statements that describe the Companys future plans, objectives or goals, including words to the effect that the Company or management expects a stated condition or result to occur. Forward-looking statements may be identified by such terms as believes, anticipates, expects, estimates, may, could, would, will, or plan. Since forward-looking statements are based on assumptions and address future events and conditions, by their very nature they involve inherent risks and uncertainties. Although these statements are based on information currently available to the Company, the Company provides no assurance that actual results will meet managements expectations. Risks, uncertainties and other factors involved with forward-looking information could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

Forward looking information in this news release includes, but is not limited to, the Companys intentions regarding its objectives, goals or future plans and statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: the ability to predict and counteract the effects of COVID-19 on the business of the Company, including but not limited to the effects of COVID-19 on the price of commodities, capital market conditions, restriction on labour and international travel and supply chains; failure to identify mineral resources; failure to convert estimated mineral resources to reserves; the inability to complete a feasibility study which recommends a production decision; the preliminary nature of metallurgical test results; the Companys ability to restart and develop the Bunker Hill Mine and the risks of not basing a production decision on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability, resulting in increased uncertainty due to multiple technical and economic risks of failure which are associated with this production decision including, among others, areas that are analyzed in more detail in a feasibility study, such as applying economic analysis to resources and reserves, more detailed metallurgy and a number of specialized studies in areas such as mining and recovery methods, market analysis, and environmental and community impacts and, as a result, there may be an increased uncertainty of achieving any particular level of recovery of minerals or the cost of such recovery, including increased risks associated with developing a commercially mineable deposit with no guarantee that production will begin as anticipated or at all or that anticipated production costs will be achieved; failure to commence production would have a material adverse impact on the Company's ability to generate revenue and cash flow to fund operations; failure to achieve the anticipated production costs would have a material adverse impact on the Company's cash flow and future profitability; delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals; political risks; changes in equity markets; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; the inability of the Company to budget and manage its liquidity in light of the failure to obtain additional financing, including the ability of the Company to complete the payments pursuant to the terms of the agreement to acquire the Bunker Hill Mine Complex; inflation; changes in exchange rates; fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in the development of projects; capital, operating and reclamation costs varying significantly from estimates and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry; and those risks set out in the Companys public documents filed on SEDAR. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources

This press release has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Unless otherwise indicated, all resource and reserve estimates included in this press release have been disclosed in accordance with NI 43-101 and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators which establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. Canadian disclosure standards, including NI 43-101, differ significantly from the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and resource and reserve information contained in this press release may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by U.S. companies. In particular, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the term resource does not equate to the term reserves. Under U.S. standards, mineralization may not be classified as a reserve unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. The SECs disclosure standards normally do not permit the inclusion of information concerning measured mineral resources, indicated mineral resources or inferred mineral resources or other descriptions of the amount of mineralization in mineral deposits that do not constitute reserves by U.S. standards in documents filed with the SEC. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. U.S. investors should also understand that inferred mineral resources have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource will ever be upgraded to a higher category. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of an inferred mineral resource exists or is economically or legally mineable. Disclosure of contained ounces in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian regulations; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute reserves by SEC standards as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures. The requirements of NI 43-101 for disclosure of reserves are also not the same as those of the SEC, and reserves disclosed by the Company in accordance with NI 43-101 may not qualify as reserves under SEC standards. Accordingly, information concerning mineral deposits contained in our website may not be comparable with information made public by companies that report in accordance with U.S. standards.








OTTAWA, ON, March 30, 2022 /CNW Telbec/ - Canada remains steadfast in its commitment to welcome Ukrainians and their families and to provide a safe haven while the war continues in their home country. But their journey does not end when they enter Canada, and we are working to provide additional supports for Ukrainians once they arrive.

The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that Canada is offering temporary federal support to help Ukrainians settle in their new communities. Settlement Program services, which are typically only available to permanent residents, will soon be extended until March 31, 2023, for temporary residents in Canada eligible under the Canada-Ukraine authorization for emergency travel (CUAET). This is an extraordinary temporary measure aimed at supporting Ukrainians arriving under this special, accelerated temporary residence pathway. Key services that will be available to Ukrainians as they settle into their new communities include

language training

information about and orientation to life in Canada, such as help with enrolling children in school

information and services to help access the labour market, including mentoring, networking, counselling, skills development and training

activities that promote connections with communities

assessments of other needs Ukrainians may have and referrals to appropriate agencies

services targeted to the needs of women, seniors, youth and LGBTQ2+ persons

other settlement supports available through the Settlement Program

Settlement services are delivered through more than 550 agencies across Canada. The Government of Canada will continue working closely with provinces and territories, which are mobilizing to support Ukrainians arriving in Canada. They play a key role in helping temporary residents through settlement and social services.

Starting early April 2022, the Canadian Red Cross, in support of the Government of Canada, will provide arrival services at the Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver international airports. This support includes providing translation services, as well as information in their language of choice to help connect Ukrainians with government and community services.

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We have also created a Ukraine Cross-Sectoral Collaboration Governance Table, which will bring together settlement sector leadership, provincial and territorial representatives, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the Canadian Red Cross, federal partners and other stakeholders. This table will facilitate communication and collaboration on the Ukraine response and will help to triage logistics for cash donations and volunteers.

IRCC is exempting certain individuals who are low-risk from providing biometrics on a case-by-case basis at the decision maker's discretion. Biometrics are currently a requirement before arrival in Canada for the majority of Ukrainian nationals. IRCC relies on biometrics for identity management and to ensure the integrity of Canada's visa programs. The collection of biometrics is an essential component of the security screening process to protect the safety and security of Canadians and Ukrainian nationals when they arrive on Canadian soil. The easing of biometrics requirements will ensure Ukrainian nationals arrive in Canada as quickly and as safely as possible.

Service Canada is working with service delivery partners to provide Ukrainian newcomers with information about Government of Canada programs and services, in particular the social insurance number (SIN), including through SIN clinics delivered at convenient locations. To help connect Ukrainian newcomers with available jobs, the government also launched Job Bank's Jobs for Ukraine webpage, including a fact sheet in Ukrainian, on March 17, 2022. Since its launch, the site has been viewed close to 96,000 times.

Canadians have been stepping up to help Ukrainians. Together, and with our partners, we will welcome Ukrainians into our communities and provide the supports they need to thrive, until they can safely return home.

Quotes

"We will continue to support Ukrainians fleeing Vladimir Putin's war, both before and after their arrival in Canada. We know coming to live in a new country, even temporarily, is not easy. As Russia continues its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, we want to ensure Ukrainians have access to the support and key services they need to settle into their new communities across Canada."

 The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship

Quick facts

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) has received over 80,000 CUAET applications. Key figures are updated weekly.

As of early April, the Canadian Red Cross is offering reception services for temporary residents from Ukraine for 12 hours per day per airport. On-call, after-hours services are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and accessible via local and international phone numbers. Services are available in English, French, Ukrainian and Russian.

The Canadian Red Cross will have experienced clinician and mental health specialists are on-site to help refer those needing medical attention or who may be struggling to cope with the impacts on their mental health to appropriate service providers.

Information will be provided to people arriving at major destination hubs across the country (including Toronto and Edmonton as of April 1, 2022, and Vancouver the following week).

In addition to our current visa application centre network, we have set up additional biometrics collection locations and increased capacity at existing ones as demand requires. Clients should visit Where to give your fingerprints and photo (biometrics) to find the closest service point.

All visa applicants undergo standard background checks and are carefully screened before coming into Canada.

The CUAET is a temporary residence pathway and is not a refugee stream.

Those wishing to immigrate to Canada permanently can apply for permanent residence under a variety of different immigration programs and streams. IRCC is also developing a special permanent residence stream for family reunification.

IRCC established a dedicated service channel for Ukraine immigration enquiries available for clients both in Canada and abroad at 613-321-4243, with collect calls accepted. Clients can add the keyword "Ukraine2022" to the IRCC crisis web form with their enquiry and it will be prioritized.

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Bahrain Airport Services (BAS) has signed a contract with SITA to deploy the SITA Airport Management, enabling BAS to manage its ground handler operation as cost effective as possible.

A key component of the technology upgrade is SITA Mobile Resource Manager which calculates optimal staffing levels, creates optimised rosters and gives a real time view of task allocations and activities at Bahrain International Airport (BIA).

Through the new system, agents will be offered mobile access to enable data entry at the time and place of their operations. The system can also be used by all BAS staff working on shift rosters.

SITA Mobile Resource Manager provides an innovative way to connect mobile wireless devices in the hands of employees with the back-office systems and people needed to make things happen. Real-time updates improve and accelerate decision-making as events unfold, enabling more effective planning and allocation of resources. Automatic task logging increases the accuracy of billable services, boosting revenue generation, and dramatically reducing time spent on charging disputes.

Commenting on this upgrade, Mohamed Khalil, CEO, BAS, said: As we phase out manual and paper-based operations, the SITA solution offers the next generation of mobile resource management systems that will enable us to significantly improve our planning and rostering activities. The system will optimize resource deployment for ground handling management at BIA while also assisting us in enhancing planning, operational efficiency, employee management, and customer service.

The approach ensures the involvement of ground operations staff by using digital PDAs to replace paper-based records of advocacy services provided to airline customers. This technology will also help BAS to assess all of its customer ground handling SLAs and deliver a speedier service to the invoicing cycle.

Hani El-Assaad, President, Middle East & Africa (MEA), SITA, said: Were excited to partner with Bahrain Airport Services on this project and facilitate the development of a new generation of resource management platforms designed to consolidate data and enable real-time decision-making and cost optimization, while further developing Bahraini talent. Bahrain Airport Services will be able to operate with the highest level of security, reliability, and performance, strengthening Bahrain's aviation sector."  TradeArabia News Service
Latino Owned Rum Based Hard Seltzer Makes Waves, Now Available Throughout Miami, Florida, With DTC Shipping To Over 20 States

MIAMI, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Casalu, a rum based hard seltzer focused on delivering a feeling of home and heritage, while inviting others to share Latino culture, is now available in select bars, restaurants, liquor and grocery stores across Miami, Florida, and ships to more than 20 states via direct-to-consumer platform on DrinkCasalu.com. Made with dark aged rum, 5.9% abv./vol, Casalu sells for $12.99 per 4-pack of 12oz cans. Crisp and balanced with the perfect amount of buzz, Casalu's first offering, "Limon," brings authentic Latino roots to the hard seltzer market. The name stands for the company's ethos. Casa, a sense of home and heritage. Salu, an open door to all who want to share Latino culture.

Casalu Rum Seltzer, 4-pack. Photography by Sofi Perazzo. El unico Hard Seltzer a base de ron anejo, autenticamente Latino, hecho para ponerte Tropical. Actualmente, disponible en todo Miami (Florida) y envio directo a mas de 20 estados.

The origin story of Casalu begins with three friends, now co-founders, Ricardo Sucre and Gabriel Gonzalez of Venezuela and Gustavo Darquea of Ecuador. The trio first met while attending North Carolina State University. It was throughout college they began to share over their drink of choice: rum. They didn't realize it at the time, but they were on their way to bringing the first authentically Latino owned rum based hard seltzer to the market.

Fast forward a few years, and Ricardo, who was widely known amongst the friend group for his dislike of beer, became the group's expert on hard seltzers, eventually purchasing a soda stream and experimenting at home making his own rum-based hard seltzer. The likes of which didn't exist on the market.

While Ricardo was perfecting his rum based hard seltzer, Gabriel, who has a deep love for reggaeton, had been exploring a way to capture a feeling for when Latino culture is being communicated authentically. In 2013, a friend had asked him if he was feeling "tropical" and the concept just clicked. He created "Tropicalation" to express what for him was the best part of his culture, a feeling people share with each other as time passes by. He started a reggaeton playlist with that name to showcase that feeling in every song. It would become a pillar for Casalu.

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Gustavo, regarded as the one who 'gets stuff done' in the crew, could see that the seed for a company was being planted. He received a call from Ricardo telling him that he was perfecting a rum based hard seltzer and wanted him involved. That same week, Gabriel also called Ricardo telling him he needed a way to bring Tropicalation to life. Gabriel had a site already up and running combining Latino culture and an early mockup of a can. The three got together and the rest is history.

Through months of hard work, kitchen research, countless taste testing, parties with friends and family and maybe a blessing from their moms, all named Maria, Casalu is now available, the concept of Tropicalation is no longer just a feeling but an actual product, to be enjoyed by all.

"Tropicalation is an idea that you can feel. You feel it when you are with your grandad playing dominoes, when you are with your friends, or when you listen to good music, and it infiltrates your body. My personal way to express Tropicalation started with a reggaeton playlist. It was my choice of songs that would make the listener feel tropical and lose themselves in a moment. That is Tropicalation, the idea that there is a feeling that can change your vibe for the better in an instant," says co-founder Gabriel Gonzalez.

"When you look at every single category in the alcohol industry, you can find a Latino brand in all of them but one. The fastest growing category in the alcohol industry, hard seltzers, now has a brand for Latinos. Not only a brand but a product that is truly authentic to our roots, a dark aged rum seltzer that both our generation and our grandfathers can share together and be proud of being Latino. That's why we are so proud to bring Casalu to the world," says co-founder Ricardo Sucre.

"One of our main priorities ever since we started this journey of Casalu is making sure we're building our team with the most talented individuals, and experts in the fields of marketing, branding and design, financial planning, and management. And of course, individuals that are passionate about our brand concept and are willing and able to take Casalu into new heights. While Miami is home base for us and the first market, we are launching the brand in on the ground, we're also leveraging DTC (direct-to-consumer), e-commerce, strategies to ship Casalu into different markets and start to generate product and brand awareness in other places apart from Miami," says co-founder Gustavo Darquea.

There are 60 million Latinos in the US alone. As the biggest minority in the country, they are having more impact on pop culture than ever. Casalu aims to represent the roots of these consumers and bridge the gap between them and the hard seltzer market.

However, Casalu's is more than a hard seltzer. Casalu's vision is to be a catalyst for Latino culture. Think the next Red Bull, but Latino.

For additional information and updates please visit DrinkCasalu.com and follow the brand on Instagram @DrinkCasalu .

Casalu Rum Seltzer, Photography by Sofia Perazzo

Casalu es el hard seltzer a base de ron que te invita a compartir la cultura latina. Ahora disponible en bares, restaurantes, licorerias y supermercados selectos de Miami (Florida) con envio directo a mas de 20 estados, a traves de DrinkCasalu.com.

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SOURCE Casalu
China has urged neighbouring countries to help build a stable Afghanistan and demanded that the United States returns the country's frozen assets as Beijing seeks to bolster its role as a major influence in the region.

In a written statement delivered to an international conference it hosted on Thursday, Chinese President Xi Jinping said Afghanistan's neighbours should put more effort into the war-torn nation, but made no mention of alleged human rights abuses by the country's Taliban leaders.

A "peaceful, stable, developed and prosperous Afghanistan" is what Afghans aspire to, Xi said, adding this would "serve the common interests of regional countries and the international community".

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"China has all along respected Afghanistan's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity, and is committed to supporting Afghanistan's peaceful and stable development," Xi said.

The meeting in Anhui province was attended by officials from both Russia and the United States and analysts said it offered an opportunity to discuss the war in Ukraine.

Representatives from Pakistan, Iran, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as well as Afghanistan were also present.

Wrapping up the two-day meeting, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said humanitarian and economic assistance should be provided to Afghanistan.

"We urge the US and Western nations to earnestly fulfill their primary responsibility for the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan, return the assets of the Afghan people as soon as possible, and oppose any attempt to create chaos in Afghanistan and harm the region," Wang was quoted as saying by a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement.

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The United States froze around US$9 billion in central bank assets after the Taliban seized power in Kabul last year and US President Joe Biden later ordered them to be seized and divided between victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and humanitarian aid.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow is concerned that the Islamic State is plotting to destabilise central Asia and spread instability in the country, the RIA news agency reported.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi used the conference to stage a three-way meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Afghanistan's foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on Wednesday.

Wang said the three nations share a common history and supported each other in their national development.

"China, Afghanistan and Pakistan should restart the tripartite cooperation mechanism, and promote cooperation in the three major fields of politics, development and security based on the principles of mutual respect, equal consultation, and mutual benefit and win-win results," Wang said, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.

Wang also said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor - a major infrastructure project of Beijing's - should be extended to Afghanistan.

He also called for greater anti-terrorism cooperation. Beijing has long been concerned that separatists from the East Turkestan Islamic Movement would enter Xinjiang through Afghanistan, especially after the withdrawal of US troops last year.

"We will take comprehensive measures to address both the symptoms and root causes, eradicate the breeding ground for terrorism," Wang said. China also joined Pakistan and Afghanistan in urging the US to lift unilateral sanctions against Afghanistan, with Qureshi and Muttaqi demanding Afghanistan's frozen overseas assets - mostly held in the US - be returned immediately.

Beijing has been taking a more proactive approach to Afghanistan since the withdrawal of American troops in August, demanding that Washington does not abandon its responsibilities to the country.

It has also provided economic support and winter supplies but has not yet recognised the Taliban government.

The meeting was held as China is facing mounting pressure from the United States and Europe to put pressure on Russia to stop the invasion of Ukraine.

Over the past weeks, China has stepped up engagement with developing nations, saying they do not wish to be forced to pick sides and warning that sanctions on Russia will hurt other countries.

In the meeting with Qureshi, Wang said small and medium-sized countries in the region should not become the "tools and victims" of great power games.

Wang Dehua, a regional affairs specialist at the Shanghai Municipal Centre for International Studies, said the Afghanistan meetings showed China is trying to play a greater role in regional affairs.

"The parallel meeting among special envoys for Afghanistan from China, Russia and the US this week, which was not announced by Beijing, was of special significance because China was trying to provide a platform where American and Russian officials can talk directly about Ukraine. It should be seen as part of China's contributions to the easing of tensions in Ukraine," he said.

Zhu Yongbiao, director of the Centre for Afghanistan Studies at Lanzhou University, said the US was trying to "isolate" the Taliban, adding: "China does not approve of this practice. It believes that the result of this may make the Taliban more extreme".

Additional reporting by Shi Jiangtao and Laura Zhou

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.
China's plans to build an information "expressway" connecting China, Europe and Africa have taken a step forward with the arrival of an undersea cable in the Kenyan port of Mombasa.

The Pakistan & East Africa Connecting Europe (Peace) cable is part of Beijing's Digital Silk Road initiative and will also connect Pakistan, Cyprus, Egypt, France, and Malta.

Oliver Zheng, the chief executive of the company managing the project, said the 15,000km (9,300-mile) project would be completed within "the next few months".

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"We are delighted to announce that Peace has now entered the final stage for the entire delivery and will be put into commercial use soon this year," Zheng said at an event in Mombasa to mark the landing of the cable.

The submarine cable starts in Gwadar and Karachi in Pakistan, and passes through various sites in Africa, including Kenya, Djibouti, Somalia and Egypt, to end in Marseilles, France. It will be extended to Singapore and South Africa in the second phase.

The project, which has Huawei as one of the shareholders, caused disquiet in Washington, especially during Donald Trump's administration, which feared that Beijing would use the technology to spy on its systems.

The cable's chief operating officer, Sun Xiaohua said: "Peace will bring more diversified digital connection options and provide high-speed, large-capacity and stable data access opportunities to Kenya in the future. We will spare no efforts with Peace to bring more business development to this region."

Thomas Blaubach, a graduate fellow with the Cyber Programme at the Middle East Institute, wrote in a recent report that Beijing now boasts strategic infrastructure assets in geopolitical hotspots such as Gwadar and Djibouti.

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"Chinese policymakers are thinking about more than just business when it comes to fiber optics," he wrote.

When the cable landed in Seychelles in early March, Wu Peng, director general of the foreign ministry's African affairs department, said China "will continue to do our best to support China-Africa digital innovation programme co-operation".

John Calabrese, head of the Middle East-Asia Project at American University in Washington, said the cable promises to "deliver badly-needed bandwidth to some countries, notably Pakistan - China's 'all weather' friend - and to countries in East Africa".

Kenyan officials and Peace chief executive Oliver Zheng at the launch of the submarine cable in Mombasa. Photo: Handout alt=Kenyan officials and Peace chief executive Oliver Zheng at the launch of the submarine cable in Mombasa. Photo: Handout>

He said it complements the "hard" infrastructure, including bridges, ports and railways, built under the Belt and Road Initiative.

"It is another means by which to project Chinese power and influence globally," Calabrese said.

Calabrese said "US concerns presumably stem from the suspicion that as a form of critical infrastructure built by a consortium that includes Huawei Marine Networks, the cable could well leave information networks vulnerable to Chinese espionage and sabotage".

"It is also worth noting that US companies - as owners and operators - currently dominate the submarine fiber-optic landscape. So, there is definitely a major power competition dimension here," Calabrese said.

Eyck Freymann, author of the book One Belt One Road: Chinese Power Meets the World, said in practical terms, the cable is of limited strategic significance-just one of many fibre optic cables in a global undersea network.

However, "in symbolic terms, this is a powerful reminder that the Belt and Road is alive and well, and that despite the United States' best efforts, Huawei continues to offer an attractive service to many countries," Freymann said.

He said Washington will have to do more, and work more diligently with allies, to provide a secure alternative to Chinese digital infrastructure.

Hengtong Optic-Electric is laying the actual cable, but Huawei is one of its largest shareholders. Huawei is also providing the equipment for the landing stations and underwater transmission gear.

Hengtong has partnered with HongKong-based PCCW Global, Djibouti Telecom, Golis Telecom Somalia, France's Orange, Hormuud Telecom, Telecom Egypt, Telkom Kenya and many others.

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.
Profitable 4Q Marks Best Results Since 3Q 2019

HOUSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CITGO Petroleum Corporation today reported its 2021 fourth quarter and year-end financial results. For the fourth quarter of 2021, CITGO generated net income of $21 million, EBITDA1 of $236 million and adjusted EBITDA of $139 million, representing the strongest quarterly net income and EBITDA performance since the third quarter of 2019, prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CITGO Logo (PRNewsfoto/CITGO Corporation)

The Company's overall financial and operational performance for the year were negatively affected by Winter Storm Uri, which forced a complete emergency shutdown of the Corpus Christi refinery for approximately two weeks, contributing to a significant first quarter loss of $(180) million. Given these headwinds, CITGO reported a net loss of approximately $(160) million and adjusted EBITDA of $557 million for the 2021 full year, both significantly improved over full year 2020 results. The improved results compared to 2020 were achieved despite the financial impacts of the storm and were primarily due to higher throughput volumes, higher margins and improved economics related to the pandemic.

"Winter Storm Uri was a significant obstacle for our Corpus Christi refinery and contributed to a challenging start to 2021," said CITGO President and CEO Carlos Jorda, "yet we still achieved excellent reliability at our Lake Charles and Lemont refineries and were able to capture available margins as demand improved. We also set many production-related records and, at the same time, achieved our best-ever TRIR (total recordable incident rate) performance and second-best process safety performance since 2012. This is a real testament to the professionalism and commitment of our employees as they continued dealing with the ongoing effects of the pandemic and other operational challenges, such as the Colonial Pipeline interruption."

4Q and Full Year Highlights:

Story continues

Financial

Refinery Throughput

Turnarounds and capital investments  Successfully executed the Lake Charles and Lemont planned turnarounds within budget and planned timeline, spending approximately $184 million in 2021 on turnaround and catalyst costs. Invested $200 million in capital projects: $100 million in Regulatory and HSE projects, $98 million in maintenance projects and $2 million in strategic projects.

Exports  4Q exports increased to 167,000 bpd from 136,000 bpd in the prior quarter as Latin America continued to reopen. For full year 2021, exports averaged 134,000 bpd.

Operational excellence  Both the Lake Charles and Lemont refineries achieved records in safety and environmental performance, production, and plant reliability. The Corpus Christi refinery was negatively affected by Winter Storm Uri in February 2021, yet achieved a light crude processing record and was also recognized for the second year in a row with the EPA's Energy Star Certification. Additionally, the terminals group was recognized by ILTA (International Liquids Terminal Association) for occupational safety performance.

1 EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are non-GAAP financial measures. Please see the reconciliation towards the end of this press release for more information. 2 See "General  Refinery EBITDA Estimate" for additional information regarding how we calculate and estimate Refinery EBITDA.

Governance and Leadership:

CITGO continued its focus on corporate governance and ethics throughout the year, led by the Company's first dedicated Ethics & Compliance Officer. Notable ethics and compliance related enhancements include launching the CITGO Code of Business Conduct and Ethics on the citgo.com website and deploying a new online Code of Business Conduct and Ethics training module.

The Company also continued to strengthen its management team. Shane Moser was named Vice President of Health, Safety & Environment; Mark Holstein was named General Counsel; Balvy Bhogal-Mitro was named Vice President Strategic and Corporate Planning; and Steve Scarpino was named Chief Ethics & Compliance Officer. Gina Coon, Corporate Treasurer, retired after 30 years of service.

"As the first quarter comes to a close, our industry is dealing with the effects of the recent events in Ukraine, which clearly illustrate the need for reliable, secure supply. We believe CITGO is well-positioned to continue being a reliable supplier of fuel products to the North American and Latin American markets," concluded Jorda.

About CITGO

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, CITGO Petroleum Corporation is a recognized leader in the refining industry and operates under the well-known CITGO brand. CITGO operates three refineries located in Lake Charles, La.; Lemont, Ill.; and Corpus Christi, Texas, and wholly and/or jointly owns 38 active terminals, six pipelines and three lubricants blending and packaging plants. With approximately 3,300 employees and a combined crude capacity of approximately 769,000 barrels-per-day (bpd), CITGO ranks as the fifth-largest and is one of the most complex independent refiners in the United States. CITGO transports and markets transportation fuels, lubricants, petrochemicals and other industrial products, and supplies a network of approximately 4,400 locally owned and operated branded retail outlets, all located east of the Rocky Mountains. CITGO Petroleum Corporation is owned by CITGO Holding, Inc.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

General:

CITGO publishes financial and other information on its website, including reports of quarterly and annual results of operations and financial condition. While CITGO's historical financial information is presented in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP"), except for certain non-GAAP financial measures (see below), CITGO is not an SEC reporting company and does not report all information required of SEC reporting companies.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" regarding financial and operating items relating to the CITGO business. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, developments and business decisions to differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. This press release may also contain estimates and projections regarding market and industry data that were obtained from internal company estimates as well as third-party sources believed to be generally reliable. However, market data is subject to change and cannot always be verified with complete certainty due to limits on the availability and reliability of raw data and other limitations and uncertainties inherent in any statistical survey, interpretation or presentation of market data and management's estimates and projections. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made only as of the date of this press release. CITGO disclaims any duty to update any forward-looking statements.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures:

This press release also contains operational metrics and non-GAAP information, including EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA, that have not been audited and are based on management's estimates, which may be difficult to verify. These non-GAAP financial measures are in addition to, and not a substitute for or superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP and may differ from non-GAAP measures used by other companies in our industry. We consider these non-GAAP financial measures to be important because they provide useful measures of the operating performance of the Company, exclusive of unusual events, as well as factors that do not directly affect what we consider to be our core operating performance. These non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered a substitute for financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Please see the reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to the most directly comparable GAAP measure set forth on page 6 of this press release.

Refinery EBITDA Estimates:

The estimates of Refinery EBITDA presented in this press release are calculated as refinery hydrocarbon gross margin minus refinery operating expenses and non-operating and income/(expense) items, plus depreciation and amortization. Our estimates of Refinery EBITDA are intended as estimates of our refineries' earnings before taxes and interest and depreciation and amortization. Shown in the table on page 6 of this press release is a reconciliation of our estimates of Refinery of EBITDA (on an individual and total refinery basis) to EBITDA for our consolidated operations for the respective periods presented therein. In addition, we summarize below the methodologies and assumptions we utilize in connection with our estimates of the various components of Refinery EBITDA.

With respect to these components of Refinery EBITDA, we define refinery hydrocarbon gross margin as the estimated value of a refinery's production less the cost of hydrocarbons and intermediate feedstocks used by that refinery. The estimated values of production are not calculated in the same way as revenues for U.S. GAAP purposes, and these values would not be eligible for revenue recognition under U.S. GAAP. Under U.S. GAAP, we recognize revenues at the time products are sold, whereas the estimated values are based on production dates, which may not be the same as the market values at the time of sale. In addition, our U.S. GAAP revenues are based on the actual sales prices of products, while the estimated values are based on the selected market indexes. As a result, the actual revenue realized for the sale of products may vary based on the timing, location or actual realized sales price. The cost of hydrocarbons and intermediate feedstocks used to calculate refinery hydrocarbon gross margin are the acquisition costs of these inputs used by a refinery. Costs relating to these items are included as part of cost of sales and operating expenses on our consolidated statements of income and comprehensive income under U.S. GAAP. However, for purposes of calculating refinery hydrocarbon gross margin these costs are not calculated in the same way that we calculate amounts included in cost of sales under U.S. GAAP, and the amounts reflected in refinery hydrocarbon gross margin may materially understate or overstate the corresponding U.S. GAAP amounts.

In addition, refinery operating expenses reflect estimates of the direct costs and expenses associated with operating the refineries, such as labor and related burden, energy, maintenance and materials and depreciation and amortization. Costs and expenses relating to these items are included as part of other expenses or cost of sales and operating expenses on our consolidated statements of income and comprehensive income under U.S. GAAP, along with other expenses. The amounts allocated to our refineries for certain of these costs and expenses for purposes of our estimates of Refinery EBITDA do not necessarily reflect the full amounts of such costs, or may materially overstate or understate such costs.

Further, other miscellaneous costs and indirect expenses associated with operating the refineries include certain overhead expenses for crude supply and trading, industrial products and petrochemicals, as well as certain refinery-related equity in the investments of affiliates and insurance proceeds. These items reflect amounts included as part of cost of sales and operating expenses and other income, other expenses, insurance recoveries and equity in earnings of affiliates on our consolidated statements of income and comprehensive income along with other expenses. The amounts allocated to our refineries for certain of these costs and expenses for purposes of our estimates of Refinery EBITDA do not necessarily reflect the full amounts of such costs, or may materially overstate or understate such costs.

Reconciliation of net income (loss) to Adjusted EBITDA (unaudited, in millions of U.S. dollars)



Three Months Ended

Year Ended

December 31,

September 30,

December 31,

December 31,

2021

2021

2021

2020 Net income (loss) 21

(4)

(160)

(667) Plus (less)













Interest expense, including finance lease 64

58

240

207 Income tax expense (benefit) 6

(5)

(50)

(482) Depreciation and amortization 145

145

593

614 EBITDA 236

194

623

(328) Plus (less)













LIFO inventory permanent dip impact (100)



(100)

57 Hurricane Laura expenses, net of insurance recoveries 

4

12

29 Winter Storm Uri costs, net of insurance recoveries 



10

 Charitable contributions 3

2

6

9 Loss on early extinguishment of debt 



6

3 Insurance litigation recovery  Athos 





(183) Litigation recovery - credit card interchange fees 





(19) Adjusted EBITDA 139

200

557

(432)

Some of the items affecting adjusted EBITDA during the periods shown above were:

LIFO permanent dip (2021 and 2020): We recorded approximately $100 million benefit and a $57 million loss in 2021 and 2020, respectively, as a result of selling prior year inventory layers at prices above and below cost, respectively.

Hurricane Laura expenses (2021 and 2020): We incurred approximately $30 million in repair costs, of which approximately $18 million were recovered through insurance in 2021. We incurred approximately $58 million in repair costs, of which approximately $29 million were recovered through insurance in 2020.

Winter Storm Uri expenses (2021): We incurred approximately $24 million in repair costs, of which approximately $14 million were recovered through insurance.

Insurance litigation recovery - Athos (2020): We recovered approximately $183 million in 2020 in insurance proceeds from the previously incurred costs related to a shipping incident in 2004.

Litigation recovery - credit card interchange fees (2020): Proceeds received from legal settlements.

Reconciliation of Refinery EBITDA Estimates to Consolidated EBITDA1 (unaudited, in millions of U.S. dollars)



Three Months Ended

Year Ended

December 31,

September 30,

December 31,

December 31,

2021

2021

2021

2020 Refinery EBITDA:













Lake Charles 164

72

293

(495) Corpus Christi 77

14

(17) (a) (62) Lemont 47

112

319

62 Total Refinery EBITDA Estimate 288

198

595

(495) Supply (14)

(10)

(12)

(24) Marketing 24

36

140

150 Lubes 9

5

30

17 Corporate and other (71)

(35)

(130) (b) 24 Consolidated EBITDA 236

194

623

(328)

(a) Corpus Christi's negative EBITDA of ($17), compared to positive EBITDA's in Lake Charles and Lemont in 2021, is primarily as a result of Winter Storm Uri. (b) Corporate and other negative EBITDA of approximately ($130) million in 2021 compared to a positive $24 million in 2020 was primarily due to the absence of Athos litigation recovery that was present in 2020.

1 See "General  Refinery EBITDA Estimate" on page 4 of this release for additional information regarding how we calculate and estimate Refinery EBITDA.

Cision

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SOURCE CITGO Corporation
SAN FRANCISCO, March 31, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--H.I.G. Capital ("H.I.G."), a leading global alternative investment firm with $48 billion of equity capital under management, is pleased to announce that its portfolio company, Concord USA, LLC ("Concord"), has acquired Evolytics, LLC ("Evolytics"), which represents Concords second add-on acquisition this year.

Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, Evolytics provides digital analytics and consulting services to leading enterprise customers and brands worldwide. With expertise in data and marketing analytics, Evolytics supports digital transformation and growth initiatives for customers primarily in the financial services, technology, and ecommerce industries.

"Evolytics has built a strong culture and is recognized as an outstanding place to work. Evolytics employees prioritize customer relationships and consistently deliver data solutions that add significant business value for their clients," stated Florin Ibrani, Concords Chief Executive Officer. "Their extensive expertise in data and marketing analytics complements Concords cloud, integration, application development, and data offerings. Joining forces expands our ability to serve new and shared customers with a wider array of relevant offerings."

"The Concord partnership will propel our next phase of growth and the combination of our organizations will help us deliver superior outcomes for our clients," remarked Tom Wilkins, Chief Executive Officer of Evolytics. Carey Wilkins, President of Evolytics added, "This is an exciting new chapter in Evolytics growth story. By partnering with Concord, we can now provide end-to-end data services that integrate back-end operational systems with optimized front-end marketing experiences. In addition to bringing expanded capabilities to our clients, we will be able to offer broader data analytics career opportunities to our team."

Kevin Van Culin, Managing Director at H.I.G., commented, "We believe the combination with Evolytics strengthens Concords capabilities in the high growth data and marketing analytics sector. We are excited to continue Evolytics legacy of outstanding customer outcomes."

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About Evolytics

Evolytics is a leading digital analytics consulting firm based in Kansas City, MO. The companys services span the full data lifecycle, enabling clients to collect, analyze, and act on their data. Evolytics capabilities include data collection, data engineering, data visualization, data analysis, experimentation, data science and training. Evolytics has a proven track record of delivering results for enterprise clients and leading brands. Evolytics has been awarded/named the Top Analytics Agency by the Digital Analytics Association. Evolytics is also included on Fortunes Best Workplaces list. For more information, please visit www.evolytics.com.

About Concord

Concord USA, LLC ("Concord") is a leading technology consulting and digital transformation firm based in Minneapolis, MN, with supporting operations in Eastern Europe and India. Concord serves leading enterprises and innovators in the healthcare, technology, manufacturing, and financial services industries. With a unique combination of industry expertise, technology know-how, and project execution reliability, Concord helps its customers unlock business value by solving their most difficult data and technology problems. For more information, please visit www.concordusa.com.

About H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. is a leading global alternative assets investment firm with $48 billion of equity capital under management.* Based in Miami, and with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta in the U.S., as well as international affiliate offices in London, Hamburg, Madrid, Milan, Paris, Bogota, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, H.I.G. specializes in providing both debt and equity capital to small and mid-sized companies, utilizing a flexible and operationally focused/ value-added approach. Since its founding in 1993, H.I.G. has invested in and managed more than 300 companies worldwide. The firms current portfolio includes more than 100 companies with combined sales in excess of $30 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.

* Based on total capital commitments managed by H.I.G. Capital and affiliates.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220330005803/en/

Contacts

Kevin Van Culin

Managing Director

kvanculin@higcapital.com

Tyler Levin

Principal

tlevin@higcapital.com
Intertrust Group

JOINT PRESS RELEASE

This is a joint press release by Intertrust N.V. ("Intertrust" or the "Company") and CSC (Netherlands) Holdings B.V. (the "Offeror"), pursuant to the provisions of Section 4, paragraphs 1 and 3, Section 10, paragraphs 1 and 3 and Section 18, paragraph 3 of the Netherlands Decree in Public Takeover Bids (Besluit openbare biedingen Wft, the "Decree") in connection with the recommended public offer (the "Offer") by the Offeror for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares in the capital of Intertrust. This announcement does not constitute an offer, or any solicitation of any offer, to buy or subscribe for any securities in Intertrust. Any offer will be made only by means of an offer memorandum (the "Offer Memorandum") approved by the Dutch Authority for Financial Markets (Stichting Autoriteit Financiele Markten, the "AFM") which is available as of today, and subject to the restrictions set forth therein. This announcement is not for release, publication or distribution, in whole or in part, in or into, directly or indirectly, Canada and Japan or any other jurisdiction in which such release, publication or distribution would be unlawful.

CSC launches recommended all-cash offer for Intertrust shares

Wilmington, Delaware, USA / Amsterdam, the Netherlands  31 March 2021  Publication of the Offer Memorandum  Offer to be discussed at the AGM on 31 May 2022  Offer Period ends on 10 June 2022, unless extended.

Transaction highlights

Recommended all-cash public offer by the Offeror for all issued and outstanding shares in the capital of Intertrust at an offer price of EUR 20.00 (cum dividend) per Share (as defined below)

Offer Period runs from 1 April 2022 to 10 June 2022. Completion of the Offer is expected in in the second half of 2022

The Offer Price represents a premium of approximately 59% to the undisturbed Intertrust closing share price on 11 November 2021, a premium of approximately 53% to the 30-day undisturbed VWAP and a premium of approximately 54% to the 90-day undisturbed VWAP, delivering immediate, certain and attractive value to Intertrust's shareholders

The Management Board and Supervisory Board of Intertrust (together, the " Intertrust Boards ") fully and unanimously support the Offer and the transactions contemplated in connection therewith, including the post-closing restructuring (together with the Offer, the " Transaction ") and recommend the Shareholders to accept the Offer and vote in favor of the Offer Resolutions to be proposed at the annual general meeting of shareholders of Intertrust (the  AGM )

Intertrust will hold the AGM at 15:00 hours CET on 31 May 2022, instead of the previously announced date of 12 May 2022. The AGM will also include the resolutions related to the Transaction

The combination of CSC and Intertrust creates a differentiated leader for corporate, fund, private, and capital markets clients on an international scale, built on the combined strengths of each others global teams with complementary geographical and service offering strengths

The Combined Group will fully benefit from the reach, scale and resources of the combined businesses and CSC intends to invest in existing and new opportunities to further expand the business of the Combined Group and ensure the long-term interests of Intertrust's stakeholders, including its employees and clients

The Offer is subject to obtaining the Regulatory Clearances and Competition Clearances. The process to obtain the required Regulatory Clearances is ongoing. To date, the Competition Clearances condition is satisfied

The Offer is subject to certain other conditions, including a minimum acceptance level of 95% of the Shares, to be lowered to 80% if the Shareholders approve the Asset Sale and Liquidation at the AGM. If the Offeror obtains 95% or more of the Shares it expects to implement the Asset Sale and initiate the Squeeze Out Proceedings, and if it obtains between 80% and 95% it expects to implement the Asset Sale and Liquidation, if approved by the Shareholders

Intertrust's joint Works Council in the Netherlands has rendered a positive advice on the decision of the Intertrust Boards to support the Transaction and recommend the Offer

With reference to the publication of the Offer Memorandum today, the Offeror and Intertrust jointly announce that the Offeror is making a recommended public all-cash offer to all holders of issued and outstanding ordinary shares (the "Shares", and each holder of such Shares, a "Shareholder") in the share capital of Intertrust at an offer price of EUR 20.00 (cum dividend), without interest and less mandatory withholding tax payable under the applicable Law (if any) (the "Offer Price"), in cash per Share on the terms and subject to the conditions and restrictions as set forth in the Offer Memorandum (the "Offer"). The Offer Period runs from 1 April 2022 until and including 10 June 2022. Completion of the Offer is expected in the second half of 2022. Terms not defined in this press release will have the meaning as set forth in the Offer Memorandum.

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All relevant documents can be found on www.intertrustgroup.com/investors/offer-for-intertrust/

Attachment




Session will Spotlight the Emerging Decision Intelligence Market; Whats Next in Business Intelligence

BIRMINGHAM, England & LONDON, March 31, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Experts from Delaware and Pyramid Analytics will explore why and how Decision Intelligence  whats next in analytics and business intelligence (ABI)  should be introduced into enterprise platforms at the UKISUG Analytics Symposium, an annual event for the independent UK & Ireland SAP User Group being held on 5 April, 2022 at The Vox Conference Centre, Birmingham. The conference offers the opportunity for networking and collaboration among peers specialising in SAP Analytics Cloud, data preparation, platform & database and digital transformation.

UKISUG Analytics Symposium is free to attend. Register here.

Key Points:

Delawares Analytics Lead and Pyramids Director of Product Management will discuss Decision Intelligence and how to introduce it into an SAP business and technology ecosystem.

Delaware implements the Pyramid Decision Intelligence Platform across the UK & Ireland to help organisations leverage the full value of data by providing AI-powered analytics to all decision-makers.

Both companies have partnerships with SAP and expertise in the SAP technology ecosystem.

Pyramid Analytics is an official member of the SAP PartnerEdge open ecosystem. Pyramid Platform is certified by SAP Certified for SAP BW/4HANA, SAP HANA, and SAP NetWeaver.

Attendees, Mark Your Diaries

Chris Houlder, Analytics Lead at Delaware, and Ian MacDonald, Director of Product Management with Pyramid, will discuss how enterprises running on SAP can best understand their data and how to react to fast-changing conditions, and address the challenges of adopting a holistic platform that works directly on both SAP BW and SAP HANA. The session will also include a demo of the Pyramid Analytics Decision Intelligence platform and how to get more value from these SAP investments. The session begins at 10 a.m. GMT.

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Partnership Brings Decision Intelligence to Enterprises Across the UKI

Pyramid Analytics and global IT services company Delaware have a partnership agreement through which the companies jointly sell and implement the Pyramid Platform for decision intelligence and provide consulting services. The partnership puts the Pyramid Platform for decision intelligence into the hands of more than 3,000 Delaware consultants. The Pyramid Platform uniquely combines Data Preparation, Business Analytics, and Data Science in a single Analytics and Business Intelligence (ABI) environment. Leading technology analysts BARC, Dresner Advisory Services, and Gartner rank Pyramid first in critical ABI capabilities.

Pyramid and Delaware have strong partnerships with SAP, the worlds largest provider of Enterprise Application Software. Delaware and Pyramid Analytics jointly deliver solutions enabling customers to integrate sophisticated SAP data sets and non-SAP sources, from a wide range of on-premises and cloud-based data sources, without moving or ingesting the data, through a single decision intelligence platform.

Many of Delawares clients have complex landscapes and face challenges pulling together accurate and coherent reporting. Pyramid enables all users, from data scientists to non-technical business users, to maximise their investments in SAP providing for the fastest, direct querying and analytics on BW, BEx, HANA, CDS and IQ, while maintaining the investment in business logic and security designed into SAP  all within a complete point and click, no-code, governed self-service analytics environment.

Quotes

Ian Macdonald, Director of Product Management, Pyramid Analytics: "Business success in todays dynamic markets requires organizations to react to trends and opportunities in real time with accuracy, speed and scale. Data drives better decisions. However, due to legacy tool limitations, integration issues and data management challenges, many SAP customers struggle to expose all the necessary data to deliver modern self-service analytic capabilities. Pyramid Decision Intelligence Platform allows business users to get more value out of their existing SAP BW and SAP HANA investments, delivering best-in-class functionality and performance that preserves the security and governance inherent in the SAP platform."

Complete, Unified Decision Intelligence

Pyramids Decision Intelligence Platform unifies Data Preparation, Business Analytics, and Data Science on a single, integrated platform. This eliminates the need to use multiple disparate tools and the associated license cost and management complexity. Lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), rapid rollout, quicker and direct access to all available data, and industry-leading user adoption means faster time to value. Pyramids Decision Intelligence Platform can be deployed on-premises, into a private or public cloud, embedded into other apps or delivered through Managed Services Providers (MSP).

About Delaware

Delaware is a fast-growing, global company that delivers advanced solutions and services to organisations striving for a sustainable, competitive advantage. Delaware guides its customers through their business transformation, applying the ecosystems of its main business partners, SAP and Microsoft. Delaware continues to service its customers afterwards, assuring continuity and continuous improvement. Delaware has over 3000 professionals in 24 offices around the world. For more information, please visit www.delaware.co.uk.

About Pyramid Analytics

Pyramid is whats next in analytics. Our unified decision intelligence platform delivers insights for everyone to make faster, more informed decisions. It provides direct access to any data, enables governed self-service for any person, and serves any analytics need in a no-code environment. The Pyramid Decision Intelligence Platform uniquely combines Data Prep, Business Analytics, and Data Science in a single environment with AI guidance, reducing cost and complexity while accelerating growth and innovation. The Pyramid Platform enables a strategic, organization-wide approach to Business Intelligence and Analytics, from the simple to the sophisticated. Schedule a demo.

Pyramid Analytics is incorporated in Amsterdam and has regional headquarters in global innovation and business centers, including London, New York City, and Tel-Aviv. Our team lives worldwide because geography should not be a barrier to talent and opportunity. Investors include Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Sequoia Capital and Viola Growth. Learn more at Pyramid Analytics.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005705/en/

Contacts

Media Contacts:

UK

Susie Evershed

Resonance

+44 7966 145092

pyramidanalytics@resonancecrowd.com

US

Heather Racicot

Resonance

+1 360-632-5616

pyramidanalytics@resonancecrowd.com
Advances in Programmatic Technology Continue to Enhance Quality Impressions

JAKARTA, Indonesia, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Integral Ad Science (Nasdaq: IAS), a global leader in digital media quality, released the sixteenth edition of the Media Quality Report , providing transparency into the performance and quality of APAC digital media, alongside global comparisons.

Integral Ad Science Logo (PRNewsfoto/Integral Ad Science (IAS))

Key insights from the report include:

Desktop display ad fraud rates reached the highest level worldwide in Singapore

Global ad fraud rates rose across all formats and environments in H2 2021. Desktop display ad fraud rates were highest in Singapore at 4.1%. The second highest fraud rate was posted by Vietnam (2.6%) with Japan also at 2.6%, and Indonesia at 0.7%. India was the only market in the region that saw ad fraud rates reduce on desktop display to 1.1%. While the worldwide optimised-against-ad-fraud were 1.4%, the non-optimised ad fraud rates could be as high as 10.7%.

Programmatic buys across all display channels in India, Indonesia, and Vietnam had lower ad fraud rates as compared to publisher direct buys. The application of pre-bid solutions offers additional protection against ad fraud when transacting ads programmatically. For desktop video, Australia reported the highest ad fraud rates globally, at 2.9%

Globally, mobile environments remained safer than desktop, with optimised-against-ad-fraud rates hovering steadily at 0.5% or below for both display and video ads worldwide.

In APAC, Japan posted the highest ad fraud rate on mobile web display of 1.5%, down from 2.7% year-on-year (YoY), while Singapore and Vietnam experienced an uptick in optimised-against-ad-fraud rates for mobile web display to reach 0.8%. Indonesia mobile web display ad fraud rates reached 0.2%. On mobile web video, Australia posted a reduction in ad fraud rates to 0.4%.

Brand risk reduces to historic low levels across all environments aided by context-based strategies

Brand risk rates dipped to historically low levels in H2 2021. This shift was powered by the growing adoption of sophisticated contextual solutions, increasing privacy regulations, and the positive impact contextual alignment brings to the consumer advertising experience.

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India, New Zealand, and Australia experienced the lowest risk levels for display ads, each boasting annual reductions of 1.5 percentage points (pp) or more. On desktop display, Indonesia reported a sharp decline to reach 0.9% brand risk and a 14.7pp reduction to 1.3% on mobile web display. Singapore reported a brand risk level of 1.0% from 2.4% YoY for desktop display. Programmatic inventory on desktop display had higher brand risks than publisher direct in the APAC markets analysed, highlighting the importance of having a pre-bid and post-bid strategy in place to protect brand reputation.

Emerging digital advertising markets posted stronger viewability performance

Some of the most robust increases in display viewability came from emerging digital advertising markets, suggesting a continued reliance on display advertising as locally produced premium video content remains limited. India and Indonesia saw mobile app display viewability rise 9.5 and 7.3 pp, respectively. In APAC, Australia led the desktop display viewability levels (72.4%), followed by New Zealand (66.6%), Indonesia (65.8%), Singapore (65.0%), Vietnam (64.7%) with India (59.5%), and Japan (53.5%) registering the lowest viewability levels globally.

Mobile web display viewability jumped notably in Vietnam (+6.2pp) and Indonesia (+4.6pp). Mobile app display advanced the most of any format, reaching a global viewability average of 77.6%. Viewability on mobile app environments has also benefited from increased adoption of the IAB Tech Lab's Open Measurement SDK, a common code, and libraries for facilitating third-party access to measurement data.

Laura Quigley, SVP APAC at IAS said, "It's heartening to see improved digital media quality performance from emerging markets in the APAC region. Publishers are reviewing the inventory and re-designing their sites to deliver higher attention and viewability for clients as well as implementing a strategy to target away from risk and reduce fraud. This is leading to an increase in quality inventory. On the buy-side, advertisers must have robust pre-bid and post-bid strategies and deploy verification solutions to make sure that direct and programmatically traded impressions are protected and optimised to provide maximum impact and ROI."

Integral Ad Science's Media Quality Report - 16th Edition highlights brand safety, ad fraud, and viewability trends across display, video, mobile web, and in-app advertising. It analysed billions of global data events from ad campaigns that ran between 1st July to 31st December, 2021. The full report can be viewed here .

Contact:

Pooja Singh

+65-90615135

psingh@integralads.com

SOURCE Integral Ad Science (IAS)
By Mircely Guanipa and Marianna Parraga

CARACAS/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Venezuela's state-run energy firm PDVSA is in talks to buy and lease several oil tankers amid a possible expansion in exports, according to three sources and a document seen by Reuters, a sign the country expects U.S. sanctions on its petroleum sector to be eased.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has set off a global hunt for new oil supplies, especially the heavy oil produced by Venezuela. A high-level meeting between U.S. and Venezuelan officials in Caracas this month opened the door for talks over sanctions imposed on PDVSA in 2019, which were later reinforced by former U.S. President Donald Trump as part of his "maximum pressure" campaign to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The Trump administration's sanctions in 2020 led to a total cut of export authorizations covering most foreign energy firms in joint production with PDVSA. The suspension left companies including Chevron Corp, Eni SpA and Repsol SA with billions of dollars in unpaid dividends and debts that had been settled through Venezuelan oil cargoes.

Executives from PDVSA's maritime arm, PDV Marina, and the company's Trade and Supply division recently met with several firms offering tankers. All were willing to take Venezuelan crude or refined products as payment for the vessels, according to the document and sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"PDVSA's tanker fleet is too short for any increases in oil production for domestic refining or exports," one of the sources said.

PDVSA did not reply to a request for comment.

DILAPIDATED FLEET

PDVSA's aging fleet, composed of about 30 owned tankers, has been forced to mostly remain in Venezuelan waters after underinvestment and lack of repairs for more than a decade, according to Refinitiv Eikon data and sources.

The country's crude oil and petroleum exports have tumbled under U.S. sanctions, to about 650,000 barrels per day (bpd) last year, from more than 1.5 million bpd in 2018.

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U.S. sanctions stopping PDVSA from renewing its vessels' insurance and classification, which certifies they are seaworthy, have in recent years curtailed the firm's ability to use the ships for exports, leading it to rely largely on a group of third-party tankers that often lift crude at Venezuelan ports, sources and documents from the state company showed.

In one of the proposals seen by Reuters, a company whose name was redacted from the document, offered five Aframax tankers, each with the capacity to transport up to 700,000 barrels of oil, under a lease contract with an option to buy them.

It required PDVSA to pay between $22,500 to $35,000 per day for up to 12 months to lease each vessel under a time-charter contract. Those ships would progressively be replaced by new ones after the first year with payment for the new tankers through four million barrels of Venezuelan fuel oil valued at $300 million, according to the proposal.

That company also proposed to blur PDVSA's ownership of the new tankers through a chain of intermediaries, which would reduce the risk of retentions or seizures by the United States if sanctions remained in effect.

PDVSA in 2020 offered to ship its own oil, figuring in the costs in crude supply deals to help customers that struggled to hire vessels due to U.S. sanctions, but the contracts were short-lived due to lack of enough Venezuelan vessels.

The company that year also lost three of four very large crude carriers it bought from China over payment disputes. Earlier this year, PDVSA had to send a crew to rescue the remaining one, which was in distress for weeks in Asia.

Washington between 2019 and 2020 blacklisted vessel owners and operators that carried Venezuelan oil, but in the last year has not enforced similar maritime sanctions. Still, many shipping firms continue to avoid Venezuelan waters because of the U.S. measures, forcing large price discounts on the South American country's oil.

(Reporting by Mircely Guanipa in Caracas and Marianna Parraga in Houston; Editing by Gary McWilliams and Paul Simao)
Jazeera Airways has appointed TripAdmit, which connects activity providers with travellers and distribution partners, to offer a full range of tours and activities alongside its global destinations.



TripAdmits fully customised and bespoke white label solution will enable passengers to select and book experiences in over 30 destinations served by Jazeera Airways. Using TripAdmits powerful booking software and AI technology for personalised segmentation, the Kuwaiti airline will maximise ancillary revenue opportunities, providing customers with a range of exciting and enjoyable experiences when booking their flight.



Jazeera Airways is the latest airline to join TripAdmits portfolio of airline and travel partnerships worldwide.



Rohit Ramachandran, CEO Jazeera Airways said: Jazeera is expanding leisure destination options for customers and we are looking to enhance their travel experience. TripAdmits booking solution will enable us to offer some great value tours and experiences as part of our ancillary services.



Once customers have made a flight booking they will be sent a link on their flight confirmation to allow them to see the tours and experiences available for their destination and make a booking.



Carl Cromie, Director of Travel Partnerships TripAdmit, said: We are delighted to be working with Jazeera Airways. They are a progressive airline that recognises the benefits and opportunities available from tours and activities, improving conversions and increasing ancillary revenue. Our team of developers build powerful tailored solutions for airlines and this latest agreement demonstrates our high-quality standards and further enhances our strong partnership programme in this sector.  TradeArabia News Service
A bug in Facebooks News Feed ranking algorithm injected a surge of misinformation and other harmful content into users News Feeds between last October and March, according to an internal memo reported by The Verge. The unspecified bug, described by employees as a massive ranking failure, went unfixed for months and affected "as much as half of all News Feed views."

The problem affected Facebooks News Feed algorithm, which is meant to down-rank debunked misinformation as well as other problematic and borderline content. But last fall, views on debunked misinformation began rising by up to 30 percent, according to the memo, while other content that was supposed to be demoted was not. During the bug period, Facebooks systems failed to properly demote nudity, violence, and even Russian state media the social network recently pledged to stop recommending in response to the countrys invasion of Ukraine, according to the report.

More worrying, is that Facebook engineers apparently realized something was very wrong  The Verge reports the problem was categorized as a severe vulnerability in October  but it went unfixed until March 11th because engineers were unable to find the root cause.

The incident underscores just how complex, and often opaque, Facebooks ranking algorithms are even to its own employees. Whistleblower Frances Haugen has argued that issues like this one are evidence that the company needs to make its algorithms transparent to outside researchers or even move away from engagement-based ranking altogether.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that the bug had been fixed, saying it has not had any meaningful, long-term impact on our metrics.
Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd.

Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd.

(Falcon or the Company)

US$10 million Private Placement with US Strategic Investor

And

US$6 million Acquisition of Overriding Royalty Interest

NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR THROUGH U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES

31 March 2022 - Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. (TSXV: FO, AIM: FOG) is pleased to announce that it has received a subscription from Sheffield Holdings LP (Sheffield) for a US$10 million private placement through the issue of 62,500,000 Common Shares (the Placing Shares) at a price of CAD$0.20 per share (the Placing). Following the placement Sheffield will hold a total of 90,443,607 Common Shares of Falcon, representing 8.66% of Falcons issued and outstanding Common Shares.

Falcon Oil & Gas Australia Limited (Falcon Australia) has also agreed to grant Sheffield a 2% overriding royalty interest (ORRI) over Falcon Australias 22.5% working interest in the Beetaloo Sub-Basin exploration permits in return for a cash payment of US$6 million. The 2% ORRI is being granted to Sheffield calculated on equal economic terms as the existing 3% ORRI with the TOG Group. The cash proceeds of US$6 million will be used to exercise Falcon Australias call option to reduce the existing ORRI with the TOG group from 3% to 1%, which is expected to take place before 30 April 2022. The assets subject to the ORRI are not currently revenue generating and there are no profits or losses attributable to them. These changes to the ORRIs, will be submitted to the Northern Territory Government, Australia for registration.

Details of the Placing

The completion of the Placing is subject to approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. A further update on Admission will be provided in due course. The Placing Shares will not trade on the TSX Venture Exchange Market until the date that is four months and a day after the day of issuance. The Companys total issued share capital following Admission will be 1,044,347,425 Common Shares. The information contained within this Announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014. Upon the publication of this Announcement this inside information is now considered to be within the public domain.

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The securities being offered have not been, nor will they be, registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United State or to, of for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent registrations or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Use of Funds

The Placing will add US$10 million to the Companys cash balance of US$8.4 million as at 28 February 2022, which leaves Falcon in a strong financial position well ahead of future decisions on the Beetaloo project.

Philip OQuigley (CEO of Falcon) commented:

Falcon is very pleased that Bryan Sheffield of Sheffield Holdings LP has increased his strategic stake in the Company at this time. Bryan is a highly successful investor and has made significant returns in the US unconventional energy sector in the past. He was Founder of Parsley Energy Inc. (PE), an independent unconventional oil and gas producer in the Permian Basin, Texas and previously served as its Chairman and CEO.

PE was acquired for over US$7 billion by Pioneer Natural Resources Company (Pioneer), itself a leading independent oil and gas company and with the PE acquisition became a Permian pure play company. Pioneer has a current market capitalisation of c. US$60 billion.

Bryan Sheffield of Sheffield Holdings LP commented:

Falcon and its partner have the largest acreage (4.6 million acres) position centred over the Beetaloo Sub-Basin. The Beetaloo is emerging as a world class shale gas basin with stacked pay potential from several shale intervals. Flow tests from the B Shale of the Amungee Member have confirmed a productive dry gas system in place. Geologic and engineering data from test wells across the Sub- basin have similar properties to some of the highly successful shale gas plays in the United States. The Beetaloo Sub-Basin is still in the exploration and appraisal phase, but with continued good well results, Falcon is well positioned to become a key supplier of low carbon energy to Australia and to the world within a few short years. I am delighted to have this opportunity to acquire a significant interest in Falcon and gain exposure to their net 1 million acres in what may become one of the biggest shale plays in the world.

Ends.

CONTACT DETAILS:

Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. +353 1 676 8702 Philip O'Quigley, CEO +353 87 814 7042 Anne Flynn, CFO +353 1 676 9162 Cenkos Securities plc (NOMAD & Broker) Neil McDonald / Derrick Lee +44 131 220 9771 Camarco Billy Clegg / Rebecca Waterworth +44 (0)20 3781 8331





About Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd.

Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd is an international oil & gas company engaged in the exploration and development of unconventional oil and gas assets, with the current portfolio focused in Australia, South Africa and Hungary. Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd is incorporated in British Columbia, Canada and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with a technical team based in Budapest, Hungary.

Falcon Oil & Gas Australia Limited is a c. 98% subsidiary of Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. Falcon Oil & Gas Australia Limited and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Origin Energy Limited (ASX: ORG) (Origin Energy) are joint venture partners in respect of the Beetaloo project.

For further information on Falcon Oil & Gas Ltd. please visit www.falconoilandgas.com

Glossary of terms

Admission means admission of the Placing Shares to trading on AIM Announcement means this announcement Common Shares means the common shares in the share capital of the Company CAD$ Canadian dollar US$ United States dollars

Advisory regarding forward looking statements

Certain information in this press release may constitute forward-looking information. Any statements that are contained in this news release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking information. Forward-looking information typically contains statements with words such as may, will, should, expect, intend, plan, anticipate, believe, estimate, projects, dependent, potential, scheduled, forecast, outlook, budget, hope, support or the negative of those terms or similar words suggesting future outcomes. In particular, forward-looking information in this press release includes, but is not limited to, comments made with respect to the private placement and overriding royalty, the anticipated completion of such transactions and the use of proceeds therefrom and the development of the Beetaloo project by the Company and its joint venture partner. This information is based on current expectations that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. The risks, assumptions and other factors that could influence actual results include assumptions regarding all necessary regulatory approvals relating to the proposed transactions being obtained; risks associated with fluctuations in market prices for shale gas; risks related to the exploration, development and production of shale gas reserves; general economic, market and business conditions; substantial capital requirements; uncertainties inherent in estimating quantities of reserves and resources; extent of, and cost of compliance with, government laws and regulations and the effect of changes in such laws and regulations; the need to obtain regulatory approvals before development commences; environmental risks and hazards and the cost of compliance with environmental regulations; aboriginal claims; inherent risks and hazards with operations such as mechanical or pipe failure, cratering and other dangerous conditions; potential cost overruns, drilling wells is speculative, often involving significant costs that may be more than estimated and may not result in any discoveries; variations in foreign exchange rates; competition for capital, equipment, new leases, pipeline capacity and skilled personnel; the failure of the holder of licenses, leases and permits to meet requirements of such; changes in royalty regimes; failure to accurately estimate abandonment and reclamation costs; inaccurate estimates and assumptions by management and their joint venture partners; effectiveness of internal controls; the potential lack of available drilling equipment; failure to obtain or keep key personnel; title deficiencies; geo-political risks; and risk of litigation.

Readers are cautioned that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive and that these factors and risks are difficult to predict. Actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. Falcon assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those reflected in the forward looking-statements unless and until required by securities laws applicable to Falcon. Additional information identifying risks and uncertainties is contained in Falcons filings with the Canadian securities regulators, which filings are available at www.sedar.com, including under "Risk Factors" in the Annual Information Form.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.




By Monica Njeri

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Daniel Nzoma's face glows in the light of a computer screen as he reviews computer codes used for driverless cars and crop disease detection, an unusual job in Nairobi's crowded Pipeline neighbourhood.

Nzoma's job, which includes "geotagging", needs reliable and fast internet connectivity that used not to be available in Pipeline.

But start-up company Poa Internet is aiming to provide fast, cheap internet to low-income Kenyan neighbourhoods, such as Pipeline.

"The geotagging really requires high internet speed for you to be accurate," said Nzoma, as hawkers and horns blared outside his home.

Companies often outsource work that underpins artificial intelligence to people who label roadside objects, or teach driverless cars to recognise their surroundings, distinguish between a smudge of dirt on a fruit and disease, teaching machines to do the same.

But this is only possible with high speed internet.

Poa's custom-built software platform and off-the-shelf cheap Wifi components connect home aerials to towers it builds in the neighbourhoods it serves. So far, they have connected 12,000 homes and also serve cyber cafes in Nairobi.

"We use a form of super amped-up Wifi to deliver. So, we use wireless network to deliver to customers homes and this allows us to reduce the cost," Poa chief executive Andy Halsall said.

Kenya is one of Africa's most connected countries - 42% of Kenyans were online at the start of 2022, say internet researchers Datareportal. But connection quality is often low.

Cheap, fast internet bridges the "digital divide," offering more access to jobs, trade, education, and social inclusion. But few, if any, companies lay fibre connections in poor neighbourhoods. Most people there connect through their phones using 3G or 4G data bundles.

Nzoma pays 2,500 Kenyan shillings ($21.78) monthly for unlimited fast internet, about half the fees charged by other internet providers and cheaper than phone data bundles, provided by companies such as Airtel or Safaricom.

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In January, Poa closed a $28 million funding round led by infrastructure fund Africa50; it hopes to expand beyond Kenya. Halsall said the five-year-old company would turn a profit within a year.

($1 = 114.8000 Kenyan shillings)

(Additional reporting by Ayenat Mersie; writing by Ayenat Mersie; Editing by Katharine Houreld and Jane Merriman)
Dallas based Federal computer hacking defense attorney John Helms shares thoughts on SCOTUS computer hacking crimes ruling narrowing the scope of federal computer hacking laws

Federal computer hacking defense attorney - John Helms Dallas Texas

Federal computer hacking defense attorney John Helms shares thoughts on SCOTUS computer hacking crimes ruling narrowing the scope of federal computer hacking laws

Dallas, TX , March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New web resource from Dallas Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer John Helms on the Van Buren v. United States Supreme Court ruling.

Last years Supreme Court Ruling in the Van Buren v. United States case involved a police officer who was charged with illegally accessing information from a workplace database. He used the information for personal purposes rather than official law enforcement purposes, which was against department policies, but not against federal law, according to the Supreme Courts ruling. This ruling has far-reaching implications for federal hacking and computer crimes laws. In a new resource, federal computer crimes defense lawyer John Helms explains the ruling and related laws, as well as the ways it will affect similar cases moving forward.

The opinion significantly narrowed the conduct that can be considered criminal under the federal computer hacking law, says Mr. Helms, a former federal prosecutor who uses his experience to provide unique insight to each defense, This is good news for those accused of federal computer hacking crimes.



The resource put together by Federal Criminal Defense Lawyer John Helms goes in-depth to answer the following questions:



What is Van Buren v. United States?

What is the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act?

What does the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act say about federal computer hacking crimes?

What did the Supreme Court rule in Van Buren v. United States?

What are computer fraud and hacking charges considered serious?

What should you do when charged with a federal computer crime?

Read the full resource on the Supreme Court federal computer crimes ruling here.

Hacking Defense : Computer Hacking, Cyber Crimes  Federal Crimes of Unauthorized Access to Computer Information

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About John Helms Dallas Based Federal Computer Hacking Defense Attorney

John Helms as a former federal prosecutor for the Northern District of Texas never lost a trial or appeal. He is uniquely qualified to evaluate both sides of a criminal case and provide his clients with the most effective defense strategy. John has practiced as a Dallas criminal defense attorney for over thirty years and has worked on many state and federal criminal appeals.

He has been the recipient of numerous awards as a result of the time, effort, and creativity he puts into every case. These awards include Thomas Reuters Super Lawyer and D Magazines Best Lawyers in Dallas. Mr. Helms has represented some of the countrys largest corporations, including Microsoft, Bank of America, and Phillip Morris.



If you or a loved one has been charged with a state or federal computer hacking crime and are facing the possibility of a federal or state conviction which means facing many years of incarceration in a state jail or federal penitentiary, then speak to an experienced federal computer hacking defense attorney about your case.



Please fill out this form or call (214)-666-8010

John Helms LinkedIn: Dallas criminal defense attorney and trial lawyer specializing in appeals, criminal defense and white-collar crime

Media Contact:

R. William

(214)-666-8010

Newsroom: dallascrimenews.johnhelms.attorney



https://johnhelms.attorney/





Attachment




By Dhara Ranasinghe

LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - A calmer tone surfaced in euro zone bonds on Thursday, but with inflation and rate-hike fears gripping markets German 10-year bond yields were set to end March with their biggest monthly surge since 1996.

Most 10-year yields across the single currency bloc were down 5-6 basis points in early trade, a day after a fresh surge triggered by strong inflation prints in Germany and Spain.

French inflation rose to a record high 5.1% in March, data on Thursday showed, although falling oil prices brought some comfort to bond investors.

Surging inflation, which has raised expectations the European Central Bank may have to hike interest rates sooner rather than later, and a more aggressive stance from the likes of the U.S. Federal Reserve have sent bond markets reeling.

Germany's 10-year Bund yield, down five basis points (bps) in early trade at 0.60%, is up 45 bps in March and set to end the month with the biggest monthly surge since 1996.

Two-year German yields, trading around 0%, have jumped around 48 bps this month - poised for their biggest monthly rise since 2011.

Dutch and French 10-year bond yields were set for their biggest monthly rises since 2012 and 2011 respectively, with monthly rises over 40 bps each .

"This is very significant," said ING senior rates strategist Antoine Bouvet. "A move of this magnitude will have investors reassess the riskiness of their bonds portfolio and have market participants who thought their rates risk was negligible until now hedge it."

Yield surges in euro area bond markets echoed similar milestones being seen in other major debt markets.

U.S. 2-year Treasury yields are up around 85 bps in March, set for their biggest monthly increase since 1989, according to Refinitiv data. They are up 157 bps this quarter, on track for the biggest quarterly jump since 1984.

Commerzbank bond analysts said investors seemed unwilling "to catch the falling knife" and with inflation headwinds and aggressive monetary policy exit pricing still in vogue, they were sticking with their view that further weakness in German bonds was likely.

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe Editing by Mark Potter)
Influ2

Advertising platform and analysts prove that the evolution of ABM is a buying group focused strategy

NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Influ2, the first Person-Based Advertising (PBA) platform, today announced that independent research firm, Forrester, cited it as an early stage B2B solution in the New Tech: Account-Based Marketing, Q1 2022 report. The report analyzes Account-Based Marketing (ABM) vendors and addresses specific gaps in the marketing technology stack that are fundamental to deploy ABM strategy.

Were proud to be recognized by Forrester as an early stage solution in ABM, which continues to be a key strategy for B2B marketers. Since we first launched, weve been driven to help marketers more effectively target their prospects - as thats the foundation of any successful campaign" said CEO and Co-founder Dmitri Lisitski. But, instead of solely focusing on reaching individuals, we have moved toward helping marketers reach buying groups. Because in B2B purchasing decisions are never made by just one person, so you must have consensus of the group.

Furthering its commitment to evolving ABM, Influ2 plans to unveil an end-to-end Buying Group Marketing (BGM) solution towards the latter half of 2022. This solution will give marketers the ability to monitor engagement and sentiment across buying groups to help them provide sales and marketing experiences that reflect where targets are in their purchasing journeys. This transformative B2B marketing solution will also help B2B marketers better reach key decision-makers and buying groups at their target accounts.

A Roadmap to the Future of ABM

Influ2 painted a vision of the future for B2B marketing at the recent 2022 B2B Marketing Exchange (B2BMX) conference. The company hosted a Lunch and Learn entitled BGM is here to rock you! Why Buying Group Marketing is the next big strategy for B2B. During the interactive session, Lisitski highlighted the industry trends driving BGM and how attendees can apply it to their own marketing strategies.

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When we launched Influ2, our initial idea was to forget ABM because a better approach to marketing could be taken. Theres an urgent need for a holistic purchasing experience, and a Buying Group Marketing approach helps marketers deliver a coordinated journey to a group of individuals, and allows marketers to build strategies with groups of stakeholders in mind.

The conference was held in Scottsdale, AZ from February 28th to March 2nd and Influ2 was a platinum sponsor of the event.

B2BMX Community Raises Funds to Support the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Charitable Foundation

At the conference, Influ2 partnered with Demand Gen Report and the #B2BMX community to raise $20,000 in support of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Charitable Foundation.

As a national and with Influ2's business roots in Ukraine, I'm deeply saddened by the current situation.Thats why were committing funds to KSE. This is an organization that our Ukrainian team has actively worked with, and its focused on using its institutional capacity to ensure the most effective and targeted use of funds for humanitarian purposes, said Lisitski. While challenged, our Ukrainian team remains determined, resilient, and courageous, and were glad we can support this meaningful effort.

KSEs humanitarian aid campaign has raised $15,000,000 to date, with the goal of raising money to help distribute 300,000 First Aid kits for Ukraines civilian volunteer defense forces. Contributions can be made at: https://kse.ua/support/donation.

To learn more about Influ2, please visit: www.influ2.com.

To view the Now Tech: Account-Based Sales Technologies Report, Q1 2022, visit Forrester.com.

About Influ2

Influ2 is a Person-Based Advertising platform for B2B companies that is purpose-built for B2B marketers who want to amplify their enterprise reach and revenue. It serves ads to specific decision-markers via display and social networks and provides sales with person-based and buying group insights that drive engagement within their target accounts. Where attention is finite, Influ2 helps you get in front of and drive engagement with people that want to engage with you. For more information, visit influ2.com.

Media Contacts

Samantha Rubenstein

PR Manager for Influ2

s.rubenstein@influ2.com

Kelsey OShaughnessy

BLASTmedia PR for Influ2

influ2@blastmedia.com




ROME, March 31 (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said he had discussed the idea of building a gas pipeline to Spain with his Spanish counterpart as part of plans to wean Europe off Russian gas.

"There is the idea of the Italy-Spain gas pipeline, which we discussed with (Prime Minister Pedro) Sanchez in Rome and also at the European Council," Draghi said on Thursday.

Spain has the largest regasification capacity in Europe but transporting the gas into Europe across the Pyrenees has been a problem because of bottlenecks.

Europe, which sources about 40% of gas supplies from Russia, has been scrambling to find alternatives and diversify its supply mix following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

"The southern Mediterranean countries of Europe are now realizing they can be very important hubs for gas today but also, and above all, for hydrogen tomorrow," Draghi said at a press conference.

On Thursday, Spanish gas transporter Enagas said it was weighing options with Madrid and operators in neighbouring countries to beef up Spain's interconnections to transport gas and hydrogen.

Draghi said that while replacing 30-40% of Russian supplies could be done immediately, it would be much harder to replace the rest.

Italy, which has pipeline connections to Algeria, Libya and Azerbaijan, is keen to increase LNG imports to cut its reliance on Russia.

"There is another hypothesis, the EastMed gas pipeline... The EU Commission is studying the feasibility of the pipeline," Draghi said.

State-controlled energy group Eni has in the past said gas projects in east Mediterranean countries such as Egypt, Cyprus and Israel could be key to helping Europe diversify. (Reporting by Crispian Balmer, additional reporting by Isla Binnie in Madrid, writing by Stephen Jewkes, editing by Gianluca Semeraro and Bernadette Baum)
ALMATY, March 31 (Reuters) - Kazakhstan's central bank has warned local banks they must strictly observe compliance procedures when issuing cards to foreigners, it said on Thursday, after reports that Russians were obtaining Kazakh bank cards remotely.

Visa and Mastercard have suspended operations in Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, leaving many Russians without a convenient way to pay for foreign goods and services online or send and receive payments.

As a result, Russian and Kazakh media have reported that multiple intermediaries have emerged who allow Russians to obtain a Kazakh bank card remotely by signing a power of attorney document and paying a fee.

Kazakhstan's central bank said in a statement on Thursday it has warned banks this week that while they are free to issue cards to foreigners, they must follow compliance and know-your-customer procedures.

Russia says it launched a "special military operation" to disarm and "denazify" its neighbour, and that the mission is going to plan. Western countries say the invasion was an unprovoked war of aggression and that Russia's true aim was to swiftly topple the government in Kyiv.

Kazakhstan has avoided criticising Russia, but President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said this month when commenting on the conflict that all countries must strictly adhere to the norms and principles of the UN Charter.

Separately, four sources told Reuters the regulator insisted in a meeting with banks this week that they observe a rule requiring them to issue cards only to customers in person, establish the aim of opening the account, and consult Visa or Mastercard to assess risks.

Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic, has a large ethnic Russian population and close economic ties with Russia, its biggest trade partner. (Reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva Writing by Olzhas Auyezov Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
Majic Wheels Corp.

Highlights include $25.1m revenue and $5.4m profit

Houston, Texas, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Majic Wheels Corp. (OTC Pink: MJWL) ("Majic" or the Company, $MJWL), a Wyoming Corporation, has today posted its encouraging annual results of operations.

Majic Wheels results highlight significant achievements, thus solidifying its strong foundation for growth in the coming year.

We are extremely happy with the performance of Majic Wheels over this past year, comments David Chong, CEO of Majic Wheels Corp. We continue to build a solid foundation of recurring revenue through a combination of acquisitions and organic growth. This is due to the teams hard-work and vision, and its ability to consolidate within this fast-growing sector.

Highlights from the Annual Disclosure posted today:

The Companys Payables have increased in this Annual Disclosure to $2,746,671 as compared to last years $1,622,675. This is due to increased business activity.

Net Income has jumped to $5,359,166, compared to $680,617 in the previous Annual Disclosure.

Long Term Liabilities of $837,519 from the Annual Disclosure last year were reduced to $0.00 in the current year.

The Total Assets of the Company equal $236,407,041, including Goodwill.

Three notable achievements for MJWL over the past 12 months include:

According to its plan, MJWL completed its acquisition of CGCX Group and The Bamboo Wellness. Completion of the acquisition of PCEX is imminent. The completion was slightly delayed due to over-complex regulatory issues, but these are now resolved. MJWLs global footprint has continued to grow through its introduction of CGCX tokens to the Indian market via our partner and soon-to-be subsidiary.

Sathayanandham Anguswami, COO of Majic Wheels Corp. states: The past few months have been incredibly exciting for MJWL. We have an exciting roadmap for 2022 clearly defined, and look forward to further successes as our business goals and opportunities are realised.

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The Company has not concluded the audit with the PCAOB registered auditor for December 2021 in view of a potential strategic corporate development, which will be updated to all investors and shareholders at the appropriate time.

MJWL invites shareholders and investors to follow its Twitter handle ( @MajicCorp ) for regular updates.

For further information, please contact ir@majiccorp.co

ABOUT MAJIC WHEELS CORP. (MJWL)

Majic Wheels Corp Inc., a Wyoming Holding Corporation, has positioned itself as a major player in the disruptive industries of Fintech and software development by means of multiple acquisitions. The Company's first acquisition is the cryptocurrency exchange, cryptocurrency mining farm and custody services platform: Calfin Global Crypto Exchange (CGCX) followed by 26% equity stake of Bamboo Wellness Holdings Limited. MJWL is also working on the closing of the acquisition of PCEX as previously announced. Majic Wheels Corp. is listed and traded on the Over-the-Counter Market under the trading symbol "MJWL.

For more information about the Company, please visit:

OTC Markets Profile: https://www.otcmarkets.com/stock/MJWL/overview

Website: https://majiccorp.co/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MajicCorp

Safe Harbour Statement:

In addition to historical information, this press release may contain statements that constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include the intent, belief, or expectations of the Company and members of its management team with respect to the Company's future business operations and the assumptions upon which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these differences include, but are not limited to, failure to complete anticipated sales under negotiations, lack of revenue growth, client discontinuances, failure to realize improvements in performance, efficiency and profitability, and adverse developments with respect to litigation or increased litigation costs, the operation or performance of the Company's business units or the market price of its common stock. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ.




SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Massage Envy, the nation's No. 1 provider of massage in the U.S. collectively across its franchise network, today announced the winners of its annual gala awards program.

Massage Envy Goes Back to its Roots with the Return of Co-Founder Turned Brand Ambassador Shawn Haycock (PRNewsfoto/Massage Envy)

"Each year our great brand recognizes the incredible achievements of the most outstanding franchisee and franchised location employees," said Beth Stiller, Massage Envy Franchising CEO. "It's very difficult to choose the best of the best from franchised locations because the stories of the impact they have on their members and their communities is all so inspiring. All of the nominees and the winners personify our brand purpose of helping people feel their best, and I am so proud of every one of them."

The following awards were presented for the 2021 calendar year:

National Franchisee of the Year: Mark Preetorius, Atlanta, Ga. Preetorius, who owns four franchised locations in Georgia, was recognized as an exemplary franchisee who personifies the brand's core values of optimism, gratitude, excellence, consistency, and empathy, and motivates others to adopt those same values. According to an employee who works at one of Preetorius' franchised locations, "Our franchisee's dedication to the ideas of committed teamwork and community outreach have allowed our clinics and the staff to operate with the assurance that they are guided by an individual who sees that the big picture is painted with many different strokes, and no single artist creates a collective masterpiece." With over 7 years as a Massage Envy franchisee, we are thrilled to celebrate Mark's contributions to the brand and his community.





National Manager of the Year : Dustin Schneider, Charleston, SC. Schneider, who works at the West Ashley franchised location in Charleston, owned by Caitlin Daly, was recognized as the most outstanding franchised location manager because he inspires the best in others and achieves business excellence in the pursuit of helping people feel their best. "Dustin shows up and proves he is a true leader ready to face whatever challenges come his way," Daly said. "He is adaptable, open to change and improvement, continuously optimistic, and consistently leads the team with excellence."





National Therapist of the Year: Jing Shi, Mountain View, Ca. Shi, who works at the Mountain View franchised location, owned by Linda Wenge, was recognized as the Massage Therapist who best personifies a commitment to helping members and guests through the power of massage and assisted stretch. Wenge had this to say about Shi, " "Jing stands out as the most productive, the most requested, the most pre-booked massage therapist among all the therapists that I have encountered."





National Esthetician of the Year: Elizabeth Knapik, Henderson, Nev. Knapik, who works at the Lake Meade Crossing franchised location, owned by Marissa and Mario Hawkins, was recognized as the esthetician who best exemplifies the Massage Envy brand's commitment to helping members and guests with their skin care journey. "Excellence is the culmination of a thousand consistent steps. In the past six years with the brand, this outstanding esthetician has made incredible strides," Marissa Hawkins said."





National Sales Associate of The Year: Shawn Remfry, Kansas City, Mo. Remfry, who works at the Tom Watson Parkway franchised location, owned by Les Snyder, was recognized as the extraordinary Sales Associate who develops connections with clients, guides their membership, and delivers on the brand promise of helping people feel their best. According to Snyder, when asked to describe the winner in one word, customers had this to say, "Awesome," "Sweet," "Caring," "Helpful."

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This year's awards gala, held March 23 in Oxon Hill, Md., just across the Potomac River from the nation's capital, was sponsored by Jan Marini Skin Research, and PCA Skin. "We deeply appreciate our sponsors for their support of this wonderful event as well as their dedication to this great brand throughout the year," said Stiller.

For more information about Massage Envy, please visit www.massageenvy.com

About Massage Envy

Massage Envy, based in Scottsdale, Arizona, is a national franchisor and does not independently own or operate any of the Massage Envy franchised locations nationwide. The Massage Envy franchise network, through its franchise locations, is the leading provider of therapeutic massage services. Founded in 2002, Massage Envy has more than 1,100 franchise locations in 49 states that have together delivered more than 190 million massages and facials. For more information, visit www.massageenvy.com, or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook at @MassageEnvy.

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SOURCE Massage Envy


With the new Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government promising to bring reforms, it will be interesting to see how things unfold for Dalit farmers of the state.

Fateh Guram and Rishabh Jain| TwoCircles.net

Support TwoCircles



PUNJAB  Amidst the lush fields of rice and mustard surrounded by ponds and canals in Punjabs Sangrur district, an area dominated by Dalit Sikhs, a drastic change can be seen with newly constructed houses largely owned by the marginalised community of the area.

This prosperity has been a result of agitation that started in 2014 when the Dalits living in Balad Kalan village of Sangrur district started protesting against the unequal distribution of the land. Their demand was to have one-third of Panchayati land on lease, which later on was accepted by the government. Through protests and agitations, the farmers from the Dalit community in more than 100 villages of Punjab were able to cultivate on land that was legally theirs but was denied to them either by the administration or the upper caste members.

For 63-year-old Charan Singh, a Dalit farmer residing in Balad Kalan, having his own land means a life of self-respect, as it makes him feel secure, both socially and financially.

Control over our share of common land has ensured that we can grow what we want, and that we can also evenly distribute the crop among ourselves, he said.

However, despite major reforms in land ownership in Punjab, the Dalit community which constitutes around 32% of the population, owns only 2.3% of the total agricultural land, whereas the Jatt Sikhs who form around 25% of the total population are the major landowners.

Land ownership in Punjab

Dalits in Punjab have two types of land: nazool land for people who moved from Pakistan, and a third of the common land, or panchayat land, as defined by the Village Common Land (Regulation) Act 1961.

The revenue department auctions the common land every year, with representation from the panchayat. The government establishes a rate per acre that is typically 15% higher than the preceding year.

Dalits in Sangrur pushed the administration to amend the auctioning method after a long campaign. The community as a whole, not individuals, is auctioned off the reserved land. A committee makes the bid, and the Dalits share responsibility for the land and harvest  the sond or rainy-season crop, which is primarily rice, and the khari or winter crop, which is primarily wheat.

Avtar Singh, a 35-year-old Dalit farmer from Balad Kalan told TwoCircles.net that earlier when they got the land no one would provide them with loans to spend on input costs for the crop.

We are 188 families, and all of us pooled money by borrowing it from our relatives. That is how we managed to grow our first ever crop. In three years time, we managed to make profits from the land, and today, we give 5 quintals of wheat to every Dalit household in the village, free of cost, he said.

Mukesh Malaudh, president of the Zameen Prapati Sangharsh Committee (ZPSC), which fights for the land rights of Dalits believes that having the control of land in the hands of the Dalit farmers has given them a sense of self-respect.

When the community has land, it has economic power, too. With land comes an entire economy which is dependent on agriculture, and when you have your own land and are not dependent on anyone, it gives you the confidence to stand up to your oppressors, he said.

Impact of farmers protest

When the farmers protest started in the month of November, 2020 the Dalit farmers of Punjab whole heartedly supported it. Although they are not the major landowners, they were still working on the farm lands owned by the Jatt Sikhs of Punjab and they feared they might lose their employment.

However, Mukesh Malaudh believes that despite the Dalits being an integral part of the farmers protest, their condition on the ground has not changed a lot.

The attitudes of upper castes in Punjab have not changed at all after the farmers protest. The slogan of Farmer-Worker Unity was a catchy slogan, but it was just that  a catchy slogan. No change has come on the ground, he said.

He further said that the Dalits in Punjab are not a homogenous group but a heterogeneous one. Therefore, it becomes difficult to unite them, he said. He explains this by giving an example that the Ravidasias, for instance, will look down upon the Mazhabi Sikhs. As a result, it is very difficult to bring different caste groups within the Dalits to a common consensus on a lot of things.

However, the issue of land is such that people despite their caste differences will come together to fight for it.

Land has the power to unite people and we also use the struggle for land rights as a means to unite people from across caste lines and divisions, he adds.

Therefore, keeping the issue of land in mind the ZPSC plans to agitate against the unfairly distributed land in the future. Their aim is to make the Land Ceiling Act to be reduced from 17.5 acres to 10 acres. Now with the new government formation in the state where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) promises to bring reforms, it will be interesting to see how things unfold.

Fateh Guram is a Delhi based freelance journalist covering human-rights, caste and communalism. He tweets at @GuramBhaaji. Rishabh Jain is freelance journalist writer based in New Delhi who writes on minorities and society. He tweets at @ThisIsRjain.
OTTAWA, ON, March 31, 2022 /CNW/ - On April 27, 2022, Statistics Canada will release the second set of results from the 2021 Census. This release will explore Canada's shifting demographic profile, and for the first time ever, will include data about the gender diversity of our population. Additional questions on sex-at-birth and gender were added to the 2021 Census to allow more Canadians to be better represented. Data about age and the various types of dwellings in Canada will also be released.

The release will be published in Statistics Canada's Daily at 8:30 a.m. eastern time on April 27, 2022. Information about subsequent releases throughout 2022 is available here.

Statistics Canada officials will hold a news conference to present high-level national, provincial, and territorial findings for the second release from the 2021 Census. Officials will be available to answer questions from the media following their remarks.

On April 27 and the following days, Statistics Canada will also grant interviews regarding this 2021 Census data release. Members of the media are invited to submit their requests for interviews and/or custom tabulations ahead of the release date to the Media Hot Line .

Date

April 27, 2022

Time

9:30 AM to 10:30 AM (EDT)

Location

The news conference will be held virtually.

Participation in the question and answer portion of this event is for accredited members of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery only. Media who are not members of the Press Gallery may contact pressres2@parl.gc.ca to request temporary access. A teleconference line is also available for media who wish to listen to the event:

Toll-free dial-in number (Canada/US): 1-866-206-0153

Local dial-in number: 613-954-9003

Participant passcode: 7501902#

SOURCE Statistics Canada

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Market Data Centre

The prominent players in the global Membrane Chromatography market are Sartorius, GE Healthcare, Asahi Kasei, Danaher, Merck Millipore, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Cole-Parmer, Membrane Solutions and 3M Company among others.

Pune, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chromatography is a laboratory technique that focuses on determining the differences in the physical and chemical properties of various substances. Membrane Chromatography uses microfiltration membrane with functional ligand or antigens linked to the inner pore surface across the membrane structure to achieve extremely selective separations via binding interactions. Depending on the separating material, certain membrane with greater pore size are utilized. They have high binding effectiveness as well as quick flow and scalability. Membrane chromatography is well known bio processing technology that is frequently used in the capture of big particles like viruses and viral sectors, as well as in polishing processes to remove DNA, host cell protein impurities and viruses.

The principal benefit of the membrane chromatography method is attributed to short diffusion times, as the communications between molecules and active sites in the membrane occur in convective through-pores rather than in passive fluid inside the resin pores. Another attractive feature of these membrane devices for biopharmaceutical industries is their single-use ability, as the removal of cleaning and regeneration steps decreases the contamination risk and production costs. Most maximum membrane chromatography devices, particularly those for ion-exchange, are made from regenerated cellulose. The advantages offered by the membrane chromatography include, high binding efficiency due to direct access to the binding groups, even at high flow rates, lower cost of operation and vast scalability and flexibility.





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The global membrane chromatography market is expected to witness high growth in the years to come thanks to the growing demand for biopharmaceuticals. The market is also benefiting from increased Investments towards research and development in the bio pharmaceutical industry. The various benefits of membrane chromatography over traditional chromatography methods will also be a key factor behind the growing adoption of membrane chromatography methods. In addition to this, the growing regulatory study on the cleaning validation of downstream purification processes will drive the growth of the global membrane chromatography market. The global membrane chromatography market is principally driven by the increasing demand for biopharmaceuticals and growing R&D projects in the biotechnology industry for the uplifting of the healthcare sector.

The Membrane chromatography market is segmented based on technique, product, operation, end user and region. Based on technique, the market is bifurcated into Affinity Membrane Chromatography, Hydrophobic Interaction Membrane Chromatography (HIMC), and Ion Exchange Membrane Chromatography in which Ion exchange membrane chromatography segment would account for the significant portion in the market. Ion exchange chromatography have several advantages such as disposable nature, rapid processing, robustness, scalability, good report, reduce battery consumption, and a validation free environment. Based on product, the market is divided into Consumables and accessories. Consumables include capsules, cartridges, syringes, membrane disc and sheets.

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Based on operation mode, the market is segmented into Flow-through Membrane Chromatography and Bind-elute Membrane Chromatography. Furthermore, based on end user membrane chromatography market is divided in Pharmaceutical and Biopharmaceutical Companies, CROs, Academic and Research Institutes. Over the upcoming period the Pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical sector is expected to grow at significant rate. Increased investments in R&D operations in the biopharma sector, as well as increased development in biologics is both contributing to the growth.

North America is expected to dominate the market a due to the presence of the largest consumer market with high GDP. North America includes the United States, Canada and Mexico. The US and Canada have well-structured and development healthcare systems. These countries also promote pharmaceutical research and development and hence have very high expenditure on healthcare. As a result of these policies, many companies globally are encouraged to operate in this region.

The Asia-Pacific region also holds the majority of the share in the membrane chromatography market and is expected to witness the growth due to increase in small players and rising awareness. China will remain among the fastest growing in this cluster of regional markets. Led by countries such as Japan, Australia, India, and South Korea in Asia-Pacific market.





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COMPANY PROFILES (Business Overview, Products/Services Offered, Financial Performance, R&D Intensity, Marketing & Sales Intensity, Recent Developments, Analyst Corner)*

Merck Millipore GE Healthcare Danaher Sartorius Thermo Fisher Scientific Asahi Kasei Restek 3M Cole-Parmer Membrane Solutions

Recent Developments

In 2017, Sartorius AG launched Sartobind Cassettes

In 2018, 3M Company launched Emphaze AEX Hybrid Purifier Capsules.

In 2019 October, Merck KGaA announced that they have invested in their global headquarters in Darmstadt for building a new Translational Science Centre for its Healthcare business sector as well as a new Learning Centre. This investment have provided company an increase in R&D activities.

In 2019, Thermo Fisher Scientific invested approximately USD 24 million in its Scotland site to expand its global bioproduction capabilities and to cater to the demand for industry-leading bioproduction products.

In 2019, Sartorius AG entered into an agreement to acquire parts of Danahers Life Science portfolio, which is complementary to the portfolio of Sartorius laboratory and bioprocess business. This transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2020.





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In 2020, Danaher Corporation completed the acquisition of the Biopharma business of General Electric Companys Life Sciences division and rebranded it as Cytiva.

In August 2021, Sartorius AG announced that they have entered into a partnership with McMaster University to improve manufacturing processes of antibody and virus-based treatments for diseases such as COVID-19, cancers, and genetic disorders. This have helped the company to enhance their manufacturing process and increase production.

At MDC Research, we offer research solutions to help businesses break the barriers of doubt or uncertainties when they plan to expand their growth. Our researchers compile data and information that help chief executive officers decide which growth opportunities in a market to pursue.

MDC Research is known for conducting well-researched reports, and the expertise of our researchers contributes to the outstanding quality of our reports. MDC Research enables businesses to make impactful decisions by blending innovation and analytical thinking. Our unique blend of these two skills assures you access to the most complete and up-to-date information about your industry.

MDC Research has a wealth of experience using the latest methodologies to develop reports for a wide range of clients in diverse markets. Our commitment to delivering high-quality research and creating innovative reports is one of the reasons why MDC Research is such a trusted name in the business world today.





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About MDC:

Market Data Centre (Subsidiary of Yellow Bricks Global Services Private Limited)

Market Data Centre offers complete solutions for market research reports in miscellaneous businesses.These decisions making process depend on wider and systematic extremely important information created through extensive study as well as the most recent trends going on in the industry.The company also attempts to offer much better customer-friendly services and appropriate business information to achieve our clients ideas.





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Microbix Biosystems Inc.

MISSISSAUGA, CANADA, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Microbix Biosystems Inc. (TSX: MBX, OTCQB: MBXBF, Microbix), a life sciences innovator and exporter, announces the voting results from its Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders (the Meeting) which was held on March 30, 2022.

At the Meeting, 44.84% of the issued and outstanding shares were represented. Shareholders voted in favour of all resolutions brought before the Meeting. Details of all resolutions that were voted upon are set-out in the Management Information Circular (the Circular) dated February 18, 2022. The Circular is available on Microbixs website (www.microbix.com) and on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

All of the board of directors nominees listed in the Circular were elected as directors of Microbix. The results of the vote were as follows:

Nominee Votes For % Votes For Withheld % Withheld Peter M. Blecher 59,238,916 99.69% 186,570 0.31% Mark A. Cochran 58,999,416 99.28% 426,070 0.72% Vaughn C. Embro-Pantalony 58,813,416 98.97% 612,070 1.03% Cameron L. Groome 58,256,018 98.03% 1,169,468 1.97% Martin Marino 59,257,416 99.72% 168,070 0.28% Joseph D. Renner 59,257,416 99.72% 168,070 0.28% Jennifer Stewart 59,260,157 99.72% 165,329 0.28%

Shareholders also approved a resolution re-appointing Microbixs auditors, Ernst & Young LLP, with 99.97% of the votes cast in favour.

The slides of managements presentation at the Meeting have been posted at www.microbix.com.

About Microbix Biosystems

Microbix develops proprietary biological technology solutions for human health and well-being, with over 100 skilled employees and sales nearing C$ 2.0 million per month. It makes a wide range of critical biological materials for the global diagnostics industry, notably antigens for immunoassays and its laboratory quality assessment products (QAPs) that support clinical lab proficiency testing, enable assay development and validation, or help ensure the quality of clinical diagnostic workflows. Microbix antigens enable the antibody tests of over 100 international diagnostics companies, while its QAPs are sold to clinical laboratory accreditation organizations, diagnostics companies, and clinical laboratories. Microbix QAPs are now available in over 30 countries, distributed by 1WA (Oneworld Accuracy Inc.), Alpha-Tec Systems, Inc., Diagnostic International Distribution SpA., Labquality Oy, The Medical Supply Company of Ireland, R-Biopharm AG, SDT Molecular Pte Ltd, Seegene Canada Inc., and Thomas Scientific LLC. Microbix is ISO 9001 and 13485 accredited, U.S. FDA registered, Australian TGA registered, Health Canada establishment licensed, and provides CE marked products.

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Microbix also applies its biological expertise and infrastructure to develop other proprietary products and technologies, most notably viral transport medium (DxTM) to stabilize patient samples for lab-based molecular diagnostic testing and Kinlytic urokinase, a biologic thrombolytic drug used to treat blood clots. Microbix is traded on the TSX and OTCQX, and headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

Forward-Looking Information

This news release or the referenced management presentation may include forward-looking information, as such term is defined in applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information includes, without limitation, all discussion regarding Microbix products, Microbixs business and business results, goals or outlook, risks associated with financial results and stability, development projects such as those referenced in its corporate presentations, regulatory compliance and approvals, sales to domestic or foreign jurisdictions, engineering and construction, production (including control over costs, quality, quantity and timeliness of delivery), foreign currency and exchange rates, maintaining adequate working capital and raising further capital on acceptable terms or at all, and other similar statements concerning anticipated future events, conditions or results that are not historical facts. These statements reflect managements current estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations; they are not guarantees of future performance. The Company cautions that all forward looking information is inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by a number of material factors, many of which are beyond the Companys control. Accordingly, actual future events, conditions and results may differ materially from the estimates, beliefs, intentions and expectations expressed or implied in the forward-looking information. All statements are made as of the date of this news release and represent the Companys judgement as of the date of this new release, and the Company is under no obligation to update or alter any forward-looking information.

Cameron Groome,

CEO

(905) 361-8910 Jim Currie,

CFO

(905) 361-8910 Deborah Honig,

Investor Relations

Adelaide Capital Markets

(647) 203-8793

ir@microbix.com Jim Macdonald,

Investor Relations

Torrey Hills Capital

(858) 456-7300

jm@sdthc.com

Copyright  2022 Microbix Biosystems Inc.

Microbix, DxTM, Kinlytic, and QAPs are trademarks of Microbix Biosystems Inc.




PERKINSTON, Miss., March 31, 2022--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dedicated to enhancing economic growth, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community Colleges (MGCCC) George County Center launched a brand-new workforce development program with Enviva (NYSE: EVA), the worlds leading sustainable biomass producer with operations in the U.S. Southeast. The program will offer training to current and prospective Enviva employees.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005403/en/

Clint Pearce (Enviva Lucedale Plant Manager) shakes hands with Dr. Lisa Rhodes (Administrative Dean at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community Colleges George County Center) outside of Envivas newest wood pellet production plant in Lucedale, MS. (Photo: Business Wire)

On a mission to elevate workforce readiness and career training in Southern Mississippi, 30 Enviva associates attended their first training class at MGCCCs George County Center on March 1, 2022. The 18-week program, supported by Enviva and facilitated by MGCCC, is designed to further enhance safety awareness and preparedness, strengthen practical on-the-job skills, and promote continuous improvement and training for workforce advancement.

"This is a great opportunity for the Lucedale community, and we look forward to a long-lasting partnership with Enviva at our George County Center," said Dr. Mary S. Graham, MGCCC president. "Through this workforce training initiative, these students will be prepared for a career in their hometown with an outstanding company."

Starting this March, Enviva associates at the renewable energy companys brand-new Lucedale wood biomass production plant were offered paid time off to attend training classes twice a week at the MGCCC George County Center on topics related to their occupation, such as heat exchangers and transmitter operations, chain belt tension and alignment, air-operated valves (AOV), hydraulics and pneumatics, and preventative maintenance project training. At the end of the program, all participating associates will earn a certificate of completion.

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"Achieving operational excellence at any plant requires more than a system of processes and standards," said Clint Pearce, Enviva Lucedale Plant Manager. "It requires a culture of team back-up, a questioning attitude, and continuous learning where colleagues are motivated to seek greater knowledge about the systems, processes, and potential hazards in and around the workplace."

In partnership with Accelerate MS, the states lead office for workforce development strategy and coordination, MGCCC will utilize Workforce Enhancement Training (WET) funds to support the customized, advanced technical training necessary to enhance employee productivity at Enviva.

"Successful workforce development happens when we build and nurture collaborative partnerships between Mississippi employers and community colleges, like MGCCC, that so ably serve our state," said Ryan Miller, Executive Director of Accelerate Mississippi. "Employee centered investment is a hallmark of great companies and Im appreciative that Enviva has shown such a strong commitment to its employees and to George County as a whole."

To learn more about MGCCCs Community Services & Workforce Training Programs, click here.

ABOUT MISSISSIPPI GULF COAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE (MGCCC)

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College offers exceptional academic transfer programs and more than 50 career and technical programs at 10 locations in George, Harrison, Jackson and Stone counties. Named the Best Community College in Mississippi, MGCCC is the only community college in the tri-state area to be named to the nations list of Top 100 Associate Degree Producers in the large community college category. The college has been named the No. 1 Military Friendly School for the nations largest community colleges, a Military Friendly Spouse School and a Great College to Work For. For more information, visit mgccc.edu, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220331005403/en/

Contacts

Becca Anderson

questions@mgccc.edu

Steve Fair

steve.fair@envivabiomass.com
COPENHAGEN, March 31 (Reuters) - NATO has requested Denmark to send a battalion of 800 soldiers to Latvia to bolster the military alliance's eastern flank, the Danish defence ministry said on Thursday.

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said this week that Denmark was ready to send a battalion to the Baltic states on NATO's request, although such a request would still require parliamentary approval. (Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen Editing by Gareth Jones)
NEW YORK, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Neuberger Berman High Yield Strategies Fund Inc. (NYSE American: NHS) (the "Fund") has announced a distribution declaration of $0.0905 per share of common stock. The distribution announced today is payable on April 29, 2022, has a record date of April 18, 2022 and has an ex-date of April 14, 2022.

Neuberger Berman Logo (PRNewsFoto/Neuberger Berman Group LLC)

Under its level distribution policy, the Fund anticipates that it will make regular monthly distributions, subject to market conditions, of $0.0905 per share of common stock, unless further action is taken to determine another amount. The Fund's ability to maintain its current distribution rate will depend on a number of factors, including the amount and stability of income received from its investments, the cost of leverage and the level of other Fund fees and expenses. There is no assurance that the Fund will always be able to pay a distribution of any particular amount or that a distribution will consist only of net investment income.

Due to an effort to maintain a stable distribution amount, the distribution announced today, as well as future distributions, may consist of net investment income, net realized capital gains and return of capital. In compliance with Section 19 of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, a notice would be provided for any distribution that does not consist solely of net investment income. The notice would be for informational purposes and not for tax reporting purposes, and would disclose, among other things, estimated portions of the distribution, if any, consisting of net investment income, capital gains and return of capital. The final determination of the source and tax characteristics of all distributions paid in 2022 will be made after the end of the year.

About Neuberger Berman



Neuberger Berman, founded in 1939, is a private, independent, employee-owned investment manager. The firm manages a range of strategiesincluding equity, fixed income, quantitative and multi-asset class, private equity, real estate and hedge fundson behalf of institutions, advisors and individual investors globally. With offices in 25 countries, Neuberger Berman's diverse team has over 2,400 professionals. For eight consecutive years, the company has been named first or second in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management survey (among those with 1,000 employees or more). In 2020, the PRI named Neuberger Berman a Leader, a designation awarded to fewer than 1% of investment firms for excellence in Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) practices. The PRI also awarded Neuberger Berman an A+ in every eligible category for our approach to ESG integration across asset classes. The firm manages $460 billion in client assets as of December 31, 2021. For more information, please visit our website at www.nb.com.

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Statements made in this release that look forward in time involve risks and uncertainties. Such risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, the adverse effect from a decline in the securities markets or a decline in the Fund's performance, a general downturn in the economy, competition from other closed end investment companies, changes in government policy or regulation, inability of the Fund's investment adviser to attract or retain key employees, inability of the Fund to implement its investment strategy, inability of the Fund to manage rapid expansion and unforeseen costs and other effects related to legal proceedings or investigations of governmental and self-regulatory organizations.

Contact:

Neuberger Berman Investment Advisers LLC

Investor Information

(877) 461-1899

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SOURCE Neuberger Berman
Ohio National Financial Services

Ohio National becomes an independently managed subsidiary of Constellation, an insurance holding company backed by two of the worlds largest, long-term institutional investors  Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board (Ontario Teachers)



Transformative impact on Ohio Nationals strategic and financial position, capital access, financial strength ratings and organic and inorganic growth trajectory

Positions Ohio National to fully leverage its historical strengths and infrastructure, diversified product platform, and distribution capabilities across career, independent and institutional channels

Strategic partnership with Agam Capital Management (Agam) strengthens Ohio Nationals ability to capitalize on inorganic growth opportunities through acquisition and reinsurance transactions



CINCINNATI, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ohio National Mutual Holdings, Inc. (ONMH) and its wholly owned subsidiary Ohio National Financial Services, Inc., a leading provider of financial services, successfully completed its sponsored demutualization transaction with Constellation Insurance Holdings, Inc. (Constellation).

Following the approval of the transaction by member vote on March 11, 2022, ONMH has converted to a stock company, renamed Ohio National Holdings, Inc. (ONH), and has become an independently managed subsidiary of Constellation. Ohio National Financial Services, Inc. remains a subsidiary to ONH (collectively referred to as Ohio National). Ohio National will maintain its brand, management team and infrastructure, and will continue to be headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. As part of the transaction, Constellation has committed to contribute $500 million of capital into Ohio National Life Insurance Company (ONLIC) over a four-year period, further strengthening Ohio Nationals strong capital position and ability to fulfill its obligations, as well as to invest in organic and inorganic growth opportunities.

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Today marks an incredibly exciting day in Ohio Nationals history. At a transformational time for our industry, the successful completion of this strategic transaction strengthens Ohio Nationals balance sheet, capital access and financial strength ratings, which will enable us to capitalize on significant opportunities for organic and inorganic growth, said Barbara A. Turner, Ohio National President and Chief Executive Officer. We are now positioned to fully leverage our infrastructure, expand and diversify our product portfolio, and build on our longstanding distribution capabilities across career, independent and institutional channels to become a market leader in offering protection and retirement solutions.

Anurag Chandra, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Constellation, said, The completion of the Ohio National demutualization, which is the largest life insurance company demutualization in the past two decades, and the signing of a definitive agreement for the demutualization and acquisition of Columbian Mutual Life Insurance Company demonstrate the compelling value proposition Constellation offers to life and P&C insurers who are looking for access to long-term growth capital, enhanced ratings and scale efficiencies, while preserving their independent identity, brand, operations and culture. Chandra continued, We are excited to work with Barbara and Ohio Nationals leadership team, as well as partnering with the team at Agam, to help accomplish the strategic transformation of Ohio National into a market leader in the life and annuity industry.

Agam Capital Management, LLC, an insurance solutions provider and strategic partner to Constellation, brings substantial variable annuity risk management and insurance industry expertise, which significantly strengthens Ohio National's ability to capitalize on inorganic growth opportunities.

Agam's Co-founders, Chak Raghunathan and Avi Katz, said, This transaction reflects the culmination of a multi-year collaboration with Ohio National and Constellation to help enable the companys strategic and financial transformation. We are thrilled to be working with Barbara and the Ohio National team, as well as Constellation, to continue leveraging Agams industry-leading asset liability management and enterprise risk management expertise to enable the company to capitalize on future growth opportunities.

Sidley Austin LLP served as legal counsel to Ohio National and Debevoise & Plimpton LLP served as legal counsel to Constellation on this transaction. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, A Stifel Company, served as financial advisor to Ohio National and its Board of Directors.

ABOUT OHIO NATIONAL

Since 1909, Ohio National has been committed to helping individuals, families and businesses protect what matters most. Through our network of financial professionals across 49 states (all except New York), the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico and through affiliated operations in South America, we provide the insurance products that help our policyholders achieve financial security and independence. As of December 31, 2021, its affiliated companies have $40.8 billion total assets under management. Products are issued by The Ohio National Life Insurance Company and Ohio National Life Assurance Corporation. The O.N. Equity Sales Company (ONESCO) is a full-service broker dealer and Ohio National Financial Services affiliate. Ohio National is recognized as a Leader in Workplace Equity by Ellequate. Please explore ohionational.com for more information and for the latest company updates, connect with Ohio National on LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

ABOUT CONSTELLATION

Constellation is an insurance holding company targeting acquisitions of life and P&C insurers based in North America, with the strategic intent of building a substantial, highly rated and conservatively managed multi-line insurance business backed by long-term institutional capital. Constellations founding investors and equal partners, CDPQ and Ontario Teachers are two of the largest long-term institutional investors in North America, managing a total of over C$660 billion in net assets, including over C$140 billion in private capital investments.

ABOUT AGAM CAPITAL

Agam was founded in 2016 by Avi Katz and Chak Raghunathan, senior executives at Apollo and Aflac, with deep backgrounds in insurance, investments and risk management. Agam is a strategic insurance solutions provider with a differentiated proprietary Asset-Liability Model (pALM) powering its analytical process. pALM enables and empowers decision makers by providing a clear and accurate analysis of their balance sheet efficiency and capital usage profile. Agam has a deep team of multi-disciplinary specialists with offices in Teaneck, NJ and Mumbai, India.

Media Contacts:

Mustafa Riffat

Edelman

mustafa.riffat@edelman.com Angela Meehan, CLU, ChFC, RFC

Ohio National Financial Services

513.794.6337 office

513.444.0566 mobile

Angela_Meehan@ohionational.com Lisa Doxsee, APR

Ohio National Financial Services

513.794.6418 office

513.218.5519 mobile

Lisa_Doxsee@ohionational.com






From: Environment and Climate Change Canada

CHARLOTTETOWN, PE, March 31, 2022 /CNW/ - Strong and effective enforcement of Canada's environmental and wildlife protection laws is one of the concrete ways we are delivering on our commitment to provide clean air, clean water, and the conservation of wildlife species and their habitat.

On March 23, 2022, Nobra Holsteins Inc. was sentenced and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine after pleading guilty to one count of contravening subsection 36(3) of the Fisheries Act related to a liquid manure spill that occurred on or about June 3, 2020. The fine will be directed to the Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund. In addition to the fine, the company has been ordered to create a Manure Spill Prevention and Response Plan that will be readily available to all company employees and farm workers.

On June 3 and 4, 2020, an Environment and Climate Change Canada environmental enforcement officer and conservation officers from the Province of Prince Edward Island (PEI) responded to a report of a liquid manure spill in Irishtown, PEI. Officers collected water samples and dead Brook Trout from the affected watershed where the liquid manure was deposited. The water samples were analyzed and the elevated ammonia concentrations, indicating high pH levels, were determined to be acutely lethal and deleterious to fish as defined under the Fisheries Act. The dead fish smelled strongly of manure and a necropsy revealed that the fish had been healthy until the incident.

A joint investigation by Environment and Climate Change Canada officers and PEI conservation officers determined that the spill had resulted from a rupture of a recently installed transfer hose intended to transfer liquid manure over a long distance. Nobra Holsteins Inc. did not exercise due diligence and failed to take all reasonable steps to avoid this offence. It was discovered that the system was not properly installed prior to its use, that it was not properly inspected prior to pumping liquid manure, and that the transfer hose was installed in a high-risk area on Prince Edward Island Government property without proper approval.

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The spill killed 530 Brook Trout in a 2,459-metre section of the tributary, forced the closure of shellfish harvesting areas from June until the end of September 2020, and halted recreational activities in the area until December 2021. Restocking the affected waterway cost nearly $6,000.

As a result of this conviction, the company's name will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry. The Registry contains information on convictions of corporations registered for offences committed under certain federal environmental laws.

Environment and Climate Change Canada has created a free subscription service to help Canadians stay current with what the Government of Canada is doing to protect our natural environment.

Quick facts

Environment and Climate Change Canada administers and enforces the pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act. To do this, we use a range of tools and activities, including compliance promotion and enforcement, regulations, environmental effects monitoring, water quality monitoring, emergencies management, and administrative agreements with provinces and territories.

Created in 1995, the Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund helps to ensure that good follows environmental harm by using fines from environmental violations to support projects that restore the environment and conserve wildlife and habitats. The Fund receives and redirects the money from court penalties and settlements, usually investing in areas where the environmental damage occurred.

Associated links



Environment and Climate Change Canada's Twitter page

Environment and Climate Change Canada's Facebook page

SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada

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HOUSTON, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Quanta Services, Inc. (NYSE: PWR) announced today that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend to stockholders of $0.07 per share. The dividend is payable on April 18, 2022, to stockholders of record as of April 11, 2022.

Quanta Services Logo. (PRNewsFoto/Quanta Services, Inc.)

About Quanta Services

Quanta Services is a leading specialized contracting services company, delivering comprehensive infrastructure solutions for the utility, renewable energy, communications, pipeline and energy industries. Quanta's comprehensive services include designing, installing, repairing and maintaining energy and communications infrastructure. With operations throughout the United States, Canada, Australia and select other international markets, Quanta has the manpower, resources and expertise to safely complete projects that are local, regional, national or international in scope. For more information, visit www.quantaservices.com.

Cautionary Statement About Forward-Looking Statements

This press release (and any oral statements regarding the subject matter of this press release) contains forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the "safe harbor" from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements relating to expectations regarding the declaration, amount or timing of any future dividends; expectations regarding Quanta's business or financial outlook; and Quanta's ability to deliver increased value or return capital to stockholders; as well as statements reflecting expectations, intentions, assumptions or beliefs about future events and other statements that do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, involve or rely on a number of risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict or are beyond our control, and reflect management's beliefs and assumptions based on information available at the time the statements are made. We caution you that actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecasted by our forward-looking statements and that any or all of our forward-looking statements may turn out to be inaccurate or incorrect. Forward-looking statements can be affected by inaccurate assumptions and by known or unknown risks and uncertainties, including, among others, market, industry, economic, financial or political conditions outside of the control of Quanta, quarterly variations in operating results, liquidity, financial condition, cash flows, capital requirements, reinvestment opportunities or other financial results; requirements relating to dividends under Delaware law and the credit agreement for Quanta's senior credit facility; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in Quanta's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended Dec. 31, 2021 and any other documents that Quanta files with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). For a discussion of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, investors are urged to refer to Quanta's documents filed with the SEC that are available through the company's website at www.quantaservices.com or through the SEC's Electronic Data Gathering and Analysis Retrieval System (EDGAR) at www.sec.gov. Should one or more of these risks materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are current only as of this date. Quanta does not undertake and expressly disclaims any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Quanta further expressly disclaims any written or oral statements made by any third party regarding the subject matter of this press release.

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Investors - Kip Rupp, CFA, IRC

Quanta Services, Inc.

(713) 341-7260

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SOURCE Quanta Services, Inc.
The contract also includes four option years, worth additional $2.5 billion

TUCSON, Ariz., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a Raytheon Technologies (NYSE: RTX) business, was awarded a $651 million, with options totaling $2.5 billion, hardware, production and sustainment contract for full-rate production of the AN/SPY-6(V) Family of Radars. The contract, with options, totals $3.2 billion and five years of radar production to equip up to 31 U.S. Navy ships with SPY-6 radars.

A SPY-6 radar array being manufactured at Raytheon Missiles & Defenses radar development facility in Andover, Massachusetts. SPY-6 is the U.S. Navy family of radars that will perform integrated air and missile defense on seven classes of ships.

Under the contract, RMD will produce solid state, fixed-face and rotating SPY-6 variants that will deliver unprecedented integrated air and missile defense capabilities for seven types of U.S. Navy ships over the next 40 years. Those vessels include the Navy's new Arleigh Burke class Flight III destroyers, aircraft carriers and amphibious ships; today's Flight IIA destroyers will be backfit with an upgraded radar.

"There is no other radar with the surface maritime capabilities of SPY-6," said Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Missiles & Defense. "SPY-6 is the most advanced naval radar in existence, and it will provide our military a giant leap forward in capability for decades to come."

Since its inception, more than $600 million has been invested in the development and manufacturing of the SPY-6 family of radars. When compared to legacy radars, SPY-6 will bring new capabilities to the surface fleet, such as advanced electronic warfare protection and enhanced detection abilities.

SPY-6 array radar variants have between nine and 37 radar modular assemblies, known as RMAs. Common RMAs allow SPY-6 to be scalable and modular to support production for the U.S. and partner nations across all variants, to include the Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar. This commonality supports standardized logistics and training for those who work on the radars.

SPY-6 radar installation is complete on the Navy's first Flight III destroyer, the USS Jack H. Lucas (DDG 125), which is scheduled to be operational in 2024. Radar array deliveries are complete for the next ship in the class, the future USS Ted Stevens (DDG 128).

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About Raytheon Technologies

Raytheon Technologies Corporation is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. With four industry-leading businesses  Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense  the company delivers solutions that push the boundaries in avionics, cybersecurity, directed energy, electric propulsion, hypersonics, and quantum physics. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Media Contact

Tara Wood

rmdpr@rtx.com

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SOURCE Raytheon Technologies
"Cheer Boxes," Now En Route to Poland, Meant to Bring Joy to the Youngest Who Have Been Displaced

LAS VEGAS, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Realty ONE Group, a modern, purpose-driven lifestyle brand and ONE of the fastest growing franchisors in the world, set off on a crusade only three short weeks ago to collect tens of thousands of shoe boxes of toys, "cheer boxes," for Ukrainian children who have been displaced by the war.

Realty ONE Group's logo

The idea came from the daughters of the company's CEO and founder, Kuba Jewgieniew, who wanted children to help children in need. Jewgieniew's parents and family are from Poland while his wife, Luba Jewgieniew, was born and raised in Ukraine. The family originally hoped to collect just 300 boxes, but the result was well beyond anything the girls or the company could have expected.

"People helping people is what our COOLTURE (cool + culture) is all about," said Kuba Jewgieniew , CEO and Founder of Realty ONE Group. "Our entire ONE family across 45 states shared their love along with local schools, hospitals, neighbors and other real estate companies and it was ONE of the most amazing things I've ever experienced.

In total, Realty ONE Group estimates it collected more than 30,000 cheer boxes stuffed with toys, some clothing and loving, hand-crafted notes to all ages of Ukrainian children. The boxes began to overflow at the company's several hub offices in Orange County, Phoenix and Las Vegas, and now have been crated and shipped to the east coast where they'll make the final trek overseas to the south of Poland where Jewgieniew's family will drive distribution efforts.

Realty ONE Group has a long legacy of giving back through its 501(c)3, ONE Cares, having impacted nearly 300,000 lives in 2021, giving back more than $200,000 to organizations everywhere while planting 139,000 trees through its ONE Tree, ONE World program to make the earth greener as we expand our footprint around the world.

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The UNBrokerage, as it's known in the industry, now has more than 17,000 real estate professionals in more than 400 offices in 45 states, Washington D.C. and Canada and will be opening in Ecuador, Costa Rica, Italy, Singapore and Spain, in addition to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.

Learn more at www.OwnAOne.com .

For "cheer box" photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.5611210098907890&type=3

About Realty ONE Group

Founded in 2005, Realty ONE Group is an industry disruptor, radically changing the face of real estate franchising with its unique business model, fun coolture, technology infrastructure and superior support for its real estate professionals. The company has rapidly evolved to include more than 17,000 real estate professionals in over 400+ offices across 45 U.S. states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, Canada, Italy, Spain, Singapore and Costa Rica. Realty ONE Group ranks in the top one percent in the nation by REAL Trends, has been recognized by Entrepreneur Magazine as a Top 5 Real Estate Franchise and has been on Inc. 500's list of the Fastest-Growing Companies for seven consecutive years. Realty ONE Group is surging ahead, opening doors, not only for its clients but for real estate professionals and franchise owners. To learn more, visit www.RealtyONEGroup.com.

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SOURCE Realty ONE Group
Deal to create premier integrated wealth management provider in UK, Channel Islands and Ireland

TORONTO, March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ - Royal Bank of Canada ("RBC") today announced that, subject to Brewin Dolphin Holdings PLC ("Brewin Dolphin") shareholder approval and receipt of all regulatory approvals, RBC is acquiring Brewin Dolphin.

RBC (CNW Group/RBC)

RBC Wealth Management (Jersey) Holdings Limited ("Bidco"), a wholly owned subsidiary of RBC, has published a Rule 2.7 announcement in the UK under the City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, announcing its recommended cash offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Brewin Dolphin for 515 pence per share, implying an equity value of approximately C$2.6bn (1.6bn) on a fully diluted basis.

Brewin Dolphin is one of the UK's leading independent providers of discretionary wealth management in the UK and Ireland, with a network of more than 30 offices and Assets under Management of 59bn as at December 31, 2021. Brewin Dolphin has an impressive track record of growth and innovation and a longstanding record of delivering superior client service and robust investment performance.

Commenting on the acquisition, Doug Guzman, Group Head, RBC Wealth Management, RBC Insurance and RBC Investor & Treasury Services, said:

"The UK is a key growth market for RBC, and Brewin Dolphin provides us with an exceptional platform to significantly transform our wealth management business in the region, giving RBC Wealth Management a # 3 market position in the UK and Ireland, in addition to being a market leader in Canada, with a growing position in the United States. By combining two highly complementary businesses, we will increase the depth and breadth of our services and position the combined business as a premier integrated wealth management provider to private and institutional clients.

Both management teams are excited by a shared vision of high quality client service, client-centric culture and the exceptional growth opportunities that we can deliver together. We look to continue investing in the combined business and take it to greater heights. We are confident that this acquisition will deliver benefits to our combined clients, employees and stakeholders."

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David Thomas, CEO, RBC Capital Markets Europe and Head, Wealth Management added:

"This is a transformative acquisition for RBC Wealth Management and cements RBC's position as a market leader across multiple business platforms in the UK, the Channel Islands and Europe. We look forward to welcoming Brewin Dolphin's employees and clients and working together to leverage RBC's global reach and significant capabilities to create new opportunities for the combined business to grow."

Robin Beer, Chief Executive Officer of Brewin Dolphin, said:

"The Brewin Dolphin Board is pleased to recommend the offer by RBC in the interests of our shareholders, our clients, our people and our business partners. Building on the strong organic growth that we have achieved to date, the combined businesses will create an attractive platform for future growth. As part of RBC we would be able to provide our clients with a broader range of products and services, and expand our distribution channels through leveraging RBC's global presence. We share complementary values which emphasize the importance of long-standing client relationships and an inclusive culture supportive of employees and local communities. Our focus will be on maintaining continuity, so that we build on what we have already achieved. I am looking forward to us working together to enhance our market position as a leading advice-focused, digitally enabled wealth manager."

The acquisition is anticipated to result in a ~40 bps reduction in RBC's Common Equity Tier 1 ("CET1") ratio1 at the Effective Date2. RBC believes that the acquisition will result in an adjusted EPS accretion for RBC of ~1% in the first year following the Effective Date excluding the benefit of future revenue synergies.3 Over the medium term RBC believes that the combined wealth management business in the UK, Ireland and Channel Islands can generate revenue CAGR of ~9% and achieve adjusted profit before tax of ~C$0.5 billion including the benefit of cost and revenue synergies4. The acquisition is expected to generate a double-digit IRR5 excluding the benefit of future revenue synergies.

The acquisition is subject to a number of customary conditions specified in the Rule 2.7 Announcement, including regulatory approvals and Brewin Dolphin shareholder approval. We anticipate completion of this transaction by end of Q3 2022.

Full details of the acquisition can be found in the Rule 2.7 announcement which is available at: https://www.rbc.com/investor-relations/offer-for-brewin-dolphin.html.

About RBC

Royal Bank of Canada is a global financial institution with a purpose-driven, principles-led approach to delivering leading performance. Our success comes from the 88,000+ employees who leverage their imaginations and insights to bring our vision, values and strategy to life so we can help our clients thrive and communities prosper. As Canada's biggest bank, and one of the largest in the world based on market capitalization, we have a diversified business model with a focus on innovation and providing exceptional experiences to our 17 million clients in Canada, the U.S. and 27 other countries. Learn more at rbc.com.

We are proud to support a broad range of community initiatives through donations, community investments and employee volunteer activities. See how at rbc.com/community-social-impact.

About RBC Wealth Management

RBC Wealth Management directly serves affluent, high net worth and ultra-high net worth clients globally with a full suite of banking, investment, trust and other wealth management solutions, from our key operational hubs in Canada, the United States, the British Isles, and Asia. The business also provides asset management products and services directly and through RBC and third party distributors to institutional and individual clients, through its RBC Global Asset Management business (which includes BlueBay Asset Management). RBC Wealth Management has C$1.3 trillion of assets under administration, C$1 trillion of assets under management and over 5,500 client facing advisors globally. For more information, please visit www.rbcwealthmanagement.com .

_____________________________ 1 CET1 is calculated using OSFI's Capital Adequacy Requirements (CAR) guideline. 2 Based on RBC's and Brewin Dolphin's estimated balance sheets at the Effective Date, including transaction related impacts. 3 This is a non-GAAP measure. Adjusted EPS excludes impact of intangibles amortization, dilutive impact of exchangeable shares and certain deal, transaction, integration costs. 4 This is a non-GAAP measure. Adjusted PBT is the statutory profit before tax adjusted for the following items: amortisation of intangibles including client relationships and brand; defined benefit pension scheme past service costs; acquisition costs; incentivisation awards; onerous contracts and other gains and losses. 5 "Internal rate of return".

About Brewin Dolphin

Brewin Dolphin is a UK FTSE 250 provider of discretionary wealth management. With 59.0* billion in total funds, we offer award-winning, personalised wealth management services that meet the varied needs of our clients including individuals, charities and corporates.

Our services range from bespoke, discretionary investment management to retirement planning and tax-efficient investing. Our focus on discretionary investment management has led to significant growth in client funds and we now manage 52.0* billion on a discretionary basis.

Our intermediary business manages 19.0* billion of assets for over 1,700 advice firms either on a discretionary basis or via our Managed Portfolio Service, the MI Brewin Dolphin Voyager fund range and Sustainable MPS.

In line with the premium we place on personal relationships, we've built a network of over 30 offices across the UK and Republic of Ireland, staffed by qualified investment managers and financial planners. We are committed to the most exacting standards of client service, with long-term thinking and absolute focus on our clients' needs at the core.

For more information, visit: www.brewin.co.uk

*as at 31st December 2021.

Brewin Dolphin is authorised and regulated by the FCA (Financial Services Register reference number 124444)

Key performance and non-GAAP measures

We use a variety of financial measures to evaluate our performance. In addition to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) prescribed measures, we use certain key performance and non-GAAP measures we believe provide useful information to investors regarding our financial condition and result of operations. EPS excluding the impact of intangibles amortization, dilutive impact of exchangeable shares and certain deal, transaction and integration costs enhances comparability as some institutions do not utilize such structures.

Readers are cautioned that key performance measures and non-GAAP measures, do not have any standardized meanings prescribed by GAAP, and therefore are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures disclosed by other financial institutions.

Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of certain securities laws, including the "safe harbour" provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and any applicable Canadian securities legislation, with respect to RBC's and Brewin Dolphin's financial performance, beliefs, plans, expectations, and estimates. Forward-looking statements in this press release may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to plans for the combined operations of RBC and Brewin Dolphin, the financial, operational and capital impacts of the proposed transaction, our strategies or future actions, and our objectives and commitments. The forward-looking information contained in this press release is presented for the purpose of assisting shareholders and analysts in understanding the proposed transaction and may not be appropriate for other purposes. Forward looking statements are typically identified by words such as "believe", "expect", "foresee", "forecast", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "goal", "plan" and "project" and similar expressions of future or conditional verbs such as "will", "may", "should", "could" or "would".

By their very nature, forward-looking statements require us to make assumptions and are subject to inherent risks and uncertainties, which give rise to the possibility that our predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations or conclusions will not prove to be accurate, that our assumptions may not be correct and that our actual results may differ materially from such predictions, forecasts, projections, expectations or conclusions.

We caution readers not to place undue reliance on these statements as a number of risk factors could cause our actual results to differ materially from the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors  many of which are beyond our control and the effects of which can be difficult to predict  include, but are not limited to: the possibility that the proposed transaction does not close when expected or at all because of the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstances that could give rise to the right of one or both of the parties to terminate the proposed transaction, including because required regulatory, shareholder or other approvals and/or other conditions to closing are not received or satisfied on a timely basis or at all or are received subject to adverse conditions or requirements; the possibility that the anticipated benefits from the proposed transaction, such as being accretive to adjusted earnings per share (EPS), creating synergy opportunities and growing our UK operations are not realized in the time frame anticipated or at all as a result of changes in general economic and market conditions, interest and exchange rates, monetary policy, laws and regulations (including changes to capital requirements) and their enforcement, and the degree of competition in the geographic and business areas in which RBC and Brewin Dolphin currently operate; the risk that any announcements relating to the proposed combination could have adverse effects on the market price of the common stock of either or both parties to the transaction; the possibility that the business of RBC and Brewin Dolphin may not perform as expected or in a manner consistent with historical performance; the ability to promptly and effectively integrate Brewin Dolphin; RBC's ability to achieve its capital objectives; RBC's ability to cross-sell more products to customers; reputational risks and the reaction of Brewin Dolphin's customers and employees to the transaction; the possibility that the transaction may be more expensive to complete than anticipated, including as a result of unexpected factors or events; diversion of management time on transaction-related issues; increased exposure to exchange rate fluctuations; material adverse changes in economic and industry conditions; general competitive, economic, political and market conditions; and those other factors discussed in the risks sections and Impact of COVID-19 pandemic section of RBC's 2021 Annual Report and the Risk management section of RBC's Q1 2022 Report to Shareholders, and the factors discussed in Brewin Dolphin's Annual Report and Accounts 2021 all of which outline certain key factors and risks that may affect our future results and our ability to anticipate and effectively manage risks arising from all of the foregoing factors.

We caution that the foregoing list of risk factors is not exhaustive and other factors could also adversely affect our results. When relying on our forward-looking statements to make decisions with respect to us, investors and others should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties and potential events. Material economic assumptions underlying the forward looking-statements contained in this press release are set out in the Economic, market and regulatory review and outlook section and for each business segment under the Strategic priorities and Outlook headings in RBC's 2021 Annual Report, as updated by the Economic, market and regulatory review and outlook section of RBC's Q1 2022 Report to Shareholders.

Any forward-looking statements contained in this document represent the views of RBC and Brewin Dolphin only as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, neither RBC nor Brewin Dolphin undertakes to update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time by us or on our behalf.

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SOURCE RBC
ReportLinker

Smart Water Management Market Research Report by Type (Service and Solution), by Water Meters (AMI Meters and AMR Meters), by End User, by Region (Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa) - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19

New York, March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Reportlinker.com announces the release of the report "Smart Water Management Market Research Report by Type, by Water Meters, by End User, by Region - Global Forecast to 2027 - Cumulative Impact of COVID-19" - https://www.reportlinker.com/p06226128/?utm_source=GNW



The Global Smart Water Management Market size was estimated at USD 12.32 billion in 2020 and expected to reach USD 13.62 billion in 2021, at a CAGR 10.99% to reach USD 25.57 billion by 2027.



Market Statistics:

The report provides market sizing and forecast across five major currencies - USD, EUR, JPY, GBP, AUD, CAD, and CHF. It helps organization leaders make better decisions when currency exchange data is readily available. In this report, the years 2018 and 2019 are considered historical years, 2020 as the base year, 2021 as the estimated year, and years from 2022 to 2027 are considered the forecast period.



Market Segmentation & Coverage:

This research report categorizes the Smart Water Management to forecast the revenues and analyze the trends in each of the following sub-markets:



Based on Type, the market was studied across Service and Solution. The Service is further studied across Managed Services and Professional Services. The Professional Services is further studied across Consulting services, Support & maintenance services, and System integration & deployment services. The Solution is further studied across Advanced pressure management, Analytics & data management, Customer information system and billing, Enterprise Asset Management, Leak detection, Meter data management, Mobile workforce management, Network management, Security, Smart irrigation management, and Supervisory control and& data acquisition. The Analytics & data management is further studied across Meter data management and Supervisory control & data acquisition. The Enterprise Asset Management is further studied across Asset Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance.



Based on Water Meters, the market was studied across AMI Meters and AMR Meters.



Based on End User, the market was studied across Commercial, Industrial, and Residential.



Based on Region, the market was studied across Americas, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Middle East & Africa. The Americas is further studied across Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and United States. The United States is further studied across California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. The Asia-Pacific is further studied across Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. The Europe, Middle East & Africa is further studied across France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom.



Cumulative Impact of COVID-19:

COVID-19 is an incomparable global public health emergency that has affected almost every industry, and the long-term effects are projected to impact the industry growth during the forecast period. Our ongoing research amplifies our research framework to ensure the inclusion of underlying COVID-19 issues and potential paths forward. The report delivers insights on COVID-19 considering the changes in consumer behavior and demand, purchasing patterns, re-routing of the supply chain, dynamics of current market forces, and the significant interventions of governments. The updated study provides insights, analysis, estimations, and forecasts, considering the COVID-19 impact on the market.



Competitive Strategic Window:

The Competitive Strategic Window analyses the competitive landscape in terms of markets, applications, and geographies to help the vendor define an alignment or fit between their capabilities and opportunities for future growth prospects. It describes the optimal or favorable fit for the vendors to adopt successive merger and acquisition strategies, geography expansion, research & development, and new product introduction strategies to execute further business expansion and growth during a forecast period.



FPNV Positioning Matrix:

The FPNV Positioning Matrix evaluates and categorizes the vendors in the Smart Water Management Market based on Business Strategy (Business Growth, Industry Coverage, Financial Viability, and Channel Support) and Product Satisfaction (Value for Money, Ease of Use, Product Features, and Customer Support) that aids businesses in better decision making and understanding the competitive landscape.



Market Share Analysis:

The Market Share Analysis offers the analysis of vendors considering their contribution to the overall market. It provides the idea of its revenue generation into the overall market compared to other vendors in the space. It provides insights into how vendors are performing in terms of revenue generation and customer base compared to others. Knowing market share offers an idea of the size and competitiveness of the vendors for the base year. It reveals the market characteristics in terms of accumulation, fragmentation, dominance, and amalgamation traits.



Competitive Scenario:

The Competitive Scenario provides an outlook analysis of the various business growth strategies adopted by the vendors. The news covered in this section deliver valuable thoughts at the different stage while keeping up-to-date with the business and engage stakeholders in the economic debate. The competitive scenario represents press releases or news of the companies categorized into Merger & Acquisition, Agreement, Collaboration, & Partnership, New Product Launch & Enhancement, Investment & Funding, and Award, Recognition, & Expansion. All the news collected help vendor to understand the gaps in the marketplace and competitors strength and weakness thereby, providing insights to enhance product and service.



Company Usability Profiles:

The report profoundly explores the recent significant developments by the leading vendors and innovation profiles in the Global Smart Water Management Market, including ABB Ltd, AQUAMATIX LIMITED, Badger Meter, Inc., CityTaps, FLUID Labs, Inc., FREDsense Technologies Corp., Honeywell International Inc, HydroPoint, i2O Water Ltd., International Business Machines Corporation, Itron Inc., Landis+Gyr, Lishtot, Neptune Technology Group Inc., Oracle Corporation, Radius Synergies International Pvt Ltd, Schneider Electric SE, Siemens AG, SUEZ, Syrinix Ltd, TaKaDu, and Trimble Water.



The report provides insights on the following pointers:

1. Market Penetration: Provides comprehensive information on the market offered by the key players

2. Market Development: Provides in-depth information about lucrative emerging markets and analyze penetration across mature segments of the markets

3. Market Diversification: Provides detailed information about new product launches, untapped geographies, recent developments, and investments

4. Competitive Assessment & Intelligence: Provides an exhaustive assessment of market shares, strategies, products, certification, regulatory approvals, patent landscape, and manufacturing capabilities of the leading players

5. Product Development & Innovation: Provides intelligent insights on future technologies, R&D activities, and breakthrough product developments



The report answers questions such as:

1. What is the market size and forecast of the Global Smart Water Management Market?

2. What are the inhibiting factors and impact of COVID-19 shaping the Global Smart Water Management Market during the forecast period?

3. Which are the products/segments/applications/areas to invest in over the forecast period in the Global Smart Water Management Market?

4. What is the competitive strategic window for opportunities in the Global Smart Water Management Market?

5. What are the technology trends and regulatory frameworks in the Global Smart Water Management Market?

6. What is the market share of the leading vendors in the Global Smart Water Management Market?

7. What modes and strategic moves are considered suitable for entering the Global Smart Water Management Market?

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p06226128/?utm_source=GNW



About Reportlinker

ReportLinker is an award-winning market research solution. Reportlinker finds and organizes the latest industry data so you get all the market research you need - instantly, in one place.



__________________________

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CONTACT: Clare: clare@reportlinker.com US: (339)-368-6001 Intl: +1 339-368-6001




Johnny Greig / iStock.com

If youre eligible to receive Social Security benefits, you may receive your payments outside of the U.S. However, the Social Security Administration has noted that there are countries to which they are not permitted to send payments, as well as other pertinent restrictions.

Learn: Social Security Offices: When Can I Visit an Agent In Person Again? Explore: 30 Greatest Threats to Your Retirement

Outside of the United States is classified as not residing in one of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands or American Samoa for at least 30 days in a row. If you arent a U.S. citizen, you will be required to prove that you were in the U.S. for that 30-day period.

Payments will stop after you have been outside the U.S. for six full calendar months if you are not a U.S. citizen. Payments will not resume until you return to the U.S. for at least one full calendar month.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury prohibits making payments to anyone residing in Cuba or North Korea. Under the Social Security Act, you are not eligible to receive Social Security benefits for the months that you lived in Cuba or North Korea if you are not a U.S. citizen, even if you meet all other requirements.

Additional Treasury Department sanctions could affect payments to those in other countries.

Payments are not typically sent to those residing in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. However, exceptions may be made. To qualify for an exception, you must meet and agree to restricted payment conditions.

If you dont qualify for an exception, then payments will be withheld until you leave the above-mentioned country and proceed to a country where payments are accepted for the allotted period of time.

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Social Security: Can I Still Collect Benefits if I Live Outside the US?
Expanded partnership to bring behind-the-scenes look at animal medical treatments, education and inspiration to guests.

TAMPA, Fla., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, The Florida Aquarium and Tampa General Hospital (TGH), leaders in the Tampa Bay community and their respective fields, announced an expanded partnership that will help bring education, entertainment, and inspiration to guests of the Aquarium for years to come.

Tampa General Hospital logo. (PRNewsFoto/Tampa General Hospital)

The two organizations share a common goal  to provide world-class care to those that count on them. Through the partnership with TGH, Aquarium guests will get a firsthand look at the unparalleled medical care every animal receives from the Aquarium's veterinary staff at its new, on-campus Tampa General Hospital Animal Health Care Center.

"Animal care and welfare is our top priority and thanks to our continued partnership with TGH, one of the nation's preeminent healthcare providers, we will further provide world-class medical care to our animals," said Roger Germann, president and CEO of The Florida Aquarium. "A healthy animal collection furthers our ability to save wildlife from extinction through practice, science and research, and understanding."

Later this year, guests of the Aquarium will have an opportunity to learn about the Aquarium's commitment to providing the best animal care to its 9,000 residents, and how the teams efforts are advancing science and the practice of veterinary medicine to improve animal and human health. Guests will also be able to observe preventative animal exams from time to time through the viewing window at the Tampa General Hospital Animal Health Care Center located in The Doyle Family Shorelines Gallery.

"Advancing the health of the Tampa Bay region also means taking care of the environment around us," said John Couris, president & CEO of Tampa General Hospital. "Healthy oceans lead to healthy people and healthy people lead to healthy communities. Healthy communities are among the highest priority for both organizations and this partnership furthers that work."

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The Aquarium and hospital will host an official ribbon cutting when the Tampa General Hospital Animal Health Care Center opens later in 2022.

In recognition of its dedication to providing world-class care to members of our community and beyond, Tampa General Hospital has been ranked as the #1 hospital in Tampa Bay by U.S. News & World Report for the sixth consecutive year. TGH is also listed among the top four hospitals in Florida and ranked as one of the nation's top 50 hospitals in five medical specialties for 2021-2022 by U.S. News & World Report.

As more than just a must-see attraction, The Florida Aquarium was named the #3 Aquarium in North America in USA TODAY'S 10Best Readers' Choice Awards for the vital role it serves in animal conservation through rescue and rehabilitation efforts and advocating for the environmental health of our oceans.

ABOUT THE FLORIDA AQUARIUM

The Florida Aquarium actively participates in and promotes stewardship of the natural environment as part of our mission of conservation. As a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization, The Florida Aquarium provides an opportunity for guests to experience a wide variety of aquatic and terrestrial animals, explore complex ecosystems, engage with interactive and informational exhibits and search for wild dolphins in Tampa Bay. More than a must-see attraction, The Florida Aquarium is working to protect and restore our blue planet through conservation efforts that included ground-breaking research and rescue efforts that help restore Florida's coral and sea turtle populations. To learn more, follow us on social media at @floridaaquarium and visit www.flaquarium.org.

ABOUT TAMPA GENERAL HOSPITAL

Tampa General Hospital, a 1,041-bed non-profit academic medical center, is one of the largest hospitals in America and delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. Tampa General Hospital is the highest-ranked hospital in the market in U.S. News & World Report's 2021-22 Best Hospitals, and one of the top four hospitals in Florida, with five specialties ranking among the best programs in the United States. The academic medical center's commitment to growing and developing its team members is recognized by two prestigious 2021 Forbes magazine rankings  America's Best Employers by State, third out of 100 Florida companies and first among health care and social organizations and 13th nationally in America's Best Employers for Women. Tampa General is the safety net hospital for the region, caring for everyone regardless of their ability to pay, and in fiscal 2020 provided a net community benefit worth more than $182.5 million in the form of health care for underinsured patients, community education and financial support to community health organizations in Tampa Bay. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. With five medical helicopters, Tampa General Hospital transports critically injured or ill patients from 23 surrounding counties to receive the advanced care they need. Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, and its 32-bed Neuroscience, Intensive Care Unit is the largest on the West Coast of Florida. It also is home to the Jennifer Leigh Muma 82-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, and a nationally accredited rehabilitation center. Tampa General Hospital's footprint includes 17 Tampa General Medical Group Primary Care offices, TGH Family Care Center Kennedy, TGH Brandon Healthplex, TGH Virtual Health and 19 outpatient Radiology Centers. Tampa Bay residents also receive world-class care from the TGH Urgent Care powered by Fast Track network of clinics, and they can even receive home visits in select areas through TGH Urgent Care at Home, powered by Fast Track . As one of the largest hospitals in the country, Tampa General Hospital is the first in Florida to partner with GE Healthcare and open a clinical command center that uses artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to improve and better coordinate patient care at a lower cost. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

Media Contacts:

Karen Barrera

kbarrera@tgh.org

(813) 844-8725

Ms. Dale Wolbrink

(860) 367-4036

dwolbrink@flaquarium.org

Cision

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SOURCE Tampa General Hospital
Trucker Tools

Prasad Gollapalli, Trucker Tools

Prasad Gollapalli, Trucker Tools founder, board member and strategic advisor

Kary Jablonski, CEO, Trucker Tools

Kary Jablonski, president and chief executive, Trucker Tools

In planned transition, Gollapalli to shift to role as strategic advisor and chief customer officer, remains on Board.



Current COO Kary Jablonski to succeed Gollapalli as Trucker Tools president and CEO.

RESTON, Va., March 31, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Trucker Tools the leading provider of trip planning, shipment visibility, predictive freight matching and automated booking solutions for the transportation industry announced today that Chief Executive Prasad Gollapalli, who founded the company in 2013, is moving to a new role as strategic advisor and chief customer officer. Kary Jablonski, currently Trucker Tools chief operating officer, will succeed Mr. Gollapalli as president and CEO. The changes become effective April 1.

Last June, Trucker Tools was acquired by ASG, a portfolio company of Alpine Investors. Since then, we have worked closely with ASG to position Trucker Tools for continued growth and success, Mr. Gollapalli noted. Part of that has been a planned leadership succession. I feel the time is right for me to move into a strategic advisory role. I am extremely proud of the company we have built, and I want to thank our customers for their loyalty and encouragement. Im confident that ASG will continue to profitably grow the company, develop our team, and expand Trucker Tools value proposition going forward.

Commenting on his recognized industry leadership, Ms. Jablonski said, Prasad has had incredible vision around how to build tools to solve major challenges for our customers, both brokers and carriers. I look forward to his ongoing counsel as strategic advisor and am grateful for his leadership and tenacity.

Mr. Gollapalli began building what would eventually become Trucker Tools in 2009, launching design, development and testing of a new industry app designed specifically for truck drivers and the challenges they faced running a business while on the road. Starting with a user base of some 100,000 truckers and a handful of brokers, the smartphone-based app initially provided one of the first simple-to-implement, real-time visibility solutions for truckload shipments as well as other useful tools. Next came predictive freight matching, automated one-click booking, upgraded visibility and carrier support tools, building out a menu of 17 of the most sought-after tools truckers wanted for managing their business, and for brokers to dramatically improve engagement with carriers and efficient access to reliable capacity.

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Trucker Tools was bootstrapped in its development, Mr. Gollapalli said, recalling early days when he sold property, cashed in his retirement, and maxed out numerous credit cards to keep the company going. We never missed a payroll, he said. And we never went the venture capital route. Later rounds of funding were secured from private sources, including friends, family and business associates who saw what the Trucker Tools vision could become, Mr. Gollapalli added.

Today, the Trucker Tools carrier engagement and management app has been downloaded by some 1.7 million truckers, has nearly 190,000 small-fleet truckload operators active on its carrier engagement platform, with over 90 percent of those running 10 trucks or less, as well as single-truck owner-operators. Micro truckload fleets and independent owner operators are the backbone of the Trucker Tools carrier community, leveraging its digital freight matching, one-click simplified automated booking, automated load tracking and carrier relationship management software and services, Mr. Gollapalli said.

Nearly 375 freight brokers and 3PLs also use Trucker Tools to secure and manage truckload capacity and build better engagement and visibility compliance with thousands of truckers. The mobile driver app remains one of the transportation industrys most-downloaded apps each month.

Trucker Tools is built on a unique combination of cutting-edge technology and great customer and employee relationships. As CEO, my primary focus will be on our people and developing a team that believes deeply in our mission and taking Trucker Tools far beyond where we are today, said Ms. Jablonski. Our industry is the backbone of the nations economy, and its changing faster than ever. We will continue to build tools to help brokers and carriers find, book, and track freight seamlessly, while innovating to accelerate the digital transformation of freight.

Ms. Jablonski joined Trucker Tools last year. Shed previously advanced through logistics, operational and strategic planning roles with Uber in the U.S. and internationally and worked as a consultant with Deloitte.

The Trucker Tools mobile app is available for both Android- and Apple-powered smartphones and is provided free of charge to independent truckers and small fleets.

About Trucker Tools: Trucker Tools, based in Reston, Va., is the leading provider of trip planning, shipment visibility, predictive freight matching and automated booking solutions for the transportation industry. Its ground-breaking Smart Capacity platform uses accurate, real-time data and powerful algorithms to optimally match freight by predicting when and where capacity will become available, days in advance. The companys popular driver smartphone app has been downloaded by over 1.7 million owner operators and small-carrier fleets to access information and services conveniently while on the road. Included in the smartphone app is Book It Now, the industrys first digital load booking app that automates and streamlines the load search and booking process for drivers and brokers, saving time and money. Trucker Tools load tracking solution is a robust feature in the app that connects drivers with carriers and freight brokers, automating the provision and collection of real-time shipment tracking and eliminating manual check calls. Visit Trucker Tools at www.truckertools.com or contact us directly at: sales@truckertools.com.

Media Contact: Gary Frantz, Trucker Tools, (925) 594-1434. gary@gnfcomms.com

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at



https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/689ed312-b04e-4bc8-8a52-268e37fa4d8b

https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b6907174-abe3-48cb-be77-6784c2d590ac




UAGC Sponsors Full-Program Scholarship for Dallas College Alumni, Faculty, and Staff

CHANDLER, Ariz., March 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) is launching a new scholarship program on April 1, 2022 , providing an opportunity for seven Dallas College (formerly DCCCD) scholars to receive a full-program scholarship to pursue a bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degree at UAGC.

UACG Horizontal Logo (PRNewsfoto/University of Arizona Global Campus)

"The investment UAGC is making in our community will have life-changing impact," Dallas College Chancellor Joe May said.

"We are thrilled about this partnership with Dallas College, which will increase access to higher education for students in Texas, across the country, and around the world," UAGC President Paul Pastorek said. "What better way to celebrate the launch of this partnership than by helping Dallas College scholars continue their educational journey with UAGC."

Visit the UAGC  Dallas College Partnerships Scholarships page to apply. The application deadline is April 21, 2022 . Scholarship recipients will be announced in June 2022.

In appreciation of its partnership with Dallas College, the University of Arizona Global Campus encourages Dallas College alumni and current Dallas College faculty and staff to apply for these scholarship opportunities toward a degree offered in programs** through UAGC's Forbes School of Business and Technology or the College of Arts and Sciences.

The available UAGC-Dallas College Partnership Scholarships are:

Four UAGC full-program scholarships for Dallas College Alumni

Three UAGC full-program scholarships for Dallas College Faculty and Staff

Any applicants not selected for a UAGC-Dallas College Partnership Scholarship may be eligible to save up to $6,450 per year on tuition towards a bachelor's degree*** through the UAGC-Dallas College Academic Partnership. Substantial tuition and fee savings are also available at the master's and doctoral levels through the UAGC-Dallas College preferred partnership.

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"We are grateful to the University of Arizona Global Campus for extending this generous scholarship opportunity to our family of scholars," said Dallas College Chancellor Joe May. "The investment UAGC is making in our community through this scholarship will likely have a life-changing impact on the scholars and a ripple effect on their families and communities. I look forward to joining the UAGC team in announcing the awardees this June and celebrating them on the next step of their academic journey."

Alumni scholarship recipients can pursue bachelor's degree programs, while faculty and staff may pursue bachelor's, master's or doctoral degrees. UAGC has 50+ programs, including these seamless transfer pathways with Dallas College, which give students an opportunity to earn up to 90-credit hours at community college tuition rates on programs such as :

About University of Arizona Global Campus

The University of Arizona Global Campus ("Global Campus" or "UAGC") is an independent university that is operated in affiliation with the University of Arizona. Global Campus is designed to provide flexible opportunities for working students from diverse backgrounds who seek to gain knowledge and skills that will help them to achieve their life and career goals. Global Campus is accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC) and is one of the nation's most innovative online universities with approximately 30,000 students. UAGC offers more than 50 degrees at the associate, bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. For more information visit uagc.edu.

About Dallas College

Dallas College, formerly the Dallas County Community College District, was founded in 1965, and consists of seven campuses: Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake and Richland. Dallas College offers online learning, and serves more than 83,000 credit and 25,000 continuing education students during the fall and spring semesters. Dallas College also offers dual credit for students in partner high schools and early college high schools throughout Dallas County. Dr. Joe May, the college's 7th chancellor, has established the Dallas College higher education network in partnership with area school districts, colleges and universities, businesses, community organizations and others to support student success and college completion by removing barriers and providing services that help them earn a college credential and start their professional careers.

**Certain degree programs may not be available in all states.

***$6,450 is bachelor's tuition savings based on completing 30 credits per calendar year. Savings will be prorated if students complete less than 30 credits per calendar year.

Savings on tuition and fees available to those who qualify. Benefits vary by degree level.

Cision

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SOURCE University of Arizona Global Campus
* BOJ offers fixed-rate unlimited bond buying as expected

* Markets focusing on BOJ's April-June buying schedule

* Govt official sticks to usual script on currency moves

By Leika Kihara and Junko Fujita

TOKYO, March 31 (Reuters) - Japan's central bank on Thursday offered to buy unlimited amounts of 10-year government bonds for the fourth straight day as part of its aggressive efforts to defend its yield curve against the global tide of higher interest rates.

The announcement was expected and in line with the BOJ's earlier pledge to continue with the offer until Thursday, the final day of the first quarter.

Investors are focusing on whether the BOJ could increase the frequency and volume of bond purchases under a second-quarter market operation schedule, slated for release later on Thursday.

After falling to as low as 0.210% on Wednesday due to the Bank of Japan's massive intervention, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Japanese government bond (JGB) yield crept up to 0.225% on Thursday.

The level was still below the 0.25% implicit cap the BOJ sets around its 0% target.

"The BOJ may increase bond buying somewhat in the second quarter, so markets make take a breather after testing the 0.25% cap," said Chotaro Morita, head of Japan rates strategy at SMBC Nikko Securities.

The super dovish BOJ is struggling against the tide of rising global interest rates as central banks elsewhere race to beat accelerating inflation, with the international spike in yields dragging Japan's rates higher.

Complicating that challenge for Tokyo policymakers are the rising costs of imports brought by a weakening currency and global fallout of the Ukraine war.

Japan's top currency diplomat on Tuesday escalated his warning against sharp yen falls, saying Tokyo and Washington were closely communicating on currency issues.

But policymakers have yet to caution against "one-sided" moves or stress their resolve to take "decisive action," which are phrases markets look out for as a sign currency intervention may be imminent.

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"Currency stability is important and sharp exchange-rate moves are undesirable," Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters on Wednesday, repeating the government's recent official line on the weak yen.

The yen's fall has inflated already rising raw material costs blamed on the Ukraine crisis, adding pain to households and clouding the outlook for Japan's fragile economic recovery.

Factory output rose 0.1% in February from the previous month, ata showed on Thursday, posting its first rise in three months but smaller than forecast.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Junko Fujita, Additional reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Daniel Leussink Editing by Shri Navaratnam)
(Recasts with BOJ bond-buying schedule)

* BOJ offers fixed-rate unlimited bond buying as expected

* BOJ announces plan to increase scheduled bond buying in Q2

* Increase targets JGBs across yield curve - BOJ

* Govt official sticks to usual script on currency moves

By Leika Kihara and Junko Fujita

TOKYO, March 31 (Reuters) - Japan's central bank on Thursday pledged to ramp up scheduled bond purchases in the second quarter, signalling it will continue to aggressively defend its yield cap against the global tide of higher interest rates.

In a closely-watched bond buying schedule for April-June, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) said it will increase purchases for government bonds across the yield curve compared with the current quarter.

The announcement came after the BOJ maintained its offer to buy unlimited amounts of 10-year Japanese government bonds (JGB) at a fixed rate of 0.25% for four straight days this week.

"We decided to increase bond purchases for a wide range of durations, from short- to super-long zones, as the yield curve remained under upward pressure," a BOJ official told Reuters.

The 10-year JGB yield fell half a basis point to 0.210%, after rising to as high as 0.225% on Thursday.

Longer-term yields retreated sharply, with those for 20-year JGBs falling 9.5 basis points to a two-year low of 0.670%. The 30-year JGB yield fell 8 basis points to 0.920%.

"The central bank boosted the amount of bonds it would buy by a large margin," said Ataru Okumura, strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities. "Its stance to defend yield curve control is clear."

Under its yield curve control (YCC) policy, the BOJ pledges to target the 10-year JGB yield around zero and sets an implicit 0.25% cap around it.

"I think JGB yields will stabilise for now. The problem is what happens to U.S. Treasury yields. If U.S. yields spike, that could put upward pressure on Japanese yields again," said Hiroshi Ugai, chief Japan economist at JPMorgan Securities.

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With the economy still weak and inflation modest compared with Western economies, the BOJ has stressed its resolve to keep monetary policy ultra-loose even as the U.S. Federal Reserve eyes a series of rate hikes.

Prospects of widening U.S.-Japan rate differentials have pushed the yen down by around 8% against the dollar this month.

The yen's decline has exacerbated the rise in cost of fuel and raw material imports triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Japan's top currency diplomat Masato Kanda on Tuesday hardened his language on sharp yen declines, saying Tokyo and Washington were closely communicating on currency issues.

But Rintaro Tamaki, a former top currency diplomat, said the yen's weakening was driven partly by Japan's ultra-low rates and not too far out of line with economic fundamentals.

"The yen is still moving with a range it has been boxed in since 2013, so it can't be said that (its recent declines) are a sharp deviation from fundamentals," he told Reuters.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara and Junko Fujita, Additional reporting by Takahiko Wada, Kantaro Komiya, Daniel Leussink and Tetsushi Kajimoto Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Simon Cameron-Moore and Tomasz Janowski)
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A Fredericksburg Circuit Court judge ruled earlier this week that a civil lawsuit filed against Del. Tara Durant, a Republican from Stafford County, can proceed and that she must file an answer.

A request for dismissal by Durants attorney Milton Johns was denied Monday.

The lawsuit was filed by Taylor Johns, a civil rights activist from Fredericksburg, who accused Durant of malicious prosecution after a June 2020 incident that gained nationwide attention.

Taylor Johns, who doesnt have a lawyer, is seeking $40,000 in damages for what she describes as tortious injury by an act or omission.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 11 at 9 a.m.

Durant didnt return telephone calls or emails seeking comment.

Durant accused Taylor Johns of stopping her vehicle to impede traffic during a June 13, 2020, protest over the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers in Minneapolis and Louisville, respectively.

As a result of Durants complaint, Taylor Johns was charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor that was dismissed in Fredericksburg General District Court on Oct. 30, 2020 after she provided proof that she was at work in Spotsylvania County at the time of the incident.

Taylor Johns lawsuit accuses Durant of seeking out the protesters and initiating a disturbance.

Durants 911 call accusing a protester of jumping on her car made headlines after the dispatcher informed her that the protests were sanctioned by the city, police officers could only monitor the protesters and that Durant should address concerns to City Hall.

The recording of the call was featured by FOX News political commentator Tucker Carlson. Nine months after the incident, Durant announced her run for the 28th District House of Delegates seat. She defeated Democrat incumbent Josh Cole by about 700 votes last November.

Durant announced earlier this week that she plans to run for the seat in the new Senate District 27 that includes Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County and Stafford.

Johns lawsuit was filed Dec. 27 and its details are largely based on eyewitness statements from those who were present at the protest.

It states that on the date in question at 4 p.m. local protest leader Eddie Banks arranged a gathering at the intersection of Hanover and Caroline streets. The lawsuit notes that the intersection isnt controlled by any traffic signals but has a sign reminding vehicles to stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk.

Taylor Johns said that many of the demonstrators were minors and college students. They circulated clockwise inside the intersections crosswalks for five minutes at a time before exiting the crosswalks for another five minutes as they decried police brutality, racism and encouraged criminal justice reform.

A Fredericksburg police officer was parallel-parked on Caroline Street one block south of the intersection, observing the crowd of about 30, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint states there was an immediate law enforcement presence at all times material, and that other pedestrians not involved in the protests shared the crosswalks with no obstruction.

The citys residents and police force were familiar and comfortable with the protestors, the protestors message and the protestors lawful and peaceful crosswalk routine, the lawsuit states.

Taylor Johns alleges that when the protests in the city first started May 31, 2020, Durant began monitoring demonstrators social media profiles and keeping track of their movements.

Taylor Johns states that Durant was aware the demonstration was scheduled to take place and that she drove from Stafford to Fredericksburg to stage the encounter in opposition to the movement.

The lawsuit alleges that Durant waited for demonstrators to begin walking in the crosswalk before driving east on Hanover Street in the direction of the intersection.

Durant is accused of revving her engine while in neutral and coasting down Hanover Street toward the protesters at the bottom of a hill. Johns states that pedestrians and demonstrators froze within the sidewalks, fixed in terror on Durants SUV as it sailed steeply downhill toward them.

Pedestrians and protestors braced psychologically, emotionally and physically for the unknown and unimaginable, the lawsuit states.

Taylor Johns goes on to allege that Durant coasted past a stop sign and over the white stop line and slammed on breaks, inches short of striking pedestrians and demonstrators.

She accuses Durant of nearly hitting a 13-year-old boy whose parents were dining outside at a nearby restaurant. The lawsuit states that the boy instinctively and briefly splayed his torso on the hood of Durants car as it was inches away from him.

According to the lawsuit, the boy was unharmed and ran back to his parents.

The protestors otherwise stood their ground within the crosswalk without ever making contact with Tara Durants vehicle, according to the complaint. [Durant] began brake-pumping her car further into the crosswalk, abruptly inching towards the pedestrians and protestors, one diabolic brake-release at a time.

In the complaint, Taylor Johns said that Durants attempts at intimidation failed, so she instead called 911 to allege that shes a victim.

This isnt Taylor Johns first lawsuit involving the protest movement of 2020.

She and eight other protesters received an undisclosed settlement for the handling of mass demonstrations in Fredericksburg May 31 through June 1 of that year.

The lawsuit was filed against the Stafford County Sheriffs Office and multiple Fredericksburg officials for the use of teargas against protestors as well as other crowd control measures.

The Police Executive Research Forum released a report criticizing the Fredericksburg Police Department for its conduct during the protests. The FPD later accepted 64 of the PERF reports 66 recommendations to improve its response to mass demonstrations.

Taft Coghill Jr: 540/374-5526 tcoghill@freelancestar.com

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High school students are invited to take on the role of state senators at the Unicameral Youth Legislature June 12-15, 2022. At the State Capitol, student senators will sponsor bills, conduct committee hearings, debate legislation and discover the unique process of the nation's only unicameral.

The Unicameral Youth Legislature gives behind-the-scenes access to students who have an interest in public office, government, politics, law, public policy, debate or public speaking. Students will learn

The Office of the Clerk of the Nebraska Legislature coordinates the Unicameral Youth Legislature. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Extension 4-H Youth Development Office coordinates housing and recreational activities as part of the Big Red Summer Camps program.

To learn more about the program, go to NebraskaLegislature.gov/uyl or contact Kate Heltzel at 402-471-2788 or uio@leg.ne.gov. The deadline for registration is May 20.

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The Cass County Sheriffs Office is donating dozens of expired bulletproof vests to Ukraine.

The agency is among Nebraska law enforcement agencies that have supported the Ukrainian government after Russia invaded the country in late February.

Normally, the Cass County Sheriffs Office disposes of the vests through a vendor, which charges the county to collect the equipment.

The worst thing is we dont want them in the wrong hands. They are still effective, said Cass County Sheriffs Lt. Larry Burke. This was a way of cleaning out our storage and (they) are hopefully going to a good cause.

Burke estimated that his department donated 30 to 40 vests, which typically cost about $400 apiece. Each vest is at least five years old, which means it no longer is in compliance with law enforcement standards.

The vests are capable of stopping the bullets of the service weapons the Sheriffs Office employs, Burke said.

The statewide collection was coordinated by multiple Nebraska entities, including the Department of Transportation, the Nebraska State Patrol, the National Guard and the Governors Office.

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A conference involving seven countries that border Afghanistan has called on the Taliban-led government in Kabul to adopt further measures to improve living conditions and guarantee the basic rights of all Afghan people, including women and ethnic minorities.

The conference took place in the eastern Chinese city of Tunxi on March 31, the same day the United Nations held a separate online donor conference hosted by Qatar, Germany, and Britain. The United Nations said 41 international donors had pledged $2.44 billion in humanitarian aid for Afghanistan, falling short of a $4.4 billion target.



In a joint statement issued after the conference in Tunxi, delegations from China, Russia, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan said that the Taliban, which took over the country last August after international forces withdrew, needs to take "more visible measures" to distance itself from terrorist groups.



"Noting the importance of continuing to take necessary measures to ensure women's rights and children's education in Afghanistan, it [the conference] called for further measures to improve people's livelihood and guarantee the basic rights of all Afghan people, including all ethnic groups, women and children," the joint statement said.



"We call on the relevant Afghan authorities to take more visible measures to draw a clear line with various terrorist forces, monitor the trajectory of all terrorist organizations, and resolutely strike and eliminate them by destroying their training camps and other measures to ensure that Afghanistan will no longer become a terrorist organization a breeding ground, a sanctuary and a source of diffusion," it added.



The meeting, the third such event held to discuss Afghanistan and security with its neighbors, discussed the plight of the country, torn apart by more than two decades of war.



Despite taking some steps in the right direction, the statement said Afghanistan's neighbors remain concerned about the "severe humanitarian difficulties" in the country and that the seven nations at the conference would continue "to provide humanitarian assistance for the Afghan people, support Afghanistan's economic reconstruction and self-reliant development, and strengthen regional connectivity."



Most of the worlds nations do not consider the Taliban-led government legitimate amid concerns that the militants are not living up to promises of respecting human rights. However, on March 17, the United Nations Security Council voted for establishing official ties with Afghanistan.

At the online conference, Germany offered additional 200 million euros ($223 million) and the United States offered nearly $204 million.



German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on the Taliban-led government to provide unhindered access for humanitarian aid workers and to guarantee their safety.



It is unacceptable that the UN World Food Program (WFP) has been unable to supply the provinces of Kabul, Kandahar, and Ghor, she said.



U.S. Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the new U.S. humanitarian assistance would go to the UN and nongovernmental partners.



"The Taliban will not control our humanitarian funding," Thomas-Greenfield told the conference.



The funds will support direct aid to the more than 22 million people in Afghanistan who are facing extreme food insecurity, she said, pointing out that this accounted for more than half of the country's population.



"The people of Afghanistan have our unequivocal support," she said. "But the Talibans ambition to improve its own relations with the international community depends on its conduct."



She cited the Taliban's decision on March 23 to extend a nationwide ban on girls' education beyond sixth grade.



"It is impossible not to feel a sense of profound outrage when we see girls and young women across Afghanistan wracked with tears as they learn they will have to leave their classrooms after all," she said.

With reporting by AFP and dpa
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Moscow has accredited the first diplomat from Taliban-led Afghanistan even though Russia has labeled the militant group a terrorist organization and most of the world has shunned the hard-line regime.

Speaking at a gathering of foreign ministers of nations neighboring Afghanistan on March 31, Lavrov said the Taliban's diplomat was accredited by the Foreign Ministry in Moscow in February and has been active since.

"We are convinced that the international community should actively cooperate with Afghanistans new government, encouraging steps aimed at its official recognition by the UN and all its participants," Lavrov told the gathering -- which included the foreign ministers from Russia, China, Iran, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan -- in the eastern Chinese city of Tunxi.

The Taliban took control of the country last August as international forces withdrew from Afghanistan following two decades of fighting.

Most of the worlds nations do not recognize the Taliban-led government amid concerns that the militants are not living up to their promises of respecting human rights. However, on March 17, the United Nations Security Council voted to establish official ties with Afghanistan.

With reporting by Kommersant and Interfax
At around 7 a.m., Pakistani schoolteacher Safoora Bibi was walking to work when she was attacked by three women armed with knives and sticks.

The women ambushed Bibi near the main entrance of an all-girls Islamic seminary where she worked. Two of the attackers were her students. The third was a fellow teacher.

When police arrived at the Jamia Islamia Falahul Binaat school in the northwestern Pakistani town of Dera Ismail Khan on March 29, they found Bibis body outside the school. The 21-year-old had been repeatedly stabbed. Her throat was slit.

The attackers had accused Bibi of committing blasphemy, a highly serious and sensitive charge in Pakistan, a predominately Muslim nation of some 220 million where even unproven allegations have led to vigilante justice including mob lynchings and violence.

Bibis gruesome killing has put the spotlight on vigilante attacks in Pakistan, where scores of people accused of blasphemy have been killed in the past few decades.

Pakistans controversial blasphemy laws prescribe the death penalty for insulting the Prophet Muhammad or the Koran. Critics say the laws are often used to settle personal scores or silence dissenting voices.

While the Pakistani government has said it has a zero-tolerance policy for such attacks, rights campaigners say Islamabad is reluctant to repeal or reform the country's strict blasphemy laws and rein in powerful hard-line Islamist groups.

Islamists vehemently oppose any changes to the blasphemy laws and have used violence and street protests to put pressure on Islamabad.

No Enmity

Pakistan police said the three suspects had been arrested and confessed to murdering Bibi.

The main suspect is Umra Aman, a teacher who planned the crime with two nieces studying at the seminary, police said.

The girls told police that a relative had seen in her dream that Safoora Bibi had committed blasphemy, Najmul Hasan Liaqat, a police officer, told reporters on March 29. Liaqat said police were investigating if the killing was a result of a personal feud.

Zahid Qureshi, Bibis uncle, said there was no enmity between Bibi and the perpetrators.

They attended lessons and sometimes returned from school together," Qureshi told RFE/RLs Radio Mashaal. "A cruel act has been committed against us and we demand justice from the authorities.

Maulana Shafiullah, the head teacher at Jamia Islamia Falahul Binaat, said Bibi had been teaching at the school for two years. Shafiullah said the three suspects were all locals.

History Of Violence

Bibi is the latest victim of blasphemy-related violence in Pakistan, where more than 90 civilians accused of blasphemy have been killed during the past seven decades, according to the Center for Research and Security Studies, a think tank in Islamabad.

In a report issued in January, the organization said that more than 1,400 people had faced blasphemy accusations both in courts and from angry street mobs since Pakistan's independence in 1947. More than 1,200 of these cases and incidents were documented during the past decade, marking a huge increase.

In February, a mob in Pakistans eastern province of Punjab stoned a man to death for allegedly desecrating the Koran.

A custodian at a local mosque reportedly told villagers he saw the man burning a Koran in the mosque. A police team arrived at the scene, but the mob snatched the man away and attacked officers who tried to retrieve him. The mob -- which reportedly numbered several hundred people -- then stoned the man to death.

The lynching came two months after a similar incident in Sialkot, another city in Punjab. On December 3, an angry mob killed a Sri Lankan factory manager and set his corpse on fire. Priyantha Kumara was reportedly attacked after allegedly ordering the removal of posters of a far-right Islamist party.
Reporter

Stephanie Earls is a news reporter and columnist at The Gazette. Before moving to Colorado Springs in 2012, she worked for newspapers in upstate NY, WA, OR and at her hometown weekly in Berkeley Springs, WV, where she got her start in journalism.
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